Tag / journal

Awoke to brilliant sun, a breeze, and a proper Autumn chill. We had a wonderful English breakfast (eggs, country bacon, sausage, fried tomatoes, and mushrooms) at the Strattons, served with a strong dark coffee to fuel our morning. Took a quick morning walk to Swaffam’s beautiful 15th-century Anglican Church, the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul. A muted pipe organ signaled that Sunday morning worship was in full swing so we circled the exterior. A classic limestone gray stone church with a soaring bell tower. An impressively old (and quite full) graveyard surrounded the building on three sides. Jaunty gravestones dipped towards dew-soaked grass.

A short 20 minute drive along narrow winding roads and we passed through the stately gates at Houghton Hall. A straight-as-an-arrow pea gravel road lead toward the car park. White fallow deer grazed like cattle under broad oaks in the parkland. Deer pellets everywhere…along with brilliant green lawns.

Began our visit in the stables, carriage house, and woodshop. Next we ventured into the formal walled gardens for a short visit before our time-slot to enter the mail home. The gardens are subdivided by towering hedges, allowing many different styles and purposes to co-exist within one garden. A beautiful vegetable garden bursting with fall veggies. Tidy groves of apple trees. Lines of espalier pear trees. Beds of English wildflowers. A traditional rose garden with sunken fountain. A classic white greenhouse. Even a tucked-away croquet area. The gardens were utterly peaceful and inspiring.

1:30PM. On to the main event…the entire reason we planned this trip…Houghton Hall and the Houghton Revisited exhibit to be precise. For the first time in 230 years, this impressive original collection of paintings has been re-assembled from various museums–particularly the Russian State Hermitage–and shown in their original placements around the grand rooms. An impressive collection of portraits, religious scenes, and slices of life. Jeff’s favorite of the day, a portrait by Velazquez…simple brushstrokes turning red paint into silk. My favorite…a moving portrait of an elderly woman by Rembrandt.

The house itself is a work of art…inside and out. Built by Sir Robert Walpole, first prime minister to George I, the house was designed to house his impressive art collection…namely paintings by many old masters…Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Lely, Valasquz, Marillo, etc. Upon Walpole’s death, his heirs sold his large collection to agents of Catherine the Great. At the time, it created quite an uproar that this British treasure would leave the country headed to the frozen north. Now 230 yrs later, the collection has returned for a special exhibit. The paintings are hung in their original placements in rooms designed to showcase them.

The house is incredibly well maintained. The dark wood stairwell. A towering two-story main hall with statuary and carvings everywhere…the ceiling alone made us stop and sit and contemplate on four occasions. The dining room was another standout with marble-arched alcoves and a carved marble fireplace. We only saw a dozen or so rooms, but we looped twice to admire tiny details…rich tapestries, thick mahogany doors, leather bound volumes in a drool-worthy library.

It was difficult to leave, but we had more to see outside before closing. The front of the building was now warmly lit in dappled afternoon light. We walked the expansive lawn to get just the right picture spot. As the sun dipped behind looming clouds, we took a brisk walk around the grounds and eventually back into the formal gardens for one last peek. Just when we thought we had seen it all, we happened upon a tucked-away fountain with a small crowd. Just as we thought nothing was going to happen, the fountain stopped and a flame erupted in the center of the pond. Soon, a jet of water returned and carried the flame up about three feet in the air. Hard to describe. Impressive to witness. “Waterflame” by Jeppe Hein. A very fun way to cap off Houghton.

We returned to The Strattons at dusk and headed over to the lobby lounge for a pre-dinner drink of wine. Dinner was once again fantastic. English blue-cheese, pear, and almond salad…followed by pork belly with root vegetables…and delectable desserts with ice cream to finish.

When we described our day to the warm woman who brought us our wine, she summed it all up quite simply: “A fine day out.”

Indeed.

An early Saturday morning start to get us on an early train north. We hopped a short 20min taxi to the King’s Cross train station and purchased return service on the East Coast line to Peterborough. 9:30am train. Platform 1.

