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.
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.
Jesus College
Brasenose College
An Oxford street
Lincoln College
Part of Radcliffe Camera with Exeter College
Another view of Radcliffe Camera with All Souls College
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.
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.
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
Trooping the Colour part of Household Division
The Queen Mother & Princess Diana (to the right in carriage)
The Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, Duke of Kent
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.
When the bus to The Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour returned to the Victoria Bus Station, I walked along Buckingham Palace Road from there to Victoria Street to visit Westminster Cathedral. The only connection that Westminster Cathedral has to Westminster Abbey is that they are both located in the part of London called Westminster and are both essentially on Victoria Street (although it is called Broad Sanctuary by the time it reaches the Abbey).
Westminster Cathedral is a Catholic Cathedral, built in the 19th century in the neo-Byzantine style, influenced by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It was that influence that made me curious to see it. The exterior is striped with white stone and red brick. The interior is covered with mosaics. The Hagia Sophia influence was the mosaics. Otherwise the basic floor plan of the cathedral was a standard, western, crucifix with side chapels and one long nave.
There was a very interesting glass coffin containing Saint John Southworth, who was a Catholic martyr in the 17th century. He was hanged, drawn & quartered. But his pieces were gathered up, sewn together and parboiled to preserve them. I do have to admit that I was glad there was a gold mask over his face.
I took a taxi back to the hotel. A friend of mine, who had never been to London before, was supposed to be flying in that day and was going to contact me so we could get together for dinner. I waited for quite a while to hear from him and even tried texting him at one point. Unbeknownst to me, he was having some issues with his phone.
At about 8:20pm I received a text asking me to meet him in the middle of Blackfriars Bridge at 8:30pm. The only way I was going to make it in time was to take another cab. Fortunately, since the hotel was right next door to Charing Cross Rail Station, a line of taxis was always there ready to take folks coming into the station to their destinations. I leapt into one, apologized to the driver for the strange request I was about to make and sat back as I was taken to the bridge, arriving just in time to see my friend walking towards me.
Actually the driver spotted him before I did. I lowered the window and called out to him. Then I paid the driver and hopped out of the cab.
From the bridge, we headed up towards Fleet Street, but I wanted to show him the Temple first. By this time of night, there was only one entrance open and that was the entrance nearest to where we were. Not being a resident of the area, I explained to the person manning the guard house why I wanted to come in for a short time. She was fine with it and let us in.
The Temple had once belonged to the Knights Templar. The only vestige of their prior ownership was the Temple Church. The rest of the area that belonged to the Templars from the 12th through the 14th centuries had been taken over by two of the Inns of Court – the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple from the 14th century on.
Wat Tyler had sacked the Temple during the late 14th century Peasant’s Revolt. One of the Jack the Ripper suspects lived on King’s Bench Walk in the Temple. The War of the Roses began at the Temple when each side picked a rose from the Temple rose garden to symbolize their cause.
I knew my way around when coming in through the entrance under Prince Henry’s Rooms on Fleet Street. But I had never entered the Temple from this particular entrance before and so was unable to navigate the maze satisfactorily to get to the Temple Church from there. I was able to point out the rose garden and King’s Bench Walk however, and called it a day.
I had planned that we would eat at the George Pub, which was a very old, very traditional, half-timbered Elizabethan pub at about the spot where Fleet Street became The Strand. So I wasn’t in any big hurry as we sauntered along Fleet Street. I pointed out St Dunstan’s Church which was reportedly where Sweeney Todd hid the remains of his victims in the crypt (until the stench started coming up into the church).
I told him about the Great Fire stopping just before Prince Henry’s Rooms (so they were authentic to their time) and that Prince Henry would have been king instead of Charles I had he lived. What a difference in history that might have been.
We walked by the Griffin marking the border of the official City of London from the rest of London (and where Fleet Street became The Strand) and gazed at the Royal Courts of Justice (where civil trials are heard) before turning our attention to the George Pub. Although it still looked the same outside, it had radically changed its menu since I was there last (and probably had changed ownership too). It had gone from being a traditional pub with traditional pub food to being a trendy restaurant with trendy, and expensive, food.
So we walked a couple blocks further along The Strand and had our dinner at a café. We sat by the window and marveled about how we were hanging out in London instead of Minneapolis. Had I known that the George had changed, I would have taken him to the Olde Cock Tavern (16th century) just a short distance before Prince Henry’s Rooms. I had wanted to show him a place with some real traditional English atmosphere. Oh well.
After dinner, we continued along The Strand, veering off to Trafalgar Square to take a look at it all lit up at night before getting a few groceries for him from the Sainsbury’s by my hotel and putting him into a cab at the Charing Cross rail station. He was staying in the part of town near Victoria Station.
Then I prepared for my flight home the following day. I thought it was a shame that we only had that one evening in common.
Next – some time spent at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia where Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S Grant to end the American Civil War.
Once upon a time when I was buying some DVDs, they had a special to buy so many and get so many free. So I picked up the first Harry Potter movie for free. I loved it. I went on to see them all.
When a day trip to The Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London popped up when I was researching what I might want to do while in London on my 2017 trip, I signed up. I just needed to be at the pickup point at the Victoria Bus Station by a particular time, show the ticket I printed off once it was booked and climb onto a purple double-decked bus.
This was a tour of the actual sets, props, and costumes used in the Harry Potter films. In addition to being a fan of those films, I have always had a fascination regarding the making of movies and television in general. Therefore I had visited other studios in the US when I had been out in LA. I had also managed to be involved with filming a few movies when I worked in the recording industry in NYC fresh out of school. So I had been able to watch firsthand how some of it was done. Then there was my double major in Theatre & Radio/Television with a minor in music.
A few of the chess pieces from the very first film were arranged outside to greet us as we approached the building. Then we joined in the long and winding line to actually get in. This tour was a popular one. When booking, both the date and the time were booked ahead so they wouldn’t have everybody showing up at the same time on the same day.
The line did move relatively quickly. All around the top of the hall we were in were photos of all of the actors. Shortly before being able to get into the auditorium, we could see the cupboard under the stairs. This was where the Dursleys had kept Harry before he went to Hogwarts School.
We entered a very large auditorium where I could see that there were some seats open on the front row just right of center. I chose one of those, sat down, and the introductory film began.
When the film ended, the screen rose up into the ceiling and a couple of very large doors were visible. A woman said a few more things and then invited us into Hogwarts. That was when the giant doors opened and there was the set for the Great Hall – also immense.
I was one of the first people through the doors since I was in the front row and didn’t need to gather anything or anyone before getting up and going in. They had mannequins representing several of the characters and dressed in costumes that had been used in the movies.
I had plenty of time, so I took my time looking around and taking photos. Also, I had learned long ago that when you have a fair amount of people around you who are jumping and screaming and terribly excited, it is a good idea to let them get far away from you. Otherwise trying to take photos and even being able to see things can be difficult.
From the dining hall, an enormous sound stage was entered that had exhibits all over the place. They had it all arranged so that you could flow through fairly logically and there was plenty of room to be able to see everything without being crowded out or rushed along. There wasn’t a guide that needed to be followed. There was, however, plenty of staff who could be questioned.
Grouped together were the Yule Ball Ice Castle and the costumes from the dance (from the Goblet of Fire film), the staircase that swings around and the portraits with it, plus the Leaky Cauldron (the pub in London on Charing Cross Road from which one could enter Diagon Alley). Across from the Leaky Cauldron were the Gryffindor boys’ dorm and the Common Room. Then the off-kilter hallway that was also in the Leaky Cauldron.
A very large set was the Potions Lab with both Snape and Quirrell (who was in the first film). The Goblet of Fire itself, the egg that could only be opened underwater without it shreiking, and the Tri-Wizard Cup were logically grouped together, since they came from the same movie. Shelves crammed full of other props were next to these items. Another enormous set piece was the Hogwarts Pendulum Clock.
