Ghosts in the Guest House Countdown

This Cleo Marjoribanks Murder Mystery (the 3rd in the series) goes on Countdown on Saturday 24th October - starting FREE.

Cleo and DCI David 'Steaming' Kettle go on holiday to Spain and stay at a boutique hotel where all sorts of strange happenings occur, including their finding a body in the garden. And the holiday goes downhill from there. A Spanish detective who cannot trust his officers enlists David's help, a pair of English teenagers disappear, a smuggling ring is discovered and general mayhem ensues.

Among other guests at the hotel is a grandmother and her sulky granddaughter, an English couple and a pair of Texans - she with big hair and big boobs.

Take this opportunity to get a free of cheap copy!  Simply click on the link. 

School Holidays

Here in England if parents take their children on holiday in term-time they risk being fined by the school. The reason given for taking schoolchildren away then is because package deal holidays are too expensive in the High Season. It has always been called the High Season and has little to do with children.

Let's go back in time. Most of my parents' generation didn't go away for holidays. They couldn't afford it.

I had my first holiday in 1947 - one week on the Isle of Wight. I was eight-years-old. My next holiday was three years later.

In those days the normal annual holiday was two weeks and workers were told by their employers when they could go. Bosses did try to play fair and give dads their holidays during the school summer break but it wasn't always possible.

We couldn't afford holidays every year but a couple of mine fell in term-time. My other drawback was having a mother who didn't have the patience to cope with my young sister who was born in 1948. Therefore, before she started school, if Mum had had a bad day with her I was kept home the next day to keep her entertained. The same went with the children's illnesses - I was kept home from school to help look after her.

As the schools maintain, taking children out of school in term-time interferes with their leaning. I KNOW. It took me many years to catch up. My knowledge of English grammar was mostly learned in Spain when I went to Spanish classes in the 1970s.

The answer - if you can't afford to take your children on expensive package-deal holidays take them somewhere affordable. There are plenty of places to spend holidays in the UK.

As a travel courier I discovered that the reason why many parents took their children overseas was because they wanted an overseas holiday. And I lost count of how many of those parents expected others to care for their children. I once rescued a toddler from a second floor balcony at 1.00 am. - his parents were at a bar in the town. On another occasion there was a child who almost drowned in the pool - his parents were in their room having a siesta.

Sorry, but I thought holidays (and weekends) were the time for families to bond.

Okay - I'm off the soapbox!

Rostock and a Sailing Regatta

It was Sunday and very festive when The Arcadia anchored at Warnemunde on the north German coast. Turned out that it was the last day of the 25th Annual Hanse Rostock Sail. There was a carnival atmosphere and loads of people were all heading in that direction.

Before we tourists could either go and join in the fun or relax and watch the boats sailing up and down the river, it was time to go and tour.

Our guide was excellent, especially at helping us to understand what life had been like under Communism. Although there were restrictions such as how much money you were allowed to earn, so long as people kept their heads below the parapet, life wasn't too bad. Not good but bearable. And, as the guide pointed out, his parents' generation had suffered under the Nazi Regime. Now, since reunification things have vastly improved and life is good.

The drive to see the Cathedral and town of Bad Dobenan took us through the flat countryside. Meadows, woods, farmland and pretty thatched cottages. Sounds very English, doesn't it? But a lot less traffic.

Bad Dobenan is in the state of Mecklenburg which once had close ties with Great Britain. One of their Princess's, Charlotte, married a Hanovarian Prince and they became known as King George III and Queen Charlotte. Remember the film 'The Madness of King George'?

En route into Rostock we were told that because, during World War II the Heinkel plane factory had been located there, the town had been very badly bombed so much of the old town that we were to see had been rebuilt or renovated. The guide also pointed out some blocks of flats which were the original Communist blocks but have now been very much renovated. Both inside and out, with Architectural decorations and good paint jobs. They are now very much sought after residences.

We left the coach to take a stroll through the old town and get a feel of it and admire the beautiful gabled buildings which are either in red brick or stucco painted in various pastel shades. Being Sunday the shops were closed but the streets were crowded with tourists and residents.

Back on board the ship and having had lunch I settled on deck to watch the various regatta ships passing up and down the river. Everything from many masted yachts to rubber dinghies, some pirate galleons (one flying the Spanish flag), the steam driven ice-breaker Steltin and police boats scurrying hither and yon keeping the seaways clear.

If you get a chance to take a Baltic cruise, let me recommend one with Warnemunde as a port of call. There are several other places to visit from there including the island of Lubeck, famous for its real Gothic architecture.

Cruising in St. Petersburg

A canal boat in St. Petersburg isn't quite the same as a cruise ship but it does get under some pretty low bridges. Definitely not a cruise that lets you stand up.

Getting from the Neva River into the Fontanka River is fun. The boat has to turn on the Neva to line up precisely opposite the Fontanka so that it can get through the low and narrow bridge. On this second river is Michael's Castle, Once the residence of Tsar Paul 1. Then on to the Mayka River to pass that fantastically colourful Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood.

Back on the Neva the boat crossed the river to the Peter and Paul Fortress. In the 18th century this was a part of the garrison and a high security gaol. Among some of the prisoners were Gorky, Trotsky, Lenin's brother Alexander and Tsar Peter's son, Alexei.

The main reason for visiting this island is the Peter and Paul Cathedral which is the burial place of all the Emperors and Empresses since Peter the Great. As with the majority of cathedrals, the interior is a bit OTT with 'gold' chandeliers and decoration all over the place but the reason people are visiting is to see the royal tombs. I've lost count but I do remember that on some of them were wreathes of white flowers.

And in a side chapel lie the family of the last Tsar of Russia, Alexander III, who were murdered by the Bolshevists in the 20th century. Their remains have now been transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. There is a notice forbidding photography but as everyone else was taking photos.....

On top of the Cathedral's gilded spire is one of the most prominent of St. Petersburg's symbols. The 'flying' angel, holding a cross. Why 'flying'? It is a weathervane.

A word of warning. To get from the Cathedral to the prison the guides like to take a short cut - diagonally across some very large cobbles. If, like me, your feet are a bit delicate, take quick walk the long way round.

Incidentally, the excursion might operate the other way around - the Fortress before the canals.

The Arcadia spent two nights in St. Petersburg and this was the trip I took on the second day.

St. Petersburg in the Sunshine.

The Church of the Saviour
of the Spilled Blood

Am I glad I decided to re-do the tour around St. Petersburg which, last year, was rather fraught with too much traffic and the rain.

 

This time the day was full of sunshine and much less traffic so we not only saw all of the sights we should have seen last year, but also made a non-scheduled stop to take photographs of the Hermitage.

Some domes on the Church
of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood

It is quite a long drive from the docks into the centre of St. Petersburg but as there is so much look at - from road-side flower beds to the various domes and spires of the churches - the journey isn't boring. This year at the Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood we had time to do more than just hop off the coach and take a photo. There was time to take a walk around the outside of the cathedral and admire its colour and architecture from different angles. And with the sun glinting off the gold and showing up the colours was a breathtaking.

The coach was also able to make a proper stop at St. Isaacs Church with its gold dome that you seem to be able to see from any direction in St. Petersburg. This is the only gold dome. The others are coated with bronze-made-to-look-like-gold. I also crossed the road to take a look at the gardens in front and watched a bride and groom posing for their photographs.

Stopping at the Stock Exchange Bridge gave us the opportunity to see the views across the river to the Fortress and various edifices along the river side - one of which was once the British Embassy.

During the drive around the city we took the road that goes between the Summer Garden which was created by Peter the Great and has 79 sculptures - but I didn't have time to count them - and the Field of Mars, once a parade ground which became a park in the late 19th century. This was a part of the tour we completely missed last year.

Of course there was the obligatory shop stop.  One thing puzzles me about the souvenirs. I always thought that Matryoshka dolls (the ones that have smaller and smaller replicas inside) were 'Mamma' dolls. If I'm right, what do they call the ones of sports people and politicians? And, no thank you, I don't want one of Putin or Stalin, thank you very much. What I did want but couldn't afford, was a gorgeous purple figured velvet cape trimmed with purple fur. Only £1,250! Oh, where is my millionaire!