In no time, we left the bustle of London and found ourselves in the idyllic English countryside. The warm morning sun lit up rolling, well-tended fields, purposefully outlined by rows of trees and dotted with the occasional sheep. Rippled ponds and the occasional slow river. The occasional swan for effect. A small group of young American women on their way to Scotland charmed a local with discussions of reality shows and New Jersey politics.

We de-trained at Peterborough and took a 10 minute walk to Avis to pick up our little VW Jetta. My first time driving in England. Stay on the left! Stay in the left! Stay on the left! No problem. Saturday morning traffic backed up the round-abouts on our mostly one-laned roads, but otherwise we zipped easily through the countryside.

Our main sight for the day, the Queen’s estate at Sandringham, a stately home steeped in history but exuding the warmth of a lived-in home versus a frozen museum time capsule. We approached the house via a gentle wooded path, bordered by countless varieties of woodland flowers and shrubs. Box-trimmed hedges picked up when the forest ended as we approached the main home.

We entered–we were told–just as the royal family would into a small entryway off a large sitting room. Such a contrast to the opulence of Buckingham Palace yesterday, this home immediately felt like a place you could plop down and read a book. The home is furnished just as it is used by the Queen…minus the velvet ropes. Personal nick-nacks adorn every mantle and side table. Framed photos. Carved waterfowl. Board games. Books. Table strewn with an unfinished puzzle. The walls throughout the house are hung with cozy family portraits–primarily Queen Victoria forward–and romantic scenes of the hunt. An extensive rifle and weapon collection fills many hallways. Room after room revealed a relaxing retreat for a family of constant formality. Rather than a house to impress, it stands as a repository to all the items that generations have accumulated and obviously still carry deep sentimental attachment.

In the home’s simple ballroom, a Jubilee exhibit presented an approachable number of photographs of the Queen at various points in time since her coronation. A fascinating retrospective of events and styles and locations. According to several sources we have read this trip, the Queen is the most photographed person in history, which makes this tidy collection even more impressive!

Exiting the house, we strolled to the nearby museum, housed in the livery buildings…formerly horses, now used for cars and carriages. We stopped for a quick sandwich and cake for afternoon tea, and then perused the small museum. The exhibits focused on the history of the house through the eyes and styles of each monarch since Victoria. An impressive collection of royal cars rounded out the exhibit.

With the sun sinking lower we wandered through formal gardens, along pea-gravel paths, and beneath lines of towering trees. The warm sun lit up the red brick and warm stone of the home. A shady path wound around a tranquil pond, providing a postcard scene to end the visit. As we exited the estate, we quickly popped into the church…a tiny chapel tucked away in a clearing. The interior was simple, but meticulously decorated and lovingly cared for.

A thirty minute drive transported us to the small town of Swaffham and our evening stay at the quirky Strattons hotel. The small hotel encompasses a number of traditional English buildings, turning each interior space into a unique, contemporary room. We stayed in CoCoes #1. How appropriate.

We sat in the cozy lobby and sipped a full-bodied Spanish Tempranillo before dinner. Fittingly, dinner was as creative as our stylish hotel. Seasonal local ingredients added fresh spins to hearty English fare. Blue cheese. Pears. Norfolk crab and sea bass. Luscious pork. We finished our meal with a delicious chocolate tart with a coffee ice cream.

We retired early and enjoyed the refreshing evening breezes carrying the chilly scent of fall leaves. We slept soundly.

The day began with a chilly breeze and gray overcast skies. Sounds like late September in London, doesn’t it? Warm eggs and hot lattes quickly energized us for another long day of walking!

Good fortune gave us one more day during the Buckingham Palace summer opening AND our free return visit from our tickets yesterday. So, we plotted a fun course through Mayfair, happening by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian embassies. We quickly crossed quiet Green Park, accompanied only by a few dog walkers and early-start tourists.

We snagged timed entry tickets (free…yay!) with just a short wait. The trick with these same day tickets was to arrive just after the ticket booth opened at 9:00am. While we waited, we walked next door to the Queen’s Gallery and secured tickets for the afternoon. Our day was set!

