Summer

"Most of the British Isles was bathed in scorching temperatures which reached 27C yesterday...." (i newspaper, May 28, 2012, p. 5). For the benefit of my American readers, let me point out that 27C is roughly 81 degrees Fahrenheit -- not a temperature Midwesterners would consider "scorching" by any stretch of the imagination.

We've had over a week now of warm, dry sunny weather in England. Brits are not accustomed to this. I heard a radio announcer last week refer to "another beastly hot day," on a day when the temperature was only to be in the upper 70s.

Dr. Mitchell, in winter coat, guides our students at Alnwick Castle last weekend.

To be fair, it comes as a shock when we were wearing our winter coats just a week ago in Scotland. But "scorching" and "beastly" are not words that come to mind. "Finally!" and "gorgeous," are more the vocabulary we would choose.

Granted, the 91F (33C) back home in Des Moines, Iowa on May 27, broke the record high for the date. But in a few weeks that high will be normal for the time of year. England did not see temperatures this warm all summer last year -- at least not while we were here.

Brits in the heat this weekend
[photo from travel.aol.co.uk]

While the Brits sweat it out, we are enjoying the long-delayed spring. And while most of the residents of this green and pleasant island are looking forward to temps returning to the low 60s next weekend, we're disappointed the warmth won't last.

When we step off the plane in Minneapolis at the end of next month, we just won't be prepared for the weather we'll encounter then.

Yorkshire Dales

On Saturday, May 26, Mary and I drove to the Yorkshire Dales, about an hour and a half to the north of us in (duh!) North Yorkshire. This was a new area for us, through territory we hadn't traversed before.

Meadow welcoming committee

The portion of the National Park we explored is noted for the wide range of topography in such a small area. A major geological fault line through the area causes the land and vegetation to change rather dramatically within just a few meters.

Suddenly it's woodland

Most of what is pictured here was all within one, 5-mile hike. The rest was only a short drive away.

Janet's Foss

From the National Park Centre in the village of Malham we walked first through a flat meadow with 18th century dry stone barns.

Goredale Scar

Within 100 meters we entered a rocky wooded area with a running stream and caves. A half mile later we were in a gorge, called Gordale Scar, with a waterfall before us.

Gordale Falls

Walking on up hill across the moors, we rambled through flocks of sheep grazing in the scrub grass. This land is both too steep and too rocky to cultivate, and has been used only as grazing land for many hundreds of years.

Rambling through the sheep paddocks

We came to a deeply cracked limestone pavement that drops off sharply in cliffs that drop to Malham Cove. There were 240 very worn and slippery steps down. Listening to the heavy breathing of the people we met, we were glad to be going down rather than up!

Limestone pavement and the cliffs
(Harry Potter slept here)

After our hike, we drove a few miles up hill to Malham Tarn. The Tarn is a glacial lake that is, strangely, at the top of the range of hills, rather than the bottom.

Malham Cove

It is said to be the highest lake in England, and to be one of the very few alkaline lakes in Europe. It is spring-fed and very clear.

Malham Tarn

We drove nearly an hour on very narrow, twisting roads to visit Gibson Mill at Hardcastle Crags. It was a nice, wooded spot, but the old factory for spinning imported cotton into thread was less than exciting. We were home for supper.

Well Dressing

Time is growing short -- the first of our students return to the U.S. this week -- things are getting busy, so we need to do all the exploring we can in the time left.


On Monday 21 May, Mary and I took a short drive to the village of Tissington, in neighboring Derbyshire. This tiny place probably doesn't have more than a couple hundred residents, but each spring the community pulls together for the annual "well dressing." Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so photos here are stolen from the web.

From bbc.co.uk

Tissington is blessed with water -- six wells and a stream running through town. Each year at Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), the town's folk "dress" the wells with floral displays. Most have religious or patriotic themes (in this country there is considerable overlap between the religious and the patriotic).

From parwich.org

Most of the displays are made from wooden boards on which local clay is smeared. Then, flower pedals, seeds, leaves, twigs, or other natural items are pressed into the clay to create the display. They are sort of on the order of the floral floats at the Rose Parade in Pasadena each New Year's Day. The displays stay up for a week and thousands come to see them.

