At Home Recovering...And Just In The Nick Of Time

We arrived back in the states yesterday afternoon, and, after spending two hours waiting for bags, getting through customs, and taking the long ride across town to the house, I realized a truism...be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Before we left, we cleaned house.   Washed the sheets, made the bed, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed, scrubbed the kitchen...it was like coming home to a hotel.  So nice.

I'd forgotten how much I love my flannel sheets and giant pillows.  I'd almost forgotten what the inside of our beer fridge looks like.  I'd missed my big comfy chair (especially after sitting in an airplane seat for 10 hours).   I'd missed our big, warm bathroom.  Yeah...be it ever so humble.

So we're here for about 10 days and then off on another adventure: the south pacific.  And, yes, I'll be blogging; you can follow us here:  http://thesnoozemotusandkangarooscruise.blogspot.com/

After a non-stop tour of London, York, and Edinburgh, we'll be cruising, relaxing, sunning on motus, and of course, drinking!  Cheers!  I guess I need to find out what the Tahitian word for Cheers is.

Sniff

Today was our last day here.  Sniff.  What a great trip!

We saw the crown jewels and a diamond the size of an egg.  We saw great works of art: Dali, Picasso, Monet, Michelangelo and Kandinsky.  We saw the Rosetta Stone and the guardians of Assyria.  We saw castles and palaces.  We saw fireworks shot from the London Eye while anchored on the Thames.  We saw the Churchill War Rooms and Trafalgar Square.  We saw the train stations of west London and the tomb of Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton.  We heard (mostly) the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and the bong, bong, bong of Big Ben.  We ate fish and chips and drank beer and whisky till we reeked.  We got hooked on a local game show called The Chase (you can probably watch it on netflix).  We rode first class on trains and crowded into packed Tube cars.  We bought souvenirs for friends and family and big warm Scottish sweaters for ourselves.  We met wonderful people from London, York, Edinburgh & Finland.  We soaked up history like sponges and spat out Americanisms to the delight of our new UK friends.

I will miss the British Isles.  I will not miss tiny cold Ladies' rooms!  But that's really about the only thing I won't miss.  Folks here are friendly and ready to share their cities and history with anyone who asks.  They easily launch into why their whisky is better than any we'll find stateside.  They are brilliant and funny, and helpful, and I feel like we will totally keep in touch with those we've met and know our paths will cross again.

There is one really weird thing...all this time I only heard one guy playing bagpipes.  My God, you'd think the bastards would be on every fucking corner, but, no.  They are no where in sight or earshot.  I mean, I hear the music in stores, but that's not the same.  Dammit!  I wanted to hear the pipes - mostly so I could bitch about them.  So very sad.

But it's time to come home...and, on some level, I'm okay with that.  Cheers from the UK.

Brutal Cold & Wind

Bloody hell it's cold!  Actually, the temperature's not bad, but the wind and stray showers, make it bone-chilling.  Damp.  I'm freezing my bollocks off.  The wind today (and some yesterday) sustained between 40-50 miles an hour...it was hard to stand up straight in a gust.  No wonder they don't have many trees here!

We slept in a bit and then headed to Holyrood Castle - the Queen's residence in the summer, and one-time residence of Mary Queen of Scots.  It's a beautiful old place filled with tapestries and lovely furnishings.  I loved the throne room, and the room where folks are knighted.  The castle sits in the shadow of Edinburgh's highest point - Arthur's Seat - part of a dormant volcano.  It was too soggy to go tromping around in the park or hike up to the point...and I was freezing my bollocks off.  Here's the castle:



That bit to the left side is the ruins of an ancient abbey:

And here's the fountain in the forecourt:

It's a beautiful castle.  Queen Victoria was the one who really loved it and decorated most of it with the finishings we saw today.  Gorgeous!

After our tour we found a pub and grabbed some lunch and a couple of pints.  We also checked in at the Royal Mile Whisky store.  I think they're going to be able to help us get some whiskey out of the country!  They also had a really nice beer selection, so we picked up a couple to take back to the room.

