Leaving Jolly Old England

Reading back over my previous entries, I see that I've used words like "beautiful" and "quaint" and "charming" in abundance. While I expect that trend to continue (there are only so many variations on those words after all, and what we've been seeing truly does merit these descriptions), I do have some new words to use on today's post. After we left the Cotswolds late last week, we headed over to the city of Chester, located on the west side of the country and just this side of the border with Wales. While it certainly had the fact of being an extremely old city going for it (about 2000 years old, I believe), Chester is clearly not in the running for most pleasant and picturesque city to visit. Rick Steves doesn't even mention it; what other evidence do you need? It was decent; we only stayed there so we could take a bus tour of Wales. But given everything else we'd seen in England, I was almost convinced that ugliness and dirt had been abolished in this country (almost). Chester quickly dispelled that foolish notion. So did some of the cities we saw on the train ride to and from Chester, and on to the Lake District: Birmingham, Worcester, Manchester. My apologies to anyone from these cities; I'm sure they have lovely qualities, but appealing externals are not among them. From the train, Manchester seemed to contain only great quantities of steel, dirt, and World War II-era buildings that don't appear to have had any upkeep or maintenance performed on them whatsoever. Still, our time in Chester wasn't a complete wash. We discovered that if we are lacking for Christmas plans this year, we can certainly make reservations (yes, right now!) at any of the pubs and restaurants in Chester for Christmas dinner. Prominently displayed in the fronts of most pubs, either in the windows or on large cardboard stands, colorful signs advertise a welcoming atmosphere for you and your loved ones to spend Christmas evening. I am relieved to know I have this option; not sure if I can think of a better place to spend Christmas than a pub. . .For your viewing pleasure, I have taken several pictures of these displays and they will be available to see at some future date.

After Chester, we moved on to the Lake District. Surprisingly, no one gave us much hint as to what to expect here; maybe many Englanders haven't actually been up to the Lake District. If not, they are missing one of the most beautiful places in their country. This area has truly spectacular scenery and it is one place where the pictures taken don't do it justice. I think one of the most amazing things about this countryside is the sheer extent of it; you look for miles and miles at this lush, mountainous, tree-filled land of lakes and villages and farms and deep valleys, and you expect it to disappear or change at some point; but it doesn't. As far as the eye can see, loveliness reigns. Does it get any better than this? If there is one place I've been where I thought I could live and die in complete peace, this is it. I've never seen an area like this, and I was quite taken with it. As you can imagine, York paled a bit in comparison (our next stop), but fortunately, the history of that city made up for its lack of rolling hills and lush prairie land. We took an interesting tour of York, led by a volunteer guide from the city. We did hear some blatant inaccuracies with regard to the Catholic Church and what she teaches, but in a land overwhelmed by the influence of King Henry VIII and his decision to break from the Catholic Church, I shouldn't really be surprised. It's terribly sad to see the destruction caused by Henry VIII's commands; more than 800 Catholic monasteries were destroyed in England and you can see many of their ruins. The York Minister is the largest cathedral in England and the only reason it wasn't destroyed is because it didn't have an attached seminary. When you see its grandeur, you can only imagine what other works of great beauty were destroyed at Henry's whim.

After nearly 3 1/2 weeks, our time in England has come to an end. We've made a good sweep of the country and we've really enjoyed our time here. We're getting ready to head off to France tomorrow; we'll be on the 3:00pm Eurostar train to cross the English Channel. It'll be interesting to see how we do with the language; I think we'll finally start to feel like foreigners. . .

By the way, the day after I posted about the lack of trash bins in London, we were told (without any prompting) that the reason for such a decision had to do with World War II. Apparently, trash bins were a popular place to hide bombs and a great deal of damage was done. So the decision was made to remove trash bins from all public places in London, particularly train stations and major sights. So much for my theory. . .