London

How much can you fit into 36 hours in London? About 36,000 steps and three circuits of the city on a big red bus! 

So we fitted in a fly past of the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and a wave to the guards at Buckingham Palace; morning tea in St James Park; a fling through Harrods (toy and chocolate departments of course); breakfast at the Skygarden with a view of St Paul's; a cruise down the Thames; a stroll the length of the South Bank, with a ride on the Millennium Eye and frozen yoghurt on the SNOG bus; turbo shopping on Regent St; and topped it all off at the M&M factory for Lara to stock up! 

All my love and thanks to Melissa, Lara, Alex and Bec for sharing this very special trip - I'll treasure the memories xxxxx 

Breakfast at the Skygarden

View from our Canary Wharf apartment

Tampere, Finland

We’ve spent the last five days with Melissa, Lara and Alex in the Finnish city of Tampere, about 90 mins train ride from Helsinki and host to the under 20s world athletics championships, with Alex competing in the Women's Javelin. She did well in a tough field – unfortunately not qualifying for the final but gaining invaluable experience for the next international comp. Great performances from some other stunning young athletes as well, including the men's decathlon (Australia gold and silver), and some spectacular long distance running.

Outside the stadium we enjoyed the city,  taking advantage of the very long, warm days. Snapshots of the week: picnic wine and cheese by the Tammerkoski rapids;  walking to the Pynikkkin lookout for views over the city and surrounds, and then back along the lakeside; Tampere Cathedral with its wrap-around fresco and cavern-like wings; a gentle boat cruise on the lake with looming clouds that turned into an anti-climax of a shower (the only rain we’ve had); very good waffles by the harbour and pastries in the historic indoor marketplace; the Ratina supermarket salad bar; and ice cream in the park (there is a strong food theme coming through here!)

 

Today we’ve back in Helsinki taking a quick detour into town before flying back to London. Helsinki is warm, sunny and buzzing with markets by the harbour, gardens in bloom, even a marching band. We captured some reindeer scarves and socks, and plotted how to come back for some other summer…

Next stop – last stop – London.

Riga, Latvia

Riga was a lovely detour well worth a visit of its own. We had 6 hours to make the most of our stop over and did our best!

We arrived at the end of a cultural festival that had all the locals out, some in national dress, and music in the parks. We joined in with Latvian apple wine and delicious meals outdoors at the Blue Cow, in a square full of flowers; and a walk through the Old Town to a much more modern option – a cocktail on level 26 of the Radisson, where we had a stunning view across Riga.

Exeter and Bath

We spent the morning in our little red fiat roaming across the Dartmoor moors, looking out for ponies (not all as wild as they’re supposed to be).

Then down to the coast to the seaside holiday town of Torquay, buzzing with weekend visitors during this English heatwave – almost cloudless and in the high 20s. A short trip on the Tor Bay ferry, with a quick stop in the busy fishing/tourist town of Brixham for an ice cream before returning to Torquay was a lovely end to the day.

We left Exeter this morning to work our way gradually across the south of England to Gatwick for our flight to Riga, and then on to Helsinki and Tampere. Heavy  motorway traffic in the morning, but we still got to Bath in time for a ‘real Italian’ pizza that came with an unexpectedly large glass of white wine, and finished off with a couple of complimentary shots of limoncello each. A gentle cruise downstream on the river Avon seemed like a good idea after that!

We rounded out the day visiting the Roman baths – hard to take in how many centuries have ticked over since they were built…. Interestingly, while the atmosphere of most historic sites suffers from great crowds of tourists (including us), I don’t think this did – all the chatting and laughing and eating was pretty much what they did here 2000 years ago (though maybe not so many selfies).

Manila to the UK

On our way! Such a flying trip, 2 weeks from door to door, but so looking forward to probably a once-ever chance for Melissa and I and our girls to do something as special as this together – seeing Alex compete, shopping with Lara in Manila 😄, finding our way via planes, buses, trains and crazy taxi drivers...

Manila was an overnight stopover of giant flashing billboards, crowds and more crowds, a supermall (including ice rink) for easy eating after a long day's travel – but with people so friendly that we ended up in a full staff selfie. And the roads – crammed full of cars and buses and scooters and random courageous  pedestrians and the spectacular jeepneys overflowing with arms and legs and stopping wherever they want.

Now temporarily heading our separate ways – Melissa and Lara heading direct to Finland to meet up with Alex, and I filled in time with Paddington Bear waiting for my train to Exeter, where Bec and I will spend a couple of days before rejoining the Roberts trio on Monday (via Riga in Latvia).

Wonderful seeing Becci again after 4 months, and spending a lovely afternoon wandering Exeter and seeing what will eventually be her home turf once the visa comes through! Exeter cathedral was stunning, and the city itself quirky and lively.  

Off to explore Dartmoor and the coast today, more pics to follow!