Adrienne's Adventures

100 things I love 61 - 80

2010-08-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

61. moonlight
62. silence
63. the ocean at night
64. cherries
65. home grown vegetables
66. optimists
67. french knots
68. the company of friends
69. textured wallpaper
70. turkish delight
71. baby chuckles
72. my mother
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.

100 things I love: 41 - 60

2010-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

41. the colour turquoise
42. orchids
43. candlelight
44. my grandchildren
45. skype
46. silence
47. texture
48. Joni Mitchell's music and lyrics
49. stained glass
50. subtle lighting
51. slate
52. empty beaches
53. mountain streams
54. the electric blue Mazda MX5 Anniversary edition car I drove in 2003-2005
55. iridescence
56. drinking from fine china cups or mugs
57. rose wine
58. linen clothes
59. sharing food with friends
60. rockpools

100 things I love: 21-40

2010-07-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here are 20 more of my favourite things:

21. margaritas
22. getting lost in creating art
23. cooking for those who appreciate it
24. picnics
25. laughter

26. lizards
27. my netbook
28. oak
29. clear glass Christmas ornaments
30. old buildings

31. the feel of fine bedlinen
32. Hendricks gin with Fevertree tonic, ice and a slice of lemon
33. old jewellery
34. the sound of acoustic guitars
35. old doors

36. home made juices
37. voices in harmony
38. taking photographs
39. honesty
40. the dragon my son carved for me

100 things I love: 1-20

2010-06-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Curious Lisa (whose blog I love!), I thought I'd list my favourite 100 things. I'll do 20 at a time, so as not to overwhelm you! In no particular order, and mostly focused on my garden on this occasion:

1. dewdrops
2. broad beans eaten in the garden, straight outof the pod
3. the smell of tomato plants
4. the sound of bubbling water
5. frogs

6. the scent of lilies
7. the scent of old fashioned roses
8. jasmine
9. relaxing in the sun with a glass of rose
10. hanging baskets

11. birdsong
12. hostas
13. breezes
14. the sound of wind chimes
15. summer rain

16. the sound of pebbles crunching as I walk the path
17. ferns
18. Acer palmatum
19. apples fresh from the tree
20. clematis flowers

National Botanic Garden of Wales (5) - indoor art

2010-05-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

The great glasshouse is full of beautiful plants, but scattered amongst the plants are pieces of art, which are typical of the continents the plants come from. This little arrangement reminded me of Arizona and Mexico.

A close up of the 'seed pod'.

In the Australia area, there are painted stones, reminiscent of Aboriginal art, but not so detailed - a beautiful lizard -

- a kangaroo -

- a turtle -

and others which you will have to visit the garden to see for yourself!

As well as the art in the great glasshouse, there is a gallery in the cafe and shop area, which has several interesting exhibitions each year, and glass corridor between the gallery and shop which houses some more permanent pieces, including several hanging stained glass panels with a botanical theme.

These large vessels, made from a mosaic of crockery pieces, is quite spectacular.

The current exhibition, running until 25th May, is absolutely unique and the pieces on display are stunning. Each piece is created by a jeweller, who incorporates botanical elements and metal in the pieces. I would have been happy to have taken any of the items on display home with me!

A 'ring' made from a skeleton seed pod.

Fabulous 'trees', made from lichen, mounted onto textured silver 'hills'. Beautiful.

This neckpiece is made from nylon line, and has seaweed 'pods' attached to it. Amazing!

I love the tree topped hill pictures, and the matching sculptures on display below.

A closer look at the 'trees' and rocks.

These rings were all made with cubes of lichen. Click on the photo for a better look.

E
Each of these brooches is made from glass mounted onto a disc of wood in a silver bezel, and a tree image. They are beautiful, but sadly (for me, not for the artist!) they had all been sold.

This final piece is about 2 feet wide by 3 feet tall, and is a beautiful pattern in a frame. Closer inspection reveals that the pattern is made from wild flower seeds...

The gallery at the garden has some pretty amazing exhibitions, I have seen art made from printed aluminium drinks cans, and also elaborately decorated and designed 'clothes' made from layers of paint and paper. I must go back in June to see what's on next!

National Botanic Garden of Wales (4) outdoor art

2010-05-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

In a pool alongside the main path, sits a water lily. No ordinary water lily, but one sculpted in metal, about a metre in diameter.

In the walled garden, a series of pieces, some more solid than others! This is a beautifully airy piece - an arrangement of white wood stems with white feathers tied to the top.

Nearby is a similar arrangement of natural coloured stems tied against a wall, with more feathers , ready to support a growing plant.

This ball of spheres within spheres creates interesting shadows, and invites the viewer to try rolling it!

Entwined bodies carved in stone - displayed on a pile of building blocks. It is beautiful enough to deserve a proper plinth!

Pram wheels held together with sculpted hands.

There is more art in the garden - both in the great glasshouse and in the gallery - and I will post about that tomorrow.

National Botanic Garden of Wales (3) - water features

2010-05-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

The National Botanic Garden of Wales has many lakes, pools, ponds and water features. This is a spectacular indoor/outdoor water feature in the entrance foyer of the gardens. It must be 12 feet from top to bottom, and as well as looking very attractive, it lets light into the building.

A little way into the garden is the first of the lakes - there were either 7 or 13 originally, but they were filled in during the second world war, as German bomber planes were using them as navigational aids during bombing raids on nearby Swansea. The Garden has restored the first 3 lakes, and hopes to restore the remainder in due course. There is landscaped terracing with seating so that people can sit in a sheltered area to enjoy looking at the lake and the life within and upon it.

Somebody got a bit enthusiastic with their gesturing - this bracelet is on the lake bed, about 6 feet from the shore!

The main path through the garden leads from the entrance to the education centre, cafe, gallery, theatre and exhibitions. It is slightly sloping, and has a pebble lined rill snaking from the top of the hill where the buildings are to a pool with fountains near the entrance, a distance of around a quarter of a mile. The rill starts from a small pool at the top of the hill...

... runs past the education centre...

...on down the hill...

...where the water disappears underground....

... and bubbles up from another hole...

... before running down to the fountain...

There are several other formal water features in various locations around the garden - in the double walled garden, in the great glasshouse, along the main pathway, and this one near the cafe.

The garden also has sculptures, and art on the gallery, but more of that in the next post.

National Botanic Garden of Wales (2) Glasshouse plants

2010-05-10T00:53:00.000-07:00

There are many unusual and beautiful plants in the glasshouse, this is the furriest and fuzziest plant I've ever come across!

This is from the Africa zone, a 'red hot poker'.

No idea what this is, but it is pretty.

This reminds me of the pink and white 'kaffir lilies' I have in my garden, but what a gorgeous shade of apricot!

Grasses are interspersed with the flowers.

These flower buds were about 2 cm long, none were open, so I am not sure if this is as good as it gets, or if I should try to go back next week to see what they look like!

This fabulous silver succulent caught my eye in the America Zone.

Not far away were these Californian Poppies, the colour is set off by their grey green foliage and the grey gravel.

Also in the America Zone was this beautiful Aquiliega, or 'granny's bonnet'. These are familiar flowers in my garden, in a range of sizes and colours, I didn't realise they were an American native.

Kangaroo Paws in the Australasia Zone. I love these tall strong plants, the long hairy flower buds open into starry flowers, often a completely different colour on the inside to the outside. I've seen them in red, green and yellow, I wonder if they come in other colours too?