We had a picnic this evening - some fried chicken from a nearby restaurant and our beers - we needed a quick early bite so Joe could make his whisky tasting this evening.  I'm spending the evening organizing my suitcase (almost time to start packing), and getting our tourist tax refund slips filled out and ready to go.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a wicked cold and rainy day.  We have a bit more shopping to do, need to make a stop at the post office to mail some items back to ourselves (probably cheaper than buying an additional suitcase), and then go back to the Bow Bar to spend a chilly afternoon in front of their fireplace!

Scottish Class

A short post this evening...we had a rather long shopping day and a lovely meal.  Purchases include scarves, sweaters, clan items - typical Scot wares (sadly, no kilt for Joe, even though I'm sure he has the legs for it).  We also went to the Scottish National Museum today.  What a fabulous collection.  And very well displayed.

Tons of stuff on the kingdoms of Scotland, their history, wars, industry and the empire it is today, but the lower level is dedicated to early peoples...vikings, Romans, Normans, etc.  That level is full of sandstone artifacts, like this one, which I believe was the inspiration for "Get in my belly!"

Anyway, no new words for the day, but certainly some specific pronunciations:

Future: few-CHAH
Nature: nay-CHAH
Civilization: civil-lie-ZAY-shun
Frequent: freh-QUENT
Controversy: con-TRE-vassy
Actually: ACK-shah-ly

Tomorrow is a seat-of-our-pants day...no real agenda, maybe Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Palace, another pub or two.  Tomorrow night, Joe's signed up for a whisky tasting.  (In Scotland, they don't call it scotch - like when you're in China, it's not Chinese food, it's just food.)

Beautiful Edinburgh

Once again we lucked out on the weather.  We awoke to wind and rain, but as we got up and got moving, the storm passed.  By the time we left the hotel the sun was peaking out, the winds were dying down and the rain was moving on.  Oh, it was still cold.  But at least it wasn't cold and rainy!

Today's mission was Edinburgh Castle

Built in the 12th century, it has been a fortress for kings; a prison for enemies of the state, including American prisoners during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812; a home to the Scottish crown jewels, and the impressive - though oddly so - Stone of Destiny or Stone of Scone.

This is the view from the summit of the castle to the Firth of Forth.  You can see why it made for such a good defense position.

William Wallace and

Robert the Bruce flank the main gates.

Another spectacular view from the summit.

There were some BIG guns!

One in particular fires every day at 1 o'clock.

They used to fire every hour on the hour, but it's cheaper to only fire it once.  It's like Big Ben for Edinburgh.

Windy today but clear and beautiful.

We saw the crown jewels - not as impressive as the ones in London, but a great story behind them, including them being stolen, buried, hidden and broken.  And then, there's the Stone of Scone (pronounced skoon).

It's an oblong block of red sandstone that was used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and later the monarchs of England and the Kingdom of Great Britain. It's about two feet by 16 inches by 10 inches and weighs about 336 pounds. It was last used in 1953 for the coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...if you watch her coronation, you can see it under her chair.

It used to be kept out in the open down in London, but in 1950 four college students stole it and delivered it to an abbey in Edinburgh, wrapped in a Scottish flag.  Ultimately it was returned to London, but after Queen Elizabeth's coronation, she returned it to Edinburgh.  When Charles is crowned, the stone will be sent to London for the ceremony.  I've read a couple of stories about the origins of the stone, but it seems no one can agree...it's just tradition...and God knows this country is full of them.

Brett/Tom, this is for you.  On the mall in front of the castle this monument stood out.  It says "Officers and Men of the Gordon Highlands Who Lost Their Lives in the South African War 1899-1902"  Lain to rest by their comrades.  Don't know if these are your people or not...cool monument, though.

Back outside the castle and on our way to a pub, we came across this statue.  It's David Hume...who could out consume Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel...

But our friend's the Sammys correctly stated that he couldn't out consume us...at least not on this trip.  Side note:  We've had at least four beers a day since we got to the UK.  It's like we're on a mission from God.

We had a fine lunch at the Royal McGregor and then did some shopping.  A stray shower passed through, so we ducked into the World's End for a pint.  Just outside of this pub, the cobblestones give way to asphalt.

At the Battle of Flodden, most of the Scottish nobility were killed by the English leaving Scotland defenseless, so the citizens rapidly built a stone wall around the city to protect it: The Flodden Wall.  Parts of the wall can still be seen and its course ran underneath where the World's End pub is.  In fact, part of the wall is one side of the pub's foundation.  The wall wasn't very helpful defending the city, but at the time, it was the point at which the world ended and Edinburgh began.

By the way, today's phrase of the day is Neeps & Tatties.  On many menus you'll see Haggis (no, I refuse) w/neeps and tatties.  Those are turnips and potatoes.  

It's supposed to rain tomorrow...sounds like a museum day!

Heh-low. Hohw Arrrr Yew?

Greetings from Scotland!  Beautiful, friendly, Scottish, and ancient.  We arrived by train:

First class is lovely!

That's the North Sea.

Those white dots are sheep.

and found that our room wasn't ready yet.  We checked in our bags and immediately went searching for a pub.  We came across the Bow Bar - a recommendation from our friends at York Brewery.  It's one of the best bars (whisky and beer) in Edinburgh.

And our new friend was right!  The Bow Bar has an awesome selection of taps, as well as a lengthy list of bottled beers.  And their whiskys?  Just ask any of their bartenders, and they'll give you a lesson and offer great suggestions on what you might like.

We left the bar to go find something to eat before we really got to drinking...keep in mind, we'd only been in town for an hour or so...  We had a good lunch and then returned to the Bow for a few more drinks.  At four pm, we made our way back to our hotel to check in, unpack a bit, get our bearings and make some decisions on what to do next.  Of course, it involved food and beer.

We set out to find BrewDogs.  We're big fans of the show on Esquire network, and of their beer.  So naturally we had to find the pub...just so we could rub it in to our friends back in the state who also love the show.  (We're talking to you Bryan and Jon.)  We had a couple of beers and then decided to find some dinner.  The Three Sisters seemed to fit the bill.  

The best thing about The Three Sisters - aside from the beer selection and the food - was the guy in the back playing guitar.  He opened with Folsom Prison Blues...with a Scottish accent.  That pretty much set the tone for the evening.

Tomorrow we head to the castle, and we're on the hunt for more whisky and beer!  I adore Scotland!

Oh! And Muffin, this is for you...seen on the eave of a shop in York:

The York Minster, Pasties, And Chicken Run

I know, right?  I've gone 'round the bend.

Word of the Day: Pasty or Pasties.  Not at all what you're thinking.  A pasty is a pastry encased pie.  For lunch today I had a corned beef pasty.

This was sooo good!  Rich brown gravy, English peas and corned beef hash in a flaky pastry.

Almost every dish around here comes with peas.  I guess if you have a national vegetable, you're going to include it wherever you can!  They are very tasty!

We started off the day with a visit to the York Minister.

In 71 AD on this site, the Romans establish a fortress - the headquarters of the northern Roman Empire.  And in 306 Constantine is declared emperor here and decides that Christianity has a place in the world...the Romans will no longer be feeding the Christians to the lions.  Part of this Roman fortress was still standing when the Normans built their church on basically the same spot in 1080.  Finally in the 1200s, work on the current structure was begun - it took 250 years.  It wasn't until the 1960s - when the tower began to crumble and was in danger of collapsing - that the previous fortress and church were discovered...unearthed in the tower rescue operation.  Part of the visit to the Minster is devoted to the undercroft - where you can see the remains of the Roman columns, streets, and walls.  It was amazing...and totally bizarre.  At one point, we were standing on the spot where Constantine was coronated.

