Padova, Venice and Florence

Sunday, June 15, my 55th birthday and we celebrated by going to Venice! It was a bright, sunny day, the first sun we had seen on our trip; all the other days were cloudy. We walked to the train station, bought our tickets and traveled to Venice; no one checked our tickets. We took a Vaporetto, a boat which was like a bus, and got off near the Piazza San Marcos. People!! And Pigeons!!! We went inside the church of San Marcos, very ornate; mass was going on. We heard the bells pounded by two bronze Moor statues at noon. We saw the Bridge of Sighs and took pictures.
We walked along the Piazza and found a Wendy’s. Good bathroom stop and we enjoyed the food. We walked all the way back to the train station. Venice is truly a rabbit warren; very narrow streets, some tunnels. Luckily there were signs pointing the way to the station. It was just a maze, no straight streets and lots of little bridges going over small canals. We took the train back to Padova and again no one asked to see our tickets. We really enjoyed seeing Venice.
The next day, we tried to get out of Padova and got turned around again, then we saw signs leading out of the city towards Bologna. What a relief! South of Bologna the country consists of tall hills covered in green with houses or churches on top of the hills. We got off the freeway at the right place for Florence and had signs leading to the R.R. station where we could book a room. It was only two blocks away. A very dingy doorway and up two flights of dirty stairs. I wondered what I had gotten us into. We had a nice surprise. The room was clean with freshly painted walls, sparkling fixtures but no towels or soap. The only drawback was a noisy street.
We walked to the Duomo, the big church, the most beautiful outside of all the cathedrals we’ve seen. Pink, green and white marble. White flowers with pink centers, all made of marble, is the design on part of the cathedral. It is rather plain on the inside but vast and light. It was built in 1299. We saw the older Baptistry with Ghiberti doors, very beautiful. We walked to the Piazza di Poppolo where Michelangelo’s David was displayed. The one there now is a copy, the original is in the museum which was closed on Mondays. We walked on the Ponte Vecchio, the old medieval bridge with houses (shops) on either side. A great city to visit.
Coming back to our room we saw where a car had parked in a crosswalk and a bus couldn’t turn the corner. Lots of honking and shouting. A supervisor came and the bus backed up a little, then made the corner going over the curb. Such narrow streets. A policeman was called and the driver got his car. I don’t know if he got a ticket but he deserved one. Lots of motorcycles, motorbikes and bicycles.
The next day we drove to the city of Siena, still lots of beautiful, green hills. We drove into the city through Ponte Tufi, drove through the old medieval city, parked the car at the Duomo and walked to Il Campo,a large, open square where they hold the Palio, the famous horse races. I’m glad Alan suggested we visit Siena.

Vienna and Padova

We drove into Germany; beautiful country, wooded and green. I would find the name of a town on our map and then find a sign by the road matching it. We kept seeing the sign "Ausfart" but never could find the town on our map. We finally realized that Ausfart meant EXIT! What a good joke on us. We were going to drive to Munich but got tired so stopped in Ausburg, about 50 km. from Munich. It was a great hotel and we put it on our Visa. Nice, modern room with private bath. We watched TV in German. If we ever go back to Germany, we need to know more of the language. Driving towards Austria we stopped at a nice little restaurant where the people were very helpful and we had a great meal, schnitzel.
We arrived in Vienna around 1 p.m. in a drizzle. We found our hotel, a bed and breakfast and found a parking spot. This hotel was the first place that wanted to see our passports and write down the information. I was surprised it hadn’t happened before. Also, we hadn’t had any checks at any border, they just waved us on through. This was true for Belgium, France, Germany and Austria.
We walked into the center of town and visited Demel’s, the most famous bakery in Austria. It was expensive but delicious. There was a dizzy array of choices. You pointed out your selection, the waitress would write it on a piece of paper, give you half and she kept the other. We sat at a very small table, then she brought our selections. European pastries are not as sweet as what we are used to; our choices were good but not spectacular. We walked down the main shopping street, it is only for pedestrians; we also walked by St. Stephan;s, an old cathedral, and the Opera House.
We went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Fine Arts Museum. It is a beautiful building, built in the 1860s as a museum. It has beautiful marble walls, steps and posts holding the handrails, all made of beautiful marble of varied colors. There were three rooms of just Rubens, some Rembrandts, Van Dyke, Velasquez and others. We saw Egyptian mummies, the Cellini Gold Salt Celler and more. We really enjoyed visiting this museum. We walked back to the hotel and to our room; it has a shower in the corner of the room but the toilet is down the hall. No soap was furnished.
I had tried to order tickets to see the Lipizzan horses but didn’t get them. You needed to order them months ahead. We saw the outside of the building where they perform. We also had wanted to hear a Johann Strauss concert in the park but it was canceled because of the rain.
Going towards Italy, the road went down from several lanes to just one so it took forever to get to the border with only one car at a time going through. It took two hours but once we crossed into Italy, it was smooth sailing again. Leon did very well driving on all these roads in
the various countries.
We arrived in Padova, where Alan had served part of his mission. It is a rabbit warren of one-way streets, all going the wrong way! It was so hard to get to our address, it took about 45 minutes to trace our way through the maze and we had to park the car and walk two blocks to get to the hotel. We left the car in a garage for the two days here.
Our room looks onto a large patio on the second floor. It is only reached by our room. It costs to have a shower here, you get the knob for the hot water from the management. The two daughters speak English and are very helpful

Warwick Castle, Brussells, Paris

There are pretty pink flowering vines over the doors of many houses, maybe roses. Flowering trees and bushes all over, green woods and green grass. Many fields separated by hedges or stone walls. Many lilac bushes, all in bloom; it is still spring here. The general color of England is green, feels of fertility, age and history. It is overcast a lot of the time. It is a country for tourists; things are well labeled and people very friendly. The national speed limit is 70; small cars and fast drivers. There is a great variety of cars, all small; we saw one Ford Mustang and one Toyota.
We drove to Warwick and saw the castle. Beautiful grounds with peacocks. We saw the dungeons and torture instruments; much armor. We saw the state apartments with wax figures portraying a party which took place in 1898. Very well done. Winston Churchill was portrayed as he had been one of the guests. We then drove to Blenheim Palace. Unbelievable! It is ornate, fancy, the loveliest, most beautiful house in England. It was built, by order of Queen Anne, for one of Churchill’s ancestors, the Duke of Marlborough, because of a victory in France. We saw the room where Churchill was born and much memorabilia of his. Lots of beautiful china and paintings.
Leon was very brave and drove into London and Victoria Station where we checked our luggage and then drove back to White City to drop off the car. He did very well! We took the underground into Victoria Station and walked to Buckingham Palace. As we walked past we noticed mounted men,the royal Horse Artillery. We asked them and they were on the way to the Horseguards Parade ground to rehearse for another performance. We went and since it was a rehearsal, it was free. We saw another great program of marching bands and mounted men pulling the cannons around. They played the 1812 Overture and the cannons went off, also muskets, and the huge bells in some nearby bell tower and it was magnificent.

