Holiday in England and Austria

I have been  away on a huge holiday with my Mum for 3 weeks. We went to England and Austria from the 27th of May to the 20th of June. I had a  fantastic time and really enjoyed all the sights, museums, galleries, countryside, cruises, relatives... Anyway, I have a huge bunch of photos I took on my camera and Mum's camera as well. I'm going to show heaps, and tell lots of information!

First Part:  Egham, London and Relatives

Mum and I went to Windsor castle in Windsor, a town near Egham where we were staying when we first arrived from Australia. This palace is Queen Elizabeth's favourite home to live in.

A guard at Windsor Castle.

We stayed with my Uncle, Aunt and three cousins in a little town called Egham just outside of London. We went to a Spanish Tapas restaurant in Windsor.

Our relatives and us decided to go to the Kew Gardens near Egham. It was a wonderful place, heaps of nature and a garden palace too!

Mum and I went to the National Museum of London. Here is a photo of the Rosetta Stone. (There was a glass box around it, so you can see my reflection in it!)

Mummy coffins

Ancient money from thousands of years ago.

Ancient statues of Roman Women.

Buckingham Palace. Not aloud inside sadly. Only up to the gate leading inside the Palace. This is the main home the queen stays in.

The Tower Bridge. (Not the London Bridge! That's a different bridge which is pretty boring! I thought this one was The London Bridge but the guard proved me wrong!)

 

This is a statue of a lion in London. I look quite small next to him!

This is me on the "Hop On, Hop Off  Bus Tour" for London. Lots of fun!

We went on the London Eye. The biggest Ferris Wheel in the world. Amazing views!

There were many small compartments on the London Eye made mostly out of glass to see clearly outside.

We also went to Warwick Castle in a town called Warwick, a couple of hours drive from Egham with a relatives. The castle is approx. 900 years old. Very interesting.

My cousins and I dressed up in 19th century clothes at the 18th and 19th century section of the castle.

Mum and I decided to climb one of the highest points of the castle with over 600 steps! Very tiring, but amazing views and sights.

Second Part: Austria & London (again!)

Vienna is known to be an extremely beautiful city in architecture, and I certainly thought so! Mum and I went to Vienna or 'Wien'( in German, the language spoken there) the capital city of Austria in the second week of our holiday for two days.

We went to Schonbrunn Palace just outside of Vienna. it is where Maria Theresa, emperess of Austria in the 18th century grew up and lived as emperess in the Summer. Her daughter was Marie Antoinette, queen of France later on.

This is a statue of Maria Theresa in the city centre. Also a statue of Wolfgang Ammadeus Mozart and a treble cleff made out of red flowers.

After Vienna, we hopped onto a train and went to Salzburg, a little city 3 hours fom Vienna  for two more days in Austria. We went to a Mozart Dinner concert the first night. A formal dinner night in a restaurant/room  with a three course meal and an orchestra and two singers performing Mozart pieces. It was very fun and exciting.

Here are the orchestra players dressed in period costume. ( 18th century)

And now for one of my top highlights of the holiday... The Sound of Music Tour!! A tour for 3 hours in a big bus showing most of the places filmed in "The Sound of Music" movie. I absolutely LOVED it! This is me in the bus. We were lucky, the front seats! I like Mum's early hours for tours after all!

These are some photos of scenes in the movie. Sound of Music lovers, can you guess when these were used in the movie? HINT: the right photo of me behind a tree. Wish I could climb it!!

This is the front of the bus. Really cool!

This is the gazeebo!! Not allowed inside because a woman broke her leg there pretending to be Leisel. It's be moved to a national park from the house filmed in the movie.

This is me next to a town outside of Salzburg. A photo of the front of the cathedral used in the wedding scene of "The Sound of Music"movie.

INSIDE the cathedral!! Beautiful!

If you can see, I'm in the crowd of people on the stairs . Can you recognise this, from one of the scenes?

HINT: so, do, la, fa, me, do re!

Pretty statue? I'm not sure whether this is used in the movie or not, but it's in the public gardens of Salzburg centre which is a lovely place.

One of my favourite scenes in the "Sound of Music" movie. When they dance around the fountain.

Lastly, the gorgeous city of Salzburg. You can't see the abbey used in "The Sound of Music"movie, but it's there.

At the Tower of London. You can just see the Tower Bridge from high up in the big tower castle.

 

This is me at the entrance looking very excited!

The place where prisoners or traiters were brought in a boat to be locked up in prison. The actual Castle is very old and used first as a royal home, then as a prison. Queen Elizabeth the 1st, ( princess then) Lady Jane Grey and Anne Boleyn were a few of the many who came to prison.

This is the spot where Anne Boleyn and others were executed in the 16th century. I'm not sure why I'm smiling!

Just part of the great Tower of London. This was also the place where we saw the Crown of Jewels! Amazing! Weren't allowed to take photos though!

In one of the many towers, there was heaps of carvings of names, bible verses and dates that the prisoners had carved when they were in prison. This carving says Jane, as in the Lady Jane Grey. Although she didn't actually carve it, it might have been one of her brothers or her husband who did it.

Third Part: North England- The Lake's District & Leicester

After staying in Egham for a day, we hired a car and drove to the north of England to one of the most beautiful parts, the Lake's District. We stayed in a little town called Ambleside. We went to The World of Beatrix Potter in a close town. These are some pictures of the displays they had there of the various stories of Beatrix Potter. So cute!!

This is a model of Beatrix Potter. Apart from the displays, there was lots of information about her and a cafe and Peter Rabbit's garden!

Mum and I went on a open boat to get to a long walk we had decided to do. It ws very windy! I should have put my hair up!

On  our walk. There was lots of sheep!

