As we began the decline into Edinburgh airport, the green hills of Scotland came into view and I got a bit choked up. Traveling overseas to Grandma Kinsel’s homeland was a bucket list trip for me. I had many thoughts in my travel weary mind. What would we find in our 10 days? Would I find the family connection and magic to the old world that I thought I craved? I especially wanted to see plants in their winter dress and natural landscapes – though I also enjoy the culture, history, and architecture too. We all were excited and ready to begin an adventure of our lifetime.
Edinburgh, Scotland for two nights (January 3 & 4)
Our travel group included my husband Mark, sister Lynn, mom Doris, and 19 other travelers from OLLI at Bradley University. Eleven of us began early January 2nd with long tiring flights from Chicago to DC to Frankfort. We arrived about noon on January 3rd in Edinburgh. Our travel manager – Lorraine Robertson – met us at the hotel and walked us to the Fiesta Pub (below) where we met up with our other two travel groups and our coach driver Ryan.
We stayed at the Mercure Haymarket hotel. After checking into our rooms and freshening up, our entire group of 23 had our welcome dinner at The Bothy restaurant (below). I had ale, pea soup, mushroom risotto, and cranachan for dessert. They brought the traditional Scottish dish Haggis to each table.
Wednesday (January 4th) we explored Edinburgh in two groups. Mom stayed on the bus, while Lynn, Mark, and I joined our guide – Alan- on a walking tour. Looking the traditional Scot in his kilt, he walked us to the castle from the Haymarket area. We walked through an old graveyard (below) with connections to Harry Potter (See blog on my crocheted Harry’s adventures).
We went into the St. Giles Cathedral (below) on the Royal Mile between Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle. The cathedral is where Queen Elizabeth II was laid in state for viewing last year after her death.
Our guide left us at the castle after telling us about the various castle buildings (below) and cannons. There we met up with mom and went to see the Scottish crown jewels and the destiny stone in the tower. After tea and scones in the castle café, we watched the 1:00 p.m. shooting of the castle canon. It was raining harder, so Mom, Lynn, and I stood next to the building where we saw the soldier march out (though mom missed him both time). Mark went on around to see him shoot the canon. When it went off the entire crowd jumped. It was so funny, and we wish we had videotaped that.
For our free afternoon, Lorraine helped us book a tour of Mary King’s Close, which is an underground tour of ancient buildings in old town. It was a very good tour, and we are so glad we did it. The portion on the black plague was especially interesting and gave it more meaning for me. At the end we purchased the group picture of us in the Close.
The rest of our free time was spent exploring and shopping. We had a very nice meal at Greyfriar Bobby’s bar on candlemakers row. Mom, Mark, and I had traditional English fish and chips (below). That night we went to The Jolly Botanist bar in a historic looking brick building with 77 types of gin on its menu.
York, England for one night (January 5) – via Bamburgh and Durham
Thursday, we began at Bamburgh Castle, one of Britain’s largest inhabited castles (below). With its many cannons and three-meter-thick walls, it has stood guard over a beautiful coastline for over 3,000 years. Though still inhabited by the Armstrong family, we were able to see many of the rooms in the castle. There were a lot of ferns and English Ivy growing there, as well as yellow blooming gorse bush (See blog on plants I saw in the UK).
At our second stop in Durham, we walked to a square with statues (below), then up a hill to the Cathedral and Castle. There was a graduation that day so we couldn’t go into the buildings. It was raining so we ducked into a small tearoom for bagels, quiche, scones, and tea.
Our final stop was at the York Holiday Inn Piccadilly. Our dinner that evening was at the Chopping Block for a farm-to-table dinner. I had an excellent vegetarian dish and chocolate mousse.
Friday morning, Lorraine led us on a walking tour of York through the Shambles to the Minster. Shambles Street is a narrow street with buildings that lean in towards each other, originally used to hang meat outside. Today it is mostly shops and eateries. The Minster (below) was quite massive and impressive with lots of ornate gargoyles and such on the outside. It is undergoing a major renovation since the limestone is deteriorating.
Mom left Lynn, Mark, and me so she could tour the Minster while we walked some of the ancient Roman wall (below) around the city. It was a long, winding, often narrow, medieval stone wall with occasional out coves.
Below were beautiful yards and impressive trees in their winter dress (below). We exited the wall at one of the narrow stair gates and went into a small, local coffee shop. It was fun talking to the local people there.
Chester, England for two nights (January 6 & 7) with side trip to Wales
We got to the Chester Queens Hotel Best Western Friday afternoon. Before dinner a lady from Wales gave us a presentation on love spoons. It was very interesting. My Grandma Kinsel was born in Abertillary, Wales and immigrated to Central Illinois when she was 10 with her coal mining family. She never talked much about the old country, so we were fascinated by the Wales portion of our trip. Welsh love spoons are ornately hand carved wooden spoons that are often given as gifts to loved ones. Mom bought one with two symbols of Wales: daffodil and harp. Our speaker also brought a small model of a small woman in Welsh clothing (below). Our group supper that night was good. I had a brie and beet tart, veggie soup, and an apple-crumble-custard.
Saturday morning, a tour guide – Liz – led on a tour around Chester, England. The old town is surrounded by a Roman wall with four gates. We drove all around while it rained, then got off to walk the town. Liz explained all about the various places we passed, including the cobblestone roads and unique Rows, which are 700-year-old two-tiered covered shopping galleries (below). After Liz’s tour we went into St. Peter’s church for tea. It was nice to sit down to a good cup of tea. As expected, the tea in England is exceptional, just like Grandma Kinsel made.
