Thursday 6th October 2022 We had a stressful start to our journey to Gruyères as Robert received an alert that the train we had booked would not be stopping at Montreux where we were due to change to catch an onward connection. However we decided to board the train we had booked to go at least part of the way. The on-board announcements also made no mention of our scheduled stop but fortunately when Robert went to check with the guard he was told that all would be fine and we would be able to make our connection as planned. The route from Milan to Montreux passes along side Lake Maggiore . . . . . .and through beautiful mountain scenery. From Montreux we travelled to Montbovon and then on to Gruyères where we were greeted at the station by the potent and mouthwatering smell of chocolate and the prospect of a long uphill walk [below right]. The main purpose of our visit to Gruyères was to visit the HR Giger Museum and Bar. Hans Ruedi Giger was born in 1940 in Chur in Switzerland and there is another ‘Alien Bar’ in Chur which was closed when we tried to visit […]
Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th October 2022 We had to hand Caprice back at 09:00 on Wednesday morning and we agreed that we would return to the boatyard on Tuesday to make sure staff could check the engine time reading and we could settle up any paperwork the day before as we had a train to catch. There is a speed limit in the Laguna which the small motor boats and taxis seem to disregard totally. Even in the middle of the night, small boats would speed past, creating a disproportionate amount of wake. We were frequently awoken by Caprice being aggressively bounced and buffeted against the mooring dolphins so violently that it seemed as though we would surely break loose or capsize. As Liz commented, “We really rocked in Venice:” But not always in a good way. As we left the waters of the Venice navigation. . . . . . Martin, as Co-Captain, once again took charge of the mooring ropes . . . . . . and we went back through the lock which separates the salty Laguna from the fresh waters of the River Sile. Thankfully, the damage deposit was returned in full. Engine hours are […]
Sunday 2nd and Monday 3rd October 2022 Burano looked even better in the Sunday morning sunshine. We planned to go to the Venetian Ghetto on Sunday to respect the Jewish Sabbath. We took a slightly circuitous route via Arsenale as we hoped to get closer to the Building Bridges sculpture. Unfortunately we weren’t successful but our walk back took us through a park where we enjoyed seeing the turtles in the fountain. Still making the most of our vaporetto passes we travelled past the Palazzo Ducale again [it always merits a photo] on our way to the Venetian Ghetto. On 29 March 1516, the Venetian Republic created the first ever ghetto on a small island in Cannaregio, the north-western sestiere of Venice. Within a week, the residents were removed and replaced by the Jewish people already resident in Venice at the time. Initially the Venetian Ghetto was connected to the rest of the city by two bridges that were locked overnight and only opened in the morning at the ringing of the marangona, the largest bell in St. Mark’s Campanile. The Jewish community itself had to pay for the Christian guards who ensured they did not break the overnight curfew. There are […]
Friday 30th September & Saturday 1st October 2022 We had prioritised the places we wanted to see and decided that a three day vaporetto pass, activated at about midday, would give us the flexibility to go into Venice several times and also visit some of the other islands over a period of four days. Information displayed at all the vaporetto stops explains that ‘between September 15th and April 30th the local administration operates a Piano di Viabilità Pedonale [Pedestrian Mobility Plan]’ based on erecting temporary, elevated walkways in the case of Acqua Alta, or exceptionally high water. This phenomenon, caused by unusually high tides, used to occur approximately every four years but since 2000 it has become much more frequent as sea levels rise due to global warming. The temporary walkways are constructed out of the sort of staging that schools use for drama productions and these can be seen stacked around the city close to where they will be needed. The routes are apparently effective for water levels rising up to about 120cm but beyond this even some of the walkways may be impassable if they are either submerged or floating. Robert has met Cinza, a local Venetian guide, through […]
Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th September 2022 Leaving Chioggia, the day was overcast and windy as we crossed the Laguna, passed through the Moranzani Lock and turned up the Riviera del Brenta. Having passed through the lock, you have to ring ahead to the on-call teams to arrange for the swing bridges to be opened. At the first bridge, we met a pleasant Swiss family who had arrived in Malcontenta shortly before us and were waiting to be let through. We both assumed we had arrived during the lunch break. A member of the team arrived at the allotted time to open the first bridge electronically and once both boats had passed through he closed the bridge and drove to open the next one. We continued on up the canal in this way, in tandem with the Swiss family, leapfrogging the workman, who was joined by a colleague at one of the bridges which needed to be manually operated. As we waved goodbye to the workmen, we agreed to meet them the following day at the last bridge so that we could do the journey in reverse and head back to Venice. Robert suggested 09:00 but we were firmly told […]
Sunday 25th – Tuesday 27th September 2022 Leaving Casier, we headed south, leaving the Parrocchia dei Santi Teonisto e Compagni Martiri towering behind us [see GoPro video below] and motored onwards towards Venice. Rain had been forecast but fortunately this seemed to have all fallen overnight and by the time we set off, both Captain and crew could enjoy the sunshine. At Portegrandi, where the River Sile meets the Laguna, we negotiated our first lock. The term ’we’ is used loosely. This lock, unlike those on the canals of England, was operated by a lock keeper and required comparatively little effort from the crew. The Co-Captain took most of the strain. Once on the Laguna, we passed several casoni with the fishing nets hung out beside them. A casone is a basic fisherman’s hut or peasant’s house in the Veneto, but as we would see shortly not all casone are equal and some are more basic than others. Our route took us past the picturesque island of Burano, which is famous for its brightly coloured houses. The bell tower is no longer vertical and from some angles the lean is quite alarming. le boat has its own dedicated berths on Burano and […]
Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th September 2022 The year 2022 has been very nautical in flavour: having spent almost three months on a narrowboat; returned from America on the Queen Mary and island-hopped in the Isles of Scilly we are now heading to Italy to spend 12 days cruising the rivers, canals and sea around the Venice Laguna with two of our regular TravellingHerd companions, Liz and Martin. We have one night in Florence on our way to meet them and pick up our boat. It seems Robert is back to his old tricks again and has booked a hotel near the station we will be departing from in the morning. Sometimes this has resulted in us staying in some rather disreputable areas. However in Florence we find we are just in the suburbs enjoying a balmy evening with the locals. After checking in to our hotel, a short walk took us to the Pin Up Beerstrò bar next to the Cinema Flora. The charming waiter [seen in the background between us in the photo above] clearly had the measure of Robert. Having scanned the QR code so that we could peruse the menu, Robert found that the beer we […]
Friday 16th to Monday 19th September 2022 Derek continued to improve on his whittling, copying the lettering from the original and the final result was quite impressive. Waking early on Friday, Matilda ventured out to watch the sunrise as it bathed the cottage in a warm glow. The boats dictate our plans on the Scillies and when we checked the trips running on Friday, the best destination was St Martin’s as this was likely to be the only day we would be able to go there. Matilda decided that she would stay on Tresco and take advantage of the indoor pool. So while Matilda set off in her costume and robe, the other three set off for New Grimsby to catch Firethorn over to St Martin’s where they walked to the Day Mark, a navigation aid built in 1683 which is painted red and white. The views, as everywhere on the Isles of Scilly, are gorgeous and Gill pronounced it to be her favourite island so far. Any visit to St Martin’s with Robert obviously now includes The Seven Stones pub. He pointed its location out to Gill and they agreed to meet there later. When the Robinson’s failed to […]
Tuesday 13th to Thursday 15th September 2022 One of the pleasures of inviting friends to join us on Tresco is seeing their first reaction to the beauty, peace and tranquility of the Isles of Scilly. This year we are joined by the Robinsons who learned how to put up with us in close proximity on The Duke in April. We had hoped to meet them from the helicopter as they landed on Tresco for the first time and took the earliest boat from Bryher at 09:45. However, when we disembarked at the quay at New Grimsby we were told we would not be able to get to the heliport in time and that they would be taken straight to our cottage with their luggage, as would we. Having dropped various boat passengers at their accommodation, the driver subsequently relented and suggested he could drop our luggage at Green and take us on to the heliport to see if the Robinsons were still there. What ensued was a little like a Keystone Cops caper. We unloaded and left our luggage in the shed at the cottage and got back on the transport to the heliport where we were told that the […]
Thursday 8th to Tuesday 13th September 2022 Last year, Matilda noticed that there would be a Low Tide Event scheduled for the Sunday before our usual Tresco week, which was starting on 13th September 2022, so we planned to travel down early, visit the famous Jubilee Pool in Penzance, and spend a few days each on St Mary’s and Bryher, to enjoy the various pop up stalls on the sandbank. This year we opted to travel by train, leaving home just after 09:00 so that Matilda could make full use of her Freedom Pass. Black clouds were looming as we arrived in Penzance and made our way across the road from our accommodation in The Stanley to the Jubilee Pool which promotes itself as “the UK’s largest, most celebrated Art Deco sea water lido and geothermal heated pool“. Only a few hardy souls were swimming in the unheated pool. Although the sea water is geothermally heated and replenished daily it still seemed a little chilly and Matilda took up position in front of one of the inlets where there was a warm current flowing into the pool. After a short while, the black clouds fulfilled their promise and huge raindrops pounded […]
Saturday 4th June 2022 Matilda had decided that, after our New York deli breakfast, she would sample her cheesecakes, so when we returned to the hotel, she sliced them both in half so that she could compare. Even though she had carried them round New York for several hours the day before, she was not disappointed: both were light, fluffy and flavoursome: special cheesecake indeed. The plain perhaps won by a whisker. We had previously investigated getting Covid tests as we needed to provide proof of a negative test, taken within the last 48 hours, together with our vaccination status before we would be allowed onboard. The hotel receptionist suggested we went to a nearby surgery, but here the GP receptionist quoted $220 each for them to run the tests. A very helpful gentleman who was sitting in the waiting room said we would be able to get it done at one of the many pop-up testing stations we had passed. We found that here the cost would be just $50 each. So, before starting the day, we went to have swabs professionally rotated around our nasal passages. We then wanted to check out the transport to the embarkation point […]
Friday 3rd June 2022 Robert had planned a route, taking in many of the long list which Matilda had compiled of places to visit, for our first full day of sightseeing in the Big Apple. First we planned to walk the High Line. On our way however, we came across Vessel in Hudson Yards which was not on the list and was an eye-catching surprise. It looks a bit like a 16 storey chunk of honeycomb and comprises 154 interconnecting flights of stairs with 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings. It is reminiscent of the optical illusions in one of MC Escher’s graphic architectural drawings. Vessel is designed to give people new perspectives and views of the city and each other as they climb. It opens at 10:00 so we were too early but added it to the list for future reference. A little further on we came to the entrance to the High Line. We wanted to walk this route on Friday as currently entrance is unrestricted on weekdays but visitors are required to book entry times at the weekend. Stretches of track remain amongst the lush planting and art installations. Originally, the New York Central Railroad built an elevated […]
Thursday 2nd June 2022 A short Amtrak ride from Philadelphia brought us back to our starting point in New York. Although we could not do so in Chicago because of the cloud cover, we continue to try and take Ruth Jewell’s advice and start our sightseeing by going up the city’s best observation point. So New York starts with the Empire State Building. Having checked into our hotel, we found we could book tickets for half an hour hence and Matilda decreed we should go for the full experience and pay the extra to go up to the 102nd floor. Meandering barriers have been laid out to maximise the space marking out the queue to the lifts, presumably from a time, pre-Covid, when more people visited. Along the route, there is quite an extensive display about the construction of the building and its use as a filming location. King Kong obviously makes a regular appearance. . . . . . providing photo- and video-opportunities. But Matilda is unlikely to win any acting awards. Once up there, the views are obviously impressive looking down Manhattan towards Wall Street. . . . . . and north towards the iconic Chrysler Building. Our […]
Wednesday 1st June 2022 We set off for the Free Library of Philadelphia to join the 10:00 tour where there seemed to have been some confusion over timings – we were the only ones there and it later transpired that the guide was expecting it to take place in the afternoon. When our guide, who was described as a ‘very friendly’ man, had not appeared by 10:00 two very helpful ladies in the lobby went in search of him. Curtis first introduced himself and then went to check the sign outside advertising the times of the tours. He disappeared again to get his presentation aids, and took this opportunity to grab a little snack to keep him going as he had clearly not been expecting to run a tour that morning. It was well worth the wait. Some of the rooms are spacious and grand and the original furniture and display cabinets were made of steel and glass so that they would not provide any additional combustible material in the event of a fire. The Free Library of Philadelphia is organised by subject and in the Music Department you can borrow a wide range of instruments as well as books. […]
Monday 30th May and Tuesday 31st May 2022 Leaving Washington, we took the subway, which is extensive and has tracks on multiple levels. The subway took us to Washington Union Station. This is another great example of American railroad architecture, both inside [above] and out [below]. It also has sweeping staircases to rival those in the Rookery Building in Chicago. Our Amtrak service took us to the William H Gray III, 30th Street Amtrak Train Station, to give it its full title, in Philadelphia which is another imposing edifice. Having walked to our hotel and settled in we took a stroll and, curiously, Robert’s route seemed to lead straight to the Hard Rock Café. We then dropped in to Brü where, with a little help from the quizmaster who advised us not to gamble too many of our point score on the final question, we won the quiz. The prize turned out to be a voucher for $50 which came in very handy when it came to settling our tab. The next day we set out to discover the delights of Philadelphia. No visit to the City of Brotherly Love would be complete without seeing the J.F. Kennedy Plaza, better known as LOVE […]
Sunday 28th May 2022 Robert realised that Washington adjoins two other states and that by doing a little extra travelling during the day we could add these onto our US state map on the beenApp. First we took the Metro to Alexandria Old Town in Virginia. King Street leads straight down to the harbour. This is quite like parts of Boston and is reminiscent of an English town with graceful Georgian properties and tree lined streets. Down by the harbour there are several Art Deco buildings which have been given a new lease of life. This torpedo factory is now serving the community as an art centre. As public transport was running a holiday service there were some long gaps between connections. Therefore, in order for us to achieve our footfall in another state, we ordered an Über to take us over the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River to National Harbor in Maryland where. . . . . . The Awakening – a 72-foot statue by J. Seward Johnson Jr. of a giant – lies buried in the sand, struggling to free himself. From National Harbor, we then took a boat trip on the Potomac River. This […]