England – Page 2 – A Traveling Fool

December 29, 2025

London Adventure: A Late Start & The Benjamin Franklin House

Since I didn’t get to sleep until about 5am, I didn’t get up until 1pm. Too late for the included breakfast. So went back to the café where I had lunch the day before for a brunch. Had Eggs Benedict, but with smoked salmon in place of the usual ham. Absolutely delicious.

Afterwards stopped off at the Ben Franklin House and found that I had missed the start of the current tour and the next (and last for the day) would be at 4:15pm. So went back to the hotel for a bit. The Ben Franklin House was on Craven Street, which was right next to the café and in between the café and my hotel.

Back at the hotel, I discovered that the legitimate Simply Red Facebook page (the one with over two million members) had published a photo from the OVO Arena Wembley concert with me in it and another from the O2 Arena marquee that I was credited as having taken.

The Benjamin Franklin House (at 36 Craven Street, just off the Strand and close to Trafalgar Square) was built about 1730 and is the last standing former residence of Ben Franklin. He lived and worked there from 1757 to 1774. When he left, he returned to Philadelphia to help with the Declaration of Independence and other issues having to do with the American Revolution. The house was restored and opened to the public in 2006.

During the excavation and restoration, the remains of ten people were discovered to have been buried in the basement. An episode of “Secrets of the Dead” on PBS was dedicated to this discovery. The skeletal remains were found to be about 200 years old, which meant that they would have been buried there while Franklin was in residence. It was also discovered that Franklin’s friend, William Hewson, was the person responsible for the bones. He lived in the house for two years. As an early anatomist, he worked in secret due to legal issues at that time related to dissecting certain cadavers (about half of them appear to have been children).

When I returned to the house, I was running a bit late, so the fellow who let me in had me join the tour and then pay him later. There were only four of us on the tour. The person who led the tour portrayed Polly Stevenson Hewson, daughter of Franklin’s landlady and wife of the fellow who was dissecting cadavers in the basement. She became a “second daughter” to Ben Franklin during his time there.

Parts of the house were still original, such as floorboards, ceilings and staircases. After the tour, when I went to pay for it, I told the guy that my Reynolds ancestors in Boston had owned the house where Ben Franklin had been born on Milk Street back in 1706. His father, Josiah had a total of seventeen children from two wives. Ben was number fifteen and was the tenth and last boy. He was baptized at the Old South Meeting House, which was across the street.

Robert Reynolds (my 10^th great grandfather) and his wife, Mary, arrived in Boston in 1630 on one of the Winthrop ships. They settled in the part of Boston that borders Milk Street to the north and Washington to the west. They are buried in the King’s Chapel Burying Ground. The land they owned included a stretch along Milk Street that included the house in which Benjamin Franklin was born. Robert’s grandson, Nathaniel owned the property at the time when he was born. Nathaniel’s son, John eventually moved to Marblehead, MA. This was where my American Revolution ship’s captain 6^th great grandfather, Nathaniel Reynolds, was born.

His son-in-law, Elisha Freeman, was also a ship’s captain and my 5^th great grandfather. My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Freeman. The first of the Freeman family to arrive in what eventually became the U.S. did so in 1630. His name was Samuel Freeman (another 10^th great grandfather). He arrived in Salem.

The guy at the Benjamin Franklin House showed me the front door, which was original to the house and said that I could photograph it. He also let me hold the chain in my hand. Franklin would have held that same chain every night when he locked up the house.

Next time – The Tower of London at Night and the Ceremony of the Keys

December 22, 2025

London Adventure: Final Simply Red London Concert at OVO Arena Wembley

After eating the salad I had purchased on the way back to my hotel, I dressed for the concert. This time I wore a red sequined, cold shoulder top. This was the actual date of the release of Simply Red’s first album, Picture Book, back in 1985. I was also going to be sitting front row center. I was honoring that special date by dressing up and using the color red.

I took a cab from the Railway Station to the arena and went to the VIP entrance. I received my VIP Front Row Experience carry bag with a VIP lanyard, a drinks coaster, a poster, a program, a journal with a pen, and a Bluetooth speaker. As I was being taken to my seat, I encountered a woman who was wearing a red sequined jacket. She was at the end of the middle section in the first row.

Shortly after I sat down, I met Carine from Belgium. She was just a couple seats over to my left. She and the couple seated between us were lovely people and ready to have a great time. I was pretty much directly in front of the pieces of paper that Mick had taped to the floor. One was a set list. The other contained some prompts for what he wanted to say in between songs.

Carine had noticed Sarah Brown, one of the band’s former backup singers (from 1995 to 2008) going to her seat to our right and up at the side of stage. She pointed her out to me. I was very glad that she had a few days later when someone in the fan group saw that same woman walking down the stairs to head backstage during a video of “Something Got Me Started” (the first of the three encore songs) and was certain that she was someone else entirely. But I was able to say that I was there and saw Sarah myself.

During Soul II Soul’s set (which was much more fun up close) we found that the security at the arena was putting their priority on the people who were walking back and forth in front of us to get more drinks. Once the Simply Red set began and several of us stood up and moved forward to the barricade so we could clearly see the band without anyone getting in our way, we were told to sit down. That was when a few of us got a bit rebellious.

We had gotten the most expensive seats in the place with the idea that nobody could get in front of us and ruin our view of the stage. Carine and I both thought it was ridiculous and we weren’t going to take it sitting down. A woman on the other side of me was worried they might throw us out if we didn’t remain seated, but I said that the more of us that stood the better. There would be too many of us to threaten. So, since I knew that “Money’s Too Tight (to Mention)” would be the next song, I said something to Carine and to the women on my other side. As soon as the first notes were played, we were on our feet. Carine and I motioned to everyone around us to stand and they did. Most of us stayed on our feet for pretty much the rest of the show. I only sat down a couple of times when my back complained loudly.

At one point, when Mick was explaining how the song “Enough”, which was co-written with Joe Sample, came about, a man could be heard talking quite loudly far down to my right (which would have been stage left to the band). Mick stopped talking and looked in the man’s direction. The man quieted down for a moment until Mick began to speak again. This time Mick walked over to where the man was sitting and looked directly at him. Since the guy didn’t seem to get the message, Mick bent over and pointed at him, telling him to shut up. He followed that up by returning to where he had been standing before he was so rudely interrupted and apologizing to the audience, explaining that he needed to be able to concentrate on what he was saying. He then continued his story and sang the song.

