I Do Like A Plan!

December 18, 2025 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

One of the things that occasionally frustrates Jane, my wife, is how I love to stick to routines. I’m not good with the unpredictable and the unexpected. Surprise visitors, sudden changes to imminent diary dates, unbidden moves of items from one storage location to another, furniture moves, unnecessary changes to mobile phone features; all tend to cause me more anxiety than they should, especially as they are trivial first-world problems and my wife loves them all.

I think that my craving for plans to achieve calm routines is why my career went best when I was in operational information technology. There, the reliability of day-to-day computer services is critical. Having computer services working smoothly day after day was a key aim – not least because running computer services is cheaper that way. Changes had to be managed very carefully and if an anomaly happened then all efforts were made to ensure they didn’t happen again. Plans and routine were lovely then and I still hanker for them.

Fortunately, especially since my retirement, my wife jolts me out of this way of being so I am forced to stay on my toes. She will be the one to suggest that we go to a different pub for our usual Sunday pint and crossword. She will change the drawer contents around in the kitchen so I can’t find anything for a few days. She will poke me into holidays and outings. I think I am better at embracing, and even instigating, change than before – for example, my cooking skills and bravery are vastly improved from a few years ago – but it is my wife who tends to really try new things.

Of course, external events also push me off my routine and disrupt our plans. COVID almost derailed our family Christmas in 2020 and it did ultimately erase our plans to walk the North Devon/Cornwall Coastal Path earlier that year. The weather has also intervened to prevent or near-ruin other holidays in the past.

*^{Opening The Bedroom Blinds To The Sort Of Winter Sunrise And Weather I Like!}*

Increasingly too, as I get older, I’m conscious that health issues can mess up the best laid plans and prevent implementation of my normal routines. For example, I hate it when an arthritic joint prevents me from walking comfortably into town to get the newspaper and daily shopping. Last month, the blow up of my ankle problem took me off my feet for a few days and this month, a bout of orbital cellulitis (an infection of the tissue around the eyes) did the same. Anyone would be annoyed at these unplanned health issues but I feel my anxiety about them is amplified somehow by my feeling of missing out on my usual pattern of life.

Those ‘outages’, as we called computer service failures in my working life, help me appreciate the days when I can just get on with the routine and think about plans relatively proactively and calmly. ‘Seize the day’ as Jane often tells me. I need to do that more.

The bones of our plans for Christmas and the New Year are pretty much in place and, while weather and health may, of course, disrupt them, I’m very happy with what is in store. We kick off with carols in a local church then dinner at ours with Jane’s siblings. Then Christmas Day will be with Second Grandchild (SG), his parents and his other grandparent. SG is a very happy little boy by nature and I can imagine he is going to be beside himself with Christmas cheer – while not yet fully understanding many of the related concepts.

Boxing Day will be just Jane and I – for the first time ever, I think, we will be on our own. I am hoping for a sunny, crisp, wintery day and a long walk to a local pub for a leisurely lunch.

*^{Winter Sunset At Ruskin Mill (Jane’s Photo)}*

Then we are off to Belfast to see Youngest Son and his wife. To round out the family tour, we are then in Edinburgh for four weeks during which another Scottish grandchild should arrive.

We were last in Edinburgh for First Grandchild’s (FG) fourth birthday. As usual, we had a great time as we mixed family socials with art and nature. Eldest Son and his wife always provide amazing hospitality and it was lovely to see how FG had developed since we last saw him in the summer. His sense of fun combined with his determination and focus on detail were brought out by some of the presents he got for his birthday. It is clear that he is going to love ‘LEGO®’!

The Water Of Leith - Very Full During Our November Visit to Edinburgh — *^{The Water Of Leith – Very Full During Our November Visit to Edinburgh}*

The arrival of FG’s new sibling in January is going to colour, enliven and warm our visit next year. We had hoped to repeat what we did early in 2025 (without, this time, Jane breaking her shoulder!) but the flat we had rented then and booked for this visit was unexpectedly withdrawn from Airbnb last week – a very irritating imposed change of plan!

We have rebooked elsewhere (inevitably at a higher cost….) and are looking forward to our time in Edinburgh enormously. We just need to complete the plans for our schedule of trips, restaurants and art intake for the time we are there. I do like a plan!

Enjoying Bilbao

October 27, 2025 / fgrtommo / 4 Comments

I love a good ‘city-break’. We have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed many over the years. Some of the best city-breaks have been in the smaller cities of Europe rather than the largest; I like their size and the fact that one can see most of the city by just walking about; my aging legs still allow me to do that. Our latest city visit was to Bilbao in the Basque area of northern Spain and it was a very successful trip.

*^{The Guggenheim From A Bridge Across Ria De Bilbao}*

The logistics worked (thank goodness the threatened French air-traffic controllers strike was called off at the last moment), the hotel was comfortable, the weather was lovely and Bilbao was interesting and studded with very good bars, cafes and sights to see. Bilbao is on the Ria de Bilbao just downstream of the confluence of the rivers Nervion and Ibaizabal and the bridges across it and the steep sides of the valley it cuts through, provide a number of vantage points for lovely views of the city.

*^{In The New Town: Church of San Jose de la Montana de los Reverendos Padres Agustinos. Bilbao. (A Very Long Name And Very White)}*

It seemed to me that the centre of city has three main elements: the Old Town, the 19^th century planned grid structure of streets to the west and, a little further downstream, the modern restorations of old port areas (that continue all the way down to the still thriving port area on the coast). We spent much of our time in the Old Town but our modern hotel was amongst the grid like streets nearby and was conveniently quiet in addition to being centrally located.

*^{Night-time Bilbao (Ria De Bilbao and Theatre)}*

A key factor in choosing to visit Bilbao was our desire to see the Guggenheim Museum which is perhaps the centrepiece of the city and much visited by tourists from all over the world. It is indeed a remarkable building and I’ll cover our visit to it, and to the nearby Fine Arts Museum, in a separate post. There was much else to see and do and just walking around in the sunshine helped us absorb the feel of the city and the underlying strength of local pride in the Basque/Biscay culture. Our visit coincided with Spain’s National Day and we saw a couple of noisy street celebrations.

