John Owen Smith’s log for 2019

Our cabin on the Ventura, with Champagne awaiting us!

… it was the one bottom-right,
with balcony, deck 8

In Hamburg we stopped
outside the Rathaus …

… but no stops at the shops
on Reeperbahn!

Our main stop was Miniatur
Wunderland where the scenes …

… alternated between day and night.

We saw Venice …

… and Vesuvius, which erupted
from time to time

Their largest scene was alpine
which rose through 3 floors.

After Hamburg, Ghent – this is
a real scene, not miniature!

Ghent has many tramlines, but
obviously used to have more!

The man in 'Friday Market' Square
pointed us to a café for lunch

We ate at 5th Gök, next to a pub
which sold '500 sorts of beer'

But we actually bought our
beer for taking home here.

Dil watching a passing tram
on a wooden swing-bridge.

We didn't expect to see a
UK-style narrow boat here.

Not the most comfortable
of seats to sit on!

They have a 'Graffiti Street'
to prevent it elsewhere

Why would you?

The music

The crunch!

Some of us met up for lunch here
at the Poet Laureate before …

… moving on the Church View
in Winterbourne Abbas

Here is the winterbourne "a stream flowing only after heavy rainfall"

The view from the house
across the the church

Some of us decided to go for a walk
and found it rather muddy …

… where they were burying
these electric cables

The path was narrow in
some places …

… and a scramble in others.

But we were rewarded by long views
here to the West (Lyme Bay) …

… and here to the East
(Portland and Weymouth)

We were not afraid of
the Big Bad Wolf!

Stopping for a 'selfie'

We reached our objective,
the Hardy Monument

I wonder — what's behind
the Monument door?

On the way back we saw
some strange things …
how did they make these
hands of various shapes?

Who are Californian Rush Ltd?
And why do they want to own
a strip along the edge of a road?

And here's a pretty thing!

Some of the gang at the dining table

But it's always nice to be welcomed home!

Here's my answer – a badge to wear
slightly more subtle than "Bollocks to Brexit"
but with the same message. And best of all,
it's based on a French traffic sign!

Here's the Scout Hut, in Chale

There had been some rain and we slid down a nearby path mostly on our bottoms!

Inspecting a carved log at Fort Victoria, with the sculptor

The magnificent seven!
Erika, Nick, Louis, Dil, Deb, me & Jill

Blackgang Chine amusements
from the cliff path above

St Catherine's lighthouse
also from the path above

Sadly, we never made it to Joe's Bar!
But one of the old buses was the '353' from Brooklands.

The source of one of the two
River Yars on the island

The four musketeers at Brooklands:
Roger, Louis, Garry and me

Ah yes, I remember it well!
… and strangely we saw it again next week on the Isle of Wight!

First night was at Nuremburg.
The next morning we walked round the centre in perfect weather.

They look up to their library!

Here comes the train for Vienna.

A fleeting glimpse of the Danube from the carriage window

In Vienna we caught the
No.49 tram to get to town …

… where we saw this fellow outside their Natural History Museum

… and this fellow who probably
should have been in it!

Sometimes the architecture
has been controversial.

But in the old days …

… they always seemed to want to be taking bits out of each other.

There were some fine stallions
in the Spanish Riding School

While those working outside
contributed to the health
of the city's rose gardens!

We eventually saw the
stallions of the riding school
at their morning exercises

Then we took the tram …

… to see the strange
but fascinating
Hundertwasser museum

And who could go to Vienna
without tasting the cake?

To the Secession museum …

… to see the Klint frieze
(there was nothing else to see there on the day!)

Vienna: home of musicians.
Here's the 'golden' Strauss

… but Offenbach
got sidewalked!

We had to follow the tracks
of Harry Lime, of course.
The big wheel, made famous in
'The Third Man', now carries
its passengers in
recycled tramcars!

This is where Harry descended
into the sewers in the film.

This is the River Wein, after which
the city was named – looking
a bit like a sewer itself.

We made a packed lunch
for our onward journey,
by shopping at Lidl.

And so, into the Czech Republic,
on our way to Prague.

Our hotel was within walking distance
of the Castle …

… with its views over the city.
Note the miniature 'Eiffel Tower'
on the hill opposite.

The guard paraded for us.

Not quite sure what this was.

Nor this, which seemed to be
the entrance to a closed garden.

Nice that they should have
given her a plastic hat!

But they weren't wasting
too much water here..

A view down to the centre of the city
showed us what to expect –
Charles Bridge packed with tourists!

And here they are, with a panda!

But we managed to get some
nice shots through the crowd.

And the famous clock.

Was this really where Good King
Wenceslas looked out?
It was a bit wet when we were there.

Are they in his master's Stepsitrod?
It's a pedal-powered bar!

And as for this!

And especially this!!
What would his Maj have thought?

We forged our way over
the Charles Bridge …

… and found a more relaxed
place to have lunch …

where the dumplings …

… come in slices.

It's an altogether quieter
part of town.

Back to the hotel on the No.20 tram.
(Free travel in Prague
for the over-70s!)

Next day to the splendid
Prague railway station …

… on our way to Berlin.

We were in a tower block
built by the East Germans
for their high & mighty.

These were the views from our
13th floor room.

And it did cross our minds that
this may have been a camera!

We had a coach tour of the city on a rainy day.
Nobody's burning the Reichstag today!

We'd seen Klint's 'kiss' in Vienna,
but this was different!!

The writing's on the Wall!

And here's the Christian Cross shining out
on the atheist GDR TV tower

The double line of cobbles in the road
marks the old course of the Wall.

Some points are more
famous that others.

But they've kept their old
East German Ampelmann

and we found some
quirky places to eat.

They seem slightly ashamed of their tram system – it only serves the NE of the city and doesn't show on their main transport maps.

There's a lot of work going on constructing a new metro line, with blue pipes all over the place pumping out water, and rather spoiling the view.

This this is supposed to be advertising the new Metro. Go figure!
Mind you, the Bear
is the symbol of Berlin …

… as we kept seeing!

Some pics of our tour group:
Here waiting for the Ladies in Vienna

At the beer cellar on the last night
in Berlin.

And waiting to change trains
at Cologne

from where I took this quick snap of the Cathedral as we passed by.

Here are some oddies
also snapped just passing by:—

No words needed in Vienna

But some words that are there
might be misunderstood

Can dogs read in Prague?

In Berlin – did they steal him
from Brussels?

We said goodbye to Betjeman
at St Pancras

In France, got away from the heat
in a troglodyte farm …

… amazing
what you can find in there!

Next day we cooled off
down an old slate mine

In the queue for the ferry at Portsmouth – some were taking everything except the kitchen sink!

Waiting for the green light on
the Le Mans 24-hr circuit!

The stage we were later to occupy
gloriously(?) in France

The winery we visited

The 'picnic' at the winery

A bell at Fontevraud Abbey –
the hand indicating 'end of line' amused me!

More drinks!
It was indeed 'good ale'

The famous gardens at
the Chateau de Villandry

This is how they keep the hedges
so trim at Villandry

It is he, Leclerc!
[Reference to our upcoming 'Allo 'Allo]

The 'last supper' at Corné

Yet more drinks!!

Boarding 'Le Boat' at Le Mas-d'Agenais

Capt. Webb takes the wheel

Capt. Smith – Look, no hands!!

Trouble at t'lock!

'Les Marronniers' in Vianne
where we ate twice

Moored at Nérac,
not a cloud in the sky!

Sign in Moncrabeau,
the town of liars …

… and here's one of the liars!!

This was another lie – not all the
facilites listed were there

The entry to Condom was long
and narrow, as you might expect!

Snow in June? It was seeds
floating down from willow trees

Water and electricity mix
quite happily in France!

Maybe I was halucinating,
but I distinctly saw the word 'vin'
reflected in the water

Set the timer to 10secs,
position the camera
and this is what you get

The outside stairway to our room
in the two-room hotel at Richelieu.
The ivy was wet!

Fawlty Towers met 'Allo 'Allo
at this Bar-Restaurent
in Couterne

At Arromances for the 75th
anniversary of D-Day …

… here is a DD Sherman with
canvas screen erected

There were many old soldiers
having their photos taken!

A windy walk along the cliffs
above the German tunnel
near Auderville

Heather and dodder
above the German tunnel
near Auderville

An old gate near Auderville
with hole in stone to hold the post

Erika fleeing a shark in Cherbourg!

A tall ship passes our restaurant
on the Cherbourg waterfront

The lounge at
The Barrister's Clerk, Retford

The bedroom at
The Barrister's Clerk

Alnwick Castle. The ball was thrown from the balcony

The piper

The Shrove Tuesday football match in progress