Tag Archives: Military Life

On the Street Where You Live…Part 9

29 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Our daughter, Janet was born in the base hospital on Loring AFB in June of 1971.  Fred came to visit me in the hospital the day following her birth and asked, “You didn’t really want to stay here another year, did you?”  I nearly jumped out of the bed!!  “Where are we going?”  I screeched!  San Antonio, Texas, for Fred to be an instructor at the same OTS where he had trained as an officer.  

And so, in September, we headed out from Maine – with no regrets!

We took our time, traveling through parts of Canada and the northeast states of the U.S. 

1971 – Hotel Frontenac – Quebec, Canada

The Von Trapp Family Lodge – Stowe, Vermont

Boston – U.S.S. Constitution – Old Ironsides

 We stopped in Washington D.C. and Fred’s parents met us.

The Lincoln Memorial – Washington D.C.

We finally arrived in San Antonio later that month.  I had a great-aunt, Lillie, who lived in San Antonio, and we stayed with her while we went house-hunting.

We finally settled on a newly built house in a subdivision not too far from the Medina Base, where the OTS was quartered and schooled, as well as not far from Lackland AFB itself.  Ray Ellison was the builder.

1971 – Our first house – San Antonio, Texas

2017 – Our first house – renovated.  That tree really grew big!

I’ve looked up the house on Zillow.com and it says it has 1,724 square feet of living space.  It also says it has four bedrooms and two baths.  The new owners must have added on, because it only had three bedrooms when we lived there!  It also says there is a fireplace in the family room – that must have been in the add-on, because we didn’t have a fireplace anywhere in the house!

The entry way had a coat closet, and was separated from the living room by half-walls that had spindles up to the ceiling.

1974 – Fred and Janet in the living room.  Notice the spindles in the half-wall

The living room was rather long and narrow, and ended with the dining room against the end wall.  There was a mural on the wall.

1973 – Janet’s 2nd Birthday.  Janet and Karen enjoying birthday cupcakes  

There’s the mural on the wall of the dining room

The kitchen was off the dining room, with a pocket-door between.  The refrigerator and stove were on the right wall as you entered the kitchen, with a divider between the kitchen and family room that included cabinets, sink and dishwasher.  At the end of the kitchen was a nook large enough for an eat-in table and chairs. There was also a storage cabinet in that nook, which was convenient.

1972 – After church, Janet crawled up and got into the french fries.

That is the eat-in nook, table and chairs, and storage closet in the wall.

Also between the kitchen and family room was another half-wall – wood this time – that also had spindles to the ceiling.

1972 – Christmas with our little tree.  This shows the wooden spindles in the half-wall

The door to the backyard is behind the tree

Karen and Janet admiring our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

We placed our piano in that room.  There was a door that led to the backyard in that room. The door to the garage was between the kitchen proper and the eat-in nook.

The master bedroom was at the far end of the hallway, with a bath attached – shower only – no tub.  The second bathroom was down the hall, across from the middle bedroom, and the third bedroom was at the end of that hallway, with long windows facing the street.

It was a comfortable house, and we enjoyed our three years there.

I’ve written about one incident that happened while we were there: The house next door to us caught fire in the middle of the night.  Please see my post of September 21, 2014 about that incident – My Husband…My Hero.

More next time…

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 7

15 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After a year living on the economy in Wiesbaden, West Germany, we were able to move into a furnished government apartment.  We were in the American housing called Auckum, and we lived on Westfalen Strasse.  We were in a six-apartment stairwell, and  there were two stairwells in our building, so 12 units.  We lived on the third floor, in the outer apartment, rather than the inner apartment.  We lived there the remaining two years of our commitment.

Our apartment building.  Our unit was the top left in this picture.

1970 – Springtime – Karen in the back yard playground.  Our apartment is top right

It was a two bedroom apartment, one bathroom.  The kitchen was nice and large with a doorway to the dining room.  The wall of the dining room was completely windows. A large picture window with two side windows that opened.  We opened them frequently during the spring, summer and fall.  They were tall windows, and had a marble ledge or window sill, with heaters underneath.  The window sill was near the floor enough that, when Karen was old enough, she would enjoy sitting on it and looking outside.

The living room was fairly large, as well.  We had a couch and a couple of chairs.

1969 – My mother came to visit.  See the couch provided

The brown chair was provided, while the rocking chair Fred purchased.

