It was much pleasanter at home, when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. Alice.

And so home we've come.  A relatively uneventful flight from Manchester.  The kids were AMAZING.  Every passenger around them on each of our flights commented on how perfect they were (say "Pahhhhh-FECT!"  No, really.  They talk like that.  I thought they were joking around, but it's apparently real.)

We treated ourselves to a caramel apple -- and it was just the thing.

Chester, Cheshire

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

`I don't much care where--' said Alice.

`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'"

 
We spent Wednesday exploring Chester -- a city with a street scene that really comes alive with Christmas shoppers:

The buildings are an ecclectic mix from many periods -- Georgian & even Roman!  It is also a walled city -- this is as far into England as the Romans cared to come.

And we did NOT forget the funny phone booth photo:

The Chester Cathedral is the single most imposing structure in this amazing conglomeration of architectural interest -- and it consumes several city blocks:

And Thursday we took a good, old-fashioned "snow day" and laid around all day in preparation for laying around tomorrow when we wait & wait & wait on our ten hour flight back to Atlanta & beyond!

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. The King.

Monday was totally consumed with the computer replacement and install. The English seem to delight in making things REALLY, REALLY difficult and overly complex. But never mind. WE left late from Nunthorpe and drove 2.5 hours to our apartment in Chester.

The apartment is lovely! Despite the fact that it has only 2 tv channels, we have gotten along nicely here – making our own meals in the little kitchen.

Reesa discovered "dippy egg" on this trip (ie a piece of buttered toast that one might dip into one's fried egg), and thought it was a worthwhile "foreign" find.  John re-discovered "Ready Brek" which is -- are you ready for it -- PORRIDGE -- just like the 3 little bears ate!  And the rest of us chickened out & ate Cheerios.

It is on Chester’s main street (cars & police sirens screaming by all night), but it is also just a 10 minute walk into the pedestrian malls that are filled with holiday shoppers.

On Tuesday we went into North Wales to see castles! Our first stop was at Rhuddlan:  this area was closed, but we could still see the magnificent ruins:  right next to the new KFC.

Then we pressed on to Conwy, a castle Edward the I began building in 1283.  Becuase of the bitter cold and proximity to Christmas, the place was virtually empty.

The castle people do a fantastic job at telling the story of this castle to children with a treasure hunt/detective story that is really VERY FUNNY!  The kids really liked it!

The purpose of this was not only to educate and engage, but to attempt to impose some order on groups that might otherwise resemble a herd of untrained cats:

And they also warn you to be careful with funny little signs -- these folks had quite a sense of humor!

The sleepy little village of Conwy is still tucked into the original castle walls, as it would have been 700 years ago (although the wall around the town was constructed to protect the English settlement there against the Welsh who were very unhappy at the prospect of foreign occupation).

This is the fireplace in the "Great Hall":

Mara:

The views were simply breathtaking:

After lunch in a local fish & chips shop, we pressed on to Caernarfon Castle (the seat of power in Edward’s “Iron Ring” of castles around Wales -- yeah, just TRY to pronounce it!) to avail ourselves of the last two hours of daylight.

It was ALSO virtually empty (as it was past 3 & temperatures were plummeting precipitously!)

Isaac had a great time in the nooks & crannies:

Perfecting his trademark "You can't make me smile" smile:

While the walls of Caernafon are not as complete as in Conwy, the views around this walled city are as incredible:

We stayed until they whistled us out:  but, seriously?  What if you were lost?  They need to issue flares with the castle maps.  They closed this HUGE door behind us (and locked it with a teeny tiny key!)

A quick peek into a shop in the town nearby, but we'd spent all of the available daylight.

The scenic drive through the snowy mountains of North Wales was lost on all the passengers -- asleep in the back, or unequipped with night vision goggles.

We're all mad here. Cat.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig . . . we are off to hunt a computer to replace the one that Isaac broke (or gremlins ate) . . . and . . . are you ready for this . . . THEY DON'T HAVE WAL-MART HERE.  Ok, apparently Wal-Mart bought a company called Asda . . . but the Brits were slightly horrified when Wal-Mart tried to come in & LOOK LIKE Wal-Mart, so they had to tone it down.  And surely I've mentioned that they don't have 24 - hour shops?  Well, ok, if a shop is open 24 hours, it still only opens from 10 - 4 on Sunday (!?!?)  So we are pulling back on our break-neck speed of departure from the sleepy little hamlet of Nunthorpe in hopes of learning some good news about John's father's condition.

Ok, so no word yet on John's dad -- but the computer is bought -- GEEZE -- everything is so HARD TO DO here -- such a BIG DEAL!  And the wireless adapter isn't compatible with Windows 7.  So I have to download a driver -- except there may not be one -- but if there was, it would be on the . . . did you all guess it?  INTERNET!  So trying to connect -- but what a PIA.  Sheesh.   

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does." The Dutchess.

We've shoveled the cars out, but a computer malfunction is holding up the entire operation -- seems that the computer that Isaac has been using is not working properly, and it is up to John to save the day!  If we get past this, we'll go see John's father, but it is unclear whether the roads will be clear enough to see Castle Howard (not really a castle, but an "estate home").

Well, the roads were crap, so no sight-seeing.  We were able to visit John's father, but he"ll need some anti-biotics and we'll stay as late as we can tomorrow to see that he is on the mend. 

The computer, however, is NOT on the mend . . . and we'll go get another one tomorrow.  England closes on Sundays -- seriously.  By law.  Only things open are from 10 - 4.  I guess people have to plan ahead.

We visited John's lovely sister, Christine, and her very funny husband, Paul, and we set the kids to videos & had pizza (and mincemeat pie!) -- it was the most "America" we've had here yet!

It's Chester tomorrow -- if the fates and the weather permit.  And I understand that they have shopping in Chester -- lots & lots of shopping.

York -- Another Lovely Day

Today we took the train from Nunthorpe to York -- it was a lovely hour-long trip through the countryside.  York is a walled Roman town (founded in 71 CE).  It was then Jorvik when the Vikings captured it in 866, and then was York after the Norman Conquest when it was the capital of all of England. 

The City of York was known as the place where Terry's chocolate was made (as in those yummy chocolate orange things you can get at Christmas) -- but I now see that Kraft bought Terry's and moved the manufacture of those yummy oranges to POLAND!?!?

There are medieval and Georgian and Victorian structures jammed all together -- and we're walking down one of the oldest streets in England called "the Shambles" and John says "those houses were here when Henry VIII was on the throne.  Wow.  This is a structure on the River Ouse that was a defense & is now for sale.  The sign said "One Medieval Tower and Adjoining Bridge for Sale."

A monument to soldiers killed in the Boer War.

This is York all fitted out for Christmas:  Just what you might expect of an Olde English Towne (note Crabtree & Evelyn shoppe on the square):

A note here about the time:  It gets TOTALLY PITCH BLACK DARK AT 4 p.m.  The first photo was taken at 11 a.m.; this second one around 3 p.m.  We got home before 5 & slogged our way home in the SNOW-SLOP in utter darkness.

GORGEOUS York Minster:  The Second Largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe:

A sight almost as heart-warming as the fantastic architecture -- a STARBUCKS! (pardon me for saying so, but we've run into coffe that is absolute crap). 

Behold Lovely Coffee:

And Lovely Architecture:

Many of the buildings in "the Shambles" (medieval) appear to have settled significantly -- and some seem to be almost sinking!

Clifford's Tower: a medieval fortification that overlooks the York Castle Museum:

You know it's a Castle Museum if they've saved a helmet for you:

Isaac seemed to like the stuffed cats that reminded him of his own,

and he hoped that visiting this exhibit on Chinese immigrants to England would impress his Chinese instructor:

The Castle Museum did a good job with interactive exhibits for kids: 

And John liked them too!

And some of what we saw when we returned:

We may be staying in tomorrow -- depending on the roads . . .