And a lovely lake (or river!) with swans!

The walk was basically a rough trail through the forest, lake and farrms! Lots of fun. ( don't worry, I didn't get my shoes wet!)

We decided to go to Hilltop. It is the place where Beatrix Potter lived for most of her life. Inside it is all set up how she had it when she was alive and living in it. Everything inside belonged to her! It was amazing experience! But as usual,  not allowed to take photos! This is the front of her house. For those who have watched the TV series of the Tales of Beatrix Potter with her inside the house reading the first couple of lines of each tale and the song, "Perfect Day" and the cartoons of each tale, well, this house was used in it at the start!

The beautiful garden!

And an restaurant/pub we went to for lunch nearby used in one of Beatrix Potter's tales.

In the Lake's District, we also drove to a little town, which had a museum about a famous poet called William Wordsworth and his life and family. There was also a house where he lived in next to the museum, and a beautiful garden he specially planted and cared for with his wife and dear children. This is their lovely home.

And this is a part of the garden. There was a couple hundred acres on his property, but we didn't walk all over it!

This sign was planted in a field of daffodils. Sadly, they weren't in bloom when we were there.

A closer view of Wordsorth's house.

We also drove to a little town called Grasmere. A tiny shop sold gingerbread there. The shop has a secret recipe for gingerbread, and they had it locked up away. The gingerbread tasted very nice. Half-way between a cake and biscuit!

After a couple days of the beautiful Lake's District, we hit the road and drove to Leicester. On the way, we stopped at the Bronte's house. The four Bronte childen lived in the house with their father in the late 19th century. Charlotte Bronte, the oldest, became a famous writer when she grew up. So did her two sisters, Emily & Anne. I'm not sure whether their only surviving brother, Branwell, became famous or not. This is their backyard, behind the house. 

This is the front of the house. Unfortunately, you could go inside and look aound, but we were not allowed to take any photos. It was very interesting, with their furniture, possessions and history.

This is the gardens at the front of the house. Very pretty and peaceful.

And the town in which the Bronte's house is in. The main street, right near were we stopped for a delightful

lunch.

When we arrived in Leicester, we stayed at Mum's Auntie's house. She and her son, Blake, were very nice and welcoming. We went to a gorgeous park while there. This is Blake and I climbing on the rocks and streams.

We found deer living in the lovely park. You can just see them behind me.

While at the park, we found the ruins of a castle that you could look into. It was very intriguing! Especially, when we found out that is was the family home of Lady Jane Grey when she was growing up!!

There was HEAPS of deer!

Anyway, this is a picture of the castle again. You can see what's left of it isn't much!

We also went out to lunch with Mum's Uncle living in another part of Leicester. It was a lovely time.

On the way back to Egham from Leicester, we went to a palace where Winston Churchill lived. He was one of England's most famous priministers. It was a beautiful, spectacular place. Inside was very grand and the gardens and statues were simply breathtaking! The gardens had mazes, rose gardens, fountains and simple gravel paths leading to who knows where!

A gorgeous rose garden.

The lovely old palace

Fourth Part: Lacock, Bath and various little towns

After journeying north we stayed in Egham another night then travelled down south to a little town called Lacock where we stayed at an B&B. We also drove to a little city or a big town (I don't know which) called Salisbury. (pronounced Sorlsbry) There was a cathedral there which was very old. Mum and I went on a tour that took you up into the roof and ceiling of the cathedral! It was about 3 1/2 hours and more than 300 steps. This is some of the views we got out on the deck thingy! It was really high!

INSIDE the catedral roof! Most of these planks of wood are over 900 years old. Some of them have been replaced though! Another view of Salisbury! Right, is a photo of a view we took from the top!

A swimming pool! I'm not sure how I took a photo of that!

 We drove down to Bath, a city half an hour from Lacock. There was a Jane Austen centre/museum in the centre and we had a look in there. This is a display of a tea set and table.

A model of the clothes worn in the early 19th century. These are some different hats and accessories.                                                        

Another model of a dress and a room showing what is looked like in the regency period. This is also a picture of Jane Austen.

At the font of the museum there is a model of a regency lady. Here I am with her!

Therre was also a man dressed up as a regency gentlemen.

After the Jane Austen centre, we went to a costume museum! It was very intersting. This is me dressed up in a hoop skirt and a Victorian children's outfit! 

The costume museum had heaps of displays of the fashions through the ages. The next couple of photos are displays of some of them. I'm not exactly sure when the fashions are, but they are very pretty!

Then, we went to the ancient baths near the costume museum. Thousands and thousands of years old! They were used by the Romans for bathing in. Here is one of the many baths in the huge place.

Another bath.

This is inside the place. You can see some old stones and structures of the broken down baths.

This is a man dressed up as a Roman near the baths. And me!

Me at the Baths.

The next day, we went to a town called Avesbury. There was a stone formation more than 3,000 years old there, maybe formed by ancient people. Any way, it was very interesting.

The pictures are a bit dark though!

This is a house in Avesbury with a thatched roof!

This is Lacock. This town has been used for lots of filming in famous movies such as, Pride and Prejudice, Larkrise to Candleford, Cranford, Harry Potter and many more! On the left, is a photo of one of the streets and on the right is me at the front of one of the many cute little shops.

This is the main street. I recognised it from Pride and Prejudice! Lovely street to walk down.

Another thatched roof house!! There was heaps in Lacock!

After a few days down south, we drove back to Egham to spend the last few days at our relatives house before returning back to Australia. Mum took a couple of  photos of our relatives. This is me and my cute cousin Martha!

And lastly, a photo of us all together before leaving thenext day! My Aunt, and three cousins and me!!

And then, Mum and I returned home to Toowoomba, Australia, to HOME!!!!