THE GRAND TOUR

Scotland, England, Wales, Russia, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Kenya and Zimbabwe

This was our most ambitious trip to date. We were away for more than three months, Peter and John Disney had already retired and Daphne had a term (Term 3) of long service leave from Canberra Grammar School.

In summary we spent a month in the UK to catch up with family and friends. (Peter and John had left two weeks earlier to spend the time in Scotland and particularly to visit Fair Isle Bird observatory). We travelled to Russia to visit Moscow and St Petersburg. This was followed by three weeks in Italy. Next stop was Vienna to attend the International Ornithological Congress. After the congress we were part of two excursions, a short one to Rust in Austria and a longer one to Eastern Turkey. After a few more days in Venice, Italy, we flew to East Africa to visit Kenya and spend a few days in Zimbabwe. We flew many of the legs with Alitalia, so we went through Rome many times, unfortunate as every time we did we had things stolen from our locked luggage!

After their trip to Scotland Peter dropped John off at his cousin in Kingston-on-Thames and was there to meet me on a very hot summer evening on Sunday 26 June. (Exceptionally hot for England as it was 29oC at 6pm!). He had hired a car for the month we were in England, a General Motors 1800cc vehicle, good on fuel consumption but with no air conditioner, normally not a problem but it would have been pleasant during a rare hot summer.
We drove to Cold Ash to stay with Sheila. Most of the years I had known her she had lived at St Benedict’s Cottage, originally her family home and again later to live with her Mother particularly after Dick died. They then sold St Benedicts and bought two bungalows, Margaret bought in Cold Ash and Sheila in Thatcham. Subsequently after Mother died Sheila moved into the Cold Ash bungalow. It was relatively new and certainly had not been there when we had been school children. It was on land that had previously been a dairy farm. So it was very good to see Sheila and where she now lived.

On the next day Sheila, Peter and I went to Newbury, it had not changed much but we were surprised to see beggars in the street. Henry came over after dinner. The Tuesday was Peter’s birthday. He went to London by bus for the day on sound recording business (BLOWS). Sheila and I visited St David’s School (Welsh Girls’ School). We had written in advance and were welcomed and given a conducted tour of the school. We also had an opportunity to wander around by ourselves and to meet some of the staff. It was a very different school to the one we had known. There were very few boarders, most of whom were overseas students, many of them Asian. The school now caters for K to Year12. It did not give the impression of a great academic place but it was probably more so than when we had first attended more than 40 years before!
In the afternoon we visited Woodlands Nursing home in Rookery road Staines. Crowhurst was part of it as was next door and a new building linking the two houses, all very well appointed. Aunt Clara lived there, she suffered from dementia. We introduced ourselves and sat in the garden for a while. It was not easy as Clara found it difficult to keep a track of the conversation. Roger had visited her only a few days earlier to attend Michael Fox’s funeral but she could not remember that. When we all returned to Cold Ash we, plus Rebecca, had dinner in a pub in a nearby village.

The weather continued to be fine as it did for the whole of July. We spent the next day in Selbourne. We visited the church and grave yard and the Wakes. We saw all the Gilbert White connections and the Oates family material on the top floor of the Wakes, we also walked around the very attractive gardens. That evening Simon drove from Bath to have dinner with us. He works with computers for Hewlett Packard. Next evening Sheila, Peter and I had dinner in Newbury with John and Eileen (who came from London) and Ian Chattern (who travelled from Bath). Again had a pleasant pub meal in the square at Newbury.

We left Cold Ash early next morning to pick up Katie at Heathrow. During 1994 she had taken a year off from University. She had worked for six months, mostly at Electric Shadows bookshop, to save money to go travelling. Having picked her up we made our way to Cardiff to stay with Roger and family for the weekend. We went via Slimbridge and arrived in Whitchurch for an excellent dinner of salmon and strawberries. Since we had last visited they had extended their house by building another bedroom over the garage. All of the internal doors had been stripped of paint and sealed to reveal Baltic pine which appeared very attractive.

The next day we visited castles and abbeys. Stephanie stayed at home but the five of us went to Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey and Raglan Castle. Chepstow Castle is one of the keys to Wales, guarding the river crossing near the mouth of the Wye where the main coastal land route from Southern England enters Wales. Above Chepstow are the river cliffs of the Wye Valley with no usable crossing until Monmouth is reached. Ships from Bristol, Gloucester or further a-field could bring supplies to the Castle. And the timber and iron industries of the Wye Valley and Dean Forest – like the Castle – already existed by the time of the Doomsday Book. From medieval times until the last century Chepstow was a flourishing small port. We enjoyed a good pub lunch at the ‘Moon & Sixpence’ overlooking the river at Tintern.

On our return Marie-Anne and fiancé Ian had arrived, after dinner they went off to visit the vicar to make arrangements for their marriage to be held on 5th August 1995 in Whitchurch with the reception to be held at Cardiff Castle.

On the Sunday afternoon we made our way to Whitstable to stay with Jenner & John at 104 South St Whitstable where they have a large and very productive garden with lots of fruit and vegetables. It was a terrible trip across country although things went reasonably well until we got caught in an hour-long traffic jam on the M25 in the Red Hill, Reigate area. On the Monday while the family were at work ( the boys were still in the US on their world trip, they had visited us in Australia just before we left home) we visited Canterbury and spent time walking around the tourist places particularly the Cathedral. It was full of fairly reluctant French school children. Other things we saw were ‘The Canterbury Tales’ a medieval adventure in St Margaret’s Street. Also Chaucer’s bookshop and the ‘Kings Gallery’ once the King’s School Tuckshop with its famous crooked door. One of the fascinating things we saw in the middle of the city, near the Weavers, was a field of English wild flowers, where instead of high maintenance gardens they had sown wild flower seeds and obviously we were there at the prefect time to see them to maximum effect.

