Travel Journals of Vacation Trips: England


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Personal travel stories

England, Scotland, Wales (p.1)


Wed/Thurs. 9/12 - 13 Flight through London to Edinburgh, Scotland
Our trip aboard a crowded British Airways 744, once the 1 hour delay in taking off (later compensated for by cooperating tail winds) was pleasant – and with the aid of smooth FULARS LONDON PRIDE ALE, we arrived at Heathrow only to be met with an impenetrable mob of everyone’s seeking access to connecting flights. It took us a full 2 hours to navigate the terminal labyrinth and pass inspection, and managed to catch our shuttle connection only because it had been held up by so many latecomers.

In EDINBURGH, we met our tour leader, Fred Stride, at the McDonalds Holyrood House hotel, and lost no time in taking a neighborhood orientation tour. Later, I took a long walk on Royal Mile, bustling with tourists and locals, and lined with hotels, shops and eateries. I was shocked to discover that the exchange rate for $100 U.S. yielded a paltry 47.48 pounds. I visited the impressive ST. GILES CATHEDRAL, with its magnificent stained glass windows, and the simple kirk nearby which the Queen attends on her yearly visits. This evening, we had our first get together introductions, followed by a dinner at our hotel, where we tasted haggis and were entertained by a most amusing and talented bagpiper.

Fri. 9/14
Edinburgh is a charming city, dotted with many spired churches, unique architecture, beautiful little parks and flowers everywhere. Our intensive city tour took us from the Salisbury Crags of Holyrood Park overlooking our hotel, to “old” and “new” cities, and enabled us to view the Royal Yacht BRITTANICA, proudly nestled at the modern seaside marina. En route to STIRLING CASTLE we drove thru the “perfect” Scottish highlands town of STIRLING, which impressed me greatly. The lovely rowhouses with their very unique roofs and many tall chimneys, all nestled amid lush vegetation, confirmed my imagination of the typical Scottish village.

The imposing STIRLING CASTLE itself, steeped in the history of more kings and wars and rebuildings than one can remember, takes one back to centuries of real living history. The extensive display of the kitchens and “ready rooms” for preparing and preserving food, was particularly impressive, as was the fact that for the most part, chefs and kitchen help were usually male. En route back to Edinburgh, we stopped to view the 2 South Queensbury bridges, one for auto traffic, the other RR. When built, the “Firth of Forth” traffic bridge was the longest suspension bridge in Europe. Because of the inflated rate of exchange, added to extremely high prices of food and everything else in GB, we have become partial to “in house” picnics supplied by the local grocery.

Sat. 9/15
Our so called free day became busy indeed. We decided to make good use of a $5 US all day bus ticket as we criss crossed the city visiting museums and other points of interest, and taking various routes at random to their final destinations, just to see and experience many different neighborhoods.

The NATIONAL GALLERY and NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND are both excellent institutions, and, as most museums in the capitol, entrance free. The floral displays in the CENTRAL GARDENS are almost too beautiful to comprehend. After several relatively short bus rides, our last venture of the day on the #10 bus from the center of town to the end of the line was so long (and interesting) that we barely made it back for 5 PM mass at St. Patrick’s church near our hotel. An exhausting but fun day!

Sun. 9/16
Today we travel from northeastern Edinburgh, Scotland on the North Sea, to northwestern England, the Lake District. Alternately rainy and sunny, this morning the mostly local roads we drive are banked by very green rolling fields crowded with sheep. A very bucolic sight. We stopped briefly at GRETNA GREEN, Scotland’s southernmost town that was once popular for couples who ran away from England to marry. They were married (and still are today), in the Blacksmith’s shop. How romantic!

In pouring rain we visited the WORDSWORTH HOUSE in the tiny village of WINDERMERE, where William Wordsworth and his family lived during his most productive years 1799-1808. Life was surely very difficult for even these moderately wealthy people in the early 1800’s. Dinner was at our victorian hotel, the HYDRO,in the town of Windermere, followed by a slide presentation and talk by a member of the Lake District Leadership. Windermere is the geographic center of Great Britain.

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This trip to England/Scotland/Wales was made 9/12/07 – 9/26/07 by a resident of New York State. Your comments are welcome.