Birthday Present Number 1 - Savour School

I was very lucky for my birthday - everyone was very generous in donating towards some cooking courses. I have been wanting to do a chocolate making or petit fours course for a while, and now I have enough to do both - well sort of.

Today I went to a variety day at Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School in Brunswick. The day started a bit after 9am, with getting in to groups and preparing the ingredients for a gateaux, a tart and some chocolates.

The first thing we started with was the bits and pieces to make up a white chocolate gateaux. Given the number of things needed, some items were made by each group, and others were made once for the entire group. It was a little disappointing not to be doing it all myself, but I guess to get through everything, some shortcuts need to be taken (even with only 10 in the group). After making all the bits for this (Coconut Dacquoise, White Chocolate cream - our groups was by far the best!, Passionfruit Cream and white chocolate glaze), we moved on to item number two - Raspberry Hazelnut Tart.

Again, some items were done as a group and others were done once for the whole group. We started this with Breton Shortbread, and Raspberry Jellied Coulis, which had to be fozen.

Following this busy morning, we started on the chocolate making, with the first layer of chocolate in the mould. Then it was finally time for lunch.

After lunch, we only had a couple of hours, so it was time for the final cooking - Vanilla Ganache and Caramel Filling for the chocolates, and then to put our cakes etc together.

Following making the fillings, it was on with putting together the white chocolate gateaux, with the coconut dacquoise in the bottom of the ring, followed by a layer of the white chocolate cream. This is then brushed up the sides of the ring, to create the 'sides' of the gateaux. Next goes the passionfruit cream (which has been frozen)and its all topped off with more white chocolate cream. Once this is done, its into the freezer for an hour or so (more if its needed).

Next up was the decorations for the top of the gateaux and tart. Paul, our instructor, did these, while explaining different techniques and ideas for decorations. After this, it was on with the custard and hazelnut cream for the raspberry hazelnut tart. As this was all taking a bit of time, so Pauls lovely assistant finished off the chocolates, which again was disappointing not to get to do this.

When this was all done, we could finish off the gateaux, with the white chocolate glaze and decorations. Finally, it was time to put the coulis on the shortbread, pipe on the hazelnut cream and decorate.

We ended up with some fabulous looking treats to take home.

Alisons Birthday - the rest of the weekend

Saturday was a busy day. Unfortunately Derrick had a cold, and John had the flu, so we left them to have a restful morning while the rest of us headed to Chadstone and Koko Black. Koko Black has some wonderful chocolate goodies!

After a relaxing morning, we headed home in time for Sandra's arrival, and 'high tea'. We had cucumber sandwiches, ham and lettuce sandwiches, freshly baked scones with jam and cream, danish and all sorts of yummy things! It was all very filling, and really kept us going till well past dinner (which was left overs with hot chips!).

Sunday morning saw a hive of activity, with the barbeque being cleaned and tables brought in and set, ready for the rest of the rels (and some friends) over for bbq brunch. It was another great day, with lots of chatter and catching up. We finished around lunchtime with another delicious cake, this time cooked by Marylyn - a rich chocolate mud cake with chocolate curls.

We followed up with a lazy Sunday afternoon, taking the dogs to the park, and an early night - which was just as well as I had to go to a work conference for two days following, leaving Andrew with the job of cleaning up after the weekend!

Alisons Birthday

It was the catalyst for the holiday, and yet it still seemed so far away - Alison's 30th Birthday finally arrived!

Unfortunately, its a Friday, which means work - but not for the full day. Thank goodness, I got to go home at lunchtime, even if I had to clean the house and get things ready for a house full of visitors for the weekend. And when I say a house full, I mean it!

Had only finished lunch and started on the cleaning when Mum and Derrick arrived. Mum and I went to pick up a package that the courier couldnt deliver the previous day (as no-one was home), while Derrick unpacked the car and Andrew kept on with the cleaning.

Not long after this, Marylyn, Tim and the girls arrived. Just got them settled in and Mum and I were off again - this time into the city to pick up Auntie Lorraine. It was so great that she could come over, especially having been over just a few weeks before.

By the time we got home again, dinner was almost ready and Andrews Mum and Dad had arrived, along with David and Carolyn! Dinner was great - Marylyn and Mum had organised salmon pasta with birthday cake for dessert - a baked cheesecake - both were very yummy!

It was a full on day, but there was more to come for the rest of the weekend....

Home Again

Well, after another long flight, this time from LA to Auckland, we were almost home. We had an hour in Auckland to wander around the airport - it was a good way to break up a long journey, but soon enough it was back on the plane and onwards home to Melbourne. We have had such a great time on holiday it is a bit strange being home!

We arrived home at 10:30am, and after unpacking our bags and doing some supermarket shopping had a couple of hours sleep (we did set the alarm so we would only sleep for an hour, but it helps if you turn it on!) and were woken about 8:30pm by the phone ringing (thanks Marylyn).

Hope everyone has enjoyed reading our blog entries. Now we are planning for the next trip - even Andrew is looking forward to the next one!

Longest day ever!

Today is Friday the 13th, and as I sit and write this the day has gone for over 27 hours so far, and its only 7pm! This morning we were up early to make the most of our last few hours in London. After packing the bags, we checked out and headed to Harrods for breakfast – we missed the afternoon tea, so breakfast was substituted instead. To be honest, we originally intended to go to the bakery and get some goodies and a drink then wander down to do some shopping, but although the bakery was open, nothing to drink, so we found the Patisserie and had a wonderful breakfast of rolls and pastries.

After some shopping and photos, we wandered back across Kensington Park, which was still busy with joggers and cyclists, and on recommendation, bought some sandwiches to eat on the plane. The first leg was with American Airlines, and we had been told by a few people that the food was very ordinary and that they recommended to BYO food! We arrived at the airport in plenty of time – the tube is great, even with cancelled services!

After wandering around and finishing our shopping (still had a few pounds left, we just had to get rid of!), it was time to board the plane. We went to the gate, and were randomly selected to have our bags searched. Fortunately, it didn’t take long and soon enough we were on the plane and on our way home. This leg was 10 hours – the short leg – and we spent our time reading, listening to our ipods and watching the movies. Unfortunately, we have now finished our books, and with an 18 hour flight, the deck of cards might come out! We were hoping to purchase a new book or two at the airport, and were expecting, like all other airports we have been to, that after security control, we would be able to wander around the shops. We were wrong! There are only 4 shops, all of which are tiny and none sell books! Oh well, we will have to fill our time with the in-flight magazine – and some sleep! Also, we don’t have any US dollars, so even buying a bottle of water is out of the question, unless we want to pay by VISA…

West end show

Today was our last full day in the UK, and we wanted to make the most of it. We started with a quick breakfast near the hotel and then made our way via the tube and DLR (Docklands Light Rail) to Greenwich. We started by finding the meridian line with our GPS, which indicated it was a little to the east of the site where the line is at the Royal Observatory. We had a quick look through the museum there and at the exhibits there. They were really very interesting and well presented.

From Greenwich we made our way to Harrods for lunch. We hoped to have something similar to High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, but they were not starting that service until later than we could wait. Instead we made our way to the Chocolate Bar (formerly Max Brenner) and had a very healthy Chocolate Fondue! It was delicious.

After lunch we headed to Leicester Square and the Half-Tix office to see if we could catch a show tonight. It took a while to decide from the many available shows but we eventually decided to see Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. It was full price (+2.50 GBP service charge) so we walked to the box office, which was not far away, and purchased the tickets there.

Earlier in the day we had arranged to see Georgia and her partner Miles, friends from Bright. We made our way via Covent Garden, and the street performers, back to Leicester Square where we met at the Half-Tix office. We headed to the National Portrait Museum where we had tea and discussed their recent move to the UK, which was all very exciting. They are certainly set for lots of adventures if they get to go to half the places they plan.

Evening approached quickly, so we took the time to wander through St James Park, and then back to Leicester Square for a quick pizza before the show. The theatre and the show were great – its easy to see why it has been running for so long (since 1951, and in St Martins Theatre since 1974) – such a good story. The ending was … well if you haven’t seen it you’ll have to go and see for yourself.

(Andrew)

Visiting Family

We had a lovely sleep in this morning, with the time difference from Denmark; it felt like it was an hour later! Today we were heading to see my aunty Val, my father’s sister. She lives in Twickenham neat the rugby stadium. Before we headed off we grabbed a quick breakfast in a café up the road from our accommodation, using their wireless Internet to check emails etc.

After breakfast we arranged our tube tickets and then set off from Notting Hill Gate to Waterloo where we caught a train to Twickenham. The trip was quite quick, but we were later than expected. This turned out to be ok as Val had trouble finding a park and arrived a few minutes after us. It was quite strange meeting someone you don’t know for the first time. What do they look like, will they recognise you, etc.

Once Val arrived we headed back to her car then drove past the stadium to her flat in Twickenham. We chatted and looked over some of the photos that we had brought with us before heading to a garden centre that served good food nearby.

From lunch we headed on a tour of the houses that Val and/or my father had lived in at various stages of their childhood. We started at Inveresk Gardens, then on to Craven Close, and lastly to Cavendish Avenue. It was really great to see these places, and to have Val explain what she recalled of them. This took most of the rest of the afternoon, so we said goodbye to Val and headed back to London.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Waterloo and had a “flight” on the London Eye. It was quite fascinating to see the city from that height. It was quite a quick flight, but I think just the right amount of time as the pods are quite small, and there is only so much you can really see from them. We then had a quick walk through Kensington gardens to finish off the day.

(Andrew)

Last day in Denmark

Up early this morning to say goodbye to Ela before she left for work, and make sure everything was packed so we could head out with Robert. We dropped our bags off at Robert’s office, before heading over to Christiania. We took the train near Robert’s office to the Metro station that linked to Christiania. The Metro is an automated underground railway, so you can sit right up the front and look down the track as the train is moving along. We didn’t get front row seats, but were only a few from the front.

Christiania was very different from the rest of Copenhagen. The buildings and fences are covered in graffiti, people sitting around in the street smoking, and everything looked a little run down. It was quite an interesting walk, though you aren’t allowed to take photos so we don’t have much to show for it.

From Christiania we walked to the Christenborg Cathedral (cant remember the real name). You can climb the spire here that has 430 steps, the last 100ish of which wind round the outside. The stairs were tight and two way making for some interesting climbing. You could see many of the sights we had visited from the top.

After climbing the spire we made our way back to Robert’s office for another Sharwarma. It was hotter than I remembered, but great all the same. From lunch we had a quick walk around in the parks near the central square before heading to the airport via train. It was sad saying goodbye to Robert and Ela as we had such a great time.

We arrived in Gatwick airport a little ahead of the schedule we printed, and caught the Gatwick Express to Victoria station where we caught the underground to Notting Hill Gate. After checking in and freshening up we headed out for a quick bite to eat from a nearby pub. Only a few days now before we fly back home.

(Andrew)

Around Copenhagen

We woke up to another lovely morning, and soon headed out to the Rosenborg Palace – home of the Danish Crown Jewels. The palace was very small, and most of the rooms are being renovated, so we could only see about 3 rooms of the palace (no discount on the ticket though), so we quickly moved on to the jewels themselves. They are quite exquisite. We were amazed at the difference in presentation and security of these compared to Scotland and England. We could take as many photos as we liked, there didn’t appear to be the big vault doors or anything!

From here we walked down to Amalienborg Palace, where the Queen currently lives (the flag was flying so she was home!), ready to watch the changing of the guard. Again, much less pomp and ceremony than at Buckingham Palace. We decided to have a look in Amalienborg Palace, and managed to convince the ticket sellers to sell us the ‘combined ticket’ even though we had already bought the Rosenborg ticket – so it only cost an extra kr30 instead of kr100 – good discount!

The Amalienborg Palace has a display of the studies of 5 former kings, along with a collection of dresses from the late Queen Louise (I think), the current Queens mother. It was interesting to see, but we were glad we got the discount!

From here we wandered back to Stroget to meet Robert for lunch, and also meet his business partner,Arek. After lunch, we did some shopping, and then headed for a canal cruise. It was lovely cruising the harbour and canals for an hour in the sunshine. Unfortunately, Alison got a bit burnt, but it was good nonetheless.

After the cruise, we thought we had better see the Little Mermaid – it is such a touristy thing to do in Copenhagen! So off we went, and walked along the water to the mermaid. She was quite popular, and it took a little while to get a good photo, but eventually we did. It was lovely sitting out in the sunshine relaxing while we were waiting.

Eventually, we wandered back to the centre of town, and took the bus back to Robert & Ela’s, but not before walking almost in a circle. We thought we had seen a bus stop earlier in the day, that wasn’t too far away. Unfortunately it was a bit further than we thought and we ended up walking about 3 times as far as we needed to, only to see it leave the bus stop about 100m ahead of us! So we ended up walking back into the centre of town and had very sore feet and legs.

But we weren’t to have too much of a rest! After dinner, Ela and Robert took us on a bike ride to a nearby café. They couldn’t let us leave Denmark without riding somewhere, and it was a lovely evening. Luckily it wasn’t too far, but was a great way to see a bit more of the city. Im sure if we were there longer, we would have ridden a lot further!

(Alison)

Danish Castles and Adventure Parks

This morning we had another sleep in, before a relaxing breakfast and off to the Kronborg Castle (also known as Hamlet Castle). The castle was built by Christian IV, as were many other palaces and castles in Denmark. The castle is known as Hamlet Castle, as the legend of Hamlet, later made famous by Shakespeare, was based on a prince and set in the castle. We toured through the chapel, state rooms and casemates, which were very different from the castles we had seen in UK. Much less ostentatious.

From here we went to Hillerod and tasted another ‘Danish’ meal – pizza sandwich. It is basically a thin pizza base, with cheese and shaved meat (like kebab meat), cooked, then salad added and the whole thing folded in half – sounds strange, but it was delicious! After lunch, we wandered around the gardens of Hillerod Castle. The gardens are beautiful, and it was such a lovely afternoon to be outside, although quite windy.

As it was such a lovely day, we thought it was a good opportunity to visit Tivoli for a drink and to listen to some jazz. The Copenhagen Jazz Festival started today, and there were various bands playing at Tivoli. Tivoli is an amusement park, with lots of thrilling rides, amusement arcades, restaurants etc. We had a lovely time listening to the music, before trying our luck at some of the amusements – Andrew proved better than everyone else, and so we decided to grab something to eat and continue to listen to the jazz while we waited for the Illuminations show! The show is a sound, light and water show in a pond in the park. It was lovely, but soon it was time to head home to bed.

(Alison)

Relaxing Saturday

After a lovely sleep in this morning, we went for a walk around the area in which we are staying. Robert had suggested to walk to the end of the street and walk around the cemetery as ‘Its really lovely, lots of nice flowers…’. We thought this was a little strange but went there anyway, and he was right! The cemetery is more like a park with gravestones, and talking to Ela later, she was saying that people will go and sit on the grass to read etc, basically treating it like a park! It was lovely to be out in the fresh air, without raincoats and umbrellas, and most of all, without getting wet.

After walking around the cemetery, and then the nearby lake, we headed back to Robert & Ela’s for a yummy brunch of fresh bread, ham, cheese, pickled herring, curried pickled herring, honey etc. Very much the ‘continental breakfast’. We tried the herring – both varieties – and were surprised at how sweet the meat was. It didn’t taste very fishy at all. Oh, and Danish ham really is the best ham we have ever tasted.

In the afternoon, Robert had to get some work done, so Ela, Andrew and Alison headed to Roskilde to see the Viking ship museum. Roskilde is about 30km from Copenhagen, so it didn’t take long to get there. The museum complex is quite large, with archaeology rooms, ship building, blacksmith etc actually working to learn more about Viking ship building. They have built a number of boats there, using authentic tools partly to learn about how the tools were used, and partly to learn how the ships were actually built.

They also have 5 Viking boats all found in the harbour of Roskilde. They believe they were sunk to block a sailing channel, as protection from other Vikings, but the find was very unusual, and provided a lot of information about the people and happenings of the period. The ships are a large cargo ship built in Norway, a badly built small war ship built using materials from other boats, a large war ship from Dublin, a fishing boat built locally and a small cargo ship also built locally. We had a guided tour through this part of the museum, which was great – lots of interesting information.

The museum has also recently launched a replica of the large war ship, which is currently on its way to Dublin with a 65 person crew, to see how the Vikings would have sailed, what they would have experienced etc. One of the things they want to find out is how they slept as there is no evidence of having a cabin of any sort on any of the ships.

In the evening we visited another friend of Robert and Elas for a barbeque. This time, it was more of a dinner party with lots of lively discussion about Europe, politics, education etc. It is really interesting to hear about differences in policy of government around the world, and the role of the European Union from real people, not the media. We had a great time

You will never guess what happened today…

We woke up this morning without the sound of rain – amazing! After breakfast, we headed down to the bus stop ourselves, and wandered into the Planetarium. To get in to the Planetarium, you need to buy a ticket to an Imax movie. We missed an English speaking movie by 5 minutes. But it was starting to rain, so we thought we would buy a ticket to the next movie, and have a look around. We had 2 hours to fill, and so looked around for a while, then watched 2 3D movies. The first one was a roller coaster ride, which was a lot of fun, and the second one was a jungle movie – the animals came very close! Each movie was only a couple of minutes long.

Eventually, it was time to go in to Imax and watch Wild Safari. We haven’t been to Imax before, so it was good to see how it all worked, they started with a look at the stars over Denmark, then into the movie. There was a lot of driving around, which after a while got a bit much (a few people had to leave the theatre throughout the movie!). The Imax theatre is pretty cool though – so big.

From here we headed back to the square, and had a hot dog for lunch, before heading to the museum. The Danish Museum has a great exhibition on the history of Denmark, which made the city much more interesting. Before long, though, we were heading back to Robert & Ela’s and from there, we all headed out to some friends of Robert & Ela’s for a barbeque. It was similar to an Australian barbeque (steak and sausages cooked on the Weber, people standing around the garden chatting etc), so this was familiar, and luckily, there were people there from all over the place, so everyone was speaking English!

We had a great time, finishing the night with music and dancing, before heading home in the early hours...

(Alison)

Guess what – its raining!

Waking up to rain has been a daily occurance on this holiday, and Copenhagen was no different. After the lovely evening yesterday, the rain has come tumbling down this morning. The only difference between rain here and in the UK is that the rain here is more constant (didn’t stop at all) but not as heavy.

Robert took us in to the centre of Copenhagen, showing us the public transport system. Robert and Ela have provided bikes for us to peddle our way around Copenhagen, but the rain makes the bus a much more attractive offer! After visiting Roberts office (very nice, in the middle of the city, great views, great space!), we wandered down Stroget, the main shopping street. We were amazed that the shops were selling the same sorts of summer clothes as in Australia – it is so cold here! Quite a few people were wearing gumboots, although they are much more stylish than we had seen in Australia, and by the end of the day, Alison was wanting a pair herself…

Half way down Stroget, we saw the Royal Copenhagen shop, which also has a museum. The store is beautifully presented, and items in the museum were very ornate. They have a couple of people there actually working on pieces. Everything is hand painted, and very expensive. But with customers like Elton John, Imelda Marcos, and the Danish Royal Family, I guess don’t have to cater for everyone!

We continued our way down the end of the street, before returning to Roberts office, so he could show us the only thing he missed about Copenhagen when he was in Australia – Shawarma. A Shawarma is much like a souvlaki, but served in a small pita bread, rather than wrapped. The flavour is also different, with the lamb itself having more flavour. It was delicious.

After lunch, we wound our way through the streets and down to the Royal Library. On the way we saw Christiansborg Palace Church which is used by the Royal Danish Music Conservatory, and for burials in the Royal family. It was a beautiful building, much less ostentatious than the English cathedrals.

The Library is great (particularly with it being so wet), they have built quite a modern building, but incorporated the old library in a tasteful way. There are great facilities – lots of computers, plenty of space in the reading rooms etc, and architecturally, it is really interesting. We spent a bit of time wandering around, and enjoyed sitting at the café to have a hot drink before braving the rain again.

We headed back to Roberts office, and were dripping wet by the time we got there. We had enough time to dry out a little before Ela picked us all up for a quiet evening at home.

(Alison)

Copenhagen

This morning it was up early for the big drive to Gatwick airport and the flight to Denmark. We headed out with plenty of time to spare, to cater for traffic in London and the additional traffic around Gatwick following the terrorist threats and additional security that has been put in place. So, of course, we had no traffic problems, and the trip into the airport was smooth. So we were there about 1.5 hours earlier than we needed to be!

