It was raining when we woke up and raining when we came in and at all times in between. I can’t remember the last time it has rained all day no matter how much I moved around. We went at least 60/75 miles back and forth and never drove out of the rain. Hood and umbrella in hand so all was okay.

First stop was Durham to see the Durham Cathedral where both St Cuthbert and the Venerable Beed are buried. The church was lovely. Julian toured us around and pointed out the highlights. Including that the bishop’s throne in Durham is several inches higher than the Pope’s in St. Peter’s.

The tomb in the church of the Neville’s and I don’t remember which Neville had all the heads chopped off during the reformation. Makes for a kind of morbid scene today. The church supposedly saved all 100 statutes from the knave screen by taking them down and hiding them but they have never been seen again. Somebody should have drawn a treasure map.

The church museum was displaying their copies of the Magna Charta including the only surviving 1216 version. They said due the how quickly they are fading this was likely to be the last time they are displayed. Glad we snuck in before they are hidden away again.

The 1225 version of the Magna Carta held by Durham Cathedral was damaged in the 1740s when a historian Christoper Hunter accidentally knocked over an ink well. It was said that he drank so much coffee (24 cups a day) that he had uncontrollable fits and ticks causing the spill. They never let him back in and changed the rules so only pencils are allowed in the rooms with any manuscripts. A little too late to save the document but makes for a good story.

Surety Barons were established to hold King John to his word in following the Magna Carta. Twenty five barons were named with 8 being from the north. If the King did not follow the agreement then the Barons were to rally and remove him and pass the country onto someone else.

We also saw some holy relics from St Cuthbert. We were not supposed to take pictures but Val did. His coffin dated to 698 was moved once or twice during the medieval era but surprisingly it was not destroyed during the reformation. It has both Viking runes and Roman letters. They opened it in 1827 when he was moved to his current resting place. I guess even Oliver Cromwell didn’t want to mess with the person who basically established christianity in England. More about him later in the trip when we visit Lindisfarne island.

After the church and the museum we wandered around Durham a bit but since it was raining it was hard to go in and out of the shops. They did have a little open market and Val and I both found some things to buy. It was also the drop off day for college students and it appears that Durham is pretty much a college town so it was pretty busy.

After Durham we headed to Raby castle the home of the Nevilles. The Neville’s lost the castle during Elizabeth’s reign when the started an uprising to establish the Catholic Church. The castle is now in the hands of the Vanes. They occasionally use the castle for events but the current Vane does not make his home there.

The castle was redone in the 1700/1800 century to make it more comfortable for “modern” living and has been updated little since then. Most of the rooms were displayed a they were probably in the late 18th early 19th centuries.

The parlor was done with silk damasks wall hangings and gold leaf on pretty much everything else. Unlike the current White House the opulence in this room was tastefully done.

The tour kitchen (not the one used today) was in the same place as the original kitchen but was updated with actual appliances. The kitchen did show how wide the walls of the castle are. In fact they cut out a walkway in the walls so that the kitchen tower could be patrolled.

The dining room was laid out with dessert service with wine glass coolers. W

The chapel was original to the medieval castle. Very small but well set up.

After Raby castle we drove down to the village Staindrop for a stop at St Mary’s Church. It was the Neville family church.

The locals also provided a nice tea and homemade scones and cakes. It was very nice.

We continued on our way back to the hotel for dinner on our own. We didn’t choose as well and it was disappointing but oh well last night was so good and tomorrow we eat at Castle Howard so that should be good.

Just one stop on the tour today then back to York for free afternoon before a dinner tonight at Bedern Hall. So this is quite an unusual day on Alison’s tours. Usually it is go, go, go. But we still started early. So up and at breakfast by 7:15.

Our only stop was Hovingham Hall the home of the Worsely family. The current house was built in 1750-1774. Again it was designed by the owner after a study of architecture on his grand tour. Having taught riding (including to King George III) he built a riding school at the front of his house. Unlike most of these large manor houses Hovingham Hall is right in the middle of its little village. The owners the 6th Baronet and his Baroness were waiting at the door to welcome us to their home. They were a lovely couple who explained all about their ancestors and the house while we had tea and cooking in their parlor. A relatively bore part of the home that better connects the old manor house to the riding school. They said they had a lot of parties in the room including the family Christmas Eve dinner since the main dining room would already be laid out for Christmas brunch.

