England Study Tour 2000

Mary and Cal Jensen

Roger and Nancy Moose

Akiko Sekino and Roberta Gigear

Roberta on the plane—headed to England

Heading to England

Akiko, Mary and Cal settling down for a long trip. Cal is so settled, we can barely see him!

March 1, 2000

Heading to England

Nancy and Akiko got to enjoy each other’s company for 7 hours on the plane.

March 1, 2000

Heading to England

Roger felt like standing to have his picture taken on the plane—there’s one in every crowd.

March 1, 2000

At our hotel

Here is the group, in front of the Regency House Hotel, our “home” from March 2 to 13 (with a few days out for Edinburgh).

March 2, 2000

Westminster AbbeyMarch 2, 2000

Standing in front of Big BenNote the red phone booth on the left.

March 2, 2000

The Queen’s Horse GuardsCal and Mary Jensen, Roberta Gigear, and Akiko Sekino

March 2, 2000

Changing the Horse GuardsMarch 2, 2000

Going off Duty

This fellow and his horse had their pictures taken with us. That’s all they were waiting for before going off duty and letting someone else take over!

March 2, 2000

Trafalgar Square

Here we are, viewing Lord Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. Notice that we do NOT see any pigeons here.

March 2, 2000

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Looking up at the ceiling in St. Paul’s Cathedral. This is before we climbed the 536 steps to the top, so we still had the energy to look up.

March 3, 2000

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Here’s a close up of some of the magnificent architecture in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

March 3, 2000

St. Paul’s

Looking down from the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul’s. We were resting from the first leg of the 536 steps—we’d already covered over 200 of them.

March 3, 2000

At the top of St. Paul’s

Here’s proof that we made it to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral—a view of the peak! Those of us without a fear of heights got slightly better views.

March 3, 2000

Buckingham Palace

Waiting for Queen Elizabeth to answer the door. . . but she never did show up.

March 3, 2000

The Palace Gate

A close-up of the decoration on the gate—just in case we want to have something similar on the gates leading in to our home.

March 3, 2000

Buckingham Palace Guard

A guard at Buckingham Palace, marching back and forth—wearing his winter gear, not the bright red summer uniform.

March 3, 2000

British Museum

From the mummy collection in the British Museum

March 3, 2000

British Museum

Another view of another mummy.

March 3, 2000

Tower of London

The Beefeaters at the Tower of London. They are called “Beefeaters” because the king provided them with meat to eat during a time when most were too poor to afford meat.

March 4, 2000

Nancy got to have her picture taken with the Beefeaters—a Beefeater sandwich??

March 4, 2000

Tower of London

Looking across one of the courtyard areas at the Tower of London.

March 4, 2000

Tower of London

Here’s Mary, Cal and Nancy standing outside the White Tower. Roberta and Sekino were touring the Tower elsewhere.

March 4, 2000

Tower of London

Here is a picture of Henry VIII’s armor. You can tell exactly what he was both proud of and interested in protecting!

March 4, 2000

Tower of London

Nancy, Cal, Mary, Roberta, and Akiko along one of the roadways inside the Tower of London.

March 4, 2000

Tower of London

This is the same group, but the picture is a bit darker. Standing in the shade will do that.

March 4, 2000

Tower Bridge

This is NOT London Bridge. It is the Tower Bridge. It was quite controversial until the designers proved how it would open to let large ships pass through.

March 4, 2000

Tower Bridge

This is a view down the Thames (pronounced “tems”, of course) from the walkway at the top of Tower Bridge.

March 4, 2000

Tower Bridge View

This ship is permanently docked here. It provides a great view from the Tower Bridge.

March 4, 2000

Piccadilly Circus

The lights of Piccadilly Circus in downtown London are a fantastic sight.

March 4, 2000

Piccadilly Circus

A slightly different view.

It’s too bad we didn’t take pictures of some of the characters hanging around that night—they were almost as interesting!

March 4, 2000

Hampton Court Palace

This is just inside the gate at Hampton Court Palace—a magnificent place.

March 5, 2000

Hampton Court Palace

These are two of the tour guides dressed in the costume of the time that Henry VIII would have lived here. Tour guides are history or archeology majors.

March 5, 2000

Hampton Court Gardens

Roberta, Nancy, Cal, Mary (hiding) and Akiko in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace. Note the flowers and the green, green grass.

March 5, 2000

Hampton Court Palace

The view of the front of Hampton Court Palace. We took the picture as we left, which proves that we found our way out of the maze that Roger loved (!) so much.

March 5, 2000

Train Ride Back to London

Here are Roberta, Akiko, Cal (hiding behind the post), Mary, and Roger on the train ride back to London from Hampton Court Palace.

