2018
Nov 14
We
were going to be in the UK in August (family celebration, which is another
story), so took the opportunity to do some wandering around, connecting with friends
and family beyond the initial focus. We flew into the UK via Madrid, and picked
up a rental car from LHR to visit Marlow and then continue to Norwich.
1) Marlow: we were
able to spend a day with Mark and Beate, enjoying their hospitality and walking
by the Thames.
2) Norwich: this
was the main family get-together, with Tes & Margaret, Rolf & Jan,
Catriona, Nick, & Charlie. We (the visitors) stayed at a house in the
village of Neatishead, conveniently close to the White Horse pub, and shuttled
back and forth to Thorpe End. It was the first time we had been together for a
long time, and it was enjoyable to catch up on our various stories.
3) Nandrin: we
dropped the rental car off at Norwich airport then took a taxi to the station
(to the confusion of the taxi driver who wondered how we had arrived at the
airport at a time when no flights had arrived), then took the train to
Liverpool Street, and the short tube ride to St. Pancras, where we took Eurostar
to Brussels. There we picked up a rental car: we had booked a fairly boring car,
however were offered a Fiat 500 which was much more attractive an idea. We went
ahead with this, and found that it was the Fiat 500X, which is a sort of “Fiat 500 on steroids” version of the
car. This proved to be an excellent
option for the next week.
We drove east to Liège and on to the small town
of Nandrin, in the wooded countryside in Eastern Belgium. After an excellent
dinner at a local restaurant we relaxed at the home of Pierre, Mariana, and Olivia,
who unfortunately were in Southern France at the time. The following day we
drive to Brussels
to meet JIm and Sarai, with whom we had spent some time in Botswana last year,
and whom we now met in rather different surrroundings, lunching at Le Pré Salé and then catching up on
news. We then explored the Grand Place and wandered around the town centre.
The following morning we enjoyed the Musée Magritte,
local cafés, and then headed west to Bruges, to have a late lunch in the Place before
heading back to Nandrin.
4) Luxembourg: The
following day we worked our way south to Luxembourg, first visiting the Mudama
(Museum of Modern Art) and then exploring the city and its battlements and the Casemates, before an early dinner. We
then headed out of Luxembourg, past Trier (frequently visited by Alan’s Mum and
Dad, along with Tes on occasion) and made our way north to Düsseldorf, which
was selected simply as a convenient overnight stop.
5)
Lübeck: From Düsseldorf we enjoyed the
efficiency and safety of the autobahn
(on which the Fiat proved well able to keep up with most of the traffic) to
work our way northwards towards Lübeck, stopping to visit Bremen, one of
several Hanseatic Ports we would see on this trip. Bremen was fascinating and
well worth the brief detour from the autobahn.
We lunched at the interesting Manūfactum, and then continued northwards. Lübeck itself was
another fascinating old city, full of cobbled streets and corners, with the
main city gate – the Holstentor – a kind of germanic version of two leaning towers
of Pisa with a gate in between. Despite it’s being a fairly rainy day to this
point, at the end of the afternoon the sun came out, illuminating the Tower
Gate from behind us.
6) Aarhus: We continued
north into Denmark, headig for Aarhus to visit frinds we had met in Malawi last
year - Victor, Sophie, Lone, and Steven – and Mikkel - whom we had met in Colombia
on his back-packing trip round Latin America. They hosted us wonderfully: Victor and Mikkel showing
us the old town and harbour, introducing us to Danish customs and practices,
and preparing an excellent dinner at Victor’s home. We were able to visit the
ARoS, an excellent contemporary art museum, and the following day, the Moesgaard
Museum, with excellent insights into Danish (and indeed Scandinavian) history.
7) Copenhagen: the
following day we took the ferry to Sjællands Odde, then drove to Humlebæk to
visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (*). We lunched there, overlooking the
sea, and then contomued into Copenhagen itself, staying at the excellent M18
hotel and exploring the city, its harbour, bridges, parks, and dining at Cap
Horn, in Nyhavn. In the next couple of days we enjoyed breakfasts at the Fresh
Food Market and at Andersen & Maillard, the National Museum, Sømods Bolcher for
traditional sweets, ascending the Rundetårn, and wandering around the city, as
well as stopping at Petitgas, a time-honoured hat specialist, where Alan could
not resist the professional attention of the hatter and bought a Hat.
8) Vadstena: we then crossed the
bridge to Sweden (this being known for the TV “whodunnit”, which spawned an
equivalent series in the USA, and also more recently for the decision to close
it in response to the influx of refugees from the “Middle East”, contrary to
Schengen principles). We noted with interest the careful and profesional interview
to which we were subjected to ensure that nothing inappropriate was involved in
our entry to Sweden.