The house also has a private cricket pitch in the front lawn which they claim is the oldest private one in England. The local team host tournaments there each year. The riding school is closed but they discovered it has excellent acoustics so they now hold concerts there. I know you are thinking barn like staves but these are made to blend in with the manor home and are made of stone. The ground is weird. It is made of tiles made out of wood. So it looks like the cut up a wood post and laid it on the ground. Made it easy for the carriages to pull through and drop off the guests.

The house had a statute collection including some Roman antiquities. They own the statute of Samson slaying the Philistines but they have loaned it out to the V&A. It is crazy the amount of art these homes have especially when they are ones that are still generally used as residence.

We took a tour of the house which had both family rooms where it was clear people live there and large rooms decorated in an older statue for show. we couldn’t take photos but I took some from the guide book so I could have them with the post.

The Duchess of Kent who recently passed was a Worsely. So they had a tribute to her in the ballroom. With lots of photos from her wedding which she held at York Minster with the reception at her home and then other photos of her throughout her life. Her funeral was just a couple of days before we visited so it was nice of them to let us come.

After the tour we did a quick walk through the garden. They had huge yew hedges that separated out portions of the garden. We didn’t have much time so we missed the canals that they had dug to give it a palladium design. Oddly enough when they dug out the canals they discovered Roman ruins. The site was once the home of a Roman villa. When we were walking through the gardens close to the house the Baroness waved to us from her sitting room before coming back out to say goodbye.

We got back to York and wondered around for a while. They were having a food festival in one of the parks so we wandered through and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out to tour Barley Hall which we originally saw in our ghost tour. There wasn’t much too it and we went through it relatively quickly. It is funny that we are used to seeing everything in ruins so when we see something that has been fixed up to look like it would have during the medieval period it looks garish and fake. more like Disney land or a cheap renaissance fair. You don’t get the same effect if they recreate a Victorian or Edwardian room but you just can’t do it with medieval. Anyway barley hall was all done up to look like it did originally. It was a the home of the prior of St Oswald in 1360 until 1540. Sometime later it was chopped into separate dwellings and just recently discovered its medieval heritage and set up for a family friendly activity. It did have a cool floor fire pit that was found in the middle of what was the great hall/ dining room.

After that we shopped a bit more through York and then wandered through the museum gardens with the ruins for St Mary’s Abbey. It was crazy lush and beautiful. Who knew ferns could grow in England.

After the garden we headed back to the hotel to dress for dinner.

Dinner was at Bedern Hall which was just basically a great hall for the vicars choral of York Minister in 1270 until 1574. It was used for a school until the 1700s and today is a wedding and conference venue. The food was incredible. I had a cheese soufflé to start then lamb and potatoes followed by a chocolate torte. And if that wasn’t enough with tea and coffee they brought out chocolate truffle candies that just melted in your mouth and then cheese and homemade cheese crackers. I thought I was stuffed but the crackers were delicious. I wish I had taken all the left over crackers to enjoy later like while I am typing this up.

I sat by Sarah Gristwood and the dinner conversation was flowing and fun. It was a great night. more adventures tomorrow.

Today started the bus portion of the tour. We got up to have breakfast early so we could get our choice seats on the bus way in the back. Riding the bus isn’t bad. They generally give talks on the bus about where we are going, what we will see and any historical connection to the location. If that doesn’t take enough time they also talk about their latest research or their favorite topics. We had three stops today so we were moving quickly.

First stop was Fountains Abbey. Another monastic ruin but this one has qualified as a world heritage site and is the largest monastic ruins in England. It started as a set of Benedict monks who left the more partying order in York to establish a more serene order in 1132. Eventually they are admitted to the austere Cistercian order. They took vows of silence but turns out that they used forms of sign language to talk to each other so although not speaking they still did communicate. Of course again the order was dissolved by Henry VIII and fell into disrepair. Almost 500 years later the site makes for some very romantic ruins. The sun came out to make a fabulous morning for photos.

After the Abbey we headed to Markenfield Hall. A manor house first built in 1230 and crenalated 1310. It has not changed much over the years. It was once the home of sir Thomas Markenfield a friend of Richard III and who fought for Richard at Bosworth field. Surprisingly he did not lose his house for that one but forgiven as he was “serving his lord”. However later family members were on the wrong side of the religious rebellion trying to return England to Catholicism during Elizabeth’s time. The barely escaped the Rebellion of the North, lived in exile for years before being captured. They were not as lucky as Sir Thomas.