Fred had purchased a rocking chair for me to nurse Karen, when we lived on the economy, and that was one of our chairs in the living room.  We still have that chair.  There was a wooden cabinet in the living room that held our stereo equipment. We had no TV those years we were in Wiesbaden.  Didn’t really need it, either.

There was a balcony off the living room, that we enjoyed quite a bit.  Karen loved to go out there and look around and play.

Karen on the balcony.

There was a divider between the living room and the dining room.  One side held three bookcase shelves, and the other side held storage for large dining equipment.

Karen is two years old here – in front of the divider.

There was also a sideboard in the dining room.  The dining room also held a large table with six chairs.

The kitchen was good sized, with all the necessary equipment.  Unfortunately, the government only gave us a non-frost-free refrigerator, and I had to defrost that thing quite often.  Not fun!  Lots of cabinet space, and a window over the sink.

The bathroom was long, with a fairly long, large tub (with shower), the requisite sink and toilet.  Karen enjoyed time in the tub while I cleaned the sink and toilet.  The floor was terrazzo – easy to clean.

We had Karen’s crib in the second bedroom.  There was also a bed in there.  As it happened, by that time I was playing the piano for the church, and needed a piano to practice on.  We rented a piano from a piano store in town, and they placed it in her bedroom.  I’m not exactly sure when I practiced, but she was such a sound sleeper, that I could have done it during her naps.

There was a fire in the attic of one of the buildings across the way from us while we were there.  I believe it was contained to the attic, but perhaps took some of the top floor apartments.

Karen on our balcony, with the results of the fire across the street.

In our bedroom was the bed (naturally), but also a dressing table, complete with mirror set in front of a window.  I would frequently take down the mirror and set my sewing machine up there to work. We had a full-length mirror behind the bedroom door, so that worked well.  We had wardrobes in the bedrooms for our clothing.

The washers and dryers were down in the basement.  That wasn’t too bad until I had to lug the diaper pail down four flights of stairs! 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 6

8 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

About half-way through Fred’s school at San Jose State College, my Dad died.  

My Dad – his official photo

I was pregnant with our first child, and Daddy’s death hurt dreadfully.  We already had our orders to go to Wiesbaden, West Germany, so Daddy knew it before he died. Mother came to visit us in Germany, and I so wished Daddy had lived to accompany her.

We sold our car, and flew from San Jose by helicopter (my first and only helicopter ride) 

Credit Pixabay

to San Francisco, then flew to Albuquerque on a jet.  We visited with my Mother, Aunt Jessie and Granny.  As it turned out, Fred’s brother was graduating from the University of New Mexico at that same time, and Fred and Larry’s parents were in Albuquerque as well, so we were able to visit with them, too.

1967 – Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Fred’s parents and his brother; My mother, Granny and Aunt Jessie – and me

We then flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to stay the night with Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn.

1966 – June – Philadelphia.  Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn

The next day we went to the Pentagon to retrieve my Passport, which had not been finished before that.  We then flew to Frankfurt, West Germany.

There was no base housing available for us when we arrived, so we contracted with a “local” to live in another furnished apartment, on the economy (that’s military speak for off-base housing).  It was an upstairs apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom.

1967 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Upstairs is our apartment – with the balcony

As an aside, the landlord and his wife were Herr Minor (pronounced meenor) and Frau Minor.  She stated that we would be the last Americans she would rent to.  Many years later, in 1982, we drove by that house. There was a gentleman outside, washing his car.  It had an American license plate.  I stopped to talk with him.  I told him what Frau Minor had told us 15 years earlier, and he said she told him the same thing!  Guess she liked the American money too much.

There was a fairly large room that was the living room and dining room combined.  There was a balcony off the living room.  The bathroom was next to the larger bedroom, the kitchen on the other side of the bathroom. We had a geyser in both the bathroom and kitchen (above the sink) for hot water.  I didn’t understand how that could heat enough water for a tub bath (no shower), but it seemed to do the job nicely.  There was a pantry/store room off the kitchen.  The washer and dryer were in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, they gave us a brand new wringer washing machine!! It ruined so many snaps and buttons on our clothes that I was ready to pitch it out the window!

The view out our back kitchen window

The second bedroom was opposite the kitchen. Down the hall was the bathroom, bedroom, and living room/dining room.  Quite compact and open and airy.  The heat was radiator heat, which was controlled by the landlord.  After our Karen was born, they made sure we had enough heat in the winter to keep the house toasty and warm.

