And they’re off (again)!

Welcome back, everyone! It has been a full 962 days since our last adventure – a cross-country road trip with our oldest granddaughter and next-to-oldest grandson – and 1,078 days since we stepped off the ship of our world cruise and we are SO excited to be back out in the world again! For those of you who may not know we are about embark on a 28-day Baltic cruise on Viking with our good friends, Keith and Kathy Snider.

We will board the ship on Saturday, June 25^th in Greenwich, England and set sail for our first port of call in Edinburgh, Scotland at 11:00 p.m. Sunday, June26^th. With an embarkation point this close to London we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to revisit one of our favorite cities. Keith found us a perfectly situated VRBO, located near Trafalgar Square and within walking distance of many of London’s main attractions. After catching up on our sleep we spent most of this first day reacquainting ourselves with the area, including stops by 10 Downing Street, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar square and the renowned Fortnum and Mason store in Piccadilly.

We learned about Fortnum and Mason from the guy who worked in the ship’s hair salon during our world cruise. He was from London, and when Pam commented that she was sad that the ship was not offering any excursions to London from the U.K. ports we were visiting he suggested we create our own excursion, get off the ship at the first U.K. port and then rejoin it at the next. What a great idea! And all he asked for his troubles was a tin of Fortnum and Mason shortbread cookies. They were so good! So, of course, we had to pick some up for the Baltic cruise. All these years Pam has just thought of this as a cookie store – we had so little time on our last visit we just ran in and ran out. There’s so much more to it – specialty candies and teas and preserves and and and….if you’re ever in London check it out!

On our way to dinner we decided to stop for a drink at a local pub. Turns out the place we stopped was a favorite of none other than Charles Dickens himself! The story goes that a pub has been on this site since the 1400s (at one time owned by the Crown!). In the 1800s Charles Dickens lived nearby and is reported to have spent nearly every night in the Red Lion, cozying up to a pretty barmaid. And now we’ve been here, too, though we weren’t cozying up to any barmaids, pretty or otherwise.

Dinner was a cruise along the Thames River, made all the more special because on our return journey they raised the Tower Bridge for a sailboat with a very tall mast to pass through. We were told they only raise the bridge 4-5 times a year, so we were really lucky to get to witness it.

All in all not a bad first day. 😊

Photos (in order): our cruise itinerary; taking off from Orlando; beautiful sunset from the sky (x2); flying into London; 10 Downing Street (x2); Big Ben; Westminster Abbey (front); Westminster Abbey (side); Entrance to Fortner & Mason (x2); Piccadilly (x2); in front of the Red Lion (aka Charles Dickens) Tavern; cruising down the Thames; Tower Bridge (x2); Kathy & Pam & the London Eye.