Tonbridge, Kent, England

In August 2010 my son Michael Bouy, who lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife, flew to Utah for his 30th High School reunion. He spent part of three days with family and friends then he and I flew to JFK airport in New York City followed by Rykajavik Iceland airport. Our next stop was Heathrow airport in London, England. Michael is such a well-traveled person that he had us cleared through security and on the underground shortly and we rode to our hotel. He knew that I would enjoy being close to Hyde Park because our ancestor Ephraim Nye baptized several people there when he was the LDS Mission President in England in the late 1800's, so Michael had booked a room there.

The next day while my son took care of some business I walked through beautiful Hyde Park for a couple of hours. The Serpentine is a lovely lake, the baptisms had taken place there late at night. There is also a place named Speakers Corner where preachers could preach. Now is it a spot to get sandwiches and soft drinks etc.

Michael and I met at the hotel and rode the subway to where he had another meeting scheduled. He left me at Covent Garden to explore then he and his colleagues found me and we all went to lunch. Afterwards Michael had another meeting and this time took me with him. Although he lives in Australia he spent time living in England and works for a company there helping them do business in Australia.

Next we began touring London and Michael was able to point out many famous buildings. I had walked a lot by that time and was getting tired so we got on a tour bus and rode around the city seeing many wonderful sights. The price of the bus tour included a boat ride, so we floated down the Thames River and continued our tour. It was interesting to see places that I had read and heard about all of my life. After leaving the boat we again rode the bus back toward our hotel, but I was too tired to walk out for a meal so we picked up some sandwiches and took them back to the hotel.

Tonbridge Castle Gate

The following morning we left in a rental car and drove through the maze-like streets of London in very busy traffic. After finally getting out of the city we travelled on the freeway and we were much more relaxed. We were soon in County Kent and enjoying the beautiful green country side.

Michael drove to Tonbridge, Kent and we stopped to view the castle there. We took some photos and picked up some brochures, it was an interesting area to visit. Tonbridge, a prosperous, business, market and residential town, lies near the foot of sandstone hills of the central Weald. It straddles the Medway, Kent's most important river.

On the River Medway in front of the remains of Tonbridge Castle

High Street, Tonbridge