9&10/6/26 Zoom , zoom

 

    We arrived at ST Pancras about 1-0 mins earlier than our allotted time , and were ushered in to check in, which was nice as we avoided a lot of people and got through easily and quickly . It also meant we could get a seat in the departure lounge before the hoards that were about to descend upon us . Before long we were again alerted our train was ready for boarding , so away we went . Found our carriage and our seats , battled with luggage storage , but found we were sitting at the other end of the carriage , so i went & got the 2 suitcases and brought then down near us , where there was plenty of storage . Before long we were off , seeing some countryside in between hedge rows . It seemed like a short period of time had passed when we entered the tunnel under the English Channel - all 31.5 miles or 54klms !! As we were zooming along at 300 odd kms per hour , it didn't take long for that 54klms to wizz by , and we were in France . The weather was a bit hit & miss , with showers & cloudy . Interesting when it rains , the drops form horizontal lines on the windows 🤔😆

     After only 1and a half hours , we were at Lille in the north of France near Belgium . Getting off the eurostar , we headed across to the Westfield shopping centre and got lunch , before figuring out our bus route to get to the apartment . Lille will be our home for 5 nights , and speaking of it - our apartment is the 3 windows above the white van . This is our street , only about 3klms from the city centre .

    Terrace housing is the norm here , but funnily enough there are back yards here that are quite large . There's free parking if you are lucky enough to find a spot !!

     We decided to go for a wander around to acclimatise ourselves a bit , finding our way back to the canal we crossed in the bus . There's a lock here that has its own control tower - hmm must be busy , and with that a canal boat arrived into the lock . We watched the lock gates close and walked to the other end .

   By the time we got there the lock had filled and the boat was nearly ready to continue its journey up the canal . This was a fully loaded one judging by the lack of height in the sides of the boat above water line .

   We walked up the canal on the left of the next photo . Lille is set out well for walkers & cyclists with paths & tracks everywhere , including dedicated lanes on the roads as well . 

  The canal started to get a bit busy , with a large boat approaching and a smaller one heading back toward the lock . There was one on the side of the canal , where an excavator was unloading rocks from it to reinforce the side where the concrete walls had collapsed in .

     Shows the different sized boats using the canal .

     We crossed the bridge and walked through the edge of the Citadelle Parkland ( that's for another day ) , then came across this street art near the lock control tower .

    With that done we headed back to the apartment , then found a supermarket about 260m away , so we could get some supplies . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Bl_9HsBZsF-2_StycNyFsOzHdxFuDCQ&usp=sharing

8/6/26 Monopoly time

 

     Proceed to Kings Cross Station , if you pass go collect $200 - feels like we've paid that much for the privilege of getting here 😂 It actually cost around 50 pounds to get from Woking to Kings Cross Station!! Euston Road was just outside , Pentonville Rd merged with it . Mayfair was only 2klms away . The weather wasn't playing nice with intermittent showers & heavy rain , but we got out & about for a wander around later .

   Okay Kings Cross Station is on the right and St Pancras Station is the one that's dominating the photo .

    St Pancras Station is where you get on Eurostar trains as well as regional UK trains . The building is certainly unforgettable and takes centre stage .

    Inside it transforms into a massive shopping arcade and of course the purpose it's there for - trains .

                        There's several Eurostar platforms and trains 

    There's a very spiffy lounge area for you to relax with the tipple of your choice , oh and price 😉

 

     Under the huge clock at the station end is a brass sculpture of a man & women embracing , under them is much smaller sections showing times for the underground over the years .

This one was amazing , most were actually !

   We are here to catch the Eurostar tomorrow morning , so we're staying at the Belgrove Hotel , which is just across the road . If you came here to stay , I hope you're not a light sleeper , it's noisy with plumbing noises and other paying customers that don't really care about anyone else except themselves . 

    We went out for dinner , eventually finding a Chinese restaurant nearby - the guy at the front wasn't overly friendly or chatty - barely got anything out of him all night till we paid . He was a little surprised we paid cash , so he was busy checking to see if it was counterfeit - which it wasn't !! 

   We headed back to the hotel for an earlyish night as we have an early start in the morning . You get a check in time to front up to the station , as you have to go through UK and French Immigration before they let you into the waiting area . Then there's the crowd all waiting for various trains to Paris & Amsterdam and others . Continued next issue - 

3/6/26 An interesting day

 

        After a hectic few days it was decided we needed a break , so ended up with a day at the beach , getting sand castles built & destroyed , lot's of splashing and some swimming , a walk up the beach , lunch under our umbrella's ( supplied by the apartment ) .  It doesn't look like there's a lot of people here , but that's not correct - there are thousands , the beach stretches for 4 kilometres !!! Then there's the permanent umbrellas that always seem to fill up on their hired lounges & shade . While there are lot's of people on the beach , there are as many out in the water as. I walked up for about 1& a half kilometres and was constantly amazed by how many thousands of people that were here - not as crowded as Bondi Beach in Summer , but more people on one beach than we'd ever seen before !!

  We did give Tapas another try while we were in the city the other day , and I can report it was much more authentic and tasty . We dined in a smaller restaurant in the old city , so that proved the difference between the mass produced version of the the beach esplanade . We left feeling we had experienced something quite nice . We also dined out another evening on the esplanade - at a different restaurant this time though - and had a very nice Paella . Interesting , we chose to sit inside the restaurant rather than outside - it was cheaper to sit inside !!

