Living in London

Today we drove up to Warrington so that Heather could turn in her laptop and say goodbye to the folks she has been working with for the past nine months. It was a rainy, overcast day so, except for the road spray from all the trucks, not a bad day for a long drive.

We had two delightful surprises en route. One was that our driving route took us along the north side of the Peaks District National Park. Wow, what a fantastic looking place, with lots of old stone fences and hedgerows stretching across beautiful rolling hills. We want to come back and take some rambles there.

The second surprise was the best fish and chips we have had since we arrived here 20 months ago. We have been to every “highly rated” fish and chips restaurant we could find and have been consistently disappointed by mushy fish and bad chips. Today we went to “Ye Old Mottram Chippie” on the way to Warrington — the proud owners of the Love Chips website. Its a little hole in the wall that closes at 2:00PM and reopens at 4:30. We arrived at 1:55, just in time to order lunch but only to discover that they have no tables. Naturally, we had take out wrapped in paper – I had cod and Heather had haddock – that we carried back to the car in the cold and rain, and then ate with little plastic forks.

What a delight! Crisp, not greasy, sweet firm fish ... Finally, some fish and chips that can make England proud! The owner of this shop is named Lez Brierley, and of course he has a secret-recipe batter.

We spent the weekend in Rye, and Dungeness, at the suggestion of Desmond. It was a great place to visit – Rye is indeed very old, charming, and one-of-a-kind. We could almost hear the echos of the smugglers laughing off the dampness as we walked past several long-established pubs.

The beach by the power plant in Dungeness is otherworldly and mystic. Unfortunately for us it was pouring rain the entire weekend and very uncomfortable walking around either place. We loved the “tour” of Rye that took place at the Visitor’s Centre via a scale model of the city.

The most enchanting part of all however was the numerous drives we took down little one lane roads that bordered the local farms and pastures.  We had some good podcasts of English and Scottish folk music that were the perfect accompaniment to these drives.

Formerly a sea port, and virtually an island, Rye is now completely silted up and now sits two miles from the sea. St. Mary’s is the local parish church in Rye, and has the oldest operating clock in England. This clock is rumoured to be the source of the famous nursery rhyme:

Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock

I flew a 727 today. We took off from Heathrow in the early afternoon and flew a nice gentle circuit around London before I brought her down in a rather “bouncy” landing dead centre on the runway.

The 727 is anything but nimble, and a humble servant to Newton’s first law. At about 86 tonnes, whatever direction she is headed in is the direction she's going, unless you apply continuous force to change her mind.

Okay, so I didn’t really leave the ground — but from inside the cockpit you would never know it. I spent about an hour and a half in a full-fledged flight simulator. This thing sat 10 feet off the ground on a half-dozen hydraulic pistons and was able to emulate the the full motion of the plane, complete with turbulence and a heck of a rough landing. It was quite an adrenalin rush.

I love to understand how things work, and spending more than an hour flying in the cockpit of a large aircraft satisfied a lifelong curiosity of what it is really like to fly a commercial aircraft. Let me just say that flying in three dimensions is much harder than driving in two.

The snow on our street	The White Cliffs of Dover	We even brought a bit of the cliffs home

We didn’t work in England on December 27^th because it was the official holiday for Boxing Day. For weeks we had been talking about taking some day trips over the Christmas break, and when we awoke to big fat white snow flakes outside our window, the “white” theme was set. How about those cliffs in Dover you hear so much about?  

The city of Dover is located in the southeast corner of the country, about 80 miles from London. Knowing it would take at least an hour to get out of London, we left mid-day for a leisurely drive, admiring the beautiful snow-covered countryside. Once there, we found the Dover Castle (closed this day) and so drove to the National Trust visitor centre.

From here we set off on a short walk to see the cliffs. One thing they don’t tell you at the visitor centre is that the chalk + dirt make for some voracious mud. It was all over us, and trying to suck our shoes off as well. We walked as far as we could on the path and took a few photos. The cliffs really are white, and you really can see France from this point. We have loved to have taken the tour of the war tunnels under the castle; I’m sure this was a very important and tense spot during WW II.

Also in Southeast England, we wanted to visit Canterbury (to find out more about the tales) and Sandwich (for, well, a snack) but ran out of daylight.

p.s. The snow didn’t stick in London — although the cold still lingers.

We enjoyed our second visit to Paris this weekend, again in the icy winter. Our first trip was last year at this same time! What is up with that?

Anyway, it didn’t slow us down for a
second … we spent four glorious days enjoying a fabulous walking tour of Montmartre, seeing a terrific traditional French circus, taking another Segway tour, and shopping til we ran out of money. (I actually fell off my Segway this trip, and am happy to report that no photos exist of this event).

We had some great meals and learned of a new champagne drink that has become our new favourite. The weekend was gloriously clear with blue skies and unbelievable lights at night. But wow, was it ever cold. Our next trip to Paris needs to be in the balmy spring don’t you think?

We have been meaning to see the stage play “Mary Poppins” for some time now (it opened almost a year ago!). To augment this experience we rented the Disney film and viewed it a few weeks ago.

The Disney version wasn’t at all like I remembered from the last time I saw it (scary to think about how long ago that might have been) but the songs were even better than remembered!  Both of us were singing for days afterwards. This prompted us to finally get those theatre tickets, and we saw the play on Monday evening. It was the best theatre experience we have had in London so far. The actors, the staging, the music were all fantastic. Even the theatre was the best we have visited (there was actually room for our legs!).

Bravo!

On Saturday evening we went to our village church to see a local theatre company perform Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia. The performances were unbelievably good! Most professional, and very well done for what seemed to be a fairly complicated play. We enjoyed wine and snacks as we sat in the front pew completely entranced!

We walked home through the church cemetery on a wild windy night feeling totally satisfied.

Today we had a very luxurious experience at Berry Bros & Rudd, at the store and cellars where they have been operating for over 300 years. Still managed by the same family, this place has an amazing history, and really ‘gets’ the concept of service.

Established in 1898, they were originally an 'Italian Warehouse.' They not only supplied coffee beans, but also weighed their customers on their giant coffee scales. They showed us ledger books with the records of customers’ weights spanning three centuries. It was apparently very fashionable to get dressed up and head over to Berry Brothers for your annual weigh-in. Customers who visited the store include Lord Byron and Beau Brummell, Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon III, prime ministers Balfour, Melbourne, Peel and Asquith, John Nash and Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Evelyn Waugh, and of course, us! [Note: we did not weigh in ]

In 1923 Cutty Sark Scots Whisky was created here. In 2000 they began a wine school and this was one of the classes we attended.

Our class included a tour of the store and cellars, a couple of hours tasting champagnes, and a fabulous lunch paired with five more wonderful champagnes. The tastes were generous and the air was spiced by interesting conversation with the other patrons. Very enjoyable afternoon.

Take a virtual tour for a 360 degree view of many of the rooms in the store and cellars.

Our corner room in the Royal Hotel	Mercantilism lives!	A courtyard in the heart of the city

Because our room was not ready when we arrived on Saturday morning, we decided to venture out of town to visit Louisiana, the Museum for Moderne Kunst, er, I mean Art. We loved the museum (a small but very impressive collection) and the beautiful site. However, we were most impressed with our own ability to navigate the train system (without help) given how totally and completely exhausted we were and that the ticket machines and all the signs were completely in Danish.

When we checked into our room and did some research on the hotel, we were surprised to learn that we were staying in a work of art!  Arne Jacobsen was one of the greatest Danish architects, and in 1960 he completed his masterpiece: the Royal Hotel and every single thing inside it (including the silverware). We had a delightful corner room and the windows and mirrors made it feel as though we were floating high above the city.

On our last full day in Copenhagen we went on a city tour with a guide who walked us through the downtown area from the perspective of the 18th and 19th centuries. Denmark is a very small country with 1/10th of the land mass of California but it is ideally located at the entrance to the Baltic Sea. As a result, the enterprising citizens of Copenhagen learned very early in their history that trade and mercantilism would be a key factor in their success. This link to business and commerce is still very evident in the city today.

We spent the evening (sans camera. Doh!) at Tivoli, the city's very old and famous amusement park. Visiting a theme park is rarely on our list of things to do but Tivoli was unexpectedly charming. Very small, with a blend of old-fashioned rides and games with modern favourites. Everyone (and the numbers of young were easily matched by the old) seemed to be really enjoying themselves. We had a fine dinner featuring classic Danish food.

The bus queue from the ship	One last look at the ship's attrium	Our favourite spot — The Horizon Lounge on Deck 11

We disembarked in Copenhagen on Saturday 13 August, and felt really sad to leave our big ship. We had travelled 1,019 miles, and visited six different countries. Overall, we loved the luxury and the logistics of travelling by ship, but would caution people to avoid trips that keep travelling east through the time zones — it sure is hard to be rested enough for the shore excursions when you have to set your clock back each night.

The only downside we experienced was that the cruise felt very American. The onboard currency was US dollars, the evening entertainment was aimed at Midwestern sentimentality and we never did meet one other person we felt we had anything in common with. There were a lot of people who seemed to be happy with the most superficial look at another place, and we were struggling to really experience as much as we could in the few days we had.

There is a strange sensation you experience when you step ashore and your feet aren't sure if you are on solid land or on the deck at sea. The American oriented cruise felt that way as well — although we knew we were visiting these fabulous foreign cities, there was a dissonance where it felt like I was back in America.

Would we do it all again? Probably, but on a smaller ship with more direct cultural experiences, and with a more culturally diverse group of passengers.

A few more days of vacation and then back to the jobs (sob . . .) that make all this possible!