England Oct 2021 - Travel in the Waning Days of COVID-19 - Part 2

(Read Part 1 first.)

Bust of Togadubnus

Monday. I was up early to take the train from Victoria to Chichester and then Bus 56 to Salthill Rd stop in Fishbourne village. Then it was a walk to Fishbourne Roman Palace, the largest residential Roman building discovered in Britain with an unusually early date of 75 AD (or CE as they say now). Because this site was so advanced compared to other Roman structures in Britain, the person for whom the palace was built, probably Togadubnus, was obviously very important as was the military storage site housed there.

Remains were first uncovered in 1805 when they didn’t realize what they had found and much later in 1960 when digging a trench for a water main and the foundations of a building were discovered. They are still excavating parts today and some they won’t be able to do because outlying parts are under a row of houses and a road. 

I first went through the very good museum whose explanations about the palace in history and since its discovery were very well done. 

A few ancient wood beams

Recreation of a palace room

Mosaic pieces in the recreated design

Model of Roman ship

Model of Fishbourne Roman Palace

The piece de resistance was the palace itself. Few of the walls are left (partly because of a fire in 270 AD which caused the site to be abandoned and partly because the bricks were carried away for other building projects as so often happens). But the floors are just plain amazing—the mosaics that we associate with places like Pompeii. The early mosaics were black and white; some of them were later covered over when colored mosaics came into fashion. Some of each are visible today.

Square and diamond mosaic

Shell mosaic

Cupid on a dolphin mosaic

Knot mosaic

Skeleton found under the floor

Cross and box mosaic

Floral mosaic

Remaining walls

Outside I walked through the gardens and the orchard. Both were planted with plants known in the Roman era; they were even able to recreate the look of the garden because of the trenches that were found. One thing I found interesting was that they used overhead vines in the orchard to shield them from the sun when they ate or relaxed outside. There was also a 14-minute film about the excavation.

Remains of Roman drain

Garden in the Roman style

Outdoor triclinium (where they dined)

I just like the flowers in the grass

Roman hedge pattern

Back in Chichester I got off the bus at the cathedral. At that time, however, a service was going on, probably a funeral because they were all dressed in black. It was going to be awhile before it was open to visitors, so I looked for lunch. Right across the street (oddly enough) was another church which had been converted to a pub. Some might think that is sacrilegious, but I think it is just repurposing a beautiful space. I enjoyed being there eating my cod and chips, peas and lager—but way too much cod!

Now the Duke & Rye

My huge fish and chips lunch

The bar and the arches

By then the service was over, and I could visit the cathedral which was founded in 1075—so not long after William came in 1066. One fascinating plaque had the names of all the bishops (from Selsey and then Chichester) since 680 AD. That is some record keeping.

Line of bishops from 680!

The church, as so many others, is part Norman and part Gothic. One odd thing is that it has a free standing bell tower as in Venice or Florence but unusual in Britain. The very tall spire on the church is a landmark for sailors (the sea is only a few miles away).

South side of Chichester Cathedral

Unusual bell tower

North side view

I like shots through a fence!

South front

The mostly Norman interior (round arches, not pointed) was quite nice. There were two wonderful carved panels from 1125 which were covered up and rediscovered in the choir in 1829.

Nave of Chichester Cathedral

Looking toward West front

Patron saint Richard on the right

Modern altar screen

Side chapel

The quire or choir as we spell it

The Raising of Lazarus -
carved panel from 1125

The town has a very nice market cross which I observed from the bus back to the bus station. Then it was train and tube back to Notting Hill and dinner in the room. 10,421 steps.

Lovely market cross

Market cross from the bus

Dogs go everywhere in Britain

Tuesday. This day I was in commercial London, once the heart of Londinium (Roman London) and later medieval London. I took the tube to Bank (for the Bank of England) and wandered around that area taking pictures. Mansion House where the mayor lives, Bank of England (or as the Brits have named it The Old Lady of Threadneedle St), Royal Exchange. (And by the way, I took my camera but never used it, instead opting to use only the good camera on my iPhone--though I realized when I got back that I had taken only three horizontal pictures). 

Old Lady Bank of England

Royal Exchange

Mansion House,
home of the Lord Mayor

I wanted to find the Austin Friars area where Thomas Cromwell lived (since I had recently read the first Wolf Hall book and have seen the first films). Amazingly enough there wasn’t even a historical marker on Draper's Hall; in London there are historical markers everywhere and for far less prominent people, usually for the actual house but also sometimes for where the house was as was the case here. I know that history doesn’t look kindly on Cromwell, but you do like him in the first book if not maybe in the later ones which I haven’t read yet. I also saw the Dutch church where the Friary was—no marker there either.

Draper's Hall

Austin Friar's statue

Then I walked to the area where the new business London is, passing first through Leadenhall Market, once the medieval meat and leather market and now full of trendy coffee shops and boutiques. The Brits love to name their buildings, and they do a good job of describing them—the shard, the cheesegrater building, the gherkin, the walkie talkie building, the scalpel.

Leadenhall Market today

The Walkie Talkie Building

The Gherkin

The Shard

The Gherkin and the Scalpel

The Cheesegrater and a new one

The buildings are so close together. I’m sure there is competition for the tallest, and soon no one will have a good view from the top. While I still could, I wanted to get that view.

The Walkie Talkie building is one that allows people to go the Sky Pod on top, so that’s where I went. You can hardly tell you are ascending (in this case 35 floors). One level was facing south, and a higher level reached by stairs faced north. The visibility wasn’t the greatest that day, but I could see a lot. They also had markers on the windows to tell you where to look. St Paul’s on one side and The Tower on the other were close, the London Eye and Houses of Parliament off in the distance as was Canary Wharf (more big buildings) on the other side as well as all the bridges over the Thames. There were lots of very large plantings, a mini woods really, which made it feel like nature in the air. I sat up there sipping my hot chocolate and reading for a good while just because it was pleasurable.

St Paul's from Walkie Talkie Building

HMS Belfast in the Thames

Tower of London & Tower Bridge

Canary Wharf in the distance

Thames bridges & London Eye

London Eye & Big Ben

Plantings in Sky Pod

Relaxing in the Sky Pod

Still in the same area, I stopped in St Stephen’s Walbrook which I had enjoyed before.

Interior of St Stephen's Walbrook

Tower of St Stephens through window

Then it was down to the London Mithraeum which I had tried to visit twice before and this time succeeded. It is a Roman temple for the cult of Mithras (though it took them a long time into the excavation to figure out that purpose). The remains were uncovered when they were digging down to build the Bloomberg headquarters in the UK. They had to stop, as they always do, to let the experts figure out whether what was being uncovered was important. In this case, it certainly was. The temple was built about 240 AD (remember Fishbourne was 75 AD).  The cultists revered Mithras and thought he was instrumental in how they lived their lives as were the zodiac signs. A few floors below ground level were good artifacts and very good information on the cult.

One of the informative posters

Tauroctomy (tenets of Mithraism)

Then a few more floors down from that were the temple ruins. It was wonderful. The bust of Mithras (which let them know the purpose of the space) and some other items are now in the Museum of London, but they did a good job with holograms of showing where those items had been. The lighting was very low at first; you could barely make out what we were seeing. They eventually brought the lights up for a short time—for drama, I imagine, but probably also because they didn’t want it to be lighted for very long. We could walk all around the temple but not into it, of course.

Temple of Mithras looking toward the front

The Temple of Mithras through
what was the Statue of Mithras

My half-eaten wonderful lunch

I was hungry and so decided to stop for a bit of lunch. I really chose well entirely by accident. I was on my way to St Paul’s, and I passed by a place where lots of people were eating, always a good sign. I didn’t want a lot so I only got an appetizer portion of cauliflower described as “spiced cauliflower, harissa, tahini, pomegranate, curry leaves”. Best dish I had in the whole trip--though that first mac and cheese I had came close.

Then it was a walk to St Paul’s Cathedral. Another expensive admission, but it included a good audio guide. The cathedral is an English Baroque Christopher Wren masterpiece (though not his favorite), built as so many places were after the Great Fire of 1666. It has become the place where important non-royal people are either buried or honored. I’ve been there several times, and I guess I wasn’t as impressed as previously. Maybe that means that there is some maximum number of times you should visit a place (though looking at my pictures it is pretty spectacular).

St Paul's Cathedral east front

Dome of St Paul's

St Paul's clock tower

Nave of St Paul's

St Paul's dome in crossing

Pulpit and quire

Quire stalls

Quire and altar

Ceiling of the quire

Modern Mother and Child

Florence Nightingale memorial

When I was finished, I walked north past a church that had only three walls left and which had a garden planted inside—rather nice. I popped in to St Bartholomew the Less, where I have been before also, in hunting for Postman’s Park. I eventually found the park. This was a place I read about in a book not long ago. It has plaques for people who have given their lives for another person. A nice idea.