Thank you, Mr. Sunshine, for a glorious day in St. Petersburg.

Seeing Helsinki - at Last

I had been in Helsinki before, but a long time ago and on business. I was to sail out on a new ship so my only views of the city were from taxi windows on the drive between the hotel and the docks. Consequently I had long wanted to return to see the city at my leisure.

Although I would have liked a few days in which to explore, I did, on my coach trip from the Arcadia see much more of Helsinki.

As well as busy streets of shops, offices and museums, we saw the Uspenski Cathedral, the Opera House and the Railway Station. The red-brick Cathedral is Eastern Orthodox and looks Russian with its green domes and gold cupolas.

And parks - great open green spaces. Although we drove past most of the sights, including the 1930s-built Olympic Stadium. It was used for the 1952 Olympics and has a stark white viewing tower. We did eventually make a photo stop. As it was at the Sibelius Park I was thrilled. Even if you have only heard 'Finlandia' you have heard music by Jean Sibelius, Finland's greatest composer. And here in the park is the Sibelius Monument called 'Passio Musicae', a stainless steel construction that resembles organ pipes. It was designed by architect Eila Hitunen and unveiled in 1967. Apparently there was a bit of an outcry over its design and there is now, alongside the memorial, a face of the great man also cast in stainless steel.

Eventually we returned to the city centre and Senate Square where the offices of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet are located and across from them is the main University building. But it is dominated by the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Nicholas. This is very imposingly set at the top of a flight of steps - all glittering white and green domes. In the centre of the square is a statue of Alexander II with, around the plinth, representations of the law, culture and peasants. Many coachloads of tourists were milling about and getting in each other's way. (There were several cruise ships in). This was also, of course, the stop to let us buy souvenirs.

Later in the day I learned from some of my fellow cruisers who had 'done-it-themselves' that they had seen a band playing in the square. I would have loved to have seen that but I bet the band waited until the tour coaches had left.

For many of us, the shopping was left until the end of the tour when we strolled from the ship to the nearby very colourful market. Much more interesting to browse through and mingle with the locals.

'Passio Musicae

Coffee and Cakes by the Baltic in Swden

Roses in the garden

My lasting memory of the tour of Stockholm will be sitting in a garden on the banks of the Baltic Sea. Across the water is a fascinating free-standing waterfall and off to the right is an iron bridge. Very peaceful except for my fellow travellers milling about and taking photographs. Oh, and the peep-peep-peep of a baby seagull calling for its parents. This was at Rosendals Tradgard, a popular cafe where we had coffee (or tea) and a cinnamon-type-bun.

We had driven through the city, crossing several of the bridges that connect the many islands and were now on Djurgarden, once the King's hunting ground, but now an upmarket residential area. Hikers and cyclists make full use of the forest and parkland. It also contains the Diplomatic Quarter with many embassies lining the streets.

Probably the most visited museum is the ABBA. Very popular with fans and as it is interactive - great for a singalong and dancing.

During the first part of our tour we had, inevitably, seen shops, houses, churches, the Parliament buildings and City Hall where the Nobel Prizes are presented in the Blue Hall on 10th December which is the anniversary of the death of Swedish born Alfred Nobel.

There were several photographic stops to see the colourful medieval old town which has the Royal
Palace, the Cathedral and the Nobel Museum.  And from across Lake Malaren we again saw City Hall.

To my way of thinking the best way to reach Stockholm has to be sailing in on a cruise ship and viewing the scenery from a top deck. We seemed hardly to be moving as we sailed majestically into port. All around were what seemed like hundreds of islands, some small enough to look like puffy green cushions. Some of the larger islands are residential and/or have businesses located there.

Obviously in one day it is impossible to see everything the City has to offer, especially among museums such as the Vasa, home to a 17th century Warship, and the Skansen Open-air one. And not forgetting time to shop.

Would probably have been better had the photographer been
on the other side - in the water?

Stockholm was the third port of call on this P&O Cruise.