SPALDING AND STAMFORD

It was a beautiful Spring like day - just ignore the fact that it was only 5 degrees and the clear blue skies provided a sun which failed to project any warmth!
We took our new neighbour Zel with us on another tour of the nearby market towns. Zel is an IT Teacher from New Zealand on a 6 months contract.
We drove to Spalding and wandered around the market place, which was fairly ordinary but SWMBO managed to find some things to buy. Had a look at the parish church which is part 12th century and, like many of the churches here, contains quite a lot of history of past parishioners and patrons.
We took off for Stamford to seek somewhere for lunch and passed a 17th Centruy pub (pictures above) 17th century and very quaint so we pulled in and had an excellent meal and a decent pint of London Pride. I have developed a real liking for English Beer and much prefer it to Fosters!
We had been to Stamford before. It is one of the prettiest market towns with a river winding through the town.
On Sunday I decided to put the car through the car wash but when I had paid my 3 quid for the pleasure I found that the wash was frozen and had to get a refund.Went back a couple of hours later but it was still the same so came home and handwashed the bloody thing with a bucket as we don't have an outside tap or hose. Looks good though!

CASTLE RISING

We took advantage of our recently joined membership of British Heritage to visit Castle Rising and later that day Castle Acrea. We were lucky in that when we went into the reception to get our tickets, the custodian became very intertested in the fact that we were from Ramsey. Turns out he is an Archaeologist and has an intense interest in St Felix who was an original Monk associated with Castle Rising back in the 7th Century - before the current stucture was built.
He regaled us for about an hour on the history of the area, and his work in tracing the activities of St Felix. In the nearby church is the original font that graced the original church on this site, and carvings on the front of the font illustrate three faces - each with cats ears! It was a joke by Felix the cat.He told us that Felix's bones were originally buried in Ramsay but later removed, and as we had never heard of St Felix in Ramsey he was intrigued and asked if we could make some enquiries for him.
The Castle was built around 1140 and although the roof has fallen in there are still some rooms in perfect condition.This together with the massive earthworks which are some 12o feet high in places makes the site of great national interest.The castle passed to the Howard family in 1544 and remains in their hands today, the current owner being a descendant of William D'Albini 11 who pioneered the building!! No relation of Johnnie I suspect!
We then drove some 20 miles to Castle Acres a magnificent village near a 13th century Abbey.The abbey is in ruins but incredibly major parts remain intact and there are still some rooms which are habitable.
The top picture left is the ramains of the original front of the abbey. The other three being Castle Rising.
Had a lovely lunch in a pub there (lambs fry and mash(!) a pint and a glass of excellent red and then home to Ramsey.
Spent Sunday on the web researching Cornish Cottages and have booked a five night stay in The Cobblers Cottage at Charlestown and 18th century fishiing harbour.
Two (!) photos of the cottage abov e!

KIRBY HOUSE

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day - it actually started to snow in the morning so we had a day at home.Did some washing and took it to the laundromat in St Ives for drying and then came home for a crib tournament. So this morning we decided we had better get out and find an English Heritage property to visit and settled on Kirby which is about 38 miles away.
This old Mnsion dates back to 1570 in the reign of Elizabeth the 1st.It is a truly magnificent structure and although technically "a ruin" is still a substantial building and able to be walked through.The gardens are remarkable and a tribute to English Heritage who maintain them.
This is an unusual history because "The beauty of Kirby's decline is that it was private and without violence.The house was never burnt, ravaged, used as a quarry or assaulted by mobs.It simply lapsed". A fitting tribute paid by a 20th century architectural historian

On the way home we called into Oundle a pretty market village of great antiquity. We went into a wonderful old Pub where Len had a pint and Carol regretted having a glass of Merlot which, being French was bloody awful!!

ISLE OF WIGHT

Back from Vienna courtesy of British Airways who had excelled themselves in the catering department. On the flight over to Vienna we were given "supper" which consisted of two white bread cheese and pickle sandwiches. On the flight from Vienna to Heathrow we were given afternoon tea - Yep - two white bread cheese and pickle sandwiches. Wowee.Took the ferry from Southampton to East Cowes - a trip of just under an hour and calm as a millpond. Drove down to Freshwater Bay where we found the Hotel Albion perched on the sea front and our room leading onto a walkway on the seafront - very comfortable with magnificent views. The Island is not very large of course, and we visited every area. Osborne House at Cowes was built in the 19th century by Albert the consort to Queen Victoria. He must have been a remarkable man because the substantial house had central heating and insulation incorporated in it's construction.It was used by the royal family as a Summer residence - Queen Victoria had 9 children and the place had the feel of a family home (albeit very substantial) Albert died when he was 45 and the Queen went into mourning and dressed in black from that day until her death some forty years later when she instructed that she be buried in a white funeral to appear as a bride for her re-union with Albert.We also visited Carisbrook Castle a 12th century construction high on a hill (aren't all castles?) and used originally for the defence of the island. Later it was famed for housing the imprisonment of Charles 1st who was taken from there to London to have his head chopped off.The Hotel Albion gave an impression of Faulty Towers in its layout (but much more efficient) and most of the guests were elderly and genteel! We played scrabble in the lounge while waiting fofr the dinner gong. The weather was great - although one morning was minus 4 degrees and it took some time to de-ice the car! On the morning that we were leaving, we woke to hear the waves crashing on the walkway, and heard spray splashing heavily on the windows -so we were pleased that we were going.
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ISLE OF WIGHT PHOTOS

From the top -The Needles and a shot of the coast next to the hotel.
Len sitting on the walkway outside our bedroom. Carol at Carisbrooke Castle and an early morning sunrise.

