(This is the fourth and final post about our trip)
Thursday, September 10: We had an early breakfast at the Hen-dy, David backed our car out for us, and we checked out and drove to Llandudno Junction (pronounced Smith) to return the rental car. I told them about my run-in with the wall and they looked at it and then said "don't worry about it". Considering I spent almost $300 for three days, I think they knew they'd already made a profit off of me.
From the car rental place, we walked to the train station and retrieved our tickets for Bath (with changes at Shrewsbury and Newport). Once again, our seats were facing backwards.
We got to Bath (pronounced "bath") and took a cab to our B&B, Chestnuts House. We were warmly greeted by Toni, the owner. He showed us a map of bath, told us all about restaurants and attractions in the vicinity. I mentioned that I'd like to see a Rugby match, so he pulled strings (he's a season ticket holder) and got us two tickets for the Saturday match! He called and got us tickets for an all-day bus tour to Stonehenge and vicinity on Sunday. And he also recommended a nice local pub frequented by rugby fans, the Pultney Arms. Our room was so luxurious! It was on the ground floor, with french doors out to the patio. Everything was so nice!
We walked around Bath for an hour or so, and had dinner in a pub called "The Lamb and Lion" (OK - nothing special), then went up to the Pultney Arms, had a pint (Black Sheep bitter - very good!). After that, it was back to the B&B and an early night.
Friday, September 11: We started with an AMAZING breakfast at the B&B (smoked salmon & scrambled eggs for Carrie and an asparagus and tomato omelet for me) and then walked to the city center to see the sights.
First up: Bath Abbey. Gothic style abbey with soaring walls and large stained glass window. We were also struck by the very large number of memorial plaques memorializing a whole bunch of people who were buried under the abbey. Carrie lit a candle for the 9/11 victims.
Next: The roman bath ruins. Built in the 1st century AD. This was MUCH larger and more extensive than I had been led to believe. We explored for at least three hours. And then we topped it off by having lunch in The Pump Room, a fantastic Georgian room! And I FINALLY got to have Welsh Rarebit, even though we'd left Wales! Our waitress was kinda stand-offish until the bill came and I pointed out that she'd forgotten to charge us for Carrie's lunch. Then she was nice.
After that, we walked up to The Circus, a whole traffic circle enclosed by a series of spectacular Georgian town homes. It was like I was walking through some of my Architecture books from college! from the Circus, we went to the Costume Museum (kinda disappointing considering the glowing reviews we'd heard), and then on to the Jane Austen museum, which lived down to the mediocre reviews we'd heard.
For dinner, we walked to the Pultney Arms and had dinner. We were back in bed and asleep by eight.
Saturday, September 12: Another outstanding breakfast, followed by a stroll around Bath. Then we headed off to the Rugby match. We had great seats - only about 5 rows from the field! And - surprise - the SELL BEER! I'd expected no beer because I knew they don't sell it at soccer venues in the UK. It was a beautiful day; warm and sunny, and we had a great time. Bath lost a close match, but we enjoyed it.
Dinner after the match at Rajpoot. Very, very good, but not quite as good as Hason Raja in London (so good that my mouth is actually watering as I write this).
September 13: up early to get ready for our bus tour. Our landlord Toni had arranged for them to pick us up at the hotel. At 8:30 an unmarked small bus pulled up out front, and we went out and introduced ourselves to Charles, our tour guide and driver.
We picked up the rest of the group (14 in all including us) - mostly Americans, but also two gals from Poland, and a very quiet lady from Japan. Our first stop was Stonehenge.
Stonehenge - how many times have Carrie & I heard that name and wondered what it would be like! We got there after about an hour; we were among the first to arrive that day. It was somewhat cloudy, cool, and quite breezy. We got off the bus, filed through a short tunnel under a roadway, walked up the other side and there it was.
I know this sounds trite, but words can't begin to describe it. My very first impression (after "Holy sh*t! I can't believe we're here!") was that it was a little smaller than I'd imagined it would be. but after thinking about it for a second, I realized that the people who built this 5,000 years ago didn't even have wheeled vehicles or any real way to haul the massive rocks, some of which came from Wales, several hundred miles away.
Carrie & I walked around it. There's a fence to keep people away, which is both bad and good. It's bad because you can't go up and actually touch the rocks, but it's good for exactly the same reason. Because people are kept away from it, none of my pictures had little kids (or big kids) crawling all over.
After about an hour or so, it was time to move on to another henge (our guide told us that a "henge" is a circular mound with a ditch inside it, and stones inside the ditch) called Avebury. Avebury was quite something. It's both older and bigger than Stonehenge. The henge itself is about a mile around - it's so big that there's a village in the middle of it! The only significant differences are that the stones aren't carved into rectangular shapes, and that not stones are placed on top of each other.
From Avebury, we went to Lacock, a historic village in the Cotswolds. On the way, we stopped to see one of the Wiltshire horses. The Salisbury plain, where Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Wiltshire horses are, is mostly comprised of a thin amount of topsoil over several feet of chalk. So if you scrape away the topsoil, you see the white chalk underneath. That's how the Wiltshire horses were made - someone scraped away the topsoil in the shape of a large horse, which appears to be white against the green vegetation surrounding it.
Lacock has buildings dating back to the 14th century. It's quite picturesque, and was used as a set in several films, including being used as "Hogsmeade", the village next to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. Charles told us the story of one of the residents who was paid very handsomely by a film company to use his house for a film backdrop. They even paid him an extra amount for the inconvenience of having to park somewhere away from his house. The resident thought this was great, as he hadn't owned a vehicle for several years!
We had lunch at the Red Lion pub in Lacock. It dates back to the 14th century! Amazing. After lunch we walked around town for a while, and then hopped back on the bus for our last stop of the afternoon, Castle Combe (pronounced "castle coomb"), an 18th century village that's been voted England's prettiest one. We could see why! It was gorgeous! The village is really small (one street, about 40-50 buildings). We looked around and took some photos, and then headed back to Bath.
After returning, we decided to walk around and find a place to eat. Carrie saw a sign at a fairly nondescript looking pub (Gascoyne Place) that said "live jazz", so we decided to eat there. What a find! Aside from Hason Raja in London (my mouth is watering again as I think about it), this was the best meal we had on our trip. I had slices of lamb in a port reduction sauce, and Carrie had pollock. The food was amazing! The jazz was good as well. All in all it was a fitting end to our last full day.
The next day, we had several hours to kill before taking the train to London. So we walked around for a while. We ended up at Pultney Bridge, in front of an antique shop that we'd passed every day. And every day we passed it, Carrie stopped and ooohed and ahhhed at a small bronze sculpture of a rabbit. So, this being the last day, I decided to buy it. In spite of Carrie's saying "no no! It's too expensive" I walked into the shop and asked the clerk for the price. She opened the case, took out the rabbit, turned it over, and said in a cockney accent, "one-ninety-nine". I did a quick calculation, came up with about $275, decided we could afford it and that it would look nice on our mantle, and told her I'd take it. She took it (and us) next door to their main shop. As she and the clerk in the other shop were discussing how to ship it to us, the second clerk turned to me and asked how I wanted to pay the "nine-ninety-nine", and I realized that I had misunderstood the original clerk. So we apologized profusely, and backed out of the shop. But not before Carrie got to pet the bunny good-bye.
