London Theater Tour

Saturday 11/30, Levittown to Langhorne to Newark to London

We drove to the Clarks for our 4:00 departure. We only had time for a sip of champagne before the limo showed up. It was the same as we have seen on previous trips and just the right size for the five of us. The ride was uneventful and, although there was considerable traffic on Thanksgiving weekend, we had plenty of time for our snacks and champagne.  
After checking in and beating the law of averages for extra 9/11/01-prompted searches, we were still pretty early and had a couple of free drinks in the Continental President's Lounge on the Clarks' American Express platinum cards as we did on the Ireland trip a year and a half ago. Thanks again guys! Boarding the plane was also uneventful, and while we got seated, we had a nice discussion with an English lady who lived in the London suburbs, and was now returning to her seaside home. We took off just about on time!

Continental has the personal entertainment centers with back-of-the-seat displays offering audio, movies, and games. It is nice because everyone can do their own thing, but the movies offered seem to be a cut below the ones that were shown to the entire cabins on other flights we have taken. We saw this on previous Continental flights, and one new wrinkle is that the earphones clip over each ear and aren't collected. I guess they are cheaper to make than to collect and sanitize them. Just as we started to use them though , an announcement came on that everyone had to turn off their system while they fixed the computer! We were back in business shortly, and it does help pass the time!

On all our previous overseas flights, the wine was free. Domestic airlines have always charged for alcoholic drinks on domestic flights, but went along with the foreign airlines in offering them free on overseas flights. A month or so ago, we had heard or read that certain domestic airlines are considering charging for alcoholic drinks on overseas flights, but we were still mildly surprised when they announced that alcoholic drinks were $4, and exact change to boot! It's not a big deal, we figure that if they were free, the fares would be higher, although then the non-drinking passengers would share the cost, heh heh.

The meal was ordinary, but sufficient and that also helps to pass the time. We used our one-dollar bills on a couple of wines before dinner, so we didn't get change for the two we had with dinner, "keep the change" is implied.

We didn't sleep much as usual and after a juice, fruit, and croissant breakfast we moved our watches ahead by 5 hours to the 7AM sunrise. We landed almost an hour early in the rain, but most of that time was taken in waiting for a terminal berth. We are further North here, and their day is a little shorter, so it was just light by the time we got off. The big London Airport is Heathrow, west of the city, but we are at Gatwick, some 30 miles or so south of center city London and our hotel.

We've always wondered about the name of the country, is it England or Great Britain, or both? Internationally, it is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is comprised of England, Scotland and Wales. However, England is often referred to as a separate "country", especially for football (soccer). We're surprised that Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain!

Sunday 12/01, London

After customs we were met by a man, who we figured was contracted by Far & Wide, rather than a direct employee, and he gathered our bags and took us to a waiting area just above the train tracks. After a few minutes, he gave us tickets and put us and the baggage on a train. There was a 35 minute trip north to Victoria Station in Central London, where another contractor got our bags off the train, loaded them in a van, and drove us to the hotel. He said a vehicle direct from the airport to the hotel would just take too long. It is the Thistle Marble Arch just a block from the Marble Arch in the Northwest corner of Hyde Park, one of many Thistle Hotels in London. The Marble Arch (in the park, not the hotel) was originally in front of Buckingham Palace, demolished and rebuilt in Hyde Park in 1851. Supposedly, only senior members of the royal family and the Royal Horse Artillery are allowed to ride or drive through, but it's not clear how you get to it across the busy intersection, so we didn't try! It is a nice landmark for us to find our hotel though.

We met Far & Wide representative Ian (Scottish, he said) here and he got us signed in. We and Dick got rooms right away and are near each other on the second floor, the Clarks had to wait a little and are on the 6th. We are really on floor number two, which is the third floor as the ground floor is not floor number one- this is typical in most European Hotels. The rooms are numbered consecutively down one side of the corridor and up the other, not odds on one side and evens on the other. Street addresses are the same way!

We rested up for a little while and headed out with Bill and Val to Marks And Spencer, a big department store with many locations, looking for a belt for Bill to replace his broken one! The store was very crowded with it being Sunday and Christmas near. A glance at the store directory got us started, and once we found the correct floor we were in business, with menswear being on the second floor, i.e. two floors up!

We only get breakfast at the hotel and are on our own for all other meals, so we looked for a pub for lunch. We found the Marlborough Head a couple of blocks away, went in and got a table. Although most pubs don't have table service and you have to order both food and drink at the bar, this one did. We had typical pub food- fish and chips and sausage sandwiches on "bloomer bread", a course whole wheat. Virtually all pubs have the cask conditioned Real ales, which are still fermenting in their cellar barrels. There are also many more good English and foreign beers on refrigerated nitrogen systems just like in most American bars, but the hand-pulled real ales are special, not warm but at a just-right cellar temperature. Of course, you can get a pallet-numbing cold American Budweiser bottle almost anywhere. Pat, Bill, and Val shared a bottle of Spanish Rioja wine.

We took a walk around the hotel to Hyde Park and went back to our rooms to rest a little more before meeting Ian for a Welcome Reception. There was red and white wine, beer, juice, and sodas, but the beer was the American Budweiser for heaven's sake. In one of the beer capitals of the world, they only had the American Budweiser, I guess they figure that is what the Americans want. We filled out sheets with our personal information, and he handed out audio receivers which we would probably use only on the next day's city tour. Unlike the Italian tour earlier this year, which was also Grand European, we didn't have to spend a lot of time filling credit card slips for them here, kudos to Ian for that! There were also optional tours available, and Ian handed out sheets to fill in and he would see if there were sufficient numbers to have them. We signed up for a half day trip to Windsor Castle, and a full-day trip to Oxford and Stratford-on-Avon. Ian also told us a little about London, getting around with the tube, busses, and taxis, and money, dining, pubs, etc. He especially told us to take "Black" Taxis, not "Mini Cabs", although the difference is subtle! And especially don't eat in the hotel restaurant or drink in the hotel bar!

