Scotland Scenery

We thought you may enjoy seeing some various shots we took of the scenery in Scotland. The white "dots" on picture below are sheep. Also notice the headrows on the picture below.

Canterbury Cathedral

Last weekend, October 3-4, we did an overnight trip to Canterbury & Dover. After getting a rental car, we left Cambridge and drove south and then east to Canterbury. First we had a delicious lunch at a local Fish & Chip shop. Then we went to see the impressive Canterbury Cathedral. The building we saw dates back to about 1070. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the entire Anglican Church. In addition, St. Thomas Beckett was martyred here in the 12th Century. After we left Canterbury we drove further southeast to Folkestone, where we stayed overnight. The next morning, Dover was less than a half hour drive.


Below are some pictures of Canterbury Cathedral.

Outside the Cathedral.

Memorial at the site where Thomas Beckett was murdered in 1170.

A memorial area for soldiers of WWI...the flags are very, very old.

Some statues before the entrance into the quire.

The beautiful ceiling in one area of the cathedral.

Dover Castle

Next we went to Dover Castle. We spent most of the day here because there was so much to see. It was a chilly, windy day, but we avoided the rain! Dover Castle can be traced back to 1066 when William the Conqueror built a castle, although there was probably an iron age fort here before then. In the 12th & 13th centuries, successive kings rebuilt & extended the castle into what is it today. It has a massive underground tunnel system, which we saw, but could not take photographs. It is from Dover Castle that Ramsay organized & directed the famous evaculation from Dunkirk, France during WWII and over 338,000 lives were saved.

Below are some pictures of some walls and gates at Dover Castle.

An ariel view of the Saxon Church & the Roman Lighthouse.

Dover Castle & our rental car

Here are some more pictures we took at Dover Castle and the final picture is of our little rental car!

A Roman Lighthouse from the first century A.D.

The inside of a Saxon Church.

The "White Cliffs" of Dover.

It was extremely windy!

Here is our little (very, very little) rental car. It is a Ford Ka.

London!

On Saturday we made an impromptu trip to London. We got some great seats for the show, "Spamalot!" so we took the train into London for the day. We enjoyed walking around the city, dinner in Chinatown and especially the show.

The London Eye. We've been on it a few times...but not this trip.

A close-up of one of the "pods," which can hold 20 people (at least).

Big Ben, part of the Houses of Parliament, an iconic feature of London.

This close-up shows the beauty of Big Ben (click on pic to enlarge).

Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana's funeral was held).

Buckingham Palace & Horse Guards

A few pictures of the Buckingham Palace area plus one of the Horse Guards.

Buckingham Palace...the flag was up so the queen was in that day.

A statue within the roundabout at the Palace.

One of the gates.

One of the guards at the Palace.

One of the Horse Guards (not at the Palace, but in different area of Westminster, London)

Spamalot!...and some other sites

The Palace Theatre where we saw "Spamalot!"

Here we are in The Albert Pub. We stopped in since we had lunch here a few times before when we were in London.

For the Harry Potter fans, here are pictures of the infamous Platform 9 3/4 at London's King's Cross Rail Station.