That evening Auntie Eileen came to dinner, after which John gave Katie several options of what to do. She chose ‘a pub crawl’ This we did with seemingly little regard for the drink-driving restrictions! One picture shows Katie in the ‘stocks’ outside a Whitstable pub.

Next day we had another cross county trip via Kent and Sussex to Angmering. During the day we kept dodging the ‘Le Tour’ competitors, an offshoot of the ‘Tour de France’ bicycle race. We arrived mid-afternoon at Worthing Motors and met up with John and Geoff. Went to Clapham Village to visit Mary and Jimmy. Mary is partially paralysed and lives some of each week in a home. It was a very attractive bungalow, Jimmy had produced a spectacular display of annual flowers to make a lovely view for Mary. That night we stayed with Geoff & Veronica at Plantation House, the third house they had lived in on the Ham Manor estate. We ate at a nearby restaurant.

The next day we spent in Arundel, Katie and I walked around the castle and the town, Peter visited the RSPB reserve at the Wildbrooks, we all met up later in the day at the Wildfowl property. After afternoon tea with Roger and Gina Wilmshurst, we had dinner at a pub in Selbourne before arriving back at Sheila’s at 9pm. We left Cold Ash to visit Llanelli, a Wildfowl place to see the Freckled ducks.

We then moved on westwards to Milford to stay with David and Shirley Saunders. They live in a lovely old house, called Woosung, on the very edge of the harbour. John who travelled by train, missed the connection but was only 45 minutes late. The next morning we shopped for food for the two days we hoped to stay on Skomer and drove to Martinshaven. We boarded the ‘Dale Sailing’ for the 15 minute trip to the island. We walked around the island. We all stayed in the Conservancy accommodation behind the Warden’s house. There were lots of people on the island, day trippers, resident volunteers and research workers.

Next day we had a peasant day, walking to the Wick and sitting with the Puffins. Had lunch with Nick Davies (ex lobster fisherman), on a work placement from the local college in Haverfordwest. John made a damper and Nick had caught some Mackerel which were excellent. In the evening we walked up to the kiln on the track to see the Shearwaters, there were also lots of toads and a few frogs.

Next day we came off the island at mid-day as the visibility was poor. Had a cup of tea with the Saunders and then drove to Aberystwyth where we stayed in a typical sea-side hotel on the front. It was very comfortable.

We continued on to Anglesey, found a nice B&B and planned to visit the museum in town with the Tunnicliffe pictures to find it did not open on Mondays. We decided to return tomorrow. We did, however, visit Charles Tunnicliffe’s house, a part museum now and were shown around, it is called Shorelands, we then walked along the sea wall opposite. On one point of Anglesey at Ellins Tower, a RSBP reserve on a cliff, there was a camera at the base of the cliff that could be viewed from above, unfortunately it was very misty so not easy to see but a good idea. Anglesey has many ancient burial sites which form an extensive amount of material. Some of these are as old as the Late Neolithic (about 3000 – 2500 BC).

Next morning we visited the picture museum. Later in the day we drove across England to Norfolk where we stayed in a good hotel at Kings Lynn. From there the next morning we visited the old lighthouse where Peter Scott once lived on the Wash at Sutton Bridge on the River Nene.

We then made our way to Reydon where the Urrys live. We stayed at the Cricketers, a small hotel inland from where Katie and David live which was very comfortable. During the stay in Reydon we walked around the area and saw lots of birds. One day we drove to Norwich where we left David, John and Katie Fullagar (Katie Urry had to work). They had a good day in Norwich visiting the Cathedral and the old city. Peter and I went on to Fakenham to Pensthorpe. We had lunch with Bill and Fran Makin and saw all the displays including the Freckled Duck. (Briefly met Liza Goddard – the ‘skippy’ girl!). Later in the week we were able to take Katie and John back to Pensthorpe, it is all very well presented with beautiful gardens and attractive displays. There were pathways through areas of wild flowers as we had seen in Canterbury.

One evening we took all the party to dinner in Southwold, it was an excellent restaurant in an old house, Sutherland House. On other occasions we ate at the Urrys. One night Peter, John and David made an unsuccessful attempt to record Nightjars.

However, on the Sunday we all trailed off to Southwold church and made some good recordings of the bells. Later in the day we walked across the marsh, caught the ferry to Warbleswick village. There were quite a lot of tourists all visiting the shops, including one specialising in English wines. During the week we visited several old churches in the area, complete with many gargoyles, also Burgh Castle.
The next day we spend a long time on the road. After morning tea and saying farewell to the Urrys we set off for Cambridge where we were going to drop off Katie. We arrived at Henry and Audrey Disney’s, where John had been staying. It was good to introduce Katie to them. Although we were able to leave her in a B&B in the town, later she moved in with them and enjoyed Audrey’s company and a few days doing things with her. It was difficult to find accommodation for Katie in a very busy town during summer. She found a place near Pembroke College (John’s old College) and just across from the Fitzwilliam Museum.

We then set off for Oxford to leave John with his brother. This again proved more difficult than might be expected, it was very hot. Having met up with Hugh and Mavis, had a cup of tea, Peter and I set off for the New Forest. We finally arrived very late but sensibly they had already started dinner. We stayed with John David and Eileen who Peter had not met recently at all as they had visited Canberra in 1988 when Peter had been in England. JD’s Father, Jack, was also staying, so it was nice to catch up with him. (It was here that we heard that Clare Williams had died).

Conkers is a lovely house and garden. Several times we walked out of the garden, just down the lane into the Forest. We saw lots of ponies, Eileen is interested and quite knowledgeable about the birds. We were very fortunate with the weather and most days we were able to have dinner in the garden. We made a visit to Poole to see some old haunts. We were particularly keen to see the Pottery on the quay, this proved very disappointing – they no longer make any of the traditional Poole pottery.

We spent a day on Poole harbour, on the Poxon’s boat, a two-masted ‘Sea Dog’, we used the motor all day as there was very little wind. We visited Studland, went out of the head near the ferry and then back into the harbour and around Brownsea island. We had lunch at the Parkstone Yacht Club where they have great plans for an upgraded club. This is probably a response to the new Poole YC which we had seen earlier in the week, it has marvellous facilities, inside the club and for the mooring of boats, particularly the Dayboats. After lunch Peter and I went off to a boatyard to look at Flying 15 #4, it had been completely rebuilt. Again that evening we had dinner in the garden. One day Alison, their daughter came to lunch, she is a Primary School teacher.

The next day we went to Milton to a travel agent to make a booking for a hotel at Heathrow where we could meet up with John coming from Oxford for the next leg to Russia. We had a beautiful lunch with the Stevens at Sway. It was a very elaborate meal, with white tablecloths, silver and waiters, all set out under trees in the garden. They had collections of waterfowl, including flamingos. We spent the early evening with Joan and Peter Eddolles. By chance while we were with them Katie rang them and arranged to be with them next week. We went on to stay with Roger and Gina at Washington. We made several trips around the immediate countryside. We also visited Ardingly, it was summer holidays with very few people about, Peter and Roger enjoyed themselves and marvelled at the ‘cabbage’ smell that still wafted out from the Dining Hall windows! We also visited their retired Art teacher, Mr Constable, who lived locally.

Later in the week we had afternoon tea with Bessie in Sunbury before meeting up with John at the airport hotel at the Forte Crest.

We left very early next morning for Moscow via Milan. (We had an upgraded flight from London to Milan). We were picked up in Moscow very easily by the tour company and taken to our hostel. It was an interesting set up run by a Russian woman who lived in Sydney. She had managed to make arrangements to use spare rooms kept for family members of patients in an eye hospital, the Iris Mikov chain. It worked very successfully so that her visitors would be accommodated on one floor. It meant that the rooms were clean and well looked after, breakfast and some other meals were provided and it was more reasonably priced than a comparable hotel. Her name was Valentino Colyer, she specialised in using the Trans Siberian train for some of her trips and had a firm belief that world peace could only be helped by people to people contact.

There were seven people in our group. All from Australia. Ken & Nancy from Sydney and Rob & Pat from Brisbane and the three of us. We had a van and a guide devoted to us, Alexander (also called Alex or Sasha), he was a Chemistry student from Moscow University. That first night we had dinner at the hostel. Later we walked around the corner where there was a big hotel, a Pullman International where we were able to change some money. Interestingly there was smoke coming out of the basement but nobody seemed very concerned about this!

The first day Alexander took us on a whole day tour of the Kremlin and the inner city. It was interesting that everyday there was a different prescribed way to walk across Red Square, this was carefully controlled by the guards. At the end of the day we met up with Valentino, Arcadii (The agent in Moscow of the travel organisation it seemed) and two other people and were taken on a picnic – it was a country area with dachas where the Iris organisation had some cottages. We bought some ‘Red wine of Russia’ for a $1 a bottle by the road and some water melon. We ate this by the canal.

On our return to the hostel other people had arrived who were subsequently going to go on one of Valentino’s train trips. The next day with all the tour people we undertook a more extensive city tour seeing different sights, including Red Square, the GUM store, we also went across the river to the University. This was a popular look-out area where people had their wedding pictures taken.

That evening we were all entertained to a Russian cultural night. Excellent dinner, dancers, singers and games. We ended the evening drinking vodka late at night! John demonstrated his ‘break fall’ which stopped people in their tracks.

We went on a Monasteries tour to Tponue Ceptheba Aarpa about 70 kms out of Moscow. It is the Zagorsk State Museum for the preservation of History & Art. It is in the town of Zagorsk and a fine monument of Russian architecture and culture. Pride of place among them belongs to the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius, a great treasure of early Russian art. We were shown all around, tried the special drink the monks made, listened to their music and bought a CD.

We also explored the nearby countryside. We visited an artists area, unfortunately closed but we could see around the houses, some with lovely furniture inside them. Each of the main rooms had a ceramic stove in the corner that provided the heating.

Valentino was a really good person to make things happen. She had mentioned to us that there was a performance of the Moscow Circus that evening, we said we would really like to see that but that we were going on the train to St Petersburg overnight, she immediately arranged for us to do both and organised a packed dinner for us to eat in the gap. The Circus was good and well worth seeing and we comfortably caught the train. This was good and departed promptly at midnight.

We were picked up in St Petersburg next morning and taken to a similar hostel as we had stayed in Moscow, with rather larger rooms and a bit further out of the city. We had breakfast at the hostel and then set out on a day trip out of the city. To Peterhof (also called Petrodvorets) and the Pushkin Palace. Very large buildings in very extensive gardens with hundreds of fountains, once very formal but a bit run down in places. The fountains were designed by some of Russia’s greatest artists, built by famous builders and inspired by poets and writers. It was good to see classical musicians playing in groups in the gardens. The guide in St Petersburg was Nadia, we had a very late lunch which meant we ended the day eating supper in the foyer of the hostel.

On the Saturday we took a city tour, we started across the river at the Peter Paul Fortress, there was a beautiful shop there where we bought a plate. We then visited the Summer Palace gardens. That evening we went to the Ballet, also organised by Valentino, it was in the Pushkin theatre, it was a performance of Giselle by the Marley Ballet (The theatre was normally the home of the Kirov ballet who were on holiday in August).

The next day we spent all day at the Hermitage. The museum, also called the Winter Palace, created by Catherine the Great with the aid of her distinguished Russian and foreign advisors. In 1764 she bought in Berlin a magnificent collection of paintings for her new royal residence, the Winter Palace. It consisted of 225 canvases by Dutch and Flemish masters which provided the nucleus of the Hermitage collection as we know it today. Later in her reign three more palatial buildings were erected on the banks of the R. Neva to house the ever-growing Imperial collection. The New Hermitage was erected to house the main collections. This was to be a public museum and was opened in 1852. Today the State Hermitage Museum has a collection of almost three million exhibits representing the cultures and civilizations of many nations and peoples, ranging from the Stone Age to the present day. The most valued asset of the collection is without doubt its picture gallery. 50 rooms are taken up with the collection of French masters alone.

Other of Catherine’s acquisitions included engravings, coins and medals, gemstones, minerals, and books. The museum has been added to by successive generations. New buildings have been added to accommodate the increased collections. There has also been occasions of fires and storming by revolutionary forces that have all taken their toll. Twice there has been evacuation of the museum, the second time during the Second World War. Of recent times more material has been bought which has added to its world status.

It was the time of the Goodwill Games and that Sunday morning was the woman’s road race for cycles. It was so hot competitors were falling off their bikes! It was also Navy Day and the fleet was in town and the place was decorated with balloons, lots of activities all together. Much of St Petersburg has lots of canals, it is sometimes called the ‘Venice of the North’. In both Russian cities we bought paintings from street artists. The public buildings in St Petersburg were usually covered in stucco and painted a distinctive colour so that the Hermitage was a green colour, Peterhof was a yellow/cream colour and the Summer Palace was bright blue.

On the Monday we went our separate ways, Nancy and Ken left early so Bob, Pat and the three of us walked around the city, we were dropped off outside the Pushkin theatre near the statue of Catherine the Great in Nevski Prospekt, we walked up the Prospekt to the Hermitage museum. We walked into shops and managed to find ourselves a Turkish café to have lunch. Pat and Bob left at 6pm and we returned on the overnight train to Moscow. St Isaac’s Cathedral, is one of the largest domed churches of the world and stands in the centre of the city next to the Neva embankment. The existing Cathedral is the fourth church to be constructed in St Petersburg in memory of St Isaac the Dalmatian, a Byzantine monk whose feast day, 30 May, coincided with the birthday of Peter the Great. In 1931 the church became a museum. Its exhibits illustrate the history of the cathedral’s construction and tell about its architecture, its sculptures, paintings and mosaics. It is also possible to walk outside on the roof of the museum which we did, from where you can view much of St Petersburg.

Next morning in Moscow we were met by Arcadii and taken to the hostel. We took the shuttle from the Pullman International into the middle of the city. We walked through Red Square and visited Lenin’s tomb which Sasha had previously said we did not need to see! It was very cold in the mausoleum, all well organised, the walk takes you out past a wall with plaques with many names including the Englishmen like Philby and McLean. We visited the GUM store again and returned to the Izvestia Publishing house to catch the noon shuttle back to the hostel. Arcadii took us to the airport for the trip to Rome.

We stayed at the Hotel Pavia Roma of Via Gaeta, Roma, just behind the Termini, a transport centre with bus and train station. The first morning we caught the metro to the Colosseum station, as you leave the station the Colosseum is right there towering over you. We walked all around there. It was erected in 80AD by Emperor Flavius. In its heyday it accommodated more than 50,000 spectators. To the side of the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine.

We next walked along the Paladin Hills, not so successful as there was no guide, no labels and not enough information to get a good feel for the place. There were lots of stones lying around and labelled with a number, one of the pictures shows John sitting on a relic. Back to the station we had a pizza lunch and made our way back to the hotel. We asked the reception people at the hotel where we should eat dinner later that night. They were very helpful and warned us of the ubiquitous pick pockets in Rome. He suggested we take a ‘64’ bus to the Piazza Navona, which proved excellent, we went there several times, there were lots of outside eating places and we were able to visit a different one each evening. There was also artists painting and entertainers in plenty in the Piazza at night. There were no cars allowed in the Piazza. The Piazza is dominated by three Bernini fountains. A short walk from the piazza Navona is the best preserved monument of the ancient city, the Pantheon, erected in 120AD in honour of all the gods, it survived because it was consecrated as a church in 609. The only source of light is the central hole of the famous cupola.

After our initial tourist attempts we decided that we should take an organised tour the next day. The morning tour of the museums of the Vatican run by Robert was very good. One of the most spectacular sculptures being La Pieta of Michelangelo. It also took us to the Sistine Chapel, we were lucky to see this as it had recently been closed for several months for refurbishments. The Chapel was designed by Giovannino de’ Dolci for Pope Sixtus IV, it represents a most important complex from an artistic, religious and historical point of view. The Chapel is still the venue of important church ceremonies, notably the Conclave, traditionally the meeting of cardinals that elects a new Pope. The Basilica of St John Lateran is regarded as the second most important church after St Peter’s. In a building on the other side of the piazza from this very large church is the Scala Santa, inside the central aisle is a staircase, traditionally it is thought that this was ascended by Christ on his way to be judged by Pontius Pilate. Lunch was part of the tour, we decided to continue with the afternoon part which was not so good. This took us to the Catacombs.

Next day we did our own thing and used the Metro and made our way to the Square of Spagna where the Spanish steps are, an area where you find lots of European tourists. We visited the American Express office to make some bookings. We could see that after Rome and Florence we would need a break before going to Vienna. Through the agency we managed to book a unit in an historic castle and a car to get us there from Florence. We had lunch at the English Tea house called ‘Babingtons’. Peter ordered Lapsang Souchong tea the smell of which pervaded the whole establishment.

On the Saturday we went on a whole day trip to Assisi. This was the home of St Francis. After his death in 1226 the greatest Florentine and Sienese painters decorated the Basilica di San Francesco with a spectacular concentration of frescos illustrating his life. The Basilica is actually three churches in one, the sumptuously decorated and well lit Upper church, the more subdued and pious Lower Church and the Crypt which houses St Francis’ tomb as its alter. The Upper Church is particularly noted for the frescos by Giotto. On top of the hill in the village of Assisi there are places to stay in the various Monasteries and Nunneries because there are not so many Monks or Nuns nowadays. It is notable that those who are there were often coloured people from African nations.

Next day was Sunday, the one place we had obviously missed out was St Peter’s so we made our way there on the Metro. A massively imposing building, we were very pleased to see that. Complete with lots of Swiss guards and tourists. The Basilica di San Pietro is the largest cathedral in the world. The dome of St Peter’s was Michelangelo’s finest work. Also noteworthy were Bernini’s peerless baroque colonnades, which if you stand on either of the round dark stones next to the piazza’s twin fountains, the three rows of columns line up so perfectly that they appear as a single row.

In the afternoon we took a half day tour which included Hadrian’s Villa, the Villa d’Este and the Tivoli Gardens with its famous fountains.

One of the evenings we were in Rome Peter was not feeling so well so John and I had dinner just a walk away from the hotel, it was a small family restaurant where we ordered a whole fish which the waiter filleted with one hand in a very expert way.

We had not seen all of Rome by any means which is a very big city with many different areas. We then moved on to Florence, we went by train which took a couple of hours and was first class. It was air conditioned and very comfortable. We had booked to stay at the Bonciani Hotel on the Palazzo Pitti Broccardi which was very close to the train station. The central area of the city is such that you can walk around by foot. Most evenings we ate in the ‘Square’ at one of the open air restaurants. We ate at a nearby hotel, one evening, known to have an excellent roof-top restaurant in the Grand Hotel Baglioni it was just across from our hotel.

One of the major attractions in Florence is the Uffysi museum for which you have to queue, after two days we hit upon the idea of getting up early and being at the front of the queue before it opened. We finally did this one morning and were in the first intake of 540 people. The next morning we did a similar thing in order to get into the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see David, on that occasion we were in the first half a dozen or so people. We explored most of the city, walked by the river, along the Ponti Vecchi, visited the silver and gold shops and the Boboli gardens. We also went to the Science museum which was good and much less frequented.

One of the most identifiable buildings in Florence is the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) which is visible from all over central Florence. The Duomo was completed in the 15th century by the addition of Brunelleschi’s cupola built between 1420 and 1436 and is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance. Close by there is also a Campanile, this had originally been designed by Giotto and had incorporated a spire, however, the final result was very different. It was only 275 feet and square topped when completed by architects Pisano and Talenti. Other notable buildings that we saw were the Baptistery, the Bargello which was the oldest seat of Florentine government built between 1299 and 1345 and the Medici Palace. There is a corridor, the Corridoio Vasariano, which provided a safe and private route for Cosimo I to travel between the Palazzo Pitti and the Palazzo Vecchio with its distinctive Belfry, it was built under the supervision of Vasari.

One morning we walked to Santa Croce where there is a large square with an imposing Cathedral on one side, it is here that Michelangelo’s tomb is found. The square is dominated by leather merchants who have their shops all around the square. On the walk there Peter had been accosted by some pick pockets who managed to lift some loose change that he had in a top shirt pocket, they dropped the notes to the ground and in fact did not get away with anything, this alerted John so when only shortly afterwards, as we were walking up the main steps of the Cathedral, John was approached by a few gypsy girls, he immediately reacted and latched onto one of the girls, she started to scream, this emptied the whole square of all the would be beggars and kept it that way for quite a good while!

At the end of the week we rented a Hertz car, a small (1.6cc) Fiat Tipi with excellent air conditioning. We drove south to Arezzo on the A1 and then turned off to Monte San Savino, all very easily signposted and arrived at an old thirteen century castle at Gargonza, we had apartment #12, downstairs with a bedroom up a very steep stairway, all self contained, with two bathrooms.

We planned to take a rest in this very pleasant unit so we had the energy for the next stage. Most days we went down the 8km to the village where there were a few shops and bakery which produced fresh bread twice a day. We found a grocer in the village square and had a lot of fun trying to buy yeast from him to make John’s damper. This was not a known commodity in Italy but with no common language between us we were able to purchase something that worked. In the flat above us was an American couple, Carol & Laurence Brandon, from Martha’s Vineyard island. We entertained them to wine and damper one evening. They found it fascinating.

We purposely did not venture far but one day went to the walled city of Siena but found it amazingly crowded with nowhere to park so we abandoned that idea. Instead we visited a lake-side town just further south called Castiglione del Lago, it was a market day so we pottered around the village and the lake to make a change.

Gargonza was used as a centre for a music festival at certain times of the year, it certainly was a very scenic place with good amenities. There was a restaurant in the main house but we never went there. It was in the middle of farmland with very little wild life.

Back to Florence to take the train to Vienna, we travelled overnight, again in a very comfortable carriage. We arrived in Vienna at Sud Barnhof on the first cool day for weeks. Surprisingly there was no one to meet the delegates to the IOC. However we made our way to the Wandl Hotel, which was very centrally placed just behind St Peter’s church on Petersplatz, off the Graben. There were a number of statues in the Graben including the Plague Pillar. We found we could walk around the main central areas which were all car free for pedestrians. From the Graben the Fiakers, the Viennese landaus were always available.

That evening the opening ceremony for the Congress was held at the New University. The congress was held in the Hofburg Palace, this was an Imperial castle until 1918. It is now the official seat of the head of state but often used as a conference centre. The next day it started warming up again, the delegates found the Hofburg Palace did not have any cooling system, when they commented it was suggested that they could open the windows! This was rather typical of the Austrians who did not appear to be flexible, for example having dinner at night was difficult as there was very little time to eat between the afternoon and evening sessions. The obvious solution was to eat after 9pm but restaurants were rarely open to serve dinner later in the evenings.

One afternoon we went to the famous Sacher hotel to have some of their very famous Sacher Torte and coffee.

Peter and John went to the Congress sessions, I went to a few of the tours arranged for ‘accompanying persons’. One day we went to the Schloss Schönbrunn Palace where there were beautiful gardens and we had a good guide, Ulricka. Another time we visited the Porcelain factory at Augarten, which was interesting, but very conventional and expensive. That morning we had tea in a revolving restaurant. I also had my hair cut. There were lots of posters associated with the Congress, the group from the Gould Petrel work mounted their ‘Down Under Box’, an artificial nest box for burrow-nesting seabirds, to demonstrate their work. It won a prize, a pair of binoculars. David Priddel and his wife and ourselves put it together.

The River Danube runs through the city, the Prater park with its distinctive giant Ferris wheel is visible from much of the city. A new building by the river is the Vienna International Centre, known as ‘UNO City’. Many times people commented that Hitler was refused entry to the Vienna Art School and that if he had been allowed in perhaps the course of history might have been different!

After the Congress was finished we spent the weekend on a short excursion to Rust. It was a wet day when we started out, about 80 kms from Vienna. The area was rich farm land, full of vines. We had lunch in an old thirteenth century inn. We enjoyed a simple lunch with some local fish recommended by our guide, Albert. Rust is an interesting town which being on the border has changed its nationality many times, currently it is in Austria. At Rust we stayed in a beautiful resort type hotel on the edge of the lake. On every roof there were White Storks nesting. There were lots of people, we particularly enjoyed the company of South Africans, Richard and Vivienne Liversidge. We visited the World Wild Life Centre by the lake and walked all around the Neusiedler See. On the Sunday morning the bus took people who wanted to into Hungary. Peter and I had left our passports in Vienna and Richard and Vivienne with brand new South African passports, only issued at independence in April 1994 were not prepared to enter into the debate. So we stayed at a little café and had an easy lunch. The Liversidges introduced us to Sturm, a partly fermented drink which is produced in the first steps of making wine. It was served cold and very refreshing. It does not have preservative in it and is only available for a limited time in the year. Soon the car returned with two Australian and two Japanese who needed visas as well as passports. (John was OK as he had a British passport).

The main post Congress tour that we attended was to Turkey. We met up on the Monday morning. We flew from Vienna to Istanbul Turkey, we spent 5 hours there in transit to Trabzon. There was Chris and Mary Perrins (Chris had been President of the IOC); Margaret & Denis Summer-Smith; David Stark from Thursal in Scotland, Diana Bradley from Shepherds Bush; Raphaele Winkler from Switzerland; John Disney; Peter & Daphne Fullagar. Also an ornithological guide, Chris Husband from Bournemouth UK and now Dortmund in Northern Germany. And Ameneh, a Turkish (Iranian) language guide. The two guides met us at Trabzon beside the Black Sea. It was not a very good flight and a very heavy landing on the air strip. On arrival we had to pay $US 10 as an entry Visa (we had not been told this earlier), nobody had the US currency but everybody had a little Turkish money as we had taken the opportunity to change some money during the long wait in Istanbul. An impasse was building up, by chance I had $US 180 in cash and felt it better to pay for everybody and sort it out later. People were not prepared o do this. Chris was walking up and down, saying – ‘funny country that will not take its own currency!’ At this point the guides arrived and the customs people decided that they would take the Turkish money!

We stayed in a small hotel, Hotel Özgür in a square called Atatürk Alani in the town, ate nearby and strolled around the town with Chris Husband. We also had two Transit vans (one red and one white) and two Kurdish drivers from Van.

Next day we visited the Sumela Monastery, 46 kms south of Trabzon. It was founded in Byzantine times (500s), abandoned in 1923 upon the founding of the Turkish Republic. Chris particularly was very keen to see Wall Creepers which were to be found on the walls of the monastery where the frescos were still visible.

