On Sunday morning, after saying goodbye to Brian (and to our suitcase full of fancy wedding clothes and bling) we walked through leafy neighbourhoods to The Barbican in The City of London, just north of St Paul’s. (You can see remnants of the wall that the Romans built around the original city of Londinium.) We popped into “Postman’s Park”, a delightful square full of gardens and plaques dedicated to people who had made ‘heroic self sacrifices’. We had about three hours to put in before attending the show, Good Night Oscar, featuring Sean Hayes. (The play is about Oscar Levant. It had a Tony award winning run in NYC before transferring to London where it has played to sold out audiences.)
The Barbican was built in the 1950s and 60s in a large area that had been virtually destroyed during the WWII bombings. Designed and built in the Brutalist style, The Barbican includes many cultural resources, offices, and housing for about 4,000 people. Its theatre is magnificent.
We both loved Goodnight, Oscar; Hayes is a beautiful pianist, and his version of Rhapsody in Blue as well as his portrayal of Oscar Levant, a deeply troubled man, brought the entire theatre to its feet and to tears at the end of the show.
We had a leisurely stroll back to our Holborn neighbourhood, enjoyed a proper Sunday Roast at the Clerk and Well Pub, and returned to the Ruby Stella for one final night. Monday morning, we had a cab reserved for a 4:30 a.m. ride to St. Pancras Station. Train at 6:16 a.m. to Amsterdam! (And possibly our last day of sunshine for the week. Arghhhh. We’re keeping an eye on the weather forecast for the week.)
Phew! We arrived in Amersfoort. Our Amsterdam Eurostar only made it to Brussels; a “personal injury” incident in a tunnel further on prevented its progress further. Everyone had to leave the train, resulting in a massive number of people needing alternate plans. Organized chaos ensued. They sent us to platform 8, then platform 4. Eventually we boarded for Amsterdam. We lost about 90 minutes, but made a lot of it up by getting off at Rotterdam for a shorter connection to Amersfoort through Utrecht instead of Amsterdam.
The Dutch train system is fantastic. (And Patti thanks Ben Pon for having indoctrinated John into the fine art of reading and exploiting train schedules.)
In the Spring, our trikes had been stored just outside of Nijkirk (pronounced nigh-kerk), three short train stops past Amersfoort. Sadly, no cabs, Ubers or Lyfts were to be had. Ramon, the maintenance manager at the Salentein Restaurant, kindly picked us up at the train station. He had arranged the trikes outside, all ready for us, complete with the repaired flat tire. What a welcome! We spent a few minutes cleaning the chains, and removed a couple of links from John’s chain. Trikes need a lot of tinkering. (And a lot of degreasing. Sorry, Ramon.)
We got on the road for a pleasant 15 kilometre ride to our Amersfoort hotel. Long day – pretty tired! Tomorrow to Gouda, with a tour scheduled around the halfway mark at Kastell de Haar, the largest castle in the Netherlands. Weather looks to be very wet, though. Ah well.
Well done and I love the pictures. And while on your way to Gouda, remember to pronounce the town’s name as if you were a terribly drunk Scotsman with a sore throat.
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