BOURTON ON THE WATER

Wednesday, October 26^th, 2011 Broadway

Awake at 5:30 am….it was an early morning. But I made good use of the time; about 8 am I ate my breakfast that I’d purchased at the grocery store last night. Coffee that was provided in the room; orange juice, roll, banana and dry cereal. By 10 am I had taken my cases to the car and went to help the girls. They’d slept in and were still putting their things together.

We were loaded and ready to leave by 11 am but we took a short walk to the local pharmacy for some cream and ice packs for Barbara’s bruises.

The weather is beautiful…cold…but the sun is shining and it’s a glorious day for exploring the Cotswolds. We drove through rolling hills with red, green and gold colors everywhere. The cold is snapping the trees into fall colors as we drive further north. I hope you enjoyed our rainbow in the photos yesterday.

By noon we’d arrived in a village called Bourton On The Water…a quaint little village that is a magnetic for tourists…they bring them in by the busload. There is a canal that runs through the town and creates a safe haven for ducks and sea gulls. We saw several artists with their sketch pads enjoying the scene. We enjoyed visiting the Dial Hotel where we stayed on our visit in 1996. No room at the Inn so it’s on to another village. We did stay for some shopping and a lunch at the Windrush Café.

After lunch Nancy and I strolled over the Model Village for a bird’s eye view of the village as it was in 1937. At that time a 1/9 scale model of the village was built by the owner of the New Old Inn and it eventually became an internationally known site for visitors from around the world. Barbara had seen it before so used the time for more shopping.

By 2:30 pm we were in the car and heading down the carriageway…only hitting the curb a few times…on our way to Broadway; a slightly larger but still small village to the North West. We had a short period of heavy rain but then the sun came out again before we arrived. On the way we went through the village of Bourton on the Hill…would be nice to know more about “Bourton”….and also had a very long downhill just before Broadway. The downhill was an unexpected surprise. The vistas are fabulous here in the Cotswolds. The scary part of driving is passing those large trucks on these small highways…and the country roads are nail bitting time!

We had another new challenge to find lodging for the night in a new town. After several unsuccessful inquiries…Nancy and Barbara went to the Tourist Office who arranged for us to stay at a B&B in a private home known as Southwold House. It’s only a five minute walk from the center of town and priced well for our budget. When we arrived the owners greeted us with tea and/or coffee before showing us our rooms. We’re up several flights (no elevators…but then we’ve not seen those since London) with a double room and a twin room with in suite baths. Very clean and owners are very nice. We’ll have breakfast here tomorrow before we leave; we filled out a form this evening about what we wanted for breakfast.

Settled in and then got back into the car for our trip into town for dinner about 5:30 pm. We decided on The Swan, a very popular restaurant…it was packed. Since we couldn’t get a table until six o’clock…enjoyed a drink before dinner…my first scotch of the trip!

I ordered French Onion Soup and then Fish and Chips…substituting a salad for the chips. Another flaky and delicious fish…Halibut instead of Cod…that melted in my mouth.

Home to the B&B before 8 am…Barbara and I are sharing the twin room tonight and Nancy has the single room. Switching every other night works well for roommates. Tomorrow we hope to see Stratford Upon Avon; would be nice to have another day like today weather wise. But…we’ll make the best of it; haven’t used our rain ponchos yet so it hasn’t been all that bad. Sure glad we packed smart for three days and haven’t had to move the big suitcases.

BLENHEIM PALACE

October 25^th, 2011 Chipping Norton

Barbara and I woke up at 6:30 am…slept through the night after we took the quilt out of the duvet cover and she used just the cover as a sheet. I got up thinking it was 7:30 am and she went back to sleep. Since I was up I started working on my journal and photos from yesterday since I didn’t get anything done last night. By 8:15 am…I woke the girls and by 9:00 we were in the breakfast room…open until 9:30 am. At breakfast I finished writing my blog and suddenly Barbara said to add the trip to the hospital so it was added at the end of the journal.

We hadn’t called anyone so this evening we called her husband and found out that yes…they are reading the blog and were anxiously awaiting the details. The best news is that she was able to tour the palace today…stiff, sore and bruised but ready to continue our trip. And, I left out the fact that with the medical system here in England…everything was totally FREE….yes…even the ambulance ride. Had they found injuries and she had to be hospitalized; then costs would be incurred under their system. Interestingly, the Para-medic said “bring your cash”….we thought to pay fees…he meant for the taxi ride home! They didn’t know at that time that we had a car. All’s well that ends well. My first time driving on the left side of the road since 2009 was definitely a “baptism by fire!”

Back to today…by 11 am we were checked out of the hotel, in the car with me driving and headed towards Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace is located northwest of Oxford in the city of Woodstock and is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It is the country estate of the Duke of Marlborough. The grounds plus the state rooms are open for touring. Not as extensive as many of the palaces and manor houses open to the public but still beautiful and fun to tour.

We left the palace about 2 pm and then stopped at the White House Pub in Woodstock for lunch. I enjoyed one of the best BLT’s I’ve had in a long time. Since I’m driving no beer…I’d had two small glasses with dinner last night so was extra careful with my driving to and from the hospital. By 3 pm it was raining quite hard and we were on the road to find a hotel for the night. We were headed for Broadway…or so we thought…about ten miles down the road we decided we were headed in the wrong direction…a small clue were the road signs for Oxford…located in the opposite direction. Soon we were turned around and on the right road.

We pulled into the town of Chipping Norton and decided to check out hotels as it was now 4 pm and raining very hard. I parked the car and sent the girls to check on the hotel as I’d done the driving! So out in the rain they went…we found reservations at The Fox Hotel….rooms over a pub…very old but rooms have recently been redone. We got them for 50 pounds /for a double bed … my room…and 75 pounds for the twins. Nancy is sharing the twin room with Barbara tonight.

The rain stopped as we were taking the luggage into the hotel and we had a beautiful rainbow. So nice…we all repacked our suitcases last night and we only had to bring in two small bags for the night. We’ve got enough for three days in the small bags.

Off to the market next door where we picked up food for this evening and tomorrow morning before taking a long walk around the town. Hope you enjoy our photos. It’s been nice to have a longer evening in the hotel…we’ve gotten lots of housekeeping details done with the extra time. Had problems turning on the fancy new showers…finally went down to the bar to ask the clerk/bartender how to do it; and one portly gentlemen at the bar told me that he’d gladly come scrub my back with his brush when he heard my conversation! Something simple…there was a switch outside the bathroom to turn the water on.

So with wifi fairly good we’ve been able to check in at home and get the journal posted this evening instead of tomorrow morning. I am directly over the bar and the sound is coming directly through the floor. Good that I’d used to noise when I go to sleep. But, sleeping in B&B’s over pubs was one of our planned experiences on this journey. Hopefully the weather will clear tomorrow…then more rain expected on Thursday.

ARRIVING IN THE COTSWOLDS

October 24^th, 2011 Burford in the Cotswolds

I woke up at 5 am and decided to enjoy some quiet time in the dark with my computer. The wifi in the room is working well and it is now nearly 7 am. I think I’ll wake the girls about 7:30 am so we can have a more leisurely morning in the breakfast room. Its moving day and the car service will be picking us up at noon to take us to the National Car Rental at Heathrow Airport to pick up our car that we’ll be driving for the next two weeks. No reservations for tonight as we are foot loose and fancy free for the next two weeks so our agenda will change as we go…..

Woke the girls at 8 am and managed to get to the breakfast room just before 9 am. Not as crowded this morning. Yesterday was a zoo with every table full and people waiting. We’d purchased bananas yesterday and they were a nice addition to our cereal before the full breakfast. I was the only one to eat everything; Nancy prefers just cereal and toast, Barbara has the English Bacon…much like ham…and makes a sandwich and I have it all except on the odd day when they serve baked beans instead of tomato…I’d love to have the tomato every day! But…I do pass on the toast and jam. You have to be down before 8:30 to get the scrambled eggs that were so good the first day…it’s a fried egg after 8:30 but still tasty.

Finished our packing after breakfast and about 10 am we walked over to the Paddington Station…a major train station for London and also a Tube Station. Explored the shops in the station and the girls enjoyed Krispie Cream donuts and hot chocolate while we were there. Soon it was 11 am and time to take our luggage to the lobby to wait for our driver. I popped out during that hour and took some photos of the nearby Mews…a tunnel through between buildings with delightful and colorful apartments inside. I also added a snap of one of the Estate Agent’s flyers on rentals in the area for the blog photos.

Our driver Mike arrived right at noon and we were off towards Heathrow Airport to pick up our car at 1 pm. A very pleasant drive, Mike was a charmer, spoke excellent English and made the drive go fast.

We picked up our car at National Auto Rental outside of Heathrow; we’d pre-ordered one before we left home. They tried to talk us into upgrading to a Mercedes when they discovered that Barbara had one at home but we stuck with our original order at one third the price! We have a White, Vauxhall Insignia 2.0. Large sedan with a huge trunk that easily holds all our suitcases.

Barbara took the wheel and I was the co-pilot….I’m still getting into the wrong side of the car…we’re in the country with the driver on the right side of the car! Barbara and I both have experience driving in England…thankfully we have an automatic and don’t have to shift gears with our left hand as well as concentrating on driving down the left side of the road! The co-pilot not only has to read the signs but also regularly call out “curb” when the driver is getting too close to the edge of the road! Lots of fun.

Our destination today was Broadway so we headed in the direction of Oxford. Used the ring road to bypass the city of Oxford and headed further west. The road took us through the village of Burford and we were so enchanted we changed our itinerary and after finding parking…which took forever….we started checking the hotels. They were all full except for the very expensive but Joe at Bull Inn sent us up the street…a long way up the street and a hill to boot…to the Cotswold Gateway Hotel. He said to tell them that Joe said the rooms should be 75 pounds for the single and 85 pounds for the twins…and they gave them to us for that! Half the price of several of the other hotels.

Nancy left to walk back into the village to shop and Barbara & I repacked her suitcases so that we don’t have to take the big ones out of the trunk for three days! I tried to get her to walk into the village but we drove and found that the tourists were gone and there was plenty of parking. We did take our umbrellas.

Joe’s Hotel didn’t serve dinner until 7 pm so we walked across the street to the Mermaid, a pub, and they started serving at 6 pm. I had the special of the day: pork, apple and cider pie…delicious…looked like a soufflé when it arrived. Barbara had fish and chips and Nancy had a great ham and cheese plate with apples and salad. Two beers (short ones) for me and we were ready for home and bed.

As we walked to the car Barbara spotted a WW II jeep on a flatbed…you’ll enjoy the photos. Nice to have the car in town…it was beginning to rain as we left.

Nancy and I went to our room and Barbara to her room. She was to start her shower and I was coming back (we’re upstairs) with my computer to spend an hour with her. I had just returned to the room when I heard a crash in the bathroom; Barbara had slipped and fallen from the tub to the floor. Scared me to death! I couldn’t move her…she was on her back at an angle in a very narrow space. I called the front desk and they came and decided to call the para-medics. I heard her calling them and she told them that Barbara was about 50 years of age! She was shocked when I told her Barbara’s age. Anyway…the para-medics arrived in minutes…there were two of them and two RAF medics who got her out of the bathroom, on a back board and off we went to Oxford’s John Radcliff Hospital…about half an hour away. They were great and made sure we were following in the car all the way. It was raining and Nancy was a great co-pilot for me…yes…I was driving…amazing how fast it all comes back when you need it.

We were at the hospital for about two hours. The doctors checked her out…x-rayed her right hand and released her…bruised and sore but okay. It was a long drive home in the rain but we did it. It was very dark on country roads without street lights. But by midnight we were home and going to bed. I stayed with Barbara through the night in the double bed and slept until 6:30 am this morning. It was a long day. Today we’re headed for Broadway after visiting a castle.

EURCHRISTIC SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

October 23^rd, 2011 London

I woke about 7 am and finished my journals before going down to breakfast. I took my laptop to breakfast and while we ate; uploaded the photos and then posted my blog. The wifi was working well with my computer this morning.

By 10:30 am Nancy and I were off to the park. Barbara is taking it easy this morning, going to the neighborhood beauty shop to get her hair and nails done while we’re gone. We’re to be back at the hotel about 3 pm. We found later that she’d actually started walking the neighborhood and had walked almost two hours on her own checking out prices on the various hotels in the Paddington area. She was napping by the time we returned.

Nancy and I walked from the hotel to the road that divides Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. We found a broad path that was on the Kensington side and strolled with the Sunday morning joggers, tourists and strollers through the beautiful and lush grounds. At one point we stopped to visit a training garden designed to teach people how to ecologically grow plants in small places; it was called The Allotment.

Soon we were at the bridge over The Serpentine Lake and crossed the road to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. This was my third visit and I still find it an emotional experience because of the story of her life they tell with the various flows of the water: rough, swift, noisy, so still you can hear your own breath and water so still it is hardly moving.

We continued walking through the park to the southern edge for a view of Queen Victoria’s memorial to her husband/consort Prince Albert. It is a glorious tribute with a golden Albert sitting on his throne.

Crossing Kensington we walked to the South Kensington Underground/Tube for a trip to St. James Station arriving at 11:15 am…we almost ran from the station to Westminster Abbey where we wanted to get into the 11:15 Communion Service. One of the ways to get into the Abbey on Sunday is to attend a service! We scooted in behind a group and said yes, we were with that group, when asked by the ushers.

We were seated in folding chairs in the Poet’s corner of the Abbey. It was a beautiful service complete with a marvelous choir composed of the Lay Vicars of Westminster Abbey accompanied by the organist…. the music of angels.

We were invited to participate in the communion service and it was interesting in that the entire service could have been in a catholic church except that a woman presided.

It was a truly marvelous experience for each of us. Afterwards we stayed as long as they would allow and saw many of the things that one would visit as a tourist. They don’t allow photos so the ones you see are illegal shots and not very good.

We started walking again toward Buckingham Palace by way of St. James’s Park. There were many families enjoying the park; a fence divided the path from the grass but people just stepped over it. As we crossed the bridge over the lake in the center of the park we had a view of Buckingham Palace on one end and many turrets and towers on the other end. Downing Street and government buildings are located there. We could also see the London Eye in the distance.

Continuing on we reached The Mall road and found the beginnings of a Military Parade….there is no changing of the guard today but this was even better. We decided we were really having a serendipity day!

After the parade passed we continued to Buckingham Palace; the Victoria Memorial in front of the Palace is under repairs and covered, disappointing but what can you do. We’ve found lots of that because of the preparation for the Olympics in 2012. Even Kensington Palace is undergoing a massive restoration and not worth visiting for the few things that you can see per the tour books.

Off towards Westminster Cathedral, the Catholic Cathedral in London, we walked in the wrong direction and ended back at Westminster Abbey! Oops…but we did find Victoria Street that eventually took us to the Cathedral; a beautiful and unusual Byzantine style built in from 1895 – 1903. A stark contrast to the extremely modern glass building across the street.

Our tootsies were tired and it was 2:30 … time to get back to the hotel. We walked to the Victoria Station and caught the Tube back to the hotel. There we found Miss Barbara sound asleep. Woke her up and off we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum…by TAXI…a treat by Barbara! We didn’t have much time but enjoyed about an hour and a half of the acres of displays. One of my favorites was a beautiful cross reliquary for a piece of the wooden Cross of Christ that was about the size of a postage stamp.

Caught the bus towards Marble Arch after leaving the Museum and decided to go to a pub called Taylor Walker that had an upstairs restaurant called Rose & Crown Restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful meal that was slow in coming because of the rush of customers all at one time; but worth the wait.

Back on the bus we arrived at Paddington Station that is only a block from the Hotel; we found that it is about a block closer that the one we’d been using. Home about 8:30 pm we spent the evening planning our next two weeks. We don’t have any reservations so it’s an open book! We have booked the same car service that we used last Thursday so our trip to Heathrow to pick up our rental car tomorrow should be an easy morning. No wifi in the room tonight so I’ll send this at breakfast.