Life's about experiences. These are mine.
After spending all-day yesterday trapped on the boat (or “at sea” as Tui prefer to call it) I was glad to get off today and back onto terra firma. The Hidden Amphitheater Port of call today was Cadiz, somewhere that we haven’t been before so I was looking forward to paying it a visit. After …
We went on our first cruise to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary some 23 years ago now. We didn’t consider ourselves to be natural cruisers but the ship was going places we wanted to go, stopping somewhere new every day. We’d treat it like a floating hotel we said and we did. But we enjoyed …
The last of this years Heritage Open Days was to an exhibition at The Hexagon called, imaginitely enough, The Hexabition : Celebrating 45 years of The Hexagon Theatre. If I’m going to be honest The Hexagon is one of if not the most ugly buildings in Reading and it has quite a few challengers for …
Another day, another Heritage Open Day visit! Today was another building that I had walked past so many times wondering just exactly what was the story behind it. Watlington House is the oldest occupied house in Reading having stood here, on what is now Watlington Street, since 1688. Now surrounded by houses and only a …
Continue reading “Watlington House, Heritage Open Days 2023”
Now here’s somewhere I HAVE been before, although sometimes I wish I hadn’t. At the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) our family has had children born, major and minor operations and various appointments attended. The people there have been great and the building, well, it looks like a hospital. Except that is for what is now …
Continue reading “The Royal Berkshire Hospital “Building on its Heritage”, Heritage Open Days 2023”
It was with some trepidation this morning that I entered the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of photographs taken by Paul McCartney. Would going to a Paul McCartney photographic exhibition be a bit like going to a Linda McCartney pop concert? The photos in question cover a relatively short but important period in …
It is time once again for one of my favourite events of the year – Heritage Open Days when places that would normally be shut to the public throw open their doors. I have been to some great places over the years (you can read about those here) and have an interesting few lined up …
Continue reading “Rediscovering Our Forgotten Heritage, Heritage Open Days 2023”
Watching Annika on TV last night, starring the always excellent Nicola Walker, mention was made of the 12 rules that author Robert Louis Stevenson lived by. I looked these up and thought that they were still pertinent today so here they are. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Much earlier start today as we were able to leave the hotel at 8:30 and immediately get started. This had the advantage of missing the hotter part of the day and it was quieter too. This leg was initially not overly interesting as you tried to navigate around all the converted warehouses which went right …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Two – Greenwich to The London Eye”
This was the second of my two trips around Parliament today. The first, The State Apartments Of Speaker’s House Tour I completed in the morning and at 3 pm I joined 11 others to climb the 334 steps up to Big Ben. The tower, officially called the Elizabeth Tower after it was renamined from the …