Church of three walls

Interior of St Bartholomew the Less

Plaques at Postman's Park

Marker at Charterhouse Square

Another place nearby on my list was Charterhouse Square where plague bodies were uncovered (not too surprising since it was right near a home and school for the indigent). There was no sign to indicate that past, but it was a nice square. By now I was barely able to walk. I walked to the Barbican tube and then back to my welcome room. 15,191 steps.

Wednesday. Up early to get train from Victoria to Brighton. Once there I walked down Queen’s Road and turned off to go to the Royal Pavilion. I remember it as being prettier from the outside; it actually almost looked a little rundown. The place (Indian style exterior and Chinese interior) was built by George IV when he was Prince Regent. Victoria kept it for awhile but then decided she didn’t want to come again, stripped it of furnishings and had them transferred to Buckingham Palace. She assumed it would be torn down; when she saw that the city was going to keep it, she eventually gave some of the furnishings back.

The Prince Regent, later George IV

Brighton Royal Pavilion

Brighton Royal Pavilion

Despite the appearance of the outside, the interior was beautiful if over the top, with bright colors and patterns everywhere—in the rugs and walls as well as the furniture. The emphasis on the explanatory boards was on the duties and salaries of the servants who would have worked in a particular room; that was a welcome addition. An oddity was that George’s bedroom was on the bottom floor rather than upstairs where the guests stayed.

Long Gallery

The Kitchen--I always like them

The Banqueting Room set
for an elegant dinner

Banqueting Room Gallery

The Saloon

The Music Room

Chinese pagodas

George's bedroom

Cartoon of George as Samson
and a mistress as Delilah--
he was much ridiculed

Upstairs hall--I liked the walls

Upstairs bedroom

Loved this wallpaper

After visiting the gift shop which had a lot of interesting items, I walked toward the Lanes, the traditional area for antique shops. There weren’t many of those, but there certainly were a lot of clothing shops, coffee shops and restaurants. I noticed that combination everywhere; the Brits must eat out and drink as much coffee as we do. They’ve always had a reputation for bad food. I’ve never thought that, but it certainly isn’t true now. The restaurants seem to fall into one of two categories—traditional fish and chips and shepherd’s pie or modern ones with long descriptions of the ingredients for each dish. Virtually every one had several burgers on the menu; I guess they’ve taken up our American obsession.

I wasn’t ready for lunch, so I walked down to the seaside which I had visited many years before. I was ready for a hot chocolate though, so I sat for awhile to have that. I had read that British Airways had installed something called I360 which gives you a view over the city and the Channel. You walk into something that looks like a bowl with a hole in the center, and you go up a pole to the top where you stay for several minutes giving you a chance to walk all around and see Brighton from all sides. Also visible was a wind farm out to sea as well as the Isle of Wight far away. I thought that was a great attraction and a smart thing for BA to sponsor.

British Airway's I360 tower

Shadow of the pole on plaza

View along Brighton Beach

Cool building top

View of Brighton and Pavilion

View of Brighton and beyond

On the way back I walked on the sand for a bit just to make sure I was really at the beach and then observed some guys playing basketball—another American import.

I had to walk on the beach a bit

A wind farm out to sea

Basketball in Britain!

My welcome lunch

For lunch I sat down at a place that had an outdoor heater because it was a bit cool. But it was sunny even though the forecast had said total clouds. I noticed that the forecasts were consistently more pessimistic than the actual. I had roast chicken and vegetables with a lager; it tasted good.

Then it was back to London and my refuge. I read the free papers and did the puzzles. 12,117 steps.

Thursday. I decided to go to Regent’s Park this day. I wrote in my journal that I was enjoying picking the places to go each day rather than having a full plan ahead of time. I took the tube to Baker St and walked down to the entrance which led to Queen Mary’s Garden. There were still some roses and a few other flowers looking good. It was nicely laid out, and a number of people were sitting on the benches enjoying the day. I saw workers planting bulbs for the spring.

Regent Park roses still nice

Pink and white blooms

Planting spring bulbs

Another nice bed--can you
tell I like flowers?

 

I came to the park because I knew there was an outdoor exhibition called Frieze Art Fair in the English garden section. There were 18 sculptures with the artists’ explanations for their works. Some I wasn’t all that impressed with, but I liked the idea of showcasing artists for a month.

Tatiana Wolska's Untitled--
melted plastics reformed

Isama Noguchi's Play Sculpture--
an undulating sausage ring?

Jorge Otero-Pailos's 
Biosignature Preservation

Yunizar Induk's Monster--
isn't this one fun?

