UK1999-01

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I did my run, got packed and because Marcia had already gone to Maine to visit her relatives before our trip, my associate, Dr. Tory Prestera drove me to Union Station in downtown LA. I boarded Amtrak's Southwest Chief, Train #4 and the Redcap took me and my bags to Car #431, Deluxe Bedroom D. I had my dinner in the dining car and then went to bed.

I slept most of the day but when we arrived in Albuquerque I did my run at the station. The train left too early for me to finish running outside so I continued my fast walking inside the train. This I have done many times before but this time the conductor, Mr. Springer, saw me and got very nasty and stopped me from running. I did my usual dinner, worked on my computer in the room and went to bed.

I have no idea why but at 1 AM I decided to do my run when we stopped in Kansas City. This is one of their long stops but at an inconvenient time. Unfortunately I didn't schedule this trip correctly because I had to miss Mass today. At 5:30 we arrived in Chicago Union Station. I had to pack and get off the train and then at 7:30 the Redcap helped me board the Lake Shore Limited Train #48 and into Car #4811, Deluxe Bedroom B. We departed Chicago on time. Bad scheduling also because today is our 29th Wedding Anniversary. I had a nice dinner and went to bed.

The train arrived in Albany and at 12:15 I did my run in the station. At 3 PM I arrived in NYC and took a cab to the hotel we stayed at last time. I checked into the Gramercy Park Hotel [2 Lexington Ave (@ E 21st St,)

+1-212-920-3300, 866-784-1300.]

This is a historic hotel which was built in 1924-25 (additions 1929-30) and has an interesting story. Humphrey Bogart married his

first wife Helen Menken here, and the Kennedy family, including a young JFK, stayed on the 2nd floor for several months before moving to London in the 30's. During the Depression, Babe Ruth was a regular bar patron (an autographed picture of him hung in the bar until it disappeared in the 1960s.) When James Cagney and his wife lived nearby at 34 Gramercy Park, they had dinner here often. The hotel's reputation for discretion attracted such musicians as Bob Marley and Bob Dylan in the 1970s. The first cast of Saturday Night Live stayed in the hotel during the show's premiere and Paul Shaffer, the show's original bandleader (now David Letterman's,) continued to live in the annex for another 16 years.

The furnishings were really not that great and the bed was horrible but the price was very reasonable for this section of town and the reason we chose it. The lobby is really seedy and the elevator must date back to when it was built.

At 4 PM I called Jim Pulaski Jr. and had a good chat with him. He was not able

to get together with me but maybe next trip. At 6:30 I called Marcia to see how she was doing. I walked around Union Square for awhile and then decided this one place looked pretty good for dinner. So at 10:15, I had dinner at Blue Water Grill [31 Union Square West @ 16th,

+1-212-675-9500.] Its in a three-story old bank building.

When I was done I went back to the hotel and went to bed. Its not fun being alone.

I got up and did my run in Gramercy Park (right) and got

a cappuccino at a place around the block. The history of this tiny park is quite incredible. Click to read about it.

To get inside the park you have to get a key from the concierge. Gramercy Park is held in common as one of the city's only two privately owned parks. Two keys are allocated to each of the original lots surrounding the park, and the owners may buy keys for a fee, which was originally $10 per key and the locks are changed annually.

In the center of the park (above) is a statue of one of the area's

most famous residents, Edwin Booth (right) (1833�93,) which was dedicated in 1918. Edwin was one of the great Shakespearean actors of the 19th Century, and the older brother of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin. His father, Junius Brutus Booth (right in below left photo with his sons) came from England. Edwin and his brother were born here and they started out traveling with their father acting throughout the country. The most interesting story is that Edwin saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son Robert at a train station several months before the Lincoln assassination - just incredible. The photo in the center is Edwin as Hamlet; on the right is with his daughter.

The statue in the park of Edwin Booth as Hamlet, by Edmond T. Quinn, was put in place at the center of the park by the Players' Club in 1916. The Players' Club (below left) was founded in 1888 by Edwin Booth at #16 Gramercy Park. The Park is surrounded by many 19th Century brownstone buildings (below right.)

