BeenThere-DoneThat Blog

When we went on our last trip to London I took a photograph of Tower Bridge illuminated at night and that was when I realised something important. I couldn't see the controls on my camera in the dark so if I wanted to change a setting I had to walk across to the nearest source of light, change the setting and then walk back to my original viewpoint.

I decided I needed a torch small enough to fit in one of the pockets in my camera bag. I managed to get one which is just 3.5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. It takes 3 small batteries and the light comes from 9 LEDs which use little power so the batteries will last a long time. On the last trip, when we got back, we also had trouble following the footpath in the dark across the fields from the station to where we had parked our car so the new torch would be useful for that.

So the new torch was put to use when we returned from our trip to London yesterday, Wednesday, and very useful it was.

We had been on another trip to the South Kensington Museums and started with the Victoria and Albert Museum to see some of the areas we had missed on the previous trip. One of those was the Silver Gallery. Notice the two elaborately decorated pillars in the foreground and you should also be able to see that there are more pairs of pillars further along the gallery but that they are plain. Originally all of the pillars were as elaborately decorated as the first two but at the beginning of the 1900s it was decided that, because tastes had changed, the decorative tiles should be removed.

Now it has been decided that the decorative tiles are a good idea but there were only enough left to complete two pillars. Better than none at all I suppose.

We also visited the British Galleries which seem to hold a lot of items that aren't actually British but were brought back to this country by British travellers to decorate their homes. I'm not really convinced that that is a valid reason for including them in a 'British' Gallery.

However we did see this picture and thought it would be of interest. "Well", I hear you say, " it is attractive but not particularly special" but you would be wrong! The picture has been created using nothing but small stone shapes, not micro-mosaics, and I suspect the sky is a piece of marble with the veining looking like clouds. Each shape must have been cut to perfectly fit in with all the other shapes and I think that that is astonishing.

The odd vertical shape just to the left of centre is a reflection which I couldn't do anything about.

There was an exhibition devoted to the eighteenth century fashion setters, Mr & Mrs Garrick. The Garricks were certainly a fashionable couple, David Garrick was a famous actor, theatre manager and playwright and his wife Eva Maria Veigel was a Viennese dancer. They were very keen on fashionable society and created their own lifestyle to be at the height of London fashion.

This was a corner of their bedroom.

This is the Raphael Gallery which I though was rather imposing. The gallery houses the surviving designs painted by Raphael for tapestries commissioned in Rome in 1515 by Pope Leo X. These cartoons, as they are known, have been owned by the British Royal Family since 1623 and they have been on loan to the Museum since 1865.

This room set shows the panelling in the Music Room from Norfolk House. Norfolk House was located on the west side of St James's Square and was the London residence of the Dukes of Norfolk from 1722 until it was demolished in 1938.

What is a remarkable coincidence is that it's just like our music room. Well, actually, we don't have a music room but if we did we'd have one just like this.

We did, eventually, run out of things to look at and decided to have a sit down and a cup of tea/coffee. We also decided to try a cafe in the Natural History Museum as the price of such things in the Victoria and Albert Museum Cafe is about twice what I'd expect to pay in London. It turned out that although the Natural History Museum was cheaper it wasn't by very much.

After we had finished our drinks we though we' have a look round at some of the things we had missed on our previous visit. That included the Dinosaur Gallery.

One of the exhibits that caught my eye was this replica of a dinosaur's nest. I think that the little dinosaurs are rather cute.

Meeting one of these wouldn't be so cute.

There was one exhibit that we both thought to be very well done and that was a life-sized replica of Tyrannosaurus Rex which was animated in a remarkably life-like manner. I couldn't take a photograph because the lighting was too dim and the replica didn't stop moving so ruled out a very slow shutter speed. It's worth seeing if you visit the Natural History Museum.

Afterwards we wandered around the Mineral Gallery and saw these very pretty opals together with a lot of other rather colourful minerals.

We were very definitely flagging now and it was time to leave for Liverpool Street Station, and home, so I'll leave you with this view of the main Hall after dark.

When we arrived back at our local station we had to walk across a public footpath across the fields to get back to where we had parked our car. My new little torch proved to be invaluable in this situation so it was a worthwhile purchase. It was bitterly cold walking across the fields and we were glad to get back inside our car. Brrrrrr!

We have a lot of Collar Doves around here and they never miss an opportunity to sit in the sun when they have the chance especially in the winter.

It's not unusual to see this but this morning they had to go right to the top of an Oak tree to catch the sun because, being winter and early in the day, the sun was very low in the sky.

I wonder what they talk about?

All the stairs were the greatest problem with relections and sunlight next. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself so let's start at the beginning.

Friday 13th January 2012 saw us headed out to London once again on our first day trip of the year. Our last trip was three months ago and was also to London. We arrived, as usual, at Liverpool Street Station and took the underground to Tower Hill which involved the first of a lot of stairs.

You have probably done it yourself, come out of Tower Hill Station and charged off towards the Tower of London visible ahead but then you would have missed something important. Very soon after leaving the station there are some steps (more steps) going down to a pedestrian underpass and on the left there is a stone wall with the statue of a man wearing a skirt standing in front of it. Why would that man be wearing a skirt? Well that's how the Romans used to dress init? He is in fact Trajan, a Roman emperor, and the wall he's standing by is part of the old Roman wall that surrounded Londinium (London).

A view from the other side of the same wall shows the Tower of London beyond and, to the right, Tower Hill Station. So the next time you go to Tower Hill don't walk straight past the wall without a second glance.

Back to Tower Hill Station we go past it into Trinity Square and then out of Trinity Square keeping right along Coopers Row. A short way along on the right-hand (East) side is the Grange City Hotel. You could be forgiven for walking past but just stop a moment and look through the opening.

Notice that, right at the back, there is a stone wall – more of the old Roman wall around Londinium. There is a public right of way through the arch and the courtyard at the back so just walk through and have a look.

There is a bronze coloured plaque on the railings providing some information. This map shows the location:

 

Back we go to Tower Hill Station and westward on the Underground to South Kensington. The easy way to get to the museums is through the pedestrian subway. It's very well used and the individual museums are sign posted along the way…

… and that museum is where we're headed. When entering from the subway you will emerge straight into the Sculpture galleries.

This museum is astonishing and, in some ways, overwhelming both in terms of the exhibits and the building itself spread over 6 floors which means traversing lots of stairs unless you are a wimp, of course, and want to use the various lifts around the place. It is difficult to mentally grasp the number of items on display here from the very small to the extraordinarily large. This shows part of the Glass gallery and these display cabinets line both sides.

You want ceramics? They have ceramics!

In the Jewellry Galleries there is a rather interestingly lit spiral stairway which goes up to yet another Jewellry Gallery above.

Cast Court is one of those places where as you come through the door your chin hits the ground with a thump as your jaw drops. To say it's surprising must be the understatement of the year. Some of the exhibits are gigantic. In the picture below the figure bottom right of centre gives an idea of scale.

Behind the open courtyard, called the John Madejski Garden, is the Cafe. It offers a comprehensive choice of refreshments from tea, coffee, light refreshments and cooked meals. We stopped to have lunch there at about 1:15 and, because it is popular, there were very few vacant tables although we did find one. It is probably less crowded well before and well after one o'clock.

The food is very good although not cheap. There are a number of counters serving different types of food. A salad counter, a tea, coffee and cakes counter, a hot food counter and a light snacks counter. It is a little confusing because having got our main meal we then had to go to the tea/coffee counter for drinks. The Salad Counter and the Hot Food Counter don't have tills but the other counters do so they apparently expect you to choose your main course then go to one of the other counters to pay.

There are five separate areas in which to sit. One either side of the food counters and three different rooms off to the side called the Morris, Gamble and Poynter rooms. This is the Gamble Room.

After lunch I decided to pop across the road to the Science Museum whilst Amanda continued looking around the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Science Museum is spread over seven floors (more stairs) and on the ground floor in the entrance hall are various large machines such as the one shown here.

One of the problems I had in this museum was reflections on the glass cases, probably caused by the general lighting, which shows up in this picture of a difference engine, one of the early mechanical computers.

One of the highest floors included a gallery dedicated to the history of flight and had lots of aircraft of all types hanging around, literally, in the roof including this Hurricane fighter plane and the Spitfire just beyond it to the right.

On a lower floor was this gallery with an interesting collection of vehicles including the original Stephenson's Rocket locomotive, a Ford Model T, and over in the far right-hand corner a V2 rocket with its nose buried in the ceiling.

This is the original Stephenson's Rocket:

In the section on Space Exploration there is a replica of a Moon Lander.

After wearing my legs out going up and down from floor to floor I went back to the Victoria and Albert Museum to meet up with Amanda again.

We had a last look round which included Tipu's Tiger. This is an 18th century Indian automaton showing a tiger eating a european which was considered to be very amusing in its time. It was worked by rotating the handle visible near its shoulder and the growls of the tiger and the cries of its victim could also be heard. Better than television.

As I said earlier the building itself is interesting such as this staircase here:

The problem I had with scenes like this was with the very bright patches of sunlight set against the much lower levels of lighting out of the sun. Usually I prefer sun for photographs but not in situations such as this.

We'd had a very enjoyable day in the Victoria and Albert Museum and we've only seen a fraction of what it has to offer. This is a museum that you cannot afford to miss and you cannot afford to spend less than a day there.

Now it was time to head home but with a small diversion which meant going back to Tower Hill and I'm sure you'll guess why we left it till last.

I admit it – I went berserk with the camera today so there are many more pictures than those shown here and a lot of them will appear on the main web site in due course.

 

The Main Web Site:

The most popular page on the main web site is the 'Day Trips from London' page with, on average, 10 views every hour. That's 235 views every day and 85,925 views in total for 2011.

There were visits from all around the world from over 200 countries with the most visits from the U.K. and just 1 from the Cook Islands.

The longest duration of any visit was over an hour and there were approximately 500,000 visits during 2011 with over 1,200,000 pages viewed.

The Blog:

There were 2500 attempted spam comments during 2011 on the Blog (notice that I said 'attempted' ) and it had around 6000 visitors looking at over 12,000 pages.

I don't have any statistics for the Forum.
 

We wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our visitors.

Do enjoy yourselves.

What do you think? And that was just 5 minutes into the walk.

Just been on a 4.3 mile walk taking 1 hour 22 minutes according to the GPS in my phone. Some of it across fields, hence the above picture, some through woods, some along country lanes and one part along the top of an ancient prehistoric monument – The Rampart.

The picture was also taken using my phone. Devilishly versatile these phones.

The weather of course!

What a change from last year. December last year we were up to our ears in snow, well nearly, and temperatures were well below freezing for most of the time. Rather Arctic in fact.

This December we haven't yet had temperatures down to freezing overnight, at 33F (0.6C), nearly, but not actually freezing. Recent overnight temperatures have nearly always been a few degrees above freezing although we have had a few frosts but tonight, so we are told, the temperature will go down to 32F (0C). However the temperatures are  forecast to go up again within a few days.

We had a light snow shower yesterday for a few minutes. None of it settled and then it went away.

It's not surprising that we keep talking about it is it?
 

No! It isn't me.

We have just discovered that there is an animal living in this country which has remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. It is 'Triops' otherwise known as the 'Tadpole Shrimp'.

Amanda, being a biologist, was particularly surprised that she didn't know of it. It does look rather cute, a bit like a 4 inch long Horseshoe Crab.

The Horseshoe crab, as you probably know, is found along the coasts of America and Asia and can grow up to 24 inches long. These also have remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.

