'LONDON - COVENTRY. Meet your tour escort and traveling companions
and depart at 8 a.m. for a memorable day's sightseeing. First, a visit to the ORNAMENTAL
GARDENS of Hampton Court, Henry VIII's sumptuous Tudor palace on the River Thames.
Via Runnymede, where King John sealed the Magna Carta, to Royal Windsor with its
magnificent castle, the Queen's favorite residence. Next a visit to Oxford offers
an insight into one of the country's oldest seats of learning. On to Bladon, where
Sir Winston Churchill, the great English statesman, lies buried within sight of his
birthplace, Blenheim Palace. Motor through the Cotswolds to enjoy the rural atmosphere
of quiet old villages built of mellowed local stone. Savor the typical charm of the
area in the quaint market town of Stow-on-the-Wold. Tour fascinating Stratford-upon-Avon,
a living monument to William Shakespeare, considered to be the greatest playwright
of all time. Overnight in historic Coventry, whose center had to be rebuilt after
the devastation of World War II bombings. Hear the tale of Lady Godiva and Peeping
Tom.'
Last night was a disaster - I got NO sleep, and Lisa got very little, so we were
both hungover and exhausted when our tour started this morning! Andrew called me
from his car like 20 minutes after they finally left to check on me and make sure
Lisa and Daniel hadn't "ruined my evening" (as if it had been a dream date
other than that!) and to tell me to call as soon as I got back to London - or sooner!
Oh, lord! He was rude to Lisa when she answered - gee, my hero! I'm telling you,
dear diary (ha ha!) that this experience reminds me of nothing more than junior high
school Latin Conventions - you're away from home and parents, you're in a hotel,
alcohol and boys are involved, and the evening develops into a bizarre farce that
you can only laugh at - and not even that until you get some distance from it.
Needless to say, Lisa and I were hurting ~hard~ when the tour started. We were the
last ones on the bus - they had to page us because we thought it started later. (Since
we weren't given itineraries, I ~don't~ feel bad about that at ALL.) Lisa and I put
our sunglasses on and ~slept~ until we got to Hampton Court, which is kind of unfortunate
because our tour guide, Denise, tells us lots of interesting things about English
customs, history, geography, architecture, etc. as we're driving about. Hampton Court
was stunning. Such beautiful, beautiful gardens - flowers of ~all~ kinds, manicured
lawns, barbered trees, fountains, arbors, trellises, statues, a boxwood maze, scrolly
wrought iron gates and fences, fancy patterns in both the color and the spacing of
the brickwork, pretty windows of the leaded and lattice varieties, etc. All the chimneys
had a different pattern in the bricks! Now I understand why my apartment building
at home is called Hampton Court - same color brick! We shuffled about in our gross
state and took pictures and tried not to pass our or fall down. That last part wasn't
easy! I was totally dehydrated and I couldn't get a drink. I bought a bookmark and
some postcards - we didn't get to go inside the palace.
Next we got back on the bus and headed to Bladon and saw Churchill's grave. We took
more pictures. I was really moved. I don't know why I like him because I don't really
know much about him, but like him I do. As we were getting back on the bus, I saw
a big poster of Richard Butler, my future husband (still!) of the Psychedelic Furs
up with all these huge music ads plastered on a wall, so I took a picture. Looking
good, babe! I had a dream a while ago that I was going to do a graduate thesis on
the progression of imagery in his lyrics!!! Anyhow, when we got back on the bus we
~drove~ past Blenheim Palace, and I was ~very~ disappointed to be able to take only
one picture of it from a large distance while we were moving. Since I study a poem
called 'The Battle of Blenheim' by Robert Southey with my students, I was hoping
to get some decent pictures. The Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill's grandfather
(I think), was given the palace for his leadership in the battle of Blenheim, and
that is why the palace is named in honor of that battle.
Next we drove through an area known as the Cotswolds - farmland and pretty villages,
basically. It was very green and beautiful. We stopped in a town called Stow for
tea. It was ~so~ cute - cobbled streets, little pubs, and lots of nice shops. I've
started a photo collection of quaint pub signs - they amuse me. We saw, of course,
~many~ cute boys. In fact, some delightful ones in a truck whistled at us, even in
the gross condition we were in! We stopped in a little shop for a cream tea. What
this consists of is a pot of tea, scones, jam, and clotted cream. It was absolutely
~delicious~. The scones look like biscuits with raisins in them and taste like sweet
shortbread. The jam and cream are most delicious. I think I totally appalled the
shop girl with the amount of milk and sugar I dumped in my tea - but that is the
only way I can stomach it! We walked around a really pretty neighborhood there -
as usual, ~beautiful~ flowers. We were about 5 minutes late back to the bus - sorry,
dudes!
Next stop: Coventry, which is an ugly, ugly town, though it is no fault of its own.
That bastard Hitler bombed it for eleven straight hours during WWII and just leveled
it. It used to be a beautiful medieval town. We visited a cathedral there that was
ripped apart during the bombing. They kept the ruins as a reminder and built a new
cathedral onto it. The new part is a bit modern for my tastes, but it has a really
cool sculpture of an archangel and the devil out front. And the ruins are very moving.
I'm not in any way religious, but it upsets me terribly to see a thing of beauty
destroyed out of malice. We also walked down and saw a statue of Lady Godiva. She
was totally naked. What a surprise - ha ha! Her husband, some rich nobleman, was
overtaxing the poor people of Coventry, so she really rode through the streets of
the town naked on a horse with only her long hair to cover her as a protest - and
the only person disrespectful and unappreciative enough to look at her was some pervert
named Tom, which is where the term 'peeping Tom' comes from. We saw some punk rock
kiddies. The youth of these modern cities are rather scurvy and rude, same as at
home. Denise pointed out an interesting idea - perhaps the soulless modern architecture
is partly responsible as it deprives people of aesthetic beauty. Makes sense to me,
actually.
The last destination of the day was our hotel. It was fine. Dinner was served at
7 p.m. We were a couple minutes late, so we missed soup. There was this one waiter
who was FINE! He looked Scandinavian or Germanic because of his coloring and bone
structure. We had turkey, potatoes, rolls, veggies, and dessert. We met some other
Americans at dinner. They were nice. We're the youngest ones on the tour besides
three kids with their parents, and everyone thinks we are younger than we are anyhow.
They can't believe we are teachers. They thought we were sisters, too! I guess it
is unusual that Lisa and I are the same height and both have the same color hair,
blue eyes, and freckles. Kids at school always think we are sisters or cousins -
or the same person!!! After dinner we were too tired to do anything but go back to
the room and crash. There was a cute man on some TV show. I'm telling you - this
island is ~crawling~ with them!