BIRMINGHAM

There is a television show here called "The Weakest Link" which is a quiz show where contestants are subjected to cross examination by the compere, a lady called Ann Robinson. She is often quite rude and haughty, and if one of the contestants happens to tell her that they come from Birmingham, she turns away with a moue saying "oh Dear". With that in mind a visit to Brum was full of expectation!! There were two reasons for visiting. Firstly my father was born there in the slum area in 1900. Secondly, while waiting for our flight out of Berlin recently we got chatting to a couple waiting with us, and they came from Birmingham. I mentioned that my Dad had been born there, and they told us that National Trust had preserved and developed a small area of slums known as "Back to Backs". They then invited us to stay with them if we visited.
The drive there took just 2 1/2 hours for the 140 miles thanks to Motorways. After a welcome cup of coffee we went on a guided tour of the "Back to Backs" which was fascinating.The three storied cottages joined together were tiny, and it was incredible to hear that in one of them lived a family of 10 who also took in two lodgers.There was no running water or lighting and the toilet arrangement was a common two holer in the yard.The photo above is of the yard with wash house and toilets. In one of the cotages a tailor had worked until 2001 making suits of such quality that orders came from London for them! He walked out and left everyting as it was,sewing machines,bolts of cloth,patterns etc.

We had parked the car in ChinaTown and found a decent Malaysian restaraunt for lunch after which we walked through the city to Little Venice, so called because it is the centre of the canal system. We took a canal boat ride which was intriguing as it went through the old industrial area. All the factories were served by the canal system, but with the disappearance of manufacturing, most of the old factories are decrepit eyesores.

We found our friends house and were welcomed with the news that they had a pre-arranged evening out, but had brought in food for us to cook. Nick (he is a Barrister ex army officer) aoplogised for their engagement, but we were more than happy to get ourselves a meal and have an early night.

Next morning we were taken for a drive to the Bourneville site, where Cadbury's have their enormous factories. The whole area was developed by Cadburys, the house in which Nick and Anne live being an original "Cadbury House". The sheer size of the factories was mind blowing and with their own sports ground (which would not disgrace a County Cricket ground) the paternalism of the Cadburys was very apparent.

Then we toured the suburbs,saw Egbaston Cricket Ground and finally parked in the City to visit the Town Hall Museum and have lunch in the dining room there. Very interesting. The photo of the statue above was taken in the forecourt of the Town Hall and is known to the locals as "The Floozie in the Jacuzzi"!!

We left Birmingham after lunch and headed home via Warwick Castle which Nick had told us was well worth a visit. More of that later.

HEVER CASTLE

Courtesy of our Tesco Loyalty points we were able to visit Hever Castle in Kent. This is not a National Trust or English Heritage property and the entrance fee was £10 for the house and gardens. Against our normal expectation of weather there were scattered showers, but we managed to mostly avoid these. In the courtyard of the Castle there were Morris Dancers one of whom was dressed as a unicorn and took great delight in nipping people's hats. Photo above is of his loving embrace of yours truly.

The Castle dates back to the 13th century and has a chequered ownership. Most notable is the fact that it was the home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry V111th.Her family, the Bullens, owned the castle for many years and Henry was an occasional visitor. More latterly, it was bought at the beginning of the 20th century by the Astor family who spent a small fortune modernising the Castle and developing the magnificent gardens. While somewhat unprepossessing from the outside the interior is well maintained and contains loads of antiques and memorabillia from the previous owners. A gallery displays models of Henry and his six wives and various notables associated with that era. They are particularly well done and the documentation makes interesting reading.

In the Astor suite, there are lots of family photos,letters and recordings. They were (are) incredibly wealthy and played a full life in English society during the 20th century.

Outside, the gardens can only be described as magnificent. It was Rose week at the Castle and the Rose garden displayed every conceivable variety of rose - a tableau of colour which had to be seen to be believed. Opposite the Rose Garden was the Italian Garden - spectacular avenues lined with statues imported from Italy by the Astors and leading down to a large lake. At the lakeside there was an ornate pavilion which had lately been adopted as an outdoor theatre and is regularly used in productions.

Well worth the £10 in my view.

GAINSBOROUGH AND MELFORD HALL

A lovely Spring morning. Lazy start to the day with brunch at 10am and then decided to visit Sudbury which is about 50 miles away in Suffolk. The usual chauffeuse followed the navigators instructions quite successfully despite finishing up in an industrial estate en route Oops!! Found free parking in Sudbury which is unusual. Called into the Tourist Information Centre and picked up a map of the town. There was a market in the Market Square which added to the beauty of this lovely old town. Found Gainsborough's House and enjoyed a wander through this well maintained 16th building with many of Gainsborough's portraits and landscapes adorning the walls. Gainsborough lived here in the 18th century before moving to Bath and subsequently London. One of the most remarkable paintings was of a boy and girl which had, at some time past, been cut in two so that it was represented by a separate portrait of the girl's face, while most of her lower body was still in the boy's portrait.

Walked through the market place where Carol set a record by not buying anything! Photo above is the Gainsborough statue. Had a very nice Pizza for lunch and walked down to the River Stour past the cricket ground where we watched the match in progress for some time.Ah!the sound of leather on the willow!

Melford Hall was close by and we were amused to find that it is the home of the Hyde Parker family. When I suggested to the guide that as they were Hyde Parkers' maybe they were originally vagrants from Hyde Park, he was not amused! A great naval family, they had a history of Admirals going back many years. The house was built in the 16th Century by William Cordell who was Master of the Rolls (obviously not THE CAR) to Queen Elizabeth 1st, and she was entertained there in 1578. It is not a very impressive building architecturally, but internally it was very welcoming and homely.

It's other claim to fame is the association with Beatrix Potter who was related to the Hyde Parkers and often visited. One room contains many of her sketches and watercolours of the house and estate. Another unusual exhibit was a velum survey map of the Estate commissioned in 1580. A charming garden completed the venue beautifully.

And so home to Langdon Hills and a quiet Sunday and another first. The weather was so nice that Len put on his shorts for the first time in ages - My God - those white legs!!!!

CLIVE AND THE NEW FOREST

The start of the half term holiday involved a visit to my old colleague Clive Bowring who lives in a little village called Fritham in the New Forest. As it was a Bank Holiday and we were warned of heavy traffic on the roads, we decided to leave early. As seems to be the case with English Bank Holidays it rained for the whole weekend!!
The traffic was quite normal and we arrived at Winchester by 9am, and having told Clive to expect us about midday, we decided to spend some time here and have another look at the famous Winchester Cathedral. A bite of breakfast first and then we spent an enjoyable couple of hours touring round this magnificent cathedral. The librarium contains some of the oldest publications in the land -going back to the 12th century and quite fascinating.

We duly arrived at Clive's who welcomed us with a bottle of Moet Chandon. He had invited his friend Dave (he shares the Rigid Inflatable Boat which they had had built)and we were soon off for a drive through the forest.Despite the rain,which fortunately eased off, we ambled through this beautiful forest and ssaw the seasons new batch of New Forest colts.Beautiful long legged creatures. We went to Brockenhurst where I had lived in the early 1930's and the photo above is of the old Police Station where my Dad was the village bobby all those years ago - now a private dwelling. We went on into Lymington and had drinks in a harbourside Pub, then back to Fritham. Clive and Dave cooked Spaghetti Bolognaise which was not my cup of tea, but accompanied by several nice bottles of wine, the evening was a success!

Next morning we decided to take a high speed ferry across to the Isle of Wight from Southampton and wandered around Cowes in the rain. Carol bought herself a Hooded Jacket to fend off the cold and I managed to find a very nice shirt with an IOW Logo. Lunch in a super little pub was very acceptable. Back at Fritham Clive had planned to go out to Lyndhurst for a Chinese meal, but I managed to persuade him that it was too miserable an evening for such a venture and offered to cook tea. Clive had six eggs in his fridge (and little else!) so he phoned his Pub just up the road (he owns it!) and the landlords came around for a drink and brought some ham and tomatoes so that I could make omelettes. A few more wines and a malt for a nightcap and a good nights sleep was inevitable.

We drove home via Hartley Wintney where we had a super lunch with my brother Peter and his wife Mary, and then a quick drive up the Motorway home. A most successful visit despite the weather.

It was great catching up with Clive again, and I have no doubt that he will be visiting Australia once again before too long.

SACHSENHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP

Insider Tours had a special offer available in May which provide an additional tour free when one had been taken. As we had done the Berlin Walk we opted to take the Sachsenhausen tour which was for 6 hours. We went by train to Oranienberg about 35 kms from Berlin. On the way we noticed three Anarchists stride through the train, dressed in a military type fashion of black boots and jackets,with the usual skinhead appearance and each sucking on a bottle of beer. They were on their way to the G8 Summit at Rostock where violent protests subsequently took place. Not nice looking people.

Sachsenhausen was built in the early 1930's as a "model" camp and housed political enemies of the Third Reich together with Jews, Gypies Homosexuals and criminals. It was not initially designed as an extermination camp like Auschwitz,although it did later build and use gas ovens. In 1945 the Russians (who occupied this part of Germany) took over the camp and used it in much the same manner (but without the killings) to imprison dissidents.

As we walked from the station to the camp we were told that in the early days, prisoners were marched ffrom the train to the camp through the township where citizens were encouraged to demonstrate by jeering, spitting and throwing rubbish at the prisoners. Later this was abandoned as giving too much evidence of maltreatment, and the train stopped further away and prisoners marched unseen through woodland.

Most of the original camp has been destroyed (by the Russians) and only recently has there been a move to establish a Memorial to those who suffered terrible privations and torure. A street of quiet suburban looking houses leads to the Camp entrance, and these houses were occupied by the SS guards during the life of the camp. A separate T shaped building was in fact the SS headquarters from where the "Final Solution" (that became the Holocaust) was launched. There was a separate POW Camp attached to the main camp and conditions there were somewhat better.One famous prisoner,Jimmie James,actually managed to escape several times and recently visited the site.

Food was minimal, clothing totally inadequate for the German Winter and hundreds of prisoners died from malnutrition and exhaustion from camp disciplines and work.The site of the original gallows still exists, as does the Z Complex where thousands were killed by shooting in the back of the neck or being gassed in the chambers. There are several mass graves indicated and several pits of human ashes now covered with memorial stones. It is not pleasant to see the remains of Z Station where the executions took place and be shown the step by step progress of prisoners from room to room leading to their eventual killing. In 1941 10,000 Russian Prisoners of War were executed by shooting and buried in a Mass grave.

Two of the remaining prison huts were recently fire bombed by Neo Nazis and the resultant damage has been left unrepaired to demonstrate the ongoing danger of these people. It was interestiing to hear Kenny (our previoous guide) tell of the harassment his tours were subjected to at times and that he had at one time armed himself with a Pepper spray!

No one could claim to have enjoyed this particular tour, it was a very sobering thought that a civilised nation like Germany could be so manipulated by evil men and set out to pursue acts of violence and inhumanity on such a scale.

BERLIN POTSDAM PART 2

Had a great nights sleep, a hearty breakfast and then off to Potsdam which was a 30 minute train ride from Berlin. As usual Carol quickly worked out the transport system and we took a bus to the Sanssouci Palace the Summer house of Frederick the Great. Our audio guide through the obscenely embellished rooms of the palace was very well presented, and outside we admired the vast gardens. A separate building housed a fabulous art collection - a gallery with hundreds of works of art hung cheek by jowl along the walls. In a way I felt that the amassing of so many paintings in such close proximity detracted from the ability to appreciate the collection. A quick snack of Bratwurst chips and a beer, satisfied the inner hunger and we took another bus to Cecilienhof Palace which is the final Hohenzollern Palace built in the style of an English Country House in the early 1900's.

