Short Break

Spello is about 20 minutes from the Perugia airport, where Ryanair operates flights to London/Stansted, and 4 other cities in Europe.  Dr. C. has wanted to visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford airfield to see the reenactment of the Battle of Britain, and it was last weekend.  

We hadn't flown Ryanair before; it's what you would expect of a low-cost airline, except the seats don't recline.  If it was more than a 2 hour flight to Stansted, I'm not sure I'd do it, and with all their add-ons for baggage, seat choice, etc, it might be cheaper to fly from Rome, but this was an adventure, and Stansted is close to Duxford (which is near Cambridge), so off we go!

On our way to our hotel, we stopped in the town of Thriplow at a pub that I'd read about, The Green Man.  Interesting concept, the town owns the pub, and has a couple running it.  Check out their website for more info; we headed down some narrow country lanes to get there, and it was well worth it.  

They raise their own Berkshire piggies; and they have a service where when you make a dinner reservation they will take you home if you'd had too much ale

Berkshire sausages, whole grain mustard mashed potatoes, red cabbage, and chantenay carrots

Dr. C. went with the local beef burger with hand cut chips

Coconut custard tart with clotted cream and raspberries

Sufficiently stuffed, we headed to our hotel and thought if lunch was this good, they probably do an amazing Sunday roast lunch, so we made reservations for after the airshow on Sunday.

Saturday dawned cloudy, rainy and cold.  I'd brought a raincoat but didn't think I'd need the liner for it, so that stayed in Spello while I froze in the wet and damp.  We ended up buying a scarf for me, and a polar fleece for Dr. C.

We had booked tickets for the airshow back in March, and bought their gold package which included VIP parking (close to the gates) and a separate tent and viewing areas outside.  The tent was a blessing, because at many points the rain was torrential. I'd highly recommend this ticket package if you go. The photos I took look like they are in black and white, but it was just the color of the day.  

We spent all day at the show, and what we loved was talking with the other spectators, who were mostly from the UK.  They are so proud of their Armed Forces and this year is the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, so this air show was definitely a celebration of the old and the new.  

On Sunday instead of getting up at the crack of dawn, we waited a while to see if the weather would clear, but it continued to pour rain.  We got to Duxford about noon, the rain seemed to be slowing down, and about 1 p.m. when the air show was just getting started, we saw some blue sky, and then miraculously the sun!  

At 12:45, the planes took off and did acrobatic maneuvers, and entertained the crowd.  Since we had seen the show the day before in the rain, we decided to tour some of the new exhibits in the hangers.  10 years ago Dr. C. and I came here--we opened and closed the museum, with him getting a ride in a Tiger Moth airplane.  He reads every plaque, while I'm content to stroll through the exhibits, and then find a nice corner to knit or read.  It works.  The American museum here is filled with planes we had seen when Dr. C. was in the military.

SR71 was stationed at Kadena AF Base when we were living in Okinawa; it was called "The Habu" by the locals after a poisonous snake that inhabited the island

U2 spy plane---we saw one of these in Korea

There is a restoration hanger at Duxford where they take old planes and refurbish them to fly or to be exhibited in the hangers.  It's a fascinating place, and the history is amazing.  With the show over, we had to go back to The Green Man for Sunday lunch, and no one does Sunday lunch quite as well as the British.  

I love the scrabble tiles

Dr. C. perusing the menu

a little nibble before dinner, sausage rolls

Sage and onion Yorkshire pudding, roast beef, duck fat roast potatoes, savoy cabbage and horseradish sauce.  There was another board that came with more vegetables, and a jug of red wine sauce.

Yep, that will do!

 We spent the night at Stansted, and got up at 4 a.m. to catch our 7 a.m. flight back to Perugia.  We spent Monday pretty whacked out, but I'm really glad that we got to check the Battle of Britain off Dr. C.'s bucket list.