Street Parade 2014

Saturday 2nd August was Street Parade! It was lots of fun! Here are some of the photos, it was fun stopping people and asking to take their photo. This is the result!!

Enjoy!!

A Day in Bath

Roman Baths

Bath Abbey

The Circus

The Royal Crecsent

River Avon

Pulteney Bridge

During our week long stay in England, we had a day in Bath. Bath is a very beautiful city and we all enjoyed our day here. The first place we visited was the Roman Baths which is a World Heritage Site since 1987. Once you are inside the complex you see The Great Bath which is quite amazing, surrounded by lots of Roman statues. Inside there is the museum with many of the finds from the Baths. You are also given an audio guide which gives more information and there is also one for children which helped Alessio to enjoy the Baths much more than just walking around.

The other part of Bath that we wanted to see was to do with Jane Austen, there is a centre but we did not visit it. The Royal Crescent is a magnificent row of 30 terraced houses designed by the architect John Wood. It is a fine example of Georgian architecture and in front of is Victoria Park, when we were there is was packed with people relaxing. Some scenes from the TV film Persuasion by Jane Austen was filmed here and also the film The Duchess.

Finally we walked down to the river Avon, over the Pulteney bridge and along the banks also very busy as it was such a lovely day. We were on a mission to find a playground for Alessio which we managed in the end much to Alessio`s happiness.

English Pub Signs!

I cannot believe it is already August, this year has gone so fast for me! I have been terribly lazy towards my blog, I only put up 3 posts in July. Well hopefully in August there will be some more for you all to read.

The week we spent in England was a really nice one, we saw lots of new places and there was a heatwave as well. We went all over the place Oxford and Bath, to smaller places too, a castle and a lovely kids farm which Alessio really enjoyed.

There are lots of pubs of course and they all had really lovely signs, of course we wanted to sample their wares as well. The first 3 photos are from Bath, the first pub The Raven looked really nice and we wanted to eat but sadly they did not allow kids under 14yrs. Well we thought that was a load of old cobblers but not much we could do about that.

The next 3 are from Gloucester, the next 2 from Tewesbury, then the next 2 from Oxford. The next 2 are (hopefully) from Chipping Camden, the next one cannot remember the town. Finally in the last one we had our lunch there in a small delightful village called Lower Slaughter. It was really picturesque afterwards we took a small walk.

I like the Saracens Head Tavern sign, which one do you all like? Let me know!

Photo of the Week - Gloucester Cathedral

Hello, I am back from a week in the Cotswolds, and this is from Gloucester Cathedral. It is quite an amazing cathedral and it contains the tomb of Edward II and Robert Duke of Normandy. I did not know what to expect and it was quite truly amazing.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets were filmed here under very tight security. I will have to watch them again to see if I recognize any parts of the Cathedral.

More Turkish Goodies!

One of the places to visit is the Grand Baazar, which was extremely near to our hotel. I was a bit nervous about going there for some reason. I guess I was thinking that the stall holders would really try to pressure us into buying their goods. Luckily we just wondered about the place which is huge, full of lots of things to buy and politely said no thanks to there offers. Not all the photos are from the Grand Bazaar, more or less everywhere you go there are shops with lots of yummy desserts. I tend to find the  Turkish desserts just too sweet for me, but I did taste some.

The second time we went into the Grand Bazaar we got totally lost and it took us ages to find the place from where we entered. This was to help us get back to our hotel, but in the end we got there. Istanbul was in the Bond movie Skyfall, there were scenes in the Grand Bazaar. I have not seen this film for ages so may check it out again to see what other parts of Istanbul are in it.

So the school holidays have started and next week Alessio and I are in England for one week. We are looking forward seeing Oxford, Bath and Bristol to name a few!

Afternoon tea in Istanbul!

My afternoon tea odyssey continues and this time we graced the luxury 5 star hotel Pera Palace Jumeirah in the Beyoglu district. The afternoon tea takes place in the Kubbeli Saloon Tea Lounge which is very plush and glamorous. As you can see from the last photo the delights on offer were amazing and delicious to look at, let alone taste! The staff were very nice and helpful, refilling your tea or bringing a new pot.

The hotel is steeped in history, it opened back in 1895 and has had some very prominent guest such as Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, Josephine Baker, Mata Hari, Greta Garbo and Agatha Christie to name but a few. It is said that Agatha Christie wrote the novel Murder on the Orient Express in room 411.

In 1981 the hotel got the status museum-hotel, the room 101 was converted into Atatürk museum in a tribute to the leader of modern Turkey Atatürk. To be honest it would have been great to stay there but I am sure the price would have quite expensive.