Great Britain trip report
 

After much anticipation, my wife and I finally got to take our long-awaited trip to Great Britain last week. Neither of us having been there before, we were unsure what to expect.

Day 1: Arrival in London. Since we knew our flight from Dallas, Texas, was going to last nine hours, we wanted to stay the first night in London rather than taking the train to our next stop, York. We arrived at London Gatwick airport around 10:30 a.m. and took the Gatwick Express train to Victoria Station in London. The ride was about 30 minutes long and, I have to say, the scenery we passed doesn't give a great first impression of England. We arrived at Victoria Station and walked through a biting wind to our hotel, the Jolly St. Ermin's, after getting lost for a little bit. We checked in, rode up the very tiny elevator (which is about the size of a broom closet) to our room and dropped off our luggage. We went out for lunch and promptly ran smack dab into a protest march. Not being terribly interested in politics, I don't get easily offended when people criticize government officials, and I realize that we were guests in another country; that being said, it greatly bothered me to see protesters carrying signs with President Bush's face and the words, "World's #1 Terrorist" printed on them. We ended up eating lunch in a cafeteria across the street from Westminster Abbey, and by the time we finished, the abbey had unfortunately been closed to visitors. We wandered around the outside of Parliament taking pictures and walked to the Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum. I was impressed with the Cabinet War Rooms; the audio guides were excellent and I felt I got a very good sense of what it was like to be working there during WWII (who knew that Churchill called a hole punch a "klop?"). The new Churchill Museum has a lot of high-tech exhibits which impressed me but the flow of the museum seemed confusing. After the museum, we ate dinner at a restaurant near our hotel called the Albert. I tried the Yorkshire pudding but didn't really think it was much to be excited about. Overall, not a bad first day to start the trip. Tomorrow: our encounter with the stereotypical Ugly American at Harrod's.

You're off to an interesting start! Look forward to reading more...

If you're that easily bothered by free speech, you clearly had a tough time here.

Let's hope you learned something at the same time.

hope it gets better.

Looking forward to the next installment

SoonerRed, we ran into an anti-American protest in Vienna several yrs prior to 9/11. Europeans have always been mad at us for something!

Cotswold, it has nothing to do with free speech. It's just a little disarming to see your President burned in efigy or called a "terrorist" when you may not feel the same way. You don't often see Americans holding anti-UK protests since, for the most part, we consider the UK to be our ally and friend. We therefore wrongly assume that people over there feel the same about us.

And they do feel the same about you, betty, just not your-and my - President. It's hard to believe that anyone travelling anywhere in the world now is not aware of that.

1. if you stayed more than 5 seconds, you would have noticed that protesters say the exact same thing about blair.

2. if this bothers you so much, why would you visit a city whose mayor has many times said the exact same thing as on the placard you describe.

this is no comment on whether it should or shouldn't bother you, that is a personal thing. but then why visit if it does? i don't understand.

SoonerRed - Enjoying your trip report - remember just because some people are demonstrating doesn't necessarily mean that is the majority opinion.

Also interested by your comment about being disappointed by your view from the Gatwick Express. Don't forget the London area is one of the most densely populated areas in Europe and possibly the world. Were you expecting rolling countryside and thatched cottages?

Learning how things "really are" to include the landscape, what some people are saying, doing, and thinking is/are one of the benefits of actually traveling. It broadens your horizons and, hopefully, lessens isolation.

I'm sure it was disconcerting to see President Bush portrayed as a "terrorist" which is a feeling not in any way unique to some folks in "other" countries.

But you learned that this is the way it is and you are, I am certain, prepared to take the good with the bad and not let the "bad" ruin your overall travel experience.

SoonerRed

When I moved to the US (quite a long time ago) I learned very quickly when people ask what I didn't like etc. to not say anything critical because it just wasn't taken well. People didn't really want to hear how it was thru my eyes. I appreciate your honest comments as to how you felt and what you saw.

Very much looking forward to the York portion of your trip.

Sandy

Ditto to SandyBrit. Hypersensitivity to criticism is just as prevalent in the UK as in the US.
SoonerRed, thanks for your honest trip report and looking forward to hearing the rest. Just because you didn't fall all over yourself gushing about everything British doesn't make your report any less interesting or valid.

And to the critics, I didn't see ONE WORD ANYWHERE by the OP that the protesters shouldn't have been allowed to express themselves. He was just reporting his reactions. If the OP's crtics are that greatly bothered by free speech on Fodors, they're going to have a very hard time here.

Thank you, BTilke. You expressed my thoughts exactly. Can't wait for the next installment.

SoonerRed, please come back...the soapsuds are getting a little thick on this thread.

Your report made me think of my first trip to England, which was my first trip out of the U.S. I'd flown into Heathrow, and I still remember the balconies on the backs of the red brick rowhouses we passed on the train. I was very impressed by the tiny gardens that people had growing in pots all along the train ride. It definitely helped to reinforce a stereotype about the English and their gardens. Perhaps the Gatwick ride is less interesting...

Day 2: After we woke up, we checked out of the hotel and left our luggage there while we did a little exploring of London. First on the agenda was the rite of passage for any London tourist - the Changing of the Guard. By the time we got to Buckingham Palace, a mass of people had already arrived, but we walked to the Queen Victoria Memorial steps and were able to get a decent view of the (in)action. As some people have stated in other trip reports, the ceremony is not that interesting but I was glad we had a chance to see it for ourselves. We wandered around the area for a while and ran into another band marching down the street - this one including bagpipes!

