Plan…Travel…Repeat

I hate that the trip has come to an end. Not only is all the fun over and I have to start thinking about work and diets and stuff like that but I have a whole day of flying to look forward to.

I thought I had enough time in the morning to do one last thing in London but sadly our car was scheduled for 9. We did get up earlier than expected and since we were all packed we decided to have one last stroll through London.

One of the things I had planned to do was check out this old umbrella shop that was not far from my hotel. Originally I had thought that I would splurge on a fancy British umbrella for my main souvenir. I mean nothing quite says England like a big umbrella and bowler hat. Since the hat wasn’t really an option I had big plans for the umbrella. I didn’t want to get it when we first arrived and have to fit it in my suitcase but or hindsight I should have done it when I had the chance. We didn’t have any chance to make it while it was opened but this morning I thought at least I could window shop. Now I am really sad that I didn’t have time to shop. I would have loved to have brought one home. The store looked amazing from the windows. It had that I have been here forever and will be here forever feel. I doubt much has changed since it opened. It will definitely be on my list if (no when) I make it back to London.

After drilling over the umbrella we went back to the hotel to catch our ride to the airport. Even with the extra bag Val’s main bag was still overweight and we had to switch stuff around and we were left lugging our heavy carry-ons through the airport. We had time so we waited to get our tax refund. However on second thought I wouldn’t do that again. Although the line didn’t look that long everyone had wads of receipts and it took forever. You had to fill out your name,passport number and address on each receipt and it didn’t appear that anyone did that before they got in line. Most of my purchases had been small and although I splurged on the dresses they didn’t participate in the program so I couldn’t get that back. So I stood in line without air conditioned for about an hour to get $15 back. The lady beside me was getting about $800 back. I felt really stupid with my measly 2 receipts when she probably had 50. Oh well I took my $15 and got out of the way for the next person with his crumpled wad of receipts.

By then it was time to head to our gate and get on the plane. Again I am so glad we splurged for the upgraded seats. The extra leg room makes all the difference. I watched three movies listened to a couple of cds and watched some tv shows. I didn’t sleep at all.

We arrived in Atlanta on time but everything went down hill from there. Going through customs with global entry was a breeze we were basically the first ones to the baggage claim. However we were also the last ones to leave baggage claim. We waited and waited but Val’s luggage never came. I think they just hold back the bags that are marked heavy to make you squirm for a while so you won’t do it again. Finally after pretty much everyone had moved on her bags showed up.

At first I was very happy to see that we didn’t have to go back out to the airport to send our luggage back through but that happiness was soon replaced. Even though we never left the secured area we had to go back through a security checkpoint. And unlike in the main airport there was no TSA precheck. Since our bags were so late we were the last of our flight to get in line and I think a couple other planes got ahead of us as well. The line was horrific moving maybe a step a minute. For some reason this checkpoint was testing new security protocols and everyone had to pretty much take there carry-on apart and send them through in separate trays. All your books, food, electronics, shoes and liquids had to go in separate trays so everybody had at least two trays and most of had four or five. This really slowed down the process.

I of course had carefully packed my bag with books at the bottom (I had a signed book from most of the historians on the tour) and all my cups and breakable stuff on top. By the time I was through the line I had about 30 minutes to get to my plane so no time to neatly repack my bag. I am just cramming it all back in and nothing fits and it won’t close. So I have books hanging out of my purse and feel certain I am probably breaking all my souvenirs.

We have to ride their subway to get to another terminal so thankfully we don’t have to actually run through the airport. We get there right before they start pre boarding. Val has time for a bathroom stop and to grab water but that is it and we are back on a plane for our short flight to Dallas.

The flight is uneventful and I finally sleep so after all the hassle the flight went well. We did not have near the wait for our luggage in Dallas and we stepped outside to catch our ride home. The heat immediately took my breath away. It was almost 10, completely dark but still in the high 90s. So not the pleasant low 70s we had enjoyed for the last two weeks. It was not the welcome home I was looking for but it is home and after a day of flying I was glad to be back in Texas.

The tour was officially over yesterday after the tea, however since Alison was gone so much of the trip they added a free day at Hampton Court. Siobhan who we met on day one and made most of our arrangements for the tour works at Hampton Court and she and Alison gave us a tour of the palace in the morning.

It was the first time we had to negotiate our own transportation. There was a large group going and we tried to plan a bus but that turned out to be more hassle than it was worth. Some of us took ubers but a few of ventured out for the train. It wasn’t that far of a walk and the train ride was only 30 minutes so not a bad option.

The walk to the train station went well, we all were able to get tickets (some had more difficulties than others not sure why the ticket machines didn’t work for everybody but we had plenty of time so no worries) and we all arrived on time to start our tour.

Val and I had been to Hampton Court before some 25 years ago back when I was in college but we learned a bit more this time. All I remember from the earlier trip was getting lost in the maze so no problems with a repeat.

