Oh to be in England...

I'm breaking into my blog hiatus briefly, to let you know that I've just come back from a wonderful 9 days in England. 



My traveling chum, J, and I didn’t want to leave England on Sunday. We both could have happily stayed forever in the village where we spent most of our time. As it is, we’re already planning our next trip, hoping to go back in two years (for J’s 70th birthday).

For the first three days, a friend from Ireland joined us, and the three of us had a wonderful time together. Up until then, we’d only known S through emails — we got along as if we’d known each other in person for years. Never let anyone tell you that online friendships are not “real” friendships.

S had rented a car, and driving down the motorway, or in the villages, or in London, didn’t seem to phase her one bit. It was so good to have her driving skills on call, as well as her delightful personality.

I’d like to share just a few highlights from our trip — and might I say it’s very difficult to choose highlights, because there were so many during the course of our brief, 8-day stay (the 9th day was the day we left).

On Sunday, we had the traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at a pub on the Thames. Although the roast beef and pud weren’t as good as my mother or my grandmother used to make, the veggies were superb, the company delightful, and the setting idyllic.

 

On Monday, we drove into London and had lunch at the Dorchester Hotel with my friend, Brian Sibley. Brian is a writer, radio broadcaster, C.S. Lewis expert, Tolkien expert, the list goes ever on… He is also a delightful person, and our lunch extended over three hours! (Left to right: J, me, S, Brian)

 

Monday evening, we attended a performance of Pygmalion, with Rupert Everett as Henry Higgins, at the Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road. We’d been looking forward to seeing Dame Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins, but unfortunately she was ill that night, so we saw her understudy instead. It was a very good production — and we felt right in the heart of the action, as S had bought tickets in the 4th row of the stalls! Great vantage point for everything.

For three of our nights in England, we stayed at the most wonderful B&B -- it was my first experience of a B&B, and it may well have spoiled me for any other accommodation, anywhere, anytime.  We’re already planning our next visit — the next time we’re in the area, we will stay at that B&B for the entire time. We both hated to leave it (we bracketed our stay there with stays in two historic hotels).

 

The view from my bedroom window:

 

On Wednesday, friends of mine from a bit north of London drove down and took us to Runnymede, where we visited the Allied Air Forces memorial (and I saw my uncle’s name in the list of personnel who died in 1942), and of course, the Magna Carta memorial

 

On Thursday we took a river cruise down the Thames to Kingston and Richmond (and I thought of the Little Grey Men going Down the Bright Stream.) Friday we celebrated J’s 68th birthday with a steak dinner at the river’s edge. We ate there again the next night. We could not get enough of being on or near the Thames.

One final photo — standing on a picturesque bridge, looking down the Thames…

 

You know the song “I left my heart in San Francisco”? I think I left at least a piece of my heart in that village on the Thames.


The blog hiatus will now resume until mid-August.