Hello my friends,

Oh, let me tell you, i have so much to show and tell. Scotland was fantastic! Headed up there on Saturday the 21 of October with Ange and Jacquie (the two ausies i am always talking about). Rach, my fellow Canadian and the last member in our regular travelling troop is saving Scotland for April when her brother comes for a visit. She was sorely missed.

So, anyway, back to the trip...took a 5 hour train ride from Birmingham to Edinburgh and arrived early afternoon. Train ride was long but we were so pumped about being on vacation!!!!

Dumped our stuff off and explored the city on foot. Let me tell you, the history is very cool and very bloody!!! Check out this photo. The rather gothic like structure is a memorial for Sir Walter Scot,(novelist and very influencial in rebuilding a sense of native scotish identity).



Of course you can not go to Edinburgh without a visit to the castle. It cost a fortune!!! But i sucked it up and payed. Very pretty, and very touristy. I did enjoy the historical significance though. I also got to see the scotish crown jewels. They are something to see (sorry we were not allowed to take pictures). Useless jem of information (pardon the pun): no insurance company in the world will insure the crown jewels! You should have seen the security!!!



Not only did we get to explore an interesting castle, we also had the pleasure of meeting Braveheart himself!! Check this out!!



Also had the chance to climb an extinct volcano that over looks Edinburgh. It is called Arthur's seat, and it has the best view of the city.



Got to run...More to come, this was only Part One of a four part instalment!!!

Hello All,

So just to give you a bit of an update. Tomorrow morning (21st of October) i will be heading north via virgin trains to Scotland. Going with two lovely Aussies (Jac and Ange) and will be staying in Edinborgh for 2 nights, Stirling 1 night, Oban (on the west coast across from the isle of Mull) for 1 maybe 2 nights depending on the weather and if we find some great hiking areas, and Glosgow for 2 nights. Should prove to be a fun week off. Will up date you on the travels as we go.

Hope all is well. Miss and Love you all,

Martha

Okay, so here are a few pictures from the Roman Baths. It is quite a place. To think that these were built so long ago and they still work! I wonder who their plumbers were? They also had a great museum to boot.

Top View:





First Floor View:


While we were there we had the chance to have a taste test of this special Roman Bath water. It was...warm, and kinda gross. Oh well, you know the saying, when in Rome,...i mean in Bath...I mean, when in the Roman Baths!Whatever.

This girl served us our warm bath water.Yum. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Once was enough, especially since we were told that this H2O was nicly aged. Red Wine has nothing on this stuff. The water we drank is estimated to be 10,000 years old. I thought it smelled a little off.



Now, Bath is not "just" the Roman Baths. Across the Square is the Bath Abbey. It is yet another beautiful church in Britain. This one is rather interesting to me as it has two rather distinct sculptures carved on either side of the entry way. There are two ladders that start at the street and reach all the way to the top. On these ladders are angels climbing toward god. They are gorgeous.


This brings a whole new meaning to "Stair way to Heaven". I wonder...did anyone from Led Zeplin spend time in Bath.





And last but certainly not least nothing says funny like two acrobates performing outside the posh roman baths in nothing but g strings. I know this is not a very G rated picture but i had to include it. These guys were just...wow. If you tried this in Ontario you would have the OPP going crazy.You would never get away with this!!!

Hello All,

So i spent the weekend in Bath, Salibury, and stonehenge. FANTASTIC!!!!!! But before we get into that i wanted to show you this picture. What can i say, you can't go to the UK and not have your picture taken in one of these!!!



Saturday spent some time in Salibury checking out the cathedral. What a sight. It is the largest church in Britain. There was a gorgeous court yard and a small building called the Chapter house(13th century). What a beauty of a building. The glass, the sculpture. What clever people built that structure. In this building is a document called the Magna Carta (1215). It is an original agreement made between King John and the Barons. Why is this important you may ask? It is this document that is noted as the foundation of democracy and provides the basis for many Consetutions (including the Declaration of Independence for the United States). It established freedom of the church,trial by jury,etc. Okay now that i have spilled some historical facts down your throuts i can move onto the fun stuff - pictures.

Jaquie, Ange, and Rach taking a bit of a break in the courtyard.



From inside the Cathedral...could you image walking down that isle Sherri!!!



Then we were off to see the Ruins. Stonehenge is impressive in its sear size and the detail. It is to bad that you can't get very close. (Little known fact - the stones at stonehenge are set in concrete. In the late 70's another stone had fallen. To prevent further damage all of the stone were set in contrete. Kinda ruined the experience (parden the pun). Still pretty cool view.



Then off to see the Avebury ruins which were kind of cool because you can get close to them and walk around them.

Returned to Bath for an evening of well...public relations between common wealth countries, aka drinking and relaxation. Will post more picts of the Roman Baths and the city of Bath on another edition of Martha's Travels. Please stay tuned and have your pets spayed or neutered.

Love to all,

Martha.

Hey,
So this weekend stayed close to home. Travelled by train for 1/2 hour to Warwick to see yet another castle. This was rather interesting as it had been restored with appropriate furnishings throughout the different eras. One section of the castle illustrated the original atmosphere of the 11th century, another section was an more "modern" as it showed how the Warwick family lived in the 18th/ 19th centuries. This castle is interesting as it is one that the Earl of Warwick and his family has lived in over the centuries. It was amazing as you can see. The caslte also had some wax figures that were so life like. Had a good time. Also saw St. Mary's Cathedral which is fantastic. At this church one of the Earls of Warwick (Richard)is buried and had the distinction of overseeing the trial and excecution of Joan of Arc. Cool eh!!!

Will have to post the pictures later, sorry, just not working right now.

Sunday spent at home cleaning and doing some marking. Rained.

TTYL

Martha