Board your overnight transatlantic flight.

We arrive in London, England Uniformed hosts are available to help us make the most of our stay. Choose an optional excursion such as a visit to the famous London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel.

London�Cambridge�York After a hearty English breakfast, we\'ll meet our Tour Director and traveling companions at 8 am, and depart for a day of northbound travel. We\'ll take a break in the beautiful university city of Cambridge, one of the country�s oldest seats of learning. In York, England, York�s most complete medieval city, we\'ll follow our Tour Director on a walking tour through a maze of quaint medieval streets, including the narrow Shambles. Stand in awe in front of the great structure of York Minster, then we explore its treasures. Tonight, we\'ll enjoy a welcome dinner at our hotel.

York�Jedburgh, Scotland�Edinburgh First today, we\'ll inspect a section of Hadrian�s Wall, the Roman coast-to-coast defense against marauding northern tribes. Next we\'re onto the Vistas of wild Northumberland National Park on the way to the Scottish border, then Jedburgh Abbey ruins and glimpses of the house of Mary, Queen of Scots before a fascinating guided visit to Sir Walter Scott�s Abbottsford House. We\'ll overnight in Edinburgh, the �Prince of Cities.� We can also enjoy a unique optional experience: we\'ll board the former Royal Yacht Britannia, once the perfect royal residence for the Queen�s glittering state visits and family holidays. We\'ll tour five decks and see how the Royal Family and crew of 240 lived and worked on board. Dinner rounds off our optional evening.

Edinburgh�Lake District, England�Chester We\'ll enjoy morning city sightseeing with a Local Guide who will introduce us to the 200-year-old �New Town� and famous scientists, inventors, and novelists. In the �Old Town,� we\'ll drive up the narrow Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle to admire Scotland�s Crown Jewels. On our way through the history-steeped Lowland Hills, visit Gretna Green, where the blacksmith used to wed runaway couples. In the tranquil Lake District, often considered the finest of England�s national parks, we\'ll take a break in Wordsworth�s beloved Grasmere. We\'ll spend the night at Chester, the historic walled city on the River Dee. Story about Gretna Green "There are many legends of love that surround Gretna Green � the first town encountered across the Scottish border. For centuries, Gretna Green has been synonymous with elopement and blacksmith marriages, although marriage by a blacksmith is more legend than fact. Until the 18th century, church marriages among the lower classes in Europe were almost unheard of. Instead, lower class weddings were usually looked at as �marriage by declaration.� When England passed the Marriage Act of 1754, establishing church weddings as the only legal form of marriage, a sudden industry began over the border in Scotland, where couples could still wed by declaration. Scottish �blacksmith priests� began working in pubs and inns and the eloping couples came in droves."

Chester�Stratford-upon-Avon�London On this morning�s Chester walking tour, we\'ll see the Roman remains, the black and white half-timbered buildings, and the two-tiered arcades called the �Rows.� In Stratford-upon-Avon, we can take photos of Anne Hathaway�s Cottage. We\'ll visit Shakespeare\'s birthplace, and stroll through the picturesque town. Skirting the Cotswold Hills, we\'ll return to London around 4 pm.

Our homebound flight arrives the same day.