Greetings from London. We are back in the UK after three days in France where we toured the usual highlights (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Seine, etc.). But the best by far was a two day jaunt to Normandy — specifically, the little village of Bayeux, famous for the Bayeux Tapestry, a 70 meter illustration in cloth depicting the life and death of Britain’s Saxon King Harold as told by his Norman brother William.

From Bayeux, we were fortunate to get a private tour of several areas near the D-Day invasion 61 years ago, nearly to the date. Our guide, a former British Infantryman and WWII history expert, took us on a “Band of Brothers” tour, following the events of the real 101st Airborne “Easy Company” division upon which the acclaimed Spielberg/Hanks series is based. What an experience.

Just a few days left here in London as our extreme journey comes to an end…

Greetings from Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s been very tough to find access in Bath, Wales, and Ireland. We have just a few hours left before we leave to Inverness (the Scottish Highlands) and any further connectivity there will be due to providence. We’ll be back here at our current B&B in two days.

After we’re done with the Scots, we take on the French for a “Brothers In Arms” tour in Normandy. (Chosen by my son, the WWII history buff.) In prep, we watched Saving Private Ryan (ripped from DVD to a DivX MPEG video and played back on my little 2.5 pound ultra portable Dell Latitude X1 that has accompanied us everywhere). Those first 20 minutes of the movie will come back to us as we step on the shores of Omaha Beach. We wrap up France with a day in Paris and then we’re back to London for a few days.

If there’s an opportunity, more will follow. Cheers!