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England & Wales for 28 days, then the Celebrity Eclipse Transatlantic


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England & Wales for 28 days, then the Celebrity Eclipse Transatlantic





This wonderful 44 day trip was planned for about two years. We wanted to visit key places were our ancestors came from in Britain, as well as other great places. We booked the cruise about two years ago as the icing on the cake of the Britain drive tour. We only had to fly across the Atlantic in one direction, which was great.

The more research that we did, the more places that we wanted to see in Britain. Both of us had been there before, more than once, but this time we wanted to skip London and visit some scenic as well as historical places. We had been to Scotland twice in the last four years, so we decided to concentrate on Wales and England.

While we did visit some places were our ancestors came from, the trip was not a genealogy expedition, but Ginny, a genealogist did some research in a few places and purchased a large handbag full of books for research.

Our itinerary included:

Bath including the Roman Bath Museum and the city (day trip to Wells and Glastonbury);

Tintern Abbey and Raglan Castle on our way to Cardiff, Wales;

Cardiff (Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle and St. Fagans Museum of Welsh Life);

Tenby, Wales (Pembroke Castle and St. Davids Cathedral on our way to Llanddewi Brefi, Wales;

Chipping Campden was our home for visiting The Cotswolds, including Stratford Upon Avon, Oxford, Blenheim Palace and many of the Cotswold villages;

Warwick and its Castle;

York, with York Minster Cathedral, the National Railway Museum, Castle Museum and more.

Castle Howard on our way to Pickering and the Yorkshire Moors;

Whitby and it Abbey, the on to Durham;

Durham and its Cathedral and Castle;

Hadrian’s Wall, near Haltwhistle;

The Lake District from Keswick;

Winchester with its Cathedral and historic city;

Ending in Southampton.

We drove over 1600 miles through some of the most scenic countryside that we have ever seen. We saw seashore, pastures filled with sheep or cattle and lined with either hedgerows or stone walls. We saw wondrous hills in South Wales, Yorkshire Moors, Northumberland and the Lake District. We saw amazing cities and towns, with thatched or slate roofs. We saw historical castles, palaces, museums, cathedrals and churches loaded with history. We lived in Germany for four years and always loved the German countryside, but Britain’s countryside is its equal.

In planning for this trip, once we decided on where we were going, I tried to book Bed and Breakfasts, Inns or small hotels near the city or town centre where we could walk to the sights. Parking is not easy in cities with narrow streets filled with historic buildings, and little space for cars. I found lodging where parking was either free or with a modest charge. This worked out well.

We departed 29 September from Jacksonville, Florida, flying on American Airlines (we usually fly Delta, but we had miles to use for a one way ticket on American) first to Charlotte, then on to London, Heathrow. Our flight to Heathrow was delayed for a couple of hours due to electrical lighting in the aircraft failing. We arrived about 9am and moved through customs and immigration quickly.

EUROPCAR RENTAL

I was very proud of myself for finding a great bargain on a Vauxhall Astra for four weeks, with an automatic transmission for about $950 through a priceline type company for rental cars named Rentalcars. My earlier searches had called for $12-1300 for such a rental. A navigation system was an extra cost. The reservation was with the well known company Europcar. This was good, since Europcar had a car drop office very close to our hotel in Southampton, at the end of the trip. The footnote that always comes up when booking informs that a navigation system is not guaranteed for all vehicles. However, my research had found that rental car companies would charge from $170-200 for a navigations system for the four weeks.

Upon arrival at the Europcar rental office at Heathrow, I was informed that the Vauxhall Astra that I had rented did not come with a navigation system. I was told that a GPS could be added for 20 pounds a day. WOW, 20 pounds a day for 28 days comes to 560 pounds (about $700), about 3/4 of what I had already paid Rentalcars. That was a ridiculous price for a GPS, when you can buy one for less than $200. I knew that I had to have a navigation system, since we had rented a car in England four years ago for three days. Other cars had navigation systems, but they were more expensive. They had me in a box. I could have taken the car that I had paid for and tried to find a GPS at a store somewhere, or come up with another vehicle with a navigation system. One car that was available was a larger diesel car, a Vauxhall Invicta. Problem was, it cost me over $800 more that the smaller Astra. That wonderful deal that I had through Rentalcars turned into a far more expensive rental. The Invicta did include the navigation system, but the bottom line cost turned out to be over $1800, as opposed to $950 plus an expected navigation system cost of say $200 for $1150. We did have a more roomy vehicle with a diesel engine that had good miles per gallon (I should say liter). Still, I don’t appreciate what Europcar did to me. Had I rented directly with them, perhaps I could have tied down the navigation system.

The car did work out very well for the trip considering that I drove over 1600 miles spending less than $300 on fuel. What didn’t work consistently was the navigation system. Our first stop was our B&B in Bath, less than 200 miles to the west. The navigation system did not function properly and it would not guide us to our B&B even though the location was programmed into the system. It took us two extra hours to find our B&B, since Bath is an old city with few street signs to aid travelers. We called the B&B and they guided us to their location. Before we left Bath, I found the Europcar office there and someone fixed the problem. Still, later on the trip, the system failed to accept two of our hotel/B&B addresses. It failed to accept the city of Tenby, Wales and we had to put in Pembroke, a nearby city and make our own way to Tenby. Later, it failed to accept our Marriott hotel address in Durham. We programmed all the proper postal codes and it just didn’t work. However, it did work well enough for 90% of our destinations. Driving on the left was an adjustment and having a navigation system was absolutely necessary for us in Britain.

BATH

Our B&B was the Brooks Guesthouse. The Guesthouse included two nice stone townhouses adjacent to each other. We stayed in the Brooks Guesthouse for three nights, enjoying our stay. There was a full English breakfast with Eggs Benedict option. It had a great location, helpful staff, comfortable room and bath. Parking was provided for a reasonable fee, but since parking is tight, when we moved our car, sometimes we had to walk 2-3 blocks to the Guesthouse. Parking in Bath is tough. We would definitely come back to Brooks if in Bath again. Brooks advised us of a great seafood restaurant nearby, The Scallop Shell. The fish and chips there was exceptional.

We had booked a footprints walking tour for Bath for our first full day starting from the Abbey. Our guide was a student, that gave us a great tour. There was no cost for the tour, but we tipped. The tour did not go inside any buildings, but our guide explained much of the history of specific palaces in the city, like the Abbey, Roman Baths, Royal Crescent, Circus, and Assembly. The Abbey was the site of the crowning of the first Saxon King of England. The Circus has beautiful Georgian houses fronting a circle with a small park at the center. If you stand in the middle of the park your voice will carry over the entire area. The houses at the Circus are highly sought after with celebrities owning some. The Royal Crescent is another architectural masterpiece. Designed by John Wood II, the Royal Crescent is comprised of thirty houses, shaped like a half-Colosseum, which uses a gigantic series of Ionic columns on high bases. The houses are curved into one huge crescent. The Assembly was a collection of public rooms, also designed by John Wood II and the site for fashionable society.

The Roman Bath Museum was amazing. The museum had a number of exhibits showing the history of the Baths and the town prior to entered the actual Baths, which still operate with the hot spring water bubbling up from the earth. At times you can see some of the Roman engineering that still functions after all these centuries. This museum is not to be missed. The Abbey was the site of the crowning of Edgar "King of the English" in 973. The building is not that old, but still a gothic masterpiece.

The next day, we drove to Wells and Glastonbury. The Cathedral at Wells

was built between starting in the 12th Century, replacing an earlier church built on the same site in 705. The building is impressive, while not as large as the cathedrals at York, Durham and Winchester that we saw on the trip. Still, it is a gothic structure that soars up toward the heavens.

Glastonbury abbey was founded in the 7th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. The abbey was suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Like many abbeys in Britain, only the shell of the outer walls remains. Still, it is impressive. You can find King Arthur’s grave there, according to this story:

In the late 12th century the monks of Glastonbury Abbey announced that they had found the grave of Arthur and Guinivere, his queen. According to the monks, an excavation found a stone inscribed "Here lies Arthur, king." Below the stone they found the bones of a large man, and the smaller skeleton of a woman. The monks reburied the bones in the grounds of the abbey, where they were a very handy draw for pilgrims. The site of the grave can be seen today in the abbey grounds.

On the way back to Bath, based on my guidebook, Backroads of Britain, we decided to drive through a scenic area called Cheddar Gorge. The road was not fun to drive, but the gorge was very scenic.

Leaving Bath, we had planned to visit Tintern Abbey just a few miles into Wales. The Cistercian abbey was founded in 1131 by Walter fitz Richard or Clare, an Anglo-Norman lord. It was set to run after monasteries were suppressed by Henry VIII. The abbey’s huge walls were far more preserved than Glastonbury’s walls.

On our way to Cardiff, we passed through some of the impressive Welsh hilly scenery. Tintern Abbey was on the beautiful Wye River Valley. A valley ringed with beautiful hills. Our next stop was Raglan Castle. Raglan was built by a Welshman and only dates back to the 15th Century. However, it held off parliamentarian forces for thirteen weeks in one of the last sieges of the English Civil War. Its walls were still impressive. We tried to visit Caerphilly Castle, just north of Cardiff, on our way to Cardiff, but our navigation system did not recognize Caerphilly Castle. We decided to head on to Cardiff and visit the castle from Cardiff by train.

CARDIFF

Upon entering Wales, you notice immediately that signs are bilingual, with English and Welsh (Cymru) words. Cardiff is Caerdydd in Welsh. The Sandringham Hotel in Cardiff was located in the city centre. The hotel had no access by car, since the main street of Cardiff, in front of the hotel was marked off as a pedestrian walkway. We parked about 2.5 blocks away in a multistory parking garage and walked to the hotel to check in. The hotel had about 40 rooms starting on the second story of the building. Our room, fortunately, was on that floor. The parking garage just happened to be the one that the hotel had arrangements for discounted parking, so we didn’t have to move the car for two days. We did have to roll and carry our luggage 2.5 blocks to the hotel. Hotel location was perfect, right in the city. The hotel staff was very nice. Breakfast was excellent. The hotel is a small, older hotel and is showing its age, but it was clean, convenient and suited our needs. Also, it was a great value.

Our first day in Cardiff, we visited Cardiff Castle in the morning, then took a short train ride to Caerphilly Castle, just north of the city. The original castle was built by the Normans in the 11th Century and later rebuilt in stone in the 12th Century. The castle was important during Welsh resistance to Norman-English rule, later during the War of the Roses and English Civil War. During the 18th Century, The Marquess of Bute, with the help of the famous architect Capability Brown made improvements to the castle, including the still preserved living area. Also, during WWII the castle air raid shelters were created within its sturdy walls.

Our audioguide tour was excellent, it took us to the Castle Keep (oldest part of the castle) as well as the walls, air raid shelters and evidence of Roman Walls. Also, we were taken through the castle’s living area, which had furnishings.

Later that day, we took the train to Caerphilly to see the largest castle in Wales. I believe that only Windsor Castle is larger in Britain. It is so large that I had trouble taking a photo that included all the castle walls. The castle has multilayered defenses and a huge moat. The castle dates back to the 12th Century and was another battle ground during Welsh revolts and was the site of a long battle during the English Civil War. One of its huge towers was so damaged that it still leans, even more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

St. Fagans, Natural Museum of History was our next stop, on our way to Tenby, Wales. The museum is largely an open air museum with over forty original buildings moved and re-erected from various parts of Wales. Buildings include farmhouses, a school, a chapel, Workmen’s Institute, several workshops of various crafts. Walking through the museum you can see people working their crafts, sheep and cattle in the pastures.

