Maritime Jewels of the British Isles - London to Scilly

London

Our "Excellent" journey began in London with a two night stay to get us over the jet-lag.  After an eight hour flight from Minneapolis to Heathrow, it took us damn near as long to get from the airport to the hotel by van (1 3/4 hours, so I'm exaggerating just a little.)  I made the mistake of sitting with my back to the direction we were traveling and ended up a bit woozy by the time we got to the hotel.  After meeting our program director at the hotel, we walked around and had lunch.  I felt much better and made it to 10:30pm before crashing.  Jet-lag always seems worse to me when traveling west to east.  We stayed at the Tower Hotel, located at the base of the Tower Bridge, very nice hotel and location.

Tower Bridge (our hotel is on the right.)

We had our welcome dinner at the Dickens Inn on the first night.

The Dickens Inn

Good wine and friends

Dinner was fun.  It gave us a chance to meet our fellow travelers, discuss past trips and the upcoming adventure.  It was an easy walk from the hotel so we got some exercise as well.  The Dickens Inn is located in the St. Katharine Docks Marina.

The next day we had a city tour via bus; then an optional walk along the Thames.  We started our walk at the Millennium Bridge (nicknamed the Wobbly bridge due to the wobble that occurred on the first day it was open - after two years of repairs, it was reopened.)  We walked past the Globe Theatre, which is a reproduction of Shakespeare's theatre.  It is used for performances and one of my goals is to see a Shakespeare play performed there.  We also visited the Borough Market where I had the extreme pleasure of trying jellied eel (ok, the sarcasm has come back.)  It was bad stuff, the consistency was not good and you had to watch for bones.  Plus the taste was bad!  Kathy didn't even try it and she is usually the more daring when it comes to trying strange food.  We ended the walk by crossing the Thames on the Tower Bridge and returning to the hotel.

Two English Artists.

Old jail and burgers.

The Globe Threatre

Wobbly Bridge

I went out both nights we were in London to do some night photography.  They light up the Tower Bridge and it makes a beautiful image.  We had good weather during our London stay, so the images came out well.

Tower Bridge at night.

Along the Thames.

The Isle of Scilly

On day three we bused to the port of Poole to board the MV Corinthian.  We had the Captain's Welcome Dinner and drinks that evening.  The seas got a bit rough and I missed the dinner with a fuzzy stomach (I went back to the cabin to lay down and was fine.)  Kathy didn't have any problems; she is a better sailor than I am!

Our first stop, the next morning, was the Isle of Scilly where we visited the Tresco Abbey Garden.  To get there, we had to tender from our ship to the dock.  It was a little rough when we left the ship and we had one casualty, a women who slipped and cut her shin (required 22 stitches to close it up!)  The garden was fantastic and the soft overcast light was perfect for flower photography. 

On the way back the seas got worse and it took some time and effort to get us back on board - I sure needed a beer that evening.

The seas were getting rough.

Our landing spot for the tender. 

Note, you can click on any of the images in this blog and they will expand to a larger image.

My next blog post will cover the two stops we made in Wales.  I'm getting my work flow down, so it should go much faster and I will start doing each blog with a dram of whisky, so the humor level should go up quit a bit!!

Bonus Photos:

Here is a link to more photos : London and Scilly

You can view the images one by one by clicking on the first image, then using the arrows on the left and right to move through the images.  If you click on the information button (i), you will see the image description and other info. about where and when it was taken.  Or click on the three dots in the upper right in the album where you can select a slideshow (use the "esc" key to exit the slideshow.)  The descriptions will not appear on the slideshow, so I recommend you use the first method and turn on the information button.

I hope you enjoy this blog post.  Let me know if you have any questions of comments.