The Occasionally-Examined Life

London is a leading global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism, and transport. It’s been a major settlement for at least two millennia. It is, for me, a small but significant pleasure to know my way around some of it and to feel comfortable navigating its trains, bridges, and walks.

There was a time in a much more recent past history, mine, when the evenings in the wonderful and distant places I visited were spent relaxing, reflecting, and maybe enjoying a little night life. These days I find I must instead at night serve my new master, The Keyboard. That’s a commentary on Modern Life and on myself, of course. My evenings in foreign lands are now spent curating the day’s photos and writing this blog, my Facebook postings, and the travel sites I contribute reviews to, such as TripAdvisor and Booking.com. And the hotels and restaurants I frequent all want reviews and surveys completed, too. Honestly, it’s almost a second job. And that is why I’m actually finishing up these blog posts after having returned home.

My train from Oxford pulled smoothly into Paddington Station and it’s kind of fun to meander along, with no particular deadline, while those all around me rush to get to wherever. “The Lawn”, an area at the station enclosed in glass walls, is still under renovation after over a year, I see. The Hilton I’m staying at sits atop the station and the lounge looks out over The Lawn, hence my interest. My Hilton Honors Gold status was rewarded with an upgrade to a suite and a few other benefits and I quickly settled in, then I set out on foot to check out the surrounding Bayswater area to see what changes may have happened in the year since I was here last.

After a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood and down to Hyde Park, working up a bit of a sweat, I went back to Paddington and into the pub on top of The Lawn, “The Mad Bishop & Bear”, and enjoyed one of their tasty real ales.

This is also a Fuller’s pub and can be jammed at times with rail passengers, especially at the end of the day, but they always have a good range of beers and the staff is great.

After a bit of a rest, I grabbed my Oyster Card and took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus. I checked out two pubs in the area (no decent real ales) before heading for my pre-theatre dinner at Cafe Monica. I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant – the food was excellent, the service great, and the price reasonable. And it’s right next door to the Gielgud Theatre. If you’re in the Piccadilly Circus area, I heartily recommend this eatery.

The show I saw was the The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. As it happens, it’s now just opening its run in Washington, DC, and it’s a wonderfully “theatrical” show. Fantastic on all creative accounts with a great script and a fine English cast. I really enjoyed myself. The audience even managed to behave themselves as far as cell phone abuse went. If you’re looking for a great evening of theater, go see this show.

Piccadilly Circus at night is a show of its own, of course. It’s sort of the “Times Square” of London, all lit up and bustling with tourists, townies, and panhandlers. I was glad to move through it quickly and get back on the Tube for my return ride to Paddington.

After a nice breakfast and a leisurely reading of the Times, I paid my bill at The Head of the River and took a cab to the Oxford train station. There I caught the next train for London’s Paddington Station.

I have to say that my BritRail pass has really worked out well. It’s a “flexi-pass” which allows me to ride as many times as I like on any 8 days within a 30-day period. Just get on a train and go. It has been really easy to use (some conductors don’t even bother to read it – they just wave me on once they see the outer sleeve) and I really appreciate the 1st Class carriage, which is very rarely full. My estimate was that I saved about 40% by using the pass instead of buying individual tickets. This is a pass, as far as I know, that can only be purchased by folks living outside the U.K. and must be purchased before you depart for your trip.

While on the subject of trains, I always travel in the morning and I’ve encountered very few delays. However, it appears that delays and cancellations do occur later in the day. So, early travel is advised. I’ve also seen many more freight trains on this trip than ever before. Perhaps something has changed in their timing or their routing; it was kind of a surprise to see several of them roll right through passenger stations.

About 50 kids who looked like they were coming back from (or perhaps going to) a camping trip got on the train, too. They had all the equipment: backpacks, hiking boots, walking sticks, etc. and I felt a bit sorry for them as the standard class carriages were packed and some of them had to stand.

My trip was comfortable and I managed to get on an express train, so there were only a few stops. We stopped at Reading briefly and then on we went, past all the little towns and landmarks I came to know so well when I lived here. And finally we rolled into the old familiar Paddington Station train shed and waiting for me just a short walk away, the Hilton. The temperature is really very warm, in the mid-80s.

Tonight: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Gielgud Theater.

Oxford is one of my favorite places and I enjoy coming here whenever I can. My Great Western Railway train ride from Bath was fine except for a 30-minute delay, reportedly due to someone being hit by a train an hour up the line. My rail pass continues to serve me very well and, as trains become fuller nearer to London, its nice to be in 1st Class.

