Hi Ho Bauer Take Six: Bath and the South Cotswolds

We started our next morning heading down to Malmesbury to drop Erin off at work, it was good to force ourselves up early to get towards the south Cotswolds and Bath. Our first stop for the day was Avebury, the step sister of Stonehenge that sees few pictures and fewer postcards. However, there is more more to Avebury than the side-road stop that is Stonehenge. Avebury is a little village that has been built around a series of stones as you see below, resting in their current place for over 4,000 years (I hope you are thinking, how the H-E double hockey sticks did they get rocks to that position 4,000 years ago!! - I was thinking the same thing when walking amongst the 50+ massive stones). Dr. Bauer is a big fella, and this rock dwarfs him. 

From Avebury, we made our way to Lacock, which is a National Trust village. That's correct, the national trust owns the entire, amazingly preserved village. It is very untouristy (at least in Sept) and walking the streets sends one back in time. Following a stroll into the 600 year old church in the village, we went to The George Inn for lunch. The pub, which donned the cover of the good pub guide in 2008, provided everything a good pub stands for, good hosts, comfortable old world furnishings, a massive fire and quality ale. 

The next town, one of my favorites of the weekend, is Castlecombe. What a great little town. It was recently named the quaintest village in England, which the town didn't even know they were in the running for the title! It is literally one street with more character than perhaps any other street in England!

We also stepped into the church, dating back to the 1300s. There is a really cool old tomb there that is from the founder of the town, who was part of the 4th crusade under Richard III!!!

After tearing ourselves away from Castlecombe, we made it to Bath. Getting in might be one of the most difficult tasks! There is only one straight shot into town and it always appears backed up. My faithful navigator Dr. Bow Wow took us the scenic route along the top ridge of the town (Bath is situated in a river valley), around hairpin turns dodging several oncoming cars on the way. It ended up being a shortcut that plopped us right in front of the town center and into a parking lot just a couple blocks away!

After we arrived, we spent the afternoon in the Church, checked out the Royal Crescent (which isn't unlike the royal crescent Erin and I live on) and strolling around town. We made it to three pubs that night and had a magnificent pizza dinner, of course stuffing ourselves too much! I recommend The Star as a must see pub! The next morning we went to the Roman Baths. This was honestly one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen, so well preserved!

One unique thing about Bath that I didn't know before is that the main bridge that crosses the river Avon in the city center has buildings on it and is quite reminiscent of the Ponto Vecchio in Florence, just not quite as colorful!

Inside Bath Abbey

After taking a historical tour of the city, we thereafter left Bath. I highly recommend it for an overnight trip if visiting London for a week. We then took the long way home, heading to the North Cotswolds again, stopping in the towns of Bibury, which is extremely eatable! The second photo is said to be the most photographed row of houses in England, Arlington row. 

Following a further visit to Northleach, which is also worth a quick stop, we stopped in Oxford to find not only the money tower from which you have seen photos on the blog before closed, but also Christ Church. Fear not, for the oldest buildings in town were still open....the pubs! 

We made it to the Bear and the Turf Tavern before Jason got a cramp in his neck and we had to head back to London! Again, you can truly see how people have grown since the middle ages and renaissance times!!

It was an amazing long weekend full of churches, pubs, village walks, laughs and all around great times! Thanks Bauer's!!!

Hi-Ho Bauer Take SIX: The North Cotswolds

Finding a perfect phrase to describe the Bauer's is easy....Gettin-'er Done!! There aren't many people who have visited us in each capital city we have lived in over the last....dare I say (dare, dare) 7 years. No sir, the only other qualifier would be Lissa. If I were the government they'd get the medal of honour. If I were Bud Selig, they'd win the pennant. No no, we aren't keeping score, the hi-ho Bauer take six doesn't mean anything....

We started off the evening with a pint at our local, the POW or Prince of Wales, in the fabulous patio, and that was the start of the countless samples of English Ale we would consume over the next 8 days. The Price of Wales is nice as there is no pubco that owns the pub, so no dictating what beers are served on the taps (if there is, they have all guests on the taps:). Following this was dinner at a local tapas restaurant, Pinata, which was average when you compare to the heavyweights of London, but would be a top tapas place in most cities. From there it went downhill, or shall I say downstairs, at the Trailer of Happiness, where they served lots of Hooray Beer (Red Stripe), not to be overlooked by their speciality, the volcano, a drink literally in the mold of a volcano that feeds 2-3 and it flaming. This is why the photos are not suitable for small children.

