So, what exactly do we hope to do each day, you might ask? Not to get into the gritty details and specifics, but we are trying to get a taste of a LOT of different things. Neither Margaret nor Denise have ever been to the UK (OK, Denise went through Heathrow once, but didn't leave the airport) so our thinking is to do as many things as possible and hope that someday we can afford to come back and do more. A number of people have suggested that with only 10 days we just focus on one area, but we are of the mind that if we focus on just one area we will spend quite a long time wishing we had visited more places. We are well aware that we are missing a lot of things - each time we look at ideas for each day and figure out plans we are forced to choose things not to do and that is tough!
Day 1 and 2 will be spent in London hitting mainly the big tourist sites - Big Ben and Parliament, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Globe Theatre, National Museum, and maybe some more. We plan to walk a portion of the Queen's Walk along the Thames and also boat down the Thames from the London Eye to the Tower.
Day 3 is highlighted by our Stone Circle Access Tour at Stonehenge. Granted it is at 6:30am, so that will be a tough morning, but to get the chance to walk right up to the stones is worth it! The rest of day 3 is going to be south of London (and a little west) in Salisbury and then across the south coast to Brighton before an early evening just south of London.
Day 4 involves driving east from the London area to Canterbury where we hope to have our own Tales to tell. We will then go about as far east as possible to the Dover area for cliffs, castles, and secret tunnels.
On Day 5 we start to head north with visits to Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and Kenilworth. Quite a bit of driving in the morning to get to that area, but then the afternoon will be spent walking in the footsteps of bards and barons. The evening will have another long drive as we head north to York.
We wake up on Day 6 for a morning at York Minster and then continue our travels northward to the Edinburgh area. Margaret in particular is looking forward to this day as we will be stopping at Alnwick Castle, where many Harry Potter scenes were filmed. After a couple more stops along the drive, we all are excited about our next two nights in a real castle.
Day 7 is our Edinburgh day. After a morning (and early afternoon) exploring the big sites of Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, we will get back into the Harry Potter mode with a Potter Trail walking tour of Old Town Edinburgh.
Our plans for Day 8 and 9 are not fully formed yet, but should feature a drive north to Dunnottar Castle and the fishing village of Stonehaven (maybe even all the way north to Aberdeen to visit the haunts of 10 year old Brian) and a full Easter Sunday in Stirling.
And that's about it! With just 3 weeks to go we are getting quite excited and trying to get a lot of ducks into the right rows.
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