A Little Bit of Cambridge

Our flight didn't leave until 5:40pm so we took in a little bit more of Cambridge. Peterhouse is the oldest college but had what I thought was the best chapel windows. I wouldn't compare them to King's College Chapel whose windows were simply massive. But Peterhouse's were beautifully painted with the richest, purest reds and golds. The images still sit in my mind. We also visited Pembroke where we found a statue of Pitt and need to find out if he is the same William Pitt of Pennsylvania. We are at Heathrow now. Some thoughts on the trip.

1. One month later I still want to live here. I admire the civility of everyone and the order of things. And enough of the colonized have come home to roost that even the food is interesting.
2. It was reenforced today that Americans are crass and rude when we got on the Avis transport bus with a couple who undoubtedly were from NY. He ignored the queue rule and pushed passed us onto the bus. He refused to move his arm out of the aisle causing me to bump his wife. He groused and snarled for the entire trip to the airport. He departed the bus without consideration of his wife. At the terminal elevator, he got on first with his luggage cart and immediately started pushing the close door button before anyone else could board.
3. The best meal was the grouse at York Arms. Also, it doubled as the funniest meal because we were alone in this Michelin starred restaurant. How often can that happen?
4. The best hotel was the Caldonian in Edinburg, a huge suite with a perfect view of the castle.
5. The most transforming moments were the drive through the Grampian Mountains in Scotland.
6. The most beautiful man made sight was King's College Chapel.
7. The weirdest thing was the 1am drunk intruder in Oxford.

Shades of Venice and Eel Pie

Bridge of Sighs, The River Cam at St. John's College

St John's College has a bridge over The Cam that resembles the Bridge of Sighs, or so it is said. The college is set deep in toward the Backs, and one passes through arcade after arcade and court after court traversing it. The Backs is an expanse of green that edges the Cam and offers some of the best views of the colleges. Before leaving for Ely, we visited the Round Church, built along the idea of Jerusalem's Holy Sepelchre. It's very small with powerful columns. There was a nice 20 minute video on the history of Cambridge and made frequent note of the many accomplished graduates mainly Isaac Newton, John Harvard,

The trip to Ely was a short 15 miles. The name Ely came to be from the fishing of eels in the area. Ely was once an island surrounded by fens. The fens have been drained (we passed a windmill) but eel pie is still served. Ely Cathedral could be seen across the fens as we approached. It is called the Ship of the Fens. It is asymmetrical. The north west transept was demolished when it began to show signs of instability. The central tower collapsed in 1322 due to one massive supporting column giving way. It had unknowingly been built on sandstone. The tower foot was enlarged and the current octagonal tower built in its place. We took a tour of the tower guided by a charming gentleman I would guess was in his 70s and spritely led us up the 170 steps. We got the bird's eye view of both the interior transepts and nave and the country around Ely. We were able to see Cambridge. It reminded me of our rooftop excursion on the Milan Duomo. It leaves me speechless when I try to comprehend how men were able to build these massive structures without machinery. Pictures at Flickr.

Cambridge

King's College Chapel is a wonderful formation of late Gothic English architecture. It is extremely perpendicular. As a chapel your eyes are not pulled to side aisles or transepts, instead they keep sweeping up the columns and across the delicate fan vaulting. Consider these dimensions: 289' long (300 make a football field), 40' wide (6 2/3 Waynes) and 80' high (an 8 story building). The ante-chapel walls are heavily decorated,with heraldic carvings of the Tudors. Dragons, hounds, roses, crowns, and more reside here without any religious accompaniment. The rood screen was a gift of Henry VIII and has his and Anne Boleyn's initials, which helps date the screen between 1533 and 1536. Beyond the rood and through the choir stalls the front of the chapel is devoid of wall carvings. Beneath the great east window is Reuben's The Adoration of the Magi.
From the Chapel we walked to the Fitzwilliams Museum which has a strong showing of Greek, Roman and Egyptian holdings as well as Italian Renaissance, Pre-Raphaelite, and French 19th century.
Lunch was at Dojo, a noodle place where we had rice curry. Berry, berry good.
More photos at Flickr

