Thursday, December 1, 2016

England

London, England


We finished our trip with 4 days in London, arriving October 30th and flying home on November 3rd.  It is nice to be home, but looking forward to going back to continue our travels.


Tower Bridge and the Girl and Dolphin sculpture


City of London


Leadenhall Market


The "Walkie Talkie" building


Fall color in downtown London



Interesting office building in the South Bank area. London is full of modern office buildings.


City Hall located along Queens Walk, a very scenic walk along the Thames.


The Shard


Another interesting office building


Tower cranes on a building site in downtown London. There was construction every direction you looked.



View looking south from Westminster Bridge toward the Vauxhall area of London.


Waterloo Bridge and the River Thames


Palace of Westminster and Big Ben


The London Eye


Piccadilly Circus near the theatres in London. We saw Stomp and Kinky Boots. Both were excellent.


There was a royal welcome ceremony for the president of Columbia. 


The ceremony included a 41 gun salute.


The classic phone booth, still is working order.


Lion in Trafalgar Square


"Really Good" sculpture in Trafalgar Square



Sculptures in the City of London



Graffiti of William Shakespeare near the Globe Theatre


The Sprinter parked for the winter. A very nice home away from home!


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Scotland

West Coast of Scotland


From Glasgow we drove to the Kintyre Peninsula. It is a beautiful out of the way area with miles and miles of coastline. From there we drove north to Oban, then down through the middle of Scotland on our way back to England. We saw fabulous fall color and experienced cold, wet Scottish weather.

Kintyre Peninsula


Tarbert, Scotland - A small fishing village on the north end of Kintyre Peninsula


Tarbert parish church


Stained glass window in the church.


Tarbert Castle ruins dating back to the 13th century.


Tarbert Harbour - The two boats in the foreground are Loch Fyne Skiffs named "Wee Dooker" and "Iolair". They look a little neglected but the town still uses them.


Campbeltown, Scotland - A town on the far end of Kintyre Peninsula. It is known for Scotch whiskey production and shipbuilding.


Florist shop in Campbeltown. What a great store front.


Linda McCartney Memorial Garden - Paul and Linda McCartney spent a lot of time in Campbeltown before she died. They owned a large farm in the area.


One of the best sunsets of our trip. This was our view while eating dinner. We stayed in this campground for two nights. Our parking spot was about 10 feet from the beach. Both nights we had fabulous sunsets.


Oban, Scotland - a resort town on the Firth of Lorn


View of the port of Oban from McCraig's Tower


View of the waterfront and McCraig's Tower on the hill top.


Corran Esplande - right on the waterfront. The buildings are small hotels and B & B's.


View of Dunollie Castle from the waterfront in Oban.


McCraig's Tower - It sits on a hill top overlooking Oban, the bay, and the islands beyond.


Yard art!


Falls of Dochart in Killin, Scotland


Fall color on the River Dochart


Falls of Dochart - one of Scotland's most impressive waterfalls.


River Dochart flowing under one of the channels of the Bridge of Dochart.


Fall color reflected on a calm lake along the road. We are heading back to England.


Scotland

Glasgow and Stirling Scotland


Glasgow - We only spent two days in Glasgow, but easily could have spent a week. Glasgow is a wonderful city. There are very old parts and very modern areas. The transportation is good with lots of walking paths and pedestrian streets in the downtown area. The first day we visited a couple of museums because it was pouring down rain. The second day we walked along the River Clyde.

The Riverside Museum - The museum houses the city's transportation collection. The building is very unusual. Also the way the collection is displayed is very different. The tall ship Glentee is reflected in the windows. It is also part of the museum.


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - One of the six cars built for the movie of the same name.


A male ship's figurehead. 


Selfie - Bill and Patti in Glasgow.


Glasgow Science Centre


Imax Theater at the Glasgow Science Centre


Clyde Auditorium also known as "The Armadillo".


Clyde Arc - A bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow.


Stirling - Stirling is a busy college town. Stirling Castle sits on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful old town. Wallace monument sits on top of another nearby hill. We visited both the castle and the monument.


Castle entrance and the Palace from Queen Anne Garden.


Another view of the Palace and Quenn Anne Garden.


Outer defense wall of the castle.


The Great Hall. King Bill is seated on the dais.


Shirling Heads ceiling in the palace.


A Shirling Head in the Shirling Head Gallery. The gallery has many of the surviving pieces after the original ceiling collapsed in 1777.


Fireplace in the Queen's Inner Hall of the palace.


One of the seven new tapestries created for the Queen's Inner Hall. The tapestries are based on the Hunt of the Unicorn.


View from Stirling Castle toward Wallace Monument.


Wallace Monument


To get to the top of the monument you climb 246 steps in a tight spiral staircase. Thank goodness there are three levels to stop and view displays. The spiral staircase is so tight you get dizzy climbing up and down.


View from the top of Wallace Monument. Rain squalls kept passing through while we were on top and the wind was howling. In spite of the bad weather we watched the college crew boats working out on the River Forth.