From tissingtonhall.co.uk

No one is quite certain when or how this tradition began, but some guess it goes back to pre-Christian times. They may have been an offering to a pagan water goddess, then appropriated into Christianity. Or perhaps, much later, they were a thank-offering for surviving the Plague, which centuries ago some believed to have been caused by bad water. Whatever the origin, the tradition remains.

Alnwick Castle

The plan was to pay a brief visit to "Holy Island" on the northeast coast of England on our way south. Legend has it that 7th century monk, Saint Aidan, founded a monastery here, Lindisfarne Priory, which was a pretty important place in the history of British Christianity. It was later associated with St. Cuthbert, who is buried behind the high altar at Durham Cathedral -- but that's a long story.

Blocked traffic

The place is a peninsula at low tide and an island at high tide. So one has to consult the tide tables to know when to visit and when to leave. We had done so. Unfortunately, the driver of a new Audi had not, so when we tried to drive over we found the way blocked by a freshly washed Audi with its transmission seized in salt water. So much for visiting Lindisfarne!

Not every day do college kids from Iowa play on a beach
near a Medieval castle

As a "Plan B," our coach driver took us a few miles farther down the coast to the site of Bamburgh Castle, an excellently preserved seaside fortress. Unfortunately, the castle was already closed for the day, but our students very much enjoyed some time on the beach and in the (cold!) water of the North Sea.

Cold!

We then drove on to Alnwick (pronounced ANN-ick), ancestral and one of the (several) current homes of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. The Duke's ancestors have been involved in English history for roughly 700 years and were "upwardly mobile" -- meaning that he's inherited land and enterprises making him even more wealthy than Her Royal Highness, the Queen.

Alnwick Castle

One of his smaller side ventures is renting out part of the castle's former servants quarters and guard barracks to St. Cloud State University of Minnesota for a study abroad program. We, in turn, sub-let some rooms from them for one night, so that our students could sleep in a castle.

Fish & Chips

We dined on a fine fish & chips meal in one of the village's few establishments. No ghost sightings were reported during the night.

The tour

After breakfast, we had a minor difficulty locating our assigned classroom within the castle, but we soon met up with Dr. Christine Mitchell, a British historian who is on staff with St. Cloud State at Alnwick. She gave the group a quick history lesson about castles in general, Alnwick castle, and the Duke's family tree. She then took us on a tour of the castle grounds, and later, on a tour of the town and surrounding area.

It was an antique bus

Once again, for some of the students the history in which they were most interested was not ancient, but cinematic. Alnwick Castle was the place where the broom-riding lesson scenes from the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed. They insisted on a re-enactment with me as the broom instructor. Unfortunately, we had no brooms to use a props in the photo.

Broomstick lesson re-enacted [student photo]

After lunch, we loaded the coach and headed southwest toward Hexham to view the ruins of Hadrian's Wall and a Roman fort now known as Housesteads Fort. Emperor Hadrian (who ruled the Roman Empire from 117 to 138 A.D.) had this wall built across the full width of Britain as a barrier to raids by Scots tribesmen. It was one of the most fortified borders of the Roman Empire, and a cold, wet, god-forsaken (yet very scenic) posting for Roman legions.

Excitement for Hadrian's Wall (or just being silly for the camera)

We had a quick history lesson and some time to explore the ruins before heading home to Nottingham. It was important to get home early, as final exams would begin for some students the next day.

Scotland

For our last trip with the students we went north, to Edinburgh. Britain is bigger than it looks on the maps, and it's a long drive from here to the Scottish capital. The coach left at 6:30 a.m. in order for us to just barely make it for our scheduled tour of the Scottish Parliament at 2 p.m. (Of course, EU transport regulations dictate several driver breaks that we would not have taken if traveling by car.)

Scotland lost its separate Parliament with the Act of Union in 1707, when the red and white flag of England was superimposed on the blue and white flag of Scotland to create the red, white, and blue Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom. The Scots regained their Parliament again with the Scotland Act of 1998.