I think this was in the Australasia Zone, but it was where the Africa Zone and America Zone border the Australasia Zone, so I'm not absolutely sure it's Australian, but I love the way it looks!

This Bottlebrush is definitely Australian, the flower is stunning but I also love the seedhead.

This is one of life's mysteries - I've seen many flowers which people claim are black, but they are usually deep red or purple - this was really black, with some yellow parts. Quite stunning.

This is a pretty climber with small flowers.

These three beauties were in the Mediterranean Zone.

This is the prettiest carnivorous plant I have ever seen.

Finally, the Africa Zone has some splendid Proteas, and some other flowers that look quite similar. Maybe they are part of the same family.

I hope you enjoyed that quick trip around the Glasshouse, next blog entry will be about the water features of the garden.

National Botanic Garden of Wales (1) - The Glasshouse

2010-05-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, and I celebrated it with a visit to the National Botanic Garden of Wales, near Carmarthen. The weather was wonderful, and there were fewer visitors there than I expected, which may not have been good for the garden's finances, but which allowed me to have a much nicer visit!

The Botanic Garden is relatively new, and was in such financial difficulties a few years ago that it was almost forced to close. These days, much of the upkeep of the gardens is done by volunteers. The setting of the garden is amongst the gentle rolling rounded hills of Carmarthenshire, and the great Glasshouse, designed by Norman Foster, settles into the landscape beautifully, looking from a distance like a rounded glass hill.

The glasshouse has several entrances, and the birds also have access as they fly in and out through the windows.

Many of the individual panes are over a ton in weight, and could not have been made using traditional methods - this truly is a building for the 21st century. It seems much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside.

The interior of the glasshouse has been set quite deep into the hill, and has room for several levels, and includes two waterfall walls and a pond full of fish.

The glasshouse allows the garden to grow and display plants from all around the world which wouldn't survive the cool wet Welsh climate. It is divided into 'zones' - Africa, Australasia, America, and maybe others I didn't notice the signs for. There are some spectacularly large plants inside - I have no idea what this one is!

A 'kangaroo paw' from Australia - there were several varieties of this plant, which is one of my favourites - I'll share some close up images in the next post.

Another mysterious spike of a plant:

I took WAY too many photographs during my visit, I'll spread them over a few posts, to share the gardens with you over the next few days.

Signs of Spring - at last!

2010-03-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

It's been a long winter this year, and we didn't have as much snow as much of the UK, which makes a change as being on high ground, we usually have more snow than most other places.

I'm seeing evidence of climate change in the garden and local countryside. Flowers are arriving at odd times.

The Primroses arrived in January, before the snowdrops - which arrived in early March, along with the Hellebores. My Daphne bush, which usually produces lots of fabulously scented pink flowers in February, hasn't flowered at all this year - the first time that's happened in 12 years.

The crocuses, which we usually see in February, have come out in the last week, and I haven't seen any tulips yet.

The Daffodils are finally putting up flower buds but none are open yet, here in the Brecon Beacons. I was in Carmarthenshire one day this week, and the Daffodils were all blooming there, so it won't be long!

There were also wild Celandines in flower in Carmarthenshire, but our plants don't even have flower buds yet - thank goodness. These wild plants are a major weed in my garden,and every year I remove what feels like acres of them, but there are always more the next spring...

The frogs have finally laid spawn in the pond this week. Last year they laid spawn too early, in mid February. It took months for them to hatch and finally turn into froglets - some were still tadpoles in August. I wonder if this years spawn, laid later, will take less time to develop.

Snowy Brecon Beacons

2010-01-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

It was a beautifully clear and sunny day in Wales today, although cold - it was -12C at 8.30 this morning when I went for a drive, and by the time I'd driven 4 miles, it was -16C. Much, much colder than we normally experience here.

This is how the Blorenge, near Abergavenny, looked.

And this was the view from Bwlch, with the Sugarloaf Mountain in the distance.

This is what the Brecon Beacons looked like from Llanhamlach.

I saw the work of somebody who has a sense of humour on my travels - they had created a 'snow ghost' and a 'snow mooner' - much more interesting than your standard snowman!

Caerphilly and Dr Who

2009-12-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

There is a medieval fair in Caerphilly this weekend, there are stalls selling food and gifts all along the main street, a small funfair, and all manner of medieval sights within the castle. There are also some incongruous sights, like this Santa having a chat with some passers by. Where's his sleigh and reindeer?

A jester in the castle....

Two country folk suffering from the plague singing slightly bawdy songs - great fun!

Great costumes...

The coin striker raising funds for the medieval Newport ship by letting people strike copies of a medieval coin for a small fee.

A beautifully painted medieval style chair:

Old friends meeting up for a chat:

There are female re-encators too...

And a sight of Dr Who's tardis, which has landed on one of the castle towers:

All in all we enjoyed our trip to Caerphilly, but even though we searched in every nook and crany of the castle, we couldn't find Dr Who anywhere. It was very atmoshpheric on places, though:

Patagonia, Arizona

2009-11-05T00:46:00.001-08:00

Patagonia is a pretty little town, with museums, galleries and gift shops -

as well as all the usual facilities you'd expect in what was once a cowboy town:

which made me wonder once again why hairdressers all around the world give their salons names with double meanings or which are puns. I think I might make a photographic collection of hairdresser name signs form around the world, and another of British Fish and Chip shops (who also seem keen on puns!)

The town is not far from the Mexican border, and we saw lots of Mexican influence, indoors and out, including this beautiful painted cupboard, being used to display shop stock:

and other pieces, used to liven up the displays of goods for sale:

This was a museum sign - sadly the museum was closed as we went on a Wednesday on October, out of the main tourist season. As a UK resident, I had heard of the Day of the Dead, and seen images, and thought it was all a bit gory. Now that I understand that the purpose is to cherish, remember, celebrate and provide for ancestors, I can see why there is so much emphasis on the whole concept.

The town also has what looks like a thriving community arts centre.

The arts centre really made their buildings stand out, with lots of mosaics on the walls:

and a mural:

There were interesting decorative touches in other parts of the town - here's some detail from the doors of one of the local food stores:

And, the Velvet Elvis looked pretty neat, inside and out, and the food was very very good!

You'd never walk into the wrong toilet there:

Of course, some parts of the town are on better condition than others, and this must be the oldest vehicle I have seen anywhere in the US:

This one was much newer, and was still being used. I love the rust finish you can achieve on metal in the dry heat of Arizona - here in the damp UK, once metal starts to rust it doesn't stop until the metal is all eaten away...

The final picture is a little quirky, and made me smile - wonder what kind of bird laid this egg???

Tubac, Arizona

2009-11-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Tubac is a very arty little town in southern Arizona. There are many galleries and gift shops, with a smattering of eating and drinking places, and a health food store and a couple of places to pamper yourself. There's also a collection of rusted metal sculptures, used as decorative elements throughout the shopping complex. I took way too many photographs to share, but here are a selection that begin to give you a feel for the place.

There were several tiled murals, I saw these in other places too, so they must be a southern Arizona/Mexican speciality:

The tiled theme had been extended to the street signs, each of which was unique:

There was a lovely old looking bell in the garden wall of the bar, which served great margaritas!

Many of the pillars supporting the verandah roofs were carved:

There were so many beautiful objects and paintings displayed in the galleries, and sometimes outside. These ceramic pieces have gorgeous patterning, created by adding horsehair, which burns off quickly during the firing process.

The surrounding countryside adds to the beauty of the place:

There are quiet cool corners:

and interesting architectural features:

and a variety of lovely light fittings:

some lovely plants:

including this wonderful display of cactus plants:

which turned out to be made from metal!

Privacy must be an issue, with so many visitors, but what a pretty way of ensuring it!

The sun was a common theme for the wall decorations, hardly surprising really, it was in the 90s in mid October, goodness knows how hot this place must get in summer.

There were lovely and unusual sculptures around every corner:

and on the walls:

It was a lovely place to spend an afternoon - which was only enough time to see about a third of the town. I could have spent many fortunes there, it was a probably good job I knew I had no room in my suitcases!

Tukwila, Washington state

2009-10-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

We drove through Tukwila today, on our way to Kirkland. The colours of the leaves were absolutely stunning. We took just a few pictures.

Later in the day I saw five raccoons, but sadly didn't have the camera with me.

Gig Harbor, Washington state

2009-10-08T17:27:00.001-07:00

I travelled from Portland to Gig Harbor last Sunday. I am staying with a friend who has a house overlooking an inlet off Puget Sound. The weather has been fabulous - clear skies and sunshine, with some morning fog over the water the last couple of mornings. The views from the deck are beautiful, and the birds are much more colourful here than most of the ones I see at home. I am missing my camera, and don't want to be asking my friend to take pictures for me every few seconds, so here are just one or two pictures of things which have really caught me eye. These Zinnias are growing just outside my bedroom window, and are the first thing I see every morning when I open the blind. Wow!

We don't really grow Zinnias in Wales, but I did have a green one grow from a mixture of 'white' themed annuals once, so I think I will look for some seeds and try growing some in my own garden next summer. Look at the gorgeous saturated colour in the orange ones above, and the colour contrast in the ones below...

We also don't really see many pumpkins in British supermarkets (although they do seem to be getting much more popular in the run up to Halloween each year). However, the ones we see tend to be the 'ordinary' pumpkins, so these beautifully coloured striped pumpkins really caught my eye.

The colour, shape, and surface texture on these Cinderella pumpkins is rather wonderful, too!

I fly to Arizona on Sunday, and another friend has a spare camera for me to use for that part of my trip, so hopefully, there will be lots of Arizona desert pictures coming soon.

Portland, Oregon

2009-10-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

This poor blog has been so neglected recently - I have been overwhelmed at work and home, but am now on a 3 week trip to Portland, Puget Sound, and Sonoita. Unbelievably, I forgot my camera, so my kind friend Zeborah took these photos for me when we went to a Korean restaurant. I've never been in a Korean restaurant before, the experience was very interesting and the food was fabulous!

We began with something called 'pot stickers', which are like little deep fried parcels of minced meat and vegetables, served with a soy dipping sauce.

The next course was the 'barbecue' itself - lots of small dishes arrived, containing shredded and sliced vegetables marinading in sweet rice vinegar - cucumber, shredded mouli or daikon radish, some bean sprouts, some kim-chee (I didn't eat that one as it was full of chilli), some thinly sliced pickled ginger (divine), some potato & carrot salad, some green beans with sesame seeds, and some sliced garlic & chilli peppers. Plus a bowl of sticky rice, some lettuce leaves and a plateful of thinly sliced pork & beef in a soy marinade. We cooked the meat on the barbecue and made 'wraps' of lettuce leaves stuffed with meat, rice, pickles and vegetables. It was all really yummy, if a bit messy to eat!

The little dishes:

The table full of food, and table barbecue:

The decor of the restaurant was interesting too - the top half of the walls was galvanised corrugated metal, and the chimneys above the tables with the corrugated metal gave the place a kind of industrial feel, but the light softened everything,and made the atmosphere welcoming:

Finally, the texture of the cast iron teapot stand was just too nice not to take a photo!

Isn't nature beautiful?

2009-07-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge if you want to see more detail

Hay on Wye

2009-05-29T04:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a LONG time since I posted to this blog. I've been really busy at work and at home, and this is one of the things I haven't found time for. I had a day off work to chill out today, and was thinking of going to Hay on Wye, one of my favourite places to go and browse and generally switch the world off. Hay on Wye has thankfully not attracted a single national chain store, and the residents like the charm and character of their homes and most have not succumbed to the dreaded UPVC window or door.

Luckily, I remembered that the Hay Festival is happening at the moment, and Hay gets very busy, full of celebrities and crowds. Not ideal for switching off. So, I worked in the garden instead. But I thought I'd post some pictures I took in Hay last year, of characterful front doors!

First, the town's clock tower:

And then a selection of doors:

This one is particularly characterful! The dorr is straight, but the frame and house around it are not!

And finally, the crest on the front of some alms houses:

Hay is a very pretty Georgian/Victorian town, and long may it stay that way!

Pentre Ifan burial chamber, Pembrokeshire, Wales

2009-03-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Pentre Ifan - which translates as 'Ivan's village' is an ancient burial chamber. It was built somewhere around 6000 years ago. All that remains now are the large stones, but once there was an earth mound covering the whole thing.

These stones are large - you can walk under the cap stone without any difficulty. It's been estimated that the capstone weighs somewhere between 16 and 40 tons. It makes you wonder how the people who built this moved the stones here? And why?

What were the ceremonies to do with burial that were so important to them that they took the immense effort and time to buid this, and other, burial chambers for their dead?

The site of this burial chamber is fabulous. It overlooks the coast near Fishguard, Pemmbrokeshire, and there are other burial chambers nearby, as well as a reconstructed Iron Age viillage, Castell Henllys.

Between Brecon & Sennybridge, Wales, UK

2009-03-01T04:03:00.000-08:00

On New Year's day, we had a rare event in south west Powys - we had a severe air frost. It had been dry, and although the ground wasn't all frosted, the winter trees and bushes looked stunning We went for a walk and took some photos, which I have finally gotten around to sharing. This picture of a very white world was taken near Llanspyddid, about 2 miles from home:

and here's a close up of some Rosebay willowherb:

and some cow parsley:

and some ferns:

We drove a mile or two further to Cwm Camlais and found some lovely frosted conifers:

and an extremely friendly robin:

and quite a friendly horse:

We found some beautiful iced spiders webs:

and icy branches in the hedges:

and the frost even made the wire fencing look pretty!

but this is my favourite scene of the day:

with this close up looking almost as good:

Budapest stauary

2009-02-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

There are some beautiful statues, friezes and fountains in Budapest. This was a very ornate fountain in one to the city's squares; it has 3 gods and 3 goddesses. The godesses are larger than life size, it is pretty spectacular.

What a shame that somebody has defaced this godess:

This statue was near the parliament building:

This boy is on the Pest side of the Danaube, on the riverside walk:

This boy is on the main shopping street, at one of the major pedestrian junctions:

Franz Liszt's statue, near the academy which bears his name:

Hermes, again on the main shopping street:

Wonderful girl with dog, on the Pest Danube riverside walk:

Fabulous statue of King/Saint Stefan, between the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, on Buda Hill:

Finally, assistance for those with poor, partial or no sight - a bronze landscape with braille labels, interpreting the view of Buda Hill from Pest, again on the riverside walk:

Fishermans Bastion, Budapest

2009-02-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

High up on castle hill on the Buda side of the Danube, is the Fisherman's Bastion. It is very fairytale in appearance, all round towers, arches, and decorative elements.