A favorite of mine was Dumbledore’s office. The Griffin that guarded it came first. Then, at the entrance of the office was the Pensive with the bottles containing people’s memories that had been extracted. The office was quite cool, having multiple levels to it. The fact that it was the actual set used made it really intriguing.
Things often look so much larger on film than in reality. This was not the case when it came to most of the sets. There were only a couple, the interior of Hagrid’s Cottage, The Burrow (the Weasley Cottage), and parts of the Ministry of Magic that were quite small in reality.
A collection of broomsticks and the Quidditch equipment and uniforms were next. The Whomping Willow had a hold of the flying car, which was next to the door to the Chamber of Secrets with its snakes.
Barty Crouch Jr had imprisoned Mad-Eye Moody inside of the lowest level of a multi-level trunk in Goblet of Fire. The trunk was sitting fully open.
Between the Burrow and Malfoy Manor was a display of Horcruxes. A meeting of several of the Death Eaters (from one of the Deathly Hallows films) was taking place at Malfoy Manor, which included Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Beatrix Lestrange, and the snake Nagini.
Dolores Umbridge’s pink office and some of her costumes were on display. Then, through a creaky gate, was the entrance to the Forbidden Forest where we were able to encounter Buckbeak, Aragog (the giant spider), and the dog patronous.
The final exhibit in that part of the studios was Platform 9 ¾ from Kings Cross Station. They had the actual engine and the train cars used in the film. It was tough to get close enough to the engine since everyone was determined to get a selfie with it. Folks also wanted photos of themselves pushing the cart through the wall. There were several of those on the other side of the platform from the train. Oddly enough, not as many people were interested in taking a photo of Ron and Harry in the train car with Ron’s rat Scabbers (and tons of candy).
Before going outside to the sets there, I stopped for some lunch, including some butterbeer. I could keep the mug. So I cleaned it off best I could, wrapped it in several napkins and stuffed it into my camera bag.
Outside was the triple-decker purple Knight Bus. It was possible to get on it and look around. The Dursley Home (No. 4 Privet Drive) was there. It was possible to go inside and see the letters flying around from the first movie when Harry received his invitation to Hogwarts.
The long, covered bridge from Hogwarts and the Potter Cottage at Godric’s Hollow were also out there. I could walk on the bridge, but not enter the cottage. Several more chess pieces were standing just outside of the next building. They were so realistic I almost expected them to move as they had done in the first film.
The building had a lot of the animated pieces for the movies, such as Nearly Headless Nick’s head (played by John Cleese), the dragons (both large and mini), the elves, the goblins, the troll, the Dementors (who guarded Azkaban, the wizarding prison), the werewolf (Professor Lupin), the Thestrals (who drew the carriages to Hogwarts from the train station), the Grindelows (the mer-people in the lake at Hogwarts), and Dobby (everyone’s favorite house elf). Most of the magical menagerie creatures were there.
After seeing all of the creatures and special effects, it was time to take a stroll along Diagon Alley. All of the special shops were there – Eeylops Owl Emporium, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, Flourish & Blotts bookseller, Gambol and Japes (a wizarding joke shop), Madame Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, the Magical Menagerie, Ollivanders wand shop, Potage’s Cauldron Shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies, Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, Twilfitt and Tatting’s clothing, Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment, and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Then there was Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Beyond Diagon Alley was a room with loads of miniatures and models used in filming the series followed by a huge room with the full model of Hogwarts Castle. It was very detailed and fun to view.
Next time – a mysterious meeting on Blackfriar’s Bridge
The Scotsman Hotel was right across the street from the Waverly Train Station. After checking out, all I needed to do was take the elevator down to the lowest level, cross the street and then look at the boards inside the train station to see from which platform my train would be leaving.
On the four hour train ride back to London, I sat with two really enjoyable ladies. The first one got on the train with me in Edinburgh and the other joined us in Newcastle. They both went all the way to London with me and helped the time fly by.
This time in London, I was staying at the Amba Charing Cross Hotel, which is on the Strand, right next to the Charing Cross Train Station. As soon as I checked in, I headed out to spend some time in the Covent Garden and Soho areas. First I headed up Charing Cross Road to say farewell to Wyndhams Theatre and its production of Don Juan in Soho. Then I went over to St Paul’s Covent Garden.
Built by Inigo Jones in 1633, St Paul’s was nicknamed the Actor’s Church. Several actors have memorials there including Peter O’Toole, Vivian Leigh, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, and others. During a past visit, there had been a plaque that indicated that some of the plague victims from 1665 were buried underneath the garden. I couldn’t find that sign on this particular trip. But I found the photo I had taken of the sign on the prior trip once I got home. It is among the photos I have included.
I stopped in at Covent Garden Market and explored the shops that were there. I missed the Dolls House shop that used to be there for several years. I always found something unique and highly British to buy there. Several tea shops were still there as were shops like Crabtree & Evelyn. More pubs and other places to eat were there than had been in the past plus more souvenir shops. Stopped to take a photo of the Royal Opera House before heading off to the Lamb & Flag.
Mom and I used to have lunch at the Lamb & Flag when we visited London together. They had good pub grub. In 1679, King Charles II sent men to confront the poet John Dryden out in the narrow street next to the pub and to beat the living daylights out of him. He had published a not too gentlemanly satirical verse against one of the king’s mistresses. The building itself dates from early 18th century (after Dryden’s encounter with the king’s men) and became a pub in 1772.
At that point in time that particular area of Covent Garden was rather violent. The upstairs room of the pub held bare-knuckle prize fights causing the pub to be called “The Bucket of Blood”. By the 19th century, things had calmed down a bit and Charles Dickens used to frequent the place. The upstairs room is now used for serving food while downstairs is more of a bar and gathering place.
From the Lamb & Flag, I set off for Maiden Lane, which is the street between Covent Garden and The Strand. The oldest continuous restaurant in London, Rules was established in 1798 and still serves traditional British food – classic game, oysters, pies, and puddings. It was where the future King Edward VII wooed the actress Lillie Langtry when he was still Prince of Wales.
Other famous actors and authors who dined there have included Henry Irving, Laurence Olivier, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and H G Wells. I have never dined there myself. But Mom and I had a traditional British dinner at the nearby Simpson’s on the Strand during a visit that included my birthday.
Back in 1897, the actor William Terriss (known for playing swashbuckling heros) was murdered in Maiden Lane just outside of the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre. The man who stabbed him was a fellow actor who had become unhinged. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.
Heading down the narrow Bull Inn Court towards the Strand, I encountered the Nell Gwynne Tavern. On a plaque outside of the tavern it says, “Built on the site of the Old Bull Inn, the Nell Gwynne Tavern was named after the infamous mistress of King Charles II. Nell, born and raised in this locality, sold fruit in nearby Covent Garden before gaining fame as an actress on the Drury Lane stage. Samuel Pepys, the renowned diarist, describes seeing ‘the mighty pretty Nell’ on his way to the Strand in 1667.”
The Nell Gwynne is a fairly small, cozy pub with some tasty toasties on the short menu. I liked both the food and the atmosphere of the place and didn’t feel odd going there with my mother in prior years or on my own.
The rather weathered Statue of Charles II that has stood near the center of Soho Square since 1681 figures in the comedy Don Juan in Soho. At one point it even comes to life for the rather snozzled Don Juan. So I am including a photo of him too.
Next time – a visit to the London Warner Brothers Studios where much of the Harry Potter movies were filmed to see the sets, costumes, and props from the films.