Buckingham Palace: Take Two. For this visit, we decided to forgo the audio guide and just take in the rooms visually. The architecture and detail is so beautiful. Designed to impress…and it surely does. Just staring at the carved ceilings could occupy the mind for hours…each carving is ornate, purposeful, and symbolic. We also spent extra time in the long central gallery of paintings. It’s a relatively small collection (compared with a museum), but each piece is carefully selected and cared for. Another chance for coffee and snacks on the garden terrace.

The Queen’s Gallery houses various temporary exhibits through the year, exploring elements from the Royal Collection. The current exhibit–“In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion”–examined the importance and evolution of clothing in court life. What made this exhibit so fascinating was its approach to describing portraits not for the scene or subject, but for the significance of the fashion elements displayed in the painting. Elements such as use of specific color, the extravagance of specific fabrics, and even the significance of hats. It was an inventive, immersive way to explore a set of paintings and we simply loved it.

For our evening walk, we returned to Hyde Park. We settled into canvas deck chairs at the sexy Serpentine Gin Bar…we had wine…healthy pours of Tempranillo and Nero reds. Six-or-so green parakeets zipped across the sky. Swans and geese set off slow ripples on the otherwise placid Serpentine, catching the brilliant orange sky. A Jack Russell terrier with ears perked looked longingly at the birds. With its last colorful gasps, the sun lit up lines of lacey clouds in brilliant orange against the darkening blue sky.

Hyde Park slipped quickly into night, its thick trees blocking out the light of the city, leaving only the occasional lamppost to light its pathways. Bikes and walkers continue to emerge from and disappear back into darkness. We pointed ourselves towards the far end of the park, and took a long, leisurely walk along the Serpentine and then into the quiet, moist grassy, lawns of Hyde Park. At the end of the Park, Kensington Palace sat dark; its manicured gardens slept free of visitors.

After attempting a foolish Friday night drop-in to a popular spot we had visited previously with Jeanne and Sarah, we found a warm table at the lively Prince of Wales pub in Kensington. A couple of rounds of fresh draughts and tasty fish and chips. Pittsburgh Steelers fans in their black and gold crowded in for a pint. A friendly couple from New Zealand told us stories of being on their way home from a three-month trip.

We took the long long walk back along the north side of the Park. Bayswater Road provided yet another glimpse of life in this wonderful city. We slept soundly, knowing that tomorrow we were off to the English countryside!

We awoke well-refreshed and ready to jump right into London starting with our all-time favorite London activity…visiting Buckingham Palace :). But the Queen wouldn’t start her day without breakfast, and neither should we. Big hotels are notoriously expensive when it comes to breakfast (which frankly runs counter to the entire European philosophy of “breakfast included”). But status has its benefit, and the Doubletree throws in free hot breakfast for its Diamond members. Whew. (This is precisely why we save these silly Hilton points for expensive cities!) Breakfast was quite good, most importantly including hot lattes. 🙂

On to Buckingham Palace and the annual Summer Opening of the State Rooms. We had purchased open-ended tickets for this visit (versus a set visit time/day), which let us get to the palace as early as we wished. What a great ticket…we by-passed the zoo of people standing and waiting for their set time and waltzed into the security screening area. Still a zoo…but a zoo at our own pace!

The state rooms at the palace never fail to impress, but what made this visit special was the temporary exhibit on the Queen’s coronation in 1953. Many of the rooms had special displays, and the audio guide had new content specifically highlighting events of the coronation 60 years prior. An impressive group photo at the palace was accompanied by a rough video of the scene before and after the shutter snapped; a rare glimpse of the informal banter that surrounded such a famous formal moment. We particularly enjoyed the displays of gowns, jewelry, and other “artifacts” from the festivities. Even the “most photographed woman in history” can still surprise you with touching details and intimate, behind-the-scenes moments.

We exited the palace onto the rear terrace, looking out over the expansive green lawn towards the private wooded park beyond. We escaped the sudden bright sun with coffee and snacks under a broad white tent. An ordinary scone with cream tastes magical during tea time at Buckingham Palace. The palace gift shop and restrooms had two things in common—#1 they were only located outside after the visit and #2 they were very popular…probably due to #1. 🙂

A winding path led us away from the palace, along the edge of the grounds, towards the exit. A few trees began to drop yellowing leaves, setting an example for others as autumn approached. Warm, late-afternoon sun lit up the forest and created bright, colorful scenes on tiny ponds. As we exited, we got our tickets stamped for a year of free return visits. Our new plan…let’s do this again tomorrow!!

The tour exit is at the far end of the palace grounds, so we made our way along the exterior wall back to the front of the palace. Morning, noon, and evening, there is always a colorful crowd posing and peering through the gold-highlighted gates. Stoic, crowd-pleasing guards prance back and forth. The gilded figure atop the Victoria Memorial gleamed brightly.

We plotted a long route back to the hotel, cutting through two parks. We cut diagonally across Green Park, skirting the edge of the Buckingham Palace grounds for a while. A recent addition, the Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial, sat simply and allowed for personal reflection on the heavy sacrifices of WWII. We walked beneath Wellington Arch on our exit from the park, across Knightsbridge into glorious Hyde Park.

Hyde Park was teeming with bicycle commuters and early-evening walkers, all carefully avoiding each other in an elaborate dance that is surely executed daily. Aware of the quickly setting sun, we made a beeline for the Serpentine. Good choice. The setting sun shone brightly on bobbing geese and swans and other waterfowl. Kids gleefully tossed out scraps of stale bread, only to be swarmed and shook-down for more. At the new Serpentine Gallery, we turned sharply back towards Marble Arch and our hotel.

For dinner, we strolled into Soho and looked for something new and tempting. So so many enticing choices. New mixed with old. Japanese seems to be the “hot new thing”…with long lines to prove it. We were lured into stylish Cây Tre for Vietnamese. A chalkboard out front sealed the deal with an enticing Vietnamese mojito 🙂 Twist our arm and force us to have one while we wait for a table! Crispy pork and mushroom spring rolls. A smoky “campfire” beef in a savory dark sauce. A yellow chicken curry with a spice that lingered! And a wonderful Vietnamese fried rice with a fried egg on top. All so fantastic. And yeah, those mojitos didn’t hurt!!

Full stomachs and tired legs didn’t stop us from wandering and exploring quiet streets as we made our way back to the hotel. Such a perfect day.

An on-time departure from SFO and favorable weather dropped us into London Heathrow before 7am. United 901 treated us very well. (We were happily surprised to get a last-minute business class upgrade literally as we were in line to board..yay!!) Gray, misty skies greeted us. We took the speedy Heathrow Express train from Heathrow directly into Paddington Station where we easily hopped a taxi to the Doubletree Marble Arch, near the northeast corner of Hyde Park. (The namesake Marble Arch formerly stood at the entrance to Buckingham Palace before it was relegated to this less grand location.) A new London hotel for us, but in a central location and a perfect way to take advantage of some Hilton points!

After settling in and washing away a day’s worth of travel grime, we put on fresh shoes and walked to Soho, passing our old-familiar Doubletree on Old Marlborough Rd.

We selected the National Portrait Gallery as an easy first-day stop. We entered as they opened their doors for the day at 10am. Yay…free admission. The gallery was a perfect way to jump into the days to come with a healthy dose of British history. The gallery is more of a who’s who of Britain then it is a study in fine portraiture. Kings and Queens to scientists and mathematicians to writers and philisophers to celebrities and politicians. Even a 3D hologram of Queen Elizabeth II!!

We had lunch on our return to the hotel. Burgers and fries at Byron on Wardour St. and a couple beers. Oh that hit the spot. Nap time…we caught 3 hours of much needed rest.

Refreshed and ready to walk more, we headed back to Soho and one of our favorite restaurants–Tapas Brindisa–from our last trip. Fantastic tapas accompanied by mojitos (one Elderberry mojito and one so-called Spanish mojito). Mashed potato-wrapped chorizo; manchego cheese; a fantastic tortilla. ¡Fantástico!

We shared a creamy dessert at our favorite drool worthy place on Wardour…a cheesecake-type thing with blueberry swirl on top. We walked slowly through Mayfair on way back to get a real nighttime rest.

Quite a busy first day!!