Here we are on the last field trip of the year. All week they have been predicting rain but it has turned out to be a lovely weekend.We started the day with a very long coach drive - Cornwall is the very farthest south west part of the island and takes a long time to reach.
First stop was at the Eden Project a place that has created a series of biomes or biospheres in a former china clay pit and works to teach us about sustainability and green futures.The rainforest biome was a bit too much for us Northern Minnesotans so we chose to hang out more in the Mediterranean Climate biome.
After another bus ride, which took us through some harrowing narrow lanes, we got to our youth hostel. But before I talk about that I must say a bit about the driving on these field trips. We all hop on a 40 passenger coach driven by our brilliant driver, Mark. Throughout the semester we have been amazed by his ability to make tight turns, back into narrow parking places in a single try and avoid all manner of road hazards and traffic jams. But we had yet to see his true skill level until the drive through the lanes of Cornwall. Linda has noted that a lane here is actually one lane wide - not something you see often in the U.S. but here it is something quite usual. When you take a very large coach ( bus) through a one lane winding road it can get pretty tight. We found ourselves going down a lane which kept getting narrower and narrower, after squeaking through a section with posts and hedges on both sides and then a tight corner against a brick wall, Mark finally decided he would have to reverse.This meant scrapping back through the hedges and trying to find a way to turn the coach around. Needless to say, he did it and it was Brilliant! He even received applause from car loads of people who had to wait for us.
The hostel was beautiful - perched on the coast looking out at the ocean. We all wished we could have just stayed there the whole time, walking along the cliffs, going down to the beach, absolutely lovely. However the next day we were off to St Ives and then on to Lands End.
In St. Ives, we went to the Tate museum and the Barbara Hempworth Sculpture Garden. The garden was lovely, as was the sea but the town itself was a bit touristy and was full of shops. An interesting note about St. Ives is that a great deal of Pirates of the Caribbean was shot at this location. After a couple of hours, we were back on the coach and heading for Lands End, some 4,000 miles from Duluth.
On our final day on the coast, some of the students went surfing at Newquay in Cornwall at the Bluewings Surf School for a few hours and then we headed home by way of Dartmoor National Park.
It was lovely being on the ocean again and a little sad as it was the last field trip with the students. We'll all be home by the end of the month.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Heading South to the Sea
We began another three day field trip with a 7am start and a drive by coach to the White Cliffs of Dover. The white cliffs are made of chalk, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Whilst we didn't have the time to see the cliffs themselves from the vantage point of the sea or the trails, it was still a fascinating day. The cliffs face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel,
where invasions have historically threatened and against which the
cliffs form a symbolic guard. Crossing at Dover was the primary
route to the continent before air travel, the white line of cliffs also
formed the first or last sight of the UK for travelers.
We were able to visit the underground tunnels used by the British during World War II for military housing and a base of operations for Operation Dynamo. This is the operation that evacuated some 300,000 allied and English troops from France where they were trapped by German forces. We also visited a separate hospital tunnel that was used during World war II as well. These tunnels had been developed much earlier, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), which were fought between Britain and Revolutionary France.
Dover Castle is also on this same historic site where it has stood for 2000 years. It's history and continuous use is remarkable in and of itself. Click on the Dover Castle link for a brief rundown of what has happened here. We didn't spend a lot of time at the castle as we were treated to the only sunshine of the trip that afternoon and had a few hours to enjoy the sun and the view over the English Channel toward France.
We hopped back on the coach to find our way to the youth hostel near Brighton. The hostel was perhaps the grungiest place you can imagine. It was a neat old building but sort of crumbling around us. It was a short walk through the woods to the nearest pub which was a delight to visit. The food and brews were good and the locals brought their dogs with them. For a couple of pet starved travelers, it was just great to pet the dogs and talk to their peeps. One of the things we will miss when we return to the states is the welcoming of all dogs into the pubs and shops. Many places have water dishes by the shop door for the dogs.
The next day we boarded the coach to go to Brighton. We toured the Royal Pavilion, built for the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in a fantastic 'Oriental' style. The architect and designers had never visited China and so it's a lot more imagination than accurate. It is lovely nonetheless with it's dragon chandeliers and gold leafed flower decorations.
Brighton is the city where Anne studied for a semester back in her undergraduate days. We took a train out to the campus for a look around and a walk down memory lane. Fortunately, the memory had faded a bit so we had time to take in the Brighton Pier, an open market street and an extremely large retro clothing store. We met up with some of the students at the store but moved on to find a fabulous Thai restaurant.
We spent one more night at the hostile hostel before heading home by way of Hampton Court. Hampton Court Palace spans the reigns of Henry the VIII (1509-1547), William III and Mary II (1689-1702). This means that the architecture ranges from Tudor to Georgian but the opulence of royalty is on display everywhere. It was an incredibly rainy day and so we were glad to be in the Palace.
This trip leaves us with only one more three day field trip with the Study in England program.
We were able to visit the underground tunnels used by the British during World War II for military housing and a base of operations for Operation Dynamo. This is the operation that evacuated some 300,000 allied and English troops from France where they were trapped by German forces. We also visited a separate hospital tunnel that was used during World war II as well. These tunnels had been developed much earlier, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), which were fought between Britain and Revolutionary France.
Dover Castle is also on this same historic site where it has stood for 2000 years. It's history and continuous use is remarkable in and of itself. Click on the Dover Castle link for a brief rundown of what has happened here. We didn't spend a lot of time at the castle as we were treated to the only sunshine of the trip that afternoon and had a few hours to enjoy the sun and the view over the English Channel toward France.
We hopped back on the coach to find our way to the youth hostel near Brighton. The hostel was perhaps the grungiest place you can imagine. It was a neat old building but sort of crumbling around us. It was a short walk through the woods to the nearest pub which was a delight to visit. The food and brews were good and the locals brought their dogs with them. For a couple of pet starved travelers, it was just great to pet the dogs and talk to their peeps. One of the things we will miss when we return to the states is the welcoming of all dogs into the pubs and shops. Many places have water dishes by the shop door for the dogs.
The next day we boarded the coach to go to Brighton. We toured the Royal Pavilion, built for the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in a fantastic 'Oriental' style. The architect and designers had never visited China and so it's a lot more imagination than accurate. It is lovely nonetheless with it's dragon chandeliers and gold leafed flower decorations.
Brighton is the city where Anne studied for a semester back in her undergraduate days. We took a train out to the campus for a look around and a walk down memory lane. Fortunately, the memory had faded a bit so we had time to take in the Brighton Pier, an open market street and an extremely large retro clothing store. We met up with some of the students at the store but moved on to find a fabulous Thai restaurant.
We spent one more night at the hostile hostel before heading home by way of Hampton Court. Hampton Court Palace spans the reigns of Henry the VIII (1509-1547), William III and Mary II (1689-1702). This means that the architecture ranges from Tudor to Georgian but the opulence of royalty is on display everywhere. It was an incredibly rainy day and so we were glad to be in the Palace.
This trip leaves us with only one more three day field trip with the Study in England program.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Wales Part II - The North
We started off for Northern Wales with our sights set on Ruthin. This is the town where the last known Tellett worked in the castle gatehouse. It is a very sweet little town where a large section of Offa's Dyke is still visible. The dyke dates from around 785 BC and it is believed to have designated the boundary of Wales and England. It now stands along side the lovely River Clwyd (Yr Afon Clwyd - remember that language thing in Wales?) as it runs through Ruthin.
The Ruthin Castle is a short walk up the hill and has been a hotel for the last 60 years. We wandered the grounds and had a lovely Cream Tea from a room overlooking the garden before heading out to Llanbedr to search for gravestones.
We had spent a bit of time in the city archives housed in Yr Hen Garchar (The Old Gaol) to see if we could confirm the name of the town where Richard Tellett was buried. We found a lot of information but not that particular burial record and so we set off to search for gravestones with little to go one except that his grave is in a church yard. Fortunately the town was quite small and only had one church. Our search was successful and we found the marker that indicated several of the Tellett family burials.
Driving on the Wales roads was much easier this time due to Linda's greater comfort level and Anne's expert navigation skills. We had a better understanding of our destinations and the road markers. That is, which roads had a middle white line most of the time, all of the time or, not at all. So at least, if we chose the road less traveled, we would not be too surprised to run into a herd of cattle or a few stray sheep.
We stayed our first night in a lovely inn whose chef had received the double egg award for excellent breakfasts as well as the AA Rosette award for great food. It did not disappoint. Linda had a lovely trout dinner, perhaps her best ever and our room looked out a field of sheep, so we woke up and watched little lambs looking for their mums - delightful!
We spent the next two nights on the Isle of Anglesey at a lovely farm house B & B, Llwydiarth Fawr. This place was fantastic and it was easy to see why Mrs. Margaret Hughes is a past winner of BBC Welsh Farm Wife of the Year Competition. There was fresh fruit, cookies and flowers in our room as well as the most fantastic shower control we have ever encountered.
It's location made
it quite easy to drive around the Isle and we were able to make two trips
to the South Stack Cliffs.
The South Stack is administered by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is a nesting site for many cliff nesters and we saw all but one of their star species (no Peregrines) and a pair of Puffins. Our main reason for visiting was to see Puffins so we were quite excited to see a pair. No photos though, too far away but happily were able to rent some binoculars from the RSPB so that we could spot their orange feet amongst the rocks.
In addition to the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate), the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon) is also home to many standing stones, burial chambers and other neolithic and older sites. We visited several of them including the Ty Mawr Hut Circles near South Stack which date from the middle stone age (15,000 to 10,000 years ago) through to the Iron Age, 1,300 to 900 years ago.
The Ty Newydd Burial chamber has been extensively destroyed over time and partially restored as well. Although "restored" is a difficult word to use when the restoration includes bricks.
In order to see the Bodowyr Burial Chamber we clamored over a fence and through an occupied sheep pasture. This is thought to actually be a passage grave and again, has similarities to sites in Ireland.
We weren't able to enter The Barcloiad y Bawres Burial chamber but it was impressive none-the-less. The stones have carvings on them that are similar to burial chamber carvings in Ireland. This one also has been restored so that we could understand a bit better what the others were like prior to the mound of sod covering having been removed.
We found Northern Wales, and in particular, Anglesey Isle to be quite different than Southern Wales in just the 'feel' of the area. For one thing, 60% of the people speak Welsh, most of them as their first language. It is known as Mon Mam Cymru (the Mother of Wales). The saying originates from the 12th century when Giraldus Cambrenis was on a journey around Wales, said that Anglesey could supply the whole of Wales with corn. It seemed to be more friendly to us than the more English influenced southern Wales.
Before we left the island, we visited the town with the longest recognized place name in the UK, Llanfairpw
The Ruthin Castle is a short walk up the hill and has been a hotel for the last 60 years. We wandered the grounds and had a lovely Cream Tea from a room overlooking the garden before heading out to Llanbedr to search for gravestones.
We had spent a bit of time in the city archives housed in Yr Hen Garchar (The Old Gaol) to see if we could confirm the name of the town where Richard Tellett was buried. We found a lot of information but not that particular burial record and so we set off to search for gravestones with little to go one except that his grave is in a church yard. Fortunately the town was quite small and only had one church. Our search was successful and we found the marker that indicated several of the Tellett family burials.
Driving on the Wales roads was much easier this time due to Linda's greater comfort level and Anne's expert navigation skills. We had a better understanding of our destinations and the road markers. That is, which roads had a middle white line most of the time, all of the time or, not at all. So at least, if we chose the road less traveled, we would not be too surprised to run into a herd of cattle or a few stray sheep.
We stayed our first night in a lovely inn whose chef had received the double egg award for excellent breakfasts as well as the AA Rosette award for great food. It did not disappoint. Linda had a lovely trout dinner, perhaps her best ever and our room looked out a field of sheep, so we woke up and watched little lambs looking for their mums - delightful!
We spent the next two nights on the Isle of Anglesey at a lovely farm house B & B, Llwydiarth Fawr. This place was fantastic and it was easy to see why Mrs. Margaret Hughes is a past winner of BBC Welsh Farm Wife of the Year Competition. There was fresh fruit, cookies and flowers in our room as well as the most fantastic shower control we have ever encountered.
The South Stack is administered by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is a nesting site for many cliff nesters and we saw all but one of their star species (no Peregrines) and a pair of Puffins. Our main reason for visiting was to see Puffins so we were quite excited to see a pair. No photos though, too far away but happily were able to rent some binoculars from the RSPB so that we could spot their orange feet amongst the rocks.
In addition to the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate), the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon) is also home to many standing stones, burial chambers and other neolithic and older sites. We visited several of them including the Ty Mawr Hut Circles near South Stack which date from the middle stone age (15,000 to 10,000 years ago) through to the Iron Age, 1,300 to 900 years ago.
The Ty Newydd Burial chamber has been extensively destroyed over time and partially restored as well. Although "restored" is a difficult word to use when the restoration includes bricks.
In order to see the Bodowyr Burial Chamber we clamored over a fence and through an occupied sheep pasture. This is thought to actually be a passage grave and again, has similarities to sites in Ireland.
We weren't able to enter The Barcloiad y Bawres Burial chamber but it was impressive none-the-less. The stones have carvings on them that are similar to burial chamber carvings in Ireland. This one also has been restored so that we could understand a bit better what the others were like prior to the mound of sod covering having been removed.
We found Northern Wales, and in particular, Anglesey Isle to be quite different than Southern Wales in just the 'feel' of the area. For one thing, 60% of the people speak Welsh, most of them as their first language. It is known as Mon Mam Cymru (the Mother of Wales). The saying originates from the 12th century when Giraldus Cambrenis was on a journey around Wales, said that Anglesey could supply the whole of Wales with corn. It seemed to be more friendly to us than the more English influenced southern Wales.
Before we left the island, we visited the town with the longest recognized place name in the UK, Llanfairpw
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Amsterdam in April 2012
After checking out of our Barcelona digs, Carol hopped a train back to Gerona so that she could get her flight back to Minnesota and Anne & I caught our flight up to Amsterdam.
While it was much cooler in Amsterdam than in Southern France and Spain, it was a perfect time to visit the city. We stayed in a hotel right next to the floating flower market which was full of tulips, daffodils and all manner of bulbs, flowers, plants, garden decorations and seeds. While only about half the size of Barcelona, tourists flock to the city in droves and nearly double the population in peak times. We did our best to contribute to the congestion but still couldn't compete with the bicycles.
The Dutch seem to have made the bicycle some kind of god and any rights not given to them are taken by the riders. They snake around the city in huge packs - no helmets -as fast as they can go. Nearly all ride 3 speed or less as the city is very level. They do follow the stop light system to a degree as there are designated bike lanes, however, they also take up lots of space on the streets that might otherwise be designated for pedestrians by parking or tossing their bikes on the sidewalks.
Things got much better for us once we found our way to the hotel and had a bit of rest, then it was off to see the city. (Thank you to Sandra for providing us with a guide to the city along with great suggestions for things to do!) We hopped on a tram and made our way to the Albert Cuypmarkt (a market like no other) where we sampled all manner of foods, took pictures of interesting things (for example: pants that will rub off your cellulite, a sandal/brush to wear in the shower that cleans your feet without needing to bend over, and the worlds highest platform shoes). We also bought a few items and had a great time people watching. We sampled a common Dutch street food Vlaamse Frites (think thick french fries) which many people eat with mayo, however we fell for the peanut sauce. Decadent!
We took in the Van Gogh Museum and saw his sunflowers, lots of paintings of his time in the south of France and his bed room.
We spent time wandering the neighborhoods and soaking up the city - brilliant!
We also visited an award winning brewery, Brouwerij 't IJ which is where the locals go - great people watching!
Our final destination was to see the tulip gardens in full bloom, which required a bus trip outside the city to see the world famous Keukenhof gardens. They were nothing short of amazing - please see the pictures to get a sense of both the formal gardens as well as the amazing fields of flowers ( we could see them from the plane flying in!) that stretch for miles. It is truly something you must experience to understand. A stunning day where all we could do was take pictures and say wow!
We loved Amsterdam and Holland and will be back to spend more time in this wonderful country.
While it was much cooler in Amsterdam than in Southern France and Spain, it was a perfect time to visit the city. We stayed in a hotel right next to the floating flower market which was full of tulips, daffodils and all manner of bulbs, flowers, plants, garden decorations and seeds. While only about half the size of Barcelona, tourists flock to the city in droves and nearly double the population in peak times. We did our best to contribute to the congestion but still couldn't compete with the bicycles.
The Dutch seem to have made the bicycle some kind of god and any rights not given to them are taken by the riders. They snake around the city in huge packs - no helmets -as fast as they can go. Nearly all ride 3 speed or less as the city is very level. They do follow the stop light system to a degree as there are designated bike lanes, however, they also take up lots of space on the streets that might otherwise be designated for pedestrians by parking or tossing their bikes on the sidewalks.
Things got much better for us once we found our way to the hotel and had a bit of rest, then it was off to see the city. (Thank you to Sandra for providing us with a guide to the city along with great suggestions for things to do!) We hopped on a tram and made our way to the Albert Cuypmarkt (a market like no other) where we sampled all manner of foods, took pictures of interesting things (for example: pants that will rub off your cellulite, a sandal/brush to wear in the shower that cleans your feet without needing to bend over, and the worlds highest platform shoes). We also bought a few items and had a great time people watching. We sampled a common Dutch street food Vlaamse Frites (think thick french fries) which many people eat with mayo, however we fell for the peanut sauce. Decadent!
We took in the Van Gogh Museum and saw his sunflowers, lots of paintings of his time in the south of France and his bed room.
We also visited an award winning brewery, Brouwerij 't IJ which is where the locals go - great people watching!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Oui oui, Si Si (Part 2 - Spain) April 2012
Sunday we left Southern France and took a pleasant train ride down the
coast into Northern Spain. This is part of the Costa Brava region of the Mediterranean; selected by National Geographic Traveler as a "Best Trip of 2012."
The train was high-speed electric - so quiet and enjoyable. We hope to one day be able to ride between Duluth and Minneapolis that way! We arrived in Figueres, Spain and ate lunch outside at a restaurant looking over the town square - lovely and sunny. Only one slight translation mix-up, the fish described for Anne's dish was actually octopus ...hmmmm, (I made it through half of it).
The next day we went out
to breakfast for coffee and a lovely Brioche dipped in chocolate before our visit the Dalí Theatre - Museum, the largest surrealistic object in the world. Dalí is of course known for his surrealistic work. The museum
occupies the building of the former Municipal Theatre, a 19th century
construction which was destroyed at the end of the Spanish Civil War. On
its ruins, Dalí decided to create his museum as a gift to the town that he loved. Since it was designed by him it is actually a work of art in and of itself. There are many, many representations of bread in and on the building as well as other themes repeated as only a compulsive, surrealistic artist can do.
It seems the the entire town has embraced Dali and the surrealist approach to decorating. One building has cow statutes on its facade and another has a cow and a goose peering over the eave.
In the afternoon we went to the Toy Museum in Figueres, which was very fun and much easier to understand. This place takes you on a great trip through history of play. They display toy cars, robots, dolls, boardgames, puppets and everything related to the way people have been playing in the past centuries. There was even a little hop scotch court by the doorway where we could resurrect our childhood skills.
We took a short train ride to our next stop, the city of Gerona. Gerona is an ancient walled city where large portion of the Roman wall still exists and much of it is accessible by foot. The narrow streets climb steeply from the river Onyar and up to the wall. We stayed two nights in Gerona which allowed us time for a short bus to the Mediterranean fishing port of Saint Feliu De Guixols. We were lucky to have a nice sunny day for a walk and a little snooze on the coast. We really loved Gerona and had a great time exploring its' nooks and crannies.
Gerona is much larger than Figueras, but then we hit the huge city of Barcelona to conclude our Southern holiday. Thanks to Susie we know this is pronounced "Barthelona" and ever since we have been talking as if we have a lisp. There are a million things to see and do there, however our visit actually centered around the interesting modernism architecture with a bit of flamenco dance thrown in.
Modernisme, Catalan for "modernism" was a cultural movement associated with the search for Catalan national identity. It is often understood as an equivalent to a number of art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Secessionism, and Liberty style, and was active from roughly 1888 to 1911.
We took a walk down the Illa de la Discòrdia ( block of Discord), which is a block on Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample District of Barcelona. The block is noted for having buildings by four of Barcelona's most important Modernista architects, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Antoni Gaudí, Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Enric Sagnier, in close proximity. As the four architects' styles were very different, the buildings clash with each other and the neighboring buildings. They were all built in the early years of the 20th century. We were able to enjoy it without feeling too much discord.
One of the better known architects of the period is Antoni Gaudi who's work is visible throughout the city. We spent quite a bit of time at Park Guell looking at his home ( now a museum) and the grounds where he had installed many of his pieces. It was crowded with visitors and a long walk up a very steep hill, but we enjoyed the chance to see his buildings and incredible mosaics.
After seeing the work of Dalí and Gaudi, we have decided this is the vacation of bizarre and unusual artists.
One interesting feature of Barcelona is the number of motor scooters on the streets. It was not unusual to see 30 of 40 motor bikes at a stoplight at any given time. Clearly the law requires the wearing of helmets but not noise dampening mufflers. It is a very big and busy city.
One evening we went to a traditional Flamenco dance, which Linda captured on video. It was a fascinating evening which we thoroughly enjoyed. (More of her video is available on YouTube if you have a lot of time.)
Flamenco is an art that includes to variants: music and dance. Singing, guitar and percussion (clapping) all play an important role. Each song is interpreted with a different kind of dance with it's own rhythm and harmony. The dances can be very serious and express profound feelings that are often tragic; dealing with love, disappointment or sadness. Others are livelier and deal with happy feelings of love and various scenarios relating to flamenco, which at times can even be comical.
When our time in the South ran out, Carol took the train back to Gerona to catch a flight back to the USA and Anne and Linda flew up to Holland for a few days stay in Amsterdam. See part three of Spring break. And don't forget to check the photo albums.
The train was high-speed electric - so quiet and enjoyable. We hope to one day be able to ride between Duluth and Minneapolis that way! We arrived in Figueres, Spain and ate lunch outside at a restaurant looking over the town square - lovely and sunny. Only one slight translation mix-up, the fish described for Anne's dish was actually octopus ...hmmmm, (I made it through half of it).
It seems the the entire town has embraced Dali and the surrealist approach to decorating. One building has cow statutes on its facade and another has a cow and a goose peering over the eave.
In the afternoon we went to the Toy Museum in Figueres, which was very fun and much easier to understand. This place takes you on a great trip through history of play. They display toy cars, robots, dolls, boardgames, puppets and everything related to the way people have been playing in the past centuries. There was even a little hop scotch court by the doorway where we could resurrect our childhood skills.
We took a short train ride to our next stop, the city of Gerona. Gerona is an ancient walled city where large portion of the Roman wall still exists and much of it is accessible by foot. The narrow streets climb steeply from the river Onyar and up to the wall. We stayed two nights in Gerona which allowed us time for a short bus to the Mediterranean fishing port of Saint Feliu De Guixols. We were lucky to have a nice sunny day for a walk and a little snooze on the coast. We really loved Gerona and had a great time exploring its' nooks and crannies.
Gerona is much larger than Figueras, but then we hit the huge city of Barcelona to conclude our Southern holiday. Thanks to Susie we know this is pronounced "Barthelona" and ever since we have been talking as if we have a lisp. There are a million things to see and do there, however our visit actually centered around the interesting modernism architecture with a bit of flamenco dance thrown in.
Modernisme, Catalan for "modernism" was a cultural movement associated with the search for Catalan national identity. It is often understood as an equivalent to a number of art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Secessionism, and Liberty style, and was active from roughly 1888 to 1911.
We took a walk down the Illa de la Discòrdia ( block of Discord), which is a block on Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample District of Barcelona. The block is noted for having buildings by four of Barcelona's most important Modernista architects, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Antoni Gaudí, Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Enric Sagnier, in close proximity. As the four architects' styles were very different, the buildings clash with each other and the neighboring buildings. They were all built in the early years of the 20th century. We were able to enjoy it without feeling too much discord.
One of the better known architects of the period is Antoni Gaudi who's work is visible throughout the city. We spent quite a bit of time at Park Guell looking at his home ( now a museum) and the grounds where he had installed many of his pieces. It was crowded with visitors and a long walk up a very steep hill, but we enjoyed the chance to see his buildings and incredible mosaics.
After seeing the work of Dalí and Gaudi, we have decided this is the vacation of bizarre and unusual artists.
One interesting feature of Barcelona is the number of motor scooters on the streets. It was not unusual to see 30 of 40 motor bikes at a stoplight at any given time. Clearly the law requires the wearing of helmets but not noise dampening mufflers. It is a very big and busy city.
One evening we went to a traditional Flamenco dance, which Linda captured on video. It was a fascinating evening which we thoroughly enjoyed. (More of her video is available on YouTube if you have a lot of time.)
Flamenco is an art that includes to variants: music and dance. Singing, guitar and percussion (clapping) all play an important role. Each song is interpreted with a different kind of dance with it's own rhythm and harmony. The dances can be very serious and express profound feelings that are often tragic; dealing with love, disappointment or sadness. Others are livelier and deal with happy feelings of love and various scenarios relating to flamenco, which at times can even be comical.
When our time in the South ran out, Carol took the train back to Gerona to catch a flight back to the USA and Anne and Linda flew up to Holland for a few days stay in Amsterdam. See part three of Spring break. And don't forget to check the photo albums.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Oui, Oui, Si, Si (Southern France, Part 1) April, 2012
The two week Spring break trip was FABULOUS! We visited three countries in sixteen days and so were not particularly rushed during our travels. During the first two weeks, Anne's sister Carol joined us in our travels in Southern France and Northern Spain. Not only was it fun to travel with her, she speaks Spanish and has a little knowledge of French. Hugely helpful for us monolingual travelers.
Carol joined us in Worcester and we left the next day for Montpellier, France on the most popular of all the discount airlines, Ryan-air. Unfortunately, the French air traffic control workers had selected the same day to hold a strike. Don't you just hate it when workers rights actually cause a small bump in your vacation plans? Fortunately, our flight was only delayed and so we arrived at our destination late at night and exhausted. We were met by our host with a bottle of St. Chinian wine and comfortable beds. Ahhhhh....
The next day we spent time getting oriented, finding a grocery store and generally looking around in our rental car. Much easier driving here, since they drive on the familiar side of the road. As you can see from the link above we were lucky to stay in a fabulous place in this small village - recommended by our friends, Jan and Marek, who have been coming here for years. Our hosts could not have been better, giving us advice and helping with any questions we had. We would recommend them to anyone looking for a lovely (and reasonable) place to stay in the wine country of S. France.
This map shows the area through which we journeyed with the Languedac Roussian region of France (where we stayed) on the upper right hand edge and Barcelona, Spain on the lower right edge next to the Mediterranean Sea.
Our first big adventure after picking up groceries in St-Pons-de-Thomieres was to veer off onto a small road that directed us to a grotto (cave). Since we knew that there were palaeolithic caves in the area and in fact planned on visiting some, we decided to find out more about this one. The road wandered in and out of valley and ridges and kept getting narrower and narrower until we came to a very small old village that seemed to be inhabited by only cats, dogs, and chickens. I know this wasn't the case but since all of the buildings were made of stone, it really had the feel of very, very old. We never did find the cave but did get to see the back roads of the area.
And now just a word about the food. I know that the world raves about French cooking but up until this point we had not had terribly great experiences eating here. In Paris it took us quite awhile to figure where the local people ate- and so kept ending up in places where the choices were pretty much steak and fries or 1/2 a chicken and fries, as they were trying to cater to the tourists.
Our first night out in St. Chinian left me (Anne) swearing off French food forever (this of course changed) and Linda and Carol both looking a little green. We went to a restaurant which served a set meal (2 or 3 courses for a set price.) We were the only ones in the dining room - though there were people in the bar. Note to self - this should have been a sign. Yes, even if it is a small town there should be someone having dinner there - must remember this for the future. I could not face fish/seafood that evening so ordered the Faux beef (again, not a good sign) but since they were out of the duck ("no canard, no canard!") this was the only other choice besides Soupe de Poisson ( ie. fish.) Carol and Linda got the soup. Now I assume most of you know that Linda is an adventuresome eater - willing to try things and loves most seafood. When their soup showed up they saw the following: a whole fish with skin, eyes, and tail intact floating in a grey broth. Further discovery turned up several completely uncleaned shrimp with eyes and feet, as well as baby octopus with tentacles still intact. Their reactions can be seen here - please note that Carol is not smiling with joy, but laughing at the horror on her plate. I have also included a picture of what we now know the soup should have looked like.
The next day we were off on a driving adventure to Carcassone, a fortified medieval walled city in southwestern France which was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. It was a fabulous fortress and was very interesting to walk around the actual castle and shops within the walled city. On the way we stopped in Homps, and walked around the town and looked at the Midi Canal. A small dog decided to join us (see pics) and unfortunately was a car chaser, who finally left us in a park without getting run over, whew!
