Trips

England & France – July, 2001

I had a set of meetings concerning our latest program (SECCHI/STEREO) to go to in England beginning on Tuesday 11 July. We decided to not add on a bunch of days to do a "real" vacation but to at least leave on Wednesday July 4 rather than on the following Sunday. This would then give us some time to play before the meetings and of course Dawn could play while I was at meetings in the various cities.

Wednesday - 1: We participated in the annual July 4th neighborhood get together and then went to the airport at about 4 PM (Fridel taking us). Little traffic since it was the 4th and also not very active at the airport. So easy going and smooth checkin and boarding. The plane was relatively full, however, so we didn't get to spread out beyond our two (aisle and window) seat arrangement. The extra legroom United provides Premiere members helps a bit, however. Also, since it is a 10-hour flight it gives one a reasonable shot at some rest or maybe even sleep. I did better than Dawna and neither of us did real well. One neat aspect of the flight (for me) was the display which shows where the plane is on a sequence of maps, which I always enjoy, also showed the daylight/darkness line (like those neat clocks do) and the light to dark line which almost went through SFO and showed how it would not get dark at all in the arctic, nearly exactly matched our flight path which was relatively polar. OK, if you don't visualize it, you can say I get my kicks in strange ways; but it doesn't hurt and if it keeps me busy on a plane flight - fine. Of course it also meant we only had a couple of hours of darkness that night.

Thursday - 1: Arrived London/Heathrow at about 2 PM local time. Got the rental car a bit slowly but not too bad. It was with National and unbelievable cheap - even well below US cheap rentals let alone what one usually pays in Europe. Also got a bunch of English money from an ATM machine on the first try (for a change). Drove westward deciding where'd we generally get that evening based on how we felt (rather tired) and the amount of time left. Ended up at a B&B in the Cotswolds just outside of a popular tourist town named Bourton-on-the-Water. We had picked up a book on short walks in Britain at the library and copied potential spots of interest, this being one of them. Walked the picturesque village a bit (River Windrush passes beneath a series of low bridges in the center of the village) and then had a fine beer and OK fish and chips at a pub. It was over 90 F when we landed, by the way so everyone was talking of the nice but too hot week they had been having. Went to bed early but unfortunately Dawna had a bad night – headache and noisy (windows open for the air but then lots of highway traffic noise).

Friday - 1: Breakfast in a nice porch-like room (full English so ham and eggs and sausage and mushrooms and tomato and toast). Drove a few miles to a couple of highly rated tiny Cotswald villages - Upper and Lower Slaughter - and walked around them. Very nice, great stone houses (and fences and streets), a mill, etc. Even took short walks down a couple of public foot paths into the country side (there were signs on them saying it was OK to use them in spite of the hoof and mouth disease problem but to not touch any of the animals). We then drove westward, towards Wales, the next objective being the National Birds of Prey Center. Drizzle and even some rain, unfortunately. Got there and it is a fine place with many birds in nice/large "cages" with good descriptions. Spent a far while, had some lunch, watched a flying performance which was hindered by the drizzle but still quite good, and eventually left and headed north; with Shrewsbury and Ironbridge Gorge the targets. The Ironbridge area is considered the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and as such is a World Heritage Site; and we thought it would be neat to see it. Since we didn’t know much about it we tried to stop by and get some information before heading into Shrewsbury for the evening; but by the time we got there it was too late. It is an extensive area, and we wandered/stumbled into the portion where the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron is. The museum was closed but the area was open for walking around and the pavilion which houses the original iron smelting furnace was open for some reason or other; so we walked in, looked it over, read the signs and left - all alone. Went on into Shrewsbury, a town known for its half-timbered architecture and medieval streets on the River Severn. Parked the car and hunted on foot for a place to sleep in the old part of town. The first place (from the Book) was no longer a B&B. The second was, but we thought we could do better, and the third was better and we took it. Got some detailed instructions as to how to get there by car what with all the one-way streets and streets that are only for pedestrian; got the car and made it back. Unloaded our bags and then the lady of the B&B went with Dawna to direct her to a car park where we could ditch the car. Had dinner in the pub next door – liver and onions with the liver being nice and thick for me, and I forget what D had. Then we walked the town as it turned dark. Sure is nice to have those long July days in the north country.

