The Shard, London

The Shard really does look like pieces of shattered glass piercing the sky but apparently Italian architect, Renzo Piano, was intending to reference the spires of old London  and the masts of sailing ships on the Thames when he designed it. According to reports, Thames English Heritage opposed the design stating that it would be "a shard of glass piercing the heart of historic London".  Little did they know that their colourful comment would give the building its popular name, and it couldn't be more apt.

At 306 metres (1016ft) high and with 87 stories it is the tallest building in London. Designed to move up to 20 inches in high winds, I was rather pleased it was a perfectly still day when I visited! Opened in 2012 it has become a major landmark and tourist attraction for London providing stunning views of the city in every direction.  Dare I say it, despite the protests of Thames English Heritage, it is a source of great pride to Londoners today. An interesting fact: 95% of the construction materials were recycled.


I was really looking forward to my visit to The Shard, having admired it from afar on a few visits to London. With my two young grandchildren in tow I met up with my daughter-in-law who had wisely bought tickets ahead enabling us a quick queue jump. The observation levels are on floors 68, 69 and 72 and are known as The View From The Shard. It takes two elevator rides to get to level 72 and what an amazing sight greets you there.  Laid out below is the whole of London with a view that extends for 40 miles in each direction.  Level 72 is also partially open to the sky with dramatic shard shapes of glass towering overhead.


Left: The open observation deck complete with shard shapes

One of the two popular bars at The View....champagne is the drink of choice.

 We  sat by the windows in the warm afternoon sun  taking in the view and sipping champagne. We were entranced, spending an hour and a quarter there.  Every now and then one of us would whoop with delight when we spotted yet another famous landmark. 'Spot the famous building' became an exciting game for the children. My daughter-in-law had been up the Shard before and told me how much she loves it, even opining that she could live there.  Apartments do make up some of the floors but I can only imagine what they would cost.

Below: Two views, one showing The Tower of London and Tower Bridge. (Note the shadow of The Shard at the lower edge) The other, taken on zoom, shows St Pauls Cathedral.

Because it was such a glorious day photos from other angles showed too much reflection.

                                                                               

Next we walked down two levels to continue with wine sipping and sight viewing.  Another hour flew by easily as the glorious sunny day turned to dusk. A quick toilet stop before leaving and, my goodness, talk about a room with a view.  A toilet stop is a must when you visit The View From The Shard.



Right: A loo with a view







Later we wandered along the South Bank through the beautifully redeveloped Southwark area and found the perfect family friendly restaurant right on The Thames where we enjoyed pizzas and pasta while looking at a stunning view of Tower Bridge, aglow in the late evening sun and later lit up for the night.

What a perfect end to a perfect day of sight seeing in London! Many thanks to my daughter-in-law.

Oxford, England - Punting - The joy of messing about in boats

Ratty had it right when he said, in The Wind in the Willows, "....there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".

Cherwell Boat House Landing

And so it was, on a perfect, late summer's day, on my first weekend in England, that my son and his family took me to Oxford to go punting on the River Cherwell.  The Cherwell Boathouse hires out punts at 18 pounds an hour or 90 pounds for the day.  The punts, flat bottomed boats propelled by a pole pushed from the river bed, take five passengers plus a punter and seat cushions are supplied. Generations of Oxford students have spent their summer afternoons punting on the river, and why wouldn't they? Ratty was right. In fact it is an absolute joy to slowly meander up the river under trailing willows, past meadows of wildlife and flowers, spotting the occasional jumping fish and enjoying the entertainment provided by inept but happy punters struggling to control their boats.  

When Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows he did not base it on any river in particular, rather it was a generic river combining his childhood memories of living near the Thames and his time at school in Oxford.  His stories are perfectly encapsulated in the Cherwell and brought back our own memories of the book which we shared as we drifted along in the dappled afternoon sunlight.





Left: The Victoria Arms



Right: Under the expert oarsmanship of my son









A half hour punt upstream brought us to The Victoria Arms, a lovely pub on the river with a large lawn running right to the water's edge and plenty of parking for punts.  It is traditional to stop here for refreshments and so, strictly keeping to tradition you understand, so did we. Long, cool, rum flavoured beers were drunk, lemonade for the children, with entertainment provided by punters either trying to park or going around in hapless circles before getting help from adjoining boats amid a lovely atmosphere of happiness and camaraderie.

All fun and games at the Victoria Arms punt park

A gentle punt back to the boat house, a picnic by the river and then we set off to explore Oxford. My son attended university there for a number of years so took us to revisit his college.  I never cease to be amazed at the beauty and the history of this lovely town. I had stayed at the college on a couple of occasions so it was good to see it again. The vast, peaceful and elegant gardens were a stark contrast to the busy, tourist packed streets outside. 

The Canterbury Quad, dating from 1631, St John's College, Oxford with the rear arch leading to the garden

Nearly all of the 39 colleges in Oxford have beautiful, gardens but this is a part of Oxford most tourists never get to see. Only feet from the busy streets the creamy ancient stone of the college buildings, with their colorfully planted window boxes, make the perfect backdrop for climbing roses and green foliage whilst the "mustn't walk on" striped lawns add an air of formality. They are serene and lovely places for students to study and think.  I count myself very lucky to have spent time there.

The serene and lovely garden at St John's College

I would encourage anybody going to Oxford to hire a punt and spend an afternoon on the river doing something so quintessentially Oxford.  This is the genuine experience and one that most of the bus loads of tourists thronging Oxford never get to do. Indeed "...there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing...."

Note: Cherwell Boat House is an easy walk from the centre of Oxford.
Website: cherwellboathouse.co.uk

Lemon Harvest - Hot Toddies and Handy Hints.

It's lemon harvest time again and I am in my happy place.  I have always loved lemons and any recipe that includes them.  I love lemon honey, lemon syrup, lemon cake, lemon toddies, lemon in salad dressings, lemon squeezed over fish and preserved lemons.  Yes, I think it's pretty clear I love lemons.  I even love looking at them on the tree, so bright and cheerful. When I was young I used to eat lemons straight off the  tree but I wouldn't recommend doing that, it is not good for the teeth.


Unfortunately New Zealand has fallen victim to a nasty Australian pest called the guava moth which arrived here a few years back and is gradually making its way all over the country.  The guava moth attacks many different fruits by drilling a small hole into them and laying an egg which grows into a larva inside the fruit. It's pretty unpleasant to cut open a fruit and find a worm wriggling around inside.  The guava moth seems to love feijoas and last season ruined the crops of all my neighbours' who had previously enjoyed bumper harvests. As a usual recipient of their generosity I was pretty disappointed. Unfortunately the moths also like citrus fruit. The best way to protect a crop is to cover the tree completely in an insect cloth, which is what I did to my lemon tree this year.  I am pleased to say it worked and not only was my huge crop of lemons insect free but the fruit was massive, the biggest it has ever been.  Whether this was to do with the fertiliser I gave the tree or whether the insect cloth gave it a slightly hot house effect I don't know.

At this stage there is no spray that can be used to protect the fruit from the moth although New Zealand agricultural scientists are working on developing one.  In their home land of Australia the moths are controlled by natural predators which we do not have here.

Anyway, enough about the unwelcome visitor to our shores.  On a brighter note here's one of my favourite  lemon recipes.

🍋🍋🍋  LEMON TODDY SYRUP  🍋🍋🍋

Fresh ginger - about 100 gms

1 Cup of water

1 Cup of lemon juice

1 Cup of honey

Peel and grate the ginger and put in a pot with the cup of water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. You can strain the ginger out of the liquid if you wish but I prefer to leave it in. Just remember to stir or shake the syrup when you use it.

Add the honey and the lemon juice to the pot and heat gently until the honey is dissolved. Cool, bottle and keep in the fridge.

To use place 2 or 3 tablespoons of the syrup in a cup and top with boiling water.  This is a comforting drink for winter of if you have a cold.  All the ingredients have healing and soothing qualities....and it's delicious.

I have kept this syrup in the fridge for up to a year.

Click on the following link to find More lemon recipes from a previous post

HANDY HINTS: Don't throw away skins of lemons you have juiced, freeze them to ensure you always have lemon zest on hand.  They can be grated frozen.

I also freeze the juice mixed with zest into ice block trays and once it is frozen bag it free flow. I have worked out how many cubes make one whole lemon's worth of juice but each ice block tray is different so I suggest you check out yours. I have then marked the free flow bag with the number of cubes to a lemon.

Happy juicing, baking and preserving everyone!  

I'm now off traveling for a few weeks. hopefully collecting new stories to tell! 😎

Vivid Sydney - A spectacular Festival of Lights, Music and culture

Recently, on a bit of a whim, I booked a trip to Sydney, Australia, to attend Vivid Sydney, the festival of light, music and culture which runs every year from late May to mid June.

From humble beginnings in 2009, when it started life as a Smart Light festival promoting energy efficiency and sustainability, it has evolved  into a festival that can only be described as spectacular. At night the city becomes a veritable wonderland of lights and light installations. Public buildings, including the harbour bridge and the vast sails of the Opera house, have their whole facades lit in moving images, interactive sculptures are dotted around the city and shops, boats and even houses get into the spirit with all sorts of creative lighting displays.  Artists line up to be involved, this year the display on the opera house featured Australian botanicals and was designed by Los Angeles artist, Andrew Thomas Huang. In 2017  Vivid Sydney brought 2.33 million people to the city and $143 million into the local economy, proving to be the perfect foil to the off season period when tourism numbers thin out for winter.

Left: The light show on a pylon of the harbour bridge honours the lives of the aborigines. 

But Vivid Sydney is not only about lights, wonderful as they are, it is also a festival of public debates, talks and musical performances.  This year it attracted film director, Spike Lee, poet, Omar Musa and author, Sebastian Smee as speakers.  Musicians included The Cure, Paul Kelly and jazz legend, Herbie Hancock.  Art galleries hosted art exhibitions and there were workshops for children.

I booked into a hotel with an expansive view over Darling Harbour, the perfect spot to watch the brightly lit boats coming and going late into the night and to enjoy the light installations along the water's edge.  I wasn't in my room much though, I was out walking.  It was a joy to catch the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay to view the main action. Even the ferry trip there was a visual feast with dozens of colourfully lit ferries and boats criss-crossing the water.

Botanicals on the Opera House

One evening I walked around the Circular Quay and  Rocks areas, the next night I walked through the Botanical Gardens.   I am a bit of a sucker for lights so was in my element. I was alone but felt perfectly safe amongst the crowd of genial, friendly, family groups, it was so uplifting.  I can assure you I would not walk the botanical gardens at night at any other time!

Many of the light displays were interactive, combining lights and music and I was particularly taken by a whole meadow of tiny hovering lights. It was absolutely magical.


 
 I was there for the last night  and, to cap off a wonderful few days,  a huge fireworks display marking the end of the festival was held right outside my hotel, on the harbour, the massive explosions of colour at eye level from my 23rd floor room.  What luxury to recline on a settee, glass of wine in hand and be treated to this spectacular display.



I highly recommend a trip to Sydney for Vivid Sydney.  It was way better than I had expected and I know that I will return some time in the future to visit it again.  

Never been on a group tour? Thinking about it? Here are my Pros and Cons.

  I usually travel alone, enjoying the flexibility of making 'on the fly' decisions about what to do and where to go with the luxury of no timetable to keep and no commitments to uphold. However, there are some  countries, where joining a tour group is by far the best way to go.  The first group tour I took was in 1993 when my husband and I booked a 12 day tour of southern China.  At that time China was really only just opening up to tourists, the roads were diabolical, crammed with millions of bicycles and  the language barrier was almost insurmountable. It would have been near impossible to travel from city to city by ourselves. There were twelve on that tour and we had so much fun sharing what was a pretty amazing experience with a very pleasant group of people.  We also got to see far more than we would have on our own.  Since then I have spent a month in Africa, a month in Turkey, a week in Cuba and 12 days in China with tour groups.  I have also organised and led student groups on tours to Japan. Every trip has been fantastic and I have seen and experienced far more than I could ever have hoped for on my own. I still travel mostly alone but will readily join a tour group when I think it's the best option.

Fun times discussing  our experiences over lunch in Namibia

So if you have never joined a tour group before here are a few of my pros and cons:

PROS

1. Everything is organised for you from hotel bookings to meals, attraction admissions and all transport, even airport check-ins in many cases
2.  Entry to museums and attractions is preferential. This is a boon at places like Tienanmen Square where thousands queue up for entry everyday and your group can sail past the queues, ignoring the scowls!
3. You get to meet some wonderful fellow travelers.  I have made friends and kept in touch with several over the years
4. Transport and hotels are generally of a good standard. They are not hit and miss
5. You feel safe
6. Your guides are knowledgeable and informative ensuring you get the most out of your tour
7. Tour leaders are always on hand to assist with any problems
8. When humorous occasions arise, like our hopeless attempts to learn the salsa in Cuba, it is so good to share a laugh with the group
9. And most of all, for a solo traveler, it is a special pleasure to be able to share your experiences and meals with others

