Life's about experiences. These are mine.
For our first full day in Wales we had decided to start at the nearby Bodnant Gardens, a National Trust property with extensive grounds. Bodnant Gardens We arrived just after opening, and there was hardly anyone there. Three hours later when we left, the car park was heaving, and there were plenty of people in …
Continue reading “Wales 2025 – Day Two – Bodnant Gardens & Llandudno”
We’ve talked about doing a Wales road trip for quite a while now and just never quite got round to it. Then when we were planning a few days away for my birthday, which may or may not be a big one, we decided now would be a great time to go, so here we …
A couple of years ago Reading Town Hall played host to an art work called Gaia by the artist Luke Jerram. Essentially this was a giant inflatable ball with an image of the Earth printed on it and suspended from the ceiling, slowly rotating to a soundtrack. I’m sure that Jerram wouldn’t describe it in …
When I was on the university campus the other day, visiting the new World Reimagined globes that had been installed, I made a slight detour to visit one of the ugliest buildings around— the Region 6 War Room. I didn’t know that this even existed until I stumbled across this video which highlighted it and …
Continue reading “Region 6 War Room, Reading University, Reading”
On New Year’s Day this year, we went over to the university to check out the globes that had been installed to create an art trail on the campus. This was part of a wider national campaign called The World Reimagined which had globes all over the country. You can read about this initial visit …
Continue reading “The World Reimagined Global Trail, Reading University (Updated)”
On this cruise, there have been two days at sea to fill. The first one was easiest as it was the first day, and so there was a whole ship to explore. Also, the weather was great, and so many were frying themselves on the decks, leaving the lounge spaces inside free for those of …
On almost all cruises you end up in a destination which is smaller than the rest, or further out from the action (Piraeus for Athens or Civitavecchia for Rome for example). Haugesund was that stop on this cruise. The town was 20 minutes from the cruise port, and while it would have been walkable, we …
Nestled at the end of the Aurlandsfjord is Flåm, a tiny place that is known predominantly for one thing and one thing only— the train to Myrdal. Does anyone come to Flåm for anything other than the railway journey? I very much doubt it. I certainly didn’t. Too Much Information When we were planning our …
We don’t normally go on organised excursions laid on by the cruise company because, quite frankly, they don’t represent very good value for money. Often you can do the same trip for half the price by doing your own thing. However, that’s not always possible, and today we took a coach trip from Olden, where …
Continue reading “Norway 2025 – Day Four – Briksdal Glacier”
When we awoke this morning, we were already docked in Stavanger, Norway’s third-largest city, a place of 150,000 people, making it less than half the size of my hometown of Reading. Stavanger has grown on the back of fishing, oil, and tourism, the latter as the gateway to the fjords. The cruise ship, of which …