Summaries: Tom's Best Of, Lessons Learned, Do or Prefer to Be Different

My Best Memories:

1. Camden Lock Market

2. Brick Lane Market

3. Wallace Sewell for scarves

4. Seeing the Queen on the day she opened Parliament

5. Having an english pub experience with 'mates' at Cask Beer with Tom & Richard

6. Meeting the Lord

7. Indian Food -- the best food in London!

8. Listening to bag pipes, while drinking Scotch whisky, in Scotland.

9. The pro shop at St. Andrews Old Course

10. Doing extensive whisky and beer research throughout the trip

11. Speaking English -- simply because it made everything else easier.

12. Having the time to talk to bartenders, e.g. Euston Cider, Queen's Gate, the Draft House, Craft Beer Co.

13. Courtald Museum.

14. Politeness.

15. Parliament, Minister's questions.

Do Differently/Prefer to be Different:

1. The weather in London.

2. Glasgow

3. Harrods and the department stores

4. Exchange rates!

5. Not getting to feel as entrenched/local

6. The Tate Museums

Lessons Learned:

1. Priceline is especially useful when all you care about is a class of service and a general location in a city.

2. GPS always!

3. Jetlag: a quiet place to stay, access to mass transport, wifi

4. Multiple museum passes

5. Do the prep in advance -- it will never be enough, but it will enhance your stay

6. Be alert at TSA!  Lable everything with name and address

7. Carry a small notebook: stuff to tell MJP, directions, blog ideas, research, etc.

8. Cell phones -> ipad data plans

9. Pack less -> you'll never see these people agian.

10 Search out hobby experiences, i.e. english beers/pubs

Research

1. Saturday, April 21, Brewdog, 8.
2. Monday, April 23, White Horse, 9
3. Wednesday, April 25, Queen's Gate, 2; Tea Clipper, 1
4. Thursday, April 26, Craft Beer Co., 4
5. Friday, April 27, Sainsbury, Havana Club Especial
6. Saturday, April 28, Nag's Head, 4
7. Sunday, April 29, Hawksmoor
8. Monday, April 30, The Draft House at the Tower Bridge, 2
9. Tuesday, May 1,Brewdog, 2 (Camden) Lock Tavern, 1; Adnams wine tasting.
10. Thursday, May 3rd, Porterhouse Brewing, 1
11. Friday, May 4th, Cask Pub & Kitchen, 2
12. Monday, May 7th, Euston Tap, 4
13. Wednesday, May 9th, The Harp, 3
14. Thursday, May 10th, Craft Beer Co, 4
15. Sunday, May 13th, Churchill Arms, 2, Scarsdale Tavern, 2
16. Monday, May 14th, Cask Pub & Kitchen, 4
17. Tuesday, May 17th, Euston Cider, 3
17a. Wine: Nicholas, Sainsbury, ?, 3
18. Wednesday, May 16th, The King's Head, 4
19. Friday, May 18th, Market Porter, 2
20. Saturday, May 19th, Whiski Room, 9S
21. Sunday, May 20th, Bow Bar, 2, Whiski Room, 8S, 1
22. Monday, May 21st, Red Squirrel, 2
23. Tuesday, May 22rd, Culloden House, 2S
24. Wednesday, May 23rd, Culloden House, 2S, Clynehish, 3S, Glenmorangie, 4S, Glen Ord, 1S
24. Thursday, May 24th, Cardhu, 6S, Culloden House, 1S
25. Saturday, May 26th, Hilton, 3
26. Sunday, May 27th, Craigwood House Hotel, 1
27. Tuesday, May 29th, British Airways, 3NSNB

Total Beer: 70
Total Scotch: 35

Last 24 hours May 28-29

We decided that our hotel, with it's views and pleasant surroundings, was more compelling than chasing down one more castle or ruin.  So, after a full English breakfast, we simply decided to stay put, till around 2pm.  We had, through Priceline ($100, 4*, again a great deal) made great hotel reservations at Heathrow and knew it would take us around 5 hours to drive down.  We planned some time to repack for the airport, but had no reason to rush, so we simply enjoyed views and read.

Ultimately though, we did need to get on the road.  And, we made great time.  While spending over $100 on diesel fuel!  Parenthetically, there seems to be an imbalance between US and European fuel prices.  Historically, theirs have been 4 times ours, but this time it was only 2x.  We're not sure if ours have risen to distort things, or theirs haven't kept pace.  Be interesting to know.

On the drive down, we made great time.  The GPS loyally kept us on track.  And as we went, we realized that we did have an hour or two to spare.  And the GPS confirmed that a side trip to Oxford would only cost us 15 minutes additional driving time.  So, we stopped there.  What a gorgeous college town!  I've always been (excessively) proud of my alma mater, William & Mary.  Oxford puts it to shame.  And, it's only an hour outside of London.  So, something we now have back of mind is to come back some summer and take a class at Oxford.  Also, one last meal at Pret a Manger (they're everywhere!)

Back on the road.  Check in.  Repack.  Asleep.  Next morning turn in the car and then T5 at Heathrow.

The flight back seemed short.  Possibly a combination of Kir Royals and Drambuie, but I'll take it!  The drive from LAX to our house, however, took nearly 2 hours.  Or, about 2x what it should have.

