Hello London!

Yesterday we had to leave Edinburgh.  It would have been nice to spend more time there.  We had a great time with great friends, but knowing we were leaving one set of friends and arriving in London to another made it easier.

On the train from York to Edinburgh we were in 1st class.  It was nice.  They brought us drinks and food.  Whatever we wanted.  We had free wifi.  On the train from Edinburgh to London we were in 2nd class.  It was a bit grungier.  We bought sandwiches at the station to take with us.  We got 15 minutes of free wifi.  Not quite as nice.  What was nice were the people.  We were at a table with two seats across from us.  Two girls in their mid-20's were traveling to Newcastle with 2 friends for a Girl's weekend.  The other girls were sitting a few rows away.  It wasn't long before we started chatting with them.  We discussed their feelings about how the referendum had turned out.  One had voted Yes and one had voted No.  Then we discussed their lives in Scotland.  Free healthcare.  Free higher education.  They asked us about the U.S. and California.  Their friends came over after awhile and hung out too.  They were really nice girls.  They got off in Newcastle and new seatmates got on.  They were a group of 5 middle aged and one older woman who were going to York for the day to celebrate the 50th birthday of the woman sitting across from Jim.  Her name was Andrea.  They brought with them 3 bottles of champagne, multiple large bags of crisps (chips to us), plates, napkins, plastic cups... They were ready to party.  And they did!  They were a crazy bunch, and then two more of their group got on the train at another station.  The two women at our table were the quietest of the group (which isn't saying much) and we talked to them quite a bit.  They had consumed all the booze by the time they arrived in York.  They got off the train there, and two other women joined us.  They were 30ish and heading to London for the day.  One of them had business to attend to and the other was along for the ride, so to speak.  They were also quite chatty with us.  There's one thing we have learned after talking to many people in Great Brittain who say they have been to the U.S.  And I don't get this, but for some reason they all go to Las Vegas.  They seemed surprised that we don't live that far from there and have never been.

After a train ride that seemed fast because of all the people we chatted with we arrived in London, at the Kings Cross station.  The woman we are renting a flat from had given me the directions for getting there.  We had problems getting our Oyster cards loaded so we can use the Tube and buses while we are here.  After about an hour we had it sorted out.  We took the overground train to get as close to the flat as possible, then walked about 15 minutes to get there.  

The landlord, Anne, was very nice.  She's originally from Boston, but has been here 16 years.  We have rented many apartments, both in the U.S. and in Europe, but this is our first experience using Airbnb.  I'm not disappointed.  The flat is a studio, but it's big enough.

We are staying on the South Bank, not too far from the London Eye.  It's a good location.  We settled in, then went for a long walk along the Thames River to Burough Market.  We then walked along the street to dinner and a store to buy some breakfast food.

Our dear friends Sarah & Dave arrived in London on Thursday.  They had a busy day Saturday, but we arranged to meet up with them Saturday night at the Waterloo train station, since it's located between the flat they are renting and ours.  Unfortunately they aren't as happy with their flat as we are with ours.  We visited for a little while, but we were all ready to call it a night before too long.  We arranged when we would meet today and went our separate ways.

Today is Sunday, September 21st.  Our 29th wedding anniversary.  It was a very nice day.  We made our way to the Victoria & Albert Museum, walking along the river a bit before catching the Tube.  We spent as much time there as we could, but we missed a lot.  I hope we can go back as there is so much to see.  We had 2:00 tickets to tour Buckingham Palace and the Gardens.  We met Sarah and Dave there and got in line to enter.  Sarah was first and was told the Garden Tour was full and we couldn't go.  Okay then, into the Palace we went.  Unfortunately they don't allow photos, but trust me when I say it is very GRAND, as you would expect.  There was a lot of art and beautiful furniture.  In addition to all the public rooms we were able to tour, there was an exhibit about Royal Childhood.   It focused on the children that have grown up there.  There were displays of their toys and clothes, and they showed home movies of the Royal children at play.  It turned out there had been a mix up about the Garden Tour portion of the ticket, which we had paid for months ago.  They nicely refunded the difference.

