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OUR HONEYMOON IN ENGLAND
Prologue:
This trip has been planned, cancelled and re-planned several different
times. Due to various financial emergencies and poor decisions, it had been
delayed almost 4 years, but we finally got to go August 2005.
The planning portion, as I said, was over several years, but the first
step towards actually going this time was getting airline tickets on
Priceline. I managed to get tickets for my husband Jason and I from Orlando
to London, in August (which is high tourist season in London) for $482 each
plus taxes, for a total of $598 per ticket. Since the normal discounted
internet rates were around $1000, I think I got a rather good deal there.
We had one change over in Charlotte, and it was on US Airways.
Our next step was accommodation: I went to Priceline once again, and got
4* hotels in Leeds and London, each for $70 a night. The Leeds hotel was
the Crowne Plaza Leeds, a decent enough place, and then the Copthorne Tara
in London (Kensington) which was great. As many people know, though, a 4*
in England is more the equivalent of a 3* in the US. Still, the rooms were
clean, relatively spacious, and the bathrooms and locations good. More on
that later.
There were several items that I booked ahead of time, and I will mention
those throughout the report, when appropriate. I tried to do most of the
planning ahead of time as I wasn't sure how much (if any) internet access I
would have during the trip.
On to the actual trip!
Thursday, August 11th
I left work around 11am to drive to Orlando in time for our 4:30pm
flight. We were planning on dropping our car at our friend Marie's house.
The trip normally takes about an hour and a half, but driving through
Orlando during the first week of school at 1:30-2:00pm was a bit more
harrowing than I expected. We finally made it to the terminal by 3:00,
though, and checked in… in time to find out our flight was delayed by ½
hour. That worked fine for us, and the US Airways agent was very helpful,
even checking to make sure we would still have time to make our connecting
flight (before we even asked!).
I do want to say here that, throughout our trip, the staff at US Airways
was friendly, helpful, and incredibly conscious of their customer service
levels. Many went out of their way to help us or others with problems or
concerns. Kudos for a job well done! In this day and age, this seems to be
the exception rather than the rule, and I am happy to see GOOD customer
service and praise it, hopefully encouraging it.
We went through checking our bags at the TSA checkpoint, which was
painless, and went through security. This was relatively quick, even though
they chose Jason's backpack to go through more thoroughly. It's
understandable, though - he had all sorts of wires, accessories and devices
there for his laptop. We got finished with security and to the gate 1 ½
hours before the flight was due to leave - and discovered that the flight
was actually 1 ½ hours late. Since we had 2 hours leeway on our connection,
we were still doing OK. They did announce that since the flight was
delayed, anyone with close connections should approach the gate to talk
about the possibility of rescheduling. I think that sort of communication
and proactive problem-solving was exemplary.
We grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King in the airport (not realizing
there were much tastier choices around the corner) as we no longer rely on
the availability or quality of meals on airlines. When we boarded, we were
seated in a 3 seat configuration with an empty seat between us - however,
as it was a full flight, we scootched over so a mother could sit across the
aisle from her 5 year old son.
Part of the lateness of the flight was made up in flight time, so we
arrived in plenty of time for our flight to London - which was also delayed
a bit. It was scheduled to leave at 8:13pm, but instead left at 10pm. It
was explained as a mechanical problem, and this information was displayed
on screen and at the gate. Again, good communication kept everyone calm and
satisfied. The Gate Attendant said that she would try to keep the seat
between Jason and I open on this leg, and she did. That made the flight
itself much more comfortable, especially important as this was the 9 hour
part of the flight.
Dinner on the flight was Tortellini, which I didn't eat much of as we
had eaten several hours before, but it was reasonably good. Unfortunately I
became the target of some falling drinks as the Flight Attendant took her
cart by - but only my sleeve got soaked. She brought some club soda to make
sure it didn't get sticky.
I watched a movie on the IFE (Hitch) and an episode of Monk, then tried
to get some sleep, and was reasonably successful. Breakfast was tea and a
doughtnut, and we had arrived!
Friday August 12th:
We breezed through immigration and got our luggage. Off to the trains!
We were booked on a train from London to Kings Cross, and then from Kings
Cross St. Pancras to Leeds (St. Pancras is down the block from the other
Kings Cross station). I picked up my pre-purchased tickets at the Fast
Ticket machine at the station and boarded. The first train basically took
us AROUND London - from Gatwick to one of the northern train stations in
the city. This is where we hit a snag - as I was getting off at Kings
Cross, I had trouble getting my luggage off. By the time I did, they closed
the train doors on Jason, and he was unable to get off in time.
This is also when we discovered that our cell phones did not work in the
UK (something I had been assured by Cingular). I decided that the best
course of action was to wait for Jason - common sense dictated that he
would get off at the next stop, and get the next train coming back.
Meanwhile I sat and people-watched for about 45 minutes. I saw a very
slovenly-looking nun pass through - her shoes, backpack and attire reminded
more of homeless folk than nuns, but she definitely had a brown habit on.
He did, but since this was an Express train, the next stop was 20
minutes away (St. Albans). That means we missed our connecting train - but
the customer service clerk wrote us a note to give to the other train
station, explaining that the trains were running late, so they were
stopping for shorter periods of time at each stop, thus not giving us
enough time to alight. It worked fine, and we took the train to Leeds one
hour later than our original. The clerk who did this (Cedric) was very
helpful.
This is when I discovered that the bathroom at Kings Cross St. Pancras
cost 20p to use - and I only had pound notes, no change, as I had just
gotten here. A kind lady gave me 20p, luckily!
We got on our train to Leeds, after much deliberation and the wrong
seats (we went into a car with reserved seats first, and we had no reserved
seats). Unfortunately, finding the unreserved seats also means we were
right next to the smoking car, and people going in and out of the car all
trip brought the smoke smell with them.
The train trip itself was uneventful and rainy, and lasted about 2 ½
hours. When we got off the train at Leeds, we called Enterprise Rent-a-Car,
and they offered to pick us up in the back of the station - which we had to
find in the rain. We went around most of the train station until we found
it! It was near a pub called Wetherspoons. We could, of course, had tried
to find it from the inside - but we were too tired for logic at this point!
We rented a full-sized car, which was a Saab, and large enough for both
Jason and I to drive. As my husband is 6'4", finding a car he fits in
comfortably enough to drive is a challenge. When we turned on the car, it
told us the coolant level was low - so they filled it up at the rental agency,
and told us to keep refilling it if we needed to. The coolant level wasn't
really low, the indicator light just continued to tell us it was, so we
ignored it. We got directions for the nearest gas station, as they rented
the car to us empty of petrol. Unfortunately, the petrol station they sent
us to was just closing up, but the manager told us he would turn the gas
pump back on if we were paying cash. We did, filled up with £35 ($70!), and
followed the manager to the Crowne Plaza Leeds. The manager offered to show
us the way, as he said he was rubbish with directions.
We checked in to our room, and the clerk tried to secure the honeymoon
suite for us, but no luck. The room mini-bar was broken, and there was no
adaptor for the internet. The room itself was nice, but little bits here
and there were annoying. However, the shower pressure was fabulous, and the
bed comfy, that makes up for a lot. Jason found two wireless connections,
but they were both too weak to use, so we availed ourselves of the free 24-hour
business center internet service about once a day to check our email. There
was only one computer, so occasionally someone else was using it.
