UK And Beyond Part 10

Our Travels to the UK and a bit beyond, Part 10 By Diane (hopefully to be supplemented soon by Allan)

Note: The photos used here were chosen to go with this narrative....to see more photos from this trip, go to our home page and click on "England Fall 2010 ”.

2010 - October 23 through November 5 -England

Allan and I flew out on Saturday, October 23. What a treat! We got FIRST CLASS on American Airlines through my friend Annie’s sister, Laurie. THANK YOU! Treated like royalty for 11 hours.

We’d given ourselves some leeway about travel, so arrived in London a couple of days earlier than we had booked hotels for. Fortunately, the Burns in Kensington was able to take us a couple of days early. We love this hotel – nice and friendly, good location, and breakfast included.

During our time in London we visited The Natural History Museum, Harrods, did another photo shoot at Abbey Road and made a quick trip to Windsor. On the Tuesday, Allan and I took the train to East Sussex and were picked up by Trev and Jackie for a whirlwind tour which included Alfriston, Birling Gap and Pevensey, Bodiam and Herstmoncex Castles, tea at Pevensey, snacks at Trev and Jackie’s place, a drink with Trev’s Dad at their club, and dinner at Trev and Jackie’s local Weatherspoons. On Wednesday, we met up with Jim Walker, an old acquaintance of Allan’s from Canada, at the Glass Storehouse Pub in Soho. What a treat! Great day. On the first Friday, Tony took the train into London and we met up with him at Sidonie at the Silver Cross on Whitehall – what a great pub – it will become a regular! Then on Saturday, we took the train to Nottingham to meet up with the fabulous Swift family, who showed us a wonderful time in their city, including a trip to the Halls of Justice and drinks at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem.

On Monday, Nov. 1, we checked into Fish Court. The Landmark Trust people made a real to-do over us, giving us a tour of the Georgian House – we’ve been renting Fish Court through the Landmark Trust for years now – I guess they know us! That first evening Tony and Sidonie arrived to spend the night with us at Fish Court – we had a great dinner in the Kings Arms and did some ghostly night photos – and were served special pancakes by Roland. Spent the next day touring the palace with them and having lunch at the Prince of Wales. On Wednesday, we were supposed to go to Highgate Cemetery with Ian, but a tube strike put paid to that and instead Ian picked us up and gave us a wonderful tour of Surrey – Headly Heath, Reigate and a hike up Box Hill for wonderful views of the countryside.

Highlights:

Meeting up with old friends and getting to know new friends. I cannot say enough about the wonderful friends we have made in England over the years. Finding a photographer at Abbey Road who was willing to use our camera and catch some good burst shots for us which Allan was later able to Photoshop into some pretty good shots! Lots of lunches at Pret a Manger! Did a fabulous full sized brass rubbing of Sir Thomas Boleyn at St. Martin in the Fields, while Allan got what may have been the best photo of any trip so far.

Lowlights:

We missed Rhys’ first Halloween. We missed Rhys. Can’t think of any others, except the thwarted trip to Highgate Cemetery. Didn’t get First Class on the way home, BUT were given FOUR seats for the two of us in coach. Can’t complain!