This year I decided to stay a night in Oxford and selected a pub with rooms called The Head of the River. It’s located at Folly Bridge on the Thames River, a few blocks south of town and it’s an idyllic location:

That’s the view from my window and that’s Folly Bridge. Yes, indeed, that’s not your typical “English” weather. It’s been fairly warm here this summer.

The pub is part of the Fullers brewery chain. There are 12 guest rooms and mine was #2 – The Sir Christopher Wren room. Wren was a successful 17th Century architect. Note the painted books and bookcases behind my bed.

The room was long on theme but short in many areas – the advertised air conditioning was non-existent (and it was warm here – 78F) and there was a shortage of places to put your stuff. In particular, the new wood-plank flooring creaked very loudly in several key places (apparently it was the same in some other rooms because I could hear their creaks in mine). The bathroom was modern, though, and it was a pleasant enough stay for 1 night.

The staff was very helpful, despite a few language problems, and seemed to be Eastern Europeans. They and the Russians have invested in the English hotel scene in a big way.

During Wednesday afternoon, I visited my favorite Oxford pubs and sights, including the replica Bridge of Sighs (built 1914), the Radcliffe Camera (1749), and Christ Church college (1532).

I whiled away the evening at the river’s edge, enjoying a few pints and the warm, clear air. Tomorrow, it’s on to London.

Monday morning, bright and early, my taxi picked me up in Port Issac and deposited me back at the Bodmin Parkway rail station, where I caught the train for Bath. That’s pronounced “bah-th”. Once again, I had a lovely, comfortable train ride, enjoyed the rolling green hills and farms we passed, and arrived at my destination about three hours later.

I soon arrived at the local Hilton and found my room had a nice view of the River Avon. Bath is a small, easily-walkable town and I visited several excellent pubs in the afternoon.

The next day, I had a terrific visit to the Roman Baths. The restoration is very well done and the site is fascinating. The natural hot springs that fed the baths in Roman times are still percolating upward today.

A self-paced tour through the site goes down through four levels and features some great exhibits. An audio guide comes with the regular 15 pound entry fee and includes comments by curators, by imagined “you are there” Romans, and by one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson (of “A Walk in the Woods” fame).

Like so many sites, the modern world has built up around it and that’s why the top terrace where you see people in the picture below is at street level. Everything else is on lower, excavated levels.

The original site had an arched roof over the entire area and, of course, the Christian church in the background came a lot later.

Here’s a scale model of the complex, with the cut-away arched roof over the pool scene in the previous above. Like most Roman baths complexes, it had hot and cold baths, hot and cold rooms, and massage rooms. It also included a temple complex dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva. Outside of imperial baths in Rome, this is the largest known bath in the world.

One really cool feature in the tour was at the bottom level. A metal catwalk lets you walk a few feet above the original complex paving stones and you can see the foundations of columns and an altar. Nearby video screens show a succession of views, starting with what you see now and slowly removing the modern features and replacing them with the ancient ones. It’s very well done and has great impact given that you’re standing in the very spot.

Despite the similarity to my “bed head” when I wake in the morning, this is actually a Gorgon carving, unearthed as part of the excavation, that stared down from the temple entrance.

Of course,the whole place was plumbed with lead pipes and we know that’s not good. However, this is a really well-organized historic site and I highly recommend it for anyone who visits Bath.

After a leisurely lunch, I strolled and then took a nap in preparation for the evening’s performance of The Libertine at the Royal Theatre. It was OK as shows go, but I really didn’t engage with any of the characters and found it a bit boring.

Tomorrow I head out for Oxford.

Port Issac is in Cornwall, a county in the far southwest of Britain. Like many counties, it has a rich history, an ancient language, and plenty of local pride. Here are a few things I learned while in Cornwall:

The Great Scone Controversy – Devon is a neighboring county and there’s a long-simmering argument between the two counties concerning how to properly prepare your scone.

Cornwall says you put the jam on first, then the clotted cream on top, while Devon says the reverse: clotted cream, then jam. Yes, yes, seems silly, but they take it seriously here. There was even a little reminder on my plate when I ordered a Cornwall Cream Tea at the Krab Pot Restaurant:

A national poll a few years back favored the Cornwall technique 57%-43%.

The Great Pasty Dispute – If that’s not enough, there’s also quite a bit of contention over who has the best pasty (that’s “past-ee”). A Cornwall pasty is folded over sideways and crimped along the side edge:

Devon’s version, however, is shaped more like a baked potato that’s been closed up and crimped along the top seam. Cornwall is even trying to trademark the name “pasty” – “Outrageous!” say those from Devon.

