England, Wales, & Scotland: July 2007

This summer I was invited by my best friend and old college roommate, Kara, to join her church choir from Dallas on their tour of the UK. It was great to be back in the country that spurred my love of travel almost 10 years ago when I'd toured there with my high school choir. We went to a few places I'd visited, but saw many sights I hadn't seen before. It was a blast!

Night time in London: an amazing evening spent catching up with old friends, eating great Thai, and exploring the sights of the city.

Old Choir Buddies: Kara, Me, & Greg

Kara and I got to meet up with our college buddy Greg who has been living and working in London for two years. It was great to see him and exciting to watch him on TV the week we got back to the US. He's a theater/film major and recently was on the Discovery Channel during shark week in a documentary titled "Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever," which re-enacted the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Check it out: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/slide-shows/ocean-of-fear.html

Two pictures of Trafalgar Square on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The square is known for it's massive lion sculptures which are usually swarming with kids and tourists. A great place to just sit and people watch!

Inside the British Museum, located only a few blocks from our hotel. Like many of the museums in the UK, it's free to visit! Unfortunately, we got there just as the exhibits closed for the evening. Still just the building itself was something to behold!

Who can resist a uniformed man on a horse? One of the many guards we saw throughout the city. The week before our arrival in London was the terrorist bombing scare, so security was extremely tight.

A view of the famous London Eye from one of the many, beautiful parks in the city. For $30 bucks you can take a ride and see the city from above...we decided to explore the city on foot instead...much cheaper!

Outside Buckingham Palace: When the Queen is at home, which she was this day, you can see her royal flag flying from the flag pole on top of the palace. This flag is called the Royal Standard.

The famous Stonehenge: A very intriguing and windy place to visit! Quite busy as well...everyone walking around asking the same questions..How? and Why?

Gloucester Cathedral Cloisters: Cloisters are my favorite part of a cathedral. They usually consist of four window corridors that surround a courtyard. Sometimes they are open arches, but in this case they were arched stained glass windows. Beautiful when the light streams through...which it was when we arrived!

The Choir singing in the Gloucester Cathedral...an AMAZING and unforgettable choral experience. The week after we left the town of Gloucester flooded. It supposedly was one of the worst floods in its history. Glad we passed through on a dry, sunny day! The week after we would have had to have used a boat to get around the town!