June 11-30, 2023 Land tour and Ship Cruise of the Maritime Jewels of the British Isles
On June 9, 2023, we flew to Atlanta, then onto Manchester England on June 10th to begin a 20-day land and sea tour of the English cities of Manchester and York, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, St. Andrews and Fairlie, Scotland, then on board the MV Corinthian to Stromness, Orkney Isles, then Belfast, Northern Ireland, onto the town of Douglas on the separate entity of the Isle of Man, then Dublin, Ireland, and from there to Fishguard, Wales, then by bus to the University town of Oxford and ending our trip flying back from Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles the morning of July 1, 2023.
On June 11, we had lunch at the Maldron Manchester City Center Hotel with sisters Anna Marris and Briony Gerrard and Matthew Ellis, their brother Damien's partner at the time of Damien's death some years ago. The sisters and Damien's father was Victor Johnson with whom Marilyn and I had visited in 1987 on our first trip to England. At that time, we also visited with Victor's sisters Zena and Doreen and first met Anna, Briony and Damien. The Johnson's are related to the Corless family, whose grandmother was the sister of my grandmother Edith Corless Barker.
Also attending the lunch was another second cousin, Ben Barker Hughes, whose mother was the sister of my grandfather Sidney Barker. We share the same great grandfather, George Barker.
For all the following pictures, you can double click the image to enlarge.
The pre-trip did not begin until the next day, June 12, 2023. Since Marilyn and i enjoyed Pub food on our first trip, our dinner on June consisted of fish and Chips at a nearby English Pub:
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| Manchester City University |
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| University of Manchester following images of campus buildings |
When Marilyn got tired walking, I then visited the Manchester History Museum which had an interesting exhibit on Egypt:
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Dinner at the Yorky Pud
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| Remnants of York Medieval City Gate and wall |
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| Bangers and Mash Dinner |
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| Interior pic of locomotive diesel engine |
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| Interior pic of coal tender |
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| Fuel Cell for generating electricity |
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Open link below to listen to old piano video:
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| Replica of Captain Cooks' Ship |
Whitby Abbey was a 7th century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey in North Yorkshire, a center of the medieval Northumbrian kingdom
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| Look closely and you will see two animals with long necks guarding the sheep |
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| Shut down nuclear power plant |
Video of coach drive to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
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Local Pub on Edinburgh's "Royal Mile" where we had dinner on June 18 |
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| Perhaps buildings from the Harry Potter movies |
Edinburgh Castle
| June 18 - Bus drive to Aberdeen, Scotland with stop off in St. Andrews: |
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| Building across street where we had lunch on a park bench |
St. Andrews School Buildings
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| Founder |
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| Golf course layout |
Video of 18th Hole walk:
| 18th hole open to public every Friday |
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June 19 Walk around Aberdeen with local guide Blair:
Village of Footdee before boarding ship:
Our cabin aboard Ship:
June 20 - Wake up in Stromness, Orkney Isles
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| Stromness |
June 21 - Second day in Orkney: morning visit to WW II Italian Chapel
Later in the day we visited Kirkwell Magnus Catherdral
Orkney\s neolithic history
Return to ship to the music of the Orcadian bagpipers:
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| Open and listen to video below |
Other on board activities
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| Using ship's WIFI to read emails over heavbily cracked iPad screen |
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| Enjoying ship's jaccuzzi located at bow of ship |
Native dialect/song video by Donald:
https://youtu.be/rVHVx0kzxuI
Calanais Standing Stones
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| After dinner young highland dancers- 3 videos |
June 23 - Fairlie, Scotland - Morning visit to Culzean Castle
Walking from parking lot to house
Robert Burn's Whimsical Garden
June 24 - Wake up in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Visit Giants Causeway
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| Portions of Game of Thrones filmed in Glencloe here |
Video of drive to Gallway Bay
Begin Hike
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June 25 Lobster Dinner and Dessert
June 25 - Tour Titanic Museum in Belfast
Video of Titanic from the bottom up:
In the afternoon on June 25 we rode in the traditional black cab with driver with a strong Northern Irish accent to get a personal and local look at how its recent and often violent history has shaped Belfast and its people
Video of Taxi ride
We observed little change politically or structurally in Belfast since our first visit there in 2018 except for this billboard
June 26 - Arrive in Douglas harbor on the Isle of Man, the small British crown dependency and protectorate with its own parliament since 979 AD.
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| View of Harbor from our state room |
Video of Isle of Man Coach Tour:
Bob, our local guide on the Isle of Man
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| Over 100 years ago, 23,000 men Knockaloe became WW 1's largest internment camp and center of the UL Government's aliens policy due to its islands location. The visitors center offers the story of Patrick Village before, during and after WW 1 and provides stories of the internees, guard, locals and village including the remaining internee graves. |
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| Flo and Kathi |
Steam Train Video:
Walk around Douglas, birthplace of the Bee Gees
June 27 -Dublin, Ireland City Bus Tour
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| June27 we woke up in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland and St. Stephens's Green,in Phoenix Park, once the sight of hangings and whippings by the Royal government, is now open space full of monuments to Irish history |
St.Patrick's Cathedral, Ireland's largest (Anglican) church built on the spot where the eponymous saint reputedly baptized Ireland's chieftains as he brought Christianity to the island.
Epic, The Irish Emigration Museum and two videos
Trinity College, Dublin
Botanic Gardens
June 28 - Fishguard, Wales and tour of St. Davids Cathedral, lunch with our lovely home hosts and final visit of the day to St. Mary's church and the town hall to see a hug wall of the tapestry that took over four years to complete. For some reason, I cannot find nor load the many pictures I took in Fishguard.
June 29, leave ship and travel by coach bus to Oxford for two nights.
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| Oxford University and collection of 29 colleges |
Oxford Botanic Gardens
June 30 - Farewell Dinner at the Red Lion
Video of Emma's Farewell:
https://youtu.be/brykOBPy5Qc
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