This is not Scottish independence (that's still being debated). But the Pàrlamaid na h-Alba (as the 129-member unicameral is called in Scots Gaelic) is allowed to make laws on local matters not specifically reserved to the UK Parliament. Reserved matters include foreign policy, national defense, many forms of taxation, and international trade regulations.

Scotland built a magnificent new building for their Parliament. The old Parliament building is still standing, just up the road behind St. Giles Cathedral, but has been used for a couple hundred years as the seat of the Scottish High Court. So a new, ultra-modern building was erected just across the street from Holyrood Palace (the Queen's official residence when she happens to be in town). It was opened in 2004. They don't like to talk about how much it cost.

We had arranged in advance for an official tour for our student group, so we got to see a lot more of the building than Mary and I had seen when we visited on our "scouting" expedition last September. Out tour guide was a very knowledgeable Portugese woman, which we really weren't expecting in Scotland, but hey, it's a European Union now.

Mary and some students at the Scottish Parliament

Following the tour we gave our students a bit of a scavenger hunt to help them discover key sights up the Royal Mile. They might have enjoyed this more if it hadn't been pouring rain with a cold wind.

On the walk back to our hostel we happened to pass a little coffee shop called, "The Elephant House." This was a much bigger deal for many of the students than Parliament, St. Giles Cathedral, or anything else. It is, after all, the café in which J.K. Rowling sat to write the first of the Harry Potter books.

Our hostel wasn't bad. Very close to everything, clean, and quiet in the bunk room where our students slept. But Mark & Mary had a room on what must have been the "Party Floor," at least from 2 a.m. onward. The noise made sleeping difficult.

Saturday morning, after a good breakfast at the hostel, we walked back up hill to Edinburgh Castle, where I had pre-purchased tickets to bypass the crowds. However, our path was blocked just inside the castle wall and we were crammed in with all the rest of the 57 tour busses arriving that morning, because a special event was taking place. Today was the opening of the annual assembly of the Church of Scotland. There being no separation of church and state in Britain, this meant that the military would be conducting a ceremony with 21 gun salute to welcome the Queen's official representatives to the assembly (whoever they may have been -- we were sort of hoping for Kate and Wills, but no such luck). We got to watch all the pomp and circumstance, complete with kilted marching band, but gained no crowd advantage. Nevertheless, a good time.

The Elephant House
[student photo]

After lunch I marched my troop down to the National Museum of Scotland and turned them loose for the afternoon to explore this, or one of the other good, free museums on the Royal Mile. Most did explore a bit, but tea at The Elephant House was a big draw, too.

Mary and I used the time to see something we'd missed back in September: The Royal Yacht Britannia, which was taken out of service in 1997 and has become a museum in Edinburgh harbor since. We caught a city bus from downtown to get out to Ocean Terminal, about a half hour ride.

The Queen's informal little boat was larger than the ship
in which we cruised the Greek islands.

A major theme of the exhibit was how the Queen wanted this yacht (commissioned by her father and put into service in 1953, shortly after she took the throne in 1952) to be "comfortable," "informal," and "like a country home" where she and her family could get away from royal ostentatiousness. In fact, the boat is a memorial to imperial hierarchy: The Royals clearly lived at one level, the officers led the life of English gentlemen, the NCOs and Royal Marines lived at their strata, and the common seamen quite obviously did not see any of the benefits of the yacht's luxury.

We bussed back downtown in time to meet the students and load the coach for our next adventure.

Farewell Already?

It came as something of a shock when we realized that this week would be our group's last all together in England! One of our students will be traveling with her parents, who are coming to visit next week before her final exams, which happen to have been scheduled late. Three other students will depart for the U.S. next week after completing exams that happen to be scheduled early. So although some will be around into early June, our Nottingham community is breaking up.

As we've been doing pretty well on our grocery budget (Mary is a champion bargain shopper!), we decided we could afford a farewell meal at the Indian restaurant in our neighborhood, just a block away from the student flat. Not only have the students discovered that the food here is very good, but they have a really nice evening special on curry. They also allow dinner parties to bring in their own wine (without so much as a corking fee), so Mary and I treated with a few bottles from ASDA (the British brand name for Wal-Mart -- nothing but the finest for us!), as Luther will not allow us to spend college money on alcohol.