Brits Like Their Dogs – It seems Britains must bring their dogs with them on holiday to the seaside. Port Isaac was flooded with them – I counted 21 different dogs passing below my balcony in one 30 minute stretch on Sunday – and most were well-behaved, and well-policed by their owners. Many breeds, from tiny Dachshunds to giant Irish Wolfhounds, paraded by and it seems that most establishments, even pubs and restaurants, welcome them.

It’s Still a Small World – I encountered, in Port Isaac, in my small pub/hotel’s dining room, sitting two tables away, Mr. Tom van Poole, Yorktown High School, Class of 1970, and his wife Mimi (I was Class of ’69). They live in Arlington, Virginia, about 3 miles from me. We remembered each other pretty well and marveled at the coincidence. Tom sends a shout out to my other YHS alumnae friends.

Tomorrow: Back to the Great Western Railway for a ride to Bath.

For those unfamiliar with it, Doc Martin is a British TV comedy-drama series starring Martin Clunes and shown in the U.S. on PBS. The Doc’s character is a former London surgeon super-star who develops a blood phobia and flees to the fictional seaside village of Portwenn to become the town’s new GP. His Mercedes, expensive suits, typical surgeon’s arrogance, and low tolerance for idiots don’t sit well with his new small-village patients and good comedy ensues.

The show has aired for seven seasons (the eighth has been filmed) starting in 2004 and is shot every other year on location in the village of Port Isaac, Cornwall, with most interior scenes shot nearby in a converted barn. I’m a fan of the show and that’s why I traveled across England to Port Isaac for the weekend. The Poldark series is also shot nearby, a little further south.

Port Issac looks like this on a beautiful sunny day… Mine was an overcast weekend but that was OK. That large body of water where the boat is floating is very tidal and half the day the boats are sitting right on the exposed bottom. Here’s a shot of that from the other side of the harbor:

Yes, that’s the same body of water.  Fishing is a primary profession here – mostly crab and lobster.

I stayed at the Slipway Hotel, right down at the water on the “main drag”, Fore Street. It’s a nice place, a bit worn and funky, only 12 rooms, but its pub was good, the bathroom was modern, and the staff was friendly and helpful. My room had a balcony and I enjoyed people-watching from it. The old village is tiny and many of the houses are vacation homes.

I do mean “tiny” – as I said earlier, there are places where the clearance between buildings for cars to get through is just 6 feet.

Because of the TV show, the town is something of a tourist destination. When the show is filming, I was told the crowds are huge and they can be in the way. I purposely scheduled my visit for when they were not filming, but even on a cloudy, cool weekend right after the  big end-of-summer holiday weekend, there were still a lot of people there and most appeared to be fans of the show.

I took a group walking tour with a local fellow who’s been an extra in quite a few episodes of the show. I’m embarrassed to say I failed to write down his name and can’t remember it. He was a charming older man who retired to the town after 23 years as a London cop, finishing up as a Detective Sergeant. He was an excellent guide and related lots of interesting information about the show. I was amused that the rally point for the start of the walking tour was a shop called “May Contain Nuts”.

The photo above, taken from my balcony, is the store the show uses as “Mrs. Tishell’s pharmacy”. In reality, it’s a confectionery shop and they re-do it as a pharmacy for filming. Zoom in on the bust of Lord Nelson over the door. The Mrs. Tishell character always wears a neck brace and, when the show is not being filmed, Lord Nelson wears one, too.

Here’s a rare selfie of me in front of Doc Martin’s house in the show. It’s also a summer rental home and renters have to put up with fans, unaware that the interior is shot on a set in a barn a few miles away, peeping in the windows to see “the surgery”.

It was great to see all of the locations I’ve become so familiar with, and I’m looking forward to seeing the show again more than ever now.

I spent an uneventful, but pleasant, day lounging around Reading and visiting my old haunts. A good night’s sleep left me without a trace of jet lag and I was ready for my next destination.I fortified myself with the Novotel’s breakfast buffet, packed my bags and headed for the rail station, where  I boarded a Great Western Railway high-speed train for points West. I bought a “BritRail Pass” while in the U.S. which provides unlimited travel on any 8 days, in 1st Class. I was surprised to see that the 1st Class coaches were full but I’d taken the time to get seat reservations for my longest rides, and all was well.