The house was given to an absentee lord who rented it out as a tenant farm and it stayed that way for years. That is the reason it survived basically unchanged for years. It was bought in 1761 by Fletcher Norton due to some distant family connection and he became the 1st

Baron Grantly. The house passed through the Nortons none of which appear to be upstanding gentlemen but the wives seemed to have made their mark. An early Lady Grantly fought for women’s right well before the suffragettes, winning rights for mothers of their infant children. Her husband had refused her access to the children and her home and even though too late for herself she worked to get the laws changed for other mothers.

The current Lady Grantly lives in the manor house today and is the one that encouraged her husband to restore the house.

We had a lovely afternoon tea provided by the Hall before traveling on the Sion Hall where we were met with Pims cups or lemonade before touring the house and gardens.

This has been one of my favorite stops of all the places we have visited with Alison. Like Layer Marney way back from the first trip the current tenant of the house gave the tour. This was more a Georgian style and decorated house with formal gardens in the back. It was built in 1912 when it was determined that the current house needed to come down and they needed to start over. The current tenant moved into the hall in 1999 and has been collecting treasures to fill it ever since. He could ramble on about any piece in the house and there were loads of items. We were just walking around priceless pieces of early Sevres and Meissen porcelain. He talked about finding things at auctions and being outbid only to then have to find them again. One piece in the dining room came from a church “down the way” when the abbot decided to sell off all the furnishings. No one bought the piece so the hall owner at that time was able to get it for pennies. He said they have asked for it back and have tried to argue that the abbot did not have authority to sell it but since he used the money for philanthropic activities (bringing Jews into England in the late 1930s) our guide felt sure he had the better position.

The gardens were formal with pathways and cut shrubs but there were some flowers and peacocks to liven it up.

On the return trip to the hotel Elizabeth Norton a guest historian on the tour talked about her research of Jane Seymour. Turns out she wasn’t just the sweet innocent good catholic that she is often portrayed as. Her book will be out next year and I am looking forward to reading it. Alison also talked about some new research on how Jane died which will be included in her new updated version of the six wives of Henry VIII.

Micheal talked about Richard of York and his relationship with his son Richard III. He also talked about his involvement with Philipa Langley in how Richard IIIs remains were treated after their discovery. I do hope to get a chance to talk to him more about that and her. He helped her write a book on the search for the body which I need to read.

We made it back to the hotel and had dinner on our own. Val and I walked to a pub by the Minster. Nothing spectacular but pretty good. I finished off the night with a local gin and am off to bed so that I can get an early start in the morning.

Today we join up with Alison and her band of merry historians for the start of the Northumbria tour. This means moving out of our current hotel and heading 500 feet down the road to the hotel we are staying at in the tour. I know this doesn’t make much sense but the Milner was quite a bit cheaper for a still lovely hotel and I didn’t want to get the cheap room for my pre stay at the Grand and not get upgraded when the tour started. So two trips pushing our luggage down the street while raining no less was how we started the day. Actually we started the day cramming our stuff back into the suitcase but everything fit well enough for the short distance it had to travel.

Once at the Grand we checked in with the tour and were greeted by Alison, Nicola, Julian and Michael the main historians in the tour. Sarah and Tracy are joining later. Elizabeth Norton is also along for a bit of this tour so excited about meeting someone new and a whole new set of books to look.

We talk to some other returning guests we have met on other tours then headed out for a walk before lunch. It had at least stopped raining so we walked along the battlement walls for a bit before returning to the hotel for a light lunch.

After lunch a small group of us went out to Beningbrough Hall. A stately family home built in 1716. It was used as barracks for part of the RAF and the Canadian Royal Air Force during WWII. There was a cute story of an air force officer and a local WASP who carved their name in one of the mantels, Gypsy and Ollie. As the story goes both lived but did not stay together. Gypsy came for a visit much recently and gave staff a lot of information about what went on in the house during the war years. According to Gypsy one guy road his motorcycle up one staircase down the hall and then down the other staircase to win a pint of beer in the officers bar.

The house was pretty plain. It was built by a son (replacing the much smaller Elizabethan structure) in the Italian style. He had recently returned from his grand tour when he inherited the property and wanted it to reflect his new modern and cultured aesthetic. One item in the house made me think of my first trip to Italy and Switzerland where we met this older couple from the Deep South. She was so proud of the David sculpture they had bought (that was before they saw them on every corner) but anyway she went on and on about it and I can only imagine it having a place of honor in her house still today. So when I saw the small Italian sculpture that was brought from the world tour that inspired the house design I wondered if someday those mass produced David sculptures will show up similarly display.

