British Travelogue and Enter the Souvenir Contest

Going to Britain and my picture travelogue








Ready for a contest?






I invite you to travel along with me, by way of my travelogue. I will upload pictures and a video or two onto my travelogue page, as we go from place to place.  You'll want to visit every day and leave comments. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win.




Here's how it works!




I'll be picking up some neat souvenirs along the way and when I get back, I will award five such neat souvenirs to random commenters on my blog. At the very least, everyone who comments will received a postcard from either England, Scotland, or Wales.




I'll photograph the items and tease everyone with them, one at a time. I like to do that kind of thing. J

Starting May 4th, late in the afternoon Eastern time, I'll put up pictures and will do so everyday, until we come home on the 18th. Believe me, you don't want to miss a single photo. Check out Brita's British Travelogue page. That's where the photos will be.
















This is our trip of a lifetime. We've planned and
saved for this adventure, and decided that this year was the time, before more
life interferes with our best laid plans.




If you've read anything I've written, likely you
have hit upon one of my historicals set in England. I love English history, a
love born of many years researching my genealogy, and discovering that on my
mother's side, I am Dutch and English and on my father's side, I am Norwegian
and Irish. In the case of the latter, my father was second generation to this
country. In my mother's case, you have to go back a great many years to find
the immigrants.




My mother's English ancestry goes way back, and
somewhere around Edward II, my husband and I are related. A late friend of mine
once told me that all ancestries lead back to the Plantagenets, and my research
bore that out more than once.




I find the city of London fascinating, from afar,
because of the mixture of very old with very modern. The Tower of London sits
surrounded by ultra modern skyscrapers, with the London Eye not terribly far away. The Tower, words
that, in the days of old, sent gripping fear through every soul in England.
We'll go there to see the Crown Jewels and with luck, catch a tour with one of
the famous Beefeaters.




My husband has planned each day, complete with
printed itineraries and spreadsheets. This so reminds me of our honeymoon in
Hawaii, where every moment was planned to the tee, but we didn't miss a thing.
I teased him then, now, I'm happy for his thoroughness.




Our one concern is driving on the left hand side of
the road. While we won't be driving at all in London, we are taking nearly a
weeklong tour of the countryside, Wales, and Scotland. Once we've done it once,
the fear will dissipate, but it seems daunting at the moment. The roundabouts
are of concern. Those are traffic circles in the U.S.




Anyway, we won't let that get us. We've face worst
things.




Of particular interest to me personally, are the
places I have written about. Desiree Huntington, Prentice Hyde's lady in Lord
Decadent's Obsession, lived on Doughty Street in London. Number 48. We will go
there and photograph the façade. Chancery Lane was the setting for Preston
Meacham's employment service in For Men Like Us. We'll visit Grosvenor Square,
and St. James Square, where Alexander Chilton resided in Chocolate, Tea, and
the Duchess. We won't forget the gentlemen's clubs, White's and Boodles, which
still stand today.




Green Park hosted a duel in my book, Her Timeless
Obsession. I will comb the grounds for the exact spot and photograph it for
posterity.




Of course, when Richard Fanshaw took Victoria
Bramhill for a ride in Hyde Park, in Demands of the Heart, they walked along
the Serpentine. I plan to do the same with my love, and photograph it. I
suppose things have changed considerably in the nearly two hundred years since,
but I have a very fertile imagination.

A thrill for me will be to go to Holkham Hall, in
Wells-Next-To-Sea, in Norwich. When searching for an English estate in which to
set the Sapphire Club, I happened upon Holkham Hall. The inside of the grand
manor house inspired the niches in which I placed naked human beings, in
various poses, during the club's active hours.




You can bet that I will be taking tons of photos at
the Hall, and sharing them on my blog.




We'll also go to Gretna Green in Scotland, where
several couples in my books have run off to and married "over the
anvil." I've read that there is a blacksmith shop there where weddings are
still performed. I will go and photograph it myself! Edinburgh Castle will not
escape our visit either. There is a whole story behind the fact that I was
there once before, and because of a sleeping child, we didn't get to see the
castle. Not this time!




The more modern attractions will be amongst the most
thrilling. The London Eye is an attraction that I can't wait for, as is Madame
Tussaud's.




I can't wait to share our trip with everyone. Stop back every day, click the Brita's British Travelogue tab at the top of this page. Don't forget to comment. You'll want to get in on the drawings for the British souvenirs.




Hugs,

Brita