this town is well known for the Roman baths and I’m not showing them here because I didn’t visit this time. I saw them in 1971 and I actually remember them fairly vividly. But this is an interesting town to visit so from a historical perspective I recommend spending one day or two days here.
I don’t know what this was promoting but maybe it was something related to pigs? That must be a good guess. This is just an intersection in the countryside to show the signage. It was very muddy since it had been raining very heavily for the past few weeks.A typical England breakfast. There’s not much flavor so bring your own sauces and spices.
Cambridge
You will still see these old telephone booths around the country. I didn’t check to see if the phones were working but I suspect many of them are not. It’s a beautiful cathedral. This is the one this week I liked the most due to the color arrangements. It’s nice to warn people actually this was in Cambridge. I missed looking up at the ceiling which you must do if you visit this tavern. It’s an interesting place to visit and I highly recommend recommended
Ely
this is a cute little town you will want to spend a day walking around in. As you can see below there is the home of Thomas Cromwell who was the Lord protector for a number of years after they killed Charles I am proclaimed a parliamentary government with him as the head. But he lived here for only 10 years even though it was the 10 years during the revolution.
This is the England way of saying not to throw your gum on the sidewalkCromwell’s kitchenAn old rendering of the house next to the large church which he attendedThis was the area before it had been filled in creating more land for farming and easier transportation.
Winchester
It’s interesting to know that Jane Austen is buried here
Reading
I first visited this town in 1971, the first train ride outside of London. I remember that it was an easy direct train. My cousin was coming to London on her European trip and I wanted to see her so I decided I would park the car in this town and then take the train into London. I did not want to drive in London.
As I travel around England I see a lot of these “street food“ restaurants, most of which are from southeast or east Asia. Many of them have been closed probably due to the lack of business. I looked at this and it didn’t seem that appetizing. It’s just something on rice which is more like poke bowl than Korean food.People were supporting England and Denmark and Greenland This Guinness extra stout I bought in the store but it’s made in Nigeria. Kind of strange I didn’t know that buses could read
Birmingham
every town seems to have its interesting little things. Near Birmingham new street station you’ll find mostly Hong Kong related restaurants and businesses with a smattering of Indian and some other shops. It’s a little confusing getting around the station so make sure you have your GPS maps working properly. I was very happy being here, not that I found a lot that was interesting but I certainly enjoyed the Hong Kong style food which was obviously created for their main customers, Hong Kong Chinese so it was very close to San Francisco Chinese restaurant flavors.
The Victoria pub here is just interesting at night time, the colors It’s nice they sell hooch which is called “hooch“.A symbol of Hong Kong influence in BirminghamI didn’t have much time to go into the cathedral so I just took this photo from the outside which I thought was kind of interesting
Worcester
I would bet Worcestershire sauce comes from here since Worcester is in Worcestershire. And originally I heard that the sauce concept was from Asia or India and was originally made with fish but gradually changed to include other ingredients.
The Guild HallThis is interesting advertising for a law firmInteresting name for the street And here you have fish Street. I didn’t smell any fish And of course they have to celebrate Denmark by having a Copenhagen StreetThese old churches need a lot of money to be maintained so this is one way they help keep the church in good shape. They had some event with kids inside which was kind of interesting. It’s like a community center
I stopped to see a home builder, model homes, to see some interesting things regarding England style home building. Here are a few things I found interesting.
