Sat April 11th
Arrived via Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 "Jumbo". Great service from the staff but a 7hr 30min flight can be a bit taxing on the joints. Checked into Orchard Hotel, Orchard Road at 6pm (local time) - very nice, they even gave us a free room upgrade. After checking in we checked out the sights in Orchard Road, the main Singapore shopping district. Weather warm and steamy.
As is my habit, here is the view from the 7th floor window of our hotel.
Sun April12th
Some of many things very noticeable about Singapore are its cleanliness, lack of graffiti, and the well manicured gardens that are everywhere. Plants and flowers are a feature of just about every building especially the hotels. Here is a shot taken in the foyer of our hotel. The largest and most impressive of the displays of orchids in and around the hotel.
Orchard Road, according to the guide book, is the Olympic Championship venue for shopping in a country whose national sport is shopping, so that is what we did. Followed by a visit to the Singapore Art Museum which has some very interesting and unusual contemporary works by local and regional artists.
We returned to the hotel to recover before venturing out again later this afternoon to visit the famous Raffles Hotel. When I was at school (as a student) in Geography I remember learning that in the tropics you get a regular 3pm downpour. While we were resting it started pouring heavily at exactly 3pm.
London (Heathrow)
Mon April 13th
A 13.5 hour flight from Singapore and a late check-in at the Thistle Heathrow Hotel (overlooking the runways) but thankfully, very little aircraft noise. I calculated that with the time difference and the flight time, we had spent 24hrs on the go.
We picked up a pre-booked rental car at the airport. Then trying to find the Thistle Hotel at night with no maps amid a mass of car parks, other hotels and assorted airport infrastructure, was like finding a "needle" in a haystack. Meg experienced the joys of driving at night in London.
We both knew what the Green, Yellow and Red traffic lights
mean (the same as in Oz) but what did the Red over Yellow following a red light
mean? In true British tradition the drivers of cars behind us let us know by
using their horns, how considerate they are to their colonial cousins – it
means that the lights are about to turn green so you can actually go (apparently) – why would you
wait for them to actually turn green?
Maidstone, Kent, England (April 14th to 18th)
Tue April 14th
Friends who had driven in England warned us about the motorways and the roundabouts. On the motorways you need to be watching what every other driver (especially the truckies) is doing or trying to do as well as figuring out which lane you should be in to either exit or stay on the motorway. Speed limits on the motorways are interesting - for the most part there does not appear to be any and, where they do exist, most drivers seem to ignore them. It later turned out that the motorway speed limit is 70 mph but, according to a Daily Mail report, about half of all drivers ignore this.
Most of the roundabouts (of which there seem to be thousands) are multi-laned and have multiple exits - you have to know in advance which lane you should be in to take a particular exit.
As a result of these two issues, a drive from Heathrow to Maidstone along the M25, M26 and M20, which should have taken about an hour, took closer to 3 hours. A wrong turn on the M25 put us on a series of small country roads and narrow lane ways through quaint little villages, passing farmhouses and cottages that you would expect to see in English country picture books. Much more relaxing and interesting than battling the motorway traffic. Getting lost can have its advantages.
In a repeat performance of last night we lost our way (several times) while trying to locate the hotel, the Premier Inn Maidstone Sandling, but this time it was in broad daylight. Eventually, with help from some locals, we were able to find it.
Instead of a shot out the window of our hotel room (just a view of a car park), here is a shot of the view from the back of the hotel.
The River Medway runs right past the hotel. The building at the left is part of the hotel restaurant and the locals are all out enjoying the unseasonably warm spring sunshine by dining in the outdoor area.
Went into the town center at Maidstone to do some shopping and to have look around. A mix of very old and more recent buildings with the High Street and adjacent streets closed to traffic to become a shopping mall.
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| Part of the shopping mall at Maidstone |
Today we began a history quest - my family history and England's history.
My father and his mother, my grandmother, came from the Sevenoaks District in Kent. We have an old photograph taken in the 1930s showing the street in the village of Borough Green where they lived. My sister, the family historian, was able to identify the building in the photograph where my grandmother lived in the 1930s - the building in the far background, is marked with an "X" in the photograph below (visible just above the rooflines)
The next port of call was the town of Sevenoaks where my father and his identical twin brother attended school at the Sevenoaks School. The school dates back to 1432 and is the second oldest non-denominational school in England. As you would expect, it has a large number of very old buildings with many built in the early 1700s. The school is also quite large and owns many buildings along the main road on the southern side of town.
The school also has a number of historic markers - for example the school grounds was the site of the Battle of Solefield during the English War of the Roses where an army of rebels from Kent ambushed and defeated a royalist force.
Hever Castle, just south of Sevenoaks, was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn - the second wife of Henry VIII. In 1903 it was purchased and restored by the American Millionaire William Waldorf Astor.
The interior of the castle has been restored to represent a range of period styles, some of which would have been familiar to Anne Boleyn. The furnishing and wall decorations, including the most elaborate wood inlays you are ever likely to see, are absolutely stunning - unfortunately interior photography is not allowed.
The castle is accompanied by equally magnificent gardens, statues and a huge lake. We have included just two images from the gardens.
Thu April 16th
A much quieter day today - just Sissinghurst Castle Garden south of Maidstone.
As with Hever Castle, Sissinghurst Castle was purchased and restored in 1930 by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. The gardens were not part of the original castle but were created by Vita who opened them up to the public in 1938. The estate is now owned by the National Trust of England. Because we are both members of the National Trust of Australia (we joined just before we left on this trip) we are able to get in for free.
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| Oast Houses at Sissinghurst |
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| The view of the fields through the arch in the barn |
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| The House at Sissinghurst |
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| The Elizabethan Tower |
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| View from the top of the tower |
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Fri April 17th
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| Knole House |
Knole House, near Sevenoaks, is one of England's oldest and largest privately built houses. It was built as a home for the Archbishop of Canterbury between 1456 and 1486. Its location approximately halfway between London and Canterbury Cathedral, where he had other houses, made it easier for him to travel between the two towns. It subsequently passed through a number of other owners, including Henry VIII (it was one of his 65 palaces) before being acquired by the National Trust of England. The size of this "house" is impressive - it sits on an estate of 1,000 acres (4 square kms), has 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. .
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| Main courtyard seen from the stone courtyard |
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| The green courtyard |
Chartwell House was the home of Winston Churchill from 1922 until his death in 1965. It is now owned by the National Trust of England and is one of their most popular attractions.
The original house goes back to the 16th century but major modifications and additions were made in the 19th century and by Churchill himself shortly after he acquired it.
The house is filled with the furniture and artifacts used by the Churchills. One room displays gifts given to Churchill from people and governments from all over the world - such as a set of crystal glass serving bowls with silver handles from Joseph Stalin. Another room displays the ceremonial uniforms worn by Churchill in his many official roles - such as Warden of the Cinque Ports
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| Churchill's Studio |
The extensive grounds and gardens of Chartwell House are in immaculate condition.
Halifax, West Yorkshire, England (April 18th to 20th)
Departed Maidstone about 10am for the longest drive of this trip to Halifax.
We had originally planned to stop at Stratford-upon-Avon for a break before continuing to Halifax. However, some advice from locals suggested that visiting Statford on a Saturday would be a nightmare - traffic and parking-wise. So we decided to skip this diversion and stop at Peterborough, which is roughly the halfway point.
Just outside the hotel at Maidstone is a roundabout that we have been using every day since our arrival here, and every day it has defeated us. We have attacked it with the GPS Satnav switched on and manually counting each and every exit as we go past but the result is always the same - we always take the wrong exit (usually a different wrong one each time - variety is important in a relationship). Today on our last approach ever to this roundabout it defeated us again sending us heading towards Dover on the M20 instead of towards London.
Thanks to the Satnav device we quickly got back on track, it must be used to our mistakes by now!
The drive took us into London but not into the city centre where we would have been charged a congestion tax. We went under the River Thames through the Blackwall Tunnel which was dug in 1897 then out onto the M11 motorway skirting Cambridge to Peterborough where we stopped at about 1:00pm for some refreshments.
We then continued along the M1 and A1 towards Leeds then taking the M62 and A58 to arrive at Halifax at about 4:30pm.
During the journey we negotiated numerous roundabouts without a single problem (nor any expletives from Meg). The only problem we encountered was the widespread habit of British drivers to ignore the speed limits. We would be sitting on 38-39 mph in a 40 mph zone only to see many drivers overtaking us at considerable speed and even abusing us (horns, wagging fingers) for being "so slow".
Here is the view from the 3rd floor of our hotel. Another roundabout lurks just to the left of picture. Climbing up the hill in the background are terrace houses. Just behind the hotel is the main shopping plaza.
Sun April 19th
Fed the Satnav device with the address of the Bronte's Parsonage in Haworth and followed its directions from Halifax. Instead of taking us by the main roads, it took us through some of the best scenic views along narrow country roads and even narrower country lanes.
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| A typical Yorkshire country road |
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| Yorkshire villages dot the countryside - note the modern wind turbine, one of many |
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| A local |
A few views of the main street in Haworth village.
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| The Bronte's Parsonage, seen from the Church Graveyard |
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| The Parsonage and Church with graveyard |
After visiting the Bronte's at Haworth, we proceeded to the nearby town of Skipton to see Skipton Castle, a medieval castle built at the end of the 11th century. It had been modified and added to until Lady Anne Clifford (1590 - 1676) restored the castle to its current configuration after it was damaged in the English Civil War.
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| Skipton Castle entrance |
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| The inner castle and the keep |
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| Minstrel playing the lute in the banquet hall |
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| Yew tree in the central courtyard of the keep was planted in 1650 by Lady Clifford |
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| In the kitchen, a display of typical medieval foods served to the rich |
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| Houses in Skipton Town next to the castle |
April 20th
Drove from Halifax to Chester, an old Roman Garrison town near the border with Wales. Chester is the only town in England which still has an intact wall surrounding the city. The wall was built by the Romans 2,000 years ago.
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| The City Wall surrounds the city |
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| Chester Cathedral |
Inside the city walls is an area known as "The Rows" which, for the last 700 years, has been a shopping district. It still performs the same function today with the original 13th century, and some newer 16th and 19th century buildings.
If the combat of shopping is not enough, Chester also has the largest and best preserved Roman Amphitheatre in England where gladiators battled.
About an hours drive from Chester is Bangor in Wales. About another 15 minutes further inland is the village of Bethesda and just beyond that is the Snowdonia National Park and the foothills of Mt Snowdon. Located there is the Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, a B&B, our residence for the next 4 days.
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| A View of the Snowdonia Mountain Lodge |
A change of plans, forced by the sudden unavailability of laundry facilities here at the Snowdonia Mountain Lodge and, it seems, a general lack laundries in Northern Wales, sent us back to Chester, this time with a load of washing. While the laundry there performed its miracles (they did an excellent job - here is a free plug for Laundrette Chester), we resumed exploring and shopping in Chester.
We found the oldest buildings in The Rows, some of which date back as far as the late 12th Century. While the upper levels of these building have often changed, in some cases they have been completely rebuilt over the centuries, their basements have remained in their original conditions. These basements are still in use as shops today.
England, and to a lesser extent, Wales, have an enormous network of rivers and canals that have been used to transport goods. The first of these canals were built by the Romans. By the industrial revolution, the canals had locks to raise and lower the barges, aqueducts to carry them across valleys and other canals, and tunnels to take them through hills. The arrival of the railways eventually destroyed the canals as a commercial transport system. Today they are enjoying a revival in a new role as a leisure cruise activity. The current active canal network is about 2,000 kilometres long.
The Shropshire Union Canal and the River Dee, which is part of the canal, form a moat around the city of Chester. The canal runs outside the northern section of the wall while the river loops around the south of the city from east to west. The canal is navigable by boats, such as the one shown above, for 123 kms and joins onto several other canals.
Wed April 22nd
It has been an unreal experience to go to bed at night and wake up the next morning to the sounds of bleating sheep, instead of the low rumble of traffic. Across the road from our lodge is a large paddock full of sheep, and behind us, on the slope up the mountain, are more sheep. In fact the main agricultural activity in this part of Wales is sheep grazing.
Consider the following image of the mountainside opposite our lodge. Notice the grey line zig-zagging its way up the very steep slope.
Today we traveled to Caernarfon, the Royal City of Wales, to ride the Welsh Highlands Railway. The railway climbs up and over the Aberglaslyn Pass at the foothills of Mt Snowdon on a 24 mile (38 km) run between Caernarfon and Porthmadog. The line is a narrow gauge (2ft) railway that had its origins in transporting slate from the quarries to the ports. The train, hauled by a restored steam locomotive, takes about 2 hours each way with a 2 hour break at Portmadog (or at Caernarfon if traveling the other way).
The scenery is simply beautiful - it varies from flat grazing land full of sheep (and lambs at Spring) to the mountains with their forests, lakes and swift flowing streams. Just a few of the many photographs we took are shown below.
After the train trip we went into Bethusda village for dinner - there are no sit-down restaurants open for dinner and none of the pubs offer meals, but there are take-aways offering fish & chips, kebabs, pizza, Indian and Chinese - all traditional Welsh fare!
There is, however, a cafe open for lunch and dinner called "Pay What You Feel Cafe" in the High Street. It is a community run cafe, staffed mainly by volunteers with a very limited menu using donated food from supermarkets whose "use-by date" has recently expired. You pay for your meal by donation. About half the tables in the Cafe were occupied by people, of all ages and included males, cutting fabric and sewing. Others were simply chatting. This community project has been operating in Bethusda for just 4 weeks but seems to be involving the community in self help projects. Bethusda, like many other areas of Wales, suffers from high unemployment and other social ills.
The meal was home cooked, perfectly edible and was cooked directly in front of you. The place was spotlessly clean and yet a hive of activity. We paid what we considered a fair price and added on a donation.
Thu April 23rd
Today on another glorious day we returned to Caernarfon. Its most historic feature is Caernarfon Castle, which is also a World Heritage site. The castle is easily the largest and most impressive we have seen so far - and we count 4 castles visited to date but everywhere you go in England and Wales there seems to be a castle. Its construction began in 1283 which makes it a true Medieval castle. It is still used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales and holds the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum which is also well worth visiting.