Dick had read of a "Typical English Pub", the Guinea Grill, and we took a taxi for the short distance away and were quickly let off. Just as the taxi sped away, we noticed that the restaurant was not open (Sunday!) A couple getting into a car nearby said that a square up the street may have some restaurants. We trudged up and looked around, but there was just offices and homes. A taxi driver on the square said there was a restaurant right next to the closed one, so we walked back down! Sure enough, there was Greigs and it was open although it looked a little pricey, but since it didn't look too busy, we thought we were OK. We didn't see it before, because the couple pointed us in the opposite direction! Bummer though, they couldn't take the five of us as the empty tables were reserved! Back to the square at the end of the street, we got a taxi to take us to The Sugar Club, listed on a page of restaurants Pat printed from the web, and was not too far away. We were dropped off and we made sure that they would take us before we let the taxi leave!

This restaurant was very nice and also quite pricey, but we are on vacation! An interesting menu item was partridge with a footnote that "game may contain buckshot!" Nobody got that, (the partridge or the buckshot) but a couple had a "Daube of Beef", which we had never seen before, very tender, somewhat like a pot roast, and said to be from the "cheek" of the animal! There was an excellent wine list and we had a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a Chianti Classico. We asked them to call us a taxi, and we were taken to our hotel. The taxi ride back couldn't have been any longer than either of the two that we took to get there, but it cost four times as much as either of the other two. Yep, it was the dreaded Mini Cab, the restaurant put it to us, we figure they got a kickback from the taxi driver! We won't let that happen again! We all went into the Glenn Miller bar at the hotel for a drink, but no Glenn Miller Music. The bartender said that he only plays that when people request it and the implication was that he didn't want to! They didn't have a coffee maker in the bar, they had to get it from the restaurant to make Pat's and Dick's Irish coffees. Ian is two-for-two, it was very expensive!

Monday 12/02, London

We were up early for the included 7AM breakfast. It was the same every day- a "Full English Breakfast", with cereals, juices, fruit, breads, cold ham, salami and cheese, a hot table with sausages (bangers!), potatoes, sunny side up eggs, and, reconstituted or something resembling white scrambled eggs! Just after we started to eat, the restaurant filled up with a large number of Oriental teenagers on a class trip or something. They were there for the whole week, and we made sure that we got there before or after them!

Before boarding the bus for the included city tour, Ian handed out our theater tickets, as two plays were included in the tour price. Everyone is responsible for getting to their theater as each of the two nights there were a few choices. Some people wanted very specific directions to their theaters and he was accommodating, but we thought we could figure it out when the times come. All five of us are going to see the same show on the next night, and on the following night, the Stahls and Clarks are together and Dick is going to a different play.

We said it was a bad omen when we saw that the bus for the city tour was a "Clarkes", but it had an extra "e" and is a big company and there were many of them all over London. We saw a number of stores of the Clark chain all over also, Clark or Clarke being an English name. We got on the bus for the morning city tour and headed out through the center of Hyde Park from the North, although half of it is named Kensington Gardens, 630 acres and 4 miles around, easily the largest park in London. There is a large lake within the park for recreation and a club swims in it year round! Yuk!! From the bus we saw a number of monuments and memorials including a distant view of Kensington Palace, once the home of some of Britain's most famous Kings and Queens. Parts of the palace remain a private residence for members of the Royal Family, and this was the place where mountains of flowers were laid as a tribute to Princess Diana when she died. There was also the Albert Memorial, Queen Victoria's monument to her husband, and "Rotten Row", the fashionable horseback riding track through the park.

Exiting into fashionable Knightsbridge on the South side, we passed by Imperial College, the Natural History and the Albert and Victoria Museums. All museums are free to the public except for special exhibitions, paid for by the taxpayers, especially us with our VAT! Along with nearby Kensington and Chelsea, these are the most expensive apartments in London, going for about £1,200,000 or about $1,900,000! That wouldn't include a parking place though, you would have to cough up another million dollars or so and even by itself, the parking space is considered a good investment!

We stopped along the side of Buckingham Palace, and took the short walk to the busy square in front. Amid the swarm of other tourists, you get a good view of the Palace and its famous guards. In front of the palace is a parade area used for the changing of the guard ceremony which takes place only on alternate days this time of year, and in front of that is a wrought iron fence that we look through. We will return tomorrow for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. It is a very impressive area with the gates to the unusually-named Green (public) park. Adjacent to the Palace is their very non-public park. Across the square, opposite the Palace gates is the 13 feet high scaffold-covered Queen Victoria Monument erected in 1911, ten years after she died. The small figures represent Charity, Courage, Truth and Justice, and the gold figure at the top is Victory. Even though there are quite a few tourists now, we expect many more tomorrow for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Getting back on the bus, we passed Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, with the Big Ben clock tower. Big Ben is the main bell inside the tower, not the very prominent clock! Across the Thames is the "London Eye", the enormous wheel providing a sight that is a now as much a part of the city landscape as the Tower Clock, or the Tower Bridge! Next was a drive by Grosvenor Square, known as "Little America" during the Second World War with the United States Embassy, and the remains of the bunker Eisenhower and other US commanders used during the war. In the park are statues of Eisenhower and Churchill.

The Ritz Hotel (not the Ritz-Carlton chain) was pointed out as a nice place for "High Tea", if you have £27 ($42), and a reservation! The Savoy Hotel has a small access street that is the only London Street that you drive on the right side. They say that the Americans drive on the right side of the road, and the English drive on the correct side! Trafalgar Square with the famous Nelson's Statue is undergoing roadwork and was very difficult to get around.

The second bus stop was on the Southwark Bridge approach, where we had a short walk down and along the river to the Globe Theater, recreated just as it was in Shakespeare's time. American actor/director Sam Wanamaker was the driving force behind its recreation. We were led from the ticket office into the Theater and sat down on the lower level while the guide gave a lengthy talk. The location is about 100 yards different, there are numbered seats, and there are some safety compromises, but it is as faithful a reproduction as they could make it in today's world. There are three levels of seating and standing room in front of the stage. The best locations were as high as possible as there were no restrooms! It is used for many performances throughout the year, but only in the summertime as there is no roof and thus open to the elements. We were supposed to have some time in the adjacent Museum, but either the time wasted in getting there or the length of the talk in the theater precluded that and we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We had hoped to go to Windsor Castle in the afternoon, but there was not enough people signed up for any of the tours for Far and Wide to run. We had the concierge book us a half-day trip to Windsor Castle the next day and an Oxford-Stratford-Cotswold full day trip for Thursday when we are free all day. Val signed up for a trip for her and Bill to Bath and Stonehenge. In 1996, we took a similar Bath-Stonehenge trip that also included Salisbury Cathedral, and it was an awfully long day, so this should be better for them. We asked Ian how to get to the closest pub, and Clay, Pat, Val, and Dick went to the Three Tuns Pub a half-block away from the hotel. Seasoned Pub customers now, we all ordered beers and food at the bar, took the beers with us and sat down. The food was brought to the table when it was ready.

With the afternoon now free, we and the Clarks used our Seven Day Visitor Travelcard and took the bus to Harrods. We paid quite a bit for the Travelcards and didn't really get our money's worth, only using the bus a few times and the tube not at all. It was still nice to be able to just hop on a bus and show the pass, not worrying about making change. Harrods has tight security and we had to hide our cameras as they are a store, not a tourist attraction. They also demand a certain dress code, i.e no holes, frayed cuffs, etc. You also will be charged £1 to use the restrooms, although if you purchase something or eat in one of their many restaurants, you can get a "Loo" voucher.

We were a little early for tea, so we checked out the store and in the Egyptian Room saw a bunch of TV cameras and lights. They were interviewing Mohammed Al-Fayad, the owner and almost father-in-law of Princess Diana! There was still a little time before tea, so we had a glass of wine at the downstairs wine bar with a good view of the adjacent wine shop. People seemed to be buying bottles and having them wrapped in boxes for gifts. We looked around it for a while and Clay bought an inexpensive bottle of claret, the English term for France's Bordeaux blend, for local consumption of course.

We almost bumped into Al-Fayad again on another floor on our way to the restaurant for tea. Tea was "only" £18.50 ($29), or including a glass of their house champagne £25.50 ($40). Of course all four of us went for the champagne but we all chose different teas, Pat ordered Darjeeling and Clay had the Earl Grey, the only one he could pronounce! The waiter didn't bring the correct tea to Pat, had someone else help, went away, and there was a little confusion before they finally poured it. Both she and Val thought that as a result she still didn't get the correct tea. Of course, you get the waiter pouring the first cup from the teapot with a little strainer placed across the cup- no tea bags here! It came with a three-tiered tray of sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, and desserts on the top. It was mid-afternoon by now and could have been a meal for all of us, but we made a dent in the stuff anyway. All-in-all it was very nice, although Val got a sandwich with the crust on, can you imagine!

Pat inquired about purchasing an Ebel watch as the only ones on display didn't have a second hand, although all the men's do! A sales clerk produced a catalog, and there was one there that she liked. Of course, it wasn't in stock, but she will call us at the hotel with the price and availability the next day, but we didn't hear anything the remainder of our stay! We took the bus back to the Marble Arch and checked out the public ice skating rink. We had to cross a busy intersection to get to the hotel and there was a subway for that. The "Underground" are the trains, subways are just for getting to the other side of the street, and this one had many exits, so we had a pretty good walk there, but we finally made it. Oxford Street bordering our hotel was all lit up with beautiful Christmas decorations.

We had a few minutes before heading out to dinner and we shared a glass of the Harrod's wine with Dick who was in a room close to ours on the second floor. The Clarks were on the sixth at the other end. It was raining lightly and we walked a couple of blocks to "Ask" for dinner, a no-frills Italian chain restaurant that we saw all over London. It was plain, with little decor or ambiance, but the food, wine, and service were all great. This was quite reasonably priced and an excellent value, all the other dinners were the expected high quality, but big-city London pricey. All the pubs were we went to for lunch were reasonable though. We feel that dining is a major part of any trip, and this one was great for that!

We decided to go around the corner to Callaghan's Irish Bar for after-dinner drinks. It was a Sports Bar with large screen televisions showing Soccer, but they had no Irish Coffee! So we walked out and went in to the Mostyn Hotel bar, a Best Western just across the street from our hotel.

