England 2018, Day 7

The Old Palace, Hatfield House

The one place my mother wanted to see more than any other on this trip was Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, where Elizabeth I had grown up and where she was living, under house arrest, on November 17, 1558 when Sir Nicholas Throckmorton*  rides from London to tell Elizabeth her sister Mary I had died and she was now queen. Tradition has it that Elizabeth was standing under an oak tree when she heard the news and said, "This is the Lord's doing: it is marvelous in our eyes." Of course, we wanted to stand beneath that same oak tree. There were two small obstacles: the first was that the tree was a 20-minute walk and we were already tired.

England 2018, Day 6

On Wednesday, we headed to a fashionable part of London - Mayfair! My mother wanted to visit the house where composer George Frideric Handel had lived - now a museum housing both German-born Handel and Seattle-born rock star Jimi Hendrix memorabilia!  We have a particular interest in the former because my grandfather was a Handel scholar, author of a book on Handel that is still in print. The museum was small but charming: we enjoyed a young musician playing the harpsichord while singing Bach in German (he said he'd get to Handel if I was patient), and I learned a little about Jimi Hendrix also!  Most of all, it was exciting to think of Handel working on Messiah in this very house (and I was amazed to learn he had completed it in about three weeks), using this very bookcase.

Handel's bookcase

Before leaving Mayfair, I also poked my head into nearby Claridge's Hotel which made me feel like the royalty and celebrities who often stay there. Perhaps one sign of a five star hotel (not to mention L500/night) is that they made me feel welcome even in jeans and sneakers (if it weren't always cold and rainy I might have looked less disheveled). The hostess at the restaurant urged me to bring my mother in for a coffee but there wasn't time.

Interior of St. George's, Hanover Square

My big miscalculation of this trip (at least so far) was looking on my phone at the distance between Brook Street and the Churchill War Rooms and deciding it was close enough to walk. It took us nearly an hour and half to get there and then there was an enormous line! Nicky had warned us the night before to buy tickets online but the website was uncooperative. It turned out that the tickets were sold out and a sympathetic guard said we might get in but it could be one hour or four! We were cold and disgruntled, so walked another 20 minutes before we found a Pret a Manger, where we partook of hot chocolate, tea, and cookies, which restored our good humor. The walk had been interesting, after all, and among other things we had visited St. George's, Hanover Square, the society church that makes appearances in Georgette Heyer's and others' books. We also walked by the shop (showroom?) of Jenny Packham, the British fashion designer patronized by the Duchess of Cambridge. As my guilty pleasure is WhatKateWore.com this delighted me.

Jenny Packham, clothing designer to the stars

I had read about a fabulous exhibit about Charles I, King and Collector at the Royal Academy, so although we hated to walk another meter, we girded our loans and hustled over to Burlington House on Piccadilly. The queue there was almost as bad as the one we had left behind but fortunately they sold us tickets for 3:30 and we only had to wait patiently for 20 minutes or so to enter. The exhibit had brought the treasures of Charles I from all over the world for the first time since, presumably, he was chased out of town by those vile Roundheads. It consisted of paintings, sculpture, miniatures (by Nicholas Hilliard!), tapestries, medallions and more, dazzlingly displayed in many rooms. The most impressive paintings were by Anthony Van Dyck, who came to England and essentially became the court painter, painting many portraits of Charles and his family. Each room was extremely crowded because the exhibit is closing on April 15th and people were trying to catch it. It was worth elbowing our way through to see such exceptional works.

I really wanted the exhibition poster but was not sure I could get it home intact

By 5:15, however, we were not just tired of the crowds but also eager to see the real reason for our trip, my eldest niece, who is studying in London this semester. We had arranged to meet her at Zizzi on the Strand (a chain but the food was wonderful), so we hurried through the rush hour commuters and a kind manager at the restaurant found us a table although we did not have a reservation. It was great to see my niece and hear about her adventures! She is studying theatre and after dinner we went to see a new play, Quiz, which had just opened and was cleverly staged and great fun. 

Church count: one
Miles walked: 5.0

England 2018, Day 5

On Tuesday we walked to St. Pancras Station to meet Nicky Smith for a day trip to Rye, a small town in East Sussex  about 90 minutes from London with many historic and literary associations.

Looking toward St. Mary's

It is two miles from the sea and has long been mentioned in the same breath with smugglers. Jane Aiken Hodge lived in nearby Lewes and is probably responsible for some of my historical reading about smugglers.

England 2018, Day 4

Hotel Arosfa on Gower Street in London was recommended by one of my Betsy-Tacy friends and I thought it was a good suggestion because I wanted to stay near Bloomsbury. It is a townhouse that once belonged to Sir John Everett Millais; most suitable given my love of the Pre-Raphaelites. The room is tiny and my mother and I keep crashing into each other but the breakfast room is charming and the breakfast itself was abundant.

Throughout London, there are Blue Plaques, put up by British Heritage, which celebrate notable people from the past at the locations where they lived. Several years ago, Georgette Heyer was honored with one at her birthplace in Wimbledon (maybe one day I can combine a visit there with some tennis viewing). It is great fun when you walk by one of these Plaques and recognize someone! The last time I was in London, my friend Nicky Smith surprised my friend Ellen and me by walking us down Wimpole Street where we saw the Blue Plaque for Elizabeth Barrett Browning, which was most gratifying. Strolling to the British Museum in this historic neighborhood led us past many Blue Plaques this morning, and I was pleased to see several of significance to me, including Anthony Hope, author of The Prisoner of Zenda, an old favorite, and Randolph Caldecott, noted Victorian artist after whom the ALA picture book award is named.

The Corbridge Lanx, Roman Britain - notable not only for being an exquisite silver platter but also because our guide said the scene depicted may be set on the shrine on the Greek island of Delos, the birthplace of the twins, Apollo and Artemis  (all roads lead to Betsy-Tacy, even at the British Museum).

The British Museum was impressive in its vastness but almost too huge to be enjoyable. We saw many beautiful things, found a tour on the influence of Greek gods which was good (our guide was very earnest and congenial), then spent a lot of time with the Parthenon Sculptures (formerly known as the Elgin Marbles). We were both tired and should have stopped for tea and cake.

Thalia, Muse of Comedy, 2nd century AD (for Antonia Forest fans)

When Mother went back to the hotel to write, I went on a pilgrimage to Persephone Books which was about 15 minutes away, and then walked to Liberty of London - both amazing places to window shop. I resisted any purchases because my luggage is heavy enough already and I haven't even been to Foyles yet! We ate dinner at Saucy, a casual Greek restaurant on Marchmont Street, halfway between our hotel and King's Cross.

One of many appealing displays at Liberty!

Miles walked: 7.4

The Baby Plan (Book Review)

Title: The Baby Plan
Author: Kate Rorick
Publication: William Morrow, paperback, 2018
Genre: Fiction/Chick Lit

Taking a quick break from blogging about my trip to England with my mother to review a book that fits into the chick lit genre, despite being about three women who become pregnant. . .

Plot:   Meet three appealing mothers-to-be!

Nathalie Kneller: Nathalie's plan: to announce her pregnancy now that she's finally made it past twelve weeks! But just as she's about to deliver (so to speak) the big news to her family, her scene-stealing sister barfs all over the Thanksgiving centerpiece. Yup, Lyndi's pregnant too, swiping the spotlight once more…

England 2018, Day 3

Entrance of OLEM

We spent the night in Cambridge and breakfasted before walking to Mass at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, a Roman Catholic church located in southeast Cambridge not far from the university. It is a large Gothic Revival church built between 1885 and 1890, fairly dark and dreary (although the morning rain didn't help).   However, as my mother wrote her thesis on the English Catholic Martyrs, I knew she would be excited to visit it.  Also, coincidentally, a book I reviewed recently, Look for Her by Emily Winslow, took place in this Cambridge and the main character attended a funeral at this very church.   I was tempted to tell the priest about this but separately my mother and I had asked him for more information on our favorite martyrs (Edmund Campion and Nicholas Owen; i.e., were they recognized anywhere in the church with plaques or stained glass) so did not want to overwhelm him with info.   The priest, who was very nice Benedictine, did not know much about his martyrs.  The deacon who was quite full of himself said he didn't remember. 

Approaching Ely Cathedral

The construction of the church in the 19th century has a story behind it that sounds like a historical romance: the local priest organizing land and fundraising was assisted by the Duke of Norfolk (a prominent Catholic peer since the 16th century despite Henry VIII's threats) but more money was needed or the church would not get built!   To the rescue, in 1884, came a retired ballerina who had married the richest banker in England with £70,000 of her fortune (an enormous amount in those days) to support the construction.  We also read that the local Protestants loudly opposed the construction of a Catholic church.  My mother posed for a rare picture in front of the church.

Bishop Peter Gunning, 1675-84; imprisoned for his loyalty to Charles I

Next, we headed to the train station to visit Ely, a historic city with a beautiful cathedral about 14 miles northeast of Cambridge.  Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman (later sainted for her piety, etc.), founded an abbey in 693, which was destroyed by the Vikings several hundred years later, but rebuilt periodically from 970 to 1375, with contributions from the Normans (more or less helpful) and Tudors (unhelpful - Henry VIII and his henchmen took it from the Catholic church in 1539 when he imposed the Protestant Church on his country).  Henry's new bishop zealously destroyed the stained glass and much of the sculpture, and any Anglo-Saxon items remaining (a German tourist came into the cathedral just after I arrived, asking if there were any St. Etheldreda relics in existence to venerate but the answer was no). Further repressions took place when Oliver Cromwell ruled England.   However, after Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, it was safe to have beautiful churches again.   In the 19th century the Victorians undertook a massive restoration, resulting in the beauty we saw today.   And considering it was a gray and rainy day, it is even more amazing how the stained glass electrifies the interior of the church while from the outside the cathedral and grounds are also impressive - built onto a slight hill which my mother said was unusual for such a flat part of the country.  The church is huge: 537 feet in length (a football field is 300) with a west tower that is 215 feet high and turrets that are 120 feet high.

Listening to Evensong

After several hours exploring the cathedral, which had a great app we downloaded and free Wi-Fi to facilitate use, we braved the rain to check out the nearby High Street (the exact length of the nave of the church) and ate at the Almonry (indifferent roast beef sandwiches and Victoria sponge cake but the hot tea and picturesque setting were very appealing).   We also stopped a lovely bookstore, Topping and Company, which is hosting Robert Goddard in May.  I would have bought his new hardcover except did not want to carry it.  Had it already been signed, it would have been very hard to resist as I have been a fan since my first weeks at Bantam Doubleday Dell in 1989, when I picked up a Transworld paperback of Past Caring.  We bought a couple paperbacks for the nieces and nephews instead.

Then we laboriously made our way back to Cambridge (bus) and then London (train), and after a mishap with Uber landed happily at the Arosfa Hotel.  Our room is beyond tiny but well situated and very secure.  It even overlooks Waterstones!   Why does my mother keep saying I don't need any more books?

From 83 Gower Street

Book count: three
Cathedral count: one
Church count: one
Miles walked: 3.6

England 2018, Day 2

Saturday we woke up early and had tea and toast at the Arriva Hotel before taking an Uber to Liverpool Street Station (had I been in a taxi I would have been annoyed as it did not seem like the most direct route based on my inspection of the map) and then a train to Cambridge. It was a good half mile to the guest house but our suitcases wheeled along obediently, and soon we had lightened our load and set off for the university part of town.

King's College

We signed up for a tour of Cambridge including King's College, founded by Henry VI in 1441. There was just time for tea and scone for me/soup for my mother and a quick visit to the renowned Haunted Bookshop before the tour. Book count: just one - Hester Burton's No Beat of Drum. I also resisted the offerings in David's Bookshop and two tables of paperbacks in a church that were only 30 pence each!

A treasure-trove of girls series books on the top floor

The tour, made very enjoyable by guide Andrew (so full of interesting commentary that my mother didn't even object that he told her things she already knew), lasted until 4:15 so we had to run to the Fitzwilliam Museum before it closed at 5 pm. There was only time to see some of the paintings and I spent about 10 minutes in a sampler exhibit that had interested me.

King's College Chapel

King's College

King's College Chapel

Although extremely tired of walking by this point, I felt it only right that we pay our respects to Emmanuel College, alma mater of John Harvard, the poor minister whose deathbed bequest to the "schoale or colledge" founded two years earlier gave it his name . . . It turned out to be one of the prettiest we had seen and the porter gave us permission for a quick look at the courtyard and gardens, which included a duck pond. Extra credit: Where is John Harvard buried?

We walked slowly back past the Fitzwilliam to Brown's restaurant, a charming place with high ceilings in part of a converted hospital. The host took pity on us for not having a reservation and found us a table. We dined on schnitzel and warm sourdough bread and Prosecco.

Punters behind King's College

Emmanuel College

Answer: John Harvard is buried at the Phipps Street Burial Ground in Charlestown, created in 1630.

Church count: two
Book count: one
Miles walked: 8.6

England 2018, Day 1

My mother and I dropped our bags at the Arriva Hotel near King's Cross and after a quick cuppa at a nearby Costa, we headed to the heart of what Londoners call the City.  We had great difficulty finding our goal, the Temple Church, partly because my phone took us in circles and partly because it was hidden away, but it was awesome once we found it.  It's a late 12th-century church, church of England's four ancient societies of lawyers and was built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters.