Monday, September 30, 2013 To drive or not to drive, that is the question.

Monday, September 30, 2013   To drive or not to drive, that is the question.

We set off about 10 this morning and went to Stratford upon Avon.  We first went to the rugby field which may be at someone’s house, we are not sure.  They we went to the town!!!  We followed Myrtle and Rick Steves and between the two of them, they know everything about everywhere.   

This is Myrtle who has been tremendously helpful this trip.  We named her after Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies because sometimes she seems to be moaning about having to find us new directions when I miss a turn.  She is a good little GPS though, yes she is!!

We were able to park in a nice parking lot and be really close to the hop on, hop off bus starting point.  As we were getting on and other people were getting off, a man handed his ticket and earphones to Linda and said she should use them as he didn’t need them anymore.  We thought that we really nice but we also knew it was dishonest.  Linda couldn’t cheat the company like that so she told the driver about it.  He smiled and handed her new earphones and told her to go on back. Isn’t that sweet???

We sat on the top nonsheltered part of the bus.  What fools we were.  It didn’t rain, but it was colder than yesterday and we drove at least 7 miles out of town to see somethings so we got really, really windblown.   

We were all thankful that we had coats and some of us had hoods.  It was an interesting tour and now I understand about William Shakepeare’s family and the homes they lived in.  They didn’t talk too much about his career or what he did except to tell us that he created about 1700 words, many of which we use all the time.  Some of these words include BUMP, PIOUS, and DISLOCATED. 

The commentary also told us why a barber shop’s pole is red and white.  Doctors were not allowed to do surgery on people, only barbers were.  The pole out front of their business has red to indicate blood and white to indicate bandages. 

The commentary also explained about the expression of ‘having a frog in your throat’ comes from Shakespeare’s time when a doctor would dangle a certain type of yellow frog in someone’s throat so that some slimy stuff would come off the frog and go down your throat – this was the cure for a sore throat.  Turns out the slimy stuff was actually antibiotics produced in the frog’s secretions.  YUCK!!

We also learned that the four poster bed with the covering on it was to shield the sleepers from the birds, droppings and mice that lived in the thatched roof that often fell down from the thatch at night!!!! 

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth I was considered eccentric for taking twelve baths a year, whether she needed them or not??  Her father, King Henry VIII only ever had two baths – the day he was born and the day he died!!!   That was what many people did back them.  Some families would take a bath once a year – all in the same barrel in the same water, but they started with the most important people in the home and proceeded toward that least important.  They often stitched the clothes onto the people until it was time for the next bath, next year. 

I found it interesting that after about 20 years, they would dig up bones of the people buried in the churchyard and burn them on a big bonefire – perhaps that has been shortened to bonfire these days.  William Shakespeare did not want this to happen so he made sure that he would be buried under the church and he put a curse on anyone who disturbed his grave.

So, as I said the tour was interesting, but I don’t feel like I learned much about Shakespeare, the man. We did see lots of half timbered houses that were very pretty.  

We rode the whole tour and then got off at the shopping street.  Can you guess why???  That’s right – we were hungry!!!  So we ate at a pretty good little place where almost all the food was good.  Lots of us had a full English Breakfast and others had cheese toasties or hamburger.  The tea and hot chocolate were very much appreciated and helped warm us back up after the bus ride.  We then proceeded to shop – of course.  It was a nice shopping street and contained lots of interesting items.

We then went back to the car and got on the way to Warwick Castle.  Myrtle did a good job and we turned down the correct alley to find the castle.  Most of us never saw the castle since it was shielded so completely from the parking lot.  Only Sue and Sarah walked all the way up the hill to the castle but they brought us back postcards so that we could see what it looked like.  Looked nice, but it wasn’t worth that hill to me.

We then headed for Coventry.  If you have never read about the Coventry Cathedral, look it up and read about it.  Evidently it is a very interesting story about how the Cathedral was practically destroyed by a bomb during WWII and the aftermath of that bombing.  We had a difficult time finding the cathedral, even with Myrtle’s help, due to the road construction going on and the proximity of the University and all its students.  We couldn’t find a good parking spot so I found a disabled spot  and waited while the others went exploring.  

 

A man came up to me as I sat in the car and he had seen me driving in on the out side of the one way street and explained how I should leave in the correct direction.  I know he was trying to be helpful, honest he was, and I appreciated his help.  I decided to leave and go in the correct way and park in the spots he said were on the other side of the street.  So when I got there, they were also disabled spots and I didn’t really want to park there so I drove on out a different way.  I promptly got lost in rush hour traffic right in the city centre!!!  I drove all around trying to find my way back to where I had been, but I just kept getting more and more lost.  Then a taxi driver got really angry with me and stopped his taxi in the middle of an intersection to point at his elbow very angrily!!  I don’t know why he was so angry – after all, I did just drive through the bus lanes in the CORRECT direction – he should have at least been happy about that.  If any of you know what it means to point angrily to your elbow, please let me know.  I did get the gist of his intent, I believe, but I’d like to know for sure.   I was finally able to get back to my starting point and this time, I did park in the disabled spot.  After a few minutes, a lady drove up and asked if I was leaving.   I guess she needed a disabled spot so I drove on closer to the Cathedral and picked up the others. 

Then we left Coventry or at least tried to leave.  I think I was mentally fatigued and just could not follow Myrtle’s directions and there was SO much traffic going every which way that it took a couple of tries to actually get on the road home.  It took us about an hour and we saw more ambulances and police cars gathering at a wreck we passed.   Their emergency vehicles are brightly colored, for surel

That’s three days that we have seen wrecks.  I’m just very relieved we were not involved in any of those wrecks.  Whew!!  Tomorrow, we turn the car in and that will be a relief.

We went back to the Italian place and had pizza or lasagna or steak and it was all good.  We are mostly now trying to rearrange suitcases with our new loot in them because we will soon have to pack up to leave.  Some people will be shipping back items of loot or extra clothing tomorrow in an effort to stay under the weight restrictions at the airport.  I’m thinking of just not worrying about it and pay the extra money to bring it home that way.  Some of us are just relaxing and reading.  We are all a little tired but it’s been really good so far.

Oh and the answer to the title question is  . . . no, not in Coventry again.  Not me, anyway.

Sunday, September 29, 2013 Three Little Mice Went to Oxford

Sunday, September 29, 2013  Three Little Mice Went to Oxford

This morning when everyone was up and at em, several people decided to stay at home in Bourton on the Water instead of going to Oxford.  They had a relaxing day and walked to a tea room for lunch.  Only three of us – me, Sue, Sarah – went on.  I felt kind of like a little mouse in a running wheel cause it seemed we walked and walked and walked.  Then we walked some more.  Sarah is a walking machine, but Sue and I are not.  I just had to stop and sit down a few times in order to keep going.

We drove to the Pear Tree Park and Ride on the outskirts of Oxford and took the bus into town.  This worked very nicely.  We got off the bus and walked miles to the railway station where the hop on, hop off tour began.  Actually, it wasn’t all that far but it was several blocks.  We got on the bus – on the top of the bus actually – and had a great view of everything.  And we were battered by the wind, the chilly wind.  

 It was a good tour and the earphones worked well.  I now understand all about how Oxford is a University that is made up of lots of colleges – never did understand that before.  It sounds like a great place to attend college – it also sounds difficult. 

We got about 2/3 of the way around the city when the tour pointed out the Eagle and the Child – a pub where JRR Tolkien, Lewis Carroll and other met to eat, drink, and read some of their latest writings to the others.   

We decided to have lunch there.  So we hopped off the bus and walked and walked (a few blocks) back to the pub.  It was crowded but we found a table and had a nice lunch.  We had a hamburger, a beef rib pie (with the beef rib sticking out of the top of it, and a Sunday beef roast with Yorkshire pudding.   

It was all good.  After lunch, we walked and walked (a few blocks) back to the bus stop.  We did stop at a small bookshop and I bought Dr. Seuss book – He attended Oxford.  I didn’t know that when I bought it.

A bus came along in a little while and we continued back to the railway station to begin the trip around again.  We got off at Christ Church College and walked down to Alice’s Shop first – this was the shop that the real Alice of Alice in Wonderland shopped in to buy sweets. 

 I bought a really pretty Alice in Wonderful book there – I think I’ll read it.  I never have read it but I loved the movie.  Then we crossed the street to Christ Church College.

Before I go on, I’ll tell you the story of Alice.  Lewis Carroll, not his real name, was a teacher at Christ Church and he often had dinner with the Dean of the College and his family.  The Dean’s daughter was named Alice and Carroll often watched her playing on the big green field beside the college where the men often played croquet.  There was also a large tree here and one day Alice’s cat climbed up it.  Does any of this sound familiar to the Alice in Wonderland story?  It should. 

We went into the College (thankfully it was now open – it wasn’t the first time we went around because it was lunch time and no tourists are allowed during that time)  and saw lots of wondrous things.  One of the best things in my opinion was the actual stairway where Professor McGonagall welcomed the new students to Hogwarts in the first movie.  The ACTUAL stairs!!  