The train experience is nicer than flying in so many ways (for example, no TSA-style inspection or long lines) but you do have to handle your own luggage. With that in mind, I chose to pack much more lightly this year and hefting my small suitcase to the overhead rack was easy. The train featured conveniences like free snacks and tea, free Wi-Fi, and recharging sockets.

My 3-1/2 hour ride took me west and south via Taunton, Exeter, Newton Abbey, and Plymouth, through the lovely English countryside. The sun deserted me, but the scenery was still lovely. The tracks run right along the coastal areas in places and provide great views of the water, with scores of sailboats at anchor. Cornwall is a beautiful area, lush and green at this time of year, with rolling hills and many large farms. Sheep, cattle, and horses generally ignored us as we rolled by.

I arrived at Bodmin Parkway station in a bit of a downpour but quickly found my pre-booked Parnell’s taxi, and off we went for Port Isaac. On the map above, it’s on the coast directly north of the station at Bugle. I had considered using two buses instead but the Saturday schedule for them wasn’t at all convenient and, given the rain, I’m glad I opted for the pricier taxi (42 pounds one way).

The drive to Port Isaac was exhilarating to say the least. The roads reminded me of Ireland: two narrow lanes with no shoulders and dense vegetation trimmed back right at the edge of the pavement (in Ireland, instead of hedges there are low stone walls). We drove at a pretty good speed and I had to double-check later to see that we still had both side mirrors. However, the driver seemed very competent and I was never alarmed.

An hour later we arrived in tiny Port Isaac and the side mirrors were once again in peril because the lanes down to the waterfront are in places just 6-feet wide. Forget backing up or turning around. However, after arriving at the Slipway Hotel without a scratch, I realized I was suddenly right in the middle of the Doc Martin TV series set. I decided to consider this over a pint of Doom Bar. Tomorrow: Why it all looks so much bigger on TV.

For those of you who’ve spent the last several years under a rock, Downton Abbey was a blockbuster British telly series that took the U.S. by storm. This drama series follows the lives of the Crawley family and their servants, and was set mostly in the family’s classic Georgian country house. The series begins with the 1912 sinking of the Titanic and runs through 1925. The show had a six-year run that ended in early 2016 (though a movie is now being rumored). It was funny and smart, beautifully written, and covered an era that saw huge social changes. The show did a lot for the Full Employment for Costumers campaign – the evolution of clothing and hairstyles during the course of the show was amazing – and reintroduced us to the Edwardian and Art Deco eras.

The show was filmed at Highclere Castle, shown above, about 90 miles west of London. This “country house” that became so familiar to all Downton fans was built more than 300 years ago and is the Carnarvon family home. The 8th Earl and his wife live there now and generously open the house to the public on limited dates.

If the name “Lord Carnarvon” sounds familiar, it was he who bankrolled and joined with Howard Carter in 1922 to discover the Tomb of Tutankhamun. There’s an interesing Egyptian exhibit in the castle basement.

I took the train to Newbury and a taxi to the castle, arriving at 9:00 am just as the ticket office opened. A limited number of “open days” means a limited number of tickets and I got the idea to visit too late in my trip planning months ago to get a ticket online. So it was a gamble but, luckily, there were some tickets set aside for walk-ups and I got one.

The estate covers 5,000 acres and has beautiful grounds and gardens. The Georgian-style house includes 250 rooms, 70 bedrooms, a library with 5,650 books, and is chock full of priceless paintings, tapestries, and furnishings. We were allowed to stroll through most of the first two floors at our own pace and I was amazed at how pleasant and un-museum-like the experience was. Most of the treasures are not behind glass or out of reach (but no touching, of course). The Earl and his wife do live there and their family pictures are everywhere – not the big ones over the fireplace, I mean small 8×10 photos of them and their kids doing normal stuff, in frames on the side tables. Remarkable.

There is a staff of about 80 now but none of them work downstairs or serve dinner. They’re the guides, docents, gardeners, cooks, electricians, etc. who keep the place going as a tourist attraction – a source of the income needed to keep the place up and pay the enormous taxes. There are three tea rooms and a gift shop in the newer (relatively) stables annex out back, but it’s all very tastefully done. The views from around the house are fantastic and I was lucky to be there on a great weather day.

No indoor photography is allowed, so I can only share a few stock photos here. For the tour, in several rooms they had a poster-sized photo of a scene from Downtown Abbey on an easel, so you could immediately compare it with the real room – a nice touch.

After touring the house I spent 30 minutes enjoying the great weather and strolling the gardens and grounds. From what I observed, locals are allowed onto the property to picnic for free. No sightings of Carson, Lord Grantham, or Lady Mary but they were definitely there in spirit. It was an absolutely marvelous way to spend the morning and well worth the trip.

