Wow!!!

Forty days into our trip and that is a perfect description of my reaction.
We're staying in the English Lakes District for the next few days as a breather, catching up on washing etc., and enjoying the view.
We began in Dubai, staying for two days and doing the tourist thing-a great place for shopping, but it was the beginning of the trip and our bags were full, so we controlled ourselves.
On to London and the beginning of a twenty-four day coach trip through Europe. Amsterdam, Cologne, Strausburg, Heidleberg, Lucerne,Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Lourdes, Bairitz, Bordeaux, Paris and back to London. The highlights were too many to list and our disappointments few. Coached on enough language to be polite, we were treated well everywhere, but my accent probably put Anglo-French relations back twenty years. My attempts to speak the language were invariably greeted with a pained smile and the admission that the listener spoke English.
England and four days in London saw us doing the tourist thing again before we picked up the hire car, moving from youth hostel to youth hostel where possible. It's a great way to travel and considerable more economic than B&Bs or hotels.
The south of England first, ending in Bath and Jane Austen territory. (Met a fellow writer and had a ball in Exeter.)
North to Shrewsbury and onwards to the Lakes District.
Next it's Scotland, and the Edinburgh Tattoo, but I'll tell you about that later.