BigWeather's Blog

We awoke a little later than normal, but not too late as we were downstairs for breakfast around 8a.  Glorious, glorious English breakfast as opposed to the dreadful affair at the adjacent Lidos Hotel.  A fried egg, two pieces of English bacon (pretty much country ham, a bit on the salty side), and baked beans.  Add on to that two pieces of white toast, butter, and strawberry jam and some breakfast tea and it was a damn fine start to the day!

On returning to our room we watched a bit of “Lovejoy”, a 1980s British mystery show starring Ian McShane, a favorite actor of ours.  We then departed and  walked through the quiet Saturday morning streets to Pimlico station and took the Victoria line all the way to Euston.  We got a train to Watford Junction shortly after 10a, a trip that lasted only about fifteen minutes or so and had no stops.  Once in Watford we waited a few minutes for the shuttle bus to the WB Studios in Leavesden where the Making of Harry Potter exhibition took place.  We arrived there a bit past 11a and stood in line to pick up our tickets.  They had three giant chess pieces from the first movie out front.  Once inside we saw a few costumes from Fantastic Beasts as well as a trailer for the upcoming movie before walking down a long series of corridors decorated with footprints a la the mischief managed map as well as quotes from the move such as a personal favorite of ours: “We could all have been killed — or worse, EXPELLED.”

The corridors ended in a lobby area with the entrance to the tour, a massive shop, and a cafe.  As we’d not eaten lunch yet we decided to go for some food.  Michelle had a jacket (baked) potato with cheese, I had a steak and cheese panini with boiled potatoes.  For dessert Michelle had a chocolate milkshake that wasn’t that great and I had a lemon drizzle cake that was quite great.  We also bought a couple of bottled waters as our prior ones were empty.

We briefly looked through the shop, bag checked our backpack, and got in line for our 1p tour at about 12:50p.  While we were in line we passed the under-the-stairs set of Harry’s bedroom at the Dursleys; there were even small toy soldiers that I never noticed before.  Once through the line we were led into a room surrounded with TVs high up on the walls that were showing posters from all eight movies from all around the world.  A short time later a video played covering the rise in popularity of the books, how the film got green lit, then the crazy success and premieres.  Once that was over they opened a door on the far side of the room to reveal Hogwarts’ great hall.

The great hall was impressive.  It was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins, cakes, and candies.  Around the room were many costumes including Harry, Ron, and Hermione as well as the main teachers of Hogwarts like Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall and other characters like Hagrid.  There was no ceiling to the set, however, and we’d later learn that they used CGI to provide that (as well as the effects like clouds or floating candles — which were first implemented as physical but the wax dripped on the actors!).

As another group was about to enter we were escorted to the “big room” where the majority of the sets, costumes, props, etc. were.  We were free to re-enter the great hall if we wished, but after that group had moved out.  First we saw costumes and the place setting from both the Yule Ball as well as the great chocolate feast.  There was also a scale model of the great hall’s ceiling to be used in conjunction with CGI to produce effects.  A display of wigs (including Luna’s) and other practical effects was neat too.

Next up was the Marble Staircase that would change position at whim.  This was pulled off by having the wheeled supports painted in key green so that it appeared to float in the air when moving.  Some of the frames had key green as well so CGI could be used to make the picture appear to be dynamic.  The Gryffindor Dormitory was surprising in its size — so small and, by the latter movies, with beds far too small for the growing actors.  The next set was a multi-purpose one — having served as several classrooms including potions and defense from the dark arts.  They had another of Alan Rickman’s Snape costumes there.  Real shame that we lost him so early.

Hagrid’s hut was neat and crammed with items.  There were a pair of interesting doors — a vault door from Gringotts Wizarding Bank (the locking mechanism was actually practical, not CGI!) and the Chamber of Secrets’ door with its awesome snake motif.  We saw the nested chests that held the real Mad-Eye Moody as well as his coat.  The Weasley family kitchen was predictably chaotic and featured many of the costumes of the family.  Around the bend was the set for Malfoy Manor, with the great table surrounded by many costumes.

It was at this point (and time, 2:15p) that we grouped up with a few others for our “Behind the Seams” tour.  Just above this meeting spot hung the tapestry depicting the Black family tree, complete with the burned-out Sirius’ portrait.  Sadly a good portion of the tapestry was lost after filming as it was placed outside to make room for other stuff and got exposed to the elements.  Two guides met us and led us through the courtyard (which I’ll describe later) and to a pretty nondescript room.  Inside, however, were some neat things — two racks of costumes worn in the films as well as some other shelves of hats, gloves, concept art, and the like.

After the gentleman and his assistant donned gloves they proceeded to discuss the process from initial concept to drawings to implementation and even alterations “in the field”.  They showed us several costumes like Voldemort’s robes which were made of very light silk.  Due to the clingy nature of the material Ralph Fiennes wore nylon stockings under them.  We also saw one of many coats worn by Mad-eye Moody (having seen one previously), all subjected to identical weathering process of burning with a propane torch and such.

We were told that a famous Parisian hat-maker had made the hats worn by the Beauxbatons.  The Botany instructor’s robe had tiny snails clinging to it but we’d learn that the back of the costume was light-weight breathable material as otherwise it was too hot for the actress and the back was never shown on camera.  We finished our visit by being able to try on actual house robes worn in the films.  Michelle chose Gryffindor and, while I’d normally be a Ravenclaw, chose Slytherin as that is Genetta’s.

After returning to the “big room” we continued our self-guided tour.  The Ministry of Magic’s floo network was really impressive, as were the offices.  One office in particular, Dolores Umbride’s, had me involuntarily shiver — I hated her in the movies so much.  They had a few of her outfits, the plates with cat pictures on them, etc. and all in pink.  Her quill was there too.  The “Magic is Might” monument prop was pretty impressive as well.  There was a display of some of the vehicles — Hagrid’s motorcycle, the Gringotts roller coaster car thing, and the Weasleys’ car.  That was neat as it was on an armature with a small piece of the Whomping Willow and another armature held another large branch trunk of the tree.  The armatures moved both back and forth and CGI was used to add all of the smaller whipping branches.

Next were a batch of artifacts from the film — the Tri-Wizard trophy, the egg that opens up with the mermaid clue, all of the Horcruxes, etc.  Really neat to see the real props.  A wall was covered with Quidditch banners as well.  The next major set was the Gryffindore Common Room.  A neat thing about all of these sets was the exterior — pipes, rebar, plaster, symbols.  Almost like a geode, a very ehhhh exterior and inside the amazing sets used in the film.  There were yet more costumes worn by the main actors of the series to be found within, as well as the famous “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry (remember this…).  The Invisibility Cloak was there too, one side of a fancy material and the other done entirely in key green to have Harry effectively disappear on camera.

After seeing the Griffin Stairwell (which in the movie twisted around to reveal a spiral staircase) we came upon Dumbledore’s Office.  It was really impressive, more than one story, with plenty of books and of course the Pensive.  Also on display were costumes worn by both of the actors to have played the role in the original movies.  Perhaps neatest of all was the Sorting Hat sitting on the shelf.

With Dumbledore’s Office visited we were done with the “big room” finally, and on to the Forbidden Forest.  This was enhanced a bit for Halloween with flashing “lightning” and spider props.  I was a little disappointed to learn it wasn’t the original set (which was long gone) but rather reconstructed by the same craftsmen using the same techniques as the original.  One cool thing we learned was that the Patronus was a vest of high intensity lights strapped around a dog (with CGI being used to make it look like a deer).

Stepping out of the forest we emerged at the train platform (9 and three-quarters) with the locomotive and cars used in the movies.  We walked through the cars and peered into the passenger compartments, each made up to look like it did for one of the movies (including costumes, props like the chocolate frogs, etc.).  A newspaper from the movie with the headlines “Terror at the Quidditch World Cup” was there, complete with a key green circle upon which the CGI to have one of the animated pictures would be placed.  A display case contained maps and books including, if I’m not mistaken, the awesome map used in the movies.  Mischief managed!

Leaving the platform we bought a magnet at a small stand then emerged into the “back lot” where the tall skinny purple Knight Bus sat in addition to the Dursleys’ house and the rickety bridge at Hogwarts (which did not appear in the books).  The Dursleys’ first floor was as appears in the movies but the stairs ended in scaffolding and such at the second floor.  On the wall in the hall hung a “Headteacher’s Award” presented to Dudley Dursley for “always eating his lunch”, haha.  While I was taking pictures of Michelle on the bridge some “Death eaters” came out and dueled visitors in a wand battle.  We skipped eating at the eatery there which included drinks such as Butterbeer.  Puke!

Stepping back inside we entered a couple of rooms stuffed with special effects props — heads, puppets, models, etc.  Particularly neat were multiple Dobby puppets, a Hagrid head that an actor would wear on top of his own shoulders to make Hagrid appear the proper height, the mermaids and Krumm-as-shark as well as the dragons from the fourth movie.  Speaking of Dobby, there was a neat exhibit where we could wave, move around, etc. and it rendered it as if Dobby was doing it in real time on a nearby monitor.  The book with that was alive with teeth and everything was there as well.  The second room had a wall covered in various hats used in the films.

Just beyond those rooms was a huge treat — the Diagon Alley exterior set.  We walked down the cobblestone street and admired the shops all around including Ollivanders Wands, the apothecary, and Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, complete with the statue of the man tipping his hat.  It was extraordinary to see the care that went into making the storefronts as “lived in” as possible.  The light in the set varied from blue to orange to white, each change radically altering the mood of the set.

Next up was a room dedicated to the concept art and scale paper models used to help visualize the movies.  The work space of one of the artists was presented as well, complete with easel and the like.  I was struck by the beauty of several of the pieces of concept art.

Finally we came upon the last room of the tour, a large room that contained a massive 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts that was used for all of the exterior shots throughout the series.  The detail was amazing and, like with Diagon Alley, the light varied to show the model in various times (morning, evening, midday, etc.).  It took dozens of craftsmen forty days to construct the model.  We started roughly at turret level then walked down a ramp and around the model before emerging at the bottom.

Our tour over we were deposited in the gift shop (of course, that is the way with all museums and attractions!).  As we had to haul anything we bought back on the plane it’d have to have been something extraordinary to make it worth the effort.  Sadly, most of the stuff for sale wasn’t anything that extraordinary so we bought a magnet and a guide book and headed back to the cafe where we had lunch.  Michelle had a chocolate muffin and I had a Starbucks “frappe” — wasn’t quite like the ones back home.  Still it hit the spot.

We stepped into the chilly evening air a bit past 6p and caught the bus back to Watford Junction, this time riding on the upper deck.  We managed to quickly catch a train back to Euston around 6:50p or so and, once there, took the Northern line south (I know!) to Waterloo, arriving at 7:30p or so.  Wow, Waterloo Underground station was sprawling compared to the others we had seen.  We had intended to go to the London Eye after the Harry Potter tour but it being so late (it closed at 8:30p), it being a fair walk (and our feet were tired from standing / walking all day), and dark made us scrap that plan and just go for dinner.

Michelle hadn’t had fish and chips yet and that was a must-do for a trip to England.  So, we went to a small fish and chips place called Fishcotheque.  Cash-only, but we had just enough.  Michelle had the cod fish and chips while I had a very excellent beef and onion pie with French fries.  Quite excellent.  After leaving and heading back to Waterloo we passed the Wellington, a pub / hotel that we almost stayed at that was located right on the tracks.  Dodged that bullet!

