Pandemonium

Yes, there's pandemonium in Ghent tonight.  Belgium has just beaten Russia 1-0 in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup and the city and its citizens have erupted in euphoria.  There is singing in the street, cars are driving past with flags flying and horns hooting and even the Police vans are tooting and waving.  What a wonderful atmosphere!

We were sitting in a street restaurant/bar and savouring another of the wonderful Belgian beers - this time a Valeir lager - 6.5%, and a rather lovely drop - when all hell broke loose and the city exploded.  Full Time - a second win to Belgium and a seemingly unloseable game against North Korea on Thursday.

Cheers, Belgium!

Belgium - So Far

Yesterday we explored Ghent and what a lovely (little) city it is.  It has a small town feel, but quite genteel and cultured.  There are fantastic medieval buildings all around, a great tram system, all the major shopping labels, some fantastic food and Belgium is seriously serious about their beers.  There are hundreds of ‘local’ beers and they’re all quite strong in comparison to ours – some around 9 – 10% alcohol and a few are higher.  Not only that, but they MUST be served in the appropriate glass.  Each beer company has a specific glass designed for them as they believe that the proper glass brings out the very best in their type of beer.  So far we have avoided the very high content beers, but sooner or later, I guess we’ll give it a try.  The strange thing is, they don’t taste strong, so we may very well fall over in the process.

Ghent’s major attractions include the Belfry, with its dragon weather-vane, built in the 12^th century and the bells used as an alarm system in medieval times, but now the carillon records the quarter-hours and chimes the hours – quite beautiful.   St.Michael’s Church and St. Michael’s Bridge on the Leie River are spectacular and the surrounding squares are crowded with restaurants and crowds. Along with the Leie River is a system of canals similar in many ways to Amsterdam, but not as crowded.  St. Nicholas Church was built in the 13^th century in gothic style and is only a couple of hundred metres away.  In fact, the whole of the centre of Ghent is quite walkable and many of the streets have distinctive characters of their own.  Other features include the Town Hall and Guild Hall and many other beautiful buildings, but the piece de resistance is St. Bavo’s Cathedral, which was consecrated in 942, but has grown with the years into a spectacular cathedral, but the major attraction is the altar-piece – “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” which was painted by the Van Eyck brothers and has a fascinating history dating back 300 years.  Not the least of its historic story is the fact that it was stolen by the Nazis in 1942 and hidden in a salt mine in Austria, along with some 7000 other artworks, for Hitler’s great “Arian Museum” which he planned.  It was found in 1944 by an American recovery team.

Today we had a great trip to Brussels to meet up with Nina, our guide for the day and a friend we met in KL last year.  Nina works for the EU in Brussels, is a native Scot, but has been in Brussels for 22 years.  She was a wonderful guide and introduced us to the major sights in Brussels and we had a wonderful day with her, not only for her knowledge of the city, but also her warm friendship and great sense of humour.  We had a fantastic day – Thanks Nina!    

She's Done it Again

The Princess has done it again - found the most amazing apartment right in the middle of Ghent in Belgium, an original medieval town not far from Brussels.  The apartment, of course, is on the third floor, so six flights of stairs to get up to it, but when you arrive, it's like coming home!  We could seriously live here.  It's light, bright with a large kitchen dining area, a sitting area and a roof terrace looking out over the rooftops.  The bedroom and ensuite are huge and beautifully appointed.

We left Whiteley in Hampshire this morning, dropped the car off at Heathrow and caught the Underground into London.  We managed to find time to have some lunch and a beer, change some dollars for euros and jump on the Eurostar train.  I must say that it isn't a patch on the Japanese trains we caught last year, but it left on time and in what seemed no time at all, we were travelling through France to our first stop at Lille.  From there it was only a short journey to Brussels in Belgium, then we changed trains for Ghent.

Tonight we ate at a little tapas/croquette bar on the corner and we had a great meal, some good french wine and some delightful wait-staff who gave us hints on what to see tomorrow and a couple of suggestions of other places to eat!  We'll explore Ghent tomorrow, then off to Brussels to spend some time with Nina (we met Nina and Iain in KL last year) and perhaps Bruges on Monday.  Five days here will surely not be enough but next weekend we'll be in Amsterdam.

Aston Martin and Mary Rose

Whilst in Wallingford, we took the opportunity to seek out the Aston Martin Owners Club and the Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum, which is only a few miles from where we were staying.  The Owners Club is the official guardian of the Aston Martin archive and all the records, photos, trophies, prototype engines and chassis are stored.  It is also the home of the oldest surviving prototype (original chassis #A3) Aston Martin car, which dates from 1918 and was Kate Martin’s personal car and favourite.   Designed and built by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin, it is beautifully restored, lovingly driven on a regular basis and is also in original condition – a very gorgeous car.  The museum is also the home of a few other cars in lovely condition, an original Le Mans racer, an amazing array of memorabilia and prototype engines on engine stands – developmental and current.

