April 14 - 15, 2013 - Fred's Birthday and Homeward Bound

Greetings All,

After breakfast we left London and headed to Nottingham for Meat Loaf's Concert "Last at Bat".  The drive up was not bad as it was early on Sunday morning and the traffic was not heavy.  Once in Nottingham we drove around a bit as the nav chick's instructions were a bit confusing.  Once we were finally parked we made the 2 minute walk to our hotel The Mercure. It was built in 1822 and is the oldest hotel in Nottingham.  It is steeped in history with medieval caves under the building that were said to be used in Robin Hoods time.  The hotel was originally called The George IV Family Hotel and Posting House and has had some notable guests, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and now the Parkins.
Once we were checked in we headed out to wander around the town centre and to locate the arena. We were somewhat disappointed as we found Nottingham to be nothing special with no wonderful architecture or real outstanding features.  We had an early supper at La Tasca so we were not rushed and enjoyed some of our favorite dishes.  We then relaxed before heading out to the concert. Unfortunately, it really was Last at Bat as it was cancelled at the last minute due to health reasons, so we were told.  Disappointed but the man is 65 and I am sure touring must be rough on him.  I can attest that getting older is not fun at times given the crappy year I am having.  So we headed off to Sainsbury's to purchase a bottle of wine and some snacks for the room.  Outside Sainsbury's we met a couple of guys who hear us talking and asked us where we in America we were from.  I answered Liverpool but originally from Canada.  One chap was from Arkansas but now lives in Kent and suggested that we check it out.  So Fred ended up having a quiet birthday, relaxing, drinking wine and reading.

April 15th

We were off early again thanks to the fact I cannot sleep due to my leg.  We headed off to Priors Hardwick, a village in Warwickshire.  This is the village where Fred's four time great grandfather was born, in 1766, and died there in 1847.  The village is now home to some amazing properties of obvious wealth.  We located the church and cemetery St Mary's but are unable to locate a grave site as the tomb stones are so decayed and in poor shape that names are not readable.  There were also many stones under a huge pine tree that was so overgrown you couldn't get near the them.  The church was open so we went inside.  The pipe organ was very colourful and can be seen on our Flickr site or my face book page.

As we could not find a grave site we settled for a picture of the church and graveyard where we believe he was buried.  We now headed home avoiding motorways and saw some very pretty countryside in an area of the UK that we had not completely traveled in before.

We hope you have enjoyed this segment of our blog.

Cheers All,

Sandy & Fred

April 13, 2013 - A Day in London on Fred's Birthday Weekend

Cheers All,

We were up and out very early thanks to me as I could not sleep due to the pain in my hip and leg.  However, I was not going to let that get in the way of o good weekend.  We started off the day with a nice surprise, our breakfast at the Marriott, was free.

After breakfast we headed off to explore some of our favorite spots during the day before meeting up with our friends for dinner and drinks.  As I mentioned in yesterday's blog the weather has been absolutely horrible so spring is arriving very late by UK standards.  The trees are just starting to blossom as well as the daffodils, which are usually done by now.  St James's Park was already very busy with tourists, joggers and families out for some fresh air.
The picture on the left I have named Pelican Island as the pelicans had seemed to make it their resting place, sharing it with a lone Heron who landed just before I snapped the shot.

As I was taking pictures of the few flowers that were in bloom, we were lucky to see the Horse Guard's changing as we were walking through the park.  So we headed up and I got some very good shots of them.

With photos done we then headed up to Covent Gardens to explore the area and the craft stalls.  Not one of Fred's favorite things to do but he was a good sport and tagged along as I wandered around the various stalls getting gift ideas.  From here we then headed to Leicester Square to just meander around.  We stopped for a pint of bitter for Fred and 1/2 pint of cider for me at the Porcupine and also for a bit of rest for me.  Once refreshed we continued on and visited one of my favorite stores, Fortnam and Mason.  We wandered through the food area spending a good hour just checking out the variety of products and prices.

We then headed back to the Hotel for a bit of rest before meeting up with our friends.  We spent a good 5 hours walking around.

