On the High Seas

On the High Seas

Sunday morning we set off for the Haghia Sophia again in search of a couple of geocaches. Unfortunately, the geocache application on Lynda’s smart phone was not working properly. (Editorial comment from Tim: Evidently it is not such a smart phone after all!) The good news is that we happened into an area of the Sophia we had not seen the day before and discovered five small mausoleums of five of the Sultans and their families. The sarcophagi were disappointing. They were plain felt covered boxes as opposed to the ornate sarcophagi of the Egyptian pharaohs. Some of the sarcophagi had what looked like turbans setting on top of them. We have no idea what that was all about. The small buildings in which the sarcophagi were located were another matter. Each was different with ornate tiles and calligraphy on the walls and ceilings. Very impressive. We were required to take off our shoes upon entering each of the mausoleums.

We had been told on Saturday that the Spice Bazaar would not be open on Sunday, but we decided to go to that area anyway just to see a different part of Istanbul. Near the Spice Bazaar we came upon “The New Mosque”. It is call the New Mosque because it is only 350 years old. In our travels all over Europe we have enjoyed going into the different churches and cathedrals that we encounter and that was not going to change in Istanbul. While not as large or as ornate as the Blue Mosque, the New Mosque was still impressive. Had we gone to the New Mosque first, we would have called it “breathtaking”. Because of seeing it after the Blue Mosque it was merely “beautiful”. Much to our surprise and joy the Spice Bazaar was open. We wish that there was some way to provide you with video that included sound and smell. That would be the only way for you to understand how exciting an environment the Spice Bazaar was. It was terribly crowded and the noise from all of the shop owners hawking their wares was deafening. Lynda was in her element bartering with the shopkeepers over prices on pistachios, saffron and parched corn. Besides all of the spice stalls, there were shops for jewelry, ceramic ware, cheese, fish and meat, and candy. We spent well over an hour in the Bazaar and had a great time.

After leaving the Spice Bazaar, we collected our luggage and took a cab to the port and boarded our ship. We are on the Silversea Cruise Line ship, “Silver Wind”. It is the smallest cruise ship we have been on having only a little over 200 passengers on board. We were greeted with a glass of champagne as we boarded, were whisked through the boarding procedures and shown to our cabin. It is probably the largest cabin we have been in with a nice sitting area complete with a sofa and two occasional chairs. A particular luxury is the walk in closet. Lynda made the comment that our closet on board ship is larger than the closet in our bedroom at home before we remodeled. Did we mention the bottle of champagne on ice that was waiting for us when we entered? As our luggage had not arrived yet we went to lunch. On our way to the dining room every crew member we met greeted us with a warm smile and a “Welcome Aboard”. After lunch we walked about the ship acquainting ourselves with the location of all the different public rooms; the different dining rooms, the theatre, the different bars, the casino, the different bars, the shops, the library, the spa, and the different bars. While we were unpacking, the young woman who is the butler for our room stopped by to appraise us of all the services she would provide. She was particularly interested in being sure our mini bar was stocked to our satisfaction. The ship did not actually disembark until 11:00 p.m. so we spent the rest of the afternoon finishing our unpacking, reading and napping. Our ship has an open seating plan at dinner allowing guests to dine when and with whom they want. Upon entering the main dinning room we were asked if we wanted sit by ourselves or with other passengers. We opted for sitting with other passengers and ended up having a wonderful time. There were three other couples. The first couple was from Tampa, Florida having moved there a few years ago from Brighton, Michigan. The second couple was from the island of Guernsey off the coast of England having recently moved there from a village located between Winchester and Andover, west of London. The third couple was from Houston. The wife had spent the first 26 years of her life growing up in London. She was rather loud, profane and opinionated but was the catalyst for very lively dinner conversation. After dinner we went to the Panorama Bar, by ourselves(!) and enjoyed an after dinner drink watching the ever changing lights on the bridge over the Bosphorus River. Lynda then retired to our cabin while Tim went to the top deck to watch the ship leave port. The skyline of Istanbul was spectacular. It is dominated by mosques. Tim counted at least ten mosques on the European side of the river. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Tim’s brother had told us that Istanbul was one of his favorite cities in the world. We can see why. Istanbul is an exotic city, filled with a diversity of sites and friendly people. We would come back to Istanbul in a heart beat.
Monday-

