Day 12 – June 10
Once we took our decision to take the long road back to Edinburgh, it was very clear that we would need to get going on time. And as it happened, Radhika woke up and got ready even before the alarm went off at 6 am, and hence for the only time on this trip, we were able to make a 730 am start. We drove along Loch Ness till Invermoriston, using the same route we followed on the previous day to Skye, and thereafter continued down Loch Ness till its end at Fort Augustus. Post Loch Ness, we crossed the Caledonian Canal, and then traveled along the southern banks of River Oich, before flipping back to the Northern shore of Loch Oich. The Caledonian canal, as I may have mentioned before, starts on the North Sea coast at Inverness, and links the sea to Loch Ness – it then links Loch Ness with Loch Oich, and then links Loch Oich with Loch Lochy, and Loch Lochy to Loch Linhe, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Before the roads we were driving on were built, it acted as the main route for traffic along the Lochs, and as a short cut from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, through relatively protected waters.
We made very good time that morning, and took our first halt barely 15 miles from Fort William at a War memorial at about 1045. From there, we could get views of the Nevis Range. Radhika mentioned that one of her friends, Meera had mentioned how they had gone for a cable car ride on the Nevis range during their visit to Fort William, and that she was keen on taking Avi for a similar ride. I was skeptical, concerned that we probably would not have the time for the same, and also that finding the cable car site would be an issue. But a few miles beyond the war memorial, we saw signs for the Nevis Range cable car, and diverted off the highway to check it out. We reached the cable car site around 1130. The cable car runs from the base station, which is about 50 metres above sea level to a peak about 650 metres above sea level. It serves both as a route up for joy-riders like us, and also as a lift for mountain bikers who ride down the mountain. In winter, it also acts as the first leg of a ski lift. Avi was quite happy to travel in the cable car, which quickly climbs above the tree line, and then moves more steeply up the peak. I spotted a number of mountain bikers on the way, who were heading rapidly down the mountain. Some of the mountain bikers were clearly experts, willing to jump at high speed over the trail (in locations where one slip would send them tumbling down the mountain). I found it interesting that people who grow up in a highly safety conscious culture (car seats, seat belts et al) then voluntarily risk their lives for a thrill. After about 15 minutes, we reached the peak.
There were a number of walking trails around, and we picked a relatively easy one (as revealed by the number of people who were walking down it.) It was about a kilometre long, and took us to the top of a small peak, about 100 feet above where we were, which offered fabulous views of the surrounding countryside, including various Lochs, and the entire Nevis range. Once again, Avi enjoyed the walk a lot – this is certainly a habit that Radhika and I wish to cultivate. Post this, we headed back… and it was only for the final 100 metres or so that Avi asked me to carry him. On reaching the base station, we grabbed lunch, and then set out on our journey. Through these two halts, we had spent over 3 hours…. and it was past 2 when we crossed Fort William.
We then mapped the GPS towards Glen Coe – the initial part of the drive was along Loch Linhe, with landscape similar to what we had seen before, but we then turned into the Glen, which offered stunningly bleak landscapes for us to see. There were road works underway on the highway across Glen Coe – what we found interesting was the safety consciousness with which these works were carried out. There were signals installed at each end of the region where work was on and all traffic has to halt at these signals – movement is permitted only in one direction at a time, and in a convoy behind a convoy truck, which ensures that no-one speeds, or interferes with the construction workers or equipment. The fact that in a high cost economy, they deployed convoy truck drivers to ensure that the relatively light traffic did not interfere with the workers was highly impressive. After driving through Glen Coe, we approached the town of Crianlarich, where we needed to decide whether to head directly for Edinburgh, or to head towards Loch Lomond and Glasgow, which would imply about 25 miles of extra driving. After having travelled this far, we decided that we could not leave Scotland without seeing Loch Lomond, and so once again chose the longer route.
The road along Loch Lomond was narrower and even more twisty than the one along Loch Ness, and also had much more traffic. Progress was therefore slower. Around 345, we reached the village of Inveruglas, where there was a small restaurant next to the lake. We took our final break here. We were both keen on trying to grab a boat ride on Loch Lomond, but were told that the shortest boat rides were one and a half hours long – and decided we did not have that much time. Nevertheless, we decided to spend sometime on the shore. There were a number of ducks that were walking along the banks of the lake, and Avi had a great time chasing one of them saying “Duckie, Duckie, Duckie…” The duck too seemed to be keen to play with him – when he got too close, it would fly off into the lake, but in a bit it would come back closer, as if teasing him. After a 20 odd minute break, we set off down the A82, and headed towards Glasgow. Post Loch Lomond, the road was wider, and we were making pretty good time. We then diverted onto the motorway leading towards Glasgow airport and Edinburgh. We had just settled down to driving at the limit on the motorway, when we saw a sign warning of an accident ahead. As It happened, there were two accidents ahead of us – and the traffic slowed to a crawl. I was reminded of the day in Amsterdam, about 6 or 7 years ago, when Veena, Hrishikaesh and I were stuck in a similar jam – with Veena at the wheel, and poor Hrishikaesh crying in his car seat at the rear. The traffic jam cost us about one hour, but once we passed the accidents, progress was smooth, and before we knew it, we were in Edinburgh.
I had programmed the GPS to take us to Edinburgh city centre, and had to use a couple of traffic lights to get it to lead us to our hotel. But when we reached very close to our hotel (literally around the corner from it), we found that the GPS mapping of central Edinburgh was wrong – while there was no right turn at a particular junction, the GPS was asking us to go right. At this point, I had no choice but to go straight, and hope that the GPS would find an alternate route. The added problem was that every time we missed a turn, it would take time to recalculate the route, and sometimes, we would have passed the turn it wanted us to take before it told us what to do. After taking us through a number of turns, it got us to a T junction where it was posted that both directions were reserved for taxis and buses alone - the GPS once again asked us to turn right here. We wondered what to do, but with vehicles on all sides of us, we were left with no option but to follow the GPS’ instructions and go through that bus lane. The bus lane took us to a point across the road from our hotel, but we could not find a U turn to enable us to get to the hotel parking lot. So we turned off into a side lane, and after a few more twists, we were finally directed towards our hotel. It was ironic that after 170 miles of driving in England and 700 miles in Scotland, we had finally lost our way (and violated a traffic rule) 50 metres from our destination.
Day 13 – June 11
The next morning, I set out to return the car to the car hire agency. Since the car had to be returned with a full tank, I set the GPS to guide me to the nearest petrol pump. It took me towards a main road about 2 miles away, and then asked me to take a number of turns into side streets. When it told me I had reached my destination, I was at the gate of a warehouse, with no petrol pump in sight. Fortunately, there was a truck driver out there, who directed me back to the main road, where a petrol pump was located about 200 metres away. I then asked the GPS to lead me back to the Europcar station, and this time, took the precaution of keeping a physical map of Edinburgh next to me. This time, it led me to my destination without a hitch. On arriving to return the car, I realized that the car Europcar had given us was not the same one which was referred to in the car hire document – I had only checked that the document mentioned a Mercedes C Class, and had not verified the license number. However, Europcar were already aware of this error, and had rectified the same in their system. The car hire document I had mentioned that the car had no pre-existing damage at all – and in my inspection of the car while hiring it, I had seen no dents or major scratches.
However, per their system, the car we had actually been given had a number of “major” and “medium” scratches – when I had obviously missed. On returning the car, Europcar claimed that there was an additional medium scratch on the wheel rim – which too I could see only when it was pointed out by the attendant. Whether it was there before we took the car or not, I cannot tell. Fortunately, we had taken the risk reduction package, and hence were not liable for any damage. This clearly brought out the value of the package to me –given the definition that the rental agencies have for a scratch, customers depend purely on whether the agency points out a scratch before a hire or not – and in the absence of the package, it would have been very easy for them to claim damages from us, whether it was our fault or not.
There were no taxis around, and hence I walked back to the hotel, which took about 25 minutes. Radhika and Avi had not yet had breakfast – so we had breakfast together and then returned to our room. While our original plan had been to go and see the Edinburgh Castle, we were very tired after the previous two days, and instead took it easy at our hotel room. We then set out for lunch, initially walking towards an Indian restaurant about 1 km away. But halfway there, we saw a small garden by the road side, and Radhika and Avi decided to stop there and play, while I headed to a “Pret” across the road for some more sandwiches and muffins. After a picnic lunch in the garden, Avi got into a hyperactive mode…. and wanted to rush on to the road. For a while, he and I had a lot of fun, with him running towards the road, and me running to stop him (well on time before all of you start panicking.) Then he asked me to carry him, and suddenly snatched my specs to try and throw it down. I tried to stop him, whereupon he promptly twisted and broke the frame. I was left without a pair of glasses. Fortunately, this had happened only after all our driving was done. We went to a number of opticians to see if they could repair the specs, or give me a new one in the two hours or so we had before our departure to the airport, but this was in vain. We then returned to the hotel, where Radhika borrowed some cello tape and did a great job of patching the specs up, so that I could actually use it until we returned home.
After some shopping, and taking photos of the Castle from Prince Street (which runs below the Castle along its length , and at one end of which, our hotel was located), we set out for the airport. We had booked to stay at the Hilton in Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport – so that connecting to our flight to Bombay would be easy. Our flight landed in Terminal 1, and we then took a cab to our hotel. On reaching the hotel, I checked the weather forecast…. and found to our relief that it was a relatively bright day. So I arranged a taxi to go to Legoland Windsor the next morning through the hotel concierge.
Day 14 – June 12
We set out for Legoland about 915, and reached right in time for its opening slightly before 10 am. Legoland is highly suited for kids from Avi’s age upto about 8 or 9 years. We had kept our Legoland visit as a surprise for Avi (at least partly to avoid disappointing him if it were rainy and we were unable to go). For the first hour or so at Legoland, Avi did not seem to know what had hit him – and was acting in an extremely cranky manner. The first ride we took was a fire engine ride (called Fire Academy, as Avi would no doubt remind you). After that ride, Avi was insistent that he be allowed to stay on – and keep playing with the fire engines without standing in the queue. The next ride was a balloon ride – after which we went to Duploland, where Avi sat in a model of Thomas, the Tank Engine, and took a few more rides including one on a kiddy train somewhat like the one at Phoenix Mall. Next, we saw a puppet show performance of Goldilocks and the three Bears, which Avi enjoyed a lot. This was followed by us rushing to the 4D theatre for a show of Bob the Builder and Gang building a roller coaster. Avi enjoyed that a lot, and kept reaching out to touch Scoop et al.
We then walked past “Miniland”, which comprises working models of various districts of cities, towns and countries (including the City of London, Westminster, Canary Wharf, the Rotterdam Port, Montemarte in Paris, Belgium, Holland and Denmark), made entirely with Lego bricks. We then took a ride on a sky train across the park. Post lunch we spotted a big Steam train, made up to look like Thomas. The queue for this was quite long, and Avi once again became cranky, insisting that he should be allowed to jump the queue, and sit in the drivers’ seat. Fortunately, he settled down once the train started moving. Near the train station, there were stationary models of a police car, and of a Mini taxi…. Of all the fancy attractions at Legoland, this was the one Avi enjoyed the most – sitting in the drivers’ seat, and having other kids (and in one case, a parent) get into the back and tell him to take them to various places.
Next we went to a pirate cabin, where Radhika and Avi entered, and had a walk…. This was a free play area for kids, and I was amazed by the agility of some of the kids who were probably under 18 months old – this clearly brought out how we over-protect our children, and prevent them from indulging in physical activity. Finally, we went for a roller-coaster ride. I was a little apprehensive about whether Avi would enjoy it – but this was the ride he enjoyed the most, and he insisted on standing in the queue and doing this one more time. Before we knew it, it was a quarter to five, and we got a call from our taxi driver stating that he had arrived. So it was time to say goodbye to Legoland, and head back for Heathrow to catch our flight home. Our only regret was that Avi was underage to try the driving school at Legoland, where kids are allowed to drive battery operated cars, or to join the Digger Academy, where they are allowed to drive Diggers. (Please don’t mention these to him – we took great efforts in planning our route such that he did not see these attractions).
The previous evening at Edinburgh, Avi had been extremely keen on getting back home – and had thrown a mini-tantrum when we took a taxi to the hotel on landing in London instead of catching a flight to Bombay. Post Legoland, Bombay was forgotten, and even today, more than a week after the trip, he still keeps asking us to taking him back there, so that he can sit in the Police car and the Mini Cab.
Our journey back was not very comfortable – we had taken a bulkhead seat, and very irritatingly, people were using it as a thoroughfare without as a much as a by your leave. Further, I had checked in our eye shades, which I usually use to sleep during flights. Jet Airways took over 3 hours serving dinner after take off, and then switched on the lights again over 2 hours before landing, with the result that lights were off and I could sleep for only a bit more than 3 hours. On arriving back, we were greeted by Bombay airport at its worst, as a Saudi Airlines 747 had landed just before us. Our luggage arrived fast enough, and Appa and Ramesh had come with the Getz to pick us up (I had asked them to get the Superb, but had forgotten that its keys were locked in the steel cupboard). But when Ramesh went to fetch the Getz from the parking, he found it had suffered a puncture, and so we had to make do with 2 cool cabs to head back home. After almost 900 miles of driving in the UK, I had promptly forgotten how chaotic our roads are… and Avi passed a few remarks about how dirty the roads were. But despite all the fun we had and the nice roads out there, we were certainly glad to be back home.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Radhika, Avinash and Raj's UK Trip : May - June 2010: Part 5, Days 9 to 11
After 4 bright and beautiful days, Sunday (viz Day 8) was partly cloudy in Bristol. It was raining and bitterly cold when we landed in Edinburgh. Since we flew Easyjet, we did not have access to an aerobridge and had to walk in the light drizzle to reach the terminal. Our luggage arrived fast but wet - and we left shortly thereafter by cab to our hotel. The Caledonian Edinburgh Hilton Hotel, is a heritage property, located in the centre of Edinburgh city, very close to the Edinburgh castle. The building is beautiful though our room was just moderate sized. The building is not air conditioned, and despite the cold weather outside, our room was rather warm. Fortunately, they had provided a table fan. After a mediocre room service dinner, we stepped out to stock up (standard bread, butter, cheese, jam, chips) for our long journey to Inverness and then crashed.
Day 9 - June 7, 2010
Day 9 - June 7, 2010
I woke fairly early to get set for our journey, though we had requested for our car only at 9 am. We planned to start shortly after breakfast. However, as usual, we were fairly late getting ready, and it was 10 by the time we left the hotel. Avi had been very excited by the Mercedes B class (during the earlier trip), and Radhika and I were worried how he would react to a Ford or VW.
On reaching the Europcar centre, we were told we had been upgraded again - this time to a Mercedes C class. As the assistant filled in our details and inspected our licenses, he suddenly had an issue - our drivers’ licenses state that they are valid throughout India, and he claimed they would not be suitable to rent from them in the UK. We pointed out that the UK law allows people to drive with their national drivers' licenses, and that we had rented from Europcar in London without a problem. We also told him that their web-site, which had quoted a Rupee rate to us did not mention any special requirement over and above what UK law required. Initially, he was still unwilling to budge, but when we pointed out that he was ruining our vacation which was centered on a car rental, he relented and agreed to use the driver ID created by their London office.
The car he gave us was a Mercedes C Class Estate - it looked fairly new. When we started to load our luggage, we were in for a shock - our luggage had expanded a bit in Bristol, and the C estate could barely accommodate it. Further rear leg room in this car was even less than in the B class and so we had to position the car seat behind me to give Radhika enough leg room. All this, plus fitting the car seat and Avi took till 1140. However, I managed to find a comfortable seating position this time around, set the GPS correctly and then we were ready to go.
As soon as I touched the accelerator, even in the slow Edinburgh traffic, I realized that this was a very different car compared to the B class. The car was extremely responsive, and handled extremely well - within a few minutes, I was commenting to Radhika on how we were very lucky to get this car, which was a real pleasure to drive.
We exited Edinburgh, which is a compact town, rather quickly and were soon on the motorway leading to the Forth Bridge. Scotland has a large number of marine inlets (or creeks) called Firths, and lakes (called Lochs). Just to the north of Edinburgh lies the Firth of Forth. The Forth bridge is an extremely beautiful suspension bridge - once again much longer than our sea link. We took our first halt immediately after crossing the bridge, stopping to take a number of pictures. Then we continued on the motorway till a town called Perth, after which the road turned into a 4 lane (2 each way) highway, followed by 2 lane sections.
Even the countryside around Edinburgh is extremely beautiful - but as we progressed past Perth, it became even more so. As we progressed, I grew more confident handling the C class, and was able to easily stay at the limit (70 mph on 4 lane roads, and 60 mph on 2 lane roads) even on the twisty mountain sections.
We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant and craft centre close to the town of Pitlochry (incidentally, before we chose to move to Twin Towers, we had almost finalized a flat in a building in Bandra called Pitlochry). Lunch was really good - a tasty lentil soup and some nice macaroni, which even Avi liked.
We had originally planned to visit Pitlochry, to look at the Salmon bridge there - but since we got delayed at lunch, we continued towards Inverness. At one stage during the drive, Radhika took the wheel, for about 20 miles (covered in a bit more than even time), but this stint was interrupted when Avi decided to protest being left behind alone by taking off the seat belts of his car seat.
After a few more halts to admire the scenery (there are "laybys" built every few kms to give people an opportunity to pull off the road and rest, as well as to admire the scenery), we approached Inverness around 6 pm. We had taken over 6 hours to cover 160 miles - which was a reflection of the number of halts we made rather than anything else. The GPS navigation did its job, and guided us through Inverness on the road towards our hotel.
Bunchrew House is a 15th century baronial mansion, located right on the shores of Beauly Firth.The road just before Bunchrew runs directly along the sea - just before the hotel, it turns inland, with thickly forested woods along the coast. Avi saw a number of boats in the harbour, and immediately started anticipating a Boat ride. To get to the hotel, one turns off the highway and drives for about half a mile thru woods.
The first sight of Bunchrew had us spell bound - a beautiful house by the sea, with trees surrounding it on the other three sides. The staff was warm and friendly, and carried our luggage to our room, which was on the second floor. The room was magnificent - if anything, the photos shown online did not fully convey its size. The bathroom alone was almost as large as the entire studio apartment we had in London.