Rose Wylie's Pineapple--artist
says it represents prickly woman

Stoyan Dechev's Event Horizon--
thunder and lightning

I was there a long time, so when I left it was time for lunch at a place I had read was one of the ‘in’ places to go—the Darjeeling Express in the Covent Garden area. Their claim to fame is Indian food cooked lovingly by home chefs. I had yummy lamb tamatar gosht with rice and really delicious masala chai (made me want to start having that again—my former neighbor Dolly used to make it for me).

Eleanor Cross erected by Edward I
in honor of his beloved wife

Ordinary kings and queens
honored on The Strand

Darjeeling Express in
Covent Garden area

My yummy lamb tamatar gosht
ending with masala chai

Really pretty mirror near the loo

Leopoldstadt marquee

Then it was curtain time again. This time I saw Leopoldstadt, the Tom Stoppard play which is loosely based on his family (he lost all four grandparents in the Holocaust). It began in the Vienna of 1899 in the Jewish district. The play carried the extended family through 1900, 1928, 1938 (November 9 –Krisstallnacht), and 1955. It was very moving though at times I was having trouble figuring out who was who through the years. As usual, the performances were good, and the audience acknowledged that. 

I only had 7000+ steps, so I decided to take a walk down Charing Cross Lane to Whitehall, past Horse Guards Parade, Palace of Westminster (with the Tower of Big Ben still shrouded, a really ugly one now), the statues in Parliament Square, St Margaret’s (which I still haven’t visited), Westminster Abbey, and toward St James tube station.

Horse Guards Parade on Whitehall

Another view of London Eye

A still very shrouded Tower of Big Ben

Houses of Parliament

Churchill in Parliament Square

Nelson Mandela in Parliament Sq

Westminster Abbey

St Margaret's Church

Over the west door of the Abbey

Before going back I thought I would walk through part of St James Park. 

Diana Memorial Walk medallion

Buckingham Palace at dusk

As I was entering a 40-something woman came up to me and said she needed some advice. I don’t know why she picked me. But she went on to tell me her story of being attracted to someone at work, feeling some reciprocation, meeting his mother who was nice to her, COVID happening, not sure of his continued interest. She wanted to know if she should talk to him or talk to his mother and would she support her or just change jobs and move on. She was really obsessed with the guy (and lonely—her only child was in Texas for school) and asked over and over for advice. We walked through St James Park, past the Palace and into Green Park before sitting on a bench. She cried off and on. My comment that finally hit home for her was that his mother was going to do whatever she thought was best for her son. It was starting to get dark, so I said I really needed to go. I wonder what she wound up doing. 

That was a longer walk that I intended, but it gave me 14,699 steps.

Friday. Today I decided that I would go the Royal Mint shop and Crystal Palace Park. Well, that was a bust. First of all, I remembered later that I had intended to go to the Friday market at Covent Garden I have visited several times before. Oh well. I knew that the Royal Mint had moved to Wales some years ago, but I thought it was logical that they would still have a shop in London. So I had googled it and found it on Royal Mint Street in east London. I walked up and down the street, finding nothing, and finally realized that there was a sweet shop called the Royal Mint shop. So, waste of time. 

It was near the Tower of London, so I thought I might as well go there again even though it hadn’t been on my list to visit. I was glad I did. I got the audio guide which gave a lot of information in addition to the info on the wall boards in various rooms. The Crown Jewels house used to be an extra price; now it is included in the price for the Tower (but still expensive!). 

First view of Tower of London

The Shard towering over the Tower

Another view from outside the Tower

First I went through the Medieval Palace part built by Henry III and Edward I (the tower itself was commissioned by William the Conqueror soon after he came), just amazed again at how ancient all this is.

Medieval St Thomas' Tower

Medieval interior

Recreation of Edward I bedchamber

Medieval chapel

Then I walked along the east wall which had rooms where prisoners had carved into the walls their names and/or messages and rooms showing the life of soldiers of that era.

Prisoner-carved zodiac circle

Next was the White Tower in the middle (which William had built). I had remembered it as a rather repetitious place with just too many displays of weapons. It has all been redone. Far fewer cases of weapons which allows you to appreciate the ones that are there (take note, museums!) like the Henry VIII full body armor suit and a display of him on his horse in armor as well as the armor of several other prominent people. There is also an interactive space (which all museums are now doing) and more emphasis in the wall boards on the history of the place rather than the armaments. I liked that. I’ve always liked the chapel in the White Tower; I just find it a peaceful place in contrast, I guess, to the rest of the tower.

White Tower, the oldest part

Another view of White Tower

Henry VIII armour

Beautiful etched Charles I armour

Ancient beam

Original garderobe (loo)

Chapel of St John

The famous ravens were all over. Several times I was within a few feet of them, and they didn’t move.

Raven on the stair railing

Another raven on the fence

Entrance to Crown Jewels

I next went to see the Crown Jewels so that I wouldn’t be too tired to appreciate them. They are just so spectacular (no pictures, of course). They had slow-moving sidewalks on either side of the cases which kept people moving but with enough time to enjoy the items. And you could go back through again if you wished. They used to have guards just herding people along with no chance to go back. The focus was on items that are used in the coronation—the crowns, orb, sceptre, etc. In a separate case was the Imperial State Crown which the Queen wears when she opens Parliament (though now it sits on a stand next to her because it is too heavy for her to wear that long).

The next part of the tour is the gruesome part—where executions took place. Only a plaque commemorates the spectacle (which it was in Tudor times—people came and cheered). The nearby Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula is where Anne Boleyn (2nd wife of Henry VIII), Katherine Howard (5th wife) and Lady Jane Grey (queen for 9 days) are buried. The Tudor section of the Tower is nice looking but was used to house several prisoners. 

Memorial for executions

Tudor houses where
prisoners were sometimes held

Bloody Tower room and commentary

On to more gruesome recollections (maybe!) in the Bloody Tower where Edward and Richard, sons of Edward IV supposedly killed by their uncle Richard III, lived after their father died. The commentary there definitely leaned toward accusing Richard. I am a doubter of that scenario, having read and been convinced by Josephine Tey’s book The Daughter of Time. But in 1674 two sets of juvenile bones were uncovered under stairs leading to the chapel in the White Tower. We will perhaps never know for sure. Though if they have those bones, why don’t they just try to extract some DNA? Richard III’s bones were found under a parking lot in Leicester in 2012 and identified from a Canadian descendent of his sister, all of which I followed closely. I visited Leicester Cathedral and the fascinating museum of the find in 2015.

After reading while sipping another hot chocolate, I returned to the hotel since it was already quittin’ time. 10,758 steps.

Saturday. Today I decided to visit Hampstead where I have been before, but it’s a big place. I took the tube to Shepherd’s Bush where I caught the Overground to Finchley Road and Frognal. It’s wonderful the way they make their transportation systems hook up. I’m sure you can get anywhere within a few blocks. 

I walked to the Freud Museum including up a very steep street. My legs were definitely feeling the result of all this walking. The museum is his home of only one year. He, his wife, daughter Anna and assistant moved to London in 1938 to escape the Nazis in Vienna (the family’s move was mentioned in Leopoldstadt). They came to this very large, comfortable home in Hampstead and set up shop. He was still seeing patients even though he was getting progressively sicker. He died in 1939 of metasticized throat cancer though his wife and daughter stayed on.

Freud's House now Museum

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Freud's back garden

Painted chest Anna liked

I loved this large landing

Freud’s view of the psyche, as explained in the many good boards, is something with which I totally agree—that our early experiences and our relationships with our family members have a profound effect on us in adulthood. Anna was also a psychologist and focused on children.

The information about their lives was very good. His actual desk and the famous couch were there as well as loads of his books and knickknacks.

Freud's study

Freud's desk and special chair

The famous couch and his chair at the
end--he did not face them

In one of the upstairs rooms there was a special exhibition called Code Name Mary about a wealthy American Muriel Gardiner who was instrumental in getting many Jewish people out of Austria. She was a good friend of the family and partially funded the museum which was the family’s wish for the house. There was a film about Muriel; part of it was Vanessa Redgrave reading from the foreword to a biography of Muriel. Vanessa is still beautiful in her old age. And I love her oh so recognizable voice which we still get to hear in every episode of Call the Midwife.

Vanessa Redgrave on film

After admiring the garden, it was back to the Overground for one more stop to Hampstead Heath. I had wanted to visit the Keats House also which was very near the station. I walked up to the house and saw that it was open again at 2:15. So I took a walk on the Heath. It was another nice day, and there were lots of people doing as I was. I didn’t go too far and sat down to read for awhile.

Leaving nature alone

Pond on the Heath

Isn't this a great disguise?

I loved watching this crane

Then back to Keats House. Well, it turned out that they are now not open on Saturdays even though the website said that they were. I was rather annoyed. I walked along Heath Road for awhile, visiting a few shops, and then went back to Notting Hill.

