Days 138-139-140-141 England

For Sale - Worrall Hall!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - Day 138.  

Surprise, the sun was shining as we landed at Gatewick Airport on the south side of London.  Maybe this time of the year wouldn't be so bad after all.  After we picked up our car and circled around the airport a couple of times to practice driving on the wrong side of the road, we finally made the correct turns and made our way to the town of Wellingborough about 2 hours North of London where we would be spending the night with Rosemary and her son Chris, SERVAS hosts.  Wellingborough is a bit off the regular tourist route which makes it even more interesting because we are likely to see something that regular tourists usually skip.

The family lives in a classic two story brick house with bay windows on a corner lot with a big English garden in the back of the house.

Our cozy room was upstairs.

 We met our hosts and spent a nice evening with them.  Rosemary fixed an Italian pasta for dinner.  Tomorrow, we will all go to Northampton to visit the Shoe Museum for which http://www.vebra.com/property/11003/25025665 the area is best known....leathers and shoes. 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014, Day 139

Rosemary and Chris arrived home after an appointment in town.  We had prepared some sandwiches for a picnic in Northampton, and when they returned late morning we set off for the Museum.

Yesterday's sun liquified into a grey drizzle so a picnic outdoors was looking a little gloomy. Nevertheless, we took the backpack filled with sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and drinks along with us.  

Chris, Rosemary, and Russ

We enjoyed touring the shoe museum.  It was very interesting looking at how shoes were made, how styles change over time, and seeing famous shoes worn by pop stars, movie stars, and even Jumbo the elephant. 

Looks like a torture device.

Jumbo the Elephant's Shoe

Bet Jumbo's Shoe is More Comfortable. 

There's No Place Like Home

After  our tour, we walked through the market square

 and found a dry bench in the shopping mall where we had our picnic and watched people already shopping for Christmas.  Rosemary, herself, found a bargain...5 holiday wine bags for a pound.  Despite the rain, we had a great day.

We returned to Wellingborough in the late afternoon.  Chris had made haircut appointments for us at the unisex salon where he gets his hair cut.  We hadn't been trimmed up since Vienna nearly two months ago so it was time.  On our walk through the neighborhood to the the salon we kept expecting to run into Hyacinth Bucket and her husband Richard.  When we arrived home, Rosemary had once again prepared a lovely meal.  Later in the evening, we met some of their friends who were invited over for tea.

Thursday, October 30, 2014, Day 140 - Sherwood Forest and Sheffield

In a flash, our visit with the Abrams was over.

Thursday morning, Chris was off to work, and Rosemary was finishing up an essay for a class she was taking, and preparing for an afternoon performance with the local band.  She plays the trombone.  We said our heartfelt goodbyes and continued on our way north with a stop in Sherwood Forest in search of the legendary Robin Hood.  There wasn't much to see here except the forest, some gift shops, a few statues, and a magnificent old Oak tree (1150 years old), where Robin and his merry men purportedly met before robbing the rich.  The tree as you can see in the picture is heavily supported.  

Looking for Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest

There he is!

We arrived at our AirBnB in Sheffield, late in the afternoon; went out for fish and chips, and were sound asleep by 8:30 p.m.  Jet lag from Greece and the change back to standard time was catching up with us.

Friday, October 31, 2014, Day 141 - The Worralls in Worrall

Like salmon returning to the spawning ground, we wanted to see the township of Worrall from where the Worralls spawned.  Many people took the name of this area when jolly old England needed surnames for the tax rolls. Rather than bloodlines that linked the people together, the assortment of people were linked to the town...Robert of Worrall,  Martha of Worrall, etc  The name of Worrall http://www.houseofnames.com/worrall-family-crest has gone through numerous spelling changes over the years, but its origin means "a nook of land where the bog myrtle grows."

On top of a knoll the townships looks over rolling green fields, fertile farmland, and grazing pastureland for sheep.

We were happy to find some geocaches here, called Welcome to Worrall.

We spent the afternoon taking photos, geocaching, having afternoon tea at the nearby private Hillsborough Golf Club.  We dropped into the clubhouse to see what English golf was like and enjoyed a chat and tea with a gentleman who invited us to play golf as his guests (but we had no clubs).  Of course we found the oldest house in Worrall called Worrall Hall which is for sale.  Very tempting.

 It could be a great Bed and Breakfast!  Five Bedrooms.  Only 595,000 pounds.  Click here for more information.

We  finished off the afternoon with beer and beef pie, potato and pea mash and gravy, and drinking local beer at  at the Shoulder of Mutton Pub across the lane from Worrall Hall.

Worrall Hall would be a tempting purchase if it were in the tropics.  I am afraid we would gain tons of weight here eating our way through the grey days.  All in all, it was a fun day.  Eventually, we found our way out of Worrall.

In between all of our travel in Turkey, Greece, and England, we have been listening to John Grisham's, Sycamore Row.  We finished it this evening before returning to our AirBnB.  We always love these books.

Tomorrow, we leave for London for a week.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's just down the Road from Worrall, England  

Athens - Days; 135-137

Saturday, October 25, Day 135 - View from the Top

Today, we bought a six venue ticket that would take us into the main ruins of Athens, 12 Euros each.  So in addition to taking the funicular inside Lycabettus hill to the top with a fabulous view of the city (not included in our 6 tickets),we also found a geocache, and visited the Kerameikos Museum (funeral, grave relics, tomb yard), the Olympieion - Temple of Olympian Zeus,  and the Panatheraic Stadium (not included in relics ticket).

The sun played peek-a-boo throughout the day, so we waited patiently for just the right light to take photos.

Looking Down from Lycabettus Hill:

Necropolis - Kerameikos Museum

Olympieion - Temple of Olympian Zeus

Looking Up to Tomorrow's Plan

As the day wound down we just walked around absorbing the sights and sounds of Athens,

Hadrian's Gate

Produce Markets

Flea Markets

Modern Art - Graffiti Everywhere

clocked in 8 miles of walking, sat in a restaurant that had an outstanding night view of the Acropolis, ate Moussaka, drank red wine, and had the traditional Greek Ouzo.

Old Buildings in Need of Repair

My Mom Would Have Love This!

 We even got a glimpse of a Greek wedding in progress as we passed this little church!

Sunday, October 26, Day 136 - Acropolis

After a month in Turkey after, we got used to the Muslim call to prayer broadcasted from minarets.  This morning the call to prayer came from orthodox churches from around Athens.  As in America, the clocks fell back an hour last night.

We got dressed and hiked up Moussan Hill, another overlook.  I took photos thinking I was my camera was on automatic daylight setting, and didn't realize until later when I checked the photos that they were over-exposed (pure white light), that I had forgotten to change my settings from taking the night scene photos the night before.  Grrrr, oh well....not planning to climb that hill again.  Okay so here is a stock photo

We also visited Socrates Prison, a cave.

 Socrates, was convicted of sedition, corrupting the minds of the young, and worshipping his own "god".  The death sentence was handed down by the jury, many of whom had been provoked by Socrates thoughts and outspokenness.  Socrates chose hemlock for his death sentence...a true Greek tragedy.  Socrates was a fairly obscure figure in his own time, and became a noteworthy historical figure only after his student Plato wrote about him and his demise. We are intrigued, and want to learn more.

Finally, after viewing it from the top, the bottom, and the sides, we ascended the hill to the Acropolis. This must have been a spectacular place during the golden age, and in someways it is even more impressive today as it is a giant puzzle of restoration, finding connecting pieces, manufacturing "lost" pieces in the same way and with durable materials, and creating unseen reinforcements for earthquake safety.

Much of the top area of the acropolis is a chunk library of pieces with catalog numbers, perhaps with the hope of putting it all back together again.

 Looking down from the Acropolis we had a great view of the Odeon Herodes Atticus Theater, originally built in the 2nd century CE and rebuilt in the 1950's, and used today for musical and theatrical productions.

Late in the afternoon, we visited the theater of Dionysos (ruins) , found another geocache, walked through the tourist section of the promenade, and returned back to our flat with another 5 miles under our belt.  It was too early for dinner, so we drank our wine, ate cheese and played cards until 7:30 then walked to the local eatery for quinoa salad, Greek salad, and lamb shank.  Delicious.

Monday, October 27, Day 137 - Last Full Day in Athens

There is a school across the street from our flat.  The last two days have been quiet, but today the voices of children filled the play ground.  The sun is out this morning belying the forecast that said it would not poke out until later this afternoon.  Our plan was to take advantage of the morning to catchup on blogs, reading, and laundry, and head out later this afternoon to visit the last of our sites, mainly the ancient and Roman Agoras, and finishing our day downtown where we can return to the same restaurant and repeat our wonderful moussaka experience.  We may speed up the timetable a bit if it looks like rain this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we will depart early for the airport and head to London.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Athens, Greece.