We quickly freshened up and headed for a walk on the grounds. The place reminded us of Coonoor in some ways - a quiet place, with the silence occasionally interrupted by the sound of trains trundling along. Avi really liked it - and we had a good time looking for the owls in the trees. When we moved out of the sheltered garden to the windward side (closer to the sea), we were hit by a biting cold breeze.
We then headed for dinner. The chef at Bunchrew is Michelin star rated, but his repertoire of dishes with understated flavours was not exactly to our taste. Avi in particular did not like anything prepared for him. Radhika and I did manage to eat, while Avi had to make do with Horlicks once we were back in the room.
Day 10 - June 8
Chandra and Latha had briefed us exhaustively on what could be done in Scotland. So on our first full day at Inverness, we set out immediately after breakfast (viz by 945 am) for Clansman Harbor on Loch Ness, which is the base for cruises on the lake. On the way, we stopped at a supermarket to stock up (usual stuff) for our picnic. The drive to Clansman offered spectacular views of the Loch, with the road set on a ridge above the lake, but we did not have much time to enjoy the sight.
We reached the harbor by 1045, just on time to catch the 1100 am ferry. The ferry ride was fabulous - despite the damp weather, we went onto the open upper deck and took in the spectacular views of the Loch and the surrounding hills. There was a running commentary providing the history of the Loch - Loch Ness forms part of what is called the Great Glen (Glen means valley), and was formed by retreating icebergs at the end of the last Ice Age. It is the second largest lake by surface area in the UK (after Loch Lomond) but is as much as 750 feet deep. Due to its great depth, it holds an enormous volume of water, and holds the possibility of having secrets such as the Loch Ness monster or Nessie. The Loch has been extensively surveyed thru sonar, and no trace of Nessie has been found - however, as the Guide on our boat said, Loch Ness occupies a sufficient volume to hide every human being on earth - so who knows.
The tour also gave us a view of Urquhart Castle, an ancient Scottish stronghold that was destroyed by British government troups during the Jacobite revolt in the 17th or 18th century. (The Jacobites were followers of James Stuart, who attempted to restore the Catholic Stuart dynasty to the throne of Britain). After a nice one hour cruise, we returned to the shore, where we had lunch and also picked up some souvenirs including a Nessie toy for Avinash (to join Noddy, Molly and Doggie, a small dog stuffed toy that Anoushka gifted him.)
After that, we drove down the Loch till Drumnadrochit, where the Loch Ness Centre is located. We had originally planned to stop there, but instead decided to proceed to Glen Affric, a nature reserve about 15 miles away. The road to Glen Affric was narrower, and surrounded by thick forests. At one of the stops we made on the way to admire the scenary, we met an old (perhaps mid 60s) British lady hiking by, who told us that she had been coming to the Highlands for the last 30 yrs to walk each June, leaving her husband behind in London. Radhika found that inspiring, I found it worrying!!!
At any rate, we gave her a lift, and she told us about a waterfall that we could go and see called Dog Falls, on the way to Glen Affric. After a while, we turned off the main road, and headed to Glen Affric on a narrow road thru the forest with two way traffic. Since most parts of the road are too narrow, specific passing areas are designated and widened every 200mtrs or so, and people stop and reverse if needed to allow others to pass safely.
We soon reached the Dog Falls parking area, where we dropped the lady off, and parked to take in the scenery. There were a number of trails marked out in the forest, including a 400 yard one leading to Dog Falls. We decided to hike down that path, based on advice from the lady, despite a nagging drizzle. 
So Radhika, Avi and I set out in the rain, thru a narrow path surrounded by woods, above rapids in a small river, looking for Dog Falls. Avi was extremely enthusiastic about the hike - and was only disappointed he cld not see wild animals. The hike was not difficult, but not a walk in the park by any stretch of imagination - it involved avoiding muddy sections, climbing over fairly high rocks etc. With umbrellas open to beat the rain, carrying Avi was not an option. Avi realised this, and kept walking holding my hand, with a constant refrain of "where are the wild animals?"
After about 15 minutes, we reached a place where the path rose, crossed the road and continued to climb Ínto the forest - around the same place, there were a number of small waterfalls. This section was steeper and so we decided that discretion is the better part of valor, and turned back. Am not sure if the small waterfalls we saw were the much wonted Dog Falls, or if there was something more substantial, which cld be seen from higher up the path. Nevertheless, Avi's love of the outdoors, and his ability and willingness to walk with us on a narrow path thru the woods in cold and wet conditions came as a surprise to us.
With the weather being cold and dull, we didn’t realise that it was well past lunch time and suddenly all of us started feeling hungry. It was time to open our picnic lunch for the second round of tomato cheese sandwich, this time with mayonnaise (sachets being picked from various coffee shops) but avi chose to stick to his blueberry muffin.
We then set out for the Glen Affric parking lot - with the road taking us above still more Lochs. On the way, Avi fell asleep. The parking lot had a number of cars in it - obviously various people had set out on short or long treks along the various trails marked there. From the lot itself, we cld see very interesting countryside. But with Avi asleep, we did not venture further, but instead headed back toward Drumnadrochit, with Radhika driving this time around.
When we reached Drumnadrochit, Avi was still asleep - hence, we decided to not see the Loch Ness Centre and to push that off by 2 days, when we anticipated we wld have some free time. (Wrongly as it turned out, but that is another story). Post Drumnadrochit, Radhika decided she was too tense driving (perhaps due to my occasional back seat nagging), and handed the wheel back to me.
We reached Bunchrew, and turned in relatively early, as we had planned an extremely long drive for the following day.
Day 11 - June 9
The Road to Skye
While in Bristol, Chandra and Latha had raved about the fabulous beauty of Skye, an island located off the west coast of Northern Scotland (the opposite end of the highands from Inverness which is on the East coast).
The road from Inverness to Skye would go along Loch Ness for about 15 miles beyond Drumnadrochit, and then turn off, running along various other Lochs, to a town called Kyle of Lochalsh, the last pt of mainland Scotland. The journey to Kyle of Lochalsh was about 95 miles each way.
>Initially, I was skeptical about driving 200 miles plus on a single day. However, I recalled reading about how this was considered to be one of the best drives in Britain, which tempted me to go for it. Driving the C class on the way to Inverness decided it for me - and we decided to make an early start and head to Skye. Two ancillary factors helped take this decision: a) the weather forecast, which predicted a clear day over Skye; and b) the belief that we could take it easy on the following day before heading back to Edinburgh.
While we aimed to start very early for Skye, it was past 9 by the time we actually got going. Since the journey was the destination in this case, we took time out to admire the scenic beauty at various points along Loch Ness. Some of the best views were shortly after Drumnadrochit, close to Urquhart Castle. Nevertheless, we made pretty good time till Invermoriston, where we turned off onto the Road to Skye. The road from Invermoriston towards the Kyle of Localsh got prettier by the mile, with a Loch (Loch Cluanie) on the left, and a number of peaks on the right.
While it had been cloudy at Inverness, the sun started to peep out of the clouds when we reached Invermoriston, and the play of light on the hills and Lochs was spectacular. 
There were shrubs with pretty yellow flowers (were they the famous Daffodils? I don't know) as well as some purple ones along the way. The road was hilly, and twisty, moving quickly from driving by a Loch to perhaps hundred feet above it. As we continued on, I grew more confident that the Merc would do what I wanted it to do, and so could maintain a steady 60 mph while driving. Nevertheless, we did take a number of breaks at various view pts, and so progress was quite slow. Around 1230, as we were driving along a Loch (Loch Duich), from atop a hill, a beautiful Lochside (for want of a better word) castle came into view, the Eilean Donan castle.
Chandra and Latha had told us about the castle, and how it was a must see. It is a located at the junction of three Lochs, where the Loch we had been driving along (Loch Duich), and another one (Loch Long) flow into Loch Alsh (which separates Skye from the mainland). We pulled into the parking lot of the castle, with just a hint of grey left in the air, at about 1230.
We found that the castle as it stands today is not very old - it was rebuilt in the early part of the 20th century, but to medieval plans. The site, on an island just off the mainland, however is a very old one - it has been inhabited since the stone age, and the first castle built there was put up in the 5th century. A 12th century castle there, which was the base of a major Scottish highland clan which took the Jacobite side, was razed to ground around the same time as the destruction of Urquhart. However unlike Urquhart which still lies in ruins, Eilean Donan was painstakingly restored by a Scottish army officer (it was unclear to me if he was a member of the clan that originally owned it) in the early part of the 20th century. After being used as family home till the 1980s, it was transferred to a trust which now gives tourists a glimpse of a medieval Scottish lifestyle.
More than the displays, the best thing about the castle is probably the view - it looks out over a range of hills and the Loch Alsh to Skye and other islands of the Hebrides beyond. We spent over an hour at Eilean Donan and a further 45 minutes at lunch - and set off around 230 towards Kyle.
From Eilean Donan on, the drive was even more spectacular - a little after Eilean Donan, we caught our first glance of the Skye bridge, and at a crest of the road just before Kyle, we caught what must be one of the best sea views in the world. Kyle of Localsh is a bit of a one horse town…. mainly used by tourists to tank up on the way to Skye. 
The Skye bridge is rather short, but a high arc bridge. While the architectural merits of the bridge are limited, it does provide spectacular views… though we did not stop to enjoy the same (as it would have meant parking 500 mtrs before or after the bridge and then walking). We decided to head into Skye upto Portree, the biggest town on the Island.
The landscape at Skye was spectacular too… unlike the Great Glen and other parts of Scotland we had seen so far, it was not green, but comprised of high, dry peaks, which looked to us like pictures we had seen of Ladakh (though the peaks were obviously tiny runts compared to those in Ladakh). The road to Portree was winding, perched on cliffs high above the sea. In the distance, we could see various rugged peaks, both on Skye and on neighbouring islands. At one point, there was a spectacular curve along the sea, with the cliffs we were driving on forming more than a semi-circle around the sea. I am acutely conscious that my attempts to describe the beauty of the road to Skye and of Skye itself are pitifully inadequate. It is something that needs to be experienced.
We did take a number of photos on the way, but we don’t think any of them adequately captured what our eyes could see.
At 430, we reached a point about 4 miles from Portree, where there was an exhibition centre with a play area for kids. Avi had fun playing for a while, though our stop necessarily had to be brief, as the parking lot had stark notices that it would be closed at 5 PM.
Thereafter, instead of continuing to Portree, we decided to turn around. My initial plan was to take an alternate route back to Inverness, travelling north to a village called Achnasheen, and then heading back to Inverness…. But given the late hour, we decided to head straight back via the main road. While our journey to Skye had taken 7 and a half hours (admittedly including a two hour halt at Eilean Donan) to cover 120 miles, the return trip was covered in about 3 hours.
Radhika and Avi were tired and rested in the back, while I had a good time, maintaining a steady high speed. The interesting thing was that the return journey offered an entirely new perspective to the route, as the hills we could see were different from those we had seen while going to Skye.
We reached the hotel by 8 (viz in under 3 hours), but decided to skip the hotel dinner (we were not able to enjoy the award winning chef’s food any more) and instead heat the Aashirvaad Channa Masala and Dal Bukhara we had carried with us. The relish with which we wolfed down the food surprised us.
At this point, we were under the impression that the next day would be a relaxed one spent at Inverness, before another long journey to Edinburgh on the day after. We then decided to speak to Chandra to thank him for his suggestion that we go to Skye… during this conversation, we suddenly realized that our plans were not adding up. And then the realization dawned that the next day was not going to be a relaxed day but was the day when we needed to drive to Edinburgh.
We had booked to stay at Bunchrew for 3 nights. Somehow, while we were planning the Scotland leg of our trip, I assumed this meant we would also have three days there…. without realising that the first day had been spent driving to Bunchrew, and the last would need to be spent driving back, and hence we had already used up both days we had at Bunchrew. Fortunately, we were more or less packed for at least a car journey. For a brief while, I toyed with the idea of changing our plans and taking the direct route back to Edinburgh (which would have been a 160 mile trip). But the temptation of seeing the rest of the Scottish highlands proved too great… and we decided to make an early start and head back to Edinburgh via Fort William, Glen Coe and Loch Lomond… a journey that would take us into Glasgow before heading for Edinburgh and would involve travel of 250 miles.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Radhika, Avinash and Raj's UK Trip : May - June 2010: Part 4, Days 6 to 8
Day 6 - June 5, 2010
As some of you are aware, we planned to drive to Bristol (where Radhika's cousin Latha lives) via Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. The previous day, we spoke to Chandra, Latha's husband, who told us to skip Bath as it was very close to Bristol, and we could go there the next day.
We had made bookings online for a Standard size automatic car (viz something like a VW Passat or Honda Accord) from Europcar, and we were scheduled to pick the car up at 8 am. However, by the time we packed and checked out of the hotel, it was past 9. On reaching the Europcar office at Kings Cross, we were told that a Std Automatic was not available, and that the only automatic they had was a Mercedes B Class (which is a car slightly larger than a Honda Jazz). My immediate concern was whether all our luggage would fit, but decided to look at the car after they insisted that the only alternative was a manual Skoda Octavia Estate.
As it turned out, the Merc was very smartly packaged, with a surprisingly large hatchback boot that easily accommodated all our luggage (which struggled to fit in an Innova in Bombay). We were issued the car (plus child seat and a Tomtom GPS receiver) by 945. Interestingly, while Europcar provided us with a child seat, they did not provide any assistance in fitting it. By the time we got the car loaded, the child seat fitted and Avi into the seat, it was around 1030. And so we were off, my first attempt at driving abroad. And pretty soon, I realized that I had committed a cardinal error - while I programmed the GPS to take me to Windsor, I had not adjusted the volume, which was on mute.
Fortunately, there were a number of signals on the way, and I was soon able to get the volume working. After the initial tension of driving wore off, I found that the Merc was quite sluggish and that my drivers seat was too low as well. The crawl through London took almost an hour for the first 10 odd miles, but once we were on the M4 (the expressway leading west from London), progress was smooth and we reached Windsor a little after noon. We found a pay and park, paid for 3 hrs and set off to see Windsor. After feeding Avi with yet another Tomato cheese sandwich, and some ice-cream for all of us, we entered Windsor.
Windsor Castle is extremely beautiful - there is a lot to see there but given the limited time we had, we focused on the major items - viz Queen Mary's Doll house, and the State Apartments. The doll house was a special gift to Queen Mary from her grandmother on one of her birthdays. The doll house is a miniature version of a palace with proper plumbing and electrical connections. There were stairs connecting thru the whole house, miniature furniture adorning the various rooms, miniature paintings by the real masters put up on the walls, it was really an exhibition of wealth...
Avi was thrilled to see the realistic looking vintage cars parked in the garage of the doll house, and was caught between wanting the toy vintage cars, and wanting to see real ones. After a quick run thru the staterooms, we headed out of the castle, tugging along Avi, who was disappointed that he had not seen a real vintage car.
Soon we were on our way to Stonehenge. The initial drive was thru expressways, but soon we were on a local highway, which ran thru extremely green countryside. The only disappointment was that Avi had dropped off to sleep, and missed the sight of the first few meadows that we saw in England.
Stonehenge was a magnificent place - pictures fail to do justice to the beauty of the place, especially on a beautiful, bright English summer evening.Stonehenge is one of the oldest monument apparently from the stone age. There has been lot of research on these stones to understand who built it, and why. Lots of theories are provided, but no body knows the reality about these stones. They apparently were used for determining the equinox that marks the beginning of spring. They say these stones were brought to this location from very far away places and its a mystery as to how these heavy stones were transported and further raised to position them upright. There is also a theory that goes to say that this could have been a temple dedicated to the sun.
We had an audio guide to take us through our tour of this place and it was quite enchanting to hear the same. Further, we also felt that Britain is doing a lot to preserve these places and also propagate/market it such that people like us from far away places come and visit.
After about an hour at Stonehenge (which took us to 630), we set out for Bristol. The road to Bristol was exceptionally beautiful, winding thru scenic English villages similar to those we had seen in the Cotswalds. This was followed by a motorway section where the lack of power of the B Class became evident.
On reaching Bristol at around 9pm (having covered almost 170 miles), we were received by Chandra, Latha, Chandra's parents and the kids.
Avi and the kids quickly bonded - and we settled down to a great Indian dinner, which was wolfed down by all three of us.
Day 7 - June 5, 2010
Our original plan for June 5 was to go to Bath. But Chandra pointed out that Bath was not different from any other Roman ruins and proposed that we instead go to some old limestone caves, where we could see stalactites and stalagmites. Radhika and I decided this would be more fun, and took up this offer. Around 11, we set out with both Chandra and Latha taking their cars, and Latha and Maami having put together a massive picnic lunch. The drive to the caves was longer than I had anticipated, about 80 miles, and also took longer than Chandra had planned due to an accident ahead of us on the motorway. On the way, we crossed the beautiful Severn bridge (which has two main cable stayed spans, each longer than the main span of the Worli Bandra sea link).
The Dan yr Ogof caves in Wales, are a massive set of limestone caves, carved by flowing water out of the Welsh Hills. There is a dinosaur park set outside the caves, with life-size models of a wide variety of Dinosaurs.
Avi, Anoushka and Abhishek all had a very good time - with Avi trying to act as if he was the other two kids' peer, and the older kids being nice enough to indulge him. Avi promptly declared that these were "toy" dinos, and wanted to know where the real ones were and why they died out.
The caves were extremely cold, and full of beautiful natural formations, and underground streams and waterfalls. One of the caves has a Cathedral at its end, where marriage ceremonies can be conducted. Another one, where bones had been found, has an exhibit reconstructing various facets of its history including how early humans lived in it. Overall it was a fun time. At about 530, we left the caves and then stopped on the way near a farm which had emus etc in it - and played frisbee for a while in a green area nearby. Then we headed back - by the time we reached Bristol, Chandra and Latha must have been dead tired after the long 160 mile drive, but still stayed up with us till late night, helping us plan what to do in Scotland.
Day 8 - June 6, 2010
Sunday was a day of rest - we woke late and then set out with Chandra and Latha to explore Bristol, seeing a large park (where a ballooning festival is held in August) and seeing one of the oldest suspension bridges(built sometime in the early 1800s) in the world. After a drive thru the city, we headed back home for lunch. Prior to that, I joined Chandra, Abhishek and Anoushka for the kids swimming lessons - Abhishek is a truly talented free style swimmer (he was a head faster than any of the other kids in the fastest group there, including kids taller than him by nearly half a foot), and I am told that Anoushka is as good when it comes to the back stroke.