Cardinal Wolsey built Hampton Court but soon lost it to Henry VIII. It appears Henry had the same issue with palaces that he did with women. If he saw one he liked he just took it. At least he didn’t have to destroy his other palaces each time he acquired a new one. They told us how many he obtained during his reign but I can’t remember. It was a lot but not as many as Elizabeth I (of course she did have quite a few years on him so we won’t hold it against her).

Henry added on and remodeled the palace during Anne Boleyn’s heyday. Like other places we visited there was an attempt to remove all references of her after her death but like always they missed a few. I guess if they didn’t stamp everything with their banners and coats of arms it would be easier to block someone out. But if you put your symbol or name on every door, every place two points come together on the ceiling and anywhere else you can think of then of course you will miss removing a few. Little did they know 500 years later people would spend hours looking for references to Anne Boleyn.

The highlight of the Palace is the ceiling in the chapel. Unlike some of the other chapels we have toured this one actually is what we would think of as a chapel. It was just part of the Palace not huge but did cover two floors. The ceiling is the best surviving example of a Tudor painted ceiling. It is a dark blue with gold. All the woodwork is gold and ornate. Since you view it from the second floor you got a nice view. No photos I tried to copy some from online but it didn’t work.

We also saw a remake of Henry VIII’s crown. Cromwell had the crown melted down after they had overthrown the monarch and beheaded Charles I. There were several paintings of the crown and copious notes from the period detailing the stones so a replica was made and is on display in the chapel. It is more fussy than the current crown with purple velvet and multiple types of gems.

Alison led us through the rest of the Tudor portion of the Palace (William and Mary added a wing and intended to remodel all of the Tudor wing but they caught up in something else and their son and heir hated them and the palace so it fell out of favor and was left unused for a few centuries.) she explained some of the art work and the organization of the house what happened in each room and stuff like that. But having seen Windsor and it’s chapel yesterday this one fell a little flat. However that soon changed.

Earlier in the trip we had a guest historian who had found the cloth that she suspects and is trying to prove is part of one of Elizabeth’s gown. Well she works at Hampton Court and Siobhan arranged for her to show us the actual fabric.

Hampton Court is also the home to the royal trust which is a non-profit whose responsible for maintaining the royal palaces that are no longer used as residences for the monarchs and maintain artifacts including clothing. They also run Kensington Palace and put on the collection of Diana’s clothes.

Anyway they have a conservation facility at the palace that holds their treasures that are not currently on display or in various stages of conservation. So we got to go back behind the scenes to see the fabric laying on a work table and meet the women doing the work. She had taken the back off and displayed it so we could see all the colors that had been protected by the linen backing. What originally looked like muted fall colors were actually bright vibrant flowers. She explained how she painstakingly cut off all the backings by snipping each thread which she surprisingly kept in a plastic bag. She also kept all the linen squares that had been used to back it. It was exciting to see the actually piece.

She also showed us a short swing walking coat of Queen Victoria’s she wore in her early days with Prince Albert. Someone else was working on a pair of baby shoes and socks from one of Victoria’s children for a display at Kensington. Sitting to the side was a box full of shoes from Victoria’s children.

We also saw a dress of Diana’s that they were trying to remove a tea stain. She wore the dress on one of her early tours to New Zealand and there are several photos of her giving the Maori greeting in the dress (rubbing noses). So they want to be able to display it. They said if the tea stain was hers they would just leave it but back in her early days she gave away her dresses and the new owner spilled the tea. So they are trying to clean it.

We also saw a hat that are trying to connect to Henry VIII. It is a recent acquisition to the collection so they have just gotten started. The family can trace it back to their relative who was responsible for Henry’s clothes and they claim he retrieved it when Henry through it in the air in celebration of a victory and then was allowed to keep it. By today’s standards it looks much too feminine but they are sure it was a gentleman’s hat. They have tested the silk and the dyes test out to the right age and it does have a bit of silver thread so they think it must be royal but they haven’t found any mention in the records of his clothing purchases. They are still looking so who knows I might have been mere inches away from something Henry VIII and Elizabeth once wore.

Unlike the chapel we could take pictures here so you can see what I am talking about as far as the hat being feminine and the colors being much better on the backside of the cloth.

The afternoon Val and I had signed up for the “real” tennis lessons on the royal courts. We tried to back out but I am glad we didn’t. Seems tennis originated in the streets and the walls and awnings were a way of measuring points. As the game progressed courts were built but they still had the slopes sides to mimic the awnings. Our guide had run the royal court for years and was a champion of the sport in the 80s and 90s. She was very excited and really wanted us to play.

I absolutely stunk. I couldn’t hit the ball if I held it front of my racket. She had to spend time giving me some remedial lessons but I really never improved.

Anyway the sport is scored like today’s tennis but there were some crazy rules like beating the chase(and yes that is where that statement came from) and if you didn’t you lost your serve. So if they returned service regardless of whether you kept the volley going they had set the chase on what ever line closest to their original return. There were six lines numbered one through four and then door and window in reference to the original street courts. When the serving team lost a point the teams switched sides and the receivers now served (only one side of the court was set with all the slopes for returning service). The new receiving team had to hit the first serve back farther than the chase (where the original receivers hit their return volley) if they did you switched sides again and the original servers got their service back. If you didn’t then the other team kept service for the end of that set and kept it for the next set. If you’re not still following that’s okay because it was a confusing mess.

My team was horrible but Val’s wasn’t much better. They did hit two serves back so they had the serve through most of the game and easily one. I hit the ball only once and it didn’t go over the net. Oh well tennis just isn’t my sport. But I still played real tennis on a court where Kings and royals have played for centuries. It was a nice end to our Tudor tour.

The train ride back was not that eventful and all we had left to do was pack. Val had started the night before with the new suitcase she bought at TK Maxx (and yes in England it is TK and not TJ). I still had most of mine to do.

Lunch was included in our day but we decided we were a little hungry or more bored and the room was hot so we headed out for dinner. I never thought I would say this but I was tired of fish and chips and really wanted some american French fries (since texmex wasn’t an option) so we headed out to five guys for burgers and fries. I am embarrassed to say our last meal in England was an American hamburger chain but at least it wasn’t McDonald’s. By the way it was delicious. After a bunch of fancy food it was nice to just have a greasy burger and fries.

I am sad that my trip is over and we have to head home. I wish I had one more day in London to just wander the streets. Next time I will plan better.

The last official day of the tour we headed out to Windsor Castle. Alison was back on the bus along with Christopher Warwick, a royal historian. Christopher gave a talk about Windsor and all its residents with more of an emphasis on more recent history. He wrote the authorized biography of princess Margaret, the current queen’s sister. He worked closely with Princess Margaret while writing the book and had a lot of interesting stories that he shared throughout the day.

Our first stop was a guided tour of St George’s Chapel. When I say chapel I really mean large cathedral type church but since it was just the church for the residents of the castle it goes by the misnomer of chapel. They spend some time trying to break us into four groups but being all historians they do a horrible job of it. However that worked to my advantage this time. I got stuck in the middle of a row and didn’t get placed in any group. Turns out there were a few of they missed and we made up the very small fourth group. Each group got a historian but we got both Alison and Christopher with us. Altogether we were a group of 7.

Our tour guide did a great job. He really knew his stuff but also asked questions of Alison and Christopher to bring more of the story to life. One of the first things we saw was the medieval stained glass window at the back of the church. It depicted saints, popes and kings. There are 75 figures displayed in the glass and 65 date prior to 1509. Otis amazing to thing that glass has survived that long. They took it down and stored it during WWII but just taking it down and getting it back up without damage is incredible. I lose at least one Christmas ornament each year good thing their better at their jobs that I am.

The next thing we saw was a beautiful statue to honor Princess Charlotte. If any of you are watching Victoria on PBS, Charlotte was Victoria’s older cousin, daughter of the king, who died in childbirth leaving Victoria the heir. Charlotte was well-loved by the people and the statute has her rising to heaven with an angel carrying her baby. Christopher knew a lot about the story and explained that she was Lin labor for 2 days before losing the baby. Then the doctors continued to have her drink wine to strengthen her blood but all that did was make her bleed out. The world would probably have been very different had she survived. If nothing else the Victorian age would have a new name.

Christopher was not a big fan of Victoria and said she was bitch to her children. But then her mother had been horrible to her so she didn’t have the best example.

Back to the tour. As with most churches of this age the Chantries off to the side were used for tombs. We had special access to go in one from the Tudor time period. I cannot remember whose tomb/memorial they were but the carvings were amazing. There was so much detail even the headdress was carved with an intricate flower pattern. Alison was more excited than we were. She said she had often peered in the windows to see the carvings but had never been in to see them close up. She kept going on and on and pointing out each new detail she saw. She was like a kid in a candy store. So I guess you never do lose the excitement for history even when you do it for years and think you have seen everything.

The next chantry is where Queen Elizabeth’s parents are buried. There was no elaborate carving just a marble plaque on the ground. Princess Margaret’s ashes are also buried in the chantry. Christopher said when they buried the Queen Mum they added Margaret’s ashes. Christopher said she really wanted to be near her father that she absolutely adored. He also said that the queen and Philip would also be buried in the chantry. The tour guide said he was not allowed to give that information but Christopher said that the Queen had told him and he had no such restrictions.

The highlight of the tour came next. Our guide took us through an office and up some stairs that led to a chapel originally built and used by Katherine of Aragon the window looking out over the Quire (I always thought it was just choir but I should have known the English would be all fancy). From Katherine’s time forward all monarchs used the room to watch the proceedings down below. Victoria used to watch her son and heir marry his queen. Speaking of Victoria when she was older (and fatter) she didn’t like to go out in public so she had them create a walkway from her private lodgings in the castle to the chapel. They built two doorways and a walkway across the roof of the church. Our group being so small got to walk out on the roof and see the entrance to her rooms. The handrail hit me right about my knees. Having been placed for the convenience of the Queen who at this time in her life had shrunk to 4’6” it was quite low for modern standards. And yes Christopher did point out that she was as round as she was tall at this point in her life. It was very exciting to walk the path that Victoria took to church when staying at Windsor we also got to see the backside of the stained glass garden right up close which was amazing in its own way.

From there we headed back down and rejoined the rest of the crowds walking through the church. The chapel is also the home of the Order of the Garter. I mentioned and had pictures of the Garter crests that were used above the seats back at Layer Marney. This is where they came from and actually they look way out-of-place in a church. Up in the quire area each seat, 26 in total, is set for the current Order member. Above the seat is their flag and their crest resting on their helm. Each seat also has a stall plate for each Knight that held that seat. Some date back to the 1500’s and more recently like Winston Churchill. William is currently a knight of the order but Harry is still waiting his turn. He cannot be named until someone else dies and a seat comes open.

The knights of the Garter also seem to guard the royal vault or otherwise known as the tomb of kings. Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, IV, and William IV are all buried there. Along with wives and some of their children.

From the Quire we headed out to Albert’s chapel Victoria went all out on his resting place. It has the look of St Marks in Venice or the Baptistery in Florence. It also had small portraits of all her children(9 in all) looking down from various spots along the wall. I guess she wanted them to keep their father company or keep him out of trouble. It is all gold mosaic generally you can only look in from the door but when you are with Alison they roll out all the stops.

The tour of the chapel was amazing and probably one of the highlights of the trip.

The rest of the morning we had free time to see the other sites of Windsor and grab lunch. We breezed through the state apartments rather quickly. I had been before but val seemed okay with it. Of course the rooms here are grander than any I have seen. The rooms are large enough to make two life size knights on horseback look like toys. The chandeliers rival those in Versailles and Buckingham Palace but look a little out of place with some of the stone castle walls that were left present in some of the rooms. We really didn’t spend much time looking everything over. We had shopping to do and photos to take.

After the state apartments we went through the grounds taking photos. We came across the cutest group of girls on a class field trip. They all had on matching navy coats and Berets. I tried to take a picture without looking like some weird person so they are not great but I’ll include them anyway. They gave a very British feel to the place.

We had a little time to shop before we headed back down to meet up with everyone. As we left Windsor we met back up with Alison and Christopher who continued to give us royal insight. He showed us the building that was originally built as a bathroom for the royals to use just as they left the train. Victoria and her children also used it to hide from the public while waiting for a visitor to arrive.

Sadly back on the bus one last time to head back to London. Alison, Sarah and Nicola had a discussion about the women rivals for Elizabeth’s crown. It is crazy that back in the 1500s everyone who had a connection/claim to the throne was a women. Elizabeth held on tight for almost 50 years to then pass it to a man. I wonder if things would be different if another women would have followed after her.

We arrived back in London where we started the Kingsway Hall Hotel. We had afternoon tea while they unloaded the bus. It was sad to say goodby to everyone. Some would be doing the add on day tomorrow but for others including our historians this was the big finale. I really enjoyed getting to know people who spend their lives studying and writing about our history. To some extent I guess I was surprised they were so normal. I think I expected them to be out of touch with today since they spent their lives delving through the past. They were so much more fun than I expected and I am really glad I splurged for the tour

Val and I were on our own for the evening and headed out to the Potrait Gallery. By the time we arrived we realized how tired we really were and that we were really just trying to keep the trip going. We went through the Tudor room and enjoyed seeing everyone we had heard so much about over the trip. The gallery had a lot more to offer but we were too tired to enjoy it so we didn’t stay long.

We grabbed what we thought would be a quick bite and headed back to our room.

I can’t believe our trip is almost over. One more day in London then we head home.

This morning we head out for Prior’s Dean Manor. A private home that was once owned by Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. No one is sure if either ever visited the manor but Anne owned it for a while so they think she might have visited.

It was the smallest house that we toured and by far the most updated or most livable. The owner was very welcoming. She showed us her home and the priory next door.

The house looked like we were in spread for Country Cottage. Everything was perfect in the house. It was definitely modern furnishings but they had the right look and feel for the 500 year old house. The upstairs had this great lean to it. I am sure she didn’t love it but it made for a fun feature. It was more slanted then any fun house I have ever been in. She let us wander all through the house but sadly no pictures. I feel certain it’s bound to be in a magazine I’ll have to look.

The church was also very small. It had a connection to a previous Saxon church and still had four pillars holding up the tower from the 10 century. However not the oldest thing in the area. Right outside the church doors was a 2000 year old yew tree. The trunk was huge almost bigger around than tall. Of course not really but it wasn’t really a tall tree.

The drive to the priory was one of our more eventful bus drives so I do need to mention it. Seems the bus driver missed the original turn to get us to our destination and all the other roads had weight limits. Deciding not to backtrack he attempted a weight posted rural road. I don’t think there was really in weight issues more of a width problem. For most of the road the bus was touching bushes on both side. We were passed just a few times and each time the car stopped and let us inch by. At one point we had to make a pretty sharp turn and it took us almost 30 minutes to make it. People had to get out and beat back the brush to make sure there was road underneath. The bus hit a tree trunk but finally made it through.

As I said this was one of the most exciting bus trips but not the most exciting one we had. The first I failed to mention. On our second night we were heading out to Penshurst and the bus was too tall to go under a bridge. Of course the driver didn’t realize that until there was nothing left to do but back up down the road. The road was a narrow twisty rural road but our driver just changed lanes and went about 3 or 4 miles driving backwards. So we were going the right direction for the lane we were in just the back of the bus was leading the way. While this was all going on Nicola never missed a beat in her discussion of Penshurst Castle.

Anyway back to Priors Dean. Alison rejoined the tour today. We hadn’t seen her since day two. I was disappointed that she wasn’t leading the whole tour but I really enjoyed the other historians she had set up. Sarah did a great job really leading the tour in Alison’s absence.

We were supposed to go into Midhurst for lunch and free time. However since we were so late to get to our first stop we were really short on time. The consensus from the bus was to skip Midhurst and just head back to the hotel to give time to pack before our big dinner that evening. I was disappointed that we were missing out on another stop. I of course was already pretty much packed up and didn’t need 2 extra hours hanging out at the hotel of course I should have used that time to catch up on my blog but instead I just lazed around.

This was our last night and what they referred to as our gala. We were driving a few hours to visit and have dinner at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth. The Mary Rose is a ship in the Henry VIII armada. It went down in a battle with France in 1545. It was close to the shore, Henry watched the battle and saw the Mary Rose sink. Luckily the ship settled in the silt and half of the ship was soon buried. It was the silt that preserved all the wood. Basically in 1982 they dug up half the ship and brought it up with over 90,000 artifacts. The only surviving Tudor long bows were found on the ship. Now there are hundreds of them. The cannons all survived and they were surprisingly heavily decorated. It was crazy what survived over 400 years in the ocean. They found clothes including shoes that had straw soles. There was even ointment still in the glass jar found in the surgeon’s chest.

The museum was set up to provide the most dramatic view of the ship. It was set on one side with 3 floors adjacent to it to show what was found on that level of the ship. So as you walked down the second floor you saw deck 2 and then the artifacts from the rooms on deck 2. The lights would dim and they would flash scenes from life on the ship.

Our dinner was on the third floor overlooking the ship. It made a dramatic backdrop for our final dinner. Sarah was the historian at our table. We had a great time at dinner. I am very sad to see our trip winding down. It has been a great adventure.

It is very sad to be packing up and leaving Lavenham. It was a quirky little hotel in a quirky little town but I will miss it. I will miss the crooked path to my room, I’ve included a video so everyone can see how much fun it was. I can boast that I never hit my head, Val not so lucky. She knocked herself pretty good at least a couple of times.

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The bus ride on moving day is always a little longer than other mornings. So there was time for a short nap. They set up talks by the historians but also give us a little time to sleep. This morning Nicola finally got to give her talk on Queen Jane. Nicola fully believes that Lady Jane should be recognized as the first queen of England. Her debut work is on Queen Jane and she is quite passionate on the topic. I can’t decide if I agree or not. I agree that she is a tragic figure and more than likely would have made a good queen but just claiming your queen or in her case your father in law claiming you queen might not be enough. Of course the previous king did select her as his heir but again that was more her father in law than King Edward. The discussion was lively and led to great conversations throughout the day.

Our tour stop for the day was Eltham Palace. It was kind of hodgepodge of medieval castle, Tudor ruins and 1930’s party house. The Palace is not far from London. In fact you can see some of the London. Skyline from the house. Henry VII added on to a prior castle built by Edward to be a nursery castle. All but Arthur, Henry’s heir were raised at Eltham. We met up with a guest historian, Elizabeth Norton, to take us through the grounds. She explained the use of a nursery castle which was basically to keep the children out of the city and away from all the courtiers in hopes of preventing illnesses. Arthur had his own estate up in another castle and was always separated from his siblings.

There were great stories of the future Henry VIII ruling the roost at the nursery. It seems he was destined to rule from an early age.

There wasn’t much left from the castle other than the great hall and the footings showing the outline of the King and Queen apartments. The only other structure to survive was the sewer system. It seems that they had dug tunnels to take the sewage out to the moat. The tunnels are still there and we were able to walk through them. Good thing the moat is long gone or that little adventure could have gone horribly wrong. Anyway the thought of it is still kind of foul.

In the 1930s a socialite couple bought the Palace and added on a modern mansion. It was quite crazy. It had a big circular room when you first walked in with a sitting and dining room off of it. There was a hallway with two large bedrooms with quite bizarre bathrooms. It was a his and her set up where it was clear she was the more eccentric. Her bathroom had a gold dome with an Italian goddess statute in the niche. His was just blue tile.

However, it was the rest of the house that was really odd. If you went behind the fancy main floor rooms you were in halls that reminded you of a hospital. They were painted a cheerful yellow but very institutional looking. The extra bedrooms upstairs were the size of postage stamps. It was clear that guests were invited to lavish parties then they needed to leave I can’t imagine they ever saw the back of the house.

We walked through the gardens and I was excited to see this tree with red berries. I had seen one at Layer Marney but my pictures were all blurry. So I was happy to get another chance. I have no idea what type of berries but they were the prettiest raspberry color with a shiny gleam. The tree was just covered in them at looked beautiful with the sunlight streaming through the leaves.

From the Palace we went into town for lunch at a restaurant inside an old Tudor barn. It was a buffet nothing special but definitely suitable.

The drive to the hotel was still quite a ways and I tried to listen to the talks but I think I napped quite a bit instead.
I did hear a little about the Tudor year and what holidays they celebrated.

The new hotel is the most modern that we have stayed in. It is a Georgian mansion that has been turned into a hotel. The main entrance still has the look of the original mansion but the rest of it appears to have been gutted and added to turn it into a hotel. It is a nice place with beautiful grounds but it is not as unique as the prior two hotels.

We got in early enough for a walk around the grounds. Val and I wandered through the kitchen garden and along the wooded paths. The garden had several apple trees with a lot of varieties that I have never heard of. However, basically the apples were just rotting in the ground. It didn’t really look like they were trying to use the garden.

Dinner was at the hotel and it was quite nice. We had Julien at our table and this time they didn’t switch. It was a fun less historical conversation.

After dinner Robert Hutchinson talked about the last few days of Henry VIII’s life and his medical issues. Kind of a gruesome talk for right after lunch but not too bad. The guest was very fun and the talk went quickly. He believed that Henry suffered from Cushing’s disease. He is going to be with is all day tomorrow so I will have an opportunity to talk to him more if I want to hear the more gruesome parts about Tudor diseases. They didn’t seem to be a healthy lot. Really only Elizabeth lived very long at all.

I can’t believe we are now at our last hotel and on our last three nights. All the sudden time is flying.

Cambridge is a great college town much like Austin. College kids running around, bars and cafes everywhere. You just have to remember that it is a few hundred years older. Some of the college date back to the 1500s.

We started our tour at Emmanuel College. Julian, our resident historian and comedian was a student at Emmanuel and he wanted to show off his old stomping ground. He was able to get us tours of rooms he never entered as a student. Cambridge is still very formal and the students are still required to wear their robes to dinner. Behind the dining hall is the fancy parlor for all the “fellows” or professors in American English to take their tea or port with dessert. Hidden in this room were several Holbein portraits and the fine china. There was also a room with one long table with one much smaller table on one end to seat all 60 of the fellows at one time.

We had tea and cookies in one of the gathering rooms then we were off to see the library. In the library the college displays their treasures. We saw the school charter signed and sealed by Queen Elizabeth with her likeness added for decoration. We also saw and old illustrated bible and a book given to Katherine of Aragon from Erasmus. It is crazy to think you are looking at something so incredibly old that was one time held by the kings and queens.

From Emmanuel we headed off for a few hours on our own. We grabbed a nice sandwich for lunch and walked around the town center. Being Sunday some of the shops were not opened but there was plenty to ramble through.

After lunch we met back up with the group to go in the chapel at King’s College. Chapel does not adequately describe the church. It is more cathedral than chapel. The ceiling is amazing. It all stone with carved buttresses. As for our Tudor group most went through looking for the references to Anne Boleyn. Most had been removed but their were a few that were overlooked. There was also great heraldry for the Tudor and Beaufort families. We had seen a lot of the articulus symbols and the Tudor rose but the church also showed off the greyhound which I had not seen before. The rest of the time was spent admiring the ceiling. We all left with cricks in our necks.

From the church we took a nice walk around the town. We saw some of the other colleges from the outside. We saw where Newton attending and my favorite A A Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame. Julien pointed out where all of his college escapades took place. I know where he met his wife, the bar he frequented and the room in which he served some rather disgusting cake. If he ever becomes hugely famous I will be able to give tours of his college days.

