Tour of the British
Isles
May 31 - June 16,
2015
Pictures at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5pekxc4w2rks40r/AADU4BtIr6WrYiMHlBpzX8ata?dl=0
Descriptions of the
picture locations are at the end of the page.
We took a two-week bus tour of the British
Isles (England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) through Globus. The tour
started and ended in London.
Sunday,
May 31
Our travel agent, Dr. Wayne Leong, drove
us to San Francisco Airport for our United Airlines flight to London. We had an early dinner at Fung Lum in the airport food court before boarding the 777 for
an overnight non-stop flight to Heathrow.
Monday,
June 1
Cloudy
There was lots of cloud cover on our
descent into Heathrow, but it broke over central London and I got some good
still pictures and videos. At Heathrow
we were met by a Globus representative and driven to
our hotel, the Hilton
London Metropole on Edgware
Road. We had a good dinner at the hotel
and met a very nice couple from the island of Jersey who were in London for
medical/surgical treatment.
Tuesday,
June 2
Cloudy
with drizzle
This was our day to accommodate to the
time change. We had an excellent English
breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I
went to Bletchley Park, center of
British codebreaking during World War II, while Sandy
caught up on sleep and reading. I took a
bus to the Euston rail station, then a very comfortable ride of less than an
hour to the Bletchley station and a short walk to the museum. I saw the original "Mansion," the
various "huts," and the visitor center and museum in more permanent
buildings. Again we had a good dinner in
the hotel restaurant.
Tuesday night I got very little sleep,
probably due to jet lag.
Wednesday,
June 3
Clear
to cloudy, no rain
Another excellent
English breakfast and a whirlwind tour of London. In the morning, we went to St. Paul's and
to Buckingham Palace
for the changing of the guard. While stopped on the Embankment, the
Queen's and Duke's limo passed in the opposite direction. We ate lunch at Marks & Spencer's
across the street from the hotel.
(Lesson learned: don't order a "hot dog" -- you will get a
pork sausage.) We did not sign up for
the afternoon tour of the Tower of London. We were signed up for dinner and a sunset
cruise; Sandy was too tired to go.
Dinner was at Fuller's Ale and Pie House in the Smithfield Market
District, near the location where William Wallace was
executed; then to a pier next to the Tower of London to board a boat to go up
the Thames as far as Parliament and then back to the pier.
Thursday,
June 4
Mostly
cloudy
We
overslept! I had bought a new alarm
watch that could be kept on local time, but its alarm was too quiet to wake us
up. Sandy woke up about 20 minutes
before the tour was to leave, so we threw on clothes, packed in a couple of
minutes, and rushed downstairs to the bus, missing breakfast. Lesson learned: put in a wake-up call with
the hotel even if we have an alarm.
The first stop on the tour was the gardens
of Hampton Court
palace, then to Stonehenge. The visitor center at Stonehenge is very
poorly designed but I enjoyed walking around the stones. Then to Bath, where we drove
around the city as possible (large vehicles are no longer allowed on some of
the narrow streets such as the Crescent), toured the Roman baths and the
abbey and had a drink at
a lovely outdoor bar/tavern until our bus arrived. For some reason I don't
seem to have taken any pictures at Bath, but we did buy a print of the abbey.
On the drive we saw many cows and
sheep. This part of England had a
"cow economy" but EU support has moved much of the dairy industry to
Ireland.
We crossed the Severn River bridge into
Wales and stayed overnight at the Hilton
in Newport. Dinner was at the hotel restaurant where our
travel group introduced ourselves to each other.
Friday,
June 5
Clear-cloudy-rain
Our first stop was Cardiff. We walked around the downtown district and
the castle, including a statue of Welsh 20th century hero Aneurin Bevan, and an
indoor mall. Driving to the ferry
terminal, we stopped for lunch at a mall along the highway. This was the only place on the entire tour
where I needed my umbrella and the hood on my jacket. We boarded the ferry to Ireland at Fishguard, disembarked at Rosslare, and drove
to Waterford, where we
stayed at the historic Granville Hotel. There was an excellent dinner at the hotel
restaurant.
Saturday,
June 6
Clear-cloudy-rain
We
toured the city of Waterford and the crystal factory. Then we drove to Blarney. We did not go to the castle or up 85 stairs
to the stone; we shopped for gifts at the revamped mills. Next to Killarney to check into the
Killarney Avenue Hotel. Dinner
was at Ballygarry, followed by a program at the Siamsa Tire National Folk Theater in Tralee.
Sunday,
June 7
Clear-partly
cloudy
There was an all-day tour of the "Ring of Kerry", a
100-mile drive around a set of parks, the Lakes of Killarney,
and other scenic attractions on the southwestern tip of Ireland. Sandy stayed at the hotel and shopped. After the tour, we stopped at a scenic meadow
overlooking the lakes on the way to a pub evening of singing and dancing, then
back to Killarney.
Monday,
June 8
Mostly
clear
Travel from Killarney to Dublin by way of Limerick and Tipperary. We
stopped at Adare, a village
with thached cottages and a tourist center; Cashel, site
of the "Rock of
Cashel" castle; and the National Stud Farm
with its Japanese gardens. In Dublin, our hotel, the Hilton
Dublin City, was on a historic canal.
We had a Cabaret
Evening with dinner and a variety show including comedy and music.
Tuesday,
June 9
Clear
and warm
This was an easy day with a late
start. We toured Dublin including
O'Connell Street, St.
