Our day started very early with meeting at the airport at 245 for our 5 am flight! All 9 of us were raring to go with nervous laughs and hugs being shared with parents as we made the trek up the escalator through security.
Our relatively short flight to Toronto was good. We used a luggage service at Union Station after taking the train from the airport to Union Station. We dumped our bags and went to go watch the Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1. Bo Bichette trotted across home plate (a favourite player of mine) and Vladdy hit a home run! It was a good activity to spend the 8hr layover that we had.
Our flight to Paris was very full. Not a single empty seat on the giant plane.
We are on the last leg to Madrid and officially starting day 2!
Everyone has been a trooper with keeping with the group and going with the flow. Day 2 awaits us in Madrid!
Sunny Spain is beckoning to us! Our flights are posted on our EF account along with hotels! The hotels look lovely and I’m thinking we are going to be in for a treat! Our flights are going to give us a great chance to practice being travellers and not tourists as we learn to go with the flow of early mornings and maybe even a Blue Jays game instead of waiting for hours in the airport!
Looking forward to meeting with everyone when all details come in from EF. Money belts, electrical converters, smart packing, smiles and a great attitude are what we are going to be needing!
One last full day in London and we feel like we have seen a lot of things:
We jumped on the tube and took a short ride to Kensington (Queensway).
Kensington Palace tour with viewing of the new statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace. So peaceful and beautiful. The touring the palace had a lot of historical facts about the different royalty who lived there especially Queen Victoria. I loved it all. Allen is such a good sport. ❤️
We jumped on the tube and stopped to check out Harrods. Eeeks. A beauty department store but way out of our league for shopping.
Jumped back on the tube and went to Piccadilly Circus to see the monument and the “Times Square” like activity. The Hard Rock Cafe called us for lunch and some beer and whiskey sours.
We stopped at Westfield Shopping Center on our way back to the hotel to pick up some tea from Whittard’s.
For an afternoon drink, we stopped at the Defector’s Weld. It is a corner pub right close to our hotel. What a charming little place.
For supper, we went to the Chinese restaurant attached to our hotel. Probably the best and most authentic Chinese food we have ever had. We had gone there our first night here and the hostess was so happy that we came again.
Tomorrow we fly home. It has been a wonderful trip and my heel has healed.
Today had us visiting the Tower of London. Having been there before, we knew a little of what to expect so we went directly to the Crown Jewels which was pretty amazing. When we came out of that part that we had just walked in, the line up was easily 400 long.
We went up the White Tower to see the prison. The steps up and down were a lot. Whew.
We grabbed the tube and went to Covent Garden for lunch and for a little people watching.
This afternoon we attended the theatre watching “Mrs Doubtfire!” So good!
Took the tube back to our hotel and hit the Mexican restaurant in the Westfield Shopping Mall.
Aahhh London! It seems silly, but it feels like home.
We started the day by taking the tube and “mind the gap” to the Imperial War Museum. So many incredible artifacts from WW1 and WW2. This one was Allen’s choice. When we study Canadian history, one thinks the Canadians played a huge role and I think they did, but from the British perspective, it was pretty minor, but still important.
We walked from the museum across the bridge in the rain to see Big Ben (he is finally done being refurbished), Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. As we meandered our way eventually to the palace, we stopped at a pub and had the English stand by of fish, chips, peas and a pint!
We began walking again and went through St James Park and saw the Friary Court where the new kings/queens are announced. It is a part of St James Palace. We went over the Mall and saw Spencer House (Diana’s ancestral winter home), Clarence House (where Charles and Camilla live) and Lancaster House which is a govt building, but was used as Clarence House in The Crown. Allen went on a quest for coffee but I just found a spot to soak in the beauty of London and the Palace. ❤️. We checked out Canada Gate, the Canadian memorial pond and then took our pics in front of Buckingham Palace. Ahhhhhh. I could go home now, but we still have a few adventure planned.
We had tickets to the Buckingham Mews today. It allows you to see the stables and the carriages that are used for coronations and weddings. It was pretty cool!
Our feet were getting pretty sore we made our way via the tube back to our hotel, The Dorsett in Shepherd’s Bush. After a short rest, we had our evening meal at an Italian place in Westfield Shopping Mall which is a short walk from our hotel.
