Our trip to England, Ireland & Scotland

The beginning: after a long overnight flight and almost no sleep, we wanted to make the most of London. Too tired to try to figure out the "tube" and needing exercise after sitting all day, we decided to see St. Paul's cathedral, a 30-minute walk from our hotel. This dome was apparently the first in England...they had been done elsewhere for mosques. As this was Sunday, there were services but no tours, so we ducked inside to listen to an organ recital.

  No photos allowed inside, but Gord liked this view of the railings outside.

 The front doors of St. Paul's, with me there to provide some perspective! Christopher Wren, the architect, had rather grand ideas, did he not?

 A friendly stranger snapped this pic of us the same day. That's the Thames, and we are on the Millennium Bridge, which is a footbridge only. The tall building in the right background is called The Shard, office buildings and condos.

 This is the Tower of London, which I discovered is actually a fortress consisting of many buildings. We didn't have time to take the tour on day 2, as we really wanted to take a river cruise down the Thames. On our last day we made it a priority, but for this day we just had to be satisfied with a view from afar.

 Our third day in London, but the first day of our official tour. Here's the Trafalgar bus that would take us and 47 other tourists on a whirlwind tour.

 And our first stop on the first day of our tour was Stonehenge! Unbelievable to be in the presence of something so ancient. I was reminded of some of the ancient Incan structures that we saw with you, Ger & Shirley. No one knows how the stones were raised; there are only theories.

 This was as close as we were allowed to get. Apparently, in the past tourists could actually rent small hammers and hack off a piece of rock to take home! England is taking more care of Stonehenge these days.

The ancient Roman city of Bath. Narrow, winding, hilly streets, and all buildings must be made of the pale stone quarried nearby, to keep a consistent look. We decided not to pay extra to tour the remains of the Roman baths, but enjoyed the sunshine, the shops, and the street musicians.

More to come!