GREAT BRITAIN

	This is a picture of the guard in front of 10 Downing Street. Unfortunately, they've blocked off the whole street, so you can't get any closer than this, but if you look down the street, it is the black building on the right. Behind it is a red brick building, which is actually an extension that was recently added on.
	Making the guards smile wasn't nearly as hard as we thought. In fact, one of them seemed to have the giggles all the time.
	We visited the Tower of London and took a wonderful tour led by a Beefeater. He was really fun and this was one of the best tours we took in Europe.
	We were lucky to be in London the summer they were letting visitors into Buckingham Palace. The tickets were very expensive, and you weren't allowed to take pictures (so you would buy postcards later). But since there are no postcards of the throne room, Kris snuck a picture, shot from the hip. By this time in our trip, he was actually getting pretty good and taking shots like this!
	Tricia's mom, Sylvia, missed her so much because we were so far from home, that she decided to join us in London and travel with us for a week.
	It's true! London is just chock full of these red double-decker buses. Unfortunately the new ones don't have the traditional conductor.
	London was our second-to-last Hard Rock in Europe. If you ever go make sure not to get table 27.
	This is as close to Stonehenge as you can get without paying. Even if you do pay, you can only get as close as those people in the background. There is definately an air of mystery around the place. This is something that Lock Ness does not have, which we'll get to later on in this page.
	England is covered with stone circles like this one in Avebury. It's so large that it surrounds the whole town. It's 1400 feet in diameter - that's about 16 times bigger than Stonehenge.
	Here is an example of how large some of these stones are at the Avebury site. One of the neatest things about the Stonehenge circle is that the stones are cut into cube shapes, while the stones here at Avebury are very rough.
	England has some of the cutest Bed and Breakfasts in the world. Here we are in the garden of our B&B in Bath: the Holly Vista Guest House. If you ever plan on going to Bath, give them a call. Tel:(01225)-424557.
	The main reason to visit Bath is to see the incredibly well-preserved roman bath. It is still filled by the same hot spring and all of the original plumbing still works.
	Right next to the roman baths is Bath's Abby. It is known as the "Lantern of the West" because all the windows allow the light to just stream in.
	Kris was finally caught speeding and was forced to sit in public humiliation for the day.
	Some of the great English manor houses are open to the public. The lord here at Stanway house lets people walk through his ground floor. History just seeps from the rafters, but it's too bad he can't afford to keep up with the needed repairs.
	The Cotswolds region is just littered with quaint little villages like this one at Snowshill.
	Can you believe that someone lives in a great house like this? All of the houses on this block have thatched roofs with designs along the top. England must have the only Thatched Roof Union.
	Getting to church has never been so beautiful.
	We can hardly believe how fast the time went! It's already been a week and Tricia's mom has to go back to the States.
	Blackpool is the Coney Island of this part of the world. It is full of shreak-inducing rides, teeth-rotting sugar candy, and tacky souvenir shops. Of course we really enjoyed that last one.
	Here is Tricia taking a break from our hike around Buttermere Lake. Even though it rained most of the time we were in the Lakes District, we did get a chance or two to get out and enjoy the scenery.
	Here is an the Castlerigg stone circle near the town of Keswick. These stones are lined between the two tallest peaks in the area.
	All over Scotland we kept hearing these spooky, disembodied sounds of bagpipes. This time we were able to track the music back to this band who had a great sound and an even better presentation. Can you spot Tricia? She is the one in the back under our great, big, blue umbrella.
	Well, we finally made it to the long anticipated Lock Ness. There it is in the background. We stopped at the Urquhart castle to gander at the Scottish highlands and to try to spot the elusive Nessie.
	After a half an hour of exploring the castle and searching for the monster we came to only one conclusion. THERE IS NO MONSTER!!! It's just a lake like any other. The only reason anyone still hears about it is so the locals can steal your money at the two, both official, Lock Ness Exhibition Centers/tacky souvenir shops.
	Here we are at the entrance to the Edinburgh castle.
	Here is one of the largest cannons ever built. It was used more than once to destroy the walls of a castle under siege. Unfortunately, it would usually take 4-5 months to get this behemoth to the siege site and by then either they had already won or they had decided it was not worth the effort to continue.
	Another view of the Edinburgh castle. Notice the flag flying at half mast. That's because Princess Diana was killed in that car crash only a couple days before. All of the United Kingdom mourned her death for the whole week between her accident and the funeral.
	Here is Tricia signing one of the many, many books of condolences for Princess Di.
	In front of the Walter Scott Monument in Edinburgh, people placed flowers with cards labeled for the Princess. Most were sentimental and some just read "To: The Queen of Hearts".
	Some of the great ruins in the town of York. We where told that this Abby was hated by its parishoners so much that the clergy built a wall around it to protect themselves from the wrath of the people.
	We couldn't bear to sightsee any more when it was so beautiful out. What more could we ask for than a sunny day, some green grass to lay on, and a backgammon board to play!!
	Well I guess I must be some kind of Public Television geek, because I found the self-guided tour of the wool factory entertaining.
	This is a slate factory in Wales. They produce almost all of the blue-grey slate in the world. If you have a slate roof then those tiles most likely came from here.
	This was the first iron bridge built in the world. I'll bet you would have never guessed that it was built in the small town of Ironbridge.