Peterborough and Cambridge

We are on the final stages of our trip spending the last 3 days in Cambridge. It is nice to book end the trip with Oxford and Cambridge, two eminent English speaking universities. On our way to Cambridge from Lincoln we stopped in Peterborough to visit St Peter's Cathedral. It is a fine example of Norman architecture with English Gothic adaptations. Three massive arches that grace the west front are unprecedented in Gothic architecture. There was a resemblance to Notre Dame de Paris for me, although certainly not on the same scale. The single story ambulatory was added last and is a beautiful example of fan vaulting.
Getting to our hotel in Cambridge proved to be problematic. The gps took us down a quite narrow, no not narrow, quite teeny impassable ally. Naive as we were we continued following her advice until passage was no longer possible. Ah, shades of Sicily! I jumped out of the car and directed the reversing of our route until we could turn around. We drove around the route about 3 times until we determined a possible alternative to Little St. Mary's Lane and ventured down it. Worming our way through throngs of people on the road we did arrive at the hotel at last. We spent the next 3 hours doing our regular walking down every street we came across. At one point we came across an impressive slow procession of robed children and adults led by a priest carrying a large scepter to Kings Chapel.
More photos at Flickr.

Lincoln

Both of us are a bit funky today. Fortunately the drive to Lincoln was a short 1.5 hours. Rather than going to the hotel we went directly to the Cathedral. It is an impressive site, set high up above all the city. In the medieval period it was reputedly the tallest building in the world. It has gone through many stages from Norman to present day Gothic as it was struck by fires and even an earthquake along the way. There is a road that leads from the main pedestrian shopping area to the Cathedral.  The name is Steep Hill so called because of the extreme grade.  A hand rail is available and vehicles banned.  Despite our frail conditions we managed both down and back up.  There was a stop along the way at Grays Tea Shop, however.
Our hotel is in a nice setting adjacent to the Brayford Pool, a naturally formed lake from the River Witham. Kayakers have been rowing past and there are barge restaurants. We ate on the Barge Restaurant mostly choosing it because it was spitting distance from the hotel. More photos at Flickr.

Light a Candle For Me

York Minster

This is not my picture but it does help illustrate the beauty of York. I have been stricken with what's most politely described as gastroenteritis and taken no pictures today. I did manage to drag myself out of bed and go to the Cathedral Tour we purchased yesterday. After, I immediately returned to bed and slept through the day. The tour wasn't up to the standards of Durham. But the guide was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the building. Most notable in the building was the absence of destruction from either Henry VIII or Cromwell. The large windows were intact and painted with a gray tint. The church has burned at least twice. The roof is wooden. The stone used is a sandstone which turns pink when exposed to high heat. There are pink markings on the columns witnessing the fires.

Durham and York

Before leaving Durham, we returned for a more in depth look at the Cathedral. A tour was just beginning, and we took advantage. What a great guide we had. He was a retired physics teacher who was also a Friend of the Cathedral. He was so clear and detailed in his description of both the history of the area and the Cathedral. He spent 2 hours with us. One of the best parts was seeing the tomb of Bede the Venerable.
We arrived in York mid afternoon. York has the most extensive remaining walls, called bars, of any English city. We entered through the Micklegate Bar. Our hotel is located directly across York Castle and a close walk to the Minster. The walk is through a great old city. Huge slates and cobblestones cover the area and make for small plazas and pedestrian streets. Boutiques, pubs, restaurants line the streets. York Minster, pictured above, is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. We stayed for even song and will return tomorrow for a guided tour. A few pictures are at Flickr.

St Andrews and Durham

St Andrews Golf Club

The above is for all my golfing friends. I thought fondly of you today as we gazed upon the links. If it had been a Sunday, we would be free to walk the links. The Old Club was open only to members which squelched our plans to have lunch there. Instead, we went to the University Museum and St. Mary's College chapel before hitting the road for Durham.
The road to Durham hugs the coast of the North Sea for much of the trip. The road is high above the sea and allows for views of distant coastlines. You can also see barley fields and grazing sheep directly below the road.
Our hotel is a riot. If I were going to design a brothel, it would look exactly like The Gadds Townhouse. It was hard to find the reception desk in the purple light cast by the multifaceted chandelier. But we did find it just beyond the purple round couch. Every inch of the place is covered in velvet, tassels, damask, chandeliers. The best? Our room has a glass shower that partitions the bed from the rest of the bath. You must see it to understand it.

The Gadds Townhouse, Our Room

Yes, that is a velvet curtain hanging across the shower. But it was a good location to the Cathedral where we walked in time for even song. We will return tomorrow for a more extensive look.
More photos at Flickr

Through the Grampians

After breakfast at Cordhu House we said good bye to Norman, who gave us directions for St Andrews saying, "it's a scenic drive." The drive was through the Grampian Mountains, and 'twas a glorious ride indeed. The mountains are mostly devoid of trees and covered with heather. There are large areas cleared of heather and we wondered why. That is the patchwork appearance seen in the photos. At one point we came upon about a dozen men on the mountain side snapping and flapping small flags. Of course we panicked thinking it was some sort of terrorist warning system or a kidnapping ring trying to divert our attention. A few miles on we stopped at a roadside cafe where I chatted it up with some geriatric bikers. They (and the old Scots woman at the next table) gave me the low down on all things Grampian. Seems the heather is burned in controlled areas each year. The grouse go into the old heather to nest. When the young are ready to feed the burned areas have sprouted new grow for them. The flag wavers were chasing the grouse from the old heather for shooting.
We're on the North Sea now at St Andrews, where the 3rd oldest English speaking university is located. It is also the home of golf. The sport has been played here since the 1400s. We can see the St Andrew Links from our hotel room. We walked the 3 main streets down to the Cathedral and back up to the Castle. I don't think St Andrews is as architecturally significant as Oxford, but it seems to have a great character all it's own. More photos at Flickr

Loch Ness

The fields of barley and the rolled hay here are beautiful and surround our guest house. I keep singing Sting's "Fields of Gold". We walked by this beautiful field pictured above on our way to the Cordhu Distillery this morning. Our tour guide was good. She told some of the same folk stories as the guide at Dalwhinnie, but was much clearer about the distilling process. I learned that it is not whiskey until it has been in the barrel for 3 years. Prior to that it is simply spirits. Both guides said that a bit of water releases the favors of the whiskey. We've been testing that theory nightly.
We also walked down the hill from the tiny village to the Knockando Woolmill, has been manufacturing continuously since 1784. I was hoping to see the weaving and dying, but there were no tours today. There were dozens of pheasants scurrying around the mill. It's hunting season for them.
In the afternoon we drove west to see the Loch Ness. The drive took us through Inverness, which was not remarkable other than the fact that we are listening to MacBeth, a Novel while we drive. Here, also are miles of fields with hundreds of hay roles scattered about.  It is very surreal. The Loch is a beautiful sparkling blue set among blue green mountains. We chose the Urqhuart Castle from which to view it. Though extensively ruined, it is still a splendid sight set high up on a headland. It was in its day one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland. It is also near this castle that the majority of Nessie sightings occur.
For dinner we returned to the Highlander Pub for steak and ale pie. It's a great little neighborhood pub with friendly and jolly Scots. More photos at Flickr.

Among the Fields of Barley

Dalwinnie Distillary

We drove north today into the Highlands. It is just the most beautiful countryside you can imagine. We're listening to MacBeth, A Novel, and it is so fitting. At one point one of the characters remarks, "they came through the Grampians" just as we were driving through them. Very moving. We stopped at The Dalwhinnie distillery for a tour and a taste. It was both educational and tasty. It took a while to find our B&B, The Cardu Country House. It's deep in the Spey Side in a tiny little village. We drove through deep woods and steep hills thinking "have we made a mistake?"  Not to worry. It is beautiful, and a nearby town has 2 nice pubs and an art gallery. Although it seems desolate, it is in fact quite busy with hikers, golfers, and whiskey seekers. There are in Spey Side alone 12 distilleries. Also here is the Knockando Woolmill, one of the oldest surviving mills. It has manufactured continuously since 1784.
Our host is Norman. We haven't met his,wife. But we have met the 2 terriers and the black lab.
More photos at Flickr.

Edinburgh Galleries

View of the Forth of Firth

We spent the better part of the day in the National gallery and the History Museum. The Gallery had a showing of Symbolist painters that focused on landscape, from Van Gogh to Kandinsky. I noticed that groups did not hover around the Van Gogh's, Monet's (no, I didn't realize he was a Symbolist either) or Gauguin's like they do in the States. Must just be a phenomenon there. It was nice to see works and artists unfamiliar to me. The galleries were large and bright, too. A second show was the watercolor works of Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1754–1821). Lusieri was one of very few Italian artists to use watercolor as a primary medium. I was astounded at the meticulous detail, precision and control of the medium in the works. They were primarily of Naples, Rome, Sicily, and Greek ruins. He was the draftsman for Sir John Elgin and many of his works were lost at sea when Elgin returned to England. Quite a few of the works were unfinished and one could see the process Lusieri employed. Every leaf, rock, blade of grass was first drawn in with pencil then ink.
The permanent collection was also extensive. What remains in my eye was Sargeant's Lady Agnew of Lochnaw. Stunning. Coming in close behind we're Titian's Venus Rising from the Sea, a Raffael Madonna, Canova's Three Graces.
We walked up the hill to Old Town hunting the History Museum. along the way we stopped for lunch at Porto and Fi. We wanted to see some of the artifacts from Scotland's birth. Most notable were some of the Lewis Chess Set, a 20' pike, and some renaissance wood panels.
We had dinner tonight at The Larder Bistro. Wayne had venison and I trout as well as starters and dessert....way too much. It was fun. We were snug in a back room with gay Scots. They really are a happy, joking lot.
No pictures today.

Edinburgh Castle

Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.  Edinburgh Castle is directly across from our hotel room. It is quite a beautiful site, rising abruptly from the Princes park, perched high above the city. The 1/4 mile walk was a gradual grade and easy although fierce with wind. The Castle was not often used by royalty unless they were seeking refuge from invaders. The most noted royalty were Mary Queen of Scots, her son James VI of Scotland and I of England, Charles I. The most interesting thing was the murder of Mary's secretary David Rizzio. While dining with the Queen, he was ripped from the room and stabbed 56 times by stewards of the Queen's husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley was latered murdered. Hmmmm.  Wonder who arranged that.  The most beautiful part of the grounds was the ruined Abbey.
We walked down the hill on the Royal Mile. Excuse me, but I would rename this the Commercial 3 Mile. A the bottom of the hill was Hollyrood Palace, official Scottish home of QE II. A quaint little abode with the usual waiting rooms prior to the grand throne room.
The best part of the day was our decision to end the day at The Oxford Bar, the haunt of John Rebus. Well, not really end. We also had dinner at a very nice place, The Wildfire. A small but excellent establishment.More photos at Flickr.

Edinburgh

Our gps took us on the scenic route to Edinburgh. It was a bit harry at times driving on roads built for horse and wagon and lined with stone walls. The walls are amazing here. There are miles and miles of them meandering up and down mountains, segmenting grazing fields, lining roads. They all stand straight and high. Robert Frost would need to rethink his ideas on walls. The mountains are almost completely devoid of trees, but green with grass, ferns and heather. Sheep are everywhere. Once in Scotland the land flattened quickly for us and Edinburg snuck up without warning. The gps took us to a glorious hotel, The Balmoral. The doorman, dressed in a kilt, took our luggage, arranged to valet the car, escorted us to reception and chatted until the clerk called us forward. While the clerk was looking up our room, I mentioned that we were Hilton members. She said, "that explains why I can't find your reservation. The Hilton is down the road." So....back out to the road in a rush before the car is taken, we retrieved the luggage and listened with embarrassment while the very nice doorman in the kilt got us a map and gave us directions. As we left he said with a note of pity, "the Hilton isn't the Balmoral." he was right about that. It is however very nice. And we have a perfect view of the Edinburgh Castle. After check in, we walked down the main street and had lunch, took a look at the Sir Walter Scott monument and returned via the park. It is a beautiful city.More photos at Flickr.

