Bourton-On-The-Water, 16, 17 et 18 août

Bourton était notre dernière destination.  Ce devait être un pied à terre pour rayonner vers d'autres villages des Cotswolds, mais comme la conduite en Angleterre ne s'est pas avérée une expérience plaisante, on en a profité autrement.
Bourton est un bucolique petit village, grouillant de visiteurs le jour, et déserté le soir venu.  Nous y avions un petit appartement en plein centre du village au dessus d'une parfumerie artisanale.

  

Nous y avons vécu des expériences vraiment différentes: course de canards en plastique sur la rivière  Windrush qui traverse le village, quiz dans un pub avec seulement des gens du village, panne d'électricité dans un resto...  Mais surtout nous avons marché.  Il y a plusieurs sentiers pédestres qui sillonnent le village ou qui mènent à d'autres villages.  En direction de Stow-On-The-Water, nous avons découvert le petit village de Slauters qui a conservé son moulin à eau.

Bath, 14 et 15 août

Bath fut notre coup de coeur.  Quelle ville intéressante!  On y serait resté une autre journée.   Il n'est pas étonnant que cette ville soit répertoriée au Patrimoine mondial par UNESCO.   Le jour ne notre arrivée, nous nous sommes promenés au hasard des rues dans la vieille ville.  C'était très animé partout, malgré la pluie intermittente.  Nous avons constaté qu'on y trouve plusieurs références à la célèbre Jane Austen; j'ai donc eu une pensée pour ma collègue Josée.

Le lendemain, nous avons visité les bains romains, ce qui est sans contredit, l'attraction la plus importante à Bath.  Les bains ont été bâtis par les romains sur une source naturellement chaude. Il y a plusieurs bassins de différentes grandeurs.  C'est vraiment une visite impressionnante.

 Nous sommes ensuite entrés à la cathédrale de Bath ou nous avons eu la chance d'entendre un choeur d'enfants. C'était magique!

La rivière Avon traverse la ville de Bath.  Ses rives sont magnifiques.

Arundel, 12 et 13 août

Nous étions stressés à l'idée de reprendre la voiture mais il fallait bien nous rendre à notre prochaine destination, Arundel.  C'est un trajet d'environ deux heures qui s'est bien déroulé.  Une trentaine de carrefours giratoires plus tard, nous sommes arrivés au centre ville d'Arundel.  Cette fois, notre hébergement se trouvait à l'étage d'un pub, dans un édifice historique.  Notre chambre n'étant pas prête, nous avons laissé l'auto au stationnement puis après un léger lunch, nous sommes allés visiter le château d'Arundel.  C'est un château qui date du 11e siècle mais qui a été en partie reconstruit aux 18e et 19e siècles puisqu'il avait été sévèrement endommagé par les batailles de la première révolution anglaise.  Du haut du château, on a une superbe vue sur la campagne du Sussex.  En visitant les chambres et les salons, on a l'impression que ce château est encore habité.  Tout autour, se trouve de magnifiques jardins très bien entretenus.  Finalement, nous y avons passé près de deux heures.

Nous avons pris possession de notre chambre.  Encore un  surclassement!  Une double exécutive, pour le prix d'une double standard.  Bien pourquoi pas? 

Nous nous avons pris l'apéro au pub puis sommes sortis pour aller souper.  Il y avait beaucoup de choix.  Nous avons opté pour un resto italien qui ne nous a pas déçus.

Le lendemain, nous avons pris le train pour aller passer la journée à Brighton.  Il y avait foule, surtout en bordure de la plage de galets.  Fait étrange:  il y avait des personnes qui se baignaient alors que d'autres portaient de chauds manteaux...  Nous avons pris le lunch dans le jardin du pavillon royal.  Vraiment un bel environnement pour prendre le lunch.  Nous avons ensuite visité les "lanes", ces petites ruelles marchandes, aussi étroites que les rues de Venise.

Pour notre dernier souper à Arundel, nous avons choisi un petit bistro anglais tout à fait sympathique.  

Rye, 10 et 11 août

Nous sommes arrivés à Rye environ quatre heures plus tard que prévu.  Le propriétaire du BnB nous attendait avec un regard plein de compassion.  Nous l'avions avisé par téléphone de la cause de notre retard. Encore une fois, nous avons eu droit à un surclassement pour une chambre plus spacieuse.  C'est en effet une super belle chambre, grande, propre et confortable.  Tout est à notre disposition pour rendre notre séjour agréable.
Plusieurs restaurants sont fermés à Rye le dimanche soir mais nous avons trouvé un restaurant Italien très agréable.  Après l'aventure que nous avions vécue, nous étions très fatigués, alors nous sommes allés au lit tôt.

Le lendemain, il pleuvait à Rye.  Nous sommes quand même sortis et avons fait un tour de ville à pied.  La pluie a cessé alors qu'on prenait une pause-café.  Nous avons poursuivi notre promenade dans les petites rues tortueuses de la vieille ville où nous avons admiré plusieurs maisons à colombages.  Certaines rues sont encore pavées de galets.  Nous avons vu la Citadelle qui date du 13e siècle.

Notre aubergiste nous a recommandé un excellent restaurant, dans une école de cuisine, spécialisée en poissons et fruits de mer:  Webbe's Fish Cafe.  J'y ai mangé le meilleur Fish and Chip de ma vie. Tellement bon!!

Incident

Le 10 août, Gabriel repartait vers Montréal et nous entamions notre tour dans le sud de l'Angleterre.  Nous étions excités par cette nouvelle aventure.  D'abord, nous avons pris possession de notre voiture à Heathrow.  Ce fut long, mais finalement on a eu un surclassement pour une Mercedez.  Premier contact avec la voiture, nous nous sommes dirigés vers la mauvaise portière: Oups!  On est en Grande-Bretagne.  Et ce fut un départ.  Pas évident la conduite à gauche avec le volant à droite.  Après à peine dix minutes de route, nous avons fait collision avec un renflement de pierres qui longe le bord de la route.  Impossible de poursuivre; les deux roues du côté gauche sont brisées.  Zut!!  Attente d'environ 90 minutes sur le bord de la route, retour à Heathrow en dépanneuse et prise d'une nouvelle Mercedes.  Prise 2, nous sommes repartis, craintifs mais il fallait bien y aller.

Bilan: Londres 2014

Vaut mieux tard que jamais!

Laissez-moi d’abord conclure avec un bilan pour la partie de Londres et je poursuivrai le récit du tour dans le sud de l’Angleterre par la suite.

Alors Londres…  Encore un beau séjour, qui me donne envie d’y revenir encore et encore.  Je ne répéterai pas tout ce que j’aime de Londres; vous avez compris que c’est un coup de cœur pour la vie.  Je vais donc m’en tenir à de nouvelles observations.

J’ai beaucoup apprécié avoir un appartement dans Sloane Square.  C’est un peu à l’écart du fuzz et buzz mais c’est un quartier vivant et huppé en même temps.  Comme je faisais visiter ma ville préférée à mon fils, j’ai refait plusieurs endroits déjà connus mais que j’aime beaucoup.  Nous avons utilisé le transport en commun très souvent et plus particulièrement l’autobus.  C’est plus lent que le métro mais combien plus agréable.  Plusieurs endroits ont été redécouverts avec un nouveau point de vue.  Gabriel s’intéresse beaucoup à l’architecture, alors on a observé comment se marient le vieux et le nouveau partout dans Londres.  J’ai aussi visité de nouveaux coins comme Colombia Road et son super marché de fleurs, Bricklane et son art rural, le grand parc de Battersea, des coins de Hyde Park encore inexplorés, le roof garden de Kensington et la ville universitaire de Cambridge.  Retourner à Liverpool a été un grand plaisir, et en particulier notre arrêt au Cavern.  Mon pub coup cœur : Le Cross Keys sur Endell.  Mon resto coup de cœur : No 11 Pimlico.  Ma découverte coup de cœur : Colombia market. 

P.S.  Nouvelle observation: On a remarqué, Gabriel et moi, que les anglais ont de grands pieds. 

For our last full day in London, we went to Camden.  The weather was perfect: warm, sunny, with no humidity.  We took the waterbus in Little Venice, that cruise along the Regents canal with à stop at London Zoo and Camden Lock.  I never saw a crowd like this!   We walk around Camden Lock, sent on the street and look at the very special fronts of the stores and hard à look at Camden market.  We came back to the Lock where the food stands are.  It wasn't easy to found a place to sit.  We ate a delicious pork roll.  After lunch, we visit Market Stables ans leave that heavy crowd and came back with the tube to our flat.

We took a short break and to live a real contrast, we went to Battersea park. I dont know why we never heard anything about this park in London, because it is large and beautiful.  We walk mostly on the Thames path.  We sat in front the fontains where there were several  dogs playing in the water and we stop in at the Peace pagoda monument. We noticed that this park is especially visites by locals.  We had our apéro of the day at Chelsea Potty on Kings Road.  We finished this superb day with a dinner at Da Mario and a last visit in Trafalgar Square.
Tomorrow, it is return back home for Gabriel and start of a road trip in the south  of England for Marcel and me.

This morning the weather was grey for the first time since our arrival. We chose to keep our visit to Camden for tomorrow. The guys went to the Tower of London as I went wandering around Leadenhall market. As elsewhere in London, there was a large crowd near the Tower of London. We could see the metal coquelicotse planted around the prison. At November 1, there will be 888.246 for each dead soldiers at the First World War.

After lunch at Borough Market, we went to see closely the tallest building in London: The Shard. Then walked along the South Bank to Oxo Tower where we got to observe the view.  We crossed the Jubilee Bridge to go to Transport Museum in Covent Garden and came back home with our favorite number 11 bus.
We had a very good dinner at No 11 Pimlico.  The food was good, the service friendly and the ambiance lively.

Today is the day of arrival of Marcel, so we limited our activities. We wanted to visit Westminster Abbey but we changed our mind when we saw the queue to enter. We walked around the outside and then we went to see Westminster Cathedral, less imposing, but more accessible. We climbed into the bell tower to watch the view.

 We then headed to St-James park where we had lunch at Inn The Park.  What a peaceful place in the middle of London!   After, it was time to return to the flat to wait for Marcel. He arrived with some delay but in good shape anyway.
We had planned a walk in Battersea Park, but it was warm and the afternoon was well advanced, so we have chosen to take this relaxed. We went to a pub call Trafalgar for our daily apero.  Then we went out for pizza. When Marcel was ready to sleep, Gabriel and I went out for a night cap at The Botanist, just around the corner at Sloane Square.  There was a big crowd of classy young people. Not the best place to meet people, but a good place to watch people.

When I was in the planning stage, I doubt that going to Liverpool for one day worth the traveling. It's still between two and three hours each way. On the other hand, I could not ignore Liverpool ... We went and we had one of our best days. Oh! Wow! Gabriel loved Liverpool. When we arrived, at the beginning of the afternoon, it was chilly and we regretted not having a coat, but very quickly, the sun came up and we were comfortable all day. We first visited the Beatles Story Museum. The exhibition is very interesting and well documented.  Of course, we went out through the gift shop.
We then took advantage of the sunny sky to walk along the Mersey river and we went to the Beatles Quarter on Mathew Street.

