I think the Grand Cafe is the one in the old building of the Angel coaching inn, so they have a strong case. But their date is probably wrong, as mentioned previously.
@Trudy, the weather in May can be variable, but at the very least shouldn't be too cold. Its my birth month and I've had birthdays with the temperature in the low teens and at about 30 degrees (centigrade).
If you are interested in the civil war my home town of Newark has lots of interest. Not only the afore mentioned sconce, but the governor's house where Charles I looked out as Prince Rupert rode away after they fell out with each other. When we have civil ceremonies we are quite often accompanied by Overton's Regiment of Foote, a Parliamentarian re-enactment group. They have a very fierce teenager in the group who once showed me his pike skills, and really brought home that young men like him would have been dragged from the plough to fight. The civil war museum has lots of interesting artefacts as well. Newark is 90 minutes from London on the train from Kings Cross and I'd be happy to show you around if I'm here, or if not point you in the right direction to find out stuff.
My plans for the year include two UK holidays walking in nice bits of the country (Shropshire and the Cotswolds) a quick city break in Verona and a slightly longer trip to Abruzzo. I keep on getting brochures for cruises, but I don't feel quite old enough for one of those yet.
Depending on the state of my slowly-healing ankle, I may be off to Spain again in September to walk the Camino del Norte along the north coast (what unsympathetic friends call the Club Med Camino, on account of the seaside and the seafood), albeit at a slower pace than in the past-- 10-15km/diem. I'll not reach Santiago by the end of my month, but can finish it off another time.
The alternative is to head to Lesbos to mind a friend's olive grove and feed the cat for October, than return via Constantinople. This worked out very well last October and I enjoyed the fish and the Greeks and on the way back, Turkish hospitality.
All of these places are full of coffee houses and packs of friendly cats.
@Trudy, the weather in May can be variable, but at the very least shouldn't be too cold. Its my birth month and I've had birthdays with the temperature in the low teens and at about 30 degrees (centigrade).
If you are interested in the civil war my home town of Newark has lots of interest. Not only the afore mentioned sconce, but the governor's house where Charles I looked out as Prince Rupert rode away after they fell out with each other. When we have civil ceremonies we are quite often accompanied by Overton's Regiment of Foote, a Parliamentarian re-enactment group. They have a very fierce teenager in the group who once showed me his pike skills, and really brought home that young men like him would have been dragged from the plough to fight. The civil war museum has lots of interesting artefacts as well. Newark is 90 minutes from London on the train from Kings Cross and I'd be happy to show you around if I'm here, or if not point you in the right direction to find out stuff.
@Sarasa, no idea how I ended up not seeing this post, but thanks for that information! Newark is one place I definitely want to see -- I was initially hoping we could manage stopping by there as part of our journey from London to York. That won't work out because that trip is on a Sunday when the museum will be closed, so I'm thinking I might go to Newark as a day trip while we're in London. Is it OK if I sent you a private message to ask a bit more about a things to see there, and how to get around once I'm there?
At Brisbane Airport, waiting for our flight to Osaka.
Large city airports are not the pleasant experience they used to be.
Self check-in and bag drop, multiple lines to security.
Maybe we will use the Gold Coast next time.
I think that now "It is better to arrive than travel."
Just booked travel to Paris/Brussels/Bruges. Paris is a familiar place but we’ve never been to Belgium.
Nice! We were in Paris a couple of weeks ago. If I may offer a couple of suggestions:
I would very strongly advise you to reserve online tickets for attractions NOW. My beloved and I had a difference of opinion on this (important to know: I was right). By the time we got to Paris and casually browsed through the date and time options, availability was limited. For example, on Monday we found that only two times were available for Saint-Chapelle... Friday 5:30 pm and Friday 6:00 pm. We flew out on Saturday morning.
It would have been far less stressful to book those tickets at home, with a proper keyboard and printer, than desperately tapping on our phones. Don't make our mistake.
Travel videos suggested not opting for the hotel breakfast. In our case, the hotel breakfast was delightful and I was glad we had opted for it. We didn't have to set out first thing in pursuit of food, nor did we have to eat like goblins in our small hotel room.
I envy your trip to Belgium. I'm attempting to persuade my beloved that we should travel to Austria.
Thanks @Leaf - I got serious sticker shock looking at hotel prices yesterday so advance booking advice is well taken. And I do want to see St-Chapelle - last time we saw it was 2006 about the first thing we did in Paris and in a very jet-lagged state. We’ve had some excellent hotel breakfasts in our travels but we don’t usually book them unless they are included because they are so expensive…
Thanks @Leaf - I got serious sticker shock looking at hotel prices yesterday so advance booking advice is well taken. And I do want to see St-Chapelle - last time we saw it was 2006 about the first thing we did in Paris and in a very jet-lagged state. We’ve had some excellent hotel breakfasts in our travels but we don’t usually book them unless they are included because they are so expensive…
Me and my partner have just got back from a few days in the Canaries. We didn't eat the hotel breakfast because it was horrifyingly expensive - 25 Euros pp. We bought pastries and fruit and made coffee and tea in the room.
Yes, that's always an option, and probably would have been our default. In this case, it was definitely worth it for us, in terms of time, space, and faff. YMMV
You may find yourself near a wonderful patisserie for your morning croissants, as we did. By the end of the week we had ‘the place we go to’ and ‘the place we don’t go to’!
I can recommend a YouTube channel called ‘Les Frenchies’ - a delightful couple, he’s French and she’s American. Lots of good advice for visitors.
We still have a re-usable canvas bag from the bakery where we bought breakfast when we were in Avignon.
We have booked hotels and stuff. Staying in the 11th near Republique. I actually tried to book Sainte Chapelle online yesterday but their online booking system wasn’t playing well with my iPad.
@Leaf we have a friend who lived in Vienna for a year as a student (and still speaks German with an identifiable Viennese accent). He goes back from time to time and we hope to join him sometime. Well worth it by all accounts.
We made it to London and are enjoying ourselves here. We missed the heat wave by a day but the current weather feels blessedly springlike compared to the bitter cold we left behind. Leaves on the trees! What a luxury!
Didn’t realize when we planned the trip that we would be here in the midst of the VE Day anniversary commemorations but are thinking we may go try to see the parade today. Though if it’s very crowded we may not get near. I would very much like to see the poppy installation at the Tower later in the week.
We made it to London and are enjoying ourselves here. We missed the heat wave by a day but the current weather feels blessedly springlike compared to the bitter cold we left behind. Leaves on the trees! What a luxury!
Didn’t realize when we planned the trip that we would be here in the midst of the VE Day anniversary commemorations but are thinking we may go try to see the parade today. Though if it’s very crowded we may not get near. I would very much like to see the poppy installation at the Tower later in the week.
I think (may be mistaken though) that this time round the poppy display is only inside the Tower, so you would have to pay entrance to get in to see it. Better check before you go.
Currently staying in the beautiful Hotel L'Ecrin in lovely Honfleur. Unfortunately the cobble streets are not so good for Mrs Vole's wheelchair. But the restaurant yesterday evening was probably the best in the known universe!
We moved on from London to York, which we had never visited before and absolutely loved. Then on to Wales, where we are currently staying in the nicest accommodations of our whole trip here in Llanberis, enjoying the lake, the mountains, and the gorgeous weather.
Thank you! Feeling frustrated because the two relatives we most want/need to see have decided, for reasons unknown, to drive down during the night, go to the service, and then immediately leave again for home--seven hours away.
I don't think we'll be saying more than "hi" to them.
Here in the UK I've recently been down to Gloucester. I warmly recommend The Pelican pub near the marvellous cathedral.
I've also been to Hampshire twice, home to the majority of the world's very rare chalk streams. There're only about 200 of these worldwide and 85% of them are in the UK.
It's been lovely down there with the cow-parsley in the hedgerows.
Looking ahead, God willing, it'll be a year of travels near and far. I'm off to South Wales next week for the opening night of my brother's art exhibition. I'm planning another trip to Hampshire soon (I may expand on that elsewhere depending on how things go. Let the reader understand).
I'll also be going up to Iona then hiking in the Albanian Alps in the autumn and a winter trip (summer there) to Australia with the Gamaliettes and the younger one's fiancé for a family wedding. It'll be my first visit since we were '£10 Poms' there between 1964 and 1966.
'In came the dollars and in came the cents / On the 14th February 1966' if I remember the jingle right.
Sounds like fun. Cahors is a great place for Malbec.
Indeed we found it so.
In fact, I feel spoiled for anything else as far as wine goes and I'll be looking to see where I can find some malbec from Cahors over here even if I have to pay a premium for it.
I've never had malbec from Cahors before and now I don't want to drink any other wine for a while.
In preparation for our Japan trip, I am rewatching James May’s ‘Our Man in Japan’. Having deliberately avoided anything featuring Clarkson et al, I was pleasantly surprised to find him respectful of the culture and wonderfully self-deprecating. Many laugh out loud moments for anyone familiar with Japan.
I had a wonderful time last weekend in Madrid with Scottish Voices; we sang really well, and were made to feel very welcome.
We also had some lovely food and drink, and excellent socialising. It's a beautiful city (we did an open-top bus tour), and I'd like to go back sometime.
But the heat ... 🔥 scorchio!!! It was in the mid/high 30s, which is Too Hot, and I didn't do as much as I'd have liked because I just wasn't comfortable in it.