Part of that Basque (and Spanish) culture is the sociability of the people and their propensity to sit in bars and chat. There are hundreds of bars but, in the Old Town especially, it was difficult to find an outside seat because they were all so popular. The only workable strategy to getting a seat was often to order a drink and stand for a while until a table was vacated. Many were doing that but we lacked the patience and generally kept walking until we found a couple of adjacent seats by chance (or gave up!)

We did have some good suggestions for cafes and bars to try from Middle Son’s (MS’s) fiancée and we managed most of them. The best we experienced were Baster near the Cathedral and Ekain in the main square, Plaza Nueva. Both had excellent pintxos which are little snacks that bars sell to help prolong the bar-side drinking and conversations.

Jane also found two incredibly good breakfast places. Cafe Originale was a typical Jane choice of minimal décor, clean lines and excellent granola and yogurt (though I chose a filling savoury mix). .

Cokooncafe was something else! More than half the indoor space was taken up by seven chefs preparing immaculate looking breakfasts. Watching the preparation was almost as good as eating the food and it reminded me of the brilliant TV drama series The Bear – especially Series 3 where the focus is on learning and delivering on being a top-rated restaurant. The food, in truth, was a little too sweet to be an ideal breakfast but it was incredible experience. We ‘did’ both Café Originale and Cokooncafe twice and loved them but I will remember Cokooncafe especially for a very long time.

*^{Crazy-Good Breakfasts In Bilbao (Originale and Cokoon)}*

After going up the Artxanda Funicular to the views across the city from Artxanda Park, we ate tortilla at the apparently famous but remarkably unassuming Bilba (another of the MS fiancée recommendations which paid off). After this, the big breakfasts and the variety of pintxos, we didn’t feel much like a restaurant dinner in the evenings. Liquid dinners largely sufficed and I found the local ‘brown’ beers very satisfactory.

I went off twice on my own to explore Bibao. I am so pleased that I went to the Itsasmuseum (Maritime Museum). This provided a well laid out (with English translations) exhibition of the history of Bilbao from the point of view of its seafaring past, its port management and the Basque fishing industry. I loved the antique maps on show. They reminded me of the trips my Dad and I made in my youth to shops selling such maps.

*^{Itsasmuseum, (Maritime Museum), Bilbao}*

The old maps were a key part of the museum’s attempt to illustrate the progression of the growth of Bilbao in fits and starts from medieval times. The exhibits charted the industrial revolution, the 20^th century industrial decline, the massive floods (in 1983), separatist and joblessness riots, and the recent emergence of renewable industries and tourism.

Bilbao is actually many miles inland from the coast and the estuary that joins it to the Bay of Biscay has had to be completely re-engineered to enable sea trade and, ultimately, the rapid 19^th century development of the city. The previously huge mining, metal and ship building industry has now almost gone but the port out near the coast is busy and the city itself is a hive of activity.

The transformations Bilbao has been through were underlined by an exhibit by Esther Pizarro called ‘Skin of Light’. It was a combination of a model of the city and a video. The model was lit in different colours as the video of the recent history of Bilbao played out. I confess to being quite moved by the hopefulness the work exuded. The whole visit to the museum was well worthwhile and it helped create a context for what I saw in the Bilbao streets.

'Skin Of Light' BY Esther Pizarro, Itsasmuseum, Bilbao — *^{Two Of The Phases Of ‘Skin Of Light’ By Esther Pizarro, Itsasmuseum, Bilbao}*

On another excursion to the south of the Old Town, I encountered grittier streets. Parque Miribilla offered some good views north to the city centre and the walk along the river was interesting. Then, in the midst of some mid-rise social housing, I found a remnant from Bilbao’s industrial past; an old furnace attached to a mine that produced iron, that had been restored and surrounded by modern artworks. Seeing the furnace off the beaten track was a nice surprise before a stroll back into the city past sunset-bathed San Anton Church and to another crowded riverside bar.

On The Walk From Parque Miribilla To St Anton's Church — ^{On The Walk From Parque Miribilla To St Anton’s Church}

One other MS fiancée recommendation was to take a break from the city to visit Mundaka just over an hour out of the city by train or bus and on the north east coast. The weather was again sunny and warm and it was a perfect adjunct to walking the streets of Bilbao. The town is on another estuary with a sand bank which apparently creates excellent surfing conditions.

We saw plenty of surfers and paddleboarders amid the superb views across the estuary. We walked to the little fisherman’s church to look across the Bay of Biscay and then found a seat in an (inevitably) packed bar to snack and drink more strong beer. Visiting Mundaka was a great trip out for a morning and a chance to see a pretty, old coastal resort and semi-rural and rural Basque country on the way.

Bilbao proved to be a good choice for a very enjoyable city-break. I look forward to the next one.

Birthday in Basel

May 8, 2025 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Unusually, my wife Jane picked up a copy of the Financial Times (FT) a couple of weekends ago. On Saturday’s, it’s a thick paper with a variety of sections – some more interesting than others. In the travel section, there was an article on Antwerp which we visited several years ago and, alongside that, an article on visiting Basel in Switzerland. Upon reading it, Jane suggested that we book a trip there the following weekend to mark my birthday. Within 20 minutes, we were booked into car parks, flights and a hotel and were set; retirement flexibility, a bit of money in the bank and the internet on our phones makes delivering on a whim so easy!

*^{View Of The Rhine on Our First Evening in Basel}*

We arrived late in the evening, checked in to our room and ventured out to a brasserie recommended in the FT article for something to eat. We chose simply – just a beer and a burger each – but were taken aback by the cost of restaurant food. Meal prices are about twice those in our part of the UK. It took us a couple of days to recalibrate our expectations as we picked up menus in a variety of places over the next few days. The food quality was excellent everywhere but the prices were eye opening.

Other aspects of the city break in Basel weren’t so expensive. Our hotel (Hotel Märthof) was very central, perfectly comfortable and decent value. The service there was exceptional and there were some useful addons, notably including the free BaselCard which all Basel hotels provide for overnight stays and which offers half price museum and gallery entry, and free public transport.

That last perk was very useful on our last afternoon in Basel when the weather was rainy, almost all the public buildings and bars were shut, and we found ourselves wanting to kill some time in comfort. We simply got the number Line 10 Tram, one of the longest tram rides in Europe and one of only five tram lines in Europe to span more than one country (in this case France and Switzerland). It was an interesting hour or so that enabled views of misty hills and nice, green French and Swiss countryside.

Our first full day in Basel was very sunny and warm. After substantial pastries at Bio Andreas, we walked a lot and got a feel for the old part of the town and beyond. We visited the Cathedral (Basler Münster) and took in our first daylight views of the Rhine that separates the two halves of the city.

*^{View From Basler Munster: Rhine, Bridges And Chestnut Trees (Which Were All Over The City)}*

The cathedral dominates much of the south bank of the Rhine but, inside, it is of a good scale. The extensive roof has pretty coloured tiles and, while the exterior walls are mainly red, inside the walls are a muted grey/brown colour. We both liked this colouring, the lighting and the simplicity of the interior. It was also clear even at this early stage of our trip that we were not going to be overwhelmed by crowds of other tourists; nice!

We walked on to the Tinguely Fountain which was an amusing array of mechanical, moving fountains and then to the nearby Offene Kirche Elisabethen. The nave of this church was (or at least seemed) taller than the cathedral and I loved the airiness and, again, the lighting.

*^{Tinguely Fountains (Created By Jean Tinguely In 1977)}*

Our hotel had a roof terrace and so we thought that we would try that out while the sun was shining. We enjoyed a couple of complimentary glasses of fruit infused water while perched over the market place, watching the market customers choose from the pricey but high-quality fare for sale and listening to the bells of the surrounding churches. This was all very relaxing but, with phones now recharged, we thought it time to find a bar.

*_{Panorama From Our Hotel Roof Terrace}*

Jane did a couple of searches on her phone and re-consulted the FT article. This led us over the main bridge to the north side of the city where we could see seating in front of hotels and bars on terraces leading down to the Rhine riverbank. These would have been fine I’m sure but we wanted something a little quieter and offbeat.

*^{View OF Basler Munster From The Main Bridge Across The Rhine}*

Jane found a description on her phone of a ‘quirky’ bar and, despite the significant distance to it, we set off west along the Rhine. The walk was delightful. It was initially between rows of lime trees with seating along the river on one side and some substantial houses on the other. Then the walk became indispersed with small pop-up bars and DJs with portable sound systems. Finally, past some rather run down industrial buildings and cranes, we came to Holzpark, an alternative cultural centre and play-space, and the quirky bar called Landestelle.

*^{Holz Park, Landestelle Bar and DJs Playing En Route}*

Landestelle was almost perfect for us. It was buzzy with interesting looking, local people but not crowded. The staff were friendly and the music choices were unusual but to our taste. The Rhine – already wide despite still about 1,000km from the sea – was right alongside. We watched huge barges slipping past and the sight of swimmers and divers on the far bank near modern offices and imposing factory chimneys. The only drawback for me was that the draft beer was so continental and lager-like – not the hoppy IPAs we have become used to in our local pub. Notwithstanding that, we felt as though we had found a lively but relatively undiscovered aspect of Basel. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the walk back to the hotel.

Our step count merited a nice dinner. Jane had already booked us in at the Volkshaus restaurant. The weather was still warm and sunny enough for us to eat outside in a charming courtyard under a canopy of heavily managed plane trees and next to a continuous tinkle of a fountain. I was braced for the price list by this time (and I wasn’t disappointed there!) but the asparagus soup and steak frites (with the steak covered innovatively in a tarragon sauce) was top notch.

*^{Volks Haus Restaurant: Courtyard Dining}*

Much of the rest of our time in Basel was spent indoors avoiding the increasingly heavy cloud then rain. However, we had planned for that and were very happy in the Kunstmuseum, with its very large collection of art from the 15^th century onwards, the Swiss Architecture Museum and, on the Monday when the rain was heaviest, Fondation Beyeler where there was an exceptional exhibition of paintings by artists’ works portraying the boreal forests around the Arctic. More on those visits, for those who are interested in art and architecture, in the next blog post.

We had a great break from our normal home routine whilst we were in Basel. Despite the impetuousness and short notice of our trip, Jane had done enough planning to make the trip full and thoroughly rewarding. I enjoyed especially the mix of good food (once I had adjusted to the price shock), relaxed drinking, friendly and helpful people, and the impressive galleries and museums we had time to visit. It was a very memorable birthday weekend.

Edinburgh: Holiday or Home?

March 7, 2025 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

We have visited Edinburgh many times since Eldest Son (ES) moved there and increasingly frequently since he and his wife had a son there. We have fallen in love with the city.

I have always liked city living. Jane is more of a rural lover. I too have really enjoyed my several years of retirement in a comfortable home, out in the beautiful countryside of Gloucestershire and our lovely community in the Stroud valleys. But now we are beginning to recognise that our current levels of mobility won’t be forever and that we need to plan for that. Living in a town or, better, a city like Edinburgh, might be the solution.

*^{Classic Edinburgh View – The Castle From Princes Street}*

We have spent a lot of time debating the options and it is a privilege to have those choices. To help in the decision making, we spent a month from late January in Edinburgh. All our previous visits to Edinburgh had been little more than long weekends. This time we wanted to see how it felt to get a more profound and thorough feel for the city, and to think about how it might be to live in it for at least a substantial part of the year.

The month we spent in Edinburgh deepened our regard for it. We managed to get to the cinema once and the pub a few times, but barely scratched the surface of the nightlife that is available. However, I could already see that there is a lot going on and that I could resume my love of small-venue music gigs that absorbed me in the latter years of my working life in London. It seemed clear too from a couple of visits to the local pub with ES’s parent-in-law, that making new friends wouldn’t be too hard.

In the event, I don’t think that we are closer to a decision about where our next couple of steps will take us in terms of where we live. We continue to toss ideas around.

I think that we have concluded two things. First, that the model of hiring a flat in central Edinburgh for a month is one that we want to repeat (although the flat we stayed in this time was really good and set a high expectation for next time); we had a great time and I think the arrangements were helpful to ES and his wife without putting so much pressure on them to provide the hospitality.

The second thing is that we want to keep a base in the Gloucestershire area so that we can stay close to Jane’s roots and the ones I have put down since we moved here, and be close to Middle Son, his fiancé and Second Grandchild. Now we need to work out what that means. Fortunately, we don’t have to make a decision immediately; to an extent, we can see how events unfold and influence things – goodness knows that recent world events have shown how quickly perspectives can change.

^{Our Rural Idyll – Different From Edinburgh But Not Too Shabby As A Location}

Regardless of all that, our winter Edinburgh month left us with a huge number of happy memories.