The house was also housing an art installation which was odd but seeing how the gardens were the highlight of the place it wasn’t completely out in left field. It was big twig sculptures. One was huge and took up most of one of the larger rooms. The rest were small table size sculptures but the one was massive. There was a video showing how she made them which i didn’t really watch since up to then they had all been small. I have no idea how she got this one in the room or if she made it in the room how long it took.

The rest of the house was done in the style of 1750 or so with two large posted beds demonstrating the style at the time.

The house wasn’t much but the gardens were spectacular with flowers, fruit and vegetables. It was clear they used the fruit as they were out picking fruit from the trees while we were there. The sun came out but with the wind it was still a pleasant day so it was nice to ramble through the garden admiring the flowers.

Our first dinner was at the hotel. The beef Wellington was delicious. I had a bit too much wine and now I need to go to bed. Nicola was at our table so we discussed Margaret Beaufort still one of my favorites. Alison gave a talk on the medieval monistic orders and the delusion of them by Henry VIII. It was informative. I just wish I had not had so much to drink so I could remember it.

Tomorrow we are off for a new adventure.

We thought we would head to Leeds today for some more shopping options. Leeds is a much bigger town and mostly from the Victorian and Georgian eras. I was thinking the shopping would be fantastic.

We slept in a little bit but with the train station right next door we were in no hurry. we headed out with plenty of time to catch the 9:23 train to Leeds but the 9:43 train was cheaper so we bought those tickets. Little did we realize our train ride went from 20 minutes to an hour and a half for that $15. We decided to eat the first tickets bought new ones and boarder the 9:55 straight to Leeds. I didn’t even have time to finish yesterday’s post on the train it was so quick. The train station was lovely much nicer than here in York and London’s are just dark and dirty. So it looked like we were off to a good start.

The Victorian arcade shopping areas was within walking distance so we headed off. The area was very nice and the “arcades” were cool but the shopping was a disappointment. I expected so much better. It was all either way high end or just junk. Nothing really in between. We had seen such great jewelry in York I expected to be blown away with what we saw in Leeds. But that was a mistake. There were a lot of high end diamond places and other fancy new jewelry but very little vintage. We walked around a bit and tried all the areas. One of which was an old school food market with Victorian stalls. Think Pikes market in Seattle meets the Mercado area of downtown San Antonio and have a Victorian baby and you might get the vibe of this one. It just didn’t work.

Since shopping was a bust and the sun was out we headed out to the Kirkstall Abbey. They are some of the largest ruins in England. Of course Henry VIII ran off the monks and then stole the roof so there was no hope of it surviving. It does make for a pretty park today. We spent about an hour wandering around trying to get the perfect picture before getting an uber back to the train station.

In a moment of brilliance I realized we could just uber all the way back to York and save ourselves about $20 and a little bit of time. However the car was not as smooth as the train so I didn’t get to catch up on my writing.

We got back to York around 3:30 and headed off to wander around and shop a bit more. Val wanted to go back for a bracelet but we couldn’t find the store and we passed an antique store during the ghost tour and wanted to hit it but couldn’t find it either. Surprisingly they were one and the same and we found them at the same time. Val bought the bracelet and I got a new ring. I know you think I don’t need it but I do. So all is good. We shopped around a little more before going to have Italian at the old Assembly Room. They haven’t done much to the room since the 1860s so it was a fun place to have dinner. Definitely different than are dark twisty curvy pub from the night before.

We were done early so we stopped back at the church to take pictures of it in the setting sun. Much prettier than yesterday with the rain and clouds. Though it was pretty cold so we hurried back to the hotel for an early night. We have to get all repacked to meet up with tour tomorrow at a new hotel.

With no schedule for the day we had a lazy start to the morning. we stopped on our walk into town at a bakery and had a quick bite for breakfast. I don’t know why I don’t make myself a cup of tea at home. I really enjoy it on vacations but when I am home I might do it some in the winter regardless that I have a cabinet full of teas I have brought home from trips. Maybe it is something I will pick up in my retirement.

We were headed to the Minster but couldn’t pass up an antique jewelry store on the way. This area has been making silver jewelry for hundreds of years so there were a lot of pretty things to see. Of course I didn’t just look. I had to bring a few things home. At this first stop I ended up with a silver locket bracelet and a heavy necklace made from watch chains.

It had rained while we were shopping so we thought we had gotten lucky and missed it. But sadly we didn’t make it to the church before we got a little wet. Good thing I brought that raincoat I left in the room.

