Europe Here We Come Part 7

Oh to be in England now that spring is here!

My heart is giddy with excitement as we hit the road on our England trip.

First of all we are touring around the countryside in a brand new (only 18 kilometres when Mario turned the key) luxury van:  a most comfortable ride.

We didn’t get out of London until 1:30 in the afternoon.

Our first stop. Dover, about two hours south east of London. Took a bit to find the entrance to the cliff tops but once there, the view was spectacular. Directly below us we could see the ferries that carry passengers across the channel to the coast of France, which amazingly was visible on this very clear day.

As for the White Cliffs, we saw only a portion of the miles of pathway available to hikers as we arrived quite late in the afternoon and still had a good many miles to go before we reached our destination for the night. Wish there had been more time as I was itching to explore the cliffs more closely.

John enjoyed watching the ships come and go from the port and was much impressed as each ship was piloted inside the tiny harbour and then backed into their assigned bay by what must be some pretty skilled crews.

Rye was what we like to call a “drive by fruiting”, a quote from the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. What we saw of it was not that impressive so we just continued on to our hotel.  There may have been a more interesting part of Rye, but we were not about to drive back the next day to find out.

I admit that after the Paris hotel fiasco I was a little concerned about what we might find at this hotel.  I need not have worried as this place was the quintessential quaint old English Inn with plenty of class and style.  It is called, The New Inn and I believe the brochure said that it had been built somewhere around 1776. It has been lovingly restored by its new owners and we were much impressed. I was in love with its charm.

The town is a gem of a place called Winchelsea. John was quoted as saying it was, “a delightful little village”. It was originally built as one of five ports by Edward I. It also happens to be the smallest village in Great Britain to have a mayor.  It still maintains its charm and at certain times of the year the homes host an open house where they show off their cellars. Honestly! John and I viewed one as we strolled by and it was quite amazing, looked like an ancient ruin.  I didn’t take a picture as I thought it might be an invasion of privacy, but can testify to the fact that they are most interesting and apparently attract a lot of tourist when they are open for viewing.

We ate dinner at the Inn and slept like bugs in a rug.  This morning we had a lovely English breakfast, included in the reasonable price of 66 pounds per night, (pretty good for Britain). The only downside to the place was no elevators, typical of Europe of course and a very small staircase for maneuvering bags and such although you will get help if you need it.

Mario has been an excellent driver and Sabine an excellent navigator, but I have to say that John and I have been excellent passengers as well, aptly impressed with their expertise.

Our next destination, Bradford on Avon, not to be confused with Stratford on Avon which is older.  Bradford while built on the Avon River, it is more Georgian Style with very tiny winding streets. Roads are so narrow that most houses have hedges to stop the cars from possibly crashing through their living room windows. There are no sidewalks, or footpaths, as they call them here which makes walking the countryside difficult.  Footpaths in the town are so small that two cannot walk abreast.  I was afraid that either John or I might lose our balance and fall onto the road.

The Bridge Tea Rooms, (plural because they have two rooms), is a 300 year old, you guessed it, tea room. The building was once a blacksmith’s cottage and is an example of a wonderful old Georgian building with walls that bow out into the street and a small door with a warning to duck as you enter. The interior is Victorian and even the waitresses wear Victorian costumes. Every kind of tea is served up in lovely china cups. John and I ordered a cream tea, (scones with clotted cream and strawberry and blueberry jams and of course, tea). Scrumptious!

Our home for the next three nights is called the Granby House and it is a very grand Georgian style mansion. The décor is eclectic and stunning, with pieces from the Georgian period as well as Edwardian. The walls are filled with original artwork ranging from traditional to modern. Many of the pieces were painted by the daughter of the owner Maddie Cooper.  Maddie is a retired actress and she is a very warm and gracious hostess.

The grounds are amazing and I have taken many pictures.  There are two ponds at the front of the property, surrounded by lovely lazy trees and colourful bushes. An in-ground pool sits at the side of the home, which is not open as yet. Wisteria drapes itself gracefully over a canopy formed with natural grapevine and makes a lovely peaceful walkway. There are also many wild and cultivated flowers, enormous trees that must be hundreds of years old and a wonderful cement pond at the back of the house filled with gold fish. We have since learned that the grounds are cultivated by Maddie’s husband, who also cook’s our lovely English breakfast each morning.

Tomorrow we move on to Cornwall. Future posts will include today and yesterdays trips to Bath and Salisbury.

Beautiful Grandby House

Charming entrance to Grandby House

Common area of the house where you are served tea and cake when you arrive.

The tea rooms in Bradford on Avon

The White Cliffs of Dovefr

Lovely centuries old Inn.

