January 19, 2004

• The weekend just goes too fast! Our friend Joe, from England, stopped by on Saturday, as well as another friend I know from online named Cynthia. We are the Hotel Lambert, hehe! Anyhow, the girls and I went to the zoo with them and saw the new baby panda, who turns five months old today. Oh my gosh, baby pandas are just wonderful. All rolly polly cute, toddling around, tipping over, snuggling with mommy. I am in love!

  
  

  Sunday I stole some time just for me and went out to a dollhouse miniature show in Anaheim and had a lovely time looking around and talking to my friends in my miniature groups. I found a lovely quilt for the bed in my dollhouse and became even more determined to finish the silly house so I can get on with decorating the inside. When I returned home in the afternoon I gave some serious attention to cleaning up the craft area in the laundry room so I will have a place to work.

  
  

  Gene and the girls are off today for Martin Luther King day, I am at work and jealous. I feel so behind on housekeeping with all the running around this last month. Next weekend is going to be some serious at home time! I kept attacking little bits in each room last night, in my hyper compulsive way, trying to get some order into things.

  
  

  So back to some more about our trip to England. The next day was December 26, known as Boxing Day in England, because people are fond of taking around their gifts (or "boxes") to friends and family that day. This day was also special because Gene was finally going to be arriving! So the morning started out early, so we could get to the airport in time to meet him. The girls were bouncing up and down to see him and he looked well, despite the long hours without enough leg room. On the way back to Joe's house, we saw people out on a couple other traditional activities for Boxing Day. One tradition is to go on long hikes, and despite the cold, we saw groups bundled up, parking on the side of a country road and heading off to just explore and enjoy the day. The other tradition is the fox hunt, which apparently has become very controversial in the county. Several people told us this will probably be the last year it is legal to do. We saw several groups of people on horseback, in full hunting garments.

  
  

  Once back to Joe's place, Gene took a well-earned shower and we had a nice lunch before heading off to Warwick castle to explore. Warwick castle has parts that are 1000 years old and while it is rather commercial and set up for tourists, it did have some lovely things to see.

  
  

  

  
  

  The Entry into Warwick Castle

  
  

  The sun sets much earlier in the winter in England, than in the US, so we had to get all the outside bits done first, before it got too dark and cold. There is a huge four story tower called Guy's Tower which we climbed up. I think it had about a million stairs, all tiny and circular, in a great deal of darkness, but then I am not the best with heights! It was built in the 14th century

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  Guy Tower

  
  

  Once at the top however, the view was amazing. I was torn between wanting to look at the beautiful view and freezing from the cold wind. Across from the tower we could get a clear view the "mound" which had been built back in the time of William the Conqueror in 1608. The idea at the time, was to put the building high on a hill, so that it would be harder for raiders to approach. It made it easier to see them, easier to dump nasty things on them or shoot them with arrows and easier to make a moat at the base of the mound.

  
  

  

  
  

  The View from the top of the Castle Walls. This is the Avon River.

  
  

  

  
  

  The Mound

  
  

  We then explored the inside which was primarily decorated in a Victorian Era style, and due to the holidays, also had Victorian style Christmas decorations which I really enjoyed. There was a huge Christmas tree in the great hall and musicians were dressed in period costume and singing Christmas carols. A guide told us the castle had been lived in up till 1978 and much of the decor was as it had been for the last residents.

  
  

  Becca was particularly fascinated by the dungeon and had to ask about a million questions about it and why people would be put into one and/or tortured. This became a recurring line of questioning for the remainder of the trip as we visited places like the Tower of London and Westminister Abbey. ("Why are there so many dead people buried here??")

  
  

  By the way, Warwick is pronounced War-ick, not War-wick. The second "w" is silent. I was told this a good number of times, but kept saying it wrong and kept having to correct myself. Silly American tourists! Next, our trip to Windsor!

  • 10:42 am
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