The Navy's Motto was "Join the Navy - See the World". Little did I know that when I married Kevin, I was also joining the ranks, as a Navy wife. We moved 27 times: West and East coast, and even in Japan for 3 years.
But our real travels started when he retired, after 29 years in the Navy.
This Blog was mainly started as a memory diary of the good times.
You may feel that it is like the Night Gallery episode: Where the man was forced to sit and watch travel slides. The man wanted to go to Hell to have a rip-roaring time. And he asked the Devil when he would get out of the waiting room, and get to go to Hell. The Devil explains that he is in Hell, and that it’s never what you expect. He mentions that the exact same room exists in Heaven: Where it’s someone’s idea of a pleasant afterlife.
If you would like to visit Grandma Perkins Crochet....Here's a Link!
Friday, May 17, 2013
ENGLAND
**** Side Note:
Go to the bottom of this page to see an interesting fact about England!
****
We have tons of pictures
of our traveling adventures.
Where do we start?
Well, let's start in merry ol' England.
**** Not in any particular order ****
LONDON
An important reminder when you step out into the street.
3-19-2005
I believe this was Regents Street in London.
In security class, everyone is taught to cross their arms.
They forgot to give me a hat.
3-13-2004
Somerset House on the Strand in London:
We enjoyed the free Courtauld Art Gallery.
We saw this sign in the Tube underground.
We weren't sure what it was, and hoped that we weren't doing it.
Later we found out that busking is entertaining for money.
3-15-2004
Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's at center top.
The bridge opened June 10, 2000.
It closed 2 days later because of uncomfortable swaying.
They called it the "Wobbly Bridge".
In 2002 it was finally reopened to pedestrian traffic.
This is the other end of the bridge at St. Paul's.
Many of the underground stations had wall art symbols, but this was our favorite.
We have to head over to 221B.
11-20-2006 - We were always Sherlock Holmes' Fans.
3-15-05 Waiting for the next train.
It could be dangerous on those British trains.
All sorts of Cautions and Warnings.
MIND THE GAP!
3-19-2005
The London Eye was erected in 1999.
It was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world.
It is located on the River Thames.
No one is getting past my watch!
I guess when you visit London, you have to go see Harrods Egyptian display and the tribute to Princess Diana, at least once.
But they are very strict about no pictures inside.
The lights are pretty in the evening.
Be sure not to miss the Victoria and Albert Museum.
You can find just about anything, even Becket's tomb. I thought the roller skates were super.
The London Science Museum also had all sorts of interesting things: Large
And Small
In 2000, we visited the Tate Gallery (now called the Tate Britain).
The Lady of Shalott was captivating, along with all the other works of art.
3-29-2004 - Hampstead Heath is a very peaceful place
to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
I think the jet lag was affecting me here.
In March 2004, we stayed with Rosemary and Mansour. Rosemary (a marathon swimmer in her own right) helped coach Jon Erikson (my baby brother) for his Triple-Cross of the English Channel.
This looks like something Professor Layton would be proud to drive.
3-31-05 - Trafalgar Square: near the National Art Museum.
4-1-2005 - Big Ben in Westminster with Eye of London to the left
There is always something comforting about seeing and hearing Big Ben,
even when the weather is overcast.
4-1-2005 - St. Martin's in the Fields
It has a great homemade dinner at a reasonable price
We took a water taxi over to Greenwich and we took the tube back.
The Cutty Sark (center) is a British clipper ship built in 1869.
It was one of the fastest of it's time.
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
and the Prime Meridian of the world.
On April 2, 2005 there was a sign at the entrance.
Did time stop for us?
If you ever have the need to buy underwear in a train station...
Not a problem.
4-3-05 - St Paul's Cathedral was dedication to Paul the Apostle.
It dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604.
The cathedral (365 ft / 111 m high) was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962.
Its dome is also among the highest in the world.
We climbed 259 steps to the Whispering Gallery.
The Stone Gallery was 378 steps.
The Golden Gallery is 528 steps.
If you make it to the highest point of the outer dome,
There is a panoramic view of London:
River Thames, Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Who ya gonna call?
3-3-04 - 30 St Mary Ax, informally also known as "the Gherkin"
But we prefer to remember it as the Swiss Re Building.
It is an iconic symbol of modern architecture.
I took this picture on 3-3-04.
The building was completed just 3 months earlier, in December 2003.
It stands 591 feet (180m) high in the financial district of London.
3-20-2000 Lloyds of London - another building in the financial district.
3-20-2000 I remember the black cabbies from 1964. They have changed a bit.