Scotsman Hotel
Waverly Train Station
Virgin Train to London
Charing Cross in front of Amba Charing Cross Hotel
My last full day in Scotland on this particular trip involved a day trip from Edinburgh to Anstruther and St Andrews with a stop in Falkland. I had been to St Andrews several times before, but only passing through, with just a half hour or an hour to spend there. This time I would have about three hours.
Whenever heading north from Edinburgh the route goes through South Queensferry as both the rail bridge and a couple car and truck bridges take folks across to the other side of the Firth of Forth. The Queen in question was Saint Margaret, consort of King Malcolm Canmore. This time, when we stopped, I zoomed in with my camera on the rail bridge and caught a train on its way to Inverness. I think sometime I should take the train from Edinburgh to Inverness just so I can ride across that bridge.
Founded as a fishing village in 1225, Anstruther (pronounced like “ANN-stir”) is now a resort village on the north coast of the Firth of Forth where it meets the North Sea. It is a pretty little village that can be walked from end to end without much effort.
Anstruther is another British place name that illustrates how British English and American English can be slightly different. There is Belvoir Castle, which is pronounced “Beaver” (don’t ask). Leicester Square in London = “Lester”. Southwark Cathedral = “SUTH-erk”. One of my favorites isn’t a place — it is just the British word for aluminum, which is aluminium (“al-u-MINI-um”).
We were dropped off at a spot where we could use restrooms and get some coffee. We would be picked up at the other end of the main road bordering the water in about 45 minutes. I had plenty of time to walk around, explore and take photos.
When we got to St Andrews, we were given the choice of being dropped off at one of three places – the main street in town, the Old Course, or the Cathedral. We would be picked up at the in town drop off spot in three hours, so we were all shown where that was first. Then we drove over to the Old Course.
The public cn have lunch at the Clubhouse. It isn’t necessary to be a member. There is a museum a short distance from there. A ways across the course is the hotel where a lot of the golfers who come to play stay. It also isn’t necessary to be a member to play the course, but there is a long wait for a tee time. So advanced planning is necessary.
Several people jumped off at the Old Course. The rest of us headed off to the cathedral. There were only three of us that got off there. The others were apparently going into town for lunch first.
I had never had time to visit the cathedral. On the other trips to St Andrews we had been dropped off at the Old Course and had to hot foot it at a sprightly pace down the road to the castle. I could only gaze at the cathedral longingly from the road next to the castle. So this trip, it was my first priority.
St Andrews Cathedral was built in the 12th century and was ransacked and ruined during the Scottish Reformation in the 16th century. The grounds over which the ruins are scattered are quite extensive. Many people have been buried there throughout the centuries. Some of the tombstones depicted the person buried beneath as a golfer. What a place for a lifelong golfer to be buried!
After I took all the photos I wanted, I headed over to the town to get some lunch. Since we had had our lunch stop in St Andrews on the first day of the Scottish Castles Experience tour, I had learned about the main drag of St Andrews and had a pretty good idea of the pubs along the road.
I had been to a pub down closer to the fountain in the middle of the road, but didn’t want to go too far that way since I wanted to visit the castle after lunch. The road to the castle was fairly close to where I had come out of the cathedral grounds. So I opted for the first pub that looked welcoming and had an open table.
One of my favorite pub lunches is a ploughman’s lunch which includes bread, cheese, usually some sort of pate or ham, and maybe a hard-boiled egg. If they don’t have a ploughman’s lunch, I will often get fish & chips unless they have something else interesting like bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potatoes), toad in the hole (sausage baked inside of some Yorkshire pudding), Scotch eggs (soft-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat and bread crumps and deep fried), or Welsh Rarebit (a cheese toast usually made with sharp cheddar and a spicy mustard). I know. Healthy dining! That’s why I like to get the ploughman’s lunch. It is the least of all evils.
I do like to eat in pubs because they are much cheaper than restaurants and take much less time to get your food. You also order at the bar, so no waiting on the server to come around. And you usually pay when you order, so can leave when done instead of waiting for the bill. It is plenty of food for me too.
Sometimes I will do a café, especially one in a museum or other attraction that I am visiting (such as the one at Holyrood Palace). I prefer to eat the local cuisine, so I tend to avoid American fast food shops unless I am really pressed for time and/or desperate.
The particular pub I chose had a board outside that said they had a ploughman’s lunch. So I ordered that and a half pint of local Scottish dark ale. They served grape jelly with the meal. It was not to spread on the bread, but to eat with the pate. The first time that happened years ago I thought that it would most likely be disgusting, as peanut butter and liverwurst had been (which was a common sandwich on offer at several sandwich shops). But I was wrong. It was delicious.
Now well fortified, I headed for the castle. I had made a hurried tour of the castle several years before when I had an hour total in St Andrews. This time I wanted to take the trail down to the water’s edge. Then I would see how much time I had left to tour the castle again before I needed to be at the pickup point.
I often overestimate how much time something will take, especially since I have fairly short little legs. But I can get those stubby limbs in gear and cover a lot of ground quickly. More than one tour director has commented on how fast I can move. I think it’s because of having to spend so much of my life keeping up with people much taller than me.
I got to the top of the trail quickly (even with stopping to take a couple photos on the way) and headed down, knowing it would take longer to get back up the trail than down it. Fortunately it wasn’t too steep. It was also worth it. I loved the photo of the castle with a couple of the university buildings behind it.
The castle had been built in the 12th century for the bishops of St Andrews Cathedral. Cardinal David Beaton had the protestant preacher George Wishart burned at the stake in front of the castle in 1546. There was a marker in the street just before reaching the trail down to the beach.
Later in the same year, the Cardinal was murdered and his body hung out of the castle window. The Protestants were in control of the castle, but not for long. A French fleet bombarded the castle with enough canon fire to render it defenseless and it has been a ruin ever since.
When I came back up from the beach, I found I still had plenty of time to visit the ruins. So I paid the fee and went in to see the bottle dungeon.
Located in the northwest tower of the castle, the bottle dungeon was shaped like a bottle, with a narrow opening at the top through which the prisoner was lowered. One prisoner was even Archbishop Patrick Graham who was imprisoned in his own castle when he was judged to be insane. It is also said the body of Cardinal Beaton was stored in a chest of salt in the bottle dungeon during the siege of the castle.
I had timed my walk to the castle from the main road and so knew how long the return trip would take me. But the pickup point was a fairly long haul down South Street in front of Madras College (one of the colleges of St Andrews University). So once I had looked down into the bottle dungeon, gazed out at the sea, and climbed up on a part of the walls that was still standing, I headed back along the castle road and then down South Street.
I arrived at our rendezvous with about 15 minutes to spare, so I crossed the street to the place advertising ice cream and purchased a double scoop cone to savor as I sat on the low wall and waited for the tour coach. As others in the group arrived and asked where I had gotten my ice cream, I pointed them in the shop’s direction. By the time our chariot arrived, nearly all of us had ice cream.
On the way back to Edinburgh, we had a stop at Falkland in front of Falkland Palace. Our driver/guide told us we had time to tour the castle if we wanted, so I decided to buy a ticket and see it again. I really liked that castle.
This time, we were on our own instead of being taken around by a guide who explained everything. I was still regretting that we couldn’t take any photos. But I got a really good look at everything by being decisive and ending up first in line. That way there weren’t a lot of people in the room with me. They also took longer because they would stop and read the signs telling them what the room was and some history. Most of the time, I had whatever room I was in to myself.
When I got back to Edinburgh, I decided to stop in at the private bar in the hotel just for guests. I had a drink called a Strawberry Whisky Smash, which contained Dewars blended Scotch, strawberry, lemonade and mint. My second drink was a French Martini. This consisted of vodka, Chambord, and pineapple juice. Then I picked up a sandwich in the shop next door to the hotel and packed up to be ready to leave for the London train the next day.
Next time – return to London and spend time wandering around the Covent Garden area.
