London 2024 - Day One 9/15/24

We arrived in London around 9:30 this morning London time a little tired and jet lagged but ready to start our first full day in England. Our tour director for the week, Janet Sayers, met us just as we made our way through customs and led us to our tour bus where we met Tony, our bus driver for the first two full days.

We took a scenic bus tour through the city of London Our first stop turned out to be quite an eventful one. We hopped off of the bus to visit Westminster Abbey to find that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The Battle took place on September 15, 1940 in southeast England between Britain and Germany. A special remembrance ceremony was held in the Abbey and we were able to see the dignitaries and military personnel leaving the ceremony, including (rumor has it) the Prime Minister.

Before heading back to the bus, we were treated to the remarkable sound of a WWII engine overhead when to a Lancaster bomber flew over the Abbey to mark the end of the ceremony.

After boarding the bus to continue our tour, we drove by the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, as we made our way to Trafalgar Square, where we disembarked for some lunch in the Square before making our way to the Holiday Inn London Kensington High Street, our home-away-from-home for the next nine days.

The hotel is located in Kensington, within walking distance to public transportation as well as many great restaurants and pubs, including the Hux Bar, which features a full array of taxidermy animals on display. We ended the day with a welcome dinner at the hotel and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, featuring Pamela Beggan '66 on the kazoo, for Kathy Pietrasik '76, who celebrated a special birthday today!

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Barcelona - Dos

Day two in Barcelona has been fantastic! Jose gave us lots of information on the artist Gaudi - not born here but arrived in 1852 to attend the university. His artistic style and influence can be seen across the city. We stopped at Park Guell which was an amazing outdoor area Gaudi designed near the home he lived in. Inspired by nature, fairy tales and classical legends the park is beautiful. With its kissing benches, 'candy house', salamander and plaza with the longest bench in the world it is a work of art in itself. Some of us made the walk up to the top where the three crosses are - and found even more breathtaking views of the city. From there we headed back downtown for a short walk to La Sagrada Familia cathedral. Design by Gaudi and still not yet finished, it is very unique and ornate. Just walking around the outside, Jose had enough informatiion to share about its intricacies that it took some time. The line for entrance was nearly wrapped around the ch

Cordoba

First our morning started with an alarm - or a lack of one; as Mary Jane and Pat's room never received a wakeup call. So everyone else was on the bus ready to go when they finally got a knock on the door. What troopers they were, though! In 15 minutes they were on the bus with everyone and not long after they were able to laugh at the 'chaos' of it all. Our local guide Isabel was just delightful - and clearly has a love for her city. She tells us that filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is from here as we begin our walk. First we go through the old Jewish center. Nearly all of the city's buildings are white-washed (originally by the women we hear). We stop at an old Jewish synagogue and learn some history of the area. Then we stop at the statue of a famous rabbi ( can you name him ?) which legend is that by rubbing his foot and then touching your own head you will get taller and wiser. most of us did that - some hoping for extra height, others for a bit of wisdom!

2011: Day 4 - Vienna

Another great day! We had a 6am wake up call - but it paid off! Our tour director, Robert, secured the first reservations of the day at Shronbrunn Palace - which meant we were the only guests in the Palace for the most part. We went room to room with our own local guide, Gabi, for a nearly private tour! A one-of-a-kind experience for sure. The Palace and Gardens were beautiful. 1,441 rooms and acres and acres of grounds. We learned about Mary Theresa (and all of her 16 children). This was the summer palace for the Hapsburg dynasty. We then switched gears and went to see modern art at KunstHausWien - what a creative artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser was. And a man who epitomized eco-friendly living and work. A very different experience after our tour of the Palace. Next was a driving tour of some of the city's monuments, etc. with a stop for lunch along the way. We ended with a walking tour to additional historic spots and a tour of the downtown palace - the winter residence of the

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