Day 14: Fit for a Queen + here, there and everywhere

Good evening! I managed to stay dry today so that was a major victory. It sprinkled for about 5 minutes this afternoon and that was it.

I opted to save my feet and knees a bit and instead of taking the tube today, I paid the little extra and opted for the hop on, hop off bus.  Even with that, I still clocked 15,396 steps and 10.18kms. There was some pretty bad traffic this morning and we spent a good deal of time stuck in it. The bus driver was nice. Instead of kicking me and the other family off the bus, he drove us well past the change point to another stop where he knew the connecting bus would be waiting. That was super nice of him. As a result, I got to Buckingham Palace in time to see some of the changing of the guard. I was able to see three different units leaving and managed to get front row for all three. Talk about good luck! I wandered around the plaza a bit and saw the palace before wandering into the gift shop, where I bought....tea :) Royal tea to be exact.

I didn't have to wait long and I was able to hop back on the bus. This time I took it to St. Paul's Cathedral. The church sits on the highest point in London and it's dome can be seen on the skyline from several spots. This is also where Prince Charles married Princess Diana.  I decided not to pay to go inside, as I've been in enough churches for this trip but I walked around outside. I did, however, pay to pee at the public washrooms. I grabbed some lunch to go from a Marks & Spencer food shop and walked to the park down the block to have lunch.

Following my little picnic, I walked most of the way across the Millennium Bridge. It's a footbridge that spans the river Thames. My main reason for walking over it was so that I could see Shakespeare's Globe theatre on the other side of the river. While I was on the bridge, there was a man laying on it, painting a little painting on floor of the bridge. There were little paintings on the floor all over the bridge.

I wandered back to the bus and continued on the tour. I got to cross over the Thames on London Bridge and then back over it on Tower Bridge. I know I've done that before but it was still fun to do it again. This time I got off the bus at Oxford Street (big shopping street) and hustled down it to the department store Selfridges. Mostly because I had to pee again.  The store was pretty impressive. I only spent time on two floors but it was very cool. The store has been open since 1909 and is the second largest retail store in the UK (Harrods is bigger).

After my short shopping tour, it was back on the bus and back to the hotel. I had dinner in the hotel while filling out some post cards. I came back up to my room, re-packed my bag and then grabbed a shower. Now here I sit, watching a British game show I've gotten hooked on, writing my blog and struggling to stay awake. I can sleep in a bit tomorrow. I don't have to check out until Noon and my transport should be here at 12:20pm to take me to the airport.

This vacation has gone by way too quickly. I can't believe it's been two weeks since I stepped onto my first international flight (and turned 40). Time flies when you're having fun.

I should log off and head to bed. Keep cool everyone!

Good Night,

Sarah

XOXO

Day 13: Elementary, my dear Abbey

My poor feet and legs can't figure out what's going on. They don't seem to understand that I have a lot of ground to cover in a very limited amount of time. Really pissed off my poor tootsies today when my feet got soaked thanks to a lovely thunderstorm. But more on that later. 17,536 steps and 11.59kms were the Fitbit counts for today.

After my success with the tube yesterday, I decided to try it again today. I started out by heading to Baker Street to visit one of the most famous addresses in literary history: 221b Baker Street. Home to the renowned detective, Sherlock Holmes. It also marked the first line up I had to stand in today. While waiting in the short line, it started to rain. I put on my poncho, all was well. The museum was very fun. They're filled all the rooms with authentic to the period items, many of which are described in the Holmes books. The top floor is made up of mannequins, all recreating scenes from the books. The staff were all in period dress, including the "bobby" manning the front door. I quite enjoyed the place and the little shop next door was fun too.

After leaving the museum, I headed out in search of a public bathroom and found a very lovely one in a park. Best of all, it was free. The park was originally a church burial ground (until 1857) and is now a beautiful park with a rose garden. The roses smelt amazing and the breeze was picking up their sent. I sat on a bench and relaxed there for a bit, since it had stopped raining.

I then moved on to head into the core of the city so that I could visit Westminster Abbey. When I got out of the tube, it was POURING!!!! Why was it pouring? Because there was another thunder storm ( or possibly a string of them) passing by. The thunder was ground shaking kind of loud. Being London, there's a line up at most major attractions and despite the rain, there was still a line up at the Abby. So there I stood, in the thunderstorm, waiting to get into the Abbey. It was cold and windy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes but by the time I go in, the rain has soaked through my poncho and my one arm was soaked. As were my feet. I was still better off than some. Thankfully, the Abbey was warm and dry. A little crowded in spots but it was stunning. The Abbey is huge with all sorts of different wings and cubby spots. I was in awe being surrounded by so much history.  Being that it's a working church, on each hour, one of the ministers asks everyone to stop moving and be silent for a moment and then says a short prayer. 
I saw the tombs of Kings and Queens, including Elizabeth I and Mary, queen of Scots. I was really impressed by the resting place of Geoffrey Chaucer. It was quite ornate. I also saw the tombs of Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton. One of the staff pointed out the spot where Stephen Hawking will be interred next month.