Triops occurs in Japan, Middle East and Europe and in only two places in Britain, one being in South-West Scotland and the other in Hampshire. It is an endangered species and is protected by law. Unlike the Horseshoe Crab it is not a coastal species but lives in boggy wetlands.

One lives and learns. I can see another trip to Hampshire sometime in the future. 

 

Monday, 3rd October 2011

Today we leave Mere to make our way home but we are going back via Avebury. We have been to Avebury before and there are pictures on the main web site but we are going again so you'll just have to put up with it.

On our last visit we didn't look round Avebury Manor although I did include a photograph taken from the front gate but this time we were able to look round the gardens. The interior was temporarily closed to the public so we weren't able to go inside.

There are no prizes for guessing who that person is walking by the hedge with the nice topiary.

There is a picture already on the web site which includes this stone with the funny face taken from this same viewpoint. So? It's a nice happy, friendly stone.

Amanda stopped to have a chat with one of the other stones and, being paranoid, I think they're talking about me.

Amanda: "What do you think of that old buffer with the camera?"

Old Stone:

There is the West Kennet Avenue, comprising more stones, which leads away from the circle towards The Sanctuary. This picture shows part of it with some of the missing stones replaced by small markers.

That was the end of our trip because we wanted to leave around 2 O'Clock so that we would be home in time to avoid most of the rush hour traffic which we managed without incident.

This is a Mere finale.

 

Sunday, 2nd October 2011

Today we are going to foreign climes – yes, we are leaving Wiltshire and venturing into Somerset. Today is Frome day! Frome (pronounced 'froom') is a small market town about 10 miles from Mere, to the north, and about the same distance east of Wells.

Needless to say it didn't take us long to get there and we quickly found a car park. This car park is a short stay (max. 2 hours) and is Pay & Display. The good news is that the restrictions and charges don't apply on Sundays so we parked free and the car stayed there for our whole stay.

As luck would have it the car park chanced to be very near the Church of St. John the Baptist which would be difficult to miss.

The original Saxon church was built in 685 AD but was replaced by the current building which was constructed between the late 1100s and the early 1400s and was further restored around 1860.

An interesting external feature is the unusual clock face together with a nearby sundial.

There is a spring in the churchyard which is fed into a channel in nearby Cheap Street, one of Frome's medieval streets, which runs the length of the street before disappearing underground. There is a good flow of water in this channel so be careful where you put your feet.

Cheap Street runs from near the church down to meet the Market Place near the Market Cross, also known as Boyle Cross, in the shadow on the right.

Leading uphill from the Market Place is Stoney Street which leads into Catherine Hill. This view is near the top of Catherine Hill looking down towards Stoney Street.

This footpath, Paul Street, curving off to the right in the picture above, cuts across to Palmer Street.

Near the top of Catherine Hill is an attractive little side lane called Sheppards Barton accessed via some steps.

Part way along Paul Street Amanda stopped to discuss the weather with one of the locals.

We wandered back towards our car going back up Cheap Street and at the top, on the corner, was a small cafe called La Strada where we had a light lunch.

After lunch we drove out of Frome, south east, towards Warminster and just outside Warminster we stopped near Cley Hill.

Hmm, looks a bit lumpy. "Surely", I hear you say, "you're not silly enough to climb another hill?" but, unfortunately, yes, we are silly enough. Besides there's a Triangulation Point up there somewhere and Amanda collects them – remember? The climb wasn't as bad as it looked and it didn't take long before the summit was in sight.

And that's Warminster down there.

Amanda was still heading purposefully for that triangulation point which can just be seen on the top of the rounded hump ahead.

So now we can say that we've been there and done that. Back to the car, easier on the way down, and off on a very short drive to a car park between King's Bottom (Sorry your majesty) and Hitcombe Bottom. We are now near a well known estate so a short walk through the forest reveals this:

Longleat House, a stately home owned by the Marquis of Bath, a somewhat eccentric gentleman, and open to the public. We sat here for a while looking at the view and then decided it was time to go back to Mere. Tomorrow we go home but not without another diversion.