A Traveling Fool

May 31, 2021

Be It Ever So Crumbled, There’s No Place Like Rome

The two main things that struck me about Rome on my first visit in 1984 were: how old it was and how badly in need of repair it was. The newer buildings seemed to be almost as bad off as the ancient ruins. Sometimes it was difficult to tell them apart. It was, however, a fascinating city.

There is so much history in Rome that you can practically overdose on it. The Vatican, the museums, the Colosseum, the catacombs, the Circus Maximus, the Spanish Steps, the Vittoriano, the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, the Palazzo Venezia (from which balcony Mussolini gave his speeches), various temple ruins, palace ruins, the Roman Forum — to quote the King of Siam, “Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

Fortunately, I like history. Actually, I hated it in school. For some reason the teachers seemed to try to make it as boring as possible. Most of it was about memorizing dates. I don’t do well with memorizing dates. I can remember who did what but not necessarily when. I figure I’m doing well if I can get the approximate century. I learned to love history on my own, outside of school. Anyway, Rome is loaded with it.

To get to all of this history, one must drive. They had a very rudimentary mass transit system back in 1984 and, because of all of the historic relics under the city, they have had difficulty creating much of an underground system. Every time they dig for any reason, they strike ruins. Then the place gets declared a national monument and they have to find somewhere else to put whatever they had planned to put there.

Driving in Rome is an adventure. If it isn’t designated the accident capital of Europe, then it should be. European cars are, for the most part, much smaller than American cars in the first place. The streets are quite narrow. They can also be steep and/or winding, and there are loads of traffic circuses. An Italian traffic circus is a circular torture device where you drive in, then drive around and around and around until you die — or until someone gives you space to drive out — whichever comes first.

We entered Rome from the south and crossed the Tiber River into the main part of the city to take a quick gander at St. Peter’s, Castel Sant’Angelo, the Coliseum, and a few other landmarks before heading to the hotel (which was on the northeastern fringe of the city). We had just exited one of those traffic circuses (after only three rotations) onto the Via Arenula and were feeling somewhat cocky when we felt a thump and found ourselves sitting on the back bumper of a Lambourghini. They do say, “When in Rome …” Fortunately we had Ricardo with us.

Ricardo could speak French, German and English, but his native language was Italian. He leapt out and proceeded to have a very spirited discussion with the driver of the Lambourghini. He was in his element and a wonder to behold. His eyes flashed, his nostrils flared, his arms waved — I was very impressed. Soon he returned and climbed back in with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Everything okay?” we asked.

“Si, si,” he replied as Louis (who was Belgian and spoke no Italian) threw it into reverse. We backed off of the rear bumper of the Lambourghini and onto the front bumper of an Alpha Romeo. Fortunately that driver was preoccupied with the driver of the vehicle sitting on his rear bumper, so we gunned it and vacated the scene of the crime. We must have immediately reached our quota as we didn’t have any more accidents our entire stay … at least not with cars.

We reached the hotel, checked in, argued with the management about surrendering our passports (most hotels in Italy, at that time at least, expected you to surrender your passport to them for the duration of your stay), and went to our rooms to unpack and freshen up. The hotel was a brand new, modern, round tower, with balconies all the way around. This was important — the balconies, I mean. When it came time to leave the hotel (we were supposed to meet downstairs) we couldn’t get out of the room. The door lock kept turning and turning, but the door stayed locked, so I ran out onto the balcony and hollered down to Ricardo to get help. The cavalry promptly arrived and sprang us. The lock worked fine from the outside. It appeared that they just hadn’t quite gotten all of the bugs worked out in their new hotel. They had only been open a couple of days. We were quickly moved to another room.

I have always liked Michelangelo’s art, so I was looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel. This was before the restoration that took place in the 1990s. What I saw back in 1984 was pretty muddy. But it was still magnificent (unfortunately the camera I had at the time didn’t do interior shots terribly well, so I only have an even muddier photo). I was quite tempted to lie down on the floor to save myself from getting a crick in my neck. But I didn’t want to embarrass my country any more than I already had by this point in the tour. I tried to imagine Michelangelo lying on his back on the scaffolding while he painted this breathtaking ceiling, but I kept picturing him as Charleton Heston (I had seen “The Agony and The Ecstacy” too many times).

After watching the Pope ride around on his “Pope-mobile”, we went into St. Peter’s Basilica. Peter is reportedly buried beneath the altar of the Basilica in an ancient tomb. St. Peter’s is the largest church in the world (St. Paul’s in London is second in size) and is definitely impressive. Actually the entire Vatican compound is impressive. On the way to see the Sistine Chapel, we had gone through the museum with its amazing collection of art.

In the Basilica itself is “The Pieta”, Michelangelo’s sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son. It had been attacked and damaged not too long before we were there, so it had been placed in a glass case and was heavily guarded. It was difficult to get too close to it and it was much smaller than I thought it might be. But it was exquisite.

We covered a lot of territory in the couple of days we spent in Rome. The Coliseum gave me a great deal of exercise climbing up and down over what had once been seats and exploring the area which had been under the stage (and is now exposed to the elements). One popular myth is that the Christians were thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. This is untrue. The Coliseum is much older than that and was already a ruin by that time. The lion feeding took place in the Circus Maximus — a much newer stadium that was located near Caligula’s Palace (the remains of both can still be seen today). The Coliseum did have gladiator tournaments, pageants, plays, and even water sports. They used to flood it and bring in boats.