Tuesday 12/03, London And The First Play

Today, we were not doing anything organized, so we slept in (to 8:30!), and this time by being later, we avoided all the kids at breakfast. We asked the desk for the bus number to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. The assistant didn't have a clue, but the concierge told us the number and where to get it. We should have asked where to get off also, as it didn't go right to the palace, so we asked the ticket taker as we were going by the Buckingham Palace Gardens, and she said that we should have gotten off at the previous stop which was the closest. Anyway, we got off there and had to walk around the Gardens with its stone wall and razor wire and through the adjacent public "Green" park. Not surprisingly, when we approached the area in front of the palace, there was quite a crowd, even though we were 45 minutes early. Mounted police people were riding through the crowd telling everyone to beware of pickpockets!

The ceremony started on time and the new guards filed in with a band and there was a lot of marching (and stomping), with some of the soldiers on horseback. The bands set up their music stands and played about a half-dozen songs with different band members directing. The weather was chilly but it was dry, and not too windy, so it wan't too uncomfortable. Everyone had the bright red uniforms with the big black fluffy hats. We were in the second row of people behind the bars, with the band right in front of us. It was a very impressive show with the actual changing appearing to be almost an afterthought! It was also very uncomfortable standing shoulder to shoulder and feeling your wallet for the 45 minute wait and the hour ceremony. But it was a good place to be, and we think we caught the changing of the guard in the background!

We then left on foot to Victoria Street and Westminster Cathedral. Completed in 1903, it is an active Catholic church with red brick and white stone bands and is quite distinctive. There was plenty of room inside,seating 2000 people, and we went in and attended the last half of a mass with Pat receivingCommunion. After the mass was over, we walked around and viewed the many side chapels devoted to different saints, most with statues, a few seats, and candles. We had wanted to take the lift in the adjacent Bell Tower, 273 feet high and with a four-sided viewing gallery. But it wasn't open on this day with the reduced winter hours.

We continued down Victoria Street a little over half a mile, to Westminster Abbey. At first, it seems strange to have the two churches with famous similar sounding names so close, but we are in the Westminster part of the city. Both are impressive structures, but while the Cathedral is a Catholic church used mainly for worship, the Abbey is contrastingly Protestant, with its tombs of the royal and famous. Although it is a religious facility used daily, it is not a cathedral nor a parish church, but a British treasure subject only to the Sovereign. It was rebuilt in its present form in the 13th century, and is also a place for the coronation and burials of Kings and Queens. You can't walk through it without stepping on many of their resting places.

After paying the admission, you are given a pamphlet with a route to follow and numbers designating where the famous are buried. We start through the House of Kings containing the Coronation Chair used for the crowning of most of England's royalty. At the end of the Lady Chapel, there is a brightly colored memorial window to the memory of airman who took part in the 1940 Battle of Britain, something as "recent" as that seeming out of place. The heart of the structure is the worshiping abbey now divided in two by a temporary altar and seating the choir. Exiting the Abbey building you walk around the passageways for the adjacent Monastery and Cloister. Finally reentering the Abbey in the nave, the largest part of the church on the other side of the temporary altar are the tombs of the Unknown Soldier and that of Winston Churchill. Its a shame that the temporary altar is there because it cuts the interior in two and you don't have a clear view of the entire length. Westminster Abbey towers over St. Margaret's right next door where John Milton and Winston Churchill were married. This was built by the locals in the 12th Century as the monks didn't want to share the Abbey with the common people. Rebuilding was completed in 1523.

Our fourth stop was the British Airways London Eye, formerly referred to as the Millennium Wheel, the huge revolving set of sightseeing capsules originally built to comemmorate the Millennium. The world's largest observation (don't call it a "Ferris") wheel is 443 feet high, 121 feet taller than the Big Ben tower. The main structure was made in Holland using nearly 2000 tons of steel. Other parts were made in Germany, Italy, France and the Czech Republic. There were many more problems with the construction than anticipated and it was finally lifted from a horizontal position stretched out across the Thames. You get one revolution that takes 30 minutes with 32 cars that can hold up to 25 people. The ride is of course slow with no extraneous motion and with the car rotating to counteract the wheel's revolution, the passengers remain perfectly level.

We were getting a little pressed for time now, but seemed to be in luck as there wasn't any line, and people were getting right on, probably due to the cloudy weather. However, as we approached the entrance, we were told to go back to a building and purchase tickets. There was a little line there, and Clay had the ticket seller refuse a £20 note with a small corner missing! She said that we would have to exchange it at a bank!! After about 10 minutes, we were boarding our car with only six other riders. Although it was cloudy and you couldn't see the countryside for miles as you can on a clear day, the familiar sights of London were great, and we feel that is what you want anyway. There are excellent web pages available with a 12 photo tour, mentioning that after five years, it will be moved to a new site, and a live webcam to see it revolve in real time!

We had planned to use our Visitor Travelcard to take the tube back to the hotel. Since there would have been a transfer involved, and we were going to meet the others for dinner and the first play, we got a taxi back to the hotel. It was a long tough day on foot anyway with all the motionless standing at the Palace and the long walks. Of course, the taxi driver was very happy to take the torn £20, giving us £10 change and still leaving him a nice tip!

