Zealand to Zeeland - 2 May 2009

As Kiwis abroad, we decided it was about time we took a look at the original Zeeland.

We always thought New Zealand was named by it's first European discoverer, Able Tasman. But apparently it is thought to have been named by Dutch cartographers.

An early start got us to Dover for an 8.30 sailing. A three hour drive, including a 6k tunnel, brought us through France and Belgium to Zeeland, the south-western province in the Netherlands.

Middelburg is the largest town. Like one of our favorite towns in Holland, Horne, Middelburg was also a base of the Dutch East India company.

It has several grand old buildings and our B&B was right beside the Abbey, a wonderful complex, now housing several museums and churches. The only draw back, was the Abbey bells, housed in a fabulous bell tower we had admired during the day, marked every quarter hour and rang out the hour, right through the night. But the B&B was still an excellent location, and attached to the Desafinado Jazz cafe, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner.

The Pleasures of Spring - 26 April 2009

There are a number of markers in the British spring that we enjoy celebrating every year: the snowdrops; the daffodils; the wisteria; the bluebells; the seemingly overnight appearance of the horse chestnut leaves; the fresh green of the soft new beech leaves and so on.

Today was the day to enjoy the purplish carpets of bluebells strewn generously under the fresh spring green beech canopy. Since the weather was fantastic we enjoyed another spring attraction, driving in an open top sports car with the green canopy all around us.

We began bright and early with a loop drive through the Chilterns and Oxfordshire, including a stop at the Maharajah's Well in Stoke Row. Built in 1863 it was a gift from the Maharajah of Benares. After the loop drive we met up with a bunch of other 'topless' MGs for a short run to a pub for lunch. Leaving them, we set off for a walk that brought us back through some wonderful bluebell wood just near Wheelers End.

By Royal Appointment - 25 April 2009

To celebrate 85 years of the MG marque, the Windsor Rotary Club and several MG clubs organised the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival as fundraiser for The Prince Philip Trust Fund and other Rotary charities.

The aim was to get a representative of every MG model from 1924 to 2009, the very newest 85th Anniversary Edition TF, which was unveiled to the public at the display. The earliest models that made it were two from 1925, one of which had spent most of its life in NZ. It was a fantastic turnout of some extremely beautiful examples of the MG Marque down through the years and we were chosen to represent 1950 and the YA model.

To get 221 cars assembled and into the right order after the requisite security checks meant that it was a farily early start to the day. We were car number 77 in the parade as we made our way though the crowds in Windsor and then enjoyed the rare privilege of driving up Castle Hill and through St George's Gate into the private area of the Castle. We then drove around the Royal Quadrangle where HRH gave us a wave and then out of the castle and through the private grounds into Frogmore Drive and down to a parking area by the cricket grounds.

Once we were all assembled there HRH drove himself down in his Range Rover and planted a tree, as did Mr He Xiaoqing the Chairman of MG Motors UK. Mr He then presented HRH with the keys to a brand new MG TF LE500 to be auctioned as part of the fundraising. With the formal bits over, the public were allowed in to look at the cars and we were allowed out so went for a walk down the long drive to see the other 600+ MGs that had assembled there to be part of the day.


Just around the corner from Windsor is The Valley Gardens, which have an extensive area of Azaleas and Rhododendrons and they were in absolutely glorious form. We thus enjoyed a beautiful walk through the gardens, especially the Punch Bowl area that was a blaze of colour.

Kew Gardens - 19 April 2009

Summer 2001 was the last time we visited Kew Gardens and with the opening of the new tree-top walkway, the advent of spring, and a beautiful spring day, it seemed a good time to revisit.

The 326 acres of Kew could keep a visitor happily occupied for several days. The official word is “allow 2.5 hours for your visit”. We were there for 5.5 hours, moving at a fairly brisk rate most of the time and still only scratched the surface.

This time, in possession of a Royal Palaces Annual Pass, we were also able to visit Kew Palace which is situated within the gardens and for other garden visitors incurs a seperate entry fee.

It truly is an amazing and beautiful place and with the spring growth and abundant blossom was a wonderful place to spend the day.

Warwickshire - 18 April 2009

For many years the English Midlands have been the heart of British motor manufacturing. In the early 1900s Austin opened their plant at Longbridge and later, when the MG Abingdon plant closed the MGs were made at Longbridge, along with Morris and the rest of the BMC fold.

With the demise of British Leyland the Longbridge site was eventually mothballed, wound down, sold off etc and many thousands of workers lost their jobs.

As tribute to this motoring heritage a “Pride of Longbridge” gathering is held at Cofton Park, just across the road from the Longbridge factory. So this Saturday there was a fairly significant gathering of Austin, Morris and MG cars from the 1920s to our sole representative of the latest 2008 model. Some were polished way beyond anything that they may looked like when leaving the factory, others had significant bodywork alterations, one had £3000 of additional lighting installed and some were simply family cars, grime and all.

Leaving the car aficionados we set off to revisit Coughton Court, last visited in October 2002. This time, with our HHA membership we were also able to visit the nationally renowned Walled Garden.

Next was a country walk from Shelfield Green and, for only the second time on these country walks, we got ourselves lost. We retraced our steps and drove to the pub at Wotton Wawen that we were supposed to walk past. Since most of the things to see on the walk were around Wotton Wawen we explored the area on foot and then enjoyed a pub meal before heading home.

Wawel Hill, Krakow -13 April 2009

On the last morning we had time to squeeze in a visit to the State Rooms in the Castle on Wawel Hill. Because it was a national holiday most of the visitor areas in the Castle were closed but fortunately the State Rooms were open and free of charge. The only complication was a limited supply of tickets as the number of visitors per day is strictly limited. The later, holiday, opening and our need to be at the airport to catch our return flight meant that we really had to be in the first group through. There were two ticket office locations and so we stationed ourselves at one each to ensure the bases were covered. Getting four tickets for the two of us was not a problem as we knew that one of the Kiwi couples we met on the Auschwitz trip was also going to arrive seeking tickets so that they could make the same flight.

After joining them for the tour we went our separate ways for our last look at Krakow before heading to the airport and what must have been one of the smoothest and quickest departures we have enjoyed. From the centre of Krakow till we were in the air was less than 90 minutes.

Krackow Old Town - 12 April 2009

Last night's restaurant was very near the starting point for the Jewish Quarter walk that took us past a number of Synagogues, not all in current use, a couple of Jewish cemeteries and then over the river to the area where the Jews were forced into a ghetto in WWII and then cleared out and deported to death camps. Two short sections of the ghetto wall remain.

A short walk from the ghetto is the factory of Oskar Schindler, immortalized in the book and film Schindler's List. Currently, the factory is being converted into a museum to commemorate the life and times of the Jews in that period.

Our afternoon walk followed the Royal Route from the Barbican, at one end of the old city, down to the river by way of the Market Square, the largest square in Europe, and the castle on Wawel Hill overlooking the river Wista.

On the way we popped into a number of churches, all richly embellished as is typical of many European Catholic churches.