FROM PLYMOUTH TO EDEN

I've got to catch up because Sharon is giving me a bad time. She's already blogging about our outing to Well's which is our 6th day in Bristol and I haven't even finished our outings in Plymouth.  As I said before, it's all due to technical difficulties.  Now Sharon is air dropping pictures to my iPad so she thinks I have no excuse not to get caught up.  So, I am going to work on it.

We took off on the train and finished on the bus and finally arrived at the Famous Eden Project.  I probably could just quit here because you undoubtedly  all ready know all about it.  Because I want some record on the blog I'm going to include some info for me. 

That's us waiting for the train.  We had to get up kind if early.  Not fun when you're on vacation.

The first view of the project is rather spectacular!

At one time this was a China Clay Pit which was created into a global garden.  It is a symbol of regeneration and how  people working together and with nature can bring about a better future.

From this...

To this...

The Project is made up of the Rain Forest Biome, the Mediterranean Biome, and the Outdoor Biome.

The Rainforest Biome is the largest rainforest in captivity.  By the time you finish going through this Biome you are hot and sweaty.  Well, not us but everyone else.  

 This is the torch ginger. It's flowers are chopped up and added to curry rice and noodles.

After the rainforest we headed to the nearest store and bought some much needed water. After we had revived we headed to the Mediterranean Biome. What a contrast.

When we finished this Biome we were starved.  We ate at one of the many restaurants on the premises.  After walking around a bit in the Outdoor Biome we caught the bus back to the bus stop so we could catch the train to catch the taxi back to our guest house where Sharon and I got to climb 62 steps to our room.  

We were pretty exhausted and we had to eat so we found a little pub close by and ate a nice meal and headed back to our penthouse room- calling it that mentally prepared us for the climb!  Please remember every time we had to go up we had to go down - just as hard if not harder at our age.

The next morning we got up ,not too early and caught a cab to the train station.

Here we are, waiting for that taxi!  Off we go to Bristol!

TROUBLE, TROUBLE TROUBLE

I'm sitting here in Bristol and having WIFI problems. Can't transfer photo's from the phone to the IPad so hate to blog without pictures.  Could do it all on my phone but I have enough errors using the bigger keyboard so I'm just going to relax, read a good book, and go to bed early!  Oh does that sound good!  

I will tell you that this old, relic of a body is tired!  We have too many devices for the WIFI in the apartment and for some reason my phone just can't pick up signals, etc.  I do have to admit however that I did go to the Apple store today and found out one of my problems happened to be that I had put the phone on "do not disturb". Boy that sure worked. I was getting nothing!!

Because one loses all concept of time when one is traveling I thought my house was closing tomorrow but I got a note from Lee that I was no longer a home owner. 

Goodbye home!  Kind of sad!   I enjoyed many good times and memories in that home!  When I bought it I thought it would be the last home I lived in until I went to the retirement home ror funeral home.  Well... I'm not going to either quite yet.  Nice not to have the worries of being a homeowner while I'm abroad but sure have good memories of that house.

Just after the tag sale. A few items left or waiting to be plucked up.  So sad!

Time to relax now.  I know you'll all be checking daily to see if my next blog has posted. I have somrpe catching up to do. Will tell you, we are all taking it easy so we can rip it up in London!

I didn't put these in when I was blogging about Gary Rhodes restaurant where we ate in Plymouth but I think I should include them. They were all located in the Ladies WC.

"An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have.  The older she gets the more interested he is in her."  Agatha Christi

"Big girls need big diamonds". Elizabeth Taylor

" I don't exercise.  If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor."

Joan Rivers

"A woman is the only thing I'm afraid of that I know will not hurt me".  Abraham Lincoln

Good night!

THE PILGRAMS IN PLYMOUTH

Today we did set off for destinations unknown just like the Pilgrams.  Armed with good info we headed to the Information Center in the Barbicon and we found it.  Located right across from the. Information Center is the place where the Pilgrams left in 1620 to go to America and we were there!

Happiness is finding the InformationCenter.

Happiness is standing in the spot where the Pilgrims departed for America. 

Well not exactly.  To be precise the shoreline has changed and the actual location is...

In the pub in the background in the women's Toilet.  I would have taken a picture because by this time we had to use the "loo" but it was closed so we walked down the street and found this instead. I don't think these were here when the Pilgrams left.

Unhappiness is having to use these.

We got some valuable information at the information center and we had our plans for our stay.  Mount Edgcumbe one day and The famous Eden Project the next.

We grabbed a cab and went to the 

It was in the middle of no where.

Just a 10 minute ferry ride and we reached out destination.

We were in Cornwall and Mount Edgcumbe was just up the hill.  A beautiful climb but non the less up hill!

OK!   So it started out flat.  I couldn't take a picture on the slope because I was concentrating so hard on just getting up the hill.  There was a small courtesy bus running but macho me wanted to get in some good exercise.   Just another dumb jock :-),

We toured the home which was lovely.  No pictures were allowed but someone who shall remain nameless snapped a few of the entrance way where some individuals had dressed up in period costumes.  

Oh! Wrong group!

The grounds were beautiful.

We finished viewing the grounds on the house level and decided to have lunch in the Orangery which was. Near the entrance to Edgcumbe.  Around the Orangery were five different gardens- the French, New Zealand, talian and relic and one other.  Who cares?  Anyway they were beautiful!

 

Below is a picture of the reluc garden. It was designed using stones from the original house.

Here I am sitting in the reluc garden!   Oh dear!  Why did I have my picture taken in that particular garden?

We were a bit exhausted by this time so caught the ferry home.  Guess what showed up?

Recognize these outfits?

 Yup!  Wind and rain,  cold!  Fortunately we have learned to travel with raincoats and were prepared. The ferry had an inside cabin so we were sheltered while crossing!  

That evening we took a cab to the Barbicon for dinner.  We asked the cab driver for a suggestion since we were beat.  It was a find!  Unfortunately the restaurant wasn't open yet but I happened to notice a sign for a bar just up a few stairs.  Terrible when situations force you in to drinking.

Would you believe this was where the Pilgrims had their last meal before departing for America. It was not only an historical sight but a lovely bar as well.

Here I am talking to the bartender getting all the information about the bar and the building which just happened to be the oldest distillery in the country. They distilled Plymouth gin.  

In the corner of the bar is a list of names of the Pilgrams and their vocation.  I looked and looked but no Peterson's. I just thought since my brother DeForest liked Plymouth gin there might have been a relative who sailed on the Mayflower. Seemed logical to me.  

Should you happen to be in Plymouth don't miss it.  

The restaurant was also great!  One of our memorable meals! ( The bar and the restaurant are not affiliated ).

It had stopped raining so we walked just briefly in the Baricon area on our way to the taxi stand!

Neat area!

From that look on JoAnnes face she was determined to find that taxi stand,cold, or mad that we had to leave that nice bar.

Sharon and I were looking forward to returning to our abode and climbing the 62 steps to retire for the night.  

PLANES, TRAINS ,AUTOMOBILES AND PLYMOUTH

It finally arrived.  We had been talking about our flight for weeks. We had never heard of FLYBE airlines prior to booking our flight from Harrogate to Plymouth.  To avoid having to change trains we thought flying would be the best way to  cover the distance involved.  We were told to be there 1 1/2 hours prior to departure. Well.... We needed every minute.  Here's the story.  We had purchased tickets for a reasonable price but we didn't know if that price included any luggage.  We had all decided that we were going to check a bag regardless.  We walked to the counter and began the checking in procedure.  We smiled sweetly and said we wanted to check a bag.  She looked at our bags and asked if they fit into their little mock up luggage bin. They had to be kidding- my shoes wouldn't fit in there.  So... Next plan.  We wanted to check all our luggage - only 40 pounds a bag:-).  The agent checking JoAnne and Ginger in looked at Sharon's and my agent and asked if 40 pounds ( that's English money) per bag per leg was really the cost?  I almost dropped my teeth and they are not false.  Since we had a stop in Belfast that would be 160 pounds for bags which is equivalent to $269.00 for bags.  Fortunately the supervisor just charged us the 80 pounds for our two bags.  You might think ,well that was easy.  Nope!  We had to leave the line, go to a service desk to pay for the bags,go back to the line and get our boarding passes.  At last we are on our way, 45 minutes to Belfast, time for a quick breakfast, ( we had to get up at 5:30am) and catch our 45 minute flight to Exter, just minutes from Plymouth.  Oh no! Not minutes -1 hour.  Do we catch a cab,train, or bus.  I had gotten some info from a local who told me the train would take 3 hours , an express bus was also available but of course we 'd have to catch a taxi, get to the bus station, and get on the bus, catch a taxi at the other end.  All the while doing this with our precious bags!  We checked into the cost of a cab -90 pounds.  What the hell...go for it!  We knew where the workhouse was in Ripon.  It took about an hour and our cab driver gave us some information on Plymouth so all in all it was worth the money.  She also let us know that the train was only an hour,too.  I've learned you don't always get good advice or good information.  A cab was door to door.  Much better.  As it turned out very much better for Sharon and meI since we were staying at a guest house and  our room was on the top floor,only 62 steps!  Felt like a 162 schleping our bags up there.  We could only do one bag at a time so actually it was  more then 162.  We did contemplate just staying in our room for 3 days but after catching our breath we thought better of it.  Besides, guess what?  We were hungry.

Obviously this was taken before we knew we had 62 steps we had to climb.  I mean look at that smile on Sharon's face.

After dropping our bags, literally, we headed out toward the water hoping to find a place to get some good food.  We lucked out and found a very nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the water and a very famous chef.

The rest of the day we spent looking for the tourist information center.  Since there were 2 listed on the sign we elected to go to the one closest to our quarters.  

Ginger and Sharon , our trusted guides study the map and off we go to City Center.  Hi Ho Hi Ho  it's off to town we go...

This is us hours later.  "I know it's here someplace"!

" You find it Ginger"!

 

I always ask someone but these two gentleman were no help!

We finally did find someone who informed us the only information center was located in the Barbicon.  We immediately, in unison decided that could wait until tomorrow and we were heading back to our guest house to rest for the remainder of the day!

We had over 10,000 steps at the end of our day and we hadn't even started any serious walking until noon.  

Tomorrow Plymouth Visitor Center, here we come!