This Palace was the venue for the famous Potsdam Conference which decided on the future division of Germany after WW2 and was attended by Stalin Churchill and Roosevelt, later replaced by Clement Atlee and Truman. The top right pictures show the Palace and the conference room where meetings took place.I nearly got caught taking the conference room picture as photos were not allowed and I had forgotten that the flash was on!!!

A very friendly bus driver then took us into the old town of Potsdam where we had a lovely stein of beer and Carol had her beer and raspberry (Heirbeir I think it was called!).Then a tram ride down to the Station and back to Berlin. Had an excellent meal in a restaurant near our hotel and were a bit put oout when the waiter brought the bill and made the point that it did not include a service charge or tip!! Carol was most unimpressed and we left the exact money on the table and walked out!!

BERLIN AND POTSDAM

This was one hell of a four day visit and we were pooped little travellers by the time we got home. There were two aspects of Berlin that we tasted - the historical architecture and the Third Reich. I was surprised by two things. Firstly - the significant rebuilding which had taken place after the massive damage caused by both the Allied bombing raids and the Russian battle for Berlin. Secondly - the impact of the Hitler years and the subsequent Russian impact with the East/West divide.

Our friends Tim and Ruth had given us some valuable pointers for the visit, and our Welcome Card which they recommended was a real bonus. We validated our three day passes on the train from Schonefeld airport into the city and managed to get off at the nearest station to our Hotel, although we had to walk some 800 metres along the Kurfurstendam. Although we were early arrivals we were able to get to our room and sit down to work out a plan of attack.After a nice meal of Sushi we trundled off into the City proper and identified the starting point for the Walking Tours, and then took a Tourist bus trip around the major tourist attractions. Then we went hunting for an electric jug as the one we had taken with us for our morning cuppas had unfortunately sprung a hole after contact in the suitcase with our bottle opener!!We visited the most enormous store on the KuDam and after traipsing through a maze of departments eventually found our quarry and thought thankfully of the early morning reviver. On the wander around the area we also managed to book seats for a concert by the Berlin Palace Orchestra at the Charlottenburg Palace Orangery for the following night.

Next day we took ourselves along to the meeting place for the Insiders Tours where we booked the 4 hour Famous Walk. Our guide was a Scotsman,Kenny, who was absolutley tremendous. His knowledge of Berlin (and history) was comprehensive and his ability to communicate that knowledge quite amazing. We walked through the old East Berlin and visited the Island of Museums, Check Point Charlie, the Book Burning site, the Reichstag,Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial,Hitler's bunker,the remains of the Berlin Wall and Gestapo Headquarters. All the time we were given a detailed history of each area. At the end of the tour, Kenny asked if we would like to hear about the events leading up to the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Needless to say we all thought that would be great and listened enthralled as he told us of the East German confusion at a Press Conference which led to a young German hearing on the radio that East Germans were to be allowed into West Germany jumping up onto the wall. When people realised that he had not been shot at (which would have been the normal reaction) they soon started to rejoice at their new found freedom and hacked into the wall!!

As we were close to the Reichstag, we walked back there and queued for best part of an hour to go into the building and up into the cupola which sits atop the building.
It was well worth the wait as the view from the top level was dramatic and the beer we had in the restaurant a real reviver!!

An early dinner at a superb Thai restaurant and then off to our concert. Of course we got off the bus about four stops too early and eventually had to grab a cab to get to the Orangery in time for the start of what was a most enjoyable feast of Handel/Bach/Corelli and Mozart. Even managed to get the right bus back to the Hotel.