Where winding roads, rusty rails, iffy health and lean budget meet the calm
April 2018
As mentioned in our Cumbria post, we enjoyed a trip on this minimum gauge (15”, 914mm) railway. Here’s some more information on this delightful railroad. Continue reading “The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (La’al Ratty)”
April 17, 2018
After spending a couple of days with my cousins in Whitehaven it was time to once again head out on our own. Our next stop was the town of Keswick on Derwentwater. Continue reading “Keswick and Derwentwater”
After visiting some of the places of my childhood, it was time to meet with my cousins, most of whom I hadn’t seen since I emigrated to Canada, and all but one still live in the area of Whitehaven, Cumbria. Continue reading “Cumbria”
While waiting in a filthy bus station in Bucharest Alex said – I want to be in Favorit (this is our go-to hotel in Sofia). Continue reading “Sunset in Ruse and the dark side of politics”
We should have taken the train. The day after we arrived in Bucharest, we walked to the major international bus station, Filaret. Continue reading “Back to Bulgaria by bus after all”
We started our trip indulging in some cultural events in Bulgaria. The times we have spent there in summer are often seasoned with a variety of outdoor concerts and festivals. Continue reading “Prelude: Wagner in Magura Cave, Verdi in Belogradchik Fortress”
My childhood memory lane goes through my tummy. Continue reading “Homecoming to my childhood”
Manchester hooked me on gin and Fever Tree tonic. Never thought that in that cold and bone-numbing humid weather I would drink, let alone love G&T.
Does this grey, wet and cold city deserve more posts? To begin with Alex summarized our experience well in his two posts. Yet I enjoyed it a lot, so maybe there are few more words to be said. A short walk in London and the train trip from Euston London to Piccadilly Manchester aside, this was my first impression of England. Grey, wet, dull and cold…Manchester skies so low, almost touching the canal (was this like Jacques Brel’s song “Le plat pays” about Belgium, where I spent a few years of my life?). Not much different on the other side of the North Sea. The photos we took make a lovely black and white canvas. Continue reading “Manchester”
April 12 2018:
Today we are truly visiting my past. We are going to see the house where I lived for my first 13+ years. Last night we researched how to get there on the transit system and found that one bus would take us from Piccadilly Gardens through Salford and Eccles and onwards to Winton. Of course, it’s all Greater Manchester now, and I’m not sure that Winton exists; but the old neighbourhood does. Continue reading “Going “home””
April 11 2018:
Made it through the first full day in my homeland in fifty years. Just. We arrived in London yesterday morning and, jet-lagged and half asleep, had a very filling brunch of much fried, greasy and delicious breakfast food. Spent two hours half-awake on the train to Manchester and, after checking into our small but comfy hotel room on the border of Chinatown and the Gay village, went on a search for a veggie-rich, grease-poor light dinner. Continue reading “Homeland at last”
This is Alex’s first revisit after 50 years and Diana’s first time in England. First impression – dull, grey and efficient. Very efficient from a Canadian perspective. The public transportation system, that is. Sleep deprived and exhausted from a redeye flight from Toronto we found it very easy to navigate through London’s maze of trains, Tube and buses. It was early morning there, and by the end of the day we had to be in Manchester. We had chosen, yes you guessed it, to take a train. And no, it wasn’t for that train that we booked the transoceanic flight to London, not to Manchester. If was the cheapest flight that would take us to UK and then bring us back from Bulgaria. Continue reading “Grey, gray and efficient”
While we were working, our traveling was limited to two or three weeks at a time. The focus then was on visiting Diana’s parents with a few days in a stop-over city before the flight home. This is the first year when we can say we are both retired. At least for now… because one never knows where the rusty rails will lead. Continue reading “It was about time”
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