Last look at St. Paul's

It took us over two hours, 2 Tube changes, one train station and a bus ride get to our hotel near Heathrow Airport. I don't think I will complain about DFW airport ever again! We should have only a 15 minute ride to the airport in the morning.

Last night in the UK

Early morning flight back to DFW. Hope to see everyone soon... and then go to Bobby's Taquaria for some good salsa for breakfast after we recover.

We hope to get to Killeen about 5:30 Belton Standard Time.

Last pub night

Sitting in the Mitre Pub in Greenwich. Last pub night, tomorrow night in a cheap hotel near airport. We have had a great time, wish we could have brought everyone with us. Cheerio!

St Paul's, parade

St Paul's Cathedral has the most beautiful interior of any building we have seen yet. Pictures do not do it justice. We were very blessed yesterday to see a special performance there yesterday afternoon. In the morning we watched a 2 hour parade honoring the new Lord Mayor of London. Fantastic parade, military marching bands, many children's groups, and the nice little carriage the Mayor rode in, we loved it!

Would you give this old man a ride to the train station?

Re: laundry

One clarification, this wasn't our first trip to wash clothes on this trip, so we weren't too aromatic!

Laundry morning

Kurt Vonnegut said that bizarre travel experiences are "dancing lessons from God.". After wasting over 2 hours this morning on a wild search to find an elusive laundromat that we were told "you can't miss" we finally discovered it no longer existed. We were desperate to find someplace to get an entire suitcase full of clothes cleaned since we had nothing left to wear that didn't have an aroma. Our quest eventually entailed 2 wrong busses, a mile walk, and a train ride to the laundry back near the hostel we stayed in during the first week of our trip. One load of laundry cost us about 15 dollars, not counting our time. Part of the adventure, but never take clean underwear for granted when you are on the road!

Remembrance Day

What we call Veteran's Day is Remembrance Day in Britain. There are more commemerations here than in most of our country. Also more mention of the large number of Brits killed in WWI. We went to Churchill War Room museum today, very impressive. They left everything just as it was when the war ended. England suffered greatly in both world wars. When you see photos of all the places here that were bombed by Germans it is hard to believe. Saw a protest by neo nazi group called English Defence League. 75 of them arrested right after we went past. There were several hundred police. I have never seen that many police in my entire life. It was a bit scary.

Travelers mercies

Yesterday when we got off the train to walk to the National Motorcycle Museum, we went down the wrong path. It started sprinkling rain and we were completely turned around (basically lost) so I stopped and asked a man working in his yard for directions. He graciously pointed us in the proper direction. About 100 yards down the road, he pulled up in his car and insisted he would drive us the remaining mile to the museum. We were very grateful for his kindness!

Modern travel!

Ann reading on her Kindle and I am writing an article for the Journal (while using wi-fi and Bluetooth on the train). We made it to our hotel about 3 our time after leaving Stratford at 11:20 this morning. Ate at an excellent Vietnamese cafe for early dinner since we missed lunch on the trains.

Old Thatch Tavern, Stratford upon Avon, built 1561

Eight Bells pub, Chipping Campden, built in 1300's, in the Cotswalds

Civilized travel

I am posting this aboard the train to London....this is a very civilized way to travel!

Ann's scoot

Ann is such a good sport, she spent 3 hours looking at classic motorcycles without complaint!

London

Great time today in Stratford. We also went to British National Motorcycle Museumn today. One of the world's most valuable bikes, 1939 Brough Superior. Only one in the world, worth well over 500,000£ if it were for sale. (that is around 800,000 in U.S. dollars!) Over 800 British motorcycles from 1898 onward. We spent 3 hours and could have easily spent more. The 1912 Wilkinson was one of my favorites. They were way ahead of their time technologically, but stopped making bikes and concentrated on razor blades after World War I, what a shame! Tomorrow we head back to London on the train for last few days before we fly home. 3 weeks has flown by! Leave early on the 15 th.

Shakespeare

We toured the birthplace of William Shakespeare today and walked around Stratford on Avon. Nice, relatively quiet town with all things about the Bard. Had to rest our weary legs this afternoon after yesterday's sprint through train station changes in Birmingham. All those stairs are hard on our vintage knees. Continued our tour of the pubs of the UK tonight at the Thatch Tavern which has been in business for over 540 years in the same building. It still has one of the old traditional thatched roofs which are no longer built. Tomorrow we may spend time in the area before going to the theatre in the evening. Plan to visit Oxford while we are in this area. Our month is slipping away and we haven't seen everything on our list. But not because we haven't given it our best shot!

Cavern Club

The inside is like a cavern, side view of the small stage area. The place was packed with people from all over the world. A family from Holland shared our table...those folks can drink beer! Great fun for two nights.

Welcome to Liverpool

Stratford upon Avon

We arrived at Stratford upon Avon about 3:30 Pm our time. We had to change trains in Crew and that train was late so when we got to the station in Birmingham we had to make a mad dash from one train station to another station about three blocks away, we arrived one minute before our next train boarded. Whew! It is getting harder to run up and down stairs with a backpack! Stratford is very quiet compared to Liverpool. We really had a great time in Liverpool and people we're incredibly friendly there, and proud of their city. The Maritime Museum was outstanding. Liverpool was a key port during WW II and was bombed heavily by the Germans.

No voice

Yesterday morning we spent over 2 hours in the Beatles museum. Excellent! I am afraid I am a bit hoarse this morning after Ann and I sang Beatles songs for almost 3 hours at the Cavern Club last night. We had a blast and I could sing as loud as I wanted because no one could hear over the loud music. We are taking the train tomorrow to Stratford on Avon for a change of pace, but we are very glad we came to swinging Liverpool. People here really know how to enjoy life!

Liverpool

We made it to Liverpool, despite getting lost a few times! No more driving on this trip for me. Plan to go to Cavern Club tonight and here some Beatles music, wish y'all were here. Liverpool is a very different area than what we have seen so far. Very working class old port city. Had to take a cab last night and had a classic cabbie who was better than most tour guides. He assured us that we would love Liverpool, friendliest people in UK and recommended his favorite pub. Big Everton football fan. He was older than us and had Seen the Beatles play when Pete Best was their drummer and nobody had heard of them. Ann now has enough photos to publish Vol.1 of Tour of UK.

Scenery on our bike ride today

We had a wonderful experience today viewing the countryside by cycling along a narrow gauge railroad track. The man we rented our bikes from said the trail was easy to follow and would be an easy ride except for a "wee" hill we would have to cycle up! His idea of "wee" and mine are not the same, if you consider a two-mile continuous incline a wee hill. Wayne managed most of the ride on the cycle, but my granny legs had to push the bike part of the way! We stopped to visit a mini Stonehenge--a circle of stones built 4500 years ago! We rode for four hours but enjoyed the most incredible scenery I have ever seen--picture perfect. We stopped at the top of the hill and visited a wonderful woman who gave us water and her binoculars to sit and watch the birds. A much welcomed respite for our tired legs. The rest of the ride was down hill back to Keswick. Then, of course, we visited another pub and had potato/leek soup and a sandwich with our usual pint of beer--Stella this time!

River, downtown Keswick

Ancient Stone Circle, 4,500 years old

Another little B&B on the lake!

Fall is lovely!

Lake Derwentwater, near Keswick, Cumbria, northern England

Keswick

We made it to Keswick, England this afternoon. Beautiful lake country of northern England. We are at the Hedgehog b&b. Driving here was very difficult. Driving on the left side of the road is no fun. Round abouts are also a real challenge. But we arrived safely so life is good!

Tomorrow

We have had a wonderful time in Edinburgh. In the morning we will be driving down to Keswick in the Lake Country of Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter. (Northern England). Keep your fingers crossed we can drive on wrong side of the road!

Rosslyn Chapel

Not a great photo, they are doing major restoration work on the chapel. They are very fond of Tom Hanks and Dan Brown because the increase in visitors has given them the money to do so.

Rosslyn Chapel

Visited Rosslyn Chapel today. Pictures tomorrow. Before the Da Vinci Code movie it had about 30,000 visitors a year, the next year after the movie came out they had over 175,000 visitors.

Our guest house

In a newer section of town, built in 1896!

A Pub for every taste

We didn't try this one!

Monument for Sir Walter Scott

Edinburgh Castle

Documenting the Pubs of UK

Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Steveson

Edinburgh Castle

Today in Edinburgh

Great day, the Castle this morning and the National Art Gallery this afternoon. Off to see the Twelfth Night at the local theater tonight.

Outside the Hostel in London

Westminster Abbey

Update On Blog

Now that we are better able to post pictures, we will try to post photos to go along with the commentary. You can tell this is our first attempt at being bloggers, but we are learning.

Big Ben and House of Parliment

Photo taken from the top of the London Eye at night by Ann.

The Tower Bridge

Changing the Guard

Scotland

Made it to Edinburg last night. Train ride was very smooth, about 5 hours from Kings Cross Station in London, nice scenery. They really know how to do green in England. Our guest house much cheaper than hostel in London and much more comfortable. Nice bed instead of bunk bed and great breakfast included. Took a bus tour of city this morning, couldn't understand about 30percent of tour guide's Scottish brogue, but city is beautiful. Saw Scottish Parliament, St Andrews Sq, and tons of really old buildings, but very hard to navigate streets, I don't think streets have been straitened out since Mary Queen os Scots was here last and, understanding the bus system is a challenge. Went wrong way for 45 minutes, after never getting lost in London, oh well, it is an adventure. Plan to see castle in morning, it towers over city. Haven't been able to download photos to blog. Still working, only major problem so far.

Saturday

Spent the morning in the incredible British Library. Ann in librarian's heaven! The Magna Carta, Canterbury Tales, oldest book in world from China in the 800's! King James Bible from 1650. Leonardo da Vinci's journals. More recent, John Lennon's Original Hard Days Night lyrics scribbled on back of his son's birthday card. I'll write more about this later if anyone interested. Then to British Museum to see THE Rosetta stone, couldn't cover a fourth of museum in one afternoon. Could spend a week there and not see it all. Managed to find a pub open since Victoria was queen, beautiful bar and great fish and chips!

Train to Scotland tomorrow afternoon, haven't covered half of our to-do list in London, but we tried!

Slow down day

After yesterday's frantic pace, we are moving more slowly today. Visited the Tate Modern, not our cup of tea. Some great art works, but overall too avant garde for these Belton kids. Ace Cafe for lunch. Historic biker hangout from the Mods & Rocker days for those of you who recall that era. Went to a great farmer's market near London Bridge & to the Globe Theater, a replica of Shakespeare's day. It is open air and no plays this late in season but tour was informative. Went by St Paul's Cathedral, but it is closed because of protesters nearby. There is a good bit of social unrest in UK regarding financial mess and growing inequality. Local Article noted London is a great place to be rich, but a very hard place to be poor as it is extremely expensive. Construction everywhere, much pre-Olympics preparation and many fancy high rise condos.

Hanging out in hostel this evening, too tired to boogie. Train Sunday to Scotland.

Hope all is well, would love to hear from y'all.

Old Triumph & even older Triumph rider.

Evensong

Went to a beautiful Evensong service at Westminster Cathedral tonight. It was a privilege to attend a worship service in such a magnificent setting, and the choir was awesome. Thank you Lord!

After church service we took the London Eye and saw the sun setting on Big Ben and the House of Parliament. Weather was clear and cool today.14 c degrees, whatever that means. I can only think in Fahrenheit. Great ending to a very good day. 8 pm as I write this, we started at 9 this morning so we are worn out!

Saw the pub where Boswell & Johnson got together earlier while searching for a 'freehouse' or pub for lunch. London is "hog heaven" for old English major (Ann) and history major (Wayne).

Double Deckers

We are taking a lunch break from the tour bus. Fish and chips, Guinness...life is good. We have seeN much of central London. Quite amazing. Saw the Changing of the Guard this morning at Buckingham Palace. very impressive. Royal Air Force Band also performed, but Queen was in Australia so we didn't pop in to say cheerio. Looking forward to the London Eye tonight. Wish y'all were here! Still a bit jet lagged, 6 hours later here than Texas, and haven't caught up on sleep.

Relaxing at the hostel

Sometimes sitting and reading after a long day exploring is just what a girl needs!

Cheerio from The Globe

Globe Pub that is! Couldn't post yesterday wifi problems. London is even better than we dreamed. All great except wifi and exchange rates. Big Ben and
National Gallery this a.m. Great weather, but cool. Flight was arduous, 90 minutes on runway at dfw due to storm, 9 hours in air, circled London for 30 minutes due to airport issues, but safe. Learning to use the Tube, great system. More later, fish and chips getting cold! Cheers!

Big old Jet airliner

Today is the day we fly to London. We have been up since 3:00 am getting ready, neither one of us could sleep! We leave Killeen airport at 6:05 and will be in jolly old England in the morning, Lord willing and the creek don't rise! Prayers and well wishes appreciated. Wish y'all could come with us. We will try to update daily.

Love and peace to all. Ann and Wayne

Planning time

We are getting excited about ourvtrip to the UK. We leave on Oct. 17th.

Louisville

We finally made it to Louisville tonight, glad to see the kids. There was a major accident on the interstate on the way and we were only able to travel 6 miles in one and a half hours!  Needless to say, we are exhausted. We did stop in Hot Springs, NC earlier for a soak, that was great. Rained most of the way from Carolina, we haven't seen this much wet stuff in years. Sorry we can't share with Texas.

Rain in Carolina

Sounds like a James Taylor song. We are in Asheville. Haven't seen rain in months and we are expected to get over 6 inches today. Flash flood and  mudslide warnings....oh well, so it goes. It sure is green here!

In Georgia

We are visiting Erik and Zoe in Kennesaw, GA.  Great to see kids and grandkids again. Baby Emma is beautiful.  It is a long drive from Texas, spent last night in Pearl, MS, the  friendliest place we have been in a long time.

Testing

Hi folks, we are test driving our new blog. It is a work in progress. We hope to have it fully operational by the time we set out on our next adventure. Please make suggestions, we obviously need all the help we can get.

Peace!