Saturday – 1: Breakfast, more walking of the town this time with a walking tour described in the Book in hand. Quite nice, and even spent a bit of time in a churchyard where they were having a flea market; Dawna making some good buys of course. The church was right across from our B&B and the B&B lady was making pastries to sell there so it all felt rather homey. Eventually got the car and headed over to the Ironbridge area (like 20 miles away). Did the main museum there, walked the nice village, checked out the bridge that was built in 1779 and a marvelous achievement as well as a publicity stunt for this iron producing area. It was even a bit sunny out. Oh, yes, there was a Red Cross store there that provided an item or two to Dawna’s growing pack. Besides the museum and the bridge we did the Tar Tunnel which was also rather fascinating. By the way, we didn’t do the China Museum or the Tile Museum or the Victorian Town or a few other items; so as you can tell there are quite a few things in the surrounding area. Instead we headed north and a bit east with the Peaks District as a general target. Dawna selected some great back roads to get there and after we got in the middle of the district we stopped for a few minutes to choose where we'd try to spend the night. The choice was Tideswell because it was near where we wanted to do things the next day and the Book said a particular B&B served great food.

Arrived in town in the rain, parked near a very large church (called The Cathedral of the Peaks) and noted that they were having a performance at the church that night. I stayed with the car, since we were double parked, and Dawna walked a block to the B&B. Came back in 15 minutes with a room reserved but bad news in that the B&B had changed owners within the last year and no longer served meals. The folks who own/run the B&B were eating in the dinning room and after we discussed options of going to the one hotel in town to eat but wanting to get to the concert by 8 PM we all agreed that the best thing to do was to get some fish & chips from across the street, a bottle of wine from a near-by store, and also eat in the dinning room. They even got out plates and wineglasses for us, and that's what we did. In fact they were going to the concert too and were a bit worried about being able to get tickets at the last minute so one of them went over and got us all tickets ahead of time.

The concert was the annual Patron's Night performance by the Tideswell Male Voice Choir and everyone in the village was there. A great musical director, splendid piano player, OK big vocal group, good soprano soloist, and generally a small town, fun outing. As we came into the church we were greeted and in response to questions said we were from California and then were (a) given good seats and (b) received a number of comments from the announcers throughout the evening - celebrities at last! A poor night's sleep for Dawna, however, whose stomach was upset from all the fried foods we’d been eating .

Sunday - 1: Continental breakfast instead of full British, and a nice change actually, and then drove a few miles north to the village of Castleton Rain and overcast unfortunately, but the first activity was to see a cave it didn't matter for that and we hoped it might clear up later. Did the Treak Cliff cavern. We were there when it opened at 9:30, like who else goes out early on a Sunday morning in the drizzle, so got a private tour. Quite different, interesting, and pretty. When we came out an hour later there were groups of school kids going on tours so we felt extra good about having had our private one. The weather was even more socked in than before but hey, when you are in a spot famous for walks you do a walk; and we did, following the directions we had copied from the "walks" book. . The jackets we had bought for New Zealand protected us pretty well; it was more drizzle than rain but with very strong winds. Got a bit muddy, got a slight bit off the trail once, and had a fine time considering. Great landscape and peaks and crags and we only wished the weather had been reasonable so that we could have had nice views.

After finishing our fun but rather wet walk in the hills we went to a local pub and had a "well deserved" pint and lunch. Basically lamb and pork sandwiches although they sounded more exotic. OK however, and very good beer. We then checked out a few of the stores selling jewelry made from the local Blue John stone that we had seen in the rough in the cavern where it used to be mined, but Dawna didn't find it very interesting. We also walked up a great valley to a different cave, but didn't go in. This village was full of walkers and there were a lot of them out in spite of the bad weather; each with a map in a plastic container hanging from a strap over their shoulder. Rather British I'd say.

We then had to decide where to head next, taking the weather into consideration. Although common sense indicated we perhaps should head for Durham where there is a famous Normal Cathedral and other interesting in-doors activities, since it was raining out, we decided to race up the motorway to the top of the Lakes District and then drive down through it on Monday no matter what the weather was like. Some of the motivations were that we'd never been to the Lakes District before and it is famous, plus there was a pub there that Sally, a friend of Sabina's (and ours) had recommended as being neat/romantic and out in the country. So we drove north for 2-3 hours, first in heavy rain and low overcast so nothing much to see but later with high overcast so we could enjoy the green hills.

