Thursday, June 30: We made it across the Atlantic!!!

We're tired, but we're here and we're very happy about it.  We've done the hard part: a train from Kingston to Montreal, an overnight flight from Montreal to London (complete with angry crying baby), a train from London to York, and finding & settling in to our rented apartment.

Now the fun starts.  The apartment is beautiful and comfortable..  Being in York again feels like visiting an old friend and David liked his first looks at York from the taxi very much.  We have unpacked and all we need to do tonight is stop by a nearby grocery store for breakfast/snack supplies and get some dinner.  Then we'll have a good LONG night's sleep and be ready to start exploring for real tomorrow.

It was mostly a utilitarian day, so not many pictures.  We did see a lot of pretty scenery from the train, but it's not easy to get that into the camera.  Instead, here are three preliminary pictures from our arrival in York:

  David in the York train station.  It was built in the 1800s and is big and ornate and fun.

 More pretty details high up inside the York station. 

 A little hotel right next to the York station.  It includes this cute little place called the "Royal York Hotel".  There's nothing wrong with that, but David and I were very amused because of the contrast with the enormous Royal York Hotel in Toronto (which was originally called York).

Now I'm going to dive into bed and try to sleep off my jet lag.  We will have the whole day tomorrow for exploring York and I don't to waste any of it!

I'm Back!

Somehow last summer finished up without my posting about the rest of the big trip.  It didn't help that we had no Internet during the French part.  It was all wonderful, but will have to remain undocumented here.  If asked I'm willing to show off my photos from the rest of the trip in person and talk way too much about all the things we saw and the fun we had!

This year, however, there is a new trip coming up fast.  It's even longer than last year's trip and this time David is joining me for the first part.  Here is the agenda:

• June 29/30: Train from Kingston to Montreal, plane from Montreal to London and train from London to York
• July 1-4: exploring York & nearby area
• July 5: train from York to Edinburgh
• July 6-13: exploring Edinburgh & nearby area
• July 14: train from Edinburgh to London
• July 15: sightseeing in London (geeky primary goal: see Babbage's Difference Engine in the London Science Museum)
• July 16: David flies back to Kingston via Montreal and I take a train through the Chunnel to Paris to meet up with the rest of my choir
• July 17-21: Performing and sightseeing with my Cantabile friends 
• July 22: Train to Calais and the famous ferry to Dover
• July 23: Exploring Dover, including the castle and the white cliffs
• July 24: Train to Canterbury in time for the main Sunday communion service and more exploring in the cathedral and town
• July 25: Train to London
• July 26-28: sightseeing in London
• July 29: plane back home to Kingston

This trip combines two things that are very special to me.  One is time to perform and relax with the Cantabile community, which is always really wonderful.  The second is even more noteworthy: this will be the first trip overseas that David and I have taken together.  We have dreamed about traveling like this ever since we got married, but family and health concerns have limited what we could manage until now. 

We have been promised wi-fi every place we're staying and I'm really determined to post a little bit every day, even if all I have time for is one picture and a couple of sentences.  The Paris part of the trip may be really packed, but the rest should be a little more relaxed and I'm hoping to be able to keep up with the blog.  I really want to share my travels with my friends; I love looking at other people's travel pictures so I ought to return the favor!  And if I can make a blog for the whole trip I'll enjoy looking back at it for years afterwards.

So fingers crossed and hoping to post again on June 30 or July 1 from beautiful York!