Cork and London
Spring, 2000
Cork
We left Orlando for JFK pretty much on time, at 4:30 on March 31st. We had used free coupons to upgrade our flights to "Business Elite" on Delta, but the first leg was on an ordinary MD eighty-something which had the old fashioned first class seats. No video, no frills, other than a nicer snack than the folks in the back of the plane got. We arrived at JFK and went over to the international lounge to wait for the transoceanic portion of the flight. It was only about an hour or so. Once we got onto the plane, which was one of the new ones, things were quite comfortable. The chairs are more like chaises when you extend them all the way. The only downside was the timing -- we left a bit after 8, and by the time the dinner was finished, it was 10:30. The in-seat videos had 6 movies to choose from, none of them special, so we watched Galaxy Quest while we ate. No video games in place yet. There was some time to sleep, but not very much; at 1 am they turned the lights on and started waking everyone up for breakfast. Since we'd just had a rather large meal 2 1/2 hours before, I can't say I was really hungry!
We landed in Dublin early, at about 2:30 am body time, which was something like 7:30 am local time. Our next flight didn't leave until noon, so we had lots of time to sit around the Dublin airport. That was the boring part -- no nice crown-room type lounges, so we sat around the main gate area and watched the Irish drinking their beer. We flew Aer Lingus to Cork, about a 30 minute flight. I think if we did this again, we'd probably fly to Shannon and take a bus to Cork, but travel planning long distance doesn't always take into account tail winds and other such factors. Our layover wasn't supposed to be that long. Anyway, the arrival in Cork was peachy, and we found a cab to take us to the hotel. Nothing like being up for the better part of 24 hours and then getting into a cab roaring down the narrow, twisting streets of Cork ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! Sure were glad we decided not to attempt the drive. Between the tiredness, the roundabouts, and the way the Irish drive, we'd have been toast for sure. The hotel was very nice, and the room was ready, with a view of the river. I showered, and then we walked up the hill to find the University and the location of the conference registration area and meeting rooms for the next day. The University was not much more than 10 or 15 minutes up the hill, depending on whether you decided to wait for the pedestrian light to turn green, or just join the locals as they dashed across the street at the slightest break in traffic. Spring had sprung, and the flowers were blooming. Weather was cold, but not raining, which is about all I cared about.
We walked back toward the hotel and decided to stop into an Irish pub for a sample of the libation recommended by our cab driver -- Murphy's Stout, brewed right there in Cork. It was really good, and smoother and mellower than Guinness. Just as we decided that we really didn't want to try to find a restaurant and would be more than happy to eat pub grub, a group of American colleagues of Dan's walked in. We filled up half the back of the pub, and probably totally annoyed the others who were watching Ireland and Wales (I think) playing rugby in a big championship match. Anyway, we all ordered some food, which was brought out one order at a time. A second Murphy's, and we were more than ready to brave the traffic crossing the street back to the hotel. We got into bed around 7:30 -- I think I read about 3 pages, but don't remember if any of it sank in. The bed was comfortable, the drapes were effective, and aside from occasional awakenings as people came through the halls, etc., we slept soundly until 8:30 am.
It was now Sunday morning, and we were free until the reception at 5 pm -- that's 1700 hours, I think. The hotel room included breakfast, which consisted of a very nice cold buffet of fruit, yogurt, scones, breads, cereals, juices, and then the waitress comes by and asks if you want the "Irish Breakfast". We gave it a shot and were served 2 eggs, grilled tomatoes, sausage and bacon. Very salty bacon. Future mornings, I would eliminate most of this part of the breakfast. Not Dan, except for one morning when he just had boiled eggs. We walked into the city and found an ATM which was happy to give us some pretty Irish punts. Then we meandered over to the bus station, where we found the next bus for Middleton, location of the Jameson distillery, wasn't for an hour, so we took a cab instead. We had an interesting tour of the history and processing of Irish whiskey (only Irish has the 'e'), and a sample was included. Not being much of a drinker of high spirits, I was surprised to find that I really liked the stuff, so we bought a bottle of the distillers reserve 12 year old 'water of life'. We had met up with another member of the conference, a young student from Portugal, and we shared a cab ride back to try to make an entire day of sampling local wares, but the Murphy's brewery was closed. Such a shame.
We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a coffee and sandwich shop for a light bite before the reception. The reception was in a very old campus library building -- lots of character and atmosphere. Irish musicians played traditional music, one did a bit of 'Riverdance' style dancing (I was glad to see that he was out of breath after his performance, because he sure made it look effortless), a bit of singing, and lots of food, wine, and Murphy's. Didn't need to go to dinner afterwards.
Monday Opening session was at 10. Not much going on before that, so I joined Dan for the welcome by the University president and the Lord Mayor of Cork. He knew how to open a meeting -- short, a few humorous remarks, and we were done by 10:20. We wanted to get together with another couple for dinner at a restaurant I'd seen and heard about on the Food Network -- heck, if someone is demonstrating fantastic recipes and you're in the same county a week later, it's worth a trip, right? But, the restaurant was booked for Tuesday night, so it meant traipsing back up the hill to the University to see what Plan B would be. Bruce and Mary Lou felt obligated to attend the civic reception Monday, so they begged off, and I made the reservations for just Dan and me for that night. Only drawback is that we'd have to pay the entire cab fare. Such is life on vacation.
Then I walked down to the bus depot and took a bus to Blarney. I sat next to a very nice college student who made sure I knew which was the right stop for the castle, and told me that the yellow flowering bushes we'd been seeing all over the place were gorse. Shades of Winnie The Pooh! I'm sure you're all cringing to discover that I kissed the Blarney Stone and now there will be no shutting me up. Actually, I was lucky not to get blown off the top of the castle -- it was really windy! Also went across the road to the big shopping store and wished I lived somewhere where the nice sweaters would be useful. Bought a small watercolor of the church that I'd been using as a landmark to find the hotel, and some tokens for the kids. (Not telling what they are in case this email arrives before the packages do). Caught the bus back to the depot, walked to the hotel, and changed for dinner.
Dinner at Ballymaloe House was wonderful. The restaurant is a house converted to a restaurant. When we walked in, the receptionist asked us if we'd like to take a seat in the drawing room, have a drink and look at the menu. I don't think I've ever had a drink in a drawing room before. Dinners are a 5 course meal. They grow most of their own vegetables and deal with the locals for all the food. We drove through a flock of sheep on the way in, and Dan still had the nerve to order lamb for dinner! We started with soup -- I had mushroom and Dan had carrot parsnip. Both were fantabulous. Then Dan had oysters and I had a crostini with grilled veggies. Entrees -- Dan had the aforementioned lamb, and I had duck. Salad and 3 vegetables came with it. Cheese tray, and dessert cart, where you didn't have to choose just one kind of dessert. Oh yes -- when you finished your entree, before they brought the cheese, they asked if you wanted more of anything! Another cab ride home (round trip fare ended up being just about equal to the dinner), and a wonderful day came to a close.
Tuesday morning I decided to do some sightseeing. I went up to the church and looked around. Very impressive -- we just don't have things that old here in the states. Then I went the other direction and went to the City Museum and park. Met Dan on campus and we went for Fish & no chips for lunch. Dan went back to the meetings and I went to the city center and to the "English Market" which is one of those Farmer's Market with stalls for everything imaginable, from sharks to trip to pastry and then some. The little grocery had some 'ethnic' foods -- America was represented by Skippy peanut butter and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Went back to the hotel for a cup of tea and a scone. When Dan returned, we went to the vegetarian restaurant next to the pub and had a great meal. Then we went back to campus for video night, where we watched some videos of cetacean research. Some were really bad -- even though I've been out of the game for more than 30 years, I know a bad animal behavior experiment when I see one.
Wednesday I went to the opening talks to hear an invited speaker who used to work with Dan in the old days. Then I went into Cork City to the Art Gallery, but it was pretty sparse as they're renovating it and most of the collection is put away. I browsed the local stores and did a bunch of window shopping. Had a quiet afternoon and checked out some of the British tv shows while I waited for Dan. The closing banquet was in Kinsale, which is about a 45 minute bus ride down to the coast (another part of the coast, anyway). It was still light when we left, so we got to see some more of the Irish countryside. Dinner was good, followed by Irish dancing. Of course Dan wasn't about to get up there and try, but the steps weren't really all that complicated. We left on the first bus back, which was at 1 am, and packed so we could be ready to leave the next morning. We were really glad we didn't have an early flight out.
Had breakfast the next morning, and went to the airport. Found out we were in "premier" seating on Aer Lingus and had breakfast again instead of peanuts. The flight to London took just about an hour, and we trekked through miles of Heathrow to find our luggage.
After walking through about a 5 mile maze at Heathrow, we found the baggage carousel and waited for our suitcases to appear. And waited. And waited. Finally things started coming down the chute, and we found our bags. We wound our way to the exit where we found a gentleman holding a sign that said "Terry & Dan". Correctly assuming that this was our ride, we followed him to his mini-van, which had been ordered by Elsa & Salah, as it's significantly cheaper than a black cab, and a lot more convenient than the underground when dealing with luggage. The ride to Elsa's house took about an hour. They live in High Barnet (pronounced BAR-nt) which is quite a ways out from London. The weather was springlike, and we were offered tea in the garden. Their yard seems to extend forever, and is just what one would expect of an English garden, except that a lot of the plants were still in the shed, because it had snowed just a couple of days before. However, we were blessed with sunshine, tea, and an assortment of goodies, one of which bore an amazing resemblance to Tante Trude's apple raisin pie. It was decided that we would be driven back into London to get an overview of the city. On the way, we stopped at the Kenwood Estate and enjoyed the works of art. Artists even I had heard of. We walked around the grounds and I now know what 'heath' looks like. I think we were in Kensington, but I wouldn't like to bet my life on it (or even a quarter, for that matter). Anyway, we then made our way back to the car park (parking lot) and went into the city, where Elsa pointed out all the landmarks I'd heard of and a lot I hadn't. We walked around, saw the Millennium Wheel, Big Ben, Parliament, and all sorts of other stuff . The wind was coming up, the temperature was going down, and after that glorious golden late afternoon/early evening light dwindled, we decided to head back. Elsa & Salah accepted our invitation to dinner, and we found an Indian restaurant near their home. We'd heard that the best Indian food in the world is in London, so we were more than willing to compare it to our local eatery. Food was excellent, although rice is not included and has to be ordered separately. Prices were quite reasonable, even after remembering that a pound is not a dollar. We returned to the homestead, chatted a while, and retired to our bedchamber.
Friday dawned bright and sunny again, so we took Elsa's advice about seeing Cambridge on a nice day and decided not to take a chance that this might be the last one. Taking just a few minutes to start a load of laundry, we headed out. Elsa had lived in Cambridge and was an excellent tour guide. We visited 2 of the colleges, Trinity & Saint John's. Even saw folks being punted down the river. Certainly a far cry from UCLA's hallowed halls. We found a pub for lunch and decided that we didn't need to see yet another college, especially as each one was hitting the tourists up for separate entry fees. We drove about 25 minutes further down the road to Ely and saw an absolutely awesome Cathedral there. Buildings are sure a lot older than the good old USofA; this one had its roots in 673, although the present cathedral wasn't begun until the early 1080's. Anyway, it was great. Got home around 7, and Elsa & Salah set up a nice Shabos dinner in the dining room, under the watchful eye of Simon Anker's portrait. Our kind of ceremony -- candles, bread, wine, and dinner is served. Finished up the laundry after dinner.
Saturday was another sunny day! Salah walked us to the underground station, and we were on our way to London proper. We were advised to get off a Leicester (Lester) Square, head over toward Trafalgar, and find a tourist "hop on-hop off" double decker bus to get a narrated overview of the city. So we did. My goodness, but London traffic is snarly. I think everyone was taking advantage of the glorious weather -- you couldn't see the pigeons in Trafalgar Square for all the people basking in the sun. Anyway, we took the green route to Haymarket, and then got on the Yellow route. This took us past Big Ben, across the river, along the river, back across the river to Fleet Street, St Paul's cathedral, back across the river on the London Bridge, back across on the Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, the Globe Theater, and back along the river again to Cleopatra's Needle, where we de-bussed to check out the river cruise which was part of the tour package. Considering traffic, we opted to stay on the bus until this point, for fear we'd get involved in some up close sightseeing and miss the rest of the tour. We'd missed a boat by about 10 minutes, so we used the time to stroll the streets near the Embankment Station and found a Sandwich takeaway and took away some sandwiches, which we ate on the grass overlooking the river. The river cruise lasted just under and hour, and we got to see a lot of the same sights, but from the water. The tour guide did an excellent job -- she repeated everything in English, French, Spanish & German. Poor thing barely had time to breathe. After the cruise, we got on the red route so we could get to Baker Street and see Sherlock Holmes' digs. It's amazing that there's an entire museum devoted to a fictional character, but being Holmes fans, we bought tickets and gave them to the Bobby at the door who let us in. After the museum, we went back and completed the circuit on the bus. By now, it was 5:45, and the National Gallery closed at 6, so we scrapped that idea in favor of a Guinness at a pub. This pub didn't serve food, so we walked about a bit until we came to a restaurant that looked promising. We had a very nice Thai meal, and then got back on the underground to High Barnet. We got back to Elsa's at about 10 pm, and relayed the events of the day over a glass of wine.
Sunday we decided to get up close and actually go into some of the British attractions. We headed up to the Tower of London, one of the things on my list. Turned out that was as far as we got. There's a lot to see in there! We left a bit after four and took the tube along the other Northern Line route to Charlotte's stop, and took a cab to her house. Driving to her place was more like Fairfax than Fairfax was! The family was due at 6, so we got there early so we'd have a little peaceful time to visit (and find the portrait of Simon Anker -- the man did get around!). My goodness, but Charlotte puts on a spread! We had cocktails until about 7, while we tried to remember who all the cousins were. These were all of 'my' generation. I should have studied the family tree more before we left -- or better yet, brought it along. There were Michaels and Gugenheims, and a couple of Alexanders Leslie and his wife (also Leslie) were there, and Juliette & Michael (it was their 27th anniversary, but no one remembered), and Tony arrived late, but in time for dinner. Peter Gugenhiem and Barbara, and Anne and Tony. I think there were more people than names -- we had to use a couple of them several times. Dan took a picture, and we can double check to see if I forgot anyone. Anyway, I don't know where the Alexanders fit into the family tree, but they were lovely people nonetheless. The sideboard was filled to capacity with a wonderful cold supper -- salads, including my favorite cucumber one, salmon, two other meat/poultry dishes which I didn't try, lots of food. At least 3 desserts, plus cheeses. About 9:30 we left. Elsa & Salah had hosted a B'nai Brith installation at their home and arrived on their own, but we drove home with them. Elsa looked so much like Brigitte that evening -- those Anker genes keep popping out.
Our last day, we once again headed back to London, after a stop in High Barnet to buy my London souvenir -- a teapot, what else?. Elsa dropped us off at the station afterwards. We were getting quite good at this underground thing. I wanted to see Buckingham Palace -- after all, when in London and all that. We figured out which tubes to take, and walked over to the grounds. Lo and behold, a huge crowd had gathered. It appears that we were just in time for the changing of the guard. (Didn't see Christopher Robin or Alice, though.) They put on quite a show, band concert and all. Then it was over to the British Museum. Wisely, we decided to do this after the palace, or we'd never have seen that at all. We stopped for scones at about 3:30, and then finished with the Egyptian mummies. Elsa wanted us to meet her daughter and kids, so we headed back uptown. Ann is about 8 1/2 months pregnant, and hadn't felt up to the large mishpocha gathering of the previous night. We met at their house for some champagne -- no occasion, they just had a couple of bottles -- and they decided we could all go out to dinner at a local favorite Indian place. Good food once again. The two kids were very nice; the older has been trying to beat Salah at table tennis (ping pong), but Grandpa shows no mercy. The younger is fascinated by animals and once we told him what Dan does, he pumped him for information all evening. Somehow, all those questions sound so much nicer with that British accent! Anyway, Dan will go find some animal books at SeaWorld and send them to the boys.
After dinner, we packed up, as we had figured that to arrive at Gatwick the requisite 2 hours prior to flight time, we'd have to get a 7:30 train, which meant leaving the house before 7 am. Since we'd been sleeping until 8 or 8:30 every morning, getting up at 6 would be an unwelcome change. Nevertheless, we set the alarm and managed to be all ready to go right on time. Elsa & Salah drove us to the train station -- more or less -- it took them a little while to remember where it was and how to drive up to the entrance so we didn't have to lug our bags across the car park, and up and down too many stairs. We had one change of train, but it was an easy one -- same platform. The locals were very nice and made sure we waited for the right train to Gatwick. All told, the trip was about an hour and a half to the airport station. Then, we had to go to the other terminal, pass through the 'has anybody else touched your bag' line, get our boarding passes, go through the security machines, hit the duty-free shops, find the crown room, and have a spot of breakfast. Then it was down to the gate, which was about another 5 blocks away, and then onto a bus to the plane. We discovered our boarding passes had us sitting in 2 separate rows, but Dan traded seats with my row partner (after deciding that his seat-mate wasn't a better option than me), so we settled in to our 'triple 7' aircraft luxury and headed for home. (This turned out to be the only rain we had the entire trip, with the minor exception of a drizzle when we entered the Jameson distillery, and some sprinkles on the bus to Kinsale for the banquet.) Never used my umbrella at all! Our flight took us to lovely Cincinnati airport to clear customs (when you have a free upgrade, you don't argue about the route), which turned out to be very efficient. About an hour and a half in the crown room, and then back to Orlando.
One disappointment -- the camera had
some problems with light leaks, so most of the pictures had bright red
streaks in them. They're ok for my memories, but not much to post.
Comments?