Notes and Impressions

I arrived home on June 3rd about 8:30 in the evening, The next morning when I awoke I thought for a few seconds I was in a hotel bed, But I was Home! It is always a luxurious feeling to wake up in one’s own bed after a long trip.

I forgot to tell you that one morning in the Mondrian Hotel in London, after we were seated at a window table, Jon told me to look over his shoulder. A couple tables back I would see a woman’s curly hair showing beside a short divider wall; there was a small bald man with glasses sitting opposite her and facing me. When I located the place he was talking about, he said the woman was Bernadette Peters, the actress. From where I sat, I could see she was wearing print canvas sneakers. Not wanting to stare, I did glance at her on our way out. She was my only celebrity sighting on the trip.

That same morning, sitting at the window, I watched the wait staff of the hotel restaurant setting up tables on the terrace outside. I said they don’t actually expect people to sit out there, do they? The plants on the tables were bent well over in the wind. It became obvious, as we watched, that they did. A man was meticulously setting up the tables and his supervisor came along behind him, straightening a fork or a dish, weighting down a napkin, carefully instructing him to do it just right. Once the table was set, he brought folded knit blankets and draped them over every chair. Londoners seem to be tolerant of the wind. I don’t like it much myself but if I lived there I might not notice so much, I suppose.

The other thing about wait staff that was apparent, wherever we went, is that those jobs were most often held by persons of other nationalities. We were served by people from several different countries; one young woman from Romania I remember in particular. When a young man delivered my tea to my table once at the Mondrian, another staff person came along with him and instructed him, in a language unfamiliar to me, just how to serve the tea properly. I assume that waiting on table could be one of the first jobs that immigrants might be able to obtain, as the need for staff in tourist season must be great and turnover may be heavy. Most Europeans speak several languages which is an asset most of us in the U.S. do not have.

In Dublin and Edinburgh, the homeless sat against a building or a lamppost, even in the drizzle, their sleeping bag wrapped around them, with a cup setting in front of them, no signs, no outstretched hand. Evidently an unvoiced, silent plea was allowed. I did not see this in Inverness or London. 

Bed and Breakfast places abound, particularly in Ireland, though we saw them in Scotland too. They are a  nice choice over a hotel if you can find one near where you want to be. We certainly enjoyed our stay with Patrick and his wife in Killarney. There we had a “hot-pot”, always available for a hot cup of tea, without bothering our host. I appreciated this nicety.

In Inverness it became apparent that the River Ness was the source of the rapidly moving water, not the sea in the Firth. The River emptied into the Firth and would drain a whole series of highlands, of course. We did not go to see Loch Ness, as we had other agenda. It was a great trip and i can’t thank Jon enough for all of his “left-lane” driving. I don’t think I could have managed that. Certainly not while holding a phone map in one hand!

Mom’a home for a while. Until the next time I’m on the road again, bye-bye..

London Bridges

We walked bridges several times, crossing the Thames River. I liked the way the bridge structures were painted to show off their decorative designs. Speaking of structures, there was a large one going up, a short distance behind our hotel which was right on the river. I complained that one could not get a good picture of the skyline without getting a construction crane poking up in your viewfinder. Jon got several good pictures though.

June 1 - The next day it was not as rainy but still windy. We did the Hop On- Hop Off Bus tour. Traffic was really congested and slow. We got off at St. Paul’s Cathedral. About this time I decided that there was no doubt my kidneys were working fine. Seems like we were looking for a rest room every time we were out walking around. And we did a lot of walking. After St Paul’s we walked to Harrods, which was pretty amazing. Then we stopped at  Burberry’s so Jon would look for a top coat he had been wanting and he found a nice one there. While the clerk was helping Jon try on coats, I sat on a sofa and was served a nice hot cup of cranberry tea. Jon also bought me a lovely scarf there. A sales clerk gave me lessons on how to tie it (at my request). We walked by Buckingham Palace and took pictures on the way back to the hotel.

There was a Wagamama restaurant not too far from the hotel. We ate there twice, sitting outside each time as it was too noisy inside. They did have a few heaters outside under roof and blankets to wrap yourself in or sit on.  I wore my new scarf, which was nice and warm, when we ate there that evening. I wore my raincoat most of the time when we were outside, not so much because of rain but to cut the wind.

Yesterday, (June 2) we slept in and decided not to tax ourselves and try to see everything on our last day. We selected the Tower of London and the Tate Museum as priorities. However, by the time we returned to the hotel from the Tower, the Tate was closing, so we opted for a movie, took a taxi to the movie house. It was a really tiny movie house in a pub. We saw Money Monster, which was pretty good. We took the subway part way back and walked the rest of the way. It was still light out at 9:15. We packed suitcases the rest of the evening, throwing out anything not absolutely necessary to make room for our purchases.

                                         

We got an early start this morning (June 3) to navigate the monorail, changing lines once and getting to the airport in plenty of time. After checking our bags, visiting customs, going through security, finding our departure gate, we went to the Delta Lounge and got breakfast there. That’s where I am sitting to write this. Soon we will be headed back to JFK.

This is a very quick synopsis of all we did in London. Jon took lots of pictures on his phone. His pictures are a much better chronicle of London than this blog. One thing we did learn at Wagamama is that this whole week is a school holiday which probably accounts for the traffic congestion being so bad. Jon says it was nowhere near this bad the last time he was here. The crowds of people made it harder to get around, sometimes even to walk. We took lesser streets sometimes because of this.

It's Not An Adventure Unless....

“It’s not an adventure unless things don’t go right” - Jon Ingalls

Jon had planned on us flying to London May 31 on an 11 am  flight which would get us into London with a afternoon and evening to look around. When he tried to do a flight check-in on his computer, the British Airways flight had been cancelled!! After a few moments of high anxiety, he managed to get us two seats on a 7 am flight which meant getting up at 4:30 am in order to dress, pack up, drive to the airport, turn in the rental car, and go through security at Inverness airport. By the time he had done a dry-run to the airport, just to be sure we would not get lost on the way in the morning, and got to bed, I don’t think he got more than 4 hours sleep, if that much. But we got to the airport in good time the next morning and without coffee, imagine that! The store at the small airport did not open for another 15 minutes. Coffee was his first priority. I munched on a half banana I had in my pack.

He called the hotel in London to explain what happened and to ask them to hold us an earlier room if one became available. At the London airport, it was raining; we deplaned in the rain and hurried to a shuttle bus that took us to the air terminal. When we collected our luggage, mine was pretty wet on one side. We had a croissant and more coffee there and then took a train to Briars Wood station. Using the app on his phone, Jon had figured it was a nine minute walk from the train to the hotel. I had an umbrella; Jon insisted on towing both suitcases. In one place we could not avoid water pooling in a sidewalk depression. I was glad that I had water proofed my shoes before I left home. Even though water wet the bottom of my slacks, hardly any water at all got into my shoes. My umbrella kept my backpack dry. 

We were in luck, the hotel clerk told us. They had just one room ready that was like the one Jon had reserved. I checked on my luggage right away but evidently not enough water had leaked through, at least not through the lining. We had lunch at the hotel; it was too late for breakfast by the time we got there. We looked at our options, decided to conserve our energy and take a taxi to Madame Toussants Wax Museum. The taxi would only take cash and Jon asked how much it would cost. It depended on the traffic: 17-18 ₤. Traffic was very bad; when the meter read 19 ₤,  we got out as Jon only had 20 ₤ cash on him. We walked the rest of the way, maybe a half hour walk and as we approached the place, Jon said oh, no. There was a lo-o-ong line. Maybe a hundred people including a lot of kids. I said it must be a holiday, there were so many school age childlren here. Neither of us could tolerate waiting in that line, on little sleep and after lots of walking. We found a Pret a Manger (natural food chain store), got a bite to eat, rested a little, walked outside and caught a taxi back to the hotel. Jon was exhausted and sacked out immediately for a couple hours. I didn’t sleep then, but slept about 10 hours that night.

I contacted Tom Mayberry, a fifth cousin from the Douglass Family, to see if he might be coming to London while we were there and we could meet for coffee. He is an archivist who is Chief Executive of the SW Heritage Trust in Somerset. If it hadn't been a 3 hour trip to Somerset, southwest of London, we might have visited, but that didn't make sense in the little time we had. It was a long shot. But Tom did reply the next day to say he was in France right then and sorry to miss us. He hoped we might meet each other on one side of the Atlantic or the other in the future. If you want to read about Tom and the Southwest Heritage Trust, you can find them with a search of the internet.