 Then we went into the Dining Hall which is the one on which the film set was inspired.  

There were many beautiful stained glass windows in the Dining Hall.  Here is my favorite part of the whole trip.  One set of the windows is based on Alice in Wonderland.  Some people say the windows contain the Cheshire Cat but it may have winked out when I took the photos.  

 

If you are able to enlarge the photos and look carefully, especially along the bottom, you can see some of the characters from the Alice in Wonderful book.

I just had to include at least one photo of a ceiling.  I'm amazed at the intricate work done even on the ceilings.  Wow.

We continued on to the quadrangle which is a large expanse of grass surrounded by the buildings.  The clock tower was one of those buildings and the bell chimed while we were there – it was a very deep bell.  Christ Church is 5 minutes behind everyone else because they are 5 minutes latitude from Greenwich!!! 

We also went into the Cathedral - it is the about the smallest cathedral in England but has one of the largest number of parishioners.  It was beautiful.  So much beauty to admire.

We went on to the gift shop (and bought stuff, of course) before heading for the exit.  We had to walk a LONG way to the exit and again, I had to sit down for a little while before I could keep going.  I think we went out at the lesser used exit but it was a good thing we did.  We accidentally found the Bear Pub which is supposed to not contain any right angles – I didn’t really look, cause I was so tired, so I’m not sure.   

Think about it.  The Bear Pub has been there since 1242 - that's a LONG time!!

We did seem a large frame holding the bottoms of many of the neckties they have cut off people cause they are not a fancy place and don’t want people wearing ties there!!!!  We walked on and finally came out on the main road and low and behold, there was a hop on, hop off bus!!!!  Thank goodness.  We sat downstairs this time because we had seen it all before and it was just too windy up there.  We rode around again to the railway station (third time there) and then to the bus station where we got off.  We found the correct place to stand for the Park and Ride bus.  Seemed like it took a long time before it arrived but it was probably just because I was tired.  Before we left the city centre, the bus was full and people were standing up.  Sure am glad I was not one of those people. 

We got back to the parking lot, got in our car and headed home.  Things went well until we got to one of the roundabouts and the police had closed the road we needed due to an accident.  We followed the rest of the people being detoured onto a small road and gee, all the traffic was blocked.  I turned around and we headed on toward who knows where? Myrtle kept trying to turn us around and send us back to the closed road so we had to fight with her a little.  We got far enough away and reprogrammed her several times and finally she took us home.  We sure were glad to be home – sore legs and all.  Well, Sarah didn’t have sore legs – she felt like she had not yet walked enough for the day so she walked to town to get her some pizza to go for supper!!!!  Her legs must have springs in them where mine have lead weights!!

Several of us got into the car to go to the co-op (the larger grocery store) but it was closed when we got there.  So we went to the Londis (the smaller store on High Street) and got our necessary items.  We know we have to start cleaning out the fridge and all, but we do still have a few days left. After we all got home and everyone had supper, most of us starting taking showers and getting ready for the best thing of the day.  Downton Abbey comes on tonight!!!!!  We get to see the second show of the season and some of us are really excited about that.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Coventry and Stratford on Avon.  It should be a pretty easy day – I hope so.  I’m glad I’ll just have to drive and hope I don’t have to walk tooooo much. 

Saturday, Sept. 28 Revisiting Favorite Places

Saturday, September 28, 2013  Revisiting Favorite Places

Today we didn’t have new places to see, or so we thought, so we had a leisurely morning with some of us shipping some ‘loot’ back to the USA and some of us just relaxing.  Shipping is expensive but it’s so much better than lugging lots of stuff to London and then the airport and paying lots extra to get it back to the US. 

We left at 11:30 and headed back to the Snowshill Inn to have lunch.  A couple of people agreed with me that the Ham and Cheese Toasty is the best sandwich they’ve ever eaten and mine was really good again.  Everything we had was good, especially the Meringue topped with Raspberry Ice Cream that some of the girls had for dessert.  

Some of us also had Sticky Toffee just to see what it was liked.  She liked it.

There were also several dogs in the pub today and they were, of course, very well behaved.

We then headed for Stanton which we loved the other day, but got distracted by a sign for Broadway so we toured that town again.  It was just as pretty today as it was before and I think that’s where I’d want to live if I lived in this area.  We then went on to Stanton and it was just as beautiful as before.  We all still think the house with yellow roses is our favorite house and the view from the Mount Inn was perhaps even better today than before.  