I'm afraid the other dinner patrons in the restaurant may have had a hard time conversing, as our group filled the place with laughter and chatter. We'll have one more dinner together this weekend, while traveling on our final British study trip. But this was our final celebration together "at home" in Nottingham. They've been an absolutely wonderful group of kids, and we've had an absolutely wonderful year with them.

The English Lakes

I'm afraid I've confused my readers (both of you) by posting "back-dated" entries on the blog. Sorry to have fallen behind, but I tried to put things from Greece, Turkey, and Prague on the approximate dates the events occurred, not the dates of the actual posts.

Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home

On Saturday, May 12 we set out early by motor coach with the students for two days in the Lakes District, studying Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, and other British authors who were inspired by that countryside. The plan was for a relatively relaxing trip, given that the students have many exams and papers coming up.

Wordsworth's view of Lake Grasmere -- some large buildings added after his time.

At Grasmere, we visited Dove Cottage & the William Wordsworth Museum. Students learned about this man who wrote poems about nature and living a simple life close to the land. They also learned that Wordsworth was what would be known today as "a male chauvinist pig," allowing his sister, wife, and sister-in-law to care for all his needs (and those of his many poetic house guests) while he looked at the lake and thought deep, romantic thoughts. He even ripped off lines wholesale from his sister's diary! What a guy.

Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farmhouse

We moved on to Hill Top Farm outside of Hawkshead, the farm purchased by the young Beatrix Potter with the profits from her first big hit in children's literature, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Here they learned of women's revenge against chauvinism, as Potter, who became wealthy enough to own a number of farms in the area, kept this one to herself as her own, private "women's only" creative sanctuary -- not even allowing her husband to live there (she kept him in another place, across the road)!

Some of our students enjoying the ferry ride across Lake Windermere

Having learned all about the 19th century battles of the literary sexes, the coach deposited us on the shores of Lake Windermere, just outside of Ambleside.

Ambleside YHA

Here, the Youth Hostel Association has converted a defunct, early 20th century resort into a very nice hostel with a gorgeous lake view.

View from the window of our hostel room

Most of the students elected to follow Mary and I on a short hike around the north side of the lake, past the ruins of a Roman fort, and into town for dinner. Then, all enjoyed a relaxing evening by the lakeside.

Hiking along the lake

On Sunday morning, after a great breakfast at the hostel, we loaded the coach for a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle. Most people think of Stonehenge when they think about English stone circles. Our students have learned that there are hundreds of such circles, and nowhere more than here in Cumbria, where the lakes and hills inspired the spirits of ancient hunter-gatherers, just has they have inspired poets and authors in more recent centuries.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

We enjoyed a two hour hike around Lake Buttermere, despite cold, wind, and the occasional sprinkle, and also a scenic drive in the coach through the starkly beautiful Honister Pass.

Hiking around Lake Buttermere
[student photo]

After a short time on their own in the village of Keswick, it was onto the coach for the ride home and back to their studies.

Prague

After a few days at home preparing the flat for students and catching up with urgent matters, we traveled to London by bus on Monday 30 April, then continued to Heathrow to catch a flight to Prague. Retired Luther colleague, Norma Hervey, had invited us to visit and to stay with her, so we left the students on their own for the week.

Old Jewish cemetery.

Norma's flat is ideally located, just at the south edge of the Josefov (the Jewish Quarter), and a short walk from the Old Town Square. As soon as we arrived she took us on a walk-around tour. It was dusk, but we saw the Old Town Square, looked down one end of Wenceslas Square, and cross the Charles Bridge before turning in for the night.

Old Town Square and Jan Hus memorial.

The next morning we had breakfast, then headed out on our own to visit the Josefov sites while Norma went to her morning workout. Prague's large Jewish community was nearly wiped out by the Nazis, but several old synagogues and a large cemetery remain behind, most now only as museums. The "Spanish" synagogue, not the oldest but the most ornate, was particularly interesting.

View of the city from our restaurant.

We met up with Norma and took the tram to the Castle area. We had lunch at an outdoor restaurant with a spectacular view of the city. Then Norma walked us through the non-ticketed portions of the Castle for orientation, then took us for a walk through the gardens. We walked a very long time on a hot day, but eventually got to a tram and got back to Norma's for a light supper.

Royal Gardens.

On Wednesday, Mary and I returned to the Castle, bought a ticket, and did the tour. St. Vitas Cathedral and the 9th century St. Nicholas basilica were major portions, and a highlight was "The Golden Lane," a 12th century residential street inside the Castle wall where Franz Kofka once was a resident.

Kofka's house is now a gift shop.

Norma met us at a pre-arranged spot on the Castle hill and we walked to another restaurant with a nice city view and had another good meal. After walking along the 9th century walls, we took the funicular to the top of the hill where there are some beautiful gardens. Unfortunately, a rain shower cut short our visit.

View from the top of the funicular.

Later in the evening we went to a jazz club in the basement of one of the old buildings in the Old Town Square and nursed our drinks through one set by a not-too-bad combo.

Upside down Wenceslas at Lucerna Gallery

Thursday was supposed to have been rainy, so we were planning to remain indoors as much as possible. However, it turned out to be one of the nicest days we were there! Mary and I caught up on some of the sites we had missed previously, beginning with a walk through Wenceslas Square.

St. Vitas Cathedral on Castle Hill

We saw the National Museum and the old (Communist) Parliament building only on the exterior, then continued past the Wenceslas statue and the Grand Hotel Europa. It was from the balcony of this hotel, overlooking the Square, that Vaclav Havel proclaimed the end of Communist rule in 1989. We peeked in the lobby, which has wonderful woodwork.

St. Mary Queen of Snows
(note arm at left of pulpit).

Across the street we stepped into the Lucerna Gallery, a shopping area with wonderful art deco decor, stained glass windows, and a unique, upside-down version of the Wenceslas statue. Continuing to the bottom of the Square we visited St. Mary Queen of Snows church (including a weird arm holding a cross from the pulpit).

Interesting & varied architecture at every turn.

We continued walking, taking in the variety of architecture, until returning to the old city hall and powder tower, which we had seen before only at night.

John the Baptist carving at Tyn Church.

We got to the Old Town Square in time to see the ringing of the hour on the famous clock, and visited both the Tyn Church (with its John the Baptist carving) and the St. James Church (with the shriveled arm that is supposed to be a warning against trying to steal the treasured blue pieta from the chancel.

Dvorak Museum

After a lunch break, Mary and I continued on to the Dvorak Museum and the Convent of St. Agnes (now a museum). The walk back to Norma's gave us plenty of opportunity to see more interesting architecture, which is literally everywhere in Prague.

Famous clock in Old Town Square.

Norma prepared a belated Easter feast of leg of lamb for us. It was an excellent meal. Then we headed for the "Rudolfinum" or Dvorak Hall, the beautiful concert venue just two blocks from Norma's flat, to hear the Czech Philharmonic play a very fine concert of works by Dvorak and Rimsky-Korsakov. We topped off the evening with desert at a little café by Norma's flat.

Norma & Mary at Vysehrad

Finally, on Friday morning, Norma took us to Vysehrad, a 10th century castle, high on a hill over the Vltava River. Inside the mostly intact walls are the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul (into which we only peeked), as well as the Vysehrad Cemetery, containing the remains of many famous people from the Czech history, among them composers Dvorák and Smetana, along with authors, poets, artists, etc. No politicians allowed!

Dvorak's tomb.

We walked a long flight of stairs down to the tram to visit the "crooked man" building, and the Orthodox church where a half dozen Czech soldiers held off hundreds of Nazi SS troops for days before being overrun in 1943. We grabbed lunch near Old Town Square and were off to the airport.

Bullet holes remain at Orthodox church.

We had booked a fairly tight connection between the flight and the bus to Nottingham. The flight was on time, but we were delayed in passport control at Heathrow. After some anxious moments, we made it with a whole five minutes to spare! We were home and in bed by 10:30 p.m., and the students got along just fine without us.