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| Inside the castle with the Eagle Tower shown in the centre |
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| The castle interior seen from the top of a turret on the Eagle Tower |
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| The town showing the City Wall as seen from the Eagle Tower |
Caernarfon also has a harbour which was originally a vital Roman port and later a supply point for all the castles in North Wales. It is now used mostly by yachts and tourist boats.
When we arrived and parked the car outside the castle it was low tide and many of the boats were "high and dry".
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| Caernarfon Port - low tide |
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| Taken from the same spot - Caernarfon Port - high tide |
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| A street scene within the walled town with the wall and a gate in the background |
Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England (April 24th to 28th)
Fri April 24th
Departed The Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, Gwyneed, Wales for the Burn How Garden House Hotel, Lakes District, Cumbria, England. It would have been a 3 hr drive but it turned into a 6 hr exploration of the Welsh highlands and valleys. We started by ignoring the advice of our Satnav and instead of turning right towards the coast for the easy trip, we turned left into the Snowdonia Mountains and drove up over the mountain pass from the Ogwen Valley into the Colwyn Valley on the other side. The scenery was stunning.
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| Clouds fall over the mountain tops - Ogwen Valley |
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| Lake Ogwen in the rising sun |
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| A small stone boat house |
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| The descent down from the mountain lake offered new views of Lake Ogwen |
From Betws-y-Coed we drove to Chester for our 3rd visit. From there to the Lakes District was mostly on the M6 motorway turning off onto back country roads to reach Bowness-on-Windermere on Lake Windermere.
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| One of many flower gardens along the back roads through the Lakes District |
Sat April 25th
Our first cold and wet day of the trip - but that is why they call it "The Lakes District" because there is water everywhere!
Today was a cultural day - William Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, an art gallery and a museum, plus getting to experience the roads in the Lakes District. We would hate to be driving around here during the summer when it swarms with tourists and holiday makers.
Beatrix Potters home, Hilltop, can only be reached by navigating narrow roads and lanes.
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| Hilltop was willed to the National Trust by Beatrix Potter |
Wordsworth's house, Rydal Mount, is easier to get to but still requires negotiating some narrow roads.
The house is owned by his descendants, not the National Trust, so we had to pay to enter.
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| Inside Wordsworth's attic study |
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| The view from his study window |
Dinner that night at an expensive restaurant in Bowness-on-Windermere. The food was very good and I had my first taste of black pudding - not bad and not at all what I thought it would be. I now feel ready to tackle haggis when we get to Scotland.
Finally, just a sample of one of the many roads we had to travel today. Hardly more than a cars width.
The roads usually have little or no shoulder, because of the dry stone walls and/or hedge rows that line them often come right up to the edge of the road. This often leads to encounters with buses, trucks and other cars around blind corners (the walls hide the oncoming traffic) and over hill crests because there is insufficient room to pass. So one party has to pull over close to the wall/hedge and wait for the other to proceed.
Add to that is the speed limit along these roads - sometimes its 60 mph (96 kph) - we seldom did more than 30 mph much to the annoyance of drivers who had to crawl along behind us (there was nowhere to overtake). On more than one occasion we turned off onto an even narrower side road just to let them pass and then found it impossible to make a U-turn. In the high season, we would take a bus tour or one of the many route buses that criss-cross the Lakes District rather than drive.
Sun April 26th
A fine sunny day - it started out cold but it had warmed up by the afternoon. Because the forecast for the next two days was not good, we decided that some outdoor activities were in order while the sun shone.
First port of call was located at the southern end of Lake Windermere. This also gave us a chance to explore a bit more of the lake. The lake, at 18 km long and a maximum of 1.5 kms wide, is the largest natural lake in England.
The land shown on the far side of the lake is actually a privately owned island, Belle Isle, which at 1 km long is the largest of 18 islands in the lake. The owners have a house on the island that was built in 1774.
After taking the traditional wrong turn (with Satnav guidance of course) we came across the following sight along the road.
After it was closed in 1965, the last 3 miles of the line was taken over by a rail preservation group to become the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway. It now operates daily services in conjunction with the company that provides cruise boats and ferry services on Lake Windermere. While it was only a short ride (15-20 minutes in each direction), it was enjoyable.
In the afternoon, we visited the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction. We decided not to go through their exhibition, which was obviously a commercial venture, but we did purchase a few items from their store. This was followed by shopping in Bowness-on-Windermere, which has quite a busy retail centre.
Dinner at a Thai restaurant in the village. Food was good but not as good as our favourite Thai eating places back home.
Mon April 27th
Despite the dire predictions of the UK Met Office, the day has started out bright and sunny. At least that was the impression from looking out the window. At 8am when we stepped outside to go to breakfast we discovered that, despite the blue sky and bright sunshine, the temperature was a bracing -2C.
Undeterred by the challenging weather, we rugged up and proceeded with our plan to explore more English literature with a visit to another of Wordsworth's homes in the Lakes District - this one known as Dove Cottage and is located at Grasmere.
Dove Cottage was a pub before Wordsworth, with his sister Dorothy, took it over in 1799 and converted it to a house.
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| Dove Cottage, front view |
At the time they would have had a magnificent view of Lake Grasmere but, such was his fame as a poet, that the land between Dove Cottage and the water was quickly bought up by developers to build hotels to cash in on his fame. Ironically the view from Dove Cottage is now blocked by a large hotel built in the late 1800s named "The Daffodils".
The house still has its original furniture as, after his departure in 1808, it was immediately acquired by one of his friends and later by the Wordsworth Trust so it has been preserved.
After Dove Cottage, we went in search of Coleridge's house in Keswick, about 13 miles north of Grasmere. Apparently, Coleridge often walked the 13 miles to Dove Cottage to visit Wordsworth. On arrival at the Keswick visitor information centre we were told that Coleridge's house, Greta Hall, is now a private residence and not open to the public. Damn - 12,000 miles and we can't even visit!!
However, on the way to Keswick, we saw some more of the magnificent Lakes District scenery.
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| Scenery just outside Keswick |
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| The cruise terminal at Bowness |
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| Langdale Chase |
We returned to the hotel just before the bad weather, as promised by the UK Met Office, set in. As we write this there is a constant steady rain outside and, no doubt, a suitable chill to match.
Carlisle, Cumbria, England (April 28th to May 1st)
Tue April 28th
Departed the Burn How Garden House Hotel this morning with the temperature at a brisk 4C. This was undoubtedly the best place we have stayed at on the trip so far and we do not think that it will be beaten. The only complaint we had was the extremely high laundry service charges. Meg noticed that the cost of washing and drying one of her night dresses would be more than the cost of buying a new one. So we decided to use a self-service laundrette we had discovered when we visited Keswick the day before.
Overnight there had been a dusting of snow on the high peaks of the Lakes District as shown in the following shots taken on the road to Keswick.
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| Lake Windermere in the foreground with snow covered peaks |
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| Scene near Keswick |
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| The back view of the house showing the gardens |
From there we drove to Carlisle and checked in at the Marlborough House, a B&B.
