Anglophile Vacation

I think the only way to begin this post is thanking a very generous father-in-law who made this vacation happen, and to acknowledge that as far as vacationing is concerned, I have been very, very spoiled this year. (Don't worry, I think I'll be paying for it in part in the coming weeks but more on that in a future post......)

Russ's family decided to do a girls trip to England this year, following a similar boys trip a few years ago. Due to babies, and well more babies several of the girls were unable to attend but those who did had a fantastic time.

This trip was a narrow boat excursion though the English countryside into London. What, you ask, is a narrow boat? Clearly you have never met my father-in-law because it is his favorite pass time and he would be happy to tell you all about it.

This is a narrow boat...




Narrow boats traverse the canals that cover the England at a slow leasuirely pace. Every couple of feet, yards, and sometimes miles we would run into a lock.

This is a lock.


Locks are how they can make canals that increase in elevation, thus making an inexpensive mode of transportation in ancient cultures . While we are clearly not in Ancient Rome not much has changed with locks since that time. Especially these locks, which are all operated manually.
Here I am opening the doors within the gate (or posing as if I were doing so. If I were really opening the doors, there would be grunting, straining, and agony in this picture.) The doors let the water through the gate to raise, or lower the water level. Once the water within the lock has reached the level of the water in the direction you are going. You can open the gates.



Opening the 5,000 lb gates is literally a back breaking effort.
Yes, I really am straining. On our second day on the canal we opend 33 of these. Needless to say I slept well that night!

Despite the effort of the locks, the canals really are a beatiful way to see England and a wonderful experience unto themselves.

After three days on the canal we arrived in London. I have loved London ever since Russ and I spent a summer there for an internship he had. Although this trip was great because we got to visit some sites Russ and I couldn't see last time.

One of my favorite things we did was tour Buckingham Palace, where the queen lives 10 months out of the year, and low lifes like us get to tour through the remaining two months. The castle was lavish, ornate, and every superlative you could rightfully imagine to describe such a palace, unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside.


We also saw the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park. Yup, that is him alright.



We got to climb up the tower bridge you see behind us and got some AMAZING views of the city.

We went to Russ's and my favorite spot in London, St. Dunstan. It is a cathedral that was bombed during WWII and turned into a park.
Finally, we went to see Wicked in London!!!! Yes, it was everything that you would think, hope and expect it to be. It was amazing.

Thank you Lee and Petra this was a trip of a life time. Lisa and Kim I had a blast with you as well!