We were tired and hungry, and decided that going out for something to
eat was too much effort, so we decided to eat at the hotel. There are two
restaurants at the hotel - the higher class Boccagrande, and the lower
class Sandwich Bar. We decided that, after about 24 hours of traveling, we
were much too un-hygenic for a nice restaurant, so ordered room service. I
had a burger with brie, and Jason had a steak & onion sandwich, with a
salmon appetizer. It may have been our intense hunger, but it tasted
delicious!
We each took a shower and collapsed at 9pm - waking up late the next
morning.
Saturday August 13th:
We woke late today, but thoroughly rested and ready to go. We watched a
show called Braniac, which mostly involved exploding things and shocking
people for the interest of science.
On our first driving exploration trip, I took the wheel. After all, I'd
driven in the UK before, and theoretically I knew where we were going.
Right.
We drove towards our first destinations of the day, Harewood House and
Fountains Abbey. However, since we had woken so late, we decided that, if
we could see only one, then Fountains Abbey was our first choice. It was a
good choice! We had lunch on the way up, at a pub called the Black Swan Inn
in Burn Bridge. We both had our first Fish & Chips of the trip - the
haddock was sweet and flaky, the portion huge, the chips fluffy. Heaven!
The Black Swann Inn
We headed back on the A61 to find the Fountains Abbey - and discovered
that www.theAA.com doesn't always give the best directions!
We arrived at Fountains Abbey, which was covered on our Great Britain
Heritage card. It was a short walk from the welcome center, by a field
(they were setting up a stage for a show that night) and down a wooded hill
to the abbey. It was a wonderful ruin! There were lots of areas to explore,
lots of great pictures and film to take. It drizzled on and off while we
were there, with a couple spats of heavy rain, but the sun came out
afterwards, and became cool, breezy and clear. The architecture was
incredible, and my husband waxed poetic at one point. There is a lovely
stream beside the abbey with great wildflowers and culverts around it. The
music of the stream was liquid delight - it was nice just to sit and listen
to it. There were a good number of other people touring the place, and some
children running around, but they weren't intrusive or loud.
Fountains Abbey
 
The walk back up the hill about killed us - we are so out of shape! We
had to rest at the bench halfway up. The 3 little old ladies walking up the
hill passed us!
We went into the gift shop as it was closing down, and got an umbrella
and invested in a wonderful street map book of England, something that
saved us many, many times throughout the trip. We went out to the
courtyard, and Jason had a chocolate ice cream cone and we both got some
water.
We headed back to Ripon, but got lost. We ended up heading west towards
Kirkby/Averly, and drove on that road about 4 miles by the time we figured
out where we were. That map was a timely investment! We turned around and
got back to Ripon and Harrowood. We had dinner at a pub called the Queens
Arms just outside Leeds. We each had steak & ale pie, covered in a
delicious gravy, and had mushroom/stilton melt for an appetizer, a coupleof
pints (Guinness for Jason, cider for me!).
The place was empty when we first arrived at 7, but was full when we
left. It looked like they got lots of tourists (like us). We drove back to
Leeds and had fun (?) driving around the Loop road that circles town
centre, find the road that our hotel was on. We went around at least 1 ½
times before we found it. We watched a little telly and then went to sleep.
Tomorrow was an early day!
Sunday August 14th:
Up early at 7 am, we had a trip to York today! My memories of York were
clear and quaint - half-timbered shops along cobble stoned shopping
streets, the wonderful Minster, and of course, too many people.
On the way out to York we passed an intersection that had at least 9
traffic lights facing in our direction. Some contractor must have made
LOADS of money on THAT contract! We went into York by way of Tadcaster (and
laughed a bit at the name, of course). We found parking under Clifford
tower. We were there too early - nothing was open yet, and it was misty and
rainy. We had only one umbrella between us, so walking was a bit difficult,
but we wandered among the streets until we found a restaurant open serving
breakfast. We went in for our only 'English breakfast' of the trip, a true
fry-up. By the time we were done it was 9 am, and the town was beginning to
wake up.
WAY too many lights!
While we were eating breakfast, we discussed the possibility of setting
up an English-style pub in our town back in Florida. There weren't any
there now, and the closest thing was an Irish bar that didn't serve food.
We discussed lots of details like serving a full English Fry-up Breakfast
on Saturday and Sundays, Afternoon Tea on Saturdays and Sundays, and open
for lunch every day - pub grub. We would, of course, have British beers on
tap, (including our favorites, Guinness and cider), and possibly (if it's
legal) have real English-sized pints, too!
After breakfast we wandered around the Newgate Market, sort of like a
flea market. Most of it was retail things, with a few handcrafted and art
items. We saw more quaint little cobble-stone alleyways and half-timbered
houses, just like I recalled. We tried to get lost, but kept finding either
the Minster or Clifford's Tower. It's hard to miss either of these
landmarks.
York Minster, a guy vs. car,
and a chocolate shoppe
 
The bells pealed at 9am and 10am, and Jason was feeling chilled, so we
went for some coffee at Starbucks. I know, you gasp, Starbucks in England?
It is true, we went, but I didn't buy anything - Jason did :P
We found a Japanese store and I got a cute little cinnabar-style dragon.
We saw a book for a friend on adult-themed origami, but decided against it,
to my regret. Now I want to go back for it! Perhaps I can find it online?
We went into the Jorvik Viking Center, something I had wanted to do last
time we visited but couldn't afford then. It was interesting, but rather
cheesy, but I'd been warned about that. The 'ride' through the Viking
village was interesting - up to the part where you saw one of the
mannequins going to the bathroom behind a wattle wall. He even grunted! And
yes, smell-o-vision was activated.
A little TOO much realism!
We went down to York Minster, and I went inside. I was once again amazed
by the beauty that man can create. The sheer volume of carving, gilt and
art in this one place is incredible. The choir was singing when I came in,
and the acoustics and sound were breath-taking.
Jason and I did some people watching outside York Minster after that,
and we heard all sorts of languages being spoken by the people going by;
Russian, German, Dutch, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian, Ukranian, Japanese,
French, and lots of different English, Scottish and American accents. 'Tis
a small world, indeed!
We did some more shopping, including my first trip into a Boots
(Pharmacy). It's a pretty amazing place, for a pharmacy (or chemist, as
they are called in the UK). It was like the mecca of toiletries. I
purchased some gel pads for my heels, as my shoes were chaffing a bit and
giving me blisters.
As we were crossing the street outside Petergate, I slipped and fell
flat on my face into the street. Such grace! Such style! Luckily I merely
suffered some scrapes on my knees and the palm of one hand. I really should
take up ballet, don't you think?
We drove out of York in search of a pub for a late lunch. We'd about had
it with the city, and were looking for something out in the country. We
drove through Tadcaster, but the only place we saw that was interesting was
'Tad-kebobs', and we wanted a sit-down meal. We drove through Bramham and
onto the A1 and A64, finally stopping at the Fox & Grapes. We ordered a
couple of pints, and Jason had open-faced chicken pie while I tried the
lamb moussaka. Thus we come to my second clumsy moment of the day, sitting
on a stool and sliding right off the back, falling on my bum and hitting
the back of my head on the wall. And I hadn't even taken a sip of my pint
yet! The lamb dish was good - sort of like a potato based lasagna with
eggplant and lamb.
So we were sated and happy and drove home from there. We were getting
very tired, so we decided to get back to the hotel for a while. We checked
our email at the business centre, and took an afternoon nap - neither of us
slept well the night before. After the nap and some news on the telly, we
decided to go explore the surrounding streets a bit for a dinner spot. We
got a recommendation from the desk clerk to try Nawab, which is an Indian
restaurant several blocks down. We found it and it was great! We had meat
samosas for starters, lamb haandi and chicken jefrase. The food was delicious,
but the dessert, called Fantastica, while tasty was evidently common - we
saw it in no less than 4 other restaurants later in our trip. It was a
caramel and vanilla ice cream dish with toffee and chocolate on top.
When we were done with dinner, we waddled the few blocks to the hotel,
and watched a couple of episodes of Babylon 5 on Jason's laptop before
going off to bed.
Monday, August 15th:
We were supposed to get up early today, but got up around 9am instead.
Today was Whitby day. We debated switching with Nottingham today, but
decided against it. We decided not to try to find anything fancy for
breakfast, and stopped at a Burger King on the way. Boy that was different!
It was late, so breakfast was over. I tried a chicken BLT baguette - not
bad!
Today's first stop was Rivaulx Abbey. The trek was one of the more
harrowing, as it involved a tiny one-lane road for 4 miles, going up and
down hills at a 25% grade. We went very slowly! Then we saw a hobbit
bridge, and had to check to make sure Smeagol wasn't in the back seat.
The abbey was great, but I think I liked Fountains Abbey better. This
one was more peaceful and isolated, and was MUCH more difficult to get to.
It was nice to see the swallows flitting around it constantly, like a
ballet on the wind.
Rivaulx Abbey
It was in the hills, and we tried going out a different way - it sort of
worked. We headed up the A169 to Whitby and found ourselves among heather,
heather, and more heather. The hills were covered in purple, and Jason
accused me of secretly taking him to Scotland. I told them this was obviously
English heather, as there were no bagpipes playing in the background. Oh,
and the lovely odor of sheep and their by-products permeated the air as
well!
When we arrived in Whitby we went straight to the Abbey, as the first
time we visited we had gotten there too late and it was closed. Again, the
Great Britain Heritage Card was useful for our admission, and we explored
the abbey, which is situated on a dramatic headland next to Whitby harbor.
Interestingly enough, the first time we visited in 2000, Jason had a severe
drop in his blood sugar, and almost passed out. The same thing happened
this time, though a little less severe, so we went to the gift shop and got
him some sugar. He had some cookies and I went to the tea room for some
drinks. I tried a 'ginger & lime pressé', which was quite tasty, though
strange. Jason had a Shandy Beer, which was also pretty good. I bought a
brass celtic knotwork bookmark for myself and a little book on medieval
cooking for my mom.
Whitby Abbey and her guardians
 
It was nice to hear the seagulls crying in the sea as we looked over the
bay.
We went down to explore the church and graveyard that is next to the
abbey, which has some fabulous celtic crosses and a spectacular view of the
water. The town is below, on either side of the river, and the harbor just
around the mouth of the river. A truly magical spot, except for the
occasional blast of sound from the cheesy tourist carnival on the quay.
That was something we didn't remember from our first trip, as well as the gift
shop and tea room - those at least were built in 2002, according to the
ticket clerk. We chatted with him a bit - he literally used to live where
the gift shop was. It was his farm land. I found that rather sad.
Ancient Celtic Cross... and
modern cell phone user.
We drove into town, but just looked around some and went on to
Ravenscar. We wanted to find the area we stayed at last time, a B&B called
Smuggler's Rock, as it had a wonderful view. We did find it, and took lots
of pictures of the mill across the street, and the view over Robin Hood's
Bay. It was as beautiful as I remember!
Yin and Yang -- Robin Hood's
Bay kisses the sea.
We drove into Scarborough on our way back, on a long windy drive. And
that's when we discovered that Scarborough beach is also covered in a
cheesy touristy carnival. Ugh! Fantastic sea views, but loud, raucous noise
coming from the rides and children. We drove along the marine road, and
then out through east side to York. We were very hungry by now, as our
lunch was at 11am and it was now almost 8pm. Of course, we can't find any
pubs along the road since we're so hungry. We stop at one called the Snooty
Fox (I loved the sign!) but discovered that they don't serve food on
Monday. Argh! They did recommend a place called the Coach and Horses, which
was down the road several miles. We found it and both ordered Whitby
Haddock - my was that good! We also had some HUGE fried mushrooms. They
must have been over two inches across each. The pub was decorated in
hundreds of cats - not live ones, though, ceramic, brass, glass, etc. Some
were even hanging from a glass tray from the ceiling!
We figured we could do this with my dragons in our pub.
I had some Red C cider - it was sweet rather than dry, and is my new
favorite.
Coach & Horses Inn...
littered with kitties.
We drove home and conked out - it was a long, tiring day, with lots of
driving and great sites.
Tuesday, August 16th:
Up at 9am today - we should have gotten up earlier, as it was another
fun-filled day, but we were tired!
Today was a trip designed by a fellow traveler from Fodors, a 'day in
the Yorkshire Dales'. We started off to Skipton first. We drove through
Ilkley, and were stuck there for over a half hour getting through town
center - it was very congested. Then we had a long drive into Skipton and
we kept missing the castle. We finally found the castle, but couldn't find
any parking open, so we skipped Skipton and went on to our next site,
Bolton Abbey.
We found the Bolton Abbey area, but once again passed right by the
entrance, without realizing it. One of the problems is that there is a
large area all known as Bolton Abbey. We drove down to a forest called
Strid Wood before deciding to turn back. When we did, we found the Abbey
itself, and parked. We walked down the hill into the Abbey. There are two
parts of the Abbey - the ruined part and St. Mary & St. Cuthbert
church, which is still whole and in use. Both were great in their own way,
and the graveyard was fantastic (yes, I'm morbid, I love graveyards. This
one had lots of beautiful headstones and a 'lived in' feel).
Bolton Abbey
 
Jason wasn't as interested in the Abbey as in the stream, so he sat on
the beach and watched the children play while I explored the ruins. He said
he had watched an entire family trying to cross the river on these stepping
stones - and the last one fell in. We sat a while listening to the water
falling over the rocks, and then took the long walk back up the hill. With
several stops for rests!
In the gift shop we decided that it might be a good investment to get
Jason a walking stick, as his knee was complaining heavily about that last
hill walk. Walking stick in hand, we drove off on a fruitless search for
Barden's Tower, and then off to Grassington. This was a fascinating
shopping town, but after several tries down dead ends and one-way cobblestone
alleys, we decided it was much too crowded and abandoned the search for
parking.
Aynsworth falls were next on our list, but we started off in the wrong
direction, and ended up going towards Ripon instead. We stopped in a town
called Niddleham, and had a couple of sandwiches for lunch before Jason
tried getting behind the wheel for the first time. That's when we crossed
the river and found out we could have had much better than sandwiches for
lunch, as that's where all the restaurants were. Ah, well!
The serene greens of the
Yorkshire Dales
We went towards Jervaulx Abbey, but it was getting late so we weren't
sure we'd get there in time. Boy I'm glad we tried, though! This place was
wonderful. It was very ruined and overgrown, nature had definitely started
reclaiming it. It was beautiful, peaceful, and serene. There were very few
people there (of course, it was near 6pm) and we had it almost to
ourselves. The trees and the birds melded into the stone.
Jervaulx Abbey -- peaceful and
natural
We drove on to Middleham and found the castle there - but it was 5
minutes after the last admission. The clerk kindly let me in to explore a
bit anyhow. This was Richard III's castle, and there's a white statue of
him in one of the fore courts. It was a very black, dark, dank place - not
peaceful at all, very strong and proud.
We were off to Leyburn and Bedale next, where we had dinner. We tried
the Green Dragon pub first (of course) but they had no food, so we tried
the Black Swan instead. They stopped serving at 5:15. Sigh! Once again we
run afoul of the fact that everything in rural England stops dead at 5pm!
We finally found a restaurant called the Taste of India, and I ordered
Lamb Tikka Marsala, a typically British dish. Jason had the chicken jefrase
again. His was great, but I didn't like mine that much - too much tomato
for my taste. The cheese/garlic naan was great though :
We chatted a bit with the waiter, who was 18 and ready to vacation in
South Beach, Florida. We told him to wait 3 years, as he wouldn't be able
to drink! He had never been to a big city, so we warned him about that as
well. He's from Dacca, but had been here for most of his life.
We finished dinner and drove to the A1, too tired to take the back roads
home. Jason driving in Leeds for the first time was much fun (not!), and we
found the Royal Armories by accident, looking for our hotel. We finally
found the hotel, checked our email again, and stayed up watching
television. We finally called Cingular to find out why our phones weren't
working, and was told that, despite what I was told two weeks ago, our
phones were not capable of international access. Customer service was very
helpful though, even putting me directly through to one of my credit cards
since I couldn't call on my cell phone. They even called me back rather
than have me calling out of the hotel (as the hotel charged £3 a minute!)
Wednesday, August 17th:
We were up late this morning, but we had several strong days, so it was
time to rest a bit. We were off to Nottingham! This is when one of my
digital camera cards decided to go kaput! and refuse to be read by my
camera. I had two 512Mg cards - I wanted two in case one died. Lucky I did.
One was sufficient since we had the laptop, I just had to remember to clear
it every night by uploading the day's pics into the laptop. One card stores
about 320 pics, and I took that much most days. Of course, I believe that
you take 100 shots to get 5 good ones :
We traveled down the M1 to Nottingham, and passed some nuclear power
plants. RIGHT next to the highway, too! I've never seen them that close
before. Jason wanted a more scenic drive than the M1, so we exited towards
Mansfield and took the scenic route through fields and forests. We found a
pub outside Nottingham for lunch, called the Ram and another right next to
it called the Waggon and Horses. We had lunch there - steak and mushroom
baguettes with chips and a couple of pints.
While eating lunch, we chatted with two delightful ladies sitting at the
next table named June and Christine. I believe they were sisters. Christine
lives in Fort Myers, and we talked of some of the differences between
England and the US. We exchanged stories about long ago loves lost (my
parent's story) and what we should do in Nottingham today. They recommended
the Nottingham Castle, and said we should try to see the Victoria and
Albert Museum when we get into London.
We got lost about 3 times due to diversions from city centre, but
finally found the Warhammer World, which is the factory for the game my
husband plays. This was our main purpose in coming into Nottingham, a sort
of pilgrimage Jason needs to make periodically. It had changed drastically
from when we were there five years ago. Last time the upper rooms had
incredibly wrought Games Day displays with entire armies poised for battle,
some on deserts, some at sea, some in bombed out cities, etc., about 20
displays in all. This time it was simply a figurine gallery of painted
figures. I was less impressed.
I was impressed, however, at the change in the playing area - it was
decorated like a medieval castle courtyard with castle walls and turrets.
The Bugman's Bar at the end was just as cool as before, with thick wooden
tables and other medieval touches.
Jason did some shopping, but he couldn't find any of the pieces he had
been hoping to find. I read a bit in the bar waiting for him, and then we
left.
We went to find Nottingham Castle, but arrived 10 minutes past the last
admission time once more. I couldn't' see anything from the gate, as the
trees and foliage were obstructing the view.
Nottingham castle -- looks
like Disneyworld, doesn't it?
 
We took the long way home, by way of Conisbrough Castle. It was also
closed, but very impressive, and I got some good photos of it.
Conisbrough Castle in the
sunset.
Trying to find our way back from the scenic route and into a motorway,
we went along a road that had - no exaggeration! - over 25 traffic circles
in 20 miles. And these weren't useful ones either - there was nothing
branching off yet, just road-circle-road, one after the other. We assume
that the large area north of it will eventually be built up, but right now
it was highly annoying!
We had dinner back in Leeds, at a Chinese restaurant down the street
from our hotel called 56 Oriental. It was an upscale noodle bar. I tried some
sweet sherry with my dinner (very good) and had Hong Kong style fried rice
- lots of seafood! Jason had 56 fried noodles, and both were delicious. My
dish had scallops, shrimp, chicken, duck and veggies in a salty oyster
sauce. We stopped by the little grocery store on the way back for some
water and snacks.
Thursday, August 18th:
I got up around 9:30, but Jason slept much later… I read some and
watched some television while he rested. We went to the Indian Restaurant
Nawab for their lunch buffet - it wasn't as good as their dinner was, but
that's to be expected. Today was the Royal Armories in town.
As easy as it was to find it the other day, it was very difficult today.
It seemed like each sign brought us farther into a spiral, closer and
closer, but never quite there. Finally we found it, and went in to see the
Shogun exhibit that was featured. The exhibit was fascinating, and had lots
of different things, including painted screens, armor, poetry written by
Tokugawa, daily objects, maps, etc.
Samurai armor from the Royal
Armories -- I would have a headache wearing that!
 
We went upstairs to the other exhibitions of weapons, and then on to
armor. They had everything from huge heavy punt boat guns (to shoot ducks!)
to delicately carved and traced gunpowder horns, ancient spears and modern
pistols.
We got caught up in a silent documentary on the art of Japanese
sword-making, each section showing how the sword maker makes the bar,
shapes the sword, folds and reshapes, polishes, makes the scabbard, the
hilt, etc. It was fascinating - and took most of the time we had until
closing! We rushed through the rest of the oriental floor once they
announced the closing of the gallery, and went down into the gift shop (of
course that was still open!). We got a couple gifts there, including a
red/gold scarf for Kim, and decided to go driving anywhere. We didn't want
to return the rental car tomorrow with half a tank of gas when we got it
empty, so we decided to burn it up!
We picked a road and drove, ending up going through Wakefield (in the
south) and Sandal Castle. This was on a battlefield where Richard of York
died (1460), and was set up as a local park inside a lovely hilly
neighborhood. The castle itself was mostly a tower in ruins, but it was a
nice, laid-back area. There were a couple kids playing, and a couple
joggers, as well as someone walking their dog. The hill was high and
offered a delightful view of the surrounding areas, including a large lake
to the west. The boys were flying paper airplanes off the tower to see
which would go farthest. As the sun started inching down, the wind up there
got a big biting, so we headed back to our hotel, glad for the decision to
find something to do that evening.
No, that was the curve of the
land, not a lens
We decided to eat at the hotel restaurant for our final stay in Leeds,
and it was actually quite delicious. It was £18 for 3 courses. For starters
I had a goat's cheese, bread, spinach leaves and fig dish that tasted
great. Jason had soba noodles and prawn tempura that he said would have
been better hot. Dinner was duck confit with cabbage and potato, and was
delicious. Dessert was passion fruit and blueberry cheesecake. It was very
decorative, but perhaps the taste was too subtle for me. I like bold
flavors, this was delicate.
Some of the news stories we followed this week were of the Brazilian man
killed in the Underground - his relatives were calling for the resignation
of the police chief. We also saw lots of coverage on the Gaza Strip
evacuation and Cindy Sheehan protests.
Impressions of Yorkshire:
There were wildflowers everywhere, including the fuzzy prickly puffs,
purple stalks and yellpw buttercups. Birds were singing everywhere,
especially the more remote of the ruined abbeys and castles. No midges were
around, though a few flies made themselves annoying. There were cool
breezes throughout, and the nights got chilly. It rained our first day
there, and drizzled the second day, but then it stayed dry (sometimes even
clear) until the day we traveled back to London. I did get a little too
much sun on one overcast day. The people were, overall, very friendly and
helpful, especially if they discovered we were from out of town.
The sublime feeling of ancient wonder is still there.
My favorite places were Fountains Abbey, Jervaulx Abbey, and Sandal
Castle, with Whitby coming in close behind.
Friday, August 19th:
We got up at 7am to get our rental car returned, and took the looooong
way to the rental agency - www.theAA.com strikes again! We finally got
there and were dropped at the train station in plenty of time for our
journey to London.
The train trip was uneventful, and we sat next to two ladies traveling
to Petersborough. They were going for a cycling trip and had their maps in
plastic sleeves. Very clever!
We got off the train and down to the tube to take the Circle Line to
High Street Kensington Station with no problems. I did break the clasp on
my favorite necklace when a man collecting trash bumped into me on the
moving subway, but I caught both the pendant and the chain to repair later.
We walked down the block in the rain to our hotel. Thankfully the
Copthorne Tara is only a couple hundred feet away from the station, shorter
if you take the back alleyway. Checkin was smooth, and we were offered a
permanent upgrade to Connesseur Room for an extra £25 a night. We weren't
sure at first, but when we got to our room, we decided that was a good
idea. We had a queen sized bed, free 24 hour DSL in our room (a special for
the month of August, evidently) and free breakfast every morning. We
figured this was definitely worth it! Since the hotel room was only $70 a
night to begin with, an extra $45 only brought it to $115 a night - very
reasonable for such a nice room, great view (on the 11th floor) and
breakfast besides.
Copthorne Tara Connesseur Room
The room had it's own fridge, coffee and tea maker, plenty of drawers, a
desk for Jason's laptop, and a decent bathroom. After we checked our email,
and advised those who needed it of our new phone number, I discovered I was
hungry. I went down to one of the hotel restaurants (Crema) for a sandwich
of mozzarella and sausage while Jason reconnected with the Matrix.
That evening was our "Along the Thames Pub Walk", and while I
was raring to go, Jason wasn't up to it. He was very tired, so I went
alone. The tube was incredibly crowded… when I lost balance, there were so
many folks around me I didn't fall. I got a sandwich from Pret a Manger
(crabmeat) and headed for the walk meeting point. I was a half hour early,
so I got a copy of the Evening Standard and read for a while.
Jillian was our guide, as our normal guide, David, was on vacation in
Spain. I met Kate, who was a very out-going medical meeting coordinator on
one-day layover from St. Petersburg (Russia) and lived in Chicago. I also
met Antonio, who was on vacation from Spain, and Helen and sister from New
Hampshire - their New England accents gave them away! We chatted for a bit
about cameras and photography at one of the pubs. Nice ladies! Also briefly
met Mary from Germany during the walk.
We went to three different pubs and got lots of great trivia. The most
interesting pub, IMHO, was the second one, the Anchor, which was an 18th
century pub where the café scene from Mission Impossible was filmed. We
also went to the George, a 17th century pub that Charles Dickens used to
frequent.
Beautiful sunset over the
Thames and a night-lit St. Mary's Church
 
The tube was much less crowded on my way back… of course, it WAS 10pm,
so that may have had something to do with it. Jason had gone down to the
restaurant for dinner and had lamb and calamari, as well as a delightful
tiramisu.
Saturday, August 20th:
We got up early due to the staff calling us, verifying that we were
upgrading our room for our entire stay, so we dressed, got our laundry
together (had to find a Laundrette) in our suitcase and went down to
exchange our keys for new ones. A taxi took us to the Laundrette and we
washed and dried all our clothes. While waiting for the machines, I wandered
down a couple streets doing some shopping. I found a couple of consignment
stores, bought a couple books and stuff. I saw a silver shop with some
beautiful jewelry, but they appeared closed.
We broke down and settled for McDonalds on the way home - it was close
and convenient to our hotel. Jason was craving a McFlurry with Cadbury
chocolate. They have a set of baguette sandwiches that are much better than
anything we have here in the states.
We decided to take the tube to Victoria Station and take the Original
Bus Tour around the city for the day. We took the Red Line tour all the way
around, and then took the blue one home. On the way we saw all the required
sites, took lots of pictures, and saw lots of people. There were lots of
festivities going on at Trafalgar Square.
A sparsely populated Speaker's
Corner and some peace protestors
 
A lovely half-timbered
building, Trafalgar Square and a sea of spires
 
From the hotel, we considered several places for dinner, and ended up at
The Thai Place just down the street from our hotel. It was ok, I suppose,
but not the best I've had by a long shot. Jason had Pad Thai and I had a
curried seafood dish. The curry paste was very thick, and I guess I'm used
to thinner curry. There was no spice and very little flavor to mine.
We went back to the hotel for dessert, though if we had realized it
would take an hour for dessert and cappuccino we may have gone elsewhere.
However, the dessert was worth the wait, and I had a sticky toffee pudding
with gingerbread ice cream. Heavenly! We both had cappuccinos and Jason had
his favorite tiramisu again.
We watched a show called Balls of Steel and the movie As Good As It Gets
before sleep.
Sunday, August 21st:
The shower at the new hotel was unusual, to say the least. The English
(as well as all Europeans, I'm sure) seem to delight in finding new ways to
make faucets work. This one was a long tube. On one end you turned it away
from you for cold water, on the other end you turned it towards you for
hot. There was a button to press to get it past lukewarm or cool on either
tube.
We went down for our free breakfast, which was quite satisfying. It
included croissants, Danish, cereal of about 10 different types, cheese,
fruit (dried and fresh), bagels, tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. We filled
up and went on our way.
Today our goal was the Natural History Museum, which we decided to walk
to. It was a long walk, but the day was sunny and clear and the weather
warm. A little too warm for me! We got there a little early for entrance,
so we sat in the park next to it and watched the playing children until the
line reduced somewhat.
The Luxury-sized rental car
(NOT)
Well, we thought the line had reduced! We got into line and then
discovered it went around the corner again. However, it went quickly - the
delay was due to security bag checks.
We went into the dinosaur exhibits first, and were impressed by the
little animatronic Dromeosaurs. They were very cute! They had a big T Rex
animatronic as well that focused its eyes on you as you passed. Scared the
children a lot!
Here, puppy!
We went on to the mammals, and the life-sized models were very
impressive, especially the whales.
Proof that my hubbie is
smaller than a whale
We were a little disappointed that most of the exhibits were oriented
towards children, and were thus 'dumbed down' to their level.
We had sandwiches for lunch in the café, and on to the primates, which
was a very small upstairs exhibit. We went to the slice of the giant
sequoia upstairs, and on to the Evolution of Man, which was fascinating to
me.
The mollusks, fish and bugs were next, and then we decided our feet had
had it. We checked out the gift shop for some rocks, but most were either
too large for making jewelry with, or already made into jewelry. We got a
penguin plushie for Marie and sat people-watching in the park for about an
hour.
Why does this beautiful museum
remind me of a radiation symbol???
We found a tube going from the park, so we decided to rest our feet for
a while. I convinced my husband that tonight was Anatolian night, and we
should try Taz, a local restaurant chain that specialized in that cuisine.
It turned out to be a great idea - that was one of our best dinners on
the trip. The bread with yogurt/dill dipping sauce was a great start, and
had very tender Kalamari for an appetizer. I enjoyed the flute music played
in the background - it was very sad and lonely.
Dinner was a lamb/tomato/pepper dish with mushroom pilaf, and was
delicious. Jason had mussels, prawns, and cod with a tomato cream sauce,
also very tasty. I tried some Turkish coffee (very sweet and thick!) and
Jason had chocolate ice cream.
We staggered on back to the hotel after dinner and digested our
gustatory delights over a showing of Police Academy.
We aren't much on night life, and watching movies when we got back to
our hotel was a great way to relax and absorb the sites and thrills of each
day.
Monday, August 22nd:
We were up early today, as it was our travel-to-Salisbury day. We almost
forgot to clear my camera of yesterday's pictures, and went back real quick
to do that. Then we breakfasted, tubed, and got to Waterloo.
This is when I discovered I should have retrieved my pre-paid train
tickets when I was in Gatwick Station last week - I had to purchase new
tickets, and hope for a later refund. Not a big problem, but it took us
several people to find out what we needed to do.
We got to Salisbury right on time at 10:45, and met Vic from Vic's Taxi.
Vic was delightful - he was full of information about the area, about the
people, knew where to go and who to see. He is an older gentleman, retired
from the army, and very personable.
Our first stop was Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow. I'd seen
this on my first trip, but never went in, so we braved the long walk and
the whipping cold wind (it was raining) to go into the barrow. I suppose
this was a mistake, as Jason got a cold from it, but it was a neat place.
The rain was misty, but the wind was very strong, especially as we got
higher up on the unprotected hill. The barrow itself was very quiet and
relatively dry, but Jason's umbrella broke on the way back, so he got
rather soaked.
Our next trip was to Avebury stone circle, but we had to do a detour to
get there. One town was closed as there was an accident on the center road
(read: only road) through town, so we had to go around. We got lost, but
thanks to that wonderful map Jason had, we finally found our way back on
track.
Avebury Stone Circle
We had lunch at the local pub before hitting the stone circle. I decided
to take a head-long dive into the carpet as I walked in - I obviously
wanted to see it close up. After shattering my dignity (and wrenching both
ankles), I got up and hobbled to the table. I had a great dish of
Cumberland sausage and mash, which came with a MOUNTAIN of mashed potatoes
and a sea of delicious gravy. I couldn't finish it all, and gave some to
Jason to accompany his fish & chips.
I went to explore the circle (Jason had had enough of the wind and rain)
so I hobbled along the ring. The winds were very strong on the ridge and
threatened to blow out my umbrella on numerous occasions. I tried to find
the 'devil's armchair' I had seen on my first trip here, 9 years ago, but
couldn't find it. It was a root system of a tree that looked like a giant
chair.
I made my way back to the pub amid several groups of school children to
find Vic and Jason chatting with Malcolm, a local ex-army chap who kept
insisting that his wife was his mum. He was quite a character! He told
Jason he likes old-time country American music, such as Patsy Kline and
Elvis. He'd been to the US twice, both times to Graceland. We were sitting
next to two local girls in their 20s who were busy rolling cigarettes.
We drove back to Old Sarum, and luckily could drive right up to the
parking lot. Also luckily, the sun had decided to beat back the rain and
the clouds for the afternoon. Old Sarum was an iron age fort and then a
Roman fort, a Norman castle, and was the center of the city until they
moved it to Salisbury.
A Viking Longhouse and a
Medieval Bus Stop?
 
There was a living history group giving demonstrations there all week,
including a period longhouse, a blacksmithy, a mason, and several others.
It was great talking to them (Vikings!) and learning all about their group.
We met Steve, Mary (the doctor), Dave and Gordon, all of which were more
than happy to bend our ear about history and their group. We got very
excited about the group, and told them we'd come back on Sunday, when they
were having a huge battle re-enactment (over 250 re-enactors).
We went down and toured through Salisbury Cathedral. My favorite part
was the Chapter House, and it's colorful carvings and beautiful flowers and
scrollwork decorations. Since I had read a book by Edward Rutherford called
Sarum, I found it fascinating to look upon the carvings described in the
book. One of his characters was the wood carver who created them. We saw a
copy of the Magna Carta there, and listened to some of the service. In the
cloister, we sat for a while and listened to the wind whistle and shake
through the spruce leaves. It was nice and peaceful after the screaming
children had left.
Salisbury Cathedral inner
Courtyard
We went back to the gate where we were meeting Vic again, and got some
dinner at the only place still open (everything closes when the tour buses
leave for the day!) which was Burger King. Again, they had the baguette
sandwiches.
Vic met us at 7pm, and took us off to Stonehenge for our special access
dusk tour. We passed by Sting's house and the pub where he visits (usually
via horseback). We saw the D'Arcy's house, a diamond and gold tycoon.
At Stonehenge they already had us on record, so they let us in. There
was also a group of pagans doing a ceremony at the stones that night. While
most were in robes, a couple (obviously newbies) were in jeans and
t-shirts. We were originally told it was a full moon ceremony, but it was a
couple days late for that, and the ceremony sounded much more pro-active
and powerful to me. They were chanting about starting a storm, so something
was definitely coming! One gentleman was evidently a supplicant of some
sort, and spent some time meditating on one of the entry dolmens. They were
all very nice and had no problems with us being present for the ceremony.
We tried to respect their space and keep inobtrusive.
The Supplicant
The sunset was truly beautiful and serene in the sun. I think I used up
every picture I had left on the stones and the sky. The stones were very
warm and solid, almost like a warm bed you know well. I kept being drawn to
one particular area of two stones.
Jason talked some with John, the guard on duty. He had to, at one point,
go chase off some folks who decided it was ok to walk in from the ropes.
It was very cold and windy up on Salisbury plain, and Jason went off
into a sotto voce dialogue ala Steve Irwin, commenting on the pagans. 'Here
we see the dreaded moon-bat! Crikey! They are very dangerous when aroused…
let me see if I can get closer to look at these beauties!"
We met Vic for the trip back to the train station, and as we had some
time, we stopped for a couple of pints at a pub right outside the station.
The train ride home was very long, and then the tube on top of that. We got
home around midnight, and were exhausted!
Tuesday August 23rd:
I was up around 8:30am, and went down for breakfast. Jason was more
interested in sleeping a little longer, so I left him upstairs. I took the
tube over to the meeting place for the next London Walk, the one to
Greenwich. I was a little early, so I took out the book I remembered to
bring this time :
I got so engrossed in my book I almost missed the tour guide waving the
brochures, calling for the group. The tour guide's name was Chris, and she
had quite a thing about William never being a Conqueror. She much preferred
the name 'William the Bastard', as she insisted he never conquered anyone.
Since most of these tour guides are getting their master's degrees in
history, this must be one of her pet subjects.
We learned about the Tower of London, and the gate where the lions used
to be housed - the 'first lion of defense'. We learned that the moat would
be re-watered in the next couple of years and the road next to the tower
would go underground to improve the area's looks and accessibility.
