Goggle-Eyed Bee

 Got into town for the 10.00 show of the Frida Kahlo thing. It was very weird. One woman and some props on stage. She told the story of Frida's life (or you know, selected events) in first person, in Spanish. It was interspersed with little songs, accompanied by an out of tune, off-stage ukelele. I got a massage in the afternoon. 5,847 steps 3.92 km

Today we went for a bike ride. I rode Klyte's bike and she rode Nico's. They're ebikes which was good cause we rode up a very big hill, to Bonnet Vert picnic area. The view was spectacular. Even assisted, some bits were hard going, and I was very grateful for the fat tires of the mountain bike style. The roads were gravelly and sometimes we were just on a track. On the way down there were some nice corners. Hard on the wrists and arse though :) After lunch we walked down to Klyte and Hubert's field and apple trees. We had two bags and broom with us. Klyte shook a tree and poked at some branches with the broom and we picked up the apples that fell. When we moved to the next tree Klyte asked if I could climb it to shake the branches like Hubert does. I scraped my knee a bit when I didn't quite make it up the first time cause a little branch I was holding onto broke but the second go I made it up and climbed further up to shake out lots of apples. Probably too many cau...

In the morning we made a pumpking pie to take to the party in the evening. Around 1.30 we went to Barcelonette to see the Day of the Dead dance thing but it was a little disappointing. I got a couple of good pics though. Klyte and I stood on a little wood barrier thing to be able to see. It kind of started like a little open mic thing and then there were some Quetzalcoatl dressed people doing a little ritual dance thing. It was a bit underwhelming. We went home for lunch and put on our Halloween party makeup, went back to watch the parade but we were a bit late and there were soooo many people. We couldn't find a park, and by the time we went round the one-way streets for another pass the parade blocked us off. So we just jumped out of the car and watched them there. Came home and finished getting ready for the party. It was at Maria and Aurelia's house which was an amazing place, completely decorated with Halloween stuff. I met a bunch of Klyte's friends and we half-carved...

 Lovely quiet sleep. Woke up to a crisp sunny view with snow on a distant mountain from my bedroom window. Klyte's house is amazing. It the old rectory from the church and Hubert has rebuilt and renovated all of it. We went down into Barcelonnette for a little look around, into some nice shops and around the streets and little market. Bought some yummy things and had a nice lunch back at the house. Olive bread, terrine, saucisson sec, cheese, pastries etc. and a wierd little pumpkin cake thing. Went for a walk in the fields, saw cows, mountains everywhere. All the rocks and the mountains look so different to each other though. It's not like a homogenous 'spine' of mountains, although some are like that, but some are black and sharp, others brown and bobbly.  Nice dinner sausages and agilot (cheesy french mashed potatoes), salad. Then more little tarts - framboise. Yum. Then tried some of the Turkish tea they bought in istanbul. 13,726 steps 9.23 km

Slept in again. The shutters in these old buildings are great for blocking out the light. Spoke with Murray and Violet on Zoom. It was nice to see their faces and have a chat. Packed up leisurely and left around 11.30. Walked back up the hill to the train/bus station. Saw the front entrance this time - much more grand and pretty!  Marseille is weird. It's like a crumbling beauty. It was obviously very beautiful once - tall buildings with shuttered windows, seaside town etc but it doesn't look like anyone looks after it. The tourist/town parts are a bit cleaner but everything has an air of decay. Ate a salad and pastry for some lunch then caught the bus back to the airport to meet Klyte, Hubert and Olivia. Aurelie didn't go to Turkey with them cause she hurt her leg. Capadoccia sounds/looks amazing, including a balloon ride. Definitely on my list for a future trip. We drove about 3 hrs slowly up to the alps, stopping on the way to look at a castle perched on a hill, and to p...

Slept in. Had a bit of a self-care day. Ate more pasta. Finished 'bodies'. Around 4.40 I decided I needed to see some more things. I walked down to the port, looked at the forts and walked up the East side and around the coast road a bit. Found a massive park where people were playing football and hanging out in front of a massive mansion-public building thing. Big sculpture of a shipwreck/lifeboat thing. More great views. Continued around the coast road. Saw some beaches, volleyball players and big monument to a war? Headed back home via a supermarket for some snacks. Watched Interstellar. 11,631 steps 7.82 km

Got about 3 hrs sleep... Always dodgy when you're worried about getting up/somewhere on time. Set my alarm for 3.30. Woke up at 3 so I just got up. Walked to the bus stop, bus came straight away, easy trip straight to the airport. I was so early there were only about 3 people there, all looking sleepy with bags, like me. Flight was pretty quick and I slept a lot of the way. Caught the bus down to Vieux Port. I managed to buy my ticket in French and understand her questions and instructions. Felt good.  Google took me down some back streets into the town centre and it was possibly not the kindest introduction to Marseille. Piles of rubbish, smell of piss, dog shit...Went past a cool looking sort of food market area that looked and smelled good. Intended to go back but never did. Found a place to store my bag till check in - a woman with a small gifts/crafts type shop making some extra money. Found a little bakery and bought a baguette and a cafe au lait - all in French. Sat and ate ...

Checked out of Ibis, stored my bag, walked quickly to The Globe. The tour was a little disappointing. It was great to see the inside of the theatre, but it was just a lot of talking. Sure, some of it was interesting but there was a lot of explaining obvious stuff and common knowledge. Went back to the Tate. Went into the temporary exhibition of African contemporary photography 'A World in Common' - it was awesome. Went through as much else as I could manage quickly then walked up to the British Museum. Zoomed through some Roman, Egyptian etc. Thought I'd done a large chunk of it, then found the big atrium... uh wow. It was getting late so I went for the bits that Julius had recommended - Assyrian, Nereid, Nimrod (what was open), and Parthenon. Also went past some of the large Egyptian bits on my way out. So amazing. Picked up my bag from Mentone. I was pretty exhausted and almost considered a taxi but I caught a couple of trains and a bus to Ibis near Heathrow, checked in, ...

 Caught the train to London. A quick trip. King's Cross Station. Walked to my hotel and dropped off bags. Walked down to South Bank via St Paul's Cathedral. Free entry as it was Sunday and there was a service, so the usual access up the tower/crypts etc was unavailable.  Walked down via the river to the Globe - got excited and booked a tour for tomorrow morning. Went to the  Tate Modern and had a wander. Only saw 1 floor of 1 building before I had to go and meet Julius. He walked me round some monuments and sights like 10 Downing and Trafalgar Sq. We went into the Natonal Gallery for a look at a few things - Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat, Gentileschi etc. Went to Gordon's Wine Bar which was pretty spectacular. We had a bottle of claret (Bordeaux) and a cheese platter and almonds and port in what felt like a medieval wine celllar, by candle light. So cool. Walked home via a fairly average pizza place. 24,702 steps 16.6 km

 Ely Cathedral. Beautiful... started in 11 century, built on and destroyed at different times. Reformation saw deliberate destruction of stained glass and statuary. A tower fell down due to subsidence/earthquake?? Lunch at tea rooms which were casually located in a 12th century building. fan vaulted ceilings. Junk shop along the river. Saw a beautiful Victorian fob watch chain which I could very happily have bought (695 pounds...). Enabled some buying of nice crockery for Mo. Picky dinner and watched Mo's dancing show and game shows. 11,479 steps 7.71 km

Mo and I went into Cambridge to see the Women's Art collection at the Murray Edwards College. Then we went to Kettle's Yard and had some lunch and looked at Material Power - an exhibition of Palestinian embroidery. It was beautiful and moving. Examples of traditional and historical items as well as protest items from various periods in the tumultuous history. All too topical right now. Visited the round church - Norman, squat, 11th century. Then went to Kind's College Chapel which was the opposite - massively tall fluted tree-like vaults and stained glass on a scale similar to the Sagrada Familiar almost, but way older. We went to a nice bookshop (I miss Borders!) with floors of great books and a cafe. We had some tea. There were at least three students up there painting/drawing into little sketch books. Inks, pencils etc. We went back to the chapel and met Rick to attend the evensong. The choir and voices in that space were so beautiful. The religious bits were a bit tedio...

 Went for a long walk around meadows and along riversides with Rick. Stopped at Byron's pond? and the Orchard - where lots of famous people spent time.. Virginia Wolf etc. It started raining so we stopped a 'pub' for a coffee. We had leftover quiche and salad when we got home. In the afternoon, we went to the Fitzwilliam Museum and saw the Black Atlantic exhibition which was drawn from the museum collection and explored/discussed the museum's founders and collections' associations with slavery. There were contemporary and historical representations, artefacts, artworks etc. We also went through the Real Families exhibition there which explored what a family is and how artists have represented it. It opened with a timeline of changes in law regarding unions, ivf, reproductive rights, adoption, etc in particular an uproar/fear in the 70s stemming from lesbian parents. I think society was genuinely horrified that men would be 'unnecessary'. Hilarious and ironic...

 Mo made me the best coffee, I put some washing on, and we looked around her garden before heading out for the day.  She walked me round the pretty backstreets and historical areas of Cambridge, into Queen's and King's College, Trinity, past the Malt House, punters, cows... these beautiful, elegant buildings and some of them just look like they are sitting in a paddock from behind. We went to the Wren building and visited the beautiful library there. Amazing stained glass window of Isaac Newton, a statue of Byron that had been accepted there after being removed from wherever it was before cause he was a bad example. Stunning woodcarvings, shelves and books. Some significant ones were in display cases like a first edition winnie the pooh, Newton's notebooks and first edition of Principia. There were some beautiful old manuscripts and early gutenberg-printed books. I climbed up all the steps (123 in a very small spiral) at Great St Mary's for some stunning rooftop views a...

 Went to the Roman baths and museum. It's a very layered place, starting with a spring and thousands of years of building and rebuilding around it. The Romans, and the Victorians, raising the water to different levels, controlling its flow, worshipping, praying, bathing, decorating, exercising. The Romans used lead for all their pipes, also amazing sluice-gate engineering. The caldaria I found most impressive with their piles of tiles in little pillars under the floors, then in adjacent rooms people would shovel in coals, or hot water would flow through. I was also amazed by their hollow bricks - made using a slab-rolling technique, wrapped around a block and then fired with the block in pace. This enabled them to make a massive vaulted ceiling as the hollow bricks were strong but light. I had a taste of the water - not the stuff from the actual pool, which looks orange, manky and gross (apparently all of the springwater has quite a bit of iron in it, hence the orange staining), it...

 Got up very early - almost made it out of the house at the planned 7.30. Drove to Glastonbury Tor. Walked up the tor - it was very windy and cold but amazing views. Visited the Abbey afterwards. Lots of ruins (the reformation has a lot to answer for) but the footprints and some of the walls and structures are still there. It would have been so big and beautiful and impressive when it was intact. I loved the Abbots kitchen which has amazing fireplace and chimney designs. From there we drove to Stone Henge. It is wonderful to see in person. There are so many many many barrows all around it. Then we went to wood henge which is cute. Then home, then walked into bath for our spa/swim/massage. The massage was awesome. The baths were a little disappointing. Weird steam rooms with flower scents, infra red sauna - meh, star room, kinda cool but why? pools weren't warm enough but the roof pool was pretty cool. Amazing Thai for dinner. Bath is very pretty. 16,470 steps 11.06 km

 Went to the cafe with James and boys and had coffee while they ate breakfast. Said goodbye to them all and packed up my stuff. Went for a quick walk to the lake - so beautiful!! Wish I'd had longer to sit and enjoy it but Marilla was coming to pick me up. We drove to Bath via Cheddar Gorge. We didn't go in the caves, but drove right through the gorge which is an amazing smashing gash of rocks. We stopped and went for a little walk. We saw a sword in the river, a weird stained-glass cow grotto, and many closed shops along the gushing river. We bought some scrumpy and some cheddar cheese. When we got into bath we ducked out to a shop and bought some things and had a snacky dinner. The cheese was stinky (in a good way) and the scrumpy was gross (in a mushroomy way). 12,475 steps 8.38 km

 Met with Holly who is from Coniston and whose dad is putting on the concert. She took us for a walk up the hill to the site of an old copper mine and where slate is still 'mined'. The weather was glorious and the road/path wound up the hill alongside a babbling brook. There were those sheep we have been seeing - white with black heads / black with white heads - apparently they are viking sheep and the black-bodied ones are babies. They had long tails. The hills were brown with bracken and on the way back after the rain they looked more red in the different light. At the tope there was a cave and we ended up sheltering in it when it started pouring with rain. Nancy even got some hail. At the back of the cave was a grated-off area where a mine-shaft drops (according to Holly) 2000 ft. When we got back down we had some lunch and coffees at the little bakery then split up. I went to the little church and saw John Ruskin's grave then went back to my apartment and listened to my...

 Left Edinburgh. Got a bit lost on the way to the carpark. Ticket didn't work so the lady manual put in 21 pounds, which was the 24 hr charge, so we got it a bit cheaper which was nice. We took the scenic route after some highway. Marilla is a crazy driver. I'm sure we got air on at least one of the snaky windy hilly narrow roads with rock walls on either side. Fuzzy brown sheep with white faces and fuzzy white sheep with brown faces... and tails! We almost ran out of fuel but made it to a little town called Kreswick and had lunch. This area has very flat green stones in all the walls and houses. Cute little cafe, excellent coffee, full breakfast, and kale and mango smoothie. Smoothies here are pretty much just fruit/veg, no dairy or anything else. I bought some nice soap at a little craft market in a church hall. We drove up the hill to the Castlerigg stone circle which was pretty cool. The stones aren't large, but it's a full circle and the surrounds are beautiful. Dr...

 Got out fairly early this morning for our 9.30 entry to Edinburgh Castle.  Interestingly, Edinburgh Castle is strikingly similar in layout to Bamburgh, but obviously more intact. It's also more used still by the military and royalty. So much military museum stuff. Some beautiful uniforms and weapons and flags and things. Interesting dungeons for prisoners of war and military prison. Oldest bit was a chapel from 11 hundred ish? So many tourists though. We didn't bother lining up to see the crown jewels. There were just far too many people. We went to find some lunch. I had haggis bonbons with neeps and mustard sauce, and cullen skink soup. The soup was awesome, the haggis bonbons were meh. We walked around, saw the Scott Monument (amazing gothic structure), some of the royal mile then went to our 3.15 tour of the Real Mary King Close. So the closes are narrow streets that run down the hill on either side of the royal mile where they originally met the city wall or the Norloch....

Went to Alnwick Gardens. Beautiful huge garden with different sections under the patronage of a Duchass someoneorother. Massive fountain in the middle. Poison garden was fun. Cherry orchard would be amazing in blossom season - it was pretty but, well just trees - but there were so many swing seats there obviously for people to sit on under the blossoms. I saw some shaggy mane mushrooms. The ornamental garden was beautiful; lovely walls, artfully espaliered things, flowers, butterflies, bumblebees. It made me think of the Secret Garden. The bamboo maze was awesome. Bamboo is a great thing to make a maze out of cause it grows so vertically and thickly. It swayed in the breeze and made lovely sounds and light variations. There was a pumpkin seat in the middle with had the following engraved into the floor along with a sort of map of the maze. “Omnia, hospites, vidistis. Vobis gratias agimus. Nunc, fortuito mingite" which roughly translates to: Visitors, you have seen everything. We t...

