Beattys Overseas

After a lovely day in London at our very generous friends' home, we took a daytrip to Bath, which is WSW of London.  Our 90 minute train ride provided some lovely scenery, and a little iPod/quiet time for each of us.

Bath is a very special city, famous for the natural hot springs that lie there, complete with a very well-preserved site of public bathing.  During the Roman occupation of Britain, elaborate temples and bathing complexes were built at the Bath hot springs, starting in the first century and visited for four centuries. After the Roman withdrawal in the fifth century, these fell into disrepair and were eventually silted over and disintegrated. The hot waters, thought to be medicinal, still had a strong presence in the city, and were used through the Middle Ages and redeveloped in the eighteenth century, housed in gorgeous neo-classical buildings.  Georgian and Victorian-era architecture is featured at the complex, as the City of Bath developed around the sacred waters.  The Roman complex was rediscovered in 1890 and reopened to the public in 1897.  We visited the Roman Bath complex, which is meticulously designed in its presentation of the underground baths and archeological findings.  With our ticket to the Baths, we were also provided tickets to the Bath Museum of Fashion, which was also very cool, but not nearly as extensive as the baths.  (Full photos in the England photo gallery)

Whitney really wanted to see the Royal Crescent,  a road of 30 limestone houses designed in a semi-circle shape.  It was built in 1774 by notable Bath architect John Wood and his son (also named, shockingly, John Wood).  It is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture in the United Kingdom, and it's quite breathtaking.  The crescent faces a large lawn, which was built to provide the wealthy residents an unobstructed, picturesque view of Bath.  Within the Royal Crescent lies the Royal Crescent Hotel, which apparently has a spit in the basement kitchen that was operated not by human kitchen workers, but by dogs.  Apparently, if the mutt didn't move fast enough, the cook just shoveled a few hot coals in the treadmill to liven up the pace.  (Naturally, Whitney is horrified at the thought, but John overheard the fact from a walking tour guide whose group we followed for 10 minutes.  Hopefully, he's full of bologna). 

I followed Aunt Rose Marie's advice and rang up her dear pal of many years James Ferguson.  James lives in a beautiful area of London called Holland Park .  He offered to have Whitney and I to lunch in Notting Hill, at a Pub directly opposite the Kensington Police Station.  How appropriate!!  Well, Whitney wasn't feeling so well, so I went solo.  Wanting to save $89.00 U.S. in taxi fees (and be as much like a local as possible) I tried to grab the bus to Notting Hill over on Chamberlain Rd. near the Ford's house.   I stood patiently at the stop - which was clearly marked - for about 15 minutes, waiting for the thing to pick me up.  I then realized that I was on the wrong side of the street, since the traffic here is opposite, errr... and needing to head in the correct direction, I risked life and limb, crossing just in time to be waiting for the bus as it approached.   The bus driver passed right by me.   I ran after him for about 100 yards, where the bus was now stopped at a red light.   I tapped angrily on the door, watching the driver slowly turn his head towards me, look me right in the eyes, and quickly step on the gas as the light turned green. I was left in a cloud of doubledecker fumes.  I thought I was back in New York!

Well, I caught up to him at the next stop (2 blocks further up the Road).  Steamed, literally and figuratively, I entered the bus and told him where I needed to go.  He said he knew where it was, and that it was just up the Road.  Well, I stood  near the front for about 2 minutes when he told me, as if I were 5 years old to "sit down, and I'll tell ya when you need to get off."  He then proceeded yell out my stop, along with a helpful woman who'd overheard our diologue.  I got off the bus and realized that I was a wee bit short of my destination, though.   According to the two chaps that I asked directions from on the street I only needed to go about a mile or so further up the hill, it seemed.  

Anyway, I made it to the pub, where James was waiting patiently, and had one of the best afternoons I could have asked for.  James was charming and hysterically funny.  He had so many great stories that the lies that I tried to tell paled in comparison to his true tales of adventure.   Thank you James for the fantastic lunch and the pints and the stories.  It was well worth coming to meet you.  I know now why Rose Marie holds you so dear to her heart!  See you again soon.

BTW: I told Jon and Vanessa about it my bus incident.   It seems that one needs to not only be at the bus stop in London, but to wave the driver down as well if actually you want him to stop.  If you are standing by yourself.  Or if you're in a group.  Or something like that.  I should figure that out before we try to catch a London bus again. 

Editor's Note 31 Oct:  I found this on the web:

Hailing A Bus [In London]

Some bus stops that for some reason are deemed less important are labelled 'request stops'. The only difference with these is that it is necessary to stick out an arm for a couple of seconds in order to request that the bus stop for you. In practice it is usually a good idea to stick out your arm politely whenever you intend to board an oncoming bus. In the case of night buses this is doubly necessary, and passengers travelling very late at night are advised to stick out their arm in plenty of time and to keep it out until they see the bus indicating to pull over. Meanwhile, some of the more unusual bus routes have Hail and Ride sections, along which the bus can be hailed from a number of stopping places. Signs marking recommended stopping places are scattered along these sections and act as minor bus stops, and are the best places to hail the bus from.