After an hours rest we walked along the north bank to the Blackfriars Pub to meet up with Karen and Steve, friends from Whitby Ontario.  The pub was built in 1905 on the site of a Dominican friary.  It was designed by architect H. Fuller-Clark and artist Henry Poole, both committed to free thinking of the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.  Jolly friars appear everywhere in the pub in sculptures, mosaics and reliefs.  We are lucky to still be able to be here, as this wonderful pub was saved from demolition by a campaign led by Sir John Betjeman.  The picture on the left is of the ceiling in the area where we enjoyed our time with friends.  I am quite entertained by Steve and Karen's friend Jack who with his wife Irene was traveling with them.  He asked questions about football and Liverpool Football Club and managed to make a comment about supporting Everton. There was a little guy wearing a Liverpool shirt who took exception to that comment with a look that could kill, Jack ended up apologizing profusely to the little guy.  Fred told the little guy that he would have Jack properly educated before the end of the evening, to which we all had a good laugh.  Jack was also very amazed with me because of the fact that I moved to the UK.  He felt that I gave up a lot leaving my country of birth, home and whatever.  Sad to say that while it was a nice compliment I just don't think I gave up anything and did not get where he was coming from.  I'm with the person who means the most to me and we are enjoying life.  Well on to more entertaining things.  The four of them had been on a pub crawl that afternoon and the Blackfriars was the last pub of the afternoon for them,  hence why it was picked for us to meet up for supper.  The food was very good and typical pub grub.  Steve ordered a filet of salmon that was served on what he first thought was a sheet of filo pastry.  Karen had him convinced that he should wrap his salmon and eat it like a wrap.  She then broke off a piece of the so called pastry and it turned out to be paper.  A good laugh was had by all and Steve was saved from eating paper.  After supper we headed off another pub for a night cap.  Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, just off Fleet Street.  This pub was rebuilt after the great Fire of London but there has been a pub on this site much longer than that.  The pub itself is very narrow and is made up of a series of floors with a couple of floors in the basement and it was quite busy.  We found seats but the group beside us were extremely loud.  So we fought fire with fire and win as they left and we could then chat in normal tones.  We had a great visit with friends old and new and headed off to our separate hotels.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred

April 12, 2013 - Fred's Birthday Weekend

Greetings All,

It has been some time since we have done any traveling at all partly due to my poor health and partly due to the terrible weather we have been having in the UK.  Fred was supposed to go to the Liverpool vs Reading football match with his brother but they were unable to get tickets.  Our visit with John and Adrienne also got cancelled as Adrienne came down with chickenpox and there was no way I was chancing anything given my health since the New Year.  As we had made arrangements to meet up with friends from Whitby who were having a short stop in London on their way to France, we stayed at the Marriott County Hall which is right by the London Eye.

On our way to London, we stopped in at The Air Force Memorial at Runnymede to get a picture of my Uncles name, which is on one of the panels at the memorial.  Flying Officer, Edward Joseph Andrews was lost in 1943 while on a mission.  Fred who is working on our family tree made the discovery of the memorial while doing his research.
The memorial, designed by Sir Edward Maufe and officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on October 17,1953, overlooks the Thames and the riverside meadow where the Magna Carta was sealed by King John in 1215.  The memorial records the names of over 20,000 air force people, by the year they were lost.  These are airmen and women who were lost without a trace and graves unknown.  There is also a shrine at the memorial with a window that is engraved with words from the 139th Psalm, sometimes called the Airman's Psalm.

If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there;
If I go into Hell, Thou art there also.
If I take wings of the morning
And remain in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there also shall Thy hand lead me;
And Thy right hand shall hold me.

The weather for me was very appropriate as it was very overcast and grey for visting such a solemn but wonderful tribute to all those that lost their lives.
 
After our visit we headed into London and booked into our hotel for 2 nights.  Once settled, we headed off for a walk along the Southbank and then along the Strand to purchase our lottery tickets (not winners).  We then stopped for supper at Pizza Express before heading back to the hotel by tube as my leg was really acting up, and it was raining.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred