TravelStream™ news feed for member lrandal on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lrandal en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:17 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254331751/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254331751/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254331751/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:17 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

Yesterday I woke up in a half-tester bed in Luggers Hall, an elegant Georgian-style house now a B&B, in Broadway, heart of the Cotswolds, and went to bed in what the British would call "a bit average" room in the Embassy Suites in DC. It was utterly disorienting. Jet travel gets your body there, but not your mind.

Today I am holed up in the bit-average hotel room, napping and trying to catch up.

We checked out of our London flat on Saturday morning, me with a BROKEN TOE due to banging barefoot into bed leg the night before. This was not going to deter me from getting out of the flat, taking a cab to Waterloo station to store luggage for a few hours, going off to British Museum, having lunch there, taking a look around (it's on the scale of The Metropolitan Museum in NYC, hopeless beyond more than a toe-dip--no pun--and general orientation), getting back to Waterloo, and reclaiming impossibly heavy luggage. Back at Waterloo, dashing for a train to Guildford where we were to meet up with my cousin and her husband, I dropped Jerry's rail pass into The Gap! Oh, yes! Damned thing slipped between the platform and the train, just lay/laid there, beyond reach. Jerry paced around, in and out of train car, which was filling up, finally hailing a lady conductress, who brought a special implement meant to reach into The Gap. She managed to retrieve the ticket, and we went on to Guildford. Good-by London, I waved from the train. Been fun, but a bit hectic and perhaps a few days too long.

Marion and David collected us at Guildford and we hurtled along part of the beltway around London and then off to Banbury and a very fresh, all mod-con Holiday Inn Express. Next morning, we took off to the Cotswolds and Brailes, the village my mother's family has hailed from for many generations (we're talking 1600's here, and earlier). Met up at the local pub with three cousins I haven't seen in 50 years, not since 1959. I was much-fussed over, given two recent books on history of Brailes, inscribed by all present, photographed, and led into a private dining room where all eight of us had a Sunday dinner of roasted meats, Yorkshire pudding, etc. Dessert was treacle pudding--a sponge cake soaked in golden syrup, with custard poured over the lot. It was the sweetest dessert I've ever tasted, but did that stop me? Oh, no! Or Jerry? Gobbled it up.

Then we went for a cuppa (all the time, everywhere, one is desired; my mother was like this, The National Thirst) at my cousin Janet's house in a nearby village, Shipston-on-Stour. After an hour or so, we all said good-by, and my cousin Sheila, now in her seventies, hugged me for a long time and said, "I feel I've known you all my life. Don't wait another 50 years to come back."I felt be-tribed----I have a family! In California, it's me and Madeleine, no cousins, aunts, grandparents, blood-relations. In England, I have many people who knew my mother and love me as one of them. It was profound and teary moment.

Marion and David drove us to Luggers Hall B&B, which really is indescribably elegant, out-of-a-magazine beautiful--the fabrics, colors, antiques, all flawless. The couple who run it, Kay and Red, even own an Aga stove. Oh, how many novels I've read that mention an Aga! Which is a a huge and expensive iron stove. Kay demonstrated how it works--it's always on, fueled by gas, and this model has four ovens, each at a different temp, and two enormous burners, ditto. You learn to cook/bake by instinct, choosing the right compartment/burner for whatever you're cooking. The entire contraption--theirs is a beautiful red--is cast iron and is never turned off. It radiates a comforting warmth to the kitchen and beyond, not that it was cold while we were there. It's expensive to buy and to run. Kay figures it costs 8 pounds a day to keep it going 24/7.

Jerry and I had the Green Room, upstairs, with ensuite very good-sized bathroom. All paint on trim everywhere gleaming white and unchipped. All sorts of antiques and other things, including fresh flowers, reflect remarkable taste (and fun). Marion and David had a small apartment at the top of this very large house,self-contained with a kitchenette and sitting room. The first night, the four of us picnicked there, eating part of a basket of food left for their breakfast, including eggs. Just perfect, didn't have to go out.

End of Chapter One of the Cotswolds Visit. It was magical and moving. And I haven't even gotten to the honey-colored stone villages that somehow defy (with one or two exceptions) Carmel-ish commercialization. But trust me, you need a devoted cousin and her spouse who can read maps and know the area and whiz down narrow country lanes. Without this, we would have been lost...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1255027729/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1255027729/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1255027729/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:44:25 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Berkeley, California, United States

Yes, we're home, as of 11 pm yesterday. Catatonic might describe my state. Feel run over by a great big airplane.

Try to avoid United Airlines, particularly steerage. Definitely Jet-Blue it if they have a plane going wherever you're going (and they do to and from Boston,). We were in Slightly Better Steerage, having sprung for Economy Plus, a little more money for a lot more leg room. But cabin service is pouty and grudging; passengers, ticked at having to pay to check bags and with a million other irritants, are busy taking out their frustration on each other, jamming carry-ons into bins, pushing seats way into fellow sufferers' laps. Etc. A long and tedious flight, strong head winds. My head, desperate for sleep, rolled around, unable to anchor. Claudia picked us up at SFO and conveyed safely and speedily home.

Yesterday was splendid until the plane stage. Met up with Leah at Davis Square, which I would say is the Tufts University equivalent of Southside, in the sense of student restaurants and shops (though not in terms of edginess, if you know what I mean; and not missed by me, wearied by 40 years of it). My friend Judy Hanlon had suggested Dave's for sandwiches, which Leah rejected, too boring. She'd heard of a restaurant called Red Bones. The three of us marched all around looking for this restaurant, in a light but billowing rain. Finally, a woman with a speech impediment rescued us, having watched this circular march, and directed us, with some effort, to the restaurant.

Guess what? Red Bones--so surprising--specializes in MEAT, and we were with an avid vegetarian, who was very disappointed. She settled for mac 'n cheese and steamed broccoli. Jerry and I enjoyed excellent pulled pork sandwiches and cole slaw. I recommend the place; Leah does not.

After that, we walked up to Tufts and her dorm room, which, over lunch, we had decided to attack because it felt "unhomey." This is right up my alley, and Jerry is a valuable, if reluctant, co-decorator, in the sense that he measures and says what will fit where, before actually moving anything. He and Leah measured, all info was discouraging in terms of rearranging, and finally I said to hell with it, let's just start pushing things around and see how it FEELS. You see the contrast in marital approaches. Leah and I pushed, Jerry shook his head, and we came up with a much better arrangement for her side of the room. She felt quite pleased. We did not touch her roommate's side; Leah is very respectful of the boundaries. But Leah's side looks and FEELS much better.

Then off to Logan via cab, Leah off to French class, big hugs, visit had gone too fast, she said. We'll see her in 5-6 weeks for Thanksgiving.

So the four-week trip is over, and epic it was. Highlights: seeing cousins I hadn't seen in 50 years and exploring my English roots, which have been tugging at me, and then topping it off with the treat of Leah B. But there were many other satisfying encounters and adventures along the way.

Now am waiting around for the 20-pound box of printed matter memories to arrive and wonder, like the postal clerk in DC, what the hell I'm going to do with it all. No matter...




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254920572/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254920572/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254920572/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:37:30 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Oh, the poignancy of it! Bear with me.

Yesterday after a very smooth exit from DC--prompt cab to Dulles, quick flight/baggage/cab to hotel--we met up with Leah at her dormitory at Tufts. She came flying out of its front door after I let her know we were standing out in front, and when she appeared, I said, "Leah B!" Hugs. Then she told me I had been kind of LOUD.

Had the dorm tour, and I have to say, I cannot believe I lived in such quarters for two years myself. Half a room for all your stuff, another person around all the time (a very nice roommate named Linh, there folding laundry), blah institutional paint job. But a good-sized room in this case and at the very end of the hall, which would be my choice. The hall window has a spectacular view of Boston in the distance.

Had Jerry take photos of me and Leah standing in front of her bed with the quilt I made for her, one of Leah sitting on her bed and of course several the room and the roommate's half of the room. ETC. Then we set off to look at the campus.

It was a beautiful, clear, fall day, and Leah gave us the complete tour. Lots of red brick, some old and appealing buildings, though the numerous dorms tend to be rather block-ish, Leah admits. Two quads. Lots of elephant statues (Jumbo is the mascot). A big, handsome president's house with a perfectly tended, sloping lawn on which students are allowed (!). People greeted Leah by name as we walked around campus--I tried to imagine this at UC Berkeley. When she stopped to talk to people, I realized that she is so bubbly and friendly no one can resist, and then, as Jerry pointed out to me later, she seems surprised at how nice they are to her.