Exploring the wonders of Turkey with this lovely group of women - started out strangers, ended up friends

CONS

1. In order to keep to a schedule your days are full and starts are early (this is no problem for me)
2. There is generally  little free time to do your own thing
3. You are taken to specific retail outlets, not necessarily ones you would choose
4. You can get stuck with annoying co-travelers, although I have never had this happen.  This can be more of a problem if you choose to share a room with a stranger.  I  prefer to pay a single supplement for my own room. It is more usual  that sub groups of like minded travelers gravitate together for meals etc.
5. There is little flexibility
6. Not all attractions will be of interest to you but sometimes you may be surprised that something you would have overlooked proves to be well worthwhile.
7. All or most meals, depending on your tour, are pre-booked so there is no choice as to where to eat
8. You can get tired but with reasonable fitness this should not be a problem.

Doesn't this look like fun?  It sure was, drinking freshly made mojitos on a Cuban tobacco farm.  Something I would never get to do on my own.

As far as I'm concerned the Pros outweigh the Cons.  All that is required to be a good tour group member is a willingness to go with the flow, a bit of tolerance and a desire to enjoy and make the most of your trip.  Give it a go. Join a tour group and sit back and enjoy the experience, I assure you you won't regret it.

I am already looking forward to going on another group tour to a distant, unusual destination some time soon.  I can't wait!

The views in this post are purely from my own experiences.  I do not  work for a tour company

The companies I have traveled with are:
Wendy Wu                       www.wendywutours.co.nz
Intrepid Travel                www.intrepidtravel.com
Grassroots Adventures   www.grassroots.net.nz

I highly recommend all of them.

Classic Cars and Rock and Roll - Beach Hop, Whangamata, New Zealand

 Recently I was invited to stay for the weekend with my good friends at their home in Whangamata and as luck would have it it was the weekend of the Repco Beach Hop. I had heard of the Beach Hop but had never attended it so was really looking forward to seeing what all the excitement was about. I had no idea what a fun weekend it would be.

Above and below:  Many home owners decorate their homes in theme.  They go to a lot of trouble to honour their chosen car

The Beach Hop began as a one day event in 2001 drawing a crowd of 6000. It has grown and developed over the years into a major five day festival of classic vehicles and rock and roll now attracting over 110,000 visitors.  It is such an outstanding event that it won the award as the best New Zealand event of 2017 at the National Events Awards Show, not surprising judging by the numbers it attracts to this small seaside town on the Coromandel Peninsula, around 2 and a half hours to the south east of Auckland with a population of under 4000. Now entrants come from as far away as the United States and Australia to show off their vehicles and enjoy the camaraderie of like minded enthusiasts.

Classic cars and rock and roll make for an intoxicating mix of all the good things about the 1950s and 1960s.  The Beach Hop is a celebration of the classic cars, motor bikes, dragsters, scooters, vintage caravans, hot rods and the culture, music and fashion of that golden era. The programme includes rallies to other beaches,  judging of vehicles in their various categories, a Pin Up contest, rock and roll performances, a swap meet and market and, the absolute highlight, the grand parade with 1000 vehicles taking part. Fortune smiled on the event this year and although the weather was patchy it never rained when it mattered so all events went ahead as planned.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the weekend.  Although I am not what you might call a car enthusiast I do appreciate the beauty of these vehicles and the time, skill and commitment that has gone into restoring and caring for them.  I know that my late husband would have been in car lovers heaven, if he'd been there, as a car enthusiast himself.

It was a pleasure to walk around town soaking up the friendly atmosphere, looking at the cars, admiring the women dressed in their very best rock and roll finery, (and there is no doubt women's style of the era was the most feminine and pretty in recent memory),  listen to a bit of rock and roll  and especially to watch the gob smacking grand parade. In the evening we dined at the Ocean Beach club where we were entertained by a band in Hawaiian shirts playing all the surfing classics.

 Ah, the nostalgia!

Sunday morning saw us at the local Baptist Church for their now famous rock and roll service where the seats are cleared from the centre of the church and attendees are invited to get up and rock and roll. Many rock and roll clubs from around New Zealand come to the Beach Hop and it was fun to watch them doing their thing. ( play the video below for a taste of the rock and roll service)

For me one of the best things about the event was the positivity of everyone around town, how well behaved and pleasant everybody was, even the police remarked on what a great 5 days it had been. The crowd was mostly made up of families all out together having fun. I loved the friendliness of everybody and the love and enthusiasm the vehicle owners had for their cars and their hobbies. The Beach Hop is a great bonus for the local shopkeepers of this summer resort who find business slow and quiet during the winter months. It is estimated the Beach Hop brings around $7 million into the local economy. It is also a great boost to local community services such as surf life saving and the volunteer coastguard who have benefited by more than $500,000 over the years from the money raised.

 

If you haven't been to the Repco Beach Hop at Whangamata I suggest you go, even if you are not a crazy car buff. Drag out your blue suede shoes or your stiffened petticoat and get right into the spirit of this great event. I guarantee you will enjoy it as much as I did.  You'd better get in quickly, though, I believe a lot of accommodation is booked out a year in advance.  A big thank you to my friends, Diana and Ian, for hosting me for the weekend.

A Jewel in Beijing - The Summer Palace on Kunming Lake

I must confess that I hadn't heard of Beijing's Summer Palace before this trip so it was a delightful discovery for me. It is a jewel of a place and visiting it was a lovely and fitting way to end a tour of some of the best sights of China.

The Summer Palace stretches along the edge of Kunming Lake and up Longevity Hill

Built by Qing emperor, Qianlong between 1750 and 1764, as a summer retreat, the Summer Palace, beside Lake Kunming, has a very colourful history. Originally a reservoir for Beijing's water supply, the 450 acre lake was entirely man made with the excavated soil used to build Longevity Hill overlooking the lake. Despite the fact that the garden contains a number of halls, pavilions, palaces, temples and bridges it did not have the facilities for long term stays or diplomatic meetings so the emperor chose not live there, using it instead for day visits only

The 728 metre Long Corridor,  for a sheltered walk in the rain

As the Qing dynasty declined the Summer Palace became neglected and was looted and burned in 1860 by the British and French during the second opium war. This wanton destruction has never been forgotten by the Chinese, however, in 1884, during the reign of Emperor Guangxu, his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, used funds intended for the navy to repair and enlarge the Palace to celebrate her 60th birthday.  One of the best features of the palace, and my favourite is the 728 metre Long Corridor, skirting the lake edge, built so that the Empress Dowager could exercise in all weathers.  It is lavishly decorated with paintings of places in China and scenes from Chinese folk tales and mythology. It is stunningly beautiful, I would be more than happy to exercise there daily.

The  Summer Palace was damaged again in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion when the Eight Nation Alliance looted the artifacts and destroyed the gardens.  Two years later the palace was once again restored. In 1914 the palace was opened to the public but after the revolution of 1949 was used as a meeting place for Mao Zedong and some top ranking communist party officials. Finally, in 1953, restorations and renovations were done to the palace and it was opened to the public once again.
UNESCO have added it to their world heritage list stating that it is "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape design".

A serene and beautiful corner of the Summer Palace gardens

I love the names of the buildings and pavilions - Hall of Jade Billows, Hall of Joy and Longevity, Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Pavilion of Precious Clouds, Oriole Listening Hall, Garden of Harmonious Pleasures - to name a few. Overlooking all, from the top of Longevity Hill, is the eight storey high Tower of Buddhist Incense where the Dowager Empress went to pray and burn incense. At one end of the complex is the Marble Boat, a purely decorative 96 metre long western style paddle steamer, built to replace a burnt out wooden one which was used as a summer house and for excursions on the lake.  Needless to say the marble boat cannot float.  At the other end of the complex is the graceful, 17 arch bridge.

The ornate and purely decorative Marble Boat

Above: Exercise class in the palace grounds
Left: Writing poetry in water as a contemplation
exercise. It disappears as quickly as it is written

There is so much to see in this beautiful place.  I could have spent a whole day there.  Apart from the surroundings and buildings I loved seeing the Chinese enjoying the grounds for activities such as exercise classes, dancing, watching magicians and writing poetry in water as a form of contemplation. And, I also found some lovely serene corners of the gardens to just enjoy their beauty on my own.  I highly recommend a visit to The Summer Palace.


Left: The Tower of Buddhist Incense on top of Longevity Hill