February 25-26, 2012 - London Walks

Greetings All,

After a bit of a lie in and breakfast we headed out to Covent Garden by way of the tube as I wanted to shop at Carluccio's an Italian restaurant and store to get some truffle oil that a couple of recipes I wanted to out try asks for.  We also popped into the Apple store as Fred wanted to check out a Apple iMac and I was looking for a stylus to use with my iPad.  The picture on the left is one of 200 Faberge Eggs that are situated around London as part of the Big Egg Hunt which lasts for 40 days until Easter.  On our travels today we spotted 5 eggs; only a hundred and ninety five to go LOL.

As it is a beautiful day we walked through St James's Park, and it is quite busy.  The daffodils are starting to bloom along with the crocus that are coming to a end.  Even the crane on the right is enjoying the sun basking on the shore of the lake in the park.  We continued on covering old territory but we always seem to come across something new.  We stopped in at the Gallery a local pub near John and Adrienne's flat.  Since our last visit at Christmas the inside has been upgraded and it has a new food menu that looks quite good. We sat outside and enjoyed a pint of bitter and 1/2 pint of cider before heading back to the flat for the evening.


February 26, 2012,

The boy headed off to Wembley for the Carling Cup Final, Liverpool versus Cardiff City.  I headed out for a walk along the Thames; the weather was once again beautifully warm and sunny.  The Southbank which is on the Thames was absolutely jammed with people all out enjoying what Adrienne had told me was the first real warm spring day.  I continued walking all the way to Borough Market about a 3.5 mile walk.

I came across four more eggs and as the tide was out there was an area of beach where sand sculptures were being done.  The picture on the left is of an old style ship and face.  The other which I posted on Facebook was of Batman and Robin looking quite gay sitting on a couch. It took me about 2 hours to reach the market with the crowds being quite thick in some places.  As well a lot of the walkway was torn up or under repair in preparation for the Queens Jubilee and the up coming Olympics.  With the crush of people out today just due to the amazing weather, I really hate to think of how busy London will be once the Olympics arrive.   I decided       
against walking back to the flat along the Thames and took a water taxi from the Tate Modern to the Tate Britain which is more or less just around the corner from the flat. The fee was very reasonable and you can use the Oyster Card which is travel card for the transport system in London.  It was a nice relaxing ride away from the crowds that took about 15 minutes from Tate to Tate.  While walking back I managed to fall because I was not paying attention to where I was walking.  A nice young cyclist stopped and helped me up ensuring that I was okay.  I reassured him all that was hurt was my pride.  I went down so fast that I did not get a chance to tense up so I did not hurt myself and was only slightly embarrassed falling on a busy street.  I decided to have a late lunch as Adrienne and I are meeting up with the boys at around 8:00 p.m. for supper at the Cask another pub in the area.  So I visited the White Swan and enjoyed a nice large glass of merlot, barbecued chicken wings and garlic cheese bread.  The wings were the best I have had since leaving Canada other than the ones I have made myself.   Adrienne and I met up with the boys for a celebratory supper and drink as Liverpool had won the Carling Cup.

Monday we headed back to Liverpool with hopes of visiting Chirk Castle in Wales, however, the weather did not co-operate so we headed directly back to Liverpool after enjoying a great 5 day mini vacation.  We hope that you have enjoyed this portion of our blog.

Ta ra,

Sandy & Fred

Feb 24, 2012- London Bound via Winchester

Greetings All,

Today we headed off to London with stops in Bath and then Winchester.  We had passed a Gypsy camp the previous day but due to traffic could not get a photo.  We are able to pull over and took a couple of photo's much to the anger of the resident.  He shouted at us and gave us the finger a number of times so a couple of very quick takes as I did not want to upset him further or risk getting shot at.  I had heard about gypsy camps from one of Fred's aunts but never dreamed we would see one especially in the Cotswolds.  We only stopped briefly in Bath as we had toured the town extensively last year.  I wanted to check out Kitchens, a shop Fred's cousin recommended.  After our brief stop we headed to Winchester,  home of Winchester Cathedral.

We took the back roads and came across a number of signs for Tank Crossings as posted on the right. Unfortunately I did not realize that someone had written on the sign as it was one of a number that we came across but traffic made it impossible to get a picture. 

Winchester developed from the Roman Town, Venta Belgarum and was once the capitol city of England.  The Cathedral is one of the largest in England with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic Cathedral in Europe.  The cathedral was originally founded in 642 and was known as Old Minster.  Construction of the existing cathedral began in 1079 and was completed on April 8, 1093.

The picture on the left is of the ceiling of the nave.  It continues to amaze us the quality and craftsmanship of the builders of the time who only had basic hammers and chisels for stone work.  Much of the limestone used to build the cathedral came from The Isle of Wight.  When Henry VIII declared himself the head of the Church of England the cloister and chapel house were demolished but the cathedral remained.

Many important historical events took place in the cathedral from funerals, coronations and marriage of various kings and queens over the years.  Jane Austin was buried in the cathedral and the picture on the right is her marker

As well around the choir there are a number of mortuary chest that house the
remains of Saxon Kings that were first buried near the Old Minster.  These remains cover the years 611 to 1100.  Additional pictures will be posted on our Flickr site as there is not enough space on blog to allow for the posting of all of them.  We spent a good hour and a half exploring but due to our late arrival things were shutting down for the day, so we missed out on visiting the crypt and treasury room.  After wandering around the old part of Winchester, we had supper at the Royal Oak, a quaint little pub that was quite busy.  Winchester is a place that I think is worth a revisit to explore more of the old town.

We next headed to London for our weekend with John and Adrienne as the boys are off to the Carling Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.  For me the drive is very nerve wracking as it was dark and I hate driving at night even as a passenger.  We arrived safe and sound in time to hit the local pub for a nightcap.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

February 23, 2012 - Lacock Abbey & Village

Greetings All,

After a good breakfast we headed off to the county of Wiltshire to visit Lacock Abbey and Village.  The Abbey was founded early in the 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian Order.  The countess laid the first stone on April 16, 1232 and the first nuns were veiled in 1232.  The Abbey prospered until the mid 16th century when Henry VIII dissolved all monasteries and sold the Abbey to Sir William Sharington who converted it into a house and demolished the church portion of the abbey.  We were fortunate  as the crocus and snowdrops were in bloom as seen in the picture on the left hand side.  In addition there was an art exhibition by Derek Kinzett, a wire sculptor, called Inner Spirit.  The picture on the right is titled "Wood Spirit" and the scuptures were scattered around the grounds.  The Abbey while now a ruin is in very good shape and we can see remnants of some of the

paintings that once adorned the Sacristy. The picture on the left is of the warming room the only place in the abbey that would be heated for the nuns.
The cauldron is made of bell metal and was made in Belgium in 1500.  We spent a good two hours exploring both the ruins and the house.  The property passed to the Talbot family in the 1750's. The main hall of the house has a large number of terracotta statues around it that depict religious and historic figures as well as residents of the house.

Lacock has been used as a film location for a number of films the most notable being The Harry Potter series Chamber of Secrets and Half Blood Prince. With both of the pictures of the bottom being in the films.

We explored the village and stopped for a pint and 1/2pint in the pub before heading back to The Lamb Inn.  On the way back, we stopped for some photo's in Bilbury another quaint village that is about 15 minutes from Burford and looks like another great place to stay with the Swan Inn which is part of the Cotswold Inn Family being at this location.  Back at the Lamb we relaxed before having supper in the pub again good food but pub fare and not as elegant as our first night.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred