Kristine Hughes's Blog, page 102

NEW LONDON PASS

New London PassInfographic Provides
Virtual Snapshot of London’s Historic Royal Residences 

With international interest in the UK monarchy at an all-time high following the birth of Prince George, sightseeing specialist The London Passhas produced a brand new infographic offering a virtual introduction to all of the city’s historic Royal residences. The infographic explores all nine different Royal residences including BuckinghamPalace, The Tower of London and Kensington Palace, and celebrates nearly 1,000 years of fascinating heritage from Norman times to the present day.
London has a very rich and varied Royal history.  Almost all of the main Royal residences are based there and most are open for tourists to visit.  The LondonPass infographic enables visitors to the city to gain a quick insight into the stories behind each site, ensuring they choose the residences they will enjoy most on arrival in the UK’s capital.
Monarchy is the oldest form of government in the United Kingdom. Today, however, the Crown is a constitutional monarchy which means that while the sovereign is head of state, only an elected parliament has the ability to pass legislation. Each year, thousands of people meet members of the Royal Family and various events are held in Royal residences across Londonwhich boost tourism and help to draw in visitors. Buckingham Palace, the home of Queen Elizabeth II, is perhaps the most famous residence of them all. Kensington Palace has been a residence of the British Royal family since the 16th century, and today is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Princess Michael of Kent, among others.
Royal history has often had a dark side and Royal residents in the Tower of London were usually not there by choice: it was here that the young ‘Princes in the Tower’ allegedly met their end, while two of Henry VIII’s wives were executed on Tower Green.  ElizabethI was also briefly imprisoned here by her sister Mary but survived to become one of England’s greatest monarchs.
Other residences featured in the infographic, each with its own unique story to tell, are Banqueting House, The Queens Gallery, The Royal Mews, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Palaceand Windsor Castle.
 The London Pass is a sightseeing card which gives tourists entry to a choice of over 60 popular tourist attractions in the city.  Once purchased, visitors simply show their card at the entrance or ticket office of any included attraction and are admitted with nothing further to pay; saving money on individual attraction admission fees and avoiding wasted time queuing for tickets.
  

Joining us on The Wellington Tour

Victoria here. As our previous posts have explained. Kristine and I have been gorging ourselves on tour books, maps, websites and playing with Pinterest (here) to plan a once-in-a-lifetime tour schedule for ourselves.  And FOR YOU!! So look at the website, read the fine print, and SIGN UP!


1st Duke of Wellington
With the help of Novel Explorations' Patty Suchy, travel maven extraordinaire, we have put together an exciting -- and do-able itinerary.  We plan to spend lots of time at each site, with knowledgeable guides and browsing time, all designed to maximize our enjoyment. 

Which brings up the ever-popular subject of gift shops.  Oooooh, do we love gift shops and bookstores.  And the best part is that you rarely have to carry off your purchases.  You can either have them shipped, or make a list and order from home on their websites. Or, if you want to be thoroughly briefed on sites we'll visit, you can order the guide books before we embark.    
I have to admit that I buy a lot of postcards.  Not necessarily to send to anyone, but to be sure that my photo albums have perfect views of each spot we visit. Postcards have the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to carry.

 One of my favorite purchases made at the Buckingham Palace Queen's Gallery gift shop was a dozen carrier bags with the palace logo.  Some of my friends still love to tell about the comments they get from people in the grocery stores who see them carrying out their Buckingham Palace bags filled with carrots, bread, and peanut butter. Seems some folks expect them to be filled with caviar and truffles.




With two exceptions, I have visited all of our destinations, at least once. And I can't wait to go back.  Who could ever get enough of Walmer Castle, its gardens and lovely view of the Channel from comfy chairs on the ramparts?  And prepare to be dazzled -- and amused -- by the extremes of the Brighton Pavilion.  It stands as a perfect representation of the excesses of the Prince Regent, later George IV. 



One of the most interesting things I remember from my previous visit to Basildon Park is the story of its restoration.  Major elements of the doors, windows and fireplace surrounds had been removed or damaged in the years it was given over to the war effort -- and left derelict for a time. Though the house was over one hundred years old, fittings from demolished houses also designed by Carr of York, were perfectly adaptable, many fitting precisely.  In this day of so little standardization (have you ever tried using an unfamiliar mobile phone?), such precision is unusual.  But Carr did it in the mid 18th century.



Stratfield Saye, the country home of the 1st Duke of Wellington, greets you with a great statue. 



