Our Grand Tour of Europe

Saturday, June 19

It was supposed to rain today, but was really quite pleasant most of the day, though a bit cooler. We are relying for the morning paper for our weather report. Although we have hundreds of stations on our satellite television, we haven’t been able to find something resembling our Weather Channel. The rain held off till the end of the day—when we were about a block from our flat.

There was a photo in the paper today of Elizabeth Hurley at Ascot. She was wearing a sexy dress and an elaborate hat. The caption said that her hat was by Phillip Treacy… I noticed the Phillip Treacy hat shop on Elizabeth Street, not even two blocks from our flat… of course, in the Sloane Square direction. I guess we really do live in a “posh” area!

Today’s primary destination was the Portobello Road market at Notting Hill. We had been in 2002 and really enjoyed it—I wasn’t sure how we would do when our shopping was limited. In 2002 I hunted for—and finally bought—a silver toast rack. At the time I was enamored with the British habit of toast for breakfast (served in triangular half-slices in a toast rack) and was convinced that I’d fix this often. The toast rack looks great in my china cabinet… but I’ve never used it once to serve toast.

We managed to leave our flat about 8:40 am, a bit later (surprise!) than we had planned, but we still reached the market before the big crowds hit. The market meanders along Portobello Road for several blocks—first antiques, then food, then flea market stuff. There are also lots of permanent shops on either side of the road.

Early on, up in the antiques part, I watched an American woman buy something at a stall… I couldn’t quite see what she had purchased. But I did hear her tell the shopkeeper, “This is my first day in England and this is my first purchase. I’ve wanted to come here for 40 years, and I’m so excited to finally be here.” There’s something about England—especially London-- that truly does inspire that excitement for so many of us Americans.

We went all the way down the road, even a bit into the flea market part, looking at everything. I was somewhat interested in finding a silver cake server, which I do believe I would use—probably once every year or two—but this wasn’t a real mission for me. I also thought I might buy a pashima (cashmere) shawl, perhaps in a bright color that would offset and dress-up some of my black clothes. I went back to one stall twice but ended up walking away, perhaps realizing that the pashima shawl of 2004 would end up like the toast rack of 2002. We also thought we might find Charley a great deal on a jacket, but there weren’t really any great deals and most of the jackets were for sports enthusiasts. (The Euro 2004 tournament—rugby/football—is an ENORMOUS area of focus here right now.)

We did buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables for the week, and so that was the most fun for us. We bought raspberries, strawberries, a melon, lychee nuts (something new for Kelly that she liked), new potatoes, asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, and a ripe tomato. We also got a big baguette that Charley broke in two to transport home. I had taken our big durable Harrods bag, which I pretty much take on all our trips. It folds up and is a great carrier for a market like this and also can turn into an additional piece of luggage to carry trip purchases home.

When we headed back up to the tube station at the top of the road, it was horribly crowded. We had to push our way up through the swarms of people who had just arrived and were headed down. I was so glad we had arrived early! We held tightly to Kelly, and I also put my purse over my head to hold it tightly to my chest. In various places around London we’ve seen signs warning of pickpockets, so we do try to be extra careful.

Kelly spotted a Subway on Portobello Road and begged for a meatball sandwich—a small reminder of home. Charley and I shared a good baguette. I’m not sure exactly what meal this was, as we went back to the flat for lunch—bread, cheese, and fruit. It’s a good thing we are walking so much, since we really are eating a lot in London.

After lunch we went on a different kind of shopping expedition—Charley was looking for his jacket, I needed closed-toe shoes, and Kelly was lobbying for another pair of long pants. We took the tube to Marble Arch and walked over into Hyde Park. (I wanted to see the Speakers Corner.) It was very crowded… we asked a nice man who told us there was a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in the park. We didn’t stay long and decided to try to find the National Car Rental place near Marble Arch where Charley would need to go next Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the name of the street. We ended up in an extremely Middle Eastern area of London…. just a few blocks from Marble Arch. All the shops had signs in both English and some Middle Eastern language, and the newsstands were filled with Middle Eastern papers. Many of the women were dressed in traditional clothes, including some fully draped in black. We didn’t stay long…. Kelly wasn’t at all comfortable and I don’t think I was either.

