U.K. 2013: Tuesday 9/24/2013 - Train to Alnwick, Alnwick Castle and Olympic Dining Room

Tuesday we traveled from London to Alnwick.

We woke a little earlier than normal so we could take a taxi to the London Kings Cross station in time for the 09:30 train to Edinburgh. We left the train one stop short of Edinburgh, in Alnmouth. This is the stop you get off at for the town of Alnwick. It was a pleasant 3 hour 40 minute ride. The breakfast in first class on the train was the traditional full English breakfast, consisting of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and tomato.

When we arrived at the train station in Alnmouth we were shocked to see the station is little more than a small building with a parking lot, and two train tracks, little more. There was a single taxi there and we hired him to take us the 5 miles to Alnwick.

Our destination was the White Swan Hotel as their Olympic dining room contains the wood paneling, stained glass and ceilings from the first class lounge of the White Star ship Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic. They also have in the hotel portions of the rear first class stair railings and also the revolving wooden door that entered the lounge on the Olympic. This door now is the entrance into the White Swan hotel.

The hotel manager, James (Jarvis?) asked us why we were at his hotel and we told him the Olympic dining room. He was excited to show it to us, as he said he has done for countless Americans. It was still early in the day and the dining room was not yet in use. He took us into the dining room and explained where the paneling came from and how it was obtained, and how it was incorporated into the hotel's dining room. He told us we could stay as long as we wanted and to take as many pictures as we liked. And we did :-)

Now it was time to head off to Alnwick castle. It was a pleasant five minute walk from the hotel. This was a bonus destination in coming to Alnwick. The castle was used in the first two Harry Potter movies, as well as other recent movies. It is actually a royal residence. The Percy family has lived in this castle for over 700 years. It looks cold and arid from the outside, but inside the castle the rooms have been modernized over the years and are quite nice. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland currently live in the castle. The castle is actually a museum full of collections from around the world from previous Dukes in the family. Current family pictures are in the public rooms, displayed amongst the collections, so as to give the feeling that, yes, a family does live here. One of the largest and finest private art collections in the world is here, consisting of Van Dyck, Canalleto, Titian, Turner and Dobson. In addition, the last two Cucci cabinets in existence commissioned by Louis XIV for Versailles are here and have been restored. France would like them back, but the Percy family actually has the bill of sale from when they were purchased in 1822, and the cabinets are not going anywhere :) The Queen has visited here, and Prince Charles is a family friend and stays here when he is in NorthEast England.

Back at the hotel for dinner in the Olympic dining room. We had a reservation for 18:30, and we were the first to arrive. There are two alcoves, in the each of the far corners of the dining room which are semi-private. A single table enclosed on three sides by paneling and some window cutouts. We were fortunate enough to be seated in one of these alcoves. It made for a very special dinner.

For the first course Pat had white onion soup with tarragon, and Mark had a crab dish. For the main course we both had the Turbot fish (a flat fish from the North sea. It looks like a flounder) with potatoes and asparagus. For dessert Pat had the rose water ice cream with candied rose pedals (awesome) and Mark had a chocolate ice cream with baileys and strips of chocolate. The candied rose pedals were amazing. When you put one in your mouth you could taste and smell roses, sweet and beautiful.
It was a wonderful evening and dinner.