London, Scotland, Ireland, and Paris 2022

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July 13

Today , after breakfast, we left our favorite home away from home, The Balmoral House Hotel. We love the people there. They treat us like we are family. We met a young man, Flavio, when we were there in 2019. We were so hoping that he would still be there….he was. He remembered us when we checked in and we hated to say goodbye when we left today. We got to know another lady who works there that is also quite fond of Flavio. Audi was her name. We got to spend some time talking with her. We know she cooks for Flavio as we smell her cooking. We always wished we could get a dinner invite because everything smells so good!

The Balmoral House has small rooms, small showers but is very clean and is in a great location in Paddington. There are lots of restaurants, stores, pubs and we feel very safe no matter the time of day. It’s right around the corner from the Paddington Station and has the Heathrow Express that takes you right to the airport. It’s easy to hail a cab and you can walk many, many places. We can’t say enough about that area and The Balmoral House. If you need advice or suggestions, Flavio is your man! We just love him and that hotel!!

We were going to experience something new today. We were going to take a railway train to Warwick Castle and LeamingtonSpa to attend a Michael Buble concert. We took the tube to Marylebone station and caught the train. I think there were only 7 people in our car including us. It was a great ride through the country side of England.

Leamington Spa is a neat town full of character, shops, restaurants, and activities. Our hotel was cute and a short distance to the train station. We ate, shopped, checked in, and got ready for the concert. We also stopped in a chocolate shop for some sweet delights!!

We have golden circle tickets which puts us in the front, close to the stage! However the special gate for us to get in had way more people than we thought would be there. We met and talked with several people.

The set up Here is more like a fair or carnival. There’s the gold circle seating which is roped off and then general seating. All along the general seating are food stands…. Lots of them. There is everything you possibly want to eat…fish and chips, Mac and cheese, Greek food, Italian food, coffee shops, bake shops, a bar, wild boar hot dogs, vegan, and ice cream! BTW, it’s the same yucky ice cream we had in London!!

The only negative is that you really can’t see the castle. I was really disappointed! Fifty years ago I was privileged to come here with my college choir…..Right here at Warwick Castle. I never thought I’d ever get back for a visit but here I am!!! I’m hoping to get to Stratford On Avon and Coventry before we head back to London tomorrow.

The concert was great. It was a standing only concert. We had a blanket we could sit on until close to the start of the show then we were made to pick it up and stand. It was good because we could see really close! We had such a good time. At one point a prop plane flew over heard. Michael thought it was the start of WW3. He even came out to see it and wave with the rest of us.

We got out in a hurry and followed some locals who lead us to the taxi queue. Here taxis line up and take their turn so everyone get an equal chance at fairs. I thought that was pretty neat. We got our cab and headed to the hotel.

Once we arrived at the hotel, Shealyn snd Marsha wanted lemon sparkling water. They asked the young man at the bar if they could have the tallest glass full of ice and water. He put about 4 ice cubes…Marsha asked for more. He turned around again with maybe 6 ice cubes and Marsha asked for even more. So he filled up the glass, handed it to her and said, “If this were a Brit, he’d throw the glass back at me!!” We all got a great laugh. One of the most challenging things here is the lack of ice for your drinks. You have to practically beg for ice!!

We have Jin’s few hours to do anything here in the morning then it’s back to London airport to prepare for Ireland and Scotland.

Nite all!!

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