London and York

   London was fantastic! We did do some  very touristy things but we found our way around the city on our own quite well. Maureen displayed the drill instructor side of her personality and ensured we all got over our jet lag quickly and didnt miss a step. On our first day we were allowed a one hour-ish nap and then we were barked up and out and into the streets. we walked to Piccadilly circus and checked out the sites there and took some pictures (see Facebook) and the kids even got in a little shopping.

   Day two Dad was banished from the shopping excursions and was given the day to himself with only the instructions to meet up at the Hard Rock at 2pm. I am somewhat directionally challenged and the hard rock was quite a long walk from our hotel so i decided to give myself plenty of time. i left the hotel around 11am and walked around Buckingham Palace for awhile and took some pictures and did some serious people watching...pesky tourists everywhere.
   I finally made it to the area near the Hard Rock at around 12:30 and decided that rather than sit in a bar for an hour and half and meet my family on shaky legs i would sit in a cafe and do some reading. I sat there for about 20 minutes when a real life British Tout came up to me and started to try to con me out of money. i was impressed in that he somehow guessed my birthday and was able to guess the number between 1 and 5 i would pick (3) and the flower (Rose) i would choose. Finally he told me that he was looking for 50 pound and would tell me my wife's name if i gave him that amount. I informed him that i already knew my wife's name and promptly got up and went to the bar. Well, I tried to be good.
   I spent my time in the Hard Rock taking pictures and looking at people...young people apparently like to lick each other's tonsils in public in London. Maybe it was like that when i was that age but i seem to remember staring into my beer and grumbling...some things don't change.   the family arrived on time and we got a table and i managed to look somewhat sober.
   We had some great walks around London and some great meals. Most of the meals were in oriental type restaurants though. We did manage a real London Pub on our last night and Dylan had some traditional Fish and Chips while the vegetarians had some odd cheese dishes. There are lots of choices for vegetarians in London which was a pleasant surprise for Oona and Maureen.
   We boarded the bus for York this morning and it took us over an hour just to get out of London due to some traffic redirection for a Bicycle Race this morning. The bus ride was fine although it took 4 hours to get to York and we were all ready for a stretch of the legs.
   Our walk around York was really interesting. This town was both a Roman and a Norman stronghold and you can see evidence of their handiwork around the city. There is a wall that runs around the city that was started by the Romans and finished by the Normans. Much of the city was also destroyed by Henry VIII in his crusade against the Catholics.
   Once the historical portion of the tour was complete i was dismissed by the family so they could go shopping in peace. I am sensing a trend here. I went into the Guy Fawkes Inn to sample some local flavor and found myself among a group of tragic alcoholics sitting staring straight ahead as they drank their beer. As Dorothy said, "there's no place like home".
  Speaking of Dorothy; I neglected to mention that we saw Wicked while we were in London. It was a fantastic play that took a different view of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz. We all enjoyed it and we had great seats to see it.
    We are off to Edinburgh tomorrow for two nights. we're all looking forward to it!

Day one - The Journey and the arrival

8/9/2011

                We left home at around 5:30pm. I was shocked by the amount of luggage we needed but there are 4 of us and we will be away for 2 weeks so I’m sure it’s all necessary although Dylan’s bag was suspiciously larger than the rest of ours.

 The traffic up the turnpike to Newark was light and we made it to the airport in less than an hour. A quick trip to the terminal on the parking monorail and short lines for both the tickets and the security checkin and we were sitting in one of the airport restaurants with 2 hours to spare until boarding.

The restaurant was a nice place with a decent menu and we each ordered dinner. I was surprised to see that the restaurant provided real knives to eat with rather than the plastic knives I’ve become accustomed to behind the security gates since 9/11.

                The flight was on-time in both takeoff and landing and these days that’s about the best you can expect from a flight. When we landed in Heathrowe we hit our first snag; We were supposed to be met by  a car that had been arranged by the tour company but there was no one there waiting for us and when I called the number for the car service they had no record of a reservation for us. Of course cabs are plentiful and expensive just like any city so we were quickly on our way again.The long ride from the airport to the hotel showed no signs of rioting or increased police presence so I guess we didn't go through the affected areas.

                We checked into the Park Plaza hotel just steps away from Westminster. When I mentioned the snag with the transportation to the tour representative she showed an interest that bordered on sleepy. I guess the fact that we were there blunted the drama.We are victims of our own competence.

                The area is beautiful and just what you would want in a location when sightseeing in London. The hotel is quite nice with free internet and a nice pub in the lobby. My hardy bunch of family members are all now in bed while I enjoy a pint of bitter and sit among my fellow countrymen who weren’t lucky enough to have their rooms ready when they arrived before checkin time. A pint of beer, free internet and safely arrived after a 3500 mile journey;  what else can one ask for?

Rioting? Really?

   Apparently the good people of London have decided to put on a show and make our trip more interesting. We're in London until Monday morning so hopefully the increased police presence will keep us tourists safe. At any rate it should make for an interesting story.
    We leave for the airport this evening at about the time the violent thunderstorms are supposed to roll through the area...is someone trying to tell us something?

Preparations for the trip

Well we've all got our own suitcases and they are slowly getting packed for our departure early next week. Maureen and I reviewed our itinerary this morning and it looks like we're going to be exhausted but I'm sure it will be a good type of tired. Our trip looks something like this

• arrive in London and stay for a few days
• Visit York
• Visit Edinburgh
• Visit Isle of Skye
• Visit Glasgow
• See the family
• Head home

All that in 14 days. We had the "no fighting" talk with the male child this morning and will do the same for the female child shortly. While I think we're going to have a great time the pressure of a vacation like this does cause a lot of stress. We just have to keep in mind what our objective is and that's to learn a lot about Britain, see some beautiful sites and make some great memories as a family. No Pressure.

New Camera

in preparation for our trip I got an early birthday present; a new Canon SX30 Camera!

Here are some pictures

McLean

Casa McGovern with Landscaper

Close up of Landscaper working hard

Pat McGovern's Blog

This is our blog. we're going to be taking a trip to the UK this year and I'm going to create a travelog of the places we go and the things we see.