ADELAIDE-PERTH-LONDON-EDINBURGH

G’day from Perth
After a 3 hour flight from Adelaide we arrived in Perth where we spent about an hour before boarding the Qantas Dreamliner, non stop, Perth to London.
Qantas Dreamliner
About 3 or 4 hours into the flight we were served dinner which was followed by a movie, then sleep. I had broken sleep and didn’t think I had had much sleep at all but, to my surprise when I finally woke properly, 11 hours of the 17 hour flight had passed.
We arrived at Heathrow at 5 am, collected bags, cleared customs and made our way to our first ‘home away from home’, The Luna Simone Hotel.
Luna Simone
As we were much too early to check in, we left our luggage at reception and made our way to the nearest Nero for a great coffee.
Nero
We then headed into the city to re-aquaint ourselves with the wonderful city of London.

As this was the first of three visits to London on this trip, we visited The National Gallery, Tate Modern, Covent Garden, The Portrait Gallery, a bit of shopping and of course a couple of the local Pubs! We spent 3 restful days at the Luna Simone and on Friday, flew to Edinburgh.

EDINBURGH

We intended to climb Arthurs Peak on Saturday but the weather forecast was for afternoon rain, so the plan became indoor activities for the afternoon and a visit to the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle in the morning. Unfortunately the castle was closed because of the strong winds, so the carpark was the closest we got, the paved area that becomes the stage for the Edinburgh Tattoo. I spent a bit of time on that carpark with the SAPol Band in 2000. The incline on the area appears much greater than when the area is closed in and surrounded by the temporary staging and seating for the performances.

This carpark bec omes the performance area for the Edinburgh Tattoo

Sunday’s weather forecast was for better weather, no rain, so we decided to take a bus tour out to Hadrian’s Wall, driving through The Borders, and including a visit to the archaeological dig of Roman times at a place called Vindolanda.

Our Tour Guide for the day was Jude. She was an excellent guide, very informative, great stories, great selection of music and fantastic sound effects when telling her stories, all in all a fantastic day! We stopped at several small villages along the way, one was Jedburgh, Jude, our guide, said Jedburgh was renowned for being a quiet town and that the inhabitants didn’t venture out before 11am, that’s why there’s no people on the street in the photo.
Hadrian’s Wall

So, after our first encounter with the U.K. we’re now off to Iceland where the adventure continues!
Bye,bye
Lance & Barbara