LOOKING AHEAD

Home. Four letters packed with comfort, love, and sustainability--my center; my peace.

Been here four days now and finally getting a tiny bit of my mo-jo back. I was on such a creative whirl in the weeks prior to our trip. I want it back! I have flowers to transplant and peony bushes to prop (before the next rain storm), a husband longing for some homemade gourmet food, stacks of magazines and papers to sort, and a house in dire need of some TLC. I left with some projects undone--I had to prioritize that last week because my mo-jo had me seriously over-committed.

TOURING LONDON; Day 4: The Final Chapter

The Austria Alps from Maria Alm

The Sound of Music Tour -- Where LG said, "Now I know it's the truth!"

Wildflowers in Maria Alm.

Our brown-eyed bubble blower!

 

The responsibilities of turning 4!

The lovely bouquet for MK.

LG's artwork on display at ŝkolka.

Sunny London.


Da Mario for pizza in London.

 

Our first meal in Maria Alm.

Nothing exceptional occurs on our last morning--the Hoppa is on-time, as is our flight. We leave from Terminal 3 and I have time to go once more to Boots for a supply of the Ibuprofen gel...

We arrive a bit early at O'Hare and CA is waiting as we walk through the double doors. I am SO GLAD to see him. Two weeks has been very long. Home is so inviting--I have been thinking a lot about my own bed and my comfortable chairs for reading. JL spends one last night before returning to her home in Michigan.

I reflect on what I have most enjoyed about this trip, in no particular order:

TOURING LONDON, Day 3: The Day Trip

Windsor Palace (above and below).

Stonehenge (obviously!).

Bath

We are up early to gather and pack, leaving our belongings in the luggage room at The Citadines, as we will spend tonight at the Ibis near Gate 4 at Heathrow--where I stayed over a year ago when this blog was birthed.

I remember being so over-filled with stimuli, experiences, and information during that trip--I knew I had to write it all down. This has been such a positive step for me--cathartic to the max, and a phenomenal way to communicate details to my family and friends and to record and remember.

We meet the tour bus as scheduled and again journey to Victoria Station to be dispersed among our variously scheduled itineraries. Today our tour guide is a very disorganized Priscilla. She looks to be about 80 years old and is not very nice. Throughout the day she blathers on and on, chastising the passengers if we talk amongst ourselves and rambling on about her political, cultural, and general life opinions--coming from the cup-half-empty perspective.

We first journey to Windsor and it is a beautifully sunny morning. We are among the first to arrive and the town and castle are extraordinary. For some reason Cilla ushers us past the station to pick-up audio tour equipment and we regret it the whole time. It is a glorious site and we shall return someday! The Queen is not in residence this day, so the Union Jack is flying rather than the Royal Colors. We wander into Maud's for some yummy ice cream, and then back to the tour bus for our journey to Stonehenge.

Back on the bus for a bit. Lunch is pre-arranged at a British pub, The Bell. I have the vegetable lasagna with fresh salad, and JL opts for the roast pork. the food is quite good.

At Stonehenge we are again ushered past the audio tour devices--a shame as they are included in the price of the tour. We take a few photos and wander the circle. You can't walk amongst the stones any longer. The countryside is lovely and enroute we drove close to thatched cottages and saw dry stain dyke walls and sheep grazing in hedgerowed pastures. Lovely.

Bath disappoints. The tour brochure said we would have hours to wander, but we don't. We are given 30 minutes and then are to meet to tour the Roman Baths. We do, then duck out of the tour and wander into the cathedral and around the streets, enjoying ourselves infinitely more this way. The actual baths were stagnant and contaminated with bat and pigeon droppings--YUCK! We surely missed out on some interesting Roman artifacts, but the cathedral was quiet and stunning, so... six of one,half dozen of the other.

We are told there are few rivers in Britain, but there are man-made canals throughout this area--the water appears quite dirty and stagnant. I think I was picturing Brighton when I planned on Bath. We see so little, but can tell it would be worth a return trip.

We expect a three-hour return trip to London, but get there in less than 2-1/2. We are dropped off at the Gloucester Road Tube and walk toward our hotel, stopping for dinner at Med Kitchen which is adjoining The Citadines. We have walked by many times and I'm glad we get the chance to eat here. The atmosphere and food are very good, and what's more it is our neighborhood place! I have the ham, cheese, and tomato-herb omelet with salad and French fries while JL chooses a pasta dish. We are tired and need time to pack and process a jam-packed day.

We gather our belongings from the hotel and walk for the final trip to the Gloucester Road tube. A nice man carries my heavy bag down the two flights of steps after the lift--there has always been someone kind to help during this trip. We journey to Heathrow and find the Hotel Hoppa bus stop without fail. However, the H6 bus is nowhere to be seen--we seem to have just missed it. It takes an hour to learn that the H3 is the H6 at this time of night and we arrive at our hotel just after 11:30pm.

The room is just as I remember--clean, compact, and sufficient. A great bargain this time for just $50. I arrange for a 5:30am wake-up call and we don't read very long before dropping into an exhausted sleep. London has been very, very good and we have maximized our time in town.

TOURING LONDON, Day 2: Changing Plans

I am loving this gel Ibuprofen. It works miracles for the neuritis on my toe tops, and I rub some into my sore (arthritis??) thumb. Almost instant relief.

We leave The Citadines a few minutes before 7:00am and wander a bit before finding The Millenium--our desk clerks seem either unwilling or unable to give specific directions and the maps sometimes fail us... We are on the tour bus and travel to Victoria Station to que up with others taking our tour. After boarding the proper bus for our day trip to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath, I ask a fellow traveler how long this tour lasts? ELEVEN HOURS! And, we have tickets for the 7:30pm performance of Madame de Sade. We are able to de-board and reschedule the day trip for tomorrow--Sunday. No problem.

We re-start the day walking to Westminster Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, then across St. James Park to the Churchill War Rooms just beneath No. 10 Downing Street, taking the audio tour. Afterwards we trek through St. James again in time for the Changing of the Guard. Thousands of people have lined the streets to view this very English ceremony.

We have lunch at Da Mario which is purported to be the local pizza place for Diana and Princes William and Harry. The crust is good--JL has the Capricciosa and I opt for the Pizza Margherita and the Insalatina di Erbe Miste. After lunch, a quick stop at our hotel to drop off excess baggage and then we take the tube to Harrod's, Holy Trinity Brompton, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

At Harrod's JL finds some books for the effervescent Emerson Sophia, and we wander over the grounds at Holy Trinity Brompton--since we will miss Sunday services due to rescheduling our day trip. When we reach the V&A we find there is an informational tour starting immediately, so JL joins the group and I rest my feet and head in the William Morris Rooms cafe (my favorite spot at the V&A).

We have just a bit of time to regroup at our hotel, deciding to dine after tonight's theatre, and then to Leicester Square for the evening performance of Madame de Sade. As last night, we are seated in the Stalls in excellent view of the stage and performers. The set and costuming are fantastic, as are the performances. The subject matter is raw, as expected. The cast is six women--Madame de Sade (a beautiful blonde), her sister, her mother (Dame Judi), a courtesan-type woman, a religious-type woman, and the maid.

We wander through the theatre district a bit after the performance looking for a restaurant that no longer exists, and decide to head back to Gloucester Road near our hotel. We dine at Byrons--the place for a "proper burger." A burger tastes great after nearly two weeks in Europe.

Another early wake-up call so that we can--once again!--meet the Premium Tours bus outside of the Millennium Hotel at 7:25am.

TOURING LONDON, Day 1...

Royal Albert Hall

Buckingham Palace

Around the town...

Flowers in Kensington Gardens...

We are up and out before 9:00am and head to Kensington Gardens and the Diana Princess of Wales’s playground and fountain, but first a stop at the front desk to make tour reservations for Saturday. The flowers are gorgeous and the morning is lovely. I offer to take a picture for an English couple and we fall into conversation—JL with the woman and me with her husband. They are from an area between Oxford and Cambridge and came into the City for a Jackson Browne concert last night. He is a retired postman and she worked in a shop. They are originally Londoners, but never come into the City any more so they are tourists like us.

Just as we reach the Prince Albert Memorial, JL’s camera battery expires so we return to the hotel to retrieve my camera and pick up sweaters as the day is cooler than we anticipated. I was at the Diana Memorial Fountain on the 7th of July 2004, a day after it was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth, but JL has never seen it. It is a rather low-key fountain—a place for contemplation and remembrance rather than spectacular architecture. I like it, but many are disappointed and feel she deserved better. The playground opened in her honor in 2000 is wonderful and I hope to take LG and KF there soon. Adults are not allowed inside without children.

We walk to the Victoria and Albert for lunch in the William Morris rooms. I have a chicken/avocado spicy wrap and Judy chooses a chicken with BLT on a ciabatta. We plan to spend more time in the V&A on Sunday after services at Holy Trinity Brompton, as they are predicting rain. We take the Underground from South Kensington to Leicester Square to check out the half-price theater tickets and are pleased to get seats for Saturday night’s final performance of Madame de Sade starring Dame Judith Dench. She is in my favorite—As Time Goes By—and it will be a thrill to see her perform in person. We struggle with what to see tonight and decide to walk to Covent Gardens to think about what’s available. Eventually we choose the musical SHOUT! which embraces songs of the 60s.

It is close to 5:00pm when we get back to the hotel and I go on-line to get the address for Noor Jahan, and Indian restaurant that was recommended. Apparently the editor of Food & Wine declared it to be very fine. Even with directions we miss the turn and wander through some Mews—a real treat to see all the row houses and winding lanes. But, we have limited time to waste as the show begins at 7:30pm.

Just about the time we are ready to give up we literally stumble onto Bina Gardens and the entrance to Noor Jahan. Just a very short block earlier we asked for directions to Bina Gardens and three waiter/bus boy-types were confounded. We had asked directions earlier from two different Londoners and no one knew where Bina Gardens is!

We both choose the spicy version of chicken tikka masala, and I order vegetarian samosas with salad and Naan. Excellent! And, we get to the Gloucester Road Underground just before 7:00pm and to Leicester Road and around the corner to the Arts Theatre in time for the curtain.

The brochure for Shout! encourages us to, Shimmy and shake to the infectious, soulful songs that made Petula Clark, Cilla Black, Lulu, and Dusty Springfield legendary singers… and, we do! Very fun and very talented vocalists. This show is a great value at 25£ for the Stalls (ground floor seating).

On our walk form the Gloucester Road Tube Station to The Citadines we make two stops--Boots and Burger King. While JL looks for Carmex, I spot some Ibuprofen gel in a tube. Hm-m-m-m... Not available in the U.S.

It’s good to be back in our room with our Burger King Diet Cokes WITH ICE! An early wake-up call tomorrow as we have to be at the Millennium Hotel to meet our tour group by 7:25am.