London fairly hopped that Saturday night, tons of people dressed to the nines and going to clubs and pubs.  We dodged them all and took the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus then Victoria down to Pimlico (as we didn’t want to deal with the busy restaurant area between Victoria and our hotel) and enjoyed the short walk back to the hotel.  Once there, we watched Medium and enjoyed a bit of tea, offloaded some pics, and went to bed.

 

Woke up at 6:45a and reluctantly went to our continental breakfast.  Even prepared for it it managed to disappoint.  Finished packing and checked out of the hotel and left the two large bags and one backpack (leaving us with only one) with our hotel for the coming night, the adjacent Luna and Simone Hotel.  We got to Pimlico Underground station a little early, about 9:20a, and waited (mostly) patiently until 9:30a and the beginning of off-peak travel to buy off-peak day passes for just under thirteen pounds each.  Took the time to research some dining options for our day trip to Oxford.

Yeah, Oxford.  Again.  I was still feeling miffed about missing the exhibition on Wednesday and had considered just not seeing it at all but it was pretty much the reason this whole trip happened in the first place.  So, we dutifully rode the tube back up to Oxford Circus via the Victoria line then Padding rail station via Bakerloo, arriving in time to catch the 10:22a train to Oxford.  It was uneventful and, yes, arrived in Oxford almost exactly one hour later, further reinforcing that the train attendant on Wednesday didn’t know what was up — thirty minutes, indeed!

We walked back across Castle Mill Stream via Hythe Bridge and went into a part of town with narrow streets and the like to The White Rabbit, apparently known for serving the best pizza in Oxford.  Surely the internet wouldn’t steer me wrong!  We had to wait around a few minutes for it to open, whereupon we took a seat and looked over the menu.  It being a pub, we had to order from the bar (as well as get some tap water from pitchers there).  We ordered an appetizer of dough balls with garlic butter as an appetizer, Michelle a cheese pizza, and myself a pepperoni (spicy!), ham, mushroom, and onion pizza.  We timed it perfectly as about five minutes after we got our food a lady came in seeking to eat there for the twenty-eight in her group.  Yikes!

Our lunch finished, we headed through the center of Oxford (after seeing an older lady and a younger man get into it over his cycling in an area that she did not feel he should be) to the Weston Library across from the Sheldonian Theater. We arrived perfectly on time for our 1p time slot. After presenting our tickets for the Tolkien exhibition we proceeded down a small hall, the floor of which the map of Middle-Earth was projected.

Turned left into a mid-sized room which contained the entirety of the exhibition. I was a little disappointed by the size of it at first, but that very quickly faded as the number and quality of the artifacts on display was extraordinary. There was a wall with many different versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in numerous languages, along with fan letters from well-known people including the singer Joni Mitchell. Opposite that was a display of items from his earliest years, from living in South Africa prior to his banker dad passing away when he was four, to Birminghamshire (UK) now that the family was quite poor and his mother passing away when he was twelve, to his years living with a priest. I was particularly struck by his mother’s penmanship — it was absolutely beautiful and apparently that (and her love for language) stuck with him throughout his life.

On the flip side of that were items related to his college life at Exeter College in the early 1910s, including notes from the headmaster that he was “v. lazy” and in danger of losing his scholarship. He made a good number of friends there, but sadly they all went off to World War I and few made it back. A picture of the freshman class of 1911 (which graduated just as the war began) was sobering — they highlighted those that died in the war and it was over half. Terrible. It was during World War I that the beginning of many of his later writing happened.

Returning from the war he taught at Oxford. They had many items from his study as well as his watercolors and colored pencils that he used to do so many great illustrations. He married the love of his life, Edith, and had several kids. In a move that made any parents visiting the exhibition feel decidedly inadequate he wrote a beautiful letter with water color art and stamped from the North Pole from Santa. Therein Santa would describe the crazy goings-on in the North Pole, often of his elves and a friendly polar bear fighting off goblins that would steal gifts intended for kids.

It was during this time that the “Inklings” were formed, a group of people interested in writing and literature. Their number included not only Tolkien but also C. S. Lewis. They’d meet weekly and discuss their work, offering a friendly audience and constructive criticism. Tolkien taught Old and Middle English literature and was particularly known for his courses on Beowulf. He felt that the 1066 Norman conquest had cut short the potential for a great Anglo-Saxon epic and busily started constructing a world from the ground up that could eventually serve as the basis for one.

There were numerous artifacts on display that showed this construction, from early sketches of fantastic locations (many of which would make it into his writing) in a sketchbook he called the “Book of Ishness”, to language trees, samples of Elvish, Dwarvish, and others, etc. What was interesting to me is to hear just how much of his writing was coming together all at once — the Silmarillion actually pre-dating most all his other thoughts despite that work ending up not being published in his lifetime.

Creating stories for his kids, like “Roverandom” about one of his son’s lost dog, eventually lead to his classic children’s tale “The Hobbit”. He penned the famous opening line “In a hole in the ground lived a Hobbit” while bored grading papers in the 1920s then did nothing with it for years. He also, early on, drew the Thorin’s map (the one with the pointing hand). In the mid-1930s he sent it to a publisher and the publisher was so taken with his illustrations and jacket design that they used those as well. They didn’t expect much but it ended up becoming a world-wide phenomenon.

One wall of the exhibit was dedicated to showing the original watercolors of many of “The Hobbit”‘s illustrations. “Conversations with Smaug” was incredible, I’d never noticed some details like the black lines coming out of the door behind Smaug or the scattered bones of other adventurers that had dared to try and steal from the great dragon. Watercolors of the Great Eagle in its nest and Bilbo riding with the barrels (with the Dwarves within) down the river were beautiful. I’ve seen the book’s original dust jacket my entire life but seeing the original, with publisher’s notes like “ignore red” (as it was deemed too expensive to add another color) was another thing entirely. There were also some pen and ink illustrations like the trolls and even the front page of the submitted manuscript (minus the “by J. R. R. Tolkien” byline as he had forgotten to add it, so the publisher scrawled it on).

Another area was devoted to the Silmarillion and Lost Tales (neither published in his lifetime). Highlights here were the pen and ink and watercolor designs used for the various houses of Elves and the like. Nearby was Michelle’s favorite part of the exhibition — completed crosswords (in impeccable penmanship) with the surrounding newspaper absolutely covered in beautiful doodles — both geometric and lace-like.

There were a couple of free-standing displays showing off various maps related to “The Lord of the Rings”. They were done on graph paper and very much “working maps” — he was very careful to ensure that the characters did not travel farther than possible each day, even inventing his own Hobbit units of measure based on toenails. Yeah, guy was a bit obsessed! As he’d need to correct areas of the map he’d draw corrections on small bits of graph paper and then tape them on to the original. We could even see a few burn marks on the maps from his pipe.

This detail included not only maps but also he made a timeline of what all of the various factions of his story (Orcs & Enemies, Allies & Friends, Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, the Company) were doing each time, at the same time, so that it all lined up. There were also illustrations of some of the locations in LotR as well as the original jacket designs (though meant to be one book it was too large to publish as such). There was even a note by a young reader who read the first bit of LotR and was asked to give feedback by the publisher. The reader noted that it was a bit slow (very true) but the appearance of the Black Riders greatly intrigued them. Also at that point the book was called “The Magic Ring” — thank goodness he fixed that.

The last thing in the exhibition was a poster map done in the late 1960s by Pauline Baynes for LotR. It was extraordinary, colorful but with that style that only the late 1960s could deliver. I resolved to hunt down a print of that poster map some day.

I was struck as I left by the enormity of what he had created. In this day and age of Game of Thrones, The Wheel of Time, and the like it is considered normal to create worlds whole-cloth with meticulous detail and use that as the foundation for story telling. He didn’t have a blueprint to follow. Just a love of the epics of old, an interest in maps and languages, and illustration. In doing so, he created the modern Fantasy genre, led to its popularization (would Dungeons & Dragons have happened? Game of Thrones? I think it unlikely), and one could argue did create the epic for England that he felt the Normans had robbed them of.

Leaving the exhibition about 3p we bought a couple of things as well as checked out a remarkable tapestry map from the 1500s showing many towns in central England. There was also an “exhibition” — this one just a glass case like a trophy case — looking at various Kings and Queens of England and ailments that killed them and whether they’d have been fatal today. This included Henry VIII (morbid obesity and diabetes), Elizabeth I (smallpox scars from youth led her to use lead-based makeup throughout her life — which caused her to lose her hair and also damaged her skin), George III (madness), etc. Interesting.

We then headed south at about 3:30p to near the Radcliffe Camera and the adjacent Oxford University Church. In a corner of the Cathedral was a room where officials had met since 1320 which was now a cafe, Vaults and Gardens. Outside was a patio, surrounded by hundreds year old graves, overlooking Radcliffe Camera. We each got afternoon cream tea (house blend) which came with a raisin scone and raspberry jam and clotted cream. We also got a slice of lemon drizzle cake and also chocolate fudge cake. The chocolate fudge cake was average, at best, but the lemon drizzle was moist and just tart enough. The tea itself was excellent as well, as was the scone with jam. It was really neat to have tea in such a historical location.

Once we finished we walked past Christ Church and into the adjacent Christ Church Meadow nestled between the River Cherwell in the east and the River Thames in the west. We did a clockwise circuit all the way around it, enjoying the cows and punts and massive trees as well as still waterways chocked with green vegetation and reeds. Also saw some Canadian geese, apparently introduced to the area — who the heck did that?! I did my customary finger gun “pop pop pop” at the little bastards. Hate them.

As we came around to the west side of the meadows we got back on to Oxford’s streets at Folly Bridge. As it was evening a gentleman was wrangling punts with a pole as he was being hailed by one of the many river boats on the Thames.

Walked up St. Aldate’s and past several important buildings: Christchurch Cathedral, the Oxford town hall, and Carfax Tower — the only remains of a medieval church.

We then turned west toward Oxford’s castle mound (remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle, of which only a tower remains — dating back to the Saxon times) before returning to the train station, our feet hurting a bit, just before 7p. We quickly boarded the train to Paddington (carefully getting the one that only stopped at Reading and Slough) and were back in London just before 8p. A couple of Underground hops later and we were back in Victoria station.

It being a Friday night the pubs were full and people drinking with their friends spilled onto the sidewalks. We decided to try a (of all things) Mexican restaurant, Loco Mexicano, on Wilton Street. It was OK, I guess. A bit expensive (but that’s London). Not offensively bad like the Mexican we had in the Adirondacks in 2011, just soulless. We had two appetizers, chips and salsa (the salsa being more of a tomato paste like texture) and Cajun mushrooms (mushrooms stuffed with cheese, breaded, and fried). The mushrooms were good, at least. Michelle had the pulled pork enchilada and I a spicy beef burrito — though my meat looked exactly like pulled pork and tasted it too, so I suspect that it was. Probably a good thing, the universe doing me a solid.

