Today We Got Stoned

We are leaving London today for the port town of South Hampton, where we will board our cruise ship for the Baltic Sea.

Enroute, Mr. C has arranged a transport that will stop at Stonehenge.  I'm fascinated!

It's one of those mysteries, an anomaly, 

one that we can only guess at it's purpose or meaning.  

I guess that's why I'm fascinated.

I'm immediately struck by how remote this structure is.  It's stuck out in the middle of grasslands and farmlands, nothing around for miles & miles that might suggest where or how these massive stones came to be placed here.

It feels sacred.  

That might not be their intent, but to me they feel sacred.

They've done a nice job of allowing visitors without intruding on the space itself.  

You are required to park, whether by private transportation or tours, and then take a shuttle bus "To The Stones". 

Or you can stroll the path......which would have absolutely been our choice had we enough time.   It goes through the meadow, through the herd of cows (literally); and around and even over the "boroughs" (the green mound in the upper left); which they believe to be ancient burial grounds of some sort.  Which makes me wonder why they allow people to trod over the top.

  

 There's a visitor's center (of course); and nice restroom facilities (important, 'cause remember, we're out in the middle of nowhere.  Literally.)  

We see groups of school children here, come for the educational value of the mysterious ancients.

And some native visitors, too.

The audio tours tell you about the stones, about what kind and how big and how much (presumably) they might weigh,  and the fact that they're 4 or 5 thousand years old; constructed (they believe) between 3000 to 2000 BC........
everything but how come they're here.

Nobody really knows.

The circular path allows you to wander and gaze at this amazing building feat from all sides; and it's given a wide enough berth that you don't feel like you're taking photo's of the hundreds of people who are probably there along side you.

All-in-all, it's worth seeing.  It's not terribly time-consuming, 'cause it is what it is.  There's not a ton to learn, 'cause they are really just guessing (and they tell you so).  It's a mystery worth visiting.  And it's kind of nice to not always have all the answers.  Some things are worth valuing just for what they are.  Amazing.  That's my 2 cents.  Or pounds.  Or whatever.

It's Oh-So-Brittish

We've only been here in London just a few days ~ 

And yes, they are extremely polite.  Dinner service at a high-end restaurant is nearly 1-on-1 wait staff / per guest. The service is astonishing.  I was almost afraid to make eye contact, because to do so brought them right over to see what we needed ~ even though we needed nothing.  If you happen to drop your napkin, which I seem to do with great frequency, they bring you another.  And serve it to you with tongs, so as not to taint it by actually touching it.  And so on & so forth.

And yes, they say things like "Mind Your head" 

(duck for the low ceilings) and 

"Mind the gap" (between the train car and the platform).

And "Quite right".  And "But of course".  

And "I'll bring it round".   (You have to read these phrases with a British accent in your head to get the full affect).

I still haven't heard anyone say, "Cheerio", yet, though....

And yes, the Police Constables are called "Bobby's", 

and are dressed just like in the movies.  But for real. 

And no, you cannot, under any circumstances take your "pram" on the escalator.  Just like back home.  I could never take my pram on the escalator there, either.  

And yes, the little red phone booths exist, and they are everywhere.  But I have no idea if your cell phone works inside there or not :/

You don't take a "detour" here; you take a diversion.

I'm still not sure what this means.  Are you changing the course of your vehicle?  Changing the course of your life? Sounds serious.

And yes, there are chimney's everywhere ~ although I have yet to see a chimney sweep, I assume they exist.

An apartment or office here is not for rent, 

they are "to let".  

And yes, there are really 528 steps to the top of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

 Both ways.  I counted.  Both times.

And yes, they order porridge for breakfast.  And they serve beans (like our pork n' beans back home) for breakfast.  I haven't figured out why.  But I kind of like it.

And yes, they drive those cute little British cars.  

Feels like I'm in a movie.

And no, the Tower of London is not a tower.  It's a castle.  A "working castle".  Meaning, it's still used for things like storing the crowned jewels, (and thus) it's still manned by members of the Queen's guard.  

And yes, they love their little "cakes" and pastries, particularly for tea time.

And yes, there's a reason Mary Poppins came floating in on an umbrella.  We've yet to see the sun in 5 days.  That's tough on a Hawaiian girl like me.

And finally, God bless the Queen.  And Amazon Prime.  My camera failed me (long story, I won't bore you); I brought along a back-up camera, which also failed me.  Light meter is going out, I think.  My best pictures of Big Ben looked like this:

After a very frustrating day, I switched to my IPhone for pictures.  Better, but........not quite up to my standards. So I jumped online Wednesday night, ordered a new Sony Cybershot RX and by Friday afternoon I was back in business.  So God bless the Queen and Amazon Prime.

And Ben says to tell you all hello ~ 

Landing in London

Mr. C has done it again.

We landed in London today, after nearly 24 hours of travel;

It was a short ride from the airport 

to our lovely boutique hotel ~ The Egerton House.  

Just 28 rooms, each beautifully and uniquely appointed.  I feel like I'm staying in the guest room of a wonderful (and wealthy) friend, instead of just another (luxury) hotel.    