The house was just down the street from a beautiful park, and we would walk there and back quite often.  After Karen was born, we would take her in the buggy for our walk.  The German people – especially women – would stop us and ooh and aah over her.  It was delightful living there.

The park where we walked

The church down the street.  We always heard the bells ring

We lived on Albrecht Durer Strasse.  He is the artist who painted The Praying Hands you might know.  It’s come to mean a great deal to me, since we lived on the street named for him!

Credit Pixabay

We lived in that apartment for one year before we were able to get into a furnished government apartment.  More on that next time.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 5

1 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

We left Texas behind us, visited in Albuquerque, then stopped in Colorado for the wedding of Fred’s youngest sister, on our way to San Jose.

1966 – Colorado Mountains

Fred’s sister and her to-be-husband

Since San Jose State College (now University) was a “city” college – located within the city itself, there was very little parking.

Credit Google Search and San Jose State University website

 Consequently, we rented an apartment near the campus.  We could just park the car in our space at the apartment complex, and Fred could walk to class, without having the hassle or time trying to find that unavailable parking spot.  Frequently, I would walk to the public library – gave me good exercise, and an excuse to sit and read.

This little apartment – again, furnished – had a small living room, a very small kitchen with an eat-in nook at the end with a table and four chairs, where Fred did his studying at night.  The living room had a couch and one chair, with some lamps for light.  The bedroom and bath had very little except the bed and small dresser.  The bathroom was standard with tub/shower, sink and toilet. Very efficient.

Our apartment complex Credit Google Search and Redfin

This apartment was in a fairly large complex, with lots of apartments and students.  We became fast friends with our very next-door neighbors, as the husband was also an Air Force person, studying right along with Fred to become meteorologists.  We have continued that friendship even to this day.

Credit Google Search and SJSU – Meteorology Department

We found a church to join, but later discovered it really wasn’t where God wanted us to be.  We learned a good lesson from that one.  You see, the pastor was an old friend of my Dad’s, and he and his wife practically begged us to join their church.  They could use Fred’s Seminary experience in their Sunday School program. They could use my experience with the piano or organ in the worship services.  And so, we joined.  We knew it would be only for one year, since Fred would be assigned somewhere else following his schooling at SJSC.  But what we learned is that, whenever we moved to a new place, and began searching for a new church home, we would only join a body of believers if we absolutely KNEW that was where God wanted us to be.  And we could tell people from churches who visited us that, no it wasn’t that we didn’t feel God present in their church…just that we didn’t feel that’s where God wanted us to be.

Consequently, we have been quite at home in all the churches we’ve been members of in all our moves.  God has planted us in places where, yes we could be used, but also right where He wanted us.  Sometimes it was for a specific reason that we didn’t realize at the time, but would find it later, frequently after we had left that location.  It’s always best to follow God’s leading.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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On the Street Where You Live-Part 4

25 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After Fred graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was unable to find a position with a church or school in his field.  Consequently, his Draft Board informed him that he would be “next” for call-up for military service.  Since he had a college degree and two seminary degrees, he looked into becoming an officer in the Air Force.

The result of that inquiry was his enlistment in the Air Force.  He had to go to San Antonio, Texas for his training.

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas

The River Walk, San Antonio, Texas

At that time, in 1966, wives were not encouraged to follow their husbands to the OTS training (Officer Training School). That was mainly because the men were billeted in barracks for six days, with only one day allowed off base.  But Fred and I were determined to be together as much as possible.  So we moved to San Antonio, and we rented a small apartment over the garage of the landlady.  At least this apartment had a separate bedroom!  

It was furnished, so had a table and four chairs in the kitchen, which was just one long room into the living room.  The bedroom and bathroom (which didn’t have a tub, just a small shower stall), were at the end of that room.  There was a sleeper sofa and a chair in the living room. Again, it wasn’t air conditioned, so our big window fan came in quite handy.  We actually sold it to the landlady when we left there.

We were only there three months, so I don’t really remember a lot about that apartment.  I do remember that the only entrance to that apartment was by the stairs outside the garage.  The kitchen had cabinets and a window over the sink and a stove and refrigerator.

I worked at Kelly AFB through Civil Service, and lived in that place all by myself except for Saturday nights.  I would pick Fred up from his OTS place on Lackland AFB and take him home.  I think his only good night’s sleep was that one night at the apartment with me.  I had to return him to the base on Sunday afternoons.

We did manage to join a small Baptist Church there, and became good friends with the pastor and his wife.  They were about our age, and were a fun couple.  His wife’s name was also Judy, so that was made a nice connection.

After graduation and commissioning as a 2ndLieutenant, Fred was to report to San Jose, California for schooling to become a Meteorologist at San Jose State College. 

He wasn’t due for a few weeks, so we stayed in San Antonio a few days, then drove to Albuquerque to visit with my parents. 

Fred’s Dad came for his commissioning ceremony and we each pinned on Fred’s new bars.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Another Sweet Memory~Part 2

10 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 Last time I talked about the cape I had made for Karen when we were in Wiesbaden, Germany in the late 1960’s.  And that it now is a “garment” for one of our granddaughter’s dolls.  I’m so glad it is still in the family.

 

 

Another garment that was part of Karen’s legacy was a dress that our good friend, Frau Katie had crocheted for Karen when she was just two or three-years-old.  I saw that dress on one of our granddaughter’s dolls, as well.  Below is a picture of Karen in that dress, on our balcony in Wiesbaden.

 

 

And here is another picture of the three of us, and Karen is wearing that little dress.  I’m sorry we didn’t have the picture made in color.

 

 

There was also a German dirndl that Frau Katie purchased for our Karen.  It was basically white, with lots of pink – the apron is pink, and lots of pink flowers on the design.  Karen really enjoyed that dress, and I believe that our Katie still has it, as well. Here is a picture of Karen with Frau Katie, with Karen in her dirndl.  Sorry it isn’t in color, either.

 

 

Frau Katie took a real shine to Karen, when she was a baby.  I think it was because I nursed Karen, rather than bottle fed her.  In any case, here is a picture of Karen, age two-and-a half, with Fred, and she has on a lovely sweater that Frau Katie gave her for Christmas.

 

 

I made several little outfits for Karen when she was little (see some pictures below), but I found that I could purchase really cute little dresses for her, with lots of “trim” and other appointments that I couldn’t match, that cost less than I could make.  So I didn’t make all her clothes, but did enjoy what I did make for her.

 

 


Karen and my mother, 1970, in Albuquerque

 

Here is one of the ones I purchased for her, and it was a favorite of mine.  She looked so cute in it. (Our apartment is the one on the top right in this picture.)

 

 

Here is a picture of Karen in 1969.  We were in our quarters in Wiesbaden, on the third floor.  The dining room window was quite large, and the two side windows opened.  While I didn’t make the little outfit Karen is wearing, this is one of my favorite pictures of her.  Because the window was large, and the window “sill” was wide and marble, Karen liked to sit on the window sill and look out.  This is a perfect picture of her.

 

 

As I look back on those days, so many years ago, it brings sweet memories to my mind.  Of Karen as a small child, of the things I made for her, for the beautiful things that Frau Katie gave to her – just for the joy of living and being in beautiful Germany.

God has blest us in so many ways.  And we are grateful.

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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What Was That…?

5 Aug

SUNDAYMEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

Recently, Fred and I had something happen that brought back a memory from 1967.

We were both brushing our teeth in our bathroom (we have two sinks), when we heard a ku-thunk..rumble..rumble sound.  Looking at each other, we wordlessly asked each other…what was that??

We finished brushing our teeth and began searching the house for the source of the sound.  Neither of us could find anything.  Huh.

Later, I was in our second bathroom, when I noticed that the safety bar we had installed in the tub/shower, had fallen off the wall and into the tub!  So THAT was it!  I brought Fred into the bathroom with me and he re-installed it (it’s a suction grip, not installed with screws).

 

 

All that brought back the memory.  We were living in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1967, on the economy (military-speak for non-military housing), in a second-story apartment.

 

Judy in front of our upstairs apartment

 

We had only been there about four months. Karen had been born a few months earlier.  We had her crib set up in the “living room” area of the apartment, as it was closer to our bedroom than the second bedroom, and had more space for the crib.

One night, as we were sleeping, we were awakened by – and kept hearing a funny sound – almost like a tearing or ripping sound. It was recurring throughout the night, and neither of us could figure it out.  All of a sudden, there was a tremendous CRASH!  Fred was up and out of the bedroom before I could hardly lift my head off my pillow!  He raced into the living room to check on Karen.  She was happily sucking on her two fingers, as she usually did, as she slept peacefully on.

We were flummoxed!  What had caused that sound?  Not finding anything out-of-the-ordinary, we went back to bed and to sleep.

When we got up the next morning, I went into the bathroom to take my morning bath (no shower in the German house!).  What to my surprise, but did I see that about six of the wall tiles had ripped away from the wall and fallen into the tub!  So THAT was what had awakened us!  That bathroom wall was on the other side of our bedroom wall, so the sound of the “ripping” would have been quite loud in our bedroom.

We informed the landlord and they had the tile fixed quickly.

It’s a funny memory now.  It’s always amazing to me how something that happens now brings back those memories.  Sometimes it doesn’t take much to find the memory.

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years.
Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.
She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.
They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born.
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
She was a stay-at-home mom for many years.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.
Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer.
She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Circuitous Travel~Part 8

15 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Following breakfast at the B&B, we again took the Tube into London.

Although I don’t have a lot to mention for this day’s events, what we did took quite a bit of time.

We did manage to be at Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard. Unfortunately, we were so far back that we couldn’t see very much, as these pictures will show. But it was enough for us to claim to have seen the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace!

 

 

 

Victory Monument in front of Buckingham Palace

 

I don’t remember how long we stayed there, and how much we saw of it, but it was thrilling for us to be there.

In my memory notes that I wrote at that time, I said that we had lunch at Pizzaland! Perhaps that is a pizza restaurant that is wholly British, as I don’t remember a “pizzaland” in the U.S.

One other event we took in was wandering through the British Museum.

 

Credit Google Search and Wikipedia

 

I suspect our girls weren’t too interested in it, but Fred and I certainly were. While we, neither of us, are terribly interested in paintings, we both thoroughly enjoy sculptures. And the British Museum has quite a few of those for us to admire. Here is one picture of a stained-glass window – I’m not sure just where it was located in the museum, but it looks like the angel Gabriel telling Mary that God had chosen her to bear His Son, the Saviour of the World. Really beautiful.

 

 

When we first went to Heidelberg in 1980, Fred began asking what countries/cities we thought we would like to visit. Our Karen, at that point in time, was fairly interested in Egypt, even thinking of becoming an Egyptologist. We thought, since we were already half-way around the world from the U.S., we might just do that. We never did, unfortunately, but it was a good thought. And Karen never became an Egyptologist, either. All of that to say, that I have one picture we took of the Egyptian room in the British Museum.

 

Credit Google Search

 

 

I had been interested in Greek culture for quite a few years – Fred and I had even made a trip to Greece in 1969 – and so we were rather surprised to find many Greek “artifacts” in the British Museum. We’ve been told that there are more Greek antiquities in the British Museum than in Athens! Much to the Greeks chagrin! This one is a “Winged Victory Temple” and rather beautiful.

 

 

 

While I’m sure we saw many more things in the British Museum, unfortunately, these are the only pictures we took there.

Following that lengthy wandering around the museum, we headed back to the B&B to do some mundane thing like washing clothes! After all, we had already been on the road for over one week, and we were just about out of something clean to wear! So we found a laundromat and did that chore. But it was nice to have clean clothes.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

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Circuitous Travel~Part 6

1 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

 

The following day was a busy one for us, as we made our way to London and the B&B where we were scheduled to stay for a week.

We left Llangollen and drove to Bath.

 

Credit Google Search and All That Is Interesting

 

We were fascinated by the Roman ruins of Bath. We didn’t know a lot about Bath – except for the fact that the Romans built public baths – but from Google search, I found:

Bath is a town set in the rolling countryside of southwest England, known for its natural hot springs and 18th-century Georgian architecture. Honey-coloured Bath stone has been used extensively in the town’s architecture, including at Bath Abbey, noted for its fan-vaulting, tower and large stained-glass windows. The museum at the site of the original Roman-era Baths includes The Great Bath, statues and a temple.

 

Credit Google Search and Everything Everywhere Travel Blog

 

 

I’m not sure we even knew there was Bath Abbey, universities, and other sites to visit. If we were to visit there now, we would take more time to see everything we could.

