The vacation continues (in the past, at least)

Mom and Dad left yesterday morning. I’ll keep posting some pictures from the trip, but these posts are obviously several days behind.

After spending the first night in Torquay, we heading off to Exeter Sunday morning where we took one of the free guided tours, which are held, surprisingly, on Sundays and in the winter. Exeter, as our guide told us, is a cathedral town. And indeed, here is the cathedral itself:


The whole town is charming, and has many sights and lots of history, not all of which will be documented here. But one interesting structure is the castle built by William the Conqueror. He got to Exeter in the 1070s, after initial resistance by the town, and built this castle. The rounded arches are in the Norman style; however, the castle was probably finished by Saxon masons, as evidenced by the smaller pointed windows up top:


And here’s a picture of our guide, who’s doing this in her retirement. She was both enthusiastic and well-informed:


My parents and I returned to Torquay filled with added knowledge of English history. On Monday morning we said good-bye to Simon, one of the proprietors of the Ravenswood Hotel (I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of his wife):


We kept going west, where we saw this ancient stone circle, the Merry Maidens, which is one of the best-preserved stone circles in Cornwall (it’s just off the B3315 road near Penzance, if you want to find it yourself):


We made our way to Land’s End, the westernmost point of mainland Britain. In addition to providing the inspiration for a clothing line, it combines both dramatic and beautiful scenery


with touristy kitsch.


And this: