Tag Archives: gardens

Monday, June 15

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If I count days from May 5, when we landed at Heathrow, today is day 42 of our trip. (Obviously if I count from May 4, when we left SFO, it’s day 43. I’m going to bet readers could figure that out too. We are all so smart that way.)

I have to acknowledge that we are a people of privilege: so many can’t manage to do a trip like this. So I must remember to be very grateful. I also have to realize that any trip could our last, as we never know what the next day will bring. So again, I’m grateful.

Acknowledgement over ‘n out. But gratefulness is not over ‘n out. Ever.

Once we were dressed we went upstairs to get our coffees. We won’t pay £17 each for a breakfast here, but the coffee is free all day so that was fine by us. We made them (just one of those automatic machines) and took them back to the room with us as we figured out what we were doing.

Once coffee was done and we’d decided on our agenda we headed out. Dan suggested we grab breakfast nearby, so we did that first. Nothing close to £24!

Then it was over to the tube where we went, with one change, all the way to Richmond to visit Kew Gardens. And yes, Dan figured out the directions. Whew!

The Kew Gardens are huge. We obviously couldn’t see everything there, but we did see quite a bit. We went into most, if not all, of the houses … from tropical (so humid) to desert, and in between. The plant life at the garden is pretty amazing. (But their roses aren’t nearly as wonderful as what I find in San Jose, I must say!) We wandered and wandered. At one point we headed toward the “Redwood Grove”. What we found was one redwood (I think Dan said it was a coastal one). That was it! But there were other large-ish trees around. In any case, we spent a whole lot of time at the gardens, and I will just share photos, a video, and leave it at that.

(I’ve now managed to upload more photos and I think that’s enough. No one needs to see all the photos I shoot!)

We did have a nice, inexpensive lunch at the gardens. Exciting, I know.

From there we walked to where a boat would take us all the way to Westminster. It was a nice, relaxing ride, and it felt good to get off our feet for over an hour. We’d never done a Thames boat ride before, and I’m really glad we did this one. I wouldn’t mind taking another going the other direction, but we’ll see if we can fit that in. And yes, more photos without explanation. (I’m feeling tired and feeling a bit discombobulated right now — more on that later.)

Getting off the boat and heading out into the crowds was rather like culture shock. We had been in nature for so many hours and suddenly we could barely move. I’m so glad we aren’t staying anywhere near that area.

It was time for dinner so we went to a pub we’ve now been to twice already. I wanted to be able to go to the bottom floor (two flights down) because I had great memories of eating there on our first trip together to London: that time we met up with Jan and Greg and ate at the same pub! Yummy food was enjoyed.

Then back to the tube for an easy ride and short walk (because we went Dan’s way!) to our hotel.

But now for the tired and discombobulated bit. First of all, we did walk a lot, so of course I’m tired. But when we got back I told Dan I was going to take a shower. I had noticed a paper bath mat sitting on a shelf, but checking the shower floor I thought it wasn’t too slippery. WRONG. I started the shower and almost immediately fell to the floor. That is one dangerous shower. Fortunately nothing was broken and I got that darn paper bath mat and put it on the floor. What a dumb thing, though: it was falling apart by the time I was done showering. I think they should rethink their bath mat idea!

Now it’s time for me to listen to at least one recording I’m to study, and then off to sleepy land.

15,099 steps, 6 miles, 5 flights climbed

Monday, June 8

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After a somewhat restless sleep due to my sore throat, I very lazily got moving. Dan was reading, so I dozed on and off and we didn’t actually leave the room until after 9:00. By that time my throat felt so much better — it seems it bothers me only at night.

We walked a short bit to find some coffee and health food. Oh. Oops! I mean unhealthy food.

From there we continued to walk, just investigating the area.

When we looked across the street at one point we saw the California sign and had to check that out. It’s a wine shop and no, we didn’t bother to go in. We figure we can easily find California wines in California.

We continued to walk, crossing the England Bridge, with the Abbey in the distance.

Then we went into the Shrewsbury Abbey. I just love it when there is an organist practicing. (I haven’t taken photos of the children’s area in other cathedrals, but I finally did this one: they seem to be in each one, though.)

Leaving the Abbey I saw the other side of the sign that I posted prior to our Abbey visit.

Back across the England Bridge, I wisely suggested we walk along the Severn River rather than on busy streets. After all, our 12:00 scheduled Sabrina Boat Tour was on the Severn. So downstairs we went to continue our walk. Sadly I took no photos.

But then Dan said something implying he hoped we were actually going the right way. Um. Well. Maybe not! Had we continued we most certainly would have missed the boat. So we turned around and went up some stairs, and past the prison where they clearly would love us to live. We really felt very welcomed. But again, we’d miss the boat. So never mind. So on we marched.

And there we were … at the boat tour. And we were even early! I had reserved tickets, so when we went on we were seating up toward the front. I think, in fact, we may have made the first reservations since we were at the first table. It was a fun ride!

After our boat ride we walked along the park area, crossed the rocking bridge and turned back again. We saw Hercules who, at some point, had a bit of him pulled off (you can guess what) and has since been replaced by a fig leaf. Hah! We passed a spot where the Zippo Circus was setting up (no pix — I’m not much of a circus fan), and went in to “The Dingle” (a garden area). Not much there yet, as they were putting in the summer plants today.

From there we walked up to the Georgian circular church, St. Chad’s.

When we went back out we saw that it rained again. Go figure!

For lunch (we can hardly call it not lunch.) we had tomato basil soup, and I bravely tried the non-alcoholic red wine. It was better than others I’ve had, but still didn’t have the taste I’d like. But I guess one has to have alcohol to get that taste, eh?

Then more walking and more fascination with the crazy off-kilter buildings. We had walked by the Kings Head yesterday, but took another look today.

I find it interesting to run across signs of Covid in every place we’ve visited. Memories ….

We had seen Rowley’s House and Mansion yesterday, but today got a closer look. I would love to see the buildings all fixed up.

We’d talked about doing the afternoon tea thing so we finally got to it today. (And yes, we are eating too much.) I had tea and a fruit scone and Dan had espresso and a raspberry scone. The place suggested they had the world’s best scones (in their opinion, they did admit) but I’d say Dan’s are better. I also suspect a better place wouldn’t serve the clotted cream in a plastic container like that, nor would the butter be in foil wrappers. In a short while we’ll be in another village where we had wonderful scones in the past so we’ll compare then. At this point I was overly stuffed (and I couldn’t finish my scone.)

From there it was back to Cromwell’s Tap House to have a short break. Or maybe a longer than short break. (I believe our two windows are the ones you see on the far left in the photo below.)

Now because we hadn’t had nearly enough to eat today (hah!), we went out to find dinner. Dan had read about a place called The Coach & Horses so we went that direction. I had seen it on Google and it said that it was busy, but we figured we’d give it a go in any case. When we went outside it was quite bright with a blue sky. A miracle!

Entering The Coach & Horses we saw a few people in the pub area, and the man at the bar asked if we wanted to see the menu. He asked where we were from and after we told him Dan asked where he was from and he said Nevada! Turned out he was a military kiddo and, fortunately for him, was born in the UK so he had dual citizenship and was now living in Shrewsbury with his wife (she will have to take a test in something like four years to try and gain citizenship). Am I jealous? You bet!

We said we’d like to dine there so he told us where the restaurant area was. Well, Google may have thought they were busy, but we had the entire place to ourselves! I’m guessing Monday evening isn’t quite a busy time there. I ordered salmon cakes and Dan had cottage pit PIE (yeah, I typed pit first and I think it’s too funny to remove!). Prices were quite good and food was yummy. I really loved the greens with my meal. Then we ended with the extremely healthy sticky toffee pudding. It came with ice cream so we appreciated all that calcium. Or something. You can see the very nice man from Nevada that we spoke to in the final photo.

Anyway, if you are ever in Shrewsbury, go there. It was great!

Then we ambled back to our room, taking a few photos as we walked. At one point I saw some sort of plaque on a building and it said “Shropshire” and below that “North Wales”. As I read online, it was the “Welsh Kingdom of Powys in the 5th and 6th centuries” so I guess it was in Wales and perhaps some wish that were still the case. Dunno!

Back in our room I, as always, set out tomorrow’s clothes after I put my pjs on. Then it was time to finish up this blog.

Tomorrow is moving day. I’ve enjoyed Shrewsbury, but on we go!

13,493 steps, 5.4 miles, 4 flights climbed

Friday, May 8 — Our Full Day in Inverness

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Finally, sleep is pretty much normal! My “sleep score” on my phone wasn’t terrific, but for some reason the doggone watch and phone are tremendously confused about things. It seemed to now think my bedtime should be 9:00PM. It’s never been that early. Sometimes it the watch is off, sometimes not. I guess both devices have also been suffering with jet lag. Or something.

We didn’t leave our room until after 10:00. Lazy bums!

Speaking of rooms — this place, Aye Stay, is similar to a B&B, but there is not only no second B, but it appears will we never even see the owners. As I mentioned yesterday we entered the house to check in yesterday, we just looked at the list with our name and grab the correct key. Earlier, when we dropped off our luggage, I didn’t know where to put the bags so I buzzed the owners and I was just told over the speaker what to do. I think they live in part of the house, but who knows? It sounds like our supplies will be replenished (I’m hoping they replenish the little package of cookies — I tend to collect those for emergency snacks!) They don’t do much, though. It’s all very impersonal. I’m okay with that, being the introvert I am, but it just feels odd.

Looking out our window, as well as checking the weather app, I could see that we were in for another windy day with temps in the low 50°s. I’m glad that I packed my turtleneck at the last minute! It’s definitely a lot of layers day.

With few plans or ideas of what to do, we did know that first stop was coffee. Dan had found a place nearby that looked good. So after his shower and both of us getting ready, we headed out.

We both had a sweet roll (which is much tastier than a sweat roll which was what I first typed) and coffee. The Bakery was a nice little spot!

Then we walked toward the River Ness, to go visit the Ness Islands I’d read about (and where we had headed yesterday, but ended up returning before we arrived there).

The Ness Islands were lovely. While there we met a couple who chatted with us for a while, which was also lovely. They live in Scotland, although the man was originally from South Africa. They had visited the United States so we enjoyed hearing about their travels.

But back to the Islands … just gorgeous!

Saw this poster for Parsifal, too.

Then we went to the Botanic Gardens for a brief while. (Thank you, Dan, for tolerating my flower love!)

Normally we don’t eat lunch if we have a good breakfast, but while the sweet rolls were tasty we decided we should actually have a decent meal. If you can call what we chose decent! But hey, we had been to the Victorian Market yesterday and had said we’d return for lunch, so what could one do but stick to what we said.

After lunch we attempted to find a map of some areas we will be visiting. Climbing some steps, we landed at what looked to be mostly a children’s bookstore, but there was a map of all of Scotland so we did pick that up.

The bookstore is at the top of these stairs.

Then some more walking took place, passing this interesting building (I remember it from our first visit).

We had to go into Leakey’s Book Shop, having seen it mentioned numerous times.



From there we walked by The Hootananny, which had been recommended to us back in 2023 when we took our Great Glen Way Walk, so I checked and (hooray!) we could make a reservation. But that meant there wasn’t enough time to go back to our lodging for any meaningful amount of time so … okay … don’t tell anyone … we stopped at a place to have a beer. Mind you, it was merely to take up time. Honest!

Finally it was time for our dinner at Hootananny’s. The person taking us to our table was a bit harsh when I said something about the sound and my bad ear — scared me, in fact. But I guess he’s just that way. He did give us a great table, further away from the musicians. He also told us we had 1 1/2 hours to eat and then we’d have to leave the table. Fine. We could deal.

Or could we? We had placed our orders and while our drinks and appetizer arrived quickly, our dinner did not. The two women next to us got in after us and were served quickly. Hmmm.

Speaking of those women, they had just finished the Great Glen Way walk! We ended up chatting for most of the time we were there. Both live in Arizona and, now both widowed, do tons of traveling.

I finally talked to our server and asked her about our meal and my concern that we now had 20 minutes left. She assured me that we would be able to finish. Meanwhile we listened to the music. I don’t have a clue how the videos will be, but I at least recorded some bits.

And our dinners did finally arrive!

When our server returned and we ordered a dram for after our meal she did tell us we’d have to vacate the table. But by then it had been two hours so we could hardly be upset! So we got our drams and headed downstairs.

While there, some altercation must have happened, as a man was escorted out. I suspect a bit too much to drink, but who knows? I think they have pretty tight security (we saw one guy outside as we left).

We drank and listened a bit more.

I’m glad we made it to the place this time around.

Walking back to our lodging it was really quite nice out.

We spotted some people bowing on our way, and one of the players came and chatted with us a bit. Such a friendly man!

Tomorrow we move to a new destination. I’m close to packed and ready, as I like to set the next day’s clothing out the night before. We just have to go get (GULP!) our rental car. I am betting Dan does the driving as I’m not too excited about driving on the left side of the road.

Goodnight!

18,137 steps, 7.29 miles, 5 flights climbed

Tuesday in Brussels

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So with no plans at all, we woke and sat around for a bit on our various devices before going in search of a light breakfast. (I still can’t quite wrap my head around the difference in a breakfast in Belgium and a breakfast in Spain or Portugal: it’s more than twice as much here — it’s more like the US.)

Um … did I say light breakfast? Oops.

But hey, we will just skip lunch. That will make up for the yummy breakfasts we had. Besides, it was 10:40 by the time we ate, so lunch wouldn’t be needed. Right?

After that we went to check out a few of the “must sees” we had on a list. I will end this group of photos with the first of those. We arrived at the fountain to find tour groups there, and when they left some people just had to get their photo taken with the little guy (Manneken-Pis) Funny the things that become tourist attractions, don’t you think?

Our walk continued. I saw another marker for a Camino. (From here to Santiago de Compostela is one very long Camino!)

Right after that we heard music. There was piano. There was saxophone. I’m not sure if the video will catch the music much but we’ll see after I post it!

And then it was … well duh! Look where we are! Heh.

We continued our walk until we reached Église Notre-Dame au Sablon (Church of Our Lady of Victories at the Sablon).

We went inside and of course I took a lot of photos.

From there we walked through Egmont Park and over to the Palace.

And then we saw a changing of the guard. (Posting more than you might care to see, but I won’t know you skipped some so you’re off the hook. Breathe easy! But darn, I can’t turn you in the the palace police!)

When we walked through the park across the street there were tons of students and most were sitting around eating, but some were filling out something in a little booklet. I suspect they were all out doing some sort of assignment. I’m just guessing, though. Maybe they were writing poetry. Maybe they were reporting on pesky tourists.


It was windy, and we both were hit hard by our allergies. (Later on I got a closer look at a tree in bloom and my guess is that was the culprit.)

The walk continued, and we reached a viewpoint right near what we believe to be a police headquarters or some such thing. We walked along the side of the building, thinking it would take us to the street. Nope. Dead end. I told Dan the people in the building probably get a laugh at all of us tourists thinking that goes out to the street and we all have to turn back, retracing our steps (the final photo in this collection).

We walked by a botanical garden, or so it seemed. Going inside though, I read something that said it was no longer a botanical garden, which had moved elsewhere, because of the damage due to so much construction in the area. (It did appear to be nearly surrounded by construction.)

I had seen a church in the distance so I suggested we walk there. As we walked we saw wasn’t in the most lovely part of town. There was more garbage, and it was just rather dirty. Arriving at the church we found it wasn’t even open. I suppose I should have looked it up before walking all that way!

At that point Dan set up his map so that we’d make it back to our hotel, and off we went.

No lunch, of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have frites and beer, right?

In addition we had been such good children all day long — no whining about the distance we’d walked, no saying, “Are we there yet?!” — we decided a treat was in order. Or maybe it’s just that we had had one kind of waffle in Bruges and we wondered what these ones (in the Brussels style) would be like. Obviously they were extremely nutritious because there is banana on them. For the record I did not order mine with cream, but some guy sitting across from me shared his.

We came back to our hotel room for a bit. I managed to blog and even get photos up. I still puzzle over the whole issue with photos: sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I’m not sure if it’s a WordPress issue, a connection issue, or an iCloud issue. I’m sure that is incredibly interesting to all readers. Or maybe not.

We already had figured out where we’d eat dinner tonight, believe it or not. It wasn’t your typical Belgian dinner, but instead we went for Thai food. I’d seen a good review for this spot, and it was nice and close. When we got there it was easy to get a seat inside, so I’m sure it was meant to be! The food was good, and it was nice to have a change of flavors. And yes, I took a photo of my dish: I liked the elephants, and I wonder if the other part that looks like wrinkled skin is deliberate or just an old plate. It does look like elephant skin to me.

Back to our hotel we went. The crowds were certainly out at this point!

I still had three pieces of chocolate from yesterday’s purchase, so I shared with Dan and that sufficed for our dessert. Truth is, one piece of this rich chocolate is often all I can handle!

Tomorrow we very well may take a day trip somewhere. We have two options, and I think I know what we have chosen, but I’m not absolutely certain. Stay tuned!

Goodnight for now!

Final Full Day in Montpellier

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I’d say we got up a bit late, but since we have been pretty consistent getting up and moving around 9:00 I guess that’s our normal time at this point! We had our coffee in the room, got ready to go outside, and headed down the stairs.

Our first task of the day was to see how the trek to the train station would be, both for time and, because we have our roller cases, what the road surface was like.

On the way to the station we spotted a Protestant church:

Turns out getting to the station should be a very easy, maybe ten minute max trip. We checked out the station too, although we don’t yet know the track we’ll be on. (I like to know as much as possible as soon as possible, but track numbers don’t appear until shortly before the train arrives.) Our upcoming ride is the longest one we will have, mostly due to the number of stops, I think.

After that we wandered more, as we are wont to do. From the train station we sort of exited the old part of town for a bit. If we had more time in the city I suspect we’d have investigated more of this since there is some interesting architecture in Montpellier.

Eventually we went back into the center, and ended up at a small pop up art exhibit. There we enjoyed coffee and a small snack since we’d not yet eaten.



We knew we wanted to see the Montpellier Cathedral so we went in that general direction, enjoying a variety of sights on the way.

Across from the cathedral is the university, but we didn’t really see any of that.

Unfortunately the cathedral itself was only open for mass since it’s Sunday, but as we walked by we could hear the organ. It wasn’t mass time, so I could only guess that perhaps the organist was practicing. Whatever the musician was playing sounded somewhat modern to my ear, but who knows? I’m not familiar at all with solo organ works. I really wish we could have gone in to listen. From outside it sounded quite powerful. The cathedral itself is quite impressive from the outside, but there aren’t that many places where one can get photos and one side is really inaccessible.

We then ambled around and ended up in the Jardin des Plantes. It was fun to wander, and I’m especially fond of gardens where everything is labeled. I am betting the gardens is amazing in late spring and summer. But even now I really enjoyed it.

Then it was time to head to lunch. Of course that does take us a while, what with finding more things to photograph! Dan realized his battery was running low so we knew we’d have to go back to the hotel to recharge it, but we both knew, too, that we would also need recharging!

Lunch itself was nice and relaxing. And warm for a time, as the sun was shining in on us, as you can see (not a great photo, but in that sun it was the best we could do!) for much of the meal.

(You might shake your head at my goofy food photos, but it does help me remember the day so I try to take them when I remember.)

Then it was back to our hotel. Which is when I starter writing this (as is typical each day). No nap this time, though: I’m hoping I’ll sleep more soundly if I don’t nap.

Once we were ready to go out in search of dinner we donned our incredibly fashionable jackets (NOT) and went out. It really wasn’t terrifically cold, but I’d rather be too warm than too cold, so there you go.

As is typical, we walked a lot to find the right spot for dinner. We didn’t do much photographing (I’m not sure if Dan did any), but of course with an iPhone it’s easy to snap a few things.

We ended up about as close to our hotel as possible at, maybe, the most mediocre restaurant we’ve been at. And yes, I could have done better than to order fish ‘n chips at a restaurant in France! But we just weren’t in the mood to wait until more places opened, and we really just needed to get some food and head back so we could make sure we were mostly packed and ready for tomorrow’s 9:33 train. (This means, for us, that we want to leave here by around 8:30. Not early, I realize, for most folks, but considering how relaxed we’ve been on this trip it’ll probably feel early to us!)

Knock, knock …

… and goodnight!