Goodbye, London!

Entrance to St. Olave's cemetery on Seething Lane. Dickens called it "Grizzly Grim" because of the skulls over the arch. It wasn't destroyed in WWII like most of the church.

St. Olave's ("Grizzly Grim") cemetery where our ancestor was buried.

We haven't had much down time since we left Greece. Leaving Greece was iffy. A strike was called that was supposed to include the metro AND air traffic controllers for the very day we were to leave. The first time we walked through the Syntagma Square in front of the parlament  (if you saw footage of the demonstrations, then you saw Syntagma Square), lots of people were camped out with big banners tied from tree to tree. The atmosphere was one of discussion, not violence. The second time we went there, we happened to arrive as union groups were parading - marching with banners and chanting. We only felt alarmed when a block away, out of sight of the square, we walked past lines of bullet proof vested police, sitting on their motorcycles, waiting. We removed ourselves rapidly!
Luckily, the air traffic controllers did NOT strike that day so we got to London as planned. But what a plan! Pick up a rental car and drive to Southampton. By the time we got our luggage, patiently endured a trainee at Europecar (everything she did had to be redone at least once) it was getting dark. No map with the car! We had directions, but when you are driving on the wrong side of the road on a freeway and everyone is going 80 in the pouring rain, you make mistakes. We went the wrong way and headed east. Warning: you must make no mistakes on the M25, the ring road around London. There are turn arounds about every 20 miles.
We did arrive in Southampton at our hosts' house but the last few blocks were with a Southampton police escort. They noticed the "way we were driving" and thought the driver was either enebriated or lost.
Our hosts, Stephen and Gwyneth gave us some very welcome guidance and a map book, so the next day we went to Stonehenge! T'was magnificent, even with the busloads of other visitors. Then we went on to Winchester cathedral and stood at the grave of Jane Austin. The next day at Salsbury Cathedral an annual flower show was happening so it was mobbed by older English women with cameras. Every now and then a priest would climb up into the elevated pulpit and say a prayer.
In Cornwall, we had arranged another stay through Educators Bed and Breakfast.We were very lucky to make the acquaintance of Maureen and Tony who wined and dined us in addition to making some killer English breakfasts and a traditional Sunday roast with yorkshire pudding. We ended up staying 4 days.
 I LOVE Cornwall!! Can't wait to go back. If you haven't heard of the Eden Project, check it out on line. One man's vision: he took one of the china clay pits (quarries where the raw material for making good china comes from) and turned it into an enormous fun, educational place with giant geodesic dome greenhouses with rainforest and mediterranean climates inside.
We drove to Land's End and Tintagel, a ruin of a castle on a crag which has some claim to the Arthurian Legend. It was misty, drizzly and blustery - perfect conditions for imagining times gone past.
I'm having to skip a lot. Today is the last day and we leave shortly for our nonstop to SFO.
However, the grand finale was going to St. Olave's on Seething Lane to find evidence of our ancestor, Bartolomeo Talliaferro - (turns out there were multiple spellings). Our ancestor, his grandson, came to Virginia in 1630's.
Time to go! It's been a fantastic unforgettable voyage!