Posts Tagged ‘sightseeing’

TRURO — They’re saying on television and radio that summer is over. I can believe it as it rained almost continuously today. The short-term forecasts have to-date proved quite accurate, which I’m counting on as I travel north tomorrow to Lanivet. The forecast is for a dry day which, while not as atmospheric as a grey day of drizzle, is much more conducive to wandering among gravestones looking for ancestors.
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LONDON — Today was all about Buckingham Palace. After a lovely breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and baked beans I made my way to Paddington Station, topped up the old Oyster card, and took the Circle Line to Victoria. It was then a shortish walk along Buckingham Palace Road in the drizzle to collect my ticket from the ticket office.
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LONDON — I thought I’d go back to the Westminster City Archives this morning but on arrival found that they are closed on Mondays. So as it was such a beautiful day I thought I’d take a flight on the London Eye as last time it was such a drizzly grey day. The ticket also gets you in free to the new London Eye 4D Experience. The wait was longer but well worth it. At first I wondered what all the fuss was about as the film looked like any other—until the seagull flew in from over my shoulder!
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LONDON — This morning was wet. The weather is supposed to be clear and dry tomorrow but rain is expected to return on Tuesday. I went to the Natural History Museum this morning and arrived in the rain to discover that they were very busy and that I could expect to be in the queue for up to two hours. As it transpired I only need to wait in the queue and the rain and the occasional gust of wind for about twenty minutes.
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LONDON — Today I went to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. I had visited the Gallery on my previous trip to London and enjoyed it so much I just had to return for another look. And it didn’t disappoint. I still can’t get over how bright and vibrant the colours in the paintings are, especially those from the 15th and 16th centuries, when compared to what you see reproduced in books. And the other thing you don’t appreciate from the books are the relative sizes of the paintings. Some are tiny, and others are simply enormous. There is nothing like seeing the original paintings.
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LONDON — Getting from Bristol to London went a lot smoother than I’d are hope. The walk to the railway station, pushing one suitcase and pulling another, only took ten minutes. I probably got to the station too early but it meant I was able to be one of the first to board the train—and when you’ve got more bags than hands, it helps. One unexpected but pleasant surprise was that though my seat was standard class the coach itself was first class.
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BRISTOL — This morning began with an early walk to the railway station to reserve a seat to Paddington (the advanced ticket office is closed Sundays). That done, I returned to the hotel to get the car and drive to Mells, the birthplace of my ancestors Benjamin and Joseph Coles.
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BRISTOL — This morning I decided to explore Bristol and quickly decided that it is not an easy city to get around on foot. Bt the end of the day I still hadn’t found the high street and the maps I had weren’t much help in that respect. Bristol’s maritime heritage is very much to the fore and I did manage to find the SS Great Britain.
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CARDIFF — I walked back into the city centre this morning and visited Cardiff Castle. The castle grounds are very spacious what with the castle’s surrounding earthworks having been built over the top of the walls of a Roman fort giving it a square shape. I climbed to the top of the keep to get some good views across Cardiff before taking a tour through the castle apartments.
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ST CLEARS — I awoke to a clear blue sky and the promise of a good drive to St Clears. And for most of the day it stayed fine, only beginning to rain mid-afternoon. I stopped at quite a few lay-bys (those that didn’t appear suddenly) to view the scenery and snap some photographs. After a while I realised I couldn’t do this at very lay-by as I’d never get to St Clears!
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