After checking in, the flight was uneventful, although we were a little concerned when 10 minutes after we were supposed to be at the gate, we still didn’t know which gate we were supposed to be at! There is little space to wait at the gate, so I think they leave it till the last minute to provide the information, then make announcements to urgently get to the gate, and board the plane quite quickly!

Copenhagen airport is really little, but clean and modern (particularly after Gatwick!). Passport control was a matter of waiting for 5 minutes then flashing the passport (for EU residents) or a quick look and stamp of passports for non EU, (ie Alison). We are staying with friends in Copenhagen, and Robert was there to meet us at the airport, which was great. Their house is in a lovely quiet area, and has really large rooms (although the bathroom and kitchen are tiny!). The backyard was also lovely, and we were able to spend a lovely evening outside, as it was so sunny!

(Alison)

One more castle

Today was our last day of driving around the UK sightseeing. We had just a single sight on our list, Warwick Castle. The castle was quite large and there were many different exhibits to visit within its buildings. The most interesting part of the castle was the many shows that run at different times outside the castle itself.

We were quite lucky to catch the first show that started just inside the gate as we entered. It was called Warwick Bowman and talked about the history of the English Longbow with a short demonstration where they shot at a shield, then at a “wand” (a one inch stick that stuck out from the target). Then they shot at a rubber duck that they hung down from the “wand”. The show was interesting, and very entertaining.

Following the archery demonstration we walked along around the castle and through the old mill and engine room. The next event of the day was the firing of the Trebuchet, so we wandered around the castle’s gardens, and looked at the birds of prey on their perches. The firing of the Trebuchet was great, though they couldn’t use the man powered winch due to the weather (in case you are wondering, yes it was raining).

After this we watched the start of the Winged Warriors show on falconry before heading into the castles buildings. There was quite a crowd in the castle, mostly school tours I think. The rooms were set out with mannequins dressed in period costume. This created a different atmosphere from the other castles we visited.

After Warwick Castle we had a quick lunch in Warwick itself before heading back and calling it a day. We finished off the day packing and weighing our bags, before we had a lovely dinner with Margaret and Ted.

Last big day in the UK

Looking through our list of things we wanted to see and do, there isn’t much left, which is lucky! We decided to head south, and take in the Avebury Stone Circle, Oxford and Blenheim Palace – our last ‘big day’ here.

We headed off early, in the hope the weather might fine up – and it did for a little while at least. We arrived in Avebury and although it was cool and cloudy, no rain (yay!). We had a bit of a look at the town (very confusing roads) and walked around the circle, which is cut in half by the town and main road. Half way around, it started raining, which was disappointing, as we wanted to spend a bit of time, but not to be.

Instead, we headed off towards Oxford. Along the way, we saw a sign to the Uffington White Horse, and thought we might as well take a look! So it was along some very skinny roads, and eventually made our way to a car park near the horse. It is quite impressive, but difficult to photograph, so when we saw the rain was coming, we headed back to the car and continued along to Oxford.

Oxford is a much more commercial place, with the university almost hidden amongst the shops. It is an industrial town that happens to have a university (rather than the University being the central focus, as it is in Cambridge). The buildings are beautiful, but unfortunately most were closed when we arrived! So after wandering around the town for a bit, we headed off to Blenheim Palace.

Blenheim is the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, and a huge estate! The house was impressive, with an ‘untold story’ of the history of the palace, and a tour through the state rooms. The gardens were also lovely, the rain had stopped, so we were able to spend some time to wandering around. It was a lovely day.

Nothing doing

A quiet day today, phone calls home this morning, and lunch out at the Red Lion (local pub) took up most of the day. The rain cleared for the afternoon, but Andrew was giving Margaret a computer lesson (we have set up her internet, email, VOIP phone etc while we have been here) so didn’t really venture outside as we should have. Margaret is going really well with the computer, and really underestimates her abilities. I think she will enjoy Google Earth and the other bits and pieces Andrew has taught her.

Not long now till we go home, although we are in Denmark for a week between now and then, so that will be good. Tomorrow its off to Oxford and Avebury, then Tuesday to Warwick Castle (last of the English Castles!) and home to pack. Increased terror threat in UK means an early start on Wednesday to get to Gatwick in plenty of time for any extra security measures in place.

Rainy Days are here again!

Another rainy morning this morning, but we had a lovely sleep in and got some washing done before heading out for a few hours in Bath. We wandered down to Bath late in the morning, and started at the Fashion Museum, which was good – its interesting how each period in fashion builds on and makes slight changes to previous periods.

It had stopped raining, so we spent some time wandering around the town, and wandered up to the Royal Crescent, and decided not to go in to the Georgian Terrace that is open, but head back towards town and to the Jane Austin museum. Unfortunately, this didn’t live up to the expectation (or the 6.50 entry fee).

We had decided already to have lunch here, and, although the museum was disappointing, the lunch was lovely!

It was raining when we came out of the museum, so we decided against walking along the river, and instead, headed back to Margaret & Ted’s for a quiet afternoon/evening.

(Alison)

Royalty and the ‘Upper Crust’

Alas, our run of good weather appeared over this morning, as it was drizzling when we got up. We decided to brave it and go for a walk anyway, to take some more photos of the sights Cambridge has to offer. The rain steadily got heavier, until we were almost back at the B&B, and the sun shone through – of course we were wet through by then!

The rest of the day was fine though (apart from one shower as soon as we got to Windsor, but that passed quickly), so we were able to spend lots of time at Windsor and the Windsor Castle in comfort. The Castle complex is a lot larger than we expected, although it does house a military troupe, as well as the state apartments, Queens private apartments and many offices. It is the Queens ‘home’ so our guide told us to keep an eye out for the flag to change some time in the afternoon, as she usually comes in late on a Friday afternoon to spend the weekend.

Although there were people wandering in and out of the private apartments, she didn’t arrive while we were there, so couldn’t say hello! We did tour around the dolls house – an amazing structure, complete with real china, real wine in the bottles, original paintings etc, and fully wired with electricity. Then went on to the State Apartments, which were much grander than any others we had seen, as expected I suppose. It was a beautiful day, so after spending quite a bit of time at the Castle, we headed across the river to Eton and Eton College.

Eton is a lovely little town, although you do get the feeling it is a bit snobby! Eton College had just finished for the Summer holidays, so there weren’t any students around – bit of a shame really, it would have been good to see them in their tails (yes, the uniform really is bow tie and tails with pin stripe trousers). The school is very proud of their history, and having taught many high ranking politicians, civil servants and royalty, its not really surprising. We didn’t get to see inside much of the school, it has expanded significantly, taking up a large number of the buildings at the far end of the main street and now educates around 1300 students a year – at 25000 pounds a student, they are not doing too badly. We did get to see the original school building, chapel and quadrangles though.

From here it was back to Margaret and Teds, Andrew got straight in to setting up their internet, the bits and pieces arrived while we were touring around, and soon enough it was off to bed.

(Alison)

Cambridge

This morning we started the day by going to the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Company, followed by Bloomers Original Bakewell Puddings. After our purchases, we headed out of town and meandered our way to Derby and the Royal Crown Derby China.

We had a really fascinating factory tour, showing us everything from pouring the moulds, to completing the gold edging. Seeing the plates ‘pressed’ through to the complete, fired product was really interesting (really, it was just great to see something other than a castle or house!). The products in the shop were lovely, but very expensive!

From here, we continued on to Cambridge, and arrived much earlier than we originally expected to. We had a lovely time wandering around the grounds of Kings College, then along to look at the other colleges. Unfortunately, most were closed, as it is graduation week, but we did get to see a procession for one of the colleges. Each student belongs to a college, as well as the University, and it looks like they graduate from both! It was very interesting to see how it worked.

We were in Cambridge at 5pm, so thought we would like up and stay for Evensong in the Kings College Chapel. It was a wonderful experience. The acoustics in the chapel are amazing! We were certainly glad we were able to experience it.

From here it was off to the B&B to book in. Booking on the internet, your not always sure of what you will get or where you will be. We found that the B&B was only about a mile from where we parked – right near the centre of town! So once settled in, we walked back to town for a yummy dinner at a Turkish restaurant, then wandered back again in time for the fireworks over some of the colleges graduating today. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the camera with us, so its up early for a walk tomorrow before breakfast.

(Alison)

Views around Castleton

Today we headed from York down to Bakewell where we will stay for one night before heading to Cambridge. The day was looking pretty stormy when we went for a walk, but there were only a few sprinkles during the day, quite surprising.

Our first stop of the day was Chesterfield, where we parked in the shopping centre and then walked around from there. The main attraction of Chesterfield is the church, or more specifically the church’s spire. Its not quite straight, well it’s not really straight at all. You could see it coming into town, and it does make quite a sight.

From Chesterfield we headed for the main attraction of the day Chatsworth House, another day, another house and garden to look through. We started with the garden, which was enormous. While it was all very impressive the maze was the most fun and took some time to get through. After a while exploring the gardens we looked to the house. We purchased an audio tour, and made our way in. The house had a large number of rooms open, and the audio tour covered just the right balance of history and details of the furniture etc. Overall Chatsworth was one of the better houses that we have visited.

After Chatsworth we headed for the hills, and the village of Eyam. When we arrived Eyam Hall was closed, but we had a look around the streets and read some of the history of the town. Including lovely places like Plague Cottages…

To end the days site seeing we went to Castleton, and walked from the town up to Peveril Castle. The hill was very steep, and we had a few stops on the way up, but it was all worth it for the view. The castle is a ruin and it wasn’t that interesting, but the views really were spectacular. From here it was back to Bakewell, and our B&B for the evening. Bakewell has 2 ‘Original Bakewell Tart’ companies, so we had to try it for dinner – it took a few goes to find a restaurant that was serving dinner, at a reasonable price, and had the tart for dessert, but we found one and it was yummy!

(Andrew)

York and surrounds

After a big sleep in this morning we headed out to wander the streets of York. We purchased our engagement ring here on our first trip in 2001, so thought it might be worth checking out the jewellery shop again! Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything we liked, that was within the price range… maybe next trip.

We headed out to Castle Howard, hoping it hadn’t been flooded out. It wasn’t, and we were able to spend quite a bit of time wandering around the castle grounds, because – amazingly, it wasn’t raining!!! It was cold, but not wet, so we were happy… The Castle has a lovely, manicured garden, with lots of statues, fountains etc to look at. The house tour was shorter than expected, as they are currently filming “Brideshead Revisited” – which was actually quite exciting.