Dick had done a lot of research on restaurants and he had another suggestion for one tonight in the middle of the theater district, they were open, and we had a reservation! However, Dick was worried as there were two King streets on his map, and he wasn't 100% sure that the one in the theater district was the correct one . Not to worry though, the taxi dropped us off at Maggiores, Italian named, but very nice with a continental (or maybe upscale Italian) menu. A couple of us had the Daube Of Beef with Pat being a repeat, and it was agreed that this is a great dish. The wine list was chiefly Italian, and we had an Italian white and red. One problem was that a smoke-alarm kept sounding for a good portion of the meal, and people kept scurrying around trying to turn it off, but with little success. We asked directions to the Phoenix Theater when we were finished, giving the street address on Charing Cross Road, the main drag of the theater district, and they responded with directions to walk a few blocks. Asking directions on the way, we finally got to Charing Cross Road, but our theater was not in sight! Time was running short now and we asked a few more if they knew where the theater was. It is a small theater and we finally found out that it was quite a few blocks down the street and uphill, so we hailed a taxi and got there on time. The play was Blood Brothers, about a destitute woman who adds twins to a very large family, and gives one of them up to her childless rich couple employers. Predictably, the two children meet and grow up with a great deal of comedy and tragedy. It was very entertaining and well done. This play had been here for a while, we were in the third row, and the theater wasn't a quarter full. The only other ones from our group scheduled to attend this play were a high school girl and her grandmother. The grandmother had a physical problem and the girl had to attend by herself. We got taxis outside after a little wait and we rode back with the girl. She was from Northern California, and was very active in the theater back home. It was a long day with all the walking and we hit the sack right away.

Wednesday 12/04, Windsor Castle, And The Second Play

We arose pretty early and beat the kids to breakfast! We are going on a half-day trip to Windsor Castle with Golden Tours and we went down to the street and waited for the bus. We made one more hotel stop and it took us to the Golden Tours bus station not too far away. There we got in a queue, as the English don't have lines, they have queues! There were two small ones, one for our half-day trip, and one for the full-day trip, and both lines were ushered onto the same bus. The bus went west past Harrods on Brompton and Cromwell roads past the Natural History, the Victoria and Albert museums, and the London Oratory, also known as the Brompton Oratory, consecrated in 1884. Holding to the more traditional catholic liturgy, this church is second only to Westminster Cathedral in the size of their Catholic congregation. Continuing out of London, we pass the very visible Fullers brewery. The guide said that they give tours, and on her "last" trip past here, one of the passengers wanted to spend the day at the brewery! Windsor is about 25 miles West of central London and we headed on the motorway just past Heathrow, Londons's Major airport. We used Heathrow on our previous trip to London in 1996. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was raining pretty good and we had umbrellas, but many others didn't, hey it's London! We walked from the bus park up to the train platform in the station right at the edge of town. It looks a little touristy right at the station, but as we found out later, is a delightful little town in addition to having the famous castle.

We walked directly up to the castle, and naturally there was quite a climb, as they usually build castles on hills, don't they? The entrance is into the middle Ward and the guide gave a short talk while we viewed the (dry) moat and the Round Tower that gives it its distinctive look. It has been the weekend home of English Royalty for nine centuries and is the oldest royal residence still in use today. There are 13 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and is the largest castle in England. It was originally built to guard the city of London, but was used as a residence soon after it was built.

We then walked down to the Gothic St. George's Chapel, the setting for many royal functions. We tend to think of a Chapel as an auxiliary or small addition to a church, but this is Cathedral size. The guides told us about the Knights of the Garter, and those who are invested in the order have their coat of arms, flag, crown, sword, etc. mounted above the choir. Behind the choir stalls are hundreds of metal and wood plates with inscriptions of the Knights. Among the famous people bestowed this honor are Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Edmund Hillary, and Elton John. The banners and crests remain above their stall during the Knight's lifetime and are taken down at death. We were looking for the Queen Mum's grave in Westminster Abbey, but it is here! An interesting inscription on some of the tombs has a roman numeral consisting of multiple "i"s with the final "i" as a "j", like "Edward iiij". They were just being fancy, the "j" is sill an "i", although now for four, it would now be "iv".

Due to the rain, there was no changing of the guard and the State Apartments were being used as guest rooms, as is their purpose, so we couldn't visit that either. We met Shobhana, who lives near San Jose, California, and the three of us finished the tour together, exchanging E-mail addresses. The room with Queen Mary's Doll House was open and is spectacular. Inside there are displays along the walls, but the focus is the 1/12th size house in the center of the room. Created in 1921 to 1924, there is hot and cold running water, electric lights, flushing toilets, and elevators that work. It is not surprising that the brochure describes it as the most famous Doll House in the world.

The few of us that were on the half day tour would have been taken back to London at this point and the bus would have come back to Windsor and picked up the rest to go to the afternoon Hampton Court visit. The guide suggested that if we didn't have to get right back, we could spend an extra hour or so in town and the bus could then drop off the others and take us back then. We asked if there was a pub in town, and the reply was many! So this was perfect, the rain had stopped, and we could get a lunch here and check out the town and still be back in plenty of time for the dinner and the first play.

We looked around a little, and right away we found the nearby Carpenter Arms Pub, but we were a little early for lunch, so we got some drinks and waited to order. The write up on the menu said that the pub and the Crooked House Tea Rooms next door had cellar passages to the castle and certain royalty would sneak down for who knows what! We finally got our food and while we were eating, this elderly man with a pint asked a man at the next table if he could join him. The answer was apparently no, as he looked around seemingly lost, so Pat asked him to join us and he was extremely grateful. We had a nice talk as he lives locally and was formerly a volunteer host at the castle and gave us the lowdown. He no longer does that and we suspect that we were probably not the first impromptu audience that he found in this and maybe other pubs! We only had time then to go in to the Thresher Wine Shop, and settled on a bottle of Chablis as they didn't carry any English wine (they do make some), before heading back to the bus.