The next day we had a long day in alpine country, we ended up at Artvin, a very steep military town near the Georgian border. We stayed at the Kavahan Otel, it was a dirty hotel, however, the dinning room was reasonable. Mary and Peter were sick on arrival but recovered fairly quickly. In the bar there were lots of Georgian women, mostly dressed in red plying their trade as prostitutes. The hotel was next door to the Mosque. From Artvin we went birding all around the area, some fairly hairy tracks as they were narrow and steep. We visited the coast and some tea growing areas. One day driving along the coast we met an area where there were thousands of migratory birds of prey, mostly Hobbies. We met some boys who took us to their home which was a small fish farm. We had dinner there, picked the fish from the pond and it was cooked for us. At this same place they had shrikes that were masked and used to catch other birds.

One day we visited Ishan where there was a thirteenth century church, A Christian Armenian church, it had originally been built in the eighth century and enlarged in the eleventh century. It had changed its religion several times and was called ‘The Church of the Mother of God’. Everywhere there was evidence of the popularity of Soccer.

The highlight was staying at Demirkent, a tiny village on a very steep slope about 6 kms higher than Artvin. There were no facilities in the village for us to stay so we stayed in the homes of the villagers. This was all arranged by Osman Büyük, his wife, Serinç and their 8 year old son Belkan. As it was summer there and as all the houses were three story with the middle floor being the living area the residents moved out of that level and we stayed in those rooms and the residents slept on the top floor which was open and where the family normally ate in the summer months. The Perrins and ourselves stayed with Cidem, Serinç’s sister. All of us ate our meals on the top floor of Osman and Serinç’s house. The food was good, including home made yoghurt. During the two weeks we always had a packed lunch which was local produce and halva, a variety of forms whatever was the speciality of the particular village.

Each day the party went up the hill to see as many birds as possible, I made a point of staying in the village and watching the people as they went about their business. It was school holidays and everybody had to work collecting anything eatable to be dried, every flat surface was used for drying material to be stored for the winter when it would be very cold and tough survival conditions. The village had plenty of water which came from springs high up the mountains. There was a complicated system of channels that had been built over many years to allow the movement of water to cover all the ground. The older people in the village changed the channels around each day.

I would walk around with my camera, Çidem realised what I was doing and indicated that I should join her, in the morning she and some of the other women of the village baked bread in a communal kitchen. In a pide oven, they insisted that I make the mix and the bread as well. After lunch she came to find me again and we sat in the orchard picking and sorting the walnuts. They were divided into whole nuts, halves, pieces and crumbs, these latter were often added to the pide bread. Luckily I knew that they would stain my hands. It was interesting that with no common language we spent the day together and really learnt a lot about each other. I suspect that she was a lot younger than I although I do not think that was the appearance we gave. The education for the children was very different, the boys were educated from 6 years to 16 years when they had to undertake some military training. Girls on the other hand only attended school until the age of 12 years.

On another day Peter stayed in the village as well and we observed the daily activities. There were some interesting styles over the stone walls and poor donkeys that were over-laden and that fell over. If it was possible to terrace the land it was so that every possible bit of space could be used for growing things. There was a mosque in the village, we were looking around and the Imam came up to us and invited us in, I was not sure who he was and whether I should go in the building as my understanding was that women could not go in. However, we did go in and were shown around. At night the jackals could be heard calling and echoing around the mountains.

At the end of the week we drove to Erzurum to fly back to Istanbul. Unfortunately the Summer-Smiths lost their luggage here, however, we met them by chance back in Vienna by which time it had been recovered. We spent a night in Istanbul. We had a few extra days in Vienna, we packed up some books and additional clothes and posted them back to Australia. We also used the opportunity to see some of the musical museums and to We visited the Hayden museum and the part of the City museum devoted to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and to hear a Mozart concert. We also visited the Zoo, the dinner to mark the end of the Congress had been at the Zoo but we had not seen much that night.

We had a few spare days and decided to go to Venice, we really enjoyed this and it made a complete change from other parts of Italy that we had visited. We flew Tyrolean Air, a small branch of Austrian Air, Fokker aircraft, not crowded that produced an excellent breakfast. We took a taxi to our hotel, Chiara Hotel, right on the edge of Venice, on the Grand Canal, the only one that you could reach by road, it was next to the bus station and generally well supplied by transport with the waterbus station and the railway just across the canal. Unlike Rome and Florence there were no petty criminals and it was possible to walk around the lanes and feel quite safe. Everything happens on the canals, shopping, transport, garbage collecting etc. The first day we took a water bus into St Marcos Cathedral, viewed all the mosaics and walked around the city as much as possible. That evening we took the water bus back to the Rialto where we had dinner on the edge of the canal, walked back to St Marcos square and finally returned home via the water bus. Next day was similar, we visited the picture museums and were rather disappointed to see only two Canalettos (to find most of them were in London, often in the Queen’s collections, in London and Windsor). That afternoon there was a big storm which combined with a high tide flooded the square, a very common occurrence. That afternoon John treated us all to a ride in a gondola.

That evening we were delivered to the airport by the Night manager on his way home. We flew via Rome and Jeddah to Nairobi, Kenya. We arrived before 10pm, were met by a very efficient Abercrombie and Kent representative, had a very long wait for our luggage even though we were taken around the back! We were taken to the Norfolk Hotel, a famous and well established place just outside the main city, we had been a little apprehensive about Nairobi but all these fears were allied when you arrive at this secure and protected place. We were given C7, one of the original cottages opened in 1904. It was a beautiful oasis of a past era, on that night we felt very fortunate, however, even when we returned a week later after a safari trip we felt that perhaps we were being too well looked after! We received two messages, one from the Van Somerens and one from the Dykes.

