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Published: October 11th 2018
Note from yesterday: after going out for supper yesterday evening, my step total was 14,925...and that was with riding the Tube as much as we did. Of course, we have discovered to our horror that riding the Tube, by definition, means walking up and down TONS of steps!
Well, it all had to end after all. We had a trip of a lifetime for sure. Our planned and scheduled trip with CIE was more than we had hoped for. The trip was well planned, and all the folks that we traveled with on the tour were very congenial, and very punctual which is always a plus. Our extra days on our own were very special too. I think we have gotten a good feel for England—it’s ancient sites right up to its newest architecture. We have learned to navigate the underground and ride The Eye, and lived to tell the tale. I managed to tick off a few bucket list items (Stonehenge, Magna Carta, Hadrian’s Wall) which is always fun. The locals that we have met have all to a man made us feel welcome and appreciated. We have once again confirmed what we already knew (and the policeman manning
a guard shack at the Palace the other day reminded us of it once again) that people are just people no matter what their station in life happens to be.
London has been very interesting. It is very cosmopolitan and you can see anything and everything as you walk the streets. As you walk along, half the time you hear other languages being spoken, hear children laughin, and it all gels into a solid unit of...just ALL of us! It would have been fun if we had only sat on street corners watching the world go by. As far as fashion goes, I am not sure exactly what the difference was, but there is a very subtle difference in what they wear and how they wear it. Also, I don’t think we met the first person who wasn’t kind, helpful and interesting to talk with on the whole trip.
As we walked back from Harrods yesterday we passed through the Chelsea neighborhood. Since all of England apparently doesn’t have the American habit of tearing down the old to put up the new it appeared, to us at least, that they are Masters of recycling. This extends into their
homes of course. (I really do have a point here.) The Chelsea neighborhood was no different. I’m not sure when these row homes were built...in the Victorian era at the very least...and they were in impeccable condition. Now my point on age and recycling—at the period in which they were built there were obviously no automobiles. They had horses which were stabled in the back of the homes in mews. The Mews have been recycled into homes thus no “garages” in which to put their cars. Drum roll, please...because of the lack of garages, they park their vehicles in front of their homes. Because Of this, we were able to ogle and drool over their modes of transportation. They were much too elegant to call cars. There were lines of Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Tesla’s, Lamborghinis, and others (unidentifiable by us), but obviously very expensive vehicles—one of which raced past us with a giant rumble of its engine that would have put a Harley to shame! The random Range Rover or Mercedes were probably driven by the help!
We very much enjoyed our whole trip to this beautiful country. We were asked this morning at breakfast what we had enjoyed
the most. Of course, that is an almost impossible question to answer. We truly enjoyed all of it. Being on a tour with almost every moment planned and accounted for we also lost the choice of being spontaneous. There were places we would have loved to have stayed longer, places where we would have stayed a little shorter time (but not many!), and possibly places we would have gone to if we were on our own. Such is life. We really have just had a “tasting” of England which just whets the appetite for more. We are both really glad that we arrived for our tour a day early, and stayed afterward for a few days. That enabled us to soak in a little more of the culture at a slower pace.
Our flight from Heathrow to Nashville got off on time, but we knew we were in trouble when the child we had heard SCREAMING in the airport (and who we said laughingly we hoped would not be on our plane) turned out to be in John’s row! It couldn’t be!! We were two rows from not one but TWO screaming children on the way back. Surely not?
Alas, it was indeed. What could you do but settle in and hope for the best? Austin, I thought you had the best set of lungs I had ever heard, but one of the kids beat you hands down. After 40 minutes or so, the little boy finally collapsed into sleep. Thank goodness. About an hour later a meal was served which woke him up yet again and then he and his sister competed for who could be the loudest. Sigh. From the vantage point of the aisle seat right next to John I was able to observe, while hoping permanent damage wasn’t being done to my eardrums, that the children had yet to be introduced to the word “no”, and even worse, the boy had never been taught not to hit his mother. I shudder at the thought of what my Daddy would have done if I had even thought of hitting Mother. It really is sad. I felt sorry for the Mom because she really tried to settle them down but didn’t have a very good plan for doing so. John is a saint because he tried off and on to interest the kids in some pictures on
his iPad. On a good note, there was a young man who was maybe 10 or so years old who sat next to me who was a perfect little gentleman.
The good news is that we made it safely home healthy, happy, and well traveled. Thanks to all of you who followed us on this adventure. It made it more fun for us, as we felt that we were sharing our fun with you. If there are any typos or misidentified pictures, it will be my fault for not having John double check. He is, after all, a master of detail! Until the next time, Happy Trails to all!
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Yvonne
non-member comment
I enjoyed your blog, welcome home!