Probably our least successful holiday in some ways, for a few reasons - I was sick to some extent for almost the entire time and Paul for some of it, and we didn't get to some of the places we were really looking forward to on the cruise (Turkey and Malta).
However, regardless of those things, we did enjoy ourselves. Most things went mostly as planned, we saw lots of new places, and I met a long-lost cousin who turns out to be a lovely person!
So, overall we're still calling this one a success, and I'm now starting to think about the next one. Of course!
Saturday, 15 October 2016
UK and Med Cruise - the long trek home - 11, 12, 13, 14 October
11 October
Finished the last bit of packing and checked out of the apartment. Overall, it was a good place to stay, although I do plan to email the management (since they invited me to) with some suggestions about things that could be made to work a little better.
We walked around to the station and picked up the tickets - no trouble with the tickets or the train. Same as last time, if you can pre-plan the exact train you want to travel on, it's really cheap - we travelled on an advance First Class fare for 34 pounds, but if you just rocked up that morning to travel on that train to London, even a standard class fare was significantly dearer than that.
Arrived at St Pancras station and got a taxi to Paddington - as usual the traffic was outrageous but I don't like taking suitcases on the tube and it is really too far to walk.
We booked our suitcases into the left luggage place. We've used them before and I think they're even more expensive than they were last time, however we had a few hours to spend - this was about 2pm and our flight didn't leave until 10pm. And no way did we want to spend that time dragging around suitcases and backpacks. Once that we done we got onto the tube and went to the British Museum. We knew that there were two things we had missed last time that we definitely wanted to see - the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. Found them, and spend a suitable amount of time admiring them. Interesting to see the British Museum 'side' of the argument over the marbles, which of course is a little different from the perspective we heard in Greece.
We also looked around at a few other displays, then went back and rescued our luggage and got onto the Heathrow Express.
Once we got to Heathrow we did all the usual things - check in, drop off the bags, through security. I must say I'm really turning into a cranky old lady; by the time we got through security I had mumbled under my breath at least 10 times about people who think that rules and processes are for other people - you know, the sort who wants to carry four heavy bags onto the plane, or who wants to check five suitcases for free when they're travelling economy.
Found a nice restaurant once we got into the terminal, and had some dinner.
Heathrow still has their process in place where they don't tell you what Gate you're leaving from until a few minutes before boarding is due. However, Singapore Airlines told us which gate we were leaving from at the point where we checked in. Very strange.
We boarded on time, although I have given up on any hope of Singapore Airlines actually following their own boarding processes. Every flight so far, they have started boarding economy by calling one of the boarding groups (never ours) but have then simply allowed a free-for-all.
The take off was delayed because of problems with loading some of the cargo; a 4 ton cargo bin got stuck and they had to use a fork lift to move it. Eventually though we got underway.
The A380 has a three-four-three seating pattern, and we were in the middle. Fortunately the seat beside me was not occupied, so the man in the other seat and I used the spare to store jumpers, pillows etc. Overall it was a fairly comfortable flight, at least as far as a 12+ hour economy flight can be!
12 October
The early part of the day was spent flying from London - we arrived in Singapore around 6pm. Checked into the transit hotel, had some dinner, and crashed. I had some trouble sleeping, but just the ability to lie down for hours was really welcome after that long flight.
13 October
Up out of bed a little before 5am, had some breakfast and went off to check in to the next flight. Because of Singapore Airlines messing us around before the holiday, this wasn't an A380, it was a 777 and it was showing its age just a bit - for example, the screen for my entertainment system wasn't working properly. I didn't make a fuss; they weren't going to be able to fix it and more importantly, I hadn't been able to find anything of real interest on the earlier flight so I spent most of the time reading / snoozing.
Arrived in Sydney pretty much on time at around 6pm. There was a problem with the automated entry check machines, so we all had to be seen and have our passports checked by a human, which slowed things down somewhat. However, we escaped eventually, got our luggage and then caught a train into the city. We stayed overnight at the Metro Hotel Marlow which is quite close to Central Station. Their restaurant provides room service but not your usual stuff, this was all Chinese and Thai food - really nice actually. Good hotel although not cheap, but very convenient if you're travelling on the train; I'd certainly stay there again.
14 October
Another early start as we were booked on the 7:05am train home to Canberra. We had both reorganised our luggage to put more in our suitcases and then got completely caught out by the fact that checked luggage has a 20kg maximum weight and they don't allow any exceptions. We could have just taken the luggage onto the train and put it into the luggage area in the carriage but we just wanted to be rid of them for a while.
Neither of us had travelled on this train before. Overall it wasn't too bad - very slow compared to English trains, and certainly slower than flying or driving or getting the bus. However, it was a relaxing easy way to travel and I'd certainly do it again if the timing was right.
Finished the last bit of packing and checked out of the apartment. Overall, it was a good place to stay, although I do plan to email the management (since they invited me to) with some suggestions about things that could be made to work a little better.
We walked around to the station and picked up the tickets - no trouble with the tickets or the train. Same as last time, if you can pre-plan the exact train you want to travel on, it's really cheap - we travelled on an advance First Class fare for 34 pounds, but if you just rocked up that morning to travel on that train to London, even a standard class fare was significantly dearer than that.
Arrived at St Pancras station and got a taxi to Paddington - as usual the traffic was outrageous but I don't like taking suitcases on the tube and it is really too far to walk.
We booked our suitcases into the left luggage place. We've used them before and I think they're even more expensive than they were last time, however we had a few hours to spend - this was about 2pm and our flight didn't leave until 10pm. And no way did we want to spend that time dragging around suitcases and backpacks. Once that we done we got onto the tube and went to the British Museum. We knew that there were two things we had missed last time that we definitely wanted to see - the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. Found them, and spend a suitable amount of time admiring them. Interesting to see the British Museum 'side' of the argument over the marbles, which of course is a little different from the perspective we heard in Greece.
We also looked around at a few other displays, then went back and rescued our luggage and got onto the Heathrow Express.
Once we got to Heathrow we did all the usual things - check in, drop off the bags, through security. I must say I'm really turning into a cranky old lady; by the time we got through security I had mumbled under my breath at least 10 times about people who think that rules and processes are for other people - you know, the sort who wants to carry four heavy bags onto the plane, or who wants to check five suitcases for free when they're travelling economy.
Found a nice restaurant once we got into the terminal, and had some dinner.
Heathrow still has their process in place where they don't tell you what Gate you're leaving from until a few minutes before boarding is due. However, Singapore Airlines told us which gate we were leaving from at the point where we checked in. Very strange.
We boarded on time, although I have given up on any hope of Singapore Airlines actually following their own boarding processes. Every flight so far, they have started boarding economy by calling one of the boarding groups (never ours) but have then simply allowed a free-for-all.
The take off was delayed because of problems with loading some of the cargo; a 4 ton cargo bin got stuck and they had to use a fork lift to move it. Eventually though we got underway.
The A380 has a three-four-three seating pattern, and we were in the middle. Fortunately the seat beside me was not occupied, so the man in the other seat and I used the spare to store jumpers, pillows etc. Overall it was a fairly comfortable flight, at least as far as a 12+ hour economy flight can be!
12 October
The early part of the day was spent flying from London - we arrived in Singapore around 6pm. Checked into the transit hotel, had some dinner, and crashed. I had some trouble sleeping, but just the ability to lie down for hours was really welcome after that long flight.
13 October
Up out of bed a little before 5am, had some breakfast and went off to check in to the next flight. Because of Singapore Airlines messing us around before the holiday, this wasn't an A380, it was a 777 and it was showing its age just a bit - for example, the screen for my entertainment system wasn't working properly. I didn't make a fuss; they weren't going to be able to fix it and more importantly, I hadn't been able to find anything of real interest on the earlier flight so I spent most of the time reading / snoozing.
Arrived in Sydney pretty much on time at around 6pm. There was a problem with the automated entry check machines, so we all had to be seen and have our passports checked by a human, which slowed things down somewhat. However, we escaped eventually, got our luggage and then caught a train into the city. We stayed overnight at the Metro Hotel Marlow which is quite close to Central Station. Their restaurant provides room service but not your usual stuff, this was all Chinese and Thai food - really nice actually. Good hotel although not cheap, but very convenient if you're travelling on the train; I'd certainly stay there again.
