Michiyo and I (Mikio) traveled England this summer for 10 days. We visited Suffolk in East Anglia, London and nearby cities in the south of England. So I’d like to write our travel.

PartⅠ ” Suffolk in East Anglia”

 We went to the UK two years ago. At that time we took part in a study tour organized by an international exchange volunteer group and traveled from London to Edinburgh. And we did a homestay at first time in Onehouse near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

 This time we traveled by ourselves and stayed again with our host, Angie-san and David-san. Two years ago, we were impressed their hospitality and the beautiful garden and house. We were overjoyed at their loveliness. It looked like a dream house. These were unforgettable memories for us. Since then we’ve desired to visit them again. So we were happy to make our dream come true this year.

 We arrived in London in the evening on July 26 after 12 hour flight from Japan. We went to Cambridge from Heathrow Airport by train. Angie-san and David-san picked up us by car at Cambridge. When we arrived at their house, we felt like returning to our familiar house. The house and rooms were exactly the same as before. (But the grasses of garden were a little bit brownish due to lack of rain this summer.) Of course, Angie-san and David-san were welcomed us. There was a message card on which said “Kangei!!” in Japanese in our bedroom. We celebrated the joyous reunion that night till late.

 During our stay, Angie-san and David-san took us for a drive to some interesting places. First, we browsed around the downtown in Bury St Edmunds. As Bury St Edmunds is a historic market town and religious town, there are many sites to enjoy visiting. We visited the ruined abbey and St Edmundsbury Cathedral. They were quaint and historical buildings. When we walked near the town centre, we had a surprise. A young man called us, “Are you, by any chance, Michiyo & Mikio?” To our surprise, he was James who did homestay in our house in Japan three years ago. “What a coincidence!” We were very surprised and pleased to reunion by chance.

Next, we visited a unique village, Lavenhamn. There were many old houses and buildings – half-timbered medieval cottages which were inclined at varying angles. Levanham prospered with wool trades in the 15^th and 16^th century. I felt like being in the wonderland and took a fancy to the unusual charming village. Third, Angie-san and David-san took us for “Melford Hall” which was a huge medieval building protected by National Trust. It was  a spacious and comfortable place. We enjoyed talking over a cup of tea and walking in the large garden under the wide blue sky.

Angie-san and David-san welcomed us with a special dinner BBQ. They were supposed to have a BBQ in the beautiful garden, but unfortunately it began to rain just before the party. Although it was the BBQ in doors, we were fully treated with delicious BBQ. David-san is really good cook. At dinner, Ann-san and Mal-san (Angie-san and David-san’s best friends) were invited. We had met them two yeas ago and wanted to see them again. The six of us enjoyed nice dinner and chatting till all hours. It was a really delightful night. This time, Michiyo had a special event for dinner. She made Japanese cooking and treated them. The menus she cooked were typical Japanese dishes, Sushi, Tenpura and Somen. We brought the ingredients from Japan. Our hosts and guests seemed to be very glad and ate them with gusto! Michiyo was satisfied seeing their big grin on their faces. The next day we were invited to Ann-san and Mal-san’s house. We were amazed at the sophisticated beautiful house and garden. We were treated with delicious tea and cakes in the garden, and felt comfortable and affluent daily lives of English people.

In this way, we enjoyed the second homestay with Angie-san and David-san. They were only three days, but they were happy and fruitful days. We sincerely appreciate their warm hospitality. In the morning of July 29, we left Onehouse for London. Angie-san and David-san saw us off at the train station in Stowmarket. We said goodbye to them, hoping we could see again.

PartⅡ ” London and nearby cities in the south of England”

 We arrived in London around noon and went straight to our hotel “Ashburn” in Kensington. The hotel was not big, but tidy and cozy and accessible from the tube station “Gloucester Road”. We stayed here for 6 days.

We had a lot of places to visit and looked around London. So we quickly went to the gathering place for the first activity, “London Walks”. “London Walks” is the walking tour guided by a Londoner. Although the guides speak fast in English for us, they are unique and interesting. It is good for our English listening practice. The walking tour which we joined was “Old Kensington”. We browsed many old buildings and streets in Kensington with a long and distinguished history listening the guide’s British English. We walked with our English friend, Tor, who lives in Fukushima-city in Japan. He came back his country at that time. Before leaving Japan, we let him know about “London Walks” and he and his mother joined us.

After the tour of Kensington we went to Natural History Museum where Tor’s sister worked as a scientist. Although the museum was very crowded with many visitors including children in summer holidays, we could look at effectively many exhibits such as big dinosaurs or fossil owing to her kind guide and commentary. At that night we went to a classical music concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Although I definitely wanted to see the famous concert hall, we were too tiered to listen to the classical music. We listened to Mozart’s music struggling against sleepiness.

 Next day (July 30), we took a bus tour to Cotswolds. The bus tour was a one-day trip which departed from Victoria Coach Station in the morning and stopped over the Blenheim Palace along the way. The Cotswolds is a range of hills in west-central England. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the Middle Ages the wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous. The area is characterized by attractive small villages built of the Cotswold stone (a yellow limestone). We visited Burford which had an old Cotswold stone “wool churches” and Bourton-on-the-Water which was known as the “Venice of the Cotswolds” because of the bridge-spanned stream that runs through the village and Bibury which William Morris called “the most beautiful village in England”. We really enjoyed the atmosphere which sometimes called the "Heart of England".

Blenheim Palace is a huge and monumental country house in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to the Duke of Marlborough in return for military triumph against the French at the Battle of Blenheim in the early 17 century. UNESCO recognized the palace as a World Heritage Site. We were absolutely amazed at the vastness of the Palace and Garden. We walked around the Palace and had a cup of tea in the Garden terrace. The palace is also notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. I bought a Churchill’s biography and miniature at the souvenir shop in the Palace.

Next day (July 31), we spent all day in London. First, we went to Portbello in the Notting Hill. It is famous for antiques market which is open on the street every Saturday morning. We had wanted to come and see here for a long time. There were many interesting stalls on the long street which were fun to watch. We bought some accessories, T-shirts, pictures, etc.

Next, we joined another London Walks “The Beatles In My Life”. Having been a Beatles fan man and boy, I wanted to join this Walks. The guide, a self-proclaimed “Beatlemania” said, “"There are places I'll remember all my life", sang the Beatles in one of their most evocative songs. Many of those places are in the "London Town" of this walk...” We started walking from Marylebone and walked around many places related to the Beatles. And we went up to St. John’s Wood to see the legendary abbey Road studios and crosswalk. Of course, we took pictures on the crosswalk where the Beatles member walked across.

Being tired with A.M. activities, we got back to our hotel to take a short rest. Michiyo fell asleep in bed quickly. So I decided to go alone to the Museum nearby while she was sleeping. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852 after The Great Exhibition of 1851. As I had the quickest tour in the largest Museum, I didn’t almost remember the exhibition. But the hugeness of the museum stuck out in my mind even now.

In the evening, we went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. (We had a Chinese noodle on our way to the theater. It was good!) The Globe Theatre was in Southwark on south bank of the Thames. It was originally built in 1599 by Shakespeare's play company. In 1613 the first Globe was burned down by a spark from a prop cannon, which ignited the thatch during a performance of “Henry Ⅷ”. A modern reconstruction of the Globe opened in 1997. Although we visited the Globe three years ago for the first time, we could not see the play. So we were happy to have a chance to see “Henry Ⅷ” this time. We saw the play in the pit on the ground. Although we had to stand up all the way in the pit, it was nice experience to share the same atmosphere of Shakespearean stage. We were deeply moved to the real Shakespeare play performed by RSC and the real Globe Theatre.

The next day (August 1), we took another bus tour to the southwest of England. The destinations on that day were Windsor castle, Stonehenge and Bath. We’ve been England three times, but we’ve not been to these places. First, we went to Windsor castle. The castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in the 11 century. Now, Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends in the year at the castle, using the castle for both state and private entertaining. We looked around the castle and were impressed with a glorious past of England.

Next we went to the famous prehistoric monument “Stonehenge”. Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones in the middle of Salisbury Plain. Archaeologists say that the monument was erected around 2500 BC. There are many theories about why they were built. The purpose is getting clear and clear, but I think it is better to be mysterious for us. When we walked around the circle of large stones, we felt as if we got a mystery power!

Lastly we went to Bath. Bath was originally established as a spa resort by the Romans in AD 43. There is a myth which the origin of English word “bath” is Bath. (It seems to be a mistake.) Much later, Bath became popular as a spa resort during the Georgian era in the 18^th century. We saw the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey. I got lulled into the illusion of being ancient Rome, when I sat down at the side of Roman Baths. We got back to London at night after a long bus tour.

The last day (August 2), we visited a few other places in London. First, we went to the Palace of Westminster beside the Thames River. During the summer holidays, there is a special tour inside the Palace include the House of Parliament. We had booked the tour in advance through internet in Japan. We were guided by a specially qualified guide who spoke genuine British English. We saw the Commons and Lords Chamber, the Royal Gallery, etc. I was particularly surprised at the narrowness of chamber. Compared to the unsuitable size in somewhere country, I was so interesting.

After this study tour, we went to a Gothic monastery church, Westminster Abbey, located in the west of the Palace of Westminster. The abbey was started in about 1045 by King Edward I and is the traditional place of coronation and burial for English monarchs. The interior looks like a veritable museum of England history. We saw many tombs or memorials of not only monarchs and queens but also English poets and scientists including Shakespeare, Dickens, Darwin and Newton. I was filled with a feeling of fullness.

Then we had fish and chips for lunch at Covent Garden and went to the Courtauld Galleries. The Courtauld Galleries is not so big art museum but famous for an extensive collection of mainly French Impressionist. We have wanted to come here for a long time. We were happy to see many celebrated pictures, especially Manet's “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

The last night’s activities in London were a dinner and a musical. After a little bit gorgeous dinner, we enjoyed the musical “Billy Elliot” at the Victoria Palace theatre. “Billy Elliot” is a musical based on a film in 2000“Billy Elliot” and the music is by Elton John.The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. There was a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the 1980s UK miners' strike in Northern England against the personnel rationalization under “Thatcherism”. Billy on the stage was so cute and a little bit sad . Billy’s success story over the difficulties was so impressive that we were touched and moved to the point of tears at some scenes. We got back to the hotel at midnight with a sense of satisfaction of the musical and this travel.

 The next day (August 3), we left the hotel early in the morning hour and got on a tube to Heathrow Airport. Our flight to Japan left on time and we were safely back home on August 4.