Blue skies (briefly) and trains

We ducked into the National Railway Museum in York on Wednesday while waiting to catch our own train back to Glasgow. It was a well-timed excursion just before a torrential downpour that ruined the finest morning we'd seen on the trip, weather wise.

Wow, look at that blue sky! The York Minster early on Wednesday morning.

We only had about 90 minutes to look around the railway museum, but it was enough for us. The main hall contains examples of all different types of trains used around the world over the years, though it focuses mostly on British rail travel. 

The main hall at the National Railway Museum.

Other exhibits include model railroads, the restoration and maintenance process for the cars on display, and a huge collection of paraphernalia associated with rail travel, such as signs, stained glass from the cars, station building models, china from dining cars, and training equipment. And of course, there was a ton of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff available to purchase in the museum store.

A few of the items on display in the museum's Warehouse.

The museum also has perhaps the greatest name ever for a museum library: Search Engine.


Yes, the weather really was that bad: A headline on one of the newspapers on Wednesday.

And we know newspapers never overstate weather stories.

Sign of the day: Just found this one from York amusing.

Photo of the day: Ryan got this photo from the train during our return trip to Edinburgh. I have no idea where we were at the time, but the green scenery was just beautiful.

Beer of the day: Last beers of the trip came at Camperdown Place in Glasgow. Tennent's for me, and Greene King Abbot Ale for Ryan. Can't believe those are the last ones!

Long day's journey home

Well, it took 20 hours of travel, but I'm finally back home in Louisville. It involved:

• An epic struggle down the Tube escalators/staircases with my severely overweight suitcase. (Made possible by the extreme kindness of a British man who carried it down the final two for me. Although he did share his opinion that I had over packed for my month-long stay.)
• An hour train ride during rush hour. (Fortunately no need to switch trains.)
• A seven-hour flight to Montreal. (Thanks for the free passport stamp for my two-hour layover.)
• A two-hour flight to Washington-Dulles. (On a plane so tiny that another passenger and I had to move to the back of the plane to "distribute" the weight safely. Needless to say, I didn't sleep on that flight).
• A two-hour flight to Louisville. (Nap time, since it was closing in on 10 p.m. in the U.K., and I had been awake since 4 a.m.).
• A 10-minute car ride with Ryan back to the house, where I was greeted by an excited Sydney dog.

I now have three currencies in my wallet (British pounds, Canadian dollars and U.S. dollars) and am about to go put my road skills to the test after a month without driving. Scary.

Ryan and I will have a wrap-up post about what we learned later this weekend. In the meantime, thanks everyone for reading about our adventures!