Last year we had made arrangements with friends of ours to meet them
here for a week of sailing. This was something that Tom really wanted to
do and although it was during the Olympics and I was worried about the
crowds, it really was not a concern. They would have been there anyway
and most were at the games.
I thought it would be nice for a change to have Tom do the recap of this
trip…so here it is and we hope you enjoy it…please see my recap of
Brighton for all of the England side of things that I did, plus website
links….
I flew from Edmonton to Toronto and then on to London. My first Trans
Atlantic flight and I got to go business class. What a treat. Seats that
actually recline and room to stretch out. I arrived in London on the
11th.
Donna had given me detailed instructions on where to go when I got off
the plane. First to the Air Canada’s arrivals lounge where I found that
they did not have any Internet access other than one machine using a
dial up connection. It turns out this would be the first of many
internet disappointments on our trip. I found my way to the London
Underground. This had to be one of the longest treks I’ve ever made from
an airport. Once on the train, I sat back and enjoyed people watching,
listening to the new sounds and sights. I successfully switched trains
as instructed to head north to Hilda’s flat. I got off the train, found
the pub corner to turn at and within 5 minutes was enjoying meeting
Hilda for the first time. We’ve chatted by email for almost 6 years
since she started guiding Donna’s tours and I felt I knew her already
but it was nice to actually meet her in person. It was also great to
hear all about Donna’s adventure in Brighton.
After a “cuppa” we stopped in at our B&B, met our hostess, Maggie and
then headed downtown.
Tom's notes: Donna had arranged for us to test out three
different hotels that offered afternoon tea as she wanted to include
this feature in her upcoming tours and thought it would be a good idea
to get a feel for the differences between the various hotels. The first
tea was at the Lanesborough Hotel. For someone like me who has never
experienced a true English “Tea” it was quite something. First, it’s not
just tea. It’s a several course mini dinner. You do get to choose your
type of tea from a large selection of teas I’d never heard of before.
Then the waiter arrives with a three tier tray with a selection of small
sandwiches, breads and sweets. As you snack along, the waiter returns to
refill the tray with items you’ve consumed. Once you’ve indicated you’ve
had your fill of sandwiches and breads, he offers scones, fresh clotted
cream and fruit compotes. By the time we were done, I was more than
satisfied. The ambiance of the room is also something that adds to the
experience. It’s like being transported back to the 19th century in a
conservancy of some great house. The Lanesborough’s tea room is adorned
in a Chinese motif with several great porcelain figurines. When we
finished the tea, we were given a short tour of the guest rooms. Until
1990, The Lanesborough had been a historic hospital and you can see some
of this looking at the staircases and the entry. The guest rooms are all
very well appointed and one of the hallmarks of the hotel is that all
the rooms come with their own butler to help make your stay more
enjoyable. For those ladies that would be uncomfortable with a male
butler unpacking for them, the hotel offers a few female butlers as
well. All in all, a class establishment and one that would be a great
place to call home when in London. If we did not have any more teas,
this one would have been worth bringing my suit jacket for even though
the main purpose of the trip was a week on a small sailboat. After the
tea we took Hildas advice and went to a performance at the Royal Albert
Concert Hall. What an amazing old building.
Donna took a couple of videos to give you some idea of what it was like.
The next day we had two teas scheduled, one at the Dorchester and the
other at the Ritz. The Dorchester was a disappointment only because they
really don’t cater to groups so it was a bit of a waste, other than the
food. It was excellent and the service was up to the expectations of
that class of hotel. The young fellow that waited on us was from South
Africa and was very attentive. The last tea was at The Ritz. For any of
you that saw “Notting Hill” with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, you may
remember the crazy friend stopping traffic while they ran into the hotel
– well that was a the Ritz. What a grand hotel. From the small and
exclusive lobby guarded by a very pleasant fellow to the huge tea room
it was “grand”. Donna arranged to have Hilda join us at the Ritz for tea
and we had a great time. The food was excellent. In the tea room were
two interesting individuals. We speculated all through tea who they
might be. He was a very tall, dark, long haired, done in a pony tail,
with almost a Caribbean pirate beard and clothing, she was an elderly
lady with a interesting outfit and tiara. We finished dinner and were
privileged to have a tour of the hotel with the assistant manager
Jonathan. We asked about the couple in the tea room and he explained
they were regulars that came each week to enjoy the tea and the
entertainment. He was a maker of fine jewelry. So much for our great
speculations about him being some famous actor and his mother.
Our day included a scheduled visit to Buckingham Palace. No, we did not
have an audience with Her Majesty, just a tour of the palace. What a
place.
“Opulence” is the only word that comes to mind. All right, maybe
“stately”
as well. We wandered around Bond Street, Fleet Street, Oxford, and St.
James Streets.
Our wanderings took us along the Thames, past #10 Downing Street, the
Houses of Parliament, the Queens Horse Guards, where we saw the changing
of the guard. Donna took another video of this so you could a feel for
the ceremony. One of the highlights for me was our visit to the Templar
Church.
I’d asked Donna to find it on one of her earlier visits and this time
she took me right to it. You might find it interesting to read up on the
history of this temple. As you can see by the pictures the oldest part
of the church is round and if you’ve visited many churches, particularly
old churches, you will know they never built them round. Only the
Knights Templar. Some of the details Donna captured in these pictures
are great. You will see the age of the building in the sagging lead
windows and the lead downspouts. The column with the two Knights Templar
on top is amazing.
The
main purpose of our trip was a week sailing in Athens. Why, you would
ask, would we choose to go sailing in Greece while the Olympics were
being held in Athens? That’s the reason. Our friends, Mike & Ronnie
Haner, wanted to see the games and found it difficult to find a room so
they came up with the idea they should rent a sail boat, get a bunch of
people to share the cost, sail for a week and then see the games the
second week and use the boat as a hotel room. We signed up for the first
week of sailing.
Neither Donna nor I have ever spent a week on a sail boat. We’ve sailed
for a day, and we’ve enjoyed cruising so we figured why not. Well
actually I figured why not, and persuaded Donna to go along. Reluctant
as she was she knew I was looking forward to it so she agreed to go. As
they say, hindsight is perfect. We thought of all the things we thought
we might find troublesome, like the heat, rough water, cramped quarters
and the like, and I think we did a good job of covering all those bases.
We flew from London to Milan to Athens. Not something I would recommend!
We thought it would be cool to go through Milan. Not! We arrived in
Milan, were shuffled onto a bus, taken to the terminal, unloaded, herded
through a massive line through security, hustled back on the bus (as we
only had one hour between flights), taken back out to a waiting aircraft
to find it was the one we left almost an hour before. Not the most
efficient or enjoyable time in Milan. We arrived in Athens at two a.m.
We had made arrangements to meet one of our sailing people at the
airport and we had no trouble hooking up with Sam. We took a local bus
toward the marina and asked a passenger if they could help direct us as
to which stop to take for the marina. About an hour later,. we got off
the bus and started our hunt for the marina and our boat. We found the
marina but there were hundreds of boats docked and it was pitch black.
As there was no one around we decided to bunk down on a park bench and
wait till morning. Sounds idyllic, Athens, at a dock on a park bench. I
forgot to tell you that there was bar open just up the way and it played
very loud music well after four a.m. We eventually found someone in the
morning to direct us to our boat, “Peggy Darling”. The trip wasn’t
starting out on the best note. We dropped our bags off and headed to the
showers. Straight cold water is very brisk and not all that easy to
shower in as I found myself running in, getting wet, soaping down,
running back under and then attacking the water again. Oh well, just
another adventure.
We spent Saturday getting the boat ready, meeting the rest of our crew
and finding an Internet café. The closest café was experiencing some
technical problems so we asked directions to the next closest one. Turns
out it was a short train ride away, something like 3-4 kilometers. The
train was Athens new tram system. Well, it was slightly more than 3-4
Km, more likely 15 or so stops on the train, one change of trains and 2
stops that the train conductor decided he didn’t need to go to, so we
walked. As we were going to be in Athens one day, we decided we had to
see the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Up close and personal, the Parthenon
is unbelievable. The size just takes your breath away. Or maybe that was
the climb to it – or the heat – or the height. What ever it was, I found
it awesome. One of the column tops was laying on the ground and it
really gave you a sense of the size of each of those columns. How did
they ever get those pieces of stone up that hill, and then piled up to
make the columns. Under the eaves, the Greeks had set a series of marble
pictorial slabs. Donna saw these slabs in London at the British museum.
Apparently there is quite a controversy over these marbles. When we came
down from the Acropolis, we came across the Olympic bicycle road race.
http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/marbles/
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Parthenon.html
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