And inside, in the Hall, are the tattered battle flags of the French regiments Wellington conquered at
Waterloo almost 200 years ago. The stables still house that huge funeral car that carried the body of Wellington to his final resting place in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1852.





The two places I have not visited will be a real treat.  Frogmore House in Windsor Park is rarely open. We will explore more about this "private hideaway" for the Royals in a future blog post.  We are lucky to be allowed in!  Like at Stratfield Saye, you can see how real people enjoyed their privacy and leisure in the comfortable rooms, quite a contrast to the Pavilion.




And of course, I am already salivating over the chance to see Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey.  To me, the best part of that series are the settings and costumes.  I love some of the actors, others not so much.  And darn it, too many characters have died off.  Plus, let's face it, melodrama reigns.  Anyone for soap opera????  But who can resist that great house -- or castle or abbey?






You are cordially invited to join us September 4-14, 2014!
Find Complete Itinerary and Details of the Wellington Tour Here .

Victoria at Houghton Hall: The Kindness of Strangers, Part Two

White Roses

Houghton Hall is a large estate of more than 1,000 acres.  After spending over an hour in the house, I wanted to see it all.  Ed, my husband (the one with the sore foot), was much more interested in sitting in the shade on a hot afternoon than tramping through the stables, the sculpture park, the lawns, the walled garden, and the wilderness.  But I was determined!


In a few years, there will be more shade For the most part, Ed found plenty of shady resting spots.  I needn't remind you that he was suffering,  trying not to limp, and keeping up a brave front while muttering under his breath.  I should have been more sympathetic, but when would I ever have another chance to roam around Houghton Hall?  I appreciated the fact he'd made it through the house and art exhibition, but nevertheless I simply had to see the whole thing.   Amazing hedges Let me be clear.  I didn't make it through all 1,000 acres.   But I tried -- sort of.  There is a wonderful folly at the end of a park view, below...I didn't get there any closer than the photograph. 
photo from the website showing the sculpture and the house

  Full Moon Circle, by Richard Long, 2004

The folly I didn't get to!    Lovely paths through the trees


  the wilderness  statuary

After the current Marquess of Cholmondeley inherited his title and estates in 1990, he began plans to open the house to the public and to create news gardens in honor of his grandmother, Sybil Sassoon, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (1894-1989).  She was the wartime superintendent of the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) and held other important posts.
 

In the walled gardens are many beautiful "rooms" with various flowers and vegetables, pergolas, and sculptures, both ancient and contemporary. all joined by grassy paths and perfectly maintained. More than 150 varieties of roses can be found, though I didn't count.

      
The Herbaceous Borders  ,

An abundance of roses

The stables date from 1735 and may have been designed by William Kent.  Now they are open for visitors, but  without their former residents!







On display throughout the gardens are various contemporary works of art, including the Waterflame by artist Jeppe Hein. A rather astonishing column of water shoots into the air carrying an active fire.  I can only guess at how it is accomplished; it’s certainly unique among fountains I’ve seen anywhere.





In addition to the Hall, the pictures always there and those on special display, the gardens, the sculptures, and the stables, we enjoyed the tea room and the fantastic collection of the sixth Marquess's  model soldiers, in which no pictures were allowed, sadly.  Those displays alone would be worth the trip!

Battle of Waterloo display Visit the Houghton Hall Website here. To finish off our day at Houghton Hall, our taxi driver appeared right on time and drove us to the Victoria Hotel at nearby Holkham Hall, where the next adventure awaited us.  Our confidence in the Kindness of Strangers was indeed fulfilled.  Ed was delighted to have a restful night, but I wonder how much walking he anticipated for the next day?  Maybe he had nightmares!!

A Guest Post - “Better it is to Get Wisdom than Gold.”