The leaves are starting to turn, and I took numerous photos of trees ablaze with color, and then began picking up a few leaves to put in my trip scrapbook of odds and ends. Leah looked for the most colorful and handed them to me, and I was taken back to neighborhood walks with her when she was eight.

We parted before her 6:30 pm class, and she asked me with shining eyes if I would meet her friends the next day (today). I said, sure! She wandered off to her dining commons, which through a window looked very nice: low-lit, various food stations with granite counters, like a pleasant restaurant. It is open all day into the night, no set hours. She complained that the dining commons is so close to her room that she smells fried meat all the time, tough for a vegetarian, but she seems to have fun going there with her pals.

We got a cab back to our hotel and later ordered in (pizza). Not having a car is a bit of a dilemma--we don't want to drive in Boston & environs, but it would be very handy to have one to get to Tufts and restaurants, because there are none within walking distance.

Today we meet Leah at Davis Square at noon for lunch. This morning Jerry's gone off by taxi to Harvard to do a couple of hours work and I'm pulling myself together, then we'll all meet up at Davis Square. Then another look at Tufts, meet the friends, marvel at what how at ease and happy she seems and leave for Logan Airport at 4:15. At six, we board a plane for San Francisco.

Sad to say good-by to Leah, but she is doing very well on her own, and I think as much as she is SO GLAD (her caps) to see us, there's the tug of her new world. Which is as it should be, but I think, hell, it all went SO FAST (my caps), from 4-1/2 when she appeared at my front door with a basket of fruit, to an 18 year old who is 3000 miles from home and seems well-launched into a new life.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254780139/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254780139/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254780139/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:28:03 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

I have a small loose stack of fall leaves on the desk next to the computer, green/gold and dry. I felt the bite of fall in the air today for the first time, which was too bad because after a week of wearing jeans-and-toe-supportive-shoes, I put on a skirt and sandals. Oh, well. Wasn't bad. Refreshing.

A few highlights before I close up blog-shop in DC:

1. Had wonderful time yesterday solo-touristing, mostly at the Renwick Gallery. The 2009 Renwick Gallery Invitational exhibit was featured, and I was a goner, even buying the catalog, despite my recent unloading of nearly 20 pounds of printed matter (or maybe because of it). Told myself it was for my qilt mini-group, the No Problems, particularly for the knitters among them: I think you will love the work of Mark Newport, who knits gigantic costumes for superheroes, those we know and some he invented, such as "Sweaterman" and "Bobbleman." He also showed a quilt of laminated comic book pages. And then there was the tape of a performance piece in which he sits in a chair in a cream colored hero suit, with built-in gloves and feet, not to mention a hood obscuring his face, and knits to the Lone Ranger music. Loved the other work in that show, too. And the scale of that gallery is good, not overwhelming.

2. Delighted w/all that I had lunch at a place nearby called Pot Belly, which was apt because I am definitely developing one. Too many trip treats. Esp. carrot cake in England, for some reason.

3. THEN walked over to look at the Obama White House. I can tell it is much happier. Took many pictures of it from different angles. No sign of Obama, but some other tourists were convinced they'd seen Biden and wife coming out of West Wing. All this viewed through the iron railing, of course. And many police watching us.

4. Walked two long blocks (DC blocks seem so damned long) to the Commerce Dept., where there's a half-assed White House visitor's center, now that the average tourist can't actually go in the WH. Everything was still Bushed! Oh, yes! I chose a sympathetic young male clerk in the gift shop and voiced a complaint. "He's gone!" I said. "Thank God! Now why is he featured in video and guidebook?" He said new versions were on their way. I asked if I were the first person to ask about this and he shook his head and smiled, "No."

Many homeless wander the nation's capital. Twice I've had them stare at me in public places, which made me feel intimidated until I realized they were hypervigilant and doing it to everyone.

Also--a special message to Wendy and Elisabeth: Went to see a big show of WPA paintings at the National Museum of American Art, and near the entrance, pride of place, was a big painting of the Golden Gate Bridge under construction, only the north tower built, with a wonderful view over Ft. Point toward Marin. I swooned. Looked at the label: Ray Strong, 1933-34! How I wish they'd had a postcard of it.

I did went to the WPA show with Sarah Burns, wife of one of Jerry's Smithsonian colleagues and an old friend. She lives in Virginia and came into the District to meet me. Her husband is Ken Burns's uncle, and of course the National Park series has been on the past week--we've been trying to keep up with it. I don't know if you remember a fascinating part where they feature a couple in the 30's-40's (I think) who went to many parks, just the two of them, the husband eventually rigging up what must have been one of the first campers. After the husband died, the wife took one last National Park trip and wrote after she returned home, to paraphrase, "I felt as though a jeweled coat had fallen from my shoulders, and I'd forgotten what it felt like to wear it." I thought that was so beautiful, and so did Sarah. She had already decided to ask Ken how he got that woman's writings.

Tomorrow to Boston at midday out of Dulles. Tonight I call Leah to set up the particulars...

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254603249/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254603249/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254603249/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:17:52 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

Well, first I have to get off my chest the fact that THE FIRST LADIES HALL IS GREATLY REDUCED DUE TO REMODELING! Oh, yes! The only inaugural dresses on display were Laura Bush's (dowdy and sparkly, an odd combination) and that blue-and-gold ensemble Rosalynn Carter wore, purchased in Plains, Georgia, not a fave of mine. Overall, the National Museum of American History is very interesting, much to see, and thronged, but my first-choice gallery was a disappointment.

Jerry's daughter Carrie and her husband, Tim, arrived at Union Station last night from Richmond, Virginia, and are spending two nights with us at the same hotel. They (and Jerry) were very tolerant of my limping haste to get to the First Ladies hall today and agreed re its meagreness.

Highlights of the museum were Julia Child's kitchen, right down to her fridge magnets and umpteen knives; an exhibit about Lincoln (talk about the right man at the right time but whose wife was RATHER cuckoo); and seeing the new setting for the Stars and Stripes, the very flag that inspired the writing of the national anthem. Poor thing is like a ratty old quilt in a way, one that's had a lot of wear. It resides in new quarters, dimly lit, to be viewed in its scentifically sterile case. It's enormous, something like 30 x 34 feet. Ralph Lauren led the fund-raising for this project.

Hordes of tourists everywhere, of course, this being a Saturday and all. Most wore running shoes, many wore shorts. It was quite a different scene from London. No scarves and very few flats, which in London are ubiquitous; flats on women of all ages. Today was out-and-out pure-grade touristing and who has to dress up for THAT? Not me, although Ellen, please tell Iris that I wore my bracelets.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254515859/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254515859/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1254515859/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:12:50 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

Today, broken toe and all, I hobbled to the nearest post office, several blocks away, dragging my roller bag full of guidebooks and other ephemera of tourism (tea towels, primarily, for my fantasy tea towel quilt). By the time I got there, I was sweating. Claudia said they have boxes of all sizes at the PO now, so I didn't need to bring one, but I didn't know where to begin.

I was immediately intercepted by sdomeone I will call St. Lucille, who said, "Honey, what do you need?" She was one of the new lobby-greeters the PO has now. I explained the situation. She had me open the suitcase, right there in front of God and everybody, and shook her head. She thought outloud the best way to handle it--19 pounds of God knows what--produced a box, had me fill it, saw it was too small, produced a bigger one, taped it up, escorted me to a self-service counter, and weighed the damned thing. Shook her head at $43 price tag and told me to take out all the tea towels--which she pointed out to me were a lot less heavy that guidebook.s She ripped off the tape, I pulled out the teatowels, she produced yet another box, and had me fill it with just the printed matter.

A nearby clerk, watching me do this, called out, "What're you going to do with all that stuff when you get home?" Ha! Good question! "File it," I said. She shook her head and laughed.

Lucille taped up the box and carried it to the counter. I said, "I want to write a letter to your supervisor because you really helped me out today." She wrote down the info and her full name: Lucille Porter. Then another saint (possibly a sub-saint) named Theodora, a clerk, weighed and muttered, and offered me the opportunity to pay $77 to mail it to Berkeley in two days, or to pay $11.67, including insurance, to get it there in a week. I thanked her. I had her write her name down. The stress of it all triggered a hot flash and she turned on her own personal fan and directed it at me.

