travel | Still Carrying On

Thursday: Edinburgh

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Susan

We set out exploring the city at 10 this morning after breakfast in the hotel. We wanted to Mary King’s Close, an underground alleyway where Mary King and her family lived in the 17th century. She was a “merchant burgess,” someone who represented her borough in the House of Commons.

We took a tour, going down 38 narrow steps and it was certainly interesting despite the young tour guide’s theatrics. (Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos.)

We also visited St. Giles Cathedral, built in 1124 under the direction of King David l. The huge beautiful cathedral has a rich history that I won’t go into here.

Next we walked to Bennet’s Bar, one of the oldest pubs in Scotland. It is notable also because it had a separate room (now used for small groups) for women to hang out and not be bothered by the men there. The room has a small window to pass drinks from the bar through. It was fascinating to see.

We stopped at Blackwell’s Bookstore, where I picked up a few books by Scottish writers.

Tomorrow we will go to St. Andrew’s by train, an hour from here.

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[photos – above are some pretty steps before we got to Mary King’s Close – not the 38 I refer to.

Below is the coffee house where JKRowling created Harry Potter. We didn’t go in and it was near impossible to get a photo with people milling around. First photo was taken in St. Giles Cathedral)

Wednesday: Edinburgh

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Susan

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[the toast trolley on the train]

We left London on a 10am train an to Edinburgh. The ride was a little over four hours, past fields and fields of grazing horses, sheep, and cows, plus quite a few perfectly rectangular farms.

We had lunch on board the train (cannelloni for me, fish cakes for husband) and I spent most of my time reading. It was very pleasant.

We checked into our hotel and then walked around the neighborhood a bit before having dinner at a small Italian restaurant. It was a good choice. Tomorrow we will see what we can discover here in this very old city.

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Tuesday: London

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Susan

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[squirrel lady in the park]

What a nice day it was to be walking around the city. It rained in the morning when we first set out, but cleared and the sun came through.

We dropped husband at the Churchill War Room (I had been there once before) and my friend and I went for tea and talk. It was a relaxing few hours – what a treat.

We picked up husband at the appointed time and by now the line for the War Room/Bunker was quite long so we were glad we had gotten there early. The three of us walked around St. James Park before grabbing a snack at Oree bakery and going back to the apartment for some reading and relaxing.

Sushi later.

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[protestors by the Cabinet Offices]

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Monday: London

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Susan

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The next leg of my travel adventure begins today. My rowing is finished, I said goodbye to my rowing friends, and spent the night at Heathrow airport where my traveling companion will arrive in a few hours.

We will visit friends in the city later on today and tomorrow before heading to Scotland. For now, some coffee after a workout.

20190922_232423 Got to keep on keeping on now that I’m not rowing eight hours a day.

Day 7: Weybridge

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Susan

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Today was the last day of our Thames River row and we ended our trip in Weybridge. This is where the River Wey joins the Thames.

It was an unseasonably warm day with lots of wind and many boats out enjoying the weather. It seemed as though everyone was outdoors, swimming, paddleboarding, kayaking, and rowing. We spent two hours total, we calculated, waiting to get into and through the 3 locks. Boats were lined up in both directions. When we finally arrived at the boathouse to wash the boats and put them away, it was close to 6pm.

We finished with a farewell dinner at a restaurant in Windsor, and agreed that our week was just about perfect.

On to London tomorrow as my trip continues.

[photos: above – packed up boats, Windsor Castle

below- black and white cows]

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Day 6: Windsor

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Susan

20190920_061935 Today was the longest row of our trip and it was especially fun. I rowed all day with the two women from my club I’m traveling with. We were on the coxed double, switching the coxing job every three hours or so.

We passed under ancient bridges and went through eight or nine locks. Locks take time since we have to wait for a space to row our boat in and then wait for the water flow to be complete before we row out. It’s a little like threading a needle, since there can be big power boats hogging most of the lock. The cox has to negotiate the paddle in, and often there is barely room to move.

With all those locks and strong wind, it took all day to get from Henley to Windsor.