We took a cruise up the Thames and to Greenwich. We saw the Cutty Sark
(which is due to be completely restored in the next couple of years), the
Maritime Museum, the college, the Queen's House, and the Royal Observatory.
We set our watches to the 1:00pm ball dropping (similar to the New Year's
ball) and I went to take the cruise back to the tube. On board I had a
Cornish Pasty, and it was quite tasty.
The Cutty Sark Masthead, Tower
Bridge, and the Royal Observatory
 
Jason and I were to meet but we were both about 20 minutes late, no big
deal. My feet were blistering from too much walking, so we decided to rest
back at the hotel before meeting a Fodorite (Kavita) for dinner that
evening.
We went to Gerrard's Corner, a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, and it
was delicious! We ordered several dishes and shared them all. I was going
to order the jellyfish just to try something different, but the waiter
recommended against it. We had duck with pancakes, prawn wraps with lettuce,
a chicken dish, prawn with ginger and onions, and pork noodles. We talked
about politics, travel, religion, and terrorism, as well as our favorite,
science fiction :
I wanted to try something unusual so I ordered Mou Tei, a very strong
rice/bamboo liquour. I don't think I'll try that again - much too harsh for
me! I should have listened to the waitress who recommended against it.
Wednesday, August 24th:
We were up late today, and caught up on our emails. Then we were off to
the British Museum. It was a cold and rainy day - perfect museum weather!
Jason wasn't feeling very good at all. The cold was really beginning to
take hold of him. After touring the Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek area, we
got some fruit (Vitamin C!) and water at the café. Jason decided he would
sit while I did a little more wandering. I got in some shopping at the gift
shop, and collected my sick husband, and we went home.
Egyptian statue and four
Grumpy Old Men
 
We relaxed at the hotel, and discussed several options for dinner, but
decided that it was too cold, rainy and windy to go outside. We had lamb
joints for dinner and met a very nice waitress, Ella Woods. She was Polish
and urged us to go visit her home city, Krakow. She was very nice and
helpful, and chatted with us a bit.
I introduced myself to the Vikings NA list today, and one of the Vikings
who lived in London (Pete) called us and arranged to meet with us tomorrow
night at Kennedy's, a pub we were planning on going to for some live Irish
music.
Thursday, August 25th:
We were up late, so we grabbed a quick sandwich at Pret a Manger and
went off to Parlaiment for our ticketed tour. I had to pick up my prepaid
tickets at the ticket hut around the corner from Parlaiment, and we went
through airport-like security to get in. Jason had to check his pocket
knife, and photography was not allowed inside, to my disappointment.
Houses of Parlaiment
We entered through the stairways and into the Robing room. We could
smell the wood oil on the carvings and panels around us, and saw paintings
of kings and queens throughout the centuries looking down at us. We went on
through the Processional, the House of Lords, the Lobby and the House of
Commons, ending up in the Old Hall that was originally the chapel. The
whole place, except the House of Commons, was opulent in reds and golds.
Commons was wood and green, but still very high quality in carving and
decoration. The throne of the Queen of England was as ostentatious and
gilded as you might expect… layers of gold filigree and gilding.
Our guide, Peter, was funny and entertaining, and made sure to let us
know there were many places where we could not sit on pain of death. He
wasn't kidding, that is actually the punishment on record!
After our tour we ambled across the river to the Eye, and I went through
the Dali museum. I was very disappointed, as most of the works I am
familiar with, his paintings, were not there. This mostly had sculptures,
watercolors and sketches. For almost £10 admission (I was getting used to
free museums!) I was expecting some of his better-known works. I wanted to
see the larger-than-life scale paintings I'd seen in books since I was a
child!
I went to rest and people-watch with Jason on a bench overlooking the
Thames, and we chatted with an Indian gentleman from Nairobi, Kenya. We
talked about capitalism, war, and working hard to make something of
yourself.
We had several hours to kill before our London Eye trip at 7:30pm, so we
decided to take a river cruise, as Jason hadn't come on the last one. It
was nice, but Jason was too cold to stay on top, and I couldn't get good
pictures from the lower deck - the plastic windows were too dirty. We got
back in time for our trip on the Eye, and got in line. Right in front of us
was an Indian family with two young boys. One of the boys (the older one,
about age 4) was screaming so hard and so constantly at the top of his
lungs that he was getting hoarse.
When it came to our turn to board the Eye, he had quieted down (just),
and the staff asked us if we wanted to be on the same pod as the family.
Since the boy had quieted down (he had been on it twice already, we were
told) we took a chance. Since normally they put 20 people to a pod, we had
this one to ourselves - the family of four and us. The boy was an angel the
rest of the trip, and we had a very nice experience.
View from the Eye, view OF the
Eye, and the sun setting on Big Ben
We watched the sun set over the Embankment and Big Ben tower, and off to
the tube for dinner at the Nordic. Jason had asked me to find Norwegian
food for tonight's culinary exploration, and this was one of the few
Scandinavian restaurants I could find. Poor choice! We got there, and it
was just a very crowded, very noisy bar… we quickly retreated. Instead, we
went to Stephano's Grill, which was a Lebanese/Italian place that worked
fine. We had Lamb Shawana and hummus, and chicken curry. We were quite
hungry, and it was quite tasty. We were too full to even have a pint before
bed!
Friday, August 26th:
I was up early again today, but Jason was still sleeping, so I went down
and had some breakfast and did some shopping. When I got back, we agreed to
do more shopping on our own and meet at 6pm for our evening plans. Jason
wanted to find the Games Workshop around here, and I wanted to invade the
Lush store I had heard so much about.
I had lunch at Wagamama, and the Yaki Soba was delicious. I was very
impressed!
Lush was wonderful, I'm a complete convert. The fizzy bath bars were
great! I got some gifts for others, but I may just keep it all for myself!
: I went in several other stores, including a book store, but didn't find
anything else worth buying. Most of the stores along Kensington High Street
were clothing stores, and I wasn't much of a fashion slave. I did go to a
photo store to see if they could re-format my dead memory card, but no luck
there. I did get more badly needed batteries though. At £10 for 4 AA
batteries, I'm glad they last long!
I had scone and jam afternoon tea at the hotel, though I was hoping for
clotted cream. I never did get that this trip! I went upstairs to catch up
on more email and even played a game of Settlers of Catan (on the computer)
before Jason got back from his shopping sojourn. We went out around 5 for
dinner, so we would have time to catch our play tonight.
We went back to Wagamama, and I had the seafood udon, while Jason tried
the seafood ramen, the closest thing he could find to chicken soup (he
still was feeling sick). I tried elderberry soda, and it was definitely
different! We had duck gyozi as an appetizer, then off to the Globe!
We had tickets for the Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe, and took a long
time getting from the tube station to the theatre - we kept asking directions
and getting lost, but as soon as we found the Thames, we followed it to the
theatre. We got up to the balcony, and discovered that Jason couldn't
handle the heights - so we went back one row, no problem.
The show was very good, even the sprites that were dressed in studded
leather jackets and jeans. Their dances were well done, and the acting very
entertaining and dynamic. Truculo sounded a lot like John Inman at times!
There was a lot of passion and action in the play.
St. Mary's Church
Afterwards we staggered on home, and had some room service, as we were
hungry. The bangers and mash were sad and tasteless, a far cry from the
wonderful ones we had in Salisbury.
