Living In a Castle For A Day

 We had a full day to just be in the moment. We could walk to the town of Thornbury but we chose to stay put and enjoy the castle.

After breakfast we asked to staff to set up the croquet for us. They put the croquet set out letting us set it up as we wished. We played croquet going one direction then returning the opposite direction, free for all, going one direction and hitting a flag to win, resetting the hoops another way.

At one point we heard a bagpipe player close by and went to see what it was all about. It turned out that there was a church next door to the castle that we had not even noticed and a person was playing the bagpipes in the church cemetery. There was a funeral going on in the church and the bagpipes play many times at the funerals.

The Bagpipe player is barely visible

After a few more rounds of croquet we finally were done, only after about 3 hours of playing. I was able to go back to the cemetery and shoot photos of the old graves. I found a couple from the 1700’s. There were plenty of grave stones that were inaccessible due to weeds.

I’d also had learned that there was a door in the wall between the castle and the church which was made for Henry VIII so that he could discretely access the church from the castle. I found the door in the wall but could not get so close due to foliage.

In the afternoon we had high tea with sandwiches and cakes. We thought that since our tea was late afternoon that we would not need a formal dinner. There was so much food that we took leftovers to eat later that evening; scones with butter and jam, cakes, and some sandwiches.

High tea in the library with Bloody Mary looking on. George is in the suit of armor

After tea wandered about the castle gardens. We had champagne brought to us and sipped it while sitting in the rose garden. We took books out so enjoyed reading, drinking our champagne and the gardens. While we were sitting in the garden, an employee came out and picked edible flowers for drinks and various foods. He gave us flowers to taste while he explained how he would use then. Unfortunately, I did not write down the names of the flowers so I can’t plant those at home, although, I suppose that I could do some research easy enough.

As it got dark, we went back to our room and just enjoyed being in the room. We had a bottle of wine that we’d brought along so had that with our leftover tea food. This was an amazing experience.

From Stonehenge to Thornbury Castle

 

We had a super early morning, a cab was to pick us up at 5:20 am as we had to be at Stonehenge at 6:30 am. Normally, it is a 45-minute ride, but at 5:20 a.m. it was only a 20-minute ride. So, we arrived a little early.

The reason for our early arrival was because we had tickets to enter the circle of stones before the site opened to the public. The circle was open to 15 people with a guide from the park service. We did not have to stay with the guide, it was just optional.

A Blue Stone

We took the visitor’s bus to the circle and a portion of the fence had been removed. We were free to move about the stones, but not touch the stones. The guide pointed out that if one stood between 2 particular blue stones and put their hands close to the stones one could feel a vibration. This was true with one stone but not both for Zaya and I. Another large stone was warmer than others, probably because of its content.

We were able to walk among the stones for close to an hour.

The guide pointed out a blue stone that still had a blueish color. It had fallen down some time ago. I tried to capture the blue in the stone in a photo. These stones came from Wales about 150 miles away and likely by boat. Because of new technology the point of origination has been narrowed down.

We saw what looked like a peg on top of one stone, and looking close up at other stones, holes to fit the pegs were visible. Some stones had been smoothed and others not.

From Stonehenge we went back to the hotel, ate breakfast and went on our way, this time a train to Bristol where we took at taxi to Thornbury Castle. Here we would stay for 2-days.

Thornbury was owned by King Henry VIII and he and Anne Boleyn stayed here during a plague outbreak in 1535. We were fortunate in that we got to stay in the room they stayed in and used the stairway they used to the dining room. This portion of the trip we booked for last Dec when we had to cancel due to Covid. It was supposed to be for our anniversary but no matter.

King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's Bedroom

The castle has quite a history which made it really fun.

Salisbury and Stonehenge

 We had to go get our 8-day mandatory Covid test, then, catch a train to Salisbury, and be in Stonehenge by 3 pm. We left our bags at the hotel, got our mandatory test, picked up our bags and off to the train station for Salisbury.

We got to Salisbury and Google said that it was a 10-minute walk to the hotel, which was fine. And it was fine until the hotel wasn’t where it showed it to be on Google. We asked a passerby who said we had to turn right and walk a few blocks more. Then Google showed another 10 minutes. The walk wasn’t bad and we were early.

The hotel, “The Chapter House” is a very old building. One article dates it back 800 years. The building itself is not straight, stairs are all wonky, ceilings low, halls narrow, no AC and rooms small. But it is a wonderful building. It has a small courtyard on the side and it was pleasant to sit out with wine after dinner. We plan to stay at this hotel in December when we return.

http://thechapterhouseuk.com/

The narrow hall to our room

A door in the wall that leads to the courtyard for use after hours

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked back to the bus stop that goes to and from Stonehenge. We didn’t realize it but the bus is also a tour bus so that there is a commentary to and from Stonehenge. The commentary made the countryside very interesting. The bus ticket is a round trip ticket and it runs about every hour.

Once at Stonehenge, one can walk to the site or ride the visitor bus which is free. We opted to ride the bus. The bus stops and turns around just before the stones and busses run every few minutes.

As for Stonehenge, it is everything I hoped it would be and then more. To see stones, several tons each, that were moved into the site over 4,000 years ago, is so amazing. The stones are fenced off now because people were painting on them, touching them, climbing them and carving on them. But the fence is not far away from the circle so that they are easy to see. The fence is actually inside of the ditch that the people dug with antlers 5,000 years ago.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/history/

The ditch dug using antlers is in the foreground

We spent a couple of hours at the stones. As we were leaving a woman was standing at a signpost. She had a BBC jacket on. I said, loud enough for her to hear, “We love the BBC in California”. The woman turned around and quickly caught up with us. She asked if she could do a recorded interview and I said yes. So, there you have it!

After returning to our hotel, it was dinner, wine and dessert.

We would have loved to spend some time at the Salisbury Cathedral where the original Magna Carta is located. Actually, there are several places, in addition to the Cathedral that we will visit in December. But, for now, this was a trip with a 12-year-old girl, so another Cathedral would not have been perfect for us.

A Day to Play in London

 

We had tickets to Les Miserables for tonight and we didn’t want to miss this one theater that we still had reservations for. The theater was set to start at 7 pm so we did have the day to play.

Zaya wanted to see the Big Ben and that seemed a good place to start. We went by the London Eye and decided that we could do that if we could finish up the other sites. We walked to Big Ben but it was covered with scaffolding, then went on to Buckingham Palace but the Queen did not come out to wave at us. Alas!

As we walked from our hotel, there is a square where there always seems to be something going on. Today there was a guy who was juggling knives and then knives and a fire stick. Then he stood on top of a table with boards sitting on rollers. He stood on these boards and then juggled his knives and fire. I was really quite nervous for him but he managed to perform his

act.

From Buckingham Palace we walked to Harrods for a very late lunch and Zaya was so excited to be there. The amazing amounts of chocolate in the chocolate room, the meats, the cakes and of course the Harry Potter stuff! We took her downstairs to were they sell the souvenirs and she was determined to go back.

After Harrods we made a mistake in that we consulted Google Maps for the walk back to the hotel. The walk was over 1 hour, ugh. It was hot and humid so we were not happy. We walked the hour, changed our clothes then walked another ½ hour to the theater. We were tired by the time the show started but we did have wine waiting for us.

The show was so good. We saw it 1-1/2 years ago and it was great but had more acting. In this production there was not so much acting but the music was really just as good.

It was the following day, we saw that we could have taken the tube from Harrods to the hotel, just didn’t think of it at the time as we have walked this before, we could have saved time and effort. Well live and learn.

Harry Potter Time in the UK

Try as she might, she couldn't push it thru the wall

Finally, we were free to go where we wanted, so what did we do first? The Harry Potter Museum. I’d already purchased tickets for the evening but the museum had 2 tickets available in the afternoon and since we didn’t have anything else scheduled I grabbed the tickets, hopped in an Uber and off we went.

The Harry Potter Museum is actually the film studio, and the sets are the display. There are also displays of masks and how they are made, displays of costumes and how they are made. At each display there is a film on how the scene was filmed, giving away the secrets.

It is actually quite interesting although, Zaya, was surprised to see that actors were shorter in real life, items smaller in person and the magic so simple. Still, Zaya would explain the back story to me so a little knowledge goes a long way and having never seen a Harry Potter movie or read one of the books, I can tell anyone lots. Whether it would make sense or not is a different story.

We had Butter Beer, and Zaya rode on a broom stick. She got a wand but hasn’t cast any spells yet. She couldn’t get the baggage cart to quite go thru the wall at the train station, even though I kept telling her to push harder. Her magic mojo just wasn’t there.

But, otherwise, the day was what she wanted.

Dale had opted to skip the Harry Potter stuff so we met up in the late afternoon, going to a favorite pub for dinner.

