tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64378785478654506002024-03-19T06:11:49.439-07:00Balkans, Italy, Britain and France 2016Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-80174802282201259662016-07-23T22:11:00.000-07:002016-07-23T22:11:10.267-07:00Home Again, Home Again....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As we are now back in Palmerston North enjoying a midwinter storm, I thought it time to round off my narrative with a final posting.<br />
We were still in Guemene sur Skorff on last writing and enjoying one last and enjoyable day in this delightful little town. Our landlady, should she be called such, had recommended to us a small local hotel come restaurant in the village which, she assured us, would provide us with that authentic French experience one seeks on a holiday such as ours. We determined to sample it's fare on this, our last day, and so at slightly after midday made our way up to the said establishment. The number of cars parked nearby should have given us a clue but we were nevertheless astonished to find the place packed. Non! it would not help to return later the place was booked out and so that was the end of our authentic French experience to which we had looked forward. We took ourselves back down the street and on passing a Boulangerie succumbed to the temptation of a Cornish Pasty type of pastry before setting off once again munching as I went. Soon Mme. Landlady and friend passed us walking up the street. "They were fully booked" we said by way off excusing my bad lunch habits. Exchanges about what a shame followed and on we went towards the Media-tech shop where we hoped they would print our emended Air New Zealand tickets and allow us an extra bag on the Auckland- Palmerston North leg of our homeward flight. Before we could enter said shop however Mme. Landlady and friend reappeared with the news that we should take their booking as they could go back another time and "Oh one of you will need to be a vegetarian" as that is what had been booked and it is a fixed menu and couldn't be changed.. After token resistance on our part we gratefully accepted, deciding we could share the Vegi. thing and made our way, together with Mme. Landlady and friend once more to the Very Authentic French french Hotel and after an explanation by our benefactor were soon seated and enjoying a great experience. The lunch, four courses with wine cost 11 Euro. each and would have to be one of the best lunch experiences we have had. And we got our printing done on the way home.<br />
Next morning and we departed quite early, France is a large country and it was something like 500km back to Paris and although we intended to break the journey still had a long way to travel and places to see. Our main stopover was to a town named Fourgeres, another of the Medieval towns that dot the countryside around here. I would recommend Fourgeres to anyone travelling in this area, it is quite lovely and has great cafes etc. in which the weary traveler may recharge themselves.<br />
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<b>The Day A Little Dismal, But There Is Always A Damsel To Brighten It</b></div>
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<b>The Castle Wall</b></div>
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We have noticed throughout Brittany some beautiful gardens and Fourgeres didn't disappoint. The town, particularly the old section is bright with colour. </div>
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<b>The Medieval Communal Laundry Alongside The Stream</b></div>
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<b>Maybe They Were Shorter Then</b></div>
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<b>There's That Kiwi Rose Again, The Public Footpath Alongside The Stream</b></div>
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<b>I Peeked Over Someone's Fence</b></div>
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<b>Even The Cathedral Has Lovely Gardens</b></div>
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<b>A Novel Use For Old Jeans</b></div>
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<b>All In All A Most Beautiful Town</b></div>
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There comes a time when the carnival is over and this was it as far as finding the beauty of the towns that the area has to offer. Next stop was in Dreux where we had stopped on the way over to Brittany and we had booked a Camponile Hotel, a budget but comfortable hotel chain in Europe before the final push into the capital itself the next morning. An uneventful night and the drive into Paris offered none of the Arc de Triomphe horrors of last week, altogether quite tame. Dropped of the car at Charles de Gaulle, booked into our hotel and caught the metro into Paris where we wandered up a street dedicated to supplying everything needed for Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and a lot besides, had a coffee in your typical Parisian Cafe, decided that as it was the day of the Bastille that we should avoid potential terrorist targets such as a busy market street and caught the metro back to the hotel. We had both thought that the other had a burning desire to go into the city but it turned out that neither of us in fact did, so a bit of a waste of money actually. What else we could have done that afternoon I am not at all sure as we are not ones to have "A lie down" so there you have it.</div>
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Into the airport early next day and enjoyed the facilities in the Air France lounge before the flight home, must say their food and facilities were very good.</div>
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We has a stopover of eight hours in Guangzhou and as a consequence were given a room in the Pullman Hotel at the airport, a rather swanky affair where we were able to shower, breakfast and have a wee nap in preparation for the leg to Auckland. I must say China Southern looked after us very well with the on-board meals, service, stopover and the lie flat beds all of an excellent quality. The only complaint was having to pass through security and customs etc in Guangzhou, very hot and grumpy with all the queues even though we could go through VIP lanes. We would certainly fly with them should we go again which we are not so that's of academic interest only.</div>
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We have been home for a week now and only just recovering from jet lag and the climate change coming back to mid winter and 14, 15 degree highs.</div>
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That's it then we are home and I shall bore you no longer with my rambling.</div>
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Take care and all the best </div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-24346755830723695242016-07-11T10:26:00.002-07:002016-07-11T10:30:11.884-07:00Josselin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today,whilst talking with our landlady we discovered that we had an extra day here in Guemene sur Skorff where we have been for the past week. This gave us the opportunity to visit an interesting town some 70 km distant and so off we went. Arrived in Josselin at about morning coffee time and were soon ordering our drinks when the chap at the next table offered a translation service. The waiter explained that he had received and understood so his services were not needed on this occasion. Turns out he was from Birmingham and has lived over here about 14 years. We asked him what his future in France looked like after the EU referendum. Turns out that he and a couple of million other Brits living in Europe have no idea what their future held and hoped that there would be another referendum to sort the whole mess out.<br />
I don't think that the issues were fully explained and there will be a few regrets further down the track, there was as much anti Cameron vote as there was anti EU, a bit like our flag referendum,<br />
This town is very interesting, medieval and attractive. Central is the Basilica with it's impressive Bell Tower with some 180 or so steps up to the top which despite my fear of heights drew me as does a magnet draw iron filings. Up I climbed, around and around on a flight of narrow stone spiral steps. Now and then I would meet someone descending the same steps and found that passing had it's own challenge. Just as I arrived at ground 180 the bells started ringing, scared the bejabbers out of me it did.<br />
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<b>The Bell Tower Which Must Be Scaled</b></div>
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<b>The View Is Worth The Effort</b></div>
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<b>Great Looking Chateau Within It's Own Walls</b></div>
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Going down is much easier than going up so I was back with the ever patient Mrs Currin before she knew I was missing and off we went on a walking tour of the old section of town.</div>
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Below is a short tour of Josselin, you have already seen the Basilica, it's Bell Tower and the Chateau.</div>
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<b>Mrs. Currin Enjoying A Wee Rest On The Bridge Over The Canal</b></div>
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<b>Canal Boat Similar To One We Shared With The Kearneys A Few Years Back</b></div>
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<b>Someone's Back Garden</b></div>
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<b>A Street Scene From Then</b><br />
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<b>And Now</b></div>
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<b>Where The Ladies Of Yesteryear Did Their </b><span style="text-align: left;"><b>Laundry</b></span></div>
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<b>The Mill</b></div>
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We found it really interesting how well preserved Josselin is and thoroughly enjoyed our day there. Got lost on the way home a couple of times but that's life.</div>
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<b>The Bunting Is Up For A Forthcoming Medieval Festival</b></div>
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<b>Valerie Jean?, This is the Street in which we are currently living.</b></div>
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It has been a tad cooler today, only managed 22 C but no rain tank goodness. Yesterday was the only really rainy day that we have had over here in Breton which is pretty lucky as I gather it as it apparently rains here quite a bit.</div>
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Anyway I just thought some may enjoy our day out, we certainly did.</div>
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Take care and all the best</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-66894965095525549162016-07-10T10:43:00.000-07:002016-07-10T10:43:00.466-07:00Langoustines at Lunch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let me tell you about our day, slept in this morning, it was past eight when we finally emerged and readied ourselves for another day on the road. We have been doing this now for two and a half months, not rising at eight, but spending the day on the road. How could this one be different? To be honest it couldn't and wouldn't, but it did epitomize what we have been up to. As previously mentioned we are spending our time in the Breton region and today we went out to the end of the peninsular, to the Finisterre area, a name familiar to yatchies the world over. First stop was a small town, Concarneau, with it's old town situated within walls out in the harbour, time for a wander around and a late morning coffee.<br />
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<b>Looking Down From Town Walls</b></div>
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<b>A Fleet of Children's Yachts Moored Outside The Town Walls</b></div>
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<b>Just Trying To Be Artistic, Perhaps Not Entirely Successfully </b></div>
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I noted over morning coffee a square named Dumont d'Urville after the early explorer of New Zealand however my research uncovers no direct relationship with the town, the nearest he seems to have got is at the naval college in Brest. However this is a fine town and worthy of any visitor's time.</div>
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On next to Quimper, not to far up the road, and another cracker once the code is cracked that allows one to find one's way into it's centre. We eventually found a car park being vacated by another motorist, I stopped, indicator on, bus and other traffic behind all stop as well. Car vacating park stops also and hazard lights come on, woman gets out and wanders over to us in no hurry and offers us her "two hours left to go" parking ticket. Lots of thanks from us, she wanders back and derives off, we back into park and the traffic clears. Not one toot from an angry Frenchman. We had two hours to fill in so wandered off around past the spectacular cathedral and a Saturday market when my attention is drawn to a Seafood Restaurant, seemed to offer quite a good lunch for around $25 so down we sat. Well, I would have to say, it would be one of the best lunches that I have ever enjoyed.</div>
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<b>Oh My! And I Have Eaten Most Of The Molluscs </b> <b>In The Bowl.</b></div>
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Sorry Chris, Moose, Nikki and I almost forgot that Seafood lover from way back, Murray, but there was Langoustines (my absolute favourites) Crab (OK they're up there with the Langoustines) King Prawns (Yeh them too), Oysters (OK them as well) and a bowl of unrecognized, but delicious molluscs. Thoughtfully the restaurant provided an assortment of instruments, a dentist would have been proud of these little tools, with which to extract the inner goodness from these delicacies. YUM! Mrs Currin also had lunch there but who knows what, I was pretty absorbed in my own. </div>
