The Best of Britain Tour - Part I

If you are like many Americans, you have ancestors who came from England, Scotland, or Wales, and their history is our history. Having just come back from the Best of Britain tour from C.I.E. International, I can say that walking around on that ancient land is a thrill for those of us who are history buffs or genealogists. From the streets of London to the Salisbury Plain where Stonehenge stands, from the Shambles in York to Edinburgh Castle, there so many places to see, do, participate in and absorb on this excellent guided coach tour. The C.I.E. coaches are brand new with the most comfortable seating and giant windows that are cleaned before each new day's destination.  Seating was rotated each day so that everyone would get a chance to sit up front, but there was enough room on our 52-passenger bus that all 25 of us could claim the seats we wanted. 

Rest stops are remarkable in that they feature photo ops, good food, and excellent restroom facilities. Our guides were highly educated professionals who are also personable and responsible for our comfort and welfare. David stayed with us for the entire tour, and had a very good grasp of British history, including the Roman and Viking times, as well as geographic and botanic features of the land. Specialist guides Sheila and Sylvia came on board for extra details on Edinburgh and Beatles/Liverpool. At most venues, our group was able to bypass regular queues for entrance to castles and other attractions. Our tour came with an extra day in London with vouchers for the hop-on/hop-off bus, Tower of London (where you'll see the Crown Jewels for the whole of Britain's history) and a boat cruise on the River Thames. For those interested in more current events, there are tours of the Beatles' Cavern Club in Liverpool and Abbey Road in London, as well as the annual Festival Fringe (in August) with street performers, theaters featuring plays and musicals to rival Broadway (we took in an awesome performance of Wicked), the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and much much more. Our hotel in London was located in Kensington, just a block from High Street, a tube station, 3-story Whole Foods store and Hyde Park. We could walk to Notting Hill where an annual festival was taking place, or to the Princess Diana Memorial Park. We also walked to Royal Albert Hall, found a geocache there, and walked on to the Globe Theater where the Bard's plays were in progress. Our Hotel in Windsor, the Hart and Garter,

was one narrow lane across from Windsor Castle which we toured on our first afternoon in England. After dinner, we walked past Eton College to a meadow and found another geocache at dusk, and said a few words to the Queen's swans paddling on the Thames. After a morning in Oxford, where some of our group toured Christchurch (where some of Harry Potter's Hogwarts scenes were filmed) after a visit to the University at Oxford, we went on to York. What an adorable little village with a massive York Minster! Swinegate is the street where the olde pork butchers worked and you can find bas relief pigs of all sorts hidden in the clay bricks of the buildings on the narrow streets. The Shambles, composed of Tudor-style half-timber buildings that hang over the narrow lanes are these days full of quaint shops selling hats, candies, jewels, and such.