May 20, 2016 - Tintagel Castle & Looe

Dyed dal all,

After breakfast which was again plentiful and fresh, we headed off to Tintagel parish and Kastel Dintagel a'gas dynnergh. Thankfully, the weather was dry and sunny though a bit cool. Tintagel is located on the Atlantic coast and the castle which is a ruin, dates back to 1230. The site has been occupied since the late Roman period and became a thriving Dark Ages settlement and port. In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth named it as the place where the legendary Arthur was conceived. It was almost certainly this link to the legendary hero that inspired Richard, Earl of Cornwall to build his castle here.

The climb up was once again steep and it took us a while but the effort was well worth the spectacular views you have looking up and down the coast. In its time the castle must  have been the size of a small village. The castle was built on a headland, but over the centuries the land has collapsed which gives the impression now that it was built on an island. The picture upper right is the Island Courtyard and Great Hall. To get to it you descend stairs cross a bridge then climb back up. The picture on the left is of the remains of the upper mainland courtyard taken from the island. We spent a couple of hours walking around the ruins taking photos before heading back to the town. The picture

on the right is one of the spectacular views we saw from the top of the island.

It started to spit rain so we headed to the car rather than walk around the village. Our next stop was Looe, a fishing town. The nav chick once again took us along some single lane roads and we had a few interesting moments but thankfully we did not meet much traffic.

Looe has evidence of being inhabited as early as 1000 BC and was once held by William the Conqueror. The town is centred around the harbour and the tide was out when we arrived. We both liked this little town as for us it had more character than St Ives and while busy it did not seem as crowded.

We found a pub for a late lunch, only to discover the pub only except cash, no debit or credit card service at all. We found this a bit strange given that the area caters to tourists and most of the industry except for fishing is centred around that trade.  We enjoyed a nice late lunch and wandered around the town a bit. My back was now killing me with two days in a row of steep climbing so we headed back to the B & B. It was late in the afternoon and while things are relatively close the roads make travel time longer. Once again we traveled some interesting roads and were very lucky to see sheep being moved from one pasture to another. They were being herded by a SUV rather than dogs which was interesting. The sheep must be used t it as they ran ahead of the vehicle and remained together.

Back at the B & B we relaxed and were in bed early as all the fresh sea air and climbing had been tiring.

Duw genowgh hwil,

Sandy & Fred

May 19, 2016 - Marazion, St Michael's Mount to St Ives

Dyed dal All,

We were up early and after a very hearty breakfast especially for Fred, as he had the full Cornish breakfast which consisted of bacon, egg, sausage, baked beans, tomato and special type of Cornish sausage that to me tasted a bit like haggis.  I had poached egg on english muffins. There was cereal, fresh fruit salad and toast with juice, tea and coffee all freshly made to order.

We headed off to Marazion, a small village from which you visit St Michael's Mount or in Cornish Karrek Koos yn Koos which means " hoar rock in the woodland". We arrived just after 10:30 and as the tide was out we were able to walk across the bay on the causeway. It is man made from granite setts. The picture above on the left shows St Michael's Mount from the beach in Marazion and the one below to the right is of the causeway taken from the top terrace of the castle.

There is evidence on the island that people lived there in the neolithic era when it was once part of the mainland before the bay was flooded. Radiocarbon dating on the remains of hazel wood found at low tide have them dated to about 1700 BC.

The island was once a priory, then an abbey before it reverted to the crown. It is historically the Cornish counterpart to Mount Saint- Michael in Normandy France. There is a great deal of history around the site with it changing hands numerous times. It was sold to Colonel John St Aubyn in 1659 and remains in the family today.

The climb up to the castle was very steep, on uneven granite stones and not for the faint of heart. Thankfully, it stayed dry as I would not like to be climbing up or down the wet stones. With quite a few rest stops for me I finally made it to the castle. The climb was well worth it. The mount has been conquered on a number of occasions, and I really wonder how. A soldier in full armour would be exhausted by the time they reached the summit. Most of the interior has been refurbished in the mid to late 18th century to make it a more comfortable domestic home. The picture on the left is the Chevy Chase. It was once a refectory for the priory and the main dining room for the family until 1950's. We spent a good couple of hours exploring the castle, church  before heading back down to the causeway.  The tide was just starting to come in but we were able to cross the bay back into the town using the causeway. The island is one of 43 unabridged tidal islands in Britain that you can walk to from the mainland. St Michael's Mount is also home to some 34 families as well as Lord St Leven, a descendant of St Aubyn.

Back on the mainland, we did a walk about of the village and stopped in one of the local pubs for a drink. By the time we headed back to the car the tide had covered most of the causeway as you can see by the picture on the right. To get to the island now, you have to take a boat, for a small fee.


While at the castle we came across the most miserable man ever. He was very loud and kept saying he doesn't know why people bother taking pictures, what was the purpose and rushed his wife along. He repeated the same thing in each room and was still carrying on as we departed. I really had to bite my tongue everytime we came across him. Unbelievable and I kind of felt sorry for his wife but only kind of because I certainly would not put up with him and his attitude.

We now head along the coast to check out the little fishing village called Mousehole. There was not much worth noting here. As it was now raining, we did not stop to walk around but we wanted to check it out given it's name. From here we headed out to Lands End. As you drive toward Lands End there is a pub which has a sign "The Last Pub in England". Then as you leave Lands End its sign says"The First Pub in England". With the rain and a heavy mist that rolled in we couldn't see anything so we just turned around and continued on our way heading to St Ives a very popular seaside town. The nav chick we discovered really liked to take us along single lane roads. While everything in Cornwall was relatively close, travel takes time due to the narrow roads. St Ives is a pretty seaside resort town once a fishing village it has a harbour and is already very busy. There is a ton of little stores selling everything you can think of for a resort town. We wandered around for a while before heading back to the B & B. The last picture is of St Ives taken from the harbour. We were somewhat disappointed in St Ives, I think partly because of all the hype we have heard around it. It was crazy busy and rather commercial. We decided to eat at the pub next door to the B & B again before relaxing and and planning for Fridays exploration.

Duw genowgh hwil,

Sandy & Fred

May 18, 2016 - To Cornwall and Lanhydrock

Dyed dal All,

The drive to Cornwall was rather nice considering I do not like motorway (or highway) driving at all. We were travelling on a combination of motorway and A class roads and the truck traffic was not that heavy. We stopped at Lanhydrock or in Cornish, Lannhedrek which means church closure of St. Hydrock. The estate originally belonged to the Augustinian priory of St. Petroc at Bodmin. The dissolution of monasteries in 1530 saw the land pass into private hands. Then in 1620 Sir Richard Robertes, a wealthy Truro merchant purchased the property and began building the Victorian home we see today. The picture above to the right is of the main gate entrance to the estate and dates back to the 17th century. The house was designed as a four sided building around a court yard. Sir Richard died in 1624, so the work was carried on by his son Sir John Robartes who was the 1st Earl of Radnor and a notable public figure. In the 18th century the west wing was demolished leaving the U shaped house we see today. In 1881 a major fire destroyed the south wing and severely damaged the central range of the house.

The only part of the home not affected by the fire was the north wing and the long hall which is pictured on the left. There were 50 rooms to meander through and we spent a good three hours walking through the house, the church and a bit of the gardens. We had a good laugh as we came across a large Canadian Moose head on display which Sir Robert's had hunted in 1914.

Done with the house we headed off to the church and then a short tour of the gardens near the house. Overall, there are 890 acres of grounds.

Pictured on the right is one of the many colourful Rhododendron bushes. We now headed off to Ladock and the Bissick Old Mill which will be our home away from home for the next four nights.
Our host Patrick checked us in and made me a much needed cup of tea. We had dinner at The Falmouth Arms, a pub next door to the B & B. The food provided was very upscale for a pub.

The last pic is of the B & B our home away from home.

Duw genowgh hwil all,

Sandy & Fred

May 10 - 17, 2016 - Cheltenham and Fairford

Greetings All,

On the 10th we headed to Cheltenham to dog sit our little doggie nephews while John and Adrienne headed off to Madrid to celebrate their anniversary. The 11th, we spent the day with John and Adrienne before they headed off and visited a Whiskey Bar in the evening, one that I had wanted to go to for a while. They have a very good selection of whiskeys, reasonably priced, and I sampled one from Scotland and one from Japan. After John and Adrienne had set off, our first few days were spent relaxing, with me enjoying the sun and getting some vitamin D.  There were a couple of places we want to visit; a pub and a castle but elected to pass on these as the BBC were filming a movie at the castle and not all areas would be open and some rooms would have been decorated for the film. We have had previous experience with this at another manor house we had visited and would rather visit the castle when there is no film crew on site.

May 13th we headed off to Fairford, a market town in the Cotswolds. The church we visited was St. Mary's pictured on the left. There has been a church on this site for 1,000 years with this one dating from 1490-1497. In the Doomsday Book Fairford and a priest are mentioned so the church dates from early saxon times. On the west side of the tower are some remaining traces from the original church. The church is home to the only surviving complete set of themed medieval stained glass windows in the UK. The windows had not long been installed when the upheaval of the 16th century reformation threatened them. There were clear orders in Edwards VI's reign to rid churches of all idolatrous images. This lead to the destruction of glass throughout England in the early 17th century. It is unclear how the windows survived the orders. A couple of theories exist including the  influential people in the congregation somehow protected them and the windows were whitewashed to hide them.

There are 28 windows in all that tell the story of the bible with one of the windows pictured on the right. Ironically, it was an "act of God", a severe storm in November 1703, that damaged some of the windows on the west side of the church. The storm went through the south of England resulting in a lot of damage and loss of life. The windows were repaired as best as they could, and in the middle of the 19th century there was a move to repair the Great West Window and a company called Chance Brothers of Smethwick took away the top half. Instead of repairing it they replaced it. Unease about this and the replacement of two of the apostles led to a halt to anything but careful mending of leads and limited restoration. In 1986 Keith Barley was commissioned to do a full restoration and preservation of the windows and work was completed in 2010. The medieval glass is now protected from the outside elements by clear glass and inside condensation is avoided through air circulation on both sides of the glass. The steward on duty, a lady named Jo, gave us some history on the church and also directed us to a nearby old mill on the River Coln. As well, I chatted with Heather who had just finished a floral arrangement for the church and was quite pleased when I asked if it is OK to take a picture of it.

We walked through the Church cemetery, down to the river and mill and came across a cygnet and it's mother. We did a quick walk around the village and decided to head off to find a place for lunch.
We stopped at a pub called The Swan in the village of Southrop were we had a late lunch. The food was excellent, the portions generous and good real ales on tap. While driving about the Cotswolds there were a number of flax fields which give the countryside a beautiful gold and green pattern. Sadly there were no safe spots to stop and take pictures to show the true beauty of the fields. The following day we enjoyed another day of sun relaxing with the boys before the weather turned cool with John and Adrienne returning home on the 16th.  

 Cheers now we are headed off to Cornwall.

Sandy & Fred

April 15 - 16, 2016 - Last Day in Vienna and Home

Guten Tag meine freunde,

15 April was our last day in Vienna and we visited the Belvedere Palaces, Upper and Lower, and the Winter Palace. The picture above on the left is of the Upper Belvedere Palace. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel and we soon knew why the palace is called the Upper Belvedere as we were continually walking up hill to get to it. Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), the most celebrated of the Habsburg generals due to his defeat of the Turks in 1683, had the palaces built in 1714-1723 by the architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrant as a summer residence with the money he received as a reward for his victories during the Spanish Succession. It was one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken by a private individual. The picture above on the right is of the entrance and one of the magnificent support statues in the palace known as the Sala Terrane. The palaces are now home to the Austrian National Gallery. We were in one of the rooms and I was taking pictures and was approached by a guard saying no pictures. We had not seen the sign as we entered into this side room. I apologised but did continue to sneak pictures as we were more interested in the palace rooms themselves as opposed to the art they housed. The picture below on the left is of the Marble Gallery. The one below on the right is of the French-style gardens that link the Upper and Lower Palaces taken from one of the rooms in the Upper Belvedere Palace. It appears that the guards did not care about pictures being taken of the outside from within the palace.

From the upper floor of the palace we got a fantastic view of Vienna and I spotted a green dome with gold crosses and peaks. Upon asking the guards what the building was, they were not able to tell us. We continued our exploring and then walked through the gardens making our way down to the Lower Belvedere. The gardens are in the French style with marble statues and a beautiful fountain a little more than halfway down the gardens. We stopped to take a number of photos and before entering the lower palace we treated ourselves to the most decadent ice-cream cones we have had in a while. I enjoyed an extremely rich chocolate cone while Fred had a hazelnut cone. One scoop was more than sufficient.

The Lower Belvedere only had a few rooms that showed its former splendour, such as The Hall of Grotesques and the Golden Room as pictured on the right, it is really an art gallery with pictures by famous artists such as Gustav Klimt. While we have enjoyed the palaces we are a bit disappointed as the rooms were not as opulent as we had expected. We did not know if this was due to deterioration over the centuries or damage during the war.

I was determined to locate the green dome we had seen from the Upper Belvedere as it looked very interesting and no one in either of the palaces could tell me what it was. We walked for a relatively short period and Fred finally spotted the dome down a side street just as we are about to give up. We walked a couple of streets over in a very quiet area and came upon the most beautiful church, a Russian Orthodox Cathedral. We took pictures but did not enter as there were men working on the outside and on stairwell of the church. The church is pictured below on the left.

We now headed off to the Winterpalais, but decided that lunch was in order as the palace was just 10 minutes away from our hotel. One cannot visit Vienna and not experience proper Weiner Schnitzel. Mine came with sweet potato chips. The chips were not what I was expecting but the schnitzel was delicious. We also shared an apple strudel which was warm and better than anything I have ever made.


Full and legs rested we now walked to our final site for the day the Winterpalais. Other than the spectacular stairwell the winterpalais was very plain and mainly an art gallery. We headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest before we headed out to a concert, our final event before preparing to head back to the UK.

The concert we attended was held in The Kursalon, built in the Italian Renaissance style between 1865-1867. It was here that Johann Strauss Jr earned his title as "Waltz King". The concert we attended celebrates the music of Strauss and Mozart with dance and opera singers.

The last two pictures on the left are of the chandelier that rotates slowly when the music is playing and the music hall. For me this has been the highlight of our celebration of Fred's birthday.  We headed back to the hotel to have a light meal and drinks before heading to our room to pack.

The 16th we forgo breakfast at the hotel and headed to the airport. At the airport we checked the departures board for our gate and headed for what we thought was security. We scanned our boarding passes and walked directly into the duty free area. After that came passport control. At this point we were a bit concerned as we had not seen a security check. Our concerns were put to rest as the security check was right at the boarding gate. A great idea as you go through security at the time of your boarding call. We did come across a unique feature while we wondered around the airport, a smokers chamber or glass room with vents that were for those who smoke and cannot go without for a few hours.

Our flight back to the UK was non-eventful and clearing customs in the UK took forever as they had only agents on duty for Non EU passports. Once cleared we were on the road and home in a good four hours, a much better drive home than our drive down.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog stay tuned as we have a short trip planned in mid May .

Auf Wiedersehen,

Sandy & Fred

April 14, 2016 - Happy 65th Birthday to Fred. In Vienna to Celebrate

Grüb Gott All,  

As you have guessed today is Fred's birthday and we were up handily and headed out to Schloss Schönbrunn via public transit. For 2.30 euros we could get the tram and then the train that took us to the outskirts of the city and the Palace. We got on the tram and tried to purchase our ticket from the driver who pointed to the back and a box. A passenger pointed out the box to us and I proceeded to drop my coins into the box and nothing happens as it keeps returning my coins. Fred finally sorted it out and I laughed saying typical tourist. By the time we sorted out out tickets we thought that we are at our stop, we got off the tram only to find out it was one one stop too soon. Thankfully it was just a short walk to the next stop and the train.

Schloss Schönbrunn is the former summer residence of the Habsburgs. It was build on land acquired by Maximillion II in 1569. It was a wooded area outside the city and during the Turkish Siege of 1683 the woodland was destroyed leaving the land available to build on. The palace was built between 1695 and 1713 to the designs of architect Johann von Erlach. Today, however, little remains of his original plans. The Empress Maria Theresa ordered most of the interior be redesigned in the Rococo style  and the facade was altered in 1817-19 when it was painted the characteristic Schönbrunn yellow. The picture above on the left is of the back of the palace taken from the garden. Picture taking was not allowed in the palace and they were really strict on the matter so we purchased a couple of postcards of the three rooms we were most impressed with. They were also strict on the number of people entering at any one time. Tickets to enter the palace are time-stamped with your entry time, which is strictly enforced.

The picture on the right is of The Great Gallery in the Palace. We did a walk about in the gardens, which we imagine must be very pretty in the summer but we were just a bit early in the season to see much other then the bare beds, the fountain and  the Gloriette that overlooks the gardens. To see more picture's of the gardens check out my Facebook wall. We spent a couple of hours exploring the palace and grounds and then headed back into Vienna for some lunch and libations.

The picture at the top is the birthday boy enjoying a brew while we had lunch at the Billabong Bar which was near our hotel. Rested and tummies full we headed off to explore an area that I saw earlier in the day when we got off the tram, which looked interesting.  It was a fountain that I saw in the distance and behind it was the Soviet War Memorial, pictured below.

With sightseeing done for the day we headed back to our hotel to relax, download pictures and get ready for the big game tonight. We had booked a table in the Champions Sports Bar that is part of the Marriott for the Liverpool vs Dortmund game, one that Fred would have bought tickets for had we been home.  As I said before the Austrians love their footie so we were looking forward to a exciting night being Liverpool supporters among a great number of Dortmund supporters. It was an all you can eat buffet that consisted of various salads,wings, ribs, chili, lasagna, nachos and burgers. A lot of food for 17 euros each and the bonus was the drinks were cheaper than in the hotel bar because it was a sports bar.  It was a fantastic atmosphere and a perfect end to Fred's birthday as Liverpool beat Dortmund to qualify for the semi-final of the Europa League.

Auf Wiedersehen,

Sandy & Fred

April 11 - 13, 2016 - Vienna and Birthday Celebrations

Güten tag meine freunde,

April 11 we were off to Vienna to celebrate Fred's 65th birthday. We started by driving to Gatwick airport as flight times were much better than those leaving from Manchester and they were also cheaper. The drive down was a long 5 hours as the traffic was horrendous and I am sure very tiring for Fred. There were for me a few holy shit moments as a passenger and there was a truck that drove very dangerously darting in and out of lanes at the last moment. It was unfortunate that the truck did not have a number that asking"how is my driving" as many do in the UK because I would have taken delight in telling the company what I thought of the driver.

Our flight from London to Vienna was just over 2 hours and non eventful. We were off the plane and out of the airport quickly as we only had carry on luggage only and customs was a breeze.We took the City Airport Train (CAT) into the city which was a short 16 minute ride then a 10 minute walk to our hotel. Once checked in we headed out to stretch our legs and check out the park that was across the road from the hotel. The picture on the top left corner is of a statue of Johann Strauss. The one on the right is of the floral clock with the Kursalon Palace in the background.
We walked around the park for a while and then headed back to the hotel for dinner and plan out our strategy for exploring the city on the 13th.

We had a leisurely breakfast before heading out around 9:00 am. Our hotel was very conveniently located near the city centre and made walking to all the major sites, with a few exceptions, very easy. First, we headed off  towards Hero's Square. The buildings are all very ornate. It was a lovely day already, sunny and warm. Our first stop was the Spanish Riding School. Sadly, there were no shows until Saturday and Sunday and by then we will be back in the UK. We did, however, see some of the horses as they were being lead to another building.

The picture on the left is of the Swiss Gate which, we passed as we entered Hero's Square. There was so much to see and photograph that you will have to check out my Facebook Wall to see everything. There were numerous statues around the city to Archduke Charles and while in the Hero's Square we saw two that date at different times of his reign. We continued our walk stopping for many photo opportunities along the way.

Fred kindly poses and salutes in a guard box as we enter the Josefs Platz. Our next stop was Stephansdom located in the heart of the city and is Austria's finest Gothic edifice. The foundations of the original church date back to 1147 but the earliest surviving features today are the 13th century Giant's Door and the Heathen Towers. The church suffered severe damage during WWII bombings, but the rebuilding was a symbol of hope as the country emerged from the ashes of the conflict. This church can be seen above on the left.

Our walk took us through the Museum quarter and then lunch before we visited the Karls Kirche. This church was built  in honour of St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) who was the patron saint of the fight against the plague. The plague in 1713 took more than 8,000 lives and in the same year Emperor Charles VI (1685-1740) vowed to have the church built. In 1716 the foundation stone was laid. The construction took over 20 years to completed was consecrated on October 28,1737.

The interior of the church is magnificent, but personally I think what detracted from its beauty was the installation of an elevator and stairway that took you to the top of the cupola.

The pictures to the left and right are of Karls Kirche. The outside and the beautiful fresco on the cupola. We took the elevator up and Fred made the walk up the staircase to get closeup shots in the cupola.

We stopped and had a bit of refreshment at the Billabong Bar on Parkring before heading back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We covered a lot of miles today with a good 8 hours of walking. We could not have asked for a better day 20C and sunny. The hop on hop off bus was rather expensive, especially when you consider most of the major sites are clustered close together and were within walking distance.

We had wanted to have supper in the sports bar, but as there was a Champions League match on that night and the Austrians are big footie fans bookings were required. So it was supper in the bar at the Marriott. It has been a full day with a lot of ground covered. So bedtime and an early start for Fred's big day!!

Auf Wiedersehen,
Sandy & Fred