Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th May 2022 Our hotel is opposite the famous Peabody Hotel which opened there in 1925. Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy had lived in the original 1869 building. By far the most famous residents now are the Peabody Ducks who march through the lobby daily at 11:00 to swim in the fountain – more of them later. We walked across the road to see if there were any restrictions on the number of people who could come to see the waddling procession and Matilda was pleased to find out that all are welcome. As an added bonus the ducks were still swimming in the fountain as they remain there until 17:00. We planned to return for the 11:00 duck parade the next day. We then set off to see some of the sights of Memphis, one of the most famous of which is Beale Street [see Selfie of the day] which is known as the Home of the Blues. Metal quavers on the pavement here celebrate famous musicians and Matilda obviously chose this one to photograph. Robert would have you believe that he took this photo to show the typical style of architecture […]
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Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th April 2022 Leaving Brewood we came to Autherley Junction where there is a former canal toll office. The stop lock here marks where Telford’s Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal [now part of the Shropshire Union Canal] joined Brindley’s older Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The fall is only about six inches and to Robert’s amusement both the people on the boat going through in front of us and Matilda struggled to work out which way the paddles needed to be opened to level the water. It is much easier when there is an obvious difference in the levels. From here we turned left onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and passed the Wolverhampton Boat Club, with an attractive bridge where a lock once was – the gates could still be seen in the open position at both sides of the canal. We also passed a man skilfully towing another narrowboat. After a short distance we joined the Birmingham Canal Navigations [BCN] at Aldersley Junction and Robert smiled quietly as knew he had returned to his homeland. Lock 21 is right at the junction and is the start of the flight taking you up into Wolverhampton. After the […]
Wednesday 27th March 2019 As mentioned previously our hotel, in Jaisalmer, looks old but is actually very new. There is a huge amount of building work going on in India, Jaisalmer included. What sets Jaisalmer apart is the wonderful and fantastic sculptured sandstone buildings created by the skilled local craftsmen. Whilst trying to find the best spot in the hotel for WiFi, Robert started chatting to the owner and better WiFi speeds swiftly ensued. As the owner is also an architect, a discussion of hand drawn versus 3D computer drawn building designs followed. The owner’s brother and business partner is starting to create all the new designs in Google 3D Sketch-up. Robert is familiar with this software, obviously, and was able to give them a few hints, and further discussion about 3D printing sandstone was unavoidable. As it turns out heavy machinery is now used extensively to cut the sandstone into slabs of the specific required thickness. These are then either ‘distressed’ by hand or with a ball-bearing gun, or are intricately carved by chisel. This led to our next day’s adventure. The hotel owner arranged a trip for us to see the skilled craftsmen at work at the stonemasons […]
Saturday, 25th August 2018 We awoke in Belgrade for breakfast and left the boat at 08:00 as it needed to leave the dock to refuel. The majority of passengers went on a guided tour whilst we went on our own to look around this capital city. First we had to cross the border controls [we have a stamp in our passports to prove it]. The boat was moored very close to the old town on the River Sava. Matilda wondered why the tour needed a coach for such a short distance but having climbed six flights up to the town she felt she would have appreciated a lift just that far. Our walk led us past a statue . . . through the old square . . . . . . .past the Serbian National Parliament . . . . . . and the St Sava Cathedral. This is the largest orthodox cathedral in the Balkans. Designed in the 19th century, work started in 1935 but had to be suspended during WWII. Construction of the dome was completed in 1989 and the cathedral was consecrated in 2004. This is the Serbian equivalent of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familias as work is still underway. […]