THE Palace.......because there really is only one, or so I'm told

     So, I have a confession to make.  The past two times I visited London I could not get inside, although I stood at the gates to Buckingham Palace waving my arms frantically explaining that I was sure I had a standing invitation for tea with the Queen.  After all Ancestry.com and about 45 "what blood line are you from" quizzes later and I just know I'm related to Royalty. It just may be one of the lines filled with crazy but that's beside the point.

     Charina and I arrived in London early afternoon by way of Victoria Station.  We stayed at the Doubletree which was just around the corner.  Very convenient for snacking and getting on the tube (subway).  We dumped our bags and set out on foot.  I thought I'd walk Charina by THE Palace towards St.James' Park where we could get a great view of the front. 

     Imagine my surprise and delight while walking past "THE Palace" and seeing that I can indeed purchase a ticket to actually legally get inside.  Ooooh I was simply tingling all over.  Even though my friend Charina who I was lucky enough to have with me for 5 of the 7 days I was in England had visited the Country prior, to my delight she had not gone inside THE Palace either  the excitement was building I could not simply walk by without acting like a tourist.  I'm certain Charina did not share my enthusiasm but she's too sweet to say "nah not really".  So away we went on our first afternoon in London, how better than to spend part of it in THE Palace.

I was so excited to finally smell it, to marvel in the ostentatious-ness.  And so what if I accidentally get left behind in a room while the crowd surges forward.  I just know there are secret passage ways all over those public rooms that will lead me to the real treasure.  The private rooms, where the Royalty lives like the rest of us, except they have Butlers and stuff.  I don't have a Butler.  Yet. 

Getting into THE Palace was just like getting on an airplane, bags thru the scanner and walk through the metal detector and arms up for the wand.  No problem, I'm in.

 And I'm now walking into the East Front, also known as the Ambassadors' Court and Quadrangle.  Now don't I just feel special. 

The State Rooms were designed for the Sovereign to receive her guests, she would also reward and entertain guests here.  Events take place in these rooms as well which is why some of the most amazingly beautiful works of art are on display here.

I know you are all wondering, did she walk straight into the State Rooms or was she escorted in by carriage?  The answer is no, drat !  Even though I did not arrive by coach here is a photograph of just how special you could feel coming in this way.  We were not allowed to take photographs inside THE Palace, but we did see a magnificent carriage staged here.


Upon entering I was completely happy to note that the carpeting is RED, how did they know that red is my favorite color?  In 1704 (yes you are getting a mini history lesson) a house built by the Duke of Buckingham stood exactly upon the grounds that is now Buckingham Palace.  It was called Buckingham House and was built as a retreat which was quite smaller than the palace is now as you can imagine.  But King George III and his wife Princess Charlotte found it to be quite to their liking and it was purchased for I believe 28,000 Pounds.    Construction for expansion and modernization of Buckingham House was begun in 1825, but the death of  George IV interrupted it's progress five years later.  During the early years of Queen Victoria's reign the building was finished in 1840.  THE Palace has seen many updates and expansions since it's humble beginnings as a 'retreat'.  
                      

 

The splendor of the "Grand Staircase".  I'm not going to bore you with a stock photo of every room we visited.  I was quite disappointed that I couldn't take my own photos.  We all know I'm no wizard with the lens but I would have liked to give you different angles of this masterpiece.  I was surprised by the amount of light coming in from the ceiling in this area.  I figured the rooms would be opulent and I was right. 







The room I enjoyed the most is as you can guess is the Throne Room. I am a sucker for bling that's for sure.

The Ballroom (also where they hold concerts) was another of my favorites.  I was able to see it set for dinner and whoa they can get a lot of people in there.  Yes you can see there is also a "throne" here too. 

But then I entered the White Drawing Room.  Oh My Gosh.  I could sit in here for hours, have the Butler bring tea (or wine) and read books.  I would install a huge flat screen in here though.  Sunday afternoon football could take on a whole new meaning in this room.

Can you imagine me having a Super Bowl party here?  Yes and you would all be on the guest list.




Upon leaving the rooms we were allowed to see we arrived in the garden.  Here is where we were told we could take photos to our hearts content.  However, there were tents set up that held a little cafe which although nice for a cold drink and snack really took away from the beauty that is this building.  Walking about the yard was fun to say I was there.

Thanks Charina for letting me put this photo of the Garden on my Travel Log.

My Love for England, UK in no particular order, part 1

I went to mourn the life of a beautiful soul that I have been fortunate enough for the past 19 years to call my friend.  Ines Rueckheim Dinn.  The service was moving and beautiful.  I will remain eternally grateful to her family for including me in this most private of moments.  While there we celebrated her life with a wake in a beautiful pub.  Here is my time in........

ASHFORD

In the 13th century Ashford was an agricultural market town and expanded into a livestock market. To date markets continue to be held. That's a long time to maintain a tradition and culture. Also during the time of Roman occupation iron ore was mined and transported there to be forged. Pottery was also produced in abundance, and then in the 19th century rail travel bolstered the economy.  During World War I the town was a target for aerial bombing due to its importance as a transportation hub.

In 2005 a poll ranked Ashford as the 4th best place to live in England.  A soup manufacturer and perfumery are two of the very diverse companies of employment. 

The town of Ashford is in the County of Kent.  It is approximately 61 miles southeast of central London.
My hotel was the Ashford International Hotel on Simone Weil Avenue.

The staff is amazingly friendly and helpful.  ok, wait I don't know why I just said that because every single person I met in England is friendly.

They have a spa, banquet facilities, produce weddings, alfresco dining, very large dining room inside and of course a pub.


As you can see the room is rather large for Europe's standards, quite comfortable also.

While here I was driven thru the countryside to the town of "Pluckley".  Which for those of you that are into the supernatural is the most haunted place in Britian.  I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the homes and the lush greenery everywhere.  I also noted there are no street lights anywhere, which could enhance the spookiness .  This distinction was awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998.

The local squire, Sir Edward Dering in the 19th century proclaimed that round-arched windows would bring them good luck.  This led to every single window in the town changed to rounded top.

The Dering Arms Pub is one of two in the town, it was originally built as a hunting lodge for the Dering family who were squires.

 It is said that there are still several in house ghostly residents.  One being a lady in Victorian Garb that sits next to one of many fireplaces.

Here is where I was going to share some points about the pub from the pamphlet I snagged, now I have gone through my suitcase, purse, carry-on and every single piece of paper I brought home.  It's nowhere.  Nowhere.  So you can either take it that I lost it which is highly unlikely OR that the beautiful resident Victorian woman's spirit yanked it from my purse before I left.  I choose the latter.  Not because I love all that is dark and twisty, but simply because that is the only explanation since that is the only thing that didn't make it home with me !

Here is the proof that it was in my hands

Look here now it even had a map showing you exactly where it is.  I'm telling you she nabbed it.

                                                               I can tell you that the ambiance was all that you would imagine it to be.  From the uneven doorway entering, to the shading that was found in each and every corner of the rooms.  

The floors creaked, there were stuffed ducks in the deep window sills. Little cushions on the wooden long benches.  Baby Grand Piano in the dining room waiting to be played.  Bunches of dried flowers in all their glory.

Wood everywhere and out of level walls.  And yet even with these imperfections it is perfect.  I could feel all those souls that had gone before me, coming in for a pint after an afternoon of hunting.  Or the family traveling by and stopped for dinner. And the local men who would sit around the fireplaces for far too long telling stories of their past.         

                     And it is here that I enjoyed my first ever "proper" Pimm's.  There was a farmers son from Kent that purchased an oyster bar in London where he concocted a gin based drink containing a secret of herbs and liqueurs which he offered as an aid to digestion.  It was served in a small tankard known as "No. 1 Cup", hence Pimm's No. 1 was born.  It was 1851 when large scale production begun when local bars were requesting the amazingly delicious digestion aid.  Guinness purchased Pimms in 1986.  Several flavours have emerged over the years with bases of rum, vodka, scotch whiskey, rye whiskey.  I think they are up to a Pimms No. 6 cup to date.

Now it's off to London via train for 3 and 1/2 days of playing tourist.......

Cancun......

Isn't that an amazing view?  I thought so as well the minute I walked through the doors from the lobby onto the pool area.  This is the Riu Palace Las Americas on the Hotel Zone in Cancun, Mexico.

I was fortunate enough to meet an amazing family and friends there for a few days of R&R.  The flight in was easy and efficient.  My fellow Cruise Planners (and best bud) agent Kathy put together a group of 19 friends and family and we invaded Mexico.  I flew in a couple days after the rest of the group and was met at the airport by an escorted van that spirited me away to days of fun, Appleton Rum & Pineapple, sun, laughter, and great food.

This is a view of the hotel from the beach (of course high up aerial that I didn't take myself, I'm not that talented.  thankfully their website has amazing photos)

There are two beautiful pools that were kept immaculate the entire time.

I have to say here that the staff was one of the best I have experienced at a Resort. They were constantly keeping things neat and tidy.  They were friendly, always with a big smile on their faces.