****

Footnote.  Two weeks into the trip, while in London, I'd checked my home cell phone's voicemail to find a message from the TSA.  They'd found the toilet articles that I'd (they'd caused me to) left behind.  They told me that my stuff would be destroyed in 30 days.  I begged that I wouldn't be back for 42 days and they relented.  So, the day after we got back, I drove down to LAX and picked up my stuff.  One more editorial comment here.  Maxine lost her eyeglasses on a bus in London and they have an entire office of people there to find and return things to you.  At LAX, as big as it is, they have (seriously here) a single file cabinet with stuff to return.  Somehow it just doesn't seem like the TSA cares as much to return things as London Transport does...

Photos -- back in Britain

Next 3 pictures are Caerlaverock Castle.  The 3rd is the "old" castle...

  

Hadrian's wall

Countryside near the wall

Sheep grazing near Birdeswell Fort, which protects the wall

The views from our hotel in the Lake District

May 27th -- Leaving Scotland, Lake District

Maxine was driving and got pulled over for running a red light...

But, remember the Scottish are nice.  So, after the 2 police officers talked to her in their squad car and a)determined that it was an innocent mistake, and b)that she was American and that (I'm guessing here) it would be inconvenient to try to give her a ticket, not only did they let her go, they drove ahead of us to guide us on to the freeway!  Seriously nice people there.  And, maybe the glorious weather throughout the Scotland segment of our trip helped.

But, we were leaving Scotland.  One last sight thanks to our friend who sold us the National Historic sights tickets back in Elgin.  We stopped in at Caerlaverock Castle.  More old ruins.  I should digress and mention that a friend of Maxine's told her that's what we should expect in Scotland.  The history is amazing.  At Caerlaverock not only was there the ruin of  the castle, but there was the ruin a couple hundred yards away of the predecessor castle from the 1200's.

From Caerlaverock, we drove across the border, stopping at THE border, Hadrian's wall.  We were near the town of Carlisle at Birdeswell  Fort.  The wall, and the fort were built when the Romans controlled the region.  I'm paraphrasing here, but it seems that the Romans felt that they could work with the British, but that the Scots were just too out of control.  So, rather than expend the effort, they build a long long wall to keep them on the other site, away from 'civilization'.  It's part of history!

I should mention that although we don't have any photos, the SINGLE Sheltie that we saw was at Hadrian's wall.  We'd expected wild packs of them roaming the Scottish countryside, or at least herding Scottish sheep, but it wasn't until we were back in Britain that we saw one.

Some very winding single lane roads through the Lake District and we were at our last sightseeing hotel, Cragwood House in the town of Windermere.  Beautiful place.  Great room.  Views onto the lake.  Good dinner.  And, yes, I did try the local beer -- Coniston Brewing's Bluebird Bitter.

May 26th -- Sterling Castle and Glasgow

We hadn't read that much that made Glasgow seem interesting, so we only planned 2 nights and really just one day there.  And, on top of that, we knew that the other big castle in Scotland (after Edinburgh) was midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  So, that was our first stop for the Glasgow day, to drive 45 minutes east to Sterling Castle.

Which gave our GPS a bit of amusement.  We haven't updated the European maps on it in 2 years, during which time they've added to the major highway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  We drove it, despite our GPS warning us that we were somehow just driving through fields.

Sterling IS a big castle.  If you're nearby, go see it.  We didn't go to the William Wallace Monument, although we did drive into the parking lot (that's what we get for not trusting the GPS!)  There is a Braveheart/Wallace connection to the castle.  History....!

We were back in Glasgow by early afternoon for what we'd conceived of as the other thing to do while based here, to check out Charles Rennie Macintosh's designs.  We did.  Honestly, not really worth it as a reason to be in Glasgow.  So, we walked around the city some and bought some food from Marks & Spencer for dinner.  Back at the hotel, it was looking just too gorgeous to stay in the room. 6 or 7 at night, the sun was still high in the sky and the river looked inviting.  The hotel has an outdoor restaurant along the river, so we found a shady table to enjoy the end of the day.  I had local beers (of course): Caledonian Brewing's Twisted & Bitter, and Unicorn Brewing's Cheshire Chocolate Porter.  We had some snacks and enjoyed our last evening in Scotland.

One more story about nice Scottish people.  When I asked the waitress for the beer her reply was, "Of course you can!".  Difficult to explain in print, but it was just a nice attitude.

Various pictures from Sterling Castle below...

Western Scotland Pictures

One of the monitors on the ship so passengers could keep an eye out for the Loch Ness Monster

On Loch Ness

Town of Oban, with the distillery in the foreground -- we missed it by an hour!

May 25th -- South: Loch Ness, Loch Lormond, Driving Day

Our last night at Culloden House comes to an end.  We like not having the pressure to get out early for our next sight, so we dawdle over breakfast, planning our day.  But, eventually, we have to leave.  Checkout is easy and while I'm bringing the car around, they bring down our luggage.

First stop is Urquahart Castle.  It's a ruin along Loch Ness.  We get in free with our Scottish National Parks pass.

From there we continue south along the Loch to Ft. Augustus.  I'm pleased that our GPS seems to be leading us along properly, but it's pretty bad at estimating travel times since it assumes we can travel as fast as the speed limits permit, which we can't.  We arrive at the boat dock (our next stop) just minutes before it's going to leave.  We park the car along the road, and I hope that it will be there (not towed and not ticketed) when we return (it is).  The boat trip is on Loch Ness.  It's a combination of an hour out on the water with pleasant scenery, mixed with a schlocky back story narration about the Loch Ness Monster over the speakers.  Mostly we ignore that but enjoy the time on the water.  Despite the silliness, it is worth having done.