Best Solo Moments for me during this visit were those alone with First Grandchild (FG). One was when Jane was rather immobilised with her broken arm, and I took FG out to a local park. He played wonderfully considerately in the playground and then we went on a long walk during which we chatted incessantly. I felt so proud of him .

^{Me: “It’s Like A Trampoline”
FG: “It Is a Trampoline Grandad!”}

The other, was when I was babysitting and putting FG to bed but couldn’t work out how to zip up his sleeping bag. FG (like me) is a person who likes routine and I could see that he was struggling to manage his emotions about my zip incompetence and the impending break in routine. Just as he visibly got control of those emotions, I finally worked out that the zip went downwards not upwards and we could celebrate together.

Best Moment with Jane was probably one of her earliest ventures out after her accident when we went to The Port of Leith Distillery for lunch. This a building that stands alone amid demotion works On one side it overlooks the port and the Firth of Forth and, on the other, The Royal Yacht Britannia and the adjacent, drastic demolition and renovation of a chunk of Leith. The views were great, the demolition work was entertaining to watch (for me, anyway), lunch and drinks were nice and going to Leith on the tram felt like a very positive step in Jane’s recovery.

*^{Port Of Leith Distillery: The View From Our Table, The Building And The Inside}*

Best Pub was Teuchters Bar & Bunker just over the road from where we were staying. It has a great range of local beers, really good comfort food and a very convivial atmosphere. ES’s father-in-law took me there a couple of times and he seemed to know everyone which led me to…..

….Most Embarrassing Moment was in Teuchters when, leaning back to meet yet another new acquaintance standing just behind me, I slid off my chair onto the floor. I did say the beer was good!

This just beat another embarrassing moment when I again fell on my backside. This time I was blown over by the a gust of wind during the last vestiges of Storm Eowyn. At least I fared better than a magpie that was also caught out by the gusty wind and died yards away having been blown against a building.

Best Bar: Spry, as usual. We managed to get there almost every week.

Best Cinema: Everyman Cinema. It was our first visit to an Everyman cinema that serves food and drink to you in the auditorium while you relax on their sofa-like seats. I made two mistakes; first I didn’t understand the ordering system and needed to be prompted by the staff to indulge. Then I unwisely chose their largest bottle of beer – daft if you need to sit through a two-hour film without a loo visit. We saw the Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ and really enjoyed the whole experience.

Best Toastie: The toastie I had at the aptly named Toast in Morningside Road was exceptional. But for consistency over several visits, I’d recommend Cairngorm Coffee just up the road from where we stayed. We even had a special Valentines Day orange flavoured toastie there.

Best Restaurant: We didn’t make it to as many as planned but taking our Edinburgh family to The Free Company, a farm and restaurant in the outskirts of Edinburgh on the edge of the Pentland Hills was a real treat. FG behaved impeccably and did some good dancing on the way out that put my Dad-Dancing to shame.

*^{The Free Company Restaurant As We Arrived (It Was Almost Full When We Left)}*

Best Museum was, of course, the National Museum of Scotland which we visit almost every time we are in Edinburgh. However, for the first time, I also visited the Surgeons’ Hall Museum and enjoyed that. This museum has several parts covering the origins, history and the future of surgery. The section called the Wohl Pathology Museum was very impressive although, after 20 minutes of looking at exhibits showing deformed, vitamin-deficient skeletons and the results of cancer on internal organs, I felt a little squeamish and cut the visit short.

*^{Outside The Surgeons’ Hall Museum (No Photos Allowed Inside)}*

Correction. I covered best art galleries, cathedrals and graveyards in earlier posts. However, before moving on from Edinburgh posts, I should just correct a prior statement about there being two cathedrals in Edinburgh. ES’s father-in-law corrected me and pointed out that there is also St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral nestled next to the new St James’s Shopping Centre and overlooking a plaza with modern and old statues. For completeness, here it is…..

Maybe we will pop inside and have a closer look during our next Edinburgh visit.

A Different Way In Edinburgh

February 7, 2025 / fgrtommo / 3 Comments

We are booked for a month into a very comfortable, nicely warm and well-furnished Airbnb in central Edinburgh that has a view of the Castle. Our idea has been to try a model for visiting Edinburgh that is different from our usual 3-4 night stays with Eldest Son, wife and First Grandchild. In part it is just an extended holiday, but in part a test as to how we might find living more permanently in this wonderful city.

*^{Sunrise Over Edinburgh Castle From Our Airbnb}*

The first two weeks have been extremely successful – until a bit of a disaster yesterday; more on that later.

We have already visited lots of Edinburgh sights – the museums, cathedrals, galleries and exhibitions – got into the hinterlands of Edinburgh and, of course, done a bit of grandchild entertainment. Were lucky enough to have a double dose of grandchildren when Middle Son, his fiancée and Second Grandchild visited us on our second weekend. That visit, plus the nature of the intermittent contact with First Grandchild over a longer period than usual, has created a bit of a feel of living here rather than just holidaying here.

*^{Edinburgh From The Top Of The National Museum of Scotland}*

No doubt that feeling would have been further enhanced by Youngest Son and his wife being able to join us as planned on our first weekend in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, Storm Eowyn put paid to that. Their flight was cancelled and Edinburgh was all but shut down during the worst if the storm. Even at the end of the storm, the gusts of wind were strong enough to knock me off my feet!

Because of, first, Storm Eowyn, and then a visit from Middle Son and family, we have tended to eat in rather than out. However, we have sampled a couple of our favourite bars and a few cafés, and we love the local pub (Teuchters). Anyway, there are two more weeks for trying some more recommended restaurants.

*^{Another View of Edinburgh Castle From Flodden Wall}*

Cooking in a holiday home is not new to us but doing so most evenings over a few weeks is another way of generating a feeling of being ‘home from home’ rather than just being on holiday. Next week, we are even entertaining Eldest Son’s parents in law. That will be a further novelty but a nice reflection of how things might be if we moved to Edinburgh more permanently.

During our days here, we have been very active. We have, of course, sampled the normal delights of the Royal Botanic Garden the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery of Scotland the Scottish National Gallery and the National Museum of Scotland. Edinburgh is a capital and has public buildings, exhibitions and collections to match that status. There were new exhibitions in all of the galleries and all were a pleasure to visit – although it was sad to see the Storm Eowyn damage in the Botanic Gardens.