 Woke up in Bamburgh. Had a full breakfast cause it was included. Walked down to the castle - amazing place and history. They even had a little aviation museum cause Armstrong, the 1st owner was an inventor and invented plane things... engines? We drove up the coast towards Scotland via the causeway that links Lindisfarne to the mainland when the tide is low (it was not low). You can get a boat out to the islands for tours and to see seals and puffins but we didn't have time to do one. We went through a little town called Coldingham and walked through the ruin of an old Abbey/current graveyard. Also went through Dunbar which was a super cute little town and had so many buildings made with the red/pink stone from the area. In the 1st half of the 20th century they had an amazing pool/pleasure/leisure complex but it crumbled and was torn down by the 80s. Cute little walled harbour for the little boats. Got to Edinburgh and found our place. Had snacky dinner and then went for an evenin...

Had coffee in our room and then headed out to Clifford's Tower, which is a tower on top of a very round grassy hill in York. The front half of the tower looks like it is sliding down the hill. There's a little chapel room and a garderobe and amazing views. On the roof platform, we witnessed a small flock of white swans flying past, honking with each wing-flap! I ended up buying an annual ticket for English Heritage Trust org cause it will probably work out cheaper than buying tickets to all the individual things along the trip. We took a walk along the city wall near 'bitchdaughter tower' which turns out to come from dor + tour (sleep tower) which is where dormitory also comes from and was apparently a bitch to sleep in... https://www.yorkwalls.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Bitchdaughter-Tower-History-CR.pdf We stopped and had lunch in the cutest little tollhouse on the bridge - we went right up to the tower top and sat in a little circular room. Then we drove to Sc...

 Packed up from Marilla's Made a yummy bacon, cheese, and spinach omelette for lunch. Didn't get away till like 2 Drove to York, wandered around. It's a walled city with a beautiful minster, lovely old old buildings and a Roman column from 71 AD We went to the Jorvik Viking Centre and did a little ride-through thing where they had animatronic reconstructions of people and scenes based on the archaeological studies of the site. If was fun, if a little dinky. They had an exhibition of some of the artifacts dug up after which was fascinating. Skeletons, jewellery, dice, clothings and tools. We walked around and tasted some gin. I bought a little three pack. I hope I can get it back home to share with Murray. I got the chocolates and orange which was amazing and the old tom and the navy strength 'Outlaw'. They also had Rhubarb, London Dry, Bloody Orange, Roman Fruits... it was a fun tasting, and the guy was really entertaining. He's currently in a stage play of Pris...

 Up and packed Watched some of War of the Worlds with Nancy and boys Marilla picked me up and we went to the Blue John cave, a mine that is one of the only places in the world that a particular type (colour - blue, yellow which from bastardising the French, is where the name comes from) of fluorspar is found. The caves are mostly limestone but not spectacular like Hastings Caves or anything, and still being worked, so you can touch the walls. I've always wanted to touch the limestone walls, they look slimy and gooey but of course they just feel like wet rock. It was pretty busy, being a weekend. People climbing hills and rock faces everywhere. We then drove to Castleton and only just got a park. Weekend busy. Some lovely guy who was leaving gave us his parking ticket cause it's a flat rate all-day fare. We walked through the lovely picturesque village of Castleton - all cottages and stone, roofs with moss growing on, brooks with ducks, windows that still had the glassblowing ...

 Nancy dropped me at the train station and I went to Hathersage. Visited the David Mellor museum/shop. He's a local designer, very famous for flatware, knives, and also industrial design (chairs, chandeliers etc). Walked around and looked at the lovely cottages, church on the hill, another graveyard - this one had the grave of Little John. Had a tuna melt toastie with dill pickles. Waited for a bus to go see Grindleford but it never came. Neither did the next on the schedule, so I caught the train back to Sheffield and walked back to Jamaes and Nancy's.  Nancy cooked a lovely nut roast, chicken, brussels sprouts, asparagus, beans, roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings. amazing. We also tasted the sloe gin that she had made for christmas gifts. Watched a bit of Spinal Tap before bed. 13,816 steps 9.29 kms

 Bit of a home-day but managed a walk around Burngreave. Went up to Parkwood Springs - a bit of a reserve and walked around the track there. Saw squirrels, blackberries... Went down to Burgreave cemetery - lots of graves had trees growing out of them, lots covered with ivy, crumbling beauty, going back to nature.  Nancy made veggie soup, pesto pasta and halloumi 10,092 steps 6.78 km

 Arrived in Manchester. Quick exit through customs - got the commonwealth privilege-route Marilla picked me up and we drove through beautiful countryside and villages. Stopped a Man Tor and walked up the hill. It was freezing and windy but beautiful and just what I needed. Sheep everywhere, beautiful rocks and rock walls and green fields. Marilla had a feldenkreis class on so I participated and rolled around on the floor for a bit. It was also just what I needed for my body after 16 hrs of flying. We stopped at a bakery and had coffees, eggs/dukkah/halloumi yumness. We went into Sheffield centre and walked around, saw a beautiful exhibition of Sheffield metal work - cutlery, other serving platters, dishes etc. a pair of beautiful hairpins. We visited 2 churches, Marilla sang in one and we were bailed up by a strange little old lady with purple hair. We walked through the 'Winter Garden' and a little market - bought a bottle of mead (original honey). Got to James and Nancy's...

 Packed up and left our bags in a locker at the train station. Had a nice lunch set in a businessy area, then caught the train out to a shopping centre (DiverCity) where there was a big gundam statue. Hello Kitty shop - 7 stories of shops. I bought another hat haha. Green fedora type one. We went to the airport and checked in. I saw murray and v off on their flight, then waited another hr and got on mine. Watched Indian Jones and Guardians of the Galaxy, slept a bit. Had a shitty middle seat but did ok. Stopped in Frankfurt and bought a peanut butter kitkat and a gerken water. I thought it would be cucumber-flavoured bit it actually kinda tastes like gerkens. Flight to Manchester was a much smaller plane - felt domestic. Hr and a half flight... 18,899 steps 12.7 km

 Shopping day - started by buying Murray a hat. Went to Koenji where there are lots of second hand shops. Violet bought some everyday sort of clothes. We couldn't convince her to buy the beautiful red leather cap, even though it looked absolutely amazing on her. Murray didn't end up buying the black trench coat. I didn't buy the red boots with cats on them - they were so tiny. I did buy a nice red beret. We went to Asagaya and had dinner at Alex's place. Her husband is lovely, her house gorgeous. We had sushi delivered - big round platters. I even at the natto one - couldn't really taste the natto much It was quite nice in sushi - not like on its own. Alex showed us round all the cute this bars/streets back to the train station from home. Slept so well in this bed, dark room, comfiness. 20,351 steps 13.68 km 

Left our beautiful little Hoshikuzu house - possibly my fav of our trip and went up to Benesse House. Felt more confident on the bike today and enjoyed the ride. Insta dickheads leaning on artworks and standing in front of them for ages posing (like not even paying any attention to the artwork at all)... I walked back wading in the water. It was so lovely. I wish we could've stayed on Naoshima for a few more days and I would have gone for a swim (or a few swims) for sure. The water was clear and warm and lovely. We rode to Honmura and looked at the Go'o Shrine, but didn't manage to get tickets to go through the through bit, or into the two Art House Projects. We did go through the Ando Museum though. It's such a cute little town/island. We at lunch at 'Sparky's' which again was totally decked out for Halloween, but it felt like this one might be a permanent tribute to Nightmare Before Christmas with the decor. Had the pizza set - they serve quatro formaggi p...