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 Chicago 5 October

Susie and I spent our final day in England relaxing with friends.

We had one last leisurely breakfast at Richard and Pauline's home in Ellis Fields and then a tour of the Saturday open air market in downtown St. Albans. We also got a tour of the recently refurbished old Town Hall, which now houses the city's museum. You can actually stand in the docket and travel the underground corridor to the jail cells, some of which now serve as bathrooms for the museum and dining facility included in the space.

the old jail

So true

After returning to Ellis Fields Pauline and Richard treated us to a superb lunch of soup, meats and cheeses to fortify us for the long haul back to Chicago. Of course when I say "long haul" I don't mean to compare with those truly long haul journeys that so many truly courageous people undertook in previous centuries, journeys lasting weeks aboard flimsy boats. No, ours took about 8 hours sitting in a chair at 38,000 feet traveling about 550 mph.

Richard and Pauline drove us to Heathrow and we said our goodbyes.

We checked in, breezed through security, as much as one could "breeze through" security at Heathrow, and made our way to the C gate section in Terminal 5. Our flight aboard the megaliner Airbus 380 -- a double decker like the London city buses--  left about a half hour late but it was a smooth flight. We actually had an empty seat in our row which was certainly convenient and we touched down in Chicago a little after 7pm CST.

Airbus 380

We sped through passport control with relative ease, and in fact had a longer wait for our bags. Before long we made our way to the shuttle pickup location and in less than a half hour had checked in at the nearby Comfort Inn where we had the left our car nearly two weeks earlier.

Sunday morning found us up early and on the road. Traffic was incredibly light and we were back in Grand Rapids by 11am.

What a grand trip we had, made even more wonderful by traveling with Richard and Pauline. Their kindness and generosity, not to mention the many moments laughing and carrying on about the absurdities of our respective governments, made this truly a memorable journey. We can't wait to go back.

London 4 October

Today our focus was solely the Royal Botanic Gardens.

After a relaxing (read: leisurely) breakfast at Ellis Fields, Richard, Susan and I headed off for the St. Albans train station -- Pauline would join us a bit later after her exercise class. Anyway, we took the train to West Hampstead where we changed to the London Overground, which took over the Silverlink Metro routes in 2007.

We arrived at Kew Gardens Station and the three of us stopped for coffee at the Kew Greenhouse Café just up the street from the station. Richard thought this would be better than the café in the gardens themselves which he felt was somewhat inferior.  We then strolled up to the gardens' entrance at Victoria Gate.

Kew Greenhouse Café

Once inside we learned to our very great surprise that the works of American glassblowing artist Dale Chihuly were featured in a special exhibit with more than a dozen of his works being scattered around the 326-acres. In fact, the gardens had produced a map dedicated just to this exhibit. We set off to see them all -- or as many as we could find.

general map

Getting oriented

the Palm House

"Paintbrushes"

off to the Waterlily House

"Red Reeds" 2016

And once inside the Waterlily house, where our glasses and camera lenses fogged right up:

"Ethereal White Persian Pond" 2018

strolling toward the next Chihuly

Magpies are everywhere and if I were a state this would be my bird

"Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower" 2013

Lucombe Oak, planted 1773

King William's Temple, built 1837

And in front of the temple you can find:

"Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins" 2019

path from the temple to the Temperate House

"Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds" 2015

Inside the Temperate House are plants from around the world with an upper level promenade accessible by wrought-iron spiral staircases. Scattered amongst the various flora are more than a half dozen different Chihuly creations that blend in wonderfully with their environment.

"Beluga Boat" 2018

"Red Reeds" 2018

"Hebron Vessels" 1999

"Temperate House Persians" 2018

"Opal and Amber Towers" 2018

entrance to the Temperate House

"Lime Crystal Tower" 2006

"Sapphire Star" 2010

After finding most of the Chihuly pieces it was time to meet up with Pauline so we left the gardens and returned to the Kew Greenhouse Café. Pauline had just arrived and the four of us sat down for a lovely lunch of various savory tarts, quiches and pies.

Following lunch we returned to the gardens (tickets are good for the entire day) and, while Richard took Pauline to see the Chihulys, Susan and I explored a little more of the gardens. We thought the Palm House quite nice but, unlike the Temperate House, a bit worn and tired.

"Summer Sun"

inside the Palm House

the Great Broad Walk leading to the Orangery

Japanese Pagoda Tree, planted c. 1760, one of the few oldest trees from the original gardens

"The Hive" - an interesting installation representing an enormous beehive but it left us more puzzled than anything else

So much more to see but it was about time to go. We reconnected with Richard and Pauline at the gift shop. It was while taking in all the stuff promoting horticulture, botany and of course the gardens themselves that Pauline spied a staff member just putting out copies of a book titled London Cemeteries. Naturally I had to have a copy -- fortunately it was small and easily packed.

Leaving the gardens we made our way back up in the direction of the train station, stopping at, where else, the Kew Greenhouse Café for a mid-afternoon tea/coffee break.

Eventually, it was time to get on the train and return to St. Albans where we had a wonderful dinner that evening at the Prae Wood Arms just outside the city.

Returning to Ellis Fields the four of us had a digestif before heading to bed. Our final day spent at Kew Gardens, our last dinner with Richard and Pauline, our penultimate day in Great Britain, it all added up to a thoroughly wonderful time -- today and the past two weeks, we have enjoyed ourselves immensely.