The following morning we did some stretching to get rid of the toxins, grabbed the usual morning remedy (Paul's) and headed to Kensington Olympia where we rented the car for the next four days. We got the usual mini-Mercedes that gets a gillion miles per gallon (or litre shall I say to be in proper English-speak).

From there we meandered to the Cotswolds, through a couple cute villages to Hook Horton, where (what is becoming a common theme) we took a brewery tour of Hook Norton Brewery, which has been brewing in the same family since the mid-1800s. The building, while very old-school, resembles a lego building a novice lego builder would put together. But it does the trick and they brew using traditional methods, using a steam engine to power the brewery.

There is actually a stout recipe from pre WWI that the grandson of the descendant who first brewed it had to discontinue due to supply shortages during the Great War. All the beers were great, as was our tour guide, whose wife works at the Hook Horton history society.

From here we briefly wandered around the village, complete with several thatched roofs and an 800 year-old church. Take note, as our visits to these villages are unsurprisingly similar. A stroll, a church, a pub. You might think we should be ending the trip at Betty Ford, but in actuality, the best way to experience a village's history is to venture into its local. The constant in these English villages over the hundreds of years are two things, the church and the pub.

From here we went to Great Tew, which arguably had the best pub of the trip, an "eatable" mishmash of thatched roof, ivy covered walls, and beams, really friggin old beams. You can almost predict within 50 years of a pubs origination by how low you have to duck to get through the door, especially Dr. Bauer. This pub, the Falkland Arms, is a keeper.

Great pub 'eh? From there we took the extreme back Cotswold roads to Chipping Norton, where we went to yet another historic pub, The Chequers, that was recently featured in great NYtimes article that inspired our trip. Chipping Norton is a pretty cute huggily town, but not eatable.

After this, we had dinner at an unbelievable country restaurant called the Kingham Plough, which we read once had a Michelin Star (although I didn't confirm with the source). Star or not, this place was great. It is a MUST visit if in the north Cotswolds. Save room for dessert!

Following dinner we made it to our hotel, The Noel Arms, in Chipping Campden, which is a great spot to spend a couple nights on your Cotswold's holiday. We made it just in time to have a pint of Ale and walk around the quiet streets, checking out the 700 year old market where one can easily picture the wool traders of the past exchanging goods on market day.

The next morning we did a bit of hiking, starting by checking out a section of the Cotswolds Way outside Chipping Campden.

Afterward we walked around town, below is the aforementioned market. You really can picture the 1500's bustling market which is now replaced with tour buses of q-tips and flashing cameras (mine included)!

We then jumped in the car and headed to some Tricky Dick mentioned Cotswolds towns. I made some silly comments like eatable and huggily earlier, which are actual adjectives used by Rick Steves (i.e. Tricky Dick) in his book of England. The next town, called Snowshill, was both. Just a little square, a phone booth and a pub that served Doddington's, a one-of-a-kind brewery that is not powered by steam, but instead by the waterfall flowing in to the lake adjacent to the brewery. They don't bottle the beer, but instead sell their kegs to less than 20 nearby pubs. Pretty unique. Also a family run brewery (that doesn't offer tours).

After grabbing lunch at a great spot called the Plough (unintentional to visit two Ploughs), we parked at Lower Slaughter to do the hike from Upper to Lower Slaughter, a Fodors recommended walk. It was great having to close all the gates behind us to keep the sheep in while we followed the wandering river between the two towns.

We actually saw a Sasquatch in one of the fields chasing sheep around, I think its the first ever captured in a blue polo and a Rick Steves backpack.

After evading a near death at the hands of the Sasquatch (who by the way needs to shave 3-4 times every 8 hours to avoid getting his neanderthal beard caught in fencing while chasing farm animals), we made a quick stop at Burton-on-the-Water before returning toward our hotel in Chipping Campden. Naturally, I had to take a photo of the water in "the Water". Its a cool town, but I would recommend checking our the Slaughters, which are only 5 minutes away.