That afternoon, we took the train from Bath to London, and then took the Heathrow Express to the airport and then on to our hotel for one last night in England. The next day, I woke up at 4AM to get us packed and ready to go home while Carrie slept. We took the shuttle to the airport, and caught our first flight of the day. We got home at 1AM, and got to bed at 2AM. So we were up for 30 hours.
We were both exhausted, but we'd had a great trip.
I've posted a bunch more pictures on Flickr.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Trip details: Llandudno & Northern Wales
(This is the third of four posts about our recent trip to Massachusetts, London, Bath, and Northern Wales)
We left our hotel early on the morning of Sunday, September 6 and walked a few blocks past a deserted Russell Square to Euston Station to catch our train to Llandudno, in northern Wales. I'd already bought the tickets online a month or so earlier, so we retrieved the tickets from a vending machine and boarded our 2nd class coach to Crewe. As luck would have it, our train seats faced backwards, which made shooting pictures and videos a bit of a challenge.
We changed trains in Crewe, and headed west along the seashore into Wales. You can only tell you're in Wales because the signs are in Welsh first, and then in English, which makes reading them from the train - or a moving car - a bit of a challenge. More on that later.
We arrived in Llandudno at about noon or so, and walked 3/4 mile or so to our hotel. The weather was kinda cloudy, breezy, and several degrees cooler than London. Llandudno (pronounced clan-DUDE-no) is a Victorian seaside resort on the north coast of Wales, situated on a long sand/shingle beach with large hills ("the Great Orme" and "the Little Orme") at either end. I was told that "Orme" is an old Norse word meaning snake. The buildings on the waterfront (almost all of them resort hotels catering to elderly English guests) are all from 1850-1870.
We found our hotel (the Hen-dy, right on the waterfront) without any problem, and were warmly greeted by Louise, who runs it along with her husband David. Louise showed us to our room, a HUGE second-floor (they call it the first floor) room with a spectacular view of the bay and some of the town. I was worried at first that it might be very noisy, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Here's a picture of the view from our room:
We unpacked (unpacking was one of Carrie's trip requirements) and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town. Our guidebook for Wales recommended a pub called "The King's Head", so we went there for a pint. When we walked in, something made me feel like home. I don't know what it was, but there was something special about the place. One nice thing - when I went to the bar to order drinks, the bartender told me not to drink what I'd ordered and recommended a different pint (Abbott Ale), which turned out to be very good. We saw a sign saying there was live traditional music that evening and liked what we saw on the dinner menu, and decided to return there for dinner.
When we returned, I ordered drinks (Abbot Ale and wine for Carrie) at the bar and dinner at the food bar, and we sat and watched all the people. It soon became apparent that almost all of them were locals (at least the ones that we could see and hear). our food came (good, but not great). When I went back to the bar, I fell into conversation with a couple of local guys, who came over and sat with us. We had a really great talk, listened to some good traditional music, and headed back to the hotel, tired, slightly drunk, and VERY happy.
One of my objectives on every trip abroad is to find a local pub and get to talk with local folks. This evening exceeded my expectations. For me it was, looking back from several weeks, probably the best evening of the entire trip.
The next day we took a cab to the Avis car rental place in nearby Llandudno Junction. I got a 4-door Pugeot 308. A nice car, with wipers that went on automatically when it started to rain, headlights that went on automatically when it got dark or we went into a tunnel, outside mirrors that retracted automatically when you turned off the engine, but a transmission that had to be shifted manually.
Our goal for the day was Harlech Castle, about 40 miles away, and Portmerion, a small village nearby.
Carrie got the map out, and we headed out. Once I overcame my tendency to shift from 1st to 4th, the car proved to be just fine, with one exception: although it would be considered a compact (or maybe mid-sized) car here in the US, in Wales it was freakin' HUGE. Or at least it seemed so. Maybe that was because the roads in Wales are tiny, even when compared to Scotland.
Three things about the differences between driving in Scotland (where we'd gone two years ago) and driving in Wales:
1. The road signs in Wales are in Welsh first and then in English. Ever try to train yourself to read the bottom of the sign first when approaching one at 40-50MPH? We missed several turns because of that.
2. In addition to being hard to read, the signs don't give you much warning in Wales. Instead of giving you 1/4 mile, the signs often happen right AT the intersection. So if you don't have REALLY fast reflexes, you're going to miss the turn. Which we did. Several times.
3. The roads in Wales vary greatly in width. You can be on a nice two-lane road which goes around a bend and suddenly becomes a one lane road. Without warning. We had several near-misses with oncoming vehicles. I was scared sh*tless several times, and actually hit something with the passenger mirror once.
So there were challenges driving. After a few missed turns and some shortened tempers, Carrie and I found our way to Harlech (pronounced HAR-leck), a village on the west coast of Wales, and the site of Harlech Castle, a 13th century fortress built by Edward the 1st to subdue the Welsh. We paid, went in, and wandered around for an hour or so. The castle sits on a bluff overlooking a long stretch of sandy beach. There are great views in three directions.
After lunching in the village (picturesque, but not much else to see), we drove (with a few more misadventures) to Portmerion (pronounced port-MARY-on). Portmerion is a small village that was owned by a Welsh architect, who made it over into an Italian village. It looks for all the world like the pictures I've seem of towns in the Cinquterra in Italy. Everywhere there were picturesque views and tableau's. Portmerion also has the distinction of being where that great British TV series, "The Prisoner" was filmed in the 1960s. What a fantastic place! There was something to marvel at everywhere you turned.
From Portmerion, we drove (with a few more missed turns and other misadventures) back to Llandudno. We ate dinner at a local restaurant called "Home Cookin'" - not memorable. I had a local beer from Great Orme brewing - pretty bad. Then we went back to the hotel, sat in their little residents' pub, and talked to the owners and some of the other guests. When we asked about the history of Llandudno, David and Louise loaned us some books to read. What a nice, hospitable couple!
The next day (Tuesday the 8th) brought breezier cloudier weather. After breakfast in the hotel (very good) and arranging to have dinner there as well, we decided to ride a narrow-gauge railway, so we headed to Bleaneau-Ffestiniog (pronounced BLY-nee Tfest-INI-og). Along the way, it started to rain (which is when I learned about the automatic wipers). We arrived in Bleaneau-Ffestiniog and rode the (absolutely packed) train down through some very scenic valleys and dales to Portmaddog (pronounced port-MAD-uck), on the coast, about two or three miles from Portmerion. By now, the rain was blowing sideways. We wandered through town, looking for a microbrewery I'd found online (the Purple Moose). We found it after a couple of false turns, bought some souvenirs, found out that the owner had just gotten back from a microbrew tour of the Pacific NW and that their beers were sold on the railway we'd ridden on, and headed back to the station. We lunched (a HUGE portion of mac 'n cheese) and then got on the train for the return trip. I bought one of the Purple Moose beers (Snowdonia Ale - VERY good!). We drove back to the hotel, where we discovered that it had only been raining there for about 45 minutes. Ate dinner in the hotel dining room (good home cooking), visited in the residents' pub (tried a Welsh single malt - it was very smooth and tasted slightly of almonds), and were in bed by ten.
Our last day in Wales dawned clear. David reversed our car out of the (very, very tight) parking area in the back of the hotel (I'd had a slight run-in with a wall when backing out the previous day), and we were off to see two castles.
Our first stop was Caernarfon (pronounced ca-NARV-on). It was also built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century, but is MUCH bigger than Harlech. Unlike most other castles, its towers aren't round, they're hexagonal. Also, it's walls have stripes of contrasting stones in them.
We explored the castle for a few hours, and then had lunch in the town (Carrie was in heaven because the couple net to us had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that she got to pet and coo over) and drove back towards Llandudno to Conwy (pronounced CON-way). Conwy Castle was ALSO built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century (a busy guy!). We explored the castle for a while (we both love castles!).
We then walked through the town to Plas Mowr (pronounced PLAS-MOU-er), a complete 16th century Elizabethan town house. The floorboards were original! There were two fireplaces that still had the original plasterwork with the year 1571 on it!
After dinner at the hotel, we went back up the The King's Head pub for dinner, hoping that the same local folks might be there, but we were out of luck. We saw the 1st half of the England-Croatia soccer match, and then went back to the hotel for a drink in the pub, and packing.
Next: Bath, Stonehenge, and how I almost went bankrupt
We left our hotel early on the morning of Sunday, September 6 and walked a few blocks past a deserted Russell Square to Euston Station to catch our train to Llandudno, in northern Wales. I'd already bought the tickets online a month or so earlier, so we retrieved the tickets from a vending machine and boarded our 2nd class coach to Crewe. As luck would have it, our train seats faced backwards, which made shooting pictures and videos a bit of a challenge.
We changed trains in Crewe, and headed west along the seashore into Wales. You can only tell you're in Wales because the signs are in Welsh first, and then in English, which makes reading them from the train - or a moving car - a bit of a challenge. More on that later.
We arrived in Llandudno at about noon or so, and walked 3/4 mile or so to our hotel. The weather was kinda cloudy, breezy, and several degrees cooler than London. Llandudno (pronounced clan-DUDE-no) is a Victorian seaside resort on the north coast of Wales, situated on a long sand/shingle beach with large hills ("the Great Orme" and "the Little Orme") at either end. I was told that "Orme" is an old Norse word meaning snake. The buildings on the waterfront (almost all of them resort hotels catering to elderly English guests) are all from 1850-1870.
We found our hotel (the Hen-dy, right on the waterfront) without any problem, and were warmly greeted by Louise, who runs it along with her husband David. Louise showed us to our room, a HUGE second-floor (they call it the first floor) room with a spectacular view of the bay and some of the town. I was worried at first that it might be very noisy, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Here's a picture of the view from our room:
We unpacked (unpacking was one of Carrie's trip requirements) and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town. Our guidebook for Wales recommended a pub called "The King's Head", so we went there for a pint. When we walked in, something made me feel like home. I don't know what it was, but there was something special about the place. One nice thing - when I went to the bar to order drinks, the bartender told me not to drink what I'd ordered and recommended a different pint (Abbott Ale), which turned out to be very good. We saw a sign saying there was live traditional music that evening and liked what we saw on the dinner menu, and decided to return there for dinner.
When we returned, I ordered drinks (Abbot Ale and wine for Carrie) at the bar and dinner at the food bar, and we sat and watched all the people. It soon became apparent that almost all of them were locals (at least the ones that we could see and hear). our food came (good, but not great). When I went back to the bar, I fell into conversation with a couple of local guys, who came over and sat with us. We had a really great talk, listened to some good traditional music, and headed back to the hotel, tired, slightly drunk, and VERY happy.
One of my objectives on every trip abroad is to find a local pub and get to talk with local folks. This evening exceeded my expectations. For me it was, looking back from several weeks, probably the best evening of the entire trip.
The next day we took a cab to the Avis car rental place in nearby Llandudno Junction. I got a 4-door Pugeot 308. A nice car, with wipers that went on automatically when it started to rain, headlights that went on automatically when it got dark or we went into a tunnel, outside mirrors that retracted automatically when you turned off the engine, but a transmission that had to be shifted manually.
Our goal for the day was Harlech Castle, about 40 miles away, and Portmerion, a small village nearby.
Carrie got the map out, and we headed out. Once I overcame my tendency to shift from 1st to 4th, the car proved to be just fine, with one exception: although it would be considered a compact (or maybe mid-sized) car here in the US, in Wales it was freakin' HUGE. Or at least it seemed so. Maybe that was because the roads in Wales are tiny, even when compared to Scotland.
Three things about the differences between driving in Scotland (where we'd gone two years ago) and driving in Wales:
1. The road signs in Wales are in Welsh first and then in English. Ever try to train yourself to read the bottom of the sign first when approaching one at 40-50MPH? We missed several turns because of that.
2. In addition to being hard to read, the signs don't give you much warning in Wales. Instead of giving you 1/4 mile, the signs often happen right AT the intersection. So if you don't have REALLY fast reflexes, you're going to miss the turn. Which we did. Several times.
3. The roads in Wales vary greatly in width. You can be on a nice two-lane road which goes around a bend and suddenly becomes a one lane road. Without warning. We had several near-misses with oncoming vehicles. I was scared sh*tless several times, and actually hit something with the passenger mirror once.
So there were challenges driving. After a few missed turns and some shortened tempers, Carrie and I found our way to Harlech (pronounced HAR-leck), a village on the west coast of Wales, and the site of Harlech Castle, a 13th century fortress built by Edward the 1st to subdue the Welsh. We paid, went in, and wandered around for an hour or so. The castle sits on a bluff overlooking a long stretch of sandy beach. There are great views in three directions.
After lunching in the village (picturesque, but not much else to see), we drove (with a few more misadventures) to Portmerion (pronounced port-MARY-on). Portmerion is a small village that was owned by a Welsh architect, who made it over into an Italian village. It looks for all the world like the pictures I've seem of towns in the Cinquterra in Italy. Everywhere there were picturesque views and tableau's. Portmerion also has the distinction of being where that great British TV series, "The Prisoner" was filmed in the 1960s. What a fantastic place! There was something to marvel at everywhere you turned.
From Portmerion, we drove (with a few more missed turns and other misadventures) back to Llandudno. We ate dinner at a local restaurant called "Home Cookin'" - not memorable. I had a local beer from Great Orme brewing - pretty bad. Then we went back to the hotel, sat in their little residents' pub, and talked to the owners and some of the other guests. When we asked about the history of Llandudno, David and Louise loaned us some books to read. What a nice, hospitable couple!
The next day (Tuesday the 8th) brought breezier cloudier weather. After breakfast in the hotel (very good) and arranging to have dinner there as well, we decided to ride a narrow-gauge railway, so we headed to Bleaneau-Ffestiniog (pronounced BLY-nee Tfest-INI-og). Along the way, it started to rain (which is when I learned about the automatic wipers). We arrived in Bleaneau-Ffestiniog and rode the (absolutely packed) train down through some very scenic valleys and dales to Portmaddog (pronounced port-MAD-uck), on the coast, about two or three miles from Portmerion. By now, the rain was blowing sideways. We wandered through town, looking for a microbrewery I'd found online (the Purple Moose). We found it after a couple of false turns, bought some souvenirs, found out that the owner had just gotten back from a microbrew tour of the Pacific NW and that their beers were sold on the railway we'd ridden on, and headed back to the station. We lunched (a HUGE portion of mac 'n cheese) and then got on the train for the return trip. I bought one of the Purple Moose beers (Snowdonia Ale - VERY good!). We drove back to the hotel, where we discovered that it had only been raining there for about 45 minutes. Ate dinner in the hotel dining room (good home cooking), visited in the residents' pub (tried a Welsh single malt - it was very smooth and tasted slightly of almonds), and were in bed by ten.
Our last day in Wales dawned clear. David reversed our car out of the (very, very tight) parking area in the back of the hotel (I'd had a slight run-in with a wall when backing out the previous day), and we were off to see two castles.
Our first stop was Caernarfon (pronounced ca-NARV-on). It was also built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century, but is MUCH bigger than Harlech. Unlike most other castles, its towers aren't round, they're hexagonal. Also, it's walls have stripes of contrasting stones in them.
We explored the castle for a few hours, and then had lunch in the town (Carrie was in heaven because the couple net to us had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that she got to pet and coo over) and drove back towards Llandudno to Conwy (pronounced CON-way). Conwy Castle was ALSO built by Edward the 1st in the late 13th century (a busy guy!). We explored the castle for a while (we both love castles!).
We then walked through the town to Plas Mowr (pronounced PLAS-MOU-er), a complete 16th century Elizabethan town house. The floorboards were original! There were two fireplaces that still had the original plasterwork with the year 1571 on it!
After dinner at the hotel, we went back up the The King's Head pub for dinner, hoping that the same local folks might be there, but we were out of luck. We saw the 1st half of the England-Croatia soccer match, and then went back to the hotel for a drink in the pub, and packing.
Next: Bath, Stonehenge, and how I almost went bankrupt
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Trip details: London
(This is the second of a series of posts about our trip to Massachusetts, London, Bath, and Wales).
We flew out of Boston at 9AM on an American Airlines flight to London. The flight was completely full, and we had the "honor" of having seats in the middle section of the very last row on the plane. We couldn't even see a window, let alone see outside. Not that there was very much to see except clouds and waves. The flight was VERY bumpy - we flew over the remains of the hurricane that had caused all the rain in Boston the day we landed there.
We arrived in London at about 9PM (thanks to a 5-hour time difference). It was raining there as well. It only took us about 20 minutes to clear customs, a huge improvement over our last time (when it took two and a half HOURS). I'd done my research and discovered that there's a Piccadilly Line Tube stop at Heathrow that would take us to Holborn station (4 blocks from our hotel) without having to change trains. So we added ten pounds to each of our Oyster cards, hopped on the train, and 45 minutes later checked into our hotel, the Park Inn Russell Square. We took sleeping pills and slepth through the entire night.
What a nice place! It's an older building (maybe the late 1800's?), but our room although small was recently refurbished. Everything was new. And best of all, the bathroom had very simple controls! The ONLY drawback was that the temperature in our room was stuck at about 75-80 degrees, and the corridor outside it was about 80 or so. Opening the room's window alleviated that problem.
The next morning (Friday, Sept 3), we went down to the hotel restaurant and had a nice buffet breakfast (included in the $165 room charge), and then headed out to see London. The rain had stopped, but it was breezy and cool. We walked to Charing Cross Road and headed south, looking for the site of one of our favorite books, "84 Charing Cross Road", the wonderful story of the long-distance relationship between an American writer and the staff of a second-hand bookstore at the aforementioned address in London. Sadly, the bookstore is long-gone, and been replaced by a wine bar. But there's a nice plaque in the wall, and we took pictures of it.
Then it was time to just wander around. We headed to Trafalgar Square, and found something unexpected in one corner - a statue of George Washington! We had lunch at a ubiquitous London restaurant "Pred a Manger" a chain of sandwich and coffee shops all over London. Then we walked to a rubber stamp store Carrie had discovered when doing research for the trip. Carrie went in & shopped, and I looked around the neighborhood, and had a short fantasy about opening a "carriecards" store on the street and living above it. Nice fantasy! Then it was on to Oxford Street for Carrie to do some shopping and then back to the hotel. Dinner at a nearby pub.
The next day (Sept 4) dawned sunny and warm. So we decided to go to one of Carrie's objectives for our stay: Hampton Court Palace. We hopped a double-decker bus to Waterloo Station (Waterloo freakin' Station!), and bought train tickets for Hampton Court. A 40-minute train ride later, we walked across a bridge over the Thames to Hampton Court. It's a palace built in the early 16th century by Cardinal Wolsely, a close confident of Henry the 8th. When the two had a falling out several years later, Wolsely gave it to Henry as a present. What a place! It's HUGE. We had a great time wandering around and watching the re-enactors portray Henry, members of his court, and Katherine Parr, who would become his sixth and final wife. In addition to the Tudor part of the castle, there's also a much later expansion, built by William of Orange (of William and Mary fame) in a completely different style. After lunching at the palace, we decided to head back to London via different conveyance: a "3-hour tour" down the Thames. It was great - we saw all kinds of interesting stuff: canal boats, locks, fancy English palaces like Ham House, ordinary English houses on the riverside (another short daydream about living on the Thames). We got back to London and got off right under the shadow of Big Ben. Took the Tube back to our hotel. That evening we went to an Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant very near the hotel called Hason Raja. What an AMAZING meal! We both thought we'd died and gone to heaven.
Sept 5 (Saturday), was reserved for the Portobello Road market, another of Carrie's objectives for the trip. We took the tube to Notting Hill Gate (near where "Notting Hill" was filmed). The market consists of a large number of booths and small stalls one one or both sides of Portobello Road for about a mile and a half. We both really enjoyed the market - they sold such things as fruit and "veg", second-hand stuff, collectibles, antiques (Carrie bought an antique printers stamp and some cigarette trading cards, and I bought an antique print), silver, cooked food, tacky tourist stuff, clothes,flowers, and all kinds of things. The crowd was a complete ethnic mix from all over the world. I'm sure there were other Americans there, but I don't remember one American voice. That night we had dinner at a forgettable Italian restaurant. I'd bought a Cuban cigar the day before, so that night after dinner, I smoked it while I walked up to Euston Station (where our train would leave the next day).
Next post: Llandudno and Northern Wales.
We flew out of Boston at 9AM on an American Airlines flight to London. The flight was completely full, and we had the "honor" of having seats in the middle section of the very last row on the plane. We couldn't even see a window, let alone see outside. Not that there was very much to see except clouds and waves. The flight was VERY bumpy - we flew over the remains of the hurricane that had caused all the rain in Boston the day we landed there.
We arrived in London at about 9PM (thanks to a 5-hour time difference). It was raining there as well. It only took us about 20 minutes to clear customs, a huge improvement over our last time (when it took two and a half HOURS). I'd done my research and discovered that there's a Piccadilly Line Tube stop at Heathrow that would take us to Holborn station (4 blocks from our hotel) without having to change trains. So we added ten pounds to each of our Oyster cards, hopped on the train, and 45 minutes later checked into our hotel, the Park Inn Russell Square. We took sleeping pills and slepth through the entire night.