Here is the obligatory shot from our first floor window with a pub, the Crown Inn, opposite. Shortly after we arrived it started raining heavily, followed by bright sunshine, then rain, then sunshine ..... This is the north of England.
Wed April 29th
What strange weather they have here. When we left early this morning it was very cold and the skies were dark and menacing. We walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus into town. It then started hailing - for the second time in two days. Fortunately we were sheltered from the hail and it only lasted for a few minutes. During the short bus ride it rained on and off.
We reached the railway station and purchased two return tickets for Settle. We were going to ride on the famous Settle - Carlisle Railway, claimed to be the most scenic in England. The first thing we noticed was the ticket prices - rail travel in the UK is a lot more expensive than in NSW. The tickets cost us GBP24.40 (about $AU46) each, no senior concession is available. A roughly equivalent trip (in terms of distance) in NSW would be Sydney to Newcastle which costs about $AU11 return adult fare ($AU2.50 concession fare). Those who complain about the cost of train travel in Sydney please take note.
Because the train did not leave for some hours, we were free to do some exploring of Carlisle Town. Meanwhile the weather was still cold but alternating between light showers and bright sunshine - but no further hail. We walked through the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral which has a history going back to 1123 and is one of the smallest in England - thanks to Oliver Cromwell who demolished part of it during the civil war and reused the stone to reinforce Carlisle Castle.
Here is an image of me touching the ruined wall of the Cathedral Chapter House where the monks would gather for daily instructions.
Carlisle Railway Station is known as the Citadel Station and is a major hub for rail travel in the north.
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| Our train waits us at Carlisle station |
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| Settle station |
One of the places were going to visit here in Carlisle is Hadrian's Wall, build by the Romans to keep out those pesky Scots and Picts. Strangely, about 1,000 years later the Normans encountered the same problem and had to build castles to keep them under control. We discovered that, in fact, we had been sleeping on the wall because our B&B, and many other nearby buildings, are built on the foundations of the wall.
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| Plaque on the wall of our B&B |
Weather wise, today was similar to yesterday but without the hail or heavy rain.
We went to Carlisle Cathedral and this time entered. Our second cathedral on this trip and neither roof has collapsed on us. As previously mentioned this cathedral is the smallest in England but, in our opinions, was the better of the two. The reasons are:-
- a treasury vault open to visitors containing priceless artifacts on loan to the cathedral for safe keeping by all the parish churches in the diocese. Each item is displayed with an interpretive panel
- we were given a personal tour of one of their rare pieces - the Brougham Triptych (one of only 300 Triptych sets left in the world). This amazing wood carved sculpture "storybook" was made in Antwerp c1520. It tells a story (actually two stories which makes this one unique) in the form of 3D figurines set in a series of scenes much like a child's "pop-up" picture book of today. While it is visible to all visitors, we were allowed behind the locked cage barrier to get a closeup view and a detailed description of each panel in the display. Amazing craftsmanship and some unresolved mysteries to boot.
- an amazing cathedral ceiling vault painted with thousands of stars
As the castle is under the care of English Heritage and not the National Trust, we had to pay to enter.
The castle history dates back to 1093 and was built by William II of England, the son of William the Conqueror. It took the Normans a while to reach the north of England where they ran into those same "troublesome tribes" from Scotland that annoyed the Romans. The castle was built as a means of keeping them under control.
Part of the castle is still used by the British military and is closed to the public. But the inner castle which has a four story "keep", is open for inspection and exploration - and exploring castles always means lots of narrow stone stairs.
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| The inner keep of Carlisle Castle |
Following a brief tour of the castle (brief due to the inclement weather) we returned to our digs to rest and recoup before venturing out for dinner at a nearby highly recommended Italian restaurant. The restaurant was packed and we had to wait for a table, but, as it turned out, most of the customers were there for the "Happy Hour" (5:30 - 6:30) Pizza and Pasta meal. We arrived just after the happy hour ended so we were able to select from the full (and full price) menu. One good thing was that shortly after we arrived, the restaurant virtually emptied when the "happy hour" crowd finished their meals and departed. The food was very good.
Fri May 1st
The morning of our departure dawned bright and clear - what a contrast to the last 3 days. We gave our thanks to Raymond, the owner/manager of the Marlborough House, and set out for Scotland.
We had decided the night before to take the direct route, up the M6 motorway, to Glasgow because of the weather we had experienced. This would have taken us about 1 hr 40 minutes instead of the 4hrs (and more) for the coastal route which would not have been enjoyable in wet weather.
After crossing the border into Scotland, just north of Carlisle, we decided to make a stop at the town of Lockabie. This was the site of the tragic bombing of a PanAm 747 jet on Dec 21st, 1988 where 270 people died including 11 in the town of Lockabie itself.
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| The memorial to the 270 killed in the PanAm bombing at Lockabie |
So we headed for the coastal town of Stranraer on Loch Ryan, which is actually a bay and a port for ferries to Ireland. From there we followed the road along the Gallaway Coast towards the town of Ayr. The scenery was certainly a lot more interesting that what we would have seen along the motorway.
We encountered and explored our first Scottish castle, Carsluith Castle, our 6th castle on this trip, but, unusually for the reputation of the Scots, it was totally free - a first for us.
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| Carsluith Castle |
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| Ailsa Craig |
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| Isle of Arran |
Finally, after about 7-8 hours, we arrived at our new digs in Glasgow City South, and into a very nice room. Here is the view from our third floor room.
Sat May 2nd
The day started out very promising - bright sunshine with a few wispy clouds. The predicted maximum temperature was for a bracing 12C by 2pm and no rain. Almost as soon as we stepped out to explore the city the clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up. The temperature never got above 9C all day and we did feel some patches of very light rain. As I write this from the warmth of our hotel room there is a howling wind roaring past our window.
Today we got on one of those ubiquitous "Hop On, Hop Off" buses for a 50 minute tour of the sights of Glasgow. It was well worth it. Glasgow is a beautiful city with some very old buildings and monuments. All the museums and art galleries in the city, and it has some of the best in the world, are free. It also has some more modern attractions.
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| Travelling in style |
The tearooms have recently been restored at the same address to how they looked when opened in 1903. Meg and I visited for lunch.
While the original had tearooms on four floors, the current one has tearooms on only two and a gift shop selling the usual mementos plus a range of jewelery, clothing and home artifacts designed by Macintosh or decorated using his designs. On the bus tour we were shown several buildings that still contain windows designed by Macintosh.
After lunch the cold wind had driven us to seek the shelter of a shopping mall where we did our best to help the local economy. Plans to go out for dinner tonight were also blown away by the wind and light rain so we will be eating in tonight.
Sun May 3rd
Today started out like Saturday finished and remained cold, wet and miserable all day. So it was going to be a mostly indoor activity day - museums and art galleries.
Our first call was at Glasgow University, founded in 1451. Here they have the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland's oldest named after the Glasgow University anatomist who collected many of its items.
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| Meg viewing Roman artefacts found in Scotland |
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| The main gallery |
The art gallery has the largest collection of Whistler paintings in the world.
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| Houses along University Avenue |
One advert that has appeared on a lot of bus stops, buses, and other places, not just here but throughout England and Wales as well is shown below.
This is one of three variations. Its an ad for "Up and Go". I don't now if it is our No 1 breakfast though.
Today I passed a milestone in this trip. I tried a dish of "Haggis, Neeps, Tatties" at a recommended Scottish restaurant. The dish translates as "Sheep’s offal stuffed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled for 15-20 minutes, served with turnips and potatoes". Visually, the dish was a dark grey amorphous mass with black and white specks. The texture was a bit like breadcrumbs but the taste was not unpleasant, in fact I failed to come up with anything that I could compare the flavour with - it was bland if anything. I was disappointed that they did not serve what, I was told, was the blue ribbon of all haggis dishes - served with whisky sauce.
Fort William, Scotland May 4th to 6th
Mon May 4th
On the day we departed Glasgow, it turns out sunny with scattered clouds. Not a drop of rain in sight. The weather turned out to be perfect for our trip through the Highlands from Glasgow to Fort William.
What can we say !! The scenery was simply stunning. We took dozens of shots - every time we came around a bend or topped a rise, a new spectacular vista appeared before us. Any trip to Scotland must include a drive or the train trip through the highlands to Fort William.
We took the high road (the A82) from Glasgow which runs alongside Loch Lomond and through the highlands to Fort William.
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| Loch Lomond - southern end |
From the loch, we started the climb up towards the highlands. We stopped at the village of Tyndrum for a cup of tea and a brief rest. There are no villages or services (petrol, etc) in the highland area itself - just the road and the scenery.
Shortly after the village we entered Highlands and were rewarded with 30 miles (48 kms) of the most spectacular scenery we have seen on this trip - even Queen Victoria was impressed and she visited many times from 1842. Of the many photos we took, here is a very small selection.
We descended from the Highlands down to Loch Linnhe, a sea loch on which Fort William is located. The west coast of Scotland is basically a series of peninsulas separated by long narrow arms of the sea that extend well inland. Loch Linnhe is one of these.
Finally, a shot from our hotel at Fort William showing Ben Nevis, between the two hills, with its top kissing the clouds. Ben Nevis is Great Britain's tallest mountain.
Tue May 5th
The day was overcast and cold - not promising for a scenic train trip but at least the rain held off until we reached our destination.
The railway line from Fort William to Malliag is regarded by many as having the best scenery in all of Great Britain. Parts of the line were used in the Harry Potter films so it is sometimes referred to as "The Harry Potter Line".
The trip from Fort William to Malliag takes about 90 minutes and there is seldom a spot that is not interesting. The line runs alongside lochs, tunnels through mountains, crosses valleys and rivers on magnificent viaducts. The greatest and most photographed viaduct is the Glenfinnian Viaduct which was featured in one of the Harry Potter films and also appears on the Scottish 5 pound note (they have their own currency in Scotland).
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| Glenfinnian Viaduct photographed from the train |
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| One of many lochs seen from the train |
The afternoon was spent at the village of Caol just north of Fort William where they had an excellent laundrette. We spent a couple of hours sitting out the rain and cold clearing a backlog of dirty laundry. They also had magnificent views of Fort William from across Loch Linnhe.
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| Fort William from Caol |
Wed May 6th
Our final road trip in our little red VW Golf which we nicknamed "Poj" after the last 3 letters of her registration plate. So far she has taken us over 2,000 miles (3,200 kms) without a single problem.
We left Fort William on the A82 heading for Inverness, about 1 hour and 40 minutes further north along the Great Glen. The Great Glen is the valley that cuts across Northern Scotland from SW to NE. It contains a series of lochs and rivers that are now linked by the Caledonian Canal that allows small boats to sail, through locks located along the way, from the Irish Sea at Fort William to the North Sea at Inverness.
The scenery again is remarkable but this time for the beauty of the lochs and the forests.
The first loch we encountered was the strangely named Loch Lochy.
The loch is the third deepest in Scotland and is a popular camping, boating and recreational site in summer (does summer actually happen in Scotland?)
Since the weather was "favourable" (i.e. it was overcast but not raining) we decided to take a detour towards the Isle of Skye on the west coast. We planned to turn off the A82 onto the A87 after Loch Lochy to visit a National Trust of Scotland nature reserve located about 75 miles along the A87. However we only got to Loch Cluanie about 30 miles into the detour when the weather started to close in. So we did what all sensible travelers do in Scotland when faced with cold wet weather, they seek out a warm pub. Fortunately, the only building for miles around was a pub, the Cluanie Inn.
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| The Cluanie Inn, the only building on Loch Cluanie |
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| Loch Ness - nothing suspicious was seen |
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| Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness |
Onto Inverness where we arrived at our apartment (yes an apartment!). Luxury - a kitchen (with a fridge - that's rare for hotels here), dining and lounge room plus a laundry and two bedrooms, each with their own en suite.
Here is the view from our third floor balcony looking over the River Ness. The main shopping area is just behind us.
Dinner that night was at a very good restaurant, "Riverview", just near the right hand end of the foot bridge in the photo above. Meg partook of a dish of lemon sole served with pippies, while I tried venison from the highlands followed by a dram of local whisky.
Thu May 7th
Election Day here in the UK and we must say, it has been a very subdued affair by Australian standards. Admittedly, we have not watched any TV or listened to any radio broadcasts and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) are not part of our scene. There is a noticeable lack of election posters in the street - just the occasional very small sign in the odd front yard but no telegraph poles festooned with election graffiti. However, we have noticed a preference for putting large election billboards in the middle of sheep paddocks in rural areas - do the sheep vote?
Today was an R&R day. The first we have had where we did not have to be at the breakfast bar by a set time or vacate our room for the cleaning services. Instead we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast of our own making. Likewise, we purchased the ingredients for a simple lunch from the nearby Marks and Spenser and consumed it at "home".
We did go to the Highlands Museum and Art Gallery situated almost opposite our digs and we went on a few shopping expeditions in and around the High Street.
We discovered how to claim back the 20% VAT (a GST by another name) we have paid on our purchases. It has a lot of conditions attached and the necessary paperwork is not available from all retailers, but it is doable and we will be getting a refund on the major purchases we have made.
The most prominent landmark here is the Inverness Castle, perched on top of a hill just a stones throw from our residence.
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| Inverness Castle |
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| The River Ness as it flows through Inverness |
Edinburgh, Scotland (May 8th to 11th)
Fri May 8th
Checked out of our palatial digs in Inverness just before 10am. In terms of comfort, facilities, space to move and quietness (there seemed to be hardly anyone else in the apartment building) this is the best, but in terms of aesthetics, the Burn How Garden House Hotel at Bowness-on-Windermere is still the one to beat. We will be staying at two more apartments on this trip so it will be interesting to compare notes.
We drove to Inverness Airport, not to catch a flight, but to say farewell to an old faithful friend - "Poj" or, more correctly, GK15POJ, our little red VW Golf. She gave us 2,060 miles (nearly 3,300 kms) without a single problem and only needed 5 refuelling stops, just to top up the tank when it had reached the half full stage. With petrol here costing about $2.40 Australian per litre she was very economical. It was at the airport we had to leave her and return to Inverness by taxi to catch the express train to Edinburgh.
