Steve's Blog Blogging since 2004, about the significant people, places, sights and sounds of my world. Now dabbling with retirement!

Today we spent some more time just soaking up the local area – it’s beautiful! Oh, and some shopping, where I bought Ann two handbags. Decided to jump on the train and head for ‘Palma’. Just 60 minutes away! Another beautiful place…Must come back here, if only, just for the shops !! Off to the …
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Ann and I hopped on a plane to Bologna with our friends Ralph and Karen to celebrate our 20th We stayed in the ‘Al Cappello Rosso’ hotel in the old town just adjacent to the beautiful Square – Piazza Maggiore

Off to the local Odeon to see ‘The Incredibles’ the latest Pixar movie

Day off today – at last! So, off to see Ian and Sharon in Goring-by-Sea…and Ian’s latest TVR Wow! what a machine – very fast – very flash – very NICE! Pity about the journey home though! Just 2 hours and bit to get down there – five and half to get back! Must remember …
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Off to our favourite Indian restaurant tonight – Taste of India – in Rothwell, to meet up with our friends, Paul and Sue. The food and company was most enjoyable, as always!

Had a really good meal at Ozer (Turkish) restaurant in Langham Place, London with June, Rick, Antoinette, Phil and Angela. Great to see everyone again!

Ann and I spent a day in Derbyshire looking around places connected with the Industrial Revolution, including Arkwright’s Mill built by Sir Richard Arkwright (and later destoyed by an angry mob) More information about Sir Richard Arkwright HERE We met a shop owner, who must have been the real inspiration for Ronnie Barker’s character ‘Arkwright’ …
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Met with Peter and Doreen today, to get things moving for the Old Croydonians‘ Centenary Dinner. Also got some good archive materials for the web site

Off to the Derngate in Northampton tonight to see ‘An Evening with John Sergeant’ (the guy who, some years ago, was jostled out the way on the steps of the British Embassy in Paris by Bernard Ingham when reporting on Maggie Thatcher) What an entertaining chap! A natural on-stage, and very funny too! Should have …
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8am – This is the last part of our holiday. We arrive in Lisbon through the impressive ‘Ponte 25 de Abril’ bridge. We then disembark at 10.45 for the airport – destination, Heathrow! Wow! What a FANTASTIC holiday this has been!! More photographs at https://www.stevepalmer.com/myphotographs/index.html

Weather-wise, a better day today. However, the inflated taxi prices and a shorter-than-planned stay in Oporto, kept us on-board today. The final leg of our journey is now a 200 mile trip to Lisbon – we should be there by 8am tomorrow where we go through the famous ‘Ponte 25 de Abril’ bridge at low …
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Strangely, sunrise wasn’t until just after 8am, so we awoke to a dark and spooky looking port. ‘The rain in Spain…’ as they, certainly fulfilled its promise. The coldest, dampest day so far. Seems the local delicacy is fish, and according to the tourist info, ‘..the quality is to be equalled only in Newfoundland..’ Seems …
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We docked at around 7am. Much cooler today, with a little rain. We’re told that the mighty Queen Mary 2 will be docking later. Sure enough, at around 9am, the biggest cruise ship in the world, slips into harbour…and there’s a big coincidence about to happen involving both ships!. An hour or so later, Ann …
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The ship hugged the coast of Spain today, so we got a spectacular view all day. The obligatory ‘man-overboard’ drill (or to be more precise, the ‘plastic-floaty-orangey-thing overboard’) went without a hitch. The ‘man’ was in the water for just 11 minutes. Apparently that’s an OK amount of time! La Coruna, northern Spain tomorrow…

Near the foothills of the Pyrenees. St Jean de Luz is the principle centre of the French Basque country. Another beautiful place, completely unspoilt and lots of nice expensive looking shops and a wonderful beach. We also took a short train ride to Biarritz, which was also brimming with beautiful beaches and shops. We were …
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Ten miles west of Brittany’s shoreline is the island of ‘Belle Ile’. 11 miles long and 5 miles wide, it’s a beautiful island, unspoilt and very scenic. 8000 years ago, it was part of France’s mainland, but a gradual rise in sea levels led to its separation from the mainland. The island once belonged to …
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Wow! What a beautiful warm day again! Cloudless blue sky and a chance to soak-up some rays. Sufficient breeze for the ship’s sails to be un-furled and to see the ship in its full splendour. Add to that, dolphins off the starboard bow, and lashings of ice-cream for lunch and it doesn’t come much better …
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Docked in Le Havre, France at around 8am. It’s France’s second largest port. What a gloriously hot day – feels like 30 degrees! We’re now off to Rouen by train, in need of some retail therapy. What a lovely place, a beautiful Cathedral, and the old town is full of, well, old things! A croque …
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