Again i've not been updating the blog for a little while, so i apologise for that. I do have a fairly good reason - the last couple of days have been fairly packed with doings.
There are four days (including today), but i'll leave out day 3 as it pretty much can be summed up as "Then he rested". I also might have to make this a bit briefer than it deserves if someone else needs to use this internet terminal (only one in the hotel).
Day 1:
We started off by catching the Metro (subway) over to the Eiffel Tower. At first i was quite intimidated by the complexity of the Metro, as it has a vast number of different lines and places you can end up, but after a bit of use it has turned out to be quite simple once you're used to it.
The Eiffel Tower was even more impressive up close than it was from the back of a bus - i took a lot more photographs but i still doubt that any of them will come close to conveying its size and presence. We didn't climb up it, as the lines to do so were staggeringly long, but we did have lunch underneath it on a park bench, which was nice except for being pestered by gypsies and wandered past by police with sub-machine guns - a fairly standard presence throughout Paris.
After lunch we wandered about a kilometre or so up to the Hotel D'Invalides, which was the hospital for injured soldiers in Napoleon's era. It is noteworthy for a number of reasons, but the most obvious is the enormous domed church which is built into it, which houses Napleon's own tomb. We visited the tomb (helpful tourist tip: if you're in Paris and planning to see a number of monuments purchase a museum pass beforehand as it will save money and, more importantly, help you avoid a number of large queues) which was spectacularly ornate. It also houses the tombs for a number of other notable French military figures.
In the Hotel D'Invalides there are also a number of museums. We visited two of them - the World War Museum and the Charles De Gaulle Museum.
The World War Museum was well done, if unexceptional. Probably its most interesting element was that it began its display from 1870 rather than the beginning of the 20th century as most museums simplifiy it to. This is fairly representative of the French view on this, i guess, since that was when their 'German problems' really started.
The surprising highlight of the D'Invalides exhibits was the De Gaulle museum. Unfortunately i don't know much about him, and most of the exhibits were in French, but it was incredibly sophisticated. The display is very new, having only been opened by the French president this February, and the technology and design used is all first rate and incredibly dazzling. The entire place is decorated by an almost holographic light display of De Gaulle which decorates the walls, and you can access information using a number of computer terminals which are controlled simply by gestures. It's quite difficult to describe accurately, but imagine something like Minority Report, where Tom Cruise manipulates a computer using only gestures.
The final visit for the day was the Musèe Rodin. This was a smallish museum devoted entirely to the famous sculptor Rodin. The museum was laid out in an absolutely beautiful way - half the works were displayed in a fairly normal way inside a house, but the other half were distributed throughout a lovely garden that surrounded the house - it was a beautiful, incredibly peaceful way to look at all those incredible works. His two most famous works (which we saw) are The Thinker and The Kiss.
Then we caught the Metro back to our apartment, had a fairly dud dinner (oddly enough, France has been the weak spot for our dining this holiday) and watched the football. The European Cup has been on all week, and we've all been following it closely (and trying not to laugh too much at how poorly France has done).
Day 2:
If day 1 was wonderful then day 2 was incredible. This was the day that we had booked for a World War 1 battlefield tour.
We started off very early and caught the train out to the city of Lille, which is in the north-east of France. We got out there by about seven thirty in the morning and somehow managed to link up with our tour group without falling asleep. We were meeting up with them at one of the two Lille railway stations, and it turned out that other people were also suffering sleep deprivation - there was an accident on a packed escalator which stopped the people at the top from exiting. As people continued coming up from below they began to pile up into one another and some fell over. It was fairly dramatic for a brief moment, and i pulled one woman from out of it, but thankfully someone figured out how to stop the escalator (the stop button being in a completely different place to Australian ones).
After that dramatic little interlude we set off in a small bus for the battlefields. There were 14 of us in the group, and most of the others were Australians, with the others being a Canadian couple.
We drove up the motorway, which meant that we got to our first stop within 45 minutes: the Villez Brettonux memorial to fallen and missing Australian soldiers. The memorial was designed in a a very similar way to the memorial that I had visited for Allied soldiers in Thailand - it turns out that there is a single organisation which coordinates all Allied war cemeteries the world over. This one was larger and a little more ornate, as this was a far more significant spot and represented a far larger loss of life on both sides.
One of the extra details to this memorial was a wall engraved with the names of all those Australians killed or missing during the conflict. We found the name of my great-great-uncle Desmond Webber, who was killed at Pozieres. It was a very strange experience, to reflect upon a family member of mine being born over a hundred years ago, shipping off to that place only to die at an age six years younger than I am now. He couldn't have been too bad, either - he was a sergeant when he died, at age 20.
We inspected a number of the battlefields in that area, and it really helped give a solid feeling for what a bitter, horrifying battle of attrition World War I was. We were standing on what would have been the Allied front line trenches at the start of the war, and less than a mile away we could see a village which was their first objective for the war. It took them more than a year to make that distance, and at the cost of over fifty thousand dead. You can't really appreciate the full horror of attrition war until you see the places and distances it is waged over.
One of the other highlights of the day was the Thiepval Memorial, which is the British memorial for their missing, and only their missing, soldiers from the conflict. It is a brick and marble structure which has each soldier's name engraved in its walls - and as a result, it is huge. Like the Eiffel Tower, but in a more sombering way, it is something which you can only appreciate the scale of if you see it in person.
Our trip back to Paris was relatively uneventful, except that when we got back to Lille to catch our train we went to the wrong train station and found it was shut down completely by police and firefighters. As soon as we realised we were at the wrong station we ran across to the other one, but as we left the first one we heard an explosion, so we assume there was an evacuation because of a suspect package. Fun.
Anyway, we got home safely, watched more football, etc.
Yesterday was a fairly dull day really. Read books, went for a walk, ate at another crappy restaurant. Nothing terribly interesting.
Day 4, aka Today
There was only one major thing about today, but it was fairly major - The Louvre. As the biggest, most famous art gallery in the world we were nervous about how long we might have to line up to get in. The answer was no time at all - our museum passes which we bought a few days ago let us skip all that malarkey, which probably saved us an hour or so.
At times the Louvre reminds you that it used to be a palace - there are some incredibly elaborate ceilings in places - but for the most part it is surprisingly modern in its setup. They have used skylights in a number of places, which is quite nice as it makes it less claustraphobic.
We headed first of all to see the Mona Lisa, mainly because it is the main attraction and we wanted to tick it off the list. While it was very popular we had no problem getting to view it. It is certainly a wonderful painting, but i don't think i would count it as a particular favourite. Still, i can see why people would want to stand and examine it for hours on end.
We spent about 3 hours after that walking about, and got to see a number of important works, including the Venus de Milo. I would definitely recommend The Louvre, but i would recommend research and planning before visiting, as it is so huge that it is easy to get distracted and end up missing a lot of the important works without a plan.
There's a fairly solid chance that this will be my last post before i get back to Australia. It's taken me half the day to write this blog entry because i've had to hop on and off the computer so often, and it's now midnight here. We will be jumping on our plane about seven tomorrow evening, and from there it is going to be a fairly horrible 32 hour or so ordeal until we get back to Canberra. So i suspect my first order of business upon getting back will either be sleep or coffee depending upon the time.
Hope all is well back home, and be seeing you all soon.
Patrick
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Paris from the back of a bus
My opinion of Paris has jumped up a number of notches. I still find it utterly overwhelming, but in a far more pleasant way now that i`m a little more used to it.
We went for a walk yesterday up towards Le Palais de Justice, and along the way we ran into a reasonably sized demonstration outside the police HQ. We got chatting with a couple of the demonstrators and learned that it was about granting working permits to people who don`t currently have them, which explained the predominantly African makeup of the demonstrators. We moved on, although dad (ever the provocatéur) just had to take a few pictures of the heavily armed police observing. He remains, for the moment, unshot.
Our next big stop was the famous Notre Dame cathedral, which is massive - it dwarfs even the largest of the English cathedrals. The interior was very Catholic - dark and ornate. Unsurprisingly it was extremely crowded - they must get tens of thousands of tourists through there every day. Just after leaving the cathedral somone in a hunchback costume scared my Mum by jumping out and yelling Boo, which i found hilarious but she wasn`t so keen on.
After we had lunch we caught a tourist bus, which took us around the various monuments and tourist attractions of Paris. All of them were very beautiful, and a few were breathtaking, but two stood out even beyond that - the Arc de Triomph and the Eiffel Tower.
Both of these monuments were spectacular because in each case i thought i knew what i was getting, but they both turned out to be so much larger than i had imagined. The Arc also had the benefit of being the centrepiece of the most chaotic and murderous traffic system i have ever encountered, but the Eiffel Tower was mindblowing. I can`t really put it into words, except to just re-emphasise that the thing is about ten times bigger than i had imagined it, and it just dominates the skyline in a truly impressive way.
Today we`ve been doing more touring. It`s been very nice, but not as spectacular as yesterday. Only two things of particular note:
1) Saw the Moulin Rouge building
2) Walked down the Rue de Saint Denis and only realised half way down it that all the women hanging around the place were prostitutes (bit slow on the uptake). I guess i was surprised by 2 things - how old they all were, and how there were hardly any African women amongst them, which was something i expected more of.
Tomorrow we may be seeing either the Louvre or another art gallery, and on Saturday we are catching a train up to a battlefield tour.
We went for a walk yesterday up towards Le Palais de Justice, and along the way we ran into a reasonably sized demonstration outside the police HQ. We got chatting with a couple of the demonstrators and learned that it was about granting working permits to people who don`t currently have them, which explained the predominantly African makeup of the demonstrators. We moved on, although dad (ever the provocatéur) just had to take a few pictures of the heavily armed police observing. He remains, for the moment, unshot.
Our next big stop was the famous Notre Dame cathedral, which is massive - it dwarfs even the largest of the English cathedrals. The interior was very Catholic - dark and ornate. Unsurprisingly it was extremely crowded - they must get tens of thousands of tourists through there every day. Just after leaving the cathedral somone in a hunchback costume scared my Mum by jumping out and yelling Boo, which i found hilarious but she wasn`t so keen on.
After we had lunch we caught a tourist bus, which took us around the various monuments and tourist attractions of Paris. All of them were very beautiful, and a few were breathtaking, but two stood out even beyond that - the Arc de Triomph and the Eiffel Tower.
Both of these monuments were spectacular because in each case i thought i knew what i was getting, but they both turned out to be so much larger than i had imagined. The Arc also had the benefit of being the centrepiece of the most chaotic and murderous traffic system i have ever encountered, but the Eiffel Tower was mindblowing. I can`t really put it into words, except to just re-emphasise that the thing is about ten times bigger than i had imagined it, and it just dominates the skyline in a truly impressive way.
Today we`ve been doing more touring. It`s been very nice, but not as spectacular as yesterday. Only two things of particular note:
1) Saw the Moulin Rouge building
2) Walked down the Rue de Saint Denis and only realised half way down it that all the women hanging around the place were prostitutes (bit slow on the uptake). I guess i was surprised by 2 things - how old they all were, and how there were hardly any African women amongst them, which was something i expected more of.
Tomorrow we may be seeing either the Louvre or another art gallery, and on Saturday we are catching a train up to a battlefield tour.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Bonjour!
Well, we made it to Paris, and in an even more startling piece of luck we actually made it to the apartments we had booked.
Just a little note: i am typing on a french style keyboard, and they are a bit different from English language ones. As a result my touchtyping skills are nil and i might make some errors beyond the usual.
The train trip to Paris was very pleasant: a nice final viewing of the English countryside. It took about 2 hours.
Unfortunately things were not so great when we got to the Paris railway station: dad was almost bowled over by a rude frenchwoman who then had the gall to yell at him. We had to wait for more than an hour before we got out of the station, and this all while it was over 30° and the station a greenhouse.
Paris traffic is brutal: we caught a cab, and as far as i can tell driving here is less about car skill than it is about intimidating your fellow drivers. The most impressive feat our cabdriver managed was to win a game of chicken with a bus. I do not know how the bus driver felt, but i know that i briefly felt terror.
Not too much more to report: i am tired (and still suffering this bloody cold). Perhaps later or tomorrow we will do some exploring, but for the moment i need a snooze.
Just a little note: i am typing on a french style keyboard, and they are a bit different from English language ones. As a result my touchtyping skills are nil and i might make some errors beyond the usual.
The train trip to Paris was very pleasant: a nice final viewing of the English countryside. It took about 2 hours.
Unfortunately things were not so great when we got to the Paris railway station: dad was almost bowled over by a rude frenchwoman who then had the gall to yell at him. We had to wait for more than an hour before we got out of the station, and this all while it was over 30° and the station a greenhouse.
Paris traffic is brutal: we caught a cab, and as far as i can tell driving here is less about car skill than it is about intimidating your fellow drivers. The most impressive feat our cabdriver managed was to win a game of chicken with a bus. I do not know how the bus driver felt, but i know that i briefly felt terror.