What a nice place! It's an older building (maybe the late 1800's?), but our room although small was recently refurbished. Everything was new. And best of all, the bathroom had very simple controls! The ONLY drawback was that the temperature in our room was stuck at about 75-80 degrees, and the corridor outside it was about 80 or so. Opening the room's window alleviated that problem.
The next morning (Friday, Sept 3), we went down to the hotel restaurant and had a nice buffet breakfast (included in the $165 room charge), and then headed out to see London. The rain had stopped, but it was breezy and cool. We walked to Charing Cross Road and headed south, looking for the site of one of our favorite books, "84 Charing Cross Road", the wonderful story of the long-distance relationship between an American writer and the staff of a second-hand bookstore at the aforementioned address in London. Sadly, the bookstore is long-gone, and been replaced by a wine bar. But there's a nice plaque in the wall, and we took pictures of it.
Then it was time to just wander around. We headed to Trafalgar Square, and found something unexpected in one corner - a statue of George Washington! We had lunch at a ubiquitous London restaurant "Pred a Manger" a chain of sandwich and coffee shops all over London. Then we walked to a rubber stamp store Carrie had discovered when doing research for the trip. Carrie went in & shopped, and I looked around the neighborhood, and had a short fantasy about opening a "carriecards" store on the street and living above it. Nice fantasy! Then it was on to Oxford Street for Carrie to do some shopping and then back to the hotel. Dinner at a nearby pub.
The next day (Sept 4) dawned sunny and warm. So we decided to go to one of Carrie's objectives for our stay: Hampton Court Palace. We hopped a double-decker bus to Waterloo Station (Waterloo freakin' Station!), and bought train tickets for Hampton Court. A 40-minute train ride later, we walked across a bridge over the Thames to Hampton Court. It's a palace built in the early 16th century by Cardinal Wolsely, a close confident of Henry the 8th. When the two had a falling out several years later, Wolsely gave it to Henry as a present. What a place! It's HUGE. We had a great time wandering around and watching the re-enactors portray Henry, members of his court, and Katherine Parr, who would become his sixth and final wife. In addition to the Tudor part of the castle, there's also a much later expansion, built by William of Orange (of William and Mary fame) in a completely different style. After lunching at the palace, we decided to head back to London via different conveyance: a "3-hour tour" down the Thames. It was great - we saw all kinds of interesting stuff: canal boats, locks, fancy English palaces like Ham House, ordinary English houses on the riverside (another short daydream about living on the Thames). We got back to London and got off right under the shadow of Big Ben. Took the Tube back to our hotel. That evening we went to an Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant very near the hotel called Hason Raja. What an AMAZING meal! We both thought we'd died and gone to heaven.
Sept 5 (Saturday), was reserved for the Portobello Road market, another of Carrie's objectives for the trip. We took the tube to Notting Hill Gate (near where "Notting Hill" was filmed). The market consists of a large number of booths and small stalls one one or both sides of Portobello Road for about a mile and a half. We both really enjoyed the market - they sold such things as fruit and "veg", second-hand stuff, collectibles, antiques (Carrie bought an antique printers stamp and some cigarette trading cards, and I bought an antique print), silver, cooked food, tacky tourist stuff, clothes,flowers, and all kinds of things. The crowd was a complete ethnic mix from all over the world. I'm sure there were other Americans there, but I don't remember one American voice. That night we had dinner at a forgettable Italian restaurant. I'd bought a Cuban cigar the day before, so that night after dinner, I smoked it while I walked up to Euston Station (where our train would leave the next day).
Next post: Llandudno and Northern Wales.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Trip details: Massachusetts and New England
This is the first in a series of posts about our recent trip to New England, England, and Wales.
We spent the night before we left in the Doubletree Hotel at Sea-Tac, so we could get a couple of hours extra sleep. We left the house Friday at about 5:30PM (when a jacket I'd ordered for the trip arrived), and got to the hotel at about the same time as a busload of elderly tourists just off a cruise to Alaska pulled in. After standing in line for a while, we got checked in (they handed out warm chocolate-chip cookies to those of us in the lobby!), found out that the first shuttle to the airport in the morning was at 5AM, and successfully navigated ourselves to our room (the hotel is HUGE and has several different buildings).
The room was nice, but somewhere I've stayed in one that was IDENTICAL to this. I've never stayed in this hotel before, and I don't recall staying in a Doubletree before either. It was weird. We ate dinner in the hotel & found out our server had gone to church about a mile from where we live.
The next morning, we got up at about 4:15 and got on the shuttle, which left a few minutes after 5. It was when we pulled up to the airport and got in line to check ourselves in for our flight (to Denver) that I realized that our flight left at 5:50, not 6:15, and that we had only about 35 minutes to make it. I broke into a huge sweat.
The check-in kiosk said that we were too late. More sweat. The lady behind the kiosk told us that our luggage wouldn't make it. Fortunately, we had carry-ons, so we hurried to security. Of course, since we were in a hurry, both Carrie's bag (with a too-large bottle of something) and mine (spare camera batteries and a voltage converter for the UK) were selected for extra scrutiny. More sweat.
We got to the gate just as they were starting to close the doors. Whew!
Uneventful flight to Denver. Uneventful layover in Denver (bought breakfast there, since there was no breakfast on the flight), and an uneventful flight to Boston. We grabbed our bags, got off the plane, and walked to baggage claim, from where Carrie was going to call her sister Michelle. I took the opportunity to use the men's room. When I came back, Michelle and Joe (her husband) were there. It turns out that they had been sitting about 25 feet from where Carrie called, and she actually heard their phone ringing!
It was raining so we thanked Joe & Michelle for arranging weather to make us feel at home.
They got us out of the airport, out of Boston, and to their home in Georgetown, MA. Nice place - on a pond just outside of a charming, picturesque New England village. We stayed in their 5th wheel trailer. Very nice, but short.
The next day, Michelle took Carrie to a baby shower for Michelle's daughter-in-law. I wasn't particularly looking forward to that. Fortunately, neither was Joe, so we went to a gigantic outdoors place called the Kittery Trading Post, in Kittery Maine. On the way, I got to see the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and I can now say that I've been in three more states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine). We ate lunch at a roadside seafood place - I had a lobster roll for the first time. Tasty!
The next day (I lost track of what day it was, but I think this was Monday the 31st of August), Michelle accompanied Carrie & me into Boston for a look around. She drove us to a nearby town and we took the commuter train into Boston. I really didn't know what I wanted to see (aside from the Green Monster, which wasn't possible, and Old North Church), so when we saw a kiosk selling tickets to a hop-on, hop-off Boston bus tour, we took that. Except for Fenway Park, we got to see all the big sights: Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, Boston Garden, the scene of the Boston Massacre, the scene of the Boston tea-party (now a children's museum with a huge inflatable "Arthur the Aardvark" marking the spot!), and we also got to go on a 45-minute harbor tour (from which we saw Bunker Hill, Old North Church, and Old Ironsides, which isn't open for tours on Mondays). The day was kinda cool and cloudy so Carrie & Michelle bought long-sleeve souvenir t-shirts.
