Our visit to York. We stayed 3 days in York. Dahlia remained at the Best Western in Dean Court opposite the York Minster Abbey, while I attended a writers conference at York University. We both liked York with its narrow winding medieval streets, particularly in the morning when there were very few visitors. In particular, we really enjoyed the grandeur of the York Minster and its long history. We took a tour of 13 persons. There was a point when the guide was recalling its history, starting around AD 180 then AD 250 and on and on to AD 637 when the first stone structure was erected. By the time the guide reached AD 1000, it sounded like she was talking about the modern era. Overall of the three prominent cathedrals we have visited York Minster Abby, Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame in Paris I would place it 2nd behind Westminster.
Read More
Our visit to Stratford on Avon. We wanted to see a Shakespeare play but the season was over and all we could book was Volpone. Volpone? Never heard of it. Still, any play in the Royal Shakespeare Playhouse would be an experience. It developed that Volpone was a dark comedy about greed and corruption recast into the 21 century and written by Ben Johnson, one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries. The plot was a bit suss, but the acting was superb. The central character played by Henry Goodman was a tour de force of acting moving easily from one characterization to another. It was a major, but pleasant surprise. We again stayed at the Mercure hotel, a structure composed by combining three 17th century Tudor buildings, located close to the heart of Stratford. Its lunch restaurant was good, but the breakfast cook needs to go back to cooking school. Finally, the ambiance of this historic Tudor town still can be felt, although many new tourist shops are trying to bury it.
Read More
Our Stay at Kings Camp Safari Lodge Timbavati Reserve South Africa. Arrival: The manager picked us up from Hoedspruit airport and drove us the 40 km to Kings Camp Safari Lodge in the centre of the Timbavati game reserve. The camp reminded me of the movie Out of Africa, with a dining room overlooking a small waterhole frequented by buffalo and elephant, and thatched roofed chalets outfitted with exquisite period furniture. The general ambiance and the top quality meals completed the canvas of a classical African 19th century bush experience. Our Stay: We stayed 5 nights and had a private vehicle to ourselves. This allowed us to have 4 hour morning and afternoon game drives of our own choosing and be able to stop for extended times when we saw something of interest. This contrasted with the normal Timbavati Safari vehicle which had 6 persons per vehicle and the itinerary determined by consensus. At the extreme end we saw safari vehicles completely filled with 9 visitors seated 3 abreast; those in the centre hardly able to turn around. During our stay we had two unexpected bonuses: a wonderful bush breakfast under a stand of shade trees, and a buffet dinner in […]
Read More
Ambling (flaner) the streets of Paris is a favourite pastime of ours, particularly in the area bounded by Boulevard St Germain near le Buci on the left bank and the Louvre across the Seine, and encompassing the Latin Quarter at St Michel through le Citie and onto the Marais. This region is a collage of apartments, narrow streets, grand boulevards, restaurants and side walk cafes, antique book shops, galleries selling works of art some of museum quality, odd shaped historic buildings, churches, hole in the wall creperies, a few Irish style pubs and tucked-away boutique hotels. – The area pulsates with life and activity from mid-morning to the evening when the popular streets are packed with pedestrians and the pavements overflow with outdoor cafes. Street artists ranging from virtuosos to the bizarre perform their art where ever they can collect an audience. On Sundays, the Marais is packed and on Rue des Rosiers in the old Jewish quarter unbelievable queues form for take away Falafels. The Falafels are great value as the pita is over stuffed with various fillings, but I must admit that I much prefer the cheesecake slices from Pitzman in Rue Pavee as a sample of local Jewish […]
Read More
First Things First i) Bought a local Sim card for my mobile from Orange. ii) Renewed our Metro Navigo pass for the month of April at an automatic kiosk (€60) without incident, even though it was two years since we last used the pass. iii) Renewed our Friends of the Louvre year pass (€55 p/pp ; note normal single entry is €12), from their office in the underground passage leading from the central information desk to the Carrousel shopping plaza. The pass is available to all and allows entry to the Louvre through the short queue at the main entrance, at the Port de Lyon entrance, the gate in the Richelieu Passage (for groups and pass-holders) or via the passage on the lower floor of the Carrousel shopping mall on Rue de Rivoli at the Tuileries end of the Louvre (for pass and ticket holders, note: tickets can be bought from the tobacco shop, shop 34, and there is a direct passage from the metro palais royal musee louvre). Both the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay can have very long queues, particularly for those without a prepaid ticket. Tickets can be bought in advance from FNAC, Carrefour, and the national tourist […]
Read More
