So, we got up and went to the aquarium. It was very nice. It had a long tunnel that was made of polycarbonate that you could look at the fish thru as you walked thru it. We then hopped on the free tram and headed toward downtown. We found the tour boat dock and got our tickets. We boarded the boat and took a 1 hour tour of Melbourne from the Yarra River. We booked back to our hotel for the 3:00 pm meet and greet with our tour director and the other tour guests. We met them again later for dinner and drinks. The next morning we boarded our bus and headed out for a tour of Melbourne. We stopped and took a 1 hour walk thru some of old Melbourne's side streets and alleys. ... read more

Well, here we go again! We are flying to Australia and taking a 24 day Trafalgar tour of Australia and New Zealand We leave on Wednesday. We get into Melbourne on Friday, for 2 days of exploring before we start the tour. Then its on to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. After that we fly to Cairns and go out to the Great Barrier Reef. Then on to Sydney. After that, we head to New Zealand for the rest of the trip. The flight from LA to Melbourne is 16 hours. That is the longest we will have been on a plane. We did upgrade to premium economy, so we will have more room, better food and hopefully we can sleep thru most of it.... read more

Geo: 51.279, 1.07992 We arose in the morn and headed back to the cathedral. Alas, it didn't open until 12:30PM. So we walked around the old town of Canterbury. We walked over to the Westgate tower. I climbed it to the top for some good photos. We found the Greyfriar's chapel in a park, but couldn't go into it. It is the oldest Franciscan building in all of England. As we walked toward the cathedral, we saw a boat tour of old Canterbury. So we signed up and took the tour. Our guide was a wonderful young 24 year old kid who had just gotten his architecture degree. After the boat tour we walked over to the cathedral. It is absolutely huge! We spent about an hour and a half walking around the inside of it. ... read more

Geo: 52.2, 0.11667 First a story. After 9 years, it might be time to retire old Tom. Tom is our Tomtom GPS. I got it as a retirement gift from the guys that I worked with. When I tried to update Tom before we left, it would get to 90% and then would say it failed. We took Tom anyway, knowing that his maps were 8 years old. But as Tom has gotten older, he has gotten slower too. We were pulling up to an intersection yesterday and he told us to go left. As we sat waiting for the light to change, he suddenly told us to go right. Since we were in the left lane I went left. We waited for him to tell us to make a U-turn, but instead he was happy ... read more

Geo: 53.9577, -1.08229 We left the beautiful Lake District and headed for York. On the way we stopped in Penrith to look around. We visited the Penrith Museum and headed out to Brougham Castle. It is just a ruins, but it was fun to look and explore around and up to the ramparts. Then on to York. We checked in at our B&B and had a little rest, then out to dinner at the Dormouse Pub. This morning we walked into old York, about a mile, and took a free 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the city. It was great. We walked past the Minster, which is the cathedral in York. Oh my goodness, it is the largest medieval gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It is gigantic! It still has 128 stained glass windows from ... read more