From here, we wandered along to Harewood House, near Leeds. This was another large property, which was lovely to wander around. We spent lots of time at both properties today, I think because it was such fine weather. The house was very well presented, with the Earl of Harewood presenting the audio commentary, which gave it a personal touch. He was able to talk about the house and furnishings much more personally than other commentaries we have heard.

Following this, we headed to Otley, Shipley and Bradford, where Alison’s family is from. Alisons Great-Grandparents were from Otley, and spent time in Shipley, and Grandfather was born in Bradford. Quite an industrial area, the houses and streets looked comfortable and friendly.

We soon wandered back to York, to turn on the news and see more footage of the horrendous floods in Sheffield and surrounding areas. Roads have been cut, including the M1 motorway, and a reservoir wall is threatening to burst its banks – the surrounding town have been evacuated. Here in York, the waters are still rising, and driving around, there is water everywhere. Hopefully the next few days are clear, like today, so the water can wash out to sea before any more rain.

Heading South

A big travelling day today – Edinburgh to York, around 250 miles (400km). There were a few places we wanted to visit along the way, so we headed off early (and were caught up in the early morning school run!), and were soon on the motorway.

First stop was Berwick-upon-Tweed. Unusually, it was not raining, but given it is on the coast, it was VERY windy! And cold. So we didn’t stay long.

Next up was Alnwick Castle, which was Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies (although a lot of editing has been done). It was a lovely place (and still not raining), so we spent a bit of time wandering around the castle grounds, and went on a guided tour which pointed out the locations for Harry Potter, as well as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner), and Black Adder (the opening scene of Rowan Atkinson chasing the horse is down by the river next to the castle). The castle gateway is used in all of these movies!

Not long after we left Alnwick castle, it started raining (it couldn’t last all day!), but we thought Fountains abbey and Water Garden was going to be worth getting wet for, so we headed there anyway. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the power had been cut due to flooding, and most of the water garden paths were, in fact, under water (they had flooded the week before, water had gone down, everything cleaned up, and now its all flooded again). So they had closed until further notice. It was very disappointing.

Given the impending flooding, and road closures that had already started, we thought it might be best to get to York. We were only an hour or so away anyway, so we headed off. The river in York is almost breaking the banks, but we are told the rain should pass overnight and tomorrow will be much finer – the barometer in the B&B seems to confirm this. Keeping our fingers crossed!

(Alison)

Battle of Bannockburn

Today we didn’t have much on our list. We started by setting the GPS to navigate us to Stirling Castle. Yes… another castle, they seem to have a few around here, and they are on our Great British Pass making them free. When we arrived at Stirling castle it was bright and sunny, we wish! Yes it was raining, and quite heavily. We started the visit to the castle with a guided tour. The tour was quick but interesting, which really helped. They were creating a tapestry on the grounds, and will finish it on Tuesday after having taken over three years to get to this point. The tapestry was really fantastic, a great work of art.

From Stirling Castle we headed to the Wallace Monument. It wasn’t on the GPS, and we were already in Stirling so we just headed north and hoped for the best. It all worked really well and we made it to the monument with ease. The monument was not on our pass, so we didn’t go in. We did walk to the top of the mountain and have a look around before heading to Bannockburn.

Bannockburn was the most interesting site of the day. Today was the anniversary of the second day of the battle of Bannockburn. The site was housing a re-enactment of the battle. It was quite different to walk around the site with people dressed in battle gear. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy. We managed to stay for about an hour and a half before we needed to move on.

We ended the day with a walk down the Royal Mile, and a really great dinner at an Italian restaurant need the B&B. We had a really great day, even if we are getting a little tired.

(Andrew)

Whisky in Scotland

After a rough nights sleep we had breakfast before heading off to catch the bus. We had a list of sites to visit, and we got going quite early. Our first stop was the Palace of Hollyroodhouse and the Queen’s Gallery. The gallery is currently housing an exhibition on natural history. The audio guide was really enlightening on what you were looking at. From the gallery we walked through the palace, and quickly looked through the gardens. It would have been nice to spend some more time, but the rain is quite constant.

From Holyroodhouse we caught the bus to Ocean Terminal to see the Royal Yacht Britannia. The rain had eased a little and looking around the yacht was a little easier. It was smaller than we had expected, but still a great experience. Afterward we wandered through the Ocean Terminal shopping centre.

Next we were off to Edinburgh Castle. We caught one of the busses, but it was detoured and the trip took significantly longer than expected. We stuck with it, and eventually made it to the castle. The castle grounds were huge. We used the audio tour, but after a while the rooms all started to look very… well castle like.

To finish the day we went on the Scottish Whisky Experience. A series of small films showing the making of Whisky, followed by a ride in a whisky barrel. While a little corny, it was good fun. We got a dram of whisky, and a whisky glass so it was all worth it.

(Andrew)

Onward north to Scotland

This morning we continued our travels northward towards Scotland. It wasn’t long after leaving Ambleside that we headed into the border country and Hadrians Wall. We had seen a glimpse of the wall on our last visit, and wanted to find out a bit more, so off we went in search of some of the Roman Forts that had been excavated. On our way through the hills we heard a rumbling behind us then all of a sudden a there were two fighter planes dog fighting at low altitude through the valley – it felt like they were right on top of us. Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough with the camera – they were out of sight almost before we realised what was going on!

We continued on our way towards Birdsowald Roman Fort on Hadrians wall. There is a long line of the wall still visible here, along with the foundations of a number of the buildings that would have been in the fort. The wall would certainly have been impressive when it was complete. Unfortunately now most of the stones have been taken to build the houses and sheds for the farms in the area, so the wall is not even visible in some places.

From here we moved in to the Scottish Borderlands, and Hermitage Castle. A few people had told us about their driving experiences in Scotland – the single lane roads with passing points every few hundred yards –and we thought they were talking about the roads in the highlands. We soon discovered these roads are all around Scotland – in the border country as well! The roads were pretty quiet, so it wasn’t a problem but I would hate to be driving through in the peak tourist season! Not long after we got into Scotland and it started raining. Hermitage Castle, which we were going to visit, is another ruin – no roof. It was only raining lightly, so we continued on our way. By the time we were wandering around the castle, the rain had really set in and was quite heavy! The hills we had driven through were no longer visible. There is a saying about Scotland – if you can see the hills, its about to rain, if you cant see the hills, it is raining! I really do believe this!

We ran back to the car and continued to Floors Castle – this one is lived in, so we hoped it would provide good shelter, as well as being an interesting place to look around. And it was. The castle is the home to the Duke and Duchess of Roxborough, and is a beautiful place. The garden was a bit soggy (it had stopped raining by the time we finished looking through the house), so we didn’t spend much time there, and continued along towards Edinburgh.

On our way in to Edinburgh, we stopped at Rosslyn Chapel (made famous by The Da Vinci Code). It is currently undergoing a major restoration, and so is covered by an ugly tin roof and scaffolding. This does allow a more close up view of the outside of the chapel, but does ruin photos! The work that went into creating this chapel is amazing, every section is elaborately carved, and all windows, ceiling sections, wall adornments etc are different. Everything has a story as well, such as the colums carved by the master and his apprentice – the master carved the first one, then went to France for inspiration for the second. While he was away the apprentice carved the second colum, and when the Master returned, he was so angry that he murdered the apprentice. The apprentice did a wonderful job – more elaborate than his master, which wes probably his downfall!

We finally finished looking around the chapel, and were on our way to find our B&B in Edinburgh. It was much easier than we expected, so we wandered into the Royal Mile before long. We were near the Castle when we heard a band playing. There were quite a few soldiers around, so we kept going, and found that the stadium seating was all up ready for the Tattoo in August, and that there was, in fact, a band playing. We had arrived in time to see the ceremony to install the new Governor of the Edinburgh Castle. It was really good! Thank goodness the rain held off for this, and till we walked back to our B&B!

(Alison)

Is summer always this wet in England? (or, It rained again today!)

This morning we were up early to make the most of our time in this beautiful location. We started with a 3 mile wander along the Rothay, behind Rydal Hall and back into Ambleside. It was a lovely morning – cool, but the sun was (almost) shining and the dark clouds had moved on.

Back with a big appetite for breakfast, we then enjoyed the company of our hosts, George and Ann, before setting out for the day. We started with the Beatrix Potter Gallery in nearby Hawkshead. This tiny gallery is located in Beatrix’s husbands original solicitors office and displays originals of her pictures for a number of her stories. They are wonderful, the reproduction in the books is amazing – particularly considering a lot of the books were originally printed in the very early 1900’s.

From here it was a couple of miles down the road to Hill Top Farm, the first farm Beatrix Potter purchased with the proceeds from her books. It has a lovely little cottage – quite comfortable. The house is as it was left to the National Trust by Beatrix. She left a number of properties to the National Trust. As an avid conservationist, Beatrix purchased a number of large farms in the Lake District to preserve the area, and bequested them to the National Trust. Some of these are open, like Hill Top, and others are run as working farms.

A number of pieces of furtniture, and part of the house and landscape have been used in various books of Beatrix’s. The house has some of these books, with the relevant page open, to look at as you wander through – it is really interesting to see how it is incorporated and where the inspiration came from.

After Hill Top, we headed north to the Derwent Pencil Museum, which, in all honesty, was pretty boring! And then on to the Castlerigg Stone Circle. It was the Summer Solstice today, and Castlerigg Stone Circle is a particularly important place, so there were a lot of people there – many of which had been there all night, ready to celebrate the dawn at around 4:30am, and since that time had been celebrating and welcoming other visitors to the circle. The location was amazing, the views were really breathtaking.

We then wandered back through to Ambleside, and on to the Grizedale Forest. This had been advertised as a great place to walk, with wonderful sculptures along the forest trails. The forest is not what we expected – essentially it is mostly a pine plantation – but the walking track was pretty good. That was until it rained. We decided to tackle two walks – neither of them very long (1.5 miles and 3 miles) and it was as we set out on the 3 mile walk that the rain started – lightly at first, and then quite a bit stronger. So of the 4.5 miles we walked in total, it would have rained for about half! Luckily we had our rain jackets, but they only help so much!

We are beginning to wonder if they ever have sunny weather in the UK. Since we have been here, we have driven and walked through rain ourselves, other parts of the country have suffered from torrential downpours and flooding – are we going to see the sun at all before we head home for ‘winter’!

(Alison)