Our first steps in Europe

The morning started early as planned, we were on the bus at 5:00 am local time. We drove to Dover where I saw the white cliffs for the first time in my life,  Barb has been here before traveling to Paris but it is all new to me from this point.  The trip across the English Channel was good, the weather was good, not much wind so the seas were pretty calm, which we appreciated.

We landed in Calais France. You may have heard recently of the problem with the immigrants fleeing to get away from the fighting going on over there with ISIS and they have found their way to France and are trying to sneak in through the Euro Tunnel to get to Britain.  It is a pretty serious problem right now and we saw an area of where they have created their own little camp. It is really sad to see.

We drove through France, then through Belgium to the Netherlands.  Our guide on our tour is from New Brunswick and Barb and I are the only other Canadians on this tour.  We have a young lady from Shanghai, and the rest are from Australia except for three couples from New Zealand.  They are all very nice people and already we are having a great time.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 4:00 pm, we are now on European Time, 6 hours ahead of Ontario. Tonight we had a dinner cruise through the canals of Amsterdam and what a site. Apparently I have broken the ice, inadvertently, I told Sofia, our Tour Director and guide that I had an allergy to nuts as most of you reading this know. I'm okay around any form but cannot ingest them, so as the cruise started she came down the middle of the boat pointing out the special requirements of this group to the waiter,  This lady likes gluten free, the Sikh couple do not eat pork and we have someone who is vegetarian, Then Sofia asks where is Dave with no nuts!!!  I believe that I may get a new name tag tomorrow,

The buildings seen from the many canals here in Amsterdam are wonderful to see, the two above are significant. The bottom picture is the home where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazi's and the church above she wrote about in her diaries saying that the church bells were her only link to the outside world. They are very close to one another.

Along the canals are house boats that are now permanent, some are really incredible and are permanent residences that can sell for the same amounts and a condo in Downtown Toronto if not more.

It is gay pride week here this week and Saturday is the big floating parade through the canals of Amsterdam. It would be great to see but unfortunately we will not be here on Saturday.

Tomorrow we travel to a diamond factory and a place where they make the wooden clogs here in the Netherlands, then off to a local home / restaurant for a traditional Dutch dinner.  We have a couple of hours of free time in the late afternoon where we might look around the main city core before dinner then we are going to the Red Light District after dinner with another couple from down under to explore. If you are in Amsterdam, we think that we just have to see this famous area.

It is  9:45 pm, Barb is already asleep and I'm going to bed as well. It was a very long day, but we enjoyed every minute. I think we have chosen the right tour for what we wanted, at least based on day 1.  28 more to go!!!

Bye bye London

You know it was a slow day when I post twice. We are switching to evening posts because it will probably be the only time we will have for the rest of this tour. If you are reading this around 11:30 pm Eastern Time, think of us, we will be up and leaving London.

It has been two weeks here in the UK and frankly, it is time to move on.  Central London is so busy, we are learning that we have to remove our natural Canadian ways of letting people go ahead of us or stepping to one side to let them by. In popular and over packed tourist areas, this doesn't work. I actually had a younger girl come past me with her arm and elbow across her chest to push me away!  It didn't work, I didn't move and she stepped to the side.

We are also a little tired of trying to figure out how to cross streets over here, there are no stop signs anywhere and cars always come at us in so many different directions and unlike Canada, the cars have the right-of-way.

After watching the changing of the guards this morning just after the bus tour, I was on a mission and I found it, one of the very few establishments in the world where I was helped out due to too much drink.  No, it didn't happen today but about 15 years ago, on a Sunday when I was working over here. I could not take a picture back then for obvious reasons, so I had to get one today.

So today we went to Canada House, where the high commission is here in London.  They would not let us in, or anyone for that matter.  I told them, two Canadians and we cannot come in? Our goal here was to get another pin representing Canada. Barb lost hers and we wanted to replace it before heading to Europe. One man at the door told us to wait outside and he would check to see if they had any.  He came back empty handed and again, I was a bit ticked.  So I asked him for his, it was a pin with the Union Jack flag of England and a Canadian Flag, perfect for Barb since she was born here. It worked, he gave us his pin.

We have exchanged our British money for Euro's so we are all set for Europe.  And our final meal here in London.... what else, fish and chips, they were wonderful.

So favourite word from London, "tad". Remember when we were on the bus to Bournemouth and we were late.  When we finally arrived, the driver thanked us for riding with the company and sorry for being a tad late.  A TAD!!  2 1/2 hours is not a tad in my books, but what do I know.  So hopefully we will post again soon, but we might be a tad late next time.

So long London, until we return again one day.

Playing in the Queens backyard

Yesterday we were up, had our breakfast then headed off for our tour of Buckingham Palace.

We thought our visit to the palace would likely take 45 minutes to maybe an hour.  We were wrong.  We would recommend to anyone who is in London to try to get tickets to tour the palace.

Beginning at the Royal Muse which is the stable area where the royal horses are and also the many carriages used by the royal family for their celebrations, weddings and official business travels. These carriages up close are amazing and to see them and know that this one is one the queen used for this event, or this one is the carriage for that wedding is a treat.

 

 

The insignia on the carriages are painted by hand, no stencil or guide, but hand painted.

 



 

There are many families who live and work at the palace, those who have irregular hours get to live here and usually all family members end up working here. In this picture below you can see the balconies of those families who live at the Royal Muse.

My son Ryan has toured Buckingham Palace, but this year the entrance into the palace is through the main entrance from the rotunda and up the grand staircase. Apparently this year is the first time they have allowed the public to enter this way and it is spectacular. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but trust us, this was well worth it. We spent an hour touring the mews and another two hours in the palace, and when we were done, the tour ends at the back of the palace where there are over 39 acres of grounds.

I asked the young lady in the picture above what it was like to work at the palace. She told us that when she was in training, she saw Kate and Prince George out on the grounds playing. There is a sand area that they take him to that apparently he loves. She seemed quite happy to be working there.

Of course we had to have a cup of tea at the café looking out over these grounds. It was just wonderful sitting here in the Queen's backyard.

We have had another memorable day.  This was officially day 1 of our tour, but for many it was a travel day to get here to London.  Tomorrow we have a local tourist bus tour of the sites in London, which we will go on and hopefully we will meet many of our travelling companions who will be with us in Europe.

We also found out that on Thursday we will be up at 3:30 am for our trip to Dover to get a ferry and cross the English Channel heading to Amsterdam. So one more full day in London today and in bed early.  Our updates may not be as regular since we don't know our daily schedule, but we will stay in touch through this blog as much as we can to keep everyone updated of our travels, We know through your comments that you are enjoying it!

 

London and Happy Birthday Barb

We are now in Central London, right across the street from the Marble Arch. The move from Bexleyheath went well but we arrived too early to check in so we took a walk to the post office and then found a pub. Imagine that!  We love London, Barb was born here and has been back a few times and I used to work here so we feel very safe and comfortable.  So much that apparently I had enough beer to get hiccups. Fortunately I can get rid of them quickly.

No really I was curing my hiccups!

Last year I found out that Barb has never seen The Phantom of the Opera, one of my all time favourite plays. So for her birthday last February, I bought her tickets to see it here in London and last night was the night. First though we had to celebrate (yes my hiccups were gone). We had dinner at a steak house in Piccadilly Circus.  This area is a very popular part of London.

Maybe it is our age, or just the way we think, but we really appreciate good service and I'm sure to be a waiter here in this part of London, you must be the best.  We were not disappointed. Let me share something that happened and made me so impressed. There was a table that I noticed with a family with two small boys and each were given a balloon. One of the boys let his go and up to the ceiling it went, It was too high for him to reach but not for a standing adult, so the hostess at the door immediately came over with another piece of ribbon, collected the balloon and tied the other piece to it so the boy would not lose it again. His family hadn't even noticed the balloon up on the ceiling and the boy was very happy to have it returned. That is what I call being aware and providing exceptional service.

Our waiter was great, happy, dancing around and being very friendly. He asked if we were celebrating anything and I told him it was Barb's birthday.... last February. So we had a great meal and then he brought us a small piece of cheesecake with a lit candle and made her stand up while he made a very loud announcement to everyone that it was Barb's birthday and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her, led by our waiter. So much fun.

 

Finally we were off to see the play, at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was fantastic, we both really enjoyed it,

Tomorrow Buckingham Palace and maybe even a visit to see the crown jewels and no Bruce I'm not going to try to make the guards laugh.

Visiting Brian one last time

It rained again for most of the day today here in London. Frankly we are not totally happy with the weather here but it is typical for the UK.  Today we went to Brian's house in Barnehurst, which is only a short ride on the bus from where we are staying. 

We made one short stop along the way at the town centre of Bexleyheath to pick up some supplies. While we were in our favourite grocery store, we must have looked silly, taking pictures at one isle.  Look what we have here.

 

 

Hot Dogs here are sold in jar's or cans, soaking in brine.  We have never seen this before.

 

Then off to Brian's house. It is a nice place and he was a bit concerned that he didn't have anything like beer or such for us to drink. We told him that was not important and not to worry, but he went rummaging through his garage and found this little item from back when his parents were alive. Any Harry Potter fans our there?

 

 

Yes this actually is Mead, which we found out is fermented honey, 14.6% alcohol and I'm sure it is good, but we didn't have him open it as he doesn't drink and we would not be able to take it with us. I was pretty sure we couldn't finish the bottle so it remains in tact.

