Rhine - Danube Boat

Sunday 15 June

We have been asked what the boat and our cabin looked like, for information we have loaded a photo of the Amelegro and our cabin.

Note: Our boat was the blue one!

We're Home

Sunday 15 June

At Church this morning the Vicar wanted to welcome us home but said that according to our Blog we were still at Narita Airport.

To all who think we are somewhere in Cyber Space "WE ARE HOME".

We had a good flight home and apart from the pain of flying to Sydney and having to transfer to the domestic terminal we enjoyed the trip.

We arrived home to find every thing neat and tidy and two cartons of mail waiting attention, all thanks to Brian our great neighbour who kept a close watch on our house. The fact that we had someone maintaining the garden may have saved us an unwelcome visit as our neighbour on the one side and across the street and two others in the street were burgled about three weeks ago.

All that remains now is to process all our mail, clean up a few weeds and try to sort out the problems with our PC which has developed a few bugs while we were away, such as the screen going to sleep and not awakening when required and the wireless mouse and keyboard not working. Apart from these everything was as we left it but with a little extra dust.

The next item to consider is where next to go to spend some more of the kids inheritance but that will be something for a future blog - stayed tuned!

Homeward Bound

Tuesday 10 June

Our last day in Japan so we had a leisurely breakfast and strolled up to the Noritake Gardens in Nagoya, these are on the site of the original kilns of the pottery and are provided by the company as a service to the community, an original kiln has been preserved in the gardens.

In the gardens there are museums, shops, a gallery and a display of all the Noritake products which these days extend to industrial products as well as their pottery. On the lawns were parked nine Ferraris and Lamborghinis and many photographer as well as interested by-standers, the value of these machines could reduce the national debt of a third world country.

From the gardens we returned to the hotel to collect our luggage and walked to the station to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo, a two hour trip.

At Tokyo station, for a while, we ran around like “headless chooks” trying to find the platform for the Narita Express to the airport. Tokyo station is like a rabbit warren with many levels of platforms for JR trains together with various Metro lines which converge here.

After asking station attendants, security staff and policeman, all who gave different directions, we eventually found the platform with minutes to spare.

We are now sitting in the JAL Sakura business class lounge and in about two hours we will board our flight to Sydney, we were booked to fly direct to Melbourne but Qantas have cancelled this flight, I don’t know if they have stopped the Narita – Melbourne flight completely or just on a Tuesday. What ever the reason it’s a pain as we both hate flying through Sydney as it’s a total waste of time having to transfer to a domestic flight to get to Melbourne.

Any way in about fifteen hours we will be home and ready to bore you witless with tales of our trip

Nagoya

Sunday 8 June

No rush this morning as our train for Nagoya didn’t leave until nearly 11:00 and we had reserved seats. The first leg of our trip was to Hakata the capital of Kyushu Island where we changed to a Shinkansen bound for Shin-Osaka. During this journey some of the towns and villages we passed through were enveloped in heavy smoke, this was caused by farmers who were burning off their rice straw, though in a country that still allows smoking in restaurants I don’t suppose they would worry about the effects on the population’s respiratory systems.

As we approached the coast the country became very hilly so the train spent as much time in as out of tunnels, one took around five minutes and when we emerged we were on the main island Honshu, having travelled under the sea. For the next hour we travelled through many tunnels until the country levelled out a little and the mountains were replaced by villages and farms though still quite hilly.

At Shin-Osaka we transferred to the Tokyo Shinkansen with 16 carriages, twice the length as the last train, shortly after leaving we passed a train yard with over thirty 16 carriage bullets trains parked, these would operate during week days on the Hakata – Tokyo line, only a small part of the Japanese rail system and we can’t manage one in Australia.

We arrived in Nagoya a little after 4:30, travelling 930 km in about 5 ½ hours and this included waiting time when we changed trains.

Monday 9 June

Nagoya, like most of the major cities around the world, has an excellent underground system which makes it very easy to find your way around and like all places in Japan an excellent ticketing system. They had one in 1990 when we were here so why is the Victorian Government wasting so much money re-inventing the wheel? In fact all the overseas cities we have visited over the last 20 years have had excellent ticketing systems which Victoria could have adapted.

A short underground ride brought us to the station about 200 m from the Nagoya Castle gate. This castle along with Kumamoto and Osaka castles is designated one of the three most significant castles in Japan and also like the other two has been rebuilt following extensive damage during the war, so in reality they are reproductions but from the outside it is impossible to tell.

On the roof of the original castle were two golden dolphins these could be seen when the pace was first built from overs 3 km away. They were carved from Cypress and then coated with lead sheet, next copper and finally gold sheet, the total weight of gold used was 275 kg. I suppose there was a lot of raking of the ashes after the fire in 1945.

As at Kumamoto the residential palace was also destroyed and the Nagoya Government is currently raising funds to rebuild the palace as is was originally. They are fortunate to have the original plans and many photographs together with a lot of the original walls, screens and ceiling with their beautiful painted scenes, these were all stored away from the palace during the war.

Surrounding the palace are many acres of gardens with pools and tea houses scattered through them, walking under the trees provided a welcome relief from the high humidity which was a result of overnight rain.

From the palace we walked to the Nagoya Noh Theatre and while we couldn’t see the auditorium as it was in use, the museum and displays had many costume and miniatures of stage sets and a wide screen TV provided a video of a performance, very interesting but I think the performers were on Valium they moved so slowly.

Walking from the theatre towards Oasis 21 shopping centre a Japanese girl asked us if we wanted directions and walked with us for about 15 minutes, she has travelled extensively around the world and spoke excellent English. Oasis 21 was completed in 2002 with the theme of “Space Ship Aqua” as the roof over the large open space is a glass ellipse pond with what we presumed were boats when viewed from below but on the roof looked like whales.

As we are leaving for home tomorrow, at around 5:00 we decided to return to the hotel to rest up before our trip to Tokyo and our flight home; is it really eleven weeks since we left?

Japan - Kyushu Island. Nagasaki & Kumamoto

Sunday 1 June

Today we fly to Nagasaki so we were up at 8:00 but didn’t have to rush as the shuttle bus didn’t leave for the airport until 10:00 and the hotel didn’t provide breakfast. Having paid $200 for the room we expected breakfast to be included. Not to worry, as the flight was for two hours over lunch time we expected a snack similar to that provided on Qantas domestic flights, wrong again! By the time we arrived at the hotel we were rather hungry as the last meal we had was on the flight from London over 26 hours before.

Our hotel in Nagasaki is rather “squeezy” and we have to put one suitcase in front of the door as there isn’t any other floor space. Like most Japanese hotels and European ones the room is overheated and the duvet (doona) seems to be winter weight so we have to pull it out and use the cover only.

Monday 2 June

Up and out by 9:00 to be greeted by steady rain but at least it wasn’t cold. We caught the very old tram, to Matsuyama about 2 ½ km away and the fare was only 100 yen ($1). It doesn’t matter if you travel one stop or to the end of the line the fare is the same.

Walking from the tram stop we arrived the “Atomic Bomb Hypocentre” park which is directly beneath the point the bomb exploded and this is marked by a simple black marble column. A few metres from the column is part of one of the spires from Urakami Cathedral which has been reconstructed as a memorial to those who died in the old cathedral when it collapsed from the blast. In several places in the park hang many strings of a thousand cranes which are made by school children as a memorial to those who died in the two atomic explosions.

This park, unlike the one at Hiroshima doesn’t have an eternal flame or peace bell and is very simple, however there are some memorials just outside the park dedicated to various groups who died in the blast, these are also decorated with strings of cranes.

We had thought we had seen it all when it comes to park maintenance in Japan, picking up pine needles with large bamboo tweezers was the best, but today that was topped. Running past the park is a small rock lined river and workers were in the river with bamboo brooms sweeping its bed, at least they didn’t have to hose it down.

Our next visit was to the Atomic Bomb Museum which contains many photographs of Nagasaki before and after the blast, many of these photographs show very graphic scenes of victims and as they say on the news, “the following photos may prove distressing”., there were also many film clips taken in the days following the blast. Throughout the museum there are also displays of items recovered after the blast some not for the squeamish.

From the museum we walked to the adjoining Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall which is designed as a shrine to those many killed in the blast or who died as a result of the effects in subsequent years; all the names of those who died including allied prisoners of war are recorded in special journals. On the roof and throughout the hall are many pools and water walls in remembrance of the thousands of people who were calling for water to quench their thirst when they died.

We then retraced our steps back past the Hypocentre Park and on to the Peace Park; this park is dominated at one end by the large Nagasaki Peace Statue of a man with one arm outstretched symbolising “ Peace” the other pointing to the sky and the threat of nuclear weapons, at the other end is a large fountain and pool also to remind people of the thirst of the bomb victims. Scattered throughout the park are many statues and memorials, gifts from many countries and organisations around the world, all have a common plea, that there are no more atomic attacks.

The rebuilt Urakami Cathedral was our next visit, when the original brick church was completed in the early 1900s, after thirty years construction, it was the largest church in the East but the blast took less than three minutes to destroy it as it was only about 800 m from the epicentre. Many of the stone statues on a rebuilt section of the church and relics are displayed in the museum and part of a wall with columns and statues has been rebuilt in the church garden. Down the slope from the church, beside a stream, lies part of the spire and belfry which has been left where it fell.

The rain has not let up all day and as we left the hotel with only our umbrellas and not our waterproofs we were a little damp but as we visit countries to meet people and see the sites we aren’t put off by the weather. Squelching on we arrived at the “one legged” Torii gate. A Tori gate is at the entrance to a Shinto Shrine and consists of two uprights with usually two cross bars; these are made of stone or timber. One leg of this stone gate was blown away in the blast but the other remains standing with half of one cross bar still in place, this had been rotated 180 degrees. The gate has been left as another memorial to victims of the blast.

As is was after 4:00 and we decided that we needed to dry off we headed for a tram stop and returned to our room to apply a hair dryer to our packs, sneakers, camera cases, umbrellas and anything else needing drying. Let’s hope that tomorrow is a little finer.

Tuesday 3 June

When we looked out the window this morning people were walking with their umbrellas up but a short time after we left the hotel the rain stopped.

Our first visit this morning was to the memorial commemorating the martyrdom of 26 Christians in 1597. The Shogun who was concerned with the spread and influence of Christianity introduced by the Portuguese declared it illegal and punishable by death, many ignored his edict and he ordered 6 friars and 20 Japanese to be crucified, three boys were aged 12 and 13.

From the site of the crucifixion we could see a temple of a different religion, it features the 18 m high figure of the goddess Kannon standing on the back of a large turtle which is the temple building. This is a replacement for the original which was destroyed by the A-bomb fire.

From the temple we walked down past the Kanzen-Ji which has the largest camphor tree in Nagasaki, this tree apart from the tips of its branches is totally wrapped in Hessian with its leaves coming out from the folds of Hessian, further down the hill we arrived at the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture.

The museum deals with the period from the arrival of the Portuguese, their subsequent expulsion and the later arrival of the Dutch and the interaction between these western traders and the Japanese. To control their influence and to restrict their contact with the Japanese the Shogun ordered a fan shaped artificial island, Dejima, to be built and ordered that the Japanese were not allowed on this island and the Westerners were not to leave except for contact with officials, their Japanese trading partners and to load an unload their ship.

The museum provides an audio unit which gives a detailed explanation of the exhibits and a comprehensive coverage of the events of the times, the activities and duties of the Nagasaki Magistrates were also covered, to reinforce this explanation a 3D film about one year in the magistrate’s life is screened. The museum is built on the site of the old magistrate’s office and residence and using old plans and drawings the museum has re-constructed this building. After several hours we left with a better understanding of Japan’s first contact with Europeans.

From the museum we continued to walk down hill until we came to the Nakajima River, which is actually a man made canal dating back to the 1500s, the river is stocked with colourful Koi Carp and crossed at many points by stone arch bridges. The most famous, Magane – Bashi otherwise known as Spectacles Bridge, is the oldest stone bridge in Japan built in 1634. The bridge is a double arch and received its name from the arches and their reflection in the water meeting to give the appearance of a pair of spectacles. The pathway beside this section of the river is lined with hundreds of pots of Hydrangeas, the floral emblem of Nagasaki.

Following the river towards its mouth we arrived at the site of Dejima Island which is now totally surrounded by reclaimed land and buildings but because of its importance in Japanese history much of its perimeter has been excavated to expose the sea walls and a replica of a large part of the Dutch village has been built. It is the government’s intention to totally rebuild the village and excavate the land around it so that it once again becomes an island.

Beside this village is a very simple steel bridge over the river which is the oldest steel bridge in Japan, the components were imported from the US and put together by a Japanese company. It is interesting that this river is spanned by the oldest stone and steel bridges in Japan, both still in use.

Walking back towards the railway station we were accosted by groups of school students with their English work books, their teacher had set them a series of questions to ask foreigners and spaces to write their replies, they all had trouble with the word foreigner but otherwise their pronunciation was quiet good. One of the questions was “How old are you?” to which Ann replied “It is rude to ask a lady’s age” but answered anyway. This was written in their work book so I wonder what the teacher will make of her reply. Typically we weren’t allowed to “escape” until many photos were taken.

Nearly eight hours after leaving the hotel and about 200 m from the door it started raining again, we mistimed our site-seeing by a couple of minutes.

Wednesday 4 June

The rain has cleared but it has been replaced by humidity, but not the energy sapping heat that we experienced during a previous visit to Japan.

Today we continue on our discovery of early European days in Japan and our first stop was to Thomas Glover’s Gardens, two tram rides from the hotel but only one fare. In Nagasaki where tram lines intersect and you want to change trams, when paying on the first tram you ask the driver for a “Noritsugi” a transfer ticket, which can be used on the second tram. Really good value as a single journey only costs 100 Yen.

While waiting at the tram stop we saw our first modern “bendy” tram, not as long as the European or Melbourne ones but a big improvement from other trams on the Nagasaki system. I don’t know if any trams survived the A-blast but they look ancient enough to have been built prior to WW2. The other interesting feature of the trams is, they don’t have a bell as in Melbourne but a very loud truck style horn which gave us quite a fright the first time one blasted beside us.

From the tram stop we walked to an inclined lift which travelled up a steep slope, we rode to the fifth level and walked along a path to another lift, vertical this time, and exited at the third level. These lifts must make life so much easier for the elderly residents in the area and make it easy for the visitors to Glover’s Gardens.

Thomas Glover arrived in Japan in 1851 at the age of 21 and after marrying a Japanese lady built his house on 12 acres of land high on the hill overlooking the harbour. Glover was instrumental in introducing much modern science and technology into Japan, the first steam train and telephone and he constructed the first tarred road and built the first tennis court. He also opened the first modern colliery and brewery, Kirin Beer and was a director of Mitsubishi Engineering; he assisted many young Japanese to go overseas to study. Much of this occurred while the Shogun was still ruling and he worked with many Japanese to restore the Emperor to power and aided him in his efforts to modernise Japan.

Some years ago the Nagasaki Prefecture realised the importance of the remaining old European buildings, and declared them to be worthy of saving and later the Japanese Government declared them to be of National importance. Today seven of the old residences have been dismantled and rebuilt in Glover’s Gardens together with their furniture and many photos of the early days. Glover’s home also remains and is the oldest wooden western style building in Japan, in the garden beside the house is a large 300 year old Cycad (Sago Palm) this was a gift to Glover from a local Japanese Lord with whom he had a close association.

While walking through the gardens and walking down the hill past the Oura Catholic Church, built in 1864 and the oldest church in Japan and later while walking up Hollander Slope past several other old western style buildings, we wondered how they had survived the A-blast unscathed but as they are about 4 ½ km from the epicentre they must have been outside the area of total destruction, so some of the Japanese – European early history remains.

Hollander Slope, a street where westerners lived, was so named because the residents of Nagasaki called all Europeans, Hollanders, the Dutch being the only foreigners allowed in Japan for nearly 200 years so any western person was later called a Hollander.

After three days in Nagasaki we have been surprised with the few Westerners we have seen given the city’s importance in Japanese – European history and world events, the most in one day were four people, I don’t think we have seen so few in all our visits to Japan.

Tomorrow we move on and we have probably seen all the areas and exhibits associated with early European days, together with the places associated with that more modern event that most people in the world pray will never happen again.

Thursday 5 June

While walking to the station to catch the train to Kumamoto, we noticed a display detailing the areas affected by the bomb; this showed the blast, heat and radiation destruction areas and the old western zone we visited avoided all the effects from the bomb, this display provided an answer to yesterday’s question.

The island of Kyushu is very mountainous and during the first hour of our journey we spent more time in tunnels and deep cuttings than in the open and then the train followed the coastline as it was the flattest part in the area. After we changed trains at Tosu the country remained hilly but with many small villages and little terraced rice paddies, further on the country opened up with large area of cereal and potato crops which were being harvested. We then moved into a more intensive area of agriculture with plastic tunnel greenhouses, there were so many that with the sun shining on them it looked like a large inland sea.

Another thing we have noticed in the last few days is the number of Loquat trees in gardens and small orchards most have paper bags over the fruit, also the fruit is available in shops, packaged and without the seeds.

As we left Nagasaki, along side the railway line was what appeared to be an elevated roadway under construction but then we realised there weren’t any ramps from the roadway so it must be a elevated rail line, probably for a Shinkansen, “Bullet Train”. This track continued through to Tosu and on to Kumamoto.

An hour and a half after leaving Nagasaki we arrived at Kumomoto and after a visit to the tourist information office we checked into our hotel and decided to have a quiet afternoon.

Friday 6 June

Another pleasant day though slightly humid as we set off to visit Kumamoto’s main attraction its castle using the city’s tram system, the trams in Kumamoto appears as ancient as those in Nagasaki and cost 150 Yen a trip. The Kumamoto Castle, also know as Ginkgo Castle because of the giant Ginkgo tree growing in the grounds is designated one of the three most significant castles in Japan. Construction started in 1601and took six years to complete, the main tower has six stories and a basement and rises 30 m above the massive stone walls at its base, the smaller tower has four stories and a basement and is about 19 m above the base. The original castle grounds had an enclosed area of 980,000 square metres and the wall around its perimeter was 5.3 km long. When we looked at the walls, the size of the stones, the symmetry of the upward curves and the sharp edges at the corners is amazing, considering they were built 400 years ago without the aid of any modern tools. To complete this engineering masterpiece Kato Kiyomasa, the lord who built the castle, also diverted the river so it would run along one side further enhancing the castle’s defences.

In the castle grounds has been built a reproduction of the Hon-Maru Goten Grand Hall which was the Lord of the Castle’s Palace using all the old skills, some of the beams were tree trunks 600 mm in diameter with precise joints that would be expected from a skilled cabinet maker not on a piece of timber the size of a log. In one of the rooms a video was showing which followed the construction and the various craftsmen making components for the palace, from rice screens, engraving, with fine chisels delicate metal plates for covering nails and ceiling timber corners. It also showed artist covering rice paper panels with gold leaf and painting the most beautiful scenes and applying lacquer and polishing exposed ceiling beams. The completed building is a modern day work of art using all the ancient skill.

From the castle we walked past some of the huge external walls of the castle to the former residence of Hosokawa Gyobu. The Hosokawa clan was established by a younger brother of the Lord of the castle and district and retained power until the Meiji restoration, in the 1870s. This was the home of the head of the clan and it contains 24 rooms covering an area of 990 square metres, he certainly lived in great style and to complete his comfort his children lived in another building.

After visiting the Samurai residence we strolled back through the various parks which were inside the walls and probably in he early days contained many buildings. In one of the parks we watched an elderly man with a wooden pinning top, about the size of a bread and butter plate, with a metal spindle with a small metal ball on its end. This he spun around on a cord in the style of a Diablo using its spindle, looping it around his body, skipping over it and throwing it up and catching it on the cord. He also caught the top on his forearm were it spun on its spindle, transferred it to his hand, on to his foot and flicked it up and caught it on the cord again, a very skilled display.

