Judy and Dan - 2023 Vacation

2023 Vacation

Judy celebrated a milestone birthday this year, so we decided to celebrate by returning to England and flying over in Virgin's Upper Class, which is certainly a lot nicer than economy, particularly since in our case it was mostly covered by airmiles!

The trip was divided into three halves. Firstly Blackpool "up North", then Bournemouth "down South" and finally a few days in central London just to wrap things up.

Blackpool

In the best British understatement, the weather wasn't all it could have been in Blackpool. Hurricane Lee, having missed us in New York, chased us across the Atlantic and caught up with us in Blackpool, where it delivered 40 mph winds you could barely stand up in and rain that felt like bullets, for the first few days of the trip.

That said we did manage to get out on at least some days. On the second night in town we went to see a brillant 80's tribute band at the stunning victorian Grand Theatre.

One of the best things about Blackpool is that it is pretty much flat, so flat in fact that a tram runs for about 11 miles along the front, created in 1885 it is one of the world's oldest tramways and one of only two that survived in the UK. In 2012 the actual trams were all replaced with modern vehicles, which are completely wheelchair and mobility scooter accessible.

Blackpool is unique in having THREE piers within the city itself, in fact four if you count St. Annes slightly to the south. The North Pier is particularly long and is a listed building. The town also has a huge amusement park (Pleasure Beach) but unfortunately it was closed because of the weather being so awful. At the center of Blackpool is the famous tower, I'd love to say the French copied us, but in fact Blackpool copied the French and it opened in 1894, about five years later and half the height of the one in Paris. It is the tallest pre 20th century structure still surviving in the UK and has a lovely view of Blackpool and the surrounding countryside from the top, assuming you can get there on a clear day. At it's base is a famous ballroom, a circus ring and an aquarium which impressed Judy very much.

Every Autumn, Blackpool hosts the Illuminations, over 6 miles of lights and over one million light bulbs. Started in 1879, it used 8 arc-lamps, the year before Edison patented the light bulb. In the center of Blackpool, it's mostly the main road along the sea front that is lit, but further north, there are huge tableau of lights, some of which are animated by motors or electronics. Special trams provide the perfect way to do a grand tour.

On our final night, we discovered that Blackpool also has some fine dining in the form of The Bank restaurant. Every time I come across one of these gems I have hopes that Blackpool will return to it's heyday in the mid-20th century. Only time will tell!

Bournemouth

Returning to Bournemouth, which we visited in 2017, we decided to visit the beautiful Compton Acres, on the first full day. This has reproductions of gardens from Italy to Japan amazingly it is looked after by only three full time and three part time gardeners.

The natural part of Bournemouth has of course remained pretty much unchanged. A nice pier, with fabulous beaches and a lovely sea view along the coast on either side. It's also home to more than it's fair share of literary connections. John Le Carre, born in Poole. The Durrell family. Robert Louis Stevenson. J.R.R Tolkien and Mary Shelley all either lived here for a while, or were buried here, or both.

We did try to see the George Michael tribute show, starring Rob Lamberti (who is actually very good) at the Pavillion. But sadly the sound was so awful and the crowd so badly behaved, that we left around half time.

We had more success with Snowy the minibus and driver Darren. We did two days of touring, first to the Purbeck's where we visited the little village of Steeple. George Washington's family were allied by marriage to the local land owning Lawrence family from whose coat of arms he acquired the Stars and Stripes, which ended up on the American flag. We also visited the Etches Fossil Collection at it's new museum as well as the old hits of Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Corfe Castle and Swanage.

Returning to Bournemouth that evening, we were at a loss to find a good way to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Fortunately Renouf's Wine and Cheese bar in Southbourne came to the rescue, so that was our official anniversary dinner.

The following day we went to see Dan's neighbors when he was a child, Roger and Hilary, who made us a delicious lunch including yummy trifle for desert. It was so nice to see them both again after forty plus years.

Judy was feeling a bit tired by now, so on Wednesday Dan hopped the bus, firstly to Salisbury and it's famous cathedral, then on to Blandford and finally to the old town of Poole (where he was born). The following day, we were back with Snowy to tour the New Forest (founded around 1000 years ago). We saw plenty of the famous ponies, had a lovely lunch at the Fox and Hounds in Lyndhurst, checked out a new car for Judy at the local Ferrari dealer and visited Beaulieu, Lymington and Burley on the way back to Bournemouth.

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London

We wrapped things up with a long weekend in London. Judy had long wanted to visit the Holborn Dining Room, famous for the chef's interest in pies, which are made in the pie room right there on the premises.

The following day we decided to go the see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. It was quite disappointing that photos were not allowed, but they do a good job showing off the priceless treasures while hopefully keeping them very safe.

Dan also hit up the British Museum (so much non-British stuff in there) and rode the new Elizabeth Line across Central London from Abbey Wood to Paddington station.

On Saturday evening we had dinner at the Shard. Lovely views, but the cuisine was sadly nowhere near good enough, considering the location and cost, I'm so glad we had multiple chances to celebrate at other much nicer restaurants on the trip.

We were very fortunate that Sunday 1st October was the end of the flat racing season at Epsom Racecourse. This was handy as our friend Mark lives nearby so a day at the races was the perfect way to catch up.

Having lunched at the ancient Blackfriar pub, built on top of a medieval dominican friary we wrapped up our trip to London by taking in "Crazy for You" at the Gillian Lynn theatre on Drury Lane in the heart of the West End. It was a great way to end a lovely vacation!

The flight