London!

I think I have said this before but I really like London!
We drop the car off and arrive at our hotel which is by Euston station. Really not much of a 5 min walk to Kings Cross station which is the best underground station to be near by.
That afternoon we walked around - checked on where everything was and went to a show (Les Mis) in the Westend. Had to check it all out on maps but this was Friday night and the place was bedlam! People everywhere!We sat down at a pub, bought a pint and just watched everyone go by, had a pub meal and another pint and looked around the west end. Only to discover we were in Soho on one street, walk a couple of streets and found China town over a few streets (quite cool with lanterns and pergolas etc) Some very dodgy meat hanging up in the windows, live crabs waiting to go on the grill alive ...... Anyway went to the show (Dave's choice) and very well done. The men singers were fantastic, very strong and powerful. The two main women roles however had quite weak voices which was a shame. The inn keeper wife and husband were just plain hilarious! better than the film. All in all a long day considering we had driven from Brighton, dropped the car off, got to London.

The next day we had decided to go into town to see Buckingham Palace, etc so walked down early to Kings Cross and on the way found a bar which was advertising cheap breakfasts, stroll in and on the big screen was ........ the all blacks! Dave ordered, sat down in front never to move again until the final whistle. Lots of cheering from our table ... had to apologize to the other customers who were Asian and very bemused by it all! Needless to say Dave was as happy as a sandboy and put him in a good mood for the day. And what a day!
Off  at Green Park and wandered along a long way pass Hyde Park (do you know they ride horses along the paths there .. amongst the cyclists and runners and walkers?!). Very pretty with the Autumn colours coming through. More walking and low and behold was Harrods! Never been there before so decided to look (couldn't afford). OOOhh Laalaa!

What a place ... never realised it was so big. Went from the bottom (wine) up. (the New Zealand wine section only had wines from Malborough - no Hawkes Bay ones at all)Amazing areas of high fashion clothes and shoes - each brand has it's little shop off a main corridor (say on the shoe level - Jimmy Choo has it's own little room). Was fascinating.

 I ended up in the Christmas Shop! Yes folks - Harrod's has a huge Christmas shop which is massive. I was in love ..... lots of people but honestly everything was so precious and fragile I couldn't get it back safely.

After Harrod's was back to Green Park and down through it to Buckingham Palace to see Queenie. There were lots of people going in the same direction and at the end huge crowds were lining the streets, up on the gates, down the Mall for what? we wondered? I of course got to the front to see as the road was blocked off, and then the palace gates open and soldiers in beehive head gear started marching and bands playing, and then another band etc. I was excited thinking it was something which Queen would be part of .. but no. Just the soldiers and bands!
On the way back through the park there was a lovely squirrel oblivious to all the crowds, just happily munching on an acorn.

After that was the British Museum. Now that is a huge building - takes up a whole block.This was Saturday so quite crowded, but not so bad. The first thing we saw was the Easter Island statue towering over us.
The museum put out a guide with the must sees if you only have an hour or so - so I put the guide book in Dave's hands and said .... take me there!

Naturally, after all this walking we were rather tired (been on the go since 8am) so walked back to our hotel (5 mins away from the museum) and crashed for a couple of hours.
Then it was up and off to Covent Garden this time for dinner and a show. We walked around the streets just looking, and honestly on every street and corner was a theatre. Our theatre was opposite the Opera House (very small). I saw Lion King, Carole King tribute, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Aladdin all from our corner. Needless to say there were lots of family groups taking their kids to the kiddie type shows which was nice. Once again we had a pub meal - places were packed and people were standing outside on the footpaths drinking their beer. All restaurants had lines outside waiting for a table to come clear. Very busy place.
Our show was Mamma Mia (again Dave's choice) but something I enjoy. It was really good too. This time the women characters had amazing voices, with good back up chorus. The men were ok but not as strong. Very funny in parts and everyone up dancing and singing at the end. A good night. A long day!
Sunday was up bright and early to get to the underground by 7.30am to get to Baker Street (think Sherlock Holmes) to be picked up by a bus to go on our Harry Potter Studio Tour! We got picked up by 8.25am got there by 9.15 (it is out in the country  - these are the Warner Brother studios that made the films). Doors opened in at 9.30 and then you checked out the shop (huge!) and lined up to be let in. My god ... you started with a short film from the 3 main characters about the making of the films and in you go! They have most of the original props, sets, wigs, clothes, special effects props, all in different areas and made up like you would see on the movie. The whole place is made up of two big sound stages with outside area. You have TV's showing how they made these things beside them, and what it looked like in the movies in case you had forgotten. Luckily I had Mr Expert Dave who could tell me everything! Before we started we had a photo of us dressed up in cloaks and wands being wizards and I had a broomstick ride put on DVD! yay! very exciting!



I was blown away at how clever these construction and special effects people were. The designing of the sets and the detail in the props were amazing - yet you don't notice it all that much in the movies. I now know how they made the Quiddich game! Quite a few people but not pushing like Disneyland. They have groups of people go through every hour so it is quite controlled and everyone has time to look and read and watch the explanations etc. Nice to see these little kids having the time of their lives. I bought Dumbledor's wand to use as my magic pointer (it was the best looking wand).

All of that finished and we were back in our hotel about 3pm and crashed again!

Bournemouth and Brighton - by the sea

Bournemouth was a surprising secret gem! We stayed in a large hotel overlooking the beach up high on a cliff (highcliff).

We arrived after a long drive (my boo-boo) and into their rush hour at 5pm so Dave wasn't the happiest when we got there. However the view was amazing and the beach looked like it needed to be walked along! Dave's spirit s were really lifted when we found a Thai restaurant next door and boy it was yum! Different from the Starlake - Dave had a chilli lamb (he said it went up to about 8/10 on the heat chilli scale) and was delicious apparently. It was nice to have something different for a change. (Tho. Dave said he spent half and hour in the toilet at 4.30am dealing with the side effects of the chilli!)
The morning was spent going down to the beach - which was gorgeous sand as far as the eye could see.

Not many people around, except some uni. students in groups making sandcastles for some kind of Orientation week competition! (uni has just gone back). There seemed to be a lot of laughter and great grand design consultation going on.

Did you know that this was a place to go during the Victorian age? Lots of great houses and hotels overlooking the beach. Our hotel even had an ancient lift that went up and down the cliff side for it's patrons! Also Bournemouth has a pier! Cost you one pound to walk on it - so that didn't happen.
There are all these old dressing sheds along the beach that used to be for changing into togs etc. Very quaint.

 Guess who's hiding behind the flagpole!

We took the lift back up just to see what it was like. Not for the faint-hearted!

Brighton
Brighton was only two hours away (Dave checked the nav man before we started this time!) It is a very long city going along the coast. Had some difficulty finding our hotel which ended up being on the waterfront - virtually brand new so the nav-man didn't know it- and about 200 m from the Brighton Pier. God I know how to pick hotels!
We dumped our geat and again went walking. The beach is long but made of pebbles and stones!

The pier is very long, part of it is a huge covered in amusement arcade and then at the end is amusement rides like you see at the show. I am talking roller coasters and a big arm thing that went round and round. Some of the rides were shut as I am guessing it is at the end of their season. although  the weather was quite nice.

Views from the pier.

 Dave having the Brighton beer (flat and not cold!)

Out at sea is what is left of the old pier. I think it was destroyed by fire in 2003 and then demolished by storms.

After the pier we went for a walk along the beach where there are some crafty places working out of boat sheds - quite cool.

Near the end was this British Airways i360 - which is a huge tall tower with a round circluar type room/viewing 360degrees and it goes slowly up the tower and stays up there for a while and then comes down. I really wanted to go in it, but Dave said I would freak out as per normal at heights (which in my defence isn't always the case). Anyway we just watched it go up like an alien spaceship!

Opposite the beach is Regency Square which is a large square (with one side being the sea promenade). There are gorgeous Victorian houses all looking into the square grass area in the middle or facing the sea. Quite lovely.

On the way back we saw this outside the Hilton (on the waterfront by our hotel). A ferrari. Dave was impressed!

Both these towns would be quite hectic in summer - people everywhere. I think we saw them in a much nicer light.

Cornwall - think Doc Martin, Poldark!

Big few days driving around the the Cornwall coast.
Started off from Wales and down the coast to Port Issac. It took 3 hours on jam packed highways so was hoping it would be worth it.
Port Issac is where they film Doc Martin - for those of you who are fans. It has made the north cornwall coast a big tourist must -do especially over the summer months. It is a tiny (and I mean tiny) fishing village. You can't park down by the harbour so have to park at the top and walk 3/4 mile down. Beautiful views of white sheer cliffs as you go down. Lovely little houses and down a narrow lane and behold - a tiny harbour with the tide out and fishing boats on their side in the mud.

 Doc Martin's cottage

If you watch Doc Martin, you think the harbour is bigger (must be the angles) and that the area in front of the harbour is bigger too. It is full of fishing nets and boxes. We walked up the other side to Doc Martin's cottage (private) but I posed in front of it anyway. That was the only place I could see that said anything about Doc Martin (sign on the wall before climbing up).

Very windy but great for blowing the cobwebs away! Only disappointment was I couldn't see the school she teaches at - it looks as if it is near the harbour but there wasn't anything like that.
We had a yummy cornish tea at the nearby cafe (scones, jam and tea).
Then there was the climb back up ..... and up,,,,, and up!

Then more going down narrow roads, little villages, back onto the highway all the way to the bottom to .... Land's End (equivalent to our Bluff). It boasts of the last  inn, the last icecream, last ....... in England as it is the furthermost southern spot. On top of cliffs and you can walk along these paths along the cliffs to the next village (I actually wanted to- but Dave was a bit tired and grumpy from driving by that stage). Magnificent views of wild and woolly seas, cliffs etc.

We stayed the night in an old country house (mansion) in an apartment above the old stables). Quite cool.

That night we drove 4 mins to the nearby fishing village called Newlyn looking for a restaurant or pub to eat! what a performance - it was dark and we walked around and found a pub which was rather dodgy - went in and all noise stopped as they looked us up and down. Dave asked about food and all these Cornish accents started giving us directions to places. Actually quite friendly - however after driving around we decided to go back to the local chippy and get fish and chips (with vinegar) to take back to our 'apartment',  Was really yum - fresh fish straight from the sea. Just nice eating off the coffee table watching tv, like home!
Next day was looking around Penzance (3 mins away) - nice coastal town (think Pirates of ....). We had breakfast in a cafe in the first lifeboat house - old stone building that used to house the lifeboat which would go out and rescue boats in trouble in the 1800. App. it was on a large cart and horses would pull it down to the beach!

this was a castle in Penzance which you could go to driving over a causeway at low tide.
After that was an hour or more driving to a small fishing village called Charlestown. Never heard of it you say ?.... well it is where Poldark is filmed (the lastest one). I saw it advertisng a Shipwreck Museum including Poldark so it became a must see!
Very picturesque with a man-made harbour. Went to the museum (really good -lots about pirates and shipwrecks including artifacts from the Titanic). The area was into china clay and would fill up the harbour with boats taking clay away. Poldark filmed all it's port scenes here, the tin mine and cliff scenes were filmed above the nearby town. Very big for the area and has done tourism a big boost - just for those who like Poldark - photos of the filming were in the museum - however the latest is that the BBC have commissioned 5 more years of it -covering two books a year. So bring it on! We had a look around the harbour (it has a dock that keeps water deep in the tying up area for boats) and the outer part was mud as the tide was out. So boats can only come and go in high tide!

Then another cornish tea (scones, jam and tea - scones not as nice as yours Julie and Donna - you could make millions!) and off to Bournemouth. I made a stuff up here cause my google said an hour to get there but nav man said 3 hours and guess which was right! Poor Dave driving ......