Wednesday in London
We got up and going a little earlier today and made our way down to the Tower of London. We knew this was an important place to visit but not much about the place. The Tower of London is not very Tower like. It looks like it may have sunken some below street level so the first two stories are below the street level. This was one of the few places that were really crowded and that we had to stand in line to get in to things. Part of the Tower goes back to 100AD and the Romans but most of it was built starting about 1000 years ago, as a castle and royal palace, eventualy a storehouse for the crown jewels and a prison. There are still some people living in the tower, including the local sheriff, mayor, priest and doctor as well as guards known as the Beefeaters; they have some pretty crazy outfits to wear. We visited some of the medieval castle part, which was over the river so that people could come in and out by boat. This part took a lot of going up and down steps and very narrow circular staircases in tower turrets. After this part we went to lunch. They have great café’s in these places. Lydia and I went exploring on our own, visiting the torture tower and the prison tower. Sir Walter Raleigh was sent to the tower three times, and lived there with his wife and family 13 years. 2 of the times he was sent to the tower he was under a death penalty and the final time they did cut off his head. At lot of rooms had graffiti in them from the prisoners; we also learned to watch out for pie since one of the prisoners had been sent a poisoned pie, the senders of the pie spent 5 years in the tower for that. Marci and Granny sat in the sun and people watched. It is fun to catch snippits of different languages and a little girl of 2 chased pigeons all around for the hour they sat.
The next stop was the Temple. This is in the law district. Apparently you have to be a member of one of four different Inns in London in order to be a lawyer anywhere in the UK. The Temple was a very old church with effigies of Knights Templar’s on the floor. Interesting exhibit, even if we are not fans of Dan Brown and his books. (Divinci Code etc)
At this point Lydia had gotten info on summer reading books she needed for school and she and Marci went looking for them but the bookstores did not carry them. I guess “How To Read Literature Like a Professor” is not an international bestseller. Mom and I went on to take the Westminster Abbey tour, which was great. The Abbey is beautiful, very historic and tied in with many of the things we had been seeing and learning about during our trip. Plus, they have these great audio hand sets that you carry around and push the buttons at the display that you want to listen too. If you want more info or a sample of the Sunday music, or even want to watch a video of a room that may be closed at the moment, just type the number into the handset and presto! All at your own pace.
We all are getting tired. Marci and Lydia went to get some food for us all- bypassing all the expensive sit-down restaurants, and finally bought an entire meal of hot pannini, fruit, chips and desserts from Starbucks and brought it back and we just had a picnic in the room, Don’t know if we’ve mentioned that the prices at some of these places are different if you “take away” or “eat-in”. Guess if you take up table space, and they give you china plates for your muffin, it costs a little more. Hope the US doesn’t catch on to this program.
Last Day in London
We had to hurry this morning to get to the Globe Theatre (Shakespeare’s famous one) for a tour in the morning. We are finally getting the hang of the subway and busses, so it is less crazy, although we traveled during rush hour and obviously it is aptly named “rush”. No pushing though. We walked across the “Millennium Bridge” which was constructed in the last few years as a thoroughly modern pedestrian walkway over the Thames. It was open a few days and then started wiggling. SO they closed it and at another $7 million pounds or so, stabilized it and reopened it. Pretty cool. It takes you right to the Globe theatre and the Tate Museum of Modern Art.
The tour at the Globe was good, although our guide clearly wasn’t also an actor (they often are) and loved, absolutely loved, to use the phrase “At that time” There was Bear Baiting Fights at that time. The groundlings (peasants who paid 1 penny to stand on the dirt floor in the muck) at that time were also called ‘penny stinkers’ for lots of unhygienic reasons. The Paris Hilton person at that time would have sat in the box behind the stage and made a spectacle of herself coming in so the rest of the audience would stop paying attention to the play and look at her. Some things haven’t changed.
After the tour of the Globe Theatre itself we went back to the exhibit. The Globe Theatre is in reality a recent reconstruction. Apparently, Shakespeare monuments in the London area were limited to Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey, important versions of the Portfolios’ at the British Library and a small plaque on a brewery saying here stood the Globe theater. An American actor of the name Sam Wannamaker (?) apparently thought this was a tragedy and decided to rebuild the theater and so the current version is only about 20 years ago. The exhibits are very complete but have an American succinctness that was refreshing.
After this we went next door to the Tate Modern Art Museum, which is also new and in a very large 7 story open building converted from some industrial purpose. After light refreshment we went up to the one of the modern galleries. Although modern art can be hit and miss they seem to have gotten some of the better pieces and placed them interestingly together and not all of them in row but some up higher on the wall like you might in your home. After a ½ hour or so Lydia and Marci peeled off to go to Westminster Abbey which they had missed the day before. Granny and I stayed on for another 45 minutes or so and missed a torrential downpour. It is nice that the Tate, as many other museums in the city is free. This means that you can stay for shorter time without feeling that you have wasted your money. Art galleries are best enjoyed a little bit at a time with some time out of doors to clear the head before the next dose.