*^{Storm Damage – One Of The Largest Cedars In The Royal Botanic Gardens Has Gone}*

The Scottish National Gallery is celebrating 40 years of its photography collection and curation. Photography is not my favourite art form but it was good to see some pictures by some famous photographers (such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Liebovitz, and Lee Miller) among the often gritty, local Scottish fare.

*^{40 Year Celebration Of Scottish Photography Collection – Including The Iconic Lennon/Ono Photo}*

The Modern Art Gallery continues to show the substantial Everlyn Nicodemus exhibition which I saw on our last Edinburgh visit. I sped through that but perhaps somehow enjoyed it a little more on a second viewing; plus, there are several other works in the gallery’s permanent collection I had not focused on before.

^{‘After the Birth’ By Everlyn Nicodemus}

The Scottish National Gallery had a sequel to an exhibition of JMW Turner watercolours that I had seen in the gallery two years previously. That had shown the section of the Henry Vaughan collection of Turner watercolours that had been bequeathed to Scotland. This new exhibition was of the selection of watercolours bequeathed to Northern Ireland that again, as part of conditions of the donation, can only be shown to the public in January.

*^{Turner Watercolours at the National Gallery of Scotland}*

There were no surprises in the collection of blurry seascapes, sunrises, sunsets and mountain valleys shrouded in mist. But I like Turner’s style and enjoyed the viewing despite the long queues to get in.

Also at the National Gallery was a small exhibition of art inspired by the landscape of the Orkneys, called ‘In Orcadia’ and including large, interestingly constructed paintings by Samantha Clark.

That was good but even better, I thought, was the large exhibition of paintings by the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. There were hundreds of paintings on show and of course, not all hit the spot for me. But overall, I thought the quality was very high and I could imagine several on my living room wall.

^{The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Annual Exhibition}

We also went to diverse art exhibitions at Dovecote Studios and the City Art Centre. At Dovecote we saw textiles and paintings by Ptolemy Mann. The designs were colourful and bold but Jane was a little disappointed that the majority of the textiles were manufactured in India not Scotland.

*^{Dovecote Studios And Ptolemy Mann Artwork}*

At the City Art Centre were two exhibitions of modern Scottish art and of pop art; I liked the pots by Lara Scobie at the former and the typically irreverent set of cartoonish watercolours by the seemingly slightly unhinged, David Shrigley.

^{Works By Lara Scobie and David Shrigley At The City Art Centre, Edinburgh}

We made a couple of trips to the National Museum of Scotland. The first to see some of the displays that we don’t get much of a chance to see when accompanied by First Grandchild. The second was with him; his increasingly calm inquisitiveness was a joy to participate in.

One concept we discussed, as we passed some of the dinosaur and wild animal exhibits, was that of skeletons. Subsequent conversations indicate that he understood how creatures often have skeletons and that you can’t see until after they are dead. It’s fascinating to watch children learn.

*^{Everything From Dinosaurs To Hi-Tech On Show At The National Museum of Scotland}*

And now we come to the misfortune of yesterday….. Apart from Storm Eowyn, the weather during our stay has been largely dry and sunny. However, it has also been cold and yesterday morning my wife, Jane, slipped on some ice and, it turned out, broke her shoulder. The pictures of x-rays that we came away from the hospital with have helped First Grandchild understand the importance of bones but there is no other upside to the accident.

We’ll cope and enjoy the rest of our stay in Edinburgh but plans regarding how are changing……

Roman Wedding

September 25, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

The wedding of one of Jane’s nieces – the set piece event of our Italy trip – followed sharp on the heels of our family holiday near Orvieto in Italy. We travelled south to Rome and dropped off First Grandchild and his parents with a couple of goodbye sniffles and sobs. We then made our way to our Airbnb in central Rome to grab a bite to eat and change into our wedding garb.

The formal element of the wedding was held in the City Hall in the heart of Rome and adjoining the Piazza Del Campidoglio. We gathered in a rather sumptuous room decorated in a deep red with several big flags and banners. It was an impressive backdrop to a lovely bi-lingual ceremony in which Italian law set out the obligations of both bride and groom with regard to, among other things, living arrangements, looking out for one another and bringing up children. There was much cheering, primarily and initially from the Italian groom’s side of the family, to underline the Italian-flavoured drama of the event.

^{Piazza Del Campidoglio (With The City Hall To The Right)}

The reception was on the outskirts of Rome in and around a lovely old house which was accommodating the now married couple their closest relatives. The food and drinks had been carefully selected by the groom and the local wines were various and, I thought, very good indeed. The buffet of antipasto was splendid. I probably overindulged given that this was followed by a lovely four-course meal but the spiced cold pork on offer was to die for and I didn’t hold back.

^{Arriving At The Wedding Reception}

The wedding speeches were delivered in Italian, English and Madagascan to reflect the roots of the main protagonists and their best men and women. Printed transcriptions of these helped us understand the humour and the emotions in these speeches and they all added value.

Then, just as the evening chill was starting to become noticeable – especially for the relatively lightly-clad women at the party – there was dancing. Following the initial wedding dance standards there was, as expected, an even more ebullient period of Madagascan music and dancing. This included the Madagascan equivalent of the Conga executed with much enthusiasm. The Madagascans in Jane’s wider family do love a good dance!

DJ’s took over and it was clear that, for some, it would be a long night of dance, song and drinking. We grabbed a cab just before midnight and before my alcohol unit count became innumerable. The whole day had been long but very memorable and enjoyable.

Next day, before our evening flight home, Jane and I did some walking and sightseeing around central Rome. We had last been here together in the 1980’s before we had children. I missed out on a subsequent visit with Jane due to pressure of work and a ‘persuasive’ boss so it was lovely to have another opportunity to see some of the iconic Roman buildings in great weather.

*^{The Trevi Fountain – One Of Rome’s Many Tourist Magnets}*

*^{The Parthenon (With Tourists Like Me!)}*

We wove through the massed crowds of tourists to see the Trevi Fountain and the Parthenon. We strolled further afield to towards Piazza Navona take in the atmosphere and revisit the fountains there. Unfortunately, these fountains, like many monuments in Rome, are currently under restoration in advance of the 2025 Rome Jubilee. We satisfied ourselves with other sights and appreciated them in the early Autumn Roman sunshine.

In the afternoon, I spent a couple of hours meandering around the Colosseum and the large area of various ruins and buildings to the immediate west. Much of this has been closed off to the non-paying public since I was last in Rome. I couldn’t bear the idea of the queuing in crowds and heat for tickets and entrance. Anyway, there was still more than enough to see for free before my knee started to complain and I needed a rest.

^{More Rome!}

Indeed, a highlight was entering a church – I failed to note which one – which had some lovely baroque music playing, slumping onto a pew and relaxing to the point of a brief doze. Bathed in all the memories of the wedding and the last week with the family, I felt chilled out and content.

*^{The Church Where I Dozed – Beautiful and Restful}*

With that, I made my way back to the Airbnb and then, with Jane, to our flight home. Even the train strike causing cancellation of trains to the airport couldn’t shake my feeling of well-being. It had been a very good week indeed.

Family Holiday In Italy

September 22, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Jane and I, our three sons, their wives/fiancées and our two grandchildren all made our way to a rather splendid villa in Italy for what turned out to be a wonderful holiday; all that I had hoped for and more.

*^{The Dramatic First View Of Our Holiday Villa As We Arrived}*

Getting everyone together for a family holiday for the first time like that was a feat of flexibility on the part of those, unlike me, who are still managing careers. It also involved precise scheduling and effective logistics including three hire cars, enterprising use of car boot space, and multiple airports and pick up points. I felt very privileged and lucky that we could manage it.

We stayed in a villa near Lake Bolsena, about 90 minutes north of Rome (where, at the end of the holiday, Jane and I, plus Youngest Son and fiancée, went to the wedding of one of Jane’s nieces). The villa was in a very rural, rather remote setting overlooking an ancient volcanic caldera and Lake Bolsena within that. It was an elegant, comfortable and well-equipped villa. Importantly, for the relative youngsters and, especially, the grandchildren, it had a substantial swimming pool.

*^{The Evening View From Our Terrace With Lake Bolsena In The Distance}*

We had every breakfast and evening meal at the villa. The group included excellent cooks and baristas plus willing clearer-uppers afterwards. I barely got a look in on either aspect but took responsibility for the recycling and most of the considerable waste disposal. Despite the local market and supermarkets being a little disappointing we ate extremely well and the bottles and cans recycling bins were repeatedly overflowing.

*^{Catching Stray Wildlife In The Pool}*

Orvieto was about an hour’s drive away and is perched on the top of a prehistoric volcanic plug. We had been there when our children were very young but while memories fade, of course, the key visitor sites were unchanged. Given we visited the city just out of prime tourist season this time, the crowds felt substantial. However, as ever, a few yards away from the main tourist routes, the streets were quiet and picturesque.

*^{Quiet Orvieto Square In Front Of The Church of Sant Andrea And A 12-sided Tower}*

After a very good lunch with the grandchildren and their parents, Jane and I left the group to visit Orvieto Cathedral which dominates the city and which can be seen from many miles away. The façade is wonderfully preserved and impressive. The other walls are also memorable – both inside and out – since they, and the internal columns supporting the roof, are unusually, horizontally striped with alternate layers of basalt and travertine. It was great to be able to visit and remember it again.

We visited a few of the smaller towns around Lake Bolsena. Now edging beyond the tourist season, some of these reflected what we have read about small rural Mediterranean villages gradually emptying out and becoming inactive backwaters. Our closest town was Grotte Di Castro. It is beautifully (but seemingly precariously) situated on a high ridge; of course, these hill-top towns are two-a-penny in much of Italy but even so it seemed surprisingly quiet and there were a lot of ‘For Sale’ signs.

Montefiascone on the opposite side of Lake Bolsena was bigger and busier. It too had wonderful hill top vistas and inviting alleys and cobbled streets. Their steps and sharp inclines challenged my currently dodgy left knee but I think the exercise did it good. While in the town, we were lucky to avoid the storms that seemed to be gathering all around us and, having failed – not for the first time – to find a restaurant both open and selling pizza before sundown, we headed back to our villa via Bolsena.

*^{Stormy Weather Over Montefiascone With Views Of Lake Bolsena and Cattedrale Di Santa Margherita}*

The town of Bolsena was much closer to our villa and did offer takeaway pizza during the day. We sampled that with First Grandchild (FG) in mind couple of times since he had said a few weeks before that pizza was what he was looking forward to most about the holiday. In the end, I think we were more concerned about tracking down pizza than he was.

Bolsena is another attractive town perched on a volcanic outcrop. Several of us had a good lunch in a restaurant adjacent to the lake. While FG played with a new remote-control toy, several of us took turns to take very pleasant strolls down a street lined with huge plane trees and up through its pedestrianised alleys to the castle and main church. From the top of the town there were broad views of the Lake Bolsena, its islands and the surrounding ridges. Second Grandchild (SG) was entertainable, calm and happy (as usual), FG had his new toy, and we all had a relaxed time in the town.

Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe and there was volcanic activity within it as little as 2,000 years ago. With it being so close to our villa, a swim in its waters was on the holiday agenda for many (but not me; I really don’t like getting wet!) SG and his Dad also missed out because it was nap-time but the rest of the group had a boisterous time in the water. FG loved the water and all the splashing with his Granny, Mum, Dad, aunts and uncles. I took charge of capturing the action on camera with the big sky and gorgeous landscape around the lake in the background.

*^{Frolics In Lake Bolsena Under A Lovely Blue Sky}*

Much more swimming, splashing and fun and games were done at our villa. It was lovely to see both grandchildren ignoring the coolness of the water and just loving every moment in it. I also loved the opportunity to take both of them around the villa on little walks. FG is old enough now to appreciate nature and we had lots of lizards, millipedes and ants to observe and blackberries to eat on our ‘adventures’ (as he called them).

And then it was time for us to leave all this fun and conviviality. It had been so good to see everyone enjoy the holiday with its mix of group and separate activity, the games, the food and drink and the diverse chat. I hope we can repeat the model again but practicalities may intervene to prevent that so, for now, I am just going to continue to soak up the happy memories.

Last Day In Ghent

October 25, 2023 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

On the morning of our second and last full day in Ghent, Jane and I set off north again to the Museum of Industry. The sun was already shining again, the temperature was pleasant and we seemed to be finding, together, a good pace and combination of visiting the sights of Ghent and of casually taking in its atmosphere.

