Sunday Salon : Highlights of our United Kingdom trip

Highlights of Trip to the UK

Weather: We got home from our UK trip yesterday at 9 PM, PDT. It was overcast in the high 60s in London when we left, very comfortable on our last day for a hike in The Regent's Park before we boarded our plane homeward bound. This morning we awoke to light rain and fog, temperatures in the lows 50s here at home. We experienced a range of weather on our trip: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, cold, warm but never uncomfortably hot.

Our trip began here in Bath, England

Our 17-Day Itinerary: We flew into Heathrow airport and traveled immediately to Bath, England (Roman baths, Georgian architecture, Jane Austen sites); after renting a car we made our way to Stonehenge (prehistoric site) enroute to the Cotswolds (medieval villages) staying in Chipping Campden; onto the Lake District (Beautiful scenery, Beatrix Potter sites) spending two nights in Keswick; driving the coast of Scotland north of Glasgow with a visit to Loch Lomond before spending a night in Oban (seafood capitol of Scotland); with iffy weather we decided to skip our planned detour further into the highlands and headed directly to Edinburgh (Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, home of Presbyterianism) for three nights; re-entering England our last stop with the car was York for two nights (2,000 years of historic sites, including medieval walls and market places); a train trip to Stratford-upon-Avon (Tudor architecture, Shakespeare sites including attending one of his plays, "As You Like It"); and finally concluding our trip in London (Tower of London, museums, historic sites, West End theatre experience seeing "Hadestown").

Cathedrals left to right - Top: Bath Abbey; inside St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh; the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. Bottom: outside York Minster; inside Westminster Abbey in the choir section where we sat for evensong.

Evensong and other services/programs in the grand cathedrals of the U.K. : We attended three evensong services as we toured around -- Bath Abbey, York Minster; and Westminster Abbey (London) -- all Anglican services sung by a choir. In Westminster we sat in the choir section, in York we were right next to that section, which increased our spiritual/musical experiences. September 29th is the day Anglicans celebrate Michaelmas, the day set aside to honor the Archangel Michael and all angels. We joined the congregation at St. Paul's Cathedral in London for Holy Eucharist. We were participants in this service. Afterwards Don kept exclaiming, "I got to sing a hymn in St Paul's!" Lastly, we paid to attend a musical event in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. The Piccadilly Sinfonietta played a candlelight program which included Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", along with works by Mozart and Bach. Exquisite!  

Literary moments: (Top) Old Books store in Bath; dressing up in Regency clothes, Tea in the Pump Room which featured prominently in Austen's Northanger Abbey novel (even with Jane Austen tea and music from movies made from her books). (Middle) Inside Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm House, Carly has collected Beatrix Potter books and memorabilia her whole life, a scene from Mr. McGregor's garden after he nearly caught Peter Rabbit. (Bottom) The Tolkien inspiring door in St. Edward's church in Stow-on-the-Wold; The Writer's Museum in Edinburgh; a dedication to Shakespeare in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, London.

Literary Moments: We had many planned and several unplanned literary moments. In Bath we were all about Jane Austen since she set two of her novels in Bath and lived in Bath for a portion of her life. We paid to visit the Jane Austen Centre where we were met at the door by Mr. Bennet (Elizabeth's father in Pride and Prejudice) and our guide was Anne Elliot (Persuasion). While in the Cotswolds we found the St. Edward's church which has a door which inspired JRR Tolkien to write The Lord of the Rings. In the Lake District we visited Hill Top Farm, home of Beatrix Potter (The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, et al) and visited an interactive exhibition for all things dedicated to this very popular children's author/illustrator in Bowness-on-Windermere. In Edinburgh we stumbled upon The Writer's Museum dedicated to Scots authors: Robert Louis Stephenson, poet Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. We puttered around in it for a few moments before continuing our tour of the Royal Mile. Stratford-upon-Avon is of course dedicated to Shakespeare. In Westminster Abbey we found poet's corner, where many famous authors are buried, or have a dedication stone. A few we noticed: C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters,  and Dylan Thomas. We also visited several indie bookstores: Bath Old Books, Ironbridge Book Nook, and London's Daunt Books in Marylebone, not far from where we stayed.

Theater moments: Us in Stratford and in London. In Stratford we are standing of the image of Shakespeare created out of Lego. Below is the view we had of the state (lighted in blue) and the whole theater. all but the floor seats were on sharp angles and each level is practically straight up. We had to lean forward to see most of the action of the stage.

Theater moments: When we began planning our trip, our daughter Carly, a theater-loving person, insisted we should include some theater. When we learned that the actor Jonathan Groff. King George of Hamilton fame. was playing one of the leads in "As You Like It" in Stratford, we knew we all had to find a way to make it happen. It meant we had to alter our itinerary but we could do it. Lucky we made it happen since it was the best Shakespeare I've seen performed on stage. We then asked Carly to pick a show for us to see in London's West End. She picked "Hadestown", an excellent choice. I'd say that attending these two events were the highlights of the highlights of our whole trip.

Don watching his head in Chipping Campden; view of Oban Bay

Accommodations: We followed the Rick Steve's Guide suggestions to stay in hotels and B&B spots close to the old towns and sites we hoped to visit. This meant we often encountered unique and charming issues. The funniest place we stayed was the Eight Bells Inn in Chipping Campden. We were greeted by a signed which warned us of uneven floors and low ceilings so we should watch our steps. (See photo above of the cross beam we had to navigate under to get to our bedroom.) Our favorite was No. 21 York B&B where the proprietor was so friendly and made homemade bread every day. The best view was from the Kenavara House in Oban, Scotland of the Oban Bay.

Food: The last time Don and I were in the UK (2019) we had terrible experiences with food so our expectations were low going into this trip but we were pleasantly surprised by the many wonderful meals we experienced this time around. A few highlights -- Sunday Roast Dinner at the Dog and Gun pub in Keswick, Northern England. True to the pub's name, there were lots of dogs laying around under foot throughout the pub. The fish chowder at the Cuan Mòr restaurant in Oban. Everything we had: Moussaka, Chicken 'Paprikash', and the Lamb 'Tsigariasto', at the Wee Greek Kitchen in Edinburgh. Just thinking about these meals makes me want to go back.

Castlerigg. Note the boots Carly is wearing.

Funny moments: As a family we love to laugh at ourselves and will often retell funny stories of what has happened to us. Here are a few of those memorable, funny moments from this trip:

• "But does it have marzipan?" I have an allergy to walnuts so I was given a special tray of sandwiches and treats for the Jane Austen tea that contained NO nuts. I kept eyeing the treats on the other tray and was especially interested in one that looked like it was covered with marzipan, which I love. Both Carly and Don tried a bite to test it and neither could tell me if it had marzipan or not. I eventually tried a tiny bite myself. I couldn't tell either. For the rest of the trip anytime anyone commented on a food, someone would ask, "But does it have marzipan?"
• We stopped for lunch one day we were on the road near Newcastle-upon-Tyne at a charming compound called the Milkhope Center. The lunch menu included a tuna-mayo-chive sandwich. Don and I decided to share one. I went off to save a table while Carly and Don stood in line. When it was his turn to order, Don said he'd like a tuna-mayo-chive sandwich, a coffee, and whatever else he ordered. As the boy was reading back the order he asked, "Are you sure you just want two mayo and chive sandwiches?" Don and Carly realized there was a pronunciation problem. We pronounce tuna as "two-na", they pronounce it as "choo-na". We did get tuna in our mayo and chive sandwiches but unfortunately the order was not completely correct...we still ended up with two sandwiches.
• We visited an ancient stone circle, Castlerigg, near Keswick, Northern England. Unlike Stonehenge it was not guarded and sheep are allowed to graze nearby and among the stones. As we walked among the stones we had to take pains to avoid the dung. The next day Carly kept complaining that her raincoat smelled like sheep dung. She finally figured out why. After we left Castlerigg she stuffed her boots, which she was wearing that day, into a bag with her raincoat. Guess what she stepped on? She refused to wear the coat for the rest of the trip. Wonder why?

Birds: Egyptian Goose, Eurasian Coot, Common Raven (residents and characters in the Tower of London), Mute Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon, Pigeons everywhere and so irreverent. These are hanging out on a landmark in Bath.  

Bird Watching: Whenever we had a chance both Carly and I would break out the Merlin Bird App on our phones and try to identify new birds to us. Carly added 23 new birds to her life list, I added 20. Carly was thrilled to see a ring-necked pheasant up close and personal in Hollyrood Park after Don and Carly climbed Arthur's Seat. I enjoyed identifying all but two of the possible corvids which live in the UK: Hooded crows, Jackdaws, Rooks, Common Ravens, Eurasian Magpies, and Carrion Crows. Our last day in the UK we spent some time in Regent's Park and had fun figuring out the water birds we saw. Carly was especially smitten by the Egyptian Geese. And I was amazed by the feet of the Eurasian Coot. (See above.)

Museums and landmarks/historic sites: Roman Baths; Stonehenge; McCaig's Tower (Oban); Edinburgh Castle; Hollyrood Palace (Edinburgh); Scottish National Gallery; walking tour of York; Hop-on/Hop-off Bus tour of London; Victoria and Albert Museum; the Tower of London; British Museum. I'll let the collages (See top of page, too) do the talking with just a few comments -- I was too tired by the time we got to the Scottish Art Gallery to appreciate it. The Hop-on/off bus tour in London was disappointing. We would have appreciated more history and information than we got. The British Museum was overwhelming. There were so many people. You had to fight through mobs of people to see many of the exhibits. See the photo below of Don and Carly trying to see the statue of Ramses.

We did so much more but I'm ready to stop typing and to post this. We had a wonderful trip but as happens to me after long trips, I am always happy to be home.

-Anne