By Guest Blogger Mandi
   
Images and the journey itself courtesy of amitours.co.uk
Recently I took a ride in a cab through the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I was tasked with producing photos of the taxi in action; an out and about photo shoot. South Kensington in particular is an area I felt I was already very familiar with having gotten to know it well during my time at the Royal College of Art, where I’d studied two years previous. I was quite wrong! It’s quite interesting how used to your surrounding environment you get without ever actually paying it any particular attention. At the time I would walk around with my mind fixed on a destination, not necessarily absorbing myself with what was around me in the present.
I already understood the anatomy of the area. The Royal college of Art, the Royal College of Music, the Imperial College, the V&A, the Natural History Museum (above), the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. To me these were just all convenient nearby attractions. I had never thought of the reasoning for their close proximity until researching the area for the photo shoot. So here we are, the reason.
 Albertropolis!
In the summer of 1851 the Great Exhibition brought a celebration of creativity - the best of human creativity – to this small borough of London. Pulling together two realms that previously could not have been further apart: Science and Art. 
 The Victoria and Albert Museum  The reconciliation between the two began at The Great Exhibition in nearby Hyde Park, then shortly after Prince Albert pushed for this area to be bought by the Royal Commission with the profits made. This area was then built up to encourage a community where science and art could coexist, if not crossover. The nearby museums could aid the practitioners of science and art alike.
Of course this was all built up overtime and a lot of the original institutions have long since vanished.  Interestingly the central axis of the Imperial College, the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert memorial are all aligned, appearing set to stay. This slight detail that goes unnoticed to the everyday visitor as it is only viewable from the Queen’s Balcony (rarely open to the public). The axis ties together the marriage of art and science: an arts institution, a science institution to the facilitator: Price Albert.
The Albert Memorial
“Better it is to Get Wisdom than Gold”
The memorial was commissioned ten years after The Great Exhibition because of Prince Albert’s sudden death in 1861. The area was affectionately named Albertropolis, although this is more or less forgotten these days as the area has become known as South Kensington. It’s a shame as we have a lot to owe him. Prince Albert was an advocate of self learning and encouraged the opening of museums and libraries to the public – before which these were places of the academic, the researcher. This was a truly ground breaking endeavour; one which we now take for granted.
Without Prince Albert I may have not received the education I did in one of the world’s most densely populated and successful cultural quarters.   Visit the Amitours website , the friendliest taxi fleet in London, for all your taxi, minicab and airport transfer needs.

The Wellington Tour - Tea, Anyone?

Once Victoria and I had hammered out the itinerary for The Wellington Tour, we handed it over to Patty Suchy of Novel Explorations and asked her to work her travel agent magic as far as pricing and logistics were concerned. Before long, it was time for Victoria and I to call Patty and learn how she'd made out with the plans.

Patty:  Hello?

Victoria: Hey, Patty, it's Kristine and Vicky.

Patty:  Well hello! You're together?

Victoria: Yes, we're together and ready to hear how you made out.

Patty:  I've got to tell you, this hasn't been easy. You two picked several spots that are terribly difficult to get into.

Kristine: What do you mean, difficult to get into? Are you referring to Stratfield Saye, which seems as though it's only open one day a year?

Patty: Yes, and Frogmore House, which is also rarely open. Not to mention Highclere Castle.

Victoria:  What about Highclere Castle?

Patty: It seems that since the all the Downton Abbey hoopla reached a fever pitch, they've been inundated with visitor and tour requests. They've had to limit visiting times and then there's having to work around the shooting schedule for the show itself. They're having to restrict admissions and they're already booked up for months ahead of time. It's very difficult.

Kristine: Are you saying we can't get in?

Patty: No. I'm telling you that I'm still working on getting all the stars to line up as far as opening days for several of the places you want to include. The rest of the tour is no problem, but these three places are tricky. I'm still waiting to hear back from the people at Highclere.

Kristine: I was thinking it might be nice to have tea while we're there.

Patty: Tea? You can have all the tea you like. They have tea rooms on site. Tea shouldn't be problem.

Victoria: No, we meant an afternoon tea in the house or gardens. You know, little sandwiches and cakes and things.

Patty: Well, I'll ask when I speak to them, but a special, dedicated tea service for the tour group might be costly.

Kristine: We'll just tack it on to the tour price. It's something Vicky and I would like to do and I think everyone would really enjoy it. It's one of those once in a lifetime things.

Patty: I agree, it would be fantastic. Alright then, I'll ask when I speak to their representative. Do you have any idea on dates for the tour?

I looked at Victoria, who shrugged her shoulders in reply.

Kristine: Let's try to shoot for sometime when it won't be freezing cold.

Patty: I'll keep that in mind, but remember that one of the tours you and I did together a few years ago was in June and we all froze.

Kristine: Who could forget? Why don't you see how the opening times work out and we'll talk again in a few days?

And so a few days went by, with Victoria and I waiting on pins and needles, before we called Patty again.

Patty:  Hello?

Kristine: Hey, it's Kristine and Vicky.