Generally, the countryside we visited is used for growing grapes. There were vineyards upon vineyards along miles of winding country roads. The hilly terrain reminded me (Linda) of my hometown of Mariposa, California. Including the fact that the red buds were in bloom and there were lots of rocky outcroppings. It is actually the hill country leading up to the Northern Pyrenees Mountains.
It also holds a great many grottoes (caves) with prehistoric art still visible and available for us to see! We started off seeing one of the more well known caves in the area Naiux Cave
in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees near the town of Foix. This
is a cave where they still allow visitors in to see the actual paintings
(created with inks made of different plants) and charcoal drawings. They do
however gauge the carbon dioxide the group is producing and set limits
for how long we were allowed to stay in the largest chamber. When the guide started
saying things like "this was able to be carbon dated to 13,850 years
ago"and "this cave was used at the end of the last Ice Age" it was
completely mind boggling. This was a well attended tour so we were with a
crowd, all trying to see, most of the time. We decided to try to fit
one more cave in before heading back and drove across a small valley to
visit Grotto de Bedeilhac.
Grotto de Bedeilhac has a similar early history to Naiux Cave but, more recently it was used as a airplane maintenance base for the French military and later the German military during World War II. Sadly, great amounts of soil was removed from the entrance of the cave in order to allow a level place for the maintenance to work to occur. It is impossible to know the amount of archeological history that was lost because of this.
The experience was a completely different in this cave; for one thing because we were the only people on the tour (in fact we were the only ones to go on the tour all day) and because the cave was much less organized for tourists. We were lucky to have a private showing of the cave, which had paintings and drawings with brush and charcoal but also included sculptures and engravings. What little electricity that was available wasn't working and so we were on our own with four flashlights and a lot of dark. It was just fine though, our guide pointed our a number of geologic features in addition to the pictographs and other evidence of previous civilizations. Amazing!
Our trip to see the cave took us quite close to Andorra, a tiny country between France and Spain in the center of the Pyrenees. (They have the 4th longest life expectancy in the world and are the 6th smallest country in Europe.) It's an interesting little place with membership in the United Nations and is ruled by co-princes, the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell (Catalonia, Spain). Unfortunately, that passport stamp will have to wait until another day, but we did take a pic of a car license plate from there!
This part of the world is quite lovely. The towns have markets once or twice a week where local vendors come to sell their vegetables, sausage, fish, cheese and other goods. Everything seems quite easy going and most businesses close for several hours every afternoon.
We spent more time day tripping around the area: beautiful country side, lovely little towns. We particularly enjoyed Roquebrun, with its wide river and pretty hillside of colorful houses. We also encountered fascinating little stone shelters (Capitelles) which are built without any mortar, even the roof, in the traditional way that has been used since Roman times. They were used as shelter and storage by workers in the vineyards. You can see Carol exiting one in the pictures.
After a pleasant week we are off to Spain - which is detailed in Part 2 of this trip.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Old and Ancient England - Bath and Stonehenge, March 23
The Study in England program took us on another fine one day field trip via coach (bus) to Bath and Stonehenge.
The city of Bath is a World Heritage site located in Somerset, England. It is the location of the only hot springs on the island and has been treated as a shrine for thousands of years. The Romans built a huge temple which was dedicated to Minerva but prior to that, Iron Age Britons dedicated it to the Goddess Sulis. The temple which is open to visit was originally constructed in 60-70 AD. Over the next 300 or so years, rooms for different temperature baths and other uses were added. Floors were created by piling stone tiles at various heights over the water so that there would be enough air circulating between the water and the floor to prevent people from burning their feet. The spring still produces hot water at a temperature of 115 °F and rises at the rate of 257,364 gallons every day.
The city of Bath has many buildings in the Georgian architectural design which was popular between 1720 - 1840. According to Wikipedia, this architectural style coincides with the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, and George IV of the United Kingdom—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
While in Bath, we ran across a couple of pig sculptures from a trail building project a few years back. We just couldn't help but take a few pictures of of them.
After a lunch in Bath, we all climbed back on the coach for a ride to Stonehenge. This is even more impressive than I thought it would be. Also a World Heritage site, it is believed to have been begun some 3100 BC with the earthwork comprising a ditch, bank, and the Aubrey holes. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk with steep sides and flat bottoms. After this construction, it was left untouched for over 1000 years.
The second stage in construction started around 2150 BC. Some 82 bluestones from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales were transported to the site. The distance from Stonehenge is nearly 240 miles and is close to the place we visited in Wales. They were probably moved by raft and on rollers. Once on site, these stones were set up in the center to form an incomplete double circle.
More changes were made about 4000 years ago when stones were brought from about 25 miles north of Stonehenge. The largest of these weighs 590 tons and transportation by water would have been impossible, the stones could only have been moved using sledges and ropes.
The final changes took place soon after 1500 BC when the bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that is seen today. The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60; these have long since been removed or broken up.
Seeing these ancient sites is very humbling. They stones were lifted and fitted, obviously without the use of machinery as we know it. The drive and determination shown by the people who constructed these places of worship, respect for their beliefs or understanding of their world is astonishing. While we will never know the true reason for their action it is a thrill to walk on the land and see the work that they created.
The city of Bath is a World Heritage site located in Somerset, England. It is the location of the only hot springs on the island and has been treated as a shrine for thousands of years. The Romans built a huge temple which was dedicated to Minerva but prior to that, Iron Age Britons dedicated it to the Goddess Sulis. The temple which is open to visit was originally constructed in 60-70 AD. Over the next 300 or so years, rooms for different temperature baths and other uses were added. Floors were created by piling stone tiles at various heights over the water so that there would be enough air circulating between the water and the floor to prevent people from burning their feet. The spring still produces hot water at a temperature of 115 °F and rises at the rate of 257,364 gallons every day.
The city of Bath has many buildings in the Georgian architectural design which was popular between 1720 - 1840. According to Wikipedia, this architectural style coincides with the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, and George IV of the United Kingdom—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
While in Bath, we ran across a couple of pig sculptures from a trail building project a few years back. We just couldn't help but take a few pictures of of them.
After a lunch in Bath, we all climbed back on the coach for a ride to Stonehenge. This is even more impressive than I thought it would be. Also a World Heritage site, it is believed to have been begun some 3100 BC with the earthwork comprising a ditch, bank, and the Aubrey holes. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk with steep sides and flat bottoms. After this construction, it was left untouched for over 1000 years.
The second stage in construction started around 2150 BC. Some 82 bluestones from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales were transported to the site. The distance from Stonehenge is nearly 240 miles and is close to the place we visited in Wales. They were probably moved by raft and on rollers. Once on site, these stones were set up in the center to form an incomplete double circle.
More changes were made about 4000 years ago when stones were brought from about 25 miles north of Stonehenge. The largest of these weighs 590 tons and transportation by water would have been impossible, the stones could only have been moved using sledges and ropes.
The final changes took place soon after 1500 BC when the bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that is seen today. The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60; these have long since been removed or broken up.
Seeing these ancient sites is very humbling. They stones were lifted and fitted, obviously without the use of machinery as we know it. The drive and determination shown by the people who constructed these places of worship, respect for their beliefs or understanding of their world is astonishing. While we will never know the true reason for their action it is a thrill to walk on the land and see the work that they created.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Paris - The City of Light
I would like to say that we took Paris by storm but, that wasn't the case. Instead, we took a taxi, train, tram, plane, train and subway to Paris. It seemed more difficult than it should be and, indeed it was.
When we stepped out of the subway station, this was the view we had:
Yes indeed, we were in Paris, France. As you can see, we were right by the Eiffel tower which means we were also right by the River Seine. We arrived a little late in the afternoon but still had time for a walk around the neighborhood and some food and wine at a sidewalk cafe. When we were nearly to our hotel, we turned to look at the tower and it's lights were flickering (which it does once an hour after dark we later found out).
On our first full day, we walked to the Arc de Triumph. Which was begun being built by Napoleon in 1806 and not completed until 1836, long after his death. The names of 128 battles of the first French Republic and Napoleon's Empire are written on the white walls under the vault together with the names of the generals who took part in them. On May 8 each year it plays a central role in the VE Day (WWII Victory in Europe) celebrations; on July 14 it hosts an event to mark Bastille Day, and Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 is marked at the foot of the arch on December 2. Beneath the arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a victim of World War I, who was buried on November 11 1920 and where Remembrance Day events are held every year. A Memorial Flame above the tomb is lit at 6:30pm every day.
Fortunately, we missed all of these major events and yet still there were many people visiting the Arc when we were there. It is a most impressive monument with plaques and names of many well known battles and soldiers.
The Arc de Triumph is at one end of the well known Champs Elysees. This is a major shopping area and as most of you know neither of us are big shoppers. The guidebooks call it retail therapy. We just took the walk and did a little window shopping and found it all very pleasant. The French always seem to make the most of every little green space by planting gardens or installing a statue or fountain.
Along the way we stopped at the Musee de l'Orangerie. This museum was chosen and arranged by Claude Monet to display his “testamentary” masterpieces which were quite wonderful. We began our visit in the lower level and saw many works by well know artists including Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani and Utrillo. During the 1920s, the state of France built a pair of oval rooms at the Musée de l'Orangerie as a permanent home for eight water lily murals by Monet. The exhibit opened to the public on 16 May 1927, a few months after Monet's death. This display is overwhelming. We entered the first oval room and our jaws dropped. As we sat and studied the paintings, we noticed that many of the visitors had the same reaction. Seeing these murals was definitely a high point of our visit to Paris.