We eventually made it to the nearest tube stop and went to Harrod's for lunch. Let me just say that Harrod's was not high on my list of places to see in London, but Mrs. SoonerRed really wanted to see it. So, we went there and after seeing the Dodi/Diana memorial at the base of the Egyptian escalator (which is just as hideously tacky as it sounds), we ate lunch in one of the food halls. We both had sandwiches and after about ten minutes, a big, blonde American woman and her husband/boyfriend/servant sat at the bar next to us. This woman leaned over the bar and spread her elbows out to the point she actually pushed my plate an inch or two. The woman then motioned for one of the staff to come over and asked her, "The special of the day is...?" and "The soup of the day is...?", like the server had nothing better to do than play Mad Libs with some pushy tourist. She ended up ordering two of the "American Frankfurter," which is Harrod's version of a hot dog. When the food was brought out and she realized there were two hot dogs per order, she accosted the server and said if she had been told there were two per order, she only would have wanted one. I had to get away from this person so the wife and I left pretty quickly.

After Harrod's, we felt the need to see something mindless, so what better place to go to than Madame Tussaud's? The wait was long (about 40 min.), and I would have felt ripped off if we hadn't had a 2-for-1 coupon from BritRail. Still, we had fun laughing at the bad wax likenesses and some of the random celebrities that were included (Shirley Bassey?). Mrs. SoonerRed doesn't like to be scared so we skipped the Chamber of Horrors - Live segment.

It was getting late, so we returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage and went to King's Cross station for our train to York. We arrived about 9:00 p.m. and took a taxi to our bed and breakfast, the Coach House Hotel. The hotel owners, who I believe are named Paul and Anna, were very friendly and Paul poured us a couple of beers, which were very welcome after a long day.

Tomorrow: SoonerRed turns 30 and has the greatest cup of tea in his life.

Miss Burly Chassis a "random" celebrity? Oh well, I suppose all celebrity is random, up to a point.

You can tell it's Friday afternoon, can't you?

Day 3: The Big 3-0. I started off the next decade of my life with a delicious full English breakfast at the B&B. While I was eating, an elderly British woman whom I had met the night before while checking in approached me and told me she wished I had a special day, since I had previously mentioned to her that we were in York for my birthday. I was actually quite touched that someone who barely knew me would bother to remember my birthday and say a special greeting to me.

After we finished breakfast, we went inside the city walls and started off at Jorvik. While I expected Jorvik to be somewhat child-oriented, I didn't expect the entire ride through the viking village to smell so bad. For those who don't know, Jorvik is a re-creation of the original viking village that existed where York is today. During one part of the re-creation, an animatronic villager is grunting and squatting in his front yard while the lovely scent of you-know-what is sprayed into the car in which you ride. The problem is, the scent was in the car as soon as we got in and stayed with us the whole time we were in the village. Needless to say, we were happy to get out and move on to the next part of Jorvik, which included a new exhibit with taped segments of actors portraying villagers. At the end of the exhibit, a Jorvik staff member gave an oral presentation on a skeleton of a viking warrior, which was quite interesting. After quickly walking through the requisite gift shop, we left Jorvik and walked to the Shambles, where I bought a paperback (The Looking Glass Wars) unavailable in the U.S.

At the recommendation of my wife's co-worker, who is from Manchester, we had lunch at Betty's Teahouse. While there was about a 10-minute wait before we got a table, it was well worth it. I have been drinking tea my entire life, and I can easily say that the tea I had that day at Betty's was the best I ever had. I wish I could remember the name of the specific blend I drank, but I guess age has already caught up with me! For dessert I had a recommended Fat Rascal, which seemed to me to be just a scone with a smiley face made of nuts and jelly beans. At any rate, I would highly recommend Betty's to anyone passing through York.

After Betty's, we took a tour of the York Minster and its undercroft. Being something of a Roman history buff, I was highly interested to learn about the army compound which used to be on the site of the Minster as well as the site where it is believed Constantine was declared emperor. The Minster is as beautiful as advertised and, after we explored a little more of York, we returned for the Evensong service. Again, very memorable and beautiful.

After Evensong, we walked north of the city walls to an Indian restaurant called the Viceroy, which was recommended to us by Paul at the B&B. The food tasted somewhat different from the Indian cuisine we are used to, but it was still delicious and capped off a really wonderful day.

One note about York: while everyone we met in the city was very friendly, it seemed as if they each had a story about a ghost living in their shop or house. These storytellers seemed sincere, but I'm enough of a cynic to wonder whether there is some sort of tradition of telling tourists ghost stories to somehow make the city more mysterious or interesting. In my opinion, York is wonderful the way it is without any need to "enhance" it for tourists. I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt, though.

Next: Trains, trains, everywhere.

The hot dog story reminded me of my less-traveled husband who sat down to have a coffee and wait for DD and me in Harrods. He assumed a free refill and was told quite haughtily, "Sir, this is Harrods."

Last fall I bought a "My First Harrods Bear" for a great-nephew who was born on my birthday. I asked for a gift box at Customer Service and was told it would be £6. I declined, and the clerk said she didn't blame me.

I adore York-glad you did as well! What a wonderful place to spend your 30th.
Looking forward to more....