Wright Place, Wright Time

Singapore – 18th Destination

29th-1st July ’15 Singapore –

We jumped on the plane and made our way to Singapore. After having some much-needed rest, we started to explore. Singapore is an amazing place, world-renowned for its awesome architecture, ingenuity, and flora design. Singapore, an island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical climate and multicultural population. We jumped on a city-sightseeing tour, we stopped at amazing shopping malls, where everything is so clean and pristine. At night we made our way to ‘Gardens by the Bay’, this is reclaimed land. We saw a wonderful show of light and sound display held at the Supertree Grove and looked through the Cloud Forest which is a man-made ecological environment containing a stunning waterfall and rainforest plant species from around the world. The next day we went to the amazing Sentosa Island, this is designed like a theme-park with wave-pools, mini islands and restaurants on beaches. There we visited the awesome aquarium (the largest in the world!), we took the cable-car all around the island. We also visited the Botanic Gardens. Singapore is buzzing and busy. We love it!

Cambridge / Oxford – 17th Destination

27-28th July ’15 Cambridge / Oxford –

The city of Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England. Cambridge is most widely known as the home of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 and consistently ranked one of the top five universities in the world.
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England, and there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s second-oldest surviving university. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges and a full range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions.
We had an amazing time looking through all the colleges in these small towns, then later went to Wagamama’s, a restaurant with a Japanese-Indian fusion of flavours.

Edinburgh – 16th Destination

25-26th July ’15 Edinburgh –

This city is so gorgeous, the buildings are so old and beautiful. We got on a sight-seeing bus and had a good look through the new and old townships. We saw the school that J.K. Rowling writer of the Harry Potter series schooled at, as well as the school that may have inspired Hogwarts (where Harry was taught the art of magic).

Bath / Bristol – 12th Destination

18th-19th July ’15 Bath/Bristol –

Bath is named after the Roman natural hot baths that reside in the center of the town. We toured around these baths, learning about the history of them and this town. We purchased a very nice homemade lemonade from a lemonade stand which was very nice. We later viewed the Royal Cresent and the Circle (about circle heads). We also had a massive lunch consisting of Paninis, English breakfasts and burgers, with a lot of salad!. In Bristol we walked around the amazing Bristol Harbour festival that was taking place. A Huge party throughout the entire the city, live bands, carnival, stalls, it was amazing and a haven for young people.

Whitby Area – 15th Destination

22nd-23rd July ’15 –

We then went on to Whitby, this is where Chris’ Grandmother Margorie spent time when she was young, a beautiful fishing village just north of Scarborough. We had a quick look through before heading off inland to the Yorkshire Dales, an inland area with amazing panoramic views and some of the narrowest stone walled roads ever, driving a large campervan was challenging. Gill, Chris’ second cousin (granddads sisters family) and husband John, live here in Cowgill. We stayed for two nights and went and visited Betty, Val and David, some more extended family in Knaresborough, just east of Harrogate. We walked around the town and visited the pub called ” The Worlds End” that Betty (Chris’s Grandads Brothers Daughter) and family ran for 20 years. We visited an amazing Gothic Abbey then returned to Cowgill for the night.

Rotherham / Scarborough – 13th-14th Destination

20th – 22nd July ’15 National Motorcycle Museum, Rotherham, Castle Howard + Scarborough –

We just happened to swing past the National Motorcycle Museum according to Dad, this was his big day! We toured around the motorbikes which were even more ancient than Dad! We saw a huge array of British bikes including drag bikes and machines that broke world land speed records. We by-passed Birmingham and picked up some motorcycle parts for Dad and we were off to Rotherham (the land of the old) this is where dads dad was born. There was a big market in the town center and we bought a lovely lemon drizzle cake and some home made ginger biscuits. We went into the Cathedral and this was very beautiful. It was full of so many people who looked over one hundred, there is very little work in this area now due to the closure of the mines in the area and is now mostly supported by the state. Then we were off to Sheffield. We stayed at a farmers place just west of the city called Cow Gap Cottage. We hit the road the next day and were off to Scarborough. On the way we stopped in at Castle Howard. This castle dates back to before the 17th Century and still holds the family today. We explored this ancient castle and lands which contained so many portraits and rooms set up as they had in the 1800’s. Its massive rose garden and grounds and fountain were awesome, we bought some produce from the local shop before heading off to Scarborough for the night. In the morning we went into Scarborough town and took a walk along the sea side promanade, just like you see on TV when the team at Coronation street go to Blackpool, Arcades, ferris wheel, cheesy music, hunderds of people everywhere, it was awesome! We got a feed of fish and chips (haddock and tatie) and sat at the harbour watching the local boats coming and going.