We continued our walk that day through the West Bank neighborhood and had a simple meal where we learned to pronounce 'Bearnaise'. It's Bear Neez not Beer Neas. Just saying. Our waiter corrected us but also would wink every time he did. I (Anne) have determined that my French accent is sorely lacking and everything I say has a distinct twang or reverts to some accent sounding like poor Italian. Oh well.
On our second day, we used the Batobus as our main mode of transportation. This is a 'hop-on/hop-off' boat that runs on the Seine. We stopped at the Musee d Orsay but didn't visit it because of the long queue. We decided that if we stood in the line and saw the exhibit, we would not see anymore of Paris so we hopped back on the boat and went to Notre Dame.
This huge old icon of the Catholic Church, Notre Dame was interesting to visit. It was a Sunday so there was a service going on as we tourists shuffled quietly around the outer edge of church looking at the saints buried there. The high profile saints had more costly candles to light than the lesser known ones. Joan of Arc commanded 5 euros for a votive - too bad they had to burn her at the stake before she got beatified. We were a bit taken aback that there were machines that make a medal from a coin right in the midst of the crypts, and then a gift shop at the end of our tour - which was in the back of the church where the service was going on. Once we got out of the church we saw three police officers on bicycles texting (or playing Angry Birds) while they were watching for pick pockets.
We then jumped back on the boat to travel to the neighborhood where our niece Laura had lived last year - she directed us to a great felafel shop (New York Times reviewed). We loved this neighborhood and had a great time there. It is the old Jewish quarter and has narrow streets and lots of activity. Some buildings were decorated with terrazzo tile. Many people out walking around, eating this and that from the small shops that were everywhere; clearly also a gay neighborhood.
Then as we were eating our felafel we started hearing drums and walked over to see a parade of drummers who were moving through the streets picking up followers as they went. We are still not exactly sure what it was but there was something about Le Femmes and we had a great time following them through the neighborhood.
more parade
As we were leaving the neighborhood, we came across this chocolate fountain in a candy store window and wondered if we were making the right decision in leaving the area.
On the way back from the very cool neighborhood party, we stopped at the Louve but didn't have the time or energy to go inside. The gardens are very nice and filled with marvelous sculptures Next time we will go inside and see the Mona Lisa and all of the other famous pieces of art that they have on display.
After we had another dinner at a sidewalk cafe, we stopped for a glass of wine at a bar that looked out over the Eiffel tower on our last night in Paris. We will have to return but this was a great trip.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
London in the Sun
The field trip included a visit to Parliament, hosted by Lord Falkner who is the Lord who represents Worcester in Parliament as well as a trip to Kensal Green cemetery. Of the two, Parliament was the most interesting and had the most gold. The buildings themselves are most spectacular in the perpendicular Gothic style with many windows, spires and gargoyles.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the legislative body in the UK, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories. Parliament alone possesses ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, whose official title is "Elizabeth the second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
The people who work in this building are members of an upper house, House of Lords and a lower house, the House of Commons. The Queen is the third component of the legislature but she is only allowed to go there once a year. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual, who are bishops of the Church of England and the Lords Temporal who are appointed by the Sovereign on advice of the Prime Minister. The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber with elections to it held at least every five years.
Our tour allowed us to see the striking difference between the two houses. The House of Lords is quite opulent with red velvet and lot's of gold. It also has the throne where the Sovereign sits for her annual "state of the empire" visit and a special bench where the bishops sit. The House of Commons, where the Sovereign is not allowed to enter, is much more austere, decked out in green and oak - no gold. These Brits sure love their class system and pomp!
After our tour, Anne and I jumped on the Metro to find our hotel. No time to take a nap or eat a proper dinner, just hopped back on the Metro to the Thames where we walked across the bridge to the Southbank Centre. We had learned that there was a Women of the World Festival going on to celebrate International Women's Day and that the Friday night event was hosted by Annie Lennox and featured Katy B, Jess Mills and Emeli Sande (rising young female artists in Britain). The whole theme of the evening event was an affirmation of feminist political power and equality. One word: Fantastic. Watch the highlight:
Our hotel was right across the street from Hyde Park which was so much more lovely than the last time we visited. The snow had melted, the flowers were in bloom and the ducks were having babies. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the weather. We spent time there on two days, even had breakfast one morning beside the lake. Lovely.
The roller skater below was amazing also!
We took the Metro over to Leicester square and got some tickets to see Tyne Daly in Master Class that evening and headed out to spend the afternoon at the Tower of London and meet a few Beefeaters. There is so much British history at the Tower, it is mind boggling.It was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1078. It was white washed by Henry III and has since been called the White Tower.
Persons beheaded inside the Tower include William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1483), Anne Boleyn (1536), Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1541), Catherine Howard (1542), Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1542), Lady Jane Grey (1554) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1601) and Thomas More, 1535. Lovely people, the British.
We especially liked the ravens who live on the castle grounds. Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave, the tower will fall and the empire will fail. I was discouraged that the empire keeps the bird's wings clipped and keep them in cages at night. It seems that the decision to clip their wings is just a bit manipulative and puts little faith in the legend and the monarchy. If they were to just hang the ribcage of a stag on a nearby stump (like we did at home this fall), those ravens would never leave.
We went on a really interesting tour, led by a member of the Yeoman Warders a.k.a. Beefeater. After that we went to the jewel tower and saw the Crown Jewels. Wow, such opulence.
The next day, we again walked through Hyde Park to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. On the way there we saw the horse procession above. This was very impressive (again, pomp rules!) and very crowded. It seems to be a scheduled event but no one really knew what the schedule was. Finally, the guard showed up - in grey uniforms because it is winter - and with a band and an Irish Wolfhound because they were the First Battalion Irish Guards.
Our evening was spent at a delightful dinner with old friends at a great Mid-Eastern restaurant in the Mayfair district. Great food and great fun to catch up on the past 30 years.
In order to not waste any quality tourist time, and since our train didn't leave London until mid-afternoon we spent Monday morning at the National Gallery. They have paintings on display from the thirteenth to the twentieth century. We tried to guess which of the paintings in each gallery were the 'featured' ones in the brochure. Sometimes we guessed right, sometimes not. We did see paintings by Van Eyck, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh and many others. It was a great time.
Be sure and check the photos.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Araf (slow) we're going to Cymru (Wales) by car
Are we going to Llanycefn, Llandissillia, Liawhaden, Lampeter, Llanddowror or Llanboidy? Where ever, we have traveled to Wales by car; and back again. Wow!
Wales is a beautiful country and when we told people that we were driving there, we were warned that the roads were narrow and twisty. I thought nothing of it because I learned to drive in Bootjack, California where the roads were narrow and twisty. Let me say, it it really different when driving on the left side of the road and sitting in the right side of the car and having stone walls and/or hedge rows on both sides of a one lane roads with no shoulders. The first day, I only hit the curb 3 times and improved after that. I hit no cars, horses, farm machinery or anything else that I met on the 1.2 lane roads and only got one parking ticket which I believe is given to anyone with a Enterprise Rental sticker on their car.
One of the most interesting thing about Wales is that it is a dual language country in everything that is printed - directional signs, menus, city limit signs, warning signs, etc. Sometimes the Welsh language will be first on a road sign and sometimes not. To add a bit more of a challenge for us single language folks, even the English is difficult to grasp since many of the English words are bastardized versions of the Welsh word and contain many double L's and y's and w's . For instance the English name, Llanddowror is Maes-y-lan in Welsh. As you can see from the list of neighboring towns at the top of this post, it might be easy to get a little lost and confused which we did more than once.
The countryside is strikingly beautiful, quite hilly and has an abundance of cute little lambs, cute little villages and miles and miles of hedgerows and stone walls. I half expected hobbits, unicorns or fairies to jump out of the woods at any time.
Shortly after we entered Wales, we drove through the Brecon Beacon National Park. Much different than National Parks in the USA, most of the land is privately owned but managed and supported by a park authority which includes land owners, communities and visitors. Some is set aside as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserves and Local Nature Reserves. We didn't see any of the native Welsh ponies that live in the area but saw plenty of sheep and hedgerows (they boast 5,300 kilometers of hedge).
Our first night was in Neath (Welsh: Castell -nedd) which is a town located on the Neath River. Now a port for recreational boating, it was once a busy shipping port. In fact, Lord Nelson (see the 1st London post) is said to have stayed here on his way to join his fleet prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.
Dinner was delightful as we ate giant scallops and they boned the sea bass at the table, which always feels like 'special treatment,' until the entertainment appeared. Suddenly, without warning a man picked up a microphone, turned on his electronic band and back up singers and proceeded to sing an extremely strange combinations of songs. No intro, no hello, no nothing. The selections were as orderly as Karaoke night at any bar in Superior and the voice was just a little bit worse. Oh well, we couldn't hear him in our room and he was gone by morning.
In the morning we had a proper Welsh breakfast consisting of a basic English breakfast (Eggs, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms,potatoes and toast) PLUS cockles and laverbread (seaweed). Linda ate the cockles; Anne did not. They are quite salty and a bit chewy as they are a small bivalve, sort of like an oyster but quite small and prepared differently. They are sometimes served with winkles and whelks but the ones served at the hotel were only cockles.
We spent the second day closer to the coast and circumventing big cities and their terrifying round-a-bouts. We wandered around Tenby (Dinbych-y-pysgod) which boasts a sand beach and lovely little harbor with pastel buildings. Of course, there is a 13th century stone wall, a castle and a cathedral.
We then wound along the coast and came upon Manorbier Castle which we did not tour (you can only go to so many castles) and a group of surfers in the Irish Sea. It was a blustery day on the sea but clearly enjoyed by many people and dogs. We did find the Pembroke Castle in the town of Pembrock (Penfro) and toured it quite extensively. It has been partially restored but maintains the flavor and grandeur of an ancient castle. Henry the VII was born here and began the long line of Tudor rulers.
It was in this area that we discovered that the tourist season had not actually begun and that many of the Inns we had read about were not open. Fortunately, we found a McDonald's and used their wireless to find an Inn for the night. We lucked out and found Wolfcastle and although we got there a bit late, we could still have a relaxing dinner and discover the joy of getting up-graded. We ended up in a spacious room with furnished bathrobes and a view of the garden. After another hardy proper English breakfast (no cockles this time), we resumed our adventure.
We traveled from Wolfcastle to Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) and along the way enjoyed Fishguard (Abergwaun) on the river Guaun. This is a traditional herring fishing area and the river delta is at the Irish Sea. The tide was out while we were there which made for a very interesting harbor full of boats sitting on the silty river bottom. It was another windy day and so we opted out of a walk to the sea.
One of the most interesting sites of the trip was seeing the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber. The 3,500 year old monument is about 8 feet high and about 16 feet long and located just off a narrow lane but about 8 miles from a two lane carriage way. There was no one else at the site when we visited although a few other visitors came as we were leaving. This site has a lot of pictures as well as a link to Google Earth where you can see the stones well off the road. It is near here that some of the stones for Stonehenge were originally quarried.
Our next night was spent in Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) at the Castle Hotel. This was truly an old inn with uneven floors and slightly tilted walls. We were the first guests of the season so they didn't even have their check-in counter set up. However, it was a really nice and friendly place with great food in a quiet little town. By this time, Linda passed on the proper English breakfast and settled for yogurt and fruit. They just don't have enough Tums in the UK.
On our last day, we drove through many miles of countryside and stopped to admire the River Usk and River Tarrell where they converge in Brecon. We watched a heron fishing for a while and then drove along the Northern Border of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It had snowed a bit the night before and so we could see a dusting on the mountain tops.
We lunched in Hay-on-Wye (Y Gelli Gandryll) which is well known for it's over 30 used book stores. While were unable to find any travel books for Spain, we did locate some above average flapjack bars. Mind you, these are not the pancakes that we sometimes call flapjacks in the USA. These are hard core British treats made with and extraordinarily large amount of butter; and made best in Wales.
Also in Hay-onWye, we walked a ways on Offa's Dyke Path (Llwybr ClawddOffa). This is a hand-dug bank and ditch built in the 8th century by command of King Offa of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. It was probably intended to divide Mercia from rival kingdoms in what is now Wales, and some sections still form the England/Wales border today.
Our drive through Wales was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a car for a change and enjoy the freedom and confusion that it brought. As you can tell, we had quite a few laughs about the names which we couldn't pronounce - they have different vowels but we don't know what they are. Sadly, we never once heard any one speaking it. If we go back, which we probably will, perhaps we can rectify this.
Wales is a beautiful country and when we told people that we were driving there, we were warned that the roads were narrow and twisty. I thought nothing of it because I learned to drive in Bootjack, California where the roads were narrow and twisty. Let me say, it it really different when driving on the left side of the road and sitting in the right side of the car and having stone walls and/or hedge rows on both sides of a one lane roads with no shoulders. The first day, I only hit the curb 3 times and improved after that. I hit no cars, horses, farm machinery or anything else that I met on the 1.2 lane roads and only got one parking ticket which I believe is given to anyone with a Enterprise Rental sticker on their car.
One of the most interesting thing about Wales is that it is a dual language country in everything that is printed - directional signs, menus, city limit signs, warning signs, etc. Sometimes the Welsh language will be first on a road sign and sometimes not. To add a bit more of a challenge for us single language folks, even the English is difficult to grasp since many of the English words are bastardized versions of the Welsh word and contain many double L's and y's and w's . For instance the English name, Llanddowror is Maes-y-lan in Welsh. As you can see from the list of neighboring towns at the top of this post, it might be easy to get a little lost and confused which we did more than once.
The countryside is strikingly beautiful, quite hilly and has an abundance of cute little lambs, cute little villages and miles and miles of hedgerows and stone walls. I half expected hobbits, unicorns or fairies to jump out of the woods at any time.
Shortly after we entered Wales, we drove through the Brecon Beacon National Park. Much different than National Parks in the USA, most of the land is privately owned but managed and supported by a park authority which includes land owners, communities and visitors. Some is set aside as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserves and Local Nature Reserves. We didn't see any of the native Welsh ponies that live in the area but saw plenty of sheep and hedgerows (they boast 5,300 kilometers of hedge).
Our first night was in Neath (Welsh: Castell -nedd) which is a town located on the Neath River. Now a port for recreational boating, it was once a busy shipping port. In fact, Lord Nelson (see the 1st London post) is said to have stayed here on his way to join his fleet prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.
Dinner was delightful as we ate giant scallops and they boned the sea bass at the table, which always feels like 'special treatment,' until the entertainment appeared. Suddenly, without warning a man picked up a microphone, turned on his electronic band and back up singers and proceeded to sing an extremely strange combinations of songs. No intro, no hello, no nothing. The selections were as orderly as Karaoke night at any bar in Superior and the voice was just a little bit worse. Oh well, we couldn't hear him in our room and he was gone by morning.
In the morning we had a proper Welsh breakfast consisting of a basic English breakfast (Eggs, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms,potatoes and toast) PLUS cockles and laverbread (seaweed). Linda ate the cockles; Anne did not. They are quite salty and a bit chewy as they are a small bivalve, sort of like an oyster but quite small and prepared differently. They are sometimes served with winkles and whelks but the ones served at the hotel were only cockles.
We spent the second day closer to the coast and circumventing big cities and their terrifying round-a-bouts. We wandered around Tenby (Dinbych-y-pysgod) which boasts a sand beach and lovely little harbor with pastel buildings. Of course, there is a 13th century stone wall, a castle and a cathedral.
We then wound along the coast and came upon Manorbier Castle which we did not tour (you can only go to so many castles) and a group of surfers in the Irish Sea. It was a blustery day on the sea but clearly enjoyed by many people and dogs. We did find the Pembroke Castle in the town of Pembrock (Penfro) and toured it quite extensively. It has been partially restored but maintains the flavor and grandeur of an ancient castle. Henry the VII was born here and began the long line of Tudor rulers.
It was in this area that we discovered that the tourist season had not actually begun and that many of the Inns we had read about were not open. Fortunately, we found a McDonald's and used their wireless to find an Inn for the night. We lucked out and found Wolfcastle and although we got there a bit late, we could still have a relaxing dinner and discover the joy of getting up-graded. We ended up in a spacious room with furnished bathrobes and a view of the garden. After another hardy proper English breakfast (no cockles this time), we resumed our adventure.
We traveled from Wolfcastle to Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) and along the way enjoyed Fishguard (Abergwaun) on the river Guaun. This is a traditional herring fishing area and the river delta is at the Irish Sea. The tide was out while we were there which made for a very interesting harbor full of boats sitting on the silty river bottom. It was another windy day and so we opted out of a walk to the sea.
One of the most interesting sites of the trip was seeing the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber. The 3,500 year old monument is about 8 feet high and about 16 feet long and located just off a narrow lane but about 8 miles from a two lane carriage way. There was no one else at the site when we visited although a few other visitors came as we were leaving. This site has a lot of pictures as well as a link to Google Earth where you can see the stones well off the road. It is near here that some of the stones for Stonehenge were originally quarried.
Our next night was spent in Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) at the Castle Hotel. This was truly an old inn with uneven floors and slightly tilted walls. We were the first guests of the season so they didn't even have their check-in counter set up. However, it was a really nice and friendly place with great food in a quiet little town. By this time, Linda passed on the proper English breakfast and settled for yogurt and fruit. They just don't have enough Tums in the UK.
On our last day, we drove through many miles of countryside and stopped to admire the River Usk and River Tarrell where they converge in Brecon. We watched a heron fishing for a while and then drove along the Northern Border of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It had snowed a bit the night before and so we could see a dusting on the mountain tops.
We lunched in Hay-on-Wye (Y Gelli Gandryll) which is well known for it's over 30 used book stores. While were unable to find any travel books for Spain, we did locate some above average flapjack bars. Mind you, these are not the pancakes that we sometimes call flapjacks in the USA. These are hard core British treats made with and extraordinarily large amount of butter; and made best in Wales.
Also in Hay-onWye, we walked a ways on Offa's Dyke Path (Llwybr ClawddOffa). This is a hand-dug bank and ditch built in the 8th century by command of King Offa of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. It was probably intended to divide Mercia from rival kingdoms in what is now Wales, and some sections still form the England/Wales border today.
Our drive through Wales was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a car for a change and enjoy the freedom and confusion that it brought. As you can tell, we had quite a few laughs about the names which we couldn't pronounce - they have different vowels but we don't know what they are. Sadly, we never once heard any one speaking it. If we go back, which we probably will, perhaps we can rectify this.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Magical Mystery Tour
Ok, not so magical or mysterious but, a tour for sure. On Friday, 24 February the Study in England program took a bus tour up to Liverpool to learn about the Beatles and Slavery. It was a 2 1/2 ride up to the Northeast area of the country but we had a lovely day to travel and saw a lot of countryside with sheep, cattle and horses. More cattle than we've seen on other rides.
Liverpool is an old shipping port as it is located on the Irish Sea and River Mersey. In addition to the slavery trade, it was also home port of the Titanic and during World War II, endured over 80 air raid which killed 2,500 people and damaged nearly half of the homes in the metropolitan area.
As the shipping vessels became larger, the depth of the Liverpool harbor rendered it outdated and like many port cities in the U.S., Liverpool has restructured their waterfront into shops, museums and performance spaces including the ECHO arena.
Our Beatles Experience museum at Albert Dock and a Liverpool Magical Mystery
Tour of the city were a lot of fun. While the museum was short on Beatles memorabelia, they did have a mock up of the Yellow Submarine and John Lennon's white piano where he composed Imagine. Of course, that was composed in 1971 and the band split up in 1970 - details, details. It covered a lot of the early Liverpool history and the influence of their manager Brian Epstein which was interesting and stuff that only a true Beatlemaniac would know.
The bus tour of the city was very interesting as we drove through a bit of the waterfront area but also the parts of the city where John, George, Ringo and Paul lived when they were growing up. We also got to through the neighborhood where John and Paul met and wrote many of their songs. We took a partial jaunt through "Penny Lane" and saw the shop where the "barber showing photographs; Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known" and "the shelter in the middle of a roundabout; A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray." Well, OK the nurse wasn't there and the barber shop had moved down the road but the roundabout was still wheeling cars around. And it was all under "blue suburban skys" which was quite nice.
George and Ringo were from the inner city in a much more working class neighborhood. We did get to see where George Harrison lived which is a small house now occupied by a couple and their cat.
Our other activity was a visit to the International Slavery Museum.
This was a very well done look at a major part of Liverpool's history, as it was a major place for the launching of ships carrying slaves across the Atlantic. Much of the wealth from this trade was the basis of Liverpool's growth as a major city. They have done a good job of looking at this issue from various historical points as well as reminders of current human trafficking that is still occurring around the world.
Liverpool is an old shipping port as it is located on the Irish Sea and River Mersey. In addition to the slavery trade, it was also home port of the Titanic and during World War II, endured over 80 air raid which killed 2,500 people and damaged nearly half of the homes in the metropolitan area.
As the shipping vessels became larger, the depth of the Liverpool harbor rendered it outdated and like many port cities in the U.S., Liverpool has restructured their waterfront into shops, museums and performance spaces including the ECHO arena.
Our Beatles Experience museum at Albert Dock and a Liverpool Magical Mystery
Tour of the city were a lot of fun. While the museum was short on Beatles memorabelia, they did have a mock up of the Yellow Submarine and John Lennon's white piano where he composed Imagine. Of course, that was composed in 1971 and the band split up in 1970 - details, details. It covered a lot of the early Liverpool history and the influence of their manager Brian Epstein which was interesting and stuff that only a true Beatlemaniac would know.
The bus tour of the city was very interesting as we drove through a bit of the waterfront area but also the parts of the city where John, George, Ringo and Paul lived when they were growing up. We also got to through the neighborhood where John and Paul met and wrote many of their songs. We took a partial jaunt through "Penny Lane" and saw the shop where the "barber showing photographs; Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known" and "the shelter in the middle of a roundabout; A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray." Well, OK the nurse wasn't there and the barber shop had moved down the road but the roundabout was still wheeling cars around. And it was all under "blue suburban skys" which was quite nice.
George and Ringo were from the inner city in a much more working class neighborhood. We did get to see where George Harrison lived which is a small house now occupied by a couple and their cat.
Our other activity was a visit to the International Slavery Museum.
This was a very well done look at a major part of Liverpool's history, as it was a major place for the launching of ships carrying slaves across the Atlantic. Much of the wealth from this trade was the basis of Liverpool's growth as a major city. They have done a good job of looking at this issue from various historical points as well as reminders of current human trafficking that is still occurring around the world.
Monday, February 13, 2012
York and Whitby
Our trip to York began in Worcester at 8:A.M. Too early for a pensioner (retiree). However, after a 2-1/2 hour bus ride, our first stop was at Yorkshire Sculpture Garden. This a large outdoor area with huge and interesting sculptures would be very wonderful on a nice sunny day. We visited on perhaps the coldest day since we arrived in England with a strong, icy wind tearing through the land. Anne and I looked at the photographs of the sculptures in the tea room and cruised the gift shop. I would love to go back but the biting wind was just too much this time since I had left my down parka and hard core long undies back in Duluth. We did enjoy watching their sheep keep the park grass in good order, as much of the snow had melted.
After a short ride, we arrived at our Youth Hostel in York. Other than not having a toilet or shower in our room, it was quite nice. We were on the first floor (not the ground floor) (would be 2nd floor for you Yanks.) and so we could leave our window shades open at night and actually see the sky, moon and trees. So different than in our flat. There was also a very nice pub downstairs in the hostel which served fine Yorkshire Ale.
York is a very, very old city and is quite interesting in terms of political, religious and cultural history. It was originally founded as a city by the Romans in 71 A.D. on land occupied by others (of course). It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages it became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England which it still is today.
After we were settled, we took a walk along the river where we again discovered how very cold it was. It had snowed recently and the sidewalks were very icy. We visited the Yorkshire Museum which exhibited a great overview of of the history of the past 2,000 years in York. Located next to the ruins of the medieval St. Mary's Abby, it even included some pre-Roman invasion artifacts as well as an almost intact 4th century statue of the Roman's God, Mars. The Viking exhibits were also interesting - combs and other tools made of deer antlers, and an 8th century helmet. We had to laugh at the mention they made of the helmet design improvements over the years. Apparently, the earlier helmets caused the soldiers to go blind and deaf. Glad they figured THAT out. After the museum we found a lovely little tea shop where we could warm up and shared a cream tea. That is tea, scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. De-lish!
The next day was awkwardly scheduled and so we did a lot of walking so we could see what we wanted and also what was required for the students/faculty. It was again quite cold but all of the walking helped keep us warmer. We went through the well known Shambles on our way to the York Castle Museum in the morning.
Most of the old towns we've visited have a section called City Center that is closed off to traffic and holds their 400 - 500 year old buildings which are still being used. They house many shops, tea rooms, pubs, and churches. This is where the Shambles are located as well. My further research about these streets revealed that the over hanging second floors and narrow streets provided shade for the meat, poultry and vegetables that were sold in the shops on the street level.
The York Castle Museum once housed the castle prison and so there is an intriguing exhibit of the small cells and some of the more notorious prisoners including, the last woman burned at the stake in Yorkshire, Elizabeth Bordingham, and highwayman Dick Turpin. We also enjoyed the Victorian Street but were unfortunately too rushed to see all of the wonderful toys they have on exhibit.
Our next stop, after some hot apple pie and custard and a cream tea was The Jorvik Viking Center. Upon approaching the building housing this exhibit, we were greeted by men dressed in furs and coarse clothing who were behaving as Vikings may have acted. That is, lunging around and grunting. (I know this is confusing but just for clarity, I'm talking about the Vikings from Scandinavia, not Minneapolis.) The center itself includes Disneyland type cars in which we rode through a re-constructed Viking village. The village is constructed on an actual site of a a Viking village called, Jorvik. The designers of this exhibit decided that the visitors not only needed to see the way the people lived in that time but also needed to smell it. Hence, they have depicted an interesting exhibit that stinks of garbage, human waste, rotting animal waste, cooking, burning wood, etc. It made me wonder if the wind ever blew in those times.
The story of the discoveries that are on exhibit is quite interesting. Archaeologists have dug nearly 30 feet into layers of moist and peaty soil and found an amazing trove of timbers, tools, cloth, jewelry, etc.; things that really showed where and how people lived there 1,000 years ago. Too bad about the odor.
Shortly after our visit to Jorvik, we all gathered at the York Minster for a tour of this largest Anglican Cathedral in the UK. It is a huge, old, cold building with much history, stained glass and statuary. The chapter house is quite fun because it has many carved figures of people and animals. I've posted photos of some of them. The stained glass windows were all quite beautiful but also held some oddities. One contains a scene with a monkey doctor taking care of another monkey. No one knows what that is all about but, we enjoyed the oddities. We were given a tour by a volunteer church member and so the tyranny and discrimination practiced by the Anglicans was omitted in her story of the Minster and the church's history.
As it was very, very cold we stopped at a pub for some beef and ale pie and a drought of beer before heading back for our last night at the hostel.
On Sunday, we were back on the bus for a long ride over the moors and down into the little seaside town of Whitby, North Yorkshire. Located on the North Sea, we were warned of more cold weather but, it was actually a bit warmer.
Whitby is known as a sea port where Captain Cook learned his seamanship in the 18th century and for the 199 step stairway to the parish church of St. Mary which inspired portions of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Our visit to Whitby also included viewing the ruins of a St. Hilda's Abby which was built in 657 by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy. Over the centuries it has fallen into ruin but is now an English Heritage site.
When we arrived in Whitby, our coach driver, Marc dropped us off at the top of the bluff where the Abbey is located. There, we saw a few shaggy, blue eyed horses and since we, as well as some of the students are pet-deprived we went to say hello to them and rub their noses. When we turned around the rest of the group had vanished. We walked around the stone walls and couldn't find a way into the grounds of the Abbey so eventually we had to climb the walls. (Much to the entertainment of the students.) After we toured the ruins, the rest of the group showed up. I guess there was some sort of visitor center, gift shop and entrance that we missed entirely. Oh well.
Of course, we had to go down the 199 steps and explore the shops of the village. Whitby is also known for the Whitby Jet; the black stone that is the petrified wood of a Monkey Puzzle tree. Amber also comes from this tree but it is the petrified sap. The jet was highly regarded by Queen Victoria - who had it fashioned into mourning jewelry.
After a bit of village wandering, we found a small pub named the White Horse and Griffin that advertised a flaming hearth and good food. My oh my. We weren't disappointed. The cozy dim pub played wonderful soft jazz background music, was warmed by a fire in an open fireplace, excellent service and most of all, excellent food. Anne ordered some delicious leek and potato soup and, since it was my birthday, I had a plate of fresh steamed mussels poached in cream and served with shaved poached shallots. There couldn't have been a better way to top off the trip.
I just won't mention the details of our 6 hour bus ride back to Worcester. Suffice to say that for a couple of country dwelling introverts, we were happy to be back in our flat with just the two of us.
Don't forget to check out the photos of this northern weekend adventure.
