Snail tourist

I really am a slow coach at times. Yesterday I had planned on seeing a number of places but only managed 3 out of the 5 – National Maritime Museum, the old Royal Naval College and the Greenwich Observatory. I was too late to look through the Cutty Sark because I spent too much time in the maritime museum and I never did make it to London Tower.

So today I planned to do a number of things and again only managed two – visited London Tower and St Pauls and wandered along to the Royal Exchange to check out the site of the stocks where Jack was put after his trial. I noted on an old map of London in the Maritime museum that there were stocks set up in the place in front of the Royal Exchange so assumed it must have been the right place as Jack was accused of rigging the exchange.

Needless to say I did not get to the Temple or the Guild Hall – will do that tomorrow hopefully will visit the Museum of London and well I’ll try to fit in John Soane’s Museum but considering my snail’s pace I’m doubtful. There is still the old surgical museum on the South side and Kew Gardens would be lovely to visit. I’ve only got two days left. London will just have to be revisited some time in the future, just for all the other huge museums which I don’t think I can do justice to in my current frame of mind.

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Snail tourist

I really am a slow coach at times. Yesterday I had planned on seeing a number of places but only managed 3 out of the 5 – National Maritime Museum, the old Royal Naval College and the Greenwich Observatory. I was too late to look through the Cutty Sark because I spent too much time in the maritime museum and I never did make it to London Tower.

So today I planned to do a number of things and again only managed two – visited London Tower and St Pauls and wandered along to the Royal Exchange to check out the site of the stocks where Jack was put after his trial. I noted on an old map of London in the Maritime museum that there were stocks set up in the place in front of the Royal Exchange so assumed it must have been the right place as Jack was accused of rigging the exchange.

Needless to say I did not get to the Temple or the Guild Hall – will do that tomorrow hopefully will visit the Museum of London and well I’ll try to fit in John Soane’s Museum but considering my snail’s pace I’m doubtful. There is still the old surgical museum on the South side and Kew Gardens would be lovely to visit. I’ve only got two days left. London will just have to be revisited some time in the future, just for all the other huge museums which I don’t think I can do justice to in my current frame of mind.

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In London

I got to London yesterday after a few days in Gibraltar. I’ve been wandering around Buckingham Palace, St James, Mayfair, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, down on the Thames and Westminster Abbey and around Whitehall this morning shall walk up to the Savoy and around Covent Garden and back to my hotel this afternoon/evening.

The hotel is nice (and expensive like most of London) but I wanted to stay in a nice hotel for a change in a good area and be pampered a bit so Mayfair it is. I’ll probably go to Greenwich to see the Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory and if I have time tomorrow jump off the boat on the way back down the Thames at The Tower. Or if the weather isn’t so great might do museums or the city – St Pauls, the Guild Hall, the city of London museum.

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In London

I got to London yesterday after a few days in Gibraltar. I’ve been wandering around Buckingham Palace, St James, Mayfair, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, down on the Thames and Westminster Abbey and around Whitehall this morning shall walk up to the Savoy and around Covent Garden and back to my hotel this afternoon/evening.

The hotel is nice (and expensive like most of London) but I wanted to stay in a nice hotel for a change in a good area and be pampered a bit so Mayfair it is. I’ll probably go to Greenwich to see the Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory and if I have time tomorrow jump off the boat on the way back down the Thames at The Tower. Or if the weather isn’t so great might do museums or the city – St Pauls, the Guild Hall, the city of London museum.

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Gibraltar

I’m now resting my sore feet after trekking up to the top of the Upper Rock. I certainly know now how Jack felt when climbing the rock to view the battle at the end of M&C. I was going to be lazy and take the cable car but as it wasn’t operational for at least another hour so I decided I would take a walk in the Alameda Botanical Gardens and from there kept climbing eventually to the top. It was good I started early as it was relatively clear and you could see Africa across the strait and it was still shaded on the west side of the rock. Started climbing about 9:30 and after visiting St Michael’s Cave and spending time taking pictures of the Barbary Apes, it was not till 11:30 till I reached the top, not a bad effort I thought. Great views of the bay and Gibraltar itself. Yesterday afternoon after getting the bus from Malaga to La Linea de la Concepcion and getting to my hotel I walked around the town and saw most of the sites around town including the Trafalgar Cemetery. After my climb walked down to see the siege tunnels and the Moorish tower and walked down to have lunch and then visited the rather dusty and strange little museum and then took the bus round the other side to Catalan Bay and back here.

I noticed yesterday on the bus trip how god awful the Spanish coast is, totally overdeveloped and made ugly with apartment block after apartment block. This morning I was shocked to see how many Gibraltans own cars and use them, traffic jams would you believe it through most of the day and those bloody vespers with their horrible drone. In such a small place it seems thoroughly wasteful and environmental vandalism to have a car.

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Gibraltar

I’m now resting my sore feet after trekking up to the top of the Upper Rock. I certainly know now how Jack felt when climbing the rock to view the battle at the end of M&C. I was going to be lazy and take the cable car but as it wasn’t operational for at least another hour so I decided I would take a walk in the Alameda Botanical Gardens and from there kept climbing eventually to the top. It was good I started early as it was relatively clear and you could see Africa across the strait and it was still shaded on the west side of the rock. Started climbing about 9:30 and after visiting St Michael’s Cave and spending time taking pictures of the Barbary Apes, it was not till 11:30 till I reached the top, not a bad effort I thought. Great views of the bay and Gibraltar itself. Yesterday afternoon after getting the bus from Malaga to La Linea de la Concepcion and getting to my hotel I walked around the town and saw most of the sites around town including the Trafalgar Cemetery. After my climb walked down to see the siege tunnels and the Moorish tower and walked down to have lunch and then visited the rather dusty and strange little museum and then took the bus round the other side to Catalan Bay and back here.

I noticed yesterday on the bus trip how god awful the Spanish coast is, totally overdeveloped and made ugly with apartment block after apartment block. This morning I was shocked to see how many Gibraltans own cars and use them, traffic jams would you believe it through most of the day and those bloody vespers with their horrible drone. In such a small place it seems thoroughly wasteful and environmental vandalism to have a car.

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I´ve arrived in Malaga on my way to Gibraltar after a few days on Minorca staying at Collingwood House. I thought my bag had gone astray when everyone had left and they had turned off the carousel and started to panic but they must have done something odd and decided my bag had come from a non-EU country, (unless in Malaga they consider Minorca totally foreign) because it ended up with the baggage from non-EU countries. With much relief found the train station and boarded the train for Malaga and found the hotel without too much trouble. Over with the boring bits.

Collingwood House was well an experience, a strange British type of experience there were all these very old Brits who come back to the hotel every year and are on first name basis with the hotel staff. They never holiday anywhere else but Minorca. The food, well let´s say it is probably an anglicised version of Minorcan food – bland in the extreme to suit conservative British tastes.

Mahon has its attractions but I´m not sure other than being the place Jack & Stephen first met was the only reason I wanted to visit. Admittedly I succumbed to my usual doozy of a cold when there so that may have jaundiced my view. My first day was spent round Mahon but unfortunately other than the pigtail steps there was little else I could spot that looked anything like the places described. PO´B must have made them up. Went for a cruise round the harbour which was pleasant and off to the museum to see if there was anything of interest there from the time. Quite rightly they concentrated on Minorcans rather than their invaders but there were a few interesting maps and pictures. On the second day feeling extremely lousy I went on the tour of Collingwood House conducted by the owner. No original furnishings it seems, as the house was a ruin when he bought it and restored it. He has purchased paintings and furnishings of the period though and has an interesting ghost story or two to tell. After I went to Es Castell (Georgetown as it was called by the British)thinking of walking around to St Esteve´s Cove but I was feeling absolutely lousy so all I did was go back to the hotel to sleep and the third day was not much better. I´d planned to go to Ciutadella but did not have the energy to do anything more than wander into Mahon and back again.

esteve, gairid and rahalia_cat, you may expect postcards from Mahon. Sorry max_und_moritz your address was recorded on my e-mail address book and not written down or you would have received one as well. I could not access the internet on Minorca. Internet cafes aren´t big there.

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1577

I´ve arrived in Malaga on my way to Gibraltar after a few days on Minorca staying at Collingwood House. I thought my bag had gone astray when everyone had left and they had turned off the carousel and started to panic but they must have done something odd and decided my bag had come from a non-EU country, (unless in Malaga they consider Minorca totally foreign) because it ended up with the baggage from non-EU countries. With much relief found the train station and boarded the train for Malaga and found the hotel without too much trouble. Over with the boring bits.

Collingwood House was well an experience, a strange British type of experience there were all these very old Brits who come back to the hotel every year and are on first name basis with the hotel staff. They never holiday anywhere else but Minorca. The food, well let´s say it is probably an anglicised version of Minorcan food – bland in the extreme to suit conservative British tastes.

Mahon has its attractions but I´m not sure other than being the place Jack & Stephen first met was the only reason I wanted to visit. Admittedly I succumbed to my usual doozy of a cold when there so that may have jaundiced my view. My first day was spent round Mahon but unfortunately other than the pigtail steps there was little else I could spot that looked anything like the places described. PO´B must have made them up. Went for a cruise round the harbour which was pleasant and off to the museum to see if there was anything of interest there from the time. Quite rightly they concentrated on Minorcans rather than their invaders but there were a few interesting maps and pictures. On the second day feeling extremely lousy I went on the tour of Collingwood House conducted by the owner. No original furnishings it seems, as the house was a ruin when he bought it and restored it. He has purchased paintings and furnishings of the period though and has an interesting ghost story or two to tell. After I went to Es Castell (Georgetown as it was called by the British)thinking of walking around to St Esteve´s Cove but I was feeling absolutely lousy so all I did was go back to the hotel to sleep and the third day was not much better. I´d planned to go to Ciutadella but did not have the energy to do anything more than wander into Mahon and back again.

, and , you may expect postcards from Mahon. Sorry your address was recorded on my e-mail address book and not written down or you would have received one as well. I could not access the internet on Minorca. Internet cafes aren´t big there.

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Just returned from walking in the mountains again around Barcelona. I went out to Rupit today and walked around the town and out to the waterfall below the town. Quite fantastic mountain scenery and the village was quite beautiful.

Of course the one day I was going on a more extensive walk was the day the monthly blahs hit. They are totally out of wack at the moment. It explains the denseness and vagueness of the last few days. I forgot of course all museums are closed on Mondays and was going to go to the Catalunyan Art Museum tomorrow, forgetting all about the Monday closures. I guess I´ll go out to Montserrat instead. Though I had some strokes of genius, the lines for the Cathedral in the Barri Gotic were way too long the other dat so rather than wait in line I went to the museum of chocolate instead. A commercial venture really to sell chocolate but I loved the displays made out of chocolate.

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1576

Just returned from walking in the mountains again around Barcelona. I went out to Rupit today and walked around the town and out to the waterfall below the town. Quite fantastic mountain scenery and the village was quite beautiful.

Of course the one day I was going on a more extensive walk was the day the monthly blahs hit. They are totally out of wack at the moment. It explains the denseness and vagueness of the last few days. I forgot of course all museums are closed on Mondays and was going to go to the Catalunyan Art Museum tomorrow, forgetting all about the Monday closures. I guess I´ll go out to Montserrat instead. Though I had some strokes of genius, the lines for the Cathedral in the Barri Gotic were way too long the other dat so rather than wait in line I went to the museum of chocolate instead. A commercial venture really to sell chocolate but I loved the displays made out of chocolate.

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