Day 1 (July 21): Japan to London

We left Japan, flying from Osaka to Anchorage to London.

Day 2 (July 22): London

My husband Kenji and I arrived in London's Heathrow Airport, from where we took a double-decker airport bus to Victoria Station, where we got a hotel nearby and made arrangements for a tour the following day. From Victoria station, we went by bus to St. Paul's Cathedral. (The system of paying for busses is different than in Japan, where you put money or a ticket in the coin box near the driver when you get off. In London, a conductor sells tickets.)

It is fortunate that St. Paul's was not destroyed during the German bombing in World War II. It was not for lack of trying; there is a picture near the entrance that shows black smoke roiling up around the undamaged dome. In fact, there was a series of bombings named after a guidebook, because the German bombers were trying to hit the famous buildings and monuments of London. As it was, however, St. Paul's was only slightly damaged. Bombs damaged the wall behind the altar, which has been rebuilt with a memorial to the Americans who died. After leaving St. Paul's, we had lunch at a pub nearby.

British Museum

Next, we went to the British Museum. We donated our books to the British Library, which is located in the museum compound. The museum was certainly

the Egyptian section

fascinating, and I could spend days there, especially the Egyptian section, which included mummies.

We thought about going to the theater in the evening, and even went so far as to go to the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square, but the line was too long, and by late afternoon we realized that we were much too tired. We went to bed right after dinner.

Comprehension Questions No. 1

Day 3 (July 23): Oxford, Stratford, and Warwick Castle

Oxford University's Radcliffe Camera

We took a full-day tour of Oxford, Stanford, and Warwick Castle. We saw several of the colleges of Oxford, the Radcliffe Camera (the reading room of the library), the divinity school (which is famous for its beautiful vaulted ceiling), and many other beautiful buildings. One unusual aspect of the university is that students have to be admitted both to the university and to one of the colleges, even though the colleges are basically only

College at Oxford University

dormitories. You can be admitted to the university (which is the institution that actually provides the education) and still not get to go to Oxford if no "dormitory" will accept you. Acceptance in a college apparently depends mainly on an interview, the point apparently being choosing students who will "fit it." Anyway, Oxford is a beautiful old city, and we were really glad to have an opportunity to see it.

After leaving Oxford we drove through the edge of the Cotswolds, a region with characteristic houses of yellowish stone with thatched roofs, on the way to Stratford. We had initially not really wanted to go to Stratford, since we spent a day there on our first trip to Britain, but it was included on most of the tours that also included Oxford. However, I'm glad we did decide to go to Stratford, because we hadn't been there in the

Anne Hathaway's cottage

summer, and the flowers in the summer are really beautiful. Even most private homes had yards with magnificent flowers. Anne Hathaway's cottage, where we stopped briefly, was especially impressive. We had some free time, and we walked down to the park along the Avon from where we could see the church where Shakespeare is buried. (We decided not to take the time to walk there, since we were there last time.) A lot of residents apparently take their lunches and eat them in the park, so we got our lunches and went to the park, too. Kenji got fish and chips, and I got a chicken pie and chips. We figured that was pretty English.

Comprehension Questions No. 2

After lunch, we walked back to Shakespeare's birthplace. On the way, we stopped at a little handicraft shop, where I bought a needlepoint kit with a picture of a Cotswold cottage. We went through Shakespeare's birthplace, but it was rather crowded.

The final stop on the tour was Warwick Castle. The castle is built of grey stone, with three large towers and several smaller ones, around a large courtyard. The original castle on the site was built in 914 on the orders of Ethelfreda, daughter of Alfred the Great, as a defense for the area against the Danes. The main part of the castle, as it stands now, was built in the late 1400s, though a great many modifications have been made since then, particularly as the castle was transformed from being primarily a fortification to primarily a residence. Most of the interiors date from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. We had a tour of the state apartments, which are very sumptuous, with great paintings, tapestries, furniture, etc. Afterwards, we went on our own to the private apartments. The castle is now owned by Madame Tussaud's (a company that has a famous wax museum in London), which has recreated a weekend party set in 1898 in the private apartments. The principal guest at the party was the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). Tussauds used photographs of the period to put the furniture back in the same position it was in at that time, or, if a furnishing did not survive, to have it reproduced. The scenes were typical episodes from the house party, such as guests visiting in the library, a maid fixing a woman's hair, a valet drawing a bath, and the Countess of Warwick getting dressed for the party.

Comprehension Questions No. 3

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