Author: braysabroad

From the Isle of Wight to Norway

Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark and parts of Norway, conquered England and reigned from 1013-1014. His predecessor, Ethelred, fled to the Isle of Wight. Thank you, Google, for a neat link from our last blog to our new adventure.

 
A book Ken bought back from his travels to Norway sparked, in Kim, a lifelong fascination with Norwegian countryside.  

We’re driving along the fjords from Bergen to Trondheim via Geiranger Fjord, Trollsteigen and the Atlantic Road. We are heading for 20 hour daylight, a language we don’t know a single word of, mountains, glaciers and (if we’re really lucky) a troll or two!
An early start awaits us tomorrow

Isle of Wight… Is it technically abroad?

Kim set John the challenge…..’what do you want to do on your birthday’. Little did she think that it would involve a 5am start followed by a flight and cycle ride!!

John’s ideal day turned out to be a hovercraft ‘flight’ to the Isle of Wight on one of the windiest days of the year courtesy of Huricane Abigale, and apparently the official terminology for a hovercraft journey  over water is ‘flying’ not ‘sailing’
We arrived at Portsmouth (Southsea) in time for the 8:15 flight to Ryde on an elderly hovercraft. Hovertravel operate the only regular commercial service in Europe and have been doing so for 50 years. Luckily this particular hovercraft was only 25 years old.  Powered by four large Diesel engines, two of which inflate the skirts raising the craft off the ground while the other two drive massive fans to push it along, an amazing sight as it moves effortlessly between land and water.
What an experience! We arrived in Ryde in 10 minutes, it’s the fastest way to get there. The journey was very smooth, it may have been windy but the sun was shining.

 

Next stop, breakfast! After a short ride we found ourselves in ‘Bagel Wrap’ run by a chap who does catering each year at the Isle of Wight music festival and the decor reflected his passion with posters and pictures going back to 1968 when Dylan, the Band and Richie Havens played at the first festival.

 

While we ate breakfast, the heavens opened so we stayed for another cuppa…….and then another as we watched the raindrops hitting puddles.  Eventually we decided that although we had limited weather protection we had to move. We’d taken the Bromptons and were determined to cycle round to Bembridge.
Finally we left, cycled down the hill and along the Esplanade, the heavens opened again and the wind got stronger so we took shelter in the old Pavillion before we had even left Ryde.
Eventually, the rain eased and so we headed towards Seaview. It was wet but lovely cycle ride along the coastal path. Things got a little tricky when the path became very narrow and precarious prior to disappearing below the high tide mark and John was soaked by a wave as he tried to work out if he could lift the bikes round! He couldn’t so we retraced our route to find an alternative.

 

The final part of our cycle ride was rather hilly, around Seaview to Bembridge. The road into Bembridge took us past rows of houseboats which were more boat than house and appealed to Kim as a possible holiday home?
A well earned lunch in Bembridge found as sharing a table with an elderly lady from Newport who giggled every time she thought about our cycle ride from Ryde. She kindly advised us how to get the bus back…….so we did! The Bromptons were ideal, they stowed easily on the bus and in the hold of hovercraft enabling us to make the most of our visit.

 

The bus runs every hour, the hovercraft runs every hour. The bus arrives at the bus terminal, next to the hoverport, 5 minutes after the hovercraft has left!! But at least as you approach you can see it gracefully spin on its axis as it leaves.  With 55 minutes to spare, we cycled out along Ryde Pier which was very long and very windy with nothing at the end other than an empty train station. 
When we left Southsea in the morning the Hovercraft flight was at ‘Green’ Service Status, our return trip across the Solent was quite rough and although the Hovercraft continued to glide over the water with apparent ease by this time we had been elevated to ‘Amber’ status and as a result had to take a serious run at the beach to land. As we left the car-park they announced that the service had been suspended!!!
We enjoyed our day and will be return next year to try out the new 2016 hovercrafts when they arrive.

Final thoughts from Catalonia….

 

On our last morning, we left Llafranc at 6:15 am complete with a picnic, courtesy of the hotel. Our 45 minute trip to Girona airport turned into an hour and half adventure when the satnav happily directed us into the middle of a small village with no airport in sight. Frantic re-tracing of steps and panicky driving up and down the nearest main road finally saw us at the airport with a huge sigh of relief!
Next challenge – the wine in our suitcase took us over the limit and excess baggage fares were paid. We will be much better prepared the next time – cabin luggage for both of us, read the small print on the car hire agreement and six nights would suffice!
Final thoughts:
If Matt persists in wanting a Fiat 500 at least the journey to Cambridge is flat! Hills had to be taken at a run otherwise the was a chance it would grind to a halt, halfway up.
Smoking – any drink or food order on a terrace came with an ashtray. It feels like the Catalans and/or Spanish find smoking more socially acceptable than the English do.
We left Girona in warm sunshine and arrived back to a cold, wet Stanstead. A winter spent in Spain is a very appealing thought.
We’d definitely go back, we’d stay in the same hotel but might spend a couple of days in Barcelona or Girona first.

