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

UK and Ireland Bound

Blogging has been slow lately. And it will even be slower over the next few weeks. But wait till October. I'll be posting a lot. Ad nauseum, in fact. Three weeks in the United Kingdom and Ireland will tend to bring that out.

It's BowlingWidow and my 25th wedding anniversary and we're doing it up right. Stay tuned for words and pictures. I have a journal, a camera, and I'm not afraid to use either one to their fullest extent.

Bob's Your Uncle,

Bowling Joe

Sunday Afternoon at the Ballpark

There's just something about being at the ballpark, even if it's to watch the once mighty, but currently hapless Seattle Mariners. And here's another thing I don't mind doing: going alone. Particularly if it's on a nice Sunday afternoon when I can take the Sounder train to and from the game. Here are some reasons why:

The Sounder Train: All Aboard to Safeco Field

1. You can walk around the entire perimeter of the first level of Safeco Field and see the game. Camp behind the plate for a while? No problem. Like the view from center field? Can do.

2. There are lots of things to see there besides baseball, and you can do it on your own schedule without worrying that whoever you're with is disinterested. I like to check out all of the different items on the menu, even though due to calorie counting and price I rarely buy the stuff. There's also a nice little "museum" tucked away with artifacts from years gone by, including items associated with the Seattle Rainiers and Seattle Pilots.

3. My grandfather is there. Well, not really. But when they were building Safeco Field in the 1990s, my mother and I bought a commemorative brick with the name "Walter E. Nygren" engraved on it. He's next to the Mariner bullpen and it's a fitting tribute to the memory of one of the great sports fans of all time.

The Brick: A Tribute to My Grandfather

4. Boring game? There's no ten-run rule in the majors so if it's a blowout the game goes on and on and on. I can and have felt free to simply up and leave. Killing time at Uwajimaya in the International District while waiting for the train (which departs 40 minutes after the game ends) is always a good idea.

Last Sunday, in fact, worked out quite nicely. The trains ran on time (Mussolini would have been proud even though he never really did make the trains run on time), it was a reasonably nice day, the rolling carport roof of Safeco Field was open, and it was a well-played game.

A glimpse of the Safeco Field "Museum"

I find it interesting to watch the ebb and flow of what goes on there. And I'm not just talking about the third base coach signaling the batter to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Thousands of conversations are taking place amongst the fans. Vendors are in motion trying to earn a buck and tossing bags of peanuts around like beanbags. Alcohol enforcement workers are on the move. A baseball stadium is simply a great place to walk around and observe.

A great day to hang out in the outfield bleachers

Oh yeah, the score was Seattle 3 and Kansas City 2. But who really cares in the big scheme of things?

Five-Pin Bowling in Canada, eh?

Nothing speaks to the celebration of United States Independence Day like leaving the country. I have nothing against the holiday in and of itself, but being in the middle of fireworks "ground zero" every year has gotten really old. Not to even make mention of the semi-literate morons who have no qualms about lighting anything that makes a loud noise for a week on either side of the fourth, regardless of what time of day or night it is. And North Snohomish County has far more than their fair share of these Rhodes Scholars roaming the streets like zombies.

The view from the bridge: Granville Island

Last year we headed to Tacoma, a surprisingly wonderful experience. This year it was Amtrak to Vancouver, Canada for two nights. Vancouver has become one of our favorite destinations. It's a very multi-cultural place with an exceptional downtown vibe. Officially, more than 70-thousand people live downtown and at any given time it seems like 30-thousand of them are out walking their dogs, riding their bikes, or engaging in actual exercise that half of all Americans seem to be allergic to.

Because it's such a melting pot, one can find shops and restaurants that represent all corners of the globe. Colorful neighborhoods such as Kitsilano that we spent part of a morning roaming through are a good example of that. We were so busy roaming around some places that were new to us that we didn't even have time to hit the usual places such as Chinatown, opting instead to take the Sky Train to the heavily Asian-influenced suburb of Richmond for a very well-prepared and tasty dim sum session.

BowlingJoe with ball and pin: kind of like our game but smaller

A uniquely Canadian activity that we participated in was Five-Pin Bowling. This game was invented in Canada in around 1909. It's similar to the bowling we know in the U.S. yet different in, of course, the number of pins (which also carry different "point"values) and the fact that you get a maximum number of three shots per frame. The ball and pins are also considerably smaller and a perfect game is 450 as opposed to our 300. I won't bore anyone with all of the terms and rules, but if interested, click on the link in the first sentence of this paragraph.

What were my scores (he asks himself rhetorically)? Let's just say that it took me a while to get used to this game but I managed to show continuous improvement. They were 116, 139 and 172. BowlingWidow's numbers also improved and she even threatened to beat me midway through the last game. But I just simply couldn't let that happen.

Video: BowlingJoe gets a rare 5-pin strike!

Before we knew it, our time was up and we had to head back to the train station. Oh...and one more thing. I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the brewpub situation in Vancouver. It's not nearly as vibrant as the scene in the Seattle-Portland area but there is one gem that pours a hoppy IPA and a smooth Guinness-like-but-with-more-body stout: Yaletown Brewing in the hip and up-and-coming area of southeast Vancouver. Honorable mention goes to Granville Island Brewing Company located on (go figure) Granville Island.

The Mini Pub Crawl

In an effort to get into proper form for the Britain/Ireland trip in September, we decided to do a mini pub crawl a couple of weeks ago, consisting of two stops. Since we were in Seattle for the Susan Komen Walk for the Cure anyway, we went to establishments that neither of us have been to.

Most of the draft selection at The Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle

First up was a trip to West Seattle and The Beveridge Place Pub. This was a beautiful place in a nice neighborhood that had lots of comfy couches to get lost in on the main floor with a whole array of different games such as cribbage on the many tables.

My personal favorite feature? It has to be the fact that the bar itself used to be a bowling lane from a center that met the business end of a wrecking ball a long time ago. BowlingWidow and I each ordered a hoppy IPA (can't recall the brand though...there were so many) and enjoyed being in the warm confines of this establishment.
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The cozy space at Brouwer's Cafe

It was on to the Fremont district of Seattle and Brouwer's Cafe. This is a place that specializes in Belgian Ales. And they had tons of them. But when our bartender mentioned that they had Pliny the Elder (brewed by Russian River Brewing) on draft and arguably the hoppiest ale made today, we simply had to have a pint to go with the pub grub we ordered. (Note: for those who are interested in learning more about Pliny the Elder, the Roman Philosopher, click on this link).

We're not quite ready for a full-blown pub crawl in Dublin yet. But it was a good beginning.

We're With The Band (Redux)

Now that the nasty Trojan Virus has been eradicated from my computer system (I think) for the second time, it's appropriate to get back into the swing of things and warm up with a short blog post.

For anyone who shakes their head in disgust at the number of Al Stewart and Dave Nachmanoff posts that show up here (and there are a few of you), feel free to hit the "back" button a few more times and Google the phrase "World Cup Soccer" like the rest of the global masses.

Leftynemesis and Dave before the show

Yep, Al and Dave were in town recently, performing a free show at the Snoqualmie Casino, so my friend Leftynemesis and I stepped up to help Dave sell his CDs at the merchandise table. The bad news is that we missed most of the concert, having to guard the goods in the lobby. The really good news is that we were granted all-access passes, including backstage, before and after the show.

Just as the first time we were allowed to do so, it was a lot of fun hanging out with them, exchanging bits of music trivia and listening to Al deliver more than a few words about his 40-plus year career as a folk-rock headliner. We also talked a little NFL Football. For some reason (I never did find out why), Al is a huge Denver Broncos fan.

BowlingJoe looks on as Dave warms up

Before the show, we were backstage with them while Al was writing down the night's list of songs. Being knowledgeable fans, the left-handed one and I were doing our best to persuade him to play things that we selfishly wanted to hear, albeit while in the lobby. Al was having none of it, though, and proceeded to write down hits such as Year of the Cat and Time Passages. Oh well, maybe next time.

As the post-concert merchandise lines dwindled into nothing, we headed back to the green room once more for a late night catered sandwich and some last-minute conversation. And then we all hit the road into a rainy North Bend night.

Al writes the set list (WITHOUT BowlingJoe's help!!!)

If you've managed to make it this far in the blog post, thank you for hanging in there. Since I know that more fans of fine ale read this than fans of Al Stewart and Dave Nachmanoff, the next post, coming up in just a few days, will be devoted to a Seattle-area "mini pub crawl" that Bowlingwidow and I recently made up involving two alehouses we've always wanted to visit.

On the Road to Recovery

There’s a reason that heart patients are called "patients". Being a heart patient requires more that the standard amount of “patience”. One needs to adhere to a strict list of do’s and don’ts such as not lifting anything that weighs much. Or making sure you’ve got a nice pillow to clutch to your chest like a recovered fumble in the fourth quarter of the game. You wouldn’t want those stitches to come apart, after all, and have to start over.

BowlingJoe’s dad is one of those heart patients. Earlier this year, he was getting some preparatory work done in anticipation of back surgery when some doctor had the audacity to tell him that he needed a new aorta. He’s now the proud owner of a few inches of flexible hosing where his too-thin-to-last-much-longer original aorta portion once was. Not only that, he has a new heart valve that once belonged to a pig.

His surgery, which went quite well as these things go, was on March 2nd. The heart itself has pretty much healed and he isn’t gasping for breath as he once was early in the recovery process. But there was also the matter that a plethora of muscles, tendons and other assorted things needed to be gone through in order to get to the heart. That’s what’s taking the time to get better.

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BowlingJoe's stepmom (Brenda) and dad (Ken): glad to be on his feet again

I spent a few hours with him last weekend and he looks and sounds remarkably better than he did during those first couple of weeks after the heart surgery. If all continues to go well, the much anticipated back surgery will take place sometime this summer. And beyond that, I sure his feelings wouldn’t be hurt if he stayed away from the business end of a scalpel for a few more years.