My ok salmon dinner

Keats House

I had an early dinner of salmon and vegetables and then went to see No Time To Die at the local theatre. This was the first movie I had seen in a theatre in 19 months. It was pretty good though I was surprised by the ending (won't say what it was). Finished another book this evening. 11,288 steps.

Sunday. The first order today was to get my COVID test for reentry into the US (negative result returned to my email in about two hours). This one was near the Bond St tube. I had a little time before my appointment, so I walked to Grosvenor Square where the American Embassy used to be. It was all shrouded. I had read that they were turning it into a luxury hotel.

Line at COVID testing site

Selfridge's on Oxford St

After my test I walked over to Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner. Not one speaker was there even though it was noon and Google said they are usually there from 11-3. I thought that was odd. So I walked a little farther into the park and then took the tube to Charing Cross.

A strangely empty Speaker's Corner

Bikers in Hyde Park

Since I hadn’t had my scone fix yet, I wanted to take my last opportunity and get one at the National Gallery café.  But it wasn’t open. Oh well, I missed it on this trip. I guess I’ll have to make some at home. 

I walked over to Covent Garden, but it wasn’t bustling as it is on other days. There were a few buskers and a few vendors though plenty of people with their coffees. All the while I was looking for a tea place but never found one, so I stopped in a pub whose claim to fame is that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had their second time engagement party there. I had an ok roast chicken (somehow I had no beef on the whole trip) with vegetables, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding (again not eaten) and some weird black and white cake which I think was blood pudding with a lager. I did a puzzle as I ate as I often did.

An empty-ish Covent Garden

My lunch stop--The Salisbury pub

Then it was on to my last performance and last event of the trip, the musical Matilda adapted from a Roald Dahl story. This was Sunday and a kid’s book, so there were tons of kids there. It was fun to see them with their parents in their best. I probably should have read the story ahead of time, but it wasn’t too hard to follow the tale of the unloved child and the lonely teacher which comes out fine in the end. There were the usual excellent performances particularly by the girl who played Matilda. The usual audience appreciation also. I observed that they show it more with shouts than clapping. The minute the curtain comes down there are shouts from all over. We tend to have more clapping than shouting. There just seems to be more of a connection between the performers and the audience in the UK.

Matilda marquee

Stage of Matilda

Then it was back to the hotel because I had to pack. That took awhile since I had accumulated several items and had to figure a way to get them all in. 13,772 steps.

My purchases--not too many this time

Monday. Going home day. The flight was at 10:20 so I was up early. I didn’t want to maneuver bags up and down stairs again, so I took an Uber to Paddington (actually the first time I had done that by myself—I’m usually with Glenna) and the Heathrow Express to the airport. At Paddington I was wondering which direction to go since I had come in an unusual entrance; the guard told me just to follow the purple stickers on the floor. I thought that was a great idea. Everything went smoothly (except that I failed security again—it must be my titanium finger even though I tell them about it) so I had plenty of time at the gate. I was again selected for special scrutiny. All he did was use some wipe around the edges of my carry-on and said fine. Not sure what that does. 

More chicken on the flight, but it did taste good. Also rice, curry sauce, some veg and salad greens, couscous and wine. They actually turned the lights out though it was around noon. Later we had very good warm turkey and cheese wrap—I couldn’t resist the bread this time. 

At Newark I had plenty of time even though you have to claim your luggage in order to go through customs (though they don’t look at it) and then give it up again. I started another book which turned out to be a real page turner, so the time went fast. I waited a little bit for Rick and Doris at GSP because they were coming from the election office (early voting which I will be doing too). I was quite tired but I did get unpacked. 8188 steps. My legs around the knees ached for a couple of weeks afterward. 

Not by plan, but there were several connections with what I read and saw and the places I was going. The first book I read was The Year 1000, all about England in the year 1000 and thereabouts. The second book, The Witch of Exmoor, took place mostly in contemporary London. The third book, A Family Affair, took place in London in Victorian times where Victoria was mentioned and armor played a part in the plot (connection to armor at White Tower). I noticed on the way back that we flew very near Gander (connection to Come From Away). As I have already mentioned, Leopoldstadt mentioned the Freuds. Penshurst Place was the site of the filming of Wolf Hall which I hadn’t known but had planned to visit Austin Friars, Cromwell’s home area. And I heard the conversation about the 3rd movie coming out. That made the trip even more special. England, if you can’t tell for those who read my blogs, is my favorite place to go. I don’t think I would ever tire of it though my legs might have other ideas.