Sunday, 10 July 2011

Day 7 First Day of Our Tour – England & Ireland Explorer

Well another few days have come and gone, all at a rapid rate I’d have to say.  We have now been our tour for 5 days and I’m only just getting to upload day 1.  We are having a great time and seeing and doing so much.  There are a few places that we would have liked to stay longer, but we’ll just have to add that to our to do list for next time.  Anyway here is Day 1 -
We had a really early morning meeting our tour group in London at 6.30.  The luggage was loaded and everyone headed on board for an 8am departure.  Our first stop for the morning was in Stratford upon Avon, where we saw Anne Hathaways Cottage and visited the birthplace and home of William Shakespeare.  
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Boys ready to start our tour
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Anne Hathaways cottage
Our next destination was a small town called Durham where we visited the ancient church and wandered through the market place.  Durham was a beautiful city and it was amazing to see these beautiful ancient buildings right before us, most dating back hundreds and hundreds of years.  In its day the church would have been used for anyone who sought refuge it and a door knocker still remains on one of the huge and imposing front doors today.

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Durham Church
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Durham Church
 
We then headed further north to see Hadrians Wall, an ancient fortification  built back in the first century by the Roman Emperor Hadrian which crosses England for miles.  Even now there is still 70 miles of wall in tact and in its day it would have been taller that today’s houses. 
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Hadrians Wall
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Hadrians Wall
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Hadrians Wall
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Hadrians Wall

Our last stop for the day was to our overnight destination of York.  We would have to say that we were really looking forward to getting to York, a place we had been wanting to visit for quite some time and we weren’t disappointed.  York is a beautiful village, and after passing by the ancient city wall ruins which dated back from the Roman (about 2000 years ago) and Norman Times (about 700 years ago) we came to our hotel. After checking in we headed out for a walk through ‘the Shambles’, the old market place which is now filled with beautiful little shops.  Some of the buildings in The Shambles are so old that their rooves almost touch, quite an interesting sight.  We then headed through the cobblestoned streets to the very old York Minster (church).   We could have wandered for hours in York, but eventually headed back to our hotel to get ready for tea and to meet our other fellow tour companions.
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Some of the views on our travels to York


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The close roof tops in The Shambles in York
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York Minster
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Some of the remnants of the Roman Fortification in York
      
We had a lovely dinner with our new touring companions.  Tomorrow we head further north,  cross the border from England into Scotland and head into Edinburgh for the evening.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Annette,
    Sounds like you are having an amazing time and learning so much as well. I think i have had my lifetime of history lessons all in one sitting.

    I have tried to send you an email but it keeps bouncing back??? Can you please phone me when you get a minute so i can discuss a few things with you? I was going to ring you but don't know the time difference so might be best you call me?Talk soon - Bella xxx

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  2. Hi,everyone thanks for the phone call the other night it was nice to hear from you I am glad you are having a fantastic time.We are all good the kids have had a cold but they are getting over it,Dad is good,I look forward to reading your blog and see where you have been the country side looks beautiful, hope to hear from you soon stay safe give our love to everyone bye for now talk soon xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo:))

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