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Surviving Mai Tai Tom’s “Royal” Blunder: England & Scotland 2022

maitaitom

10+ Posts
It's been awhile. In spring 2022, Tracy (yes, amazingly she's still married to me) and I along with friends and traveling companions Kim and Mary spent a few weeks in England and Scotland. We traveled to London, York, Durham, Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, Scottish Borders, Edinburgh, The Highlands, Oban, Inveraray, Glasgow and points in between. In York I narrowly averted incarceration for my near encounter with Princess Anne. But I won't get ahead of myself. Here is a link to our first day in London. https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/chapter-one-somehow-we-make-it-to-london/
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A busy first full day in London, starting at historic St. Paul’s Cathedral, then moving on to a museum detailing the history of London, a 900-year-old church near where William Wallace met his gory end, a walk past some London landmarks, and the recently renovated Natural History Museum. All that, and a couple of great meals plus a costly miscue ("Tom, you idiot!") highlight our day.
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On another beautiful London day, we decided to head down the Thames by boat to Greenwich, where we’d get a glimpse of a famous sailing vessel (the Cutty Sark), check out the Old Royal Naval Academy and its renowned Painted Hall (dubbed "Britain’s Sistine Chapel”), see a residence fit for a Queen (appropriately named The Queen’s House) where we’d see an innovative set of stairs and finally blow a lung on the walk up to scope out where east meets west at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Back in London, we'd Thai one on for dinner at Winston Churchill’s grandparent’s pub hangout.
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We hopped an early train from London to York. After getting settled in at a beautiful B&B, we walked into historic medieval York and dined at the birthplace (maybe) of the guy who tried to assassinate a king. Then we climbed (barely) to Clifford’s Tower, hit the York Castle Museum that details York through the centuries, visited a quirky pub with a cool name and nearly lost Kim and Tracy at a complicated crosswalk. We had a great dinner that night. https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/chapter-four-stepping-it-up-in-york/
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What was going to be a relaxing day checking out more York sights nearly turned into an international fiasco when I attempted to enter a locked museum (I didn't know it was locked ... my story and stocking to it) that was on our list to see. It would be our second encounter with the same Royal family member in the past five years. Bookending this little incident was a day where we’d stroll through more lush gardens, the ruins of a once important abbey, walking part of York’s City Walls, seeing where the man behind the Gunpowder Plot was baptized, getting on track at the largest railway museum in the world and getting a second chance on the walls as the skies turned blue. What could have been a disaster turned into another fun day in York. I've done some pretty stupid stuff, and this one ranks right up there. My thanks to the York police force for not locking me up. :)
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On our final day in York, we’d finally enter the town’s biggest ticket item, the York Minster, the largest Gothic Cathedral in northern Europe. It lived up to all expectations. From the stained glass windows to remarkable ceilings, the place is a double Wow! Then we’d head to “one of the finest medieval guildhalls in the world,” and end up at the York attraction where I nearly ruined Princess Anne’s parade, The Mansion House. Fortunately, they didn’t remember me. Loved our time in York.

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Time to leave York. Our first stop was at the incredible Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden. Wow! There was a lot to take in during our 2 1/2 hours on the property. Then it was on to Ripon and its cathedral that's celebrating its 1,350th birthday this year. And I thought turning 70 next week was old. After that, we headed to our home for the next two nights, Durham. We scoped out a little of the town and had another marvelous dinner with some precarious steps downward. We went to bed that night, not knowing that the following day I would find myself in another embarrassing predicament and then nearly ruin our vacation.

