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Winter in England & Wales
  • Dominick Pisa
  • Dominick Pisa

Winter in England & Wales

Starting off the new year in Britain Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 1, 2024
    Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    London

    January 1, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌧 48 °F

    This was just a quick stopover in London. I’ll come back later and stay for a few days. This next phase of my trip will take me to parts of England and Wales where I’ve either never been or where I’ve been before and just wanted to come back and stay for a while.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Canterbury

    January 2, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 55 °F

    Took a morning train from London Victoria east to Kent and the city of Canterbury. It’s a beautiful little town whose Cathedral Quarter is very well preserved and bustling with visitors even on a rainy January afternoon. Lots to see here.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Canterbury Cathedral

    January 3, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    Chaucer, Cromwell, Becket, Henry VIII, St. Augustine, the Black Prince — this place has been part of English history for 1400 years and a pilgrimage site for 1000 years. I took a guided tour with a history professor who brought so many of the cathedral’s stories to life. Returned later for the Evensong service sung by the choir and accompanied by the cathedral’s organ.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Brighton

    January 5, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    About 50 miles south of London on the coast of the English Channel, Brighton seems immediately familiar. It may be partly because of its iconic pier and pavilion, but as I walk around I realize that it’s mainly because it feels like an undiscovered London neighborhood. It’s like Soho and Mayfair just propped up on the beach — an urban seaside resort. I love that. I’m staying in the Kemptown section (like Soho) and already the locals have proven to be quite colorful. I stopped in a nearby cafe for an English breakfast this morning and I was treated to a front row seat of a British comedy.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Eastbourne

    January 7, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 37 °F

    Took a bus along the coast to the city of Eastbourne which is similar to Brighton but smaller. There were so many things about Eastbourne that reminded me of Atlantic City before casinos — the pier, the bandstand, the fancy hotels, the little museums, and the parks and gardens. Sure enough, I came across Haddon Hall which is the same name as the hotel my grandparents used to stay in every year on the boardwalk each September. As far as I can tell, there’s no connection. The AC hotel was named after the Quaker family that founded Haddonfield and this one in Eastbourne was named for a 12 century Derbyshire manor house. It was just a weird coincidence after spending so much time drawing comparisons between the two seaside resorts and then turning a corner to find it. As beautiful as Eastbourne is, it would pale in comparison to Atlantic City at its height. Unfortunately, so little of it remains. The soul of Atlantic City was lost when its grand hotels were demolished or converted to casinos. It’s a great reminder of how important it is to preserve historic buildings.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Seven Sisters

    January 10, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 36 °F

    This was the highlight of my stay in Brighton. I waited for a sunny day and then headed for the South Downs National Park. It was an easy hike from the bus stop to the coast where I was met with an amazing view of the chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters. Imagine crossing the Channel on a boat returning to England and this is what you see. Just beautiful!Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Portsmouth

    January 11, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 39 °F

    I’m loving this part of England. Portsmouth is their Annapolis with an extra 1000 years of history. From here, Henry VIII watched his royal navy fight the Battle of the Solent in 1545. They managed to halt the French invasion of the Isle of Wight but he famously lost his flagship the Mary Rose in the process. Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth. Also Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived and wrote here for a while and served as the first goalie for the Portsmouth football club. Lots to see and explore as I wait for tonight’s ferry to Jersey.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    St Helier

    January 12, 2024 in Jersey ⋅ 🌬 45 °F

    Reached the Isle of Jersey and its capital city of St Helier. Staying at the Hotel de Normandie which shares a corner of the beachfront with a quaint little pub. St Helier is the home of the actor Henry Cavill — Superman. And it is also the home of Sir George Carteret who was the first lord proprietor of the British royal colony of New Jersey. He named the colony for his home island and the city of Elizabeth is named for his wife when it was founded in 1664.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    St Helier — Val Plaisant

    January 13, 2024 in Jersey ⋅ ☁️ 36 °F

    I was lucky to get into a sold out concert in the Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas. Glad I waited for a cancellation as a glee club from Cambridge was performing. The Gents of St John’s College, as they are known, put on a great show including a haunting rendition of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes.” The church was also beautiful. I loved the floor.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Gorey