14 October
Another early start as we were booked on the 7:05am train home to Canberra. We had both reorganised our luggage to put more in our suitcases and then got completely caught out by the fact that checked luggage has a 20kg maximum weight and they don't allow any exceptions. We could have just taken the luggage onto the train and put it into the luggage area in the carriage but we just wanted to be rid of them for a while.
Neither of us had travelled on this train before. Overall it wasn't too bad - very slow compared to English trains, and certainly slower than flying or driving or getting the bus. However, it was a relaxing easy way to travel and I'd certainly do it again if the timing was right.
UK and Med Cruise - Day 35 and 36 - 9 and 10 October - Nottingham
Two fairly quiet days - lots of lazing around and gathering strength for the long haul home.
We did take some time to do our usual "post some stuff home" - mostly souvenirs but also some books and other bits and pieces that we didn't want to have to deal with in our luggage. This actually went quite well; the Post Office now has self service machines that you can use even for overseas parcels, and it was all quite easy (although no cheaper than before!).
We did take some time to do our usual "post some stuff home" - mostly souvenirs but also some books and other bits and pieces that we didn't want to have to deal with in our luggage. This actually went quite well; the Post Office now has self service machines that you can use even for overseas parcels, and it was all quite easy (although no cheaper than before!).
Sunday, 9 October 2016
UK and Med Cruise - Day 34 - 8 October - Newark and Lincoln
We weren't quite sure how far we wanted to go today, so we started by buying a return to Newark. This is a place I had never heard of before a week or so ago, but the attraction here was the relatively recently built National Civil War Centre. It's a really interesting place, built around an old Tudor building which was more recently used as a school. One floor is still an old dormitory level from the school:
The Civil War display was just outstanding; we could have spent hours more there just looking through the displays. There was also an adjunct display about medicine and surgery at the time of the Civil War, plus other displays about the history of the area including an ancient torc found in the area a little over 10 years ago.
We also had a look at the outside of Newark Castle, but didn't go inside.
I'd really like to go back to Newark, it's an attractive place - there was a street market happening while we were there, and lots of interesting little stores and buildings. In fact, I spent some time looking in the windows at Real Estate agents, coming to the surprising conclusion that we'd actually be able to afford to buy an apartment and live here for a while. I doubt that we'll be up to making such an extreme move at our ages, but the place really did reach out to me in a place that few others have.
We decided that we still had enough energy to go on to Lincoln, so, back to the train station again. When we got to the High Street to make our way to the Cathedral and Castle, we discovered that many many other people had the same idea; it was really crowded.
We found a little restaurant to have a surprisingly nice lunch, then headed off to find the Castle and Cathedral. Then we discovered to our horror that really the only way to get there from where we were was by walking up the Steep Hill
They're not lying - what you're seeing here is the not so steep part:
However, we finally made it to the top, and it was really impressive. We decided not to go into the Cathedral, but we did pay to go into the castle.
First we saw the old Victorian prison, and then the Magna Carta copy. The last thing we did though was to walk around the castle walls. This is about half a kilometer around, with an unfortunate number of steps up and down - at this stage we were hoping not to have too many more stairs!. However, the views were just astounding.
This is the Cathedral as seen from the castle walls:
You can see from this just how high up and amazingly imposing the castle and cathedral would have appeared to everyone for miles around:
Remains of the old Norman Motte:
The old and the new - if you click to see the big version of the picture you can see and old windmill but also multiple modern power stations:
And, finally, again, Paul and a gun,outside the castle walls:
Once we left the Castle - it was about to close for the day - we staggered back down the Steep Hill and got the train back to Nottingham. We were so tired that we caught a tram one whole stop from Nottingham Station to save ourselves from having to walk up the hill to get to our apartment!
The Civil War display was just outstanding; we could have spent hours more there just looking through the displays. There was also an adjunct display about medicine and surgery at the time of the Civil War, plus other displays about the history of the area including an ancient torc found in the area a little over 10 years ago.
We also had a look at the outside of Newark Castle, but didn't go inside.