4-05-2005 Leadenhall
It you go to the barber shop at the corner of Gracechurch Street and Leadenhall Market,
ask the proprietor if you might view the remains
of one of the arches of London’s Roman Basilica, built in AD70.
He will take you (for free) down a tiny staircase into the basement.
This is what you will see.
Kevin enjoyed climbing the staircase at the Somerset Naval Building.
I enjoyed photographing it.
This building was near the British Library.
It reminded me of the statues at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.
We looked up Kevin's uncle Seamus McGonagle.
Although the name was misspelled, they had his book listed in the British Library.
We will always remember him.
He had a great Irish singing voice....
and he treated us to a traditional ballad at a family get together in May 2000.
3-22-2000
We saw the play, Buddy Holly.
It was strange hearing the voices with British accents.
But the music was great .
3-21-2000
No visit to London is complete without a visit to the British Museum.
The Guard told me the Queen was in the drawing room waiting to see me.
========================
London is one of our most beloved cities,
and I did not even scratch the surface of all the things we saw and did.
But England has other cities, soonward......
LIVERPOOL
3-20-2000 We had lots of spare time to rest in the airport.
This was taken on 3-26-2005 outside the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. In 1964, I was one of the many screaming teenage fans as the Beatles landed and alighted from a helicopter at White Sox Park in Chicago, Illinois. It is now called Cellular One and has moved across the street.
One side note: I still have an autographed pictured signed by all four Beatles in 1964.
Oh, it must have been great to be in Liverpool in the 60's.
This was the docks near the Tate Liverpool Museum.
We were very impressed by the wide scope of art inside and out.
This was a building that we saw while we were on a hunt for John's childhood home.
In 2005 there were no Internet Cafe's in Liverpool.
It was Sunday and the library was closed.
But the people in this building were kind enough to let us send an e-mail.
Nice Airport.
Another Great City:
BATH
4-1-04
We were very fortunate to find a really great bed and breakfast.
Very comfortable and the breakfast was not continental, to say the least.
It held us until dinnertime.
In our walks, we always found churches.
And more churches.
Sounds like fun.
Very beautiful.
YORK
3-2005
A nice way to travel is by train.
We picked up a London Travel Card, and off we went.
The city of York was pleasant to walk.
Lots of churches
Large wall around the city
I am not quite sure how they would do that.
But we didn't see any dogs on the walls, so I guess the sign worked.
OXFORD
3-18-05
Not the most welcoming of cities, but beautiful.
SALISBURY
Another fun city, with a good Bed and Breakfast.
Beautiful cathedral: we attended choral evensong and met some nice people.
Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest spire in Britain.
It also holds the original Magna Carta.
3-17-05
It felt kind of mystical being there.
Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones. Archaeologists believe that it was built between 3000 BC to 2000 BC.
BRIGHTON
11-29-06
Brighton was a strange touristy resort town.
Christmas time was probably not the best time to go.
But they had churches.
And Beaches and Boardwalk
Reminds me of Coney Island in New York in the 60's.
Tempus fugit!
There was a pretty good museum.
Kevin enjoyed the Can-Can Girls on the old Mutoscope.
There was a alley-way that sold all things from the 1960's. Very hip.
The sun was setting and it was starting to rain.
Time to continue on our journey.
CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge seemed so massive and beautiful.
The architecture was stunning.
A great place to be.
There were also places of peaceful bliss.
The buildings were ornate inside as well.
After my graduating speech, I smiled as the room echoed with applauds.
Kevin was relieved that the speeches were over.
************************************************
An interesting side note about England.
My father and brother are legendary marathon swimmers.
In 1964, Ted Erikson (my father) took me to England to help
on board the boat that followed his swim across the English Channel.
He swam to France in record time (12 hours 25 minutes),
but the tides were against him on the second lap back to England.
The Captain of the boat asked me to give him some words of
encouragement.
At the time, I was very sea-sick and weary of being on the swaying
boat,
so I leaned over the side and said the nicest thing that I could think of
at the time,
“You don’t have to keep swimming, if you don’t want to.”
Well, in 1965, he did not request my help.
He accomplished the record first double crossing of the Channel in 30
hours and 3 minutes.
*******
In 1969, Jon Erikson (my brother) was the youngest person to
swim
the Channel one way.He was 14 years
old.
Ted’s double crossing record stood for 10 years,
until it
was broken by Jon.
And in 1981, when we were living in Japan,
we heard Paul
Harvey announce on Armed Forces Radio,
“Jon Erikson has swum the English Channel THREE….. times….. non…..
Stop.”
(63-mile triple crossing in 38 hours 27 minutes )
Ted and Jon are the only father-son pair
honored in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
The Navy's Motto was 
