2011-09-06 Tuesday: North Berwick

Joan and I went out for our morning walk at 7am, while Tim enjoyed taking pictures from Colton Hill where we walked last night. When we had our first coffee of the day, we found out we were on the most expensive street in Edinburgh – even though it looked quite ordinary compared to the surrounding neighbourhood.

Later, we all took a train out to North Berwick (pronounced ‘Berrick’, as we have learned to drop the ‘w’) and walked for three hours – a short walk for us now - on a beach along the ‘Firth of Forth’, through a glen and also through the very picturesque town.

Joan and I have had many laughs ‘helping’ Tim remain ‘consistent’ at two beers per day, usually in two different pubs. It’s medicinal of course!

2011-09-05 Monday: Edinburgh

Today we had a train trip to Edinburgh so we started early. This is the first time we have faced commuter traffic in London. We squeezed into the train with our luggage and pretended we were sardines. The trip to Victoria Station was quick, but getting to the underground was hectic. Thousands of passengers squeeze through 10 gates to get into the underground. When the tube came we couldn’t get on the first one, we were too far from the door. We got on the second train but we had no seats and at every stop we juggled suitcases and backpacks to let fellow commuters off and on. We made it to King’s Cross Station safe and sound.

The six-hour train ride was picturesque throughout particularly when we went by the coast in the north. We walked around Edinburgh in the afternoon since the sun was out. The Architecture in Edinburgh is impressive: the Royal Mile and Princes Street especially.

2011-09-04 Sunday:

Just like the Tour-de-France everyone needs a rest day. Today was a quiet day around the apartment and we did our laundry and shopping. In the evening we went to the pub for a drink. After that the girls power walked home while I did some more night photography.

2011-09-03 Saturday

The girls wanted to shop and I wanted to see the Victoria and Albert museum so off we went our separate ways. The museum is impressive for it's theme presentations. I was surprised to see so many young children running about - until I went into the courtyard for lunch. After visiting the museum I went off to take pictures of the Battersea Power Station. The Battersea Power station was commissioned in 1929 and decommissioned in the 70’s. It is so big and ugly it’s a landmark.

After supper I decided to try London at night photography.

2011-09-03 Friday Great Tew

We decided to go to a quiet country hamlet to see another side of British life. I found a write up about Great Tew ( pop. 250 ) which said the village had many lovely thatched cottages. We phoned the one and only eating establishment (The 16th century Falkland Arms) to find out the nearest train station. The pub owner said to go to Charlbury and take a taxi to Tew. This almost worked perfectly except that Charlbury is also small. It took us almost an hour to get a taxi. However, the driver was great, took us on a little side trip to Little Tew and arranged for a taxi to pick us up after we had spent a few hours in Great Tew.
Great Tew was indeed very, very picturesque and we enjoyed our visit.

On the way back, we stopped at Oxford for a few hours. We were absolutely amazed by the old but incredibly beautiful university buildings in the city centre. Everywhere you looked, there was beauty.
Today was another fantastic day which we finished off at the local pub, The Falcon, which has become Tim’s favourite!