We Bid Adieu to Great Britain from London…

Wrapping up our 2004 Literary Tour of Great Britain with our daughter Katie with our old fashioned film camera. London was our final stop after a long train ride from Edinburgh and lugging our luggage across the train station to the tube that would take us to our tiny room with 2 beds that covered almost the entire floor minus a 6 inch space between them to walk to the very tiny bathroom. Oh boy! I forgot to mention the 3rd floor we had to haul our luggage up to. We managed to recover from  it all and enjoy some great spots in London.

Katie and Dear mastered the tube stations quickly and they always knew the correct trains to catch.

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The Tower of London was on the list of places to explore.

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We were in London for the Queen’s birthday on the 21st of April we saw and heard the 62 gun salute.

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While walking toward Buckingham Palace we were told that a better close up view option of the changing guard would be at the Horse Guards Stables. We enjoyed viewing the Queen’s Horse Guard.

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Up close and with a lot fewer crowds around us. I’m thinking by now the word has gotten around and the crowds are probably crazy here, too.

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Dear and Katie in Trafalgar Square.

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The pigeons decided they were a great perch.

Our favorites in London were the National Gallery and the British Library where so many great literary classics and authors are featured. Katie and Dear toured Westminster Abbey and viewed the small tablet to the memory of Jane Austen in the Poet’s corner of the abbey. We also enjoyed attending the live stage performance of Les Miserables.

Thank you for indulging me as I documented our trip from 12 years ago!

 

The Walls of York…

After we spent time in Derbyshire we traveled northeast to the city of York and dropped off our rental car for the remaining days of our literary tour. For York we had a walking guidebook that Katie was in charge of and we saw many things we would have missed otherwise.

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We weren’t looking for any of our literary favorites here but just enjoying the walls and history surrounding this city.

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We attended our first evensong at Yorkminster and were so blessed by that hour of singing and readings. Katie and Dear also climbed to the top of the minster and Dear took this great photo above.

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We went to a history museum and donned these heavy helmets for a photo op.

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And…of course we had to take a photo of the Pharmacist in front of the Apothecary.

From York we boarded a train to Edinburgh where we would enjoy the city and take a bus to Stirling for some fun with Monty Python. Two more posts to go to wrap up our 2004 Literary Tour of Great Britain.

Back to the present…I’ve been very busy with my sisters the last few days. On Monday my sister Kathy flew home and on Tuesday my sister Vera will be flying home. I’ll share our Saturday road trip when I have some time to create the post.