Bagnoles???

 

Ok, the spelling and pronunciation may be different but Banyoles was calling to John.

The town’s claim to fame, is the lake which hosted the rowing events during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 2004 Rowing World Championships.
Set in the Girona Pyrenees, the backdrop to the lake is fairly spectacular and the water crystal clear.

 

We drove round the lake and it looks like a great place for walking and cycling. We visited the Tourist Information office had a short walk into town before the drive back. We were surprised to see wide channels alongside the roads in the town which were filled with clear, still water. It would be amazing if our mill stream looked the same!. A lot of the worlds top cyclists live in the area, as it’s a dry climate with lots of hills for training.
 
Although Banyoles is very nice it doesn’t have quite the same call as our beloved Bagnoles. 
 
During lunch we were talking to an eclectic mix of people in a Tapas bar including an English lady, a Scandinavian and an American lady who have lived in a valley near Perpignan in the South of France for many years. Apparently there is a thriving Ex-Pat community in the area, but rather than being English it’s a mixture of different nationals brought together by the local U3A group
We’ve really struggled with the language while we’ve been here. The Spanish Dictionary has been no match for Catalan. If anyone can tell us what ‘peu’ is and translate this sign, we’d be grateful

 

We didn’t make it into Girona which was a shame, we were only a couple of miles away, but a final afternoon on the beach was calling  to us.

Barcelona

Early start for Barcelona today, and by early we mean before 9:30! Hours of research, and debate,(should we get the train or drive, do we leave it for visit etc.) helped us decide what to do!

The little Fiat made it up all the hills and we were there in under two hours. Our first challenge was to park, and that was a challenge! The satnav was fantastic, taking us to a car park only 25 yards from where we wanted to be, if only we didn’t keep missing the turnings! The car park was very clever, there were little LED lights above each parking space, red if the space is occupied and green if its vacant, so you can glance down a whole row of cars and easily see if there are any spaces. Barcelona is full of typical city drivers, dithering is not tolerated and neither is being in the wrong lane!  One advantage of the little Fiat is that it has a great turning circle so we can execute U turns easily.
John made a new friend in the cycle hire shop. Christie was explaining that she had to burn incense to take away the smell that greets her when she opens up the sea front shop. As you can imagine, the beach is a popular place at night but sadly lacking in public toilets! John described the toilets he’s seen in Ostende that pop-up out of the ground during the evening and disappear under the ground during the day. She was delighted when he showed her photos!
Cycling in Barcelona is surprisingly easy, it has over 100km of cycle routes. The only trouble is you have to find one first. That challenge was too great for us, so we stopped for an early lunch whilst we got our bearings. Freshly made coffee, tea with unlimited top-ups and a slice of tuna tortilla big enough to share served with tomato bread – all for under €10. The guide books advise eating off the tourist routes and this was a great find.

 

Our destination was the famous Sagrada Familia. Spanish architect Gaudi’s designs and use of colour have been used as inspiration in many gardening programmes over the years so Kim was determined to see what it was all about. We stopped in a square to try and get our bearings and a lovely Spanish lady offered to help. She looked horrified when we said where we were going and told us we ought to drive! Not to be deterred, we headed off and found ourselves, quite by accident, on a cycle route, right through the Arc de Triomph!

 

There was no stopping us, 20 minutes later we were dwarfed by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Described as the eight wonder of the world, it’s breathtakingly beautiful, and that’s just from the outside!
We didn’t have the patience to queue for tickets so the inside will have to wait for our next visit.

 

We cycled back to the coast via Los Ramblas, Barcelona’s main pedestrianised shopping area which is full of market stalls, eateries and hundreds of people. It was hard work pushing the bikes through and wasn’t an area that appealed to us. Our final landmark was the Marina area which has been built on reclaimed land with a network of floating boardwalks. It would have been great to explore but our time was up if we wanted to leave the City before the rush hour.
Barcelona definitely needs to go on the list for a 2-3 day city break – if the culture becomes too much, you can always escape to the beach!

Barcelona to Llafranc

Rather than take the motorway back, we headed out along the coast road as far as Pineda de Mar.

