2013-06-30 Homeward Bound

June 30, 2013 - Sunday

Flight at 10:40 am; arr YYZ 1:40 pm;  Fui Ling had insisted that she wanted to take us to the airport.  We had originally planned on ordering a taxi.  We got up pretty early in order to get ready to leave the house at 6:45 am to drive to Gatwick.  Fui Ling said the trip should not take more than 40 minutes if traffic was okay and at that time in the morning, it should be fine.  But we decided to give ourselves a few extra minutes anyway as we had to get our VAT rebate forms stamped at Customs before mailing them and checking in.  I was the first one downstairs and had to turn the alarm off.  Irene and I had our usual breakfast and then Irene and Florine went back upstairs to move the suitcases down.  Fui Ling wanted me to update the Tseu family tree with our information so I did that to the best of my knowledge.  I could not quite remember Danny and Kenny’s Chinese names though.  After that, we packed the Range Rover and left for the airport. Fui Ling had to negotiate a very narrow bridge, which left a couple of inches between the side mirrors and the post when she took a short cut to the main road. There was a very pretty pub, The Anchor, just past the bridge. Traffic was good, and we got there with lots of time to spare.  Fui Ling pulled up and helped us unload from the Range Rover.  We said our goodbyes, got a couple of trolleys and headed into the terminal.  Fui Ling took such good care of us during our stay with her and we hope that we would be able to meet up again in the near future.

We found the Air Transat check in counter and asked a couple of people manning the line if we should go to Customs before checking in.  One was not very sure and the other thought we should.  We were in the priority check in line so we asked at the counter and the woman said we should go to Customs first.  So, off we went to look for the Customs office, which was one floor up from the check in counter.  We only had to wait a couple of minutes before the Customs officer was available.  She was a very nice young woman and we chatted a little about our trip and the places we had been to while she was going through our rebate forms.  She recommended we visit the Isles of Scilly if we ever came back to the Cornwall area.  She said she was planning on a visit to the isle in August.  It is known for its warm weather, bird watching and sub-tropical plant and heavily dependent on tourism.  The islands were designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1975. After we all got our forms stamped, we found the mail box and then went back down to the Air Transat check in counter.  The lady checked all the bags in and did not say anything about being overweight – perhaps our 6 suitcases were within the limit when taken together.  After checking in, we found seats in a lounge to wait for our flight gate to be posted.  I went into a duty free whiskey store and bought a sampler pack of Tomintoul whiskies. When our gate was posted, we made our way over to it and then sat down and waited for the boarding call.  We did not have to wait very long for them to board the Option Plus passengers.  We were midway in the plane, just in front of the wings on the right side.  I managed to watch 3.5 movies on the flight back to Toronto.  It was daytime and I was more awake than during the overnight flight out to London.  I watched Guilt Trip, This is 40, Happiness Never Comes Alone (in French with English subtitles) and about the first half of Parental Guidance. The food was boring – beef stroganoff with maybe one piece of beef.  We got our bottle of sparkling wine after take off, a snack, gin and tonic and then red wind with lunch.  We also got a slice of pizza before landing.  We had Captain Picard again, and he landed the plane ever so gently.  The man is good.

After we landed, we had to show our passports to a couple of CBSA agents just outside the ramp from the plane. We were not sure who he was looking for, but they seemed to be questioning younger men more closely. From there, we went into the customs hall where we had a choice of using the automated machines or talking to a live agent.  Irene and I opted for the machines just for the experience while Florine went to line up for a live agent. She had goods to follow and needed advice and a form.  Irene and I had to see a live agent after we got a copy of our customs form back from the machine..  The agent wanted to know what food we had brought back with us – we had a few bottles of mustard, candy and cookies.  We were not asked how much alcohol we had with us, which was disappointing as I had calculated that between the 2 of us, we had 2.25 litres of whiskey and assorted little bottles that we did not drink in the plane and about 30 cl for Florine.  The agent made a note of our food items and then we were free to go.  We handed in our customs card and went to the luggage claim area.

We met up with Florine and went to get our suitcases, which did not take long to appear.  We loaded them onto 2 trolleys and went outside to wait for Dureen.  I tried to call her but could not get service under all the concrete.  I was finally able to call and got her voice mail.  I then sent her a text message. Then Dureen comes out from the airport.  Apparently, we had just missed each other – I guess she was going into the arrival’s lounge while we were making our way out.  I had scanned the crowd when we came out of Customs but did not see her.  We went over to the parking garage, loaded up the Journey and went home.  I think I might have put my journal on one of the suitcases when I dug my cell phone out and then forgot about it.  It has probably been reduced to pulp by now on the pickup lane at terminal 3.  If I did not lose it at terminal 3, then I probably lost in outside the whiskey store in Gatwick.  Oh well.

Dureen had brought some lamb over so I barbecued that for our dinner.  Unfortunately, I was out of practice and burnt most of it.  But we had a nice dinner and then Dureen headed home.  I drove Florine downtown to her house and then Irene and I came home.  I unpacked some stuff and then showered and went to bed.  That was the end of our fun vacation.

2013-06-29 Goodbye, Paris

June 29, 2013 - Saturday

We went out to buy croissants for our breakfast and chose a bakery not far from the apartment.  We decided to buy 6 croissants so we could eat 3 and take the rest to Mutiara with us.  We went back to the apartment to have the croissants but they turned out to be underwhelming, sort of dough-y.  So we decided to leave them for the cleaner and perhaps pick some up when we went out for our walk.  Bernard came by at about 10:30 am but we said we were not leaving until closer to 12:30 pm and that Aidan had arranged to come over to pick up the keys at 12:20 pm.  Bernard was okay with that.  The cleaner, Josephina came in before we left for a last walk around the neighbourhood before departing for the train station.  We walked around the area but many of the stores had yet to open.  Florine tried on some shoes but did not find them comfortable enough to buy.  We went into a little store where we saw, and bought, some very colourful scarves.  Irene also bought a hairclip.  We did find another bakery where we bought some croissants and sandwiches for our lunch.  After that, it was time to go back to the apartment to meet Aidan.  Florine had ordered a taxi to take us to Gare du Nord yesterday and both Aidan and the taxi were on time.  We left E15 for the cleaner and gave a E20 tip to Aidan.  We got to the train station before 1 pm and walked for a bit to get to the Eurostar terminal.  The terminal was quite busy but we found a place to sit and wait.  I went to the duty free store and bought a bottle of Issey Sport cologne for Chris. Then it was back to the lounge to wait for our boarding call.  Once the platform was posted on the board, a line started to form at the gate.  We joined the line-up and watched as a tour group was allowed to enter the platform to board the train.  When we were finally allowed to go on the platform, we had to make our way down some stairs and on to the end of the train as we were in carriage 18.  It turned out that Irene and I had seats facing the back of the train so once the train got going, Irene changed seats with Florine.  A nice Englishman had the seat beside Irene.  We had our lunch on the train and I kind of nodded off for a while.  This time, the pressure on my ears did not feel as bad compared to our outward bound trip to Paris.  I watched first the city go by and then the countryside.  I updated my journal for a while and nodded off for a bit.  The man across from me took a nap too.  After sitting in silence in a while, we started chatting with the man across from us.  It turned out that he lived in Oxfordshire, near Woodstock.  He told us that the locals could get into the grounds of Blenheim Palace for free as they know the various footpaths and it was not an issue as long as they did not go around to the palace lawn.  He was returning from a week’s vacation in the Burgundy region and had been on trains since the early morning.  He liked to hike up to mountains and admire the view from the top.  We talked about Snowdon, which he had climbed a few times and really enjoyed. The train pulled into the station before long, and we went our separate ways.

We figured out how to get from King’s Cross to Waterloo (I think we changed at Green Park and then took the Jubilee line to Waterloo) so that we could catch our Southwest train to West Byfleet.  Fortunately, we did not have to wait long for an express train to West Byfleet.  Fui Ling had texted to say that she was going to pick us up from the back of the station, the side where all the stores were.  Once on the train, I texted her to let her know that we were on our way.  When we got off at West Byfleet, a little old lady came to our aid when we were trying to figure out where the shops were.  She took us down an elevator, under the platform and then back up in another elevator before pointing to the shops.  Fui Ling was there waiting for us in her little black car.  We went back to Mutiara and went to our respective rooms to get our luggage sorted out. Stephen and Tristram were out in the Aston Martin.  I saw them come home from the front window of our room and decided to go down and take some photos of the car, a DBS convertible in black.  Florine and Irene also came out to admire the car and Stephen offered to take us for a ride, one at a time.  I got to go first and it is a fabulous car.  Stephen had fun with it, taking it through its paces through country roads and then the highway.  He got up to 130 mph for a short stretch and then slowed down as he did not want to attract the attention of the police. We chatted about him taking the car to Europe with Fui Loong in his McLaren or one of the Ferraris.  Fui Ling would not drive the AM, but she had said she would drive the Range Rover as the backup car for luggage and in case of any problems. The hard braking that he does with the car must be really tough on the brakes. I think we were out for about 20 minutes before he headed back to the house.  Florine went out next, and after that, Irene.  They had to go and get gas when it was Irene’s turn.  We all enjoyed the rides, but I think Stephen had more fun driving the car around.

After that, Stephen parked the car back in the garage and we got ready for our dinner of fish and chips. Fui Ling had sent him out to get the fish and chips earlier in the day and she had it warming in the oven.  Petros had the fish and chips at the restaurant before he left for Athens and thought it was really great so when Fui Ling suggested that we had it for dinner, we were quite happy to agree.  The fish and chips were still good, even though it sat in the oven for a couple of hours.  It must have been awesome at the restaurant.  Fui Ling made the same fruit and mascarpone cheese pie for dessert.

After dinner, we went back upstairs to finish our packing.  Then I went downstairs to chat to Fui Ling for a bit.  Tristram said his goodbyes before he went up to bed. 

Where we stayed:  Mutiara

2013-06-28 A Little Shopping, A Little Sightseeing

June 28, 2013 - Friday

Peoples Place des Vosges; Shopping in Galleries Lafayette. Shoes-Patagaus. Dinner at Les Enfants Rouge.

Where we stayed:  Marais Saintonge

2013-06-27 Finally, Shopping in Paris!

June 27, 2013 - Thursday

In the morning, we went shopping in the area around the apartment.  We found some nice linen dresses, skirts and tops.  We also found some nice knits and Florine found some dresses. We walked around looking at clothes and shoes.  We were supposed to go to Montmartre in the afternoon, but we spent so much time shopping that it was almost evening by the time we dropped our purchases at the apartment before heading out.  We also picked up a raspberry charlotte to take with us to Fabienne's.  Fabienne is a friend of Florine's from her time in California, and now lives in Montmartre.

We finally got to Montmartre around 6:00 pm. We took the subway and walked to Fabienne's apartment from there.  When we came out of the subway, it almost felt like we were in an African country with the people and the stores around the area.  We had to walk uphill for quite a while and when we got to the generally vicinity of Fabienne's building we were about to call her when she and Sebastian, her husband caught up with us outside on the street.  They were just returning from an afternoon movie. She took us up to apartment just below the Sacre Coeur church while Sebastian went to pick up their 7 or 8 year old daughter from school.  Fabienne was on phone for a while dealing with a client.  We were out on the balcony, admiring the view, and listening to some musicians playing out on the hillside.  Florine and Fabienne had lots to catch up on once she was off the phone.  We finally got to meet the daughter when Sebastian came back with her.  We got a tour of the apartment and had some thing to drink and shared the raspberry charlotte. Fabienne told us about her job which entails welcoming tourists renting apartments from the company she works for.  She really enjoys it but keeps irregular hours as people renting the apartments can come and go at any time and she had to be there to hand out or take back the keys and/or payments.  She is also their point of contact for any issues they faced at the vacation rentals.  We had a lovely visit but it was getting late and time to head out.

We decided to walk up to the church and Fabienne said she would come with us.  She took us up the road before detouring back to the steps as she said the road was not as steep as the stairs.  It's a bit of a hike up the hill to the church but the view was great once we got up there.

There were still quite a lot of tourists around the church.  There was a man on a small column that was part of a fence playing with a soccer ball.  He had pretty good control of the ball while doing all kinds of moves.  He earned a nice round of applause when his exhibition was over and he passed his hat around for donations.

We could see Paris laid out below us from the church.  Fabienne then took us to a corner of the church grounds where we could get a good view of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the back of the church to the real touristy area.  Fabienne walked with us along some of the quieter streets and then had to head home. We said our good byes and she head off for home while we continued our walk towards Pigalle.  At least this time, the walk was downhill.

It was a beautiful night and the tourists were out in full force in Pigalle.  We walked to the Moulin Rouge and watched as teenagers stood over grates so the draft coming up from the underground could blow their clothing up.  It was not that effective as most of them did not have skirts on.  But it was fun watching them having fun and shrieking with laughter.

We finally made our way to the subway to return to our apartment.  We had a great dinner of all the different little meat pies, cheese and fruit that we had picked up earlier in the day.  That was a long day with lots of walking and it was pretty late by the time we were done with dinner.  We were ready for our beauty sleep.

Where we stayed:  Marais Saintonge

2013-06-26 A Visit to Versailles

June 26, 2013 - Wednesday

Day trip to Palace of Versailles

We left fairly early in the morning for the trip to the countryside.  We went to the bakery and bought some sandwiches for lunch and then made our way to the subway.  We bought our train tickets to Versailles and then took the subway to the station for the train to Rive Gauche, the stop for Versailles.  Once we got to there, we just followed the crowd to the palace.  We stopped at a ticket office outside the gates to buy our day pass to the palace.  It was busy when we got closer to the palace but fortunately, it was not yet peak season so there was still some breathing room.

We decided to walk around the garden first as we figured it would get pretty hot later on.  The gardens were big, with different sections.  We thought about renting  bikes but the place we went to were all out.  So we stuck to walking.  We walked as far as the Petit Trianon before turning back to the palace.  We had our sandwiches out in the garden and relaxed on a bench facing the Apollo fountain.  We also picked up a couple of souvenirs from the gift shop. 

After lunch, we went into the palace, which was pretty crowded and followed the crowds from room to room.  The rooms were interesting but it was kind of hard to really see anything because of the press of humanity.  There was not a lot of furniture left as the palace was looted during the French revolution.  There quite a few paintings though.  The Hall of Mirrors was pretty impressive.  After we had enough of shuffling along with the tour groups and other tourists, we went to have tea at Café Angelina where we had pretty French pastries to fortify us for our trip back to Paris.

We made our way back to the station and it was crowded.  To top it all off, the ticket machines were not accepting credit cards, and everybody had to dig for cash.  Petros and Florine went to the little convenience store to get some change while I stood in line.  Then Irene had to go get more change when we counted our change and realize we did not have enough for the machine.  It took more than half an hour to get our tickets.  Then we had to wait for the train.  It took us a while to get back to the city.

We had dinner at the Café Du Marche, which is on our way back to the apartment.

Where we stayed:  Marais Saintonge

2013-06-25 Exploring Paris

June 25, 2013 - Tuesday

7 hour walk – Louvre, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame;

We started the day by walking down the street to the Café le Saint Gervais, on nearby  Rue Vieille du Temples, to have fresh croissants for breakfast.  There were only 2 left so we had to share.  After that, we went to the Supermarche for a small supply of groceries before going back to the apartment to prepare for our day of exploration.

Our first building of notable fame was the Archives Nationales, which preserves the archives of the French state.  There are 5 centres of Archives nationales with the main centre in Le Marais (although only pre-French Revolution archives will remain here once the new centre at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine is opened in 2013).  The Archives nationales has been located since 1808 in a group of buildings comprising the Hotel de Soubise and the Hotel de Rohan.  Since 1867, it has also housed the Musee de l’Histoire de France.  The oldest document kept here is a papyrus dated AD 625, a confirmation of a grant of land in the city of Paris to the Abby of Saint-Denis issued by King Chlothar II.  Being the superficial tourists that we were, we did not go into the archives.  We were content to admire the buildings themselves, this time from the back street.

We walked across the Seine on the Pont Louis Philippe to the Ile St. Louis before going over the Pont St. Louis to Notre Dame with its distinctive flat towers.




Where we stayed:  Marais Saintonge

2013-06-24 Off to Paris

June 24, 2013 - Monday
We went into the station and bought return tickets to St. Pancras as that was cheaper and also more convenient than having to find ticket machines when we come back from Paris.  That works as long as we don’t lose the return tickets.  The next train to Waterloo station did not take long to arrive.  As usual, we had timed it so that it was an express train.  We got into Waterloo with lots of time to spare before our train to Paris.

We were able to sleep in a little.  Once we were up, we had our usual breakfast.  Fui Ling had offered to drop us off at the station so we could take the train to St. Pancras for our 2:30 Eurostar train to Paris.  After dropping us off, she was going for a walk with her retired physician friend. Petros was going into the village to get his hair cut and then lunch.  Fui Ling was also going to drop Petros off at Heathrow for his 4:30 pm flight to Athens. 

As we were set to go, Fui Ling’s walking partner showed up.  I guess we were running a bit late.  Her friend decided to go into the village and they would meet up after Fui Ling dropped us off at West Byfleet.  She told us she would pick us up after we got back from Paris.

We thought about having lunch in one of the restaurants but decided against it, as we were not sure how fast service would be.  Instead, we bought some sandwiches and drinks to have on the train. There was also a dining car on board the train, but we did not really want to be too far from our luggage.  We walked around and window shopped until it was time to check in and we did that and then went up to wait at the lounge We had chosen carriage 18 and 3 seats together when we bought our tickets on line.  There were not a lot of standard-class seats left by the time we decided to go to Paris.  Carriage 18 turned out to be at the front of the train so it was a bit of a walk to it.  We settled in and Florine’s seat mate did not show up until it was almost time for the train to leave.  He was kind of chunky and took up a lot of room.  Fortunately for us, he left for the dining car once the train was on its way.

We could see the area surround the railway tracks for a part of the journey.  We passed through some pretty country side once we left London.  Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels.  All the trains traverse the channel Tunnel between the UK and France.  The service is operated by 19-coach Class 373/1 trains which run up to 300 kmh (186 mph) on a network of high-speed lines. Eurostar is now the dominant operator in cross-channel intercity passenger travel for the routes that it operates, carrying more passengers than all airlines combined.  Each 18 carriage train can carry 750 passengers. The Channel Tunnel is 50.5 km (31.4m) long and speed in the tunnel is reduced to 160 kmh (100 mph) for safety reasons. Since the launch of the Eurostar services, there have been disruptions and cancellations caused by fires breaking out in the tunnel.  Fortunately for us, the last incident was in 2008.

We arrived at Gare du Nord at about 5:45 pm local time, which is 1 hour ahead of London time.  We collected our luggage and made out way to the arrival hall.  We were looking for our complimentary pickup driver, hopefully some guy with Florine’s name on a placard, but a scan of the people with cards did not reveal one with her name.  We had to wait for a while, and I was going to call the rental office when our driver showed up.  He helped us pack our luggage into the nice spacious Benz van and drove us over to Rue Saintonge.  My first impression of the street was kind of underwhelming – the driver had pulled up against the side of a narrow street and we were surrounded by concrete walls and wooden gates.  The driver then called the greeter to let him know we were waiting outside the building.  We waited about 5 minutes before he showed up.  Aidan Murphy, our greeter, is a young Irish man. As we found out later while chatting with him, he just decided he wanted to live in Paris and called up Bernard, our agent, his friend and there he was. Aidan took us up to our first floor apartment, explaining the entry processes and the security codes as he led us through the main gate and then through the door to the stairway.  The apartment was bright and spacious by Parisian standard.  He showed us how to lock the door while outside and while inside (where you were determined which lock should be used) and we made arrangements for him to bring additional pillow cases and an extra set of keys later in the night after dinner.

We freshened up and set out for my first walk in Paris.  Our apartment was in the 3^rd arrondissement, one of the 20 arrondissements municipaux or administrative districts.  We were near the Archives, the Jewish Museum of Art & History and the Musee Picasso.  On our firs evening in Paris, we walked around the Jewish area before finally having dinner at the Café de des Blancs Manteaux.  It was a very pleasant evening and we enjoyed our walk.  When we got back to the apartment, we called Aidan but were unable to reach him.  We left him a message, asking him to come by in the morning with the spare keys.  We found an extra pillowcase in one of the cupboards.

Where we stayed:  Marais Saintonge, 11 Rue de Saintonge, 75003, Paris; 33 1 55 37 97 36 tel; 33 6 08 07 46 98 cell; Bernard

2013-06-23 A BBQ at Mutiara

June 23, 2013 - Sunday

Fui Ling and Stephen hosted a BBQ at home today.  Irene and I were able to sleep in for a while so that was nice.  Tristram had a golf tournament in the morning and Fui Ling had to go to the club as she was a coordinator.  Stephen had to run some errands and he invited Petros to go with him.  They took the Aston Martin, which was a thrill for Petros.  Irene and I helped to make the salad for the BBQ. Irene made it look quite pretty and she also made some dressing. Ming Yee, who has a Volvo SUV, took us over to the Tesco so I could top-up my cell phone account.  I was not able to add money online or over the phone as I did not have a UK credit card and it would not accept a Canadian one.  I was also thinking of buying a portable hard drive to put all the photos on it but Fui Ling said she had an old one that I could have.  Fui Ling also asked us to pick up lemonade for the Pimm’s Cup that she was going to make, bread and milk.  I also got some blood orange juice for breakfast.

After getting my phone topped up, we went back to the house.  Guests were already starting to arrive for the BBQ.  Most of them were school friends of Stephen’s and they meet at each other’s homes up to 4 times a year. There was Ross, who is at least 6 ft 7 inches tall; his wife (Clare?) and their daughter, Melissa? (their son, Trevor was at the golf tournament with Tristram and Ross would pick them up later); Anne and David and their dog, a cocker spaniel named Barney, 2 teenage daughters, a nurse with her dog, Molly, a lurcher, an Iranian woman, Fariba?? and her husband Paul??  who does IT benchmarking stuff. I’ve probably got everybody’s names and relationships confused.

We all took off for a walk around the canal with the 2 dogs, their respective owners, assorted offspring and Ming Yee.  Barney would make little forays into the canal and come back with wet paws.  Fortunately, he did not go too far in or he would have been really wet.  Molly was totally well behaved.  Apparently, she was a rescue, and a bit jumpy.  We saw horses grazing in a field, a man and his son fishing under a bridge, a heron in the water, which then took off in flight at our approach.  We waved at people on river houseboats as they motored by, dodged cyclists and exchanged greetings with many other dog walkers.  We turned around to go back to the house the same way we had come in order to avoid taking the dogs on the main road.

When we got back to the house, Stephen was hard at work, grilling chicken, lamb, ribs and sausages.  Apparently, the sausages were a great favourite at their BBQ.  Fui Ling had the task of ensuring everything was properly cooked.  Everybody enjoyed the jugs of Pimm’s Cup that Fui Ling made. The more energetic youngsters played soccer out in the garden. We had our food in the dining room while most of the others ate outside in the garden.  The food was great.  Fui Ling had made a dessert with slices of oranges in it.  As well, there were chocolate cakes from Costco (yes, there is a Costco about 40 minutes from West Byfleet). 

After everybody left and the kitchen was all cleaned up, Petros and I watched the Cube with Fui Ling and Stephen while Tristram did some homework.  After the show, we got together for family photos before heading off to finish our packing for our trip to Paris (Petros was headed to Athens).

