Workers of the world unite............

Yesterday was spent on the trail of old Karl with 2 comrades, Bob Treasure and Sue Brand, from Warrimoo on their Grand Tour. We met up in Baker Street where they are staying (Sherlock Holmes Museum just round the corner) and headed off to Highgate Cemetery as part of the pilgrimage....what a wonderful place...so neglected and overgrown....and crumbling stone angels everywhere (not on Marxist graves though).

Then, after a lovely lunch in the park across the road with squirrels aplenty, we set off to Soho for  an old abode of the Marx family in Dean Street (once very down at heel but now quite 'effluent') and then a couple of streets away to the site of the Red Lion pub (still a pub but with a name change) where Marx and Engels lectured upstairs circa 1874 and wrote the action programme for the Communist League which was the published in 1848 as the Communist Manifesto and of course as they say the rest is history!
Then off to central London via the tube and a brief visit to the National Gallery and a good Thai meal and a play Samuel Beckett's ' Krapp's Last Tape'...a rather short and depressing monologue starring the amazing Michael Gambon (a rather expensive 50 minutes but a rare treat to see the man in action...and 3 rows from the front).

Also this week Kew Gardens in full Autumn colour full of very busy squirrels adding to their winter hoard and back to the British Museum just because I can and certainly can't when I'm home......

This is the last blog as the plane leaves tomorrow evening and there will not be too much more to record...thanks for your comments and for putting up with me the last few weeks...looking foward to seeing you all again and for life to return to normal and for a change of clothes as I have been wearing the same 3 shirts and pairs of jeans the whole 10 weeks!

Adios,au revoir and good bye....Kath xo

Paris to London

The Louvre

 I spent another afternoon in the Louvre,in amongst the acres of Egyptian antiquities etc etc (you really need at least a week there to give it justice) and Ben had a rest in the hotel room and the remaining time we just hung out in Montmartre. Our train back to London through the channel tunnel on Saturday was only 2 hours and very comfy.
I have to say the only time we were not treated well the whole time in Paris was by the Pommy customs officer at Gare du Nord in Paris...he was downright rude and as Ben said "welcome to England"

Now back in London for the few days before the flight home on Thursday night.
The weather has changed dramatically since leaving here 4 weeks ago...it is definitely Autumn and just a little dreary at the moment as the sun is in short supply and it's very chilly (the sandals are definitely back in the suitcase). But as always there is so much to see...yesterday The William Morris Museum in Walthamstowe at the end of the tube run...of course when he lived there 150 years ago it was all green fields....now very suburban in the dreariest English sort of way although very diverse with a large immigrant population lots of kebab shops and Indian takeawayand even 2 hindu temples.

 A very extensive museum and lots of personal items and at times very moving..

I am looking foward to getting home to family and friends and the garden but will miss Ben very much
He has headed off to the doctor this morning to get some tests done and feels that it was something he caught in Spain.

Paris

We arrived here on Tuesday 21st September for 4 nights after a 3 hour flight from Marrakesh..yes everything is so close here...even Africa.
The change is a bit af a shock to the system but we are coping.....it is Paris after all!

Montmartre

Ben found us a cheap hotel online in a great spot just near a metro station in Montmartre so we are right in the middle of things. This is such a great area, well Picasso,Van Gogh,Renoir and Tolouse-Lautrec had it right...elegant apartment blocks line the steep streets, tree lined squares and lovely small shops selling the most exquisite pastries, fruit,cheese.wine and bread...what more could you want!

The French,despite what I had been told, are very friendly and generous and so so polite....it is a pleasure to be here amongst them....The language is not too  much of a problem as most speak a little English and are very accomodating.
So far we have been to the Louvre (it is enormous),Musee D'orsay and Musee Rodin and have glimpsed the Eiffel Tower on several occasions (hope to actually get to it today) and spotted the Arc de Triumph in the distance. It is such an elegant city with very grand boulevards and opulent public buildings and gardens. It is much more spread out than I expected but the metro is extensive (over 200 stations) and very very efficient.

We visited THE booksop on the left-bank opposite Notre-Dame....what a treat...great shop, great staff....

The downside to all this is that Ben has not been all that well since Granada and yesterday we had a dramatic exit from the Louvre in a French ambulance(nothing but praise for the French health system and the Louvre staff) as he was on the verge of collapse....a chronic stomach problem that needs to be addressed when he gets back to the UK...he has been pushing himself and has been told to rest...so he is stuck in the hotel until we leave tomorrow by train to London. So it has not been as easy as it seems ......

Kath

Morocco continued

We took a day trip out to the Atlas Mountains, in theory only an hours drive, but after numerous  photo stops where there was always a shop selling local wares or a man on a bicycle with a portable shop.(even though we said no shopping).it took a couple of hours. The mountains are very rugged and steep and covered in snow in winter which must be a sight to behold. We took  a walk to a waterfall up the side of a ravine...however the side of the track was covered in more shops selling everything from cooked tagines to fossils...not quite the wilderness experience we are used to.

The last day we wandered the streets looking for a palace we never found...but did locate the tomb of past rulers(Saadin Tombs) that had lay hidden (entrance blocked by the next ruler who had a grudge) for 300 years and was only discovered in 1916 by air....it would have been something in it's day when the carved ceilings were covered in gold and not overrun by 200 Italin tourists.

Then went to Yves Saint Laurent's garden Jardin Morelle..a riot of colour and exotic plants and a real haven from the heat and bustle of Marrakesh.....back through the souks to the riad and some much needed time out...it is a pretty challenging and exhausting place

Morocco

Ben arrived in Granada on Sunday(Maris went back to the UK the same day) and after a visit to the Alhambra we headed off on the Tuesday by bus to Algeciras on the Straits of Gibralta for the ferry to Tangier...this took all day and some of the night ...we arrived about 8pm..
Ben has been able to access cut price hotels for us along the way on his laptop...wi -fi seems to be everywhere..Morocco is no exception. So we have been living in style for not a lot of money!

Tangier was a busy port city...with a transient feel to it....but still the walk through the old medina the next morning was like stepping back in time and a shock to the senses....spice,herbs,veges and meat all crammed into narrow crumbling alleyways full of Moroccons in Arab dress...sat in the square drinking mint tea from a glass taking it all in. Now there is a mosque on every corner and the call to prayer echoes through the city via a multitude of  speakers set in the minarets.

Did a bit of a Beat trail as we had to wait until the end of the day for our train to Fez. So checked out the hotel where William Burroughs wrote 'The Naked Lunch' and was visited by Jack, Alan et al...and had a cuppa in the literary hangout The Cafe de Paris...frequented by Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Capote and Tenessee Williams to name but a few.
The food has vastly improved in quality and price...tagines and Moroccan salads to die for

Arrived in Fez late at night and thanks to Ben's internet skills and lastminute.com we were amazed at the extravagance of the 300 year old riad (old upper middle class townhouses set around a tiled courtyard and fountains)we had welcoming us in Fez. Just step outside the door and the steet is full of rubble and rubbish and looks like all the rest.
The next day we took a guide with us to navigate the maze that is the medina...12,000 alleyways with no street names and crowded with people and donkeys...and mosques of course....a great experience...

Tanneries in Fez

Our riad  had a terrace on the roof with an amazing view of the whole medina and the call to prayer from mosque to mosque was almost deafening. The people are very friendly and helpful and we are managing to negotiate most things without any French or Arabic.

The next day we took a train (the trains are excellent and very modern...make ours look very second-rate) to Marrakesh and after a very long journey of 8 hours we managed to be ripped off by the taxi driver and porter in the first half hour...the guard is now up and we are now very careful....'very democratic price' holds no weight here!
Our riad is in the old part of the city on the edge of the medina and is very nice indeed (could be straight out of one of those Moroccan interiors books we have had at work)...again Ben's find , although the little Moroccan man who runs the place is a cross between Basil Fawlty and Manuel (not very helpful at all) no doubt because he works 14 hour days for not much pay ...

