DAYS 46, 47 – MONDAY & TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 11, 1974 – “WANNA PLAY DOLLS?”

We were going to spend two more days in Birmingham, using it as our base for area visits.  On Monday we were going to visit Windsor Castle.  We rode five different trains to get to there.

We arrived at Windsor about 12:45.  When you come out of the station, a wall of the castle is to the left.

A flag over the castle announced that the Queen was in residence.

Two things in the castle were of special interest.  First was Queen Mary’s Dollhouse.  When I heard the term, I pictured a fancy dollhouse for a young princess to play with.  But it was designed for display, a present from the English people to Queen Mary to help with her charities.

The dollhouse is a replica of a king’s palace, all in miniature.  It has running water, electric lights, locks that lock, a lift (elevator) that works, etc.  The parts were made by great craftsmen in England.  The library has a complete set of tiny books, with stories written by England’s writers.  The paintings in the house were painted by England’s finest painters.  The ceilings were painted by great artists.  The garden was landscaped by an expert in that field.  The pictures below are of various rooms.

The second thing of special interest, at least to me, was a collection of manuscripts, including sketches by great artists.  Many of the drawings were by da Vinci.

After spending time in the castle, we headed for Eton, which is across the Thames (Windsor and Eton are twin cities, separated only by the river).

We bought some ice cream on a stick to finish our lunch.  As we passed a used-book shop, Angie dropped her stick.  A prim-and-proper woman popped out the door and shook her finger at Angie.  “You dirty girl, are you the one who dropped this lolly stick on the footpath?”  She pointed to a police station across the street.  “Do you know what the police will do to you if you don’t mend your ways?”  She then had Angie move the stick—about a foot into the gutter.

We walked on down the street to Eton College.

The most interesting sight was a teacher in full gown zooming by on a bicycle.  We walked back to the train station and caught the train—heading first to London, then back to Birmingham.

Alan wanted me to pick up an offset-press piece in London. Turned out the man couldn’t deliver it until 7:00.  It was only 5:15, but I told Alan we would wait.

I called Pan Am to check on our flight out of London on Thursday (we were learning!).  The man I talked to said our flight would arrive in Sydney at 7:00 a.m., an hour and forty minutes earlier than I had told everyone!  There was no way I could contact anyone (yes, kids, this was before instant communication via email and the like).  No one would be there to meet us.

We saw a photo booth and Angie thought she had to try it.  She was confused about what to do, so the first three pictures show the top of her head and the fourth shows a panic-stricken face.  I bought that set.  Cindy and Debbie then helped her get a proper set of pics, which she kept.

The man came with the offset-press part at 6:45. Alan met us at the Birmingham station and took us to the building where he tried out the piece.  He then took us to our room.  The ladies had decided to stay in the next day, so Alan was just going to take me to nearby spots of interest.

Tuesday was my and Jo’s 20th anniversary.  She is the still the best thing that’s happened me, next to the Lord.  I’m afraid though that she didn’t know what she was saying when she vowed, “Whither thou goest, I will go.”

Allan showed up at 12:00 and took me to nearby Lichfield, birthplace of Samuel Johnson, writer of the first Dictionary of the English Language.

We parked in a market place where a number of Christians were martyred or mistreated.

On the return trip to Birmingham, we stopped at an old Roman site.  England is full of these reminders of Roman occupation.

Back in Birmingham, Alan took me to the home of Francis Asbury, “the father of Methodism” in the U.S., who fell out with James O’Kelly.  O’Kelly then started one of the early restoration attempts in the U.S.

I bought some Kentucky Fried Chicken to celebrate our anniversary and Alan took me back to our motel room.  We were leaving for London in the morning, so the rest of the evening was spent getting ready.  We intended to get to bed early but stomachs full of chicken plus excitement about heading back to Australia plus an overly-warm room made it hard to go to sleep.  Five restless people in one small room are too many!