UK Trip

August 4
Today we loaded our car up with lots of luggage and people and headed out. We drove down to Calais, France to catch the ferry. It was a 3 ½ hour drive to Calais. We got there just in time for lunch as we waited to drive on to the ferry. Here’s Rachel ready to drive the car on to the ferry:

It was a 90-minute ferry ride across the English Channel. Rachel enjoyed being on the big boat. Both Sherry and I thought the ferry was a little too rocky. Luckily we survived! Here’s a picture of Rachel being a cheese as we left France: As we got closer to Dover, England we headed up to the top deck to check out the white cliffs of Dover. It was pretty windy up top, as you can tell from our picture. As soon as we docked in Dover, England we headed down to our car. While we were waiting to disembark Andy pulled out the GPS to put the address of where we were staying in London. After a few stressful moments we soon realized that UK maps weren’t on our GPS. Wonderful! We didn’t have any maps and basically had no way of getting around. Luckily we were able to find a rest stop with wireless internet, so we were able to get a map to our apartment. We had to make a few U-turns and 3-point turns, but we eventually made it to our destination. After some internet research we discovered that our GPS only has enough memory for a certain amount of countries and the UK map was back at home on a CD. Lovely! This definitely put a kink in our situation, but we made the best of it. Things can’t always go perfectly, right? That evening we dined at McDonald’s, picked up groceries for the rest of the week, and headed to bed.

August 5
On Tuesday we figured out how to get around London using the train and the tube. We were able to buy an all-day pass for around 6 pounds per person. Parking is pretty much non-existent in London and who really wants to drive in London anyways? Doesn’t Rachel look thrilled? Our first stop was the Tower of London. While Andy went to pick up our tickets Rachel had fun chasing the birds and playing on the stairs.

We were going to take a guided tour through the Tower of London, but that was everybody else’s idea as well. The chances of being able to hear the guide and see what he was talking about were slim, so we ventured off on our own. We spent a good couple hours touring around and checking everything out. Rachel even fell asleep in her stroller for a short while. After the Tower of London we headed over to Trafalgar Square. Once again Rachel was pretty content with chasing the pigeons around. From there we headed home. Papa and Grandma stayed in London that evening so they could go see Les Miserables. Just a quick story... We had a shower randomly in the bedroom that we slept in. It was really quite odd. Rachel kept on asking what it was and I told her it was a "funky shower". So, that night as Rachel was saying her prayer before going to bed she gave thanks for the "funky shower". Needless to say, Andy and I both lost it. And so then Rachel just kept on repeating "thank you for funky shower" again and again and again, since she realized we thought it was so funny.

August 6
On Wednesday we headed into London again. Our first destination was Westminster Abbey. Rachel enjoyed riding the tube. She usually always insisted on getting out of her stroller. She either wanted a seat of her own or to stand and hold on to one of the bars. Silly girl! You weren’t allowed to take pictures inside Westminster Abbey, but we enjoyed the audio tour. Everything went well until Rachel decided to freak out on me as soon as we entered a portion of the Abbey where they were holding some church service. A super helpful worker (can you sense my sarcasm?) was so helpful in escorting me out of the church service. Fun stuff! If you ask me, tourists shouldn't be allowed in an area where church services are being held or they should hold church services at another location or time. We took some pictures of the outside and of course grabbed some pictures of Big Ben and the London Eye. We then headed over to Buckingham Palace. Once again, we were unable to take pictures of the inside. It was quite interesting to see the many state rooms we saw and the behind the scenes to events that they hold there. Unfortunately Queen Elizabeth II was away on holiday, so we were unable to meet her. Here are some pictures we took on the outside of the palace: After a full day of tours Andy and I stayed in London to see Spamalot. Papa and Grandma were able to have some quality time with Rachel that evening. They were quite impressed when Rachel informed them it was dark outside so it was time for her to go to sleep. :) We enjoyed our night out and the show that we saw.

August 7
Today we decided to take a break from London and head out into the country. It was somewhat challenging without the GPS, but we managed. The hardest part was navigating our exit out and our entrance back into the London area. They obviously don’t have many freeways, so you’re stuck on surface streets for a good hour before you even hit a major freeway. Oh well, such is life! And of course, like the rest of Europe, signage isn’t a big concern. No wonder locals stick to public transportation. It’s much easier, faster, and more reliable. We first headed to Stonehenge.There was a trail around the stones, but you couldn’t get too close to them. It was amazing to think that they’ve probably been in place since 2500 B.C. We then piled back in the car and headed to Avebury. On the way we saw this: The farmers can get pretty creative! We also stopped at Silbury Hill, which is a man-made hill that was built about 4,400 years ago. It’s 30 meters high and 160 meters wide and is estimated that it took 4 million man hours of work. Rachel was asleep in the car, but the rest of us got out and took some pictures. We then drove on to Avebury and spent some time walking around the stones there. You were able to get right up to the big stones. Although the sheep could also get right up to the stones, so we were continually maneuvering around sheep droppings. Rachel enjoyed being able to explore through the stones. After Avebury we headed home, which was an adventure in and of itself. I think we spent almost 2 hours in the car within 10 kilometers of our apartment. We totally got off track from the directions we had. Eventually Andy went into a bus depot to get some directions and we made it home. Whew! After that experience Andy was determined to get the UK maps on our GPS. So somehow he found them online and we were able to get them downloaded on to our GPS, no thanks to the wonderful Mio customer service. Having the UK maps the rest of the trip made things somewhat easier. More adventures to follow…

August 8
On Friday we headed back into the center of London. We went to St. Dunstan’s church that some ancestors on Andy’s side of the family were members of the congregation. We toured around the church, tried to find some graves, and were even able to get some kind ladies to let us inside the church. After St. Dunstan’s we headed to Kensington Palace. We didn’t bother going inside; we figured it couldn’t top Buckingham Palace, but we did enjoy touring the grounds. Rachel’s favorite activity of the day was feeding and/or chasing the birds. A nice lady, who had enough tortillas to share, gave Rachel one so that she could join in and feed the birds.

We walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and were lucky enough to happen upon the Albert Memorial. Of course all Rachel was really interested in was climbing up and down the many stairs. When we didn’t have stairs I somewhat understood her fascination with stairs. But now that we have stairs at home, I don’t quite understand why they are still such a novelty anywhere we go. We couldn’t say goodbye to London without a visit to the busy Piccadilly Circus area. We went to Hamleys (huge toy store) and actually walked out without buying anything. Rachel was somewhat disappointed… she wanted a pet horse! Although I think she liked the cardboard carrying case more than the horse and that’s why her mean parents didn’t purchase her one. :) Hamleys is always a fun place to visit though! After the couple of days we tromped around London we were all ready for a little less walking. That evening Rachel got to enjoy the pool for the first time that week. Even though she was shivering like crazy, every time we asked her if it was time to get out… Well, you know what the answer was…. Rachel used floaties for the first time and she didn’t mind them, but Daddy still couldn’t go too far away.
August 9
Saturday morning we said farewell to London and headed up to York, England. It was supposed to be a fairly quick trip – 4 hours. But our GPS took us right through the middle of London. We had stayed on the southwest side of London and we were heading north. So, we drove right by Victoria Station and by a lot of sites that we had seen on foot. It was quite the adventure getting to the other side of London, but luckily the GPS made it doable! And then finding our hotel in York took a little while, because the address was just the street. But eventually we arrived at our hotel and it was quite a nice one, especially for the price we got it at. We got some dinner that evening, which turned out to be a little tricky. The first restaurant in York we went into turned us away, because children weren’t allowed in the restaurant at that hour. Strange! Luckily we were able to find a restaurant that allowed families. York is a quaint little English town with a lot of history. We walked around York a little bit and then just headed back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep.

August 10
Sunday morning (after Rachel had some fun with her binkies in the hotel room) we took a 2-hour guided walking tour through the town of York. Our guide was a local resident of York who I’m sure has lived there his whole life. It was very interesting to learn about all the history of this little town. For the majority of the tour we walked on the stone walls that were built to guard the city many years ago. Or course the tour wasn’t all that interesting to Rachel, so she found her own way of keeping herself busy. After our morning tour of York, we grabbed some lunch and then headed for Scotland. We were able to arrive at our apartment in Edinburgh without a hitch. We even had time to do some quick grocery shopping and make our own dinner that evening (I believe it was some frozen pizzas).

August 11
Monday morning we caught a bus and headed into the heart of Edinburgh. We took a tour of the Edinburgh Castle.

I was insistent on Rachel getting an actual nap that afternoon. So, we all headed home. Rachel and I took naps while the boys went golfing. That evening we headed out to the Military Tattoo performance.

The pictures and the short video clips do not give the performance justice. It was amazing! We were lucky enough to get tickets only 2 weeks before the event. And since Rachel actually got her first full nap in a week, she was in good spirits. Every time one group of performers left the stage, she asked for more. And I think her favorite thing was the dragon! After the performance Rachel had her first taxi ride. The buses had stopped running by then and we had to get home somehow.

August 12
Tuesday was a pretty laid back day. We slept in late that morning, which was good since we didn’t get to bed until around midnight the night before. We then headed back into Edinburgh to check out the Museum of Scotland. We learned a lot of history and it was a good day to be indoors since it was a rainy day. We walked around Edinburgh a bit more that afternoon and checked out some souvenir shops as well. And of course we had to grab a picture in a classic phone booth.

