Innsbruck

The weekend before last, we were in Innsbruck for 4 nights. Philip joined Mary there, as she had arrived in Austria 2 days earlier for a work based meeting. We found Innsbruck to be a great place, clean, tidy, full of polite and efficient people. The architecture was interesting, our first glimpse of Alpine style buildings. We loved the Aldtstadt, with its narrow streets and picturesque buildings. Most places of interest were in walking distance from our hotel. The food was good: schnitzels, sauerkraut and dumplings etc , all at much cheaper prices than the UK. The souvenir shops were full of cuckoo clocks (of course), but we just bought a "fridge magnet" version. The weather was cool, with some snow, which started to settle on the last day. The city is in a broad valley, and everywhere you look you can see the snow-covered mountains. Around the city, the trees were showing some spectacular autumn colours.

York and Yorkshire

Last weekend we went up to York to visit friends there. Luckily the weather was quite warm and not the frigid cold we had expected. York itself is an attractive walled city, with an impressive cathedral (The Minster), and narrow winding streets (the Shambles). The autumn colours were especially beautiful "up north".

Our friends took us to Fountains (ruined Abbey) and grounds, a short distance outside of York. The Abbey was a vast complex, virtually a small town in its own right. It reminded us of the ruined Abey at Glastonbury in Somerset. The gardens were huge, with the usual ponds and out buildings.

Our next trip will be to Austria. Mary has a business meeting in a small village there, and Philip will join her afterwards for a few days in Innsbruck. In early December, we will go up to London, to act as volunteers in the trial of Heathrow Airport terminal 5.

Mevagissey photographs

Couldn't manage to add these on the main entry!

Cornwall.

On our recent holiday, we stayed in a farm cottage in Dawlish, Devon. Our children joined us for part of the time, to celebrate our joint (!!) 60th birthdays. One one day we travelled as far as Cornwall. There we revisited the Eden Project. This occupies a china clay mining site, and is mainly made up of two very large domes. One is filled with plants from the humid tropics, and the other with plants that grow in Mediterranean climates. The project serves educational and conservation projects, and is well worth a visit if you are anywhere in Cornwall. It gets very busy in the summer.

While we in the area, we went down to Mevagissey, which must be one of the prettiest of the Cornish villages. Again it gets very crowded in the summer, and even in the autumn there were plenty of people there, but few parking places. With its ultra narrow streets, driving through the village is quite a challenge. With its brightly coloured houses and fishing boats its seems picture postcard perfect. We sat on the edge of the harbour and ate Cornish pasties (of course).

Castle Drogo

On our recent holiday in Devon, we visited another castle! This one was Castle Drogo, described as Britain's newest castle. It was built between 1910 and 1930. They clearly didn't have any late penalty building contracts in those days. Despite it being comparatively "modern", it was built in a style with traditional and modern aspects, but maybe there is no fully modern castle style? I wonder what a 21st century castle would look like, and who would build it anyway.

Lacock, Wiltshire

On Sunday (16 September), we went to the village of Lacock. It must be one of the prettiest villages in the UK, many old half-timbered houses, and a spectacular abbey. It is all maintained by the National Trust, and hence fairly unspoilt. There is also the Fox Talbot museum, as he (inventor of the negative-positive photographic process)was a resident of Lacock. The only problem was trying to pictures without including the residents' cars! Still the have to park somewhere .......... Visitors have a large car park just at the edge of the village.

to NZ and back

Philip has recently returned from visiting NZ, where his mother has just had surgery.The weather in late winter was similar too or better than "normal" English summer weather. Trip was mainly for family reasons. He managed to see our "bonus" grandchild Rio Gillett, and see other friends and relatives. Not much changes since we were last in NZ (Nov 2006), the new mall in Albany was (half) open, motorway changes on the North Shore, some changes in the city (more high rise apartments), otherwise "plus ca change .....". NZ seemed much more "commercial" shops, TV, junk mail etc than the UK, more multicultural then Salisbury, nicer houses ....... good beaches, quality of light

Corfe castle

Often when we go sightseeing at the weekend, we end up in Dorset, either around the coast or inland. Last weekend we went to Corfe Castle, described as a "romantic ruin". I thought that the approach to castles and stately homes in the UK is interesting. Some (Windsor Castle or Wilton House (near us), are maintained at enormous expense. Things that need fixing, are fixed (eventually). I guess the Queen's properties are repaired at public expense. Some may be fixed privately, or with the help of charities such as English Heritage or the National Trust. Others like Corfe Castle or Old Wardour castle are left in a ruined state. This ruined state seemed to be usually caused by fighting (some things never change!). However, Corfe Castle is now undergoing work to prevent even further deterioration. This deterioration is being caused naturally. Presumably people want to see a "ruin" not a total ruin or heap of rubble. Of course Roman ruins are usually just an outline of where a villa or something just stood, maybe with a glimpse of some beautiful floor tiles. I don't know quite where the dividing line is between: fix it up, leave it as a ruin in its present state or let it fall apart totally.

This weekend, we are on a flying visit to Scotland, for a 60th birthday party. I'll try to add some comments and photos to that IF I have time on Monday, before I fly off to NZ

Back again !!!

Our last post was made in December 2005, while we were living in Spain.

A lot has happened since then. As many of you will know, we are now living in Salisbury UK. We moved here in July 2006, as Mary had been offered the post of Principal, at Salisbury School of English. We are renting a small 2 bedroomed unfurnished flat not far from the city centre. At first we lived on the floor as we had no furniture! Now we have more or less furnished it with a mixture of second-hand, and cheapish flat pack furniture. We expect to be in the UK for another 2 years or so, before (probably), returning to NZ.

We went back to NZ for 3 weeks at the end of last year, mainly to catch up with family and friends. On the way back we spent 3 days in Hong Kong.This year we have done quite a bit of traveling. In March we went to Jersey (0ur birthplace), with our son Dominic. Jersey was very pretty, and full of daffodils. We spent time visiting all the places we knew from our childhood. Philip took photos of the houses he had lived in there. Then in April, we spent a few days in Normandy and Brittany. It was great to be back in France again, and to sample good French food and wine (and cider!). Shortly after that we went up to Scotland to visit the family of Roselle's (our younger daughter) boyfriend.

Then in May, the big event was the wedding of our elder daughter Estelle in London. I will try to add some photographs to this blogg. You can also view photographs on : www.roseblade.co.uk.



In addition, we try each weekend to do some sightseeing around here. We have been as far as Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and the coast, as well as visiting as many castles and stately homes as possible. We joined "English Heritage" and the "National Trust" to take advantage all the historical heritage in this country.



Shortly after we arrived, we bought an ancient but reliable Volvo 340 from the school for £150. This took us everywhere (even up to Scotland!). When it failed its MOT (cost to fix £500 ), we had it scrapped, and have now bought a little Renault Clio. After the Volvo it seems quite swish, with power steering and a sun roof. It's probably not very "green", but trains are expensive in the UK, and many places that we visit are off the beaten track a bit.

In mid August we go up to Scotland for the 60th birthday party of a friend from our school days. Then Philip will fly back to NZ for a month, to help his mother who has just hip replacement surgery. in mid September we will be having a joint celebration of our own 60th birthdays, renting a farm cottage in Devon. Later in the year we hope to spend a few days in Italy, after Mary has finished at a conference. Also, money permitting, we hope to get some warmth (sadly lacking this summer in the UK!) in Morocco or somewhere.