At 1:55, Marcia flies from Boston to JFK from her trip to Maine. After she arrived, at 5 PM we walked around and discovered the Heartland Brewery [1285 6th Ave @ 51st St,

+1-212-582-8244] and decided to go in and have a beer and wine. Heartland Brewery opened in 1995 as New York's first American-style brewpub on Union Square. They now have many of them throughout the city (list below.)

The bar was very busy and the place was packed. It took some doing to get my beer order in. They brew a lager, a medium and a dark brew. It was pretty good. (photos from their website.)

We then headed over to the place our daughter Kristin took us to two years ago when she was attending NYU. So at 8 PM we got a table and had dinner at Chat 'n Chew [10 East 16th St,

+1-212-243-1616.]

Chat 'n Chew is a very funky place whose decor is old-fashioned and casual. There are lots of old signs and empty cans lining the wall. The menu is full of good comfort dishes like mac'n cheese, challah French toast, burgers and milkshakes. We both had their fried chicken which is very good and their French fries (below) are outstanding.

Fully satisfied, we walked around a little and then headed back to the hotel and to bed.

Because of the early flight, we check out of the hotel at 3:30AM. At 3:45 we took a cab to JFK Airport and went through the Holland Tunnel.

Below right is my shots of Marcia enjoying the Air France Concorde lounge at 4:50 AM.

We sat in the lounge from 4:35 AM until 2:30 in the afternoon.

This turned into a disaster for me. The reason was that our British Airways flight #001 couldn't take off because the Concorde did not pass the test for its nose going up and down. When the plane is flying or on the ground the nose is more horizontal (left) but when it is taking off it angles down (above right.) We waited past flight #002 which couldn't leave

at 11 AM either for some other reason. Finally, at 2:30 PM (7:30 AM GMT) we were allowed to get on flight #004. A full 10 hours of sitting there waiting to take off. That was not much fun for me. We got little but mild apologies from British Airways. I never plan on flying with them again. Right is an example of our ticket.

The Concorde is a product of Anglo-French cooperation and they were manufactured in Toulouse, France. When the Concorde entered Air France and British Airways transatlantic service in 1976, it was the only operational supersonic passenger transport in the world and remained so for well over two decades.

With a crew of nine, the Concorde could fly at 1,350 mph (2,150 Kph) at an altitude of 60,000 ft {11.4 miles} {18.2 Km} high enough for its maximum of 100 passengers to see the curvature of the earth! The speed of sound at that altitude is 673 mph, so that would be Mach 1. The Concorde can reach Mach 2 (1,356 mph) for most of its flight. Below left is the effect of an FA-18 Hornet breaking Mach 1 in July 1999.

Concordes crossed the Atlantic in under three hours, or less than half the time of any other jetliner flying that route even today. Protests from environmentalists prevented its supersonic use over the United States and limited airport operation in the EU.

This plane had an amazing 24 year record of never having crashed until it all came to an end when an Air France Concorde fatally crashed (below left) upon take off from De Gaulle Airport in Paris in July 2000, grounding the fleet until 2001. The Concorde only flew VIP passengers until 2003, when both airlines retired their fleets from service forever. Here are two photos (below right) I found of the ceremonial final flight of the British Airways fleet.

We got on the

plane and were politely directed to our seat. As you can see the space is a little more cramped for the 100 of us flying First Class compared to regular airplanes. All the seats (left) are the same and seemed comfortable to me but at a cost of $7,000 per person, many people like to complain about it. They have a changing sign on the cabin (above right) showing the elevation (57,000 ft) and the speed (Mach 2.00.) You can see that the cockpit

is pretty

crammed with instruments.

I had taken my Xanax prescription and with earplugs in and a neck cushion I watched the take off and when it finally leveled out, I fell asleep for three hours.

