Highlights of Great Britain St. Andrews to Land’s End

Gloria, Micky and me!

As some of you may know, I recently returned from Great Britain where I took a fabulous tour with CIE Tours. My traveling companion was my long-time Friend, Gloria Summers. We have known each other since 3^rd grade, and we enjoyed our time together tremendously. I thought I would share some of the places we visited while on our vacation.

We arrived in London at 6:39 AM on May 15. Unfortunately, neither of us could sleep on the plane, and we could not check into our hotel until 2:30 that day. Although extremely tired, we functioned on adrenaline and after a short walk around the charming city of Windsor, we attended church at St. John’s Parish Church, which was built in 1820. We enjoyed the lovely music and the quaint service. Here are a few pictures of St. John’s.

Our hotel, lovely spacious room, so unexpected!

St. John's Parish Church

That afternoon, we met our tour director, Phil and the other passengers for our travels. Then we visited Windsor Castle and the queen was in residence! I didn’t get to see her, but thoroughly enjoyed touring the castle. Here are some pictures of my visit there and my walk around of the city.

Windsor Castle, and the queen is in residence!

The next three days we visited the west country and enjoyed it tremendously. At Land’s End, I ate my first Cornish pasty and loved it. I also discovered Marsfield's ice cream, yummy! Here are pictures of this beautiful part of England.

Stonehenge is amazing!

Salisbury Cathedral

Land's End is the most southwest point of England, just beautiful!

One of the highlights of my trip was my short visit to Bath. I actually was able to visit the pump room and the Roman Baths! I felt as if I had just stepped back into Regency England and could see the gentry promenading around the room taking the waters. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

The pump room

Roman Baths, built in the middle of the first century!

During my stop in Cardiff, I was able to meet Carol Cork. We have been friends for several years on Facebook and it was great to at last meet face to face. She attended the Welsh dinner and entertainment. The food was fantastic, from the Salmon pate to the roasted chicken, cooked to perfection, and the delicious pudding and the entertainment was incredible. The performers were energetic and had fabulous voices!  

Carol and I had a lovely visit!

The next few days, we traveled through Wales, absolutely gorgeous. Watched a sheep farmer train herding sheepdogs, drove through the Lake district along Lake Windermere, then stopped in Gretna Green at the Blacksmith’s Shop where so many Regency couple eloped. Gretna Green is still a very popular place to tie the knot. In fact, a wedding was taking place while I was there!

Gretna Green 

Our first night in Edinburgh, we attended a marvelous dinner show at Prestonfield Center. The food was great and so was the entertainment. The next day, I toured Edinburgh castle and walked around the old and new city. Hint, the new city was built during the Georgian period, so it is still over 250 years old!

Scottish night of entertainment. I even tried Haggis, tasted a bit like Spam!

Edinburgh Castle

This is how I spent the first week of my trip. I’m so glad I could experience this. Hope you enjoy my pictures. Next week, I'll shared my second week. And as always, happy reading!