A few of my favorite things

If you were to ask me what is the most beautiful place that I’ve ever visited, I’d be hard pressed to pick just one.  But somewhere on my short list you would find Leeds Castle.

Leeds is a castle associated with various queens of England.  The castle is nice, but the grounds are stunning.  Every viewing angle is carefully designed to maximize the visual pleasure.  It’s a treat to just wander the grounds with eyes soaking in the scenery.

Today we went on our second bus tour of this trip.  The first stop was Leeds.  Here’s a few pictures I took there.

See what I mean?

The second stop was hardly a stop at all but instead a drive through Dover.  We drove by the major sites and stopped for a ten minute photo op.  Here’s Julie and me with the cliffs in the background.

Then it was off to Canterbury where we visited the cathedral, and where I made a point of reading the Canterbury Tales while riding the bus into town.  Funny stuff – that Chaucer fellow has a real future ahead of him.

Much of the cathedral was off-limits to visitors as there was a school graduation going on (this is graduation week in England, and we’ve seen groups of robed students throughout our travels).  The downside: we did not get a chance to see where Thomas Beckett was killed.  The upside: there was live organ music in the cathedral for much of our visit.  And there were still plenty of lovely things to see.

And by the way, this is the gyrations your humble photographer goes through to get a shot like this:

Given my knees, and figuring in the weight of the camera and flash that I carry around all day, you should appreciate how I suffer for your enjoyment!

Then at last we stopped at Greenwich where we took a boat ride up the Thames to the heart of the city.  The boat was a strange thing, jet propelled and making several stops at various docks along the river, feeling like a subway-on-the-water.  But the scenery from this water-subway was a lot better than had it been underground.

I am happy to report that London Bridge did not fall down when we passed beneath it.  (Not that this is a picture of London Bridge, which is a rather boring thing to look at.)

Then it was time for dinner, then a visit to the Tate Modern, London’s best modern art museum, which is open late on Fridays.  Much fun was had by all.

What’s my favorite thing I saw at the Tate?  Actually, it wasn’t a piece of art at the Tate at all.  On leaving the Tate, we crossed the Millennium Bridge, a lovely walking bridge across the Thames.  And at the end of the Millennium Bridge is a marvelous view of St Paul’s, as previously mentioned one of my favorite buildings in the world.  So I was able to bask in the view of St Paul’s at dusk.  Marvelous!