London Walks

While in London we went on three guided walks with London Walks.  The first was a morning walk was around Jewish London. We went to the Bevis Marks Synagogue, saw former houses of the Huguenot silk weavers that later were occupied by members of the Jewish community and a former Jewish soup kitchen.

Soup Kitchen

The walk ended at Spitalfields market, where we grabbed some lunch before heading to Holborn tube for our afternoon walk, which was Legal and illegal London. 

Unfortunately,  while we were waiting trying to find our guide, I twisted my ankle very badly. The other foot was already covered in blisters from the previous day.  After a short while my ankle recovered enough to allow us to go on the walk.

We looked at Lincoln's Inn Fields, the four Inns of Court (Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Middle Temple and Inner Temple), along with the Staple Inn, the Royal Courts of Justice, the place where the barristers get their wigs and gowns (Ede & Ravenscroft - founded 1689, claiming to be London's oldest tailor)

The Undercroft of Lincoln's Inn would be familiar to many people as it is a favourite television location.  It has been used in Poirot, Downton Abbey, Tom Jones and The Importance of Being Ernest (Colin Firth version).

Lincoln's Inn Undercroft

Sadly, we only saw Temple Church from the outside.  I have never been in and would love to have done so.

Temple Church

The final walk was a ghost walk on Saturday evening.  The walk went from 7:30 to 9:30, but it was only just getting dark towards the end. It would have been more atmospheric in the winter when it was cold and dark. But it was still very good, and it took me to places I had never seen before, like St Batholomew's Hospital, Smithfield Market (well, from the outside at least), Christ Church Greyfriars, which was bombed in the war and has not been rebuilt - it is now a garden - as well as some that I had seen a long time ago, like St Paul's Cathedral and the Old Bailey.

Christ Church Greyfriars

St Paul's Cathedral

The Vikings at the British Museum

After an horrendous trip into London (I thought the congestion charge was supposed to cut down the traffic in Central London) we spotted out hotel's entrance on Fleet Street, but had a lot of trouble finding where the vehicle could go in to drop of luggage (and one passenger).  I checked in while Andy drove out to Heathrow to drop off the hire car. It was 11:45 and we were due at the British Library at 2pm for our timed entry into the Vikings exhibition.

I decided to wander slowly along Fleet Street and The Strand and then make my way to the Museum.  All was going well until I got out of the tube at Tottenham Court Road.  I kept making wrong turns, and it was rather hot.  I hadn't heard from Andy, so I texted him to see if he had dropped off the car.  He said that he had only just left Avis. It was now 1pm, and once he got on the tube it was expected to take about 45 minutes to get to a station near the Museum.  He obviously wasn't going to make lunch, so I decided to just go to the cafe and get lunch and a cold drink, rather than look at something else in the museum.

He didn't make it til twenty past two in the end, but the people still let us in.

Even though there were timed tickets (people being allowed in every 10 minutes) it was VERY crowded inside. That made it hard to see the exhibits or read about them.  The highlight of the exhibition was the model encasing the remains of the biggest Viking longboat ever found. It was found in Norway when they were excavating to build a Viking ship museum.

Not surprisingly, photographs were not allowed.

My favourite things in the exhibition were some of the gold and silver items. The filigree work was so fine, it was hard to believe it was made so long ago.

While we were at the museum we took the opportunity to see a couple of other things. On my list were the Sutton Hoo finds.  

Helmet from Sutton Hoo

I also stumbled across (quite by chance) one of the linear B tablets.  See my earlier post about them.

Linear B Tablet

From there we walked back to our hotel via Shaftesbury Avenue, where we purchased discount tickets for the theatre.  

On the Thursday night we saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the Musical, which was excellent.  The original movie starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin. This version had Robert Lindsay, Rufus Hound along with John Marquez, Samantha Bond and Katherine Kingsley. 

It was a fantastic show, the only downer was when we ordered a coke and a glass of champagne and it came to £12.50.

The second play, which we saw on Friday night, was Handbagged. I loved it, but Andy enjoyed it less. It was about the Queen and Mrs Thatcher, and there were old and young versions of each, with the older versions telling the audience what they had really thought.  The two women playing Mrs T were so good - they really had her ... er ... down to a T (so to speak).  The women playing the queen were not as good, though in fairness, the older one was actually the understudy.

Anyway, it was a great night.

Countryside walk and Ely

On Tuesday morning Andy had to do some work, so I went out for a walk. It was a glorious day, and the owner of the B&B had told me I could walk around one of their fields. The rape was in flower, the birds were chirping, and sheep were bleating in the next field. The hedgerows were full of hawthorn bushes in flower and cowslips.

 

Once I came back from my walk we proceeded to Ely. First stop was the cathedral. It was very impressive, with a wonderful painted ceiling and a few portions of old wall paintings remaining.  The Lady Chapel was possibly the nicest part, though I didn't like the sponsors names in the new windows. But sadly, though it was a Norman cathedral,  so much of it was Victorian - the painted ceiling,  the stained glass windows, many of the floors... and the floor of the Lady Chapel was only a couple of years old.

Sponsored windows in the Lady Chapel

 

Next was a visit to Cromwell's house. I felt that would have been great for families with young kids, but I had no interest in the activities they had provided - things like trying on parts of armour, or trying to write in an old fashioned handwriting style. And it was not as if I hadn't seen an old half-timbered building before..

Cromwell's House

 

Arrival and Bletchley Park

Arrived at Andy's parents place in St Neots (Cambridgeshire) on Sunday after a journey of over 36 hours door to door (we had to fly to Melbourne first, and then had a long wait for our London flight). We had a family lunch (with Andys brother and his wife and kids) and then over to our accommodation.

We are staying in a converted barn on a farm outside Bedford.  It is fantastic. I can't say it is quiet, because there is a constant twittering of birds, but that's the kind of noise I like. The hosts are very nice. I would recommend this place.  It is called North End Barns. (See their web site here)   

The Farm House

The Barn Accommodation

Monday was chores and a visit to Andy's cousin and Aunt over near Norwich.  We'll be back to see them later.

Today we visited Bletchley Park, the place where the code breakers like Alan Turing worked on cracking the output of the Enigma machines, the Lorenz machines and so on.

It is a fascinating place. Far bigger than I expected. A ticket allows you to enter as often as you like over a 12 month period - and I can see why. There is so much to take in that Andy and I started to glaze over.  Sadly, we won't be able to come back on this trip.

The place was top secret for years, even after the war, and everyone had to sign the official secrets act. I wonder how many of its secrets have been lost forever now that so many of the people who worked here have passed away.

An Enigma Machine

The Mansion behind the Lake

Aitutaki

After our week in Raratonga, we flew to a second island, Aitutaki.

 

Our hotel in Aitutaki is just so beautiful, and we have a beach-front bungalow with a large verandah where we can look out over the lagoon surrounding the island and just relax. There are only 27 bungalows in the hotel, so it's nice and peaceful.  It's a hardship, having to be in such a beautiful place, but someone has to do it.

 

Our Room

Our Balcony/Verandah

View of the Lagoon from our Balcony

 

Our little bungalow from the beach

Resort pool

 

We took a day trip on Aitutaki's famous lagoon.  We chose not to go on one of the bigger boats, even though one former passenger happily informed us that they had toilets on board, but instead chose a small boat which took only eight passengers.  Our captain, Captain Fantastic, could not have been better.  One of our passengers was an elderly man who was not very mobile, and the captain constantly helped him in and out of the boat. We snorkelled in two places, and visited seven islands.  There was some rain, but the afternoon cleared up, and it really doesn't matter if it rains when you a snorkelling. Those who know Andy know that he needs to wear glasses - without them he can't see a thing.  But the strange thing was that when snorkelling, even though he had no glasses on, he could see perfectly, and even see down 10 meters or so to the bottom of the lagoon.

 

We had a really nice lunch on one of the islands we stopped at. A fantastic day, though I got very sunburnt.

Andy snorkelling

Lunch stop

 

Lunch being prepared

 

Lunch is ready

 

The location for Survivor Cook Islands

 

 

Andy contemplating the view

 

 

 

 

One Foot Island

Free-range chickens, DIY cemeteries and sea cucumbers

The three things that will stick most in my memory about Rarotonga (main island in the Cook Islands Group) are free-range chickens, DIY cemeteries and sea cucumbers.  Oh, and the beautiful beaches and magnificent mountains, of course.

 

Chicken and Rooster in the main town on Rarotonga

Everywhere you go around the island, chickens and roosters roam free. Some of them are very attractive looking birds, some are scrawny ones.  Many of the toddlers staying here in our hotel are more taken by the chickens (and the dogs that also roam wild) than anything else.  The only other birds I have seen are those blasted Indian Mynahs, which are as much (or perhaps more) of a pest as that are back in Australia.

What about these 'DIY cemeteries'?  Here in the Cook Islands it is possible to bury your loved ones on your own property if you own the freehold to that property. This means that there are small family cemeteries all over the place, and even the odd grave underneath a carport-type of structure in someone's front yard!  As a genealogist I'm not sure if this would find making graves easier or more difficult.  One thing a guide told us, though, is that you won't find any from the 1700s or early 1800s, because at that stage the Cook Islands were still cannibals, and had not been converted by the missionaries to the need to bury the remains of their loved ones.

Grave in the front yard

And what about the sea cucumbers? Well, our resort here is on Muri lagoon, and all throughout the lagoon are sea cucumbers, which look like giant slugs (or something more unpleasant!).  They are perfectly harmless, and actually keep the lagoon clean, and they proliferate all over the lagoon.