Where we stayed:  Mutiara

2013-06-22 Day Trip to London

June 22, 2013 - Saturday

We had decided to go to London for the day.  Fui Ling dropped us off at West Byfleet train station after breakfast. We got excursion tickets that included the South West train into London and all 6 zones of the underground and bus service in London.  It only cost about 13 GBP return per person.  The train was on time and it was the express train so it only stopped at 2 stations, Surbiton and Clapham Junction, before pulling into Waterloo station.  At Waterloo, we saw lots of people all dressed up for a day at Ascot.  There were men in morning coats and women with hats and fascinators and high heels.  I cannot imagine walking on soft grass in someof the spikey heels that we saw.  We went into a M&S Food Hall and bought sandwiches and juices for lunch. From Waterloo, we walked towards Westminster bridge and then decided to take one of the double decker bus tours.  We got tickets for the Big Bus Tours from a hotel concierge, found the bus stop and hopped on the bus when it arrived.  The bus took us across the Waterloo Bridge and past the Royal Courts of Justice, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Bank Street, the Monument and across London Bridge, past the Shard, City Hall and over the Tower Bridge to the Tower of London.  We got off the bust at the Tower of London to take the Thames River Cruise. We made our way under the numerous bridges across the Thames, from London Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Mellennium Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Golden Jubilee Bridge to Westminster Pier.  Along the way, we passed Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, the OXO Tower, HMS Wellington, the Royal National Theatre and the London Eye.  We got off the cruise boat at Westminster Pier, admired the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey before boarding the bus again.  This time, the bus took us past New Scotland Yard, St. James’s Park, the Royal Mews, Belgrave Square, Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Gloucester Place, Baker Street, Regent’s Park and over to Oxford Circus, where we got off the bus.  We went into few stores, including Marks & Spencer before deciding that we had to go our separate ways – Florine and Petros to do some shopping, and Irene and me to the yarn store.  Angel was the closest tube station to the yarn store, Loop and unfortunately, it was part of the Northern Line which was closed for maintenance that weekend.  We made our way to King’s Cross and decided to walk from there.  We could have taken a bus, but it was a nice day for a walk, not too warm and with a gentle breeze.  Also, we were not sure where we had to get off, and walking would ensure that we did not miss our street.

After a half hour of walking, we found the street that we wanted – Camden Passage.  There was an antique market and we browsed the stalls as we walked along the street.  We walked right to the end of Camden Passage without seeing Loop.  We doubled back, Irene checked the address and lo and behold, we had passed right by it not long after we got to Camden Passage.  I think we were too busy looking at a stall across from the store.  Irene had a great time in the store, feeling the various yarns that were available.  She finally settled on a few different skeins and a book and I picked some pretty pink yarn.  At the checkout counter, we picked up a couple of shawl pins.  Irene got a bright pink bag for the purchases.

After that, we decided to take the bus back to King’s Cross station.  We did not have to wait too long for a bus to arrive – many of the buses from the bus stop went to King’s Cross station.  From King’s Cross station, I called Petros and we arranged to meet in a whisky shop in front of the Ritz Hotel. Green Park was the station that we needed to exit at.  We got to Green Park, headed to the Ritz Hotel and were about to cross the street to the whisky shop when Florine and Petros caught up with us from behind.  We had not heard them calling us, not surprising as London is rather noisy.  We decided to have dinner in London before heading back to Mutiara.  WE found an Italian and seafood restaurant, Pescatori, in Mayfair and had our dinner there.  The food was very good, and we had a nice bottle of red wine to go with our lamb, steak and fish dishes.  Dessert was a tiramisu and a pannacotta.

After that, we found an underground station and made our way back to Waterloo station to catch our South West train back to West Byfleet.  We were fortunate to catch another express train, which got us into West Byfleet in about 20 minutes.  We walked along the village stores and found a barber that Petros could visit on Monday to get his hair cut before leaving for Athens.  Most of the stores were not open on Sunday.  The village is not far from Mutiara and Irene had the remote so we were able to get in the grounds without having to buzz Tristram or Ming Yee.  Fui Ling and Stephen were at The Killers concert in Wembley Station when we got back.

Fui Ling said the concert was okay when she and Stephen finally got home.  Stephen thought it was great, but then, unlike Stephen, Fui Ling was not a fan.  It had been a long day for us so we did not linger for too long before heading off to bed.

Where we stayed:  Mutiara

2013-06-21 Cambridge

June 21, 2013 - Friday

After a leisurely breakfast, with a quick chat with the 2 restoration workers also staying there, and a lengthier chat with Judy, we went out to the backyard for a look around.  Judy’s husband has a shed in the back that he uses as his office and for bonding sessions with his rugby friends.  Judy has a beautiful garden with all kinds of plants in brilliant bloom.  A stream ran along the bottom of the garden.  Judy has 2 dogs and I can’t remember their names.  One was more outgoing than the other.  There were cattle and horses grazing in the pasture across from the river.  It was all rather idyllic.

We set out for Cambridge and along the way, we passed sheep grazing in fields, some cottages with thatched roofs and riverboats on the river.  It was a short, pleasant drive and Cambridge kind of crept up on us.  I was kind of dozing off in the back seat and woke up just in time to catch Fitzwilliam College as we drove by.  We turned on to Queen’s Road and found street parking near The Backs.  The Backs is a picturesque area and refers to the backs of some of the colleges with grounds covering both banks of the River Cam.  We crossed the river at the Garret Hostel Lane bridge beside the punts on the grounds of Trinity College.  We went down the lane to try and find a proper entrance to the area where the punts were moored but were not able to do so.  We went back to a lane that we had seen and walked from there over to the punts.  We wanted to have a trip down the river but no one was available to punt for us. We decided to walk around the grounds of Trinity College and admire the buildings.  We stopped to talk to the porter, who told us that the Library was not open until noon and that we could walk over to St. John’s.  He told us how to get into St. John’s from the back (to save us the admission fee).  We walked out of Trinity along The Avenue of lime and cherry trees, through the wrought iron gate towards Queen’s Road and then followed a footpath to the back gates of St. John’s.  We could see the Bridge of Sighs from the Kitchen Bridge as we went from the New Court to the Third Court. It started to rain on us while we were at St. John’s.  We went into one of the buildings of St. John’s to find out way out to the street.  Once out on the street, we wandered past King’s College, St. Catharine’s College and Corpus Christi College. We then went into Auntie’s Tea Shop to have a light lunch.  The tea shop was very busy.

After lunch, we walked along King’s Parade to the Senate House Passage, by Trinity Hall and back on to Garret Hostel Lane and bridge.  We shared the road with many cyclists, cycling being a very common mode of transportation for locals and students.  Many of the streets are closed to traffic so Cambridge is a great place to walk around in.  We got back into our car, figured our way out of Cambridge and we were on our way to Fui Ling’s house in West Byfleet.

 It was overcast and drizzly as we made our way to the M25.  Traffic on the M25 was very slow, but apparently, that is fairly normal.  We passed a truck on fire by the side of the motorway.  No emergency vehicles were in sight so I assumed that it was a fairly recent problem.  We were lucky to pass by when we did as it was highly likely that emergency vehicles, when they do finally arrive at the scene, would have created a major bottleneck.

We passed by The Anchor, a pub on the river not too far from Fui Ling’s house.  We unpacked the car when we got the Mutiara.  Fui Ling then went with us to return the car in Guildford.  Irene went with her while Petros, Florine and I followed in the Benz.  We had given ourselves a lot of time to get to the car rental place and the plan was for Fui Ling to drop us off at Wisley Garden while she went to pick up Tristram from school by 4:30 pm.  Traffic was slow but we got there just before 4:00 pm.  However, it took a long time for the rental place to sort out my bill.  I had been assured that the discrepancy in the insurance rate would be sorted out by the time I was to return the car, but no adjustment had been made to the rate.  The difference was about 40GBP so it was worth fighting for.  Eventually, the agency where I was returning the car worked something out with the agency where I picked up the car and the correct charges were applied to my credit card.  Fortunately, Stephen was home and was able to pick Tristram up as it was pouring down by then and we would not have been able to visit the garden.  Once the problem was resolved and the bill paid, Fui Ling drove us over to the garden.  While it had stopped raining, it was closing time at the garden.  So, we had to postpone our visit for another day.

