Day 9: We left Edinburgh for another long day on the coach. At least this time we weren't in the back of the bus. We toured Floors Castle the home of the Dutch and Duchess of Roxburgh. This was an interesting place. The family lives in the castle but opens it up for tourists to come thru all day long. I would hate it if people walked thru my house. We continued on to York and went on a walking tour of the city. This was a lovely city. We were able to visit the York Minster Abby and walk up and down the streets. I just can't get over how small the streets are in Europe. That evening we stayed in York. Another evening of lost luggage. This time I knew for a fact they had placed it in room 207 instead of 201 but when we brought it to the attention of the front desk- they looked at us like we were freaks. We had no assistance until I got our tour director involved. She couldn't believe it had happened again. What are the odds. We received our bag 2 hours later. That evening we had our last group dinner and it lasted forever!!! The time between the appetizer and the main course was over an hour. And if you requested water---well, we were lucky to see that by the time our dessert arrived. The hotel room was so small. I guess it really didn't matter since we spent 3 hours at dinner and the rest of the time tracking down our bag. This was the worst hotel of the trip.
Day 10: We drove to Anne Hathaways cottage (the wife of William Shakespeare not the actress) and had a chance to take photos. What a pretty cottage. We also visited the birthplace of Shakespeare and had a lovely visit in the town. Lunch was interesting. Everywhere you went had tables to sit at outside BUT you had to pay more to sit at them. WOW---everything cost money. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving along the English countryside on our way back to London. We arrived in London around 4:00 and it was time to say goodbye to our tour group. This hotel was great and on the side of London I really liked. It was an evening on own. We saw the Eye of London, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and surprise surprise---we found the Hard Rock Cafe. This place was crazy busy! There are two buildings--one to eat in and one to shop in...we had to wait forever. After dinner we walked some more and toured the older section of London. I really enjoyed the Westminster part of London. The funny thing about this evening was the fact Devin and I were asked more than once where something was. I have no idea why--we definitely didn't look like we knew where we were. I'm not sure why people asked us for directions. Crazy!