We entered at the Hard days night hotel for a quick visit and then we went to The Cavern. We were lucky to get a table and we stayed there a good time to sing a long to Beatles songs with the singer. It was really a joyful atmosphere, with people of all ages. There were children singing and seemed to know the lyrics of all the songs.
We then went for dinner at Jamie Italian: very good and excellent service. As we still had about an hour and a half before the train, we went to see the Metropolitan Cathedral and Lipa (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts). Paul there was there a few days to honor graduates. Only one day but great one.

This morning, we realized we had to do the grocery, no more bread and no more coffee, so we had breakfast at the restaurant.  It was an opportunity for Gabriel to taste the Full English Breakfast.
We then went to visit the Natural Science Museum. There was a crowd, consisting mainly of children who dreamed of seeing giant dinosaurs.It was very interesting but it could take days to visit all the museum.  We saw a few rooms and  we crossed  to the Victoria and Albert Museum. We took a break in the beautiful dinner room. In the afternoon, we went to the Royal Albert Hall, the Albert Memorial and Kensington Palace. The gardens around the Palace have been all reorganizedand, it is even more gorgeous. We walk around in Kensington garden.  We rested our feet in the very cold water from the fountain of Diana.

Tonight we ate at the Roof Garden chic Babylon. What a luxury! It was really good and there was an excellent singer.  All in all, another beautiful day in London!

It was a day out day.  We have been to Cambridge.  First time for both of us.  I have been to Oxford once and I was curious about Cambridge.  Both are students cities, but they are very different, especially about the architecture.  Oxford is darker and you feel you are in another  century.  Cambridge seem younger.  We visit some courts and gardens of schools and colleges.
We Really  enjoyed Cambridge and we stay a long time by the river watching the punting. 

Travel by rail was easy and pleasant.  We came  back home around 17h.  We want atmosphere for dinner, so we went in Covent Garden, having in mind a few options.  Our first was Belgo, and we get lucky and got sit in the main room. Gabriel really enjoy Belgo.  

Today we took the bus to a new area that I was eager to visit: Colombia Road, east of London. On Sunday morning, there is a huge market of flowers, while the street becomes pedestrian. It is colorful and lively since every trader tries to attract attention. All around, you can see small vintage shops. We had coffee in the back of one of these shops.

We decided not to do the  London walk :street art, since on our way back we admired several works just walking randomly.

So we returned to Somerset House to see the exhibition Tatoo, who tickled the curiosity of Gabriel  two days ago. The show was actually not that interesting, but we took advantage of the beautiful place by the fountains to take our lunch.   Then,we walked back  on foot and past by the house of Quebec and St. James Palace.
For dinner, we joined a group of people from Tripadvisor at Victoria pub. It was very nice and it was our best meal since our arrival.
We ended the evening taking pictures at night in London. Gabriel took about a thousand of photos.... No, I'm kidding.  But I could see that he really enjoy trying to capture the beauty of London by night.

Goodnight!

Today, we chose to go slower. Our poor feet suffer from all the walk we already did.  We took a bus up to Baker Street where we saw a crowd in front of the Sherlock Holmes Museum, on this early saturday morning. We decided to go to Abbey Road first, before seeing Regent Park. Gabriel was very impressed by the size of cricket stadium:  Lord's Cricket. After the famous crossing, we went in front of Paul's house. You guessed that he was not there...

We did a little walk in Regent's Park and we have observed a large number of birds. In the afternoon, we went to Harrods. There was a crowd so we did not stay very long. We visit the Food Hall and the souvenir shop and found our way out.  We preferred to go for a walk in Hyde Park.

We then took a drink at Grenadier, where I wrote postal cards, before returning to our flat. For dinner tonight, we went to Côté Brasserie in Covent Garden. We wanted a nightcap somewhere, but it was so noisy everywhere, we finally came back home and we take our glass as I write the blog.