Each column is decoratively carved:

Each tower is beautifully designed and ornamented:

The views must be stunning on a clear day, we visited on an atmospherically misty day.

St Stephens Basilica, Budapest

2009-02-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well, this place must be the epitome of baroque style, everything is embellished, and much of it is gilded. It is a very splendid building, with a bit of a history! After decades of talk, and 3 years of a failed Revolution, building began in 1851. The first buildre died in 1868, and when the second builder took over, he found that the building was unsafe and had large cracks in the walls. he fenced it off, and 8 days later, in a big storm, the dome fell in. He began again, with new plans, but he also died before the building was finished. The building was finally finished and consectrated in 1905.

The imposing frontage, you can see just how big the building is by looking at the people walking past:

A closer look at one of the towers:

And the dome:

When you get to the top of the steps, you can see a wrought iron 'screen', with gates, which can be closed to prevent access to the basilica, here is a detail form the left hand gate:

and the right hand gate:

Once through the gates, you find yourself in front of the main doors, which must be 15 feet or more in height, not used on a day to day basis:

Each circular element on the doors is a carving of one of the 12 apostles:

These are the doors you actually use to enter the Basilica - which are pretty splendid, as well:

And then you find yourself inside. And probably speechless, admiring all the decoration on the walls, ceilings and floors....

The view of the square from the Basilica:

And the lady who begs there each day.

St Stephens Basilica chapel, Budapest

2009-02-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

St Stephens Basilica has quite a substantial chapel, less gilded and ornate than the main interior. The chapel is where the mummified Hand of St Stephen is displayed. It lives in a highly ornate golden model of the Matthias Church. This hand has travelled the world before finally coming back to its permanent resting place in Budapest.

This strange object (sorry about the blurry photo) was covered in beautifully tooled leather.
I think it is a font.

The chapel, although not gilded and marbled like the main interior of the basilica, has 6 gorgeous brightly coloured stained glass windows, each illustrating a saint or other important person.

St Stephen, (or Istvan, whose original name was Vajk), was a strong king, who helped organise a feudal state out of the tribal territories which existed in what is now Hungary, died in 1038.

St Stephen's Basilica Treasury, Budapest

2009-02-07T05:26:00.000-08:00

St Stephens Basilica has a treasury, where they keep all the precious objects. This is a replica of St Stephens Crown, which has been made in porcelain. The workmanship is fabulous. My photography is less so!

These monstrances, gifts from abroad, are all pretty amazing.

Budapest Gresham Palace

2009-02-04T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Gresham Palace Hotel building was built by and for a British Insurance Company between 1904 and 1906, and was their Budapest office, residential apartments and shopping arcades. It is a stunning example of an At Nouveau building, which was badly damaged during the second world war, then allowed to slowly deteriorate. It has been lovingly restored and converted into a luxury hotel by the Four Seasons Hotel group, with support from the Hungarian government.

The imposing exterior of the hotel, as seen from the Chain Bridge. Remember you can click on the photographs to enlarge them - this building has many small details that are hard to see unless you do!
This balcony is to the right of the entrance, there are beautiful carved stone decorations, small touches of gold, and mini mosaics all over the building.

Here is a closer view of the front of the building, from street level. Below is are a few examples of the mini mosaics around the ground floor windows - each window has a different pattern.

There are also metal decorative elements on the front of the building, as shown below.

The two pictures below are of the plaques and stone sculptural elements at the left and right of the entrance to the hotel, just before you enter.

When you have entered the hotel, and look back at the entrance, you can clearly see the fabulous ironwork and glass panels which separate the outer 'porch' from the foyer proper. There are at least 3 of these ironwork panels - this one, plus one at the end of each ground floor wing.

This is a plaque in the foyer, explaining who built the building, and why. There is one in Hungarian on the opposite wall.

In the foyer directly in front of you as you enter, is the most fabulous light fitting. This is several feet from top to bottom - my memory is hazy, but between 3 and 4 feet, I think.

This is the hotel foyer, the main reception is to the right of the picture, the floor is all mosaic, the walls are all tiled, every other tile has a Nouveau design in relief. You can see the fabulous ironwork designs at the end of the wing of the hotel.

The hotel foyer and ground floor is very light and airy, and when you look up, you realise why - the ceilings in the foyer and two wings are glass, with more beautiful designs built into them.

These doors are stunning, I have no idea where they lead - perhaps a grand ball room? Or the stairs?

Some detail of the wall tiles and wall light fittings.

They have even had planters made with mosaic decorations to match the floor.

These are the chandeliers in a side room off the foyer, there was another reception desk here.

There was also a small bar, with a front made of lovely bespoke glass panels.

We wandered from the bar into a lounge area, which was very splendid. Apparently, when the building was built, this wing was a shopping arcade, and the rooms off to the sides were small shops.

We decided that we would pretend to be rich for half an hour, so asked for the drinks menu.

We hope our shock at the prices didn't show on our faces, but we decided to go for it, and ordered a coffee and a hot apple cider - at £5/$7.50US each.... the drinks came with two tiny petit fours each - which were lovely. The hot apple cider was obviously hand made, and came with a cinnamon stick.

We made the drinks last for half an hour, and just enjoyed looking at the building, including a close inspection of the panel at the end of the lounge.

Even the floral arrangements inside the hotel were very chic and stunning!

If you want to see more (and better) pictures of the hotel, the Four Seasons group have some gorgeous images on their website:

http://www.fourseasons.com/budapest/photos_and_videos/

Budapest central market

2009-01-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

I went to Budapest last weekend. I took over 400 photographs while I was there. I thought I'd post blog entries place by place. Early on our first morning in Budapest, we went to the central market hall, which is in Pest (Buda and Pest were separate cities divided by the River Danube until around 100 years ago). The market hall is a splendid building which is much more brightly coloured than my photos taken on a very dull day make it look. The roof tiles are all lovely colours.

Remember that if you click on the pictures, you can see a larger image.

The interior of the building is light and airy, and was full of Saturday shoppers...

We began with breakfast. I have always believed that you should have whatever the locals are having, so we had an unusual breakfast (for us) of bratwurst, paprika sausage and chips. It was 9.20 am so I didn't have the red wine that everybody else seemed to be drinking...

The upstairs area of the market was full of stalls selling souvenirs, folk costumes and lace, leather goods, clothes, toys and such like. These decorated 'Faberge' style eggs were beautiful.

This lace was originally hand made, I don't know if it still is. Budapest is is the only place where I have seen such brightly coloured motifs worked in the lace.

This stall was selling Russian dolls of all shapes, styles and sizes. Some of them were a little odd (terrorist & pop star themed dolls) but most were absolutely beautiful. There were also some really lovely hand carved 'St Nicholas' figures ranging from about 6 inches tall to about 15 inches tall, but I could see the stall holder wasn't too happy with me taking photos of his stall, so I moved on....

These were some of the traditional costume pieces on display.

We moved down to the ground floor, where all manner of food was on sale. There were many spice/paprika stalls, and the displays were beautiful. They all has strings of dried paprika peppers and garlic cloves hanging form their stalls.