March 5, 2000

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Palace can be found at the Queen’s Way tube stop. The park has a large pond in the center that is home to a lot of friendly waterfowl.

March 5, 2000

Kensington Garden

Another picture of the waterfowl at the pond. The swans are gorgeous birds.

March 5, 2000

Outside Warwick Castle

Cal, Mary, Nancy, Roberta, and Akiko standing outside Warwick Castle.

March 6, 2000

Warwick Castle

Some of the armor found in the Great Hall in Warwick Castle.

March 6, 2000

Warwick Castle

A view of the river Avon from the castle keep area at Warwick Castle

March 6, 2000

Cardiff Castle Keep

Cardiff Castle Keep is about 800 years old. The castle itself sits on the site of some old Roman ruins. The moat around the keep is still filled with water.

March 7, 2000

At the Train Station

Some of the wording on the signs pointed out the difference between British English and American English. Americans almost never use “whilst”.

March 8

Going to Edinburgh

This was the emblem on the cars of the train that we rode to Edinburgh, Scotland.

March 8, 2000

Edinburgh, Scotland

The Sir Walter Scott memorial looms above the Edinburgh skyline on one end of Prince’s Street and the Edinburgh Castle graces the other end.

March 8, 2000

Edinburgh Castle

This impressive castle sits above the city and is easily viewed from Prince’s Street.

March 8, 2000

Cal outside an Edinburgh pub

Pubs were a good place to take an afternoon break—and their signs were fun to read, too!

This one is on George St.

March 8, 2000

Roger outside an Edinburgh pub

Like Cal, Roger is partial to an afternoon beer in a local pub—especially one that advertises “Good Beers”.

March 8, 2000

Edinburgh Castle

This is a view from the walls that surround Edinburgh Castle. You can barely see the Firth of Forth along the skyline.

March 9, 2000

Edinburgh Castle

This gentleman was in the typical garb of a Scottish soldier from the 16th or 17th century. His demonstration in the Great Hall pointed out some of the fallacies in Braveheart.

March 9, 2000

Holligan’s Bed and Breakfast

Agnes Holligan was the proprietor of the Kariba Guest House, our “home” while we were in Edinburgh.

March 10, 2000

Holligans/Kariba Guest House

Michael and Agnes Holligan took good care of us at their bed and breakfast. Michael cooks a good breakfast.

March 10, 2000

York Minster Cathedral

York Minster Cathedral is a very old, very impressive building in the city of York.

March 10, 2000

York Minster

The vaulting in York Minster makes a person feel rather insignificant—and it does make us want to raise our eyes to the heavens.

March 10, 2000

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is definitely one of those things that looks a lot bigger in person than it does in a picture.

March 11, 2000

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe stands out even on a foggy day in Paris. On a sunny day, I’ll bet it’s magnificent.

March 11, 2000

Arc de Triomphe

To understand the size of this structure, all you have to do is look along the top of it and see all those teeny, tiny people standing up there.

March 11, 2000

Champs Elysees

Mary, Nancy, Roberta, and Akiko are looking down the Champs Elysees—no, not at a good-looking Frenchman, but at one of the tiniest cars we’ve ever seen.

March 11, 2000

Champs Elysees

Strolling down the Champs Elysees on a Saturday afternoon in March—well, maybe not strolling: more like power walking.

March 11, 2000

A Créperie

This créperie has great crêpes, but other things are on the menu, too.

March 11, 2000

Eating Crêpes

Akiko may be Japanese, but she likes French food, too.

March 11, 2000

The Obelisque

France stole this Obelisque from Egypt and refused to give it back. It’s an interesting structure, especially with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

March 11, 2000

The Louvre

The glass pyramid outside the Louvre is unusual and is definitely different from the surrounding structures.

March 11, 2000

Across from the Louvre

If your back is to the Louvre and the glass pyramid, this is the view you get to see.

March 11, 2000

Canterbury

The entrance leading to Canterbury Cathedral. It doesn’t look like much until you step through and actually see the cathedral.

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

A view of the outside of the Cathedral—which was the only view allowed since there was a church service going on!

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

Out behind the Cathedral.

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

The pulpit in the cathedral is VERY ornate. Obviously any preacher here is going to feel rather important—or very insignificant.

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

This is another cathedral with an impressive ceiling. Wouldn’t you hate to have been the person who had to work up there when it was being built?

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

The stained glass in the churches deserve to be studied all by themselves—but who has time??

March 12, 2000

Canterbury Cathedral

Another exterior view of the skyline of the cathedral.

March 12, 2000

Canterbury

The little river that runs through Canterbury. The weather there in March is much nicer and much more conducive to flowers than March weather in South Dakota!

March 12, 2000

And then it was time to head for home—March 13, 2000