On our last night in Rome, we drove out to Tivoli, which had been a resort town in ancient times. Up on the side of a mountain is a former monastery that originally was a castle and is now a restaurant and hotel. We sat down and found seven plates stacked before each of us. With each course a plate was filled and a different wine was poured. The courses included: 1) melon and proscuito; 2) a salad (antipasto); 3) a pasta dish; 4) another pasta dish; 5) soup; 6) the entree with vegetables, and 7) dessert.

As I said, a different wine was served with each course. The trip down the mountain was rather interesting, what with fairly intoxicated American tourists singing songs, the Belgian driver trying to stay on the mountainside road, and the Italian laughing uproariously. I don’t drink usually more than one or two glasses at a time as a rule, so seven glasses …

Next time — Florence and Pisa.

Piazzo Navona The Rivers Fountain by Bernini

May 17, 2021

First Time Ever In Italy

From Austria we crossed the Alps into Italy via the Brenner Pass. I was really looking forward to this part of the trip. The first evidence of civilization we encountered was a cool castle that was wrapped in the clouds. As much as I liked it, I thought it was just a bit too isolated. Maybe it had been someone’s summer home. I thought it would be completely snowed in when winter came.

After traveling from Innsbruck to Balzano, we took a break in Trento. Trento began as a Celtic village, but was conquered by the Romans back in the first century BC. Then it changed hands several times, being conquered by the Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards, and Franks. It became part of the Holy Roman Empire at one point. By the 14th century, it was part of Austria. Continued from there on through Verona, Vicenza and Padua.

On the outskirts of Venice, we had lunch in Maestra, followed by taking a taxi boat into Venice itself. People seem to either love Venice or hate it. I love it! It is beautiful, unique, and full of history.

Starting with St Mark’s Square, we toured the Basilica and a glass factory. Up until that point, the Basilica was the oldest building I had ever been in. The original building had been built in 828 AD, but was burned down (with the Doge inside) in 976. The Doge was the ruler of Venice. Obviously this particular guy was not a favorite.

The present building was built as an enlargement of the version built after the fire. The body of St Mark (which had been stolen from Alexandria, Egypt) was discovered hidden in a pillar and reburied in the altar. We were not on our own for this tour, so it wasn’t until a later trip that we could really explore what is one of my favorite churches/cathedrals/basilicas in the world. As it was, the interior was gorgeous with loads of gold mosaics.

Since Venetian glass is world famous, visiting a glass maker was fun. The way that the colors were included and the glass was blown was fascinating. Afterwards, we had some free time. Mom and I went to the Doge’s Palace.

This version of the Palace was built in 1340. In addition to the Doge’s residence, it also includes Council Chambers, court rooms, the Senate Chamber, and other government facilities. Across the Bridge of Sighs is a prison. The Bridge of Sighs is named as it is because the prisoners would sigh over their loss of freedom on their way across it to the prison.

It was in the Doge’s Palace where I encountered my first ever Turkish toilet. This is a hole in the floor that must be straddled. I quickly found out that the McDonald’s in Venice had western-style toilets (and fortunately also the hotel). Whenever in that part of Italy from then on, I kept my eyes open for a McDonald’s should I need a restroom. Eventually I also learned how to correctly use a Turkish toilet for the times I traveled to other parts of the world where that was my only option.

That evening, before dinner, we went on a gondola serenade as a group. I loved gliding along the canals in the gondolas listening to traditional Italian songs. Even alone, with a friend, or with one’s mother, it is still a magical experience, not to be missed.

That night we stayed in the town of Gambarare and had a dinner of lasagna and fish. The next day, we set off for Assisi where we visited the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis before heading to Rome.

St Francis is the patron saint of animals and lived in Assisi in the 13th century. The Basilica was built in the 13th century, shortly after St Francis was canonized. There is a lower Basilica and an upper Basilica. The lower part was built first and was where Francis was buried. When we had a little free time, I found a place that had replicas of old weapons. I found a small crossbow, a mace, and a couple other things that I was not certain what they were called. They are in my family room.

Next time — Rome (be it ever so crumbled, there is no place like Rome).

For some reason, this site was reluctant to upload all of my scanned photos from 1984. So I have included what I could get uploaded and added a later photo of St Mark’s Basilica from a different trip.

May 2, 2021

Flying Low Through Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein & Austria

Luxembourg is a very small country, but has signs of occupation all the way back to the Paleolithic Age, roughly 350,000 years ago. It is down below the lower southeastern corner of Belgium with Germany and France as its other neighbors.

We visited Luxembourg City between breakfast and lunch on the day after we visited Belgium, having breakfast in Belgium, lunch in France, and dinner in Switzerland. In Luxembourg City, we were given a coach tour of the city and visited the Notre Dame Cathedral there.

Lunch was in the town of Luneville, France. Not much there in the area where we stopped. Just a cafe and a Cora store (similar to Kmart in the US). We explored the Cora after lunch. We liked getting fresh fruit to take along with us. We would sometimes also pick up some bread or pastries.

The afternoon break was in Basel, Switzerland, on the border of France, Germany, and Switzerland. It also spanned the Rhine. Since it was my first time seeing the Rhine, I was fascinated as we crossed over the river on a bridge and then drove alongside it for a while before making our pit stop.

The main things that I can remember about Basel all these years later (we were there in 1984) are the river and the manner of toilet flushing in the rest room. Because there is such a variety in the way that a toilet can be flushed throughout Europe (at least back then), we had established a ritual that, the first person into the rest room let the next person in line in on any tricks involved with getting that little job done.

