It’s not easy posting photos since I have to use my phone to upload them, but I prefer typing up my entry with the keyboard I have for my tablet. And the photos from my camera – well, I have to put its memory card into my phone (which means turning off my phone & removing the current card) yada yada. So not sure when I’ll post photos again, but I will!

So as you could tell from yesterday’s post, we went to Stonehenge in the morning. We vacated the hotel at 8:45 with our bags all packed up again, then Carl drove us to Salisbury. Based upon the description that Judi had give me of her last time at Stonehenge, I wasn’t expecting much. But since her last visit, they’ve really done a lot to let visitors see the stone circle and still keep it protected. The day was breezy and chilly, but those ancient stones were pretty darn nifty!

We then headed on to Bath, a city I have visited before. We got right into the Roman Baths and explored there. I think that has updated some since my last visit – or I just am remembering poorly. Mom and Amy and I then got lunch at The Trinity Pub. I had a steak and ale pie, Amy had fish & chips, and mom had the vegetarian pie (with a curry flavor). It was all tasty and we were the only tourists there.

Back on the road again, we headed on to Exeter to the Mercure Southgate. Earlier in the day, James (our tour guide) had given us name badges, but he took them back before we left the coach. Then at the bar in the hotel (after we’d refreshed a bit), he gave us someone else’s badge and we had to find our own. It was a simple and fun way to meet the others on our tour. When we sat for dinner, Natashia joined us. I had the courgette & thyme soup for starter, baked cod with hollandaise and mashed potatoes (with mustard seed), and maple syrup panna cotta. It was all very lovely. (And I liked the unintended symmetry when I got fish, Amy got curry, and mom got a steak-based meal. Like we rotated from lunch.)

Today we got a slightly later start, which was nice. The Mercure had a full English buffet and it was yummy too. Then we headed out to Plymouth. We had opted to do the boat ride excursion, so we got to travel along the quay and up the river while our captain told us lots of historical facts. He then showed us the Mayflower steps where the pilgrims heading for The New World left by. Then we got back in the bus where we road the ferry across to Cornwall to visit the fishing village of Polperro.

Polperro is a quintessential fishing village. Tiny narrow roads, loads of holiday homes, cute shops, pubs, and lots of Cornish pasties and ice cream. I did not wind up having a Cornish pasty in Cornwall, alas. But we had a wonderful lunch at The Blue Peter at the recomendation of our tour guide, who ate with us. We shared the seafood platter and an order of fish & chips. The crab, shrimp scampi, calamari, scallops, fish & chips were all yummy. Mom and I had scrumpy, which was deceptively mild and tasty.

We popped into a shop on our way back to the coach and I bought a box of shortbread made with clotted cream. And then mom and I got some Cornwall ice cream. Dang, but that’s good stuff! (I’ve had friends tell me that before but this is the first I’ve gotten to try it.) Stuffed to the gills, we returned to the coach.

Carl drove us to Buckfast Abbey next. We had 2 hours there to enjoy the grounds and take advantage of the gift shop. Amy got print-outs on the Shorts and the Andersons which will be interesting to read through. I got some pens and nibs. Mom got a cute sweatshirt with sheeps on it. The grounds had 3 gardens in it, including a lavender garden that looked and smelled lovely. The church was beautiful and an organist was practicing while we were there. It was a very relaxed couple of hours.

We took the scenic route back to Exeter, with Carl moving through winding roads that were almost too narrow for a bus. The Dartmoor lands are gorgeous. I’m glad we went the scenic route (and I didn’t have to watch the people passing us!)

Mom, Amy and I had also opted into the dinner in Kenn. We went to an old pub (built in the 13th century) called The Ley Arms. Knowing full well that we’d picked Fish & Chips for our supper, mom and I still had seafood for lunch. Heh. I also chose the soup (not specified when I picked it) and the sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream. The soup was potato leek, and it was lovely. The fish & chips were also tasty and I discovered that if you put mint into mushy peas, I like ’em! Who knew? I had a Thatcher’s cider and the whole meal was lovely. Plust we got to talk to several other folks from the tour.

After dinner, we walked to the church, which was almost as old as the pub (well, the workmen had to stay SOMEWHERE while the church was being built). The church’s caretaker gave us lots of history about the building. It had 14th and 19th century stained glass, an 11th century font, and 16th century thingummy… term is lost. But it was all in very nice condition – well loved and cared for,

Once we’d gotten back to our rooms, we started preparing for tomorrow. And Amy called dad so we could wish him Happy Father’s Day. But whoops, thats next week! And then the fire alarm sounded! So we stood in disbelief, then sort of got ourselves ready to evacuate. And it went off. Then back on. The gentleman across the hall was wheelchair-bound, so we said we would find a way to help him down stairs. But on our way out the nearest exit, a hotel employee assured us and a few others who’d gathered, that it was a false alarm. Phew!

So we phoned dad to reassure him that we were fine. And now everyone’s asleep except me! good night!

Today was a practically perfect day, starting with the fact that I actually fell asleep last night! It felt so good wandering around London without being exhausted. Here’s hoping I can keep up the good sleep tonight!

We woke up at 6:30am and got ready, then went to breakfast. The hotel has a full English fry up – as a buffet. I had baked beans, fried bread, fried tomato, sausage (more meat than cereal!), two eggs over easy, hash brown patty, banana, and a plum. It was all very yummy. Oh, and really, really weak tea with cream & sugar.

We met the other tour-goers in the lobby for our Regal London tour (part of the package). The coach wasn’t on time, but once it arrived, Sarah (an ex-pat American) gave us an excellent tour. As Amy later remarked, it was nice that the traffic was so bad because we got more interesting facts from her than we probably would have due to the delays. The tour showed us more of London than our Deathmarch of the pervious night (though there was a little overlap). And then Sarah walked our tour over to see something I’d never bothered with on previous London visitis – the changing of the guard at Buckinham Palace. And since tomorrow is the Queen’s “birthday,” she was actally in reidence.

After the tour, mum and Amy and I returned to St. James Park for a reconnoiter to decide upon our next course of action. During the tour, we drove by Borough Market, which Sarah recommended to us claiming that it was one of the factors that convinced her to move from Rome to London. Mom had said that we should go there for lunch, so we did. We bought Oyster cards and took the Jubilee line from Wesminster to London Bridge, then went to Borough Market.

In addition to fresh produce and meat, they have freshly prepared meals as well. We walked through and all decided on what we wanted to eat. I chose a lamb bap from Maria’s Market Cafe and a cider from another booth. It was a tasty sandwich, with rocket and mint jelly. Mom got scallops and Amy got a Cornish pastie. I wasn’t enamored of the cider (their sweet is not as sweet as I like, but enjoyed everything else. We ate next to a Turkish deli and I decided to get some Turkish delights.

We hopped back on the tube to the Baker Street exit to get to Madame Tussauds. The wait to get in was a bit much, but probably no more than the other times I’ve waited. We also decided to pay the £3 extra for the Star Wars exhibit. We had lots of fun posing with celebs and I have posted a few of the images on my facebook if you have one of those. I will get them to LJ one of these days, too!

After Tussauds, we went to find the Sherlock Holmes museum nearby. On our way, we stopped into a couple of shops. One of them had tweed caps, one of which fit me and was only £25, so I bought it. I look cute. Amy got a photo as proof, which I’ll also post when I’m able. We then went to The Volunteer for half pints and a sit down outside. I had Addlestone’s Cloudy cider and mom got Aspall’s cider (which I’d had the day before) and Amy got a London pale ale from a brewer she doesn’t recall. We ate a few pieces of Turkish delight while we relaxed.

We decided to pop into the Sherlock Holmes store (where everything is overpriced according to the lady I bought my hat from. She sells deerstalkers for half the price of the museum store) but not the museum. And then we walked to Regent’s Park for a short walk and a sit down. Then back to the Tube (Jubilee from Baker to Green park, then Victoria to Vauxhall).

One our walk back from Vauxhall last night, we noticed a few eateries and deicded to try one of those for supper. We went to Casa Madiera to their coffee shop side. I had a bacon melt panini and a decadent fruit danish, Amy got a huge avocado salad (with prawn salad, cole slaw, and lots of veggies), and mom got a chicken napoleon or something (chicken and mushroom melt). Supper was very yummy and fairly reasonable in cost.

We returned to our hotel whereupon we’ve been repacking, journaling, talking to dad on the phone, etc. It’s just about time for bed, so I’ll sign off now. Tomorrow we awake even earlier to get on the road proper. By the end of the day tomorrow, we’ll be in Exeter!

My mother, sister, and I have arrived in London safely for the first leg of our Great Britain Excursion. We’re doing a Trafalgar tour through AAA cuz we wanted Easy but Fun. Yesterday, dad dropped us off at the airport and we flew to Charlotte and then on to Heathrow. The flight from Charlotte was delayed about an hour, so we wound up getting into London an hour later than intended. And the gentleman who picked us up for Trafalgar had even more issues with his morning than we did!

However, we got to the Riverside Park Plaza Hotel on the Albert Embankment and then headed off to the Coca Cola London Eye since it was such a beautiful day. I feel sorry for the folks who purchased Fast Passes today since we only waited 15 minutes to get into our carriage. And we were on the ferris wheel for about twice that length of time.

Our room wasn’t going to be ready till 2pm, so we walked toward Trafalgar Square (no relation to the travel company) and wound up popping into The Clarence, a pub just south of the square. Lunch there was lovely. I had steak & ale pie with mashed potatoes and onion gravy. Amy had fish & chips and mushy peas. And mum had a cheeseburger and fries. Everything was yummy. I had cider, Amy an ale, and mum wine.

We returned to the hotel for a much needed rest. But we didn’t want to nap for long or else we’d not be able to sleep tonight. So we just did so for an hour, then we headed off to Harrods. Or as mom wound up calling it, The London Deathmarch. (She said she would have been disappointed if I’d not gotten a London Deathmarch in this trip.) Yeah, so I had a few issues with the mini-map not having the smaller street details, underestimating how long the walk would be, and then having my GPS have kittens while trying to figure out where we were while walking. So it might have taken 2 hours to get to Harrods. But we did!

In previous trips, I’d fallen in love with the Chocolate Bar, a little place to buy hot chcolate and other yummy things. Well, Godiva now runs it, and it’s a bigger place. But the chocolate stuff is still yummy. We split a tomato & mozzarella panini and each had one of their Chilled Chocolixirs (Amy and I opted for dark, mom got milk choc). Was very decadent and wound up filling us enough for supper.

Rather than suffer through another Deathmarch, we took the tube back. Vauxhall station is, I think, the nearest to the hotel. And the walk back from the station was very pleasant and an intreesting walk. I’m really not used to staying in high quality hotels in London.

Later tonight, we went down to the Chino Latino bar in the hotel. Amy recommended a Pimm’s cup to me and we each ordered one, while mom got the bar’s elderflower margarita. The drinks were tasty and they brought us some olives and some crunchy & spicy knurdles that were very tasty. Since we figured dad was out at a bar in Ohio while we were in a bar in Londond, we called him on the offchance that he had his cell phone with him. He did, so we chatted briefly and that just made the night even nicer.

Now Amy is writing in her journal and I am writing in mine and mom is already in her bed. Bed sounds good. Since I didn’t sleep on the flight, I REALLY hope I can sleep tonight!