Tour Leader’s Blog

Upon leaving London we drove to Epping Forest to visit Gilwell Park, the center for Scout training. Brian was pleased to collect a few Scout souvenirs. We all enjoyed lunch in their restaurant. What a lovely setting for the Scout program.

After arriving in Stratford Upon Avon we needed the fans in our rooms as it was unusually warm. Following dinner we enjoyed walking along the canal, the Avon River, the Festival Theatre and the old section of the city. There were many tourists. The swans came to the water’s edge but Betty told them we had no bread for them. They didn’t seem to understand and continued to wait.

Roger, our city guide the follow morning, had a wonderful sense of humor. We all enjoyed his puns. Bernice was sure he was,“pulling the wool over our eyes.”

Following the visit to Warwick Castle, we enjoyed the drive to Liverpool. This is our coach driver Alex’s home. His city tour was very informative. The Beatles Museum was closed when we walked to it at the Albert Dock following our evening meal. Gloria’s daughter is out of luck - No Tee shirt.

Following our visit to the Jorvik Viking Museum, we enjoyed fish & chips at Petersgate. During the free time in York, Ellen and George walked to the Yorkminster. It is too bad we had to leave before evensong at 4:00 p.m.

It was so much fun visiting the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk. Driving through Yorkshire many persons remembered different stories he wrote about in his series “All Creatures Great and Small.” To see his actual Surgery was a bonus.

Tomorrow we are off to the Lake District.

~ Wilmer Martin

Our England & Scotland and the Oberammergau Passion Play tour is enjoying wonderful weather. Alex Stratford, TourMagination’s favorite driver/guide for Great Britain, told us that the weather has been rainy and cool.

Yesterday we had a wonderful tour of Westminster Abbey with Ingrid, a guide who TourMagination likes to hire. In the afternoon we enjoyed a 2 hour and 30 minute double-decker bus tour in beautiful sunny London. Our guide on the city tour interpreted the rich history with a nice touch of humor.

Julia was pleased that Alex had his go-cart (wheelchair) under the coach which was needed as we walked around London. This morning we visited Robert Baden-Powell House, named after the founder of the Scout movement. This was requested by Brian, a long-time Scout leader.

At Kew Gardens, with planes flying overhead as they approached Heathrow Airport, we saw beautiful flowers and magnificent trees. George enjoyed the Palm House with its unique tropical rain forests. He also noted the more than 200-year-old tree that has survived since the garden began in 1761.

This afternoon we enjoyed tea in the beautiful garden at the London Mennonite Centre. Will Newcomb welcomed us and interpreted the history and purpose of the centre. He is in charge of the Anabaptist library and bookstore at LMC.

The theme of the 3 p.m. worship service at the Wood Green Mennonite Church was “Faith in Adversity - the Desert.” We enjoyed the warm welcome and the opportunity to each bring greetings from our home congregations. This was especially meaningful for Ellen Holst since the pastor from Wood Green had preached at the Mannheim congregation in Ontario two years ago.

Following dinner tonight a few of us enjoyed walking to Regent Park to visit Queen Mary’s Rose Garden. Joe Grove was pleased to discover after he returned to the hotel that he had walked more than 8 miles today. This is 2 miles above his goal each day at home.

~ Wilmer Martin

Value for your money

At TourMagination, we pride ourselves on giving you good value for your investment in our tours. We know that you can find cheaper prices for some tours, but a recent conversation with one of our tour members reminded me again that you get what you pay for.

Our tour member told me about a friend of hers who wanted to travel to see the Passion Play in Oberammergau. She considered TourMagination but decided to go with a local company with a cheaper rate. Upon her return, she described her tour: Terrible! She said that the only good part of the tour
was the Passion Play. People in her tour group were rude and drinking heavily, while there were constant additional charges for everything along the way.

On the other hand, a tour member on one of our recent tours to Oberammergau spoke of TourMagination as a family of sorts: a travelling community that brings together people from across the North American continent who share a kinship before they even meet each other.

I want to invite you to save your money so you can join one of our tours, investing in the opportunity to be part of a family, traveling together to build bridges with people around the world.

~ Wilmer Martin

We woke this morning in Salzburg and traveled to Dachau for a sobering visit to the concentration camp in outer Munich. Now we are in Nordlingen. We could talk about the sights we’ve seen today, but with only two days left in this trip we’d rather mention how amazing it is to observe the degree of sharing and caring that has developed between tour participants on this trip. Today’s evening meal was no exception, with the rich mixture of heartfelt sharing, much laughter, and thoughtful reflections on this soon-to-be-completed trip. Don, who shared from his life’s story this morning on our bus as we crossed from Austria to Germany, spoke of TourMagination as a family of sorts: a travelling community that brings together people from across the North American continent who share a kinship before they even meet each other. We all agreed. This has been a rich tour, day in and day out, and all this before Oberammergau! We depart for that lovely Bavarian town tomorrow and its world-famous play, and for home the day after that. But if you’re reading this and have not taken a TourMagination tour before, why not now?! And if you’ve taken one, why not another? For surely Don’s experience is one that is repeated time and time again, and in a way that sets this faith-based company apart from the rest.

~ Mary and Len Friesen

What a glorious spectacle of faith the Passion Play in Oberammergau was, set in the midst of the beautiful Bavarian alps. Today we bid “auf wiedersehen” to our group, with the heartfelt hope that we will indeed see each other again, and before too long. We are bound for Munich, safe, sound, and deeply grateful for an amazing travel experience.

~ Mary and Len Friesen