Still. More. Vacay.
Sep. 4th, 2017 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wildflowersoulBut wait, there's more!
Day 6- August 27. Up with the literal dawn. We didn't even wait for breakfast, and the reception area was dark and unstaffed when we left. Left the key on the front desk and left town so fast there were probably cartoon speed marks in our wake.
This was Drew's Liverpool soccer game day, so we drove to Crewe, which is a nondescript post-industrial city that happens to have a big rail hub. We breakfasted at a sketchy McDonald's because there were no other options, and then dropped Drew at the train station. Then West and I went off for our day of adventure.
First stop- The Trentham Monkey Forest. It's a preserve for one species of monkey, and the monkeys wander free through the forest area. We saw some monkeys having a spat, and a few monkeys walked across the path in front of us, much to West's delight. Saw a talk by one of the staff at feeding time, West played on the playground for a few minutes, I paid a couple of pounds for him to get a few minutes in a bouncy house, then we headed out.
Stopped for lunch at a rest area on the highway that had a nice outdoor patio next to a pond & water fountain, so that was nice. We eventually made it to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and went to Mary Arden's Farm.
The farm was Shakespeare's mom's childhood home, and it was way more interesting than I expected! West loved it! There are some people in old timey costumes doing various farming/crafting demonstrations, and you can wander around the grounds, which include some gardens and some sheep/cattle fields. There's also a nice old Tudor house that you can walk through. Of course, for a couple of pounds you can do have-a-go archery, so West got to shoot some arrows. There's also a nice playground, so we booked some time there. We spent a good couple of hours at the farm, and could have stayed longer, but it was getting on a bit in the afternoon by then and I wanted to get to our hotel before dinner time. Also, my phone battery was almost dead and I didn't want to be stranded without a phone.
Made our way to our hotel for the night, The Castle at Edgehill, which is just on the outskirts of the Cotswolds area, or maybe just within it. It's up on a hill in a pretty small town in a rural farm area, but even with the secluded area it felt so much less creepy than the Wales inn the night before. It's a genuine castle, built in the late 18th century, though it's more of a folly and I don't think it was built for fortification. It was near the site of a big battle in the English Civil War, though. So our room was super comfy and felt luxurious, which was nice after such a bummer before. West's bed was tucked in a little alcove off the main room, always a plus, and they left a big basket of continental breakfast food for us, with juices and local milk in the room's fridge, so our breakfast was ready to go. That was totally awesome.
I was thinking about driving back into Stratford-Upon-Avon for dinner with West, but we were pretty tired after a long day, and knowing I would have to drive again later that night, I took a chance on bringing West to the hotel's fancy restaurant. It turned out to be awesome, he ate a grown-up fancy burger and was generally a very pleasant little dude. He got really into pouring water for me from the table's water bottle, and he wanted to be fancy for fancy dinner.
After dinner West and I piled back into the car to drive to Rugby, another post-industrial city with a big train station, so we could pick up Drew after his day in Liverpool. The GPS in the car stopped working just for this car trip, which was aggravating. I got Google Maps working on my phone, but it still led me astray a few times when the car's GPS probably would have been better (but amazingly, when we mentioned this to the car rental place when we returned the car, they actually refunded us the cost of the GPS for the week!). Finally made it to Rugby after driving for an hour down a bunch of twisty tiny country roads in the dark, got Drew, drove for another hour down the country roads.
Day 7- August 28. Time to wrap up the countryside for London! We headed out bright and early, anticipating Monday morning traffic jams, but it was a bank holiday, so we were pleasantly surprised by the complete lack of traffic. Made it back to the car rental place at Heathrow in record time, then got on the Heathrow Express to get into the city. Dropped our luggage off at our hotel, the Nadler Kensington, which was in a great location near a big tube station, but enough out of the way to be quiet at night. Room was comfy and had a little bed for West, so it was just what we needed.
We spent most of this day walking around London, taking in the big sights. First things first, we got off the tube right in front of Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. West was duly impressed. Walked by 10 Downing Street and West got a picture of himself standing next to a guard on a horse. Went to Trafalgar Square, then got lunch in the crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Field, which is something I've always wanted to do. Walked around St. James Park, which had a surprise playground that was awesome, and West made a buddy for a little while. Continued on to the end of the park and arrived in front of Buckingham Palace, so we could check that off the list. Walked back through Trafalgar Square to get up to Regent Street, where we found Hamley's Toy Store, a completely bananas incredible toy store. It blew West's mind. Got dinner at Pizza Express, because it's not like we can visit England without going to Pizza Express. Then we decided on the spur of the moment to do a Ghost Bus tour, which was highly entertaining and totally worth the steep tourist-trap price.
Day 8- August 29. This was probably my second favorite day of vacation, it went off perfectly and was a total delight. We started the day by going to King's Cross Station to do the Platform 9 3/4 visit. The line for photos wasn't long, so we got some good photos of West there, got our Harry Potter memorabilia, and then set off on foot for the London Zoo.
We walked through parts of Camden I'd never seen before, and got to the zoo after a solid 20-30 minute walk. It was awesome, West saw the gorillas and was happy, and he spent the entire time we were in the Reptile House hissing at the snakes to try to communicate with them. We had a decent lunch at the zoo cafeteria, then it was time to move along.
Our next stop was the British Museum. I wasn't sure how it would go over with West, but he had a great time. They have backpacks you can rent that are full of various activities for kids. The backpacks are themed, so we took the ancient Greece themed on, which had the cutest little toga for West to wear while we ran around the Greek stuff doing the activities. One of the activities was to sit in a quiet corner and play a game of knucklebones, then look at the vases that show ancient Greeks playing the game. It was awesome, though the museum was not air conditioned, and that wing was particularly hot that day. Saw all the big stuff that you want to see at the museum, and by the end of the day, Drew wanted to go check out a bookstore that was nearby. West and I stayed at the museum for a cupcake snack and a leisurely shopping break in the gift shop, then we all regrouped and headed to a nearby pub for refreshment. Ended the day with dinner at a super touristy and embarrassing to set foot in American style restaurant in Trafalgar Square, but we wanted someplace easy with food West would eat, so that's what we were stuck with.
Day 6- August 27. Up with the literal dawn. We didn't even wait for breakfast, and the reception area was dark and unstaffed when we left. Left the key on the front desk and left town so fast there were probably cartoon speed marks in our wake.
This was Drew's Liverpool soccer game day, so we drove to Crewe, which is a nondescript post-industrial city that happens to have a big rail hub. We breakfasted at a sketchy McDonald's because there were no other options, and then dropped Drew at the train station. Then West and I went off for our day of adventure.
First stop- The Trentham Monkey Forest. It's a preserve for one species of monkey, and the monkeys wander free through the forest area. We saw some monkeys having a spat, and a few monkeys walked across the path in front of us, much to West's delight. Saw a talk by one of the staff at feeding time, West played on the playground for a few minutes, I paid a couple of pounds for him to get a few minutes in a bouncy house, then we headed out.
Stopped for lunch at a rest area on the highway that had a nice outdoor patio next to a pond & water fountain, so that was nice. We eventually made it to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and went to Mary Arden's Farm.
The farm was Shakespeare's mom's childhood home, and it was way more interesting than I expected! West loved it! There are some people in old timey costumes doing various farming/crafting demonstrations, and you can wander around the grounds, which include some gardens and some sheep/cattle fields. There's also a nice old Tudor house that you can walk through. Of course, for a couple of pounds you can do have-a-go archery, so West got to shoot some arrows. There's also a nice playground, so we booked some time there. We spent a good couple of hours at the farm, and could have stayed longer, but it was getting on a bit in the afternoon by then and I wanted to get to our hotel before dinner time. Also, my phone battery was almost dead and I didn't want to be stranded without a phone.
Made our way to our hotel for the night, The Castle at Edgehill, which is just on the outskirts of the Cotswolds area, or maybe just within it. It's up on a hill in a pretty small town in a rural farm area, but even with the secluded area it felt so much less creepy than the Wales inn the night before. It's a genuine castle, built in the late 18th century, though it's more of a folly and I don't think it was built for fortification. It was near the site of a big battle in the English Civil War, though. So our room was super comfy and felt luxurious, which was nice after such a bummer before. West's bed was tucked in a little alcove off the main room, always a plus, and they left a big basket of continental breakfast food for us, with juices and local milk in the room's fridge, so our breakfast was ready to go. That was totally awesome.
I was thinking about driving back into Stratford-Upon-Avon for dinner with West, but we were pretty tired after a long day, and knowing I would have to drive again later that night, I took a chance on bringing West to the hotel's fancy restaurant. It turned out to be awesome, he ate a grown-up fancy burger and was generally a very pleasant little dude. He got really into pouring water for me from the table's water bottle, and he wanted to be fancy for fancy dinner.
After dinner West and I piled back into the car to drive to Rugby, another post-industrial city with a big train station, so we could pick up Drew after his day in Liverpool. The GPS in the car stopped working just for this car trip, which was aggravating. I got Google Maps working on my phone, but it still led me astray a few times when the car's GPS probably would have been better (but amazingly, when we mentioned this to the car rental place when we returned the car, they actually refunded us the cost of the GPS for the week!). Finally made it to Rugby after driving for an hour down a bunch of twisty tiny country roads in the dark, got Drew, drove for another hour down the country roads.
Day 7- August 28. Time to wrap up the countryside for London! We headed out bright and early, anticipating Monday morning traffic jams, but it was a bank holiday, so we were pleasantly surprised by the complete lack of traffic. Made it back to the car rental place at Heathrow in record time, then got on the Heathrow Express to get into the city. Dropped our luggage off at our hotel, the Nadler Kensington, which was in a great location near a big tube station, but enough out of the way to be quiet at night. Room was comfy and had a little bed for West, so it was just what we needed.
We spent most of this day walking around London, taking in the big sights. First things first, we got off the tube right in front of Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. West was duly impressed. Walked by 10 Downing Street and West got a picture of himself standing next to a guard on a horse. Went to Trafalgar Square, then got lunch in the crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Field, which is something I've always wanted to do. Walked around St. James Park, which had a surprise playground that was awesome, and West made a buddy for a little while. Continued on to the end of the park and arrived in front of Buckingham Palace, so we could check that off the list. Walked back through Trafalgar Square to get up to Regent Street, where we found Hamley's Toy Store, a completely bananas incredible toy store. It blew West's mind. Got dinner at Pizza Express, because it's not like we can visit England without going to Pizza Express. Then we decided on the spur of the moment to do a Ghost Bus tour, which was highly entertaining and totally worth the steep tourist-trap price.
Day 8- August 29. This was probably my second favorite day of vacation, it went off perfectly and was a total delight. We started the day by going to King's Cross Station to do the Platform 9 3/4 visit. The line for photos wasn't long, so we got some good photos of West there, got our Harry Potter memorabilia, and then set off on foot for the London Zoo.
We walked through parts of Camden I'd never seen before, and got to the zoo after a solid 20-30 minute walk. It was awesome, West saw the gorillas and was happy, and he spent the entire time we were in the Reptile House hissing at the snakes to try to communicate with them. We had a decent lunch at the zoo cafeteria, then it was time to move along.
Our next stop was the British Museum. I wasn't sure how it would go over with West, but he had a great time. They have backpacks you can rent that are full of various activities for kids. The backpacks are themed, so we took the ancient Greece themed on, which had the cutest little toga for West to wear while we ran around the Greek stuff doing the activities. One of the activities was to sit in a quiet corner and play a game of knucklebones, then look at the vases that show ancient Greeks playing the game. It was awesome, though the museum was not air conditioned, and that wing was particularly hot that day. Saw all the big stuff that you want to see at the museum, and by the end of the day, Drew wanted to go check out a bookstore that was nearby. West and I stayed at the museum for a cupcake snack and a leisurely shopping break in the gift shop, then we all regrouped and headed to a nearby pub for refreshment. Ended the day with dinner at a super touristy and embarrassing to set foot in American style restaurant in Trafalgar Square, but we wanted someplace easy with food West would eat, so that's what we were stuck with.