We headed down Oxford Street to do our shopping. I had looked in the phone book and knew there was a Clarks shoe store on Oxford. My favorite shoes at home are Clarks and thought I’d find what I needed there. It was crowded and the service was awkward, so we moved on. We went to Marks and Spencer (a major discount-type department store that also has a big grocery store) and split up to shop. Kelly and I enjoyed looking around, but didn’t find anything we wanted. We tried on a couple of hats—inspired by a few people we had seen on their way to Ascot or perhaps a wedding. We also wandered around the grocery store on the lower level and bought Charley some raspberry jam for Fathers Day. Meanwhile, Charley had actually left the store to go to a going-out-of-business sale at a store we had seen on the way down the street. Horray-- he did find a jacket there!

We walked down Bond Street where all the designer shops are—Chanel, Versace… also art galleries and expensive car dealerships. There is definitely a lot of money in London! (The price of homes is incredible!) Looking at all these shops made me want to be thin and rich! Down at the end of Bond Street we saw an interesting statue of Churchill and FDR sitting on a bench. There was just room for Kelly to sit down between them and have a conversation. We took the tube over to Harrods and split up to browse there for a while too. The shoes were way out of my price range, as were the pants in the teenage girl section! We did enjoy looking though. We met up with Charley in the Food Halls and looked just a bit. On previous trips, we would have loaded up on gifts and various food items to take home for ourselves—not this time! They are now selling Krispy Kreme donuts in the Food Halls at Harrods—the line was incredibly long. In America we had read that Krispy Kreme sales were way off because of the focus on low carb diets—it doesn’t seem to have affected London sales yet though.

We stopped at a small Sainsburys across the street from Harrods to buy a few provisions, then took the tube to Sloane Street and walked home. We’ve done lots of walking this past week, and Kelly is complaining. I’m not complaining, but have to say that my feet and legs are sore! We’re considering this “training” for our big walk in August.

We had a quiet night at home after dinner. We watched a DVD that we found in the DVD player—What a Girl Wants—set in London and with Colin Firth.

Sunday, June 20

We told Charley he could plan the day, since it was Fathers Day, but he decided to let me handle it after all. I think he had recollections of how tangled up (lost) we got on the day he planned in Prague this past New Years… the day we never got to Petrin Hill. He did ask that we have a leisurely morning at the flat, and we actually had an early lunch at home before going out. Kelly and Charley walked down to the station to get bread.

Rain was expected, but it was sunny when we set out, although a bit cool. I wore black socks today with my black Clark sandals—not a fashion statement, but then so many people here aren’t and I keep reminding myself that I don’t know anyone. I’m afraid we didn’t do a very good job of packing for “summer” in England… we brought clothes for the upper 70’s and low 80’s, and we’re not well prepared for weather in the 60’s.

We decided to take a different route to Sloane Square tube station today. We went down Ebury (we’re at the corner of Elizabeth and Ebury) to Pimlico, then to Lower Sloane Street. At 182 Ebury—about two blocks from our flat—is a house where the young Mozart lived for a few weeks and where he composed his first symphony. The house is marked with one of the circular markers (normally blue). Then a few doors away is another house with a marker, this one where Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson (Sissinghurst!!) once lived. Down from the two houses is Orange Square, a very pretty square with a statue of Mozart as a young boy. Nice surprise!

We bought a family travelcard at the Sloane Street that gave us unlimited tube travel for the day. We wanted to walk in Hyde Park, so we traveled to Hyde Park Corner. There was an enormous crowd of Hare Krishna people at the edge of the park with three colorful floats—some of the people were Indian and some were Anglo. Most were wearing Indian-type clothes, and many were carrying colorful flags. They were beating drums and chanting around the floats. The policeman we talked to said this was an annual event. As we watched, the procession started on its way to Trafalgar Square.

It was a busy day at Hyde Park—we also saw lots of young people with coolers and blankets, on their way to another concert by the Chili Peppers.

We meandered through the park, through the rose garden again and then along the Serpentine Lake. In-line skating was a big activity today on the wide paved path, and there was a large group taking a class. We walked from Hyde Park into Kensington Gardens and up to the famous Peter Pan statue. In the lake across from Peter Pan we watched two swans with their baby cygnets, then walked up to the Italian fountains and gardens. We were headed to the middle of the park and eventually the Albert Memorial when it began to rain. Many people enjoying the Sunday afternoon in the park didn’t have umbrellas, but fortunately we did. We wondered what happened to the Hare Krishna parade. We hurried through the park in the rain to find the nearest tube station, at Lancaster Gate. Charley at first was ready to go home for the day (!), but it was only 2:30 or so, so we decided to go to the internet café near Trafalgar Square. We were there an hour or so… lot of people and information to check up on! It had stopped raining, and in the distance I saw the Hare Krishna floats on Trafalgar Square.

I fixed pasta for dinner and then we had a relaxing evening reading and writing at the flat. I enjoy cooking a lot, but rarely do much cooking anymore. In our “old” life, I never got home till about 7:00 pm, so Charley ended up fixing our dinner during the week. We normally ate out on Fridays—and sometimes on Saturday and/or Sunday too! I really like to cook, but shopping and preparing a dinner on Saturday or Sunday for my family could easily consume three hours of a too-short weekend. I’m looking forward to having the main responsibility for dinner on our trip. We’ll see how I feel about this after a couple of months!

Monday, June 21

We spent today over in Greenwich, which seems almost a part of London. We decided to be financially thrifty and take the train instead of the boat up the Thames. (If it had been another gorgeous day like last week, we might have opted for the boat.) We left from Victoria Station and were able to get another family travelcard for our trip, since it was within the underground system. We took the tube to Tower Hill—Kelly had to use a bathroom, so we had to go right down to the Tower of London again to use the public toilets there. People in London seem to accept that you just walk by something so old and historic on your way to work every day! This is one of the things I really love about London—hundreds of years of history are just absorbed side by side with modern life. We just got started much later in the USA. In Knoxville, Tennessee, something even 100 years is considered old and historic.

We walked from the Tower Hill tube station to the Tower Gateway train station, where we took a little train—the Docklands Light Railway—out through the Docklands and Canary Wharf, a big new development. We got off the train at Island Gardens, across the Thames from Greenwich. We didn’t quite understand at that point what we were looking at across the river in Greenwich. While we were looking across, though, a pigeon pooped on Kelly! She got very upset. “Why did this pigeon pick me??” she wailed. We decided to get off at Island Homes so we could take the underground foot tunnel under the Thames. That was an interesting experience! Charley has his problems with heights, and I have to admit I tend to get somewhat claustrophobic. This was not bad.

We had a mediocre lunch at a diner-type place in Greenwich. Not worth the money for the food and the environment. There were many much-better looking places, but we would also have paid a lot more. I kept my eyes open for a shoe shop, but didn’t find one. We stopped in at the Greenwich tourist center (lots of good free information on all parts of England) and then walked over to the Maritime Museum. The museum was really very interesting, and we could have stayed much longer. There were exhibits on explorers, passenger liners, art relating to the sea, British trade on the sea, etc. From the museum our timing was right to catch a little tram up the steep hill to the Royal Observatory, an old building perched at the very top of the hill and a key place for a number of very important historical scientific discoveries and activities. There was a great view of the east side of London and the Docklands from the top—it was worth going up just for the view! Kelly stood with one foot in each hemisphere at the prime meridian line, and I took her picture. We all set our watches to Greenwich Mean Time, the official clock of the world. Kelly was very interested in a “camera obscura,” which is something she had learned about at photography camp. We all found different aspects of the observatory very interesting.

We walked down the hill and took the train from Greenwich back to Tower Gateway, then the tube to Victoria. At Victoria station we spotted an ASK pizza restaurant across the street. We had eaten at ASK in 2002 in both Cheltenham and Moreton-on-Marsh. ASK is kind of a fancy chain (white tablecloths and interesting buildings) that specializes in pizza. This was only our second dinner out so far on the trip because we’re watching expenses more carefully, so we split two pizzas and had drinks. It was still about $50.

Back at the flat, I worked on the PC a while and copied all my photos over onto a CD. I am going to improve my computer skills on this trip for sure! Charley was really tired and crashed about 9:30 pm. Kelly and I were up till after 11… she was working on her journal, something she is having a hard time doing. I don’t want to let her drop the discipline of recording her impressions and memories of her special trip, so I hated to stop her when she finally got involved.

Tuesday, June 22

This is the week of day trips, and we did another one today, this time to Hever Castle in Kent. I had bought a Frommers book of 25 day trips from London, and Kelly picked this trip out because of her interest in the six wives of Henry VIII. Hever is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn—she was born there about 1501. Later—two wives after Henry had Anne beheaded at Tower Hill—Henry gave Hever Castle to Anne of Cleves (wife number four) when he divorced her because he found her physically unattractive. In the early 1900s a wealthy American, William Waldorf Astor, bought Hever. He decided to move from America to Britain because he thought it was a better place for a gentleman.

We took a train from Victoria at 10:23 am (good time on the Wood family schedule) and had to change at Oxted. I bought a Newsweek magazine at WH Smith and enjoyed catching up on some news. Bill Clinton’s autobiography was the main story, and I was interested to read some excerpts from the book and an interview with him. If I was at home, I would probably buy the book—which would infuriate Charley, I’m sure. I decided not to discuss the Clinton book or article with him. (We have learned not to discuss politics.) Also in Newsweek (international edition) was a one-page article with a great photo of the new building we had admired near the Tower. We called it “the bullet” but according to this article people in London call it “the gherkin” because it resembles the shape of a pickle!

Our total trip was about an hour. We were the only people who got off at Hever Station. The station was a sweet old building out in the countryside—a quiet old outpost, I suspect with only a few trains a day. We did not see another person to even ask directions. Fortunately there was a map on a bulletin board (also a schedule of return trains for the afternoon) and we were able to set out in the general direction. There was supposed to be a footpath, but we couldn’t quite locate it and ended up walking along the road. We decided it would be possible to commute to London from Hever—not too different than the commute some people make to New York. As we walked down the country lane, it was hard to believe that just one hour ago we had been in busy Victoria Station!

We narrowly missed being hit by cars and buses on the road leading to Hever Castle—with big hedges on both sides of the road, there isn’t much of a place to step aside. The village of Hever is about a mile from the station and is very tiny… a pub, an old church (13th century), and a school. The castle didn’t open till noon (the gardens at 11:00 am), so our timing was just about right. Hever Castle was a good place to spend a day, and although the day alternated between sun and clouds, it never did rain.

We saved the castle till the end and enjoyed the gardens first. There were two kinds of people at Hever Castle today—groups of schoolchildren on class trips and English senior citizens (some also on group trips). Then there was us—an American family. In Greenwich yesterday Charley observed a group of young men playing soccer at 4 pm and wondered why they weren’t working. He decided they were unemployed (with a tone in his voice that perhaps they were “irresponsible”). I decided they were college students with an irregular schedule, maybe working their way through school with night jobs. Then I realized that WE were there mid-week at 4 pm because WE are unemployed!

The gardens at Hever Castle were beautiful—William Waldorf Astor was the one who developed the gardens and he spent a small fortune on the gardens, the castle and also a kind of a pretend Tudor Village. The Tudor Village looks like a little village of houses, but they are apparently all connected inside and provided him with much larger rooms than what was possible in the castle for his lavish entertaining.

Astor had been at one point the American minister to Italy, and while there he had collected many old Italian statues and garden objects. He wanted to include all these in the Hever gardens. The garden has formal and informal areas, and runs down to a big lake with an Italian-style structure and fountain. The flowers were in full bloom and were just beautiful, especially the roses. We had lunch outside at the cafeteria-style restaurant.

Kelly was thrilled because there were three mazes. She really likes mazes a lot. There was a hedge maze from the Astor era and then a more-recently developed water maze and a wooden Henry VIII maze. She enjoyed all three. Some little schoolboys got totally soaked in the water maze, a big part of the fun for them. Fortunately Kelly was well behaved in the water maze! No repeat of the Trafalgar Square fountain! Kelly (and Charley) also enjoyed feeding the ducks. There was a group of little ducklings that were nibbling Kelly’s toes.

The castle itself seems almost miniature—I decided it was really more of a residential castle than some type of big defensive complex like the Tower of London. The interior was very elaborate—decorated in the early 1900’s by Astor—just beautiful wooden paneling. We went on a self-guided tour through the castle. One room had been set up with information on Anne Boleyn and the other wives of Henry. Kelly enjoyed that a lot and read all the information very carefully. There was a long hall where they had set up a few tableaux with lifesize figures of Anne, Henry etc. These scenes told a bit of the story of poor Anne. Another room was full of information about the Astor family and their life at the castle, though they no longer own the castle. (There’s actually a conference center with meeting rooms and hotel-type rooms in the Tudor Village area, though this was not part of the tour.)

After leaving the castle, we took a few minutes to peek into the old church. Anne Boleyn’s father—Sir Thomas Bullen is entombed there with a very elaborate tomb. (Somehow her name was changed from Bullen to Boleyn when she was off as part of the royal court in France.) We found the footpath back to the station and did not have to walk much on the road. We got to the station just in time for the train—thanks to Kelly’s urging. I was wearing my sandals, which weren’t ideal for walking on the footpath. The Hever Station was busy this time—two other people got on the train with us! We had to change twice going back, but it was a quick trip.

For dinner I had bought a prepared Indian dish at Sainsbury that Charley and I shared. Since we are in London, it seems appropriate that we eat Indian food! We also had asparagus from the Portobello Road market, boiled potatoes and bread. Odd combination of things! Kelly had leftover pasta. I can feel myself not wanting to grocery shop again since we are leaving soon—yet it’s only Tuesday and on our weeklong stays, our week will still be just beginning. We have promised ourselves not to try to count the days—just to enjoy each moment. Easy to say… somewhat harder to actually do.

Wednesday, June 23

We poked around in the morning and didn’t get going until close to 11:00 am. (This continues to frustrate me, especially since I’m up and ready to go. We have got to find the right middle ground on this!) It was overcast, quite cool and raining. I decided that even the socks with my sandals would not work today and that finding some closed toe shoes was my first priority. I keep looking at the weather forecast for northern England and Scotland—much colder than here in London!

I looked in the phone book and found another Clarks on Victoria Street. Charley called and it was just a bit past the station—maybe 15 minutes from our flat. This store wasn’t crowded and there was a good saleswoman to help me. I found a pair of shoes that I really liked (black of course), though I tried not to think that they are very very similar to a pair of black Clarks that I left at home and also similar to another pair of black shoes that are in the suitcase that will be coming to Provence in October. Poor planning on my part. I paid ₤49 for my new shoes, close to $100!

Next door to the shoe store was Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey), a much newer church (early 1900s) and the main church of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. This is another beautiful building. A group of schoolchildren was practicing for a special Good Shepherd mass later in the day.

Charley offered to take my old shoes back to the flat (I wore my new shoes out of the store), so Kelly and I went on to the internet café. I had quite a few messages to respond to. Kelly is corresponding with several friends and enjoys staying in touch. I got a message from Kevin Withrow in Provence. He is a B&B owner near where we will live—I met him through Slow Travel. He wrote that he and his wife and gone over on our behalf to meet the head of the school in Bonnieux and that there will be no problem for Kelly to attend in the fall! Yay!!! I just need to write a letter to the school—I will need to make it very simple if I am to write it in French.

Charley met us at the internet café (he had walked all the way from the flat to Trafalgar Square), and we went looking for a place to buy a neat looking sandwich. We didn’t find one in the area by Leicester Square, so we instead spent about 40 minutes at a corner café watching the world go by. Charley and I shared a pizza and each had a beer. Kelly had weaseled her way into a sandwich at Subway (adjacent to the easyinternetcafe), so she only had bottled water. ₤14.30… about $28. We can’t afford to stay much longer—it’s very expensive here.

By the time we got down to the Victoria and Albert Museum it was 3:30 pm. We could have used all day at this interesting museum!! It is supposed to be related to the “decorative arts”… I can hardly explain exactly what it is all about—so many different things and it’s very big. We found a couple of interactive learning rooms that captured Kelly’s interest and that we all enjoyed. Kelly and I each designed a coat of arms and made bookplates. We felt badly when we had to leave at 5:15.

We took the tube back to the flat and had just an hour for dinner (sandwiches and Burger King… this has been a fast food day for Kelly) and clean up. Tonight was the Lion King. I paid about $200 for our tickets—ordered them before leaving the USA—this was our special treat in London… maybe the most special treat of the trip. We almost had a disaster—we got to Victoria Station and there was some type of problem with the train—the trains (tube trains) weren’t running for some reason and they weren’t allowing people down onto the platforms. We only had one hour until the show started and were supposed to be there 30 minutes early to pick up our tickets at the box office. We waited for a while in the cab line, but the line was long and few new cabs were coming. So we started to walk, either to the next tube station (would have been St. James up near Buckingham Palace) or to hail a cab out on the street. We would not have been able to walk all the way to the theatre in Covent Gardens, certainly not in the time we had available. We finally found an empty cab—going the other way on a busy street. He pulled around the corner to wait for us, but we literally ran across two lanes of moving traffic to get to him.