The next day, the press and some social media said that he had gone on a “shocking rant”. They were blowing it entirely out of proportion. Nothing shocking. No rant. Just a performer telling a disrespectful member of the audience to “shut it”, so he could continue the show.

The remainder of the concert went along with no further interference from noisy or drunk audience members or security threatening to remove anyone from the front row. The band put in another stellar performance throughout and received an ovation from a standing and cheering crowd at the end of the final song of the main set – “Fairground”. Then another at the end of the final song of the encore – “Holding Back the Years”. And Mick did this entire show while dealing with an eye infection.

After the show, some more people came up to me and asked if I was Trisha. There were also people stopping me to comment on my sparkling red sequins.

The Simply Red Facebook page (with two million followers) published five photos a couple days later. The second photo showed Mick singing onstage near where I was standing. I could also be seen. Photo number five was of the marquee at the O2 Arena and I was credited as the photographer. Both photos really tickled me. I will share both of these photos in my next post.

The day after the concert someone else in the audience posted a video on YouTube of the band performing “You Make Me Feel Brand New”. Mick was standing for the entire song near where I can clearly be seen standing and singing along directly in what was his sight line. The fella filming it kept me in the frame most of the time. Then the couple to my left, between me and Carine, stood up. It was harder to see me then, but my ponytail was still frequently visible. I have included a screenshot that I took from that video here.

Next time – A late start and the Ben Franklin House

December 9, 2025

London Adventure: A Change of Hotels, Touring the Houses of Parliament & A Massive Protest

Although I had a late night, I needed to get up, have breakfast and check out of the hotel. The restaurant was the most crowded I had yet seen, but I had the whole process down plus I was seated near the food. I made my way through the buffet and got back to my room relatively easily (though it took a while to get my tea).

Since I am a member of the Intercontinental Hotels Group Rewards program, I was able to check out at a different desk which only had one person ahead of me. Arrangements had been made ahead of time for my transport into central London to my second hotel. I was tickled to see that the car was ready and waiting for me. So far, so good.

An enormous protest was going on in central London with regards to the situation in Gaza. Whitehall was completely blocked off from all traffic and Trafalgar Square was also blocked. I could hear the crowds in the square as we neared the hotel, which was the Clermont Charing Cross on the Strand. This street was about to be blocked off too, so we made it to the hotel just in time.

The room was not yet ready (it was only 11:30am), so I checked my luggage, gave them my cell phone number so they could text me when it was ready, and headed out to explore a bit. Although I have stayed at this hotel several times before, I had never explored the train station to which it was attached.

The Charing Cross railway station first opened in 1864 with the hotel opening the following year. One of the hotel’s guests back in the day, was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame. He set the meeting between Holmes and his soon to be new client at Baskerville Hall at the hotel restaurant.

My first venture to this hotel was during the Gulf War in 1991. I had traveled to the UK with my mom and we were staying at another hotel nearby. The Gulf War had begun while we were on the flight over to London and ended while we were in York a few weeks later. My entire memory of that blessedly short war is from the British viewpoint.

A few days into our time in London during that trip, we went to high tea at the Charing Cross hotel (it had just become the Clermont shortly before I stayed there in 2023 and had been the Amba Charing Cross when I had last been there in 2017). Although I had done cream teas before, this was my first full blown high tea and it was mighty elegant.

Charing Cross has been considered to be the center of London and the point from which all distances from London are measured. Historically the name came from a hamlet called Charing, which means “riverbend” along with the Eleanor cross that had once been there. The original cross was erected in 1294. It was the largest and most ornate of the crosses built by King Edward I in honor of his deceased wife, Eleanor. The crosses were constructed from Lincoln to Westminster along the route of Eleanor’s funeral procession at each location where the procession rested. The cross that currently stands just outside of the hotel and railway station is a reconstruction built in 1884 to replace the one destroyed by Cromwell and his troops in 1647.

The Charing Cross Railway station has some places to eat, a grocers, a chemist, and some other shops inside. There is also a taxi stand right outside which is quite handy for grabbing a cab fairly quickly (depending upon how long the line might be). I planned to get one there that night to get to the OVO Arena Wembley for my third night of concerts.

I decided it would be a good idea to have some lunch before my tour at Parliament began, especially since I would need to walk from the hotel to Parliament. So I headed out to see what looked like a good place for lunch nearby. It didn’t take long to discover the Café Concerto. The menu looked varied and the prices reasonable for London these days. I went in and ordered a BLT with some strawberry lemonade. While there, I received a text from the hotel that my room was ready. Great timing!

I got back to the hotel and checked into my now upgraded room. It was a Deluxe King which was larger and had a sofa as well as an armchair. Best of all, it included a free mini bar that was stocked daily. I collected my cases and headed up and over to the room. It was in the Buckingham Wing, which was on the other side of the road via a little enclosed bridge over the road (Villiers Street).

That part of London had once been the location of property owned by the Villiers family, which were the Dukes of Buckingham. It was sort of confusing that I needed to take the lift from the ground floor to the first floor in the main part of the hotel, then, once I crossed over the little bridge, the floor on the other side was the third floor. I needed to take another lift there down to the second floor to get to my room. The hallway floors were a tad creaky in the Buckingham Wing. I had the feeling that the building was older than the main part of the hotel. I happen to like the charm of older buildings, so I was quite pleased. Plus it was pretty quiet. Good for sleeping.

On my way too and from the Palace of Westminster (as the Houses of Parliament are called), I had to navigate my way through some pretty large crowds. But I made it to the Cromwell Green Visitor Entrance in plenty of time. We were supposed to be there 20 minutes ahead of the tour to go through security. I boosted myself up onto a relatively low barricade normally used to keep vehicles from trying to crash through and sat with a lovely British couple while we waited to get in. After getting through security and gathering inside of Westminster Hall, we were a small group of fourteen people.

It is thought that King Cnute had a palace on the land where Parliament now stands during his reign from 1016 to 1035. Edward the Confessor built a palace on that location at the same time he built the first version of Westminster Abbey (roughly 1045 to 1050).

