Week 4: Berlin

After battling with our luggage on the bus and stairs on the UBahn, we arrived at our hotel and checked in.  We went out exploring with Allison and had trouble finding a German restaurant.  Eventually we settled for Italian, of which there were many.  We walked home via the river after checking out a lot of places we would return to.

 On Saturday 9 June 2012, Allison arrived at our hotel and we went out to breakfast.  We walked down Fredrickstrasse to the Brandenburg Gates.  Unfortunately we could not walk through as fences and TV screens were up for the Euro Cup.

We got to the Reichstag, but could not go up the dome as you have to book online.  Marc made his first attempt at "this is a famous thing" pose, rather unconvincingly.  More oomph is required.

Notice Allison is wearing her "Dan" outfit which we had brought over from
Matt in Sydney.  It got three airings over the week.

We went on a river cruise down the Spree, which was lovely.

We met up with Allison's friend Jay from Liverpool and wandered around various stretches of the Wall.  We saw "the death strip" which shows the inner and outer wall, then went to the Eastside Gallery. Famous artists  painted a kilometre long stretch in 1989, and there was a small section that others could write on.  How could Allison resist?

We ate our only "German" meal at a hotel that night and it was very good.  Potato dumplings!  Mmmm!!

Sunday 10 June 2012:  We got the UBahn to a flea market a bit out of the city and had "Berlin's best waffles" for breakfast.

 
The photo below is out of sequence - it is the death strip mentioned before.

This is the World Clock in Alexanderplatz.  We met Ally here almost everyday after her German classes.

We walked down Unter Den Linden (Under the Trees) and spent hours at the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie.  Here, Marc and I are escaping to the West.  The museum was very interesting, with exhibits of people's attempts to escape to the West amongst other things.  We didn't leave until closing at 10pm.

Monday 11 June 2012:  Totally exhausted after our big day yesterday and just could not get going.  Had a lovely breakfast with Allison and had a tour of some graffiti highlights, although it is hard not to see them.  We went to Victoria Park, the highest natural peak in Berlin (at 60 m), which was lovely, but went to the hotel when Allison went to class to do some washing, sort out the internet and rest.

Tuesday 12 June 2012:
We went with Allison to the Australian Embassy to get a new passport, then after breakfast, went up the Berlin TV tower.

Checkpoint Charlie and museum from before.

View from TV Tower.

In the afternoon after Ally had gone to class, we went to Museum Island and got a three day pass to see the 5 museums.  this is the Old National Gallery, featuring an exhibit on Frederick the Great.

After this we looked at the Typography of Terror, and outdoor display of the rise of the Nazi's.  After dinner we went to a bar and listened to some jazz with some friends of Allison's.

Wednesday 13 June 2012:  This is inside the Berliner Dome, the cathedral.  Magnificent.

   The Jewish Synagogue.

 
A view of Tacheles, a favourite of Allison's, where many artists have studios.

Lunch at Princess Cheesecake with Jay who was leaving for England the next day.

When Ally went to class, we went to the Boda Museum and the Pergamon Museum and below is the Pergamon Altar.

The Ishtar Gates, made of tiles, which I think was my favourite part of any of the museums.  The photo does not do the colour justice.

A view of the Berliner Dome.  Great views from the dome.

Had Thai for dinner - again, very hard to find German food.  After this Ally and Marc escorted me to the hostel and they went off to watch Germany play in the Euro Cup and walked around Tiergarten.

Thursday 14 June 2012:
After bagels for Breakfast, we went to the Reichstag and walked up the spiral walkway to the top of the dome.  It had a great audio guide.

The mirrors reflect light into the Plenary Chamber below and the funnel lets out hot air.

We listened to an organ recital in the church in this square. The French and German domes are here.

We had Bratwurst for lunch, which was really good.  Notice the vendor carries his bbq strapped around him.

In the Neue Museum we saw these wonderful hieroglyphics on Egyptian tombs and Nefertiti's bust.  (No photo's allowed.

Room 77 for dinner and apparently the best burgers in town.  The "Plump and Juicy Boys" played and were very enjoyable.  Marc went to Ally's place and did the Dad thing (fixing the bike).

Friday 15 June 2012:  Had a lovely long wander after breakfast.

found our way to a beer bar by the river and had a cool beverage.

Farewell to Ally in the Ubahn before class.  Collected luggage and caught a taxi to Tegal Airport.  A few hours at Heathrow, then off home.  Thanks Ian for minding the car and picking us up.  Had a great week with Ally in Berlin.

Week 3; Newnham, Gloucestershire.

Week 3; Newnham, Gloucestershire.

On late Friday afternoon we arrived in Newnham to be met by Bev and Phil, who are now good friends after their two visits to us on the coast.  They had made a few changes to their lovely home since we were there two years ago.  We also went down to the church to peruse the 50's exhibition raised for the Queen's Jubilee.  It was fabulous, ranging from books to kitchenalia, and had the coronation playing on a large screen.

Saturday 2 June 2012:  After a lovely breakfast served on Bev's lovely china, we set off for Hay-on-Wye to the world famous literature festival.  Hay is filled with beautiful second hand books and antique shops and is a mecca for book enthusiasts.  Here is a beautiful book store, with Bev looking around.

As you can see below, it was a bit chilly!

This flower stall was fabulous and doing a roaring business.

A lovely touch outside a shop in Hay.

On our way home we had dinner at this lovely pub.

Steak and Ale pie!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!

On Sunday we watched the River Pageant on TV, then some friends of Bev and Phil's came to dinner.  Best sausages I have ever tasted.  Unlike anything we get in Australia.  Utterly superb.

Monday 4 June 2012:  Two other couples came to join us for Pimms and a light lunch before the street fare at 2pm.  It was rather cold, but we soldiered on.  Phil's paintings were on display in the village hall along with other's, but his really were up there with the best.

Following this, we drove to Upton-on-Severn and had a look around the town, before moving on to Tewkesbury.  We had afternoon tea (with scones of course), then went on to dinner at a pub.  Afterwards we went to the Roses Theatre to watch the Jubilee Concert on the big screen there.  Despite some of the big names being somewhat beyond their prime, it was a great experience.

Tuesday 5 June:  Stephen E J Holmes's birthday.  We drove to Gloucester where Marc had a swim and I looked around the shops.  From there we drove to Cheltenham, a beautiful city full of Georgian buildings and elegant streetscapes.  We had lunch at Tiffens cafe and looked around the up-market shops.

Wednesday 6 June 2012: We drove to Cirencester, which is south of Gloucester to see the Corinium Museum from 3500BC to Saxon times.  It was very interesting and the cafe was exceptional.  We went back to Cheltenham to check out some more shops and returned to Newnham.  We then went out to the Queen's Head at Longford for dinner.  Another great pub.

Thursday 7 June 2012:  We got up a little earlier than usual and drove to Northam, near Bidewell in Devon.  It took us about 2 and a half hours.  We met up with Hannah and Chris who are coming to visit us in October 2012, then we are spending a month there in 2014!.  We had a great time with them and are sure we will get on famously!

We returned to Newnham where Bev and Phil's daughter had arrived.  We met Hannah, Grant, Olivia and Grace and had a delightful meal together.  Now we have met all the family!

Friday 8 June 2012:  We got up early and after farewelling Bev and Phil, were on our way at 6:40am.  We really enjoying our stay.  Fabulous as always!

We arrived well ahead of our flight, and eventually found it was delayed for an hour and a half.  We had a good second (English) breakfast, and are glad we did with all the delays.  We spent the time catching up with Words With Friends, and finally took off for Berlin where we were met by an very excited Allison!!!

Norwich

Norwich: Week 2

We arrived in Norwich on Friday evening to be met by Kevin.  Linda had not yet returned from school. When she arrived home we went out for a meal at a local pub, The Trafford Arms and found we have a bit in common!  The house is a lovely Victorian terrace with a delightful courtyard garden.

Sat 26 May 2012:  The following morning Kevin took us on an extensive walking tour of the city of Norwich (which rhymes with porridge).  It was fantastic to hear from one born and bred there about the buildings and history.  A particularly good, huge old wares shop called Looses was viewed. We saw part of the cathedral, and had morning tea where Linda caught up with us.  I went into an antique shop on Elm Hill that I had been into two years previously, and the lady recognised me.  I don't think they get many Australians there.  We continued walking along the river and returned to have late lunch, where Linda and Kevin returned home and we continued to walk about the city.  We all ate at an Italian restaurant that night.

Linda and I walking by the river.

Sunday 27 May 2012:

What excitement!  We got to get up early and go to the local car boot sale with Linda as Kevin was unwell.
A HUGE lot of stalls and many unusual and inexpensive bargains to be had!  What a shame about weight restrictions!  And it is also open on Wednesdays!

In the afternoon we headed for Wells-next-the-sea, stopping at a picturesque village called Holt for lunch.  We could not get a meal at Marc's preferred pub (the one with the Monarco Grand Prix on the big screen), so went to another and had a really, really good roast lunch.  Marc is such a gentleman; on the way back to the car he popped his head back into the first pub to thank the publican for his advice on lunch, and just happened to see the end of the Grand Prix, with Mark Webber winning!

Here is Marc on the beach at Wells-next-the-sea.  It was mildly warm and the actual sea was a very long way away.  It must have been a kilometre away as it was low tide.

Marc had a swim in Norwich at the leisure centre, and no dinner because of the huge roast!

Monday 28 May 2012:  Drove towards the Norfolk Broads, which are stretches of canals with larger open waterways, known for its birdlife.  On the way we stopped at Cottishill, a lovely village where we stopped for a walk around the village.  We saw this shop, selling almost exclusively, shipwreck china.  It was amazing to see so much stuff well displayed.  I think I want to do this at home! (Groan from Marc).

The village has a church with a thatched roof which is very unusual.  We had a lovely lunch with Victoria Sponge cake and scone and Coronation chicken sandwich!

We got to Horning which is very pretty and saw this restaurant.  Lots of lovely houses.

We took a boat ride along the Broads and took advantage of the bar on board.  There were many lovely homes along the way and the captain pointed out all the birdlife.

These are some typical yachts sailing along.  From there we drove to Great Yarmouth, which is a holiday city and looked at the magnificent Victorian buildings along the Esplanade.  On our return, we walked to a pub called the Unthank Arms for a nice, but expensive dinner.

Tuesday 29 May 2012:  Today Kevin took us to visit Di and Derek.  Di is joining Linda and Kevin on their three month trip next year.  Derek and Di live in a 400 year old house at Great Moulton, about half an hour from Norwich.  Di made us an amazing lunch with home made pate, locally smoked salmon with a great array of salads.  Dessert was a home made chocolate roulade!  Afterwards, we toured the magnificent and extensive gardens and vegetable patch (well, hardly a patch).  Di collects Doulton Blue Norfolk, as do I, and we also toured her collection!  No dinner again as lunch was too plentiful!  Di very kindly sent leftovers home for Linda who had been at work.

Wed 30 May 2012:  Got up early for the car boot sale.  Set off for Southwold, a lovely village just into Suffolk and by the sea.  We had lunch just near a small pond.  It was a very grey day and the sea was very rough, so no sunning ourselves on the beach.  The beach huts were a riot of colour and stretched for a considerable distance.  We walked along the Esplanade by the beach and the sea mist made the sea invisible.

We viewed the Fisherman's Museum, then walked in the village.  It was delightful, and it was lovely to see all the shops with bunting up and displays for the forthcoming Jubilee celebrations.  Everywhere we have been we have seen this.  A great show of patriotism.

We went back to the Trafford Arms for dinner.  A good choice.

Thursday 31 May 2012:  Went to visit the Dragon House (above), which we had walked past on our tour with Kevin, and spent quite a bit of time there.  It was built in about the 1400's by a merchant, to showcase his wares.  It was very interesting and amazing to think it has survived.  Following this, we drove to the Sainsbury Centre to look at the exhibition there and were privy to and Art Nouveau pieces of Galle, Tiffany and Lalique, furniture by Mackintosh.  Another section had many paintings by Frances Bacon, a Picasso sketch and a book co - illustrated by Captain Cook.  As it was raining by this time, Marc had another swim as we were just near the pool.  On our arrival back at the house, we went to a Tapas Bar with Linda and Kevin for dinner as it was our last night.

Friday 1 June:  Allison's birthday!  Set off for Newnham in Gloucester.  Traffic at a standstill near Thetford and finally pulled in to Bedford for lunch.  Went through a village on the way and saw a house being thatched!  Could not find the centre of town, but did find a cafe to have lunch.  Had some fabulous Fig, almond and choc cake.  (I have looked it up on the net and have made it twice so far - a big culinary success!)

Made it to Bev and Phil's home about 4pm.  Had a great week in Norwich and really look forward to Linda, Kevin and Di visiting in February next year.

First week in England

The South

We arrived at Heathrow at 5:30am, Sunday 20 May 2012,  to a very cold day, collected our hire car and hit the road.  It took us a while to work out which direction but eventually we headed on to the M25 towards east Sussex.  "That's not East Sussex", I hear you say, and you would be right.  As we could not work out where in particular we were going, we decided to head for Brighton as you see in the following photos. (It was on the list).  After going past a great many mini minors, we realised the 26th Annual London to Brighton Mini Marathon (Rally) was on, and we saw them frequently during the day.

We got to Brighton, parked the car and took a walk.  The Pier was not open yet as it was only 9am, so we walked through the Lanes to the Information Bureau to work out when things were open. As we were a bit early, we decided to head for a car boot fair up on the hill at the racecourse (so Lesley could get her first fix).  As it was so cold and windy, Marc bought a jacket!!!

Anyway, back to the city centre we went, walking past all the beautiful Georgian buildings to the Pier. We did not know there was a Brighton Eye.

We were not impressed by all the gambling machines in the first part of the pier, and the same with the fish and chips and mushy peas for lunch (very greasy, but the peas were good).

Some Morris dancers in the Lanes.

Following this we visited the Royal Pavilion which is so over the top and amazing.  Indian on the outside and Chinese on the inside.

This knitted version was in the window of a coffee shop.  Too cute!

We drove along the coast to the west towards Littlehampton and found this converted barn B&B.  It was very well done with thatched outbuildings and lovely garden.  The lady Pauline, has visited Australia several times and had even been to Batemans Bay!  She stated she never turns Australians away and we talked with her for an hour after breakfast.

Pauline suggested we visit Arundal Castle which was nearby, but unfortunately it was closed on Mondays.  We walked around the village and saw some good antique shops, much to Marc's delight.

From Arundal we drove to Chichester and went to the Weald Open Air museum at Singleton, which had many old buildings from Sussex reconstructed.  these were from 1400's to 1850's.

We had a lot of trouble finding a B&B, but found this one at Laurent, Flint Cottage B&B.  We had a really good meal at a gastro pub Earl of March down the road.  Here is Marc enjoying his full English breakfast the next morning.  I had kippers which are still repeating on me!

On Tuesday we headed for Portsmouth and got the ferry to Isle of Wight.  Here am I in the gardens of Osborne House, where Queen Victoria died.  Her and Albert' apartments had twin gates which locked everyone out at night!

We had a cream tea at Ryde, then we stayed the night at the Carlton Hotel at Sandgate, where Marc tried his hand at swimming the English Channel.  Well, he managed to stay in for all of ten seconds!  It was way too cold.

We drove around to a lovely village called Shanklin for an unusual Spanish meal - but all we could find open and drove back to the hotel, where we were the youngest there.  In the morning we negotiated the antiquated plumbing and headed off for a drive around the Isle, to Vetnor.  The countryside was gorgeous and there were lots of beautiful thatched cottages.  Here is Marc at Carisbrook Castle, almost in the centre of the island.  It had a donkey run mill wheel which we saw in action.

After this we continued around the island, spent a nano second in Cowes, then headed for the ferry which we missed.  They let us on the next one half an hour later though.

We drove through Winchester looking for somewhere to stay and eventually found one at Firsdown.  Had a lovely meals at the Silver Plough.  They had a seat with a plaque to say that this was Sir Edward Heath's favourite seat in the pub.

The Silver Plough (above) with lots of things hanging from the beams.  In the morning we took a walk around Salisbury and saw the Cathedral.

Then on the Stonehenge.  Need I say more?

A visit to Blenheim Palace in the afternoon, then on to Milton Keanes to stay at a B&B nearby.

Friday 25 May 2012. After the usual substantial brekky, we arrived at Bletchley Park at around 9:30.  We took a tour of the old house and various outbuildings.

At the end of the tour we were ushered into the building which housed Collossus the first computer.  This is a copy which was built by people who worked on the first one.  They happened to find they had plans and all the bits in their sheds, against orders.  There was also info on Alan Turing and a very large collection of Churchill memorabilia, owned by one couple.

We reluctantly left at 3:30, not having quite seen everything.  The complex was so interesting and would recommend a visit.

Then, on to Norfolk to meet Kevin and Linda in Norwich.