STRATFORD UPON AVON

Wednesday, March 5th, 1997 Stratford Upon Avon

Did breakfast about 8:30 AM and then packed the car. Patti walked to the jewelry shop to find a back for her earring…remember Chester. As we were leaving, Barbara brought the chamber maid out with some of Randy’s clothes that they’d left in a drawer. Good thing we were slow in leaving.

Before leaving town we drove over to the Model Village which is a re-creation of the town. It was a four year project to create and is about 40 years old now. Patti arrived at the Model Village. She’d gone to the jewelry store. When she put her earrings on the black velvet in the strong light she found that she’d put both backs on the same earring. But she had a great time visiting with the jeweler who talked and talked and talked. Explained about some of the crown jewels we’d seen in the tower of London. The stones were not what they thought they were it seems when they made some of the crowns. Then she found a child’s wax jacket to buy for one of her relatives.

On the road we made our way north towards Stratford Upon Avon. We stopped first at Broadway and walked through the town. Except for me, who stayed in the van to work on selecting a hotel for Saturday night (my turn now). Then on to Chippen Campden where we had a fish & chip lunch at The Kings Arms Hotel. It took a while to find a suitable place…many were smoky and one had a terrible noise outside the building from street construction which affected Randy’s ear more so than usual due to the cold.

But the final selection was very good. It was actually one of the first places that we looked at but the smoke had cleared in one of the rooms. We were also very hungry by this time! We sat at a table with a very unusual bench. Big enough for three people with a curved high back. The day was spent going through lots of very quaint towns with Cotswold Stone Cottages, many of them with thatched roofs.

We arrived in Stratford Upon Avon and found The Dukes Hotel where we have reservations for tonight. After settling in (there were several room changes before we were all happy…the hotel has a very high ratings in the book…chosen by Randy and Patti) the first thing we did was send e-mails and then went to pick up our tickets to a play for tonight. We are going to the Swan Theater to see a play by Tennessee Williams called Camino Real.

Then we split up and did some shopping. Returning to the hotel, Randy, Patti and Barbara had a light supper in the hotel. I made reservations for Reading on Saturday night. Barbara suggested why not just go directly into London and check in early at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza at Heathrow. We called. Yes, we can come in a day early. Canceled the Reading reservation. Nice to know we’ve only got two more hotels for the trip!

Barbara stayed home to do her e-mail letters and wash her hair. The rest of us walked over to the theater and saw the play. It was very long…three and half hours….with two intermissions. The play was written in 1953 and has not been performed very often. It is rather startling at times. But it was great to see a play in this particular theater in this town; the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

It rained while we were in the theater, but had stopped for the walk home. Stopped by the clock shop where we plan to go tomorrow to see what type of bargains we can pick up as it is going out of business. We also plan to take another open bus tour of this area in the morning. When we arrived home, I helped Barbara send her e-mails. First we had to go back in and redo the address for Brian that she’d accidentally erased. This was her first solo typing and she did really well except for that minor problems which was resolvable. Well, must close we’re off to Bath tomorrow after the bus tour.

DAY TRIP TO OXFORD

Tuesday, March 4th, 1997 Bourton on the Water, England

Had a great breakfast this morning then walked around town before gathering the laundry and heading towards Oxford. It was about an hour’s drive. We drove to the center of town and parked. By asking people we found a local Laundromat not too far away. Since we’d already paid for the time, we walked and left the car there. Patti Barbara and I stayed with the laundry while Randy and Jim went exploring.

We met a nice young man in the Laundromat who was from Australia (but now lives in England) who was attending the University as an English major. He suggested we have lunch at the restaurant next door while the machines did their job as it would take at least an hour. When the boys returned they also had a bite to eat. So we did lunch and laundry at the same time. They’d moved the car closer and found out where the double decker open topped bus tour stopped.

We arrived at the bus stop after finishing the laundry with nary a minute to spare and jumped aboard the last bus of the day. Half way through the trip the rain began. My umbrella was inside out from so much wind. Will have to toss it after the trip. Barbara shared it with me as Jim had moved to a different seat because the earphones kept pulling out every time he moved. Randy soon followed Jim until the rain started and he returned to share Patti’s umbrella. Jim finally went downstairs when he got too wet. Randy’s cold is getting into his chest and he’s definitely not feeling too well. But the bus ride was great as we got to see all the different colleges that make up the University of Oxford. The running narrative was great. Much better than trying to do it on your own.

Back to the car by 5:15 pm we headed back to Bourton On The Water, arriving just in time for another delicious dinner served in the wonderfully quaint former kitchen of the B&B. It has a huge fireplace originally used for cooking. We met another very nice English couple tonight. They now live in Wales and were on holiday. They used to live in this area and gave us several good ideals for tomorrow. They were playing scrabble and had a wonderful sense of humor. Everyone’s tired tonight after our long day to Oxford. Raining most of the evening. Barbara went to bed early. I found letters from both of her sons in the e-mail.

Patti reports that Randy has been taking bubble baths in their large tub which does not have a shower. It does however, have a seat on the side of the tub. They have room number “one” which is the most deluxe in the hotel. Jim & I have a lovely room in the carriage house which we love. Wonderful twin beds and lots of space. Jim still does not have a remote control for the television…Barbara seems to be getting one in every room. She has a room that she has stayed in before. Must close.

WARWICK CASTLE

Monday, March 3rd, 1997 Bourton on the Water, (Cotswolds), England

Started the day at about 8:30 am with breakfast in the dining room. Waitress was quite chatty compared to yesterday. Don’t know if it was the good tip we left yesterday or less people in the dining room. We talked a lot about church going habits and why the church had mostly young children and older adults attending the Mass. Jim left early to go for a walk and came back with the news that he’d found a blue sports coat he wanted to buy. Patti still needed to go to the dress shop we’d seen yesterday to buy the coat for her granddaughter which had a label by “Pat Perkins” her maiden name.

Everyone got their baggage out of their rooms and Randy went for the car. We spent some time taking photos of all the luggage and still no Randy. Finally, Patti went to watch for him at the end of the street that we knew he had to come up to get to the hotel. Then Jim went to look at something. In the meantime, the clerk from the hotel comes out and asks if we are waiting for one of our men to bring up the car. We said yes and he said he thought he’d seen him driving around the city as he was bringing up another car.

We decided to give it some more time. Soon we spotted Randy walking back towards us. He’d been stymied by one way streets and workers and finally returned the car to the parking lot. So we arranged for the hotel to bring the car up. Then Jim returned and he and I went off to buy the blazer and look for Patti.

When they found Patti she had gone off to the dress shop instead of returning to the hotel (because she knew Jim was off to buy his coat). Then Barbara went off while we were waiting for Patti and found a dog statute for her son Kevin. Patti returned with the coat and a dress. Jim returned with his coat and we were finally on the road to the Cotswolds and Warwick Castle.

Warwick Castle was marvelous. It is now owned by the Wax Museum people of London and has wonderful figures depicting the scenes of the early years of the castle. One of the most enjoyable castles any of us has ever seen. Randy and I had the audio tour and spoke too loud because of the headphones but loved the full story. We had lunch before we began and then spent several hours touring the castle and grounds.

Back on the road to Bourton on the Water we finally figured out the directions. Barbara had told us it was Bourbon on the Water and no one knew where that was when we asked for directions. But we finally figured it out and found our way. There was a slight variation in the spelling of the two words!

We had reservations at a lovely hotel called the Dial Hotel which Barbara has stayed at before. At dinner we had two women from Virginia and two other English couples. Had a wonderful dinner and then coffee in the drawing room with the two couples. Very delightful evening. Off to the room about 11 pm and then AOL here we come. Both Barbara and Patti received messages as well as one for myself from clients and family. Finally getting the hang of hooking up to the Internet through the telephone lines and it's well worth the time and trouble. Time to hit the hay….it’s now after midnight as we also downloaded Pointcast for Jim. Took 14 minutes but now he knows what his stocks are doing. Gotta keep them happy.......

SHREWSBURY ABBEY

Sunday, March 2nd, 1997 Shrewsbury, England

Met in the breakfast room at 9:30 am for a wonderful English Breakfast and good conversation. At 10:15 we rushed off to the Catholic Church and arrived a wee bit late but prior to the gospel. The children were at a separate meeting when we arrived and all of their chairs had signs on them reserving their spaces. After the sermon they marched in together with a cross which had drawings that they had done relating to the readings taped to it. They presented it with the offertory gifts and the cross was placed in front of the alter for the remainder of the mass.

We especially enjoyed the lovely music lead by a lady with a beautiful soprano voice. Everyone felt very good when we left the church. Split up for the afternoon…Randy, Patti and Barbara took the van to go to the flea market outside of town. Jim walked the town and I got the whole afternoon to work on this story.