On the way back we stopped in Stow-on-the-Wold, which has arguably the oldest continuously running hotel in.....the WORLD; dating back to the 900s. Below is the pub where Edward III had a pint of ale before a battle in the 1330's - crazy.

We had sunset in a little hamlet overlooking a church (over another pint) at a spot called the Churchill Arms. The pub is a proper gastro-pub that I would recommend having dinner at if in the area.

An amazing first two days in the Cotswolds; everything is so close so you can do so much! Next up, Cotswolds part II...

Day Trip: Richmond Park; Erin's B-day Dinner

A couple weeks ago, Erin and I made our way to the 3rd ring suburbs, specifically to Richmond, a villagy-like suburb reachable either on overground or underground (district line), about a 25 minute journey from South Kensington. Upon arriving at the station, you are greeted by a cheerful high street bustling with commerce, and even a little Irish atmosphere!

We stopped at our go-to coffee spot, Paul, where we picked up a baquette for lunch along with our coffee, then meandered around the small sidesteets and down to the river Thames, which leads past Richmond from London on its way to Hampton Court. You could easily do a bike trip from central london along the Thames path to Richmond, alternatively, you could hire a boat!

After slowly making our way to Richmond park, which is said to be the largest in London, complete with its own nature reserve, we met a few Red Deer, which have amazing antlers! We added this one for Erin's dad...trigger happy anyone? You can see why Henry VIII used Richmond as his hunting grounds, given its proximity to Hampton Court!

After standing face-to-face with the red deer, we headed deeper into the reserve portion of the park and found this fallen tree, which had a perfect natural table in the middle. T'was the perfect picnic spot!

After getting our fill of bread, fruit and cheese, we wandered the many trails of the park, eventually running into this tree, which looks like it came out of The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. I was waiting for it to come alive while Erin was INSIDE of it!!! One of the cool features of the park were all the old, half-dying trees.

We wandered aimlessly around the park for another hour or so before heading back towards the town. There are many many pubs around here so if you want are looking for a great pub crawl location outside of central london, you have found one close to the city, but with lots of picnic and walking opportunities.  The pub we stopped at is called the Roebuck. The pub itself it great but perhaps its best quality is the view across the road where patrons are allowed to hang out with their beers. The barmaid even keeps a rack for one to drop their empty into! I had a Purity Mad Goose, which is one of my go-to English ales. 

The day before the trip to Richmond we went to a long-awaited dinner spot, the River Cafe. This restaurant, which I believe either has or had a Michelin star, is absoutely amazing. This is where Jamie Oliver started his career, and immediately upon entering you can see that the influence of this place has been embraced by Mr. Oliver (who just had his 4th child, Buddy Bear:) and still shows in his cooking, using lots of quality, fresh ingredients. The restaurant was quite pricey, but for a special occasion in London, look no further!

I forget every dish we had, but I distinctly remember the harmoneous combination of flavors in my starter, where the mint and fresh italian black figs with parma ham created an explosion of  tastes that actually caused me to make sound effects once I finished my first bite; like the 4th of July or Rollie's sound effects when he describes how he makes smores. I suggest you try it yourself! Call in advance about 3 months to get a table, the restaurant is near the Hammersmith tube stop on the District or Picadilly line. I should also mention the wine list, which features only italian wines, but an extensive selection. We had a bottle of Badia a Coltibuono, which is where James, Marissa, Erin and I stayed on our trip to Italy (Tuscany) in summer '08.

Pub Crawl: East London Thames Path

In an effort to get out and (a) see unexplored parts of London and (b) check out some "new" pubs, we organised a Wapping-area pub crawl a couple weeks ago. Armed with the good pub guide, we set a course from the Limehouse DLR stop and headed westward along the Thames. This area has lots and lots of history, and when there's history in England, there are surely old pubs!

Our first pub, Grapes dates back to 1720, but was a pub even before it opened as Grapes. It is a really long and narrow pub and at the rear has a deck hanging over the river. This pub was also well known by Charles Dickens, who used to stand on tables and sing to customers. No joke.

The pub crawl started out with Strauss, in town from Dublin, Pramit, Sam, Jessica, Erin and myself. We were a little slow getting moving that morning, but it ultimately didn't slow down the number of pubs we would see on the crawl.  Grapes is a great pub and hits the spot!

We then picked up Emily and made it to the Narrow for another pint and some lunch. The Gordon Ramsey pub has some great taps that include St. Edmunds and a couple Adnams choices. While the pub itself isn't too old and has been refurbished to Gordon Ramsey quality. It is however, a great spot to have very high quality pub food and is a good pub in a crawl down here to line the stomach with some good food between beers!

The next pub was the main event that the crawl focused around, the Prospect of Whitby. The bar, one of the most historic in England and perhaps the world, dates to 1520 and was originally the meeting place for some of the lowest of old London society. There is a great deck on the second floor, found by going through a room that used to house boxing matches and cock fights (little Jerry Seinfeld's descendants maybe). The pub had Doom Bar, Fuller's and Samuel Smith's on tap, among others. We enjoyed beers on the patio with great views of the river.

The following bar we went to was called the Captain Kidd, and perhaps my favorite of the bunch. This bar, which has been a public house for over 100 years, is located close to the execution docks where the famous Captain Kidd was hung. Erin x2 joined us at this pub and our numbers perfectly fit into the nook of a room dominated by a big old wood farmhouse table. This pub kept us warm while there was a brief downpour outside. The pub was packed and there was lots of revelry at the Samuel Smith pub. Their stout is excellent by the way!

As 7pm was fast approaching, we made it to the last pub of the evening, the Town of Ramsgate. This pub, also very historic, was said to be where the infamous Judge Jeffries was identified while having a pint before fleeing the country. Along with the others, it was a great pub to end the crawl at, with a refreshing pint of Leffe to counter all the pints of English ale consumed throughout the day.

The pub crawl, while longer than expected, was a great way to spend Saturday. We made it to 5 pubs in all, having a pint in each. Spread that over several hours and it was a relatively subdued crawl, which was perfect for us. At the end of it, we all made it to Brick Lane for some good Indian before calling it a night (at 11:30pm)!!

Greek Island Hopping Part Two: Folegandros to Santorini

Folegandros....a lot apparently has changed on this sleepy island over the last 15 years. When we arrived on our ferry from Sifnos at 10:30pm on a Monday, we got in the van that the hotel we stayed at, Fata Morgana, dispatched for us. The nice Italian couple we shared the van with explained how they first came in 1995 when there were only three cars on the island, and one bus (that is still used today)! 1995! Also, there were no hotels then either, only 15 years ago.  Thankfully not a lot has changed on the island. There are certainly more cars, hotels and restaurants now, but there is still a very local vibe that will hopefully remain. 

After we dropped our bags off and freshened up, we hit the village of Chora (pitcured above), a beautiful whitewashed village that is completely pedestrian (not because of preservation or anything like that, but because there never have been cars here)! The village itself is majestic; it consists of three squares flowing one into the next and has trees covering the squares. There are lights on most trees which presents an amazing setting to eat some great octopus washed down with a Mythos!

The night was really relaxing and refreshing. The next morning we woke and saw the beauty of the little island in daylight, and the sweet views from the pool!

Following breakfast we got a few picnic items for the beach and jumped on the bus to Agali, where we skipped the beautiful beach (below - but we swam there later) and got on a boat to a beach called Lavalki (or something like that), only accessible by boat. The beach was really great, snorkeling, sun (and shade) and some cliff jumping. 

We unfortunately didn't jump off that one as the water was way too shallow for jumping in those situations. There was however, a cliff to deeper water about half as high around the other side. You can see Jenna, Joel and I contemplating the jump. 

After the beach we headed back to our hotel and took a short dip before heading to town and having perhaps the best meal of the trip (wait I said that in the last post!), Erin and I split a massive lobster that we had to share to finish, combined with some great pasta. The cats spoiled the ambiance a little (be sure to send Linsey birthday cards with cats on them, she'll be sure to thank you), but we had a great night nonetheless. 

The next day we had a really relaxing one, sitting by the pool, pure relaxation and chillin'! It was nice not to go anywhere except for the pool, the bar and the lounge chairs!

