Thursday, January 6, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Windsor, England
I am actually writing this from “home” in Raleigh, NC back in the States, but that’s okay. I’m so sorry, first of all, for not posting this sooner! I’ve been struggling with this awful, awful cold I picked up in England combined with unrelenting jetlag. Not fun. But that’s no excuse! It seems a bit bad of me for being so diligent about this daily journal, then to be so blasé about it on the very last day. So anyway, here’s what I was up to on my last day in the UK…
We woke up early, and our lovely host at the Thorncliffe Guesthouse made us some tea and toast before we, for the last time, hit the narrow, winding roads of Isle of Man towards the airport. Our flight was a little delayed, but nice and short, so I can’t complain. We landed in Gatwick and picked up yet another rental car for the day. From there we drove to Windsor – home of Windsor castle, another of the Queen’s abodes. We wandered around the town and found a pastry store for lunch and tea. We also walked along the Thames waterfront in Windsor, where there was a veritable SWARM (I know the technical word for birds is “flock”, but…) of swans. I bought a small bag of feed from a nearby café and fed the little critters. All I can say is do not let swans or geese or any bird of that nature get too friendly with your fingers. It hurts. After much mooching around we made our way back to the pay-and-display parking lot and headed towards our hotel for the night, located not too far from Heathrow airport. We had our last dinner at a now seafood restaurant that used to be a pub / restaurant called The Crispin, where my parents actually used to work when they were younger. The next day was spent in travel – a very long and very tiring eight and a half hour plane ride back to the States. Customs, immigration, all that jazz. Home again. Or is it?
Monday, January 10, 2011
Raleigh, NC, U.S.A.
An Englishwoman in England
If there’s anything I’ve learned from this trip, it is that you can never fully understand or appreciate a place until you are actually immersed in it. I have also learned that as important as it is to know where you came from and to be versed in your culture to truly call it your own, it does not define you. As humans, we are so much more complex than a label associated with a location or city. I can say that I am from England, and whoever asked me will smile and say “how cool” that is. But I am so much more than that. I am proud to be British, that is no question, but I should not and refuse to be defined by it.
I will be the first to tell you that I have learned much, much more on this trip to my “home” country than I have ever known about it before. I think age has a huge part to play in that. The last time I was in the UK I was about to go into the sixth grade. So it’s been a while. I think it takes an older and more mature mind to appreciate and absorb what a place has to give. And I learned that the extent of that giving is so beautifully deep and rich with so much more than just enjoyment if you are willing to open yourself completely to the unknown.
I still don’t really know where “home” is for me, and I’m fine with that… But I do know what I will now tell people when they ask me where in England I am from (ask and you’ll get the answer). I do know that I loved the people, history, and culture there. We are severely lacking that kind of past here; to me it seems that all we’re focusing on is the immediate future, so we don’t hesitate to tear down what once was, to replace it with something shiny and new. It’s a shame.
Home is still as elusive to me as ever, and I still think that my home is not a place, per se, but a state of being, shaped by myself and the people I love who are around me. My geographical home has become even more divided. I now find myself torn between more locations that hold a place in my heart. So did I find myself? Yes and no.
I feel a bit more credible when I fall into conversation about England, and I now have very vivid and positive images of those moments, at least for now. I am better versed in the real culture of my country, and I have actually lived in and within those boundaries. Even if it only was for a short time, that was time spent and experiences lived. Every moment was one of learning and gratitude on my part. I am so lucky to have been able to take this trip with my family, and looking back I realize how vital to my health and sanity the whole thing really was. I am also so thankful for having had this time to get to know my family better. We’ve all always been close (another thing I am so insanely lucky to have), but this adventure allowed me to bond even more deeply with them.
The ‘no’ part of not finding myself comes pretty much from that place within me that is still unfamiliar with the term “hometown”. Blank. It’s so easy for most of the people I know to site their current location as their place of origin, or one that isn’t that far away. I have been all over the place (yet again, another factor of my life that I am so so so grateful for), so I don’t quite know how to define my hometown. I’m coming to terms with that. If you ask me where I’m from, make sure you’re ready to actually have a conversation, not a one-word response. Home is wherever I make it. Maybe that’s the problem with us collectively, and it’s a systemic one: We don’t actually take the time to really talk to each other, to learn about each others’ life stories, to ask how we are actually doing.
It’s strange being a tourist in your own country. But it’s also wonderful. It makes the experience a little bit more magical, like you’re discovering something for the first time. I am an Englishwoman, in England.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
9:53pm
Ramsey, Isle of Man
First of all, I must apologize for not writing yesterday. I seem to have come down with some nasty British virus, and I literally went to bed at around 8pm last night and didn’t wake up this morning till roughly 9. I’m feeling a bit better today, and trying to dose myself up on all sorts of remedial drugs.
Yesterday, we drove out to uncle George’s arboretum in the frigid, soggy, and windy Isle of Man weather. All I have to say is THANK YOU, Alli (the lady who owns the B&B we are staying in), for letting us borrow some wellies! Half the time we were wading trough puddles and bog up to our ankles! Uncle George’s arboretum is really quite a spectacular place. I’d never been before, and I was absolutely astounded by the sheer amount of land that he worked singlehandedly. The arboretum truly was uncle George’s life. He spent all of his time mowing, preening, cutting, trimming, and taking care of the land and the veritable plethora of species of plants he kept there. He had to stop working in his arboretum in the last two or three years of his life though, so it is a bit overgrown and untended right now. Unfortunately, no one has since taken up maintaining this gem. We don’t know what is going to happen to it. I just hope that it receives the same love and devotion uncle George put into it.
After we waded, thrashed, and trodded through the grounds, we drove a short way to a small town nearby, Lynwald, for some tea and lunch. We then drove into the town center to have a look at the old mill that was once in use there, before making our way to the town of Peel. The castle at Peel was actually the first landing site of Christians on the Isle of Man… And it was also incredibly, blisteringly, frigidly COLD. We walked around the outside of the castle (like pretty much everything on the island, it was closed for the winter), then drove to the capital city of Douglas as the sun started to set.
Douglas was also quite sleepy. We walked up and down the Promenade and looked for places to eat before discovering that just about everything was closed! We did manage to find a surprisingly good Italian restaurant down a side street though, so we ate there before driving back to our B&B in Ramsey for the night.
Today, we drove pretty much the whole length of the island and first visited Castletown, located right on the coast. We were hurled around by wind and splashed by sea spray before it started raining. So back in the car we went and continued along the coast, stopping at several other towns to snap some pictures and get some lunch. We eventually drove out to the Southernmost tip of the Isle of Man and looked across the Irish Sea to the Calf of Man, another, even smaller island, off the coast.
We came back to our B&B to get freshened up and relax for a bit before heading out for our last dinner here in the Isle of Man. We ate at a lovely pub / restaurant called the Harbour Bistro, right along the Ramsey harbour.
We’ve got an early-ish flight back to Gatwick tomorrow morning, so I’d better get going. Back to the mainland for our last day in the UK. This one’s for, you, uncle George. Thanks for bringing us here. I wish we could have spent our time with you. Sending you love, xo.
Phillipa
Monday, January 3, 2011
7:57pm
Ramsey, Isle of Man
Hello from the Isle of Man! We’re here on the last leg of our journey in the UK before heading back to the US of A on the 7th. I can’t believe how quickly this trip has flown by… And how much I now realize I have been needing it. I kind of thought that this part of our adventure would be the hardest for my family, particularly for my mum. The whole reason for us coming out here to the Isle of Man was to visit my mother’s uncle George. But he passed away just a couple of weeks before we made it out to the UK. He was 94, so he lived a long and full life, though we all wanted to see him again, and we now all miss him dearly. He has his own arboretum out here on the island, so we are going to pay it a visit and stay here in honor of him.
We flew out to the island from the London Gatwick Airport this morning just before noon and landed not even two hours later in the tiny Ballasalla airport in the Isle of Man. We picked up our rental car (manual of course), and braved the teeny tiny itty-bitty streets of the island. After stopping for petrol, we eventually made it to our B&B, The Thorncliffe Guesthouses, located just one “block” from the seafront.
We settled in then went out for a walk to explore town. We spent a long time walking along and taking pictures of the beach. The tide was out, so we could walk along the sand and pebbles even under the wooden pier nearby, and the sun was setting, painting the sky a beautiful peachy, reddish glow. Even though it was freezing, the weather today was apparently a million times better than the island usually experiences; the waves weren’t violently crashing against the shore, and the wind was almost nonexistent, and the sun was actually somewhat visible! Ramsey is a huge holiday destination during the summer months, and supposedly has the mildest weather in all of the Isle of Man.
After we wandered around the deserted and desolate streets of off-season Ramsey, we found the only open pub / restaurant that was serving food today (it is not only not a tourist-peak time of year, but it was also a bank holiday today, so everything was closed). We had some drinks and a meal, then walked through the blistering cold back to our comfy bed and breakfast.
Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow. But I’ve actually got free WiFi here (a novelty in the UK, as I’ve discovered), so I will be keeping you posted.
Sweet dreams.
Phillipa
Sunday, January 2, 2011
10:22pm
Near London Gatwick Airport, England
Today we visited Stonehenge in Amesbury. I’ve been there once before, the last time I was in the UK with my family, but I don’t think I really appreciated it as much… Like most things from my childhood. After a stroll around the mysterious Stonehenge (by the way, ‘henge’ is the old English word for “hanging”), we drove about 45 minutes to Avebury, another henge site with even more stones.
The stones around Avebury are actually in a much larger formation, with the whole town being encompassed within the largest ring of stones. There are tentacle-like pathways going outwards away from the circle, with ancient burial mounds all around in the surrounding countryside. We walked a good way through one of these pathways, up a large hill spotted with free-roaming sheep, and towards the huge burial mound on the other side. We then took a very, very muddy walk along what used to be a river back towards the town. I have literally never had so much mud on my shoes before. Ever. But it was a lovely day – the sun actually came out for us for the first time since we’ve been here.
We grabbed lunch in the local pub / restaurant in town, then hit the road again and drove about two hours to where we are now. We’re over nighting in the ibis Gatwick hotel before we fly out to The Isle of Man tomorrow morning. Got to get some shut-eye. Don’t know if I’ll have Internet out there, so this may all hit you in one huge burst of posts.
Phillipa
Saturday, January 1, 2011
9:46pm
Amesbury, England
Happy New Year, all! I hope you’re having or have had a wonderful first day of this new decade, and that you’re well recovered from last night’s festivities.
Today we traveled from Southampton to Beaulieu, home of the British National Motor Museum, and the ‘World of Top Gear’ exhibition. My brother was certainly over the moon about this particular portion of our itinerary, and it proved to be really excellent! We also looked around the Motor Museum at the huge collection of vintage and modern cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles. After that, we walked around the grounds at Beaulieu and stopped by the Palace House also located on the grounds. Some parts of the House have been opened up by Lord Montagu, patron of the mansion, for public viewing. We then walked through the ruins of the old Abbey not too far from the Palace House – it was really quite beautiful, though most of the original structure is no longer standing.
We drove through the New Forest surrounding Beaulieu (and past the countless number of free-roaming ponies on the grounds) towards the small town of Lyndhurst. In fact, a couple of the ponies walked right over to my family and me, so I got to say hello to them up close. Lyndhurst is another one of those lovely quaint little places with lots of bustling teahouses and a beautiful old church on the High Street. We had tea and scones and cakes, and then gently perambulated up the road. The church that we stumbled across actually turned out to be quite a find! Inside its small yet gorgeous graveyard I found the grave of a Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves, who was actually the Alice in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”. I’ve decided that I am going to take a collection of photos of graves and graveyards.
We’re now spending the night in a small Travelodge hotel in Amesbury before we head out to Stonehenge tomorrow.
Goodnight, everyone. Happy New Year again, with all my love.
Phillipa
Friday, December 31, 2010
9:55pm
Southampton, England
I must first apologize for these blogs being a bit late in posting – I haven’t had Internet access for the past few days… Which is nice for a change, actually. I think I’ve been needing to be disconnected from the world for a while.
Most of today was spent in traveling. We left our inn in Wye after a delicious English breakfast, and made our way to the Wye Downs, or the Devil’s Kneading Trough, for a quick photo stop. The story (or at least one of the many out there) goes that the Devil tripped over a church on his way to stop in the pilgrims on their pilgrimage through the English countryside, fell and landed on his knee, carving a large valley or bowl in the land. It’s quite a lovely spread of rolling green land covered in a thin veil of mist and fog. Again, really refreshing and calming.
From there we made our way towards the roads following the coastline and drove to Rye in East Sussex. On the way we passed many small towns and villages, all of them filled with their own histories and national relevancies. I love being in a country were there is beauty and antiquity everywhere.
When we arrived in Rye we parked the car and made our way up towards the center of town. The streets are all cobbled and uneven, and there are lovely old buildings around every corner. We actually ran into a very old school friend of my mum’s – from back when my mum was in primary school! Heather and her husband up till recently used to run a restaurant called The Flushing Inn in Rye, and as we passed by the old restaurant, we wondered how funny it would be if we ran into them. And alas! As we walked around the corner we literally bumped into them as they came out of their door. After the grown-ups caught up and said their dues, we continued along the wonky roads for some more sight seeing and picture-taking. At lunchtime we popped into a lovely old teahouse called Simon The Pieman for tea and sandwiches, and after that we looked in a few shops before heading towards the docks of Rye.
After a long drive through even more gorgeous, serene old towns and villages, we arrived at our hotel here in Southampton. Because it’s New Year’s Eve, the only booking we could find was at the Holiday Inn Express, so no cute little B&B tonight. We did, however, drive a little way to a pub called The Ship Inn for dinner and drinks. It was quite a different atmosphere from the pubs we’ve been to so far, and the locals are certainly very different themselves. Just goes to show the microcosms that make up the macrocosms. And it exists everywhere.