 

So we had a nice day at Brian's home, looking over old letters, documents and pictures from many years ago.  Barb was extremely grateful to have the opportunity to look at them all.  We have many pictures of her family right back to her grandparents. Here is just a very small sample.

 

 

This is a very young Carol, Barb's sister being held by Scotch Gran,

 

 

And of course wee Barb

 

Brian prepared a wonderful lunch for us and the day passed quickly. We could not thank him enough for his hospitality during our time here in Bexleyheath. It has been wonderful.

 

 

 

Today we pack up and head to Central London and the hotel where our tour begins on Tuesday. We will remain in London until Thursday so we still have a few more adventures here in the UK.



Visiting Dave's Family

First off as we closed off our last post, Friday was a quiet day, it rained all day here in London so as planned, it was laundry day. We decided to order a "proper" English Breakfast on Friday with bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, beans, toast and coffee.  A wonderful and filling breakfast to get us through the day. Now off to the Laundromat or Launderette as they are known here, where we took the time to clean up things after almost two weeks of travels.  I guess we got hungry!!!

 

Yesterday (Saturday) was our planned visit to my family in Bournemouth. The plan was to get a car and drive there but the prices here in London are quite high, so we started to look for other options. Train to Bournemouth is also costly so we decided on taking a Coach Bus.  It was supposed to be about 2 1/2 hours by bus. Apparently this is one of the most popular weekends for travel here in Britain, being the beginning of quarter term with schools out, the bus trip took nearly 4 hours and the air conditioning on the bus wasn't working despite the driver telling us it was on while he sat in his soaking wet shirt. 

Now a bit of family history here on my side. During World War II, my grandfather Henry on my Mom's side was a very young boy here in London along with his brother Edward (Uncle Ted). With the bombs dropping down on London, Henry and Edward were to be sent to Canada with many other young British children for safety.  Somehow my grandfather and uncle got separated and Uncle Ted did not end up traveling to Canada. It was many, many years until they were reunited again, when I was a boy of around 9 or 10. June showed us a picture she has of their first visit to Canada with Uncle Ted way back in time.

So our visit was to once again meet my cousins, mainly June and Rowland, their daughter Lisa and her companion Mike. Cousin Mary was also there with her daughter and Mike's daughter, granddaughter and one of his son's also came to visit with their families. We thank them for dropping in. Other than June, Rowland and Lisa, I had never met any of the others.

 

Lisa and Mike have a lovely home, fed us very well and we enjoyed our time there, even though it was shorter than planned.  Next time we promise to stay in the area of Southern England for at least a few days instead of a few hours. The country in the south is beautiful.

Rowland and Mary picked us up at the station after waiting for over an hour for us to finally arrive, then June and Rowland drove us back to the bus station that evening.  Rowland is a great driver who taught me how to drive the round-a-bouts about 14 years ago and I am still grateful. There are rules to these that they don't tell you about when you rent a car here.

Our journey home took us to Portsmouth for a 20 minute stop over, what a fantastic area this is.
We finally arrived back in Bexleyheath just past midnight after another 4 hour trip home. A long journey for a short visit, but we were both so very happy to see everyone again.

More family history - that long walk to Scotland and back

For the past two days Barb and I have walked all through London, I was sure we would see Scotland soon!!  We both like to have things all planned out so we know what to expect, so on Wednesday we decided to find our Hotel in Central London where we will be next week. As I mentioned in another post, not all underground stations have lifts (elevators) so, we wanted to find a route where we would not have to carry our luggage up many flights of stairs. Many stations do not even have escalators. With this in mind we have decided we no choice but to use the trains, and then we will take a short cab ride to our hotel.

So then off for a little walk. There is a lovely park across from this Central London hotel, which never seemed to end. We soon found out that we were in Hyde Park, 142 hectares (352 acres)!! We walked most of it then continued from the park to Kensington Palace.

Later that evening, we met up with Brian and he suggested we go see a movie! Not something we would normally do while traveling but we saw Love and Mercy, the story of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. We recommend this one to you it was a very good choice.  Afterwards, Barb's cousin suggested we try a Tapas Spanish restaurant called Andalucia, it was new for us but wonderful. We also enjoyed the Sangria and Margaritas!

Yesterday was another day devoted to tracing Barb's past. We started off in Hounslow to find the home of her English Grandparents on her Mom's side. The current owner of this home even allowed Barb and Brian to enter to see the inside  ... something they were not expecting.

Now to trace the route from this home to the Church where Barb's parents were married. Unfortunately the church was not open to go in while we were there, but we found it and it's still in operation.