Here's a smaller one, where I bought a bag of sweet paprika powder.

Even the organic veg stall had strings of paprika and garlic, this time alternated on the strings. The prices are in HUF (Hungarian Forints), of which there are around 300 to the £ or 222 to the $US.

This was a stall which sold biscuits and cakes....

The way they stack the fruit and veg high made it all look very attractive, but they must have a rapid turnover to have so much stock at any time - not a single item in the whole market looked even slightly 'tired' or wrinkly!

Goose and goose liver are common on Hungarian restaurant menus, so I shouldn't have been surprised to see Goose liver pate on sale in the market. This is also known as 'foie gras' and the methods of producing it are something I cannot agree with, so no matter how good it may be, I won't buy or eat it.

There were lots of sausage, salami & smoked meat stalls in the market, and again the sheer quantity of stock on display is quite different from most British market stalls.

If you are squeamish about animals or meat, perhaps you should stop here.

I was amazed that the meat stalls seemed to be species specific. In Britain, a butcher or market stall selling meat will sell all kinds of meat. In Budapest market, there were many stalls selling either pork meat or chicken meat, but I didn't see any other meats. The pork stalls sold the whole pig - in parts. Here in the UK, it is becoming harder and harder to find anything other than the 'best cuts' of meat, which is a shame because some of the cheaper cuts and offal make much tastier meals if cooked well.

This was a typical pork meat stall. The trader had similar quantities of meat to what i would expect to see in a British market or butcher shop.

This is what most of the stalls were like - meat piled high, but in a very neat and tidy way! There were snouts, ears, pieces of skin (to make crackling?), sides of belly pork, racks of ribs, trotters, offal, cheeks - everything except the oink!

And this stall had all of the above, plus a sucking pig.

This was the most bizarre moment in the market - we looked up and discovered that Margaret Thatcher had been here before us, and the stallholder was so proud of the visit, that he'd had a photograph englarged and displayed above his stall!!!

St Davids Cathedral

2008-11-28T02:41:00.000-08:00

St David is the patron saint of Wales. The cathedral built in his honour (in the city named after him) is spectacular. This is a view of the cathedral, as seen from the adjoining Bishop's Palace.

The Cathedral and the Bishops Palace.

A corbel of a woman's head - a queen by the look of that crown. This is to the left of the main entrance to the cathedral.

Her male partner is to the right of the entrance.

Inside the cathedral is a reliquary, said to contain fragments of the bones of St David and also St Justinian, amongst others.

The quality of the stone carving is wonderful.

The floor tiles are beautiful too. There is a random sampling of tile designs here.

The ceilings change as you move from one area of the cathedral to another. This is painted decoration.
And here is some beautiful carved stone tracery, with a coat of arms at the centre.

A similar ceiling, with a different coat of arms.

A spectacularly carved wood ceiling, with suspended figures. It was very late in the day, and the cathedral was quite dark when I took the photograph, which doesn't show much detail. the carving is very detailed, and like lace in places.

The stone arches are large and imposing. Each has a different pattern carved into the stonework of the arch.

The way out.

The cathedral also has a lovely refectory, where you can buy a light meal, a home made cake, and a good cup of tea or coffee. You can also spend some money in the adjoining gallery, where work made by Pembrokeshire artists is on display.

St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales

2008-11-28T01:26:00.001-08:00

St Davids is Britain's smallest city, perched right on the edge of the ocean at the westernmost peninsula of Pembrokeshire. It is a city by virtue of having a spectacular cathedral, which would dominate the whole area if it were not located down in a little valley. Next to the cathedral is an equally splendid but somewhat more ruinous Bishops Palace. I will post pictures of these places separately. Although it is a city, it is quite a small place and feels like a small town or even a large village. The streets in the town centre are small, and ahve character, as most of the hosues are old. This street sign sums the whole place up for me - it is written in the two iofficial languages of Wales - Welsh & English. It is about religion, which is why St Davids exists, and it tells you that it is a city.

Many many visitors come to St Davids each year, and the small town can get very crowded, with places to park cars very hard to find. there are many interesting small gift shops and galleries, and lovely places to eat and drink. I had a fantastic meal in a small restaurant called 'Cwtch' a couple of nights ago, it's right up there in my top 20 places with great food and lovely atmosphere. 'Cwtch' is the Welsh word for a cuddle or a hug, or a 'safe place', or even a small place or hideaway hole to store things safely, like a cupboard under the stairs...

The city is surrouinded by beautiful countryside, and the quality of light in pembriokeshire is such that artists have been flocking to the area for years to capture it in paintings and photgraphs (which is why the town is full of galleries!).

The city is within the boundaries of the Pembriokeshire Coast National Park, andt the PCNP have just built a new visitior centre, called 'Oriel y Parc' (which translates as 'Gallery of the park') on the edge of the city. It has a lovely (if slightly shambolically run) cafe, two galleries filled with artwork form the Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum of Wales, displays, a shop and a tourist information centre. It's also a unique building, as you can see from the picture above. In between Oriel y Parc and the town centre, there is a new sone circle sculpture, seen below. Wales has many stone circles - some built by onknown people in the dim and distant past, soem built more recently as evidence that an Eisteddfod was held in this place. Eisteddfodau are annual festivals of Welsh culture, which are held in a different location each year.

I came across this beautiful door knocker whilst wandering, and saw the characterful ciottage door below in a neighbouring street.

And then I came upon a little mysetery - the mystery of the ladybirds. I saw one or two decorating a wall in a small lane between streets.

And some more adorning a garden gate....

And when I turned the corner into the street at the top of the lane, they were evident on several houses...

And finally, there was this spectacular display, which turned out to be on the home of the artist whose whim it had been to add ladybirds to the neighbourhood. They made me smile, and added a little character to this part of the city.

Roscoff, Brittany, France

2008-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Roscoff, on the north coast of Brittany, is a town of great character. It is a busy ferry port for travel between Britain and France - and I wonder how many travellers actually stop and look around the town. Like many ferry ports, I expect many travellers drive off the ferry and immediately travel as fast and as far away as they can.

If they do, they miss one of France's little treasures. Roscoff has many buildings with amazing stone carvings, beautiful gardens, a fabulous seafront and beach, an amazing footbridge, and at least one great restaurant - so good we ate there twice and didn't look to see if there was another! Here's a selection of the 40 or 50 pictures I took while I was there:

There are many old doors with character.

The church tower is lovely, and has an almost Islamic feel. Most Welsh church towers are square or are round steeples ending with a point! The pinkish granite is local stone, and it has a lovely, warm, appearance.

This is a carving to the left of a window on a house on the main street. It looks like a sea monster with a lighthouse in his hand. As lighthouses are a feature of the area but have only been around for the last couple of hundred years, I suspect he is newer than he appears at first sight.

This is the carving to the right of the same window. It is a depiction of a 'Johnny Onions' - many Roscoff men who travelled to Britain in the 1800s, 1900s and to a lesser extent, the 2000s, to sell locally grown onions to customers in the UK, were called Johnny Onions. One still travels to my home town in Wales to sell his onions every year.

Click on the photo to enlarge it - you can see this building is still displaying all the strings of onions, which were added to the front during the annual Roscoff onion festival.

Some boats in the harbour. This is not the original harbour, neither is it the main modern port, it is the second small harbour built for the town, and it is very picturesque.

