R. Craig Collins > Web Page Design > Portfolio > Great Britain

Winter 2018, London & Edinburgh, Great Britain © R. Craig Collins, 2018/9

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Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable

To the travel blog, and of course the pictures, more being added daily
Link to pictures on Facebook, details coming soon

PLANNING ITEMS

Paddington Station, London
Kings Cross Station London
Waverly Station, Edinburgh
Playfair Hotel, Edinburgh
Edinburgh, things to do
Shepherd's Bush area from last trip
Sapphire Hotel
Brighton
St. Alban
York

To the travel blog, and of course the pictures, more being added daily

Fridge scrabble, teasers of pictures to come...


Link to pictures on Facebook, details coming soon


More Maps Below     
Edinburgh

London

The Trip

Saturday, Austin to Atlanta to London, scratched, Austin to London Direct
Sunday, London Heathrow to Paddington to Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverly
Monday, Holyrood, Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, Christmas Market
Tuesday, Edinburgh Waverly to London Kings Cross to Shepherd's Bush
Wednesday, Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Boardwalk, then Train to St. Alban's Cathedral, Verulamuim, Christmas Market
Thursday, York National Railway Museum, St. Mary's, Yorkshire Museum, Yorkminster, Barley Hall, Shambles, Merchant Adventerers Hall, York Castle, Viking Center, Christmas Market, Henry VII/Micklegate Bar
Friday,
Saturday, Travel

(Scroll down for A LOT OF DETAILS on places visited, and of course, the pictures once we return)

Under construction, later scroll down for TONS of info... travel blog will be finished shortly... honest.
Link to pictures on Facebook, details coming soon

Saturday. Dec 15:

11:30am Head for Austin
12:45 FastPark & Relax
1:05 Check in and verify Passports
1:10 Pick up our £300 that we ordered
2:40 Lunch at Mad Greens, Cesar flatbread $9.80
3:30 Boarding begins, but halts after Zone 1
5:30 Light still out in emergency door, We were not going to make our connection, so Pam and Irene from Delta worked with us, and put us on the direct British Airways
6:15 Board BA #190 flight to London, seats 47 J and K.

On our flight we had Pasta, and sticky toffee.

Sunday, Dec 16:
9:45 Land Heathrow, but we had a wait on the ramp, and finally took a bus to Customs, which went quickly.
We took advantage of our BritRail to take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington, activated our Brit Rail pass, and then used or Tube pass to ride to King's Cross on the Circle line.
12:15 We boarded the LNER train seats F72-73 on the train to Edinburgh.

5:08 pm, arrived Waverly station and we walked past the Balmoral hotel to the Playfair Hotel

5:28 pm, arrived Playfair Hotel, and got checked into room 8, downstairs opposite the street.

The Playfair Hotel, Edinburgh

We had seen a Wetherspoon pub on our way in, and we knew they had good food and great prices, so we
headed to the Playfair Pub for dinner.

The very cool latte machine for Susann

We shared Fish & Chips with peas and a Wiltshire ham and cheese pannini, Susann has a Latte £11.35

After dinner, we headed to Princes Gardens, and the Christmas fair

Museum on the Mound, on the left


Across the street was the Old Waverley, where we stay years ago

Scottish National Gallery

Museum on the Mound, above the market

Museum on the Mound, above the market

It had been a long day, so back to the hotel, stopping at a Sainsbury to buy cookies £1, and
passing some neat architecture such as the Observatory bar, and the Playhouse.

Approaching the Playfair hotel

8:30 pm, Watched the British version of the Chase on telly, and settled in for the night.

Monday, Dec 17:

6:30 am, Up to a cool morning, and started planning our day.

The view out of our room

8:00 Time for a Full English Breakfast

Eggs, beans, bacon, sausage, potatoes, juice, coffee, and tea at the hotel;
we skipped the black pudding

9:00 It was time to reacquaint ourselves with Edinburgh; this is the Omni Center, just past the pub on Leith street, near Calton Hill

Looking up Calton Hill

Love the architecture

Assembly Hall, as we go up to the Royal mile, to get to Edinburgh castle.

The Royal Mile, near Edinburgh Castle, looking toward the Camera Obscura, and St. Giles...
later we walk the Royal mile to the Palace of Holyrood

Our route

Edinburgh Castle

9:30 Exchanged our vouchers for tickets by the Portgullas, and took in the views from the ramparts. Looking over the city, from the Castle

1:00 o'clock gun

Near the War Museum

We went to the National War Museum, Royals Scots Dragoons, and the Royal Regimental Museum

Prison, near the latrine.

St. Margaret's Chapel

Catapult

Stone of Destiny and Honours (Crown Jewels)

Scottish War Memorial

We then headed back to the Royal Mile, got some souvenirs £ 23.77, then headed to St. Giles

On our last trip, we ate here with the Girls

1:00 pm Palace of Holyrood, we toured the inside again, but no pictures allowed.

We then strolled through the ruins of Holyrood Abbey, and the grounds

Heading out from Holyrood, to Calton Hill

Burns Monument on Calton Hill

Looking back at the Hill called Arther's Seat

On to the other sites on Calton Hill

City Observatory

Gardener's Cottage

Nelson's Monument

Nelson's Monument, with Edinburgh Castle in the distance, and the Balmoral

The City Dome

3:30 Wetherspoon Playfair pub, £6.94

We headed to Waverly train station, and made our seat reservations for the trip back to London


then headed back to the hotel to freshen up.

6:00 pm, Back to the Christmas Fair

Helter Skelter

Then we wandered over to see the ice skaters, behind the Waverly hotel in St. Andrew's Square

Some little ones had sleds

Pretty cool percussion band, on our way back to the hotel.

8:00 pm £ 7.15 Steak and Gravy pie at Playfair pub

8:30 back to the hotel.

Tuesday, Dec 18:
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Starts sprinkling on our way to the staion

9:30 Board the train, great views of the countryside and sea

2:49 Kings Cross to Goldhawk Tube station, then walked to the Sapphire hotel, found a note directing us to the Pearl hotel. We got room 31.

3:30 walked to the William Morris pub, a Wetherspoon, and had BBQ Chicken, £9.18

5:00 Back to the hotel

6:15 Shepherds Bush to Tottenham, then walked to the Shaftesbury Theatre.

7:10, Shaftesbury Theatre: exchanged our vouchers, and got upgraded from last row to floor, M 32-33 for Motown, the Musical.

10:15 back to Shepherds Bush, stopped by M&S for cookies, £ .54

Wednesday, Dec 19:

About 1:30 am, we got a text telling us they would pick us up for our airport transfer... at the wrong hotel. We'd worry about that after getting back to sleep.

Big day, Brighton and the Royal Pavilion and the Palace Pier in the Morning, and St. Alban's in the afternoon and evening... really taking advantage of our BritRail pass.

8:00 But first, breakfast.



We passed on the beans, just cheese, toast, eggs, and drinks


Back to the room to pack, the view out of our room.

9:00 We walked to the Overland station at Clampton Junction, near the hotel, and boarded the Themes link train.
One of the many stops heading to Brighton

10:30, arrived Brighton, and headed to the Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Begun in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811, and then King George IV. It is built in the Indo-Saracenic style prevalent in India for most of the 19th century. The current appearance of the Pavilion, with its domes and minarets, is the work of architect John Nash, who extended the building starting in 1815. The interiors are a fanciful take on what a person who had never visited must have thought India looked like. Queen Victoria didn't like how far it was from the sea, so moved the Royal vacation spot to the Isle of Wight, and sold the pavilion to the City of Brighton in 1850.



No pictures allowed until the end of the tour, in the room set up for Christmas photos.

12:30, we walked to the Palace Pier, as the RAIN just swamped us.

We made our way to the Palm Court for Chicken, Calamari, Onion Rings, Brie, and Mushrooms, £20

1:58 Themes Link train through London, headed for St. Albans.


3:45 Arrive in St. Albans

St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north, and it became the Roman city of Verulamium. St Albans takes its name from the first British saint, Alban. The medieval town grew on the hill to the east of Wæclingacaester where the Benedictine Abbey of St Albans was founded by Ulsinus in 793. The present building was begun in 1077. St Albans Abbey was the principal abbey medieval in England. The first draft of Magna Carta was drawn up there and was made a cathedral in 1877.

