Open House 2019

This year, our Open House personal best was well and truly beaten as we managed to make our way around nine official stops (plus one favourite for lunch (give us any excuse)) in only one day! Our day began in Bank, where I waited a while on a bench outside the Royal Exchange, basking in the relative peace and quiet that comes with a Saturday in the City. 

Part of our success at getting around to so many buildings I think probably came from choosing places within walking distance of each other. In previous years we've schlepped from one side of London to the other, hopping on buses, tubes, and Overground to get around. This year on the other hand, most places were 5 minutes or so from one another, with our longest walk only totalling 21 minutes. 

First stop was 8-10 Moorgate; office buildings belonging to ING insurance. Each meeting room boasted themed art collections, corridors were lined with large, abstract pieces, and there were two spacious balconies where we stood a while to enjoy sunshine and an alternative view of the city.

From here, we made our way to the first Livery Hall of the day; the Draper's Hall. By the end of the day, I'd decided that this stop was possibly my favourite. Each room had an even bigger 'wow' factor than the last. I could have happily lived forever in the incredibly decadent drawing room decorated in pastel shades with mirrors on almost every wall and enough chairs to suit even Goldilocks.

Next on the list, another Livery Hall; this time the Salters' Hall and Garden. Quite the contrast from the Draper's Hall, the Salters' Hall stood alongside Barbican as a Brutalist building with a recent extension offering floor to ceiling views of surrounding buildings. 

Here we were given a guided tour, which took us around the main rooms in the building, into the Archives below, and finished in the gardens which I think I may well return to one day in the summer holidays with a book.

So close by, of course we couldn't resist popping into Barbican if only for a lunch stop. We had been disappointed to discover that no Barbican buildings were open over the Open House weekend, although understood why as we battled our way through crowds of graduates and their families in the café. 

On the other side of Barbican's lake sits St Giles-without-Cripplegate Church. It was open, and I've never understood how to get there, so we had to investigate! Finally found our way up to the elusive walkway that crosses over the water and down to the other side, and made our way across to the Church. Not a lot to see, but it was worth going in if only to say that I finally have!

We then made our way out of Barbican (not without detours) and on to King's College. Happened upon Charterhouse Square where we spied an Open House sign outside The Charterhouse. A talk was just beginning, so we made our way inside. Scared off by our first large crowd of the day (still not even that large, really), we retreated into the Chapel. Upon discovery that this was a museum that is open and free all year round, we all agreed that we'd be back.

Back on track, we soon found The Maughan Library and enjoyed our time spent here, following a very handy set of arrow signs which led us up, down, round and round. Our favourite room was probably the circular Reading Room with its gorgeous windowed ceiling. It did feel a bit strange to be stood around ooh-ing and aah-ing with fellow Open House goers as real-life students were trying to actually do some work on a weekend. 

Also rather enjoyed the cast iron and slate shelves in an original cell, and lots of other original features along the way such as cell doors, and a Victorian ceiling which it transpired had been above our heads as we entered.

What we thought might be our final call of the day was the Royal Courts of Justice. Expecting to be greeted by our first queue of the day, we were actually pleasantly surprised when said queue was relatively short, and moved quickly.

Thoroughly enjoyed Sarah's tour-guide skills as she read her way through two incredibly useless maps with very little information which led us around the ground and first floors. Decided that court houses are not the most pleasant of buildings, especially as we were ushered through the cells below, and in and out of prison vans. Even the courtrooms themselves were rather austere, and everywhere was very dark. An interesting place to visit, all the same.

Two Temple Place was yet another example of 'what do we do here today? Oh, the building's mostly used for corporate events and as a filming location..'. Originally some wealthy banker's personal office (it's alright for some), the staircase was a sight to behold, and there was some absolutely stunning stained glass.

Definitely running out of time by this point, we had just enough to swing by a Roman, but not Roman plunge bath. Now owned by the National Trust, it would be easy to miss as it's down some fairly dingy steps, along an alleyway and underneath some buildings. Usually open by appointment only, on most occasions you'd probably just get to peer through a dusty window. A pleasantly odd way to end our jam-packed day.

