We went to Leicester on Wednesday to visit Dave's Uncle Frank and Aunt Kathleen. Kathleen is Grandpa Jeff Sherwin's sister. It was great to see them again. We have spent time with them a few times over the years, when they've come over to Canada and the US and when we came to England 19 years ago. We had a fun day with them. We first went and got some lunch. They treated us to a yummy meal and introduced us to gammon steak, which Dave and Tyler ordered. After lunch we went to Bradgate Park, the home of Lady Jane Grey in the 1500s, who became "The 9 Days' Queen".  It's a deer park, and we saw many deer which was fun. 

Lady Jane Grey's story is a sad one, as is many of the royalty of England's past. She wasn't in line to become queen, but her cousin-once-removed, Edward VI named her as his successor in his will just before he died (he was only 15). Lady Jane Grey was only about 16 years old. She had recently gotten married. So she became queen, but the Privy Council switched their support to Mary (1/2 sister to Edward VI) and imprisoned Lady Jane Grey only 9 days after her coronation. She was kept in prison for about 6 months and then she, her husband, her father, and her father-in-law, were all executed. I'm glad I wasn't born as royalty back in those days. So crazy and sad! 

Bradford Park:

Tyler, Michelle, Janae, Joshua, Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Frank

Joshua, Janae, Tyler, Uncle Frank, Aunt Kathleen, Dave

Michelle & Tyler. Trying to keep warm in the cold wind.

When Lady Jane Grey was beheaded they cut off the tops of the trees in the grief.

Leicester:

Clock tower. Apparently you can go in the door at the bottom of this tower and it leads to tunnels under the city! 

 A few years ago a group of people found King Richard III's body buried under a parking lot in Leicester, not too far from the cathedral! They had a group called, "Looking for Richard". They knew he was buried somewhere in the vicinity, and were very lucky to find him as quickly as they did. Funny enough, his remains were found under the "R" in "Car Park" "R", for "Richard". HAHA! They were able to figure out that it really is his body using DNA testing, which is another cool thing, because DNA testing was developed in Leicester. York and London cities wanted to have his remains, but Leicester won out, as that is where he was originally buried. 

The Pall cloth (modern) that was over King Richard III's body until it was decided where he would be buried.

Leicester Cathedral

The area of the parking lot where King Richard's remains were found. 

 The clock tower lit up for Christmas

Back at Frank and Kathleen's house