St Albans School was founded in AD 948, and it is the only school in the English-speaking world to have educated a Pope (Adrian IV). It was quit a walk to the Cathedral, passing the Clock Tower on the way.

We dropped in a £1 for the organ repair fund, and walked around the outside of the cathedral, and over to the school.

From here, we circled the grounds again, and checked out the Christmas market before heading back to town.

5:00, Found a wonderful Wetherspoon pub made of centuries old barns... broccoli soup and cottage pie £8.64; but the pub itself was the treat.

6:00 Themes line to St. Pancras, to Picadilly
7:00 Walked to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, as we had three years previous.

8:30 Tube back to near the hotel, grabbed some cookies at the Tesco across from the hotel, £2.79

Thursday, Dec 20:

National Railway Museum, St. Mary's, Yorkshire Museum, Yorkminster, Barley Hall, Shambles, Merchant Adventerers Hall, York Castle, Viking Center, Christmas Market, view exterior of Henry VII/Micklegate Bar

7:20 Goldhawk to Kings Cross station, and board our LNER train to York

9:50 Breaks log up about 10 miles from York, eventually they unlocked

10:20 Arrive at the York Railway Museum

Aside from trains and cars, they had furnishing from stations, and china services, etc.

11:20 we left the museum and headed into York, this was across the street from the station

11:20, arrived at the Punch Bowl, a Wetherspoon pub that used to be a Tory watering hole.


Eggs bennedict, hash browns, coffee and tea, £8.00

The rain started, as we headed for the Information center, and to exhange our vouchers for the York passes.

We then headed to York Minster.

The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria.

In 741, the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure, and the church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, and then the Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220... building continued into the 15th century.

We then went to Barley Hall, medieval townhouse, built around 1360 by the monks of Nostell Priory

We then strolled though the Shambles

Jorvik Center;Jorvik was the original name of York under the Vikings, and the center had archeology, and an interactive tour through a exhibit on what the city was like during the viking times.

We wandered to Cliffords Tower, then back to the Shambles for shopping. £6.00


We went to the York Castle Museum, which was outfitted with Victorian rooms, a full Victoria street, as well as a museum in the prison area about the '60s.

Historical artifacts through the ages


The Prison area


The 60's exhibit



Then it was back to Clifford's Tower

Clifford’s Tower is the largest remaining part of York Castle, once the centre of government for the north of England. William the Conqueror's 11th-century timber tower on top of the earthen mound was burned down in 1190, and the present 13th-century stone tower was probably used as a treasury and later as a prison.

We then went to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, a guild hall; the majority of the Hall was built in 1357, and served the Merchant Adventurers company who proved space within for a hospital and chape.
The Hall still belongs to the Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York, however the focus is no longer dedicated to mercantile activities but now as a charitable membership group





The 14th century Shambles,an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market, had a Christmas Market, and we visited the Story of Chocolate.


5:00 Punch Bowl pub for dinner. £10.89 for Turkey, Mash, pigs in blankets, and Tomato soup.




630 Train back to Kings Cross where we saw the Harry Potter 9 3/4 platform.

Friday,  Dec 21:
British Library, British Museum, National Gallery

After a light breakfast, we headed to the British Library


Lots of original manuscripts from the Magna Carta to Beatles lyrics, but no pictures allowed.

The Tower of London area




St. Paul's area, and the Themes


The Old Globe Theatre


11:30, Shakespeare's Head pub, for a Wrap and Potato £12.30




Then, a return trip to the British Museum, to hit some exhibits we missed the last time.







We took a few minutes to check in, for our return flight.

...then headed to Trafalgar Square

Then on to the National Gallery




Coat check £3.00

...then headed to Trafalgar Square again

We took the tube to the Center Bar for Chille £10.74, the first thing we didn't care for at a Wetherspoon, so we followed it up with Brownies and Cookie Dough £3.5


A short tube ride to one of the largest malls in London, Westfield.

We then headed back to our hotel, passing the sister properties.

Saturday, Dec 22: Travel
Breakfast,
10:00 Minicabit
11:00 Check in, Heathrow
Candy £3.57
Lunch croissant £5.75 on Amex
1:20 to Gate 150
2:50 Board

7:30 pm Atlanta, Dinner at QDoba $6.57 AmEx
10:25-11:50 Flight to Austin

What a great trip

Maps

London