Day Three, the final day of the harrowing 3-day Amazing Race. Slightly more complicated than the day before, with two train journeys and the possibility of a London underground journey the day before the opening ceremony. But there are several rewards at the end: London during the Olympics (not sure if this will be a reward or a punishment!) and five nights at the same hotel. We are going for the gold! Here's what happened.
Route Info: Travel from Dover to London via train. Depending on which of three stations the train arrives in, a ride on the underground to change trains for local service to St Albans may be required. There is also the possibility of an express train, which will eliminate the need for the underground, as it arrives at the same station (St Pancras) trains to St Albans depart from.
Fast Forward: Train is an express to London, stopping at St Pancras!
Speed Bump: Jennie gets motion sick, so must have window seat facing in direction train is traveling. Unable to reserve seats.
Goodbye, White Cliffs of Dover. Sure glad Jennie got a window seat facing in the right direction!
Fast Forward: With train arriving at St Pancras, an easy transfer, clearing heavy Olympics security, is made to train bound for St Albans.
Detour: Attempted cab ride from station to hotel. Cab driver insists its a quick walk to hotel. He lied, and we are once again pulling very heavy suitcases and carrying heavy backpacks. Disgruntled upon arrival!
Surprise bonus reward for being such intrepid travelers: Ardmore House Hotel and it's helpful and charming staff, Joe and Morris. (When inquiring about the password to access the internet, Morris said to me, with a deadpan look, "It's 9 zeroes, but you have to make sure you get them in the right order.")
When we arrived at the Ardmore House Hotel, we thought we'd died and gone to hotel heaven. A pleasant treat after our creepy night in Dover and three scary nights in our hotel in Bath, where we were pretty sure we weren't alone in the room! (I focused on the positives in my Bath posts.)
The sunroom where we had breakfast every morning, and the garden, where we enjoyed several meals al fresco.
The grounds were peaceful and there was a wedding there on the Saturday evening of our stay.
Jennie and I are both avid gardeners, and with the trip winding down, the beautiful gardens made us yearn for our own flowers back home.
I always have the desire to nest and fully move into a room when I travel, unlike Jennie, who prefers to keep everything in suitcases and bags for fear of leaving anything behind. Everywhere we had stayed thus far had been for 1-3 nights, and didn't allow me to do that. We were now in one place for five night and I claimed nearly every drawer, shelf and hanger!
Speed Bump: After lunch in the garden and unpacking and resting most of the afternoon, we realized we had no clean clothes and the world would be a better place if we did some laundry.
Fast Forward: Through an internet search of the neighborhood, we discovered the Posh Wash Laundrette not far around the corner. It was 5:00 PM, and with a closing time of 7:00 PM, that would leave us plenty of time for several concurrent loads and chance to grab some dinner somewhere. Right?
Road Block: It was 5:32 PM, and the owner, who was folding laundry and chatting with two girlfriends, spoke right up and firmly said, "Sorry. You are TOO late!" Now, you know as well as I do, that it doesn't take 90 minutes to wash and dry a load of laundry. Even heavy wet things will be mostly dry, if not fully. We told her we'd been travelling for a while, had no clean clothes to speak of, and assured her our loads would be done at the same time and that we'd pull them out before 7:00 PM. Nope. Not budging. With tails between our legs, and pouts as dramatic as any self-respecting 3-year olds could muster, we walked out. On the sidewalk, Jennie and I had the depressed "What are we going to do now?" conversation. We decided we should calmly go back in and plead our case one last time. We are both teachers. WE ARE NOT QUITTERS! When we did, her friends both looked at her, we thought sympathetically towards us, and she reluctantly gave in. We thanked her, gratefully, and assured her all of greater London would be thankful, too! The three of them were chatty with us from that point on and we were done by 6:50 PM!
Pitt Stop: The delicious smells of lamb and beef kabobs from the Mediterranean Grill up the street wafted towards us as we waited for our clothes to be ready. We ended our outing there and returned to Joe, Morris, a man snoring in a chair in the quiet hotel bar, and our lovely accommodations for one of the best sleeps of the trip.
Next up: A day that involved no public transportation (yippee!), exploring St Albans, and my second museum visit with education staff.
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