“This precious stone…”

My wife, Lisa, and I have just returned from our UK-Ireland adventure, a few days short of an entire month of traveling abroad. This particular trip is one that I’ve prefaced with a couple of short posts you can find here, if you are interrested: On the Road Again and 24 Hours to London!

Actually, we’ve been home for over two weeks, recovering from Covid, resting up, and I, of course, have been working on our trip photos. This particular vacation is nicely segmented by the 3 countries we visited: England, Scotland and Ireland. Technically there was a fourth country: North Ireland, but we only made one stop in North Ireland, so I don’t really feel that counts. More on all of this later. Please note that I will provide links to all of our England photos at the end of this post!

I’m always tempted to begin my post-trip travel blogs with, “What a long, strange trip it’s been…”[i], but honestly, almost anyone’s foreign travel adventure can find a home under this well-known rubric, so I will resist. Instead, because England was the first country we visited and I’ve had time to think back on our experiences there, I found myself moved to begin with something more meaningful and apropos, a blurb from none other Shakespeare himself:

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.[ii]

As far as I am concerned, Shakespeare nailed it! We love England!

Our first visit to England was 31 years ago in 1991 with a trip to England, Scotland and Spain. I knew that the England we were going to see in 2022 would be different from the England of 1991 and I was both curious and apprehensive to see just how much it had changed. In 1991 we visited London and then stayed at a B&B in the Lake District. We were only in London a couple of days, but we fell in love with London and the Lake District blew our minds! We promised to return someday. Well, that someday has now come and gone and looking back I am reminded of an old adage borrowed from a Tom Wolfe novel: You Can’t Go Home Again. And damn, if he wasn’t right. London at least, had indeed changed for us. We didn’t return to the Lake District, opting this time to explore the southern part of England, signing up for a Rabbies tour of Devon and Cornwall, two areas of which either of us had little knowledge. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here is our basic itinerary for London and our rapid 5-day tour of Devon and Cornwall:

• London for 3 days (on our own).
• Devon, England.
  • We stayed in Torquay.
  • Toured Wessex, Winchester, Dartmoor, Tavistock
• Cornwall
  • Boscastle, Tintagel ruins, Minack Theater, Land’s End
• Glastonbury, Stonehenge

With only three days on our own in London, our planning had to be precise, and my wife did a great job, as usual – especially since we were traveling with two close friends of ours, Mike and Denise.

We had the added benefit of having a local Brit spend an entire day with us, showing us around Londontown! What’s even better is that this local guy worked for food and beer! How great is that? LOL! Well, this “local guy” just happens to be a friend of mind named, John, whom I met 13 years ago through work when he visited the states. John and I connected that day and have been in fairly constant communication ever since, thanks to social media. It is such good fortune whenever you meet someone like this in life. John is not just a wonderful guy, he makes a great tour guide, too! The day he spent with us in London is one we all will remember! Knowing John has certainly made my life better. Thank you, John, from all of us!

As luck would have it, the week before we were to leave for England, the queen herself decided to leave this earthly plane for another, higher, more spiritual realm. Or, as our Rabbies guide put it, obviously not a fan of the Royals: “The ol’ girl kicked the bucket!” This event threw a huge unknown wrench into our plans as England started ramping up everything necessary to mourn and bury a beloved monarch, something they are familiar with, but which hadn’t been done since the 1950’s, I believe. Trains and underground schedules were now somewhat up in the air, road closures, etc., all were suddenly issues we had to consider and watch out for. On the other hand, we knew London was going to be even more interesting than we thought!

Fortunately, we had all of our hotels and plane reservations booked in advance, because once the queen died, hotels with rooms were scarce and prices were skyrocketing! We ended up avoiding as best we could some of the places where the immense crowds were gathering. This meant we had to miss out on a few big tourist sites, but better that than the crowds. So many people! For example, below is a picture that shows some of the people meandering along in a queue where they will eventually be hastened to walk quickly past the queen’s body in Westminster to wave and say, “Buh, bye!”.

“Queue”, by the way, is British English for what we would simply call a “line” in the US. So, what’s notable about this particular queue? Consider this – these people were ten miles from where the queen was lying in state! Ten friggin’ miles! Like I said, a lot of people! And there’s no denying just how popular she was.

The queen’s popularity isn’t universal, however. There were a few anti-royal protests we heard about but didn’t see in London. In England the anti-royals even have a political party called the “Republicans.”  They are called Republicans because they want to replace the monarchy with a republic.