From there we drove south to Wales where we enjoyed more tea. We explored the small, quaint town of Llangollen, Wales with its raging Dee River (below). This is where we felt closest to our ancestors.
After shopping we had afternoon tea in the Pontcysyllte Chapel Tea Room (below). As is custom, our afternoon tea included little sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cakes served on a three-tiered tea tray.
On our way back to Chester we took a scenic route through horseshoe pass. Running from Llandegia to Llangollen, this short road climbs to 1,368 feet and is considered one of the most spectacular motorcycle riding routes in the UK. (We must come back and do that!). This was my favorite part of the entire trip. I loved the rolling hills of gorse and bracken fern, slate piles, and majestic views. We stopped at the top and got out for pictures (below). I felt at home there as I soaked in the natural green beauty all around me.
Stratford-Upon-Avon for one night (January 8)
Sunday was all about Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon. From the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Swan Theatre we walked along the Avon River to the church where Shakespeare is buried. Along the Avon where swans were swimming, there were rowers on long race boats, people walking, and lots of nice plants, including a large London plane tree (sycamore) and many types of hollies. We had tea and soup at Anne Hathaway’s Tea House (below).
Our afternoon tour was in Shakespeare’s schoolhouse (below). Originally built as a Guildhall in 1420, it has the original beams. It was later expanded to house a school, which still operates today. We sat in the very room where William Shakespeare sat in the 1570s and saw the room’s original standup desk. The master sat at the front, and we sat on rows of benches facing each other while he told us about their style of teaching. We also tried writing with a quill pen and saw student carvings in an ancient table.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn Indigo hotel across the street from the school. It too was old. We enjoyed Guinness beer in its quaint and cozy bar that had a cute fireplace (below) and lots of taxidermy.
Our group supper that night was on aboard a boat on the Avon River (below). We all – even Lynn – enjoyed our food. I had soup, gnocchi, and biscuits with cheese for dessert. Mom, Mark, Lynn, and I sat by ourselves and got to laughing during supper. The “you had to be there” moment made it a fun and memorable night! Lorraine told mom she saw her from across the boat and thought “Doris is going to die laughing.”
London for 3 nights (January 9, 10, & 11) via Oxford
We stopped in Oxford on our way to London where we briefly explored the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. From there, our guide Stewart took us on a walking tour of the University. I enjoyed the plants there including large wisteria, trees, and natural areas. The architecture was very elaborate and unique (below). After the tour we went to the Randolph Hotel to the Alice restaurant for tea and a snack.
We made it to London about 4 pm. After checking into the H10 London Waterloo hotel, the four of us went next door to the Flowers of the Forest local pub for a drink. We ended our first evening in London in the 8th floor hotel bar (below is view from bar) with drinks and burgers. Most of the OLLI group ended up there too. It was another fun night.
Tuesday, we toured London. It rained all morning, so we rode the coach most of the time. It was somewhat hard to see but we had an excellent guide – Brit. She walked us to Buckingham Palace. The British shows we’ve watched came to life there through the pouring rain (below). Though wet, we marveled at the amazing buildings, grounds, parks, and a horse guard procession riding past us.
After lunch at the Traitors Gate pub, we joined a tour of the Tower of London led by Beefeater Guard Beefy409 (as he’s known on Facebook-below). Beefeaters have been guarding the Tower of London since Tudor times. He was an fun and animated tour guide. We saw the English crown jewels (though one crown was removed to prepare for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6th). Although it has a grim history of torture and execution, Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn was one of only 22 executed inside the tower.
From the tower we went directly to our farewell dinner at the Roast Restaurant (below), situated above Borough Market in the historic Floral Hall. After dinner we saw a play in London’s West End theater district. The Play That Goes Wrong is in its ninth year at the Duchess Theatre and was very funny!
We began our final free day in London with a taxi ride to Buckingham Palace. It was a whole different experience to see it up close in bright sunshine. We walked up to the gates (below) and saw the sentry guards change position.
We really enjoyed walking through the royal St. James Park (below), with lots of waterfowl along the lake, including large pelicans. A flock of green parrots filled one tree above a French couple feeding them. They landed on mom and Mark’s shoulders.
From there we walked to Trafalgar square, Piccadilly circus, China town, and along the Thames River. We shopped for final souvenirs, had coffee in an Italian café, and lunch in an Italian Pizzeria. As we approached Westminster bridge, Big Ben began to chime. Mark all of the sudden said, “I’m in London.” The Westminster chimes of Big Ben are iconic (below).
It was quite cold and starting to mist rain, so after crossing the bridge we went to the walkway below next to the river. There we found a mile long COVID memorial wall (below). It was an emotional walk as the red and pink hearts filled with names of those who lost their lives to COVID. A lady touched mom on the shoulder and said “Bless you” as Lynn inscribed the name of our family member on an open heart.
Our final stop was the Garden Museum in the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth. Lynn, Mark, and I climbed the medieval tower’s 131 steps in a narrow spiral staircase to the top where we had fantastic views across the Thames to Westminster (below).
I was thrilled to see displays on pioneer female horticulturist Beatrix Jekyll, old garden tools (below), and a first lawnmower. A special exhibit featured Lucian Freud’s (son of Sigmond Freud) paintings of plants and gardens.
Home (January 12)
Our trip home was easier than the trip over. Heathrow airport was easy to navigate and our direct nine-hour flight to Chicago was on time and comfortable. At O’Hare we easily passed through customs before boarding a Peoria Charter bus back to Bradley University. We were home about 7 pm, tired and happy.
What an amazing trip! We saw and experienced more than we ever imaged. I found the family connection and magic in the old world that I craved. We plan to return and spend more time exploring this amazing and beautiful country.
Other blogs about this trip:
