BACK IN LONDON

Sorry for the lag between posts but haven't been able to summon the energy to get on with it.....but here it is better late than never!

The trip back to Glasgow at dawn was rather fraught but spectacular....it poured nearly all the way but the mountains looming on all sides resplendent with snow & mist & the occasional herd of deer made it something we will never forget.

Not a kilt in sight

Glasgow was a revelation ...all those preconceptions of  a rather down at heel shabby place were proved wrong. Glasgow is a city of vast green public spaces & wonderful architecture...with Rennie Macintosh as the jewel in the crown.

Willow Tea Rooms

More Macintosh

Glasgow Art School..

and yet more Macintosh.......

House for Art Lovers

and a National Trust property called The Tenement House (we were determined to make the most of our membership's reciprocal rights).
Back in London after a four hour train trip Belinda & I endeavored to make the most of her few remaining days...so off to Lewes on yet another literary trail..this time The Bloomsburys at Charleston & the Monks House (defying the odds of being able to fit in the 2 houses in 1 afternoon by public transport...we arrived at Monk;s House 5 minutes before last admission...phew!!).

Beloved Charleston

 

After a famous photo...outside Room of her Own

The next day we managed to see the treasures of the British Library & The Viking exhibition at the British Museum.....

and then just when you thought we needed to put our feet up (heaven forbid).....the next day we walked to The Wolsley (famous art deco cafe) through Kensington Gardens, Green Park & Regents Park    and THEN to the Tate Modern    and home to collapse on Ben's couch.

Belinda returned home the next afternoon but we did a wonderful tour of an Arts & Crafts House at Hammersmith (not far from Ben's)before she left, that had belonged to one of William Morris's best mates Emery Walker who as it turns out left the world far better than he found it...have a look at him on Wikipedia.

Life without Belinda has been a little less hectic(not her fault at all...but I do miss her) ....did have a day off reading....but have been to visit Shirley & her family in Norwich & had a lovely time catching up...we went to a National Trust property called Oxburgh Hall.....lots of interesting features inside & out..including one of the few surviving prisets's holes left over from Henry's Catholic purges....

a day visiting my lovely cousins in Leicestershire  and a trip to The Globe to see a magnificent production of "Much Ado About Nothing"

and the Chelsea Flower Show with Ben today....which was wonderful despite the squillions of other show goers

Here we are...mother & son!

and last night I went to work with Ben to hear him give one of his seminars.......he is mighty impressive (no bias of course) and I am a very proud mum!

See you all soon....love Kath xo

SCOTLAND

Have been in Scotland a few days now & will be sorry to leave. The rugged beauty & friendliness of the locals make it a great place to be.
The weather is the down side as it wet,cold & cloudy (bit like England really) so you need to spend more time here than we have got to allow for the vagaries of weather.
We are now on the Isle of Harris on the Outer Hebrides after a spectacular ferry trip (3 hours) from Ullapool to the top of The Isle of Lewis (Lewis & Harris are joined)..where we saw Minky Whales in the Minch( the body of water between here & the mainland.)

LEAVING ULLAPOOL
The Isle of Lewis has a history of occupation  and there are

many sites that include standing stones & ancient burials. The Callanish Stones(5000 years old) are very impressive and range over three different areas surrounded by mountains & lakes.

The same area of North Lewis has many remnants of Pictish houses (round stone towers)called Brochs

(2000 years old) and Black Houses (old stone crofter's houses).
The Islanders are well proud of their history & ancient traditions and still speak Gaelic which is the language taught in the schools & on all signs (English translations underneath).

Yesterday we did a mammoth walk around a a headland and up a a mountain . The tramping though the heather & peat bogs quite challenging (it's called yomping)..but we made it.....

HARRIS
Ferry to Skye today then the bridge to the mainland. Long drive through the Highlands tomorrow to Glasgow then train to London on Tuesday.
Kath & Belinda on Harris xo

WAINWRIGHT,POTTER & RUSKIN

We have been in the Lake District now for 3 days and have managed to conquer 2 "Wainwrights" (Alfred Wainwright 1909-91 is the much revered fell walker,guidebook author of over 50 books & illustrator) : Haystacks (Wainwright's final resting place is a tarn on the summit) and Cat Bells (not quite the doddle it is described as being)...needless to say the legs & feet are a bit tender.

The scenery here is spectacular at every turn and the views from both summits were breathtaking..

view from the summit

On the rainy day (as opposed to the grey cloudy days..the sun has a bit of trouble showing itself here) we visited Beatrix Potter's former residence Hilltop now a National Trust property kept just as it was when she lived & wrote there...

