Hampton Court and a night at the theatre were the main attractions for our last full day in London. We took the tube, then a Southwest train to Hampton. The train station is just across the Thames from Hampton Court, so we first stopped for lunch in a little garden café, and then crossed the bridge to see HamptonCourt. The maze at Hampton was what I was most interested in seeing. We did follow the audio guide through the kitchens and through Henry VIII’...

This was the longest day with the most sightseeing we have planned for the entire trip. We started with a full day tour to the southeast of London with stops at Leeds Castle, the white cliffs of Dover, the towns of Canterbury and Greenwich, and a river cruise back to London. We took a bus with about 25 other people, which turned out to be a nice size group. Leeds Castle was the first stop today. It has been called the loveliest castle in the world. The setting ...

On Tuesday we planned to sleep late to shake off the rest of the jet lag. We have found that as long as we stay up and keep moving on first arriving in Europe, then turn in early and sleep late the second day, we are able to get on the new time zone's schedule pretty quickly. The only thing planned for today was an inside visit to Buckingham Palace. During the late summer when the royal family is away, the palace is opened for tours of the staterooms and garden...

The overnight flight arrived in London as scheduled. We sailed though immigration and customs. It seems that every other country than the US has easier access. This is the first time that we have packed small enough to carry on everything with us. We each have a rollaboard suitcase, and Philip has his computer case and I have a small tote bag. We could take about anything we wanted on the Continental flight from IAH to LHR, but I was worried about how much we wil...