England - not quite spring.

I arrived on Easter Sunday to the great spring weather of 2 inches of snow! The weather here has been just a silly as the weather at home. I have made several trips out into the countryside. The kids have moved from Marlow (Oxford area) to Newmarket (Cambridge area). They are much closer to the North sea here and therefore the weather is quite changeable. This time I have got a three week stay and have been out to Norwich, Ely, Cambridge, Bury St Edmonds,
Newmarket, and the Sutton Hoo site.

The house that the kids live in is directly across the street from one of the main training sites for race horses. Newmarket has been a horse racing town for over 300 years. It has two world famous race tracks and over 50 stables or stud farms. It is also the location of The National Stud. This is a breeding farm for thoroughbreds that covers 500 acres, 8 stallions and accommodates up to 200 mares. Needless to say.....in this town there is a whole lot of horsen going on. It is really enjoyable to watch the horses in the morning going about their daily work outs...

Ely Cathedral is the highest point on The Fens landscape. The Fens are a vast former wetlands that were drained starting with the Romans. It houses The Stained Glass Museum that has stained glass from the 13th Century to the present. In 672, St Etheldreda started a monastery that developed into the collection of towers and lantern that it is today. 'Ship of the Fens'

Kings College Chapel, Cambridge. Coming up is the 800th year anniversary of the 31 colleges that together are called Cambridge University. It all started in 1284 with the founding of Peterhouse and the last college founded in 1977 was Robinson College. In between it has helped change the world... from Newton's law of universal gravitation to the discovery of the structure of DNA.

I have also made a couple of trips to London to continue to work through the many museums and galleries there. This trip I went to the Wallace Collection that is housed in a residence of the Wallace family. It is a 4 generation collection of articles that includes everything from armour, paintings, porcelain, furniture, scupture, and wonderful wall coverings.
I also have made another trip to the Victorian and Albert Museum (V&A). It was once described as the 'worlds largest jumble collection.' It is one of those places that has to be seen to be believed. It is self described as 'the world's greatest museum of art and design'. It covers over 7 levels and has 5 major themes. So needless to say, I have been once all day and saw/covered as much as possible (sensery overload!). And have returned to selected areas to look more closely, read, and learn about the items. I will have several trips before I am done.
So far that is this trip. I have pictures to get on to the computer from the Sutton Hoo site and The National Stud. I will get them done tomorrow(Okay, maybe not tomorrow but in the next few weeks)..... until then...... See the world, enjoy and hopefully develope some understanding.