Fun at The Deep

They have sharks

We went to The Deep today. it was great.

And Penguins

One of the nice things about the way it works is that a ticket lasts for year. So we can go back for free. And we will.

And lots of things I don’t know the names of

You can take as many photographs as you like - as long as you don’t use flash. I took along my Sony A7RII (an old camera) fitted with a Contax 90mm (a very very old lens). The combination acquitted itself very well. It’s tricky getting pictures through the thick glass sides of the tanks and the white balance of the shots is a bit of a lottery, but I’ve spent a bit of time tweaking the pictures and I’m not unhappy with them.

This frog is probably horribly poisonous

The gift shop is the equal of ones they have at Disney, and all the staff were excellent. If you live in Hull you should go there and then go back so that you can grab a coffee at a place with one of the best views in Hull (as long as you can get a window seat. If you don’t live in Hull, it’s well worth the trip. We rounded off a very nice morning with a trip to Bert’s Pizza who make the best pizza in Hull. And also do fantastic gelato.

They have some great lights in Berts…

Scarborough Less Fair

Taken with the phone. Oh the shame of it….

Today we were looking forward to spending some more time exploring Scarborough. But the weather had other ideas. Yesterday’s sunshine was replaced with grey drizzle, so we had to resort to pitching camp in a very nice café until it was time to catch the train home. But we’ll definitely be back.

Sewerby Hall for the win

I should probably use some smart technology or other to remove the bin on the right..

Today finds us at Sewerby Hall for the day. If you happen to have a six year old to amuse this is a great place to visit. They’ve got a zoo with penguins, mini-golf and a land train that takes you down to Bridlington sea front where you can find loads of arcades containing penny falls machines. Great place.

Flea Market Time

It was never explained why there is a flying saucer in the middle of the market

Another must visit place for us was the Paris Flea Market. Although of course we never saw anyone selling fleas. There was a lot of very interesting stuff though. From very high end custom made furniture all the way to jumble sale junk. In between you can find records, video games, photographs, toys, and mountains of stuff. We didn’t spot any bargains, but we did find a really good camera shop. And had a really splendid lunch (one of many we’ve enjoyed on this trip).

A quick guide to the French language

1. People really like it if you start with a “Bonjour”, rather than diving straight into what you want. And while they can probably speak pretty good English, trying some French is a good idea. I can know a bit of French, but I must be careful that I don’t use all of it at once when opening the conversation: “Bonjour, je m’appelle Rob. Je avec les yeux blu and est tres tall. Je’aime l’ordinator…”

2. For best results when asking for things, put a specific number in front of what you want. Rather saying “Can I have a coffee, and orange juice and a water” you should say “One coffee, one orange juice and so on.” The French for one is “un”. This makes it sound like you’re asking for the reverse of what you want – “Can I have un-coffee, un-orange juice and so on” but it does work a lot better.

3. Do not, not, not think that anyone will understand you better if you speak in a French accent and wave your arms about a lot.

Paris shopping and stuff

I’d been looking forward to going to Antiq-photo since we arrived in Paris. They have a huge selection of old cameras and stuff and their shop is as much museum as saleroom. Today was the day that we headed in their direction. Of course they were shut. Paris tip: open hours are not necessarily open hours. Next time I go I’ll call ahead and make sure there is somebody around. Although, it probably saved me a fortune.

You could hire a little sailboat to play with on the pond

We had a great walk thorough the Jardin du Luxemburg, spent the afternoon exploring the Palais de Justice (historical note - the French Revolution was not a fun time) and made our way back to the hotel for a splendid dinner. Then, refreshed, we headed out again to the Arc de Triomphe. We got there just as the sun was setting and it was a lovely place to be.

I had to risk my life to get this picture

Then it was back to the hotel, a quick drink and then bed.

Bastille Day

Making a flypast look easy..

Bastille day is a big thing in France. It celebrates an important moment in the French revolution. there were parades and an amazing flypast. We didn’t see all of it, not having got up at some horribly early hour to get the best place to watch. But what we saw was awesome.

It’s easy to look cool from the back of a horse..

Once we’d had our fill of the parade we got on the Metro and headed to an amazing Science Museum. This is in an enormous park. There’s a planetarium and a submarine, and we saw both.

I managed to explore the submarine without banging my head. Go me.

After dinner it was time to head up to the centre of Paris again for the fireworks display. Forty years ago I managed to watch the display from the Champ de mars right next to the tower. This time we were a bit further away, but the spectacle was no less impressive.

Not bad for an iphone picture..

I didn’t think that you could make a firework display last half an hour, but they managed it. And it was all wonderful. We were on Pont Neuf, one of the bridges over the Seine. We had a great view of the top of the tower. Any closer and it would have been much harder to see. After the display we wandered back to the Metro station and were back at the hotel in twenty five minutes. Great stuff.