When we arrived back at the hotel the receptionist gave Ann a key for the Ladies Radium Bath and apologised for not giving it to her when we checked in. After dinner we decided to check out the bath rooms which are typical Japanese with a row of stools to sit on and bowls for washing and when you are clean you can enter the bath. The bath was almost big enough to do laps with water running in constantly and very hot and the room is almost like a sauna, an improvement in this bath room to some others we have been in, was the change and drying room is air conditioned so we could cool down after our bath.

Saturday 7 June

Up early to catch the train to Aso a small town situated in the caldera of Mt Aso. Leaving Kumamoto station we noticed that the over head track under construction continued but veered away just before our line became a single track, we wondered where it was heading.

Over the past 30 million years Mt Aso was an active volcano and it is estimated that its last “big bang” was around 100,000 years ago and it must have been a good one as it left a caldera 128 km in circumference which is the largest active caldera in the world. It is now filled with towns, villages, farms, trains and tourists.

Within the outer rim are five smaller mountains one of which, Naka-Dake, is the active volcano, its last major eruption was in 1993 but the crater area is frequently closed due to toxic gas emissions however today wasn’t one of them.

From Aso we caught the bus up to the area just below the active crater and a few kilometres before we arrived the bus driver stopped for five minutes so we could get out to view the perfectly shaped extinct volcano Kome-Zuka, known as “rice mound” this volcano is totally covered in grass.

At the bus terminal we caught the cable car to the crater of Naka-Dake which is filled with a milky blue lake with what appears to be lumps of sulphur floating in it, from the lake and around its perimeter smoke and steam plumes are emitting. The crater looks quite benign and pretty but over the last 30 years several tourist have been killed when it erupted suddenly so now all around the crater are large concrete “bomb shelters”.

From this crater we walked around to one of its old craters and continued on across a black volcanic sand plain and climbed up onto a ridge leading to the foot of Mt. Naka-Dake, but on viewing the very steep rock strewn slope which finishes at the ridge on the summit, around 1400 m, we decided to lunch at the bottom and watch the many Japanese take their life in their hands ascending and descending this rugged terrain.

Catching the cable car back to cable-car station we set off to walk the 3 ½ km pathway to the Volcano Museum. The pathway took us through a lot of local vegetation, one predominant plant is a pink native azalea which has almost finished flowering, and the mountains must look wonderful when the plants covering their slopes are in flower.

We started our visit to the museum in a seven screen theatre which showed a very graphic film of eruptions of Naka-Dake and wonderful film shots taken from a helicopter flying over the area and also film of local festivals and village activities. Also in the museum is a large screen and several monitors showing live shots from the crater, the cameras providing these can be zoomed in and out and panned from side to side with controls at the monitor. The exhibition room contains specimens of rocks and laver from the various volcanos in the area and detailed descriptions of the formation of volcanos with working models and videos of volcanos around the world.

We caught the bus from outside the museum for the trip back to the station, passing again thousands of hectares of grassland with cattle grazing. These cattle are put out in spring and must belong to many farmers as they have large numbers freeze branded on their middles and I presume the first number is the farmer’s number followed by a dash and then another number, eg 1-134.

The train ride to and from Aso is interesting in that most of the journey is along a single track with passing track at the stations, around half way into the ride after stopping at a station the train reversed for around a kilometre before resuming the journey on a different line. The ride back to Kumamoto went very quickly as I slept for a large part of the journey, I’m glad I saw the scenery on the way out.

After dinner we again enjoyed a Japanese bath, very relaxing.

Arrival in Japan

Saturday 31 May

The flight last night pulled out from the Heathrow terminal seven minutes early but typically we took about twenty minutes to taxi before we took off for Tokyo.

We landed in Tokyo on time and took another fifteen minutes to taxi to the terminal where we purchased bus tickets to Haneda Airport, a trip which took a little over an hour. Arriving at the airport we had half an hour wait for the hotel courtesy bus, finally arriving at the hotel at 5:30 pm, 14 ½ hours after leaving London.

Our Last Week in England

Saturday 24 May

After breakfast we walked to the Avis depot to pick up our car and found we had been upgraded to a VW Passat with only 2 miles on the “clock”. Leaving the depot we drove up to West Cromwell Road and headed for the M4 along the A4 which wasn’t as congested as the roads into London on Tuesday.

When we merged onto the M4 the traffic speeded up for several kilometres then we saw a sign saying “traffic queued from junction 4B to 6”, which meant we were in first gear for several kilometres. After that the traffic flowed at about 100 km/hr until we left the M4 and rejoined the A4. We could have stayed on the M4 to Bath but we prefer to drive on smaller roads that pass through villages. After four and a half hours from leaving the depot we arrived at our friend’s house in Midford.

Sunday 25 May

As predicted, we awoke to heavy rain which was annoying as we had planned to go to the Westonbirt Arboretum for the day, however after breakfast the rain had eased so we decided we would go.

The arboretum was started as a private project in 1830 and carried on by subsequent generations of the family over the next 130 years before being given to the Forestry Commission who now manage it. The wooded areas cover over 600 acres with trees dating back to the original plantings but there are also trees that would have been mature specimens when the project started. The trees planted are from Europe, North America, Japan and China and many of the mature trees are over 35 m. high. One area has been planted with maples from several continents and there must have been over 100 varieties of Japanese maples planted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rotary.

Another area is designated as a season’s walk with hundreds of azaleas and rhododendrons in full flower, these were nestled amongst beeches, oaks, limes or lindens as they a known in Europe and elms. As well as all the European trees in the wooded area there are many varieties of pines, spruces, cedars and redwoods together with many Asian trees, these are not single plantings but there are often three up to ten of the one variety. The forest areas contains hundreds of different varieties of trees, most of which would be over a hundred years old and is the largest collection of mature trees I have seen anywhere in the world, the copper beeches in particular are magnificent.

The weather all day threatened to rain and we had a few shower while walking through the forest but this didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the trees, though if the sun had been shining through the trees the scenery would have been glorious.

After dinner we were invited by the owners of our old house for drinks and to see the improvements they have made, we were very impressed with the changes to the kitchen and bathroom and while modern they haven’t detracted from the old style of the house. When we sold the house we gave them the plans we had drawn up to convert the old chapel into a garage with a mezzanine floor garden house which would be on the same level as the garden, they have now completed the alterations exactly to our plans.

Monday 26 May

Today is a Bank Holiday in England and unlike the last time we were in Bath we already have a car so we don’t have a car hire company wanting 50 pounds to open the office.

After lunch we drove into Bath to visit Ann’s nephew and his wife and to have a look at the improvements to their garden and house since our last visit.

They have about half an acre of sloping land with an old farm house on the outskirts of Bath, when they purchased it both the house and the gardens was in need of a lot of work. The gardens have now been completed with sweeping lawns and subdued colours of garden plants and behind a hedge is a cottage garden with stone paths and strong vibrant colours. Lower down there is a series of vegetable gardens beds each enclosed with a box hedge. Scattered through the garden are several fruit trees and an enclosure for six bantam hens, this is surrounded by a four wire electric fence to deter the foxes and badgers.

