Sunday, February 3, 2013

UK 2013 part 3 - South of Liverpool



Last I wrote I had been looking for taverns.
Argh!!! 


Then I went on to do some actual planning. I will get back to lodging later.

 Assuming we would be arriving in Ireland on a Saturday, then moving to the London area mid-week, the next part of the planning is the Cotswold district.


Mid-week:
Visit the Cotswolds. Windsor will be packed anytime, but the Cotswolds will probably be empty of tourists during the week.


I discoverede the Cotswold District by chance last trip-planning, while searching with the key words "Quaint villages in England." I started reading on them and the name Cotswolds got mentioned a lot. So I started narrowing my search by using that word too! 

 Cotswold means any of an English breed of a large, long-wooled sheep. That area had its hay day during the height of the wool industry.That's why you'll see huge cathedrals there. As wool declined, so did the area. The houses decayed and the people could not modernize them. It stayed stuck in time, giving the Costwolds that quaint little-village atmosphere my Dean so dearly wanted to see. Who would have thought their demise would also become their glory.

While searching, I came across this website: http://www.cotswolds.info/places/ 
It has given me a north on my trip planning. It lists (probably) all the Cotswolds towns and some suggestions of where to eat and where to stay.

This Website helps you navigate the Costwolds. It even has a map to give you an idea of what the are is like.
While in the website, check out a link that talks about deserted towns: http://www.cotswolds.info/blogs/deserted-villages.shtml#deserted_villages
Saturday morning: 
Visit the Windsor Castle. 
£17.50 each, and extra £5.45 each to visit the Great Kitchen (which has been active for nearly 750 years).

They suggest you plan to arrive after 11:30, when it's  less busy, and plan about 2.5 to 3 hours for that visit.

But from March to October the place is open 09:45-5:15 (with last admission at 4pm). 
You can also choose the tower tour instead of the kitchen; there's the tour of the Queen Mary's Doll House. Check their website. The Semi-State rooms won't. They only open from October to March (odd!)

We want to be there as soon as it opens. We will try to see the change of the guard there instead of in London. Check out the dates for the change of the guard. I July it happens everyday. From August to March, it happens every other day.

 In the afternoon: 
Visit London.
No, we are not doing the London sight-seeing stuff.  We've done that, and decided no need to repeat it. If we were doing the London experience, we would need more time - like last time. We did sight-seeing and we went into several buildings, such as the Jewel Tower, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London.
This time, we are going to London for some private reasons. ....  a few old-style-shaving stores (Taylor of Old Bond Street is one of them), and Paul's house. You know which Paul I mean - the love of my life, the most talented musician on earth - and yes, I know where his house is. What kind of a Beatles fan would I be if I didn't know that? 
If I am lucky he will be there ... if not lucky, I will leave a note... something like, "Drop Nancy, I'm yours." kind of thing. Oops, did Dean hear that?

 Pick and Choose
We were going to try to visit the Buckingham Palace, but chose to skip it. Since our time is limited and we want to prioritize our own little selfish reasons to go there, we chose to pick one royal home to see, and we picked Windsor. Why? Windsor will definitely be open in either July or August, while before July 27 the state rooms in Buckingham are closed for visitors.

We could co see the Royal Mews (the stable) or the Queen's Gallery (I am so not an artsy person...) 

 The change of the guard, happens everyday (from May to July) at 11:30 till July. But I read in a forum at Rick Steves website that the one at Windsor is more beautiful. Also It costs  £19.00 (latest admission at 4:45) versus £17.50 from Windsor.

It's breaking my heart that we can't go in to have a cup of tea with Her Majesty... but hey I will survive...


Sunday 
Church in Wendover to try to find Humphreys. Rest of the day to follow up on clues about the Humphreys.

Monday 
So far on Monday we will drive up to Liverpool and maybe York.
The Beatles Liverpool is already out of my system. I did it last time. I'm good. ... I did my once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Beatles Mecca.
We have also already done the York thing (even though we didn't make it into the Cathedral). If you want to know about those places, read my memoirs of UK2011 trip.
The reasons we might stop by Liverpool or York is to meet friends of Dean for a drink or meal while we drive up to our next destination - the Lake District.

 However, I have suggested Dean to maybe look into genealogical archives in Wendover on Monday, skipping Liverpool and York altogether.

Well, that's all for now, folks!

Here are the links for the places I have mentioned in this post:
Costwolds information place: http://www.cotswolds.info/places/
What's cool about it: The Costswolds is a place where, centuries ago, the Wool industry made afluent. With the decline of the wool industry, so did the affluence of the area. T
What's cool about it: The Buckingham Palace is the working headquarters of the Monarchy, where The Queen carries out her official and ceremonial duties as Head of State of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth.

What's cool about it: Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. It has been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years. It is an official residence of Her Majesty The Queen. The Kitchen has been active for about 750 years. And I read on a Rick Steves discussion forum (where people give their opinions) that the change of the guard there is much more impressive than at Buckingham.
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