August 13
Our goal for this Wednesday was to spot Nessie, the infamous Loch Ness monster. We failed miserably, but we enjoyed the drive around Loch Ness on our way to Fort William, Scotland.

That area definitely survives on the tale of the Loch Ness monster. Although we did check out the Urquhart Castle (what remains of it), while we were there.

We then drove on to Fort William, our final destination for the day. We all had our first Bed & Breakfast experience in Fort William. They didn’t have baby cots available, but we had brought along Rachel’s Princess blow-up bed. I was a bit worried about how she would sleep, but she did great. I guess when you’re dragged from place to place, not given the opportunity to get regular naps, and kept up way too late – anything will do. Here she is posing for the camera:

Rachel didn’t exactly stay on the bed the whole night. By the morning all that was left on the bed was her head and the rest of her was on the floor, but she didn’t seem to mind. What a trooper!

August 14
Today we went on a train ride through the Scottish Highlands. We had round trip tickets from Fort William to Mallaig. There were a few stops along the way, including one at Glenfinnan Station. We enjoyed the scenery and eating fish ‘n chips in Mallaig.

While we were enjoying the scenery, Rachel found various ways of entertaining herself until she finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before the end of the train ride – classic!

After our 6-hour train ride adventure we decided to check out Fort William town center. While I did some winter clothes shopping for Rachel she enjoyed playing with her balloon… until it popped.

It was so nice to shop in the UK. Prices were actually pretty decent and their sizes made sense. I could find 2-3 year sizes, instead of 86, 92, etc.. (which is how they size things in Holland). We couldn’t pass up the opportunity for Andy to have his picture taken in front of his Scottish church.

After getting some dinner we discovered the Inverlochy Castle (what little remains of it) on our way back to our B&B. There really wasn’t much to see other than the outside walls. At least this castle didn’t have an admission price.

August 15
Today was the official beginning of our trek back home. Of course we weren’t going to drive it all in one day. Today’s goal was to stop in Stirling, Scotland on our way to our final destination of Preston, England. In Stirling we explored the Stirling Castle. For me, this castle was my favorite. There were some really neat exhibits that made the castle come to life.

After the castle we headed to The National Wallace Monument (Braveheart, ring a bell?). We had to do quite a bit of hiking just to get to the monument and then once inside we had to climb up 246 spiral steps. It was quite the hike, but the view of Stirling was nice. It was also pretty windy once we made it all the way to the top. Rachel wasn’t a big fan of all the wind.

From there we continued on to Preston, England, where we were spending the night. We had quite the adventure finding our hotel. At one point we were on a dirt road with sheep all over the place. Quite the adventure! Once again the hotel address was just a street. We tried calling the hotel for directions, but the cell phone died. So, Andy ended up going into a restaurant in some little town for help. We were about 15 minutes away from our destination. Luckily we were able to get some good directions and arrive at the hotel around 10 PM. So, we all just headed for bed.

August 16
Luckily check-out time for our hotel in Preston wasn’t until 11 AM, so we made some time in the morning to take advantage of the pool. Rachel is usually up by 8 AM, no matter what time she gets to bed. Rachel loved the swimming once again. Andy and I enjoyed it as well because this time the pool really did seem heated!

From Preston we drove to Dover, England, where we spent our last night in the UK. We stayed at a Best Western that was located right on the seafront. It was a decent hotel, except our rooms were slanted. It was totally bizarre! Luckily they positioned the beds in such a way that we didn’t have to worry about too much blood flow to the brain as we slept!

August 17
We had a scheduled ferry departure at 10:05 AM and the tickets said to be there by 9:35 AM. In France, we had no issues, no long lines, it was easy-peasy. For once, I have to give props to the French. They handled everything much better two weeks earlier. Anyhow, let’s just say it was 9:55 AM before we got checked all the way through – passport control, ticket check, etc… We figured we would just have to wait 1 ½ hours until the next ferry. Well, someone must be living right, because we were the last car allowed on the ferry at 9:57 AM. Talk about luck! Here’s Rachel being a cutie on the ferry:

Of course we couldn’t drive straight home that day. We had to stop off in Brussels to see the magnificent flower carpet that is only put together and displayed every 2 years for only 3 days. Plus, we couldn’t let Papa and Grandma miss the opportunity of seeing the Mannekin Pis as well! And of course, we had to enjoy some Belgian waffles.

From Brussels we drove straight home. As soon as we pulled up and parked across the street from our house, Rachel went crazy. She was one excited girl to see home, too bad she was only home for a week before we were off again. We drove roughly 3400 kilometers on our trip. Quite the road trip! We definitely enjoyed our UK adventure. It was so much fun to have Andy’s parents with us and to see so much more of this beautiful world.