A quick catch up.

Got the train from York to Waverley (Edinburgh). The trip north was quick (about 3 hours). Plenty of worked paddocks, maize and few sheep and cattle.
York station has an interesting layout- all the platforms and therefore rails are curved. When they built this new station they needed to take into account the curve in the river.

After checking into our AirBnB (in Newtown) we walked up to Princes Street. The long line of double decker buses were just as I remembered it from 2003. Newtown is all Georgian housing (18th Century), 4 story apartments and wide roads. We are in the basement flat. Big and very comfortable.

That evening we ate out, and had a very interesting experience. There were only us and another couple eating in. The woman looked familiar ..then it dawned on both them and us...it was Graham and Chris Jarrett (from Wellington). When I started teaching 40 years ago Graham or GJ was my head of Department. Really, we had to come half way round the world...I think the last time we ran into them was in 2016 on the eve of our departure for the USA (we were shopping in the Warehouse).
Spent some time catching up with them.

Wednesday - morning we completed a 2 hour walking tour- covered Adam Smith (who invented capitalism, John Knox plus Greyfriars Bobby ( a little dog who became a celebrity in the early 1800's, I believe a movie was made and books written).

                                                   The Castle from Princes Street
Harry Potter mania..it appears that they filmed here as well.

                                                     Another of the imposing castle

This is old town..nothing but tenement building with very narrow lanes running between them (called close in Edinburgh.

Grey Friars Bobby's resting place in Greyfriars cemetery

We decided to to go to Stirling Castle and Doune Castle tomorrow..so off we went to Waverely station to buy our return tickets....no luck with the machines...so off to the ticket office...not thinking I brought tickets for today and not tomorrow. Thankfully "she who can not be named" picked it up. The ticket agent was very understanding and tolerant of an old man.

Thursday, off we went to Stirling..arrive around 10.30 am. The plan was to go to Doune first..but the next bus was 30 minutes away...so we grabbed a taxi up to Stirling Castle. We didn't leave the castle until around 3 pm...so no Doune today or tomorrow... what a shame.
Stirling was interesting and well worth a visit. Didn't realise just how strongly the Scots disliked the English...they had plenty of alliances with France against the old foe-The English.
Mind you most the battles between them. had the English winning..why even Oliver Cromwell army took Stirling Castle
.

                                                   GreyFriars Bobby headstone-the sticks are left for Bobby to play with.

                                             I think this is Robert the Bruce (google it)

                                        The large Hall, the seats for the King and Queen.

Arrived back in Edinburgh around 5.30 pm...ate in. So hit Marks and Spence Food Hall.

Tomorrow we walk up to Arthurs Seat...should be fun.

Days of York

Sunny but cool day. Set of for our 2 hour walking tour (started at 10 am) detoured to walk along the fort wall and briefly visited Clifford Tower. At this site in 1170 170 jews and jewess took refugee from a mob. Rather than denounce their religion they killed one another. So that is your first history lesson of the day.

The walking tour was very well done. The gentleman taking it has a son living in Christchurch, so he had much to say about NZ. The walk covered the history of York; from Romans to Normans to Vikings. Covered medieval as well as more recent history. WE walked the wall (again), walked around York Minister, down the shambles (a medieval street) which was a lans of butchers. All the time I was trying to get involved in the Bollywood movie they were shooting. The shambles has to be experienced to be believe. Apparently it was used as part of the Harry Potter movies. Today it had a few Harry Potter themed stores-including "the store that shouldn't be named".Needless to say "she who must not be named" self quiet at home.

                                                                     Clifford Tower

                                            not a great shot, but the shops name says it all.

                                                           Part of the wall walk, all touched up by the Victorians.

The afternoon we spent at Jorvik viking centre. Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at a location called  Coppergate they have recreated a village.This was around the 10th century. The actual display was well presented. On the first floor was the actual excavation site. you could walk over the site (covered with thick glass) to look at the different artefacts they discovered (in unearthed between 1976-81). Next you went on a ride through a reconstruction of the village/town. It was similar to Disney land's "Haunted Mansion" ride. Very well presented and most enjoyable. The next level covered examples of what was unearthed, including two human skeletons and fossils human dung. All around were the workers offering information (and all were dressed in viking themed costumes. All the models spoke the old norse language. It gave us an invite into daily life, all based on the archaeological evidence. Would recommend this if you are ever in York.

After this we walked beside the river, Ouse (I think that is the spelling), then along another part of the wall. What was of interest is the city was never completely surround by the wall. The Romans didn't bother to build  a wall in a bog. So, there is about 500 metres on no wall. The Normans and Anglo-saxons never bothered as well.

The hotel we are staying at is great, it has a full kitchen and right next door is a Co-op supermarket. This encourage us to eat in.

Tomorrow we board the train for Edinburgh.

                                                      The shambles food area-great hot dogs!!!!!

Take the train to York

Raining this morning. We packed and cleaned up. Then off to the station for the 10.47 am to Peterborough. After much confusion of "where is our train" we plus a hoard of other people finally found the train. We left about 6 or 8 minutes late. The train trip was very good...no sheep or cattle, but plenty of crops and pig farms.
On arrival at Peterborough we were informed that our train had been cancelled (some sort of problem/s with the train back in Kings Cross, London). We were informed that we could catch the next train to Edinburgh. Just think 2 train load of passengers into 1 train. The train was packed to the rafters. When we managed to get on I found two unreserved seats, so with a little bit of rugby forward drive managed to secure them. By the time we got to Doncaster it was standing room only. The conductors were so busy they didn't even have time to check the tickets. They also announced that the drink trolley was lost somewhere on the train. Fun, fun, fun.

Arrive at York around 2.30 pm. Worked out what bus to catch to our accommodation. Checked in and went exploring. York has a food festival on at the  moment, such wonderful smells...so we brought 3 locally made pies for dinner. Went to the local coop and brought mashed spud (just microwave) and a salad. Thankfully we have a small kitchenette as part of our studio, So we ate in.
Also walked a bit of the castle wall. The castle's gates are called "bars", from Roman time to bar entry. They were open from 6 am to 6 pm in Roman, Viking and Norman times. Street names also end in the word "gate" from the viking to mean road.
Walking the wall gave us a good view of what the city walls contain. We saw York Minister (the best example of Gothic architecture in UK?Europe. Could have gone in should we wish to attend evensong
So tomorrow we are off on a 2 hour walking tour then on to the Jorvik viking centre. More walking, but fun...fun...fun

Both Norwich and York are full of students (both British and foreign). Busy, busy.
Did observe that there are a lot of Asian students in both towns. In York in particular they are accompanied by their parents. The hotel we are staying at has a large number of foreign families staying. Even on the trains they are present with extremely large roller bags. I summarize that this must be the start of the academic year,  like we did with our daughter "who can not be named" (she is now a lawyer and has threatened to take me to the privacy commissioner) when she studied overseas.
Our little studio has a big window which looks West, so we enjoyed a long rest with the sun streaming in.

Norwich

The day got underway with a 2 hour walking of Norwich city...very interesting. Our guide was both animated and extremely energetic. Made the 2 hours fly. It was a good introduction to the city. The history is quiet complicated. Locals, then the Vikings (Danes), they intermixed to iceni (I think Boudicca,was a queen). The Romans had an agreement with the Iceni to to govern, giving them independence. However, Boudicca's husband died, he left the land to the Roman Emperor and his two daughters. Obiviously, the emperor didn't want to share, so he came down hard on the Iceni. They raped Boudicca and her two daughters. That got her riled and she raised an army and dealt to the Romans. She sacked Colchester and London. Then she ran into trouble with a new Roman army (sent from Germany). She and her army were decimated.
Well that's the early history out of the way.
Then, the Normans arrived. They changed everything. They demolished some 80 houses and a couple of churches...and built a hill to build their castle on -the Norwich Castle. They also moved the market (it was after all a market town from Tombland to an area in front of the castle. Tombland (Danish viking/ old English for open land or empty space. The Normans then transformed Tombland by pulling down a palace and St Michael's church and built a new Norwich Cathedral

The medieval street, with the original cobblestones.