We walked back towards Victoria Staten and passed by Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives. You can’t go onto the street itself; it is blocked off. We caught the 9:30 p.m train to Dover , arriving about 11:30 p.m. and got on the ferry. There were two types of seats; regular seats, three across, or lounge benches that you could stretch out on. The knowledgeable passengers got right off the train first and onto the ferry and appropriated the benches. We tried to sleep on the regular seats but it was not very restful. There were also a few cabins on the top deck. The night was noisy with much banging and bustling about but the crossing was very smooth.
We arrived in Oostend, Belgium about 4:03 a.m. continental time (3:03 British time) and took a train into Brussells, arriving about 6 a.m. It cost 5 Belgium Francs to use the toilet and 6 to wash one’s hands! We located the street where we were to pick up the car on a city map at the railroad station and decided to walk since they didn’t open until 8:30 a.m. We left most of the luggage and started out. We ended up walking 2 hours and 15 minutes! Brussells is very dirty; we saw a lot of it but all was dirty. You had to watch where you put your feet as the sidewalks were full of dog doo. This surprised me very much as I though Belgium would be clean like the Dutch Netherlands. One man was very helpful and showed us where we could buy a map of the city.
This car is a Ford Escort, very nice. We drove on freeways; the ones in France are like U.S. ones. It was like driving in L.A. during the rush hour on the freeways and worse on the city streets in Paris. Mad drivers! We arrived about 3 p.m. in Paris and found our hotel. As parking is very hard, we found a spot and left the car there the whole time; we didn’t move it. At this bread and breakfast we have our own private bathroom which is nice but the room is dark and dingy. You could tell that at one time it had been a very lovely home but had really deteriorated. The window opened onto a small courtyard overlooked by other buildings. We went out and bought some food, then returned to our room. We were both very tired.
We woke up feeling much better. The bus and metro are on strike; no transportation. We finally caught a taxi to take us to the Louvre. We waited in line over an hour but it hadn’t opened; their help couldn’t get in to man the place due to the strike. A sign said it would open but not when. We got tired of waiting and walked to the Jew de Paume museum, which had been open earlier, but it was now closed because of the strike. We walked along the Seine River in a drizzle. We decided to try the Louvre one more time and it was open! We were so glad. We saw the Venus, Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa, my main interests, and so much more. I really enjoyed seeing the huge painting of Napoleon being crowned by Louis David and another smaller painting really impressed me, St Joseph in the Carpenter’s Shop by Georges de la Tour. It was mostly dark but with a candle illuminating Joseph and who I also believe is Jesus as a child. We would walk down the main corridor then step into a side room thinking we could go back but other rooms opened off the room and we would get derailed. It would take months to see everything! Wish we had had much more time.
We walked some more by the Seine then took a boat ride at Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower from the river, also Notre Dame and the Paris Opera House. After the ride we walked to Notre Dame. It was very dark and gloomy inside. The drizzle continued but we walked along the Ile de la Cite and Ile Ste Louis, the two Islands in the river, then back to the hotel buying things for supper on the way.
When it was time to leave the next morning, we tried to pay for the hotel with traveler’s checks, the landlady, very brusque, wouldn’t take them. We had to drive to one of the railroad stations and exchange them for francs then drive back, pay her and collect our luggage. The daughter was very nice and welcoming and spoke English but the old lady was not very friendly.

Bath, Hadrian's Wall, York & Stratford-Upon-Avon

Our first stop was the city of Winchester. The Tourist Information Center booked a room for us at a lovely home called "Dolphin House." We walked into the town and ate fish and chips. We also saw the statue of King Alfred (Winchester was his capital). Many people have King Alfred in their genealogy, all of us included. There was a beautiful walk by the river and we met a churchman walking his dog. He was very friendly and pointed out the medieval walls by the river. He showed us a few pieces of red brick in the walls and told us that there were no bricks made in England between the times of the Romans and Victorian days so these pieces were Roman. He pointed out other places of interest. We saw the house where Jane Austen lived just prior to her death there.
Breakfast was served in a large dining room and the silverware pattern was the same one that my parents have; it looked so familiar. We walked to Winchester Cathedral and it was beautiful. Some of the floor tiles are from about 1200 A.D. They are roped off so they can’t be walked on. Jane Austen is buried there. It happened to be the 900th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s Doomsday Book, an accounting of all holdings and livestock, etc. in the kingdom. There was a wonderful exhibit in the Great Hall in Winchester devoted to the book and life in 1086 A.D. We saw lots of wonderful things including a wooden carving replica of the Bayeaux Tapestry on the walls. The Bayeaux Tapestry was made by William the Conqueror’s wife and her ladies depicting the battle of Hastings. William is also in our genealogy.
We drove to Bath, a beautiful drive with green grass and woods. We parked at a parking lot and walked to the information center by the Abbey, booked a room and ate lunch by the Roman Bath area. Roman Britain is one of my most favorite periods in history and we planned to visit a lot of Roman historical places. We visited the Baths; they were much more extensive than I had thought and it was great! They were not discovered until 1879; no wonder they are not mentioned in Regency novels. We saw the Pump room where Regency people drank the water; it was a beautiful room and is now used as a tea room with a string trio playing.
We walked about 10 minutes to the north and saw the Old Assembly Rooms where they held dances and played cards in Regency days. The rooms are reconstructed as they suffered heavy damage during WWII. Underneath was the magnificent Museum of Costume, clothes dating from mid 1500 to the present. The mannequins were lovely, the prettiest faces I’ve ever seen and the clothes were beautiful or interesting.
Our bed and breakfast place was a little ways out from the center of town; our room was freshly painted an nice. We used the laundromat down the street to wash our clothes. I called home that evening and talked to Doug and Mark; it was good to hear their voices. We drove back to the Roman Bath gift shop and bought a model of the bath, then tried to find our way out of the city. Hard! Streets are very narrow and poorly marked.
We drove through beautiful green countryside to Shrewsbury to see the Abbey. I wasn’t going to mention Bro Cadfael but that’s almost the first thing the guide asked us, whether we had read about him in Ellis Peter’s books! All her books are on sale there, in the church. We saw the old Norman arches and columns from when it was built in 1083. Henry VIII destroyed all of the building that had to do with the monks. Just part of the Abbey remains as it used to be. It was so neat being there. We bought a new slate for the Abbey roof for 1£ and wrote our names on it.
We had the best meal so far in England there in Shrewsbury. We walked from the Abbey, over the bridge on the Severn River, up the curved street into town and found a nice restaurant. Having read all of the Bro. Cadfael books, it was a real treat to be there.
We then drove the rest of the day up to Lancaster on a good motorway and booked a room. The room is very pleasant with a couch and our own TV. We are her only guests so we don’t have to share the bathroom. The lady of the house had lots of paperbacks so we traded two of mine for two of hers, with her o.k.
The next day we drove to Hadrian’s Wall. We saw a Roman Museum in the city of Carvoran. It is a private museum, very good, with displays, models, etc. We then drove to Housesteads, the ruins of a fort right on the wall. We had a half mile walk from the car park to the ruins, a steep walk. We loved these ruins, they were so interesting and the countryside beautiful; you could see for miles. It was a very special experience for me.
We then drove to the city of York. The home we stayed in was called "The Bentley". The nicest bread and breakfast so far. The owners were very friendly. Our room was small but very comfortable with a TV and wash cloths (a first), magazines and tissues (another first).
We visited York Minster, the cathedral, walked through the old Roman Gate, called Bootham Bar, set in medieval walls. We walked on these walls all around the city and had beautiful views of the Minster lovely back yards of large homes. We also walked on the oldest street and narrowest one in York, called "The Shambles". It is only two strides wide, plus very narrow sidewalks.

Next morning, Sunday, we attended Sacrament Meeting at the York Ward of the Leeds Stake. It was a typical LDS chapel and we had a very warm welcome. One always has instant family where ever one goes in the church. We then had to find our way out of York, very narrow streets. We even had to go up on the sidewalk in order to pass a place. The countryside is so green with an occasional field of bright yellow; I’m not sure what it is, maybe mustard seed or rape. A lot of the grass has tiny white daisy-like flowers growing in the grass and they are as short as the grass. England looks like a manicured park.
We visited Castle Howard, not too far from York. Wow! A huge magnificent mansion, still lived in. We saw just one-quarter of it: the main entrance and the West Wing. They had a great collection of china. We then drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon, walked about and saw Shakespeare’s birth place and we also saw another very old thatched house that was slightly tilted. It looked like it would fall down any minute. We also walked a little beside the Avon River but it was very windy and chilly.
The mattress in the house in Stratford-Upon-Avon was not very good but had the best shower so far. We had the typical breakfast, eggs and bacon and tomatoes, plus pork and beans!

1986 Trip to Europe, London

The next items will be from the journal I kept on our European trip.
May 31st, (Leon’s birthday) we left for England!!! Doug drove us to the airport as Mark was sleeping off the effects of graduation night and Nancy had left the day before with Tricia to go to California. The 747 is HUGE. It holds 400 people. Our seats are right in front of the movie screen. Leon stayed up all night watching a movie but I tried to sleep.
We landed at Gatwick Airport about 11:15 a.m. and took the train to Victoria Station; there we exchanged our coupons for the Explorer Pass to London, which was good for 4 days of unlimited use on buses and the underground. We walked to our hotel, which was about a mile away and found out they had not received the deposit I had sent in April. Luckily they had a room for us. After checking in, we walked back to Victoria Station and took the tube to visit the Museum of London. Wonderful things to see such as prehistoric London, Roman, Saxon and medieval artifacts as well as dioramas. We then took a bus and rode it all the way to both ends of the route. Homes and businesses all have window boxes full of flowers. We were very tired by the time we went to bed about 8:00 p.m.
Next day, Monday, we took the tube to the Tower of London. The tower is very ancient and interesting and the Crown Jewels are magnificent. I’d never seen anything so sparkling, shiny and beautiful. We watched the changing of the guard and a salute was fired because it was Elizabeth II’s 33rd anniversary of her reign. We also saw the remains of the old Roman town’s walls. We visited Trafalgar Square, saw St. Martin in the Fields church and walked along Charing Cross Street looking for books for Syl and my Dad but no luck.
We attended the Evensong service (5:00 p.m.) At Westminster Abbey. The boys choir sang beautifully and the ceremony was impressive. We took another bus ride for the whole route. A good way to see the city.
Tuesday, we went to the British Museum and saw the Elgin Marbles, the Caryatids, some huge Assyrian gates and statues; the Mildenhall Treasure (silver bowls and trays from Roman Times that were dug up early in the 1900s. We saw the Sutton Hoo treasure, a Saxon burial hoard; the Rosetta Stone (I touched it); the Magna Carta, the illustrated medieval Lindisfarne gospels; and some original musical manuscripts of Beethoven and Mozart. What beautiful things; we could have spent a lot more time there.
We visited the Cabinet War Rooms, where Churchill and his cabinet met during the war. It is all underground. We next visited Westminster Abbey for the tour. We had not had time the day before. We saw monuments and tombs of famous people including Queen Elizabeth I; Mary, Queen of Scots; Henry VII, Edward the Confessor and Chaucer.
At one of the tube stations we saw a poster advertising a massed military band review at the Horseguards Parade Ground. We bought tickets and it was one of the highlights of our London visit. The queen was in attendance and we saw her walk out to the reviewing stand and then walk back at the end. The parade ground is about as big as four football fields. There were drums and trumpets on horseback, drums and fifes, full band and pipes and drums. The groups played separately and then together; military band music at its best. It was magnificent, colorful and so exciting. It rained on and off but we just pulled out our umbrella, along with everyone else.
After the retreat we walked over the West Bridge to see the tower with Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. We took another bus and saw Piccadilly Circus, Regent and Oxford Streets and Hyde Park.
On Wednesday, we checked out of the hotel and took our bags to a locker at Victoria Station and went to see Harrod’s, the world’s largest department store. We had a Harrod’s in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but certainly not as big is the one in London. We then visited the National Gallery where Leon stayed while I looked again for those books. No luck. I worried being away from Leon as I had both passports and the traveler’s checks so I was extra careful crossing the streets. Returning I saw some Reubens and Rembrandt’s and other beautiful paintings.
We picked up the luggage and took the underground to White City station where we picked up our rental car.

Christmas 1985, Williams' trip to South America

Mom Honey was living with Tricia and Alan. They were building a lovely home in the Provo river bottoms, with wide halls with Mom in mind but it was not to be. She passed away in 1984. All of our family were there plus Bill and Kathy and Joan and their families.
More grandchildren were born: Becky Barlow, Salem Honey, Lauren Honey and Daniel Honey. All very precious.
As Christmas time 1985 was approaching, our kids kept telling me "Mom, you are going to love your present, it is what you’ve always dreamed of; a dream come true." Christmas Eve we had a great get together with lots of music. Each family’s kids either sang and/or presented stories. I was handed an envelope as my present. Imagine my surprise to find out it was a brochure on roofing!!! We did have a small leak in the kitchen roof but was that my dream come true? I tried to look grateful but my looked changed to astonished excitement as I opened the brochure and found round-trip tickets to London! What a wonderful, thoughtful present. I was so excited. All the kids had contributed, some a lot more than others.
I spent the first five months of 1986 preparing for our trip. I wrote or called various countries’ U.S. offices and received maps and brochures. Leon and I added to the tickets and planned visiting Europe besides England, returning from Rome. It was a wonderful five months, planning each day’s activities. I bought a travel book "Let’s go Europe" which had sights listed, as well as bed and breakfast places; it was very helpful. More on our trip later.
The temple built in Buenos Aires, Argentina was being dedicated early in 1986. The youth in the South Los Angeles Stake raised money to send my parents to the dedication. My Mom had fallen and hurt her shoulder and couldn’t use her right arm. Since I was going to Europe, Gina went with them to help out. Dad was asked to speak at one of the dedication sessions which was a thrill for him. They visited with member friends and drove by our old home, which was the mission home, on Manzoni 268. It is now a club. They were also able to cross over to Montevideo and visit with more members.
Gina was able to go by our old school, Crandon Institute and take pictures. Since it was summer, it was not open so she couldn’t go inside. They also visited our home, not the mission home any more, I think the Patriarch lives there, and took lots of pictures. They also were able to visit the first house we lived in in Montevideo and were able to go inside and take pictures. On their return to the States they went by Lima, Peru and Gina got to see where the folks had lived and see some of the Inca ruins. It was a wonderful time for my parents to see old friends and places they had lived in for so many years. What a kind thing for the youth to do for my parents!

We're Back!

We've just finished the testing that we have been doing for the past six week. It has been interesting, glad we were able to do it, but glad it is over. NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress, is a nationwide test given every two years to 4th and 8th grades, occasionally 12th. We never had any 12th students for which we are very glad. They are not interested in taking another test.

Our work consisted of preparing the classrooms with the booklets for every student together with a pencil and some visual aids. We would give instructions and then time them as they worked in the first two sections, 25 minutes each. We would read the instructions and questions in section 3 for 4th graders and then they would work on their own again in section 4. The 8th grades would do the last two sections on their own. The tests would take 90 minutes. Leon would work with children that needed one-on-one, or needed to be read to, or the kids needed to work in small groups, about 3 or 4 kids.

We tested mostly at schools here in Sanpete Valley, in Nephi, Springville and Spanish Fork. We did go to Richfield, Beaver and Delta and spent the night for these. Nevada needed some AAs, (Administrative Assistants, that's our title) so one Monday we drove to Elko, NV, found the school in Spring Creek, about 12 miles outside of Elko, spent the night in a motel in Elko, then tested Tuesday and drove home arriving here at 9:00 p.m. What a long, boring drive to Elko!

It was nice to earn some extra money, especially as our hot water heater went out and we could easily pay to replace it.

Next week I'll try to get back to posting items from my history.

Thanks for being interested in our doings.

Barbara, Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma