Carol writes: Over the
past few weeks we have gradually come to the conclusion that our long-term
travel plans need an adjustment.
Originally, we were going to stay in England until mid-November, then
make our way across the English Channel to spend much of the winter in sunnier
and warmer Spain and Portugal. But how
were we ever going to fit in the must-see sites in Italy with that plan? We were up against inconvenient regulations concerning
travel restrictions under Schengen Rules.
In a future blog I will detail just how those visa rules have affected
our overall travel plan, but for now suffice it to say that out of every 180
days we are limited to only a 90-day stay in the Schengen countries, and those
countries include almost all of Western Europe!
Fortunately, the United Kingdom and Ireland are not part of the Schengen
Agreement--just one of a hundred reasons to love the Irish and the British--and
that is why, in order to comply with Schengen rules, we have spent the last 3
months in the British Isles.
Once we are
back on the Continent, our new plan is to make a speed-run to Italy by way of the
very fast toll highway system through France.
Our next 90-day stint in Western Europe will include a month in Italy,
leaving us 2 months to explore Spain and Portugal. So…now we have to speed things up for our
remaining month in England—sort of like a month-long Rick Steves kamikaze
tour…We’re up to it!
CHESTER:
We spent four days in a well-maintained campground just outside the
historic city of Chester. We took in a
couple of unremarkable National Trust sites at Gawthorpe and Tatton Park, but
our most interesting unplanned visit was to the historic heritage city of Chester.
We found Chester’s
1000-year-old cathedral to be beautifully maintained,
with a rare
wooden choir screen that was magnificent.
The abbey
courtyard
led to the
place where the monks used to eat, now used as a lovely tea room/cafe.
Chester is
most famous for having the most complete city walls dating back to Roman times,
plus a fully excavated Roman amphitheater,
among other
Roman ruins.
We
thoroughly enjoyed our day’s stroll through cozy, historic Chester.
LIVERPOOL:
Some of my readers have wondered how Al and I can get along in such
close quarters for such an extended period of travel. Answer:
Lots of outdoor time. How do we
agree on what to see and do? Naturally,
after over 35 years of marriage, we have similar interests, but occasionally we
have to resort to deals and compromises, and so it was with Liverpool. What could I possibly want to see in
Liverpool that had little interest for Al?
That would be the homes of two of the Beatles! There was only one way to view the inside of
the Lennon and McCartney homes, and that was to book a National Trust van tour. We lucked out and got the Saturday tour we
wanted that departed from the National Trust site called Speke Hall.
Al agreed to
book the Beatles tour if I agreed that we would go to Portsmouth to see Admiral
Lord Nelson’s great warship the ‘Victory’. By the way, jumping a bit ahead—we both
thoroughly enjoyed each other’s travel choices…
What can I
say about the Beatles and their music that hasn’t been said a million different
times? I was a teenager in high school
in the early 60s when the Beatles jumped onto the world musical stage. They seemed so captivating with their catchy
tunes, and daring and handsome with their long, shaggy haircuts. I didn’t quite know what to think when one of
my high school friends announced that she had tickets to see the Beatles
perform at Cincinnati Gardens. She had already
made an impression on me when she had her ears pierced, and now she was going
to see the Beatles! Heady stuff…
The
neighborhood around the McCartney home at 20 Forthlin Road looked much as it
did when Paul lived there with his parents, Jim and Mary, and his brother,
Michael.
20 Forthlin Road
By all
accounts Paul had a happy childhood filled with the excitement of discovering friends
(John, George, and Ringo) who lived nearby and loved playing and composing music
as much as he did. There were many musical
jam sessions on guitar and piano right in the small living room where I sat in
an overstuffed chair while our tour guide recounted wonderful early McCartney
history. Many of the early Beatles hits
were written in that very room. But the
happiness of childhood took a tragic turn for the McCartney brothers when their
mother (Mary) died when Paul was 16. The
haunting words of ‘Let It Be’ were a wonderful nod to the mother he missed so
much.
When I find myself in
times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of
darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, let it
be.
The boyhood home of John Lennon was at Mendips, so named because its
former owners enjoyed hiking in the nearby Mendip Hills. John was raised in a more affluent household
under the care of his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George.
Mendips
A
property called Strawberry Field was nearby and John loved hopping the fence to
visit. His happy childhood memory of
this was memoralized in ‘Strawberry
Fields Forever.’
Let me take you down
Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
Under
Mimi’s skeptical eye, Paul used to visit John at his home where they liked to
sing out in the tiny porch area just inside the front door where the acoustics
were more favorable. It was clear in
viewing old report cards from John’s school days that he had little interest in
mathematics but excelled in the arts.
His Aunt Mimi once told John, “That
guitar is okay but you’ll never make a living with it.”
I
must admit our Beatles tour was even more fascinating than I imagined it would
be. It’s always interesting to visit the
actual rooms where genius took root, and so it was on Forthlin Road and at
Mendips.
WALES: We wouldn’t consider our visit to the United
Kingdom complete without a short visit to lovely Wales. A friend of ours who lived in Chester for a
few years told me that her favorite castle was Conwy Castle, so that is where
we headed for our first stop in Wales.
Oh my, the city of Conwy surrounded by its medieval walls with Conwy
Castle snuggled up against the water was so picturesque on a beautiful sunny
day!
Our brief
ride through Wales concluded with some spectacular Welsh scenery in Snowdonia
National Park. We were fairly certain we
caught a rare view of Mt. Snowdon (Great Britain’s highest peak) during a brief
parting of the clouds.
Finally,
while I have never been a big fan of Shakespeare and I struggled mightily to understand
his plays in high school English class, it would be hard for me to admit that I
visited England and didn’t go to Stratford-upon-Avon to see William
Shakespeare’s boyhood home.
and the
gravesite in Holy Trinity Church very thought-provoking.
So…I feel
better that we have our obligatory Stratford-upon-Avon pics and that we have paid
our respects to the incomparable Bard.
“I would challenge you to a battle of
wits, but I see you are unarmed!”
William Shakespeare
No comments:
Post a Comment