I have to admit that I don’t quite understand the entire royal thing in England or anywhere else. Sure, I know what it’s like when the majority of a country is so enamored of some political figure. In the US, Jack Kennedy would be a good example. But the adoration that was lavished on the queen is on another level. For me, however, I cannot understand why anyone would adore a so-called “ruler” or celebrate being subjugated by anyone. The English public give the royal family $345,000,000 a year (when you consider lost tax revenue, security, police, etc.) just for existing! I will never understand why they don’t just issue them all a final check and send them on their way.

Lisa picked a nice hotel for us in London. It was located a stone’s throw from Hyde Park and close to an underground, which gave us easy access to everywhere. We all loved the London underground! So convenient and easy to use!

By the time we got to our hotel it was in the afternoon, so we dropped off our bags and went exploring, looking for food and drink. I’ll say this right up front, the old insults about “English cuisine” being an oxymoron are not true anymore! We had wonderful food all over England! Pub food is something else. I think the competition among pubs is such that pubs with poor food are just not going to last long. The other places that we found that had great food were the hotels, believe it or not. It’s apparently not uncommon for locals to go out for a date night on the town that might include eating dinner at some nearby hotel restaurant. The food is that good!

Hyde Park is probably a name you’ve heard of whether or not you’ve ever been to England. It is one of four Royal Parks that form a chain of sorts and is divided by two lakes. The day we were there the park was partially blocked off as the queen’s funeral procession was going to go through it at some point. Still, we were able to enter the park and enjoy it. It is a really nice park!

The next day was our first full day in London and our guide and friend, John, had a game plan for the day that did not disappoint! But I think we all agree that the highlight was taking a river cruise down the Thames! And lo and behold, though it was quite chilly, the sun was shining brilliantly! Wow!

A favorite sight seen in London is the Tower Bridge, visible in the photo to the left behind me and Lisa. Confused travelers often think that it is the London Bridge, but it isn’t. The London Bridge looks pretty ordinary actually. John suggested that a walk across the Tower Bridge, however, would be fun and he wasn’t wrong!

As for what is so different between our first visit to London in 1991 and this year, it is mainly the number of people, mostly tourists, I’m sure. So many people! Of course, this was skewed by the queen’s sudden demise, but still, there were tourists everywhere. This was unlike 1991. Sure, there were tourists then, too, but their numbers weren’t what anyone would consider overwhelming.

We definitely did not spend enough time in London. I do know that Lisa and I would like to return to London, rent a place for a week and take our leisurely time getting to know it better. Hopefully no monarchs will croak just before we get there!

One thing that was not in London in 1991 is the Millennium Wheel a.k.a. The London Eye. This is a glorified ferris wheel that goes waaay up there! Technically, it is an “observation wheel.” Be aware, this is not a cheap ride. A standard ticket will cost you around 32 euros per person. If we’d had more time I would have paid the price just to get up there and take some great photos. So, maybe next time!

When John left us at sundown to return to his home outside of London, we were all pretty tired as we had literally walked for miles, but it was all worth it, of course.

 

The next day was Sunday, our last day in London. Lisa and I always love to visit local markets. Our fellow traveler, Denise, is a foodie too, so we planned on visiting two markets: Shepherd Market and Borough Market. We wanted to visit Shepherd Market because another British friend of mind, David, had recommended it as the place to get what we would call a “pig in a blanket,” or in otherwords, a sausage roll – good, tasty, food! These are sold all over London, but David told us they were the best at Shepherd Market, so we just had to go and try one! We don’t have enough experience to know how they compare elsewhere in London, but we enjoyed our lunch immensely!

The other market we wanted to visit was Borough Market. Borough Market is known as London’s premier food market. And it is amazing! Food stall heaven! I thought Portland used to have a lot of food trucks/stalls, but this Borough Market takes the cake for sure! I think we spent a couple of hours there, eating, drinking and just looking. What an incredible market!

My buddy Mike is a huge fan of fish and chips, so I think he found his happy place in London, because fish and chips was sold everywhere! For myself, I was pleased to see that in almost every restaurant we saw, duck was on the menu. And if duck is on the menu, then that’s what I’m eating! So, I was in my happy place, too!

Surprisingly, I did not drink much beer while in London. I had a few glasses of Guinness and I found a very nice IPA in a pub, but mostly I drank wine (until we got to Scotland, LOL). I’m not sure why, but beer just seems to make me feel bloated these days. I was perhaps anticipating the whiskey I was looking forward to in Scotland. LOL!

I was also surprised to find that Lisa and I did not take as many photos as we usually do when visiting another country. Sure, we took a number of pictures that you can see on my website, but compared to other countries, it wasn’t a lot of photos. I also noticed though, that this changed as soon as we got to Scotland and Ireland. Maybe it’s just because London is one big city and the urge to take photos of buildings, etc., was not that strong during this, our second visit to London, but we didn’t get a lot of photos of Devon or Cornwall either.

I haven’t got a lot to say about Devon and Cornwall, other than they were absolutely lovely places to visit: rolling hills, beautiful coast, quaint little towns, friendly people, etc. If you are a fan of BBC mysteries, many of the towns in both Devon and Cornwall may look familiar, as they are the backdrop to a number of popular BBC TV shows. In fact, I would describe Devon and Cornwall as one big “cozy mystery” area, just the kind of place where you would expect to find a table of elderly women sipping tea and discussing the latest murder and how they are going to solve it.

Here are a few shots of Devon (more photos available under the Photography/United Kindom tabs on my website).

Oh, I should mention that we did make sure to try a cream tea in both Devon and Cornwall. They are famous for the way these two areas serve their cream tea and the somewhat faux debate they have over the way cream tea should be served. Cream tea is just a cup of tea, some scones, jam and something I’d never had before – clotted cream. In Cornwall, you spread your scone with jam, then top it off with a heaping spoonful of clotted cream. In Devon, the clotted cream is spread first, like butter, then the jam is added. I think I preferred eating it the Cornish way!

 

When we stopped in Winchester we went to Winchester Cathedral. It was being used by the town to watch the queen’s funeral march.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, I like this shot I got of Lisa taking a photo from a nearby hill.

We did a lot of walking and some hiking on our trip. More shots of this can be found in the Photography section of my site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local people like to go to the coast for weekend fun and games, and it is a very pretty coastline! To be honest, ever since we moved to Oregon, I find myself always comparing different costlines to our own and as a result, scenery that may have wowed me at one time no longer does. I thoroughly enjoyed the English coastline, but found it rather tame compared to our own.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is where I vent some pet peeves: I read somewhere in the Rabbies paperwork about “wild horses” that could be found in Devon and got rather excited about it. The reality turned out to be somewhat different. While not inside a stable, the few horses were quite tame, some nuzzling people looking for handouts. The only thing wild about them is the claim tour comapnies make about them.

Here’s another. North Ireland is listed as a destination point for this tour because they take you to the place in Belfast where the Titanic was built, a  huge museum really. It turned out that this was the only place we got to see in North Ireland! Afterwards we zoomed through North Ireland on our way to Dublin and didn’t stop to see anything. In 2003, Lisa and I spent a week in North Ireland and loved every minute of it! It was clear to me that this was a rather obvious attempt by Rabbies to just be able to list North Ireland as a destination, without spending much time there.

 

 

 

Lisa and I have been to the top of the world, and the planet’s southernmost city (Ushuaia, Argentina), and now we can say we’ve been to Land’s End, LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rabbie’s changed our itinerary around due to the queen’s funeral messing with their plan. So, we skipped one place we were supposed to see (whose name escapes me right now) for Glastonbury instead.

Glastonbury is one of the oldest towns in England – I’m talking prehistoric. The Glastonbury Abbey is an old relic, but a beautiful one, we thought.

You may have heard of Glastonbury due to the rock music concerts that are played there each year, many of which are famous. It is interesting that they call it the Glastonbury concert since the concerts aren’t held in Glastonbury at all really, but instead happen at a nearby town calledf, Pilton. Glastonbury is a nice town and the abbey was very picturesque.

 

I’ve certainly read a lot about Stonehenge and have watched all the Youtube videos and documentaries, etc., so I came to the site with some ideas in mind as to what the experience would be like. I was all wrong.

I’d read comments by people expressing disappointment that it was smaller than they thought it would be, others that said you can’t get near it, still others complaining about the crowds. I didn’t see or feel any of that. I actually thought the stones were larger than I thought they were. True, they have closed off the inside of the stones, something they used to sell higher priced tickets to get into, but still we got fairly close to the stones, I thought – certainly good enough for some great photos. It was a serious delight to be there and see Stonehenge in the flesh! If you closed your eyes and listened, you could almost hear the druid priests chanting their mumbo-jumbo.

Oh, I almost forgot! We stopped by to visit Greenwich, home of the prime meridian, an imaginary longitutde line which begins in Greewich, or at 0 degrees longitude. The price they wanted to go into the building and stand on either side of some nice line was more than we cared to pay, so we took a photo outside the building where the prime meridian is still available, albeit marked in cement, but good enough for us!

Visiting England again was really a lot of fun and I hope Lisa and I get a chance to visit it again, maybe rent a place and actually stay a while. That would be nice!

More photos of England can be found by clicking on Photography/United Kingdom menu on my home page.

Next on our itinerary was Scotland. I’m still working on the photos, but hope to get my trip report of Scotland out soon. Talk to you then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Lisa Drake[i] What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been is the name of the Grateful Dead’s second compilation album.

[ii] William Shakespeare, Richard II.