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Life seems pretty good.</div>
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The town had the usual quota of wonkey buildings, I just love these constructions which pre-dated the invention of the spirit level by a couple of centuries.</div>
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<b>The Wiggly And The Woggly, How Do They Stay Up.</b></div>
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Temperatures have been much warmer since we have crossed the channel and are sitting in the mid to upper twenties. I understand the weather has also improved in Britain since we jumped ship. We shall notice a big difference on our return to NZ, the sun is not setting till around 10.00 in the evening and God alone knows what time it rises, he hasn't let me in on this little secret and I have no desire to find out the hard way.</div>
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After lunch we continued on our merry little way and on to Crozon we went.</div>
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<b>I Guess Beauty Is In The Ear Of The Beholder.</b></div>
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<b>In The Absence Of A 40 Million Dollar Win On Lotto I Wondered If A Doer Upper Would Fit The Bill.</b></div>
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<b>Even The Church Is Very Nautical</b></div>
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<b>Beautiful, Rugged Coastline.</b></div>
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<b>A Memorial To The Merchant Seamen Lost In The Second World War.</b></div>
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So, here we were 150 km from home and it's late, about six actually but late for us, so off we go for home. Only something on toast for supper after the big lunch so all is well.</div>
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It has been a very nice day today.</div>
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Yesterday we spent in St. Malo (p. Sanmar-loow the man in the shop tells me and he's French so he should know) and this is one of my favourites, a great maritime city, but on the way here we stopped of in Dinan and Dinard, both well worth the effort.</div>
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<b>Dinard</b></div>
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<b>L'Hermione A Masterpiece Of Replica Ship Building</b></div>
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In St. Malo were a couple of beautifully presented replica square riggers, the L'Hermione and the other one whose name escapes me. The L'Hermione is a replica of a French ship built originally in 1779 and then again in 1997-2015. She was sent to aid the Americans in the American Revolutionary War with General La Fayette aboard and saw action most notably at the Naval Battle of Louisville. The replica is really quite impressive and illustrates the number of ropes, sheets and halyards that every sailor needed to be able to name and to know what it's use was.</div>
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On our way home we stopped for coffee in Moncontour and were once again impressed by the friendliness of the natives, they really have shattered that stereotypical image of the French which many seem to have. We certainly have had no problems.</div>
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Well that's another couple of days over and done with, only a week more and we shall be home.</div>
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All the best and take care</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-1675050207782413352016-07-06T13:00:00.000-07:002016-07-06T13:00:29.168-07:00Goodbye England, Bonjour France<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our last few days in England gave little in the way of respite in neither our busy schedule nor the weather unfortunately. Probably the highlight of those final few days so far as sightseeing is concerned was a visit to Hampton Court, somewhere we had meant to visit on many previous occasions, but as with a lot of such things excuses a re easy to find. Had we but known it may have been better to have found one than not on this particular day. You see it was Sandown Races. Not only did this attract a lot of traffic but the rain showed no mercy upon their poor souls as well. We crawled and stopped and stopped and crawled our way to Hampton Court as the rain increased from steady to heavy back to steady, hooray, and then back to heavy. Mercifully we, at last, arrived and what a grand spectacle it turned out to be, probably deserves more than the 3 hours that we were able to give it. The gardens were in particularly fine condition as this was the day before the famous (well it is now) Hampton Court Garden Show started.<br />
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<b>The Gardens are Looking Spectacular </b></div>
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<b>Even This Example of the once Abundant but now rare Henry III Tree</b></div>
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The interior of the palace is not to be intimidated by the gardens however and Henry did quite well when he set out to give the French and Versailles a bit of a bloody nose. </div>
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<b>One of the Magnificent Ceilings </b></div>
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<b>A Side On View</b></div>
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We made a hasty retreat back into the country and to the sanctuary of an hotel which we had booked in the uninspiring name of Crawley, the hotel prove to be a boppy dazzler though and we settled into it for our penultimate night in England.</div>
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Sunday dawned fine, and I think it stayed that way all day, which was good as we had plenty to do, move all our belongings into our hotel over the road from St. Pancras, return the rental car to Heathrow and meet with our Niece Katie and her partner Cam (I don't know if that's Campbell or Cameron or something completely different, but Cam will do) which was a highlight of our stay. Now those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling with Mrs Currin will attest to the fact that she manages to cram an awful lot into that purple suitcase (mine is not much lighter) and we have managed to acquire a couple of new ones along the way so moving house is not for the faint hearted, but was managed without mishap or hernia or any other mishap. The car was returned and diner date kept with Katie and Cam. It was great to see them and catch upon all their news. They are getting a bit excited (OK a lot) about the upcoming arrival of Ian and Val next month.</div>
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<b>Two Pics for the price of one so we could get everyone in (I don't do Selfies)</b></div>
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This was our last night in England as Monday we needed to get our effects aboard the Eurostar and over to Paris, turned out to be easier than I had feared and by about half past two we and belongings were all in the Gare du Nord and we were of looking for the rental car office, fortunately a lift was provided for the journey down six floors into the very bowels of the earth and it was onto the streets of Paris with us. Driving along, by this time it is getting on for 5pm and so the traffic is building nicely and I spotted the Moulin Rouge, you know the one right in the middle of Paris. Next thing we are heading for....no, you guessed it, the arc de Triomphe, the thing most calculated to strike fear into my heart eight unmarked lanes of uncontrolled chaos. There are no rules governing this beast, have a crash and both drivers are considered to be in the wrong and you pay half each. Anyway we only needed to survive four exits and managed to do so without mishap nor adding to the noise of horns blaring, I don't think any were meant for me. It was really really good to see that sucker disappearing in my rear view mirror I can tell you, five o'clock and all.</div>
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We have booked a cottage in Brittany and arrived here last night after spending a night in an hotel along the way. It's a great little cottage and has a spare room should anyone fancy a wee break in France, only here until next Tuesday I'm afraid so you will have to be quick.</div>
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<b>Great little Cottage in Brittany</b></div>
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<i> </i>I should finish now, before I go to sleep on the job, so goodnight to one and all, be careful and all the best</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-28687463817132133272016-06-26T12:45:00.001-07:002016-07-06T13:00:48.924-07:00Piddles and Puddles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We have moved house and have taken up residence in Dorset, in a lovely little cottage on a large working farm. Whilst there has been nothing wrong with our cottages to date, it is nice to have a little more room. Everything, though, comes at a price and in this case the it is the road access, down a country lane for a few miles and it is a particularly narrow country lane is this one.<br />
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<b>Our Cottage in Dorset, Kitchen Living Upstairs and Bedroom Downstairs.</b></div>
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Whilst out driving yesterday we were prompted to "Turn right to Spring Grove" "Ah" thought I but this soon turned to dismay as we were sent along PIDDLE LANE, I mean the indignity, Spring Grove down Piddle Lane. It is, though, not as bad as first thought you see there is quite a history around here because the Piddle becomes a Puddle and the Puddle has several towns along it. The river Piddle is really but a stream and babbles along through the Dorset countryside, past the towns of Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton, but then a curious thing happens. The Piddle becomes a Puddle. Legend has it that a young Princess Victoria came to visit and the locals thought a river by the name of Piddle may be a little coarse for delicate young Princessy ears and so changed the name to Puddle and so Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton are the only two villages with Piddle in their names, below them we have Puddle names. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 27px;">T</span></span></span>here's Puddletown, there is Affpuddle, there is Tolpuddle and there is Briantspuddle. Now Tolpuddle is the claim to fame to which alluded as in 1834 a group of 6 local men were arrested for having sworn a secret oath to the "Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers" and were sentenced to be transported to Australia for seven years. What these chaps had in fact done was to form what was in effect the first trade union, naughty naughty. Anyway off they went to Sydney (and Hobart) but they left behind a terrible commotion and before long 800,000 signatures had been collected demanding their release and in 1836 they were so released. This then is the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and why a lane called Piddle on the way to Spring Grove is not all bad.</div>
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We have been today to Dorchester, Bournemouth, Poole and Swanage, oh talking of swans reminds me of being stuck for sometime behind a queue of traffic just the other day when a family of them wished to cross the road. </div>
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<b>The Family "Swan"which held up traffic for sometime.</b></div>
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Bournemouth is one of England's finest beaches and even looks good on a not so good day, of which we seem to have had plenty. Never mind plenty there enjoying themselves nevertheless.</div>
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<b>It was 14 C when we visited Bournemouth today</b></div>
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Nearby Poole was the subject of a recent TV series in New Zealand and boasts that in Sandspit it has the priciest property in Britain. Reminded us a bit of Kohimarama in Auckland, no photo, no where to stop.</div>
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From Poole one catches a chain ferry across a short expanse of water and drives on down to Swanage on the Jurassic Coast. We went to Swanage but will leave the Jurassic Coast for another day.</div>
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<b>The Restored Railway Station at Swanage</b></div>
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Dorchester hangs on the coattails of Thomas Hardy and most specifically "The Mayor of Casterbridge" which was supposedly set in Dorchester to the extent even that houses proudly display plaques proclaiming "The Mayor" lived here.</div>
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<b>A Great Cafe in Dorchester for a Morning Cuppa</b></div>
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The other day, it matters not which, we went to visit Charles Wade's house, I know not where and nor does it the where matter. What is relevant is that Charles was my sort of eccentric, he had in his lifetime collected many thousands of objects and what makes him different is summed up by</div>
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"I have learnt a little from books and a lot from pictures but an immense amount from looking at what craftsmen have made. I care not for the rarity or value of an object but for the skill which made it." Amen to that.</div>
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His collection, which includes items from Samurai armour to musical instruments was so great that he and his long suffering wife had to move from the main house and into the smaller vicarage. I must point out that the vicarage could hardly be called uncluttered, but that's the way he liked it. He also had a beautiful garden.</div>
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<b>There's that Kiwi Rose again.</b></div>
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<b>Some of Charles' many and varied collection.</b></div>
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He deliberately kept the lighting low so as to make one peer into the exhibit and as a result see it in more detail.</div>
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<b>Charles Wade, Architect, Artist-Craftsman, Collector, Poet and first class Eccentric.</b></div>
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Earlier we had visited Worcester Cathedral and while Mrs Currin was entertained by a some local schoolgirls rehearsing for an upcoming concert, I went on a tour of the Cathedral. It's main claim to fame is that King John was buried here in 1216.</div>
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<b>A School Group Practicing in the Cathedral</b></div>
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<b>King John's Tomb and a collection of 1000 year old bells in the Cloister </b></div>
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<b>The Wonkey of Worcester</b></div>
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All in all a thoroughly good few days in the life of a traveler and we have even more to come.....YIPPEE.</div>
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That's all for now folks, take care and all the best and may our thoughts be with my brother who, to avoid mowing my lawns, has broken his leg. Thanks will go to Chris, or so I'm told.</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-68738356016544998252016-06-26T12:45:00.000-07:002016-06-26T12:58:15.782-07:00Piddles and Puddles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We have moved house and have taken up residence in Dorset, in a lovely little cottage on a large working farm. Whilst there has been nothing wrong with our cottages to date, it is nice to have a little more room. Everything, though, comes at a price and in this case the it is the road access, down a country lane for a few miles and it is a particularly narrow country lane is this one.<br />
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<b>Our Cottage in Dorset, Kitchen Living Upstairs and Bedroom Downstairs.</b></div>
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Whilst out driving yesterday we were prompted to "Turn right to Spring Grove" "Ah" thought I but this soon turned to dismay as we were sent along PIDDLE LANE, I mean the indignity, Spring Grove down Piddle Lane. It is, though, not as bad as first thought you see there is quite a history around here because the Piddle becomes a Puddle and the Puddle has several towns along it. The river Piddle is really but a stream and babbles along through the Dorset countryside, past the towns of Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton, but then a curious thing happens. The Piddle becomes a Puddle. Legend has it that a young Princess Victoria came to visit and the locals thought a river by the name of Piddle may be a little coarse for delicate young Princessy ears and so changed the name to Puddle and so Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton are the only two villages with Piddle in their names, below them we have Puddle names. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 27px;">T</span></span></span>here's Puddletown, there is Affpuddle, there is Tolpuddle and there is Briantspuddle. Now Tolpuddle is the claim to fame to which alluded as in 1834 a group of 6 local men were arrested for having sworn a secret oath to the "Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers" and were sentenced to be transported to Australia for seven years. What these chaps had in fact done was to form what was in effect the first trade union, naughty naughty. Anyway off they went to Sydney (and Hobart) but they left behind a terrible commotion and before long 800,000 signatures had been collected demanding their release and in 1836 they were so released. This then is the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and why a lane called Piddle on the way to Spring Grove is not all bad.</div>
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We have been today to Dorchester, Bournemouth, Poole and Swanage, oh talking of swans reminds me of being stuck for sometime behind a queue of traffic just the other day when a family of them wished to cross the road. </div>
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<b>The Family "Swan"which held up traffic for sometime.</b></div>
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Bournemouth is one of England's finest beaches and even looks good on a not so good day, of which we seem to have had plenty. Never mind plenty there enjoying themselves nevertheless.</div>
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<b>It was 14 C when we visited Bournemouth today</b></div>
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Nearby Poole was the subject of a recent TV series in New Zealand and boasts that in Sandspit it has the priciest property in Britain. Reminded us a bit of Kohimarama in Auckland, no photo, no where to stop.</div>
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From Poole one catches a chain ferry across a short expanse of water and drives on down to Swanage on the Jurassic Coast. We went to Swanage but will leave the Jurassic Coast for another day.</div>
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<b>The Restored Railway Station at Swanage</b></div>
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Dorchester hangs on the coattails of Thomas Hardy and most specifically "The Mayor of Casterbridge" which was supposedly set in Dorchester to the extent even that houses proudly display plaques proclaiming "The Mayor" lived here.</div>
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<b>A Great Cafe in Dorchester for a Morning Cuppa</b></div>
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The other day, it matters not which, we went to visit Charles Wade's house, I know not where and nor does it the where matter. What is relevant is that Charles was my sort of eccentric, he had in his lifetime collected many thousands of objects and what makes him different is summed up by</div>
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"I have learnt a little from books and a lot from pictures but an immense amount from looking at what craftsmen have made. I care not for the rarity or value of an object but for the skill which made it." Amen to that.</div>
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His collection, which includes items from Samurai armour to musical instruments was so great that he and his long suffering wife had to move from the main house and into the smaller vicarage. I must point out that the vicarage could hardly be called uncluttered, but that's the way he liked it. He also had a beautiful garden.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkTo_ogBjRcaXfdaZ-tly6mh6BnMaH4TNygs2oVSsTWGNvmszXy0R7p_S0yKrRsm1RYwu4vC5LWnhTCnLbCmXq9Ttyl6NVqxmc86r0pSF5IUfNUOq9QizEAIshYfx1nfNRQ3dSZtCFXqp6/s1600/SAM_2274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkTo_ogBjRcaXfdaZ-tly6mh6BnMaH4TNygs2oVSsTWGNvmszXy0R7p_S0yKrRsm1RYwu4vC5LWnhTCnLbCmXq9Ttyl6NVqxmc86r0pSF5IUfNUOq9QizEAIshYfx1nfNRQ3dSZtCFXqp6/s640/SAM_2274.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b>There's that Kiwi Rose again.</b></div>
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<b>Some of Charles' many and varied collection.</b></div>
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He deliberately kept the lighting low so as to make one peer into the exhibit and as a result see it in more detail.</div>
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<b>Charles Wade, Architect, Artist-Craftsman, Collector, Poet and first class Eccentric.</b></div>
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Earlier we had visited Worcester Cathedral and while Mrs Currin was entertained by a some local schoolgirls rehearsing for an upcoming concert, I went on a tour of the Cathedral. It's main claim to fame is that King John was buried here in 1216.</div>
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<b>A School Group Practicing in the Cathedral</b></div>
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<b>King John's Tomb and a collection of 1000 year old bells in the Cloister </b></div>
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<b>The Wonkey of Worcester</b></div>
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All in all a thoroughly good few days in the life of a traveler and we have even more to come.....YIPPEE.</div>
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That's all for now folks, take care and all the best and may our thoughts be with my brother who, to avoid mowing my lawns, has broken his leg. Thanks will go to Chris, or so I'm told.</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-66914815134311967842016-06-20T09:53:00.000-07:002016-06-20T10:27:44.447-07:00And So Forth.............or Fifth or Sixth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Of course we are only scratching the surface on what makes the English so English, one should never forget the Public Footpaths, Train Spotters or, indeed, Twitchers all of which add to the rich tapestry of life here. But one should not also forget the explorers, inventors, artists and scientists with which this fair country has given so much to the world. Oh and a drought has set in, it hasn't rained now for about 4 hours......whoopee, it is also a bit warmer, 18 C I think.<br />
Yesterday and today we have continued our exploration of the area around Aston Carrant where our cottage is located. Came home last evening and the people who own our cottage were having a bit of a knees up for their daughter who had turned forty, they had an excess of food and were keen to offload some of it our way, we accepted some scones and cake and so had a wonderful supper. I am putting on all the weight that I lost before coming away, life can be so cruel sometimes. Ah well!<br />
We were in Gloucester today and some people were trying to give pamphlets to passersby promoting the Brexit vote which takes place on Thursday. This is a very confusing issue and no one we have spoken to seems to really understand why the vote should be one way or the other, and it seems to come down to which side of the political fence you happen to be sitting on. The one issue which seems to be winning people over is that of immigration and the drain this is having on such things as the NHS. It appears, though that you are much more likely to be treated by an Eastern European in the shape of a Doctor or Nurse than to have one in the next bed to you. I'm glad it is the Brits who need to decide this one, it looks though as the Leave Vote is winning at the moment. Anyway this fellow giving away stickers and pamphlets wouldn't take no for an answer, wanted to know if we were French. People do have a spot of bother with our accent, I asked a lady in a cafe in Tewkesbury this morning where the Black Bear Hotel is. She looked at me blankly and then, after a while she says "Oh you mean the Black Burr". The Black Burr is a Pub, the oldest in Gloucestershire, so it is claimed, and dates back to the 11th Century, very rustic, we shall have to go there for our dinner tomorrow night.<br />
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<b>The Black B......, an old Coaching Pub.</b></div>
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I love the old pubs over here, it is a shame that so many are struggling to survive in today's climate. I have yet to go into one that has not made me feel welcome and that is by the customers as well as staff. Many have wonderful food on offer these days as well.</div>
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<b>The Old Swan ( c. 1445) in Minster Lovel and, above, The George Coaching Inn in Dorchester</b></div>
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Actually, Minster Lovel, proved to be an unexpected find on our trip around the district yesterday and has many beautiful cottages.</div>
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<b>Cottages in Minster Lovel</b></div>
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Today we concentrated on nearby Tewkesbury and Gloucester and are both fully worthy of a damned good visit. Tewkesbury has a thousand year old Abbey which was saved from Henry VIII ravages when then townsfolk raised the 400 pounds necessary to buy the place and it has survived to this day. It costs, it is claimed, around 8 pounds a minute to maintain the place and although entry is free you are encouraged to "Give a minute" by way of a donation. The pipe organ is from the 16th c., it is truly an amazing place.</div>
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Gloucester Cathedral is even more impressive and has an even bigger claim to fame in that it holds the remains of both Edward II and William I's (The Conqueror) eldest son. All good stuff, well it impressed me anyway.</div>
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<b>Gloucester Cathedral</b></div>
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And so endeth the lesson for the day, a day which I am told is the longest of the year here in Britain. Only 3 more days until Brexit or RemaIN whichever is decided. Trouble is it is going to take at least two more years to negotiate an exit if that is the outcome of the referendum and there will undoubtedly be a flood of migrants in those two years and of course the terms for an exit won't be known until those negotiations are completed. What a nightmare.</div>
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Take care and all the best</div>
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David</div>
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P,S,</div>
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<b>Spotted in the corner of our bedroom</b></div>
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<b>(It's only pretend)</b></div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-85594013008790121932016-06-18T11:43:00.000-07:002016-06-18T11:43:43.261-07:00There is nothing quite so English as.........<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There isn't I tell you. There couldn't be anything quite so English as the English. I know it sounds like stating the bleeding obvious but it is true.<br />
Firstly there is the game of cricket on the village green, clapping politely as the chap you would love to see heading back to the pavilion gets another boundary or just a good ball that doesn't have any bearing on the outcome of the game, cricket is all that is English.<br />
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<b>The Village Game of Cricket</b></div>
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Of course the village could not have the game if there were no village and some of these are very noteworthy themselves even without any cricket. Even the names could only be in England, Upper and Lower Slaughter spring to mind. We were staying only last week in Eyam and our neighbouring village was ""Stoney Middleton" don't know where they got that from.</div>
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<b>Stoney Middleton and, above that, our cottage in Eyam</b></div>
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We have moved on now to Aston something or other, there are lots of Aston somethings around here, we are in the Cotswolds and the English village really comes into it's own in the Cotswolds. There's another thing, all cottages need a name, in Eyam we were in Hawthorn Cottage and now in Aston something or other we are in Roseberry Farm Cottage. Anyway every English village really really needs a pub that is several years old, if we had just one of these pubs in New Zealand it would be famous throughout the land, but here you expaect one or more in each village. We went to one today, the Fleece in Bretforton, and it was a cracker. The National Trust own this one but it is run on a purely commercial basis.</div>
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<b>The Fleece at Bretforton</b></div>
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Another very English thing we happened upon today is the Narrow Boat, about 3 feet wide and twenty yards long, these were designed to ply the canals which themselves are not much wider. They are very popular and the canals are liberally sprinkled with the aforementioned pubs which I am sure adds to the attraction of narrow boating. I would love to have a go at this past time, it looks like a lot of fun.</div>
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<b>A Narrow Boat Marina</b></div>
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The boats seem to be kept in very good condition and are painted ever so nice and bright, often with some advertising on the side to remind us of the commercial origin of the canal system.</div>
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The English cottage garden is admired by all who come by it, and justifiably so. They are full of colour and seem to thrive much to Mrs Currin's puzzlement, why do they do so well when they have such short and severe seasons or maybe that is why they do so well and of course there is the rain and plenty of it so watering isn't a problem. It has rained every day since we have been here, tomorrow is supposed to be "dry". Here's hoping! People just say "Well this is England" and that explains it all.</div>
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<b>A Kiwi Rose in an English Cottage Garden</b></div>
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<b>The English Cottage Garden</b></div>
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Yesterday we met and dined with my distant cousins who live in Burton on Trent. It was just fantastic, they are a great couple and it was a pleasure that I would hope that we can repeat sometime.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhH9_xf0r0LS1Vyb75CGcUI7bzszInnUsMTB1ZRM5qOhkEinQkjjW-2olDCp72bXyLo3dMwRcjFE9-3Vxy72Y00ixLbl1Ddc4vjpYLzxYISwcGbdfICOL_KnqylJPjW2bu75uXadp6YWLr/s1600/SAM_2061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhH9_xf0r0LS1Vyb75CGcUI7bzszInnUsMTB1ZRM5qOhkEinQkjjW-2olDCp72bXyLo3dMwRcjFE9-3Vxy72Y00ixLbl1Ddc4vjpYLzxYISwcGbdfICOL_KnqylJPjW2bu75uXadp6YWLr/s400/SAM_2061.JPG" width="400" /> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhH9_xf0r0LS1Vyb75CGcUI7bzszInnUsMTB1ZRM5qOhkEinQkjjW-2olDCp72bXyLo3dMwRcjFE9-3Vxy72Y00ixLbl1Ddc4vjpYLzxYISwcGbdfICOL_KnqylJPjW2bu75uXadp6YWLr/s1600/SAM_2061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">We Had a Lovely Lunch with Ray and Jane in Burton on Trent</span></b></a></div>
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Anyway Jane is very much into folk music, it is her hobby, probably almost a passion, so I must be very careful about my next very English topic so as to not offend her, but really I cannot get my head around Morris Dancing. We came across a troupe or three at the Fleece today. I shall say no more.</div>
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<b>Assorted Morris Dancers. (I thought the middle ones were a bikie gang till they stared jingling)</b></div>
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Anyway a good time was had by all so I am told.</div>
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We went back to Chesterfield before moving south and I managed a pic. of the wonkey spire on St Mary's church. This is another of England's little eccentricities, wonkey buildings. Some of then seem to defy gravity, they look as though they should just give up and fall over. Just look at the back wall of the Fleece!</div>
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<b>Was this a wonkey design or poor workmanship?</b></div>
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I have by no means exhausted the list of things which are so peculiarly English but maybe I will add to it as we go on. I would just like to say that I congratulate the All Blacks and whoever it was that beat Australia today.</div>
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All the best</div>
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David </div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-55996598750337857312016-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:002016-06-14T10:25:01.096-07:00Weather Takes a Turn For The Better<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yes, we actually saw some blue sky today and the temperature briefly touched 20 C on the car's gauge, but soon after it was 15 so it may have been a bit of a hiccup. However it was very much OK for a trip down to Stoke on Trent, just for a look, and on to Biddulph Grange, Ashbourne and Tissington which are all worthy of a good looking at and so that is what we did.<br />
Biddulph Grange is a magnificent garden run by the National Trust, created by it's visionary owner James Bateman with the plants he collected from his world travels including, so we are told, a flax from New Zealand.<br />
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<b>Biddulph Grange Garden and House</b></div>
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<b>The Lawnmower Collection</b></div>
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Tissington is a village owned by the Fitzherbert family who still occupy the hall, it is a charming wee village with some great little cottages to look at. We came across four people sitting on the benches at the front of their houses, reminded me of "the last of the summer wine", but they were friendly enough, wanted to know from whence we came.</div>
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<b>Tissington Hall</b></div>
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<b>A couple of Cottages in Tissington</b></div>
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Tissington is best know for the annual event known as "Well Dressing". This is not, as I had thought, a ritual akin to Morris Dancing where people dress well in oldy worldy costumes and make prats of themselves, rather the dressing of wells, you know the sort that you get water from. It is thought to have originated as a way of thanking the Lord for the unending supply of clean water that the wells provided and it is thought this could have prevented the plague. Whatever, it is carried out each ascension week and the wells are decorated with petals and cones and whatever else pressed onto a board which has been soaked in the village pond and covered in clay. Some 50,000 visitors come to see the spectacle each year, so there!</div>
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<b>Hall Well, 1 of 6 which are dressed for Ascension Week</b></div>
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That, then, is all we have been up to over the past couple of days. We did venture into Chesterfield the other day and we will be going back. I want to have another look, as it looks like it deserves a couple of our hours. It has a church, and this is it's claim to fame, with a crooked spire. It is very crooked and I had thought that it had been built this way, you know as a point of difference, a bit of a touristy thing but no, it seems that green timber was used and as it dried it twisted into the crooked spire it is today. I shall get a picture of St. Mary's crooked spire, I shall.</div>
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Well that is all that I have and so I will leave you in peace.</div>
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All the best and look after yourselves</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-74870193029800059042016-06-12T13:40:00.000-07:002016-06-12T13:40:22.222-07:00Arrivederci Italia, Hello Brtain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Bye Bye Italy, we are ready to move on once more and so it's on to Leonardo da Vinci airport to board our Alitalia flight to Heathrow, didn't start off to good with about an hours delay due to a "technical" problem..oh well. Not the best airline we have traveled on, but not the worst either. Having gone from Berlin to Dubrovnik with Germanwings which is Lufthansa's budget airline we expected Alitalia to come up winners in any comparison but Germanwings far exceeded our expectations, maybe something to do with having a nutter pilot fly one of their planes into a mountain. Can't have passengers thinking bad things about our airline! Anyway, I digress, we arrived in Britain on 3 June a little late and so did not get to our hotel in Maidstone until a little later than we would have liked. The reason for Maidstone was to give us a head start in going to the Dockyard in Chatham which I had visited on a previous trip and wished to complete. Mrs Currin was going to accompany me on this occasion, but we could not justify the more than $50 each admission for something I had already seen and to which Mrs Currin was not actually busting to go to. A few other sights were on our list in the Kent and Sussex area but we found that we had already been there as well, so really a wasted day to start our Britain visit, oh well again. We needed to get up into Suffolk that night as by Wednesday we were due to stay with some friends from one of our river boating trips and they live right up in Lincolnshire in Stamford a charming town built almost entirely from the local honey coloured stone. Nearby is Burleigh, famous for the horse trials but we had visited on a previous trip so spent some time being shown around Stamford, they have the most amazing Ironmongers there which I thoroughly enjoyed browsing around. Patrick, our host, now 80 had been a bit of a big wheel in the brewery and had worked in the local branch at some stage of his career. He had done a full brewing apprenticeship which included a few months learning the art of cooperage having made a Ferkin as his test piece. He is a very interesting fellow and him and wife, Barbara, proved to be most excellent hosts. We stayed only two nights but had a most wonderful time including a lunch at the "George" which apparently has a reputation second to none in the area. Friday morning and it is off to Eyam, known as the Plague Village.<br />