After taking a stroll through history, I stood in yet another queue to get a table in the cafe. It was 3pm by then and I was very hungry. Since the tables were scarce (largely due to the weather), I made friends with another solo woman in line and we shared a table for two. She was from Iowa and was in the Europe to celebrate her 50th bday. So we had a little in common.

After leaving the Abbey, I had to deal with the evening commute. The tube stations were really busy but I was able to get a seat on both of my trains.

This is a drawing based on the Holmes book "Hounds of the Baskervilles" is painted on the wall in the Baker Street tube station.

The weather for tomorrow isn't looking overly thrilling. It's supposed to be cloudy but there's only a 35% chance of showers in the afternoon. Buckingham Palace is on my "to-do" list for tomorrow. I'm hoping to be able to see the changing of the guard or parts of it. Not sure what else I'll do with my day. Perhaps a trip to Harrods!

But now my waterlogged feet and I need to log off and get some sleep. Tomorrow is my last full day in London. I can't believe how fast the time has gone!

Good Night,

Sarah
XOXO

Day 12: British Museum and Hogwarts

19,150. According to my Fitbit, that's how many steps I walked today. It's 12.63kms. And trust me, my legs, knees and feet believe it. They may have received a little ice TLC when I got back from today's adventures.

I began my day by figuring out how to ride the London Underground (their subway). It wasn't too hard and I only got turned around once. The announcements were easier to hear/understand than those in Montreal and I now completely understand what they mean when they say "mind the gap". It' should be "watch out for the step you have to take to get on/off the train because the train isn't always flush with the platform". But I guess "mind the gap" is shorter.

The British Museum is massive. And their collection is stunning. It's like walking about in time. They also had a cool "hands on" exhibit where I got to hold a carving of a jade tiger that dates back to somewhere between 900-1100AD.  Pretty impressive. I really liked seeing the head from Easter Island. The Rosetta Stone was pretty cool too but I had to fight my way past people in order to see it (written in 196 BC, the stone has three versions of a decree written on it - two in Ancient Egyptian and one in Ancient Greek. The stone was used as the key to deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs).

They have a large collection of mummies and a new exhibit with artifacts from Asia (inc. India) which also included a room full of jade. It was very cool.

Next I headed off in search of platform 9 3/4s at the King's Cross train station. Before I go there, I walked through a lovely park called Russel Square. Lots of people were sunbathing or having picnics in the park. It was very lovely and had a beautiful fountain.

As for King's Cross, I found it. Then found platform 9 3/4. And the fun Harry Potter store attached to it. The station was bustling with people, probably because today is a Bank holiday here and people were returning home. It was cool to see the monument to Harry Potter and part of me wished I could hop onto a train bound for Hogwarts. Instead, I hopped on the Underground and came back to the hotel.

It was another evening of ordering dinner in (Thai tonight) and I did some laundry in my sink, grabbed a shower and watched some Netflix. Another thunder storm rolled through while I was having dinner. It wasn't as big as the one the other night but the thunder in this one just kept rolling and rolling. I also saw a very faint rainbow, so that was cool.

I'm very sleepy so I will be heading to bed shortly. I think I'm going to use the Underground again tomorrow and will check out the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the London Eye. Might try to find somewhere to have afternoon tea as well.

I hope everyone back home is keeping cool.

Good Night All!

Sarah
XOXO

Day 11 - London: The Mall. My feet hurt!

Good Evening!

So, we were treated to quite the show last night. Around 10:30, a thunder storm started to approach. It took its time getting here and there was all kinds of lightening that proceeded it. The thunder came along a little after 11pm. It was stunning. The lightening was happening almost non-stop. Like a heavenly strobe light. The thunder was rolling and rolling. At one point, the raining was coming down so hard that it was almost louder than the thunder. I ended up shutting off the AC unit in my room and opened the curtains and window so that I could lie in bed and watch it all. This also means I didn't fall asleep until well after midnight. Believe it or not, my dad slept through the whole storm and didn't hear a thing. Not sure how that happened, but it did.

Mom, Dad and I were all up early, even though we didn't need to be up too early, but I guess we're used to it thanks to the last week and a bit. I had a nice breakfast with Mom and Dad and just hung out with them until their transport arrived to take them to the airport. I missed them right away. It was very odd venturing out today by myself, eating dinner by myself. I'd gotten used to having them and so many other people around. I actually saw some of our group on my way down to get some dinner. It was the family from Sarnia.  Mom, Dad and I saw 8 people from the tour this morning, so I guess there's still a good number of us kicking around.

