Seems I am skipping around a lot in this blog journey, I am a little out of order and sometimes I forget the correct names....Just to be clear the driver of the Jaunty carriage was Mikey, not Kevin...And he proposed marriage to one of our tour mates....was definitely fun.
But this magical place called Gretna Green was full of folklore. It is a parish in the southern area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the river Sark. The story goes, that in England or Wales the Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753 was passed. Stating that no one under the age of 21 could be married without parental consent. You guessed it the young couples just went to Gretna Green in Scotland to get married. So it is now considered the most romantic place in Scotland. and has become synonymous with runaway lower. In Scotland, they stuck to their old laws that said you could marry as long as you were over 15, not closely related to each other, and not in a relationship with anyone else. The ceremony went like this:
Are you of marriageable age? YES
Are you free to marry? YES
You are now married! Pretty simple. Some of the couples liked to have a senior and respected craftsman or artisan, to perform the ceremony. This little town had blacksmiths that fit that requirement, Blacksmiths. At the end of the ceremony, they would strike the anvil. Giving them the name "Anvil Priests". Today they still have marriages over the anvil, but with a lot more dignity, This quaint little town is perfect in all it glory of its history.
Yes, they even had Flamingos....told you they follow me....
Grasmere is a quaint village where Wordsworth lives, and his family plot is there next to a beautiful little church (still used today)....
Below are just views from the coach window on our way...
This is one of Wadsworth's famous poems. Seems he & his sister were walking in the fields, saw the beautiful Daffodils, and wrote a poem. He was an English Romantic poet and was even named the Poet Laureate of the UK in 1843. Now you know.
Liverpool!!!!! What do you think of? I think of the Beatles! I did not know they had their own museum....it was fabulous. It even had the Yellow Submarine. One of the most fun museums I have been to....
See all the great memorabilia...the yellow submarine, Magical mystery tour bus...and the Costumes....really interesting and fun!