Visiting England, Part 2

On Wednesday night, we took the train out of London a little later than we planned, so by the time we got to Gatwick Airport, the car rental place where we had reserved a car was closed.  That meant we had to take a cab to the hotel where we were staying which I actually thought was a blessing because the roads were so confusing and I was feeling stressed about Scott having to drive on the left side of the road, which he did like a champ.

In the morning, Scott and I took another cab to the car rental place and waited in line for a while only to discover that we couldn't rent the car without Scott's passport.  So we had to take yet another cab back to the hotel so Scott could get his passport and went back to the rental place.  We spent a lot of money on cabs.  I stayed at the hotel and took a cab to the London Temple so that I could get in a session while Scott got the car, collected the kids and luggage at the hotel and then came to the temple.  While they were waiting for me, Susanna and Mindy were able to do baptisms and Scott went to the grocery store for some food.

This is the London Temple where I did a session and the girls did baptisms.  Talmage forgot his recommend.

I was especially impressed with the extensive grounds at the temple.  They were quite lovely.  They have a section that is modeled after the Sacred Grove.  Apparently when they were putting in the landscape, the architect asked if there was something unique to our church that he could put in and they decided on the Sacred Grove.

After the temple, we went to Windsor Castle.  We didn't have quite as much time as we liked since we arrived there a little late, but I think we saw enough (I was getting pretty sick of castles.)

This was a typical English breakfast:  fried potato patties, roasted mushrooms, some fried ham, baked beans, fried tomatoes and fried eggs which were gone before I took this picture. 

This was the most unique hotel of our stay:  The Crown & Cushion Hotel.  It felt really old and some form of inn had been in existence there for over 500 years.

This is in front of the William Shakespeare birthplace.

The back of the home had a very lovely garden.  The place where Shakespeare's large expensive house used to be before someone thoughtlessly tore it down in the 19th century also had a very lovely garden.  For a garden lover like me, this was a good time of year to visit.  

At a different site in Stratford-on-Avon they had some clothes to dress up in and play swords.

On Friday night we decided to have the traditional Fish and Chips and it happened to be National Fish and Chips Day.  They were quite tasty.

This is the Preston England temple where I did a session and Scott and girls did baptisms while Talmage was the babysitter.  This temple also has very extensive grounds.  This is where they perform the British pageant in the summer and also where there is a regular church and the England MTC.  Apparently, the church had planned to sell part of the land but when they found out that they wouldn't be able to control what kind of business would be there, they decided to hold on to the property.

This is in front of the Beatrix Potter home where she lived later in her life.  She bought the property as a summer home when she was single.  She married quite late in life.

It also had a lovely garden.  Would you expect anything else from the creator of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's garden?

Camille with Mr. McGregor

We ended the afternoon at Lake Windermere.  The temperature was about 70 degrees and it was windy so I felt a little chilled.  But there were people out in the lake swimming!  I guess this was considered summer weather for northern England.

We rented a rowboat and enjoyed rowing.

This was right outside our Airbnb that we rented in northern England near the Lakes District in Quernmore.  It was really out in the sticks and it was very quiet except I must admit the cows were a little noisy in the morning bawling for their food.

We attended the Warrington Ward down by Manchester on Sunday morning and met two missionaries from Utah Valley so I had to take their picture and send it to their mothers.

This is inside the Gadfield Elm Chapel which is where the United Brethren met before they all joined the church and donated the chapel to the church.

Outside the chapel

This is in front of Benbow Pond where the early missionaries of the LDS church baptized many members including one or two of my ancestors.  The pond is really small right now because it has been dry but I'm guessing it was much larger back then.

This is the market square where Brigham Young once preached, currently a Methodist Church I believe.

This is in Bath, England, where it was appropriately somewhat rainy.

We visited the Roman Bath which has been there for a long time--since the time of the Romans.  It is heated by a natural hot spring.

This is a woman pretending to be a Roman slave at the Roman Bath.

This was our view of Stonehenge as we drove past in the rain on the freeway.  We could have paid lots of money and spent a few hours seeing it a little closer and visiting the museum but why?  We didn't really have time anyway.

The last site we saw was the Jane Austen home where she lived for the last 7 or 8 years of her life.  We enjoyed the interactive part the most.

More lovely gardens at the Jane Austen house

This is apparently the original desk where Jane did her writing every morning.  Her sister was the one who ran the household and made it possible for Jane to write.  We don't know how she died but it was probably some kind of cancer when she was in her early 40's.

We left for home on Tuesday, June 6th after a week in England.  It was pouring rain and about 40 degrees.  After our ten-hour flight we landed in Las Vegas and walked out into 100 degrees, very sunny and dry weather--what a contrast!  We were pretty tired by the time we drove the six hours home.