We had lunch at the Union Oyster House, the oldest continually-operating restaurant in the US (since 1820). Pretty good food. Sam Adams Octoberfest on tap.
Monday was our last day with Joe & Michelle. They drove us around their part of Massachusetts. First we went to an antique store in Georgetown (a great place, with some very nice hand-made furniture, and where I spent much time drooling over three matching leaded-glass windows and Carrie bought a lace tablecloth for her carriecards booth). Then it was on to Ipswich and another antique store, this one overpriced and understocked. After that, we went up the coast to Gloucester (pronounced "Glahstuh"), home of Gorton's seafood and a locally famous statue. Our final destination was Rockport. No, not Rockport, Maine; Rockport, Massachusetts, a charming little former fishing village on the coast. We wandered around Rockport for a couple of hours, and then headed back to Joe & Michelle's to pack for the rest of the trip.
We had a great time with Joe & Michelle. I'd been told that Joe is quite the raconteur, and everyone was right. What a great guy! He knows absolutely everyone in Georgetown.
Next post: London
We spent the night before we left in the Doubletree Hotel at Sea-Tac, so we could get a couple of hours extra sleep. We left the house Friday at about 5:30PM (when a jacket I'd ordered for the trip arrived), and got to the hotel at about the same time as a busload of elderly tourists just off a cruise to Alaska pulled in. After standing in line for a while, we got checked in (they handed out warm chocolate-chip cookies to those of us in the lobby!), found out that the first shuttle to the airport in the morning was at 5AM, and successfully navigated ourselves to our room (the hotel is HUGE and has several different buildings).
The room was nice, but somewhere I've stayed in one that was IDENTICAL to this. I've never stayed in this hotel before, and I don't recall staying in a Doubletree before either. It was weird. We ate dinner in the hotel & found out our server had gone to church about a mile from where we live.
The next morning, we got up at about 4:15 and got on the shuttle, which left a few minutes after 5. It was when we pulled up to the airport and got in line to check ourselves in for our flight (to Denver) that I realized that our flight left at 5:50, not 6:15, and that we had only about 35 minutes to make it. I broke into a huge sweat.
The check-in kiosk said that we were too late. More sweat. The lady behind the kiosk told us that our luggage wouldn't make it. Fortunately, we had carry-ons, so we hurried to security. Of course, since we were in a hurry, both Carrie's bag (with a too-large bottle of something) and mine (spare camera batteries and a voltage converter for the UK) were selected for extra scrutiny. More sweat.
We got to the gate just as they were starting to close the doors. Whew!
Uneventful flight to Denver. Uneventful layover in Denver (bought breakfast there, since there was no breakfast on the flight), and an uneventful flight to Boston. We grabbed our bags, got off the plane, and walked to baggage claim, from where Carrie was going to call her sister Michelle. I took the opportunity to use the men's room. When I came back, Michelle and Joe (her husband) were there. It turns out that they had been sitting about 25 feet from where Carrie called, and she actually heard their phone ringing!
It was raining so we thanked Joe & Michelle for arranging weather to make us feel at home.
They got us out of the airport, out of Boston, and to their home in Georgetown, MA. Nice place - on a pond just outside of a charming, picturesque New England village. We stayed in their 5th wheel trailer. Very nice, but short.
The next day, Michelle took Carrie to a baby shower for Michelle's daughter-in-law. I wasn't particularly looking forward to that. Fortunately, neither was Joe, so we went to a gigantic outdoors place called the Kittery Trading Post, in Kittery Maine. On the way, I got to see the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and I can now say that I've been in three more states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine). We ate lunch at a roadside seafood place - I had a lobster roll for the first time. Tasty!
The next day (I lost track of what day it was, but I think this was Monday the 31st of August), Michelle accompanied Carrie & me into Boston for a look around. She drove us to a nearby town and we took the commuter train into Boston. I really didn't know what I wanted to see (aside from the Green Monster, which wasn't possible, and Old North Church), so when we saw a kiosk selling tickets to a hop-on, hop-off Boston bus tour, we took that. Except for Fenway Park, we got to see all the big sights: Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, Boston Garden, the scene of the Boston Massacre, the scene of the Boston tea-party (now a children's museum with a huge inflatable "Arthur the Aardvark" marking the spot!), and we also got to go on a 45-minute harbor tour (from which we saw Bunker Hill, Old North Church, and Old Ironsides, which isn't open for tours on Mondays). The day was kinda cool and cloudy so Carrie & Michelle bought long-sleeve souvenir t-shirts.
We had lunch at the Union Oyster House, the oldest continually-operating restaurant in the US (since 1820). Pretty good food. Sam Adams Octoberfest on tap.
Monday was our last day with Joe & Michelle. They drove us around their part of Massachusetts. First we went to an antique store in Georgetown (a great place, with some very nice hand-made furniture, and where I spent much time drooling over three matching leaded-glass windows and Carrie bought a lace tablecloth for her carriecards booth). Then it was on to Ipswich and another antique store, this one overpriced and understocked. After that, we went up the coast to Gloucester (pronounced "Glahstuh"), home of Gorton's seafood and a locally famous statue. Our final destination was Rockport. No, not Rockport, Maine; Rockport, Massachusetts, a charming little former fishing village on the coast. We wandered around Rockport for a couple of hours, and then headed back to Joe & Michelle's to pack for the rest of the trip.
We had a great time with Joe & Michelle. I'd been told that Joe is quite the raconteur, and everyone was right. What a great guy! He knows absolutely everyone in Georgetown.
Next post: London
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Pictures from our trip
We're back from out trip. We had a fantastic time! I've posted about a dozen pictures from our trip on Flickr. Click here to see them.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
On hiatus while we're traveling
We're traveling to New England, Olde Englande, and Wales. This blog is on hiatus until we get back. I've posted this before, but here's our itinerary.
August 29th: Fly from Seattle (leaving at 5:30AM - I'm not looking forward to that!) to Denver to Boston to visit Carrie's sister Michelle and her husband Joe. I've never met Joe, but everyone tells me that he's a hoot. I'm looking forward to meeting him! We're spending the night before we leave in a hotel near Sea-Tac.
August 30: Visiting Joe and Michelle. There's a slim possibility that Carrie & I will be going to Rhode Island to see a very old house that was owned by my ancestors.
August 31: Visiting Joe & Michelle. The Boston Red Sox are out of town this day, so we might be able to tour historic Fenway Park - I've always wanted to see (and touch) the Green Monster.
September 1: Visiting Joe & Michelle. We'll need to hit the sack early, because we have a 9AM flight the next morning. Joe & Michelle have told us that they'll take us to the airport, even though it's a long drive (each way!) for them. Bless 'em for that.
September 2: Fly from Boston to London. Leave Boston at 9AM. Due to a 5-hour time difference, arrive at Heathrow airport at 8:45PM. We're staying at the Park Inn Russell Square, recommended to us by some good friends. It's near the British Museum, and just a few blocks from two different tube stops.
September 3: The plan is to take it a little easy this day, to recover from jet lag. Carrie found a rubber stamp store a few block from our hotel, so we might go there. There are several walking tours in the area, and I think we may do one of those this evening, if we're up to it. We also want to see the location of the great book "84 Charing Cross Road". If you have any good suggestions for recovering from jet lag, let me know.
September 4: Hampton Court Palace. Carrie is setting the agenda for our stay in London, and this is high up on her list. Since Hampton Court is quite a way west of London, I think we'll take a train to get there, and take a three hour river tour to get back. A three-hour tour?
September 5: The Portobello Road Saturday market. This sounds really cool. Antiques, flea market. A massive shopping opportunity for Carrie! Saturday evening, we'd like to go see a play (Carrie is leaning towards a comedic version of Hitchock's "The 39 Steps". Sounds good to me!
September 6: Take the 8:15 AM train from London (Euston Station, about 10 blocks from our hotel) to Llandudno, in northern Wales. Llandudno (pronounced "Smith") is a Victorian seaside resort town on the north coast of Wales. It's a good base for exploring the area. We should arrive about noon, and spend the rest of the afternoon checking into our hotel and exploring the town.
September 7: Pick up a rental car (already reserved) at Llandudno Junction (a suburb of Llandudno, if there is such a thing), and head south to Portmerion, a small Italianate village where that great 60's TV show "The Prisoner" was filmed, and Harlech Castle.
September 8: More castles: This time Caernarfon and Conwy. We love castles!
September 9: Do laundry. Find a small pub, sit there and talk to the locals. We'll also try to ride a narrow-gauge railway.
September 10: Check out of the hotel, turn in the rental car, and take the train from Llandudno to Bath, in England. Carrie loves Jane Austen, so this is a natural. Arrive in Bath mid-afternoon. Check into the B&B and then go look at the famous Roman baths and the abbey.
September 11: All day bus tour to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock village (which was the Hogwarts village Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter movies), and Castle Combe village in the Cotswolds. Should be a good way to see a number of sites. The tour company ("Mad Max Tours") has been highly recommended to us.
September 12: Touring Bath. Start off with the Roman ruins and the abbey. There are also some great Georgian buildings, and a Jane Austen museum to see, as well as a highly-recommended costume museum.
September 13: Take the train to Salisbury to see the cathedral.
September 14: A day of rest and packing, followed by an evening train to London. We'll spend the night at the Sheraton Skyline, near Heathrow.
September 15: We fly from Heathrow to Boston, from Boston to Chicago, and from Chicago to Seattle. Then from the airport to home, after more than 20 hours traveling.
September 16: A day off to recuperate. We'll need it!
August 29th: Fly from Seattle (leaving at 5:30AM - I'm not looking forward to that!) to Denver to Boston to visit Carrie's sister Michelle and her husband Joe. I've never met Joe, but everyone tells me that he's a hoot. I'm looking forward to meeting him! We're spending the night before we leave in a hotel near Sea-Tac.
August 30: Visiting Joe and Michelle. There's a slim possibility that Carrie & I will be going to Rhode Island to see a very old house that was owned by my ancestors.
August 31: Visiting Joe & Michelle. The Boston Red Sox are out of town this day, so we might be able to tour historic Fenway Park - I've always wanted to see (and touch) the Green Monster.
September 1: Visiting Joe & Michelle. We'll need to hit the sack early, because we have a 9AM flight the next morning. Joe & Michelle have told us that they'll take us to the airport, even though it's a long drive (each way!) for them. Bless 'em for that.
September 2: Fly from Boston to London. Leave Boston at 9AM. Due to a 5-hour time difference, arrive at Heathrow airport at 8:45PM. We're staying at the Park Inn Russell Square, recommended to us by some good friends. It's near the British Museum, and just a few blocks from two different tube stops.
September 3: The plan is to take it a little easy this day, to recover from jet lag. Carrie found a rubber stamp store a few block from our hotel, so we might go there. There are several walking tours in the area, and I think we may do one of those this evening, if we're up to it. We also want to see the location of the great book "84 Charing Cross Road". If you have any good suggestions for recovering from jet lag, let me know.
September 4: Hampton Court Palace. Carrie is setting the agenda for our stay in London, and this is high up on her list. Since Hampton Court is quite a way west of London, I think we'll take a train to get there, and take a three hour river tour to get back. A three-hour tour?
September 5: The Portobello Road Saturday market. This sounds really cool. Antiques, flea market. A massive shopping opportunity for Carrie! Saturday evening, we'd like to go see a play (Carrie is leaning towards a comedic version of Hitchock's "The 39 Steps". Sounds good to me!
September 6: Take the 8:15 AM train from London (Euston Station, about 10 blocks from our hotel) to Llandudno, in northern Wales. Llandudno (pronounced "Smith") is a Victorian seaside resort town on the north coast of Wales. It's a good base for exploring the area. We should arrive about noon, and spend the rest of the afternoon checking into our hotel and exploring the town.
September 7: Pick up a rental car (already reserved) at Llandudno Junction (a suburb of Llandudno, if there is such a thing), and head south to Portmerion, a small Italianate village where that great 60's TV show "The Prisoner" was filmed, and Harlech Castle.
September 8: More castles: This time Caernarfon and Conwy. We love castles!
September 9: Do laundry. Find a small pub, sit there and talk to the locals. We'll also try to ride a narrow-gauge railway.
September 10: Check out of the hotel, turn in the rental car, and take the train from Llandudno to Bath, in England. Carrie loves Jane Austen, so this is a natural. Arrive in Bath mid-afternoon. Check into the B&B and then go look at the famous Roman baths and the abbey.
September 11: All day bus tour to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock village (which was the Hogwarts village Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter movies), and Castle Combe village in the Cotswolds. Should be a good way to see a number of sites. The tour company ("Mad Max Tours") has been highly recommended to us.
September 12: Touring Bath. Start off with the Roman ruins and the abbey. There are also some great Georgian buildings, and a Jane Austen museum to see, as well as a highly-recommended costume museum.
September 13: Take the train to Salisbury to see the cathedral.
September 14: A day of rest and packing, followed by an evening train to London. We'll spend the night at the Sheraton Skyline, near Heathrow.
September 15: We fly from Heathrow to Boston, from Boston to Chicago, and from Chicago to Seattle. Then from the airport to home, after more than 20 hours traveling.
September 16: A day off to recuperate. We'll need it!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Our next trip itinerary
My wife and I are not experienced world travelers. Two years ago we both went off the continent for the first time, going to London for a couple of days and then onto Edinburgh and the Scottish highlands. We had a great trip and have been wanting to do another one since about 5 minutes after our plane took off on the way home.
So this summer, we're traveling again. Woo-hoo! Look out Europe!
Here's the itinerary:
August 29th: Fly from Seattle to Denver to Boston to visit Carrie's sister Michelle and her husband Joe. I've never met Joe, but everyone tells me that he's a hoot. I'm looking forward to meeting him!
August 30: Visiting Joe and Michelle. There's a possibility that Carrie & I will be going to Rhode Island to see a very old house that was owned by my ancestors. If that happens, my brother Steve be coming from Seattle and my cousin John and his wife Dallett will be coming from Philadelphia as well. I hope it works out! That would be really cool.
August 31: Visiting Joe & Michelle. The Boston Red Sox are out of town, so we might be able to tour historic Fenway Park - I've always wanted to see (and touch) the Green Monster.
September 1: Visiting Joe & Michelle. We'll need to hit the sack early, because we have a 9AM flight the next morning. Joe & Michelle have told us that they'll take us to the airport, even though it's a three hour drive (each way!). Bless 'em for that.
September 2: Fly from Boston to London. Leave Boston at 9AM. Due to a 5-hour time difference, arrive at Heathrow airport at 8:45PM. We're staying at the Park Inn Russell Square, recommended to us by some friends. It's right behind the British Museum, and just a few blocks from two different tube stops. I got an amazing deal - $116 a night!
September 3: British Museum. The plan is to take it a little easy this day, to recover from jet lag. Carrie also found a rubber stamp store a few block from our hotel, so we might go there. There are several walking tours in the area, and I think we may do one of those this evening, if we're up to it. If you have any good suggestions for recovering from jet lag, let me know!
September 4: Hampton Court Palace. Carrie is setting the agenda for our stay in London, and this is high up on her list. Since Hampton Court is quite a way west of London, I think we'll take a train to get there, and take a river tour to get back. Our hotel in London is about 10-12 blocks from the Thames.
September 5: The Portobello Road Saturday market. This sounds really cool. Antiques, flea market. Saturday evening, we'd like to go see a play (Carrie is leaning towards a comedic version of Hitchock's "The 39 Steps").
September 6: Take the train from London (Euston Station, about 10 blocks from our hotel) to Llandudno, in northern Wales. Llandudno (pronounced "Smith") is a Victorian seaside resort town on the north coast of Wales. It's a good base for exploring the area. We should arrive mid-afternoon, and spend the rest of the afternoon checking into our hotel and exploring the town on foot.
September 7: Pick up a rental car (already reserved) at Llandudno Junction (a suburb of Llandudno), and head south to Portmerion, a small, privately-owned Italianate village where that great 60's TV show "The Prisoner" was filmed, and Harlech Castle. We will also try to ride a narrow-gauge railway.
September 8: More castles: This time Caernarfon and Conwy.
September 9: A day of rest. Find a small pub, sit there and talk to the locals.
September 10: Check out of the hotel, turn in the rental car, and take a train from Llandudno to Bath, in England. Carrie loves Jane Austen, so this is a natural. Arrive in Bath mid-afternoon. Check into the hotel and then go look at the famous Roman baths and the abbey.
September 11: All day bus tour to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock village (was the Hogwarts village in the Harry Potter movies), and Castle Combe village in the Cotswolds. Should be a good way to see a number of sites. The tour company has been highly recommended to us.
September 12: Touring Bath. There are some great Georgian buildings, and a Jane Austen museum to see, as well as a highly-recommended costume museum.
September 13: Take a train to Salisbury to see the cathedral.
September 14: Packing and getting ready to leave.
September 15: A very long day. We take a train from bath to London, take the tube from the train station to Heathrow, fly from Heathrow to Boston, from Boston to Detroit, and from Detroit to Seattle. Then we need to get from the airport to home. We'll be getting up in Bath at about 5:15AM their time, and landing at Sea-Tac at about 10:30PM our time. Since we'll be getting home about two hours later, that means we'll be spending 27 hour travelling.
September 16: A day off to recuperate. We'll need it!
So this summer, we're traveling again. Woo-hoo! Look out Europe!
Here's the itinerary:
August 29th: Fly from Seattle to Denver to Boston to visit Carrie's sister Michelle and her husband Joe. I've never met Joe, but everyone tells me that he's a hoot. I'm looking forward to meeting him!
August 30: Visiting Joe and Michelle. There's a possibility that Carrie & I will be going to Rhode Island to see a very old house that was owned by my ancestors. If that happens, my brother Steve be coming from Seattle and my cousin John and his wife Dallett will be coming from Philadelphia as well. I hope it works out! That would be really cool.
August 31: Visiting Joe & Michelle. The Boston Red Sox are out of town, so we might be able to tour historic Fenway Park - I've always wanted to see (and touch) the Green Monster.
September 1: Visiting Joe & Michelle. We'll need to hit the sack early, because we have a 9AM flight the next morning. Joe & Michelle have told us that they'll take us to the airport, even though it's a three hour drive (each way!). Bless 'em for that.
September 2: Fly from Boston to London. Leave Boston at 9AM. Due to a 5-hour time difference, arrive at Heathrow airport at 8:45PM. We're staying at the Park Inn Russell Square, recommended to us by some friends. It's right behind the British Museum, and just a few blocks from two different tube stops. I got an amazing deal - $116 a night!
September 3: British Museum. The plan is to take it a little easy this day, to recover from jet lag. Carrie also found a rubber stamp store a few block from our hotel, so we might go there. There are several walking tours in the area, and I think we may do one of those this evening, if we're up to it. If you have any good suggestions for recovering from jet lag, let me know!
September 4: Hampton Court Palace. Carrie is setting the agenda for our stay in London, and this is high up on her list. Since Hampton Court is quite a way west of London, I think we'll take a train to get there, and take a river tour to get back. Our hotel in London is about 10-12 blocks from the Thames.
September 5: The Portobello Road Saturday market. This sounds really cool. Antiques, flea market. Saturday evening, we'd like to go see a play (Carrie is leaning towards a comedic version of Hitchock's "The 39 Steps").
September 6: Take the train from London (Euston Station, about 10 blocks from our hotel) to Llandudno, in northern Wales. Llandudno (pronounced "Smith") is a Victorian seaside resort town on the north coast of Wales. It's a good base for exploring the area. We should arrive mid-afternoon, and spend the rest of the afternoon checking into our hotel and exploring the town on foot.
September 7: Pick up a rental car (already reserved) at Llandudno Junction (a suburb of Llandudno), and head south to Portmerion, a small, privately-owned Italianate village where that great 60's TV show "The Prisoner" was filmed, and Harlech Castle. We will also try to ride a narrow-gauge railway.
September 8: More castles: This time Caernarfon and Conwy.
September 9: A day of rest. Find a small pub, sit there and talk to the locals.
September 10: Check out of the hotel, turn in the rental car, and take a train from Llandudno to Bath, in England. Carrie loves Jane Austen, so this is a natural. Arrive in Bath mid-afternoon. Check into the hotel and then go look at the famous Roman baths and the abbey.
September 11: All day bus tour to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock village (was the Hogwarts village in the Harry Potter movies), and Castle Combe village in the Cotswolds. Should be a good way to see a number of sites. The tour company has been highly recommended to us.
September 12: Touring Bath. There are some great Georgian buildings, and a Jane Austen museum to see, as well as a highly-recommended costume museum.
September 13: Take a train to Salisbury to see the cathedral.
September 14: Packing and getting ready to leave.
September 15: A very long day. We take a train from bath to London, take the tube from the train station to Heathrow, fly from Heathrow to Boston, from Boston to Detroit, and from Detroit to Seattle. Then we need to get from the airport to home. We'll be getting up in Bath at about 5:15AM their time, and landing at Sea-Tac at about 10:30PM our time. Since we'll be getting home about two hours later, that means we'll be spending 27 hour travelling.
September 16: A day off to recuperate. We'll need it!
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