Category: UK

Day 25, Inverness

SDSpivey

The night train I had booked was supposed to be a straight through, we were constantly making stops on the way. Despite the 30 minute head start, we still didn’t arrive until 30 minutes late. That makes 13 hours on the train, without anything to do or eat.

We watched the scenery as we made the final few hours through the country side. Saw many sheep and lambs and snow on the mountains in the distance.

Finally we arrived. The station had WiFi, so I was able to finally look at the map. A quick trip down the road and we were at the last hostel for this trip.

We dumped our bags and walked around town. It was freezing, down in the mid 40’s and gusty winds, so we made it a short trip out.

After a crashing on the sofa, it was a bit sunnier and we went back out, going to St. Andrews church and Inverness Castle, which is a working court house.

Every flag I see is a Scottish flag, the only Union Jack was part of St. Andrews Cross flag, in the church. I take it they still think of themselves as Scots, not as part of the UK.

Despite the cold, the days here in Europe are long. As I write this, it is after 10pm, but the sun is just setting.

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Day 24, Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey

SDSpivey

On Sunday we had to check out of the room and then head out to Heathrow Airport, where I had a rental car waiting.

I drove out to Highclere Castle, where the popular show Downton Abbey is partly filmed.

I really had reservations about driving on the wrong side of the car. I frequently drive in the left lane, so that wasn’t too fearful, but sitting on the right side of the car is unusual, much less driving on that side.

I didn’t have too much trouble, other than a drifting to the left on occasion. As we were leaving the castle, we were following a single lane road for quite a while, so when I turned onto a real road, I was on the wrong side for a few moments before I recovered. Luckily no one was coming.

There was some sort of “game festival” also going on elsewhere on the property, but didn’t affect us getting there. It must be nice to have property big enough that you can have two events, without conflict.

As we were awaiting entry into the castle, we saw the Countess Carnarvon escorting Newt Ginrich and wife.

Inside is mostly still original, with the only new items being the family photos displayed all over, much like any home. With the exception that most homes don’t have candid photos of the Queen or young Princess Diana.

With the house being so old (1830’s), there is obvious wear and destruction, which is one of the reasons for allowing visitations to the estate, to help pay for the expensive restorations needed.

The 5th Earl Carnarvon was co-discoverer, with Howard Carter, of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the 1922, there is a permanent exhibit on site of the mummy and casket and many various other artifacts found throughout his explorations.

We had lunch at the manor house amongst the many children playing on the back lawn. Afterward we strolled the gardens, including the “secret” garden, which isn’t very secret with a sign pointing the way.

With the rain threatening, and a night train to catch, we headed back to Heathrow.

Despite the navigator having all the Enterprise locations pre-installed, it did not have Heathrow, so I programmed it to go to the zip code of the agency. We spent at least half an hour trying to follow the directions, the signs didn’t list any rental locations and the navigator was too slow with the directions to easily get into the correct lane or make the correct turn.

I did finally get there, but I was unable to find and gas stations on the way back, so I was hit with a£40 refueling charge, about what I pay to fill my entire tank.

We then took the underground back into town to the train station.

There was little chance to get food on the train, at least not until morning, so we grabbed a bit at the station. Then I went to check the board to see if there was a platform listed yet, we still had over an hour.

There was only one train listed at our departure time, and that was going elsewhere.

I went to the info booth, but was closed, so I headed to the ticket area. It is all ticket machines, but I did spot an employee, so I asked him about it. He walked out to the board and looked also, and did not see the train listed, either. So he went back into his office area and came back with the news that the train schedule had been push up 30 minutes and was currently boarding.

I grabbed Mom and we headed to the platform, where the employees there also knew nothing about the change, but the porter did.

I have never hear of anyone pushing a schedule ahead before. We were well under way before the original departure came about. If we had been 20 minutes later getting to the station, we would have been stuck. I really expect better from Richard Branson’s Virgin brand.

This cabin was even smaller that the previous had been, but at least we were in it, instead of sitting at the station.

Day 20 to 23, To London

SDSpivey

This is going to be a long post as I am jamming all of London into one post, because of the lack of internet.

We have had an ongoing problem with early arrivals, by not being to check in to our rooms until twoish. Oddly, the only one we could check in before noon was the one where we wouldn’t arrive before 2.

We left our Paris hostel and walked down to the train station, about a mile, but at least it was all down hill. The train to London was about 2.5 hours, just long enough to be boring, but not enough time to sleep.

Since UK doesn’t use euros, we utilized the changer at King’s Cross (the Harry Potter station) to get pounds. With a fist full of new cash, we splurged on a taxi (£14) instead of the “tube” to get to our hostel.

We should have saved our money, 4 days in London cost over £700 (about $1100). Everything in London is expensive. The exchange rate is about £3 to $2, so you need to add 50% more to any price to determine equivalent pricing to US.

I had booked a 20-bed dorm, but we ended up having to use the top bunks of designed-for-children bunk beds and there were only four outlets, right next to each other. We went down and tried upgrading and managed to get a private 3-bed room to ourselves. Oddly, the beds were almost touching, side-by-side, going across one wall. They really should have put in a king size, instead of 3 singles. Unfortunately, that room was only available 1 night, so we had to transfer the next morning to a 4-bed dorm, we were the first in, so we snagged the bottom bunks. Woo Hoo!

The first day we went into the underground station, right on the corner, and the attendant at the ticket machine got us to buy an “Oyster Card” which is just a RFID card that allows you to bypass the ticket machines and pay ahead. I was skeptical, but I didn’t want to have to specify my destination for every ticket I bought.

The tickets were high almost £5, which is 3 times higher than Italy or Paris. I initially put £15 (plus £5 deposit) on each card and later another £10. After riding all over, dozens of trips, the final balance was still more than £6. That card was the only thing that saved us any money on this trip. I don’t understand the deposit, because we got that back and still have the cards.

We went out to London Bridge, rather a boring bridge now days, there isn’t anything on the bridge like it used to be. It used to be lined on each side with houses and shops, much like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

We crossed and then walked the wharf to the Tower Bridge. This is the bridge most people think of when they imagine the London Bridge. It has two towers that support the roadway and hold the machinery that raises the two middle spans, allowing tall ships to pass.

You can take a lift up to the top of one tower and cross over to the next, walking over a glass floor.

We had a quick lunch of fish and chips, then took a tour of the London Tower, a fort/castle and home of some of England’s kings and where some of those kings imprisoned some of the king’s enemies and critics.

There is also an exhibition of the crown jewels at the Tower. Unfortunately, most of the crowns had been scavenged by later kings to make new crowns for themselves, so many are just gold and fur, no gems. You would think they would at least fill them with fake stones.

The next day, we rode the London Eye, basically an enclosed ferris wheel, which is on the river bank of the Thames. Then walked across the Westminster bridge to the House of Commons, where the clock tower containing Big Ben, which is the large bell, not the tower.

Next door is Westminster Abbey, the place of many royal coronations and weddings. They wanted £20 to enter and wouldn’t allow any photos, so we skipped it. We wanted to head over to Buckingham Palace, but there was something going on and we couldn’t.

Our room is across the road from Hyde Park, a huge park with a large duck and swan pond, and the Diana Memorial Gardens.

On the other side of the park is a blue police box, the only Tardis in London. Nearby is the Natural History Museum. On room has over forty double sided cases with mineral and crystal samples, way more than anyone could take in. There was also a 5 pound natural quartz crystal “spear”, that was almost totally clear. There were so many beautiful colors of minerals, the whole rainbow must have been represented.

The mammal room had a full size model of a blue whale, a huge model, dwarfing the elephants and other models.

They had various extinct and near extinct stuffed animals, including a bunch neither of us has ever heard of.

There was a skeleton of a dodo bird, which is ironic as the nearby Oxford Museum had the last known full specimen but a clerk had thrown it out, believing it to be garbage.