Djemaa el-Fna at dusk

We have to walk through the souks (market stalls) to get to the main square, Djemaa el-Fna, where it all happens..dance troups,snake charmers,acrobats,magicians,food stalls and hustlers....

Granada: The Alhambra

Finally we have made it to the bottom of Spain and The Alhambra it´s crowning glory....The hotel is a short walk up a steep hill to The Alhambra Palace and extensive gardens...so it´s very handy....
Once through the gates the temperature drops a few degrees as there is parkland and channels of water running in a torrent down to the river below.

The Islamic palace dating back 700 years has weathered well considering the changes that have occured in the history of Spain. It is very very beautiful, breathtaking in fact..even though much of the colour is gone from the interiors. The archways,fountain filled courtyards, delicate yet elaborate stucco covering the walls and the honeycombed ceilings are exquiste. Water fills the whole place in fountains and channels and pools and niches in each wall for water jugs each with it´s own poem or set of poems. Cool breezes fill the palace as it is open to the weather and was designed to have cross ventialtion so it a pleasure to be able to escape the hot summer heat. FANTASTIC!!!

The gardens are enormous and beautifully looked after..including the original 700 year old vege garden and orchard. Quite formal with lots of hedging encasing the flower beds and lots of water again flowing through fountains and ponds...just beautiful!!!
We were lucky enough to encounter an English speaking guide by chance in the Alhambra museum this morning whose knowledge was so extensive it really enabled you the visualise life in the palace under muslim rule....it made such a difference to have the meaning and context of the artifacts explained..(usually the commentary is in Spanish only and you don´t have a clue as to what is what.).

I hope spring is in full flight and the Labor Party can stop being poll driven and undemocratic and work with the greens and independants.

Sorry still no usb port to insert photos with... Kathie

Seville

We stayed in amongst the narrow laneways of Barrio de Santa Cruz for 2 nights and really got the feel of the place. We could walk to the Catedral and Alcazar Palace. The Islamic influence in the architecture is strong here and very appealing. As usual the Islamic rulers were usurped by the Spanish Catholic monarchy in the late 1400s but the moorish influence has not been totally obliterated and disregarded. The palace was very beautiful with intricate plaster work and Islamic archways everywhere, exquisite ceilings and fountain filled courtyards. It contains a room where Vespucci and Magellan organised their expeditions ...The catedral is massive and ponderous...the 3 largest in the world....and of course very Catholic.

We managed the next day to get a local bus very cheaply to visit Italica just outside Seville...it was the site of the first Roman settlement in Spain and the birthplace of both Emporers Hadrian and Trajan...so we have come full circle with Hadrian (he now seems like an old friend). It was VERY impressive...many mosaic floors and a beautiful Roman road, enormous bathhouse and one of the biggest Roman ampitheatres ever built. So in the arvo I went to the Museo de Arqueologico in Seville which had room upon room of Roman finds (not the piddly little stuff you get on Time Team either).....
We did manage to have a really good meal last night in an Italian place...naturally it was not Spanish!
The weather here is a lot more manageable ...about 32 degress so the siesta has been abandoned.

Glad to hear things have settled down at home and that the Greens will have some say in policy

Toledo and Cordoba

These are the places you imagine Spain to be like....miles of cobblestoned narrow laneways with 3 storied houses whitewashed or stone with wrought iron balconies enclosing the streets. Vey atmospheric and very Spanish....

and of course the obligiatory Catholic church on every corner keeping (well they did in the past) a tight control on the population.

The further south we go the hotter it gets. It is 6pm and now 37 degrees as it was yesterday so a siesta with a good book and air con is mandatory to keep ones cool so to speak...sightseeing really has to be done in the morning before 2pm if possible.
 A lot of the shops close for a few hours close in the middle of the day and restaurants don´t serve dinner until after 8pm ...a bit of a challenge for me who likes to eat and hit the decks early...