Got back to hotel and immediately wrote letter to their supervisor, commending their kindness and efficiency. And the practicality of having a fan.

This was the highlight of the day in a city with confusing angled avenues,muggy weather, and everyone but me wearing an important ID badge around their neck.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253875577/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253875577/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253875577/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:59:21 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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London, England, United Kingdom

Picture this: Jerry sitting on a lower step of stairs in our flat, me standing over him holding an LED flashlight, him using wood glue, thankfully found in a drawer, to stick a pointy wooden ear back on an African mask. That was last night. He'd missed the bottom step and fallen, taking the mask down with him. (I'd missed the same step last year and sprained my ankle.)

This morning, the ear was firmly stuck back on but the break was obvious to the eye--and we have a substantial damage deposit on this place. So we reassumed our positions, Jerry armed with a brown felt-tip pen, trying to ink over the crack. Didn't work. Began to think about deposit going down the drain--the thing looked like a Cost Plus item, low-cost, but who knew? Finally Jerry suggested we try my mascara as a concealer. Reluctant to sacrifice it, but did remembered I had an eyeliner pencil that might work. Tried that. Now the ear back on, break not discernible unless you know to look for it. Eyeliner to be re-sharpened.

Such are the current adventures. Last night, the classical music in bedroom could not be turned off by the remote (the only control we have for it). In desperation, I tried punching some buttons, any button, on one of many black boxes in an electronics-only closet near front door, and mercifully Bach ceased and we went to bed.

We bagged it today on visiting another old house (Charleston, Virginia's Woolf's painter-sister's) and are regrouping. May have lunch on Brompton road somewhere and then pick up take-out for dinner from Baker & Spice in Chelsea, highly recommended by Claudia Alldredge. Also, need to do laundry in washer that takes about 3 hours per cycle, and things emerge overcooked in a wrinkly knot.

Yesterday's jaunt to Darwin's house, which is out in the country, was very successful. Tube-tube-train to South Croydon and then driven in people-carrier/minivan by my cousin Clement and his wife, May, to a pub for lunch, then on to Down House, which has an excellent second-floor museum, and then downstairs rooms as they were lived in by family, including the very study where Darwin wrote Origin of Species. He was a family man with ten children and a happy marriage! Who knew? Independently wealthy and with a curiosity that didn't quit, helped by the fact that his wife was a Wedgewood of china fame/income.

Jerry caught a butterfly (by hand, no net) in Darwin's large garden and plans to smuggle it home.

After that, we took a train back to Victoria station, where it was so mobbed I just about melted down (tabloid headline: Calif Woman Throws Self on Station Floor, Trampled as Wailing). This city is the crossroads of the world, no doubt about it,and there are way too many people on those roads.

We're off to the Cotswolds tomorrow, after one last London Walk, at the British Museum. Driven to in a TAXI!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253649713/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253649713/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253649713/tpod.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:00:50 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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London, England, United Kingdom

I'm beginning to see what a huge factor PBS has been in planning my travel agenda. Yesterday, we went to Foyle's Books, an enormous and well-organized bookstore in central London (and they had a copy of Jerry's new book!). Maybe you've seen some of the Foyle's War episodes on PBS--the adventures of an English policeman named Foyle during World War II. The writer of the series, Anthony Horowitz, named it after the bookstore; I read that while he pondering possible titles, he found himself standing near Foyle's and decided that was the answer. I bought two paperbacks by British authors, both memoirs. Jerry resisted any purchases but took a lot of notes about what to order from Amazon when he gets home.

Then we walked several blocks to the Holborn tube station and met up with the "Inns of Court" walking tour offered by London Walks. We took one of their tours to Greenwich last year and really enjoyed it, so we thought we'd try another. We had a guide named Alan, who was nimble (very good for crossing streets in London), and with a loud voice (helpful because is noisy area). He marched a group of about 35 of us, many Americans, around the four Inns of Court: Gray's, Lincoln's, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. Dickens worked in one; Samuel Johnson in another. One Inn was wiped out by bombs during World War II, and the American Bar Association paid to rebuild it very much in its former style. The inns were originally housing and college for law students; now they are professional organizations and every UK barrister must belong to one of them AND eat dinner in the inn dining hall three times a year, no matter where he or she lives.

There are beautiful courtyard gardens on this tour. Each inn reminiscent of a well-endowed eastern U.S. college. Barristers in inky-black suits and starched white shirts occasionally emerged from the old brick buildings. The women barristers wear black skirt-suits and pumps. We stopped by a shop that supplies the barristers robes and the white wigs that British judges and barristers wear. The wigs cost about 300 pounds,and anyone can buy one. A sign of a seasoned barrister is that his/her wig is yellow and a bit dirty, so the tradition is to buy a wig and then trample around on it a bit on the dirty cobblestones outside the shop.

But! If I hadn't watched many, many episodes of Rumple of the Bailey, I would have been LOST. The guide would mention pupils of barristers, and I'd think of Liz Probert. He'd mention clerks ("clarks"),and I'd think of Henry. Etc.

Today we walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum and saw a truly comprehensive ceramics show--from dishes you eat off to objects made from clay that are nonfunctional, really sculptures. And everything in between. My sister's china pattern was among those displayed, to my surprise. The V&A has just opened this exhibit as part of a huge renovation of various departments. These new ceramics galleries are very appealing, spacious, and well-lit, with both artificial and natural light.

After that, we walked through Hyde Park and viewed the Diana Memorial, which is not very impressive, I have to say. A large, oblong, circular channel of running water, the whole works so low and unobstrusive you almost miss it. The signs make a point of the EXPENSE of the memorial, the best stone and design, a natural spring under it, etc. Still, not so impressive.

Oh, dear, this is long--sorry, two days at once. We're out and about for shorter times each day and nap as soon as we get back to the flat. More than about 8 days of urban sightseeing is too much for our age and stage, and we have four more days in London! I announced today that we are going to be making use of taxis, rather than taking the tube, at the end of the day--just too wearying dealing with the mobs and changing at various stations.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253518176/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253518176/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253518176/tpod.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:42:11 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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Cranleigh, England, United Kingdom

It was a marathon of a day: nearly 12 hours from the time we left our London flat until we returned, another tube-tube-train/tube-tube-train day, which is no picnic on a Sunday, when the authorities do a lot of maintenance work and close down Underground lines willy nilly. A key tube line to Waterloo train station was shut down, which required a frantic reassessment of our route. Jerry is good at this. I am impatient and try to remember of BART ever does such a thing.

We leapt on the train at Waterloo at the last possible moment, rode for nearly a hour, stopping at every tree. My cousin's husband, David, collected us at the Guildford station, good-humored and resigned to the vagaries of Sunday travel, having waited at least half an hour for us. We arrived at their house in Cranleigh with three boxes of mini-cupcakes (immediately opened, viewed, and admired) and three pieces of my dad's Asian porcelain as a gift, personally hauled here in my carry-on bag, taped up in bubble wrap.

The day was warm enough so that we could eat outside, and Marion and David had moved their dining room table out on the patio, under an open-sided tent, with nearby small tables with wine glasses and bottles at the ready. My cousin Clement, whom I hadn't seen since 1959, arrived first. Still well over 6 feet tall but no longer a beanpole, he brought his wife, May with him in a tiny red Fiesta. Then his sister Sally arrived--I last saw her when she visited us in California in 1977. "Oh, you look so glamorous!" was her first comment to me. Glamorous in my crinkly easy-pack skirt and t-shirt, closing in on 60! She's a year younger than I am, a teacher,and I would say makes similar stabs at glamour from just about the same bottle of blonde goop. We compared notes.

A lunch of salads and cold-cuts, plus Gallo wine (made in Europe and highly praised), and then plum crumble with fresh fruit in rosewater, with custard poured over the lot. Someone commented that they don't know how American live without custard poured on desserts, shook their heads over that. Jerry and I made the best of it--choice of clotted cream or custard, both delicious.

Two of Marion's children arrived for tea later, with their spouses and children, five kids total, including one with butter-colored hair named Oscar, aged two. The oldest, Maisie, aged 13, has a beautiful, open face, and the crisp, polite, enchanting accent of British children.

