Oh My Gosh!

My mother was a great fan of the British Royals and instilled a degree of this sentiment in all of her children - including myself!  So, imagine my delight....

... when we headed down towards the docks to visit.........

... the Royal Yacht Britannia..........gasp!

Of course, Poppa was interested in the Captain's area of the ship....

.... while I gazed out over the water and imagined the Queen looking at the same view!

There were a lot of rooms on this yacht and I can't remember the designation of them all.

I know this was the Queen's bedroom.

Prince Philip's bedroom - yes, they sleep in separate, but adjoining rooms - this is in case the Queen needs to conduct business when the Prince is sleeping.

A sitting room - where the royals gather to talk and relax.

The formal dining room - that about says it all.

One of the side tables displaying some of the decanters.

Another display of some beautiful silver pieces.

Another dining room - this one looks fancier - maybe the other one was the crew's dining room??  Can't remember, but you get the idea!

The office where any necessary official business takes place - or the Queen writes personal letters, or anything else office-related that needs to be done while she is not in port!

A private sitting room for relaxation if the weather doesn't permit outside relaxation.  Notice the little Corgi on the safa!  They were scattered in various locations throughout the yacht.

This is the formal sitting room, where heads of state and/or other V.I.P.'s sit when they are on the yacht.

Another sitting area which includes a lovely grand piano - not sure who plays it though.

More sitting space - looks ideal for knitting and/or reading - don't you think?

And - no ship would be complete without a bar - again -  notice the little corgi!

This is in the sick bay....yes, the Royal Yacht even has a sick bay!

Complete with an operating and/or dental chair.

The laundry room - complete with one of those big pressers for trousers!

And - last but not least - here is my Prince Phillip with the guard!  What a day!  (See the sign behind him?)

Are You Ready For the Castle?

 This is the facade of the main part of the Castle....

 the windows are lovely....

 ........... a closer view.........

 The Castle is high up and overlooks the city....

 ..... there were a lot of people visiting...

 ...... and the view was awesome!

 This is the altar inside the church located inside the castle grounds...

 
 The buildings go on and on, but we ran out of time for further explorations...

..... but we did get to visit what James (our tour guide) called a real Fish and Chips store.

 Here is Poppa enjoying the fish and chips - they were really good!

 Soon we were on the bus again still heading north.....

 ......... we stopped for dinner in a very nice restaurant.  The meals were very good and we both enjoyed sitting across the table from these two young ladies from Australia!  They were both owners of large ranches there and were in England for a sporting event that their children were competing in.  It seems that the children were very talented since they were competing internationally!

 We passed through Gretna Green, the runaway wedding capital that we had all heard of.

 Another example of the amazing architecture in the UK!

 And then up the highway again!

.... to Edinburgh where we saw double decker buses in front of another interesting facade!

 A beautiful church....

 And more narrow roads in the midst of a plethora of beautiful old buildings!

 And... high up on the hill.........

............. the Castle of Edinburgh!

Liverpool!

We left the hotel the next morning and travelled on up the road....

And found ourselves in Liverpool on Penny Lane!  YES!  The home of the Beatles - I was an avid fan as a teenager and this was awesome!  The lady in the picture is Debbie.  She was one of our travelling friends - a very nice person!  As we travelled along, the bus stopped at Strawberry Fields....
 
Strawberry Fields was an orphanage midway between John's home and Paul's home.  This is the front gate. 

This stone was embedded in the sidewalk in front of the orphanage - we're not sure how it got there or who put it there!

 Not far away was John's family home.  It is in good condition and quite nice.

 The rain had eased up a little when we stopped at Paul's family home, which is now called a townhome, but was known then as a council house, built in WWII as housing for families of soldiers fighting in the war.

 Just before the building was this sign denoting the location as the McCartney home.

Here is a better view to give you the general idea!

 Since George and Ringo lived in various places and were more remote from the downtown area, we were granted some free time to explore Liverpool in the vicinity of our hotel.  As usual, in all UK cities, the buildings are old, well-maintained and beautiful.  The next few shots I took as we walked toward our final stop for the day...

 ... this is the top of the building in the previous photo.

 We headed down the street...

 ... a shopping district where we admired the architecture....

 ........which didn't disappoint....

 ....then, found ourselves in a busier area...

 ... with a bar called The Cavern...

 ...then we found another venue called the Cavern, and a little further up on the other side of the street...

 ...was the actual Cavern Club...

 ....where the Beatles made their debut for the general public, were a rousing success and eventually became famous!

 Inside it was small and dark...

 ...and crowded....

 There were photos from the days when they were not so famous...

 ....and displays of things used in days-gone-by....

....here is Poppa in the entrance which was a dark and winding staircase leading underground to the Cavern!

 Outside there were life-sized statues of John and Paul...Here I am with Paul trying to adopt his stance while Poppa tried to figure out how to use my cell phone to take a photo!  

I took a photo of this church on our way back to the hotel!  Then it was definitely time for bed!  What a day!  I'll never forget this trip!

More Views of the Countryside!

We were getting closer to Scotland all the time - but we weren't there yet!  The scenery just kept getting better....

 
 ..... I loved the view of the surrounding countryside....

 .... including all the little critters in the fields....

 ...... I could see yarn growing everywhere!!!

And this sign was on the door of a wonderful shop where all the goods were woven from fine Scottish wool - from sheep that look a lot like this!