USA and United Kingdom–5 October to 14 November 2011

We returned to Washington for some meetings and then flew to London, in John’s quest to see a bit of the world which he had visited so often he thought it was all airport lounges and meeting rooms. 
In London we visited the National Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, saw a west end show and caught up with friends.
We visited our friends in Bristol, doing among other things, a lovely walk through the Welsh country side with a great pub lunch and visiting Tyntesfield a grand mansion, now belonging to the National Trust.

We then followed the Capital City route through the North of England. This is from the Lonely Planet Guide.  All the cities, Cardiff, Caernarvon, Manchester, York, Edinburgh and Stirling  were capitals at sometime. 


Travelling south we visited Castle Howard, Goathead Rail Station [made famous by Harry Potter]  and Whitby. Having seen many of Captain Cook’s destinations we wanted to see  the town closely associated with him and his ship Endeavour. It was a gray and misty day and quite different to Cooktown half a world away.


We spent time in Oxford with John’s Aunt Mollie and catching up with friends who were over from Australia. While there we visited Blenheim Palace and  Bletchley Park where we saw the home of the Enigma machines used to break the German codes in World War II.  A lot of things happened at Bletchley and it provided a fascinating day. The first computer in the world was built there. A lot of the actual machines were destroyed after the war but they are being returned to working order by a band of enthusiasts.