A London walk, with grandsons

So we were on half-term grandparent duty today.  Their mother brought them down to Brixton Station, where the Swan Whisperer met them and brought them back to the flat and, after coffee (hot chocolate for Boy Two), they went off climbing, while I stayed at home.  When they had finished, they came back to the flat and picked me up, and we went into Brixton to have lunch.  The boys would have liked to have gone to Mama Lan again, but it turns out to be closed on Tuesdays.  This led us with the huge choice of restaurants that you can go to in Brixton, but as the boys love Mexican food, we finally ended up at Jalisco, where we had a delicious lunch.  I had a breakfast burrito, which is basically a wrap filled with scrambled egg and hash brown (and hot sauce) which came with a choice of toppings - I chose roasted vegetables.  It was delicious, but I couldn't finish it!  I also ordered a Virgin Mary, which was incredibly spicy!  It may not have had any vodka in it, but it was surely no virgin!!!

Anyway, after lunch we set off on a 159 bus to Parliament Square, and went for a walk.  I had given the Swan Whisperer a book of London walks for Christmas, and we went on the one that technically started and finished at Trafalgar Square, but went through Parliament Square and it was easier to start and finish more-or-less there.  It was a most enjoyable walk, even if I did keep stopping to take photographs.  Up Whitehall,

through Admiralty Arch, along the Mall, then up through Carlton Gardens to St James' Square, along Pall Mall, down Marlborough Street, and across St James' Park.  We then deviated from the walk proper to walk down to Tothill Street where there was a Prets and we stopped for refreshments.  From there, it was only five minutes' walk to the Daughter's offices (now in Church House Westminster), so we left the boys with her and caught a no 3 bus back to Brixton, largely so that we could see how the rebuilding of Lambeth Mission St Mary's is coming along!  

Most photos will be uploaded on Facebook.

Planning time again

I first set up this blog nearly ten years ago!  I was about to turn 60, and for my birthday we planned an Inter-Rail trip.  And now I am going to be 70, and the Swan Whisperer wasn't really able to celebrate his 70th birthday, just over two years ago, because we were in lockdown - although, to be fair, we had two wonderful Zoom parties when we spoke to people we would not otherwise have seen from Australia and Japan and all over!  So we have decided to go Inter-Railing again this June, to celebrate our three score years and ten!  Or twelve, as appropriate!

Inter-Rail is a very different animal now than it was ten years ago.  It's all paperless - you buy your passes (I've already done that) and then store them in an app on your phone, and you can do all your planning and timetabling, etc, within the app, or using their website.  And Eurostar is, not exactly included, but a special fare so massively cheaper than the normal fare to Brussels.  We're going first class - well, why not?  Much more comfortable than standard, and you often get a free cup of tea or similar perks.

Because we travel so much anyway, we want to go to places where we wouldn't really go in the motor home, so we are starting off going to Scandinavia - Oslo, Bergen (perhaps), Stockholm, Kiruna - and then from Stockholm we'll get the sleeper to Hamburg, and then the direct train - maybe a sleeper, we'll see - to Vienna, and then on to Budapest, Bucharest and possibly Sofia before heading home.  It will take some working out, and we will spend at least one day, perhaps two, in each city.  I don't know yet how long we'll be travelling for - we have two months in which to use our 15 travel days, and I'm not quite sure whether the out-and-home days count or not.  I doubt we'll be away two months, though, although it might be over 3 weeks!

This is all going to be in addition to, not instead of, our normal trips to France and Germany in the motor home!  We will cut our Oberstdorf trip short, though, and go more-or-less straight there and back, giving us plenty of time to get organised for this trip.  I expect we'll still go to France at the end of February/beginning of March, and then we'll see about trips in the autumn.  But I am looking forward to the Inter-Rail trip, especially as we now know roughly where we are going!

Festive Fairy Tale, 28 December

So we are home.  We got up early and cleared our rooms before breakfast, and after it we sat in one of the lounges and read for awhile.  Probably we should have sat awhile longer, as we had a long time to wait at the station, but not enough time to go and do anything other than a brief leg-stretch.  However, eventually our train was called.  As predicted, it was rammed, and I was glad we had booked seats, as otherwise we might have ended up sitting on the floor, as some people had to do.

There seemed to be an extraordinarily long time to wait in Brussels, too, although I'd booked us on the recommended connection.  But eventually we were on the train back to London, where I extravagantly insisted on taking a taxi home, as I was so very tired.  And, although I managed to unpack, I have been asleep practically ever since!

So what about my impressions of a river cruise?  It was lovely!  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would love to go again in a few years.  I think, though, next time I won't book all the excursions in advance - although we enjoyed them, some of the walking tours were unnecessary, as we could have explored for ourselves.  On the other hand, the guides did tell us a great deal of history we might not otherwise have known, and they were (mostly) obviously passionate about their towns.  

We didn't much care for the cruise director - he came across as extremely patronising, and even rude on occasion. Also unprofessional, tearing a strip off one of his colleagues where anybody could hear, rather than doing so in private.  But he was a minor irritant.  

The food was mostly excellent, except when the chef tried too hard - but there was only one dish I really couldn't finish, and I do seem to have come back rather fatter than when I left.  The cabins were comfortable, and it was lovely lying in bed at night watching the river going past.  The big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise, of course, is that you don't get much, if any, daylight sailing.  On the other hand, in the summer, the rivers and moorings are packed with tourist boats, and you have to clamber over other ones to get to yours!  

I still want to do the "long trip" from Amsterdam right down to Budapest and beyond, but perhaps not this year!

By the way, TUI is a budget option; I don't know, though, what more you would get on a more expensive line!  

Festive Fairy Tale, 27 December

Day 7, Worms

Our last day dawned simply gloriously! For the only time during this cruise (the big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise!) we were sailing in daylight all morning, past Speyer and Altrip and Mannheim and all those familiar places until we docked in Worms just before lunch. 

This was one tour I rather wished we hadn't gone on, as it turned out to be, not a tour of the old town, as advertised, but a tour of the Cathedral and the Luther monument (The Diet of Worms, for anybody who remembers sniggering at that when they "did" the Reformation) Our guide was dreadful - her English was minimal outside her memorised spiel, so she couldn't understand any questions, nor did she show us more than her favourite parts of the Cathedral, so we missed seeing an awful lot of it. But what we did see was lovely, to be fair, and the Nativity scene was magic!  

When we came back to the ship, we had a cup of tea, and then the Swan Whisperer went to hear a lecture on Christmas traditions, while I did most of my packing and had a shower to change before the final dinner. As always, when the chef tries too hard, it wasn't as good as it might have been! Why can chefs never serve enough vegetables, and if they do serve any, they are still half raw? The roast beef was lovely, but rather an odd cheesy sauce, which did it no favours, and it would have been even nicer sliced a little thinner. And I goodly had fruit instead of baked Alaska, which actually looked quite nice! 

Tomorrow we have to be out of our cabins by 08:30, but we can stay on board until 11:00 if we want. Our train isn't until 12:30. It is, apparently, going to be rammed after Cologne, so I have booked seats for us. Will let you know tomorrow how the journey ends, and my thoughts on river cruising. Meanwhile, there will be far too many photos on Facebook! 

Festive Fairy Tale, Boxing day

Day 6, Breisach

Christmas Dinner last night had been billed as 5-course gala dinner, but in the end it was only the usual 3 courses, with an extra glass of champagne. The main course was turkey (there was a fish and a veggie option, but most people chose turkey) which was moist and delicious, but, alas, no roasties, no sprouts, and very few vegetables! Too much meat, really. And no Christmas pudding, either - I chose the nearest option, which was a gingerbread parfait, and was rather disappointed that it was mousse, rather than ice-cream. Most people chose the fruit plate, so virtuous!

For some reason I slept really badly again, not quite sure why.  I didn't really want to go on the tour of Breisach, but decided I'd regret it if I didn't.