The sign indicators on this Concorde were different than on the Air France one. Here they "blink" like a TV set when you video record them so in the photos there is a faded line visible. They had signs showing the present outside temperature (a chilling -55�C [-67�F,]) speed (1370 mph; Mach 2.0) and our present altitude (53,000 ft [10 miles, 16.15 Km.) Again, unbelievable. This is our third time traveling at Mach 2.

When I woke, I looked out the window and indeed saw the curvature of the earth again. Below are my video shots of the interior and seating in this plane. A little less formal than the French.

I really couldn't fall back to sleep and since we only had another 20-30 minutes until landing, I stayed up to feel the spectacular landing into Heathrow Airport, London. Our entire flight took exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes; just incredible.

We are now on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) used by the UK and Portugal, so it is 10:50 PM here in London. We lost 5 hours on the way over. The

tickets we purchased included a limousine picking us up and taking us to the hotel as well as two nights at the hatel. At 11:30 PM we checked into the Athenaeum Hotel [116 Piccadilly,

+44-207-499-3464] and they gave us room #407. Here's how it looked coming in this late at night (all stock photos.)

The Athenaeum is a family-owned,

5-star hotel overlooking Green Park in Piccadilly, London. It was originally the Hope House which was built at 116 Piccadilly in 1849-50 by Henry Pelham-Clinton, the 6th Duke of Newcas

tle.

The name Athenaeum first appeared around 1864 when the house was bought by the Junior Athenaeum Club. In 1971 the Rank Organization (British movie company) purchased the 1930�s Athenaeum Court apartment block, opening it as The Athenaeum Hotel after a two year refurbishment. Through J. Arthur Rank�s (left) direct links to Hollywood, the hotel attracted guests including Steven Spielberg, Marlon Brando, David Spade, Harrison Ford,

Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli and Warren Beatty. Rank encouraged his stars (including Elizabeth Taylor) to take up residence at the hotel while working on film projects in England. Left is the famous Gongman that opened all the Rank movies. The hotel also has private apartments available for rental (above right.)

We went through their plush lobby (below left) and got up to our beautiful room (right.) It was late but I still had to change into my running gear.

At 11:45 PM I went for a night time run on Piccadilly St for 45 minutes and then returned to the hotel and had a cappuccino in their lounge. Then I went back upstairs and went to bed. Marcia had crashed a little earlier.

This is our first real full day in London so I got up early and did my run and wound up going through Green Park (map below) which led me right to the front of Buckingham Palace (red star.) The Queen Mum did not wave to me.

This was a very impressive sight which helped me feel I was in a foreign country again. The

feeling is not quite as exhilarating as running under the Eiffel Tower was on the first day two years ago, but it brought it home to me that I was really on vacation. I then wandered around and spent the rest of the day trying to rent a phone and wound up at a Carphone Warehouse store (below) [87 Wardour @ Brewer,

+44-870-168 2135] in Soho (map above right) and their man Franco tried to help me get a phone that I could use but to no avail. He was going to have to see if he could obtain one and deliver it to me at my hotel.

I went back to the hotel and changed and then Marcia and I took a stroll down Piccadilly to the famous Leicester ("Lester") Square (map below left.) I found a stock aerial photo of what it looks like at night (below right.)

This place is where all the theaters are

located for the Hollywood premiers that occur in London. It is now a fun place for the young to gather. It started out as a farm land area and later became important due to the erection of important buildings in the 1600s (right.) Here are stock photos I found of the way it progressed through the years; in 1750 (left) and a postcard of it in 1900 (right.) Note that the central statue changed over the 150 years.

There is plenty of night life here. We figured we found the place to be. Note that the old central equestrian statue was replace with one of William Shakespeare (below center & right.)

Here is a shot of his statue from two different angles. The inscription reads: "There is no darkness but ignorance."

We looked at all the exciting goings on. There is even a pub around the corner called "The Crooked Surgeon" [5 Lisle Street,

+44-871-951-1000] (below right.) I decided not to go in.

We explored the area enough and then we found this place in the Square called The Moon Under Water Pub [28 Leicester Square,

+44-207-839-2837.] The name "The Moon Under Water" is from a 1946 essay by George Orwell, originally published in the Evening Standard, in which he provided a detailed description of his ideal public house, the fictitious Moon Under Water. This looked like a pretty upscale place inside so we went in. I went up to the their long bar (below) to order a pint of Guinness and discovered the English have a new Guinness tap called "Guinness Cool" which pours a slightly cooler pint then the English are accustomed to. That's for me. There were four young Brits standing alongside me all drinking bottles of Budweiser. I asked them why and they told me, "Because it tastes good." OK, that's a good answer. I got a glass of wine for Marcia and we found a place to sit and watch the people.

After a while there was a big ruckus at the door (above right) and I rushed over and video-taped two fine ladies beating up on a well-dressed gentleman and knocking him to the floor. Then, he got up and started punching the ladies. It was quite an exciting event that finally settled down. Maybe this place is not quite as upscale as I had thought. Here is what I got of the scuffle.

Marcia was unsettled about all this and wanted to leave so we took off and walked to the famous Trafalgar Square (below) in the warm evening air.

We could see Big Ben for the first time in the background as well as the base to the column memorializing Nelson. You can see Admiral Nelson's statue at the top of the column (below.) This is the best I could get with the zoom on the video camera.

This place is named after the October 1805 Battle of Trafalgar where Lord Horatio Nelson (1771�1805) defeated Napoleon's fleet of French and Spanish ships off the shore of Cadiz, Spain. This was so important because it ended Napoleon's plan to invade and conquer England which probably would have been successful. This cemented Britain's role as Ruler of the Seas. Nelson (below center,) who had lost his arm in a previous battle, was mortally wounded during this battle, becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes.

Above left is his statue at the top of the column and above right is a poster from the era, declaring the great victory. Below is the famous flag signal Nelson ordered to be flown on all his ships at the start of the battle. It says "England expects that every man will do his duty."

Before we left on this trip we had just

sold our Red Lion Tavern in Carmel, CA which we purchased in 1993 in attempt to save it from closing. During our annual week-long visits to Carmel beginning in 1972, we became "regulars" at this little hidden "locals" pub on San Carlos St. that was founded in 1964. We bought our house here on June 12, 1992. Over the years we had developed a friendship with the bartender, Steven Strnad (left) who was studying to become a history teacher. The pub had gone through several owners and by 1993 it was in real trouble. Steve, Marcia and I had worked up a plan to save it by us buying it and Steve running it. Jim Winterbotham (center in left photo) was the agent that handled the purchase for us.

Above right: L-R: Ken, Jon Money, Marcia, Steve Strnad and Jack Sevier (bartender.)

Right after we purchased it, we lost the lease because the landlady sold it (illegally) behind our backs while we were in escrow to purchase the business. At the close of escrow, we had to immediately move it to Bud's Pub and turn that into the Red Lion. Bud Allen was a friend of Clint Eastwood's who recommended that he buy The American Stock Exchange, on Dolores St., out of foreclosure and turn into a pub. Now it was ours. We thus gained Jack Sevier as our daytime bartender and Jon Money as our chef (above right.)

The night we closed the old Red Lion happened to be the night of the last episode of the famous TV show "Cheers." It was big news in the area and made it on the front page of the Monterey Herald. The headline reads; "Red Lion bows out with 'Cheers'; Carmel tavern closes its doors after 31 years."

At the time they didn't know we were reopening it elsewhere. There were many other news stories about this in other local papers (above left.) Below is the newspaper photo of the last night in the pub. Notice one of the regulars is wearing a black armband in mourning "the death of the Lion."

Below are maps of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Note the famous 7th Hole at Pebble Beach at extreme upper left corner.

The Scottish Society of Monterey kept their ceremonial Scottish caber (used during the annual Scottish games) hanging in the Red Lion. They use it for the caber tossing (right) competition during the games. Right after our move, Steve arranged (with City approval) a big ceremonial parade from the old San Carlos location down Ocean Ave to our new location on Dolores St. The Scottish bagpipe band carried the caber and re-hung it in its new home. It was quite a day that October 10, 1993.