The show was great—so much better than when we saw it in Atlanta. Our seats weren’t the best, but were very good. We could see the facial expressions of the actors, which is a sign of a good seat to me. Kelly and I really enjoyed it…. I noticed Charley dozing off, so I’m not sure what he thought. The costumes, sets, and music were all wonderful.

We successfully took the tube back—to Sloane Street this time. It was a late night—we got back to the flat about 10:30 pm.

Thursday, June 24

We had a really special day today in Cambridge, though I have to say that it started horribly. Kelly woke up very grumpy and wasn’t a happy person, which got her in big trouble. I intervened, which created an issue between Charley and me. Then we had a big scene at Victoria Station—this is all somewhat unusual for us, but then we’ve been together almost solidly for going on two weeks. We almost decided not even to go to Cambridge. Fortunately, we straightened it all out at the station, and we went on to have a wonderful day. We all need to work on being more considerate, kind and flexible—that’s essential on this type of trip. We aren’t used to being together this much—and sharing a fairly small space—and we have a lot more time to spend together.

We took the subway from Victoria to Kings Cross and left from Platform 10 to Cambridge—a direct “fast” train. They had set up a little place on the way to Platform 10 (just a sign on a wall with a closed archway) marked Platform 9-3/4, honoring Harry Potter, since he took his train to Hogwarts from that platform at Kings Cross. I remember reading that people have wandered around Kings Cross station asking about Platform 9-3/4, so it seems they have done something about it!

We had an enjoyable train ride—about 45 minutes. Once again, we transitioned rather quickly from the hustle-bustle of London to the English countryside.

Cambridge has a population of about 110,000, excluding the 15,000 students who attend 31 different colleges that somehow make up Cambridge University. The colleges range in size from 400 to about 1000. We were interested for Kelly to see Cambridge… perhaps she’ll be interested in going to school there.

It turned out that we were actually there on a graduation day for several colleges, which added an interesting dimension to our visit. All of the colleges graduate at the same place at different times over a couple of days. The graduating students march down the street from their college, wearing black robes with ermine capes. The “dons” (professors) wear red capes. We were in the right place in the afternoon to see one group leave their college and make their march down the main street.

The Cambridge station is maybe a mile and a half from the central part of Cambridge and the university area. Charley read that it was designed that way so the students wouldn’t find it too tempting to head off to London. Students are not normally allowed to have a car, so there are lots and lots of bicycles and people of all ages traveling by bike.

We first went to the central market, then down the Kings Parade. It’s a very intriguing city, with lots of great architecture. We had lunch at Auntie’s Tea Shop. We were able to go through Queens College—so pretty—through the courtyards and then back out to the River Cam. The students live and study within these colleges, which are set up as small closed compounds. Some of the colleges were not open today to the public and there was an admission charge for the two we were able to walk through. The wooden Mathematical Bridge is accessed through Queens College. We crossed over the bridge to the other side of the Cam. We saw people “punting” on the Cam, but to Kelly’s (and my) disappointment, we didn’t get to punt today because it was too cool.

We enjoyed an hour or so at the Fitzwilliam Museum. They had a special activity box for children, which made it fun for Kelly. I went through part of the museum with her to begin with, then I switched off with Charley and explored on my own. I was disappointed that most of the French impressionist paintings had been pulled out for a special exhibition starting next month. But I enjoyed the other paintings, statuary, old objects from Egypt and Greece, and the porcelain.

We then toured Kings College Chapel—absolutely beautiful—and part of the Kings College campus. I can’t remember now when the college was founded… or which King was the founder (was it Henry VI??) —anyway, it was hundreds of years ago. We decided to stay later than we had originally planned, since there was an evensong service at 5:30 pm and we would be able to hear the famous Kings College Chapel Choir.

We went back to Auntie’s Tea Shop—this time for afternoon tea. Charley and I shared a cream tea (one scone each with jam and clotted cream)—I had tea. We also did some exploring and a little bookshopping in Cambridge.

At 5:00 pm we lined up for the evening service at King’s Chapel. We had great seats in the inner chapel, right next to one side of the choir. I liked being back in a Church of England service—it reminded me of my four years at a Church of England school in Australia. The choir is a mix of young boys (soprano) and college boys, some of whom must have been graduating as they were wearing an ermine stole. They sit facing each other across the center aisle—the young boys in the first rows and the older boys behind. The choir director was one of the older boys. It was an hour of quiet reflection and beautiful music… truly one of the highlights thus far for me.