Wordsworth

We started out today to see Beatrix Potter's home, but found that we needed to take a ferry across Lake Windermere to reach it. That would be okay except that my inquires of those locals in the car line told me the ferry only took 6 cars at a time; we were number 21 with no ferry in sight after a 10 minute wait. Instead, we opted to go to our second agenda item, Dove Cottage, home of William Wordsworth. Wordsworth lived in the cottage in Grasmere for 8 years. His sister, wife, sister-in-law, 3 children, S. T. Coleridge and another minor writer all lived in the 5 room cottage at one time. Wordsworth had seen the area when he was 14 and declared it paradise. It had always been his desire to return. It was here that he purportedly wrote his best poems. There was a very nice museum attached with many original writings and paintings of his contemporaries.
From Grasmere we drove to Keswick. It was a very hairy but stunning drive on a 6'6" road along the edge of the lake. At times the mountainside was to the other side of us; covered with huge ferns and cedars, it reminded me of northern California. The lushness and the green were tangible. Keswick was a bit more charming that Windermere. But still no really nice galleries or antique shops. We had a pub lunch and returned to Cragwood for some R&R.More photos at Flickr.

The Lake District

We were up bright and early at 6:30. The fire alarm roused us, and as I'm trying to shut off the phone alarm, then the iPad alarm, I come to realize I better get dressed. Out in the hall I met Paul, also obviously hastily attired assuring me nothing is on fire. I left him to sort out the problem and returned for an additional 10 winks of sleep.
We breakfasted alone. There is a nice selection of art for sale in all the rooms. Carl Melegari's work caught our attention. Seems he was a miner, which you can tell feeds his work. Take a look.
The drive to the Lake District is filled with views of the dales seemingly covered by heather. At least the color appeared to be purple heather. We are staying at The Cragwood House Hotel. From the back lawn there are 2 views of Lake Windemere. The building is stone with multiple gables and leaded windows.
After checking in we drove to the towns of Windemere and Bowness. The we're filled with tourists and had a honky tonk look and feel. But we took a 45 minute cruise on the Lake. It's beauty out shown any of the tastiness of the towns. Back at our hotel, we had a wonderful dinner and will dine here again tomorrow. More photos at Flickr.

Yorkshire Arms

The York Arms

Once we packed and cleared out of Oxford, we spent the better part of the day driving to Ramsgill in Nedderdale, Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Try finding that on the GPS. Our destination was the York Arms, a Michelin starred restaurant and inn. We discovered the Arms while watching The Trip, a British comedy film about restaurants in the north of England, and put it on our agenda. The last miles of the trip were along narrow, stone-walled roads big enough for one Peugeot (our car) or 2 smart cars. Needless to say there was a lot of nail biting and breath holding.  But we did arrive unscathed.   The Inn is nestled among fields of grazing sheep, along side a bubbling brook, down from a reservoir, adjacent to a vine covered English cottage; you get my drift? We walked in past tables filled with chattering, laughing people having tea in the sunny front courtyard. The clerk showed us to a lovely room. After walking around the area a bit, we returned to the room. Wayne read, and I went out to draw the lovely vine covered English cottage. Drinks were announced for 6:30, dinner at 7:00. At cocktail hour it was so quiet we asked about the other guests. Seems we were the only guests in the inn. This made for a jolly evening filled with undivided attention from all. After a dinner of grouse, we retired to the lounge for espresso and a visitation from Chef Francis Atkins. She explained the grouse we had was locally hunted, feeding off heather, which gave it the flavor. We talked about Scotland, where she last worked, and Scotch whiskey. We got good advice about touring there. This is a day and meal that we will long remember.More photos at Flickr.

High Tea

Today was our last day in Oxford. I absolutely love the civility and order here. People really do queue up for everything. Among throngs of shoppers, They queue up at the bus stops a good 10 minutes prior to the bus' arrival. AND, then they stay in that line until all are orderly boarded. I want to live here. We did not encounter one surly, rude or curt person whether a clerk, a waitress, a porter, etc. (the intruder doesn't count). Even on the highways and byways, the drivers are courteous and considerate. I want to live here.
We spent most of the day walking around the city. We did get into University College to see the Shelly Monument. It's gated off now to prevent the students from defacing poor Shelly. Seems they like to paint his penis. And once they filled the alcove with water and goldfish. Poor fish!
We climbed to the top of the Carfax for another rooftop view of the spires. There was a nice woman who traded camera shots with us. After, we went to the Randolph Hotel for high tea. The Randolph is one of those famous Morse spots. However, it stands on its own as a very nice establishment, built in the Victorian Gothic style. After tea we revisited Magdalen College and then walked to University Park. There are very large specimen trees that we didn't recognized. We walked all the way to the Cherwell river where a beautiful scene of punters captured us. I want to live here. More photos at Flickr.