Fui Ling drove us back to Mutiara.  We freshened up and then chatted with her while she got dinner together.  There was not much to do as she had prepared everything during the day.  We had a very nice dinner with ham, vegetables, rice and mashed potatoes.  She made a very tasty tart with mascarpone cheese and berries.  We spent a lot of time chatting and catching up on 45 years of family history. We also did some laundry. Time flew by and it was almost midnight by the time we got to bed.
Where we stayed:  Mutiara, West Byfleet

2013-06-20 A Wet Drive South

June 20, 2013 - Thursday

Today’s plan called for a stop in Harrogate so that Irene could go to a yarn store and then a visit to York. 

 Drove by:  Landisfarne National Nature Reserve-Budle Bay; Bamburgh, ancient capital of Northumbria, castle; Seahouses, beach, Alnwick, Treehouse for lunch; then highway to The South; skipped Harrogate – too late for yarn store; skipped York – started to rain; drove to Woodnewton and Bridge Cottage.   Waited in car for rain to abate – Judy came to get us with umbrellas.  Showed us to rooms; recommended The White Swan for dinner; made reservations for us; could walk over but with fear of rain, drove over instead; on way back, saw guy slip.  When we got back to cottage, he walked in.  apparently, he was staying there too.  He and a colleague were working on a local restoration project and they came from Cornwall.

Where we stayed:  Bridge Cottage, Oundle Rd, Woodnewton, Peterborough, PE8 5EG; Judy

2013-06-19 From Skye to Stirling

June 19, 2013 - Wednesday

Last night, we had decided to have an early breakfast at 8:00 am.  Irene was anxious that we not miss the ferry, for which we had booked tickets.  It was scheduled to leave Armadale at 11:40 an.  I reckoned that it would take us less than half an hour to get to the ferry docks but there was no reason we could not set out earlier.  After our hearty breakfast, we packed the car and drove south on the A87 to Armadale.  Just outside of Portree, we squeezed by what looked like a recent collision between a car and a cube van.  We pulled into the ferry docks just as the ferry before the one we were booked on left.  There were 2 cars waiting in line already.  We were directed to park our car at the front of the first lane, beside the other 2 cars in lane 2.  Irene and I went into the ticket office to get our tickets. That took almost no time at all as we had booked online and they had our tickets printed and waiting for us.  We were so early that we had about an hour to kill. 

 We were expected to check in 20 minutes before boarding the ferry, which was scheduled to leave at 11:40 am.  We walked on the dock to check out a couple of stores but one was not opened (though the front door was ajar, with a workman doing some repairs around the area) and the other did not look that interesting.  So we walked back to a little café where we had coffees and hot chocolates.  It was a windy day and we watched a couple of birds that had stopped by to visit.  After finishing our hot drinks, we went into Ragamuffin, a clothing, knitwear and gift store by the pier. They had some lovely linen clothing but they all look way too big for us.  Also, they were rather expensive so we were not motivated to try anything on. After that, Irene and I went into grumpygeorge at skyelark, where I bought some jam made by local award winning cook and food writer, Claire Macdonald.  She is one of Scotland’s foremost exciting ambassadors for the revitalization of highland hospitality.  She runs Kinloch Lodge, a unique luxury hotel with her husband, Lord Macdonald, High Chief of Clan Donald.

While we were loitering around the pier waiting for the ferry to arrive, about a half dozen Aston Martins and a McLaren pulled up into the ferry line.  They were owned by a bunch of Germans who had come to Skye for a rally and were now heading back to the mainland.  The ferry dock man told us that the day before, a contingent of Dutch Aston Martin owners had taken the ferry over to Mallaig.  I can imagine that it must be fun to speed along the narrow, curvy, mountainside roads of Skye.

We then watched the incoming ferry dock at the pier.  We got into our car to wait until all the passengers and cars have disembarked, at which point, the ferry dock man told us to board the ferry in our car.  As he put it, we had the pole position.  We the first car on and will be the first car off the ferry. After parking the car in the designated spot, we got out of the car and went upstairs to the top deck.  We walked around and watched the cars boarding the ferry.  When all the passengers and cars were safely on-board, the ferry left for Mallaig.  A car alarm went off as the announcements were being made. We would soon discover that car alarms would be going off the whole trip, and that our car alarm went off too at one point, when we were not too far from Mallaig.  My guess is that the more expensive cars had more sensitive alarms.  We started on the top deck but soon found it was too windy and cold to stay there so we went to the rear where it was more sheltered and offered a view of the fast disappearing Armadale ferry dock.  Irene and I then wandered inside the ferry and checked out the on-board coffee shop and little gift store. It took about 30 minutes for the crossing.  We got back inside our car as the ferry docked at Mallaig.  We were first off the ferry and it was nice, not to have to wait to get out of the ferry.  Not far from Mallaig, we saw a nice sandy beach so we stopped for a little walk.  After that, we drove to Arisaig. 
Ferry-30 minutes  (Mallaig, Arisaig, Glenfinnan monument, Fort William, Glencoe, Three sisters mountains, Brig o’turk, glen finglas, loch katrine, stirling)
The village of Arisaig (the Safe Place) is centred on the sheltered shore of Loch nan Ceall (Loch of the Cells) and nestled at the base of rocky Creag Mhor, the Squrr an t’Sasunnaich (peak of the Englishman) and the Sgurr an Albanaich (peak of the Scotsman).  Tourism is the main industry in the Arisaig area because of the spectacular scenery and great beaches.  We parked by the water front with its view of the Inner Hebridian islands of Rhum and Eigg. There was a choice of places for lunch, and we decided on the Old Library Lodge & Restaurant for no particular reason that I can recall.  It was a good choice and we enjoyed our lunch of the daily specials, homemade fishcake with salad and chips, salt n’pepper prawn salad with chips and a crab and mayo sandwich with salad garnish, as well as a venison pate with oat cakes and a carrot (I think) soup.  After lunch, we walked along the waterfront and stopped at the war memorial for Czech and Slovak soldiers.  The memorial was built to honour the hundreds of Czech and Slovak soldiers who were trained at the Special Operations Executive’s school for missions in occupied Europe during the Second World War.  Many of the trainees were parachuted behind the enemy lines, or took part in the invasion and other war actions, with heavy casualties. The sculpture depicts a fallen parachute and was made in Czech granite by stonemasons near Prague.  Funds were raised by public subscription in Scotland and the Czech Republic.  It was reported that the sculptor of the memorial, Josef Vajce, died suddenly on the same day the last boulder was set on the memorial in September 2011.
On our drive to Fort William, we followed Loch Nan Uamh for a while, hugged the shore of Loch Eilt for its entire length before driving through a forest to get to the Glenfinnan monument at the head of Loch Shiel.  The monument, a tribute to Jacobite clansmen who fought and died in the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, is set in beautiful highland scenery.  The memorial tower was designed by the Scottish architect, James Gillespie Graham and is surmounted by a statue of an anonymous Highlander in a kilt.  We were also able to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, though not the Jacobie Steam Train which was transformed into the Hogwarts Express that was seen crossing the viaduct in the Harry Potter films.
 From Glenfinnan, we drove through Fort William, the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland (Inverness being the largest).  It lies near the head of Loch Linnhe, one of Scotland’s longest sea lochs, beside the mouth of the Nevis and Lochy rivers, which join in the intertidal zone to briefly become one river before discharging to the sea.  The town is surrounded by pictureaque mountains.  Just outside the town is a large Alcan aluminium plant, which accounts for the weird sculpture visible off the highway.  From Fort William, we drove beside Loch Linnhe before making our way to Inchree with the intention of seeing the spectacular Inchree Falls.  We parked at Glen Righ and changed our minds after realizing that it would take 40 minutes to walk the waterfall trail.  We looked for red squirrels, which are endangered native squirrels around the parking lot.  We continued to drive along Loch Linnhe before crossing the bridge from North Ballachulish to South Ballachulish.  After that, the road followed Loch Leven, another sea loch, until we got to Glencoe.  It was windy and drizzling in the Glencoe area.  We drove past waterfalls in the mountains, watched a Royal Navy helicopter hover over a man on the ground (we never did figure out if it was landing or taking off) and took photos of the Three Sisters, a mountain range.  There were many hikers around the area, even though it was misty, damp, windy and cold.  But the rugged beauty more than made up for those inconveniences.  We drove along the highway until we came to Black Mount Estate.  From the road, we could see a herd of deer grazing in the valley below. Black Mount Estate is owned by the Fleming family (including Ian of James Bond fame) and is known for skiing, climbing and picturesque walks.   We stopped at the church at Bridge of Orchy and admired the view from the parking lot.  The church is beside the Bridge of Orchy Hotel which overlooks the River Orchy and is overlooked by Beinn Dorain.