Saturday, August 27th:
We were up early and went to Paddington station to pick up train tickets
for Sunday. I wasn't making that mistake twice! We emailed Vic that we
would be there around 9:45am from the train, and would need a cab up to Old
Sarum.
I went down to breakfast while Jason woke up. I was getting much more
value from that free breakfast than Jason was, but then again, I'm used to
breakfast in the morning - Jason usually has his first meal around
lunchtime.
We were off to Leicester Square this morning to get some half-priced
show tickets to the Producers for tonight. We got some balcony seats for
the Drury Lane theatre at 7:30pm. We went on to St. Paul's Cathedral and
relaxed in the small courtyard out by the tube stop for a while. Jason
noticed that some bushes were blinking with Christmas lights. The buildings
around us looked a lot like the set of Caprica on the new Battlestar
Galactica series, so he said the trees were primitive Cylons, not very
menacing. All they could do at this point was nibble your bum as you passed
by. That became a running joke through the rest of the trip (and beyond!)
St. Paul's Cathedral ( the
camera was crooked)
 
St. Paul's was simply breathtaking. The carvings, painting, designs and
mosaics were incredible. We were there during the Eucharist, and many
people went forward to participate. I wandered around the Crypt for a while
as Jason sat and absorbed the surroundings. We wanted to go up to the
whispering gallery, but our bodies denied us, so we remained below.
We did some shopping, and I picked up a pretty silver bracelet cuff with
some designs from the iron grillwork in the cathedral, and a book of
inspirations for my old boss. We went home for lunch and did some shopping
at Marks & Spencers for food. We got some great chips with Roquefort
cheese and bacon flavor.
We were going to do more laundry, but decided to just wash some
essentials in the sink and go off to dinner at an Indian Restaurant across
from the theatre, a Taste of India.
a carnival around Covent
Garden
We wandered through the carnival around Covent Garden before finding the
little street of Drury Lane the theatre was on, and went for a quick
pre-theatre dinner at the Indian restaurant. We had a lamb dish and chicken
curry, and it was ok - nothing spectacular. We went up to the show, and
must have climbed about 4 stories before we got to our balcony, only to
discover we were much to large for the seats. Even if we had fit into them,
Jason had an acute attack of height-fear, and had to stand back from the
rail to regain his balance. It looked like we had wasted our money - no
show for us 9 I was upset as I'd always wanted to see a broadway-style
show.
We went home and I moped a bit, while we watched the Perfect Storm. I
was certainly catching up on movies I'd never seen and wanted to see!
Sunday, August 28th:
We were up early this morning to catch our train - 6:30, ugh! But the
tube was deserted and our train ride uneventful. When we got to the
Salisbury station, Vic found us a cab to take us to Old Sarum, and we
arranged for him to meet us back there around 5:30pm for the train ride
back.
We saw Steve there, he is the living history guru. We also talked about
several North American groups of the Vikings, as there is an event in North
Carolina, and possibly Atlanta, next year. We saw belts being tablet-woven,
stone-masons carving celtic knotwork patterns, iron being forged, and
leatherwork being carved. Peter gave us some information on basic kit and
the group structure while we were there.
Viking shields and spears and
maidens, oh my!
Lunch was at a kiosk, and very forgettable. I hadn't expected applesauce
on my 'roast hog bap', and it was mushy and slimy. I was unimpressed.
The re-enactors ran two huge battles. The first one was 'with honor',
and the second 'without honor', which allowed all sorts of backstabbing and
stuff. They were both incredible, and we had a really good view from the
top of the hill down.
Charge!!!! --------- A
blacksmith at work
It was a warm, sunny day throughout, and Jason and I both got a bit of
sunburn. I live in Florida and go to England to get sunburnt, go figure!
This was also our last day here, so I didn't want to get too much burn -
that would make the plane trip back unbearable.
After the day was over, we went down to the pub at the foot of the hill
to see if we could call our cab into coming a bit early, but no luck. We
did order some refreshment though - Jason had about 3 cokes and I had one
mistake… uh, that is, one BritVic lemon, a very bitter drink. I think it
was mostly lemon juice, no sugar. Bleh.
We finally gave up on contacting Vic, and went back to Old Sarum - there
was our cab driver, a little early! Of course, not quite early enough - we
missed our train by about 3 minutes, so had to wait an hour for the next
one. While we waited we talked about Viking details :
The train ride back was very uneventful, though it was rather crowded,
and we didn't get seats together until the last half hour of the trip. We
originally sat across the aisle from eachother, across from two oriental
women. When Jason asked if she could move her leg over a little so he could
stretch his out (his knee was hurting from the long day) she said she spoke
no English. Later, when we moved up to some empty seats together, he bumped
her by accident and apologized, she said, in quite clear English, 'oh, no
problem'.
We had to detour around a bit as the tube station we were going to
change at (Westminster) was closed, so we had to take the Circle Line past
Notting Hill. This wouldn't be a problem any other time of the year, but
this was Carnival day at Notting Hill. All sorts of interesting folk
crowded onto the tube around there, and I think every one of them were
blowing their whistles and clapping!
We went to the hotel and had a final meal at the restaurant with our
waitress, Emma. The lamb shank was greasier tonight and not as tasty. I
tried a starter of salmon with a pancake, watercress and caviar. Good, but
not wonderful. A couple of pints and we were fine, though.
We went back to the room and packed up everything but tomorrows
requirements, and collapsed.
Monday, August 29th:
Up early and before breakfast was served, so we checked out of the hotel
quickly and got a cab to Victoria Station. Then we took the Gatwick Express
to the airport. At check in the clerk had lots of questions - perhaps she
was checking us against the no-fly list? And we got into the airport proper
by 8:15am for our 10:30 flight. With lots of time to kill, we discovered there
was a virtual mall in the airport waiting area, and the gates weren't
announced until an hour before the flight left.
We had breakfast at Upper Crust, which served us a BLT baguette and a
pizza baguette. Both were rather delicious, and Jason's BLT had real
American style bacon. I did some last minute shopping at the duty-free
Harrods and Virgin Megastore, and then we finally found our gate listed.
The trip back was very comfy, as there were only 80 passengers on a
flight designed to hold 400! My seatback entertainment unit wasn't working,
so I moved up a row - we each had a middle row to ourselves. The flight
attendants were very friendly and helpful, and were very kind. One FA
reassured me that getting our bags, going through customs and re-checking
bags would be a breeze. On the flight over I watched Phantom of the Opera
(never seen it before) and Robots.
At Charlotte we encountered a very helpful Gate Attendant named Nile.
The woman in front of me was very distressed, having left a notebook with
her passport, tickets, and other travel documents in Philadelphia. He
called everyone he could think of, including the tower, and couldn't get
any answer, but he tried very hard to help her. When people try there best,
there is hope for the future.
We got back to the Orlando airport, called Marie to come pick us up, and
staggered to dinner at Roadhouse… we were home by 11:30pm. Time to
collapse, right? WRONG!!! Our power had been off for 5 days, the house
stank from rotten food in the fridge, and our cats were hysterical (Florida
heat in the summer isn't the time to be wearing a fur coat!)
We couldn't deal with it at that point, having been up about 24 hours in
real time, traveling. We went to a local hotel for the night, and I had to
work in the morning, so we got it straightened out the next day.
All in all, it was a fabulous trip. Jason and I both liked the north
better than London, and our next trip will likely be in Yorkshire and
Scotland. We met some wonderful people and saw some breathtaking sights.
Now we need to rest from our vacation!!!
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