Our month started with a trip to St. George to see Grace perform in her school production of Lion King. She played Simba. It was a joy to see her perform and do such a wonderful job. She is very talented and is doing that which she absolutely loves.
While we were in St. George, Katie's sister Allison and her three children came to visit. It was a bit crazy at Ryan and Katie's home with all the children but it was great to see Allison again as it's been years since we've seen her. Katie's sister, Lauren, lives in St. George with her husband and four children, so when everyone was there it was wild but fun. Ryan and Katie's home is the perfect set up for children to have a ball - a swimming pool, sport court, hot tub, and big game room makes for a wonderful place to gather.
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| Lauren, Katie, and Allison |
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| The pool in their backyard |
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| The sport court |
We stayed until Monday so we could Face Time with Aubrey who is serving her mission in Buenos Aries. It was wonderful to talk with her and feel her excitement for sharing the gospel. We love her weekly emails but is was especially fun to see her in person via the internet.
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On the screen is Aubrey top left, Ryan
top right, Katie on the bottom with Julia. |
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One happy Dad talking with
his beautiful daughter |
The following Sunday was Mother's Day. I love this day as I get to talk with each of our children. That is always a joy. Ryan and Katie sent me flowers, Andrea sent me a darling board for the kitchen and a precious bracelet to remind me of her love and that mother and daughter are never very far apart no matter the miles between them. Such a special message of love. Todd and Kailee brought up flowers and a booklet about mothers. The girls painted me rainbow pictures. We had a tri tip dinner and then just enjoyed each other's company. It was a great day.
Two days later we were packing for for our cruise to the British Isles. We left for the airport, with the Fullers, in the late afternoon of Tuesday so we could make our over night flight to London. It was a long flight as neither Paul nor I slept much. Upon landing at Heathrow airport, we were met by our prearranged taxi driver who took us to our hotel, The Millennium Hotel.
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| Our driver helping us unload all our bags at the hotel |
When we got settled into our rooms, we walked to Harrods, a giant department complete with several restaurants. It started out at a small grocery store years ago and had grown to be Europe's largest department. It was amazing to walk through. We found a place to have fish and chips which were expensive but wonderful. It was then time to head back to the hotel to sleep and get ready to explore London for the next couple of days.
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| Inside Harrods at the main restaurant area |
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| Beautiful cathedral ceilings |
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| Our fish and chips and salad which Paul and I shared. |
We had purchased a London pass that was good for two days and included admission into several sites in the city as well as riding the Big Bus, a hop on hop off bus that has several routes to take you around the city. To get to the nearest bus stop, we walked for about 15 minutes. The bus stop was at the top of Hyde park just beyond the lion and unicorn gate.
Here are some of the photos we took as we rode the red route sitting up top in the open air seats on the Big Bus.
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The Marble Arch placed in an area where hangings used to take place.
People would come with their picnic lunches to watch the executions. |
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| Interesting horses head -not sure of its significance |
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| The Parliament building |
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| St. Paul's cathedral |
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| The London Tower |
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| Big Ben |
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Sitting up top the Big Bus
with the Parliament Building in the background. |
We got off the bus to visit Westminster Abbey. It is a beautiful church where many elite members of the British society have been buried. It is a working church where you can go in to worship. We had to wait in a long line for about an hour but we were glad we could see the London icon.
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| One of many tombs of famous people |
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| This is the tomb of an unknown British Warrior, |
From here we walked to catch a boat for a ride along the Thames, also included with our London Pass. It was a relaxing ride which we needed after walking so much. Along the way we saw the many bridges that cross the Thames as well as the London Eye, a ferris wheel with enclosed glass bubbles to stand in for a 360 degree view of the city.
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We got off the boat at a stop so we could find something to eat.
We found this restaurant that specialized in Perri chicken, a barbecue
chicken breast with different sauces spread on the chicken.
It was good and filled our empty stomachs. |
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| A clipper ship seen at this stop. |
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Taken after our boat ride while waiting for the
Big Bus to take us back to our hotel.
That's Big Ben in the background |
We rode the Big Bus back to the Hyde Park entrance and walked back to our hotel. We were so tired after walking over 10,000 steps, according to Paul's Fitbit, that we crashed in our hotel room to get ready for another day of exploring. In the morning, we walked to the Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. We couldn't believe how many people come to watch this every other day event. The crowds were massive but we were able to get a place to stand on some steps so we could see parts of what was happening. We were so disappointed in the whole thing, though. It all took place behind rod iron fences. What we saw seemed very unprofessional especially when the band started playing Hello Dolly while the guards were being replaced. We would not recommend this to anyone.
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| The crowds waiting to cross the street to try and get a closer look |
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| The palace |
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| The band marching into the palace area |
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| Everything took place behind these gates |
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A statue outside the gates of the palace.
We stood on the steps on the opposite side of this statue. |
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| Another view of the palace |
We left the palace and walked to catch the Big Bus that would take us to The Kensington Palace. It is a a beautiful building surrounded by well manicured grounds. Inside was a little disappointing as we mostly saw the exotic costumes worn long ago as well as by modern day guest of the palace. The second part of the tour was better in that we saw a few of the decorated and furnished rooms. The guys were not excited about this palace at all.
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| Finally some furnished rooms |
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Best part of this tour was eating ice cream
outside on the tea room patio |
We caught the bus back to Harrod's and walked to a restaurant that specialized in pizza. We ate dinner there then headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready to board our cruise ship in the morning.
Our prearranged taxi driver, met us at our hotel at 8:00 and drove us to the airport. There we met the Princess representatives who assigned us to a bus to take us to the ship. It was about a 2 hour drive to South Hampton where the ship was docked. We boarded the Regal Princes, ate lunch, and unpacked. Our dinner reservations were mixed up so we had to get that straightened out before dinner. We arrived at dinner a few minutes before our scheduled time and it didn't seem to matter when we had our appointment. We were assigned a random table, had dinner, attended the welcome show, and went to bed. |
| Getting ready to set sail for Portland, England |
We docked at Portland, England. Our scheduled tour was to the Athelhampton Tudor House. This home was built in the 1400's and the place where English author, Thomas Harding, received his inspiration. It was a beautiful house with amazing gardens which we enjoyed exploring.
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We were served tea and biscuits before touring the home.
Of course we had water and biscuits |
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The dove cote where upwards to 1500 nests for the
doves were housed at one time. The doves were
used for food, their feathers for stuffing, and their
bones for needles. |
On the way back to the ship, our bus stopped at the Cerne Giant, an outline of a giant carved into the grass to expose the chalk base. It was carved somewhere between 3000 years ago to 400 years ago. It is the largest chalk carving in Britain and was felt to be a source of fertility. If a couple were having trouble getting pregnant, it is said they would camp out near this giant carving to help them in their efforts to have children. If you notice the rather large male organ, one can see why it may have been considered a fertility god.Our next port was Guernsey, England. We didn't have a tour booked so we got off the ship and walked to the Castle Coronet. It was more of a fort with all the military cannons. It even housed the Military Museum. Guernsey was the only part of the British Isles that the German Nazis occupied during World War II.
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| Castle Coronet |
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At noon everyday, the military guard sets
off a cannon at the fort. |
The third stop on our cruise was the Port of Cort. After an rather long drive on the tour bus, we were at the Blarney castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone. It is rumored that if you kiss the stone you will be blessed to become more eloquent. The castle is ancient and to get to the stone you have to climb 125 stone stairs. Once there, you have to lie on your back to kiss the stone. This was something we did not have any desire to do. Beside the wait to get to the top of the castle was over 2 hours. Instead, we walked around the beautiful grounds of the castle, even finding the estate home which the blarney castle was built to protect. We enjoyed the exercise and seeing some beautiful gardens.
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| The Estate Home |
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| Looking back toward the castle |
Next port - Dublin, Ireland. After tendering to the shore, we boarded a tour bus to take us the famous Grafton street, where we had lunch and found some gelato. We got back on the bus and drove to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. It was then onto Dublin Castle for a tour of the castle, including going down under the castle to see the original powder castle and city wall. We also toured what is called the State Apartments with it grand staircase, president's hall, reception hall, throne room, and the hall where state receptions are held. This was the home of the English rulers for 100 years so is not a favorite place to the local Irish people since they won their independence from England. Now it is the state offices and used to entertain important state visitors.
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The Titanic Museum. The tallest peak of this building
is how tall the Titanic was. |
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Our tickets resembled what they would have looked
like if we had boarded the Titanic |
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| To show the immense size of the Titanic |
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The wall showing the names of those who lost their lives
on that fateful day. We found a couple of men with the
last name of Millar. Paul looked them up on family search and
one may have been related to him. He also found out that the temple
work has been done for both these young men. |
After spending a couple of hours in the museum, our tour bus took us on a drive through Belfast, a city once divided by a wall built to separate the Catholics and Protestants (or the Republicans and the Loyalists). One group wanted to separate themselves from English rule while the other group desired to stay loyal to England.
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| Part of the wall |
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| More wall |
On our 9th day sailing around the British Isles, we stopped at Glasgow, Scotland. We took an all day tour to the village of Ayre, the home of Robert Burns, a renowned Scottish poet and songwriter. We visited the museum and gardens honoring him and his works. He was beloved because he wrote in the Scottish dialect which endeared him to the people.
We finally had a much needed day at sea. Deon wasn't feeling well so she took two 2 hour naps. We enjoyed walking around the track on the top deck and eating lunch at Alfredo's Pizza. A day to relax was just what we needed.
The next day, we ported at Invergordon, Scotland. Our tour bus took us to Dunrobin Castle, a fairytale like castle and gardens similar to Versailles in France. It was first built in the 12th century with many additions made over time. We loved touring this castle as it was beautifully decorated and furnished according to the period of its time. We also adored walking around the sculptured gardens that backed up to the castle and ended at the sea.
Our last port in the British Isles was Edinburgh, Scotland. In a tour bus, we drove around this capital city and saw the Royal Castle, perched high upon the rock cliffs. We thought this was a most beautiful city. We drove down the Royal Mile and then on to the Scotland Natural Museum. The Museum was a 3 story building with different exhibits on each level. Many of the exhibits were hands on and interactive. A great place for children to learn. Gary wasn't feeling well on this day so he stayed on the ship to rest.It was time for our last full day at sea, again a much needed day to relax. It was also another formal night with steak and lobster for dinner. The entertainment was a take off on the Beatles with two British boys singing some of their famous songs.
Our last stop on the British Isles cruise was in France. We got off the ship and traveled over 2 hours to Normandy - The cemetery of the fallen during World War II, overlooking Omaha beach where so many lost their lives in a effort to take the beaches and cripple Germany's hold on France. It was a sobering site as we walked among the thousands of crosses there.
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| A chapel for contemplation |
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A wall listing the dead by their branch of service -
Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard |
There was a wonderful museum at Normandy. It told the story of the invasion through pictures and descriptions as well as a movie. So glad we found this at the end of our time at the cemetery.
We then drove down to the actual Omaha beach with its monument to the fallen and the bravery shown that day on this beach.
We had lunch at a restaurant nearby and visited another museum helping us understand even more about the monumental effort it was to take the beaches and maintain them from the Germans. In the water and on the beaches here there still remained the floating docks used to transport tanks and supplies onto the shores. |
Lunch - a salmon patty? Luckily this was only
the first course. The rest of the lunch was delicious. |
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| The docks used by the Allied troops |
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A major storm finally ruined these docks.
You can see some of them still lined up out in the water. |
It was back to our ship for dinner and to pack. By this time I was not feeling well. After dinner, I collapsed on the bed while Paul finish packing our suitcases. We skipped the show that night and opted to go to bed as we had to be ready to leave the ship rather early the next morning.
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The last night with our waiters who had been so good to us
through out the cruise. |
After breakfast in the dining room, we waited for our call to leave the ship. When we were able to get off the ship, we boarded a transfer bus for the hour plus ride to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time for our flight. The Heathrow airport was incredibly crowded as everyone waits in a big area until just before they can board their flight. (The gates are all enclosed and there is no food to purchase inside the gate. nor enough seats for everyone to sit.) Paul and I went looking for some kind of a restaurant but the only food we could find to purchase were premade sandwiches, water, and chips...a meal deal. We each bought one meal and headed back to Deon and Gary to tell them where they could find food. They opted not to go get anything so I shared half of my sandwich with Deon. We were glad to finally get on the plane and begin the 10 hour flight home. Everyone, except Paul, was feeling a little under the weather but we all made it home to Heber without too much difficulty....except that we all tested positive for COVID the next day.
What a way to end a marvelous trip and the month of May!!!!
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