We all went our own way for dinner. Randy and Patti ate India food; Barbara, Jim and I made a trip to Burger King for a good, old American treat! Then we walked around town to see the Lion Hotel; met a local who told us that the first American flyers were based at Shawbury and used the old post office as their local pub headquarters.

Also walked over to see the Abbey and Shrewsbury Quest where the TV shows were filmed. Walked into the hotel and found Patti and Randy just returning from their dinner. Jim and I went up to see Randy and Patti’s room. Ate the mints from their dinner and pressed Jim’s gloves! Randy and Jim started tossing coins at the wall...a bit of friendly competition. Went on for about five minutes. Randy kept it going in the hallway.

Back at the room, we again tried AOL and found several messages including one from Barbara’s son, Dennis. Now she has two sons to write to on AOL. Typed more letters and sent them on AOL before bringing this story up to date. This computer sure comes in handy. Think I'll start taking it on all my trips. I have a small Sony Viao Laptop that is easy to handle for me. Don't think I'd consider traveling with a standard laptop. Jim doesn't like the small keys but I'm fine with it. Tomorrow we move again!

WE'RE OFF TO VISIT SHREWSBURY

Saturday, March 1st, 1997 Shrewsbury, England

Patti found the missing back to her earring from last night. It had fallen into the cuff of her pants. She put it on the earring and then looked at the other earring and now it is missing the back. Had Breakfast in the dining room as it was included in the price. Actually had a very nice breakfast. Packed up and drove to town.

We parked in the shopping center lot; left Barbara and Patti to shop in the mall for an hour while Jim, Randy and I went off to walk the wall around the old town. Actually we all ended up at the Cathedral which was really interesting. They are currently replacing the floor. Barbara and Patti ended up staying the whole hour in the gift shop and found some wonderful prayer books for their grandchildren. The wall was great! Saw roman ruins; the river and many other items of interest. Had to cut it short as we ran out time.

On our way to Shrewsbury. Only about an hours drive, but we enjoyed it and even accidentally got to see a Country Church and the ruins of Moreton Corbet Castle. A few more miles and we saw the Royal Air Force Base at Shawbury. That’s how we got off on the side trip by following a sign that we thought was Shrewsbury, but it really said Shawbury. Great side trip!

We found the hotel without too much trouble. It is located in the center of the old city and we had to drive up several narrow streets to arrive. Lovely hotel and after looking at seven different rooms, we were finally settled in for a two day stay.

Walked around the town, finally found a pub that wasn’t too smoky about 2:30 pm and ordered lunch of Fish & Chips. Really a great lunch. Barbara’s been looking for a taxidermist. Afterwards, Randy went to a Restaurant and made reservations for dinner. He also found a non-smoking pub for drinks after dinner. Back to the hotel we rested for a bit and then headed out for dinner at 8:30.

Randy and Patti announced that this dinner was their treat to thank us for including them on the trip. (Jim, Barbara and I had scheduled this trip about a year ago.) It was a lovely old building that had been used by the Drapers for their meeting hall and pub centuries back. Now it is called The Drapers. They sat us up in a separate room called The Buttery, with candles and very old tables. The waitress was very friendly and spent extra time with us telling us the history of the building. Even brought us a candle for the empty water bottle so that Patti could add another light in front of the mirror.

It was a lovely evening of very good food with a wonderful presentation; Randy stated that this was the best duck he’d ever eaten. It was at this time we realized that our old neighbors Ted and Ada who had moved to Montana (friends of Jim and I) would know Patti & Randy’s son-in-law who was the son of the owner of Sierra Bullets….Ted writes for their company. Another small world experience. Barbara told us the story of her honeymoon trip and Patti shared the story of their first trip to Mexico. Both were full of funny details that were not too funny at the time they happened. After meeting the cook in the kitchen and taking some photos; we were off to the smoke free bar to meet John the bartender/owner who Patti and Randy had already met this afternoon.

We met a lonely man at the bar and talked with him about Indiana and Wisconsin where he’d spent some time as a camp counselor for a Catholic School. We were back at the hotel by 11 pm and again signing into AOL for messages. We had typed all of our out going messages earlier in the afternoon and did a Flash Session to send them. Barbara is getting much better with typing on the computer and is talking about getting herself a laptop when she arrives home. Opps…it’s after midnight again!