Tag Archives: food

On The Plane

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As I mentioned earlier, Dan and I aren’t sitting together: rather than being in the center of the row, where you can lower a “wall” and yak and all, we did the left side of the plane.

Wellllll … it is noisier on the sides (although my near-deaf left ear means it’s not too bad), and I am missing chatting with my man. I’m hoping the view we see out the window when it gets light will make this worth the experiment, but I have a not-so-sneaking suspicion that we will go back to our usual center seats on our next big flight. (We only do Polaris when we know we want to sleep, it’s night time, and it’s not SO horribly expensive we can gulp and pay the price.)

Anyway, I miss Dan! But does he miss me? Hmmmm.

Take off was quick and easy and, as always, I accepted the glass of sparkling wine. I managed to get the free WiFi set up (free means I can only text, but I can live without the internet for the time I’m on the plane, I think). Then I spent time reading my book, This is Happiness, by Niall Williams.

Eventually they came back around, offering a drink (Pinot noir for me) and the little cup of warmed nuts. Had I known dinner wasn’t to arrive for a while I probably would have skipped wine and ordered it later, but I didn’t realize that.

Dan and I had pre-ordered our dinner, because then we could choose the special chef-prepared meal. Sadly it was lamb and I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it, but being as it was a special thing I went ahead and did that. Prior to the main they brought a tray with a couple of salads — one with shrimp and one with beets, along with some crackers and an offer of bread (i chose the dark rye). The salads were quite delicious. I realize the image doesn’t look all that exciting, but trust me, it was all tasty! Truly a full meal on its own.

Then the lamb came with some carrots. I can now state that I do not care at all for lamb. I tried a few bites. That was enough. I also had some of the carrots which I found too salty, but maybe better salty than bland?

I skipped dessert.

Really.

No sundae or cheesecake or cheese plate for me. I was too full. The two salad plates would have been plenty.

Then it was sleeping time. I lowered my bed, got the blanket and pillows in place, and fell asleep.

When I woke we had already passed Greenland. Darn. I didn’t get to see a bit of that, and we flew too far below Reykjavik. So much for a window seat!

I spent more time reading: I’m really enjoying my book, but it’s a slow read for me. It’s quite beautifully written and a nice break from my normal mystery books. While reading I could smell food — breakfast — being prepared. I will forever wish that we’d be served meals on the schedule of the place we are headed, but I guess I’ll forever be disappointed. It’s a bit after noon where we are headed. Seems like lunch would be rather nice to get us to transition to that time.

Finally, looking out the window, I saw land! Hello Scotland!

Eventually the breakfast I was smelling arrived. I had placed an order for the salmon which came with potato salad and more, because I thought it might seem more like lunch and, sure enough, it did. Of course I couldn’t come close to eating it all (didn’t even bother to open the yogurt), but I enjoyed what I did eat.

Looking out the window I was surprised to see those big windmills (are they called turbines? Am I making that up?) in the water. It’s hard to see in the photo, but they are there, and there were many more as well neared Netherlands.

And then more land. We flew right over Amsterdam, I think. My map told me it was forty minutes until we land. Time has flown by. (See how witty I can be? And to think I’m just winging it. I’m goofy and simple that way. Just call me plane Jane.)

Then it was time to land. What a quick and easy flight and …

Hello Frankfurt!

We exited the plane and headed toward passport control with only one brief stop on the way. When we got to passport control we did the initial bit where the passport is scanned, a photo taken of one’s face, and fingerprints (of four fingers, right hand) were taken. Mine took a while, as I have very sketchy fingerprints. Dan’s went quickly.

Then we went to the somewhat longer line to get to the actual passport control window where a police man asked questions: why are you here (vacation), how many days in the Schengen zone (40, I think), and a request to see our flight back out of the Schengen zone. Then my fingerprints again took a while. Someday they are going to have to move to something else, I think (iris scan, maybe/). My photo was again taken. Then the whole thing for Dan which, again, went more quickly.

And then we were out and met up with Greg & Jan.

It was, as always, fabulous to see them!

Then the drive to our final destination for the night.

Hello Heidelberg!

Time for wine!

After a bit of time we donned warmer clothes and went on a walk to the Altstadt and just enjoyed the sites (and one sample of “moonshine” which was more like a sweet desert drink to me), the old bridge, and the cool air.

Finally it was dinner time and Greg made a wonderful lentil dish and salad, plus some bread from a local bakery. It was all delicious! Oh … and wine Jan and Greg had just picked up in Alsace.

It’s fabulous being here, and so far I’m feeling rather energized. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Dan was tired and hit the hay while I typed this up.

So for now … auf weidersehen! (And please excuse typos: I think I need to sleep!)

And Now We Wait

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My sister drove us to the airport (thanks, Carolyn!) and we got through security in less than five minutes. What a breeze that was. Then it was up to the Polaris lounge. We opted to do a light lunch (or shall we call it dinner?) there’s where we began with a but if crab dip, and then I had a squash dish. Quite yummy … and the glass of champagne is sort of a requirement when we start a trip. At least in my little opinion!

Then we found some seats (this place is nearly empty, but I think the entire terminal feels that way) because we had an hour and forty-five minutes to go before boarding would begin.

I’m all for having a ton of time. I’m not one who is comfortable cutting things close so I’d prefer sitting around and relaxing. My kind of travel.

Then it was time to read, rest, and relax. Yep, the three Rs!

Oh … and an update on my capsule wardrobe because I’m sure you are all dying to know — I nixed my black turtleneck and I wore my beige one instead. News you can (or can’t … or won’t) use!

And my backpack … welllll … it weighs more than I had hoped because I decided to bring a somewhat nicer looking raincoat in case I need it when we go to concerts. So it goes. My backpack weighs about nineteen pounds. Some suggest they should weigh fifteen. Maybe next time …?

The sling, too, is heavier than I’d like because I’m bringing my Fuji camera and I put it in the sling bag. I was telling Dan that maybe next time I will only bring my phone. I wonder if I can convince myself to do that, though. If I left my camera at home I actually could manage to get everything into just the backpack if I was careful with packing.

But will I ever manage to do that? Who knows?! (And, perhaps, who cares!)

And then it was time to board. Again, that was quick and easy, and I even managed to get my pack lifted in to storage.

Dan and I aren’t sitting together this time: our experiment of sorts was to grab the side Polaris seats so we can both have windows. He’s in row 5 and I’m in 7. I believe the foot space for the side seats is smaller, but I look forward to looking out the window when it’s lighter out. Right now it’s 6:12 PM and rather dark. Not a great photo, but oh well!

Okay … ready to go! Ciao for now!

Thursday, June 18, Part Two

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We are in the first row, in the Polaris lay flat seat area. Yes, we chose row one. Some suggest it is better to be further away from the kitchen, but I like being here: it’s quick and easy to get off the plane, and we are close to the toilet. (Except at certain times when they don’t allow us up there — I think it’s when they are serving the pilots or something. What I do miss, though, is a window seat. We’ve talked about maybe giving that a go next time. It means we won’t be next to each other, but we don’t do a lot of talking on a plane anyway.

I had ordered a special meal for this flight because I’d read you often get better food that way. What I didn’t realize when I ordered the “healthy, low salt and low sugar” meal was that I was getting the diabetic meal! And no, it wasn’t special or better. So next time I either go back to the normal menu or I try something different like perhaps the Asian or kosher meal. But, really, United doesn’t do great food. So it goes. These two images show all the food I was served. Doesn’t it look … um … oh never mind. And no, I didn’t eat it all.

After getting my “healthy” meal I was asked what I wanted for dessert. Well … duh … the ice cream sundae! I’m guessing they were wondering about me at that point.

I read for a bit and then put the seat down and slept. Time has no meaning on a plane: there is no day or night. There just … well … is, if you get my drift. You just spend 10+ hours being.

After a bit of a snooze I started reading some more, and eventually some food was brought out. Because of my (foolish) food choice I was given some sort of wrap full of eggplant and I don’t know what else … I took one bit and Dan offered to switch so I got his grilled cheese sandwich and chips and he ate my eggplant whatever. He said it was pretty good.

Then back to reading mixed with resting mixed with doing nothing.

At about 2:00 PM PST the lights were turned on in the plane. Shortly after we were handed our warmed towels and a flight attendant passed by saying “Morning!”

Hmm. In London it would be late at night. In California it’s mid-afternoon. I’m not sure what “Morning!” would be about.

Soon my next “special meal” was delivered, along with sparkling water. Too. Much. Food. They called it lunch, but it was more than I would normally eat for dinner at home. It wasn’t exactly an epicurean’s delight, but it sufficed.

When we landed it was a bit of a bumpy bit and my water bottle fell and rolled over to where the flight attendant was sitting. Made me laugh. After landing it took a while to get to the gate because another plane was still in that space. Then the person (or persons?) who were driving that thing (Dan told me the name but I’ve forgotten) that connects to the plane that we walk through to get into the terminal was having difficulty aiming things correctly so we had a bit more waiting. But finally, out we went! And out went my brain. I forgot to take any more photos at all.

My sister picked us up (thanks, Carolyn!) and we then had the wonderful joy of being welcomed back to the Bay Area with a lot of traffic. But so it goes. We got safely home, opened all the windows because the house was quite stuffy, and started to unpack, make up the bed, and do all the things one has to do.

And yes, I’m fully unpacked and the suitcase is put away. But I still have much to do: the house is quite dusty, and we have piles of mail. (Oh Jan and Greg, you should see your stack of mail!)

But now? It’s 8:10 PM our time and while I feel a bit dazed I don’t feel tired. We’ll see how I sleep.

So that’s that. We had a great trip. We are home. I am grateful.

Saturday, June 13

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This was our only full day in York. We woke a tad slowly, having read that it was raining out. I finally looked out the window and saw that everything looked quite dry. Go figure!

When we were ready we went back to the gate we entered yesterday. We knew that the scone shop we wanted to visit (a memory from our first time here) opened at 10:00, so we had a bit of time to wander first.

The scones were, as remembered, quite delicious! Finger licking good, in fact. I’m so glad we were able to return!

We did walk through (in?) the Shambles. As charming as I’m sure it used to be, it’s primarily about Harry Potter and ghosts now and I fear it’s become the Disneyland of York. I wonder if that will eventually change.

Then more walking. We noticed some interestingly dressed people. We stopped to see what was going on. Turned out some Morris dancers were about to begin. There were a number of groups and I did videos of most. I think for now I’ll just attempt to get one to post. Maybe I’ll add others when I have a decent connection.

We walked back to York Minster to see if we could figure out where we were to enter for evensong and to ask someone there how early to arrive (last time we were here we arrived to late and sat in a different space where we could not see the choir and really couldn’t hear well either). The guide said 5:15 for the 5:30 service would work, but I did think that might be a bit incorrect. We decided we’d get there no later than 5:00.

From there we intended to try and get to the Train Museum so I plugged that in to my map. Turned out it was further than expected, but we still started out.

We reached a park and saw that something was going on. Turned out to be a 21 gun salute (with very loud canons — many people had earplugs in and, thankfully, Dan had some I could use and he plugged his ears) to celebrate the king’s birthday. Not that he was born now, mind you, but a man explained that while he had a winter birthday the weather was better now so this is when it is celebrated. It was quite the spectacle. Military were there, as well as a woman who might have been mayor, but the man said she could easily have been in some other position. Dan was mentioning that the woman and man looking militarily important went from group to group of soldiers and whatnot and chatted, and the man suggested they do that and he was a bit sarcastic about them all thinking very highly of themselves. It was pretty funny. He mentioned “all pomp and circumstance”. But hey, it was fun and he made a 30 minute drive to see it with his daughter! The park grounds were lovely, too.