They have 327 guest rooms, including junior suites - suites - whirlpool suites.  I had an ocean facing Junior Suite I was in the tower to your right on Floor 5.  The cool thing about my room was that the balcony wrapped around the side so not only could I wake up and see the ocean but I could go out thru my sliding glass doors, hang a quick left and I could see the street that goes by the hotel and the lagoon.  Way cool.

This was the view when I came thru the door.
Straight ahead you see the columns, this was a two-step down into my sitting room with balcony through the sliding glass doors you see.  There was a nice couch, coffee table and flat screen tv which I could swivel to face the bed.

To my right was my in-room mini bar, to my left was an amazing closet complete with iron/ironing board, safe, extra pillows, blanket and lots of hangers.

Behind where I am standing is the bathroom.  I did not have a robe but the towels were super comfy.  And the shampoo/conditioner/soap was luxurious and lightly scented.  Plenty of light in the bathroom - a pet peeve of mine is that I visit so many hotels and there is very rarely a dedicated make up area.  Guys you wont understand this but ladies, you know what I mean.  And so many hotels do not have enough light for applying makeup.  This Resort is an exception, plenty of light and it had a magnifying mirror on the wall.

When I said mini-bar I wasn't kidding.  Tequila, Rum, Vodka, Beefeaters.  Coffee maker, ice bucket (ice machine was a little far away but not terrible) and under the counter a mini-fridge complete with mixers like water, sprite, coke, diet coke, ginger ale.

Now I will remind you that this is an "All-Inclusive" Resort.  That means that all this alcohol AND contents of the mini-bar is included in my room rate.  Also all of the food and whatever you want to drink with dinner as well, plus use of non-water sports.

I've always liked all-inclusive resorts because they are easy, like a cruise you don't have to worry about where you will eat and how expensive it will be.


View of my sitting area. 

WHAT ????  Did Enucio from my Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Solstice follow me to Cancun?  Look, a towel animal.  And it had two Hershey's kisses with it as well.

Very nice shower with deep tub.  I would have preferred more light in the shower itself for shaving my lets, but I managed without bleeding....too much.


Also with the room came a telephone (something you might need when calling your friends rooms), free wifi, turn down service, central air conditioning, ceiling fan, hair dryer, (and the outlets were 110v).

Sink area was nice and large.











I wasn't kidding about the balcony now was I ?????

When I looked to the left is when I could see the street and the lagoon.  To my right was the long portion of the balcony and the ocean.

There was also a nice long 'dock' that one morning I watched a couple have photos taken.  The Riu is a great destination wedding area and their in house coordinator does a good job with photos.  The couple was married the next day on property.  There were a lot of people in the pool area and when the ceremony started everyone stopped to watch and a huge round of applause erupted at the end.


View from the sliding glass doors towards the bathroom, as you can see the room is very large and the bed was a king size.  The decor was so very beautiful.  Of course you wont find me saying much negative about Mexico in general.  It has always been one of my favorite spots to get away.

The music, the food, the people so inviting.

The lobby.  How classic is this.  Check in is pictured to the left.  One of the things I loved about this Resort was all the wood.  When I walked in it reminded me of so many places like an old ship, an ancient cathedral.  Comfort smells is what I like to call them.

The lobby area was expansive !

In the lobby area there was an ATM.  You could get the Mexican Peso, not American currency.  I exchanged about $100.00 American at the airport prior to arriving in Mexico.  Going to an All-Inclusive I knew I would not be needing money......however I absolutely can't resist jewelry so I wanted a few bucks cash for the flea market.
It really isn't easy to get actual American Currency, so plan ahead.




Let's talk food !!!    This is where I enjoyed breakfast buffet every day.  I'm going to tell you that unfortunately I didn't take photos of the food - but - the area was always clean, food was always fresh and the choices you had were enormous.  Your waiters brought you coffee an juices, or you could get some green healthy looking stuff up at the juice bar.

There were also really cool live cooking stations.  You could get eggs to order, pancakes, waffles.  Then they also had a cheese and cold cuts, fruit, cereal/yogurt, pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, veggies, just way too much food to even post.   The lunch buffet was beautiful as well.  They do shut down the grille area by the pool and the buffet area at times between breakfast, lunch and dinner to change over food and clean up more so be aware of the times for food.  Below is a list of their specialty dinner restaurants all on site, the food here is included as well but you need to make reservations as the venues are not large. And don't wait till the day before to make them either, they fill up fast.  Formal dress is required for dinner but that doesn't mean Black Tie,  Main restaurant: gentlemen – no sleeveless T-shirts. Theme restaurants: gentlemen – no sleeveless T-shirts, please wear long trousers.  Ladies casual dresses or pants and shirt.  Basically Resort Casual.

• "Los Arcos" Italian restaurant
• "Sakura" Japanese restaurant
• Grill and steakhouse
• "Tío Pepe" Mexican restaurant
• "Krystal" Fusion restaurant

 Briefly, a list of their all-inclusive features. 

• Sports and activities: 
• Gym, table tennis, beach volleyball
• Sauna and whirlpool bath
• Windsurfing, catamaran, canoeing, snorkelling equipment
• 1 introductory scuba diving lesson in pool

• Entertainment: 
• Daytime entertainment programme for adults (daily) 
• Daytime entertainment programme for children ages 4 to 12 (several times a week) 
• Live music, shows or Riu evening programme (daily) 
• Entry and drinks to "Pacha" discotheque at the Hotel Riu Cancun (open six nights a week).

• Sports and facilities nearby (additional charge): 
• Golf course, various water sports available, bicycle hire

The building to the left was my go-to place.  It is a really nice bar that is surrounded by lounge chairs in the sun, also several in the shade and there are tables under the covered area.  Yes it rained almost every day, but came down hard and fast in the afternoon and didn't last long.  When you check in they give you a card to use for beach towels, you simply give the guy your card and take fresh warm towels.  You turn in your towel you get your card back.  Beware, if you lose your towel or do not turn it in they will charge you.  To the right of this photo was their swim up bar.  There were many pool games all day and into the evening like volley ball, yoga, silly games and water dancing.


The shores of Cancun can be very different in front of each Resort area.  Some of it is rocky, but a lot of it is smooth and full of sand and beach chairs.

 This is a nice view of the pretty sandy beach.

This is a view from my balcony looking directly down at a couple of the hot tubs.

The pool area was very large and has a nice swim up bar.

These two photos are of the showroom area.  They had nightly entertainment from karaoke to couples game shows to dance extravaganzas featuring traditional Mexican dances from many regions around the country.  They are a very proud people and love to tell and show you their heritage and what it means to them.

The grounds are beautiful, it is absolutely a lovely place to just relax or have the wedding of your dreams.  And as I said before, the staff is constantly cleaning and sprucing up all aspects of the Resort.

There are so many things to do as far as excursions off the property, many booths like the one to the right are set up to show you what you can do and purchase tickets.  Their prices are not that bad either.  From zip lining to ATV riding to cave tubing to taking the ferry over to Isla Mujeras.  Catamaran and pirate cruising, snorkeling and diving. 

And shopping, now there are several "malls" within walking distance, a couple you will need to take a cab to but there are also markets like this one.  Remember I said I love jewelry? well I found a really great store in this little market that I liked.  I saw a pendant and ring that I loved but no earrings to match.  The owner said he might have what I'm looking for at his other store so I told him I would come back later.  We went to Senior Frogs for refreshments and while we were standing on the sidewalk he actually came up and said "I have found them for you".  Can you believe this man tracked me down to let me know he had something he thought I'd like, now that's wanting to make a sale.  So I did go back after we ate and purchased them.  Our group was ready to go back to the Resort and I saw another stone I loved, but was sort of rushing so he said "I will hold it for you".  I went back the next morning and sure enough he had put the ring away for me, so naturally I saw a pendant and earrings to match so I bought that set as well.  His prices were very reasonable and his service was above and beyond the other stores.

I snitched this photo from my very dear friend's facebook page so I guess it's ok to put it in here.  Our group after dinner one night.

And I'm snitching this one too, because I want to show you just how accommodating the Resort is.  There were 19 of us and we made arrangements for dinner in the Steakhouse one night, they put us all at this long table instead of doing what most restaurants in hotels do....split up the group.

The staff was attentive and made sure we all had what we wanted.

I would absolutely recommend this Resort to anyone....plug here.....if you wish to experience the Riu Palace Las Americas you can always go to my website, facebook page, or simply call me and since I am a Travel Agent I can help you plan. 

My only regret was that I couldn't stay any longer with this wonderful bunch of crazy happy fun people......until next time.

Post Cruise........Seattle, Washington....

And you thought it was over......HA !   Yes we finished the cruise portion of our travels but we have one more night in Seattle before we have to fly back to reality.

We disembarked around 9am, picked up our suitcase and headed for the cab line.  Finding our luggage was such an easy process, all neatly numbered and lined up in the terminal.  We waited only about 10 minutes total for a cab to downtown.