We have learned that many thatchers put a certain symbol on the top of the roof, sort of as their personal trademark.  We found a kangaroo on the top of this house today.  We thought it very interesting.

 We went back into the church and loved it again too.  Such a nice place.

We then decided to find another village that was on our list but had escaped our presence until today – Guiting Power.  We asked Myrtle to take us there and she did.  We went through Temple Guiting and Kineton and lots of very pretty scenery to get there and it was worth it.  

Guiting Power is a wonderful little village surrounded by beautiful fields.  The sheep in the churchyard were particularly nice.  We also saw a man in an old convertible, maybe a Morgan but maybe not, with his goggles (we think he was wearing these) and the old timey helmet that drivers used to wear.  I tried to follow him but the street was too narrow and twisty for our van.  I would have liked to have had another look at him and his gear.

We also saw a man thatching a roof today and he was working hard all by himself as he did this.  It looks like a lot of work but what he had finished was beautiful.

On our way back home, we saw several pheasants in the roadway and of course had to stop and take their photos.   

As they ran into the woods, they made a really strange noise unlike any I have ever heard before.  They were pretty.  We think we may have also seen some grouse on the road today, but we are not sure.  It’s hard to think that hunters like to kill these beautiful birds.

We got back home about 3:00 today.  Some of us went to town and did more shopping and most of us spent at least some time resting – some would call it sleeping, but I felt much better afterwards.  

during my time back in town today I saw another dog in the river and this one was just so happy to have his owners thrown him small bits of food to chase in the river.  He did really well not to bother the ducks that were also in the river.  

We did get to the Mouse Trap Inn by 6:30 for dinner.  It was a nice place and looked like an old pub to me.  The waitress was very nice but she was quite young, not even 16 yet.  Some of us loved our food and some of us thought it was just okay.  The desserts were really good but some of us were still full from lunch so not every one had dessert.  

Those are heated red tomatoes on goat's cheese that Paula had for dinner.

Now we are home and almost everyone is up in their room getting ready for bed and reading.  Some are listening to football games and Sarah is happy that Tennessee has already won their game today. 

Our plans for tomorrow are a little loose at this point but I’m sure it’ll all work out just fine.  We plan to leave about 10 and drive to the Pear Tree Park and Ride on the north side of Oxford so we can take a bus into Oxford.  Everything online seems to indicate that parking is difficult and expensive in the city.  We plan to do a hop on, hop off bus tour and see the city that way.  I’ll let you know tomorrow night how it goes.

We are sad to think that we only have a few more days in the Cotswolds.  We travel to London on Wednesday morning and that will be a totally different view of England.

Friday, September 27, 2013 Tonight we have a Wales of a tale

Friday, September 27, 2013  Tonight we have a Wales of a tale

We got up and left about 10 this morning with Wales as our goal.   We also wanted to see Painwick which has been described as a “Chocolate Box of Quaintness”.  Since it was sort of on the way to Wales, that was our first destination.  Everything went well until I missed another turn on another roundabout!!  Those things are a little tricky even though I really like them a lot.  We just ended up getting off the main road and going a beautiful back road through the forest.  It was a wonderful little meandering road through deeply shadowed woods and it was much more picturesque than any main road. 

We arrived in town on High Street, of course, and rode through town.  We drove past the church and decided we needed a closer look so I turned into a parking lot. We thought we could get back to the church on minor roads and so turned opposite to the way we had come in.  Wrong move.  We went down a very twisty, narrow street that was only a residential areas.  We were able to turn around and go back on High Street to Church Street.  Wouldn’t you know – it was even more narrow and twisty than the first road we tried, but we did find a parking spot right at the gate to the church.   We sent Sue in to take photos so we didn’t have to all climb out of the car.  The unique thing about this church is the steeple, which most churches here do not have.

 Also, in the church yard there were many cedar trees and bushes that had been trimmed to within an inch of their lives and some of them even had tunnels cut through them so people could walk through them.  This is a feature we have not seen before.

We headed on out of town – it was a really nice town, but I don’t know that it’s my favorite.  We got back on main roads and then drove through Stroud which is a city that has little charm.  I did turn off a roundabout too early in Stroud and we toured the parking lot of a Tesco Superstore before going back to the roundabout and onwards.

We left Stoud and got on M5 – a major road that we had traveled to Penzance.  We didn’t go nearly as far this time since we soon went west toward Wales.  We had to pay a high toll (6 pounds 20 pence) to cross the bridge over the Severn River and entire Wales.  It was a really fancy bridge and it crossed what seemed to me to be a really wide river.   

