Cannons and HP

Would Rosco like one of these?

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Victoria St

There is a Scots version
of Harry Potter
could barely work out the words

Thomas Riddle grave
I wonder what his family think
of this modern day obsession

At The Elephant House cafe
French mother and daughter
I had fun with as we did our
Harry Potter graffiti photos in the tiny toilet

Angels playing bagpies in
Thistle Chapel at St Giles

St Giles

The morning weather reports are going on and on and on about the heat. Apparently yesterday it was hotter in the UK than Bali and that is a big deal. But we cant be worried about the weather as one of the brochures says we run tours in rain, sleet and even sunshine.

Out the door, we go turn left and straight up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. The castle is heaving, tour groups from every nation all converge at the top of the Royal Mile to storm the castle. In we go and up, and up to check out the royal jewels, then onto the Royal Hall. There is even a whisky experience to dabble in a few tastings at the top of the castle. The cannon is massive and a ball can be shot for 2km, it is affectionally known as Mons Meg.

Now we are off on a tour of Old Town, down a hill, oh that looks pretty, snap, snap. Warning Harry Potter shop, warning another Harry Potter shop, what fun. More views of the castle, up another steep hill and better views. Around the old school and onto explore the Greyfriars area.

Edinburgh is a dog lovers paradise, and here is a memorial to Bobby, a dog who guarded the grave of his owner for 14 years. All the tourists take his photo and then touch his nose, must be for good luck? If you think I am sharing germs with all those tourists you are sadly mistaken.

Into Kirk (graveyard) on an important mission, Jane does not have a clue why we are here, it's quite an old cemetery with big trees and a happy mix of tourists and a sketching class. But I have a secret mission we are here to find where J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for names of some of the characters in the Harry Potter books. With help from 10-year-old Jessica and her Nan, we find Thomas Riddle at the end of the path and then onto McGongall, Moody and Cruickshanks.

Its time for a cup of tea and I know the perfect spot nearby. The Elephant House is one of the many cafes J.K. Rowling is rumoured to have spent time writing the first Harry Potter book, it seems to have cornered the market and is a really nice place to enjoy an elephant shortbread.

The final stop for the day is St Giles Cathedral, 2 pounds for a photo permission sticker and we are in. Its worth it for the stained glass windows alone. But what I am really here to do is find some room out the back with angels playing the bagpipes. We find it, its called Thistle Chapel and people of Scots ancestry, who have given distinguished service the guide shows us Robert Menzies (Australian Prime Minister) and his crest has the Southern Cross on it. Now that was unexpected.

The Outlander Odyssey begins

The first guy we meet
and he winked at me

¸Palace of Holyroodhouse abbey ruins 

The lovely staff wear kilts

Arthurs Seat

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Climbing Nelsons Monument

National Memorial from top of Nelsons Monument

Looking down Princes Street to Waverley Station and castle

Scotts Monument with everyone
collapsing in shade from the heat

Exhausted but happy

BA8704 ready for take off, ack, balh, be, bob, what did they say? We haven’t even left the ground and I don’t understand the Scottish accent. One hour later we are circling our destination straining to check out where is the castle, all the houses are in very straight rows and what is that big mountain in the background. Everything is bathed in sunshine and green.

Our taxi driver knows we are tourists, how did he figure that out? And gives a great running commentary of all the sites along the way, what a great way to be introduced to a new country. Time to dump the bags and get out into sunny Edinburgh.

Off down the Royal Mile with a plan to keep Jane on track, our destination is only open today as then it shuts for the royal garden parties. Someone keeps getting distracted by shops and photo opportunities and its not Jane! We arrive, where are the unicorns, distracted by Arthurs Seat and finally tickets exchanged and we are in. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Queen in Scotland and has a long history including Mary, Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Audio guide in hand we explore all the rooms and get generally confused by all the Charles' and James' in history. The bits I like most are the embroidered chairs with fancy ladies and the room where Sean Connery was knighted. No photos allowed throughout the palace so it's a very sedate experience for us.

Ejected out into the ruins of the abbey now the photo frenzy starts, then onto the garden. It's beautiful and so glorious in the sunshine. All the staff wear kilts and are so friendly.

100’s of people look like little ants walking up to Arthurs Seat, they must be hot. Onwards and upwards we go in the other direction towards the top of Carlton Hill. Cutting up through the burial ground Jane jokes that we will end up with sunstroke and the headlines will read, ‘two Aussies admitted to hospital with sunstroke on their first day in Scotland’.

Arthur’s seat and all of Edinburgh laid out below us looks just amazing in the sunshine. There is lots to explore where do we go first. As usual I am drawn to the highest point and you can enter, will we go? Of course we will, its so cool inside Nelsons Monument and we slowly climb the 132 steps to the top for a photo frenzy.

Now onto National Monument, I cant get up the wall, most people get pushed up, Jane gives me a good shove but its not to be, too high. A rest in the shade and then a gradual walk down to explore more of this beautiful city.

The Balmoral Hotel, very fancy, Scotts Monument, the largest monument to a writer in the world, Jenners a famous old department store and gradually make our way back to base to collapse.

Note: London City Airport is the chosen departure point, its a business airport much closer to the city that I want to try out. Well, that was a mistake its an overcrowded, disorganised throwback from the 70’s.

A date with Grayson

Squirrel at Ladywell Station

One of the many rooms at Summer Exhibition

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Anne the model make of Google's new campus

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Another new friend? 

With Grayson, the curator of this years exhibition

Lunch in the new restaurant

In the room of fun with Grayson

Making another friend

250 years in the making we are here at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Every year 1000’s of artists from around the UK submit new works, a small proportion of the works are finally selected. This years exhibition is curated by Grayson Perry an artist that we both admire. 

Tickets in hand, in we go. Wow, a 5m high textile sculpture, a dog riding a unicycle and inside outside. Which way do we look first? Time to split up and explore the craziness that is the summer exhibition. Next room, unicorns in a forest made of wire (my fav), donkeys, Donald Trump doing rude things, typography, political statements, beauty, symmetry. Everything is a visual feast for the eyes and senses. 

Now I am in the architecture room, what are those French people talking about? Let's listen in, ah, its the designer of this model. Time to join the conversation :). So the model is of Google's new headquarters in California, designed by a UK firm and built by Ann, my new friend. We have a conversation about the intersection of digital and physical space in the workplace and then I get her to sign my catalogue. Fun all round! Especially for her proud family as the son photographs Mum autographing catalogues. 

Onwards to more art with attitude as I go I mark my favourites in the catalogue. All will be researched and re-explored in full post-holiday with the online explorer.

Now let's go into The Great Spectacle an exhibition curated to celebrate 250 years of the summer exhibition. The very first painting titled, A private view at the Academy has all the establishment dressed in their fancy clothes viewing the paintings in 1881, a stark contrast to the crowds today, in trainers and jeans.

The RA has been undergoing a major renovation for the last few years and it finally opened last month. So now onto to explore where the students worked, the permanent collection, the new cafe, the new restaurant and of course we exit through the gift shop. I love the little touches like the paint palette from Millais.

Today it's a lot quieter than we would have expected for a beautiful sunny Sunday We found out from Jeff and Mary that England has played football (soccer) today in the world cup and scored a 6-1 victory over Panama. Well, that explains the lack of crowds (except for tourists).

Finished off the day perfectly at home with a champagne and Antiques Roadshow. Now its time to pack.

Sunshine in Little Venice

Back together again

Little Venice

Little Venice

Little Venice, plus stand up paddle boards

Little Venice, with just one
 example of decorations

Happy tourists reenacting famous Beatles photo

My attempt

Jane, captures my over excitement
as I run back to other side of road!

Abbey Road studios

Squeeeel, now the real fun can begin Its beautiful and sunny, a cup of tea and toast, a quick bath, a debate on all the possible things we could do today, fete at Kew, ferry to Richmond, new Westminster Abbey museum, its is settled we are off to visit Little Venice.

No work for me to do here, Jane knows London like a black cabbie and the first thing she spots when we walk up the stairs is a green box. There are not many of them left around nowadays. They are very small and where built so cab masters (the ones with horses not cars) could get out of the rain and have a break. They are still used today and have many rules and regulations like you are not allowed to spit and must have your pants on at all time. Unusual?

Little Venice is all big houses and fancy cars set around a canal. The canal was oncean important link to transport goods to the centre of London from places as far away as Birmingham.  Today it is all people enjoying the sunshine from their canal boats, on hire boats and even standup paddleboards. The tow ways (paths along the edge) are full with people and dogs enjoying the sunshine.

What I like best is the colours and decorations over all the canal boats. The cost to moor a boat is determined by its length and can be about 10,000 pounds a year. On the plane on the way over I watched a movie I had never heard of, Finding your feet its full of great British actors with grey power tackling the complexity of life in a romantic comedy way that I really enjoyed (and cried buckets).  I can’t believe the coincidence that I am here where some great scenes from the movie were filmed.

We now hook up with a London Walks tour and are getting an insiders tour of where the famous people live, how the area was developed in the 1840’s, where the oldest part is and how the wider area was named Paddington after Padda a chief from Anglo-Saxon times. With ‘ton’ meaning chief. 

The guide is brilliant from memory he recites poems with passion, sings dirty ditty’s with a schoolboy laugh and shares details about scientific discoveries like the Enigma machine in plain English like he is a Nobel prize winner. A fascinating chap!

Time for a stopover in a gorgeous old pub the Prince Alfred and now we head on. Because google maps tells us that another London landmark is only 15 minutes away. So along we go walking in the sunshine. The streets are empty, which seems strange. I wonder how we will know the spot when we arrive. But its really easy, there are happy tourists annoying all the traffic trying to get just the perfect Beatles reenactment photo. It's like organised chaos and a lot of fun!

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4897516

Singapore vs Dubai for transit

The flying kangaroo

Selfies 'cause there is nothing else to do

High tech dot matirx printer at Singapore airport,
assume its fit for purpose

Can you spot Tower Bridge? I did!

Friendly driver who delivered me
 the final leg to Lewisham

Paztizzis!

Upgrade, yes! Menu - pastizzis! What’s this, everyone’s favourite Maltese treat is on a Qantas flight? Makes me wish I was going back to Malta. Alas, they come served with tomato chill sauce on top that I scrape off.

Qantas has changed the route for QF1 from a stop in Dubai back to Singapore. As we descend into Singapore I remember the inaugural trip to London and how disorientated I was on arrival in Singapore. Today it is pretty much the same, but at least I know it will pass. Anyhow, we have 30 minutes before we have to reboard so let's go and find Kinetic Rain, a sculpture that is a key feature of Terminal 1. Walking, walking, avoiding the travelators keep that body moving. After about 1km there are finally shops. Don’t stop, keep on going. Oops, thats the end. Confused, info desk? No madam, that sculpture is outside the main terminal. Well, google did not tell me that. Give the cactus garden a miss, did the last time and nearly expired from the Singapore heat.

Back on board for the longer leg to London. More food, another movie, this time Goodbye Christopher Robin, then sleep, wake, sleep, wake, sleep, finally the smell of breakfast wafts through the cabin so we must be getting close. The captain announces Rotterdam is on the left hand side of the plane and the channel awaits. Then we start doing uturns and end up going right over the city a few times with the morning sun glistening on the buildings. Tower Bridge, The Shard, London Bridge station looks finished everything is laid out and waiting for me. A grand entrance for the happy tourists on board. So excited to be here again! 

The final verdict for me Dubai is much easier than Singapore as the longer section is first when I am ready to sleep and you arrive at a more civilised time for our Aussie body clocks to start the adjustment.

The 2018 adventure begins today

Testing out the new waterproof jacket.
Ready for any occasion? I hope!

On train to airport

Its a beautiful blue sunny day in Sydney, is the weather teasing me? We will see. After a week of being sick its good to be out in the sunshine and on the mend, a quick train trip and we are here at the airport. A tearful goodbye and then its the razamattaz of duty free I may have become a new fan of Guerlain products.

Stephen says, “the moment I return from one holiday I start planning the next” and that might be true. The planning for this trip has been epic, which road, how many days, what to leave out, what is essential, why does all the accommodation have stairs, do they really expect me to drink whisky in every town?

First up is a weekend in London, then Jane and I fly north to Edinburgh to check out the sites. Once we have our bearings we pick up a car and drive to the Highlands to explore castles and meet Nessie. Will we try fried mars bars and Scotlands other national drink, Irn Blu or will we chicken out?