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Published: November 20th 2009
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brussel sprouts
who knew they grew like this!? Our original plans were to spend two nights in Nottingham, one in Manchester (and catch a Manchester United soccer game) and one night in London. Our main goal was to NOT spend all of our time in London, but to venture out and see the country side. Apparently this was a good plan but the way we intended to go about it was not the best idea. We were talked out of Nottingham by everyone with whom we spoke. And so it took us a while to get our bearings with our new itinerary. A good thing about taking a boat across the ocean is that it gives you time to get adjusted the time change over a few days. By the time we arrived in England we were ready to go. It took us a while to get to our rental car agency but after that we were set. That’s where the adventure began. As you know, the cars drive on the left side of the street but not only! The steering wheels are on the right side of the car and you use your left hand to switch gears. There are very few stop lights. Instead there are roundabouts
and it was all we could do to remember to look right when entering instead of left. The speed limit was 50mph and there were many roundabouts. We went to Stonehenge and then onto Bath. Bath is about 60 miles northwest of Southampton. It took us about three hours driving time to navigate the road, not including our sojourn midway at Stonehenge.
Bath is a remarkable Roman city surrounded by green parks and filled with superb shops. We visited the local tourist information center and quickly found a bed and breakfast that suited us. We drove over, parked our car and headed out. Unfortunately, all of the shops closed at half past five and so we wandered around the city eventually finding a small Irish pub for a light dinner. When we walked out of the restaurant, we found ourselves in front of the local theatre. Just because, we went over to take a look at what was playing. It was Dial M for Murder played by local actors. We inquired inside about tickets and met a really nice guy inside who went through all of the prices for different seats and then, at the end of the whole conversation,
as we were leaving, he stopped us and mentioned something called perch seats. He explained that for five pounds (about $8) we could come in the morning and buy tickets for the next night’s show in certain seats, perhaps not together. With a tentative plan for the next evening we went back to our room for a good night sleep. I have to add an interlude here to explain a strange but true phenomenon of land sickness. I swear, the whole time on the ship I felt fine and even Francesco got his sea legs by the second day. Back on dry land I suffered constant vertigo. A few times I had to hold on to walls, chairs and even Francesco who was affected as well. I found myself placing bathroom items on the shelf in a way that wouldn’t fall with the rocking of the world. It was truly bizarre. It took three days before I could get up in the morning without rocking forward to hang onto something. Back to Bath…we walked all around on our own and then took a walking tour of the city with a guide. The guides are unpaid locals who love their city.
pumpkin patch
near our b and b in bath There are two tours a day on every day of the year except Christmas—that’s some dedication!! Our guide was slightly long winded as so we walked away from the walking tour and went to the theatre to buy our perch tickets. Then, with all good intentions, we went for a late lunch at a little Nepalese restaurant that I read about in a guide book called Yak Yeti Yak (who could resist with a name like that) only to find it closed. And so we went on to the oldest restaurant in the city and shared ratatouille which we had wanted to try from the time we saw the Disney film. It was a stew of sorts served over an absorbent piece of bread. For dessert, treacle tart—yes!!! Ron Weasley’s favorite for all of you Harry Potter fans. It was great! Later that evening we went to the theatre. It was wonderful!! Our seats (together) were basically balcony seats on the second level, practically over the stage. We had to lean forward to watch the show—the wall was padded and covered in red theatre velvet and the whole experience was delightful. I wanted to lean across the railing and ask
those who were actually in balcony seats how much they paid for their tickets (na na na na naaaa na). The next day we headed off towards Oxford, an almost equidistant and equally long trip as the previous. We arrived at Enysham Hall, our beautiful country side historic manor that I found on some last minute website, awed by our surroundings. Sheep filled pastures surrounded the ivy covered stone walls. The path that lead up to the main entrance was lined with cypress and the green grounds were speckled with fountains and reflecting pools. We wandered into the nearby town (I got my first driving experience) and walked around for hours. Our stay was nice but short-lived as we planned to get up early and head out to London. It was Sunday which worked to our advantage in the big city. There were no city fees, no parking fees and no traffic. We quickly found our hotel, which was right across from the city airport, dropped our bags and headed into the city. We bought an all day tram pass and traveled all around seeing “the sights” in just a few short hours. We actually ended up in a tiny
Italian pizzeria for dinner then took the tube back to our hotel. Our flight the next day was at one in the afternoon so we slept in, had a late and relaxed breakfast before walking over the airport for check-in. It ended up being a really nice stay in England. Because of our change of plans, it took more time to organize hotels and road maps along the way but we both got to see and do things we’d never done before which is the point of any trip, I suppose. Next stop, Zurich…
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amy
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Great pics!
Hi Chel and Franky! This is wonderful that you can share your adventure with words and pictures! I'm excited to hear more