Scotland - Lulu Will Do Presentation At The University Of Strathclyde Tomorrow

Granddaughter Lulu (taken with iPhone X)

Grandpa Harry (taken with iPhone X)

I was tempted to get a kilt -
but I did not have underwear

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and the largest seaport in the United Kingdom. We took the train up the 400 miles from London this morning - about 4.5 hours. That is half the time it took to go from Atlanta to London which is 4200 miles. We traveled on Virgin Railways. Lulu bought the tickets from America where the price was much lower - 65 pounds round trip.

We will spend 2 nights here - and then 1 night in Blackpool on the way back to London. Blackpool is next to Liverpool - about 200 miles or half way home. 

We do a lot of shopping but not much buying - which is good. We each travel with one carry-on bag and one backpack. We each only brought one bag on this train trip - so no room for junk.

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express - provided by the University which is nearby. I am typing this in the room as the University took Lulu out to supper - I preferred staying home - not listening to library shop talk. 

We went to the Apple Store here to see the new iPhone X. It is a beautiful phone with a wonderful portrait camera and fantastic screen. They cost $1000 - but they are fabulous. Look at the portrait of Lulu - and you can see why she wants one now.

My friend Harry said - hot dogs are OK -
but they must be local hot dogs

Lots of wool and plaid

Each plaid has a name

Our hotel overlooks the River Clyde

Here is a local Scottish restaurant

This is a Penn State restaurant

Jodi's Castle In Oberkail Germany

We are zooming past Liverpool on our way to Glasgow - Scotland. I am using my iPhone as a hotspot  to get my MacBook on the Internet. I wanted to catch up with a few pictures of the wonderful castle where we stayed with Jodi for 3 nights.

Jodi is one of Lulu's former students in the Project Lead program. Since then she has been a school librarian for the Dept of Defense in Japan and now in Germany. Her friend Richard also teaches science at a Department of Defense School on another airbase.

The house is in an old castle that was built in 1350. Recently her landlord renovated the building. It is beautiful. The walls are over one meter thick - 42 inches.

Rod Stewart Sang "Handbags and Gladrags" To The Queen On The National Mall And Then To Us At Picadilly Circus

This is a video of Rod Steward singing - Handbags and Gladrags to the Queen on her Silver Jubilee in 2002.

This is a video from yesterday when Rod Stewart sang the same song to us at Picadilly Circus.

When we were in Thailand at a shopping mall - Rod Stewart's videos would attract large male audiences.

I am typing this at 100 MPH on a Tuesday morning train from London to Glasgow. Lulu has a presentation to make at Strathclyde University tomorrow.

Rod Stewart is a strong supporter of the Scotland Celtics Soccer Team in Glasgow. Maybe we will hangout with him again there :-)

Scotland Celtics Fan Rod Stewart

Christmas In London - John Lewis Store

Lulu and I enjoyed a beautiful day of shopping on Oxford Street - Regent Street - and Shaftsbury Avenue.

Monday Shopping In London - We Ran Into Rod Stewart - And He Sang For Us

Lulu got the best video of Rod Stewart - Handbags and Gladrags.

Lulu loves the Hamley Toy Store
Steiff Bear - 3000 pounds

What a beautiful Monday in London. The sun was high in the sky as we left to go shopping - it ended up at 50 degrees. We took the Tube from the apartment to Oxford Circus. The first stop was to see the new iPhone X at the Apple Store on Regents street. then we walked to Carnaby Street and bought sim cards for our iPhones. 

We topped up our old transportation cards with 30 pounds each. They had 7 pounds on them from last summer. That should last us quite a long time. 

We went to an EE Cellphone Store. We got a very nice deal on cards - much less than back at home. In Florida ATT charges us $128 a month for two iPhones with 16 GB of data. Over here we got 20 GB of data for our two iPhones for 30 pounds total - about $40. We paid much less for much more service. These cards will work all over Europe. 

Then we shopped at the London Liberty Store and the John Lewis Store. We also had lunch. We walked to Chinatown to get my favorite yellow custard tarts and buns. 

It was time to go back to the apartment - Lulu had dinner in a crock pot back home. I asked Lulu if she wanted to take a bus or subway home. She made a very good choice picking the subway. Our iPhone said the closet stop was Picadilly Circus - so we walked there. 

I heard a street musician singing Bob Dylan's - Times They Are A Changing. We walked over to listen. The kids was very good. All of a sudden he said he was going to play a Rod Stewart song. All of a sudden - the real Rod Stewart popped up and sang the song. It was incredible - we were just 6 feet from him. The crowd behaved an the finished the whole song. 

Typing from Joan's

The Apple Store was packed

The iPhone X - all glass front and back

The Liberty Christmas Store

The Liberty Store

Florida Flamingos at the Liberty Store

What a well done baby car

Looks at the deer at the Liberty Store

We bought our iPhone cards at the EE Store

New movie Florida Project coming out Friday

Chinatown - London looked especially clean

Chinatown - and a box of my favorite yellow custard buns

Location - LONDON - Location

A Room With A View

For the next 2 weeks - this room will be our base. We are staying with Joan in Little Venice - LONDON. Location is always the most important thing when you travel - and we are located in the center of all the wonderful things London and the rest of England offer. We plan to travel to Glasgow and Blackpool by train. Lulu has a presentation in Glasgow and we are planning to go to a concert in Blackpool - Gerry and the Pacemakers.

We stayed here last summer for the month of July. It is Monday morning at 11 AM here. It is sunny and mild. Yes - we have a couple windows open in the apartment. It is 44 degrees. Lulu just went out to get some groceries to make tonight's supper. 

Later -we will go downtown to buy sim chips for our iPhones.