Hurry! The Dutch are Coming!

Our last night in Ireland was spent at Treacys Waterford Hotel, which is located right in the action downtown. It’s a nice hotel, comfortable and clean, and pretty large, which was a good thing, because we were not the only tour bus to be spending the night there. The other bus was comprised of around 40 Dutch tourists, and Maria seemed very concerned about this. We all had arrived at about the same time, and my first observation was that the Dutch group appeared to be mostly older, in very good health and physical shape, and were pretty assertive when it came to appropriating the staircase, the elevator, the hallways, the dining room, and the breakfast buffet. They were pleasant, always smiling, unfailingly polite, but first in line for everything. I definitely got the impression from Maria that Dutch tour groups were not to be trifled with. So, when we set out our luggage at 6 am and headed to breakfast, only to find that the Dutch were there in full force, Maria went into full competition mode. She scurried about the restaurant, hurrying everyone through breakfast, reminding us that we had an early morning ferry to catch and promising that if we put our minds to it, we could fit in a final Irish Hidden Treasure. Not wanting to disappoint her, we rubbed the sleep from our eyes, dished out our eggs, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms, and hurried to the coach. As we boarded, we could hear Maria exclaiming, “Hurry, hurry! The Dutch are coming!”

The Hidden Treasure turned out to be the statue of John F Kennedy in Rosbercon, County Wexford, the ancestral home of the Kennedy’s. JFK visited here for four days in 1963 and pronounced them the ‘best four days of his life’ just five months before his assassination. His statue is near the Dunbrody emigrant boat and eternal flame symbolizing the bravery of the Irish people who fled Ireland during the famine but always hoped to be able to return. We weren’t far from the ferry dock so we proceeded to line up, Maria continuing to be concerned that the Dutch coach would get ahead of us. But we were second in line at the ferry. This was the ferry that was supposed to be a smaller vessel and Maria had warned us that this crossing would likely be bumpier than the previous one. I had applied my Scopolamine patch the night before and took my cinnarizine about ½ hour before boarding, but we were surprised to learn that our ferry was the same size as the previous crossing and it would also have the option of purchasing a stateroom, which we did. I conked out almost immediately and slept most of the four-hour crossing. Best sea trip ever! We did suffer some karma getting the coach off the ferry—since we were first on, we were last off, so those darn Dutch got ahead of us after all! No matter. We never saw them again.

Once off the ferry, we were in Wales, and our next stop was Cardiff Castle. Bob and I were looking forward to Wales for the castles and if Cardiff was a taste we had certainly chosen well. Castell Caerdydd (Welsh) is a medieval and Victorian Gothic revival mansion in the heart of Cardiff, Wales. Originally built in the late 11th century by the Normans on top of a 3rd century Roman fort, the castle has been involved in numerous battles over the centuries, stormed and rebuilt. It is currently owned by the City of Cardiff, having been awarded to the City by the 4th Marquess of Bute. It serves as a tourist attraction, a venue for performances and festivals and can be rented for private events such as weddings. While we were there, an Indian family celebrated a gorgeous 50th wedding anniversary with music, beautiful costumes, horse drawn carriages, and a feast we wished we had been invited to. In spite of the private event, we were able to tour the castle with a guide through ornate rooms, beautifully decorated and resplendent. There was so much to see in each room it was hard to know where to look. Cardiff itself is a wonderful town with quaint passageways and loads of unusual shops. Apparently, the Bute family made wine and the grounds still have the grape vines, but legend is that it took four men to drink the wine made from those grapes. 1 to pour, 1 to drink, and 2 to hold the drinker down, as the wine was so awful. The castle boasts central heating from over 200 years ago, and coal and gas were used to heat water for cleaning and bathing.

Cardiff can claim Roald Dahl, Shirley Bassey, Englebert Humperdinck, (one of my mom’s favorites) and Ken Follet, and many episodes of Dr. Who were filmed in Cardiff. Maria shared with us that Wales was primarily industrial, such as steel, and mining, and that Brexit has been a problem particularly for Wales as the uncertainty of it has postponed some of the potential solutions for manufacturing interests in Wales. Maria, who lives in Cornwall also notes that she thinks Wales’ biggest problem is one of PR since Wales has some of the most beautiful scenery in all of Britain, but most people don’t know that. Since our last week here will be completely in Wales, we will see.

That evening, we were treated to dinner and traditional Welsh music by members of the Cardiff University School of Music. These talented performers were joined by a harpist in a renovated and deconsecrated church and truly had the voices of angels. One young man was training as an opera singer and although I didn’t understand a word of his song it was so emotional and beautiful that the meaning hardly mattered. The dinner was great too.

Our next day was the last full day of the Costsaver tour. Around half of our tour companions are from the United States and heading home the following day. According to the guideline, those travelers have to have a negative Covid test in order to return to the US. Maria has this all under control and has arranged for those folks to go to an apothecary together to have the test administered, after which they will all receive an email with the appropriate documentation allowing them to travel home. So, our first stop today is to Bath, England to see the Roman baths and the Bath Abbey. Then we will head to Windsor, where the US travelers will get their Covid tests and rejoin the group. Since Bob and I have another week to spend in Wales, we don’t need to worry about this yet, so we have more time to spend in Windsor to see the Windsor castle.

On the drive to Bath, we passed numerous areas of historical importance and Maria pointed out details as we drove. Many houses have clay pots on the roof that indicate the numbers of fireplaces in the building. Wealthier homes have many of these clay pots. We passed the home of David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the UK from 1916 to 1922, and the only Welshman to hold this office. He is also known as one of the 20thcentury’s most famous radicals. He was a social reformer, who advocated to pay for his reforms through taxing land, resulting in passionate condemnation by aristocrats and landowners. Sadly, many Welsh citizens felt betrayed by Lloyd George as he disregarded the issues facing the population during the coal miner strike. As we neared Bath, we learned about Jane Austin, who lived there for four years. Jane was an intelligent woman during a time when women’s rights were nearly absent. The 1st son in the family inherited everything, leaving daughters, and any subsequent sons, to scramble for a way to survive. For the sons, the military or business was an option, but for women, a good marriage was the only choice. Jane was smart, too smart and too plain to attract a husband acceptable to her. Her works give us a fascinating window into the social mores of the life of women during her time.

As a conquering nation, the Romans were pretty wise. They didn’t destroy the underlying infrastructure or religion of the lands they conquered, electing rather to retain as much of what felt safe to the populous. The Roman’s tended to believe that their culture could coexist and their strategy seemed to be to incorporate movement to their way of thinking through integration of local leadership. Bath is a great example of Roman integration. The city became a spa when the Romans recognized that the existing hot springs could be purposed for healing. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious center. It is one of the most visited English cities today. It is also rumored to be quite haunted which is always a tourist plus. Bob and I found a long line to enter the actual roman baths and we were not interested in queuing, so we wandered around the city. As it was still early, and breakfast was long ago, we started looking for a snack and quickly found Mrs. Potts Chocolate Shoppe. Here the hot chocolate is made to order and you can stipulate the percentage of cocoa in your hot beverage. Bob ordered the Classic at 54% but I went all the way at 100% and it was ambrosia. We also split a chocolate chip cookie. Luckily, we had a lot of walking to do.

Onward to Windsor and the Windsor Castle. Today it is the main residence of Queen Elizabeth II since 2011. The castle was originally built in the 11th century. It is huge at 13,000 acres and dominates the Windsor landscape. It is based on medieval structure with Victorian and Gothic features. It is open to the public for touring, but a reservation is required and a long queue was evident of tourists hoping to get in. The coach park is below the city area and one climbs several stairs, crosses a bridge, passes through numerous flea-market type booths of vendors selling various souvenirs and finally the town is entered and the castle encompasses everything. As Bob and I followed the path, we spotted a dropped credit card. Clearly someone on their way to the castle had reached into a pocket or a purse and lost their card in the crush of people. Not wanting to just leave the card there, we spent some time looking for someone to whom we could turn it in, and were finally sent to one of the guards at the entrance of the castle who accepted the card. We hoped that person had another means of payment. We had a fairly long time in Windsor since many of our tour group were having their Covid tests so we did a lot of walking. I was hoping for a final restaurant serving steak and Guinness pie but the timing was off so we had a snack and made our way back to the coach for the trip back to London.

We began and ended our journey in the same place—the Hilton Olympia London. We were relieved to learn that all our fellow travelers had tested negative for Covid, so in spite of the increased coughing as we traveled, Maria’s reassurances seemed to be well placed. Everyone was waiting for their emailed documents and a few were doing so with high anxiety, but most everyone was in good spirits and wishing everyone goodbye. We made sure to thank Maria and Kevin for taking such good care of us these past few weeks. We met another couple and had dinner that evening in the Hare and Tortoise Japanese Restaurant in walking distance of the hotel. It was delicious and we recommend it highly. Tomorrow, we have a few challenges ahead. Somehow, although we have only added three wooleys and a few small gifts to our luggage, our suitcases are hugely overpacked and difficult to maneuver. We either have to purchase another suitcase, or find a way to send some things home. We also have to find Paddington Station for Rail Europe with all our luggage and make our way to Newport, Wales to check in to the Celtic Manor Resort, where we will meet our new guides for our Wales week the following day. Up until now, we have had the benefit of Maria and Kevin to see that our luggage made it to and from our rooms and that we always knew how to get where we needed to go. Tomorrow, we are on our own.