LONDON to MINNESOTA Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Back Over the Pond to Minnesota We Go

Well, here it is . . . the very last morning in England—only time for breakfast,

the tube, and Heathrow to board NW #103 for the 2:25 flight home. And what a trip it has been! There certainly is plenty more to see, but what we did see, we felt we spent the time we wanted.

After breakfast, we blogged the last couple of days,












checked out,
and set off—suitcases pretty filled with souvenirs and memories—for Heathrow.

We had been told that it was about an hour tube ride and that we had to be there 3 hours early because of construction, but it all went pretty slick. We were there within 35 minutes--enough time to consider entering the lotter for 20 pounds for a car like the one Paula checked out!

There were no lines at check in, the plane was on time,

and here we are up thousands of feet above the clouds at 7:56 p.m. British time—making it 1:56 Minneapolis time. Lauren should be at her State soccer banquet—Yeah Holy Angels bound for state in 2008!—and Carina should be in the air flying home from Boise now.

Reflections on our trip . . .
















Linda’s highlights:
• Hamlet • The Mad Max Cotwolds Tour • Paula and my long conversations about our personal journeys • Exploring at Portabello Market • Walking across Tower Bridge over the river Thames • Asking for directions and ending up having interesting conversations which could have lasted for hours with random people • Serendipitous surprises—thinking we would be doing or finding something and that leading to something else quite unexpected but wonderful (like seeing Never Forget) • Hearing the British accent everywhere sometimes surrounded with languages from all other cultures • the Victoria & Albert museum—especially the jewelry • dinner at the Dirty Duck in Stratford • stories, stories, stories of British history from the meaning of the word Cotswold to where the expression “to put a lady on a pedestal” came from • hearing Vivaldi even if it was only a rehearsal in St. Martin’s in the Fields

Paula’s highlights:
• Visiting the church in Stratford and meeting Nigel, a Brit with a sense of humor • Dinner at the Dirty Duck Pub the night before Hamlet • Meeting the actor, Polonius, after seeing Hamlet • Riding the bus with 80 University of Bath Freshman who were dressed as cops and robbers on their initiation night • Walking around Bath on the Bizarre Bath tour and laughing the whole way • Staying at the Youth Hostel Italian mansion on the hill and trying to find it • Touring the Cotswold with Charles our guide and being introduced to Castle Combe village where the Dr. Doolittle movie was filmed • Discovering the Antiques Kitchen Table’s store in Tetbury • Walking through the meadow from Upper Slaughter to Lower Slaughter • Jewelry exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum • Seeing the musical-Never Forget-and enjoying the songs and the excitement of the audience • Exploring Portabello Rd. Flea market and antique shops

Parting is such sweet sorrow . . . until next time!

LONDON day 2 Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008

Saturday, October 18, 2008

To Market, to Market to buy a . . . Portabello!

So much we want to do . . . so little time. We started out with our lists of all the things each of us would love to do and a map. Paula wanted to visit a Laura Ashley store. Linda wanted to visit Westminister Abbey. Paula thought about visiting a few more exhibits at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Linda wanted to see Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov. We went online to find that it was the “Day of the Pilgrimmage—something to do with Edward the Confessor,” and Westminster was closed for the day to tourists. However, there was an evensong at 3:00, so that was a possibility. We went to the Ivanov website to find that tickets were all sold out for Ivanov, and our only chance was to stand in line and hope that some returns were possible—quite a hike for that remote chance and to find it was Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Chekhov’s play, which usually meant betrayal, death, and suicide, and we weren’t quite up for that after Never Forget last night. While we were trying to sort all of this out, we were talking about Covent Gardens and how fun markets are. So, we googled “London markets,” and came up with one Paula had heard of called the Portabello Market. We read about how cool it was—over 2000 stalls from food to retro fashion to antiques, and we were sold on it.

We figured out the Tube route—Gloucester to Ladgrove—and it didn’t take long once we were there to figure out we had made the perfect decision.

The sun was brilliant, the crowds thick with colorful personalities and dialects and the stalls went on and on.

The food was to die for! Fruit and veggies stands,

fresh fish, pots brimming with soups and paella!

We treated ourselves to stuffed grape leaves and a feta veggie salad.

We went into what looked like the most delicious cheese shop only to find it was actually a soap shop with all the soaps shaped and decorated like cheese and desserts.

We kept thinking of how great a time our girls would have had here in the boutiques and shoe shops. Everywhere we were reminded of the latest fashions and wished we would have thought ahead to buy our girls some British fashion magazines to see since it was a bit odd to take pictures of random people to show the fashions— everywhere high, high heels or boots always with leggings/tights and leg warmers peeking out the top, scarves, short mini skirts, and long tops tried on teenage fashions in hopes that something might be right for the girls, but when we checked out our choices with some teenage Londoners who weren’t impressed, we moved on to other things.