The Minster is quite dramatic sitting right in the middle of town. It doesn’t have much of a square around it so it is just kind of crammed in there. I can’t decide if that detracts from its charm or puts the exclamation point on its gothic status. It does not have that airy beauty that churches like St Peter’s or the Duomo in Florence have. It is imposing and looks heavy. Of course the grey clouds also help set the mood.

Inside the church loses some of its heaviness and seems much bigger. There is some construction so the rose window is just peaking out from the scaffolding but most of the rest is open. Since my last visit in 1992 they have opened a museum in the area where they had to go in and fix the foundation. Like most everything the church was built on Roman ruins. You can see old Roman streets and pillars for various buildings that have set on this site over the years. The current structure was started in 1220 but the nave was not finished until 1472. So they were a little slow in getting this one built.

The rose window depicts the joining of the houses of York and Lancaster ending the war of the roses and dates to the 1500. However, the Five Sisters window in the north transept gets a lot of press due to both its unique style of mainly black and white glass, the glazing technique used for the painting and the fact that women raised the money to restore it after its removal in 1916 for fear of bombing during the war. Almyra Grey raised the money in honor of her sister and women who had worked on the war effort. It cost just under $4000 to restore.

The north transept is also home to the astronomical clock places in 1955 to honoring the Yorkshire airman. It is one of the few things I remembered from my 1992 visit.

We didn’t quite have the energy, stamina or the desire to climb the 272 steps up the tower. I would have liked to seen the gargoyles that were promised along the way but not bad enough to kill myself to do it.

So after a quick stop to the gift shop we headed out in the rain to see the rest of the town. And yes I did buy something in the gift shop. A cute little poppy pin. Surprisingly everyone has had cuter poppy items than the tower. The Tower is missing out on some easy money by not having cute poppy stuff. Not that they didn’t have stuff but no jewelry.

We of course shopped our way through town. I got another bracelet and yes I needed it and a great turquoise pendent to go with a turquoise dome ring I have. Val bought several things so we are doing our part to help the locals recycling effort. Everything was vintage so all good.

We went to the Merchant’s Adventurers Hall. A medieval timber roof building built in 1357. It started as a religious order but during the reformation it became more secular and emphasized the commercial and trading aspects of its members. Elizabeth I charted the company of Merchant Adventurers in 1581. A very romantic name for traders in grin and wool who probably never ventured outside of York.

The guid is still in existence and members still meet in the great hall routinely.

From there we headed out through the rain to Clifford’s Tower the only remaining part of the castle. Once we arrived we decided the steps up in the rain were more than we were up for, took a few pictures and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our evenings festivities.

All Saints church was on our way to the hotel so we popped in to see the medieval stained glass. The church was built between the 12 and 14th centuries. Most of the windows were done in 1410 except the lady’s chapel which was about a hundred years earlier in 1330. One the nine angel window depicts someone wearing glasses. They claim although rare glasses were available in 1410 but I think perhaps a future time travel went out on a merchant’s adventure.

It had been rainy windy and pretty chilly all day so we grabbed our scarfs and sweaters and headed out for dinner and our ghost tour.

Dinner was at the Olde Starre Inne one of the oldest pubs in York. I had the traditional steak and ale pie which was delicious and then shared the Eton Mess with Val.

After dinner we headed out for our ghost tour, the Deathly Dark Tour at 8. It was cold, dark and raining so the perfect atmosphere. It was one of the most fun ghost tours I have done. It was more theatrical than just telling stories. The guide was very over the top in a prissy Victorian manor. Supposedly York is the most haunted place in England but I am sure that every city says that. We sadly did not see anything supernatural but we had a good time. The tour tools us through the shambles which are quite creepy at night. I can see why they were used in the Harry Potter movies.

The tour ended at the Clifford Tower where we had ended our site swing earlier so we more how to get back to our hotel so all was good. I am glad I brought my scarf since it was a chilly night.

The AWT tour starts in York but I planned this stop in London to see the poppy installation at the Tower. The poppies were originally displayed in 2014 for the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. This installation was smaller with only 30,000 poppies but still quite impressive.

We have been to the Tower several times so we breezed through some of our favorite spots and walked the walls to see the poppies.

The ravens were also out and mixing with the tourist. So we got some up close and personal time with them as well.

Of course we shopped. Who would we be if we didn’t. Found some lovely blue topaz that will go great with my dress for the gala dinner this trip so I could not pass them up. And of course I bought the usual tourist treasures of bags, magnets and ornaments.

