Day 3 Cross Hadrian’s Wall and onwards to Edinburgh

Marlon made a smiley face in his coffee 😊 this morning and it made me smile. Great way to start the day.  

We got up early enough to enjoy some coffee on the patio on the 5 floor of hotel. 

We have assigned seats on the bus and every day we sit someplace different.  I get to meet many new people this way😊. Mason got sick last night at 4am  and doesn’t feel well. He’s being a trouper and not complaining much. 

 Trafalgar is taking us  north today to the medieval riverside town of Durham, whose exquisite 11th-century cathedral sits alongside Durham Castle sitting on top an hill  overlooking the streets of Durham .  

When we arrived in Durham everyone had to walk over a bridge and there we spotted on River Wear several boats practicing there racing skills down the river.  

As we watched the boaters we cheered them on.  On the other side of the bridge I saw several wooden boats lined up along the river.  Very picturesque!

I looked up and there is a hill we have to walk up to get to this beautiful place to see the Durham Cathedral.  We all made it and it was worth the walk. Mason made it also even though he felt bad. 

Time spent in Durham was wonderful. Enjoyed an iced coffee at a cute coffee house. Today is Sunday and lots of things don’t open till noon!  It was nice to hear the church bells which is appropriate for a Sunday !

Stopped for a sandwich to split before going back to the bus. We are back on the bus and heading to cross what was once the northern frontier of the Roman Empire,  Arriving at Hadrian's Wall, we got off the bus for a photo of the last remaining part of Hadrians Wall.  Great photo opportunity !

We are in Scotland now and are stopping for a photo op.   Upon stopping I saw a guy selling souvenirs from his car dressed in his Scottish attire. The highland coo cow is popular here and he had several stuffed cows waiting to be taken home.  Yes I bought one and gave it away to Mason.  Which by the way is feeling better😊

 

Everyone is back on the bus and enjoying a scenic drive through the soul-stirring landscapes of Northumberland National Park. There are so many shades of green in the landscape.

Lots of spectacular views of the windswept Cheviot Hills as you cross the Scottish border. Leaderfoot Viaduct is a magnificent 19th-century railway bridge in the Scottish boarders which spans over  River Tweed.   This striking Victorian structure features 19 sweeping arches made of brick and pinkish-red sandstone.

 

Next stop is to admire the12th-century ruins of Jedburgh Abbey en route to Edinburgh. Jedburgh Abbey, a ruined Augustinian abbey which was founded in the 12th century, is situated in the town of Jedburgh, in Scotland.  Jedburgh is the largest town on the A68 between Newcastle upon Tyne and the Scottish capital. 

Walked around Jedburgh exploring.  We were actually looking for a place to get a sandwich. On Sunday not much is open.  We ran across Simply Scottish restaurant. Decided to give it a try and am very happy we did!   This place had amazing sandwiches and delicious looking cakes!  All freshly made right there!!

We did get a awesome burger to split.

We walked around the town and saw a red phone booth and took pictures; red phone booths are know to be in England,. US doesn’t have these telephone booths anymore !

Jedburgh is a beautiful town!

Beautiful scenery on our way to Edinburgh where we will spend the next 2 days.

Day 2 Journey to Leeds England

  Journey to Stratford-upon-Avon and on to Leeds

We are leaving the hotel this morning and are headed to a place that is known for loving theater. We will be traveling to romantic Stratford-upon Avon, made famous by its favorite son, William Shakespeare.    

Anne Hathaways thatched cottage 

We visited Shakespeare's Birthplace and Visitor Centre for insights into the life of the 'Bard of Avon', before exploring the charming cobblestone streets of his hometown.  

 

 

On our way to the ancient cathedral city of York where  we were taken on an orientation walk to view its ancient city walls, picturesque Shambles and magnificent 800-year-old Minster.

 

 

York Minster is one of the world’s most magnificent Gothic cathedrals and the mother church of the Diocese of York in Northern England. We were told that the Hearts in window of cathedral stands for love!!❤️ 

Shopping still to find a jacket for Mason.  No jacket yet!!

Then onto our hotel in Leeds to enjoy dinner with our traveling companions

 

Day 1 London/Scotland with our Grandson Mason

 We are leaving to go pick up Mason at the airport. Mason will be going with us on a trip to London in Scotland with Trafalgar Tour Company.

He has three days to spend with us here in Florida before we take our trip. If Mason wants to make some spending money Mark and Marcia want Mason to clean up their garage and mop it, and they will pay him. Mason has agreed to do the work so he can have some spending money. He was surprised when Marcia gave him $120.  We are all packed and ready to go on our trip which starts at 6am.  We have a private service coming to pick us up, then drop us off at another bigger bus to take us to the airport in Orlando. Our flight doesn’t take off until 3 PM, but we wanted some time to spend at the airport hanging out, eating, and shopping. OK, we are now boarding the plane, and we got bigger seats, but not laydown seats. It’s going to be a long haul, 8 hours.

We are boarding Virgin Atlantic, and I could tell the plane was a little older; the seats looked worn, even though we paid for bigger seats, which doesn't mean they're better, which maybe they would be if they had better padding. 

I don’t know how many times I turned to move, trying to find a comfortable place and go to sleep. I may have gotten some sleep, but all of us on this plane are exhausted. I wish the business class seats weren’t $4000 a seat to lay down. It would be very expensive for three people. The food was pretty good, and they did give free drinks, but the movie selection was not that great because they didn’t have the latest and greatest movies like a lot of other airlines. The skies were beautiful this morning as we were flying into Heathrow .  

Time to prepare; we are landing in Heathrow, England, now. I can’t believe that I am finally here!

We are supposed to look for a guy from Trafalgar who will be carrying a plate that will have our name written on it. He was there to pick us up and take us to the hotel, Hilton, and it’s only 5:30 am in the morning; we are hoping they let us go to our rooms early.

What a great hotel; they even gave us breakfast vouchers. After eating, we are so ready to lay down for a couple of hours. We are still tired, but we got up and started the day. Marlon had already purchased tickets to ride The London Eye. I’ve ridden it before, but Mason has never, and I wanted to make sure he got to experience this amazing ride and view of London. It’s time to find our way  to the eye.  Marlon mapped us how to find the tube to take us where we needed to go!  Mason tried to take a cat nap on the tube! 🤣

 The view was magnificent, just like I was hoping it would be. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and you could see everything on our ride on the London Eye.

It’s time now to find the big red bus system that tours around London, which Marlon had already purchased tickets for, also. The information we received on the bus about the city was magnificent. They did a good job. Mason, Marlon, and I got lucky as we found seats on the second level of the bus, and it was open air. It was very nice to get good, clear pictures without taking pictures through the window of a bus. We rode around for like an hour and a half and then got off the bus. 🚍

We are very tired and are heading back to the hotel. We decided to find a place to eat our dinner before going to the hotel. Poop

Westfield mall is close to our hotel, which is the largest mall in England. Marlon and I ended up getting Indian food, and Mason ended up getting a steak and fries. We actually shopped for a jacket for him; the cheapest one we could find was $90, and it is not worth it, so we didn’t get one. We’re back at the hotel; I’m showering and I’m going to bed. Mason went down and worked out and then came back to his room, showered, and went to bed. Great 1st day in London.