The center map shows the route of the parade. On the right is the original location of

the Red Lion (RLT) on San Carlos and on the left is the new location at Bud's on Dolores. After a year of running the place, Steve left for his long-looked for teaching job in Hollister, CA where he is today. Before he left, he introduced us to John Eales (left & right,) an Englishman who had recently owned and sold his pubs in London. Because of his experience, we hired him on St. Patrick's Day 1995. He managed our pub until we sold it this year.

Here are some photos of the bar at our Red Lion. Jack is on the left and our oldest son Kevin is on the right.

Here is a shot of half of our very large dining room which was much larger than our original location, making it a little harder to keep it full of patrons. Instead of a little pub we were now running a full size restaurant.

To retain the patrons of both places, we kept popular items from both the Red Lion and Bud's Pub and then added items we wanted so as to add a new touch. Below is an example of the menus.

Just right click on each menu page to download a larger copy which is easier to read. As time passed, we culled the menu, eliminating those items that didn't sell well so that we had a more manageable menu for the kitchen staff.

John helped us redecorate the new place using English pub memorabilia we had shipped in from London. Below are shots of some of it. Below left is the dining room and below right is looking into the kitchen.

While Steve was still there, with his help, I was able to convince the City of Carmel to allow us to install outdoor seating in Su Vicino Court, jusoutside the bar. This was a monumental task in this very tight little town. It had to be approved by the City Council. Steve collected approval signatures from all the business owners in the Courtyard and then I hired the architect the City staffer recommended. We were quite happy to have pulled this off. Below is a photo of the outdoor dining area with our younger son, Jeffrey (right) and his friend Scott.

After 6 years of running it, on John's advice, we sold it to the Britannia Arms.

So you can see, we were looking forward to going into a real English pub called "Red Lion" on this trip. Well, after wandering around in the St. James area for a short while, we went through this little tunnel (below left) and to our great surprise we found our first Red Lion (stock photos below) [23 Crown Passage, King Street,

+44-871-258-7348.] This Crown Passage really was a very tiny little street (below center.)

This Red Lion was a quaint little place. These are my blurry night pictures from the video camera.

There is Marcia peeking in to see what it looked like. Their "rampant lion" logo was different from ours.

The place was jam-packed so we stood and ordered a drink there. This place was exactly like I thought an English pub should be. The man behind the bar was very friendly. Though it was now getting late, we were thinking about also getting something to eat but we were used to our experience in Italy where we ate at about 9:30 PM. We were about to begin our rude awakening regarding dinner time in England vs. Italy. Below is the bartender pumping the tap to get the beer flowing the old fashioned way.

It was not well lighted so the photos from the video aren't great. I noticed the bric-a-brac they had hanging on the walls was very similar to what we had installed in our Red Lion. In the window (below left) you can see they have a solid statue of a red lion (below center.)

There was one thing I was quickly learning about pubs here in the UK. If you need to go the men's room, you are either climbing upstairs or taking a steep flight down. It is rare that they are on the groound floor.

Above are more stock photos of the place. By now it was past

9:30 and the bartender told us all the pubs stop serving food then. He advised us to catch a cab to the The Sea Shell (below) [49 Lisson Grove,

+44-207-224-9000] if we wanted "Fish & Chips." So we went out and hailed a London cab and at 10:25 PM arrived on Lisson Grove.

We went inside and could see them frying the fresh haddock (my favorite fish which I can't get in California) and french fries (they call chips) right in front of us. We sat down and each got an order (below) and it was the absolute best fish I have eaten in years - truly. I highly recommend you try it.

Of course, I washed it down with a Guinness. Below right is a stock photo of the place.

After finishing our excellent meal, we took a cab back to the Piccadilly area and walked around the neighborhood a little and stopped at a few interesting little places. We settled on having some dessert at L'Artiste Muscl� (below) [1 Shepherd Market,

+44-207-493-6150] and then walked back and went to bed.

This city is very bustling and quite a bit to comprehend. What an exhilarating day!