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Published: August 27th 2008
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Bath
In the square outside Cathedral & Roman Baths Hello.
A slower update than anticipated.
The Shane Summary:
Catch up on some stuff I missed in the last blog. Did a 13 day bus tour of Ireland & Scotland. Hired a car & drove from Edinburgh to Eastbourne staying in Cheshire on the way. Had a great time.
The News in full:
Cath Thorne was the first correct answer to the quiz. Winchester Cathedral was recorded by the New Vaudeville Band (forgot about Wikipeadia).
Missed a few highlights in my last blog:
London - Dot riding on the London eye with Tim. Highest Dot's been since she had laughing gas during birth!; Winston Churchill's War Time Cabinet Rooms (do yourself a favour); Imperial War Museum; Covent Garden which is the former London Fruit & Veg Market & now a market of stalls & shops with lots of street performers.
For those who are wondering who the female in a lot of the photos with us is - it's Heather O'Brien, a family friend who was travelling with us in London & Dorset One of Heather's passions is researching her family history which has taken us to some out of the way villages
Bath
Dot inside the Roman Baths in Dorset such as Long Bredy.
During our time here we make sure we get off the motor ways & travel the country lanes which is a great experience. Probably the best place we visited whilst in Dorset was Bath - which is actually in Somerset! Bath is only one of 3 World Heritage Cities, 2 of which are in the UK. Can you name the other city in the UK which is also a World Heritage listed city? Answer is at the end of this blog. Bath is a stunning city situated on the river Avon (the same as that which runs through Stratford). The city is probably best known for it's roman baths built on the site of an ancient spring and which were only discovered in the 1890s. But there is a lot more to see including the Bath Cathedral, a Gothic structure which is in great condition (I tell you they do old really good over here)
Our landlord in Dorset lived next door. Her name is Victoria and she is a mature age flight attendant with United Airlines (by her age I would say she must have taken her first flight as an
Dublin
Christine & Molly Malone attendant in a Lockheed Electra).
Driving on the country roads is interesting. Place names appear for a while but if they are not major city/towns disappear at some round abouts which can be a bit confusing, although the road numbering does help. The main problem is the placement of direction signs. They put them right at the road you need to turn into and if you don't keep an eye out they're easy to miss. But everything is so close you're never really too far way from where you want to be anyway.
Some comparisons for you: Stamp for postcard to Aust. 56 pence. 330 Ml can of coke is 60 p. The average pub meal is £8.00. 250 g rump steak in super market is about £5.99; petrol is about £1.14 per lt & diesel is about £1.23 per lt.
Just finished our tour of Ireland & Scotland last Saturday. Fantastic. Ireland is very scenic however, the romantic images of old country cottages dotted around the country are just that - romantic notions. Seems that as the Country became more prosperous after joining the EEU they subdivided a lot of their farms into 1/2 acre lots
Dublin
Chris, Dot & Joyce with Oscar Wilde at very affordable prices and built bungalows (that's houses to us from the antipodes as opposed to semi detached) at a reasonable cost. About 8 yrs ago a 1/2 acre lot was €2,000. The same block is now worth €100,000.
Whilst it's a very pretty country it is also a very expensive country, but the people are very friendly and the pubs are great. The Irish alphabet only has 25 letters - the letter H is not used. Ahigh light for me was the walking tour of Londonderry or Derry dependoing on your religious pursuation. Our tour guide was achap by the name of Rhonan McNamara who has an Irish father & a Chinese mother!! and when you see his photo you'll see his not lying. He's the only Bhudist in a city that was subject to some of the worse sectarian violence in modern history & he is able to give a fairly uinbiased view of it all.
Scotland was also very scenic but in a different way - it was in Scotland. Both countries aren't that fond of the poms. Both countries love black pudding so when in ... Dublin, Waterford, Newtonmore - you do what
County Kerry
Thegirls during a stop on the drive around the Ring of Kerry the Romans do. Thought I may have changed my tastes but Scotch is not yet up to beer or Guinness but I'll keep developing the taste.
Finished up in Edinburgh on Saturday & went to the Military tattoo & a show at the Fringe Festival. Hired a motor and drove to Eastbourne via Cheshire & the Wye Valley. We're now having a rest from our holiday. Well it's hard work this touring caper.
Till next blog.
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