Bath and beyond
Hi everyone,
It's been another busy couple of weeks. A spot of weekend travels and then off to Europe for work - roll on Istanbul and Geneva!
But first things first.
Last weekend it was time for another day trip and after many strong recommendations (Thanks Jill!), it was off to Bath - the roman city.
We took the back roads rather than the motorway so we could see the sights and passed through many a cute wee village. Of particular mention is Corsham - cobbled streets with beautiful houses.
Bath was in a valley surrounded by hills with hedge rowed fields. It was one of the first towns built by the romans and made famous by the stunning architecture and roman baths (hot water spings). After queueing to get into the city for over 20 minutes and eventually finding a park after driving around and around...and around and eventually stalking someone back to their carpark we ventured into the city.
As I say, Bath has some beautiful buildings - all the same sandy coloured stone. Narrow cobbled streets and a lot of people! Tourists as far as the eye could see - and it was still winter!
We looked around the abbey that had the most amazing vaulted ceiling and huge stained glass windows. The exterior is famous for the stone angels climbing Jacob's Ladder to heaven. We thought we might look around the Roman Baths but the queue was a mile long so flagged that until our next trip. We went down to the river Avon and were amazed with the fountain type feature in the centre and the wonderful bridge with shops etc on it.
Then on to the circus (similar buildings all curving around a central park with huge trees) where we saw our first flowers of spring! Just like Hagley Park in the spring (bring it on!). Then a quick saunter to the Royal Cresent which was a huge row of houses once again curving round but this time curving round an enormous park that looked out over the town. Bet they cost a bundle!
Must admit that by now it was getting a bit cold and the feet were getting a bit sore so we decided to leave the rest of Bath for another day. Great trip though and a highlight.
That week Bridge worked on all her woodwork and had a great time sanding and stripping. The next step is staining and applying the Danish Oil. Unfortunately the UK just doesn't seem to get customer service. She uses a product called Briwax made about four hours north of here. You can't buy from the factory and the only distributor in Newbury can't seem to get the order right and are telling us they make what we're after (water based stain). Funny, coz Bridge can buy it at the Mitre 10 about five minutes from our house in Auckland - we're resorting to getting Glenda to buy it for us in Auckland and send it to us...thanks Glenda...Jaffa Cakes are on their way! Amazing when the factory is only four hours away!
The next big news was an unexpected trip to Istanbul and Geneva for work. I'm working on a project with some people in Turkey that necesitated a trip to visit them. The flight was early (had to leave home at 5am). I was bitterly disappointed that as we drove away from our village it started snowing! I have been waiting to see it full on snowing ever since we got here and the moment I leave - it starts! Apparently it didn't amount to much that day but snowed full on two days later - Bridge took some great photos so look forward to seeing those developed.
Arrived in Istanbul about 2pm local time (although flight is only 3 and a half hours). First adventure was trying to get from airport to the Turkey headquarters. My taxi driver didn't speak English and I didn't know a word of Turkish. He eventually worked out where I wanted to go through a series of hand gestures and slow talking on my part (not to mention having the address written down on a piece of paper in my bag - in english tho!). We then took off - my god - I thought they were bad in Rome - wow! The drivers took no head of lane markings and it was basically a free for all. With only about 2 inches between each car! Very scary.
On arriving at the headquarters, security was extremely tight (airport type security) and no one spoke english so was finding it difficult to let them know who I was meeting. I only knew the name of the other UK person who was out there. Luckily a quick phonecall and it was sorted out. It was then straight into a two and a half hour meeting about comms. Great people though and fascinating to learn about the Turkish business culture. Sutha (my UK based buddy out there) then invited me out for a meal with a colleague of his. After another harrowing taxi ride to hotel to check in and a more sedate taxi ride to the restaurant, we enjoyed an beautiful meal in a restaurant on top of a skyscraper looking out over Istanbul at night. The mosques were beautifully lit and you could see ferries skooting around on the mediterranean sea. A stunning vista. I had a traditional Turkish meal of Mezze (platter with different types of finger food and chickpea dips etc) and Roast Lamb Shanks. The lamb was beautiful and just fell off the bone. Conversation was also good - great night all round. It was then home to the hotel and fell into bed exhausted.
The next morning it was off to Geneva...as you do. Will fill you in on that later...
Ciao
Geoff
Hi everyone,
It's been another busy couple of weeks. A spot of weekend travels and then off to Europe for work - roll on Istanbul and Geneva!
But first things first.