At 1:00, I retraced my steps to Newbury by taxi and had lunch at a local pub before catching the train back to Reading. My drama school classmates from UVA in the era of Minor Hall will take some amusement from the name of the pub:

The Catherine Wheel was an ambitious stage production that nearly broke us.

After returning to Reading and taking a short nap, I headed off to meet colleagues from my company’s local office for pints and dinner. We started off with some excellent Black Lager at the Zero Degrees brewery, then went to The Horn pub, and wound up with dinner at Las Iguanas, a Brazilian restaurant. Very tasty all ’round, and I haven’t laughed so hard in some time – it’s always great to see the lads.

If you’ve read about my past trips, you know I fly Virgin Atlantic whenever possible. Their staff is great, the aircraft is well-outfitted, and the amenities are outstanding. Thank goodness for frequent-flyer mile upgrades! My flight Tuesday night did not disappoint and we arrived at Heathrow airport near London 30 minutes early. There was a huge crowd in the Border-Customs area, but we 1st Classers get a pass to the “Fast Track” lane, significantly easing the pain.

Over the years, almost every arrival here for me has been followed by a connecting flight a few hours later to Paris, Amsterdam, or wherever. So it was very relaxing to know that this time I had no deadline to meet after arriving at Heathrow. The Virgin Revivals Lounge was my home for a few hours and then, when I was ready, I caught the RailAir bus to Reading.

It ride was very smooth, the ticket was inexpensive (17 pounds), and the bus is quite comfortable. Forty-five minutes later I was checking into the Novotel Hotel in Reading.

When I moved to Reading eight years ago, the Novotel was my first home and office for a few weeks. It’s a nice, though not expensive, hotel with some weird European design stuff going on (the toilet’s in a different, tiny room that’s not near the “bathroom”,  funky sink design, etc.). But the staff is great, the location can’t be beat, the bed is comfortable, and the breakfast buffet is first rate.

After decompressing a bit, taking a shower, and ignoring the racoon-like dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep, I went up to the central train station to get my Rail Pass validated. This pass, available to tourists only, allows unlimited train rides over a certain number of days and is very economical.

While at the station, I stopped into the nearby Three Guineas pub for my first English ale of the trip (Butcombe’s Rare Breed Pale Ale, 3.8%) and wound up in a conversation with two retired railroad guys. Now, before I left the U.S. I’d read that American tourists were being asked during their vacations about Donald Trump. So, I wondered just how long it would be before I had to do some “Trumpsplaining”. Well, it was only 1 hour and 15 minutes after I hit Reading. The two railroad guys and I had a jolly conversation about politics and the Nature of Man for about 30 minutes. They were fun to talk to and the beer was tasty.

I then dashed over to O’Neills pub to meet my former colleague and friend, Mike Mather. We talked business and the politics of both our countries. Mike is a great guy with tons of enthusiasm and he’s always overflowing with get-rich ideas. It was great to see him.

After bidding Mike goodbye, I strolled around Reading and let the nostalgia wash over me. It was great to live here and it’s always nice to come back and see its antique building facades and pedestrianized mall area.Eventurally, I grabbed a small pasta dinner at Ask Italia and returned to the hotel. I managed to keep myself awake until 9 pm before falling into what I hoped would be a deep and rejuvenating sleep. Tomorrow: Highclere Castle.

Hills, vales, woods, netted in a silver mist,
Farm, granges, doubled up among the hills,
And cattle grazing in the watered vales
And cottage-chimneys smoking from the woods,
And cottage-gardens smelling everywhere,
Confused with smell of orchards.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s description of rural England is certainly idyllic, and I will soon be traipsing across it. Yes, I’m off to Great Britain once again. Adopting my own little austerity plan and fitting into a busy Fall schedule at work, my annual European travels this year will be limited to England. My own personal Brexit, I guess.

I’ll be starting and finishing up in good old London, with a big lap around the Southwest, courtesy of the Great Western Railroad. Along the way, I’ll stop in to visit some fun places, such as Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey was filmed.

I’ll also visit the beautiful Cornish coast and the tiny beach town where the Doc Martin TV series is filmed. My hotel is visible in the picture above, facing right onto the ramp into the water.

A few other other famous and historic towns are on the itinerary as well. And, as always, there will be theater, art, extreme people-watching, and lots of consideration and consumption of splendid English ales. 

I hope you’ll join me for the next few weeks right here, and tag along. Cheers!