Prior to chatting with him the band played a non-military piece you might recognize (or not) and that man and his young daughter danced along. It was quite cute!

From there we continued on the train museum trek, but again were sidetracked, thinking that perhaps going up and walking the Roman wall might be a better way to get there. Before going up that there were some lovely wildflowers. The sign explained that it was their small bit in trying to deal with global warming. Then up to walk the wall. And no, I really wasn’t scared. Amazing! (But there never was a huge drop off.)

When it was time to take stairs down we realized we were even further from the museum. Oops! At that point we decided we’d have to skip that after all and we went another direction.

Because I’d had something sweet for breakfast I felt a need for something savory. (My sugar levels go a bit crazy if I have something sweet in the morning.) We headed to the Blue Belle Pub, a place I’d read about and we’d looked at yesterday. They only serve pork pies, so that was what we had: when on trips like this I sometimes just have to give up my desire to not eat certain things. The pub was small and I enjoyed sitting there and resting my feet, having a half pint and a pie. We also cheered the Kennedy Center, having seen that it was finally back to what it should be called.

We then walked more and looked around for possible dinner spots (yes, right after our pies!). Our B&B owner had said we might have difficult finding a place to eat if we didn’t make reservations.

We started to really run out of steam. We had to get a cookie and coffee. Now please understand I didn’t want a cookie. It was a need. One must always pay attention to needs. I couldn’t even eat half of the cookie we were sharing. Dan helped with that.

Walking some more, I took a few more photos, including of some “cowboys”. Just sort of funny to see in York.

On our way back to the B&B we I saw some pink hatted women … most likely a hen party. We’ve seen a number of these as well as stag party groups. York must be the place to go.

When we got to the B&B I started this blog entry and then took a 5 minute snooze before we had to get back to York Minster. On the way there I felt something hit my head. Hm. Did someone throw something at me? I reach up to feel it … and … OH NO! It was a bird. Well, a “bird blessing”, if you will. And now my hand was blessed as well. I had tissues so Dan helped clean me up and said you couldn’t really see it any longer, Still, I went into a bathroom and got my hair wet and washed my hands thoroughly. I knew what I’d be doing when we got back to the B&B!

As we walked we saw another interesting group of people. No clue what it was all about.

We arrived a York Minster in plenty of time, and after waiting a bit we were let in. Eventually we were seated and we had great seats! The service was really wonderful, although I sometimes couldn’t understand what was being said and they don’t tell us who the composers of the works are, nor do we get the words in print, which I would have loved. No photography is allowed, so we could only look at the place and admire it. After the service a few people stuck around to hear the organ postlude, including us, which was fabulous as well. I’m so glad we could go this time. (Earlier today we had decided to skip the £20 per person fee to tour the place: we’ve seen so many cathedrals and I figured we might save the final tour for Westminster Cathedral — we have been there for evensong, but Dan has never seen the entire place.)

After evensong we went to dinner at Ye Olde Starre Inne. A tasty meal was enjoyed! Oh … and another napkin drop was recorded.

Finally it was back to the B&B.

First thing for me? A shower! I could finally stop worrying about my hair (I had avoided touching it at all, as you might imagine.) Then it was time to finish this entry. That always takes a long time due to slow loading photos and videos.

Tomorrow is our final moving day before we head back to the states. I’m sorry to see the trip end, but we can’t continue forever.

G’night!

Monday, June 8

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After a somewhat restless sleep due to my sore throat, I very lazily got moving. Dan was reading, so I dozed on and off and we didn’t actually leave the room until after 9:00. By that time my throat felt so much better — it seems it bothers me only at night.

We walked a short bit to find some coffee and health food. Oh. Oops! I mean unhealthy food.

From there we continued to walk, just investigating the area.

When we looked across the street at one point we saw the California sign and had to check that out. It’s a wine shop and no, we didn’t bother to go in. We figure we can easily find California wines in California.

We continued to walk, crossing the England Bridge, with the Abbey in the distance.

Then we went into the Shrewsbury Abbey. I just love it when there is an organist practicing. (I haven’t taken photos of the children’s area in other cathedrals, but I finally did this one: they seem to be in each one, though.)

Leaving the Abbey I saw the other side of the sign that I posted prior to our Abbey visit.

Back across the England Bridge, I wisely suggested we walk along the Severn River rather than on busy streets. After all, our 12:00 scheduled Sabrina Boat Tour was on the Severn. So downstairs we went to continue our walk. Sadly I took no photos.

But then Dan said something implying he hoped we were actually going the right way. Um. Well. Maybe not! Had we continued we most certainly would have missed the boat. So we turned around and went up some stairs, and past the prison where they clearly would love us to live. We really felt very welcomed. But again, we’d miss the boat. So never mind. So on we marched.

And there we were … at the boat tour. And we were even early! I had reserved tickets, so when we went on we were seating up toward the front. I think, in fact, we may have made the first reservations since we were at the first table. It was a fun ride!

After our boat ride we walked along the park area, crossed the rocking bridge and turned back again. We saw Hercules who, at some point, had a bit of him pulled off (you can guess what) and has since been replaced by a fig leaf. Hah! We passed a spot where the Zippo Circus was setting up (no pix — I’m not much of a circus fan), and went in to “The Dingle” (a garden area). Not much there yet, as they were putting in the summer plants today.

From there we walked up to the Georgian circular church, St. Chad’s.

When we went back out we saw that it rained again. Go figure!

