NY, Queen Elizabeth II, SW England
August 30-September 14, 2003
We got to NY in the afternoon, after an uneventful flight on AirTran. Stayed on 48th St near Broadway. The Best Western President was half a block from the Walter Kerr Theatre where Paula's former student, Shane McRae, has a role in "Take Me Out," having joined the cast of this Tony Awarding winning play in July.That night we saw "Nine" with Antonio Banderas. Good but a bit strange in that I could not always follow the story line. Anthony Daniel, another former student of Paula, was ushering. He had facilitated our getting tickets. On Sunday, we had breakfast with Jay Randall, a former student of Paula. Jay has made a Wendy's commercial but is still waiting tables, an actor's common occupation. We had lunch with Shane and dinner with Anthony. Quite a day for Paula.
We boarded the QE2 about 2 PM on Monday. The boarding procedure was reasonably fast. We found our cabin, 3119, on the Three Deck and settled in. The cabin was OK; we had nicer ones on the other two cruise ships, but it did have a large bathroom with a tub. It had a port hole. The Grand Lounge was the performance space. The Library was pleasant. The dining room was pleasant. We ate in the Coronia Restaurant.
We sailed after 4:30. We stood on the starboard deck outside to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was cloudy and a bit wet as we left the harbor.
At Southampton, 1car1.com had our car waiting for us, a Rover 75 with a 1.8 litre engine, a five seater. We had been upgraded. Although a nice car, it was big for the roads we often used. I would have liked a smaller one. The narrow roads were nerve-wracking. Most of them were barely more than one lane. And, of course, one has to drive on the wrong side of the road.
We went to Exeter, then to Penzance for 4 nights, and then to Lyme Regis, and finally to Gatwick Airport, traveling up into the outskirts of London before turning South again.
Here are some pages of photos.