Carol and I began our marriage travels with a five week trip to Europe starting in England. After 60 years it doesn’t seem likely that we will be doing any more extended travel overseas. I’m not ruling it out, but there is still plenty to see and do in the US and Canada. We have traveled in 67 countries on six continents. We have been to the top of Tibet, over 12,000 feet, and to the depth of the Dead Sea, about 5,700 feet below sea level, as far north as Fairbanks Alaska and as far south as Cape of Good Hope South Africa. We have driven across the United States more than 24 times in our motorhome and been from the Mexican border to the Canadian Border – and beyond. We are not done, we plan to drive back to California in the Fall and do some other road trips this summer.  

Back to the trip we just completed. We had a day to walk around in Edinburgh and our hotel was just steps away from George IV Bridge which crosses to the area of the Castle. It was a warm sunny day!! and we strolled up toward the Castle area. We never made it since the steps were daunting. We did climb several steps and had two wonderful stops. We found the Writers Museum in Lady Stair’s house (that was her name) in Lady Stairs Close up some steps and it had three main floors covering the lives of Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns.  We spent over an hour there taking in all the information about the writers and the museum. We moved on from there to the National Museum on the way back to our hotel. This may be one of the most confusing museums we have ever been in. The range of material from modern medicine to ancient sculptures with a stop along the way for early steam engines is confusing enough then have more than three interconnected buildings with lifts that go to alternate floors and this tired couple were glad to find our way out after an hour. We concluded the day with dinner at a Spanish Tapas restaurant  before collapsing for a 4:30 AM wake up to be in our taxi at 5:30. 

I will spare you the description of Edinburgh Airport, it may be the worst we have experienced. The flight to Toronto was smooth and comfortable. Our car was immediately available at Park and Fly and we drove to Mitch’s house in the usual Toronto traffic. Carol was adamant we not drive home after the long flight and 5 hour time zone change. Mitch welcomed us to his house, although he was not there when we arrived, it was a work day. We had time with him late afternoon and in the morning – THANK YOU MITCH – before beginning the drive home. 

First stop after Toronto was Hamilton to visit Aunt Dorothy (known as Dodo to us). One does not drive by the home of a centenarian without stopping in. After a brief (30 minute) wait to cross into Lewiston NY we faced a dilemma. Southern route on the Thruway, Middle route on NY 104  or lakeside route, the slowest. After lunch in Lewiston, we opted for the slow route along the lake. Just west of the western end of the Lake Ontario Parkway we found an Amish farm stand we have visited in the past and stop to top up with fresh fruit and vegetables. We arrived at the apartment at 4 PM, a mere six hours for a three hour trip. That would be par for us.

Tony picked us up a the hotel on the 20th to head through the Cotswolds to Lygon Arms in Broadway. I suppose I could recite the names of the towns and villages we passed through and stopped to visit. I am not sure I remember the name of the place we stopped for a pub lunch. It was a glorius day and we settled into Lygon Arms like finding our way home, even though we were only there for a night 60 years ago. Upon taking a look at the rooms we had then we were grateful they were not available. The bathroom was out the door down some steps and back up somemore steps. Our “suite” had a small livingroom a sizeable bathroom and a nice sized bedroom. It is in the sort of old part of the main building – only 200 years old. The adjacent section of the building is about 600 years old. 

We dined in the main dining room where we were to have breakfast for four mornings. The food was very good and we retired to get some rest with no immediate wakeup call since we had nothing planned until 1:30. Yechiel and Miriam Katz arrived just as we were preparing to sit down for High Tea to mark our 60th year. We had a lovely time with champaign and drinks and plenty to eat from the three tiered trays. 

Backtracking: As we walked the town in the morning we heard interesting noises and noted a crowd gathered just down the street from the hotel. A group of Morris Dancers had claimed some space on the green and were dancing.

They really weren’t sideways, but I haven’t yet figured out how to rotate the image – sorry.

We strolled and relaxed and eventually had dinner and prepared for another busy day. We started out going to Stratford-upon-Avon to tour Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Ann Hathaway’s home. After lunch we returned to the hotel for some R&R to return to Stratford-Upon-Avon for dinner and a play at the Royal Globe Theater. The play was Merry Wives of Windsor and a wild bunch they are. The setting was sort of modernized and the dress was mostly modern but the script was pure Shakespeare – well there some modern influences. If you know the play you know it for a very funny story and they played it for all it was worth. We were hysterical much of the time. Yechiel and Miriam Katz were with us in the morning and joined us for theater. 

The following day we set out for The Lakes District with Nicky driving and guiding. We toured and drove and toured and ate and drove until eventually we arrived at Gilpin, a fantastic small hotel in the Lakes District with two superb kitchens. Our room overlooked the front drive and the gardens to the side. Our planned schedule included dinner at “Scene” an Aisan Fusion retaurant with delightful options and wonderful seasoning. The next day included a brief boatride on Lake Windermere to recapture the experience and a driving tour of the Lake District. Nicky is both a wonderful guide and competent driver. We circled the District returning to Gilpin for dinner in “Source” which is their Michelin 1 Star restaurant. We got to the table about 6:30 and were finished at 9, and that was the 6 course meal and only two glasses of wine. I will not bore you with the course by course description (even if I could). Suffice it to say portions were small, spacing was relaxed and flavors and presentation were phenominal. 

I’ll stop here. We are now in Edinburgh having driven all day along Hadrian’s Wall. 

When Daniel our guide picked us up at Roseate Hotel, Bath, one of the fist questions he asked was typical “Where are you from?” When we responded, “Rochester”, his immediate response was “Henrietta”!! We were dumfounded! Then he pointed out our hotel is on Henrietta Street and the row of town houses extending up the hill were known as Henrietta with Henrietta Mews extending off through the row. The wife of the family that came into money was named Henietta and apparently she was the strong force. As their wealth grew they invested in land in US and founded the town of Henrietta, just outside Rochester. I will need to look up more details to verify and extend this story, but Daniel’s immediate response to Rochester and the adjacent town of Henrietta sure started out day off in a grand manner. 

He saw to it that we saw most of the sights of Bath from great vantage points and told us the legend of the founding of the town some time in BCE. He left us at lunch and we went on to tour the Roman Baths and make our way around town and back to the hotel. The baths have been the center of the city since its founding well before the Romans appeared. The Romans found the hot water a wonder in the cold wet land. They are the only hot springs in England! They built a complete set of baths with all the typical luxeries found in baths throughout the Empire only here they did not need to bring fuel to boil the water. After the Romans left, the baths were ignored for many years and fell into ruin. People still came to “take the waters” which are said to heal everything, but it wasn’t until the Victorian era that they were rebuilt for the use of the upper classes. Once again they fell into disuse and only recently have new baths been built to take advantage of the hot springs.

Today’s adventure was a tour of 1 Royal Crescent Museum which is located in an end unit of the huge crescent. It is fitted out with furnishing from the 1776 era and the family, represented in audio and videos, are going about living life in Bath. One son is an officer in the British Army on Long Island, the eldest is a wastrel gambling and drinking and the daughters are older teenagers entering society (17 and 19). We were intrigued with this structure since our home in Rochester for 17 years was a much smaller structure built along the same lines as the Royal Crescent including being very tall. This was a bucket list item for us for many years.

More tomorrow as we travel though the Cotswolds ending in Broadway at the Lygon Arms where we stayed 60 years ago on our Honeymoon.

After breakfast at the Buttery we took an Uber to the Royal Opera House for our back stage tour. It was a grand tour that had us on the green path through the stage area to avoid the moving stage wagons while they were preparing for the afternoon perfomance. We also were taken into the props room, and walked by the wigs, makeup and costume areas. The stage area had enough space for three full sets. By the time we were done the doors were open and the shops were busy.

Rather than fight the lines for food we ventured out into the alternating sun and rain where we found a nice little shop with decent small food to satisfy our need for lunch. 

We went back to our room for some rest in preparation for theater. Dined at Tozi, just a few minutes walk from the theater, excellent foood and service. Then on to Hamilton.

Nobody told us that this was the last performance in a 7 year run! Much of the audience knew and the cast were over the top. We have seen versions of Hamilton, but always on a screen at home and the bigggest audience was with Dan’s family making us a total of 6. The energy of a full house made this a very different experience. We were in tears. Being in a British audience cheering on the Rebels added to the power of the show.  

On to day 4. We went to the Imperial War Museum, Churchills War rooms. These are the rooms where Churchill and his staff retreated to a sub basement that was never intended to be inhabited or to be bomb proof, but from where they fought the war for 4 years. Many of the rooms, especially in the Map Room are just as they were left after Germany’s surrender. The satff walked out, locked the doors and there was no reason to return even to pick up three cubes of sugar secreted in a drawer. We spent a long time there and surfaced for lunch and some rest.

As I write we are packing to be picked up by our driver to visit Stonehenge on our way to Bath.