Ok here it is June 9th 1973 

John and Mary 33 years married! 

A stroll around Romsey

Romsey is a small town on the edge of the forest. The Abbey is mostly Norman and was once the site of a Benedictine Nunnery. It is has the most beautiful stained glass windows mainly from the Victorian period.There are several very old buildings in the town and a few modern ones.We had a very pleasant afternoon here.
Tonight we are going out for a meal as it is John's Birthday and our 33rd Wedding anniversary. Wow thats a long time!
Tomorrow we are flying up to Liverpool for a couple of days as Mattie is a Beatle Fantatic!

Romsey 

Romsey Abbey 

Romsey Abbey 

Stained Glass Romsey 

Stained glass in the Abbey (Victorian) 

gateway in Romsey 

Romsey The back of the White Horse 

Romsey with Abbey Tower in the background 

Romsey 1585 

Romsey 

Another London Day

Yesterday we spent another day in London. First we went to the British Museum. It is the largest Museum in the world and we spent a couple of hours wandering around and maybe saw 5% of it. So many wonderful things to see We took lots of pictures and I will blog about them sometime later.
We then walked through the Squares of London. It is amazing to find these beautiful Green areas in the heart of such a big busy city.
We also went to the only surviving London Home of Charles Dickens. This is now a museum and is full of interesting exhibits. Mattie loves reading Dickens and he was very excited to be where Dickens had lived.
We wandered through the Law courts and saw the outside of Temple Bar Church (featured in the Da Vinci Code )
After a meal at Covent Garden we wandered down through Leicester Square which is full of cinemas and many of the London Premieres take place here. We finished up at Picadilly Circus under the statue of Eros.

British Museum 

Rare ancient Canadian in British Museum 

Tavistock Square 

Coffee time London 

Dickens House 

Dickens House 

In Dickens House Doughty Street. 

Entrance to the law courts. 

Staple Inn in London Elizabethan building. 

Temple bar Church (seen in the film The Da Vinci Code) 

Glockenspiel clock leicester Square 

Picadilly Circus 

Eros in Picadilly Circus 

Blenheim Palace

Today we visited Blenheim Palace.This is the home of the Dukes of Marlborough. Queen Anne gave the Royal Manor of Woodstock to the Duke of Marborough after his Victory over Louis XIV at Blenheim in 1704. She also said she would pay for a house to be built there and to be called Blenheim. However quarrels broke out between the Queen and the Marboroughs. Work on the house was halted for a while and eventually the Duke had to pay for it to be completed.The House was designed by Vanbrugh(He also designed Castle Howard which we visited last time Mattie was here.)It is a magnificent house.
It was here that Winston Churchill was born in 1874.He also proposed to his wife here. several rooms are devoted to an exhibition of Churchill memorabilia including some of his letters and paintings.
The gardens and grounds are enormous. Whilst mattie and I were in the house John took the dogs for a walk in the park and got lost!