We knew that it was going to be a long way to
our next planned destination – Stockholm, and so looked for a place to stop
overnight on the way. We found that Vadstena,
was more or less halfway there, on the second largest lake in Sweden - Lake Vättern,
and chose to stop there, which proved an excellent decision. Vadstena is where the
first Bridgettine
Order monastery was founded in 1350, and Vadstena
Castle is one of Sweden’s best-preserved 16th century castles. We
stayed in the Vadstena Klosterhotel, which is what it left of the original monastery.
On the way we had stopped at Hamneda
where there is an Elk Reserve however unfortunately it was closed, although it
was good to deviate from the main highway and travel on the minor roads of the
area for a while.
9) Stockholm: the
following day we continued northward to Stockholm, arriving around midday. We
checked into our hotel and then set out to explore on foot, walking to
Skeppsholmen for the Moderna Museet then to Gamle Stan; the following day
visiting the excellent Fotografiska Museet, and then taking the ferry to the
other side of the harbour to visit Vikingaliv, the Vasa Museet (in which the Vasa is stunning in its size and state
of preservation), then walked to Karlaplan, took the Metro to Central Station, and
back to Gamla Stan for dinner at Gästabud.
10) Stavanger: We then took two flights,
connecting in Oslo, to reach Stavanger, where we were to stay with Birte for a
few days. It had been a decade since last seeing her and it was great to catch up
on each other’s lives after this time.
The weather was somewhat typical of Norway during
our stay – ranging from beautiful sunshine and clean blue skies to steady rain –
fortunately we spent the sunny periods outside and then rainy periods (mostly)
inside so this was no problem.
On our second day we took the ‘bus into town to
pick up a rental car for the day and explore the fjords and mountains of Rogaland.
We drove south and then east, visiting the waterfall at Månafossen, then
continuing inland climbing into the stark rocky landscape of the mountain
heights, and lunching at the Kjerag Café overlooking Lysefjord. We then drive
down the switchbacks to Lysebotn, subsequently back over the mountains to Tonstad
and back to main coastal highway, stopping at Terland Klopp stone bridge and at
Ålgård on our way back to Stavanger.
The next day we drove out to Utstein Kloster in
the rain, taking the new tunnel under the fjord (best experienced when it’s
raining heavily at the surface), drove by Fløroy Fyr and Fort (and electing not
to get out and walk, partly since the site was closed), and stopping for what
turned out to be a free coffee at the Utstein Kloster.
After dropping off the
rental car and lunching at Skagen (where
they were still playing the same music tape they had been playing when Alan
first visited in 1975 it seemed), walked around the old town, then visited the
excellent BGE Contemporary Art Gallery. In the evening we walked down to the harbor
for dinner at Fisketorget.
The following day we took the ‘bus to visit the
Stavanger Art Museum overlooking the Mosvatnet, then back to Birte’s to head
for the airport.
While we were in Stavanger we found that there
was an exhibition of graffiti which we enjoyed. Also the town has grown
significantly since Alan’s last visit (and much more since his first) with some
good news and also some less good news, such as that the wonderful office
location on the fjord is now surrounded by apartments, losing much of the
setting which made it such a marvellous place to work.
11) London: on arriving at Heathrow, we stayed at
the new Moxy Hotel (a welcome addition to the options available near Heathrow).
The following day we headed into town by ‘bus and tube to Russell Square, had
some tea at Camellia’s and then visited
the British Museum, to experience “I
Protest” an exhibition of dissent over the ages put together by Ian Hislop.
Then after a beer at Craft Beer Co., we spent some time in and around Covent
Garden and Seven Dials. Dinner was our now traditional South Asian dinner in London,
this time at Salaam Namaste, then by tube and ‘bus back to the Moxy. The
following morning a very early start for the fligt to Madrid, connecting to our
flight home, arriving late afternoon and enjoying dinner with family that
evening.
It had been excellent
to catch up with our friends and family, see some places new to both of us, and
relax after a strenous work schedule in the previous weeks (and months).
Alan and Marce
Photos may
be used for non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com
(* NOTE: in
case you were wondering why an art museum in Denmark would be called the “Louisiana
Art Museum”:
“The property had been built and
named in 1855 by Alexander Brun … who was an officer and Master of the Royal
Hunt and who married three women who were all named Louise”
(https://www.louisiana.dk/en/louisiana-history).