Patrick's Cathedral, and lunch and shopping near Trinity College. Sandy had a wash and blow dry at a salon near
the hotel. We skipped the evening tour
of the Guinness Brewery and had dinner at The Barge, a restaurant near
the hotel.
Wednesday,
June 10
Clear
and warm
We drove from Dublin to Belfast, with a stop at Malahide Castle. In Belfast, we went to the Titanic Museum. We checked in to the historic Europa Hotel and
had dinner at the elegant Crown Liquor Saloon
across Great Victoria Street from the hotel.
The "troubles" of Northern
Ireland are well resolved, with help from George Mitchell, Bill Clinton, and
Canadian General John de Chastelain, gratefully
acknowledged by the people of Northern Ireland.
But even at the height of the Troubles, Belfast was safer than New York
City at the time.
Thursday,
June 11
Clear
We toured Belfast, including Stormont, the seat of
government. We saw Catholic and
Protestant neighborhoods; some of the fences put in place during the Troubles
are still there, though separation is not enforced. There are still some of the signs and murals
expressing support for one side or the other, though many have been repainted
as decorations.
We drove to the ferry terminal and boarded
the ferry to Cairnryan,
Scotland. We drove, during spectacularly
clear weather, along the southwest coast of Scotland to Glasgow and then to Edinburgh. We checked into the George Hotel on George Street. That evening we went to a dinner show with a
bagpiper, dancers, singing, and the Ceremony of the Haggis.
Friday,
June 12
Clear
and warm
I took the tour of Edinburgh while Sandy
rested. We drove through the New Town, Old Town, and the Royal Mile, with stops at Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood
House. In the evening we skipped the
tour of the former royal yacht Britannia and had drinks
and dinner with Sandy Chalmers, a Cisco
colleague, and his wife. Drinks were at
“The Dome,” a former bank building
across George Street from the hotel; dinner was at a California-style
restaurant near the hotel.
Saturday,
June 13
Cloudy
Edinburgh to York today. We stopped at Alnwick
("Annick"); its castle was used for some
Harry Potter exteriors and interiors.
The town is quaint and rated as highly livable. In the city of York we went to the Minster (cathedral) and
the Shambles (narrow
streets in a centuries-old part of town)--too much walking for both of us. Our hotel was an unimpressive Holiday Inn.
Sunday,
June 14
Cloudy-drizzle
We stopped at the Coventry Cathedral,
the old cathedral destroyed by a German air raid in World War II and the new,
very modern cathedral that replaced it. Then on to Stratford where we saw Ann Hathaway's
cottage (and had a group photo) and the Shakespeare
Museum and Birthplace. The
birthplace is a surprisingly large two-story building with beautiful
gardens. We went to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds
for tea and scones. Our hotel in
Stratford was a Holiday Inn right on the river, with many swans and ducks.
Monday,
June 15
Clear
to cloudy
From Stratford we went to Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of
Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. I tripped on the steps on the way in and
threw my back out completely. The palace
and gardens are very impressive. Then on
to London, where we had a beautiful hotel, the Park Plaza
Westminster Bridge, right across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament
and right next to Waterloo railroad
station. We had dinner at a nearby
Italian restaurant where we ran into the Nevins.
Tuesday,
June 16
Clear
We were up very early for the ride to
Heathrow. The Altmans
were in the van with us but went to a different airline. We caught our United flight to San Francisco;
the ground was obscured most of the way except for a few minutes over Baffin Island and Hudson Strait. The flight was uneventful as was the shuttle
ride home.
It was a very worth
while vacation, but the routine of up early, on the bus, off the bus (repeat
several times during the day), check into hotel, get up early, etc., is hard on
people our age. A cruise, where the
hotel goes with us and we can stay in the room all day if we want to, is
probably more age appropriate.
---------------
Picture
descriptions/locations
114-120:
Central London on landing approach
127-135:
Bletchley Park
156-257:
London (Albert Memorial, Nelson Column, National Gallery, Buckingham Palace,
William Wallace plaque, "London Eye," Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast at
sunset, Tower of London at sunset)
264:
Stonehenge
291:
Cardiff, Wales
364-382:
Waterford Crystal factory
402:
Dungarvan
442
"King Puck," Kiloorglin
443:
Killorglin (Ring of Kerry)
448-574:
Ring of Kerry
587-590:
Pub near Killarney
598:
Near Limerick, between Killarney and Cashel
652:
Cashel Heritage Center
664:
Rock of Cashel
673-699:
Irish National Stud Farm, Kildare
715-737:
Dublin
757:
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
814:
The Barge restaurant, Dublin
833-891:
Malahide Castle & Gardens
958-1097:
Belfast (960-1001: Titanic Museum; 1025: Stormont House
1106-1117:
Ferry to Scotland
1142-1148:
Southwest Scotland
1168-1176:
Glasgow
1188-1365:
Edinburgh (1281-1311: Castle; 1321-1350: Holyrood
House
1387-1411:
Coast of Scotland & England (Lindisfarne)
1414-1419:
Alnwick
1426-1450:
York
1466-1497:
Coventry
1515-1562
& 1625-1645: Stratford
1570-1617:
Cotswolds
1659-1711:
Blenheim Palace
1720-1757:
London (Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, hotel room, Houses of
Parliament from St. Thomas Hospital, Thames River)
1775-1781:
Baffin Island and Hudson Strait