Last weekend it was time for another day trip and after many strong recommendations (Thanks Jill!), it was off to Bath - the roman city.
We took the back roads rather than the motorway so we could see the sights and passed through many a cute wee village. Of particular mention is Corsham - cobbled streets with beautiful houses.
Bath was in a valley surrounded by hills with hedge rowed fields. It was one of the first towns built by the romans and made famous by the stunning architecture and roman baths (hot water spings). After queueing to get into the city for over 20 minutes and eventually finding a park after driving around and around...and around and eventually stalking someone back to their carpark we ventured into the city.
As I say, Bath has some beautiful buildings - all the same sandy coloured stone. Narrow cobbled streets and a lot of people! Tourists as far as the eye could see - and it was still winter!
We looked around the abbey that had the most amazing vaulted ceiling and huge stained glass windows. The exterior is famous for the stone angels climbing Jacob's Ladder to heaven. We thought we might look around the Roman Baths but the queue was a mile long so flagged that until our next trip. We went down to the river Avon and were amazed with the fountain type feature in the centre and the wonderful bridge with shops etc on it.
Then on to the circus (similar buildings all curving around a central park with huge trees) where we saw our first flowers of spring! Just like Hagley Park in the spring (bring it on!). Then a quick saunter to the Royal Cresent which was a huge row of houses once again curving round but this time curving round an enormous park that looked out over the town. Bet they cost a bundle!
Must admit that by now it was getting a bit cold and the feet were getting a bit sore so we decided to leave the rest of Bath for another day. Great trip though and a highlight.
That week Bridge worked on all her woodwork and had a great time sanding and stripping. The next step is staining and applying the Danish Oil. Unfortunately the UK just doesn't seem to get customer service. She uses a product called Briwax made about four hours north of here. You can't buy from the factory and the only distributor in Newbury can't seem to get the order right and are telling us they make what we're after (water based stain). Funny, coz Bridge can buy it at the Mitre 10 about five minutes from our house in Auckland - we're resorting to getting Glenda to buy it for us in Auckland and send it to us...thanks Glenda...Jaffa Cakes are on their way! Amazing when the factory is only four hours away!
The next big news was an unexpected trip to Istanbul and Geneva for work. I'm working on a project with some people in Turkey that necesitated a trip to visit them. The flight was early (had to leave home at 5am). I was bitterly disappointed that as we drove away from our village it started snowing! I have been waiting to see it full on snowing ever since we got here and the moment I leave - it starts! Apparently it didn't amount to much that day but snowed full on two days later - Bridge took some great photos so look forward to seeing those developed.
Arrived in Istanbul about 2pm local time (although flight is only 3 and a half hours). First adventure was trying to get from airport to the Turkey headquarters. My taxi driver didn't speak English and I didn't know a word of Turkish. He eventually worked out where I wanted to go through a series of hand gestures and slow talking on my part (not to mention having the address written down on a piece of paper in my bag - in english tho!). We then took off - my god - I thought they were bad in Rome - wow! The drivers took no head of lane markings and it was basically a free for all. With only about 2 inches between each car! Very scary.
On arriving at the headquarters, security was extremely tight (airport type security) and no one spoke english so was finding it difficult to let them know who I was meeting. I only knew the name of the other UK person who was out there. Luckily a quick phonecall and it was sorted out. It was then straight into a two and a half hour meeting about comms. Great people though and fascinating to learn about the Turkish business culture. Sutha (my UK based buddy out there) then invited me out for a meal with a colleague of his. After another harrowing taxi ride to hotel to check in and a more sedate taxi ride to the restaurant, we enjoyed an beautiful meal in a restaurant on top of a skyscraper looking out over Istanbul at night. The mosques were beautifully lit and you could see ferries skooting around on the mediterranean sea. A stunning vista. I had a traditional Turkish meal of Mezze (platter with different types of finger food and chickpea dips etc) and Roast Lamb Shanks. The lamb was beautiful and just fell off the bone. Conversation was also good - great night all round. It was then home to the hotel and fell into bed exhausted.
The next morning it was off to Geneva...as you do. Will fill you in on that later...
Ciao
Geoff
posted by GeoffandBridge at
4:18 pm
2 Comments:
Hi Geoff
Great to hear all is going well and you're having lots of adventures! My Father used to deal in antique pine and will definitely know where you can get the Briwax you need, as uses it on all his pieces. Will ask and get back to you. Lxxx
By
Chickensinabox, at 7:42 pm
Wow - great news - thanks Lou!
By
GeoffandBridge, at 5:04 pm
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