Now off to where the reception was held, a pub called the Red Lion, It is still there and has been preserved so it looks very much like it did back then, 74 years ago, at least on the inside, The owner took us around to show us the old stables, hay loft, and even the original ladies room when they finally allowed women into the saloon area.  She also came out with some old pictures from the 1950's about the time when her parents were there. The Pub dates back to the 1880s,

Next up, a family mystery. When we found the burial records for her Scotch grandparents, a last known address for her Scotch Gran was 39 Thorpebank Road, in Shepherd's Bush and Barb does not remember anything about this address. She thought that her Scotch Gran lived with her family after her grandfather past away.  So we went to this address and found the house, it is the white one.

 

We will investigate this further when we get home, maybe Carol remembers something about this home.

And finally we went to find the home that Barb was born in, also in Shepherd's Bush. I was getting tired and cranky by this time, but Barb said there was a pub right across the street from this home, so my hopes were lifted and off we went.

As you can see the home is currently under renovations so we really could not see it well so this was a little disappointing, but she was right, there was a pub across the street....

As you can see the Pub has been closed up.

We found another one for a quick drink then had dinner at a Turkish restaurant, again something new that we would have not done without Brian suggesting it, and it was wonderful. We thank Brian for taking a day out of his schedule to come around with us ... I'm sure we would still be out there walking without his help!

Today will be a quiet day for us. It is raining here, so I think it is going to be laundry day!

Welcome to London

Well here we are at stage 2 of our trip.  We have left Scotland and while we enjoyed our time there Dave in particular was happy to leave this place of cold temperatures, constant wind and too much rain which Barb calls mist.  Did you see that picture of me at Edinburgh Castle?  MIST? I would certainly come back to Scotland, we have many more things to see and do up there.

So our word of Scotland for those who are playing along is AYE. A wonderful and often used word up there meaning yes.  See Bruce you will learn even more words from us,

We were up early yesterday for our drive back to the Glasgow airport then on the plane to London. We hopped on to the tube at Heathrow to travel to Charing Cross station.  We did discover that the underground is not totally handicap friendly, no Lifts (Elevators). Imagine Barb and I lugging our 20 Kg bags up more than one flight of stairs.  Actually on two occasions, a gentleman grabbed Barb's bag and carried it up for her,  Not for me!!!

At Charing Cross we ran into this fellow.

 

Oh Look!  Sunshine and warm weather

 

 

 

 

For those who were at Barb's 60th birthday party you may remember Brian. He lives here in Bexleyheath, part of London and where we are staying for the next 6 days. Transit here is the best I've ever seen so far and with Brian's advice we have an Oyster card which allows us to travel on the underground, trains and buses throughout London. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea outside of a nice park here. Scones, Jam and Clotted Cream, Barb says what could be better.  I was staying away from the Clotted Cream.  At this rate we should be 300 pounds before we come home,

 

 

 

Brian took us to a restaurant last night called Toby Carvery, kind of an all you can eat buffet, but the food was incredible, fresh turkey, pork, roast beef and lamb all carved off the bone and on to your plate.  Yorkshire pudding the size of a bowling ball (5 Pin), roast potatoes and many different vegetables and it was incredible. This was a favourite place for Brian's parents, Aunt Ruby and Uncle Frank, to come and enjoy.

 

Barb had the best "crackling" ever here last night. We will leave it to you to research what this is!

 

 

 

Today to travel to Central London to have a look around. Just walking around today to burn off some of this fabulous food. We booked a tour of Buckingham Palace for next week and are excited about this. 

Family History Day

Today is our last full day in Scotland.  We are up early tomorrow to fly to London.  So one reason we came to Glasgow was to do some tracing of. Barb's family. Carol we hope you are reading along like we know Jess is. Barb's Dad was born up around Airdrie, actually he was born in Bellshill which is very close to Airdrie.  So we headed out in the car today, first stop was at Motherwell for the North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre.  We are very new to genealogy so when the lady looked at us she could see that we had no idea where to begin. We knew where her grandparents were buried but that was about it. Such helpful ladies at this heritage centre, they took us to a computer and very quickly with the information we had, brought up the local Death records for the approximate years, and found the government records for her grandfather.

Next we were allowed to view the Bothwellpark Cemetery records, three rather large ledger books where the cemetery administrators wrote the information for every person who was buried here. Look what we found.

 

These are the hand written entries for Barb's Grandfather and Grandmother, Scotch Granddad and Scotch Gran.  Pretty impressive to us.  Now off to the cemetery where we knew they were buried.

A msn who worked there helped us find the burial plot, it took him a while to find it. We didn't know if we would find anything and initially all he pointed out was a grass area where they were buried with no stone or marker.  The area is very old and many stones have fallen.  Then all of a sudden I found it. The gentleman was kind enough to place it back on the gravesite.

Very emotional but we were both extremely pleased to find this. The stone says at the top

 A Token of Respect

To

Frederick William Worton

 

From Andrew Allan and Sons.  New house

There is no mention of his wife but we know from the family that she was cremated a few years later after he passed and was interned in the same plot.