Today we spent the whole day at sea. When we left Istanbul we cruised through the Marmara Sea. About 10:00 this morning we entered the Dardanelle Straits. It was a scenic cruise with several interesting villages. One in particular had a very large fort on the straits. About 1:00 we sailed into the Aegean Sea. It was a very relaxing day for us. In the afternoon we went to a dance class offered by a Ukrainian couple who are dance competition champions. Later, Lynda went to a lecture about our port tomorrow, Ephesus. Tim took a tour of the navigation bridge. Unfortunately, he was unable to actually steer the boat. In the evening there was a champagne reception hosted by our ship captain. The highlight of the day was dinner. There is a small restaurant on board called Le Champagne. There are only seven tables, it is by reservation only. They offer a five course fixed menu. You can opt for a special wine pairing with each course but it is very expensive so we just ordered a nice bottle of chardonnay to have with our meal.. Tonight’s menu featured lobster. All of the courses except dessert contained lobster. The first course featured four small appetizers, each containing lobster. The second course was a lobster terrine. It was a small piece of lobster tail wrapped in thinly sliced carrot and spinach leaves. The plate also featured two small dollops of cream, one with a small piece of citrus and the other with a tiny bit of caviar. The third course was a Lobster Nage. This is basically a broth with a small bit of lobster tail cooked in its own juices. The fourth course was surf and turf, a small piece of lobster tail paired with a filet mignon. The filet literally melted in your mouth and the lobster was excellent. The final course was a dessert. It was a orange bit covered with meringue and a bit of macaroon. Lynda thoroughly enjoyed dessert. Tim, of course, wanted chocolate. We felt like we were judges at America’s Iron Chef and the secret ingredient was lobster. Our dinner lasted almost three hours but did not seem that long. The service was impeccable and the food delicious. We have been impressed so far on the cruise with the food. Not only the quality but the quantities are small so you don’t feel stuffed when you leave a meal. Tomorrow we have our first shore excursion at Ephesus. Film at eleven.

Lynda and Tim

Istanbul

Istanbul October 28, 2011

After a long day and a half of travel we have arrived in Istanbul. Walking out the gangway from the plane Ataturk Airport looked like any other airport in the world. But after about a hundred yard walk down the concourse we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We came upon about 100 people kneeling on the concourse floor, facing Mecca and praying. Most of these people were in long robes, all had taken their shoes off. They were kneeling in neat rows with the men in the front rows and the women in the back. There was silent prayer and then group prayers said aloud. It was all very fascinating.

U.S. Homeland Security would be appalled and the Treasury Department envious of the manner in which visa’s are obtained. Our experience in the past is that one must apply for a visa in advance of entering a country. Presumably, the country one is getting a visa from does a security check, albeit a perfunctory one in most cases, before issuing the visa. Entering Turkey you get in line at the window with a sign indicating “Visas”, present your passport and $20.00 and the person behind the window peels a stamp off of a sheet and places it in your passport and you are on your way. What an easy way to make money. Of course, you spend your whole time looking over your shoulder. Just kidding.

A car from our hotel met us at the airport and we had about a 30 minute ride into Istanbul. It was dark by the time we arrived so we could not see what the landscape looked like. The drive into town took us along the seacoast so the lights were pretty. Our hotel is located in the old town section of Istanbul. Once we turned off the main highway in from the airport we went through a series of narrow, cobblestone streets going up hill and down and curving all around. There were several blocks that had nothing in the way of shops where you would not want to be after dark followed immediately by several blocks of hotels, restaurants and stores, all brightly lit with lots of people about. It was an exhilarating ride to say the least. We are in a nice hotel and we are thrilled with the view from our room. We look directly at the Haghia Sophia, a Byzantine church, and one of the major tourist sites in Istanbul. Dinner was on the roof top terrace of our hotel with views of the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the colorfully lit Bosphorus Bridge. Needless to say, our trip has started on a high note.