Patty:  Well, I have to tell you, I've had a rough few days trying to work all of this out. It's been a struggle.

Victoria: I can appreciate that and we do appreciate all you've done, Patty.

Kristine: What's the bottom line?

Patty: Bottom line is we keep Frogmore, Stratfield Saye and Highclere Castle on the itinerary.

Kristine: You're a star!

Patty: But there isn't going to be a Downton Abbey tea.

Victoria: There's isn't?

Patty: No. It's just too expensive.

Kristine: How expensive?

Patty: Over a thousand dollars.

Kristine: So? What's that, like fifty dollars added to the tour price per person?

Patty: That is the per person price.

Victoria: What's the per person price?

Patty: Nearly a thousand dollars. Per person. Not in total.

Kristine: Are you telling me they're charging at least twenty thousand dollars for afternoon tea? Who's serving it, Bates and Mr. Carson themselves?

Patty: Mr. Bates can't serve tea. He's got a gimpy leg.

Victoria: For twenty thousand dollars, I'd better be seated next to Maggie Smith.

Patty: There are always the tea rooms.

Kristine: I suppose. More importantly, what did you hear from Stratfield Saye?

Victoria: Maybe we can have tea there with the Duke of Wellington. He'd probably charge less than twenty thousand dollars.

Patty: We can get into Stratfield Saye. Not a problem. However, in order to get into all of these places on the same tour, we'd have to schedule the Tour for September."

Victoria and I looked at one another, trying to work out the pitfalls of a September Tour. We couldn't come up with any.

Victoria: What's wrong with September?

Patty: Nothing's wrong with September. It's really an excellent time to visit England. It just means that you two wouldn't have a choice of the other months.

Kristine: You got anything planned for next September?

Victoria: Not that I can think of at the moment. And if I did, I'd rearrange it.

Kristine: We have no problem with September.

Patty: Good. I've blocked the tour out for the fourth through the fourteenth.

Victoria: Sounds good.

Patty: Okay. Now that we have our dates, I'll work on firming up all the details.

We hung up and it wasn't till much later that I realized the last day of the Tour would coincide with the last day of the Duke of Wellington's life - September 14, 1852.


Click Here For Complete Details on THE WELLINGTON TOUR

Victoria at Houghton Hall: The Kindness of Strangers, Part One

I had already planned to include Norfolk on my summer visit to England when I chanced upon the Vanity Fair magazine of May, 2013, describing the successful efforts of the Marquess of Cholmondeley to return the paintings collected by his ancestor Sir Robert Walpole to Houghton Hall for an exhibition (click here for the article). I literally salivated at the thought!




Click here to visit the website. Everything about this event appealed to me -- the opportunity to see the Hall and its grounds, the glorious paintings to be seen, the fascinating story of Sir Robert Walpole and his career as England's first Prime Minister in the reign of George I, and the equally interesting story of how his great collection of Old Masters was sold to Catherine the Great and subsequently a few of them re-sold by Stalin's government to western museums, leaving most of them in the Hermitage and other Russian venues.

  A work by Paris Boldone (1500-1571), variously titled Two Women and a Soldier orVenus, Flora, Mars and Cupid (Allegory), c. 1550State Museum The Hermitage, St. Petersburg  Ed and I left Cambridge by train on another sunny, warm morning in July and arrived a bit over an hour later at King's Lynn, a charming town I am sorry we had no time to explore.  In lieu of renting a car someplace along our route, we had decided to travel by taxi.  We'd left most of our gear in London, but had along a suitcase and a big computer bag.  Therein, the dilemma.  What to do with the bags while we toured Houghton?    Houghton Hall, July, 2013   Going first to our hotel at Holkham was considerably out of the way and would add time and many  £££ s to our trip.  Our taxi driver offered us an alternative.  We could leave our bags with him and he would return to meet us in the late afternoon and drive us to Holkham.  Well, we'd be in very deep trouble if our bags disappeared, wouldn't we?  Ed and looked at each other, eyed the driver who seemed like a hearty Norfolk fellow, entirely trustworthy, and so we thanked him profusely and accepted his kind offer.  After all, it was England where everyone is honest -- we hoped!  We set a rendezvous time -- late in the afternoon so we could see everything! We had plenty of time before our timed tickets were scheduled, so we wandered the gardens and had lunch in the convenient teashop. Lots of spots for Ed to take the weight off his foot.  More about the gardens in the next post.  I will skip ahead to entering the Hall itself, approaching through a cool grove of trees.  
 Coming in to the ground floor and surrendering our tickets, we realized the crowds were large, and seating would probably be at a premium. We were right.    Borghese Gladiator, in the Great Staircase

We began with the great staircase, which dimly turns around a magnificent life-size bronze sculpture of a gladiator.  