However, faced with enormous flight of steps to get up to the old town, I bottled it and went back to the ship. The guide had been very interesting about the history of the town, which is incredibly ancient. And seems to have spent most of the 18th century belonging to France.

The Swan Whisperer got lost coming back to the ship, and had to ring me up to find out how to get back as he hadn't noticed how we had gone. Fortunately I was able to orient him!

After lunch it had stopped raining and he decided to go out for a 10-minute run, his first since his injury in July. Sadly, he felt a twinge in his other leg, so sensibly decided to walk back.

Then we went to a talk about future cruises which was very good - no hard sell, just a description of what was on offer. And now we are waiting to set off again, which we thought would happen an hour ago, but it hasn't. We are sitting in one of the communal areas, which is nice.

Festive Fairy Tale, Christmas Day

Day 5, Strasbourg

We weren't supposed to arrive in Strasbourg until 09:30 or thereabouts, but in fact we were docked by 6:00. We assume because there were no queues for the locks to get in, as it is Christmas. 

There was supposed to be Buck's Fizz at breakfast, but we weren't offered any, but we probably just as well! we After breakfast, there was a "pause for reflection", not exactly a Christmas service, and then it was time to get ready to go on the expedition.

We are moored quite a way out of town, almost in Kehl, and there was a coach that not only took us into the town, but drove all round it first. Then there was a walk around the town centre - I took an inordinate number of photographs considering that we have been here before and will come again! 

After that, a boat trip, which again we have done before, but still worth doing, to remind us of the various places. And a long, long walk back to where the bus was parked, which wouldn't have been so bad if the cruise director hadn't walked far too fast, so I ended up feeling breathless and unwell. However, I recovered during the drive back to the ship, and a glass of white wine with a judicious lunch (want to be hungry tonight!) soon finished the cure. 

I spent the afternoon reading and watching the service from Brixton Hill (not live!), and then I went into the lounge to watch the King - the Swan Whisperer had gone back into town to see the illuminations, as he always does. He is now back and we are going to ring the family before dinner. 

Festive Fairy Tale, Christmas Eve

Day 4, Mannheim and Heidelberg

I don't know what was particularly German about last night's dinner! It was OK, I suppose; one of those "tasting menus" with tiny bits of this and that, some extremely delicious soup, mussels, which I didn't take (don't like them much), Then a choice of chicken something or a pancake stuffed with mushrooms, which I chose, but didn't really like, so left half of it. Then a chocolatey set of puddings, and we thought there would be cheese, but there wasn't. Pity, I wanted something savoury! But not particularly German, I didn't think, and not really to my taste except the soup! 

Then there was a violinist, who was very talented, but it was billed as classical and carols, but mostly he played music from films. But extremely well, and I enjoyed it. No carols, though. 

This morning, we had booked on the tour of Heidelberg, which left horrendously early - well, 08:45, which is horrendously early when you're on holiday. The coach took us up to Heidelberg Castle,

where our guide, while knowledgeable and enthusiastic, told us far too many anecdotes about it, and couldn't walk more than 3 steps without stopping to say something else. I don't think he realised we could hear him on our vox boxes even if he turned round and walked on.

There was a lot of interesting stuff, though, like one of the Kings being married to the daughter of James I/VI, and being in love with her. And that the castle was destroyed by the French in the 30 years' war, but the ruins have been carefully curated since Victorian times!

The coach took us back down into Heidelberg, to the drop-off point for the Altstadt, and our guide led us into the main square and then abandoned us to look round on our own, as he was not coming back with us.  We have been before, years ago, but walked along a bit and then went down to the river - the Necker - and went under the old bridge

back to the meeting-point, where there were benches we could wait on until our coach arrived.

There were hamburgers for lunch, and then both of us had a long nap! Afternoon tea was being served today, but neither of us was hungry, so we just had a cup of tea in our room. And now we are listening to the service from King's, which is a Christmas "must" for us. Sadly, there is no service on the ship tomorrow, and we will be out when our own service is live-streamed, but never mind. Third year running we haven't been able to go to Church on Christmas Day.

Photos on Facebook, as per.