The tour was billed as "Royal Windsor and Runnymede" but we seemed to be finished! Runnymede was the sight of King John's signing of the Magna Carta (Great Charter) in 1215. It brought liberty to the people, and severely limited the King's powers. It is the basis for many present English (and American) laws. Anyway, our visit consisted of a brief description of the document and a look out the window at the main memorial across the meadow as we sped on. The bus stopped at Hampton Court and those on the full-day tour got off, while we continued back to London. We were not taken back to our hotel, but dropped off at a bus stop in South Kensington. Everyone was given directions and for us it was easy since we had the Travelcard, just get the same #74 bus that we had used previously to get to Harrods. Pat stopped off at an internet cafe near the hotel.

God Bless Dick, he was at it again and secured reservations at Belgo Centraal, equidistant from both of our theaters, Dick is seeing The Phantom Of the Opera, the Stahls and the Clarks The Lion King. We had to wait a few minutes at the host station for the restaurant to "open". We were on a walkway directly above the kitchen, and somebody was eating as we could see plates of food being carried out somewhere. It was interesting, watching the kitchen for the few minutes, and finally we were taken in an old freight elevator down a level and led past the open kitchen area to our table. The waiters are supposed to be dressed like monks, but ours said it was too hot! The food was of course Belgian and three of us got one of the many mussel dinners offered. Clay and Dick had draught Belgian beers and we shared bottles of French white and red wine. Clay remembers a TV dining program a few years ago where the meal consisted of a first course at a Chinese Noodle House, the second course here, and a third course somewhere else. However, upon further review, it seems that this is a (gasp) chain, or at least has multiple locations with a Belgo Noord, and a Belgo Suid in London! Regardless, it was very good, so Dick scores a three-pointer!

The waiter said that they don't call taxis but there are always plenty outside. He was right, and we took the first one as our show time was 7:30, while Dick's was at 7:45. What a difference from last night, the Lion King is new and very popular. The modern-looking Lyceum theater was packed (with a lot of children), which we figured it would be as our tickets were in row X, three rows from the back! It is still a children's show, but the sets and costumes were wonderful. Most actors wore the appropriate animal head costume on their own head, but many were more elaborate with attached animal body costumes and hand levers to move the animal's legs! The giraffes had a small part, but were the best costumed (and equipped) as they walked on both leg and hand stilts! The music was wonderful with a sizeable (at least from the 24th row) orchestra and various percussion instruments in the two balcony front loges. We thought that with the large crowd we would have trouble getting a taxi, but being in the back of the theater helped and we got one right away.

Thursday 12/05, Oxford, The Cotswolds, And Stratford-on-Avon

Like yesterday, we got up early and again beat the kids to breakfast! Today we have a full-day tour to Oxford, The Cotswolds, and Shakespeare's Stratford-on-Avon. We heard a faint ringing in our room and went downstairs to the lobby to hear louder ringing! There were a lot of people milling about and outside there were a lot of guests and hotel employees standing on the sidewalk! There were also a couple of fire trucks! A hotel employee with a clip board wanted us to follow her to get away from the hotel, and as we were explaining that we had to meet the bus for the tour, everyone went back into the hotel- false alarm!

We then again waited for the Golden Tours hotel collection bus, it was prompt yesterday. We made an inquiry at the concierge's desk, and with all the confusion we thought we may have been overlooked, but it finally came and we took the same route to the Golden Tours bus station. We again got in a queue, this time quite a lengthy one compared to the one yesterday. We have Ruth, the guide that Shobhana had on the same tour earlier in the week. Margot our guide from yesterday, recognized us and said hello. We took the same route out of town, taking the flyover (overpass) to the motorway (expressway). The guide used this as an introduction to a discussion of some differences between English and American, all of which we knew!

We got off the bus in the center of Oxford, obviously a college town with all the bicycles. Ruth discussed how a college at oxford is not a discipline such as engineering or medicine, but a residence, and you typically have all fields of study represented at any one college. There are 39 Colleges and six Permanent Private Halls. However there is a strong bond between the students of a college and the school spirit is focused on their college and on the many competitions between them. There are about 14,000 students, including 1,000 or so of the Rhodes Scholars who are there for a year, Bill Clinton being mentioned as one of the most well known. A surprise is that you live on campus for the first two years and in town for the third and then back on campus for the last year.

Ruth led us down the main street to get a feel for the university and its colleges. We paused in front of Balliol College, founded in the thirteenth century. It is Oxford's oldest college with its 570 students, and notes author Aldous Huxley among its famous graduates. We also paused before Trinity College with 407 students, billing itself as one of the smaller colleges and thus more friendly. It also gives the all important male:female ratio as 4:3! Most of the colleges do not allow casual visitors, and there are polite sign in their entrances to indicate this.

A visit inside Brasenose College is a part of our tour, we suspect all the tours do this, but of course you can't just walk in off the street. It has "The Oddest Name in Oxford", and there are several interpretations. The most likely is that it refers to a door knocker in the shape of a nose! The date of its founding is not that clear, as originally the site was occupied by Brasenose Hall, a medieval Oxford lodging house. A smooth transition into Brasenose College makes it difficult to pin down the date, but 1509 is generally agreed upon, and it was all male until the 1970s, as were most of the Oxford Colleges! Through the gate there is a well-kept quad enclosed by buildings on all four sides. After a brief discussion there, we entered the smallish dining hall, and even allowing that the students dine in shifts, it still seemed pretty small! It was in here that the digital camera dirty reformatting deed was done!

We thought that we would see a little more inside the college buildings, but that was it. Right outside is the unusually shaped Radcliffe Camera library and University Church. We could view the architecture of adjacent Lincoln and Hertford college with their many gargoyles. A visit to the quad of Exeter college provided a photo op before being let go to wander around the town for a few minutes before getting back on the bus. On the trip out of town, Ruth pointed out some other colleges, a couple all female, and mentioned some of the famous people that are graduates.

On the road, Ruth pointed out the Twinwood Airfield used during the war and said that it is the one from which band leader Glenn Miller took off for Paris on December 16, 1944 and was never heard from again. There are many theories about what happened. Soon the countryside changed from flat to hilly and we are in the Cotswolds, without exact boundaries, but an area of about 800 square miles Northwest of London. As with many place names, there is more than one story as to the Cotswold name origin, one that it originated from a man called "Codwald" in the 12th century, another that it is derived from "cots", the sheep huts, and "wold" for the
     
rolling hills. They were created from (oolithic!) limestone heaving to form the present day's gentle slopes. Dividing the fields are many stone fences made from clearing the stones from the ground for the grazing sheep. They still mine the limestone for repairs and for some new buildings in the manner of the many original "listed" buildings. Most of the stone near the surface splits horizontally and was used for roads. The deeper (free) stone could be more intricately carved, hence a "Freemason."

We came to the town of Burford just on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds. It is very nice with 17th and 18th century old stone houses and shops on the steep main street sloping down to the river. The intersection with Sheep Street seems unusual at first, but indicates its past as a wool market, although Ruth said that many of the Cotswold towns have a Sheep Street! The bus dropped us off at the Cotswold Arms, and we got a Real Ale for Clay and a glass of wine for Pat at the bar before we sat down. It was very crowded with a good number of our group and some other patrons, and it was a good thing that Ruth had taken orders on the bus as we got our Shepherd's Pie and Beef Stew promptly. The waitress left a handwritten bill for the two ladies from New York City at our table and they finished and left the bill! Obviously, you are supposed to take it up to the counter and pay, as we did with ours!

Ruth had said the there was a great view at the bridge over the river at the end of town just a short distance from the Pub and we headed down there. It was nice, but Ruth had built it up so much that it was a little bit of a letdown. We then headed back up the main street looking in the stores. There was a nice china shop and since Pat was looking for a teapot, we went in. It was very upscale though and the only teapots of the size she wanted were either too fancy (and too pricey), and/or they had metal gild which would come off in the dishwasher. We went back to the bus and stood outside with a few others waiting for the driver to open. While we were waiting, the waitress from the pub came along and discussed something with our two tablemates. We don't know how they could have thought that the lunch was included the way Ruth described it previously on the bus!

Finally the driver came back and we were off through other quaint towns such as 15th century Newbold and Alderminster, some with thatched-roof houses. We soon pulled into Stratford-on-Avon and a large parking lot. We were led down Henly Street which seemed a little too modern and built-up from what we had visualized as Shakespeare's birthplace. We entered the large visitor's center next to the birthplace house, and waited while Ruth secured the tickets. There are five Shakespearian properties in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, two of which we will visit, the birthplace itself and the Anne Hathaway Cottage, his wife's homestead.

We then went outside the Visitor Center and entered the birthplace house. We were not guided, but there were people in period dress available to answer questions. The downstairs rooms have furnishings of the era and an exhibition of Shakespeare's life. On the second floor at the head of the stairs you come to a bed, but that is not the one! Just past the bed is the door to the room where he was born.
     
An unusual coincidence- he was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616, i.e. the same day of the year! The lineage died out after two more generations, with his son dying in childhood and his two daughter's children also dying young. Exiting the birthplace house, we have a little free time to wander around the town with an admonition that if you are late for the bus, you have to get a taxi to the Anne Hathaway cottage, the next stop! Naturally the exit was through the gift shop, and we wandered out into the street.

We went past the shops and down through the open air market to the Gower memorial by the Avon (well, by the canal that runs into the Avon anyway!) Lord Ronald Gower made a group of bronze statues as a tribute to Shakespeare and his works in 1888. It originally stood on the lawn of The Shakespeare Theater, but was moved to its present location in 1933. A seated figure of Shakespeare is surrounded by figures of Henry V, Falstaff, Lady Macbeth, and Hamlet. Behind each figure is symbolic vegetation (??); English roses and French lilies for Henry V, hops and grapes for Falstaff, ivy and cypress for Hamlet, and poppies and peonies for Lady Macbeth.
   

   
We then perused the sizeable open air market with Pat looking for a teapot. Again, they had only fancy ones, and even half off of £40 is still about $32. Pat did purchase a pair of gloves and Clay made a rare impulse buy of a belt. The vendor asked if Pat had tried on the gloves, and she said yes- Clay said that he had tried on the belt too! Anyway, that's it for the shopping! We looked into some of the stores on the main street, with Christmas decorations everywhere, before heading back to the bus. Everyone was on time as the threat by Ruth to leave them there had its effect, we guess.

This is the latest time of year that we had gone to Europe, and with England being a little further North than we are, Ruth was happy that we were going to get to the Hathaway cottage in the daylight, as some of her previous groups did not. It was just a about a mile west of Stratford on the bus, and we were the last visitors of the day. Shakespeare's wife's homestead is said to be the most picturesque of the five Trust properties, with its thatched roof, timbered walls, and lattice windows. The Hathaway family was very prosperous, and it is really a twelve room farmhouse, parts of which were built before Shakespeare's time. Since different parts of the house are on different levels, it has to be one of the few thatched roof split-levels anywhere!

There was a guide that gave a short talk in the kitchen, pointing out the restored fireplace and the nearby wooden bench believed to have been where Shakespeare courted Anne Hathaway. The guide was very entertaining and fond of relating some of the more well-known idioms such as the bread from the oven being kind of crummy on the bottom with ashes, and being sliced horizontally, producing the "upper crust" for the most important people in the house, and also the straw floor having a "threshold" at the door. We were left to go upstairs into the bedroom in which Anne Hathaway was born, with the wooden frame bed and rope cords for a mattress. The house has changed little and was still in the Hathaway family until 1892, when the Trust purchased it and restored it to its original condition It was severely damaged by fire in 1969 and restored by the Birthplace Trust.

It is dark now, and we get back on the bus for the ride back to our hotel. With the three stops, we are not too sure how long it will take to get back, but we have almost two hours before our included dinner in the hotel restaurant. We quickly found a motorway, and were making great time with a lot of traffic coming against us out of London. That was until the outskirts of the city, because as soon as we got close, we slowed to a crawl due to an accident. After a half hour or so of that, we started to move, but by then we were in the normal London traffic, and it was very slow going again. As we hit western London, one of the group got a cell phone call, went up front and got the bus stopped, and got off! We have no idea what that was about. This time there were a few drop-off points, and one was at the Marble Arch, right next to our hotel.

We were an hour late, and that made us a half hour late for the "farewell" dinner. The Clarks had arrived just a few minutes earlier, as they ran into the same problems on their way back from Stonehenge and Bath. Wine was included and when we asked one of the waiters, he mumbled something about us being late, but poured anyway. It was an ordinary buffet with carved roast beef, which was also only ordinary. Ian came around, welcomed us, handed out evaluation forms for to fill, and discussed the arrangements for the morning. The five of us met in our room for farewell drinks with our Chablis from Windsor and the Clarks' "Good Ordinary Claret" from Barry Bros. and Rudd!

Friday 12/06, London to Newark to Langhorne to Levittown

We were up pretty early and had a knock on the door at 6:05, asking for the luggage. The schedule posted in the lobby the night before said 6:30! We were ready, handed it over, went downstairs, and waited for the dining room to open at 6:30, and were in the van in front of the hotel at 7:00. We are going to Gatwick Airport the same way as came in and we were taken to the Victoria train station and got on an elevator (lift!) and appeared to go nowhere. After some furious button-pushing, the doors opened and we were on the train platform, where there were signs that said the lift was out of order! We were in plenty of time for the 7:30 train and the half-hour non-stop ride to the airport. We had half a car to ourselves and the ride was uneventful and on-time only slowing down a little to go through stations, and a few tunnels with their pressure differential. On arrival at Gatwick, we were a little worried, because we had seen on the "telly" that there was a big snowstorm on the East coast of the U. S. and we figured that we would not take off on time. There was again a man who took our luggage and us to our check-in counter. The Hotel/Airport transfers both ways with the train, luggage transfers, and van rides all were excellent, with absolutely no problems or even any waiting!

We checked in promptly with nobody subjected to random searches! The overhead monitors displayed only an hour's delay, which is not all that long or unusual. The boarding gate was pretty far away, and Pat secured a ticket for Dick to have one of the motorized carriers, but they wouldn't take him until almost departure time. So we all decided to walk, and with the moving walkways it wasn't too bad. When we got to the gate however, there were no facilities, shops, or restaurants. Dick offered to watch our carry-ons so we and the Clarks went back to the main area which was a safari as the only way is via the arrival passageways. But with a few questions and explanations at the appropriate places, we found the shopping area that we had passed on the way in. We went in to a sports pub with cute sporting implements on the taps including a football (American), and a giant multi-paneled TV screen showing football (European). Clay inquired about the absence a hand pump, and the bartender mentioned that we were on the fifth floor! Duh!! We had a couple of drinks and Bill noticed a monitor that said our flight was boarding, so we hustled back only to find out that they were not. If fact, Pat and Val talked to our flight crew, and they weren't going anywhere soon! We talked for a while with an English couple that were going to New York City, and finally the boarding announcement came. Clay had a little gap in the boarding line just ahead of him and sure enough the random security checkers asked to go through his carry-on bag! No big deal, we have plenty of time, and this will reduce the time spent on the flight! We boarded and took off about 90 minutes late- not too bad from what we expected.

They require exact change for the drinks and at $4 each, our smallest bill was a twenty, so we got 4 wines and a beer and "hold the plastic glasses!" The stewardess said that we didn't have to order everything now, but admired us having our own glasses. The movies on the seat-back panel displays were just as bad on the way back, and we watched Serving Sara. They must have only dumb movies on so they can appeal to as wide an audience as possible. We occupied the rest of the time with video games, including a nice chess program, although the crude display of the pieces made it difficult to tell them apart. Translation- the score was: Computer- 2, Clay-0. The flight back was only about five hours and during the day, so it seems to go much faster. When we saw the Newark airport, there was snow all over the ground, but that was from the previous evening and there was no problem from that. We didn't land right away and wasted about a half an hour circling, but not due to the snow. Clay, Pat, and Dick missed the sign for the proper baggage carousel and so we were a little behind everyone else, but we still had to wait for the luggage. Customs was again a breeze, and we went outside to wait for the limo with Bill and Val.

The ride home was uneventful, Bill was feeling crappy with the start of a good cold and worse. The roads were all clear by now, and there was more snow as we went further south along the New Jersey Turnpike, I195 through Trenton, the Scudder Falls Bridge and I95 to the Clarks. We had left our car in the driveway and had to clean the snow off before proceeding, but it started right up. Good thing too, because a week later, we had to have the starter replaced! We dropped Dick at his house and drove home to see Penny shoveling our driveway. It was another great trip!

All Good Things Come To An End, Thanks for Looking!

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