Edinburgh - December 2008

Edinburgh is a lovely town.

The capital of Scotland no less.

Of course, Glasgow and the rest of Scotland is great also....indeed, the home of my ancestral background.

So it was that I trundled up to Edinburgh to check my ancestral history with Scotland People, the national registry.

Was rather interesting too as I traced back to my Great, Great Grandfather who was born in Scotland in 1847. I also traced my Grandparents and various Great Uncles.....and still so much more to discover....will take time. At the very least, the building featured a magnificent dome.

Another discovery in Edinburgh was the Museum of Scotland, which is brilliant. A great expose of the history of Scotland and its brilliant people. I wandered through this museum for a few hours and took some shots of the Castle and Arthur's Seat from the roof terrace.

As is the case in December, there were the Christmas Markets to enjoy also but overall, a great place to wander around and discover.

London - December 2008

London is a great city and it's always good to get back down there for a wander around.

It was fairly cold to be honest, (as you can see Kenny at Chester Le Street Station before we left)but the sun actually managed to stick it's head out and that really made Westminster stand out with the rays hitting the stone and the blue sky in the background.

I had actually travelled down there for a job assessment for ITV and then Samantha joined me the following day.

London has loads to see, museums and parks aplenty and as it was December, some new Christmas markets...plus, the general walking around that is really cool in London anyway.

We checked out Wellington Arch, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the unfortunately named but beautiful St James Park (thankfully nothing to do with NUFC) and the National Gallery which has some amazing paintings.

We hadn't been to the Borough Markets, despite having wanted to for some time....it's featured on cooking shows from time to time as the quality chefs visit there regularly it seems....anyway, we ventured on down there and it is really interesting.

Loads of great food to be bought, from fresh vegetables to a whole range of cheeses and who can resist a decent cheese?

Anyway, the Borough Market will definitely get another visit when we next travel to London.

Sometimes Samantha worries about us carrying Kenny around and getting him out of the bag for a photo....well, worry no more. Check out this family with their HUGE lion! Amazing.

Marrakech - November 2008

Marrakech again!

It's a great city to visit and as mentioned earlier, something for all the senses.

This time it was my birthday so Samantha and I headed to London with Samantha's cousin Suzanne and her husband Paul....sure, he's a mag but he's not a bad bloke!

We stayed at the Dar Silsila again and as before, this riad was a brilliant place to stay with superb food and hospitality to enjoy.

The weather was coolish in the evening and during the day, around 20 degrees was the norm...which was pretty good for wandering through the souks....which we did!

Plenty of tagines were also consumed and along with the bartering in the souks, the food is the highlight of Morocco.

This trip we also visited the tanneries....sure, we paid for the experience, as is the norm, but we do get to take home a few leather cushions, which are pretty cool. Apparently the same techniques of tanning have been used for centuries and no doubt the same techniques for selling have remained the same also....for you, a good price. If we do business fine, if we don't fine, we remain friends!

One of the highlights for me was Paul buying a freshly squeezed orange juice for 3 dirhams but only having a 100 dirham note to pay for it. No change. Classic.

Yves St Laurent also owned a home in Marrakech and he developed the Majorelle Gardens, which were brilliant...loads of cactus plants amongst other plants and gardens.

At any rate, Marrakech was once again a brilliant destination and the perfect place to spend my

birthday!

Tynemouth - November 2008

OK, so we have been to more exotic places in the world - travelled further to get there and probably been to more interesting places but I still say that Tynemouth is a nice place.

Tynemouth is, as the name suggests, at the mouth of the Tyne River, essentially, just up the road from Newcastle.

They have a market at Tynemouth, in the Metro Station and whilst we had a quick look in, we were really there to have a look at Tynemouth Priory and Castle.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle turned out to be very interesting. To me, at least.

It's amazing that these buildings are still in some semblance of existance as they have survived for hundreds of years and let's face it, there's a fair bit of wind and rain on the headland above Tynemouth harbour.

Interestingly, there was a whopping great gun/cannon there looking out to the North Sea. Not sure of the history to be honest, but must have been left over from the war.

Anyway, we enjoyed it and we'll probably head back again as Tynemouth is a decent town with plenty to offer.