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<span style="color: #252525;">The history of the plague in the village began in 1665 when a flea-infested bundle of cloth arrived from London for the local tailor. Within a week his assistant George Vicars was dead and more began dying in the household soon after. As the disease spread, the villagers turned for leadership to their rector, the Rev. William</span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverend_William_Mompesson" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Reverend William Mompesson"> </a><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverend_William_Mompesson" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Reverend William Mompesson"><span style="color: black;">Mompesson</span></a><span style="color: #252525;">, and the </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritan" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Puritan"><span style="color: black;">Puritan</span></a><span style="color: #252525;"> Minister Thomas Stanley. They introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666. They included the arrangement that families were to bury their own dead and relocation of church services to the natural amphitheatre of Cucklett Delph, allowing villagers to separate themselves and so reducing the risk of infection. Perhaps the best-known decision was to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Quarantine"><span style="color: black;">quarantine</span></a><span style="color: #252525;"> the entire village to prevent further spread of the disease.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;">The plague ran its course over 14 months and one account states that it killed at least 260 villagers, with only 83 surviving out of a population of 350. This figure has been challenged on a number of occasions with alternative figures of 430 survivors from a population of around 800 being given. The church in Eyam has a record of 273 individuals who were victims of the plague. Survival among those affected appeared random, as many that remained alive had had close contact with those who died but never caught the disease. For example, Elizabeth Hancock was uninfected despite burying six children and her husband in eight days (the graves are known as the Riley graves after the farm where they lived).</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-pbs_13-1" style="color: #252525; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam#cite_note-pbs-13" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;">[13]</a></sup><span style="color: #252525;"> The unofficial village </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravedigger" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Gravedigger"><span style="color: black;">gravedigger</span></a><span style="color: #252525;">, Marshall Howe, also survived despite handling many infected bodies.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;">Plague Sunday has been celebrated in the village since the plague's bicentenary in 1866 and now takes place in Cucklett Delph on the last Sunday in August. Originally it was held in mid-August but now coincides with the much older </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakes_Week" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Wakes Week"><span style="color: black;">Wakes Week</span></a><span style="color: #252525;"> and the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_dressing" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Well dressing"><span style="color: black;">well</span></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_dressing" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Well dressing"> </a><span style="color: black;">dressing</span><span style="color: #252525;"> ceremonies.</span></div>
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The Boundary Stone. <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.4px;">Today Eyam has various plague-related places of interest. One is the Coolstone in which money, usually soaked in vinegar, which was believed to kill the infection, was placed in exchange for food and medicine. It is just one of several 'plague stones' that served to make the boundary that should not be crossed by either inhabitant or outsider. Another site is the isolated enclosure of the Riley graves mentioned above, which is now under the guardianship of the</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.4px;"> </span>National Trust<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.4px;">.</span></div>
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A reminder of the village's industrial past remains in the name of its only pub, the Miner's Arms. Built in 1630, before the plague, it was originally called The Kings Arms. Opposite the church is the Mechanics' Institute, originally established in 1824,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam#cite_note-17" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;">[17]</a></sup> although the present building with its handsome pillared portico dates from 1859 and was enlarged in 1894. At one time it held a library paid for by subscription, which then contained 766 volumes. The premises now double as the village club. Up the main street is the Jacobean-styled Eyam Hall, built just after the plague. It is currently managed by the National Trust and was opened to the public in March 2013. The green opposite has an ancient set of village stocks reputedly used to punish the locals for minor crimes.</div>
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Catherine Mompesson's tabletop grave is in the churchyard and has a wreath laid on it every Plague Sunday. This is in remembrance of her constancy in staying by her husband, rather than moving away with the rest of her family, and dying in the very last days of the plague. The church's burial register also records "Anna the traveller, who according to her own account, was 136 years of age" and was interred on 30 December 1663. A more recent arrival there is the cricketer Harry Bagshaw, who played for Derbyshire and then acted as a respected umpire after retiring. At the apex of his headstone is a hand with a finger pointing upwards. Underneath the lettering a set of stumps is carved, with the bails flying off and a bat which has just hit the wicket.</div>
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Respect for its heritage has not always been a priority in Eyam. In his <i>Peak Scenery</i> (1824), Ebenezer Rhodes charges that by the start of the 19th century many former gravestones of plague victims had been pulled up to floor houses and barns and that ploughing was allowed to encroach on the Riley Graves; that the lime trees planted on either side of Mrs Mompesson's grave had been cut down for timber that the missing piece from the shaft of the Saxon Cross had been broken up for domestic use and that in general the profit of the living was put before respect for the dead.</div>
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<b>An Interesting Painting by Constable of the Old Waterloo Bridge before it was demolished. The room in which it hangs at Ickford is made entirely of timber salvaged from that bridge.</b></div>
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<b>Also at Ickford</b></div>
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Yesterday we went to Arkwright's Mill, a cotton mill from the 1780s and which is said to have been the real beginning of much of industry as we know it today. Prior to then all cotton had been spun by skilled women in their homes with a spinning jenny. Arkwright developed a mechanised method powered by water and operated entirely by unskilled woman and children. They worked a full 12 hour day, but with a generous quarter hour for morning tea and a full hour for lunch, both breaks having to be taken on site so as to be fully controlled by Mr Arkwright. Staff had to clock on and clock off. He provided their housing as well and so had complete control over his workers. Production was increased a thousand fold and his model mill was copied hundreds of times around the country, Mr, later Sir Richard, Arkwright owning a high percentage of them himself becoming a very very wealthy man.</div>
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We also went on a short train ride up the Derwent valley.</div>
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<b>Train Driving</b></div>
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<b>Other Eccentrics at Cranford by Arkwright's Mill</b></div>
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Today we lunched with an old Naval Colleague whom I had not seen for 50 years and had a most wonderful time reminiscing, well maybe not Mrs Currin nor Mrs Dick, but for Clem and I there was a lot of catching up to do.</div>
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<b>REA Currin RNZN with CEA Dick RN</b></div>
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The weather since arriving in Britain has not been the greatest to be quite honest, raining a lot and quite chilly, although the locals keep telling us "but it is still quite warm". When we arrived in Eyam on Friday night it was as if we were driving along a river such was the down pour. Still this is England we keep reminding ourselves.</div>
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That is all for now, look after yourselves and best wishes,</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-29582205670816651212016-06-05T08:08:00.002-07:002016-06-05T08:08:51.020-07:00A Flurry Of Hilltop Towns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The time has come when we must say "arrivederci" to Italy and move ever onwards to the next adventure. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, but it will be nice to be able to get familiar food and to be understood. I had to top up my phone the other day and so off to the WIND SHOP we went where we were handed over to a fluent English speaker. He promptly asked "You are not English where do you come from?" "New Zealand" I replied. "Ah that is why I can't understand you, please speak slowly." He was extremely helpful and sorted my phone in no time flat, but we have been asked if we are German and all sorts. This was over in Abruzzo where not many tourists go, I can't understand why as it is a fantastic area and so much cheaper than Rome and the regular tourist spots.<br />
In Rome we, Jill and I, kept our appointment with Papa Francisco, but the cheeky sod didn't turn up so we had a look around his home and garden while Lee and Murray dodged lightening bolts. There is a fantastic sense of history in the Vatican and the art work, of course, is priceless with works by Boticelli, Michael Angelo and Raphael by way of frescos. Rodin's "Thinker" sculpture is also here (as well as in the Louvre). There are seven kilometers of museum collections and so it is impossible to see more than just a fraction of it.<br />
My personal favourites were the hall of maps and St. Peters Basilica. I probably should include the Sistine Chapel, but having seen so many pictures etc of it I guess it is a matter of familiarity breeding contempt. Besides a Japanese TV network paid for the restoration of the artwork and hold the copyright on it so NO PHOTOS.<br />
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<b>By Raphael</b></div>
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<b>Guards by Switzerland</b></div>
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<b>The Magnificent Ceiling In The Hall of Maps</b></div>
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<b>Rodin's Thinker</b></div>
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With Murray and Jill's departure we headed east to Abruzzo, the area of Italy less traveled and completely unknown to us. It has many hilltop villages and towns and they are spectacular, we just love them as they give a glimpse of how life used to be in Italy. One of our favourites was Civitella del Tronto where we over nighted in a pleasant B&B. That night we went up to a restaurant and overlooked our B&B, next door was a flock of sheep being tended by a shepherd. Cicitella del Tronto was founded around 1000 years ago and it ran through my mind that this scene was also at least that old, that was, at least, until the shepherd hopped into his landcruiser and went off home for the night. That is not the end of it though as the illusion reappeared when we noticed that he had left the flock under the charge of two dogs, not one sheep strayed and dogs and sheep all settled down for the night. There are still wolves, and allegedly bears, in the nearby woods and this truly was a scene from Biblical times.</div>
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<b>The Flock of Sheep with Rover 1 and Rover 2 to the left. They look like two more sheep.</b></div>
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<b>Civitella del Tronto</b></div>
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And so our tour of Abruzzo, and later Umbria, continued with more gems uncovered by the hour. Another bonus of touring in this area is the cheapness, with coffees costing 1 Euro and a meal for around 6.</div>
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Last night we spent in another hilltop town where we also spent most of today. By chance there was a gathering of the Fiat Club d'Itallia and what a colourful sight that proved to be. I remember these little machines in abundance on the autostradas back in the sixties when I first came to Italy and it is great to see them still going strong.</div>
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<b>It is great to see these wee beauties.</b></div>
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<b>But not quite so great to see this on the steps of a cathedral. </b></div>
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<b>Is this the modern face of religion? </b></div>
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On that note I will bid you farewell, that is until we set up camp in Britain, so take care and all the best.</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-17467497318403922672016-05-31T11:19:00.001-07:002016-05-31T11:19:27.459-07:00Hvala Hrvatska (Thank you Croatia)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It has finally come to pass that we bid our farewell to Croatia and the Dalmatian Coast. We needed to be at breakfast by 06:30 so that we could catch our ferry across the Adriatic to Venice. The Hotel breakfast that morning was probably the best we had encountered, we have been getting a little tired of cheese and salami and bread. There always seems to be oodles of bread, but no toaster, Murray hasn't found a coffee to call his own and the tea is, at best, mediocre so Jill, who drinks hot water is the only one guaranteed a drink to her liking. Even then they will sometimes put a tea bag in her hot water so even that has it's perils. Back to the ferry trip to Venice...after the aforementioned breakfast we trundled our very heavy bags down to the departure point by the required 07:00 only to find a lengthy queue winding it's way from a wild west style ticket office where one was to exchange ones voucher for a ticket. As with everything over here there was passport checking to be done by the ticket people and then outdoors once more to a holding pen in a car park type area where the, yet to appear, ferry was to depart. The cheerful man (he had no right to be at this time of day) told us to join a queue and all would move very quickly once it got going. It may well have done but still no ferry, due to leave at 08:00. Finally ferry arrives at about 07:55 and things did happen quite quickly except happy man came and told Murray and Jill there was a problem and took their passports away and only just managed to return them in time for sailing, all stamped but with no explanation as to the problem.<br />
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Arrived in Venice just before lunch after our ferry turned into a tour bus and we had to endure a lecture, in German, on what all the people in the tour were supposed to do. We still had to get a water bus to the bus station then a land taxi to our hotel all with our heavy baggage once more. Boy! it is lucky that we like travelling. Anyway mission accomplished we were in Venice. Oh did I mention returning the rental car in Porec. It was within waking distance of the hotel but took around two hours to accomplish. First Tom tom sent us into an area of roadworks which we tried to by-pass via a churchyard and a bit of a drive along a footpath, the workman just watched on with concealed amusement and still just watched as we had to retrace our steps over their roadworks, along the footpath and back through the churchyard. This was followed by a route around a large car park, one side of which had the name of the street on which Fleet rentals office was located but search as we might on our many laps of the car park Fleet rentals would not show themselves. We resorted to smartphone and google maps which revealed the error of our ways, it wasn't in the street on their brochure but in a small one off the street off the the one in their brochure. Of course it was, we should have known. Trouble not finished yet, sign on door say closed away doing a delivery, so we had a cuppa at a nearby cafe, Murray's undrinkable mine OK, still no sign of Fleet man. Went back to the office which had a phone number..."no you not bring back until five, and I come to your hotel and pick it up, no can't change it". Oh well might as well return to our wives and wait. Back to the car, looks like there has been a bit of an accident, people standing around looking at damaged cars, old lady gabbling away at me in Croatian, I smiled, not understanding a word of it, then we noticed the dented car was actually in contact with our, as yet, undamaged rental. Fortunately any damage we were able to rub off so no problem. So that is how it can take around two hours to return your rental car a few hundred meters down the road.<br />
We are in Venice and have done a hop on hop off water bus tour over two days, very good.<br />
We now proceed by FIAT 500!<br />
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<b>Not All Hotel Views Are Equal</b></div>
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<b>A Croatian Farewell Diner.</b></div>
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Anyway, Venice it was for two nights before proceeding on to Lake Coma by way of Verona and Bellargio. Como is but about 10km from the Swiss boarder and it was the intention to just nip over the boarder for morning tea so that Murray and Jill could tick off another country on their CV but in reality they decided that they could do without it so on to Milan we went. Now Milano was hosting the European Premier cup winners final on this very day so the town was really buzzing which meant that a hop on hop off tour was about as much as we could manage before heading down to Genoa for the night. We have passed Genoa by on a few previous visits to Italy so it was a real pleasure to experience a little of this historic city's delights by way of a noddy train tour.</div>
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<b>There Are Still Gondolas Available For Those That Can Afford Them</b></div>
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<b>Murray Engaged In Some Serious Retail Therapy</b></div>
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<b>Milan's Beautiful Cathedral</b></div>
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<b>Chris. Columbus's Birth Place In Genoa</b></div>
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<b>His And Hers</b></div>
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<b>Historic Waterfront Genoa</b></div>
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One of the highlights, at least for Jill and I, was the Cinque Terre walk, taking in the five towns along the coast between Levanto and La Spezia, hard work but well worth the effort. Many thousands do this walk every year. We were lucky in that we had an overcast day and it was a bit cooler than the 30 + C that we had been having so all was good. Only problem was that the last two legs were closed as they have been now since flooding in 2011 but these are quite short so never mind.</div>
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<b>The Villages are Spectacular</b></div>
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<b>The Track Can Be Demanding, Especially The Steps</b></div>
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<b>These Two Aussies Couldn't Let A Bar Go By</b></div>
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<b>The Emergency Evacuation Transport</b></div>
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<b>Another Of The Cinque Terre Villages</b></div>
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Murray and Lee were to meet us at the last of the Villages we were doing, Corniglia, but texted us to advise a change of plan in that they would now see us at the railway station. We could see why.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmpCe6u9-dOGB8rJkTyCwhEC_q36CndTcd2SayADJDinff0v6HndO8sxREFH5TOHT1u0A_nR_uPV3-tZdn85DxTitWNi1-v2dF8GMNFtfA60xoM2a_QFHVrefvcF5N77E4B6wXFogvEt_/s1600/SAM_1712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmpCe6u9-dOGB8rJkTyCwhEC_q36CndTcd2SayADJDinff0v6HndO8sxREFH5TOHT1u0A_nR_uPV3-tZdn85DxTitWNi1-v2dF8GMNFtfA60xoM2a_QFHVrefvcF5N77E4B6wXFogvEt_/s640/SAM_1712.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Some of the hundreds of steps up from the station to Corniglia</b></div>
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And so that was Cinque Terra, it was just simply fantastic.</div>
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We have moved on now to Rome, it has been a whirlwind tour of Italy, but this has been of necessity as Murray and Jill must fly out of here on Thursday and so there will be only Lee and I then so maybe there won't be happy hour each evening and I shall be able to keep my blog up to date, just maybe. But we will miss them, there I have said it, but it's true.</div>
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Going for an audience with Papa Francisco tomorrow, at least Jill and I shall be. Murray and Lee said something about lightening and being struck down, so it's just Jill and I again.</div>
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And so that is that for now,</div>
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All the best</div>
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David </div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-71302429873499944242016-05-21T11:58:00.000-07:002016-05-21T11:58:43.131-07:00Slovenia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our last day in Slovenia, a country we have all agreed on that has far exceeded our expectations. It has been great fun, but didn't start out that way as just after crossing the border from Croatia, our passports were handed over then handed straight back and we were in Slovenia. It must be Kiwi Passports as other cars had taken much longer. Anyway in we were and soon buzzing along the highway when there was a Police roadblock. We, amongst many other cars were signaled to pull into a parking spot and a young lady from, I think, the transport ministry came to us and explained how we were liable to a 800 to 1000 euro fine for who knows what crazy offence we had committed. I was instructed to accompany her and to bring my passport and car's papers with me as another officer photographed our getaway car. It transpires that one must purchase a sticker, a form of road tax, from a petrol station before crossing the boarder and this means you don't pay tolls on the motorways as you do in most other countries. I pleaded my ignorance, which was truthful, and liberally praised her country, which was a bit premature, but to no avail. We were still fined 130 euros, the minimum for this offence, for which we got a green sticker for our windscreen that would last us for 5 days. The officiating officer even came back to the car with me to proudly affix said sticker to my windscreen. I must say it is a pleasure not to be paying tolls several time a day but at what price?<br />
Today though we have swapped water activities for sub terrestrial ones with a spot of Speleology in a fantastic cave at Postojna. This cave goes for some 24 km and is toured by way of a small railway system and then shanks's pony for 1.5 km. A great day out and quite amazing, I have been to other caves but this one was quite different because of it's sheer size and the efficiency of moving so many people through it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxmZ2kvfkT99iSpoiJK_dwTTPnzMei2AVRauZwyImpK2KuO2SU7AR2zMwkfWRjUCKgMFcKp1-x5n2U9pugV_C0dtroN82YW0rj3fYPEBtXCRFe1021NSIzZCTkQM1v5EZMbCEtNvi-8FQd/s1600/SAM_1304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxmZ2kvfkT99iSpoiJK_dwTTPnzMei2AVRauZwyImpK2KuO2SU7AR2zMwkfWRjUCKgMFcKp1-x5n2U9pugV_C0dtroN82YW0rj3fYPEBtXCRFe1021NSIzZCTkQM1v5EZMbCEtNvi-8FQd/s640/SAM_1304.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcpH_mfG79i6TZkzihmlPMdDLghU4upwrvf4tRxU547eq8dt7laBKh1-l4B8crcv-DSMQ8QWQTP2zk7DO2TYOkznsUqmHEG60z9rTs8fHQnMiWmDBrcvKB80_gW53f5z7SwGohreNf6Ir/s1600/SAM_1311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcpH_mfG79i6TZkzihmlPMdDLghU4upwrvf4tRxU547eq8dt7laBKh1-l4B8crcv-DSMQ8QWQTP2zk7DO2TYOkznsUqmHEG60z9rTs8fHQnMiWmDBrcvKB80_gW53f5z7SwGohreNf6Ir/s640/SAM_1311.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHI63lQa7eIsVQfSBkEye_zxKBLrQR-EmeENHMWsu2mpD-z6ReTptOaiOFWMzMijQaPDNOtVrpH9KJ3e71u2unJMBwCofIpw7R0IRiA4A0_kI_OrxzzzkOInVznsCmazh0zGzTATHL9m-k/s1600/SAM_1325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHI63lQa7eIsVQfSBkEye_zxKBLrQR-EmeENHMWsu2mpD-z6ReTptOaiOFWMzMijQaPDNOtVrpH9KJ3e71u2unJMBwCofIpw7R0IRiA4A0_kI_OrxzzzkOInVznsCmazh0zGzTATHL9m-k/s640/SAM_1325.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Postajna Cave System Slovenia</b></div>
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Travelling on another 10 km or so brought us to the Predjama Castle, described as amongst the 10 most spectacular in Europe, well I guess it is the eye of the beholder, but it was pretty neat all the same.</div>
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<b>Yogi Bear and Booboo</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKk-Mwr1Ij7j07EciJN9BgM7eT2VPHCdhsZOzwfNroBv3pWvagNMMJuGmt2rDZ0jLxbF4IjQNv3tlpvJUY9glTww4Vt3BGs9SAbyPxHux56IJWPTDkbpyFwOy9UkYkZ6OkM_5pUsEw-vk/s1600/SAM_1334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKk-Mwr1Ij7j07EciJN9BgM7eT2VPHCdhsZOzwfNroBv3pWvagNMMJuGmt2rDZ0jLxbF4IjQNv3tlpvJUY9glTww4Vt3BGs9SAbyPxHux56IJWPTDkbpyFwOy9UkYkZ6OkM_5pUsEw-vk/s640/SAM_1334.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Predjama Castle ( the Lord and Lady)</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1JPh8IonShWZNpbYAqD3o5fMCjWpcWdidTx9uX3GlbF-tMhRhvjRjnPZmamu0JiOD07707wZMKHUAzVhxvfep6tKo26VMLhtYYk98X9YL0F7J8D7T77R1idMmUq7beotcAkhZzpbAzX4/s1600/SAM_1338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1JPh8IonShWZNpbYAqD3o5fMCjWpcWdidTx9uX3GlbF-tMhRhvjRjnPZmamu0JiOD07707wZMKHUAzVhxvfep6tKo26VMLhtYYk98X9YL0F7J8D7T77R1idMmUq7beotcAkhZzpbAzX4/s640/SAM_1338.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>A couple of Beauties we came across on our way to the castle.</b></div>
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The day was rounded of bu a quick flick into Trieste, Italy, then finally onto Piran, back in Slovenia, where we have overnighted A lovely town and to treat ourselves a lovely hotel, the Barbara.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRynmOkd3waWJ4JNEr5MZBwmNW7ttcVmAi-zh7L_U9g8Tn18mQeyXuMHpwtNOKtgyxD8qT_deav-CYILWdmQ8kl87PE-ter2WffWkw0-WRcqp8wKPcIZfMQpYBmxBon8sEfx_GLIfpz3lq/s1600/SAM_1341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRynmOkd3waWJ4JNEr5MZBwmNW7ttcVmAi-zh7L_U9g8Tn18mQeyXuMHpwtNOKtgyxD8qT_deav-CYILWdmQ8kl87PE-ter2WffWkw0-WRcqp8wKPcIZfMQpYBmxBon8sEfx_GLIfpz3lq/s640/SAM_1341.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The view from our window at the Barbara</b></div>
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<b>Not all Beaches are lovely, and maybe some people shouldn't wear bikinis, just saying like.</b></div>
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<b>A bit of rock art on Piran Beach</b></div>
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And so here we are for another night and very content with ourselves as I hope you all are as well.</div>
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Take care with whatever you are doing, all the best</div>
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David</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-77896451010718908522016-05-20T09:12:00.002-07:002016-05-20T09:12:22.865-07:00And So Forth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our journey continues, but in a slightly modified way. We have found that, in general, the roads in Montenegro and Serbia to be so bad that progress is at times quite slow. It was then that our tour of Serbia turned into a half day affair and we decided to concentrate on the more developed Croatia. Not to be missed though were a couple of gems in Bosnia Herzegovina starting in Sarajevo, a city we all became familiar with during the Bosnian war. It was here though that the beginnings of WW1 took place in 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on the Latin Bridge which turned out to be right outside our Hotel, the Latinski. Today though the main attraction seems to be the Grand Bazaar which has been running for some 500 years.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><b>Murray and Jill enjoying the Grand Bazaar in Sarajevo.</b></div>
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Next on the list was Mostar, a town whose claim to fame is a bridge destroyed in the war but rebuilt by the UN and still a hot tourist spot. Last time we were here I was fortunate enough to capture one of the bridge divers with my camera, this time a diver but missed him.<br />
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<b>The World Heritage Mostar Bridge.</b></div>
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One of the features for me has been the amazing water based sights that are in this area.</div>
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<b>The River Here Just Emerges From The Cliff</b></div>
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<b>Plitvice Lakes</b></div>
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The Plitvice National Park consists of six interconnected lakes with waterfalls between, in fact the ground must be absolutely saturated as there are waterfalls everywhere you look. You can walk the entire park or use the various forms of transport provided, we chose a combination of both.</div>
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Today we were treated to a white water river at Vintgar Gorge. This would be challenging to most kayakers, impossible for me, but great fun for those who are able.</div>
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<b>Going Down The Vintgar Gorge.</b></div>
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They have built a walkway alongside the river by hacking out the rocky cliff and building a wooden walkway.</div>
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<b>Mrs Currin on The Walkway at Cave Cr..opps Vintgar Gorge.</b></div>
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Another great stopover today was at Bled where we happened upon the first day of their summer fair. Bled is very near the Austrian Border and getting into the alps so summer is a little later around here.</div>
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<b>A Foodies Paradise in Bled</b></div>
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The lakeside was also a great place to enjoy lunch. I was attracted by the Sausage and Cabbage dish on offer at one stall as I have been in serious vegetable deficit for some time now, but the cabbage turned to be a sort of soup with a sausage gamely floating around in it.</div>
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<b>Bled Lake and the Castle Overlooking it.</b></div>
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We are currently in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, and about to go off for a Chinese Nosh so I shall post this and hopefully get some more done in the next few days. There is so much happening that it is hard to keep up.</div>
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So long for now and keep well.</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-23627540787925946872016-05-11T16:24:00.002-07:002016-05-11T21:46:03.665-07:00I Lost My Photos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Oh dismay! I copied all my photos of our last day in Berlin and our time in Dubrovnik ro my laptop and somewhere in the translation they were lost for all time. My fault, I should have copied rather than Cut and Paste, never mind.<br />
We spent our last day in Berlin on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour and were very impressed by it, many familiar landmarks such as Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag and many not so familiar to me such as the fine Concert Hall. All in all Berlin is a wonderful city. A little story we learned about the area in which our hotel stood, Rosenstrasse, was that in 1943 the ladies of the area marched in protest about the deportation of the Jews and Goebbels himself signed off the order for the deportation to stop. Ok all of these women had Jewish husbands, and hence children, and so had a vested interest in saving them, but at least some Germans were doing something. Meanwhile the protest that we had witnessed in it's infancy the day before made the main news slot that evening.<br />
Later in the day we left Berlin for Dubrovnik aboard a Germanwings flight. This is the Budget subsidiary o Lufthansa.. the one that the deranged pilot flew into a mountainside a year or so back. Great flight, plenty of legroom drinks and an ok little food goody bag. It's only an hour and a half down to Dubrovnik but by the time we had arrived at our Guest House it was around 9:00 pm and Murray and Jill had taken to their beds after an exhausting day in the Old Town. Murray though must have heard our arrival and was soon knocking on the door in his PJs. Lee and I had been to Dubrovnik before a couple of years ago, but it remains a favourite so was no hardship to revisit. Two nights in Dubrovnik and we had booked a car in which to complete our Balkans tour. Murray and I were dispatched to collect same, an Opel SUV, but alas, on arrival back at Guest House our suspicions were confirmed, it was too small. We could not fit our baggage in it and so with a large case separating our loved ones in the back seat we returned to Fleet Rentals in the hope that they had something a little larger. We are now touring the Balkans in a Peugeot 10 seat Mini Bus. Plenty of room now.<br />
First stop down the coast was a small town called Cavtat where we stopped for coffee and a stretch of the legs.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enjoying a Cuppa in Cavtat</span></span><br />
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This is a very pretty town and we enjoyed quite a long walk around the headland.</div>
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It was good to stretch our legs after being in the car on the way here. Next day we were to be confined to the car for much longer, but that is another story for another day. From Cavtat we needed to cross the border to enter Montenegro where we will spend the next couple of days. There are not many of these road border crossings left in Europe now, but in this area there are still several. At the crossing Police check and stamp your passport and send you merrily on your way and then about a km down the road the same procedure is carried out by the country of entry. This is all a bit of a novelty for us travelling Kiwis but must become a little monotonous for regular border crossers such as those which live on one side of the border and work on the other.</div>
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Our next stop was a revisit for Mrs Currin and I having visited Kotor bay on our previous trip down here</div>
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but it is so lovely that once is never enough.</div>
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<b>Mrs Currin Skylarking About.</b></div>
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Kotor is a very large bay and is probably the gem in Montenegro's tourism crown and to reach the old town of Kotor one must either catch a ferryboat across the bay or drive right the way around it. We chose the later and so it was time for another cuppa on arrival. Above the town are the remains of an old defensive wall and it has become quite the thing for the young, and the not so young, to walk the trail up to the top. Not us on this occasion, much to hot for that carry on.</div>
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<b>Murray And Jill Enjoy Taking The Weight Off Their Feet In Kotor</b></div>
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<b>The Old Wall Kotor</b></div>
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The mountains in the region are of a very rocky consistency and the rocks themselves quite porous allowing the rain to soak through them rather than run off. This has the effect of keeping the hillside quite dry but also as there is no soil washed down with the rain and the water is in fact filtered through the rocks it makes for a very clear sea which must be a delight for divers.<br />
We traveled from here to Cetinje, the old administrative capital, where there are still many embassies and government departments. We overnighted in Cetinje, but it has little to offer to make one wish to linger too long, except fine apartments which set one back the princely sum of $50 NZ per night. Eating is also delightfully cheap here, breakfast for three about $10 NZ. It was after breakfast that our adventures took a new turn. Our GPS, which we have christened Maria, had us along the most diabolical roads on our way to the capital, Podgorica, and after an hour or so of this the more astute amongst us, the ladies of course, happened to notice some flowers adorning a fence that seemed familiar. We had traveled in a big circle. A passing traveler noticed somehow that we looked lost and offered directions which we gratefully accepted and once more set off on our way. We decided to give a couple of places in the south a miss to make up the time and pressed on to Podgorica, another forgettable town except for a fine lunch in a local shopping Mall.<br />
We are to finish up this evening in Zabljak, a ski resort high in the mountains, but on the way we waned to visit a cliff side Monastery at Ostrog which involved a bit of a detour but was well worth the effort as tomorrow was one of the three feasts which cause pilgrims by the thousand to make the walk up the 3000 ft mountain side to pray at the site of the reliquary containing the remains of the founder, The Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina. It is said that many are cured of dastardly illnesses as a result. This is all suposed to be done barefoot but most we saw had shoes on. The pilgrims all camp at, or near, the summit. There is a bit of rain tonight so the ones with just a blanket will not be happy campers I suspect.<br />
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<b>Getting Up To The Monastery Was Worth The Effort</b><br />
<b> (Note the queue to get into the Monastery)</b><br />
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The drive up, or as far as one could go was very exciting as there were innumerable switchbacks and on a road not much wider than the car (it was two way) and all the walkers it took over half an hour for the 8 km ascent and about the same on the way down. So that was our day and it was a happy one, we are in a four star hotel suite tonight, fabulous meal $120 NZ per night.<br />
Oh I must retell a story Jill was telling us of an incident when on the Hop on/off bus in Athens. They had finished one of the sections and wanted to transfer to the next bus to do the next section. Murray noticed the bus was on the other side of the road and urged Jill to run, which she did, and he follow. Jill looked back to see Murray running, hobbling clutching his groin still telling Jill to run and tell the driver to wait for him. They finally arrived and found the driver looking rather strangely at them, it was the same bus that they had just gotten off. Oh how we all laughed, well almost all.<br />
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That's all for today.<br />
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All the best<br />
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David</div>
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-82293613931477729712016-05-07T08:53:00.004-07:002016-05-07T23:53:58.524-07:00A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Carpark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are now in Berlin where, to the delight of all, it is unseasonably warm at 25C. We arrived this morning on the red eye from Frankfurt, up at 4:45 to catch buses etc so tired little sausages this afternoon. Berlin is an interesting place with a lot of building going on, presumably after years of neglect in the Eastern sector. We wondered why there was such a large Police presence with dozens of police vans driving around. It was our intention of doing a hop on hop off tour this afternoon but when we inquired we found that the probability was that the tour would not be completed due to impending demonstrations-hence the large police presence. That said we went off to the Hacksecher Markt, a quiet but pleasant little market not far from our hotel in Alexander Platz. This is where the police had been congregating and there were more, I'll swear, than our national force right here at the market, must be expecting trouble. It was all quiet and quite hard to reconcile what was happening, there was a small group of Greenies with placards and further along a lorry with a more right wing look about it. We sat and watched with interest and were soon joined by a press photographer who told us that this was one of three rallies of extreme right wingers that were starting at three o'clock, it being around 1 o'clock just now. The numbers started growing and by the time we left had become quite substantial. I have now idea how it all ended up but wondered if, when it had gotten out of control, and made the TV News in NZ, what would have been thought seeing Grannie and Poppa there among it.<br />
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Discretion is the better part of valour we are told and so we took our leave before things got out of control. An afternoon siesta seemed just the ticket after such an early start and has refreshed us to the point where I have decided to have a beer before diner, rather pleasant if I may say so. Must watch the news tonight though.<br />
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Yesterday we took a drive in the country with the highlight being a village/ town called Bacharach on the banks of the Rhine, we loved it and although there were quite a few tourists it was not overdone. Again the long weekend had filled the camping grounds in the region to almost over flowing but they seemed happy in the camps or, perhaps, out hiking.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Earlier I was not so lucky, we had happened upon a small town that was so unremarkable that I have quite forgotten it's name, whose civic leaders had managed to attract the worlds largest outlet shopping centre, or so it seemed. Still I won a polo shirt so I no complain. To finish the day in uncharacteristic fashioned we dined at McDonalds after ridding ourselves of our rental car at the airport. Just heard a news item on the wireless about today's demonstration. My Germans not good enough to get the real details but it seems many thousands were involved. Anyway back to ridding ourselves of our rental. This was to take place at the airport's terminal two where we had picked it up and where all the rental car companies have storage in an under ground car park so off we descended into the bowels of mother earth looking for any signs of hire car life. Each level drew a blank so down and down we went. After what seemed like a journey Jules Verne would have found worthy of a story we became aware of a BMW SUV following us. Being courteous Kiwis we pulled over to let him past, I mean a driver of such a vehicle would have more important things to do than follow a couple who had lost a place to return their car. But NO! As Herr BMW pulled up along side he wound down his window, probably just pushed a button, and asked if he could help us. Mrs Currin explained our plight and he very kindly explained how we were in totally the wrong place and how we should remedy this disastrous situation. We absorbed the first portion of this discourse, how to get out of where we currently found ourselves, but lacked the concentration to absorb what it was we should do to get back on track. No problem, on seeing daylight after emerging from our subterranean adventure we spotted a security office and so stopped and I got out to inquire as to where we could return our car. As I did Mr BMW pulled up in front of us and just knew what it was we wanted and very patiently went through the whole returning saga again, this time I managed to absorb it all and off we went with heartfelt thanks give to our knight in a shinning BMW and down we went into an different portal into the centre of the earth. As darkness was closing in there he was again giving us a friendly wave on our way. It seems apparent now that he was part of the security setup and had spotted us on CCTV looking every bit as lost as we were and had been dispatched to rescue us from our own stupidity. Ah well, such is life.</span></div>
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One other thing while I think of it. Those, astute enough, among you to have noticed my deliberate mistake in the the account of the 18th C salt extraction plant, may be wondering how really worked. Well it was almost right, the pumping, the trickling and the drain at the bottom but all this does is to give you a much higher concentration of salt, rising from the original 3% to something approaching saturation and thisnis then fed into large crucibles where the remaining water is evaporated off and salt is all that is left. This must have been one of the first efforts at environmental friendly industrial plants. All that effort to minimalise the energy required to evaporate the water. It is clever.</div>
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My beer is getting warm and Mrs Currin is wanting to eat so must away.</div>
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Take care. Tomorrow night we are off to Dubrovnik where we will meet up with Murray and Jill and the start of another adventure.</div>
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David</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Bacharach</b></span></td></tr>
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<b>The</b> <b>Berlin of Yesteryear</b></div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-4431395715390677982016-05-05T12:36:00.000-07:002016-05-05T12:36:54.213-07:00Bad Nauheim to Limburg<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Another day another adventure in the lives of travelers and so it was for us. We have been on the road as it were for no more than a few days but already the days a merging as if they were but one. Anyway the chronology of this account may be somewhat disjointed and the character's names altered to protect the innocent but there remains some truth in it.<br />
We were heading for Bad Nauheim yesterday when our attention was alerted to an odd construction on the roadside, two in fact, the purpose of which was not at all obvious.<br />
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Curiosity got the better of us so on our return down the road we took advantage of the large and, for once, free car park and stopped for a look, see if we could find out what this was all about. Around the back was a large "Wasser Rad" , around 60 feet in diameter driving two large arms up and down and up and down these being part of a pump. The purpose was beginning to become apparent ( with a little help from an information board) these pumps pumped (as they would) water to the top of the aforementioned wall and it, in turn, trickled down over the faggots that were packed into it, and then into a drain at the bottom.</div>
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"So what?" you may scream, but I may have missed out a vital cog in the train. This was in 1750 and it was when salt was very important and it was found that Schwalheim in the Nauheim district had a source of low concentrate salt water ( around 3%) and this was the ingenious way in which it was extracted, the water evaporates a it trickles down the faggots and they in turn receive an ever increasing layer of salt which can later be harvested. Anyway I thought it quite clever for 1750.</div>
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Later that day we had the good fortune to arrive in Budingen, regarded by some as the most beautiful town in Germany. At least that was the majority verdict of a survey of local residents, the "keep Budingen Beautiful Society" are said to have scored it particularly highly. It is very nice, but was the scene of what could have been a very sad story many years ago. The good Count Anton of Ysenburg and Budingen had just married Elisabeth of Wied in her home county. This was in 1522 so transport still wasn't too good so they arrived back in Bubingen very tired and went straight of to bed and Count Anton was soon happily snoring away, but not so Elisabeth. Elisabeth was unable to sleep because of the noise of the a frogs chorus from just outside of their window. She gave poor Anton a good dig in the ribs and told him in no uncertain terms that either the frogs go or she would. To cut a long story short Anton soon had the whole town awake and they were tasked with ridding it of frogs, but what to do with them now they were caught. Incineration, death by a firing squad of archers even the butchers were considered but they wanted no bar of it. Then someone came up with the idea that the perfect ecological solution would be to drown them in the river Seemenbach and so it was done and it worked a treat. Now of an evening only a soft croaking may be heard and that was good enough for Elisabeth, she stuck with Anton and they lived happily ever after. The townsfolk in turn have since bragged that theirs was not only the most Beautiful town but it was free from frogs and so now the frog is the towns mascot.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">I was Just left Sitting There whilst Mrs Currin looked in a shop when my mind wandered away to stories about frogs being kissed by Princesses and when I awoke....</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br />I must say though that Budingen is a little stunner of a town complete with Schloss and an array of half timbered houses.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GwDcuWu1R51o7XMRidMGLpM2yh7dzPI4NDSr7JJEHwb0-_bYU_2rf5LhFQ7P1jLkEDh8WddgJfdJUxZ6lPHpVdX42nDZZhC2Bg-5tmNSy5Bfmd5tuKgabpuS-mqIBgKClEWKqUGbUCso/s1600/SAM_0640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GwDcuWu1R51o7XMRidMGLpM2yh7dzPI4NDSr7JJEHwb0-_bYU_2rf5LhFQ7P1jLkEDh8WddgJfdJUxZ6lPHpVdX42nDZZhC2Bg-5tmNSy5Bfmd5tuKgabpuS-mqIBgKClEWKqUGbUCso/s320/SAM_0640.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><b style="font-size: medium;">Mrs Currin in the Grounds of the Schloss</b><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The area in which we are touring around, that is near and around Frankfurt has an abundance of very pretty and colourful towns and I never tire of the wonkeyness of it all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mrs Currin amongst the Wonkies in Limburg.</b></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Earlier today we visited Worms, the stamping ground of Martin Luther to whom we largely owe the Protestant Church after he refused to retract his denunciation of the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms for which he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1521. It was here in Worms that we learned why there were no shops open. It seems that it is 40 days since Easter Monday and that was the day that our Lord ascended to Heaven so this is a good reason for a public holiday here in Germany and as it would in New Zealand a holiday falling on a Thursday seems like a good reason for taking Friday off and having a real bottler of a long weekend. Here in Limburg, where we are spending the night there are thousands of then camped on the riverside, cheek by jowl, no one in the river, just wonder what it is they do all day. Anyway a bonus of all this Jesus going to heaven on the 40th day means that there are no trucks on the motorway today....hooray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mrs Currin's ankle is still giving her a bit of jip, but she remains stoical and she "no complain" even managed to buy a crepe bandage at the apotheke, oh my what a lot of German I have forgotten. Still I can still manage "Schwarz Tee and Macchiato Espresso" and not be too surprised by what we end up getting. It is all a bit of fun.</span></div>
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<b>Jewish Cemetery in Worms. Graves dating back to 11th C.</b></div>
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<b>Noddy Train Tour</b></div>
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</span><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><b style="font-size: medium;">Loved this little one person car.</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We are both well and happy. Hope you are also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Take care</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">David</span></div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6437878547865450600.post-59629045603490580212016-05-03T08:06:00.000-07:002016-05-03T08:06:22.708-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We arrived in Frankfurt this morning at 6:00 am after a great flight on "China Southern", having taken the precaution of booking Business Class, an extravagance which on this occasion proved to be worthwhile. I had a few reservations leading up to the flight but in the end they were groundless, the seats comfortable, the meals excellent and the staff (cabin attendants) great. The only drawback lay in the fact that the flight did not go direct from Guangzhou to Frankfurt but went instead via Changsha and because of this and the fact that for some passengers this is as far as they went it is regarded as a domestic flight and for one to be on a domestic flight one must be in China and not just in transit. This means full entry and exit procedures, security customs the lot. Fortunately we were given an escort to guide us through this minefield and fortunately a few short cuts. This was one of the bonuses of being Business Class, poor old Cattle Class are left to fend for themselves and we saw them lined up in fairly substantial queues. Oh well never mind. This all took less than half an hour to complete and then we were deposited in the VIP lounge for refreshments and a most welcome shower, it being 32C and this was late afternoon. The flight from Guangzhou to Changsha is only an hour and many passengers left us at this stage and the majority of Bus. Class passengers were now German. The Chinese Cabin Crew could not speak German and the Germans could not speak Mandarin so English came to the rescue and everyone was happy.<div>
As a result of all this we arrived in Frankfurt, as I have already said, at 6:00 am and having rested well on the flight were ready for a full day seeing what sights Frankfurt and surrounds have to offer. Alas being rested does not negate the effects of jet lag and about mid afternoon it set in so an hotel was sought and found. Unfortunately my dear wife had the misfortune of not having seen a step upon which she was about to descend and is now sporting a rather swollen joint as a result. The nice man at our hotel was kind enough to provide a bag of ice and a cup of Darjeeling so hopefully all will be better tomorrow.</div>
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Oh, I forgot, taxiing in at Frankfurt this morning I switched on my cellphone - message from Jill, they had just checked in on their cruise ship and had been upgraded, not sure what to but any upgrade is always nice. Murray will be a very happy chappy.</div>
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I shall bore you no more until I have some particularly good material with which to do it, no photos either (they'll come) well ok just one.</div>
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11077806212151218692noreply@blogger.com0