We drove through Crianlarich (again) and made a short stop at Lochearnhead (we were there during our visit to Loch Lomond earlier) before stopping at Glen Finglas.  We went for a short walk in the glen and admired the woodland and the little river that flowed under the bridge.  Glen Finglas sits at the heart of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and was once part of a royal deer forest where kings, from the time of David and James II onwards, came to hunt.  In the early 19^th century, the glen was a conduit for cattle drovers and whisky smugglers.  Woodland historians believe that Glen Finglas is home to one of the largest collections of ancient trees in Scotland.

From Glen Finglas, we drove past the Tigh Mor Holiday Property Bond hotel which had been restored with the help of the Scottish Tourist Board.  It is one of 30 hotels in the UK and European locations that investors in the Holiday Property Bond could enjoy rent free for life.  We then drove by Ben A’an (which means Small Pointed Peak), a small mountain situated next to Loch Katrine and Loch Achray.  We made our way to Loch Katrine, where we stopped and walked along the pier to look at the boats and to take in the scenery.  Loch Katrine inspired Sir Walter Scott to write “The Lady of the Lake” and the lake’s beauty can be experienced, during the summer months, from the deck of the steamer, the Sir Walter Scott.  We did not stay very long as the place appeared to be closing up for the day. We were quite high up in the mountains and we had excellent views of forests and lochs along our drive.  We drove by the Port of Monteith on our way to Stirling.  We could see Stirling Castle on our way to Firgrove, our Stirling bed and breakfast for the night.

At Firgrove, we were greeted by Tim and his dog, Pip.  Tim was very friendly and a font of information about Stirling.  He showed us to our rooms, which were quite spacious and then gave us recommendations for dinner.  We decided to try Indian food as we had seen lots of Indian restaurants during our tour but had not sampled any yet.  We walked into the city and found the Kama Sutra.  Dinner was quite delicious and after all that food, we needed a walk, so we set off for Stirling Castle.  It was an uphill walk with lots of old and interesting buildings, such as the Tollbooth (once Stirling’s town hall, but now a popular venue for live music and the arts) and the Church of the Holy Rude (a historic medieval church) along the way.  Once at the castle, we wandered around the esplanade which overlooks the Old Town graveyard and offered excellent views of Stirling and the surrounding area.  We could see the River Forth and the National Wallace Monument in the distance.  The National Wallace Monument is a tower standing on the summit of Abbey Craig. It was built to commemorate William Wallace, a 13^th century Scottish hero.  The monument is a 67m (220 ft) sandstone tower built in the Victorian Gothic style. There are 246 steps to the top of the monument.

We wandered around the castle esplanade, looking at the various statues, including one of Robert the Bruce.  There was also a memorial for the soldiers who died in the South African War from October 1899 to May 1902.  The castle was closed to visitors so we could not tour the inside.  We headed back to the town through the cemetery and passed by the Church of the Holy Rude again, the Old Town Jail, the Erskine Church and then onto the more modern part of the town with its shopping centre and other stores.  It was a lovely evening, and we enjoyed our stroll back to the b&b.

Black Mount Estate-deer; White house, called Lagangarbh, is a refuge for mountain climbers – at foot of Stob Dearg just east of Glen Coe; church at bridge of Orchy-stop; then Lochearnhead (think we stopped there before, on our way to Loch Lomond); then Glen Finglas; Holiday Property Bond-big turreted building An Tigh Mor Trossachs, Highland home of the Holiday Property Bond then Loch Katrine; Port of Menteith; Stirling; Pip and Tim; Kama Sutra dinner; walk around Stirling;

Where we stayed:   Firgrove, 13 Clifford Rd, Stirling, FK8 2AQ; 44 1786 475805; Tim & Pip

2013-06-18 Exploring the Isle of Skye

June 18, 2013 - Tuesday

Peter served breakfast while Marina worked in the kitchen.  There was a nice assortment of jams and the blackcurrant was Petros’ favourite flavour.  We enjoyed our cooked breakfast, and then it was time to set off on our next adventure.  It was a slightly overcast morning with low cloud cover and a fine mist.  We set out for Waternish, enroute to the Shilasdair Shop, a store which sells naturally-dyed yarn, designer garments and knit kits and craft accessories.  The shop is located in Lower Halistra.  We drove along the A850, went over the Bay River and north along Loch Bay and passed a number of pretty villages before we got to Halistra.  The road was dotted with various kinds of sheep – we passed some with black face and leg markings and some that were all black. We had to take a small road to get to Shilasdair, but we did find it.

The Shilasdair Shop, 10 Carnach, Waternish, Isle of Skye, IV55 8GL, 44 01470 592297; 10 am to 6 pm;  The view from Shilasdair was beautiful.  There are 3 islands off the coast, the smallest one,  Mingay, Sgeir nam Biast and the largest one, Isay Island.  Surprisingly, unlike the many buildings that we passed, the store was not white.  It was built with red and brown stone blocks.  We spent quite a lot of time in the store, touching the various yarns, admiring the many knitted garments which were all way too big for us, and visiting the Dyehouse Exhibition to get some insight into natural dyeing, the variety of dyestuffs and the equipment used.  Irene bought a nice selection of yarn, including some local yarns, before we continued on our way.

We drove further along the coast, admiring the scenery and made a short stop when the road ended at a rocky beach.  It was pretty windy and cold by the water.  We then went back the same way that we had come and stopped at Skyeskyns, Scotland’s only traditional tannery.  Irene and I visited the tannery and a very nice guy, Dave, showed us around and explained the tanning process to us.  After that, he took us up to the showroom, where we joined Florine and Petros.  We looked at the various sheepskins and rugs and Florine and Petros bought a rug and a reindeer skin and made arrangements for them to be mailed home.  I bought a Jacob hat for Chris.  From Skyeskyns, we drove south to the Stein Inn, where we had lunch. The Stein Inn is an eighteenth-century inn with a traditional highland bar offering over 99 malt whiskies and serving freshly prepared meals from local produce, meats and seafood.  We had oysters on the half shell, smoked salmon and a crab sandwich.  After lunch, we walked along the shore for a bit but it was too windy and cold for us to walk for too long.

Back into the car and on towards Dunvegan. We decided to skip the castle and head south towards Elgol.  We drove through

Sligachan and made a stop in Broadford, where I was able to buy a thimble from Craft Encounters, which also housed a post office with very helpful staff.  From there, we drove to Duncan House, the workshop of Garth Duncan, master goldsmith, design jeweller and knife maker. Duncan House is located in the old Strathaird Steading overlooking Loch Slapin.  There was a young couple in the shop, choosing a design for their engagement and wedding rings.  We looked at the jewellery and knives before leaving.  We drove along a single track road with passing spots until we got to Elgol. Elgol is a sparsely populated crofting and fishing village along the final mile of the road from Broadford.  It is located on the shores of Loch Scavaig towards the end of the Strathaird peninsula.  Bella Jane and Misty Isle Boat Trips are two private companies that offer tours to Loch Coruisk in the heart of the Cuillins.  The boat tours visit the common seal colony at Loch na Cuilce and the nearly abandoned shark fishing station on the island of Soay.  On the way back from Elgol, we stopped at Mary’s Thatched Cottages, a group of four luxurious self-catering cottages combining the charm of “black house” dwelling with modern comforts (or so their advertising claims). 

From Elgol, we drove to Satran and then south to Bualintur. We could have taken the road to Talisker at that point but decided not to.  The road we took followed the River Gleann for a while.  We stopped at Glen Brittle with the thought of perhaps walking over to the Fairy Pools but a long walk in the wind and cold did not hold much appeal.  We admired the scenery with its cloud covered mountain tops from a distance in the comfort of our rental car. 

