England, London, Wales, Liverpool, Chester, Japanese

My wife, her mother and father, her sister and I all went to England for new year.
For my wife's parents it was their first time abroad and it was a long 11hr flight on BA. It was longer still since we had to get from Heathrow to London city then up to Liverpool.
Eventually we got to Liverpool on the embarrassingly old Virgin express and met my parents. My dad had hired a 12 seater bus to take us and our luggage up to Southport. Yuuri's parents and sister stayed in the town in an apartment while Yuuri and I stayed with my parents.

Yuuri's parents were on winter vacation so they could stay a week but Yuuri and I had gambled and had quit both our jobs to get time in England.

We began by showing them Liverpool and Albert dock. We took the family to the Tate gallery in Liverpool and the Beatles museum. The Beatles museum proved to be a big success with the family we only wish we had more time. We showed them a British pub where we ate fish and chips and pie. The family weren't so pleased with the pie but they had a good time.

Southport has some old buildings so we drank in a traditional pub and ate dinner with my extended family. Yuuri and her mother both dressed in kimonos and although her mother got sick (must be that strange british food) they had a great time.

Our next adventure was to take a trip with my sister and her husband and three kids. We decided to go to Wales and visit an old castle.We thought it would be very different from things they had seen in Japan and also spend time with my sister. Again we had a great time and dads bus came in very useful carrying us accross the country.

The final place we went with my parents was Chester city, where I went to University. The family remarked that Chester was like Kyoto with its historically preserved buildings although I think Kyoto is much more beautiful. Either way it was another successful day.

The final day was in my hands, I bid farewell to my family and I took Yuuri and her family down to London. We saw all the usual sights Westminister, Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guards, Harrods and saw Abbey road. It was a tiring time but they got a lot done and enjoyed it. After a couple of days I took them to Heathrow and Yuuri's family departed leaving Yuuri and I together in London.

With just the two of us I managed to get us dinner and west end tickets. We saw the Michael Jackson musical which was a great night out. The final day we checked out the London Dungeon and the Tate modern gallery but by then we were tired.

We returned to Liverpool in first class to meet my parents. We were very tired but I must admit London was brilliant. The architectural was striking and Gothic, maybe I just never appreciated it before.