We left Paris on Thursday morning on the "bullet" train. Not sure that's what it's really called... but it's fast. Only took us 2 hours to get to London. The train goes through the English channel. I believe we went up to 200 mph!
We had no tours planned for Thursday. We planned to try to get checked into our room and Penny and I planned to get to the expo and get our race bibs so we'd have all day Friday and Saturday for our tours we had booked. Of course you never really plan for that extra time getting from train station to hotel..... We decided to take the local train or underground (our the tube as they call it) to our hotel. Well, for some reason our GPS had us get off the tube like 2 miles almost from our hotel! We walked forever toting all that luggage with the boys constantly asking why we didn't get a taxi.. 😅 when we arrived at the hotel we realized there was a tube station like 400 yards out the front door of the hotel!!! We used it the rest of our trip and never figured out why our GPS had us walk so far! Penny and I are both still baffled by that one! And of course our rooms were not ready again... They finally told us one room was ready, so we let the boys have it and Penny and I went on to the expo. It took us a minute or two to figure out how to navigate the tube to the expo. By now we had seen 3 different countries train/subway/tube systems... and they were all different! London has one of the oldest systems! They have NO elevators or escalators.... it is ALL STAIRS! up and down constantly to board the correct tube for your destination. People were zipping up and down beside us like it was nothing. 😁 I can't imagine what Mississippi folks would think it they had to do all that stair climbing....
We made it to the expo and had time to do a little shopping 😍
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| another late start time.. both Berlin and London did not start till 9am |
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| Getting checked in |
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| Got my bib |
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| Love my jacket! |
By the time we were done and made our way back on the tube to the hotel it was dinner time. We were all too tired to try to find a place to eat so we ended up eating in the hotel. They had a pretty good restaurant which was good because I believe we ate all meals there but one. 😁
Friday we would start off with an all day tour which would take us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath (the roman baths). Once again we would board a coach bus with a tour guide. Little did we know .... you can really take a whole day to view Windsor Castle and the town of Bath. There is so much to do and see. Plus nice little shops and places to eat. However, we were on a tour with limited time. Our tour guide was a young lady that spoke 5 languages. It amazed me our whole trip that most of our guides spoke several languages. I feel that the US may be lacking in the fact that most of us only speaking English...... I wish I knew more....
First stop Windsor Castle:
The Castle is HUGE and the grounds are beautiful! It is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. It has been the official residence of her majesty the Queen and is still very much a working royal palace today. Constructed around 1070. It was only the 2nd day the castle was open for tours since the Queen's passing so it was packed! She is buried there also so many were coming still to pay their respects and see where she is buried. It took us awhile to get inside so that cut down on our time looking around. We decided to go first to the Castle to go inside instead of the chapel, where the Queen is buried. It is called the King George VI memorial chapel in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. I can not even begin to describe the inside of the castle and they would not allow you to take any pictures inside. 😢 I wish I could show you how beautiful it is.... I saw one woman try to take a picture and they made her put her phone up. When we left the castle heading to the chapel the line was a mile long to get inside. So we were unable to do that because it was time to report back to the tour bus and head to Stonehenge. The weather was beautiful that morning... although it was calling for like 90% chance of rain! We kept hoping it would hold off ....
Here are some pictures of the outside of Windsor Castle:
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| That's the line waiting to get in the Chapel to see where the Queen is buried. |
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| The line to get inside the Castle grounds... |
Can you imagine living at the Castle???? From here we would venture on to Stonehenge....
So you park in a big parking area and then they have buses that take you up to the stones. By this time it had started to rain... 😞 We loaded the bus not knowing that once we got to the stones the wind up there would be anywhere from 10-20 mph gust! I nearly lost my umbrella several times! I wish it had been a pretty sunny day where we could have enjoyed the stones. We had to rush to grab pictures and then stand in line freezing in the rain & wind waiting on the bus to pick us back up. It was MISERABLE. The stones are pretty cool.  |
| Penny, Logan and me trying to stay dry.... |
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| Notice the people over to the left... they waiting on the bus to come get them... |
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| Proof I was there.. |
I was so glad to get back on that bus. One woman had apparently not heard our instructions from the tour guide that we could bring all the food we wanted on the bus as long as it was cold food and cold drinks... nothing hot. She said hot foods tend to smell and effect people. This lady had got her a cup of coffee at the shop before walking to the bus. She had to stand outside the bus and basically down her cup of coffee so she could get on the bus. We left Stonehenge and headed to the city of Bath to see the Roman Baths.
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| It was still raining off and on... and COLD once you were wet! |
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| I tried to imagine the people back in the day taking baths in here...... The water is pretty nasty now... they say do not drink or get in it... ha |
There are many shops around in the city, but we didn't have time for that. We did see a really pretty church.
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| see all the umbrellas.. |
Bath was our last stop on our tour. We then headed back into the city. I was glad to get back to the hotel to dry / warm clothes. We ate supper again in the hotel. Saturday morning Penny had booked us a 5 hour walking tour which I was a tad worried about with the marathon being on Sunday. However, it was a very casual walking tour and we even took the tube to some spots. We saw so much within that 5 hours..... We started at Green Park and headed to Buckingham Palace, Then to St. James Park, The Queen Victoria memorial, The London Eye, City Of Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Churchill War rooms, Big Ben (by the way the clock is not big ben.. it's the bell inside the clock!), Parliament Square, and we even found the pub hosting the Saints and the pub hosting the Vikings. They were playing the night of the marathon in London!
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The tallest building in London.. The Shard.
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| The Big Ben Clock tower |
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| Red phones booths all over town... and yes, they were working! |
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| A view of the town from Buckingham Palace |
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| The London Eye... it goes around very, very slowly.... They say you can see the whole city from the top. |
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| Westminster Abby .. I should have taken a picture from the front.... |
Our tour ended over on Southwark where we ate a late lunch at a cool Pub. I had fish and chips. 😃 For the rest of the evening we rested our legs. I wanted to try to run over to the Peloton Studio for a picture, but decided not to and rest. The boys would fly home on Sunday while Penny and I ran the marathon.
I laid out my outfit for the race and started getting ready mentally. The start line and finish line were in different places. We would have to take the tube to our start location.  |
| Once again Penny and I wanted to dress in USA colors... |
Penny, Joe, Jane and myself were all in different start corrals! And they were pretty strict about it. They checked every bib as we enter the gates and would only let you go to your corral. It kind of felt like I was back in New York. They basically had 3 starting areas and the areas would merge together around mile 3 of the race. Penny and I hoped to find each other around then... however, her corral started like 5-6 minutes before mine so we ended up never seeing each other. I didn't want her to stop and just wait for me so I told her to go on and run her race. Plus it was so crowded it was hard to slow down to do anything for the first 10+ miles.... She did find Joe at one point. I still don't know how he wore that Rhino suit for 26.2 miles! It got very hot that day. It had called for 100% chance of rain, but it changed suddenly right before the race. I'm so proud of Joe! But other than that ... none of us saw each other during the race.
As for the race.... OMG it was .... one word.... Electrifying! for 26.2 miles people, bands, dancers, cheerleaders, you name it... lined BOTH sides of the streets cheering! There was not a blank spot. It was MAGICAL! The crowd literally pulled you down those streets. The course is listed as flat, however there are many small rolling hills which I loved. I typically hate a totally flat course. It was packed with runners. I heard there were like 40,000 runners! I was surrounded at all times by tons of runners. The London marathon is by far my FAVORITE marathon! I am so glad I got to do it! We ran by many of the famous places we saw on our tours. Here are a few pictures .. I didn't take many because I'm very clumsy... so I left my phone in my pocket so I wouldn't drop it while trying to jog and take pictures ... I'm not as good as Penny... she can literally facetime, take videos and pictures and still run!
I didn't sub 5 hour this marathon either... it was better than Berlin.... but considering I had been sick with food poisoning... traveling countries... sightseeing... I gave myself a break.. 😃 and just enjoyed the course and people! They were amazing! I stopped and high fived many people including kids along the route.  |
| Penny and I did find each other afterwards and rode the tube together back to the hotel. |
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our picture together at the hotel... we forgot to take one that morning.
We even had supper again at the hotel.. 😂😃 |
We were starving and had to pack to get ready for early flight back to the states the next morning.
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| Penny said that was a fabulous Chicken sandwich |
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| Yes, I ate the whole pizza! |
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| I don't know how we got all out stuff back in here...but we did.... Now a LONG flight home! |
So yes, you can travel with a carryon and a backpack for a 11 nights....
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Our medals... Berlin & London... What an experience of a lifetime😍💓🙏 We both now have 4 of the 6 major world marathons done. We had hoped to get in Tokyo in 2023, but that didn't happen so we'll sign up again for 2024. And we will both keep dreaming of Boston... Maybe one day...even if I'm 90!
I feel so bless to of had this opportunity. I have thanked the good Lord many times. 🙏🙏 Our trip was perfect!.. besides me getting sick I have no complaints. I think Penny and I did a good job of planning and booking things with neither of us never had been out of the country before this trip. The only thing that I'll do next time is have me some medicine in case I get sick. 😂😃😍😎 oh and a bath rag or bath sponge... for some reason they don't offer those in hotels over there.. only towels!
Last night Penny and I both told each other we are kind of depressed now that it's over. This time last year we started planning this trip. We planned, looked forward to, and counted down for months..... and now it's over......
time to plan the next adventure... PENNY! 💓
Keep dreaming those dreams and making them happen! Life is too short not to enjoy it. 💙💚💛💜💓
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 103:2
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