The cupcakes: The kids were mad on them, had to be restrained. Marion gave the older children plates of them to carry out into the garden, where we all sat, and many cupcakes were consumed in transit. Someone ate the Violet one Claire made for me! Oh, well. The chocolate and lemon ones were especially big hits.

There were hilarious moments: David telling us about a recent trip to the "tip" (dump), where he discovered there is now a "Bra Bin" for discarded bras, which are shipped off to African countries. He thought it was especially funny that the bra bin has two holes. I said, who wants bras with shot elastic? Lots of people, apparently, he said. I pondered if a man could really understand the annoyance of loose straps...

And everyone was confused about why Americans cite the British National Health system as a reason not to have a government program, especially Marion's son's wife, who is a doctor. I said we didn't understand it either, but the American public had the impression that people with serious illnesses had to wait a long time to be treated for it. But they all said no, if someone is diagnosed with cancer,for example, they are immediately treated aggressively and for free. Hip replacements are another story; it's considered optional, and you're put on a waiting list.

We caught the 7 pm train back to London, idly pondering how on earth we can stuff the remaining things-to-do into the next week without overdoing it. A conference this morning on that. Still on the list; Darwin's house (in Kent), Vanessa Bell/Virginia Woolf's houses (ditto), Churchill's country home, and Oxford. Plus things in London. I'm taking a deep breath and getting ready to give up on some of these outings. Next time?


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253374231/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253374231/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrandal/6/1253374231/tpod.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:34:23 -0500 Another London Odyssey (plus DC, plus Boston)

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London, England, United Kingdom

It's been one of those largely unplanned days, and a very satisfying one. The only item on our agenda was to take the Underground to the Broadway street market in Hackney and pick up three boxes of mini-cupcakes from Claire Ptak, who runs a stall there on Saturdays. (For those of you who don't know, Claire is the daughter of my Inverness friend Elisabeth. Claire used to be a pastry chef at Chez Panisse and is now married to an Englishman and lives in London.)

Well! Claire said it would take an hour to get there, and it did, because we're in west London and she's in east. We emerged, per her instructions, at the Bethnal Green tube station, utterly bewildered by signs pointing this way and that, none to the Broadway market. I asked a news vendor, and he pointed us down the street several blocks and said to turn left at Broadway. We walked for about 15 minutes, didn't see Broadway, and finally asked a passerby for directions. The neighborhood is full of immigrants from Asia and Africa, it seems to me, plus lots of young people who probably can't afford London rents anywhere else. It feels vital, energetic, and interesting (a sign for Somali Day Care, for example; a branch of the V&A called Museum of Childhood). We turned left at Andrews Street and walked along a canal, straight into the annual Hackney Peace Walk 2009, a friendly bunch escorted by police in yellow vests. Passed that considerable group and found Broadway. Turned right and found Claire's stall, called "Violet," right away, among the bustling throngs buying everything from pastries, postcards, and produce. Among other things.

And there was Claire herself, looking busy and stylish and very much in charge. We hugged, she took an i-phone picture of me to send to her mother, and she handed me an elegant bag of mini-cupcakes (both the bag and the cupcakes are elegant). She suggested some of her favorite lunch spots (stalls) and we explored the length of the market, chose our favorites: tarragon pork sandwich for me, egg/cheese/ham-filled enormous folded crepe for Jerry. We walked over to a nearby park, London Fields, sat under a sycamore tree, and ate lunch. We watched a most adorable and industrious toddler girl lug a small scooter around, as fast and as far she could. Chubby legs in red tights and a gray-and-white flowered dress, pacifier in her mouth at all times. Over and over, her mother, watchful but not hovering, would scoop her up and haul her and the scooter back to the family group, only to have the little girl drag the scooter back to a paved path (she never did figure out the function of wheels). A spirited and brave little soul, very fun to watch.

After that, we walked back through the market, and I stopped to buy a couple of dessert treats for us since the mini-cupcakes are for a family gathering tomorrow. Claire said a slice of coconut cake and a cookie I was about to buy were on the house, even though we'd gotten a "family discount" on the cupcake! Very generous! We took a couple more photos of her in action and then made our way back to the tube station.

And that was the end of the afternoon. I sat on our little deck, ate part of the slice of coconut cake (competing with Jerry) and painted my toenails in the sunshine. Now for a nap....
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