When I was a young girl people travelled on trains in Texas much more than they now do. One of my aunts lived in Corpus Christi and we sometimes took the train there from Houston, Texas. As a child I found it thrilling to sit by a window watching the sights from my seat on the train. I loved it when the conductor came to punch our tickets. He looked so official in his uniform and hat. It was a special treat to travel that way and it did not take long because Corpus Christi was not far away There was never enough time for me to get bored with the experience. 

In Great Britain and Europe it is much more common to travel by train so when we purchased tickets to go from London to Edinburgh I was as excited as I had been as a kid. When the day came you would have thought that I was going on a cruise to Antarctica or a space journey to the moon. I got so excited by the hubbub of people at St. Pancras Station filled with travelers heading in many different directions. 

We talked with a women who had done this multiple times and she helped us know how to find the right platform and what to do when they finally let us inside the gate. She urged us to walk quickly to get our suitcases stowed away because sometimes a coach is so crowded that there is not enough room for everything that people bring onboard. 

With her tips we had no trouble moving at a fast pace, finding our assigned seats and placing our suitcases in the bins above our heads. Ours was a four person section with a table but for much of the trip we were the only ones sitting there so we were able to stretch out and enjoy the ride. 

The train hugged the coastline for much of the time so the scenes were quite picturesque with lovely farms on one side and the North Sea on the other. As we moved north the land rolled into hilly areas where mostly sheep were grazing on the emerald green grass. The homes were all tidy and inviting like something out of a fairytale. The scenes were totally idyllic often dotted with houses that boasted thatched roofs and gardens filled with autumn vegetables. 

It was especially exciting to make a stop at York where we had traveled in twenty seventeen. I imagined Yorkminster in all of its glory and the narrow streets and shops in the ancient town that had once been the home of kings. I wondered how the sweet lady who showed us around the cathedral there was doing and hoped that she had done well during the worldwide pandemic. She had reminded my husband of his grandmother and he told me that if I wanted to know how his Granny had sounded I need only think of the woman who had served as our guide. 

Not long after leaving the York station a young man boarded the train and took a seat across from us. He was a friendly fellow who was on his way to Scotland to meet his girlfriend in Glasgow. They had plans to go camping and hiking for the next few days. He chatted amiably telling us how he had grown up in North London. He did not seem disappointed at all that he had to sit with two senior citizens. In fact, he made it a point to keep us entertained as he pointed out sights that he did not want us to miss. 

Across from us was a table filled with folks who began the journey as strangers but ended up feeling very comfortable with one another. One of them was a very talkative man who entertained the whole coach with his strong voice and detailed autobiography. The group included a young woman from mainland China who spoke impeccable English and admitted that she had been trying out her speaking skills in Paris and other places to practice the many languages that she had mastered. I was quite impressed. 

Eventually we reached Newcastle, the city from which Mike’s Granny and aunt and uncles had emigrated to the United States. From our point of view it was a vibrant city sitting astride both the North Sea and the Tyne River. There were lovely old buildings beside modern architecture. We even saw the university that had a large footprint on the scene. Mike wondered how his grandmother would have reacted to seeing the place that she left as a child to go to the wilds of Texas in the  early nineteen hundreds. She came with her mother, father, siblings and grandparents and never again returned. Nonetheless she still had a small bit of an English accent and she loved tea time and Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding. My husband swears that nobody makes it better than she did. 

Soon we were pulling into Edinburgh Station which was far more confusing than London. We had no idea which way to go or even where the restrooms, or as they call them toilets, were. Eventually we figured it out on our own and were heading to our hotel filled with thoughts of the morrow when we would tour Edinburgh Castle. 

After checking into our hotel room we went for a walk down the Royal Mile in search of the place where we would meet our tour guide the following day. Since we were hungry we did not hesitate to go inside when we spotted a restaurant called Landy’s which claimed to have the best fish and chips anywhere. We had to admit that the food was indeed exceptional as was the waiter who went out of his way to make us feel welcome. 

After a bit more walking we realized that it was getting late and we were tired. We went back to the hotel and saw that the movie channel was featuring The Alamo with John Wayne. It made us laugh to think that we had travelled this far to end up with a movie about the state where we had both lived for all of our lives. We only halfway watched it because we had seen it many times as children and we knew exactly what was going to happen but it served us well given how sleepy we were. We were ready to see the castle of all castles and as anxious as we were, sleep beckoned.