The Mezquita Mosque is the feature here in Cordoba with it´s world heritage listing...unfortunately the Catholic monarchy have ravaged it somewhat by placing a bloody great church in the middle a few hundred years ago..the mosque is about 1000 years old and the islamic mosaics thankfully left by the christian infidels still sparkle after all that time (it helps that they contain 1600 kg of gold).

In Toledo we went to the Alcazar made famous as a propaganda tool by Franco after he relieved the beseiged Nationalists early in the Civil War...he had it rebuilt as a military museum and it presents a very sanitised version of Spanish history ....after 40 years of tight control by the fascists I´m not sure that they are still getting the truth 30 years on...it is all very interesting and the History of the Spanish Civil War I brought with me has been invaluable...

Adios
Kath
PS Still no government after 2 weeks...what a debacle!

Madrid

Madrid has some of the best art gallerys in the world and yesterday we went to 2 of them.

The Cetro de arte Sofia where Picasso´s Guernica is on display after it was returned to it´s rightful place after Franco died.The whole floor where it is displayed is dedicated to anti-fascist art of the Spanish Civil War...very moving....and then of course there were rooms of Dali, Miro,Gris,Leger etc
Then to The Museo del Prado ..certainly the best art gallery I have ever been in and all those pictures that you recognise from the art textbooks we had at school....to see them in the flesh is just wonderful.

Madrid is a very elegant city with lots of parks and plaza and apartment buldings with wrought iron balconies and large and very grand public buildings and palaces (built in large part with Inca gold I suspect)...
Still very expensive to eat and the food is not great either...we are so lucky at home to eat so well for about half the price.
Still no government at home I hear!

Barcelona

Gaudi's Casa Baillo

Very very hot and busy is Barcelona......but Gaudi is everywhere and truely amazing. Having been gazing at his work for decades in books it was no substitute for the real thing...he was a genius.

Barri Gotic laneway

Marion arrived safely by train from France and we stayed 3 nights in Barri Gotic..the oldest part of Barcelona but also the part with the most tourists and there was an awful lot of them...getting some summer heat I suspect because you sure don´t get it in the U.K. It was a maze of medieval alleyways and squares (placas) and of course a Catholic church every 100 metres it seemed. Fantastic
Note Tom that we saw the hotel that George Orwell stayed in for the duration of the Civil War.
Spain is not that easy as very little English is spoken and most signs are on in Spanish or Catalan..
.....no photos as yet as this computer in the hotel does not have that facility.
We arrived in Madrid about an hour ago on the very fast train ...at times we reached 300kms ....less than 3 hours to travel 600 or so kms from Barcelona. Very smooth and comfortable.

OXFORD

As Oxford is only an hour by train I thought it would be worth a look...and it certainly was...home to many greats of course; C S Lewis, Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, William Morris, John Ruskin and of course some of our own spent time there... memorable but not "great" would you say, Bob Hawke and Tony Abbott to name but a few.

Still no resolution to the impass...even Anthony Green has no answer!!!

SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE

Ben and I went to see "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at The Globe Theatre last night...the production was fantastic as was the calibre of the acting,direction and audience...it was like a big party...everyone felt very much a part of it all and thoroughly enjoyed themselves .(It is official that I have now used up my years ration of theatre tickets in 5 weeks)...

And just for good measure earlier in the day...a new exhibition commemorating 40 years since Jimi died...

Ireland

Spent 5 days in Kilkee County Clare on the west coast of Ireland visiting friends Shirley and Robbie and their kids Isobelle and Rory....I had not seen them for 15 years and had never met the kids so it was great to have the time with them.
Getting around by car made things a lot more accessible and easier..so we went up nd down the coast of Clare and admired it's wild and very Irish landscape of  stone walls and cottages, very green fields and dramatic coast of dark and brooding cliffs....the weather was of course cold and a bit damp...although they tell me it was good weather for summer and it certainly didn't stop them all getting out on the beach and swimming (mostly in wet suits) in what I would call winter weather. I never removed my shoes and socks and fleecy jacket!

DUN ANOGHASA, INIS MOR

The Aran Islands was a highlight...so beautiful and wild. We hired a pony and trap to take us up to the circular celtic stone fort Dun Anoghasa ....so spectacular ...the rock there is bloody hard as this thing has stood for 4000 years....no sandstone here. They all speak Gaelic on the island...as did our pony and trap owner/driver...one of the last places in Ireland to do so.

DOOLIN

Back in London

Have had a busy few days (what's new you all say)....so much to see and so little time  ...

Arrived back from the Lake District via Windemere (rather like the Blackpool of the Lake District so I was not sorry to leave).The trains (are very expensive thanks to Margaret) but so fast and comfortable and efficient..a pleasure to travel in.

On Sunday Ben and I spent about 7 hours on the hoof ..through all manner of parks (Hyde,Kensington and Green) ending up at the Tate Modern on the river opposite St Pauls....it's an old power station sensationally renovated and full of art as you would expect...fauves,cubists and on...miles of it and it was free! I wanted especilally to see the 'Red Star Over Russia' room exhibiting a fraction of David King's (a rather obsessive Pommy Trot) enormous Bolshevik poster collection and I was not disappointed..it was fantastic....and oh yes as a contrast we had called in at Harrods earlier in the day...capitalist excess at it's most opulent and extravagent!

Red Star Over Russia Room @Tate Modern

Harrods

Australia House

Monday I went to the V&A Museum (also free) and had a cuppa in the William Morris Room...wonderful collection in an amazing building...then on to Australia House to vote (had to run the gauntlet of the Libs,ALP ...but did take The Greens how to vote)....they were pretty busy there so let's hope it all turns out for the best ..then on to Somerset House (across the road from Australia House) and the Courtauld Collection of art...how nice to be viewing a Van Gogh or a Manet without having to dodge heads because those overseas art exhibitions are so crowded at home. Then met Ben and we went to see a play at the Comedy Theatre called La Bete starring Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pearce (Frasier)...it was fantastic...

V&A

Today I went to see The Wallace Collection of 18th and 19th art and furniture...completely over the top and after a while everything started to look the same..but am glad I went even if to know what sort of art I am not that fond of.....Rubens,Rembrandt etc..in great numbers and a lot of flamboyant furniture and ornaments from the court of Louis XIV and inumerable others of that ilke.,   then on to the British Library and their room of treasures....my god it was AMAZING....the Magna Carta, Henry VIII personal prayer roll, Scott off  the Antarctic's notebook,Joseph Hooke's botanical noebook,Shakespeare's handwriting,Janes Austen's notebook,writing desk and glasses, Charlotte Bronte's manuscript for Jane Eyre, Hardy's manuscript for Tess....on and on and on..............then just when you thought I was too weary(in truth I was really) to do anything else I dragged myself to Gordon Square in Bloomsbury (well I was in the near vicinity) to pay homage to The Bloomsbury set themselves......plaques on all the buildings.....just wonderful to be there.....
Cooked a nice dinner tonight of Irish trout...with clotted cream and British strawberries.....what about that (I did buy all the ingredients at Tescos..it's not as romantic as it sounds)

Ireland tomorrow and a very early start....more later

Kathxo

The Lakes

Window at Beatrix Potter's farm Hilltop

Arrived in Keswick in the North of the Lake District by bus today (beautiful trip through the top end of the Lakeland fells)...Keswick reminds me very much of Shimla (funny that) without the Indians and shabbyness of course....and it is FULL of tourists (I have to keep reminding myself I am one also)...and every second shop seems to be a camping/outdoor shop and every other a cafe and/or gifty shop!

Have just spent ages driving the tourist information centre ladies mad with my public transport needs(they are substantial.)... I will (fingers crossed) manage to re-visit my childhood reading by touring Lake Coniston (Arthur Ransome) and Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm and feed my topiary fetish at Levens Hall....whilst heavily subsidising the Lakes bus services!

Topiary at Levens Hall

Will try to insert photos tomorrow...as this is the first internet shop I have found to enable me to do so

Kathxo

PS Back in London today hence the photos via Ben's computer (14/8/10)

Still in the North

Still in Newcastle and having the darndest trouble hiring an automatic car so will have to modify my plans and bus it to The Lakes and give Yorkshire a miss.

Yesterday went with Michelle and her mum to the Workingman's Club in Wallsend and played bingo (yes I really did do this) and then into town for a pub lunch (a Sunday ritual) and the a walk round the Quayside (the trendy part)...new art galleries and performace space....great to see this sort of stuff happening in the North which traditionally draws the short straw.

Off to Alnwick Castle today and will leave here in the morning tomorrow probably to Keswick...I am getting to know the inside of buses quite well (sigh).

The news on the election does not bode well for our future...hope those swinging voters come to their senses by polling day .

Kathxo

The North

This is Hadrian's Wall

Internet access is not so easy up here so this is the first chance I have had to do an entry on the blog since leaving London.
I am in Newcastle-upon-Tyne library so photos will have to wait and as Michelle is waiting for me it will be brief.
It is great up here despite the weather (wet and cold....yes it is summer) and the people are just great.
Hadrian's Wall was AMAZING although I had set a huge task evey day so the Hadrian's Wall bus came in very handy to minimize the daily trudging. The scenery across Northumbria and Cumbria was breathtaking....more later as my time is up on the computer.
Kath

A good time was had by all in London and the South Downs

The Tower of London was not grim at all as I expected ....the sun was shining and it was packed to the rafters with tourists so was not the dark and sad place it probably should have been considering what went on behind those walls...after having stood in a queue (mind you this is the norm for most things) to see the crown jewels and getting in there only to find the crowns had all the jewels removed (it was news to me that the royals were into recycling..but maybe the austerity measures David Cameron had laid upon the country have hit them hard?)I was pretty peeved especially since I had paid a lot of £ to get into the bloody place!
The Dickens Walking Tour and High Tea at the Chesterfield Hotel and then on to the Apllo Theatre to see an Arthur Miller play starring David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker...truely astonishing performances!!!! How I manage to fit all this into one day is beyond me...well I do admit to being just a little weary.

CHARLESTON

Next day (Saturday) another long and challenging trip to the country without a car...we managed (at great expense) to get to Charleston.........WOW I FINALLY MADE IT......it was WONDERFUL and again it was as if Vanessa,Duncan and Clive had just stepped out for a stroll....the poms are sure good at keeping their heritage intact...........the garden and the house are perfect!!!! Then a cab to Monks House as the trials of getting there meant we had no time to walk between the two houses...it too was wonderful ...Virginia's glasses still on her desk in her room (of one's own) at the back of the garden. Dinner in Lewes opposite the house where Tom Paine was a lodger before we headed ak to London n the train.

GARDEN AT HAM HOUSE

Today was a trip to Richmond on the Thames to Ham house and Marble Hill (both historic (very) big houses)...walk along the Thames Path and then the ferry back to London (2 hours) .....How long can I keep up this cracking pace...Hadrian's Wall shall seem like a well eaned rest after this week....off to the north tomorrow morning.

William Morris to Henry VIII

The trek and "great" it was....2 buses,a train and a taxi (4 hours in all...the librarian(this proves what good people they are) helped me hire a cab as they seemed to be all booked out and Lechlade,the end of the bus run, was only a tiny Cotswold village) to Kelmscott Manor in the Cotswolds was sure worth the trouble and expense (£48 for a 1 hour return train ride). It was the most beautful house I have ever been in and of course William's amazing eye for colour and talent for design made it so enticing (and familiar) and you could just tell what a great bloke he was. It was as if he, Jane and the girl's had just stepped out for a stroll..if only! His coat was even still hanging behind the door. I also managed to visit their graves in the tiny church yard just a stroll from the manor down a lane little changed in 4oo years. The house receives no government funding so is run by an army of very proper English ladies and they do a great job....the memory of that day will stay with me forever....and still 2 William Morris sites to go but they will have to wait until I get back to London after my time in the north.

Yesterday it was Henry's turn...as Marion and I went to Hampton Court Palace in Surrey....a great Tudor pile with massive English baroque additions by Christopher Wren on behalf of William and Mary.
The extensive gardens looked after by 40 gardeners and of course in full summer glory (winter by now a distant memory)...the rose garden was massive and the scent overwhelming....we hooked up with a very absorbing garden history tour and managed to observe the gardeners hard at work trimming the topiary(of which there is tons) and yes I seem to be correctly trimming my own (which now looks rather pathetic).

Dinner last night with Ben and his Australian friend Louise at a wonderful quirky restaurant in Portabello Road called First Floor (opposite the travel bookshop from that movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant).. and realised yesterday that I had been walking past a Banksy on my way to the station!

Steeling myself for the onslaught of the tube today as I head to the Tower of London and it's grim history.

Hope the Julia/Tony show is not getting too silly or tedious (although without a doubt it is)....

Kath

KL TO KENSINGTON

Arrived tired and relieved to be off the plane and out of airport terminals..the 2 hour delay at Kuala Lumpur Airport in the middle of the night was very tedious...it did not help that the bloke in the front of us had 3 seats to himself and slept the whole flight in a prone position and could not help himself but to gloat over his good luck.
 It was a great idea to break the flight up with 24 hours in Kuala Lumpur and at least get a good night's sleep in a BED....KL not at all what was expected.. they seem very taken with high-end capitalism and conspicuous consumption and the throngs of young Malays at the nightclubs belie the fact that Islam is the dominant religion.

 LP descibes as the last bastion of Malay culture in the CBD  Kapmpung Baru where we manged to have a great meal of Goreing for $2 and not a touristor chandelier in sight...hope it manages to hang on.

Still here were are....Ben managed to get us through the labyrinth of the underground and thousands of commuters running you down....It was great to see him looking so well and happy in London...and it only felt like yesterday since I had seen him last not 2 and a half years!

Despite the lack of  sleep we went to St Pauls and climbed to the top for a breathtaking view of London and then to the crypt ..a very opulent homage to the glory of The Empire and all the men and one woman (Florence Nightingale) who helped get her there...Horatio's tomb was particularly over the top....The mosaics adorning the walls are pretty stunning...even this athiest was impressed..
Then orf to the Museum of London...with so much stuff that had been dug up it took your breath way and made all those broken bits of pottery and tile that Time Team go gaga over look somewhat pathetic...

Another bad's night sleep but it's all a few tube stations away so up and out into the fray.....

Cheers
Kath

 PS George Orwell's house just around the corner and I have to pass it on the way to the tube...as is Portabello Road (such a hardship it all is!)

Packing

A few days to go and panic has set in...will I be able to go to work, get in the store of duck and cat food....more to the point will the garden,animals et al survive my 10 week absence?? All will be ok i'm sure and as I'm pretending to be a Roman legionary trudging along Hadrian's Wall through mist and rain will any of this matter...no I don't think it will!!!

Day 1         Batu Caves Malaysia

Days 3-10  London

Day10         Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

Days 11-14 Hadrian's Wall

Days 15-19 Cumbria and Yorkshire

Days 22-36  Ireland/London -voting at Australia House

Days 36-39  Barcelona

Days 39-42  Madrid

Days 42-44  Toledo

Days 44-46  Cordoba

Days 46-48  Seville

Days 49-51 Granada

Days 51-62 Tangier to Marakesh

Days 63-65 Paris

Days 65-70 London

Day 71        Kuala Lumpur

Day 72        Home