I can’t believe tomorrow marks the beginning of another year and another decade. Time is flying, but I am excited for this fresh start. So Happy New Year from England, everyone. Cheers xoxo
Phillipa
Thursday, December 30, 2010
10:29pm
Wye, England
We left London early this morning and picked up a rental car to continue the next phase of our tour of England. We negotiated the traffic out of London and got on our way towards Chatham, where my brother was born. We passed by the hospital where Robert was born and then drove by our old house on Chesham Drive in Rainham. From there we continued on to Canterbury. The traffic was horrid, but we eventually found a parking space in a lot and made our way to the High Street for some lunch. We then went to look around Canterbury Cathedral, which like most historic sites, now comes with a price tag to walk around, so we just walked along the outside bits and the grounds where we could. Definitely got a fair amount of good pictures too. We then wandered around the winding, cobbled streets of Canterbury a little more (Oh! I should mention that this is the hometown of Orlando Bloom… Though I didn’t have any run-ins with him unfortunately…) before heading back to the car and getting back on the road. The countryside of England is really quite refreshing. It’s a welcome break from the city, and a reprieve from the claustrophobia and grayness of the urban settings I’ve become accustomed to. There is so much green around here, with rolling, cloud covered hills and cattle and sheep and horses in abundance. The towns and villages we drove by today are so quiet and peaceful. I could certainly use a little nirvana like this at least twice a month back home. As the light faded on us, we arrived in Wye, our resting stop for the night. I’m writing to you from The New Flying Horse Inn, an absolutely fabulous little place and an old haunt of my mum’s, which actually only has six rooms! My mum used to work in hop research every summer during her school years here in the UK. She commuted to Wye everyday from her house in Ashford to “get her hop on”, so the pubs around here are definitely old stomping grounds for her. After we freshened up in our rooms for a little bit, we headed out to The Tickled Trout, a pub / restaurant a short walk away from The New Flying Horse, for a pre-dinner drink (a ginger wine with lemonade for me). On the way back we passed a church with a beautiful graveyard outside. The dim lighting and mist made for quite a mysterious and magical scene. I realize that I actually really love graveyards, as odd as it sounds. They are so peaceful, and so filled with the histories and stories of so many lives and people. There’s something in that that I have yet to be able to put into words…We got dinner back here in The New Flying Horse – I got good old British fish-and-chips… YUM! Plus a Pim’s with lemonade to drink, all followed up with a really delicious Irish coffee for “dessert”. The atmosphere of this place is really lovely, and something that you can’t find in the States. And no matter how hard the US tries, there is no way to replicate a good British pub. The aura, vibe, company, atmosphere, décor, and energy of this place are one of a kind. Like I’ve said too many times before… I can get used to this.
Onward to Southampton tomorrow.
Phillipa
Hi readers, I feel as though I cheated a bit on my past entry, so here’s a more detailed synopsis of what I was up to yesterday, my final day in London…
From my Auntie Lucy’s, we took a bus to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. We didn’t go inside (A. it was crawling with tourists and B. you now have to pay to go in – unfortunately like most of the attractions in London now), but we took pictures of the gorgeous exterior and visited a nearby old-fashioned sweet shop. From there, we walked a short distance to the Millennium Bridge; that’s the one that gets destroyed in the beginning of ‘Harry Potter 6’, for all you HP fans out there. We didn’t walk on the bridge, but instead followed the pedestrian path along the River Thames. We passed London Bridge and eventually made our way to Tower Bridge. Again, we didn’t go inside since there were hordes of tourists all over the place and there was an entry fee, but we did get some wonderful, albeit foggy and hazy pictures in. We stopped off at the Starbucks and Saint Katherine’s Docks for a familiar pick-me-up before splitting up with Lucy to head towards Covent Garden to meet up with our good friends, Jane and Philip. We took a tube to Covent Garden, where we wandered around the market for a little bit. Back in the day, Covent Garden was predominantly a flower market, but is now instead filled with flashy merchandise stalls and street performance acts. Nevertheless, it is still a wonderful area, AND is home to the Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet. We met up with Jane and Philip in a small pasta restaurant directly across the street from the Opera House for dinner. It was so lovely to see them again! Last time we saw them, they came to visit my family in North Carolina in the middle of one of our infamous ice storms. Following a delicious and conversation-filled meal, Philip took my dad and brother on a pub-crawl to some of Philip’s favorites, while Jane treated my mum and me to The Royal Ballet’s ‘Cinderella’. It was absolutely sensational. I could go into elaborate detail about the corp’s precision and the soloists’ and principals’ virtuosity, or tell you all about the wonderful sets and live music, but I won’t bore you with that stuff. I will let you know though, that it took me back to my roots (I first started my ballet training in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus), and like the exhibition at the V & A, I was reminded again a little of why I love to dance. Everything about the production was just so. I wish one day to perform to sold out audiences like that all over the world. After the performance ended, us girls met up with the blokes again at a pub next door to Pasta Brown, where we had dinner. After more great conversation and company, we reluctantly parted ways with Jane and Philip and headed back to Lucy’s for our last late night in London.