The Palace of Westminster was originally built as a royal palace in the eleventh century. A fire destroyed the royal apartments in 1512, after which the king, Henry VIII, moved to the Palace of Whitehall, which he took from Cardinal Wolsey.

Parliament had begun meeting at Westminster in the 13^th century and continued to do so. A much larger fire destroyed the majority of the palace in 1834. Only the 12^th century Westminster Hall was saved and included as part of the building that now stands.

During World War II, the palace was hit by bombs repeatedly — fourteen different times in all. The worst air raid killed three people and destroyed the House of Commons Chamber. Both that room and Westminster Hall had been set on fire and, since they knew they couldn’t save them both, Westminster Hall was where they put their efforts.

There are three main towers in the palace: the Victoria Tower, which has the Sovereign’s Entrance, which the Monarch uses whenever they come to the palace; the Elizabeth Tower, which is where the enormous bell, Big Ben, resides; and the Central Tower, which stands over the Central Lobby.

The building was planned around the Central Lobby, which is the meeting point for all of the corridors leading to the over 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases, and three miles of passageways, which are spread over four floors. We began our tour in Westminster Hall.

At the time it was built, Westminster Hall was the largest hall in Europe. The hammerbeam roof was built for King Richard II in 1393 and is the largest medieval roof of its kind in England. Westminster Hall has been the site of many trials and lying-in-states over the centuries. The most recent lying-in-state was Queen Elizabeth II.

The hall was where William Wallace (who actually was never called “Braveheart”; that was Robert the Bruce’s nickname) was tried for treason in 1305. It was also where Sir Thomas More was condemned to death back in 1535, mostly because he wouldn’t recognize Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church. Guy Fawkes and his fellow Gunpowder plotters were tried for attempting to blow up Parliament in 1606. King Charles I, in 1649, was the only reigning monarch ever tried and condemned to death in Britain.

Westminster Hall and St Stephen’s Hall were the only places where we were allowed to take photos. St Stephen’s Hall stands on the site of the royal Chapel of St Stephen’s, which was destroyed in the fire of 1834 and where the House of Commons met until that time.

We weren’t able to visit the King’s Robing Room in the Royal Apartments, but we were able to see the Royal Gallery, the Norman Porch, and the Prince’s Chambers. The Lords Chamber, the Peer’s Lobby (an antechamber where matters can be discussed and messages delivered), the Peer’s Corridor, as well as a few smaller areas within the precincts of the House of Lords (using the main color red) were next. After that, we went across to the precincts of the House of Commons (mainly green) via the Central Lobby and the Common’s Corridor to visit the Member’s Lobby and the Commons Chamber. We could see the dents on the door where the representative of the Monarch (Black Rod) bangs with their staff on the door at the State Opening of Parliament each year when asking the MPs to attend in the House of Lords to hear the Monarch’s speech.

After roughly 90 minutes, we went back through St Stephen’s Hall and Westminster Hall to leave the building. Then it was a matter of weaving in and out of all of the protestors on my way back to my hotel. I stopped in at the grocers in Charing Cross Railway Station for something to eat for dinner on the way.

Next time – the Simply Red Concert at the OVO Arena Wembley

December 2, 2025

London Adventure: The Second Simply Red Concert at London’s O2 Arena

Breakfast had many more people than the day before. I figured it was a combination of my getting up later and the strong likelihood that several of my fellow breakfasters had also attended the concert the night before. This time I had a table facing the window, but it wasn’t right next to the window. No problem. Just wanted to get some good food and start my day.

The tickets for the concerts were all electronic. I had the ticket for the first night at the O2 on my phone (in the O2 Arena app) before I left home. My ticket for the OVO Arena Wembley concert was also already on my phone, in the OVO Arena app. But my ticket for the second night at the O2 was not on my phone. I had followed up with the ticket vendor while still at home, but had gotten nowhere.

Once I arrived in London, I chatted with a fellow at the O2. He told me to arrive at the box office when it opened at 5:30pm on the day of the concert and they would get it straightened out. I had a friend who had an issue with one of her tickets for an earlier concert and had gotten her situation taken care of in a similar manner. So I had planned the day to be ready for the concert and walk over to the box office at 5pm.

When I returned to my room after breakfast, I decided to try the O2 app one more time. The ticket was there. Could the problem have been that the app couldn’t handle more than one night at a time? Or maybe couldn’t deal with two different ticket vendors at the same time? At home, I often have several different tickets for different venues or different nights at the same venue on my phone without any problems. Whatever the issue had been, it was solved and I didn’t need to hang out at the box office later in the day. I took a screenshot of the ticket as backup.

I had originally planned to visit the main part of Greenwich for the day. But changed my plans when I was going to have to deal with the missing ticket. Now that my plans changed again, I chose to stay close to home. I spent some time exploring the upper level of the O2 complex, which mostly had shops, and didn’t buy a thing. This time I circled the entire complex, instead of going halfway and coming back. Then, after a light lunch, I went to the swimming pool and then sat in the thermal pool again.

This time the thermal pool was empty when I arrived. The previous day, a guy was already there. He had all of the jets shooting full blast and both waterfalls going. He was sitting under one of the waterfalls like it was his own personal shower. I hadn’t wanted to get so thoroughly pummeled (with my very fair skin, I bruise somewhat easily). Plus I didn’t want to get soaked by the waterfalls (since the water coming down on the fellow was spraying out quite far from him). So I had kept to the periphery. This time the setting for the jets was much more reasonable and the waterfalls weren’t running. So I settled in on a more centrally located seat where I was more likely to stay put and relaxed thoroughly. Others eventually joined me in the thermal pool and we had some enjoyable conversations.

After having some dinner and getting dressed up for the show, I went to the hotel bar and had a Lemon Drop Martini. Then I sauntered over to the entrance to the arena with my ticket ready to be scanned from my phone.

This time my seat was on the other side of the arena, a bit farther back from the stage and blessedly not so high up. To my left was a group of people, both male and female, all in their mid to late thirties. They were wondering what songs were and weren’t going to be played and when they might hear “Fairground”. Since I had the set list fully memorized by this time, I was able to answer their questions. They were mildly snockered and having a great time partying.

To my right was a very nice family from Belgium. The mother was about early fifties and had brought her son and daughter for them to see Simply Red live for the first time. Mom was a long-time fan who had indoctrinated her kids on the band’s music from pretty much the womb.

The seats directly in front of me were empty until after Soul II Soul finished their set. Then their occupants arrived, carrying several drinks (beer, wine, and cocktails) and already quite intoxicated. They were quite loud and rowdy and continued to be so even after Simply Red took the stage. If anyone dared to say anything to them, they responded quite belligerently, peppered with numerous expletives. I am usually very much of a live and let live kind of a person as long as no harm is being done to anyone. But my mild-mannered Belgian friend and I were whispering to one another about what we thought we could get away with doing to them without being arrested.

The guy left again and returned with four large beers in his large hands. Not too long after that, he threw up all over himself and the woman to his right. The woman he was with was to his left. Simply Red was not yet that far into their set and suddenly four people were leaving the concert. I was thankful they had been in front of me and not behind or next to me. It took a while before the cleaning crew came to take care of the mess. But it was likely that it wasn’t the only mess they had to clean up that night. The venue made it clear both nights that the drinkers were the priority to them, not the people who actually wanted to experience the show.

Because I knew the set list so well, I had planned out what to photograph and, more importantly, what to capture with video clips. Some of the action going on around me precluded some of my plans, but I still managed to get some good stuff. Since I would be front row center the following night, I didn’t want to spend all of my time looking at them through my phone when I was right there face to face.

Once again, they were incredible. Some acts I have seen live have been carried away by their own egos and sleep-walked their way through their set. This band never does that. They always go all out to put on an amazing, entertaining show. At the very beginning of the set, a video is played of Mick forty years ago saying, “I want to be a great singer. I want to be the best.” He isn’t talking about being the most famous or the richest. He truly means that he wants to sing very, very well. He worked at it really hard to make it happen.

For the encore, one of the fellas to my left had switched places with the girl who had been right next to me. At the end of the concert, he gave me a big hug and wanted to kiss me. Honestly I could have been this guy’s mama. But he was jovially three sheets to the wind and high on Simply Red’s unbelievable showmanship. He said it was the best concert he had ever seen in his life and planted one on me.

I followed the Belgian family out from the seats and we walked together for a little bit. They needed to get back to the main entrance while I was going out to the hotel from the bottom of the stairs we walked down from that level.

Back in my room, I got ready for bed and packed up to leave the hotel the next morning after breakfast. Then I posted the photos and video clips I took and called it a night.

Next time – transferring to a central London hotel and making my way through crowds of protesters to tour Parliament.

The arena filling up just before the Simply Red set

November 26, 2025

London Adventure: The First Simply Red Concert at London’s O2 Arena

For the very good buffet breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, I had a table by the windows in the corner. It overlooked the Thames and gave me a very pleasant view of the skyscrapers in London’s Financial District across the river. I could also watch the variety of boats and ships that went by.

I couldn’t settle in too much, however, as I had scheduled a one hour, full-body Swedish massage at the hotel’s spa. I figured that, with three nights of concerts in a row, I would be glad to have had it.

Although I had assigned seats for all three, Simply Red concerts are just not the sort of shows where the audience sits quietly in their seats. Instead the audience gets up on their feet, dances, sings along during the choruses, applauds enthusiastically, and cheers throughout.

The band is unique. The styles of music include soul, jazz, blues, funk, rock, ballads, and the occasional reggae piece. They not only sound different from other bands, but their songs are different from each other too.

The band is very tight and every member of it is both versatile and quite talented on the instrument (or instruments) they play. On drums, Roman Roth; bass, Orefo Orakwue; guitar, Kenji Suzuki; keyboards, Gary Sanctuary; trumpet, flugelhorn and percussion is Kevin Robinson; saxophones, EWI, and additional keyboards is Ian Kirkham. The guitar, saxophone, trumpet, and keyboard solos are all spellbinding. The lead singer, Mick Hucknall, has an exquisitely unique singing voice, which just seems to become richer and more powerful as he ages (25 when he started and 65 now).

With the tour being for the 40^th anniversary of the release of their first album, Picture Book, it was chock full of hits and fan favorites from over the years. Mick also talked to the audience (which he usually does at least some anyway), explaining the origins of some of the songs or telling stories related to them. This added an extra depth to their nearly two hour set.

Back to the massage. It was delightful and energized me. Afterwards I went for a walk outside. It was a lovely day. I explored the area around the O2 Arena, taking photos of the hotel, arena, and the river.

One of the photos that I took of the marquee at the main entrance to the arena ended up being posted on Simply Red’s Facebook page a few days later, credited to me. That was really cool. It was accompanied by four other photos, one of which was from the third concert and showed Mick onstage. I could clearly be seen in the audience watching him. I will share that photo in a later post.

Picked up some Chinese food for lunch. Then later in the afternoon, I took my masseuse’s advice and went to sit in the large thermal pool in the hotel next to the swimming pool. My legs kept trying to float up. If I tried to lean back, my entire body would rise and I would start to float away. I decided the problem was my lack of height. Others seemed to be staying in place, but they were all taller than me. So I sat on a ledge with my legs hanging down in order to not float off. Then I had a light dinner and got ready for the show.

I had decided that, since it was such a special anniversary, I would dress up each night. For the first night, I chose a purple sequined camisole with a purple and blue sequined shrug jacket.

The entrance from the hotel was pretty much on the other side of the arena from the main entrance, which I needed to go in. The complex was full of people and they were not all going to the concert. As it was, the arena could hold 20,000 and was sold out. So loads and loads of people milling around.

My seat for the first night was close to the stage, but really high up above it. It was the best seat I could get in the scramble to get any ticket I could after my friend had died. I am not a fan of heights, but I had talked myself into being okay with it on the way. Fortunately, when I went up the steps to enter the arena itself, I didn’t need to climb any further from there or go down any steps either. I just stepped over a bit to my right and sat down. Whew!

Not long after I arrived, another woman walked up to me and asked if I was Trisha. I said I was and she introduced herself to me. That was great. A new friend. I later had several people say that they saw me — some from across the arena. It seemed that my outfit could be seen from space.

I figured I would likely stay in my seat most of the time, unless the people in front of me stood and I would need to stand in order to see the stage. Didn’t realize that the people around me would be going in and out for the entire concert to get more drinks or to run to the WC. So I ended up standing for much of the show even at that dizzying height in what I would call nosebleed territory. The drunker several of those people got, I began to pray that nobody would be so drunk as to take a header over the railing just a few rows ahead of me.

The concert itself was absolutely fantastic – both Simply Red and their supporting act, Soul II Soul (biggest hit being “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)”) played their hearts out. Afterwards I took the elevator down instead of the never-ending succession of escalators. Then I walked back to the hotel. I ended up staying up a bit late to post the photos I had taken on three Facebook pages (my own, the one I had been helping with for the past couple years, and another dedicated to the band to which I often contribute). Exhausted, but happy, I slept well once I was under the covers of my comfy bed.

Next time – The day and night of the second of the three Simply Red concerts

November 15, 2025

London Adventure: Arrival

The British soul band, Simply Red, features quite prominently in the first days of this particular trip. So a little back history is in order.

On the 11^th of October in 1985, their first album, Picture Book, was released. This included the songs “Come to My Aid”, “Sad Old Red”, “Heaven” (the Talking Heads song), “Jericho”, “Money’s Too Tight (to Mention)”, “Holding Back the Years” (which hit #1 in the US), and the title song. The album launched the band into sudden fame – especially in the UK, Europe, and South America. Forty years later, still going strong, they embarked on an international tour. I was going to all three London concerts.

I had initially become aware of Simply Red through my local record shop. The fella from whom I purchased most of my music recommended them based upon what he knew about my musical tastes. In the summer of 1986, the band performed at the First Avenue Club. As good as I thought the album was, they were even better live.

I didn’t have the opportunity to see them again until the summer of 1992 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. A friend of mine had rented a flat in London and invited me over for a few weeks. She had a flyer regarding the Jazz Festival which indicated that Simply Red would be playing during the time I would be in London. So we hopped on the plane to Geneva.

After a few changes in personnel, the band was even better in person than before. And their very dynamic and charismatic lead singer, Mick Hucknall, was incredible. He started off the set with a Cole Porter song sung a cappella. It was perfection. I was even more completely hooked than before.

But, after a few years, life happened and our connection was lost. Two years ago, the connection restored, I was helping with a group associated with the band and was already set to attend a couple of the upcoming 40^th anniversary shows. So, on the 7^th of October 2025, I boarded a plane and began my London adventure.

Originally I was supposed to attend the two shows at the O2 Arena with a friend who said she had arranged for us to be the guests of one of the band members. But, several months after the tickets went on sale, she suddenly died. I then found out that she had not yet made any arrangements. So I found myself scrambling to get whatever tickets I could.

In the meantime, a third London concert was announced for the OVO Arena Wembley. I signed up for the pre-sale, got up at 3:30am my time to be ready at 10am London time (4am for me) to try to get myself the Front Row Experience. Success! Front row center even! I had already planned to make it a longer trip than just the concerts and had several activities in mind for the rest of my time in London.

I had managed to snag a Delta One air ticket, so my adventure began after I checked in at the Delta One desk, dropping my larger case off there. My ticket got me into the Delta Sky lounge. My flight wasn’t leaving until 11pm, so I wouldn’t be getting the onboard dinner until after midnight or so. In the lounge, I could get a light meal to tide me over until then for free. I could also hang out in the relatively quiet lounge until nearer to the time to board. The ladies room in the lounge alone was worth it. Quite posh.

I received a glass of sparkling wine upon boarding. Then, with dinner, I selected a lovely, white, Argentinian wine to go with the crab cakes I had ordered. They were served with soup, a salad, some smoked salmon, a roll, some risotto, and green beans. I decided I could get used to this.

Shortly after dinner, I figured it was time for bed. The seat could lie down, which I felt would definitely help me to actually sleep (which I normally don’t on a flight). It was, however, rather turbulent here and there, so I would just be drifting off when I would start to bounce around a bit (although I did have my shoulder strap seat belt on).

We were served breakfast at about 10am London time and landed at about 1pm. Going through passport control is much quicker now that all I need to do is to have the passport read by the computer. But I do miss collecting the stamps in the passport.

A car and driver were picking me up and taking me to the Intercontinental O2 Hotel. I knew that it would take a couple of hours to get there, especially since we went through central London, instead of on the ring road, but it took more like two and a half hours.

After checking in and getting myself settled in the room, I headed out the back door of the hotel to the special hotel entrance for the O2 Arena complex. I wanted to get acclimated with the place and find some food as it was now approaching 5pm.

I saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken right away, but it was closed for a private function. I usually like to eat the food of the country I am in instead of American fast food. But I was hungry and was willing to take whatever I could get that looked reasonable and was open. I ended up at the Five Guys burger place. It was a lot of food and I couldn’t eat it all, but I didn’t need to eat again for the rest of the day.

Back at the room, I got everything ready for the following day, set my alarm, and went to bed at around 10pm. I had an appointment for a massage for the next morning.

Next time – The day and night of the first of the three Simply Red concerts

September 21, 2024

Viking British Isles Explorer Cruise: Liverpool – A Gentleman’s Club

With all of the British Gentleman’s Clubs I have seen depicted in films and TV shows over the years (including the comedy series “Jeeves & Wooster” with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie), when I saw that there was a private tour of one of these clubs in Liverpool, I signed up immediately. It seemed like a great opportunity for me to see something that I would not normally be able to see.

Back at the ship, after the Beatles excursion, there was time to have a light lunch before changing my clothes for the private tour of the Athenaeum. They had a dress code according to the information we had been given. I decided to dress up a bit. I wore the same slinky black slacks I had worn for the special dinner at the Chef’s Table restaurant onboard the ship (the one with five courses and four wine pairings). With that I had on a slinky black “cold shoulder” top and some of my new amber earrings and an amber bracelet. I took along a lacy black shawl just in case. Although my friend and I were dressed up, we soon discovered that either very few people in our group read the part about a dress code, or they were ignoring it.

On our way to the club, we went to the university and saw several buildings, including the theatre that had been dedicated by Yoko Ono Lennon. We then drove by some upscale townhouses of the late 18^th century.

When we got off of the coach (which was a double-decker that had groupings of tables seating four people each), we visited the Bluecoat Arts Centre. This was originally founded in 1708 as a charity school. The present building was erected in 1716.