Butter Beer

Living in Quarantine in the UK

 
When we planned this trip, the UK had announced that they would open to everyone on July 10^th. Consequently, we purchased tickets for theater, Highclere Castle and the Globe for dates after that. After we left the US and were well underway in our travels, the UK announced that they would not open up until July 19^th. Anyone arriving before July 19^th would need to quarantine for 10 days.

We had lots of discussions on what to do, our options: 1. Go to the UK and take our chances that things would change, 2. Go to another location from Paris and wait for July 19^th, 3. Go home.

We decided quickly that we didn’t want to go home so we started thinking about where we might want to go for 10-days and how we’d spend the 5-days in London. I played with different options. The south of France was going to be too warm, the Alps and Dolomites were calling with nice weather, Croatia sounded different, Budapest was a place that looked good.

Just before we had to decide, the UK government decided to offer a “Test to Release” scheme. In this scheme the one had to get a Covid 19 test and test negative on day 5 of the quarantine. If the person tested negative then the quarantine would be over. This test was in addition to mandatory Covid 19 tests on day 2 and day 8 of the quarantine. We opted in to the “Test to Release”.

We got ourselves a 2-bedroom, 2-story flat with a small area in the rear in Greenwich. We found that there was a coffee shop about 5 min walk away and 3 grocery stores close to the coffee shop.

View from the kitchen area to the living room. Stairs are on the right

View from the living room to the kitchen

Within the confines of quarantine, we had an option to test ourselves or go to a facility for the test. I found that we could opt to go to NHS (National Health Services) approved facilities for our 2-day and 8-day mandatory tests and the 5-day “Test to Release”. I decided that we’d go to a facility: 1. I was not interested in self-testing and 2. It would get us out of the flat.  

On the walk from our test

When one is in quarantine, the NHS calls by phone once a day to each adult. The call can be anytime and I was told sometime later, that a person missed 2 calls so an NHS person went to check that they were actually at the place of quarantine. We were quite lucky that we did not miss a call, but we were careful to stay at the flat until we received our call. The calls immediately stopped after we tested negative on day 5.

On Day 1 I went to the local grocery stores under the pretext that I wanted to see what was available gluten free. There are too many food items that I cannot eat so it makes food delivery difficult. We were not going to have restaurant food delivered for the 5 days so, we would need to run to the grocery store.

We did go get coffee every day at the little coffee shop, went grocery shopping and went for our testing. To get to our testing we had to ride a bus, then transfer to the tube, then walk for about 15 min. This was a way to get out for a bit.

We found that the quarantine was not so bad, it was a breather, a time to take a bit of a break before starting to run around again. We read, watched the BBC, and of course walked to the store/coffee shop, went in the garden, did stair steppers, cooked, stuff everyone does in a day.

Hanging out in London, waiting for our 5-day results

On day 5, we had our test early then moved to the Holiday Inn ready to run as soon as we had our test results. And run we did!

Orsay Museum and picnics by the Eiffel Tower

 

Before we left home, I’d read about buying picnic stuff on Rue Cler, a pedestrian street then taking everything to have a picnic at the Eiffel Tower. Zaya was so excited about doing this after I told her about it.

We had to first^t get our Covid test before entering the UK so had found a place for walk-in testing. We got our tests then hopped on a bus to the Eiffel Tower.

The Rue Cler was within walking distance to the Eiffel Tower. We found a fresh baguette, cheese, meats, salads and wine. The meats looked like salami but we were sternly advised that they were not salami, but rather sausages!

As we had brought our picnic supplies from home: plates, flatware, a table cloth and cloth napkins, we were set for a proper picnic. After all, we did not want it to be said that we were not proper!

We had our picnic close to the Eiffel Tower but not just in front of it. We walked around the tower before going back home.

1st Picnic

d'Orsay Museum in an old train station

The following day we visited the Orsay Museum. This is a wonderful building just in itself, but even better is the collection of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet and other important impressionist artists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_d%27Orsay

The bottom floor of the museum/train station

One of the old clocks

We looked at the paintings of the artists that were important to us then went back to the Eiffel tower for another picnic. We were able to finish off our picnic supplies and this time we sat at the base of the tower. Even Kim joined us this time.

Picnic of day 2, by the Eiffel Tower

Our day 2 picnic

After a dinner of escargot, steak tartare and French wine, we were ready to move on!

 

Paris, The Louvre

One last day to pack, go have coffee and have some food then it would be off to Paris.

We had planned to go to Paris by train but then decided on Ryan Air. I’ve flown on it before and know that it is like a cattle car, that and flying in and out of inconvenient airports, but that was what we decided to do. It actually cost about the same as a train ticket and after calculating the time involved from start to finish, the time was about the same. But then on the plus side we went to Venice (the island) and gave Zaya the gondola ride she’d wanted.

1^st thing in the morning we had tickets for the Louvre. I’d thought that with the crowds down, maybe we could see the Mona Lisa after all.

As it turned out, there were only small lines to see the Mona Lisa, we saw her first, read what was written then went back and viewed her again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre_Palace

The Louvre is quite large with lots of levels. With stairs going up and down we finally found our way to the apartments of Napoleon. We decided that the rooms were just a little over the top!

From the apartment rooms of Napoleon, we were trying to find our way to the café for a cup of coffee and to just sit for a few minutes. We’d discussed with Zaya where we’d go. All of the sudden groups of school kids came along and we couldn’t find Zaya. She’d taken our map and we thought that maybe she’d gone on ahead. After looking around for her and not seeing her anywhere, we went on to the Café with lots of wrong turns, got our coffee convinced that we’d see Zaya at any minute.

After waiting for a little while, I went and checked the stairs, certain that we’d see her, but then thought that I’d alert the staff that she wasn’t with us and not showing up.

Finally, our son Nate called. Zaya knew his number and the staff called him. The staff was already aware that she was missing. Zaya was safe at the lost persons kiosk at the entry.

Fortunately, Kim was just outside the area and had wanted to come back into the Louvre (she’d left by mistake) so she was able to rescue Zaya. Poor Zaya, she was so upset. But it was a good lesson in how not to get separated.

Bolzano and the Ice Man Museum

 Two last days in Verona and the plan was go to go up to Bolzano for Sunday. I’d heard about the Ice Man Museum and we had to go. I’d read about the Ice Man when he was found and read everything I could but nothing is like seeing him, his clothing and artifacts for ourselves.

We were going to get the bus, go to the train station and take the train from Verona to Bolzano. As we walked to the bus stop, we found that there was a marathon taking place and we had to dodge runners. The street to the bus stop was blocked off to vehicle traffic.

We walked to the next bus stop and found that it was closed as well, then found that the next stop, at the Verona Arena was closed. I googled the train station and it was only another 15-min, if we hurried, we could make our train, and we did both hurry and make the train.

The train ride north was so beautiful. Bolzano is the known to be the gateway to the Dolomites. We could glimpse the high mountain peaks between beautiful green hills, vineyards and small towns. We are now most anxious to return to the Dolomites and Alps for that matter.

The city of Polzano does not seem to be so large, but, of course, we only walked from the train station to the Ice Man Museum. The walk took us thru the oldest street. Buildings are beautifully painted, flowers hanging on the lamp posts and on the balconies.

https://www.bolzano-bozen.it/en/

As it was after 12 pm and we knew we couldn’t stop for food until after the museum, we opted to stop for street food, especially when the sign on the cart said that there were gluten free options. Sure enough, we had sausage in rolls, gluteny for Dale and Zaya and gluten free for me. The sausages were so good. We then had enough strength to go on down the street to see the Ice Man for ourselves.

The Ice Man Museum was amazing. To get up close to the items of clothing he was wearing and/or carrying was so incredible. Then to see Otzi up close was so great. I as amazed at how much he was carrying on him when he fell. And to see how well his clothing and articles were made, he was really quite talented.

Zaya was making string the Ice Man way, using straw

https://www.iceman.it/en/

From the Ice Man Museum, we wanted to stop for lunch. We consulted Rick Steves, who recommended Hopfin & Co, so there we found a table under an awning as it looked as if it would rain any minute. There we had German sausages and sauerkraut, cheeses. Dale had some of the best beer ever and I had some great local red wine. And yes, it did start to rain, like pour down. We hunkered down with our food and drink, as did all of the other diners. What was a little rain anyway?

The rain stopped before we finished and we went back to the train station and back to Verona. We will hopefully be back someday.

Opera at the Arena Verona

 

We had a full day of staying in Verona because we had the opera in the evening. The opera, Aida, was playing at the Verona Arena. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Arena

I don’t remember how I heard about the opera festival in Verona but I did read about it several years ago. We wanted to go 2 years ago but I don’t remember what happened, then last year it was canceled. As soon as tickets were available for this year, I bought them.