We walked back to the station and got another direct train at 7:15 pm. At Kings Cross station we took Kelly’s photo trying to get through the brick wall at Platform 9-3/4. Guess she won’t be going to Hogwarts this year! Back at Victoria Station we got Kelly Subway for dinner. Charley and I got fish and chips from the shop down the street. It’s a good thing that we’re walking so much, or we’d be gaining a lot of weight! The Adkins diet that was part of my routine for the past nine months seems a long time ago.

Friday, June 25

Today is our last full day in London—the two weeks has gone by so quickly. We started off our day at an easyinternetcafe near Victoria Station—first time we’ve been to this one, though it’s much closer to our flat. I had been trying to set up to meet a woman from the Slow Travel website who lives in London—“code name” Beebee—and I did have a message that she was able to meet us. While Charley went to call her to finalize arrangements, I finished up on e-mail. We made plans to meet Beebee at 1:00 pm over in Holland Park.

We all wanted to go back to the V&A Museum. Kelly had especially liked the interactive exhibits. I split off by myself—I wanted to see the fashion exhibits, which were not of interest to Charley or Kelly. Unfortunately, the fashion exhibit was mostly closed, so I ended up spending an hour by myself in the museum. I looked at big Raphael “cartoons,” ironwork, the big Hertford screen from the Hertford Cathedral (very interesting), ceramics, lots of porcelain, and musical instruments. If we are ever in London longer, it would be fun to take a class at the V&A or attend some of their lectures.

We took the tube to Holland Park, a very pretty area past Notting Hill. When we went down the station at Kensington South (near the V&A), the green line train was just getting ready to leave—we ran to get on. Once we were on the train, I realized that it wasn’t going where we wanted to go. We had to get off at the next station and reroute ourselves.

After all our rushing, Beebee was delayed meeting us. It was pretty funny as we stood outside the Starbucks at the station wondering if each woman by herself might be Beebee. No one wanted to make eye contact with us! Finally a nice looking woman with short reddish hair looked right at us, and it was her. Her named turned out to be Barbara and we spent almost two very enjoyable hours together. We enjoyed the chance to talk with someone else and learn about someone’s life who lives in London. She and her husband own a cottage in Italy, so it was also fun to hear about that. She took us to a neighborhood pub called the Prince of Wales, and we sat outside at a picnic table. Charley and I had beer and bangers and mash—good! Kelly was extremely talkative—babbled on about all aspects of the trip. I don’t know what Barbara thought, but it was probably good for Kelly to have someone else to talk to.

After we said goodbye to Barbara, we went back to Regents Park, which I’ve decided is one of my favorite spots in London. I especially love Queen Mary’s Rose Garden!!! It was really a pretty day. We found a spot where Kelly could read on the grass, Charley could be on a bench in the shade, and I could be on a bench on the sun. Too bad I didn’t bring a book with me like Kelly did! (She is reading extensively so far on the trip…)

From Regents Park we walked down Marylebone High Street (another very pretty area) to Daunts Books, which is kind of a travel bookshop. Someone on Slow Travel had suggested this to me. Daunts also carries fiction/non-fiction that people who travel would like to read. We could have spent a few hours here. I couldn’t help myself—I bought myself three books! One of the books is about a landscape architect who sold his business in London and moved with his wife to live in Provence… between Bonnieux and Lacoste. Wonder if we will meet them…

We took our last tube ride from Baker Street back to Victoria—at rush hour and VERY crowded… problems on the tube line today. There have been a couple of times that we have literally packed ourselves onto a train—at least you don’t have to worry about falling over. I’m not sure I could do this every day. We decided to eat out one last time… pizza. Next to ASK at Victoria Station was a Pizza Express and next to that, a Bella Italia. We decided to eat at Pizza Express. Almost $50 for two plate-sized pizzas, a salad, garlic bread, mineral water, lemonade and a coke!

We walked back to the flat about 8:00 pm for our last quiet evening in London—though it is never exactly a quiet evening on Elizabeth Street! We have decided not to pack today… we need to be able to do this quickly each week on a Saturday morning. Tomorrow we are headed from the big city out to the southwest tip of England— our first visit to Cornwall.