Across The Pond

This past month of May we had scheduled a trip across the Atlantic to visit England and France. I don't normally dread flying but anything over 4 hours fills me with dread of confinement . This particular flight to London Heathrow was scheduled for a little over 6 hours but was a red eye leaving Boston Logan at around 9 pm. Being that London is 5 hours ahead of the US we would fly all night and get there in the morning. The flight at 30000 feet and 500mph was smooth and uneventful, and the British customs people were very cheerful and nice, quite the opposite of the surly and rude TSA officials here in the USA. Our travel agency , Trafalgar, had a young gentleman waiting at the baggage area to take us to the Cumberland Hotel which is about 45 minutes from the airport.It was quite a change from Stanford ,Kentucky as we entered the London metropolitan area of 8 and one half million people. The first thing we noticed was how green the country side is.Kentucky is green, but not the vivid emerald green of England, and later France. I guess it's because of the moderate island climate and abundant rainfall, which it was doing upon arrival. It is also obvious that England is a virtual melting pot of nationalities and ethnic groups. Our guides told us London is the most expensive city in the world. It is in somewhat of a turmoil due to the exit from the European Union, and subsequent elections left a dilemma to Teresa May and her party, which leaves Great Britain in a divided  state much like the USA. Our hotel was only a block from the Marble Arch which used to be the entrance to Buckingham Palace but was moved by order of Queen Victoria to its present location in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is one of four major parks , and at 350 acres is the largest. It was established in 1536 by Henry VIII as a hunting area. Like our own Central Park, which is nearly 900 acres, Hyde Park has been used for many things ,including rock concerts. Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Queen have given concerts there. Also of note is a podium in Hyde Park where anyone can address issues to whoever will listen. Appropriately enough this area is Speaker's Corner. There were people speaking every time we went by.Speaker's Corner has been in constant use since 1872.The area of food was also a great education. We were prepared for "Bangers and Mash"every morning for breakfast but they never appeared at the hotel. Bangers are sausage which are called that because they popped and banged in the skillet as they were fried. Mash is mashed potatoes. Breakfast was usually a buffet with normal eggs and toast, but with the addition of cooked tomatoes and pork and beans. There is no such drink as iced tea to be found in the British Isles. They don't believe in ice either. I did grow to like scones which is like a crumbly sweet biscuit, usually with a jam spread on it. The Brits are heavily into marmalade.We were anticipating the infamous "Spotted Dick"which is supposedly a pastry with raisins or currants which gave it the Spotted description. Nobody could tell us the "Dick " origin. It never appeared on the menu , much to everyone's relief. Fish and Chips were good and one night we ate at a pub called "The Grazing Goat".Some of our group had beef which they said was good. I again had fish and chips which is rumored to be haddock. Chips are French fries. Our hotel had 1000 rooms and was very well situated in central London. It is a 20 minute walk to Buckingham Palace, which we saw but the Queen wasn't in. We were hoping for an audience but she was at Windsor. You know that because her flag is flying if she is in town. We were also within 5 minutes of Selfridge's Department store which we walked through because Sandy has watched a series about it on Public Television. We didn't buy anything because we had spent all our money getting there.We watched the Queen's Guard change at the Palace, and it was impressive. I actually liked Freddy Mercury playing the Queen at Wembley Stadium better than the actual Queen but I suppose I would warm up to her if we met.Freddy played for over 400,000 fans at the old Wembley Stadium in 1986 over a series of nights. That Wembley Stadium was torn down and replaced with a new one in 2007 , mainly for football, which is British for soccer. Soccer is a European game played and liked by females as well as men. Kind of a boring and sissy game by American standards. Like I said previously London is a Virtual Tower of Babel with many nationalities in evidence. Many Arabic and Moslem citizens, mostly driving Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles. In five days of Great Britain I only saw 2 American cars. The rest were European or a very few Japanese.T

hat was a surprise. I was looking forward to Stonehenge and Bath, but that's a future story.