Lucerne

Friday 16th September

We have some catching up to do as we have had problems with wifi availability and it is very expensive in some places. We will have to see how we go from here, we only have this for 24 hours so we will make use of it and go back to where we left you.

Overlooking the beautiful city of Lucerne there is a 7,000ft mountain called Pilatus and we were going right to the top. We took a bus to the base of the mountain and then rode in four person gondolas for about 30 minutes which took us half way up the mountain. Here we transferred to a much larger gondola that carried about 40 people and took us in a very steep ascent right to the top. This trip is cancelled more than it is run because of inclement weather. We were blessed very sunny weather and had a clear view to the bottom. As we were ascending on the gondola we could hear the sounds of the bells that the cows wear around their necks to identify their locations and saw several chalets en route as we skimmed through and above the trees. It was a very relaxing experience. At the top of the mountain there were two hotels, one of which was used in the James Bond film Goldfinger. Although the temperature at the bottom was 24C, at the top it was only 10c, but quite pleasant in the sun. The view was absolutely stupendous and you could see the snow capped Alps disappearing further into Switzerland. While we were there we saw and heard a local gentleman playing the Swiss horn right on the top of the peak. This horn is approximately 3 a 4 metres long and the sound echoed all around the mountain. There Is a friendly dragon that lives on top of the mountain. Only one man has seen it and he died. Legend has it that if the dragon were to die or leave, then Mt. Pilates would collapse and Lucerne would be no more. As Lucerne has been there for 700 years, things seem to be working out! We saw mountain goats and deer clambering around on the extremely steep slopes – how they did so astounded me. On our return trip we came down on a cog wheel train, the steepest one in the world and it took 40 minutes to get to the bottom. It was quite an exhilarating outing!!

There is a large fresh water lake around Lucerne at the base of the mountain. It is up to 700 ft deep and legend has it that Pontius Pilate was buried there so he would have sufficient water to wash the stains off his hands. We caught a boat and toured the lake (all that fresh water makes its way eventually out through the Rhine). Many people in Lucerne build their houses facing the lake because of the wonderful views. This is a town that many famous people come to for their holidays because of its natural beauty. Nature has excelled itself in this area!!

The town centre of Lucerne is quite medieval in its layout with many original buildings adding to it’s image. Switzerland is divided into 23 cantons (equivalent to our states) each with their own Mayor and they govern themselves on local issues but come together on issues of state. A system that has worked for over 700 years. In the afternoon we went shopping then it was back to the hotel to pack and prepare for an early start next day.

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Switzerland

Thursday 15th September

The cabaret – la Nouvelle Eve – last night was exceptionally good with a surprisingly good quality meal followed by an very entertaining show. There were jugglers, acrobats and of course some very nubile dancers in various stages of undress. As we were seated right up against the stage, those dancers looked to be 9 ft tall, but were very entertaining and it was a great end to our stay in Paris.

We had an early start today as we set off from Paris, our destination, Lucerne in Switzerland.

The French countryside consisted of undulating hills that were exceptionally green, more so than England with many small farms cropping a variety of different crops some of which I recognised and some of which I didn’t. There were a number of castles along the way, some quite impressive. Apparently you can purchase one very cheaply as they are expensive to maintain. We also passed through the town where the Citroen Motor car is manufactured.

Immediately we reached Switzerland the terrain changed and got quite hilly until we eventually reached Lucerne and behind Lucerne we could see the real snow capped mountains that is Switzerland. We strolled around Lucerne which is a very old and quaint city with no cars in the old part, as the streets are too narrow and winding. It will be interesting exploring the place tomorrow.

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Grande Paris …..

Wednesday 14th September

Today we took a historical coach tour of Paris, starting off at the Bastille, which is a huge open place people congregate in for big celebrations. It is also the place where 1,700 people lost their heads during the Revolution including kings and queens – like Louis 15 and Marie Antoinette. Then we headed for the fortress that gave birth to Paris which is in fact an island in the middle of the river Seine. The cathedral of Notre Dame. Crossing over the Seine we drove into the Latin Quarter, so named because of the numerous universities situated there including the famous Sorbonne, in which students came from all over the world and were taught in the Latin language. We also visited many other historical places en route to the Louvre Museum, the largest Museum in the world. It originated as a gatekeeper outpost to collect taxes from people wanting to sell their wares in the city. It then became a fort around the 1200’s. Then Louis 13 decided to build a castle on top of the fort which they buried to raise the castle up. The four Louis who followed added wings to this castle making it into an enormous building. This museum contains quite unbelievable sculptures, paintings and artefacts going back to before Christ.