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It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We took a lovely riverside stroll in Durham, visited the Durham Museum and Heritage Center, toured the magnificent Durham Cathedral (below phyto) and checked out the books in a very cool library. I also got lost in a place where you'd think it would be impossible to get lost and re-injure a rotator cuff that had me rethinking the trip. All in all a most unusual day, but we all lived to tell about it.
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Time to see the Northumberland countryside, but not before stopping at the ancient Hexham Abbey. Then we headed to part of Hadrian's Wall to check out Housesteads Roman Fort built in the 2nd century. Further north, we'd pay a visit to the remarkable Cragside House, Gardens & Estate. We would spend the following three nights in the countryside just outside of Bamburgh at a really great family-run B&B. That and some stampeding sheep made for a pretty cool day.
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Alnwick was today's destination. We'd start at The Alnwick Garden where we were careful not to be poisoned shortly after entering. Then we'd venture next door to the spectacular Alnwick Castle that has been family-owned for more than seven centuries. Finally, we would visit "Britain's Most Haunted Historic Castle," Chillingham Castle, that was different than any castle we'd ever seen. It was also a Hoarder's paradise.
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Our last day in Northumberland started off at another of Lord Armstrong's properties, the interesting and picturesque Bamburgh Castle. After visiting the nearby church and lunching at Berwick-upon-Tweed, we ended the day at Lindisfarne Caste and Priory on Holy Island, where we were nearly blown into the North Sea. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Northumberland.
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Onward to the Scottish Borders from Northumberland. Our first stop was Floors Castle, which was unfortunately closed for the day for an event. We did wander the beautiful gardens, nature trail and get a glimpse of the huge castle, "the largest inhabited castle in Scotland." Then we visited the viewpoint frequented by a famed Scottish author and a humongous statue of the "Guardian O 'The Scottish Borders." Then after a quick lunch in Melrose, we toured "Scotland's oldest inhabited house," a place where Mary Queen of Scots had a not so pleasant stay about four and a half centuries ago, but it does contain some interesting "Mary memorabilia."
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We had missed out on visiting Rosslyn Chapel on our last trip to Scotland, but not this time. I went in search of the Holy Grail there before hitting Edinburgh. We stayed at a perfectly located hotel near the Royal Mile, and got a good workout walking up the stairs to get there. On a gorgeous day, we took a stroll on part of the Royal Mile and, of course, ducked into St. Giles' Cathedral. It was back to the Royal Mile for dinner at a great restaurant.
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On our first full day in Edinburgh, we revisited a few of our favorites. From the Scott Monument through Princes Street Gardens, St. Cuthbert's graveyard, gorgeous Dean Village, lunch in Edinburgh's New Town to stopping in the Scottish National Gallery to see one of Tracy's favorite paintings, we enjoyed our stroll through Scotland's capital. And for dinner ... voila, we made a return appearance to my favorite international restaurant in 2017. Does it still prepare the best damned steak tartare in the world? We had to find out.
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It was a long walk to Leith, but the payoff of a self-guided tour on the Royal Yacht Britannia made it all worthwhile. After checking out Queen Elizabeth's former floating home away from home, we made our way to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, which has blooming for more than 350 years. Lots of walking on a fun day.
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No Princess Anne on this visit to Edinburgh, so we finally got our five-year delayed tour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It was well worth the wait. We then strolled the Royal Mile that had about million people on it before having to make a determination on whether we would try to get out of Scotland early, which, of course, (spoiler alert) we didn't. That's good, because the next two days were full of beautiful Scotland scenery.
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We hit the Scottish countryside from Edinburgh and stopped by Lauriston Castle. Although closed, we did get to take a little spin around its gardens. Next up, we visited The Kelpies ,a couple of fascinating and captivating horses that are the largest equine structures in the world. Not to be outdone, we saw at the only rotating boat lift in the world, The Falkirk Wheel. We’d finally show up in Killin, where we wondered if I had really made a reservation. Killin is gorgeous, however it is where Kim was nearly run over by a tour bus on a narrow bridge.
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Today we would head through the Highlands, look for some elusive red deer, visit a massacre site, a couple of idyllic kirks, and eventually drive down the Argyll Coastal Route to Oban, via a Monty Python & The Holy Grail castle, a picturesque priory and garden and end up at a B&B with a million dollar view. In true Mai Tai Four fashion, thanks to some confusing signage and not listening to Tracy, we’d nearly have have to spend the night in a castle parking lot.
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