Looking at the map, you can tell that the river continues to widens as it flows westerly so there could not have been many more bridges on it between England and Wales.  

The road just after the bridge was so nice and smooth and the conversation in the back seat was so interesting that I ignored Myrtle and just skipped the first exit – the one we were supposed to take!!  I don’t usually miss so many turns in the USA but I will claim that I’m just not used to things over here yet.  I’m sure that as soon as I get used to them, it will be time to leave!  Regardless, Myrtle didn’t complain too much, she just found a new route.  We were headed to Tintern Abbey south of Chepstow.  We had signs we followed instead of listening to Myrtle since we had not programmed the Abbey.  We were awed when we first came into view of the Abbey because it was right beside the road just as we exited a shadowy forest of trees.  I immediately pulled to a stop in a parking lot across the road from it just because I wanted to look at it and not drive at the same time.  

 I soon turned around and we drove into the parking lot of the abbey, got out and proceeded to tour the abbey.  It was amazing to think that people so long ago could build something so magnificent with the tools and skills they had at the time.  Pictures will not do it just but we tried anyway.  We took a lot.  We also really enriched the economy of Wales today with the gift shops we went into!!!

I found it interesting that all the signs in Wales are in England and in Welsh.  

 

 While we were there, I spoke with a husband and wife who were standing beside their car – a Morgan.  It’s the same kind that Ducky on NCIS drives but I had no idea they were so nice.  This one was a really soft green and it had one piece of leather luggage strapped to the spare tire on the back of the car.  It’s only a two seater and it rides very low to the grown.  They were on their way to a show of Morgans (at least a thousand will be there) but they have driven the car all over Europe.  He said it handles very well on sharp curves because it is so low to the grown – I’m not sure I could down into it, but I feel certain I would never be able to get back up out of it.  They are hand built in a factory in Wales and there are only about 750 made each year.  This one was 20 years old and it looked beautiful.  I want one.  Maybe I could sell my house and borrow some money to be able to afford it.

 

We asked directions at the gift shop to help us get to Chepstow Castle.  Myrtle had said the Castle was located on Bridge Street in Chepstow and I just didn’t think a castle would be on a street in a city so I thought I had finally found her making a mistake.  The gift shop lady gave directions which included about 6 left turns (and no right turns).  I followed her directions and listened to Myrtle and they were both right.  Evidently the town was built right up to the castle which is bordered on the other side by a river.  

 The castle is a ruin but Sarah toured it and said it was very nice inside – no furnishings but the rooms themselves were well preserved.  She also took a photo of what they claim are the oldest castle doors in Wales.  They look pretty good to me.

 After more shopping and sitting in the nice brisk air waiting for Sarah, we went to have lunch at the Three Tuns which is located on Bridge Street right next to the castle.  

 The sign said it had been there since 1620!!!  That’s a long time.  We had very nice sandwiches and tea and then went across the street to do more shopping!!!

We had hoped to leave Wales about 2:30 to make sure we avoided Friday rush hour on the main roads and nearby larger cities, but we left about 3:30 instead.  Our schedule is almost always very flexible – at least when shopping and lunch are involved. 

We came straight home with not detours and were involved in NO real traffic delays at all.  What a change from our previous trip that way.  We got home about 5 and planned to go to the Mousetrap Inn for dinner.  I tried calling for reservations but there was no answer.  I emailed them and they replied that they are closed from 3 until 6 and they are only open at mealtimes.  They could not give us a table until 8:30 and that was just too late for us, so we made reservations there for 6:30 tomorrow night.  It only took about twelve emails to make that happen.  David - the fella answering my emails said “Yippee” when we finally agreed on what to do.  I expect he was a little tired of me by then.  Instead, we walked back to the Kingsbridge Inn on the river to the place we ate at the first lunch we had here in the village.   We had beef and Guinness pie, shrimp, fish and chicken/ham pie.  They were all good.  We also had desserts and they were wonderful.  We then waddled home cause we were full!!  

We have figured out what all we are going to do and see in the next few days before we leave for London and tomorrow is the only day we will not be going somewhere new.  We enjoyed Snowshill  and Stanton so much we are going back there tomorrow and have lunch at that wonderful pub from the other day.  Some of us are also going to take some of our ‘loot’ to the post office and mail it home so our suitcases will not be so waited down on the way home.

The girls and I have really enjoyed the comments some of you have sent us about our travels.  My advice to you is to travel, if at all possible, and go see something you’ve never seen before!!!