UK & Ireland Trip Part One: London (with a dash of Wales)

In September of 1985, 25 years ago, BowlingWidow and I were married and spent our honeymoon in London and Northern England around the Lake District. At the time, I was a travel agent. It was kind of a strange gig. One would get to visit some nice places, compliments of airlines, hotels and other travel-related companies. But then when the clock struck midnight it was back home to buy ramen noodle packs at 10 for a dollar. Travel agents didn’t fare too well in the pay department.

For our 25^th anniversary we decided to up the ante. Three weeks of vacation time in which we’d give London another look, Wales (briefly), Ireland, Scotland and back to London again.

At the time we bought our tickets, the least expensive purchase was to fly from Seattle to Vancouver BC on a small regional flight and then on to London nonstop on an Air Canada jet (Boeing products, of course) for close to 9 hours. Great flight (except for the obligatory turbulence) with no screaming children on board.

Arriving at around 2:00pm the following day, we took the famous London Underground (or “Tube”) from London Heathrow Airport to the Russell Square station on the Piccadilly Line. About a 6 pound ride with a few “milk run” stops but took only around 45 minutes, not much longer than a taxi would have. The tube is a giant spider’s web of a system and it’s surprisingly easy to move about the city at a reasonable cost.

Room at The Jesmond: Just Like Being Back at College

We booked Bed and Breakfasts for the entire trip and our first experience at the Jesmond Hotel would be the most spartan and we knew it. All that was available would be a walk-in-closet sized room with a sink and two small twin beds. Very romantic in a prison cell sort of way. The shower? It consisted of a tiny room upstairs (shared with a few other rooms) and was so touchy that one false dial adjustment resulted in a memorable scalding.

Our first meal and cask conditioned ales were in a pub (gee, what a surprise) called Mortimer Arms that was a few blocks from the B&B. We indulged in some excellent Thai food along with pints of Black Sheep Bitter.

Our first official “event” involved heading to the U.S. Embassy to pick up some passes to watch The House of Commons in session at their Parliament buildings. After some bureaucratic confusion (they’re apparently as good as we are in this country about that) we secured them. Fortunately the nice man with the machine gun standing at the Embassy door didn’t have to swing into action.

Beans: it's what's for breakfast, English style

The British House of Commons is as much about theater as it is getting anything done. Unlike our Congressional speeches, there’s a great deal of back and forth dialogue that takes place, and some resulting attempts at “one-upmanship”. The topic of that day was agricultural issues. Not particularly exciting but it was enjoyable for us Yanks to show up and watch the proceedings.

Looking toward NE London across the beautiful brown Thames

Next it was on to the British Museum. This houses the largest collection of artifacts and items in the world that have nothing to do with Great Britain. Seven million items in fact. If it’s ancient, it’s in there. And I do believe that we saw more vases than exist in all of the Pier One Imports stores combined.

Dinner on our first full night? Quite possibly the best East Indian food we’ve ever had. London is a gold mine of great restaurants given that 300 different languages are heard among its population of 7.2 million. The place in question is a tiny place on Cleveland Street called Olive’s Indian. Complex and spicy chicken curry at more than affordable prices.

BowlingWidow on the spiral staircase of The Momument

Some other highlights of the first leg of the trip included climbing 311 spiral stairs to the top of The Monument for some great panoramic pictures. This is (yet another) structure designed by Christopher Wren as a tribute to rebuilding after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

We also paid a visit to The Borough Market on the banks of the Thames River (which has remained the glorious brown color that we remembered it being in 1985). This market reminded us of our Pike Place Market in Seattle only it was totally devoted to food. Fruit, vegetables, cheeses, prepared ethnic food and so on. No cheap trinkets or touristy gifts here.

Marks and Spencer: Red Wine To Go!

London is a great town to walk around, and we did plenty of sightseeing from its streets. We saw things that ranged from Westminster Abbey to the tiny flat that Samuel Johnson once lived in. And if you want to see St. Paul’s Cathedral for free, here’s a tip: Every day at 5:00pm, they have a choir performance called Evensong in which non-members of the church are invited to come in and have a listen.

Another tip? Three words: Marks and Spencer. This is essentially a department store chain with a grocery section and food court (usually at the bottom floor). Every town of a decent size has one, and we would grab pre-made sandwiches, pasta salads and other goodies to stuff into our backpacks when we didn’t have the time to or desire for sit-down meal. They even have sealed plastic “glasses” containing red wine for that perfect picnic. Why this concept hasn’t caught on in the United States is beyond us.

Rainbow Over Holyhead, Wales

In London, we took the train from Euston Station to Holyhead, Wales. Schedule-wise, it was best to overnight in Wales so that we could catch a ferry boat across the Irish Sea to Dun Laoghaire (“Leary”) and Dublin the next day. The B&B at Holyhead was a decent walk in the rain from the train station and fit our needs just right. We were also rewarded with a rainbow and an excellent Cornish pasty at a local pub on that Saturday night.

Next blog: Part Two. Dublin, Ireland