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| Meg farewells Poj |
The hotel is opposite one of Edinburgh's major attractions, Edinburgh Castle where the annual Military Tattoo is held. Unfortunately, we cannot see the castle from our 4th floor room. Here is the view from our hotel window.
Dinner was at an upmarket Thai restaurant in nearby Castle Street.
Sat May 9th
Today was a busy day. We met Meg's cousin, Lin and her husband Hugh in the morning at Starbucks next to our hotel. After coffees/teas they took us on a walking tour the main sights in Edinburgh City.
Starting with the Grassmarket just below Edinburgh Castle. The market was originally a place for trading horses and cattle. It later became a more general market for all kinds of goods. It was also the place for public executions. A memorial now stands at the site where the gallows once stood. Sadly, most of the markets have now been replaced by tourist hotels and other businesses.
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| Memorial at the execution site |
The Castle is clearly the main tourist attraction in Edinburgh. It dominates the city by standing on the top of an extinct volcanic plug.
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| Edinburgh Castle from the gardens on Princes Street |
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| A view of Edinburgh from the castle walls |
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| Meg with "Mons Meg" a giant medieval siege cannon |
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| Paisley Close and its unusual sculpture |
Meg's ancestors lived in the area of a nearby Close, the Mid Common Close.
At the bottom of the Royal Mile is Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British Monarch in Scotland. It is open to the public at a price - for pensioners (like us) it costs about $35AUS to enter so we decided to give it a miss.
The day concluded with a visit to the cemetery at Liberton Kirk where some of Meg's relatives are interned. With guidance from Lin and Hugh, were were able to quickly locate the grave site. There was only one tombstone but it had the names of Meg's grandparents, aunts and uncles, 6 in all, inscribed upon it.
Sun May 10th
Again we made an early start. Lin and Hugh drove us to Queensferry on the Firth of Forth. It has a magnificent view of one of the great engineering wonders of the 19th Century - the Forth Rail Bridge which opened in 1890.
Next to the bridge is the Lifeboat Station for the Firth of Forth and its launching ramp is also used to load passengers on the boat tour.
We joined the cruise which takes about 90 minutes and visits a wildlife sanctuary island Inchcolm, some rocky outcrops used by seals and gives you a look at the Forth Road Bridge and the new second road bridge which is still under construction.
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| The old Abbey on Inchcolm Island |
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| Seals "sunning" themselves |
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| The haggis is the grey stuff in the middle |
A lunch of that magnitude had to be followed by a walk through Queensferry village.
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| Queensferry harbour at low tide |
Many of the houses are old, dating back to the 17th Century. As in many villages we have seen on this trip, some of the houses have their front door right up against the road, with no room for a front garden. This sometimes leads to some creative solutions.
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| Cramond Island at low tide |
After returning us to our hotel in Edinburgh City, we said our farewells to Lin and Hugh.
Hamburg, Germany May 11th to 14th
Mon May 11th
Unusually, it was bright and sunny when we left our hotel and caught the tram to the airport. But, typically, it was starting to shower by the time we boarded our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt on route to Hamburg. Also, for the first time since the 1970s, we had to walk from the terminal building across the tarmac (out in the open) and climb up a set of mobile stairs to board the aircraft.
If you can at all avoid it, do not go through Frankfurt Airport. It was not busy, not crowded and the queues (customs, security, border control) were not overly long. It is simply that the place is too big. It took us over an hour to walk from the arrival gate (Terminal 1 Section C) to the departure gate (Terminal 1 Section A Gate 24) and that time included a ride on the internal train that takes you between the various sections of the airport. If our plane from Edinburgh had been running late we could easily have missed our connection to Hamburg.
Then there is the German security check. Full body scan, everything out of your pockets. For the second time this trip (the first was at Sydney Airport) Meg had personal items (hair mousse, makeup remover) confiscated. They even questioned her about her toothpaste and soap. The lesson here is don't put any toiletries in your carry on luggage, something we should have remembered but had become too used to traveling by car.
On arrival at Hamburg the aircraft was parked on the apron away from the terminal building so more mobile steps but at least this time they provided buses to get us to the terminal building.
Our collective spleens have now been vented (at least until we have to go through Frankfurt again on our way to London).
The apartment we are staying at, Adina Apartment Hotel, Hamburg, is smaller than the one we had at Inverness. It only has the one bedroom and en suite but, like Inverness, there is a kitchenette/dining/lounge area. It also has a washing machine and dryer cleverly included in the en suite so the laundry issues that we have had to deal with on this trip are at an end.
Here is a photo of the garden cafe and breakfast area of our apartment building in Hamburg.
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| Adina Apartment Cafe outdoor area |
We met up with Ursal, a friend who has helped Meg's brother research the family history. Meg's mothers family lived in the area of Altona, which is now a part of Hamburg. Back then Germany did not exist and Altona was part of Denmark.
She took us on a tour of Altona including the Altona History Museum. Altona has always had a strong connection with the sea, it is now part of the Hamburg port - one of the busiest in the world. So the museum has many fascinating displays showing how ships and ropes were made in Altona and how they were used in the local fishing industry. It also has full size replicas of local farm houses as they existed in the 1700s.
We then had a look inside the Altona Rathaus (Town Hall) - an appropriate name for a building containing politicians - where one of Meg's ancestors was an elected representative.
Lunch was at the Fischmarkt (Fishmarket). We tried the local signature dish - Labskaut.
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| Labskaut |
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| Ursal, Meg and Peter enjoying a meal of Labskaus at the Fischmarkt |
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| Rocky makes its rounds of the harbour |
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| Rickmer Rickmers |
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| Meg inspects some of the spices |
Later in the evening we had dinner at a local restaurant with Ursal and her husband Bernhardt. The restaurant is in a beautiful rural setting amongst a series of ponds where they grow their own fish.
Wed May 13th
We left early with the intention of beating all the crowds to Hamburg's No 1 tourist attraction - Miniatur Wunderland. We did book for entry from 10am to 11am on the previous day (booking is always advised) but left the hotel just after 9am in case we still had to queue - we were told that the place is extremely popular with both locals and tourists. As it turned out it was just a 20 minute walk from our hotel so we arrived just after opening time (09:30) and no queuing was necessary. We walked straight in. But within the next half hour or so we noticed a significant increase in the number of people arriving.
Miniatur Wunderland (or Modelleisenbahn Wunderland) occupies the top 3 floors of a warehouse in the old warehouse district.
It contains an amazing series of model railway layouts. But it is a great deal more than simply model trains - there is a complete operating model airport with aircraft that taxi, take-off and land, and a shipping port with detailed model cargo and passenger ships that move on water. Everything is under computer control with a team of 6-7 computer operators controlling 48 computers and monitoring a huge bank of display screens.
Then here is the incredible attention to detail and imagination shown by the builders in every scene. It is not just the trains and aircraft that move but the road traffic, people, animals and scenery items as well - such as the home "handyman" who chops down a tree in his back yard only to see it fall through the roof of his house. Or the fire engines and rescue vehicles that race through a town to reach a burning truck.
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| You can actually play the "noughts and crosses" game shown on the right using a keypad on the walkway railing |
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| You can control the dragster pulling the heavy load in the centre arena |
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| The cars move on the roadway |
We spent several hours wandering from one amazing scene to another. Watch the video clip to get a small sample of what you will see. The exhibit is constantly being updated with new scenes being added now for completion over the next few years.
After Wunderland we had a late morning tea at a small family run cafe by the side of one of the city's many canals - and we noticed that they even have traffic lights on the canals for the boat traffic. This was followed by a walk through the city high class (i.e. expensive) shopping district. Nothing that we could afford was on sale. We had an early dinner at a Pizzeria.
I have always taken the opportunity to sample the local beers on this trip through England, Wales, Scotland and now Hamburg. I must say that the Germans clearly make the best beers - even if you cannot pronounce the names of those beers both before and after tasting.
Tomorrow, Thursday, is Father's Day here in Germany so most things will be closed. It is also our day of departure from both Hamburg and Germany - and we are not looking forward to another encounter with Frankfurt Airport but, at least this time, we intend to be prepared.
London, England May 14th to 20th
Thu May 14th
We left for Hamburg Airport early with plenty of time to negotiate security. This time all substances of a highly dangerous nature (hair mousse, make up remover, soap and toothpaste) were secured in the luggage and not in the carry on bags. However, they still found something (seriously) in my pajamas that warranted extra testing and chemical analysis in the security office but they eventually passed without any further problems.
Our connecting flight from Hamburg was scheduled to arrive at Frankfurt only 50 minutes before our flight to London was scheduled to departed. Given our previous experience of Frankfurt Airport this could be barely enough time.
We waited at the departure lounge at Hamburg. The scheduled boarding time arrived and then went. They then announced that our flight was delayed by 20 to 25 minutes. Hope evaporated. The boarding staff assured us that if we missed the connection there would be another flight to London an hour later.
Our aircraft arrived at Frankfurt Airport 25 minutes late but instead of moving into the terminal we were parked on the apron. That meant mobile stairs and buses to take us to the terminal and more time lost.
However, on arrival at the terminal we were informed that the departure gate for our London flight was next door to where the bus had dropped us. We scooted through a transit German Border Control point with almost no queues and went straight to the departure gate with about 20 minutes to spare. Our only worry was did luggage also follow us onto the flight?
This final fear was banished an hour and 40 minutes later when we arrived at London Heathrow. While waiting on the aircraft to disembark, I glanced out the window to see a baggage crew throwing
our luggage onto a baggage cart. This good fortune was later punished by having to endure a very long queue through British Border Control for non-UK and non-EU citizens.
The taxi ride from Heathrow to our apartment in Vauxhall London was in a real London Cab. A very comfortable ride and it easily took all our luggage but the trip took nearly an hour and cost us 95 pound (about $180 AU). The weather in London was cold and wet.
The view from our apartment is not great, but by walking out the front of the building, around a corner and 100m down the road to the Rose Pub on the south bank of the Thames, we get this view.
Dinner was at a Turkish restaurant on the Lambeth Road near Lambeth Palace. We again noted that all affordable British restaurants, regardless of the cuisine, have chips on the menu.
Fri May 15th
The morning walk from our apartment to the Palace of Westminister (the Houses of Parliament shown above) was in bright sunshine with blue skies but accompanied by a chill in the air. We noticed the very heavy security around the building, We also noticed the large number of people queuing to get into Westminister Cathedral (opposite the parliament) and walking across the nearby Westminister Bridge. If this is what it is like in May, then we would hate to be visiting in the peak season at June.
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| The Tower of London |
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| Cutty Sark |
The clipper ship Cutty Sark is on display at Greenwich. This ship was used to carry tea from China and Wool from Australia to Great Britain and held the record for the fastest trip from Australia to Great Britain.
Also at Greenwich is the Royal Observatory which has a long history of astronomical discoveries, particularly related to the problems of navigation at sea. It has the original chronometers designed and built by John Harrison that allowed ships to accurately calculate their longitude and, as a result, saved countless lives. It also has the Prime Meridian from which all the Earth's longitudes and local times are determined.
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Greenwich was also the home of the Royal Naval College from 1873 to 1998. The buildings, built between 1696 and 1712, were designed by Christopher Wren and served a number of functions. They are regularly used for filming movies (scenes from Thor: The Dark World were filmed there), TV series and commercials.
Inside one building, the Painted Hall which was used as an Officers mess hall, is the most amazing set of ceiling and wall paintings.
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| Ceiling detail |
Sat May 16th
An early start this morning to beat the crowds. The day started out cool and overcast but by about 10am had become bright and sunny. We took the train from Vauxhall station (just down the road) to Hampton Court station, a 36 minute trip through the south western suburbs of London. From there it was a short walk across the River Thames to Hampton Court Palace. This was the royal palace for 11 British Monarchs from Henry VIII to George II.
It is a truly impressive structure and currently contains many art works from the Royal Art Collection. Most of the palace is open to the public and is a major tourist attraction. While the British Royalty no longer live at the palace, there are a few private apartments that are not open for public viewing.
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| The back view of the Palace, facing the palace lake and gardens |
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| The ceiling artwork in just one of the rooms |
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| Tapestries in a room of the private apartment of George I and II |
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| Throne room of George I |
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| One of many wall tapestries with a chandelier hanging in front |
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| Privy closet of William II. Note the velvet lined seat. |
Another interesting tradition was that the King and Queen had to be ceremonially undressed and dressed twice every day in public. "Public" in this case meant in front of close and trusted friends. Being invited to this "event" was a sign that you had made it to the "inner circle". The ceremony took place in very ornate (and expensive) royal bedrooms which were used only for this dressing ceremony, they were not used for sleeping.
The huge gardens are, as you would expect, fit for a King. A very small sample has been included below.
There is, of course, also a maze and the oldest and largest grape vine in the world - originally for supplying grapes for the exclusive use of the Royals but now sold, when in season, in the Garden Shop.
Another home cooked meal that night. Far cheaper and easier than going out looking for a good restaurant that does not serve chips with every meal - the English do love their chips.
Sun May 17th
Another hectic day with the Tower of London the main objective. The weather was fine and sunny (again - even the locals are amazed).
After seeing the crowds lined up outside the Tower on Friday, we decided that an early start was the best option. At the Tower of London, there are two queues and both can be extremely long. The first queue is to buy the tickets. The second is where they collect your ticket and, if you have a bag, put you through a bag search security check. Smart people buy their tickets on line or have a multi-use entry pass such as the London Pass so they can avoid the first queue.
The Tower opens at 10am but we decided to get there by about 9:30. As it turned out we got to the Tower gate slightly later at 9:40am. The queues for buying the tickets were already quite long. Since we already had tickets we went straight to the queue at the entrance gate and there were about 50 people ahead of us. By the time they opened at 10am the queue at the gate was hundreds of people long. And this is not yet the high season for tourists in London!
The first thing to do after going through the gates is to run (do not walk or dawdle) for the Crown Jewels display - go through the gate under the Bloody Tower, up the steps and across the courtyard past the White Tower to the Waterloo Barracks where the Crown Jewels are held. Do not stop to look at anything else - they can wait until later.