London – 11th Destination

13-17th July ’15 London –

We arrived in London on the Euro-star train, our first views being east England, and outer London. We caught two trains to Brentford and arrived at our 4 1/3 star hotel, Novotel. We found awaiting us was a lovely room. The next day we caught a bus named Golden tours which was to take us around the main sights of London. We did a little bit of shopping around Covent Garden before watching the spectacular new musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it was amazing. The next day we woke up and were soon off to the bus tour again. This time we got off at the Tower of London and were given an insight into this cruel and gruesome time. We then passed the Globe Theater, Buckingham Palace, and went shopping at Harrods. We had an amazing time looking at all that was on offer. The next day we caught the train to Madame Tussauds, which showed some incredible pieces of art which were wax figures molded to the image of celebrities. Marie Tussaud was born in 1761 in Strasbourg, France. During the French Revolution she modeled many victims including Marie Antoinette, queen of France. In her memoirs she claims that she would search through corpses to find the severed heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Her death masks were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of Paris. In 1802 she went to London to exhibit her work alongside a at the Lyceum Theater, London and later ‘Madame Tussauds’. We then went to MS shopping mall where Jet got some items and later Selfridges where Sal got some butterfly design animal print shoes, yet something else to add to her animal inspired collection! …

Paris – 10th Destination

9-13th July ’15 Paris –

We disembarked the boat and made our way to Marco Polo Airport and flew to Paris, (Charles d’ Gaul) We took a taxi to our apartment which was a 15 minute walk from The Eiffel Tower, the view from the apartment window was of the tower and at night this was lit up beautifully. First day we had a walk around Paris and went out for dinner. The second day we went to Notre Dame, this is a gorgeous cathedral where the famous movie and novel (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was set. That afternoon we walked up to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower which was over 700 steps, we felt the burn!!!! The panoramic view around the city was amazing. The next day we went to The Louvre which is the largest museum in the world filled with artifacts, sculptures, treasures and collections from around the world including a Sphinx and the painting Mona-Lisa. The next day we had a wicked time at Paris Disneyland! This is an amazing place for all ages and is all we expected it to be.

Venice – 9th Destination

8th July ’15 Venice –

We took a boat shuttle from where we were docked in Venice, to just along from St Marks square. The temperature was around 37 deg with real high humidity. We immediately found a cafe and had some cold drinks before starting to have a good look around. Amazing shops everywhere along very narrow streets. We went on a gondola ride and saw where Casanova used to live. A lot of the lower level apartments are not used now due to the rising water levels and extreme humidity. As we were coming back on the water shuttle, there was a thunder storm and massive hail and rain. This cooled the temperature down nicely. Venice is one of Mum’s most favourite places in the world.

Athens – 8th Destination

6th July ’15 Athens –

Upon arrival, we left the boat and met a great taxi driver/guide named Irene, she was an absolute wealth of knowledge and set us up for an awesome day. First we visited the Acropolis (meaning fortified settlement on the highest area) We arrived there nice and early so the crowds were at a minimum and the temperature was moderate. Fantastic views of Athens and it was great to be among such history. We then went to the Acropolis museum which helped piece together what we had seen up at the Acropolis. It was then off to the colossal Temple of Zeus, developed in the 6th century BC, originally having 106 pillars now has 16, had a good walk around the area and then we were off to the National Museum of Archaeology. In between each of these visits we got a commentary of the Greek political situation and received an awesome history lesson. Before we got to the museum we witnessed the Changing of the Guard outside Parliament Building, this was fascinating and the guards were extremely tall. We spent over two hours in the museum which was full with all manner of artifacts from statues, sculptures in bronze and marble, weapons, tools, pottery and the earliest forms of jewelry made from gold, silver, ivory and precious stones. On the way back to port we had a quick shop down a street that had a great range from clothing, hand made leather sandals and handbags, jewelry and cafe’s. It was then back to the boat for a lovely dinner.