    Here's some more photo's from Gulliver's Park from the observation tower .

Some of my photo bombers , looking pretty happy with themselves as well 🤣

Beware the sneaky photo's that appear when you leave the camera unattended 😉

    Justin hired us some bikes , so we rode into the city and up to the markets . There are bike tracks everywhere here , some are beside the traffic , but there's a lot that are completely away from it . This section we rode through is called Turia Park and snakes it way through the city , and is extremely well used - cycling is a really easy way to get around Valencia , and is a way of life for the locals .

The park goes beside the Science centre etc 

We arrived at Gulliver's Park again , so Isla decided another play would be in order . While she did , I went for another ride around to get some more photos .

      If you haven't guessed yet , I am still amazed at the architecture . After a few kilometres I came back to Gulliver's Park for a rest stop before we headed further up & into the city . Now , the main purpose for going into the city was to get some dried fruit & nuts from the central markets - we rode away with several kilo's of dried fruit & nuts !! Dried pineapple rings , dried strawberries and dried mango , some roasted macadamias and some almonds . All purchased at this stall .

There are all types of stalls here , from fresh fruit & vegetables to fresh fish and anything aquatic haha , bags of snails and many others . Fresh fruit is always nice , as were the Empinadas we had for lunch .

    Must say , riding through the crowded city streets was much easier than walking them . Before long we had arrived back to Turia Park for the less crowded section of the ride . There are soccer grounds , rose gardens , lawns , croquet clubs , gardens & more in the park . It was a river/creek at some stage of its life , but has been piped through and converted to parkland and space for the people to use . We found a large concrete area to ride around in , Isla requested that I chased her , so as any willing grand parent would do , I obliged . We cruised round & round enjoying the moment until we struck a section of glass panels that were in the concrete - used for lighting up the underside of the road bridge above . It was nearly synchronised , Isla's front wheel went out from under her , I looked back at her and I was in exactly the same predicament - on my butt on the ground . I quickly went over to check on her , but she was okay with a few scratches . I on the other hand , was bleeding from near my elbow and some skin off my left knee in 3 places , so we had a good laugh about it as Justin had just arrived to see what the commotion was about . It was all superficial , looking worse than it actually was . We picked ourselves up , dusted ourselves off and resumed our ride toward home , stopping for a quick play on Gulliver again . It was a source of entertainment for Isla and I for the rest of the afternoon , wondering what Nan would think when we walked / hobbled through the door into the apartment - the look was priceless !! 

    After 8 interesting days in Valencia , we started to pack ready for our day of travel tomorrow , back to Woking and the decidedly cooler wet weather .  Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1_3PdfX0MF7umKb9Riici3jV_y3_zLB4&usp=sharing

1/6/26 Gulliver & the city

 

    Here's an interesting park along the way into the city . I'm assuming you know Gulliver's Travels ??? , well Gulliver woke to find he'd been tied down by tiny people - this is a park based on that premise his hat and sword are off to the sides and his shoe is missing . This is a picture of the basis for the park .

And this is the giant version of that , here's his head and one hand & arm - kids can climb and slide and play all over him !! He's made of fibreglass and does get a little hot . There's steps , ropes and slides all around - you can see a viewing tower in the photo - top left , which is 3 storeys high . Check out the map view at the end .

Some interesting gargoyles ??? at one of the road bridges .

     There are 2 sets of old city gates in Valencia , here's one of them , as well as the bridge to approach them .

    Just as we got near the gate , there was protest march coming along the street , we stood back and waited and watched to see what was happening . Police cars , motorbikes and vans were escorting them every inch of the way , keeping them out of harms way - or something like that .

This was the entryway into the old city .

There are some amazing old doors around the city , all made of oak - must have been the most available timber .

Some more street art

And another doorway

More artworks

And tiling

More compact housing 

Back to the apartment and the jacaranda's now covering parts of the street .

   Here's the all important map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=19TJ9xTHTF1IrIimELXys_azr_yATT0s&usp=sharing

30/5/26 Valencia Silk Exchange

 

     Today we ventured into the old city area for a look around , first stop was the Silk Exchange , where traders have been buying & selling produce for hundreds of years 

                                 Massive doors each end of the building are impressive 

     We admired all of this with all of these other people who had the same idea .

      The spiral columns support the roof structure , with chandeliers hanging down , and marble floors .

          This is a shot of one of the panels in the ceiling of another room - plenty of work in them as well.

    That same room has these window shutter doors - all solid oak , and the 3d effect floor tiling 

    In this room beside the main hall was another amazing piece of work - this is also a ceiling . There are so many different patterns , faces , animals etc - incredible how much detail is in it !

Here's a shot to put it into some perspective , you can get a feeling for size with the people at the bottom  of the photo .

     Here's a closer view of the ceiling.

Some more street art as we wander around - interesting way to camouflage an electrical box .

                           

             Here's some of the streetscapes , with plenty of small restaurants & bars using the space available .

Plenty of buildings have some great feature tiles on them as well .

     Okay time for a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1KjrOV7ZhiSgrMGM0CBCIDOFtxAdyoCk&usp=sharing