Saturday-

Before flying to Turkey we had booked an all day tour of Istanbul on line. We assumed we would be in a small tour bus with other tourists. Turns out we had a guide to ourselves for the whole day. The first three sites on our tour were all within walking distance of the hotel. Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was built in the 17th century by the reigning sultan. It is called the Blue Mosque because all of the tile work in the Mosque is done in blue. It is incredibly beautiful. We had to take off our shoes before entering; we were given plastic bags to put our shoes in and carry with us. The Mosque has no pews or chairs in it. There is a wooden railing that separates this large open area into ¼ for the tourists to stand and take pictures and the other ¾’s is for people who come in to pray. Five times during the day there is a call to prayer, which we have yet to hear, that brings a large number of people to the Mosque to pray. There were only a very few individuals praying while we were there. Because this Mosque was built by the sultan there was a special area in a balcony where he would pray. We also saw the section at the back of the Mosque reserved for “women only.”

From the Blue Mosque we literally walked across the street to the Haghia Sophia which means “Holy Wisdom“. This Mosque has quite a convoluted history. It was built in the 2nd century B.C. as a Christian Church. During the 4th and 5th centuries is was destroyed twice by fire and rioting. (As an aside, as I am writing this we are hearing our first call to prayer broadcast over large speakers that we saw this morning suspended on the minarets. - Tim) The third reincarnation of the Church occurred in the 5th century. Sometime during this time it became an Orthodox Church. During the Christian Crusades it reverted back to a Christian Church and than in the 14th century it became a Mosque. Interestingly, when it was converted to a Mosque, the Christian icons were not destroyed but merely plastered over. In 1931 it was closed for renovations and when it reopened in 1935 it reopened as a museum rather than a Mosque. What is particularly bizarre is the fact that a mosaic of Mary holding the baby Jesus hangs over the alter area while all around the museum are symbols of Islam. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the Haghia Sophia is not as well preserved as the Blue Mosque. Of course it is over a thousand years older.

Leaving the Haghia Sophia we walked around the corner to the Topkapi Palace. The Topkapi Palace was the home of the Sultans who ruled Turkey from the time of the Ottoman Empire until 1918 when Ataturk lead a revolt that forced the Sultan and his family to flee the country. There were several different buildings around the Palace grounds that we toured. There was a large collection on display of very valuable bejeweled gifts given to the Sultans. Of particular interest was a dagger that had three humungous emeralds displayed on it. This was actually a gift the Sultan had made to give to a neighboring ruler. While traveling to this ruler’s home to present the gift, word reached the Sultan that the ruler had died, so the Sultan turned around and came home, keeping the dagger for himself. This dagger was featured in a 1960’s movie called “Topkapi”. Also on display was a 86 carat diamond. This stone was discovered by a peasant who sold it to another peasant for three silver spoons. It was resold for 100 spoons. When the second peasant discovered that he had possession of a huge diamond, not just some shiny stone, he gave it to the Sultan as a gift. The diamond is now called the gift of the silver spoon.

Unfortunately today is a National Holiday in Turkey which means that both the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market were closed. We are very disappointed because they are both also closed on Sunday so we will not get to see them tomorrow. Guess we will have to come back to Istanbul sometime. The good news is that our guide had a great plan B. First he took us to a carpet shop. Carpet making, think Persian rugs, is big business in Turkey. We were in a beautiful store where we were invited into a show room and given tea and coffee while a salesman told us about the process of making the rugs. He even brought in a weaver who demonstrated how hand made rugs are made, taking particular pride in the fact that all of their rugs are woven using a double knot technique that results in a more durable, longer lasting rug than the single knot technique. Than he started showing us rugs. The first rug he showed us cost $3900. When we declined because it was not our style he suddenly displayed the only contemporary Persian rugs you will probably ever see. He even offered us a 40% discount on a rug because it was last year’s model! We kid you not. From the carpet store we went by van to the new section of Istanbul where our guide walked us down Liberty Street, the main shopping street in Istanbul. The street was wall to wall people, all locals, with the only vehicles being police cars and trolleys. We went into a couple of shops of our choosing but otherwise just enjoyed the festive atmosphere in the street. We met back up with our van and returned to our hotel. Our guide, Sinan, was very friendly, had a wonderful sense of humor, and was well versed in the history of the sites we visited. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. We are now resting in preparation for going out to dinner which should be and adventure. More later.

