07 July 2019

Our daughter moved from her university area of Devon to the Midlands. On her birthday we thought we would go and visit Kenilworth Castle, as I am interested in history and just may have an ancestral connection to the people and the place, though I didn't know this when I went to see the castle! The castle became a ruin shortly after the Civil War. It had been in existence since time Norman times, changed hands several times, sometimes a property belonging to an Earl or Duke, and many times it belongs to different members of the Royal family through the generations. The castle came into the Duke of Lancaster's family through Henry III's son Edmund when he was created 1st Earl of Lancaster. The Lancastrian Duchy grew to be the richest in the land. John of Gaunt (Edward III's 4th son) married the heiress Blanche, their son eventually became Henry IV, after he usurped the throne from Richard II, who had treated Henry very badly banishing him and confiscating all the Lancastrian wealth, after John of Gaunt died, with not much in the way of a known cause, unless it was pure jealousy. John of Gaunt did a lot of work on the place, he created the Great Hall, together with remodelled apartments, services and kitchens. It was here that his 'second' family Katherine Swynford (3 sons and one daughter), his long term mistress, lived most of the time, one of their favourite places. Although Katherine's children were all born illegitimatel, when John of Gaunt married Katherine, later in life, he persuaded Richard II to make them legitimate. It was later owned by Robert Dudley a favourite of Elizabeth I and this is mentioned several times around the castle. Dudley laid out the Elizabethan gardens and they can still be seen today. Kenilworth survived under James I, but under Charles I the Parliamentarian Army took it over in the opening months of the Civil War. As this would prove to be costly to keep a garrison there, the new regime ordered that the North wall of the keep be destroyd and also the curtain wall. So this is why much of it is in ruins today.

06 July 2019

We went on a Norwegian cruise in June one year. This was on one of the large Princess Cruises ships. We sailed from Southampton, visited Stavanger, Tromso, Flaam and Voss, Alesund, Olden, Trondheim, the Lofoten Islands and the Port for the North Cape and Bergen. We were sailing to land of the Midnight Sun. It sounds fantastic, but the weather was definitely not playing the game! For most of our cruise there were heavy clouds overhead and it was quite cold too. We heard of a lady who had done this cruise the year before, when the weather was completely different, a lot hotter and sunny. She had taken a variety of warm clothes, which she didn’t need. Unfortunately for her this time she had only taken summer clothes! There were lectures given in the theatre each day about the next port of call. We went to one for both Olden and Alesund. The lecturer played Grieg piano concerto which does make me think of mountains, lakes and rivers. I am not sure I took much in from these, as I had recently lost my sister, and I was devastated, she was not only my sister but my best friend as well. She didn’t travel, as her husband wouldn’t go abroad, so I would pick post cards from the places I had been and tell all about it. It felt wrong not to be able to give her all details about this holiday, which I am sure she would been keen to hear all about! My husband, who loves trains, wanted this itinerary, as it included the Flaam railway. We booked an excursion which included the train journey, high in the mountains with the snow still laying around. The sun shone that day. We took two different trains and a beautiful coach ride through some lovely, if worrying, scenery. The roads weren’t very wide, and the coach appeared on a knife edge to go around some corners. We had lunch at a big hotel in Voss, overlooking a wide green space. We travelled up to the North Cape but didn’t do the walk to the promontory. We did see lots of different waterfalls when going on various excursions. Stavanger was a picturesque little place with little white houses with red roofs, all laid out in a random way. We took loads of photographs between us, one around midnight, the light was slightly less bright than normal daylight. We did visit several of the ports on our list. They were varied in what they offered. But sometimes we didn’t leave the ships as the weather wasn’t at all inviting. As other people seemed to think the same way, this did mean the ship was very full at lunchtime, when everyone was trying to find somewhere to sit. It meant sharing a space with other people, not always a happy process! Our last port of call before we returned to Southampton was Bergen, which has a reputation for being one of the wettest places on earth. We heard that it was raining there, and a tender was required to get into the port, so we decided to stay on board! I had heard such a lot about Norway’s scenery, but I was a bit disappointed, as it seemed to be much the same everywhere we went. This may been because we were on a larger ship which couldn’t reach some of the more remote valleys.

05 July 2019

We visited Old Sarum, an English Heritage property. We have been to Salisbury itself several times and were interested to see where it started from! We were extremely lucky in going on a lovely summer’s day, with a gentle breeze, which was ideal, as the walk from the car park is a fair way and uphill! It seems the reason for moving this place was the difficulty of obtaining fresh drinking water, as the wells were deep and could prove expensive. There was an Iron Age fort and it could have been settled even before this time. The Saxons had a settlement here. It became part of Wessex in Saxon times. The Romans also had a presence here before leaving Britain for good. Old Sarum had a cathedral and was a place of prayer. When it came to the time of William Conqueror it was decided to move the two miles down to Salisbury. This could have been about the water situation and being on a hill Old Sarum was a very windy place. The stones from the old cathedral were taken to make the new cathedral in Salisbury itself. We wandered around Old Sarum, across the fields to where the first cathedral had been, looked over the fence to view the medieval ditch. We went to the highest point, looked down on the main roads with the tiny cars travelling along, saw the fields some very yellow from the planting of oil seed rape. We had a very pleasant day.

03 July 2019

I love Scotland so I thought I would write about this country. Much of my heritage contains Scottish ancestry, although the nearest person to me who was actually born there was my parental grandfather who I never met. He was born and grew up in Edinburgh. I have been studying my family history for a few years now. My grandfather, however, came from a family based mostly in Ayrshire and western Scotland on his father’s side. He moved to North West England for work, as happened often. He married my dad's mother in Lancashire, near Liverpool. She also had lowland Scots ancestors. I asked her once if she liked the bagpipes, her reply was, she liked them when they played over the hills and faraway, then spoilt it by saying the further away the better! My parental great-grandmother's father came from a small town in Perthshire, the sort of place if you 'blink and you will miss it' place. Her mother from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, descending from fishermen, when it was a really dangerous way of life. My maternal grandmother’s paternal relatives were also Scottish, we understand, from the Highlands originally but I haven’t found any real proof of this so far, need to keep investigating of course. With all this in my family we have visited different parts of Scotland over the years. Firstly Edinburgh, divided into the Old Town and the New Town. The New Town has the main famous shopping centre, Princes Street and alongside, the beautifully laid out Princes Street Gardens. Near the Gardens, Edinburgh Castle can be seen from many vantage points along Prince Street. The Scottish National Gallery is on Princes Street. Carlton Hill, the Balmoral Hotel, Waverley station and the Sir Walter Scott Monument are at the other end of Prince Street. The Old Town has the Castle, St. Giles Cathedral and lots of little closes. Plus, a very nice fudge shop! We spent a few days in Glasgow, a very vibrant place. This was where my 2018 Conference was held, so didn’t see very much of the city, as we made for Edinburgh by train, when it finished. We visited Ayr, where my great-great grandfather had been a butcher (flesher as they were called in those days). We were shown where the shop had been. Ayr also has the Brig of Doon, a medieval bridge. Robby Burns was born in nearby Alloway and his birthplace is a tourist attraction. We also went to Culzean Castle, a Scottish National Trust property. Pitlochry is a pretty highland town. We stayed there and travelled to Spear Bridge to visit the Commando Monument. We had a particular purpose in going there, apart from the interest about my father being a marine commando in the 2nd World War, although he ended up in Burma. Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most photographed places in Scotland. The car park was full of cars and touring coaches, so we gave the Castle a miss this time. Glenelg, across the water from the Isle of Skye. There is a car ferry which takes about 4 cars at the most. This could be where my maternal grandmother thought her great-grandfather came from! She called her house 'Gleneig' but I couldn't trace this as spelling, the nearest being Glenelg. A pretty little place spread out along the estuary, with a pub which is also a guest house (full when we wanted to stay there) and a church. As you approach the village you see Glenelg (Earth) twinned with Glenelg (Mars)! I think NASA set up some sort of 'station' on Mars and named it Glenelg. I will have to go back to do some further research at some time.

01 July 2019

When I was married (in the middle ages!) we had a church service, followed by a wedding breakfast at a nearby hotel. This started at 11am in the morning with the church service. We left the hotel around 4pm to head off for our Lake District honeymoon, and to visit my grandmother who was too upset at the loss of my Dad the year before, to come to our wedding. But this compact type of occasion is no longer the ‘fashion’! The planning for this wedding took months and months, mostly because the bride had very definite ideas regarding what she wanted and wished to do, practically all of it herself! Several venues were visited, well over a year before the event was to take place. The idea was to have a rural wedding, to be held outside in a country setting. A big ‘posh’ hotel wasn’t on the agenda at all. A suitable place was found, booked and the deposit was paid. It was a farm surrounded by fields with cows and sheep, along a bumpy track. The venue was hired from Friday to Sunday. This was very much a DIY wedding! The bride is mad about the colour green and had a green ribbon fastened around her waist in a bow, over her knee length wedding dress. The groom and his best man wore green ties which were so closely matched to the ribbon it was incredible. The groom's favourite colour is orange, so this was the general theme, green, with yellow to link the colours, then orange. The bride made her bridesmaids' green and white dresses, but after some gentle persuasion she agreed not to make own dress. Thank goodness for that, as the bridesmaids’ dresses were only finished on the Friday morning! A small team worked tirelessly on Friday, adding place names to the tables. Flowers in white pots and white lanterns, which did look really pretty with tealights inside. There was home made bunting, green, orange, yellow roses and a pale yellow draped around the room and near the duck pond, where the ceremony took place. She bought all the flowers herself on the Thursday morning, left in water in their garage to be taken to the venue on Friday morning. As the venue doesn't have a license for performing the legal part of a marriage, the couple, along with my husband and I as their witnesses then went to the Registry Office. It was a beautiful place inside. This part didn't take too long but they made it a low key affair anyway, not specially dressing up for the occasion as they were adamant their Wedding Day was going to be on Saturday. The field on the farm, where the wedding ceremony was due to take place on Saturday, was laid out in a circle with bales of straw for those young enough to sit on them and benches place behind the bales. The weather on the Friday was pleasant enough, a little cloudy and overcast at times, with a breeze, after days and days of awful weather, not typical of June. Good for working, setting up the extra bits on the tables for instance. The caterers had laid the cutlery and the glasses on white table cloths. The bride and groom wanted each place to have a piece of hessian individually from one side of the table to the other. Place names were laid out, with names written on little leaf shaped taps, then put into soft oranges. white vases were put on each table, consisting of sun flowers, with a mixture of other flowers with the yellow orange and green theme. We woke up to a beautiful June morning, on Saturday, the sort of lovely sunny day I remember, not too hot with a gently breeze. So grateful that this wasn’t last weekend, when temperature climbed into 30's and above, as it wouldn’t have been just the flowers wilting! The wedding ceremony was at noon, it was lovely. They had written their own vows, which were the same. I was so glad I had read the content before the ceremony or I would have been crying like a baby. This was followed by loads of photographs, in various locations on the farm. The main meal was held in the marquee. The groom made a brilliant speech, again having read the jist of it, I was glad, as this was another occasion, when I may have wept a little, as the bride did! Her father stood up and gave a speech, he did get some laughs but apparently he didn't say all he intended to! A lot of mingling then happened. The couple didn’t have a traditional cake, but some of the groom’s family provided cupcakes, as a wedding present, which were delicious. Eventually the 'entertainment' began, with a Ceilidh band, which was good fun, the more mistakes the better it seems. The bride and groom did a very energetic reel at one stage! One of the dances was for groups of 8 people. One group consisted of the bride, her father's sister, his (favourite) niece and his niece's husband, her god parents, her father and me. In this dance you changed places with as silly as walk as possible. A really good laugh and she said she was pleased to be dancing with all her 'family'. We are not many of us now. When the Ceilidh band finished they then had a disco. Being mid-summer it was light for most of the evening. We left about 11:15 and it was dark by then. Park Farm also offers bed and breakfast, in a couple of rooms. One the bride and bridesmaids had, another 2 of her school friends shared on Friday night. The bride and groom spent their wedding night in the Gipsy type caravan, with all mod cons, on the farm! All that was left was the clearing up on Sunday morning, then later in the day the newly married couple headed to their unusual mini-moon accommodation, not far away. It was a brilliant day, although long, very well organized in every way. The bride said she had really enjoyed it all, but was glad it was over. We were so proud of her and that everything went according to her plan.