At Hilltop

Tale of Peter Rabbit

Then to complete the literary theme of the day on to John Ruskin's house "Brantwood" on the shores of Lake Coniston. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was the leading art critic of the Victorian Age & one of the great social thinkers of the 19th century who influenced such greats as William Morris & William Turner. The house was very grand & very beautiful (as you would expect from one so steeped in the arts) and the garden (he was good at horticulture too) on the side of the hill just lovely ...the huge drifts of bluebells particularly fetching!

Lake Coniston is the haunt of another literary great Arthur Ransome too and we saw lots of "Swallows & Amazons" sailing to their hearts content on the Lake immortalised in Ransome's books.

View of Lake Coniston & "Brantwood"

Now that the rain has stopped & the sore legs not so sore.....up another Fell...this time Cat Bells which looks down on Derwent Water. We could walk here from the little village of Portingscale (just outside Keswick). It was very steep...but we made it and the views of the fells around & Derwent Water way below were stupendous....and it was sure worth the effort!

Cat Bell summit

We caught the launch back home....ours is not the one with the pirate flag (and for the Ransome fans Titty & Roger can be seen in the photo below just behind our launch)

To top it all off we visited the 5000 year old standing stones nearby

named Castle Rigg.

Scotland  today & hopefully  (if we don't get lost...a constant theme)maybe a visit to pay our respects to Emperor Hadrian on the way....back to the intricacies of the AA Road Atlas....

GREY SKIES & A ROADS

On the road now with a bloody big car (asked for small...a recuring theme) and Belinda and of course the trusty AA road atlas.
Before we left London though we managed to visit Hampton Court Palace & catch the Thames river boat back to Westminster....a lovely trip through Richmond & Kew & Teddington Lock (by the time we arrived my lips were blue from the very chilly wind experienced on the upper deck.

We caught the train to York on Tuesday from Kings Cross station. The tube strike (950 jobs from the ranks of ticket sellers on the underground to go!) meant we had to fork out for a cab...so be it.

York is such a beautiful place (we were only in the historic centre mind you) with parks full of flowering bulbs & trees & historic ruins & buildings. York has been a major Roman,Viking & Medieval centre in the past.

The Minster (the biggest medieval cathedral in Europe) was astonishing.We took up the offer of a tour and the guide new her stuff...we saw up close (normally they are way above you) 4 of the restored panels from the mammoth project that is conserving what are the most comprehensive set of medieval stained glass windows in the world (it takes 6 years to complete a window) . Underneath the cathedral in the museum are the Roman ruins of the place where Emporer Constantine was crowned by his father ! It goes on & on...we have walked in the footsteps this week of Constantine, Henry the VIII,Richard III,Queen Victoria,Sebastian Flyte(we do know that he is not a real person!)  and the Brontes.

Having the car means we can visit lots of places not otherwise easily accessible....so it made possible a trip to Castle Howard..the oppulent Baroque "big" house (Mr Howard has 200 tenant farmers as well as 2000acres he farms himself to pay for it all). It was the setting for Brideshead Revisited so we did the Brideshead Tour with Stephen (a font on all things Eveleyn Waugh) and it was overwhelming...the house,the gardens & THAT fountain!!!!!!!!!!!...........

Then back on the road through the Yorkshire Moors (breathtakingly beautiful) to the village where the Brontes lived, Haworth.

We are staying in a very eccentric b&b with the flamboyant owner Mike & his loverly cat Charlie.

Walked the moors yesterday in the mist,cold & rain(should it be any other way!) to the Brontes's Waterfall...Heathcliff nowhere in sight but it did feel as if he had been there.

We are staying a stones throw from the old Bronte parsonage which is now the expertly curated Bronte Museum (it seems no-one ever threw anything out so there are an amazing array of personal items on display). They have a very active acquisitions program too & recently bought Charlotte's writing desk with funds from the V&A. Haworth is a delightful village with cobblestone streets & worker's stone cottages on nthe edge of the moors (a writing landscape if ever there was).

It's Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath territory too & we will visit Sylvia's resting place on the way to the Lake District this morning as well as Cowan Bridge (the fictional Lowood School set here in Jane Eyre).

Signing off in Yorkshire

Kath & Beinda

THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON CONTINUED

Anne Frank Haus is a very sensitive & carefully constructed museum and as such an incredibly moving and sobering experience .

 The following day we blitzed the art gallerys. The newly renovated Rijksmusem was a remarkably beautiful building full of Dutch art focusing on the halcyon days of great art with an empire to finance it. The really

Rijksmuseum

 annoying thing in all their millions spent & careful planning was to allow photography in the gallery so every man & his dog (and in the "masters galley" there are hundreds of people at a time) all snap happy with flash lights abalze reflecting in the glass that the masterpieces had covering them AND of course whilst they are spending all their time getting the best shot they are not really looking at or appreciating the painting!!!!!
 But oh to see those Vermeers & Rembrandts that have only graced the pages of  books in the past!!!

