London Bread Pudding

I have always been a lover of bread pudding.  This is actually surprising, because I rarely like it.  I order it when I see it on menus, and I have probably liked it once or twice.  I keep ordering it because I feel it has so much potential. I continue to be disappointed.

Last night at a pub in London, Taylor noticed bread pudding on the menu.  He wanted a little sweet to conclude our meal, so he talked me into ordering it.

The recipe was entirely new to me:  A  puddle of pudding with a few slices of bread plopped on top.

I wonder if I should quit ordering bread pudding?

Music and Religion in Bath

The Henry House, in Bath, is located in a block of houses built cheek to jowl, that line one full block.  In the center of the block are a jumble of private gardens, accessible only through individual houses. 

Early in the morning, I was awakened from a sound sleep, by a beautiful acapella male voice.  I was befuddled with sleep, and thought at first that it was a clock radio in our room.  Not seeing one glowing on either bedside table, I eventually concluded that the source of the song was outside.  The music continued.  It crescendoed, and eventually softened, and I thought I heard it moving down the street.  Eventually I fell back asleep.

When I went down to breakfast I asked our host Colin about the source of the early morning serenade.  He laughed, and said, "Oh, you heard it?"  He went on to explain that Bath doesn't allow building mosques in the city limits, so there was a mosque in a tent in one of the gardens behind the Henry House.  I had wakened to the call to prayer.  

Sure enough, on the way back upstairs, I looked out the window and saw the tent in one of the back gardens.

The Bath Mosque - in the tent.

As we left the Henry House after breakfast, to walk to the Bath Abbey, I looked down and found this sign.  Colin, was right, the tent in the  garden behind our guest house is a mosque.

The mosque may be in a tent, but it has an official sign.

We strolled through the Bath Abbey as our last experience of this old town, built upon Roman ruins.  The Abbey really is lovely, with very large windows, which make it lighter and brighter than many European churches.  As I was enjoying the light and the architecture, the organist began to practice.  Like the early morning call to prayer, this magical moment was almost enough to make me find religion.

Welcome to Tangier Gran Tour

After Aziz joined Mohammad, Taylor and me, the tour really began.  We drove through suburbs where the king of Morocco has a home, as well as other rich and famous people from the Arab world.  We drove along the coast looking at both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean beaches.  We went into the Cave of Hercules, which is opposite the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain.

Either the Atlantic, or the Mediterranean Oceans are behind us.  I'm holding mimosa flowers.

Looking out from the Cave of Hercules.  The shape resembles the outline of Africa, in reverse.

After driving through the areas surrounding Tangier, Aziz took us to a restaurant in the Grand Socco for lunch where we had our first Moroccan meal.  Afterwards we toured the market, which is held on Thursdays and Sundays.

These are sheep horns which will be turned into combs.

The same man who was selling the sheep horns was roasting cow legs.  Azziz told me they would be eaten.

 Berber women come from the surrounding countryside to sell the vegetables that they grow  Their clothing is distinctive as they always wear red and white skirts, and the hats which are adorned with braided yarn and pom poms. They do not like to have the pictures taken, hence the sneaky back views.

 Spices.

The seafood all looked so good I wished I had cooking facilities.

There are so many kinds of olives.

The vegetables were so appealing.

This is where men advertise that they are available for work.  The bucket on the left is for a painter, to the right of the paint bucket is for a plumber, and the display on the right is for an electrician.  If you need their services you find their little display and negotiate a price.

This man is working at the community oven.  You bring whatever you want baked to him and he slides it right into the oven.  When we were there he was roasting nuts, but everyone brings their daily bread to him as well.

Our tour of the market was one of many highlights in Morocco.

Driving in the Cotswolds

Lower Slaughter

• Good news: After two days of driving through innumerable roundabouts, there is help for Taylor's traumatized heart.
• Bad news: He doesn't have the proper change.

Travel Transitions

March 30, 2014

When travelling, the transitions are challenging.

Our flight to Heathrow Airport, via Madrid, is scheduled to depart Tangier at 11:35, or 12:35 depending on which airline correspondence we read.  Since we like to be early, to deal with any challenges, we told our host, Aziz, that we would like to arrive at the airport at 9:00.  He arranged to have Mohammad pick us up at La Maison Blanche at 8:30.  Since 8:30 is earlier than Aziz feeds his guests, we arranged to have coffee, mint tea and orange juice instead of the full breakfast.  We don’t need food.  We would have plenty of time at the airport to get a snack.  Of course, we forgot that we had traded all our Moroccan money for euros.  We left La Maison Blanche with 31 MAD cents (Moroccan money).

Mohammad got us to the airport without any hitches.  We have now been at the Tangier Airport for about two hours.  We just now got to the gate.  Taylor has been a bundle of nerves, and I have been a bundle of snot.  I have used more Kleenex in the last two weeks with my ongoing allergy attack than I have used in the last 5 years.

Why did it take us two hours to get to the gate?  Well…………………I don’t know.  There are no reader boards here to tell us our gate number, or what time any flights depart.  All the airlines use the same 10 or 12 check in desks, and they change the signs according to which airline has a flight.  We were unable to check in online last night, so we didn’t have seat assignments or boarding passes.  No one speaks English.  This is enough to challenge any one prone to nervous tics, or sneezes.