We found shirts for the boys—an official #7 Beckham soccer jersey for Chris and a Beatles t-shirt for Robby. We got pretty good at bargaining and found that one of the best parts of the market.

Paula spotted what looked like a collection of army surplus clothing and found Tom an RAF officer’s hat for his military hat collection!

We spent quite a long time at this shop chatting with one of the sellers bedecked in full military clothing. He told us that this area, called Notting Hill just like the recent movie Notting Hill , was where they filmed a lot of the movie, and that the bookstore in the movie was right down the street.

The sun started coming down way too quickly, and the shops started closing up just as we were in the middle of the antique shops. We walked and walked and eventually ended up at the gates to the beautiful Kensington Gardens. We entered at a broad street called Palace Gardens Parkway, which was lined with enormous houses that served as embassies. My favorite was the Norwegian one!
Here is the beautiful gate that leads into Kensington Palace:

By the time we reached the pond and the swans, it was quite chilly but still lovely with all the autumnal colors. This truly is the best time to be a tourist! We have had beautiful weather, no lines anywhere, and had the opportunity to make decisions not based on crowds or anything else other than our own whim at the time . . . truly in the spirit of Carpe Diem!

We took a rather adventurous route out of Kensington Gardens—down side streets showing a most prestigious part of town obvious from all the Porsches, Jaguars, BMW’s, and SAAB’s we saw everywhere. We ended up on a small cobblestone street called Mews which was right in back of a small church. These were originally where they kept the horses and supplies for a fine manor or castle or large church now converted into condos. We loved them! If I were to live in London, this was the place to be!

Eventually we found the hotel, and it felt great to just spend the evening in dining on what we bought at the market and watching British TV, something we hadn’t done before. In fact, this is only time all week we did anything remotely like this—downtime! A few times we considered going out in search of Indian food, but staying in was much too cozy. We worked on the blog while watching Simply Come Dancing—the British equivalent to Dancing With the Stars—as well as the British Idol show, the news, and Failure to Launch. It was nearly 2:00 a.m. when we finally went to sleep, but it still felt like about 10:00. Paula says she never did get adjusted to the British time here.

LONDON Friday, Oct. 17th, 2008

Our first day in London started out with almost being refused breakfast because we woke up late and got down to the dining area a minute late. It was a continental breakfast, so we simply said, "We've got to eat" and proceeded to join the buffet line. There were croissants and musli and yogurt--plenty to pack away for a snack in the middle of the day, too. We decided to start down Cromwell Road and step in the Victoria and Albert Museum, begun, of course, by Queen Victoria. The main collections are free, and there was so much we could have enjoyed. We asked one of the security guards what he would recommend if we only had an hour or so. He had a quick reply--the cast room and the jewelry. Neither disappointed.

The medieval cast room displayed amazing casts of original sarcophaguses, pillars, scuptures. We were amazed at not only the intricacies but at how much time it would have taken to do such a thing as well as transport it. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The jewelry was incredible. The display didn't allow photographs as everything was under glass and lighted just so to show the brilliance of gems, rings, chantelains, necklaces, swords--everything imaginable worn from cradle to grave. I particularly liked the display which started with jewelry worn by women--rings and necklaces to promote fertility and a safe birth to children's jewelry to religious jewelry to jewelry associated with marriage to jewelry to ward off evil spirits to jewelry worn for mourning.

We continued down Cromwell Road looking in the little shops as well as in search of the all-famous Harrod's where we spent over an hour just in the sock department looking for leggings and legwarmers for the girls, the chocolate room with enough chocolate samples to need to buy anything much less think about eating for hours, the delicatessen where we saw small tins of Beluga whale caviar selling for 5800 pounds or over $10,000!

We ended up in the official Harrad's gift shops looking for souvenirs, and we won't elaborate now on what we found lest surprises won't be surprises when we get home.

Next we found the Knightsbridge tube station so we could take off to Leicester Square--home of the theatre district and half-price ticket sellers. Paula really wanted to see The Lion King, and I was willing to see anything really, but the tickets were not discounted and virtually sold out anyway. We asked one of the ticket sellers what the best deal was, and it was a show called Never Forget--about 5 men who try out for a so-called band which is inspired by the British hit band of the 1980's called Take That. She said it was a musical and lots of fun but not known as well as most of those we knew. We opted for this show and just decided we'd go for it.

We had until 8:30 when the show started, so we decided to go see the church known for its incredible music--St. Martin in the Field's. We were treated to Vivaldi's Four Seasons when we walked in. Tonight was to be a concert, and this was the rehearsal. No wonder this church is so famous for its music. The acoustics were fantastic. We thought a lot about returning Saturday night to hear Mozart's Requiem. Mom and Henry would have loved this! In fact, I think it was Henry who recommended a visit.

We stopped at Trafalgar Square to see the pigeons and people watch . . .

and then headed to the Thames to the closest tube station for Tower Bridge where we had hoped to walk over. The Tower of London was magnificent in the moonlight, and it was, indeed, a great experience to actually walk over the bridge.

Once on the South bank of the river, we walked bankside toward the Globe but ran into an old replica of Sir Francis Drake's galleon where a tour was taking place. We heard a little bit of history but didn't have time to hear as much as we would have liked.

We made it to the Globe and took only one picture. They are re-doing the thatch roof so there was scaffolding everywhere, and the season had just ended, so there were no plays being performed right now.

A walk over Millenium Bridge

gave a great look at the Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral, and a tube ride brought us to the Strand--close to the Savoy Theatre where Take That was playing.

The show was so much fun. We wondered why the audience was primarily female and soon found out. It was the British version of Mamma Mia! We were in the third row, and as we looked back at the house, most were standing and singing every song along with the actors. Apparently, the band Take That's songs were pretty much known by everyone in the 1980's, and their lead singer, Robbie Williams, even made it big in the U.S., too.

After the show, we saw a crowd of audience members screaming across the street, and it was because Craig Els, one of the leads, had appeared. Paula and I went over, and I stopped Craig, introduced myself, and got a picture of him and Paula. We overheard a girl say, "and we're from Minnesota." I asked her, "Where in Minnesota?" She said, "We're from Holy Angels in Richfield." Paula couldn't believe it! There were 90 students from Lauren's high school right there in London for MEA break! Wow! That was synchronicity.

The night ended back at the hotel with lots to talk about and a wish that we had more days in London!

THE COTSWOLDS Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Day with Mad Max Tours to the Cotswolds--the heart of England

When we looked outside this morning, it had rained, but the forecast was good, and we were really looking forward to our tour of the Cotswolds with Mad Max Tours. True to previous experience with youth hostels in Europe, the breakfast was delicious—we both concurred even better that the Salamander—scrambled eggs, ham, cereal, yogurt, freshly baked croissants, coffee and tea. We started off down the hill from the mansion to once again board bus 18 to the city Centre where we were to meet our tour van and Charles, our guide for the day. The weather was gorgeous but cold (16 degrees Celsius or about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) with the forecast predicting sunshine on and off with a slight possibility of rain. It sounded great for a day in the Cotswolds.

We made it down to the centre in record time but were a bit anxious when our bus driver missed our stop and, instead, insisted on dropping us off way down at the railroad station. We had all our luggage with us and, as a result, had to make a mad dash back to the town centre in hopes that we would arrive on time to meet the rest of the group. Good thing Paula has a great sense of direction because we arrived with a few minutes to spare. We first met a woman and her husband from Seattle who was here for her granddaughter's christening up in a little Cotwold village where her new mother-in-law lived. Then we met Charles, our tour guide, who explained that he was not "mad max," but that a woman but started the company about 10 years ago whose name was Maddy (the mad part) who took along with her on the tours a little dog called "Max"--thus "Mad Max Tours."

As we began the tour, Charles told us lots about the history of Bath and the Cotswolds. He said the Old English word "wold" was an undulating hill, and the "Cot" part came from a farmer named "Cot" who owned most of this area centuries ago. The area has been well known for ages for its production of wool--obvious to us as we looked out and saw all the sheep everywhere--and its spinning (usually done by women--thus we have the word "spinster") and weaving (generally done by men). We traveled extensively on Fosse Way, a road built by the Romans. He pointed out that one can tell a Roman road immediately because of how absolutely logical and straight they were. There were often ditches on either side so the soldiers who had to march extensively down the road could jump in the ditch if the enemy Celts suddenly appeared. The view was absolutely lovely.

We started out in the little 17th century village of Castle Combe. The words Castle Combe meant "castle in the valley" although there was no actual castle there. However, Charles pointed out that a man's home was considered his "castle"--whether a real one or not. This little village was where Rex Harrison's movie Dr. Doolittle was filmed.

Charles showed us where various scenes were filmed, and Paula actually recognized some of the places from the film--one of her favorites.

Charles mentioned that this is one of the most quaint and photographed villages in England.

There was a churchyard with tombstones hundreds of years old and a church we visited that dated from the 1100's.

It was called St. Andrew's

and had an amazing clock that still worked which had been moved down from the tower (where someone had to climb up every day to re-set it) to a glass case to show visitors.

Paula and I ducked into a little shop on our way back to the van and found some fun little candles.


We next drove to the village of Badminton, where the game was actually invented! At that time people were playing tennis with hard balls. When the weather got bad, the Earl of Badminton allowed his guests to play tennis indoors in his parlour. He was upset when holes started appearing in his paintings and was told that in India some British people were playing a game with a ball made of cork and feathers, and so he adopted the ball to the shuttle, and came up with Badminton. The size of the court was determined by the exact dimensions of his parlour!

We passed other towns of Stroud and Cirencester, the 2nd largest Roman town after Bath. In England, lots of towns end in "cester," which meant Roman village. Our next stop was a town called Tetbury. Charles said the towns that end in "bury" meaning "place." This is very close to Prince Charles' 300 acre summer manor house called High Grove. He even has his own shop in the town which sells organic products and garden things. We visited the shop and began looking in antique shops, where Paula loved looking at antique kitchen tables. The one pictured was her favorite--a very tempting buy until she found out how much the shipping back to the United States could be.

Here's Paula and her lovely table, Tom. You'll find out soon if it'll soon arrive.

Bibury was next. This was a lovely little village with what Charles described as some of the most photographed cottages in England.

He explained why there were so many stone fences of the type scene in the picture with Charles here:

Apparently, they were made with a top like this to keep the sheep from jumping over it to get loose on the other side--very effective! He said they are still being made in this area in the same traditional way, and people have them everywhere (which we now began to notice, of course!).

There was a trout farm there

with beautiful gardens . . .

and stream . . .



and a bed and breakfast called

The Swan with gorgeous autumnal colored vines . . .
growing all over the outside of the building.

≈

Stow on-the-Wold ( The word "stow" meant holy place.)

was our stop for an hour and a half where we could go off on our own and shop and find a place for lunch. We just loved going in and out of antique shops, woolen shops, clothes shops, and especially enjoyed a lovely lunch at The Cream Tea Shop

of squash soup (Linda) and a chocolate scone (Paula). We had heard about cream tea, and we got to see what that is like at lunch today. Having cream tea mean you have clotted cream (a type of butter) with scones and tea alongside. Paula found some lovely gifts for Lauren in "The Little Black Dress Shop" and, once again, we made a mad dash to make it back to the Mad Max tour van in time to leave. This is a definitely an area to return to at some time later in our lives when one can drive to each village and stay as long as one likes, but it was great to do the Cotswolds this way the first time--with someone who knows the little roads and history and stories.

Other villages we passed were North Leach and Bourton on-the-Water on the way to Upper and Lower Slaughter.

We were so curious about the name "slaughter."

He said that it simply meant "muddy," but some villages associated with the word "slaughter" did have something to do with a battle taking place there. After that great lunch and a smooth van ride that could easily lull one to sleep, we were ready for a walk. Charles dropped us off at Upper Slaughter at a gate and promised us we wouldn't get lost walking cross country over fields and through numerous other gates configured so that animals couldn't get through them. The grass was lush and the path easily marked. We felt like we were in a Jane Austen novel about to run into Mr. Darcy.

Once we met Charles at Lower Slaughter, there was a craft shop to see and as we walked back to the van, we saw a grand English horse Whisky with her English rider going across the countryside. How fitting!

We boarded the van

for the hour trip back to Bath along with many more stories from Charles, of course. Charles told us a lot about Lord Burford who owns a great deal of the Cotswolds. Here is the gate to his manor, which can be seen through the gate. The most interesting thing about this is that the manor can be seen at all. It is actually 3 miles from the gate!

We arrived back to Bath just about "rush hour" but in good time to get to the train station.

So, we decided we wanted to see the beautiful Abbey in the heart of the town.

A woman there gave us some information on the church's activity: they have strong community support with 5 separate services on Sundays. We would have loved to go up to the tower to see the bells, but we needed to get to the trainstation to begin our trip to London.

We would have loved to have another day in Bath, but onward we must go!

When we arrived at Paddington about 8:20, we need to find our way on the Tube to Earl's Court and then take about a 5 minute walk to the Quality Crown Hotel. We got settled and then arranged to meet

Colin Peters, a former student of Wally's who is studying theatre and British culture classes in London this semester until he begins 2nd term at Northeastern University in the Boston area.

We had fish and chips with Colin while we caught up on all the Eden Prairie and London news. It was a very short but fun visit--including several exchanges of memories of last year and our awesome class of 2007.