Sir Robert Walpole workshop of Van Loo 
 Houghton Hall was built by Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), Britain’s first and longest-serving Prime Minister, later the 1st Earl of Orford.  Over the many years of his power during the reigns of George I and George II, Walpole purchased a superb collection of Old Master paintings with which he filled the walls of his magnificent country house.  The splendor of house itself and its outstanding contents – paintings, tapestries, sculpture, furniture, even china, were part of Walpole’s technique of acquiring and maintaining political and cultural power among the peers of the realm.
   The Stone Hall  Walpole’s grandson, the 3rd Earl of Orford, sold a large portion of the great collection in 1779 to Catherine the Great, ruler of Russia, to pay off  accumulated family debts.  At the time, as well as today, it was considered a great loss for the British people, and it was one of the situations which led to the creation of the National Gallery, now presiding majestically over Trafalgar Square in London. At last, there was a non-royal venue for depositing the finest art of British collections.
   The Stone Hall, ©Vanity Fair  Houghton's Stone Hall displays a collection of marble busts, some from ancient sources, others of Walpole himself and his colleagues.  The startling white of the Stone Hall is one of those abrupt changes in atmosphere that country house designers like, a complete change of atmosphere from subdued lighting to brilliance.   The Saloon

Built in the 1720’s, Houghton Hall results from the combined efforts of architects James Gibbs and Colen Campbell, in the Palladian style, somewhat imbued with the baroque.  William Kent designed the interior décor and furniture. The current resident of Houghton Hall is the family of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley), a descendant of Walpole’s daughter Mary, who became the wife of the 3rdEarl of Cholmondeley in 1723. David Cholmondeley (b. 1960) serves as the Lord Great Chamberlain of the U.K. and is seen every year leading the Queen to the State Opening of Parliament.   In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II and the Lord Great Chamberlain, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley   The Marquess reportedly discovered an original plan of hanging the collection, so the paintings from the Hermitage have been hung much as they originally were when Walpole lived at Houghton Hall. The collection includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck as well as Poussin, Velazquez, and Murillo.     The Maratta Room

A whole room of the exhibition is given over to the work of Carlo Maratta. Most well known of his works might be the portrait below of Pope Clement IX.

  Carlo Maratta, Portrait of Pope Clement IX, 1669  The Maratta portrait contrasts interestingly with the Portrait of Pope Innocent X, by Velazquez (1599-1660) which usually hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C    Velazquez, Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1599-1600, NGA  A second National Gallery painting in the exhibition is Franz Hals (1581-1666) Portrait of a Young Man. These two paintings were sold by the USSR to Andrew Mellon, who gave them to the NGA.

Frans Hals, Portrait of a Young Man, 1646/48, NGA   Green Velvet Bedchamber
 Frankly, the splendor is far more than one can comprehend in a single visit.  I spoke with one lady who was there for the second time and she planned to return at least once more.  If only I’d had that opportunity! Not only are the paintings worth long contemplation; the house itself, the furnishings and décor are stunning.  I was so entranced by the whole scene that I forgot about Ed and his throbbing foot, but he managed to negotiate the crowds and dim light, even snagging a chair now and then (hopefully only those reserved for the guides and not one of the William Kent originals).   Embroidered Bedchamber  Not only the paintings but all the furnishings, the tapestries, the molded ceilings, every inch of Houghton Hall is worth contemplating. I valiantly tried to keep it all in my head, but I probably missed a great deal of it.  An abundance of riches indeed.   Portrait of Sir Thomas Wharton (detail)by Anthony Van Dyck, 1639State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg The Exhibition has been extended to 24 November 2013.  I lingered as long as I could in each room but the press of the crowds required pretty constant movement.  I will spend many more hours looking at the catalogue and enjoying the memories.  I found Ed outside enjoying the breezes, as the house had been quite warm.      He found a shady bench where we sat and simply tried to absorb what we'd seen.  Astonishing. Overwhelming. And we still had some of the garden to visit too.  More about that coming soon.      

Video Wednesday

Sit back and enjoy black and white footage of some of England's stately homes -




 Heatherden Hall in 1931      Tudor Moreton Hall in 1938      A hunting morning at Necton Hall 1931      Longleat House 1954      Newstead Abbey 1931

The Wellington Tour - London By Night

Recently, Victoria and I embarked on another of those musing, rambling, disjointed conversations we often have about London.

"We'd better figure out exactly what we want to do in London on the Tour so Patty will be able to start blocking out all the travel details," I said to Victoria.

"What travel details?" she asked.

"Hotel rooms, motor coach and driver, meals, admissions. Like that."

"Thank God we have Patty and Novel Explorations for all that. We can concentrate on all the fun stuff instead."

"We should stay in either Victoria or Mayfair. That way, we'll be in walking distance to everything."

"Yeah," Victoria agreed before staring off into the distance, no doubt dreaming of walking the streets of London again. I began thinking of London myself. In my mind's eye, I walked down Buckingham Palace Road - the Royal Mews, the giftshop next door, down the sidewalk and round to the left in order to stare through the gates at Buckingham Palace. Sigh.

We sat in silence for a time until I finally said, "We have to take the Tour to see the Palace at night."

"Definitely," Victoria agreed. "But what happens if some of the people on our Tour have already seen the Palace?"

"How many times have you seen it?"

"Jeez, I don't know. Lots."

"And we still go back and gawk at it every time we're there, right? Believe me, no one will complain about seeing the Palace at night."

"Then we can toddle our way up to Apsley House and see that at night," Victoria sighed.




"Then we can walk down Piccadilly to St. James's Street and do all the Lions."

Victoria gave me an odd look. "The lions are in Trafalgar Square."

"Not those lions. The pubs. The Red Lion, the Golden Lion . . . . . "

"Oh, we've got to take them to the Golden Lion, it's like stepping back in time. And if we do that, then we've got to walk down the street to Almack's."

"Definitely. We can tell the group about Wellington's being refused admission because he was wearing boots."

"I thought it was because he arrived after eleven o'clock."

"Depends which version of the story you want to believe," I said. "I can just see Wellington strolling through the Park to Almack's. Can you picture it?"

"Walk? Wouldn't he have ridden there?"

"Nah. Then he'd have to put his horse somewhere. Much faster and easier to walk. Think about it. He'd only have had to cross the road in front of Apsley House and then cut through Green Park diagonally and he'd have been in King Street."

"He'd have had to cut through somewhere to get to St. James's Street," Victoria mused.

"He could easily have cut through the back of Spencer House."

"Spencer House? Cut through Spencer House?"

"We're talking about the Duke of Wellington here. Do you really think Earl Spencer was going to tell him that he couldn't cut through his yard?"

In response to this, Victoria said, "If we're going to go to King Street, then we might as well just walk down another block to St. James's Palace."




"I love seeing London by night," I sighed.

"Yeah. The streets are empty, it's quiet and you can actually imagine that it's 1805 again."

"Cobblestones."

"Hmmm. Damp cobblestones," Victoria said.

"Damp cobblestones shining in the lamplight. And it's got to be the tiniest bit chilly."

"Definitely. Not actually cold, though."

"No," I agreed, "not cold. Just nippy."

"Just nippy enough for us to be able to drop into the Golden Lion and casually order a glass of port."

"Ooooh, port."

"So Wellington, no?" Victoria asked.

"Oporto," I said, prompting both of us to stare off into the middle distance for the next few minutes.

"Have you ever been to Duke's Hotel?" I finally asked.

"No. Why?"

"They're supposed to have a fabulous bar. I've always meant to go, but time just gets away from me when I'm in London. We should stop in there for a drink."





"What's the Wellington connection to Duke's?" Victoria asked.

"Er, it's called Duke's?"

"Yes, but not that Duke, is it?"

"I don't think so, but it's definitely a part of Wellington's London. Not to mention that it's in the same street as Spencer House, so Artie would definitely have known it. I think it was lodgings for wealthy bachelors back then. And Mrs. Delaney lived in the street, too."

"Isn't that where Domenico Angelo had his school?" Vicky asked.

"Who?"

"Angelo. The fencing master."

"Ah. Could be. Google it," I suggested.

Victoria Googled, using her tablet. "St. James's Place. Let's see . . . . Spencer House . . . . Duke's Hotel . . . . Oh, God, listen to this, there's a Blue Plaque in St. James's Place for William Huskisson!"

"Our William Huskisson?"

