We woke up early on the morning of June 3rd to take our last train of the trip from Paris to London via the Chunnel (we told the kids that we would see fish from the train underwater 😊). We arrived at the train station with plenty of time to spare. It was a good thing because there was a large line-up. Since Brexit, the whole process is a lot longer now and requires passports to leave France to enter UK. We lined up and I searched my phone to find our tickets. Hmm. It appeared that I hadn’t saved the ticket into my online organizational files as I had done with almost all other tickets. Likely the most important ticket of our travel. Why wouldn’t I have done that? No worries, I could find it doing a search in my Gmail account. Hmm. Internet not working. Not a problem. Meli gave me a hotspot and I started searching. Hmm. None of the keywords are producing any results “Eurail”, “London”, “June 3”. Nothing. No worries, the lady would have our name in the system. We got to the front of the line and the lady told us that she was unable to search for us in her system without a booking number. The panic started to set in. Where on earth could the tickets be? Meli suggested that we search for French words, and sure enough, “Londres” triggered an email with our ticket. Phew. We managed to make it past the ticket lady only to be the last people in line for the 7:13 am train awaiting border patrol, which seemed to take an eternity. Fortunately, the train waited for us (and the group ahead) for about 15 minutes so we boarded without any problems. The train ride was excellent – speeds up to 300 km/h and it came with a good breakfast and endless cups of coffee.
London
We arrived in London at 8:30a.m. (one hour time change) and since it was too early to check-in, we would store our bags at the station. I asked the attendant about prices, and he told we it was £15 (C$25) per bag. We had our four carry-on bags and four personal bags. So, £120 (C$200) to store our bags for a few hours. Umm, not going to happen. To put this in perspective, we stored all our luggage in Munich for less than C$5. Literally 1/40th the cost. How can prices be so disparate between two large cities? In the end we sat and had a coffee and killed an hour before heading to our apartment in South London to drop our bags at the apartment at 11:00 a.m. Despite losing a couple of hours, this ended up being the best solution since we wouldn’t have had to return to the station later to pick up our bags at the end of the day. Plus, we had an additional C$200 to spend on something else!
We hopped on “the tube” and started exploring. The subway system in London is unparalleled. There are lines running every which way making travel very easy. The only challenge is knowing that at any given platform there may be up to three different trains that go in different directions.
Our first stop was at London Bridge. The bridge itself was nothing special but it gave a nice view of Tower Bridge. We walked along the Thames River and worked our way towards Covent Gardens. We grabbed lunch at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese – one of London’s oldest pubs (1600’s). The pub comprises a main floor and three or four other lower levels accessed by a meandering set of stairs. The lowest level makes you feel like you are in a bomb shelter.
After lunch we continued walking to check out all the hot spots – Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. At Trafalgar Square we saw the Canadian Embassy in a beautiful old building. There was a little viewing gallery open to the public, so we checked it out. Mostly just propaganda related to “Canada’s King”, King Charles. We explained to the kids that we were technically in Canada, so we of course played around jumping back and forth across the threshold into and out of Canada.
Afterwards we walked down to check out Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Beautiful old buildings. We continued across the bridge towards London Eye. We checked it out from below but had no desire to ride it. We were totally wiped so we made our way back to our apartment.
The following day we met up with Meli’s friend Hala near Kensington (they moved back to London after living in Toronto for several years). Hala was with her kids Rocco, Raya, and Rayna (9, 7, and 8 months).
Hala gave us the grand tour of the Kensington area. We walked past the palace, through the Diana memorial gardens, and down to Hyde Park. We were blown away at the amount of park land in London – the parks go on and on forever. It was a beautiful sunny weekend, and all the Londoners were out soaking in the sunshine. We hung out in the park, had a picnic lunch and the kid’s played soccer. We continued walking to Albert Hall and we said our goodbyes and we made our way to Buckingham Palace. It was a great way to spend the day!
Oxford and The Cotswolds
We took the tube to Heathrow Airport in the morning to pick up our rental car to make our way north to Oxford. The rental process was very slow and uncoordinated, but we were rewarded with a free upgrade as a result – sweet!
We arrived in Oxford and had a couple of hours there to tour around. We had lunch at a pub dating back to 1242 which must be one of the oldest in England. The pub was covered in wall hangings with neckties from every school, club, sport, you name it, from all around the UK and beyond. The story was that the old owner of the pub would look at you and if he saw a tie that he didn’t recognize he would snip a four-inch strip off the tail of the tie for his collection. There were literally hundreds of them. We explored the campus and all the beautiful old sandstone buildings. We wanted to see the library (one of the oldest and largest in the world?), however they were sold out of tickets for the day.
We continued driving to our accommodation, picked up some groceries on the way, and arrived in the late afternoon. It was a tiny old English cottage. The ceiling on the main floor were just high enough to be able to walk without crouching, however I hit my head on the doorway between the kitchen and living room six times (I counted). The living room had a rustic old fireplace, and the bedrooms were upstairs and accessed by a very tight set of spiral stairs tucked behind an old wooden door. Despite the beds being very small, we had a wonderful stay.
In the morning we drove to Cirencester, the “capital” of the Cotswolds. We spent a couple of hours exploring and then had lunch in the park. We stopped by Arlington Row, likely the most famous part of the Cotswolds – quaint, picturesque, old stone homes with slate roofs. The best part of the day was just driving around the English countryside. Rolling hills with grazing sheep, long stretches of dry stack stone walls, winding narrow roads, and sections of dense forest.
The Peak District
There is a large national park to the east of Manchester called the Peak District. We booked two nights in an AirBnb in the small town of Buxton, on the edge of the park. We were a little unsure of our accommodation since it was in the basement of a building, but it ended up being fantastic. A huge space below a coffee shop complete with foosball and pool tables. It was essentially a big man cave. The boys were on fire.
In the evening we made plans to meet Jeremy Brown, an old family friend, and his wife Helen for a pub dinner. I hadn’t seen Jeremy since we were about 7 or 8 years old! We met them at their house about an hour’s drive north from where we were staying. Although there was a bit of traffic (surprisingly) on the drive, it had to have been one of my favorite drives on this trip. Winding narrow roads lined with stone walls passing through small little towns. Driving requires a lot of focus since the roadway narrows to a single lane for much of the drive. It was a little harrowing going around some of the corners not knowing what to expect on the other side.
We met the Browns at their house and then made our way to a pub along a pathway through a field. In England there are thousands of these “public footpaths” that run through people’s properties. These have been grandfathered in from olden times. We had great time catching up with the Browns over a delicious pub meal (Mel and I had an amazing Indian dish). On the way back, the walk was beautiful with the perfect evening light just before sunset. On the path we came across a couple of very friendly horses. One of them gave Mac a little “love bite” on the shoulder.
In the morning we rented bikes to do the Monsal Trail, a 10-minute drive from Buxton. The trail was an old rail line that was 8.5 miles long. This was perfect for us since we didn’t have to worry about car traffic and the distance made for a complete day with the kids. The trail had several long tunnels along the way as well as some beautiful views over valleys. We hit the end of the trail and then made our way to a local pub for lunch (Crispin Pub). To get to the pub we locked our bikes to a fence along the trail and then walked across a field (another “public footpath”). Did I mention that I love English pubs? This one was decorated with a huge collection of mugs from all over hanging from the ceiling. Friendly service, great food, and a great atmosphere.
Edinburgh
It was exciting to drive past the “Welcome to Scotland” sign on the highway. As the Weir’s have their roots from Scotland, I had always wanted to visit to Scotland. We drove into Edinburgh towards our AirBnb, arriving late in the afternoon. Despite being a little tried from five hours of driving, we made it our first order of business to climb to the highest point in Edinburgh to take in the views of the city. We walked a short distance from our place to ascend Arthur’s Seat in Hollyrood Park (I can’t read that word with saying “Hollywood” in a Chinese accent). As we neared the top, we passed a well-dressed older Scottish gentleman making his descent. I bet that this would have been a daily routine for him – so awesome! Although we were still in the Lowlands, it felt like a version of what we might expect in the Highlands – large grassy knolls amongst rocky outcrops providing great views of the surrounding area. After a short time on top, we descended along a long park towards the city (it felt like walking through a golf course). We were making our way to the Grass Market on a recommendation from our host. We passed along a section of Edinburgh that appeared to be in the heart of the party area. We walked past several large pubs and clubs – most with heavy security at the doors. It was 6pm on a Thursday and already people were looking a little bit rough. We passed one guy who looked a zombie – absolutely wasted. We later passed a guy who was totally pissed. Literally. He had completely pissed his jeans and was walking down the street in broad daylight. This was not the greatest of first impressions for us – was Scotland full of a bunch of drunks? Fortunately, our kids didn’t seem to notice.
We tried a few places for dinner, but none were able to accommodate. We ended up landing on a classic looking corner pub. Food was mediocre at best, and we had to wait out in the cold at an outside table (kids aren’t allowed to sit at the bar) before being seated. The service was not great. We were already missing the friendliness of the pubs from England. Our initial impression of Scottish hospitality was not very good.
The following morning, we had a big day planned with a visit to Edinburgh Castle followed by a Whisky Tour. The Edinburgh Castle was impressive. The castle looms over the city perched high atop a hill with steep cliffs on three of the sides. From the main entrance, a long “ramp” of a road extends down along what is known as the “Royal Mile”. Fortunately, Meli had prebooked the tickets since it was packed, and we overheard that the days’ tickets were already sold out at 10:30 am. We followed along with the audio tour and learned a great deal about the castle’s history and many of the stories that came with it. We attended the “one o’clock” firing – a cannon that shoots at exactly 1:00 p.m. to allow nearby ships to calibrate their clocks for navigational purposes (this was done all over the world and many of these cannons are still active). We saw the old prison cells where POWs were kept during many of the various wars. Towards the end of the tour, we saw the display of the Scottish Crown Jewels – comprising a golden crown, scepter, and an ancient stone.
After the castle, we grabbed a quick lunch at a food truck before going to the Scotch Whisky Experience. We learned about the whisky making process and its history as well as some of the qualities of the whisky based on the five different whisky making regions (Campbeltown being the fifth - I didn’t know either.) At the end of the tour, we did our tasting in a large whisky cellar home to 3,400 different bottles of Scotch whisky. It was impressive. The collection was amassed by a Brazilian collector over many years and then sold back to Scotland years later, on the basis that this was where it belonged to be. After the tour we went to the downstairs whisky bar to do some more tastings. We ordered a few different whiskies from a large binder of options. It was very enjoyable but had the potential to be very dangerous! Too many great scotches to try!
With rosy cheeks, we wandered down the Royal Mile past several street performers and bag pipers. We stopped in for a pint at a pub and sat for a while in the sun on the patio taking it all in. Scotland was growing on us!
We now enter the last leg of our journey. Hard to believe we are now down to 10 days! We will travel north to the Highlands then back south to Glasgow area, then to Liverpool, and onwards via ferry to Dublin for our final days before flying back on the 23rd.
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