 

Credit Google Search and Pinterest

 

Being a great King Arthur fan, I was interested to learn, again from Google search, that

Bath may have been the site of the Battle of Badon ©. AD 500), in which King Arthur is said to have defeated the Anglo-Saxons. Hmmm.   I also found: Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973, in a ceremony that formed the basis of all future English coronations.

I also found that Jane Austen lived in Bath with her father, mother, and sister Cassandra for five years – 1801-1806, and several of her books take place in Bath.

I really love this history stuff!!

Moving on…we had heard of/read about Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain for many years, so that was a “must see” on our list of things to do while in England.

 

Credit Google Search and EnglishHeritage.org

 

And so that was our next stop – Amesbury and Stonehenge. After having the stones described as “monoliths,” we were a bit disappointed to find that they weren’t as enormous as we thought they might be. Yes, they are huge, but not the towering stones we thought they would be. However, they were still quite impressive to us.

 

 

 

According to Englishheritage.org, Stonehenge is perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument. It was built in several stages: the first monument was an early henge monument, built about 5,000 years ago, and the unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. In the early Bronze Age many burial mounds were built nearby.

 

Again, being a King Arthur fan, I was amused to see that many say the magician Merlin built Stonehenge. However, other sources say that he just added the headstone, and honored Ambrosius with it. So many speculations.

They also mentioned that Stonehenge has been the site of burials from its earliest time. It was also mentioned that the Salisbury Plain has been a sacred site in England for centuries.

While we weren’t able to walk around and through the standing stones, we were able to get more up close and personal that if we visited today. We’ve seen pictures of the area with a fence around it, to protect it from vandals. Pity.

Following our time at Stonehenge, we headed on to London. We dropped off our luggage at the Allen’s house, then drove to Heathrow to turn in our rental car. We then had supper at Heathrow and took the Tube to Kew Gardens, where the Allen’s house is located.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

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Circuitous Travel~Part 4

27 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

After another good nights rest and breakfast at the St. Valery Guest House in Edinburgh, we took a bus tour of Edinburgh. We usually like to do that – take an official tour of whatever city we are in, then later, explore it on our own. The tour might take us to places and areas that we might not find on our own.

The tour took us to the Edinburgh Castle,

 

                                   The castle from the street below

 

                                    Main Gate to the Castle

 

                                   Battlements

 

Palace Holyrood,

 

 

St. Giles Cathedral.

 

                                  Credit Google Search

 

We were fascinated by it all. We were impressed to find a soldiers dog cemetery on the grounds.

 

 

While Fred’s ancestral family is from near Perth (actually Forgendenny in Perthshire), I’ve recently discovered that my ancestral family is from the southwest part of Scotland, Galloway. I didn’t know that then, or we might have made a special trip to that part of Scotland.

After the bus tour, we got in our car and did a driving trip around. We left Edinburgh and drove by the Firth of Forth bridges to Stirling. From Google search I found:

Stirling is a city in central Scotland. At the heart of its old town, medieval Stirling Castle is on a craggy volcanic rock. On the Abbey Craig outcrop, the National Wallace Monument is a 19th-century tower. It overlooks the site of the 1297 Battle of Stirling Bridge, where William Wallace defeated the English. The Battle of Bannockburn Experience has interactive 3D displays on the history of the 1314 conflict.

 

Here’s a picture of the Stirling Castle:

 

                          Stirling Castle – Lt.Wikipedia.org – Google search

 

We drove through Thornhill. From Google Search, I found:

Thornhill lies on the main A76 road from Dumfries to Kilmarnock as it follows Nithsdale north through the Southern Uplands. Its broad streets meet at a small roundabout on which you find the focal point of the village, the Mercat Cross [Scot for Market Cross].

The origins of Thornhill might date as far back as the Romans, who built a road through Nithsdale and a fort a little to the north at Carronbridge. By the 1600s there was an established settlement here, complete with a mill, though a wooden bridge over the River Nith built in the 1400s to provide a route to the west had already been lost in a flood.

I also found that there is a monument there to the explorer Joseph Thomson (after whom the Thomson’s Gazelle is named).

From Thornhill, we drove through the towns of Aberfoyle, Dryman, Balloch (where there is a castle situated at the southern tip of Loch Lomand), and Jamestown (which is rapidly becoming part of Balloch). Unfortunately, we apparently didn’t take any pictures of these towns.

We had wanted to see Loch Lomond, and we did, stopping only to take a few pictures.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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