“Do you hear the people sing?” I woke up this morning with absolutely no plans for the day and ended up taking a walk through Hampstead this morning before seeing Les Misérables this afternoon… it was a good day in London!
London 2016: Day 5
England
London 2016: Day 4
I spent the day in Cambridge today. I was looking forward to a fun day out of London, but I hate to admit I didn’t love Cambridge. What I did love was my afternoon tea in Grantchester (more about that later). I left my hotel around 8:30 AM and got to King’s Cross Station around 9:15. Plenty of time to buy my ticket and find the correct platform. I’m not a Harry Potter fan, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos at Platform 9 ¾. The train ride to Cambridge takes about 45 minutes on the fast train, and then it’s about a 20 minute walk into the city from the station. (You may be noticing a theme of a lot of walking in this trip!)
London 2016: Day 3
It was “freezing”, cloudy, and windy this morning, so I probably didn’t enjoy my walking tour of Greenwich as much as I otherwise would have. Greenwich is one of the parts of London I haven’t visited before, and was on my short list of must-dos this time. I decided to take another London Walks tour so I would be able to learn more about what I was seeing. The tour didn’t start until 10:30, so I had some time to walk around Westminster and the Tower Hill area before meeting up with the tour group.
London 2016: Day 2
Despite the 5 hour time change and jet lag, I woke up promptly at 5:15 AM (which happens about 360 days a year). Breakfast didn’t start until 7, so I had some time to ease into the day. After breakfast, I was out the door for a Sunday morning walk. I meandered my way through back streets in the general direction of St. James’s Park. Almost all of the flowers in the park were in full bloom. I walked through the park towards Buckingham Palace. Along the way, I found a group of large pelicans and a family of geese, perfect photographic subjects. As I was walking, I could hear a bass drum occasionally in the distance and decided to find out where it was coming from. I discovered a whole group of what appeared to be “guards in training” going through training exercises across the street from the park. Pretty impressive to watch!
London 2016: Day 1
If you know me at all, you know I am not a city person. I hate the crowds, the noise, the fast pace… pretty much everything about a city. So it may come as a surprise that I picked London as my vacation destination. Especially since I was just here last year for a couple of days and spent a week here three years ago. I know it’s a bit of a contradiction, but as much as I hate cities in general, I love London. I think it’s the combination of history (I’m not a history person either, so another contradiction…), music, and culture that continues to draw me back. The British scones certainly have a bit of pull as well!
England 2015 – A Few Anecdotes
I love to travel. I love seeing new places, meeting new people, doing new things, eating new foods… it’s one of my favorite things to do. I also love coming home. By the last day of vacation, I am usually ready to be home. This trip was no exception. As much as I love to travel, looking out the window of the plane and seeing Cape Ann on our approach into Boston Friday night, I was reminded again that this part of the world is home. There is a flowering magnolia tree in front of my apartment building, and I returned home to see it in full bloom.
England 2015 – Day 7: Homeward Bound
This morning, I was torn between wanting to lie in bed a while longer and wanting to go out to take some early morning pictures on my last day of vacation. Knowing I could catch up on sleep when I got home, I was out the door a little after 6 AM. If you’re not an early morning riser, become one! Even if it’s only once in a while. One of the things I love to do at home when it’s above freezing is get up early on a weekend morning and head to the beach for sunrise. There’s something entirely different about being out before most of the world wakes up. This morning I had the same feeling I get on those mornings at the beach. My first stop today was Ebrington. I wandered around the village for a few minutes taking pictures and then headed off to the field with the sheep near the church in Chipping Campden. I planned to just stop for a few pictures, but ended up leaving my car and going for another walk on one of the walking paths. This one crossed the sheep pasture and met up with the second part of the path I was on yesterday behind the church fields. There was dew on the grass and a low fog over some of the field, and it was just a perfect morning to be out enjoying it. I passed only two other walkers on my way.
England 2015 – Day 6: A Walk and A Garden Visit
I woke up this morning with absolutely no plans for the day. Sure, there were a few things I was considering, but I didn’t really have any idea where I would end up. I had wanted to spend a day exploring Wales (the Chepstow and Tintern areas), but decided I didn’t feel like driving 1.5 hours each way. The morning was grey and cloudy, so I took my time getting ready and headed over to breakfast around 9:00. The nice thing about staying in this old manor hotel is that breakfast is included every morning. Not just a few bagels and toast, but a full, cooked, English style breakfast. The bad thing about staying in this old manor hotel is that breakfast is included every morning. To be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the choices. There are delicious croissants, cereal, fruit, yogurt, etc. on the continental table, but I’m a pretty picky eater and the hot food choices that I will actually eat are pretty limited. As in eggs or eggs. I had eggs Benedict the first morning I was here, and will probably have it again tomorrow. I had just a cold breakfast on the second morning, scrambled eggs yesterday, and cold again today. On Tuesday when I said I didn’t want anything hot, I overheard the server saying to another waitress, “She doesn’t want a cooked breakfast!”, as though it were scandalous!
England 2015 – Day 5: Village Hopping
The highlight for today was clearly hitting a bird and then realizing that not only did I hit it, the dead bird somehow managed to lodge itself behind the grille on the front of the car. So now I’m driving around with bird feathers sticking out of the front of the car. Fortunately, it is in the lower front by the fog lights, so I don’t think it is doing any damage. Don’t ask me how it got there either. It must have gotten flung up through the wheel well when I hit it. I figure the worst that can happen is the rental car company will charge me to remove it. Goodness knows this isn’t nearly as bad as the time I had to exchange a rental car because I rear ended someone and the whole front end was destroyed. But that’s a whole different story…
England 2015 – Day 4: Castles and Villages
I’ll admit it. I was a bit nervous that I had built the Cotswolds up so much in my mind before this trip that the actual experience may not live up to my expectations. It has been exactly the opposite. Every time I turn a corner into another village, I think, “This is exactly what I pictured in my mind.” Now I understand why the British use words like “lovely” and “charming”. They are the only words that can begin to do justice to places like this.
Traveling with Laura 