Off to the Forum

Thursday 2nd November

Up to bright sunshine, ready to face a new day, lift to 6th floor and a breakfast table waiting in the corner and boy, what a view.

 

West towards the Vatican

               North towards Villa Borghese

 Palace Babernini - just over the road.

 

It was important (essential) that we get some washing done and we didn't want to waste valuable adventure time in a Laundromat so Mr Google found us a laundry only 3 stations away that would wash, dry and fold the whole lot for €14 (the hotel's prices started at €4 for a pair of socks!) and, it was only one stop from the Colosseum. So down to the tobacconist to buy our 72hr Roma Passes, on to a very crowded train within minutes, off at the Termini and a 5 min walk down the main road, crossed the road at a crossing holding a bag of washing each and clutching each other with the other hands tightly, in and out of the laundry within 5 minutes, short walk to another station for a one station trip, out into the sunshine and there was the Colosseum. Amazing! Our new Roma passes got us in quickly and then we just wandered, taking it all in, dodging the 'selfie fanatics' - where are the lions when you need them? and generally just enjoying the experience without needing to understand all the details of how things worked and what went on where. I found it hard to understand how they engineered and built a structure that seems as big as the MCG thousands of years ago. It was certainly good to see such an iconic building. A short walk and half hour wait because of security checks saw us in the valley which contains the ruins of the Roman Forum. Using Rick Steves self guided walk we very much enjoyed exploring and learning about this fascinating site, the centre of the Roman Empire. We finally left about 2pm, found a café for lunch and then decided to visit the Basilica of St Clemente which was quite nearby. I had cut an item out of the Age over 12 months ago and filed it under 'Rome' in case we ever visited, and I was glad I had. It was fascinating. Off the street you enter into a large, ornate Basilica which was built in the 12th century and is still very much in use. An archaeologist in the early 1900's discovered that the Basilica was actually built on top of an earlier church which had been built in the fourth century. It was fascinating to go down and walk around inside this very large building. It's columns had been used as foundations for the Bascilica above when it was built. There are still remains of friezes on some of the walls and other evidence of its use as a church.  But that's not all, there's more! Beneath this large church they found two more buildings dating back to the 1st century. One, a pagan Temple with a school room attached, and these were separated by a very narrow alley from a suite of rooms they think were probably part of the Roman Mint. Outside the wall of one room was a channel with clear spring water still running through it. We enjoyed our exploring and were quite surprised when we came out that it was almost dark. A quick walk, train ride, picked up the washing, another train ride, walk to the hotel to deposit washing, walk down street to Restaurant for Pizza, walk back to Spanish Step area to buy a new shoulder bag for Bruce, walk (limp) to hotel to finally lay down the head after another very full and satisfying day. I hope we can get up in the morning!

 

 

 

 

Roma, Roma, Roma!

Tuesday 31st October

Last day in London. Packed cases and left them at hotel. Two trains to Westminster to hopefully beat the crowds - it was closed for the day! There was going to be a special Service celebrating Luther's 500th so we missed out on experiencing Westminster (bother those Protestants). So we jumped on a 'Hop on Hop off' bus and did a full London highlights tour. It was quite good fun and took us back to places we had already been but also to others we had not had time to visit, like Piccadilly Circus. Lunch in a little café off Bond Street, back to hotel to pick up cases and then two trains (still using our Oyster Card) to Heathrow Terminal 4.The hotel was an easy 10mins walk away via an elevated and covered walkway. Dinner in hotel and early night because we have to be up at 5.00am in the morning.

Wednesday 1st November

On our way to Rome! Up early, at terminal by 5.30am for 7.25am flight, cases checked in and about to go through Security when Merilyn says "I haven't got any jewellery on", of course it's back on the desk in the hotel room. Off goes Bruce for a pre-breakfast brisk walk, back within 20mins and all is well - just as well Merilyn realised things weren't right before we had gone through Customs. No where to get g/f food and did not realise there would be no food served on the plane except coffee and a biscuit, ("sorry, no Gluten free"). It was only a 2 hour flight with some great views over the Alps. We landed smoothly and were still travelling quickly down the runway when the pilot hit the brakes and we came to a very abrupt stop. At the same time an announcement came over instructing the crew to man the escape doors, which sent the hostesses running down the aisles, and smoke (not much) started to appear in the cabin. I was trying to decide how do you gracefully go down one of those tube things but thankfully it did not come to that. I had already concluded the 'smoke' was probably from the brakes and tyres because of the abrupt stop - I reckon we might have been close to running into something. All was well and after just a few minutes we were back on our way, then off the plane and walking into a lovely Rome Terminal in Italy!! not really knowing how we were going to get to the hotel. We decided (got talked into) taking a shuttle bus with four others which turned out to be quite a good deal. The driver took a liking to Merilyn, pulling her case for her through the terminal and into the carpark, making her sit next to him in the front, with me on the other side, and giving a commentary on everything we passed. The trip was quite an experience. We had not known that Halloween (really All Saints Day) is a holiday in Italy and there were people and traffic everywhere  - it was now 12.00 noon and we still hadn't had breakfast. Whilst heading from the car-park to the freeway the driver drove with one hand whilst at the same time putting into his phone the passengers hotel addresses - he was impressed with ours - best part of town, close to everything. On the freeway, still driving with one hand and gestulating with the other, we travelled at 140kph, overtaking many and not being passed, until the 80km signs when we slowed down to about 110kph. When the traffic really became congested the were several "Momma Mia's" or "Sunday Driver" and all the time he was pointing out the places of interest we passed and offering advice about avoiding pick-pockets. We soon realised that at pedestrian crosses the drivers try to get across the crossing before the pedestrians are directly in front of them and will be killed if they don't stop. We  did reach the hotel safely and it is indeed a lovely hotel (4 star, a bit of a step up from some of the Youth Hostels) and is in a great position - 5 mins from the Trevi Fountain one way and 6 mins from the Spanish Steps the other way. So we checked in, left our bags and went, on advice from the receptionist, for lunch (very late breakfast) at the 'It's Amore' restaurant. It was great, a bright hostess who understood gluten free requirements, gave us a seat right next to the window where we could watch the passing humanity heading down to view the Trevi fountain - many bus groups, some following leaders with a country flag  - I saw Brazil, Spain and one other (I needed Jack to help me identify the flag), others with Cruise Ship names and some with an umbrella or soft toy on a stick - it was very interesting to see so many different nationalities in such a short time. After a lovely meal, so good we booked in for Dinner, we of course went to view the Trevi fountain, which indeed is lovely but there were thousands there. You had to wait some time for people to move so you could get a position for a decent look. I am so tired of people taking endless 'selfies' and also of groups of young females who take it in turns to have 3 or 4 'cute', posed pictures of themselves in front of an attraction or view. I can be such a grump! One girl actually got up on a balustrade adjoining the fountain and was doing ballet poses when there was a very loud "Hoy, get down now"! and a policeman appeared. I thought it must have been part of an act because the policeman was in a uniform with lots of gold braid, a funny white hat - a bit like a sailors, and he was smoking a cigar!! - it brightened me up no end. Apparently he was a policeman but belonging to a different group from those carrying automatic weapons we saw in many places during the day. I think a 'tourist policeman' rather than a 'terrorist' policeman. After settling into our room later in the afternoon, Merilyn managed to get some shut - eye. We had a late, for us, dinner (7.30pm) - "hello Mr Bruce, how was your afternoon" said the hostess with a lovely smile as we walked in - she was very good, greeted everyone brightly, could speak Italian, English, Spanish and French, had started work at noon and would finish at 11.00pm, we  were  most impressed. We then walked to the Spanish steps, weather still mild - there had been bright sunshine all day and we did not even take our coats out with us - probably the first time in 2 months. People everywhere having fun, shops open, many dining and watching the passing parade - a great atmosphere. Finally got home about 10.30 after a very long and enjoyable day - we think Italy is going to be fun.

View from our window.

Three busy days in London

Monday 30th


Three full days has meant not much time for diary entries so this is just a summary before collapsing into bed (again).
Saturday am: Merilyn spent morning in bed because tummy troubles had kept her up most of the night. Bruce - train to Trafalgar Square, walk down Whitehall then two hours at Churchill's War rooms. Back at 12.30 to wake up Merilyn.
Saturday pm: Bond St for lunch at g/f bakery, St Martins in the Fields, Admiralty Arch, nearby chanced upon changing of the Royal Household Cavalry Guards - 5 riders in full dress on black horses watched by a crowd of several hundred people who were watched by 5 policemen with machine guns. Continued walking to Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Clock Tower - covered in scaffold for 5 year refurbish and Big Ben (the bell inside) not ringing, Westminster Bridge, St James Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, then trains back to St Pauls for another Vietnamese Dinner. A good day, feet a bit sore, people everywhere because still mid-term break.

St Martins in the Fields



Buckingham Palace
 

Sunday am: Tower of London - Crown Jewels, White Tower, Torture chamber, The Queens house - only remaining Tudor house after the Fire of London ( Queens House because Anne Bolyn stayed there the night before her marriage to Henry VIII in the  Chapel and four years later she stayed there again the night before she lost her head in front of the chapel).
Sunday pm: Tower Bridge (Merilyn actually stood on the glass floor on the upper level - eyes open but did not look down), Westminster walk - with all the walking poor Merilyn had a 'hypo' just near the Globe Theatre, so we had to sit on the edge of the Thames, in the cold, whilst she scoffed jelly beans. Fortunately we noticed an interesting small house just along from the Globe, so Bruce explored whilst Merilyn scoffed and discovered that former residents had been Catherine of Arragon in the 1500's, and Christopher Wren whilst he was supervising the building of St Pauls - well done Merilyn! A quick walk over the Thames, and a one station train ride got us to the Methodist Central Hall - Westminster, for a special service focussing on Martin Luther. It was excellent. A combination of Dialogues, Choir pieces, Hymn Singing  (four of Luther's and two others), Narrations, Readings, Addresses from Martin Luther by an actor, and an excellent message. Unfortunately Merilyn had two 'hypos' during the Service - too much exercise and not enough food - I was about to go up to the microphone and ask if anyone had any spare jelly beans in their pockets - our supply was almost exhausted. She came good however and after the Service we took two trains to Leister Square (no more walking) for an excellent Pasta meal and got home about 10.00pm - hence no diary writing.

Christopher Wren's House

Monday: Lovely crisp morning. Walk through Kensington Park, past the Palace - I waved to Kate whom I reckoned  saw at a window in her PJ's, into Hyde Park and happened upon an arena where six horse guards in full regalia were undergoing training drills - about 10 people watching and no armed guards - it was great. Trains to the river and then a one and half hour trip to Greenwich - a bit too long and we got quite cold on the top deck. Explored the Cutty Sark ship, the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Gardens and the National Naval Museum. Vietnamese for dinner again and home by 8 for an early night. Only one more day in London and then Rome - feeling a bit nervous.

 

 

One foot each side of the Greenwich '0' Meridian Line

 

To London

Thursday 26th October

A lovely drive from New Forest to Salisbury, mainly through forests of autumn coloured trees with some  dark green conifers mixed in - had to keep my eyes open for  'wild animals' on the open grassland areas. Reached Salisbury in 40mins, found the station easily, dropped Merilyn and the cases off, and it was only another 3 mins to the Herz yard to return the car, which took less than 5 min. The need to change trains 3 times to reach the station nearest to our hotel had seemed daunting in the morning before left, but it all went very smoothly with relatively short waits between trains and we were at the hotel before 2pm. The hotel is somewhat disappointing - it is in a very good position in a street of lovely Georgian buildings but the room is very small and the whole hotel shows many signs of wear and tear, it is a bit more like a youth hostel. Still, it is clean and we will hardly be in the room during the day and I am sure we will cope well. After settling in we caught the Tube into the city to pick up our London Passes and Oyster cards (like MYKI's) which I had bought on-line. Then, with gloomy skies above and some light rain, we just wandered for a while. Found Leister square, then Trafalgar Square with dozens of tourists trying to photograph Nelson's column using flash because it was almost nightfall. We walked alongside the river for a while and then up to St Pauls Cathedral where, feeling a bit foot sore we found nearby a Vietnamese  Restaurant that had lovely food, most of which was gluten free. London certainly is an assault on the senses and we are really looking forward to exploring it.

Friday 27th October

A very good weather forecast in the morning helped us decide to go to Windsor today. We caught the tube to Paddington, then with only minutes to spare found that the next train we had to catch was at platform 14, the furthest one away - Merilyn actually got up to a grandma shuffle (could not be called running) and we made it, puffing and crying/laughing at the same time. Changed trains again at Slough for the very short run to Windsor? Arrived just in time for the changing of the guard - they close off the street between the army garrison and the castle and the guard is escorted by an army band in full dress uniform. It was a bit disconcerting to see heavily armed policeman come through before the soldiers, checking out the crowd - a sign of the times. Windsor Castle is what you would expect of a working castle, very, very impressive. We particularly liked the State Apartments and the St George Chapel where many Kings and Queens have been buried. The grandeur, the artworks, and other displays of wealth are almost overwhelming for us simple folk from the Colonies, but it was good to see and perhaps to understand a little, what Royalty means to the British people.

Four train rides returning to London (we are getting good at this train travel) got us to St Pauls in time for Evensong - we had to go through bag checks on the way in, and then we found a French restaurant for a vey lovely meal - we could get used to this good life.

New Forest National Park

Tuesday 24th October

A fine day with times of brightness was the forecast so we headed of for Lyndhurst in the New Forest National Park and for most of the day the weather was low cloud dullness with some wetness. The locals seemed happy however, out walking in their hundreds because of the unseasonal warmness.
First stop was at Corf Castle - another ruined castle with quite a history - lots of intrigue and mistrust between the ruling classes. Highlights were seeing the firing of a catapult at the castle wall - the projectile being a soccer ball filled with water, and a passing steam train.

 

 

Mid afternoon we arrived a the lovely Royal Hotel in New Forest, where , not only are we on the 1st floor and not the 4th floor, there  is also a lift! - reputedly the oldest in Europe. You open a cage door to get in, it holds two, and at your floor you exit via a side caged door - open the door to soon and your stuck! If you exit and forget to close the door behind you it won't move when the button is pushed on another floor and someone has to come up from reception to close the door - they must love it.

 

Wednesday 25th October

 

Two  months to Christmas AND Leisel's eleventh birthday - we sure are missing all the grandchildren. The plan for today had been to have a day at Portsmouth - an hours drive away, lots of museums to visit and things to see but we decided we were just too tired and needed a rest day before London, Rome, Sienna... etc. etc. So what do we do? Given the choice, Merilyn decided on a bike ride in the forest which ended up taking about 4 hours! We travelled on some bitumen roads, rocky side roads, gravel tracks and very muddy tracks. It was good fun but we came home feeling very tired - so much for a restful day. Still, we saw lovely forested areas with autumn trees and tall conifers. clear streams, and open grassland with wild ponies grazing. I am still amazed that the National Parks seem to be for people to let their dogs run loose, and for herds/flocks of domestic animals to have freedom to roam at will, in this case ponies (which we saw plenty of), donkeys, deer and pigs. The weather was superb today, 17C, no wind and plenty of sunshine - consequently there were heaps of people enjoying the outdoors. A lovely Indian meal finished the day. Tomorrow we give up the car after 57 trouble free days and hopefully find the right train to take us to London. A new chapter in the adventure!

 

 

 

Hardy Country

,Monday 23rd October



Our cottage - sign points to Hardy's cottage further down the road

This afternoon we visited the birthplace and home for many years of Thomas Hardy, a two story, thatch roofed cottage  with a large vegie garden next to a lovely leafy forest Tonight we are staying in a lovely two story, thatched roof cottage just up the road from the Hardy cottage. We, of course, have electricity, central heating, a large carpeted room with en-suite just for the two of us - somewhat different to conditions in the Hardy family cottage. Apparently in his bedroom on the top floor he wrote Far from the Madding Crowd  'one of his best' the guide told us. I reckon we will be watching a few old movies when we get home.


Hardy family cottage

 

We travelled here this morning leaving the appropriately atmospheric, misty, Dartmoor and travelled to the coast at Lyme Regus where the sun was almost shining and it was 16C. There were people everywhere, promenading along the esplanade, sitting on the rock wall along the very stony beach watching the waves and eating fish and chips and ice-creams, filling the shops and tearooms - it was just like it was the middle of the holidays - and then we realised that it was the start of the mid term break. Apparently the North of the country have a week followed by a week for the South - a good system for the tourism operators. Lyme Regus is quite an attractive town with very narrow and often steep streets, The main street turns through a right angle and traffic flow has to be controlled with lights. We stumbled across an operating Water Mill used to grind grains and had a lovely tour, starting at the top of the 3 story stone building with grains of wheat, and two floors lower down ending with fine flour. It was fascinating. Quite an Old England day !

Tor Royal - Dartmoor

Saturday 21st October

We'll be arriving home in just 4 weeks - hard to believe. There was a lot of rain overnight and the wind was very strong but no signs of damage and all seemed  to be OK for us to travel. Because Bruce was feeling poorly we decided to head straight for Princetown in the Dartmoor National Park so that we could both have a quiet afternoon, unfortunately Merilyn's cough also seems to be coming back. Of course it didn't work out that way. Morning tea in very busy Falmouth, lunch in not quite so busy Liskead and then on to Buckland Abbey where we learnt quite a lot about a former owner, Sir Francis Drake. It had been an abbey in the 15th Century but was another victim of King Henry's closure law in the C16 and had fallen into disrepair until it was given to a 'loyal servant' by the King, who repaired it and turned it into a home. Not long afterword's it was bought by Francis Drake who had amassed a fortune as a captain/pirate attacking Spanish ships on his boat Golden Hind. Most of the fortune went to Queen Elizabeth 1, who said thanks very much and gave Drake enough money to buy and extensively renovate Buckland Abbey. She also knighted him. We walked through many rooms, watched a video and saw many interesting historical items, including Drake's Battle Drum and a Rembrandt Painting valued at 30 million pound! Before we knew it, it was heading towards 5 o'clock, raining steadily, blowing an absolute gale and we still had to get to Princetown and find Tor Royal farm, our B&B - so much for the quiet afternoon!




Buckland Abbey

And when we found the Tor Royal Farm, boy were we pleasantly surprised. It was down the end of  Tor Royal Lane and although we entered by the back door it was most impressive. Just the walled courtyard where we parked 'impressed' with a tall belltower as part of the wall, guarded by two 'Hounds of the Baskervilles' statues. After signing in, beneath a high glass ceiling dome, we followed the owner upstairs, we were in an attic room of course, to our lovely furnished, quite spacious room with views across the farm to the high moors beyond. On reading the notes supplied we found out that owners are actually tenant farmers and that the owner of the land, and much more around, is none other than Prince Charles - how about that! We are wondering what we will do if the Prince and Duchess are at breakfast tomorrow.

 

 

The house was built in the late 1700 by a man who was secretary to the Duchey of Cornwall and who had a dream that the whole region could turned to agriculture. He was also the architect of Princetown and the Tor Royal property became the Devon base for the Arabian Stud of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. We will be having breakfast in the room which was originally part of the Royal Suite. Tor Royal is still a large working farm and we hope to explore it tomorrow - if it stops raining.

 

Sunday 22nd October

 

Late start, great breakfast in the lovely dining room - we are the only guests at present, and then back to our room for a quiet morning - we are both a bit below par today. Not raining but very windy and cold outside. A below par lunch in Princetown did not lift the spirits much - 25 mins to serve just warm soup of the day with cold bread and we had to ask for butter. Also a dog was sick under a nearby table - the English take dogs everywhere and I don't think inside eating places is such a good idea. In the pub tonight a man stood at the bar with 3 spaniels and the waiters had to walk around them as they moved in and out of the kitchen - Bruce being grumpy again. We learned more about the Dartmoor National Park in the excellent Information Centre and then decided to go on a circular drive to see more of the country. Because of the extremely strong cold wind we decided we would not get out of the car and should be back in our warm room in about 1.5 hours. It did not quite work out that way. Because of the poor map, many unmarked roads, and missing small signs hidden by large branches we became 'geographically embarrassed ' several times and ended up seeing much more of Dartmoor than we had anticipated. Consequently on returning to Princetown about 5.15 we decided to have an early tea at the pub so we would not have to come out again. We really did enjoy the wildness of the high country, saw lots of ponies, many granite Tors, and very deep river gullies. We were surprised at the numbers enjoying the outdoors on such a cold day. Lots of white water canoeists on the fast flowing Dart River, cyclists, and of course heaps of people walking, many with dogs, on the tracks to the Tors. It was 9C outside the car, and with the wind factor must have felt like 5C, yet there they were, some even in shorts. They are indeed a hardy lot.