Happy New Year from the UK

The family in front of St. Michaels Mount in Marazion, Cornwall

27 December 2007 - 5 January 2008

What a great time we had seeing in the New Year from England! We flew into Bristol on 27 December and drove down to the village of Marazion in Cornwall. We stayed there in the Godolphin Arms Hotel for four nights and explored the countryside. Cornwall is one of my favorite parts of England because of the wild coastline and because of all the standing stones, stone circles and burial chambers that can be found there. We then drove over to Southampton here we spent a couple of nights, stopping at the Seal Sanctuary and the Donkey Sanctuary, before going up to London for our last four nights. The highlights of our London stay were the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the British Museum, the King Tut exhibit at the O2 Millennium Dome, and the Lord of the Rings musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.


The Merry Maidens are 19 stones that form a circle which is probably the best preserved of all the stone circles in Cornwall and is believed to be complete and unaltered.


A standing stone in a field near the Merry Maidens, possibly one of the Pipers which is associated with the circle.


Another standing stone near the Merry Maidens, possibly another Piper.


I can't remember the name of this town but it's pretty.


The Wishing Tree on the path to Madron Holy Well and Celtic Chapel.
Also known as a Clootie Well.


A rainbow in Cornwall near the Wishing Tree and Holy Well.


Lanyon Quoit Burial Chamber


Jason in front of Lanyon Quoit


Lee Anne and Wren at the Men-an-Tol.
It is an atypical megalithic monument because of the stone with the whole and the alignment of the two standing stones at either end. It may have once formed part of stone circle. There is a lot of folklore associated with it, including passing children through it three times to cure rickets as well as for adults to crawl through in order to cure back aches.


Wren at Lizard Point, the southernly most point of England.


This is Magnus, a male grey seal who lives at the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall. Magnus is in his thirties and was originally rescued by a zoo as a pup from the Isle of May colony in Scotland. He gradually outlived all the other seals until he was the only one left. The Sanctuary heard about Magnus's plight and offered him a home.


Wren and Lee Anne admiring a resident donkey at The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, Devon.


New Forest Ponies hanging out in the village green of Beaulieu, Hampshire.



Wren and Jason with the ponies.


Wren at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, Dorset.


Wren looking at more fishies.


Wren's first roller coaster at the pier in Bournemouth.


Wren in her cute litte London dress - it has Big Ben and double decker buses on it. She's watching a carousel at a chldren's store in London.


The Temple Church in London.


Wren at the British Museum in front of a sign for the Terracotta Warriors exhibit.


Wren riding a reindeer at the winter fair in Hyde Park, London.