Gottfried Travel Adventures

April 6 another beautiful day!! we met our guide at Parliament Square again. we had to walk to the Thames River from there, however, a London half-marathon was happening and blocking our way. We had to walk to the starting point and beg the official to let us sneak across between the end of one wave of people and the start of the next. our guide was a squirrley sort dressed all in pink with as many jeweled rings and bracelets that she could cram on her fingers and wrists. she was very quiet at the start, but once she started talking, she had a strong voice and a lot of great information! we cruised down the River Thames and she gave a great overview of all of the buildings that line both sides of the River. we pulled up to the Tower of London.  The Tower of London is bigger than you think. It’s the size of a village and houses 32 beefeaters (named because they are the official bodyguards of the British monarch so they were given beef to eat) and their families. Also at least 6 rav...

 April 5, 2025 What a perfect day!! The weather is perfect! Despite waking at 7:20 instead of 6:30, we were able to dress, get breakfast and catch a cab to Parliament Square and make it to our tour by 8:45. Our guide Lucy was phenomenal. She told us all about the  House of Lords and the House of Commons and how they work together with the Monarchy to run the British Empire. We then went into Westminster Abbey and heard about Science corner (Charles Darwin, Steven Hawking, Isaac Newton, e.g.), Isaac Newton Steven Hawking (atheist) the floor in front of the altar (the head of Jesus), and how the coronation chair with the stone of destiny is used over the heart of Jesus. (The shape of the church) and Poets corner (Kipling, Dickens, Shakespeare, Keats, e.g) from Westminster, we walked through St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace. No Royal sightings.  We passed by Clarence House (Charles and Camilla) and St James palace (Princess Anne). Our guide then took us to Regents Street...

 April 3-4 Our flight from New Orleans took off just before 10 pm and we arrived safely at Heathrow at 12:45pm (<9 hours). Our luggage was delayed due to some mechanical issues but we weren’t delayed by any customs - just breezed right through. We caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington station. Instead of taking a taxi from there to our hotel, we took the underground to Marble Arch which was just around the corner from our hotel, The Cumberland. Maneuvering our luggage through the underground was a mistake! Lots of stairs! People were so nice though and offered to help us with our suitcases. The hotel room is nice and large enough for us to have places to layout our suitcases.   The front of Selfridge department store Once settled, we headed out to Selfridge where Meg bought an Apple Watch charger. Then we took our hotel concierge’s advice on an Indian restaurant called Chourangi and shared some butter chicken, fried sea bass and naan. Delicious. Our hotel is by Hyde Par...

 October 18, 2024 Today is our last day! It’s been a great trip! Today we took a van with five other people (brothers from Limerick, Ireland, a couple living near Loch Lomond, and a young travel agent from Greece). Our driver was Carrie, from Utah, recently married to Vincenzo (driving another van) and now living here in Palermo.  We woke up to clean streets this morning!!  Monreale cathedral We accessed the roof Cloisters Beautiful view The trek around the roof and towers Inside the cathedral is all gold mosaics. Everywhere.  The ceiling  After Monreale, we drove to Cefalu, Sicily’s favorite beach town. We walked through the town and found the perfect lunch spot on a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea Cefalu boardwalk A fruit and vegetable cart I liked this perspective Our view during lunch Yummy lunch!  David had ravioli with fresh grouper. I opted for Caserecca alla Francescana. The pizza looking thing was the table bread!  Cefalu Beach

 October 16-17, 2024 After breakfast in Trapani, we drove toward Palermo. After leaving our car at the Palermo airport, we hopped on a train to Palermo and dragged our luggage from the train station to our B&B. Our room is newly renovated and gorgeous!!  Zoom in on the walls. They are simply painted to look as though it has raised panels.  I loved these bathroom floor tiles!! The ceiling is so old!  We explored Palermo on foot and stopped every once in a while for a wine and beer. We spotted a lane with tons of twinkly white lights and decided to come back to that for dinner.  Luckily we were seated at the same time as another couple who were from Montreal and we talked so much we exchanged numbers. They’d love to see New Orleans and us Canada. Today, Oct 17, we had our breakfast at our B&B and did the Rick Steves walking tour which would eventually take us to the meeting point of our walking tour and street food. They call these zebra walks and cars and...