Sept 21, back to London, Warwick Castle It's Sunday evening, back in London - tried to get on to the Internet, but wimped out. At the desk I was cheerfully told that it was cheaper to use a credit card, rather than their L7.50 voucher for about an hour. When I tried to go the credit card route, which came up at L6.00, I kept getting a security domain error message, so I didn't want to put in my cc number. It was too late to wander over to the KFC nearby that claims to have free wifi - I have to get up at 0430 for my connection to the airport. And hope I have better luck at Gatwick with wifi access. Yesterday was an excellent day, but today, our last day, was yet another ... read more

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 - many people love it, as I previously mentioned - guess I'm not a city person anymore. Our last Scotland stop was at Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott's home that he built after making a fair ... read more

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 activity, but the Lakes District is very pretty - I could see spending a week or so there and enjoying the scenery and poking around the small towns, and following the path of Beatrix Potter. Tuesday ... read more

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 we ought to be able to get coffee much quicker (preferably serving ourselves right away). But, it was our day to go to Blenheim, which was the destination I selected this tour for, and we ... read more

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, Churchill's home south of London, beautiful surrounding property, somewhat moderate in size, bigger than Carl Sandburg's Connemara near home. There were some things about it that reminded me of Sandburg's place, tho; his was a restored, enlarged ... read more