There and Back Again!

Apologies for the delay in posting! We made it back home after a long, uneventful travel day, but we've been busy since our return! Running to the laundromat (our washer/dryer crapped out right before we left), grocery store, farmer's market, Sears to buy another washer/dryer unit, and also had to make it to the State Fair, catching up with friends for a BBQ and celebrating my niece's 13th birthday with pizza and ice cream cake, getting back to work, oh, and I had surgery, too! I'm hoping to get loads of photos uploaded, but I have to say, it is arduous work because it takes so long. I'm exhausted and recuperating, so maybe sitting here uploaded pix isn't such a bad way to spend the morning. There is a pointed sense after seeing the broad, wide world and all its endless potential of returning home and having one's expansiveness shoved back into a small, limited box. As much of a hobbit as I am, and I most definitely enjoy the comforts and security of home, I still find it hard to climb back into that box of comforts after the life-shaping that travel brings the soul. We'll soon be planning our next adventures!

"So, what do you suppose is going on here?" was John's hilariously dry comment about this picture, which sent me into utter hysterics.

 On the plane to England!

 Back on the London Underground!

 Our feet in the North Sea!

Cromer!

 York Minster

Stamford Bridge!

 

A stroll around York

 The Wall

 View from The Wall

 

York Soapbox Derby races!

 

In London! Here's the Crescent Hotel where we stayed for our honeymoon 18 years ago!

Our hotel this time around, the Jesmond Dene

 The entrance point to where Thor kicked Malekith's ass!

 The Chapel

 This view was worth the arduous climb!

 The River Walk on the way to The Globe!

Before The Scottish Play begins!

 A panoramic of the interior!

 After the show!

 Enjoying the lovely evening air post-theatre :)

 Avebury!

 Getting up close & personal with the stones

 The ancient trees with offerings tied in their branches

 More stones with grazing sheep everywhere

 I liked this because it reminded me of The Prancing Pony in Lord of the Rings :)

 At Paddington Station!

 A trip down memory lane, the Norfolk Plaza hotel where we stayed in 1995!

 Our last English dinner at The Queen's Head

 King's Cross station!

 

On the way home via Iceland!

Avebury

Our final day in London was reserved for Avebury. A counterpart to Stonehenge, this smaller henge of standing stones is much less touristy, and the stones stand in lands that are quintessentially English countryside. It was a kind of pilgrimage for me, so to be able to touch these massive, ancient stones on these lands was very important to me. It was difficult to get too relaxed as there were tourists, and many families picniking with their children next to certain stones, and because we were on a tight schedule, but we were able to hike almost the entire circle. There were loads of sheep grazing all over the place and I got very close to some of them for some cute photos (which we will load later at home.)  

There was a special grove of trees at one end of the circle that was obviously both ancient and still venerated by locals. The roots of the trees were a massive, thick tangle of growth and seemed to join each tree to the next. There were prayer ribbons and offerings tied to its branches, so many that the ribbons and strands of beads, velvet bags and bits of long grasses tied in bunches all looked like a rainbow of leaves. I left my own offering to the tree, and we kept on the sheep-pooped path. I wish I would have had more time to linger there, especially, as it was as heavenly a spot I've seen. I was a bit agitated all day, being on such a tight schedule does not allow for relaxation and we had just an hour and a half to eat and then hike the whole thing. I will have to figure out when to come back to this place, allowing more time for a proper visit. John and I discussed later how we might try to learn how to manage our differing traveling needs and styles. For the health of his body and mind, he needs continual movement. For me, I need slow, unstructured time in which to allow experience to flow through me. I enjoy walking and hiking, but I loathe to be hurried. John loves to get caught up in the hustle. I prefer the smaller cities, meandering towns, expansive natural areas and parks, purposeful and leisurely meal breaks, time for daydreaming. He thrives when pouring over maps, exploring the tube system to new and interesting places with tons of people all busily going about their days, finding the next cool site to see. And the crowds are what we realized this trip are what are very disturbing to me, so this is something we will need to figure out. 

