V & LOLA IN THE UK

Today we went to see another castle of Edward I, the Caernafon castle. It's the largest and most impressive of his 4 castles. He built the castle and town walls at the same time and made the town the administrative center of northern Wales. The outside of the castle is finished but much of the interior of the towers was never completed.  Edward's son was born there and Edward named him the first British Prince of Wales to symbolize the British rule over the entire United Kingdom. The title is traditionally given to the heir apparent by the monarch; it's not automatic.  King Charles was given the title when he was 9 but the official ceremony, which  was held at this castle, didn't occur until he was 20. It was a televised pageant designed to strengthen ties with the Welsh people since many believe the title shouldn't exist. Prince William received the title a few days after Charles became king but no formal ceremony will occur because it's considered divisive and...

Yesterday we went on a speedboat to see Puffin Island. There's about 10 seats which you straddle like riding a horse and hold the back of the seat in front of you. The driver asked if we really wanted to go because the sea was choppy. There was an alternative but everyone chose Puffin Island. It was cold and the sea was rough, partly because of bigger boats in the water.  Puffins usually arrive at the island in April but came in March this year. We saw some on the island, in the sea,  and flying above us but they were difficult to spot and see clearly but it was a fun boat ride.  Except for time on the boat, it was another hot day. The high temperature is around 61 but there's been no cloudy days so it feels much hotter. We spent a lot of time sitting around the quay looking at the boats and people and dog watching. Many of the boats allow dogs. There's a lot of bars, people singing, various types of boat trips you can take.  We also went to Plas Mawr whi...

Conwy is a walled city with  close to a mile of the wall still walkable. We walk through arches in the wall going to and from the main part of town.  We took a small group castle tour today. The guide was excellent. The castle is huge and having a guide who determined what to show us was beneficial. We walked a small part of the wall on the way into the castle. It's high but there are guardrails. Lots of steps on the tour and we were given the chance to climb one of the towers. I made the mistake of doing that. Very narrow spiral staircase.  My legs were shaky by the time I got down.  But the views were spectacular from the top.  The towers are where two parts of the wall join.  This castle is one of three in the area that Edward I had built when he invaded Wales. The castle took only four years to build, finished in 1287. The three castles are designated World Heritage sites. We will probably see at least one more. The c...

It's a 5 hour train ride with two changes to get from Moreton to Conwy. We had time to eat breakfast before the first train and planned on getting some food on a later train. There were snacks and drinks on the ride that was about less than an hour but not the other two. In fact, the train from Birmingham to Conwy had only two cars. It wasn't nearly as nice as the other trains. Wales apparently gets no respect.  Once we got to Conwy in the late afternoon, we walked from the station to the rental. It's called Castle Wall Cottage and is very close to a  castle wall. But it's up a steep hill so lugging suitcases was a workout. It's a one minute drive but we didn't try Uber because we knew no one would pick us up and we didn't know we'd be walking up a hill. We were starving by the time we got into the house so we looked up possible restaurants to go to. It's a short walk to the main part of the town. The restaurant we wanted to go to was clo...

For our last day in the Cotswolds we went to Broadway. It seems to be on a wold but that wasn't added to its name. It's called Broadway because it has the longest and widest main street in the Cotswolds. There is one bus time each way that arrives in a half-hour.  The rest of the buses take over 2 hours. We were there from about 9:30 until 2 to get the fast buses. Broadway is known for its main street filled with various  shops, art galleries, antique stores. There is also a tower to climb to see views but it's over a mile out of town so we didn't go. It was cold and windy today. store with those flowers I can't pronounce or spell We planned to eat breakfast there but most restaurants and cafes were closed. We've noticed  Tuesday seems to be a popular time to close in these towns. Also some are closed  Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Maybe they open more during tourist season but there's plenty of tourists now. We finally found...

What is ubiquitous in the Cotswolds: dogs, sticky toffee pudding, and hyphenated names. We are currently in Moreton-in-Marsh which we chose because it has decent bus service to other towns and a launderette. We have washing machines in two of the cottages but no dryers. The machines are expensive--5 or 6 pounds a load and they take just some coins, like a 20 Pence coin for soap. The dryers were 1 pound for 6 minutes. We had enough coins for 18 and had to take the wet clothes home and hang them around the cottage. Sunday  we went to Stow-on-the-Wold which is a short bus ride away. In both these towns, you can take dogs into stores and restaurants. It seems a business has to post "no dogs allowed" or it's assumed dogs are welcome.  Everyone owns a dog. And these dogs apparently love to travel.  There is sticky toffee pudding in every restaurant. We had an authentic one in Stratford and a coffee sticky pudding at an Italian restaurant in Moreton. It was terrible; who woulda ...

LONDON The nonstop flight to London on British air isn't bad at all. 7 hours. We paid extra for economy plus which has more legroom and footrests. We ate before we got on because they serve their awful dinner around 10:30. We stayed at The Royal Horseguards hotel which is surprisingly around the corner from the changing of the royal guards. They have some kind of performance every day at 11. They weren't doing a royal change for the king which we saw the last time we were here but they did a small performance in the field. The hotel used to house the guards or maybe the horses, not sure. It's in a row of old, elegant hotels. They're so old, they don't even have atms. They do have doormen though.  Sorry. You have to turn your screen. The pics are coming in sideways and it's beyond my abilities to fix it. Of course OH Mary was great. The Trafalgar isn't a large theater but I've never seen the crowd take their seats so quickly.  They...