The architecture of the Minster is almost as amazing.  It's a beautiful gothic church with lots of gargoyles, carved limestone rosettes and pinnacles...unbelievable artistry and masonry.  The stained glass windows themselves are (some of them) more than 600 years old.  Here's the rose window at the south end:

So pretty!

The great East Window was under restoration, and there was a detailed exhibit about how painstaking that effort was.  Even without it, though, the church was beautiful.  Not as many tombs as Westminster Abbey, but the Roman ruins alone put it at the top of our must do list.

After we'd had our minds totally blown by the exhibits and wonderful collection here, it was time for a beer.  That's when we hit the Yorkshire Terrier (suggested to us by our friends at the York Brewery yesterday) and learned what a pasty was.

Now, today and yesterday, I've been trying to solve a puzzle.  The Yorkshire accents around me were more a country or rural English than what we heard in London,  And I just couldn't place it.  Until we were sitting at the bar in the Trembling Madness Ale House.  The voices we were hearing were the same ones as the chickens, Mrs. Tweedy and most of the other characters in the movie Chicken Run.  I swear to god.

Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh!

So, Here We Are. Drinking In York.

The Mickelbar Gate  (medieval gate) at York

The small medieval town of York was founded by the Romans about 71 AD.  Holy crap that's old!

It's a small town (relative to London), but it is frightfully deceiving!  While you think it's all about the sacking, it's really about wonderful funny and friendly people who happen to be brewing really good beer.  We found the York Brewery, and the rest of the day is history.

Let me back up.  We started the day with a lovely ride on the Brit National Rail into York.  The train was quick, clean, and the perfect way to travel.  With one exception: I had to lug my bags myself...and I have some really big bags.  Oh, well,,,I packed 'em, I carry 'em.  Once in York, we took a cab to the hotel and found our room wasn't quite ready.  No worries!  We'll check the bags and head for town.  Joe found the brewery on google maps, and we headed toward it.

When we walked in, there was no one in the tap room.  We immediately made friends with the barkeep. They were more than happy to tell us about the beer.  They had six beers on tap, and we quickly assured them we would be trying them all.

These were the first four...

A couple of locals ducked in, and we started up a conversation with them (love you Dale and Jim!).  The next thing we know the barkeepers (Jack and Gordon) are sharing a small batch whiskey they made from one of the beer's wort.  OMG!  And then they personally escorted us downstairs to Brigantes...a restaurant that had at least 20 additional pulls...we were treated like royalty.  Good food, good service, good folks, and good beer!  What a great night.  

The sausage of the day!

Our new friends, Gordon and Jack, pulled out a map of York and circled for us the six best breweries/brew pubs we should visit.  I guess that's what we'll be doing tomorrow!!

How I love England!

A Couple Of Last Thoughts On London

First, for Brett...you could have come with us...even gotten a haircut.

Second, London is in your face, over the top, over the moon, swinging, pulsing, at once the center of the universe and miles away in a cozy pub.  It is thrilling.  Clean (for the most part).  Vibrant and peaceful.  Security (both bobbys and event-based) is largely unarmed.  Well, the palace guards - who used to carry muskets - now carry AR-15s, but the Beefeaters, local enforcement, horse guards, etc...they are stern, but pleasant, helpful, cheerful and stuffed with that British sense of humor that I love.  ( I asked a docent at the Abbey if he could tell me where Sir Isaac Newton was buried.  He said, "Yes, of course I can.")

The city is wildly diverse and embraces its throngs of visitors.  In the states, that sort of diversity and close quarters is regular fodder for the evening news.  Here, it rings with a rich chorus of voices: French, German, Russian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Spanish, Dutch, Australian, and several English accents from the Queen's to Common English.  Local news talked of charitable gifts, holiday sales, tube disruption (and the head of transportation giving up his bonus because things had gone wrong one day), and the weather.  There was no mention of police shootings, mass murders, child abuse/abduction, or Kim Kardashian.  I realize we were probably getting BBC sanitized tourist news, but, I'm just sayin'.  

As much as I hate standing in line for something, or being jostled about by rude people, or even rude people themselves, in my London tourist mind, it was all okay.  I soaked up the atmosphere like a dry desert in a downpour, and I loved it.  So, signing off from London: London Love!

Next:  See you in York!

Last Day In London

I can't believe we're already at the bloody end to this leg of the trip.  We've done soooo much, but I can list a ton of things we didn't get to.  Hmmm...I guess we'll just have to come back!

Today's Phrase of the Day: We were at Buckingham Palace watching the changing of the guards...well...trying to watch it.  There were throngs of people there and jockeying to get a spot so we could see proved challenging, to say the least.  We squeezed in as close as we could and ended up watching most of the parade and ceremony on the phone screen of a person a little closer in (he has his phone up above the crowd, and we could see his screen pretty well).  Although, Joe got some good shots, as well.  Somewhere behind us, a dad had his daughter up on his shoulder.  She was about five years-old and ran commentary on the entire event: "They're not doing ANYTHING!"  "Wait, here comes the band."  "Somebody's shouting something."  "They're still not doing ANYTHING!"  And then, the jewel of the day: "This is so uncomfortable; you have no idea."  The in ear-shot, sardine-packed crowd collectively burst out laughing.  Ergo, phrase of the day: This is so uncomfortable; you have no idea.

From our vantage point, it was much more an auditory experience...but still an impressive tradition!

Earlier in the day we went to Westminster Abbey...talk about impressive.  There is some old shit there!  Stuff that's over 1,000 years old.  And beautifully carved tombs, ceilings, chapels...it's amazing.

And so many famous tombs: Chaucer, Darwin, Newton, Dickens, a memorial to Shakespeare (he's buried at Avon), Laurence Olivier, Faraday, Tennyson, and all or most of the royals up to the 1700s: Longshanks, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, Richard II, Edward the Confessor, Henry VII...so very many.  In the 1700s, they ran out of space to bury royals...a little creepy...they're all buried at Windsor (i.e. Victoria, Albert, the Queen Mum, etc.).

It's been a fabulous eight days!  I can't believe we're done here.  We've sampled a long list of new beers, eaten delicious food, seen wonderful sights, and had lots of new adventures.  I love London!

PS: save the red boxes...

2015 - Day One

Already breaking resolutions.  I'm sorry, who am I kidding, I didn't make any resolutions.  We slept in, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  We finally got going around 1pm and went to lunch at The Portman (where we'd been a couple of nights ago).  We had a couple of delicious hamburgers and some beer.  So far, a pretty typical New Year's Day.

We decided not to go to far afield today and went, instead, to Hyde Park, a couple of blocks from our hotel, There, since before Christmas, was an entire Winter Wonderland.  I can only describe it as the Texas State Fair plus a Christmas Market.  Awesome!!!

One thing we've learned about English beers is that they're not very high ABV...and therefore, drinking all day is not such a big deal.  (Although, it's not like we never drink all day.)  But even after last night, neither Joe nor I was the least bit hung over.  It could be because we burned everything off watching the fireworks last night.

We anchored just south of the Eye

An amazing 20 minute salute to the new year.

We had a lovely dinner under the Globe Theatre and then boarded boats to sail the river until the show at midnight.  It was a wonderful evening!  

As I said, we slept in today and then went to the Winter Wonderland.  While there we found some awesome food and a couple of incredible biergartens and some great shopping.  It was the perfect thing to do today.

We passed up the Mulled Viking Blood for beer, but not before taking this shot:

And, Brett, we can't not think about when we see something like this:

Finally, I forgot to mention that we went to the Tate Modern before going to dinner last night.  My two favorite things were...Still Life with Beer Stein:

And whatever this was...What's brown and sounds like a bell?...

Tomorrow we're going to get up early (at least that's the plan) and go to the Abbey, then catch the changing of the guards.  It's our last day here, so I guess it's also packing day.  What a great ride!!