Inside we saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and many many other famous pieces of artwork. We only had time to see a fraction of what is in there and the guide said to see everything would take 4 months, 24 hours a day!! As we were leaving we came across the original fortifications discovered during renovations and they have been excavated and are on display in their original position, with an exact replica model showing you where each part of the wall belongs. We had lunch there and then got on the coach again for the Palace of Versailles.

When we approached, this just looked like a huge building. This building started out as a Hunting Lodge and took 43 years to build (stop complaining Nic and Dave!!) . It has 800 rooms and we walked through the King’s Wing and saw his bedroom, dining room and reception room. We then went around to the Hall of Mirrors, a most astonishing room that is still used even today for international events. From there we went to the Queen’s wing, (yes they lived separately, but managed to dine together once a week.). We also saw the Queen’s bed and bedroom where Marie Antoinette slept ando the secret corridor the king used for occasional nocturnal visits.

After that we walked around the grounds and gardens which were 2,000 acres of beautiful formal garden beds and trees, laid out with numerous statues and fountains.

A thoroughly informative and interesting day!!

Off to the cabaret now and early tomorrow morning we leave for Switzerland. Au revoir Paris!!

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Bon Jour!

Tuesday 13th September

Well we were up early today, packed, had breakfast and then on to the tour bus to St Pancras Station where we boarded the Euro Star train. We set off at 185 miles an hour, travelling through a lot of tunnels through England until we eventually went under the Channel. We seemed to quickly come out the other side and then travelled about an hour and a half through France to Paris. Immediately we were in France you could see a change in the architectural style of the houses. There is a distinct difference between English and French design. The countryside looked quite similar to England, though the natural vegetation reminded me so much of the old movies based in France. We eventually arrived in Paris, the station was far less impressive than the English one which has been modernised to accommodate the Euro Star and we had to wander through the back entrance to get to our coach. We were driven through the centre of Paris, past the Moulin Rouge, along Charles de Gaulle Avenue, onto the Avenue des Champs de Elysses, across the River Seine and on to the Eiffel Tower. We then took a double storey lift up to the second level and as we came out of the lift and looked over Paris, the reaction was – WOW!!! The view was absolutely amazing and would you believe we had wonderful weather again which allowed us to see all sides very clearly. Some details about the tower. It was built in the 1890’s as a highlight to an International Trade Show with the purpose of dismantling it after the Show as it was basically a useless structure. The engineer who built it was not happy with this and raised sufficient money to keep it functioning after the Show. Very soon after the Show, Thomas Edison invented the radio and needed a high structure in which to place an aerial and therefore the useless structure suddenly became very useful to France. The crowds visiting daily is testament to its popularity. It is an amazing structure.

Paris is an interesting city dating back to 200BC. It is one of the oldest European cities. An interesting feature is that in the old city centre all the buildings are six storeys high and when you look down on it from the Eiffel Tower, it has a flat appearance. There are no sky scrapers in what they call Paris, but there are in the greater Paris.

We drove round the Arc de Triomphe. This is a huge archway set in the middle of a roundabout. There are nine roads feeding into the roundabout. Now we all know roundabouts need rules. There is one rule for this roundabout and that is there is NO RULE!!! That was an incredible experience, watching cars negotiate nine lanes on a roundabout!! The whole bus cheered and clapped when the driver negotiated his way to the other side.

After the Eiffel Tower we chose not to have a late night, so booked into our hotel which is about one kilometre away from the Tower and went for a walk deciding to have dinner at a side-walk restaurant. With Jill’s minimal French we still managed to get what we thought we had ordered. Tomorrow we are visiting the Louvre in the morning and the Palace of Versailles in the afternoon and in the evening we are going to see a cabaret at La Nouvelle Eve, so unsure whether we will be up to typing a blog when we come home.

Our female Tour Director Wanda is English and seems pretty knowledgable and amusing, though we had a French guide Domenique to show us around Paris and she speaks English with a very strong French accent. The Americans on the trip are having quite a problem following her. There are 43 people on the tour and we have met two Australian families so far, but the majority seem to be Americans. Looks like it should be a good trip.

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The day before Europe

Monday 12th September….

Today we caught a cab from Earls court to the Hilton Hotel in Edgeware Road and quickly settled into our room, then found there was a tour of the Tower of London available, so decided to go on it. After a quick visit to M & S across the road and a bite to eat, we set off for the Tower of London. Saw some interesting sights on the way including Westminster Church, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is the Protestant church and built by the Crown, whereas Westminster Church was built with the pennies from the labouring Catholics.

The Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror when he came across from Normandy in 1066 and it was built with the purpose of intimidating the Saxons who lived in the City of London. It was William’s place of residence while he conquered and ruled England and continued to be the place of residence for all Monarchs until Henry V111 who, having beheaded two of his wives in the castle was haunted by the memories and moved elsewhere. We saw the Bloody Tower so named because of what took place there and went into the room where 12 year old Edward and 9 year old Richard, sons of King Edward 1V were murdered by their uncle who became Richard 111. The gate where people who had offended the King entered for imprisonment, torture and more often than not, beheading, was also of great interest and this was this called The Traitors Gate. The spot where 69 people lost their heads and were unceremoniously buried in the church right next door was a very haunting place to see. We also saw the house where Anne Boleyn(?) lived while she was imprisoned in the Tower and the 50 odd metres she had to walk to the chopping block was a haunting experience to imagine. The original chopping block that Jill saw many years ago has now unfortunately been replaced by a memorial.

Next we were off to see how people were tortured in the old days – the rack and many other gruesome methods. We went into the Central Tower to see the suits of armour that were used by past kings going back to the 14th century. They looked hot, heavy and inhibited but only went out of fashion with the introduction of the musket, as although they could deflect a sword, they were no match to a bullet. Jill got to pose with a Yeoman Guard. Apparently they don’t like being referred to as Beefeaters though that is what most people refer them as.

The highlight for a lot of people is seeing the Crown Jewels. These are the real McCoy, the largest diamonds in the world, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and gold, gold, so much gold!! We saw the Coronation Crowns that have been used for the last several hundred years. There was a Punchbowl – it stood just over a metre tall, a metre and a half wide, very ornate and made of pure gold (a rather extravagant party piece!!). We saw the plates and goblets used at the altar made once again of pure gold and The Coronation Robes that the Queen and her fore bears wore at their Coronations. It was mind boggling to imagine the value of what we saw.

The building is the oldest complete castle in the world and like Westminster Abbey is just dripping with history. Probably a little more brutal and to think that those poor unfortunate souls walked their last steps where we were walking made one ponder. Our time here was really too short to do this place justice, so we may have to try and return again if time permits.

I must mention the ravens which live in the Castle. It is believed that when they leave, the Castle will fall, so every effort is made to see that they breed and there are always 9 ravens at the Castle. The last time the Castle was used was during the 2nd World War when Rudolph
Hess was kept there for some time and also spies were shot. The Castle has not been used since and is unlikely to be used again for its original purpose.

Today we are writing this in a Starbucks Cafe and only doing it because of the help of a very lovely Lithuanian girl who works here, as we got stumped by technology once again!!! Not sure what will happen over the next week while in Europe. We will write whenever we can, but there will quite possibly be some blank days.

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A day at the markets

Sunday 11th September
Today we set off for Liverpool Street station to meet Shaun off the train from Norwich. As we were over on the east side of London we decided to see the sights. First stop – the famous Petticoat Lane. The products for sale were pretty much similar to markets in Australia, but the Market was situated in a number of streets and very crowded. Jill did end up buying a cardigan there! While wandering around the area, Shaun pointed out the historical significance of where the bodies of murdered prostitutes were found during the days of Jack Ripper. We then continued on and saw the Ten Bells Pub, where the prostitutes met and drank in those days. It is a different place today.

Walking further we came across St Leonard’s Church which was where the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons, the Bells of St Clements originated. Our older readers can finish off the nursery rhyme and explain the significance of it.

Next stop was the well known Spittlefields Market which is a very old Market, but has now been modernised and is in the area where Shaun lived in the early days of his stay in London. After visiting Spittlefields Market we wandered down to the Columbia Flower Market and here we found a very colourful display of cut flowers and plants for sale. Once again this was set up in a street and very crowded. It was interesting to see that most of the flowers on show are also available in Australia, but it was still very colourful and well worth seeing.

The last Market we visited was Brick lane, another street Market. It was here that we were introduced to the Brick Lane bakery, a London institution open 24 hours a day selling mainly bagels. You had to queue to get served it was so popular and we had their famous salt beef bagel (corn beef) which was quite yummy. They must sell thousands of them every day.

As we were getting walked out, we decided to head back and on the way passed the unit where Shaun lived for a while with Ed and his girlfriend when he had the chickenpox – it was depressing! Best we did not know this previously!

Time was running out as Shaun had to return to Chiswick and pack up and store the remainder of his belongings today, as he has given up that flat now. It seemed pointless to him to have to pay rent when he is travelling around and so he will find somewhere when his tour is over at the end of November. We had a cuppa at Spittlefields Market, then caught the tube together, saying our goodbyes at Earls Court and Shaun continued on to Chiswick. He is heading off to Nottingham tonight where the show will be for the next week. We are hoping this will not be the last time we will be able to catch up with him. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with him today.

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A quieter day

Today started off with some housekeeping, getting our laundry up to date as we won’t get a chance to do it for a while. We are catching up with Shaun tomorrow and this might be the last time we are able to see him and on Monday we move hotels in preparation for our trip through Europe beginning on Tuesday. It proved to be a good thing having a quieter day, as Jill woke up with badly swollen ankles today and obviously needed some time with her feet up.

With the laundry completed we decided to take a leisurely stroll in a direction we have not taken before. Would you believe, this took us to High Street Kensington with its many shops, so we ventured into Marks and Spencers and Jill bought a few items she needed. I couldn’t resist trying out the local pastries in their cafe and then we caught the tube back home and that was our day. We then watched the Last Night at the Proms live on TV. which was very interesting.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday. Shaun bought me a Pork Pie from the Market in Norwich as I had expressed a strong interest in trying one. My reaction was – yuck!!! But at least I have now tried one. I didn’t like the suet pastry.

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Norwich and the end of the rainbow …

We set out on one tube train and changed to the Central line and found out what it is like to travel on the tubes at peak time! When we got on the train was full, but we squeezed in. At the next station more people squeezed in and at the next station and the next! No-one seemed to get off. It was very hot and very very crowded. At last we reached Liverpool Street station where we caught the train to Norwich. This proved to be a very comfortable 2 hour journey through the East Anglia region. On arriving in Norwich we met Shaun and set off to drop off our bags at the nearby Station Hotel which was a quaint old country hotel.

We then began exploring Norwich which is a very old city with quaint streets going in all directions and little alley ways joining them. In the middle on top of a high hill is a very old Norman castle. We walked around this castle and saw how it divided the Normans and the Saxons. From there we wandered down to a Market where Jill at long last bought something ….. A pair of inner soles for her burning feet!!

Norwich seems to have a church on every other corner, each one older than the other. All constructed from amazing stonework, but the highlight was the Cathedral, a 900 year old building that survived the Monarchs changing from Roman Catholic to Protestant and back and forth destroying each other’s churches as they changed. This building was almost equal in size to Westminister with the main church and a large chapel with numerous smaller chapels built all around. The ceiling of this building would have been over 30 metres high with quite intricate Romanesque style architecture. I found it to be quite inspiring. We then continued to wander through the city and then said goodbye to Shaun who had to prepare for work later on.

In the evening we went to see the show in which he is understudying one of the male leads, called End of the Rainbow, the story of Judy Garland during a period in which she was based in London with her much younger fiancé. The lead playing Judy Garland, Tracie Bennett has just completed a six month very successful run of the play in the West End and she was absolutely superb in the role. We could see how Shaun would fit into the role he is understudying (the fiancé), as we saw a lot of resemblance to the person playing the role. We thoroughly enjoyed the play and caught up with him afterwards for a drink and I had the opportunity to try a nice warm pint of local ale. Different, but okay. He took us to our hotel, then went off to join the crew and we believe it was 4 am before he retired to his bed. Oh to be young again!

We started the new day with a traditional English breakfast – pork sausage, egg, bacon and baked beans. Couldn’t do it every day, but enjoyed it today. Caught up with Shaun about 11 a.m. and retired to a coffee house where he could have breakfast and continue to sort our iPad problems. Didn’t do much else today as we mainly wanted to catch up with him and his news. Eventually it was time to catch our 5 p.m. train back to London. So we said our goodbye’s and boarded. That’s when things began to go pear shaped. Somebody decided to ‘end it’ by train further down the line and as a result of this, stopped all trains on this line from entering London. People who do such things don’t endear themselves to passengers. When we reached Colchester we were told that because of the bank up of trains unable to get to their destination, our train was being terminated and so we had to join another train. We travelled a few kilometres, then crawled a few of kilometres more until we reached a place called Sherifield where we were once again told that this train would be terminated and we would have to join yet another train!! This one eventually got us into Liverpool Street station, an hour and a quarter later than we had expected. From here we still had to catch two tubes before reaching Earls Court and walking to our hotel. Overall it was a great trip. We very glad we got an opportunity to visit Norwich and delighted that we got to see the play and can understand why Shaun so desperately wanted to be part of it.

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A visit to LIz’s house …..

Today was spent exploring the home of Queen Elizabeth II, that is Buckingham Palace and what a fabulous day it has been!

We set off by tube to Victoria station again and walked down to Buckingham Palace, where we bought a day ticket. We began by visiting the Royal Mews – I.e. the Stables. Here we found all the coaches that are used for the different occasions. There were five horse drawn carriages some of which were very very old and included the coach used by the Queen and Prince Philip and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their respective weddings. Of course the modern Rolls Royce that Kate used as she went to Westminster Abbey to marry William was also there. We then moved on to the stables where the horses are kept prior to harnessing, though none were in the stalls at the time. They only use two breeds, one white and the other brown and they are used to match specific coaches. It takes two years to train a horse for coach work. Then we moved into a special stall in which the very ornate Golden State Coach was housed. The wheels of this particular coach alone were 7 ft tall and the entire coach was over 12ft, so massive. Every monarch who has used it has complained about how uncomfortable it is and they get coach sick when riding in it!!

After this we then moved on to the Queen’s Gallery to see a special display of Dutch masterpieces. There were paintings,L furniture and sculptures that have been collected by monarchs over the last several hundred years, including a very large Rembrandt painting called “The Shipbuilder and his Wife” which cost 5 thousand Guineas when purchased several hundred years ago. The value of everything in this Gallery would be unimaginable. For anyone who is interested in history and art works, this place would keep them fascinated for hours. We were restricted in taking photos, but I did manage to get some shots.

By now we needed some lunch, so purchased an expensive Buckingham Palace roll and cuppa and sat on the front lawn hoping Liz would come and join us, but although she was home, she was busy!!

After lunch we then went in to the actual Palace and oh boy, was it a fabulous experience! We went on a guided tour of a variety of State Rooms, each of which had a ceiling approximately 10 to 12 metres tall. Every room was different and the decoration was exquisite, from the carpet to the walls, to the ceiling, there were huge chandeliers that were 4 metres tall. We entered the palace through the doors where Diplomats enter when they visit the Queen, then moved on to where William and Kate alighted from their coach and entered the Palace and saw where they went off for dinner and a “rage party” after the Wedding. The walls of every room had massive paintings of early royalty. Then we came to the Ballroom in which I found a wedding dress – this was the dress that Kate wore to her wedding and Jill reckoned it was magnificent!!! She was very pleased to see this up close as she had expressed a desire to see it. To me it was just a dress, so you’ll have to talk to her about it for a better description!! Further on through the rooms we came into the Music Room and the Library where the Queen meets sportspeople and such when they come to visit. The Queen enters the room from her apartment through a secret door which is a bookcase that slides out to allow access. In this room there are a couple of pieces of French furniture dating back to 1340. We then sadly reached the end of our tour and left by the back door that led into the backyard – 30 acres of private grassland and garden. This is where the Queen holds Garden parties and where the royals go walking after dinner ( we think)! We took a stroll through the gardens and finally left the Palace grounds at Hyde Park Corner. This was another exciting day, full of history, magnificent art work and interesting pieces of information and we were so glad we went there.

Tomorrow we are going to Norwich to see Shaun in his play, so we may not be able to blog for a day or so. We’ll see what happens.

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Exploring locally

Today we decided to explore our local area, as this is the area that Jill lived in just after the dinosaurs left! We set off to explore the main street of Earls Court and I was very impressed with the area and could imagine living here as it is close to all amenities and has the charming London dwellings of which we have taken a number of photographs. Wimbledon is not all that far away and it is a 15 minute ride on the tube into the city. Jill then suggested we pay a visit to Knightsbrige which is a rather upmarket area. We went into Harrods, a very exclusive department store. It is divided into speciality rooms that are decorated with different themes. I was fascinated by the various food halls that were exquisitely set out with a huge array of beautifully presented foods some of which I have never heard of. Another thing that surprised me was the quantity of staff and security staff around the place. They obviously must make money to employ these sorts of numbers.

After Harrods we walked the length of the Knightsbridge shopping precinct and then back again visiting several other shops. Jill then decided to retrace her past by visiting South Kensington, which was only one stop away on the tube and we found another of the places that she had lived in during her stay in the UK. From here we walked back to Earls Court and decided our feet were too sore from all our walking, so we called it a day and returned to the hotel. That was Jill’s first opportunity for retail therapy this trip, though she didn’t end up buying anything!

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