After our tour we were on our own for a while and Val and I decided to climb the tower. The view was really nice and we got some great pictures. Two gentlemen were holding court in one corner that gave the best view of Kings Chapel and would not move on. I kept trying to get them to move but regardless of how close I stood they wouldn’t budge. We waited them out took our photos and headed back down.

We didn’t do much shopping and soon headed back to the bus. Dinner was independent tonight. We had reservations at one of the pubs we a few of the other ladies we have met on the trip. They share the back of the bus with us as well as our love of gift shops. Anyway I again had the fish and chips with a side of macaroni and cheese. Other than the ketchup which was horrible (think the worst sweet cheap ketchup you have ever tasted then make it even worse) the meal was delicious. It was some of the best macaroni and cheese I have eaten. I tried a England beer none which was not my favorite I prefer my beer cold but when it Rome and all that.

This will be our last night in our quaint quirky hotel so I stopped off at the airmen’s bar for a few photos. We had a few drinks in the bar the first night. It is a great bar where US airmen hung out in WWII. Many of them signed the walls at the time and then some have come back to update their signatures. They also pounded some badges into the wood posts over head. It was a nice place to have a drink.

Today we are off to see Queen Mary’s (Harry VIII’s sister) grave in Bury St Edmund. When her husband the King Louis, king of France died she quickly married the love of her life without permission of her brother the king. They then lived outside the court for a while until Harry got over being mad. Finally forgiven her husband went to London to support Harry and Mary died alone at their country estate in East Anglia. She was originally buried in the Abby but after England left the Catholic Church the Abby was closed and they had to move her to the local church. It was not the grand memorial that I expected. In fact it was only a plaque with her first husband’s name misspelled. But since the Abby was pretty much in ruins it was a good thing she was moved. At some point much later they lowered her grave marker more flush with the ground and we’re surprised to find her body actually in the memorial box. The locals doing the work then cut off snippets of her hair and sold them on the side. There was a small bit of her hair in the museum done the street. Whether it is really Queen Mary’s hair is anybodies guess but the locals seem sure.

After the museum we had a little time to shop around. Bury St Edmunds was a surprisingly cute town with planting of shopping options. We only had an hour so we needed to be judicious in our selection. A couple of stores caught my eye and I headed off. Val spies a Laura Ashley who would have thought those were still around. And yes the clothes look very similar to the hey day of the brand. To be fair they did have some cute things but I quickly moved on. The other store was my downfall. I didn’t expect to do much shopping on this trip. A few gift shop purchases but nothing more. Definitely 2 new dresses and a tunic. But they were very cute and not something I have seen in the states. Val found a few things. Sadly but probably for the best our time was about up so we headed down to meet up with everyone. We ended up being the first ones to arrive so we went back to an antique jewelry store we passed. They had some great rings in the window. We ended up going in and Val tried on a few and made a selection. I had to prod her along a bit because I didn’t want to be late but of course we were. Everyone was on the bus as we did the “walk of shame” back to our seats. I won’t be late again.

Our next stop was for a light lunch close to OxBurgh Hall. The Hall had a lot of “conservation” going on and scaffolding was up all throughout the court-yard but the inside was all good.

The main draw was the needlework done by Mary Queen of Scott’s and Bess of Hardwick. Mary worked on them when she was imprisoned at the hall. There were quite a few and they are very elaborate. They even had a pair of Mary’s embroidery scissors on display.

The house also boasted of a priest hole. It was right off the main bedchamber hidden in a tiny corner closet. I waited behind a just a few people to go down but then watched the man in front of me lay down on the ground and try to squeeze I. And decided that wasn’t for me. Instead I went up to the tower and enjoyed the view. Again the tower was just like 4 maybe 5 flights up so not real high.

The family chapel had a beautiful Antwerp Triptych from the Middle Ages. It was surprising to see it hidden in this relatively tiny chapel. It was kind of a distance from the house so not everyone was even venturing up to see it.

The property also bordered a nice community church that has two more of the terra-cotta tombs. Sadly the lead roof of the church was stolen in November and the rain was getting in and damaging one of the tombs. Not sure how anyone steals a lead roof off a church that sat right on the road in front of the main tourist attraction in the area and even more so across the street from the local bar. Regardless it is very sad that they did. The local community doesn’t have the money to replace it and at a pound per postcard I don’t think they will get there fast enough to save the tombs. Removing the roofs back when Henry VIII broke from Rome led to a lot of the ruins we have today. So it they cannot fix this roof soon only the walls will be left.

This was the first day we had any significant rain on the trip. Even then it didn’t last too long so we made it through alright. It was actually fun to walk through a small English town in the rain. Just wish I had worn the rain boots I carried over. So far they are the one thing I haven’t worn.