This was my hotel bedroom wall - what a pleasant surprise!

I ate out in 'Le Surcouf', a wonderful little restaurant. The food was excellent, and the decor was relaxing. The 2 gentlement at the table next to mine ordered the 'seafood platter' (minimum 2 persons, which is why I didn't have it), and they graciously allowed me to take this picture when they were half way through eating it.... Truth be known, I wanted to join them; I love seafood!

These small daisy flowers were growing wild on many walls and in lots of corners. They added to the beauty of Roscoff.

The sundial on the church wall, along with a stone carving.

The church roof interior; the barrel shaped roof with supporting trusses is typical of the churches in this part of France,.

The stair to the pulpit is beautifully and ornately carved wood.

The altar is just stunning.

And so was the sunset....

Bretons & Hydrangeas

2008-10-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I was always led to believe that Hydrangeas come in pink or blue, and that the colour is determined by the acidity of the soil they grow in.

And then I went to Brittany.... I saw all sorts of different hydrangeas. There were beautiful and unusual colours, lace caps and blowsy round heads of flowers, cone shaped heads of flowers, small flowers, large flowers, and all were beautiful. Here are a selection to admire.

The colours of this one weren't captured by the camera - there were deep greens and reds blending together in this flower.

This was absolutely massive. The leaves were the normal size. Compare the flower head to some of the others, using the leaves as a 'size guide'.

This was such a delicate shade of mauve, fading to blue.

The individual flowers making up the flower head were mostly much smaller and more blue than any others I have seen. And then there was the paler larger flower, right in the middle!

This colour was stunning, deeper blues and greens in real life than the photo shows.

This was more of a cone shape than a sphere, and the bush was much taller and less rounded. Lovely creamy flowers with pink blushes.

This was intense purple with deep pink highlights.

Beautiful ivory cream colour.

From a distance, these looked deep reddish purple. When you got close each flower was deep red bending through to deep greeny blue. And the camera shows them as red!

You can see how the flowers combine red and green on this one.

And blue, purple and green on this one - again the image is lighter than the real thing.

I have never seen so many beautiful Hydrangeas. They have never caught my attention or imagination before this holiday, but the range of shapes and sizes and depth of colour have made me interested in finding out more about Hydrangeas, and trying to acquire a stunning one for my own garden.

Finisterre (or Pen ar Bed), Brittany, France

2008-10-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

I went to France last week, to Finisterre in Brittany. The Bretons would maintain that they are not really French at all, but their own nation, which teye are, culturally. I saw lots of Breton language signs, and if I said them out loud I could see the connections with Welsh. The Breton name for Finisterre (which translates as end of the earth in English) is Pen ar Bed. Welsh for end of the earth would be Pen y Byd. If you say both names out loud, they sound almost the same... and just like the Welsh, the Bretons are fiercely proud of their language and cultural heritage.

I visited lots of absolutely beautiful churches, every little village seemed to ahve one grand enough to be a cathedral in other places, and many had carvings which showed how previous cultures/religions had been incorporated into the new religion. And of course, having such an extensive and very dangerous caostline, there is also evidence of their belief in sea creatures. Here are a few pictures taken at churches, which show what I mean.

Mermaids and sea monsters must have meant a lot to the people who built Sizun church, there are 7 mermaids carved into the stonework and several sea monsters.

Poor neglected travel blog

2008-10-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not that I haven't been anywhere. On the contrary, I've been to lots of places. I've taken lots of photographs. I haven't had the time to sort the photographs out and write about where I've been. I have the digital equivalent of a big shoe box with a couple of thousand photos in it, just waiting to be sorted out!

Hafoty, Anglesey

2008-08-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hafoty is a medieval house on Anglesey. It has been undergoing conservation work to preserve the fabric of the building, and the front of the house is currently covered in scaffolding, to enable safe access for the man who is currently painting it white!

This house is rarely open to the public, although it will be on various dates in September 2008, under the Civic Trust's 'open doors' scheme:

http://www.civictrustwales.org/ehd/programme2008/handlist0108.pdf

A collection of objects found on site during the conservation work.

A newly created door, in oak.

The fireplace is huge, impressive, and beautifully carved. The carved stone with family crest above the fireplace was added much later. On the close up picture above, you can see the remains of medieval paint (red ochre) staining the grey stone.

One of the windows.

A refurbished window, complete with shutter. They didn't have curtains in early medieval times, they used solid wood shutters to keep the heat in.

An upstairs window. It is unlikely that this is the original window, but was either a replacement or an addition, as it has a stone frame, and the original windows were all wooden framed. The house has been changed through time, as all houses are, and has features created in a range of different times.

The upper part of the bedroom (the floor is on 2 different levels, this is the dias where the bed would have been, about a foot higher than the rest of the floor).

The fabulous roof trusses. Imagine lying in bed and looking at these? This house was originally built as an oak framed house, and the stonework was added a couple of hundred years later, when one of it's owners wanted the house to become a grander dwelling.

The rear of the property.

Wonderful Weobley windows

2008-08-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

I visited Weobley Castle, on the Gower, near Swansea in south Wales. The Gower coast was declared an 'area of outstanding natural beauty' over 50 years ago, and has had legal protection against any developments which might spoil it ever since.

The castle has been there for about 700 years, and is located on a headland high above an estuary. I may post more pictures of the castle at some point, but for now I'll just share the view from the castle and through the windows!!!

Wiston Castle, Pembrokeshire

2008-07-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Wiston Castle is small but perfectly formed. It is a small and simple motte and bailey type castle, in the small village of Wiston, in beautiful Pembrokeshire. There are no big hills on which to build a castle, so the earth was mounded up to create this base, and at the same time form a moat (which no longer has any water in it). On top of the mound, a castle was built - probably originally in timber, and later in stone, as timber was too vulnerable to fire.

The castle from a distance. You can see a very long way from up there.

The interior of the castle.

Harlech Castle

2008-06-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy of late, and have rather neglected this blog,
so I thought I'd post some pictures of Harlech Castle, in north Wales.

The castle is accessed by wooden bridge in the location of the original drawbridge.
It looks formidable. This castle was rendered and painted white when it was built, as was Cricieth. They were meant to be highly visible as symbols of domination, from a long way off.

These were the grand apartments of the castle,
as viewed from the inner courtyard.

This is the remains of the Great Hall, you can see the fireplace and doorways on the left, and more holes in the walls, where beams would have supported the floors above.

You can see the potlug holes in the curved wall - large beams were insierted into these holes when the castle was being built - these beams then supported a ramp made of smaller pieces of wood, and the builders used the ramp to access the higher levels as they built the castle. The square structure where the curved wall meets the flat wall is the lavatory chute....

This view of a small window opening shows the thickness of the walls, about 10 feet, I think.

The view to the north form the castle. When the castle was built, the sea lapped at the base of the rocks it was built on, and it was supplied by sea, as this was easier and safer than trying to bring supplies through a difficult geographic region full of hostile Welsh people.

The remains of a grand fireplace and chimneys. See the corbels (stones standing out of the wall) which would once have supported a ceiling or floor or part of a roof.

Some steps within the castle - made from huge slabs of local Welsh slate.

A small adventure!

2008-06-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

I didn't travel far today,
but I saw some beauty in nature
and thought I would share it with you.

I took a 5 minute walk around my garden

A peony, just beginning to drop it's petals

a reddish clematis, the first flower of the year,
many more buds on the plant,
which is climbing up a tree

a purple clematis, which is fighting with the honeysuckle to take ove the fence

a pale yellow iris in the pond

2 little frogs, who thought they were invisible

this one posed nicely!

this one didn't realise I was looking!

this is where he always hides

sometimes his friend joins him

we dug the pond, with the help of friends, in May 2003. It's not very big, maybe 5 feet by 8 feet, and 2 feet deep in the middle. We positioned it at the back of our garden, in an area where we knew frogs passed through. We had frogspawn in spring 2004, and now have a colony of frogs living in the pond, with new tadpoles each year. We don't know how many frogs there are, but we counted 11 adult frogs last weekend. I also often find very little ones in the flower borders when I am weeding. We have noticed that we don't have a problem with slugs in the garden any more, but I wish they'd learn how to eat snails, so that my hostas could look majestic instead of holey!!!!

A Welsh wild flower walk

2008-05-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

I was staying at a fabulous Bed & Breakfast near Caernarfon:

http://www.ygoedeneirin.co.uk/index_eng.html

and I went for a walk before breakfast, as it was a beautiful day. Fifty yards from the front entrance to the B & B, I came across this inviting gateway:

which led to a path alongside a small river, where there were masses of wild flowers. I only walked for 15 minutes, but saw and photographed 15 varieties of wild flowers.

This is stitchwort, which is common in hedgerows in country lanes

the small river was burbling and beautifully clear

Ivy Leaved Toadflax, the Welsh name for which is - wait for it - 'Trwyn y llo dial iorwg', which means 'Ivy leafed calf's nose'. The plant was introduced to Britain in the early 1600s.

Dog Violet. The word 'dog' means that it is a smaller variety than a cultivated variety. There are several varieties of violet, some are beautifully scented. Sadly, this one had no discernable scent. I love this pretty little flower with its heart shaped leaves. it likes to hide in slightly shadier hedgerows and woodlands.

The Welsh name for this plant is 'sanau'r gwcw', which means 'Cuckoo's socks' - and this name is obviously associated with the fact that violets flower at the time that cuckoos are first heard. In the language of flowers, the mauve violet means 'faithful love'. Medicinally, the leaves are supposed to help cure cancer, strengthen the heart and calm the nerves. In Wales, a treacle was made from the flowers, which was considered unrivalled at curing colds, coughs and chest complaints.

Ox-Eye daisy, which was called 'dog daisy' or 'moon daisy' until the 1500s. It was also called 'thunder daisy', as people believed that if they hung some of these flowers onto their thatched roofs, the roof would be protected from lightning strike and consequent fire. This plant was also used medicinally, to treat breathing problems such as asthma or 'consumption' (tuberculosis). Stalks, leaves and flowers were boiled up together, made into a posset, and drunk. It was also supposed to help heal wounds and ulcers, whether inside the body or on the skin, and cure wind.

Herb Robert, also called Cranesbill (because of the shape of the seed heads). This is a useful herb, being used as an eye lotion, a mouthwash to treat sore throats and mouth ulcers, as an aid to wound healing, and to treat bladder and kidney stones, and apparently if you crush the leaves and rub them on your skin, it acts as an insect repellent. It has been used as a cancer cure, and the Scottish name for the herb - cancer weed - reflects that usage. The whole plant has a lovely smell, and looks pretty!

Red Campion, a common and pretty wildflower. The name campion has French and Latin origins, and means 'field'. The modern word 'champion' comes from the name of the plant, as in the middle ages, people used to make wreaths of chaplets to put on the heads of winners of public games on village greens.

Greater Celandine. This looks completely different to the common Lesser Celandine which tries to take over my garden every spring! The leaves and flowers are different, the only commonality is that they both have yellow flowers. This plant is harder to spot, and seems to flower for a shorter period.

Cow parsley - this plant is quite tall at 2-3 feet, and often grows in drifts, but each individual flower head is delicate and individual flowers are tiny. It looks pretty when you see a whole verge filled with drifts of white, waving in the breeze.

Field forget-me-not. This flower was used as a symbol of great affection. Women used to wear a corsage or posy pinned to their bodice, and if it contained a forget-me-not, they would not be forgotten by their lover. It was also used to treat dog and snake bites, and steel tempered with its juice was supposed to be able to cut through stone.

Foxglove. The name is probably a corruption of the Swedish 'folk's glove', meaning fairy folk's gloves. There are many folk names for this plant across Britain but a couple of nice Welsh ones are - 'gwyniadur Mair' (Mary's thimble) and 'menig Mair' (Mary's gloves). From the 1500s, foxgloves were used to treat sores, ulcers and flesh wounds. In the late 1700s it was discovered that a susbstance in the plant - digitalin - now called digitoxin - was an excellent treatment for heart problems. In 1962 further research into digitalin showed that it is also a good treatment for glaucoma and muscular dystrophy. Today, foxgloves are farmed in large quantities (mainly in the US) for medicinal use.

Hawthorn blossom, also known as 'May flower'. This thorny tree, often used as stock proof hedging in Wales, has leaves which can be eaten when young, beautiful flowers in May, and red berries in autumn. When you look across some Welsh valleys in May, the hedges all look white as the whole hedge seems to be covered with blossoms. Some blossoms are tinged with pink, and hawthorn has been selectively bred to produce varieties with deep pink flowers. I prefer the simple pale coloured variety!

Bird's Foot Trefoil. This low growing plant has around 70 different country names across the UK, some names refer to the flowers, some to the seed pods, which can look rather like bird or animal claws. Names vary from 'butter-and-eggs' & 'boots and shoes' (Somerset), 'boxing gloves', 'bread and cheese' & 'bunny rabbits ears' (Sussex), to 'bird'sclaws', 'bird's eye' & 'bird's foot' (Devon). The Welsh names 'basged bysgota' and 'pys y ceirw' mean 'fishing basket' and 'pea of the stag/deer'.

Closer view of a bird's foot trefoil flower

Bluebells. This isn't a very good picture, as the bluebells have almost finished flowering. They can look stunning in huge drifts under trees. The Welsh name, 'clychau'r gog' means cuckoo bells, as the flowers come out when cuckoos are heard in the countryside.

Meadow Buttercup. Children often pick this flower and hold it under their chins - if a yellow glow appears on the skin, the child is supposed to like butter!

The picturesque gate at the end of the walk. Walking here and back was a lovely way to spend half an hour early on a beautiful late spring morning.

Scotland's Parliament building

2008-05-05T10:13:00.001-07:00

This is the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. It cost huge fortunes to build - somewhere in the region of £414 million - quite a difference between that cost and original estimates of between £10 million and £40 million. It also took 3 years longer to build than expected.

When you see the building, you can start to see why it cost so much - every element is different, so most of the elements must have been 'bespoke' with short repeat runs - no mass production or off the shelf elements of the building at all..

Even the fencing down the sides of the building is bespoke.
And there is a lot of it!

This is the front entrance. Inside it is very light and airy. Lots of glass, concrete, stainless steel and wood.

This is the debating chamber. All the wooden trusses holding the roof up are being supported by steel joists.