Not too much more to report: i am tired (and still suffering this bloody cold). Perhaps later or tomorrow we will do some exploring, but for the moment i need a snooze.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Last day in London
Just a quick update before we set off for Paris tomorrow.
Today was quite a full day due to packing and repacking and trying to get rid of a lot of crap we've accumulated during the trip. We were reasonably successful, but the real test will be tomorrow when we have to cart it all on to the Chunnel train.
Two big touristy things today:
1) St Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately no giant cats stuck their heads out of the dome while we were in the area (for those who don't get it, watch The Goodies). In many ways St Paul's was a fairly conventional cathedral, but its big differentiating point is of course the grand dome, which was installed as part of the rebuilding after the great Fire of London. It was actually possible to climb up into it, which gave a unique view of the rest of the cathedral.
2) Kew Gardens. While this is meant to be the Botanic Gardens of England, it was actually the most disappointing garden of the entire trip. It was very dull, and the grounds stretched on forever, which was not helped by the fact that it was a very hot and sunny day. So the Gardens themselves were a bit of a bust. However, we travelled back to our hotel not by taxi or the underground, but by a boatride up the Thames. That was a good way to see the city (it took a good long while though). It was also interesting from a historical point of view, as there was a plaque on the boat saying that it had taken part in the Dunkirk operation saving thousands of British troops in the Second World War.
We had a delicious Greek dinner, which was a nice way to finish up our British dining experiences. Unfortunately my cold (or at least the nose part of it) seems to have made a bit of a resurgence, which is very irritating as i thought i had pretty much got it under control.
Today was quite a full day due to packing and repacking and trying to get rid of a lot of crap we've accumulated during the trip. We were reasonably successful, but the real test will be tomorrow when we have to cart it all on to the Chunnel train.
Two big touristy things today:
1) St Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately no giant cats stuck their heads out of the dome while we were in the area (for those who don't get it, watch The Goodies). In many ways St Paul's was a fairly conventional cathedral, but its big differentiating point is of course the grand dome, which was installed as part of the rebuilding after the great Fire of London. It was actually possible to climb up into it, which gave a unique view of the rest of the cathedral.
2) Kew Gardens. While this is meant to be the Botanic Gardens of England, it was actually the most disappointing garden of the entire trip. It was very dull, and the grounds stretched on forever, which was not helped by the fact that it was a very hot and sunny day. So the Gardens themselves were a bit of a bust. However, we travelled back to our hotel not by taxi or the underground, but by a boatride up the Thames. That was a good way to see the city (it took a good long while though). It was also interesting from a historical point of view, as there was a plaque on the boat saying that it had taken part in the Dunkirk operation saving thousands of British troops in the Second World War.
We had a delicious Greek dinner, which was a nice way to finish up our British dining experiences. Unfortunately my cold (or at least the nose part of it) seems to have made a bit of a resurgence, which is very irritating as i thought i had pretty much got it under control.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Making up for lost time
It has been a long time since my last update (10 days or so?), so obviously we've done a lot since i last reported.
We're now back in London for a couple of days before heading off to Paris on Tuesday.
What have we done in the interim?
Well, we left Scotland the day after my most recent post, and we checked out a coastal castle called Bamburgh which was in the borderlands between England and Scotland and was there pretty much to stop the Scots revolting. It was fairly large and had obviously seen some use over the years, but its best feature was its views out to the sea, which was being whipped up into a glorious menace by high winds.
The day following that we drove across to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne which is cut off from the mainlands by the tides about half the day. Dad misread the tide tables before going off for a walk to see the castle there, and we barely got off the island literally five minutes before the tide was due to cut off the island from the mainland, which would have been fun.
We next went to the town of Alnwick which had two main attractions for us. The first was a fairly large and modern garden that Mum was keen to see. It was alright, but it seemed a bit soulless compared to some of the wonderful gardens we have already seen.
The second attraction was Barter Books, one of the largest second hand bookshops in the world. I really liked the place, but actually only found two books i wanted to buy there. One thing i did like was that they had a large model railway set constructed to run across the top of the shelves throughout the whole store, which gave it a very nice feeling.
Actually managed to catch an episode of the new series of Dr Who that night - part 1 of a 2 parter written by Steven Moffat of 'Blink' fame. Very good so far, and the 2nd part is on tonight.
Our next big event was a day or so later - Castle Howard. This was where the BBC series of Brideshead Revisited, which launched Jeremy Irons to international fame, was filmed. It is a sumptuous mansion with a painted dome that made me think of the Sistine Chapel, and huge grounds to match - but little did we know that Castle Howard would look modest compared to a later house we would visit... (cheap suspense building)
The next day was York, where our main objective was to see Yorkminster Cathedral, which is the largest medieval church in Britain. It was very impressive, and we had a tour guide who made the place seem a lot more interesting then most of the other cathedrals we had visited (i feel like such a pleb for looking down my nose at other cathedrals, but there you go). I also had the good fortune to find a particular book that i had been searching for the entire holiday, so i was very happy with York.
Unfortunately our accomodation that night wasn't very good, so while the day had started well with York i don't think anyone was in the best mood to finish the day.
The next morning at breakfast we met a guy who had stayed there overnight and who was in the middle of trudging from London to Glasgow in order to raise money for charity. Given the weather was one step down from torrential we all felt sorry for him and gave him a bit of money - whether to go towards his charity or help him get accomodation in the future we weren't too fussed.
Cambridge was next - we visited the Kings College hall there, which was about as spectacular as a cathedral and had a famous Rubens painting as its centrepiece. We also visited the Fitzwilliam Museum there which i found a bit boring since a large portion of it was taken up with pottery and other similar art rather than paintings, which was the section i enjoyed. Overall i didn't really get much out of Cambridge.
June 5 was Dad's birthday, and to celebrate we visited Coventry Cathedral, which was something he had dearly wanted to do, and which Mum had been less keen on doing.
The story of Coventry Cathedral is fascinating. It was a fairly regular cathedral (i am such a cathedral snob) until the Second World War. Coventry was an industrial centre, and therefore vital to the British war effort. For this reason Coventry was bombed heavily, and the cathedral was one of the many casualties.
After the war there was a determination to rebuild the cathedral as a symbol of England's recovery. An international competition was held to design the cathedral. Basil Spence, who had served in the war, won with a radical design. He proposed that the ruins of the cathedral be left as a monument, and that a new cathedral be built next to the ruins. His design was modern, controversial and wonderfully symbolic of peace, forgiveness and rebirth. One element of the story which my father loves is regarding the statue which dominates the approach to the cathedral - St Michael's Victory Over The Devil, by Jacob Epstein. The gist of the story is that Spence commissioned Epstein's work because he believed him to be the best talent for the job, but that many conservative church officials complained because the artist was Jewish. The statue went ahead.
The interior of the cathedral is wonderful as well - the entrance contains the most wonderful stain glass window i have ever seen. If i were religious i would say that it made me feel like i was in the presence of God - it was such a superb and ascendant piece of art. In addition, the cathedral reflects its strong working class and industrial links, which makes it uniquely modern amongst all the cathedrals we have visited.
After lunch we visited Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. Unfortunately we didn't really get too much out of our visit. I have the feeling that because it is such an incredible tourist bait that there hasn't been a proper effort to unify the place and make it engage more with Shakespeare's actual works. So, that was quite disappointing.
The next day was fairly relaxed. We visited a village called Winchcombe where there is a famous pottery shop that my grandfather used to visit every time he was in the UK. Obviously my parents shared that affection, as they spent a long time in the shop and bought a few pieces to have shipped back to Australia. Also in Winchcombe we had lunch at a delightful tea room run by a Japanese family. They obviously have a very good and widespread reputation, as a coach-load of Japanese tourists came in just as we were finishing.
In the afternoon we drove to the village of Bladen which is very near to Oxford, where we were staying. Bladen has a very small church which has a tiny graveyard. In the graveyard is buried, with almost no pomp or circumstance, Winston Churchill. It's lovely that Churchill, who is generally regarded as the greatest Briton of the 20th Century, could be buried so humbly (at his own wishes). You can just imagine the kind of gaudy tribute the Americans would have done for him.
The reason that he is buried in Bladen is that it is where his ancestral home and birthplace, Blenheim Palace, is located. Blenheim Palace puts Castle Howard to shame - it is astonishingly huge even for the upper classes, and the grounds stretch on to ridiculous extent. On the day we visited they were setting up for a triathlon, and the entire triathlon was to be held within the grounds - including swimming through the lake.
We stayed the night at Oxford, and similarly to Cambridge i didn't get a huge amount out of it. We did manage to time it so that our visit coincided with graduations, so the streets were overrun with drunken graduates.
We're now back in London for a couple of days before heading off to Paris on Tuesday.
What have we done in the interim?
Well, we left Scotland the day after my most recent post, and we checked out a coastal castle called Bamburgh which was in the borderlands between England and Scotland and was there pretty much to stop the Scots revolting. It was fairly large and had obviously seen some use over the years, but its best feature was its views out to the sea, which was being whipped up into a glorious menace by high winds.
The day following that we drove across to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne which is cut off from the mainlands by the tides about half the day. Dad misread the tide tables before going off for a walk to see the castle there, and we barely got off the island literally five minutes before the tide was due to cut off the island from the mainland, which would have been fun.
We next went to the town of Alnwick which had two main attractions for us. The first was a fairly large and modern garden that Mum was keen to see. It was alright, but it seemed a bit soulless compared to some of the wonderful gardens we have already seen.
The second attraction was Barter Books, one of the largest second hand bookshops in the world. I really liked the place, but actually only found two books i wanted to buy there. One thing i did like was that they had a large model railway set constructed to run across the top of the shelves throughout the whole store, which gave it a very nice feeling.
Actually managed to catch an episode of the new series of Dr Who that night - part 1 of a 2 parter written by Steven Moffat of 'Blink' fame. Very good so far, and the 2nd part is on tonight.
Our next big event was a day or so later - Castle Howard. This was where the BBC series of Brideshead Revisited, which launched Jeremy Irons to international fame, was filmed. It is a sumptuous mansion with a painted dome that made me think of the Sistine Chapel, and huge grounds to match - but little did we know that Castle Howard would look modest compared to a later house we would visit... (cheap suspense building)
The next day was York, where our main objective was to see Yorkminster Cathedral, which is the largest medieval church in Britain. It was very impressive, and we had a tour guide who made the place seem a lot more interesting then most of the other cathedrals we had visited (i feel like such a pleb for looking down my nose at other cathedrals, but there you go). I also had the good fortune to find a particular book that i had been searching for the entire holiday, so i was very happy with York.
Unfortunately our accomodation that night wasn't very good, so while the day had started well with York i don't think anyone was in the best mood to finish the day.
The next morning at breakfast we met a guy who had stayed there overnight and who was in the middle of trudging from London to Glasgow in order to raise money for charity. Given the weather was one step down from torrential we all felt sorry for him and gave him a bit of money - whether to go towards his charity or help him get accomodation in the future we weren't too fussed.
Cambridge was next - we visited the Kings College hall there, which was about as spectacular as a cathedral and had a famous Rubens painting as its centrepiece. We also visited the Fitzwilliam Museum there which i found a bit boring since a large portion of it was taken up with pottery and other similar art rather than paintings, which was the section i enjoyed. Overall i didn't really get much out of Cambridge.
June 5 was Dad's birthday, and to celebrate we visited Coventry Cathedral, which was something he had dearly wanted to do, and which Mum had been less keen on doing.
The story of Coventry Cathedral is fascinating. It was a fairly regular cathedral (i am such a cathedral snob) until the Second World War. Coventry was an industrial centre, and therefore vital to the British war effort. For this reason Coventry was bombed heavily, and the cathedral was one of the many casualties.
After the war there was a determination to rebuild the cathedral as a symbol of England's recovery. An international competition was held to design the cathedral. Basil Spence, who had served in the war, won with a radical design. He proposed that the ruins of the cathedral be left as a monument, and that a new cathedral be built next to the ruins. His design was modern, controversial and wonderfully symbolic of peace, forgiveness and rebirth. One element of the story which my father loves is regarding the statue which dominates the approach to the cathedral - St Michael's Victory Over The Devil, by Jacob Epstein. The gist of the story is that Spence commissioned Epstein's work because he believed him to be the best talent for the job, but that many conservative church officials complained because the artist was Jewish. The statue went ahead.
The interior of the cathedral is wonderful as well - the entrance contains the most wonderful stain glass window i have ever seen. If i were religious i would say that it made me feel like i was in the presence of God - it was such a superb and ascendant piece of art. In addition, the cathedral reflects its strong working class and industrial links, which makes it uniquely modern amongst all the cathedrals we have visited.
After lunch we visited Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. Unfortunately we didn't really get too much out of our visit. I have the feeling that because it is such an incredible tourist bait that there hasn't been a proper effort to unify the place and make it engage more with Shakespeare's actual works. So, that was quite disappointing.
The next day was fairly relaxed. We visited a village called Winchcombe where there is a famous pottery shop that my grandfather used to visit every time he was in the UK. Obviously my parents shared that affection, as they spent a long time in the shop and bought a few pieces to have shipped back to Australia. Also in Winchcombe we had lunch at a delightful tea room run by a Japanese family. They obviously have a very good and widespread reputation, as a coach-load of Japanese tourists came in just as we were finishing.
In the afternoon we drove to the village of Bladen which is very near to Oxford, where we were staying. Bladen has a very small church which has a tiny graveyard. In the graveyard is buried, with almost no pomp or circumstance, Winston Churchill. It's lovely that Churchill, who is generally regarded as the greatest Briton of the 20th Century, could be buried so humbly (at his own wishes). You can just imagine the kind of gaudy tribute the Americans would have done for him.
The reason that he is buried in Bladen is that it is where his ancestral home and birthplace, Blenheim Palace, is located. Blenheim Palace puts Castle Howard to shame - it is astonishingly huge even for the upper classes, and the grounds stretch on to ridiculous extent. On the day we visited they were setting up for a triathlon, and the entire triathlon was to be held within the grounds - including swimming through the lake.
We stayed the night at Oxford, and similarly to Cambridge i didn't get a huge amount out of it. We did manage to time it so that our visit coincided with graduations, so the streets were overrun with drunken graduates.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Pardon me, i'm puffed
Sorry if this post is not terribly well constructed - i'm well and truly puffed.
We woke up late this morning - almost 9:00am, which is about 2 hours later than we've been averaging, and which meant that we almost missed the breakfast being served. Not really sure why we slept so long - probably a combination of a nice room with no traffic going past thanks to the road being shut.
This morning we visited the Scottish National Museum, which my parents visited 30 or so years ago and had thoroughly enjoyed. Their expectations on revisiting were most definitely met - it is one of the best art galleries i have ever visited. It has an absolutely superlative collection of artists - Van Gogh, Turner, Monet and Rembrandt amongst others - and it is well set out so that you can view the collection comfortably and without having to spend a full day just to get a proper feel for it (which is an example i feel some of Australia's galleries could profit from imitating). My favourite piece was a self-portrait by Rembrandt during his late 40s/early 50s.
I have to say that the gallery cafe was not as good as the gallery itself. The food was adequate - pre-prepared sandwiches, lentil soup - but the staff either had not been given adequate cutlery and crockery, or they had not washed up any, as people were being served soup in styrofoam cups, and they had run out of pies (an unforgivable error).
The other highlight of the day so far, and the reason that i'm so bloody puffed, was the Walter Scott monument. Now, it might not have been totally obvious from my post about visiting Walter Scott's house, but Scott is one of the truly great and dominant figures in Scottish cultural history. He was a spectacular literary talent, and a fiercely passionate advocate of Scottish history. He can be seen as the primary reason for the reemergence of Scottish pride in their history and national identity after being conquered by the English.
When Scott died, it was proposed that a monument be built in the centre of Edinburgh "...befitting his stature". Well, they well and truly succeeded - the Walter Scott monument could be described as Scotland's Eiffel Tower - even in the modern skyline of Edinburgh it towers, and it is a very popular tourist attraction. You can also climb the monument, which is 61 metres tall and has 300 steps.
I thought this sounded like a grand idea, but Mum (who did it 30 years ago) mentioned that it got a bit tight towards the top of the monument. Undeterred, i paid my 3£ and began the climb.
Mum was not kidding about it being tight. You ascend via a steep spiral staircase which unfortunately does not have handrails, and there are four levels that you can walk around on. I have taken pictures from each of these levels, but as usual i can't upload them. Suffice to say that the view from each level is spectacular, and from the top level it is an unparalled view over all of Edinburgh which simulaneously made my heart soar and my vertigo gently tap me on the shoulder.
Coming back down was a bit problematic - the lack of a handrail meant i sort of had to wedge myself against the wall of the stairs and hang on to the the centre of the spiral. Thankfully noone was coming up the staircase on my way down, or it would have been a bit problematic. At the end i was very puffed - probably a little more than the experience truly warranted, so there's another little reminder to work on my fitness.
We woke up late this morning - almost 9:00am, which is about 2 hours later than we've been averaging, and which meant that we almost missed the breakfast being served. Not really sure why we slept so long - probably a combination of a nice room with no traffic going past thanks to the road being shut.
This morning we visited the Scottish National Museum, which my parents visited 30 or so years ago and had thoroughly enjoyed. Their expectations on revisiting were most definitely met - it is one of the best art galleries i have ever visited. It has an absolutely superlative collection of artists - Van Gogh, Turner, Monet and Rembrandt amongst others - and it is well set out so that you can view the collection comfortably and without having to spend a full day just to get a proper feel for it (which is an example i feel some of Australia's galleries could profit from imitating). My favourite piece was a self-portrait by Rembrandt during his late 40s/early 50s.
I have to say that the gallery cafe was not as good as the gallery itself. The food was adequate - pre-prepared sandwiches, lentil soup - but the staff either had not been given adequate cutlery and crockery, or they had not washed up any, as people were being served soup in styrofoam cups, and they had run out of pies (an unforgivable error).
The other highlight of the day so far, and the reason that i'm so bloody puffed, was the Walter Scott monument. Now, it might not have been totally obvious from my post about visiting Walter Scott's house, but Scott is one of the truly great and dominant figures in Scottish cultural history. He was a spectacular literary talent, and a fiercely passionate advocate of Scottish history. He can be seen as the primary reason for the reemergence of Scottish pride in their history and national identity after being conquered by the English.
When Scott died, it was proposed that a monument be built in the centre of Edinburgh "...befitting his stature". Well, they well and truly succeeded - the Walter Scott monument could be described as Scotland's Eiffel Tower - even in the modern skyline of Edinburgh it towers, and it is a very popular tourist attraction. You can also climb the monument, which is 61 metres tall and has 300 steps.
I thought this sounded like a grand idea, but Mum (who did it 30 years ago) mentioned that it got a bit tight towards the top of the monument. Undeterred, i paid my 3£ and began the climb.
Mum was not kidding about it being tight. You ascend via a steep spiral staircase which unfortunately does not have handrails, and there are four levels that you can walk around on. I have taken pictures from each of these levels, but as usual i can't upload them. Suffice to say that the view from each level is spectacular, and from the top level it is an unparalled view over all of Edinburgh which simulaneously made my heart soar and my vertigo gently tap me on the shoulder.
Coming back down was a bit problematic - the lack of a handrail meant i sort of had to wedge myself against the wall of the stairs and hang on to the the centre of the spiral. Thankfully noone was coming up the staircase on my way down, or it would have been a bit problematic. At the end i was very puffed - probably a little more than the experience truly warranted, so there's another little reminder to work on my fitness.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Balmoral, Stirling and Edinburgh
Balmoral was a very nice experience. As expected the grounds were very large and very beautiful - it's remarkably peaceful, and set next to the beautiful River Dee. It was raining lightly, which only made the pine trees which dominate the area more beautiful. The castle itself was actually a good deal smaller than i had expected - but i suppose it is only the 'summer residence', and there is still a very large amount of staff housing about the place.
Unexpectedly we did get to look inside the castle, but only the ballroom section. The ballroom had been set out for an exhibition showing a number of art works as well as giving a feeling for the ballroom as it would have been used - including showing off a number of royal ball dresses.
We spent the night at a hotel on the outskirts of Perth, which was a bit of an odd experience. The hotel itself was reasonably classy, and had a beautiful grounds surrounding it, but our room seemed to have a number of problems with it - the TV hadn't been supplied with an aerial plug, and there were no curtains in my bedroom. Luckily they fixed these problems and we had a reasonably good night.
This morning we went through the town of Stirling, which is built around a castle built (and, oddly, destroyed) by Robert the Bruce. The castle was interesting, but so far my favourite castle has been the first one we saw - Harlech Castle in Wales. I think that i just find the ruined and semi-ruined castles more interesting than the ones which have survived in fairly pristine condition.
We've now made it to Edinburgh, and after a slight problem finding our hotel (when we rung to book with them they failed to mention that the entire street they are on is closed for work) we've settled in nicely. I'm not sure how much sightseeing we will be doing here - i know that there are plans to see the castle, which is in walking distance from our hotel, and Mum wants to see an art gallery that she enjoyed last time she was in Scotland, but beyond that i'm not sure what we will be doing here, which is a bit odd since we're here for another 2 days.
Unfortunately all three of us now have colds, but i think we're all getting over them. Dad's doing the best, and Mum's probably feeling about as bad as i did a day or so ago.
Unexpectedly we did get to look inside the castle, but only the ballroom section. The ballroom had been set out for an exhibition showing a number of art works as well as giving a feeling for the ballroom as it would have been used - including showing off a number of royal ball dresses.
We spent the night at a hotel on the outskirts of Perth, which was a bit of an odd experience. The hotel itself was reasonably classy, and had a beautiful grounds surrounding it, but our room seemed to have a number of problems with it - the TV hadn't been supplied with an aerial plug, and there were no curtains in my bedroom. Luckily they fixed these problems and we had a reasonably good night.
This morning we went through the town of Stirling, which is built around a castle built (and, oddly, destroyed) by Robert the Bruce. The castle was interesting, but so far my favourite castle has been the first one we saw - Harlech Castle in Wales. I think that i just find the ruined and semi-ruined castles more interesting than the ones which have survived in fairly pristine condition.
We've now made it to Edinburgh, and after a slight problem finding our hotel (when we rung to book with them they failed to mention that the entire street they are on is closed for work) we've settled in nicely. I'm not sure how much sightseeing we will be doing here - i know that there are plans to see the castle, which is in walking distance from our hotel, and Mum wants to see an art gallery that she enjoyed last time she was in Scotland, but beyond that i'm not sure what we will be doing here, which is a bit odd since we're here for another 2 days.
Unfortunately all three of us now have colds, but i think we're all getting over them. Dad's doing the best, and Mum's probably feeling about as bad as i did a day or so ago.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Highlands are fairly high
Well, i'm feeling a bit better. Had a horrible 36 hours or so where i pretty much wasn't eating, but i've gradually gotten over that part of the cold and now i'm just snuffling and sneezing which oddly enough feels like a blessed relief.
Unfortunately Skye was a bit of a dud. Most of that was because i really wasn't in a state to enjoy it, but my parents also didn't feel too keen on it. Some spectacular scenery, but nothing much really to do.
So, we left Skye yesterday morning and headed over to Inverness for lunch (at which point i was still gradually reintroducing myself to food, so i was very pleased to eat 2 chicken strips). The weather in Scotland is pretty miserable - cold, windy, and at a bare minimum always drizzling. It's not really my kind of place i think - although that opinion might adjust as i feel better.
In the afternoon after we left Inverness we checked out Castle Cawdor (Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor, thou shalt be king hereafter). The castle itself was a bit disappointing - it's more of a large manor house than a proper castle, and the people who had laid it out for tourists hadn't done a wonderful job of it. The garden however was spectacular, especially the wild gardens which were exquisite. I wish we could have spent more time in that garden.
We stayed overnight at lovely little seaside village called Nairn (presumably the namesake of the former Member for Eden-Monaro). In spite of the fact that it was wet, windy and about 12 degrees it seemed that all the kids in the place were out on cricket grounds playing around - i can only assume that for them this IS summer weather. Amazing. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, but unfortunately some cats decided to conduct a whirlwind romance outside my window at 4 in the morning, so sleep was missed a little.
We're now heading a little further South (thank god - at Skye the sun didn't set until 10 and came up bright as day at 4 in the morning!). We're currently about 5 miles away from Balmoral, which is the Queen's summer residence (anyone who has seen the movie The Queen would be familiar with it). We probably won't get an opportunity to go through the castle itself, but apparently it has very beautiful grounds, and we're looking forward to that.
After that i believe we're heading down to a city by the name of Perth (small world...) and then tomorrow we will probably be heading over to Edinburgh for a couple of days.
Unfortunately Skye was a bit of a dud. Most of that was because i really wasn't in a state to enjoy it, but my parents also didn't feel too keen on it. Some spectacular scenery, but nothing much really to do.
So, we left Skye yesterday morning and headed over to Inverness for lunch (at which point i was still gradually reintroducing myself to food, so i was very pleased to eat 2 chicken strips). The weather in Scotland is pretty miserable - cold, windy, and at a bare minimum always drizzling. It's not really my kind of place i think - although that opinion might adjust as i feel better.
In the afternoon after we left Inverness we checked out Castle Cawdor (Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor, thou shalt be king hereafter). The castle itself was a bit disappointing - it's more of a large manor house than a proper castle, and the people who had laid it out for tourists hadn't done a wonderful job of it. The garden however was spectacular, especially the wild gardens which were exquisite. I wish we could have spent more time in that garden.
We stayed overnight at lovely little seaside village called Nairn (presumably the namesake of the former Member for Eden-Monaro). In spite of the fact that it was wet, windy and about 12 degrees it seemed that all the kids in the place were out on cricket grounds playing around - i can only assume that for them this IS summer weather. Amazing. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, but unfortunately some cats decided to conduct a whirlwind romance outside my window at 4 in the morning, so sleep was missed a little.
We're now heading a little further South (thank god - at Skye the sun didn't set until 10 and came up bright as day at 4 in the morning!). We're currently about 5 miles away from Balmoral, which is the Queen's summer residence (anyone who has seen the movie The Queen would be familiar with it). We probably won't get an opportunity to go through the castle itself, but apparently it has very beautiful grounds, and we're looking forward to that.
After that i believe we're heading down to a city by the name of Perth (small world...) and then tomorrow we will probably be heading over to Edinburgh for a couple of days.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Feeling crook
Not terribly much to report - we stayed the night in a very small town by the name of Fort William, and have driven up to the Isle of Skye today. We haven't really done much of interest, although a lot of the scenry on the way up here was spectacularly bleak.
Unfortunately i seem to have come down with the starts of a fairly heavy cold, and i'm feeling quite horrid. I haven't eaten a heap today, but i'm hoping that some Vitamin C, a headache pill and a good night's sleep will get me feeling a bit better (will also try and eat some dinner somewhere in there as well).
Unfortunately i seem to have come down with the starts of a fairly heavy cold, and i'm feeling quite horrid. I haven't eaten a heap today, but i'm hoping that some Vitamin C, a headache pill and a good night's sleep will get me feeling a bit better (will also try and eat some dinner somewhere in there as well).
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Glasgow
Greetings from sunny Glasgow!
Oddly enough, i'm not being sarcastic about the sunniness. That's not to say that it doesn't get very, very cold and windy as well.
The last two days were more of a break period than for sightseeing, but we did still go to the Glasgow art gallery. I was surprised how much i enjoyed it - it has good Scottish, Italian and French art sections which are well set out. The Scottish art exhibit in particular was interesting, as it included an explanation of the emergence of art styles in the Glasgow art community.
The art gallery also included a number of elements which are more museum-like, and i think that's an addition which works well. The true highlight was the entrance - when we walked in we were greeted by the loud, lovely sounds of organ music - there is an organ directly above the main entrance and they regularly get people in to play it.
I'm feeling fairly tired today - sleep has been a little irregular thanks to the great Scottish tradition of staging fights and loud arguments right outside my hotel room. We're leaving Glasgow today, and will be heading up in the general direction of the Isle of Skye (hmm... not sure if that's the right spelling, so forgive me if it's not).
Oddly enough, i'm not being sarcastic about the sunniness. That's not to say that it doesn't get very, very cold and windy as well.
The last two days were more of a break period than for sightseeing, but we did still go to the Glasgow art gallery. I was surprised how much i enjoyed it - it has good Scottish, Italian and French art sections which are well set out. The Scottish art exhibit in particular was interesting, as it included an explanation of the emergence of art styles in the Glasgow art community.
The art gallery also included a number of elements which are more museum-like, and i think that's an addition which works well. The true highlight was the entrance - when we walked in we were greeted by the loud, lovely sounds of organ music - there is an organ directly above the main entrance and they regularly get people in to play it.
I'm feeling fairly tired today - sleep has been a little irregular thanks to the great Scottish tradition of staging fights and loud arguments right outside my hotel room. We're leaving Glasgow today, and will be heading up in the general direction of the Isle of Skye (hmm... not sure if that's the right spelling, so forgive me if it's not).
Friday, May 23, 2008
The border invasion
Crossed the border into Scotland today. In spite of the Scottish National Party attempting to cede away from the UK the place seems much like the rest of the UK - ie. astonishingly beautiful and chock full of history and interesting bits.
Today had two particular highlights (three if you ask my Dad, but i think he was being a bit silly).
First highlight: Hadrian's Wall. This wall pretty much cutting off the Scots from Roman England is usually considered the north-west limit of the Roman Empire. Much of the wall has been destroyed today, stolen in order to construct roads and other buildings, but large portions of it remain today in a ruined state. We inspected one of the ruined fortresses that are located at intervals along the wall - this one would have housed about 800 soldiers at its peak, and is fairly large as a result. The borderlands between Scotland and England where the wall is located is quite bleak and windy, and it's easy to imagine a Roman soldier being fairly lonely and homesick there (i enjoyed it thoroughly and resisted the temptation to yell 'Hadriaaannnn!'.
Highlight the second: Sir Walter Scott's house. I don't know too much about Sir Walter Scott, and i wasn't expecting much from the author's house (Abbotsford). However, it was a remarkable experience. First of all, the house is very large for someone who wasn't royalty. Second of all, Sir Walter was a truly spectacular collector of all sorts of historical memorabilia - the house boasts (amongst other things) Marie Antoinette's clock, Rob Roy's hunting rifle, and two armour pieces from the battle of Waterloo. I couldn't come close to listing the memorabilia on display, but there is also a truly frightening collection of pistols, muskets, rifles, axes, swords, rapiers, elaborate daggers and other more exotic weapons. The third (and most significant) reason that i enjoyed the house was the guided tour - the fellow who gave it was immensely passionate about his subject, and imbued the topic with such enthusiasm that even someone like myself who knows almost nothing about Sir Walter was forced to be very interested. Without a doubt this was one of the big highlights of this trip - and a very surprising one at that.
After finishing up at Abbotsford we drove on to Glasgow. We had intended on going to Edinsburgh, but it is Bank Holiday long weekend and there is no accomodation in Edinsburgh because there is some huge marathon going on, so we came here instead. We'll be staying here for a couple of days, and it will probably be more of an R&R time than sightseeing - we all need it.
Hope things are good back in the Southern Hemisphere!
Today had two particular highlights (three if you ask my Dad, but i think he was being a bit silly).
First highlight: Hadrian's Wall. This wall pretty much cutting off the Scots from Roman England is usually considered the north-west limit of the Roman Empire. Much of the wall has been destroyed today, stolen in order to construct roads and other buildings, but large portions of it remain today in a ruined state. We inspected one of the ruined fortresses that are located at intervals along the wall - this one would have housed about 800 soldiers at its peak, and is fairly large as a result. The borderlands between Scotland and England where the wall is located is quite bleak and windy, and it's easy to imagine a Roman soldier being fairly lonely and homesick there (i enjoyed it thoroughly and resisted the temptation to yell 'Hadriaaannnn!'.
Highlight the second: Sir Walter Scott's house. I don't know too much about Sir Walter Scott, and i wasn't expecting much from the author's house (Abbotsford). However, it was a remarkable experience. First of all, the house is very large for someone who wasn't royalty. Second of all, Sir Walter was a truly spectacular collector of all sorts of historical memorabilia - the house boasts (amongst other things) Marie Antoinette's clock, Rob Roy's hunting rifle, and two armour pieces from the battle of Waterloo. I couldn't come close to listing the memorabilia on display, but there is also a truly frightening collection of pistols, muskets, rifles, axes, swords, rapiers, elaborate daggers and other more exotic weapons. The third (and most significant) reason that i enjoyed the house was the guided tour - the fellow who gave it was immensely passionate about his subject, and imbued the topic with such enthusiasm that even someone like myself who knows almost nothing about Sir Walter was forced to be very interested. Without a doubt this was one of the big highlights of this trip - and a very surprising one at that.
After finishing up at Abbotsford we drove on to Glasgow. We had intended on going to Edinsburgh, but it is Bank Holiday long weekend and there is no accomodation in Edinsburgh because there is some huge marathon going on, so we came here instead. We'll be staying here for a couple of days, and it will probably be more of an R&R time than sightseeing - we all need it.
Hope things are good back in the Southern Hemisphere!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The joys of the Lakes District
If you saw me now, you might think i was some strange breed of Goth Bogan. Why?
The bogan bit is easy enough to explain - i badly need my neck shaved, lest i begin to look like Billy Ray Cyrus (it's not that bad, but still, best not to take chances). The goth bit? One of my eyes looks like it has eyeshadow on it. This is because at the most recent hotel we stayed at they had bedside tables directly beside each bed, but at such an angle that when i rolled over during the night my face slammed directly into the corner of the table, only half a centimetre from my eye. I was very lucky it didn't hit my eye, but i now have some lovely bruising on my eyelid.
Other than that, things have been very nice. The Lakes District is ridiculously beautiful - where there aren't beautiful shimmering lakes there are majestic mountains. It's easy to see why the Romantic Poets loved the area so.
Yesterday we drove up to Beatrix Potter's farmhouse, Hilltop. It is remarkably popular with tourists, even before the summer tourist season starts, so it was very busy and crowded. I found it interesting but was not particularly overwhelmed - my parents loved it.
After lunch we then drove down to the village of Grasmere via a road that was less a road, more a goat track. Little recommendation here: travelling with a GPS in the UK is wonderful, but they occasionally lead you down fairly precarious paths that might cause the weak of heart to expire. Dad was driving and handled it very well.
Grasmere was the place where the poet Wordsworth lived for a number of years, and where he wrote his famous Daffodils poem. We visited his cottage, which has a remarkable view of the lake next to the village, and then went on to the Wordsworth Museum next door. The museum is absolutely superb, but for some reason we all found it quite overwhelming. It is full of content, and you really need to spend half a day there to take everything in.
We emerged from the museum quite tired and headed back to our hotel where we watched the UEFA Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, which has obviously been a huge deal over here in the UK. We were hoping for a Chelsea win, and they played very well, but Man United just managed to hold out in penalties. It was a remarkable game, and a great way to end our day.
Today we are leaving the Lakes District - we're heading east over to Penrith before we make our way up to Scotland for a week or so.
The bogan bit is easy enough to explain - i badly need my neck shaved, lest i begin to look like Billy Ray Cyrus (it's not that bad, but still, best not to take chances). The goth bit? One of my eyes looks like it has eyeshadow on it. This is because at the most recent hotel we stayed at they had bedside tables directly beside each bed, but at such an angle that when i rolled over during the night my face slammed directly into the corner of the table, only half a centimetre from my eye. I was very lucky it didn't hit my eye, but i now have some lovely bruising on my eyelid.
Other than that, things have been very nice. The Lakes District is ridiculously beautiful - where there aren't beautiful shimmering lakes there are majestic mountains. It's easy to see why the Romantic Poets loved the area so.
Yesterday we drove up to Beatrix Potter's farmhouse, Hilltop. It is remarkably popular with tourists, even before the summer tourist season starts, so it was very busy and crowded. I found it interesting but was not particularly overwhelmed - my parents loved it.
After lunch we then drove down to the village of Grasmere via a road that was less a road, more a goat track. Little recommendation here: travelling with a GPS in the UK is wonderful, but they occasionally lead you down fairly precarious paths that might cause the weak of heart to expire. Dad was driving and handled it very well.
Grasmere was the place where the poet Wordsworth lived for a number of years, and where he wrote his famous Daffodils poem. We visited his cottage, which has a remarkable view of the lake next to the village, and then went on to the Wordsworth Museum next door. The museum is absolutely superb, but for some reason we all found it quite overwhelming. It is full of content, and you really need to spend half a day there to take everything in.
We emerged from the museum quite tired and headed back to our hotel where we watched the UEFA Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, which has obviously been a huge deal over here in the UK. We were hoping for a Chelsea win, and they played very well, but Man United just managed to hold out in penalties. It was a remarkable game, and a great way to end our day.
Today we are leaving the Lakes District - we're heading east over to Penrith before we make our way up to Scotland for a week or so.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Another quick update
I'm very sorry but this will be another fairly rapid update. We've now left Wales and are back in England - i'm posting this from a town called Buxton in Derbyshire.
Again i haven't been able to post any pictures, which is a crying shame since in the last 3 days we have visited 3 Welsh castles.
The first castle (and the one i enjoyed the most) was Harlech Castle. It is in a very dramatic coastal outlooking village, and as a result the views from its ruined parapets and turret were quite extraordinary. When i eventually get photos posted they probably won't do it justice, but they were some of the most dramatic and beautiful outlooks i've ever seen. The castle itself is partially ruined, which gives it a lovely spooky feel straight out of a Famous Five book.
The second castle was Caernarfon, in the town of the same name. I didn't like this castle at all - it is completely pristine, just waiting for an army to inhabit it, and as a result it is very, very boring. It was the place where Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales (he actually swore allegiance to his own mother which must have led to interesting conversations over the Sunday roast). So yeah, chalk that down as a boring castle, something i never thought i would see.
The third castle was Conwy Castle, which we visited yesterday. It is semi-ruined, which makes it much more interesting, and it is also built into the wall defences of the village of Conwy which gives it a fairly unique outlook. It had some truly spectacular views from its turrets out over the estuary at low tide.
We stayed overnight at a TravelLodge in an industrial area of a town near the Welsh/English border. It was definitely the worst accomodation we've had so far this trip, and i had to sleep on what was essentially a sofa, but surprisingly i slept reasonably well. I'm feeling a little homesick and a little bit exhausted at the constant travelling, but i'm looking forward to the rest of this week as we will be heading up to the Lakes District (that's right, Mr Darcy country!).
Again i haven't been able to post any pictures, which is a crying shame since in the last 3 days we have visited 3 Welsh castles.
The first castle (and the one i enjoyed the most) was Harlech Castle. It is in a very dramatic coastal outlooking village, and as a result the views from its ruined parapets and turret were quite extraordinary. When i eventually get photos posted they probably won't do it justice, but they were some of the most dramatic and beautiful outlooks i've ever seen. The castle itself is partially ruined, which gives it a lovely spooky feel straight out of a Famous Five book.
The second castle was Caernarfon, in the town of the same name. I didn't like this castle at all - it is completely pristine, just waiting for an army to inhabit it, and as a result it is very, very boring. It was the place where Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales (he actually swore allegiance to his own mother which must have led to interesting conversations over the Sunday roast). So yeah, chalk that down as a boring castle, something i never thought i would see.
The third castle was Conwy Castle, which we visited yesterday. It is semi-ruined, which makes it much more interesting, and it is also built into the wall defences of the village of Conwy which gives it a fairly unique outlook. It had some truly spectacular views from its turrets out over the estuary at low tide.
We stayed overnight at a TravelLodge in an industrial area of a town near the Welsh/English border. It was definitely the worst accomodation we've had so far this trip, and i had to sleep on what was essentially a sofa, but surprisingly i slept reasonably well. I'm feeling a little homesick and a little bit exhausted at the constant travelling, but i'm looking forward to the rest of this week as we will be heading up to the Lakes District (that's right, Mr Darcy country!).
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Frantic catch-up
Because i'm not getting regular access to the internet i'm having a bit of trouble making this a proper, comprehensive travel-log, and i do apologise for that. I'm going to have to do a brief summary as time is a bit short before i have to hop back into the car.
We visited Tintern Abbey, which is the ruined remains of an abbey from at least 700 years ago. It is very close to the England/Wales border, but it was the first spot where i first began to get a strong feeling of Welsh culture, as the Welsh Heritage organisation run the site of the abbey ruins and are conscientious about preserving Welsh culture - they have a similar language program for Welsh as New Zealand has for Maori - every sign, every notice, every important document is duplicated in English and Welsh, right down to the "Slow" signs on the road. The ruins were impressive, especially as they were set in the pristine Wye Valley which made the place feel sheltered and incredibly peaceful.
We drove on up the Wye Valley and ended up staying just outside Hay-on-Wye. We spent almost the whole next day in Hay sampling the thing that it is world famous for - second hand bookshops. Yes, Hay is a village whose economy is built almost exclusively around second hand book tourism. It has over 35 book shops, and i believe i visited at least 25 of them. Some of them were glorious - large amounts of books, well laid out and organised. Some of them were horrible - poor stock (i had the impression that some stores just bought 2nd hand books by the truckload regardless of content), poorly laid out and organised (i mean really, it's not enough just to have fiction and non-fiction, you could try and alphabetise them or something), and a few treated their books so badly that it actually made me angry. I have fought back an almost overwhelming urge to apply for a work visa to start or take over a bookstore here, but i can definitely imagine coming back (they do a famous Writers' Festival which will begin in a week or two). For the record, i was very restrained and only bought 2 books (a crappy horror novel and a biography of Clive Barker). Dad bought 6 books, and if i had known he was going to throw restraint to the winds i would have bought a few extra as well.
The next day was fairly non-descript - we had stayed the night at some super-snobby golf club (i felt so oppressed - they had rules excluding me from the restaurant because i was wearing jeans) but took off fairly early on, looked at another cathedral whose name escapes me in some town which presumably the cathedral shared, and then ended up spending the night in another town whose name escapes me. This is what happens when i write a blog without my notes. Ah well - suffice to say that neither of those towns set my world on fire.
We visited Tintern Abbey, which is the ruined remains of an abbey from at least 700 years ago. It is very close to the England/Wales border, but it was the first spot where i first began to get a strong feeling of Welsh culture, as the Welsh Heritage organisation run the site of the abbey ruins and are conscientious about preserving Welsh culture - they have a similar language program for Welsh as New Zealand has for Maori - every sign, every notice, every important document is duplicated in English and Welsh, right down to the "Slow" signs on the road. The ruins were impressive, especially as they were set in the pristine Wye Valley which made the place feel sheltered and incredibly peaceful.
We drove on up the Wye Valley and ended up staying just outside Hay-on-Wye. We spent almost the whole next day in Hay sampling the thing that it is world famous for - second hand bookshops. Yes, Hay is a village whose economy is built almost exclusively around second hand book tourism. It has over 35 book shops, and i believe i visited at least 25 of them. Some of them were glorious - large amounts of books, well laid out and organised. Some of them were horrible - poor stock (i had the impression that some stores just bought 2nd hand books by the truckload regardless of content), poorly laid out and organised (i mean really, it's not enough just to have fiction and non-fiction, you could try and alphabetise them or something), and a few treated their books so badly that it actually made me angry. I have fought back an almost overwhelming urge to apply for a work visa to start or take over a bookstore here, but i can definitely imagine coming back (they do a famous Writers' Festival which will begin in a week or two). For the record, i was very restrained and only bought 2 books (a crappy horror novel and a biography of Clive Barker). Dad bought 6 books, and if i had known he was going to throw restraint to the winds i would have bought a few extra as well.
The next day was fairly non-descript - we had stayed the night at some super-snobby golf club (i felt so oppressed - they had rules excluding me from the restaurant because i was wearing jeans) but took off fairly early on, looked at another cathedral whose name escapes me in some town which presumably the cathedral shared, and then ended up spending the night in another town whose name escapes me. This is what happens when i write a blog without my notes. Ah well - suffice to say that neither of those towns set my world on fire.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Apologies for the delay
This is a post i meant to publish yesterday.
Sorry for the delay in posting - as i had feared, internet access has not been as reliable out of London as it was in it. As a result this might be a fairly long post reporting on the last couple of days.
I'll just start with a slight detour about the road signs in England. They're horrendous. Up until two days ago i thought they were poorly laid out - you would only get a single warning as to where a particular turn-off went, and there would probably be a tree branch hanging over it just to confuse matters further - but still essentially accurate. However, over the last two days we have run into a number of signs that are just completely wrong - pointing towards a village where there's a motorway, or vice versa. The only explanation that i can come up with is that the Signwriters' Guild has given up on making an honest living and decided to turn to slightly older, more traditional ways of making money.
We've just made it to Wales, and we will be staying overnight in Tintern. I don't really have much impression of Wales so far except that the bit we've seen is tremendously beautiful. Tomorrow we'll be viewing the famous abbey ruins here.
However, let me go over the last couple of days.
When i last posted we were at the Sebastian Coe Health Centre or some such rot. We took off from there for Cantebury and saw the cathedral there. It was impressive, but as a place of great religious significance i couldn't help but feel it was a bit wasted on me. We then went on to Dover and saw the White Cliffs, which are stunning, and Dover itself, which is as spectacular a hole of a city as i've ever seen. We drove around forever looking for a coin-op laundrette, and finally found one after passing through about 4 towns. I can't remember the last time i saw Mum so relieved.
That night we stayed in a Bed & Breakfast called Bull Farm Oast. Apparently an oast is a strange type of roof structure native to the Kent district - regardless, the owner of Bull Farm Oast was a very eccentric and unprofessional (although fundamentally nice) woman by the name of Prue. That experience almost put us off B&Bs, but we survived.
The following morning we visited Bodian Castle which is the ruins of a moated medieval castle which was destroyed by Cromwell's men (they believe). Apparently it was a favourite tourist attraction of my grandfather's, and i carried on the proud family tradition of taking a number of photos of the place - unfortunately my camera is stashed somewhere at the moment, so no photos in this post. They also bizaarely had constructed a pillbox there in preparation for the Germans invading in WW2 - presumably ruined medieval castles being thought to be critical to the German war effort.
After Bodian it was on to Sissinghurst Castle (more of a large manor), which has a very well constructed garden. This was one of the visits that Mum was really looking forward to, but she actually found it quite disappointing as most of the flowers have not yet come into bloom. Personally i found it fascinating, as there was a fairly careful presentation on the different philosophies of garden design, and it explained very well how Sissinghurst was a careful melding of the formal and natural philosophies. There was also a large Norman-era tower which gave a wonderful view of the garden, the house, and the surrounding fields.
We intended to go straight from there across to Winchester, but we didn't get there by the time evening approached, so we stayed the night at a old-style village pub in a tiny village by the name of East Meon. Meon has a church so large that i assume it does services for a large amount of the surrounding regions, and they were doing bell-ringing practise there long into the evening, which gave the village a very lovely 19th century rural feel.
In the morning we headed out to Winchester, where we inspected the cathedral. I must admit that i am getting a bit sick of cathedrals, and Winchester was probably the one which seemed the most 'ordinary'. Then it was on to Salisbury and the cathedral there as well. It is perhaps worth mentioning a term my uncle has coined from his travels - the ABC's, or Another Bloody Castle. Well, i'm starting to suffer from it, except mine is Another Bloody Cathedral. Salisbury cathedral was nice enough, but fairly unexceptional as these things go (and i cannot believe i just wrote that about a cathedral).
We stayed overnight at a hotel with a spectacular rural outlook over a stream and with the steeple of the cathedral in the background - at one point there were black sheep, horses and swans all milling about. All it needed was fish to be jumping out of the water and it would have been a scene from a Disney version of England. Unfortunately though the weather in the south of England is definitely heading towards summer - it is baking during the day, and very stuffy at night. Thankfully that problem has been abating as we've headed north.
On the 11th we took off from Salisbury and headed north-westish. This took us past Stonehenge, so we stopped off there and did the 'tour' (essentially just a walk around a fenced off perimeter). It was extremely impressive, especially as you don't get a proper feel for the surrounding areas from pictures of it, and they are very important to the whole structure.
I thought that was going to be the top point of the day, but i was very wrong. The next stop-off was Stourhead, which is a spectacular garden. When i get the opportunity to post photos i will put up a couple of this garden, but they will not do it justice. It is not a garden in the conventional sense of the word, but more a spectacularly designed and cultivated grounds. It is built around a small lake, and even before the flowers have begun to come out it is awe-inspiring in its scope and sheer grandeur. Everyone knows i am not a garden person in any serious way, but this was something tremendous and special, and i would love to go back and spend more time there.
We finished up the day at Glastonbury, which i found very curious. Apparently it is associated with the King Arthur myth (it is claimed that Arthur was buried there, which is a bit hard to imagine given him being mythical and all). During the 70s a large number of hippies descended on the town and don't seem to have ever left - so the main street is overwhelmed with new age shops which, shall we say, are not exactly my cup of tea. I may have irritated the parents a little muttering about hippies, but i blame this on being very hungry - we had to wander for a very long time to find a place to eat, but ended up having a very nice Indian meal. We also had a brief tour of the ruins of the Abbey there, and they were very impressive - it sort of gave you an idea of what happened to most of the cathedrals and other monuments which weren't lucky enough to be preserved. We spent the night in a Bed & Breakfast which was much more profesionally run than the first one we had back in Kent.
Today was fairly unspectacular - firstly stopped off in Wells for another cathedral. I actually liked this one a bit more, as it seemed to still be in use. After Wells we headed over to Bath, but it was extremely disappointing - we visited the 'Jane Austen House' which was absolutely a waste of time - i like Austen a lot, but this was an absolutely lazy and useless attempt to cash-in on her name, and i would advise anyone interested in Jane Austen to skip this and investigate the Jane Austen museum instead (not sure where it is located).
After that we came over into Wales - the river Severn which forms the border is spectacular, and the two bridges over the river are absolutely massive, and i wish i had taken a picture which could have taken them in, but 'twas not to be. Soon after entering Wales we came into Tintern where we will be staying the night.
Sorry for the delay in posting - as i had feared, internet access has not been as reliable out of London as it was in it. As a result this might be a fairly long post reporting on the last couple of days.
I'll just start with a slight detour about the road signs in England. They're horrendous. Up until two days ago i thought they were poorly laid out - you would only get a single warning as to where a particular turn-off went, and there would probably be a tree branch hanging over it just to confuse matters further - but still essentially accurate. However, over the last two days we have run into a number of signs that are just completely wrong - pointing towards a village where there's a motorway, or vice versa. The only explanation that i can come up with is that the Signwriters' Guild has given up on making an honest living and decided to turn to slightly older, more traditional ways of making money.
We've just made it to Wales, and we will be staying overnight in Tintern. I don't really have much impression of Wales so far except that the bit we've seen is tremendously beautiful. Tomorrow we'll be viewing the famous abbey ruins here.
However, let me go over the last couple of days.
When i last posted we were at the Sebastian Coe Health Centre or some such rot. We took off from there for Cantebury and saw the cathedral there. It was impressive, but as a place of great religious significance i couldn't help but feel it was a bit wasted on me. We then went on to Dover and saw the White Cliffs, which are stunning, and Dover itself, which is as spectacular a hole of a city as i've ever seen. We drove around forever looking for a coin-op laundrette, and finally found one after passing through about 4 towns. I can't remember the last time i saw Mum so relieved.
That night we stayed in a Bed & Breakfast called Bull Farm Oast. Apparently an oast is a strange type of roof structure native to the Kent district - regardless, the owner of Bull Farm Oast was a very eccentric and unprofessional (although fundamentally nice) woman by the name of Prue. That experience almost put us off B&Bs, but we survived.
The following morning we visited Bodian Castle which is the ruins of a moated medieval castle which was destroyed by Cromwell's men (they believe). Apparently it was a favourite tourist attraction of my grandfather's, and i carried on the proud family tradition of taking a number of photos of the place - unfortunately my camera is stashed somewhere at the moment, so no photos in this post. They also bizaarely had constructed a pillbox there in preparation for the Germans invading in WW2 - presumably ruined medieval castles being thought to be critical to the German war effort.
After Bodian it was on to Sissinghurst Castle (more of a large manor), which has a very well constructed garden. This was one of the visits that Mum was really looking forward to, but she actually found it quite disappointing as most of the flowers have not yet come into bloom. Personally i found it fascinating, as there was a fairly careful presentation on the different philosophies of garden design, and it explained very well how Sissinghurst was a careful melding of the formal and natural philosophies. There was also a large Norman-era tower which gave a wonderful view of the garden, the house, and the surrounding fields.
We intended to go straight from there across to Winchester, but we didn't get there by the time evening approached, so we stayed the night at a old-style village pub in a tiny village by the name of East Meon. Meon has a church so large that i assume it does services for a large amount of the surrounding regions, and they were doing bell-ringing practise there long into the evening, which gave the village a very lovely 19th century rural feel.
In the morning we headed out to Winchester, where we inspected the cathedral. I must admit that i am getting a bit sick of cathedrals, and Winchester was probably the one which seemed the most 'ordinary'. Then it was on to Salisbury and the cathedral there as well. It is perhaps worth mentioning a term my uncle has coined from his travels - the ABC's, or Another Bloody Castle. Well, i'm starting to suffer from it, except mine is Another Bloody Cathedral. Salisbury cathedral was nice enough, but fairly unexceptional as these things go (and i cannot believe i just wrote that about a cathedral).
We stayed overnight at a hotel with a spectacular rural outlook over a stream and with the steeple of the cathedral in the background - at one point there were black sheep, horses and swans all milling about. All it needed was fish to be jumping out of the water and it would have been a scene from a Disney version of England. Unfortunately though the weather in the south of England is definitely heading towards summer - it is baking during the day, and very stuffy at night. Thankfully that problem has been abating as we've headed north.
On the 11th we took off from Salisbury and headed north-westish. This took us past Stonehenge, so we stopped off there and did the 'tour' (essentially just a walk around a fenced off perimeter). It was extremely impressive, especially as you don't get a proper feel for the surrounding areas from pictures of it, and they are very important to the whole structure.
I thought that was going to be the top point of the day, but i was very wrong. The next stop-off was Stourhead, which is a spectacular garden. When i get the opportunity to post photos i will put up a couple of this garden, but they will not do it justice. It is not a garden in the conventional sense of the word, but more a spectacularly designed and cultivated grounds. It is built around a small lake, and even before the flowers have begun to come out it is awe-inspiring in its scope and sheer grandeur. Everyone knows i am not a garden person in any serious way, but this was something tremendous and special, and i would love to go back and spend more time there.
We finished up the day at Glastonbury, which i found very curious. Apparently it is associated with the King Arthur myth (it is claimed that Arthur was buried there, which is a bit hard to imagine given him being mythical and all). During the 70s a large number of hippies descended on the town and don't seem to have ever left - so the main street is overwhelmed with new age shops which, shall we say, are not exactly my cup of tea. I may have irritated the parents a little muttering about hippies, but i blame this on being very hungry - we had to wander for a very long time to find a place to eat, but ended up having a very nice Indian meal. We also had a brief tour of the ruins of the Abbey there, and they were very impressive - it sort of gave you an idea of what happened to most of the cathedrals and other monuments which weren't lucky enough to be preserved. We spent the night in a Bed & Breakfast which was much more profesionally run than the first one we had back in Kent.
Today was fairly unspectacular - firstly stopped off in Wells for another cathedral. I actually liked this one a bit more, as it seemed to still be in use. After Wells we headed over to Bath, but it was extremely disappointing - we visited the 'Jane Austen House' which was absolutely a waste of time - i like Austen a lot, but this was an absolutely lazy and useless attempt to cash-in on her name, and i would advise anyone interested in Jane Austen to skip this and investigate the Jane Austen museum instead (not sure where it is located).
After that we came over into Wales - the river Severn which forms the border is spectacular, and the two bridges over the river are absolutely massive, and i wish i had taken a picture which could have taken them in, but 'twas not to be. Soon after entering Wales we came into Tintern where we will be staying the night.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Out of London
Somehow we've ended up spending the night at the 'Sebastian Coe Health Centre". I suspect the last of my Labor Party credibility is now gone.
We caught a taxi across to the hire car place in reasonable time (passing JM Keynes' house on the way). We set what i assume is some sort of record by having someone bump into the back of our car within 5 minutes of us picking it up. And no, i am not exaggerating or being figurative - we literally got around the corner from the hire car place and had someone run into the back of us. Luckily it didn't cause any damage, but it left me fairly nervous for the rest of the day's driving.
We stopped off at the Greenwich Observatory for lunch and had a look at the museum and displays there. It was very interesting, but i didn't really feel like doing the "I'm in this time zone, i'm in that time zone" dance that most of the other tourists were doing. Also, i swear to god i saw Hugo Weaving there. I didn't go up and say Hi or anything, but it was pretty cool.
We also visited Knole, which is a stately manor confiscated by Henry VIII and given to the family of the writer Vita Sackville-West. Mum was very keen to see the gardens there, but unfortunately we didn't quite get there in time (missed by 4 minutes). The grounds were spectacular however, and we saw some deer just walking around. They remind me a little of the kangaroos at Tidbinbilla.
We had a bit of a time finding a place to stay overnight (hence the Seb Coe place) as it turns out that this week is very busy for hotels and bed and breakfasts in this area.
The English countryside seems amazingly beautiful - it is exactly like every beautiful picture you've ever seen. Of course it helps that we've had wonderful weather so far.
The one thing that irritates me a bit is their road system - they are laid out in a very haphazard manner, and people seem to go charging down tiny alleyways without a second's thought. I suppose it's the legacy of having to build modern roads to fit medieval/18th century towns and villages.
Tomorrow we're heading over to Cantebury, and we'll be seeing the cathedral there. Should be very impressive - hopefully i'll have some pictures to post next time.
We caught a taxi across to the hire car place in reasonable time (passing JM Keynes' house on the way). We set what i assume is some sort of record by having someone bump into the back of our car within 5 minutes of us picking it up. And no, i am not exaggerating or being figurative - we literally got around the corner from the hire car place and had someone run into the back of us. Luckily it didn't cause any damage, but it left me fairly nervous for the rest of the day's driving.
We stopped off at the Greenwich Observatory for lunch and had a look at the museum and displays there. It was very interesting, but i didn't really feel like doing the "I'm in this time zone, i'm in that time zone" dance that most of the other tourists were doing. Also, i swear to god i saw Hugo Weaving there. I didn't go up and say Hi or anything, but it was pretty cool.
We also visited Knole, which is a stately manor confiscated by Henry VIII and given to the family of the writer Vita Sackville-West. Mum was very keen to see the gardens there, but unfortunately we didn't quite get there in time (missed by 4 minutes). The grounds were spectacular however, and we saw some deer just walking around. They remind me a little of the kangaroos at Tidbinbilla.
We had a bit of a time finding a place to stay overnight (hence the Seb Coe place) as it turns out that this week is very busy for hotels and bed and breakfasts in this area.
The English countryside seems amazingly beautiful - it is exactly like every beautiful picture you've ever seen. Of course it helps that we've had wonderful weather so far.
The one thing that irritates me a bit is their road system - they are laid out in a very haphazard manner, and people seem to go charging down tiny alleyways without a second's thought. I suppose it's the legacy of having to build modern roads to fit medieval/18th century towns and villages.
Tomorrow we're heading over to Cantebury, and we'll be seeing the cathedral there. Should be very impressive - hopefully i'll have some pictures to post next time.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Never so good
Another great day. In fact, this might have been the best one in London, which is a good thing since it is our last full day here (although we will return in June for a few more days).
Only two big things to report.
Firstly, we visited the National Art Gallery which is located in Trafalgar Square. The monument to Nelson in the centre of the Square is probably the most effective public monument i've ever seen - it really communicated the reverence felt for him. Unfortunately none of us had a camera today, so no pictures of the column. Strangely there was not a pigeon to be seen, so maybe there's been a push to get rid of them.
The Art Gallery itself was very impressive. I had previously enjoyed the Tate, but this was superior. It had a good range of artists, some of whom i had previously heard of and some not. There were some Van Gogh, including the Sunflowers. Probably my favourite piece was 'Westminster on the Thames' by Monet, and i'll be trying to get a poster size version of it when i get home.
Unfortunately once again i didn't feel like i got as much out of this gallery as i wanted. It seems that art galleries take too much energy from me, and while i enjoy them i always end up exhausted before i've seen everything.
The highlight of the day was the play 'Never So Good'. It starred Jeremy Irons and was written by a fellow by the name of Howard Brenton who, it turns out, has written 13 episodes of Spooks amongst many other works. 'Never So Good' is a fairly sympathetic version of the life of Harold McMillan, who was British Prime Minister in the late 50s and early 60s. It examines his character and how it made him a sort of anachronism - a man out of his time - when he became Prime Minister.
The acting was first rate - it was interesting that although Irons was obviously commanding in his performance, he did not overshadow the rest of the cast. There were a number of actors who people would know from various BBC and film roles, including Anna Chancellor (from 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Pride & Predjudice) as Dorothy McMillan and Ian McNiece (Rome) playing Churchill with wonderful flare.
The stage direction was magnificent - the sets and backgrounds were subtle and reasonably minimalist, but incredibly effective. However, the thing that really took my breath away was the special effects. There were a few war scenes which managed to convey gunfire and trench warfare very well. However, the most spectacular scene capped the first act of the play as McMillan rescues the pilot of a downed plane. As Irons crawls away from the plane wreck with the pilot dragging behind him there was a massive explosion, a tremendous fireball right there on stage. I felt the wave of heat in our seats which were well away from the stage - i can only imagine how it must have felt for the actors.
This was definitely the best theatre experience i've ever had by a clear margin, and i would encourage anyone to see it if they are given the opportunity. This might be difficult however, as the play is completely sold out for a number of months, and we only got in by some kind of divine intervention causing a cancellation.
Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and get out of London. I think negotiating the traffic getting out of the city is going to be interesting. I believe we are heading first for Canterbury. Not sure how often i'll get access to internet from this point forward, so here's hoping.
Only two big things to report.
Firstly, we visited the National Art Gallery which is located in Trafalgar Square. The monument to Nelson in the centre of the Square is probably the most effective public monument i've ever seen - it really communicated the reverence felt for him. Unfortunately none of us had a camera today, so no pictures of the column. Strangely there was not a pigeon to be seen, so maybe there's been a push to get rid of them.
The Art Gallery itself was very impressive. I had previously enjoyed the Tate, but this was superior. It had a good range of artists, some of whom i had previously heard of and some not. There were some Van Gogh, including the Sunflowers. Probably my favourite piece was 'Westminster on the Thames' by Monet, and i'll be trying to get a poster size version of it when i get home.
Unfortunately once again i didn't feel like i got as much out of this gallery as i wanted. It seems that art galleries take too much energy from me, and while i enjoy them i always end up exhausted before i've seen everything.
The highlight of the day was the play 'Never So Good'. It starred Jeremy Irons and was written by a fellow by the name of Howard Brenton who, it turns out, has written 13 episodes of Spooks amongst many other works. 'Never So Good' is a fairly sympathetic version of the life of Harold McMillan, who was British Prime Minister in the late 50s and early 60s. It examines his character and how it made him a sort of anachronism - a man out of his time - when he became Prime Minister.
The acting was first rate - it was interesting that although Irons was obviously commanding in his performance, he did not overshadow the rest of the cast. There were a number of actors who people would know from various BBC and film roles, including Anna Chancellor (from 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Pride & Predjudice) as Dorothy McMillan and Ian McNiece (Rome) playing Churchill with wonderful flare.
The stage direction was magnificent - the sets and backgrounds were subtle and reasonably minimalist, but incredibly effective. However, the thing that really took my breath away was the special effects. There were a few war scenes which managed to convey gunfire and trench warfare very well. However, the most spectacular scene capped the first act of the play as McMillan rescues the pilot of a downed plane. As Irons crawls away from the plane wreck with the pilot dragging behind him there was a massive explosion, a tremendous fireball right there on stage. I felt the wave of heat in our seats which were well away from the stage - i can only imagine how it must have felt for the actors.
This was definitely the best theatre experience i've ever had by a clear margin, and i would encourage anyone to see it if they are given the opportunity. This might be difficult however, as the play is completely sold out for a number of months, and we only got in by some kind of divine intervention causing a cancellation.
Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and get out of London. I think negotiating the traffic getting out of the city is going to be interesting. I believe we are heading first for Canterbury. Not sure how often i'll get access to internet from this point forward, so here's hoping.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Possibly more museums than i have ever visited before
The theme for today seems to have been museums/galleries. Let's work this out - we saw (in chronological order):
The Science Museum was good. It had a stronger educational element than Questacon, which is probably why i prefer Questacon. There were fairly detailed exhibits on the Steam Engine, the triumphs of British Industry, and Plastics (and managed to make that field seem a lot more interesting than The Graduate would have me think). Dad and I took a 'virtual reality space roller coaster' ride, which was decent fun although not terribly relevant to anything else in the museum.
The Natural History museum was unfortunately a dead loss for us. We spent more time drinking coffee there than looking at exhibits and then left as it all seemed a bit dull.
The Victoria & Albert was a mixed bag - it had an extremely impressive sculpture collection, but i wasn't terribly excited by their Chinese art collection which was a shame since that was what the parents wanted to focus on.
The Tate Art Gallery (the old one, not the Modern) was quite good, although since i'm a complete philistine it was probably wasted on me a bit. We had a nice potato and leak soup for lunch, although i still prefer Joseph's version. Mum had been really looking forward to seeing the gallery's Turner collection, but she was very disappointed with it. I actually liked a lot of the Turner pieces, but i was going in with zero expectations so that may explain it.
There were a number of impressive pieces there, but the one that i found most interesting was Waterhouse's 'The Lady of Shalott' , which i've always found very evocative. It was excellent seeing that 'in person'.
After the Tate we walked over a bridge on the Thames to the Museum of Garden History. I don't think anyone will be terribly surprised to hear that it was Mum's suggestion, not mine. I stuck my head inside when the parents went in, but left as soon as i heard the staff suggest a 'voluntary entry contribution' of 4£. Bugger that. I sat outside and read a book. Mum was very disappointed - she said it was poorly organised, and Dad said that it lacked a clear purpose and proper organisation (i suspect he is planning a hostile takeover).
We hadn't actually planned on going to the Imperial War Museum, but we ended up doing it as our last stop for the day since it was within about two kilometres of the Garden Museum.
It was very well done, although i got the impression that the Australian War Memorial may be a larger facility. We didn't do a full tour since we were getting pretty tired, but we gave their World War sections a look. They had fairly immersive 'Experience' tours of the London Blitz and a WWI trench (which smelled like they employed someone to come down and urinate there every day). Both tours were well done and evocative, and the sections were both well put together.
They were also for some reason running an exhibit on Ian Fleming and James Bond, and although we didn't do that tour i bought one of the tie-in books for Annie, since i know that she's a mad Bond fan. Still have eyes out for Mandy's present, but nothing has presented itself as yet.
So, i suspect that today i've been to more museums than i've been to in the rest of my life. Unfortunately i suspect that i don't get full value out of museums - Mum always says that she feels that she needs to go back and revisit them a few times to get everything she wants out of them, and i feel the same. Still, it has most definitely been an enjoyable day. Tomorrow promises to be very enjoyable as well - i'm very much looking forward to the play we're seeing tomorrow.
- The British Science Museum
- The Museum of Natural History
- The Victoria & Albert Museum
- The Tate Art Gallery
- The Museum of Garden History
- The Imperial War Museum
Not doing too badly there. So, let's see.
The day started with a wander through Kensington Gardens past the memorial which Queen Victoria had built for her husband after his death. It is spectacular and gaudy in a way that only royalty can get away with. In a way it is very moving, as it really does give you a good idea how passionate she was about him. On the other hand, the recent restoration job for it cost 11.2£ million, which is a fair whack.
Opposite the Albert memorial is the Albert Hall. Some people might have occasionally heard me mutter about the Albert Hall in Canberra, and at least one reader of this blog feels my pain when talking about the Friends of the Albert Hall. To those 'Friends', i say - Give up now, your little rug emporium does not compare to the real thing.The Science Museum was good. It had a stronger educational element than Questacon, which is probably why i prefer Questacon. There were fairly detailed exhibits on the Steam Engine, the triumphs of British Industry, and Plastics (and managed to make that field seem a lot more interesting than The Graduate would have me think). Dad and I took a 'virtual reality space roller coaster' ride, which was decent fun although not terribly relevant to anything else in the museum.
The Natural History museum was unfortunately a dead loss for us. We spent more time drinking coffee there than looking at exhibits and then left as it all seemed a bit dull.
The Victoria & Albert was a mixed bag - it had an extremely impressive sculpture collection, but i wasn't terribly excited by their Chinese art collection which was a shame since that was what the parents wanted to focus on.
The Tate Art Gallery (the old one, not the Modern) was quite good, although since i'm a complete philistine it was probably wasted on me a bit. We had a nice potato and leak soup for lunch, although i still prefer Joseph's version. Mum had been really looking forward to seeing the gallery's Turner collection, but she was very disappointed with it. I actually liked a lot of the Turner pieces, but i was going in with zero expectations so that may explain it.
There were a number of impressive pieces there, but the one that i found most interesting was Waterhouse's 'The Lady of Shalott' , which i've always found very evocative. It was excellent seeing that 'in person'.
After the Tate we walked over a bridge on the Thames to the Museum of Garden History. I don't think anyone will be terribly surprised to hear that it was Mum's suggestion, not mine. I stuck my head inside when the parents went in, but left as soon as i heard the staff suggest a 'voluntary entry contribution' of 4£. Bugger that. I sat outside and read a book. Mum was very disappointed - she said it was poorly organised, and Dad said that it lacked a clear purpose and proper organisation (i suspect he is planning a hostile takeover).
We hadn't actually planned on going to the Imperial War Museum, but we ended up doing it as our last stop for the day since it was within about two kilometres of the Garden Museum.
It was very well done, although i got the impression that the Australian War Memorial may be a larger facility. We didn't do a full tour since we were getting pretty tired, but we gave their World War sections a look. They had fairly immersive 'Experience' tours of the London Blitz and a WWI trench (which smelled like they employed someone to come down and urinate there every day). Both tours were well done and evocative, and the sections were both well put together.
They were also for some reason running an exhibit on Ian Fleming and James Bond, and although we didn't do that tour i bought one of the tie-in books for Annie, since i know that she's a mad Bond fan. Still have eyes out for Mandy's present, but nothing has presented itself as yet.
So, i suspect that today i've been to more museums than i've been to in the rest of my life. Unfortunately i suspect that i don't get full value out of museums - Mum always says that she feels that she needs to go back and revisit them a few times to get everything she wants out of them, and i feel the same. Still, it has most definitely been an enjoyable day. Tomorrow promises to be very enjoyable as well - i'm very much looking forward to the play we're seeing tomorrow.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Day 2 - British Museum, Charles Dickens and the British Library
Second full day in England and things are going well. We all seem to have settled into a sleep pattern where by we go to sleep fairly early (9:00 or thereabouts) and wake up around 6 in the morning.
I've gotten my camera working, and unlike some fathers of mine i actually remembered to bring my USB cable, so if i can get them uploaded there should be some pictures attached to this report.
First one: There appears to be some strange hybrid of a snail and a cabbage slowly growing on or crawling up the wall outside our hotel room. I think it's a good thing the window doesn't open up, lest we be visited in the night by this fo
ul creature (photo should be flipped right i think):
Anyway. Started the day with another very hearty breakfast. Kept an eye on the local news - things don't look for Labour here in the wake of their rout in the council elections and the loss of London to the Tories.
It looks like hard times for Gordon Brown, and i have to wonder if it's simply a case of whereever i go i bring political 'interesting times', to use the ancient Chinese euphemism.
Mum and Dad seemed fairly set on catching the Tube to our first visit of the day - until they saw the prices. At 4£ per person per ride it seemed a bit steep, so we quickly hunted down a taxi (so much easier to find than in Canberra) and paid 12£40p for the ride. Good value, no fuss.
We wanted to visit the Charles Dickens museum first up, but it didn't open until 11:00 am, so we trudged across to the British museum, taking in a very nice break for cappuccino at Russell Square on the way.
As you can see on the left, we saw some more squirrels. This one i took a picture of was obviously either very stupid or very hungry, as he was trying to eat the tree.
The British Museum was very impressive, although i didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as Westminster Abbey yesterday. I just don't think i'm a great person for museums. That being said, the range of material and subjects covered by this museum is amazing - it really is one of the best museums in the world (says the expert who has seen maybe 2 other museums in his life).
That's dad on the right standing in front of Hadrian's Wall. Or, to be more precise, a poster at the Museum advertising their Hadrian exhibition. Apparently we will be seeing the actual wall sometime this journey, so i think this just was dad being a smart-arse. Colour me surprised.
After the museum we wandered back to the Charles Dickens museum. It's located in the one house he lived in which has not been demolished. The building is 3 stories high and has a basement, and goes into surprising detail about his life and the influences upon his writing. It was all surprisingly well done - i think we ended up spending more than an hour there, which was unexpected.
Our final 'tourist attraction' was the British Library. It's located next to a railway station whose name escapes me, but it is housed in something that looks like a palace. The library looks positively plain by comparison.
We didn't do a very comprehensive tour as we were all pretty tired by this point. The main attraction was a 'Treasures of the British Library' exhibit, which included the Magna Carta, various well-preserved historical books and the piece of paper that the Beatles' song 'Help' was originally drafted on. All very interesting (especially the Beatles draft, as it had bits crossed out and altered, showing how close that song came to being very different).
We caught another taxi back to our hotel. This cabbie claimed to have never met a good Frenchman and generally put the fear of god into us about visiting France, so that was fun.
We're packing a lot into our days, which is pretty good, but very tiring. It's only 5:30 and i feel like i'm going to fall asleep if i stay sitting down much longer.
I've gotten my camera working, and unlike some fathers of mine i actually remembered to bring my USB cable, so if i can get them uploaded there should be some pictures attached to this report.
First one: There appears to be some strange hybrid of a snail and a cabbage slowly growing on or crawling up the wall outside our hotel room. I think it's a good thing the window doesn't open up, lest we be visited in the night by this fo
ul creature (photo should be flipped right i think):Anyway. Started the day with another very hearty breakfast. Kept an eye on the local news - things don't look for Labour here in the wake of their rout in the council elections and the loss of London to the Tories.
It looks like hard times for Gordon Brown, and i have to wonder if it's simply a case of whereever i go i bring political 'interesting times', to use the ancient Chinese euphemism.
Mum and Dad seemed fairly set on catching the Tube to our first visit of the day - until they saw the prices. At 4£ per person per ride it seemed a bit steep, so we quickly hunted down a taxi (so much easier to find than in Canberra) and paid 12£40p for the ride. Good value, no fuss.
We wanted to visit the Charles Dickens museum first up, but it didn't open until 11:00 am, so we trudged across to the British museum, taking in a very nice break for cappuccino at Russell Square on the way.As you can see on the left, we saw some more squirrels. This one i took a picture of was obviously either very stupid or very hungry, as he was trying to eat the tree.
The British Museum was very impressive, although i didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as Westminster Abbey yesterday. I just don't think i'm a great person for museums. That being said, the range of material and subjects covered by this museum is amazing - it really is one of the best museums in the world (says the expert who has seen maybe 2 other museums in his life).
That's dad on the right standing in front of Hadrian's Wall. Or, to be more precise, a poster at the Museum advertising their Hadrian exhibition. Apparently we will be seeing the actual wall sometime this journey, so i think this just was dad being a smart-arse. Colour me surprised.
After the museum we wandered back to the Charles Dickens museum. It's located in the one house he lived in which has not been demolished. The building is 3 stories high and has a basement, and goes into surprising detail about his life and the influences upon his writing. It was all surprisingly well done - i think we ended up spending more than an hour there, which was unexpected.
Our final 'tourist attraction' was the British Library. It's located next to a railway station whose name escapes me, but it is housed in something that looks like a palace. The library looks positively plain by comparison.
We didn't do a very comprehensive tour as we were all pretty tired by this point. The main attraction was a 'Treasures of the British Library' exhibit, which included the Magna Carta, various well-preserved historical books and the piece of paper that the Beatles' song 'Help' was originally drafted on. All very interesting (especially the Beatles draft, as it had bits crossed out and altered, showing how close that song came to being very different).
We caught another taxi back to our hotel. This cabbie claimed to have never met a good Frenchman and generally put the fear of god into us about visiting France, so that was fun.
We're packing a lot into our days, which is pretty good, but very tiring. It's only 5:30 and i feel like i'm going to fall asleep if i stay sitting down much longer.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
A very full day so far
We all slept reasonably well last night - we managed to stay away until just after 9pm, and woke up about 6 in the morning. The place we're staying at (which is near Hyde Park) serves a beautiful buffet breakfast, so we all really hoed in. Actual bacon, luscious oranges and some very strong coffee. At the time i felt a bit guilty about how much i ate, but given all the walking we did today i think it was for the best.