Granny asked for some gardens so we made our way to Kensington Garden although it took 3 tube line changes. Within a minute of walking into the garden the street noises and even the sights of buildings faded away. There are some nice planted areas but much is left more natural with longer grass and large trees. It is a nice break from the city. We walked across with a nice view of Kensington Palace and the elaborate Prince Albert Memorial and Albert Hall. It seems when you want to get something to eat nothing is available but we finally did get a snack at a university cafeteria. Finally we got our final underground trip to Victoria and back to the hotel.
Marci and Lydia came back and they and Granny went off to several second hand shops for trendy clothing. We packed up for the trip home tomorrow and then walked some to find food. This is always a little difficult. Lots of Pub Grub but the food has been indifferent, to uneatable with an occasional good meal. I think that most patrons, and there are a lot, have somewhat dulled the senses with ale which may make the food less objectionable. The several pubs we passed were packed and spilling onto the sidewalks. Don’t know if Thursday night is Pub night, but seemed to be very happening.
There were several ethnic restaurants, but Marci doesn’t care for spicy food and spicy food doesn’t like her either. Finally, we stopped at the Giraffe (we had eaten there before so knew it to be good) for trendy hip food which was pretty good. We paid in cash using almost all our pound Sterling and pence and pound coins and 2 pound coins – they have a multitude of coinage options- to use then up.
We all have decided that we have had a great time but the legs and feet could use a day off from all the walking and stairs.
This morning we easily made it to the Gatwick Express (train to the airport )–a 12 minute walk pulling our luggage, and jumped on board with just a minute to spare and are now over Ireland on our way home.
Over and Out; Cheerio, mate.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
2nd day in London
Last 3 days in London
We have not had time to keep up to date on the blog so I will work on the first of the last 3 days.
Greenwich
This is classified as a day trip out of London but it is on the Southeast side of the River Thames and it is a nice break from a very busy inner city. The subway takes us out to North Greenwich and then we took a local bus out to the Royal Observatory. The site is really a nice little village with the Royal Naval Academy, the Queens House that subsequently was a school for sailors and the Navel Museum. The whole Royal Observatory thing started out because of the Longitude Problem. The British had a big navy and they were always running aground and sinking and lots of people were dying so the people said “do something!” to the King and his advisors said the sailors needed better charts and clocks.
Later we will learn that the Royal Astronomer complained about the Ravens at the Tower of London and so rather than getting rid of the Ravens they sent him down river. The Prime Meridian that divides the eastern and western hemisphere goes through the observatory. So the house can open up a 5 foot section of wall and roof on a perfect north to south axis and the telescope can be moved north to south but not east to west. So the astronomer would just look at whatever stars were passing over the Prime Meridian, record the time and date and over many decades this resulted in better star maps. The Royal Astronomer did not get a lot of sleep, and was often ill from the cold nights, so he was grumpy. They still have a Royal Astronomer, but the job isn’t so hands on now.
The other problem was a clock, because pendulums don’t keep time with the rocking of a ship, and the King offer 20K pounds for one that would be accurate at sea. Hooker spent 50 years working on this and H1 through H3 are pretty large, impressive machines. H4, his final version, looks like an overgrown pocket watch. It was hard work trudging up the pretty steep hill to the observatory and walking from one hemisphere to the next (and back) so we were off to look for food.
We got waylaid going to the Queens House, since Rick Steves had recommended seeing this huge painting of Lord Alfred Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. Ironically, it was on tour in the US. We did get to see a little of the house which was the first Neo-classical building in England and it does look a lot like a Greek or Roman building from the outside.
The have a great Royal Naval Museum, and a great place for lunch. Refreshed, we went on to see parts of the some of the exhibits. They are crazy for Lord Nelson. So we got to see his uniform in which he got fatally shot; he had earlier lost an arm in battle. We saw pictures, paintings locks of hair and later in Trafalgar Square a very large column with him on the top. As I said the English are wacky for him. Some of us at different times overcome with the exertion and emotion of it all could take a nice nap on the front grass.
After this we stopped in South London for the Coffee and Tea Museum which has apparently closed and is now a very nice hardware store. We did get to see some nice (by which Papa means he thought it was sketchy but is wrong) industrial area, a pleasant but nearly closed farmers market on the way. The names of the street can change every few blocks so navigation might benefit from the star maps or the GPS we almost brought.
We got back in time to clean up, pick up tickets and go to supper and then see the musical Wicked.
This is a play that has gotten great reviews and it is a prequel and retelling of the Wizard of Oz and is about how the wicked witch really isn’t wicked but misunderstood. The story is “cute” but the lead actresses have some impressive pipes and the whole thing is a beautiful spectacle with flying monkeys, dragons, the great wizard and some cool special effects. It was a short walk back to the hotel for our third of the three rooms we will be staying in.
We have not had time to keep up to date on the blog so I will work on the first of the last 3 days.
Greenwich
This is classified as a day trip out of London but it is on the Southeast side of the River Thames and it is a nice break from a very busy inner city. The subway takes us out to North Greenwich and then we took a local bus out to the Royal Observatory. The site is really a nice little village with the Royal Naval Academy, the Queens House that subsequently was a school for sailors and the Navel Museum. The whole Royal Observatory thing started out because of the Longitude Problem. The British had a big navy and they were always running aground and sinking and lots of people were dying so the people said “do something!” to the King and his advisors said the sailors needed better charts and clocks.
Later we will learn that the Royal Astronomer complained about the Ravens at the Tower of London and so rather than getting rid of the Ravens they sent him down river. The Prime Meridian that divides the eastern and western hemisphere goes through the observatory. So the house can open up a 5 foot section of wall and roof on a perfect north to south axis and the telescope can be moved north to south but not east to west. So the astronomer would just look at whatever stars were passing over the Prime Meridian, record the time and date and over many decades this resulted in better star maps. The Royal Astronomer did not get a lot of sleep, and was often ill from the cold nights, so he was grumpy. They still have a Royal Astronomer, but the job isn’t so hands on now.
The other problem was a clock, because pendulums don’t keep time with the rocking of a ship, and the King offer 20K pounds for one that would be accurate at sea. Hooker spent 50 years working on this and H1 through H3 are pretty large, impressive machines. H4, his final version, looks like an overgrown pocket watch. It was hard work trudging up the pretty steep hill to the observatory and walking from one hemisphere to the next (and back) so we were off to look for food.
We got waylaid going to the Queens House, since Rick Steves had recommended seeing this huge painting of Lord Alfred Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. Ironically, it was on tour in the US. We did get to see a little of the house which was the first Neo-classical building in England and it does look a lot like a Greek or Roman building from the outside.
The have a great Royal Naval Museum, and a great place for lunch. Refreshed, we went on to see parts of the some of the exhibits. They are crazy for Lord Nelson. So we got to see his uniform in which he got fatally shot; he had earlier lost an arm in battle. We saw pictures, paintings locks of hair and later in Trafalgar Square a very large column with him on the top. As I said the English are wacky for him. Some of us at different times overcome with the exertion and emotion of it all could take a nice nap on the front grass.
After this we stopped in South London for the Coffee and Tea Museum which has apparently closed and is now a very nice hardware store. We did get to see some nice (by which Papa means he thought it was sketchy but is wrong) industrial area, a pleasant but nearly closed farmers market on the way. The names of the street can change every few blocks so navigation might benefit from the star maps or the GPS we almost brought.
We got back in time to clean up, pick up tickets and go to supper and then see the musical Wicked.
This is a play that has gotten great reviews and it is a prequel and retelling of the Wizard of Oz and is about how the wicked witch really isn’t wicked but misunderstood. The story is “cute” but the lead actresses have some impressive pipes and the whole thing is a beautiful spectacle with flying monkeys, dragons, the great wizard and some cool special effects. It was a short walk back to the hotel for our third of the three rooms we will be staying in.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
London Day 1
London
Day 1
Up and breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast is more than adequate but not the Full English Breakfast we have been offered up to now. The first thing to do was to decide if we should get an Oyster card. An Oyster is a pass that lets you on and off all forms of transport –subway, bus, light rail. It has reduced rates and thus it make “the world” and in this case London, “your Oyster”. I had scouted out the area the evening before, and we went down to Pimlico Underground Station, (subway) not quite as busy as Victoria Station, and the very helpful Underground Clerk explained the process and helped us buy our Oyster passes. A problem is that many of the older stations are not handicapped assessable and don’t even have escalators, so you can be faced with a really long set of stairs to get in and out.
First stop was the British Library, where they have exhibits of rare books and documents, like the Magna Charter, illuminated Bibles form over 1600 years ago, and one of the interesting thing was Beatles materials, where they have written songs on the backs on envelops, birthday cards and any bit of paper that might be available. One of the really interesting exhibits was about how they preserve and repair books, audio and other materials, so that they can be used without falling apart or degrading unnecessarily. This was very precise work and something both Marci and Lydia were interested in and thought they might like to try. Lydia especially loves those old leather bound books.
