Today is a big day in Britain–the Scottish people vote on their independence referendum. This of course has been the major subject of discussion and television news since we arrived in England. We keep asking if we will even be allowed to enter Scotland next week, but no one expects any changes in the near future regardless of the election outcome.

It is also a big day for us Road Scholars: it is our laundry day, and Peter has arranged for a local laundromat to handle this for us. For this we are very grateful.

This is a fairly easy day for most of us. We had a short bus ride into the old town of Chester and spent the day touring its sites.

We began our exploration of down-town Chester with a tour of the beautiful Chester Cathedral. This is one of England’s great cathedrals with some of its ancient walls and stones dating back to Norman times.

Peter then led us on a guided walk about the old city. Parts of the town date back to the days of the Romans, with the main streets laid out during Roman times. It was also a major commercial center with some structures remaining for shops from medieval times.

One of the major stops along the walking tour is the ruins of the Roman Amphitheater–which actually were discovered fairly recently by archaeologists. This is now one of the largest of the amphitheaters remaining in England, and it appears to be a real favorite of school kids as they receive their basic training from Roman centurions.

After a light lunch of tea and scones in the Chester Cathedral refectory, many of us elected to return to the hotel to relax and maybe take a short walk in the area; others in the group spent a couple of extra hours touring the sites of Chester.