Basel stands out because it took me a while to figure it out and it was so unique. I studied the toilet itself and the wall behind it; looked for something suspended from the ceiling or some sort of pedal on the floor. Nothing presented itself. Eventually, I noticed that one of the small, black, tiles in the floor (which was composed of several white tiles punctuated periodically by these small, black tiles) was raised a bit higher than the others. I stepped on it and voila!

As we approached Lucerne, Switzerland, we began to see mountains. I had never seen a mountain before, so I was absolutely awed by the Swiss Alps. We stayed on the outskirts of a village outside of Lucerne called Stans. When on a budget tour back in the 80s and early 90s, the hotels were all on the outskirts of any large city or in some village out in the country. Although it meant that we couldn’t see any major tourist sites anywhere near our hotel, it also meant that we often had some fun and/or interesting experiences when we went for a walk.

In Stans, after dinner, we encountered some preteen boys marching around together, carrying torches and wearing brown shorts and shirts. We found this to be very unsettling (they were also speaking German), so we went back to the hotel fairly quickly. At the hotel, we were told that it was some sort of scouting organization. Ah huh.

The next morning we drove to Mount Titlis where we took a train straight up part of the mountain, then switched to a series of three cable cars to get to the top, 10,000 feet up. A much earlier post, “A Swiss Miss”, from 2017, went into a lot of detail about how neither my mom or I were fans of heights and the difficulty one of the cable cars had docking.

As it swayed in the wind and snow with Mom and I standing in the middle of it, holding onto the pole there, I was imagining being found in the glacier below in another 3,000 years with my fingers still around the pole and Mom’s fingers still around my neck (I had been the one who had talked her into it — how often in one’s life does one have the opportunity to go up to the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps?). We survived, docked, and took some photos of the view from the top. I also purchased a small cow bell as a souvenir.

Back down on terra firma, we had lunch in Lucerne and did some sightseeing. We visited the baroque Jesuit Church and then the Kapellbrucke, which was a covered, wooden footbridge that was built in 1406 across the Reuss River diagonally. It had loads of paintings on the inside dating back to the 1600s. We also visited a monastery, which was founded in about 750 and was dedicated to St Leodegar.

We set off for Austria, stopping off in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, for a quick pic of the castle there. Our destination was technically Innsbruck, Austria, but we spent the night in the village of Auland. Apparently some of the exteriors for the movie, The Sound of Music, had been filmed in the area. After dinner at the hotel in Auland, several people in the group went into Innsbruck for an optional evening at a nightclub there. Mom and I stayed behind in Auland and went on one of our walks where we encountered a rather stubborn cow on a narrow bridge who let us know beyond any doubt that we were the interlopers.

Next time – the Italian Alps (through the Brenner Pass), Venice, and Assisi.

April 18, 2021

If This is Friday, It Must Be Belgium

In 1984, Mom found out about a group tour leaving from the Twin Cities for a fourteen day trip to Europe. It was designed to give a summary, so you would know what places interested you enough to return.

We left on a chartered plane that had been booked through the group in Minneapolis, with the tour itself through Cosmos Tours (the budget arm of Globus). This was our first experience with either Cosmos or Globus. We like them so much that we booked all of our larger tours with them over the years. I still use them now. They have an independent travel group called Monograms and river cruises through Avalon Waterways.

We arrived in Amsterdam and were met at the airport by our Italian tour director, Ricardo, and our Belgian driver, Louis. Because the entire group arrived together from one location, we could leave immediately for sightseeing without having to wait for people to trickle in from multiple countries. This was the only time I have ever been with a tour group that was totally from the US and all from Minneapolis/St. Paul and suburbs. Since Globus is a Swiss company, the people on the tours can be from anywhere in the world, just so they can understand and speak English. I really like that. I get to meet people and develop friendships with folks from all over the world.

Our tour of Amsterdam began at a diamond factory. They were not giving out free samples. Then we took a canal ride. That was quite enjoyable. As I have mentioned many times, I love being on a boat on the water — no matter what kind of boat or water.

After the canal ride, we had some time to ourselves. So we exchanged money, had a quick, light lunch and then checked out Dam Square, the Palace, the New Church, and the Old Church. The Old Church was in the middle of the Red Light District. It was a little disconcerting to pass by all of those shop windows with prostitutes on display.

We met up with our tour coach by the Railway Station and were taken to the Rijksmuseum. This museum’s main claim to fame is that it holds the largest collection of paintings by Rembrandt, Franz Halls and Vermeer. They also had some wonderful, very old, dollhouses. I love dollhouses, so that was as interesting to me as the paintings. Rembrandt is one of my very favorite artists and a favorite of one of my brothers. In Minneapolis, our museum has an amazing painting by Rembrandt of “Lucretia”. I have set off the alarm by getting too close. Not just once, but twice.

The star of the show in the Rijksmuseum is “The Night Watch”. While “Lucretia” is relatively small and intimate, “The Night Watch” is gargantuan. It takes up an entire wall.

Back at the hotel that evening, we were on our own for dinner. Mom and I ate in the hotel restaurant and had bouillabaisse, which is a French fish stew, for dinner.

The next day, we left Amsterdam, driving past Utrecht and Breda to Belgium. We had a coffee break and time to exchange money just across the border. Then we drove past Antwerp to Brussels.

