November 2023

Did a morning walk through the Christmas Market. After lunch we had a tour booked to go through the Opera House. Incredible History. Did another walk through the market on the way back to the hotel.

we spend the last couple days and an evening at the Koln Market and an great afternoon at the German History Museum (1945 – Present) with Elisabeth & Norbert.

This morning Elisabeth, Sharon &I took the train into Koln. We did a walk through the famous cathedral any then into the adjacent Christmas Market. We also walked to the Lindt Chocolate Museum and it’s adjacent Christmas Market.

Angel Christmas Market in Koln! Our first German Christmas Market did not disappoint. Fantastic shops and great food. We had tree (Baumkuchen) cake and potato pancake (Reibekuchen) with apple sauce for lunch. Evening meal at a fantastic restaurant (Heuser) with all our German family. Elisabeth / Norbert, Ruth / Fritz, Andrea / Wolfgang & Barbara.

We took a trip to Shrewsbury , Shropshire for the afternoon. What an incredible old town.

Berrington Hall was created as a country retreat more than 230 years ago for city banker and businessman, Thomas Harley, who wanted to escape to the country. His grand design was to be the final work by famous landscape gardener, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Since then, only two other families have owned the property: the Rodneys

We stayed overnight at the Hunters Rest Inn, built in 1741. Fantastic place with great rooms & food. Headed for Bristol to see the partially rebuilt SS Great Britain, launched in 1843, the first steel hull steam / screw driven ship to cross the Atlantic. It was left in water in the Falkland Islands for

2 hour drive got us to Bath. Ancient Roman baths, old Churches and buildings. We walked a lot of the downtown which is loaded with hundreds of unique shops.

Drove to Cleobury Mortimer and to the top of Cleehill. Very windy and heavy rain as a result of the storm Debi. The crooked steeple is a result twisted timbers used in construction.