After perusing menus at maybe 10 different restaurants we found one we thought looked promising. It was a wonderful choice. We started with hummus served with freshly baked pita bread. Lynda ordered chicken hiarmosa, pieces of chicken with tomato, peppers and pine nuts in a cream sauce served with rice. Tim ordered a kebab with pistachio, grilled chunks of minced beef and lamb marinated in a pistachio sauce served with rice and grilled tomatoes and peppers. Both were excellent although Lynda liked Tim’s more than her own. We both drank house wine, presumably made in Turkey and were pleasantly surprised at the good quality of the wine. Our table was right next to a couple from Long Island, NY whose son has been accepted at the University of Michigan Law School. Tim was good and never once mentioned MSU’s four game winning streak with Michigan. We both agreed that our dining in Istanbul had been everything that we had hoped for.

Tomorrow we will geocached in the morning. Lynda has found a couple near Haghia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace. We will also go over by the Spice Market and hope that it is open. If not, our guide today told us that there are shops in the area of the Spice Market that offer the same products at a bit cheaper price. In the afternoon we board our cruise ship. Our next blog will probably be after our first port of call on Tuesday. See you then.

Lynda and Tim

Good bye London, Hello Mason

May 31, 2011
This is our final blog of this trip. We are now in London after spending a couple of wonderful days with Clive and Angie Morris. We visited Hever Castle, which was the home of Anne Boleyn and later owned by Astors. We only visited the gardens which were very nice indeed. After the castle we took Clive and Angie to The Castle Inn, the historic pub we told you about in the previous blog. Tim asked our server why The Castle Inn was historic. The only reason she could give was that Ann Boleyn ran away from Henry VIII one night and hid in a bedroom fireplace in the pub. We all agreed that that was a pretty good reason for the pub to be historical. The other highlight was the dinner party Clive and Angie hosted last night. Their neighbors, Robin and Pam, joined the four us for a delightful evening of conversation, good wine, and an excellent meal of roast leg of spring lamb, new potatoes, and peas and broad beans. We had met Robin and Pam before and have always enjoyed their company. It was a great way to end our trip.

Here are some random observations and comments that you may be interested in.
The term "pub" is short for Public House. The person who runs the pub is called a publican. Pubs were originally a place for neighbors to get together for a beer, a bag of crisps (potatoe chips) and a good chat. We often hear them referred to as "boozers". They were never meant to be restaurants. But as with all things culinary, the pub has evolved and now there are many pubs that are very nice restaurants. In England these are called "gastro pubs". When we first came to England some 25 years ago pubs opened at noon and closed at 3:00 p.m. and re-opened at 5 and were usually closed by midnight if not before. Now pubs can be open all hours. Most still open at noon but we have noticed in the large cities that pubs open at 7:00 a.m. and serve breakfast. Unfortunately, we also saw a lot of pubs that had closed altogether, particularly in the north. Pubs are really wonderful places as we have found many publicans who take time to visit with us and from time to time provide helpful information.

A few words about beer. Beer is by far the drink of choice in pubs even though pubs do offer a small selection of wines and spirits. Lynda has been drinking lager beer, Foster's or Stella Artois, for example, which are served chilled and use CO2 to draw the beer out of the keg. Lager is the style of beer that we predominantly drink in the States. Tim has been drinking ale's and a style of ale called bitter. In England these are served at the tempature of the keg where it sits in the pub. The ale is "hand drawn" meaning that the publican is actually pumping the beer out of the keg. He/she uses a lot of effort to draw back the handle for the particular ale that you have ordered. While these ales are more "full bodied" than a lager and may seem "heavier" they are actually less filling because of the lack of CO2. You really don't notice the temperature of the beer and in fact, these ales would not taste as good if they were chilled. Every region of England has its local breweries of which the locals are justifiably proud and you can certainly taste a difference from one area to another. Tim has had many excellent beers while in England and promises to continue his research until the moment he flies home.

All of the B & B's that we have stayed in offered a "full English breakfast." You will find the menu for a full English breakfast to be quite interesting. When you enter the dining room there is a table set up with a selection of fresh fruits, cereals, yogurts, and several different fruit juices. You are invited to partake of these offerings and then the host or hostess will take your order for "hot breakfast". This includes eggs, granary toast, bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms and baked beans. Notice there is no potato offered. The bacon is similar to what we would call canadian bacon. Our style of bacon is known as "streaky bacon" in England. One B & B hostess was a bit offended when Lynda asked if she served streaky bacon. Her comment was that she would not stoop to serving streaky bacon to her guests. While we were in London we had a bowl of cereal and coffee in our apartment. We actually looked forward to having a full English breakfast once we got on the road. After several mornings of full english breakfast, Tim, in particular was having just toast and some cereal for breakfast.

A Ploughman's Lunch use to be on every pub menu we would see. This year we did not see it so much. A ploughman is a farmer. We would spell it plow man and a Ploughman's Lunch is what he would take to the field with him to eat. It consists of a large piece of bread, a piece of meat, usually ham, and a large piece of cheese. In pubs it is usually also served with a small salad to garnish the plate and some chutney to put on the bread, meat or cheese. As you can probably surmise, it is a hearty lunch that would certainly get the farmer through his day to dinner. It is a bit sad that it is losing its place on pub menu's.
On this trip Lynda has become a fan of banofee pie. It is a biscuit crust filled with sliced bananas and toffee sometimes with a whip cream topping that has toffee syrup drizzled on it. Another food item that Tim likes and is occasionally served with a ploughman's is a scotch egg. A scotch egg is a hard boiled egg with sausage wrapped around it and coated with bread crumbs and deepfried. We see them in all the supermarkets so we are sure that they are served for more than just an accompanment to a ploughmans.
Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks again for joining us. We hope you have enjoyed your vicarious journey.

Canterbury Tale's

May 29, 2011

The Pilgrim's Tale

Our Pilgrim's journey took us first to Chiddingstone, a tiny village outside of Tonbridge, southeast of London. Chiddingstone is the location of The Castle Inn, the first of the historic pubs outside of London on Tim's list that we have visited. It is a lovely pub, as you can see from the pictures, and we had a wonderful pub lunch and Tim had an excellent local Bitter Ale. We have no idea how we finally found this pub but we are glad we did. From Chiddingstone our Pilgrimage continued on to Canterbury where we visited the Canterbury Cathedral. Actually Tim went in while Lynda shopped and had a glass of wine and read. The beauty of the Cathedral was enhanced by the choir that was rehearsing in the quire. We had visited this cathedral many years ago but did not remember some of the details. For example, there is a candle perpetually burning behind the present day alter to mark the spot where The Saint Paul of Canterbury Chapel stood until it was destroyed by King Henry VIII during the reformation. There is also a Chapel of the Martyrs marking the spot where Thomas Beckett was martyred in 1100 something. Now there is a very modern cross over a small, simple alter where Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed together for Thomas Beckett. This was a major event in ecumenical unity. Our Pilgrim's journey ended in Sandwich, a lovely town on the coast just south of the Thames estuary. Famously and truthfully, the Earl of Sandwich placed a piece of meat between two slices of bread to create, are you ready, the sandwich. There is no truth to the story that this first sandwich was served to Sir Loin of Kent.

The Golfer's Tale

Sandwich is the home of the Royal St. George's Golf Club. Sunday morning, in bright sunshine and a cool breeze, Tim walked out to the course, about a mile's walk. There is a public footpath that passes through the course so Tim was able to walk out by the 18th green, even though a member greeted Tim at the entrance to the club and explained that it was members' only on the weekend and they could not have a lot of people wandering around. Well!! Royal St. George's is hosting the British Open in July and grandstands already surround the 18th green. Tim could see other grandstands in place around the course and many television towers already erected. It was exciting to be that close to the 18th hole where the world's greatest golfers will be playing in a month's time.