The fifteenth century tithe barn in which the Trust holds the archives, trophies and cars, is also restored and is quite beautiful, but it is a little difficult to find, with very few signs and in a tiny village not far from Oxford.  It is at the end of a quite rough farm road, so you would need to trailer cars in and out.  Two of the display cars were missing when we were there because they are undergoing some restoration work in readiness for the Goodwood Festival in September.

The following day we headed off to Portsmouth to see the historic dockyard, where the restored ships, The Warrior (1860), Admiral Nelson’s The Victory and the 15^th century flagship of King Henry VIII, the Mary Rose.  The Mary Rose was recovered from the mud and silt of Portsmouth harbour in the last 20 years after being sunk in a battle with the French in 1545.  Only half of the ship is intact – the half which was covered in mud and silt, as the other half eroded by sea action and animals (wood-worm, etc), but over 19,000 articles including cannons, anchor and personal items were recovered and are on display.  It’s an amazing place to visit.

Another visit we made was to Buckler's Hard, a fifteenth century village on the upper reaches of the Solent estuary and where hundreds of ships were built in the following couple of hundred years.  It is fully restored with a very interesting museum and the remains of several docks where the ships were built.  It's near the village of Beaulieu (pronounced bewley) on the Beaulieu Estate, the home of Lord & Lady Montagu.  It's a very pretty area in The New Forest, most of which is national park.

 

We’re now having a couple of days of R&R at Kate’s house before we take the car back on Friday and catch the Eurostar to Belgium and the second half of our trek and our third wedding, perhaps the most important, that of my nephew Simon to the gorgeous Kim in Stockholm.

Oldest surviving Aston Martin - A3

"Buzzbox" - the only Renwick & Bertelli built car

1989 Le Mans racer

Lagonda engine

HMS Victory

The Mary Rose remains - humidifying system not original

Original Mary Rose cannons

Part of the 19,000 articles collected

Original cauldron from the Mary Rose

Gun deck on the Victory

Buckler's Hard village

Dry docks dating to 16th century

Oxfordshire Wedding

We had a stop-over in Hampshire on our way to our wedding in Wallingford, which is rather roundabout, but we needed to get some washing done and re-organise our bags.  Then we headed off to Oxfordshire and the picturesque town of Wallingford.  Julie’s childhood friend Jackie had her daughter Hanna marrying and found that we were going to be in the area at the time and issued us with invitations.  We were very honoured to be invited, but very happy to be experiencing a traditional village wedding.  

 Hanna and Adam were married in the (3^rd generation) family church in the tiny village of Berrick Salome and the reception was held in an enormous marquee on the Village Green.  Jackie and Arthur and the family made us very welcome and we were blown away with the hospitality we received, including a family BBQ on the following day.  The event was almost a disaster in that an enormous storm tracked through on the previous night and almost washed the marquee away, but although the ground was soggy, the day was brilliant.  Our sincere thanks to Jackie and Arthur and their family for making us so welcome.  It was a wonderful couple of days.

Driving to York

The trip from Edinburgh to York was undertaken in the first sunshine we’d had in a week or more and TomTom Tim took us on what was purported to be the shortest possible route.  However, he hadn’t factored in that much of the trip was across country on 2-lane rural roads and sometimes, only 1 lane, so it was a little long-winded if more picturesque than the motorways.

We found our B&B in York, only about 10 minutes walk from the central area (one of our search criteria), unpacked the car and then had to carry all the luggage up 6 flights of stairs, so another good gym session completed.  Central York is enclosed in the remains (mostly still standing) of old Roman walls and it’s one of the prettiest towns in this region.  The Minster (or cathedral) is particularly beautiful and quite spectacular and is the largest gothic cathedral in England.  It is an amazing sight and somewhat breath-taking in that it has been standing on this site in one form or another, for almost 2000 years.  Recently, repair work on the foundations was begun, only to find the foundations and columns of the original ‘church’, dating back prior to 300AD.  At that time, foundations were laid almost on flat ground, with little under-pinning, so it’s no surprise that a church of this enormous size now has problems underneath.  The repair work and renovation is well under way and it’s estimated that it will take nearly 20 years to complete.  The current incarnation of the church was begun in the early 1100s and added to many times over several hundred years.

We found a great little pub (from a recommendation) in town called The Royal Oak, where we went for dinner on the first night and the food was so good that we decided we’d come back again the next night.  We were close to leaving on that first night when a blues duo started playing in the front lounge and they were so good that we stayed until quite late.  I’m a sucker for good blues music and this pair, a woman on double base and a fellow playing lead guitar and harmonica and singing, were as good as I’ve heard outside a major concert.  They were fantastic!  The next night we went back and had another great meal and the entertainment was a folk/pop duo (2 BOB) who were again, very, very good.  We plonked ourselves in the front bar, chatted to the locals as well as the players and again had a fantastic night, not getting to bed until after midnight.

Beautiful York Minster

The Minster

Spectacular Gothic Cathedral

Magnificent choir stalls

Side view - shows size

Old Roman columns found under foundations

Beautiful stained glass windows

Entry to the Shambles - 16th century shopping street

The Shambles

The Princess on the roman walls