After the Tower we headed across the bridge to the Southwark Borough Market. We had gone once before on a tour with Siobhan and it had been a fun stop across the river. This time its Instagram fame made it a bust. You could barely walk through parts of it. The line for the chocolate strawberries and the paella were crazy. I can’t imagine they were good enough for both the line then trying to eat them as you were jostled by the crowd. We did get a cheese pretzel and some focaccia to tied us over and Val had a lavender lemonade and I had a Prosecco and gin lemonade. Both delicious so not a total loss.

It is also a nice walk between the market and the Tower. Would have been better if it had not been raining but you can walk along the Thames and have great views of the Tower Bridge.

We got back to the hotel bought train tickets to York and ordered a cab only to find out the cabs were running really late. We switched to uber and probably ended up waiting longer. What should have been a 25 minute drive for 3.5 miles ended up being an hour and we missed our train by 3 minutes. Thankfully there was another in a little over an hour so we didn’t have to wait long.

Other than finding seats the train went okay. We still only have one bag a piece so it was doable. We had to go to the end to find seats without reservations got on got our bags in with a little help and got settled to only realize we were in first class without first class tickets. We had to jump off and walk back to the first cabin get back in and find seats. All in the last 3 minutes before the train took off. It was a mad dash. There was no where for our suitcases so they just rolled around between the cars while we crammed in the last two seats. Regardless we made it to York and our hotel was basically across the street from the train station. Thankfully I discovered that before we waited too long in the cab line.

The hotel is old and stately. We split a fish and chips in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Val and I are off to England for another tour with Alison Weir and her friends. This one is through Northumberland and starts in York.

We flew into London and have basically 2 days to see the sites before heading up to York for a few days on our own before the tour starts.

Flight was a little late (about an hour) taking off but made up some time in the air. It was a full plane and we were packed in like sardines. I almost upgraded but I guess I wasn’t the fastest to realize my future sardine status. I hate to spend the money but I think the regular seats are getting smaller while the first class have more than double the space than they used to.

We arrived just fine although squished and tired but breezed through customs with just a photo and scan of passport. The taxi line was where the day kind of fell apart. There were cabs aplenty until about 4 groups ahead of us then it was a dead zone. We kept watching cabs drive by but none pulled into pick up passengers. Turns out there are just airport taxis and we needed a city car. Finally cabs start coming and we headed off to London. Trip that should have been 40 minutes was well over an hour and a half and cost about $175. We could have taken the tube straight from the airport to the tube stop at our hotel for $12 and well under 20 minutes. Live and learn. Highly recommend the tube or the train if you don’t have too many bags. Will definitely bring doing that next time.

Our hotel the Tower Hotel, is in a great location. It looks out on the Tower Bridge and is next door to the Tower. The lobby and restaurants all looked really nice. The room was a little dated. We should have upgraded to the bridge view. Ours had a nice window it just didn’t look out over anything. As far as London hotels go this one is pretty good. I would stay here again.

Due to the late departure, the wait in the cab line and the crazy drive through London (30 minutes for the last 2 miles) we missed our afternoon tea reservation at the Jubilee Room at Fortnum and Mason. Thankfully I was able to move it to 5:45. So we just grabbed a snack on our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Cartier exhibit.

Crazy amount of diamonds and gems in one spot. There were some amazing pieces. Grace Kelly’s engagement ring, Jackie Kennedy’s tank watch, the rose broach Princess Margaret wore to her sister’s coronation, and more tiaras than I could count. Surprisingly the Duke and Duchess of Windsor ( Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson) had the largest collection of jewels I guess when you are no longer King and miss having access to the royal collection you spend outrageously on Cartier.

There were way more pieces than I expected to see. It was a little overwhelming. If the exhibit travels and I don’t know that it will (how they insure it I do not know) I would recommend seeing it. Well worth the price of admission.

We didn’t do too much more at the V&A since we toured it the last trip but did shop in the gift shop. If in London the V&A is free except the special exhibits and it is one of the best museum gift shops I have been to. So even if you just pop in to shop you won’t be disappointed. I bought the cutest poppy earrings in honor of the tower display.

After the exhibit Val and I continued to shop. We headed down through Hyde Park to the Mayfair area to shop at Hatchards bookshop and Fortnum and Mason before our tea. The walk was uneventful except for a few raindrops but we were prepared with our umbrellas so all good.

Hatchards is the oldest bookshops in London, it opened in 1797 and it is a twisty curvy old building with several floors of books. It was actually around in Jane Austen’s heyday. So maybe she browsed for books here when she was visiting London. Of course I didn’t leave without a few books. One on witches by Tracy Borman who will be on the tour and another on love stories of WWII as told through letters. Very excited about them both.

