I just added gobs of photos … and a couple videos as well, to May 24. In case you want to view that entry again. When I originally posted it after our long walk that day I only posted two photos. I was just too weary!
Today’s Update
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Monthly Archives: June 2024
Added Some Videos!
I had nearly forgotten that on some days I did videos. I shared them somewhere (probably Facebook?) while we were on the trip, but I know not everyone saw them. So for those who are interested, there are now videos up on May 21 and May 23. I’m guessing I have more, but as I wrote, I’m only doing a few days at a time.
UPDATE: Well, I thought I’d posted the videos, but I had neglected to hit the “DONE” button so they hadn’t posted. I think I’ve fixed that now. Hope so!
I continue, as well, to add more photos. I’m guessing that’s not of interest to most readers, but since this is my way of journaling the walk I want to add them.
Gradually Working On Posts
Each day I plan on going back over this blog, updating, correcting, and mostly adding photos when I had issues getting them to post while we were out and about. (Turned out shooting in RAW was the issue, so eventually I learned and didn’t do that any longer.)
What fun it is to read about each day. I’m going to take my time with this so I can truly enjoy the trip again!
For what it’s worth, I just added a few things to the 20th of May.
And Now We Are Home
We began our morning quite leisurely since checkout was at 11:00 and there was no rush to get to the airport. Packing is usually more difficult at the end of the trip, even while we never purchase souvenirs. This time, though, I had no issues at all. I suspect it’s because I had to unpack and pack so many times I knew where everything would fit.
When we checked out we called a car to take us to Paddington Station. Normally we’d just do the tube — the cost would be MUCH less and the time wouldn’t be much more. But with our extra luggage we opted to spend the big bucks.
Well … getting out of our area took quite a bit of time: traffic was rotten. We finally got over the Thames and our driver took us near Buckingham Palace. Who knew there would be a bunch of horses and riders in full regalia going up the street ahead of us?! More delays. Finally they headed straight and we turned a bit.
Only to find they were again in front of us!
We could only laugh.
Eventually we did make it to Paddington, but it took quite a bit longer than the tube and it was, oh, perhaps $50 more! But on a trip like this I suppose that’s a drop in the bucket. (That being written, one drop can make a bucket overflow … right?)
Next up was getting to the Heathrow Express. Again, this was a bit of an extravagant expense. But it was only a 15 minute ride compared to the longer, less costly way to go.
Except there was a delay!
This delay was nothing like the “horse delay” though, and we did get to the airport. From there we walked (and walked) to the United area to check our luggage. Easy peasy.
Next up was security. Being in another country our TSA pre-check doesn’t do much good, but we were able to get through via a speedier lane. Well, I had a good pat down at Frankfurt’s airport, and this time I set off the alarm again. No pat down this time … just had to remove my shoes. And yes, those were the culprits. I wonder if there’s a way to research and find out if a particular brand and/or style of shoe sets off the alarm. It sure would be nice to know. But if I wear these again (doubtful), I’ll just remember to remove them and put them in the tray, even if they say not to bother.
But wait, there’s more! We then had to navigate to the United area where our gate and the lounge were located. Signage made it somewhat easy, but when we got to one spot it said to reach the gates including ours was a mere (okay, they didn’t use the word “mere”) 15 minute walk! I can’t remember in which order we did escalators but there was some up and down and maybe down and up … or something. Clearly there were people who had arrived thinking they could just get to their gate quickly and arrived a wee bit late … lots of running going on! But of course we did make it, with no running, and we entered the rather full, and in need of an update (ripped seats and all) United lounge.
When it was time to get to our gate that was quick ‘n easy. Close to our arrival we were able to line up and get ready to board. The plane was not close to full, so boarding went quickly.
Taking off did not.
While we were ready to take off, the captain said that we were delayed due to other planes ahead of us, making our arrival time a bit later than we had expected, even while we would have arrived early had we been able to take off on time. We settled in, readying ourselves for a 10+ hour flight.
About eight hours into the flight I put the flight map back on: I love seeing where we are. Well, apparently the internet was down (a reason I rarely bother to spend any money on purchasing WiFi — and never on an international flight as it’s tremendously expensive) so while the info was provided (2h 19m to destination) the map showed the UK only and was pointless. Ah … but when I clicked on it it showed us over South Dakota. Hello USA! I guess we really were going to get home.
(United has updated their map and their safety video since the last time we flew. The map is better, I think. The safety video is definitely not (yawn). FYI … because you know you want to know.)
At the start of our flight we were served a rather substantial dinner. Then lights were dimmed and it was clearly time to rest. I’m not sure how airlines determine whose time to use, but I’d much prefer adjusting to the time ahead of me rather than the one I just left. When I get on the plane (or sometimes even right before) I set my watch for the destination time. What can I say? I guess I like to think ahead.
The flight was pretty uneventful, although I did end up with my restless legs and a bit of a stomach issue toward the end: the legs are no surprise, and the stomach was, I think, simply due to eating too darn much!
My sister Carolyn picked us up after we easily breezed through customs (thank you, Global Entry!), and she drove us straight to our house. THANK YOU, Carolyn!
And now we are home. Not unpacked, because of the time, but home. Tomorrow will be a washing, grocery shopping, and house cleaning day, for sure.
Over ‘n out.
Soooo … time to plan the next trip …?!
And Now Our Final Full Day
The last day is always a bit of an interesting day. We do less most of the time, as I think our brains are busy thinking about the travel day and our bodies really let down because we know we are nearly done.
As is always the case, it was breakfast first, and then after getting ready, heading to the tube. It was Jubilee to Westminster this morning. We then walked over to Westminster Abbey: there were no (expensive) tours today since it’s Sunday, but there was Matins scheduled at 10:00 so we opted for that. Worship services are always free, and it was nice to worship on a Sunday in London! This time we were wiser than we were in York, got there early, and had lovely seats where we could see and hear better. It was all quite beautiful.
The formality of the service is, of course, not what I experience at home. I really miss a bit of formality so I enjoyed it. This was not a service with a sermon, but it was music, scripture, and prayer. I was moved.
No photography was allowed in the service, understandably, and it did make me realize we should someday pay the whopping amount they charge if we really want to see the entire building. I was ogling the markers for various famous musicians as we walked in and a guide came and clearly wanted us to move on.
On the way out people did pull out cameras, so I felt comfortable taking a few shots outside of the actual church.
From the church we ambled a bit, checking out some nearby spots.
After that we headed toward Trafalgar Square. When we were here the first time we met up at the Square with Greg and Jan and from there we walked to a nearby pub. Dan thought he could locate it and he did! All I remembered was that we got to go down two flights of stairs which I loved — it felt so private.
It hadn’t yet opened, so we continued our walk toward Trafalgar.
There was a huge area fenced off. Hm. And why might that be? Baseball. The Phillies & Mets are here to play, wouldn’t you know? So this was some sort of spot where they had a huge screen and I could hear someone talking and music playing. We weren’t interested in going in, so we continued to walk.
Eventually it was time to get back to “our” pub. It just opened, and the person opening it told us to go on up to the main floor. Ah well. We didn’t opt to ask if we could go down, being the shy retiring sort of folks we are. Today is Sunday so the menu was different … it’s roast time. Dan had chicken and I had some sort of plant-based nut roast. It was all quite tasty. (I think the roasted potatoes won the day, though!)
More time to walk, and we were on Fleet Street. You know what that means!
Okay … it doesn’t really mean “The Amicable Society of Lazy Ballerinas”. (I looked it up: it’s a wine bar.)
But this …
We headed to St. Paul’s.
I wasn’t interesting in paying £22.50 per senior to go in, nor was Dan, so we just wandered around it a bit and then went to the Millennium bridge, which took us toward our hotel. A quick climb up some stairs later and we were back.
Eventually it was time to head to Holy Trinity Church. Greg (one of my brothers, for those of you who don’t know) had mentioned that Gesualdo Six would be singing there and I was so glad he did!
The church is in Chelsea. Some restaurants were quite posh, and clearly the area is that way as well.
We found a more affordable place to dine, and then we headed around the corner to the church for the concert.
First a choir from Birmingham, Alabama sang, then Gesualdo Six joined them for one song, and then the Six sang an absolutely exquisite half. For both the choir and GSix I had to pull a tissue out. There is simply nothing like the human voice, and the music hit me in the way I love. If you ever have a chance to hear the Gesualdo Six I highly recommend that you do!
Finally it was another train “home” where I’m writing this and we will spend our last night. Our flight tomorrow doesn’t leave until 4:15 PM, but we will take our time packing, and head over to the airport which is a bit of a distance. But hey, the flight home is only three hours! We arrive at 7-something PM. Yep, I’m still funny as can be. Or not.
Some views from the Blackfriar’s Bridge: we crossed this bridge a number of times.
So this is it. End of vacation. Maybe I’ll post when we get home (if I have a brain left), and I’d like to post some thoughts on what I’d do differently next time. Having the Great Glen Way walk added to this trip did make it difficult to pack lightly, though. I’d love to see if there would be a way to do that despite doing a walk. (And honestly I think I’d see if these less expensive trekking poles we bought would make it through in carryon. If they took them away I’d just sigh and deal.)
Posting these blog entries has been cumbersome and I need to find a better way to upload photos, but that will wait for another day. For now it’s close to slumber time, and then let the packing begin!
Ciao!
Up Early & Off We Went
So yeah … I write “early” and that just means we had to get our breakfast by 8:00. Not really early, I know, but for Dan and me, well, we’ve been taking it awfully easy.
After breakfast we took the Jubilee to Baker and the Bakerloo to Paddington.
I write that because I think it makes it sound like I know what I’m doing now.
Then we had a bit of time before we caught the GWR at Paddington Station.
What a crowded train it was. Fortunately I had reserved seats, but some people had to stand in the aisle the entire hour.
And we were going to … wait for it … wait … wait ….
Okay, don’t wait. We were going to Oxford.
Aside from some slow delays, we had a short ride. We exited the train station and really just followed other people to get where we were going. First up was a bit of lunch since by this time it was near noon.
Then it was more walking and we saw some cool buildings, went into a church, went to the river where we observed a few people punting, and then rambled more, including entering Trinity College. I’m just going to paste photos below and leave it at that.
After Oxford time it was train time again. NOT a crowded train at all, plenty of empty seats, and an easy ride.
Back to the Bakerloo to Baker, and the Jubilee to Southwark. Into our hotel, dropped stuff off, and went downstairs for dinner. I had fish pie, Dan had chicken pie of some sort, and we shared sticky toffee pudding. Surely that must be good for our health.
The Cheshire Cat agrees, no doubt.
One more day in London and then home we go. Do I want to go home? No, not really. But I know it’s time.
Nearing sleepy time ….
Happy Friday in London
Not a lot to write about or post today, really.
Breakfast. Check.
Tube to Embankment. Check.
Walk to the British National Museum. Check.
Meet up with Brandon again. Check.
Stand in line for eons. Check.
Go through security where they didn’t confiscate my cookies (whew!). Check.
But these days I don’t really take photos at museums, so we wandered, we ate lunch (where I did take this one photo)
… and we wandered more. The museum is so much about antiquities (obtained, I am guessing, in less that admirable ways sometimes). I confess I’m more of a painting person, but there really is something about seeing things that are so amazingly ancient.
From there we walked to a close, very old, pub. Also turned out to be incredibly noisy due to one group of guys. Go figure. I must say I’m enjoying the 1/2 pints I get, and all with lower alcohol content. The smaller beer works for me: I so frequently can’t even finish the pints!
We decided to head back to our hotel for a bit of a late night, nearly 5:00 siesta.
Brandon contacted us some time later, saying he was just across Blackfriars bridge so we walked back over to meet up and have dinner at the pub. We had a great time. It’s our last meet up with him and I’ll miss him a ton.
After dinner it was back to our place — and hey, the elevator was working! Earlier today it said it was out of order … I’m glad it’s fixed because I’d have hated to lug our stuff down stairs on Monday when we head home.
Tomorrow we are taking a short train ride to another town. We have to set our alarms, in fact, because we are going to have to get things done earlier to make the train.
Night!
A Full London Day
We had such a lovely day. I find it funny that two taxi drivers (one in Edinburgh and one in York) said they much preferred Edinburgh to London. Oh well. We did love Edinburgh, but find London wonderful.
We began, after our hotel breakfast…
by heading to the Borough Market. We were there before and looked forward to a revisit (or two … who knows but maybe we’ll head back again?!).
Then, after a brief stop at our hotel so one of us could change clothes, we took the tube to Green Park, so we could meet up with Brandon, who was waiting at a pub.
More walking …
Next stop after walking a bit was a pub (surprise, surprise), but what a cool pub it was. Little spaces for smaller groups, so sound wasn’t an issue for someone with one deaf ear.
(In case you are now worried about my alcohol intake, I have half pints, and this last place had a 2.4% alcohol beer!)
From there we headed to Sir John Soane’s house. What an amazing place! It’s hard to fathom someone living in such a house, to be honest, but he did, and wandering through was pretty astounding.
At that point it was time to head to Duke’s for martinis because … well … we are with Brandon and he knows his martini spots. You can’t make reservations and if you aren’t staying at the hotel (way beyond our budget!) you get on a waiting list, but we managed to get in in maybe 30 minutes. The man who did our drinks talked about them and explained all that went in. He was charming! There are only two small rooms, and I think maybe only 14 maximum in our room … so I could hear every word spoken. Ah, how wonderful! (But I couldn’t finish the drink!)
Finally, we ended up at Rules restaurant. If only they had restaurants like this in our neck ‘o the woods: again I didn’t have to worry about hearing a thing, as the space we were in was sort of separate. And when desert came out … they brought Brandon an ice cream with a candle! I guess I might have mentioned we were celebrating his birthday! I found that really delightful.
(Oh … and we toasted my friends Imani and Stephen … she said he so loved this spot, and I loved conversing with him. He was a dear man, and loved Imani so much. I saved the messages I had with him after he passed away, just because I treasured them so much.)
Then it was just a short tube ride “home” and now we are happily in pjs and ready for a good night’s sleep … as soon as I get some photos added to this post! (Any typos may or may not be corrected later … I’m tired!)
Night-night!
A Brief Post … I’m Tired
There isn’t a ton to report for today, but I’ll quickly write so I don’t forget.
We began slowly, since checkout wasn’t until 11 and our train was scheduled for 12:02. But eventually the cab arrived, and we headed to the lounge at the station. We were there rather early (typical of us), and just hung out, watching and listening to a D-Day memorial program.
From there it was to the train and into our comfortable seats. I confess I mostly slept this time. Just one shot from a moving train. Thrilling, I’m sure.
And then we arrived at Kings X station in London! I always enjoy coming back to London, and this time it’s special because Brandon is here. We easily figured out how to get from Kings X to our hotel across the Thames, and settled in for a bit.
When we finally went out we just randomly walked in what someone here thought was the direction of The Tate Modern. Um … wrong! We reached The Eye, and then turned around and headed the other way.
At that point Brandon texted to say we could meet up, so we went to our hotel and met with him there, eating dinner in the pub connected to this place. It’s so great to see him! Last year we met up with Meghan and Jameson. This year it’s Brandon (missing Lia, though). It’s fabulous when your kids travel and then even want to spend time with you!
Now we are back in our room and it’s definitely time for some rest.
Tomorrow we spend the day with Brandon — he will direct things so we don’t have to think. I like that. I think. (<— see what I did there? How funny can I be? Um. Maybe don’t answer that.)
G’night!
Our (Wet) Day in York
We had hoped — or at least I did! — that we left wet weather behind when we left Scotland, but today proved us (me?) wrong.
We spend a bit of time in our room: Dan had the coffee they provided and I splurged and had the cocoa. Sometimes one just has to do that, right?
Then it was out and about again. We ended up on a street very clearly tied to Harry Potter. We also had tea coffee and scones with clotted cream. Sorry, UK, we just aren’t much for tea although I occasionally give it a go.
I had mentioned the tiny alleyways to Dan, called Snickelways. We found a few, and that worked for us (there are a ton and we certainly didn’t need to find them all).
We then searched for the city wall. Hm. Found it, could barely walk it because it was closed shortly after we began, due to safety reasons. Ah well. At least we saw it!
With the rain we headed to an indoor restaurant for lunch. Nothing remarkable. Nothing bad. Just a small meal and a lemonade. (Hm. Lemonade in the rain? Well, it worked fine.)
At some point (maybe right after lunch) we went back to our room. I was tired and just needed a rest. Dan patiently put up with me!
From there it was a glass of something (wine for me, beer for Dan) in the lounge of our place, and finally we headed to evensong at York Minster.
WELL SHOOT!
By the time we arrived we were told we had to sit in the next room (sorry, I don’t know the terms for these places!). We stuck around, but I could barely follow what they were singing. So that was a disappointment. I guess I should have researched. But it was great to see the church — it’s quite a place! We weren’t allowed to take photos, though.
From there it was dinner time and we had a light dinner (pasta) nearby.
Then back to our place again, having passed by another building that was rather questionable … how does it stay standing, I wonder?!
Just a very short hop from our room to this view …
And “home” … for one more night.
The next five nights are elsewhere, and I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to blog with photos each night. Time will tell.
For now … nighty-night!