Melissa's UK Adventure - Day 4

The wake up call this morning was at 6:30am, but i was up and ready to go by 6am. i couldn't wait to get going. i love taking the coach tours. I just sit back and let somebody else handle all of the driving and organizing of the sites that we are going to see. We went down for breakfast at 7 and most of the group was already down in the lobby ready to go. I guess they are excited also.


After a quick continental breakfast, we boarded the coach and met our tour director Andrew Thomson, and the driver Tom (no last name, kinda like Madonna or Cher). We did role call to make sure we were all on the right tour, and we were off. The first stop for today was in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birth place of William Shakespeare. He was born here, married here, raised his family here, wrote most of his plays here and died here. He actually was born and died on the same date, just different years. The drive was about 2 hours, so along the way Andrew was talking to us. We have Canadians, Americans, Australians, a couple from South Africa and a couple on their honeymoon from New Zealand. Quite a lot of diversity on this tour.


Arriving into Stratford, we got our first glimpse of what I imagined England to look like. Small little cottages with thatched roofs, narrow streets with children playing in them, it was very cool. The first sight was Anne Hathaway's house. Sharon said "I don't really like any of her movies, but I guess i will look at her house" Actually, Anne was the wife of William Shakespeare, not an actress. Just outside of her cottage, we took a group photo and then we had a couple of minutes to look around. Back on the bus we drove through the town and Andrew pointed out some of the sites. The bus dropped us off and we had 2 hours to explore on our own. We walked up a pedestrian street with shops and restaurants along both sides. It made me think of Harry Potter and the place were he went to buy his school books. On this street is Shakespeare's birth house. You can take guided tours for a fee, but we did not have enough time for that. So instead, we just touched the outside of the house and took some pictures. It is cool to think that that house has been around for such along time and I was touching it. For lunch we went to a traditional English shop and had Shepard's pie. It was very good. Before we knew it, time was up and we had to be back on the bus. Stratford is a awesome little village, and I highly recommend it.


The next stop was York, which is a medieval walled city that was built in AD71. We had an included tour and then some free time on our own. We started the tour walking along the old walls of the city, and then made our way down the main street to the York Minster. it is main church in the city and the largest medieval structure in the United Kingdom. next we want to the "shambles' which used to be were all the butchers had there shops with all of the dead animals just hanging in the streets. The street is so narrow, that you can lean out of your window and touch the neighbors across the lane. After that we had free time to explore all of the small , narrow, windy streets. There was lots of people and we almost got lost a couple of times. York is a very cool city, but way to many people for my liking.

We then drove onto Leeds were we are staying the night. No sightseeing here though, just supper and bed. Tomorrow we are heading to the lake district, which should be beautiful.
 
Hopefully I will have some pictures for tomorrow

Melissa's UK Adventure - Day 3

This morning we woke up and had to pack right away because we were moving hotels. The tour starts at the Jurys Inn which is about a 10 minute walk away. So with luggage in tow, we headed out at 8:30am. What I didn't know was that the hotel was a 10 minute walk but all up hill. At that moment, I was really wishing that I had not packed 47 pounds of stuff.


After getting to the hotel we checked in and went back down to the lobby to await every bodies arrival. Not much to talk about today because we sat in the lobby for a total of 5 hours. But everybody arrived safe and sound and have all checked in. Most of them are exhausted from the trip, so they are resting right now. Sharon and I are going to head to the pub and relax ourselves.

Tomorrow the tour officially starts. The wake up call is at 6:30am, breakfast is at 7am and then we leave at 7:30am. I am very excited and the whole group is raring to go.

I have included some pictures for your enjoyment, since you did not have a lot to read today. Hope you enjoy.


Pub



Fish and chips

Phone Booth

London Cab

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Inside the museum

Rosetta Stone

Woke up this morning feeling rested and ready to go exploring . First off we went down to the breakfast room to eat. With our room reservation it was included. It was not bad, eggs, sausage, and bacon along with pastries and cold cereal. The plan for the day was to go and visit the British Museum, and just walk around and see London on foot. With map in hand, we set off for the museum.



Sharon and I are not very good at reading maps, so we were walking slow and making sure to pay attention. At first we went in the wrong direction because we could not find any street names. Once we realized that they were all on the side of the buildings, we were fine. It was fun walking because we got to see everything close up. I think alot of people walk to work because the streets were packed. We also had to be careful when we were crossing the streets because with the cars driving on the wrong side, we were always looking the wrong way when trying to cross.











Rounding a corner, the museum came into view. In front were hugh black iron gates and beyond them was a hugh crowd of people. One of the reasons why I wanted to visit the museum was because I love them, but also it is free to visit. Well for this last reason, it is popular for tourists and big tour groups. We quickly passed them and made our way in. It was breath taking inside. It was the biggest museum that I ever seen. We had a quick look around, but I wanted to go to one area in preticular, Egypt. I have always been interested in Egypt and this was my first time seeing artifacts from there. It was cool and very interesting. We spent about another hour walking around this hugh place, seeing things like the Rosetta Stone and a statue from Easter Island. It was fun and hard to believe that it was all free.

After the museum, we walked back to our hotel. Along the way we passed so many pubs that we decided to stop in one and have a drink. We must have really looked like tourists, because right away the girl started to explain the differences between "ales" and "lagers" to us. We finally decided to have a "Becks" each and sat down to enjoy. It must be something about being in England and sitting in a pub, because I all of a sudden wanted fish & chips, which I don't like back home. It was really good and seems to taste better here. After another couple of beers, we stumbled back to the hotel.

Tonite we are not sure what we are going to do. Maybe head over to the theatre district to see a show, or maybe back to the pub for more beers. Tomorrow my group from Winnipeg all arrive for our Trafalgar tour. It is going to be fun with the whole group together.


Stay tuned.....

Melissa's UK Adventure - Day 1

The adventure has begun!!


When I woke up this morning and saw the forcast for Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Toronto I thought great, rain for all 3 cities. But much to my delight, no rain for any of my flights. Last time I went to Europe, it was more like The Amazing Race then a holiday. My flight out of Toronto had mechanical issues and to make a long story short, we were late getting into Rome and almost missed our tour. This time I was not going to let that happen. I am leaving for London 3 days before, just in case. What do they say about lightning not striking twice in the same spot, well guess what, it does.

My first flight from Winnipeg to Toronto, with a stop in Thunder Bay, was with Westjet. What can I say, Westjet was awesome once again. Arrived into Toronto and we checked into Air Transat for our flight to London. This was my first time flying with Transat so I was looking forward to it. The flight was 40 minutes late because they were having trouble loading water on to the plane. I found this funny, but thought what ever, as long as I have something to drink I am fine. Finally the plane took off, and right off we could tell that something was wrong. We were not flying into the clouds, but staying close to the ground. After about 10 minutes the pilot announced that we would have to make an emergancy landing back in Toronto. They started coming around and telling us that we should get into the crash position because it was going to be a hard landing. I looked at Sharon and thought OMG not again. It turns out that a mechanic who was working on the front landing gear did not remove a pin, so the front wheel would not go in. We landed fine, and the whole plane broke out in cheers and clapping. They fixed the mistake, and after re fueling we were back in the air 2 hours late. The rest of the flight went fine. The staff on the plane were not the friendliest, but they were probably tired just like the rest of us.

Landed at the Gatwick airport at 12:15 pm, and made our way to customs. Well now that we were late coming in, the line up at customs was huge. We waited for over an hour and a half to get to the counter, only to have the agent ask us 2 questions and stamp our passports. By the time we got to the lugguage pick up area, our bags were off the carosel and on the floor.

We grabbed the luggage and went to find our transfer. I had booked the shared transfer before we left Canada to make it easier when we arrived. We found the transfer and us and 5 other people got in the van and we were off. The other people were staying at hotels in the centre of London, so they were being dropped off first. This was good because we got to see alot of the sites on the way. I knew that the Gatwick airport was far away, but i did not realize how far. It took 2.5 hours to get to the first hotel. After the long flight, this was not fun. But my first glimpse of England was awesome. It was everything that i expected and more. I got a quick view of the London Eye and Big Ben and found myself laughing like a little school girl. I can not believe that I am in London.

We got to our hotel, Travelodge Kings Cross, and were pleasently surprised. it is really nice and the staff have all been awesome. I think it has something to do with us being Canadian :) The room is small, but fine for us after the day that we have had. I had booked a London City tour for tomorrow, so I phoned to re confirm the pick up time. Wouldn't you know it, strike number 2, the tour had been cancelled due to the host being sick. So I have re booked the tour for June 19th and am keeping my fingers crossed.

Now we have to find something to do tomorrow. What can we do in London? Tune in tomorrow to find out...

P.S. I tried to include pictures, but strike number 3, it would not work. Maybe next time.