We had free time to get lunch just off of the Grand Place. Again, we had a quick, light lunch so we could spend most of our time exploring the Grand Place. There we saw some lovely buildings with very interesting names — The She-Wolf, The Sack, The Wheelbarrow, The King of Spain. Then there was the House of the Dukes of Brabant, the Town Hall, and The Kings House.

Once we rejoined the tour coach, we were taken to see the Royal Palace, the Royal Park, the War Memorial and arch, the Palais de Centenaire, and The Atomium. I didn’t know at that time that I have some Belgian ancestry. You have to go back a few centuries to hit it, but it is there nonetheless.

Our hotel was out in Wepion, Belgium in a hotel on the River Meuse, right across from a beautiful, pink castle, called Chateau de Dave. No, I’m not kidding. That really is its name. After our included dinner with the entire tour group, Mom and I walked along the river to see the village itself and its locks.

We spent Thursday in Amsterdam, Friday in Belgium, and were leaving the next day to spend Saturday in Luxembourg and Switzerland, and Sunday in Liechtenstein and Austria.

April 4, 2021

Day Tour to Oxford & Stratford-upon-Avon

This was our last day in England during what had been my very first real tour anywhere, back in 1983.

One of my very first posts in this blog was about how my life was nearly cut short at a five road intersection in Stratford by an articulated lorry (a semi in the US). In addition to adjusting to where the traffic was coming from, I also talked about adjusting to differences in American English and British English as well as to the food.

Both of my grandmothers had been British and, as long as I stuck to more familiar fare such as Shepherd’s Pie, Cornish Pasties, Bubble ‘n’ Squeak, etcetera, I was fine. It was those subtle differences between something like egg salad, which in the UK turned out to be sliced eggs on a bed of watercress, and egg mayonnaise, which would get me the US chopped eggs in mayonnaise. Don’t get me started about hamburgers or bacon. I learned a lot on that first trip.

We began our day getting picked up at our hotel and taken to Oxford. “Inspector Morse” had a couple more years to go before it appeared on our screens in the US through PBS. I knew that Oxford was a University Town, but didn’t yet understand the differences between a university in the UK and one in the US.

My general understanding is that, at Oxford, the students live in rooms and take meals at a college (like Hertford, Jesus or Brasenose), attend lectures mainly in small groups in the offices of their professors or grad students, and study in the libraries of the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library and others. A student will “read” for what the US calls a “major”.

The oldest colleges at Oxford were founded in the 13th century. Jesus College, the first one we visited, was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. The other two colleges we visited — Hertford and Brasenose — were founded in 1282 and 1509 respectively.

This visit was also long before the Harry Potter films. It was the dining hall of Christ Church College at Oxford that was used in the first film as the dining hall of Hogwarts.

The Radcliffe Camera was opened in 1749 and is a beautiful, round building originally built for study of the sciences, near Brasenose, All Soul’s, and Exeter colleges. It isn’t too far from the Bodleian Library either. Although the current building dates only as far back as 1602, the Bodleian Library (in some form or another) dates as far back as the 14th century.

We also paid a visit to the Old Schools Quad, which houses part of the Bodleian Library and has separate entrances for parts of the collections of the original schools — such as philosophy, religion, science, law and medicine.

Upon leaving Oxford, we went by the Martyr’s Memorial, which commemorates the burning at the stake of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London as well as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer a few months later. They had been convicted for heresy because of their Protestant beliefs after a quick trial in 1555.

Once we reached the environs of Stratford-upon-Avon, we headed out to Shottery to visit Anne Hathaway’s cottage. This was where William Shakespeare’s wife lived as a child. It was a 12 room thatched cottage built between the 15th and 17th centuries and looked like Snow White and her seven companions would emerge from it at any moment. I really loved touring it and seeing a regular house that old.

Back in town, we toured Shakespeare’s birthplace. I remember it being rather cramped and dark, but that was probably because of all of the people that were squearshed into the place. It seemed totally different on my latest trip (in 2016) when I could walk through at my own pace and talk with costumed interpreters who explained what I was seeing and answered any questions I had. I also remember that everyone else had to duck down when passing through doorways. Not this girl. I was just the right height.

After the birthplace was when we had some free time before jumping back on the tour coach and returning to London. This was when I had my encounter with the articulated lorry. When the driver parped his hooter at me, I shot into the air and seem to remember levitating across the road. In my original telling of this story, I mentioned polishing his windscreen as I flew across it. At any rate, I don’t think my short little legs ever moved so fast before or since.

Fortunately for Mom, she was already across the road. I had fallen behind for some reason and was trying to catch up when I nearly met my maker.

Next time – the beginnings of a 1984 “if this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium” kind of European tour.

March 14, 2021

A Day Tour to Stonehenge & Bath

Back in 1983 when Mom and I made our first real trip together to London, we had booked a couple of day trips as part of the package. The first one was to Stonehenge & Bath.

We were picked up at our hotel by the tour company taking us on the coach trip. This was when we discovered the phenomena of married couples from the US not wanting to deal with a pair of women. That sort of thing has gotten better over the years, but I can still come across it when dealing with US couples of the same rough age as me. Back then, it was Mom’s age group that snubbed us.

Most couples from other English-speaking countries (Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) don’t seem to care if you are another couple, two women, or a single woman. More women travel these days without being one half of a couple. So I usually have several choices for people to sit with at lunch or dinner. On this day trip, there was a very nice fellow from Vancouver, British Columbia who joined us for lunch.