After Hatchards we went right next door to Fortnum’s and shopped a bit waiting on our reservation for afternoon tea. Fortnum’s is a great store even if you don’t like tea. They have a bit of everything (including jewelry on the 2nd floor) so everyone can find something there. They did have the cutest advent calendars but sadly too big for my suitcase. Maybe next year.

We went up to the Jubilee Room for our high tea and it did not disappoint. We celebrated Val’s retirement in style. We started with a couple of cocktails- gin, champagne and peach liqueur anyone? They were delicious. The tea was served with scones, finger sandwiches and fancy desserts. Who knew we liked coronation chicken (basically chicken salad with curry but delicious).

We spent more time than intended and had to rush to Liberty London for our last shopping stop. It is a great store that has been around forever and sales everything from fabric to furniture. I wanted the liberty London adidas shoes but didn’t find them. Almost bought a silk scarf but talked myself out of it. They had their Christmas decorations up which was fun to look at but sadly came away empty handed.

Having walked enough we decided to take the tube back to the tower. Through some misadventures underground we ended up walking almost as much as we would have had we skipped the tube but at least we got to sit for awhile.

Perk of the hotel being near the tower and the tower bridge. Great night shots.

Back at the hotel. A big adventure for our first day in England. We usually don’t make it so late but I guess we can always stay awake for shopping. Tomorrow we will be seeing the poppy exhibit at the Tower before heading off to York.

I can’t believe the trip is almost over. I have looked forward to this trip since January 2023. It seems like it takes forever to get here then comes and goes so quick.

We didn’t really have anything left on our must do Edinburgh list so we were just going to try out some of the other areas a little more off the beaten path. Originally we decided to get the tourist bus route that would take us out to the Royal Britannia. We wanted to hit the gift shop since it wasn’t open when we were there at night.

The bus went by the Stockbridge and Dean’s Village so we hopped off there to check them out. Probably should have saved that to the next time around. It was a little early and most things were not opened. Mainly shops, antique/thrift stores coffee shops and restaurants but a cute area. A little newer than new town where our hotel is which was wide avenues and Georgian large buildings. Stockbridge and Deans Village were more rambling streets and brownstone type buildings. We walked around until 10 when most things opened then started shopping. You would think we would be all shopped out but of course not.

After shopping our way around the area we hopped back on the bus to head to the Britannia gift shop. The entrance to the Britannia is basically in a port side mall. This was not the entrance we used when we went to dinner so we were very confused and took us a while to find it. We couldn’t get to the main gift shop but there was one before the ticket area and we were able to find a few things and head back to the bus.

We were intrigued with the discount store so we got off at the next store to hit the Pringle discount tartan shop. Do not waste your time unless you are looking for a frumpy old lady outfit. We had high hopes as we walked up. The signs claimed to have all types of things at great prices. We were excited but it was quite a letdown. There were a few scarves and cashmere sweaters but they were not any cheaper than what we had seen in the other much more convenient stores. Very disappointing.

We ended up riding the bus back around to the Royal Mile and went back for a few things we had seen that we knew we wanted. We went back to one of the scarf store where we had purchased a few early in the trip and purchased a few more. I now have a scarf to match any color I might want to wear. I need a very cold winter or maybe a winter trip somewhere cold.

I also went on a search for a bottle Ballindolloch whiskey. It was the Grant home that we saw that also produced estate style whiskey. I regretted not buying it when we were at the castle. Sadly I could not find it.

It was one of the prettiest days we have had on the trip so we found a table outside and had a little break from all our shopping.

And for Kris the mayonnaise has a different name.

On our last wander through town we came across a scene from The Birds. Sadly there was an injured seagull and the number birds flying above it just kept growing. It was like every bird from miles away answered the call. We didn’t hang around to see how it ended so in my story the hurt bird was just stunned and with the encouragement of his many friends recovered and joined them on an exciting adventure back by the ocean.

It was time to go back to the hotel and pack all our purchases. It was a tight squeeze even with the extra suitcase I had packed and required quite a bit of shuffling before we got the 4 bags we were checking down to close to 50 pounds.

We had a quick dinner at one of the pubs we had eaten at before with giant chicken sandwiches. That was close to the hotel. We had an early evening to prepare for our early morning flight.

We had to get up and out by 4 am. It took us a couple of trips down from our room to get all our luggage. While we waited for our taxi we could watch the craziness going on outside. There were no typical bars or pubs on our street so not sure where everyone came from but there were probably 20 people hanging out just seconds from a street brawl. There was lot of pushing but we did see one punch as we drove away in the taxi. No one else seemed concerned so this must be a normal occurrence for Saturday morning.

The Edinburgh airport was kind of a mess. There was really no organization to moving through the process. We went from 12 lines down to 8 back up to 10 then to two. A complete mess. We make it through after a bag check for not pulling my iPad out of my purse and to the gate right as boarding was starting. It was a quick flight and we were in Amsterdam. We had about a four hour layover so we wandered through the airport. Not much shopping a lot of high end tiny little shops but not much else. Also not a lot of food options. We had some premade sandwiches nothing special and headed to the gate.

I can highly recommend the direct KLM flight from Amsterdam to Austin. It wasn’t crowded the plane was nice and the economy plus seats provided enough extra leg room to be comfy. It was a 10 hour flight so a little long but KLM provided enough snacks and movies to make it doable.

We made it safely home with our 200+ pounds of luggage and I am already looking forward to the next adventure.

The tour is over but we still have a couple of days before we head home. The only thing we have planned is our Main Character photo shoot. We want to go to the Museum of Scotland at some point but otherwise just wherever the day takes us.

Our photo shoot is bright and early Thursday morning. She recommended that we start early to get comfortable with it before it got really crowded so we planned to meet at 8. We didn’t give ourselves enough time for breakfast so we had to head out as soon as we got ready. We were meeting at St Giles which we had been to or by countless times but this morning we turned too soon. So instead of the gradually increasing road that wasn’t so bad we climbed the steps up to High Street. So I was a sweaty by the time we got there. And I am sad to report I was passed by someone carrying a suitcase. She was at least half my age but still I should have done better.

We got to the church and met the photographer. Kate was super nice and did her best to get us comfortable with the whole thing. We started with some pictures back behind the church where there were some steps and columns. Then we moved on the front steps of the church. we climbed back up to the view point of the castle Val and I did earlier in the trip. Glad another photographer was there taking pictures and we had to wait our turn. Gave me time to catch my breath.

We wandered around to other places and I think we got better as we went or at least it quit being so awkward. I got a few samples from her and I think they re promising that it went well. I might should have picked another dress but no changing that now.

After we were finished with the photos we went back to the hotel and dropped off a few things and headed to the museum. I have to say I have been surprised by the Edinburgh museums. They have some really high quality exhibits. The art museum and the portrait gallery were both really impressive and the National Museum of Scotland was top notch. It was in a nice big building with a front foyer that was four or five feet high which let in a lot of natural light. Each section of the museum went off from the main area. We primarily did the Scottish history portion but also wandered through the section on fashion and a little bit about technology. The fashion was basically how things changed over time both in textiles and style. They had a lot of great pieces. I only took one picture of a dress that reminded me of the fabric in the fancy dress I brought on the trip. It was an orange red instead of blue but had the same metallic thread running through it to make it sparkle.

We also saw Dolly the first cloned animal. She was in the technology section right beside a race car simulation you could test drive and some other interactive exhibits. We did not walk through the natural history or animal exhibits where all the dinosaur bones and large stones are held.

The Scottish history exhibit had several really nice items. My favorite being a casket box (nothing to do with bones or funerals) that is believed to be MQS and could possibly be where she held the letters between her and Bothwell that were her downfall and referred to as the casket letters because they were found in a box that was said to be in her possession.

Another favorite were the Lewis chessmen. The 12th century chess pieces found in the 1800s on Lewis island. A majority of the pieces are in the British Museum but Scotland has 11. They are stumpy little pieces carved out of ivory but you are able to identify the pieces.

Also saw some early road construction/design instruments. Since it plays into what I do I thought I should take a photo. the chain for measuring and the circle thing was for surveying. These were used for Scotlands first paved roadways.

The museum also has a terrace deck so we went up to get another view of the Edinburgh castle and skyline. At least this time no steps were involved.

After the museum we walked around the university of Edinburgh campus. It is right in the center of town just a few blacks off high street. It was created in 1583 and surprisingly Scotland has 3 Universities older than 1583. The part of the campus we saw the buildings were not from the 16th century probably more like the early 1800s with some 1970 thrown in for fun. Part of the original school is on the other side of High Street and we went in there with Kate on our photo shoot.

The rest of the day we just wandered around. We shopped a little bit but not too much and went out for an Italian dinner. Ended up having pizza and a salad and called it a night early.

It doesn’t sound like a busy day but we did 22,000 steps and 17 flights of stairs which were more than any other day on the trip. So all in all a busy day.