After exploring the circle, we headed to the little gift shop to pick up a nice canvas bag with some lovely artwork of the stones on it, and I quickly grabbed a tiny bag of sparkly stones, the ones you often see at science museums, just as a tiny keepsake and a reminder that should I come back again one day, to leave a better offering to the grove of trees. I was so concerned about getting the bus on time so that we would get back for our connecting train that it was kind of a bummer way to end the visit, but the area was getting quite packed with people anyway. We got back to the surprisingly charming town of Swindon, and had a full hour before our train! Argh, we could have stayed longer and not been so rushed :( But we bought some coffee drinks at Costa Coffee, sat in the shade of a little tree, and I finally had my leisurely break and was able to relax. 

Making it back to Paddingon station, we took a selfie in front of the station and decided to go visit the hotel where we stayed in 1995 (another selfie.) The Norfolk Plaza is indeed still in operation, and we were impressed at how the area had grown and many more businesses were overtaking some of the overtly tourist-trappy shops. John had found a funky pub for dinner called The Queen's Head, so we made our way there (after a few wrong turns) and enjoyed some delicious food and a couple of brews. We strolled around casually after dinner, taking in the cool night air and saner pace of the evening. This city, much like NYC, doesn't really sleep, but it slows down a little. King's Cross station, when we reached it, was all a-buzz with activity as if it were high noon! We made our fourth (yes, fourth) trip into Platform 9 3/4 to buy yet more stuff! I decided I needed to get Fiona another gift, get myself a messenger bag and the new Cursed Child book (English edition) to read on the flight home. I texted my sister to see if Fiona had read it (I was going to buy it for her, but figured she had already read it; she had) and if she thought it was worthy enough to carry its considerable bulk across three continents. She deemed it, "Definitely worth the weight to carry!" 

So now we are loafing in the hotel until it's time to depart for the tube to Heathrow. We enjoyed our last English breakfast, me detailing the characters of the house elf's in Harry Potter to John as I dork it up in my very loud & proud Platform 9 3/4 tee shirt. I have noticed loads of people here wearing all things Harry Potter, mostly the Deathly Hallows tee-shirts and jewelry, but I think I can get those back at home. I really wanted a Deathly Hallows charm and journal, but we've already dropped considerable jing on this trip, and we still would like it if we didn't have to check our bags. I was originally going to wear my Howard Jones 1985 concert tee shirt, but realized it's got USA stamped like a glaring target on the back, so I thought it better that I wear something less specifically American. So, just one more tube ride to Heathrow, a plane to Iceland, a place to Minneapolis. I will be so glad to be stationary for awhile because ever since Norway, I've had the unbalanced sense of sea legs. We've either been on boats, trains, tubes, planes...all movement! I have this constant sense that the floor is moving beneath me! Well, time to split! Next post will be from home with kitties piled on my lap :) 

London: Day 2

We started our day with a huge English breakfast (I finally dared to have some coffee) then, fat and happy, we went straight to Greenwich. I must say, I was excited for Greenwich for all the cool historical stuff, yes, but mostly because Thor kicked some serious ass against Malekith in the Marvel movie Thor: The Dark World. I'm a huge Thor fan, both the Norse deity and the fictional Marvel comic character. We had our picnic lunch right where all the action happened near the huge pillars of the Old Royal Naval College that is right on the River Thames, and it was a lovely, cool day. We toured the Painted Walls gallery, which is another feature of the movie but has also loads of incredible paintings over each wall and the entire ceiling. They had guides of all the details and mirrors in which you could examine the ceilings without straining your neck. It was beautiful in there, and I have a softness for art history. The Chapel gallery was also quite stunning, and had fewer tourists so we got better photos in there. 

I kept having to sit down or find a loo every ten minutes, and I cannot deny that this day began the first of my really just horribly whiny days. My feet were really killing me, and when every step is pain, it is just a sad, sad thing to look up at the enormously steep walk up the Greenwich observatory and planetarium. We found a seat and watched the throngs of people climbing the arduous path to the Prime Merdian. After about 20 minutes of resting my stupid feet, we too began the climb. It was like walking up the steps to Mordor, but with no steps and a thousand flying monkeys every which way, criminey I get annoyed at people! They pay zero attention to anything but themselves, kids are dodging in and out and throwing my old, wobbly ass off kilter. I am becoming an old, grumpy curmudgeon. When we finally reached the peak, up in the clouds somewhere I think, we were graced with an absolutely stunning, sprawling view of London. I wish I had had been able to have more grace in the journey up, because once there, it was worth every step. 