Europe Here We Come – Part 5

Day three and getting braver.

Really Paris is quite spectacular, the architecture is stupendous.  Today, courtesy of King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, a visit to Chateau de Versailles, via the metro and without our mommy’s.  Tickets are purchased in the town and for a few extra Euros we got priority, (there is that word again) and got in ahead of crowds and crowds and crowds, definitely worth the extra. This is where it all gets tricky. You are given a time and instructed to rendezvous at a certain gate where you will then await a guide who will appear holding a large silk Sunflower at said time. You are warned not to be late.  She or he will take your tickets and get you into the palace, kit you out with your audio tour device and then leave you on your own. The tricky part– they explain where you are supposed to do the rendezvousing and even give you a picture, however the photo is not of your actual rendezvous spot and the original directions are rather complicated. I personally can only follow the first few instructions of anything as after that it is all just blah, blah, blah. Asking once you are in the palace grounds does not help as none of the persons guarding the entrances seem to know anything about any pre-arranged tours, causing you to think that perhaps you have been a victim of a scam once again.  However, they say there is safety in numbers, so a group of us holding the same tickets with varying times hung around with others that wondered if they too were in the right spot and low and behold, not quite at the designated time, a young lady appeared holding a sunflower. Sigh of relief!

What a marvelous place! The hall of mirrors is wonderful, although the mirrors and the chandeliers were overdue for a bit of a shine up.  I took pictures, but our camera was pooched and I had to use my little, simple, not quite up to the techie minute, phone which did not do anything justice. Our audio tour leaned more to the theatrical rather than the sharing of good historical facts and we found ourselves wanting more.   Will have to do some research on-line.

The gardens were fabulous and went on for as far as the eye could see.  It was unfortunate that the fountains were not going at this time of year (beginning of May), as I am certain they would have added much to the beauty.

After our wonderful tour of Versailles, John and I partook of a few libations.  I’m not used to drinking, in the afternoon.  Anyway, between the beer for John and the wine for myself we both had to have a nap when we finally got back to our room, which by the way was looking a bit better by this time. However, the nap was proving difficult as our room overlooks a courtyard and the sound carried easily. A woman across the way was talking on her cell phone and was so loud she made it impossible for anyone to have a snooze.  In my alcoholic state my French suddenly became very good and I hollered out the window, “Fermé la bouche Madam, s’il vous plait!” With that she said her goodbyes in a much lower voice and got the hell off the phone.  My grade school French had served me well.

Definitely the highlight of our Paris excursion was The Louvre. I cannot say enough about how spectacular it is.  We were able to purchase priority tickets for this while we were in Versailles, “yeah”!

Once inside it seemed we had to walk for ages just to get to an exhibit and the walk was proving difficult for John from the get go as he decided to take just his cane, as it is difficult to fit anywhere in Paris with a walker.  I had a stroke of genius and decided to go back to the information desk and see if I could rent a wheelchair, Turns out they had several and at no cost as well. Just leave your driver’s licence with the information desk, which is given back to you upon its return. What a deal!  Took me awhile to get it and find my way back to my honey, but it was to great advantage as I am sure our tour would have been severely challenged without it.

What a collection of antiquities it houses!  The Louvre was the palace that sheltered French royalty until Louis XlV decided he wanted something grander and changed the royal digs to a country retreat known as Chateau de Versailles.  It is huge and its finishes of frescoes, cornice moldings, carved doors and marble floors were at times, grander than those at Versailles, in this girl’s opinion anyway.

As seniors we are easily confused when it comes to following directions, but in fairness to our advancing age directions at the Louvre are not that clear. Trying to find a particular exhibit was almost impossible.  Directions from none English speaking guides to none French speaking tourists were shaky at best. After some frustration we eventually just allowed ourselves to explore and be pleasantly surprised, ultimately enjoying our tour that much more. In any event it really doesn’t matter what exhibit you end up seeing as they are all spectacular.

After about four and a half hours, with tired muscles and barking dogs we realized that we had not as yet seen the star attraction.  Could not leave without doing so, even though it meant retracing all of our steps. She was well hidden and we had to ask directions several times, but eventually there she was, Mona Lisa. Problem was, the room in which she hung was extremely crowded, everyone wanting to behold her adorable face.  Problem solved with what else, “Prioritee” the voice of another helpful French woman who took us straight to the front where those in wheelchairs (and their drivers) are granted the best look see. John and I were surprised to see that she was a reasonable size having heard for years that she was quite small.

That was it, we were done and wearing our perfectly satisfied Mona Lisa smiles we had a fine dinner and returned home to pack, a perfect end to our Paris stay.