However, I can tell you that no woman would ever have designed a building like this. Much of the glass is inaccessible, and therefore difficult if not impossible to clean. Apparently, it is self cleaning, but I think that only works on vertical glass or glass which has a steep angle of pitch. The area above, with it's gentle slope, is not managing to clean itself at all - the pigeon excreta is building up nicely.
It looks very unappealing.

There is also lots of glass inside. Again, it is a nightmare to clean large sheets of glass, and this looks really streaky. In the stairwells, there was lots of wooden framing around the glass, with horizontal and sloping surfaces at least 4 inches wide. they were covered in dust, which you could see as you went up and down the stairs. The trouble is, the dusty areas were not accessible for daily cleaning - you would have to get ladders or scaffolds to get up to them.

Random Edinburgh elements

2008-04-26T04:11:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few random images
taken in various places in Edinburgh.

We visited a cemetary near the Modern Art museum.
I have never been to a cemetary with
such elaborate memorials,
I can only assume that the Victorians
who were buried here were very rich indeed.

The 'roof' element of one memorial.

A rather gothic memorial against the cemetary wall.

Another one against the wall,
the richest people and most elaborate memorials
seem to be placed around the walls,
with (mostly) lesser folk in the centre.

Just look at the detailed carving on this one.

And this, the angels are exquisite.

There was so much splendid carving
in the cemetary, I could have stayed
admiring the work of the stonemasons
for much longer,
but my husband can only
spend so much time in a cemetary
before wanting to return
to the land of the living,
so we moved on....

This is one of 2 urns decorating the sides
of the top of staircase up to the Modern Art Museum.

A plaque on the wall of a beautiful and
secluded public garden just off the Royal Mile.

A wall mounted lamp standard - there is so much
decoration on the buildings of this city,
the residents of times gone by
really went to town when they built it!

A proud Scotsman.

Even some of the street signs are pretty!

Animal use in 'art' - please read and sign

2008-04-21T03:33:00.000-07:00

Please sign the petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

which may make this and other artists think again about the use of animals in their work.

This is barbaric and completely unacceptable in my opinion.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh

2008-04-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Royal Botanic gardens in Edinburgh are well worth a wander. Even in April, there was plenty to see, but I imagine that coming here in June would be fabulous.

The East Gate entrance is rather
splendid - this main gate is flanked by
two pedestrian gates, ina similar design.

I wish I could have photographed one of the gates
with a plain background behind,
so that you could see how beautifully
detailed they are,
but this flowery sculptural gate is about 9 feet wide,
so you can at least see the scale of it.
Absolutely stunning!

There are 2 Andy Goldsworthy sculptures on
site - this one is called 'Cone'.

If you don't know Mr Goldsworthy's work,
just Google his name.

He does the most amazing ephemeral
sculptures, using natural
materials - stone, ice, leaves... wonderful!!!

A banana bud...

I have finally found the macro button on my camera,
and spent time in the glass houses
learning how to use it.
I forgot to write the names of the flowers down,
so you'll just have to admire their beauty
without knowing what they are called.

This one is a Hibiscus...

I took about 12 shots trying to catch
the Koi - which were huge - about 2 feet long - and beautiful.

I tried with the polarising filter and without.
This shot is the only usable one,
and even now I think it will become something
much more abstract in photoshop
before I can call it beautiful!!!

This was an interesting plant.
I discovered that it is hard to take
decent photos on glass houses, where the light
behind the subject is often strong!

The Chinese Garden, with tumbling stream.
There was also a lovely pagoda,
and a couple of nice bridges.
We had missed the best of the spring azaleas
and rhododendrons,
and the Acers weren't out yet,
but the bamboos were splendid!

The vanilla orchid - the seed pods
produced by this orchid
are what makes our ice cream and
other puddings taste yummy.

It looks pretty good, too!

Another orchid - apparently there are more species of orchid
than there are of any other kind of flower.
Although I am pleased to have found
the macro button to be able to take close ups like this,
I want to run before I can walk,
and take ARTY close ups.

None of the arty pictures I took came out
well enough to share in public!

Strange flower - I have seen this plant as a house plant
many times in the UK,
but have never seen it flowering before.

The average UK home must be too cool
and not humid enough for it
to be happy enough to flower.

Wow, how about that for a splash
of colour!!! Red frilly orchids...

There were also unusually coloured orchids - several
green ones and this interesting combination
of rusts and yellows.

Edinburgh!

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Well, Leith, actually - which is the port a mile
or two north of the city centre,
which serves Edinburgh.

On the first morning of our visit we walked
for about 5 miles along the 'Waters of Leith'
riverside pathway from our lovely
bed and breakfast home to the docks at Leith.

This is the old port, once a busy place,
but now mostly surrounded by modern apartment blocks.

This was once a grand hotel for seafaring folk,
now a grand bistro, bar and brasserie for (mainly) tourists.

I love the sculpture in front of the hotel,
and took several photographs of it,
but every shot had such a busy background
that you couldn't admire the sculpture
properly - if I ever go back, I'll get friends
to hold a bedsheet behind it while I get a proper picture!!!

An old sign for The Ship Inn - on the Shore at Leith - where
my husband had the best fish and chips he's ever eaten,
and I had some splendid moules mariniere and chips!

The final Leith photo - this bronze bench was
commissioned by his friends as a lasting memorial to
the man sitting upon it, after his death.
Much better than a gravestone,
and giving pleasure to many.

Dolbadarn Castle, north Wales

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This castle was built by a Welsh prince
- Llewelyn ap Iorwerth -
in the early 1200s.
It is built of slate and rubble,
and stands about 80ft above the nearby lakes,
guarding one of the main routes through
the mountains of north Wales.

The castle as seen from the main road.
It is very near the town of Llanberis,
which is where the Snowdon mountain railway trains
collect passengers to take them up to the top of Snowdon:

http://www.snowdonrailway.co.uk/

A closer view of the castle,
which is not in bad condition
for it's age of 800 years...
shame all the wooden floors and roofs are long gone.

This is Lake Peris, to the south of the castle - you can
see the huge slate quarry worls on the opposite shore.
Llanberis is famous for its slate,
and has a museum, where workers
demonstrate how to cut and split slate:

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/slate/

This is the view to the north,
Lake Padarn - from which the castle gets its name,
Dolbadarn means Padarn meadow.
You can see Llanberis town on the
lake shore to the left of the picture.

Rug Chapel, north Wales

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Rug Chapel is a private chapel, which has survived
with it's interior decoration fairly intact,
and it made me realise that the past was
not ALL in black and white...

(joke)

Well, who could tell from this plain exterior, the treasures within?

Below is an example of one of the panels where the wall and ceiling meet.

Above and below are pictures of where the wall panels
collide with the beautifully decorated ceiling

Death was talked about more frankly in times gone by,

and I LOVE this depiction of a skeleton.
Click on the image to see a larger version
and be able to read the text.
Ahem, the first 4 words are in latin, the rest is in Welsh...

Here is some of the detail of the painting on the roof trusses.
The whole chapel is just a little treasure.

If you visit north Wales, plan
a short stop on your route and go visit!

Please talk to me!!

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Sometimes I feel as if I am talking to myself on this blog. I know you are out there, and visiting, because the map tells me how many of you visit each day. But, I don't know who you are, or why you come - apart from a couple of you who have left comments.

Please leave me some feedback about what you like of would like more of - I will have visited around 120 historic sites by this autumn, and I want to know if I am giving you enough information to go with the photos - or too much?