United Kingdom - Day 7

We were up early this morning and had breakfast at the hotel and then loaded on the coach. We had a very entertaining, local specialist this morning. He was a big guy who told us all about the city as we drove around Edinburgh. He was funny and told us the most interesting stories.

       

Our first stop was at the monument to Greyfriar Bobby. It is a monument to this little dog named Bobby who's master was a night watchman for the police. This dog, a Skye Terrier, accompanied him on his routes for work for years and then, when the guy died, the dog guarded his gravesite for 14 years until he, himself, died. Bobby was buried just outside the actual funeral grounds. 

There is a legend that you will have good luck if you rub the nose of the Bobby statue, but our guide said that there is no basis for it and that all people are doing is wearing away the nose of the statue. We got a picture at least.

Just down that same street is The Elephant House. This is the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling sat, writing her early novels. It is coined as "The Birthplace of Harry Potter." Reagan and Cole HAD to get a pic in front of that building.

We re-boarded our coach and continued our tour of Edinburgh. Then, we arrived at the Edinburgh Castle. It was amazing! It sets on a high hill, overlooking the entire city. 

Our local specialist told us all about the history of the Edinburgh Castle. It was so great to hear. One thing that was interesting was the reason behind the different kinds of cobblestones at the Castle. There are "tracks" where there are smaller stones - you can see them if you look (our local specialist was standing on one). Those are for the horses to not slip as they pull wagons or canons or people up the steep road as they climb to the Castle. It gets very rainy here and the cobblestones could be slippery, so they made tracks of smaller stones so that the horses' hooves could "catch" the rocks and not slip. Cool!!!

Once we went inside the courtyard of the Castle, we could see the different buildings. It was really cool. One of the buildings was a tribute to fallen UK Soldiers and Veterans. There were books with names of soldiers from different areas of the UK and swords and medals. We weren't permitted to take any photos in that building. Another building held the Crown Jewels. No photography allowed there either. Those were AMAZING!!!!

A different building was the residence when the royal family was at the Castle. It was ornate and beautiful, although small with tiny rooms. 

Still another building was the dining hall for the soldiers that were stationed there. It now featured lots of swords, armor, canons and guns.

After that, we had time on our own for a couple of hours. Our friend Emma had a friend who had lived in Edinburgh. She said we MUST visit Mary's Milk Bar for ice cream. So, we set out walking the streets of Edinburgh with their family, trying to find Mary's Milk Bar. We saw vendors selling things on the street, people posing for pics with a Braveheart warrior type guy and people with owls. Cole LOVED the owls.

Finally, we found Mary's Milk Bar and we each got an ice cream. They had very interesting flavors like Cucumber & Mint and Baked Pear & Dark Chocolate. Hmmm. As we were standing outside of Mary's Milk Bar, we turned around and - whoa! We were just below the Edinburgh Castle and had a great view of it!

After the ice cream, we were hungry (especially the dads were hungry). We walked back toward the Castle and up a windy street with the most interesting buildings on it. Steve has been in search of a "real" fish and chips meal during our whole trip (and during our trip last year also). He ate fish and chips when he lived in England as a missionary when he was 20 and wanted to find good fish and chips. Well, we saw a place called "Proper Fish & Chips". It took a while to wait for the take out, but both dads got an order of fish and chips. It turned out it was great! We were so glad that he finally found the authentic fish and chips that he was looking for.

The coach picked up some of our group and we took an excursion to see Rosslyn Chapel. It was very old and beautiful. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, so, we just enjoyed our time there. Cole especially liked that there was a cat who roamed the grounds there. There was also an area in the Chapel where you could light a candle for someone. Cole wanted to light a candle for his sister April who struggles with MS. There is a suggested "donation" by the candle lighting area, so, Cole asked if he could have the baggie of coins that we have been carrying around. He headed off to light the candle before we left the Chapel.

We spent a bit of time in the Visitor's Center after that. Reagan and Cole (and Emma) built an arch with a "keystone" and they drew some pictures. Soon enough, it was time to return to the hotel. As we were driving back into Edinburgh, I asked Cole for the bag of coins so I could put it back into our bag. He gasped. He had left the entire bag of coins by the candle lighting area. We teased him that he made a generous donation to the Chapel. (It was probably only $20 or so, but he felt SO badly.) It's all good Cole - you were doing a nice thing to light a candle for April. Don't worry about the money.