In preparation for the upcoming summer solstice, at Stonehenge, there were several caravans (called campers in the US) parked on a nearby field. There were also tall chain-link fences around the site to keep folks out of it. So all of my photos from that trip were from a distance. I have included just one of them here. It was a quite beautiful day with lots of fluffy clouds.

Back in those days, there wasn’t a visitor center as of yet or much in the way of fencing normally. People could get pretty up close and personal with the stones. The stones could also be seen from the motorway. But things have changed over the years, including re-routing the motorway.

Now the henge and its stones cannot be seen until tickets have been purchase and collected and you are taken by tram to the site from the visitor center. It is possible to get closer than I did back in 1983 on just a regular visit (as I did in 2016). However, if you are willing to pay a bit more and take a tour there in the middle of the night (the one I had planned to do in 2020 meant leaving London at around 5:30am to get there by the time the sun would be rising), it is possible to actually walk among the stones. Still and all, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to see Stonehenge.

From there, we headed off to Bath. Originally called Aquae Sulis (“the waters of Sulis”), Bath was built c. 60 AD when the Romans decided to build baths and temples there. The hot springs were known to the ancient Britons long before. Bath Abbey was built in the 7th century and enlarged many times since.

We were dropped off in the center of town and led to first Bath Abbey and then the baths themselves. As my first real trip anywhere, I have never seen Roman baths or Roman ruins of any kind before and was absolutely fascinated. Mom and I ventured underground to see the remains of the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House, and a museum containing artifacts from when Bath had been Aquae Sulis.

I remember there was a head from a statue of the the goddess Minerva in the museum. Unfortunately my photos from underground were not at all good. But then very few interior photos that I took on this trip came out at all decent. So nice now to have digital cameras that can take great photos in low-light situations without flash.

We had lunch at the Pump Room and then walked around a bit in that part of town and near the River Avon. Some of Jane Austin’s novels were either set in Bath or had some scenes there.

I had taken architectural design and drafting as an elective in school. We had studied Bath’s architecture, especially the Royal Crescent. That was our last stop before heading back to London. I was just as thrilled to see that as I had been to see Stonehenge and the Roman Baths.

Next time — a day trip to Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon.

February 28, 2021

1983 – Last Day in London Before Day Trips

When I first began writing this blog in 2017, I started with my first two trips which were to London in 1983 and overall Europe in 1984. Although I started a trip journal with that first 1983 trip, it didn’t have a tremendous amount of detail for the first few trips.

Photography-wise I had a rather limited film camera that I had picked up in a pawn shop when I was in college and had no money to buy something good. The camera couldn’t zoom and was a view-finder, not through the lens (which meant I had no real clue of how the photo would turn out until it was developed). But it worked well enough at the time for basic quick travel pics (and I still didn’t have much money).

In 1992, I started a new job for a company which had a monthly newsletter published for the department I was in. I joined the newsletter, writing articles to explain upcoming projects and initiatives. Then, when they also wanted some lighter fare, I wrote some humorous articles — especially about my travels. I was quite relieved that they were popular.

Since I was new to traveling those first few trips, I had a lot of silly things that I did or that happened to me. One of my first stories was about nearly getting creamed by an articulated lorry in Stratford-Upon-Avon during that 1983 trip to London. Since I still have those publications containing my articles, that was the same story with which I began my A Traveling Fool blog.

I had a few photos scanned into my computer and my old articles and my journal. As time went on and I started to have better cameras, disks of photos as well as the prints, then moved to digital photography, I could include better and better photos. My journals included more and more detail, so I could provide a better narrative of my adventures, comical, not so pleasant, and just normal.

In 2020 when none of us could travel (plus I hadn’t been anywhere in 2018 or 2019 either), it became clear to me that I would need to go back to those earlier trips and fill in with what I hadn’t written about in the beginning. Then, look at some of the more interesting adventures that popped up here and there through my travels and could use more of a spotlight. So, I scanned several more of those earlier photos in and also used some later photos, if needed, for when I visited the same place more than once and the early photos were too dark or fuzzy or just not really usable.

So, for these posts on my early travels, I have been relying on sketchy journal entries, scanned photos (unless I have later photos of the same place), and my memory. This particular post includes three places that I have so far only visited during this one trip (Madame Tussauds, Kensington Palace, and a nightclub called “The Beefeater”) and one that I have been to a couple of times (Victoria & Albert Museum).

The day was a Sunday and we started out at Madame Tussauds. The London location is the original. Madame Tussaud had been taught wax modeling as a child and had created models of the heads of several of the victims of the French Revolution. After taking her wax heads and other figures around Europe for several years, she traveled to London for a show of her wax figures. She was then unable to return to France because of the Napoleonic Wars. So she set up shop in London in 1835 on Baker Street, a short distance from the current location.

This was the first wax museum that I had ever been to at that point and it was huge. It is even larger now with several special exhibits and experiences (such as an interactive Sherlock Holmes Experience with live actors, wax figures, and film where the audience joins in to help solve a mystery). I had planned to revisit the musuem during the trip I had booked for late in 2020.

In 1983, I was especially interested in the historic figures such as Henry VIII and his six wives and the current royal family (included here is a somewhat fuzzy photo that includes Prince Charles and Princess Diana). I also took a photo of William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens together. Neither one of them looks all that happy. Dickens actually looks as if he is somewhat frightened about something he is seeing. Shakespeare is looking away from Dickens as if he sees something more interesting elsewhere.

We took the tube over to Kensington Palace and had lunch in the vicinity. I did not know at the time that a great, great grandfather of mine had been butler in a house (that still stands, but has been converted to luxury apartments) not far from Kensington Palace. I had planned to revisit Kensington and take some photos of the house in which my ancestor had served during that cancelled trip.

At the palace, Mom and I toured the State Rooms as well as Queen Anne’s private rooms (she was queen from 1702 to 1714 and died at Kensington) and the suite of rooms where Queen Victoria had grown up and where she had been told that she was then the Queen in 1837 when she was only eighteen. We then checked out the gardens and the orangery. Charles and Diana were living in another part of the palace that was far from the public eye.

We took a stroll through part of Hyde Park to get to the Victoria & Albert Museum where we took special interest in the costumes, period furniture and tapestries. After our visit there, we took the underground back to our hotel to get ready for our dinner out.

As part of our package, we had tickets to a nightclub called “The Beefeater”, which was (and still is) located at St Katherine’s Docks near the Tower of London. I have a photo here of the exterior that I took many years later. Transportation was included so we didn’t have to try to find the place on our own.

The club was built in one of the old warehouses (Ivory House) down in the vaults. The theme was the time of King Henry VIII. He and his courtiers came around and encouraged much revelry. For entertainment, we had knights, jesters, acrobats, singers and dancers. The food was served on large platters (and the soup from a caldron) with wine and ale in large pitchers. Again, they were going for a banquet feel from Henry VIII’s time, so only utensils in existence back then were used. The platters and pitchers were passed around for everyone to help themselves.

We were seated between a French football (soccer) team and a group of German tourists. The tourists were not at all friendly. They didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak German, but they didn’t even smile. They also didn’t pass anything our way.

The football team was quite friendly. I could speak some French, which helped. But they were also quite drunk. They did make certain that we were fed, but I did have to ask for the wine. They sort of wanted to keep that to themselves.

Next time — a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath.

Henry VIII & two (and part of a third) wives

February 15, 2021

Trooping the Colour 1983

The Queen of England’s actual birthday is in April. However, it is tradition to have the official celebration of the birthday of whoever the current British Monarch is in early June. This is called Trooping the Colour and is quite a spectacle.

Mom and I had determined during the days leading up to the Trooping the Colour what the best place to view it would be. We chose the steps leading from The Mall up to the Duke of York’s Column. The Duke in question was the second son of King George III who died in 1827. He had been Commander in Chief of the British Army and was so beloved by the men that they pulled together the funds to create the monument.

We found a spot at the base of the column (and at the top of that part of the steps) where we could sit down when we needed to, but could easily see over the crowds in front of us. I bought a program from a member of the Welsh Guards, in full dress uniform, who actually was Welsh. This was the first time I had heard a Welsh accent and I was enthralled. Since he wasn’t on duty, we could actually talk a little until someone else came up to get a program.

The ceremony consisted of a parade from Buckingham Palace to the Horseguards Parade consisting of representatives of all of the British and Commonwealth armies plus most of the Royal Family. In 1983, the Queen rode on horseback with Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, and the Duke of Kent just behind. The last time she rode horseback was 1986. She has taken a carriage since then (along with Prince Phillip). The Trooping the Colour tradition goes back as far as the 17th century.

At the Horseguards Parade, the Queen receives a royal salute and then inspects the troops of the Household Division. These include both the foot guards and the horse guards. After this, they all parade back to Buckingham Palace, where the entire Royal Family assembles on the balcony while Royal Air Force jets fly overhead.

I have included a couple of photos of the Trooping the Colour that I did not take, just to give an idea of it. Back in 1983 I had a camera without a zoom. So, though I took a lot of photos, it can be difficult to see what is in them without greatly enlarging them. In the one with the Queen Mother and Princess Diana in a carriage, the carriage is over to the right side and is drawn by a white horse. The Queen Mother is in blue while Diana is in grey and white.

The photo with the Queen shows her to the left of the photo riding a chestnut horse and with a white cockade in her hat. She is just in front of a white horse with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Kent right behind the white horse.

We stayed until the parade passed us heading back to Buckingham Palace. Then we headed over to Westminster Abbey to visit the Royal Tombs.

Back in 1983, the main entrance to Westminster Abbey was used unless visiting the Royal Tombs. The entrance that is now used for visitors to the entire abbey was used only for the Royal Tombs back then. When entering, we were greeted by the painting of Richard II at his coronation (at the age of nine) that was commissioned by him and painted during his lifetime. The Coronation Throne was behind the Shrine of Edward the Confessor. Today both the painting and the throne are at the front of the abbey near the Tomb of the Unknown.

It could have been that the Shrine of Edward the Confessor was only open to the public because of it being the Queen’s Official Birthday, but Mom and I were able to go up the steps and walk around among the tombs of Edward I (and Queen Eleanor of Castile), Richard II (and Queen Anne of Bohemia), Henry III, Edward III (and Queen Phillipa of Hainault), and Henry V. Edward the Confessor’s queen, Edith of Wessex, is buried somewhere near his shrine, but nobody knows for certain exactly where. The shrine was built by Henry III in 1241 directly above where the Confessor was originally interred.