Japan Expo

I have no idea who these people are

I’ve been to a few Comicon exhibitions in Birmingham. They are great fun. The Japan Expo in Paris is like Comicon but bigger. Much bigger. It was so big that it was much more fun to be at. Comicon at the NEC in Birmingham is nice, but later in the day it seems to “fill up” so that there is no room around the stalls and you can’t find anywhere to sit once you’ve bought a drink. Japan Expo is much bigger but the space available is enormous. Things got busy but nothing seemed to completely clog up. Also (and this is a tip for the NEC folks) the bins were kept empty and the toilets were always clean, which adds a lot. We bought a few bits and bobs and had a whale of a time. I really, and I mean really, want to go back next year if they have another one.

A guide to Paris waiters:

1. They are amazing. Fast moving, polite and they never write anything down.

2. They may have lots of tattoos. But usually only on one arm. This is so that they can stand sideways at the entrance to the restaurant and wave at you to come in without looking too scary.

3. They will always try to carry one more plate than you think is possible. And they will succeed.

4. They make everything a performance. In England you are usually given your knife, fork, and napkin as one rolled package that you have to unpick yourself. In France each item will be individually positioned in front of you. We had to try very hard not to say “merci” for each item of cutlery as it was laid down with a flourish. Drinks are served in a similarly complicated manner.

5. Whatever you choose from the menu tends to be their favourite too, which is lovely.

Popping to the Louvre

It gets a whole wall to itself..

Who’d want to have their art displayed in the galleries that are on the path to the Mona Lisa? Nobody, that’s who. Everyone zooms past just looking for the next sign to tell them the way to the most over-hyped piece of art in the world. We took a look (well – it is a thing) but we also gave other works on the way a look too. There was some lovely stuff on display. Pro Louvre tip: look up. The ceilings are incredible.

And to think that we just put two coats of White Silk emulsion on ours…

We didn’t see it all of course. Nobody could in one day. Or even a week. I’ve no idea how they keep track of all the stuff they’ve got. We took a peek at the “Venus de Milo” because it’s another must-see item. Historical note: to make some of the more interesting sculptures the artists used a technique called “green marble” where the bits that were a bit hard to do (like a man with the legs of a horse for example) where done in green marble and then replaced with the correct figure in post-production by another sculptor.

Start of the Sphinx Grand PriX

The Louvre also contains big chunks of Napoleon’s home life, including his bedroom and dining room.

You could set at opposite ends of the table and have a talk at great length…

I can just imagine them inviting their chums around for dinner and then sitting and chatting afterwards:

Guest 1: “Where are you going for your holidays this year Napoleon?
Napoleon: “I was thinking about Russia…”
(orchestra plays a minor chord)

After the Louvre we thought we’d go on to see the other end of the art experience by heading up to the Pompidou centre. To me modern art seems a lot easier to make. It doesn’t have to look like anything (one artist hit upon the clever wheeze of making the canvas exactly the same colour as the wall behind it). I may be a bit of a philistine (said the old man) but any art that needs to be explained to me is probably not art at all. Then again, I am a sucker for bright lights and pretty colours so that was plenty to keep us occupied. And we had a coffee there which was very nice.

Not sure what it is. But I like it

On the way back home we stopped off at Chatalet Les Halls. A big shopping centre which contains a Fnac (yay!) and also a Lego store. I headed for the Lego store and the pick and mix. I made a Lego picture years ago and the white pieces have aged really badly. I was overjoyed to discover that the pick and mix had a bunch of the ones that I wanted, so I filled a bag with these. In the process I also scattered fair few around the place – which I felt rather bad about. I was really pleased until I got back to the hotel and worked out that I’d actually bought a very large number of the wrong kind of piece. Oh well, I’ll find a use for them.

To the tower!

Nice Day for it

Last time I was in Paris for a holiday was around 40 years ago. Things have changed a bit. The tower is now “fortress Eiffel”. In earlier, simpler, times you could just wander underneath the tower and find the entrances to the lifts or stairs to the top. Now there is an inevitable bag scan and a high fence all around the monument. And rather than just “going up the tower” we have the Eiffel experience. Where you go up the tower and have a plastic glass of champagne. It was very nice though.

If I’d been here a little earlier the Eiffel Tower shadow would have lined up exactly with the road….

For lunch we wandered over to the Printemps store. I’ve got very fond (and probably faulty) memories of a huge open cafeteria at the top of the store with cheap basic food and huge views. This is, of course, now also an “experience”– with prices to match. There were various different eating options (we went for pizza) and the views were as good, but I feel they’ve lost something of Paris here.

