Been There, Ate That

Hedge

One of the nice things about living where we do is that there is always a new restaurant springing up. This post reviews four places we’d not tried, one that changed management, and three that we visited previously.  For information on my rating scheme, take a look at Reading the Reviews. To get some information on the towns you’ll find these eateries in, click on the links that will lead you to previous blogs.

Beading through Bohemia Reviews Part 2

I

Roasting meat

t’s all about the food – or at least good food makes a trip better. We did have several nice meals made even better with a group of new friends. I’m a bit spoiled; even though I have food allergies that make getting common items sometimes a bit difficult, chefs and cooks generally do their best to accommodate me. On this trip if I ordered on my own I could talk to the wait staff and find something that was local but acceptable to my dietary needs. When I was with the group, I got grilled or roasted chicken at each meal; this was disappointing. Again, to see how my rating system works, take a look at Reading the Reviews.

跳到荆州和武汉 Jumping over to Jingzhou and Wuhan

Jingzhou was believed to have been built by Guan Yu at the same time he made the earth.

Wall outside of Jingzhou

And while this may not be strictly true, it has been a transportation hub and commodity distribution center for more than 5,000 years. Because of its location, Jingzhou served as the capital for 20 kings from around 1046 BCE until 256 BCE. This rich history has provided archeologists with numerous sites to explore. Within Jiangling County are ruins of five Chu cities, 73 sites containing Chu Culture items and more than 800 ancient tombs, including those of 18 Chu kings; there is also a well-preserved 2,000-year-old male corpse. The city walls, city gates, watchtowers, and battlements have been well maintained.

The Best of What We Ate in 2016

Angora sheep

It’s been fun running around the planet this year staying in interesting places, doing exciting things and eating marvelous food! This blog is concerned with the best of the best; in this case, anything with a rating of four carrots, unless otherwise labeled, from my evaluation scheme (see Reading the Reviews). The review blog is actually divided into two parts. The first is about the places we stayed and our activities (The Best of What We Did and Where We Stayed in 2016), with the second having to do with food (The Best of What We Ate in 2016). Within each blog there are also two sections: International and US.

Meditating in Milwaukee and Reviews

Lake Michigan from Milwaukee Art Museum

One of my great pleasures is making beaded jewelry and it’s been years since I attended the Bead and Button Show, so I got myself on a plane to Milwaukee. I knew that the town was in an area of Wisconsin that had once been home to several native American tribes. These groups, the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) native Americans, described the area as a ‘Good’, ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Pleasant Land’ and as a ‘Gathering place by the water’; Milwaukee is all of those things – at least in the spring and early summer. I’m not so sure that the descriptions fit in the winter when the area can be covered with several feet of snow.

Following the Romance Road to Rothenburg and Würzburg

Rothenburg from the Wall

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the ‘Red fortress above the Tauber’ is a small German town with many of its buildings preserved from medieval times. Rothenburg has long been valued as a prime example of a ‘German Home Town’. During Nazi rule followers were brought from all over the Reich to see the ‘the most German of German towns’. And during World War II, the U.S Assistant Secretary of War knew the historic importance and beauty of the town, thus ordering the army not to use artillery in capturing Rothenburg. A US military leader was sent to the local German military commander to negotiate the surrender and save the town, in spite of Hitler’s decree that all towns would fight until destroyed. After the war ended the residents, with the help of funds from around the world, rebuilt what had been damaged during the war. More lately, the traditional buildings of Rothenburg have appeared in several movies. In the 1940 Walt Disney movie Pinocchio it was the model for the village. The

Medieval Rothenburg

Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) movie featured Rothenburg in the trailer with the camera flying over the town from the valley towards the Town Hall. It has also been used for location shots in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1 in 2010 and Part 2 in 2011). Dave noted that pretty much every medieval community from Prague west could have been in the Harry Potter movies; he’s not nearly the fan I am.

Aloha – Coming and Going – Reviews

Diamond Head from Waikiki

I have always enjoyed the Hawaiian Islands. I like the climate, the plants, the beach, the mountains, hiking, swimming, scuba diving, the food, the culture and the people. I’m comfortable spending the day in sandals, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, with little to do but enjoy whatever comes along. But this trip to O’ahu was bittersweet. Perhaps it was the time of year or the amount of road construction, but I don’t remember that the traffic was ever as difficult as it was this trip. I also don’t remember the large numbers of homeless people (locals and foreign) nor the regularity with which we encountered the obviously habitually inebriated (either through drugs or alcohol); for the first time I did not feel particularly safe walking just a block off the tourist areas. The environment seemed tired (for want of a better word), with litter in the streets, along the beaches, and even in some of the out-of-the-way places we visited. The local population of all of the Hawaiian Islands continues to rise as does the tourist population; perhaps population stressors are finally having a visible effect. Would I return to this island? Yes, but only to visit the few places I have not seen and to eat at one or two favorite restaurants. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

Home for the Holidays and Review of Area Restaurants

Christmas Cactus

This week ends our holiday celebrations. Spending time with friends and family makes November through January entertaining and many times expands our ideas about places to go and things to do. We didn’t travel far from home around Christmas, but I did spend a few days out of town at New Year’s (more about that later). One of the things we do over holidays is sample restaurants we haven’t tried and return to some of our favorites. We also spend one evening driving around the area to look at Christmas decorations and may take a walk through the town center.

The Best of 2014 Near-Normal Travels

We’ve had lots of adventures this year and it is fun to remember the best ones. Here are our top picks (four carrots or better) for lodging, food and activities with links to the particular blogs entries from which they were chosen. Because this is the first year of our blog, we spent some time trying to standardize our entries; that's why some reviews are difficult to find. From this blog, you can easily go to the original posts. The Near-Normal Travelers hope you find this information interesting and entertaining. Happy New Year and happy travels!

Margaret River Lodging, Food, and Activities Review

Water wheel trough

Margaret River has something for almost everyone. If you are into wines, there are a multitude of vineyards to sample. The beaches and forests appeal to nature lovers. Places to stay suite travelers with deep pockets and those who prefer to ‘rough it’. Most of the area, at least in the early spring, has ample space on the roads for bicyclists and cars. For information about this rating system, see Sydney Reviews.

Rottnest Island Lodging, Food and Activities Review

The ride over to Rottenest Island is fun, and only takes a few minutes. If you are going to stay overnight, you probably do want to go during the week; particularly in summer Rottnest gets crowded.

Where we stayed...

Four and one-half Carrots

Top: Lodge bar, bathroom
Bottom: twin room

Rottnest Lodge is housed in the old prison. Inside everything has been modernized and decorated to welcome guests. There is a nice sized seating area near the well-stocked bar, as well as tables and chairs in the hotel courtyard. Trees and umbrellas provide shade, so this is a great place to take a break from hiking around the island. The room we stayed in was large with comfortable beds and windows looking out over one of the trails. There was a small refrigerator and supplies to make tea of coffee available. The bathroom was nearly perfect; the exception was that the shower tended to send water out onto the floor in the rest of the bathroom. The desk clerks were helpful and polite. Your bags are brought from the ferry and delivered to your room, so there is no bother about hauling them up the hill. The bags will also be picked up and returned to the ferry, but this must be done early in the morning. If you have carry-on bags, there is a secure storage area available at no charge.

Tasmania Lodging, Food and Activities Reviews

Tasmania Geologic
Map

While Tasmania is a rather small island, there are lots of places for the adventurous and not-so-adventurous travelers to stay, eat and do. The prices are about the same as they are on the Australian mainland. The people are warm, witty, and more than happy to talk to you about things to do. What we didn't know when we got to Tasmania was that once you are out of Hobart the restaurants will be with hotels for the most part; there may also be a 'game room' (casino), and a bottle shop associated with the hotel. You may need to order food at the bar, but you will have to pay there, and you may have to know your table number to do so. Before we go, again, we will be contacting some of the people we met to learn their perspectives on the best places to explore. Although there may be activities you want to finalize before going to this island, travel guides purchased in Australia or Tasmania have much more information than the ones I could find here in the US. For an explanation of the ratings, please see Sydney Review.

Where we stayed:

Four Carrots

Bath and King Bed

The Travelodge Airport, Hobart, 1 Holyman Avenue, Cambridge Tasmania 7170, +61 3 6248 3555 has a great group of people who are super helpful. I emailed them with a concern and they responded immediately; they even told us how to get to the hotel on a free shuttle. The room was great with free, high-speed WiFi. Breakfast was passable; basically it was cereal, toast, or muffins with coffee and juice. The next morning one of the desk clerks drove us to the car rental office at no charge. 




The West Coaster Motel, Batchelor Street, Queenstown 7467, +61 3 6471 1033 provided a

Bath and Twin/Double Beds

great room, super internet (cheap, but free if you book online), and a guest laundry. There is also a nice restaurant and a bar. We wondered why we were asked to make reservations for dinner immediately upon check-in; then the tour bus arrived as did a lot of other travelers. Evidently this is a popular place.





And since we practically lived in the rent car:

Vroom, vroom car got us a cheap rental with Red Spot Car Hire, Hobart Airport, Cambridge, Hobart 7170 Tasmania, +61 3 6248 4045. The people at Red Spot gave us lots of information about the car and what charges we did and did not actually need. However, I don’t want to rent a KIA Rio again, ever. Even though the car is small its seats are made for tall people. I could barely see out and the seatbelt practically decapitated me every time I moved it from under may arm.

Three Carrots

The Waterfront Lodge Motel, 153 Risdon Rd, New Town, Lutana (Hobart), 7008, 1-866-

Queen/Twin Beds and Bath

332-3590 is an economy hotel. It has a portable heater and a floor fan, along with a tiny, but well stocked, kitchenette to go with the furniture-packed room. The café table, two chairs and heating/cooling appliances are near the foot of the queen bed. The beds are comfortable and the bathroom is clean. A guest staying in one of the lodges reported that the heat didn’t work well. While there is no breakfast on-site, you can order food brought in; there are also snacks and drinks for purchase in the lobby. The motel is located on one of the bays and rather difficult to get to. It’s not somewhere I’d stay again because of the location and the internet is only available in the lobby, which closes at 8:00PM.

The Argosy Hotel, 221 Tarleton Street, East Devonport 7310, +61 3 6427 8872 is a moderate hotel, neither outstanding nor awful. The room was comfortable and clean. The

Bath and Double/Twin Beds

downside, that really irritated me, is that the free internet that they say works in the room doesn’t; you must go to the lobby. The hotel’s location allows easy access to tourist sites and to freeways.

Two and one-half Carrots

Bath and Six-person Room

The Olde Tudor Inn, 229-235 Westbury Road, Launceston 7250, + 61 3 6344 5044 is like old Las Vegas without the charm. Perhaps some of the rooms were like those seen on their website, but this one wasn’t. Because it was a Sunday, we had to check-in at the bar. The folks there didn’t seem to know exactly what to tell us about breakfast or the availability of the internet. One of the bartenders did supply me with a code to access WiFi from my room. On Sundays they closed the bar at about 8:00PM and there was no access to WiFi because the code had timed-out before it was given to me. The room was very dated but it would sleep six: two on the bunk beds, two on the double bed and two on the couch. The bunk beds are awful; they are hard as a rock. The double bed and the couch were comfortable enough; the linens were quite worn. There’s a bathroom that’s a bit small but at least has a heater and a good shower. The room and bathroom are clean. 

What we ate:

Four and one-half Carrots

Man O’Ross Hotel Restaurant 35 Church Street, Ross, 7209, +61 3 6381 5445 was

Angus burger and Crumbled Scallops

excellent. Dave had an Angus burger which he said was very good and the chips were delightfully crunchy. The lettuce, tomato, beetroot, and onion were crisp and tasty. The ketchup could have been homemade with its wonderful sweet-hot flavor. I had scallops, evidently one of the typical dishes for the area. They were ‘crumbled’ (lightly breaded) and fried and they were fabulous! The cook actually knows what he/she is doing with shellfish. The scallops weren’t overcooked – fresh, tender, wonderful. The tartar sauce was homemade, a bit sweet with a touch of horseradish. Vegetables in the slaw were fresh; it was apparent that this was homemade, as well. My food was so good I didn’t pay any attention to what Dave was eating, nor did I try to steal any of his lunch.

Four Carrots

Julie and Patrick’s, 2 Alexander Terrace, Stanley 7331, +61 3 6458 1103 had been a finalist in the Best of the Beach food competition. If they didn’t win, I really want to eat at the

Crayfish in Mild Curry Sauce and Prawns in Garlic Cream

restaurant that did! Dave had prawns in garlic cream sauce and I had crayfish (rock lobster) in a ‘mild curry sauce’. Both were fantastic. Thankfully, we were given spoons so that we could scoop up all of the delicious sauces. Service was friendly and prompt. The waitress was happy to visit with customers while paying careful attention to everyone’s needs. Had we been in the area longer we would have been back to try other items on the menu.

Three and one-half Carrots

Mixed Satay and Sweet and Sour Pork

We went to the Hong Kong Restaurant, 53/55 Main Road, Moonah (Hobart) 7009, +61 3 6228 3985 for dinner. From the extensive menu, David had a great sweet and sour pork and I had a pretty good mixed satay. Mine was quite a bit spicier than I expected; unless the menu says ‘sweet chili’ you cannot assume the dish will be ‘mild’. The restaurant was well furnished and clean; there were a number of people who knew the hostess by name, leading us to believe that there was repeat business.

The West Coaster Motel Restaurant (Queenstown) has a pretty good buffet, but you can order from the menu. For the first time the crumbled scallops weren't as good as the shrimp,

Calamari, Shrimp and Fish;
Crumbled Scallops

calamari and fish Dave had. Since Tasmania is an island, there are a lot of fishermen and they pull in lots of shellfish so it’s plentiful on menus. What restaurants don't have is red (cocktail) sauce, but the chili sauce will take your head off. Dave turned red and his head cold finally cleared up. Although we didn’t try any, the pizzas looked good and the size was certainly more than adequate. In a one hour time frame, I counted more than 20 of these pies going out through the ‘Take Away’ door. The breakfast buffet was okay but really expensive for the standard scrambled eggs/bacon/toast/fruit/cereal provided.

Olde Tutor Shopping Center, 227 Westbury Road, Launceston 7250 has an IGA (grocery

Cheese, Crackers and Wine

store) with a decent cheese section, a good cracker selection, and more varieties of Tim Tams than I knew existed.  We found a good cheese and some crackers with a decent wine (Olde Tutor bottle shop) for dinner; grocery stores are a bunch cheaper than eating out. The cheese had coconut, mango, and almonds; it was great; the crackers had garlic and the wine was a Tasmanian Riesling.  Yummy!

Tahune AirWalk Visitor Center had a small restaurant with a good sized menu. Along with soups, salads and sandwiches, there were homemade meat pies. Dave had a chicken and

Meat pie and Chicken sandwich

cheese pie; there was a chicken sandwich for me. The food was really fresh and good; we had to ask for ketchup for our chips. Since there is a hotel on the grounds, they also had breakfast offerings and what looked like some nice hot coffee drinks.

National Botanic Gardens of Tasmania’s on-site restaurant was under reconstruction, but

Croissant and Chicken wrap

that didn’t keep the food from being very tasty. Dave had a chicken wrap that was packed full of veggies ~ he said it was wonderful. I had a ham/cheese/tomato croissant that was good as well. There were tables of amazing looking desserts that we would have sampled if our meal hadn’t been so filling.

The Argosy Hotel Restaurant (at Devonport) produced some really good ‘crumbled’ scallops and a better than average roast beef. The roasted sweet potatoes were super, too,

Roast beef, Crumbled scallops, Moscato wine

but the rest of the veggies were uninspired - canned pea/corn, squeaky green beans and some mashed potatoes. It's amazing how many potatoes they have and serve here. Their breakfast was ‘made to order’ and the prices were the best we found in Tasmania. Eggs, bacon, pancakes and the requisite toast and cereal bar were good enough to bring up our rating of 3 Carrots that we would have given the restaurant, otherwise.

Three Carrots

We actually got supper at a Pizza Hut, Corner Newton and Forster Roads, New Town

Mushroom, pepperoni pizza

(Hobart) 7008 because we were too tired to find something local. No ice in the soft drinks unless you ask for it but the pizza was okay. They did have a buffet, and from the way the locals were eating, it must have been good.

Levee Food Company, 27 Seaport Boulevard, Launceston 7250, +61 3 6334 7011 was supposed to have some great seafood. I had calamari and Dave had fish and chips. The calamari were 'crumbled' with salt and pepper, put on top of a salad with almonds, sun-dried

Beer; Fish and calamari salad

tomatoes, cubes of fried cheddar cheese and some sort of greens. It was dressed with oil/vinegar. Dave's fish weren't particularly firm but the batter was really good ~ sort of a beer flavor. Of course there were fries with the fish. He did have to ask for ketchup and tartar sauce. Service was very slow and not particularly attentive. The waitress would ask a question then walk away without waiting for an answer. My food was substantially better than Dave’s and at least there was a view of the harbor and some boats. Almost everything had onions that they couldn't take out or Dave would have had a pizza or pasta with seafood; we assumed that this meant that one sauce was used for both pizza and pasta.

Ayers Rock Resort Review

Red desert sands

If you are thinking of going to the  Uluru-Kata Tjuta area, book very early. In fact, if you are traveling several places in Australia, you would benefit from finalizing these reservations first. Flights to Ayers Rock Resort are frequent, so getting a flight is not as difficult as getting lodging. If you are considering the Sounds of Silence tour, book this when you get a room reservation. Although Ayers Rock Resort is a remote location, the food was good. Again, as with other restaurants in Australia, food is expensive; food from the grocery was more reasonably pried. The five hotels at the resort range from expensive to relatively inexpensive. I've stayed at two of the moderate price hotels and at the backpacker's hotel (Outback Lodge and Hotel) and all are well maintained. For an explanation of the ratings, please see Sydney Review.




The Reviews: Lodging and Food

Three Carrots

While our room at Sails in the Desert was lovely, the bathroom left a lot to be desired. The basins are almost unusable because of the position of the faucets and the shower can’t

Sails in the Desert

be easily regulated. On check-in our bags reached our room before we did, but when we checked out the porters never came to collect them. We finally took our bags to the bus rather than risk them being left in the room. Our first day, the room was serviced by the time we got back from breakfast (about 9:00AM) but on subsequent days this was later and later until our last day when we were greeted at about 4:00PM by a room that looked the same as it had at 5:30AM when we left it. There is free internet in the lobby of the hotel, but it was so slow that I had a thought I heard the dulcet tones I once associated with dial-up connections; no one else in the lobby was using WiFi at the time. However, when I spent $7.00AU for an hour of in-room connection, I accomplished all my tasks in about 30 minutes. There was a free laundry for guests and the machines worked well. However, with the price we paid for the room, everything should have been perfect and free, high speed WiFi should have been included.

Four and one-half Carrots

The food at the Bough House Restaurant was the best we had at Ayres Rock Resort and

Kangaroo Steak

comparable to the best we’ve had anywhere. Dave ordered emu and kangaroo fettuccini with a tomato sauce base. It was well prepared and had a good flavor; no one ingredient overwhelmed any other. Mine, the kangaroo steak with a red wine reduction sauce, carrots, broccoli and potato, was outstanding. If I close my eyes I can still taste the tangy sauce. A dessert bar was included with dinner and featured the usual cheesecake squares along with fresh fruit and some more exotic offerings that presented nuts and wattle in interesting confections. While they had an extensive wine list highlighting Australian wines (which I usually order), I chose pear cider. I've decided pear cider is as good choice as wine ~ sometimes better when the weather is exceptionally hot. Service was excellent although our waitress was just learning food service skills.

Sydney Reviews

Sydney Opera House

We did have ‘sticker shock’ when we saw prices in Australia. Food has always been rather more expensive than what we see in US restaurants, but lodging and things to do have always been slightly less than we pay here.We did have ‘sticker shock’ when we saw prices in Australia. Food has always been rather more expensive than what we see in US restaurants, but lodging and things to do have always been slightly less than we pay here. These reviews are based on many things including our enjoyment, the quality for price paid and truth in advertising. We tend to be relatively easy to please but do not tolerate incompetency, lack of manners, or misrepresentation. There are a few ‘must haves’ when we write about lodging: cleanliness, heating/cooling, available necessities (soap, toilet paper), sufficient space (for ourselves, luggage, toiletries), two rubbish bins (one in the room and one in the bathroom), comfortable bed/pillow, sufficient linens, hair dryer (at least available if not in the room), fast and reliable internet, and on-site parking. Breakfast at the hotel is always nice but if it is available, it must be well prepared. It’s also nice to have in-room coffee/tea makings, a refrigerator and a microwave. Places that really make me smile have a 24-hour reception desk, free and fast internet in the room, free on-site parking, facial tissue (I hate having to use toilet paper to wipe my nose), a ceiling fan and a sheet between me and the comforter.

Луна над Москва (Moon over Moscow)

Saint Basil's Cathedral

Russia, home of onion domes and Czars, palaces and Red Square, poets and dictators, contemporary art and traditional ballet, the dour and the goofy, the ancient and the modern: it’s a study in change and one of the places I’d go back to simply to see how much it has changed, again. Since I’ve been three times in that number of years, I’m consolidating those trips into the next few postings. Right now Moscow is a sad place, with the people nervous and anxious, their welfare hanging on how the world sees them and how they can interact with neighbors who supply them with food and something as nebulous as that missing southwestern influence that seems to soften hard edges. At least that’s how it appears to me, having been there before and during the war with Ukraine.

Before you travel learn at least how to say, ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Hello’, ‘Pardon me’, ‘Where is…’ and so forth. Most folks you’ll interact with will have some English, particularly if they are less than 40 years old; as with all places you visit, people appreciate your efforts to be polite. Russians may appear dour and unfriendly, but given a chance to interact, most are helpful and have a good sense of humor. Currently, the country is experiencing unrest so the people are not as out-going as in previous years, but they still want travelers to like their home.

Big Tex Says, ‘Howdy’!

Texas Flag

Fall days in north Texas can be ‘hotter ‘an a fire cracker’, ‘colder ‘an all git-out’, ‘rainin’ a frog-strangler’ or absolutely glorious. And when the State Fair of Texas is in town, the glorious days are rather rare. One year we waded in water up to our knees to get from the parking lot to the fair grounds. The sanitation workers were selling ‘rain bags’ ~ trash bags with head and arm holes torn in them; another year we wore our down jackets, braving 30 mph frigid winds to watch the dog show and pig races. This year we were very lucky to experience a wonderful autumn day. The temperature topped out at about 85^oF and there was a gentle breeze blowing ~ just enough to ripple the Texas flag.

For many people, the biggest draw is the new car show. Others

Food, Glorious Food!

Ritter Sport Candy Sculpture

Sculpture in a train station isn’t particularly surprising, but a sculpture to chocolate? Oh my, yes. And the actual chocolate was inexpensive, mouth-watering and plentiful. Not only did this sculpture provide a great meeting place, but it set the stage for the sub-text of this trip ~ food!

Coffee and tea are available everywhere, as was the ubiquitous Starbucks; the locals drink bottled water, although the water from the tap is quite good. But Bohemia is famous for its beers and wines. Evidently (I know next to nothing about beer) there are two kinds of beer: Ales and Lagers. The difference is where the fermentation takes place; ales are made from top fermentation yeasts, while lagers are from bottom fermentation yeasts. In either case, the beer was unlike what I’ve tasted previously. The best pale beer I sampled was mild, bubbly and tart without being bitter; the best dark beer reminded me of a cola beverage. Both were yummy with the foods we were sampling. The wines were a bit of a surprise. I prefer sweet to moderately sweet white wines and had expected to be in Riesling heaven with a bit of Gewürztraminer, Spätlese, Auslese and, if I were very lucky, Eiswein available. At the first

Beer, wine & hot chocolate

restaurant we visited the waiter told me that he did have a nice fruity red I might like, but ‘real Germans’ don’t drink sweet wines, particularly in the Stuttgart region. Well fine. So throughout the trip I tried to prove him wrong, and failed. The Rieslings, while a bit better than OK didn’t have the floral nose, fruity flavor, crisp finish nor pizzazz that I had expected based on the German imports I’d tasted. Remarkably, not a single bottle provided in any restaurant was marked ‘Qualitätswein mit Prädikat’ (quality wine with specific attributes), nor could I find any in the grocery stores or wine shops. I also never saw on a menu or in a shop a Spätlese, Auslese or Eiswein; one of our group did get a Gewürztraminer and pronounced it unremarkable. The best find was at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary (Casino Royale was filmed there). They served cups of hot chocolate; but not just chocolate. You could get milk or dark chocolate, chocolate with caramel, white chocolate, and a number of other combinations (I stopped reading at ‘dark chocolate’). The waiter brought a large cup of steaming hot milk, and a huge chunk of chocolate on a stick. You dunk the chocolate in the milk and swirl it around until it is completely melted. Amazingly good. It wasn’t uncommon to find several of our group relaxing with this concoction and a piece of cake at the end of the day.

Odds and Ends

Tower Bridge

There are always odd and unrelated occurrences on trips. This blog is composed of images that I didn’t fit in anywhere else. For instance, we saw the Tower Bridge and once again did not make the stroll across. We did, however, walk across the new Millennium Bridge from the Tate Gallery of Modern Art to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Hopping around London

Lion at the British Museum

So what do you do after you’ve spent 9 hours on a plane and an hour or two getting to your hotel? You go British Museum. Traveling with friends is really fun, particularly since we’re all willing to not only run around as a group, but break off on occasion to follow our own muses. However, since we were quite jet lagged and more than a bit goofy, we wandered in to the museum, en masse. The lion greeted us and the exhibits literally overwhelmed us; the oldest chess set in the world is housed here, as is the Rosetta Stone and a whole host of Egyptian, Greek, Anglo-Saxon, and currently Viking artifacts ~ more about the treasures of British museums later.

One thing we decided we had to do on our first day was to eat fish and chips.

Fish, chips and peas in a pub

In the States these are prepared using anything from strips of cod to halibut to tilapia. That is not the case in England. Here they use a huge chunk of cod plus the chips (fried potatoes) and generally add a side order of peas (you can have them mushy or whole; mushy is substantially better since the whole ones are slightly more tender than ball bearings). And the accompanying beverage is usually some sort of ale, but the hard apple cider is a delight.

London Eye Rabbit

After lunch and a bit of a rest, we headed for Westminster Abby and Big Ben. Along the way I was delighted to see that there were bunnies loose in the city. The plaza near the London Eye is decorated for Easter with rabbits (check out their website now to see the Easter Bunny) and very soon they will have a marathon in which the runners try to

find the ‘lost bunny’. It all sounds like a lot of fun.

A bit about London hotels: think small rooms and no air conditioning. The positive thing is that the windows open to let in cool air. Although this is April and you need a jacket to wear outside, you’ll be very happy to have fresh air in your hotel room. Our room, in the Tavistock Hotel, is several stories above a bowling alley which doesn’t close until midnight ~ make sure you pack earplugs. A ‘full English breakfast’ has been eggs (poached, scrambled or boiled), bread, an assortment of jellies, bacon (lots of meat), sausages, grapefruit, oranges, prunes, baked beans (traditionally served on toast), stewed tomatoes, fish poached in a sauce, several types of bread, several types of cereal, and coffee, tea, juice, water. At our hotel it’s all prepared fresh daily, so it’s pretty good! We've found that the best thing about our breakfast time is our coffee server, Sabrina. She's the reason this hotel has so much business. If you’re a Starbucks addict, there’s one on about every other corner and they have better than average internet; unexpectedly, our hotel did not have internet in the room (as advertised) and the band width in the lobby was extremely limited. There are internet cafés, and if you need that level of speed/dependability, they are most likely better than the free internet in the hotel lobby, particularly if there are lots of people hanging around checking email.

So what’s on for tomorrow? More fun, more exploring, a lot more walking and a substantial bit of magic!

Queen's Guards?

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