That night Joelskie and I had a man-date to the church you see in the pic above and caught an amazing sunset! The girls certainly missed out as the walk is easy and the sun wasn't blazing. The views were absolutely remarkable. 

After some ridiculous kebabs, we hit the town for some partying, finding a few great spots to wet the lips! The next morning, after three quick nights, it was time to say goodbye to Folegandros, a fantastic place to go and relax, and to get away from the over-commercialized resorts of the other islands, great character, good people, and beautiful views of the Aegean Sea.  

When you approach Santorini, its hard to believe you have finally arrived; the place that people see pictures of and have to pinch themselves to make sure this place exists on earth; we had arrived! Santorini is built on a volcano, with many of the villages perched high on the rocks, defying gravity as buildings literally hang off the cliff. We choose the village of Oia to stay for our three nights, as most travel resources (Strauss) suggest this is the most beautiful place on the island...he was right.

We stayed at Atrina Houses, which I advise everyone else to follow our recommendation as you will be blown away by the hotel. There are about 20 rooms that are traditional houses of the islands. An amazing breakfast is brought to you each morning directly to your balcony, its quite the treat. Chocolate chip banana bread was the crowd favorite!

The first day we were there we walked down 240+ steps from Oia to the "beach", which meant you find a lava rock to drop your towel on and then take an super refreshing dip in the waterhole. This was one of the best spots we swam at because of the great snorkeling, cliff jumping, and rocks that made it close to the top of the water, but not quite so you didn't have to float the whole time. The water was also sublime!

Following the swim we got delivery dinner of kebabs, which was great to relax overlooking the sea with some vino and brewskies. 

The following day we rented a car and did a tour of the island, stopping at the various unique beaches that consisted of either red or black sand. Needless to say the beaches were HOTTTTTT!!! It was probably 105 degrees out and after roughing it at the red sand beach, we sprung for the umbrella at the second. The beaches on the southern part of the island are great, with a young student-vibe, particularly around Perissa, where it appeared the beach parties go into the early hours. 

The vibe in Oia was slightly more subdued, where a lot of couples were spending their honeymoons or anniversaries there. The woman running the hotel, one of three sisters, was very helpful and booked us reservations for an amazing fish joint near our first day swim. We again had octopus, squid and picked out an amazing local fish. The ambiance was perfect and we really enjoyed the meal (but not the walk up)!!

If you noticed above, I let my facial hair grow all trip and then on the last full day of the trip, gave myself an interesting stash!! Here's to you, Carl Pavano!! Enlarge below for full effect.

This is sunset on the island, you can see the harbor we had our fish dinner at all the way down by the water. The sunsets, though not quite as serene as Folegandros, were gorgeous!

The rest of our time on Santorini consisted of lounging around Oia, chillin' by the pool with our books, often jumping in. It was really the first trip we had taken where it was mostly beaches and relaxing. Needless to say we'll be doing it again next summer. It was also really nice to have Linsey, Jenna and Joel along for some extra banter and fun for the trip. We were especially happy that Linsey made it all the way from SF to join our travels. There were no bumps, no cuts, no flesh wounds, which made us all breathe a sigh of relief, especially after the dodgy dirt roads we took the scooters on.

It was also the end of the road for Jenna's summer abroad. She had a pretty cushy life out here in London, free room and board, massages with Erin (especially poolside pirate lesbian mermaid massages in Folegandros), caesar salads, pints at the POW, traveling to Europe's hot spots every other weekend...yeah she had it pretty good, and we're sad to see her head back to school!

Lastly, what can you say about Joelskie, "ya know what I'm sayin"? He was a true trooper with the Utz', and was kind enough to bunk up with Jenna for a few nights of the trip! He even made my photo taking less annoying by nearly equalling the number of photos I took with his sleek Cannon pocket-sized money camera. We're just waiting for him to return from Mexico so he can share some of those photos!

The next morning we awoke early and had a few hours at the pool before heading back to the airport. The water and sky are so amazing when looking out from the island, the pool water too had some fine qualities. 

Alas, it was time to close the Greek chapter of our life. Words can't describe the greatness of the Greek islands. I think you have to go there yourself to get the complete Greek experience. Santorini, Sifnos and Folegandros are pretty good options and as you can see, are beautiful, unique, and highly recommended.