Travel tip: There are a few discount tickets for the Metro but the best value one requires you to add a photo ID to the card. You can pay 8 euros for a photo-booth, but you can also use black and white pictures that you can get from a Kiddizoom camera that you might have taken with you. This seemed to work a treat, although nobody ever actually asked to see them.

We spent a while in Fnac. It’s a lovely store. There are quite a few around Paris. They are a cross between a bookshop, game shop, camera shop, audio shop, computer shop and video shop. All very well done with keen prices. And busy too. Hopefully they can stay in business.

After lunch we had a wander back to the hotel, picking up a splendid meal on the way from one of the many restaurants they have around here. I really like Paris.

Heading to Paris

The train did get a lot more busy as we got close to London

We’re having a week away in Paris. We’ve been planning it for months. And that’s just choosing which camera to take. We’re going by train and using the tunnel. This is a bit more expensive than flying (which seems all kinds of wrong to me) but means we arrive right in the middle of Paris and the hotel is a short walk from the station. Pro tip: Hull Trains are lovely but they don’t have any on-board catering. Take any snacks you want to eat with you. The good news is that the journey is now shorter than I remember though.

Not a bad place to be

All the train connections worked, the walk the the hotel was easy and we ended up in the hotel garden sipping well deserved (we thought) beers. The fun starts tomorrow with a trip up the Eiffel Tower.

Back to the Forbidden Corner

The buildings have eyes here

We went to the Forbidden Corner a few years ago. Today we went again. It still rocks. They don’t give you a map. They give you a page with pictures of things that you might see on the way round and then just turn you loose. It’s probably the worst place in the world where you could say “Let’s split up and search the place”. You might never meet again…..

It is in a beautiful area and we were blessed with lovely weather (although it did get a bit hot in the afternoon). If you’ve not been, an you’ve got kids you want to amuse, it is a great place to visit. The café is great too. You have to book in advance though.

Dalby Forest Fun

Drove out to Dalby Forest today. Great place to take a camera.

Whitby

I took this picture a few years ago. I want to go back there again..

Dyrham Park is a great place to visit

..as seen on TV

Dyrham Park (pronounced “Durham Park”) is presently on the TV screen as one of the locations for the ITV production of Sanditon, a fairly speculative visualisation of an unfinished Jane Austen story. Apparently the "original” story ran out about half way through the first episode. There are 7 more episodes after that and so I think they should have probably added “from an idea by…” to the author credits.

Nevertheless, to my untrained eyes the plot and characters look pretty similar to “proper” versions of Jane Austen texts and we are happily trying to work out which characters are good and which bad and which chap the heroine will end up with. It seems to be boiling down to the “worthy” one or the “smouldering” one at the moment. My bet is on the bloke with the smoke coming out of his ears. Bad news for worthy folk everywhere.

Anyhoo, we didn’t really go to Dyrham Park purely on the strength of a TV tie in, we just fancied a day out in a nice place. In this respect it delivered really well. The location is lovely, the house fascinating, the views awesome, the food in the cafe tasty and we had a thoroughly nice time.

Fun with a fish eye….

If you’re in the area you should go and take a look. Whether or not you’ve seen in on the TV.

Icelandic Parking Tips

As part of the public service remit of this blog, I bring you my handy “How to buy parking tickets in Iceland” and “How to contest a parking fine in Iceland when you have failed to buy your ticket correctly”.

If you park up in Iceland you have to buy a ticket. Don’t work on the fact that nobody else has a ticket in their car window, it’s all done with car registration plates. Pay for your parking at one of the handy machines above. The most important button on this keyboard, at least at the start, is the one next to the Icelandic flag at the bottom right. You can use this to select the English language version of the machine.

Once you’ve got the language sorted, enter your car registration number, the number of hours you want and then your contactless credit card and it all works out.

Except that sometimes it doesn’t.

This is the funky little Kia Picanto that we hired from Lagoon Car Rental (they are awesome by the way). When I entered the registration I included the 21 in the middle of the plate.

This is a stupid thing to do. The registration is happily accepted by the machine, but it is not valid. The proper registration is just “JPL42”.

So of course we got a parking ticket. Wah. Fortunately there’s a website that you can use to lodge an appeal. Double fortunately I’d asked the parking machine for a printed receipt which we could use to give our appeal a bit of extra heft.

So the moral of this story is to not put the year digits into your registration when paying for parking. And to get the receipt to use if you are as daft as me….

American Museum in Bath

Sunday sees us at the American Museum in Bath. A favourite of mine. Inside a lovely English country house are a whole set of rooms imported whole from America. It’s fascinating to see the transition from the simplicity of the early rooms to the intricate decadence of the more recent ones. The story of the origins of America is very well told and we had the added bonus of a couple of really good exhibitions. If you’ve not been, go. If you have been, you won’t need me to tell you to go again.

York Spark

Went to York today for a trip out. The weather was kind to us and we found this new (to us) Spark place. All very “pop-up” and modern. Made from containers which have been combined to host all manner of interesting food and stuff places. The place strongly reminded me of the Null Sector at Magnetic Fields last year. Worth a look if you are in York.

Whitby Steam

Today finds us on the road to Whitby. A wonderful place, if a bit colder than we anticipated first thing in the morning. We'd come for the steam rally and a fish pie. We got all that, plus fantastic weather and a ride in the clifftop lift (well worth 60 pence of anyone's money).

If you've not been to Whitby you are so missing out. And if you've been to Whitby and not had the fish pie at the Magpie Cafe then you're missing out too.

Breakfast at the Zoo

Breakfast view

Sunday dawned, and with it the realization that we needed to go and get some food for breakfast. Unlike virtually everyone else on the trip, we'd gone for an Airbnb flat for our accommodation. Not for us the overpriced continental breakfasts they serve up in hotels, no need for us to stand in the queue for cereals wondering where on earth you get the spoons from. No sir. We were going to live like locals, eating what they eat, shopping where they shop. Except that all the locals had bought their food yesterday when the shops were open, and all the food shops were now shut. Sunday opening is not a thing in Germany.

We messaged our Airbnb hosts for help on where to get a bite to eat. The reply came back. 'Go to the zoo'. It was a lovely day, so we did. Leipzig Zoo has apparently been judged "The second-best zoo in Europe". Having been there, I'd now quite like to got to the best one, although I'm not sure how it can better Leipzig. The zoo is vast, and a stone's throw from the city centre. It is peppered with great places to eat, our hosts had suggested three, and we selected the one that lets you eat your breakfast and watch the giraffes go past.

After some discussion at the till about the sensibleness of selecting an "all you an eat" buffet ten minutes before it closes (we didn't in the end) we settled down with our croissant and coffee and did indeed watch the giraffes go past. Today was flagged as the hottest day of the trip and it didn't disappoint. We actually went into the tropical rainforest area to cool off a bit.  If you go to Leipzig, go to the zoo. If you're not going to Leipzig, go to Leipzig and then go to the zoo. You'll thank me. Oh, and eat lunch at the Hacienda. Have the chilli. Then you can thank me again.

We staggered back from the zoo to the flat through the city, noting all the closed food shops as we went past them. We finally found a tiny place that was open which sold about a hundred different kinds of beer. It also sold milk and chocolate biscuits. So, we bought some milk, some biscuits and, of course, some beer, staggered back to the flat and settled down for the night.

Pro-tip that we realised later: shops close on Sunday in Germany. But filling stations do not. Pretty much every petrol station has a mini-supermarket attached and sometimes even a tiny café. We could have nipped to the nearest BP station – our hosts had even noted its location on the map – and stocked up there.

Arriving in Leipzig

The girl at the information desk looked at her colleague, then at us, and finally shrugged her shoulders, holding her palms outwards in the international gesture signifying "Sure. Why not?". We'd just asked her in halting English if it was possible for us to catch the 22:24 train out of Leipzig airport to the city centre. Except that we didn't know where the train was or where to buy tickets. And it was 22:14. Well, if she sort-of thought we could do it, we could sort-of do it. So off we went.

It turns out that ten minutes is just enough time to buy tickets, find the wrong platform, and then stand on it watching the 22:24 train leave from the right platform. The only positive was that the next train arriving at the wrong platform was running late. And going to Leipzig. Worrying that we'd used up all our good luck for the entire trip, we hurried aboard and begin to ponder the next hoop we had to jump through; getting the keys for the apartment.

Because of our late arrival; our hosts would be leaving the apartment keys in a locker in Leipzig station. We'd been sent the locker number and code, along with a picture of the locker itself. I was sure I'd played this video game before and, since Leipzig station is one of the biggest in Europe, I was now playing it on level 10.

After a number of false starts and discovering that I didn't know the German word for "locker", and everyone we met didn’t know the English word for "locker", we finally got the key and made it to the taxi rank, clutching the piece of paper with the address and map that I'd prepared earlier.

The taxi driver took one look at the map, nodded, ushered us into her vehicle and then sped off in what I considered to be completely the wrong direction. Which shows how much I know about Leipzig. We arrived at the door to the flat in record time, stood for a while in the doorway while I played with the key in the lock, and finally we were inside what would be our home for the next five days.

We'd come to Leipzig to watch a car being made. It turns out that there are also lots of other good reasons to visit the city, including parks, restaurants and an amazing zoo, but for now the BMW factory tour on Monday was the thing we were most looking forward to. Or at least, I was looking forward to. The flat was comfy, everything was in place for a nice few days.