077.October 16

Canterbury, UK

In Canterbury, we got to walk around all day on our own. I went with Liz, Becca, and Eve. We went to the Cathedral, and then to Canterbury Tales, a re-creation and telling of Chaucer's tales (in modern English) by wax sculptures. This time we walked around instead of sitting in a cart like Jarvik Viking Center in York or the Whiskey Museum in Edinburgh. I bought an edition of Canterbury Tales for class, and a bottle of Geoffrey Chaucer mead to have while reading Middle English some night.

We got to the hostel and ate. An and I studied Chaucer for a while, and then Becca and I went for a long walk in which we danced and sang in the walking subways of Canterbury. Earlier that evening, I met one of our room-mates at the hostel who was from Germany. He plays guitar too, and worked at a guitar store in Germany, so we talked about different instruments of repute. That night, a rugby team stayed at the hostel, and made a whole hell of a lot of noise. I remember the blue floor mats in the shower most vividly, with the slight draft at the hazy window, the electric water heater, and the cord light.

1993

Frida, Rachel, and I caught a ride with Jill to Rochester this morning, and soon were off on a tiny plane with 3 seats across for Chicago O'Hare, where we got some free coffee at Starbucks and then were instantly on a plane to LaGuardia in New York. From there we took the Airport Express Bus, which is a far cry from an Airport Express Train, to Grand Central Station. We found him at his office building, which is pretty much in Grand Central Station. We went to the Oyster Bar downstairs for a Martini and a beer, a half dozen bluepoint oysters, manhattan clam chowder, and buffalo calamari. We met Sam again at 6pm after picking up some bread for dinner. Then we headed off on the long maze which was our route to Hawthorn. Sam and Romee have the most wonderful house, mission style, built in 1920. We had the most fabulous meal, compliments of Romee, 3 courses, and included a 2 green stew, sauteed muscles, and carmelized burbon walnut brown sugar pudding cake. We have many plans for tomorrow.

2013

Salt Lake City, Utah

After our Saturday Flight, we picked up our luggage, and I picked up a Mid-size SUV I'd rented.

Well, they tried to get me to change to the one I'd tried to rent, and therefore up my fee, but I stuck to my guns, denied extra insurance, and picked up a Chevy Equinox. It was just big enough for 5 passengers when needed, and held 4 people worth of luggage when we needed it.

We drove about 13 minutes to the Utah capital building. We walked around, as we had a few minutes left before our 3pm check-in. It was very impressive, and the man spreading huge and many bubbles across the sky in front was entertaining to everyone, even us. We got to our car, and drove the 3 blocks down State to our Bed and Breakfast, Inn on the Hill, and parked in their lot.

When inside the lovely mansion, we took a tour with the hostess, and then settled into our room for a few minutes to change and get ready for a night out. We walked downtown, another 4 blocks, on State, passed the Temple Square, then left, because the road was blocked off for construction of an underground train, we think.

We went to Beer Bar, which had an amazing collection of beer and sausages, which we consumed in the back area, open air, picnic benches, very German feeling. We learned that they have 2 of only a handful few beer professional people in the USA.

They knew their stuff. Then we crossed the street and found an India Street food restaurant connected to a mixologist bar where we had some amazing food and drink, with a thali of Indian wonders. I had a rum old fashioned, made with OFD rum, must buy.

Then Rachel found out about a speakeasy somewhere in town, and off we went to see if we could find it, and to stop anywhere else that looked cool. We spotted the CITY COUNTY building, which was pretty amazing, and photographed that. We did find lots of cool things on the way before we made it to the Bodega, which was the pub that you had to go through, and ask for the key to the Rest.

Then we were in, and had some amazing mixed drinks and more food. Wow.

We went through Temple Square on the way back, and found out that there wasn't a service in the Mormon Tabernacle the next morning so we would not plan for that. We took a long jacuzzi bath and went to bed.

2021

Bensheim, Germany

2022