Our London and Cambridge Adventure between Christmas and New Year 2015

Following our trip to Italy we spent several days in Roydon, Essex, enjoying the balmy winter weather, family, life in a small village, and the local pub fare.  However whenever we left this quiet sanctuary, it seemed as if all the London crowds travelled with us!  For example, we travelled by train to the Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford but by lunchtime all of London was there too! On another day we secretly escaped to Cambridge – but that did not work either!  Crowds of locals and tourists were everywhere, resulting in queues to get into the famous Eagle Tavern with its world famous ceiling in the RAF bar, the room in which the 'secret of life' was announced and even its own ghost!

 There was a crowd at the Ronald Searle exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum which was not helpful when viewing his and the works of other caricaturists of the 20^th century.  A magnificent building that the Fitzwilliam Museum is housed in – we did not have time to view all the works – but the décor was quite something.  A day of wandering around, lunching at the famous Fitzwilliam Café  - luckily we did not have to queue here to enjoy their delicious food – was ample to get a feel of this renowned University City. Sadly, not one of the University buildings was open for us to inspect, nor was the Polar Museum, which was recommended to us.

Back in London we travelled several times into the central city, to Foyles Bookshop, Rays Jazz Shop – both in new, better designed buildings, shopping, and strolling along in the early evening, enjoying the beautiful Street Christmas decorations.

On our last full day in London, which happened to be the first rainy day of our holiday trip so far, we decided to visit the British Museum. However all the London crowds were there first…… We joined the quickly moving queue into the building and enjoyed a lovely lunch upstairs before enjoying the exhibits.

Most notable of the items we had time to see was the Rosetta Stone and the story of hieroglyphs and the Parthenon sculptures gallery. We would certainly return to the British Museum and view more of its exhibitions!

Last day in Pisa, and Italy, and the Ryanair Adventure

Up the leaning tower of Pisa to view the hazy city, a crazy pose in front of the Leaning Tower – a must, apparently after watching everyone else do so - visiting the cathedral, a walk around the Pisa's Cathedral Square and it is time to depart or the Galileo Galilei Airport.

 Uh oh, what a scene – why are the xray machines not working?  Why are there crowds standing around not moving? Delays?  Cancellations ?? Fog???  We never saw any clouds – just distant haze….  Old radar?  Over cautious pilots?  We spoke to many interesting people during our long wait – and heard about lives, families, work etc and the inconvenience.  Very late in the evening we were all informed that there would be no more flights and that there were stretchers upstairs. Really??? Sure enough, a large room was crammed with them, each stretcher accompanied with a thick orange plastic wrapped blanket.  This was not good enough!  Wait, our flight is being called – a bus to a hotel?  That’s better!   After travelling for an hour, at 2.30am we arrived at a Novotel Hotel at an airport north of Florence.  At this striking but very old hotel, we were quickly registered and departed to our warm room of 2 single beds with one small pillow each and a very stained, cigarette butted carpet, for 4 hours sleep before breakfast and an hour’s trip back to the Pisa Airport.  London, here we come 18 hours later – at last!!!!

Rae's impression of our Italian Adventure so far (December 2015)

Italy is always different - seasons, weather, circumstances why people visit...
Here are some brief comments on this visit so far...... this relates to the East - from Trieste to Florence.

Coat of choice – puffer – many styles

Accessories of choice   - medium sized dogs

Pot plants of choice – Bougainvillea

Xmas decorations of choice – Lights

Hotels of choice - ours – Star Group

Beverages of Choice – wines and beers – local of course

Ambient places of choice – any city  square

Weather of choice – cool, balmy,  but some wind please so streets do not stink of that horrible Italian tobacco!!!

Smoker’s bad taste location – immediately outside hotel, eatery and shop doors

All this changed once we reached Pisa.....

The Beginning of our Florence Adventure

We travelled the short distance to Florence, Italy, by local train on another grey but balmy autumn day and booked in at avery nice Star Hotel, arranged by our son.  Our evening ‘looking for food’ walk led us to a narrow,  welcoming, restaurant which had that ‘do come in – I am very good’ look about it.  The Trattoira Armando turned out to be just that, a family owned restaurant, where we were looked after by a very proud owner, whose eyes and smile reflected his passion for local food and wine.  For the first time ever, I had artichoke pasta – delicious!!!!

Travelling around Venice Part 1

My first and  and all time favourite impression of Venice is walking out of the Santa Lucia Railway station, which is just like any other railway station in Italy, into a completely different world. Different buildings, different transport system, different noises – the quiet purrs of canal boats, the low murmurings of people, and No Traffic! 

Today was even better   - there were hardly any people around!   We checked into Hotel Abbazia, one of our favourite  hotels  - beautiful rooms, and foyers and better still, handy to the railway station so you cannot get lost looking for it – on other occasions we have spent much time looking for hotels along Venice’s many narrow and identical (to us) ‘road’ ways – never again……

It is always a delight to stroll around Venice, especially when there are no crowds!  As always upon our visits here, we discover new places.   Today’s discovery was one of a chain of  small Irish pubs!  Not quite the same as other Irish pubs world wide but definitely Irish, warm, friendly and with reasonably priced beer and cheap sandwiches -  ideal for a walking city!  And yes, we were doing a lot of walking on this day – St Marks Square – still no crowds apart from a few groups of tourists, my favourite lingerie shop, the Black Cat  Shop for our Black Cat Calendar, the Rialto bridge and markets and well, generally strolling – oh look – there is another of those little Irish pubs……..

A day's Adventure in Trieste

Now that we are in Trieste, Italy, after overcoming our jetlag in London, it feels as if our adventure has really begun! As you can see in the pics. The weather in Trieste is overcast and very balmy. Our first ‘port of call’ was the Museo de Mare – the Trieste Maritime Museum.  Trieste was one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when it was the principal outlet to the sea of the Habsburg Empire. After it became part of Italy in 1920 Trieste’s ship building industry flourished. This small, well presented museum features a huge variety of models of vessels in the area and how they were made  - diagrams and tools.  Next we strolled through the narrow streets of the old  town and had a relaxing break in at the Cafe Tommaseo, one of  several historic  cafes in the area, all of which have their own special stories. Later we travelled by bus down the coast to the Mirimar Castle, perched on a prominent point on the west side of Trieste.   Specifically designed by and for Ferdinand Maximilian in 1860, today the castle and park grounds are open to the public and the surrounding waters are a well protected maritime reserve.  Back to the city and a trip on a local bus which wound through Trieste’s narrow old town streets hairpinning up the hill to the 14^th century Castle Quisto, set in parklands above the city. However it was closed…… Having noticed several flights of stairs on our bendy bus route, we stepped down to a town square to find a street market in full swing, and everyone seemed to be there, enjoying hot beverages, beers, food and gossiping.  Ideal on a balmy autumn early evening - especially with a chocolate waffle in hand! The day finished with  a light meal at the comfortable Pizzeria Crystal.  Trieste done!  Now to our hotel to prepare for our Venice adventure tomorrow……..

A comfortable start to our Italian Adventure in Trieste

We were very lucky that thanks our son who worked for a very good Sun Hotel Group, we stayed  at some very nice  warm and comfortable hotels during our Italian adventure. In Trieste the Excelsior Palace Hotel is as stunning as it’s name. Erected on the waterfront in 1912, it was the ‘most impressive luxurious hotel in Austria and Hungary. Recently refurbished, it is back to its original majesty. The black and white pics on the walls of our large room feature old Trieste and its sculptures.  During our stay the foyer had several displays of beautiful red and white orchids, which the pics do not give justice to.