Date(s): January 4, 2003. Album by C. Kvidahl. Photos by C. Kvidahl. 1 - 48 of 48 Total.
1 Our Eurostar Train Here we are in Paris getting ready to leave for London on a Eurostar Train.
2 EUROSTAR STATION The Eurostar train is a fast "bullet" train that travels to and from Paris and London. It also goes under the ocean at one point where it travels under the Ehglish Channel through a long underground tunnel.
3 Inside our train
4 TIGGER TRAVELING HOME! Here is Tigger riding no the train. He is excited about visiting England and his british home in Ashdown Forest at POOH COUNTRY.
5 OH MY GOSH!!! YES, this is what we saw, as soon as we cleared the underground tunnel, on our train coming into the UK. LOTS OF SNOW!!
6 MORE SNOW They were several people on our train from England and the London area. They all said this much snow was not common for them in early January.
7 CHANGING TRAINS (in london) In London, we had to change to the regular train service at Waterloo Station. We would be heading south out of London for a 40 minute train ride to a small town in southern england, TUNBRIDGE WELL.
8 OUR TRAIN
9 Cheri and her TIGGER sweatshirt Cheri pointing to the Tigger on her shirt. Cheri and Candy wore matching TIGGER ice skating sweatshirts.
10 Cheri with USA TIGGER
11 CHERI AND CANDY We were VERY EXCITED about our visit to POOH COUNTRY. This was a dream come true, especially for Candy.
12 LOTS OF SNOW! As we went further south we saw more snow.
13 Driving to POOH COUNTRY Our hired guide, Peter, took us in his van to Ashdown Forest. Ashdown Forest is where the author Miline lived when he wrote the original "House at Pooh Corner" book. The book later was Walt Disney's favorite. He then bought the rights to the POOH Characters.
14 Beautiful snow, but looks cold!
15 LOTS OF SNOW! There was lots of snow out here in Ashdown forest. It was also colder in that a lot of the Forest area had the shade from the trees.
16 Our first stop Here we stopped to take a short walk down the road. We then went a short distance into the forest.
17 Peter, our guide Peter did walk with us to a few places in Pooh Country. Here we are going to see "Gill's Lap" and "The Enchanted Place."
18 Nice photo of the snow on the trees
19 Cheri following Peter Here we are on the narrow path through the forest.
20 Peter has found some tracks that he believes were made by Eeyore!
21 "GALLEON'S LAP" ("Gill's Lap") In Milne's "The House at Pooh Corner" this was the original "enchanted place"...
"one could sit down "and see the whole world spread out until it reached the sky."
22 Cheri walking up "Gill's Lap" There were only two people on "Gill's Lap" the day we visited. These two people were latter very helpful too. They took our picture (all four of us) when we walked over to the (new) "enchanted place" that was near "Gill's lap"
23 "THE ENCHANTED PLACE" (new one) Here is the place we now know of as "The Enchanted Place." The hill top over looks the valley below and the town that the "real" Christopher Robin visited and where he bought his candy at. There now is a plaque there that honors both Milne, the author, and Shepard, the illustrator of the original Pooh stories.
24 The plaque
25 Candy, Cheri, Peter (our guide), and Dennis Here we stand at the "new" ENCHANTED PLACE. It was such a treat! Candy was so excited about seeing "The Enchanted Place." By the way, Dennis did have trouble "pulling" her away to leave. (The view below the hill was really nice and Candy was hoping to see "her TIGGER" bouncing in the valley below.)
26 Cheri
27 Dennis and Cheri
28 ON OUR OWN NOW! Our guide Peter, now waited at the car park on the main road as the three of us ventured into the forest. Peter gave us a map (if you call it that) and we were offered the choice to see Poohsticks Bridge or not. Ok course Candy would not say no! Peter being older explained he could not take the walk since he also was somewhat sick with a cold. So off we three ventured!
29 CANDY ASKING DENNIS ............. "ARE THERE LIONS OR TIGERS OR BEARS IN HERE?"
Dennis told
her "NO....just maybe a TIGGER is all!
30 Cheri is excited about seeing TIGGER. She kept getting too far ahead of us!
31 OH NO!!! This was what stopped CHERI AND DENNIS from going any further;
THREE GIANT PUDDLES!
Cheri already had cold feet too.
However, Candy was able to go on herself! She had rain boots on! Cheri and Dennis didn't have that extra protection. So off Candy went into the woods now by herself!
32 MORE SNOW!
33 CANDY NOW HAD BEEN WALKING FOR 20 MINUTES!
34 "LOOK, TIGGER'S BOUNCE MARKs!" "Can you see them?" (Candy knew she was getting close now to the bridge. She knew TIGGER was just in front of her too!)
35 Here is POOHSTICKS BRIDGE. (We are coming up to it now.)
36 This lady is also looking for POOH. This lady was at the bridge too. She said she had been there for an hour now and still could not find pooh. Candy told her she had come from the USA to see TIGGER too.
37 CANDY LOOKED TO THE RIGHT OF THE BRIDGE .....but no TIGGER.
38 "OH MY GOSH!" THERE'S TIGGER...
"LOOK, QUICK, TO THE RIGHT, BEHIND THAT TREE!!!"
39 "COME OUT, COME OUT, TIGGER... AND PLAY POOHSTICKS WITH ME!"
40 "STILL NO TIGGER!"
41 "THEN I WILL HAVE TO JUST ......... take a photo with MY USA TIGGER here on the bridge."
("I did enjoy seeing POOHSTICKS bridge very much, even though Tigger was SHY and would not come out.")
42 In the town of Hartfield This town is where the real Christopher Robin would come to buy his candy with his nanny when he was young.
43 POOH CORNER STORE This was the candy store where the real Christopher Robin would come to back in the 1920's to get his candy. The store is now a LARGE gift store that sells only pooh products.
44 IN POOH CORNER STORE Cheri picking out something "Tigger" related.
45 In the store
46 What Candy bought was in here. She bought ...... one of each of the original, "British" or classic as some call them, Pooh animals. She bought 6 characters in all.
47 Dennis wanted this piece but..... candy had to tell him no. You see it was too heavy for the plane AND it would be too costly to mail.... (sorry Dennis)
48 LEAVING POOH COUNTRY Here is Dennis waiting for our train back to London. WE SURE DID ENJOY OUR VISIT TO POOH COUNTRY!!
POOH COUNTRY..THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE TRIP TO EUROPE!!
