Liza, Author at Liza & Ben's Travels

London: Museums

We did hit many of the museums, as one ought. London is glutted with museums, and fortunately Caroline pointed us to a couple of very cool ones… Museum of London I picked this one because bits of the ancient London Wall go near it, and because it’s all about London, unlike say the British Museum, which Caroline described as <where to go see all the things Brits stole>. The Tate Modern The Novelty Automation place Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Sir John Soane’s Museum Architect Sir John Soane rebuilt these to house his work, home and massive collection of art, many of…

Day 13: Lyme Regis

The city of Lyme is on the River Lim and added the Regis suffix after a Royal Charter was granted by King Edward I in 1284. To us, it looked and felt like a bigger city than the previous towns we saw in Devon. People were moving faster, less polite. It’s just across the border in Dorset, but I’m not sure if that’s the explanation, or if it’s just a bigger town. We walked from our hotel down the hill into the village, bought coffee beans from a friendly micro roaster, and searched side streets and alley ways for something interesting. We found a…

Day 12: Beer to Lyme Regis

After the serious hike into Beer, we had to turn around and start again first thing in the morning.

Day 4: Old Houses

Yesterday we went to Castle Combe (pronounced “COOM”) and Lacock (pronounced “LAY-cuck”), which are uber picturesque Cotswold villages that have had all the movies filmed at them. Driving between them, we saw old thatch-roofed houses. They’re stuck in a time warp, with rules severely limiting what can be done to them. It’s funny, because going to visit we feel like we’re going back in time to see how it was, but there are paved roads, cars (including a Lotus!), public toilets, electricity, and modern tourists. All we’re really seeing is how people built, as long ago as 1197. And it’s…

Day 4: Old Houses

Daily Sheep Report

Day 4: in fields in Wiltshire, in Chippenham Day 3: in fields in Somerset Day 2: from the train to Bath Arrival day: none

Day 3: Cheddar Gorge & Cooperative Driving

The last bit of our tour through Somerset was through Cheddar Gorge. Our tour guide suggested we might not enjoy it if we’ve seen the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, but we thought it was beautiful. The town of Cheddar is where the cheese comes from. We opted not to stop for cheese and cider, because we’d all eaten at both Wells and Glastonbury. What surprised me about this part of the tour was how much cooperation is required between drivers going in opposite directions. It was worse when one of them is a wide tour bus, but there were a…

Day 3: Funny

Day 3: Glastonbury (but not the Tor)

Funny story. Apparently today is May Day. We inadvertently picked May Day (or Beltane, to all you Druid/New-Age types) as the day for our tour of Wells and Glastonbury. Even our tour guide forgot that it was May Day, and that Glastonbury, the ur-New-Age town, would be overrun. And I mean overrun. They were all in New Age / Goddess / Green Man / faery / hippy wear, because it’s Beltane. Many had matted hair, swishy skirts, there was a guy in a leafy mask, and a woman with elf ears. There were literally hundreds of people marching from the…

Day 3: Wells & Wells Cathedral

Today we took a tour—turned out to be just three of us, which was a little rough on the tour guide, who has a bus big enough for 16—to Wells and Glastonbury and Cheddar Gorge. More about Glastonbury & Cheddar Gorge later. Wells is a city I’d never heard of. Wikipedia tells me it’s only a city because it’s been called a city since medieval times, largely because it has a cathedral. (I didn’t learn why the cathedral was built there in the first place.) It’s only about 3 km2, and has a population of less than 10k. It’s named…

Roberto Silvasto on Daily Sheep ReportMight be worth mentioning this to Tod W... 😝
Rob Slumvast on Day 2: Grosvenor SquareSince it was not winter, I don't know if there was a chill to the place, bu…
Day 4: Old Houses « Liza & Ben's Travels on Cotswold Villages[…] Ben posted other lovely photos, and if you haven’t looked c…
Ben on Day 2: Grosvenor SquareBefore going, Liza described it as a neighborhood where the wealthy lived…i…
Ben on Day 1: Hyde Park / Kensington GardensChestnuts. Those trees that look like big Buckeyes are Chestnut trees.