Today we got on a bus heading to Stonehenge. The bus leaves at 12:30 and so we had a little time to kill before we headed out. Our hotel is only three or four blocks from buckingham palace, so we headed over to see if we could catch some of the changing of the guard. We walked up just as it was getting underway an were able to watch most of it from the side. Lots of marching around and lots of music being played by the band. I didn’t actually see the handover of the flags, which I understand is the ‘point’ of the ceremony. But it was entertaining, nonetheless.

Once on the bus, we headed out for Stonehenge. The bus driver was entertaining, and the drive was only two hours. We got there and had about 55 minutes at the site. It was absolutely freezing out in that field, but it was so worth it. The stones are awe inspiring and we were there at just about sunset so the light was long and dramatic. We ended up taking a little over 150 pictures and I’m very excited to see them on the computer at home.

Once we were back in London, we had the option of getting off the bus at Harrods, which we took advantage of. Harrods was ABSOLUTELY INSANE! There were so many people there that it was overwhelming. Allison and I ended up getting separated and the place is so big and so busy that we had to meet back at the hotel since there was no way we were going to find each other.

A crazy way to end a really cool day.

We got a bit of a late start today. After so many days of Go Go Go, we both just needed a bit of lazy time. So we slept in and took our time getting ready.

For brunch, we stopped into the little Italian cafe on our corner. They had great little sandwiches on ciabatta, and we had some delicious vegetable beef soup.

We rode the tube a few stops to Westminster and exited the station directly under Big Ben. Walking around the corner we were at the abbey and we popped inside. The handy audio guide was voiced by none other than Jeremy Irons. We both had a laugh at that. The abbey is crammed full of dead royalty and the audio tour really added depth to the experience.

From the abbey, we hopped over to Trafalger’s Square. They have big lion statues there and a couple fountains. Forgive me if there’s something important about this place that I don’t know. We did have coffee here…

After the coffee we headed over to the Tate Modern. They were open until 10 tonight, so we took advantage of some after dark activity (you have to think like this when it gets dark at 5:30p). We saw some really neat art, including a gigantic dining table with chairs that you walk underneath, and quite a few works by Picasso. After enjoying the art, we headed up to the eighth floor to the restaurant. We had a beer and some tapas. We sat next to the window and watched more Guy Fawkes fireworks from afar.

We walked to the tube station in the rain and grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local Chinese joint.

Today we headed off for the museum of Britain. It wasn’t the easiest landmark to find, but we got there nonetheless.

The museum has a huge collection of ancient artifacts that are better preserved than any others I have seen. The amount of perfect Greek pottery and Egyptian carvings still bearing paint was staggering. I don’t think I’ve even seen Egyptian artifacts with such vibrant colors. While looking through some of the exhibits we found a ‘secret door’. Look closely at the picture of the bookshelf.

Egypt and Greece are obviously the main focus, but there are a few other sections. The Assyrian section had the most beautiful stone work and the Japanese jade work was fantastic. We missed out on the European section because we took too long looking at all the mummies. The mummy section has more actual mummies than I ever expected. I didn’t count, but I would guess somewhere between 20 and 30. There were a few that were unwrapped so you could see the body. It was all fascinating.

After the museum we headed out to Clapham Common to watch the Guy Fawkes fireworks. I was absolutely unprepaired for how many people were there. We got on a very crowded subway, which I figured was just people going home from work, but when we arrived at our stop EVERYONE got out. We made our way up to the surface and the sidewalks were packed with people. We grabbed an open spot, waited and watched the people literally stream down towards the center of the park. The flow of people never slowed or stopped. Once the fireworks started we watched for awhile and then started our trek to the next subway stop (the one we arrived at was exit only during the festivities). We turned and looked back at the fireworks as we walked, but I think it was probably smart to get out of there before the masses crowded to the trains.

We grabbed a Cornish pasty on our way back to the hotel. It wasn’t bad, but I hope I get to try one that’s cooked fresh.

Another great breakfast this morning, and then we were off to the Tower of London. I’m not sure what I had in mind, but what we found was bigger and better for sure.

We got inside just in time to join one of the guided tours. The guide on these tours is one of the ‘beefeaters’ who is stationed there as a guard. He was quite entertaining and we learned a lot about this huge fortress. Lots of bloody stories, at least. As a surprise bonus, the tour ends in the chapel, which is otherwise off limits.

After the tour we headed into the portion which houses the Crown Jewels. There is a good amount of video information as you wind your way to the actual jewelry. It was neat to see video from the coronation as well as detailed imagery of each piece. Finally we made it to the actual Crown Jewels and they were absolutely brilliant.

After the jewels, we headed to the White Tower to look at an exhibit showing the armaments of King Henry VIII. The guy had so much armor and weaponry that the display covered three floors. Some of the craftsmanship was truely outstanding. Of course, I couldn’t help wondering how they dealt with the rust that had obviously attacked some of the steel pieces. The most interesting weapons were the maces which contained guns as well. You could shoot at your approaching enemy before beating them senseless.

We ended up spending the remainder of the day exploring the rest of the complex. There were lots of little nooks and crannies to investigate. We also spent some time looking at Tower Bridge, and taking some pictures of that. You can go up inside, but it was so incredibly cold today, that we decided against it.

We headed home and since this week is Guy Fawkes night, there have been a ton of fireworks. Too bad we can’t see any of them from out hotel room.

Our first full rested day in London started off with the free breakfast at our hotel. This wasn’t some cold cereal and a piece of fruit American free breakfast. This was fresh cooked sausage, bacon, and eggs to order English breakfast. And that wasn’t even everything. There was fried tomatoes, toast, juice, coffee/tea, beans and MORE! I was stuffed when we waddled back up to our room to get our things.

Today was spent thoroughly exploring the Natural History Museum. They have some really great exhibits and we had a lot of fun looking at all the creatures from around the world and from a long time ago. The museum is, of course, housed in a magnificent stone building. We stopped after a few hours and had our afternoon tea. I could really get used to that. We were exhausted when we left, both from taking in so much information as well as from walking so much. We had to take breaks today to just sit in a bench for awhile.

Today was also laundry day. We could only realistically pack for one week, so we both needed to wash clothes. We packed everything we needed into a backpack and a bag and walked 1/2 mile to the closest laundette. Of course, we realized when we got there that we had forgotten our soap we brought from home. So we had to turn around and walk home to get it and a few more coins. Aside from doubling our walking tonight, it worked out great. Our hotel room now has clothes drying on every hook and hanger.

For dinner we had our first fish-n-chips from a ‘chip shop’. Pretty good stuff, although the cod still had its skin, which is just slightly beyond my comfort zone. So I ate around it. A nice greasy meal to end the day.

We slept in this morning, and it was great. After getting up around 6 am for the last few days, it was really nice.

After checking out of our hotel, we headed out to find breakfast and stopped at a pattiserie down the street. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches, which Allison ordered in perfect French (brilliant!), on fresh baguette and then strolled down to the Arch de Triumphe and ate on a bench. It was really cold this morning, but we were still in heaven eating out fantastic meal.

Afterwards we made our way over to the Arch, and took a few pictures. We climbed to the top to get the whole view. On the way up, I realized my legs are really, really tired. But it was worth the aches because we could see so much of Paris from there.

From there we headed to the Louvre. We didn’t plan to go inside because of time restraints, but we wanted to wander around outside. There is a whole shopping center below ground and we took a fewminutes to enjoy that. There is an Apple Store opening up there, but we were a few days early, they open on Nov 7.

From there we jumped on the Metro and rode over to the Eiffel Tower. You approach the tower from across a park, so the veiw is really spectacular. We tool tons of photos and as we got closer and closer we realized just how massive the structure is. It’s not quite as tall as we expected, but when you’re standing underneath, it’s BIG.

We continued our whirlwind Paris adventure at Notre Dame. I was blow away by how intricate all the carvings are and used my 200mm lens to get some great close-up shots of gargoyles. Inside the church, you really get to appreciate the stained glass. The arching ceilings and all the alcoves made it great fun to explore. We missed going up in the clock tower by mere minutes, which was frustrating.

The sun was setting, so we headed to the train station to avoid a last minute race to the train, like when we left London yesterday. So now we’re back in London.

Today was ‘the surprise trip’. Allison planned a trip that I wasn’t allowed to know about and today was it. We hopped a 2 hour train from London to Paris. Allison was really good about keeping the secret, but had to spill the beans as we went through the UK border (since they ask where you’re going).

The train ride was smooth and quick. I spent half the time in the dining car waiting in line to get something for us to eat. Once we popped up out of the ‘chunnel’ it was immediately noticable that we were in France. The architecture of the houses was very distinct.