Gent is a significant industrial centre and, it seems, has been so for centuries. The museum focused on Ghent’s history in textiles and printing.

*^{Museum of Industry, Ghent: An Original ‘Mule Jenny’ Brought to Belgium Illegally From The UK To Spawn The Textile Industry In Ghent}*

There were working machines and technical descriptions but what was even more interesting were the accounts of peoples lives as the city’s industry developed. These were presented among relevant artifacts through short videos that I found very informative. This was an excellent museum.

*^{Museum of Industry, Ghent Including Some Very Large Looms And A Lot Of Old But Operational Printing Equipment}*

Following a quick stop for a revitalising coffee and off-the-beaten-track people watching at Peaberry, we used our trusty ‘CityCard’ to embark on a guided boat ride around some of Ghent’s waterways. The sun helped make this a very pleasant and novel excursion. The boat also took Jane towards another linen store that had been recommended at the Museum of Industry.

While she sought out the linen she wanted and then sat in another bar, I went off to visit the Bijloke campus.

*^{Bijloke Campus: A Mix Of Old And New}*

This campus is a monastery and hospital founded in the 13th century that is now a collection of buildings of various vintages that include the Ghent City Museum and a concert hall. I spent longer in the City Museum than I had planned – I found it very interesting and its contents dovetailed nicely into what I had learnt in the Museum of Industry earlier in the day.

^{Inside Ghent City Museum: The Monastery Refectory and Cloister}

By the time I got back to Jane, I was ready for a beer and planning for the evening. Guess what? More beer and another burger!

This time we ate at the Artevelde brewery and I cleared another item off my Belgian bucket list: drinking a sample tray of beers. All of the beers was good and the accompanying burger, almost overwhelmed by chips, was one of the best we had while in Belgium.

We had a final beer in the rather luxurious bar in our hotel. This time we got free beer and snacks courtesy of the fact that we had eschewed a laundry change during our stay – apparently a small encouragement to eco-practices pursued by hotel management. That was a nice bonus to round off our stay.

On our final morning, Jane did a bit more shopping while I took a farewell look at Ghent from the top of the Ghent Belfry (Belfort). Once again, the presentation of information – once I had found the way in – was very good. I was glad that I went early in the day though, since the stairwell was not built for crowds!

Our journey back to Brussels and then London and then home was uneventful. There was plenty of time to contemplate a very good city-break holiday and how, after all these years of going on holiday together, Jane and I have both compromised to find, I think, a good balance between sight-seeing and chilling out in cafes and bars. We must plan another.

More Sun in Ghent

October 20, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Following our day in Bruges, we had two full days in Ghent. As in Bruges, we spent quite a bit of time just walking the streets. However, there were churches, museums and galleries we wanted to see and, to facilitate that, we bought a pair of Ghent ‘CityCards’. Despite the significant up-front cost, these proved good value and reduced the hassle around ticket buying and queuing. Also, they encouraged us to venture into a couple of places that we might not have bothered with if an entrance fee had been required.

*^{Ghent Waterways: (Quite) Early Morning}*

First though, we had to fortify ourselves with breakfast. On our way to Bruges the previous day we had passed a café, STEK, that had looked promising and we made the first of what turned out to be two visits there. The breakfast was excellent – rivalling the brunch we had had the previous day in Bruges – and again I was sold on the inclusion of peanut butter in my banana crumble. I have been adding nut butter to my breakfasts at home ever since.

^{Lovely Belgian Breakfasts: Blackbird (Bruges) vs STEK (Ghent)}

Our first gallery visit in Ghent was to the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent (S.M.A.K.) to the south of the city. This was only established in 1999 and, frankly, the collection betrayed that. The gallery has some big rooms – all white as is usual for galleries of this type – but there wasn’t a huge amount on show. I enjoyed the peace and quite of the place but we didn’t stay long.

We strolled over the road to the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK). This holds a vastly more comprehensive collection than S.M.A.K. It’s collection represented art across several centuries, a solid coverage of Belgian art and a diverse set of artists from Hieronymus Bosch (who I always find interesting) to Rubens, Rodin and Magritte.

*^{St Bavos Cathedral – A Painting By Belgian, Pierre Francois de Noter at MSK}*

I was initially impressed by the incredibly well-preserved colours in the medieval religious works, then flagged a bit through the portrait rooms, before reviving as I moved into the galleries of more modern art. The gallery has been renovated recently and it was very comfortable, quiet and well laid out according to chronology but also thematically.

*^{A More Modern Belgian Painting – ‘Skeleton Looking At Chinoiseries’ By James Ensor}*

Having had our culture infusion for the day, Jane and I strolled back in increasing sunshine towards the centre. We popped into Saint Peter’s Abbey but were confused by the lack of things to see and took what turned out to be a wrong turn into the attractive, but unremarkable, adjacent gardens and vineyards. It turned out that these were open to the general public and we were now locked out of the Abbey. It was not the only time during our stay in Belgium that a combination of our lack of language skills and dubious signage confused our sight-seeing.

We found our way back to the Abbey entrance but since there was no exhibition on, we moved swiftly next door to Our Lady of St Peter’s Church. This was part of the original abbey complex which was one of the earliest settlements that ultimately became Ghent. It dates back to the 12th century and was rebuilt in a Baroque style in the 17th century. It was impressive inside and out.

*^{Inside Our Lady Of St Peter’s Church}*

The sun was well out by now and we continued a relaxed walk along the Ghent waterways, past the new and radically modern-looking library to St Bavo’s Cathedral.

As expected, the Cathedral was crowded with tourists most of whom were seeking a view of the famous Ghent Altarpiece which was completed in 1432 by the Van Eyck brothers.

The altarpiece has survived clandestine sales of some of its parts, thievery, war and religious uprisings. It has been restored in recent years – indeed, we saw part of this process during our visit to the Fine Arts Museum. It is now largely back in St Bavos and is a huge tourist attraction, including a virtual reality tour (which I opted out of).

^{Inside St Bavos (With The Ghent Altarpiece To The Right)}

While Jane sought out places to buy Belgian linen, I visited St Michael’s Church and St Nicholas’ Church. In the latter, there was an ongoing service so I didn’t loiter.

^{Our Hotel (1898 The Post) And St Nicholas Church From St Michael’s Bridge, Ghent (From a Similar Angle to The Painting By de Noter Above)}

St Michael’s Church was rather lovely – probably my favourite of the churches in Ghent that I saw. It is another very old church; it was started in 1440 but its tower was only completed in 1825. Its internal brickwork was beautiful in the dappled sunshine coming into the nave past nearby trees and, although ornate in parts, it felt slightly less polished and more homely than some of the other churches we had seen.

*^{Inside St Michael’s Church; Empty, Airy And Beautifully Sunlit}*

Whoa! It had been a very full, long morning. By now we were ready for something other than churches and galleries. Food and Belgian beer beckoned.

I spotted that the brewery for the beer I had drunk on our first night in Ghent, DOK, was open for food as well as drinks. It was at the northern end of the waterways surrounding the centre of the city and we set off in what was by now warm, continuous sun. As we approached the brewery, we passed Bar Broei, a rough and ready looking bar that nonetheless sold good, homemade snacks and excellent beer. We chilled out there very comfortably and with a very personable barman for a couple of hours.

*^{Bar Broei – Rough And Ready But Just What We Needed After A Long Morning Sight-seeing}*

We resumed our walk to Dok Brewery and discovered that it was in an industrial area surrounded by a variety of street food outlets busy with, it seemed, mainly local residents. This was perfect for us and we tucked into more beer and, of course, a beef burger.

*^{Dok Brewery: Vibrant Eating And Drinking Establishments}*

Such meat eating was becoming the norm. So were the early nights back at the hotel, first in the bar and then our room. We still had another day in Ghent to go.

Sunny Belgium

October 17, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Jane and I spent a few days in Belgium. We had visited Antwerp several years ago and had been surprised at how much there had been to see and how interesting the city was. We wanted to see a couple of different Belgian cities this time and to travel by train. We booked the Eurostar to Brussels with an included ticket on to Ghent with the intention of also visiting Bruges. Jane booked an impressive, centrally located hotel in a building with an interesting history; we were all set.

*^{Ghent Post Office (Designed 1898) Now Shops And Our Hotel For A Few Days}*

The UK train workers dispute disrupted our journey to London and we decided to drive to Jane’s sister in Teddington, and impose on her our need for a lift to the Tube. Fortunately, the Eurostar was on time, comfortable and smooth. The onward journey to Ghent in a double level carriage was especially comfortable as we accidentally sat in the first-class upper deck and had great views of the Belgian countryside. Taxis seemed absent at the station but the tram into the centre of town was easy to navigate and a bit of a novelty.

*^{‘1898 The Post‘ – A Moody Looking Hotel}*

We settled into our hotel room and then relaxed into Ghent’s late afternoon sunshine with a stroll around the northern bend of the River Leie and past the Castle of the Counts. We ended up at a sunny, packed bar overlooking the river and indulged in our first taste of local Belgian beer.

*^{‘Gravensteen’ – Castle Of The Counts, Ghent}*

We also had our first taste of Belgian beef – I confess that I ate more beef in our three days in Belgium than I think I have in the last three years. When in Belgium…..

We made our way back to the hotel for an early night (very early given the UK-Belgium time difference) and resolved to make an early start for Bruges the following morning.

*^{View From Outside Our Hotel Including St Michiels Kerk}*

The rail journey to Bruges was again easy and comfortable. Once in the city, we just walked around in lovely October sunshine for a while, just taking in the gorgeous juxtaposition of medieval architecture and the river and canal network. Of course, there were hordes of tourists many of which were participating in large guided tours led by guides with little flag poles; not my cup of tea!

*^{Me And Other Tourists Capturing The Sights In The Centre Of Bruges}*

We shuffled out of the main flows of these tours into peaceful side streets and quiet corners. Wherever we looked we saw pretty bridges, attractive buildings with the traditional stepped parapet walls, and an overall sense of cleanliness and history.

*^{Starting To Get Away From The Bruges Crowd}*

We walked north to a vegan café, Blackbird, that Jane had discovered online, for a well-earned brunch. We had what turned out to be my favourite breakfast or our brief Belgian holiday; an acai bowl laden with fruit, yogurt and peanut butter accompanied by a wonderful cup of coffee. I’m a nut butter convert now!

*^{The ‘Blackbird’ Cafe In Typical Bruges Buildings}*

We continued to wander along the canal paths past stunning buildings and back to the city centre. On our way we popped into the Bourgogne des Flandres Brewery for a local brew, a quick rest and a view of boats going up and down the waterways. Then we pressed on to visit the 800-year old Belfort (Belfry) to learn more about the city and get a elevated panorama.

The belfry dominates the main square of the city and required a 366-stair climb to get to its top. On the way up is a Treasury with its artifacts and a lot of information about the city and, especially, the way the bells in the tower were used to signal peace or danger.

Near the top we could enter a floor where the belfry carillon with its 47 bells sits. It was installed in 1748 and has been repeatedly extended and restored. It is like a huge musical box with a large cylinder with pins that cause the bells to ring in a particular sequence that can also be set by a keyboard. We were able to see it working although the chiming of the bells is best heard from outside.

At the very top floor of the belfry, the views were predictably spectacular.

We resumed our wander through Bruges’s streets while skirting the densest crowds and made our way to Saint Saviour’s Cathedral, also known as Sint-Salvatorskathedraal. This is a beautiful, airy space with a huge nave, impressive tapestries and remarkably vibrant stained glass.

^{Saint Saviour’s Cathedral, Bruges}

As with several of the historic buildings we visited whilst in Belgium, there was a Treasury. This one had several lovely pieces on show.

*^{The Saint Saviour’s Cathedral Treasury}*

By now we were beginning to think again about beer and food. We walked back towards the north end of the city centre and found a delightful waterside bar (it was hard to know if the waterways were river or canal but here the water was flowing and not at all smelly). The sky was cloudless and the temperature, view and atmosphere was so perfect that we settled down for a lengthy session of beer and more beef – a very nice steak and chips this time.

Replete, we decided we had had a lovely but sufficient Bruges experience. Our phone batteries were low – I’d forgotten to bring my remote charger and Google Maps is such a battery suck. Jane had to start asking passers-by for directions (I would rather use the position of the sun than ask anyone the way!) Finally, a circuitous route took us back to the station, the return journey to Ghent and another early night in our hotel there to prepare us for a couple of days of Ghent sight-seeing.

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