Spring Vacation in England

LT in front of the Falstaff Hotel in Canterbury

After much anticipation and planning, LT left on his spring trip to visit Allison in England.  He flew from LAX to Heathrow on Wednesday, April 13th.  By luck, he got a seat in the exit row of a big B-777 and had plenty of room to sleep on the overnight flight.  Next morning, he arrived at Heathrow at 12:00 Noon, took the Heathrow Express which got him to London Paddington Station in 15 minutes.  Then he took the tube from Paddington to St. Pancras and bought a ticket to Canterbury West.  Luck was again with him, because as soon as he purchased the ticket and followed the seller's directions upstairs to platform 12 ("Turn right after Starbucks," were his directions), and he was able to hop on a purring train that was about to leave.

Less than one hour later,  after smoothly racing through the green fields of southeast England--lots of trees blushing with their first green, or white and or rose colored leaves--he arrived in Canterbury West.  He wheeled his 32 pound suitcase two blocks to the Falstaff Hotel by the West Gate of the historic city, checked into his room, and called Allie.  They arranged to meet the next morning.  Fulfilling a dream he had held since last October, LT returned to Zizzi's on the High Street for an early dinner of huge, tasty green olives, spaghetti carbonara, insalada mista, and "Mela Croccante" (apple/hazelnut dessert), all washed down with a large glass of Valpolicella.

At that early hour, the restaurant was totally empty, and LT had an enjoyable time talking to the owner Tony, a Brit who lived in southern California for 10 years, who later took LT on a tour of the upstairs renovations to the historic building which dates from the 13th century, and Lucy, the Slovakian waitress with a delightful accent who made sure LT's wineglass was always full.  LT walked around the historic city center for a bit, shivering in the chilly British spring weather, and then returned to the Falstaff.  Room # 6  seemed freezing, but he found the heating control, turned it up full blast, and in no time at all the cozy room, with its wooden armoire, Shakespearean-themed pictures and thick Elizabethan-beamed ceiling was very comfortable.  In no time at all, thanks to the good food, wine, and transatlantic flight, LT fell asleep, but since he was in a new time zone, it seemed as if he woke up every hour or so until midnight.

The Falstaff dates from the 14th century, so every time anyone takes a step anywhere in the building, the ancient wooden beams creak a bit.  They assure guests that there are no verified accounts of real ghosts, but still, it can be a bit unsettling to wake up in the middle of the night, in a new hotel, and hear stairs creaking somewhere in the building.  Despite these distractions, LT slept pretty well after midnight, and got up at six to get ready for his first full English breakfast at 7:00AM--scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns, prunes, plums, yogurt, cranberry juice, a warm croissant filled with chocolate and, of course plenty of tea.  Since Allie was to arrive at 9:00AM, he took out his Kindle and read more of "Ulysses" (60% finished, hooray--and nearly finished with the "Circe" chapter!!) until Allie opened the door of the hotel.

The Bell Tower of Canterbury Cathedral

Allie (that's me. Hi!) talked with Dad on the phone once he made it to the Falstaff, but was unable to join him for dinner at Zizzi's due to an interview with a potential employer on Skype.  The next morning, however, after wolfing down the last of the Cheerio's and a cup of tea, she went to the Keynes College bus stop around 8:30 AM, and took the number six into town, where it stopped almost right in front of the Falstaff Hotel! She met LT there, and after dropping off her laptop there, she and Dad went into the city center and visited the Canterbury Cathedral. Aside from one or two early bird tourists like themselves and some employees tuning the organ, the cathedral was pretty quiet. They saw the funeral accessories of the Black Prince of Wales, and the original resting place of Thomas Beckett, which is marked by a very interesting, but creepy-looking, sculpture made out of nails. Eeek! Photographs would have been taking, but unfortunately, they don't allow flash photography inside the church. Woe is us. However, the father-daughter duo did take some photos outside of the church and on the walk back to the Falstaff, which will hopefully be up on this blog soon! Which brings us to the present (10:25 AM), where Allie and Dad came back to Falstaff and started their new blog. Up next: Whistable and Birdie's!

Later: LT and Allie have returned from Whitstable (once again, this is Allie. Hi! I'm not entirely sure why we're writing in the third person here, but why break the pattern?) [Actually, the subtle changes in narrative perspective are dad's subtle way of helping Allie get ready for her exam--later on in May-- covering "modernism"and its crucially important stylistic innovations in narrative point-of-view].  Since neither of the two Thomases have a car here, much less know how to drive in the English manner, they took the bus from Canterbury to Whitstable. It costs 5.50 pounds for the All Day Explorer Pass, around eight dollars American . The trip was pretty short, maybe less than twenty minutes -- hooray for public transportation!

LT and the owner of Birdie's in Whitstable

Once Al and Pup arrived in Whitstable, they promptly got lost for about five minutes or so ("We're lost, this is Sea Street!" "Well, Harbour must be close by then. Seas have harbors, don't they?" "...") while looking for Birdie's, a seafood restaurant in town. They were able to find it, fortunately, and the two had a lovely two-course lunch. Escargot and bouillabaisse for the Pup, and anchovy salad and panfried steak with salad and fries for Allie. After talking with the owner Philip  (who apparently remembered that Dad not just from the last time he went to Birdie's but also from two favorable reviews he posted on Yelp and Travel Advisor),  and taking pictures of the food and the owner, the father and daughter duo navigated back to Canterbury, taking the number 6 straight to the entrance of the Falstaff.  They sat in the upper deck of the bus, right in front and, on the narrow, winding English roads,  it was like being in a Disneyland ride, as the driver wove in and out of traffic queues,veered to the left to avoid oncoming traffic, and swerved right to take advantage of small openings in the traffic.

After an exhilarating ride, the 6A deposited the traveling duo right outside the door of the Falstaff.  They went inside, got the hotel key, went up the stairs and down a couple of short, uneven, hallways (where every five feet the level changed and the floors benignly creaked), unlocked the door, turned on the laptop, clicked the Firefox icon, and started writing this addition to their first blog post. Tomorrow, they have plans to take an early train to  Rye, where they intend to visit the ancestral homes of some Alexander ancestors and the Henry James "Lamb" house, lunch at the Mermaid tavern,  and then zip back to Canterbury and take a fast, smooth train to ...London for the weekend!