One of Yvonne’s Wisconsin “Pink Ladies” has a daughter getting married in Corfe Castle, England and we were invited to attend. Where, pray tell, is Corfe Castle? It is a small (population 1355) village located in the county of Dorset near the English southern coast and the towns of Swanage and Wareham. Now you know! The village is named after Corfe Castle, which is near the village and was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century.

It was too tempting of an invite to pass up and so we are off to join the festivities. And as long as we are going all that distance I proposed that we do something we have not done before-see parts of the United Kingdom other than London. When we lived in Wisconsin we went several times to London during the winter months to experience the city and attend some theater productions. It was cheaper than going to NYC back then. Those trips never found us leaving London so we never saw the rest of the country. Yvonne agreed with my plan and we found an Insight Vacations tour called the “Best of Britain” with a departure from London three days after the wedding. We have traveled with Insight on three previous occasions and like them very much, so we signed on.

When I mentioned our upcoming trip to my brother Gerry and wife Sue, our frequent travel companions, they decided they needed another vacation and would be joining us in London to also take the Insight tour.

Not one to simply sit around for the three days before the tour begins I wondered what was playing in the London theaters. And,”what to my wondering eyes should appear” (apologies to the authors)- the musical HAMILTON was there! I have avoided seeing it in the USA because of the outrageous ticket prices. What was the price in London I wondered? Amazingly I found I could get tenth row seats, center stage for $280 each! Can’t pass up a deal like that, so we all are finally seeing the musical about the unsung American hero-in London!

We still had another night to do something and I found there was another musical that would appeal to me- “Tina-The Tina Turner Musical”. We are both big fans of her music. I still remember a memorable concert we saw in Milwaukee when she was still touring. So we are also planning to see it while in London.

So off we go on another adventure. I will be collecting a couple of new countries (making my total 105) and finally seeing other parts of the United Kingdom.