Getting to Paris from Sydney A quick review of the flights. Sydney to Johannesburg: 14 hrs. On time. Qantas business. Lounge good. Airport check-in, and security went smoothly. On board 747 excellent lie flat beds upstairs with 2, 2 configuration. Food excellent, service excellent. Johannesburg-Heathrow: 11.5hrs. On Time. South African business: lounge: good. Transfer between gates went smoothly. On board A320 with good lie flat beds in 2,2 configuration. Food average. Service good. Heathrow-Orley: 1 hour 20m. British airways economy. Delayed 1 hour. Had to pass through immigration (20min), collect bags, then transfer, from T1 to T5, using a greet and meet transfer taxi (20min), then re-check in (10min). All went smoothly. airline boarding OK. Seating 31″ pitch and service OK. Food: poor. Observation: Orly airport is a dream compared to Charles de Gaule. Time taken after touch down to collecting baggage about 20 min. paris overview This will be our fourth 5 week stay in Paris. The last was September two years ago. (See Paris twitter 1-4). My objective is to improve on the photos I took previously, considering that France has strict publication rules for portraits. (note my top photos are not published on this website as they […]
Read More
Final highlights and Conclusion. The Royal Henley Regatta. What impact Royal Henley has on your psyche depends in part on the enclosure of admission. In the Regatta enclosure, (the rump section on the downstream side of the Royal Henley grounds, open to all on payment of an entrance fee), the atmosphere is one of experiencing a world class rowing event at close quarters. There is the added curiosity of watching a menagerie of boats from steamers to dinghies cruise up and down the river spotting the Blazerati and Glitterati of Royal Henley. The Stewards enclosure has a wholly different persona. Here, you are immersed in English high society reveling in the trappings of an Edwardian garden party. It is like being on another planet; both fashionable, and bizarre, with silly hats and garish coloured blazers. An eccentric place of privilege, hierarchy, archaic ritual, and gentlemanly behaviour. This is all interwoven with a serious sport side, where international standard athletes compete in a premium event on the World rowing calendar. It is all just a little over the top, and a great place to experience the excitement over the final reach of the rowing course. Some Must-do at Royal Henley. ♦ Drink Pimms with lemonade from the marquee bars. ♦ Have a picnic of lobster, strawberries and champagne in […]
Read More
Castles, Stratford, and the Fat Duck. Stratford on Avon. Going to a Shakespearean play at the Royal Theater in Stratford upon Avon was a must-do experience. Only two adjacent, but expensive seats were available when I tried to book three months in advance. But it was well worth the expense. The play was performed inside an intimate theater (it actually holds 1000 spectators) with minimalist staging. The staging was of little importance, as the brilliance of the production, was the ability of the actors to articulate Shakespeare in a way that made their performance understandable, and with a delivery that mimicked the song of modern English. To complete the experience we stayed the night at the Shakespeare, a hotel housed inside three converted 17th century Tudor halls close to the town centre. The public lounge, tea rooms and restaurant still retained much of their true character. We just had to have high tea in the historic tea room. Stratford has done exceptionally well in preserving the historic facade of the Tudor period, housing Macdonald’s restaurant and the supermarkets inside buildings with period shop fronts. It was a pleasure to stroll down the central area amongst historic buildings. Had lunch at […]
Read More
Part 1. Oxford and the Cotswolds. This was our first extended visit to the Oxford region since I left my research establishment near Abingdon, 34 years ago. At that time, Britain was one of the foremost technological and scientifically advanced countries in the world. It also had a rich, traditional heritage, full of pomp and ceremony and its country villages oozed old world charm. So going back to my old stomping grounds near Oxford was not only to see how the region had fared to the global challenges, but also to see if that special feeling we experienced in being part of the English way of life for 10 years still remained. My other object was to see if any of my former colleagues were still employed and to reestablish contact with our old friends in Abingdon and London. I also wanted to be a tourist and revisit some of the top tourist places, and visit a few good English restaurants. Oxford. We arrived at Oxford station by train and took a taxi to our rented apartment in a quiet location behind the Oxford castle. From here it was a casual 10 min walk to Carfax and the heart of Oxford. Almost immediately I noticed a number of substantial changes. ♦ How expensive the trains had become. The casual purchase of a day return to London by train was now £50/person, too expensive for us to go to London […]
Read More
OUTINGS. 1) Visit to the Le Petit Trianon- The Domain of Marie Antoinette. Took the RER from St Michel to the Versailles Rive Gauche. (Note do not get off at Viroflay Rive Gauche which is 2 stops earlier, also the RER ticket is required to get out of the station). To get to the Chateau of Versailles go out of the front of the station. Sign across street show turn right and then left see red route in Fig1. We did not go inside the main Chateau as we had previously visited it 3 years ago and would have found it too much to see both the Palace and le Petit Trianon in the one day as they are quite far apart and there is a lot to see. Last time in visiting Versailles we had a ticket to see the state apartments of the kings and queens. This is well worth doing as the group is smaller, the extra rooms including the chapel are very interesting and there are far fewer people. Also our guide was very good. The Palace can be very crowded with long queues for the tickets, so it is advisable to book them in advance. E.g. on line […]
Read More
