After we arrived in Pensacola, we moved back up to the RV to get it ready to for the trip back to Logan.  The trip back will take at leased 7 days.  We will be in Logan through the end of September.

Logan had a few interesting insects to see.

We were in town for the 4th and Logan put on a nice fireworks show.

The area around Logan is SO green.  They have had quite a bit of rain.

Deer are easy to find near by and in the park.

We disembarked QM2 and took a bus to the LaGuardia Airport. Our plane will take us from New York City, NY to Dallas, TX and on to Pensacola, FL.

We arrived at almost 8pm in Pensacola, so we got a hotel near airport for the night.

Our trip totaled 10 weeks, the longest we have ever been out the the USA. We had such as wonderful time. Can't wait to start planning our next overseas trip to Japan in 2027.

One of the lectures was Matthew Towler, a retired counter-espionage and Cyber security expert.  He was MI5 (like our FBI) or MI6 (like our CIA) or Special Air Service (SAS), elite British military force organized and trained for special operations, surveillance, and counter terrorism.  He would not confirm which one.  He served in the British Army, N Ireland. Spy, ...Private sector security work, and retired in 2016 to do lectures on ships to travel with his wife.

He lectured on AI being a threat in almost every area of life.  It is very strongly influenced by the environment (people) it was trained. His analysis was that AI is very much like a child.  How they are taught, the environment, will determine the morals and thinking. AI apps are storing personal data and sending it to bad actors.  An child fibs, and adult lies and AI hallucinates. We are now in a "post real" society where images, video, and sound can not be trusted.

One lecture was on being Undercover and Trade-craft.  Information on some of the great spy's, double spy's, and even a triple spy's one of which who influenced much of the story of James Bond. 

He lectured on spy equipment and how easy it was for the general public to purchase that equipment like tiny cameras, trackers, tiny drones....

Recognizing a trigger point is the one thing that you see first or comes to mind first.  The types of awareness: Personal, cultural, 3rd party, situational.  Knowing where the safest seat is and exits are in a restaurant or bar.

That many “agency's” require neutral appearance height, weight, voice, … or picked to be noticed.  Tourist, wealthy, homeless,…  Clothing to not be seen  brown, blue, green clothes which helps in blending into the environment.

One day the lecture was all about ‘Gray zone’ warfare  which involves the use of Fake news, Cyber attacks, overwhelming social media, proxy forces like rioters.. Antifa, smart weapon attacks.

During a Q&A session at the end, he revealed that his wife found out about his profession because they were driving and he got a call.  It was from the ‘Home Office’ asking if the line was secure which she heard and was insistent that she know why he was getting a call from them and why they were wanting to know if the line was secure.

I really enjoyed the talks.

We walked around the ship in the afternoon.  It really is a pretty ship.

Tonight, the Beatles band played again.  This time music from the late 60s.

Early on, I walked around and took pictures of some of the venues and the dining room.

We did get to hear the harpist in the bow bar.

Shawna really enjoyed going to the lectures by Linda Sage, a British criminal psychologist and author, who talked about interviewing people behind bars most of who were British serial killers.  She spoke on “women who kill,” and details on becoming one of the first female profilers.

She spoke on how she had to be careful that the murders never knew any information about her personal life.  They would ask in manipulating and sneeky ways about the car she drove, where she bought groceries,  her church,... anything that they could used to find her home.  If they ever did they might send a message out to friends on the outside to make her life difficult.
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“You can never forget what they did, mentally, it’s always there. They can be genial, but you can never forget. Because the moment you drop your guard, you’re vulnerable. These people are manipulative and will look for a relationship. If they have that, they have an advantage."

Tonight, it is the "Masked Ball". We went to hear the orchestra and dance. They were great.  It was like we were on the ship from the 1930's.

Afterwards, we had Irish Coffee with biscuits (cookies).

About 8 pm, we will pass 16 miles north of titanic final resting.  The seas look pretty angry.  The captain did say that we have shifted our path to avoid a field of icebergs. 

