England 85
British Pageant Tour
American Express Vacations

August 10 - 14 and 18 - 22, 1985

Our tour began at London's Heathrow airport where we were greeted by our American Express agent.  From there we were taken to our hotel (Tower) which was right beside London Bridge shown in the picture below.   There were 32 of us from different states who rode our coach from London all the way up to Inverness, Scotland and back.  Our Tour Manager, Ms. Eileen Walters of Sheffield, England, was superb in helping us get the maximum from each day.

While in London we attended the theater and saw one of the best plays ever "Two Into One" at the Shaftesbury Theatre.  We visited Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament and saw the famous tower clock "Big Ben".  We also spent a rewarding afternoon in the British Museum.  

From London we headed west to visit Stonehenge, the Bronze Age monoliths that to this day have remained an unsolved mystery.  I am standing in front of a few of them in the picture below.

The beautiful city of Bath with its original Roman baths and superb Georgian architecture was our next stop.  The Royal Crescent, the 18th century social center of the spa is pictured below. 

Driving north, we passed through the lovely Wye Valley then into rugged North Wales.  (Click on Wales in the left frame for highlights) After a brief visit to Llangollen, Wales we continued to Roman-founded Chester.  We had time to stroll through Chester and experience new sights and sounds.

The drive through the Lake District the next morning was pleasurable.  After stopping for a pub lunch in Grasmere, we drove across the Scottish border and on into Glasgow for the night.  (Click on Scotland in the left frame for highlights)

Our journey took us past famous Loch Ness, home of a giant sea serpent from pre historic times, through Inverness and down to Aviemore for the night.  Continuing south, we made a visit to Blair Castle and then to Perth, home of Scotland's kings in the Middle Ages.  That afternoon we arrived in Edinburgh.

After visiting the Gothic splendor of Melrose Abbey we headed for Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford then on to York.  We got to walk the walls surrounding the city as shown in the picture below.

In Stratford-upon-Avon, we visited Shakespeare's birthplace (below) and attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre that night.  We left before the "Merry Wives of Windsor" was over because we simply weren't enjoying ourselves.   The actors were in modern day clothes which did not enhance the otherwise poorly performed play.

While in Stratford, we had a side tour of Warwick castle.  The 600 year old castle is still being used as a residence.  

On our route back to London we visited Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.  Our final night together as a tour group ended with a farewell dinner at Dickens Inn.  What a trip it had been!!!