You could see the radiator which is used for the main heating. I don’t really find these to be very effective but maybe it’s a less expensive way to heat the house? And putting it below the window?This is a typical electrical plug. The switches in the middle allow current to flow through the plugs which seems to be safer than not having them since you can cut the power so kids sticking things in the holes don’t get electrocuted.This might serve as the replacement for a circuit breaker? I didn’t ask to see but I suspect there are also circuit breakers somewhere. These were in the kitchen.I asked about this addition to the house which is not provided by the builder. This is just for show. I was interested to see how this would be heated. This addition in England is called a “conservatory”. I guess it must be conserving something. Most places I’ve been have these which I find helpful but kind of strange. You can turn these on and they are radiators which will dry your towels and also warm up the bathroom. But again I didn’t find the heat generated by these were really sufficient to keep the bathroom warm. After washing clothes, which I do every day, I put them on this rack so they dry out by morning but I don’t keep them on overnight because these tend to get fairly hot. But then again the one that my friend had in Paris seemed to keep the bathroom nice and warm.Just an interesting sticker
Worcester cathedral
Worcester Cathedral Nice windows The cathedral is very long The crypt contained the old portions of the cathedral, almost 1000 years of history You can see the foundation supports down here in the crypt This cathedral had one of the most beautiful pipe organs I’ve ever seen Beautiful and intricate design I was interested to find out who was buried here You can tell by the names these people buried here were Normans since it’s clear they came from Harcourt and Camvile. My family came from Tracy in Normandy Well, what do you know. King John is buried here, the guy who was forced to write a Magna Carta or be overthrown by the angles and the SaxonsHere lies King John. And I’m sure you know from history that he was the son of HenryII, the fellow depicted in “a lion in winter“ with Peter O’Toole and Catherine Hepburn.
From Tallinn, Estonia I decided to fly directly to England and the “cheapest“ airline was Ryan air which landed at an airport north of London. Cambridge is not too far from the airport and I wanted to stay away from London since I’ve been there twice, it’s very expensive and I wasn’t really interested in walking around right now in the city. The cheap airline started at US$27 and then when you pick the $27 flight schedule the price bumps up to $55. Then when you select the cheapest ticket which means you can carry on a 10 kg bag and something under the seat the price jumps up to $77. Then when you click to check out the price jumps up to $100. I have never seen that happen before and it’s something you need to be aware of because it’s not really a nice way to lure people into a flight. It’s called “bait and switch“ but when you switch three times that’s a little bit extreme.
so booking Cambridge for one night was a good decision since there was really not all that much I wanted to see. I rented a car at the airport and so I was free to do a much more vigorous schedule than having to wait on public transport.The Lithuanian lady who owned the guest house ( A & B guest house, about $80 a night) explained Oxford is the masculine city and Cambridge is the feminine city of the two. So it seems Oxford is a little bit more crowded and bustling and Cambridge is a little more calm and sedate. Anyway that’s what she told me. So I spent one day in each of the cities just looking around, noticing a lot more modern buildings than I was expecting but the last time I had been in England outside of London was in 1971, 55 years ago so …….
What would England be without the iconic telephone boothActually this is what I left in Estonia the morning I left. It was -9°C and snowingThe Hawaiians are taking over the world with all their poke bowl shops. Actually what they sell is not Hawaiian poke, it is this shopkeepers idea of poke which turns out to be anything on top of a bowl of rice instead of the Hawaiian style of some raw fish with a little bit extra on rice.Our lady churchLike most cathedrals it’s a beautiful approach to the altar Someone was practicing on the organ
They still had the cresh scene on display. It was pretty intricateThe front of the church The polar research Institute named for the famous explorer Scott This is probably a very appropriate name for this road. I bet there’s a tennis court somewhere around hereThis is a very quintessential England shop area If you down the street I just really like the name of the school and the building itselfAnd I like this building also Corpus Christi College Chapel. And you know the English translation means the body of ChristSaint Catherine’s College This is also quintessential but I love the names of the shops kind of like something out of a Harry Potter novel. I wonder, is Samuel smiling?Saint Catherine’s College from another point of view My first fish and chips since getting off the airplane. The fish was good, the fries were filling and nice, and I hate peas but that seems to be something that is served for so many meals in England which is maybe the reason I have not been here so often. An evening view of the city Nice colors We have a saying in Japan, “even monkeys can fall from tree trees“. In this instance it just means that even a practiced Photographer can sometimes make a mistake and take a photo of his hand
Oxford
This is the nice college city with the little canals going through it. But it was much too cold of course to be on a paddle boat This is a nice building which obviously has been remodeled since many of the windows have been blocked up but still nice architecture The larger canal where you can rent all sorts of boats and floating devices I think this is a hotel and a restaurant but I didn’t go inside. I just like the building and since it’s on the river it might be a nice place to stay A view down the street Tom tower, christ Church University of Oxford. Only certain people can get in like student students, professors and administration
Saint Martin’s Church Tower This was my hotel outside Oxford in the countryside, The Upton country park guest house, golf course and resort. Needless to say it was too cold and rainy to play golf.