Comments
https://flic.kr/p/2qUyssd
If you are interested in the civil war my home town of Newark has lots of interest. Not only the afore mentioned sconce, but the governor's house where Charles I looked out as Prince Rupert rode away after they fell out with each other. When we have civil ceremonies we are quite often accompanied by Overton's Regiment of Foote, a Parliamentarian re-enactment group. They have a very fierce teenager in the group who once showed me his pike skills, and really brought home that young men like him would have been dragged from the plough to fight. The civil war museum has lots of interesting artefacts as well. Newark is 90 minutes from London on the train from Kings Cross and I'd be happy to show you around if I'm here, or if not point you in the right direction to find out stuff.
My plans for the year include two UK holidays walking in nice bits of the country (Shropshire and the Cotswolds) a quick city break in Verona and a slightly longer trip to Abruzzo. I keep on getting brochures for cruises, but I don't feel quite old enough for one of those yet.
The alternative is to head to Lesbos to mind a friend's olive grove and feed the cat for October, than return via Constantinople. This worked out very well last October and I enjoyed the fish and the Greeks and on the way back, Turkish hospitality.
All of these places are full of coffee houses and packs of friendly cats.
@Sarasa, no idea how I ended up not seeing this post, but thanks for that information! Newark is one place I definitely want to see -- I was initially hoping we could manage stopping by there as part of our journey from London to York. That won't work out because that trip is on a Sunday when the museum will be closed, so I'm thinking I might go to Newark as a day trip while we're in London. Is it OK if I sent you a private message to ask a bit more about a things to see there, and how to get around once I'm there?
Large city airports are not the pleasant experience they used to be.
Self check-in and bag drop, multiple lines to security.
Maybe we will use the Gold Coast next time.
I think that now "It is better to arrive than travel."
Nice! We were in Paris a couple of weeks ago. If I may offer a couple of suggestions:
It would have been far less stressful to book those tickets at home, with a proper keyboard and printer, than desperately tapping on our phones. Don't make our mistake.
I envy your trip to Belgium. I'm attempting to persuade my beloved that we should travel to Austria.
Me and my partner have just got back from a few days in the Canaries. We didn't eat the hotel breakfast because it was horrifyingly expensive - 25 Euros pp. We bought pastries and fruit and made coffee and tea in the room.
I can recommend a YouTube channel called ‘Les Frenchies’ - a delightful couple, he’s French and she’s American. Lots of good advice for visitors.
We have booked hotels and stuff. Staying in the 11th near Republique. I actually tried to book Sainte Chapelle online yesterday but their online booking system wasn’t playing well with my iPad.
@Leaf we have a friend who lived in Vienna for a year as a student (and still speaks German with an identifiable Viennese accent). He goes back from time to time and we hope to join him sometime. Well worth it by all accounts.
He'd never been to Paris so we went over by Eurostar, spent a day there then took the train down to Cahors in the delightful valley of The Lot.
Good food, good Malbec, good walks - plus caves and prehistoric paintings and various pilgrim sites and dolmens.
It's a well wooded and lovely corner of France.
Didn’t realize when we planned the trip that we would be here in the midst of the VE Day anniversary commemorations but are thinking we may go try to see the parade today. Though if it’s very crowded we may not get near. I would very much like to see the poppy installation at the Tower later in the week.
I think (may be mistaken though) that this time round the poppy display is only inside the Tower, so you would have to pay entrance to get in to see it. Better check before you go.
Glad you are enjoying London Trudy.
Never been to York but my parents were in that part of the - now many years ago - and really enjoyed York.
I don't think we'll be saying more than "hi" to them.
I've also been to Hampshire twice, home to the majority of the world's very rare chalk streams. There're only about 200 of these worldwide and 85% of them are in the UK.
It's been lovely down there with the cow-parsley in the hedgerows.
Looking ahead, God willing, it'll be a year of travels near and far. I'm off to South Wales next week for the opening night of my brother's art exhibition. I'm planning another trip to Hampshire soon (I may expand on that elsewhere depending on how things go. Let the reader understand).
I'll also be going up to Iona then hiking in the Albanian Alps in the autumn and a winter trip (summer there) to Australia with the Gamaliettes and the younger one's fiancé for a family wedding. It'll be my first visit since we were '£10 Poms' there between 1964 and 1966.
'In came the dollars and in came the cents / On the 14th February 1966' if I remember the jingle right.
Indeed we found it so.
In fact, I feel spoiled for anything else as far as wine goes and I'll be looking to see where I can find some malbec from Cahors over here even if I have to pay a premium for it.
I've never had malbec from Cahors before and now I don't want to drink any other wine for a while.
We also had some lovely food and drink, and excellent socialising. It's a beautiful city (we did an open-top bus tour), and I'd like to go back sometime.
But the heat ... 🔥 scorchio!!! It was in the mid/high 30s, which is Too Hot, and I didn't do as much as I'd have liked because I just wasn't comfortable in it.