Day 7 - The English Riviera

Our 5 hour drive to the town of Torquey was beautiful. England is so green, with rolling hills, lots of cattle and sheep farms. We actually even saw our very first pig farm! We headed west toward the southwest coast that's called the "English Riviera." Now the gentleman we were with, Paul, joked that it's nothing like the French Riviera. But Torquey is a lovely, seaside town that's been a big retirement place. An ecletic mix of people, both young and old. It's a beach town, with lots of tourist-type stores. The weather's been awesome, so you saw alot of sunburned people. Someone told Bob that all the "lobsters" come out now. We stayed in a very nice hotel called the Imperial. It was perched on a hill overlooking the water. Great views. It was a very old hotel, built around 1910. You could see the elegance of the place and just get a feel for what it must have been like many years ago. In fact, as we were taking our bags up to our room, an older gentleman, probably in his 80's, dressed very sharply in what looked like a uniform, stopped us to say that "in the old days" someone would have offered to take our bags up to the room. Bob told him that the people at the desk had offered, but we declined the help. He then went on to tell us how he used to come here when he was much younger and how much more formal the place was. You could get the idea that he wasn't happy about things have changed. As we went on up to our room, I told Bob that next time someone asked to take our bags up, he was to say yes! This hotel was beautiful, but the "lifts" (elevators) were small and hallways narrow, so carrying all our bags was not easy.

After unpacking the bags, we went down to meet our fellow travelers, Paul and Phil, and relaxed with some drinks on the deck of the hotel. It was a lovely evening. After a while, we went out looking for a bite to eat. It was after 9:00 pm already. We decided on Thai food (my first time) and had a delicious meal at a place in town. Heading back to the hotel, it was nearly midnight. The young people were still out and about the town. But for Bob, tomorrow was another work day.