And so it was that we went to the Verona Arena to hear Aida! We found the arena turned into a setting for an opera. The opera started at 9 pm just before sunset and would run until close to midnight. Our seats were in the center, front row on the 3^rd level and had a clear view of the stage.

The weather had threated rain but the storms stayed to the north and didn’t rain a drop. The performance was so wonderful and the sound system amazing. We sat in the stadium type seats set up in the 1^st 3 sections. In sections above the stadium type seats, the people sit on are the original stone seats.

Because of Covid, social distancing was practiced and there were fewer in the audience. This meant that the arena was not jam packed with people. We were spaced with a seat between each of us. It was fine as we moved closer together as the opera when on.

Also, because of Covid, the opera was slightly different. There was more digital display and a choral group who were dressed in black to blend with the background, were along the front side. There were also people who blended with the background who were in the background holding lights which gave an unearthly feel.

We did want to go to the Roman Ruins, these are old ruins on the hill just on the other side of the river. There is an amphitheater there as well but very small. Small venues are held in this theater. We walked to the ruins, rode the funicular to the top of the hill then walked down. On the way we stopped at the café for an iced coffee before continuing down to the ruins and museum. 

After a day of exploring ruins, and not doing much else we were ready for the opera again. This time it was Nabbuco. We did not know the music but were decided that we would stay no matter what. Again, rain was forecast.

 The concert started on time but soon after the overture rain drops started falling, not much but enough to send the orchestra flying away, as I overheard someone on a train put it. The drips stopped, the orchestra returned and the 1^st act picked up where it left off. Alas, before the 1st act was over it started raining again. This time, it really started raining and as it poured down the audience streamed into the arena tunnels. There we stood in the arena tunnels, probably much like the audiences many years ago. As we waited the announcer would say, “Have patience, we are making a decision”. Finally, the decision was made to cancel the performance. We did get a discount certificate for another opera and hope to try again next year.

A Day in Verona, A Day in Modena

 

My idea was to travel to a nearby town one day and home the next, so that we were not just running from place to place. So having spent a day in Venice, it was time to spend a day in Verona.

We loved the nearby Piazza Erbe, translated to Square of Herbs. We read that herb shops were around the square but I did not see any. There were, however, lots of restaurants, coffee and gelato shops and shops with shoes and clothing.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_delle_Erbe,_Verona

At the Piazza Erbe we found a very nice iced cappuccino and Zaya found her gelato so that we were all happy. We sat watching the people go back and forth.

Wine in the evening on the Piazza Erbe

Just a few feet off of the Piazza is the Juliette House (of Romeo and Juliette). This was thought up by a huckster wanting to bring people to Verona. There is often a line until late afternoon to go into the garden and see the alleged balcony. Of course, one can pay to go into the house and out on the balcony, but we chose to wait until there was only a short line and only go into the garden. We also did not rub the boob of the sculpture, while wishing for love.

Juliette's balcony

Dante in yet another Piazza

The Piazza Erbe is maybe a 5-min walk to the Piazza Bra, the location of the ancient arena. We read that the piazza is surrounded by tourist type restaurants but we did want to see the arena which is a smaller version of the Colosseum in Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Arena

Our next day trip away was to Modena, the home of Ferrari, Balsamic and Pavarotti. Modena was only a train ride away and 1-1/2 hours later there we were.

The city of Modena is really pretty, houses are painted different colors and the streets that we saw were tree lined.

We’d originally planned to visit the Ferrari factory for a tour but we hesitated, as our Ferrari is not one of the high-end Ferrari’s and didn’t want to be snubbed. So, in the end we decided against it. We can go next year if we change our minds.

I did plan to taste and buy Balsamic Vinegar. For those of you who don’t know your Balsamic, the older = thicker and a more complex flavor. I love good aged balsamic, as do 3 of the grandkids. We could drink it out of the bottle. We tasted and bought 30-year, 20-year, 8 year and olive oil with truffles inside, and white balsamic. How we are going to carry all of these bottles back is the next question as we have little room in our bags. But we will get them home.

After some lunch we hopped into a cab and went to the Pavarotti Museum; this is the home that Pavarotti had built and lived in up to his death. He died of Pancreatic cancer in his bedroom.

https://www.casamuseolucianopavarotti.it/en/#

It was fun to see the clothes that we have seen photos of him in, hear his music throughout the house, and just see how he lived. We were surprised at how simple his house was. We were moved to tears hearing the music. There is one wall upstairs that is full of photos of Pavarotti, one with Enzo Ferrari and a photo of his son Dino Ferrari on the wall! That topped the visit for us.