We relaxed the rest of the day.  Maybe a snack in the afternoon then dinner tonight.

​First breakfast and then out to head down to the port.  We had tried to decide if we should call for a cab or walk.  I noticed that a couple below on the street had to wait for a long time to get picked up so a cab seemed to be a problem. We called several times for a taxi to take us to the port with no success.

With no luck on a taxi, we headed off on our own dragging our luggage.  This was going to be a long walk, but we did have some interesting things to see like this ancient gate house.

We got a couple blocks down toward the port and Shawna saw a cab ahead.  I asked if he could come back to get us and what he would charge.  He said it should be about 8 pounds.  I told him it would be cash if that helped.  He said no problem and was back in about 5 minutes.  We had an interesting ride where he told us the cab problem was from the Muslim holiday that had 70% of the cabbies out for the holiday.  The fare ended up at 11 pounds but I gave him 15.  He was happy with the tip.

With our luggage dropped off with the porters, we headed to the first of several lines to stand in before embarking. 1 to get into the terminal.  2 to wait to be checked in and passports seen. Shawna's passport was questioned because the young lady did not understand that New Mexico is a US state, not the country. 3 to get through security.  4 waiting our turn on the gangway.

Successfully though the gauntlet and a bit more than an hour and we were on the ship.  Directed to our muster station to scan in and then to our cabin.  Soon after our luggage was delivered.  It is a very nice cabin a bit dated with no USB charging, only plugs at the desk but still very nice. Definitely better than flying! The price of the inside cabin was about the same as flying back to the US.

Sail away was 4:30pm and we were heading out.  The captain announcement was that we would hug the coast of England till Lands end.  We are excited to be crossing the Atlantic ocean to the States.  We will not be on ground till NYC.  It does not bother us at all to not see land.  It gives us plenty of time to relax and recover from the Go...Go...Go of the last two months of touring.

The music looks to be very good on the crossing.  This is our first time on a Cunard ship and the Queen Mary 2 was built for this purpose.  She is the largest Ocean Liner in the world.  They try to maintains 22 knots or more continuously for the crossing.  

Tonight, we have a nice show.

We got in and wow was the walk up and building a bit strange.  The room was nice enough with a very small but functional bathroom.  ​

Just two blocks down the road was a Tutor house and “The Titanic Pub”.  We walked on to the end of the road and found a pub that was long ago a wool warehouse and thought about going in but I noticed that a band was walking in with amps, speakers, and instruments.  It was about to get really loud.  Not something we wanted.  We walked back to the Titanic Pub and stopped in for a drink. 

Back to the flat.  Tomorrow, we leave for the USA on the Cunard ship, Queen Mary II.

Up and off to the tower of London.  It will be a long day but interesting.

We are off to the Underground with two changes and a short walk to the entrance.  ​

The first tower gate is just outside the moat and what would in the past be a large drawbridge. That was removed when the moat was drained.  A walkway was built up between the outer and inner gates.

The moat was begun under William the Conqueror in 1240.  It was first filled in 1270 and gates were constructed along the river to fill and flush the moat.  The Dutch man who you would think would know how to plan something of this nature failed miserably. The moat would partially fill some days and did not flush as intended.  By the 1840s had  become a cesspool surrounding the castle and was drained.

In World War I it was used to stage troops for that war.  After the end of that war in 1928, the river flooded and the moat filled with water for the first time in almost 90 years. Once dry it was used many times for different purposes such as a vegetable garden in World War II, a flower garden.  Today, it is primarily grass and flower beds.

Soon, we were inside the outer walls.  Between the inner and outer walls is an open space.  Should an attaching army get between the walls they would be caught in a cross fire.  The inner wall is much taller and has many towers for defense.  Later we will find that many of the towers were converted to prisons for those waiting punishment.  Most were eventually beheaded.  Few were released.

Then into the inner walls where there is the White Tower and casements (apartments) and other buildings.  The inside of the outer wall were attached buildings.  The walls are so tall that these buildings are 3 stories tall.  Most of these were apartments for guards and special people such as Sir Isaac Newton.  One building for many years was the Royal Mint.

We did get a nice view of the river and the Tower bridge.

We realized that one of the first things we should do is see the crown jewels.   Amazing! 

No photography allowed but I did see a few people sneak a picture. So many huge jewels, diamonds, and gold.

The rooms holding the jewels is actually a huge vault with very thick outer doors and then a solid metal inner sliding door.  Everything is very secure and there are guards on duty 24/7.

We then walked and walked and climbed up stairs in towers and walked around the "tower" in the center.  The White Tower was built by William the Conqueror in 1066 but was not complete until 1100.  It was built to impress.  This was the largest structure anywhere in England.  At 118 feet by 106 feet and 90 feet tall it would bee seen far into the countryside.  Built to impress it was very successful.

Many kings lived in and held court in the tower.

The tower has so many rooms which is set as a museum with lots of armor and weapons, chapel, ancient royal hall and banquet hall....  The actual armor made for several Kings were on display including swords and other items.

One tower on the inner wall was dedicated to torture.

A tower was used as a prison with many famous residents.

Sir Walter Raleigh's prison tower.

A portion of the walls were built on even older Roman walls.

The Traitors Gate into the river.

Next we walked up and down stairs to towers.  Saw lots of historical rooms and prisons.  Lots of famous people were held here and most were executed in the green or up on the hill in public.  The spot is marked with a glass pillow.

We got a bit of lunch and even in the lunch room there was a historical display.  Long ago this was mounted over the drawbridge opening.

After lunch we went out to the moat (what was the moat) and met a Yeomen Guard (Beefeater) for a guided tour.  First, some flowers.​

We met our guide and the jokes started almost immediately.

Starting right off the bat by making fun of Americans (we have no history… well not yet and bought the wrong bridge to take to Arizona), Australians (asking if they were on parole or escaped), Canadians,  French, the Dutch because a man from Holland who claimed to be an expert in canals dug the moat so deep that it would not flush using tides from the Thames.  Eventually it became an open sewer and it was drained and filled.  

The tour was of the grounds discussing the people who had lived and died in the tower or on the grounds.  When a person was of a high enough station in royalty they could be beheaded or hanged in the courtyard instead of a public event.  On the site below over 125 people were put to death including Anne Boleyn.

Sir Isaac Newton who "invented gravity" as reported by our guide lived in #2 Casement ( the old word for apartment ) while he designed coins, paper money, and managed the British Mint that was here for many years.

So much history.

We got a good view of Tower Bridge before moving on.

Next we walked out of the Tower walls and to a small church nearby with some of it’s own history.  The basement that was hiding a roman building and some roman items and was used to hide Catholics during the purge by Henry the 8th.  Then hide people during the WWI and WWII bombings.  The church itself was hit and rebuilt several times.

One pub near by had an interesting name but seemed very busy.

The pub we did choose had an interesting plaque on the bar.  Credit Given is an old English way of saying free drinks.

Back to the underground and to the hotel to get things ready to head to Southampton in the morning.

By the end of the day, it was 62 degrees and rainy.  Very, Very damp. I was feeling awful.

​My cough and wheezing seems to be back and after checking with the clinic across the street, we were heading to the ER at St Thomas Hospital.  I don’t know why people in the UK complain about the medical coverage because this was about the fastest ER visit we could even imagine at home. We got there at 5pm and was done with the doctor at 7pm. Apparently, my lungs had not completely cleared the last infection 6 weeks ago in Scotland. There was a small area on my left lung that was concerning.   The treatment included a chest Xray, a 30 minute ibuterol breathing treatment, and assessment of my medicine needed all in less than 2 hours.   We were guided down to the onsite pharmacy where I got anti-biotics, 2 inhaler's, prednisone pills with NO BILL! Not for the visit or even for the medicine.  Thank you UK.

It was still daylight and we felt like we had time to get something to eat. Tired and hungry, we stopped again at The Hercules, Lambeth pub around the corner from the hotel.

We walk back to our room to rest.​​