All of the tombs, except Edward I, have effigies of the person or people inside lying on the top. Edward didn’t plan to stay there. His instructions had been to be taken to Scotland and be buried there once his son, Edward II, conquered the country. Junior didn’t conquer Scotland. Instead Robert the Bruce beat the tar out of him at Bannockburn and won independence from England (which lasted until James VI of Scotland became James I of England).

The shrine was closed to the public on all of my visits since then. But, at some point, it became available during special Verger tours. My most recent trip to London in 2017 included a Verger Tour of Westminster Abbey. I was able to re-experience the thrill that I felt to be able to spend time up in the shrine. In 2017, we could also kneel in the niches of the shrine for prayer, if we chose to do so. The niches were quite worn from the knees of 800 years of people kneeling there.

Originally Mom and I had planned to take a boat to Hampton Court Palace from Westminster Pier. But since we were behind in our schedule by a couple of hours, we found we missed the last boat to Hampton Court. We decided to take the boat to Greenwich instead.

At Greenwich, we visited the Queen’s House. It was designed by Inigo Jones for Anne of Denmark, who was the queen of James I. Anne died before it was completed, so it ended up as the property of Henrietta Marie, queen of James’ son, Charles I. It was used just a short time before the English Civil War and Charles’ execution.

When the Tudor palace that used to be at the edge of the water was demolished and the Royal Seaman’s Hospital built (by Sir Christopher Wren), the new building was in two parts to keep from spoiling the vista from the Queen’s House to the Thames. This is now the Old Royal Naval College. The Queen’s House itself contains mostly period rooms, while the wings contain a Royal Museum and parts of the Maritime Museum (at least that was what was there in 1983). It was a special treat to be able to see Admiral Horatio Nelson’s uniform.

We could see the Royal Observatory from the Queen’s House, but didn’t quite have time to do everything. So we decided to see the Cutty Sark instead. I finally visited the Observatory in 2016.

1983 was several years before the 2007 fired that severely damaged the ship. So it was quite intact from when it had been built in 1869. It was very exciting to be able to climb around on the ship. At that point (since London in 1983 was really my first trip anywhere) I had never been on an old sailing ship before. I love old ships and had a couple of ancestors who were ship captains, so it was very special to me.

Next time – our last full day in London before heading out for a couple of day trips.

Trooping the Colour at Horseguards Parade

January 31, 2021

My First Real Trip to Anywhere – Part 2

In 1983, my first real vacation trip to anywhere, inside or outside of the US, was to London with my mom. We had both wanted to go there all of our lives. We were finally there and were overwhelmingly thrilled.

After finally getting a good night’s sleep, we headed out to the Museum of London. One of the things that I love about this museum is that its exhibits are in chronological order, beginning with what has been unearthed in London from prehistory. The building itself straddles part of what remains of the Roman wall that used to surround Londinium and was enlarged to surround Medieval London up until the time of the Great Fire of 1666. Many of the exhibits take you back to a specific time in London’s history, such as Victorian London or during the Great Fire of 1666.

From the Museum of London, we walked a few blocks to St Paul’s Cathedral. I was especially interested in the crypts with the tombs of Admiral Horatio Nelson, Sir Christopher Wren, and the Duke of Wellington. This version of the cathedral had been built by Wren after the Great Fire destroyed the previous version. There had been a cathedral on the site since 604 AD.

From St Paul’s, after lunch, we set off for the Tower of London. On the way, we stopped at the former Roman Forum where the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and the Lord Mayor’s Residence could be seen. Then we headed towards the river so we could take a look at the Monument to the Great Fire at the head of Pudding Lane, where the fire began at a baker’s shop. I have a real interest in history and love to visit places where historic events took place and picture what happened there.

We should have backtracked up to Eastcheap instead of making our way along Lower Thames Street. Rookie mistake. I did not realize that the area was not the best until I saw that we were totally alone and then noticed that we were being followed by a couple of men. That was when I steered Mom north towards Eastcheap. Fortunately we made it safely to the Tower. It is always important to be aware of your surroundings and try to walk along in more populated areas.

In 1983, not as much of the Tower of London complex was open as there is now. Many, many changes have be made over the years to make it a truly remarkable experience. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the wonderful Yeoman Warder (other than that there are now females as well as males). These folks are very, very knowledgeable and very personable. Talking to one or more of them during a visit can give you a lot more knowledge as well as some cool ghost stories (and often a lot of legends). They live there at the Tower and experience some amazing things after all of the visitors are gone. Starting your tour of the complex by joining one of their tours is well worth it.

The Victorian Tower Bridge is another structure that I find fascinating. On this particular trip, we did not cross the bridge, but did so in 1991 so we could also explore the part of London over on the other side of the Thames.

Instead of taking the underground back from the Tower, we started a tradition of taking the boat back to Westminster Pier and walking back to our hotel from there. Since that trip, every time I have been in London with or without Mom, I have always taken the boat to Westminster Pier, no matter how I got to the Tower in the first place.

The following day, we started out at the British Museum. I was really impressed by the Babylonian and Assyrian monuments as well as the Greek statues and Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta Stone was wonderful to see. We were amazed that we could get so close to it. Then there were all of the Egyptian statues and mummies. I had seen one mummy in a small museum when I had been a child. Here there were rooms full of them. It wasn’t until I went to Egypt and visited the Cairo Museum that I saw an even larger display of mummies and other Egyptian artifacts.

We also visited the British Library and looked at some original works by Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, as well as a copy of the Magna Carta.