A BIT MORE VIENNA

On Christmas Eve we went on a coach tour of the Danube Valley. Only 12 of us on board with an excellent guide who did his commentary in English,French and Spanish!

The main feature was a visit to a Benedictine Monastery set hign on a hill top overlooking the pictureque town of Melk. The monastery was enormous - with guest wing Used by royalty)treasure house, library and a most ornate Baroque chapel. There are still 12 monks living in the place which by any standards was an over the top demonstration of what religion produces. Photos above are of the facade of the monastery and the town of Melk taken from the balcony of the monastery.

After a detailed guided tour of the monastery we went on to a village on the banks of the Danube for lunch, following which we went to an ancient village Durnstein which is built into the side of a hill on top of which are the remains of a 10th century castle. Narrow streets with vintage cottages. As it was Christmas Eve everything closed down at lunchtime in Austria as the Christmas celebrations are held that evening - so no shopping (Hurray). The tour gave us a good look at the Austrian countryside and the V ienna Woods - all very beautiful.

VIENNA ON CHRISTMAS DAY

As we had booked seats for a Mass at the Imperial Palace Chapel ( the only time I have ever PAID to go to church) we were up early and off on the underground to the Old City and took our place with the crowd of other Mass goer. The chapel was quite beautiful, and although the Mass was in German it was easily followed. The orchestra with choir provided a Mozart Mass which was absolutely magic. At the end of the mass, the Vienna Boys choir assembled at the front of the church and sang three Christmas Carols -just beautiful - and I was not suprised when there was a prolonged applause.

Back to the hotel where we had lunch with a nice bottle of Austrian wine which induced a welcome snooze in the afternoon. In the evening we attended a Mozart and Strauss concert in the salon of the Austerlitz Palace. It was a most intimate setting with only about 250 people. The Chamber Orchestra was superb, and a baritone and a soprano sang beautifully.

VIENNA PHOTOS

This is the Imperial Palace where the Hapsberg's live for hundreds of year. Then Carol posing with Fiacres in the background, and the one on the right is of the Empress's chambers in the palace.

The top pictures are of Len getting stuck into a much needed Gluhwein, St Stephens church and Schoonbrun Palace which was the Hapsburg summer residence about 6 miles from the Impreial Palace itself!!

VIENNA FOR CHRISTMAS

Wednesday, December 22

Arrived at 9.45 after a flight with BA, and having had our Christmas celebration with Peter and Mary. We’re staying at the Tourotel Mariahilf which is comfortable – large room and large bathroom and very good heating! It’s good that you can open the windows when it gets too hot!

Thursday, December 23

Started off the day with a buffet breakfast that set us up for lots of cold and sightseeing! We decided to walk into town to get our bearings, and on the way it started to snow! By the time we got to the Staatsoper (Opera House) I had the perfect excuse to buy an umbrella! Lots of artists (musical type) there who try to flog you tickets for evening performances – all quite legitimate and it seems to be an expected part of their craft/art. We decided to take a city tour to get ourselves oriented as the walk in hadn’t solved a lot of problems. That was great in giving the idea of the Ring Roads around the old city, and the major landmarks. After the tour it was snowing quite consistently, though it wasn’t cold enough for it to settle on the ground – anyway gave the perfect excuse to drop into the Sacher Hotel which is a major Viennese landmark and the origins of the famous Sacher Tortr. There we had a lovely lunch (though Len’s sausage/Frankfurt was a bit sparse!). Of course had to have some Sacher Torte – and it was truly delicious. Snow stopped during lunch so then we walked up through the Inner City to St Peter’s Church (a very gilded Baroque Church) and St Stephen’s, probably the best known place in Vienna. Wandering through the old streets was magic, but by 4 we needed a refreshing gluhwein and punch to warm up the inner and outer self. By the time we were set to head home, all the Christmas lights were on, making the streets a veritable wonderland, so instead of going home we went to the Christmas market in the Town Hall Square. What a great family atmosphere, and so colourful. Right next door is the Kunsthistorisches Museum, a wonderful museum of art and artistic objects that also is staging an exhibition of Goya paintings. between Goya, Titian and velasquez etc we were very cultured by the end of nearly two hours – and very warm, too. A very pleasant meal back at the hotel, with a very nice Austrian white wine was the end to a very white Christmassy day.

Friday, December 23

First thing on the agenda was to go to the Practice Session of the Lippizaner Horses at the Imperial Palace, so it was an early start and breakfast across the road at a delightful bakery that has been operating there since 1885. It’s a real Viennese place – great coffee, great bakery and the paper supplied for you to linger over – pity about the German type! After 90 minutes of the horses (and how they train and love them was easy to see) we picked up our tickets for Christmas day mass at the palace, where we’ll also hear the Vienna Boys Choir. The Imperial Palace is a huge complex with so much to see and do there. We saw the Treasury and the Imperial Apartments where they’ve made the assassinated Empress Elizabeth into something of a cult figure. The most unexpected and most moving parts of the day, though, were two impromptu choral performances, one by a tenor and one by a group of 30 or so young people, outside the Imperial Apartments. The sound was truly glorious and quite moving.

We’d anticipated getting to Schonnbrun, the Summer Palace, too, but by the time we arrived (spent too much time with the Empress) it was almost closing time for the palace. What we hadn’t known about, though, was the very upmarket Christmas Market in the Palace, and the wonderful setting of the market, the lights, and the giant Christams tree. What a fairlyland, wonderful setting, and it gave a wonderful sense of the ‘wonder’ of the Christmas pageant. having seen snow and seen the Schoonbrun with its lights and tasted the warming gluhwein again, we really feel we’ve experienced a European Christmas.