Found the pub (Mill Inn in Mungrisdale, which is next to Keswick), which truly was just in the countryside and decided to stay there. No reservations, and Sally had said it would be hard to get into places, but they had a room. Relaxed with a drink in the pub lounge and said "yes" we'd have dinner in their dining room. Cleaned up a bit and went to dinner. By now the pub and dinning room were relatively crowded/active wherein when we first go there the place was basically empty. PLEASANT SURPRISE - the meal was outstanding. We had questions about some of the items on the menu, the chef came out and answered them, and then the meal was excellent. Dawna had a game pie which consisted of venison and pheasant within a crust while I had a baked lamb special which was very well seasoned and had a nice sauce. We even split a desert, had coffee, etc. Great; and Sally had not told us about the food. Turned out by talking with the chef he's only been there a half-year or so, so it's more like we need to tell Sally. Absolutely quiet, fine night's sleep, and awoke to it being dry outside, albeit overcast.

Monday - 1: Gosh, the parking lot was empty except for our car; we had been the only guests. We had a full English breakfast (by the same chef) in an eating area all to ourselves; and then hit the road. First stop was a historic ring of large stones. Could only look at it over a fence unfortunately because of the hoof & mouth disease situation. Neat, anyway but would have been neater to have walked around the ring. We then drove into Keswick, which was only a few miles away. Although the book said how overrun this town is with tourists, it was OK this early in the morning on a dreary Monday in the middle of hoof and mouth country/time. Spent some time (& money) in a leather shop and some time at the Tourist Information Center where we picked up information on the area, hikes that were and were not open, and suggestions on what we might enjoy. About 80% of the walks were still closed due to h&m, but they had a map showing what is open. We headed out for one of the walks, found it, and did it. Not real long but up high enough to get a great view of Lake Derwent. The hillside was covered with ferns and sticking through the ferns were foxglove plants. Colorful, nice views, and weather improving. At the entrance to the walk you step into a solution of disinfectant and do likewise when leaving. All to stop the spread of h&m. Likewise, you frequently drive over panels of disinfectant for the same reason. Quite a pain for the locals to do all this but they are trying to minimize the already heavy negative effect on the tourist trade. We then slowly drove southward on a variety of roads, stopping in a couple of neat villages (including Grasmere and Coniston) along the way. In one we had a beer at an outside table which was now in sunshine, while looking at rather rugged "mountains" next to the village; in another it was an ice cream cone while strolling around; outside of another, a walk in the hills.

Some of the roads were quite narrow and although very picturesque it also meant being careful to not scrape the side of the car on stone walls. As in so many other places, we saw stone fences after stone fences and stone built houses of all manner; some even black. In one village they have a local green slate that was used on floors. Fun. Eventually we took a car ferry across the largest lake (but long and narrow so the trip was quite short) in the district (Lake Windemermera). Then it was time to get back onto the motorway and drive three hours or so to Birmingham - the vacation part of the outing about to end for me. Got to Bham about 8 PM, checked into the hotel, had a bit to eat/drink in the room, and hit the hey.

Tuesday - 1: Larry and I took the car to Birmingham University for our meetings and Dawna used public transportation and her feet to bum around the city. We had a devil of a time finding the university (our fault) and the meeting room (their fault) but eventually did and had an OK meeting. Dawna hit the extensive Jewelry District part of town but didn't buy anything - she did get a couple of repair jobs done; and then explored some areas by bus (& foot). That night, we three went to dinner at an OK French restaurant near the hotel. After dinner we did a lot of walking both to see the city and to find an internet cafe/place. Eventually did the latter and it was expensive and not a cafe; quite inferior to India and Turkey.

Wednesday - 2: More meetings at U of Bham; while Dawna bummed around and then came out there to meet us. When we got to the car in the parking lot there was a significant dent/damage in the rear. Damn. But there was also a note on the window from a University Security person saying a car had rolled into us because its brake hadn’t been set and giving us the car's license number. Hit the road, came upon a spot where a policeman made everyone get off the main road but then no one told you how to get back on track; but we found our way out of town reasonably well and headed down to Abingdon. Got there about 7 PM, met up with another chap (J-P) from the lab, went to a pub for a pint, and then to an Indian restaurant for an OK but not great dinner. Reasonable weather and I have always liked Abingdon where we spent time 25 years ago getting ready for the SMM mission - its a village on the Thames so lots of canal (and other) boats and scenic elements.

Thursday - 2: I had meetings and Dawna bummed around, seeing the town, etc. Better weather too although still quite variable. The meetings were at the same place we were sleeping so she could have used the car but there was no reason to, so it sat. That night was a dinner for the meeting participants in the same facility. Nice sherry party pre dinner, a nothing special (actually poor) dinner, but endless wine so some of us stayed up quite awhile, drank quite a bit, and had a good social time.

Friday - 2: Meetings for me, while Dawna took the car and went sight seeing. Primary target for her was all the pre-historic stuff around Avebury, which she loved. I remember it being excellent 25 years ago as well. Great stone circle, old hill forts, neat village, etc. Then we drove into London. Heavy traffic as we got near the city but not terrible and with only one mistake we found our hotel; Larry doing a good job of navigating and myself driving. Checked in, found a spot to put the car for the evening, had a glass or two of wine in the room (we four with Jim now having joined us and J-P having gone on to Switzerland where he's from), and dinner at a Thai restaurant. Pretty good. The hotel (named only Number Sixteen) is a rather gracious place that used to be a fine residence and the whole area around it is like that - upscale and nice. Our room was quite appealing, breakfast was in a nice garden or indoor lounge, service was high, etc. Not cheap but typical for a city like London or NYC or SFO either.

Saturday - 2: Had breakfast as soon as possible (7 AM) and then drove to an inner city car return spot. Pouring rain and my navigation wasn't perfect but we go there. Checking the car in went quite smoothly especially when you consider that we had the damage situation to deal with. It sounded like they give it to their insurance people who hand it off to our Gold Card people who either just pay it or chase down the fellow who was responsible. In any case we'll probably never hear about it again. We were early enough that rather than take the underground we walked to my meeting in order to see things along the way; Dawna accompanying me just for the heck of it. About a 45-minute walk and it felt good, and mainly drizzle rather than rain by now. My meeting was quite close to the British Museum so Dawna went back to it and spent all of her free time there. She did some checking out of Greek stuff (in preparation for the trip coming up in October) but got really hooked with the amazing amount of Egyptian stuff they have there. Eventually she left to go meet Mary Culhane down near the Thames - walking there as she had the time and the weather was reasonable. Larry, Jim, and I spent the morning (till about 1:30 PM) at the meeting.

Len Culhane and I then used the subway to go meet the ladies - successfully. Chatted a bit, walked over to the huge Ferris wheel, called the Millenium Wheel and/or London Eye and considered going on it but didn't know how long it would take to get on (the queues made it seem like and hour or two but it was hard to guess) so decided not to give it a go. Mary wouldn't have gone anyway due to the align=right height - the highest such wheel in the world. Would be fun to do some day, however, especially if things were clear so one could see for a very long way. Instead, we selected a boat ride on the Thames up to Greenwich for our tourist activity. Waited in line quite awhile, then our boat showed up but had mechanical problems. We were close enough to the front of the line we got moved to a competitor's boat that was about to leave, but this also meant we got poor seating on it. OK, however, for one could walk around and look at the shore, etc, just not sit. Fine 45-minute trip. At Greenwich we stayed on the boat and switched to outside seats next to the railing so had great and relaxing views on the way back. Even some sunshine; and of course lots of good chatting with the Culhanes. A short underground ride back along the Thames to the tower bridge area, walk past the castle/fort and over the bridge and then dinner at a place where they had made reservations. French, expensive, weird (put-on) service, but excellent food and great location - an outdoor table with heater above us, view of the tower bridge, river, people walking by, etc. Lots of chatting, nice wine, good evening. Even got to see the drawbridge go up (and down) once for a passing boat. Culhanes caught a cab to their train station, we did a bit more walking, and then took the underground "home."

Sunday - 2: Breakfast, pack, and an hour or so walk around the quite nice neighborhood with it now being blue skies and sunshine. Then off to take the train to Paris, via the chunnel of course. Another experience in the making. Reasonable but not super nice train, probably fancier in first class of course. As one might expect about all you can really say about the chunnel is one is under water for 20 minutes or so and surfaces in France. At that point the train changes from modest speeds to real fast. No way of telling if you hit the claimed 180-mph, but you can sure tell you are flying compared to in the UK. Like, when running parallel to a motorway you race by cars (who are probably going 80 mph) as if they were barely moving. The train was pretty smooth in each country actually and I typed much of this trip letter while on it. The train, by the way, wasn't crowded so we spread out into other seats than our four; in general seating is as cramped as couch-class on a plane so it was nice to have the extra room. Arrived at a train station in central Paris, got tickets for the commuter train to our village, caught the train and were off again; having not surfaced in Paris. The train didn't go all the way to Gif (our village) but stopped a half dozen or so spots earlier, but it was easy to get off and catch one that went the rest of the way. All in all it probably took an hour or more from Paris to Gif. We then walked the short distance to our hotel. No sweat other than the street and sidewalks were like cobblestone so it was rough on the wheels of Dawna's suitcase. The hotel was basic but adequate (& cheap & relatively convenient to the lab; the most convenient one having been fully booked). Checked in, cleaned up a bit, and went to dinner. The choices were very limited since the village is small, we didn't have a car, and it was Sunday night, so we ended up at a place that said Tex Mex of all things, but besides that sort of food it had French food and we did fine. Not great but not bad either.

