August 6,7,11 2004...REST AND PREPARATIONS FOR FRIENDS

Many of our friends living here in England are to begin arriving this evening. We did get out for a bit, close by..Bourton-on-the-Water. It was nice, but a bit too commercialized for us. Cars that seem so out of place were everywhere. Could barely walk for them. We did have a fish-n-chips lunch and walked back and forth through the village. The point of interest here was the miniature of the village set up in a square on the east end. We payed to get a look and walk through the minature. The detail was so great, the pews were in the churches, and there was a mini of the mini village included. I did have some pictures and have posted them to the photo album. I still don't think photos do justice to the beauty we find, but we do the best we can do with what we have!

This is a combined posting. Our friends did begin arriving Friday evening. The remainder were due to arrive Saturday evening and Sunday noon. So we went to Bath with our first arrivals on Saturday. We walked and walked from end to end. The Royal Crescent (under construction) was not a big deal..and the old Roman Baths were interesting. I think the most unusual thing we saw here was the living statue. All in bronze make up..looking very statue-like..he would move, change positions and reach out to unsuspecting passers by. Funny..

We took the remainder of the weekend off and stayed close to our little cottage. We cooked out, swam in the lap pool, enjoyed the steam sauna, and even managed a game or two of badmitton. We believe we still should have had Croquet..the yard was perfect for it!

We ended up having 11 adults, 3 children and 1 infant all under one roof! It was great..and around the dining table, it was sort of like Christmas and Thanksgiving at meal time. Everyone left Tuesday before noon, and we were all alone. Seemed funny for things to be so quiet..
We rested the remainder of the day in preparation for a trip to Tintagel (the home of King Arthur and the legendary Knights of the Round Table) and Boscastle.
We walked all the way to the top of the cliff where the remains of the Castle look out over the sea. Beautiful view spoiled only by the new resort hotel erected on the opposing cliff.
Then back up to Boscastle. This little village, sorry to say, glorifies witches and wizards. They even have a museum dedicated to the subject. A quick tour into the museum made me feel uneasy even though the claim they are not evil. The scripts of chants praising the dark one and things for revenge demonstrate just the opposite. I felt very eerie and left quickly, but not before getting off a few photos. Make sure you check out the “moles feet“ used in spells of revenge.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gblakesmith3/album?.dir=/6f5d&.src=ph&.tok=phWLY3BBqulDaK8y

This link connects to pics of all the spots mentioned in this post. Enjoy them...

Please stay safe and remember that you are always on our minds!