More Paris

We were somewhat amazed at the Eifel Tower to see soldiers with machine guns patrolling. This is a sad reflection on today's society.

Paris is indeed a beautiful City, but what a contrast with above.

London &Paris

Eifel Tower

Seine Traffic

Marble Arch

London Street

London Parking

Well the fossils did the BIG BUS tour which took in the major tourist spots of London. Places that I had only seen on TV or postcards. Parliament House,Big Ben, Cleopatra's Needle, Nelsons Column, Tower of London & London Bridge. Included also was a cruise on the Thames, where The HMS Belfast is moored. Other places we saw & will require us to return were Buckinghan Palace &Marble Arch, seeing all these places & the history involved makes you realise how young our country is. One thing we have noticed about London is how rude pedestrians are, not so much the English but foreign speaking people. The most friendly are the dark people who are the first to offer a seat to Elderly (for elderly read fossils ) on trains & buses. Always with a smile. What a change from the friendliness we found as we travelled the country

We have just returmed from Paris after a trip on the Euro Star, leaving the new station of St Pancras we enjoyed a 2 hour trip through the channel before alighting at Care Du Norde. The Euro Star is a nice train although the seats are cramped.
What a beautiful City, wide boulevards,needed for the traffic, which is a bit erratic, especially down the other narrow roads. Impressive old buildings Le Opera, The Lourve, Notra Dame etc do make a pleasant change from the harsh modern architecture. We were escorted by a charming French guide on our bus tour of Paree, she kept us well informed of what we were seeing with her soft French accent. After seeing Paris by road we had a leisurely cruise down the Seine, passing under 22 of the 36 bridges over the Seine. The girl doing the commentry spoke 4 & a half laguages (her own words) fluently. Her ability to switch languages was amazing.

Then possibly the Highlight of the tour a trip up the Eifel Tower for a geat meal, true French cooking, a chicken dish to die for, mashed potato that made you want MORE followed by a chocolate dessert, all washed down by a great wine.

Countryside near Stowe

English street

Hednesford Church

English Countryside

STAFFORDSHIRE, CANNOCK & HEDNESFORD

After our stay in West Derby it was down to Staffordshire & the Lunt area around Cannock & Hednesford. Again we were amazed at the way people were prepared to help. The staff at Cannock Chase museum went out of their way to ring people up & they were able to help me catch up with the lady who gave me so much help when I first started my search for George Lunt. They have given me information on early Cannock & Hednesford including a post card showing Henry Lunt's shop in Cannock. I walked the streets of Hednesford, drove up Church Hill where they lived & visited “ Our Lady Of Lourdes” Church where Grandma & Grandfather Lunt were married. Prior to coming here I didn't think that the Lunts had strong accents but on hearing the locals speak it came back. THEY DID!!!!!!! I don't know why but I seem to have been affected more by my Durham relatives than here, maybe because I have living relatives up North??????????? But with new information the search continues.
After leaving Cannock we travelled to Northhamptonshire to stay with Friends of Browny,where we have again been treated so well, driven around through some typical English Villages. These villages, although similar have their own individuality & charm. We also have visited Stowe with its magnificent landscaped Garden. At night it was a sight to see the Geese & chickens put in the barn away from marauding foxes, the geese going in in a stately manner while the chickens milled around & had to be funnelled in.
Browny & Pennie reminiscing about school days in Italy, while Bill & I listened to the exploits of 2 “ladies” at finishing school.
Leaving there we travelled on to Browny's cousin in Berkshire, where again we have been treated royally. This has given Browny a chance to catch up with her family. Here we also caught up with another of Shorty's family, Keith & Moira's son & family. Paul & Sally again proved how nice the English family are.
We now travel to Wisbech to spend our last week with Karen & Dave, the trip up was good although roadworks on The A25 held us up for about an hour, but the rest was fine and the route took us through some more quaint villages, These still amaze us with cars parked on both sides of the road facing either direction.

We have had a great time here & went to a village fair complete with Old time cars, tractors & stem rollers. also the usual rides for kids & stalls selling the usual array of clothing tools & plants
We will soon be back in London for the last part of our English trip & do the tourust thing

Liverpool

Derby Houses

Lunt Village Road

TG at Cavern Club

English Pub

Liverpool & Lunt Village.