Monday - 2: By now J-P had shown up with a car and we four went to the lab to "work" while Dawna headed off to play. Her thrust was to investigate the feasibility of going to Giverny, the town on the Seine where Monet did much of his paintings and thus see the gardens he painted and a museum on his work, etc. Turned out it is 70 km NE of Paris and with us being an hour (by train) south of Paris it wasn't going to be worth her effort. Just finding this out took up quite a lot of her day, however, what with the language barrier and general lack of knowing what was going on where in terms of information gathering. Our little village didn't have a tourist information center and the one back in Paris had lots of folks seeking information. Plus it was raining. Not a very exciting day for her but educational at some level - like actually finding out she was a bit nervous about getting lost "without Jake" and things like that - which ticked her off a bit! Meanwhile my day at the lab went fine.

That night we went to dinner with 5 or so folks from the lab and a couple of spouses. Their choice of spots was limited because it was Monday but they still came up with a very nice old French dining room with fine food. It was a fixed/single price meal and we had ordered our items earlier when one of the chaps made the reservations (which meant I ordered for Dawna). For us, that meant appetizers were a goat cheese thing and a chicken liver thing (both very good), the mains were chicken and pepper steak with the latter being the best but both being fine, and we had some excellent deserts; but first salads and cheeses. Plus, of course, plenty of wine. Very reasonably priced by the way. And very social even if there was this language "difficulty" with some of the folks. By the time we finished our coffee it was quite late by our dinner standards and home to bed we went.

Tuesday - 2: We guys spent the day at the lab. Dawn went back to the village where we had had dinner and bummed around as it was a very pretty (and upscale) place with fine houses and shops. Lots of rain, however, so she came back relatively early and did some packing. That night we went with one of our French colleagues to a restaurant of his choosing - again an old French restaurant which was absolutely excellent. Again a "one price" situation wherein you had a choice of about 5 items for appetizers, 5 for the main course, and 5 for desert; plus 1/2 bottle of wine per person (of both colors). Dawna had a lobster item, followed by duck (in a nice sauce of course) and then cream caramel; while I did mussel soup, pike/fish in a sauce, and lemon tart. Before we even started on the appetizers we had a nice pre-appetizer and before desert there was cheese. After desert there were some more/extra deserts, and coffee. Quite a spread, good tastes, nice (and relaxed/slow) service (>2 hours), fine conversation. All in all an excellent time/meal and again surprisingly inexpensive. To bed by 11 PM or so.

Wednesday - 3: Up modestly earlier, some breakfast and then to the airport way on the north side of the city - by train. No sweat and we go there in plenty of time. Checkin was quite inefficient, however. Things also became complicated because our plane was over weight so they were making offers for people to get off and take alternatives (and receive compensation) – D and I were a bit tempted but we said no and stayed with the group. All of this, combined with the now heavy rain and overcast, meant we were nearly 1.5 hours late leaving the ground, which was frustrating, but we did leave and with a not very full plane since the overweight problem was cargo and the transferring of various people to counteract it added to the empty space. Thus, Dawna was able to move to the row right behind me and we both had window seats with no one next to us. Alas, the views were poor due to the wing. Arrived SFO about 45 minutes late and sailed through customs. Since there were 5 of us we had rented a car and soon we were home. Read mail, unpacked, mowed the lawn, did some washing, discovered Tivo was broken, had pizza, and slept.

Summary - We had a fine time with the highlights being seeing some new parts of England and perhaps the couple of fine meals in France. Didn't really take enough time to have a real vacation but running around and spending time in different places was fun; plus I got some "work" done. They claim, especially in France, that this much rain and especially this cool/cold of weather is unheard of for mid July. Twas too bad but a real hot spell might have even been worse. We now have about 10 days to "normalize" before going East to do things at GSFC, plus a weekend of playing with the Kingsburys in Pennsylvania.

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