We chose the Renaissance Hotel Seattle which is a Marriott property.  When Dan travels, and he travels a LOT he always stays at Marriott properties.  We joined their loyalty program years ago and I would strongly recommend everyone to join a hotel program.  It's free and you accumulate points towards future stays.  Of course because it was so early our room wasn't ready, but the 'associate' which is what the employees call themselves tagged our luggage, stored it, gave us a neat map and we were off.

A little note of warning.......Seattle is STEEP.  Holy crap the walk from our hotel on Madison to the waterfront is all downhill making the trek home a little hard on the knees.  But in true Beth fashion we did it anyway.  The first thing I wanted to see was Pike Place Market, because I had heard so much about it.

Little did I know it was huge.  There were if I am remembering correctly 6 levels.  The good thing was there was an elevator on level 1 which you could take, but did we?  NO we climbed the stairs.

This is a pig, this is what I thought was the lucky pig so yes I had to pet it.  Luck evidently was not working because those stairs were extremely hard to climb.

Once on top I found out that this is Billy, who is Rachel "the lucky pig"s cousin.  Ah no wonder it didn't work.

Rachel is a 550lb bronze piggy bank that was brought to the market in 1986 who raises money to support low income families around the market neighborhood.  Not sure of the exact amount but it's over
$200,000.00.  

The first few levels are like a flea market, full of trinkets, collectibles and just plain old stuff.

If you go up to the downtown street level you hit the "Farmers Market" which was my favorite.  Full of fruit, hot sauce, honey inspired food and potions, fish, fast food and a thousand flowers.  Literally thousands of flowers which was amazing to see and smell, my regret was that I wasn't staying longer or I would have taken back a few arrangements to the hotel.

Too pretty for words

I wasn't exaggerating, thousands of flowers

And yes we saw the famous fish market where they throw fishes.  It was funny that the employees had to keep corralling the guests as our numbers kept growing until we were blocking the walk way for the locals who really needed to buy food and stuff.


It was rather comical to us, but not to them.  Also I will recommend getting lemonade while there....mine was mixed with mango and was super refreshing.  I was somewhat warm since I had not had the chance to change my clothes since we disembarked the ship.  I had on slacks, tank top and a light shawl.  By half way thru the market the shawl went into my purse.  Sun doesn't appear that often in Seattle but this particular day the temperatures topped 85*.  Not bad.

A view from Level 5 of the market down the water front.

We still had some time before our room was ready so we looked on our little handy map the associate at the hotel gave us and we found an underground tour that looked interesting.  Now I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about this tour because frankly I want you to go to Seattle, get on that cruise ship to Alaska and then stay the day after and do this tour.   What I will tell you is this, the tour starts in Pioneer Square.   A beautiful place full of restaurants, shade trees and totem poles.

This photo is how I know my vacation is 'technically' over.  Dan is on a conference call while we are waiting for the tour to start.  Oh well, I did have him all to myself for seven days on the ship.  The tour was Bill Speidel's Underground Tour and it is well worth your time.  Pioneer Square was really the center of Seattle when it was founded,  a huge fire in 1889 took out about 25 square blocks of the city that was built of all wood of course.  The founders agreed that the rebuilding efforts needed to be of brick and stone. They also decided that because the city was built at sea level they needed to rise above.  So they built retaining walls 8 feet and higher on either side of the streets.  They filled in the space between the walls and paved new roads.  Business owners rebuilt the buildings at old sea level making them in effect basements. 

What you have are streets of tunnels a city beneath a city.

Creepy old bathroom from someone's home.

 

 

Store Front

Old Street level, notice how they are warped from years of flooding.

 

From one of the many bath houses.  This is how it worked.  A bath cost $.25 but you could be the second person in the bath for $.10, or the third person in the bath for $.05.  Yuck ! 

I can't imagine sharing bath water with anyone.

By now I'm somewhat tired, very warm and hoping our room is ready.  A shower and change of clothes would feel great.  We head back and YAY the room is ready.                   

Way too much space for two of us, but I'm not going to complain.  I grab a shower, wrap up in the nice comfy robe they provided, sit down with the glass of wine Dan had gone to the lobby bar to get for me and put my feet up.

Yes there was a tub too.  One of the more spacious bathrooms I have seen.

And now my ultimate favorite thing about hotels.  Room service.  I don't know why but I have always loved this.

Ahhhhh it's the little things that matter.

As night falls in Seattle I'm sad that our adventure is over.  I have made great memories, spent nine wonderful days with my husband, for the most part uninterrupted by work, taken awesome photos and relaxed.  But, I'm not sad for long because I'm secretly plotting my next voyage which hopefully will include Dan.  Question is what ship and what itinerary.  Or would it be an African Safari.........................