 Interior of Norwich Cathedral, with choir singing

  Norwich Cathedral

After our 2 hour crash course in local history we ventured into the Norwich Castle. What was interesting is how the Victorians actually gave the castle a face lift to make it look like a castle.

A bad photo of the castle keep.

Some where in Norwich..one of the gates to enter

Inside shots of Norwich Cathedral

That was the day...absolutely buggared and feet very sore. Retreated to our bnb and rest.
Tomorrow we head to York.

Reflection: Norwich is a very interesting city. Well worth a few more days to explore. The markets and malls needed to further explored.

Time flies...part two

Mundesley is a small village on the coast. A few hundred metres inland is the actual village, but along the cliff edge there are pubs, scenic overviews etc. We meet a barn owl while walking down the road (the young woman had had it since it was a chick). Lovely white owl, I will try and post a photo later on. While the day was sunny there was a very cold strong wind blowing, so it wasn't that pleasant outside.

 The beach...

Here he is our barn owl.

Special mention category: The local public toilets were amazing, even had hot running water. Luxury compared to NZ. Will need to get some photo's from "she who cannot be named" phone later on and post them.

We continued down the coast to Happisburgh via Bacton (where the North Sea gas comes ashore). Happisburgh was where great-great grandfather Tuck was born and baptised. It is a very small well not a village but rather a hamlet with this very old amazing church.
At this point we discovered I had very little battery life left on my phone (which was acting as our GPS0. This caused a mild amount of panic!!

Here we go...proof positive

Searching the Happisburgh grave yard ..to no avail!!!!

Walked over to the church and found the church warden (working on resettling a headstone). Queried whether their were any Tuck's buried in the church grave yard. His reply "never heard of any Tuck's". He did suggest we go inside and check the map and register they have of who is currently booked into the cemetery. No Tuck's, mind you the dates were recent (i.e. from 1850 onwards). Anyway got talking the a lady arranging flowers in the church, once again the same story "Not heard of any Tuck's around here". And she had lived in the Hamlet all who life!! As it turns out she is the wife of the church warden. All they wanted to talk about was Brexit (which they support). They went to make Britain "Great" again...yea right.

 The village/hamlet of Happisburgh

Inside the Happisburgh church

In terms of getting something to eat in Happisburgh you have two options.. a small pub and food caravan located down a small lane near the only public parking and Lighthouse. So we visited it. The owners were very accommodating especially when they found out we were from NZ. So, apparently this part of the coast (North Sea) is very good for crabs. We both had a crab burger... made on the spot.
It was rather spooky for me to walk the lanes that my G-G-Grandfather did in the 1840's and to stand in the church where and his brother were baptised. I even announced I was baptised Church of England..what a mad rush of blood I had. Most regretful.

Time was now of the essence...as we had to get the car back to Norwich by 4.30 pm. But thought we just mike be able to see a little bit of Great Yarnmouth (where the River Yarn exits into the sea).
Well getting there without GPS was a challenge. small lanes, poor signposts etc..we had to keep reminding ourselves we did it without maps 38 years ago (well tripped around the USA with a general map). As we approached Great Yarnmouth, the oil temperature can on showing the oil was at 96 degrees...oh, another thing to worry about.
Got to see the Yarn with a navy ship and North Sea Oil support vessels tied up.
Time to head back to Norwich...had about 15% battery life, so with the GPS typed in our destination and of we went. It was now raining quite heavily and there was a lot of traffic, first part went well, then when we passed a major turn off to Norwich we began to panic. Stopped and check the destination, were there 2 or more places with the same name? panic.
Little battery life, car with oil gauge showing it was above normal, heat traffic and rain. Well there were a few F words said by all concerned.
That aside, we were taken a merry chase by the GPS through the back streets of Norwich...a few more choice words were expressed by all concerned...but we made it. WoW "she who can not be named" was a excellent navigator. All I had to do was drive and miss cars on narrow roads.
What a both interesting and mentally tiring day.

But, we made it.
In the evening we donned raincoats and went walking. Found a newly developed part of Norwich(which is to say, nothing involving historical buildings, castles, church's and pubs. It was a bit of USA. TGIF restart (we went to one in LA, plus a swag of Mexican restaurants), and yes a sit down Pizza Hut...with salad bar and all you could eat.
Now the reason I mention this is, you are all waiting for me to eat Mexican. Well I didn't I ate Cuban.
Tomorrow we spend the day in Norwich, castles, churches and lots of small lanes etc.
Did you know once there were enough pubs in this place that it would take you a full year to visit each one (based on 1 pub per day). an interesting but useless fact.

Time flies

Where has this week gone...here we are Friday night in Norwich. Being a tourist is both exciting and tiring. One seems to be on the tourist road from around 9.30 am to 5.30 pm...it does tire the body (especially the feet). No time to reflect and complain as there are many interesting sights and experiences to share.

So, lets start on Tuesday...time to cruise and lunch. Thanks to two of our kids we were shouted a lunch cruise on the Thames...all 4 courses plus a bottle of wine...had a little trouble re-establishing our land lubber legs when returned to the pier. Very good commentary as well as a good view (yes we had a window seat) as we cruised down to Canary Wharf and back.
Thanks Kids.

After this we wandered up to Temple and walked around middle temple etc (where a lot of barristers and solicitors have their offices). Visited the The Temple Church which is considered the mother church of the common law. Temple Church was built by the Knights Templar (soldier-monks) around 1185 (now that is old). The church is round. It is modelled on the circular church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In 1240 the chancel was built as the burial place for Henry II and his Queen.
In 1608 King James I granted the whole area of "The Temple" to two societies of lawyers, Inner and Middle Temple. To this day the church has been maintained by these two societies.
This was a great place to visit...lots of small quiet alleys and well maintained gardens..wouldn't believe you are in the heart of London and only a few hundred meters from the Thames.

Great desert... blood sugars on the way up just looking at it!!!!

The outside of the Temple Church

 
A few of the locals who were heavily involved in ensuring King John kept his word with the Magna Carta.

Wednesday...museums day. Two museums in one day.

We started at the London Museum, very good. Would recommend this museum. Got sore back and feet from walking around all 2 levels of the place.
Then, onto the British Museum.. the two hours we had their just touched the surface, will definitely revisit it when are back in London around October 7/8th.

The famous Rosetta Stone

The Egyptian section of the British museum.

Must say the London Museum was easy to navigate as there were little visitors, well apart from the ankle bitters. While at this museum we git to see part of the old Roman wall that encircled ancient London.

The British Museum was crowded..full of asian tour groups all with their little flags and microphones..not that enjoyable for someone who doesn't like crowds.

Thursday...moving day. Got to LiverPool station and caught the train to Norwich. Took about 2 hours, good journey. Checked into our AirBnB, then had a quick walk around a small section of the city.
Rained heavily at night.

" She who can not be named doing a little research at our Norwich AirBnB.

Friday.... hunting the Tuck's

Picked up our rental car and headed of in search of my Tuck ancestors. First stop North Walsham. A small village about 18 miles from Norwich on on the Norfolk broads. No Tuck's. Checked in with the local museum (North Walsham Heritage Centre)
, ..no never heard of them. Oh well better go further towards the coast.

Market square in North Walsham -Market Cross. In the mid 13th Century a Royal Charter gave the right to hold a weekly market. The Market Cross was built in 1602 and was used to collect market rents.

Our trusty beast for the day..1.4 litre VW Golf. Lovely car to drive. Manual and very forgiving of someone used to driving automatics.

Kings Arms..one old pub, and they husband sit while the woman go shopping!!!!

St Nicholas Church. Built 1338 to 1406. The town's medieval wool-based wealth resulted in its large size but alias the 60 metre spire partially collapsed in 1724. It was never re-built, so giving it a distinctive shape.
From here we were off to Mundesley (on the coast). Must mention very narrow roads, cars and trucks parked blocking have the road..made for demanding driving.
to be continued.....

Kew Gardens

Google maps and Rio to Rome are great apps...they tell what train at what time and even on what platform..so no problems..off to Richmond we go..Arrived Richmond, the apps told us what bus number to take..now unfortunately this is where human error creeps in. Yes, we got the number 65..but as it turns out in the wrong direction. We ended up in Kingston...thanks goodness for  a helpful bus driver. Mind you it was a good way to see the local landscape.
Kew is big- 326 acres, and we got to see about 20% of it.
Managed to crash a walking tour "tremendous Trees". A very interesting tour. It covered mainly northern hemisphere plants -oaks, cedars etc. The final visit covered the early ancestor of the monkey puzzle trees. It is called the Wollemia, a genus of the coniferous tree. Kew has established a grove of them. Humbling to walk Mong and touch trees that were around during the dinosaur period.

The day had got very hot and our ears had been constantly assaulted by the many, many aircraft flying overhead. Airbus 380, Boeing 787's etc..we were under the flight path..a plane flying overhead every minute. So we retreated to the Temperate House. This building dates from 1859 and it is a breathtaking space full of specimens from the temperate world. It was hot inside.

Finally gave up and retreated to the shade of a big tree and rested for a period of time. Not much fun growing old, the stamina has deserted.

                                                        The Wollemia tree, has both male and female reproductive seeds

                                          The Temperate house.

       
                                      The Great Pagoda. Recently restored. First built for the royal family in the          18th Century.

Happy to report the trip home was uneventful.

Ahhhh...the weekend...a bit of I'm Henry the 8th I am

Apology to Herman's Hermit....they had a 60's song called just that.

Well another warm sunny weekend and plenty to do.. Becky (Evan's partner) took over guiding duty. So off we went to the countryside..Hampton Palace or Court (I'm not sure), just been reliably informed it is called Hampton Court Palace, so there you have it.. Anyway trained to Kingston, then bused to one of the gates. What a magnificent palace this is.
Time for  a week bit of history.... Hampton was built for Cardinal Wolsey (he was a solid churchman). When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner and when Henry wanted to dissolve his first marriage (Catherine of Aragon) Wolsey went to Rome to do his bidding. To no avail, so Henry was a little pissed at Wolsey. To get back into the good books Wolsey gave Hampton Court Palace to Henry..now ends the Tudor history lesson.

Well we went on a number of self guided walking tours.Visited Henry's kitchens (notice plural) which included his liquor cellar, the chapel (which is still used) and numerous state apartments; Henry's Catherines, William III's (who undertook a massive rebuilding and expansion programme which was intended to rival Versailles (the French were the trend setters of the day).
Following William (of Orange-he was Dutch) came George II (German).....what a mixed up, muddled up world the rich and famous  had.
Got to see the oldest grape vine in the world...planted sometime in the 1700's.

Hopefully a few of the photo's below will give more information.

The one of at least 3 kitchens...busy preparing meals for around 200 people per day

The Great hall, where the King ate on odd occasions. Used mainly by the staff to eat at.

One of the court yards with the King's or Queen's apartments up above.

Here is the oldest grape (not the old fella), the grape vine behind..









The privy garden (for the royal family's use only).

Looking back at William III's apartments.

After a long day learning English history we stopped at nice pizza place beside the Thames...great and enjoyable day.

Sunday, Mr Ohh Lala's birthday, Becky had booked us in for brunch at a restaurant in SoHo. A very nice way to celebrate Evan's big day. This was followed by a little light shopping around the area before returning to base. Rangi got messages from Brad Stallion and satins helper (brother and sister),  great to hear from them.

We went for a walk along the Thames (down to the beginning of Battersby park while Becky baked the birthday cake.

Looking east with the London eye in the background.

      A view of the Thames...great day, very sunny and warm.

So that was our first weekend in London.
Tomorrow, we are on our own..Evan and Beck are back to work.

Will probably go to Kew gardens tomorrow. The wether forecast is most promising.