Beijing 7 October 2008

Started the day with a walk round Tiananmen Square. Somehow not so imposing a space as I expected - it may be the largest open public square in the world but the buildings in its middle break it up.


Entered the Forbidden City through the Gate of Heavenly Peace, under Mao's portrait. This is somehow more impressive as successive squares lead you into the more intimate parts of the imperial palace.

From there we drove out to the Summer Palace, with its marble boat.

The palace is overlooked by a Buddhist Temple.

After a short boat trip across Kunming Lake we watched two old men flying kites by the 17 Arch Bridge.



Back in Beijing we were taken to a "Tea Ceremony" - for which read glorified sales pitch for exhorbitantly priced blocks of China Tea. Our reward for this was to see the nearby Birds Nest Olympic stadium and to witness a street vendor being hassled by police - apparently for trying to pass of his grade C fake Rolex watches as grade A fakes and pricing accordingly. The Chinese attitude to passing off, plagiarism and copyright in a nutshell!

Beijing 6 October 2008

Flew BA from Terminal 5 overnight. No problem with the online check in but an hours delay while they changed plane. Arrived in Beijing to be met by Henry, the Emporor Tours guide http://www.emperor-tours.co.uk/ .

After lunch we checked into our hotel, the Sunworld http://www.sunworldhotel.com.cn/Eng/Home/Index.aspx . Its most noticeable feature was the low ceiling in the corridor outside our room - my head literally touched the ceiling - the Chinese obviously did not believe in tall people.

Afternoon visit to the Temple of Heaven.

Cornwall 29/30 August 2008

A long drive down for what was to have been a long weekend but which had to be cut short to return on Saturday evening to meet up with Stu, Karen & kids who were in Bristol for the same weekend.

Picnic dinner followed by Henry V at Minack Theatre.

Stopped at the Commercial Hotel in St Just. http://www.commercial-hotel.co.uk/index.html

Saturday started out unpromising. The company we were supposed to be going out with to look for basking sharks proved elusive - not returning calls. We went to the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek http://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/ .

Then we got a call from Rory at Elemental Tours http://www.elementaltours.co.uk/ to confirm we were to meet at 2pm. He was late but it was worth the wait. We got prime seats at the front of the RIB and got thoroughly windswept as we made our way from Penzance harbour, past the Penlee lifeboat station, John Le Carre's clifftop home, he Minack Theatre, round Lands End to Cape Cornwall. Here we saw 6 basking sharks which swam close to the RIB for several minutes before disappearing.

Lisbon 2 August 2008

Two metro changes and a steep climb took us to the flea-market of the Feira da Ladra, tucked away behind the Santa Engracia. From there we walked to the Sao Vicente de Fora monastry where the kings of Portugal are buried in great vaults.

From there we took the famous Tram 28 across town, threading its way along twisting streets, barely missing the cars parked on either side. An inch misjudgement when parking would cost you a wing mirror.

After lunch we wandered through the shops of the Chaido and Baixa districts, linked by the wrought iron Elevador Santa Justa, designed by Mesnier, a disciple of Gustav Eiffel. It shows.

Sintra 1 August 2008

Caught the train out through the Benfica district to Sintra.

Walked round the gorge that divides the station and new part of the twon from the old to explore the Palacio Nacional.

After lunch in the town square, walked to the gothic Quinta da Regaleira. Set in gardens themed on the intiation rites of the Knights Templar, this featured a bizarre mix of the labyrinthine library from The Name of The Rose inside and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade outside.

We then caught the bus up to the Moorish Castle that overlooks the town and walked round its vertigo-inducing, windswept curtain walls.

A further short hop on the bus took us to the Pena Palace, another bizarre confection, home of the last king before his abdication in 1910, with lovely, extensive gardens.

Lisbon 31 July 2008

Celebrated Jenny's birthday by jetting off to Lisbon.

Having dumped our stuff at the hotel, we caught the metro into the heart of the city, the Baixa. From here we walked up to the cathedral and Roman theatre. Fortified by a glass of wine and gazpacho soup we continued up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge.

Dubrovnik 1 July 2008

Visited the very moving memorial to the citizens of Dubrovnik who were killed in the shelling of the city in the civil war. It's hard to think that this was less than 20 years ago.

Took the ferry to Lokrum Island where we climbed the hill to the tower from where we had views across to the city. Lazy afternoon sunbathing and swimming in the Adriatic.

Romantic dinner at the Dubrovnik Palace, watching the sun set over the islands.

Early start the next morning for the return drive to Split airport and flight home.