The bath itself was not particularly photogenic,  but the tiles were pretty (and definitely not Roman)..

The bath itself was not particularly photogenic, 

but the tiles were pretty (and definitely not Roman)..

Evening drawing in and feet tired from the many steps taken, all that was left was to find a seat at a pub serving stout-y things. Another amazing year.

Scandi Sailing Adventure

Weird boat words & phrases:
cleat, jib, jibe (sounds like a dance, no?), tack, heeling, fend off, aground (an important one..)

Our adventures began on two trains and a bus from Copenhagen Airport to the town of Faaborg where Olive's Steven's Dad's boat, Cheeky Monkey, was moored.

The train took us through countryside not unlike the flatlands of Norfolk, from one side of Denmark to the other. First stop when we'd located the boat, on the furthest possible point of the network of jetties, was the local Aldi for supplies. For future reference: much like Prague's pickled cheese, 'Danbo' is a Danish delicacy to be avoided. That smell lingered for a good few days...

Awoke on our first morning to rain, so the decision was made not to sail. Instead, a day spent in Faaborg gave us the opportunity to explore the town. Quiet on a Sunday, but incredibly pretty, and with an excellent offering of supermarkets (as well as the Aldi, Faaborg also boasted a Netto and Lidl, the latter of which where we shopped for some familiar cheese to replace the Danbo which had been a little too adventurous for our British taste-buds).

The first of many smooth sails took us from Faaborg to Svendborg. We arrived early evening, and were met with our first 'box mooring' experience. An hour or so later, and were finally able to reach land from the boat, so hopped off (very literally, although perhaps 'leapt' may be more accurate) in search of drinks and dinner.

Drinks we found in the deserted town square, but for dinner we made our way back to the waterfront where there were a few restaurants, a little busier, offering delicious seafood and blankets for warmth as the sun set.

Had a short while for further exploration the next morning before we set sail again. Olive and I took a stroll up-hill to find a windmill that we'd spotted from the marina, and then worked our way back down along the high-street, busier in the daytime with shoppers, and with lots of art and sculpture which caught our eye as we wandered.

Pretty much followed the path of the local ferry to our next destination, the island of Ærø. After many failed attempts at fitting into box moorings at the domestic marina (it was all good looping, and un-looping practise), we took the advice of our many on-lookers that perhaps our boat was 'TOO BIG', and ended up rather moored alongside tourist fishing boats and naval ships for the night.

Possibly my favourite place of our trip, Ærøskøbing was an absolutely beautiful little town with gorgeous architecture along cobbled streets, and even a beach lined with colourful beach huts. Another place highly reminiscent of Norfolk, we stayed a while at the beach to paddle in the clear waters (less reminiscent of Norfolk, perhaps). Stony under-foot, but it was pretty enough to paddle through the pain.

Where we'd moored was right by an old cookhouse from the 1800's. The decision was made that we should try a barbeque there, so we stopped at Netto on our way back from the beach for food and fuel for a fire. 

While the men did their thing with the barbeque, I took a walk along a tree-lined path along the water's edge, where lovely houses back on to the sea; some with their own steps down to the water, and small jetties out to rowing boats. Returning from my walk, we sat a while in the evening sun and later enjoyed our barbeque feast on a picnic bench by the harbour wall.

Our sail the following day was the first leg of our journey to deliver the boat to its winter resting place. We stopped in Sønderborg where we had a lovely evening walk into town past a small beach as the sun was setting. Found a pleasant restaurant on the waterfront where we were treated to classic cars on their drive home from a show in the town.

The next morning was spent getting the boat ship shape. For me this mostly involved much confusion over what should have been a very simple token system to work washing machines and a tumble dryer. Washing machines finally working (not before they'd eaten several of the tokens we'd paid for), I found myself a bench opposite the door to the laundrette, ready to fiercely defend our laundry in the event of someone else deciding that they wanted to use the machines. Spent a few hours catching up with my holiday reading in the sunshine, with nothing much but the occasional rat and seagull for company.


A little after midday, we were ready for our final sail. Perfect sailing conditions, we had a lovely day and even managed to navigate a bascule bridge. While circling in preparation for the given time slot when the bridge would raise to let us through, Olive and I were full of excitement when we spotted a porpoise playing between the waiting boats.

Actually, looking back at this, maybe the clouds were a bad omen, too...

On the 'home straight', I went down below to wash up ready for our arrival into the Yacht Service. Couldn't help but feel a little later on that perhaps the porpoise had actually been a bad omen (or a problematic porpoise of portentous proportions as it was later decided), because it suddenly came to my attention that we weren't moving anymore. Calls of 'Laura, we're going to need you up here' gave light to the fact that we had in fact run aground.

Quick thinking on Steven's part and kindness from a couple of old boys in their little motor boat meant that with plenty of pulling and leaning, we were on the move again, more cautiously this time.

Excitement didn't end there. Upon our arrival into the Yacht Service, we discovered that we were in fact seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Several taxi companies were called, to no avail; we were met with 'we don't come that far', or numbers out of service. The decision was made that we should begin walking towards 'civilisation' and hope for some form of public transport, or at least a local who could point us in the right direction.

Country lanes with cases felt rather endless, and the nearest 'village' tuned out to be nothing more than a few houses on a junction. So we continued our walk until we came to a main road where we were pleased to find a steady stream of traffic. I'd finally got through to a taxi company, and it was all going really well until I discovered that they were in Germany, at which point we opted instead for hitch-hiking. Olive's leg saved the day, and a kind man whose English was fairly poor, but who we discovered had been to Ipswich of all places, drove us to the next town where we were able to get a train that took us all the way through to Copenhagen.

Arrived into the City gone 11, so headed straight for our hotels via the most exciting McDonald's I've ever been to where mine and Olive's food was delivered by some kind of pulley system. Our hotel room in Copenhagen gave Olive and I even more flashbacks, as we were transported back to our rooms at UEA complete with 'shower pod'.

Had a few hours the following day to explore some of Copenhagen before we'd need to make our way to the airport for our flight home. Decided on a couple of things that we wanted to see, and took the Metro to Nyhavn for a steady wander along the water. Our wander took us all the way to The Little Mermaid at which point we turned back the way we'd come and stopped for lunch (more seafood) in the sun.

A little more learned on this sail (maybe, I hope), I had a fabulous time yet again. It was wonderful to see parts of Denmark that I probably would have never seen otherwise, and to spend time in such easy company. As crews go, I think we do alright. It's been a beautiful summer full of sunshine, sea air, and salt in my hair. Feeling very lucky.

Sailing the Norwegian Fjords

Up so early that our bodies and brains took some while to function in sync, we were straight up and out to the prom deck to catch our first glimpse of Norway, and to witness our sail into Stavanger. Keen beans, we were pretty much first in for breakfast, and pretty much first to disembark when the ship docked.

Docked right below the Old Town, we decided to begin our exploring there before it got too busy. Roses, Hollyhocks, and Hydrangeas in bloom against white-washed wood-panelled houses from the 18th Century made for a very pretty scene as we wandered along cobbled streets. Was particularly happy to find a couple of friendly cats enjoying the sun which was starting to appear from behind the clouds.

Our first hour or two was mostly spent getting our bearings, and figuring out what was about. We did a little loop through the Old Town, around the harbour with its tourist boats, a fellow cruise ship, and jellyfish floating on the surface, past the cathedral, and along the edge of a lake in the City Park.

Coming out of the park, I got far too excited when I spied Søstrene Grene on the corner of a road a little way over. Took a leisurely browse; all the while enjoying a bit of Mozart. As is always the way, I wanted to take everything home, but my self-control (and Steven's. In fact, mostly Steven's) kicked in, so all we left with were some placemats... as you do! Had a proud Norfolk moment at the till when we discovered that they were selling Gnaw chocolate!

From Søstrene Grene, we continued along the edge of the lake then took some steps uphill again towards more old looking buildings which stood alongside contrasting big, beautiful brutalist buildings. Sat a while on a bench at the top of the steps to admire the view, and the change we'd received from our shopping; coins with holes are far too exciting!

Back in the Old Town, the sun now shone brightly, so I made Steven re-trace some of our steps (not all of them) in the hope of sunny photo opportunities. Downhill again, we were soon back at the harbour. Following further along the front this time, we found lots of fantastic street art and a skate / play area created from old buoys and other bits of nautical paraphernalia. 

Before our trip, seasoned cruisers Ma and Pa had provided us with a map of each port of call with a few bits circled and highlighted. Having been so lucky with the weather, we didn't entirely feel the need for museum visits, but decided to take a walk out into a suburb-y bit of the city to investigate a couple of buildings further afield.

By Ledaal, once residence of the King of Norway, Steven spotted a cemetery where we wandered to find some Commonwealth War Graves. Wending our way back towards the centre, we were met by a view of mountains in the distance with a long modern bridge at their base which cars were crossing to reach the city. Found a café for lunch which seemed popular with locals and had a playlist of which we both approved. Splashed out on a pizza to share (very Norwegian), and two local beers which at about £9 each (not even a pint), we savoured!

Fearing that we might be left behind, we allowed plenty of time to embark the ship once more where we grabbed a seat on the prom to enjoy our sail away.

6am on the prom for our sail in to Flåm through fjords. Totally worth it! Stayed to watch us dock before disappearing back inside for showers and breakfast.

Thanks to Ma & Pa's map, we had a few different walks lined up, we decided to first make a visit to Flåm Church, a 3km walk from Flåm itself. Followed along a road with the river to our right, and trainline to our left. Upon reaching the church, we sat a while outside on a bench. Sun shining by this point, we were fairly warm.

Our walk back to the port took a slight detour via a walk (perhaps a hike, at this point) up to a waterfall. Were grateful for stone steps leading up most of the trail, and even more grateful for the view which made the climb so very worth it! Coming down was made a little more challenging by the step-free slippery bits. We were both suffering from serious jelly legs at the bottom.

Now on the other side of the river, we passed a field of Norwegian Highland Cows with their calves, who proved very popular with fellow tourists as we stood to watch them. 

All of this achieved before midday, we decided that we deserved some refreshment. Had passed a brewery on our first walk of the morning, so when we found a 'Viking Pub' serving a taster selection of their beers, our stop was chosen. Sat upstairs to enjoy our beers with lunch; I had the biggest salad of my life with strawberries, blueberries, nuts, seeds, beetroot, tomatoes, and an entire goats cheese all dressed with a 'beer syrup', while Steven chose 'Loki's Lunch', an open sandwich named after the infamous God of Mischief, topped with sausage and a lot of cheese.

Full of food and beer, we went for our final (and thankfully shortest) walk of the day, up to another viewing point, lower this time, across the fjord. Next stop, Olden, we sat again on the prom, mesmerised by passing landscape, eventually torn away by the need to get ready for dinner.

Not quite such an early start, we were up on the prom this time around 7:45am for our sail into Olden. Lots of little houses dotted the hillside, and farmland sat between pine forest. More low-lying cloud added to the atmosphere as we sat and enjoyed our morning cup of tea.

Off the ship a little after 9, again in the hope of beating the crowds, we were in for another day of walking. Chose to start off with another old church, and a 'new old church', too. Half an eye on the surrounding scenery, half an eye on lorries and coaches thundering past (anyone would think that these roads weren't designed for walkers..), we admired farm buildings set against mountains and blue sky peeping out through cloud.

Popped into the first church which was entirely wooden with antler-style hat stands at the end of each pew on the men's side of the church, family names engraved on pew doors, and a rather odd photo of a group of men dressed like gnomes (transpired that they were the church choir). We'd just beaten the 'crowd', and an influx of people arrived as we left in search of the next church.

