Warwick Castle

During my father's visit to England, we got a chance to go out and see a real-life castle (we've seen many castles, especially in World of Warcraft, but this was our first REAL castle).  We headed east and visited Warwick Castle (pronounced war-ick).  The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068, and after a long military history, converted to a country house and gardens in 1604.  After nearly four centuries of improvements and restorations, the Tussauds (of wax museum fame) bought it and turned it into a theme park.  Despite the obvious tourist trap, we went and thought since it was a week day, there would be less crowds and hardly any kids... dead wrong.  It was the local schools' spring break and the grounds were loaded with families off work and school.  That was all right, though.  That meant there were more volunteers to "fight the dragon" and "attend Merlin's wizard school."  It was a mini theme park, with costumed workers that basically lived a Renaissance Festival everyday. 

As we toured around, we got to climb the highest tower and look down onto the modern city that naturally formed around the castle.  At first I was thinking, "Man, why don't they just have these castles out in the country-sides?"  Then I realized, that the evolution of the city started within the castle walls and worked its way outward.  So, in the middle of downtown, there was a castle, similar to our city halls.  I just needed to remember that this didn't start out as a tourist attraction.

As we entered the main hall, we got to view all sorts of weapons and armor (armour) of the time.  Knights who say, " ... " because they were just displays, hehe! 

Past the hall were the living quarters.  There was even a royal suite, reserved for distinguished visitors to the castle.  The touring trail lead to all parts of the castle, including the servants quarters, armories, and various storage rooms.  The River Avon that ran along-side the castle was also used by a mill for a natural power source. 

Back outside, we wandered around the court and looked at all the booths.  We walked to some of the outer walls and saw how difficult it must have been to attack/defend the castle during times of war.  They had on display a ballista and a trebuchet, however, they we were not allowed to "try them out" on some of the castle walls.

 We had a blast, and can't wait to go visit some more castles during our European travels.

~Blake

Cooper's New Coat

Cooper's Grandma Colleen sent him a warm fluffy coat to keep warm in the cold English winter :)

Hinchingbrooke Country Park

East Anglia is chock-full of parks, trails, and open spaces, and our goal is to visit as many as we can.  At this time of year, this means braving the rain, cold, and especially mud.  Such was the case on the Saturday afternoon of our family outing to Hinchingbrooke Country Park.  The rain took a brief hiatus, so we quickly bundled up and hurried to the trails with the remaining daylight (always in short supply during an English winter).  We passed plenty of families flying kites and kicking soccer balls in big open fields, and eventually arrived at a network of trails.  Not knowing which way to go, we choose a path based on aesthetics… who can resist a rustic mossy bridge???

Once we’d crossed over the creek, we came upon many ponds and lakes.  The water was iced over where the waterfowl didn’t swim, and the sky reflected attractively off the surfaces.  We also found plenty of water on the trail itself.  While Blake and I tried our best to dodge the puddles, Cooper relished in getting as muddy as possible.  He also engaged in a few futile but entertaining attempts to ‘greet’ a duck.

The loop back took us over more bridges, and down a long corridor of trees.  I bet this place will be beautiful when the leaves fill in on the overhanging branches.  We’ll definitely be back in the spring!

~Lindsay

Anniversary Trip to London

We began our anniversary trip to London by driving to the Huntingdon Train Station and buying round trip tickets and an Underground pass for the day.  We left Huntingdon, and after seeing lots of different landscapes, we arrived at King's Cross Station.  There, we connected to the Underground and after a quick orientation on how to use the maps, we started our journey towards Trafalgar's Square.  We made it without a hitch and started wandering around downtown London.

Our first stop was the National Gallery.  We've been to art museums before, but this was in another league.  The rooms had that ‘ancient artwork’ smell to them and the ceilings were probably 30 feet high.  We went through each room looking and commenting to each other on what we liked and disliked.  Since we really aren't huge art nuts, most of our comments were ooohhhs and aaahhhhs.

We stopped and ate lunch at a restaurant in the square, and I sampled, of course, their bacon cheese burger.  Not bad, British bacon isn't my favorite, but I can handle it.  There were lots of tourists in the restaurant.  We noticed a few other Americans there by their accents as they walked passed.  The people next to us were French. We also walked around Trafalgar Square some more and saw the Admiralty Arch.

We then walked towards the National Portrait Gallery.  Since we watched lots of British history DVDs when we first arrived in England, we actually knew who a lot of these people were.  Huge rooms were dedicated to a time frame or a royal family.  There was even a pop culture exhibit too.

It was getting late and we wanted to see the river before we left, so we trusted my excellent orienteering skills and starting walking in the exact opposite direction from the river.  I kept thinking to myself that it was just around the corner, or just behind that building.  Nope, straight backwards from where we started.  Our little diversion did pay off though.  We stopped and had gelato at a small cafe along the road, and Lindsay got her fix for the time being.  We ended up in Piccadilly Circus and saw the legendary Sanyo sign and got to do a bit of window shopping in that area.  We followed the Underground sign and found a good route back to King's Cross. 

We had to wait awhile at the train station for the next train to Huntingdon, so we bought a couple hot chocolates and drank them while we waited.  We forgot that the English don't use as much sugar in their sweet drinks, so we were unpleasantly surprised by the bitter taste.  Oh well, it was still chocolate.

It was dark when we got back to Huntingdon to our very lonely Cooper.  He was glad to see that we made it home safely.  All in all, a wonderful anniversary trip.  We hope next year can be even more exciting!

~Blake

Huntingdon Riverside Park

We always like to take Cooper on as many outings as we can, and one weekend, we went to a little park next to the Great River Ouse in Huntingdon.  It was overcast and wet, go figure, so we dressed warm and with old shoes we hit the park around mid day.  The car park was easy to find, however, we had to "Pay and Display," they call it, to park, so we dropped a pound for just entering the park.  Then we followed some nice small paths along the river and got to see lots of water fowl flying and swimming around the river.  Sometimes, Cooper would see one he wanted to "befriend" and chase them into the water.  As we continued, we crossed a few small streams that fed into the river and each one had a cute little bridge.  When we got to the end, there was a small quay perpendicular to the 14th century ‘Old Bridge’.  There along the quay, Cooper got to meet some very large swans that weren't as frightened as the ducks and seagulls he had met before.  These swans rapidly approached him, hissing and bulking up feathers along the way.  Cooper wasn't having it.  We quickly returned to the topside of the quay area and soon (after Lindsay took a few pictures) we walked back to the car park and finished our excursion.  Cooper was muddy from nose to tail, so just like our old beach trips, he got a nice bath when we got home.  

~Blake