Then on to the Van Gogh Museum which is right next door & thankfully are rigid in enforcing their policy of no photographs. Astonishing to see sooooooo many by the master at once and to be able to get so close to the art!
Vincent,who never personally sold a painting, would be truly amazed at the size of the gift shop & the myriad of ways his art can be plastered over objects & the money that is to be made in the process!

 The next day to relieve our exhaustion we took the train to Delft..a lovely little town just south of Leiden where Vermeer lived & worked (only slightly fewer ways to sell Vermeer that Van Gogh in the many gift shops)

DELFT

 So Sue has departed and I flew to London...only an hour flight.

It is great to see Ben although he is busy working and as his flat is the size of a shoebox life can be a bit challenging..but I will be off again in 3 days when Belinda arrives.

Today I took myself off to The William Morris Society at Hammersmith ( a few stops on the tube from Ben's)on the River Thames  in Morris's old coachhouse & meeting rooms for his Hammersmith Socialist League. The lecture they had on offer today was about socialists & wallpaper...right up my alley!! No seriously (and it was very serious in that English sort of way) "William Morris furnishings in the homes of George Bernard Shaw & his circle by phd candidate Alice McEwan was it's title & presenter!Simply ripping!

view from Morris's "front yard"

Go William!

Enough for now of my ramblings

Kath

NAPOLI,THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON

I have had a few days with no internet so a fair bit of ground has been covered in the interim.

Our last day in Sorrento was spent visiting Herculaneum (a town submerged in mud from Mt Vesuvius in 79CE). It is a much smaller site and better preserved although again the artifacts are all in the Naples Museum of Archaeology. A rather sobering sight were the 300 bodies recently uncovered left in situ in the storage chambers near what would have been the original shoreline... they would have no chance when you see the volcano towering over the site.
We made it back to Sorrento in time to take a bus ride down the Amalfi Coast .......hats off to the bus driver for getting us back unscathed...it was hair raising to say the least but very beautiful.

Naples by train on the morrow. Obviously Naples is having a hard time ...you can see that from the piles of rubbish in the streets & dilapidated state of the buildings...but really a return to reality after the wealth of Venice & Florence with their streets of Armani & Prada.

Easter in Naples

The Archaeology Museum was fantastic though with thousands of artifacts from Pompeii & Hercaulaneum...including huge wall painting & mosaics.

The Alexander mosaic

Then on to Michael & Masha's(friends of Evan's)in Leiden(just south of Amsterdam) in the Netherlnads. Our timing was impeccable as the place was ablaze with tulips and the Keukenhof Gardens with it's 7 million tulips (and a similar number of tourists) was astonishing!  

 

 

Kath

ROOM WITH A VIEW 2 (BAY OF NAPLES)

A few days have past & we have managed to see a bit more of Florence (well a lot more via the top of Brunelleschi's dome...a rather strenuous climb),

a Lucy Honeychurch moment or two in the church at Sante Croce (Galileo,Dante,Raphael,Michelangelo & Leonardo Da Vinci's tombs all grace the walls) and also a visit to a lovely intimate museum  for Michelangelo's family.
On Monday we still managed to miss Museo San Marco with Fra Angelico's frescoes (it is only open half days) but spent a few hours at the Medici's former Pitti palace(I think they were vying with the Tsars for decadence & conspicuous consumption)and wonderful (if a bit neglected) Boboli gardens

Boboli Gardens

A trip in the late afternoon to placate our disappointment over Angelico's frescoes on the local bus to Friezole in the hills outside Florence was a welcome respite to the hoards of tourists that crowd the streets of Florence and the views were spectacular.

On Wednesday we made (successfully..if a bit fraught)the train trips to Sorrento via Naples.

toasting the people of Pompeii AD79 with Mt Vesuvius as a backdrop

Sorrento is a lovely 'seaside" town hanging on to the cliffs beside the bay of Naples and opposite Mt Vesuvius & the star attraction Pompeii.It is much more relaxed here & people much more friendly.

Today(Thursday)we took the 30 minute train trip to Pompeii & spent an good part of 6 hours trudging the streets............an ambition since I was about 15 and Nicco the man who runs these apartments told us he had never been.....can you believe that! It was FANTASTIC!!!! 

We hope to catch up on all the art that has been removed(which is most of it) in 2 days time.

Wagon ruts & stepping stones on the streets of Pompeii

The ever present Mt Vesuvius

Forum Baths

More archaeology tomorrow at Herculaneum!

Ciao Kath & Sue

PS don't suppose you were all down at Echo Point today waving the Union Jack!!!!!