Travel and Art with Max Bowermeister – Page 2

So let me start out with some gratuitously cute photos I took this morning of the sheep in the pasture immediately behind the barn we’re staying in. These weren’t taken with a zoom – I put a patio chair out in the pasture to sit in while I worked on a painting of the barn from the rear and the sheep came up and encircled me…………….very peaceful! OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So, particularly if you are an American and you haven’t watched the Brit TV series, “Doc Martin”, you’ve missed out on a pleasure. We drove the two hours from our lodging right outside Wincanton, Somerset, through Devon to Cornwall to visit Port Isaac. The village, perched directly between two headlands jutting into the sea, stands in as Port Wenn on the Doc Martin series. Carrolle began watching the production first and I watched all seven series with her just to be companionable. Then to prove how great a companion I am, I watched the entire seven seasons a second time…then eventually, a third time. The series features great acting, spectacular scenery and some insight to a part of the U.K. that remains pretty fiercely independent. Most of the directional and informational signs were printed in both English and Gaelic.. except for these, which were pretty much executed by different age groups in the Graphic style.. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Apparently, all the tourists who brought their dogs, and there were a bunch of them, have been something less than discriminating about the collection of their dog’s “poo”.

Before we actually got to Port Isaac, we stopped at the Cornish Arms in Pendoggett, Cornwall, for lunch. We suspected, and rightly so, that the prices for the fare would be meaningfully less expensive than eight miles down the road at Port Isaac. Besides the really good food – and I cannot highly enough recommend the Fish and Chips enough – big, meaty pieces of Cod, battered in snowflake light beer mix. Besides the food, the real treasure was “the Maid” of the bar, Gemma. Gemma was not only really personable, but entertaining as well. She’s appeared as an extra on Doc Martin and has lived, so far, her entire life in Cornwall – where the appropriate greetings are, “Alright, me lover”, and “‘Ello there, me ‘andsome”. If you are going to visit, practice, practice, practice. There are videos on YouTube – according to Gemma, the one of the biggest thorns to the side of locals are the really bad, fake, Cornwall accents!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Cornish Arms – Pendoggett, Cornwall

Besides the obligatory photos once we arrived in Port Isaac, Cb at Doc Martin’s Surgery, etc. There are a lot of very interesting doorways, alleys and narrow streets – all of which I’m especially attracted to photographing..

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And now for obligatory Doc Martin type shots……..

And later in the day, we drove over to Tintagel, which is the mythic place of conception of King Arthur, or more accurately of soon to be Baby Arthur, but actually was a rocky outcropping sticking high and deep into the sea that has been inhabited since about 600 A.D. In about the year 1230, the Earl of Cornwall, wanted to get a little swagger on and connected the building of castle at Tintagel with Arthur’s legend and the place has been popular, especially with authors of Arthur legend, conceivers of conspiracy theories and promoters of legend-plagiarized art ever since. In any case, it is very cool and if you’re one of those folks who is trying to get in 10,000 steps a day, this is the place to do – wear your comfortable and rugged hiking shoes – its just a little bit of up and down!

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In short, there is a whole world of exploration to do in England’s Southwest coast.

Dateline: Saturday, 12 May – We had taken the train from Templecombe, Somerset to London for a surprise experience primarily for Carrolle, of riding the London Eye. As a quick note, the Eye (extremely prominently promoted by Coca-Cola), is a 443ft tall, very slow moving ferris wheel, in which the captives, er, riders, are contained, 12 at a time, in a large spaceship shaped gondola. The Eye takes just about 1/2 hr to make a complete rotation and only actually stops if someone that is wheelchair bound is getting on. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Eye has it! The Bird’s Eye View

Like so many things in life, the anticipation was as good as, or even better than the actuality. You can see most of London, so much so, that even if you’re familiar with the locations, it gets confusing. All in all, it was enjoyable, especially since the rain held off until after we boarded.

Then the fun started.

We disembarked, took the Tube from Waterloo Train station to one of the stations near to the British Museum. My amazement, when we arrived to find every other tourist, looking for an attraction out of the rain, cannot be overstated. The line was approximately 2 hrs long, so we nixed that idea and headed for a bus station to get back to Waterloo. We bought bus tickets, found that no fewer than six routes went to Waterloo . We chose Route 188. Because, why? Because the 188 bus was on the way to the stop when we got there. We boarded. I asked the driver, a broadly smiling young man from a Balkan country, “Does this route go to Waterloo?” Mirov answers immediately, “Yes, yes, Waterloo, yes!” Another very broad smile. We wind our way around St. James Square (a nice park actually), and on the second circumnavigation, the bus pulls up to a stop and shuts off. The driver announces that all passengers must exit and wait for next bus. I asked the driver, just conversationally, “Is the bus broken down?” “No, just break time – next bus in 14 minutes, you board and go to Waterloo – Route 188!” Ok, so not a big deal. Mirov then hand rolls a cigarette and walks around the outside of the bus, occasionally darting in to answer a radio call from his supervisor. Exactly 14 minutes later, he enters the bus, starts it and pulls up to us, from 30 feet away, opens the door and announces, “Route 188 to Waterloo and points east!” We arrive Waterloo, a little soggy, about 8 minutes and two stops later. Our spirits having been dampened, just a little, but now it was beginning to be a little funny and warm food and drink were inside.

We board our return train, Waterloo to Templecombe, promptly and found a table seat where the four of us could face each other eat some cheese and crackers we picked up at Waterloo in a very nice little boutique grocery store right in the station. train seating 2 Good seating for a two hour tour

Even though the itinerary included four more stops than on the outbound trip, the schedule showed us arriving back at Templecombe Station only four minutes longer than the trip time inbound into London – so not bad. We met some nice folks, had some laughs about our American accents (I told them we were all Cockneys but we were practicing our American accents). Every single person we met told us we were spot on! Things were good as we rolled in Templecombe. I led our foursome to the back of the car, pressed the button that allowed us out into the vestibule between cars, stepped through and pressed the button that actually opened the outside doors and…nothing! Pressed again, no open doors. I looked around for the attendant, saw him the next car back and was about to call him when the train started moving. We were about to experience being “over-carried”. We rode to the next stop and purely by chance, there was another train headed back to London coming into the station in 90 seconds. We gathered up our stuff, ran up the stairs to the cross-over bridge, back down and as promised the eastbound train pulled in. Back to Templecombe at last.

Today was another sort of train experience in every way. An afternoon Cream Tea on the East Somerset Railway, departing from Cranmore, Shepton Mallet, Somerset station. The engine is steam driven, the speed is slow – it takes 45 minutes to travel the 2.5 miles down and the same back and the experience was a step back to a more genteel age. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA A perfect afternoon on a great day!

I highly recommend that if you find yourself in the area, wend your way to Cranmore and book your own Tea! The experience is made even more memorable by some of the more esoteric sights to take in –

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Sign inside the men’s urinal closet