The Traveller's Tale

We left Sandwich this morning, after a successful geocache, and drove along the coast through wonderful little towns with great views of the English Channel. We drove through the town center of Dover because our previous times in Dover had been on trains passing through on the way to the continent. It turns out we saw everything Dover has to offer from the train. Just south of Dover we came by the Memorial to the Battle of Britain, so we stopped. The Battle of Britain lasted for about 8 months during 1940 when the Germans started their bomb raids on London. The British Air Force was able to hold the Germans at bay, preventing a wholesale invasion by the Germans. As we got out of the car a WW II era "Spitfire" airplane was flying over head but disappeared before we were able to get a picture. Our journey continued along the coast through Folkstone, into Rye where we stopped in nearby Peasmarsh for our Sunday Roast. We'll continue on to East Dean near Eastbourne where we will spend the next three nights with our friends, Clive & Angie Morris.

Chelsea Flower Show

May 28, 2011
It's Saturday morning and we are in Richmond, a suburb of London with an interesting town centre on several streets that go off in all sorts of several different directions.
Thursday morning, after doing laundry in Glastonbury, we drove across southern England towards London. On the way we passed by Stonehenge. Stonehenge is this ancient rock formation that was used as either or both a center of worship and a way to keep time. Historians have not been able to adequately explain how these huge stones, several tons or more, were moved to where they are or how they were lifted up to sit on top of each other. We have been by this site many times and never cease to be amazed by it, even in a "drive by" like Thursday. We also took time on Thursday to drive into Guildford. We lived in Guildford in 1986-1987 while Tim was doing his sabbatical at the University of Surrey. We went by the house we lived in, the shops in Onslow Village we shopped in and the schools that Jil and Jeff attended. Much was the same but, of course, much had also changed. That is life. The afternoon was spent at the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens at Wisley. These gardens are the "holy grail" of gardens in England. Lynda was a member of RHS and spent much time here during our sabbatical year. The flowers were a week or so farther along than the other gardens we have visited so there wasn't much in bloom. Still, it is good to visit favorite old haunts.
Friday morning Lynda did what the British call a "lie in". We call it "sleeping in". She was saving her energy for the big event of the day: The Chelsea Flower Show. You may recall that earlier in our trip we tried on two occasions to visit the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea without success. Well, before going to the flower show we tried once more to get into this Gallery. This time we were successful. It was an interesting experience. There were 15 rooms of art, 14 of which were quite bizarre. The enclosed picture is of one of the least bizarre sculptures that we saw. The 15th room was a piece of art we won't even begin to try to describe other than to say it was fascinating. We visited this room twice before leaving the Gallery.
Now on to the Chelsea Flower Show. This show is not the biggest flower show in England but it is the most famous and most important show. It sells out every year and the Queen always visits it the day before it opens to the public. We were only able to get tickets for a 2 and half hour block of time at the end of the day. We got there early and were fortunate enough to get in an hour earlier than our tickets called for. The Chelsea Flower Show takes place on the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital which is, in fact, a pensioners home for old soldiers. There were 17 gardens, 66 feet by 30 feet, and another 19 smaller gardens on display. The 17 large gardens were sponsored by businesses or in some cases towns who hired world famous garden designers to create a garden that would hopefully win a gold medal. Prince Albert of Monaco spent three years working with a designer for the garden he had in the show. Think Rose Bowl parade and how designers are hired to create the floats. It is the same principal. The 19 smaller gardens were similar to smaller floats in the Rose Parade; not as spectacular as the large "showpiece" gardens but still absolutely beautiful. In addition to the display gardens, there were almost 600 exhibitors on hand with booths offering just about anything the gardener would want. Inside a large pavilion were displays by probably 50 or more nurseries from around England, each display featuring different flowers. These were the creme della creme of the flowers of each species. And they were unbelievable. One booth featured the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show flower of the year. This years winner was an anenome, a small container plant that was stunning in its simplicity. As we went through these displays of flowers we made check lists of specific plants that we would like to add to our garden at home. Tim may never play golf again! We were on our feet the entire 3 and half hours we were there but were thrilled to have been able to go.
Today we are headed east towards Canterbury and a visit to the Canterbury Cathedral. Join us tomorrow for "Canterbury Tales"!

