Lunch

Our lunch today was a very simple affair – lamb pide - but made memorable for the opportunity it gave us to sit at sidewalk tables and take in the locals (and heaps of tourists) enjoying a public holiday to celebrate Ataturk. People watching is an education in itself.

The Grand Bazaar

An enormous shopping centre selling everything you never knew you needed! If one cannot find a present here then one has a problem – most likely the same one as me – not enough room in the suitcase to bring anything home – sorry every one!

Tokapı Palace

Our pension is about 200 metres from this very grand attraction. I am not normally one for spending too much time in overseas museums but this one had lots of attractions inside and outside. The brick work and tiles were art pieces in themselves – very tempting to purchase and bring home.

Pension Coskun

Found this place on the internet; located in Sultanahmet, the old part of the town and convenient to most things a tourist would want to do; it has what we need – bed, bathroom, peace and quiet and interesting views out the window. It is a steep climb up to our room and two levels above that you can find the ‘check in’ facility – the owners quarters! However, it’s just fine by us.





The ornate gateway to our pension.

Lynne at the bottom of the staırs.

The Ugly …

Our arrival in Turkey was spoiled by the abrasive attitude of an American tourist. Our flight was some 45 minutes late getting into Istanbul due to late departure from Heathrow. Obviously this caused some people stress and made itself manifest in his comment, ‘Let’s get this straight once and for all …’ seemingly in reference to his group’s arrangements for transfer into the city. He followed up his protestations with, We’re paying for this’, as if no-one else was!

Heathrow Terminal 5

There was a lot of fuss about Terminal 5 to the extent that the CEO didn’t collect his huge bonus. Industrial in design and feeling it is still spacious and has great acoustics. Security requires you to almost strip before going through security gates. All shopping is expensive despite the ‘Duty Free’ signs - my smoothie cost BP3.25 – have to admit is was delicious.

Walkıng ın Bushey

Here we are out walking around Bushey with Betty on a beautiful Sunday morning. Interesting sights along the way include Bushey Village with its quaint shops; Terrace Houses that have been restored; grounds of the former American University in Europe, now being turned into a hotel and luxury apartments.

A day out

Inside St Mary's Church.

Carved pew end over 400 years old - there were many of theses - one even depicting a mermaid - why that was in the church I can't answer!

St Mary's church where we viewed some fascinating carved pew ends.

A view from one of the vantage points used to light fires to warn of the Spanish Armada's arrival. Note the Lion in the background indicating a Zoo nearby.











This is the lovely English pub in Aldbury where we had lunch.

Beksoncot Miniature Village

The weather was more like early spring than summer but that didn't spoil our visit to Bekonscot miniature village.









Lynne and Betty - the carriage serves as ticket office and souvenir shop.












Bekonscot miniature village.












Betty and Paul at pose for the camera at Bekonscot

On the way to Watford

Not the way one usually dresses when travelling but I had only just completed my visit to a school.

Dinner in Camden

We also spent a super evening at a very nice Indian restaurant in Camden Town with Meera and Fiona - so nice to meet up with them again. Camden town is host to a varied and buzzing community.

Bath

The Royal Crescent - Bath Spa


Bath Abbey.










We spent a very pleasant and relaxing day in Bath – as beautiful a city as I remember.

We had lunch in a local pub, The Huntsman, took in the atmosphere and rode the two bus tours on offer.

Arrival in London

Arrival in London was something else! There had been an incident on the Piccadilly line from Heathrow to South Ealing. This is the least expensive way of getting into the city; the alternative is to use the Heathrow to Paddington Express. The incident had caused a massive backlog of people wanting, or should I say demanding, to get into the city. In times of crisis you see the best and worst of people. The Heathrow to Paddington Connect service was doing its best to help relieve the pressure but that didn’t do much to appease the angry and frustrated travellers.

I have to admire the way the staff handled the anger, frustration and rudeness of the public, many of whom were looking for some-one to ‘blame’.

When we eventually arrived in the city and deposited our bags at the Paddington left luggage room, we took a nostalgic trip on a Big Bus tour of the city, including a boat trip on the Thames. We had done this tour 20 years ago and it was a good way to make a quick trip to remind us what London was all about. Spring is well advanced – 23 degrees - so it was great to see the greenery and spring colours.

Later in the day we spent time familiarising ourselves with the underground, visited Camden town, took in the New Zealand memorial sculpture in Hyde Park, sat on the grass and had an ice-cream and checked into our hotel near Marble Arch.

Reflecting on the trip so far – I’m glad we are travelling light (about 12 kg each) although there is room for more pruning of luggage yet!

Cousins

As we were leaving the plane in Frankfurt we spotted a group of four people wearing jackets emblazoned with ‘Wanganui Rock and Roll Club’. Later in the terminal we spoke with them and surprise, surprise! One turned out to be a cousin (her husband is staying with my sister in Perth) and another person is married to my brother-in-law’s brother. They were on their way to Norway – small world!

...and on to London

The flight from Singapore to Frankfurt was smooth – I got about 7 hours sleep but Lynne got a lot less! We spent about 3 hours on the ground in Frankfurt, enough time to catch up on some text messages, make our way through the terminal to our departure lounge. As we have done previously in the US, we had to be taken by bus to our aircraft – a journey of some 15 or so minutes – this is a huge airport, Lufthansa’s main world hub.

We waited until Quinn went to bed before taking a taxi to terminal 2 at the airport; what a wonderful clean, spacious and relaxing place. It is so well laid out and the people flows and facilities have been so well integrated you wouldn’t know that thousands of people use this terminal at any one time. We had time to do all the official departure ‘things’ have a meal and soak up the ambience before departure.

Duncan gave me a haircut to set me up for Europe.

My last swim with Quinn before leaving for Europe.

Mothers' Day Lunch

Quinn and Dionne study the menu.



Hong Kong Tea House for Mothers' Day Lunch. This was celebrated a day earlier than the calendar indicated so that the three mothers – Lynne, Dionne and Myrna could celebrate a Dim Sim lunch together; Myrna has Sundays off. She usually goes to church and then meets up with her relations – also foreign domestic workers.

Duncan pours Chinese tea to get lunch under way.

Quinn certainly enjoyed the Portuguese Custard Tart (as we all do).

After dinner Myrna took Quinn home for a sleep while the rest of us went up to the Parkway Shopping Centre to find some salmon for a salad for tea.

At the end of the day!

Although Quinn wasn’t very happy about going to Kindergarten she obviously settled down after we left. Here she is as happy as one thing when Lynne went to get her. A few minutes earlier we peeped through the window and saw her playing happily; the tears don’t last long!

Malaysia

After visiting Singapore American School we made our way by train and bus to the border control between Singapore and Malaysia. Upon completing the departure formalities for Singapore we decided to walk across the bridge/causeway in the mid day heat – not the best move! Next time we will take the bus. We were pleased to have walked this time though since it gave us a chance to see the contrast with Singapore in terms of the debris in the water.

This was one of our less memorable excursions - made even less memorable by a man presenting himself about ½ km inside the border as a ‘helper’. After lots of drivel about being an engineering graduate from Auckland University he attempted to ‘help’ us get a taxi to one of the big shopping malls. Why he thought we needed his help to do what was pretty obvious was beyond us. However we remained courteous and let him join us in a taxi which (presumably at his direction) seemed to take the scenic route to where ever!

After several reminders and questions from us about the location of the shopping plaza we duly arrived where we wanted to be.

We were expecting it and weren’t disappointed when he announced that the fare was R90 (about $NZ40). I had to deliver the bad news to him; that we wouldn’t be paying anything like that price since the ride we ordered should have cost no more than about $NZ4.00. When he asked about the ‘tour’ part of the ride we had to disappoint him by telling him we didn’t order the tour; left $S10.00 (didn’t have anything less) on the seat and departed to the sound of him cursing loudly!

Jahore Bharu has some lovely aspects to it such as sweeping, curved streets/roads and lovely green areas. In the very limited time we spent there – about 4 hours – the most lasting impression we got was that the city is in need of much infrastructural work - town planning, roads and paving in particular. The whole place could do with the same dose of medicine Singapore took in the mid 1960s.

For future reference: take a bus after completing the formalities on the Singapore side, ride it to the Malaysian border control, complete their formalities and continue with the 170 bus to the main bus depot. From there take another bus or taxi to where ever you want to be.

For the return journey catch the 170 bus from the main bus depot (cost 1.4 Ringat). The bus lets you off at the Malaysian border control to complete departure formalities. You go down the stairs and board the 170 bus again and that takes you across the causeway to the Singapore border control post. There you complete an entry card, pass through the control point and make your way down the escalator. At the bottom turn right to join the queue for the bus (you can use your Singapore travel/bus/MRT card) to the nearest MRT – in our case, Marsilin.

Garmin nuvi 200w

I have been trying to get to grips with my new 'toy' - a Garmin nuvi 200w GPS system. The objective of the purchase is to minimise the risk of getting lost while driving in Germany and the UK in particular. So far so good - I can turn it on, pick up sattelites and navigate to obvious places such as shopping malls! The real test will come when we get on the road!

White Lodge Kindergarten

This is Quinn's kindergarten. Signage at the kindergarten was as obvious as one can get!

She wasn't particularly happy about being here! Along the way she exhibited all the avoidance strategies at her disposal e.g. wanting to turn right instead of left!












The staff were friendly and welcoming but I guess when you are 20 months old and would sooner be in the comfort of your own complex, that doesn't matter much.

There were lots of tears but we know from our own experiences of parents dropping children off at school, that doesn't last long.