From Paris we rode the 20minute metro train out to Versailles and toured the Chateu there, home of kings. It was PACKED. It was unlike any other mass of people I’ve ever seen. It started sprinkling as we walked up, and of course there was a massive line to get in. We got a little soaked before we finally got inside. We walked throughout the enourmous building and looked at tons of paintings, tapestries, chandeliers, and statues. The mass of people made it a bit uncomfortable to move around, since we never felt like we weren’t on top of someone else. We enjoyed looking around regardless. It was also unfortunate that we weren’t able to tour the grounds/gardens. Most of the estate is gardens, fountains, and pools. But the rain kept us inside. I hadn’t realized how lucky we’ve been to be dry so far.

After we left the Chateu, we stopped at McDonalds for Le Big Mac. I’ve never been in a busier fast food joint, anywhere.

We took the metro back into Paris and made our way to our hotel. The hotel is really nice and modern. We were very impressed and excited.

After settling in and planning tomorrow, we popped out to get some dinner. We decided to have some pizza at a brasserie down the street. Quite good eggplant and mushroom pizza, and great dessert (she had gelato, I had tirimisu).

Tomorrow, we’re sleeping in for once!!!

Today we left Edinburgh and headed back to London. We had to get up early in order to refuel the car, return it to the rental place, and then walk to catch our train. I loved the challenge of driving in the UK, but I’m glad it’s over.

The train ride was long, but we got to see a whole bunch more of the brilliant countryside. WiFi on the train was our first chance to really reconnect with the outside world. And we watched a movie on my iPhone (Away We Go), so the 6 hour ride wasn’t bad.

Once back in London, we navigated the mobs and located our B&B. After dropping our luggage, we headed out to fund a cash machine (thanks NFT London) and some dinner. The area we are in has a tons of yummy looking eateries and pubs.

Tonight is Halloween, so we got to see a bunch of kids dressed up, and laugh at a bunch of adults in costumes.

After today, I’m thankful that we won’t have to travel with all out luggage until we leave to come home. Managing those bags while travelling is a PITA.

We got on our bus tour today, heading up to the Scottish highlands. It was certainly nice to get some time out of the drivers seat and see the countryside. At almost 12 hours from departure to return, it was a long trip which was well worth it.

Our first stop was at Glencoe. A stunning valley with huge mountains on either side. It was just a quick photo stop, since there is no castle/abbey/etc to tour.

Our second stop was Loch Ness. We jumped on a quick boat tour and got to see the loch from out on the water. The boat guides were very entertaining and the boat was equipped with some fancy sonar and they had screens on board so you could watch what was beneath us. After the boat landed, we had lunch in a little pub, nothing special there, except I don’t recommed burgers in scotland.

On the long trip back, we stopped in Pitlochry and had a quick snack and walked the town a bit, then jumped back on the bus and slept all the way home (it was 100% dark at this point).

We got up early this morning prepaired to do some self-guided touring. So we got our list of sights to see in line and headed out.

We had planned to see:
1. Alnwick Castle
2. Bamburgh Castle
3. Holy Island
4. Melrose Abbey
5. Roslyn Chapel

Driving today was much more comfortable. We took our first large motorway (the A7) which was a new experience.

Our first stop was Holy Island, which is a castle, brewery, etc out on a small island. Unfortunately, the road out to the island becomes covered with seawater at high tide, and of course we arrived just as it got too high.

So we headed south to Bamburgh Castle. We took a small tour of the castle and looked around. Beautiful architecture, as expected, and amazing craftsmanship.

It was getting late as we left, so we skipped Alnwich castle and headed to Melrose Abbey. We rolled into the village of Melrose and grabbed a parking space. We stopped in a small tea house for lunch. It turned out to be a great little shop and we had some great food.

After refilling our bellies, we jumped in the car and drove around the corner to walk around the abbey. Melrose Abbey is AMAZING. We realized, as it was getting darker and darker, that we really could have spent a lot more time here. We couldn’t take pictures fast enough. There was so much neat stuff to see.

As we left Melrose and headed to Roslyn chapel, we realized that it was officially night time. We drove on some amazingly narrow roads and really tested our UK driving. We arrived at Roslyn, about 30m after it closed, so we could only peek over the fence. What we saw was extremely enticing. If only we had another half day we could gave seen it.

We headed back over to the supermarket, and got more groceries for dinner. I’m really glad that we’ve had most of our meals at home.

Another long day, which is fantastic.