 
The route was straight and flat, very different to the scenery we’ve experienced so far. We drove through several beach side resorts and it all looked a bit grim and run down. Most of the buildings had seen better days and many were boarded up and used as graffiti targets. Other than out to sea, there were no beautiful views of rolling countryside. 
 
For most of the route, the railway ran between us and the beach like a very long fence making it rather a challenge to get to the actual beach. Eventually we worked out that a series of underpasses get you there but were not readily signposted. On a positive note, the train journey must be fantastic and needs to be added to the to-do list as well

Fuel was needed and filling up is done the old fashioned way, a fuel attendant does it all for you and €25 seems enough to fill the car up.
Can you guess which one is our hire car?

 

Our new room!

You may notice the quality of our Blog go up a notch, that’s because we are now using the writing desk in our new room.

We booked this break on a budget and chose the cheapest room we could find. The hotel couldn’t be better but our room was small and overlooked a tiny internal courtyard. Efforts had been made to make it look attractive but you couldn’t hide the fact that the main reason for the courtyard was to vent the air conditioning!

We decided to spend our last few nights in a room with a sea view and a balcony. The only problem is the rain has set in and temperatures have dropped. No wine for us on the balcony tonight!

 

Llafranc to Jardins de Cap Roig

Today’s challenge was the 1.5 hour walk to the botanical gardens at Cap Roig. A small, exclusive music festival is held there every year with top music stars such as Bob Dylan performing in the idyllic setting. Sting was the opening act this year so we thought we ought to see why the venue is so special. Our legs were still aching from the mammoth climb on Sunday but that didn’t deter us! The walk along the cliffs was spectacular and very, very hilly! At one point we were feeling rather lost when some English walkers pointed out the directional markings on the stones. In case you haven’t guessed this means Turn Right

 

I’m not sure where we would have ended up without that piece of advice!

 

 

The gardens were created by a Russian Colonel and his English, aristocrat wife who were searching the Costa Brava for a place to live and build their dream, they bought the site in 1927 and after many years of effort and work they created a space where nature and calm reign. They certainly succeded the views across the bay, back towards Llafranc were breathtaking as were the gardens.
They were well worth the walk and we spent a couple of peaceful hours admiring our surroundings. Far more enjoyable (and pleasant) than the Museo Dali

 

For our walk back, we abandoned the scenic but torturous cliff path and followed the roads, but it was an awful lot quicker (even stopping for lunch at one of the bay’s on the way back!)

Cultural tour of Catalonia

That is a slight exaggeration, but we’ve spent the day out and about getting to know the Region (and the little Fiat!),

First stop was Figueres, home to the Salvador Dali museum. We surfaced from an underground car park to find ourselves in the middle of a bric-a-brac market which seemed to be mainly selling vinyl records, collectable bottle tops, fossils, old wooden skis and die cast models.

 

John was in heaven, pottering around and seeing what was for sale. Kim finally caught up with him  chatting to a stall-holder who grew up in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to Spain over 40 years ago. He had seen some of best bands and solo artists of the 60’s and 70’s and was now selling his old concert programmes.
Next stop, Dali. No matter how hard we try, we really don’t do culture as well as we should. We were spooked by both the Teatre-Musee and the Dali Jolies. We did agree that the building was fantastic to look at and walking round it was like being in a Dali painting. We were never sure what we going to see next or where we would end up!

 

We had a leisurely drive back via Pals, a medieval town perched on a hill surrounded by plains. The gothic quarter has been restored and is a maze of pretty cobbled streets, arches across roads and beautiful houses with stone balconies. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

 

Paella…..

Despite dire warnings of food poisoning, Kim wanted Paella for dinner tonight. We chose a small restaurant, set back from the seafront that was less geared to the tourist market – by that, it seemed very Spanish!
Kim was expecting golden rice with lots of seafood. What turned up was a grey, sticky gloop (luckily, we were too polite to take a photo!). The chef even showed it to her before plating up which was slightly worrying.
For a woman who can’t bear sticky fingers, she did surprisingly well dismembering the prawns and mussels.
She took slight comfort from locals ordering, and eating, black rice which was even greyer and gloopier. It needed to be tried but probably never again!
John, being the adventurer that he is, had pizza!!

The top of the world…….twice!

Last night we avoided the main tourist areas and found a Tapas bar, Kim tried the squid, John was not so brave.  We arrived just as it opened and were the only people in there initially but by the time we came to leave it was completely full with Spanish people, a good choice.

