London

We are living very comfortably in Palace Gardens Terrace, near Hyde Park. Our terrace flat looks across to identical white Victorian-fronted buildings as far as the eye can see.

Just down the road are Kensington Gardens, which in turn becomes Hyde Park, then St James Park.

The past two days Kensington and Notting Hill have been alive with Europe's biggest street Festival, which celebrates world cultures with street parades, ethnic food and dance. The area is absolutely teeming with revelers and performers and it's one big party on the streets.

At midday we made our way through thousands of people to get to Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace and on to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. London weather is overcast and we've had some light rain, although things cleared up this afternoon when we took an open-topped bus through the city, passing the Tower Bridge, London Eye and the Temple, Cleopatra's Needle and the Embankment.

Tomorrow - the British Museum and particularly the Egyptian collection. Some of Carter's finds from the Tutankhamun expedition are housed here. Excited!

Marazion, Cornwall

Today we trekked five miles to St Michael's Mount along the coastal path.

The castle rises up rather dramatically from it's granite outcrop and is only accessible by foot for around four hours a day when the tide uncovers the causeway, allowing adults, kids and dogs to cross. (I have to mention the dogs as they accompany their families everywhere in the UK - we've seen them on the decks of riverboats, under tables in pubs and at most places where people gather.)

We reached the causeway by about 2.15 in the afternoon and around 3pm the path was dry enough to cross.  We had a steep climb to the upper reaches and our leg muscles were screaming.  Amazingly tropical plants abound on the island, as the granite rock heats up during the day and keeps the plants going through the cold nights - the gardens are really beautiful, as of course are the views back to the mainland.

Below is the mount from the coastal path, looking up at the castle from the island, and looking back to see the causeway with lots of people crossing.  We were a bit footsore last night and had to hobble over to the Admiral Benbow pub for a few restoratives before dinner.

Bath and Stonehenge

Today we are on our way to the western tip of the UK - Penzance - after three days in the old sandstone city of Bath.

Our first view of Bath is of a village of honey-coloured buildings clustered around the River Avon.  As it's late Summer here, there are a lot of boats out on the river; mostly the brightly painted narrowboats that can navigate the Kennet canal. From the window of our guesthouse we can see hot air balloons floating above the valley.

 

On our first day we visit the Roman baths in the city centre where historians believe the Celts enjoyed the natural hot springs as far back as 860BC, before the Romans came along and developed the site - hot and cold baths, ingenious piping,  mosaics, the odd temple or two. That's the 'other' J.C. seen here presiding over the baths.

  

On a day mixed with rain, sun, cloudy and sunny skies we take a trip out to Stonehenge and navigate the stone circle, listening to conjecture about the significance of the 5000-year old site. I'm leaning towards the ancient calendar theory - it seems the most likely reason to arrange the stones on the Salisbury Plain, enabling the sun to shine through the sequential arches in the circle. Dotted around the site are burial barrows, small mounds where human ashes, animal bones and trinkets for the afterlife were interred.

River Thames

Last November we started a email trail with Roy and Sue Farnham, owners of the Dutch barge the Baglady.  We were excited about travelling the Thames on the barge as sole passengers (the barge sleeps four) but arranging suitable dates was tricky.  Even then, the barge was almost fully booked for the summer with a three day window available from the 18th to the 20th August. 
This meant getting off a plane assuming no delays in transit and immediately boarding the barge; with some optimism we arranged to meet Roy and Sue on the 18th at Maidenhead, 13 miles from Heathrow along the Thames path.  Amazingly, there were few delays in flights, we got through customs and were met by our Heathrow driver by 1.30 on Saturday afternoon.  Underway and speeding along the motorway, twenty minutes on we spied the Baglady moored at Maidenhead, waiting for us to board.  

So we've spent an idyllic few days meandering along the Thames, manoeuvering through the locks, having some laughs with our wonderful hosts and taking in some stunning riverside scenery - the shady and beautiful reaches of Cookham water, with the historic Cliveden visible through the trees, the Kenneth Grahame-country around Hambleden, the broad stretches of river at Henley.  And all along the way, waving and chatting to fellow travellers on the river, all of who recognise the Baglady and compare notes about the traffic on the river,  the busy-ness of the Rewind festival at Henley, and the incredibly hot and sunny weather we've been having.

   

Highlights for us - Roy and Sue and their wonderful hospitality and knowledge of the river, waving to Rolf Harris sitting outside his house at Bray (and later getting a text to Roy's phone from Rolf), chugging the dinghy through the serene backwater at Wargrove at dusk, sitting having late dinners along the riverbank with a cool glass of wine and enjoying hundreds of great twists and turns of the river Thames.

Milan

Last day of touring yesterday. Jim and I decide to visit Milan, as getting to the italian lakes from our base here in Oleggio would take about three hours! The hotel we're staying at is about 10 minutes from Malpensa airport but is miles from anywhere else. Fortunately, the hotel's shuttle is constantly moving between the airport and our base. From Malpensa, we can catch the coach to Milan (about an hour or so's trip).

At Milan's centrale station, the metro underground takes us to the Duomo and there before us is the amazing cathedral, began in the late 1300's. The gothic spires are dazzling, and each one is topped by a statue; the highest has a gilded Madonna at its apex. Inside, the cathedral is massive; Milan's duomo is the third largest church in the world. The marble columns seem to stretch into the distance like a forest of trees. The stained glass is vibrant and lovely in an otherwise rather gloomy interior.

Close by, the Vittorio Emanuel Galleria is a collection of high-end stores, including Gucci, Furla and even Mercedes Benz, for those must-have Benz accessories! It's Fashion Week in Milan and the Galleria is busy with make-up artists, designers and models administering last minute tweaks to their collections. I feel like a dwarf next to the tall and super-skinny models and Milanese women milling about the Gallery interior.

We head out to the Castello Sforzesco, the family stronghold of the Visconti, and then Sforza families. The castello served as a defensive bulwark; against the ancient city walls it incorporated one of the Roman gates, the ancient Porta Giovia. Today, the castle houses many of the art and sculpture collections of the two families. The green park covers 47 hectares and is now a city park. There are lots of students and tourists taking a rest on the grass or on the many benches under shady trees. Its an oasis in this busy, and rather grimy city.

Lastly we visit the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a gem of a church next to the museum now housing Leonardo's Last Supper fresco. Unfortunately the fresco is not accessible without prior booking, and groups are limited to 25 people at a time. Next door, the Santa Maria delle Grazie has a beautiful cloister with formal clipped hedges; a central fountain trickles. Memorials to the Sforza family are within the church and in the cloister, and the profile of Il Moro, the "Moor" shows the strong profile of Ludovico Sforza, ruler and benefactor to Milan in the 15th Century.

Italian Riviera images

This morning we left our seafront view in Camogli (at left) to take the train to Genoa, on to Milan Centrale station, and then from the station to Milan's Malpensa airport. From there, our hotel shuttle has transported us out into the countryside in Oleggio, which is about 10km from the airport. So in all, we've spent most of today lugging suitcases on and off trains! We are now comfortable at our hotel, revelling in having Wi-Fi access again.

We found it beautiful and relaxing along the Italian Riviera; the season was just winding down after the very busy months of June, July and August. So our thoughts are May or September for an ideal holiday - good weather, less crowds and a guaranteed ocean-front restaurant table.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days, beginning with Jim on the Cinque Terre track between the villages of Riomaggiore and Manarola. The smoothness of the path is apparent here; it really is a very comfortable walk. Along the trail, some images of a very friendly gull, and looking back to the village of Riomaggiore. It's a dream landscape, isn't it?

Cinque Terre

Last night we had dinner at a local restaurant in Camogli and the seafood was fresh and delicious. There was no english spoken so it was challenging to converse only in Italian! While waiting for our food, we were intrigued by the enlarged photo montage along one wall of the restaurant showing some of the events at Camogli over the last 60 years or so.

One photo showed a statue being raised from the seabed by ropes; two scuba divers appeared to be cleaning the figure as it was being raised. Our waitress wrote down 'Cristo degli Abissi, San Fruttuoso' which, when we Wikipedia'd, we found was the statue of Christ of the Abyss, dedicated to Italy's first scuba diver who died in the late 1940's. The statue was set on the sea floor in 1954 close the monastery we had seen the day before and is 17 metres below the surface. It was raised for cleaning in 2003, hence the photographs. A similar statue has been sunk in the Caribbean and another at Key Largo in the Florida Keys. We had seen a glass-bottomed vessel hovering near the harbour entrance the day before so it must be possible to visit the site, and the visibility must be fantastic.

Today we set off for the town of Riomaggiore, southern-most town of the Cinque Terre. Our intention was to walk the trail to Manarola, an easy 20 minute walk. The sky was blue, the sun shone and it was a marvellous walk along the track, the tiny town visible along the edge of the outcrop. Along the way we stopped for many photographs as the scenery is unbelievably lovely. Trails lead down to the water's edge and it was an ideal day for a swim - 28 degrees and no breeze whatsoever.

Unfortunately the track was closed from Manarola to Corniglia due to recent rains so we back-tracked to take another look at Riomaggiore before taking our train. A stream was roaring through the town, active even at summer's end. Grapes and terraced fields surround the cluster of town buildings and we were rather keen to taste some Ligurian wine! We did stop for lunch at a cafe near the Manarola track and I had a glass of white wine, which was cool and good so I'm hoping it was local to the area.

Tomorrow we leave for Milan for our last couple of days; we are staying at Oleggio and planning a trip into the city and also a trip to the Lakes. The italian weather is expected to continue fine and we're looking forward to warmer temps when we head home.