We had a great lunch here in the cafeteria at the British Library and then made our way over to the British Museum. This must be one of the largest museums in the world – free too, like the Smithsonian. Basically, when the UK expanded their empire if they saw some old stuff they might dig it up and cart it off to London. Two of the most famous exhibits are the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta stone has Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics of the same text (some decree about a prince which they carved in 3 languages to make sure all the locals got the message) and although it took 25 years to crack the code of the Egyptian Heiroglyphs they could use one or other language to help decipher the meaning of the hieroglyphics. The Elgin Marbles are pieces of sculpture looted from the Parthenon in Athens that Lord Elgin gathered up and shipped over. Weirdly, Lydia was at the Parthenon last summer on her Greece school trip, and saw the shell of the building. Apparently, the locals at some point in history, had been using the building to store gunpowder (?) and there was an explosion that damaged the carved decorations (elgin marbles), so out of the goodness of his heart, Lord Elgin stole them for safekeeping. In the 1600’s I think. Now the Greeks want them back, but England has built this lovely room in the museum just for them, so you see it is quite impossible. As will all museums of this size, one needs time and a guide would be helpful to understand the exhibits.
After this Marci and Lydia wanted to get in a little shopping, so Amos and Granny rode on back to the hotel for some rest. Later, at 5 PM we all meet up at Westminster Abby. We then walked through St. James and Green Park, strolled by Buckingham Palace (the Queen was in town) (but we were too busy to stop in for tea) lazed around on the lawn of the palace people watching – lots of people jogging home from work (backpack of work clothes) and then used our Oyster to get back to the hotel for supper at a local Italian restaurant. Pretty authentic Italian- it was even a relief to be surrounded by Italian talking, as it becomes tiring to almost understand the various English accents surrounding us. Is it English or a foreign language? We can’t always tell… We spent the rest of the evening planning for our next day outings and finally getting tickets for the theatre to see the show Wicked on the next evening. We used a website a fellow traveler recommended at breakfast at the last B&B – www.lastminute.com.
Day 1
Up and breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast is more than adequate but not the Full English Breakfast we have been offered up to now. The first thing to do was to decide if we should get an Oyster card. An Oyster is a pass that lets you on and off all forms of transport –subway, bus, light rail. It has reduced rates and thus it make “the world” and in this case London, “your Oyster”. I had scouted out the area the evening before, and we went down to Pimlico Underground Station, (subway) not quite as busy as Victoria Station, and the very helpful Underground Clerk explained the process and helped us buy our Oyster passes. A problem is that many of the older stations are not handicapped assessable and don’t even have escalators, so you can be faced with a really long set of stairs to get in and out.
First stop was the British Library, where they have exhibits of rare books and documents, like the Magna Charter, illuminated Bibles form over 1600 years ago, and one of the interesting thing was Beatles materials, where they have written songs on the backs on envelops, birthday cards and any bit of paper that might be available. One of the really interesting exhibits was about how they preserve and repair books, audio and other materials, so that they can be used without falling apart or degrading unnecessarily. This was very precise work and something both Marci and Lydia were interested in and thought they might like to try. Lydia especially loves those old leather bound books.
We had a great lunch here in the cafeteria at the British Library and then made our way over to the British Museum. This must be one of the largest museums in the world – free too, like the Smithsonian. Basically, when the UK expanded their empire if they saw some old stuff they might dig it up and cart it off to London. Two of the most famous exhibits are the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta stone has Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics of the same text (some decree about a prince which they carved in 3 languages to make sure all the locals got the message) and although it took 25 years to crack the code of the Egyptian Heiroglyphs they could use one or other language to help decipher the meaning of the hieroglyphics. The Elgin Marbles are pieces of sculpture looted from the Parthenon in Athens that Lord Elgin gathered up and shipped over. Weirdly, Lydia was at the Parthenon last summer on her Greece school trip, and saw the shell of the building. Apparently, the locals at some point in history, had been using the building to store gunpowder (?) and there was an explosion that damaged the carved decorations (elgin marbles), so out of the goodness of his heart, Lord Elgin stole them for safekeeping. In the 1600’s I think. Now the Greeks want them back, but England has built this lovely room in the museum just for them, so you see it is quite impossible. As will all museums of this size, one needs time and a guide would be helpful to understand the exhibits.
After this Marci and Lydia wanted to get in a little shopping, so Amos and Granny rode on back to the hotel for some rest. Later, at 5 PM we all meet up at Westminster Abby. We then walked through St. James and Green Park, strolled by Buckingham Palace (the Queen was in town) (but we were too busy to stop in for tea) lazed around on the lawn of the palace people watching – lots of people jogging home from work (backpack of work clothes) and then used our Oyster to get back to the hotel for supper at a local Italian restaurant. Pretty authentic Italian- it was even a relief to be surrounded by Italian talking, as it becomes tiring to almost understand the various English accents surrounding us. Is it English or a foreign language? We can’t always tell… We spent the rest of the evening planning for our next day outings and finally getting tickets for the theatre to see the show Wicked on the next evening. We used a website a fellow traveler recommended at breakfast at the last B&B – www.lastminute.com.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Traveling to London.
Amazingly, the rental car drop off was a snap. The people weren’t even there, so Mom and Papa just parked it an left the keys in a designated box. They walked back to the train station, where they had dropped me and granny and all of the luggage we were guarding, and we boarded the express train to London. We had a spot of trouble finding unreserved seats, but it all worked out in the end. Of course, the express didn’t take us directly to Victoria station, which is closest to our hotel, so we had to take the tube. That was a bit of a hassle. They seem to love putting oodles of steps between the train and the tube, up and down which we were dragging our luggage while the intercom told us the train line we had planned on using was shut down for maintenance and the ticket checkers told us our flexi-pass didn’t work on the tube. She let us barge through the subway anyways, at our own risk, and directed us to an alternative train. We did have to change subways just to get to Victoria, and from there drag our luggage up too many stairs and onto the street, and down the street to our hotel, and down the stairs to our room. Today was full of stairs.
We are staying in the same hotel for five nights. However, within those five nights we are staying in three separate rooms. This means we have to stow our luggage in the reception area, behind the desk, the days we change rooms. But at least we are conveniently located. There are lots of shops, restaurants, and grocery stores nearby, and it’s a reasonably short walk to the station. In fact, we have already walked there and back a second time, to get bus maps, and stopped along the way at a grocery store which was only open ten more minutes, but we managed to get supper, and a Starbucks for Granny and I. Granny stayed behind in the room, reading up on London and recuperating. Tonight’ll be another picnic dinner, we bought a newspaper just so we’d have something to eat off, and a lot of planning. Our list of things to do is 21 strong, but that’s really rather impossible. We’ll just see how much we can pack in.
We are staying in the same hotel for five nights. However, within those five nights we are staying in three separate rooms. This means we have to stow our luggage in the reception area, behind the desk, the days we change rooms. But at least we are conveniently located. There are lots of shops, restaurants, and grocery stores nearby, and it’s a reasonably short walk to the station. In fact, we have already walked there and back a second time, to get bus maps, and stopped along the way at a grocery store which was only open ten more minutes, but we managed to get supper, and a Starbucks for Granny and I. Granny stayed behind in the room, reading up on London and recuperating. Tonight’ll be another picnic dinner, we bought a newspaper just so we’d have something to eat off, and a lot of planning. Our list of things to do is 21 strong, but that’s really rather impossible. We’ll just see how much we can pack in.
Last Day in the Country
By Amos
Today was actually a little slower. After breakfast we had some down time, so Lydia went back to bed while Granny did some walking and Marci and I did the laundry. We went into Halfwistle, a nearby village. We found a small Laundromat of just 2 washers and 2 dryers, and one of the dryers was broken. We got the laundry started and took a walk in the village. They have a Conservative Club and a Working Man’s Club and several churches. We read the village report of the council meetings; the usually stuff but very polite language. We also went up by the hospital but I think that it was more like a nursing home. Then we went back and checked the clothes, took another walk and then got the clothes, and came back to the B&B. Lydia was getting up and I think the sleep really helped. When I went to look for Granny she had been for a long walk and was up at the ruined castle. Marci and I went to see it and we helped her down. We can see it out the window, at the breakfast table
Our big activity today was to go to Housestead, a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall were they had some local people dressed up like Roman soldiers and they showed us all the different gear and how to march in formation and make a phalanx. The really seemed to enjoy the weapons demonstration. The weather was incredible with blue skies, warm but windy with great views of the surrounding areas. We had lunch on the grass and watched the cheerful British men pretend to be Roman soldiers. I think they should also have some Picts to do the attacking for a little more reality. Afterward we came back and we looked around the local area and got ready for our trip to London tomorrow.
Lydia and Marci took another walk and she finished reading The Catcher in the Rye, which she borrowed from the B&B bookcase. I was able to talk to Patrick via IM on the internet and make sure of the train connections. I really wanted to reserve seat on the train but could not figure out how to do so. Later we went out to supper and Lydia had a trout, all head and all intact, which I helped her get ready to eat. I had pheasant, actually a little tough and dry, and in the future they could keep it under glass, for all I care. The service can be slow. We really wanted to pay and it took some effort to get the attention of the staff. This put things later than I thought it would. The one thing I had thought we should do was see a ruined priory or abbey or some ruined religious house as we have seen castles, prehistoric and Roman ruins. These spooky places have inspired a lot of poetry and what could have been kind of sentiment, however, driving further just did not seem to be the thing to do so we went back to the B&B and to our beds.
Today was actually a little slower. After breakfast we had some down time, so Lydia went back to bed while Granny did some walking and Marci and I did the laundry. We went into Halfwistle, a nearby village. We found a small Laundromat of just 2 washers and 2 dryers, and one of the dryers was broken. We got the laundry started and took a walk in the village. They have a Conservative Club and a Working Man’s Club and several churches. We read the village report of the council meetings; the usually stuff but very polite language. We also went up by the hospital but I think that it was more like a nursing home. Then we went back and checked the clothes, took another walk and then got the clothes, and came back to the B&B. Lydia was getting up and I think the sleep really helped. When I went to look for Granny she had been for a long walk and was up at the ruined castle. Marci and I went to see it and we helped her down. We can see it out the window, at the breakfast table
Our big activity today was to go to Housestead, a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall were they had some local people dressed up like Roman soldiers and they showed us all the different gear and how to march in formation and make a phalanx. The really seemed to enjoy the weapons demonstration. The weather was incredible with blue skies, warm but windy with great views of the surrounding areas. We had lunch on the grass and watched the cheerful British men pretend to be Roman soldiers. I think they should also have some Picts to do the attacking for a little more reality. Afterward we came back and we looked around the local area and got ready for our trip to London tomorrow.
Lydia and Marci took another walk and she finished reading The Catcher in the Rye, which she borrowed from the B&B bookcase. I was able to talk to Patrick via IM on the internet and make sure of the train connections. I really wanted to reserve seat on the train but could not figure out how to do so. Later we went out to supper and Lydia had a trout, all head and all intact, which I helped her get ready to eat. I had pheasant, actually a little tough and dry, and in the future they could keep it under glass, for all I care. The service can be slow. We really wanted to pay and it took some effort to get the attention of the staff. This put things later than I thought it would. The one thing I had thought we should do was see a ruined priory or abbey or some ruined religious house as we have seen castles, prehistoric and Roman ruins. These spooky places have inspired a lot of poetry and what could have been kind of sentiment, however, driving further just did not seem to be the thing to do so we went back to the B&B and to our beds.
Second Day at Holmeshead
Compiled by both Lydia and Amos
Today, we slept in. A little. We slept in in that we didn’t have breakfast until 8:30. We chatted with another, different, woman traveling alone. Apparently, she was going to a clan reunion, and was going to stop at Vinolanda on the way. As it happens, that was our stop of the day, so we remarked maybe we would see her there and got on our merry way.
Vinolanda is the remains of an ancient roman fort from the early AD’s. And they mean early. The earliest fort was built sometime around 85 AD, they think. And I mean, they think. I am rather skeptical of these people. Not in their artifacts, which are in fact amazing, but in their buildings. Because yes, they found some walls and that’s wonderful, but we could watch a man slapping walls together with cement and the various stones they’d pulled up from the area. How on earth do they even know where these buildings were, what they were for? I mean, sure they could figure it out to some extant but most of the walls seemed to be put together in the last few years. They could have put those walls anywhere, and we wouldn’t have known the difference. Ahh well, the museum was wonderful and it was a nice walk on a field. We had lunch in the associated café, because everything seems to have an associated café, and got back in the car for a drive over to an accessible part of Hadrian’s Wall. The parking lot was a pay-and-park, but we didn’t have the exact three pounds change, and it wouldn’t take our credit card, but someone rushed up and gave us their still good ticket. The Dutchman behind us didn’t have three pounds either, so we gave him our only coin and he managed to get one from a passing group.
Steel Rigg is one of the places you can get to Hadrian’s Wall from. It’s quite a nice wall. Square bricks. Thick. There’s grasses growing on top, and I was actually able to get up on top of the wall and walk directly upon it. It has, apparently, sunken down into the ground over the years, partly because of rabbits burrowing beneath it and partly because things are a little boggy. The walk was pretty easy at first and then, after a low place, you climb straight up a ridge cliff with nicely placed steps, but it was good to have a stick. This was clearly more than Granny could do so we found a place out of the wind, next to the wall, put the poncho down for a nice dry place to sit and let her rest there. I suggested that she could make a drawing and then Marci, Lydia and I went on up to the top and walked along the ridge. The edge of the ridge, a really impenetrable ridge, and it is unlikely the Scotts could have climbed it, but there was a wall anyways. When Hadrian says he wants a wall he gets one; even if it is completely unnecessary It’s had to be put back together, after such long periods of inattention, and in any case most of the stones seem to have either sunk or been stolen for buildings. In fact, our b&b was made from stones filched from the nearby castle that had filched them from the wall. The area is where we were hiking was used in the Kevin Costner film of Robin Hood, although it was not near the original Robin Hood area.