Me taking a photo of mom, who was taking a photo of dad sleeping on the bus :)

After I got my butt moving, I venture over to the mall near my hotel. The stupid thing didn't open until Noon so I had to kill some time in a coffee shop. The mall is called Westfield and it's MASSIVE! It doesn't look so big from the outside but once you're inside, damn. I was there for 4 hours and I only covered about 1/3 of it. It's a very posh, high end mall with a lot of designer stores (Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Tory Birch, House of Fraser) and it even had car stores (Mercedes and Tesla). It also featured all kinds of coffee shops with amazing looking pastries. I did indulge at a place called Dum Dum Donuterie. It's an artisan donut shop. The one that I ate was pretty amazing. I had a second one saved for tomorrow.

I checked out a couple of their department stores, including Mark & Spencer which just goes by M&S and I hit up the Waitrose grocery store on the way back to get some drinks to keep in the fridge in my room. Since I'm here for four more days, I also bought some flowers to brightening up my room.

By the time I got home, I was hot, tried and my feet hurt, so I decided to stay in. I blew my step goal out of the water today! I ordered dinner from a delivery service and ate in my room while watching an Agatha Christie movie on tv. Seemed fitting. LOL.

I've been tracking my parents' flight this evening too. They were delayed in leaving and I hope there aren't any storms in TO that will delay their landing.

I'm going to go and watch some Netflix and hit the hay early tonight. My plans for tomorrow include seeing the British Museum and maybe something Harry Potter related :)

Good Night all!

Sarah

XOXO

Day 10 - Bristol to London

The guided part of our tour have come to an end. We had to say "goodbye" and "safe travels" to our fellow bus dwellers that we've had the pleasure of touring with over the last 9 days. But before that happened, we still had some sites to see.

Drizzle greeted us as we left Bristol this morning and did a quick tour of the city. We stopped and saw the SS Great Britain. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854 and is now a museum anchored in Bristol. After that, we did a quick stop at the Clifton Suspension Bridge. We couldn't driver over it as the coach is too heavy but we were able to stop nearby and get out to take some photos. It spans the Avon Gorge and was built in 1831 but not completed until 1864.

After those quick pit stops, it was off to the Roman Baths in Bath. Those Roman really knew how to build a spa. It's quite a marvel to their skills and ideas. Plus they made it look really nice too. The mineral waters still bubble up there, coming to surface at around 70C.  While you can no longer bath in them, there is a fountain at the end of the tour that will allow you to taste the mineral water. In case you're wondering, it had a very metallic taste. After spending some free time looking at the Bath Abbey and wandering the nearby shops, and finally located my parents who couldn't follow the simple "meet me at X" instructions, everyone trooped back onto the bus and headed for our very last stop on the tour.

Stonehenge. What a way to end a tour. Built between 3000 and 2000 BC, scientists and researchers still aren't 100% sure why it was built or know entirely what it was used for. The rain had stopped and the skies had begin to clear, with the sun popping out just before we arrived. To help keep the area pristine, the welcome center, museum, shop and restaurant are located about 2kms from the stones and you get onto a shuttle bus to go to the stones. They are impressive. Seeing these stones standing together, in the middle of a flat plain just adds to their natural awe. They're toughly 13 meters tall and 7 meters wide and weigh about 25tons. Each. How they got there is also a bit of a mystery, especially since some of the stones came from an area in Wales. So very impressive. Standing there, looking at them while the wind blew across the field, it was easy to see the magical appeal of this place. I'm very glad I got to see it and experience the wonder that is Stonehenge.

Leaving Stonehenge, we entered into the final stage of our journey, the drive to London. It took us about 3 hours, mostly due to the terrible traffic we encountered once we hit the edge of London. Two broken down vehicles didn't help matters at all. We got back to our hotel safely, unloaded our bags and said our goodbyes.

We opted to stay at the hotel for dinner and ended up seeing 3 other groups from our tour there and passed about 3 other groups while walking through the lobby.

Mom and Dad head home tomorrow. We'll have breakfast together and then the car is coming to take them to the airport and I'll be left to my own devices in one of the most amazing cities in the world. I think I'll have a quiet day tomorrow. There's a rather large shopping mall very close to hotel, so I'm thinking that checking it out would be a good plan. I'll see how much sleep I can get tonight.

Speaking of which, it's time to sign off and get into bed.

Good Night!

Sarah

XOXO

Day 9: Liverpool to Bristol

I've got some downtime before we head out for our group "farewell" dinner so I thought I'd get a jump on the blog for tonight. I'm also doing the very thrilling chore of washing some socks and undies in the bathroom sink. LOL.

It's been a cool and dreary day. We ran into ran not far from Liverpool. We did a lot of driving today and not too much exploring. Our first stop was at a very picturesque market town called Ludlow. It's close to the England/Wales border. Even in the rain it was pretty. There was a little market going on so we toured it. We all bought some tea cakes (only 70 calories each!) and we bought some sandwiches to take on the bus from the local bakery. I even snapped a photo of their castle through the gate (not as impressive as the other castles we've seen).

We crossed in and out of Wales a few times on our trip as the border doesn't run straight and neither do the roads. Our second stop was in Wales at the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Another example of a hauntingly beautiful old church left for nature to reclaim. It looked especially dreary yet beautiful with the mist floating through in the background. There was a little gift shop so we popped in and I was able to pick up a Welsh "love spoon". Back in the day, Welsh men would carve a beautiful spoon out of wood and present it to the woman he wished to marry. If the spoon was beautiful enough, the woman would accept. Kind of like an engagement ring. Since I'm single, I bought my own damn spoon.

After departing Tintern, we crossed back into England and headed for Bristol. We ran into something pretty universal along the way: Friday afternoon long weekend traffic. Monday is a bank holiday here so everyone was heading out of town early.

Once in Bristol, we checked into the hotel and relaxed for a bit before Dad and I ventured out to explore the area around the hotel. There's an old Quaker burial ground nearby and it has a "hermit cave" in it. That was neat to see. But the St Mary Redcliffe Church was stunning. The community has worshiped on the site of the church for over 900 years. Much of the current church dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries. The stained glass is newer was most was destroyed during the English Civil War. The upper spire fell off in 1446 after being struck by lightening. It was rebuild in 1872. I think it looks pretty good. Unlike some of the other Cathedrals and such we've been in on this trip, we were allowed to take photos inside. It was beautiful and colourful. One of the prettiest churches I've ever been in.

Dinner tonight was our farewell dinner as we'll all be heading our separate ways tomorrow when we get to London. It was in a fancy restaurant that was used as a sugar refinery in the 18th century. Kind of cool. The food was good and some of the folks were very merry when they returned to the bus. It was a lovely end to a good day and quite a nice way to wind down the trip. I can't believe that there's only one day left on the tour I'm still in England for six more days but I'll be flying solo for most of that.



Time to wrap things up and head to bed. We have an earlier start tomorrow. We're off to Bath and Stonehenge!

Good Night!

Sarah

XOXO

Day 8: Glasgow to Liverpool

I hope you've all read the blog I posted earlier today, catching everyone up. While I'm still sleepy, I'm not as sleep deprived as I was. Plus, we didn't do quite as much walking today.

As I write this, I'm sitting in my hotel room at the Mercure Livepool Atlantic Hotel, looking out the huge bay window, watching the sun set over the River Mersey. It's quite lovely.

We started out this morning from East Killbride Scotland (just outside of Glasgow). Our first stop was at a tiny little place called Gretna Green. It's famous for people getting married there. Way back when, Scotland allowed you to get married younger and with a simple hand fasting ceremony, so young couples would elope to Gretna Green to be married by a black smith over his anvil. If you're a Downton Abbey fan, you know what I'm talking about. They had a statue of a large thistle there. I thought it was quite pretty.

After a short pee/coffee break there, we headed for a family run farm out in the English country side.
We continued on our way to Howbeck Lodge, located inside the Lake District National Park. We got to see some Highland Cattle (dad was in his glory), horses, dogs, sheep and lambs. They were all adorable. They then served us a traditional High Tea lunch, with finger sandwiches and little cakes. It was delicious.

After leaving there, we ventured along a very narrow, very winding road though the countryside, passing through a very quaint town with an abandoned red telephone box in it.
We made a side trip to a hidden gem: the Castlerigg Stone Circle. Set in a field, surrounded by mountains and sheep, it's one of Britain's oldest circles, raised somewhere around 3000 BC. It's older than Stonehenge. It was beautiful and you really couldn't beat the views. Our steak of amazing weather continues, so that added to pleasure of the stop.

We continued on to drive through the lake district and passed several gorgeous lakes. It's easy to see why everyone heads there for vacation. It reminded me a lot of Northern and Eastern Ontario.

We arrived in Liverpool around 4:30 and headed out an hour later for a tour of the city with a local guide. She was awesome. Pointed out all the cool sites, all the Beatles stuff (apparently they've from here or something like that...LOL) and some fun tidbits about the city. We had dinner in a traditional pub near the restaurant before calling it a night.

So the sun has now set (it's 10:15pm!) and this girl needs to be up at 6:30am, so it's time for me to sign off and head to bed.

Tomorrow we head for Bristol and cross in and out of Wales a few times. Our ventures around Britain are quickly coming to an end.

Good Night!

Sarah