We didn’t set off to Winchester as early as we planned and after picking up my mum and a brief stop on the motorway led to us arriving in Winchester at lunch time. We parked on the hotel car park and Mr C went to reception to tell them that we had arrived and would be leaving our car on the car park. He was informed that the rooms were ready so we decided to book in before having lunch. Booking in turned out to be a bit of a saga… The French receptionist couldn’t understand why two identical room bookings had different room rates. Mr C tried to explain that it was because one was single occupancy and the difference was the breakfast rate. The receptionist didn’t understand, but thankfully a colleague sorted him out. Eventually we booked in and took our bags up to our rooms!

After the booking in saga we set out for a late lunch in the Cathedral Refectory. Mum,Mr C & I all chose cheese and watercress scones, watercress being a speciality of the area and they were delicious We then made our way to the cathedral, stopping off at its gift shop along the way. The gift shop had some delightful christmas decorations and advent candles, which we decided we would come back and buy just before we left Winchester.

Our visit to the Cathedral was not as peaceful as it had been was on our previous visit. It was a Saturday and lots of guided tours were taking place. Previously I enjoyed peace and tranquility in the North & South transepts but on this occasion both were disrupted. The North transept is housing a temporary structure to display the Winchester Bible whilst the South transept is undergoing restoration. and is currently closed. It houses the Fisherman’s Chapel which I found so peaceful last time. The disruption led to us noticing features unseen on our previous visit and we very much enjoyed seeing the historically important Winchester Bible in its temporary home. We just missed seeing it on our previous visit when it was being shipped to America for display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

As we left the  we were caught by a brief shower of rain, so we retired once again to the Cathedral Rectory for a refreshing cup of tea, before returning to the hotel to unpack our bags, before we dined in the ‘Old Vine’, which was just as good as we remembered it from our previous visit. We called in at a pub on our way back to the hotel, but the music was so loud that we couldn’t hear ourselves think. We returned to the hotel where we could chat more easily and enjoy a nightcap before bed even though there was a wedding disco with kids noisily charging around the hotel.

I happen to like the sounds of the city

The breakfast was totally chaotic. On arrival there was no juice, fruit bowls or cereal bowls. I pointed out there were no bowls and the waitress said she would get some.  I waited five minutes and nothing happened… I gave up and went to fetch my side plate and put the fruit (strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) on there. The plates ran out twice and people were stood queuing for a cooked breakfast. On the plus side the toast arrived for a change, however it was white and not the brown we had asked for.

After the manic experience we fetched our bags, checked out and sat in the relative peace of the hotel reception area to wait for our car to arrive back from where it had been parked by the valet service.

On our journey back we had a brief stop at the motorway services to stretch our legs and drink a refreshing cup of tea.  This was followed by a longer stop at Kenilworth Castle for lunch. I enjoyed the garden which I had not seen before. Unfortunately the viewing platforms were closed as restoration work was being done on the tower, so Mr C didn’t get to see the view from the dizzy heights. We then resumed our journey home for a well earned rest.

Our original plan was to travel to London by train, but due to engineering works taking place every weekend during August this proved to be impractical. Instead we traveled by car, stopping at the motorway services for lunch along the way.  The journey was painless. There was only one short delay due to a traffic accident blocking one of the lanes. When we arrived at the hotel Mr C tried to fathom out how the car pick up and parking service worked, which wasn’t obvious. It turned out that the phone calls he had received and not been able to answer whilst we were driving were from the company trying to find out when we were going to arrive at the hotel, so that they could be there when we arrived!

When the car park parking situation had been sorted and our bags unpacked we headed off the the Science Museum which was further away than advertised to me I was flagging and in need of a cool refreshing drink when we got there…

After the welcome refreshment we picked out a few sections of the museum that we were interested in and set out to explore them.  There are many interesting things in the museum but I think that it is not laid out in the best possible way to showcase what they have on offer.  There is an excellent space section where part of the display is a full sized replica of the Apollo 11 lunar module. The museum also houses the Apollo 10 landing capsule but this is displayed in a different part of the museum. The dim lighting didn’t help to show the exhibits to their best advantage.

One of the things that I wanted to see was Foucault’s Pendulum. We struggled to find it and when we did we found it tucked away in a corner which is why is why we had missed it. We had walked past it a couple of times without noticing it.

After our brief visit we walked back to the hotel and by the time we got there my feet were complaining and I put my feet up before venturing out for dinner.  Luckily one of the restaurants I had spotted in the Dorling Kinderlsey guide book was just around the corner. The food (mostly fish) was excellent and we had a good banter and laugh with the owner who who served the guests at their tables. After the meal we called in at a pleasant pub for a nightcap before returning to the hotel.

It just had to be done

You might recall my original post entitled ‘a room with a view‘. That was only one view from my room, if I looked down instead of forwards, this is what a saw.

Apart from a fleeting glance while traveling on the motorway, this was the first view I had of the walled city of Carcassonne. It was presented to me through the window of my hotel room. How lucky can a girl get

PS: More on the holiday will follow soon.  I am getting there with my computer problems… Normal service should be resumed ASAP