Vibrant City

 Breakfast this morning was enjoyed with Martina, a German couple and an English couple as stories were told of places visited or still to be.

The automatic coffee machine, as I don’t have a degree in making coffee (nor did the other guests) presented a stern challenge even though it’s operation seemed simple but our host, Jack, was all too ready to provide the solution.

Jack provides delicious homemade wheaten bread baked especially for Avoca (the name of the BnB) by his nephew who is a chef.

The BnB is named after Avoca a small town in Wicklow as Jack hails from that part of Ireland.

Avoca BnB

Taking our leave from the table we then strolled into the centre of Dublin, a walk of around 50 minutes and we were immediately struck by the style of housing in the area of the BnB

On our walk into the city we passed an adult store and we were taken with the sign on the door 

Only in Ireland!

We stopped for a coffee on the way and as we sat outside in the sun (yes, at around 22C for the early part of the day you could almost think it was summer) we had a conversation with a young man who was doing similar and he gave his opinion of things worth seeing and also reasonable eating places. As he used to work in hospitality he had a firm view that the pub meals needed to improve.

For the rest of the day we just wandered around the city enjoying the vibrancy of it due in no small part to the numerous pubs and bars all of which had frontages adorned in flowers

We had hoped to visit Dublin Castle but that has temporarily been closed as Ireland from 1 July until 31 December have assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the castle is being used to host EU dignitaries- in fact President Zelenskyy is currently in the city.

We walked the main shopping boulevard, Grafton St, and were entertained by 2 of the 5 members of a band, Keywest, singing some of their original songs, all of which had very poignant lyrics.

Around 3pm, as we walked in the Temple Bar area, there was live music coming from 2 bars which attracted our attention. The first we stood for a while outside the door listening but at the second we ventured inside. The place was packed, the music was loud, the patrons were dancing and singing and quite a few ladies were sporting green 4 leaf glasses.

In a lull in the music Sherry approached one and the conversation went along these lines:

Excuse me, but can you tell me where you got those glasses from?

A moment of silence

Amazon!

Giggles all round but a minute or two later the lady came over and gave both Sherry and me a pair

After we left the pub, ears ringing, we continued on our amble down various streets (Sraid in Gaelic) for another few hours coming across the tallest sculpture in the world, the 120m Spire of Dublin

After dinner in a bar that Sherry had enjoyed when she was here briefly last year we made our way back to Avoca arriving back 9.5hrs after we left this morning.

It was an enjoyable day in a very vibrant city!

Travelling Day

 Today we moved from London to Dublin

Started with dragging our suitcases the 25 minute walk from Bayswater to Paddington and took the Heathrow Express to the airport.

As usual we allowed plenty of time and had around a 2 hour wait before boarding the short Aer Lingus flight across to the West Island. 

You know your getting close to Ireland when you see the following in the airline’s magazine 

When is an adult not an individual?

We were questioned at Immigration why we are visiting Ireland, had we been before etc. and while it was most probably a standard procedure he could have done it with a lighter tone!

Caught a bus from the airport to Drumcondra, the suburb in Dublin where we are staying, and walked the kilometre or so from the bus stop, yes dragging the suitcases, to a delightful “boarding” house which consists of 9 beautifully restored rooms, a delightful communal lounge, a beautifully set out dining room and Jack (and Ted his dachshund) who is the perfect host

After checking in we had a stroll down towards the centre of town and having worked out the route turned back and had a meal in the pub (Kennedy’s) at the end of our street.

Over dinner we spent some time chatting with Martina, a lady from Hamburg, who had arrived in town today, is staying at the same accommodation as us and is going to a concert (Take That) on Saturday night before returning home on Monday.

If we have any complaint of our very short time in Ireland so far is that the temperature is only 16C having enjoyed 22-25C while in London. Hopefully over the next few days we enjoy some thing more akin to summer.

Views from on high

 On the tube again around 9.00am and 14 stations later alighted at Monument.

We made our way to the Walkie Talkie building, through the airport style security and took the lift to the 35th floor and walked the ramp to the 36th - we had arrived at one of the restaurants at the SkyGarden and we enjoyed a breakfast/brunch with grand views of the sprawling city below.

After eating we enjoyed both the 360 degree views the building offered as well as the gardens.

It is a very popular spot for tourists (& the locals) as by the time we came to leave there was a lengthy queue for the lift. Once at ground level we started our walk around this area of London, passed the Tower of London, over the Tower Bridge to the Southside and then we meandered through the packed Borough Markets. 

If we hadn’t recently eaten we would have found a very nice lunch from one of the food stalls, anything from lobster tail to a typical English pie and anything in between and we could have brought fish meat and veggies to take with us to cook for dinner if we had been so inclined.

Leaving the crowds behind we walked to the Tate Modern museum and spent time looking at a couple of the exhibitions so getting our dose of culture before relaxing in the cafe for a refresh.

