First Impressions of Dublin, Ireland

I have to say that I had no idea what to expect in Dublin, Ireland, for our Irish adventure, after arriving by a most enjoyable trip on the fast ferry overseas from Hollyhead, in Anglesea, Wales. I suppose I expected a very old city, complete with old buildings such as we saw in Chester and Liverpool, but that was not the case. From the Dublin ferry terminal to the Jury's Inn Hotel Custom House on the River Liffey, we saw a lot of 'modern' style light industry and low rise character less and certainly not old (!!) buildings which rather unsettled my 'romantic' notions of Ireland. It is not until after we had settled into our hotel and went to look for our associates at Captain America's Restaurant in Grafton Street, that we did find some older character buildings worth stopping to inspect. To us it seemed that the older buildings were mixed up with the newer ones and this was the character of the city. After meeting our travelling group and Captain America's where they seemed to stand out as the grand parents of most of the other clients, we strolled back to Jury's in via refreshing ourselves with a beer at the very traditionally Irish Lannigans Bar, named, we are sure, after the relative of one of our tourist party.

Travelling from Chester to Dublin via Honeyhead, Wales.

I always had a dream to travel to Wales, not sure why. My concept is of coal, Cardiff, dramatic rugged beauty, caring people, a wierd language and Tom Jones. So I was thriled to find out that yes, our trip did include Wales, even though it was a two hour rail trip along the top, from Chester to Honeyhead, on the Island of Anglesea. However, much of my curiosity about Wales in that short time was satisfied. The hills are ruggedly round and knobbly, often covered with bracken, the land green, the houses tall, narrow, made bluestone or concrete and chimney pots at each end. All signage is in English, and I presume, Welsh. At Honeyhead we were bussed to the fast ferry. This trip was one of the most comfortable I have ever had on a ferry. Not only was the sea smooth, the winds light but also our seats, the view and the food. One of the great plusses of the internet is the opportunity to view something before purchasing. Having looked at the 360 degree camera view of the ‘Jonothan Swift’ fast ferry on line, we booked upstairs by the windows, in the no children zone. Peace, quiet relaxation, and if we wished to dispose of cobwebs then we could avail ourselves of the extremely cold, windy decks outside. Just the perfect way to travel to Ireland, which would turn out to be one of the busiest holidays ever.......

The Chester and Liverpool Adventure

We travelled by rail from London to Chester, through gentle hill rolling green fields and hedgerows, still rather sodden from recent deluges. Very easy on the eye and this green eye candy, along with the gentle rocking of the comfortable Virgin Express train soon had our heads nodding. Our hotel at Chester was at “The Mill’ a former corn mill set on either side of the call, and converted into a hotel by its owners about 20 year ago. Both our room and bathroom were luxurious and spacious, thanks to the hotel website which family inspected when booking the best room they could find for us. The Mill Hotel was immaculately kept and compete with large spa, gym and swimming pool, whick I immediately took advantage of. We expecially liked the prints of Venice (one of our favourite cities) taken many years ago, which adorned the walls - so appropriate for a hotel spanning both sides of the canal and also boasting the only privately owned canal bridge. Chester and the River Dee were most significant for milling, waterway trade and transportation, and more recently for hydro power generation and tourism. The food, tudor style architecture in the main shopping mall and the walkway around the city walls is most popular with travellers. Ah, Liverpool! Home of the Liver Bird and the Beatles! No, we did not do a Beatles tour, but we did stroll down Mathew Street which features the ‘Cavern’ - not the original, and the many Beatles paraphernalia shops and pubs with names such as the ‘Hard Days Night.’ A stroll along the Docklands - now a World Heritage Site - gazing over the Mersey River - remember that song by Gerry and the Pacemakers?? and a visit to the Beatles Museum brought the nostalgia, the music and the exciting days of the 1960’s to the mind. The lads of went to the pub a beer and to watch the Irish v All Blacks game whle the gals quckly checked out the summer sales. While the shops and prices were the same as London, the overstocked untidiness and crowds and queues in the London shops wre missing - much more condusive to shopping!! And yes, we did purchase a couple of little items......

Cities with nooks and crannies - paradises for travellers who enjoy shopping

Many cities such as London, have nooks and crannies which are great for travellers to visit as these give one the real ‘feel’ of the city. Often one needs a ‘local’ fo find these so we were delighted when a friend introduced us to the ‘Lamb and Flag’ in Rose Street, Covent Garden. www.lambandflagcoventgarden.co.uk/ Situated around a couple of corners down some narrow cobbled streets, this pub dates back to 1772 and has played host to many famous people including Charles Dickens. The current owners have kept the original look of the plae depicting its colourful past and we were also treated to ‘recent’ anecdotes experienced in the lifetime of our local friend, also called Charles. A couple of days later we were the same area in London, looking for a Ray’s (not mine) jazz shop, located in the famous Foyles Bookshop - which is well worth a visit. On the way we passed through Denmark and neighbouring streets which turned out to be a small music mecca, with guitar, saxophone, sheet music and other shops selling simiar wares. It was thrilling to hear strings of music wafting from all the shops as we strolled by. Even the Regent and Oxford Street areas, looking fully scrubbed up and very clean in preparation for the Olympics, have lanes and alleyways leading off them enticing strollers to explore the boutique shops bars and eateries. London, like many other cities such as Liverpool, is changing its conjested inner city street to walkways which make exploring ‘nooks and crannies’ much easier. Chester is another city of nooks and crannies, which when we visited, may travellers were exploring. The main street, complete with clock tower dedicated to Empress and Queen Victoria, is lined with tudor styled buildings. between the ground floor shops were many staircases which led to the first floor shops or to lanes to other parts of the city. The city wall, often at first floor level, enables strollers to look into offices and residences as they pass by. More about nooks and crannies to come...

Singapore - the city of Sales - not!

It was quite by chance that I heard about the great sales of Singapore especially after being informed that it was no longer the place for cheap items. However when we visited Orchard Road where all the shopping malls were, it was most disappointing. Apart from the lamp post banners and a few shops having small ‘sale’ signs in their windows and advertising 10-15%off ‘some’ items there were no crowds and no people walking around with huge branded paper shopping bags. The shopping malls were old and tired but elegant. The shopping experience was most disappointing. especially as one cannot claim tax rebates at the airport from some shops. For shopping in stunning malls I recommed the newly revamped Westfield mall in cenral Sydney. From designer outlets enticing shoppers to shop using the five senses such as Kava, the quant elegant tea shop withfrilly table cloths and picket fences, to designer and department stores, the Westfield mall is a delight for shoppers and eye candy feasters. England is the place for sales in June! In London everything is on sale - from 10 to 70% off - and crowds and queues everywhere. Much better! In fact, everywhere we have been to - Liverpool, Belfast, Dublin, Cork and Galway - same sales, tidier shops and fewer people. Might have to invest in another sutcase....

Books to Read While Travelling - if you have time!!

An ideal way to ensure a busy and enjoyabble travellling holiday is to take along plenty of books. Because if one does not, many ideal opportunuties to read, arise. So while we were at the Rocks, Sydney we ducked into our favourite bookshop to stock up. As well as today’s latest popular books there are titles by Australia’s most esteemed authors. However I have found that short, easy to read works are better when busy travelling from place to place around England, Ireland and Scotland, as we were, on this adventure. After seeing the movie ‘Kapote’ in which Kapote himself spent many years hounding a prisoner for the ‘truth’ before he was executed, I was most interested to read some of his stories and came across ’Breakfast at Tiffanys’ amongst other short stories. Kapote’s written style is flowing, easy to read and immediately captures the reader in the lives, personalities and relationships of his characters. You may think one is crazy to spend a fortune to see an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, about Scott and his ill fated expedition to the South Pole. As a child I learnt about his failure to be first to the South Pole, but not much else. So it was most interesting to read about all the significant scienific information Scott’s crew gathered and the impact it has had on Antarctican knowledge today. I was delighted to be introduced to an author, Sara Wheeler who spent quite some time in Antarctica, gathering research for her book Terra Incognita - Travels in Antarctica. Upon an assignment to Chile in 1991 she was abliged to visit the Antarctic Penisnula which the Chileans regard as part of their country. As she stood on a plateau of whiteness stretching to eternity she knew that she and antarctica would have a very close mutually beneficial infinity and Terra Incognita was an outcome of this moment of realzation. This entertaining, easy to read book demonstrate the massive amount of research Sara undertook and by the time I have finished the book I believe I will have gained a massive amount of well rounded and intimate knowledge of this imsporing continent and the people associated with it, over the years. For those who enjoy boating stories, Swatchways Magic, by my friend Charles Scoones and Paul Antrobus is a very entertaining and easy read. Around 50 years ago Paul Griffiths cruised all the nooks and crannies of the Swatchways river estuaries in a small boat, documenting all its idiosyncracies in his book, The Magic of the Swatchways. In 2000 Charles and Paul, who both grew up sailing in these waters, followed Griffiths’ travels comparing then to now. While little has changed, the anecdotes are told in such a way leaving the reader with the feeling of timeless and intimate familiarity of the area.

Syndey - warm winter magic

Sunday June 20, 2012 Sydney, Australia, no matter the time of year is a great city for travellers to wander around. Even the old haunts, such as the the Sydney Opera house with its clean timeless architecture, the Circular Quay for people, busker and boat activity watching, the ferries come and go, the Rocks historical precinct, and Darling Harbour with its soothing water gardens and walkways. It is an ideal place to stop off on the way to ones oversea’s trip, to transfer one’s mind from work and, packing and ‘I am sure I have missed packing something!!’ mode into a relaxing and ‘sniffing the air’ one. Sydney turned on a warm, blue skied day for us on this winter Sunday. So balmy it was, that a lovestruck person wrote a “I’m Sorry, I love you’ message in the sky. OWe immediately booked to trip out to see the Humpback Whales just outside the Syndey Harbour heads. It was so easy to book online, and instead of printing off a booking form, all we had to do is show the booking form on our iphone. NOTE - if you are planning on going - make sure you book on http://www.whalewatchingsydney.net/ - a large and very comfortable vessel with plenty or viewing platforms. Every year from about June to November about 1200 humpback whales make an over 5000 mile trek from their breeding grounds in the north following the EAC current down Australia south to Antarctica to feed. As the current passes about 2 - 3 miles from the coast at the Sydney heads so it is very easy to find the whales. Within an hour of crusing through the many yachts Sunday racing on the Harbour we were out on open waters and our knowledgeable captain had us within the precint of three small pods of whales. Almost as soon as we arrived at the 100 metre allowable distance the whales started performing. Two whales swam close together, breathing simultaneously, like a chorus, while the third frequently breached, launching itself straitght up and completely out of the water at times so that we could see its whole white underside. it rolled around, waving its long flippers then breached, again and again. Atfer this awe inspiring adventure we slowly came back to earth by strolling around to the hstorical Rocks shops, bars and cafes - a must, we believe, for all travellers to Sydney.