We walked from the Palace to the Speakers Corner at Hyde Park.  For centuries people have gone there on Sundays to speak about anything they wanted.  There were actually two people, not too far from each other, speaking at the same time.  There was quite a crowd and it was hard to understand them.  We gave up and walked down Oxford St., then caught the tube to go to dinner.

What a special dinner it was.  Sarah & Dave treated us for our anniversary to dinner at The Wolseley.  It was very good.  I had the Plat du Jour, the tradional Sunday Roast with Yorkshire Pudding.  I had the same thing last Sunday and this was so much better.

This was our poor attempt at a selfie at dinner.

It was a very full day, and I loved every minute of it.  I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful and caring husband.  There is no one else I would rather travel through life with, both literally and figuratively.  And to share our special day with such wonderful friends, in London, is something I will always cherish.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

Edinburgh

I can't believe we've been here since Wednesday and this is the first chance I've had to blog.  There is so much to do here and we have been so busy!

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon.  I was told by the owner of the apartment we rented that it was about a 15 minute walk from the train station.  It was more like 30 minutes.  Part of that was having to repeatedly stop and make sure we were still going the right way.  We finally made it and June was there waiting for us.  The apartment is fantastic!

We settled in, started some laundry, and waited for Norm and Georgia to arrive.   After they arrived from the airport we walked up to where some restaurants were, and decided on an Italian place for dinner.  It was very good, but something with my dinner didn't agree with me.  It was a long, mostly sleepless night.

On Thursday there was excitement in the air.  Today was Election Day.  The day the Scots had been waiting for.  A referendum.  Would they vote Yes for freedom?  Would they choose No and remain part of the UK?  There was more excitement and buzz from the Yes camp.  Norm & Georgia were interviewed by a reporter looking for tourists opinions.

Here are some images of what we saw -

The people were gathered in front of the Scottish Parliment building -

This guy was doing his best William Wallace/Mel Gibson impersonation -

We had tickets for four separate Hop on/Hop off (to now be referred to as HOHO) buses.  We did two of the routes that day.  As the day went on it got more and more foggy.  We went to Edinburgh Castle and the weather seemed very fitting.  First we had lunch, then we went to all the different areas of the castle.  The Crown Jewels were amazing, but there weren't as many as we saw at the Tower of London when we were there 8 years ago.  The views from there would have been great if we could have seen anything.  

In addition to the Castle we walked the Royal Mile and soaked up the atmosphere and excitement of being in Edinburgh on this historic day.  It was a long day, and thankfully I got a good nights sleep.

When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was to check the news.  Did the voters that wanted independence win?  No, it was not to be.  As we were heading out today we spoke to the concierge of this apartment building.  He is an older man and he voted no.  He said that in his opinion there were too many unanswered questions about what would happen if they became independent.  Especially with their currency, as England had stated they could no longer use the pound.  England had also offered Scotland concessions in the final days before the vote, hoping to persuade Yes voters to change their minds.  Apparently they were successful.

Georgia wanted to do some genealogy research this morning, so Jim and I sent off to go to a couple of museums.  We went to the National Museum of Scotland first.  It was huge, so we decided to mostly concentrate on Scottish history in the Kingdom of the Scots exhibit.  We then went to the National Gallery of Scotland, an art museum.  We just went to the area where the Impressionists were, as I was hoping to see some Monet's.  There were some really nice paintings, but only one Monet.  And it was a different style than the paintings he does that I particularly like.  Oh well, I will get to see plenty of his work when we are in Paris.  The National museums are free.  I like that, as it's harder to justify paying admission somewhere when you done want to see the entire thing.

We grabbed a bite to eat, then met up with Norm & Georgia.  We took the HOHO that would take us out to where the Royal yacht, the Britannia, was docked.  I decided not to take the tour, but the others really enjoyed it.  By the time we got back into town it was too late for us to take the only HOHO route we hadn't done.  Norm & Georgia had done that route before we met up after lunch and said it was essentially seeing things we had already seen.  We wandered around until we decided on an Indian place for dinner.  It was delicious and a nice way to end our time with our friends.  In the morning we will go our separate ways.  We had a wonderful time with them.

