England March 2013- Donnington Castle

Within twenty-four hours of arriving in England, I visited my first castle. In my mind, castles always seemed like something that only exists in fantasy. I think this idea is from not having castles in America, unless you count those at Disney Parks, mini golf courses and temporarily built on beaches. The frame of reference just isn't there. I certainly never imagined them to be sitting in the middle of a field, in someones backyard, just down the road from a pub.

I don't want my readers from other countries to think that the American education system is so bad that we don't realize that castles exist outside of the realm of fantasy. Of course I know that castles are very real places, but it's different when you see one in person and it's not pink.

We visited Donnington Castle early on a cold Saturday morning. The castle is located in the town of Donnington, just about ten minutes from Dan's parent's house. The drive was beautiful.

A sign for the castle.

The town of Donnington.

The beautiful views on the drive to the castle.

Donnington Castle is now a ruin and ancient monument. It was built by Sir Richard Abberbury in 1386, under a title grant from King Richard ll. It was bought by the son of poet Geoffrey Chaucer, most famous for The Canterbury Tales. The castle has been visited by King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

Dan's mom gave me a tour of their hometown of Newbury and just a few blocks from their house, in a residential community, is a former hunting lodge of King Henry VIII. It has since been repurposed and I believe is a medical facility, but the structure is essentially the same. The building that once housed King Henry's tailor is also in Newbury, in the town center.

I was doubly impressed, because coming from California, we just don't have buildings that are so old or have so much History. I live in an area where it's common to level buildings that are thirty-forty years old, just to build something new. We seem to place a greater value on new buildings, rather than preserving old ones. It was really incredible to see such old buildings not only standing, but still in use.

Donnington Castle was destroyed during the English Civil War in The First Battle of Newbury. The Castle held for eighteen months (maybe twenty, depending on the source), but the garrison finally surrendered in April 1646. The bulk of the castle was demolished, with only the gatehouse still standing.

Donnington Castle

Donnington Castle Info

Donnington Castle.

We arrived early in the morning and with the exception of a woman jogging and another woman walking her dog, we were all alone. It was a bit creepy and the theme song from A Game of Thrones ran through my head.

Donnington Castle

A couple of panorama shots.

The castle gate was dark and foreboding.

The gate

Looking inside the interior

A few close-ups of the Castle wall.

Castle stones

It was an atmospheric day, everything covered in a layer of mist.

Dan in the mist at Donnington Castle

Dan

Dan and i at Donnington Castle

My first visit to a real castle was a huge success. No contest, Donnington was way cooler than any castle at a Disney park!

England March 2013- British Airways

My first trip to Europe has sadly ended and now it is time for the onslaught of blog posts and Tripadvisor reviews. As I'm writing this, I'm still in the throes of jet lag and my entire system is completely confused by the time change. We were home and in bed before eleven, but I woke up at three in the morning, thinking that it was the afternoon and that I should be having tea or visiting a castle. I'm going to try my best to make it through today without a nap and hopefully be back to normal by tomorrow.

England was a good mix of everything that I imagined and stuff that never occurred to me. More on that in future posts, now let's start at the beginning and talk about the journey on British Airways.

I'm not just saying this because Dan's dad is a retired BA employee, but British Airways was far nicer than any other airlines that I have flown on, this includes many different US carriers and Air Canada.

We flew economy, so you know that it's going to be cramped and kind of miserable, but I felt like British Airways did everything possible to make the journey more bearable.

When we boarded the plane, each seat had a pillow, a blanket and a little bag with headphones and a mini tooth brush/tooth paste kit. Having the means to brush your teeth after a long flight is a big mood booster. I have grown accustomed to airlines only providing pillows and blankets upon request and them never having enough on board for all the passengers. It was nice to have the extras and not have to fight for them.

Note, although it's nice that they give you headphones, my own Iphone headphones were so superior in sound quality that I would recommend to make sure to bring your own.

We made the mistake of not double checking if our flight was delayed prior to leaving the house. It was delayed for two hours. Normally, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but the international terminal at LAX is a wasteland. I didn't appreciate how bad LAX is, until I walked through Heathrow. Heathrow is like a mega mall and LAX is like the DMV. It's bad.

We found this spot to wait and named it "Dan's Nap Room". LAX is the pits.

Even with the wait, it was impossible for my excitement to wane. It only took thirty-five years, but I was heading to EUROPE!!!

Next stop, England!

Our plane.

If you have to fly economy, picking the best seats is essential. Dan knows the ropes. The plane has three rows of two seaters on either side in the very back of economy. However, only the first set of two seaters on either side has extra space by the window. It's not a lot, but every inch counts. I was thankful to be seated with Dan and not squeezed in with other passengers. My only negative about BA, is the leg room seems more cramped than economy planes that I have flown on with other carriers.

Panorama of economy.

Economy after the flight..what a mess!

