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We slept through the night! Yvonne says it was the best sleep she has had in years! The day offered blue skies and cool temperatures, which we love.

The day started with a traditional English breakfast which consists of egg, back bacon, sausage (called a banger), grilled mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. Surprisingly there were no baked beans or black pudding (blood sausage) served as part of the meal offered here at the hotel. I seem to recall that they are normally part of the dish. Anyway there was more than enough to eat; neither of us could finish it.

Our goal for the day was to visit the ruins of Corfe Castle, now part of the English National Trust. What we quickly realized was how much larger the site is compared to what it looks like from a distance and as seen in most photos.

Trivia for the day. The name Corfe (pronounced “Korf “) is an Anglo Saxon word meaning gap or cutting. Millions of years ago rivers carved valleys through the local landscape, giving the area its name.

As I mentioned earlier Corfe Castle was originally started by William the Conqueror, the first Norman king, in the late 11th century. Others added to it and it remained one of the major English fortresses until the 17th century when it was sold to Sir John Bankes in 1635.  Civil war broke out in England in 1642 and in 1646 the castle was partially destroyed by Parliamentary troops. The castle was so strong they were unable to totally destroy it and what we see today is what remained after that event.

When you enter the castle area you quickly learn that it is much larger than what appears when you view it from a distance. The “keep” ( tallest part remaining) is actually 80 feet tall with walls that often were 10 feet thick. It was stout!

The castle is a popular tourist attraction and we saw a lot of families exploring the site even though it was a weekday. There was a series of tents located on the grounds featuring people acting out what life was like in 17th century times, including a doctor, a cook, armor maker, stone worker, gunsmith and a garrison soldier. It was intriguing talking to them and learning more about the knowledge and technology of the times.

After several hours we retreated to our room to rest our feet (and eyes). 3PM found us having our daily ration of Dorset Cream Tea. We have been told that only strawberry jam is acceptable but it is optional as to whether you put the jam on the biscuit first or the clotted cream.  Experimenting showed us that putting the clotted cream on first is much easier as it was difficult getting the cream to stick to the jam!

At 5:20PM we joined the wedding party for a 20 minute ride on the old fashioned steam train from Corfe Castle to Swanage, a distance of about 6.4 miles. The train meanders through the countryside past pastures housing llamas, sheep and dairy cattle.  Rather than exploring Swanage we chose to take the return train to Corfe Castle and have dinner at our hotel.

Dinner there proved to be a lovely event. You start by sitting in the “oversized” living room where the staff takes drink orders and shows you the dinner menu. You select your dinner and when it is ready you are taken to your table in the dining room where you are served. It was a lovely approach to having dinner. And furthermore the dinner was excellent.

Tomorrow is the wedding and associated planned activities. I will not tell you what they are until then.

 

 

 

We are experimenting with a different airline this time. I originally booked  business class seats on a British Airways flight to London. When it came time to select seats I found they wanted a significant fee to pre-select seats (each person, each flight) – in business class no less!  That irritated me. I can understand charging for economy seat selection, but when you pay for business class the seat selection should be free! I cancelled my reservation and  decided to look for alternative airlines and flights to London. What I found was that a relatively new start-up (2013 for international flights), Norwegian Airlines, was flying non-stop from Seattle to Gatwick airport on brand new 787s. Their business class seats were not totally lie flat but they appeared to be like Lazy Boy recliners with an ample recline and leg support. The flight from Seattle is less than ten hours and we leave mid-day so there will not be an opportunity to get many hours of sleep.  And at half the price of the British Air tickets I decided to give them a try.

Bad news, good news:  Arriving at the airport for check-in we learned that Norwegian does not yet participate in the TSA precheck program so we would have to go through the general security check process.  Bummer.   The line was long and I figured it would be at least a 30 minute plus process. I decided to time it.  It turns out it was surprisingly quick. The line moved quickly as they were using dogs to “sniff” passengers as we walked by. And when we got to scanners we were told we did not have to remove shoes or anything from our bags, all because of the “prescreen” by the dogs. The line was just like a TSA precheck line and the process took all of 7 minutes!  My compliments to TSA for this new procedure. Hopefully it will continue to stay in effect. 

Observations about the Norwegian flight. They use 787s on the international runs which is a delight. I love the larger windows, and the fresh air climate control system which seems to leave you more refreshed. We flew at 39,000 feet and there was virtually no turbulence. The route from Seattle to Europe takes you up over Canada, Hudson Bay and Greenland. 

A first for Seattle-we boarded the plane not by a jetway but were transported by bus to the plane located out on the tarmac.

The downside was mainly in the cabin and food service. There was no overnight amenity kit but they do provide blankets and ear buds for their AV system.

The movie selection was limited so I ended up reading the book I brought. The seats were comfortable but more like a recliner and they did not recline as much as pictures on the internet seemed to imply. Yvonne also wished the leg rest could have been raised higher. There was a lot of leg room. Since the flight was less than 9 hours the seating was adequate.

Regarding the food service, there were no hot towels before the meal, no bowl of hot cashews as an appetizer, no china, instead plastic utensils, paper napkins and the wine was served in plastic glasses. Even though the meal was labeled as a “premium meal” the food was more like economy service. In the past I always suggested not to order beef on airplanes because they always tend to overcook it. Unfortunately, I did not take my own advice (because it smelled good when the food cart came by) and selected the beef over the chicken entree. It was a decent cut of meat but it was badly overcooked. At least the macaroons served for desert were quite tasty and the dinner rolls were fresh and hot. 

Other than that I could not complain and saving $1,800 per person on the airfare certainly made up for the lack of amenities. 

The flight actually left Seattle 15 minutes early and we arrived in London 30 minutes earlier than expected. Gatwick was a pleasant surprise; it is not as big as Heathrow and as a result is not as chaotic.

Corfe Castle is about two hours from Gatwick. There is limited train or bus service and I did not want to rent a car so we arranged for a car and driver to take us there. The early arrival in London did cause us to make a few phone calls and have to wait 45 minutes for our driver who obviously did not monitor the flight arrival times. 

We arrived in Corfe Castle about 10:30 but our room was not yet available. The lovely people at the front desk said they would rush the turnaround of the room so we could occupy it ASAP.  In the meantime we wandered down the street to get a feel of the town. It is absolutely stunning!  Old brick homes with slate roofs lined the street with flower boxes beautifying the street and entrances to the homes. We wandered to the town square where we found  a local tea room that offered freshly made scones, strawberry jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea listed on the menu as “Dorset Cream Tea”.  When in Rome mentality made us each order it as a mid-morning snack. What a treat, and I am not a tea drinker(until now). We wandered into the few shops in the town before returning to the hotel about an hour later to find that our room was now ready. A 2 plus hour nap and shower restored most of our energy. Outside our window we heard people on the patio enjoying afternoon tea so I suggested that maybe we should try it as a mid afternoon snack. We again ordered the Dorset cream tea for our second serving of clotted cream for the day.  I laughed, as when we were in Italy it was often a two gelato day. Here it might become a two cream tea day!

At 7 PM we met up with the groom who grew up near here ( but has lived in California for many years), the mother of the bride, Nancy, one of the Pink Ladies, her husband, and several other friends and wedding party members for a hike to an overlook of the ruins of Corfe Castle. It was a bit of a climb to the top of a nearby hill but the views of the castle ruins and the surrounding area made the effort worth while.

The 8 of us then adjourned to a local pub for refreshments( beer or wine) and some dinner. By 10 PM, after traveling 17 hours since leaving our home and 10,559 steps since arriving in England we were ready to call it an evening and we retreated to the comfort of our bed for the night.

Tomorrow will be another day for exploration of the area.

 

 

 

One of Yvonne’s Wisconsin “Pink Ladies” has a daughter getting married in Corfe Castle, England and we were invited to attend. Where, pray tell, is Corfe Castle? It is a small (population 1355) village located in the county of Dorset near the English southern coast and the towns of Swanage and Wareham. Now you know! The village is named after Corfe Castle, which is near the village and was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century.

It was too tempting of an invite to pass up and so we are off to join the festivities. And as long as we are going all that distance I proposed that we do something we have not done before-see parts of the United Kingdom other than London. When we lived in Wisconsin we went several times to London during the winter months to experience the city and attend some theater productions. It was cheaper than going to NYC back then. Those trips never found us leaving London so we never saw the rest of the country. Yvonne agreed with my plan and we found an Insight Vacations tour called the “Best of Britain” with a departure from London three days after the wedding. We have traveled with Insight on three previous occasions and like them very much, so we signed on.

When I mentioned our upcoming trip to my brother Gerry and wife Sue, our frequent travel companions, they decided they needed another vacation and would be joining us in London to also take the Insight tour.

Not one to simply sit around for the three days before the tour begins I wondered what was playing in the London theaters. And,”what to my wondering eyes should appear” (apologies to the authors)- the musical HAMILTON was there! I have avoided seeing it in the USA because of the outrageous ticket prices. What was the price in London I wondered? Amazingly I found I could get tenth row seats, center stage for $280 each! Can’t pass up a deal like that, so we all are finally seeing the musical about the unsung American hero-in London!

We still had another night to do something and I found there was another musical that would appeal to me- “Tina-The Tina Turner Musical”. We are both big fans of her music. I still remember a memorable concert we saw in Milwaukee when she was still touring. So we are also planning to see it while in London.

So off we go on another adventure. I will be collecting a couple of new countries (making my total 105) and finally seeing other parts of the United Kingdom.