England – Page 4 – A Traveling Fool

My first day trip out of London didn’t go too far out. In fact, Hampton Court is in a London suburb, so not even officially outside of London for that portion of the day.

Our tour guide was impeccably dressed, perfectly coiffed, and closely shaved except for the handlebar mustache which he frequently stroked (when he wasn’t checking on the perfection of his hair, which never moved one millimeter). He had a Hungarian accent (sounding somewhat like Bela Lugosi) and referred to us all as “my lovelies”.

He didn’t have much to do. At Windsor, once we parked the coach (a large one that could hold about 45 people; he was not driving) in the car park, he led us through the town and to the castle, gave us our tickets , told us when to be back on the coach and set us free for about two hours. At Hampton Court Palace, it was pretty much the same. The coach dropped us off; he told us what time to meet back there; and then we were on our own for about three hours. I guess his job was just to look handsome and perfect and make sure he didn’t lose anybody (he did do a head count when we were back on the coach before signaling the driver that we could leave).

I have to say that I was relieved that we weren’t going to be herded around from room to room in a crowd and have to strain to hear what was being said. Many years ago when Mom and I had been to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace before, that had been the case. At Windsor, no photos are allowed inside, so being in the middle of a throng of people wasn’t as bad as at Hampton Court. There photos were allowed and masses of people could make taking decent ones difficult.

Before leaving for Windsor, we stopped in South Kensington by the Royal Albert Hall. This is a round concert hall that can seat over 5,000. It was opened in 1871 as part of a memorial to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who had died about ten years earlier. The other part of the memorial is just across the street from the hall in Kensington Gardens and is called the Albert Memorial.

Around one of the sides of the Albert Memorial is a lovely building that was used as Mister Selfridge’s house in the TV series “Mister Selfridge”. The series was about the Selfridge & Company department store in London.

At Windsor, the Queen was in residence, so security was tight. The castle was originally built in the 11^th century by William the Conqueror and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. Mom and I had been there in 1991 before the enormous fire of 1992. I was very interested in seeing how everything had been restored. Being a fan of dolls houses however, I stopped off to see Queen Mary’s Dollhouse first. Then I headed upstairs to the State Rooms.

Each room had a sign telling about the room. The ones which had been damaged by the fire also had photos of the damage so we could see how much work needed to be done to get the room back to what it had been before. They had staff in each room to answer any questions that people might have. The main thing was that I could take my time and really see what each room was about. My previous visit had all been a blur of glimpses of the rooms through the crowds.

One of the rooms that had been badly damaged in the fire was Saint George’s Hall, which is essentially the Great Hall. The room is enormous and the entire roof had collapsed. The discovery was made that the ceiling had been a false one and the room originally had a much higher and grander ceiling. The decision was made not to restore the hall entirely as it was, but to take it back to the medieval period when the original ceiling had been visible. Wow! The result was amazing!

I had quite a chat with a staff member who was just inside when I walked in and my jaw dropped. She walked over to me as I was saying “wow!” out loud. So we talked about how we both like the hall so much better now, despite the fact that it was beautiful and impressive before the fire. She then asked if I knew who the monarchs were whose paintings were on the wall. I responded by starting to name them. We both laughed when I said, “then all the Georges.” The first painting in the line was of James I, so I hadn’t named them all from William the Conqueror – just the Stuarts.

Although I couldn’t take any photos and I usually use only photos I took myself in this blog, I have included here three photos of Saint George’s Hall that were taken by others to show what the hall looked like before the fire, with the fire damage, and after restoration.

When I got back outside, the Queen’s Band was playing. I managed to take video and a photo while listening. This was an added benefit of being there while the Queen was in residence.

St George’s Chapel also doesn’t allow photography inside. There was a black marble slab in the middle of the aisle, which you might have seen if you watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan. The slab says that, in a vault beneath it, are the remains of Jane Seymour (Henry VIII’s third wife, who died shortly after giving birth to his only son, Edward), Henry VIII, Charles I, and an infant of Queen Anne.

Poor Queen Anne had 18 children die. Just the one stillborn child was buried at Windsor. All of the others were buried at Westminster Abbey. Some were miscarriages, some still births, some died while still infants. Only one made it out of infancy as far as age eleven. Imagine.

I had lunch at the Victorian train station. They had several cafes and sandwich shops to choose from. Then I made my way back to the car park via a bridge from the railway station over the train tracks. Our tour guide was very happy to see all of his lovelies back to the coach on time and we set off for Hampton Court.

My first full day in Scotland, I had a day trip booked to visit Alnwick Castle and the Scottish Borders. As a fan of both Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter books and films, I was really looking forward to seeing Alnwick (pronounced Ann-ick). The castle was used as the home of the fella who ultimately became Edith’s husband in Downton. In the Harry Potter films, it was used for many of the exterior shots, and a few interiors, of the Hogwarts School of Magic.

The tour left from just across the street and down the road a bit. The tour group – Rabbies – does small group tours with a maximum of 16 people. I booked all of my day trips through Viator online. They were through various tour groups. Rabbies was one I really liked.

The tour coach was packed and a woman asked if she could sit with me. Her name was Naomi and she lived in Israel. We hit it off immediately and ended up spending the day together. We continue to stay in touch.

Our first stop was Kelso Abbey. As with most of the abbeys along the Scottish border with England, Kelso was destroyed in the 16^th century as part of what was known as the Rough Wooing. King Henry VIII of England wanted Mary Queen of Scots in marriage to his son Edward. When the answer came back as “no”, Henry started a war with Scotland. As part of that war, he destroyed all of the abbeys he could in Scotland. Henry did not take “no” for an answer ever.

After the destruction of the 12^th century abbey, much of the stone was hauled away to be used to build other things. There is one section of the building remaining. It gives an idea of both how strong and how beautiful a building it once was. Most of the land around it is a cemetery.

We took a walk into the town through the cemetery. This was so folks could get their morning coffee. Not being a coffee drinker, I went along just to see the town. It was a small market town with a central town square, where it would have been difficult to lose one’s way.

To get to Alnwick, we needed to cross the border into England. This included crossing the great salmon fishing river, the River Tweed. We stopped for some photos.

In Scottish Gaelic, the river is Abhainn Thuaidh, and in Scots it is called Watter o Tweid. Scottish Gaelic is the unique language of Scotland, which is still spoken in some parts of the Highlands, but not too much elsewhere in Scotland any more (unlike Welsh which is having a great revival). Scots is an archaic hybrid of Scottish Gaelic and English that was mainly spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland. It is the language in which the song “Auld Lang Syne” was written. “Auld Lang Syne” means roughly “days gone by.”

The seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, the 11^th century Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England, after Windsor. Over its long history, it has been involved in several battles, including the Wars of the Roses between the Yorkists and Lancastrians. Although it changed hands a few times over the centuries, it was never severely damaged and still looks very much as it did in the 12^th century on the outside. The inside and the parks were altered in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. New gardens were created in 2003 for the purposes of a charitable trust.

The castle has several Harry Potter displays and experiences for children and families. While we were there, a Downton Abbey costume exhibit was going on inside of the castle. Unfortunately they didn’t allow photos inside.

The dining room looked just as it did in Downton Abbey and there were several mannequins around the room wearing gowns that had been worn in the scenes shot there. This was another castle that, despite its size, seemed rather cozy.

Wanting something associated with Downton Abbey, I purchased a very elegant ‘cake slice’ which looked like something that would be used at a formal dinner there. A couple of my friends (also Downton Abbey fans) and I have an annual tea during which we use this special purchase to serve desserts.

Naomi and I had lunch together at the Treehouse, which actually was a treehouse. Then we walked around the garden and grounds until it was time to leave. I can’t remember who the person was whose statue on horseback I photographed, but I am sure it was a family member (the Percy family) and I really liked the statue.

Originally the site of an ancient fort built by the indigenous Celtic Britons, Bamburgh Castle had its origins in 547. That castle was destroyed by the Vikings in 993. The Normans built a new castle on the site in the 11^th century. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to tour the castle (and I think it was either closed for the day or about to be).

Just before crossing the border back into Scotland, we made a stop at Berwick-on-Tweed to take photos of the bridges. Berwick started as an Anglo-Saxon market town. Taking a photo of the bridges properly lined up with one another, there are three bridges from three different centuries.

Dunbar Castle was begun in the 7^th century on a rocky outcrop at the harbor of the town of Dunbar. The castle was then rebuilt in stone in the 11^th century. But in the 16^th century, the castle was blown up.

Back in Edinburgh, Naomi and I decided to have dinner together. Although it was my first full day in Scotland, it was her last. She was returning home the next day. I proposed the bar at the Balmoral. They had food as well as drinks in a casual atmosphere.

We shared a vegetarian grill that was huge (I think it was intended to be shared by two people) and delicious. Along with that, I had a mojito that added some cherry juice and champagne to the usual recipe. It too was quite tasty.

After our dinner, when we entered the lobby from the bar, we were called over to the desk by the Assistant Manager. He had some chocolates to give us. And then he also gave us some of the most light and airy macarons I have ever had. I thought that was so nice.

After sending Naomi off in her taxi to her hotel, I headed up to my room. My bed had already been turned down, with some hotel slippers next to the bed and more chocolates on the nightstand.

Next time – Rosslyn Chapel (and Castle), Melrose Abbey & Part of Hadrian’s Wall

Tag: England

A Day at Windsor Castle & Hampton Court Palace – Part 1

Alnwick Castle & the Scottish Borders