For lunch (we can hardly call it not lunch.) we had tomato basil soup, and I bravely tried the non-alcoholic red wine. It was better than others I’ve had, but still didn’t have the taste I’d like. But I guess one has to have alcohol to get that taste, eh?

Then more walking and more fascination with the crazy off-kilter buildings. We had walked by the Kings Head yesterday, but took another look today.

I find it interesting to run across signs of Covid in every place we’ve visited. Memories ….

We had seen Rowley’s House and Mansion yesterday, but today got a closer look. I would love to see the buildings all fixed up.

We’d talked about doing the afternoon tea thing so we finally got to it today. (And yes, we are eating too much.) I had tea and a fruit scone and Dan had espresso and a raspberry scone. The place suggested they had the world’s best scones (in their opinion, they did admit) but I’d say Dan’s are better. I also suspect a better place wouldn’t serve the clotted cream in a plastic container like that, nor would the butter be in foil wrappers. In a short while we’ll be in another village where we had wonderful scones in the past so we’ll compare then. At this point I was overly stuffed (and I couldn’t finish my scone.)

From there it was back to Cromwell’s Tap House to have a short break. Or maybe a longer than short break. (I believe our two windows are the ones you see on the far left in the photo below.)

Now because we hadn’t had nearly enough to eat today (hah!), we went out to find dinner. Dan had read about a place called The Coach & Horses so we went that direction. I had seen it on Google and it said that it was busy, but we figured we’d give it a go in any case. When we went outside it was quite bright with a blue sky. A miracle!

Entering The Coach & Horses we saw a few people in the pub area, and the man at the bar asked if we wanted to see the menu. He asked where we were from and after we told him Dan asked where he was from and he said Nevada! Turned out he was a military kiddo and, fortunately for him, was born in the UK so he had dual citizenship and was now living in Shrewsbury with his wife (she will have to take a test in something like four years to try and gain citizenship). Am I jealous? You bet!

We said we’d like to dine there so he told us where the restaurant area was. Well, Google may have thought they were busy, but we had the entire place to ourselves! I’m guessing Monday evening isn’t quite a busy time there. I ordered salmon cakes and Dan had cottage pit PIE (yeah, I typed pit first and I think it’s too funny to remove!). Prices were quite good and food was yummy. I really loved the greens with my meal. Then we ended with the extremely healthy sticky toffee pudding. It came with ice cream so we appreciated all that calcium. Or something. You can see the very nice man from Nevada that we spoke to in the final photo.

Anyway, if you are ever in Shrewsbury, go there. It was great!

Then we ambled back to our room, taking a few photos as we walked. At one point I saw some sort of plaque on a building and it said “Shropshire” and below that “North Wales”. As I read online, it was the “Welsh Kingdom of Powys in the 5th and 6th centuries” so I guess it was in Wales and perhaps some wish that were still the case. Dunno!

Back in our room I, as always, set out tomorrow’s clothes after I put my pjs on. Then it was time to finish up this blog.

Tomorrow is moving day. I’ve enjoyed Shrewsbury, but on we go!

13,493 steps, 5.4 miles, 4 flights climbed

Saturday, June 6

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After a bit of a restless night (my watch’s sleep report was disappointed in me although it was being gentle) I woke and told Dan I would do a pj laundry shower. Laundry showers are such fun. Or maybe not. But hey, pjs and I are now clean machines.

Side Note: Ah bathrooms! Ours have run the gamut. Large and small. Old and fairly new. And, on this trip, toilets that are rather persnickety. Seems like we have to baby them. I have several suggestions for places we’ve stayed: fix those toilets! Install a motion detector nightlight in the bathroom. And please please nix those silly little trashcans that you have to open with your foot. They are annoying. That, that is all. I’m sure things will all be fixed on our next trip.

But Side Note #2: Dan and I both travel with motion detector nightlights so we place them in spots to light our way and light the bathroom when necessary.

After starting this blog entry, annoying you with my Side Notes, showering, and dressing, it was time for breakfast so downstairs we went. For once we went lighter — poached eggs on toast. Done.

Looking at the weather it appeared we’d get rain. And then no rain. And rain again. We’ve learned, though, not to trust our apps. It would be what it would be and perhaps the rain jacket was a wise choice for the day. Or umbrella. Or both. Plus a rain hat. Or would I wing it and just deal? (I really dislike having to wear the rain jacket if it doesn’t rain.)

Final decision: rain jacket, rain hat, umbrella, plus daypack so I could protect my camera should it rain hard.

Down the hill we went. Again. The middle photo below is of a monkey puzzle tree. I’m not a huge fan of them except that they are just so crazy looking. Not great for shade, though. (Not that we needed any shade today.)

We made it to the meeting spot for the Bath tour just in time. I turned around to take a photo of what I call “Tortilla Jones” because sometimes my sense of humor is just goofy like that.

A large group had congregated, and one of the eight tour guides divided us up. We then went with our guide to the front of the Abbey Cathedral.

He explained that the doors were closed and there would be no entry until the afternoon because of a procession. That procession usually included the mayor, but he had had to resign because of something he reposted (when will people learn to check to see if something is true — and if it’s wise to post even if it is?). We had expected it to begin a bit later than it did, so we were right in front when they started. I took a video but please do excuse the bad filming: my hat blew off at one point! You might not want to watch the whole thing as it is over two minutes. (I hope it will even load due to the length!)

From there we did a good amount of walking and I did take photos while I’ll post below, but much of the time we were being rained upon. My hat was on, but then the umbrella came out as well. It never really did stop. Some of what we saw with the guide were at spots Dan and I saw earlier, but the information our guides (there was on in training who led part of the tour) was fun to hear. Not that I’ll remember much, but I will try.

We ended in front of an indoor market. I was thrilled to think we’d get out of the rain and maybe Dan and I would catch a bite inside. Well, it wasn’t quite the kind of market we’d expected. There was one place where small appliances were sold. Inside that area it looked like a hardware store. Some places sold Knick knacks or clothes. There were a few food booths, but nothing appealing and all the seats were full.

We walked a bit more and found a place to get some very healthy looking salads. Unusual for us, I know.

(Doesn’t Dan look serious about his salad?) Funny thing: the food there could be take away or sit down. We said we wanted sit down. They brought us our salads in the cardboard box but set inside a bowl. It didn’t occur to either of us to empty the salad into the bowl, where it would have been easier to eat! I only realized that’s what we should have done when I looked at the tables on either side of us. Sometimes we are just slow!

Outside again, and the rain kept coming. Our tour guide had told us about a free museum so we opted to go in there for a bit. It was nothing thrilling, but it was out of the rain.

Oh … but it also had bathrooms (really “toilets” as they are called here), and inside the women’s was some more art! I looked at the two pipes in a corner and then looked down. Cracked me up!

We left the museum and thought maybe we needed coffee. Not because we needed coffee, really, but because it was still raining.

As we walked there was a huge crowd of mostly men going the opposite direction, some of whom were quite noisy and, I’m guessing, a wee bit intoxicated. All we could think, considering how many there were, was that some sort of game had ended. Who knows, though. In any case, we walked until we finally ended up at the same place we had coffee yesterday. The biggest requirements were indoors and empty seats we could fill. As my sister-in-law Ruth Ann wrote, Dan looks rather dapper … don’t you agree? (He took this selfie. All credit to him.)

While we had our coffee and contemplated walking more in the rain I thought to check the map, plugging in our B&B. We are in a more residential area, so I had assumed there would be no eating establishments nearby, but I was happy to see I was wrong. About ten minutes away is a place called The Moorfield, and they had a reservation opening for 5:45. I grabbed it. The thought of eating down the hill and then, after said eating, walking up with a full stomach in, most likely, rain and wind, didn’t seem appealing to either of us. Besides, with all the rain we had so far enjoyed (hah!) we were just a bit weary.

So we agreed we’d head back to our room. When we arrived and started up the stairs a man greeted us and said something about us having had it with the weather as well. I guess he and his wife gave up and also returned.

In our room Dan did whatever Dan does on his iPad and I did more of this blog. Suddenly the wind got super crazy. How glad I was to be in our room!

Oh … and I’ve not reported on our colds. So far mine is so minor I don’t know that I can call it a cold. I’m hoping it stays that way.

We both ended up snoozing a little bit, but then it was time to head to the restaurant I had found. Of course it was raining again!

It was also a bit longer of a walk than I expected, but we finally arrived at The Moorfields and in we went. It’s not in a busy section of town, and I think it’s more of a neighborhood place, which I enjoy. Next to us were people with a tiny baby, I saw another young one as well, and in another room there was a family.

We ordered poblano peppers to share, and then Dan had a burger and I had chicken. Prices were quite reasonable, and my dinner was tasty. Obviously no desert was necessary!

Now about Dan and napkins. For some reason they fly off his lap nearly every time! I think I need to document this from now on.

After Dan paid the check we walked back a slightly different way. It seemed faster, but that might be because, miracle of miracles, the rain had stopped!

Now we are back in our room, and I’m having chamomile tea. I won’t tell you we had Kit Kat bars (which the B&B provide) because I know you would think less of us if you knew we indulged.

Tomorrow is moving day. Again. As always I’m pretty much packed, as long as the weather doesn’t cause me to change my mind. I’ll just have to add pjs and the toothbrushes to my suitcase, and put my iPad in my daypack and I’m ready to hit the road. Will we hike down the hill with our roller bags? We hope to. That, too, will depend upon the weather.

About our trains: for the first time it’s a three train day, each from a different company. First it’s Great Western Railroad (GWR), then Transport for Wales Rail (TFW — and no, we aren’t landing in Wales), and finally Cross Country (XC). All are fairly short rides, but it was how I had to put it all together to get to our next destination.

It’s too early to hit the hay, but still I will say goodnight.

13,382 steps, 5.31 miles, 12 flights climbed

Tuesday, May 19

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Our day began sometime very early in the morning. An alarm went off that could not be ignored. I thought it was somewhere on Dan’s side of the bed, but of course being pretty deaf in my left ear meant I have no sense of direction. Dan checked his side and he said it wasn’t his phone (the only way it could have been would have been one of those national emergency alarms and even those aren’t that loud — at least I don’t think so!), and he thought it was on my side. Nope. Eventually we just went back to sleep because the alarm was quite brief.

Then at 4:00 AM it went off again. Just this horribly loud noise that lasted for maybe five or ten seconds. Well, this time we did more investigating. The bathroom fan, which had been on since Dan had some laundry hanging there, was no longer working. Hmm. Odd. We smelled no smoke, and of course the alarm had stopped and I doubt it would have done so had it been a fire. Still, Dan looked out the door and he said the fire doors had closed. Finally he called downstairs. They said someone had an issue with their shower and there was no problem at all. Meanwhile there was this periodic extremely low hum — almost like a foghorn — and we wondered about that as well. (Later I started to wonder if the person in question had run very hot water in the shower to get wrinkles out of clothing, but had left the bathroom door open: I had taken a hot shower some years back and left the door open and it triggered our smoke alarm! So maybe …? But who knows?)

I was just relieved it was not a fire. Going outside in cold temps wearing pjs is not my idea of a fun way to spend early morning, and I suppose if it were a fire that’s what we’d have had to do (although, as always, my clothes were sitting out for the day already).

But back to sleep we went, and didn’t rise until well after 8:00.

Once we did get moving (slowly) we went in search of breakfast. I’d located three possibilities. We chose the one with the higher ratings (although who knows what ratings mean!), and went inside. We were quickly shown a table, and soon ordered and paid for our food and coffees via Dan’s phone. That’s getting more and more common, it seems. Our food was quite yummy. When we first went in there was room for more people, but when we finally left there was quite the line to get in. I guess it’s popular!

Next up was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around. I have to roll my eyes sometimes at what they might write about someone who is laid to rest there, or at least has a memorial plaque. They always sound like such flawless men and women! I do hope that, should I even have a service when I die, people are honest and say, “Well, she could sometimes be a handful and could definitely be annoying!” I mean … the truth is just fine by me. Just be sure and mention my incredible wit.

Or not.

I enjoyed reading about Jonathan Swift. (I think I might need to reread him sometime.)

From there we started to make our way to the Guinness location. We managed to make a few wrong turns, but it’s really not a big deal since we like seeing more of the city.

Finally there it was.

We purchased the self-guided tour tickets and made our way inside. I took far too many photos and don’t want to bore you too much, but I might bore you a bit. So it goes!

This water thing was rather cool!

There was a lot of information and parts of the tour were what Dan and I refer to as an “experience”, but really it was interesting and fun. It took much longer than I’d expected, too.

There was a section on an artist who did a lot of work for their advertising that was cute.

When I saw this particular display I cracked up. I had a t-shirt with that saying on it (you have to watch the full video) back in the later 70s. (My dad sure didn’t like that shirt!)

We were taken into a room to do a small tasting, but I didn’t do photos there. We walked a bit more and eventually wound up on the top floor where we were given a pint of Guinness. It wasn’t easy to find a place to sit, but eventually Dan nabbed a spot and we enjoyed sitting, drinking the beer, and I had saved a few packages of shortbread so we also ate those. Who knew shortbread and Guinness would work okay together? (Or maybe we were just hungry enough we didn’t care.) There were good views on that top floor.

We eventually left Guinness and planned on finding a light bite to eat. We walked a bit but didn’t find a place that appealed.

I had to shoot that last photo for my friend Bernie Sheehan!

So on we walked, through St. Stephen’s Green. I loved the sight of all those schoolboys squeezed on a bench!

At that point it did seem like perhaps dinner was in order soon. We ambled more, and even a bit more, not spotting anything that screamed out to us. Eventually I remembered that I had seen an old Victorian pub that seemed quite interesting so I did a quick search and found one. Whether or not it was the one I had seen online earlier I don’t know, but it was really cool. We walked in to find a very long hall. Then to the right there was a pub entrance with high tables. We aren’t exactly high table fans, and I had seen stairs that led to other rooms and I wondered about them. Someone who worked there said we could go on upstairs. So up we went. The first floor had a really nice, somewhat private room and we thought that would be perfect so in we went. I ordered the turkey roast (far too much food!) and Dan ordered the cottage pie. All was very good. Eventually the room did fill up so it was a bit noisy, but I was so happy to have that time when we were almost alone. At 7:00 a musician showed up and started to sing and play in the larger room adjacent to ours. The funny thing was that he was singing songs from our youth like “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” We had thought we’d be hearing Irish folk music or something!

Walking back out I took a few more photos:

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, passing once more through St. Stephen’s Green.

Thus ends our day. In some ways it feels as if we didn’t do all that much, but the cathedral and the brewery did take a lot of time.

Oh, and my watch was happy with me today. Whew! I’d still prefer to do even more walking, but this’ll do.

16,645 steps, 6.74 miles, 5 flights climbed

Goodnight!

Sunday, May 10 … With Photos & Stories

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We began the day with breakfast at Redwood House. ALL that salmon they put on the plate is rather amazing. But that’s Scotland for you.

Then we readied ourselves to drive the north part of Skye, and off we went. I had set up a map and then we connected that to CarPlay. Quite handy!

I took a quick video as we headed out.

We drove first to Portree to get a few snacks since we weren’t sure what we’d find in the way of food on our drive. I’d read about the drive, about having to pay for parking at each of the places we’d visit, about the small number of bathrooms (or should I write “toilets” since that’s what they are called here for the most part), and few or no restaurants. Being as it was Sunday, I wondered if even more might be closed.

After the grocery store we started on our route. I’m getting more comfortable being on the “wrong” side of the car, and Dan is getting better at driving.

Until that huge pothole.

That really scared me! He had pulled over in the passing spot (they have these frequently on the roads here, since the roads are narrow), and at the start of that passing spot there was a hole he didn’t see and I didn’t have time to point out. (I do try to point things out sometimes, since I have his encouragement to do so.) I was just sure there would be damage, but all was well. (We did get out to check on the car.) Whew! But these potholes are one of several reasons we are encouraged to purchase insurance in Scotland!

And then … wonder of wonders! We spotted the “hairy coos”. I hadn’t expected that, since while I’d read they might be on the island I’d also seen a video of some women searching for the cows and they found it difficult to find them. Not so for us!

Next up was this little waterfall. Sweet, but when you’ve seen falls in Yosemite … well ….

One destination we knew we had to get to was The Old Man of Storr. Not that we would do the entire hike, but one never knows. We arrived, found parking (for £6 … parking isn’t exactly cheap here), and prior to starting out some sprinkling started up. We popped into the gift shop and spent a short time there, but decided, finally, to put on rain gear (including rain pants). I’m sure glad we did, although we probably would have been wiser to put everything on before the rain got harder! You can see the weather pretty clearly. Or maybe “rainily”.

Up the trail we went. It was a pretty good climb, and it really felt great to get a bit of a workout.

Photos along the way:

I wasn’t willing to do the final climb. It was just too wet, and I figured we’d done enough. I’m sure going up all the way would have been super, but I know my limits, and I also didn’t want to deal with slippery walks due to all the rain.

We then went back down a different route.

Next up was the spot below, near Lealt Falls. We saw a sign for coffee so figured we’d grab some. But first photos:

We got to the coffee/hot dog truck and they were out of hot dogs, and the coffee grinder had broken. So never mind. On to Kilt Rock.

After a short drive we found a coffee shop that actually had coffee.

Some of the houses have this great stone work:

Next we drove to Duntulm Castle.

It was tremendously windy. I couldn’t shoot flowers very well, so I thought I’d try a video. I have no clue how it will sound so perhaps turn down the volume!

Yes, I tend to like the sheep and sweet lambs.

We have to pull over at times. You can see that below if you can see the video. (Let me know if it works … I keep seeing a notice that it’s set to private but It most certainly is not!)

We drove back to Portree to see the rather well-known colorful buildings. I’m pretty sure the Redwood House (where we are staying) painted the buildings to mimic Portree. We saw some more coos there … well … stuffed ones, anyway.

As we drove for our evening meal it of course had to rain. And the sheep had to stand there looking as if they owned the road.

Our dinner … our very expensive Mother’s Day dinner … was at Monkstadt 1745 and it was delicious. I will share photos, but honestly they look rotten and it was such a fine meal!

So that’s the story of our day with photos and videos.

14,072 steps, 5.64 miles, 55 flights climbed (I’m skeptical of this last bit!)

Friday, May 8 — Our Full Day in Inverness

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Finally, sleep is pretty much normal! My “sleep score” on my phone wasn’t terrific, but for some reason the doggone watch and phone are tremendously confused about things. It seemed to now think my bedtime should be 9:00PM. It’s never been that early. Sometimes it the watch is off, sometimes not. I guess both devices have also been suffering with jet lag. Or something.

We didn’t leave our room until after 10:00. Lazy bums!

Speaking of rooms — this place, Aye Stay, is similar to a B&B, but there is not only no second B, but it appears will we never even see the owners. As I mentioned yesterday we entered the house to check in yesterday, we just looked at the list with our name and grab the correct key. Earlier, when we dropped off our luggage, I didn’t know where to put the bags so I buzzed the owners and I was just told over the speaker what to do. I think they live in part of the house, but who knows? It sounds like our supplies will be replenished (I’m hoping they replenish the little package of cookies — I tend to collect those for emergency snacks!) They don’t do much, though. It’s all very impersonal. I’m okay with that, being the introvert I am, but it just feels odd.

Looking out our window, as well as checking the weather app, I could see that we were in for another windy day with temps in the low 50°s. I’m glad that I packed my turtleneck at the last minute! It’s definitely a lot of layers day.

With few plans or ideas of what to do, we did know that first stop was coffee. Dan had found a place nearby that looked good. So after his shower and both of us getting ready, we headed out.

We both had a sweet roll (which is much tastier than a sweat roll which was what I first typed) and coffee. The Bakery was a nice little spot!

Then we walked toward the River Ness, to go visit the Ness Islands I’d read about (and where we had headed yesterday, but ended up returning before we arrived there).

The Ness Islands were lovely. While there we met a couple who chatted with us for a while, which was also lovely. They live in Scotland, although the man was originally from South Africa. They had visited the United States so we enjoyed hearing about their travels.

But back to the Islands … just gorgeous!

Saw this poster for Parsifal, too.

Then we went to the Botanic Gardens for a brief while. (Thank you, Dan, for tolerating my flower love!)

Normally we don’t eat lunch if we have a good breakfast, but while the sweet rolls were tasty we decided we should actually have a decent meal. If you can call what we chose decent! But hey, we had been to the Victorian Market yesterday and had said we’d return for lunch, so what could one do but stick to what we said.

After lunch we attempted to find a map of some areas we will be visiting. Climbing some steps, we landed at what looked to be mostly a children’s bookstore, but there was a map of all of Scotland so we did pick that up.

The bookstore is at the top of these stairs.

Then some more walking took place, passing this interesting building (I remember it from our first visit).

We had to go into Leakey’s Book Shop, having seen it mentioned numerous times.



From there we walked by The Hootananny, which had been recommended to us back in 2023 when we took our Great Glen Way Walk, so I checked and (hooray!) we could make a reservation. But that meant there wasn’t enough time to go back to our lodging for any meaningful amount of time so … okay … don’t tell anyone … we stopped at a place to have a beer. Mind you, it was merely to take up time. Honest!

Finally it was time for our dinner at Hootananny’s. The person taking us to our table was a bit harsh when I said something about the sound and my bad ear — scared me, in fact. But I guess he’s just that way. He did give us a great table, further away from the musicians. He also told us we had 1 1/2 hours to eat and then we’d have to leave the table. Fine. We could deal.

Or could we? We had placed our orders and while our drinks and appetizer arrived quickly, our dinner did not. The two women next to us got in after us and were served quickly. Hmmm.

Speaking of those women, they had just finished the Great Glen Way walk! We ended up chatting for most of the time we were there. Both live in Arizona and, now both widowed, do tons of traveling.

I finally talked to our server and asked her about our meal and my concern that we now had 20 minutes left. She assured me that we would be able to finish. Meanwhile we listened to the music. I don’t have a clue how the videos will be, but I at least recorded some bits.

And our dinners did finally arrive!

When our server returned and we ordered a dram for after our meal she did tell us we’d have to vacate the table. But by then it had been two hours so we could hardly be upset! So we got our drams and headed downstairs.

While there, some altercation must have happened, as a man was escorted out. I suspect a bit too much to drink, but who knows? I think they have pretty tight security (we saw one guy outside as we left).

We drank and listened a bit more.

I’m glad we made it to the place this time around.

Walking back to our lodging it was really quite nice out.

We spotted some people bowing on our way, and one of the players came and chatted with us a bit. Such a friendly man!

Tomorrow we move to a new destination. I’m close to packed and ready, as I like to set the next day’s clothing out the night before. We just have to go get (GULP!) our rental car. I am betting Dan does the driving as I’m not too excited about driving on the left side of the road.

Goodnight!

18,137 steps, 7.29 miles, 5 flights climbed

Final Full Day in Boston (9/24/25)

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So here we are — our last full day. What to do …?? Well, first of all, COFFEE!

We went to the same place as yesterday, The Thinking Cup. Heh … oh, now I get it! Took me a while. This time we both opted for lox and bagels with out typical coffees, espresso macchiato for Dan and cappuccino for me. All was quite yummy. Because it had started to sprinkle nearly everyone was eating inside, so the noise was a bit much for my ears — especially one woman sitting very nearby. She had the type of voice that just penetrates, if you know what I mean. (If you don’t maybe you should call me and I’ll demonstrate. Or not.)

We decided we’d head toward two museums, so we walked that direction. We didn’t realize we would be walking by Berklee College of Music until we were at the corner and I spotted it. (And yes, I definitely didn’t do a lot of research before heading to Boston!)

The walk was pleasant. I had no idea what direction we were talking (it was cloudy so I couldn’t see where the sun was), but our map guided us. Mostly.

First up was the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, at a sort of okay price of $20 per senior. What a hodgepodge of things she collected. It truly ran the gamut. And her “palace” also ran the gamut, as a combo of Moorish and sort of what looked like craftsman perhaps, among other things. It rather fit her crazy collection, to be honest.

Partway through we had our lunches at museum prices. So it goes! We are supporting the arts, I suppose.

Then upstairs we went. Floors two and three with a lot more hodge-podge.

And it’s always good to get advice when in the bathroom, yes?

When we got out of the museum we had to use our umbrellas for the first time. But hooray … I could then say I’d used everything I’d brought aside from one pair of socks and a pair of tights. Not bad!

We made our way (a less than five minute walk) to the MFABoston (Museum of Fine Arts Boston in case you don’t want to puzzle over what I typed first). By the time we arrived it was already 3:30 and it closed at 5:00. I have a suggestion for museums: lower your price if someone can only be there for an hour and a half! Not only is that not a thing, but they don’t have senior prices. So $27 per person it was. (And they are going up to $30 soon).

I did enjoy the museum. First up was a search for the photography exhibit. Hmm. Where was it?! Oh. It’s just a small, five photo or so, thing in a room one might pass through to get elsewhere. And it wasn’t all that exciting.

Then off to their special exhibit to check that out. Rachel Ruysch painted incredible works of flowers and bugs. (A sign outside the room warned people that there may be disturbing things due to the small animal specimens — various insects pinned in collection boxes and various small critters in jars. Those don’t bother me, but they also don’t really matter to me.) I’d seen some of her work before — I believe it was in Berlin. The exhibit of paintings (by not only the star of the show but her teacher and her younger sister) were great, but after seeing a number of them I’d seen enough and didn’t think I needed to see even more. It’s very difficult to get decent photographs due to the lighting. Oh well.

So we headed upstairs to see a variety works. We wandered and enjoyed a lot of wonderful work (Monet, Van Gogh, Millet, and many more but I’m lazy and don’t want to keep typing names!) until someone came by to tell us it was time to be leaving.

It was still sprinkling outside (thankfully it hadn’t been sprinkling inside … that would be a problem!) and Dan decided to grab a Lyft. But we didn’t grab it quickly enough: it appeared that most people had opted for the same thing and we were the last to get a car, which took 25 minutes to arrive. (Actually, he was assigned one car and shortly after that one must have canceled, he was assigned another and ditto there, so we were getting car #3.) All for a one mile drive to our hotel, except in a car it’s more than a mile of course.

Traffic in Boston isn’t great. I don’t think I’d ever want to drive here. Our driver said it’s always this way. So no thanks!

We went back to our hotel and first went to the “kitchen” to see if they had utensils since we have some chocolate cake in the fridge. And yes, they did! Then I got myself a cup of coffee because, well, it’s free at the hotel and I have a difficult time resisting free things. It was decent for hotel coffee, so I brought it up to our room where I typed much of this blog entry and we relaxed for a while.

Dinner. Ahhhh, dinner! We puzzle over this nearly every day. We say we are going to do simpler things so frequently. We’ll keep it cheaper. But, well, it was our last night, and we wanted seafood but we didn’t want to go very far. The place the hotel had recommended was more than we wanted to spend and didn’t have any openings until 8:30. I found a place (Banks Seafood and Steak) that looked less expensive and had a 7:00 opening. Plus it was only a six minute walk. Sort of. We took the Apple Maps directions and they were a bit silly and six turned in to about twelve. But we arrived, eventually got seated, and looked at the menus. Truth is, it was about as expensive as the hotel recommended spot. But I justified it all by saying it was our last night and very likely our last visit (first and last, really) to Boston. So there you go. The meal was absolutely delicious and the service was excellent. (I’m always happy when the servers don’t say, “take your fork and knife” if they are removing the appetizer plate, but instead clear it all and bring clean utensils. Call me crazy, but I prefer good service like that. (Hm. I guess I should do that at home, eh?!)

We spent a good long time at the restaurant, and then walked back to our hotel, umbrellas opened due to the sprinkles we felt. The walk back was shorter — our route was much smarter than Apple’s!

And here we are. The final night. We checked in for our flight earlier today, and tomorrow will most likely be a “get coffee, get back to the hotel and pack” sort of day.

I really like Boston. It’s was impressed by the friendly people, the cleanliness of the city, and the history is just so amazing. It makes history more real when one is in the places where things actually happened! I could write more — especially about the mess our country is in now do to the person who is ruling over us, but I’ll try to keep my mouth shut (and my typing fingers still). For now.