Day 1: Coventry, Warwick Castle and the Cotswolds

We've had a few days to rest up while Jim finished his block of shifts before heading off on our first round of adventures. Well actually the first adventure was the going to the grocery store and church our first few days here. It was not the actual activities but the getting there that was the adventure (though the grocery store and sacrament meeting can be a great challenge with a toddler.) You see here in England they drive on the other side of the road and the cars are all configured with the drivers seat on the right hand side of the car. It took me 5 minutes to figure out how to get the car in reverse (you have to depress the shift handle before shifting it into gear). I actually learned how to drive on this side of the road growing up in Japan so it hasn't taken long to make the adjustment. However, the first few times out just required a lot more conscious thinking about what I was doing. For this first trip we decided to head out west of London to check out some of the sites there.

The first day we headed first for Coventry which was heavily bombed by the Germans during WWII due to the weapons making capacity of this industrial city. The city has rebuilt and is a great symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation. One of the sites that has been preserved is the bombed out old Cathedral. We were explaining to Whitney about the city being bombed during the war and as we are walking up to the cathedral there were these large stones (like Maren is sitting on) marking the roadway near the cathedral and Whitney says "look Mom there's a bunch of bombs in the road." Probably not what they are supposed to symbolize but that's what it reminded her of.

Next we headed south from there for Warwick Castle. This site originally held a fort built in 11th century by the Normans. In the 14th and 15th centuries a fortified castle was built in its place which remains today. The interior was updated in the 18th and 19th centuries to include a royal residence. While visiting this castle we were able to climb the tight staircases that climb to the tops of the towers, walk across the walls where the archers would've stood, and tour the dungeon, royal residence and state rooms. There were also demonstrations by an archer that showed the various weapons of the time. I didn't realize there were so many different types of arrowheads used by the archers for various purposes. They had a falconry demonstration with an owl, bald eagle, vultures and another type of eagle. It was fun to watch them come swooping down over the castle towers. The last demonstration where they shot a burning cannonball over 100m with a trebuchet (the random catapult contraption shown above) was very cool to see.

With the long summer days here in England we still had time for a few more stops before heading to our hotel at a nearby military base. We made a quick stop in Stratford-upon-Avon with it's fame being Shakespeare's hometown. It was very touristy with lots of traffic so we didn't stay long. We would've loved to see a show done by the Royal Shakespeare Company while there but with little ones in tow it wasn't possible. We then drove through an area of the country called the Cotswolds. This area was a very wealthy area at one time due to it's wool production. However with the rise of cotton the economy of this area collapsed and many of these villages are frozen in that time period. They are beautiful to walk through with their limestone walled and thatched roof homes alongside the beautiful English gardens. We stopped in one of the villages for some traditional English fish and chips before heading to the hotel for the night to rest up for another action packed day!