RIGA Sunday 4 February, 2007

Not a good day, yesterday. The bus ride from Tallinn was memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.

We were told by the booking clerk to be at that autobussjaan half an hour before the bus left – at 09h30. so we ordered a taxi at the hotel for 09h10 to give us plenty of time. Of course the cab never arrived. It had an accident, according to the concierge. Yeah! Right! Anyway, the next one turned up ten minutes later and we got to the terminus in time.

There was quite a crowd of assorted Baltic and Russian peasantry there already – but no bus. I spotted our bus parked in the middle of the yard with no driver; after about ten minutes a man ambled across to the vehicle and climbed aboard, starting the vehicle but not moving it. At about 09h50 he brought the bus over to the bay where by now a substantial crowd had gathered. We were expecting a rush for seats when the door opened, but nobody moved! We waited a couple of minutes and then asked the woman in front of us if she was going to Riga. No English, but not for Riga. Turned out that very few were for our bus.

The driver duly opened the luggage hatch and sourly nodded when I asked if we should put our bags there, then shoved them right to the back of the bay. We climbed aboard – a couple of others were ahead of us and chose what we thought would be good seats. What we didn’t realise was that we had been allocated seats, although they were not together. As the bus was not full, it made no difference where we sat. turned out thought that the chosen seats were not the best.

The first intimation that there was a problem was when our window (and only our window) started misting up. I had to keep wiping it to give Rab a bit of a view. We couldn’t understand why this was but as we got going and the heater really kicked in it became apparent that there was something wrong with the floor vent as the heat blew up and cooked Rab’s thigh. Adding to this discomfort was the family of four in the seats behind us. The two young children yowled and cried and shrieked and laughed practically non-stop. We took it for about three hours but when a particularly loud shriek right behind me got all the heads in the rows in front turning, I growled “Hej! Enough!” in my sternest tone. That got the little girl sobbing, but also quiet and she went to sleep after a while.

But in the meantime the temperature in the bus was rising and people started shedding clothes. I reckon it was about 30°C by the time we got to Riga and I was sweating bullets. Rab and I had both got aisle seats some hours earlier so we avoided the very worst of the heat but it was still uncomfortable.

It took quite a while to get going out of Tallinn, although we left the bus station on time, but then trundled around the city, going to all three ferry stations (even thought there were no ferries docked – and therefore no passengers) and on to the railway junction before finally heading out of town.

Border Control at AINAZI

The trip itself was uneventful. The road was good for most of the way and only deteriorated for the last hour and a half or so in Latvia when we reached the end of the EU funded highway and went back onto the old road. There was not a great deal of traffic and most of it seemed well behaved, at least until we got to the outskirts of Riga.

We had two stops on the way. The first after about two hours was at Pärnu which I think is the second city of Estonia. (It’s not actually – about fifth biggest with a 2010 population of about  44,000) Not much to see there! We had no idea how long the stop would be but one of the locals nipped off and came back with coffee so I asked the driver if he spoke English. His snarled response, whilst unintelligible, was an indication that he did not. The man with the coffee said that the original announcement had said about ten minutes. In view of the lack of clarity I didn’t get off, as being  stranded in Pärnu would not have been a good idea. The second stop was over the Latvia border and having learned that ten minutes was closer to thirty I got off to stretch my legs and have a piddle in a ghastly portaloo. I got two nice coffees though, plus a couple of cheese and ham snacks but caused a huge consternation by giving a Lat5 note for the purchases which amounted to L 1.07. A search for change ensued but I finally got a handful of small coins that came to L 3.93! (the exchange rate at the time was 1 Lat = A$2.40. – so we doubled Lat prices and added 20%.)

Although from time to time Rab suggested that we may not have made the best decision in catching the bus, in fact there is little choice if you wish to get from Tallinn to Riga. The train goes via some ungodly place in Belarus or some such country and takes about 12 hours with at least one change of trains. (and the requirement to get a visa) There are only two flights a day – one at the crack of dawn and the other late at night. So in reality the bus was the best option and did at least give us a view of the countryside.

The road follows the coastline closely although you would never guess that because the view consists of pine trees and beech trees in great profusion. There were a few farmhouses but clearly, as one of the guides said, Estonia is sparsely populated having a density of one tenth of the Netherlands. Latvia had more little town and houses. We saw a beach at one point with a very dirty looking sea and a thin strand of dark sand, fringed with snow. People were ice fishing through the ice (which is called Pimpling – at least in Sweden) on a number of frozen inlets. We saw plenty of snow along the way but not much else during the five and a half hour trip.

Pimpling along the coast

 

We had a spot of bother checking into the hotel as the first room they offered was not what we had paid for, but they cheerfully changed the room. We caught a trolley bus down to the Old Town and had an excellent meal there – although not Latvian. Rab had a great fillet steak and I had lamb cutlets with lentils. 

Back to the hotel by trolley bus and we slept like logs.

TALLINN February 3, 2007

TALLINN Saturday February 3, 2007

Well, another busy day today. We both slept well but we were awake early as we were in bed about 20h30. Rab was feeing better, thank goodness, and we had a very pleasant breakfast although again we were alone, ll the other guests apparently lying in,  There is a good selection of food, including cold meat, cheese and fish – Baltic herring and smoked salmon – and good dark rye bread. A solid start to the day.

T at town gates

We caught the tram (quite old hands at this now) down to the start  point fo the city tours and arrived there at the same time as the first bus of the day. By chance it was the same driver as yesterday although we were taking a different route – mainly through the Old Town and City Centre. It was good value although the background music between the spoken commentary was a bit dreary.

We decided to catch the next tour bus to the stop at the top of the Old Town to an area known as Toompea from which there were panoramic views over the roofs of the buildings below. We had a little over an hour to kill, so changed some money into Lats for tomorrow and bought Rab a pair of warmer gloves at the Viru Centre. Although the temperature was + 2C again, there was at  times a biting  wind blowing and we certainly felt that. A bit of light snow fell last night but it was all gone today.

The views from up in Toompea were indeed tremendous and even though a good deal of snow had gone there was enough to make the place look spectacular. We walked around the top of the plateau until we were above our hotel and then descended the hundreds of steps to ground level. We grabbed a somewhat ordinary hot dog for lunch and  some cheese and biscuits for tomorrow (we have no idea what will be available during the five hour trip) and then headed back to the hotel for a rest and to warm up a bit.

Rab was captivated by the sales in most of the shops. Clothes and boots are pretty reasonable to start with, but with discounts of 40% - 70% they are bargains. She had started looking around Viru for a longer warm coat with no success and after chatting to the receptionist here she decided to head for another shopping centre. This was a little way out of town so we had our first ride on a trolley bus. It had very dirty windows, flew like the wind and took an unexpected route, confusing us somewhat. I asked directions from the only bloke we found who spoke a little English. He looked a bit like the albino in the Da Vinci Code but his looks belied him and he was very helpful in guiding us to the Katherine Centre. Not that it did Rab much good in her search because she found nothing in her size. But if she had been successful she might have got a coat for under A$50.

We paused for a drink and both felt like something cold, like an iced coffee or even a spider, but couldn’t get the servitor to understand and finally settled for a Kiss – a local pear cider that was very pleasant; so we had a second. It was not very high alcohol content – 4.5 – but it did come in half litre cans at A$3.50 a can. The booze is quite cheap by Australian or British standards so it is understandable why flocks of young Poms fly in for parties – plenty of strip clubs too.

A view of our hotel - right foreground

We caught another trolley bus back to Viru and walked from there back through the Old Town for the last time, heading for the restaurant Lars recommended so very highly – Le Chateau which he was adamant we must visit. I would rather have had the Estonian meal we were planning to have last night but we felt we should placate Lars. Big mistake! The place was quite a distance from our normal hants and we missed it initially, so had to re-trace our steps. There was nothing in the relatively pricey menu that really appealed so Rab settled for a salmon dish and I had the stew. Mine was pretty tasty but difficult to eat and Rab’s was just not good, especially as they forgot to bring her veggies. All up it only cost A$33 but………

TALLIN February 2, 2007

The view from our bedroom

We were in bed by about 19h30 last night (18h30 Swedish time!) and slept like logs on the very comfortable beds. Perhaps that Estonian beer was stronger than we thought? I also bought a miniature bottle of Vana Tallinn – a local spirit made from a secret recipe. It is very tasty I must say but it could not have influenced our sleep as we only had a sip. (What I didn’t realise until we made a second visit to Tallinn in 2011 was that there are three strengths of Vana Tallinn – the strongest of which is 45% proof – so maybe that was our nightcap!)

Breakfast view

Everything looks very reasonably priced here despite the fact that Vladimir, the taxi driver, said that everything in the Old Town cost two or four times what it could cost elsewhere. The exchange rate is 10:1 so dividing all prices by ten certainly makes for bargains. Vladimir also said the average wage is the equivalent of A$1,000 per month and the pension is about A$300 per person. A husband and wife can barely exist, so he says. One of the issues facing the country is the population drain since joining the EU two tears ago. He said the population of Tallinn had dropped by about 50,000 – a pretty substantial change in a population of about 400,000.

The taxi fare was EEK128 (A$12.80) so that was pretty reasonable and we also bought some delicious roasted sugared almonds last night for about A$3.50, so we didn’t spend much yesterday.

Later: A day of mixed fortunes.

We started off well enough. Walked through the snowy park – there had been a light fall during the night – to Balti Jaan, the rail terminus, to catch a tram to the bus station or, as we now know it, Autobusjaan. We had thought of going by taxi but decided instead to be more adventurous. So we bought a Tallinn card – A$40 each, valid for 48 hours – which provides us with free transport among other benefits. We went a ittle astray initially but eventually found the tram stop and were soon on our way.

Half way through the journey a gang of inspectors boarded the tram – eight of them, almost as many as the number of passengers.  They took one man off and put him in their van, presumably to be charged and to have to pay a fine of EEK600. We were OK of course. We duly got to the bus terminus and booked our seats for the 10h00 departure to Riga on Sunday. We thought it would be a good way to see a bit of the countryside since it is only a five hour trip – and so cheap too at A$46 (two thirds of our taxi fare from our house in Australia to the airport).

Rab at the Russian wool market

On our way back to the tram, we spotted an Internet café an for A$2 we had a half hour to pick up mail and send some to the family. We didn’t have to wait for a tram and were soon on our way to catch the bus for a city tour. We just missed the noon departure but filled in our time while waiting for the next one by browsing through the famed “wool market” set up just outside the city walls. It seems to be manned by very large women and even on a day like today there were a dozen or so stalls filled with knitwear of all sorts, most of it very nice indeed. But what a job, standing in the freezing cold waiting to  fleece the very small flock of tourists at this time of the year.

Rab bought a couple of lovely little hats for the girls – pink with cats (and ears!) for A$28 and I got myself a pullover and scarf with a reindeer motif for A$46 and A$14 respectively. I don’t really need either but I’m a sucker for souvenirs. In the midst of our putative bargaining – 10% discount was the best we could  do – the bus arrived so we boarded that for the city tour, usually A$30 each but free with our Tallinn card. It was an interesting drive with a good, clear recorded commentary. Since we had no idea of the history of Tallinn it was quite a surprise initially to find that it had changed hands so often and at one time was THE holiday resort for the Russians to whom it belonged.

Once the tour was over, we headed for the nearby mall at Vira. The day had warmed up a little while we were on the bus, rising to a summery +2C and causing all the snow to start melting but as we walked to the mall there were freezing gusts and my feet felt as if I was walking on ice cubes instead of the usual pebbles. There were sales in many of the shops in the mall and Rab was fascinated by the enormous variety of very reasonably priced boots, some very exotic indeed. I dropped all the pics we have taken to date onto a CD so at least we can’t lose those now. I asked the girl at the camera shop if she could open the damaged stick. She couldn’t but said she thought someone with the right tools might be able to. Hope she is right. (She wasn’t.)

We had a snack (cheese roll – again!) and a coffee and then came back to the hotel for a bit of R & R before dinner. On the way we picked up a couple of cakes and a Nestea Green Tea. This seems to have disagreed with Rab because she felt pretty grim when she woke up from her nap. We went out for a walk to see if she would feel any better but she didn’t so she had dry toast and Vegemite for dinner while I had a goulash in a bread bowl from room service – and very nice it was too.

STOCKHOLM TO TALLINN February 1, 2007

Difficult to believe that one twelfth of the year has gone already – it is likely to land up as a very short year this year, I think.

We woke to a less than sunny day yesterday but the predicted rain/sleet held off and there was a sprinkling of light snow on the evening. It is too dark now to see if it continued falling after we went to bed. There is not much snow predicted for Tallinn, our next stop, but there seems to still be plenty of it on the ground from the webcam shots.