We stopped for lunch at about 2, then continued to endure wind gusts for the second part of our day. We were glad to get to our hotel, after pulling the boats out at the Excelsior Rowing Club, where we will get them in the morning. Tomorrow is our last day on the Thames.

[photos: swan on the dock; lawn party we rowed past; ancient church]

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Days 3 and 4: Henley

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Susan

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We had two fabulous days of rowing the Thames.

Tuesday we traveled from Abington to Wallingford. I rowed in the double for the morning row and it was fantastic – cows wading in the water, beautiful birds, lush green trees.

We stopped at a pub for lunch and I was in stroke seat in the quad for the afternoon row. Dinner was at Brown’s Restaurant in Oxford. It was a long day and late night, but wonderful.

Wednesday we moved from our rooms at Wadham College in Oxford, after three perfect nights on the old Oxford campus. I lived it and was sad to leave. But leave we did, and we put our boats back in the water at the Brooke’s University Oxford boathouse where we had pulled them out last night. I had a nice morning row in the double, in bow seat. We passed by some collegiate rowers, miscellaneous other boats, some beautiful homes, and of course wonderful scenery. We pulled the boats out at Henley and checked into our hotel, where we will be for two nights.

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Day 2: Oxford

Posted on September 15, 2019 by Susan

20190915_122359-1 We checked out Blenheim Palace today. Maurizio Cattelan’s contemporary art was displayed at random places around the place where Winston Churchill was born.

I didn’t like it. A taxidermied horse hung from a ceiling, a boy sat up high and banged a drum, other odd displays were around the historical building. We weren’t able to see the $4.5million 18-carat gold toilet bowl because it was stolen yesterday – yanked out of the wall, causing massive flooding, and tossed in the back of a van.

I tried punting later in the day. This old English sport is difficult – pushing a flat-bottomed boat along with a long steel stick.

Tomorrow we start our row on the Thames.

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Day 1: Oxford

Posted on September 14, 2019 by Susan

20190914_073849 We arrived in London this morning and almost immediately jumped on a bus to Oxford, where our week begins. The ride was about 1.5 hours and the cab ride to our bnb was another 10 minutes. We had too much luggage to walk.

We checked in at the Marlborough House, then left right away to walk into the center of the city. It was about a 45- minute walk, but we stopped along the way. The university was having an Open Doors day to begin their semester, so we lucked into that and saw some old, old buildings.

We checked out the Thames River, where we will be rowing this week, although we aren’t sure where we will start.

We had dinner (paella👍) at a food festival, where there were at least 25 vendors.

We ended our day on the back deck of the Red Lion, where we enjoyed a cocktail before walking back to our hotel.

20190914_082356 Thames River 20190914_084827 Learning to open the lock so a boat can pass through

Sunday, March 29: last day of vacation

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Susan

Today was the last day of vacation, and we really did not do much. We had a late breakfast (because we lost an hour with the time change). Then we packed up all our purchases (mostly clothes I got over the past two weeks).

We wandered around Barcelona, but it was packed PACKED with people today. It wasn’t easy to get around in some places. Many stores were closed since it’s Sunday so that’s probably why people were just out and about.

Here is some of what we did today:

Bought some (more) shoes at this really colorful store.

Stopped to listen to this fine group of musicians, who had their bikes in a pile beside them, which raised some questions about traveling safely, at least in my head

Went back to this place for lunch because we enjoyed it so much last night ( and of course they remembered us, and chatted with us since they weren’t that busy)

Saw this interesting shop. It had a bunch of customers and I wandered in. It’s candy, but only small varieties that you put in a glass jar, ranging in size from baby food to peanut butter-sized. Crazy, but I bet they’ll do well all summer.

Saw this guy cooking rotisserie chicken outside his shop

We hadn’t had paella at all during our trip, so thought we had better do that tonight. We probably should have found a small restaurant on a side street instead of the one we chose on a main thoroughfare. Our dinner (seafood paella) was not great, neither good nor bad. I had hoped for delicious!

We are leaving early tomorrow morning and of course I’m hoping our trip back is uneventful. It will be a long travel day, regardless.

Adios,

-Susan