After what seemed like endless hours in the Emirates limbo, I tumbled out into the bright sunshine of an Australian spring morning. The super efficient air conditioning meant my sinuses felt sand blasted. Watching both Mad Max Furiosa and Dune 2 probably didn’t help – all those deserts. Another limousine ride to my hotel and a spot of begging (and extra money) to let me … Continue reading Sydney and jet lag.

As some of you will know, I have been extravagant and travelled here Business Class. This is a completely different world from mere cattle class. I already posted about the lounge in London. You then get to go to the gate directly from the lounge – very little standing around and waiting to be called. What I didn’t realise until I got on the second … Continue reading In Emirates world.

To Australia. Owing to knees that are feeling their age and, thanks to the kind offices of my parents leaving me some money, I am flying business class. This is an ENTIRELY new experience. I shall tell you all about the comfort on the aeroplane when I am in another lounge in Dubai tomorrow morning. Good night. Continue reading And off we go again….

Apologies if you were expecting a thrilling daily update. Eating out and drinking alcohol has an effect on my literary output. This is just some random photos with explanations Continue reading The Black and White villages tour – and some other stuff.

Leominster, site of a monastery in Saxon and Norman times is, despite raids by both the Vikings and the Welsh, one of the largest towns in Herefordshire. In the Middle Ages, the area became very rich because of the wool trade. I understand there was a particular breed of local sheep which gave extremely fine wool. This led to a building boom during the 15th … Continue reading Leominster and Eardisland.

(And Shropshire) Today we visited Ludlow. This is a fabulous town full of old houses and a wonderful castle. Unfortunately the castle was out of bounds as they had Madness on the night before so the gate was full of people brandishing bags of rubbish, piles of chairs and the odd generator. Walking round the fortifications, we were surrounded by wafts of feather boa, presumably … Continue reading Herefordshire

Having visitors means visiting local places and noticing things you haven’t seen before. Continue reading Wells, Mells and Bath

Today started not in the manner I would like with all of my beautiful dinner thrown up all over the bathroom. Fun fun fun. We then left the hotel and went up to Superga, a church on top of a hill overlooking Turin where all the members of the Royal House of Savoy are buried. No photos because a) I didn’t get out of the … Continue reading And finally…..

Less activity today. In a little minibus this morning out to another dinky ducal hunting lodge – Venaria Reale. I’ll have to do some posthumous revision on the House of Savoy when I get home. This one is not in such good condition as some of the others as it was seized and turned into a barracks by Napoleon and continued to be used by … Continue reading Turin – penultimate day.

When people mention Turin, you think of industry and Fiat. However they have a range of old buildings, museums etc. It was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy before the Dukes became the Kings of Italy following the reunification in 1861. Firstly, we went to the church of San Lorenzo. There are a LOT of churches on this trip. More baroquerie They also have … Continue reading Turin