european vacation 2011-day 1

ok, so its been a while since I've updated- oops.
blame Facebook-ha!
Since this is to be Kathy's last year over in Europe I decided to go all out and take a 3 week vacation. We are seeing St Albans and London in England, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, and Koln in Germany, Venice Italy, and Paris France. WOW!
So I'll start with Day one... Saturday-February 26th
We arrive in London and are met by a driver to take us to St Alban. This is where Kathy's work place is so we will be staying here, as she unfortunetly has to work some days. We got into town, checked into the hotel- and then took a nap- how exciting is that!
I don't sleep well on a plane so an hour or two should get me back on track.
So we awake from our nap and set off to explore St Albans.
When we get to the center of town we find that they are having a sidewalk market- SHOPPING!
A new hat, an umbrella, some souveniers, fresh bread and cheese for our dinner.
Then its on to see St Alban's cathedral. Do you know the difference between a chrch and a cathedral...I do now. A cathedral is always built in the shape of a cross and a church can be any shape they want it to be. I learned something new. Then we were off to see the roman wall ruins. It turns out the city of St Alban was originally Verulamium. which was established before the romans. Thats old! The romans eventually showed up and the area switched to their rule until the collapse. That is when the town started to be over taken by the New city. The cathedral was built in honor of St Alban- the first person executed for helping a christian priest in the area. He wasn't a saint then...that happened after the execution...
The town really started to build up after the new cathedral was built. Thats todays history lesson. St. Alban is a wonderful city with a lot to see. That will be tomorrow.