Dr. and Mrs. B go on Holiday

Last Fall, I was sitting at the computer thinking about life and thinking about how we really enjoyed our trip to England in October of 2016 and how our friends that gave us free lodging would be moving back to the states June 2018 and how if we wanted to get back over there, we really needed to go over Eric's spring break...and so I checked airplane tickets.  Turned out on that particular day...they were $700 out of Montgomery.  Crazy!  I contacted our friends and my in-laws who had offered to watch the kids so we could house hunt for the next assignment over that spring break.  Everyone was supportive of a trip to England...except the airlines that increased the price to over $1000 in the couple hours it took for me to make a decision...

I told Eric about the afternoon's events and he was pretty disappointed I didn't just jump on the opportunity.  I felt deflated as well.  A whole week off from being a Stay at Home Mom is a break that does not come every year...or decade.  I set up a price alert figuring it was a long shot at best to get prices as low as I was willing to pay for a spur of the moment trip.

But!  Delta came through.  A couple of weeks later we were packing for a camping trip when I got an update that the price had dropped even more and the times were better.  Eric threw his wallet at me and about 30 minutes later...we were booked on flights to England! (sorry for that long story...I know the picture above pretty much gave it away.  Not many 700 year old churches around these parts)

Eric and I flew to England without kids on March 10th.  The miracle of flight is incredible.  In just 12 hours of travel, we were walking around Bath, England. Not that I have many pictures of Bath.  I will blame jet lag.  However, the next day, Eric planned a day to trip to Gloucester and Blockley where these pictures were taken.

Gloucester has a beautiful cathedral were used in the filming of Harry Potter.  I had a twinge of guilt that I hadn't found the funds to bring Will and Dom...but, I got over it.

See?  I wasn't lying:

Within the sanctuary, Edward II was buried. 

 As well as Robert of Normandy, the son of William the Conquerer

And now you know about as much as I do on their historical significance.  That said, the boys and I have been reading up on the monarch of England, and I'm sure both of these men were in the book.  Cue guilty feelings again...And, yet, I still got over them!

 Following Eric's home run selection of Gloucester Cathedral, we headed to Blockley, a town in the Cotswolds where Fr. Brown Mysteries is filmed.  This is the one show that Eric and I watch.  I watch it because I enjoy the ridiculous British humor and caricatures and he watches it because he loves me.  I admit, some  most of the story lines are over the top, but it is Arthur Weasley as a Catholic Priest...what is not to love? 

And it is apparently not so popular that this little town was over run by fans.  In fact, Eric and I were the only ones.  It was perfect.  We just walked the quiet streets and even took a brief sojourn on a public path which intrigued me 18 months ago, but I didn't venture to explore with four kids, one of which would refuse to walk on occasion...

One day, I would like to do a walking tour of the Cotswolds.  Though, perhaps during a warmer month.  Do they have warmer months in England?

I did buy a tea towel with a bicycle riding Fr. Brown.  It is perfect.  In related news, I've traded my shot glass collecting habits for tea towels.  Much more useful. 

Speaking of spending money, our biggest splurge throughout our week was daily tea.  This is a fantastic tradition, by the way.  One that Eric and I have attempted to continue since returning home.  It really hits the spot on a cold afternoon.  As does a slice of chocolate cake!  I suspect we will particularly employ this tradition next year in our new home farther north, which Molly is all for!

My filtered photos.  Turned out rather nice. If I do say so myself. Thanks Instagram!

On Tuesday, we continued to not have any real plans aside from visiting Oxford, Cambridge, and eventually ending up at our friends house.

In Oxford, we visited one of the college grounds...and I don't know which one it was.  It wasn't particularly memorable, though we did turn the corner at one point and found a statue of John Henry Cardinal Newman.

And after several misfires, we located the cemetery where JRR Tolkien was laid to rest along with his wife, Edith:

As we drove into Cambridge we saw the US military cemetery for the soldiers of World War II.  It was a beautiful site.  Particularly in contrast to the cemetery outside of Oxford where several of the tombstones were in disrepair.

There was a sea of white crosses and stars of David, each marking an American who gave his or her life overseas.

As well as a wall for those whose bodies were never recovered.  Including Major Alton Glenn Miller.

And Lt. Col Vance, for whom Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma is named.  Much of the stress of the earlier excursions melted away as these sacrifices put our own troubles into a bit of perspective.

And then we entered Cambridge and were met with blue skies and breathtaking architecture.  It was a wonderful place to have our afternoon tea and relax a bit.  Which was good in that we were about to find a parking ticket on our car.  Ah well...What is 25 pounds between allies?

We headed to our friends' and arrived in time for a delicious meal and to sort of plan an overnight trip to York the next day.  I didn't know much about York, but Rick Steve's highly recommended it in his tour book.  And I'm so glad we made the 4 hour drive north to see it.

Eric and I got a few hands of cribbage in while stuck in traffic on the A14...or it was another A...All I know is that I was winning when the traffic started moving again.

York was amazing.  It has a lot of history that Eric and I were unaware of. And random beds of Crocuses.

There has been quite a bit of excavation done, so one can see where the Roman city once stood as well as the Medieval City.  The York Minster is incredible and has stood since the 1200s.  It is also the site (though not the building) where Constantine was declared the Emperor of Rome.  Who knew?  Probably a lot of people, but not this particular person...

It was also incredible to just walk along the streets of York where the shops had stood for several hundred years.

I mentioned to Eric that visiting Universal Studios ruined me for this place a bit, because I just felt like it was all a facade.  Yet, it isn't!  It's all real!  The above is The Shambles, which we walked along at least 10 times.  At the end of the street were three wizard stored dedicated to Harry Potter paraphenalia.

  They all sold the exact same things...well, we only saw the invisibility cloak in one.  It was out of our price range.  Much to Will's chagrin.

The next morning we headed to the Minster and roamed the interior for a couple of hours.  There was so much to see and read.  Memorials cover the sides and are on the floor.  Actually there are memorials in nearly all of the churches we visited.  The above made me smile because it goes on for a bit about the (most likely) richer woman, and then throws in that her sister is there as well.  Sort of like how in Hamilton, Peggy is a bit of an afterthought.

We watched the chimes ring.  Because...John loves this sort of thing.

Then we went downstairs where we were surprised to discover St. William of York's crypt!  We knew very little about him, and quite honestly, weren't entirely sure he existed.  Yet, here he was! (Third time I feel a twinge of guilt leaving Will over in the colonies)

On the other side of the lower level is a museum with much of the history of the area dating back to Roman times.  And a very old copy of the bible...which I can't remember much else about.  Except it was old.  Did I mention that?

On Friday, we went back to Cambridge to walk around a bit more.  Our friend came along and it was nice to spend time with him in the RAF pub.  Ultimately, this is what Eric really wanted to do. 

I ultimately just wanted to have the leisure to walk around and look at things at my own pace.  Not feeling rushed to get through because a child would be getting hungry or tired. 

Though it was 60s on Friday,  we drove to Heathrow the next morning in a snow shower.  Not too bad at the early hour, but cue the 4th time I felt like Will was missing out.  Ah well, he was having a pretty good time back in Alabama.  But, that is for another post.  This one has gone on long enough.