12 June 2019

We regularly go to Stourhead. It belongs to the National Trust. There is a Manor House on the site, but Stourhead is best known for its lovely grounds. It is beautiful at most times of the year, but my favourite time is Autumn when the trees look fantastic in their Autumn colours. It is a pleasant place to wander through the trees or along the lake, within the grounds. There is a duck pond and, beyond this pond, over a style, are fields stretching over a hill. This leads to a Folly, standing almost on its own. Opposite these fields there is a wood. It is very popular, especially the cafe, which is always busy, serving main meals and snacks such as scones. This is not far from the car park and the overflow car park. Stourhead has a farm shop as well. There is also a gift shop and a small room leading off the shop, with flowers, plants and other garden items such bird baths and watering cans. There are plants on sale outside alongside the gift shop. To reach the gardens it is necessary to go through the entrance where the National Trust staff check members’ cards or take entrance money. The way down to the gardens is down a fairly steep hill on a tarmac path. Before going into the main garden entrance to the actual gardens there is a typically English pub, an art gallery, some holiday cottages and a church. We did once see a wedding party leave the church. We could even hear the celebration bells ringing from across the lake. We would like to see the place when the snow has fallen, as they have photographs on display showing various parts in this winter scene, and it looks magical.

30 May 2019

We have been on this cruise itinerary twice before, but on the Queen Victoria on the previous occasion. This time was on the Queen Elizabeth. We went from Southampton. Cunard are now using a different terminal and once inside we were directed towards the embarkation points. I don't remember much about the check-in, but it was different from the previous very crowded terminal. There was a bottle of sparkling type wine in our balcony cabin but unfortunately neither of us like sparkling wine or champagne, but it was a nice gesture! We reserved the first sitting, as this gives plenty of time to go to the theatre and find a good seat. I enjoyed the shows, dancing and singing which was always very well done and different each night. How they manage to learn all the different songs and dance routines is amazing. On the previous occasions when we went on the Queen Victoria the captain kept to Greenwich Mean Time, but this time once we were in European waters, the captain said we would be on continental time. This meant that our mealtime was from 5pm and not 6pm. This was much earlier than we usually eat, but we managed! We were allocated a table of 6, but no-one else ever turned up for the evening meal. I wonder if they came there for breakfast or lunch. We went to the buffet for our breakfast and lunch, so we could please ourselves what we had to eat and when. I will give some details of the ship itself: Deck One: The 3-story Grand Lobby with a staircase, “Cunard ConneXions” College at Sea! Oxford University, Internet Centre, Voyage Sales Desk (for passenger services). The lower level of the “Royal Court Theatre” (with 830-seats, venue for grand-scale music productions and shows). Deck 2: The lower level of the main dining room, the Britannia Restaurant, the Golden Lion Pub (English traditional menu, beers and cider) the Champagne Bar with its resident pianist, the ballroom (Queens room), the Verandah restaurant, the Empire Casino (9 tables, 79 slot machines and a bar), Cafe Carinthia (pastries, teas and coffees) and the lower Library (over 6000 books). Deck 3: Britannia Restaurant upper level, boutique shops, Library upper level, the Art Gallery (holds art auctions at sea), Midships Bar and Cunarders’ Galley (mini museum with photos of the Cunard ships and their history. Decks 4 to 8 mostly contain cabins. Deck 9: Lido Pool with two whirlpools, Lido Pool Bar and Grill, Lido Restaurants with seating for 821, for casual buffet dining, at least one side is always available, Garden Lounge has a glass dome and plenty of ‘greenery’. Next to the Pavilion Pool area, two more whirlpools and a Hydro pool, Royal Spa & Fitness Centre, Reception, Hair Salon, Thermal Suites, and Aerobic room. Deck 10: The Zone, a nursery for children 2 to 7, The Play Zone for children 8 to 12 (both supervised by professional staff), The Yacht Club, with resident DJ, music band and dance floor, The Commodore Club, observation lounge with a Bar and bow panoramic views. Deck 11: Princess Grill, the Grills Lounge (pre-dinner cocktails) with panoramic Terrace, the Courtyard and the Queens Grill. These are high grade cabins; the Queens Grills have a la crate dining. These facilities are not open to people not in the Grills. This is also where the Games Deck is. Deck 12: also Grills, with canopies-shaded areas. We went to the Yacht Club and really liked the atmosphere, also went for a ‘dance’ in the Queens Room a couple of times. We went to Bruges via the train to Blankenberge. It was busy as always, but possibly also because one of P&O ships was operating the same itinerary! We had some lunch there in a tiny restaurant. Also walked into Amsterdam, as on previous occasions. I think there is some talk of the ships berthing further out in the future. We also went into Cherbourg but there isn’t an awful lot to see there on a cold damp winter’s day! But we do enjoy watching all the Amsterdam fireworks from the deck at midnight on New Year’s Eve. We get a panoramic view and they must spend an absolute fortune, as there are firework displays all around plus the one below on a small island in the water, which we think was a Cunard arrangement. Lots of little boats came along side to watch this display, then we went inside to the atrium to celebrate the New Year at midnight GMT. Sadly, Cunard are not doing this cruise for the coming New Year!

29 May 2019

It was February. We thought we would really love some winter sun, so headed to the Caribbean island of Grenada. We always go to the airport the day before we fly, having been nearly missed a flight due to a motorway traffic jam. We flew from Gatwick via St. Lucia in Premium Economy. We were only on the ground in St. Lucia for about 45 minutes and didn’t leave the plane. The crew opened the door, letting the sunshine flood into the cabin, whilst we waited for the refuelling to finish. Quite a few people left the plane and others came on board. It wasn’t long before we took off and landed in Grenada. Collecting our luggage, we found our private taxi easily. Before too long, we were at the hotel, being greeted by several very friendly staff. We were handed a welcome drink each and then taken to our accommodation. I had booked a standard room (not that a standard room in this hotel is exactly ‘standard, as I did a site tour’). We were upgraded to a lovely superior room, with its own pool, surrounded with a white fence and very private. The gate (door) to our accommodation had a bell and an intercom. We were soon surprised to find that every evening around 5pm we received a message on the intercom, delivering a small snack, different every time. We went to the main restaurant for breakfast and our evening meal, lunch was in the more casual restaurant. Once a week, there was a barbecue, eating in the casual place. The weather was quite mixed. We were amazed to find that there were several people who spend their holidays following the English Cricket Team. The team were due to play in Grenada on a Monday and Wednesday. On the Monday, it rained most of the day and the wind was very strong. Unfortunately for the cricket fans, play was called off, but Wednesday’s weather fared better. We were very lazy on the Monday, spent most of the day reading and dozing, under the cover of our canopy. We didn’t sample the pool for a few days, as my husband said it was too cold, but when I tried it, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. We had also been in the sea. It was overcast but we somehow managed to get sunburnt anyway. This was on the Great Anse beach. The owner of the hotel, who has been knighted by the Queen, for services to tourism in Grenada, treats the hotel guests to a visit to his home or he provides cocktails in the hotel. This is on alternate weeks, we were lucky enough to go to his seaside home and watched the sun go down. We did a couple of excursions, one on board a boat, which was very pleasant. We also had a taxi to ourselves for a trip round the island. We went to Etang National Park and then were taken to a relatively deserted beach, we could see about 3 or 4 people wandering around, shame we couldn’t stay there for long! Good evening entertainment, sometimes a local group would be playing or on other occasions, it would be a band with a modern touch. We returned in Upper Class. Our flight on the way home was delayed for about 2 hours, again via St. Lucia. It was an interesting flight, but that is quite a different story! A few days after we returned home, we saw on the News that Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Grenada and visited our hotel as part of their tour. Discover Grenada first-hand and book your break to this luscious Caribbean island with me. Call me on 01225 807460 or email margaret.oldroyd@travelcounsellors.com.

22 June 2018

I was invited to visit the Regent Seven Seas Explorer with a group of Travel Counsellors in Southampton. We met in the Mayflower Terminal, around 9:15 am, where we were offered tea or coffee and something to eat if we wished. The very friendly staff checked us in, handed us a lanyard and kept our passports, which we were to collect when we left the ship. Going through security and boarding the ship was very quick and easy, with no long queues. This is a six-star ship with 750 passengers and 542 crew. Our first view of the inside of the ship was walking from the deck where we boarded straight into the Atrium. A very large crystal chandelier appeared to hover over a very ornate staircase down the next floor. The passengers weren’t due to come on until midday, so we had plenty of time to explore the Explorer. We took some photographs and then wondered where we were supposed to be. I noticed that several of our colleagues had been on the lower floor taking photographs and had disappeared. When reaching this floor, we were directed to the Constellation theatre. We sat on the lower level. The theatre is on two stories. There are swivel seats, which can be moved to accommodate wheelchairs. There was a special presentation for us, the question asked was ‘Why Regent’. Several Travel Counsellors spoke of their success having booked people with Regent and all had been impressed with the ship and the service. Also, a couple (not in the travel trade) had been invited to speak about their excellent experience on board. We were due to have lunch on board. Before this we were divided into groups and shown around the various suites, the restaurants and the rest of the ship. I was in the last group, and this was by far the smallest, which I think was an advantage. There were chandeliers fixed into the ceiling on the corridors. This is an all-suite all balcony ship (you would be in trouble should you refer them to ‘cabins’!) We were shown all the various types of suites. The top-grade ones have a butler, which is very popular with Americans, but not so much with the British. I had difficulty when trying to open the door in the highest-grade suite, as it was so heavy, and I joked that if I had booked this accommodation for myself I would need a butler just to get out of the suite! On the approach to the main dining room, the Compass Rose, there was a vase with lovely flowers in it, sitting on a table in the middle of the floor. As everything is of the highest quality on the ship we were asked to guess what the vase cost. Although we made what I thought were outrageous suggestions, no one came near the actual cost of £2000. I would be frightened to go near it! There are original pieces of art by world famous artists, all over the ship. The main dining room is Compass Rose and this is where we treated to a three course meal. Other places to eat are: Chartreuse featuring French dishes La Veranda advertised as Bountiful Buffet Sette Mari At La Veranda featuring Authentic Italian Cuisine Prime 7 - a Classic Steakhouse Pacific Rim featuring Asian dishes Pool Grill which is Al Fresco There is a well-stocked library. Canyon Ranch is the name of the sauna on board and there is a lovely large swimming pool with Jacuzzis. There’s only one show each night at 9:30 pm, as people are not restricted to a particular time to dine, so the cruise line feels there is no need for more than one nightly show. Children are not especially catered for, as there aren’t any kid’s clubs etc, but they are very welcome to join a cruise. Practically everything is included, gratuities, as many excursions as you can possibly fit in and all the specialist restaurants. The only time you would need to pay for anything would be to participate in the cookery classes. This would incur a fee of US$69 for a session. A very beautiful ship, with dark wood interiors. This is one of a fleet of four at present, with a new one due to be launched in 2020. This new ship will be the same size as the Explorer and we understand with lighter interiors. It was a very interesting and nice experience and many thanks to all at Regent Seven Seas.

05 June 2018

We stayed overnight at London Heathrow before flying to Vienna the next morning. We shared a private taxi to our hotel with another couple, as our driver was stuck in traffic due to the many road works happening at the time. They had been to the hotel a few times before. When we arrived at our hotel we were allocated our room on the 6th floor. It was very nice. The weather was pleasant. We went for a walk around the area to get our bearings, stopping at a small café for a drink and a bite to eat. We found an Indian restaurant for our evening meal, as this was near our hotel! There was plenty of choice for breakfast at our hotel and the service was very efficient and pleasant. The next day we went into the centre of Vienna, where there are lots of impressive buildings. At St. Stephen’s Cathedral there was a long queue, so we just took photographs. Eventually we walked down to a bridge over the Danube, it’s not blue! But then apparently it has never been blue, just maybe a green colour sometimes or a mostly muddy brown, but it was impressive anyway. We walked past several of the river cruise ships and they seemed bigger than I had imagined they would be. Vienna has a café culture, we had lunch in pleasant surroundings and watched the world go by. The next day we bought a hop-on hop-off bus pass, (I always find that difficult to say for some reason) which covered the rest of the days we were there. The information supplied by the company via the headphone was very interesting, explaining the places we drove past, their history and the various statues of famous people associated with Vienna. We also visited Belvedere Palace gardens, which were beautiful. The hotel gave us several leaflets, amongst them were some featuring various musical evenings. My husband said we don’t want these and was about to dispose of them, but I thought you can’t go to Vienna and not have a taste of the music that the city is famous for. One of our hop-on hop-off trips took us to the Schoenbrunn Palace, which was the former imperial summer residence of the ruling family. We did a tour, very opulent inside and lovely gardens. There was a kiosk outside where tickets were being sold for concerts held in the palace. They hold most of these, featuring music and dancing in the orangery, but we were told about one they offer once a month, on Thursday, held in the Imperial Ballroom. To my husband’s relief this didn’t have any ballet, just music and two singers. We decided on this one and bought VIP tickets. We sat in the front row and the concert consisted of Mozart in the first half and Strauss in the second half, with a glass of champagne in the interval if you wished. There was a male singer and a female one, she was very good, very expressive. The male singer was very good as well. We had used the underground system to go to the Schoenbrunn Palace, this involved a change of trains, but the service was very regular and extremely efficient. We saw the female singer on the platform and my husband went and congratulated her on her performance. We really enjoyed the concert and I was so pleased we went. This rounded off our trip in a great way.

18 January 2018

It has become a ‘new’ tradition with us now to go away over New Year, having spent Christmas and Boxing Day with our daughter. My husband said he was quite keen to do a similar cruise to the one we did a couple of years ago. This left from Southampton and was due to sail to Zeebrugge, then Amsterdam and finally Cherbourg. We checked in at the Ocean Terminal, but had to wait for a while to board, as one of the ways on to the Queen Victoria had been dislodged due to the weather. Eventually this was rectified. Weather then seemed to play a large part in this cruise. When sorting out our cases in our cabin, the Commander of the ship broadcast a message. I was expecting it to be the Muster Stations rehearsal that now takes place before a ship sails. Part of this was true, but he went on to say, due to the wild weather they were now not going to Zeebrugge, we would slowly make our way to Amsterdam with a day at sea and be there for the New Year’s Eve. I did hear some people were disappointed as they were looking forward to going to Bruges. During the day at sea and the following morning in Amsterdam we went to a couple of talks by a Barrister, in the theatre. One about the law, very interesting and funny, a bit tongue in cheek. Another talk by one of the ship’s personnel was about Amsterdam and Cherbourg and what they had to offer. We also looked around the art gallery a few times and looked (but didn’t buy) at the shops. We were on a table of six in the Britannia Dining Room. The people were all very nice and friendly. After our meal, we made our way to the theatre for a show each evening. We were on the first sitting. This meant we did get to the shows on time. We arrived in Amsterdam in the morning of New Year’s Eve. The weather was really cold and raining. We decided, having been to Amsterdam before, we would visit the Rijksmuseum. This was very busy. We had to wait outside in a queue for a quite a while, then queue again inside for tickets. There is a charge for this museum but there was a lot to see there. We dressed up in the evening, as New Year’s Eve is the one formal night on this five-night cruise. At the table, the gentlemen were given a top hat, black at the top and a silver rim and the ladies with a black tiara with the letters ‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’ as part of the decoration. There were balloons on the table and a sort of hooter each, which did become rather noisy during the meal. Amsterdam celebrates New Year with firework displays everywhere, which must cost an absolute fortune, just to go up in smoke. We went up on deck and watched a fantastic display on a mini island, which was a little way from the ship. This went on for about 25 minutes. Several little boats surrounded this display as well. This happened at Amsterdam’s midnight. We looked all around the skyline and there were displays everywhere. The ship’s time was on GMT. We went inside and ordered a drink whilst waiting for our midnight. The foyer was crowded, people on the stairs, balloons held in a net ready to be released, a band playing. As midnight approached a new band took to the stage, then someone stood and did a countdown to 2018, the balloons fell from the top of the staircase, along with streamers. Everyone was then singing ‘Auld Sang Syne’ (I expect most people would have no idea what they were actually singing about, but it didn’t matter a jot) with a glass of bubbly provided by the crew. Then everyone on the floor started to dance, most people doing what might be termed ‘dad dancing’. A couple of little girls of about 8 or 9 years old kept picking up the streamers, going up the stairs and throwing them down, so that they got under the dancers’ feet, but again it didn’t matter as it was all good humoured. We eventually went up to the Lido deck for a cup of tea and coffee. There were some lovely ice sculptors up there, a swan and a blue and red 2018. We sailed for Cherbourg the next day. We arrived into Cherbourg in the dark and the wind and rain, early in the morning. We could see a Brittany Ferry across the harbour lights blaring. We weren’t sure we wanted to leave the ship, as the weather wasn’t encouraging. In the end, my husband said we needed to do something, so we went to a shipping museum just opposite where the ship berthed. Then we took the shuttle bus into Cherbourg, which I have to say we timed extremely well! I had forgotten that some places in France close for a long lunch and we arrived around 12:30 to find most places closed. It was still pouring, so we made our way back to the ship. We sailed quite late in the evening, and the ferry went about the same time. I hope they had a good journey, being so much smaller than a cruise ship. The Commodore (he had a lovely smooth relaxing re-assuring voice) said that there were going to be storms, possibly a Force 10 gale. This could happen between 11pm and 4:30am. He said we would sail sideways across the Channel to Southampton (at least I think he said that) to reduce the worst of the storm’s effect. I remember being rolled, gently from side to side, by the motion of the ship and this did wake me up. I usually have my mobile phone on my bedside table, so I can see what time it is. I put my hand out in the dark to find my phone, but couldn’t find it, or my glasses. I put the light on and found both under the bed, not damaged at all, just slipped off the table with the rocking of the ship. The weather still had one more thing to throw at us. We left from the Ocean Terminal, our car taken from us there. Due to the weather we weren’t able to return to the Ocean Terminal and were told we would be going to a competitors’ berth (Royal Caribbean I think). We would then be transferred back to the Ocean Terminal by coach to collect our cars, as there were too many to bring to the new dock. The sun was shining but it was very cold. The cruise was quite eventful, but we did enjoy it.

18 January 2018

My husband had a significant birthday in September 2017. We have been away a few times this year, but my husband did mutter that it would be nice to go somewhere sunny. This gave me the idea to look at possible places to go. After much research, I decided on Antigua. This was to be a secret until his birthday. I booked it before the hurricanes hit the Caribbean. I was a little worried when I heard about the first hurricane and even more so when the second happened. Antigua was fortunate as it had hardly any damage. Other islands, such as Barbuda and St Kitts were badly damaged, as well as several other islands. This affected the cruise lines, as we understand that one day, Antigua had five cruise ships in port, as they were unable to visit places on their original itineraries. I don’t know where all these people would go, when leaving the ship, as Antigua is only 12 miles by 9 miles. We stayed at Gatwick the night before, as we prefer to do this, rather than risk the possibility of being stuck in some traffic disaster and missing our flight! We flew out in Premium Economy and the flight was full. On arrival, we collected our cases and then found our transfer driver. We walked into the hotel and were shown to a seat in the lounge, offered a cocktail and introduced to several people, amongst them the lady who organised excursions and the manager. We were then taken to our room, overlooking the sea. It had a lovely big balcony where we relaxed and I read several books. The room was air conditioned and a large fan above the very comfortable bed. We went for a wander around the resort and its beautiful tropical gardens. The main restaurant overlooks the gardens. There were other restaurants, for a change of venue and menu. All the restaurants needed to be booked in advance, as the hotel operated both on a bed and breakfast and an all-inclusive basis. I am a very fussy eater and the choice of menu in each restaurant wasn’t that great for me, but my husband enjoyed the food. I also heard other people say it was very good. All very subjective! We went on an excursion with another couple, who we didn’t know. This was a tour of the island by a 4x4. We went to Nelson’s Shipyard, to Shirley’s Heights (named after a man, apparently) where we looked down on the most famous view of St Johns in Antigua. Part of the advertised excursion was a visit to a donkey sanctuary. Our driver said he didn’t believe it necessarily following the suggested itinerary and what would we like to do? None of us were keen on the sanctuary, so he suggested we could go to a tropical forest. There was a very sad slave story connected to the tropical forest. Our driver was very good at keeping us very well informed during the day. Another day we did a helicopter trip over Monserrat to see the devastation caused by the volcano years ago and this is still rumbling on, after 22 years. We also went to an evening at Shirley’s Heights, for the experience. A steel band played which was good, but the place was packed. We did try a banana boat, but this was just too much like hard work! We did try to take out a Hobie boat, but they were not keen on us doing this, as I hadn’t had any experience at all and my husband hadn’t sailed for a few years. I asked if I could see some of the rooms in the property. The manager said he would let know me, as they were very busy. I was very lucky as a group of Gold Travel Counsellors did a couple of site inspections as part of a trip and were happy to let me join them. Otherwise we were glad to go for swims in the sea and in some of the swimming pools, wander to one of the beachside bars for lunch and generally do very little. We flew back Upper Class, so we could sleep laying down. We would go back again, as we really enjoyed the relaxation and the sunshine.

09 August 2017

We recently went to Scotland for a week on a ‘family fact finding’ holiday! My daughter and I are trying to find out ‘Who we think we are!’ Our first port of call was Ayr. We stayed with some friends, had a lovely time, visited a castle which is part of the National Trust for Scotland, called Culzean Castle (pronounced Colean!). My daughter and I also visited the Ayr Carnegie Library, where I had been in contact with a member of staff helping me to trace members of my father’s family from 19th Century. We learnt one ancestor owned an Ayr butchers business, moved premises several times. We were shown maps with the various streets where the shops had been in the 1800s and later a map where the streets were now. One street’s name was changed to Victoria Street from Boghall Row, which I thought was a blessing, but Boghall was apparently a farm. One of our friends said we had to go and see the ‘Electric Brae’ in Croy Brae (Ayrshire). It is an optical illusion. There is a stone explaining the phenomenon in a lay-by. When you park in the lay-by, look at the road, at the surrounding hills and fields, the road appears to go downhill in front of you. But taking the hand break off, the car gently goes backwards. Very odd! We left Ayrshire, in the rain, and travelled up to Inverness-shire, where the sun was shining. Stayed in Spean Bridge, visited the Commando Memorial. The weather was the clearest I have ever seen there. Our friends texted us to say it was still raining in Ayr! On the way to our hotel we stopped to take some photographs of Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie, one of the most photographed places in Scotland. The car park was full to overflowing, so we didn’t stay very long. I visited it years ago and looked round it, when it wasn’t so well known. We visited a glen and village overlooking Skye, possibly having a connection with the other side of my family. My grandmother named her house, we think after a place in Scotland, though we couldn’t find the exact name. We went up a twisty single track road, overlooking a sea loch, to the place with the nearest place name to my grandmother’s home. The pleasant little hamlet was on the Sound of Sleat opposite Skye. We took a little ferry across to Skye which takes 4 cars at the most and is run by the local people. We didn’t manage to find any family connection but it will need further research, so we will go back at some time. There are some ancient Brochs in the Lochalsh area. Brochs are tall stone towers, probably built around 2000 years ago, thought to be defensive, against other tribes and wild animals such as wolves, maybe even bears that still roamed in the woods. The Broch we visited was partially in ruins but impressive with double stone walls and steps inside the walls. We drove from the Highlands to the south. We came over the Forth Road Bridge and could see the progress that is being made on the building of the new road bridge. The last time we saw this it was just several pillars standing in the river. The last two days of our trip we spent in an intermittently rainy Edinburgh. We did some more research at the National Archives of Scotland, finding an ancestor in Perth who had donated money to the building of a bridge and another who built grandfather clocks. We found a lovely place to eat in the evening, in fact we were so impressed we went back the following night as well. We will have to go back again soon to do some more ‘research’.

03 August 2017

We decided to have a few days in Italy. Having been to Rome the previous year we chose Florence and Pisa for this holiday and went in early May for a few days. We flew from London Heathrow to Pisa arriving around lunchtime. There are shuttles buses running regularly into the main town of Pisa. We boarded one to take us to the main railway station, where we were due to catch a train to Florence. As we had a while to wait for our train, we found somewhere to have a bite to eat for lunch. We sat outside, then the weather took a turn for the worse. The staff put up very large umbrellas rapidly, four of them, but the rain was so heavy it fell through between the umbrellas! We managed to keep relatively dry, though my sandaled feet did get a little wet from the water trickling down past us. I had brought my trusty pink umbrella with me, so managed the short walk to the station without getting too wet. The journey to Florence took about an hour. The train was very popular but we managed to get seats. Arriving at Florence we walked to our hotel. Unfortunately we had discussed several different hotels before booking, but we went with my choice (being the Travel Agent!!). My husband was looking for a different hotel (not having checked the paperwork) so this meant we saw more of Florence, dragging our small cases, than we had intended. I thought he knew where we going, as he has a much better sense of direction than I have. We eventually arrived at the correct hotel. It was very nice and we could hear the bells ringing out from the Duomo, the large beautiful Cathedral. It was a lot bigger and more impressive than I expected. The receptionist was very good and advised us the room we had reserved could be a little dark. She took us to see this room and also a higher grade one. We decided to upgrade and were very pleased we did. A friend recommended we visit the Uffizi Gallery, suggested it was a good idea to go early in the morning. We pre-booked a time slot the day before. We didn’t have to queue. The museum is on more than one floor. There are lots of steps up to the first floor. Not being as fit as I maybe should be, I was slower and slower the higher I went. There are arrangements that can be made for disabled clients who wish to look around the Gallery. It was very interesting, although a lot of the paintings were very similar in content and many were religious but still beautiful. Lots of marble statues as well. There was one small room dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, which was very busy. It took some time to view the drawings and the paintings in this room but it was worth the wait. Florence has several squares. We visited the Piazza Della Signoria Square, stopping to have a drink (this was more expensive than in other parts of the city). This square was our means of getting from one part of Florence to another. We had a meal in a restaurant in the shadow of the Duomo. Another time we went to a small café and had a lovely meal. There are lots of little places in Florence to have a snack or just a drink of hot chocolate or maybe even a glass of wine! A must see is the Ponte Vecchio, built across the river at the River Arno’s narrowest part, with shops all along the bridge. Quite a few of the shops sold jewellery. It does get very crowded on the bridge and on the riverside walk up to the bridge. One view from the bridge was along the river and the many other bridges crossing the water. One afternoon we walked up a steep hill to the Boboli Gardens on the outskirts of Florence, where you get a nice view overlooking city, the Cathedral and the red roofs of houses. Just one word of warning. It seems that I have become allergic to mosquito bites over the last couple of years, reacting to the bites in an unpleasant way. This first happened to me in Cyprus, but I never gave it a thought as I was in a city. The local chemist said British people were always being affected by mosquito bites! We stayed for one night in Pisa so we could see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We walked from the station area to the Tower, about a mile. It took us about half an hour. There are many other buildings in the area and a large grassy park, where families were eating picnics or just sun bathing. I was surprised (though I shouldn't have been!) by the number of people taking photos of others looking as if they were pushing the tower over or appearing to be trying to hold it up. If you're interested in exploring all that Florence has to offer, call me to discuss your next adventure.

24 May 2017

This year we went to Dubai, a place we had never been to before or really considered, as we are very fond of scenery, such as mountains and lakes. We had many air miles we had to use them or lose them and Dubai seemed a reasonable choice! We flew Upper Class, which was a touch of luxury provided by our air miles. We went into the lounge at Heathrow, which was very nice, except when my husband accidently tipped a glass of wine over me. Luckily it was white wine, so dried without a stain! Once on board we decided to go straight to sleep, as we flew over night. We were woken, before it was light, and served breakfast and watched the dawn through the window as the sun rose. On arrival our private taxi was waiting for us. We were given details of excursions available. We arrived too early for our check in at the hotel, but they had a room ready on 4th floor within half an hour, very nice overlooking the sea and the large swimming pool. Our hotel which was lovely was on the Palm. We could see the Atlantis the Palm in the distance from our window and from the gardens and beach. I booked a Club King room which entitled us to half board with a good choice of places to eat, (this covered the meals but not drinks, including tea and coffee, all quite expensive) although our favourite was the Indian restaurant. We had breakfast in the Club Room, which looked like what I imagine a London Gentlemen’s Club may look like. We could sit inside or out on the terrace, which we did when it wasn’t thundering and raining! We weren’t very lucky with the weather. It was possible to have afternoon tea in the Club Room but we don’t have large appetites so we didn’t take advantage of this. However in the evening they have a Happy Hour from 6 o’clock to 7 o’clock, where everything was free, especially the wine, which they kept filling up, unless we told them to stop. The time wasn’t exactly adhered to, we managed to arrive at 7:30 once but still were served wine and a small plate with something to eat. My husband was very surprised by the fact that alcohol was available at all. In order to go on excursions or on the Hop-on Hop-off buses we took a taxi to the Atlantis, a huge hotel and very busy with buses and taxis coming in and out. Every evening we returned to our room to find a towel animal of some sort, two swans and pink rose petals on the first night. Then there were elephants - a big one and the next night a smaller version, a duck (I think) and a monkey on two coat hangers. We went on an excursion to Musandam, an exclave of Oman, as I had heard Oman was beautiful, but this excursion was disappointing, not helped by the violent thunderstorm which followed a night when lightning flashed constantly throughout the night. When we got to Oman we went on a dhow which was interesting. To get to the one we were going on we had to negotiate several others, which was fun. This excursion included a swim, but we didn’t take our costumes. We had lunch on the dhow. This was very good and was typical Omani food apparently. This was after several people had been swimming in the water and some went to a local beach. They had to paddle ashore. The area we were in wasn’t far from the Strait of Hormuz. We used the Hop-on Hop-off service to get around. We went first to Madinat, wondered around, took photographs and looked at the Burj El Arab from the beach. We stopped for lunch in a café which had a wall full of bottles of whisky, brandy and wines etc. We went later to Dubai Mall. I was blinded by all the gold in the jewellery shops but of course there weren’t any prices on the necklaces and rings. The following day, we used the service again. This time we visited the Dubai Marina, walked along the waterfront and eventually visited the Marina Mall and were very surprised to find a Waitrose there. The weather had improved and was quite warm. After exploring we decided to go back to our hotel when we went for a swim in the large pool, which was lovely and warm enough for me. I usually take absolutely ages to get into the water! We did go in the pool a couple of times. The Manager from the Club Room was happy to show me the various different style of rooms, which was very interesting. My husband seems quite keen to return at some time.

07 November 2016

In April this year we went to Rome for four nights and then to Sorrento for five nights. I had been to Rome ages ago, but my husband had never been there and neither of us had been to Sorrento. We flew from London Gatwick to Rome and took a taxi transfer to our hotel, which was not far from the Coliseum. We were made very welcome at the hotel and were helped with our luggage up the few steps into reception. As we had arrived on an early flight, the hotel advised us where we could get some lunch and off we went to explore. I am glad we weren’t driving there, as it would have been ‘interesting’, cars were parked all over the place, on the pavements, across two roads, in places that would be a traffic warden’s dream of largess here! We had purchased a Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Pass and this was very useful. We boarded near the Coliseum and saw many of the places we visited later by foot. We did a tour of the Coliseum. I had visited it many years ago, but I had forgotten was just how big it is. We felt like we walked for miles in those few days. Rome was generally very busy. We were told that April came into the high season, though we weren’t there during Easter. We visited the Spanish Steps, walked up to the top and looked down over the city. We also walked to the Trevi Fountain where we threw a coin in the water when we could get nearer enough and made a wish. Also we went to the Pantheon which very impressive and also very busy. We walked past the Altare Della Patria, Piazza Venezia, which looks a little like a wedding cake. It was rather late in the afternoon when we made our way to the Roman Forum, so we only walked around at ground level, but looking up we thought there must be some fantastic views from higher up. We strolled across the Ponte Sant’ Angelo, which was closed to traffic due to repairs been made to the bridge, to see the Castel Sant’ Angelo building and looked over the bridge at the Tiber River. We walked to the Vatican and we just wondered around the area, but didn’t go in. The weather wasn’t very good, so we dropped into a small café for a drink and a sit down! In the evenings we found a little restaurant near our hotel, which we understand is used by the locals. It was very reasonably priced for food and especially for wine. The tables were sort of outside, but were enclosed by plastic coverings with windows. Some of the tables spilled partly on the road, still within the plastic coverings! It was quite ‘cosy’ as all the tables were close together meaning you had to squeeze past other diners to reach a vacant table was near the window! It did mean having lots of conversations with different people, some who were local and some also on holiday. Next stop was Sorrento! We decided to go by train between Rome and Sorrento. We were told to go to a certain platform for our train, but it turned out to be the wrong one, our tickets said Platform 10 but the platform was empty and we couldn’t see anyone we could ask. We were becoming a little worried when over the loud hailer we heard that our train would be leaving from Platform 3 in a couple of minutes. I don’t know how we managed to get to the train without causing injury to other travellers! We had booked first class and it was very comfortable, once we had found how to store our cases. We took a taxi from Sorrento station to our hotel. We were on the top floor of the hotel and it was lovely. There was a bottle of champagne in our room. We sat on the balcony in the evenings before going for our meal. We walked into Sorrento itself, occasionally stopping to look at the view. There are lots of little alleyways with some shops all the way along these little streets. Quite a few shops were at selling leather goods. We had dinner sometimes in the town. There was plenty of choice of the type of food on offer, which was good for a very fussy person like me. A couple of times we ate in the hotel, a very pleasant restaurant with lovely views of Vesuvius. We decided to go on an excursion along the Amalfi Coast. It was lovely but it is not apparently recommended to drive this coast as it can be very dangerous, (maybe this was propaganda by interested parties!) It was very popular and consequently quite crowded, but worth seeing. We visited Positano, a village clinging to the side of the mountains and Ravello with its busy square. Ravello is an UNESCO. We also went on an excursion which took us to Salerno and to Paestum which has three temples said to be the best preserved Greek/Romano temples in the world. Part of the reason we wanted to go to Sorrento was to visit some very well know archaeological sites. We went to Herculaneum and Pompeii. We went by local train, quite an experience, with plastic yellow seats on the trains. Everywhere was covered with graffiti, on the trains, on the stations and even in one case on the station signage, so we had no idea what the station was, fortunately not a place where we needed to leave the train! We spent about three hours in Herculaneum in the morning and the weather was alright then. We had lunch in the town. Later we went to Pompeii, this was during the afternoon and then it poured and the strong wind blew. But we were interested in the sites and managed to enjoy both, despite the rain and the wind. To recover we went into the Pompeii’s little café and I had a hot chocolate, whilst my husband had coffee which he enjoyed. But the best hot chocolate I had was in a little café in Rome. Delicious! Maybe, as we threw a coin in the Trevi fountain I will be able to visit the café in Rome again, where I served that wonderful hot chocolate, but only if I can remember where it is!

28 October 2016

We decided to go away for New Year last year. The itinerary was Amsterdam for two nights and Bruges (Zeebrugge for Bruges) for one night. We sailed from Southampton on Cunard's Queen Victoria in the afternoon. As it was winter it was dark as we left, rather windy and cold out on the deck, but fascinating watching the twinkling lights of the south coast drift away from us. Our balcony cabin was nicely decorated. We had a two seater settee, plus a small television. We wandered around the ship to find out where everything was before heading to the restaurant for dinner. We passed the Isle of Wight and appeared to be going the wrong way, heading west. This was in order to arrive in the correct shipping lane, as the Channel has so much traffic. After we had dinner we went to the theatre to watch the show. I enjoyed it but there was far too much dancing for my husband! We went to the theatre every evening and the shows were all very good. The next day was a day at sea. I wished to go to the water colour painting lecture being held in the morning. My husband agreed to come with me and got roped in to participating as well. He must have enjoyed it as we went back in the afternoon. The ship docked very close to Amsterdam, within walking distance of the main railway station. We went on an excursion along the canals, just a few yards from the ship’s berth. Our guide asked if we would like to see the ship from the water. We agreed. We were taken along the canals that form the main part of the city, given details of the history and the present situation of the many barges moored alongside the banks of the canals. We decided we would return to the Queen Victoria for lunch and then walk into Amsterdam, taking our lives into our hands a little, as the main walk way was also a busy cycle way. Hardly anyone wore safety helmets which surprised me, especially as so many people tend to cycle very fast! We bought a hop-on hop-off bus ticket. We joined the queue for the bus but it took over an hour to actually board. They said it was because it was a holiday time that the buses were so busy. We sat upstairs and had some good views around the area. When we came back we wandered around Amsterdam before heading back to the ship and being ‘very naughty’ went for cream tea! The ship worked on Greenwich Mean Time or to be politically correct UTC, so we observed the same time as at home. On New Year’s Eve we were given ‘silly hats’ to wear in the dining room, the men had a top hat and the ladies a sort of coronet, both with Happy New Year written on them. We heard on the television in our cabin that both Paris and Brussels would not be having any firework displays, to celebrate the New Year, due to the previous terrorist actions in November. We did wonder if this would apply also to Amsterdam, it didn’t. We went up to the top of the ship and watched, from inside, the firework display held at 11pm according to the ship’s time. We then went to the ship’s foyer and participated in Cunard’s New Year Celebrations at 12 midnight GMT, with red and black balloons being released on the stroke of midnight, landing on our celebration drinks, on the Christmas trees and everyone standing in the foyer. Auld Lang Syne was sung and the holding of hands wasn’t easy with a drink to hold on to as well, but good fun! On New Year’s Day we went on an excursion outside Amsterdam, visiting a cheese factory and a windmill. The weather was very pleasant for the time of the year. We were glad we had decided to go on this excursion on New Year’s Day as Amsterdam was rather the worse for wear from the previous evening’s celebrations. On the excursion we saw canals and windmills, everything you would expect of Holland! We also learnt that Holland is just a part of the Netherlands. When the merchant vessels used to arrive at Dutch ports many years ago, they would say they had been to Holland, as that is where the ports where! Similar to the confusion that happens when Britain is called ‘England’! We then sailed to Zeebrugge. We were taken by coach to Blankenberge and caught a local train to Bruges. We took loads of photographs as it is such a pretty little town. We had lunch in a very busy café. We caught the train back to the ship and had another cream tea! Heading back to Southampton, and we felt we had had a lovely break. This coming New Year we are going to Switzerland!

24 May 2017

We decided we would like to visit Switzerland again, after eleven years. Going by car we took a mid-day ferry from Dover to Calais. The weather was fine and the sea not too choppy. Rather than drive all the way we arranged to stay for one night near Reims. It was a new hotel and comfortable. We used the French motorways. They are now mostly automated, a little daunting as the passenger in a UK car does all the negotiating of credit cards or throwing coins in the slots! Our first stop in Switzerland was in Brienz in the Bernese Oberland. We had a lovely room overlooking Lake Brienz. We parked the car, not using it again until we moved to the next resort. Our idea was to use the Swiss railways, (railways, especially steam, are a passion with my husband). We bought a Swiss Pass entitling us to a 50% discount on local trains. The first day we woke up to sunshine, so decided to go on the Brienzer Rothorn steam train. The countryside was awesome. We had lunch at the top, the sun shone and a cool wind blew. The weather wasn’t so bright the next day. We went by train to Lucerne, wondered around the city, had lunch at a little café. I had the most delicious raspberries. We took loads of photographs of the famous covered wooden bridge. There are beautiful red and yellow flowers all along the bridge. We went on a paddle boat trip around part of Lake Lucerne. There was a running commentary which was very interesting. This boat had a tall mast which could be lowered until it was almost flat. At one point we went under a very low bridge. I am sure they do this every time they go out on the lake, but the lowered mast was only just below the bridge. You feel everyone is holding their breath in case it doesn’t make it! Another time we went to Interlaken, walked along the main street, where there are some very nice hotels, wandered in and out of mainly touristy shops. We watched people paragliding in a local park. I decided this wasn't for me! We also visited Thun, very picturesque place. Thun has a wooden covered bridge, smaller than the one in Lucerne, it looked very old. This bridge is over a rapidly flowing river with people surfing from the bottom of this bridge. It looked cold in the water and not a little dangerous, as they were swept rapidly by the current down the river on their boards. There were flowers everywhere on railings and on balconies. Thun also has an impressive castle, dating back to 12th century, which hasn't ever been lived in. It seems it was built just for show. Drove the following day to Grindelwald. The hotel has its main entrance on the railway station. To reach the hotel’s small car park we had to drive along the platform, a strange experience! We had a fantastic room, we could see the Eiger, ‘see’ the Eiger is a little misleading. There were clouds covering it which move constantly, revealing bits of the top of the mountain. Other mountains could be viewed and were snow covered. We went for a walk around Grindelwald. There were a lot of road improvements being carried out causing traffic jams. It was August, but being so high up it was quite cold in the evening. The main reason for going to Grindelwald was the Junkfraujoch, known as the 'Top of Europe', at 3,454 metres. We took a train from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg where we changed for the cogwheel railway (it was great just to walk out of the hotel and climb on the train). This journey is mostly through tunnels hewn from the rocks of the Eiger and the Mönch (Monk in English) as seven of the nine kilometres are in a tunnels. The train stops for five minutes at each of two intermediate stations, the Eigerwand (Eiger Wall) and Eismeer (Sea of Ice). We viewed the scenery through panoramic windows. The Jungfrau Railway climbs a height of 1400 metres in around 50 minutes. When we arrived we made our way walking, through more tunnels to the Sphinx, and looked out over the Aletsch Glacier. It was a beautiful bright sunny day, the wind was very strong and it was so cold. It was definitely worth making an early start to see such a fantastic view. There was an ice palace with ice sculptures, carved ice penguins and bears and many more. Back down to Kleine Scheidegg for lunch and a chance to get warm! One day we went to Mürren by train, which is a place not possible to reach by road. The weather had changed. There were heavy clouds, some hanging in the valley below and even in August there were pockets of snow. It seemed a little deserted, although there were some people running a marathon. We also went to Berne, the capital, on a Sunday. We had never been there before. Most of the shops were closed but it was lovely just to wander around, seeing the famous clock tower and the typical architecture of the area. Towards the end of our holiday we went to Geneva. It has the feel of a bustling international city. We sat on a bench in a park by the lake and ‘people watched’. Mostly people walked by but there people on bicycles and some on skate boards, people with dogs and families with children on scooters. We also saw the tourist boats going out on the lake, past the Jet d'Eau de Genève, the water fountain. But I think the nicest day was the one when we used the car and went up into the mountains to Arolla in the Valais or Wallis. In this canton the names of places change depending where they are, as both French and German are spoken. Arolla is a sleepy summer village, near a mountain called Mont Collon, which is snow covered at the top and looks like someone has put icing on a cake. There was a hotel with a café which was closed on several days during the summer but there were flowers everywhere, in hanging baskets, on the balconies, all over a well and in pots on the ground. Our last few nights were spent in a small town called Culley on Lake Geneva, not far from the French border. We did the journey back to the Calais in one day. This was on a Saturday. The French motorways are not as congested as the British ones. Saying this, when we thought it was time we stop at a Service Station to buy something for lunch we found it impossible to park. We regretted not having thought to buy some snacks to have in the car. So I wouldn’t recommend driving along the French motorways on a Saturday at the end of August, if you would like to stop for a break. We took an evening ferry and had a meal on board, arriving home in time to go to bed, after a very interesting and varied holiday.

16 February 2013

After everyone had finished eating, the hotel put on evening entertainment, different most nights, the staff being the performers and some of them were excellent. We visited the Piano Bar more than once as it was quiet and peaceful, even when with the playing of the piano, when the evening entertainment on the Terrace wasn’t quite in our line. The hotel supplied beach towels every day, so we didn’t need to take our own with us, saving the space and weight in our cases. We went in the lovely big swimming pool and once we tried the aqua exercises which were fun and also went in the sea. There is a spa and a gym but being very lazy we didn’t participate very much! There is a ‘river’ with places where a couple could be together away from the main area, with a book and a drink, although other people can ‘paddle’ past! Whilst we were at the resort a wedding took place. I watched the bride walk to the specially decorated pagoda. I stood on the beach, keeping out of the photographer’s line of vision. The only drawback was the sand flies, I wasn’t aware at the time that I reacted badly to their bites. I would recommend taking some sort prevention such as lotion with you. We hired a car for a couple of days and a local license is required. One day we drove down to Soufriere and viewed the Pitons from above. Soufriere itself was a rather sprawling place. As we drove in we were stopped by a car, which turned out to be an off duty friendly policeman, who advised us that the traffic only went one way, as this was wasn’t marked very well. He obviously could tell we were tourists. We also drove to Rodney Bay which was very busy and visited Pigeon Island, a nature park with the remains of 18th fort, Fort Rodney, where the Admiral for which it is named spied on the French ships from its strategic viewpoint. We climbed up to the fort, slowly, as it was warm work. We did visit Martinique for a day trip by sea. The crossing was rather rough. Martinique is very French, the cars have French EU number plates and they trade in Euros. Firstly we visited Fort de France, the capital, went to the local church which had several beautiful chandeliers, but no glass in the windows. Then the boat took us to a stretch of calm sea where people could snorkel for a while. As we don’t snorkel we watched from the boat as people jumped in and then came dripping out of the water back onto the boat. At the end of the holiday there is a room quests can use, fitted with a television, lockers and also with showers available, for when you have checked out of your room. This does allow you to have one last swim. We had use of the lounge at the airport. We travelled back Upper Class as it’s so nice to be able to stretch out and put your feet up. All we have to do now is to decide where we will go for our next holiday!

16 February 2013

We returned from a lovely holiday to St Lucia, which was a welcome break from all the UK weather. As we had an early morning flight we decided to stay at Gatwick Airport the night before, so we took our time getting to the airport and didn’t have to worry about traffic jams. The hotel had its own parking arrangements. We flew out in Premium Economy, very comfortable. The plane we were on had just returned from its refurbishment and we were the first people on this aircraft. This was a blessing in disguise, as our flight had been delayed by 24 hours and we would have been on a different plane. Never the less we were very well looked after, the airline provided us with an extra night at our Gatwick hotel, gave us vouchers for two breakfasts and a lunch, plus they did provided us with an evening meal in our hotel. We took advantage of this delay to go to London’s West End for the afternoon. On arriving at Castries Airport the heat hit you as you stepped off the plane into the welcome sunshine of St. Lucia. Going through passport control and customs took a while, as another flight had landed about the same time. Some people had to queue outside, but the staff did their best to bring people in from the heat as quickly as possible. As we were a day late we were a little concerned that our transfer may not have been there, but we didn’t need to have worried. We had a very comfortable drive of about one and half hours in an air conditioned vehicle with a very informative friendly driver. We saw plenty of tropical forest along the route to the resort. On arrival at we were met by a member of staff who escorted us to the lounge where we were handed a very colourful cocktail. He explained about the property, when meals were served and about the special restaurant. When we had got our breath back and finished our cocktails he showed us to our Veranda room. It was a large room with a large four poster bed and plenty room for the two-seater red settee. The shower was unusual, having three spouts, two at waist level. They have been building some new rooms with baths rather than showers which, although smaller looked lovely. The hotel was on Malabar Beach. It isn’t a private beach but nice to sit with a cocktail (my favourite cocktail was non-alcoholic but there were alcoholic ones as well) and watch the world go by. Several people walked along the beach each day, occasionally walking with horses, which I imagine they were training to cope with the sea, as they didn’t ride them. If there was an influx of seaweed on the beach this was cleared away each morning. We watched people swimming, playing beach games, trying the wind surfers and water skiing. We also saw boats and ships of various sizes sailing by. We did see a couple of cruise ships making their way into the port of Castries, before they were hidden by the headland. Occasionally passengers from the cruise lines would find their way to the beach with the sea and the golden sands to tempt and who’s to blame them! The hotel is surrounded by beautiful well-kept gardens. There were lights spread amongst the very tall trees especially near the reception area. This looks very pretty in the evening. The meals were served in an outside covered restaurant, the Terrace Restaurant, overlooking the sea and the beach. This was buffet style. There was a good choice every day at all three meals. If you didn’t have enough to eat at the meals times they also served afternoon tea. Plus the bar was constantly busy with every sort of drink from coffee to wine and cocktails, whisky and beer. There was also another restaurant which needed to be booked in advance. This was waiter service and it was air conditioned and peaceful. Once we had discovered this, we booked every night for the rest of our stay. There were themed evenings, one was a Caribbean evening which was good fun, which the staff seemed to enjoy just as well as the quests did. There were also Italian and Mexican evenings amongst the others they organised each week.

09 July 2012

Continued: We waited in Colon for the people to return from their excursions. We didn’t embark, as it was pouring with rain and apparently there wasn’t much to see there except a shopping centre. We sailed overnight to Limon in Costa Rica. As we didn’t have any excursions booked we stayed on the ship and relaxed. The view from our balcony showed an eerie scene of constant falling rain on the Rain Forest with the low clouds hanging amongst the trees. Next day was a sea day as we headed back across the Caribbean. We arrived in the Grand Cayman in the early morning. This was another stop which involved a tender transfer. We were given a ticket with number and assembled in the dining room, waiting for our number to be called. In fact we sat at our evening table whilst we waited! It was a short journey ashore. We went on a local mini bus tour. My husband teased the US citizens on this tour about the driving side of road, as the Cayman Islands are a British territory and they drive on our side of the road and have roundabouts. The most famous beach is called Seven Mile Beach. We were taken to Hell, which is a rock feature raising out of the ground. There is a post office there, were people can have postcards franked with from “Hell, Grand Cayman” The following day was another sea day which eventually took us to Fort Lauderdale at the end of the cruise. After disembarking we collected another hire car and drove to Key Largo, where we stayed for 3 nights. Like a lot of places in the USA there doesn’t appear to be a real centre here, unlike Key West which is much more compact. We drove down on the US1, the Overseas Highway, to Key West the next day. Key West was very busy, especially Hemingway’s house. After we found somewhere to park we visited the harbour and generally wandered around, after having stopped for lunch. The US1, the Overseas Highway, is built over many islands and does feel like travelling over the sea. The road is quite a large engineering feat. After three very rainy days we then went to Naples and stayed on the main street, Fifth Avenue. We have been to Naples before and like it there. We went to the Everglades where we visited a museum run by the Park Rangers in Everglades City. We decided against going for boat ride as we would have had to wait for a couple of hours and the weather didn’t look very promising. We had been out in an ordinary boat, not an airboat on our previous visit to the area and saw manatees and dolphins. The next day we went to the Naples Municipal Pier and walked to the end. Many people we fishing from various vantage points. There were some artists and plenty of people taking photographs. It was very hot and there were loads of people taking advantage on both the wooden Pier and on the beach which stretches for miles. There was a dolphin swimming in the bay. I’m not sure if it ‘playing’ but it appeared in different places all the time. I did try to photograph it several times, but only managed a distant view with just the fin in the photo. The rest of our stay we relaxed, as our hotel had a swimming pool on the roof which was lovely. We then headed for Orlando for 4 nights. We were surprised to find the area suffering from a drought, after all tropical downpours we had experienced further south, and they were praying for rain. On our full first day we visited SeaWorld. The parks all have horrendous rides (my opinion) but I would never venture on any of the ones that turn you upside down. As you enter SeaWorld you become aware of screaming and hope this is a sign of enjoyment! We watched the manatees and the turtles swimming in one of the pools and then went down under the dolphin pool and watched them. SeaWorld look after animals and do try where possible to return them to the wild. If this is not possible then they will look after them for the remainder of their days. For instance there were some damaged pelicans that would be there until the end of their lives. The next day we drove to Tampa and went to Busch Gardens, Continued

09 July 2012

Continued: Busch Gardens is somewhere we hadn’t been before. There are trains, a red one and a yellow one, that go round the park to see the animals such as wildebeests, giraffes and zebras in a grassland situation. There are other animals such as Asian elephants and both tigers and white tigers in their own compounds. On our last day we went to Disney. I am a Disney fan. We took our daughter fifteen years ago and she said that my face lit up as we arrived, I wasn’t aware that I had reacted like that. I decided I wouldn’t drag my husband into the Magic Kingdom. We went to Epcot, which I do enjoy. The theme is year was all about Flowers. As you enter the first display is Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice from the Fantasia with the brooms, and the Dancing Hippos. Other Disney characters in flowers are Mickey and Mini, Pluto, the tea pot from Beauty and the Beast, Captain Hook and Peter Pan plus the crocodile, Cinderella and Prince Charming dancing. Also Winnie the Pooh, with Eeyore and Piglet, Tigger and Rabbit in the UK Pavilion. There are flowers in borders in rows of colours. Very pretty! We were very patriotic in this year of the Diamond Jubilee and had fish and chips in the UK pub the Rose and Crown! There is a stage in the USA Pavilion and there was a concert by former members of ELO (the Electric Light Orchestra) which we happen on by chance and was very good. We spoke to an American couple who lived in Florida, about 30 miles from Disney, they regularly come they said for the concerts and have a yearly entry ticket. We visited several of the Pavilions. The Canadian one has a 360 degrees film show taking in much of the scenery of the country. We also went into the Chinese one which has a miniature display of the terracotta warriors, amongst many others. The prayers for rain were answered when we were here as the rain was very heavy after thunder and lightening! Fortunately the storm was all over when the time came for the Epcot end of the day fireworks display on the lake. There were beacons lit all round the lake and the ‘World’, a giant iron ball had video displays of different places in the world. We had a very good view of the show. One thing I should mention is for all three parks there is a charge for parking of $14 per day. Fifteen years ago this was $6 and they all charge the same price. We flew home in business class which was great as you are able to lie down. Our car was brought to the terminal and we made our way home in good time.

20 August 2012

I booked a cruise as a surprise for my husband for a special birthday and kept it a secret for over a year. When I finally told him, we decided to stay for a few days in Florida after the cruise and a couple days before. We flew to Miami from Heathrow but returned into Gatwick. This wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds! At the last minute my husband had to return for an important meeting on the day we landed back into the UK and we needed to be home as soon as possible. We drove to Gatwick the day before we went away, parked the car there for the duration of the holiday. I had arranged for our car to be brought back to the airport for us, which worked very well. As we were short of time I arranged for a Private Chauffeur transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow. The owner of the firm collected us from the Gatwick Terminal. He was a really nice and this service offered a lovely and stress free journey. He took us to the hotel we had chosen at Heathrow. The hotel was very comfortable and was in Terminal 5. We ate in a restaurant in Terminal 5, which was a great experience. In the morning we used the underground from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3. We ere very surprised by how comfortable and clean this it was. We collected a car from Miami airport, this involved a long wait, as everyone else seemed to hiring cars as well. We then drove up Fort Lauderdale for a couple of nights. We explored the area around Miami and Fort Lauderdale before returning the car. We used the hotel’s shuttle service to go the Everglades Port for our cruise and settled in for the 10 days in the Caribbean Sea and to see the Panama Canal. Choosing the Second Sitting for our meals, we were on a table of ten guests. There were several different nationalities, including Canadians and Americans. It was a very noisy group but hilarious. Our waiter was lovely and his assistant Edith had the biggest smile. Nothing was too much trouble for them. The first port we were to come to was Aruba. We were at sea for two days, so we relaxed completely and roamed the ship to find out where everything was. The Dutch influence in Aruba is very strong. The buildings are painted in colours such as pink and pale blue with white surrounds. These houses wouldn’t have looked out of place on old fashioned chocolate box, which used to feature such scenes as cottages with gardens filled with flowers or a dramatic coastal view. Coming from the cold weather in the UK, being April, we did become a little sunburnt walking back to the ship. Our next port of call was Cartagena, Columbia. An old Spanish city, a bit faded but the buildings are still quite grand. We did a tour of the city in a small local mini bus. My husband said he had a really good cup of coffee here, well they are known for their coffee. The next day we travelled to the Panama Canal, the highlight of our cruise and the reason we were there. The ship which has a large cinema screen had been giving us lots of information about the building of the Canal and the previous try by a Frenchman which had been disastrous. So many people died due to the infections spread by mosquitoes, especially Yellow Fever and also to a lesser extent Malaria. Fortunately someone discovered the causes and went to work to change the situation, so these diseases are no longer a problem. Panama now are building a larger canal as so many ships are so much bigger nowadays and are not able to go through the canal. We didn’t go all the way through the Canal to the Pacific. Very early in the morning we went through the two canals which take you through to the Gatun Lake. We decided to stay on the ship and watched the people who did leave pile into the tenders and go the short distance to the shore. We then cruised described as Scenic Cruising around the Lake Gatun area. We saw where the original canal had been started and abandoned. There were many ships waiting on the Lake to either go to the Pacific or into the Caribbean. We sailed to the port of Colon in Panama. Continued

01 November 2016

We had always wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park and see part of the USA West Coast on the way, so we were really looking forward to our trip. Our journey started in San Francisco and after collecting our cases we boarded the AirTrain to the Rental Car Centre to pick up our hire car and start making our way up to Crater Lake in Oregon. Our first stop was at Santa Rosa in California where we spent two nights. I had read that Charles Schulz the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ cartoon, had a museum there. He did a great deal for the area including providing a baseball pitch for children who didn’t have any facilities. He liked ice hockey and playing tennis and the museum has its own ice rink. We were amused by many of the cartoon strips displayed, especially a large wall made up of the daily cartoon strips. The following day we drove to Crater Lake in Oregon. The weather was distinctly cooler and as we drove nearer to the lake area we were surprised to see what we thought was snow. Indeed it was and it got heavier as we approached. We arrived at the Lodge and checked in. The area has one of the highest snow falls during the winter; usually they have about 44 feet but this year it was much higher at 57 feet. There is an island in the middle of the lake but unfortunately we weren’t able to see it except at the top of the Lodge, so reception handed out spy glasses which showed a summer scene. This was very much tongue in cheek! Before leaving the area we had a look at the lake with the snow piled high everywhere. It was simply beautiful. We then went to Boise in Idaho for one night. We hadn’t made any advance arrangements for the next two nights but decided to stop in Idaho Falls and explored the area from this town. There was some lovely countryside around and it was quite sparsely populated making me wonder how people managed to arrive at this rather out of the way place. Here you can find metal deposits including gold. We stayed outside Yellowstone National Park for 3 nights in West Yellowstone in Montana and drove in to the park daily. It is a huge park. We stopped frequently to take photographs of the dramatic countryside, the water falls, the volcanic fumaroles and the bison down by the river on the first day. We didn’t see any wolves, although on later days we saw elk as well as bison wandering around the woods and also holding up the traffic by ambling down the middle of the highway. The next day we entered the park at the same entrance. This time we found ourselves in a queue, which meant we could look at the local area in great detail. We were aware of at least one helicopter flying around, which did seem unusual. When we got to the end of the queue there were Park Rangers on horses and lots of bison rushing along, many of them had young. They are big powerful animals and they were being moved from one area of the park to another. Normally in the Spring they move further into the park themselves, but because the winter weather in North America had been severe and prolonged, they were becoming a nuisance and a possible danger to the towns outside the park. It still was very cold and this was the beginning of June. We spent one night in the park itself, this part of the park is in Wyoming. My tip is to book early as the accommodation gets very booked up and can be pricey as a result. The Lodge where we stayed was near the best known geyser Old Faithfully. We were advised when it was due to become active about every 15-30 minutes. It was absolutely fascinating. Read on in the next instalment of my Yellowstone Park Journal…

01 November 2016

We visited many of the other geysers, including one called Steamboat which seems to be spouting boiling hot steam all the time. The colours of the rocks were varied, some really bright orange, there were reds and yellows as well as greys. There were little pools which were very bright blue and steaming, all fascinating to watch. We spent some time in Mammoth looking at the hot springs and visiting the Minerva Terraces which have shades of green, red and orange, created by the bacteria in the water. There is also a 45 foot high cone, known as the Liberty Cap. We went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was very impressive, especially as the day time was sunny and bright. The snow was melting and the water fall, which does become frozen in the winter, was in full flow down through the yellow rocks from where the Park gets its name. The Park Rangers were very informative. We were impressed by the lady at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, as she spoke about many different aspects including the view which was a particular favourite with artists and it was easy to see why. One Ranger explained that Yellowstone was a huge volcanic crater about 30 miles wide, although this wasn’t fully appreciated until people could see it from the air. He told us how it was formed and was still in this process, it was a very interesting talk which lasted about three quarters of an hour. Yellowstone National Park, the first national park, runs into the Grand Teton National Park, a beautiful area of high snow covered mountains, where the weather was warmer. From there we progressed to Salt Lake City via Pocatello in Idaho. Having been in all that snow Salt Lake City was lovely and warm, although the receptionist at the hotel said it was the first warm day they had that year. We visited the Mormon Temple, having got into conversation with two ladies who were very willing to show us around the building. The Temple itself has a huge statue of Jesus and massive paintings depicting biblical scenes such as Adam and Eve (though they looked like they were in an English Country Garden) and Moses. From Salt Lake City we drove to Las Vegas to stay for a few days, a break from all the fantastic scenery we had been absorbing. We took lots of photographs of the fountains at the Bellagio during the evening and watched the Volcano ‘erupt’ at the Mirage. We don’t go much for the gambling side of things, we put 20 dollars in the machines, but lost the lot! We then went to my favourite US National Park, Yosemite, staying outside the Park, down by the Merced River. The weather was lovely and sunny with a pleasant refreshing breeze, ideal for walking around. One of the hotels in the park served a lovely cheese cake, so we went there for lunch two days in a row. We took the car back to the depot as we were due to fly home from San Francisco in a couple of days. A car is not required and is expensive to store at the hotel garages. We stayed in a hotel in Union Square and used the cable cars to go to up and down to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. It is normally bedlam in the water near Pier 39 with the sea lions pushing and shoving each other and arguing all the time, but this time there did seem to be a lot less of them. I did wonder if the harsh American winter had anything to with this. Our hotel ordered a taxi for us to go to the airport in the late afternoon and they kindly stored our luggage for us after we had checked out of our room. They also very helpfully did our flight check-in on-line for us as well. This hotel on a previous occasion took some post that needed to be sent within the States and wouldn’t let us pay for the postage. I was impressed by this, as the staff member who took the letter from was insistent that we should not pay for this! We flew back in Upper Class and had a peaceful time in the airline’s lounge before boarding the flight. We enjoyed a nice meal and a glass of wine, and then slept the journey away on the flat beds - a great end to a great holiday.

05 November 2016

We spent a very nice weekend in St. Ives and the surrounding area in April this year. We left home early in the morning to make the most of the two days we would be there. St.Ives is a very popular place and finding a hotel was a challenge for the four of us. We had found and booked one overlooking the sea on the hills above the town. We reached the hotel early, parked the car as there were plenty of available parking spaces at the hotel. We checked in later in the afternoon. It was like a castle with its own beautiful grounds. It had two swimming pools, tennis and badminton courts as well as a gym and a spa. As the weather was very pleasant, bright and sunny with a cool breeze, the walk down was invigorating, through the well laid out hotel gardens, along a road giving good views of the beach and the harbour down below. When we reached the harbour area we strolled along the tiny cobbled streets for a while. Three of us had a Cornish Cream Tea for lunch, I am still not sure what the difference is between a Cornish and a Devon Cream Tea but it was lovely. We then wondered around the shops and the art galleries. We also walked up to the top of headland where there is a very good panoramic view of the coast and the expanse of the sea. We went from the harbour to other beach watching the waves splashing on the rocks and trying to identify the various sea birds feeding in the water, some squabbling. Eventually my daughter and I went to the Tate Gallery, which overlooks the lovely surfing beach of Porthmeor which was busy that Saturday afternoon. The exhibition at the Tate St. Ives was very modern and rather beyond me, though my daughter loved it. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and have a rest. Having been to St. Ives before we thought it was wise to reserve the restaurant we wished to go for the evening in advance and were very glad we did. The meal was excellent. We stay inside by a large window, overlooking the harbour. The moon came up whilst we were eating and the reflection on the water was magical. We all slept well having walked around for most of the day plus the added bonus of the sea air which always makes me sleepy. The breakfast in the hotel was varied with plenty of choice and very good. The next morning we visited the Barbara Hepworth's Museum at her Trewyn Studio where she lived (now in the care of the Tate). The Studio leads to the garden which is pleasant with flowers, bushes and trees which are slightly overgrown in parts but it has a nice calm feeling. Several photographs were taken of the various sculptures, made of stone, wood and bronze by my husband and daughter. There is a small shed with a bed in it and in another part which was a workshop which had been left as if the lady had just popped out. We then went to the Eden Project, which was very interesting. It had suffered from floods and is now recovering. It wasn’t as busy as I expected to be and we parked very near the entrance. The ticket purchased at the entrance allows visits for up to a year. We spent all afternoon there, looking at the plants, including flowers, trees and vegetables growing outside. We went into the Rainforest Biome, but didn’t go to the top to the Lookout as it was very hot and humid as it has to be, but I wouldn't have missed going into the Biome. We also went to the Mediterranean Biome which was a more pleasant climate for strolling around. Spring flowers were there in perfusion and also there were several small birds flying around. It was a very busy weekend with lotsto see and do but it was very enjoyable.

01 November 2010

When we left Heathrow for San Francisco in June, the weather in London was warm and sunny. It was pleasant when we landed, though cooler. The flight was good and it was on time. As we were spending 2 nights in San Francisco we decided not to collect the hire car at the airport. Previously we had driven from the airport and parked at the hotel and this had been quite expensive. We took a taxi into the centre, they are plentiful and have a fixed charge. We were staying in the Union Square area. The hotel had recently been refurbished. I had some tickets to enter the California Academy of Sciences in the Golden Gate Park, reputed to be the world’s greenest museum. We went by local bus and were offered advice from various passengers on the bus. This was an interesting place to visit. Standing in its own grounds, it is a large glass faced building housing several different exhibitions. There is a Rainforest, which we could look down from the main concourse, although it was closed that day for maintenance. What stands out in my mind is the white crocodile lying so still in a pool, I didn’t believe was real at first. But it was definitely alive, as it had been rescued. As it was white it would probably not have survived in the wild. The next morning we woke to rain. We went to the carhire office to collect our car around ten o’clock. There was a queue, it was a small site. At first we were given a smaller car than we had booked, but eventually this was sorted. Should we go to San Francisco again, we would elect to pick up a car from the airport as there is much more choice of vehicles and no long queues. Our aim with this holiday visit the Coast Road, taking our time (as usually our holidays are spent rushing from one place to another to make the most of it). With this in mind we decided to spend 2 nights in Monterey, one night at Pismo Beach, 2 nights in Oxnard and 2 in San Diego. I liked Monterey, as we arrived the sun came out. John Steinbeck came from the Monterey area and he is honoured with a statue in the Canning Row, which featured in his stories. We spent the next day walking along the Cycle Path to the Fisherman’s Wharf, taking photographs of the seals basking on the rocks, going in and out of the water, communicating with each other very loudly. During the afternoon we went out in a glass bottom boat, hoping to see sea otters, but all we could see was the kelp that grows very well at this time of the year. We did see sea otters from the shore, when we returned to our hotel, playing in the kelp. On one occasion we passed a gallery which was devoted to the paintings of Thomas Kinkade. He is known as the Painter of Light I liked some of the paintings, which very cleverly changed when light was projected on to them. We went down the beautiful coast road, stopped several times to take photographs. At one point we could see fog rolling along over the sea, although on the shore it was sunny and breezy. Next stop was Pismo Beach. I am afraid it didn’t impress me, as it seemed to be full of RV parks. There were shops there but they mainly catered for the seaside trade. The sun shone there when we arrived, but the next day, it was all different. California has what is known locally as the ‘June Gloom’ and this remained with us, until we went inland. I found Oxnard a nicer place. It was full of boats of all different types and sizes, a paradise for people who love sailing. We went to a restaurant in Oxnard which had two jazz singers, though they sang everything from sixties to modern pop songs, created a very nice atmosphere whilst waiting for our meal. We decided to drive up into the hills, to the Los Padres National Forest, although it was June, it looked like spring had only just arrived. The flowers were there in profusion and the broom smelt lovely, which with the sunshine, was well worth the drive.

01 December 2010

San Diego was suffering from the ‘June Gloom’. We strolled along the waterfront past several ships. The vintage Star of India, one of the sailing vessels, is one of the oldest working ships, dating from 1863. We decided to visit the USS Midway, built as an aircraft carrier, now a museum. They show how the sailors lived and worked on board. The top deck was full of aircraft used when the ship was in service. The next day we drove to Palm Springs leaving the June Gloom behind! We had chosen a small hotel. This was a fantastic place, fairly simple accommodation, the swimming pool was a good size and could be used at any time of the day or night! There were free bicycles. They asked that you just let them know when you were going to use these. The hotel had a limousine, also hired for free, should you wish to visit a restaurant and not drive. All that was required was to “look after the driver”. Wine, beer and other drinks were free, available at any time, plus nibbles in the room. The first afternoon we went on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, a rotating ‘tram’ travelling up through the Chino Canyon cliffs. The journey goes through several different climatic areas from very hot up to the top where there is still some snow. The following day we drove to the Joshua Tree National Park. These trees only grow in the Mohave Desert. Larry, owner, rushed out with bottles of frozen water for us. When we left Palm Springs we were again given frozen water and a detailed map, very useful, as Patty, the other owner, listed the places we would drive through, very helpfully explained the towns or areas that nothing to offer in the way of refreshment or fuel. We spent 4 nights in Las Vegas, watched the fountains at the Bellagio, both in the day and at night. We saw the refurbished volcano at the Mirage. We drove to the local Red Rocks Canyon. A wedding party were having photographs taken amongst the rocks. After relaxing for a few days we made our way to Death Valley, staying at Furnace Creek for one night. They have a swimming pool, the lowest one in the USA, but with the water being in the high 80 decrees even I found it a little too hot. I usually find swimming in the sea and swimming pools too cold! We went to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America and the Western Hemisphere, an area of salt flats and extremely hot. Also explored the Artists Drive, a nine mile drive. The rocks vary in colour and with the shadows in the late afternoon on the mountains a very dramatic effect. We headed to Yosemite. We went over the Tioga Pass which was really beautiful. Having been to California in May and early June the road over the pass was always closed making it necessary to travel the long way round via Bakersfield and Fresno. Yosemite is beautiful but extremely popular. Yosemite has many waterfalls, the Bridal Falls being the best known. We drove to the northern part of California to Red Bluff to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park. On our journey we could see Mount Shasta, the largest mountain in the area, from 90 miles away, covered in snow. This is an area of volcanic activity, with bubbling mud pools and fumaroles smelling of sulphur. Although it was June, when we reached the entrance to the Park we were told we could only go so far as the road at the top was closed by snow. We decided to try and see as much as we could, reaching a notice stating ‘Road Closed’ it was beautiful but cold up there although the sun shone. We made our way back to San Francisco via the Napa Valley where we stayed for one night. We visited a couple of Vineries, although we didn’t try any of the produce unfortunately! One of the vineyards had closed around lunchtime before we went there but the grounds were lovely. The other one was due to close shortly after we arrived but they did chat to us in a very friendly manner, mostly as we weren’t from the local area. Our hotel for our last night was conveniently near San Francisco Airport. We returned home with thoughts of going back some day to see more of the area on a future occasion.

02 November 2016

Staying at Mystic, Connecticut we visited The Museum of America and the Sea at Mystic Seaport, which is a Living history museum consisting of a village, ships and 17 acres of exhibits depicting coastal life in New England in the 19th century. We ate one night at Mystic Pizza, which became famous as it was featured in 1988 film. Hyannis, Massachusetts has many connections with the Kennedy Family. We went for a boat ride round the harbour and they pointed out, from a considerable distance where the family used to spend some of their time. Our final stop was Boston, Massachusetts. We took the car back, having driven in several of the New England states to view the fall, including Vermont which is reputed to have the best display of autumn colours, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts. In Boston we took a Duck tour which takes you on both land and water, down the Charles River. The one we went on was purple and had someone driving who claimed to be an ancient Greek! All great fun, especially as he took great pleasure in teasing anyone who was British on how the New Englanders had beaten the old country for their independence. We went into the Boston Public Library, it was lovely and warm. Also we walked around Copley Square, where there was an ornamental hare and tortoise, showing the tortoise in the lead! We decided to splash out on our return flight and had a seat that became a bed which is a lovely relaxing way to fly.