The old stone farm house has stone flag floors in the kitchen and dining rooms and hand sawn floor board in the rest of the house, they are slowly replacing the lath and plaster walls and ceilings and have just started some extensions which will blend in with the existing house. Being on the edge of Bath the view from most of their windows are open fields or their gardens, a wonderful location and no more than two km. from the centre of Bath.

Tuesday 27 May

A quick visit to our Bank and a walk around the centre of Bath and we were heading north on the A46. Our first stop was at Dyrnham Park a stately home now owned by the National Trust. There has been a house on this site since at least 1086 and the fish pond is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The last family to own it, the Blathwayt, inherited it in 1686 through marriage and William Blathwayt transformed the estate between the end of the 1600s and early 1700s and his Dutch Garden was famous throughout England. Over the years styles have changed and the gardens are now mainly lawns surrounded by garden beds and the balance of the 106 hectare park, a tranquil English landscape. A herd of deer have roamed here since 1620 when the owners received a Royal Charter granting them permission to enclose the park.

The house is the typical “country seat” multi story with walls lined with paintings and old weapons and rooms full of beautiful furniture. Downstairs the large kitchen fitted with old “appliances” and pots and huge workbenches, a feature was the old open fireplace with stand for kettles and pots and a large spit in front big enough for a whole sheep. The spit was operated by the hot air going up the chimney turning a “windmill” which was connected to a series of gears and chains to rotate it. Other rooms included a dairy room, meat storage and a bakery.

We finished our visit with tea, scones, jam and cream, the worst scones we have ever eaten, when we tried to cut them they were reduced to a plate full of crumbs which we attempted to stick together with the jam and cream. We reconciled ourselves with the fact that the profit was helping the National Trust, but someone needs a cooking lesson.

Leaving the park we drove towards Cirencester but skirted the town as our final destination for the day was Stow on the Wold. Some time after leaving Cirencester we noticed a small National Trust sign pointing towards a Roman Villa and having some time we decided to investigate it.

We had to drive about four miles along very narrow country lanes with little passing bays every now and then and arrived at the site two minutes before last entry. We didn’t know what to expect but thought it may be a few stones marking out old foundations and were very surprised to find many rooms, some with the original mosaic floors and the underfloor heating ducts. The ruins were discovered in 1864 and uncovered and roofs placed over the ruins to protect them. It is thought the house was started in 120AD and was added to over three centuries so there must have been a very large farm to require such a grand mansion. Some of the rooms included a steam bath, a dry sauna, dining room and kitchen and living quarters, in the museum is a scale model of what is thought to be a good reproduction of the complex. It was well worth the detour.

After what was probably our shortest visit to a National Trust property we continued on to Stow on the Wold an old historic village and checked in to the Youth Hostel which is in a Grade II listed 17th Century town house in the historic Cotswolds.

Wednesday 28 May

Another British spring day – bucketing down. We drove from Stow on the Wold to my cousin’s home in Nuneaton to visit his widow, Edgar having died since our last visit, but we seemed to pick up our conversation with Brenda where we left off.

Lunch in a local pub and a talk fest well in to the night completed our day.

Thursday 29 May.

Surprise; the sun is shining and a pleasant drive through the country side and a short time on the M1 brought us to the National Trust property Waddesdon.

Before arriving we didn’t know anything about it and on arrival in the village before turning into the estate, we were surprised to find ten or so magnificent Victorian houses and a large hotel, all built in the same style. These were built for staff employed on the estate.

Waddesdon Manor is a “modern” large stately home built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1874 (to 1889) and is situated on a 2000 acre property; the family gave it to the National Trust in 1956.

The 45 rooms that are open to the public are stocked with top quality 18th Century French furniture and decorative arts, much of it acquired when the previous owners “lost interest” in their possessions during the French Revolution, one dinner setting was owned by Marie Antoinette. The walls are also covered with portraits and paintings from English and Dutch Old Masters.

In the garden is a magnificent aviary stocked with many endangered species of birds, dating back to the original Baron’s collection. Some of the birds they have managed to breed have less than one hundred in the wild, a very important conservation programme.

One thing that impressed me was the wine cellars which are modelled on the private cellars at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and are stocked with many vintages from this Chateau. The current Baron now lives on another estate but uses these cellars for his collection of wines dating back to 1868. The cellars can hold 15,000 bottles and their sizes range from a standard 750 ml bottle to an Imperial which holds 6 litres (8 bottles). The annoying part of our visit to the cellars was there wasn’t a glass or corkscrew available.

We left the estate at 5:00 to drive some30 miles to Jordans Youth Hostel, a very old timber building and access to the rooms were all on the outside as were the toilet facilities and as it had started to rain, again! We didn’t dawdle from the common room to our beds, which for the first time on our travels were in single sex dormitories, Ann’s at one end of the building and mine at the other. The disadvantage of this arrangement was that the people we shared our rooms with were workers and all were up and ready to leave for work before 6:00am.

Friday 30 May

We left the hostel at around 10:00 am intending to drive to Windsor for a “look around” before driving on the Heathrow, however after taking over an hour to drive six miles we arrived at Windsor and turned around to the M4 to go to the airport, arriving six and a half hours before our flight. We are lucky to be leaving today as tomorrow there is to be a demonstration at the airport and access to the terminals will be very difficult.

We are currently sitting in the JAL Sakura lounge waiting to fly out to Japan where we will spend ten days before returning to Australia.

London to Bath and Beyond

Saturday 24 May

After breakfast we walked to the Avis depot to pick up our car and found we had been upgraded to a VW Passat with only 2 miles on the “clock”. Leaving the depot we drove up to West Cromwell Road and headed for the M4 along the A4 which wasn’t as congested as the roads into London on Tuesday.

When we merged onto the M4 the traffic speeded up for several kilometres then we saw a sign saying “traffic queued from junction 4B to 6”, which meant we were in first gear for several kilometres. After that the traffic flowed at about 100 km/hr until we left the M4 and rejoined the A4. We could have stayed on the M4 to Bath but we prefer to drive on smaller roads that pass through villages. After four and a half hours from leaving the depot we arrived at our friend’s house in Midford.

Sunday 25 May

As predicted, we awoke to heavy rain which was annoying as we had planned to go to the Westonbirt Arboretum for the day, however after breakfast the rain had eased so we decided we would go.

The arboretum was started as a private project in 1830 and carried on by subsequent generations of the family over the next 130 years before being given to the Forestry Commission who now manage it. The wooded areas cover over 600 acres with trees dating back to the original plantings but there are also trees that would have been mature specimens when the project started. The trees planted are from Europe, North America, Japan and China and many of the mature trees are over 35 m. high. One area has been planted with maples from several continents and there must have been over 100 varieties of Japanese maples planted to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Rotary.

Another area is designated as a season’s walk with hundreds of azaleas and rhododendrons in full flower, these were nestled amongst beeches, oaks, limes or lindens as they a known in Europe and elms. As well as all the European trees in the wooded area there are many varieties of pines, spruces, cedars and redwoods together with many Asian trees, these are not single plantings but there are often three up to ten of the one variety. The forest areas contains hundreds of different varieties of trees, most of which would be over a hundred years old and is the largest collection of mature trees I have seen anywhere in the world, the copper beeches in particular are magnificent.

The weather all day threatened to rain and we had a few shower while walking through the forest but this didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the trees, though if the sun had been shining through the trees the scenery would have been glorious.

After dinner we were invited by the owners of our old house for drinks and to see the improvements they have made, we were very impressed with the changes to the kitchen and bathroom and while modern they haven’t detracted from the old style of the house. When we sold the house we gave them the plans we had drawn up to convert the old chapel into a garage with a mezzanine floor garden house which would be on the same level as the garden, they have now completed the alterations exactly to our plans.

Monday 26 May

Today is a Bank Holiday in England and unlike the last time we were in Bath we already have a car so we don’t have a car hire company wanting 50 pounds to open the office.

After lunch we drove into Bath to visit Ann’s nephew and his wife and to have a look at the improvements to their garden and house since our last visit.

They have about half an acre of sloping land with an old farm house on the outskirts of Bath, when they purchased it both the house and the gardens was in need of a lot of work. The gardens have now been completed with sweeping lawns and subdued colours of garden plants and behind a hedge is a cottage garden with stone paths and strong vibrant colours. Lower down there is a series of vegetable gardens beds each enclosed with a box hedge. Scattered through the garden are several fruit trees and an enclosure for six bantam hens, this is surrounded by a four wire electric fence to deter the foxes and badgers.

The old stone farm house has stone flag floors in the kitchen and dining rooms and hand sawn floor board in the rest of the house, they are slowly replacing the lath and plaster walls and ceilings and have just started some extensions which will blend in with the existing house. Being on the edge of Bath the view from most of their windows are open fields or their gardens, a wonderful location and no more than two km. from the centre of Bath.

Tuesday 27 May

A quick visit to our Bank and a walk around the centre of Bath and we were heading north on the A46. Our first stop was at Dyrnham Park a stately home now owned by the National Trust. There has been a house on this site since at least 1086 and the fish pond is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The last family to own it, the Blathwayt, inherited it in 1686 through marriage and William Blathwayt transformed the estate between the end of the 1600s and early 1700s and his Dutch Garden was famous throughout England. Over the years styles have changed and the gardens are now mainly lawns surrounded by garden beds and the balance of the 106 hectare park, a tranquil English landscape. A herd of deer have roamed here since 1620 when the owners received a Royal Charter granting them permission to enclose the park.

The house is the typical “country seat” multi story with walls lined with paintings and old weapons and rooms full of beautiful furniture. Downstairs the large kitchen fitted with old “appliances” and pots and huge workbenches, a feature was the old open fireplace with stand for kettles and pots and a large spit in front big enough for a whole sheep. The spit was operated by the hot air going up the chimney turning a “windmill” which was connected to a series of gears and chains to rotate it. Other rooms included a dairy room, meat storage and a bakery.

We finished our visit with tea, scones, jam and cream, the worst scones we have ever eaten, when we tried to cut them they were reduced to a plate full of crumbs which we attempted to stick together with the jam and cream. We reconciled ourselves with the fact that the profit was helping the National Trust, but someone needs a cooking lesson.

Leaving the park we drove towards Cirencester but skirted the town as our final destination for the day was Stow on the Wold. Some time after leaving Cirencester we noticed a small National Trust sign pointing towards a Roman Villa and having some time we decided to investigate it.

We had to drive about four miles along very narrow country lanes with little passing bays every now and then and arrived at the site two minutes before last entry. We didn’t know what to expect but thought it may be a few stones marking out old foundations and were very surprised to find many rooms, some with the original mosaic floors and the underfloor heating ducts. The ruins were discovered in 1864 and uncovered and roofs placed over the ruins to protect them it is thought the house was started in 120AD and was added to over three centuries so there must have been a very large farm to require such a grand mansion. Some of the rooms included a steam bath, a dry sauna, dining room and kitchen and living quarters, in the museum is a scale model of what is thought to be a good reproduction of the complex. It was well worth the detour.

After what was probably our shortest visit to a National Trust property we continued on to Stow on the Wold an old historic village and checked in to the Youth Hostel which is in a Grade II listed 17^th Century town house in the historic Cotswolds.

Greenwich

Friday 23 May

Our last day in London and we caught the Thames Ferry at the Embankment Wharf to travel down to Greenwich to meet a Sydney couple with whom we have corresponded for around 15 years on family history matters. Lionel is working in London for about two years on the Olympic Games Stadium site clean up before construction starts.

Arriving at the Greenwich Wharf which is beside the burnt out Cutty Sark, this old sailing ship is currently being restored after being badly damaged by fire, a short walk to the Old Greenwich Royal Hospital which was originally built as a home for sailors in the 1700s. After we met Helen we walked around to the old Trafalgar Inn which is on the edge of the Thames and sat at a table looking out on to the river mud flats just on tide change, by the time we finished lunch the river had risen by probably by 2 metres and still rising.

After lunch we walked to the old hospital which after is ceased to be a pensioners’ residence, became the Royal Naval College and is now part of the Greenwich University. We first went to the Painted Hall which was designed as the pensioners’ dining room but when completed it was considered too grand for pensioners and it wasn’t used as a dining room until the building was converted to the Naval College. It was in this room that Nelson’s body laid in state before being taken to St Paul’s Cathedral.

From the Painted Hall we walked across to the courtyard to the Chapel which is still in use, on the wall was a list of Chaplains starting in 1732, it was interesting to note that the chaplain before the current one was a women, it had only taken 270 years for a women to be appointed.

We then walked through Greenwich old market and the village before catching a bus back to the house they are renting, it was the coach house for the house next door and has been converted into a very comfortable house. After supper we caught the bus to North Greenwich station, which is beside the Millennium Dome and travelled on the Jubilee Line back into the city.

Tomorrow we leave for Bath, hopefully to stay with friends in the village where we had our house, we haven’t been able to contact them so maybe they have left town knowing we are coming.

This may be our last posting before we arrive in Japan at the end of the month as we may not be able to access the internet.

England and the Chelsea Flower Show

Friday 16 May

Off to England today but there is no rush as the train doesn’t leave Brussels until noon and hotel check out is 11:00.

Check in at the station was similar to an airport, boarding pass through a machine to open the entry gate then all luggage through the x-ray machine and passengers through the screening machine. After collecting our luggage we proceeded to the Belgium counter for a passport check and thought next stop would be the waiting area but no we then had a UK passport check.

When we were called to board we had quite a walk along the platform as the escalator deposited as carriage 14 and we were in carriage 2. The train departed within a few seconds of the advertised time and we were soon speeding through the Belgium countryside at up to 300 km/hr.

About an hour after leaving Brussels we noticed large green chain wire fences topped with barbed wire on both sides of the line, these were built to stop refugees trying to cross to England through the tunnel, shortly afterwards we entered the “Chunnel and popped out the other side in about 25 minutes. An hour and forty five minutes after leaving Brussels we arrived at Ebbsfleet International Station near Gravesend in Kent.

Avis had our car waiting and a signature on the bottom of the form saw us on our way and we were at my cousin’s home in Maidstone half an hour later.

Saturday 17 May

The weather forecast was correct, rain! We hadn’t planned anything for today so we were content to sit around and talk; I think after all the walking we have done over the last weeks it was good to do nothing.

Sunday 18 May

We awoke to clear skies although the breeze was rather cool, we had suggested we go out for lunch so my cousin thought Port Lympne (pronounced Lim) would be a nice place to go. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up at a wild life park and not the seaside.

Port Lympne is owned by the Aspinell Foundation and has the largest and most successful gorilla breeding colony in the world. We started on their African Safari, one hour on the back of an old army truck fitted with bench seats, driving around the large enclosures with various animals roaming free. At the end of the drive we walked for about three hours past the many exhibits but decided we wouldn’t have lunch in the park but would go to a little country pub appropriately called the Tiger Inn.

The pub was an old derelict building which was purchased by the local farmers and restored and is now run as a co-operative. Lunch was nearly supper as it was after 4:30 when we arrived but meals were still being served so we had a tasty pork roast whilst .sitting in a little cosy dining room. After a pint or two we left the pub around 6:30 to drive back to Maidstone, a rather late lunch.

Monday 19 May

After breakfast we drove down to Tenterden to visit another cousin, we have done the trip many times over the years and took a wrong turn early in the trip, however the roads are sign posted so well it only took a few minutes to work out our slight detour and get back on course.

When we arrived they were baby sitting their four year old granddaughter who is called Amber, the same as our first granddaughter. Rather than eat at home we drove to a nearby garden centre which has a very nice restaurant and enjoyed our lunch surrounded by seedlings and plants. After a four hour talk fest we headed back to Maidstone.

Tuesday 20 May

After breakfast we headed for London, one problem with driving to London is if you stray into the Congestion Zone you are charged eight pounds or ten if you don’t pay by midnight. Before leaving I accessed the Automobile Association web site and downloaded three pages of instruction how to get from Maidstone to Earl’s Court. Without these instructions I doubt if we would have found the hotel as roads suddenly become one way and we had to drive in a loop to get back on the road when it became two way again.

We eventually arrived at the hotel after being directed by the instructions which appeared to have us driving around in circles, our last turn from a main road was only 200 m from the start of the Congestion Zone; well done AA. Because parking was almost impossible we dropped our luggage at the hotel and continued on to the Avis depot to return the car and walked back to check in. The hotel is only a few minutes walk from the Earl’s Court and West Brompton underground stations so it will be easy to get around in London over the next few days.

Wednesday 21 May

Today was going to be a quiet day in London as we hadn’t planned anything, I have been coming to the UK for 56 years and Ann for 33 years and over the years we have just about “done it all”. So after breakfast we set off for the museums and walking up to Earl’s Court Road we crossed over intending to walk along some quieter streets rather the Cromwell Road. When we entered the side street off Earl’s Court Road we noticed a big red “C” painted on the road and a series of overhead cameras, this was the start of the congestion zone so yesterday if we had turned left instead of right we would have incurred an eight pound charge.

Arriving at the Natural History Museum there was a very long queue and one of a similar length at the Science Museum so we walked on to Harrods to have a wander through the food hall and to have a look at the height of bad taste and an old man's delusion, the ring and wine glass supposedly used by Diana.

From Harrods we walked up to Hyde Park and watched a squad of young mounted Horse Guards soldiers being put through their paces by a drill sergeant, I have seen a “bag of spuds” ride with more style and grace, they didn’t have a clue. When they dismounted, some of them were so small and looked so young I thought they may have been on a primary school outing, but after their drill they crossed the road into the barracks, so they must have been new recruits.

From the park we walked back to the Science Museum and after about an hour realized that we covered all the floors on previous visits, so walked around to the Natural History Museum where we spent an enjoyable few hours on the ground floor in the Dinosaur and mammal exhibit, so we will have to return to check out some of the upper floors as I’m not sure which ones we have covered in the past.

For tea we decided to walk up to one of the many pubs nearby and after a meal and a beer we returned to the hotel to watch the final of the European Cup between Chelsea and Manchester United, which had started while we were in the pub and at the moment it is 3 – 2 Chelsea in the penalty shoot out.

Stop Press: Manchester United won 5 – 4 on penalties.

Thursday 22 May

Today is our day to visit the Chelsea Flower Show so we caught the train to Sloane’s Square and walked down to garden site and joined the queue to have our bags searched before we entered the show. The days of arriving at the gate to buy a ticket have long gone; all tickets are pre sold months before the event.

After entering we walked down the first lane which was lined with stalls selling everything from multi coloured or floral Wellingtons (gum boots), artists original flower drawings, statues, garden tools and seeds. After we walked along the lane we set off to view the 21 gardens designed and constructed for the show. As expected most of the gardens were designed using plants normally associated with English gardens, a large number also contained water features. It was interesting to see a couple of gardens had Australian tree ferns and other natives incorporated in their display, and the one that attracted a lot of attention was the one designed by Jamie Durie which featured 100% Australian native plants, the first time ever at Chelsea.

To quote the BBC web site; “Capturing the essence of Australia has been the main inspiration behind this year's garden design by Jamie Durie. The garden is representative of the different facets of the country with a vast sweeping and undulating deck that represents both our vast golden beaches as well as our deserts, while a stylised pool at the foreground of the design is representative of wetlands found in Kakadu. The heartland of the country is highlighted by the work of Australian indigenous artist, Gabriella Possum, at the rear of the garden. Her work is painted onto a 20-metre-long wall, which represents the deep red earth of Central Australia. Amazing Kimberley sandstone, mined from Western Australia, forms a stacked stone wall that holds the garden beds apart from the deck. The plants are all Australian natives and feature some of our iconic plants including Macrozamia moorei trees and Xanthorrhoea species typical to the Western Australian bush.”

If you want to see a video of the garden and Jamie describing it go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/show_gardens/flemings.shtml

And to view all the gardens check out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/show_gardens/

After we walked around all the garden displays we entered the huge pavilion to see the displays provided by many nurseries, bulbs, cacti, tropical plants, carnivorous plants, roses, Australian natives, liliums, just to name a few. For anyone interested in gardening the range and types of plants, flowers and vegetables were wonderful, but frustrating when we realised that while many could be grown in Australia, our water problems make it impractical to attempt to cultivate them.

After six hours of delight we headed up to Sloane Square to meet a friend for coffee before returning to our hotel.

Kent and on to London

Friday 16 May

Off to England today but there is no rush as the train doesn’t leave Brussels until noon and hotel check out is 11:00.

Check in at the station was similar to an airport, boarding pass through a machine to open the entry gate then all luggage through the x-ray machine and passengers through the screening machine. After collecting our luggage we proceeded to the Belgium counter for a passport check and thought next stop would be the waiting area but no we then had a UK passport check.

When we were called to board we had quite a walk along the platform as the escalator deposited as carriage 14 and we were in carriage 2. The train departed within a few seconds of the advertised time and we were soon speeding through the Belgium countryside at up to
300 km/hr.

About an hour after leaving Brussels we noticed large green chain wire fences topped with barbed wire on both sides of the line, these were built to stop refugees trying to cross to England through the tunnel, shortly afterwards we entered the “Chunnel and popped out the other side in about 25 minutes. An hour and forty five minutes after leaving Brussels we arrived at Ebbsfleet International Station near Gravesend in Kent.

Avis had our car waiting and a signature on the bottom of the form saw us on our way and we were at my cousin’s home in Maidstone half an hour later.

Saturday 17 May

The weather forecast was correct, rain! We hadn’t planned anything for today so we were content to sit around and talk; I think after all the walking we have done over the last weeks it was good to do nothing.

Sunday 18 May

We awoke to clear skies although the breeze was rather cool, we had suggested we go out for lunch so my cousin thought Port Lympne (pronounced Lim) would be a nice place to go. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up at a wild life park and not the seaside.

Port Lympne is owned by the Aspinell Foundation and has the largest and most successful gorilla breeding colony in the world. We started on their African Safari, one hour on the back of an old army truck fitted with bench seats, driving around the large enclosures with various animals roaming free. At the end of the drive we walked for about three hours past the many exhibits but decided we wouldn’t have lunch in the park but would go to a little country pub appropriately called the Tiger Inn.

The pub was an old derelict building which was purchased by the local farmers and restored and is now run as a co-operative. Lunch was nearly supper as it was after 4:30 when we arrived but meals were still being served so we had a tasty pork roast whilst .sitting in a little cosy dining room. After a pint or two we left the pub around 6:30 to drive back to Maidstone, a rather late lunch.

Monday 19 May

After breakfast we drove down to Tenterden to visit another cousin, we have done the trip many times over the years and took a wrong turn early in the trip, however the roads are sign posted so well it only took a few minutes to work out our slight detour and get back on course.

When we arrived they were baby sitting their four year old granddaughter who is called Amber, the same as our first granddaughter. Rather than eat at home we drove to a nearby garden centre which has a very nice restaurant and enjoyed our lunch surrounded by seedlings and plants. After a four hour talk fest we headed back to Maidstone.

Tuesday 20 May

After breakfast we headed for London, one problem with driving to London is if you stray into the Congestion Zone you are charged eight pounds or ten if you don’t pay by midnight. Before leaving I accessed the Automobile Association web site and downloaded three pages of instruction how to get from Maidstone to Earl’s Court. Without these instructions I doubt if we would have found the hotel as roads suddenly become one way and we had to drive in a loop to get back on the road when it became two way again.

We eventually arrived at the hotel after being directed by the instructions which appeared to have us driving around in circles, our last turn from a main road was only 200 m from the start of the Congestion Zone; well done AA. Because parking was almost impossible we dropped our luggage at the hotel and continued on to the Avis depot to return the car and walked back to check in. The hotel is only a few minutes walk from the Earl’s Court and West Brompton underground stations so it will be easy to get around in London over the next few days.

Ghent

Thursday 15 May

Today is our last full day in Europe so we decided to spend it in Ghent a town midway between Brussels and Brugge a distance of 58 km. The trains run every half hour and the train we caught ran express from Brussels taking thirty minutes to arrive in Ghent, when we compare the trip from Middle Brighton to the City which takes 22 minutes, it make you realise what a pathetic train system we have in Victoria and a country system that is almost non existence.

Ghent is a city that is not on the itinerary of a lot of tours but it is a city well worth the visit being a very old trading city on rivers and canals. In medieval times was the second biggest city in Europe next to Paris and with wool imported from England was Europe’s largest cloth manufacturer, it had a direct connection to the sea via rivers and canals to Brugge which was an active port, since those days the sea has retreated and Brugge is about 40 km from the sea. With the loss of access to the sea in the 1700s Ghent importance waned as it didn’t have a direct access for its imports and exports.

From the station we caught a tram to the city centre and a very helpful tourist information centre provided an excellent map and walking guide to the old town starting from the Belfry which towers over the town. As expected the route took us next to the Cathedral which is best known for its painting of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers, another church we visited in town also had a Van Eyck painting.

Our tour took us past buildings dating back to the 1500s and through many old squares, several of which had old trade guild houses from the prosperous days of the town, Masons, Tanners, Mariners and many others. We arrived at the bank of one of the rivers to find a large cannon “Mad Meg” which is 425 years old and has never fired a shot, there is a twin to this cannon at Edinburgh Castle. A little further on we entered the old Butcher’s Market, a large building with huge rough sawn timber trusses which is now used to promote local produce, an interesting feature were all the hams hanging on strings from the beams.

Further on we arrived at the Castle of the Counts originally built in 1180 and which has been restored, our entrance fee included the use of a little video unit which had actors re-enacting scenes from the days of the original count. The castle also has a display of ancient weapons and armour together with a display of instruments of torture and execution, including the guillotine which was used by the town until 1861.

The walking tour led us to several churches, all with the size and grandeur of a cathedral; we are amazed at the number of large churches, even in small towns, and wonder how the population can support them. The art works in a lot of these churches are worthy of an art gallery and in Belgium there are paintings from many of the old Flemish Masters hanging in churches.

After concluding our walk we returned to one of the rivers to take an hour’s tour along the rivers and canals around the town, this gave us a different view of the town. Just as the river tour concluded it started to rain heavily and we ran to the tram stop and managed to attract the driver’s attention before he drove off, which saved us a fifteen minutes wait in the rain. Arriving at the station we again had to run for the train and just made it on board before the doors closed and like our trip in the morning we arrived in Brussels thirty minutes later and nine and a half hours after we left this morning.

Tomorrow we leave for England on the Eurostar through the “Chunnel” and I’m not sure when we will next access the internet.