Left the restaurant at a bit after 9p and walked the short distance to the Luna and Simone Hotel, our lodging for the next two nights. Check in was quick, room 8, and on the landing between the first and second floor. Excellent, I thought, not many stairs to carry luggage up (there being no lift)! My happiness faded when we went up a half floor and there was no room 8. Ugh, that’s right, the first floor is the second floor in America. Room was nice, a little bigger than the one at the Lidos Hotel and it was nice to have one bed rather than two singles. The bathroom was larger too, though the sink and I didn’t get along too well, it splashed everywhere!

Blogged a bit, off-loaded pics, and watched TV (Medium first, then the series (they don’t call them “seasons” there) premiere of the Graham Norton Show). We had put in for tickets for the Graham Norton Show taping but were never contacted. Probably for the best, it filmed at just past 6p on Thursday and we were just getting out of Hamilton at that time. After Graham turned off the TV and went to bed, just past midnight.

 

Woke up at the now-normal 6:30a and headed downstairs for Lidos Hotel’s breakfast — continental breakfast.  It was decidedly not great, it should have been an English breakfast, leave the continental breakfasts to the French!  Michelle and I ended up settling for rolls (and myself an additional croissant) with strawberry jam accompanied by tea.  Headed back to the room, where Michelle decided to relax while I went on a walk about the area about 9:30a or so.

I first walked up to Victoria rail station and took pictures of the adjacent Victoria Palace theater and its Hamilton marquee.  Next up was Westminster Cathedral.  Not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, the place where every King and Queen of England has been crowned since the eleventh century and the resting place for many of them.  No, not that.  Instead a pretty ehhhh red and white brick building that looked like something out of NCSU’s campus.  I was also struck by how much of the city was now glass buildings than during my past visit (in 1996) though I did see an old pub resolutely representing the old architecture!

A bit farther down the road, however, was Westminster Abbey, which is quite incredible.  I went into the shop and bought a couple of magnets before taking a few pictures of the exterior.  As time was short and I’d seen it two-and-a-half decades prior I decided to move on to Big Ben and Parliament.  Unfortunately Big Ben was under scaffolding for restoration until at least 2021.  Foiled again by my arch-nemesis, scaffolding!  From nearby Westminster Bridge there was an excellent view not only of shy Big Ben but also the Thames and the London Eye on the far side.  As it was a pleasant, if a bit chilly, day there were people out and about enjoying the weather.  One sad note, however, were the large elliptical barriers, about three or so feet high, erected I’m sure as a response to the terror attack last year that claimed five victims (and the perpetrator, but f’him).

I walked along the south side of the Thames to the next bridge, Lambeth, and back into the Pimlico neighborhood of Westminster.  It was far less crowded here, quite quiet, and I passed some “estates” of apartment buildings, often with their own church and other amenities.  There was also a charming rose garden.  A short time later I arrived back at Lidos hotel with five minutes to spare before I had promised I’d be back, 11:45a.  Decided to use that time to poke my head in to the adjacent hotel, the Luna Simone, to see if they’d keep our bags the next day (as we would be checking in with them) while we ran off to sight-see.

After a few minutes of getting gussied up Michelle and I walked down to Victoria rail station and out the other side to try out a burger joint that I had read was popular in London — Bleecker Street.  Apparently burgers were becoming popular — we had seen Five Guys, Shake Shack, and other chains all over.  Michelle ordered a cheeseburger while I got a bacon cheeseburger.  We also got some “angry fries” — basically fries with bleu cheese and hot sauce (though we held that).  Michelle had a vanilla milkshake while I had a coffee milkshake.  The burgers were OK, not the best we’ve had but not too shabby.  The fries were quite good, we especially liked that the bleu cheese wasn’t chunky but more of a sauce.  The shakes were really good, though the small particles of coffee in mine did elicit some coughing.

After lunch we walked a block to the Victoria Palace theater and got in line for our 2:30p matinee of the musical “Hamilton”.  We chatted with the people behind us in line a bit and shortly thereafter at 1:15p the doors opened and we entered.  All they had to do was scan our card and it printed out tickets for us on the spot, really efficient.  We visited the shop selling Hamilton stuff first, a good call as by the time we left with our magnet, program, and a shirt for Michelle it was packed.  After a bathroom visit we took our seats on the middle level (“royal pavilion”), third row.  What a great view of the stage!

Before it started I chatted with the guy to my left, a retired school principal from Rhode Island near the border with Connecticut.  He was on a tour of England, Scotland, and Wales.  Nice fellow.  2:30p came and the show started right on time.  I had listened to the soundtrack a few times since getting tickets but seeing it was entirely something else.  The West End cast sounded a bit different from the Broadway recording I had listened to but I quickly adjusted.  Visually it was stunning and there were subtle things I missed when I was only listening to it.  Going in I wasn’t sure how the British audience would react to a show about the American Revolution and particularly the portrayal of their former King, George III.  They loved it!  The first half had so many great numbers and all the exciting war stuff, the second half has a great emotional impact and also somehow manages to make cabinet battles interesting.  Really can’t say enough good about the show, see it if you can!

During intermission (only fifteen minutes!) we were surprised to see that they sold Haagen-Dazs ice cream — vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry — and actually let us eat it in our seats.  Crazy!  We also talked with the young lady to Michelle’s right.  She had fallen in love with Hamilton’s music through a YouTube recommendation and begged her father to get her tickets for her 18th birthday.  She had become so interested in the musical that she was now in England doing her “A-levels” (whatever *that* is) in American History.  After the show (which wrapped up shortly before 5p) she took pictures of us in front of the theater.

Before going to the theater the Lidos Hotel front desk had recommended A. Wong for Chinese but said that we were unlikely to get in without a reservation as they had received a Michelin star and were now greatly in demand.  They were right, and not only for Thursday night but also Saturday.  They did recommend, however, a place on the other side of the block — Dragon Inn.  It turned out to be a great recommendation.  It was pleasantly decorated and we munched on shrimp chips until our appetizer of spring rolls arrived.  The staff was very involved, even putting the napkin in my lap and moving the bowl of shrimp chips back after Michelle had moved it.  Thankfully they had forks on request so Michelle and I didn’t look foolish eating our entrees — sweet and sour chicken (served in a half pineapple!) for Michelle and ginger and scallion beef for me.  Both were very tasty!

About 7p headed back to the room and watched some TV — Grimm, Medium, all sorts of American shows haha.  Went to bed shortly after midnight after typing up a few blogs and offloading pictures.

 

We awoke shortly after 6a, got a quick (and delicious — other than some quite cold eggs) Hotel Phileas breakfast.  Once back in our room we hastily packed and headed downstairs whereupon a taxi was summoned for us about 8:30a.  The drive to Paris Gare du Nord was around twenty minutes despite being only a mile away.  The city fairly glowed in the morning light and was quite extraordinary.  I don’t think the driver spoke much English so we exchanged the briefest of “ca va?” “ca va bien” pleasantries.

Gare du Nord was a hive of activity but we were isolated from it by having to go through the Eurostar boarding process.  First we had to stand in line and scan our tickets, pass our luggage through a scanner, go through a metal detector, then talk with the UK Border Force after handing them our customs landing cards.  I didn’t get to fully fill them both out and got some heat for that, especially when I moved around to the other side of Michelle to try and write and he was like “I don’t know why you’re going over there, sir, I certainly didn’t ask you to do that.”  He also grilled me about my profession and wanted to ensure that I didn’t do any work with defense contractors as that must be disclosed (I don’t, and answered thus).

Once through that we were discharged into a waiting area with shops and seats.  We talked a bit with a guy from New York who was thoroughly happy to be leaving France and returning to the UK.  We talked a bit about Florence, North Carolina, and it turns out he was a frequent visitor to Murphy.  At last our train was ready to board and, lo and behold, we were facing backwards again!  Grrrrr…  We left a little later than scheduled, about 10:30a.  The train fairly zipped along, first through the Paris suburbs then past farms and quaint villages on the way to Calais.  The train actually made a loop from south to east to north to west around the town of Lille, less than two miles from Belgium at one point.  So close!  Though it wouldn’t have counted even if we entered Belgium as it would’ve just been in transit.  Gotta eat, shop, or sleep for it to count!

Just before Calais I was getting excited about entering the Chunnel.  Would would it be like?  Maybe it was because we were facing backwards but it was decidedly underwhelming.  One second it was light and the pleasant countryside was passing by, the next it was pitch dark.  Yeah, don’t know what I expected in hindsight!  For twenty minutes we cruised through the tunnel and then full daylight again.  Not much was different on this side, near Folkstone, other than everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road.  Another forty-five minutes or so later we had arrived at London St. Pancras, grabbed our luggage, and entered the main part of the station.  While each of us used the restroom the other guarded the bags and listened to random travelers step up and play music on a piano.  First was an older guy playing classical (Genetta would know what it was, we didn’t) then a teenager playing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”.

We got a London Black Cab to our hotel, taking almost forty-five minutes.  We were separated from the driver by a Plexiglas partition but could talk to each other via an intercom system.  He was a really chatty Londoner of Indian descent.  We talked about sports (cricket and tennis, mainly) and holiday travel (he shares my obsession with trying to be early when traveling — is this foreshadowing?).  He remarked that the warm and sunny weather London was experiencing was very unusual.  After paying him via credit card we stepped into the lobby of the Lidos Hotel.

There was an older gentleman and a younger lady waiting and we were checked in very quickly.  We headed up to our room and quickly freshened up, exiting again around 1:30p.  By this time Michelle and I needed food badly.  We stopped by a pub called the Prince of Wales where Michelle had a BLT (without T) and I a shepherd’s pie with a side of peas.  We also got two comically small ginger ales.  The BLT wasn’t great but between it and the side of fries she was able to hold off the hunger a bit.  My shepherd’s pie was great and I tolerated the peas.  The bartender was a friendly lady and there were a few locals (including one with a hacking cough) in even at this mid-afternoon hour.

We made our way to Victoria Underground station and bought two off-peak day passes (at almost 13 pounds each!), then took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo line to Paddington.  The PA system kept mentioning a strike that would affect the Picadilly line — hopefully we wouldn’t be needing that.  We got to Paddington just before 3p with the next train departing at 3:22p.  As our tickets were for 4p I confirmed with the GWR (Great Western Railway) representative what the time to Oxford would be — thirty minutes.

Uhhhh, no.  After a fairly pleasant ride with a parade of comers and goers sitting across from us (including a distinctly British couple where the gentleman groused about everything including how his friends would be sorry they are living in Birmingham as they’d surely get robbed) and stops at Slough and Reading and Oxford only a few miles away the train slowed to a crawl.  We ended up getting into Oxford slightly past 4:15p, nowhere near the 3:52p we expected!  Still, I clung to hope and hailed us a taxi (this driver not nearly as friendly as the one earlier).  Got dropped off (in not quite the correct place) and walked up to the exhibition…

…only to be barred admission by the guard as it was closing in five minutes.  To say I wasn’t happy is an understatement.  It wasn’t his fault, of course.  Things just didn’t work out.  We went to the exhibition’s gift shop and bought something (but not a magnet — those weren’t in stock, as were several other things).  Funny that the exhibition closed so promptly but they’d let the store stay open longer for the almighty pound.

We took some pictures of the Sheldonian Theater (with a surprise appearance by a red hot air balloon) and of the Bodleian Library then went off in search of a bathroom, finding one at Blackwell’s Bookshop, an immense bookstore sprawling over four stories.