Amongst the seaweed are several sea-cucumbers

 

The hotel we are staying in, Pacific Resort Rarotonga, is very nice.  We've been on a very interesting cultural tour, followed by an evening show and buffet at Te Vara Nui village, which was really interesting and enjoyable. 

Making local medicine on the cultural tour

Evening show

 

I've also been on a safari tour around the island, but sadly Andy had to miss it as he was not well that day (something he ate, I suspect). That was a pity, as it was really enjoyable.  Our driver, Mr Useless, took us to see a famous waterfall (which had no water falling!), some of the native crops growing, the Noni factory, to see where the seven canoes departed Rarotonga to go and settle in New Zealand and then up into the volcanic mountains to see the most wonderful views. After that it was a delicious lunch and then back to the hotel for the afternoon.

The settlers of New Zealand set off from here

Some of the glorious scenery on the island

All the people on the island have been very friendly and it's been a great holiday destination.

Barefoot Bar and Restaurant

Resort Grounds

Resort Grounds

Muri Lagoon

Beach

Beach

I recently visited to Salt Lake City in Utah.  While I was primarily there to attend the Rootstech conference and do some research in the Family History Library, I did take the opportunity to do a little sightseeing.

First I will make some general comments on Salt Lake City. It is in a valley surrounded by glorious mountains.  When I was there most of them were snow-covered, so there were fantastic views around most corners. It is also very clean.  Unbelievably so.  In fact, there we several places where they had free dispensers of plastic bags to allow people to clean up their dog mess.  But it wasn't just the lack of dog mess that made it so clean.  Only once did I ever see any litter on the streets. Another point is that the streets seemed almost deserted.  There weren't crowds on the footpaths (or sidewalks as they call them there), and I never saw heavy traffic on the roads, all of which make is a pleasant place to walk around.

 

The city was established in 1847, so it does not have any 17th century buildings (or other early structures). The earliest building that is there is a pioneer log home that has been relocated next to the Family History Library. 

 

But the lack of any lengthy history doesn't mean there isn't plenty of interesting and attractive things to see.

 

The heart of Salt Lake City is Temple Square. This is where the Salt Lake Temple is located, and also the Tabernacle (home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). The best way to start this is to go to one of the visitors' centres. There is a north visitors' centre and a south visitors' centre.  I went into the north one, and there were some very interesting displays about the building of the temple (bringing the huge blocks of granite in from the mountains to the place where the temple was to be built). I also got a little pamphlet there which gave a map of temple square and information on the buildings there.

 

 

Another interesting building that is outside the temple square precinct is the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. You can go into that building and take the lift up to the 11th floor to see the views of the city.  But the building itself is very beautiful and well worth a look.

 

 

On the Thursday night we were privileged to be able to attend a special concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir put on especially for Rootstech.  They get hundreds of requests for special concerts throughout the year and rarely are able to accede to those requests, so we really were privileged.  

 

 

I got there early (along with a couple of other Aussies - Liz and Peter Pidgeon), and we got to hear their rehearsal.  That was very interesting, hearing them keep repeating certain parts of a piece of music until the conductor was happy.  Then the concert started.  It was called "Land that I Love - The Immigration of Irving Berlin".  It was a really wonderful experience in a building with wonderful accoustics.

Then on the Sunday after the conference, when the library was closed, a few of us joined up with Jan Gow's "Hooked on Genealogy" tour group to do some sightseeing outside the main town area. Jan has been to Salt Lake City many times, so she knew where we should go, and could fill us in with what we were seeing. 

We started off with most of us attending the regular Sunday performance of Music and the Spoken Word at the Tabernacle.  What I found most interesting was that some of the pieces that were performed were those that we had heard being rehearsed on the Thursday night.  Great to hear how they finally came out in their entirety.  I have to confess, though, that the piece I enjoyed most was Bach's Fugue in G Major, which was a pure organ piece - no choir involvement
 

Then we got our mini-bus and set off on our sight-seeing tour.  First thing we went and saw was the great salt lake.  It wasn't what I expected. I had thought it was a dry salt like, rather like Lake Eyre. But what we saw was a lake with water. Very salty water, admittedly (it's seven times saltier than the ocean and saltier than the dead sea). The only thing that lives in the lake is the briny shrimp. It turns out that I was thinking of the Bonneville Salt Flats.  They were both originally part of Lake Bonneville, which in the Pleistocene era was nearly as big as Lake Michigan, but are now separate.  

 

Bonneville Salt Flats (left) and the Great Salt Lake (right)

All the driving around took us very close to those glorious mountains,  very spectacular.  We also drove past the copper mine, but couldn't go in as the visitors centre is not open in the winter.

After lunch it was time to visit the outlet shops for some retail therapy. Enough said.

A big thank you to Anthony from the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel who was our driver for the day.