Well we left Newcastle with heavy heart, friends we made & relatives we found, plus relatives that I have met again had treated us so well,

After a quick run down the A1 we arrived at West Derby Premier Inn our home for 3 days. The first day we went around Liverpool poor, Browny hasn't walked so far for ages, We took a tour on the Duck round the streets of Liverpool & splashed down near the docks. This was great until it run out of power exitting the water leaving us half in the water, eventually the driver got it out but then blocked the road, much to the anger of motorists.

Then we went to a street where the Cavern Club was, this is now a memorial to the Beatles. The pubs, the signs are all Beatles memorabilia.

The next day was a trip out to Lunt Village where we checked the Church & Pub. It is a quaint little village near Formby.There is a place in there with a not so nice name, we didn't find it & didn't want to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We believe the sign keeps going missing.

Liverpool

English Countryside

Barges at Rest

Tudor Style

It was with heavy heart we left Newcastle & the family who treated us so royally as well as farewells to the friends we made at The New Northumbria Hotel, nobody could have taken us under their wing & gone so far out of their way as they did. We will look back over all our memories for years to come.To any travellers to Newcastle we thoroughly recpmmend it
After a drive from Newcastle down the A1 M1 we are now in Liverpool home of the Beatles& also a great city in its own right.It is an impressive city with old combined with modern. we visited the Cavern Club in a street which seems to a memorial to the Beatles.The Beatles Museum followed by a beer in The Beatles Hotel with its photos 7 newspaper clippings of the Fab4.
I haven't had time to Download pics yet but hope to soon. To you who have been waiting for postcards please bear with us we just don't seem tp get a spare minute, but hopefully in the next couple of days.Next installment we promise Pics
Before this we did a tour in a Duck around the city & then a splashdown in the Dock area, 1PROBLEM the duck had an engine failure & we were stuck half way up the ramp, after a spee we were able to get up but stalled again blocking the road

Newcastle

27 Bertha St Ferry Hill

Bertha St Ferry Hill

Durham Castle

Tower Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

Durham Countryside

The Relies

Durham, what a county, what people & what attractions. After a reunion lunch at our hotel it has been nonstop,poor Browny hasn;t walked so far for ages.
At the reunion, people met for the first time while others caught up after years apart. Now we have visited some attractions including Beamish moseum with its old English village, farm house & miners village with restored miners cottages.
Here the memories flooded back, We walked into 1 cottage where a woman was making a rug using old cut up rag, this took me back to a young age when Mum & Grandmother always had a frame set up and at any oppertunity they would work on it.
To Brandon & Ferry Hill with its family history, to see the house where Mum lived before mugating to Australia. To Durham with its Castle & magnificentCathedral. The Cathedral defies description, over 1000 years old. Towers that reach for the sky, a roof that is at least50 feet above you held up by ornate pollars, its carvings &The wondrous memrobillia of Cuthbert, I could go on but finally to say the spiritual feeling & the awe it brings affected Browny. The one disappointment was no Photos.
There have been Meals with relations which became other reunions.
Next Blog will have more pics when we download browny's camera

Moving On

PART 2


After a few days in London sampling various foods & recovering from Tour (it was hectic) We headed up to Wisbeech to Shorty's cousin where we were royally welcomed . A party haad been organised & we had a ball. Karen's friends were so friendly & a great night was had by the fossils Next day we all went to Boston UK not USA to watch Karen & her friends “Run for Life” a charity event. We were proud of the girls. Then on to an English Pub for a lunch, (Yorkshire Pudding etc ).

The Party Group

Dave Cooking The Barby

Karen & Shorty

The 4 Runners

Then next day to Sandringham &Hunstanton for a lunch. The beach was shingles& the tide was out for miles???

We then headed to Newcastle where the staff at our Hotel couldn't do enough for you, nothing is a trouble.
On our road up we were supposed to stop in Sherwood Forrest, but our GPS didn't show us where so straight through. We did go through some quaint English Villages & through some beautiful countryside