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The British Isle Tour of 2002 |
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On May 23, 2002, Verlin and Verna
Allen, Kathleen and Brooks Green, Kelly and Connie Kent, and Kelly and
Kirsten Thomspon, began a three-week tour of the British Isles. Brooks
and Kathleen flew from Moscow, Russia and met the others in London, England.
They had come from Malad, Idaho; Salem, Oregon, and Medford, Oregon. The
tour was divided into four segments: 1) England, 2) Scotland, 3) Ireland,
and 4) Wales. The photographs shown below were selected to represent some
of the activities of the tour in each location.
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England Our base in England was London where we stayed in the Plaza on Hyde Park Hotel. From there we toured much of central London. It was from there that we began our trip north through England. It was most exciting driving out of a car rental agency onto a city street where cars drove on the left and the driver steered on the right. With little direction and a lot of nerve, we left London, and followed the M1 motorway past Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, York, and Newcastle. A few photographs of that portion of the tour are shown below. |
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When the group arrived in London, they were exhausted from traveling. They crashed in Brooks and Kathleen's hotel room until theirs was ready. While we waited we toured the British Museum. The next day we floated the Thames. |
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While floating the Thames we saw Big Ben through the Eye if London (a huge observation wheel). We watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The fountain is near the palace. |
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Scotland
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| On the third day in the British Isles, we drove to Edinburgh. This is the site of the headquarters of the Scotland Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kelly Thompson served here twenty-five years ago so we intended to visit places that were important to him. The first was the mission home then we went to a bed and breakfast where we met some people that Kelly had taught and baptized. We attended church in Edinburgh and toured the city. After Edinburgh, we drove to Carrbridge, a small town near Inverness. The timeshare became our base for the next week. The photos below are the Scotland portion of the trip. |
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Our first B & B is at the left. We spent two days and nights there while touring Edinburgh. The other photo is the group walking through a park on our way to a place to catch the Hop-on, Hop-off bus. It was windy and cool. |
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At left are Verna and Verlin standing next to a bag piper. The city of Edinburgh is shown from the Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh is a wonderful city. We enjoyed the bus tour and our walk along the Royal Mile. |
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At the east end of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is the beautiful palace of Holyrood. On the way out of the palace grounds (photo at left), we stopped for this picture. The "guard" in the guard house looks especially intimidating. On the right is a photo of Robert the Bruce - the founder of Scotland. Kathleen's family is related to Robert so we spent quite a lot of time learning about him and his life. The ladies are looking into the distance to a site where Robert the Bruce fought a major battle. |
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For most of our stay in Scotland, we lived in Carrbridge, a small village outside of Inverness. Each day we would take tours and then return to Carrbridge. In the center of the village was this old stone bridge. |
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To me, Scotland is Loch Ness and sheep. At the far left is a castle on the shore of Loch Ness - a cold, windy day. Hundreds of millions of sheep were seen grazing all over Scotland and on the roads. |
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At the far left the ladies are reading about Melrose Abby, the site where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried. Kelly and Brooks "appear" to be having a drink in a pub in Galashiels. |