Post lunch, Chandra, Latha and Anoushka dropped us at the airport. We truly had a great time there, and watching how close Avi became to the kids was very nice. From time to time Avi would mention that he likes Bristol and that this was his home.
The house has a small garden outside, Avi was very thrilled about the idea of a garden in the house. An interesting discussion between Latha and Avi goes like this... Anoushka had not finished her grapes and very happily asked avi to finish the same, Avi was more than happy to do that despite having polished a cup earlier. So Latha very casually mentioned to Avi as to how cunning anu was to have asked avi to finish her grapes, to this Avi responded-- " Latha periamma, Anoushka is a very nice girl, she was only sharing her grapes with me. " I found it very cute of Avi. Lots of such nice events happened during our stay.
Chandra and Latha's advice on what to do in Scotland was invaluable in the next leg of our trip , as was the atlas of British roads that they gifted us.
More on our Scottish saga in our next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
As some of you are aware, we planned to drive to Bristol (where Radhika's cousin Latha lives) via Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. The previous day, we spoke to Chandra, Latha's husband, who told us to skip Bath as it was very close to Bristol, and we could go there the next day.
We had made bookings online for a Standard size automatic car (viz something like a VW Passat or Honda Accord) from Europcar, and we were scheduled to pick the car up at 8 am. However, by the time we packed and checked out of the hotel, it was past 9. On reaching the Europcar office at Kings Cross, we were told that a Std Automatic was not available, and that the only automatic they had was a Mercedes B Class (which is a car slightly larger than a Honda Jazz). My immediate concern was whether all our luggage would fit, but decided to look at the car after they insisted that the only alternative was a manual Skoda Octavia Estate.As it turned out, the Merc was very smartly packaged, with a surprisingly large hatchback boot that easily accommodated all our luggage (which struggled to fit in an Innova in Bombay). We were issued the car (plus child seat and a Tomtom GPS receiver) by 945. Interestingly, while Europcar provided us with a child seat, they did not provide any assistance in fitting it. By the time we got the car loaded, the child seat fitted and Avi into the seat, it was around 1030. And so we were off, my first attempt at driving abroad. And pretty soon, I realized that I had committed a cardinal error - while I programmed the GPS to take me to Windsor, I had not adjusted the volume, which was on mute.
Fortunately, there were a number of signals on the way, and I was soon able to get the volume working. After the initial tension of driving wore off, I found that the Merc was quite sluggish and that my drivers seat was too low as well. The crawl through London took almost an hour for the first 10 odd miles, but once we were on the M4 (the expressway leading west from London), progress was smooth and we reached Windsor a little after noon. We found a pay and park, paid for 3 hrs and set off to see Windsor. After feeding Avi with yet another Tomato cheese sandwich, and some ice-cream for all of us, we entered Windsor.
Windsor Castle is extremely beautiful - there is a lot to see there but given the limited time we had, we focused on the major items - viz Queen Mary's Doll house, and the State Apartments. The doll house was a special gift to Queen Mary from her grandmother on one of her birthdays. The doll house is a miniature version of a palace with proper plumbing and electrical connections. There were stairs connecting thru the whole house, miniature furniture adorning the various rooms, miniature paintings by the real masters put up on the walls, it was really an exhibition of wealth...Avi was thrilled to see the realistic looking vintage cars parked in the garage of the doll house, and was caught between wanting the toy vintage cars, and wanting to see real ones. After a quick run thru the staterooms, we headed out of the castle, tugging along Avi, who was disappointed that he had not seen a real vintage car.
Soon we were on our way to Stonehenge. The initial drive was thru expressways, but soon we were on a local highway, which ran thru extremely green countryside. The only disappointment was that Avi had dropped off to sleep, and missed the sight of the first few meadows that we saw in England.
Stonehenge was a magnificent place - pictures fail to do justice to the beauty of the place, especially on a beautiful, bright English summer evening.Stonehenge is one of the oldest monument apparently from the stone age. There has been lot of research on these stones to understand who built it, and why. Lots of theories are provided, but no body knows the reality about these stones. They apparently were used for determining the equinox that marks the beginning of spring. They say these stones were brought to this location from very far away places and its a mystery as to how these heavy stones were transported and further raised to position them upright. There is also a theory that goes to say that this could have been a temple dedicated to the sun.
We had an audio guide to take us through our tour of this place and it was quite enchanting to hear the same. Further, we also felt that Britain is doing a lot to preserve these places and also propagate/market it such that people like us from far away places come and visit.After about an hour at Stonehenge (which took us to 630), we set out for Bristol. The road to Bristol was exceptionally beautiful, winding thru scenic English villages similar to those we had seen in the Cotswalds. This was followed by a motorway section where the lack of power of the B Class became evident.
On reaching Bristol at around 9pm (having covered almost 170 miles), we were received by Chandra, Latha, Chandra's parents and the kids.
Avi and the kids quickly bonded - and we settled down to a great Indian dinner, which was wolfed down by all three of us.Day 7 - June 5, 2010
Our original plan for June 5 was to go to Bath. But Chandra pointed out that Bath was not different from any other Roman ruins and proposed that we instead go to some old limestone caves, where we could see stalactites and stalagmites. Radhika and I decided this would be more fun, and took up this offer. Around 11, we set out with both Chandra and Latha taking their cars, and Latha and Maami having put together a massive picnic lunch. The drive to the caves was longer than I had anticipated, about 80 miles, and also took longer than Chandra had planned due to an accident ahead of us on the motorway. On the way, we crossed the beautiful Severn bridge (which has two main cable stayed spans, each longer than the main span of the Worli Bandra sea link).
The Dan yr Ogof caves in Wales, are a massive set of limestone caves, carved by flowing water out of the Welsh Hills. There is a dinosaur park set outside the caves, with life-size models of a wide variety of Dinosaurs.Avi, Anoushka and Abhishek all had a very good time - with Avi trying to act as if he was the other two kids' peer, and the older kids being nice enough to indulge him. Avi promptly declared that these were "toy" dinos, and wanted to know where the real ones were and why they died out.
The caves were extremely cold, and full of beautiful natural formations, and underground streams and waterfalls. One of the caves has a Cathedral at its end, where marriage ceremonies can be conducted. Another one, where bones had been found, has an exhibit reconstructing various facets of its history including how early humans lived in it. Overall it was a fun time. At about 530, we left the caves and then stopped on the way near a farm which had emus etc in it - and played frisbee for a while in a green area nearby. Then we headed back - by the time we reached Bristol, Chandra and Latha must have been dead tired after the long 160 mile drive, but still stayed up with us till late night, helping us plan what to do in Scotland.
Day 8 - June 6, 2010
Sunday was a day of rest - we woke late and then set out with Chandra and Latha to explore Bristol, seeing a large park (where a ballooning festival is held in August) and seeing one of the oldest suspension bridges(built sometime in the early 1800s) in the world. After a drive thru the city, we headed back home for lunch. Prior to that, I joined Chandra, Abhishek and Anoushka for the kids swimming lessons - Abhishek is a truly talented free style swimmer (he was a head faster than any of the other kids in the fastest group there, including kids taller than him by nearly half a foot), and I am told that Anoushka is as good when it comes to the back stroke.
Post lunch, Chandra, Latha and Anoushka dropped us at the airport. We truly had a great time there, and watching how close Avi became to the kids was very nice. From time to time Avi would mention that he likes Bristol and that this was his home.
The house has a small garden outside, Avi was very thrilled about the idea of a garden in the house. An interesting discussion between Latha and Avi goes like this... Anoushka had not finished her grapes and very happily asked avi to finish the same, Avi was more than happy to do that despite having polished a cup earlier. So Latha very casually mentioned to Avi as to how cunning anu was to have asked avi to finish her grapes, to this Avi responded-- " Latha periamma, Anoushka is a very nice girl, she was only sharing her grapes with me. " I found it very cute of Avi. Lots of such nice events happened during our stay.Chandra and Latha's advice on what to do in Scotland was invaluable in the next leg of our trip , as was the atlas of British roads that they gifted us.
More on our Scottish saga in our next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Radhika, Avinash and Raj's UK Trip : May - June 2010: Part 3, Days 4 and 5
Day 4 - June 2, 2010
Wednesday dawned with clear blue skies - the rain and clouds of the previous day having been blown away by a high pressure system. We were now settled into British time, and woke around 630. We aimed to cover a visit to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, a Thames Cruise, a visit to the Aquarium and to the Tower of London on this day.
Avi was keen on a journey in a double decker London bus - while there were no buses directly to Buckingham Palace, we found a double decker to Oxford Circus (roughly halfway there) and climbed up onto the first row of the top deck. Avi loved the trip, but made his displeasure at its being interrupted fairly soon very evident. Nevertheless, we managed to bundle him out, and after feeding him with french fries from a nearby McDonalds, headed by cab for Buckingham Palace.
On reaching the Palace, there was a massive crowd waiting to see the ceremony, despite it being a working day. Avi was difficult to control. At this pt, Radhika noticed that Avi's Bob bag was missing. I was sure we had not left it in the cab, and Radhika was sure she had not left it in the McDs. On looking at the pics we had taken in the bus, we found that the bag was at Avi's feet in the bus. So as the guard approached the Palace, I was on my Blackberry, trying to find the number for the Bus Company, much to Radhika's irritation.
The changing of the guard is a classic example of how the Royal Family is the most popular Theme park exhibit in the world - there is much pomp, pageantry and "tradition" involved. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes. After a break for taking photos, I resumed my search for the number, and found a contact for Transport for London, the umbrella org that co-ordinates the bus and underground services. Fortunately, we remembered the bus route no, and the photo gave us the exact time when we had boarded. On calling them, they gave me the number for the relevant bus company ( East London buses). I then spoke to the bus company - they had not yet found anything but asked me to call back after an hour to check, as the bus wld get back to their depot then.
With nothing else to do, we continued towards Westminster, stopping on the way for Avi to eat some muffins (which has been his staple diet on this trip) and for us to grab some sandwiches and coffee. We then headed to Westminster Pier, for the Thames Cruise. In the meantime, an hour had elapsed, and on calling the bus company, they confirmed that the bag had been found and that we could pick it up anytime before 9 PM from their depot. During all this period, Avi, while aware that his bag had been lost, did not press the point about getting it back too hard.
The Thames cruise we
took was a 30 minute journey from Westminster (which is the western end of Central London, and the location of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament) to the Tower of London (the notorious and historic fortress / prison, where the crown jewels are kept, which guards the Eastern approach to central London). As in the Seine cruise we took, we enjoyed it very much, looking at historic and modern buildings, and the numerous bridges. The guide kept up and enthusiastic and entertaining commentary thruout.
Avi had a great time too, and was very excited to see "London Bridge" (which incidentally is actually the Tower Bridge, located next to the Tower - London Bridge in its modern avataar is a much plainer structure located further West) .
After disembarking, we headed for the Tower, and entered just in time to catch the last tour of the day guided by a Yeoman warder. (The Yeoman warder's are the traditional soldiers stationed at the Tower, and needless to say, he was dressed in medieval combat regalia). The tour lasted about an hour, ending at St. George's chapel, with the warder taking us through the gory history of virtually every spot in the Tower. After the tour, we got into the queue to see the Crown Jewels (which include items captured in various campaign including the Kohinoor, which is on the Queen Mother's crown, and some items belonging to Tipu Sultan). While in the Tower, Avi went to sleep.
Post our Tower tour, we took at train to Bow Road, an eastern suburb of London, and picked up Avi's bag from the depot. We then took a bus back to Holborn. Interestingly, most of the crowd in the bus, as also on the streets at Bow Road, were immigrants, mostly Bangladeshi, if one were to go by the Bengali signs on some shops.
Day 5 - June 3
Our last day in London dawned with us not having done the Aquarium, any of the museums, or Hamleys. We decided to focus on the British museum and the Aquarium. We started off in the morning, walking down to the British Museum, which was just about 10 minutes away from our hotel.
We picked up an audio guide and chose a quick tour of the most famous exhibits, which started with the Rossetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, and continued on through various other artifacts from around the world. While the tour was a short one ( less than 90 minutes), Avi was totally bored less than half way thru it, and forced Radhika to abandon ship and me to hurry thru the rest of the tour. (Though he very cutely responded to Radhika's scolding by saying that she should bring him there once he is bigger). The collection at the Museum is amazing (probably even better than the Louvre) though India did seem under-represented.
After a quick lunch at the museum, we headed for the Aquarium. The Aquarium was extremely nice, with a massive collection of fish, large and small. Avi was delighted to see his friends, ranging from sharks, big and small, to giant sea turtles and rays, and of course, Nemo and Dory. There was even an opportunity for Avi to touch a Starfish. Arguably, this aquarium is even better than the Underwater Worlds we had seen earlier at Langkawi and Singapore.
By the time we were done with this, it was almost 5, and we rushed to Regent Street, concerned that Hamleys may close for the day. Fortunately it was open, and Avi was able to marvel at the Hamleys in the London Phoenix Mall as he put it. The only hiccup was when he insisted that we buy the giant Puffington engines in the store display.
We then tried to look around some of the other shops on Regent Street, but Avi did not countenance this - so we headed to the hotel to be able to pack for an early departure the next morning.
Shall update you on our journey to Bristol (via Windsor and Stonehenge) and the great time we had at Bristol in our next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash
Wednesday dawned with clear blue skies - the rain and clouds of the previous day having been blown away by a high pressure system. We were now settled into British time, and woke around 630. We aimed to cover a visit to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, a Thames Cruise, a visit to the Aquarium and to the Tower of London on this day.
Avi was keen on a journey in a double decker London bus - while there were no buses directly to Buckingham Palace, we found a double decker to Oxford Circus (roughly halfway there) and climbed up onto the first row of the top deck. Avi loved the trip, but made his displeasure at its being interrupted fairly soon very evident. Nevertheless, we managed to bundle him out, and after feeding him with french fries from a nearby McDonalds, headed by cab for Buckingham Palace.
On reaching the Palace, there was a massive crowd waiting to see the ceremony, despite it being a working day. Avi was difficult to control. At this pt, Radhika noticed that Avi's Bob bag was missing. I was sure we had not left it in the cab, and Radhika was sure she had not left it in the McDs. On looking at the pics we had taken in the bus, we found that the bag was at Avi's feet in the bus. So as the guard approached the Palace, I was on my Blackberry, trying to find the number for the Bus Company, much to Radhika's irritation.
The changing of the guard is a classic example of how the Royal Family is the most popular Theme park exhibit in the world - there is much pomp, pageantry and "tradition" involved. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes. After a break for taking photos, I resumed my search for the number, and found a contact for Transport for London, the umbrella org that co-ordinates the bus and underground services. Fortunately, we remembered the bus route no, and the photo gave us the exact time when we had boarded. On calling them, they gave me the number for the relevant bus company ( East London buses). I then spoke to the bus company - they had not yet found anything but asked me to call back after an hour to check, as the bus wld get back to their depot then.
With nothing else to do, we continued towards Westminster, stopping on the way for Avi to eat some muffins (which has been his staple diet on this trip) and for us to grab some sandwiches and coffee. We then headed to Westminster Pier, for the Thames Cruise. In the meantime, an hour had elapsed, and on calling the bus company, they confirmed that the bag had been found and that we could pick it up anytime before 9 PM from their depot. During all this period, Avi, while aware that his bag had been lost, did not press the point about getting it back too hard.The Thames cruise we
took was a 30 minute journey from Westminster (which is the western end of Central London, and the location of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament) to the Tower of London (the notorious and historic fortress / prison, where the crown jewels are kept, which guards the Eastern approach to central London). As in the Seine cruise we took, we enjoyed it very much, looking at historic and modern buildings, and the numerous bridges. The guide kept up and enthusiastic and entertaining commentary thruout.
Avi had a great time too, and was very excited to see "London Bridge" (which incidentally is actually the Tower Bridge, located next to the Tower - London Bridge in its modern avataar is a much plainer structure located further West) .
After disembarking, we headed for the Tower, and entered just in time to catch the last tour of the day guided by a Yeoman warder. (The Yeoman warder's are the traditional soldiers stationed at the Tower, and needless to say, he was dressed in medieval combat regalia). The tour lasted about an hour, ending at St. George's chapel, with the warder taking us through the gory history of virtually every spot in the Tower. After the tour, we got into the queue to see the Crown Jewels (which include items captured in various campaign including the Kohinoor, which is on the Queen Mother's crown, and some items belonging to Tipu Sultan). While in the Tower, Avi went to sleep.Post our Tower tour, we took at train to Bow Road, an eastern suburb of London, and picked up Avi's bag from the depot. We then took a bus back to Holborn. Interestingly, most of the crowd in the bus, as also on the streets at Bow Road, were immigrants, mostly Bangladeshi, if one were to go by the Bengali signs on some shops.
Day 5 - June 3
Our last day in London dawned with us not having done the Aquarium, any of the museums, or Hamleys. We decided to focus on the British museum and the Aquarium. We started off in the morning, walking down to the British Museum, which was just about 10 minutes away from our hotel.
We picked up an audio guide and chose a quick tour of the most famous exhibits, which started with the Rossetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, and continued on through various other artifacts from around the world. While the tour was a short one ( less than 90 minutes), Avi was totally bored less than half way thru it, and forced Radhika to abandon ship and me to hurry thru the rest of the tour. (Though he very cutely responded to Radhika's scolding by saying that she should bring him there once he is bigger). The collection at the Museum is amazing (probably even better than the Louvre) though India did seem under-represented.
After a quick lunch at the museum, we headed for the Aquarium. The Aquarium was extremely nice, with a massive collection of fish, large and small. Avi was delighted to see his friends, ranging from sharks, big and small, to giant sea turtles and rays, and of course, Nemo and Dory. There was even an opportunity for Avi to touch a Starfish. Arguably, this aquarium is even better than the Underwater Worlds we had seen earlier at Langkawi and Singapore.
By the time we were done with this, it was almost 5, and we rushed to Regent Street, concerned that Hamleys may close for the day. Fortunately it was open, and Avi was able to marvel at the Hamleys in the London Phoenix Mall as he put it. The only hiccup was when he insisted that we buy the giant Puffington engines in the store display.
We then tried to look around some of the other shops on Regent Street, but Avi did not countenance this - so we headed to the hotel to be able to pack for an early departure the next morning.
Shall update you on our journey to Bristol (via Windsor and Stonehenge) and the great time we had at Bristol in our next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash
Monday, June 7, 2010
Radhika, Avinash and Raj's UK Trip : May - June 2010: Part 2, Day 3
Hi
Am updating our trip chronicle at Bristol Airport, on June 6, 5 days after my last epistle. Unlike our previous trip back in 2006 where we had a number of train journeys, which provided a good opportunity to type out these mails, this trip has not provided similar opportunities - in fact, given how Avi keeps running around, I wonder whether I will be able to complete an update on our trip so far by the time we land at Edinburgh.
Day 3 - June 1
As mentioned in our last mail, we had been very apprehensive about the Oxford trip, esp if it wld be too stressful, but decided to go ahead with it. But as it turned out, this trip was probably the most relaxing day of our vacation so far. Avi woke up, hungry, at 230 but after some "pedia", he was of to sleep again. We then got up by 545, and were ready to leave the hotel by 730. When, we reached the hotel gate, our pick up coach was already waiting for us. We were then ferried across London to the Victoria Coach and Bus Station (near Buckingham Palace) accompanied by an impromptu guided tour of London at day break. On reaching Victoria, we were directed towards our bus. Fortunately, the bus was not full, and Avi got a seat even though he did not have a ticket.
The trip to Oxford was accompanied by 2 sets of running commentaries, one from the tour guide, and the 2nd from Avi. (After a while, Avi was politely asked to move to a "special seat" in the last row, where he continued to entertain an old American couple).
After 90 minutes, we pulled into Oxford in front of Christchurch College, the second oldest college at Oxford, and went to visit its grand dining room where the lunch scenes in the Harry Potter films were set.
The hall was extremely grand, with portraits of various professors, including Lewis Carrol. Avi was glad to see "Harry Potter's college", but was miffed that he could not have "mammam" on the dinner service that was kept in place. Incidentally, the dining room is actually used by students at the college.
We then went on a rapid walking tour around Oxford, starting with the "Quads" (short for quadrangles) at Christchurch, and moving on to look at various other colleges from outside. Seeing the style with which Oxford conducts itself made me and Radhika hope that Avi wld be able to study in some such place one day.
By the time we were halfway thru the walking tour, Avi was hungry and asking for Chapatti and "Cholai" that Amamma wld have kept in his dabba. Fortunately, the walk lasted only about 20 minutes more, and radhika was able to fix some tomato - cheese sandwiches which Avi ate, sitting on the pavement at Oxford.
Post this, we were off to Stratford on Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. As part of the tour, we avoided the main motorways, and instead drove thru a number of scenic country roads in a region of quaint villages called the Cotswalds. The undulating landscape was truly beautiful, and the guides pointed out several architectural gems and the odd castle.
By 115, we were at Stratford on Avon - in the meantime, Avi had drifted off to sleep. A light drizzle had broken out (as predicted, it was a gloomy and cold day), and so I ended up carrying a sleeping Avi (dressed in a rain coat) thru Shakespeare's house. Some wiseguys in the queue commented on how Avi cld wear a T-shirt saying "I went to Shakespeare's house and slept thru it". The house itself has been painstakingly restored and amazingly, they have records of every resident since well before the Bard's time there.
Avi woke up as we were leaving the house.
After grabbing a quick bite, we were off to Warwick Castle, which is touted as the oldest medieval castle in Europe. Parts of this castle are well over a 1000 yrs old. The castle is today a theme park - it was owned at one pt by Mme Tussauds. There were various exhibits playing up all the stereotypes of British history - knights jousting around outside the castle, and wax works inside the castle depicting Warwick's services to the Crown, and a party.
The interesting thing was that there were also live people in medieval dress as part of the wax works - and at times, you did not realise that someone was a live person until they moved and started speaking to you. Then it was time to head back to London. All in all, it was a fun trip, and since most of it was sitting in a very comfortable coach, it was not very tiring either.
Its now the morning of the 7th - I have written the above in 6-7 instalments, mostly late last night and early today morning - and Avi is up again - so am sending it out even though I covered only 1 aof the 6 missing days.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
Am updating our trip chronicle at Bristol Airport, on June 6, 5 days after my last epistle. Unlike our previous trip back in 2006 where we had a number of train journeys, which provided a good opportunity to type out these mails, this trip has not provided similar opportunities - in fact, given how Avi keeps running around, I wonder whether I will be able to complete an update on our trip so far by the time we land at Edinburgh.
Day 3 - June 1
As mentioned in our last mail, we had been very apprehensive about the Oxford trip, esp if it wld be too stressful, but decided to go ahead with it. But as it turned out, this trip was probably the most relaxing day of our vacation so far. Avi woke up, hungry, at 230 but after some "pedia", he was of to sleep again. We then got up by 545, and were ready to leave the hotel by 730. When, we reached the hotel gate, our pick up coach was already waiting for us. We were then ferried across London to the Victoria Coach and Bus Station (near Buckingham Palace) accompanied by an impromptu guided tour of London at day break. On reaching Victoria, we were directed towards our bus. Fortunately, the bus was not full, and Avi got a seat even though he did not have a ticket.
The trip to Oxford was accompanied by 2 sets of running commentaries, one from the tour guide, and the 2nd from Avi. (After a while, Avi was politely asked to move to a "special seat" in the last row, where he continued to entertain an old American couple).
After 90 minutes, we pulled into Oxford in front of Christchurch College, the second oldest college at Oxford, and went to visit its grand dining room where the lunch scenes in the Harry Potter films were set.
The hall was extremely grand, with portraits of various professors, including Lewis Carrol. Avi was glad to see "Harry Potter's college", but was miffed that he could not have "mammam" on the dinner service that was kept in place. Incidentally, the dining room is actually used by students at the college.
We then went on a rapid walking tour around Oxford, starting with the "Quads" (short for quadrangles) at Christchurch, and moving on to look at various other colleges from outside. Seeing the style with which Oxford conducts itself made me and Radhika hope that Avi wld be able to study in some such place one day.
By the time we were halfway thru the walking tour, Avi was hungry and asking for Chapatti and "Cholai" that Amamma wld have kept in his dabba. Fortunately, the walk lasted only about 20 minutes more, and radhika was able to fix some tomato - cheese sandwiches which Avi ate, sitting on the pavement at Oxford.Post this, we were off to Stratford on Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. As part of the tour, we avoided the main motorways, and instead drove thru a number of scenic country roads in a region of quaint villages called the Cotswalds. The undulating landscape was truly beautiful, and the guides pointed out several architectural gems and the odd castle.
By 115, we were at Stratford on Avon - in the meantime, Avi had drifted off to sleep. A light drizzle had broken out (as predicted, it was a gloomy and cold day), and so I ended up carrying a sleeping Avi (dressed in a rain coat) thru Shakespeare's house. Some wiseguys in the queue commented on how Avi cld wear a T-shirt saying "I went to Shakespeare's house and slept thru it". The house itself has been painstakingly restored and amazingly, they have records of every resident since well before the Bard's time there.
Avi woke up as we were leaving the house.After grabbing a quick bite, we were off to Warwick Castle, which is touted as the oldest medieval castle in Europe. Parts of this castle are well over a 1000 yrs old. The castle is today a theme park - it was owned at one pt by Mme Tussauds. There were various exhibits playing up all the stereotypes of British history - knights jousting around outside the castle, and wax works inside the castle depicting Warwick's services to the Crown, and a party.
The interesting thing was that there were also live people in medieval dress as part of the wax works - and at times, you did not realise that someone was a live person until they moved and started speaking to you. Then it was time to head back to London. All in all, it was a fun trip, and since most of it was sitting in a very comfortable coach, it was not very tiring either.Its now the morning of the 7th - I have written the above in 6-7 instalments, mostly late last night and early today morning - and Avi is up again - so am sending it out even though I covered only 1 aof the 6 missing days.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Radhika, Avinash and Raj's UK Trip : May - June 2010: Part 1, Days 1 and 2
Dear all
I started writing this mail in our coach on the way to Oxford, on June 1, 2010, and am now completing it as we head back from Warwick Castle at the end of our day trip. Its been a hectic and fun trip so far.
Day 1- May 30, 2010
As you are aware, we had booked a Star Cab to take us to the airport from Ashok Towers. After a bit of a hiccup (the cab driver whose number had been sent to me had not got the msg to pick us up, and it took 2-3 calls to get him to come), we got the cab and headed for the airport. Avi fell asleep in the cab, but woke up as we were in the queue to check in. Check in was smooth - made another attempt to get a business class seat upgrade for 2 of us but was rebuffed - and boarding was on time.
Avi had dozens of questions about everything from the wings to where the Air India plane next to us was going, to where the runway was and why the window was not a door. There was a noisy bunch of guys ahead of us, and I was nervous about the prospect of how they wld behave during the flight.
As the plane headed to the runway, Avi drifted off to sleep, followed shortly by me. Radhika ended up watching a movie and went to sleep much later. The flight reached London well on time, and thanks to Avi, we were given 'fast track' access to immigration and were out of the airport less than 15 minutes after the flight landed. Our car had not yet reached, but the delay was for less than 5 minutes. Despite our having requested a child seat, the driver had not bothered to bring one - but allowed Avi to sit in the middle seat with an adult seat belt. We reached our hotel by 830.
The room was tiny and on seeing the sofa bed. Radhika and I were worried about how we'd manage. The hotel staff brought a tiny child cot for Avi. Radhika quickly used the kitchen to whip up some Maggi, which all of us wolfed down. Despite all of us being tired, I pushed Radhika and Avi into getting ready quickly and we set out for a walk.
It was much colder than we had anticipated, but fortunately, we were fairly well equipped with a sweater and a jacket for Avi. We walked down thru the theatre district and stopped for lunch at a Pret a Manger (which is a chain of sandwich and soup stores). Then we walked towards Trafalgar square, where we took a picture of Avi next to one of the lions near Nelson's column.
All over London, there are small statues of elephants strewn around, as party of a drive to save the Asiatic elephant. At Trafalgar Square, these elephants were dressed in the colors of the IPL teams, and sponsored by Lalit Modi!!! At least in London, his reign over the IPL continues.
After looking at Trafalgar square and seeing Big Ben in the distance, we crossed the Thames by a foot bridge and headed towards the London Eye.
The South Bank of the Thames was full of activity on that beautiful Sunday afternoon. There was a lovely carousel (aka Merry go round), and Avi and Radhika went for a ride on one of the horses. Avi was thrilled to see Donald Duck walking around, and gave Donald a big hug (forcing me to tip him GBP 1). There were several other people, including some dressed as Mickey Mouse, a policeman, a zombie etc.
Finally, we reached the London Eye, and after a 45 minute wait, went for a 30 minute flight, with spectacular views of London. The difference in size between the enormous Houses of Parliament at Westminster, and the relatively small Buckingham Palace clearly brought out who calls the shots in this country.
We then went for a short 4D film which gives us the feeling of flying over major London landmarks.
Post all of this (plus some snacks on the way), we went to Waterloo station, picked up "Oyster Cards", that let us travel in London public transport and then returned to Holborn. Before heading for the hotel, we stopped over at a Sainsburys to stock up on food - while we were there (around 530 in the evening), Avi went to sleep.
On reaching the hotel, Radhika and I tried to expand the sofa bed and were pleasantly surprised to find that it folded out fully to reveal a proper double bed mattress on the under side. We stayed up till about 730, grabbed a dinner of bread and Aashirvad Kurma, managed to get Avi to have his pedia while half asleep and crashed out, bone tired, by 8.
Day 2 - May 31, 2010
May 31 started very early for us - as Avi woke up at 4 am. (which was not too bad given he slept at 1730). We had planned to go to the Zoo, Regent's Park (which is a large park at one end of which the Zoo is located), and the Aquarium. Despite waking up so early, we ended up leaving the hotel only around 845 - we stopped for breakfast at a Pret and then took the tube to Regents park.
We then walked across the park (which is about 1.5 km long to the zoo).
While we had been told its a 15 minute walk, we took about 1hour, what with stops at a "nice, old" brown garden where Avi played on slides and swings, and various excursions across the grass.
Then it was onto the zoo, which was very crowded as it was a public holiday in London (what is called the Bank Holiday weekend). The zoo itself was good but not great, much more of a traditional "animals in cages" kind of place than a Singapore style open zoo. It probably reflects what the Byculla zoo could be with a bit of care and maintenance, and a better menagerie. But Avi enjoyed a lot, which was the point. We finished at the zoo around 430, by which time we were both left with stiff backs from carrying our heavy back pack and our little bundle of joy, Avi, around. For obvious reasons, our visit to the Aquarium had to be postponed. This time around, we managed to keep Avi awake till 7 pm, and he went to sleep after a Pasta dinner. Subsequently, I restocked our stuff from Sainsburys and also picked up Pizzas for dinner from a Pizza Express next door. Sometime in between, we also decided to take the risk of doing the Oxford, Stratford on Avon, Warwick Castle tour.
The tour itself has been great fun but a detailed description shall have to wait for my next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
P.S. For Amamma : Avi has already started missing you and asking for Chapatti and "Cholai"
Not that he does not talk about everyone else
I started writing this mail in our coach on the way to Oxford, on June 1, 2010, and am now completing it as we head back from Warwick Castle at the end of our day trip. Its been a hectic and fun trip so far.
Day 1- May 30, 2010
As you are aware, we had booked a Star Cab to take us to the airport from Ashok Towers. After a bit of a hiccup (the cab driver whose number had been sent to me had not got the msg to pick us up, and it took 2-3 calls to get him to come), we got the cab and headed for the airport. Avi fell asleep in the cab, but woke up as we were in the queue to check in. Check in was smooth - made another attempt to get a business class seat upgrade for 2 of us but was rebuffed - and boarding was on time.
Avi had dozens of questions about everything from the wings to where the Air India plane next to us was going, to where the runway was and why the window was not a door. There was a noisy bunch of guys ahead of us, and I was nervous about the prospect of how they wld behave during the flight.
As the plane headed to the runway, Avi drifted off to sleep, followed shortly by me. Radhika ended up watching a movie and went to sleep much later. The flight reached London well on time, and thanks to Avi, we were given 'fast track' access to immigration and were out of the airport less than 15 minutes after the flight landed. Our car had not yet reached, but the delay was for less than 5 minutes. Despite our having requested a child seat, the driver had not bothered to bring one - but allowed Avi to sit in the middle seat with an adult seat belt. We reached our hotel by 830.
The room was tiny and on seeing the sofa bed. Radhika and I were worried about how we'd manage. The hotel staff brought a tiny child cot for Avi. Radhika quickly used the kitchen to whip up some Maggi, which all of us wolfed down. Despite all of us being tired, I pushed Radhika and Avi into getting ready quickly and we set out for a walk.It was much colder than we had anticipated, but fortunately, we were fairly well equipped with a sweater and a jacket for Avi. We walked down thru the theatre district and stopped for lunch at a Pret a Manger (which is a chain of sandwich and soup stores). Then we walked towards Trafalgar square, where we took a picture of Avi next to one of the lions near Nelson's column.
All over London, there are small statues of elephants strewn around, as party of a drive to save the Asiatic elephant. At Trafalgar Square, these elephants were dressed in the colors of the IPL teams, and sponsored by Lalit Modi!!! At least in London, his reign over the IPL continues.
After looking at Trafalgar square and seeing Big Ben in the distance, we crossed the Thames by a foot bridge and headed towards the London Eye.
The South Bank of the Thames was full of activity on that beautiful Sunday afternoon. There was a lovely carousel (aka Merry go round), and Avi and Radhika went for a ride on one of the horses. Avi was thrilled to see Donald Duck walking around, and gave Donald a big hug (forcing me to tip him GBP 1). There were several other people, including some dressed as Mickey Mouse, a policeman, a zombie etc.
Finally, we reached the London Eye, and after a 45 minute wait, went for a 30 minute flight, with spectacular views of London. The difference in size between the enormous Houses of Parliament at Westminster, and the relatively small Buckingham Palace clearly brought out who calls the shots in this country.
We then went for a short 4D film which gives us the feeling of flying over major London landmarks.
Post all of this (plus some snacks on the way), we went to Waterloo station, picked up "Oyster Cards", that let us travel in London public transport and then returned to Holborn. Before heading for the hotel, we stopped over at a Sainsburys to stock up on food - while we were there (around 530 in the evening), Avi went to sleep.On reaching the hotel, Radhika and I tried to expand the sofa bed and were pleasantly surprised to find that it folded out fully to reveal a proper double bed mattress on the under side. We stayed up till about 730, grabbed a dinner of bread and Aashirvad Kurma, managed to get Avi to have his pedia while half asleep and crashed out, bone tired, by 8.
Day 2 - May 31, 2010
May 31 started very early for us - as Avi woke up at 4 am. (which was not too bad given he slept at 1730). We had planned to go to the Zoo, Regent's Park (which is a large park at one end of which the Zoo is located), and the Aquarium. Despite waking up so early, we ended up leaving the hotel only around 845 - we stopped for breakfast at a Pret and then took the tube to Regents park.
We then walked across the park (which is about 1.5 km long to the zoo).
While we had been told its a 15 minute walk, we took about 1hour, what with stops at a "nice, old" brown garden where Avi played on slides and swings, and various excursions across the grass.
Then it was onto the zoo, which was very crowded as it was a public holiday in London (what is called the Bank Holiday weekend). The zoo itself was good but not great, much more of a traditional "animals in cages" kind of place than a Singapore style open zoo. It probably reflects what the Byculla zoo could be with a bit of care and maintenance, and a better menagerie. But Avi enjoyed a lot, which was the point. We finished at the zoo around 430, by which time we were both left with stiff backs from carrying our heavy back pack and our little bundle of joy, Avi, around. For obvious reasons, our visit to the Aquarium had to be postponed. This time around, we managed to keep Avi awake till 7 pm, and he went to sleep after a Pasta dinner. Subsequently, I restocked our stuff from Sainsburys and also picked up Pizzas for dinner from a Pizza Express next door. Sometime in between, we also decided to take the risk of doing the Oxford, Stratford on Avon, Warwick Castle tour.
The tour itself has been great fun but a detailed description shall have to wait for my next mail.
Luv
Raj, Radhika and Avinash.
P.S. For Amamma : Avi has already started missing you and asking for Chapatti and "Cholai"
Not that he does not talk about everyone else
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