We take a slight detour to head to the oceanfront town of Oban.  In an earlier iteration of planning for this trip, we'd expected to be taking the ferry from Oban to Islay, for the whiskies.  But, it was going to cost us nearly $200 and take 2 days to do that level of detour, so we'd settled for a shorter visit.  Dinner along the water.  Maxine buys a fresh fish salad from a guy with a truck, and we end with ice cream from another truck.  That guy is particularly nice and we spend some time talking to him.  It really helps that sunset isn't till well after 9pm, so we enjoy a few more minutes in the sun, with the water.  Oban was worth the detour and we wonder if or when we'll ever be back?

Next we're driving along Loch Lormond.  We'd read that it's the most popular Loch in Scotland. in part because it's less than 60 miles from Glasgow.  It's pretty, but doesn't have the Loch Ness back story, and by this point we're getting a bit bored with the relatively attractive scenery we continue to pass.  We stop at a place called The Drover's Inn for coffee and a break from the road.  I'm tempted to order a beer because the place is just TOO classic, but we both settle for coffee.  They've got T-shirts that say something like "Voted Scotland's Best Pub 1734".

Finally in Glasgow, we discover that the Hilton that we'd gotten on Priceline is actually on the river!  Another small room, but incredibly nice staff (in a country of nice people!).  One guy is just coming on duty and hasn't checked in yet, but sees me looking at a monitor.  He comes over, offers to help, and then tells me that if I need anything either he or any of his co-workers would be pleased to help.

Inverness Area Photos

Dunrobin Castle

From the Culloden Battlefield

Cawdor Castle

Elgin Cathedral

Elgin Cathedral

Cardhu Distillery

Fields of yellow flowers...

St. Andrews pictures

The Old Course at St. Andrews.  This is where Golf was invented.

Starting area.  The Royal & Ancient Clubhouse.

THE BEST RETAIL STORE I'VE EVER SEEN ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!

Pictures from Edinburgh

The Castle.  Someone told me yesterday that it was JK Rowling's inspiration for Hogwarts

Guard outside the castle

Within the walls of the castle....

\

View of the city of Edinburgh.  The Firth of Forth in the distance (just like saying that...)

Bagpipe parade down the Royal Mile.

Thursday May 24th -- Speyside

We started the day with another helping of "the full Scottish" breakfast.  Filling.  Meant we skipped lunch later in the day in favor of an apple.

First stop on our touring schedule for the morning was the Culloden battlefield.  1746.  A massacre.  The last battle fought on English soil. Finalized the joining, which had been going on in fits and starts for centuries, of Scotland to the UK.  It was a very somber site.  Empty fields and markers where people from the various clans were buried.  As Americans, we'd never heard of the battle of Culloden, but since last year Maxine and I were in Yorktown, that's what it reminded us of.  Except in this case, it was the losers battlefield and they still mourn it centuries later.  The depth and breadth of history is enormous.

After Culloden, we went to Cawdor Castle.  According to some legends it is the setting for the real life story behind Shakespeare's Macbeth.  Another family owned castle.  The husband is, we believe, dead and the wife who seemed to be in her 50's, still lived there.  We didn't see her but saw her car in the parking lot.  Again, the history of the area!

From Cawdor, we drove over to Elgin Cathedral.  We met a Scottish Park Service guy who was extremely nice to us!  You can buy multiple use passes, tied to a specific number of days of visiting, for the various national parks/monuments/cathedrals/castles.  Unfortunately we hadn't bought them a couple days earlier when they would have covered Edinburgh Castle, but here we were asked if we wanted to buy them.  Not knowing our future day plans (which park service sites we might be visiting) we weren't sure if it would save or cost us money to buy the multiple day pass.  So, the guy in an incredibly generous gesture, did 2 things.  First, he sold them to us at a discounted rate.  And second, he didn't 'date' the passes, which gave us one more day of use.  Wow.  We love Scottish people for their kindness, for being solicitous, for liking Americans...

Elgin Cathedral is a ruin, but worth seeing.

Also in Elgin is the home of Johnson Mills.  They're one of the big cashmere companies in the UK.  We'd seen their sweaters in London.  We bought scarves.  I love mine, but still do wonder what I'm going to do with the 6 or so scarves I now own!

From Elgin we headed a bit south to Speyside.  It's a river.  It's also home to roughly half of all the whisky distilleries in Scotland!  We called ahead to Cardhu to arrange a tour.  We drove back roads and enjoyed views.  At Cardu, which is the only distillery which can claim to being founded by a woman, we and another couple got a tour of their facilities and how they make their products.  We were there at the end of the day and tasted their 12 year old, their 12 year old aged in reconditioned oak casks, and 4 other whiskys.  Nice tour, nice whiskies, and a very beautiful piece of country.

A 75 minute car ride back to the hotel.  We love the GPS.  We can be in the midst of sheep, on roads only wide enough for a single car, with no one else in sight, and the GPS knows where we are and what we need to do to get back to our hotel!

Still not particularly liking the food, we stop at Tesco and buy our dinner, which we eat in our room.  We're back in time for one last half hour of the bag piper.  I absolutely love it.  It's made up in the sense that this guy wouldn't be playing in the field in front of this old country house otherwise, but sitting there and drinking one more Scotch whisky, at this classic old house, listening to him and the pipes echoing across the field, it's as close to an authentic experience as we can get in this world of chain stores and airplanes to anywhere...

