English Summer 2010 #7 - Lake Country to London Eye

We had completed our major teaching tasks and now we had another week of playtime. Carol-Jean and I drove south from Hadrian's Wall through the Lake District, which is a favorite vacation spot for Brits. Later that day we stopped for tea in a seaside town.







The next day we caught the train at Huddersfield and rode through the countryside toward London, where we changed trains for Maidenhead. Altogether a satisfying few days, with plenty of good memories to stack upon the others. We spent the next day near "home" and visited the shops of Maidenhead. (See picture of CJ, below.)


I'm probably going to hell for taking this..well...I don't believe in hell...but the picture was too good to miss. I had to ask my unsuspecting wife to adjust left and right a few times to block the word "uni" in the sign for this Maidenhead "CJ's Uni-sex" hair salon.

Hmmmmm....Why has my special pillow and teddy bear suddenly appeared on the living room sofa?



We found the Prime Meridian at Greenwich. In the picture, I am standing with left foot in the Eastern hemisphere, right in the Western. Climbing the hill behind and below almost killed me...well, not literally, but with a little cardiac dysfunction it was an oxygen-depleting assault on Mt. Everest. They told me Tom Thorpe loved this place, and I figured if he could haul it up here, so could I. Then, gasping for air, I get to the top and find the taxi stands...OK, Brother Thorpe. You got me that time.


It wasn't such a bad day actually. In this picture we're having Mexican food in Greenwich. We caught the boat back to London, and when we returned there was one major sightseeing attarction we decided to experience.

The London Eye.


You've probably seen pictures of the huge ferris wheel by the Thames. It moved so slowly that passengers literally stepped aboard as each enclosed gondola car swept across the entry deck. The view from the top was extraordinary (see picture). Although the trip was enjoyable and, with unexplained, frequent stops and goes, lasted over 30 minutes, it probably wasn't worth the 18 pounds sterling per ticket (about $30 each). Still, it was something to experience, one of those "Now-I-can-say-I've-done-it" moments.

We had only a few days left before I spoke in Unity London South at the Sunday services September 5, so we decided to visit two places that anchor the heritage of the Mother country--Stratford on Avon and Windsor Castle.