A quick trip to the UK May 2019

[VPS]

Fabulous, especially Cambridge. In all my trips to England, I never got there!

Thanks - We all just have to keep our fingers crossed that it's not too long before we can go back. My friends have just moved there and there is a park and ride very close by to them so I'm looking forward at some stage to spending a few days exploring some of the colleges.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks - We all just have to keep our fingers crossed that it's not too long before we can go back. My friends have just moved there and there is a park and ride very close by to them so I'm looking forward at some stage to spending a few days exploring some of the colleges.

I'd given up going to the UK as a tourist in the past 5-7 years or so because of the cost (FX) and other, new places to see. But like my re-visiting of Paris and New York this year, I've began to realise there are still good reasons to go back to the UK. Not London, but I'd like to re-visit the old cathedrals and, of course, Cambridge .

 

[VPS]

I stayed near Matlock that night and headed off through the Peak District which is such a beautiful part of England and then onto Eyam which relies on the tourist trade and it is promoted as "the plague village" because of how it chose to isolate itself after bubonic plague was discovered there



The museum in Eyam wasn't huge but I found it quite interesting. It's all quite relevant in the time of Corona




Blue John (also known as Derbyshire Spar) is a semi-precious mineral, a form of fluorite with bands of a purple-blue or yellowish colour. In the UK it is found only at Blue John Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern at Castleton in Derbyshire. During the 19th century, it was mined for its ornamental value, and mining continues on a small scale. Deposits of fluorite have been recently found in China with colouring and banding similar to the classic Blue John stone.

Earrings are my souvenirs when I travel. They are light, not usually that expensive and when I wear them it reminds me of the places I visited (so one pair of earrings purchased)

 

[VPS]

So then off to visit more friends new Crewe.

Time to stock up and get some decent gin and off course always try and buy local and very nice gin it was too. It's always difficult buying wine that you're not that familiar with but always great when you get a helpful shop assistant.

 

[VPS]

Then a visit to Jodrell Bank - a pleasant couple of hours wandering around which was somewhat marred by the number of school children but I guess they have to let them out sometime.

There was a little park at the back where you could wander around with the rhododendrons in bloom. England does great spring flowers

Jodrell Bank Observatory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[VPS]

Nantwich is another lovely market town. It's about 30 minutes from Chester which is obviously much larger and has more of the amazing black and white buildings but Nantwich has it's own charm


And just outside Nantwich is Snugbury's ice cream farm and they do fantastic ice cream and have this very large rabbit in the field nearby.

Snugburys Ice Cream Ltd

www.snugburys.co.uk

 

[VPS]

Then it was back to my late friend's house where we gave her a wonderful but very sad send off. I spent a few days helping to clear out the house some more to get it ready for sale. We were quite concerned whether it would sell - a 15th century rambling house over 3 floors and the prospect of HS2 zooming through the fields out the back but thankfully it sold quite quickly.

The off to London. I found quite a bargain at the Double Tree Tower Bridge https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/lontldi-doubletree-london-tower-of-london/ and only needed one night and got it for 92 pounds. It's a fantastic location -only a couple of minutes walk from Tower Bridge Tube station. I'm Hilton Diamond so was upgraded and breakfast and lounge were included. I was very impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the staff and a bonus was that the window opened.

The room had views of some of London's iconic skyscrapers



The view if you looked down wasn't great



But looking up was much more exciting

 

[VPS]

The breakfast spread was good



The lounge was small and very crowded in the evening. There was a very limited drink selection

 

[VPS]

I arrived at Euston and had a pleasant afternoon wandering around London



Statue of Matthew Flinders and his cat Trim



Very narrow pub


Found where Queenie was born



Berkeley square but didn't hear a nightingale sing


But Annabel's nightclub in Berkeley square was all kitted out - I think it was Chelsea in Bloom

 

[VPS]

More London

The monument to the Great Fire of London



Pudding lane where it all started





I love seeing the old buildings in London with the modern skyscrapers behind

 

[VPS]

More meanderings



I did wonder why on earth they would call their Dry Cleaning shop Lupus


But I guess this explains it

 

[VPS]

There was a bar on top of the hotel with some great views of London landmarks

The hotel was covered in green walls and you can see one of the walls on the right of the photo



Tower Bridge station



Picture window on the 10th floor



More of the green walls

 

[VPS]

There was a coughtail bar at the top so of course I had to check out the coughtails - I had the Horny Beast




Views from the top with the Shard to the left

 

[VPS]

The Natural Kitchen was just next door (not sure whether it was part of the hotel but you could walk through from the foyer)

coughtail specials and the food was quite good



Thew view from the foyer looking up

 

[VPS]

I first saw Chihuly in Kew Gardens in 2005 and didn't think I was going to get a chance to see the exhibition in 2019 but as I had one day in London I decided to head off (The Hilton gave me a 4pm checkout which was great) There is now going to be a overload of photos but I couldn't work out what to cull so you get to see lots





'

 

[VPS]

Chihuly Kew #2

 

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Chihuly Kew #3

 

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Chihuly Kew #4

Nice to see a bit of Australia in there

 

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Chihuly Kew # 5 (and last)

 

[VPS]

Time to head back to the hotel, collect my bags and head out to Gatwick one of my least favourite airports but I had a 9am flight the next day so figured it was better to be somewhere where I could just walk to the terminal.

I stayed at the Hilton Gatwick over and again was upgraded as a Diamond. I dread to think what my experience was if I hadn’t been upgraded. It was quite a trek to the room that only a shub which I dislike. The room was very hot and after 12 hours I was only able to get the temperature down a couple of degrees and it was still 22 and you couldn’t open a window. You couldn’t set the time on the clock and it was the wrong time and the tag was about 5 years out of date. The towels smelt musty and the shower never got above slightly tepid

The lounge again was like a zoo and the only food options for sale in the hotel were not very exciting