When we got to the barracks, there was no queue so we went straight in and had time to look at all the exhibits. For the main exhibit, the crowns and symbols of imperial power, they have installed moving walkways to keep the crowds moving along.
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| The White Tower containing the Armoury |
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| Waterloo Barracks where the Crown Jewels are kept |
The Crown Jewels are very impressive but the one item that impressed me the most was the Grand Punch Bowl, an elaborately decorated gold bowl about a metre across and holds the contents of 144 bottles of wine.
The White Tower is the old keep or central fortress of the Tower of London and was constructed by William the Conqueror. It is currently used as a museum for the Royal Armouries and contains a huge range of weapons from suits of medieval armour to cannons.
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| Armour of Henry VIII. Behind is a wall of breastplates |
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| Part of the "Line of Kings" in the White Tower |
After leaving the Tower, we traveled by tube to Oxford Circus where the famous Liberty of London store is located.
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| Liberty of London just off Regent Street Oxford Circus |
Mon May 18th
It dawned cold and raining and stayed that way until about midday. So today was going to be "inside activities" starting with the Natural History Museum at Kensington South. We arrive far too early for the 10am opening so we went for a walk in the rain returning just on opening.
After entering we discovered that we had gone to the wrong museum and had ended up in the Science Museum which is a bit like the Powerhouse Museum back in Sydney but on steroids. We stayed for a while looking at an interesting exhibition on how technology has changed society, then had morning tea in their cafe.
The Natural History Museum was right next door to the Science Museum so we hopped over and went into a very interesting exhibition on volcanoes and earthquakes, with hordes of school children. We finished up spending a lot of time in their world famous "Earths Treasury" exhibition which has an amazing collection of minerals, gemstones (in their natural and cut forms), precious and semi-precious stones and related materials such as diamonds, gold, pearls, opals, etc.
After lunch we took the tube to Leicester Square and walked to Trafalgar Square. The church St Martins in the Field, which faces Trafalgar Square, was where Meg's Great-Great-Great Grandfather was married and Meg's Great-Great Grandfather was christened.
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| St Martins in the Field |
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| Nelson's Column Trafalgar Square |
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| This one caught my eye |
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| Meg liked this one because it had a "cat" in it |
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| This one, by some Dutch guy, was very popular. I guess everyone liked the flowers |
We returned to our apartment tired and foot-sore and retired early. We will have more adventures on Tuesday, our final full day in London town.
Tue May 19th
Today is our last full day in London and the weather forecast was not good. Sunny until the afternoon then rain and thunderstorms.
We visited the Courtauld Gallery on the south side of The Strand in London. This is regarded by many as the "best small gallery in the world", a view that we now fully share. The gallery is located in the magnificent Somerset House and has one of the best collections of Impressionist paintings in the world.
Unlike the National Art Gallery, it is not bursting with tourists as it appears that many people simply do not know of this treasure. They are currently hosting an exhibition of Goya's lithographic drawings "Witches and Old Women". Once again, our London Card got us in to the exhibition and gallery for free (the gallery itself is free).
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| A self portrait by the same Dutch guy who did the flowers but he seems to have lost an ear |
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| This one was a favourite of mine because of its bar and cute barmaid |
The rooms at the gallery are art works in themselves. Since the building was, at various times, a royal palace, its rooms are richly decorated from the ceilings down. It also has a very good collection of antique furniture and china, some of which are on display in the same rooms as the paintings.
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| Meg inspects some examples of antique china at the Courtauld Gallery |
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| St Peter c1480-85 attributed to Nicola di Maestro Antonio d'Ancona |
After lunch we went on a train trip around London using both underground and overground lines. This practically drained our London Oyster Cards.
On our return to the apartment, we discovered that none of our electronic key cards worked. The hotel staff were able to quickly fix this problem giving us access to our rooms.
Tomorrow we fly back to Singapore. To confirm that our flight details were correct we went to the airline web site and entered our ticket details to discover, to our horror, that our tickets were invalid. After several attempts to call the airline directly failed (the apartments phone wasn't working, my mobile phone didn't work and Meg's ran out of credit mid call) we eventually succeeded using the reception desk phone. It seems that our travel agent in Sydney had put the wrong ticket numbers on our documentation which the airline was able to sort out much to our relief. This combined with the access key problem, jangled our nerves considerably. To sooth them, we joining in the social activities (free wine and nibbles) in the main hotel lobby.
Wed May 20th
The morning of our final day dawned bright and sunny but, true to British tradition, by the time of our 10am departure from the hotel, it was overcast and threatening to rain.
Our flight leaves at 1:30pm (10:30pm Sydney time) and we arrive in Singapore some 13.5 hours later at about 9am Thursday (Singapore time - 11am Sydney time). No doubt jet lag will be a factor so we may simply crash at our hotel for the rest of the day.
Singapore May 21st to 23rd
Thu May 21st
Flight arrived dead on time at 9am Singapore time. The plane was not full so we (Meg) had some room to spread out. We went through immigration (only a bit of a wait) and then picked up our transfer to the Orchard Hotel where we stayed on the way out.
The only issue was having to wait at the hotel for about an hour and a half for our room to be readied (why??). Then, to add to our problems, the room key cards did not work but we eventually got in and crashed. It looks like all the bad luck has happened at the end of the trip.
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| View from our 7th floor window of the Orchard Hotel |
Fri May 22nd
Our final full day here in Singapore and on a very memorable trip.
Left early for the Gardens by the Bay attraction in Singapore - this was recommended to us by the limo driver who ferried us from the airport to our hotel. It was easily accessible by the MRT - Singapore's driverless train system - from our hotel. It is located in the Marina Bay area and the very first thing you see in that location is the Marina Bay Sands hotel.
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| The Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore |
The Gardens by the Bay are built in a large park (which is obviously by Marina Bay) and contain wonderful gardens, lakes and conservatories - all free. However, their main attractions are three enormous structures. The most obvious of these are the 25-50m Super Trees which resemble giant Sci-fi trees. Each contains vertical gardens, there is an aerial walkway between the largest of the trees (the yellow loop in the image below) and the tallest now has a cafe at the top.
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| The Super Trees |
Some scenes from inside the Flower Dome.
The other dome, the Cloud Dome, is smaller in area but much taller. It contains a 42m mountain with a 35m waterfall. The mountain has lifts which take you to the top and to 6 intermediate levels. The dome replicates the cool moist environment found in a mountaintop tropical rain forest and is populated with orchids and similar plants.
Some scenes from the Cloud Dome.
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| Pitcher plants at the mountain top |
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| The Cloud Walk at the top of the mountain - not for those afraid of heights |
Sat May 23rd
We made it back to Sydney on time. The plane was full and we had the very back two seats, the safest part of the aircraft although Meg was not impressed. She insists that she will select the seats next time!
Despite the fact that our plane pulled into the terminal just moments ahead of a full A380 (super jumbo) we had very few delays through customs and immigration - although Peter failed the camera face recognition test at border control and had to go through a booth manned by a real person. The amazing part was that there was no queue for a taxi and the taxi trip from the airport to Cheltenham took about 30 minutes.
Signing off until our next adventure
Meg and Peter