Afterwards we shared a water at their cafe then headed out for dinner.  Along the way we passed several stores all cashing in on Harry Potter (I guess being a university town?) but they were thankfully (for my wallet) closed.

We then turned up St. Giles street and headed past the small St. Mary Magdalen Anglican church and its small cemetery and the impressive Martyrs Memorial before stopping before St. Benet’s Hall.

St. Benet’s Hall didn’t appear (from the outside, at least) much changed from my month’s stay there in July 1991.  I could make out the great dining hall on the ground floor and the small classroom above with its comfy chairs and couches (on which I learned about Britain’s involvement in World War II for history credit).  Apparently, though, part of the building was now a B&B so no idea if it was still thriving.  It was always one of the smallest colleges of Oxford University.

Just down the street from St. Benet’s was The Eagle and Child or, as it is known to the locals and literature fans, The Bird and Babe.  Famous as a gathering place for J. R. R. Tolkien (Hobbit, Lord of the Rings) and C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) it is crazy the literary history that happened within.  Today I’m sure it has lost some of its cred (run by a conglomerate of pubs as many in England now are, poked at by the movie “The World’s End”) but it was still neat to visit.  A bit of a winding route through connected rooms (with a few side rooms), comfy benches, pillows, art on the walls.  As it was packed when we arrived we sat in the farthest back room which unfortunately was a bit warm.  Michelle had the Nicholson’s Hunter Chicken, a chicken fillet with barbecue sauce with a side of fries, salad, and onion rings (which I inherited) and I had applewood macaroni and cheese with bacon (as they were out of what I really wanted — steak, mushroom, and ale pie).  Michelle’s was OK, mine a bit better than that.  At least the drink was free since we just used the complimentary pitchers in the hall leading to our dining room to get tap water.

Headed back out into the night, past a food truck and the Ashmolean Museum, and turned west through western Oxford and over Castle Mill Stream on Hythe Bridge Street.  We passed the spot where The King’s House once stood — the place where both King Richard I and King John (yeah, the Robin Hood kings) were born in 1157 and 1167, respectively.  Amazing.  We arrived at Oxford’s rail station shortly before 8p whereupon Michelle bought some water and we waited for a train to London.  The 8:06p was delayed (amusingly) after the 8:22p one — which we ended up taking.

It was a largely uneventful ride back (except Michelle “discovering” that the water she bought was actually fizzy water when it shot all over the place upon opening, drenching her), putting us in London just shy of 9:30p (so, it is SUPPOSED to be an hour — wish that guy had been up-front, would’ve saved us the 58 pounds we shelled out to go to Oxford).  We rode the Bakerloo to Oxford Circle, the Victoria to Pimlico, and walked the quarter mile or so up Belgrave to our hotel where we collapsed, somewhat defeated.

We woke up at our seemingly standard 6a and, with generous snooze pressing, actually got up at closer to 6:30a. Got our showers and went out to the breakfast area just outside of our room, which doubled as a bar at night and had a glass roof which allowed for copious light. While the buffet looked tasty we ended up just eating the breads — French bread, croissants, and chocolate-infused croissants. Michelle had a decent tea and I had an amazing cup of coffee — dark and flavorful, even with a decent volume of milk mixed in.

As we were not staying a second night in Bayeux but were going to Mont Saint-Michel via the hotel’s shuttle service we kept one of our backpacks and a paper bag containing snacks with the hotel for the day. While Michelle waited in the lobby I ducked outside to check on the weather (sunny but quite chilly, making me thankful we brought jackets) and was treated to the gorgeous sight of the morning sun bathing the spires of Bayeux Cathedral in a bright orange light.

Closer to 8:30a Michelle and I headed out to the plaza behind the hotel and waited for our shuttle. There was a large group heading out to do a full day D-Day tour but there were a few others waiting for the shuttle to Mont Saint-Michel (hereafter “MSM”). In short order our driver, Jean-Pierre, appeared and did a quick roll call. We were then escorted a short distance to our waiting van. Michelle and I climbed into the middle bench along with another guy. Three ladies occupied the rear and the front passenger was occupied by an older lady who had been a French teacher. He wanted her up front so he could talk with her during the 1h30m drive each way.

And how they did. Conversing in a mixture of English and French (mostly French) they chatted about the surrounding area, French and European politics, lamented the death of the baker and butcher in small towns, etc. I could follow along with the French pretty well but some was beyond me. I asked a question about the abbey (when it was constructed) and, while he answered (starting in the 800s), it was made clear that he wasn’t a guide but rather a driver. Okay then.

Traffic was fairly light as we drove first south of Bayeux through a pretty decent forest then a succession of tiny villages with stone buildings, a stone church, a small cemetery, and so forth. We skirted the larger town of St. Lo, flattened in World War II (unlike Bayeux, which was spared due to its mayor making it very clear that there were no Nazi defenders or weapons there).  Jean-Pierre mentioned that it was mating season for the deer and that the male’s grunt is almost primeval.  Apparently Steve Forbes’ son had a castle in the area and would fly balloons shaped like his castle, or bikes, etc.  We also saw some windmills (the large kind, not the quaint Dutch ones) and a few electric car charging stations.

The terrain was hillier than I expected it to be.  Eventually we descended into a flatter, marshier area and were treated to our first view of Mont Saint-Michelle, looming gray over the horizon.  We stopped a fair distance (five miles or more, I think) to get a few pictures and, as luck would have it, about twenty green old-school parachutes blossomed in the sky.  Apparently they were preparing for the feast day of Saint Michael (Saint-Michel) – Michaelmas – this upcoming Saturday.  So neat to have that happen by chance!

We drove the rest of the way to the parking lot of Mont Saint-Michel, some distance (a couple miles) from the actual site.  We were told to be back promptly at 1p, Michelle and I setting out to use the bathroom first before catching the free shuttle to the site.  The line was a bit long and the delay cut into our time but we made it to MSM about 10:45a or so after passing through an area of small hotels and art galleries and the newly constructed dam that has enabled MSM to be an island again as the silting has been halted.  After being shuttled we still had a moderate walk along the causeway which spans the distance to the island.  As the tide was on the low side there were interesting patterns left behind in the wet sand by the retreating water.  Shore birds flitted about and sheep grazed on sea grass on the few patches of land that were above the high tide land.

After entering the main gate we had a choice to make — go up via the ramparts (fewer people but more steps) or the main road (more people and fewer steps, but shopping opportunities for magnets and the like).  We ended up going the main road with the plan to possibly come down via the ramparts after I scouted a little bit and decided that, yeah, the ramparts path was a bit more strenuous.

The street was really neat as it was very narrow with the signs advertising shops nearly touching at points.  We stopped by a couple of stores for magnets and postcards.  Though crowded it wasn’t crushing as it was past the high season tourism-wise.  We walked east up a moderate slope then turned 180 degrees and walked west a very short distance to a small plaza with some nice views back at the sea and the causeway.  We continued up, this time via some steep steps with no handrails, to the abbey entrance.  Michelle and I were very happy that we brought the walking stick that we bought in Utah years ago.

Our shuttle fee included abbey entrance fee so we skipped the ticket desk and proceeded inside.  The first room had a series of display cases showing the evolution of building on the island from the 800s and the initial abbey to the present day.  A door on the far side led to a large open courtyard in front of the abbey proper with amazing views all around.

The inside of the abbey was simple but impressive.  Simple wooden benches and a similarly simple altar were the main features.  One of the chapels had a wooden ship model suspended in it.  Two nuns and a priest were preparing the 12:15p mass and a crowd started to assemble as we left, about noon.  As time was of the essence we decided to go back down the way we came, stopping along the way to get a chicken and cheese panini from one place for Michelle and a ham and cheese sandwich (delicious, the bread is sooooo good) for me at another place.  I also bought two eclairs — raspberry for Michelle, coffee for me — to enjoy later.

We left MSM and boarded the shuttle not knowing what time it was and afraid to look.  I mean, not like knowing would’ve made us any less late!  As the shuttle pulled away it was hard not to constantly look back in awe at the sight — pretty much like something straight out of a fairy tale.  After getting off the shuttle we walked the short distance to the parking lot and found the shuttle waiting.  Phew!  Only then we looked at the clock on our phone — 12:58p.  Close, though we weren’t the last ones to show up, they appeared very shortly thereafter.

We were short two as a husband and wife was staying on MSM for the evening, leaving just Michelle, myself, the retired French teacher, and two young ladies in the van with Jean-Pierre.  It was nice to have the extra room.  On the way home everyone but myself and Jean-Pierre slept.  Jean-Pierre and I talked about French politics and political history and his fear of Fascism spreading across Europe.  Where his broken English failed my broken French would step in and we were able to hold the conversation fairly well.  Amazing how quickly it came back after nearly thirty years!

The van pulled in to Place du Quebec at 2:40p, just a few minutes past schedule.  Michelle and I sat on a bench and enjoyed the cool air while I finished my sandwich and then we ate our eclairs.  Michelle wasn’t too fond of the raspberry one’s filling but I thoroughly enjoyed the coffee one.  After gathering our bag from the hotel (marked with chalk, which came off on my shirt) we headed to Bayeux Cathedral as it closed at 6p.  Adjacent to the cathedral was a massive tree — turns out it was a Liberty Tree, planted in 1797 and still thriving.  The buildings in the tree’s courtyard had once belonged to the Church but were confiscated during the Revolution.

We stepped into the cathedral and… wow.  It was amazing, the sheer volume of stained glass (or painted glass, or whatever).  We were there at a good time as well, as the light from the late afternoon sun bathed the cathedral in color.  The nave was particularly amazing, with an area of multiple colors, an area of bright red streaks on the stone, and my favorite — spiderwebs acting as a projector screen and capturing the colors of the window they were attached to.

Another neat splash of color on the cathedral floor was filtered through a wrought iron fence, leaving the swirling design of the fence in stark negative to the color.  There were also paintings of Saints on the ceiling and a beautiful lectern that was sculpted to be cloud-like.  A timeline of the Catholic Church from the earliest times on a succession of posters was also interesting.  Underneath the cathedral was an area with pillars that we could’ve gone into but we were short on time.

Stepping back into the daylight we walked over to the Bayeux Tapestry museum gift shop to buy a few things then stopped for a bite to eat at a small eatery adjacent to it.  Michelle had a cheese omelette and a hot chocolate and I had a cafe au lait.  The omelette didn’t impress but at least did help take the edge off her hunger.  The hot chocolate and cafe au lait were OK.  Posters for both anniversary celebrations of the landings as well as Medieval fairs decorated the walls — again with the embarrassment of riches tourism-wise!

After walking back into town to buy two bottled waters from Carrefour City we headed to the train station.  We stopped along the way and enjoyed the evening and watched a large crane working.  We arrived in time for the earlier train to Paris but sadly we didn’t have reservations for that one and had to linger for an additional hour until dusk and the 8p train.  While waiting I snacked on the strawberry “cookies” Michelle bought back at Paris Saint-Lazare.  Not great but I just needed something.  Unfortunately I was getting quite the sniffle and was feeling a bit off.  The train ride wasn’t great, particularly as — despite carefully choosing our seats to face forwards — Michelle and I had to sit facing backwards.  Not a big deal for me but Michelle, being susceptible to motion sickness, was not in a good place.

Finally arrived back in Paris shortly after 10:30p and walked across the street to Hotel Phileas, where we collapsed in short order, exhausted.