By now we felt somewhat lethargic so decided to head for the Underground and make our way home to deal with some clothes that required some t&c.

We walked to the nearest underground station, Blackfriars, and went to the appropriate platform but the departure board wasn’t showing any trains running on the Circle Line. Sherry had heard some incoherent announcement as we entered the station so a quick Google disclosed that there was a breakdown on the line and movements had come to a halt.

We then had to work out an alternative route using the tube to get home being lucky that there was another station (Queensway) near (250m max) to our home station (Bayswater).

Using an app we found that if we took the District Line to Embarkment and transferred onto the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Rd and there transferred to the Central Line we would get to Queensway -it sounds roundabout but it worked seamlessly.

Tomorrow we pack up and head to Heathrow to get a midday flight to Dublin to commence our Irish holiday something we have looked forward to for many months 

The Garden, the iconic streets and the theatre

 We are badly lacking in quality sleep and waking at 3.00am is not helpful.

Off to the centre of London by tube from Bayswater after morning tea in a local cafe, to Covent Gardens a lively area slightly west of Trafalgar Square.

Some very tuneful opera singing on the lower ground open area attracted a crowd and after listening for a short time we looked around the shops and market area.

Lunch in a French open air restaurant, some more opera and we then left that area moving up Charring Cross Rd to Oxford St.

By now the temperatures had risen to around 22-24 but out of the sun it felt cool due to the wind so we stayed on the sunny side.

Oxford St is a glorified Queen St full of retail but feeling a little shabby.

We then turned down Regent St which though still retail presented a higher quality of shops and a far nicer feel - we only stopped at one shop, Hamleys, the oldest toy shop (allegedly) in the World.

We veered off Regent onto Fortnum & Mason, a London institution since 1707 renowned for its food hampers, gifts and homeware where we had a relaxing break over afternoon tea.

What we have noticed in London is the “discretionary” service charge ranging anywhere between 10-20% applied in all restaurants and high end cafes. With the poor exchange rate, the generally higher cost of meals the service charge you pay on say a GPB50 meal is around $12 - a reasonably generous tip in most situations particularly if the food and/or service was below par.

With Wimbledon being on a bakery has got quite creative.

We returned to the Leicester Square/West End area and ambled around taking in the atmosphere before an early dinner at the only Burmese restaurant we have ever seen and then onto the Prince of Wales Theatre for a performance of The Book of Mormon an irreverent look at the Mormon Church and perhaps the best musical we have been to.

The tube system had two shattered oldies back in the apartment around 40 minutes after the end of the show to end another enjoyable day.

The crowds in London are as bad as anything we have experienced in our travels and the number of times you hear a language other than English is quite staggering 

Some random photos taken today 

At the theatre

A food shop selling a crumble topped with custard - very English

London Tourist Trail

 We set off this morning to tick off numerous touristy sites.

At the end of the road in which the apartment is located is an entrance to Kensington Park so we took the route through the park and then crossing over into Hyde Park and exiting at Hyde Park Corner where the NZ memorial is situated.

From there we continued on to Buckingham Palace where a very large crowd was gathering to watch the changing of the guard ceremony. As there was over half an hour before that was to commence (and all the good vantage points had been long since been taken) we decided to continue on.

We continued down the Mall to the Strand where we had a pit stop in a quiet cafe away from the noise and heavy traffic.

After our refresh we moved down to the Thames crossing on the Golden Jubilee bridge from where there were good views of both the London Eye and Big Ben

We then ventured down a very busy South Bank finding a cafe for lunch.

From there we continued west again getting a good side on view of Westminster and came across the National Covid Memorial Wall, a 500m stretch of wall painted with small red hearts in which folk had written names of family or friends who had died during the Covid period. While not every heart had been written on (at a guess around 70% had) the share volume that had made us realise how badly the UK had handled their response and how well NZ had.

We crossed back to the north side on the Lambeth Bridge and headed back east to Westminster then Westminster Abbey before taking a rest in Parliament Square where a blistered toe was attended to.

On we went passing Downing Street which was gated off, then passed The Women of World War 2 memorial before getting to The Royal Horse Guards.

As we continued onto Trafalgar Square who should we see coming out of a pub no other than Andrew Lloyd Webber.

At Trafalgar Square we sat in the sun for a while before onto Charing Cross Station where another packet of plasters was purchased from Boots The Chemist for more running repairs.

Now with both feet plastered we crossed back through Trafalgar Square onto the building housing the NZ High Commission and then onto a crowded Leicester Square.

Next stop was a coffee break before we took the underground to Knightsbridge and Harrods.

We spent some time wandering through Harrods looking at some lovely but very expensive items (a GBP53,000 piece of Lladro for example) and as it was now after 5pm we took the tube (3 very crowded tubes in fact) back to Paddington where we had a meal in a Lebanese restaurant.

A trudge home after dinner saw us back 9.5hrs and 15.9 walked kms since we left this morning.

A good day made better by NZ’s series win in the cricket.