We both had fantastic sleeps last night. Maybe we had decompressed enough or were over our jet lag, who knows, but we didn't get out of bed until 10:30! At about 1:00 pm we were off to Bath for the day which is only minutes down the road. Once near downtown Bath we did our usual getting lost trying to find parking. I think our fame has preceded us cause locals seem to phone ahead to alert their friends we are coming so they can be ready to misdirect us. Teenagers walking down the street, mothers in their gardens, whatever, we always pick 'em. Anyway, we finally found a nice central parking garage and without too much difficulty found Sally Lunn's bake shop and restaurant for a Welsh Rarebit lunch which was not too salty at all. (That comment was for Jennifer. Some kind of inside joke I think). That was followed by two hop on hop off bus tours back to back. One went around the hilly outskirts and showed us scenic overviews of Bath and the other was city focused going to such places as the Circus and the Crescent. Both were guided by these fantastic, humorous narrators who kept us entertained with their dry funny comments about the sights we were passing. For example, there are nine river Avons in Britain, all of them named by the Romans who asked the Celts the names of local rivers as they conquered the country.The Celt word for river was Avon so that's what they said to the Romans who then named each of them River Avon which is in effect, River River. No? They had better ones but we can't remember anymore. We just finished some nice Cornish pasties and wine so we're a bit foggy.
Our trip home to Bitton was all of 10 minutes today. Yesterday it was over an hour. Guess we're finding our way a bit.
We met the man of the house today. He had just driven 800 miles home from the French Alps where he is part owner of a chalet which is rented out to holidayers. Clearly a hotelier in the making. Seemed a very nice chap who we are interested in getting to know better over the next few days. He has offered to let us use one of his SatNavs for out trips to other Cotswolds towns which should help us not get lost. He says it is rather bossy but easy to get used to.
Tomorrow we are trying to meet up with J&J in Bath but haven't heard back from them yet. It's supposed to rain so we'll have to wait and see if we do meet them and what we will do with them.
Hope all is well back home. More tomorrow. Ta ta.
Sunday, 17 September 2017
Saturday, 16 September 2017
Oh, Oh, Oh.....Shit!!!
I think if I had gone to an astrologer when I was young, I would have been told to avoid driving in strange countries because I was genetically incapable of navigating. Especially in countries where everyone drives on the wrong side of the road and there are all these roundabouts with signs and arrows pointing every which way and you're trying to find yours at 40 miles an hour with cars zipping past you on both sides and beeping because you're going too slow and.......oh well, I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
Again, a poor night's sleep for both of us plus Carol's morning didn't start so well either. Storm clouds brewing! We did however manage to get ready and packed in good time so we didn't have to rush breakfast thank God. Got a taxi to Paddington early enough so that we were able to try to catch the 12:00 train but to no avail, it was full so we waited for the 1:00. The ride was uneventful but as we got closer to Bath, the scenery improved tremendously. Taxi from the station to Europcar to get our rental (which is a really cute Citroen C3) and instructions for finding our cottage. Easy peasy and we were off!
What we didn't know was that we made a wrong turn at the VERY first opportunity to turn. We went left where we should have gone straight. As we drove along the A4 (we really needed the A371 but I thought I had remembered the rental guy say it was the same as the A4 - wrong!) which goes between Bath and Bristol, we stayed on it through uncounted roundabouts and turns. We were halfway to Bristol before we realized something was wrong so we turned around and tried to find our way back to the beginning so we could correct our initial error. Halfway back we ended up on a road taking us to Wells which we knew right away was wrong. Another u-turn.
I don't know how but we did finally find our way back to the beginning and got on the correct road and found Bitton. Yea!! But we weren't done yet. We found the lane to the cottage but felt we were going too far and must have missed our gate so we stopped a cyclist for directions. He gave us directions to a place many miles farther on while cars were lining up behind us patiently waiting for our exchange to end. Rather than start up right away, we pulled into this entrance a few feet up the road to let all those cars go by and guess what? The sign on the gate said Boyd Cottage. Our home!!
The "Oh, Oh, Oh.....Shit"? Country lanes are very narrow so every time a car came the other way we had to suck in our gut to make our car skinnier and Carol would yell "Oh, Oh, Oh.....Shit!" Because she was sure we would collide. I won't even try to describe our language when we were lost earlier in the day!
Anyway, we are now happily ensconced in our cute as a button cottage listening to the sound of a gentle rain on our roof. Wonderful. More tomorrow.Ta ta.
Again, a poor night's sleep for both of us plus Carol's morning didn't start so well either. Storm clouds brewing! We did however manage to get ready and packed in good time so we didn't have to rush breakfast thank God. Got a taxi to Paddington early enough so that we were able to try to catch the 12:00 train but to no avail, it was full so we waited for the 1:00. The ride was uneventful but as we got closer to Bath, the scenery improved tremendously. Taxi from the station to Europcar to get our rental (which is a really cute Citroen C3) and instructions for finding our cottage. Easy peasy and we were off!
What we didn't know was that we made a wrong turn at the VERY first opportunity to turn. We went left where we should have gone straight. As we drove along the A4 (we really needed the A371 but I thought I had remembered the rental guy say it was the same as the A4 - wrong!) which goes between Bath and Bristol, we stayed on it through uncounted roundabouts and turns. We were halfway to Bristol before we realized something was wrong so we turned around and tried to find our way back to the beginning so we could correct our initial error. Halfway back we ended up on a road taking us to Wells which we knew right away was wrong. Another u-turn.
I don't know how but we did finally find our way back to the beginning and got on the correct road and found Bitton. Yea!! But we weren't done yet. We found the lane to the cottage but felt we were going too far and must have missed our gate so we stopped a cyclist for directions. He gave us directions to a place many miles farther on while cars were lining up behind us patiently waiting for our exchange to end. Rather than start up right away, we pulled into this entrance a few feet up the road to let all those cars go by and guess what? The sign on the gate said Boyd Cottage. Our home!!
The "Oh, Oh, Oh.....Shit"? Country lanes are very narrow so every time a car came the other way we had to suck in our gut to make our car skinnier and Carol would yell "Oh, Oh, Oh.....Shit!" Because she was sure we would collide. I won't even try to describe our language when we were lost earlier in the day!
Anyway, we are now happily ensconced in our cute as a button cottage listening to the sound of a gentle rain on our roof. Wonderful. More tomorrow.Ta ta.
Friday, 15 September 2017
A Complex Day
We didn't know about Parson's Green until a text from Christy reached us while we were having supper at Paddington Station. We tried to text back right away but my phone wouldn't. when we get back Telus is going to hear from me. Any way sorry if you guys were anxious.
Our day started badly because Carol had slept very poorly again and was so tired she had the shakes. Not a good sign. We had breakfast and then decided that a hop on hop off without the hops would be about all she could handle today so we got the longest one available and just sat/slept as London went by for four hours. We only got off at the Paddington hop because we needed to get tickets for tomorrow's trip to Bath. While there, we had a lovely lemon plaice supper with new potatoes and a glass of wine and then got on the bus again. (The last one for the day we found out later). We could only get as close to our hotel as the wrong side of Westminster Bridge so had to walk about 25 minutes in the dark and with a light rain falling but it was invigorating. It is now 8:40 pm and Carol is sound asleep, hopefully for the entire night. Oops, I hear coughing. She just about threw up but it's all better now. She's watching a documentary on Kate Middleton on the TV in the bedroom.
Next blog will be from Bath tomorrow night our time. Ta ta.
Our day started badly because Carol had slept very poorly again and was so tired she had the shakes. Not a good sign. We had breakfast and then decided that a hop on hop off without the hops would be about all she could handle today so we got the longest one available and just sat/slept as London went by for four hours. We only got off at the Paddington hop because we needed to get tickets for tomorrow's trip to Bath. While there, we had a lovely lemon plaice supper with new potatoes and a glass of wine and then got on the bus again. (The last one for the day we found out later). We could only get as close to our hotel as the wrong side of Westminster Bridge so had to walk about 25 minutes in the dark and with a light rain falling but it was invigorating. It is now 8:40 pm and Carol is sound asleep, hopefully for the entire night. Oops, I hear coughing. She just about threw up but it's all better now. She's watching a documentary on Kate Middleton on the TV in the bedroom.
Next blog will be from Bath tomorrow night our time. Ta ta.
Thursday, 14 September 2017
The Queen says Hello!
Yes! We had a good night's sleep. Carol was out like a log the whole night (it helped that she had half a Gravol!) Up about nine am and out for brekkies to our favourite Caffe and then a cab to Buckingham Palace where we met J&J for our tour. We started with The Queen's Gallery where there was an exhibition of Canaletto in Venice. It was interesting to see Venice as it appeared in the 1700's and try to pick out where we might have been last spring. then on to The Royal Mews where the State Carriages are kept. The horses are now kept down the road at the Horseguard's Stables. Wow, we'd take one of those carriages any day over a Rolls. Our final inside tour was the State Rooms which surprised us by their human scale. Sure, they were elaborate in their decoration sometimes but we didn't feel overwhelmed by them as happens in Versailles for example. Very interesting. Then a coffee stop in the Garden cafe overlooking the garden where the Queen has her summer garden parties and where Carol wants to be invited to attend with her granddaughters! We finished with a walk around the gardens which are an astonishing 42 acres of peaceful green in the heart of London.
That all took over 4 hours so in order to avoid collapse from hunger we ventured into the first pub outside the walls, called the Bag O' Nails and had a great meal of lamb shank pie, wine, beer and cider. No we didn't each drink ALL of those. Each of us had ONE of those. Then a cab back to our 'hood and a walk of discovery in the twilight down to the Thames, past Admiralty Arch, Whitehall, Old Scotland Yard and the Horseguards stables. We are now back home, it's 9:20 pm and Carol is blissfully snoring away. It must have been the fresh air!
Hop on hop off bus tour tomorrow and then a search for the oldest pub in London. We might have to sample ten just to be sure we find the right one. Wish us luck!
That all took over 4 hours so in order to avoid collapse from hunger we ventured into the first pub outside the walls, called the Bag O' Nails and had a great meal of lamb shank pie, wine, beer and cider. No we didn't each drink ALL of those. Each of us had ONE of those. Then a cab back to our 'hood and a walk of discovery in the twilight down to the Thames, past Admiralty Arch, Whitehall, Old Scotland Yard and the Horseguards stables. We are now back home, it's 9:20 pm and Carol is blissfully snoring away. It must have been the fresh air!
Hop on hop off bus tour tomorrow and then a search for the oldest pub in London. We might have to sample ten just to be sure we find the right one. Wish us luck!
Wednesday, 13 September 2017
A Harrod's Mannequin Tripped Me
We might have slept a half hour, between seven and seven thirty this morning. All I remember from a night of tossing and turning was Carol crying at one point over how much her back hurt. Awww, a pretty sad start, eh? Well, things improved remarkably fast once we showered and got ready because we found a neat Cafe very nearby which served full English breakfasts and GOOOOD coffee.
After filling up, we got a day pass for the tube and busses and went to Marble Arch where we walked down Oxford Street to M&S where I got a jacket to replace the one I had to throw away yesterday and to Selfridge's for lunch. then on the busses to Harrod's for a pee. I think we pee-ed at Harrod's on our last trip too! It's got great washrooms. On the way out a mannequin put her foot out and tripped me. I guess she wanted me to buy some perfume. After, we walked down Beauchamp Place and along Walton Road just admiring the high end shops and architecture. We even found a shop where Kate Middleton goes dress shopping. Then on the busses again to Trafalgar Square and home for a quick foot wash before heading out to supper at The Admiralty Pub which is right across the road from Canada House.
Two things we learned today: we prefer busses for getting around London, rather than the tube. You see stuff, they are less crowded and, once you figure out their routes, get you where you want to go quicker. We also found out how busy and noisy London pubs are. Wow, every man in London is at a pub somewhere. Great place to meet guys for sure.
All in all a great day. Jet lag must be behind us. Now if we can only get a good night's sleep.....
After filling up, we got a day pass for the tube and busses and went to Marble Arch where we walked down Oxford Street to M&S where I got a jacket to replace the one I had to throw away yesterday and to Selfridge's for lunch. then on the busses to Harrod's for a pee. I think we pee-ed at Harrod's on our last trip too! It's got great washrooms. On the way out a mannequin put her foot out and tripped me. I guess she wanted me to buy some perfume. After, we walked down Beauchamp Place and along Walton Road just admiring the high end shops and architecture. We even found a shop where Kate Middleton goes dress shopping. Then on the busses again to Trafalgar Square and home for a quick foot wash before heading out to supper at The Admiralty Pub which is right across the road from Canada House.
Two things we learned today: we prefer busses for getting around London, rather than the tube. You see stuff, they are less crowded and, once you figure out their routes, get you where you want to go quicker. We also found out how busy and noisy London pubs are. Wow, every man in London is at a pub somewhere. Great place to meet guys for sure.
All in all a great day. Jet lag must be behind us. Now if we can only get a good night's sleep.....
Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Here We Go Again
A subtitle could be "Are you Crazy?" But you see, we need to do two more trips before we turn 75 next fall: one to England to say goodbye to Carol's roots and one to Scandinavia to say goodbye to mine. After that, we won't be able to afford travel insurance any more. Of course if we win the lottery, all bets are off. (The above was written before we left)
After our travel day today, I want to change the subtitle to "tomorrow has to be a better day". Our arrival at YVR was smooth and progress through check in and security was also smooth and pleasant (no crowds) but once we got into the secure area, hints at what was to come surfaced. First, there was no more Milestone's which is where we had arranged to meet J and J so a bit of a scramble but ok. Then our flight was delayed half an hour. Again, no biggie but our antennae were starting to tingle just a little bit by now. Then our seats. Yeah we know, the romantic business class sleeping pods, cosy and spacious, right? Boy, we can get a good night's sleep and wake up running, right? Not a chance in hell. And it normally costs close to $8000 per seat! Sure they are long enough with lots of leg room even when flat for sleeping but only if you're no taller than 5'-7". It's the width that killed us. We lay there like sardines, unable to turn or move our arms because the armrests on either side were holding us tightly in place. And it was freezing in there.
But the best part was the food. For appies we had scallops, long beans, squash purée and pepper slices. ALL COLD. The main was some super tough steak (Carol quickly gave up trying to cut it), potato fingerlings and broccoli. Dessert was a pear cheesecake. All washed down with a Cabernet Sauvignon. Sound great? Carol started complaining of a bad tummy almost right away. I waited for an hour and then my tummy rebelled. I never quite made it to the washroom but instead threw up in the aisle about 5 feet from the door. Thankfully I only ruined some carpet, not anyone's holiday outfit! Inside the washroom I continued and ruined my brand new jacket and the washroom itself which was labelled unusable for the rest of the flight.
The crew were marvellous throughout, mopping up as best they could, consoling me and all that but by the time I staggered back to my pod, there was no sleep in me.
The process through Heathrow was uneventful as was our shared taxi ride in. Our hotel is ok. Great location just steps top Trafalgar Square but again our food weird experience continued. We thought a quick snack before turning in would be a good idea so went to this "Italian" place around the corner, recommended by the concierge. First we asked for carbonated water and received, in turn, a bottle of wine, flat water and then Perrier. Next we ordered a simple pizza which arrived surpisingly quickly because it was still cold! As I said above, tomorrow has to be a better day! Nighty night.
.
After our travel day today, I want to change the subtitle to "tomorrow has to be a better day". Our arrival at YVR was smooth and progress through check in and security was also smooth and pleasant (no crowds) but once we got into the secure area, hints at what was to come surfaced. First, there was no more Milestone's which is where we had arranged to meet J and J so a bit of a scramble but ok. Then our flight was delayed half an hour. Again, no biggie but our antennae were starting to tingle just a little bit by now. Then our seats. Yeah we know, the romantic business class sleeping pods, cosy and spacious, right? Boy, we can get a good night's sleep and wake up running, right? Not a chance in hell. And it normally costs close to $8000 per seat! Sure they are long enough with lots of leg room even when flat for sleeping but only if you're no taller than 5'-7". It's the width that killed us. We lay there like sardines, unable to turn or move our arms because the armrests on either side were holding us tightly in place. And it was freezing in there.
But the best part was the food. For appies we had scallops, long beans, squash purée and pepper slices. ALL COLD. The main was some super tough steak (Carol quickly gave up trying to cut it), potato fingerlings and broccoli. Dessert was a pear cheesecake. All washed down with a Cabernet Sauvignon. Sound great? Carol started complaining of a bad tummy almost right away. I waited for an hour and then my tummy rebelled. I never quite made it to the washroom but instead threw up in the aisle about 5 feet from the door. Thankfully I only ruined some carpet, not anyone's holiday outfit! Inside the washroom I continued and ruined my brand new jacket and the washroom itself which was labelled unusable for the rest of the flight.
The crew were marvellous throughout, mopping up as best they could, consoling me and all that but by the time I staggered back to my pod, there was no sleep in me.
The process through Heathrow was uneventful as was our shared taxi ride in. Our hotel is ok. Great location just steps top Trafalgar Square but again our food weird experience continued. We thought a quick snack before turning in would be a good idea so went to this "Italian" place around the corner, recommended by the concierge. First we asked for carbonated water and received, in turn, a bottle of wine, flat water and then Perrier. Next we ordered a simple pizza which arrived surpisingly quickly because it was still cold! As I said above, tomorrow has to be a better day! Nighty night.
.
Friday, 2 June 2017
May 28 - Final Wrap - Jetlag is a bitch
Yeah, we've been home a week now and are still really bagged. Anyone who could come up with a solid way to handle jetlag would make millions.
Anyhow, working backwards, the flights were quite manageable. Not at all the horror show we expected. Venice to Frankfurt was only an hour and ten minutes. The connection was easy but boy is Frankfurt airport big. It seems more spread out than other airports. We used miles of moving sidewalks. Then the flight to Vancouver was a very pleasant surprise. We booked premium economy and on a Lufthansa 747 it really meant something. Priority boarding, comfortable seats with loads of legroom, better food, lots of service, good tv screen, good earphones (I watched three movies!). So we were ok, even though we had gotten up at 4 am.
Getting to the Venice airport was fun. We got a water taxi and they really move along. Where it got interesting was when we met boats returning from the airport, going the opposite way just as fast as we were. The marked lanes in the lagoon are really narrow, almost like driving down the road in a car so we were bouncing all over the place from the other boats' waves, holding on to each other and hoping the boat wouldn't break up. All the while the driver was on his cell phone, cool as a cucumber, probably asking his wife what was for dinner.
We had a great vacation. Exhausting but great. The only major thing we would change if we were to do it again would be to go a month earlier and go via London so we wouldn't have to do early mornings. It was starting to get hot, the bugs were waking up and so were the tourists. In fact we were told that May is the busiest time in Venice.
Our trip in a nutshell: Rome was amazing but we feel we "did it" so well that we don't need to return. Santa Margherita was a place we would go back to any time but we would make sure the apartment we chose had more of what we need. Venice was comfortable for us. We felt almost at home and would go back in a heartbeat if our plans took us that way. Cruising is not in our future plans for a while. If anything, we might do Alaska in a few years but that's all. Until next time...Ciao!
Anyhow, working backwards, the flights were quite manageable. Not at all the horror show we expected. Venice to Frankfurt was only an hour and ten minutes. The connection was easy but boy is Frankfurt airport big. It seems more spread out than other airports. We used miles of moving sidewalks. Then the flight to Vancouver was a very pleasant surprise. We booked premium economy and on a Lufthansa 747 it really meant something. Priority boarding, comfortable seats with loads of legroom, better food, lots of service, good tv screen, good earphones (I watched three movies!). So we were ok, even though we had gotten up at 4 am.
Getting to the Venice airport was fun. We got a water taxi and they really move along. Where it got interesting was when we met boats returning from the airport, going the opposite way just as fast as we were. The marked lanes in the lagoon are really narrow, almost like driving down the road in a car so we were bouncing all over the place from the other boats' waves, holding on to each other and hoping the boat wouldn't break up. All the while the driver was on his cell phone, cool as a cucumber, probably asking his wife what was for dinner.
We had a great vacation. Exhausting but great. The only major thing we would change if we were to do it again would be to go a month earlier and go via London so we wouldn't have to do early mornings. It was starting to get hot, the bugs were waking up and so were the tourists. In fact we were told that May is the busiest time in Venice.
Our trip in a nutshell: Rome was amazing but we feel we "did it" so well that we don't need to return. Santa Margherita was a place we would go back to any time but we would make sure the apartment we chose had more of what we need. Venice was comfortable for us. We felt almost at home and would go back in a heartbeat if our plans took us that way. Cruising is not in our future plans for a while. If anything, we might do Alaska in a few years but that's all. Until next time...Ciao!
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