Lars had to go to hospital yesterday to review his latest PSA results, so after a walk around the neighbourhood with Gerd we all caught the train into town. Lars and  I left Gerd and Rab there while we pressed on by train and bus to the hospital. The womenfolk had a great old time by all accounts, including a very large lunch of pasta. Lars and I didn’t lunch as well – a cheese and ham roll in the hospital canteen.

Later: Evening In Tallinn

Well! Tallinn is where we are now and it is terrific. Just what we wanted. The hotel Rab chose on the Internet (Imperial Hotel) is very nice indeed and right on the cusp of the Old Town.

We arrived here at about 16h00 after a short flight from Stockholm. There was a lot of snow around, although the taxi driver said it hadn’t snowed for five days. As ever the drive from the airport was pretty ordinary – traffic and industrial sites but as we got closer to the hotel, spires and minarets and towers and walls started to dominate the skyline.

We checked in and were off as evening fell for our first look at the Old Town. It really is terrific – lovely old buildings, lit by floodlights and garlanded with bud lights with soaring spires on some – just like a fairy tale. We wandered around for about one and a half hours quite entranced and it was only cold feet that finally decided us on heading for food (even though it was only about 5 o’clock Swedish time!)

 

We had read some of the write ups for the restaurants and decided that one with an almost unfortunate name of Turg sounded what we wanted – good plain food. We each had an enormous shepherd’s pie and a half litre of beer for A$25! Not bad at all!!

STOCKHOLM Wednesday January 31, 2007

Well, we had a lovely day yesterday. The temperature was about -3ºC but with no wind and he winter sun it didn’t feel that cold. Both of us slept very well the night we arrived – we were in bed by 20h00 and although we both woke up during the night, we managed to get back to sleep. Last night we made it for about half an hour longer, but were both asleep by 21h00 and both woke up early this morning, giving me time to check the e-mail, read the South African and Australian papers and even check my PayPal account. I’m still amazed by the Internet!

But to get back to yesterday. We went upstairs at about 08h00 to an excellent Swedish breakfast – mainly cheese, cold meat ad a variety of bread and crispbread with some home-made muesli and Gerd’s blackberry preserve, which was delicious. Accompanied by a lot of talk and chatter, of course.

We went into town at about 10h30 to pick up our air tickets for the Riga/Warsaw leg from LOT (Polish) offices in town. There was surprisingly little traffic but some rather hair-raising driving from Lars! We parked illegally and I was surprised at the security measures to stop us getting into the LOT offices. First of all there was the street door, where you had to enter a code to get a response. Lars punched in the numbers but – no reply and the door did not open. Tried again with the same result. At that stage fortunately a postman arrived so we followed him in – so much for the security! When we got to the LOT office we had to buzz again, although this time it worked. Lars mentioned the problem with the front door buzzer downstairs to the woman who greeted us and she said they knew about ti – it was broken. As I said to Lars, if it hadn’t been for him and the postman, I might have frozen to death waiting for a response!

From there we drove out to what is called the King’s Animal Garden – the old hunting grounds of the Swedish kings. There are hundreds of acres of national parklands and it all looked so wondrous. There are cleared paths everywhere for walkers and riders and we spotted a number of ski tracks where cross-country skiers had got their exercise. Lars and I went for a stroll looking for photo opportunities but we couldn’t lure Rab out of the car.

The snow and the trees and the little frozen river/canal/lake all looked tremendous and I took what looked like some excellent shots but Alas! We may never know because my memory stick suddenly gave up the ghost and refused to accept or  display any more images. I hope we will be able to get it open when we get back home, but fear the worst. Fortunately Lars had taken some shots, so we will be able to take these with us. (I couldn’t recover the shots but I found out the most likely cause of the problem. My camera battery was low and with the cold, it dropped even more quickly than usual, finally petering out as the camera was transferring an image to the memory stick. Cutting off power during this action has the effect of jamming the stick. I always check my batteries now!!)

We drove around the park for a while, admiring the wonderful grand houses on the fringes of the park. Many of these are very old and owned by the very wealthy. We stopped to get some views of a little inlet and for once Rab joined us.

There was an enormous swan that swam towards us, obviously expecting food, and within a short time mallard ducks and seagulls were skidding in to land. What a pity we had to disappoint them all.

