London Calling

OK, so I’m guessing this isn’t the first time someone’s used the title of the famous The Clash song for a blog post, but its a first for us at least. London’s only 27 minutes away on the express train, but we really don’t make in in there all that often – what with all the attractions of Surrey to tempt us on our doorstep. But every now and then we get the urge and head in for a look around.

Our visits invariably involve a stroll through Hyde Park (because if we drive, we park there) and then, unsurprisingly, a look at some of the shops, and perhaps if time permits some famous tourist spots. So for today’s adventure, we bring you some pics from Hyde Park, some shops and some tourist attractions. See if you can name the locations…

So here we are at Hyde Park. Nice day for it.

 
Enough of that… what about the shops…

 
Guessed which shop yet?

 
It sells large bears, amongst other things.

Cruising the streets of Kensington.

A lesser known tourist spot… the home of Earl Mountbatten on Wilton Place.

 
Hurry up!

 
Get the London loook.

 
Its tiring work.

 
Which way is Australia?.

The Australian War Memorial at the Wellington Arch.

 
Lots to see…. all of the famous battle locations are superimposed into the wall

 
This is Wellington Arch… a relatively peaceful place in the middle of a busy London roundabout.

 
London bikes. Like a lot of cities, they’re everywhere now.

 
Ummm…. no comment.

 
Another park with autumn leaves.

 
Approaching our next famous London tourist location….

 
No hints.. this should be easy to guess.

 
Gates fit for a Queen….

Guards - surely this gives it away?

 
Another Keezee arty shot, but maybe not a great clue.

 
Yes, it’s Buckingham Palace! But what’s that’s behind… an ominous looking cloud.

 
Yes it was…. and a bit of rain to finish the day off – we are in London after all. If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes .

Petworth House revisited

We've visited Petworth House before, but that was a while ago, and due to a gross navigational error at the time, we never actually made it inside.

So it was high time we returned and this time we checked out the house itself. A good thing too, because the weather wasn't a nice as last time. It wasn't long after we began our walk and checked out a garden house thingy and a few deers that the rain began to fall so we made a dash for it.


The garden thingy

Posing in the garden thingy



All smiles for the deer


That's them

Inside after our mad dash, and here's the stairway and entrance hall.... noice.


Good spot for a rest.



There was the odd portrait to see


The kids took the "Find the Art Challenge". Here's Lucy trying to track down a portrait of Henry VIII. Where could he be?


Caiti had to track down a Turner and a Constable.


Found it!

Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

Sorting through these Ireland photos is tough work.... geez we took a lot. So here's a quick peek at our fly-by visit to the Cliffs of Moher.

Without going into unnecessary details, Keezee (and his sat-nav) missed the turn off on the way out of Galway and got us hopelessly lost as we criss-crossed our way across the narrow County Clare back roads. We ended up arriving about 3 hours behind schedule, and still had to get onto Killarney, where we were booked for the night, so it ended up being a bit of a quick visit. We still took time to enjoy the view on what was quite a nice afternoon. We did make it to Killarney eventually, thanks to the Irish summer twilight which just seems to go on forever.


It's a walk up the cliffs, and there's a tower at the top - presumably for those who wish to take in the view from a bit higher up??


This is the most dangerous bit, where fence is a touch rickety, so we have to keep a good hold on Caiti.


Looking back south over the surfie town of Lahinch / Lehinch (seems like you can spell it both ways)


Lucy (like her mum) loves the tourist gift shops, and here she is showing off her Irish doll (whose name we've forgotten) and her "I ♥ Ireland" hoodie.


The view

Ireland - Leitrim (and beyond)

So continuing on now with more inventively named blog posts, we continue our journey across Ireland, as we head North by Northwest to the wonderful county of Leitrim. Leitrim is a lovely, lush place with rivers and lakes everywhere you look.

We stayed in the "cruisey" town of Carrick-on-Shannon, in a wonderful apartment complex right by Ireland's longest river. It proved to be a great base, with lots to see nearby; the beaches of Sligo and Mayo (love those names) were not far off; and even Northern Ireland is only a short drive away, for when we felt the need to save on foreign exchange charges.

In the end, the girls didn't want to leave, but in Ireland there's so much to see, and (in our case) so little time to see it. But for now anyway, please enjoy these pics...


Here's the girls hamming it up in front of the Carrick Bridge, which has historically been a strategic crossing point of the River Shannon - it still is.



The kids were fascinated by this beautiful statue in the town park by the banks of the Shannon. We explained to them that the message was "respect your elders", but somehow they didn't seem to understand.


This is the historic Parkes Castle, which lies on the shores of Lough Gill.


One of Leitrim's loveliest nature spots is Glencar (which translates to "valley of the car") and the famous Glencar Falls.


Our hostess welcomed us to Glencar Falls... a short walk up the path.


It did in fact rain as we walked up to the Falls. Luckily, Lucy was fully prepared.


There's the Falls at the back there.


This is Monea Castle in Northern Ireland. It's a very cool place, just sitting there on its own in the countryside amongst the cows.


For the record, Monea Castle has no toilet.
Lucy's gonna kill me for mentioning that.


This is the very pretty town of Westport in County Mayo. Caiti loves mayo, and, as a result, she loves County Mayo.
Seriously - ask her if she liked Ireland and the first thing she'll tell you is that there's a place called Mayo!