We drove back up north to Glenview Restaurant in Culnaknock, where we were to have dinner in celebration of Florine’s birthday.  We passed The Storr, a rocky hill with a steep rocky eastern face overlookin the Sound of Raasay. The Storr is a prime example of the Trotternish landslip, the longest of its kind in Great Britain.  The area in front of the cliffs of the Storr is known as the Sanctuary, and it has a number of weirdly shaped rock pinnacles, the remnants of ancient landslips.  The most famous of these, and by far the largest and most apparent when approaching from the south (which we were), is known as the Old Man of Storr (Bod an Stoir, literally ‘the Penis of Storr’).  On a clear day, it would have been a great hike with great views.  As we drove along the A856, we could see the Old Man of Storr on our left and Bearreraig Bay on the right.  Across the bay, we could see the Isle of Raasay.

We had made dinner reservations for 8:00 pm at the Glenview.  We went to see if they could accommodate us earlier, but not a chance.  They suggested that we went for a drive to Staffin to while away the time.  Staffin calls itself the dinosaur stamping ground of Scotland. Dinosaur remains have been found in the Jurassic rocks on the coast.  The footprint of an ornithopod was discovered at Brothers’ Point in 1982.  The world’s smallest dianosau footprint was also discovered locally in 2004.  We saw Kilt Rock, which is named after the tartan-like folds in the 105m (344 ft) cliffs.  The Kilt Rock waterfall is also nearby though the angle from the fenced viewpoint does not give a really good look at the waterfall as it tumbles from the nearby loch over the precipitous cliff edge in dramatic fashion. We went for a walk on the pier at Staffin Bay, hoping that we could get a glimpse of an otter in the water.

We drove back to Glenview and had drinks (Campari and soda for Irene and me, gin and tonic for Florine and a beer for Petros) while we waited for our table.  We waited in the front room, where Irene contributed to a piece of knitting in a basket.  We were told that all the strips were eventually sewn together into blankets.

We started our dinner with a dozen Isle of Skye oysters.  For our starters, we picked both the dishes on offer, Skye shellfish risotto with herb salad and preserved lemons and the warm salad of wild highland game with quinoa, Glendale leaves and thyme oil.  Florine had the roasted hake fillet with fennel and mustard butter, sautéed potatoes and spring greens while the rest of us opted for the Skye Soay mutton with spiced red wine sauce, roasted garlic mashed potates and spring greens.  Dessert was Perthshire strawberry and vanilla cream meringue and a chocolate & mint tart with fresh mint & chocolate chip ice cream.  Everything was really delicious.  We had a bottle of red wine, Ribas, Negre 2009; vid de la terra Mallorca.  This was recommended by our sommelier, and it was a great bottle of wine, given that Mallorca wines were not even part of our consciousness.  It was a very harmonious blend of Montenegro, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and merlot grapes.

After our dinner, I drove back to Cruinn Bheinn.  It was pretty late by the time we got back so we went straight to our rooms, after agreeing to have an early breakfast in the morning.

Where we stayed:  Cruinn Bheinn

2013-06-17 The Winding Road to Skye

June 17, 2013 - Monday

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we set out for Poolewe.  We thought about going to Ullapool but decided against it.  The scenery was quite amazing on the drive to Poolewe. We drove beside Black Water for quite a while. At times, it seemed like we were driving past paintings.  We passed Glascarnoch Dam, which is located near the A835 road between Inverness and Ullapool.  Loch Glascarnoch is a man-made reservoir, created in the 1950s when the dam was built.  Water from Loch Vaich and Loch Droma is taken to Loch Glascarnoch from where a 5 mile tunnel transports the water to Mossford power station.  The dam is 28m or 92 feet high and 510 m or 1,673 feet in length.

We stopped to walk the Corrieshalloch Gorge from the Kissing Gates to the suspension bridge overlooking the Falls of Measach and then over to the viewing platform.  It was a nice little walk and from there, we drove to Dundonnell and then along Little Loch Broom, a sea loch which is separated from Loch Broom by a peninsula occupied by Scoraig, a settlement known for its remoteness, somewhat ‘alternative’ atmosphere, organic food production and pioneering use of wind power.  Along the way, we stopped to admire Little Gruinard Beach, which has fragile sand dunes where were being restored.  The sheltered sandy bays and headlands are good places for sea watching.  Sightings at the beach included common and white-beaked dolphins, minke whale, harbour porpoise and occasionally basking shark and killer whale.  While most of the listed wildlife could be seen all year or between May and October, we, sadly, did not see any.

We got into Poolewe around lunch time.  We stopped at Inverewe Gardens, famous for its exotic and magical garden, bought our tickets for the garden and then had a light lunch at the café.  There was a warning about it been the midge season, and forewarned, we went back to our parked car and sprayed ourselves with bug repellent before setting out for our walk in the garden.  The bug spray worked fairly well for most part.  The garden is situated it the north of Scotland, in a rocky, windswept headland on the shores of Loch Ewe. Plants from all over the world thrive there.  There were plants native to South Africa growing there.  We saw palm trees and all manner of tropic plants.  The rhododendrons and azaleas were in bloom and they were magnificent.  The view of the coast was beautiful.  We enjoyed the garden and our walk even though it got a bit warm and the bugs were swarming over our heads.  Inverewe Garden Lodge, the final home of the founder of Inverewe Garden, is available for holiday let (1 double and 2 twin bedded rooms, satellite TV, wood burning stove and other amenities) and comes with 24 hour access to the garden.  That might be a fun place to stay in if we come back to the area.  The inverewe Estate covers about 2,000 acres of moorland, coastline and woodland in addition to the 54 acre garden. It is home to otters, pine martens, red and roe deer and a resident seal colony.  One could spend days in Inverewe, walking its various trails and trying to spot wildlife from the Wildlife Hide.  We, unfortunately, only had a couple of hours to spend in the garden.

Lunch; Inverewe garden; http://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/inverewe-garden-and-estate-p255481

From Poolewe, we drove to Gairloch.  The most interesting part of getting there was the scenery as we drove along the road, which sometimes became single tracked.  We did not encounter a lot of traffic, but we could imagine that the road must be a zoo in high season.  Drivers were polite and pulled into passing spots depending on who was closer to one.  There was a lot of lights being flicked and hands waved in acknowledgement when passing by each car.  We passed the Bad Na Sgalaig Dam. 

Beinn Eighe, Britain’s first National Nature Reserve, is a complex mountain massif located between Loch Maree and Glen Torridon.  The upper reaches are white quartzite and the flanks are scree-covered.  Two of the Beinn Eighe’s summits are classified as Munros (a Scottish mountain with a height of more than 914.4m or 3,000 feet).  Mountains or hills of at least 150m or 492 ft, regardless of absolute height or other merit, are called Marilyns.  The name was coined as punning contrast to the designation of Munro (ala Marilyn Munroe).  There are 2,009 Marilyns identified in the UK, Ireland and Isle of Man. With 1,215 of them in Scotland, it is no wonder that we seemed to be surrounded by Marilyns during our drive in Scotland.  The northern side side of Beinn Eighe looks out across a rough triangular wilderness of rock, peat and heather that stretches almost to the south west shore of Loch Maree.

The road to Kinlochewe was most quite scenic, with views of the Beinn Eighe Marilyns.

The road from Kinlochewe to Torridon was mostly single track and meandered along hillsides. On the road between Kinlochewe and Torridon, Ben Eighe appears to be a steep and imposing rock wall that takes off where Liathach leaves off, with few features breaking up the southern face.  The easiest access to the mountain is from the mountain trail from the Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve visitor centre on the A832 about 3 miles north west of Kinlochewe.

Along our spectacular drive to Torridon, we saw a heron and a herd of deer.

 We decided to skip Plockton as it was getting late and it would mean doubling back on the road..  From Torridon, we headed straight for Eilean Donan, one of the most photographed castles in Scotland.  Apparently, the castle was best admired from afar so we had no plans to visit it.  We went into the parking lot of the Dornie town hall and took a bunch of photos of the castle from there.  It is quite dramatic.  After that, we drove over to the parking lot of the visitors’ centre for the castle to see the castle from another angle. I would say that the castle looked great from all angles.

From Eilean Donan, we drove to the Isle of Skye.  There were mountains everywhere.  Where they were no mountains, we could see the sea.  Skye has been linked to the mainland by the controversial Skye Bridge since October 1995.  Some claim that Skye was no longer an island because of the permanent link to the mainland. The bridge passes over Eilean Ban (White Island), which is a six acre island with a wealth of heritage managed by the Eilean Ban Trust.  We drove from the bridge on the A87, which followed the coast and and passed Broadford, Sconser (with its ferry port for the Isle of Raasay) and Sligachan befoe going inland for the drive to Portree. We drove past Portree on the road to our b&b, Cruinn Beinn in Kensalare.

We decided to go into Portree for dinner.  Portree, the largest town on Skye, has a harbour fringed by cliffs and a pier designed by Thomas Telford.  There are a few colourful houses interspersed amongst whitewashed buildings.  The harbour continues to be used by fishing and pleasure which can be seen bobbing up and down in the water. Our hostess, Marina, had recommended a couple of restaurants in town and we went to check them out after driving into Portree.  Those restaurants were fully booked and unable to accommodate us so we walked around to find another place.  The many places that we went in to were also fully booked and we thought we might be reduced to eating greasy fish and chips from a place by the harbour.  For a large tourist centre, the choices for dining were quite limited.

We were lucky enough to get 2 separate tables in a pub that we found.  After placing our order, the diners at the table next to Petros and Florine left and Irene and I were able to move and we ended up having dinner together.  We enjoyed our meals of scallops, mussels, strawberry Eton mess and fruit cake. 

We drove back to our b&b and went for a walk in the neighbourhood.  From the b&b, we could look across Loch Snizort Beag to the Waternish peninsula.  Kensalare is on the Trotternish peninsula.  We saw a red Highland, which looks a bit like a hippy because of the long wavy coats, rabbits and sheep.  A group of Highlands is known as a fold. Highland are a hardy breed with their hair providing protection during cold winters and their skill in looking for food allowing them to survive in steep mountain area.  They both graze and browse and eat plants that other cattle avoid.  Fortunately, the midges stayed away from us – must be the foreign repellent that we were using. We walked to the end of the road before turning back.  We met a jogger and his dog on the way back and spent some time showering attention on the dog.  I guess it was compensating for missing our own dogs.

Where we stayed:  Cruinn Bheinn, 4 Eyre, Kensaleyre, Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9XB; 44 01470 532459; Peter & Marina

2013-06-16 On Taking the Long Way to Loch Ness

June 16, 2013 - Sunday

We got up and had our breakfast of pork pie and left over fruit.  Eric came by to see us off.  Eric, it turned out, is a retired police officer who injured his shoulder badly before he retired.  He helped us bring our luggage to the car, and then we set off for the North.  We drove out of Edinburgh across the Queensferry bridge on our way to Braemar.  We stopped at the Glenshee Pottery and visitor centre, where we had tea and scones and bought some souvenirs from the gift shop.  The pottery also serves as a visitor centre for skiers at the Glenshee ski area in the winter.  The lady who ran the place was very friendly and we had a nice chat with her.  She told us that she would stay open later in the winter to accommodate all the cold skiers who come to her shop to have warm drinks.

After a rather protracted stop at the pottery, we got back on the road. We passed more sheep than cars on most of the roads.  The low mountains (or maybe they seem low because the road we were on was half way up the mountain) were almost barren – we did not see trees, only grass, scrub and shrubs.  Some of the mountains still had snow on the sides.  The mountains had a kind of stark beauty to them.  We do come across the occasional forest of conifers, and they provide a big contrast to the minimalistic landscape.  We saw waterfalls and streams meandering along the valleys.  It was all rather beautiful.  There were sheep with black faces and white bodies grazing in some of the valleys.  The landscape was scattered with little stone houses called bothies.  Bothies were originally farm accommodations for itinerant workers; it is now an open shelter, usually in a remote location, where travellers can use.  They are usually at least several hours walk from the public road. At one point, we were fortunate enough to see a herd of deer grazing in a field.  Petros also spotted a grouse in a field.  He has really sharp eyes and spots all kinds of wildlife while he’s driving.

 We drove through Braemar and thought that we might make a short stop at Balmoral Castle. We saw a herd of deer grazing in a field.  For most of the way, we drove beside the River Dee.  We veered off to a side road, which we thought might lead to the castle, but it did not.  We went back to the main road and carried on our way past Crathie and the sign post for Balmoral Castle  and on to Ballater.  We did not stop at Ballater, choosing instead to continue on to Tomintoul. This was basically a scenic drive by kind of day.  It was getting late and we wanted to get to Urquhart Castle which is on Loch Ness so we also just drove through Tomintoul. We drove over the River Spey, which is home to the greatest concentration of malt whiskey distilleries along its shore, and passed by well-known estates such as Glenlivet as we made our way to Inverness on the way to the castle.

Open 9:30 am to 6:00 pm; Adm GBP 7.90; concession GBP 6.40; http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/places/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_297&PropName=Urquhart%20Castle;

Petros thought we should visit Urquhart Castle as he had really enjoyed his walk around and amidst the ruins in 2011.  We drove into Drumnadrochit and passed the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibit. Loch Ness monster advertisements now begin in earnest with signs such as Nessieland abounding.  We arrived at Urquhart Castle to find it had just closed for the day.  So, we had to content ourselves with snapping a few shots of it from the parking lot.  Urquhart Castle was one of Scotland’s largest castles and the ruins now include the 5 storey Grant Tower on the north end that commands a splendid view of Loch Ness and Great Glen, sitting as it does, on a promontory that juts out into Loch Ness.  The present ruins date from the 13^th to 16^th centuries, though built on the site of an early medieval fortification.  The castle played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14^th century, was held as a royal castle and raided on many occasions by the MacDonald Earls of Ross.  It was granted to Clan Grant in 1509 and then largely abandoned by the mid-17^th century.  It was partially destroyed in 1692 to prevent its use by Jacobite forces.  The Grant Tower partially collapsed following a storm in 1715.  It passed into state care in October of 1913.

We then left for Beauly and our next bed and breakfast destination.  Beauly is only about a half hour drive from Urquhart Castle.  Along the way, we passed through some pretty country and the River Beauly.  We found Chrialdon without any trouble.  We checked in and got our rooms.  Florine and Petros had a very big room.  Ours was smaller but looked comfortable.  We got recommendations for dinner at “The Comm” Bar + Bistro at the Priory Hotel from our hostess, Isobel, who said that the bistro shared the same kitchen as the hotel but you paid more to eat at the hotel.  Sound advice.  We enjoyed our starters of a trio of smoked beef, chicken and venison, bread and salad and a duck, venison and wild boar pate with oatcakes, salad and prune and apple chutney.  We actually forgot to take photos of our mains. We must have been hungry!  I think we had a steak which came in a sizzling platter and roast beef, it being Sunday and all.

After dinner, we walked around the Beauly Priory cemetery and inside the Priory Church ruins.  Beauly Priory was a Valliscaulian (a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church based in Burgundy) monastic community, most probably founded in 1230.  The French monks and a local landowner, Sir John Bisset, had a strong enough French-speaking presence to give the location and the river the name “beau lieu” (beautiful place) and have it pass into English. 

Only the abbey church now survives.  It takes the form of a Latin cross, with a three-bay choir to the east, a seven-bay nave to the west, and at the junction, two flanking transepts to north and south.  The church houses some fine funerary monuments including one to Prior Alexnader Mackenzie (who died in 1479) and another to Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintall who died in 1492. 

After that, went back to Chrialdon and Irene and I hung out with Florine and Petros in their room until it was time for bed.

Where we stayed:  Chrialdon Bed & Breakfast, Station Road, Beauly, Inverness Shire, IV4 7EH; 44 01463 783486; cell 44 07787 111926; Isobel