What a day! Despite the fact that we have closely followed our plan of the day, we lived several unexpected events. We went by bus to Piccadilly Circus, which allowed us to visit some parts of London without walking. But from there, we walked for several hours! We walked a little bit in Mayfair, then we had a great coffee in Carnaby Street. We walked to find ourselves in Soho Square. We saw Paul's office, but he was not there. Obviously, he is in America since I am in Europe. But that's life! In the square, there was a tasting lamb burger and vegetarian burger. So we got a free lunch. It was excellent and very pleasant.

We then went to the British Museum. We planned to visit 3 rooms, but after seeing the mummies in the second room, an emergency alarm was sounded, and we were evacuated. We were about 3500 persons, but everything was done quietly. It seems that this is a strange odor that caused all this commotion. Any way, we headed to our walking tours of London Walk. It was interesting but we were tired of walking, so as soon as it was finished, we went to Gordon Wine Bar, where we had a nice break with wine and cheese.
For dinner tonight, we went at Tom Kitchen, a modern English bistro.  I will remember for ever the good taste of the peas soup and mint.  It was a fine gastronomic meal. 



  

Today, we awoke fresh and fit to undertake another beautiful day. We are lucky because the weather is on our side again. After breakfast, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Gabriel climbed the 528 steps for a magnificent view of London. After the visit of the crypt, we chose to have coffee outside to enjoy the sun.

We then crossed the millennium bridge to go for a walk on the South path and take lunch at the Tate Modern. I had a precious memory of having eaten there a great fish and chips with my friends Danielle and Josée. We had the pleasure of eating on the terrace.
We then went to Covent Garden where we attended a very entertaining performance of opera. We thought we would stop a few minutes, and finally we saw the whole show.
I was eager to go to Neal Yard with Gabriel. This place is one of my favorite in London.  We did not stay very long because it was time for our appetizer and we wanted a beer. There is a wine bar but there is no beer. So we went in a beautiful pub in Endell Street. Gabriel is still amazed that the English take their beer standing outside the pub.

We returned to the flat to take a short break before going back outside for dinner.  Tonight we went to Il Posto in Pimlico.  It is a good family run casual restaurant.  It is now 23h and about time to go to sleep.  See you tomorrow.

Finally there... Late, but there,  It was the first time I had a sky view tour of London before landing.  Cool!!  There was a lot of aerian traffic so the commandant had to turn around a little bit before landing. 
We found our way with the tube to our accomodation on Turk's Row.  Keren our greeter was there and after a brief introduction to the facilities, she left us at our home for the next 11 days.
We arrived exausted, but we didn't want to lose a day in London, so as soon as we have been ready, we have been on our feet and go.  What about jetlag?  Well, we slept in the plane for about two hours (not straight, of course) but we didn't want tireness to win on us, so we fought and it is the good thing to do.
First, let me tell you about our accomodation.  We rent a flat in Chelsea: 2 bedrooms (adequate size), kitchen (very small) living room (small) and a bathroom.  It is clean and in a beautiful neighborhood.

Today, we did what I call The Royal Tour: Buckingham Palace, St-James Park, Trafalgar square, stopped for a lager, Jubilee bridge, South path, Westminter bridge, said hello to Big Ben and that was it.
Then, we went for a pizza, did the grocery at Waitrose and goodnight, we are off to sleep.

C'était un rendez-vous

Voilà!  Comme prévu, j'y retourne.  Je devais y aller avec mes deux garçons et Elisabeth, mes les plans ont changé:  Alexandre et Élisabeth ne pouvaient prendre de vacances à ce temps-ci de l'année.  Je pars donc avec Gabriel.  Nous partons ensemble onze jours.  Marcel vient nous rejoindre pour les trois derniers jours à Londres.  Gabriel repartira alors que nous ferons un "road trip" de neuf jours dans le sud de l'Angleterre.  Nous ferons un premier arrêt de deux jours à Rye; ensuite deux jours à Arundel; puis deux jours à Bath et finalement trois jours à Bourton-On-The-Water.  Bourton est une base pour visiter les villages du Cotswold.