After a short ride, we arrived at our Youth Hostel in York. Other than not having a toilet or shower in our room, it was quite nice. We were on the first floor (not the ground floor) (would be 2nd floor for you Yanks.) and so we could leave our window shades open at night and actually see the sky, moon and trees. So different than in our flat. There was also a very nice pub downstairs in the hostel which served fine Yorkshire Ale.
York is a very, very old city and is quite interesting in terms of political, religious and cultural history. It was originally founded as a city by the Romans in 71 A.D. on land occupied by others (of course). It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages it became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England which it still is today.
After we were settled, we took a walk along the river where we again discovered how very cold it was. It had snowed recently and the sidewalks were very icy. We visited the Yorkshire Museum which exhibited a great overview of of the history of the past 2,000 years in York. Located next to the ruins of the medieval St. Mary's Abby, it even included some pre-Roman invasion artifacts as well as an almost intact 4th century statue of the Roman's God, Mars. The Viking exhibits were also interesting - combs and other tools made of deer antlers, and an 8th century helmet. We had to laugh at the mention they made of the helmet design improvements over the years. Apparently, the earlier helmets caused the soldiers to go blind and deaf. Glad they figured THAT out. After the museum we found a lovely little tea shop where we could warm up and shared a cream tea. That is tea, scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. De-lish!
The next day was awkwardly scheduled and so we did a lot of walking so we could see what we wanted and also what was required for the students/faculty. It was again quite cold but all of the walking helped keep us warmer. We went through the well known Shambles on our way to the York Castle Museum in the morning.
Most of the old towns we've visited have a section called City Center that is closed off to traffic and holds their 400 - 500 year old buildings which are still being used. They house many shops, tea rooms, pubs, and churches. This is where the Shambles are located as well. My further research about these streets revealed that the over hanging second floors and narrow streets provided shade for the meat, poultry and vegetables that were sold in the shops on the street level.
The York Castle Museum once housed the castle prison and so there is an intriguing exhibit of the small cells and some of the more notorious prisoners including, the last woman burned at the stake in Yorkshire, Elizabeth Bordingham, and highwayman Dick Turpin. We also enjoyed the Victorian Street but were unfortunately too rushed to see all of the wonderful toys they have on exhibit.
Our next stop, after some hot apple pie and custard and a cream tea was The Jorvik Viking Center. Upon approaching the building housing this exhibit, we were greeted by men dressed in furs and coarse clothing who were behaving as Vikings may have acted. That is, lunging around and grunting. (I know this is confusing but just for clarity, I'm talking about the Vikings from Scandinavia, not Minneapolis.) The center itself includes Disneyland type cars in which we rode through a re-constructed Viking village. The village is constructed on an actual site of a a Viking village called, Jorvik. The designers of this exhibit decided that the visitors not only needed to see the way the people lived in that time but also needed to smell it. Hence, they have depicted an interesting exhibit that stinks of garbage, human waste, rotting animal waste, cooking, burning wood, etc. It made me wonder if the wind ever blew in those times.
The story of the discoveries that are on exhibit is quite interesting. Archaeologists have dug nearly 30 feet into layers of moist and peaty soil and found an amazing trove of timbers, tools, cloth, jewelry, etc.; things that really showed where and how people lived there 1,000 years ago. Too bad about the odor.
Shortly after our visit to Jorvik, we all gathered at the York Minster for a tour of this largest Anglican Cathedral in the UK. It is a huge, old, cold building with much history, stained glass and statuary. The chapter house is quite fun because it has many carved figures of people and animals. I've posted photos of some of them. The stained glass windows were all quite beautiful but also held some oddities. One contains a scene with a monkey doctor taking care of another monkey. No one knows what that is all about but, we enjoyed the oddities. We were given a tour by a volunteer church member and so the tyranny and discrimination practiced by the Anglicans was omitted in her story of the Minster and the church's history.
As it was very, very cold we stopped at a pub for some beef and ale pie and a drought of beer before heading back for our last night at the hostel.
On Sunday, we were back on the bus for a long ride over the moors and down into the little seaside town of Whitby, North Yorkshire. Located on the North Sea, we were warned of more cold weather but, it was actually a bit warmer.
Whitby is known as a sea port where Captain Cook learned his seamanship in the 18th century and for the 199 step stairway to the parish church of St. Mary which inspired portions of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Our visit to Whitby also included viewing the ruins of a St. Hilda's Abby which was built in 657 by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy. Over the centuries it has fallen into ruin but is now an English Heritage site.
When we arrived in Whitby, our coach driver, Marc dropped us off at the top of the bluff where the Abbey is located. There, we saw a few shaggy, blue eyed horses and since we, as well as some of the students are pet-deprived we went to say hello to them and rub their noses. When we turned around the rest of the group had vanished. We walked around the stone walls and couldn't find a way into the grounds of the Abbey so eventually we had to climb the walls. (Much to the entertainment of the students.) After we toured the ruins, the rest of the group showed up. I guess there was some sort of visitor center, gift shop and entrance that we missed entirely. Oh well.
Of course, we had to go down the 199 steps and explore the shops of the village. Whitby is also known for the Whitby Jet; the black stone that is the petrified wood of a Monkey Puzzle tree. Amber also comes from this tree but it is the petrified sap. The jet was highly regarded by Queen Victoria - who had it fashioned into mourning jewelry.
After a bit of village wandering, we found a small pub named the White Horse and Griffin that advertised a flaming hearth and good food. My oh my. We weren't disappointed. The cozy dim pub played wonderful soft jazz background music, was warmed by a fire in an open fireplace, excellent service and most of all, excellent food. Anne ordered some delicious leek and potato soup and, since it was my birthday, I had a plate of fresh steamed mussels poached in cream and served with shaved poached shallots. There couldn't have been a better way to top off the trip.
I just won't mention the details of our 6 hour bus ride back to Worcester. Suffice to say that for a couple of country dwelling introverts, we were happy to be back in our flat with just the two of us.
Don't forget to check out the photos of this northern weekend adventure.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Fast trip to London
We are back from a whirlwind trip to London which required more walking, hauling, climbing and thinking than either of us have done in a long time.
We started out on the late morning of Saturday, 4-February with our special travel tickets which took us to Euston Station in London. This station is not located close to where we were staying or where we wanted to see a play but, undaunted, we carried on. First, we needed to find the right Tube and figure out what an Oyster (not a bivalve) card is and how to use them. They are sort of like debit cards for the Tube. There are machines that allow you to "top up" your card or buy a new card. Since our friend Kim had left two of them behind, we had the cards but couldn't figure out the "top up" business. Sadly we went to a ticket window where the most unhelpful and unfriendly person we met all weekend was working his shift. Still, we persevered, found more helpful people and decided to go to Leicester Square and get our theater tickets before going to our hotel near Paddington Station.
Oh, did I mention that London is in the midst of preparing for two huge celebrations. This summer will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the hosting of the Summer Olympics. Can you say Con-struc-tion? Leicester Square is one of the busiest areas in London and the heart of the West side theater district and they have closed off the entire square with big white plastic barriers which limited what we could see. Thankfully there were a few signs to direct us to the ticket booth that weren't obscured by people. We got the tickets we wanted and headed back to the Tube to "top-up" some more and find our hotel for a brief rest and a bite to eat before hitting the Tube again.
The theater was fantastic! We saw Jersey Boys; the story and music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We had great seats; the music and production was fantastic and when we left the theater, it was snowing. Oh what a night! Elsie had a great time too. A couple of short Tube rides back to the hotel and we were ready for some serious sleep on a super comfortable bed. We were not disappointed.
On Sunday, we took advantage of a two day special on the Original Bus Tour. This allowed us several choices of sightseeing rides and transportation back to Euston Station on Monday for our train ride home. We could stay out of the Tube and save our Oyster Cards for another trip.
Since it had snowed the night before, walking was cold and treacherous on Sunday so we opted to view as much as we could from the bus. London is a super old city having been originally built by the Romans in AD43 but much of it burned in the Great Fire of London in 1666. There is a monument to the Fire Brigade and the Great Fire which is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. It stands 202 ft high and is positioned 202 ft from the spot in Pudding Lane on which the Great Fire is believed to have started. So you see, it it were to topple. It would land on that very spot. Weird, huh?
The narrated ride through the narrow, crowded and busy streets was really a whirlwind of views, facts and interesting tidbits about the British culture and history. We saw most of the hot spots from the bus, I took a gazillion snapshots. It was so much fun, we did more tours on Monday morning since we were carrying our travel bags. This company, Original Bus Tours were fantastic! We could not believe the excellent advise and service we received both days.
When we got back to Hyde Park on Monday about noon there were canons going off, horses, riders and a whole lot more. This was 6-February; the sixty year commemoration of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. Members of The Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired a 41 Gun Salute to mark the official start of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. It was a fantastic and incredibly memorable event to witness. I did take some pics but the "behind the scene" shots from MSNBC are interesting too. They are so all about pomp and this was certainly no exception.
Linda spotted an important looking chap with an impressive swan plumage hat and so she introduced herself. He was the head honcho Major General in charge of Royal ceremonies and is of course a very busy fellow. He made sure that the riders and band looked snappy for the ceremony.
When it was over, we toddled off to catch our bus back back to the train station and on to Worcester. It was quite a time. We are tired and happy and looking forward to returning to London for more theater, museums, sites and less snow.
There were many impressive buildings and statues in London that we saw but sped by them too fast to remember what they actually are. They Londoners do like their monuments. So, I posted the pics for your viewing enjoyment but don't expect any educational boost from them. However, this is pretty cool.
There were many impressive buildings and statues in London that we saw but sped by them too fast to remember what they actually are. They Londoners do like their monuments. So, I posted the pics for your viewing enjoyment but don't expect any educational boost from them. However, this is pretty cool.
Be sure and check out the photos. I've also added a album for Butch fans so you can keep up with his "activities".
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