Day two of the extreme swimming competition and the town is heaving but the sun is shining so Kim spent the morning reading on the beach while John explored the town. Late morning we took on the challenge of the walk to the lighthouse, San Sabastia, which allegedly is only 30 minutes but up a vertical cliff!!  The views were spectacular but it was one of those walks where the road winds up a hill that goes on forever

 

We’re starting to get the hang of Spanish eating habits so our treat was a late lunch when we’d done the walk back into town. It’s funny how coming down is so much easier!
Today was the day for re-acquainting ourselves with the Fiat for a drive along the coast. It really is a very different type of car to drive, particularly when trying to go up steep, narrow winding roads. Our trip to Aiguablava and Begur was stressful. It was harder to drive up the hill to Begur than the walk had been earlier. We were tempted to drive down to Tossa De Mar but decided that was for another day and in the daylight.

Wot, no beach?!?

A late start for us today. We didn’t wake until 9:30 and rushed down to breakfast to find the beach had disappeared overnight! How dare they put up a tent city and spoil our views!

 

It turns out it’s a weekend of swimming competitions. Today was the three stage relay and we’re very excited to see what tomorrow brings. If anyone can translate the poster, we’d be grateful.

 

The weather’s lovely so we’ve spent the day soaking up the sun, exploring the town, discussing the merits of different boats in the Marina and watching the swimming competition.  Having walked along the costal path to the next town for dinner we discovered we’re completely out of synch with Spanish eating patterns. Our late breakfast meant we missed lunch and were ready for dinner at 5 when everywhere (and we mean everywhere!) is shut! It appears you can eat from 7:30 until 5 and then not again until 8:30 in the evening!  Heroes that we are, we managed with an ice cream until we can eat ‘proper food’.
Being used to the Atlantic Ocean on the Cornwall coast, we are struck by how different the Med is. There is no apparent low and high tide and hence a distinct lack of waves or any noise. Although this evening there is plenty of noise as the swimming completion parties into the night.
Although our hotel is ideally located and very nice it does have one flaw, there are no tea making facillaties which Kim is finding very difficult. John is seriously considering investing in a kettle and some tea bags before someone gets hurt!

 

Hola, mes amigos!

Here we are in sunny Catalonia and it’s really rather lovely.

The journey to Stanstead, the Ryanair  flight and customs at Girona Airport were effortless. Then we hit the queue to pick up the hire car! It took us longer to sort that than the flight, you couldn’t make it up. Not only did we queue for 2 hours, we were relieved of an additional payment which was more than the flights cost too.
Moan almost over – we collected our Fiat 500 which Is fighting back. It may be cute but it won’t go up hills and we can’t find the switch for the sun roof. Watch this space for an in depth review of small Fiat cars!

 

 

Now onto the good stuff. Our hotel is right on the promenade with picture book views of the bay.  So we chilled in the late afternoon sunshine followed by a walk round to the next bay. Beer and tapas on a terrace overlooking the Med to a back drop of Johnny Cash music was rather bizarre. We could easily adapt to the lifestyle and may not come home

New York, love it or hate it?

Before we came away, we were told you either love or hate New York. So now it’s time for us to tell the truth…….but first, the story of the drive from the hotel to JFK.
 
Before we went away, John and Matt looked into hiring an American muscle car. Thank goodness we didn’t, drivers are all bonkers in NYC and the only competence test appears to based on how frequently you use the horn! Our driver was one of the best – tooting for no apparent reason, driving over kerbs and along walkways, cutting up other drivers and refusing to let an ambulance past. We arrived at JFK, both shaken and stirred!
 
Now let’s talk about JFK – disorganised and no free wifi, hence no blog, but a great burger bar called Shake Shack. 
 
Arriving at Heathrow was heavenly- no queues and smiley people, it’s good to be home. Matt wondered what all the green stuff was, a lengthy explanation of grass and trees followed. We haven’t seen much of either recently and it made us realise how lucky we are (not the usual response to Heathrow and the M25, we know). The car even started despite John’s prediction of a flat battery. It came as a shock that he’s not psychic after all.
 
‘Love’ is too strong a term to describe our relationship with New York. We would go back, and have a list of things we’d still like to do. We’re just in no hurry to do them!
We’ve met some lovely, helpful people but they were in a minority. Most New Yorkers came across as rude and unhelpful. Courtesy is not their strong point – there are even signs on the subway attempting to encourage it! Bill Murray is quoted as saying the thing he likes most about New York are the people. He believes New Yorkers are misunderstood because no-one realises how kind they are and he’s probably right.
John’s favourite thing about New York, other than peanut butter, was the abundant sound of V8 engines.
Kim’s was the way you could stand at major intersections and the grid system gives you clear views in all four directions. Of course, to do this you are risking death (probably involving a V8) so it’s not a recommended activity! The Frick frog probably would have come first but she’s still sulking about that!
Matt just advises that you don’t do baseball, the rest is OK! This seems a bit of an understatement from someone who had to be prised out of every Nike store we passed.
That’s all from us until the next big adventure, we hope you’ve enjoyed our story x

Pizza, at last!

Our final NYC lunch was in Global Kitchen, tucked round the back of the Plaza, and Kim and Matt finally got to eat pizza in NY. We have discovered cheap, tasty eating on our last day!

It’s still hot and humid here, so we are all ready to come home. In fact we are so tired, we’re camped out in the cool of the hotel lobby, 2 hours early for our taxi,

There will be one final NYC post from us before we get on the plane whe we’ve thought about our likes and dislikes – think of us as your local Michelin Guide!

The story of Prometheus and the Goat via The Plastic Ono Band

Our last day saw us killing time until we leave for JFK at 6pm. Culture, we thought, after fighting everything back into suitcases and checking out.

We did what has become our usual trek through Grand Central Station and continued our journey to the Rockefeller Plaza and MOMA. This was our first experience of the Plaza and it was beautiful.

The highlight of the Plaza is the statue of Prometheus recreated in the Lego Shop. I bet you can’t tell which one is real

 

 

MOMA kept us entertained for a couple of hours. The Yoko Ono exhibition was everything you would expect, John and Matt refused to play the ‘what’s the best thing you’ve seen?’ Game. So here’s Kim’s – the Picasso Goat which could keep the Frick Museum Frog company

 

 

The Bray review of pastrami on rye

Apart from John’s desire to visit Katz’s, we were commissioned, by Focus RM, to see if their pastrami on rye is better than M&S.

Katz’s may be a classic but once in a lifetime is probably enough. It was a £15 sandwich that took all of us to eat and, even then we couldn’t finish it. That’s all from our gourmet review. Invoice for sarnie on its way to you, Ken

 

Top Tips from ‘Angel’

1. Baseball is not a sport. It is a chance for people to get together and socialise! If you must do baseball you support the Mets not the Yankees

2. Never go to The Bronx – it is a scary place to be
3. Never walk with your map out – you’ll be pickpocketed
4. Be focussed at all times. There is no room for ditherers in NYC
6. Take the subway to Bedford Ave in Brooklyn for the best meatballs ever
7. Never, ever visit NY in July or August – the weather is ‘soupy’
8. The subway is for wimps, you can walk everywhere- just be fast
9. It is illegal to sound your car horn in NYC and carries a $500 fine. A previous Mayor tried to enforce the ruling and the city ground to a halt so he gave up
10. You can legally walk around NY naked as long as you are not handling food!

Where Harry met Sally

Top of John’s ‘To Do’ list was a traditional Deli established by the Jewish immigrants from Europe. the famous Carnegie Deli had been recommended by a friend, however it was closed down last month for having an illegal (un-metered) gas supply. There are only a few old school Delis left in the East Village, so despite the despite the heat and humidity, that’s where we headed, to Katz’s as featured in that famous ‘When Harry met Sally’ scene. First we tested the rest rooms in the cool and calm of Bloomingdales (or Blooming Expensive as Matt referred to it) and then headed into a very different part of NYC.

It was amazing how the neighbourhood changed only one block back from Broadway. It quickly became quieter and a lot more run down in places although we did find one complete road where all the shops sold just light bulbs.
We found Katz’s Delicatessen, were each given a ticket on entry and were warned not to lose it. If we did, there was a $50 charge. The famous Pastrami on Rye was ordered and it became clear why we needed a ticket each. We had to queue in different places for sandwich, salad, drink and dessert. Each order was added to a ticket which was handed over when we paid on leaving. Essentially, we were booked in and out – a neat way of keeping track of occupancy rates. It’s a very popular venue with the walls covered in pictures of all the famous people who visit. The place was heaving and it’s difficult to describe how it works other than hygiene laws may well have closed it in the uk.

 

Next stop was the Strand bookstore, back on Broadway, with a Pret opposite! It is a real haven for book lovers (Strand not Pret) and claims to be the largest bookstore in the world.
It’s been really hot and humid today so it was the subway back to the hotel from Union Square, which looked the place to be. John was tempted to join a game of chess, but that would have meant missing the complimentary bar at the hotel, or that was his excuse!