The Athenaeum had been founded in 1797 to augment the education of merchants and other professionals. Liverpool was growing, but not fast enough to be large enough for a university. The club provided a library, plus current newspapers, pamphlets and other reading material for its members. It also provided places for members (called Proprietors, because they all had shares in the club which has always been limited to 500 members) to congregate, discuss, and debate. These days the membership at the Athenaeum includes both men and women.

At the time of the founding of the Athenaeum, there were gentlemen’s clubs in London, but they were either political in nature or mainly for gambling. Express riders, messengers, and coaches were called upon to provide news and information to the club. One of England’s first abolitionists and a founding member of the Athenaeum, William Roscoe, donated numerous books to the club’s library. Maps, globes, and navigation charts were also donated. Over time the library grew into a very highly regarded private literary collection. I was delighted to see that they were quite proud of a book that they have in their collection that I also have in my own – Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Edwin Haviland Miller.

Before we could start our tour, we needed to wait for some of the rooms (especially the dining room) to clear out. They had hosted the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, for lunch and some people were still hanging out. Our host had intended to start up in the dining room and then work our way down to the newsroom. Instead, we began in the newsroom and worked our way up. Too bad, I would have loved to have seen the PM if he was still in the building and maybe said, “Congratulations.”

The newsroom was where people would gather to chat (there is a bar) and to read newspapers, etc. There were several comfy, roomy chairs to settle into. I picked a lovely, leather, high-backed chair like Sherlock Holmes might have sat in to smoke his pipe. Our host, who was a Proprietor, gave us the background history of the club while we enjoyed our comfortable seats. It was about 2:30pm by this time. After the very busy morning I had had, I was starting to get a little bit tired. The friend I was with had also encountered a busy morning and was beginning to fade as well. Fortunately neither one of us nodded off so nobody needed to kick anybody under the low table we were seated around.

We were told a story about a couple of busts in the room. A bust of Napoleon had been given to the club by a French visitor and placed on a shelf in a corner of the room. One of the Proprietors put another shelf above that one and placed a bust of Wellington there. They have been there ever since.

On our way upstairs to the Committee Room, we passed a framed copy of the US Declaration of Independence on the wall. The Committee Room was relatively small and was quickly filled with our group. Not too conducive for taking photographs. There was an old voting box in there, however, as well as a small bust of William Roscoe and a painting of Samuel Johnson (the fellow who wrote the dictionary in 1755).

On the same floor as the Committee Room were the Reading Room and the Library. We were still waiting on the Dining Room above to completely clear out, so we lingered in both of these rooms for a while. In the meantime, refreshments were being prepared for us back in the Newsroom.

With the delay in getting through the Athenaeum, we were the last excursion group back to the ship. It had begun to rain while we were heading to where the coach was waiting for us. I was glad that, even though a lacey shawl is not much help in the rain, I at least had something with me. As soon as we were onboard, the ship was prepared to sail. We were underway very shortly thereafter.

I perked up a bit from the cake and tea we had been given at the Club. I ordered my usual Lemon Drop Martini and joined the Long Beach ladies down front for the lecture on “The Tudors” by Russell Lee. I didn’t feel the need to change clothes for either the lecture or dinner. But I did head back to my stateroom shortly after dinner and called it a night. The next day was going to be another busy one.

Next time – Belfast: The Titanic

September 15, 2024

Viking British Isles Explorer Cruise: Liverpool – The Home of the Beatles

When I was about nine years old, I had a next door neighbor who was thirteen. We hit it off very well and began to hang out together. As an early developer, I was already beginning to look like a teenager, so it was fairly easy for me to get away with it. I began to listen to the local radio station that all of the real teens listened to and really appreciated both the Motown music and the British Invasion. A particular British favorite was the Beatles. My favorite Beatle at that time was Paul – the cute one. I knew that his birthday was the 18^th of June and his favorite color was blue. I was more than willing to share that information with anyone who might (or might not) be even slightly interested.

On one of my trips to London, I believe it was in 1997, I had gone on a London Beatles walk. We started at the Marylebone Train Station, where some of the opening scenes of “A Hard Day’s Night” had been filmed. Then we moved on to the flat where the “Two Virgins” photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was taken, the registry office where Paul & Linda and George & Patti were married, the EMI offices building (empty, but still recognizable), the former Apple clothing shop, the restaurant from “Help”, and Jane Asher’s father’s home (where Jane & Paul had lived for three years). Then we set off for St John’s Wood to Abbey Road Studios and the famous crosswalk where the Abbey Road album cover had been shot.

Many times I had thought of taking the train to Liverpool to explore everything Beatles that was there. I finally booked the excursion in 2019 to be a part of a trip I would be making to London in 2020. But the pandemic happened and that trip was cancelled. One of the many factors that made me decide to do this particular cruise was that we would be spending an entire day in Liverpool. The very first shore excursion of the entire cruise for which I signed up was called The Beatles Experience.

After a short general tour of the city, our first stop was the Cavern Club. Located on Matthew Street, the club was originally a jazz club. But they would allow skiffle music, which John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, would play. As time went on, the Quarrymen went through a few name changes before becoming The Beatles and a mainstay at the Cavern Club. I was really quite thrilled to see it.

Next we headed over to the Beatles Story exhibition at the Royal Albert Dock. They had early Quarrymen instruments as well as other early incarnations (The Rainbows, The Silver Beatles). The interior of the Cavern Club from the time that the Beatles played there had been recreated as well. There was so much to see. There were handwritten sheets of music, replicas of the Sgt Pepper uniforms, the Magical Mystery Tour bus, the inside of the Yellow Submarine. The exhibits were endless and continued on to the Beatles’ split and their separate careers afterwards. Absolutely mindblowing.

When I had worked in the recording industry in NYC for record producer Phil Ramone in the late 70s/early 80s, I had been blessed to have the opportunity to meet both George Harrison and John Lennon. When I met George, I was still quite new to the business and was very shy and nervous (I was also quite young – just out of school). Being that he was also fairly shy, it was a brief encounter which I nonetheless treasured. By the time I met John, I was determined not to let my shyness be a hindrance (especially after a disastrous meeting with Todd Rundgren when I shut down completely) and was actually able to conduct a relatively decent conversation with him. At least he didn’t act as if he thought I was a complete idiot. I do have to say that he was quite kind to me and went out of his way to make me feel comfortable. In between George and John, I also met George Martin, their former producer. He was quite charming and I was quite tongue-tied.

In the shop I purchased some baseball-style caps for my brothers and myself (they are also huge Beatles fans) and a T-shirt from the Cavern Club. Then we were off to Penny Lane.

After taking photos of both road signs, we got back on the coach and drove along Penny Lane while listening to the song. I did manage to get photos of the “shelter in the middle of a roundabout” and the barber shop. Although it isn’t the same barber shop as in the song, it is in the same location. There was also a statue of John near the roundabout of which I also caught a photo.

From there we headed to Strawberry Fields. Located in the suburb of Woolton, Strawberry Fields had been a children’s home when John Lennon used to play there as a child on the grounds. The original children’s home was torn down in the 70s with a newer building put up. The children’s home closed in 2005 and the site is now run as a tribute to John Lennon by the Salvation Army (who acquired the place when the children’s home closed).

There wasn’t any way for the coach to get anywhere near George Harrison’s childhood home. But we were able to see John’s Aunt Mimi’s home, called Mendips, at 251 Menlove Avenue in Woolton (where he grew up). We got off the coach and walked down the street to Paul’s childhood home. This was where he lived from 1955 to 1964. The address was 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton.

Ringo grew up in a number of houses. We went by a couple of them. The first was his birthplace on Madryn Street in Dingle. The other was the house they moved to next at 10 Admiral Grove, also in Dingle.

Our Beatles Experience was over and we headed back to the ship.

Next time – Liverpool: A Gentleman’s Club.

August 25, 2024

Viking British Isles Explorer Cruise: Hey, Weren’t We Supposed to Dock in Dover?

I was all set to have a great day when we docked at Dover. I had booked an excursion to the Shepherd Neame Brewery in the medieval market town of Faversham. This was touted as Britain’s oldest beer maker. Then, in the afternoon, I was to spend my time in Canterbury. The excursion included a short orientation walk of Canterbury’s main sites followed by plenty of free time to really explore the Cathedral.

I had already gotten up, dressed, and had my breakfast before finding out that, due to high winds and choppy seas, we would not be able to dock. Instead we would have an unexpected day out at sea. Since my stateroom was on the Starboard side of the ship, facing the coast, I thought that perhaps I would be able to see various parts of the English coast as we went by. But no such luck. We were far enough out to sea that it wasn’t possible to recognize any landmarks.

Unless I wanted to hang a “do not disturb” sign on my door, I needed to vacate the room for housekeeping to be able to do their jobs. I grabbed the book I had been reading on the plane and headed down to the Living Room. There I had a hot chocolate with Bailey’s, which I leisurely sipped on while reading a novelized version of life in southern England shortly after William the Conqueror conquered the country.

Soon we had newly printed schedules in hand and could plan our onboard activities for the day. I was interested in an 11am lecture by resident historian Dr Caroline Malloy on “The Vikings”. One of the reasons I had selected this trip was because I had discovered through both genealogical research and DNA testing that I had some Viking ancestry. Some of those ancestors had moved from Norway to Orkney in the 9^th century. Then, once Orkney became part of Scotland in the 15^th century (and after a lot of intermarriage), they moved down into mainland Scotland before some of them headed down even further to Northumbria and Yorkshire. On this trip, after roaming around the UK and Ireland, we would head on up to Norway.

On the way to the lecture, I ran into Christine and Sherry from the day before. They were also interested in the lecture, which turned out to be quite fascinating. We sat together and then went to lunch. Since I had eaten so much the night before and had a pretty decent breakfast, I had a light lunch. After lunch I had a swim and then rested for a bit before our next lecture at 4:30pm.

By the way, Viking helmets that have been excavated in archaeological digs have not sported horns. So, Minnesota Vikings – not accurate.

Since we were at sea, the shops were open. Out at sea, they were both tax free and duty free.

I love amber. I had first purchased some jewelry of that semiprecious stone while on a tour of the Baltic countries back in 2012. The amber in the shop onboard ship was all from Poland. It came in many different shades with many different styles of settings. All of it was gorgeous. Most of the amber I already had was in a honey color. I quickly found some earrings in a more reddish shade and then hunted for a ring to go with them. I slipped these finds into my purse after giving them my stateroom number (they would be charged to the credit card attached to the stateroom) and headed for the next lecture.

This one was on “Enjoying Jane Austen and Her Characters”. I got there a little early and ordered a Lemon Drop Martini to sip on while waiting for Sherry and Christine to join me and the lecture to begin. The guest lecturer was a fellow named Dennis Fitzsimonds. He was there setting up and so we ended up having a chat about Ms Austen between the two of us. He was knowledgeable on the subject and I learned a few things I didn’t already know.

The lecture by Russell Lee that evening was called “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep – How Wool Transformed the World”. His lectures were quite entertaining as well as informative. The California ladies and I got into the habit of attending them every evening. It also wasn’t long until the wait staff knew my drink of choice and stateroom number by heart. I had my usual cocktail (just one) every evening to sip during the lecture. They were refreshing and acted as the perfect appetizer for dinner (which we would have once the lecture ended).

The following day was a scheduled day at sea. So two days in a row of lectures, the pool, and shopping. Not a lot of shopping though. I did attend a lecture on amber by Gabriella from the Baltic Amber Shop. Afterwards I spent some time with her in the shop looking at some green amber pieces and a golden-colored bracelet and some earrings to go with it. Then I was done. I figured I now had enough amber for any occasion. I guess I’d better stay out of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia for a while.

Each afternoon at 4pm tea was served in the Wintergarden. This was a full afternoon tea with a variety of sandwiches and desserts plus whatever tea met your fancy. My choice was Darjeeling. The only quibble I had was that they had only one type of scone – raisin. I don’t like raisins. But I was quite full anyway, so I only had half of it and picked out the raisins. No dinner needed.

That evening it seemed that everyone I encountered complimented me on my beautiful purple dress. Only it wasn’t a dress. It was a top that I used to wear with jeans. However, I had lost about three sizes in weight so, when I took a selfie (worn with some black jeans) and sent it out to friends, the consensus was that the top was now a dress. Time to switch out the black jeans for some black lace leggings.

Next time – Learning about Irish baking at Ballyknocken Farmhouse in County Wicklow (near Dublin).

August 19, 2024

Viking British Isles Explorer Cruise: London

My flight left the US on the 3^rd of July, arriving on the 4^th. It was the day of the UK General Election. The only other time I had been in Britain for a General Election was back in 1997 when the Labour party won by a landslide and Tony Blair began his first term as Prime Minister. I was very interested to see how this election would turn out.

Upon arrival at London’s Heathrow airport, after customs and luggage, I was met by a representative from Viking Cruises. This was my first time with Viking. I had done a couple of river cruises before: the Nile in Egypt with Movenpick, and a Grand France river cruise with Avalon Waterways. I had also gone on one other small ocean-going ship in the Aegean (to Greek Islands and Turkey) with a French line, Louis Cristal. With those ships, there were no children, no casinos, and an emphasis on learning the history, art and culture of the places we would visit. The same applied to Viking.

The ship, Viking Neptune, was supposed to be docked at Greenwich. But when docking the day before, the winds were too high for them to do so. We took the northern M25 loop to Tilbury. I had been to London many times before and had visited Greenwich several times in the past as well. I really like Greenwich and had planned to spend my day there, wandering around and exploring. Ended up spending the day mainly on the ship, exploring that and taking photos.

My stateroom was a Deluxe Veranda on Deck Five. I was just two decks directly above the tenders/lifeboats. The World Café, which served breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet meals opened early for lunch. I love the idea of a buffet on such trips as I can choose what I want and how much. I tend to prefer smaller amounts of a variety of dishes — usually seafood or fish with a couple of vegetables, some fruit, and possibly a salad. If I have dessert, it is usually a sorbet or a mousse of some kind. They had some delicious salmon with grilled vegetables. I had some fruit salad and some seafood salad with that. I was also served a welcome drink involving bourbon and a premium Riesling. I had signed up for the Silver Spirits package so I could have better wines and an occasional cocktail.

I could get into my stateroom at 1pm. My cases were already there waiting for me. I unpacked and got organized for both dinner (the relatively casual dress code did involve something a bit nicer than a T-shirt and jeans) and the following day. The tickets for the shore excursions for which I had signed up were there, except for the excursion to Scone Palace in Edinburgh. Not enough people had signed up for that one. They provided me with an automatic refund. I could also sign up for a different excursion right there from my room. Had a nice early dinner too and, since I didn’t sleep on the plane from the States, turned in a bit early.

I had signed up for the walking tour of Greenwich for the following day. That was the only excursion they had available for that day and it was included (free of charge). Even though I had been to Greenwich many times on previous visits, I still wanted to go on the tour. You never know. I could learn something new or see something I hadn’t seen before. Since we hadn’t been able to dock at Greenwich, I was especially glad I had signed up. We were loaded onto a clipper that would take us up the Thames and deliver us at Greenwich’s dock.

I met a couple of very nice ladies from Long Beach, California (Sherry and Christine) and ended up hanging out with them for much of this excursion and quite often for presentations and dinner on the ship.

We started with the Cutty Sark. My mom and I had toured this ship on our very first trip to London in 1983 – long before the fire in 2007 that nearly destroyed her. I visited her again in 2016. The ship was named after a witch in the Robert Burns poem “Tam o’Shanter”. The figurehead of the ship is supposed to represent the witch. The Cutty Sark was built in 1791 as one of the last of the tea clippers. Although it was one of the last, it was one of the fastest. But, when steamships took over the tea trade, the Cutty Sark was then used for the wool trade from Australia. After that, she became a training ship and was finally put in permanent dry dock in Greenwich as a museum.

From there we went to the statue of Sir Walter Raleigh in front of the Visitor Centre and then to the Old Royal Naval College. This was the site of Greenwich Palace, which was the birthplace of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Then we went past the National Maritime Museum to the Queen’s House. This was built in 1616 on the grounds of Greenwich Palace and is now part of the National Maritime Museum. From there we looked up the hill at the Royal Observatory. Then came the one new thing that I had not ever seen before. Nelson’s ship in a bottle.

Throughout all of this, the heavens would periodically open up and drop some fairly heavy rain on us. A few minutes later, the rain would stop only to come gushing down again a few minutes after that. I was wearing a rain jacket with a hood that was strapped down over a baseball cap, allowing me to take my photos either by camera or phone without having to deal with an umbrella. Although I was surprised to encounter such chilly weather in July, all of my prior trips to the UK had taught me to always be prepared for the potential of rain, snow, hail or all three.

Our last stop was to take a quick photo of St Alfege Church. The church was built on the supposed spot where St Alfege was martyred in 1012. The church was built around 1290. Henry VIII was baptized there in 1491. The present church was rebuilt in 1712-1714 after the medieval church collapsed due to the number of burials both inside and out.

By the time we returned to the clipper to head back to our ship in Tilbury, the rain was coming down in torrents again. I still managed to capture a few photos of the O2 Arena and the Intercontinental O2 Hotel plus the Thames Barrier between the raindrops.

When I got back to the ship about 2:30pm, I found that I had a fairly relaxing afternoon ahead of me as the ship set sail for Dover. I also found that Kohari (the fellow who was looking after me and my stateroom) had provided me with some cans of orange Fanta in my fridge. I don’t tolerate caffeine and so don’t drink the usual sodas provided. Very nice of him.

I decided to take a shower and really dress up for dinner that night. I had a black camisole with a lightly beaded sheer top over it, plus some slinky black slacks. For dinner, I had signed up for a five-course dinner at The Chef’s Table restaurant inspired by China’s Cantonese and Hualyang cuisines with special wine pairings. The courses were as follows:

Hot & Sour Soup (Cantonese style) with Martin Codax Mara Martin (Godello) from Monerrei, Spain
Fried Prawns (crispy garlic & chili) with Vinologist (Chenin Blanc) from Swartland, South Africa
Coconut (lemongrass & ginger infused)
Wok-Fried Beef (black pepper sauce, rice in lotus leaf with Altano Organic (Tinto Roriz) from Douro Valley, Portugal
Chilled Mango Cream (pomelo and sago) with Broadbent Madeira from Madeira Island, Portugal

Was feeling just a wee bit squiffy afterwards. I usually have one or two glasses of wine with dinner, but not four. The ship was sailing and I wasn’t sure if the ship’s movement was the problem or the four glasses of wine. I decided it was both.

Next time – Hey, weren’t we supposed to dock at Dover?