TENBY

Tenby is a small port city with 13th Century walls and a 15th Century church with Tudor houses. It is a popular tourist destination in Britain. Historically, it is well know for the place were Jasper Tudor, the uncle of later King Henry VII, escaped through a tunnel to a ship during the War of the Roses. After Henry VII became King, Jasper provided funds to improve the city and its defenses. The harbor is very scenic with rocky hills facing the sea. We stayed there two days and while taking in the city, Ginny had time to visit the local library and after consulting with the staff was able to find some helpful information regarding some of her ancestors.

Our B&B was the Coach Guest House. Even though our navigation system did not recognize that Tenby existed, we found the guest house upon driving into town. The house was a newly renovated town house not far from the city centre. Many of the other townhouses near the house were also B&Bs. The owners, Mike and Joyce are friendly and helpful. The guesthouse had comfortable rooms and baths. Parking was just across the street and free. Breakfasts were super, with a Eggs Benedict option. It was a great value for a stay in Tenby.

Departing from Tenby we stopped at Pembroke Castle and St. Davids Cathedral on our way to Llanddewi Brefi, Wales.

Pembroke Castle was another huge and amazing medieval castle. It is located in Pembroke on the Pembroke River. It’s history is similar to many other Welsh castles in that its history includes conflict in the Welsh-English struggles up through to the English Civil War. Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch was born here. The city is nearby and was loaded with scenic historical buildings.

Due to morning clouds and not the best weather, we skipped going to see St.Govans Chapel on the rocky south coast of Wales, since that visit would involve hiking up and down a slippery path. Instead, we proceeded on to our main goal on this day, to St. Davids Cathedral. The Cathedral is located near the end of a peninsula in southwest Wales that is the western most point of Wales.

A monastery was founded by here by Saint David, Abbot of Menevia, who died in 589. In 1181 a Norman building replaced the monastery. The nave dates back to this early building. Adjacent to the Cathedral is the Bishops Palace, which is in ruins. The Cathedral is loaded with history. On our visit there, a local choir was rehearsing. The Welsh reputation for singing was evident. The choir was wonderful. We sat and listened for a while.

After leaving the cathedral, we drove to a point overlooking the sea, which was very scenic with cliffs right on the sea. It was afternoon and we still had to drive a way to Llanddewi Brefi, the home of my paternal ancestors, 300 years ago. The drive took us up the Welsh hills on narrow curvy roads, past meadows with many sheep. Llanddewi Brefi is an ancient community, with a former Roman camp nearby. The church at the town was built on the site were St. David visited, gave a sermon and had a white dove settle on his shoulder.

I had this information about my ancestors from the town:

Family tradition also told the story of young (last name deleted for privacy), John’s brother, then a boy of about 16 or 17, being sent in 1715 by his uncle to the local parish priest with the uncle’s tithe, a sack of wool. (Baptists may not have appreciated paying tithes to the established church in which they did not worship, but unlike Quakers they did not made a public witness of refusing to pay.) Somehow an argument broke out between the priest and the teenager. The priest threw the sack at the boy, and (name deleted) punched the priest. Then he ran home, fearing the wrath of his uncle more than the anger of the priest. It must have been a tense and difficult time for the boys. Sometime after February 1716/7, the three oldest brothers emigrated to Pennsylvania, settling in Chester County.

Our B&B was The New Inn. This is the Inn’s website:

https://www.newinnllanddewibrefi.co.uk

There was a pub and large meeting room at the inn. Many of the local people were there that evening and we enjoyed meeting them. Yvonne was the owner and very nice. She provided me with an email of a person from Colorado that stayed at the inn earlier in the year that had indicated that he was descended from one of the three brothers from the town. We had an excellent meal at the pub. While we were eating or meal, we noticed that the people at the bar spoke the local Welsh language. Also, there was a wedding party at the inn, when we arrived and about 20 young women there also were speaking Welsh.

The accommodations were comfortable and clean and Yvonne prepared us a wonderful breakfast. After breakfast, we walked around the small town of about 500 persons and explored the St. David’s church. The church included stones from the 7th Century. Ginny and I explored the cemetery surrounding the church and found none with the names of my ancestors. Few of the graves dated back before 1716.

Departing the town later that day our destination was Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. Our drive took us through scenic Brecon Beacons National Park. While the park terrain was beautiful, for much of the drive, the roads were not high speed highways, so our trip took a bit longer than we planned. Still, we arrived at Chipping Campden while it was still daytime and had a little time to get ready for dinner.

CHIPPING CAMPDEN

Our B&B was The Volunteer Inn. The Inn is a great B&B located on the main street of the town. The pub is busy and a fun place to visit. The Indian restaurant in the Inn is excellent, we dined there twice in our 6 day stay. The accommodations were spacious, clean and a great value for the Cotswolds. Parking is not included, but was not a problem in the town. Owner and staff were friendly and helpful.

I found this information about the Cotswolds:

During the Middle Ages, thanks to the breed of sheep known as the Cotswold Lion, the Cotswolds became prosperous from the wool trade with the continent, with much of the money made from wool directed towards the building of churches. The area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone "wool churches". The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.

The area is known for its limestone that you see in its many attractive buildings.

We had booked this Inn for six nights, planning to visit the small Cotswold villages, Oxford, Blenheim Palace and Stratford upon Avon. Our first day, we drove to many of the villages and towns in the area. We visited Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and Cirencester. We didn’t go to Broadway, a few miles to the north, until a few days later.

Moreton-in-Marsh was our first town to visit. An ancient Roman Road, now A429 runs through the town. Of course, the road is now a modern paved road. The town has a rail station that we later took to visit Oxford and a launderette, were we did our first washing of clothes for our trip. The Redesdale Market Hall from late 19th Century stands out in the town. There were many antique shops and boutiques.

Bourton-on-the -Water was perhaps the most picturesque, since it had a river running through the town, with many arched bridges alongside a nice walking path. This town had more shops to visit as well.

Stow-on-the-Wold was on a hill and had many roads converging to its large market center. It was similar to the other towns, but had its own character. I found this interesting item about the town:

"Stowe-on-the-Wold, Where the wind blows cold.

Where horses young and old are sold, Where farmers come to spend their gold.

Where men are fools and women are bold and many a wicked tale is told.

High on the freezing Cotswold.”

Cirencester was the last town we visited on that day. This was the largest of the Cotswold towns. The Roman name for the town was Corinium, which is thought to have been associated with the ancient British tribe of the Dobunni.

The town had a great museum dedicated to its Roman origins. The Corinium Museum was small, but well organized. We seemed to find Roman history wherever we went in Britain.

STRATFORD UPON AVON

Shakespeare’s hometown was our next city to visit. We had a short drive there and parked just outside the main part of town. However, we picked up the Hop on Hop off bus that was conveniently near the large parking area. Parking in Britain usually required having coins to feed into a ticket machine to place under the windshield of your car. Some parking places had the option to purchase a ticket with an ATM card. Also, paid toilets were sometimes available, but you needed 20 pence coins.

We took the HoHo bus in Stratford because two of the key Shakespeare sights were some miles outside the city. In order to visit the five Shakespeare sites, we purchased the full pass from The Shakespeare Center. There is an excellent small museum there with presentations and videos that bring Shakespeare to life. After passing through the museum you go through the house where Shakespeare was born. It is still in excellent condition and manned by persons performing roles that act as guides. Also, in the courtyard there are a few Shakespeare actors that will recite from any of his plays, if you name one. I named Richard III and one of the actors gave a great presentation of "Now is the winter of our discontent.”

We walked through the city, that seems to be filled with Tudor era buildings to two of the other sights. One was the place where Shakespeare had his home. There is a museum there, but the home was torn down years ago. There were gardens that were interesting. Also, we visited the Shakespeare theatre, but were not allowed inside, since there was an event going on. Our last place to visit in the city was the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare’s tomb is located. He was baptized in Holy Trinity on 26 April 1564 and was buried there on 25 April 1616. There is an attractive monument to Shakespeare mounted on the wall near his tomb. His wife, Anne has a tomb next to his.

From the church, we took the HoHo bus to Anne Hathaway’s house. Anne was Shakespeare’s wife. They had three children, but we learned that his line died out. The Hathaway home was similar to the home of Shakespeare’s birth in the style of the era. Anne came from a family with a higher social standing than William. Also, she was several years older than he. The home and gardens had guides dressed in period costumes, performing their roles. It was very well done. Our final stop to visit was Mary Arden's Farm, the home of Shakespeare’s Mother. There were preserved buildings there, as well as those farm buildings that recreated the farm. It was interesting and worth a stop, but not the high point of the day. We took the HoHo bus back to the parking area and returned back to Chipping Campden.

Our next day was to visit Blenheim Palace. This palace is still the home of the 12th Duke of Marlborough. Blenheim Palace was built as a gift to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, from Queen Anne and a grateful nation in thanks for his victory at the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August 1704. The palace is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Upon arrival at the palace gate (where you pay) we were informed that the power to the palace had been cut accidentally by ongoing construction. We elected to go ahead and see the palace, despite the lack of power and the expense of admission. As seniors, or admission was a little more than 20 pounds each. We enjoyed the amazing palace, which is huge (the Duke and family live in one wing of the palace. However, we could not see the room where Winston Churchill was born, since there was no power and it was without natural light.

After leaving the palace, we found the church where Churchill, his parents, wife and other family were buried. He was buried outside in a grave, not a tomb inside the church.

Oxford was our next city. Traffic and parking are not so good in Oxford, so we took the train from Moreton-in-Marsh. I wanted to take a walking tour there, but had not booked one. The footprints tour did not go that day, so we found another, from an enterprising and intelligent man originally from Pakistan. It was an excellent tour. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the tour guide. The guide took us to many of the key sights in the city, mainly a part of the University. He took us to see the lecture hall where years ago professors lectured their student simultaneous in the same hall. Also, we entered a museum which was also the library for the University. We saw several original books dating back hundreds of years. Ginny and I had been to Cambridge four year ago and found its architecture more impressive than Oxford. At Oxford, there were many students, since classes were in session.

Our last full day in Chipping Campden, we did laundry at the launderette near the train station in Moreton-in-Marsh. The attendant provided us plenty of change for coins to use the washers and dryer. We could have left our laundry there one day and picked it up another for a fee, but decided to do it ourselves since I had allowed an extra day in Chipping Campden. We did our laundry and still had half a day to tour, so we visited some of the very small villages mentioned in guidebooks. The one very interesting town we visited was Broad Campden, just a few miles from Chipping Campden. It was loaded with several thatched roof houses. We had seen a few thatched roof houses in the Cotswolds, but this little village had many.

While Chipping Campden, we enjoyed dining at the Maharaja Indian restaurant twice and loved the food. The restaurant is located at the Volunteer Inn, where we stayed. Also, we dined at the Red Lion Inn restaurant a couple of times and were very pleased. One night we dined at the Lygon Arms Hotel. The restaurant there was rated the best in town. Ginny had a great meal of fish and chips. I made the mistake of ordering Lasagna. What I received had no pasta and amounted to a beef minced meat pie with cheese on top. For a meat pie it was good, but I had eaten a meat pie the night before and did not want another. I learned a lesson. While in Britain, don’t order Italian dishes unless you are dining at an Italian restaurant.

WARWICK

Warwick was not very far from Chipping Campden, so we arrived at our hotel, the Warwick Arms Hotel in the morning. We could not check in, since it was early, but we snared one of the parking places in the rear of the hotel. The location was perfect, being right in the city centre, near the Castle. We had free parking, but get there early, there are more rooms than parking spaces. Staff was friendly and helpful. Breakfast was excellent buffet. Rooms were spacious, clean and comfortable, but showing a bit of age. Still, I highly recommend this hotel for visiting Warwick.

We spent the rest of the day visiting Warwick Castle and downtown Warwick. Warwick Castle was interesting. It is now owned by Madame Tussauds. It is now a huge attraction for families with children. We saw more children there than on our entire trip. The Castle has authentic wax figures throughout and its exhibits are excellent. I know some think that Madame Tussauds has ruined the place, but I disagree. It is now an attraction not unlike a little Disneyland, but the Castle is preserved. We saw a great birds of prey demonstration and enjoyed our visit to the Castle. One room of the castle has figures of Henry VIII and his six wives.

YORK

Our drive from Warwick to York was smooth, without heavy traffic. Our navigation system worked well and brought us right to our hotel in York. The Minster Hotel York was our small hotel. It was perfect for our visit to York. Location was great, not far from the city and several restaurants. Free parking was available behind the hotel in a secure location. Our room was spacious and very nice. Hotel staff was friendly and helpful. Breakfast was extra with a choice of a great buffet or full English breakfast. We were very happy with the buffet. Checking in, I had help with our heavy luggage upstairs to our room, since I have a back problem.

We arrived early enough to take in the Yorkshire Museum not far from our hotel and in the gardens beside the river. The museum had excellent presentations of York’s Roman, Viking and Medieval past. The next day after breakfast, we went directly to the York Minster Cathedral. This place is amazing. There is so much history in that cathedral. We had a guide for our tour of the cathedral, who was excellent. There were special places like the amazing collections and the Chapter House as well as the Undercroft with so much history that we were in awe of this place. The stained glass in the cathedral is among the best we have seen. We spent 3.5 hours there and loved every minute.

Our next adventure was to the castle museum. Most of the castle is gone, except for one large tower. The museum is highly recommended by Rick Steves guide. The museum had its good points, which was showing much of the way of Victorian life, with a mock city street, exhibitions of period clothing and more. However, the chocolate museum (York was the home of the chocolate industry in England) was a bit too much on that subject.

The next day in York, we visited the wonderful National Railway Museum. The museum is loaded with trains, including royal carriages, going back to the industry’s beginnings. We found this museum to be our second favorite item in York, after the Minster. We also visited an area of York with narrow streets and shops that took us back centuries. The Fairfax House was a pleasant surprise, in that we had wonderful guides that took us through an 18th Century house loaded with priceless antiques. We walked the walls and Ginny took the time to go to the Richard III Experience in one of the towers along the walls.

While in York, we had a wonderful meal at Cafe No. 8 Bistro. We were staying nearby at the York Minster Hotel and had dined at a nearby pub that was good, but wanted more. TripAdvisor had this one down with excellent reviews, so we gave it a try. The food was excellent. The restaurant is not fancy, but clean and comfortable. However, they excel where it counts, the dining.

CASTLE HOWARD

On our way to Pickering, we stopped at the Castle Howard, which was a huge palace, perhaps a bit smaller than Blenheim Palace. Castle Howard is set in a thousand acres of sweeping parkland dotted with statues, temples, lakes and fountains. The palace is filled with collections gathered by succeeding generations of the Howard family. Built over 300 years ago, today it still remains a family home.

PICKERING

I originally selected Pickering for one overnight for us to take the Yorkshire Moors steam train to Whitby on the coast. We wanted to visit Castle Howard and with the schedule of the train, we could not see Castle Howard and take the train. The White Swan Inn was our B&B, which was an old Coach Inn in a historic building. Parking is free and the inn has a bar as well as a separate restaurant. Our evening meal at the restaurant was wonderful. Our accommodations were modern and comfortable. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and visiting the rail station for the steam train.

The next day, based on my guidebook, Back Roads of Britain, and advice from the B&B, we took the back road over the Yorkshire Moors to Whitby by way of the steam train terminal at Grosmont. The drive over the moors was marred somewhat by fog at higher elevations. Driving over the moors, we encountered hundreds of sheep, but almost no cars. Still, we could see the landscape of the moors once we reached the eastern side. The scenery was great. We found Grosmont and the rail switching yard, but no trains leaving or arriving there. On to Whitby, which was a port city on the North Sea, set on hill both sides of a river.

WHITBY

Whitby Abbey’s wall were on top of the southern hill overlooking the city. We parked downtown and walked across the bridge through the narrow streets up the 199 steps to the St. Mary’s Church and the Abbey. The church was not open, but had a huge graveyard. Most of the tombstones were illegible due to their exposure to the sea air of Whitby. By the time we reached the abbey museum, it was raining. We had been lucky on our Britain trip, with little rain to affect our touring. The museum was interesting, and dry, but when we ventured out to the abbey, it was still raining, and cold. Our umbrellas came out, but we did our walk through the abbey grounds without listening to all the audioguide stations, since the wind was blowing at the top of the hill. Once we got down the hill, the wind was not as bad and the rain didn’t seem as bad.

DURHAM

Our next destination was Durham and we still had at least a two hour drive from Whitby. It was raining and unfortunately, our navigation system failed to recognize the address of our hotel, the Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County. We tried using the navigation system to focus on key places near our hotel in the city, but for some reason, it just didn’t work for us. Again we had a frustrating time finding the hotel. Fortunately, we called the hotel and front desk people helped to guide us there.

Durham is in the far northern part of England. It is famous for its Cathedral. We stayed two nights there and very much enjoyed Durham. The Cathedral was awesome. Like the York Cathedral, it was filled with amazing history. The Monks' Dormitory, had a wonderful Collections Gallery. The Treasures of St Cuthbert a part of this collection. The Venerable Bede, probably the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon scholars from the 7th and 8th Century is buried in the cathedral.

The Durham Castle, we joined a guided tour, as required to visit the castle, which is near the Cathedral. The castle tour was excellent. Portions of the castle were built at different periods of history, but we had an in depth tour.

Ginny and I walked around the city and visited the Market Hall, and did a little shopping, then walked across the bridge toward our hotel. However, we wanted to find a pub for a beer, rather than our more expensive hotel bar. We found a small pub that turned out to be popular for police. We had a great time drinking and visiting with the locals there. After taking some English beer, we went to a Zen Restaurant, which was Thai cuisine. It was recommended by our new pub friends. Zen had great Thai food. Service was a bit slow, but the restaurant was packed with diners.

HADRIAN’S WALL

Our next adventure was to visit Hadrian’s Wall. The wall was built in the early 2nd Century AD by Emperor Hadrian as a defense from the Picts and Scottish tribes. We set out to visit the wall and Roman museum prior to checking in with our BB at the Wydon Farm at Haltwhistle.

We found the wall, and it varied between waist to chest high. You could see much of the pastures in the area had stone walls as boundaries that were as high as what remained of the wall. Still, you could see the mark of the wall on the hilly terrain for a considerable distance. Not far from the wall, we visited the site of a Roman fort, Vindolanda. There was a museum there as well as the ruins of the fort. The museum there and the Roman Army Museum were excellent. One of the more interesting exhibits was the one showing recently discovered tablets that have been preserved along with their messages. These writing show much about the life of the people that lived in Vindolanda.

We didn’t want to spend too much time outside, since the weather was turning colder, after all, it was late October in northern England. We made our way to the Wydon Farm, which is an operational sheep and cattle farm with three B&B rooms. We checked in and unloaded our luggage, but could not dine at the farm, since they did not offer a dinner meal. We found a pub in Haltwhistle, had dinner and came back in the dark. Fortunately, we knew where the farm road turned off the highway and easily found our B&B again. Accommodations were spacious, with a nice large bath and shower. Breakfast was magnificent and our hosts were special. Our stay was wonderful.

THE LAKE DISTRICT

We decided to drive another scenic route through Alston to Penrith over the scenic North Pennines. As in our Yorkshire Moor drive, our views of the scenic areas was obscured by fog for part of the drive. Still, coming down from the higher levels, we enjoyed some scenic views. Coming into Keswick to our hotel, the scenery was magnificent. That is the reason we came to the Lake District.

On the way to Keswick, we stopped to see the Castlerigg Stone Circle, one of several stone circles in Britain. We saw a large one at Avebury four years ago. Unfortunately, it was very windy and cold on top of the hill where the stones were found. We stayed just long enough to take photos and head on to our B&B in Keswick.

The Badgers Wood Guest House is as good as it gets. Anne and Andrew are great hosts. Anne is the great chef for breakfast, offering great options. Location is perfect on Stanger street, which should be called B&B row in the centre of Keswick. Parking is provided and if you need to do laundry, a launderette is not far away. The Lake District is awesome for natural beauty.

We had three nights in Keswick. The Lake District has a huge tourist draw, especially for hikers. At this stage of our trip, we were three and a half weeks into a four week trip, with the weather turning colder and windy, we elected to do the Rick Steves recommended drive. The drive took us over a lot of narrow roads, higher in altitude, with mountains, valleys, rivers and natural beauty at a premium, The drive took us over two hours and we enjoyed the views. I got out of the car to take photos from time to time. We did walk around the city and do some shopping that day. The next day, it rained, so we did laundry and got ready for our long trip to Winchester the next day. The Kingfisher Restaurant was recommended by Anne and Andrew for fish and chips. The takeout is downstairs, so we went upstairs. The restaurant was not fancy, but the fish and chips were fantastic. The cod almost covered the entire plate it was so large. We could have split a single plate.

WINCHESTER

Our drive back to southern England was 325 miles. Most of the drive was on the M6 ( interstate type highway) and other four lane highways. However, our path took us past large cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. We encountered heavy traffic on the M6 between Manchester and Birmingham. Fortunately, there was a toll road option near Birmingham that allowed us to avoid another one hour delay. We had about a one hour delay prior to Birmingham. Only about 4 miles outside of Winchester, we came to a stop on the highway. It took us another hour to arrive at our hotel in the city. Britain’s heavily populated areas just have way too many cars.

The Wykeham Arms was our Inn. It was in a great location to visit the Winchester Cathedral and other sites in the city. It was over 250 years old and the restaurant is excellent, as well as the Pub that could be in a movie. Our room was in an old building across the street, but had been modernized. It was not luxury, but clean, comfortable and spacious. This is the place to stay if you come to Winchester. The Inn was a quarter of a mile from the cathedral.

Winchester was once the capitol of England and a very historic city. It’s cathedral is legendary and going there, I could not get the song out of my head. As in York and Durham, Winchester was another treasure trove of history and beautiful architecture and art. One of the interesting items in the cathedral was a memorial to William Walker, a deep sea diver that saved the cathedral from collapse. Walker using diving gear was immersed under the cathedral to remove rotten matter and replace it concrete to shore up the foundation. Jane Austen is buried in the cathedral. There is a lot more to see there.

The Great Hall of Winchester dates from the 13th Century and has King Arthur’s Round Table. This is a must see for Winchester.

SOUTHAMPTON

We had planned to visit Arundel Castle (east of Southampton) prior to arriving there the next day. However, I learned that traffic between Portsmouth and Southampton is always heavy. Also, it would likely be heavy on a Friday. We decided to go west of Southampton to visit the New Forrest area famous for where King William Rufus was killed while hunting. Many think it was an assassination, not a hunting accident. We drove to the small town of Beaulieu. Parking was just impossible, there were just too many people in the area. It was interesting, since we had horses wandering on the roads all around the town. We just decided to make our way to the Holiday Inn at Herbert Walker Street.

This hotel is perfect for those going on a cruise. The cruise port for our ship was waking distance away. Also, returning our rental car was easy, less than half a mile away. The front desk staff was great. Breakfast is extra, but good. We were very pleased with our spacious accommodations and service, however one incident slightly tarnished our visit. We arrived early and could not check in to our room for a couple of hours. While waiting in the lobby, I saw a station for tea and instant coffee. I assumed the tea that I made for wife and self was complementary, as it always is in Holiday Inns and even B&Bs and Hotels in Britain (the many we stayed in for 28 days). However, I was confronted by an angry woman in an apron that acted like I was stealing the tea. She took my name and added 4 pounds for the two cups of tea to our bill. I suggest the hotel post a notice that the tea and coffee are not complementary.

That evening we had a group that met at The Dancing Man, a pub a couple of blocks from our hotel. Our group from the cruise critic roll call had agreed to meet there:

George/Ginny- 4774papa

Barb and Fred- TMLAalum

Rosy and Dave- tartantiara

Rose- Fun Redhead

Christi and Ray -Cape Cod Cruiser

Ron and Sandra -Ruebin77

Dave and Ruth -Springfire

Most of our crew turned up and we socialized and dined together most evenings on the cruise. We had a super fun group that made the cruise even better. We were joined on the cruise by Joyce and Phil- zimmerp7

SUMMARY OF OUR BRITISH EXPERIENCE

Ginny and loved our visit to so many wonderful places in England and Wales. The country is loaded with historic and scenic places. The people are friendly, helpful, polite and civil. Driving on the left was a constant challenge, but is can be done. It is best to not be in a hurry, drive the speed limit and enjoy the countryside, which is amazing. On coming home, I found in the mail that I received a speeding ticket in the Cotswolds for 40 pounds for driving 35 MPH in a 30 MPH zone. It was a camera that snared me. It appears that England has speed traps just like the US. We liked the food in Britain, especially the fish and chips and Indian food. Our B&Bs and hotels cost us an average of 100 pounds ($131) per night. We had excellent accommodations and loved the pubs. Also, all the museums, castles and cathedrals that we visited had great presentations and exhibits. The places with tours always had wonderful tour guides.

CELEBRITY ECLIPSE

On 28 October we dragged and carried our luggage (we had a lot more after four weeks in Britain) from the Holiday Inn to the cruise terminal. Our ship was built in 2010 and looked like it just came out of the dockyards. We had a midship balcony on the hump (the middle of the ship extends out a bit) and hump balconies are larger than the standard balcony.

Celebrity is our favorite cruise line (we have done 10 now on Celebrity), but the past two years its move towards price bundling has significantly raised the prices of most cruises. It forces you to take promo that you don’t want. We never buy the beverage packages that would double the cost of a cruise. We enjoy free drinks at the happy hour and only drink wine for dinner outside of that. On this 15 day cruise, we spent a total of about $330 on alcohol. One reason we like transatlantic cruises is the price. This one cost us $1199 each. There was no price bundling on this cruise.

Our cruise stopped in Boston, NY City, Bermuda, Nassau and ended in Miami. It was a wonderful cruise. We had a great group of cruise friends that met most evenings at happy hour, then for dinner. The ports were great and as usually we found Celebrity to be great with service and dining. We found the food on board to be up to the usual excellent quality that we have found in our previous 9 Celebrity cruises. I had organized two activities for our cruise critic group. The first was the Murder Mystery. I had purchased the program in advance and emailed the introductory role information in advance to those that volunteered to participate. The Murder Mystery was a struggle for me at times, due to over half the original volunteers backing out of the event, most for no special reason. Still, Ginny filled in for the last role cancellation 4 hours before the event and the event was very successful. Many of our cruise friends from the Dancing Man were in the event. Also, I had a cabin crawl, which amounted to about 50 persons visiting about 9 cabins (volunteers) on the ship. It is a great way to see what other types of cabins look like.

The entertainment was generally very good, especially with the talented singer Jayne Curry from England. We missed the magician and were not wild about the Scottish comedian, but we generally enjoyed the entertainment. We had great entertainment within our cruise critic group.

BOSTON

My Daughter and her family lives near Boston, and they picked us up at the port. My Granddaughter and Daughter’s Stepson took us to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was great seeing everyone. The museum was super. There were wonderful exhibitions of ancient Egyptian items, with many from the Old Kingdom. I have been to Egypt and even the Egyptian museum didn’t have a huge number of Old Kingdom exhibits. Apparently, many of these items were newly discovered. There were other ancient items for a variety of civilizations as well. Further, there was early American art by John Singleton Copley, a Bostonian. Just seeing our loved ones made the visit, but going to this wonderful museum was great.

NEW YORK CITY

We had a day and a half in the city. I had booked in advance for a trip to the Freedom Tower (One World Observatory) for 5:30PM on the first day. Our ship arrived at 3PM. We arrived early and found that the pervasive fog over the city obscured any view from that observatory. We visited the 911 Memorial, which was a solemn but impressive monument to those that died. The memorial was very well done. We didn’t have time to go to the museum, but did go up to the observatory. We could not see the city because of the fog, but a tablet that was available for $15 allowed us to sit in the bar and view what would have been visible. We could put our fingers on specific buildings and a history of that building would pop up for us to learn about the city’s history. Also, coming up the elevator the sides of the elevator showed photos of the what the city looked like through its development. We took taxis from the port and total cost for the two of us was $35 for the roundtrip.

The next day, we had a tour of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty set for 10am. We met another couple, John and Marilyn, on the ship to share a taxi to the Battery for the tour. We had a great day on this tour and enjoyed touring with John and Marilyn. We only went to the top of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Not sure how my back would have handled walking up to the crown. Also, I had done the crown with my Grandfather in 1956. Ellis Island was the highlight of the tour and we enjoyed the exhibits. The exhibits were loaded with great photos and items from the late 19th and early 20th Century. We learned about the screening process performed by authorities that did return a small but significant number of persons to their home countries. Most of the screening centered on health issues.

When coming into the harbor the previous day, fog had obscured a lot of the city, but great photos were possible while on the ferry that took us to and from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

BERMUDA

Our next port was Bermuda and we had about a day and a half there. I had booked a tour with Heidi. Our tour included most of the key places listed on her Island Tour:

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2_00003c.htm

The tour was great that everyone seemed to enjoy. We visited the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, beautiful gardens, beautiful beaches, St. Georges, forts, the small drawbridge, and more. A lunch picnic included great fish sandwiches and fries. It ended with a photo opportunity for a beautiful sunset.

The next morning, we had to return to the ship by 11:30AM since the ship departed at noon. We shopped for a couple of hours and returned to the ship.

NASSAU

 

We had not been to Nassau, but didn’t want to take a tour. We could have visited Paradise Island and Atlantis, but this was the end of a 6 week trip and we decided to just walk around the port area. We were not impressed with the shopping area, after about an hour of walking around, so we returned to the ship. The next day we arrived in Miami, picked up our Budget rental car and drove to the Jacksonville airport to pick up my car that had been sitting in the parking lot for six weeks. On returning home the car seemed to be misfiring. I drove slower and steady, but we made it home. The next day, I took the car to the dealer and it the car needed the big tuneup. The car is 9 years old and was almost due for that anyway. Simon, our cat was very happy to see us and for several days has followed us everywhere. It is good to be home.

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Great report; but why not just buy a £100 sat-nav to use with the originally-booked car?

 

Stuart

Stuart, I researched buying a Garmin or TomTom on the internet from the US, but none would ship the item loaded with UK maps to the US. I considered purchasing one in England, but I had no idea where to buy it. I was at Heathrow and scheduled to arrive in Bath this day. Going shopping for such an item would have been difficult.

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Stuart, I researched buying a Garmin or TomTom on the internet from the US, but none would ship the item loaded with UK maps to the US. I considered purchasing one in England, but I had no idea where to buy it. I was at Heathrow and scheduled to arrive in Bath this day. Going shopping for such an item would have been difficult.

We did a self drive tour of Wales years ago with a Garmin we purchased in the US. Before our trip we downloaded maps of Wales and Britain from the Internet. We had no problems finding any of our destinations.

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Great synopsis, George! It was a treat to meet you & Ginny and develop a great friendship, starting at the Dancing Man. The group from all over the globe that evening formed a bond that was amazing! And the Murder at Sea you organized was such fun and resulted in getting to know more fab folks.

 

I highly recommend a pre-cruise gathering the night before boarding if at all possible! We've been fortunate to participate in several of these, including one at DaBaffone in Civitavecchia before our Reflection cruise and an Indonesian Rice Table at Aneka Rasa in Amsterdam before last year's Silhouette B.I. cruise. It takes planning but is well worth the effort!

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Stuart, I researched buying a Garmin or TomTom on the internet from the US, but none would ship the item loaded with UK maps to the US. I considered purchasing one in England, but I had no idea where to buy it. I was at Heathrow and scheduled to arrive in Bath this day. Going shopping for such an item would have been difficult.

 

Shame - had you asked on here, we could have pointed you to a suitable shop en route for Bath.

 

Stuart

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I was able to buy a chip in the US directly from Garmin for the UK. It wasnt expensive. I am not posting for the “shoulda, woulda, coulda” but only to inform others that chips are available.

 

SatNavs/GPS’s are also available in Heathrow and Gatwick although more expensive than a local electronics store.

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Wonderful diary, Papa.....informative, interesting, delightful to read and it brought back so many memories from when we lived in London while DH was working and visited most of the places and towns you did. I was most surprised at Warwick Castle, however, since that was primarily built as a warriors castle and was very foreboding....one I would not expect appealing to families with children. In fact, I found the dungeon with it's various devices for torture to be more than I could handle and had to leave! It's unfortunate that Blenheim had a power failure....that was one of our favorite places along with Winchester, Stratford on Avon (where I learned about ordering ale and cider) and Bath (best pea soup ever in a pub there). We did a B2B on Eclipse this summer and spent the day in Southampton. I know the Holiday Inn you stayed in although we didn't stay there. Since we had to get off the ship for a few hours, we did some touring in Southampton and loved it. In fact, I spoke to our concierge and suggested that X set up a walking tour of Southampton for B2B'ers, since the 2 tours they did arrange, Windsor and Stonehenge, were cancelled due to lack of interest. Anyway, It's wonderful to see you over here....we've finally finished river cruising and now are on our 6th cruise with X. Next up British Isles with Edinburgh Tattoo.

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