my travels in pixels

The River Seine Getting off the train we were hit by 35° heat which was a bit of a shock after London. I had booked an Airbnb room in a 17C apartment on the 6th floor that gave us a stunning view over Paris; the lift had only been installed 18 months ago. We could just see the tip of the Eiffel Tower to one side of our window and Sacre Coeur to the other. Our host Etienne was a delight. On the first day he gave us a French breakfast and explained places to go and how to get there. Notre Dame from the side The easiest way to get around Paris from our base was by train, everywhere we wanted to go was about half an hour using one or two trains. I cannot believe the amount of people they move, every four minutes a new train arrives – most of them are nearly full. The trains don’t have air-conditioning and with the amount of people, they become very hot regardless of how cold it is outside; a breeding ground for germs. And we both got incredibly sick. To be in Paris and not have...

Hyde Park, amazing that this can be in such a big city We dropped our hire car off at Heathrow, and bought Oyster cards for getting around on public transport. We loaded £20 onto each and then caught the train to the nearest station to our AirBnB room in Kensington. It was in a good spot for walking to restaurants at night and in a nice area. the double decker buses have gone modern The first day we walked from our accommodation through Kensington gardens and Hyde Park, it’s hard to imagine that a city of so many people had the foresight to allocate so much land to parklands. I love that they have seats everywhere for people to sit on. Lindsay went home early as his foot was hurting and left me to my own devices. Which at first was fine, but navigation is not my strong point, and I took a wrong turn. I know exactly where it was; I thought I was cutting off a corner and it sent me completely in a different direction. On the positive side I got to see these really lovely houses...

Bletchley Manor If you’ve seen the movie “the Imitation Game” you will know about Bletchley Park.  Nearly 10,000 people were working at Bletchley park at the end of WWII. They worked in three shifts of eight hours around the clock. 3,000 per shift, how did they keep that a secret? As far as the rest of the country knew, Bletchley was a hunting lodge, not a government site whose sole mission was to find out what their enemies in WWII were doing. The previous owners were trying to sell the property but the real estate market hadn’t really recovered since the great depression. Then the Government stepped in and did a compulsory acquisition. The Australian Airforce did the same thing to my great grandfather; you don’t actually have a choice about selling or what they pay you, and you don't get it back when they've finished with it either! Everyone had to ride bicycles as there was petrol rationing Bletchley Park is about an hour north of London, it was chosen as it i...

The Derwent Valley The Lakes District is a picturesque area of England in the north west. The roads are even more narrow than the ones in the cotswolds. Instead of being lined with vegetation, they are lined with dry stone walls, which can be a little intimidating when confronted with a car coming the other way, one of you backs back and you then you still have to squeeze past each other. Many of the buildings are made with the dry stone. It is incredible pretty but also incredibly busy. Most people come here to walk and there are numerous walking tracks, but as we didn’t bring proper walking shoes and the treks I looked at were over 3 hours long, we stuck to driving. The first day we arrived it was raining and the forecast for our whole stay was rain as well, but luckily the meteorologists got it wrong and we had a couple of fine days. Imagine having to drive along here every day There are many circles of stones around the country the Boat Launch The lake is called...

You can walk on part of the old Roman town wall The town of York is very old – it was a Roman provincial capital in 71AD – I don’t know how they coped with the weather after Rome. When the Roman empire toppled, the Anglo-Saxon’s moved in. The Vikings then overtook the town for a few centuries, followed by the Normans, who destroyed the city, then rebuilt it. the Abbey is tucked in between lots of other buildings During the industrial age, York’s railway was the largest in the world and they have a magnificent railway museum where you can look inside the carriages of all the monarchs through the ages. the Abbey's stone was reused in other buildings If you ever delve into the history of York you come across Henry VIII who closed all the monasteries and nunneries. The old section of the city is dominated by York Minster – a large gothic cathedral that took 250 years to build. 250 employees and 500 volunteers help preserve it’s heritage. They are renovating it, so t...

Chipping Campden The Cotswold’s is one of the most picturesque areas of England. Think beautiful old buildings, country lanes, narrow windy roads, beautiful old pubs and unusual names that come from old Saxon words. No, it's not a camera distortion, they are crooked Here are some of their meanings: - Lower slaughter means lower marshland - Cots means sheep pen and wold means on the hill, so Cotswold = sheep pen on the hill - Stow means sheep, so Stow on the wold = sheep on the hill the roads haven't got any wider On my morning walk through the town of Paxford I noticed a sign saying “Public Footpath” that pointed across a field. I had noticed these before and wondered where they went. So when I came to the another path on the other side of the church and saw a woman walking her dog, I decided to follow her. No I’m not a stalker, but you can’t really see any track as it’s over grass, so I needed help. She walked over the bridge I had seen the sheep run...