    January 14, 2024 in Jersey ⋅ ☁️ 39 °F

    The bus system here would rival that of my own beloved Jersey. Really. You can get just about anywhere on the island and they run pretty frequently, even on a Sunday. First stop today was the bayside village of Gorey. Its Mont Orgueil (Mount Pride) faces east toward France which is why it’s the site of a medieval castle. They say on a clear day you can see the coast of France, but I’ll have to take their word for it. From here, the Jèrriais people have kept an eye on the French for over 800 years.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    La Corbiére

    January 15, 2024 in Jersey ⋅ ⛅ 43 °F

    I waited for the first really sunny day to visit the west coast of Jersey and the lighthouse known as La Corbiére. From here you can see Sark, the island in the Channel Islands that is closest to Jersey. This passage became notorious for its many shipwrecks and a monument commemorates one that ended with all 307 passengers and crew being saved by the coastguard in 1995.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Rozel

    January 18, 2024 in Jersey ⋅ 🌬 41 °F

    It’s my last day on the island, and Jersey has proven to be a truly special place. The whole island is roughly the size of the Bronx but with a population of only 100,000. It’s encircled by beautiful fishing ports and cliff side villages. In the interior, it has rolling green hills with churches, pubs, and homes resembling northwest France. Today I went to the harbor town of Rozel, which may be my favorite. It’s in a more upscale part of the island, so the surrounding area is full of manors and mansions. The little harbor faces northeast with a view of Normandy across the Channel. The little kiosk known as The Hungry Man came highly recommended and I can see why. What I ordered was basically a pork roll egg and cheese sandwich but they just used local bacon — a Jersey connection. — and it was delicious. I saw two other Jersey connections today. One was a pub called Caesaria which any Rutgers grad will tell you is listed on their diploma as it’s the Latin form of Jersey (the island was named for Caesar and New Jersey in Latin is Nova Caesaria). The second one was in the Friday’s at the ferry port. Inside, they had some Jersey memorabilia and the waiter thought it was great that I was from the other Jersey.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Channel Crossing

    January 18, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌙 32 °F

    Some people were curious about the ferry between England and Jersey.

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Exeter

    January 19, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    Exeter is an ancient city on the River Exe in Devon. The Romans arrived in 45 AD but there were settlements here long before that. I stayed in an old inn from the 1500s called The Turk’s Head whose pub was “a favourite watering hole” of Charles Dickens. It is still the place to be for the locals, and they were turning people away last night due to a capacity crowd. The town has a large university and a lot of history. Unfortunately, Exeter was chosen by the Germans as one of five medieval English cities to be bombarded in World War II so most of the historic city center was lost. The cathedral remains along with some key buildings including a fort built by William the Conqueror in 1066.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Torquay

    January 20, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 46 °F

    I booked myself a bit of an upgrade for the next week in Devon. Since Torquay is the birthplace of Agatha Christie, it makes sense to just spend the next few days reading some British mysteries and enjoying the view.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Torquay — Agatha Tour

    January 22, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 50 °F

    One advantage of traveling off peak is you’re sometimes the only tourist at some of the attractions. This was the case this morning when I booked the Agatha Christie walking tour. I fully expected the guide to cancel when it was clear that it would just be me, but instead, he gave me a 3 hour private tour of all of Agatha’s haunts and an incredible retelling of her life story. It was without a doubt the best tour I’ve ever been on.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Dartmouth

    January 23, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 55 °F

    From this side of the River Dart, you must take a ferry to reach Dartmouth, a place that could be straight out of the imagination of J.K. Rowling. When I arrived it was foggy and the little town emerged from the mist with its castle and naval college. I had a great breakfast (eggs Benedict) in the Bayard Cove Inn, a Tudor inn at the very point from which the Mayflower sailed from England.Read more

  • Dominick PisaWinter in England & WalesTraveler

    Brixham

    January 24, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Brixham has a long history of settlement along the Devon coast due to its great harbor. It is still a major fishing port that supplies fish for London restaurants everyday.

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