Day 66 (June 7): Bowes Museum & Barnard Castle

Today's outing proved a bit more challenging due to the fact that we missed our bus connection because of a late bus leaving Durham, and had to wait for the next bus in a town that was, well, not the least bit interesting.  So we walked up and down, ate our sandwiches, looked at our watches, and just tried to enjoy the fact that we were sitting at a bus stop in a random village in northeast England, in the rain.  (We did have rain jackets and umbrellas so no worries there.  We've learned to be prepared for rain at all times.)

Then, the bus that came through and picked us up took a rather roundabout "scenic" route to our destination...  but again, the bright side here is that we got to see some more of the English countryside for nothing extra!

the Bowes Museum

Turns out if we'd gotten to the museum when we'd originally planned that we'd probably have had too much time.  So it all worked out.

The museum was interesting, mainly for its fabulous building and over-the-top collections of paintings, porcelain, furnishings, and household decorations.  A lot to look at so at some point one does start to kinda "glaze over".

I don't remember what was so funny but I like this photo

Also in the town is Barnard Castle (ruins) which we visited in the light rain, after a short walk down the High St. and a stop in Costa Coffee.

girls are peering through the opening to the river below

today was Caroline's 14th birthday

inside one of the castle towers

view of the river Tees

Fortunately the bus ride back to Durham was efficient and uneventful.

Day 55 (May 27): Paris

Sunday morning in Paris, so we attended Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral.

International Mass (in French and English) was very well attended

lots of people and lots of languages heard -- on Pentecost Sunday

We chose to walk over to the Musee d'Orsay after Mass, which probably wasn't too smart as it was hot and by the time we got there, stood in line to enter and buy our tickets, and finally got into the exhibit halls, we were pretty wiped out!  It required a cafe visit and some ice cream & a very large and perfectly delicious chocolate eclair to perk us up.

me standing on the balcony of the Musee d'Orsay, overlooking the Seine with the Louvre on the other side

Of course no photos inside so you'll just have to imagine with me all the Impressionist paintings and marvelous statues and the incredible interior of the museum itself...  it was an awful lot to take in, but worth doing.

After our visit we headed back to the hotel for a rest and then a quick pasta dinner, before getting back on the Metro to the Arc d' Triomphe.

it's very big and very triumphant

After gawking for a bit we began the requisite stroll down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, ending on the Place de la Concorde.  We still wanted to see the Louvre (exterior only) but were fairly exhausted so we decided to spring for a ride in a bicycle taxi.  Best 10 Euro spent all day.

it's very grand

Day 52 (May 24): Durham and Beamish Museum, Pt. 2

Afternoon out to Beamish Open Air Museum today -- Chris rode with Grandad in his rental car (eek!) to help him get used to it, and the girls and I rode the Park & Ride to the bus station and took the bus from there.  This was our second visit to the Museum.

under the arbor at the Georgian house

It was another gorgeous day and we enjoyed our afternoon wander through the Georgian house, the Town, the Home Farm, and the Pit Village school and houses.

at the Georgian farm

front of the Home Farm

the Pit Village

the Coal Mine

early 20th century Town

Riding the bus back to town was fairly simple.  Dinner, a bit of TV (American Idol), and bed.

Day 39 (May 11): Durham to Edinburgh

Fairly early departure on the train to Edinburgh, arrival mid-morning.  Weather somewhat rainy but not too dismal.  Checked in to our hotel and left our luggage, headed straight to the Castle.

Robert Bruce and William Wallace are in the alcoves

After the Castle we walked down the Royal Mile, stopping to visit St. Giles Cathedral. 

back of St. Giles Cathedral and statue of Adam Smith

Rest in our hotel room and dinner and then another short walk down the rest of the Royal Mile to the bottom of the hill where Holyrood Palace and the new Scottish Parliament building is.

very interesting building/complex

words from I Cor 13 carved into stone on the ground inside the Parliament building

We had fun watching American Idol on the TV in our hotel room -- since we don't usually have TV and don't usually watch American Idol.

the sky outside our hotel room that night gave me hope about the next day's weather

Day 37 (May 9): Hadrian's Wall

Easy train ride to Newcastle + a day-ticket on Bus AD122 "The Hadrian's Wall Country Bus" and we were all set for a day out.

First stop was Housestead's Fort.

 

the Roman fort included the Wall along one side

Then we walked 3+ miles along the Wall which was really fun.  Lots of photo ops.

perspective on this is kinda funny -- the body of water is a HUGE lake that is very far down

up and down, up and down...  beautiful views everywhere!

At the end of our walk we had a nice lunch at a pub along the road and then got on the bus to our next stop which was Vindolanda.  This is a working archeological site and had some really wonderful ruins as well as a very informative museum.  Great spot.

crazy to think of all the people who lived here for hundreds of years

Easy bus ride back to Newcastle, train back to Durham.  Great day!

Day 35 (May 7): Durham

Quiet day here, rest and recovery for Zachary, and we've joined in.

We did venture out for a bit in the afternoon for a brief visit to the Oriental Museum.  (Which is all of about 50 feet away from our flat and not in the least bit over-whelming.  In fact, one might call it under-whelming.)

Day 26: Durham & Beamish Open Air Museum

The rain stayed away again today.  We took advantage of the good weather, walked to the bus station, and rode the bus to the Beamish Open Air Museum.  The weather cooperated and stayed really nice all day! 

The museum is divided into different sections, each representing an era in North of England's history:  a Georgian period gentleman farmer's "estate", a railway station with steam trains, 1913 Edwardian market town, early 1900s mining village and colliery, and an early 20th century farm.  There are fields and meadows in between and period buses and trams to take you from one part to another.  We didn't visit everything today since our ticket is good for future visits and we expect to go back.

we rode this steam train

garden at the Georgian-era gentleman's farm

view of the "Pit Village" and Colliery

What was most impressive from today's visit was when Caroline and I entered a mine and walked down a ways and saw the working conditions of the coal miners who worked here in the North East of England.   The Mahogany drift mine here was opened in 1850 and was worked for over 100 years. 

this mine originally went down 1.5 miles and 5 miles in each direction

I can't tell you how happy I was to get out of there and we were only down there for 10 minutes at the most.  Amazing what those miners did for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

Day 19: Durham

A Full English breakfast, or my approximation thereof, this morning: buttered toast, tomatoes, English-style bacon, fried egg.

The real thing also includes baked beans, a sausage, and "black pudding"

Oh, and I think only one tomato half.

a sweet building with a rich history

We visited the small Durham Heritage Museum in town today, the best part was the building it was housed in, an old church which (of course) is no longer used as a church. 

Then a few stops in a couple of shops, and back to the flat, with a stop here and there for pictures.  Durham has some really cool old bridges.

Old Elvet Bridge was built in the 12th century!...  can you see the yellow fields in the distance?

I spent the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening deeply immersed in travel planning.  Now that I've had a week or so to recover, I am ready to think about new adventures!

Day 12 (April 14): York

We started the day with a full English breakfast (of course) which is a definite perk of travelling in the U.K.  Then off to pick up a free guided city tour.  Unfortunately it rained through much of it and was very cold...  we learned our lesson to always be prepared with a rain jacket and warm layers.

cold & rainy & very historical York

After warming up with Cornish pasties and hot chocolate, we toured the York Castle Museum anc Clifford's Tower.

not really

Dinner at an Italian restaurant.  A full day.

Day 11 (April 13): London to York

Breakfast, packed up, took the bus over to the Museum of London and looked around for a bit.  Back to the hotel, ate lunch, and left to get a train from King's Cross Station.

York Minster

Several hours later arrived York and got a cab to our guesthouse.  Wandered around a bit, got dinner, called it a day.

Day 10 (April 12): London

Quiet day in London.  Caroline and I took it easy and went into the British Museum for about 45 minutes.  I did a bit of shopping.  Chris went to the Churchill War Rooms and the Imperial War Museums. 

In the evening we went to St. Paul's Cathedral for Evensong.

the dome...it's really incredibly indescribably gorgeous inside... no photos allowed, though

the front (can't see the dome)

And then we had a really nice visit with my cousin and his wife and adorable baby.  They live in Mayfair so we got to see a different part of the city which was also cool.

Emily, Chris, Vivaan, Devyani, Caroline

Day 4 (April 6): Paris

First on the agenda this morning was to go up to the top of the Notre Dame cathedral towers.  Lines were long so best to get in early.  We managed it and got some good views all-around.

view out the front of the Cathedral

view back towards the cathedral itself

The afternoon's task was the Louvre.  We split our visit up with a break in the middle for lunch & ice cream...  that museum is exhausting.

central courtyard inside the Louvre--no entrance grander

It was Good Friday so after a quick break at the hotel we went to a service at St. Sulpice.   

Then bed.