Our RV Adventures

Godaddy’s been having trouble with the server my blog (and a lot of others) runs on, and it took until today, and a couple of phone calls, to get the problem fixed, but everything should be working fine now.

Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area about 1pm, with our first stop at Twin Peaks for lunch. And there was not a mask in sight.

Even the pretty girls were no longer wearing them. When I asked, our server said they became optional for employees this past weekend and everyone dropped them. And out of a restaurant full of people, only one person came in with one and immediately took it off after they looked around.

But our visit today came with some disappointment. My long-time favorite, the Half Wedge Salad and a Bowl of their Venison Chili are no more.

No more Wedge Salad, which was actually relatively new, and no more Venison Chili, which has been on the menu for years, in fact as long as we’ve been going there.

When I asked Faith, our waitress, if they ran out of deer or something, she said I wasn’t the first one to complain, by a long shot. Hopefully they’ll bring it back.

Jan on the other hand, got to have her usual Spicy Chipotle Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Broccoli.

For me, I assuaged my disappointment by having the Billionaire’s Burger, with Fries.

It seems that what makes it the Billionaire’s Burger is that it had Billionaire’s Bacon on it, one of their appetizers. And Billionaire’s Bacon is thick cut bacon that is baked with brown sugar, red chili flakes, and smoked paprika.

And besides the bacon, the burger has Sriracha Pimento Cheese on it. Really hot and spicy. And delicious.

Then it was on by WalMart and Sam’s for a few things before making a quick stop at the office to see if my new S21 Ultra phone had come in. According to Verizon, it’s in the wind somewhere out there and should be here any time now.

Our last stop was at the NTB tire center near us to shop for tires for the Jeep, and set up an appointment for Thursday afternoon to get our baby some new shoes before our upcoming trip.

Today, May 25, 2019, along with our visit to the Tower of London, was the highlight of Jan’s visit to London. And mine, too, I guess.

We Ubered out to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII’s home away from home, and were dropped off right at the front of the long walk up to the entrance.

And we had to start out with the obligatory selfie of Jan and I.

Strangely enough, until this Europe trip, I had never actually taken a selfie.

After walking across the inner courtyard, we entered the main building and quickly found ourselves in the Great Hall

and its beautiful stained glass windows.

Ironically Anne Boleyn is credited with helping Henry designed the Hall, his favorite place in the Palace. Though it didn’t seem to help her later in life.

Every room had another amazing, beautiful feature.

And when you’re the King, you have your own Chocolate Room where the Royal sweets were prepared.

We even had a personal audience with the King himself, as he regaled us with tales of life in his court.

And then we came to my favorite part, the room where Henry and my relative, Catherine (Katherine, Kateryn, take you pick) Parr were married.

And she was very pretty, even by today’s standards.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m descended from the Parr family and Sir Thomas Parr, Catherine’s father. She and Henry never had any children.

Hampton Court Palace was a great end to our London visit since tomorrow we head back home to Houston.

Thought For The Day:

I’m responsible for what I say. But I’m not responsible for what you understand.

After I mentioned  the other day about subscribing to AppleTV+ so we could watch the “For All Mankind” series, a number of readers wanted to know what all we’re signed up for, and how it stacks up against DirecTV.

Well, here are the ones that we subscribe to, and pay for.

YouTubeTV

Acorn
CuriosityStream
Disney+
Paramount+
Discovery+
Peacock
AppleTV+
Prime Video

And with all these paid services, and a number of free ones like Hulu, Pluto, Philo, and Crackle, we’re still paying about $60/month less than we were paying for just DirecTV. Plus we’re getting a LOT more channels, and it’s all in HD or even 4K.

Two years ago today, Jan and I were having Afternoon Tea at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel in London, something Jan had always wanted to try.

Looking at the guidebooks there were a number of places supposedly well-known for their Afternoon Tea, but figuring the locals would know better, I asked around at the hotel, and 3 for 3, they said the Chesterfield Mayfair. And since it wasn’t being flacked in the guidebooks, we had no trouble getting a reservation, so off we went today.

OK, you know you’re at a snotty British hotel when you pull up in your Uber and this guy greets you.

And it was just as elegant inside as you might expect.

Glad we dressed up.

And the dining room was a beautiful, sunlit, glass-enclosed atrium.

And though we could have ordered an afternoon meal, here was our Afternoon Tea menu.

And here is what you get for your £80.

You’re supposed to start at the bottom and work your way up.

It would probably be gauche to mention here that it’s actually all you can eat. They will just bring you an entire new stand, or you can ask for a couple more of your favorites like we did.

Needless to say, this was our meal for the day.

And, of course, there’s tea with your Afternoon Tea. And not tea bags like us uncouth colonials use. But loose tea, a strainer, and a big pot of hot water.

And you can try a lot of different teas, just like the selection of tidbits.

Now, though this was Jan’s first Afternoon Tea, I had Afternoon Tea with the Duchess and Lady Samantha (Sam, to me) a number of times. In fact  the very first time I met the Duchess was for Afternoon Tea, and that’s also when I found out that the young British girl I had been hanging out with was a future duchess, and actual royalty.

I’ve blogged about this several times in the past, but if you missed it, here’s where you can catch up and find out the rest of the story

Robbing Peter To . . .

It’s down in the blog post after our visit to the Tower of London.

Anyway, I remember asking the Duchess one time, noting how fancy it all was (in fact I think hers was probably fancier than the hotel’s), just how fancy was ‘High Tea’?

I mean, ‘High’ is better, right?

Like High Mass and Mass in the Catholic Church. But No.

The Duchess just looked at me and said, “Oh, we would never have High Tea.” and left it at that. But later Sam explained it to me.

But this graphic probably does it better.

Basically it’s a working man’s after-work meal where you sit around a tall counter in high chairs. Hence, High Tea.

See, the things you learn reading this blog.

Thought For The Day:

“When women go wrong, men go right after them!” – Mae West