We bought tickets to the planetarium show "Asteroids: Mission Extreme" which was the earliest show we could get, and since had tickets to the Globe later, we didn't want to be fussing around there all day. The show was a little cheesy, and both us took short naps once the lights went out, but it was pretty cool and narrated by Sigourney Weaver. We tried like hell to make our way to the Prime Meridian line, but they were charging separate admissions for every bloody floor and every bloody exhibit, so we finally just went to the front gate, snapped a photo and then made the long trek back down the scary, steep hill, back to the hotel for a little rest and to snarf down some Burger King before we hustled off to the Globe.  

The Globe Theatre. 

This theatre is so amazing to visit. We came in 1998 for our honeymoon, and we bought a brick to help support the renovation costs, and that certificate is framed on our little wedding shrine. But in '98, the season had not begun yet, so we were unable to see a play. Last night, we were finally able to see a Shakespeare play in the country of his origin, in the reconstructed theatre that celebrates his beautiful poetic theatre. And of all plays, we got to see my favorite: Macbeth. Words will not do it justice. It was so perfectly presented, interpreted, and acted. They did a phenomenal job with the music, which was some of the eeriest, bone-chillingly evocative music I have ever heard (and one of my favorite things is tracking down bone-chillingly evocative music.) There was cello, bells, piano/keyboard, percussion, violin, guitar, oboe, shawm, garlla (two instruments neither of us have heard of, but they were easy to hear in the performance for their unique sounds), and all four musicians sang. The main vocalist had an incredible, powerful voice and range, and in certain parts her voice was run through this really cool demonic kind of effect. (I totally want that vocal effect so I can sound like Zoul whenever I want :)) The actors were all stellar, and the subtle and not-so-subtle humor they brought to the show was perfectly delivered. Lady Macbeth was played by Tara Fitzgerald, whom we just realized is Stanus Baratheon's wife in Game of Thrones, and Macbeth was played by Ray Fearon, who was the voice of Firenze in Harry Potter, and Nadia Albina was also an excellent and versatile player who had a comepletely hilarious bit in the play, played numerous characters, including one of the witches. The depiction of the Wyrd/Weird/Wayward Sisters was absolutely, unequivocally out of this world. I had chills and goosebumps every time they were featured; the lighting, music, costuming and props made these four (yes, four witches in this one) some of the most convincingly creepy characters I've seen on stage. The show ended with the whole cast doing what I assume was some kind of Scottish country dance, and it was just joyous and everyone clapped along. This was a major highlight of this trip, as we knew it would be. We had a very romantic walk along the River Walk and over the Millineum Bridge, then hopped the tube back to the hotel to rave more about the show. Fan-feckin-tastic!

London: Day 1

Before heading to London, Julie had tipped us off about the "Quiet Train". It is a beautiful thing, that. It costs the same as the regular coach tickets, but there are no screaming children allowed or yappy peeps on their phones talking about nothing really, really loudly. I might ride public transportation in Minneapolis again if that were an option! The ride was only 2 hours, and soon we were strolling along the platforms at King's Cross station. This famous station is huge and also another Harry Potter thing. There is a little shop there called Platform 9 3/4 where you can buy all sorts of cool Harry Potter stuff, and there's even a trolley with an owl cage on top smashing into the wall that kids (or adults obsessed with Harry Potter, ahem) can pose with and have their photo taken! It was super cool! We picked up a couple of birthday gifties for my niece, a fan of the series, and whose birthday is this week! WOOT! Kid is turning 13, I can barely believe it. 

Our little hotel here in London is really cool. Like Ellingsen's Pensjonet, this hotel is very tiny, but really nice. It's only a couple blocks away from King's Cross off on a little quiet street and very secure. The British Library is also two blocks away, so we went there right away and found a whole exhibit on punk rock of the 1970s which was absolutely awesome. Then we checked out the Treasures of the British Library room which had original works from many authors and musicians, including Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Beethoven, Mozart, Oscar Wilde and the Beatles, among many others. They were closing at 5 and made no bones about the fact, stern security guards pointing to the exit, so we then wandered around looking for a place for an early dinner since we skipped lunch. We ended up at a little cafe that was quiet and a bit fancy and ordered a couple of beers and a Ploughman's Platter, which was olives, pickled caperberries, field greens, ham, turkey, liver pate, breads, butter, and an incredible apricot chutney that I might try to find a similar recipe to make at home. We took a detour on the way back to the hotel to check out the hotel where we stayed on our honeymoon, sure enough, it is still there! 

A bit of a rest at the hotel, then we were off to see Star Trek: Beyond in Leicester Square. We saw Star Trek: First Contact in London back in 1995! The movie was great, but very intense in 3D. Leicester Square was INSANE. Monday is a Bank Holiday here, so the whole city was out partying, musicians busking everywhere (here, buskers are auditioned and given time slots to play in tube stations and on the streets so it's less of a panhandle and more of a regular gig kind of thing), and neon lights on full throttle. Upon leaving the movie, my senses heightened a bit too much from the intensity and the crowd so thick it made my world view into a sort of shrinking bubble, my window of tolerance collapsed when an aggressive dude in the tube station shoved an umbrella between my legs below my knees and was almost on top of my back in order to sneak into the train station without paying. That was it for me. I made it back to the hotel without breaking, but once inside, I broke into sobs as John held me. I have become more open about the fact that I was treated for PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-disorder) back in the mid-80s, after years of keeping quiet about it. It is an incredibly difficult condition to learn to manage, and there are certain things that trigger the heightened fear response with such sudden ferocity that it feels near impossible to reign in the runaway panic train inside. While I couldn't help the visceral responses that accompany this condition (shaking, chills, sweating, hyperventilation, etc.) I have learned how to manage them more quickly and breathe myself into a calmer state. It's been a long time since I've had to employ them. John kept me close and talked to me calmly as we boarded the train, navigated more thick swells of people in the station and on the way back to the hotel. I felt I could breathe again when we turned onto our street, and into the safety of the hotel. I shake now to recount the story, but I feel a sort of responsibility to speak more openly about psychological conditions that receive so much stigma, like PTSD and depression (which I have dealt with all of my life.) I believe that no one should have to suffer through pain alone, that it is extremely important for someone to "bear witness" to the suffering of others. When I was going through the worst of it, no one had ever heard of PTSD, and nor did they want to hear about it. Now with so much violence in our country, you're likely to know many people struggling with it these days. 

(Again, I'll post photos later. There are MANY photos! More later!)

York

We woke fairly early on Saturday so that we could have breakfast, say a proper goodbye to Dave, Julie and the cats, and head to York with Sam and AJ. Dave cooked us eggs, bacon and toast again, such a lovely treat since he has worked as a cook for many years. We had a brief cuppa with our hosts, then Patricia showed up so that we could all take a family photo that I'd forgotten to do the previous evening. We all piled out onto their balcony once Sam & AJ arrived to pose, then started our goodbye hugging. I almost got all verklempt hugging Julie goodbye, it just felt like too short a time to spend. But it's difficult to host people, and they were so generous that we didn't want to overstay our welcome, either. Next time, though, we might plan for additional time because it was not long enough. Three or four days would have been great. 

After hugging all the people and petting all the kitties goodbye, we piled into Sam's little car and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to York. It is still very strange getting used to the left-sided roadways, and the narrow, windy roads, and holy cats, the roundabouts! It feels like being on the Knight Bus! (Harry Potter fans will know what I'm talking about) The drive was pleasant with chit-chatter and the trance-like state that long rides are prone to lull a person into, the English countryside presenting an idyllic backdrop. They dropped us off at our hotel, the Premier Inn, and then we met them down the street and walked around the city of York, stepping into the enormous Minster to check out the incredible stained glass windows, and walking the "Shambles" which is a unique and very narrow, cobble-y road with buildings that are built so that their upper levels and roofs sort of bend inwards towards the lane, and it creates a funky, fun-house sort of effect. The whole city was jammed and rocking with street musicians and even a street DJ! We checked out some little shops in the street market, got to sample some delicious fudge. Eventually made our way over to The Wall, the original city walls of York which are high, stone walls that you can walk along, and were used back in the day for protection, equipped with slits in the stone for archers. As it started to rain, we went to dinner at a place called The Cellar that was a favorite eatery when Sam was in University in York ten years ago. I had lasagne with salad and John had bangers and mash, both very good. They used some incredible cheese in the lasagne, and the more I eat fancy cheeses, the more I understand the whole rave about fancy cheese. We wrongly assumed that the rain would be done by the time we left, but it was coming down steadily, and though we all had rain coats, none of us had umbrellas. We were drenched by the time we got back to the hotel, and I had to use the hair dryer to dry my purse. I enjoyed a few cups of tea while blogging, got ahold of Mum and was pleased to hear her voice and her chipper mood :)

Next day was really feckin' great! Sam and AJ picked us up about 8am, and they drove us out right away to see Stamford Bridge and the quaint town that surrounds it. John knows all the history behind the site, and it was on his wish list to see it, so it was awesome that we were able to find it because it seemed like Google was giving us goofy information. We took photos of the landmark that was in both English and Norwegian, and then walked around the town a bit and found lots of references to the Viking influence. There was an absolutely gorgeous park with willow trees that looked like they must be a thousand years old. We then decided we had better eat breakfast, and went to the chain restaurant Weatherspoons which is where Dave works in Dereham. We had yummy traditional English breakfast with toast, fried tomato, beans, bangers, ham and hash browns (that were just like Arby's hash browns, my favorite!) I thought I'd never be able to finish it, but I gobbled most of it down. Apparently in England, restaurants don't typically do "doggie bags" like we do in America, so we have been trying to order only what we know we can eat in one sitting. 

Then it was off to walk a little more of the wall and see the rest of the city from above. This town, while it has a seemingly unusual number of pumped up, muscle-y jock types and women dressed as if they are going to the Grammy's in the middle of the afternoon (which Sam told us were all "hen parties", or in American parlance, bachelorette parties), it had the charm and variety and what seemed to be a wonderful balance of college town, big city and small town all rolled into one strange and wonderful place. That was exemplified by the next surprise that we stumbled upon: the town's soapbox derby races! This was such absolute fun that I don't think we could have planned a better topper to our trip to York than seeing loads of hilarious soapbox derby cars flying down the ramp and speedway, some crashing headlong into bales of hay or losing steam straight away. The pictures will speak for themselves!

(For some reason, I was only able to upload these few photos and no more. I've been having a lot of trouble getting the photos in so I'll add more photos from home, which is now only two days away!) 

The Cats of Dereham!

Introducing.....the cats of Dereham! 

Pippa

Pippa is a gorgeous little kitty with special needs morning and evening due to diabetes, she is super sweet and seemed to be always around, but not as attention-seeking as the others. 

Tia

The Princess. This sweet noodle seems to loved to be up on things in order to be the center of attention. Soft and slightly plump, she looks very similar to little Pippa. 

Reba

Reba is a huge Maine Coon, a sweet, gentle giant. He would always be sprawled out on the hallway landing, his head propped on the top stair, whenever I would come out in the night to wee (as they say here.) 

Khan

Khan is just like a tiny black panther. His tail was as fat a tail as I've ever seen on a kitty! If I could sneak away with any of these little babes, I would sneak away with this sleek and sturdy beauty.

And Kolo!

Kolo insisted on laying on the bed with us for awhile, but knowing he was locked into the room, he would abruptly jump over my head and launch for the door, just after everyone got comfortable, of course. He purrs like a freight train, and reminds me so much of Walter in both purr intensity and general disposition. If I remember correctly, this big boy weighs in at 26 pounds! Such a giant love! 

The crew demanding breakfast!

And look, their house has a little cupboard under the stairs just like in Harry Potter!