The roses are from my Mr. C.  He never fails to do this when we travel abroad. It's pretty special to feel this special.

We're in a beautiful old neighborhood, lots of brick and lots of green.  Lots of expensive cars -- we see Maserati's, Ferrari's, Bentley's; even a Rolls Royce.  We are amazed. 

Until Mr. C stops to look at real estate prices (as is always his habit when we travel) in this neighborhood ~ and we discover that a "flat" here sells for a mere 4.2 million ~ and for that you get an entire 1200 square feet ~ but no garage.  

Which means you have to park your Ferrari on the street. 

 No lie.

So it's no wonder that, in this neighborhood, our hotel is the kind of place that not only leaves chocolates on the pillow.....

But also leaves candle-lit chocolate covered strawberries....

And roses petals flung across the bed........................

And floating in the bathtub...................  

Heated towel bars.  Tea and crumpets waiting in the drawing room.  The drawing room with a library.  

My Mr. C ~  When it comes to romance, he's a Rock Star.

And somehow, he's scored a reservation for tonight at the #1 rated restaurant in London.  Out of 20,306 restaurants. 

That's  #1 out of twenty thousand + restaurants.

(I wanted to be sure you got that.)  

You have to make reservations weeks, if not months ahead. Yet somehow, while I'm napping off the rest of my overnight-flight sleeping pill, and a bit of my jetlag, he scores us a reservation at The Five Fields Restaurant.   For an hour from now.  I'm sure there's a blog story in there somewhere.

It's looking to be a lovely week in London.

Leaving for London

You know what I love about packing?   No, it's not trying to decide what you're going to need in a country you've never been to; no, it's not trying to anticipate what the weather's going to be (long sleeves or short?)  no, it's not trying to remember what goes with what in your closet; no, it it's not trying to guess if that favorite pair of pants or dress still fits :/ .   

My favorite part of packing is that I get to clean out my closet.  

Since it's my habit to try everything on before I haul it across the ocean to another continent, only to realize it's too tight or too short or I forgot that it was missing that (essential) button (yes, this is the voice of experience speaking); since I try it all on every time, and since every trip and every region of every country and is unique, I'm usually pulling from different regions of my closet.  So if it is, indeed, too tight or if it's too short if it shrunk 'cause Mr. C was helping out with the laundry and dried it on high, or if it's missing that (essential) button.........then it gets purged. As I'm packing my bag, I'm also packing a bag to donate to Goodwill or wherever.  It's two birds, just the one stone.  

This trip is exciting to me, though.  It's a first.  Because we have just two or three destinations, instead of 10 or 12 or 13, I get to take, not just one, but two entire suitcases this time!   We'll spend a week in London (stop #1); and then head straight to the cruise ship (stop #2); with one quick overnight on the way back to London (last stop #3).  

It's all about how many times you have to schlep that bag. So it's the first time I've not had to pack with "packing light" as the top priority.  I'm taking one entire bag with cocktail dresses for the cruise ship ~ what a treat!  Particularly after the last trip (Ecuador & Peru) where the bug spray for the jungle and sunscreen for the Galapagos and the sea sick pills and the malaria pills for the jungle and the altitude sickness pills for Machu Picchu took up nearly half of my one bag!

So here we go ~ can you believe it ~ this one small carry on bag contains 18 cocktail dresses (didn't know I'd collected so many over the past few years) (and good thing I've stayed the same size for so many years); complete with jewelry for each dress (same thing here ~ it seems I don't ever throw this stuff out) and 5 pairs of high heels and 3 small dinner purses.  Wow.  I should really teach a class on packing for a trip, don't you think???

Or maybe I should just write a blog...........

The Rock

It's the Rock of Gibraltar! 

For those of you who gave a "guess" as to where our next passport stamp was going to be on a day trip from Spain ~ congratulations!  It was the British territory of Gibraltar. 


If you're like me, I didn't do that well in history class.  All those sterile facts and meaningless dates just didn't stick.

But, as I heard a Trip Advisor reviewer say recently, "I travel because.....experience is the best education".   I agree!   First-hand information is such a different experience than trying to memorize facts.

So I was surprised to learn, in our preparation for our trip to Spain, that this land mass, while on the Spanish map, is actually British territory.  (Just look at a map, it's really weird!)

Which involves such details as:  We can't drive our rental car across the "border", because our rental agreement says we won't take the car out of the country.  And technically, Gibraltarar is a different country.  So we have to park on the Spanish side and walk across to the British side.  Really???

We have to go through a customs gate.  I actually get a new stamp in my passport.  (These are like little trophy's for me, I won't lie).

And the currency is now Pounds instead of Euro.  Man, I'm still hauling around US dollars, I'm two countries behind.

So here it is.  The actual "Rock of Gibraltar".  There's some important military history here, because of the strategic location to the Mediterranean Sea.  More on that later, though.

And this is my personal Rock of Gibraltar.   And there's some good history here, too.  



There's some fun to be had up-top, wild monkeys & caves & what-not ~ I'll be sharing that later.

 

But for now, thanks for traveling with us!