ENGLAND!!!!!!

Hullo!  I have returned from my most excellent trip to the UK!  I have met face to face folk who have suffered with my IM-ing and blogging for the last year or two, and they have not been damaged by the experience!  (I am sooo proud that I didn't cause any nervous tics or hysteria!!!). 

And I have taken pictures (surprise!).  Rather a great many pictures, but, again, we ARE talking about me, the novice digitalist here...

First off, just a brief note in regard to where exactly I went in England. 

Also, for the sake of all concerned, a map to go with the note. 

Admittedly, this is a LARGE-ish map.  But I wanted to be sure I didn't cause anyone eye strain...

This is England and Wales.  I was in England, although NEXT time....smiles cheekily.

So, find London - do you see it there?  Good.  I landed at Heathrow Airport, which is one of the two large airports serving the London area:  Gatwick is the other one. 

However, my eyes and travels turned away from London almost immediately.  My goal was to visit friends and to see their parts of England.  Visitng London is probably a lot like what I imagine visiting Washington DC is like, but with several more centuries of  historic buildings and stories and such.  I had decided I wouldn't attempt such a thing on my first foray to England.

I visited (and was completely overawed by) Salisbury, Oxford, Avebury, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, Durham, and York.  If you want to take a second and locate them, you'll get an idea of where I was at any particular point in time. 

To get to the places I visited, I traveled via train (I like trains a lot!!!!), bus, coach (not the same thing), airplane (from N-u-T back to Heathrow the day before I came home), a car, a cab and by foot while I was visiting.  I didn'[t do anything boat-y.  BUT there's always next time!

And we're off to the races!!!!