Despite being hailed, bus drivers can use one of several reasons not to stop for you, and may even accelerate a little in order to prove their point. The bus may be overloaded or at risk of being overloaded due to the number of people waiting at the stop, or the driver may be near the end of his route and will simply decide not to bother stopping. Other reasons include a slightly emptier bus being right behind the one you are hailing, or that you weren't quite at the bus stop when you stuck your hand out and so all the running you did simply wasn't worth it. Meanwhile, there are those irritating buses which display the route number you are waiting for, but read 'Sorry! Not in service'.

- John

Saturday morning started late - due to a late night on Friday - and we went for a long brisk walk around the Queens Park neighborhood where our dear friends J & V live.

Among the many notable characteristics of this London neighborhood are the obscenely large leaves that have fallen off the trees during this Autumn week.  John Love knows what kind of trees they are, but they produce some extremely gargantuan leaves (see Love's comment below).

Other notable aspects of Queens Park is its very diverse community (there are two Islamic elementary schools in the neighborhood within walking distance of a Starbucks, a Fried Chicken takeaway restaurant and a pub featuring Salsa dancing on Thursday nights), the extremely well-maintained park (featuring an almost storybook-like parade of parents/nannies with babies, old men playing soccer, gardeners tending to flower beds, and senior citizens practicing tai chi), and the confusing sidewalk protocol (where English pedestrians stay to the right of the sidewalk when you pass each other, which is a direct opposite of the driving rules here where you stay to the left side of the street. Essentially, the pedestrians follow 'American' rules of the road. Maybe I'm a silly American tourist, but this really throws me for a loop.).

Other than that, we've had an expectedly swell time in the land of the Royals.  Sorry, there are not too many London photos or journal postings, as we have been here before and haven't done any tourist/sightseeing activities.  We promise to post more educational & enlightening journals in the future.  Tomorrow, in fact, we're heading to Ireland for a few days, then onto Scotland.  Cheerio!

- Whitney

Merry Christmas! Our hostess & host and little angel, OliviaWe arrived in London on Saturday 22nd, to stay with our dear friends Vanessa & Jon again.  Our 'holiday season' has been so altered from any other "normal" year, that we've hardly notice it creep up on us, but here it is, and London was all decked out in garland and twinkle lights.   Jon & Vanessa's home is gorgeous year-round, but Vanessa has it dressed up for Christmas so beautifully that I felt that we were in a catalog photo shoot.  Plus, it's always a delight to spend Christmas with a child, and the Ford's 18 month-old Olivia definitely provided that magical feeling on Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Day had us packing upbruptly for our Southern Hemisphere travels, and putting out coats and scarves into suitcases to be send back home.  Thank goodness, too, we were bored of wearing the same coats and 2 sweaters everywhere we went (and I'm sure you're tired of seeing them in all our photos!). 
Our large BA plane - the captain wore a Santa hat!Our overnight flight to South Africa left London's Heathrow at 7:45pm, and with an 11-hour flight ahead of us, we were ready for the long haul.  The flightcrew on our jumbojet was chipper and friendly, wearing festive reindeer-ear headbands; the Captain wore a Santa hat.  Still newcomers to Business Class travel, and specifically to British Airways, we were thrilled when we were told that our seats were "upstairs" on the upper deck of the plane.  Our seats were in the front row of the Business section, which sat directly behind the cockpit.  Our flight attendant Neil told us that on Christmas, BA offers their staff the opportunity to fly their loved ones with them on their journey, so most of the others in our upstairs cabin were family members of crew - how special!  Even more special was the treatment we received from our flight attendants, Neil and Simon, two great chaps who took kindly to us and our round-the-world adventure.  They accommodated us with zeal and offered interesting chit-chat, despite having to work all night through some steady turbulence.  Their colleague Kathy provided us with a few recommendations for safari tours, which we're hoping to plan in early January.  Thanks to Neil for our special gift at the end of  the flight -- we loved meeting you and hope to keep in touch!

John and our main man, NeilOur seats, facing each other with lay-flat beds and individual entertainment systems, were cozy with a big comforter and feather pillow.  BA served South African wine and a traditional Christmas dinner, which we enjoyed together over our privacy divider.  John watched 2 movies, The Darjeeling Limited and The Last King of Scotland.  Whit enjoyed an oldie-but-goodie episode of Sex and the City and 1/2 of Sense & Sensibility.  Alas, sleep beckoned.  Our seats were so cozy and roomy enough that we each managed a near-full night's sleep.  Ahhhh.  And what an extra treat to discover that, upon landing in Johannesburg, it was 70degrees at 8:50 in the morning.  Wool coats be gone!!