Sept. 20, Saturday, Castle Howard and York - splendid weather Bkfst kind of marginal - did have fried eggs available (whites overcooked, and yolk kind of okay - not as greasy as some have been) and the same kind of bacon that's not like American or Canadian bacon - it was not as salty as some has been. No pastries out, and fruit marginal. At least we had gotten to sleep in til 7:15 or 30 or so. Left at 9 for Castle Howard and it took twice as long to get there as it should have - the driver didn't [View Full Entry]

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Friday, Sept 19, Leaving Scotland for Harrogate, England I went down right away for bkfst, hoping for hot food, but no joy - it was already cool from coming from across the street. We loaded up and headed out of Edinburgh, driving by more plain soot-stained limestone buildings (Georgian, some people think they're beautiful; I think they're kind of homely, especially since there are so many of them with no variety). There certainly is much more in Edinburgh that I would like to see (like Holyrood Palace, not offered as we expected) but I don't feel a need to come back [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, Sept 18, 2008 Edinburgh and St. Andrews I now know that this city is properly pronounced approximately “Ed-in-burrah” -- haven't been quite sure (there are some letters added and some taken away). My hip popped or slipped or whatever it is that it's doing again this morning as I was getting ready, so I was freaked out about making it across the street for bkfst as we'd been told to do. Turned out someone had decided to set up somewhat of a bkfst over here for us, so even tho it wasn't as good, it was very helpful for me. [View Full Entry]

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Day 9 and 10 - From the Lakes District, England to Edinburgh, Scotland Please excuse any spelling errors thruout the Blogs - this tiny keyboard and small screen are a bit challenging. Not sure when I'll get to post again; our Edinburgh hotel wants L15.00 for internet access, and the nearby “cafe” is totally packed with people; it's a small, slim storefront, with several computer stations, no food, and I don't think they have wireless for “outside” laptops. I found a MacDonald's but it doesn't seem to have wifi like some of them do. These two days aren't full of [View Full Entry]

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England, Chartwell and Hever Castle, Sept. 11, 2008 Loaded up again and onto another bus; finally have our Tour Director on “Day 4” of this tour (first two days were travel days for most tourites). Seems like a larger group, but maybe it's a smaller bus, or something. Many women traveling singly, and couple of sisters/friends, and a few couples. Average age probably higher, only one rather younger person. We took a circuitous route of London, scheduled take-off was 8:15, but the first place we were going to wasn't open yet really when we got there. It was Chartwell, Churc [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, Sept. 13, Stratford-upon-Avon Patrick Stewart sighting late this afternoon, near Shakepeare's birthplace. I'm in Room 13 under nearly full moon - lucky day! We had a somewhat later start this morning since we couldn't have breakfast until 8. As it was, we got to Winchester before things opened up. We were dropped off at the bottom of the High Street, with instructions to go to the Tourist Office to get a map, and given until 11:15 to wander around, to see the Cathedral, a Round Table displayed in the Great Hall, etc. and that there were restrooms near the cathedral [View Full Entry]

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Monday, Sept 15, Ludlow and travel to Lakes District Not much to report today. Breakfast was much better this morning, and dinner was really good - that's about the best to be said for today. We're on the long drive to Scotland I guess. First stop was Ludlow, which has a castle, partly in ruins, but it was closed! for clean-up from a weekend food festival -- very well advertised that it seems the tour company should have known about. Some very interesting buildings to take pictures of, and I did get some nice shots from the outside of the castle [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, Sept 14 - Blenheim Palace day Had a little later start today since our first stop (at Blenheim) didn't open until 10:30. The restaurant was supposed to open for bkfst at 8, which it did, with a fair selection of cold items. But, we had to request any hot items, including coffee --- which took 40 minutes to come (and about 3 or 4 requests); I gave up on ordering any type of egg (have been eating too many anyway) and had more to eat than I usually do at home - we've just gotten used to better. And certainly [View Full Entry]

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he London Eye, Wed. Sept 10, 2008 -- another excellent, exhausting day. Before I forget, I'm going write down a bit about the end of my day today. As I was going back out to get a dinner snack from KFC (the closest thing, because I didn't want to spend $40-50.00 at the restaurant in this hotel), I got into the elevator with a couple dressed to the nines - I think it was probably “paste” given that this isn't the poshest of hotels (altho quite nice). They were quite smart, well-groomed and attractive. She had on a lovely lace over [View Full Entry]

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London, Sept 9, 2008 Set alarm for about 8:00 a.m. -- check-out time not til noon, but didn't want to get myself confused by sleeping in too late, since next tour starts tomorrow, probably early. Had leisurely bkfst, finished packing, checked out (my one phone call was L2.00 - about $4.00) and successfully transferred via taxi to the next hotel (with tip the one mile taxi ride was L6.00). Checked in but couldn't get key that early (it was maybe 10:30) so left suitcase and carry-on with porter and headed out for the Underground, which is nearby. Bought another day travelcard [View Full Entry]

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