We started our morning in London with fresh bagels from the 24-hour bagel shop just down the street (unlike US or Dutch bagel shops, they only had one flavor). Since we were in East London, I requested that Camilla and Tristram find some offbeat nearby places to take us. Camilla chose to start at some Sunday markets; along the way, she found some interesting streets such as Brick Lane, infamous for its curry houses and street signs in English and Bengali.
Camilla dropped us off at the train station with less than 5 minutes to spare for our journey into London. She was bringing our luggage later in the day, which gave us a free afternoon. Veronica requested we visit the Imperial War Museum to go along with her studies of WWI and WWII this year. We skipped looking at the tanks and planes, but still managed to spend 3 hours wandering around. The Blitz Experience was very well done--it still amazes me that several of our friends’ parents were children in London during the Blitz. Above you see one of the 600,000 Table (Morrison) Indoor Shelters that were distributed; can you imagine your family sleeping in that? Ashlynn is outside an Anderson Shelter, designed to accommodate up to 6 people; 3.6 million of these were erected in the UK before and during the war. After a sushi lunch, we met Camilla at the train station to head to her sister’s house in Hackney, where we’d be spending the night. While Camilla and Tristram went to the opera, I looked after the girls.
On our final day in Kent, we went with Camilla’s other brother to Wildwood, an animal park. Unfortunately, many of the animals were still hibernating, so there were a lot of empty enclosures. While we thought much of the place was primarily geared for little kids, we changed our minds when we reached the lynx enclosure. While the keeper gave a short lecture, we watched the lynx decapitate a dead bunny by leaping in the air to grab it off a high pole. It was gross, but worth the price of admission.
It took over 1.5 hours to drive to Camilla’s older brother’s house in the small village of Penshurst on the western edge of Kent. We had dinner, then walked across the street to the historic town hall to watch a pantomime of Jack & the Beanstalk, written by Camilla’s brother. I don’t know if I’m just getting used to the British sense of humor, but I thought it was very funny; I especially liked Giant Underpants and the Elvis Fairy-godmother.
Our plans slightly changed when Camilla needed to take her car into the shop for a last minute inspection, so instead of visiting a manor house, we visited the nearby historic town of Sandwich. We took a nice walk through the marsh and the dunes of the Sandwich golf course, which occasionally hosts the British Open, to the beach for a picnic lunch of sandwiches, of course. While Camilla and Beatrix waited for the car, Freya gave us a walking tour of the town including a stop at her favorite candy shop.
Camilla, my other cycling buddy, picked us up at the tiny Kent Airport. After lunch and a visit to the Roman Museum, Camilla took Ashlynn, Freya and Beatrix shopping while Veronica and I visited Canterbury Cathedral, one of England’s oldest and most important cathedrals. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the leader of the Church of England. Veronica studied Thomas Becket, the Archbishop from 1162 that was murdered in the cathedral in 1170 by knights of King Henry II. Pilgrims visited the shrine built in 1220 until it was removed in 1538 by orders of King Henry VIII; today there is a sculpture and a candle burning in his memory. After all that history, we were reminded about the harsh realities of modern times when we stocked up at a bookstore and sporting goods store that were going out of business.
It probably seems foolish, but we managed to squeeze in an afternoon in Edinburgh before heading down to England to visit more friends. After dropping our bags at our B&B, we walked up the hill to Edinburgh Castle, a castle fortress with mostly 16th century buildings and excellent views of this capital city. We then walked along the Royal Mile, where I bought a short kilt for myself for next year’s Burns Night Supper. We did some more shopping, then had a great seafood dinner at Seadogs and went back to the room to watch the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. After a delicious breakfast, we flew to Kent on Flybe, a UK-based regional airline which had the nerve to charge to check-in online (so I just checked in the old-fashioned way--at the airport).
The girls loved the kids’ pets--three big chickens that live in the backyard next to the trampoline. The boys’ chickens lay one egg each day, while Naomi’s seems to be eggless.
Their house was built around 1901. Marianne and John updated the house by putting in a new kitchen and finishing off the attic (which is where Veronica and I slept). I especially liked the drying rack on a pulley in the kitchen, which was the perfect size for a load of laundry. Our evenings with very mellow. Marianne cooked some great dinners for us, then us adults would enjoy an after dinner local whiskey.
On Sunday, we drove about an hour away to go orienteering (kinda like hashing without the flour or beer). We’d never been before, so we needed a quick lesson on how to use a compass in conjunction with a topographical map. Ashlynn and Naomi were one team and Veronica and I were another. We went on the orange trail, which was the first level that didn’t just follow along a logging road. Our teams met up just past the 2nd checkpoint; here you see Veronica looking at the map to determine the direction to the 3rd checkpoint.
After Veronica led us deep into the bog, I asked to see the map and realized that we’d gone the wrong way; once we got back on trail, I retrained Veronica how to hold a compass. Much of the rest of the 3K trail was in the forest. Although a GPS is not allowed, this is a competitive sport with printouts given at the end with split times from each checkpoint. Ashlynn and Naomi beat us to the end by 3 minutes as they leaped through the woods like deer, while I tromped through like an elephant. After lunch at home, Marianne and I took a walk around downtown Aberdeen, known as the Silver City because most of the buildings are built of grey granite. Aberdeen is now considered the Energy Capital of Europe because of the large finds of oil in the North Sea.
Our hike to Dunnottar Castle was only 1.9 miles long, but it was challenging due to the rain and wind. The wind was so strong that when I turned this last visible corner, I was almost thrown into the barbed wire fence. Luckily, the wind was blowing us into the hillside rather than off the cliff into the wild North Sea below.
The final part of the hike was actually the most hazardous as we climbed up and down wet stairs without proper handrails. Most of the ruins were from the 15th-16th centuries, but the main tower was from the 14th century. After exploring, we went into town for lunch at a pub.
We knew that February was not the ideal time to visit Scotland, but that didn’t stop us from visiting our friends in Aberdeen, who had moved back from The Hague in May. Ashlynn was very excited about spending time with her friend Naomi and I was thrilled to see Marianne, my old cycling buddy. Little Patrick is a big fan of Veronica’s and was happy to take a hike in the rain as long as he was holding her hand. Alex hid behind John for this photo taken on a hill over the harbor of Stonehaven (check out the double sea wall).
As soon as school was over on February 18, it was time for us girls to head to the airport. Since we were leaving continental Europe, we were in the international terminal at Schiphol. We were really impressed with the renovations in the main hall. There was a new library with books in a variety of languages and iPads loaded with travel information. The girls were glad for the diversion while I visited the satellite of the national art museum.
The lounge was filled with a variety of funky seats, some also with iPads. Veronica couldn’t resist playing the grand piano.