About half a kilometre from us is Kensington Gardens. Walking into the Gardens was a shock to the system - it is beautiful, huge and a vivid green that residents of Australia have probably forgotten even exists. There were large numbers of people walking, riding bikes and taking their dogs out.
We continued on through Hyde Park up the banks of the Serpentine River. We passed a number of war memorials, including one for Australian involvement in conflicts. We were all a little scandalised that the poppies that had been left at our memorial were paper ones. It seems a bit tacky.
From there we walked up towards Buckingham Palace. Along the way there we saw our first squirrel. I'm not really sure if they look cute or over-caffeinated, but we saw quite a few today.
Buckingham Palace was very impressive. Unfortunately i forgot my ARM t-shirt for a photo (mostly joking). It's weird with places like that which are iconic. It's a strange feeling to be standing in front of a place that you've seen so often before. You feel a bit dumb going 'Wow, this place really does exist'. We didn't see the changing of the guard, but i did see a policewoman toting an MP5 sub-machine gun, and got a picture of it which in retrospect might have been pushing my luck.
On the issue of photos - i did take a lot of them today, but they were all on dad's camera, and he has unfortunately neglected to bring along his USB cable, so it might be a few days before i can upload those pictures.
Anyway. After Buckingham Palace we made our way through some back alleys (and the lovely-named Birdcage Walk) to find a small sandwich bar to make us some coffee. Then we had the experience that we had been dreading - the Public Toilet you have to pay for. Given we were paying customers i expected something a bit better than your average Canberra loo, but these were nothing special. I find the idea awful, and i hope the ACT Government never gets it in their heads to introduce anything like that.
After the disappointing toilets we headed over the Westminster Abbey. I think we arrived there some time between 10:30 and 11:00, and there were already massive queues to get in. There is an entry fee of ten pounds per person which seems quite steep up until the point that you realise that the Abbey receives no government or church money for upkeep.
The Abbey was actually quite a moving experience. England is obviously a country with a long and rich history, and the Abbey feels like a concentrated version of that. There are monuments to so many of their significant figures - kings and queens are entombed within and memorialised extravagantly. However it is not only royalty there - great scientists, statesmen, philosophers and social activists are either buried or memorialised within the Abbey. After that tour I think that England values and preserves its history in a much stronger way than Australian does at this point. That's a bit of food for thought when i get back.
The Abbey tour took more than an hour, and was the highlight of the day. After that we walked over to Parliament. It's not sitting, and it wasn't open for tours today. We walked around the grounds - i had visions in my head of Ian Richardson chucking a journalist off the roof and began humming the House of Cards theme song, but i don't think my parents got the reference.
After a late lunch we went across the Thames to the National Theatre - we've booked tickets for next Tuesday for a play whose name has slipped my memory. It's got Jeremy Irons in it and is about Harold McMillan. I'm irritated i can't remember the title, but it sounds like i'll enjoy it.
We decided to walk back to our hotel from their via Soho. I checked out a couple of sex shops to try and get a gift for Mandy. If you're reading this, no luck so far - they seem to have a great stock of stuff for gay men, but lesbians don't seem to be stocked for. Ah well, five more weeks and i'm sure i'll find something.
The walk back to the hotel took a good long time - most of it was up Oxford Street, which was ridiculously packed. It might be because this is a public holiday weekend (Bank Holiday on Monday), but whatever the reason it was ridiculously busy. The most people i've seen anywhere.
All in all a very good day. We walked more than 12 kilometres by my rough guess (i'm not sure the parents were terribly impressed by my suggestion to walk back rather than catch the tube, but they were polite about their aching legs). If the rest of our stay is here i can definitely imagine myself falling in love with London.
About half a kilometre from us is Kensington Gardens. Walking into the Gardens was a shock to the system - it is beautiful, huge and a vivid green that residents of Australia have probably forgotten even exists. There were large numbers of people walking, riding bikes and taking their dogs out.
We continued on through Hyde Park up the banks of the Serpentine River. We passed a number of war memorials, including one for Australian involvement in conflicts. We were all a little scandalised that the poppies that had been left at our memorial were paper ones. It seems a bit tacky.
From there we walked up towards Buckingham Palace. Along the way there we saw our first squirrel. I'm not really sure if they look cute or over-caffeinated, but we saw quite a few today.
Buckingham Palace was very impressive. Unfortunately i forgot my ARM t-shirt for a photo (mostly joking). It's weird with places like that which are iconic. It's a strange feeling to be standing in front of a place that you've seen so often before. You feel a bit dumb going 'Wow, this place really does exist'. We didn't see the changing of the guard, but i did see a policewoman toting an MP5 sub-machine gun, and got a picture of it which in retrospect might have been pushing my luck.
On the issue of photos - i did take a lot of them today, but they were all on dad's camera, and he has unfortunately neglected to bring along his USB cable, so it might be a few days before i can upload those pictures.
Anyway. After Buckingham Palace we made our way through some back alleys (and the lovely-named Birdcage Walk) to find a small sandwich bar to make us some coffee. Then we had the experience that we had been dreading - the Public Toilet you have to pay for. Given we were paying customers i expected something a bit better than your average Canberra loo, but these were nothing special. I find the idea awful, and i hope the ACT Government never gets it in their heads to introduce anything like that.
After the disappointing toilets we headed over the Westminster Abbey. I think we arrived there some time between 10:30 and 11:00, and there were already massive queues to get in. There is an entry fee of ten pounds per person which seems quite steep up until the point that you realise that the Abbey receives no government or church money for upkeep.
The Abbey was actually quite a moving experience. England is obviously a country with a long and rich history, and the Abbey feels like a concentrated version of that. There are monuments to so many of their significant figures - kings and queens are entombed within and memorialised extravagantly. However it is not only royalty there - great scientists, statesmen, philosophers and social activists are either buried or memorialised within the Abbey. After that tour I think that England values and preserves its history in a much stronger way than Australian does at this point. That's a bit of food for thought when i get back.
The Abbey tour took more than an hour, and was the highlight of the day. After that we walked over to Parliament. It's not sitting, and it wasn't open for tours today. We walked around the grounds - i had visions in my head of Ian Richardson chucking a journalist off the roof and began humming the House of Cards theme song, but i don't think my parents got the reference.
After a late lunch we went across the Thames to the National Theatre - we've booked tickets for next Tuesday for a play whose name has slipped my memory. It's got Jeremy Irons in it and is about Harold McMillan. I'm irritated i can't remember the title, but it sounds like i'll enjoy it.
We decided to walk back to our hotel from their via Soho. I checked out a couple of sex shops to try and get a gift for Mandy. If you're reading this, no luck so far - they seem to have a great stock of stuff for gay men, but lesbians don't seem to be stocked for. Ah well, five more weeks and i'm sure i'll find something.
The walk back to the hotel took a good long time - most of it was up Oxford Street, which was ridiculously packed. It might be because this is a public holiday weekend (Bank Holiday on Monday), but whatever the reason it was ridiculously busy. The most people i've seen anywhere.
All in all a very good day. We walked more than 12 kilometres by my rough guess (i'm not sure the parents were terribly impressed by my suggestion to walk back rather than catch the tube, but they were polite about their aching legs). If the rest of our stay is here i can definitely imagine myself falling in love with London.
Friday, May 2, 2008
I am tired and arrived
We just landed in London slightly less than three hours ago. I'm very tired, so please excuse me for spelling mistakes and bits that make no sense.
The first leg of the trip was Sydney to Tokyo, and that went alright. I think it clocked in at about 10 hours, and we arrived in the airport there about 6 o'clock Australian time yesterday. We were pretty tired, but we had a surprisingly good dinner and a much needed sleep. Breakfast wasn't as good as the dinner - the bacon was very papery. Ah well.
Half regret only spending a night in Tokyo. There's no way i gave it the time it deserves, but i'm not sure whether i'd want to do a proper tour of Japan or not - the place seems very uptight, a polar opposite to laid-back Thailand. Hmmm... as i say, not sure. Irrelevant at the moment.
The second leg was a good deal longer - slightly over twelve hours. Interestingly the flight path took us up through Russia and took us over pretty much the width of Siberia. It's such an incredibly bleak place that it makes Australian deserts seem feature filled. A road we saw practically qualified as a tourist attraction.
We had a very nice cabbie who got us to our hotel in good time and gave us the lowdown on what was going on in London at the moment. Unfortunately he was a Tory, but noone's perfect.
The hotel seems nice, but i haven't had a proper look over it yet as we went for a wander and had dinner at a local Greek place. The food was very nice, and i assume the local Greek community likes it because we were sat down to some nice Greek gentleman who i can only assume were the local representatives of the Greek mafia discussing about how someone 'might have an accident at work'. Ah, feel the culture.
So all in all i am very tired but happy to be here. I will definitely be getting a bit of a sleep-in tomorrow, and then we'll work out our sightseeing schedule.
The first leg of the trip was Sydney to Tokyo, and that went alright. I think it clocked in at about 10 hours, and we arrived in the airport there about 6 o'clock Australian time yesterday. We were pretty tired, but we had a surprisingly good dinner and a much needed sleep. Breakfast wasn't as good as the dinner - the bacon was very papery. Ah well.
Half regret only spending a night in Tokyo. There's no way i gave it the time it deserves, but i'm not sure whether i'd want to do a proper tour of Japan or not - the place seems very uptight, a polar opposite to laid-back Thailand. Hmmm... as i say, not sure. Irrelevant at the moment.
The second leg was a good deal longer - slightly over twelve hours. Interestingly the flight path took us up through Russia and took us over pretty much the width of Siberia. It's such an incredibly bleak place that it makes Australian deserts seem feature filled. A road we saw practically qualified as a tourist attraction.
We had a very nice cabbie who got us to our hotel in good time and gave us the lowdown on what was going on in London at the moment. Unfortunately he was a Tory, but noone's perfect.
The hotel seems nice, but i haven't had a proper look over it yet as we went for a wander and had dinner at a local Greek place. The food was very nice, and i assume the local Greek community likes it because we were sat down to some nice Greek gentleman who i can only assume were the local representatives of the Greek mafia discussing about how someone 'might have an accident at work'. Ah, feel the culture.
So all in all i am very tired but happy to be here. I will definitely be getting a bit of a sleep-in tomorrow, and then we'll work out our sightseeing schedule.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Quick update from Sydney
7:30 in the morning in Sydney. Got up here last night, caught up with my aunt which was a nice way to spend the final night. Unfortunately didn't sleep very much, and had to wake up at 5:00 in order to get to the airport in time.
Plane begins boarding in about 15 minutes. Everything seems to have gone well so far. I've kept up my perfect record for not being hassled by customs, but poor dad got the usual full treatment because of his metal knee.
We had a decent breakfast and i think we're all feeling about as good as can be expected given we've had no more than 3 hours sleep each.
Today's flight will be about nine and a half hours and will take us to Tokyo, where we will stay overnight. Tomorrow's leg will be a bit more serious - i think it's a bit more than 12 hours and will finish at Heathrow. We're not going through the new terminal there, but i'm still a little apprehensive. Hopefully next time you hear from me i still have luggage ;)
Hope things are going well for everyone,
Patrick
Plane begins boarding in about 15 minutes. Everything seems to have gone well so far. I've kept up my perfect record for not being hassled by customs, but poor dad got the usual full treatment because of his metal knee.
We had a decent breakfast and i think we're all feeling about as good as can be expected given we've had no more than 3 hours sleep each.
Today's flight will be about nine and a half hours and will take us to Tokyo, where we will stay overnight. Tomorrow's leg will be a bit more serious - i think it's a bit more than 12 hours and will finish at Heathrow. We're not going through the new terminal there, but i'm still a little apprehensive. Hopefully next time you hear from me i still have luggage ;)
Hope things are going well for everyone,
Patrick
Monday, April 21, 2008
Traditional Explanation for this Travesty
Greetings. Sorry if you've accidentally come across this blog, but most people who will read it (all 4 of you) will be people i've invited.
I've set this up so i can post about my upcoming holiday to Britain and France (mainly Britain). It seemed to work decently well for my Thailand trip, and even gave one or two interesting stories. Hopefully this blog can entertain as well, although presumably without 3am wakeup calls from pimps.
I'm going to try and set this one up a little better - i'm more confident about uploading pictures as long as i can find appropriate places to do so, and i will also try and make it so that people can subscribe to the blog rather than having to occasionally check the URL. I'll post more about that as i figure it out.
I've set this up so i can post about my upcoming holiday to Britain and France (mainly Britain). It seemed to work decently well for my Thailand trip, and even gave one or two interesting stories. Hopefully this blog can entertain as well, although presumably without 3am wakeup calls from pimps.
I'm going to try and set this one up a little better - i'm more confident about uploading pictures as long as i can find appropriate places to do so, and i will also try and make it so that people can subscribe to the blog rather than having to occasionally check the URL. I'll post more about that as i figure it out.
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