The taxes are done!!!! Soon I will post the England journal. Remember to go back in time to read it. Start with March 30.

I will post the England journal as soon as I do my taxes. ARRRGHH!!

Not too much to say here. Charles and Judy took us to the Gatwick where we were met by Brendan. Caitlan left with him to spend Easter together. A bit of a tearful good-by. We had extra time after we got through security to do a little shopping. Jerome bought some special Scotch and then almost lost it when we got to Detroit because we had to go through security again and couldn’t take liquids in our carry-ons. He worked it out, though. I watched the movie HOLIDAY on the way back, and it made me nostalgic for England already. When we left London it was seventy degrees, and when we got into Detroit it was 27! We had some kind of baked chicken breast to eat and some wine to drink. I couldn’t sleep so I did sudoku and read HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. In Detroit while we were waiting in line at customs, I entertained Jerome and Janet with my rendition of Barney McCabe. Janet’s Uncle Gene picked us up at the airport, and then Jerome and Janet drove us home. We stopped on the way to get two very homesick puppies. I loved our trip. I’ll go back with anyone who wants to go! Thanks, J&J for making it possible. I love you both very much.

Good Friday. Thank you, Lord, or the gift of your Son.

Today Judy and Charles came at 10 a.m., and we headed out to Leeds Castle after a breakfast of tea and fish sandwiches. Leeds Castle was crowded because it was a holiday, so we had to queue up to get in. Once you have been to Leeds during a year, you can get in for the rest of the year for free. Many families were there picnicking, etc. There were daffodils and other flowers in abundance. The day was perfect–warm and sunny. Lady Baillie, the last owner of Leeds, loved birds. We saw peacocks, including a white one, and many waterfowl. Black swans were her crest, and there were many there (as well as white). Also geese, duck, birds of prey, and an aviary with birds from all over the world. Th castle is considered by some to be the most beautiful in England. It was a Norman castle and is huge with a moat and a keep. There was also a dog collar museum, a huge yew maze which I wanted Ian to see (we would never have gotten out if a kind lady hadn’t given us signals on how to get to the center) and an underground grotto.

On our way home we stopped at a so-called pub–Crown Point Inn. I guess it was a franchise. KK and I had nachos, a Greek salad, and roasted vegetables (mostly red onion) with hummus. I almost had a chandy (lager with lemonade) which they say is good, but I thought better of it. Someday I’ll try one. It was a nice sunset drive back, and we were so thanful for Judy and Charles’s taxi service. We watched a show about buying houses in England and Spain and then went to Stables (the restaurant in our hotel) for dessert. I had a latte, and KK and I shared some kind of delicious chocolate gooey think baked in a teacup. Jerome had a cheese tray, and Janet had bread pudding. Everything was delicious. We came back and watched LAW AND ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT while we reorganized and packed. Tomorrow–time to fly out of England. I’d love to have another week!

Today was hiking day. We ate brunch at Jerome’s and Janet’s (our baguettes) and hiked around the golf course to the Wheatsheaf pub in bough Beech. It was a beautiful day–bright and sunny. We stopped for J2O for KK, ale and beer for Jerome and me, and wine for Janet. Then more hiking to Chiddingstone where we saw the actual Chiding Stone, the little village where Perry Como had made a Christmas special, Virgin Mary Church (we could hear singers rehearsing for Maundy Thursday service). We had met a resident gentleman on the golf course who had lived in Nashville at one time and had a connection with Vanderbilt. We saw him again in Chiddingstone, and he told us about the area. We couldn’t go into Chiddingstone Castle because it is being renovated, but we did get a few pictures from the roadside.

Caitlan and Jerome went swinging on a tree swing that we found in a meadow. We also saw several bunkers built in the fields during World War II. We think that they were reached from underground. The openings in the sides were only big enought to shoot out of, but we figured that if Josh had been with us, he would have wriggled inside to get a souvenir of some sort.

We finally headed back to the Wheatsheaf and had a lovely dinner(hummus and pita, broiled goat cheese, pork tenderloin and guinea fowl breast which was really delicious) with wine and good conversation. We saw the bike couple from the train and Janet found out that at least the woman was from the Czech Republic. I think the Wheatsheaf was our favorite pub so far.

We had to hike back across the golf course in the dark which was a little scary, but the stars were out, and Jerome and I found Orion’s Belt and the Big Dipper. Then we got back to the hotel, watched HOUSE, said our Holy Thursday prayers and readings and called it a night. KK and I wanted to take long hot baths again but there was no hot water. So we watched CSI instead.

This was our whirlwind tour of Oxford day. We spent a lot of time on trains. We would have left earlier but couldn’t get a taxi from Hever Hotel until later. Then we went from Edenbridge to Redhill to Reading to Oxford with some fast runs and a few missed trains in between. Luckily there’s always another train a bit later. When we got to Oxford, we walked to Regents Park College, Caitlan’s home college. On the way we went through a street market, and Jerome bought Greek olives with feta. Very yummy. We were able to get into KK’s room so we used her internet to call Mombo and Kyle. Also had some tea and a light lunch.

Then we went to the Ashmolean Museum and spent most of our time in the art gallery since our time was limited. They asked me to fill out a survey, which I did, so I got some free postcard art. I enjoyed the galleries. They had a Van Gogh, a Monet, several Manets, and a Matisse. Lots of Turner also. We took a walk down Cornmarket Street and saw Christ’s Church College from the outside (BEAUTIFUL!). Jerome was really into his door and gate picture-taking. We also saw the Isis (what the Thames is called in Oxford) where Caitlan rows, her Catholic Chaplaincy on campus (only from the outside), and St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church where she also goes sometimes (they have a solemn Mass, all in Latin–I guess those four years were worth it!). We picked up some crosses made from blessed palms to bring home as souvenirs. Janet got some holy water.

We went to The Eagle and Child for dinner. This is where the Inklings (JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and others) met daily to read each others’ works. We had fish and chips and steak and ale pie. We met some people from Kansas. Afterward we stopped for ice cream but ended up having hot chocolate because we were cold (Jerome had ice cream with sprinkles). It’s where we saw the “Moona Lisa.” On our way to the train we stopped at Sainsbury’s for milk and some biscuits (cookies) and chips. We had gotten some baguette sandwiches earlier in the day for lunch tomorrow (tuna and chicken) at the deli/internet cafe next door to The Eagle and Child.

We made it to the train and read or did crossword puzzles on the way back to Edenbridge City. We walked to a gas station to call a taxi (we were supposed to go to a pub, but got our directions mixed up), but one didn’t come so Jerome and Janet walked to the cab stand and finally flagged one down. There was another couple with bikes who were also on the train and who also need to come back to the Hever Hotel, but they said they needed their own cab, so we went on without them. Just as well as they didn’t fit anyway.

I took a long hot bath later. I love the English tubs–long enough and deep enough with a nice place to rest your head. And the best of all–towel warmers. I will have both one day!! It was really good to see where KK spends her days. It will help me visualize things better. Her dorm is very old and monastery-like. But then, Oxford is old, right?

Quite amazing day. We slept in late and then went to J & J’s room where we brunched on fruit, cheese, hummus, and muffin. KK down-loaded all our pictures to her laptop. Then we started walking down Hever Road. It was a little scary because some places in the road had no shoulder. It was a beautiful roadside–brook, horses, sheep, old Tudor-syle homes. We enjoyed the gift shop at Hever Castle and saw wonderful miniatures of homes during various periods of English history. We also found a raincoat and wellies for Carla Molina, but we didn’t buy them. We also toured the castle. It was where Anne Boleyn lived when she was young. Probably she was born there. We learned a lot about her family and Henry VIII and his six wives. There were wax figures in period costumes. The Astor family owned the estate for a while so we learned about that period, too.

Then we went all over the grounds and gardens. Some flowers were in bloom–lots of daffodils and one beautiful garden of hyacinths, gorgeous lake and Italian garden. It was cold and cloudy but that was good weather for photography. We ate at a pub across the road called Henry VIII. Jerome had some ale which I shared. We had a salad with warm goat cheese and walnuts, whitebait with garlic mayonnaise (we didn’t really know what it was before we ordered it on the barkeep’s recommendation, but when the french-fried whole little fish came out, we just ignored their little eyes and ate them anyway), salmon and haddock fishcakes with chips and salad, mushroom stroganoff with rice and beans and peas, lamb shank with carrots and mashed potatoes. We got to see a beautiful black lab and a Welch corgi in the pub. That made me miss Greg.

As we were leaving, we noticed people going into St. Peter’s Church where Anne Boleyn’s father, Thomas Bullen is buried. They were walking to the church from around the village with their torches (flashlights). The church has impressive brass plates that would have made really interesting rubbings. We said complines (night prayers) with the people from the village. Afterward the priest talked to us, and then the rector told us the history of the church. He said that Anne changed her name from Bullen to Boleyn after she had gone to France to study and had “gotten airs.” It was very informative, but unfortunately it was really dark when we came out, and we had to walk back to Hever Hotel, so that was pretty terrifying. We prayed our Lord Michaels on the way.

When we got back, we had tea at J&J’s and watched a program on Tourette’s syndrome and its connection to creativity (we think maybe Janet has a little bit of it because she counts things a lot 🙂 🙂 ). Then KK and I came home and watched CSI–Miami.

We headed out via taxi (van) after having said morning prayer with Jerome and Janet and went to Edenbridge Town where we caught a train to London. Because it was after 10 we got off peak tickets for five pounds fifty which took us on the train, the bus, and the tube. Great deal! We made some changes and ended up in Battersea Park at Brendan’s flat where we dropped of his stuff and checked our email. Then we stopped at a small grocer’s across the way, got baguettes, hummus, olives, cheese, and wine for lunch, hopped back on the bus, and took it to the tube where we got off at Westminster.

We saw the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London bobbies, Churchill’s statue, Westminster Abbey, and St. Margaret’s Church (Parliament’s Church). We went inside there, but didn’t go inside Westminster Abbey. We sat in Parliament Square (no, maybe it was Westminster Abbey Churchyard) and ate our picnic. Then on the tube to the British Museum. We had to go on a big DOWN ESCALATOR, but Jerome pulled me (helped me) on, but I cried a little. Once I was on, it was ok. We saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin marbles, and a lot of the Egyptian exhibit (mummies, canopic jars, funerary amulets, book of the dead pages, and a body that had been preserved in an open grave–desert sand preserved it). Unfortunately, we could only stay until 5:30, but we were pretty wiped out so we walked to Covent Garden and ate at Zizzi’s–had wonderful salad, crostini (goat cheese and caramelized onions), bruschetti (balsamic with red and yellow cherry tomatoes), three kinds of pizza and a calzone. We also had chianti. All good. Then we walked to Leicester Square just to see the night life and the handprints in bronze (Arnold, Clint, Pierce, etc.)

Back to Victoria Station where Brendan put us on the train and he caught his bus. Luckily we had Caitlan along to get us the rest of the way back to Edenbridge. The weather was perfect all day. When we got there we thought we’d walk to the cab station and eaily get a cab but they were all out. We waited a while and finally one showed up. He took us on a fast (wild) ride back to the hotel, but it only cost six pounds for the lot of us. Then we had tea and biscuits with Jerome and Janet before night prayers. KK and I came back to our room. Nothing good on tv so we read and went to sleep. I miss Brendan already.

We were up early and drove to Leigh on Sea wtih Judy and Charles. We stopped at their flat (very cute–1 bedroom, living room, kitchen and bath) then walked to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for Palm Sunday Mass. we began with palms and procession from outside. It was a very old church–prety stained glass but all statuary covered with purple. Many young children in the congregation. After church we ate meat pie and hot cross buns. Charles and Judy returned from their church, and we took a driving tour of Leigh on Sea, Southend on Sea and Wahering. We saw Priory Park and MOD (Ministry of Defense) outpost. Had softserve ice cream (very rich) from Rossi’s. The we went to Ruth and Len’s house (friends of Judy’s) and Jerome worked on Tulah who had been in a car wreck and has been in pain for three years. They are very evangelical Christians. Very pretty home. For supper we went to the Tandoori Parlor for an Indian buffet. I liked the appetizers best. Long drive back to Hever Hotal. Brendan, Caitlan, and I worked crossword puzzles together much of the day. It was good getting to know Judy and Charles. He is very funny. Wish Brendan could spend more time with us, though. Sorry tomorrow will be his last day with us.

We arrived at Gatwick Airport about 10 a.m. Judy and Charlie, friends of Jerome, met us with their van. Brendan was at Gatwick also. It was so good to see him. They brought us all back to Hever Hotel in Kent (the Garden of England). The hotel was located a mile from Hever Castle which is where Anne Boleyn grew up. We unpacked and headed for Rye, a picturesque coastal town where we ate at the Fletcher Inn, a precious little tea room with teapot collections all about. Caitlan, Brendan and I shared shepherd’s pie (sweet potatoes on top?!), risotto pie, and potato leek soup. Everything was good. We looked at various antique shops and used book stores. Jerome got into a conversation with a bookstore lady about old medical texts, and I bought two blue glass bottles for a pound fifty each. Janet bought a tray with a glass covered watercolor print of Frankfurt. Jerome stayed busy taking pictures of doors and cobblestones.

We also walked down the pier and touched the water of the English Channel at Hastings. Janet and Caitlan picked up rock souvenirs and Brendan took many pictures. Judy and Charlied drove us back to Hever and decided to stay the night. We had tea and biscuits before bed.