Will, John and I first met in September of 1960, and we had kept in touch – on and off – over the years, so when we had the opportunity of sailing together we jumped at joining Azamara Quest for the South American cruise. When Will & John found out that during the cruise Maureen […]
Elisseeff Emporium on Nevsky Prospekt. Elisseeff Emporium reminded me of a visit to Fortnum & Mason’s in London. Elisseeff Emporium food hall was part of retail and entertainment complex, which was built in 1902/03. Before this new building was constructed in 1881, there used to be a restaurant on the corner, which anti-tsarists used to dig […]
London on a Spring day a few years ago. London Pride written by Noel Coward after a bombing raid in 1941. He was sitting in a damaged railway station and apparently he felt a wave of sentimental pride. Tulips Soldiers of the Queen On duty at Horse Guards Big Ben Tower Bridge ANZAC war memorial […]
Our first ‘port of call’ was Bay of Island, which is north of Auckland. We anchored about fifteen-minute boat ride from the landing pier. The Bay of Islands doesn’t have any facilities for large vessels to go alongside. A very peaceful and quiet place, the above photo was taken from Waitangi wharf. Our mini-bus took […]
A few years ago, my wife & I, and a friend of ours, stayed in Penang, and during our time there we decided to visit the Cheong Fatt Tze museum, which was a short walk from our hotel. We had to book a time to be allowed in to the museum, and waited outside, with […]
Golden Princess Seven of us are off on a short cruise next week to Tasmania, a place that neither Maureen or I have visited. The cruise is just a week, and for us it is a taste of the Apple Isle, which might convince us to return later for a driving holiday. Tasmania’s coat of […]
From our bedroom window we could see the top of San Cristóbal Hill and the white statue. Our friends from the UK had arrive while we were sight seeing via the Hop on Hop off bus, so during ‘Happy Hour’ in the Club Lounge we all decided to visit San Cristóbal Hill, the following day. The […]
Phnom Penh, Cambodia Tuol Svay Prey High School or is it . . . . Look closer and you might see barbed wire . . The above picture was taken in side the ‘school’ grounds. Cells for the prisoners. How small is each cell From an exercise pole to a pole of torture. There are […]
Canowindra During our stay in Cowra we visited other towns and one was Canowindra. On the day we visited it was quiet, but if we had picked April instead of March, we would have experienced an international balloon challenge. The above was copied from the advert for the balloon meet. It was a lovely day, […]
Blackman’s Swamp in 1870 We had five nights in Cowra and planned to have three nights at Blackman’s Swamp. We left Cowra on Friday, but after we received a phone call that Maureen was booked into hospital on Tuesday we decided to cut our visit to Blackman’s Swamp to just two nights. Just to make […]
We flew with KLM’s Boeing 777-300ER (ER = Extended range) from Buenos Aires to Santiago in Chile, so as to connect with the Qantas B 747 to Sydney. All went well until we reached the Andes when I realised that I’d left my camera in the overhead bag, and I was sitting in the centre […]
While in Lisbon we had a day out to Estoril, a beautiful area on the Atlantic coast, which is a forty-minute local train ride from Lisbon. This was my second visit having been to Estoril in 1965, and I was keen to see any changes. I didn’t, the overall feel of the place was just as […]
Sometimes things don’t pan out as one planned, particularly when traveling. One evening, during our short stay in Berlin, we visited a restaurant that had been recommended. The ambiance of the place was very friendly, the staff was helpful, but the portions were huge! There were four of us and we were unaware of the […]
Our next stop was Tallinn, which is the capital of Estonia. Estonia’s flag is blue, black & white as you see in the photograph. The blue, black and white flag was consecrated by the members of the Estonian Students’ Society on the 4 June 1884. Apparently there are a number of reason why they have such […]
