Grammy's Visit to England

Mom wanted to visit England when the flowers were in bloom and it was a bit warmer than her last visit in December 2007. For two weeks in August we showed her many places she hadn't experienced. We enjoyed a boat ride on Windemere Lake and a two day trip for Julie and Grammy to Edinburgh to see the Military Tatoo. Edinburgh is a very hilly city so Grammy got some major exercise traipsing from the train station to the Hop On Off bus tour all around the Holyrood Palace then up and down the Royal Mile.

The Palace is the Queen's Residence while she is on official

business in Scotland. Many palaces we've seen have been opulent and gaudy in my opinion but this palace almost seemed more homey and livable. The Scottish Crown and Scepter are proudly kept as part of Scottish history in the Edinburgh Castle as they now submit to the Queen's rule over all the United Kingdom.

They do have their own parliament as you've no doubt heard much about in the controversial recent release of the Lockerbee Bomber back to his home country of Libya. It's a

complicated, bloody story of their fight for self rule.

The Military Tatoo is an annual celebration by various military bands from all over the world performed at night in front of the splendid Edinburgh Castle. There were performers from Australia, Fiji, Germany, China and Scotland. The highlight was the 200 strong bag pipe band and the grand finale with all the military performers. Thankfully we enjoyed a cool, dry night but they perform rain or shine to sell out international crowds.

The second day we toured the Edinburgh Castle and searched the Royal Mile for a new black

cashmere sweater for Grammy.

I believe we saw all of the black size Medium sweaters available only to purchase the very last one we tried on!

One fun stop on the Royal Mile was the home of John Knox. Grammy even tried on a robe and hat in his house. She said it was for pastor George Robertson who is always saying, "For Christ and the covenant".

That weekend we all drove across the country to the quaint

town of York with Viking and Roman history. The city was one of my favorites as far as the charm factor is concerned. It has a famous cathedral, York

Minster which houses the greatest collection of stained glass in Europe.

To really tickle Grammy we bought tickets to hear an organ concert on Saturday night. Nathan was psyched about that!

The rest of the time we did normal life things like providing the taxi service for kids' activities, having people over for meals, washing clothes, cleaning up, etc. which is what a Grammy likes to see....day to day life for her grandkids.

We celebrated Grammy's b-day two days early but she didn't mind. A photo book from the 'Vacation to England 2009' was the gift. Lots of good photos and memories.