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With so many amateur bar staff around, perhaps you're lucky that you didn't get it in a cup. With milk.
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>>Sorry to hear about the bunk beds in Bath. I take it this partical YHA is off your list.<<
Yes, it is. :-) We would have stayed somewhere else, but it fit our budget. >>For future reference, you probably helped confuse the barman<< She really had no idea what I was asking for. She wasn't English and it took her a minute to find the bottle of Pimm's, and then she didn't know what to do with it. I bought a bottle of Pimm's last week, and I notice it has a recipe on it. I guess I should have taken a look while I was there. Mint sounds like a great addition - thanks for mentioning it! |
May 13th In Which We Get Wet in Bath And Find Ourselves Acting English at Stourhead
We were glad to haul ourselves out of our bunks and leave the hostel to spend some time following Julia_t’s walking tour of Bath. After battling a pay and display machine, we made our way through the drizzle toward the center of town, stopping for a very good latte at the Yankee (Boston?) Tea Party. We toured the Roman Baths, as it was included in our Great British Heritage Pass and we wanted to get as much mileage out of it as possible. The baths were quite ingenious and more interesting than I thought they would be; it’s worth a stop if you’re in Bath. We walked past the Abbey and made our way through increasing amounts of rain around the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Along the way, we stopped at the Jane Austen Centre. Since we planned to visit her home in Chawton the next day, we didn’t take the tour, but we spent some quality time in the gift shop. Since it was Mother’s Day at home, Mr. Pickle bought me a cup with some of Hugh Thomson’s well-known Austen illustrations. One side has Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, while the other has Mr. Darcy looking down his nose at Elizabeth saying, “She is tolerable…” Very nice with coffee or tea! After buying picnic supplies at a Sainsbury’s, we found the car again and drove to Stourhead. This incredible garden was used in the new <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> – the Temple of Apollo is where Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth and is rejected. We walked the main two-mile loop, which is absolutely gorgeous with leafy green trees, copper beeches, azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom, bluebells in the woods; there is something beautiful in every direction. Along the way we passed the Pantheon, the Grotto, and other lovely structures. As we made our way around the lake, we caught up with others who were enjoying the garden. Suddenly the sun emerged, and we found ourselves saying, “Ooh, lovely, it’s the sun” with everyone else. Living in New Mexico, where the sun shines almost every day, I never say anything like that – I felt rather English all of a sudden… At the Temple of Apollo, we found a flute of champagne on the plinth next to where the proposal scene was filmed. We thought perhaps some romantic young man proposed to his lady there, and hoped he met with more success than Mr. Darcy! From Stourhead it’s not far to Salisbury, where we spent our final night at the YHA. The hostel is a late 19th-century house, where we had a nice comfortable double room. We cooked dinner, repacked our things, and spent the rest of the evening in the lounge catching up on the news (still full of Tony Blair and Maddy McCann, with a good amount of soccer mixed in) and laughing at Pegg and Frost’s Night In. |
I'm midway through posting pictures on Picasaweb - you can see them at http://tinyurl.com/3clrcv
May 14th In Which We Pay Homage to Miss Austen and Bid a Fond Farewell to the United Kingdom After breakfast (included in the price of the room), we drove to Winchester. All I really wanted to do there was go to the Cathedral, see Jane Austen’s grave, and leave, but Mr. Pickle decided we should take the guided tour of the Cathedral. I was getting into my usual “we have to keep moving we can’t miss our flight and we need to get to the airport much earlier than necessary” mode, so I was somewhat resistant to this plan. However, the tour was really interesting and informative, and Rosalind, our guide, made sure we saw Jane’s grave first so if we needed to leave, we wouldn’t miss it. The Cathedral contains some fabulous art and architecture, including some lovely Russian icons, several windows which were either designed by or done in tribute to the Arts and Crafts movement (or was it the Pre-Raphaelites? I can’t remember), the 12th-century font with its carvings of St. Nicholas, a small chapel in which the altar and benches were carved in a cool rippling pattern as a memorial to Izaak Walton, and much more. I enjoyed the statue of William Walker, the diver who saved the Cathedral from collapsing, emerging from the water. After the great west window was destroyed during the English Civil War, the people of Winchester saved all the glass and replaced it. The window looks much like a mosaic now, and has an abstract beauty. The Cathedral’s contribution to Winchester’s 2007 Year of Sculpture is an exhibition called Light. It was…interesting (I got the impression Rosalind didn’t think much of it either). I’m not sure which was more striking, the chile ristra-like string of painted plastic bottles which were lit from within, or the large heap of milk crates and other plastic items melted together. Light can be seen at the Cathedral until July 31st, if you’re interested. http://www.yearofsculpture.com After a stop to pick up some lunch items, we made our way to our final destination, Chawton Cottage, a few miles outside Winchester. Jane Austen lived here for several years, writing and/or revising most of her novels. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:15, and by the time we arrived at Chawton (missing the cottage, driving through the tiny village, going back on the highway, turning back – the usual scheme) it was past noon. I was near tears, convinced we didn’t have time to see anything there. Mr. Pickle reassured me we had plenty of time to look through the house and that I wouldn’t have to rush. It was such a thrill seeing the cottage, especially Jane’s writing table. You aren’t supposed to take pictures inside the house, but I blocked the security camera’s view while Mr. Pickle took a non-flash photograph. :-) I had been disappointed to find the original manuscript of <i>Persuasion</i> wasn’t on display when we visited the British Library, so I was excited to see it at Chawton! Besides the cottage and furnishings, garden, artwork, etc., several of the costumes from the new Anne Hathaway/James McAvoy film <i>Becoming Jane</i> were on display. They didn’t film the movie at Chawton, but it was still fun to see the outfits. Mr. Pickle eventually managed to drag me back to the car (it was after 1:00 and we did need to leave) for a blessedly quick, uneventful drive to Heathrow - aside from needing to drive around the block a couple of times to get into the gas station, and our difficulty finding the right lane to return the rental car, that is. At least we’d already accidentally figured out how to get to the highway from Chawton! We found National’s office, spent some time discussing whether we would be charged for a scrape on the bumper (no, as it turned out), and took the bus to the terminal. We checked in around 2:30, went to the TFL office to get our Oyster card refunds (we hadn’t done it in London because the Tube stations nearest us were closed for the bank holiday), and started the long walk to the gate. It was about 3:00 when we reached the gate, and they were already starting to board the plane. The return flight wasn’t very full, and we had room to spread out a bit. I enjoyed more yummy NZ wine and some lamb, finished watching <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> films, saw <i>Miss Potter (lovely scenery and performances but kind of a blah story)</i>, and started falling asleep minutes before we landed at LAX at 7:45 p.m. After spending the night with a friend due to there being no LAX-ABQ flights after about 8:30, we had a very uncrowded morning flight back home. I’m so glad we decided to visit England and Wales. There are several places where I’d love to spend more time, and, of course, many things we didn’t have time to see at all. I hope we can return in the future. Thanks again to janisj, flanneruk,audere_est_facere, julia_t, and so many others for your advice and suggestions! |
I am so pleased you enjoyed yourselves. It was lovely to meet the pair of you. It's just a shame that you had to ruin your holiday by inflicting Jane Bloody Austen on yourselves. Talk about footshootery!
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<i> De gustibus </i> and all that, old chap.
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i know - just teasing
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ElendilPickle: This has been one of the most enjoyable trip reports ever. So - when are you planning your next visit -- LOTS more Austen sites to see ;)
(I'm not generally a "hostel person" - but you've even managed to make hostels sound good :) ) |
Well done!
I figured a Tolkien fan with the audacity to add "pickle" to the hallowed name "Elendil" would have irreverence to spare -- not disappointed. |
Thanks for the dazzling trip report. Fodor's should give out some sort of annual Distinguished Trip Report award; you'd be in the running for sure.
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You all are so kind - I'm blushing!
So, Audere, how was your long weekend at the Jane Austen Centre? Lee Ann |
Good heavens, I forgot the Godzilla/Hernia Helper Update! So many of you wanted to know its fate...
One of Mr. Pickle's coworkers had a garage sale a couple of weeks after we got home, and we sold the thing for $7. I hope the poor suckers - er, nice people - get their money's worth out of it! Lee Ann |
Lee Ann,
Can't believe your report is over :( Loved seeing all your photos - Miss Austen would be quite honored by your trip! So glad you got to see Chawton despite navagational problems! Waiting to see your pictures on Stourhead - how far a drive was it from Bath or from London? I noticed a picture in the Peak District of a church in Monyash - our B&B was on Monyash road...is it the same Monyash? |
So excited about Stourhead, I forgot to add...
Did you just look around the grounds or the house also? How long did it take you in total? Are there places to eat on the estate? |
>>I noticed a picture in the Peak District of a church in Monyash - our B&B was on Monyash road...is it the same Monyash?<<
It must have been! :-) We drove through on our way back from Haddon Hall. I'm in the middle of posting Wales pictures right now, but I will get to Stourhead eventually, I promise. We didn't tour the house, just the grounds. Stourhead is about 45 minutes or so from Bath; we spent at least two hours there, but didn't see it all. There is a pub with a restaurant on the road between the gardens and the car park. Lee Ann |
So, Audere, how was your long weekend at the Jane Austen Centre?>>>>>>
Thankfully some nutters decided to blow up London so I had to work instead. Honestly, the quality of terrorist you get these days is woeful. Curly Larry and Moe would have done a beter job. |
Nyuk nyuk nyuk!
After I typed that question, I realized I made it sound like you were going into rehab. Lee Ann |
Lee Ann,
Thanks! I'm looking forward to your Stourhead photos with great anticipation! |
Anna, I'm heading out of town for a few days, so I won't finish the pictures until I return. I'm just posting some Shrewsbury photos now.
Lee Ann |
Lee Ann, I just finished reading your truly wonderful trip report all at one go. I missed it earlier because I was in the UK while you were posting. The day we stopped in Shrewsbury we found ourselves in the middle of a civil war reenactment. Anyway, your report brings back some great memories and provides inspiration for our next UK trip.
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