Countdown to a U.K. Visit.

Plans are 99% complete for my trip London at the end of June. The reason for the trip, as I have mentioned here once before, is the two-game series between the Boston Red Sox and the NewYork Yankees. Mind you, these are not exhibition games. These are regular season games … games that count in the standings. In other words, this is serious stuff!

A friend from the Rail Passengers Association will be traveling with me and, as one would expect, there will be plenty of train travel involved. I’ll be taking the Sunset Limited again to San Antonio where Bruce lives, and then the two of us will fly non-stop from Austin to London. 

In addition to the two ballgame days, we’ve scheduled three days of sightseeing. The first will be an excursion train taking a load of passengers—the two of included— from London to Canterbury and return. Transportation to be in refurbished and restored coaches and vintage dining and lounge cars. Luncheon to be served en route. I will post photos, of course.

Day Two will be a two-hour train ride to York with much of that day spent visiting the National Railway Museum there. The Red Sox and Yankees will take care of Days Three and Four. The fifth and final day is marked ”Touring” with no specific plan in mind.  Never fear, there’s plenty to see and do in London to fill a vacuum. On a previous visit, for instance, I found a visit to Churchill’s “War Room” to quite a moving experience.

From London, we’ll take Eurostar to Belgium to walk on Flanders fields “where the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row … ”. Then three days of sightseeing in Paris before a flight back to Boston. Just a quick overnight there (the Sox will be on the road), then the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago where I’ll connect with the Zephyr heading to the Bay Area and a Hawaiiann Airlines flight back home. Reports here as often as possible throughout.