The big rush at all our stops was to get back in time to get ready for David Starkey to talk on Henry VII. He is one of the premier historians in England and the first one to really stress that you need to look at the person and their relationships and not just the position and government establishments. However, everyone set him up to be a fussy curmudgeon but he wasn’t so bad. His talk was very interesting claiming we didn’t put as much emphasis on the foreign takeover under Henry VII. All the people surrounding him were generally French and he used French soldiers to win the battle that made him king. He was a little “my way is right” but I guess I can forgive him for that.

He was at our table for the first course and he was pleasant during dinner. Feeling the need to participate in the discussion I spent a bit of time trying to come up with a good question. One of his students did a talk on the bus about Mary and how she was the forgotten queen. Here she was the first women to really govern England and she is so overshadowed by her sister that she gets no credit. Anyway at one point he noted on the vast number of records on Elizabeth and I asked if he thought whether today’s popularity had anything to do with the easier access to Elizabeth. He agreed he believed if they had more records on Mary it might balance her out a bit more. Right now everyone just focuses on the phantom pregnancies and the burning of the heretics. I felt good about my question and was glad the conversation moved on to another topic.

It was nice to have our regular historians Sarah and Nicola back for the next two courses.

I would have loved to had another beer in the airmen’s bar but I had enough wine with dinner and decided to go on up. The bar was pretty cool. It had signatures from the American WWII pilots that were stationed nearby. There was also a wall where they signed if they came back later in life. Their were several on there and they gave more a of a brief history on that wall. We had drinks in here the night before so that was going g to have to do.

Another great day in England.

Leeds Castle once referred to as the most beautiful castle in the world and something they still use on all their promotional items is quite breath taking. It sets on what appears to be a small island in a very small lake or has a very large moat surrounding it. Regardless it makes for great pictures.

Leeds was also purchased by an American in the mid 20th century. (After WWII Britain had an outrageous inheritance tax and not many could continue to afford the upkeep of these grand estates.) So most of the inside of the estate was decorated in high end mid century. More Newport Rhode Island than my house in fact the tour guide pointed out that a crocodile skinned desk in her bedroom was the most valuable piece in the castle.

There were enough Tudor reference in the castle to make it worth while to the tour fanatics. Henry and Katherine stayed at Leeds on their way to the “Field of Cloth of Gold” which was Henry’s negotiations for a treaty with France. There was a period painting depicting the travel to s
France and the crossing at Dover. To me it was just a lovely castle in a lovely setting.

The highlight of the visit was punting on the moat. I was a little nervous getting in but once everyone got settled and it quit rocking so much I enjoyed the ride. We glided around the base of the castle and into what was once and old bathhouse which was used by the visiting kings.

The castle also boasted of a black swan family and we got pretty close to two of them while punting around the castle. Both our tour and the punt ride took longer than scheduled so we didn’t have much time to spend looking at the grounds. So sadly we did not get to walk through the gardens.

On the bus they often explain where we are going or if that is not necessary some random topic. Today’s was on the wills of women in the Tudor time period. There were very few unless the women was a widow and generally only for personal items of jewelry. Anne of Vleves left her best price of jewelry to Mary and her second best to Elizabeth. They are not quite sure what those were or why she described them like that because she went on to be much more specific in detailing what went to other women. Anyway I found it to be one of the more interesting talks so far. However most of my back of the bus friends slept through it.

From Leeds we headed out to Knole another castle home in Suffolk. It was in a state or restoration which the now call conservation in England. They no longer try to restore things but find ways to prohibit additional deterioration. This castle had some great pieces. They had period copies of Raphael’s cartoons that were painted to make patterns for the tapestries that hang in the Sistine chapel. They had 5 and they took up all the room of the huge great hall. There was also several prices of pure silver in the Lady’s bedchamber. Their was a desk, two bedside tables and several large size mirrors made fully of silver. They pointed out that moat similar pieces were melted down at some point to pay taxes or debts so very few silver furniture peices survive. Very gaudy but beautiful. I think they would have looked better spread throughout the rooms rather all in one room.

We also got to see some conservation in process they had a gallery set up in the old barn, modernized to provide perfect conditions for storage and work on all the pieces from the house. We saw and talked to 2 college students working on two Venician style plant or lamp stands. They were painted wood and had suffered from some type of worm rot. They discussed the different techniques whether you should use the same materials used in the original or use modern advanced materials that would have longer lasting effect. Each was from a different school with different views so each stand was being treated differently. Maybe in the next 50 years they will know what worked best.

Tonight’s dinner was in a barn at an pub in a small village close to Hever. Again proseco as we walked in but this time beer was also an option for dinner. The food was delicious. I had sausage and mashed potatoes and my first bake well tart. Not a big fan of cherries but the cake potion was great. Much better than the sponge cake I fixed for book club.

It was not a late evening but we were super tired and went straight to bed after returning to the hotel. We have to pack up to leaveHeverin the morning and I don’t want to go. I think I could stay here forever.