The coach took us back to the hotel. We had some time to freshen up and then we loaded back on the coach and we were joined by another local specialist. She took us on a walking tour of parts of Edinburgh. 

She took us through the graveyard and told us of old traditions. I didn't realize that the saying "saved by the bell" was because the grave watchers would ring a bell if it turned out that the deceased wasn't really deceased. Also - there was actually coffins built that had a bell attached so that if the person in the coffin was only comatose and not dead, when they awoke, they could ring the bell. Ugh!!!

Apparently, there were also grave robbers. So, wealthy families built mausoleums so people couldn't dig up their family members and take jewelry or clothing or even the body. Others put their graves in locked cage type things to protect the body from being dug up.

Another interesting part of the graveyard walk was that J.K. Rowling lived in Edinburgh when she was writing the first few Harry Potter books. She wrote at the coffee shop right down the street. Our local specialist pointed out headstones with the names Sirius Black, McGonnagal, and Thomas Riddle. She also showed us - right by one of those headstones - that if you look through the gates of the graveyard, you could look at a children's school. It looks a bit like how Hogwart's School is described in the Harry Potter books. We don't know - obviously - what inspired J.K. Rowling, but we can speculate.

Then, she took us up that same street where we had bought our fish and chips earlier that day. She said that it is rumored that the street was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books. Cool!!!

After our walking tour, we had dinner at this great place. We had quite a wait (there was some miscommunication with the reservation), but once we were in there, it was quite good. After our dinner, we returned the hotel and hit the sack. Another great, albeit long, day. Tomorrow, we leave Edinburgh.

United Kingdom - Day 6

We were up early this morning to hit the road. We had breakfast at the hotel and loaded on the coach. It was rainy and cold today which is disappointing since half of the clothes in our suitcases are shorts and tees. Oh well - we put on some sweaters and headed out.

One of our first stops was to see this HUGE piece of art literally in the middle of nowhere. You can see it in the background as you are driving toward it and it is so confusing because you don't know what you are actually looking at. Our guide said that England is very supportive of public art. Alrighty then. This one is called the Angel of the North. It looks - to me - like it is a cross between someone being crucified and a person transforming into an airplane. Very weird. It was so big - look in the picture.... Reagan is tiny compared to this huge thing. 

Our next stop was at the border between England and Scotland. It was just a rest stop area really. There was a big boulder that had the letters spelling out Scotland on it. A guy was in a kilt and playing a bagpipe right in front of the boulder. His small, hatchback car was parked next to the boulder and the hatchback was open and he was selling souvenirs. Very random. Oh well - we had to buy some - so, we picked up some keychains for Reagan and Cole's backpacks. It was fun to hear the bagpipes playing though.

 

Our next stop was by this abandoned castle. It was raining really hard so not many of our group ventured over to the castle. Most of us took pics from afar (right off the steps of the bus). This stop also gave us our first experience (for this trip anyway) with the pay toilets. Good thing we had brought a bag of leftover change from our last trip. We shared our coins with our travel companions.

Then, we stopped at Hadrian's Wall. This was a rock wall that was built as a defensive fortification during the reign of the emperor Hadrian and was begun in AD 122. It runs the entire length of the country although it is not on the border between England and Scotland. I guess it used to stand tall and it had a fort about every five miles or so. Now, it has sunk into the ground. Also, our guide said that people have taken pieces of it to build their own houses or barns. It definitely was smaller than I was expecting. People now actually hike across the country using this wall. It is called Hadrian's Wall Path and it runs a total of 73 miles.

When we stopped in early evening, we went to our hotel to change and then headed to this beautiful, Scottish estate called Prestonfield. The grounds were so lovely. 

We went into the banquet hall and sat down to dinner. We had 10 at a table, so, we were able to get to know some of the people on our tour group. 

We had a great, four course, Scottish dinner..... including haggis, which we all tried. Steve liked it of course. I thought it tasted like a spicy meatball dish. A few bites was all I needed :) 

Then, the show began. The main participants were a father and son who both sang and danced. They had dancers and singers and musicians. It was very entertaining.

We enjoyed the meal and the show. Although - we had been on the coach a lot that day and we were also fairly tired.

The dancers did a "modern", Scottish dance which we enjoyed as well. The music was lively and fun.

Emma is the only other "child" on our tour, but she is 18 and has just graduated high school, so, we can't really call her a child. However, we sat with her and her parents as well as some others from our tour. Emma's family is from Washington State. Bill is a professional Santa Clause and he and his wife, Jan, joined a group of 8 from Arkansas. They all go to church together. The other couple is from Canada. So fun to meet new friends!!!

At one point in the show, the performers came and grabbed people from the audience. Steve was their victim and he was taught a dance and involved in the show. Love it!!!!

By the time the show was over, we were beat. The coach took us back to our hotel and we crashed. We are in Edinburgh two nights, so, we don't have to pack up incredibly early tomorrow morning. We are super excited to see the town tomorrow morning!

United Kingdom - Day 5

We were up early this morning because we had to have our luggage out in the hall at 6:45. Reagan and Cole must have stayed up late because they were struggling to get ready. Right at 6:45, we took their bags out into the hall and the porter was there to get them. Whew! We then finished packing up their day bags and went to breakfast.

This was such an interesting hotel. The carpet had all of these sayings on it like "Travel Often" or "Open your mind, arms and heart." In the room, one wall was lit up and had interesting shapes on it as well as the London airport code. It was cool.

After breakfast, we met our Tour Guide Brooke and headed to the coach. As I introduced myself, she wanted to confirm that we only had 3 bags. Nope – we have 4 and we watched the porter grab them from in front of our rooms. She said not to worry and to go ahead and get on the coach. Obviously, we were worried because we didn’t want to leave for northern England with only 3 of our 4 bags. Steve got back off the coach and helped them find our bags. They were on the coach – she had just missed them or something. Oh good. We drove a few hours to get to Stratford Upon Avon. Cole promptly fell asleep once we got on the coach.

We started driving and went to Stratford Upon Avon. We stopped at Anne Hathaway’s house (the house of Shakespeare’s wife). We gathered in front of the thatched roof cottage and took a group photo (Brooke had arranged for a photographer to take our pic) and then we got back on the bus to go into Stratford Upon Avon.

Many of our fellow travelers were upset because they wanted to go inside Anne Hathaway’s house. We were so glad that we had been able to spend a lot of time there last year on our trip. Last year, we were able to tour Anne Hathaway’s house for quite some time and take pictures there. Then, we went to Shakespeare’s birthplace and spent quite a bit of time there as well. Last trip, we saw Anne Hathaway’s house and then went to Shakespeare’s birthplace as well as his mother – Mary Arden Shakespeare's house. 

Our guide, Brooke, left us as we entered the birthplace house and then met us back at the coach after lunch. A lot of us didn’t know she was leaving and we were looking for her after our tour of the house. Oh well – different styles of guides.

I was a bit disappointed as well at the tour guides in Shakespeare’s birthplace - the actual room. The guy we had last year gave us a wealth of information. Maybe because we were asking questions, but he just kept teaching us and giving us more and more info as to the customs of the day and the traditions that would have been followed. The one who was there this year was “meh”. He did talk about the bed and the trundle and the bed tightener, but that was it. I tried to ask some questions that would prompt some of the information that we were given last year. Most of our fellow travelers just moved on through the room, so, maybe they weren’t as interested as we had been last year. 

Oh well. After we left the actual house where Shakespeare had lived, we went into another building where two guys were performing parts of Shakespeare plays. It was fun to see them perform the little bits.

We were on our own for lunch and had to meet back at the coach after a couple of hours.

For lunch, we went back to the Subway that we hit last year. I remember that we were so excited last year because they had a Sonic type ice machine and we were excited to have ice in our sodas. We had a quick lunch and then headed back to the coach. 

From there, we drove North to York. On the way, we had a couple of restroom stops and we were able to get some snacks. We arrived in York and the bus dropped us off in the city and we walked into town to our hotel. We saw the York Minister (one of the oldest cathedrals in the country). 

Next, we walked on the Shambles. We saw the street that is rumored to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. 

We saw a tower where Jewish people barricaded themselves in to avoid being killed by the citizens. At first, the government leader tried to protect them, but then he set the tower on fire and they were killed. 

We walked to our hotel and then we had dinner that night. 

After dinner, we hit the sack as we were very tired. This was a big, first full day and we were beat. Our hotel was interesting in that there was a shower, but the plastic that covered it to keep the water from going out of the shower only covered half of the shower area. The water totally didn't stay inside. Maybe we Americans are messy people in the shower, but I don't know how these Europeans keep the water in the shower. Oh well - When in Rome..... right?

What a great first day of our tour! We've been able to chat with and get to know several of our tour mates. We change our assigned seats on the coach each day so, we should get to sit by everyone at one point. Love it!

United Kingdom - Day 4

We were up early this morning to get ready and have breakfast before we headed out for a morning tour of London with a Local Specialist named Michael. We had some of our tour group with us as well as some that were not in our group. This was basically the same tour we had last year before we set off for Amsterdam. However, if you'll remember, our tour was altered because of the Pride Parade closing off streets that our tour needed to drive on. So, this was the tour we should have had last year.

We took a bus tour around London. Our local specialist pointed out historical buildings and statues, pop culture buildings and artistic pieces.

After the bus tour around London, we got off the bus by Westminster Abbey and took a walking tour. We walked up the street that leads to Buckingham Palace.

Cole loved seeing the soldiers on the horses. Reagan wanted a pic in the stereotypical London phone booth.

Our local specialist took us to this open field and told us a very specific place to stand. We didn't get it at first, but it turned out that we had the BEST view of the soldiers currently on guard and then the new soldiers coming in and the actual changing of the guard.

 

It was so cool to see the soldiers.

Then, we walked down the road that goes to Buckingham palace - it was fenced off because they were cleaning up from the Queen's birthday events the week before.

 

We actually saw three changing of the guards – one where the horses switch out – that was in a sort of dirt covered lot. Then, we saw the air force or something guard who were Prince Charles’ guards change. Then, we saw the royal guard changing and we saw the band marching down the street away from Buckingham Palace and they had the soldiers behind the band.

We saw them coming down the street and around the corner. Then, we stood outside St. James’ Palace while there was a changing of the guard there. So cool!!!!

After our tour, we went back to our hotel to rest for a while. Then, we headed to the Sea Life Aquarium which is right by the London Eye. We had bought our tickets for the aquarium with our London Eye tickets. We spent over an hour and a half at the aquarium. It was awesome.

Then, on the way back to the hotel, we looked for some restaurants. We saw a grocery on the way back, so, we bought some snacks and fruit and headed to the hotel.



Later that night, we ordered pizza and pasta from the same pizza place that we ordered from on Monday. Again, we hit the sack relatively early as we are still trying to recover from that darn time change.

We have really enjoyed seeing more of London. This is one of our favorite places. Tomorrow, we leave to head North.

United Kingdom - Day 3

We were early to breakfast – around 7 am. They had a nice, buffet breakfast that looked over the Thames River. Love it! We ate and talked about what to do that day. We went back to the room after breakfast and packed up our day bag. 

We headed out to see the area along the Thames. As we walked from our hotel (The Park Place London Riverbank – a Radisson Hotel), we could see the Parliament Building across the river and Big Ben covered in scaffolding just like last year. Drat! We were hoping to see it this trip. 

We walked along and found ourselves by the London Eye. We decided to go on it. Because we were short on time, we paid for the fast passes and went to the front of the line – cool! 

It was an amazing ride – you don’t feel like you are in a ferris wheel (I hate those) because you move so slowly. It was a great view and we took lots of pictures.

When we came back down from the Eye, we went back to the hotel to pack up some additional things. Then, we headed for the Tube. A worker helped us buy Oyster cards and we took the Tube to Kings Cross Station. We walked into the station and found the 9 ¾ Platform. 

There was a Harry Potter shop right there and a huge line to take a pic by the actual wall where Harry ran through. We decided to skip the line and just take a pic of the wall from the side. Then, we went through the gift shop and Reagan and Cole each bought a keychain that said 9 3/4.

We jumped back on the Tube and backtracked one stop to get to Eustin Station where we transferred to the above-ground train and headed for Watford Junction Station. 

We picked up some Burger King in Eurstin Station and ate it on the train. All of a sudden, Steve was agitated and then he dropped his burger on the ground. He was getting charge after charge after charge on his Amex that he hadn’t made. He hadn’t used the Amex at all in London (or anywhere except SLC) and so didn’t know how anyone could have stolen it. It must have been one of those readers that gets close enough to copy the card info. Luckily, I had a RFID wallet and passport holder, so, my cards were safe. We were underground on the train and so couldn’t call Amex until we got off the train. Within 5 minutes, Steve was seeing charges on his card from all over the world. As soon as we got off the train, we called Amex and they stopped his card – except that he can still use Apple Pay with his card – weird.

We took a double decker bus from the train Station to the Warner Brother’s London Harry Potter Studio Tour. We had wanted to do this when we were here last year, but couldn’t get tickets. In Feb of this year, when we booked this trip, I looked and the whole summer was free – you could get tickets anytime you wanted. I put it off, not sure of when we would be able to go and by March, the summer was booked. I checked and checked and checked, but there weren’t 4 tickets available during the days we would be in London. Then, three weeks before our trip, Steve asked me about it and I told him the situation. He was sad and requested I check one more time. I did and voila – there were 4 tickets on the day we wanted to go. I snatched them up and we were thrilled. So, our entry time was 5 pm – later than we would have wanted, but we were happy to have anything. We picked up our tickets at Will Call and headed in. We decided to get the audio sets to get a better experience – boy am I glad we did!

The Studio Tour was AMAZING!!!!! We have SO many pictures from this afternoon!!!! All eight of the Harry Potter movies were filmed here. The cast basically lived here for 10 years.

They had sets, props, costumes, outtakes and videos of the cast and crew. It was so cool. 

We took our time at first and realized we were only half way through after 3 hours. We tried to go faster for the second half, but didn’t want to miss anything either.

Some of the exhibits and props and sets completely reminded us of our visit last fall to Universal Studios Orlando and the Harry Potter lands that they have there. The Hogwart's Express was one of those. It looks just like in Florida. So did the Gringott's Wizarding Bank. Love it!!!!

 

We stopped for Butter Beer (it's nonalcoholic and tastes like cream soda) in the café half way through. We took more pics and video than I ever imagined we would. Reagan was especially slow moving through the exhibits. She wanted to take everything in and snap a photo of everything. 

One of my favorites was Dumbledore's office. I was able to stop and look at it for some time and to see things that I didn't even notice when watching the movies. So cool!!!

Reagan and Cole each filmed a CG broom flying scene (very cool) and we saw the models of Hogwarts, the cities, the sets and we saw so much!

By 9pm, we were done (well, not really….. we could have stayed longer, but our bodies were SO tired. Remember, we were up at 1, 3 and 5 this morning). So, we returned our headsets and waited for the bus to return us to the train station. We stood in this long line where busses came every 10 minutes or so. There was a bus that was loading and as we got closer, the worker cut off the line at the 3 people in front of us. Ugh!!!! We begged and pleaded and said that we would stand for the ride. He motioned us forward when the people in front of us said that they would stand. He let them board and said he couldn’t take any more. I made a stink and begged him, telling him we would stand as well. The driver motioned us on and we made it – yay!!!!

We took the bus back to the train station and took the overground train to Eustin station where we then took the Tube back to the station by our hotel. We thought we would be able to pick up some food on the walk back to the hotel, but everything was closed. We ended up picking up candy bars in the Texaco station at 10:30 pm and hitting the sack as soon as we got to the room. This night, we stayed in our same room and Reagan and Cole were given the room across the hall, since Trafalgar is now taking care of our hotel arrangements. 

We were dead tired, but each of us said that was the best day! We loved the Harry Potter tour and the London Eye was pretty cool as well.