Camping at Gower's Peninsular

Decided to take Gregory camping. Father-son bonding. Last minute decision to go to Gower's Peninsular, near Swansea in South Wales.

Arrived late, but there was space. Saw lots of families having fun.

Nice tents everywhere.

Then, we pitched ours and realised just small our tent is. Luckily, we had chosen a corner

Made dinner with solid fuel.

Beautiful sunset.

Rhossili Bay with "worm-head" in background.

If only it wasn't so cold, drizzling and low tide...

Developed tent envy. Went out to buy something like this. Likely, paid a fraction for it.

Watch this space, will go more places to camp.

The boys go to Oxford University...literally

Oxford Dictionary's definition of 'Literally': In its standard use literally means ‘in a literal sense, as opposed to a non-literal or exaggerated sense’.

Short day trip. Only an hour and a half away from Bristol. Brought only my 40mm lens, hence, pictures have poorer perspectives. Unfortunately, it was raining most of the time.

Took me a while to realise that Oxford University is a city campus, with buildings scattered all around the Oxford. I had wanted to vist the "enclosed university" after touring the town.

This building is called Radcliffe Camera. I found it while looking for a camera shop so that I could find spare lens cover.

Hopefully, they do come here for their tertiary education...in future...at government's expense of course.

Budapest Jun 14

Many said it is much like Prague. Couldn't see the resemblance. I like compact old towns with cobblestones, didn't see much here. But it was an enjoyable trip. Four full days and a well developed transportation system helped us to see and experience much at our own pace. Weather was great, three sunny days and only started to rain when we were leaving.

Lots of good foods in Budapest. Was lucky to have a colleague from here to give us the best recommendations.
Clockwise from top left: Courtyard at Pierrot, Wild Boar soup at Pesti Diszno, Goulash, another Goulash (Pierrot) and Pork Goulash (Pesti Diszno).

Watched an opera at the beautiful National Opera. Really interesting and enjoyed the 3 hours!

Top: National Parliament
Bottom: Royal Palace (now the National Muesum)

Places of worship
Left: Cathedrale and relic of St Stephen (my clearest relic to date)
Right: Grand Synagogue and interior.

Top:
Bottom: Szechenyi Bath. We went to another one called Gellert Bath. While both are highly recommended by guidebooks, I found the experience disappointing. Probably because it was crowded and i had been spoiled by the baths in Asia (Japan/Taiwan) that were more intimate and soothing.

Lisbon

Lisbon is charming. Good weather, charming old town, great food, trams, lots of places to see, etc - Mosaic boulevards, coastal palm trees, colourful moorish buildings, castles on top of hills...

It was meant to be a short trip with only 2 and a half days on the agenda. Owing to longer days, good weather, we had managed to cover quite a bit of places. In fact, it was probably amazing that we had covered so much. Alfama, Sintra, Cacais, Old town and Belem, with many key sites in each area.

From top left, clockwise: Hotel (Lavender coloured building) next to Roxio Square with Castle Jorge at top of hill, view next to Commercial Square, Commerical Square, Roxio Square

From top left, clockwise: Flea-market next to Pantheon (and bought my vintage copper egg poacher to fit my copper pot), tram 28 in Alfama, Alfama, Lisbon Cathedrale (i think).

Views from castle

Sites in Sintra, 1 hour train ride from Lisbon
From top left, clockwise: National Palace, Moorish Castle on top, National Palace interior, Moorish Castle views, Pena Palace

From top left, clockwise: Best Portugese egg tarts next to Jeronismo Monastery, some indoor Market-place with great atmosphere and food, coastline on the way to Cacais from Sintra

Belem

Portugese dining and cuisine

Long weekend - Snowdonia

Found out about long weekend late, hence, was unable to go somewhere further. Ended up driving to Snowdonia, about 4 hours drive. Beautiful national park. Pleasantly surprised. Nearby was Isle of Anglesey, dramatic coastline. In the past, people from Dublin (Ireland) would travel to London via Holyhead (at the tip of Isle of Anglesey) and go through Snowdonia (holiday destination favourite amongst landscape artists) to London. On the way back, we stopped at Shrewsbury, a medieval trading town.

Very good places for hiking

Varied scenary.

Isle of Angleasey

Shrewsbury and interesting buildings.

Italy Apr 14

First "major" holiday of the year. So much logistics, as trip was for 10 days, 3 cities, 5 people. Make that 2 countries, since Vatican City is also a country.

The trip did not start on the right note. Upon arriving at Bristol airport, I realised that I had left my wallet at home! This meant that I had to cancel my car rental(no driving license) in Florence, where we had chosen to stay in the countryside instead of the city. Fortunately, wife had our cash card.

We started in Venice, took a train to Florence, and finally flew back from Rome. Each city was different, and each got more interesting for me. I had not expected to achieve so much - we saw all the key sights plus much more, and I found time to do a pilgrimage - Seven Pilgrimage Churches in Rome. This was a last minute arrangement when we had a free day in Rome. Miraculously, we had managed to complete it without GPS (phone battery dead) and with the itinerary lost (at the 2nd site). It was miraculous because we had walked past the second one a couple of times without realising, but thanks to the extra walk, we managed to bump into the priest who gave us a private tour despite the church not being opened until a couple of hours later. Then, a series of fortunate events such as having lunch at the trattoria and seeing a bus stop sign going to one of the sites out of town; and remembering the names of the other sites, finding the right people to give us directions and getting to the last one 5 minutes before closing!

So while this was an extremely tiring trip, it was well worth the journey. Tuscany is as I had wanted it to be, and I am impressed with Rome - which was clearly not built in a day.

Venice

Canals everywhere

St Mark's Square and Basilica (Piazza/Basilica St Marco)


Florence

We were staying in the countryside. Really lovely, beautiful and relaxing setting. Only an hour bus away from city centre.

Florence Duomo and various other sides in Florence. Two worthy mentions: Relic of St Sebastian and a Botticeli (forgot which Museum that was from). Missed "David" and Uffizi Gallery. Too crowded.

Rome

Spectacular sites in Rome.
Clockwise from Top Left: Pantheon, inside Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona (next to our hotel), Colosseum outside and Roman Forum.

Impressive Vatican Museum. But took at least an hour to walk through the exhibits before being able to reach Sistine Chapels.

Seven Pilgrimage Churches in Rome

St Peter Basilica. If you look closely, the figure in white in centre of picture of church's exterior is Pope Francis.

St Maria Maggiore Basilica. The crypt contained wood from the Holy Crib of the nativity of Jesus

St Lorenzo outside the walls. Really small but old and charming church.

Basilica of St Giovanni (John) Lateran Basilica. Impressive decor. Two interesting mentions in the cloister. Seat of first popes and column depicting height of Christ. He's really tall.

St Croce in Gerusalemme. Very impressive collection of relics. Wood and nails from the cross.

Basilica of St Paul outside the walls. Huge! See sarcophagus of St Paul in the crypt below the altar.

Santuario della Madonna dell Divine Amore. Outside the city, but really beautiful scenery. Picture on tower is miraculous and had saved a man from being ravaged by wild dogs.

Wells

Nearby town with a large cathedral. Was told by colleague it was her favourite little town in UK. So had to see it for myself. Not too bad, liked it more than Salisbury from last week.