After this we bought a picnic supper and went to the B&B and ate it, played board games such as Kerpunk and a few more bizarre, if tedious, games, then off to bed.
Today, we slept in. A little. We slept in in that we didn’t have breakfast until 8:30. We chatted with another, different, woman traveling alone. Apparently, she was going to a clan reunion, and was going to stop at Vinolanda on the way. As it happens, that was our stop of the day, so we remarked maybe we would see her there and got on our merry way.
Vinolanda is the remains of an ancient roman fort from the early AD’s. And they mean early. The earliest fort was built sometime around 85 AD, they think. And I mean, they think. I am rather skeptical of these people. Not in their artifacts, which are in fact amazing, but in their buildings. Because yes, they found some walls and that’s wonderful, but we could watch a man slapping walls together with cement and the various stones they’d pulled up from the area. How on earth do they even know where these buildings were, what they were for? I mean, sure they could figure it out to some extant but most of the walls seemed to be put together in the last few years. They could have put those walls anywhere, and we wouldn’t have known the difference. Ahh well, the museum was wonderful and it was a nice walk on a field. We had lunch in the associated café, because everything seems to have an associated café, and got back in the car for a drive over to an accessible part of Hadrian’s Wall. The parking lot was a pay-and-park, but we didn’t have the exact three pounds change, and it wouldn’t take our credit card, but someone rushed up and gave us their still good ticket. The Dutchman behind us didn’t have three pounds either, so we gave him our only coin and he managed to get one from a passing group.
Steel Rigg is one of the places you can get to Hadrian’s Wall from. It’s quite a nice wall. Square bricks. Thick. There’s grasses growing on top, and I was actually able to get up on top of the wall and walk directly upon it. It has, apparently, sunken down into the ground over the years, partly because of rabbits burrowing beneath it and partly because things are a little boggy. The walk was pretty easy at first and then, after a low place, you climb straight up a ridge cliff with nicely placed steps, but it was good to have a stick. This was clearly more than Granny could do so we found a place out of the wind, next to the wall, put the poncho down for a nice dry place to sit and let her rest there. I suggested that she could make a drawing and then Marci, Lydia and I went on up to the top and walked along the ridge. The edge of the ridge, a really impenetrable ridge, and it is unlikely the Scotts could have climbed it, but there was a wall anyways. When Hadrian says he wants a wall he gets one; even if it is completely unnecessary It’s had to be put back together, after such long periods of inattention, and in any case most of the stones seem to have either sunk or been stolen for buildings. In fact, our b&b was made from stones filched from the nearby castle that had filched them from the wall. The area is where we were hiking was used in the Kevin Costner film of Robin Hood, although it was not near the original Robin Hood area.
After this we bought a picnic supper and went to the B&B and ate it, played board games such as Kerpunk and a few more bizarre, if tedious, games, then off to bed.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Traveling to Carslile
Missing a day out of order – traveling from Bath to Carlisle.
Our Taxi, train, train, train, rental car day was hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. The trains are wonderfully clean, quiet, efficient and fast – the only tricky part being negotiating from one to the other in the stations with luggage. The porters at the station are very helpful in directing us to the proper platform. The stations sell snack food, but the toilets at the larger stations are all pay 3O cents to get in, exact change. The seats on the train can be reserved in advance – little electronic message displays tell you for which leg of the journey the seat is reserved or if the seat is available for use by anyone. The seats with tables seem to be the desirable ones. Luggage goes behind the last row. When whole familys or a mom with lots of kids gets on, people help them with their luggage and often move to different seats to accommodate the kids. But you have to be quick getting on and off – it usually stops for just a minute or so – the signs advertising when the train is leaving the station countdown not only the minutes, but often even the seconds left. So if you catch the train, you can pretty much count on arriving on time. There are lots of bike racks, not so much parking for commuters and the local buses run to the train stations also. Our Rail Flexi-pass entitles the 4 of us to a day of travel on as many trains as we can fit in to get to our destination – for just one price. It is only available for purchase outside of the UK – so basically it is for tourists only –at quite a discount it turns out – about $80 per person per change of city for us on this trip – all of which are about a 3-4 hour journey on various trains with layovers.
All was well until we got to the Eurocar rental location (converted gas station). They had given our car away when we did not arrive at noon (when we had said 2 months earlier our arrival time) and although we had prepaid, they did not have any rental cars at 4:30pm, closing at 5pm. However, with little prodding from us, they decided that they would unofficially let us borrow the only car in the parking lot – a rental that had gone over the mileage limit and was already sold to a used car dealer in Scotland. Without actually putting it through on the computer, they hand wrote an old rental form and even though Marci kept trying to buy all available insurance (collision, theft, liability, deductible) they said it was all going to be lovely and not to worry about such things. The counter lady got her atlas out of her car (don’t generally have maps to give out) and sent us on our way. So we took a deep breath off we went! We knew we would be driving on the left, but didn’t count on a stick shift also on the left side, or a stick shift at all. Thank goodness for that green Ford Pinto in high school – because it all came back just one intersection stall later – the thrill of the rev, the grinding of jumping from 1st to 4th accidentally, the running over the left curb while swinging wildly into oncoming traffic turning right from the wrong side of the road… All I did was operate the vehicle, Amos navigated and deciphered signs, Lydia called out upon every turn and change of directions “get on the left side”, and Granny remained calm and refrained from talking about the scenery until we all got settled in and every moment wasn’t a bad amusement park ride full of thrills and disorienting danger. Thankfully, it doesn’t get dark here until after 10pm, so we made it to the B&B in daylight, with no mishaps.
The B&B is actually on a sheep farm – after being downtown for 2 cities, we thought it would be a relaxing change. The one lane bridge over the river is only a few years old, previously you had to ford the river, but only when it wasn’t running high. A very comfortable shabby chic abode only a few hundred years old, but with recently installed wi-fi (college daughter set it up for them) and owners of only 4 months in the process of upgrading things.
So we are here for 4 nights and for once have 2 rooms and free access to the living/breakfast room and barnyard animals to lull us to sleep. Should be grand fun.
Our Taxi, train, train, train, rental car day was hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. The trains are wonderfully clean, quiet, efficient and fast – the only tricky part being negotiating from one to the other in the stations with luggage. The porters at the station are very helpful in directing us to the proper platform. The stations sell snack food, but the toilets at the larger stations are all pay 3O cents to get in, exact change. The seats on the train can be reserved in advance – little electronic message displays tell you for which leg of the journey the seat is reserved or if the seat is available for use by anyone. The seats with tables seem to be the desirable ones. Luggage goes behind the last row. When whole familys or a mom with lots of kids gets on, people help them with their luggage and often move to different seats to accommodate the kids. But you have to be quick getting on and off – it usually stops for just a minute or so – the signs advertising when the train is leaving the station countdown not only the minutes, but often even the seconds left. So if you catch the train, you can pretty much count on arriving on time. There are lots of bike racks, not so much parking for commuters and the local buses run to the train stations also. Our Rail Flexi-pass entitles the 4 of us to a day of travel on as many trains as we can fit in to get to our destination – for just one price. It is only available for purchase outside of the UK – so basically it is for tourists only –at quite a discount it turns out – about $80 per person per change of city for us on this trip – all of which are about a 3-4 hour journey on various trains with layovers.
All was well until we got to the Eurocar rental location (converted gas station). They had given our car away when we did not arrive at noon (when we had said 2 months earlier our arrival time) and although we had prepaid, they did not have any rental cars at 4:30pm, closing at 5pm. However, with little prodding from us, they decided that they would unofficially let us borrow the only car in the parking lot – a rental that had gone over the mileage limit and was already sold to a used car dealer in Scotland. Without actually putting it through on the computer, they hand wrote an old rental form and even though Marci kept trying to buy all available insurance (collision, theft, liability, deductible) they said it was all going to be lovely and not to worry about such things. The counter lady got her atlas out of her car (don’t generally have maps to give out) and sent us on our way. So we took a deep breath off we went! We knew we would be driving on the left, but didn’t count on a stick shift also on the left side, or a stick shift at all. Thank goodness for that green Ford Pinto in high school – because it all came back just one intersection stall later – the thrill of the rev, the grinding of jumping from 1st to 4th accidentally, the running over the left curb while swinging wildly into oncoming traffic turning right from the wrong side of the road… All I did was operate the vehicle, Amos navigated and deciphered signs, Lydia called out upon every turn and change of directions “get on the left side”, and Granny remained calm and refrained from talking about the scenery until we all got settled in and every moment wasn’t a bad amusement park ride full of thrills and disorienting danger. Thankfully, it doesn’t get dark here until after 10pm, so we made it to the B&B in daylight, with no mishaps.
The B&B is actually on a sheep farm – after being downtown for 2 cities, we thought it would be a relaxing change. The one lane bridge over the river is only a few years old, previously you had to ford the river, but only when it wasn’t running high. A very comfortable shabby chic abode only a few hundred years old, but with recently installed wi-fi (college daughter set it up for them) and owners of only 4 months in the process of upgrading things.
So we are here for 4 nights and for once have 2 rooms and free access to the living/breakfast room and barnyard animals to lull us to sleep. Should be grand fun.
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