The inflight entertainment was plentiful, with a good range of movies and music. They even had a spoken word series of short stories and podcasts, including my favorite podcast, This American Life. I was very excited to watch movies and read books on the flights, but misjudged how sleepy I would be. On the flight over, I only watched, Lawless. On the way home, I fit in two movies, On the Road and Seven Psychopaths. The movies were okay, but I most enjoyed the documentaries offerings, including a travel program on Brazil. Next vacation destination perhaps?

I've not seen meals on an airlines since the mid-ninties. I know that airline food gets a bad rap, but really, I'll eat just about anything and the food that BA served was pretty darn good. We had a full dinner and a light meal each way. They also served free alcohol on board. Did you hear me, FREE ALCOHOL! I think that the only reason this is so exciting is for the novelty. I've never seen free booze in economy. It's not such a great idea to drink while flying and you'll feel crappy for it later. I had a mini bottle of wine (two going) with my dinner. It's the little things that count.

Excuse the bad Iphone picture...but this was our curry chicken dinner. The carrot cake was outstanding.

Complimentary beer and wine.

Pur breakfast box, served about ninety minutes prior to landing.

I really liked the yogurt drink.

When not watching movies, it's hard not to stare at the moving map screen. I love and hate this feature. It's fine if you can refrain from checking it every five minutes. A watched plane doesn't fly faster!

The map.

I was seated across the aisle from the most unaware man that ever existed. An hour into the flight, he knocked my water over and it spilled on my lap and IPad. The Ipad was safe, but soaked jeans make economy travel even more uncomfortable. During dinner he flung food from his plate on to mine. It kept things interesting.

Welcome!

Heathrow Baggage Claim

Grimy and happy after a long flight.

My landing card

Almost there...

The trip back to Los Angeles was even smoother. The plane was delayed nearly an hour, but they managed to make up the time in the air and we landed only fifteen minutes late. It's easy to kill time in the Heathrow airport, because there is just so much to see. We spent most of the time having coffee in a quiet lounge, where Dan even ran into a former co-worker.

I can move to England and still go to country concerts!

Dan and I, before a long flight home.

funny lottery ad.

latte and smores cake

Funny Red Nose Day advertisement

Goodbye..we will hopefully return soon!

Red Nose Day was on the Friday of our visit. We spent that day at Legoland and sadly, didn't see any Red Nose activity.

We found a quiet spot for a latte and complimentary paper.

I read the London Evening Standard

Shopping at the airport

We left on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon. It even snowed earlier in the day. Here are all of the BA planes in the cold.

Panoroma

Plane on a stormy day

Even though the flight going home was an hour longer, it was an easier flight due to the time of day. It ran into the late evening, but wasn't overnight, so I wasn't completely exhausted. It's much nicer when you can stay up and take advantage of the entertainment, rather than attempt to sleep in a cramped chair.

The food on the way home was good too.

Dinner..Butter Chicken Curry with pasta salad and a caramel chocolate mousse for dessert.

The second meal was a chicken salad sandwich and chocolate chip muffin. Decent.

Again, BA did a great job with the desserts.

I didn't see London from the air coming or going. It was too cloudy. I like to think that London was just saving itself for my next trip, when I will hopefully get to visit the city.

Both trips with British Airways were as nice as they could be for an economy flight. The staff was friendly, professional and very attentive. I look forward to flying on BA on future vacations!

Stay tuned for my England trip reports!

So You're Dating a Brit - Caramac and Bounty

Believe it or not, we are slowly going through the candy that Pippa sent from England. To be honest, my bet would have been that it wouldn't have lasted a week, but we are being grown-up about it and savoring it.

This week, we shared two different candy bars, Caramac and Bounty.

Caramac is something completely different than anything else that I've sampled. Dan kept saying that it's chocolate, but it didn't taste like chocolate. I couldn't quite place the taste, until I researched it on the internet. Like the name implies, it is caramel based. It kind of tastes like caramel, but not quite. It's just unusual.

This doesn't mean that it tastes bad. I enjoyed it, albeit in small doses. A few pieces are nice, especially if you just let it met in your mouth, but a whole bar would be too much in one sitting.

Caramac was originally produced in 1959 by Mackintosh's in Norwich. The name is a combination of caramel and Machintosh's and was derived during a contest to name the new bar. The creation has been seen in other forms, including an Easter Egg version.

Caramac Packaging.

Caramac bar.

Our second candy bar was Bounty, a bar that is comprised of coconut covered in chocolate. It is very similar to Mounds Bars found in the United States. In fact, although I am sure the chocolate is different, I think that I would have a difficult time telling them apart. I should be careful though, as I took a lot of heat for comparing Whoppers and Maltesers. The Whopper/Malteser challenge in on in a few weeks! i maintain that they are similar...not exactly the same, just very similar.

Bounty was first introduced by the Mars corporation in 1951 and was sold in both the UK and Canada. I enjoyed the Bounty Bar. Coconut and milk chocolate is a winning combination.

A piece of the Bounty Bar..which really is comprised of pieces, rather than a bar.

The coconut interior.

Bounty packaging.