For the Love of England - Part 2

So there I stood, cheese sandwich in hand, on a street in London. LONDON!!

You guys (that’s Midwestern for “y’all”), I grew up in the cornfields of Illinois. Occasionally my parents would take us to Chicago where I visited beautiful museums and a handful of old buildings, but as I looked around me, seeing London for the first time, I realized that I had never really seen anything old.

My country was a baby compared to England. A mere 200 years old compared to her thousand or so (give or take a few hundred) years. The buildings and museums I had visited in Chicago would be considered “modern” in England.

Granted, Chicago was nearly completely burned to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, so pretty much everything here has been rebuilt since then. So you’ve got to give Chicago a bit of a break for that. Chicago truly is a beautiful, modern city.

But still, I had never seen anything like these buildings.

Very quickly I fell in love with the sense of history and the preservation of it. It became clear to me on that first visit and has been impressed upon me every time I’ve gone back, that people in the U.K. clearly love their history and their buildings and monuments.

And why not?

These are some of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. Not to mention all the crazy goings on that have taken place in them!

Tower Bridge (NOT London Bridge—that’s the next bridge down)

Hampton Court (King Henry VIII’s home—sure would love to have been a fly on the wall back then!)

(tee hee! I just noticed that my sister is in the corner of this picture. Hey, Jenn!) 

Edinburgh Castle (O.K., technically not England, but definitely in the U.K. and definitely old and mysterious)

The hallowed halls of Oxford

Not to mention the old homes and pubs you see on every single street

The sense of history and of preservation in England is truly amazing to me. It sparks my imagination and gives me a great appreciation for the people who have seen fit to carry on this legacy.

Last week you told me one place you love to visit, now tell me: what do you love about where you live?