17400 steps today! My heel is feeling pretty awesome. My feet are tired at the end of the day, but so are Allen’s and he didn’t have surgery. ❤️
Today we said goodbye to our travel group from GoAhead and started our journey to London for the last leg of our adventure! Fish and chips, mind the gap and paying tribute to late QEII are on the agenda! 👑
The Munich airport had us check our luggage and do immigration out of the EU and on our way within minutes. Why is it always such an ordeal in Canada???
Goodbye Google Translate! You have been very helpful, but I should be good in England without you.
Does the city speak to you? This was a favourite saying of our tour director after we would visit the each German city. Some would; some not as strong
Chocolate: German perspective is that Lindt wins the race. .
We had an uneventful flight to London. Minor problem with a ride to our hotel, but another cabbie came along and the soothing British accent and mild-mannered voice helped ease us on our journey. The Dorsett in Shepherd’s Bush will be home for a few days. The oriental restaurant in the hotel was a welcome change from our sausage diet of the last 10 days. Tomorrow will bring “mind the gap”. Later.
Nymphenburg Palace. Beautiful gardens where many, many runners were exercising. Palace is similar to Versailles. Hunting lodge for the queen was the ultimate she-shed. Some buildings and fixtures were done in baroque pink or sometimes called nipple pink. 🥴
Had a bus tour of Munich. Some of the group was going to Dachau (duk-ow) this afternoon. We were a little rushed lap the tour seemed shortened. That was ok as we are close to information overload.
Allen and I had not signed up for the concentration camp tour as we had visited it before. We and a fellow traveller, Sally, went to visit a Birkenstock store but didn’t find the selection any different from home. We then went to a German staple, the Hofbrauhaus, for lunch. I’ve learned I like dark beers and today had one with lemonade mixed with it. Delicious!
Today we left cute little Bamberg to eventually land in Munich. From Bamberg we drove to Rothenburg which is a Rick Steves favourite stop.
News from the bus:
Autobahn. There are speed limits. It isnt a free for all
Drinking ages: 16 for beer and wine. 18 for hard stuff
Bamberg means garden city and famous for planting flowers, trees, vegetables. There is a Bamberg potato that is cooked and tastes better than regular potatoes. A little nutty. This is the center for plant breeding.
Bosch: spark plugs are made here.
My thoughts on travelling: I love it. It reinforces our heritage and history. There is a reason that we do what we do and why we do it. It lets us experience new things, such as food, places, and people. It makes us appreciate home all the more as we live in a lovey lovely country: Family, friends, and my pets❤️. Our tour group is truly an eclectic group of people with all kinds of personalities. You can bop around and visit with someone different every day and learn something new and interesting every day. This trip has some couples, some groups of friends (2 or 3), and quite a few singles. Everyone has a story that that they may or may not share: doctor from Kansas, people trying to reconnect with family in Germany, just wanting to explore, some retirement trips. One sad story was a husband and wife were to come on the trip and the husband passed so the woman’s brother in law stepped in to replace his brother to travel with his sister in law so she didn’t have to cancel. A lot of wives came without their husbands as “he has no interest in travelling”. One man came without his wife. They believe that one should stay home with their kids so they take separate vacations to give stability to the kids. Sounds fishy to me 🥴 One lady had foot reconstruction surgery in February so is finding the cobblestones difficult to navigate. I can sympathize with her a lot, but my Achilles hasn’t really bothered me as much as I had feared it would. Everyone has a reason and story.
On our drive this morning, we went through the German countryside to see the agricultural sector. Not quite the same as Saskatchewan.
A lot of yellow buildings with red rooves. It sure feels like home ❤️
On a different trip, our travel mates were fascinated by seeing deer; this trip it is a real commotion to spy a storks nest on the roof of homes. Usually only found in the countryside.
Rothenburg:
When the money tinkles in the collection plate, you elevate to heaven.
This is a quaint little town that is a medieval town with a protective wall and everything in the wall is old – really old. The famous Christmas decoration store is here Kathe Wolfarht has two stores here. A few treasures may have been purchased here. 😊.
On the drive to Munich – our last city in Germany! Pretty quiet trip. Began the movie, “Bridge of Spies” with Tom Hanks.
ygtravellers 