From there we drove on to Skänsen Gardens, aiming to have lunch at a restaurant that Gerd knew – but it was closed for winter. Rab spotted two wolves near the parking lot, but it turned out that they were in a part of the Skänsen Zoo grounds. I had spotted some deer spoor and hare too and Lars had said that there had been a wolf or two in their neighbourhood a year or two back. Gerd complained that the deer come out of the woods in summer and eat her flowers!

The spot where we had lunch was very pleasant but jammed full of young mothers and babies. There must have been 20 strollers parked about the premises, some in the foyer and some in an overflow park in the courtyard. The rest of the clientele were mainly women with very few men in evidence. We just had rolls and coffee at a cost of about SWK240 – about A$40 which was pretty pricey.

We thought we might try to see if a camera shop would be able to open my memory stick, so popped into an Onoff shop on the way home. The joke about the name of this chain is that when they first opened up in Sweden, Lars thought it was yet another Russian invasion, failing to grasp that it was On + Off! Anyway, as I expected they were not able to help but at least we established that the camera itself was OK and I bought another memory stick – with plenty of room being 1G. it cost about the same as it would have in the Melbourne duty-free where I had been contemplating buying one. Rab and Gerd paddled around the shops for a while then joined Lars and me for a very good coffee in a rather smart coffee shop.

We had a good laugh over dinner. It was Lars' turn to cook and he and I went down to the supermarket to get the ingredients. I noticed that he bought about one and a half kilos of Baltic Herring - which he said he was going to put into a pie. I said nothing but wondered how many people might be joining us for the meal! In due course he presented this enormous pie - with all the little tails sticking out - and by the time we had eaten our fill there was enought left for half a dozen more people. We assumed that Lars and Gerd would be having cold herring pie most of the week.

A lovely day (apart from that darned camera stick!!)

BALTIC WINTER TOUR - 2007

It was December 2006 and it was HOT. The crunch came one morning when we took the boys up to the oval for their walk. It was 25°C at 06h00, the flies had been brought down on the hot wind that was blowing – and bringing smoke in from the fires 200 km way. So much smoke that the airport was closed. I was not happy, but good old Santa was. As we sat watching the morning news over our first coffee of the day, there the old boy was, surrounded by snow and decidedly cooler than we were. Rab suggested we might consider taking a trip to see some snow – since we had done a trip in Winter. So on the spur of the moment we decided that if we could find cheap seats, we’d be on our way!

Onto the Internet, cheap bookings aplenty; on Skype to Lars in Stockholm – they had room for us – and we were set to leave on January 28th. Ironically we actually had a light snowfall here in Melbourne in the Dandenongs on Christmas Day, while there was very little snow in Scandinavia. 

Here is the diary I kept - a post a day almost four years ago to the day.

STOCKHOLM Tuesday January 30, 2007

We arrived on time yesterday afternoon at 14h15 to a wonderful scene of winter – just what we wanted, snow all around, sparkling in the sunshine. Lars was there to meet us, having a long wait in the end because the baggage took so long to come off. It was over an hour after landing before we got it.

The traffic was very heavy although it was only 16h00 and it took about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the house, where Gerd gave us a very warm welcome. After a shower, we felt a little better and enjoyed the light meal they had prepared – a Russian fish soup with a couple of glasses of wine. That was just what we needed and I slept like a log.

The flight over here was very good. This is the first time we have flown Malaysian Airlines and it was a positive experience.  We took off from Melbourne at 00.45 on Monday (yesterday!!) morning and got to Kuala Lumpur at 05h25 – a flight of about seven hours with the two hour time difference. I tried a Malaysian breakfast – rice and spicy fish/chicken – which was very tasty and Rab settled for the fruit. They had, of course, given us a meal shortly after takeoff, the first course of which was delicious satay sticks. I declined anything other than that but Rab had a chicken and leek pie which she said was very good. MA have lie-flat bed seats which did not go quite as flat as the Qantas seats, but which were very comfortable, so both of us had a good few hours sleep. (I say about 4: Rab says about 3 – but who has the digital watch that can be read in the dark?)

The KL airport was quite an eye-opener. Very big, bright and clean. We found our way to the business class lounge and read the local papers, snacking on the delicious grub – or at least Rab did. I just had some juice. I was at that stage a bit concerned about two things – my nose was running and my throat felt dry and sore, normally a precursor of one of my ‘travelling colds’ which are very uncomfortable. But that was not my main concern. The other was potentially much more problematical.

When I had gone to the toilet before boarding in Melbourne I was surprised to see that I had passed a bit of blood when I started to piddle. There was no discomfort or pain – just the blood and not much of that. Of course that put me in something of a quandary. If this was an indicator of a serious infection then Latvia and Estonia might not be the best places to deal with it. On the other hand if it was just one of the series of odd health events I have been subjected to of late, then it would be a dreadful waste of money to cancel the trip.

So I decided to press ahead, at least until KL and review the position there. I only went to the toilet once on the flight up and that produced a worse show of blood than in Melbourne, so I was a little concerned. However, there was only the slightest touch of pink in KL and there has been nothing since, so I am lad I decided to press on. The only thing I can put it down to is the fact that we have had a lot of chick peas in the last few days and that might have been a reaction with the Warfarin I take.

The shops in the terminal opened at 07h00 and we found a chemist shop where I got some Strepsils for my throat. We had intended getting a bottle of Scotch for Lars but because the plane was flying to a US destination (it went on to New York after dropping us off in Stockholm) no liquids were allowed on board in terms of the current somewhat hysterical anti-terrorist regulations. We were able to buy him a bottle on the plane however, so all was well in the end.

We took off on time again and had a very pleasant and attentive crew, good food and were able to sleep for a good number of hours (some dispute as to just how many!!). When Rab woke up we were over Kazakhstan and shortly after that she slip up the window blind to see the snow covered steppes of Russia. She was thrilled and although I often tease her about being blasé about travelling it was good to see her so animated. Let’s hope that there is plenty of snow everywhere since that is the objective for this trip.

PARIS TO HOME

Paris to Kuala Lumpur Sunday January 9, 2011

I was awake a fair deal with my damned cough keeping me awake. I'll be glad to see the back of it, although judging by the last 'travel cough' I had it might take weeks to clear up.

The hotel was very comfortable and probably the quietest room we have ever had, despite overlooking the Air France apron, with aircraft coming and going. But there was not a sound coming through what must be a very sophisticated system of double glazing.

The breakfast was adequate, but certainly no bargain at €29 (say $45 or even more frightening R315!) we had to clear our own plates and put them on a sideboard where the cleaning sprays and cloths were also displayed!

We were transported in the hotel car to Terminal 1 which is quite a way from the hotel by a very nice lad and then we entered the maze that is Charles de Gaulle airport. We hadn't paid much attention coming in as Rab was in her wheelchair, but now on foot we were faced by a maze of signs. With some patience it was possible to work out where to go, but I pity the amateur flyer. We had tickets to the Air France Premiere Salon so found our way up there but walked into a furnace. The terminal building itself is pretty warm, but the salon was heated to about 30C I reckon. Sweat was pouring off me as we swigged a quick drink and packed our heavy coats away. The outside terminal felt positively cool initially, but even though I am sitting by one of the many escalators, which is bringing some cooler air in, I am still sweating bullets.

The Tea Room beckons at the Windmills

 Rab and I were talking last night about what a wonderful trip this has been. My favorite still is Rothenburg while Rab finally came down in favor of the Windmills. It is very difficult to make a choice because so much was so good.

The sun came out at Rothenburg

Later- 20 minutes out of KL. 

I didn't sleep as much as I expected last night. My cough returned, which kept disturbing me and, somewhat amusingly, Rab also got a croaky throat. When she has one of those she tries to clear her throat repeatedly with a mini-cough that has three notes. I found myself dreaming of the trip and the folk dancing the three notes being repeated as the dancers whirled around Hi-Hi-ing furiously. Only a little over 12 hours to go now! But we're both bearing up.

KL to Melbourne January 10, 2011

A little over two hours to landing and we've both had a good sleep. Rab says she was sleeping lightly, but I was out for almost five hours, so I feel pretty good. I've just eaten an apple I bought in Paris with my last Euros and I think that may do me, although I haven't eaten since breakfast about 12 hours ago. But sitting here for so long tends to make you feel pretty full.

As I said before, this was a tremendous trip and, if, as we have said so often before, it is our last one (bodies being slower to recover and funds being finite) then it was indeed a good one. (Of course it wasn't!)