One of the things we noticed early on about the trains was that there was a different schedule for Sunday than for the rest of the week. Sunday also seemed to be the regular day for track maintenance, forcing portions of some trips to be traveled by coach instead. (Coach=bus) We arrived at Bristol Temple Meads and were greeted with that exact news. Oh, joy. Thankfully, the biggest part of the journey was on the train, so we decided to bravely endure our 45 minutes on the over-crowded bus (not that we had any choice). At least we had seats, which not all passengers did. The bus was a double-decker, and packed to the gills, mainly with college kids returning to Oxford for the week ahead. It was drizzling when we hit town, and the bus, unlike my beloved trains, did not stop under a covered platform. We pulled our luggage a long way into the station, and decided to have a cup of coffee and cigarettes before venturing out to the, also uncovered, taxi stand. By the time we were ready to go, the rain had stopped and Mr. Sun was peeking through the scudding clouds. It seems to rain often in England, but it never rains for long. As became our custom during the US tour, locating the venue was the first order of business upon reaching a new town. We instructed our taxi driver accordingly, and he looked at us like we were nuts! However, we were the nuts with the money, so he did as we asked. Scouting out the venue is a good idea for several reasons: 1. it gives us an idea how far it is from the hotel, and approximate travel time to the concert 2. we can see if there are places to meet with the AETFs for a drink before the show (we didn't have cell phones in the UK, so plans had to be made via hotels phones and, thus, we needed to know in advance) 3. we are able to ascertain if there are posters available for swiping later in the evening ;-) Having completed our fan duties, we arrived at the Eastgate Hotel, 
our first of the quaint, English variety rather than a chain. It
was too cute for words! We paled, however, at the news that our room
was on the third floor, but the lift (elevator) only ascended to the second.
Immediately calming our fears, the very large man who checked us in assured
us he would take care of getting our bags to the room. Breathing
huge sighs of relief, we beat it to the lift before he could change his
mind! LOL
Jill had given us a book of hotels and we were able to choose from several in each town. Since we were clueless, we narrowed our search and made our final decision based on: proximity to venue (this was a guess in most cases), charm, availability of lifts. We struck out on two of the three criteria at the Eastgate, but the overwhelming charm more than made up for the others. Complete with the heated towel rack found in nearly all our hotels, our room was...well, darn it, it was cute! Future hosts would have their work cut out for them in trying to surpass the hospitality of the Eastgate staff, too. It had been a good choice. We inquired of the desk, and they supplied, the name of the best tea shoppe in the area.  It
was the Grand Cafe, just around the corner, so we hit the streets of Oxford
on foot. The cafe was fully occupied, but we were next in line and
sat at the bar reading over the menu. I was excited to see mushroom
soup listed, and ordered that with "regular" tea instead of having high
tea as planned. New food lesson!! Mushroom soup is not cream
of mushroom soup, it's pureed mushrooms in a thick liquid, bearing
absolutely no resemblence to any I've ever had before. I ate it.
Yuck!
As there remained a constant line for tables, we didn't dawdle over tea. I wanted to visit used bookstores, and figured a college town would be a good place to find some. We did, but none were open on Sunday. We eventually wandered back to the Eastgate and called the AETFs, making plans to meet at the Wig and Pen before the show. One of the great disappointments of touring is landing in a town you'd love to explore, but not having the time to do it. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the rule, rather than the exception, in the UK and it was definitely true of Oxford. |
SCOTLAND