Tuesday July 21
High on my list was to see Highclere Castle used on “Downton Abbey”. It hadn’t opened for the season on our pre-cruise days, so it didn’t make the list. In setting up flights Greg noticed that it was much less expensive to travel home a day later; including the money spent to stay in a hotel. So, he booked the hotel and we spent an extra night near the airport.
Highclere Castle was open during that time and then I spent days trying to find transportation from the cruise ship that included a tour. Everyone I contacted was booked or didn’t pick up at the port. I “resorted” to the company that I booked most of the tours for next year’s West Africa cruise with (TourHQ). I say resorted as they have a strict 20% non-refundable deposit. Most sites like Viator, Tours By Locals, Get Your Guide etc. are fully refundable up to 24 hours to the tour, though you pay in full at that time as well. With TourHQ you pay cash on the day to the guide. (pros and cons with either scenario)
Frank O'beirne was one that responded
and he seemed the most detail oriented and responsive, so I chose him. Highly
recommend him for tours or just transportation. He was easy going, and personable
and knowledgeable about the sites. Bfrank4000@gmail.com
Finding Frank wasn’t as easy. There were regular cars picking up people, a taxi lane, a bus lane and a strict lady “controlling” traffic and how long drivers could wait to pick up their passengers. (causing them to circle) We were WhatsApping with Frank and finally found each other. It was humorous watching the “traffic Nazi” getting chewed out by drivers who demanded to wait for their passengers. At one point she got a supervisor who got the point across. Yikes! I wouldn’t want either job. (taxi driver or traffic control)
Anyway, Frank picked us up in a classic London taxi, so there was plenty of room for us and the bags. I had prebooked our tickets for Highclere Castle and we had an entry time of 10:00 – 12:30. The Castle is in the Cotswold’s so some of the scenery was the same drive. However, we would be visiting different villages today.
Maybe an hour and a half drive to the Castle and we chatted with Frank on the drive. When we arrived, he told us to take as long as we wanted to at the Castle and not to rush. We asked if we should eat lunch there and he said he had reserved a table at The Swan Inn & Pub in Swinbrook if that was OK with us. He said it was the site used where Lady Sybil and Branson hid out while planning to run away together before Lord Grantham intervened.
The line to get into the Castle was long as they control the flow of people so it’s not too crowded when you tour. No photos are allowed inside and there were people in each area to answer questions and tell you about the rooms. Each room had a photo of the actors in the set so you could picture them in the setting.
One thing we weren’t aware of was the Castle's connection to Egypt. There is an extensive permanent Egyptian Exhibition that honors the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who famously co-discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 with Howard Carter. The six-room display features authentic rediscovered antiquities, archival photography, and exquisite replicas of Tutankhamun’s treasures. We have seen the real ones in Egypt, but the exhibits were excellent. There were some people in there explaining theories of how they discovered King Tut’s tomb and many thought they had already discovered it when they went back for more grant money and went back and “discovered it”.
We then walked around the beautiful gardens after grabbing a cold drink at a stand outside. I got my token magnet (and a coaster for Cathy’s coaster collection).
Next up was lunch at The Swan. It was a lovely setting, but the food was not. We’ve eaten lots of fish of chips on the trip, but these came with the skin on. I’m not a fan, though Greg doesn’t mind. So, I picked at it and ate the mushy peas and fries (chips). Greg ordered an open sandwich of smoked salmon, pickled cucumber, tomato, lemon & dill dressing, which he said was good, but it was small. (more like an appetizer but sold as a main dish) He finished the rest of my fish. Of course, we told Frank we enjoyed it.
We made a short stop in Shilton since it was used in Downton Abbey as the fictional Yorkshire village of Kirkbymoorside. The local building known as the Old Forge stood in for "The Red Lion" pub where Mr. Bates worked as a barman. He showed us photos of how they made the cottage look like the Red Lion pub.
Next, he took us to Bampton which is the village used for exterior shots of the fictional village of Downton. St. May’s Church was used as the fictional St Michael and All Angels, where major weddings and funerals took place. The church was having a social and he wasn’t sure we could enter but they said it was no problem.
Churchgate House was used for the exterior as Crawley House, the home of Isobel and Matthew Crawley.