Books, Cheddar Cheese and Laundry

May 25, 2011
While having breakfast this morning our hosts told us about this village nearby that was the book capital of the UK. Every other store, it seemed, was a used bookstore. If we were interested in books, they said, we should go visit this village. So we scraped plans to drive to Cardiff and drove to Hay -on-Wye instead. They were correct. Everyother store was a used book store. And they were preparing for the annual Hay Festival, the largest literary festival of the year in the UK. We asked one of the shop keepers how this all happened. She told us about an excentric British gentlemen named Booth who thought having all these book stores would attract tourists. Turns out he was right.
After a couple of hours of wandering about Hay-on-Wye we hit the road driving toward Cheddar and the Cheddar Gorge. The Gorge itself is quite spectacular. There are records showing that man has lived in the Gorge for 44,000 years, but the English claimed it was only rediscovered during Victorian times, the mid to late 1800's. We are not sure we believe them. The unfortunate thing about the Gorge is the area of shops on the road just before you enter this wonder of nature. It felt like an America tourist trap. Tim said he expected to see a sign advertising last chance for Mackinaw Island Fudge. It seemed that every shop claimed to have the only Cheddar Cheese actually made in Cheddar. As much as we enjoyed the Gorge, we had no trouble driving past all the shops on the way out.
We spent the night at a B & B in Glastonbury. Glastonbury has two claims to fame. First, it is supposedly the site of King Arthur's and Guinevere's graves. Second, it is claimed that Jesus visited Glastonbury when he was a boy. It seems Mary had a brother in the steel business and Glastonbury was big in the steel business back then so it is thought he probably brought Jesus with him on one of his business trips. With the Bible being pretty much blank when it comes to Jesus' childhood, it is hard to argue the point. But.....
Today, Thursday, is laundry day. We have found a place here in Glastonbury to do our laundry. No word if Jesus did his here. Then we head on to London to find accomodations for a couple nights. Friday is a big day. We have tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show. We hope to include a visit to Wisley Gardens in morning. Check back for a complete report on the Chelsea Flower Show.

Another Day, Another Garden

May 24, 2011
We left Chester today and drove into northern Wales to the Bodnant Botanical Garden. It is the largest and easily the most impressive of the gardens we have visited. We won't bore you with a list of the same flowers we have seen in the other gardens. The one feature that did separate Bodnant from the other gardens was the Laburnum Arch. Laburnam is a large shade tree that in the spring has beautiful yellow flowers that hang down resulting in the tree being called "golden rain tree" or "golden chain tree". We've heard it both ways. At the Bodnant Gardens, the Laburnum has been esplanade into an arch with the "golden chains" of flowers hanging down through the arch. Tim could barely walk under the arch of flowers. For about two weeks each spring it is absolutely breathtaking and fortunately we were there during the right time. It was fun to listen to all of the first time visitors reacting to this stunning feature.
A few words about flowers in general. We both love rhododendron and one of our biggest disappointments in our own gardening is our inability to grow spectacular rhodos. In England they have become so pervasive that they are almost consider weeds. There are places in the southeast of England where the government has actually destroyed rhododendrons in the country side because they were taking over all of the other plants. We understand this intellectually, but emotionally we think these bureaucrats` should all be beheaded. Where is the Queen when you really need her?
We have not mentioned the creative ways that hosta's are used among the flowering plants to enhance the "palette" of the border. Tim's mother, who has some beautiful and unusual hosta's in her garden would be particularly interested in this.
We left Bodnant Garden and drove south through the middle of Wales on small roads. The first road was about the size of the road we live on. Then Lynda had us driving down a road about the width of our drive way. Actually, the scenery was incredible. We drove through forest land and up into pretty stark mountains. Tonight we are staying in a B & B in little town that we can't pronounce because there are too many consonants and not enough vowels. The two signs in our pictures above say the same thing, one in English and the other in Welsh. We rest our case!
Tomorrow we plan to drive through Cardiff, Wales and then back into England. The next stop on our itinerary is the Cheddar Gorge, outside of Bath. And yes, they do make some of the finest cheddar cheese in all of England in the Cheddar Gorge.