I'd really like to go back to Newark, it's an attractive place - there was a street market happening while we were there, and lots of interesting little stores and buildings. In fact, I spent some time looking in the windows at Real Estate agents, coming to the surprising conclusion that we'd actually be able to afford to buy an apartment and live here for a while. I doubt that we'll be up to making such an extreme move at our ages, but the place really did reach out to me in a place that few others have.
We decided that we still had enough energy to go on to Lincoln, so, back to the train station again. When we got to the High Street to make our way to the Cathedral and Castle, we discovered that many many other people had the same idea; it was really crowded.
We found a little restaurant to have a surprisingly nice lunch, then headed off to find the Castle and Cathedral. Then we discovered to our horror that really the only way to get there from where we were was by walking up the Steep Hill
They're not lying - what you're seeing here is the not so steep part:
However, we finally made it to the top, and it was really impressive. We decided not to go into the Cathedral, but we did pay to go into the castle.
First we saw the old Victorian prison, and then the Magna Carta copy. The last thing we did though was to walk around the castle walls. This is about half a kilometer around, with an unfortunate number of steps up and down - at this stage we were hoping not to have too many more stairs!. However, the views were just astounding.
This is the Cathedral as seen from the castle walls:
You can see from this just how high up and amazingly imposing the castle and cathedral would have appeared to everyone for miles around:
Remains of the old Norman Motte:
The old and the new - if you click to see the big version of the picture you can see and old windmill but also multiple modern power stations:
And, finally, again, Paul and a gun,outside the castle walls:
Once we left the Castle - it was about to close for the day - we staggered back down the Steep Hill and got the train back to Nottingham. We were so tired that we caught a tram one whole stop from Nottingham Station to save ourselves from having to walk up the hill to get to our apartment!
UK and Med Cruise - Day 33 - 7 October - Wellingborough
Today I caught the train to Wellingborough to meet my cousin Betty and her husband David.
I had a lovely time; we confirmed absolutely that we are cousins (although the formal documentation was clearly already showing this, Betty had copies of old family photos that confirmed it even more certainly). We spent quite a few hours talking, both at Betty's place and over lunch at a lovely pub.
I had a bit of a drama on the way to Wellingborough - they cancelled my train. However, the train back to Nottingham appeared as expected, so that's all good.
Paul came to the station to meet me, and on the way home we decided to have dinner. I'd had a big lunch but we went to a pizza place and I had a really nice, light pizza, which I liked enough to actually post a picture on Facebook (which is quite unlike me).
I had a lovely time; we confirmed absolutely that we are cousins (although the formal documentation was clearly already showing this, Betty had copies of old family photos that confirmed it even more certainly). We spent quite a few hours talking, both at Betty's place and over lunch at a lovely pub.
I had a bit of a drama on the way to Wellingborough - they cancelled my train. However, the train back to Nottingham appeared as expected, so that's all good.
Paul came to the station to meet me, and on the way home we decided to have dinner. I'd had a big lunch but we went to a pizza place and I had a really nice, light pizza, which I liked enough to actually post a picture on Facebook (which is quite unlike me).
Friday, 7 October 2016
UK and Med Cruise - Day 32 - 6 October - Nottingham
Today we stayed around Nottingham again.
We learned to use the local trams by taking a trip to the Goose Fair - think Sideshow Alley from the Ekka. It was pretty quiet when we were there, it's a school day and we deliberately went before the crowds started to arrive. I suspect that on the weekend it will be packed solid!
It has all the usual sideshow things - rides and places to win so-called prizes. Many of the same old foodstuffs that you'd see at the Ekka too - burgers, hot dogs, fairy floss. However, some things you'd never see at the Ekka - you can buy 'chips and curry' (chips with curry sauce instead of gravy), and also peas - just a container of mushy peas. (I don't think I've had a meal here where peas weren't on offer!). And doughnuts, but none of this pre-cooked stuff- they cook them on the spot. One of the doughnut places offered their doughnuts as 'with or without Nutella'. I think Nutella and peas are actual food groups here:-)
We went for a ride on the Ferris Wheel:
Then, back to the city for lunch, at the Handmade Burger Co - again, really nice food.
That's all for today, just a quiet day mostly.
We learned to use the local trams by taking a trip to the Goose Fair - think Sideshow Alley from the Ekka. It was pretty quiet when we were there, it's a school day and we deliberately went before the crowds started to arrive. I suspect that on the weekend it will be packed solid!
It has all the usual sideshow things - rides and places to win so-called prizes. Many of the same old foodstuffs that you'd see at the Ekka too - burgers, hot dogs, fairy floss. However, some things you'd never see at the Ekka - you can buy 'chips and curry' (chips with curry sauce instead of gravy), and also peas - just a container of mushy peas. (I don't think I've had a meal here where peas weren't on offer!). And doughnuts, but none of this pre-cooked stuff- they cook them on the spot. One of the doughnut places offered their doughnuts as 'with or without Nutella'. I think Nutella and peas are actual food groups here:-)
We went for a ride on the Ferris Wheel:
Then, back to the city for lunch, at the Handmade Burger Co - again, really nice food.
That's all for today, just a quiet day mostly.
UK and Med Cruise - Day 31 - 5 October - Leicester
Day trip to Leicester today. Half an hour on a nice comfortable train.
Not precisely warm outside though - the forecast was 15 degrees and no rain, but it was windy and always seemed to be on the verge of rain, so overall quite cool.
First stop was the King Richard III Visitor's Centre. This is built right beside and over the place where they found his body again in 2012. There are displays firstly about his life and his reign, and then about his death, and about the rediscovery of his body, and finally you can see the place where they found his body. It's a fascinating story. They have volunteers on site to answer questions and give talks, and one of them explained and showed us a fair bit of the detail.
There's a statue of Richard outside the visitor centre, with fresh white roses left at his feet just recently.
Next we went to the Cathedral, just a look from the outside:
Close by is the Guildhall, an ancient building including lots of explanations of its history.
Then, on to the Jewry Wall and Museum which despite its name has nothing to do with the Jewish people - they think that despite the spelling, the original meaning was actually 'jury'. Regardless of that, the wall is actually the remains of a Roman bath house - one of the tallest remaining pieces of Roman masonry in England. Some of the other walls also remain, but only in the bases of them in the way that's more common for Roman ruins:
We then went into the associated museum which has lots of displays and artifacts from the Roman and Saxon times. Unfortunately it also contained many, many school children doing planned lessons, so we didn't spend an awfully long time there.
Final stop was at the Newark House Museum - this is a nicely done museum about various aspects of Leicester history, but the main reason we went was to see the small but moving World War I display.
And of course, we took an opportunity here to take a photo of Paul with a gun:
This is actually one of two that were brought back from Sebastopol.
Not precisely warm outside though - the forecast was 15 degrees and no rain, but it was windy and always seemed to be on the verge of rain, so overall quite cool.
First stop was the King Richard III Visitor's Centre. This is built right beside and over the place where they found his body again in 2012. There are displays firstly about his life and his reign, and then about his death, and about the rediscovery of his body, and finally you can see the place where they found his body. It's a fascinating story. They have volunteers on site to answer questions and give talks, and one of them explained and showed us a fair bit of the detail.
There's a statue of Richard outside the visitor centre, with fresh white roses left at his feet just recently.
Next we went to the Cathedral, just a look from the outside:
Close by is the Guildhall, an ancient building including lots of explanations of its history.
Then, on to the Jewry Wall and Museum which despite its name has nothing to do with the Jewish people - they think that despite the spelling, the original meaning was actually 'jury'. Regardless of that, the wall is actually the remains of a Roman bath house - one of the tallest remaining pieces of Roman masonry in England. Some of the other walls also remain, but only in the bases of them in the way that's more common for Roman ruins:
We then went into the associated museum which has lots of displays and artifacts from the Roman and Saxon times. Unfortunately it also contained many, many school children doing planned lessons, so we didn't spend an awfully long time there.
Final stop was at the Newark House Museum - this is a nicely done museum about various aspects of Leicester history, but the main reason we went was to see the small but moving World War I display.
And of course, we took an opportunity here to take a photo of Paul with a gun:
This is actually one of two that were brought back from Sebastopol.
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