York

The drive from Chipping Campden wasn't bad.  There was a little light rain from time to time, and some road work to contend with.  The important thing is we were able to turn the car in without any damage.  I have to say I was glad to be done with it.  

Before returning the car we went to Castle Howard, located near York.  It has been in the Howard family for over 300 years.  They still live there, and there is evidence of that in some of the rooms.  They also rent the castle out for special events.  There was a large tent structure (not the one in the picture below) erected in front of the house, and large white flower arrangements in some rooms.  When I asked one of the employees what was going on, he would only say a wedding had taken place over the weekend.  When pressed further, he said he really couldn't say who had gotten married.  He did give a couple of hints about who had performed at the reception.  He was surprised when I guessed correctly.  Can you believe Rod Stewart!  Apparently the wedding was large and very lavish!  He mentioned that no expense had been spared and he knew that just the cost of flowers was considerable.  I still don't know who got married though. I might just have to do a little investigating!

This is the backside of a portion of the Castle.

The gardens appeared to be very nice, but unfortunately by the time we were done in the Castle the rain was really coming down.  

We checked into our lodging - Briar Lea Guest House.  I chose it for the good price and good reviews on Trip Advisor.  I didn't expect 5* lodging, but we were not terribly happy when we saw our room.  It's clean, I'll give it that.  And it's small.  I mean SMALL!  The door hits the bed and doesn't open the entire way. The same with the bathroom door.

It certainly doesn't compare to our place in Chipping Campden.  After seeing the room I checked Trip Advisor again.  Everyone had really good things to say about it, even mentioning how roomy their room was.  They clearly did not stay in Room 1!  The breakfast was good, so that's something.

After checking in we went inside the walls to the old town.  We wandered around getting the lay of the land, so to speak.   For dinner we ended up going to Jamie's Italian.  Jamie being Jamie Oliver.  It was very good.

After dinner we went back to our Guest House.  That's when we discovered that the bed is very uncomfortable.  Very.  Uncomfortable.  We are only there for two nights, luckily!

After breakfast this morning we headed back into the old town, just a 5 minute walk away.  We took a walking tour, which was very informative.

We saw ruins -

We saw the medieval area, The Shambles -

 

We walked on the wall that protected York from invaders -

This is outside the wall with the moat.  There would have been water in it.

After the walking tour we decided to get something to eat.  We weren't too hungry, so we decided that coffee/tea and a dessert would hit the spot.  We went to Betty's Tea Room.  It's been there for over 90 years.  It was very charming.  And tasty!  

Then it was time to go to the York Minster.  The church dominates the skyline.

This is a very small portion of it.  

Building of the Minster began in 1220.  Construction took 152 years.  It is the largest cathedral north of the Alps.  Okay, maybe the cathedral in Cologne is bigger.  Maybe.  We took a guided tour and it was very interesting.  The stained glass was magnificent.  

Can you see the heart in the photo?  They call it the Heart of York.

This is a very small portion of the inside.  

We attended the Evensong at the cathedral, which was very nice.  We had dinner at the Punch Bowl Pub.  Said to be haunted, the Punch Bowl has been a pub for over four centuries.  It's said to be haunted... Hmmm...  We will try to leave any spirits behind.

Tomorrow we leave for Edinburgh, to be joined by our friends Norm & Georgia.  They have been living large in Ireland, staying in castles and I'm sure other really nice places.  I hope our apartment meets their standards.  I hope the apartment meets our standards!!  Scotland, here we come!!

The Cotswolds -Day 2

We had another wonderful day with Nigel & Carol.  I still can't believe they spent their entire weekend, including a 90 minute drive each way each day, showing us around.  We covered much more ground than we could possibly have managed on our own.

So many more towns today - Broadway, Winchcombe, Stanway, Stanton, Ford, Upper Swell & Lower Swell, Cleeve Hill...I'm sure I'm missing some towns.  We went back to Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water today and spent some more time in them.  We passed through the town where Nigel's parents are buried, so we stopped so he could pay his respects.  The Cemetary and specifically their shared grave is directly across the street from the Pub that his uncle owned.  

We went to the Stanway House.  It's closed for the season, but the gardens were open to raise money for charity. The gardens were definitely last their prime, but the house is very impressive from the outside.  The house is owned by the Earl of Wemyss, whose family tree charts relatives back to 1202.  There is a fountain on the property that claims to be the tallest fountain in Britain.  It's gravity powered and it shoots water 300 feet into the air. There was also a Tithe Barn that dates back to the 14th century.  It was there before the manor house was built.

For dinner we went to The Eight Bells Pub in Chipping Campden.  It's a 14th century inn.  Considering we were exhausted the day we arrived and we didn't really care what we had (fish & chips), and we didn't eat dinner yesterday, I'd say it's the best dinner we've had since we've been in England.

We've enjoyed our time here.  I would say that I found Bourton-on-the-Water to be the most picturesque town.  There were more tourists there, but I can see why.  I also liked Chipping Campden a lot and think it made a good base to see the other towns.  Actually, all the towns we saw were good. I thoroughly enjoyed our time in the area, and Nigel & Carol were a big part of that.

Our B&B, Bramley House, has been very nice.  Our room is clean and comfortable.  The breakfasts are good.  The owner, Jane, has been helpful and is very sweet.  I would definitely stay here again.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to the Cotswolds and drive to York.

The Cotswolds

We got up early today and had a very nice breakfast at our B&B.  This is a photo of the house -

Our car is the one on the right.

As we were finishing breakfast our friends Nigel & Carol arrived.  They drove from their home 11/2 hours away to show us around the area.  Nigel grew up in the Cotswolds.  Carol grew up in Texas.  They are very similar areas.  Not!  

The Cotswolds are full of charming villages.  First we made a brief visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the village that William Shakespeare is from.  We saw the school he attended.  Now that's an old school!  

We then went to Hidcote Gardens.  They were beautiful!  Hidcote was the first place to make 'garden rooms.'

We had lunch at the cafe at Hidcote, then set off to see some other towns with names like - 

Guiting Power, Bourbon-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford.  We had tea and cake in Burford, at a place called Huffkins.  They've been in business since 1890.  The Cotswolds are crisscrossed with walking trails.  People from all over the world come to hike them.  Carol, Jim and I walked the trail from the town Upper Slaughter to Lower Slaughter.  Nigel dropped us off and picked us up.  As we were on the trail church bells started ringing.  A couple had just gotten married.

The Cotwolds are actually named the Cotswold Hills.  The countryside is beautiful.  Most of the buildings are made from stone.  Some buildings have thatched roofs. There are dry stacked stone walls everywhere.

It was a very busy day, and there is so much to see.  Nigel & Carol have very kindly offered to come back tomorrow to take us to more villages.  It's nice to see the things that a local knows about.  We wouldn't have found a lot of the things we saw today without them, as they aren't in guidebooks.  I'm looking forward to their company and seeing more of this beautiful area.

We Made It!!

We left home on our long awaited journey on Thursday, 9/11/14.  We flew from Sacramento at about 8:30 a.m. and took a short flight to San Francisco.  From there it was straight to London.  We arrived in London 40 minutes before our scheduled arrival time of 7:10 a.m. on 9/12.  After getting through Immigration and Customs we took the shuttle to the car rental location.  We had reserved an economy car with an automatic, but the nice guy who was helping us declared he was going to give us a diesel Mercedes.  He said we would like it better and it would get better gas mileage.what a great guy!  Not!! A bit later he mentioned that the Mercedes would be quite a bit more expensive than what we had reserved.  No thanks mister, give us what we paid for.  

Driving here is crazy.  People park going both directions on either side of the street, and they think nothing of blocking a lane when the road is already too narrow.  It's rediculous!  Anyway, I'm really tired and need to get to sleep.  We have a big day tomorrow!  I can wait.  Here are a few pics from today-

This is our room and our view.