The Old Grammar School (Bampton Public Library) was used as the exterior and entrance for the Downton Cottage Hospital. The filming of Downton Abbey in Bampton was between 2010-2018.
Frank told us that the village was chosen over other sites as it had room for all their equipment and a place to park their vehicles close by. He showed us photos of the prop extensions to existing buildings and signage that turned them into sets for the show.
Robin Anthony Shuckburgh is the host of the travel and history channel The Cotswold Explorer. https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCotswoldExplorer/videos
Frank didn’t know him but recognized
him from YouTube, and he stopped so we could meet him. He was gracious and he
stopped to chat.
We then were taken to the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel where we spent the night. We went up to the Elite Lounge for the usual happy hour and appetizers which normally can serve as dinner. Oddly, there was no food out, but people had food I drinks. Their approach at this hotel was to bring out preselected foods & dessert. No choice, just take what they serve. We’ve never seen this at any other Marriott property, and we noticed that most people left a lot on their plates of the things they didn’t want. Not sure if this saves them money but not a great elite benefit from the places that let you eat what you want and skip the things you don’t. The little egg rolls were good but not much else on the plate that was filling. So, we went downstairs and ordered a pizza to split.
Web Albums: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wMzc5MCqRcJEpJ1L6
Tuesday July 22
Our flight didn’t leave until 1:40 in the afternoon, so we had a leisurely morning. We called an Uber for the short drive to the airport. That evening we arrived in Orlando and our driver picked us up to bring us home. He’s a super nice guy and we always have some insightful discussions.
I don’t really have a lot of post trip thoughts other than we enjoyed all the ports & sights in and around London pre and post cruise. We didn’t care for the Majestic Princess as a ship. (prefer smaller and no kids) We also prefer longer cruises. The food was subpar (always depends on the chef) and it seems they are trying to force you to eat in all of the various restaurants that are an upcharge. The dining room menu has an “always available” menu at dinner. It included Fish & Chips, Sirloin Steak (which was so thin it looked like a minute steak – I didn’t order one but saw it ordered at our table) and a chicken breast. They no longer offered salmon as an always available choice. We always found something on the menu and never used them. The desserts on this cruise were severely lacking. They no longer have Norman Love chocolate creations and now use pastry chef Cécile Farkas Moritel. For as long as we can remember there was always the Love Boat Drean which was a decadent chocolate creation and was a good fallback if the other desserts didn’t appeal. Her take on "The Love Boat" is vanilla shortbread with pistachio mousse. Very little chocolate was offered and often at least 2 of the choices was pistachio. (of course, that will appeal to some, and we know not everyone likes chocolate), but normally there is at least 1 choice.
We used to love the flourless chocolate dessert and the Goat Cheese Souffle. The flourless chocolate cake had changed and wasn’t that tasty and the souffle was inedible. It had the consistency and the taste of almost raw cornbread. I had 2 very good steaks and the prime rib on the last night was the best we have had on land or sea with a perfectly baked potato. Everything else was pretty mediocre compared to the great food we had on our last Holland America cruise.
The best food we found was in the Elite Happy Hour Lounge where the nibbles were very good. I’m not including the Most Traveled Luncheon where the food was incredible.
Another thing and I’m not sure how it’s possible but even the canned Diet Cokes were tasteless. (like they were watered down) On land when we bought them while on a tour they all tasted good.
Unfortunately, there was a large group on the ship that caused things like Bingo and Trivia to be held in a very small space instead of the larger lounge. (They used it day and night and was open only for the Elite Happy Hours except for a couple of nights when they just didn't have the Elite Happy Hour)
This was our 58th cruise and our country count is now 114 for me and 115 for Greg. We have been doing some land trips to get to countries where cruises don’t go but after one more long one to the Stans, Caucuses, and Mongolia we will concentrate on cruising again. We both prefer cruising for ease of travel. We don’t mind adding land at the beginning and end of a cruise, but a couple of months on the road with lots of flights are a hassle.
Our next trip starts at the end of August for a 2-week Botswana safari and Zimbabwe & Zambia for Victoria Falls. As usual, I won’t do the blog posts until we return home.
Thanks for following along and enduring
my rambling personal diary of our trips.
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