The South of England

The big trip was on a pre-scheduled plan, right up to Rome, then it was a loose idea of going to Naples and Pompeii, then onto Spain and Barcelona. However, leaving things til our last day in Rome meant that booking flights and accommodation in the height of European summer left limited choices where we could go. We had already worked out with my penfriend, the lovely Tiina, that we would be arriving there on the 12th and leaving direct to Denmark on the 17th, giving us a few days to get settled back before work and course started, so, weighing up our costs and options, the best plan was to head to London.
Yah! London. England. Somehow this feels like my other home home (as opposed to NZ being home home, and Denmark being (currently) home) and so it was with great excitement that we headed to the airport the next day.
We arrived in Stanstead to a considerably cooler clime and this was welcome. As I had only been to London, it was time to see a bit more of England so we hired a car. This was an interesting experience. Barry found a great deal online and we went to pick it up. Well, the poor staff had been having a real bad day and people had been waiting hours for their car as somehow the system wasn't working and cars were not ready. The good news is that we got a massive upgrade and ended up with a beefy new sleek black Nissan Qashqai instead of some piddly little two door runaround. Very happy Barry.
With no clear direction planned, we took the opportunity to head to the south of England and check out the places my Dad lived in as a boy.
My Dad wrote his memoirs recently and it was so interesting to me, especially as I had heard so much about these experiences growing up and going for our daily walks with our dog, Thumper.

Thumper, and Dad's leg and slipper!

Dad's memoir.

When dad was a boy, he was born in and lived in London and went to the south coast for holidays in the Summer. He was only 7 when his mum died of Leukemia, and only 8 when world war 2 was declared, so he spent a lot of time at his grandparents, down in Sandbanks where his great uncle lived and at Mayfield where he attended boarding school. 

So first stop was right down in Southampton so I could visit Bournmouth and Sandbanks in Poole where he had many happy memories.

Southbanks beach looking out towards Old Harry's Rocks

Close-up of Old Harry's Rocks.

Chaddesley Glen, the road of Dad's Great Uncle's house, 'Brackenside'

The site (we believe) of where the house once stood. Check out the background view in the photo below.

'Brackenside'. Such a shame it was demolished.

Me at the beach my Dad went to when he was just a lil fella!

This is Bournmouth beach. Grandpa Coleman used to hire one of the huts for the day!

On Bournmouth pier looking back.

It;s a pity we don't have these in New Zealand though I doubt they would survive a Wellington southerly!

So that's it for today's blog. Next to come are:

• Mayfield
• Hythe
• Portsmouth
• Brighton
• Dover
• We then went to Lincolnshire to stay with my cousin Sally and Mick (Dad's older brother Chris's daughter), and went to see them in a production...more about that later
• And then across the way to Norwich to meet Sally's brother Nick and his wife Ger (finally).
• Last we went to Dartford and stayed with Uncle Pat (Dad's brother) for two days catching up with them.
• We wanted to visit Wales too but that will have to wait. Instead we spent the last couple of days in London city and caught up with Hannah (Sally's daughter) and her boyfrend Charlie along with my nephew Phillip and his girlfriend Catie.
• Then we headed off to Finland where Barry had the absolute BEST experience of his life.

Watch this space!

Rome Part 2

Here follows the rest of the [small] selection of the 1000's of photos I took of this amazing city full of ancient and modern marvels.

One of the cats at the Torre Argentina, which is a Roman cat sanctuary. 100s of stray cats get to play in the ancient temple grounds all by themselves.

A pretty flower outside our hotel

Part of the Forum.

They have a phone company named after my Dad!

Everywhere in Europe you see these...

Ceiling detail of Santa Maria del Popolo

Playing soldiers with the locals

City scape

Here you go Bernie, looking down the Spanish Steps to where you used to live!

And looking back, up the Spanish Steps

So which one is your house?

Local cake decorating shop!

Bulgari jewels

Some 'invisible' men engage the children

Trevi fountain

Spray paint street artist

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Fontana delle Quattro Fiumi (Four rivers fountain)

Pasta in every flavour

The Torre Argentina. The lone pine tree at the back marks the exact spot that Julius Caesar was assassinated.

Tiber Island and the Ponte Fabricio, the only original bridge in Rome

Gelato - o'clock!

Looking back at the Castel Sant'Angelo, and Ponte Sant'Angelo

A sculpture by the hospital. I thought it was a real person at first.

Rome Part 1

We spent two days in hot, crazy, dusty, dirty, loud, and spectacularly amazing Roma.
Our hotel was right beside Vatican city and so the very first night I walked under the  Passetto di Borgo which is looks like an old city wall, but actually has a secret 2,600 feet passageway from Vatican City to the Castel Sant'Angelo, that several popes have used as an emergency escape route.

I was so excited to see the Bascilica of St Peter, something I had only ever seen in movies and pictures. Luckily I waited until evening to actually go in as the queues during the day were mad!

Massive scale! The alter and below this, the tomb of St Peter, "Peter is here"

Micelangeo's Pieta. Hard to believe he could have made such a beautiful sculpture at only 25 years of age!

The keys of heaven and authority on earth; "Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Door of death depicting the deaths of  Saint Peter, Pope John XXIII, Saint Stephen, and Pope Gregory VII

The papal balcony from below

The Pontifical Swiss Guard

Aside from Vatican city, we visited the other sights of Rome over the two days. First stop was the Colosseum. Of course!

Magnificence of engineering. Hard to believe how old it actually is!

The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine

Romulus and Remus were said to have been found on the Palatine Hill by the she-wolf who nursed and raised them. Legend holds that Romulus went on to found Rome.