Got slightly side-tracked by the appearance below the road of a fast-flowing river with salmon fishing bridges accessible to walk over. Obviously we had to investigate, and spent ages walking along and over the river, then eventually back the way we'd come when we felt threatened by over-grown nettles blocking our path to the next bridge.

Headed back up to the road to continue our walk, and soon came across the new old church. Were slightly concerned when we spied a tour bus in the carpark, but fortunately had arrived just as the tour were leaving, so soon had peace and quite, and clear shots for photos.

On we walked along the road, following the path of the river until we came to more tour buses parked up by a more substantial bridge crossing the river at a particularly fast-flowing point. Hoards were on the bridge, but we hoped that they'd soon be moving on to their next stop, so we waited it out on a bench nearby. Everyone loaded back onto their buses, it was just us left. Stayed a while admiring the rush of water below.

As we crossed the bridge, we were then led by a path into fields where it got a bit muddy as we made our way past cows (not Highland, this time), more farm buildings, the occasional end of a waterfall, and another bridge which we didn't cross this time, but stood on for a while for another view along the river. Our circular walk led us back to the ship, so we decided to embark for lunch to fuel us for a second, shorter walk (so we thought) in the afternoon.

Heading in the opposite direction to where we'd been in the morning as we disembarked, we walked again along the road, this time passing more residential buildings. The road soon split, and we took the one leading uphill. With more roads to choose from, our map reading was tested further this time, and it wasn't until we bumped into a couple who we'd met walking up to the waterfall the previous day, that we were satisfied that we were going the 'right way'. 

Walked and talked our way up, up, and up some more where the road became dirt track, and led us through some forest. Of course we were thrilled by the stunning views across the fjord from such a height, and made plenty of stops for photos before wending our way back down again, and to the ship which we had seen from the top. Signposts led us a slightly zig-zagged route back, but having relaxed in the knowledge that we weren't lost, we also weren't in a rush by this point, and enjoyed our walking.

Opting this time to make for the sun deck where we were greeted by a view across the village and into the mountains beyond, we were treated to our first musical farewell from the shore. Four speakers packed a punch as they sang out 'we are sailing', and 'time to say goodbye', all the while accompanied by a couple of older ladies waving the Norwegian flag, and even one person right at the top of the mountain brandishing the St George's Flag in our honour. It was quite the spectacle, and had us laughing, smiling, and singing along as we sailed away.

Our final day on land was spent in the city of Bergen, where, like Flåm, I had visited as a young teenager. Unfortunately due to bad weather forecast back home, we only had until midday to explore, so it was rather a fleeting visit.

Docked at 7am, we were off the ship by 20 past (we're like different people when we're abroad), and headed straight to the Funicular Railway for a ride up to Mount Fløyen. Was such a peaceful spot for looking over the city as it was waking up. Wandered a little at the top where there were goats, sheep, and a small lake. With more time, there were bikes to hire and hiking trails, and we might have even walked back down to the bottom, but instead we took the train once more and walked back into the city.

Our whistle-stop tour took us around some of the harbour, through the fish market, past lots more street art, and to a little café called Sweet Rain where we enjoyed drinks and lots of little pastries and biscuits to nibble. 

 Even more paranoid about missing the ship here than we had been at other ports, we were back on board about an hour before we were due to sail, and took once more to the sun deck to enjoy the rays that were now appearing, and to look back over the city. 

Definitely made the most of the sail out of Bergen, with lots more time before we'd need to head in or miss food. Highlights included sailing under a suspension bridge, and lots of small islands with beach-hut style buildings right on the water's edge each with their own jetty and little boat. Sunshine made for a pleasant sit outside, and we stayed as long as we could taking it all in.

Returning to Norway after over a decade, it certainly didn't disappoint. We were spoilt by such beautiful weather for our visits to such beautiful places. We'll definitely be back, and hopefully before another decade is out.