Read this blog: The one where we discover about toe alignment Sunday 8th March 2026 Today we planned to visit Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka’s second capital city and another extensive ruined site. The ancient capital at Anuradhapura was destroyed in 993 BCE by Chola invaders from southern India [now the state of Tamil Nadu] who ruled for about the next 75 years. In 1077 King Vijayabahu I, having commanded separate armies to attack Polonnaruwa on three fronts and besieged the city for seven months, eventually gained control and became king. Polonnaruwa then became Sri Lanka’s second capital and continued in this capacity from the 11th to the 13th centuries. King Vijayabahu I‘s grandson, King Parakramabahu I [1153 -1186], also known as Parakramabahu the Great, is celebrated in a 11 foot [3.4m] tall statue carved from a single block of granite and dating from the 12th century. Located near Pothgul Vihara, this was our first stop. Pothgul Vihara means ‘Library Shrine’ and the site comprises both library and monastic remains. There is some debate about what King Parakramabahu I is holding: a yoke for oxen or a leaf manuscript but he is certainly very simply dressed for a monarch. King Parakramabahu I united […]
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Read this blog: The one where we learn the difference between Stephen and Stitt Wednesday 26th February 2025 We were given breakfast vouchers as we checked in at the Holiday Inn Causeway Bay and when we made our way down to the restaurant on the second floor [which is only open to residents for breakfast and is a restaurant in the evening] these were exchanged for a printed sheet on which to mark our choices. Breakfast comprised a selection of four possible meals, so that if we wanted to we could have a different breakfast every day and try them all. For the first morning we both chose the egg and kale omelette. Fortified for a days sightseeing and with our Octopus app at the ready we set off on Robert’s pre-planned sightseeing route towards Exchange Square, home to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since the 1980s. Nearby Statue Square was built at the end of the 19th century entirely on reclaimed land. At the time it was named for the many statues, mostly of members of the British royal family, which stood here until the Japanese removed them when they occupied Hong Kong during WWII. Now the only statue to […]
Read this blog: The one where Robert gets grumpy with a Vietnamese family Wednesday 20th to Thursday 21st March 2024 The next leg of our journey involved rejoining the Reunification Express at Da Nang Station and travelling onwards overnight to Hồ Chí Minh City. Robert had been unable to book a two berth cabin and so knew we would be sharing with two strangers but we did at least have the two bottom bunks. However, we failed to allow for the fact that, provided they are below a certain height, children can travel free on Vietnamese railways. A family of four with two young girls joined us at the first stop. Fortunately they immediately clambered up to the top two bunks. They all went to sleep for several hours in the early afternoon which we thought was strange. The younger child was particularly needy when she woke and whined and squealed loudly. The parents made no effort to quieten her and she may well have been showing off in front of the westerners but those of you who are familiar with Robert’s parenting style [the Victorian maxim “seen and not heard in public” describes it well] will know that this […]
Read this blog: The one where we discovered hidden beer Monday 9th October 2023 Having seen our last live match of the Rugby World Cup we drove from Lille to the beautiful city of Brugge to stay one night at the aire close to the train station where we have stayed several times before. It is just a short walk from here to the historic centre and some of our favourite bars and cafés. Before leaving Lille early to avoid paying any parking charges, Robert had promised Matilda breakfast at That’s Toast [see Dish of the day] so this was our first port of call. Once refreshed we strolled around, reacquainting ourselves with this beautiful city. Unsurprisingly, the route Robert chose took us past ‘t Brugs Beertje so that we could confirm the opening time of 16:00 for this legendary bar which serves around 300 Belgian beers. We then walked to Markt, the central square which is dominated by the 83 m high medieval Belfort or belfry. We passed the Biermuseum and as, despite being relatively regular visitors, neither of us had ever been inside we thought we would have a look round. In a city where the bars and […]
Friday 13th May 2022 We had better views of the mountains from the plane than we had had on the Empire Builder as we flew from the north west down to the south east. But Robert deems flying to be cheating in this respect. We had pre-ordered our in-flight meals and Matilda was pleased to be able to sample more of Beecher’s Homemade Cheese [see Dish of the day]. New Orleans is the party capital of the world and, even though this was not Mardi Gras, we had arrived on a Friday and as we went to check in the lobby was full of students starting weekend breaks. The receptionist made a point of telling us that he had given us a room in a different part of the hotel. Matilda had been alerted to the fact that it was World Cocktail Day, so having deposited our luggage, we walked round the corner from our hotel onto Bourbon Street in search of a suitable hostelry. There is nowhere quite like Bourbon Street [see also Video of the day] where the nightlife starts at midday. We found the Crescent City Brewhouse where Matilda had a Weiss Driver [based on a screw […]
Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March 2022 It was a misty start to Day 31 in Todmorden. Lock 19, on the Rochdale Canal, is right by the main road through the town of Todmorden and when the road was widened in the 1920s the traditional gates were replaced with a guillotine gate at one end to save space. Matilda is unaccountably always a little anxious at guillotine locks in case the mechanism goes wrong. Unsurprisingly, we negotiated the Todmorden Guillotine Lock No. 19 safely and, on the other side, The Duke was dwarfed by the Great Wall of Todmorden. Built in 1881 as a retaining wall to support the railway as it enters the town from Lancashire it is said to contain some four million bricks. We could well believe it. After the Todmorden Guillotine Lock 19 and the Great Wall of Todmorden, we were beginning to realise that hereabouts, the place names are very literal. Research could not provide the background to Shade Lock No. 21 but presumably it is, at least for some of the time, in the shade. Matilda was particularly impressed by the splendid railway bridge with ornate castellated turrets between Locks 21 and 22. This is apparently […]
Monday 13th January 2020 We had an early start for our train journey to Tallinn. As you walk down the platform, the provodnitsa [or provodnik for male] carriage attendants] stand smartly by the entrance to the carriage under their care. Ours was a formidable looking woman who proved, unsurprisingly, to be kind and helpful. Although we were boarding the train at 06:25 it was the sleeper train from Moscow and we found we had a room with two berths, rather than seats. As we had woken early, we did find we were sleepy enough to take a power nap but were woken by our provodnitsa in time for breakfast. There is an hour’s time difference between the two countries so although theoretically we were gaining an hour in our day, the combined border controls and customs checks on each side of the border took around two hours. First, Russian passport control took our passports away then a selection of Russian Customs and Excise staff visited the compartment. One asked us to open our ruck sacks and gave these a cursory glance. Another appeared with a sniffer dog who ignored Matilda’s supply of St Petersburg and Earl Grey tea [you are […]
Sunday, 24th November 2019 As we left our hotel for the next leg of this trip, we told the gentleman on reception where we were going. “Ah, home from home,” he commented. The ferry to Gibraltar leaves from Tanger Med, a new port which is benefitting from an extensive development programme and which is about an hour’s drive from Tanger Ville. Ferries leave Tanger Ville more regularly but serve mainland Spain, not Gibraltar. Robert’s original plan was that we would be able to catch a train to Tanger Med port, but this is part of the massive infrastructure project and the line is unfortunately not yet running. When we arrived at the port, we could see the tracks already laid, directly into the terminal building. It was almost deserted although those few who were travelling seemed to have an inordinate amount of luggage in comparison to the two of us who like to travel light. Buses take passengers from the building to the dockside but the schedule seemed to be rather unpredictable and haphazard. It was nearing sunset when we boarded the boat and Matilda, who had been feeling unwell all day managed to climb the steep stairs up from […]
13th July 2019 Genoa is the sixth largest city in Italy and is said to be the birthplace of pesto – that fantastic fusion of basil, pine nuts, garlic and hard Italian cheese which has become both a store cupboard staple and the basis of many delicious, impromptu meals in innumerable households across Europe and beyond. Matilda was therefore determined to eat pasta with fresh pesto alla Genovese in the city which gave it its name [see Dish of the Day]. Having deposited our luggage we strolled into the centre of the city to take in some sights. Genoa has a proud maritime tradition and as well as an historical sailing ship with an outsized figurehead [we assumed fake] . . . . . . there is also a submarine, now part of the Maritime Museum, moored in the harbour area. The town itself has many other attractions including an Art Nouveau public lift which Matilda had identified as a less sweaty means of ascending in extreme heat to see the views, but which we failed to find at ground level. We therefore climbed up a multitude of steps to the top and then took the lift down in an exact […]
Monday 18th March 2019 Before leaving our hotel in Agra, to go to Agra Cantt railway station, we took advantage of the wifi and checked our PNR code. We were surprised that we were in HA1/A/4 and HA1/B/5 [carriage/cabin/berth]. This meant that we had been allocated separate 4-berth cabins. When we got onto the train we discovered that Robert was in a cabin with a couple and a single man. Matilda was in a cabin with a young couple and a free bed. On discussion with the couple and the guard we ascertained that the single man in Robert’s cabin had moved from Matilda’s cabin. This meant that we could actually be together, sharing the cabin with the young couple. However, at about midnight our train arrived in Jaipur and the couple got off. We thought that we had the cabin to ourselves for the rest of the journey. It was then that we had a knock at our door and three men appeared with their reservations to share with Matilda [remember that Robert was supposed to be in a different cabin]. It is actually Indian Railway policy not to mix non-attached males and females in the same cabin. Robert […]
Monday, 22nd October 2018 When we embarked on this trip we knew that we had a maximum of eight weeks in which to travel before we needed to return home for our long-awaited trip to Iceland in search of the Northern Lights. We were also aware of a couple of things which might make us head home sooner than planned. Fortunately motorhoming gives us this flexibility and as one of these has materialised, over the next week we will be heading north and retracing our steps, albeit via different cities, to return to England. Sorting out the rubbish as we left Saverne we found that the sound of a bottle falling into the large municipal recycling bin frightened Ralf. He also didn’t like being put back in Alan in case Matilda went somewhere without him. We have also found that the Navigon sat nav system can be a little unpredictable. The pronunciation of some of the place names is almost incomprehensible, being a combination of the English pronunciation of letters and that of the local country. It also sometimes chooses a very questionable route for us to follow. Today, it tried to get us to join the motorway via the back […]
Friday, 17th August 2018 An early train at 07:40 meant foregoing breakfast and we were caught in a rain shower just as we were putting our luggage in the taxi to the station. The rain is the second we have experienced this holiday and was very short lived: it was dry again by the time we reached the station. Bucharest is much more built up and bustling than other places we have visited in Romania, as befits a capital city. We deposited our luggage at the hotel, where we found we could see Ceauşescu’s Palace from our room. With the luxury of two nights in the city, we went on a walk to get our bearings. The walk took us past Coltea Hospital, Cretulescu Church and the National Art Museum. By the time we had walked to the river and Ceauşescu’s Palace to find out about tour prices and opening hours for the next day, then back up into the older part of town, the brunch which Robert had promised Matilda had turned into beer snacks and a cold drink. Unsurprisingly, Matilda found that her freshly squeezed orange juice didn’t really complement the beer snacks as well as Robert’s cold […]