Given that we knew nothing, we just sat – or rather, Taylor paced and I sneezed.  Finally, about an hour before departure three lovely young women took their boxes of papers and tickets up to three of the check in desks, put up their Iberia signs and started checking people in.  We were first in line, naturally, but the woman we were lined up in front of, ignored us.  Finally, I got in a different line leaving Taylor in front of the woman ignoring us. We eventually got checked in from my line.  By the time Taylor deserted our original line, the woman immediately took the next customer.  I guess she didn’t like Taylor.

After all that, we easily made it through customs and immigration.  We sent our bags through the xray machine and I enjoyed a thorough pat down – they didn’t put a hand on Taylor despite the fact he set off the alarm.  

We are at the gates.  There are three gates and we don’t know which one is ours.  Three planes depart at 5 minutes intervals, and there are no planes.  And we’re hungry.

With our 31 MAD, Taylor was able to buy two croissants and a Snickers bar.  We’ve now had breakfast.  More people are arriving.  There are still no planes. Insallah, our plane will arrive and I will next be writing from England.

A Proper Castle

A few days ago, when we were eating breakfast in York, I discovered that Castle Howard was only 15 minutes away. Upon further research I learned that while it wasn't directly on the way to Keswick, it would be a reasonable side trip for the next part of our journey.  Our hostess and another guest assured us that Castle Howard shouldn't be missed.  So, off we went.

Before leaving Portland I looked into visiting Highclere Castle, the location of Downtown Abbey.  I found that tours of that great estate are booked for a full year.  But, Castle Howard - the location for both versions of Brideshead Revisited - should be a fabulous alternative.

And Castle Howard is stunning from every angle.

I recognized the fountain at once, from Brideshead Revisited.

It is fabulous inside...............

.......and it is fabulous outside.

This estate is a fine example of what lengths a wealthy, landed family will go to keep their estate: they rent the house out for movie productions, weddings and tourists in general.  I was disappointed to only see a handful of rooms especially decorated for public viewing.  It wasn't the Upstairs, Downstairs tour that I was hoping for.

Then, we drove on to Conwy, North Wales.

Finally, a proper castle.

There are no fancy furnishings, and some walls are missing, but it's got all the necessary parts - turrets, a mote, a chapel, fireplaces, a dungeon, skinny slits for shooting arrows, and much, much more.

Now, I know the difference between a fine estate home, and a proper castle.

Spring Hiking in the Lake District

People come to Keswick, Cumbria to enjoy nature.  Hiking is very popular. We like to hike at home, so it only stands to reason that we would like to hike here.  We got instructions and maps from our host, Robin, at the Ellergill Guesthouse.  Even though it was a misty morning, with a forecast of steady rain, we are from Oregon, so hiking here should be a piece of cake.  I even brought rain gear, so I felt especially prepared, even though I would wear sneakers instead of hiking boots.  The mountains aren't that high here, after all.

We walked from the B&B to the footpath that would eventually lead us to Castlerigg Stone Circle.  Finding a community race in progress assured us that hiking would be a "walk in the park."

The start of the race. This is also the start of our hike.

Soon the crowds thinned out, and after a "steepish pull" we arrived at Castlerigg Stone Circle.  The misty weather provided drama to the scene, and while I caught my breath I slipped on my rain pants.

Castlerigg Stone Circle.

After enjoying the stone circle, we continued on our way, admiring the sheep in the fields.

That's Walla Crag in the distance - it doesn't seem too far or too high. Total feet of climbing is 1000 feet.

We passed through several kissing gates, and climbed over stiles. This is a kissing gate.

We slipped our way through a muddy farm!  I can't imagine that this would ever be allowed in the U.S.

You can see that it was chilly by the horse wearing his coat.

We couldn't believe that it was okay to walk through a private farm, but this is England, not the U.S.

  

Part way to the top, we starting having spectacular views of Lake Derwent Water.  We continued to get wetter and wetter.

At one soggy moment, we were rewarded with a rainbow!

At last we arrived at the top of the crag.  The views were spectacular but the rain continued to pelt us, and the wind was bitter.  We didn't linger and I gave up trying to take photos.  Going down was more challenging than climbing up.  Shortly after starting our descent, Taylor slipped on some boulders.  Further on, I had a spectacular slip and slide in the mud.  Fortunately I came to a stop before the edge, but by then I was coated in gritty mud.  We both pulled ourselves together, and soldiered on through the muck, the mud, the rocks, the rain, the wind.  If we hadn't run into other rain soaked hikers we would have thought we were out of our minds, and in serious trouble.  As it was, we figured with other crazy people out and about this must be standard for a Lake District hike.

Finally, and not any too soon, we arrived at a road and Ashness Bridge.  It turns out that we were standing on a famous bridge, but the honor escaped us.  You can see that my camera was all steamed up.  What you can't see is the mud caking my backside and both of our legs.

From this point, we walked down a narrow, but real road and finally found the lake.  Normally we would have turned right and hiked on to Keswick - another 3 or so miles.  As it was, we both marched right up onto the boat pier, and waited for the next launch to take us back to civilization.  Thank goodness for the Lady Derwent Water!

Cream tea, laundromat, Doris Day on TV.  That's the way we choose to end this adventure.