Tea With the Mayor and Farewell to the UK

Friday morning, October 31. Happy Halloween! We bid our farewells to our B&B hosts, and promised to return. It was our first chance to see Stainsby Mill Farm in the daylight, and it is truly in a beautiful part of the countryside. Yesterday's rain had washed some of the mud from the farmyard so we did not do as serious a trash job on Anne-Marie's car as we had previously. Helen once again came to collect our bags and suitcases and we headed into Chesterfield for a last walking tour of the city.

I could have kicked myself for booking an 11:40am train, because it was the start of the annual Chesterfield Festival and the marketplace surrounding the Market Hall was filled with tented booths with tantalizing items for sale. We went into the parish church to see the handsome wooden screens, Jacobite carved pulpit, gorgeous stained glass windows and other excellent acoutrements of a lovely English medieval church. The sun was finally shining and streaming in through the stained glass.

Outside,we got a better look at the church's famous Crooked Spire. The top has twisted over the years, and Anne-Marie told us the various theories of why - including a delightful tale that involves the devil sitting on it. We walked through the oldest part of town, down through the Shambles (tiny lanes which were the commercial heart of the medieval town), past the market and to the city hall on a hill overlooking the Derbyshire countryside. It was a massive, Beaux Arts edifice with intriguing architectural details on the inside and fantastic views.

We startled the Mayor and his consort (wife - don't you just love it??) by arriving a few minutes early. We seized the opportunity to peak in the council rooms and then returned to the Mayor's office for a formal, but very warm and friendly reception. After admiring the Mayor's heavy gold chain of office, we sat down and had tea, chatting about our travels and impressions of Chesterfield. Gifts were exchanged, we got to see the ceremonial robes and mace of office (which had to be present for any official function), and then said goodbye. The Mayor and his wife were very nice, very friendly and definitely the experience was the icing on the cake of a wonderful trip. Thank you so very much, Anne-Marie, for arranging this!!!

By this time we had to hustle to make our train to London. Helen met us at the station with our luggage, and after hugs and promises to return, we boarded for the two-hour trip. No internet once again so we were unable to blog, but we passed the time going back over our experiences of the past few days. We were in first class again, but the East Midlands trains don't pamper you as much as the Cross Country ones - no free food.

At St. Pancras station in London, we checked our bags at the Left Luggage and explored a bit of the station before heading to the British Museum. This was theoretically our "free afternoon", but being the museum geeks that we all are we decided to go back to the BM to explore the galleries we hadn't had the time to see the week before. I headed immediately for the Egyptian galleries (no surprise there) and Tracy joined me. We eventually encountered both Anna and Audrey and while they claimed our coats from the cloakroom I asked the Information guy about good pubs for food between the Museum and St. Pancras. He sent me off with a computer printout of the Euston Flyer, located a block from the station. After contemplating the 20 minute walk in the dark and cold, we opted for a taxi.

What a great choice of restaurant! We recommend it highly to anyone going to London. It was roomy but "traditional" in style and feel. It was Halloween night, and several of the patrons and staff were dressed up. Both the traditional pub fare (I had Shepherd's pie and Anna and Tracy had Steak and Ale pie) and their more exotic menu (Audrey had Chicken Tikka Marsala) were delicious - best we'd had. We relaxed and had our final pint of the trip, then headed back to the train station to reclaim our luggage.

The station has been recently opened after extensive remodeling, and is full of trendy shops and restaurants. Anna bought the most wonderful black wool embroidered coat at Monsoon's. Passing a toy shop, we were tickled by a line up of toy robotic animals that were very lifelike. All had been activated, and they were lined up in the window variously barking, meowing, oinking, and whatever it is that giraffes do. Purchases WERE made.

To celebrate, we stopped at a "Champagne Bar" kiosk in the middle of the station that had been recommended as a "must do" to Anna. It was a peculiar feature for a train station, but seemed somehow appropriate for our last night.

The train ride to Heathrow (we were booked into the Jurys Inn hotel near the airport) was long, and when we got to the Hatton Cross station we were faced with two flights of stairs and no lift. By this time, our equipage had grown to include new suitcases, tote bags pressed into action and numerous shopping bags. We hauled everything up a bit at a time, then faced what was advertised as a "short one-minute" walk to the hotel. Yeah, right. A decision was made on the spot to splurge the next morning and take a taxi to the airport, even though it was just one stop away on the Tube.

We all worked late into the night trying to repack and consolidate. 5 am came way too soon, and a groggier looking bunch of weary travelers I have never seen. The taxi was a lifesaver, and for the first time we had a taxi driver who actually helped load and unload our bags. Check in procedures were lengthy and a bit strange, but maybe it was our frame of mind. We got the last minute souvenirs left on our lists for friends, family and coworkers, grabbed coffee and rolls to go, and headed for the gate.

The flight itself was uneventful. We like Air Canada - plenty of leg room in coach, neat and friendly and good food. Yes - actual airline meals. I watched Baby Mama and Sex in the City, and an episode of Big Bang Theory on the little seat monitor and napped very little. Our stopover in Toronto went by quickly, with nachos and Molsons to prepare us for the final leg into Reagan National.

We were met there by Audrey's mother and father, who gathered us up and took us to a small Greek restaurant in Alexandria (can't remember the name but it has the famous Dixie Pig sign) for a lightening meal before Arthur gallantly drove me to the train station and helped me board for the last leg of the two week journey - home to Richmond, and back to real life!