2019 UK Trip Wrap-up

Princes Street, Edinburgh

Accommodations.

We used Sawday's Special Places. They put you in touch with the owner of the home or hotel and you take it from there. We used Sawday for our stay in Paris in the fall of 2016 and had a simply fantastic experience. We weren't disappointed this time, either. Beats Air BnB, hands down. A strong recommendation.

Edinburgh. 2 Cambridge Square, AKA the Dynamite Club.
Notwithstanding the wonderfully and yes quirky space itself, three things the traveler will most likely find important in considering a stay at the Dynamite Club: (1) The breakfasts by Virginia were as good as any meal we ate in Edinburgh;.(2) Our breakfast companions -- there are only two rooms -- were fascinating and a genuine pleasure to spend an hour with in the morning.  (3) And last but by no means least is the location. I mean, you are right at the base of the castle and within walking distance to just about everything and anything of interest in Edinburgh.

Bath. The Queensberry Hotel.
Three things to bear in mind here: (1) The hotel itself is wonderful; four Georgian townhomes wedded together, the original space once being the home of the marquess of Queensberry, yes that's right the guy who codified the rules for boxing; and our room (no. 14) was lovely with an enormous bathroom and two sinks, which was a nice touch. Also there was a Nespresso machine right outside our door. (2) The food was superb -- we ate at the bar for dinner the night we arrived (fish pie was scrumptious) and in the restaurant for breakfast, which was delicious: pitchers of smoothies next to the orange juice. I can only imagine what dinner must be like. (3) The staff were incredibly friendly and always willing and available to be helpful and of assistance. (4) And lastly is the location. The hotel is a ten-minute walk from the Roman Baths and the abbey and almost around the corner from the Circus and the Royal Crescent.

Food.

Ripon. 
Royal Oak Inn. Fish n chips x 2, ham and eggs x 2, wine and beer for four £45.

Edinburgh.
Wagamama, noodle bowls x 2 £31.00
Balmoral Hotel, tea x 2 £110
Cafe Andaluz patatas gratinadas, albondagas and pollo rebozado, 2 glasses wine £31,00
Royal Yacht Britannia, cream tea x 1, cheese and chutney sand, 2 glasses rosé £43.00
the Grainstore, scallops, beef, fish 2 glasses wine £91.00
Amarone, pennette pomodorino, linguine polpettine, insalata, 1btl wine £54.00

St. Andrews. Nando's, sand x 2

Bath.
Pump Room, tea x 1, fishcakes, 2 glasses wine £71.00
The Chequers, fish n chips, burger, wine £56.00
The Circus, 2 x fish of the day, veggie starter, creme brulé, glass dessert wine Samos, 1 btl Assyrtiko £93.00
Queensberry Hotel Bar, £35.00

London.
Dorchester Hotel, tea x 2 £171.00
Le Pain Quotidian (St. Pancras Station), 2 tarts, 1 half soup-tartine, 2 glasses wine £46.00
Trafalgar Tavern (Greenwich), whitebait large, 2 sand of the day, bangers n mash, beer/wine for four, £68.00

St. Albans.
Chez Momtaj, 2 lamb shank, 2 seafood biryani, btle chablis £126
DavVero,
Prae Wood Arms, £67.00

Things seen and done.

Edinburgh. National Gallery, Princes Street Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Castle, Rabbie's Day Tours, Scotch Whiskey Experience.
St. Andrews. Castle and abbey.
Falkland. Palace and gardens.
Bath. Royal Crescent, The Circus, Jane Austen Centre, Abbey, Roman Baths, Bertinet Cookery School.
London. Cruise on the Thames, Greenwich, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens
St. Albans, Saturday market, the Old Town Hall.

General

Use the city tour buses to get a feel of the space.
Use your iphone  or buy a local SIM card when you first arrive. SIMLocal is a chain that's in all the terminals at Heathrow.
Check your CC to see if you have the swipe 'n go feature -- if so, using the Tube is a breeze.

Back to England 28 September

Travel day but this time we'll be heading back south to St. Albans. After our final leisurely breakfast, handsomely prepared by our hostess Virginia, and a rousing conversation with the new guests it was time to pack and go. Richard and Pauline picked us up about 10 am and we were soon wending our way through Edinburgh heading for the motorway. It was a gorgeous morning as we cruised along the A1 keeping the North Sea on our left.

We stopped for a tasty lunch at Morpeth -- we had stopped in this lovely town once before in 2014 -- and got a chance to see the tail end of a wedding downtown.

We arrived back at Ellis Fields in St. Albans at about 7 pm; the weather cooperated as did the traffic gods but it was thanks to Richard and Pauline that the trip seemed to go so smoothly.

After unpacking the four of us went out for dinner at Chez Mumtaj. In keeping with this day of repeats, we had eaten here once before in 2014. The food, a fusion of French and Indian, was delicious and it proved to be a superb way to unwind after a rather long, tiresome journey.

strolling Morpeth

lamb shank

seafood biryani

Little rest for us travelers though -- tomorrow it's off to London for afternoon tea at the Dorchester and then a train to Bath. Stay tuned!

Off to Scotland 24 September

It rained today, all day; it rained when we left St. Albans at about 9:30am and it was raining when we arrived in Edinburgh some ten hours later. In fact, it rained the entire time we were on the road. Even when we stopped for lunch in Ripon, about midway, it continued to rain.

The drive up the A1, the Great North Road, clearly fit into that category of trying men's souls. Richard did a stellar job of piloting and Pauline navigating -- with the help of their SATNAV system when it came time to skirt traffic snarls, particularly around Newcastle.

Oh, and about that lunch in Ripon -- another curious twist of events. Pauline had booked lunch for us at the Royal Oak and yet no one said anything about the village being one of the major stages of the (then) upcoming World Cycle Championships. We learned the hard way, of course. When we arrived at Ripon in the driving rain we discovered the entire city center was closed for the races -- naturally that's where our restaurant was located. And when we tried to park in the one-and-only car park it turned out to be flooded and thus unusable. We had no sooner cancelled our reservations -- the restaurant was no help in suggesting alternative parking -- anyway we had no sooner cancelled than we snagged a parking spot on the street near the edge of town.

A short walk into town past the cycling and racing stalls and we soon found ourselves in a dry, quiet corner of the Royal Oak Inn, Ale & Dining House.

The hassles aside, the place was quite nice, good service and the food very tasty; Susie and I had fish-and-chips with mashed peas, which were really quite tasty; Richard and Pauline had the ham-and-eggs. It was a much-needed rest stop, particularly for our driver and navigator.

After lunch it was back to the car and off to the A1 heading north. Once we hit the greater Newcastle area, traffic began slowing and our driving crew opted to get off the major motorway and head in a more direct fashion to Edinburgh by taking the A696.

The highway was a nice change from the major motorway of the A1 and a lovely drive through a part of the country we had visited some five years before with R & P when we took on Hadrian's Wall. Unfortunately, the weather was the same then as well: rainy and a bit chilly.

It was dark and yes, still raining by the time Richard piloted us all into Edinburgh's city center, and after correcting one wrong turn we found our room for the next four nights: The Dynamite Club at 2 Cambridge Street, in the shadow of the Edinburgh Castle.

Standing in the street in the rain we said our farewells to R & P -- we'll meet up with them sometime Saturday morning for the return drive back south.

After settling in we made our way back outside, around the corner and grabbed a rice bowl and a glass of wine at Wagamama's for dinner. Then it was back to the room and to bed.

Tomorrow it's the heart of Edinburgh and tea at the Balmoral. Stay tuned!

Grand Rapids to St. Albans

We're in England. Or, more precisely, we're at Richard and Pauline's home at Ellis Fields in St. Albans, preparing for a rainy drive north to Scotland.

But speaking of drives, the one from Grand Rapids to Chicago's O'Hare airport last Sunday was smooth with light traffic and no construction delays. We found our motel right off I-294 near the airport. Dropped off the car and took their shuttle to Terminal 3.

After checking in we made our way through security -- again smooth traffic with little or no delay there either -- and found a place to grab a bite of lunch before the flight. Notwithstanding their steep prices, we can certainly recommend the delicious sandwiches at Publican in the terminal.

After lunch we made our way to gate K-13 where we and waited with so many others to board our American Airlines flight to London nearly an hour late.

We packed ourselves into seriously cramped seats where we sat for the next 7 or so hours. Aside from the unpleasant food were the tired and travel-weary attendants who didn't seem terribly happy or pleased with their care choice. And for the early portion of the trip we had the required yelling/screaming/crying baby close by. All part of the inclusive travel package.

We arrived at London Heathrow about 45 minutes late, made our way through passport control, picked up our bags and soon found ourselves exiting Terminal 3 -- and there was Richard waiting for us! After I picked up a SIM card for our old UK phone the three of us made our way to the car park and before long we were heading north in a maze of motorways and Monday morning London commuter traffic for our refuge at the Horsman home in St. Albans.

Pauline was waiting for us with a lovely breakfast and the four of us spent some time catching up and weighing the pros and cons (mostly the later) of our respective present political situations. It was about 11am local time when we headed up to our room for a sorely-needed nap.  We both got up and refreshed and ready for the day at about 1:30 and after a scrumptious lunch of soup and meat pie we all made our way to nearby Highland View park in St. Albans for a leisurely stroll and leg stretch.

 

Returning home we relaxed, chatted and shared  a gin & tonic before another lovely meal - Richard knows how to make the perfect G & T. This time Pauline prepared a slow-cooked  pork and mushroom stew with steamed fingerlings and broccolini - with apple crumble and ice cream for dessert!

We were in bed by a little after nine and slept like the proverbial logs. What a day, though, spent with good friends.

Our Visit to half the United Kingdom

view of Edinburgh looking north from Blackford Hill, wikipedia, the Firth of Forth in far distance

Tomorrow Susan and I leave for the English and Scottish parts of the United Kingdom.

The plan is to drive to O'Hare Airport outside Chicago, leave our car at a nearby motel and fly out late in the afternoon to London. (It's a Park, Fly, Sleep arrangement.) Our friends Richard and Pauline who live in St. Albans, about 20 miles north of central London,  plan to pick us up at Heathrow the morning of the 23rd and we'll spend the day with them at their home.

On the 24th the four of us will drive to Scotland and Richard and Pauline will drop us off in Edinburgh while they go and visit a friend north of the city. Susie and I will spend four days enjoying Edinburgh and its environs before meeting up with R & P for the drive back to St. Albans. On the 29th we'll go into central London for the day before heading off to Bath where we'll spend three nights.

One of the novel aspects of this trip, for us at any rate, is we will be making a team presentation (Susan and I being the team) on the trip at Aquinas in January. Since Susan wants to provide examples of afternoon tea in the UK,  we already have reservations for three tea experiences: the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, the Dorchester Hotel in London and the Pump Room in Bath.

Oh, and we have scheduled a tour of the Bertinet culinary school in Bath as well, which should be lots of fun. Naturally we plan to stop at no small number of pastry shops while we're in the UK. And a perhaps a short day trip to St. Andrews while we're in Scotland but absolutely no golf!

Returning to London from Bath we will rejoin Richard and Pauline and if the weather cooperates get to Kew Gardens, take a Thames River Cruise and visit the National Gallery and perhaps the British Museum. We had hoped to spend time at the Courtauld Galley but they are closed until 2021 for major renovations.

We leave London on October 5 and arrive back in Chicago that evening around 7pm. We'll take the shuttle to our motel, spend the night and then leave Sunday morning for the drive back to Grand Rapids.

This is just a bare outline, of course -- in later posts I'll be talking about our accommodations -- selected through Sawday's Special Places, which we used in 2013 in Paris -- our dining experiences, and so much more. Like haggis, scotch whiskey and shortbread, of course.

We're going to try something a bit new with communication this trip: simply using our existing phones and phone numbers while overseas. Now we did this once before with Verizon but the costs were steep. However, our phones have been unlocked since we changed services last year, and our present mobile carrier, Xfinity, does not charge a fee for activating the international roaming feature while the costs for using their services abroad are small (sort of):

10 cents for each minute of talk, in or out
10 cents for each text, in or out, and
10 cents per mb of data used

Since we still have our old UK clamshell we also plan to buy a local SIM card as a backup once we arrive at Heathrow.

While the weekly painting posts will be on hiatus until later this autumn when I hope to return with some truly wonderful art to share with you: works by Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, William Bougereau, Jean Béraud , Marie Bashkirtseff , George Seurat, and so many more from my September presentations at Aquinas on 19th century French art so stay tuned!

“The Elder Sister” 1869 by Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1825-1905) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston