Photoblog

The elevator St Justa:

Trams:

Placa Rossio:

Church at Jeronimos monastery:

 Jeronimos Monastery:

Waterlilies at Belem:

Monument to Explorers at Belem:

Belem tower:

Belem

Out on the tram to Belem to see the Jeronimos monastery, which has a spectacular frontage and peaceful cloisters, as well as an ornate church. This is a World Heritage which well deserves to be. The whole Belem area is full of museums but TSH and Diva just went to see the monument to the Portugese navigators and the Belem tower, which is an old fortification.

It is quite easy to get around on public transport with a 6 euro day ticket.

Lisbon is quite run down in places, which is probably due to the European austerity and recession.

Trams and Fado

Tourist tram around the historic neighbourhoods of the city. This route went along winding hilly roads - it is difficult to appreciate just how many hills there are in Lisbon. You can go up a steep narrow alley and then arrive in a grand square on a different level.

Diva was brave and agreed to travel on the Sta Justa elevator - an old iron structure which connects two of the main levels. In the event it was not too scary - they didn't cram too many people in, it was quite open and  didn't take more than a few minutes.

Evening was an excellent Fado performance which both Diva and TSH enjoyed more than they expected. Listening to singing in a language you don't understand can be challenging, but was quite captivating because it was so good.

Continue to be impressed by helpful staff of Hotel Britania.

Travel Day

TSH in fine form at Manchester Airport. He thought Diva could not cope with pointing the bar-code on the boarding pass at the reader for entry to the secure area. So he went through himself and then turned round to issue orders and guidance. The entry did not open for Diva. Until guards appeared to point out that it was not working because someone was loitering in the zone. Once he moved, she gained entry.

After outdoor pizza, TSH and Diva bought wine and returned to room in (excellent) Britannia Hotel to discover no corkscrew (All Portugese wines have corks because Portugal produces all the corks). But TSH persuaded bar to provide corkscrew and glasses. Redemption.

Two control freaks

Tomorrow TSH and Diva are going to do what they've never done before - attempt joint packing. So that not all the suitcases will have to be unpacked in Lisbon. This will need a level of cooperation never before achieved. Not sure yet who will take the lead.

Clothes

Diva has has a rail of clothes ready for a few days now. But the weather outlook is so bad that the summer clothes are gradually being swapped out for warmer ones. TSH is making his first attempt to put a wardrobe of clothes together for the holiday.

Both had hair-cuts. 3 sleeps to go.

Washing

The washing mound has now vanished and the last items are outside drying. The next job is to plan the wardrobes for the next holiday, which will be on the west coasts of Portugal, Spain and France. Where the weather looks as changeable as it is at home, so we don't know what to take.

But we'll need formal clothes because its a cruise. On the Silver Wind, which has been refurbished - not before time.

Moving on via the monastery

First call Fountains Abbey, which is the ruin of a Monastery alongside 18th century pleasure grounds with Follies. Lovely visit on a fine day - it takes all day to see everything. The interesting  thing about this spot is that the gardens pre-date Capability Brown. While CB and his followers and their dedication to 'natural' gardens (which weren't natural at all) produced beautiful landscapes, they mostly swept away all traces of what went before. But for some reason this didn't happen here and there is funding to restore the full glory of the 18th century formal gardens. It will take a few years to achieve but it is well on its way to being stunning.

Final hotel of this trip was the Samling at Ambleside. The food is special but at least partly about the performance, and Diva in particular thought it a bit pretentious. But it was exciting when they brought the sorbet set in a double skinned bowl. The outer bowl contained dry ice and pouring hot water into it produced a large amount of water vapour. Excellent dessert consisting of rhubarb prepared in several different ways, including rhubarb crisps!

Wet

When Diva packed short-sleeve tops, a wool cardigan, a fleece and a wind-proof coat, she did not imagine that she would wear them all at once. With a scarf. To the Rydale Folk Museum, which somehow didn't have any life about it, perhaps because of the cold and rain. The best bit was the Harrison collection, which really was a lot of items collected by two brothers called Harrison. They are diverse enough that they are really many many collections and they have been displayed in that way. About 10,000 items ranging from household items to toys and tools. I think they just acquired as much as they could and the curators have displayed it all well in a beautiful building.

There was also an art and poetry exhibition, with this brilliant poem called 'Yorkshire Chic' - apologies to those with limited knowledge of Northern English dialect. TSH took a picture of it and will try to photoshop it so its readable here at a later date.

The museum is in a place called Hutton- le Hole, which has sheep wandering freely around.

A different slice of History

Today we went to Eden Camp - a museum mostly about WW2 - based at a Prisoner of War camp. It wasn't just about the camp, as it covered the history of the war from the growth of Hitler. It had a lot of personal histories and some reconstructions of scenes like an ordinary street which had just been bombed. The result was a real impression of what war was like for ordinary British people. TSH and Diva hadn't previously known that soldiers taken prisoner in Europe and North Africa were brought back to camps such as this and often worked on local farms. Sometimes they were sent to work on farms in USA, before returning. The exhibit claimed that only one German POW ever escaped and made it back home but this seems very unlikely. This is a very different and very special museum.

Exhibits of personal interest concerned the 'ack-ack' girls - female gunners who were part of the teams which   looked for enemy aircraft approaching British shores and attempted to shoot them down. TSH's mother - still fettling well at 93 - was such a Gunner. He also pointed out that nowhere in the museum was anything like the letter from Montgomery which was sent to his father to thank him for his service.Sometimes I think the people visiting these museums know as much as the curators about their subjects.

The next visit was to Scampston, the main part of which is a beautiful modern garden designed by Piet Oudolf, a leading designer who pioneered 'prairie planting'. This was an excellent peaceful end to the afternoon - and the Yorkshire ham in the restaurant was pretty good.   Here is a picture of a dandelion seed which TSH took:

A sobering thought - each of the diversions we had on Sunday was because of the death of a biker in a road accident.

Winter Revisited

Today was Castle Howard, which was used for both the TV and film versions of Brideshead Revisited. Lovely grounds with lots of rhododendrons in flower. The house was interesting but quite run-down inside and out. It looks like it needs a great deal of money spending on it.

They were showing an exhibition on the women of Castle Howard. Diva thought it had been put together by a man, because it was nearly all about their lives with men and even judged them in dynastic terms'. There was little about the female servants and had the sweeping comment 'nothing is known about the individual servants', which cannot possibly be true.

We had showers of rain, a cold wind and hailstones. In the middle of May.

Scientific diversions

The first visit was by appointment to a very small museum - just a garden shed. But it was like the Tardis with every space crammed with Victorian scientific instruments. The range was astonishing and the series of experiments he showed for two hours was fascinating. TSH was given a torch and the job of switching lights off in combinations when instructed. When he said 'shall I switch off now?' he was told sternly that instructions would be issued as necessary. When he moved 3 inches to his right, he was told to return to his position because he had encroached on the demonstrator's space. They don't really allow children, which is a shame, because they would both learn and enjoy.

http://www.museumofvictorianscience.co.uk/

After that, we headed towards Pickering in the hope of a snack lunch. Five miles or so from there we met a police road block because of an accident. We had to drive back to Whitby, drive down the coast road to Scarborough (via another long diversion) and then try another road west. We lost almost two hours.
Now we are at the Fairfax Arms in Gilling East and ready for dinner.

Cod, crab and cufflinks

This morning, Diva and TSH made their way to Robin Hood's Bay to look at the sea and the cliffs. The town itself is more than a bit desolate and not really welcoming.
The next stop was Whitby, which is always busy and welcoming. A drink and a cake in a tea-shop and then a walk round town looking for cufflinks. Yes, once more TSH has packed smart shirts, most of which require cufflinks, which aren't sold in tourist places anymore because no-one even wears suits and shirts and ties, let alone cufflinks. Having eventually tracked down a pair in jet (well, it is Whitby), the visit concluded with Diva having a crab sandwich and TSH a small cod and chips. Both excellent.

This is Diva, ready for dinner:

This is a train photo from yesterday - Sir Nigel Gresley, which holds the post-war steam record for speed (112mph):

And a general view of Whitby:

He's been train-spotting

TSH has had a good day with the trains, in spite of the published (paid for) time-table being an unfulfilled wish-list. Diva stayed at the hotel and studied point-of-view and mind set in fiction. Before going to the spa to be coated in detoxifying mud and then massaged with rose cream.  Both preparing for another good dinner.

To Yorkshire

Day started with the usual all-day breakfast, so TSH happy. Then visit to RHS Gardens at Harlow Carr for views of spring bulbs and blossom. Retail therapy in the Alpines section of the shop made TSH’s day even better.

Afternoon drink and snack was at Visitor Centre at Sutton Bank – good chocolate brownie and cookie. Entertained by finches, tits and collared doves just like the ones in the garden at home.

Raithwaite Hall is beautiful and the room spacious with separate bath and shower, so not too many territorial squabbles.

Diva quietly enjoyed all of it – except the 25% climb to Sutton Bank with bends.

Attached is a photo of erythronium pagoda with white-barked trees. 

One sleep to go

Diva is sure she counted up right this time. Clothes coordinated and prepared, with jewellery and handbags. Here's TSH's rail:

And Diva's rail: 

And its getting worse

Whilst Diva made the chicken liver pate and chocolate brownies for the drinks party tonight, TSH went out to prune the fatsia japonica. Which hit him in the eye, hurling a contact lens into the middle distance. Not a disposable one. Not a standard one. He has an unusually shaped eye and they are made to measure. And the shape changes, so the old ones he is coping with are not quite right. This lens is not going to be found. Until the winter, when all the vegetation has died down.

We're in a frenzy!

TSH's lens fell out of glasses whilst working in garden but fortunately not into pond. After finger-tip search of house and garden, found it in the bushes.

Diva (Mathematician) (better half) counted up days until all-day breakfast and got it wrong!

TSH has still not thought about clothes for holiday. Diva has now done jewellery and handbags - first draft.

6 sleeps to go

OK, so we're not technically going to sea this time but we have to think of the brand. The idea is that when we are away we'll post every few days so that everyone knows what we're up to.
We've got the rails down and Diva has started optioneering but TSH hasn't made a move yet owing to urgent issues with the pond and a mind full of the prospect of All-Day breakfast on Thursday.