"Yes, our William Huskisson, the one who was run over by the train right in front of Wellington. England's first railroad fatality."

"Well that seals the deal then. We're going. And we'll drink a toast to him in the bar of Duke's Hotel."

"Oooh, this is such fun!"

"It is. And we've got the whole rest of the tour to flesh out. This is just about three hours of it, so far."

"I can't wait to go," Victoria said wistfully.

"Don't get too excited. We have almost an entire year to wait. Why did we plan it so far in the future? What were we thinking?"

"I guess we're just gluttons for punishment."




You are cordially invited to join us September 4-14, 2014!
Find Complete Itinerary and Details of the Wellington Tour Here

Victoria's Day in Cambridge

Several years ago, some friends and I spent two weeks in residence at Worcester College, Oxford, for a course on "English Country Houses."  It was a marvelous experience, and it put me on a list of Oxford Alums asked every year or so for a contribution to the University.  Hmmm.




Worcester College, Oxford University

Nevertheless, I was anxious to see Cambridge, almost as good as studying there (NOT!).  After all, it's the other half of Oxbridge, that most English of all mash-ups! So after two nights and one full day in London, we trotted off to King's Cross Station for a train to Cambridge, a trip of just about an hour. I use the term "trotted" loosely.  Ed was limping from his sore foot, but he was game to proceed. 


Cambridge City Hotel 
On arrival, we checked into the Cambridge City Hotel, right in the middle of the colleges, museums and shopping streets of this lively city.  Cambridge was full of talk about the impending Royal Birth -- the first Prince or Princess of Cambridge in many a year.  Our taxi driver was one nay-sayer however.  She said she could not care less about the Royals.  But she admitted she was almost the only one in Cambridge who felt that way.


Atop the on-off bus

Our first gambit was to take the on-off bus around the city. It was another warm, sunny, even hot day, and I insisted on climbing the stairs to the open seats where I could see everything and listen on the earphones to the recorded commentary.  Ed muttered, but finally, one step at a time, hauled himself painfully to the top. Muttering.


Beautiful Views in every direction
Quaint and picturesque 
King's College Chapel

Eventually we arrived at the Fitzwilliam Museum, for which I had a definite yearning.  Ed sighed and followed me off the bus and into the building.  I promised to limit my wanderings and to keep an eye out for benches!

Fitzwilliam Museum    The Elegant Entrance Hall

Ed on one of the benches

A familiar Regency Portrait, of Nicolas-Pierre Tiolier, c. 1817by French painter Francois-Edouard Picot (1786-1868)
  Gallery Two   \Gallery Three  I could have stayed here for days, but creature comforts beckoned and we had sighted Brown's, a lovely restaurant almost directly across the street, so I bid the marvelous museum good bye and accompanied the suffering hubby to the watering-hole.       Braised Pig's Cheeks?  We  settled for something far less adventurous, but quite delicious.  And after a reasonable rest, we rode the bus around the town to return to our hotel.  Soon, I was ready to set off alone, but Ed gamely came along, almost as eager as I was to get a closer view of the colleges on foot through the central city streets which were mostly pedestrian-only zones.

No cars, but lots of bicycles to watch for   Punting on the Cam   A market in the central square   Great St. Mary's Church, the center of Cambridge   Gonville and Caius College, est. 1348
  Cam River swan and her teen-age brood   Trinity College, est. 1546   Trinity library, Sir Christopher Wren, architect  At some point in the above wanderings around the various colleges and shop-lined streets of Cambridge, Ed found a chair or a bench and some ease from his painful steps.  I don't think I sat down until we returned to the hotel -- at which point, I believe we both collapsed. After all, tomorrow was another day, Scarlett, and we had another excursion -- to see Houghton Revisited, the exhibition and estate of Houghton Hall.  Reports to come.

  Houghton Hall, Norfolk

Video Wednesday

 Watch the Duke of Bedford get dressed in 90 seconds  
  1933 - The Season's Prettiest Wedding       The Duke of Connaught hunts tigers in the Indian jungle - 1921      Arundels welcome the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk home after their honeymoon - 1937      Duchess Of Gloucester's Trousseau 1935      64 Year old Duchess of Bedford leaves in her famous Fokker (in which she flew to India and back) piloted by Captain Charles D. Barnard - 1930  



A slideshow history of the Wellington Arch, built to commemorate the
Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon - it boasts the largest bronze sculpture in Europe.