After lunch, we visited Dickens’ London home on Doughty Street. This was where he completed The Pickwick Papers, wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, and began Barnaby Rudge. Mom and I were the only visitors at the time and had a costumed guide all to ourselves. We enjoyed having a private tour with a fellow who knew all about Dickens and the house and looked like he had just stepped out of one of Dickens’ novels.

Before heading back to the hotel, we took the tube to Marble Arch. This monumental arch used to stand in front of Buckingham Palace until Queen Victoria had it banished to its current location at a roundabout. We walked along Oxford Street towards Piccadilly to do a little bit of shopping. I ended up getting one of those bulky, cable knit, highly British sweaters for 14 GBP.

Next time – My First Real Trip to Anywhere Part 3 – where Mom and I experienced the Trooping the Colour (and saw the entire Royal Family, including Princess Diana), visited the Royal Tombs in Westminster Abbey, and took the boat to Greenwich.

January 17, 2021

My First Real Trip Anywhere – Part 1

Since I have now run out of trips for a little while, I have decided to talk about some special, silly, and/or interesting experiences from my travels. These will include more personal details or be from different perspectives than some of my previous posts, especially the earlier ones.

When I was a kid, we didn’t really do traveling. We rented a lake cabin a couple of times. We traveled to visit family. But we never took any real trips.

So, as an adult, not too long after re-joining the rest of my family, which had moved to Minneapolis, my mom and I decided to take a trip to London. She and I were both what you could call Anglophiles plus we had shared British heritage on her side of the family and I had additional British heritage on my father’s side of the family. If we were going on an adventure, it was going to be to London.

This was in the days before the Internet. A travel agent was how it was done back in 1983. In the building where I worked was just such a travel agent. So I picked up a couple brochures and we figured out what we wanted to do.

The choices were to take a fully escorted tour or to book a package through the main airline that served Minneapolis/St Paul. The package would include airfare, hotel, a rail transfer between the airport and the hotel, one or two day trips out of London, and tickets to a play. We chose the package and I met with the travel agent.

We put together a 10-day trip that would coincide with the Trooping the Colour Ceremony for the Queen’s official birthday. We picked two day trips — one to Stonehenge & Bath, and one to Oxford & Stratford-Upon-Avon. We also chose to attend a medieval banquet and to see the play “The Real Thing”.

I had become enamored with an actor named Roger Rees from when “David Copperfield” played on Broadway. He was starring in “The Real Thing” along with Felicity Kendall (who had been in several British TV shows I had seen on PBS) and Jeremy Clyde (who had been part of the singing duo Chad & Jeremy before switching to acting).

Our hotel was at Piccadilly Circus and the theatre was The Strand — quite a walk from the hotel. But I figured it out on the map. The day trips and the medieval banquet would pick us up from the hotel. Because I had lived in New York City for several years and had ridden the subway there, I felt no trepidation about riding the underground (the Tube) in London to visit the other locations we wanted to see.

Once we arrived at Gatwick Airport, we found the train we needed to London’s Victoria Station. This particular train still had the cars with doors opening out from individual compartments. It was an extra special experience as this would be the only time in all of our visits to London where we had that type of rail car. By the next trip in 1991, the trains were all modern with totally conventional rail cars.

From Victoria Station, we took a taxi to the hotel. As we were rounding some very high walls, Mom said, “I wonder what that is.” “Buckingham Palace”, the driver and I responded simultaneously. Mom and the driver both said, “How did you know that?”

There was nothing indicating what it was. I just knew. Somehow. The cab driver was amazed. Mom was thrilled. It gave her the idea that I would know where we were at all times and we would not get lost. To be fair, I had been studying the map so thoroughly that I had nearly memorized it. I still use that same map.

The day before we left on our trip, the travel agent gave us tickets for “The Mousetrap” for our first night in London. The original owners of the tickets had canceled their trip, so we benefited from some freebies. We then made the mistake of trying to take an afternoon nap.

We had not slept on the plane and all and were quite tired. But we were also very excited about being there. We could not sleep. We ended up not being able to sleep that night either. So, by the next day — our first full day in London — we were exhausted. But we had a full day ahead of us.

I had overestimated how much we could cover in a day. On the list was: The National Gallery, the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, the Wellington Museum (Apsley House), the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Parliament.

At the National Gallery, partially due to a late start, we only had time to take a quick look at some paintings by Michelangelo and Leonardo de Vinci before we needed to take a quick hike up the The Mall to see the Changing of the Guards. The Mall was lined with flags. Mom and I were overcome. We were really in London!

As short as I am, plus we arrived just before it started, meant that I didn’t get too many decent photos of the Changing of the Guards itself. We could see it fairly well however and I did get one good shot when they were right in front of me (and nobody else was) and another of the Horseguards approaching. Then we went to Apsley House and had a good tour there.

After a light lunch we toured the Royal Mews which contains the carriages and motor vehicles used by the royal family. I really enjoyed that tour. Part of the reason was because we were on the palace grounds, behind that tall wall we had passed the day before.

We walked from there to Westminster Abbey. We were able to see the parts of the Abbey that were free (now there are no parts that are free), but couldn’t see the Royal Tombs due to a funeral that was taking place there. I asked if they would be open after the Trooping the Colour on Saturday and was told they would be. So Mom and I shifted our plans for Saturday to be able to include that visit.

We found that we could not see the inside of Parliament, so headed up Whitehall to return to our hotel and get ready to see “The Real Thing” that night.

Next time – more adventures in London on that first real trip anywhere.