Venice Autumn Dispatch - Saturday, 24th November, 2018

When I left you last Sunday, we were off to our concert at Bozar & very excited about it indeed. It was quite a different experience from Glasgow. When the orchestra came on stage, it was obvious they were most unhappy & as we were in the second row, we could vouch for it. After some Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky in the first half, we looked forward to Tchaikovsky in the second. The Mariinsky orchestra seemed much happier & were content to take no notice of their conductor, Valery Gergiev, who conducted by memory with no music in front of him. At the end, as he took 6 curtain calls, they shook hands with each other & ignored him. Some of the musicians were out of the theatre and heading for the Hilton well before we collected our coats & departed.

On Monday, we bought tickets for the Hop on Hop off Bus, which was terribly expensive, with indifferent & occasional commentary, which worked intermittently. The bus driver arrived 15 minutes late, which summed up the attitude of this company to its patrons. We decided to have a quiet afternoon in the hotel, as we were tired from two late nights in a row.

That night we caught up with an old ALP friend, André Haermeyer, who has been living & working in Europe for the past 10 years. It was good to see him & share a bottle of Luxembourg champagne, courtesy of Leigh & Simon.

The next morning, we were booked to do a walking tour of Antwerp & turned up in the Grand Place to discover there were 6 of us on the English-speaking tour – us & a family of four from Texas, who were inadequately clothed & made life for our Dutch guide very difficult indeed. Eventually the mother disappeared, the son gave the father his beanie & we soldiered on.

We went to a diamond place, but everyone was at lunch, so we didn’t see diamonds being cut or polished. We visited Peter Paul Ruben’s house, saw some wonderful old architecture, as well as some stunning art deco work in the main street.

In the Church of Our Lady, which costs €4 for seniors to visit, we glanced at the 4 Rubens paintings, admired the wooden statues (no explanation) & I decided this was my favourite painting by Franz Floris.

God had definitely left this Church when Mammon took over & we were disappointed.

The Antwerp Railway Station is the most beautiful we have ever seen & we were happy to watch the three floors of trains arriving & departing in awe!

That night we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had hoped to try a local one, but there seemed to be a university student function going on & Brussels was crawling with police, students & activities, so we stayed inside.

Wes took this stunning view from our hotel window that night

The next morning it was time to pack up & catch our first flight in 6 weeks – to Venice. We had been warned that there could be long queues for security, so caught a taxi with plenty of time to spare. Our bags passed through OK, but about half the belongings going through x-ray were opened & examined. When we left Australia, Wes was constantly stopped by security as he had packed his telescope (of course) in his hand luggage & it set off all sorts of alarms. I was delighted to discover it was now safely in his suitcase.

Our flight to Venice left late, but we had an excellent flight & were delighted to see a female pilot in the cockpit – landing on Marco Polo airstrips requires lots of experience. I had bought bus tickets & there was one waiting outside the terminal. So far, everything had gone like clockwork. We arrived in Venice & set off for St Mark’s Square, took a wrong turn & had to be rescued by a very kind man who put us on a boat, which deposited us at Hotel Locanda Vivaldi.

There was a bottle of prosecco in our room compliments of the management, and I had paid extra for a water view. Wes was delighted to be looking out on the lagoon. We stayed in this hotel about 10 years ago when we travelled with Leigh & we just loved the location & the personal service, as there are only two floors of rooms.

Early morning view from our window

We ate that night in Ristorante Al Giardinetto at the suggestion of the hotel & had a very fine meal indeed.

We shared this entree of fruits de mer with an excellent bottle of local red

On Thursday, after breakfast, we set off to the left of our hotel, away from St Mark’s Square & the hordes of visitors. The first hour or so was spent in the Museo Storico Novale looking at anything & everything to do with Venetian boats.

I was very taken with this extremely decorative cannon!

Then we headed down Via Garidbaldi, where we stopped for a cup of tea & watched the locals & their dogs interacting as they did their shopping.

We loved the floating green-grocer!

After another long walk through various parks & gardens, we came back, gelatos in hand, to look at St Mark’s Square & gaze in the windows of the hideously expensive shops.

Eventually, we were too tired to walk anymore & returned to our hotel for a rest. That night we had another good meal, this time at Taverna Scalinetto, where the highlight was the carpaccio of swordfish, tuna & octopus, which we shared as an entree.

Yesterday, we had decided to visit our favourite island, Burano, and set off confidently after breakfast. The ticket-seller had spent time in Australia & loved it, which was fabulous to hear. We caught a nearly-empty boat & were sitting in it happily when the ticket inspector raced up to our seats to tell us we needed to get off at Punta Sabbioni & change boats. We found a very helpful young woman on the pier, who directed us to the correct boat. After a short time on this comfortable craft, the pilot told us all to get off at Treparti & wait for another boat. Eventually we got to Burano.

The last time we visited, everywhere was closed for a funeral, so it was wonderful to see it alive & kicking. We went to the Church of San Martino, admired the leaning bell-tower, lit a candle for Jessie & went into a small side chapel, where the priest chased us out as he wanted to go for lunch!

Loved this church, which was full of fresh flowers & seemed much used

The restaurant Wes had researched as perfect for lunch was closed, so we took pot luck with Riva Rosa, and enjoyed a stunning meal. I had ‘Go’ risotto, which is a Burano speciality & Wes had spaghetti nero. We were both naughty & enjoyed sweets. The young South Korean couple next to us were newly married, so we shared our bottle of rosé with them.

Biscotti with zabaglione

On the boat home (we went by a shorter route), we met a couple from Boston, who loved Australia & particularly Melbourne. We had a great chat with them until they left to visit Murano & we came back to Venice & a 15 minute walk back to our hotel.

Last night we sat in the hotel lounge enjoying our bottle of prosecco & chatting about all we have done in the past 44 days. It has certainly been a holiday to remember.

This morning, as soon as the rain clears, we are off to do a walk in the footsteps of Commissario Brunetti, hero of Donna Leon’s wonderful books. Tonight we have a dinner & Vivaldi concert with ballet & everyone in costume! Should be fun. We just have to find it!

Tomorrow we catch our Emirates flights home, and I hope to resume my usual Sunday Dispatches. At some point I will have to discuss toilets – we’ve made quite a study of them on this trip & the winner is definitely the one at Holly Molly Café, Holyhead, where the space was so small, you had to remove the waste-paper basket from the toilet lid before using the toilet.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on our posts & encouraged us to write & photograph our experiences. It has been wonderful to know you are enjoying our trip. Once Lewis & Morse arrive, there won’t be any more grand tours for some time!

View from our window early this morning – one tugboat leading & another following this enormous cruise ship

Brussels Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 18th November 2018

When I last wrote, we were about to have our final full day in England, which we spent in Oxford. We caught an early bus there, which gave us time to wander around, before meeting our Chipping Norton friends, Paul & Pauline Jackson, for lunch at The Randolph Hotel. Paul had booked a table within sight of the Martyrs Memorial, as that was the meeting place for our Walking Tour of Morse, Lewis & Endeavour. It was lovely to catch up with them both & I presented Paul with the Collingwood scarf I wore to this year’s Grand Final.

Ever since Paul’s friend, Rob, & I spent a day at the cricket discussing footy, Paul has been curious to learn about Aussie Rules & I have been delighted that he has started getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch the games.

Paul wearing his scarf in the Morse bar at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford & below, Wes, Pauline, Karen & Paul in front of the John Thaw portrait

We were very sorry to leave the Jacksons after two hours, which flew by, but our tour beckoned & we were so pleased we had booked it. Our guide, Elizabeth, was very knowledgeable & had been taking tours like this for 13 years. She had met all the actors & knew lots of inside stories & clever jokes that are part of Lewis & Endeavour in particular.

We arrived back home tired but happy that night, after a lovely, stimulating day in beautiful Oxford.

On Friday, we were booked to catch the Eurostar to Brussels, so rose early, packed, cleaned up our flat as best we could & headed off to St Pancras International Station via South Kensington tube. We had bought Tourist Oyster cards back in September & I put £50 on each, which was more than enough to see us through a week of travelling on the underground.

The Eurostar experience was fun without being remarkable & we arrived at Brussels-midi with the prospect of a 10 minute walk to our Marriott Hotel. 45 minutes later we finally found it! The staff were amazed we walked & when we pointed out that their website suggests they are 10 minutes away, they said – but not with luggage! We had to wait another 45 minutes for our room, but it is well-appointed & quiet & the shower works very well indeed.

 

Leigh & Simon (pictured on the train to Bruges) arrived too late for us to meet up that night, so we grabbed a quick meal & had the best sleep of our trip with an excellent mattress & foam pillows.

The next morning, we met up at breakfast & headed out to The Grand Place to meet our guide for the tour of Bruges. We were a small group of 9, which was very manageable. Our guide, Peter, a Liverpudlian, had a great knowledge of art & history, which made his delivery very interesting. We enjoyed two hours of solid walking around the mediaeval town of Bruges, including the canals. Finally Peter left us to our own devices, so we found a very pleasant café, where we had tomato soup & Belgian fries for lunch.

Wes enjoying our tour of Bruges

Last night we four caught a taxi to Le Wine Bar des Marolles, which Wes had chosen some time ago, as the place to celebrate his birthday. We were all impressed with the staff, the amazing food, the superb wine list & most of all, the effort everyone made to ensure we had a memorable evening.

Stuffed marrowbones & wild duck for two

This morning, we all slept in and met again at breakfast for a debrief & discussion of the day’s activities. We set off to visit the Museum of the City of Brussels, a Gothic revival building which houses the history of Brussels, including artefacts, paintings & tapestries. We enjoyed that very much, before heading off to find the famous statue Manneken Pis. After some more walking around, we headed back to Grand Place for drinks – tea for me, hot chocolate for Wes (which turned out to be cold); coffee for Leigh & a beer for Simon.

We spent some time at the magnificent Gothic Cathedral of Saint-Michael & Saint-Gudula, where I lit a candle for Jessie.

Our final destination was the famous shopping arcades & eating areas. We even found a place advertising Australian Made Ice-Cream! Leigh & Simon went off to have a late lunch & drive back home to Luxembourg, while we went back to our hotel for a rest as we have a concert to attend tonight at the Bozar.

We had a lovely time with Leigh & Simon & are very grateful that came to spend time with us during our holiday.

Leigh & Wes outside the Brussels Town Hall building

London Autumn Dispatch - Thursday, 15th November 2018

We have been making the most of our time in London & trying not to stress about all the downsides of our flat in Chelsea. We are in a great position in many ways, although the nearest tube station is 15 minutes walk away.

We decided to have a late breakfast at The Ivy, Chelsea, thinking of our cousin, Leigh, & her husband, Simon, who had their wedding reception at The Ivy, Covent Garden in 2013. It was an absolute treat with perfect scrambled eggs nesting in smoked salmon & Jasmine pearls tea to drink. Wes sat watching the beautiful people saunter in & out, including two followed by paparazzi & two who flounced out as their usual table was occupied (shock, horror!).

 

This photo is for Squiz, who joined Wes in rating marmalades on our first trip to England back in 1975 – Wes gives the Ivy’s marmalade a 9/10 – if it had come with its own spoon, it would have gotten the perfect score!

We then attended the Sloane Square Remembrance Day services, which were remarkable, not just for the bells that rang at 11am, for the 2 minutes silence (rigorously observed) but for the cessation of traffic (police stopped all vehicles within cooee & there was complete silence). It was very moving & we were pleased we had decided not to try and be part of the bigger ceremonies going on.

We caught the tube into Covent Garden & spent ages walking around there, before visiting The National Portrait Gallery, which was so hot we had to abandon it after spending time with Rubens & van Dyck. We crossed the road to St Paul’s and said hello to all the famous theatre people commemorated there. Afterwards I sat on John Thaw’s seat to write a postcard to Leanne & hope it returns home before we do!

Writing the postcard & thinking about Morse!

We had time for a cuppa & half a Guiness before our play started nearby at The Duchess Theatre, where we encountered one of the rudest, least helpful Box Office people I have ever met. We were rescued by a security person who advised us. I had bought a special package with our tickets which included a donation & gave us signed programmes, a copy of the script & a glass of wine, but I didn’t know how to redeem any of them!

The Play Goes Wrong is an absolute hoot & we laughed until we cried. Wes particularly appreciated it with his experience in amateur theatre & anyone who has ever been involved in any amateur production would love it. Even if you haven’t, you can’t help but empathise!

On Monday, we set off to Australia House to vote in the Victorian State Elections on the first possible day available. It was a scream – we landed at the main door, where a bored security guard directed us back outside to the third door on the right, push the intercom button & they’ll look after you. We arrived there just as three other people had found the intercom button (not easy) & were gaining admittance, so we saved 5 minutes by joining them. There is room for about 6 in the small area between two self-locking doors & you can’t move out of one area until the other door is shut tight. Security was next & it happened at an awkwardly placed table, which gave no-one any space to put things down or to get out of the way of the one being wanded.

They took us in two at a time, so we chatted to the other couple, who live in Geelong & barrack for St Kilda. We were enjoying our footy chat when another staff member came to explain that the ballot papers hadn’t arrived yet & had to be printed on demand two floors up! Eventually it was our time to go in to a little room, no ID required, just name & address & wait for your ballot papers. The actual voting was the easy part. We then let ourselves out & did the double door lock thing all over again.

Outside Oz House after voting! We were pleased to note that the footy chatting had continued on after we left!

Our next stop was Chinatown where we found a restaurant serving Dim Sum that opened at 11am, so spent some time there refuelling before heading to our favourite London Church, St Martin in the Fields, where we attended a lunchtime concert by the St Martin’s Choral Scholars, who sang superbly & thoroughly entertained us for about 45 minutes.

That night we attended the play, A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter starring Jim Broadbent at the Bridge Theatre.  This is a very new theatre, great box office, food & drink served all day, cloakrooms, toilets, plenty of staff & oodles of room, but not easy to find the first time. We caught a cab, but even then had to ask directions as it is at the back of other buildings. Our taxi driver had just discovered he was going to be a first time father, with the baby due on Brexit Day! We met a couple of Poms in the foyer who have lived in America for the past 30 years, & they, like our taxi driver, didn’t realise that Australia has compulsory voting & that our Government tries to make it easy for us to vote, unlike the UK & USA.

We have no idea what got into the head of the playwright, Martin McDonagh, in his wild imaginings of Hans Christian Anderson, but this very modern play showcased Jim Broadbent & a couple of other excellent actors very well indeed.

Foyer of the Bridge Theatre

We had a free day on Tuesday, so headed back to The Ivy for breakfast again, before catching the tube to Leicester Square & buying tickets to see Bohemian Rhapsody. We spent some time in Jermyn Street admiring the beautiful bespoke men’s shoes & shirts etc. The film was absolutely riveting & we loved every minute of it – beautifully acted, written, directed, cast – stunningly good. Wes took me to afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason’s Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon as a special treat afterwards & what a treat it was. We opted for the savoury delights with Jasmine pearl tea. You can see the exquisite roses on our table, the beautiful tea service & the yummy food.

Needless to say we couldn’t eat all this & when they offered us slices of cake afterwards, we declined, but were given a very elegant doggy bag to take home with us.

I was talking to a woman on the tube who had been to see her new dentist that afternoon – her previous one was called Mr Butcher & it was appropriate; the new one is named Mr Cure & her teeth were all fine – great story & one she no doubt enjoys sharing often.

We are finding the weather fine – temperatures of 13˚ or 14˚ most days & the London humidity makes it seem warmer than that. The big problem is that once you get indoors the heating seems to be in the 20s & we are quite hot & find it very stuffy.

Yesterday was another special day. We headed to the Victoria & Albert Museum (within walking distance of our flat) where we were meeting our friend, Andrea Spencer aka Bilby. We first met in the Northern Territory in 1996 & have enjoyed infrequent get-togethers ever since. Bilby caught the train from Maidenhead to London & we were most appreciative. We arrived before her & were able to lose ourselves in 1600s Europe art, sculpture, wall hangings & musical instruments for an hour or so. We then spent about 2 hours in the café chatting & catching up & it was wonderful.

We eventually had to go to Leicester Square to pick up our tickets to our final play, The Height of the Storm, starring Dame Eileen Atkins & Jonathan Pryce. This was an excellent play with superb acting, as you can imagine with those two leads. When I bought the tickets a couple of months ago, I took advantage of a package available which included afternoon tea at Browns, which is just behind the theatre. It was the perfect way to finish the day debriefing & enjoying the ambience.

 

We arrived back to our flat feeling tired but stimulated after our day. Bilby had suggested a film on Netflix that we might enjoy called God’s Own Country, so we settled down with a glass of red wine & watched it.

Today we are up early as we are off to Oxford for the day, starting with lunch with our friends, Paul & Pauline Jackson. This is the lunch that didn’t happen last week & we are so pleased they were able to find another date that suited.

After that we are off for a walking tour of Morse, Lewis & Endeavour, which should be a fun way to finish off our visit to the United Kingdom.

England Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 11th November 2018

We were sorry to leave Dartmouth on Wednesday morning, but very excited to be visiting Nether Wallop again. On our way, we stopped at a few places, including Lyme Regis, famous for many reasons and more recently the place where much of The French Lieutenant’s Woman was shot. We were fascinated by The Cobb, the old canons & anchors & amazing old buildings. Not so thrilled by the beach!

We also visited Weymouth, but didn’t get out and walk around as it was raining. Wes tells me this is the English Riviera! It reminded us both of St Kilda or Brighton in Melbourne.

We drove through a beautiful Georgian village called Blandford Forum, before finding ourselves at Puddletown & Tolpuddle – very historic places indeed.

Finally we followed the signs up a little track to find the Chettle Village Stores & stocked up on fruit, juice & bread for our stay in The Little Trout. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up at our beautiful accommodation, to discover that it used to be the Wine Shop that we had seen last time we were here. Our host was rather chuffed that we remembered it. Sadly, the pub, the Five Bells, that drew us here the first time, is now closed & has been for the past five years. We wonder what the squire & his Labrador do for a late afternoon drink these days.

Our accommodation was spacious & comfortable with the best bed & doona of our trip, an excellent bathroom with a timer in the shower, lots of heaters & a well-stocked kitchen. We couldn’t wait to get out and explore the next morning, but watched the Oaks Day races first!

Outside The Little Trout

Beautiful brook over which we crossed to visit the 11^th Century Church – St Andrew’s, which captivated us back in 1975.

Belfry & bell pulls for the six bells of St Andrew’s

We spent ages in the Church looking at all the frescoes that have been recovered & restored from earlier times, as well as admiring the age of this incredible building.

We took as many Footpaths as we could & crossed numerous stiles, said hello to horses, skirted by the aerodrome, where bombs were dropped during the war & walked along the High Street, looking at the houses that just scream Miss Marple. We were lucky enough to see a couple of men restoring a thatched roof as we walked by.

After lunch we drove to nearby Stockbridge, where cars can park easily in the main street & where we picked up some fresh salmon for dinner at a fabulous deli.

Wes was in the mood to cook & did an excellent job of poaching salmon with fresh tomatoes & avocado. We couldn’t fit in the interesting cheddar we had bought, so it came with us to London. We slept well that night & knew we would we sorry to leave on Friday morning.

We set off after 9am giving ourselves plenty of time to get to Croydon to return the Avis hire car. Wes had planned our journey to London & it went like clockwork. There was a light rail running behind the Avis area & we caught it to Wimbledon. It was clean, quiet, quick & self-driven! Our next move was a train from Wimbledon to Elephant & Castle, then a short walk to our London flat. We arrived to find an empty key-safe & rang our Airbnb host, Will, who claimed no responsibility initially, before agreeing to investigate & ring us back.

Will eventually confessed he had given us the wrong address & obviously uses the same key-codes to all his flats. We caught a cab to our correct address as we couldn’t work out how to get there by tube. And what a disappointment it is here. This is obviously a bachelor pad which desperately needs TLC. It is on the 6^th floor & looks out over a park, the bedroom is spacious with plenty of storage, but everything else is a disaster & we have to keep the windows open as it is so hot. There are no cooking knives, one roll of toilet paper to last us a week, stained couch, a pantry without outdated left behind foodstuffs, old stained towels & rickety chairs. We couldn’t sleep on Friday night until we sent Will an email outlining our concerns & to date he hasn’t replied. As far as I’m concerned that’s the end of Airbnb overseas!

Yesterday morning, after some fresh fruit that the hunter had found, we set off to Harrods & spent a delightful time there. I needed to replace my Mason Pearson hairbrushes & my Harrods bag. We achieved both of those & then saw a sign for modern Chinese food. We followed the signs to Chai Wu & enjoyed a wonderful exotic dim sum with a pot of exquisite Jasmine tea ball. This restored our good humour!

In the afternoon we saw the first of our 4 plays – The Wild Duck – a modern version of Ibsen’s famous play. It was stunning & we loved it. The Almeida Theatre is very like the Malthouse & even though we were in the circle, we felt close to the action. Two well-known actors, Nicholas Farrell & Nicholas Day were part of an excellent cast of eight. We experienced our first heavy rain of the trip, but our clothes are nice & dry this morning as Wes worked out how to turn the heated towel rack on – not easy.