02 November 2016

We flew to JFK airport, New York, travelling premium economy, and were offered a Bucks Fizz or orange juice once we were seated! Arriving in the USA early afternoon we took a taxi, which was very easy as we did not pre-book our transfer, as we understood that this wouldn’t pose a problem. The taxi driver was very good, but said he would have difficulty getting to our hotel the Affinia 50, as the traffic was horrendous due to the United Nations holding a conference in New York. We were dropped off near the hotel. It was a pleasant afternoon, so once we had been checked in by the friendly staff, we went for a wander around. We bought tickets for the hop-on hop-off tour for the following day which took us to Time Square, along Broadway, the Empire State Building, Greenwich Village and through China town. At one point we left the bus and went to the top of the Empire State building. The weather was sunny with a cold wind but we managed to take loads of photos. The next day we went to Staten Island by the free ferry. As you approach the island they warn you that you must leave the boat. Practically everyone who disembarked walked to the other side of the jetty and went on to the return ferry! We took a lot of photographs of the Statue of Liberty as we passed by and more of the New York skyline. We collected our hire car and drove out of the city the next morning in the pouring rain, feeling we had been very lucky with the weather. Our destination was Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. This meant crossing the border, which wasn’t a problem. Our hotel overlooked the falls so we went to top floor and took photographs before going down the funicular to the edge of the falls. It was very busy as we expected, but very dramatic as the dark clouds were hanging very low, threatening thunder. Next stop was Toronto. We stayed outside the city and drove into the centre and parked without too much trouble. The hotel had said we could park at the local station and go in by train, but the car park didn’t have any spaces. We went on a hop-on hop-off tour of Toronto. They use the old style London buses; in fact some of them still show the London place names and the original bus number. We didn’t realise at the time that the weather was unusually cold for October, but this was the case for the rest of our stay. We visited the underground shopping malls, as people don’t want to be outside in the very cold winter time. We also went on a boat trip round the harbour which was interesting and makes you feel you are out in the countryside at one point. We then drove to Ottawa for one night. It was a place full of impressive buildings, especially the Parliament Buildings and very compact. We parked the car in what we thought was the hotel car park, but unfortunately the directions weren’t very clear and for a while we ‘lost’ the car. The hotel was more than helpful, chasing around the city for anyone who could allow access to the ‘wrong’ car park which was used by office staff as this was a Saturday, and it was closed. After our few days in Canada we went back into the USA, to the Saranac Lake area in New York State. The leaves were in their autumnal colours here and the lake reflected images of the trees. When the sun was shining on the leaves this was especially beautiful. We were recommended to go to a couple of local restaurants, one of them serving Mexican food. It had a great atmosphere and the people were very friendly. Our next stop was at North Conway in New Hampshire. Our hotel was in Settlers Green Outlet Village. We visited the Mount Washington Cog Railway, although the trains went up the mountain they disappeared into the clouds. We went to Kennebunkport in Maine and stayed in very old fashioned hotel. We took several walks and were told the George Bush senior had a place on the coast. The town was a nice little place and well looked after with hanging baskets and a square full of flowers which complemented the autumn colours of the trees.

01 November 2016

In February last year I was treated to a weekend break in Edinburgh. This was a Christmas gift from my daughter and my sister. The three of us travelled from Bristol by EasyJet on a Thursday evening. As my daughter hates flying I suggested we book their Speedy Boarding, so we could board first and sit together. When we arrived at the airport in Edinburgh, which is small enough to find your way round easily, we where directed to the exit where we got a taxi. This was very well organised. Soon we were travelling into the city to our accommodation in Frederick Street, not far from Princes Street. The taxi driver was lovely, waited to make sure we were at our bed and breakfast accommodation before leaving. Maybe our chat about our Scottish heritage, my grandfather having been born in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh and a rugby fan all his life, made us bond with him! The room we had was very nice, twin beds and a sofa, on which my daughter had no difficulty sleeping and a separate bathroom. The next day we were up and out after breakfast which was very good and set us up for the day. The Castle came into view as we walked, it had snowed, not very much, but someone had traced a big heart with a loving message in the snow on the hill just below the Castle, this was Friday 13th February. By Valentine's Day the snow had melted, so I hope the person it was intended for saw it! We walked along Princes Street, our aim to visit the Scotlands People Centre at the far end of the Street, where you can have a 2 hour free session to trace your ancestry, which we did. If your relations have an unusual name it is easier to trace your family. We had some success, but I would need to go again and pay the fee for the day, for a fuller search. On Saturday we walked up to the Castle, along the Royal mile, past St Giles church, where a wedding was taking place. Near the Castle there is a 'museum' called Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre, where you can taste many varieties of whiskies. Just about opposite this place there is a small alleyway which is named 'Semple's Close' (which is my maiden name) although it doesn't appear on any map I can find! We had a very nice weekend and did manage to do some shopping, in the main chain store shops and also in the sort of shops that only a Scottish location would have.

30 October 2016

We flew to Seattle a couple of days before the scheduled departure and stayed at the Grand Hyatt in the centre of Seattle. Then we flew to Fairbanks, staying in Riverside Lodgel for 2 nights and chose to eat the haddock on both nights, as it was delicious! This was in June and it was so odd to go to bed in the light! We went on the gold panning tour at the El Dorado Gold Mine and on the Tanana Valley Railroad. At the end of rail trip, they hand you a bag (a poke) full of soil and hopefully a decent amount of gold. In the afternoon we went on a riverboat cruise on a sternwheeler, on the Chena River, past a husky breeding station and a native village. We disembarked in the village, it was fascinating as the people used everything they caught, nothing was wasted. The next part was by the Denali Express which has a domed glass roof for all round viewing to the Denali National Park. This was a journey through the countryside, plenty of trees growing on the permafrost. We went on a coach trip round the National Park which was beautiful. passing a moose and her baby on the way. The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was very comfortable, consisting of chalet type accommodation. The next night was spent in the Mount McKinley area at the Princess Wilderness Lodge. The views were fantastic and the highest mountains could be seen from the hotel terrace. There were warming log fires burning in the hotel’s main areas, which were more than welcome. Durung our stay we travelled to Kenai by coach. I took a lot of photographs but mostly they were of trees, as the wildlife having disappeared as soon as I produced my camera! We stayed at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge and spent the next day walking with a guide who took a picnic for us. We could see salmon jumping and the weather was gorgeous, sunny and not too hot. The following day we joined the cruise at Whittier. Our cabin had a double bed and a balcony. We sailed on the Coral Princess. We sailed to Glacier Bay where there were small pieces of ice floating on the water and managed to see glacier “calving” which was was nosier than I imagined it would be. We berthed at Skagway and went on a train journey which took us over the snowy Canadian border. The journey itself through forests and mountains provided the most beautiful scenery I have seen. The next stop on our cruise was Juneau, the landlocked capital of Alaska. We went on an excursion by small plane, which took us up over green forests, more mountains covered in snow and many lakes of different sizes - this was an uninhabited area. We also rode a cable car and overlooked the place where the ship was berthed. Sailing further south we reached Ketchikan, which is reputed to have more totem poles than anywhere else. We went to Creek Street. Apparently the term ‘up the creek without a paddle’ came from here! The next part of our journey took us along the Inside Passage. There were running commentaries during the day, pointing out various wildlife and marine life. It was overcast, windy with rain in the air. The mountains were lower here and became more like wooded hills interspersed with many little islands. We were going from United States territory into the Canadian part of the passage down to Vancouver. We decided not to fly back, so we hired a car and drove to the US/Canadian border. We did have to queue for about an hour, which isn’t unusual. The area is very well kept with beautiful gardens, especially on the Vancouver side. We headed for the area where Mount St Helens is situated. The accommodation provided a full breakfast and the young lady there cooked for 15 difefremt breakfast requests! You were able to help yourself to wine and nibbles in the evening. Mount St Helens is both impressive and sad with dead trees still lying where they fell after the volcano all those years ago. Washington State is very sparsely populated. The busiest parts were along the main I5. We went into Oregon, just over the border, bought some lunch then made our way back, heading back to Vancouver for our return flight. We spent one night in Vancouver, explored Stanley Park. It had been affected by a bad storm the previous winter and there were trees lying on the ground, but it was recovering. This was our second cruise, we had been to the Caribbean previously and we enjoyed the whole Alaska experience very much.

31 October 2016

We travelled from Heathrow to Athens. We were concerned as we were departing from Terminal 5, but the experience was a lot better than expected. We decided to only take cabin baggage. Athens was sunny and warm when we arrived. We took a taxi from the airport. It was quite a long way into the centre of Athens. The driver was very pleasant and drove carefully. We stayed in Athens for two nights at the Hotel Plaka, which was down a narrow road in the old part of Athens. The room was fine, and had a balcony, but unfortunately the view was of a corrugated iron roof so we didn't use it!! The hotel was an old building, its best feature being the roof terrace with a very good view of the Acropolis. It looked very close from the roof, but not if you walked up to it. The Acropolis is especially beautiful at night, when it’s all lit up, almost looks as if it is floating above the city. The ancient and historic sites in Greece are breath-taking. The tickets we bought at The Acropolis included eight Athenian sites to visit. We managed to do seven in two days, although the ticket was valid for a week. The Acropolis is impressive, even with the cranes inside the main building and parts of the site fenced off. We must have walked miles. It is very busy most of the time. There were a lot of school parties from France, Germany, Italy and Greece, occasionally even a British group. This was the same in the other places we visited. As with young people anywhere they weren’t very good at leaving space for people walking in the other direction, and on a steep path this was interesting! We ate outside in a restaurant in Athens, this was pleasant on the first night, but the weather changed on the second day, the wind rose and it became cooler. The restaurant had outside heaters, this was an experience as the heaters' burners kept being blown out. The locals said it was very unusual for it to be like this in April. Next day we had a car delivered to our hotel. After a very interesting time trying to find our way out of Athens, especially in the part when all the signs were understandably in Greek, we made our way to Delphi. The hotel in Delphi we stayed in was in lovely setting, on a hill. Delphi is very hilly, the roads in the town run parallel, with many many steps between the levels. I tried to count them but lost count, as I am not that steady on my feet and decided it was better to concentre on walking. I have always wanted to visit Delphi, after reading books on Greek archaeology. I wasn’t disappointed with the place, though the weather was misty. Maybe this why I didn’t see the ‘Oracle’! We decided to go to the Peloponnese for the last couple of days. We went to Tolon. It was hot here, although still only April, apparently it is one of the first parts of Greece to become warm. It was a pleasant little town with several restaurants. We took the hotel proprietor’s advice, and went to a very nice restaurant. We visited Mycenae, with the Lion Gate, (somewhere I had wanted to see for years), but found it was not as impressive as Athens or the Cretan Minoan sites. We went to Epidaurus, which is worth visiting, again the school parties were very much in evidence, this was enjoyable as several people stood in the circle and spoke so we could hear high up. On the drive back to Athens airport, we stopped to view the Corinth Canal, and watched a couple boats coming through. Our arrival back at Heathrow went smoothly, as we didn’t have to collect any luggage. A thoroughly enjoyable break overall.

14 September 2008

We try to go to Greece at least once a year, and the place we have visited several times is Crete. It is a beautiful place with spectacular mountains, hidden beaches and a lot to see. The island has changed a great deal since the first holiday we spent there in 1970s, the roads have improved out of all proportion over the years and the food is much better than it was. The holiday usually follows a pattern. We fly to Heraklion, collect our hire car from the airport and drive to Rethymnon (there is more than one way to spell this) about 40 miles from the airport, to the apartment complex we have been to 5 times before. This also means that we can go back to the airport in our own time. As with many Greek properties this is a family run property, built on what once was a market garden. Growing fruit and vegetables here is not profitable any more, although they still have home grown tomatoes and some other vegetables, which they use in the restaurant and especially for their barbecue and Greek night, once a week. We have seen a change in the apartments and studios. An extra block was built between our first visit and our second. One of the best features is definitely the large swimming pool, which is well looked after and very inviting after a day out visiting the numerous places to see on Crete. The bar is also very welcome on returning after a day out, or after our evening meal. I am very fond of the drink made from freshly juiced oranges, but a glass of white wine doesn't go amiss either. We have breakfast in our apartment, which is spacious and clean. We take our own teabags, but buy bread and milk. The property does have a small restaurant, but generally people walk into the small local town of Platanes or go by road into Rethymnon, which is a bustling resort with many restaurants, souvenir shops and shops. Platanes has a beach, approached down a narrow paved road. It has sunbeds for hire. It is possible to walk to Rethymnon along the beach. Having always been interested in archaeology, Crete is a paradise, everywhere you walk seems to turn up some archaeology, both Greek and Roman. There are sites all over the island, the most famous is Knossos, which is best visited first thing in the morning and here the car is a real advantage. The coach tours seem to start arriving around 10 o'clock. Knossos gets very busy but there is an atmosphere all of its own about the place. Another palace is at Phaistos(this can be spelt in several different ways, as happens a lot in Greece). This is on a hill. In the general area there is also a large Roman site, gradually been worked, but with so many broken bits of pottery that they can't process them all. There is a Byzantium church across the road from the Roman site. Crete also boasts a Venetian Castle which overlooks a lovely beach and is reputed to be haunted. One of the main advantages of having a car at our disposal is it gives us the opportunity to find almost deserted the beaches. We are careful not to stay in the sun for too long as the sun here is very strong. We have found quite a few beaches in different parts of Crete. Apart from the numerous historical places, Crete has lots of pretty little villages scattered around, some in the mountains and many by the sea. One of reasons we like Greece so much is they do not have a word for 'stranger' only 'guest' and we have always felt welcome, even when communicating is only by gestures!