Bradford on Avon to London

Last night was the best night's sleep I've had since we arrived. I slept just over 10 hours and woke up without a headache for the first time in over two weeks. How wonderful! I tried to write the blog for yesterday but had internet problems.

We left our hotel about 11 am and walked to the information place. Armed with a map of the town we headed out to explore. We saw one of the oldest churches in the area - The Church of St. Lawrence. It looked quite large on the outside but only had three rather small rooms. We then climbed MANY steps to get to the wool workers' cottages (the town was famous for cloth and wool). The stairs, pathways, and alleys behind and between the cottages were lovely. Flowers cascading down ancient stone walls, growing in the cracks of the steps. The day started out cool but as we were doing all this rigorous climbing, we were getting quite warm. (This is day 4 in England/Wales and still good weather!) We headed back down to the town center and had some lunch at a cafe called The Tea Room. I tried the scones thinking the English should be able to make a good scone. I ran out of tea before I was done. It was work getting it down. I've yet to find a better scone than the ones our girls make. Dave talked to a couple of guys who were orginally from Poland. They said it was too cold in Poland and so moved to England - where they rarely get snow. They also told us that they can work 30 hours a week (one was a restruant manager and one a waiter) and they could make a good living working that many hours.  The Americans could learn something from this!

After lunch we rented bikes and rode along the Avon canal. There were interesting boats there - haven't seen anything like them before - sort of houseboats.  After the bike ride I was going to do some shopping but the stores weren't the kind I was looking for. By now it was about 4 pm. We headed off to Stonehenge - about 30 minutes away. It's in the middle of farmland - which is beautiful. It really was great to see this henge that was made of stone. :)  I took out the camera to take a picture only to learn the battery was dead. Arghhh !!!!!!I I kept trying and was able to get one picture - I think. I guess I'll see when the battery is charged.

We'll be in London tomorrow and so we started to head in that direction. Near Heathrow airport we decided to get off and find a hotel. Flo wasn't cooperating and was leading us on a wild goose chase. Dave was getting frustrated so he pulled off and went into the first hotel we saw. It was full and crazy expensive. Off to the next one, where we are now. It's now 10 pm and I've just spent 2 hours blogging. Today's entry is short. It is what it is.

One thing Iearned today: British police cars have lots of neon orange and yellow on them. 

One new thing I experienced today: Having to pay for parking in the hotel parking lot.

Most powerful moment of the day: Being at Stonehenge that is believed to have been first erected in 5,000 BC. What stands today was put up in 3,000 BC. Or so they say.

One pleasureable experience: Seeing a large John Deere tractor come barreling down a narrow street in the village of Bradford on Avon with buildings from the 1500s all around it.