Wednesday May 23rd - North of Inverness

The furthest north we'll go on this trip.  Before the day is out we'll be 60 miles from the end of the mainland UK, the town of John O'Groats.  And just beyond that are the Shetland Islands, where Shetland Sheepdogs are originally from.  Maxine and I have had two of them, Shelties.  First Ally, and then, until last year, Cassie.  And coming this close to the Shetland Islands, and with all the sheep around, I literally expected to see packs of Shelties working the fields to herd the animals.  But, not a single one!  Not a sheltie anywhere.  We're puzzled.

We start the day with the "full Scottish breakfast", knowing it would carry us through the day, past lunch, and into the early evening.

We head north in our car.  Conscious that as tourists we're driving slower than residents, at one point I pull off the road.  But, I don't signal far enough in advance and there's noise behind me.  To make a long story short, I'd startled the older couple driving just behind me and the guy with the truck bumped their bumper.  No damage at all to anyone's car.  No one hurt.  Not a problem, but it could have been quite a hiccup for the day and for the trip.

We stop in the town of Dornlach, which had been recommended by the friends whose son was at St. Andrews.  And I can picture them spending a couple days there.  A charming little town and a nice stop before we get to Dunrobin.

Which would be Bill Gates' version of a lottery fantasy of a place to buy.  Seriously.  The seat of the clan Sutherland, it was still owned by the family.  The tour only lets you see a small, very small, part of the overall castle.  After touring, we head out to the gardens.  We're a bit pressed for time (whisky tasting planned for the afternoon) so we don't stay for the falconry demonstration.  We do ask a Scottish couple to take some pictures of us with the castle in the background, hoping for another holiday card option.  We'd picked them to ask when we saw that they both had very expensive cameras around their necks.  We decided we'd done OK when he dropped to his knee on the grass to better frame the picture with us in the background.

And now for the whisky tastings.  First to Clynehish where we try 3 different ones.  Then to Glenmorangie where we have 4 including ones aged in Port and Sauterne casks (the later was Maxine's overall favorite of all the tastings anywhere).  Then to Glen Ord for one last tasting.

Then, back south to our hotel, Culloden, where we have another tasting and some peanuts at an outdoor table on the lawn (again, GREAT weather!).  Then dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

My possibly incomplete list of whisky's we tasted at the hotel are: Tomatin (which is the one we'd passed on the ride up and the nearest to the hotel), Bruichladdich, Kilchoman (the newest from Islay!), Dalwhinney, and Tobermary from Isle of Mull.

Tuesday May22nd -- Heading to Inverness

When we were planning this trip, we came to realize how easy it would be to drive.  From the top of Scotland to the bottom on Britain can't be more than 10 or 12 hours drive.  And with Scotland, we'd wanted to see the country.  So, we made car reservations and now it was time to see if we were still able to drive on the "wrong side of the road".  We'd done this before, but not for 10 years or more.

Cab (again, way too much luggage) to the Waverly train station and we pick up our car.  The guy who checks us in seems pleased that we're American.  Mentions that he'd seen Reagan on TV last night.

The car manages to, just barely, fit all our luggage in the trunk.  The GPS is ready to head us north.  I remember what I'd read about driving on the left.  The trick is simple.  Keep the passenger against the curb.  Don't think about right side or wrong side.  Just, passenger on the left.

That and spend the extra money for an automatic transmission to reduce the number of things you might be tempted to think about.

We get up to St. Andrews, glad that we didn't spend the money yesterday to do it by train.  Downtown is interesting, but not that much.  We stop at a take out salad bar.  They, meaning everyone in the UK, apparently aren't fans of lettuce.  More toppings than lettuce, and they're not charging by weight, so it isn't a financial thing at all.  I study the students who are walking by.  I've got college friends whose son is a senior here at the university.  Unfortunately, our timing is off just a few weeks.  They'll be in this very place in 3 weeks.  They live in Vermont, so we only see them every 10+ years and it's sad that this won't work.

In case you didn't know, golf was invented in Scotland.  At St. Andrews specifically.  At the Old Course, which is at the edge of town.  We walk over.  It's beautiful.  On a rugged coastline.  The clubhouse, the Royal and Ancient, adjoins it.  I go in to the pro shop and they point me across the green to the, get this, Tom Morris, shop.  He. Old Tom Morris, and his son, Young Tom Morris, are big names in golf.  The pro shop is actually named the Tom Morris shop.  We go in and I introduce myself...

They're nice, but it isn't an uncommon name and I get the feeling they've been through this before.  BUT, it's really fun (!) for me.  Everything in the shop has my name on it.  Hats, coasters, shirts, sweaters, everything!  In print, script.  Red, blue, green, orange.  I guess I'm set for life -- I don't have to put my name inside my clothes any more (that was a joke).  I buy a hat, the brightest red and most visible one I can find.  I'm wearing it now.  On the brim it says, "Tom Morris, 1848, St. Andrews".   Fun.  He was also the first golf pro and the store has his original work table.

We continue on the drive up to Inverness.  Scenery is ehh.  Again, I'd been expecting more craggy.  We past a distillery, but it's 6pm and they're closed.  Sunset is after 9pm so we've got a longer day to work with.  Driving up to the hotel we're a bit nervous.  It's on the outskirts of a housing development.  We're puzzled.  It's on the Conde Nast list as the 11th best hotel in the world.

It's much better than expected.  Yes, on the edge of a housing development, but it's own world.  Some of the reviews had described it as being like a friend's old country home and it is.  The people who work there are great.  Cordial and always willing to help.  We check in and two of them carry all (!) that luggage up to our room.  Which is huge!  A king bed.  A sitting area with a sofa and chair.  A view out across the great lawn.  And, best of all, two bathrooms at opposite sides of the room.  We've been upgraded!

Downstairs for a couple whiskys.  The hotel has someone come by for a half hour at cocktail time to play bagpipes.  It's a great thing.  I'm in Scotland.  At a great country house.  Drinking old Scotch whisky.  With real bag pipes in the background.

We drive into town for dinner and eat along the water outside (!!!!) at an Italian restaurant with the Inverness Castle looking down at us...

Monday May21st - Britannia/Edinburgh

We're a fan of transit passes.  Going out to the Britannia, which is within range of the city buses, so we buy day passes and head to the waterfront.  Recall earlier in the blog that I'd mentioned us meeting a member of the House of Lords?  The only thing he really could recommend in Scotland was going to see the Britannia, which was the last in a line of royal yachts.  Used mostly by the Queen and her family, it's what Charles & Diana took for their honeymoon.  I'd had a vague memory that when Hong Kong was turned over to China years ago that Chris Patten, the UK ambassador, had sailed away on the Britannia.  Turns out my recollection was right -- part of the ship's last voyage.

Nice "smaller" yacht -- I'm fascinated by the 400 foot ones that seem to be owned these days by Russian oligarchs.  If you're in Edinburgh, it's worth going to see.

We rushed back into town intending to take the train out to St. Andrews for the afternoon, since it's just over a one hour train ride.  Quick stop along the way at Jenners, the oldest department store in Scotland, for sandwiches from their food court.  Get to the train station and find out that it will cost us over $60 to take the train out, so we abandon the plans and eat our sandwiches in the train station.

Stop to check out the Balmoral Hotel, which is supposed to be the best in the city.  We're not impressed.  Construction on the streets ALL around.  Public rooms in the hotel sterile and not classic.  Glad we didn't try to get a room here!

Afternoon Maxine walks the "new" town and I randomly take buses to get more of a view of the city.  Thanks for an all day bus pass.

Weather continues to be what can only be described as glorious.  Scotland cold and rainy -- NO!

With our continued lack of being impressed with restaurants, we go to the pub across from the hotel for dinner.  The Red Squirrel.  Good enough.

One other thing.  We've been using ATM's for cash in those situations where our credit cards weren't right.  We'd noticed that the currency we'd gotten in Scotland was from the Clydesdale Bank!  What???  Thought it was all one country???  We ask someone at the hotel.  She warns us that she was in London one time and had a difficult time using Scottish currency.  Interesting....

Sunday, May 20th Edinburgh

For fun, I'll start with today's whisky report.  We went back to Whiski Room and had flight #9, Tour of the Islands.  Arran 10 yr, Jura Superstition (Tom), Talisker 10 (Maxine), and Scapa 10.  Then flight #6, Islay, which is my favorite region for whisky's.  Bunhahabhan 12 (Maxine), Lagavulin 16, Laphroig Quarter Cask (Tom ), and Ardbeg 10 (Maxine).  Then, I had a half pint of Innis & Gunn (remember Tom the German from last night?).  I was surprised that it tasted different than the Oaked I&G I'd had at the Tate Modern in a bottle. Then, surprise surprise I read that they have a number of different beers.  Here's to beer experimenting in Scotland!

OK now, earlier in the day...  We got Hop On Hop Off tickets as a way to see the city.  Turns out that Edinburgh is small enough that we didn't really need to and spent some money unnecessarily.  Oh well.  We did hop off to catch a bagpipe parade heading from the church up to the Castle.  Fun.

There's always the occasional bagpipe playing in the distance somewhere.  OK, not always, but once or twice a day you can catch it.

A soccer win parade had threatened to block the streets later in the day.  Turns out that for the first time in over 100 years 2 Edinburgh teams were the UK finalists.  One, obviously, won.  So, they had a sure thing going -- there would be a parade.  We'd found out at our hotel -- one of the managers was a fan.  I tell him I'm sorry that his team lost.  "That's OK, I'm used to it"

We watched a bit of it, mostly interested in seeing how people lived outside of our tourist bubble.  The parade ran down the Royal Mile, which is where we wanted to be anyway.  Eventually we walked to the high side end of the Mile, which is the Edinburgh Castle.  They were setting up for the summer tattoo (a bagpipe party?) which seemed like it could be a lot of fun on some future trip to Scotland!

Amazing views of the city and surroundings from the castle.  There was some sort of street festival down below, with music, booths, and a stage.  Again, great weather.  We continuously marvel at how lucky we are.  Everyone in London had told us that Scotland was cold and rainy and that we'd probably be spending a bunch of time in our hotel reading.  But, nothing of the sort.  Great, glorious weather.

We're concerned at how much we're influenced by the weather...

We continue walking Edinburgh after the castle, in part covering areas we'd seen earlier in the day by bus.  The Grassmarket area.  Then, we find the Bow Bar and stop in, not for whisky in the afternoon, but for a couple half pints.  Caledonian Deuchars IPA and Ascot Brewing's Anastasia's Stout.

Maxine, humoring me enormously, then offers to walk with me over to Brewdog (it's a Scotish brewer, even though we went to their London branch twice) so I can see (not sure they even have any) if I can buy a T shirt. Thanks!  I do get one, and am happy.  Back to the hotel, then out for dinner, once more on the Royal Mile, at an American-style place called The Filling Station.  Then (see above)....

Saturday May 19th -- London to Edinburgh

Edinburra, or so they say.  I've decided just to slur it.  And to add a Z when I say Glasgow (after the "s").  We wake up and get things together for our 11am train, 4 1/2 hours to Edinburgh.  We're surprised at 9 when the cleaning lady arrives.  She was working off old info, that we were leaving early that day to fly back to the US.  But, we'd never told our rental agent Emily that we'd added 10 more days to the trip.  Things sort out and we walk down the street to Pret a Manger to buy some sandwiches for lunch and get a cab for the airport.

Our first cab ride of the trip and we're stuck!  We'd assumed the line of cabs at the end of the street were a cab line, waiting for fares.  Turns out it's where they park when they go for coffee (or tea?).  We can't find a ride to the train station and anxiously we start waving at cabs on Brompton.  Eventually we find one -- he's a great guy.  Says he's saving his money to come to Los Angeles.  We've got too much luggage, way too much, and we're stuffed into his cab filling it.  On the ride he takes a call -- sounds like he's running another business too.

Kings Cross station is big.  And, we're there early enough that they haven't yet put our train info on the screen.  They list the train and routing, but not which track to go to.  We look around.  There are more food choices, including a Pret a Manger, than we'd expected.  Lesson learned -- assume you can get something to eat at the railway (not tube, although they have some food) station.

We'd bought the tickets online and picked our seats.  We end up with a four seat/table and no one else, so we spread out.  (Lesson learned -- reserve your seats)  There's free wifi, so I try to FaceTime to New Jersey, but the connection is very slow and choppy.  But, it's still marvelous.  I'm on a train, in rural England, and I see my sister's face on the screen (my brother's ipad doesn't answer -- I tried his family too).

Scotland isn't as rugged as we'd expected.  More undeveloped and rolling green hills.  But, it's a pleasant way to get there.  As for Scotland, as the time in London had gone on, we'd gotten wary about Scotland, with people flat out questioning why we were going.  We're tempted to go to Ireland, but dissuaded by our excess luggage.  We do round down one day, changing Scotland from 9 to 8 days.

For the record, my alcohol goals for Edinburgh are scotch tasting, and I've found 2 places, Whiski Room, and Bow Bar.  I don't want to go the the disney-esque Scotch Whisky Experience (there's even a tram ride, or so I've read).

We've got a Sheraton to stay in -- thanks Priceline.  A small room, especially after the apartment.  It does have one quirk, mood lighting in 8 different colors, illuminating the bathroom.

After unpacking, up the hill to the Royal Mile (just think, a mile long shopping street).  It's fun.  Everything in plaid.  And different fabrics, wools, cashmere, poly-fleece, etc.  I'm tempted to just start buying scarves, but hold back thinking of the 2 I'd got in London (how many scarves do I need in LA, or for my once/winter trip to NJ anyway).

We head to Whiski Room for dinner and whisky (scotch) tasting.  They've done a great job in making things user friendly.  It's just a bar, but they've got maybe 100 bottles on the wall.  And, the scotches are organized into various tastings.  We start with Survey (#2), Auchentosan 12 yr lowlands (Maxine liked), Caol Ila 12 yr Islay, Dalwhinnie 15 highlands, and Glenfarcas 10 speyside (Maxine liked as well.

Friendliness of a bar, being away from home, we start talking to the father & son (the father is our age) sitting next to us.  They're German.  Marcus, the father, has taken 18 year old Tom, to Scotland for a weekend.  Nice to talk to.  We're told that the best beer in Koln (where they're from) is Paffgen, Friesenstrabe.  I'd gotten points for telling them I brew beer, and for knowing what style of glasses they serve Kolsch's in (the local beer style).  So, they take my recommendation and order a Innis & Gunn beer.  Marcus isn't a fan, but he's rigorous about German beer styles.  But, Tom likes it.  Later we realize that it's 7% beer, stronger than he's probably used to, and that ordering 2, well...

For our second whisky flight, we get #, Highlands.  Clynelish 14 yr, Glenturret 10 yr, Edradoer 10 yr (both Tom & Maxine's favorite), and Glengaroich (Tom).  But, we're not done, so we order one last dram, the Edradoer which was aged in Sherry casks.

FYI, the portions are pretty small, at best 2 ounces, but each flight costs $20 or more...

Friday, May 18th -- Last Day in London

I've got a new theory -- slow goodbye's are harder.  While we've liked our stay in London, it isn't something we'd envision coming back to for a number of years (we imagine it being an easy place to visit when we're older and, among other things, less tolerant of change and inconveniences).  Having said that, we've both been conscious today of leaving London, for a long time.  And, it's had an effect -- we're a bit sad to be going...

As a housekeeping note, the apartment's clothes washer is very small.  I think (I'm serious here) 2 pairs of jeans are sufficient to fill it.  And, since it's a combination washer/dryer, a load of laundry commits the machine for 3-4 hours.  And, on top of that, clothes come out wrinkled, so for shirts we have to time laundry loads so that we're home when the machine finishes.  OK, a long preamble to say that Maxine's been managing the machine and our timing.  We brought enough clothes on our trip to last us the next 10 days, when we'll be in hotel rooms and without laundry facilities.  So, one of the themes of the day is laundry.

What we've got in mind for the day is sort of a long goodbye, sights and places we've liked.  We head over to the Design Museum on the south side.  We'd read that their restaurant, the Blueprint Cafe has Thames River views, and they have a reasonably priced prix fixe menu.  It's a new place to view the city for both of us, and a new place to go to.

At noon, we're just about the only people in the restaurant.  But, that means we get a window view, looking out over the Thames, just as we'd hoped.  We can see the Canary Wharf redevelopment for the first time in London.  The area all around us is redevelopment.  We like the new sights and experiences.

After lunch we walk along the water, heading towards Borough Market.  Very pleasant in London now that the weather's changed in our favor (after a month of bundling up and always having at least an umbrella in a pocket).  Along the way, very good views of the Tower Bridge.  We ask a number of people to take our picture with it in the background -- we're shopping for a photo of the 2 of us for our annual holiday card.  Everyone is surprisingly helpful.  OK, maybe it isn't a surprise, but it does feel good.

At Borough we do a last walk through and pick up some things to complement our planned dinner of scraps left over in the apartment.  Cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy (multiple samples to decide from first).  We've already got our Marathon coffee from their Seven Dials location.  We stop at the Market Porter for one last beer/pub event.  We'd read that they used the Market Porter as a set for one of the Harry Potter movies.  We have our usual half pints, an Oxford Ales Marshmellow, and a Black Adder.  The bartender obviously gets way too many tourists and is impatient and shallow with his explanation when I try to ask about the beers.  "It's an ale".  Yeah, thanks...

Dinner at home then a last last walk as a goodbye to London.  We walk the few steps from our street, Cheval Place, through the semi-secret alleyway, and onto Brompton.  Immediately to our left is Harrods, lit up for the evening as it always is.  Yes, just a department store and a very touristy one at that, but I feel a possessiveness -- it's our Harrods now after seeing it a hundred times over the last 29 days.  We walk the other direction down to the South Kensington tube stop.  We've got 5 pounds each tied up in our deposits on the Oyster cards.  We turn them in and my pocket feels unusually empty.  It still has the plastic wallet in it that they'd given us with the Oyster cards, but I know we no longer have the freedom to stop at any bus stop and get on to some place, purposeful or just wandering London.  We'd used the card to save the 10 minute walk to the apartment, but this time we have to do it on foot.  Past the V&A Museum, and we're home to finish packing for the morning.

Photos from our last day in London -- May 18th

This picture was taken just inside the apartment building.  You can see the building number frosted into the glass in the foreground.  In the midground, Maxine.  And in the background, there's a classic Rolls Royce.  We suspect that the owner lives in one of the mews houses in the distance since the car is there all the time.

Me, in our 'backyard'.  One of the reasons we rented this apartment is that it had an outdoor space.  It served us as a noise buffer from other city dwellers, and because all the rooms in the apartment look out on this space.  However, I've spent more time uploading photos to this blog than I actually spent out there!

Maxine, also in our backyard.  The photo shows about 1/2 the total space of the yard!

Thursday May 17th -- Winding Down

We feel like our inclinations towards Indian food helped us get lucky today.  We know we're winding down and spent some time this morning talking about what we'd liked about London.  About mortality and how it's likely it will be 20 years till we next spend any real time in London.

On that note...  We're here because London isn't a city (country) where it's easy to travel in with a dog. And last year our dog died, so we figured this was an opportune time to do this.  We'd originally considered New Zealand but decided we probably weren't the types to enjoy just that much outdoors (it isn't obvious what else, other than nature and vistas would occupy us for an entire month there).  So, being pragmatic, we're in London even thought we suspect it's easy in a way that might be comforting when we're a bunch older.  Anyway, we're here and this segment of the trip is winding down...

So,our inclination towards Indian food took us to Trishna, a Michelin mentioned (not a starred restaurant) restaurant.  It was 'designer' Indian food.  Great with us.  We enjoyed a different version here of Indian food.  And wrapped around it (before and after) we walked a new to us neighborhood, Marylebone.  Interesting stores, houses, just interesting and different.  And, in a completely touristic thing, we walked past Sherlock Holmes's house at 221 Baker Street.

Rested at home a bit, then out for one last theatre event.  Went to a play called Written On The Heart which was about the 16th century process of translating the Bible into English.  It's actually a lot more interesting than it sounds.  The larger issues were things like the corruption of church officials, making god accessible to regular people, the stability of the English crown, a man dying for his vision (Tinsdale).  Glad we went.

Wednesday May 16th -- Visit with Jim

Our friend Jim is a specialist in Olympics broadcasting.  So, making a guess that he might be in London at some point during our visit, I'd emailed him.  Turns out that he would be -- so we got together for dinner. 

Now, I've known Jim since 6th or 7th grade and Maxine's known him for over 25 years, so he's an old friend and we've seen him any number of times.  When we were in Paris in 2006 he came over for the day and he and I spent it wandering the streets of the city and talking.  Now again in a foreign city...  We went out for Indian food. And later to the Goat Tavern for a few beers and ciders (I samples Strongbow cider, another cider, Jaipur IPA, and Guinness).  Great conversation and a good evening.  And a marker on life, meaning a chance to reflect on how life has progressed from our childhood together in New Jersey a long time ago...

Earlier in the day Maxine and I did separate explorations.  She went to see the Geffrye Museum and also to Shoreditch.  I started with 1 1/2 hours at the National Gallery (impressive), then lunch at home, then over to the Tate Modern.  The Tate has an impressive cafe on their top floor.  For the price of a cup of coffee, you have a fantastic view over half of London.  I brought my iPad, figuring I'd read while looking out at London.  Ended up talking to a Dutch art historian for an hour debating the meaning of art (she was there for the Damian Hirsch exhibit since she'd known him in the 90's).  After she left (gave up trying to convince me?), I did enjoy a Innis & Ginn Oak Aged Scottish Ale (the cafe has an excellent bottled beer selection) while staring out at London.

Some random notes:  Maxine and I feel comfortable enough in the city at this point that we've been able to give directions to people when they ask.  Helped an older lady by carrying her luggage down the stairs so she could get to her tube.  The Tate has 8megabit free wifi service, which is better than I can buy as DSL in LA.  It's nice to be comfortable enough here that we think of transport as our local bus (74,14, 414, C1) and our local tube station (South Kensington).  Part of that feeling of expanding competencies.  But, of course, London is an easy city...

Tuesday, May 15th Good lunch and good cider

We'd planned one of the great restaurants in London for lunch today.  The Ledbury, which in the most recent 'best in the world' list came in at #14.  It was a good meal.  Well executed.  One of the breads they served with the meal was bacon bread.  I had seconds of it.  Curiously though, the waitress told me that guys were usually the ones who asked for/liked it.  I guess I'd never expected that there would be a gender preference in something like this, but the waitress really seemed to only be reporting what she was noticing.

Good food, well executed.  We've also learned over time that two strategies can help with the prices in places like this.  First, we go at lunch.  Second, if possible, order the prix fix menu.  Lunch ended with (for me) a cheese course rather than what I would ordinarily order -- something sweet.  What was amusing was that I'd really been intending to, since this was a fine dining place, try some 'best of England' cheeses.  BUT, the cheese girl was French (!) and all but one of the cheeses were as well.  Good cheeses, but not what I was looking for.

After lunch we did a little more walking in the Notting Hill area, but then rain directed us home.  Got home and it was brilliantly sunny out (now around 3pm).  We'd wanted to do more neighborhood walking, so we hopped up and headed out.  Twenty minutes later, it was raining again.  So, we got on a bus to do a wander down Brompton Road (our second choice apartment was there, about 10 minutes further outside the city).  Drove past in the bus and congratulated ourselves on where we'd actually ended up!  While it wouldn't have been terrible, it wasn't nearly as good and for roughly the same cost (although it was one room bigger).  But, much less interesting buildings and stores in the area.  I mean, I know that where we are is touristy with Harrods down the street, but I like it!

Eventually we took a train back to our starting point, the South Kensington tube station.  Started walking from there.  Got rained on some more.  Ended up with a quick stop at Harrods to pick up some bread and dessert then dinner at home.

After dinner, Maxine stayed home (reading Hunger Games) and I went back to Euston station.  Recall that we'd been there before for a beer/pub evening.  THey have 2 pubs across from each other (very small pubs).  The one on the right is a cider only place.  15 ciders on tap.  I had Sanford Fatty's, New Forest Traditional, and Lilly's Bee Sting Perry.  Since I was one of maybe 6 people there, the bartender and I got to talking (med school student, has heard great things about LA, from Worcesterhire England).  Eventually 2 guys from Wales came in and they insisted I join them, so I did.  One was drunk and mock-insulted that we were heading on to Scotland, rather than Wales.  He wanted my cell number so he could call to persuade me otherwise...  The second guy was interesting to talk to and helped me with his friend (who wanted me to stay so badly that he tried to share his pint of cider with me when I was done with mine).  Got home around 11!

Random Pix from Brick Lane (and 1 from Spitalfields)

Pubs

Here's the list with my rankings:
Brew Dog (3)
White Horse (2+)
Queen's Gate (2)
Tea Clipper (0)
Craft Beer Co. (3)
The Draft House (2+)
Lock Tavern (2)
Brewdog (3)
Nag's Head (1) -- not in the blog narrative
Porterhouse Brewing (2)
Cask Pub & Kitchen (3)
Euston Tap (3)
The Harp (2)
Craft Beer Co. (3)
Scarsdale Tavern (1)
Churchill Arms (1+)
Cask Pub & Kitchen

Monday, May 14th

Monday mornings from 10am-2pm the Courtald is free, so we'd put that on our calendar.  They bill themselves as a small museum.  But, what a museum!  The contents of any number of their rooms would be enough to give a normal, full US museum rights to call themselves a great museum.  We'd gotten a recommendation to go here from our 'landlord' in Paris.  Very glad we went.  Would have paid to go. 

Spending the whole middle of the day catching up on things in the apartment.  It's drizzling outside.  We're heading over to the Cask Pub and Kitchen for dinner at 6pm.

Had, for a pub, a great dinner.  I had a burger and fries.  Maxine had fish & chips.  All together, it probably cost us nearly $40 for the food.  London is truly expensive!

Beers at Cask Pub were great.  I had:  Maxine had:

More Pix May 4 - 9 (M) All from The Queen opening Parliament