The next day we were briefed by the A&K representative. After reporting a stolen jacket we hired a car for the afternoon to visit the Van Somerens who live at Karen. They are John’s friends, G.R. (Chum) had been a museum man with the Nairobi museum. We also met his wife, Elena, their son Ian and his wife, Linda. They have a 16 year old daughter who is at boarding school in Scotland. As we were leaving the night security man was arriving. That night we ate in the Ibis restaurant at the Norfolk, it was interesting to note that all the guests were white and all the staff were black. We visited the National Nairobi museum and had a profitable morning there with a good guide who spent 2.5 hours with us. He showed us around the place starting with ‘The Evolution of Man’. He was an interesting person who used to work for an insurance company in Kenya., he had been posted to Australia for a couple of years but had not enjoyed that, currently retired and was a volunteer on Friday mornings. He had lived in Nairobi for 13 years and was married to a native woman. That afternoon we went on a game tour to the Nairobi city park and saw lots of good animals.

At the front of the Norfolk next to the street is a covered terrace called the Lord Delaware terrace where there is service nearly all the day. One day we had a Curry Tiffin lunch there. Reputably the main business of the country was carried out there regularly in the early days of the twentieth century.

Next afternoon David Dykes picked us up and drove us to Karen to meet Frankie (Frances) – Chris Davey’s sister and their daughter, Laura (10). We had lunch in the garden.

Next day we left for a week’s safari. We picked up the other 4 people of the tour who were staying at the Windsor Country Club, just out of town. Doug & Doreen from the Gold coast, he was a retired Westpac Bank Manager. And Renny & Trudi Ferando, from Sydney (ex Sri Lanka 25 years ago). Our driver, Frederick, was good and allowed us to see as many animals as possible. It was sometimes difficult as when we came across a group of animals we might have just preferred to stay in the one spot and observe them, however, the others were always keen to move on to the next spot in the hope of seeing a ‘Lion kill something!’

First stop was Samburu , we drove slowly at the end to see the animals. After lunch at the Samburu Serena Lodge we were taken on a Game drive. Each day out on safari the same pattern was repeated with an early morning Game drive before breakfast and one again at 4pm. Peter and John joined up with Patrick, the resident native naturalist who showed them the bird life, these men were usually very good. That afternoon we were taken to a display of dancers. That day we saw lots of giraffe, Lions, elephants and Impala. Before dinner there was a gathering place to have a drink and view a venue that had been set up to attract leopards.

The next day we crossed the equator, this was John’s 75th birthday and we were then driven to the Aberdare Country Club, where we had lunch, unfortunately much of the menu was made of Game animals, a pity as I would prefer to see the game not eat it! We were then taken by Club vehicles to the Ark where we stayed for 24 hours. It was well set up with announcements of interesting animals that could be seen from the hides, where there were salt ‘licks’ which attracted the animals, you could watch all night. Again lots of animals, Buffalo, elephants, Impala and Hare. Next day was a rather pointless day we drove into Nairobi to drive out again. Some of the roads were pretty terrible too as Kenya was a through route for aid traffic to neighbouring countries, where big lorries and trucks carried food and other aid. We drove to Lake Nakuru via Lake Naivasha. At the lake we saw lots of flamingos and other animals. Lake Nakuru Lodge had older style accommodation but with comfortable cabins with mosquito nets.

Next day we drove on to the Maasai Mara, again the roads were not good but we saw a lot of countryside and crossed the Rift Valley. Saw lots of animals when we arrived at Siana Springs camp, some very good accommodation as we all stayed in very superior tents, complete with en-suite bathrooms. Each tent had a chip heater which a servant would start up first thing in the morning so we always had hot water. After dinner there was a slide show given by assistant naturalist, Gordon. The next day we opted to stay at the reserve, much to Frederick’s dismay, the others spent all day on the road driving to the Zambezi where the animals cross the river. We decided we would stay in the compound and then in the afternoon go with the naturalist and an armed guard out of the enclosure, this was very good and we saw different animals and certainly in a different way than always from the vehicle.

The next day we were returned to Nairobi and the luxury of the Norfolk. We were fortunate to have one of the cottages back again. On the Saturday we visited the Dykes again and enjoyed dinner with them. We were able to make arrangements for Katie to meet up with them a week or so later. This was very reassuring for us as Katie would not have the luxury of staying at the Norfolk. In the event they looked after her well and made arrangements for her to go down to the coast at Mombasa and be met by a driver. On the Sunday we hired a car with a driver for the day, he took us to Lake Naivasha Country Club where we were assured of seeing Hippos which indeed we did, a good find as they were the only big animals we had missed. Had a good morning ride on a boat to get close to them and see some good birds, there was an interesting divide between the white people sailing and the native people swimming and generally having a good time in the water. John had an interesting exchange with a local, John practising his Swahili and the native speaking excellent English. That afternoon we visited the Karen Blixen National Museum.

The last few days were spent in Zimbabwe, we flew to Harare and spent a night at Meikles, a very different experience where the staff were not all black and the guests were not all white. It was also noticeable that after only 15 years independence the infra structure of the country was in better condition than in Kenya where independence had been 30 years ago. We then flew to Victoria Falls where we stayed at the hotel right on the edge of the Falls and spent a leisurely couple of days there. The hotel overlooks the railway bridge which links Zimbabwe and Zambia. We had an early morning trip on the Zambezi. On the edge of the Falls is a statue of Stanley. One of the bars in the hotel was called ‘I Presume’ after the famous saying by Stanley on meeting Livingstone. Peter managed to record some frogs that lived in a courtyard of the hotel. We also visited a park where the elephants were so numerous that they were destroying the vegetation.

What an amazing three months where we had seen such a wide range of things from so many different countries and cultures.

Daphne Fullagar