THE ISLES OF SCILLY
Today, I offer one of my favorite memories............In 1976, the year of our bi-centennial, five friends journeyed to England. Leaving NYC on a late afternoon and arriving at Heathrow airport in London the next morning. Well, allowing for the time change, it was morning there. We got to our hotel and immediately took naps.
The following few days, we did all the tourist things.....the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral as well as some Pub crawling. And we booked tickets to a couple of shows in the West End for a later date. And, indeed, as I recall, we saw the first of those, a revue, "Side by Side by Sondheim," that week. (It later moved to Broadway where we saw it again.) But I digress.
The real adventure began after those first few days in London The next evening after "Sondheim," we left Paddington Station by train and overnight, made our way down to Cornwall and Land's End. From there we took a helicopter (all prearranged) to the Isles of Scilly, some miles off the coast of Penzance, England.
Why Scilly? To begin with, there are six inhabited islands with a total population of about 2000 (at that time). We had friends who had leased Star Castle on St. Mary's from Prince Charles (it may have been Phillip) and ran it as a hotel. That was our main reason for the trip.
The Castle was built in 1593 by Queen Elizabeth I, as a garrison and fortress against the Spaniards should they choose to invade England.
While the castle still had some of it's medieval "charm," it had also been upgraded to a wonderful hotel. (The dungeon was now the bar called, appropriately, The Dungeon.) There was a lovely restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner most days. (My first encounter with "Bangers and Mash.")
Day trips were available by launch in nearby Hughtown to any of the other islands. And within the next few days we visited several
Our hosts recommended we visit Tresco which is situated in the Gulf stream and fairly teeming with all sorts of botanical wonders in the Tresco Abbey Gardens, twelve acres overgrown with beauty everywhere you looked. We spent our last full day just exploring this lush Eden.
Then back to St, Mary's. A good night's sleep, a fond farewell to our hosts and back to London with a bit of a snag in the best laid plans awaiting us.
Upon our return, we dressed for our last night in town and a trip to the theater to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap," the longest running play in history. It opened in 1952 and has been in the West End ever since, chalking up it's 25,000 performance in 2012.
We arrived at the theater and were told that our tickets had been for the previous night. I don't know if it was their error or ours. We were heartbroken. The manager was called, we told him our sad tale of woe, "this being our last night in London." He said, "Wait here." We waited. Shortly, he returned with five tickets (a bit further back, but we were in.) And it was a glorious end to a perfect trip and a wonderful gesture on the part of that manager to five Americans abroad. God Bless Merry Olde England!
The following picture was taken at the front entrance to Star Castle by our fifth traveler, Marvin. Top to bottom....Fred, LaRue, Fabian and Jay.....Sadly, I am the only survivor of this moment in time. But what memories!
The following few days, we did all the tourist things.....the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral as well as some Pub crawling. And we booked tickets to a couple of shows in the West End for a later date. And, indeed, as I recall, we saw the first of those, a revue, "Side by Side by Sondheim," that week. (It later moved to Broadway where we saw it again.) But I digress.
The real adventure began after those first few days in London The next evening after "Sondheim," we left Paddington Station by train and overnight, made our way down to Cornwall and Land's End. From there we took a helicopter (all prearranged) to the Isles of Scilly, some miles off the coast of Penzance, England.
Why Scilly? To begin with, there are six inhabited islands with a total population of about 2000 (at that time). We had friends who had leased Star Castle on St. Mary's from Prince Charles (it may have been Phillip) and ran it as a hotel. That was our main reason for the trip.
The Castle was built in 1593 by Queen Elizabeth I, as a garrison and fortress against the Spaniards should they choose to invade England.
While the castle still had some of it's medieval "charm," it had also been upgraded to a wonderful hotel. (The dungeon was now the bar called, appropriately, The Dungeon.) There was a lovely restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner most days. (My first encounter with "Bangers and Mash.")
Day trips were available by launch in nearby Hughtown to any of the other islands. And within the next few days we visited several
Our hosts recommended we visit Tresco which is situated in the Gulf stream and fairly teeming with all sorts of botanical wonders in the Tresco Abbey Gardens, twelve acres overgrown with beauty everywhere you looked. We spent our last full day just exploring this lush Eden.
Then back to St, Mary's. A good night's sleep, a fond farewell to our hosts and back to London with a bit of a snag in the best laid plans awaiting us.
Upon our return, we dressed for our last night in town and a trip to the theater to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap," the longest running play in history. It opened in 1952 and has been in the West End ever since, chalking up it's 25,000 performance in 2012.
We arrived at the theater and were told that our tickets had been for the previous night. I don't know if it was their error or ours. We were heartbroken. The manager was called, we told him our sad tale of woe, "this being our last night in London." He said, "Wait here." We waited. Shortly, he returned with five tickets (a bit further back, but we were in.) And it was a glorious end to a perfect trip and a wonderful gesture on the part of that manager to five Americans abroad. God Bless Merry Olde England!
The following picture was taken at the front entrance to Star Castle by our fifth traveler, Marvin. Top to bottom....Fred, LaRue, Fabian and Jay.....Sadly, I am the only survivor of this moment in time. But what memories!
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