Friday, 5 May 1978

Misty, foggy

Jennifer had to work today.

Rang Bill at Evelyn Court. He’s not too keen on all the steps in the tubes. Has had cold weather in Ireland.

Elsie rang Doreen after breakfast. She has the cold [Friends from Oatley holidaying in England].

Drove to see Ightham Mote. Walked around the mote but the house was not open. Mote is quite wide and has water running through from a small stream above.

Had lunch in the grounds to Knole House – lots of deer.

Joined the National Trust (£7.50) and then had refunded the £2.40 it cost to have the guided tour of the house.

The oldest house in England that is still lived in. Two sections still used by two Lords – Sackville. Rooms still decorated with original furnishings, chairs, carpets, tapestries, beds. Heavy silver tables and candlestick holders.

All went out to tea at the Mill – an old mill that is now set up as a restaurant. Very good decor and excellent meal. An old water wheel is fixed and turning but the stream is blocked off.

Thursday, 4 May 1978

Fine, warm

(Arranged for car)

Frank came down [and] picked us up in his red Citroen – took us up to his house at Earls Colne about 1½ – 1¾ hours drive from here [London] in Essex. Out in the country. His house is right on the edge of a common and large wood.

Frank and Gwenneth’s home

Saw his father’s house that was 300 years old and had recently been used as two flats. Low ceilings, large beams, hand-hewn surrounded by 7 ft brick wall. Went into his small hairdresser’s room that he has done up.

Frank’s parent’s home – 300 years old

Elsie and her cousin, Frank, outside his hairdressing shop

Gwyneth, Frank and Elsie

Lunch with Gwyneth. Frank sprayed the wine.

In the afternoon went for a drive around, very good agricultural land. Went to an old auction sale room at Sudbury – loads of junk. Walked the town with its street stalls. Visited the Guildhall at Lavenham – back to 1500s/1600s. Floors and walls off level in some places. One room it would have had a fall of about 1” in 12. Frank said they used old ship timbers in some of the buildings.

Back to tea with Gwen. She would not come on the drive back to Bexley.

Called for 20 mins to see Aunt Lucy who has been very sick. Drove over to Felsted to see the pub where Pop Witney was born. It is called The Three Horseshoes. Took a couple of photos.

Elsie’s dad was born in this hotel

Back to Bexley by 9.15.

Wednesday, 3 May 197

Fine, warm

Jennifer and Jeff picked us up at the hotel about 10. Drove to Hampton Court.

Elsie, Jennifer, Jeff and Anthony

Jim , Jeff, Anthony and Jennifer

Impressive gardens. Built for [Cardinal Thomas] Wolsey originally taken over by Henry VIII. Well appointed chapel. Large hall – centre hearthstone for open fire, wood panelled walls where all the people had a feast. King sat on slightly raised dias.

Hampton Court Gardens

Jennifer feeding a squirrel

Lunch in self serve cafeteria.

Drove to Ham House on the River Thames. Afternoon tea on the lawn. Jennifer fed the squirrels.

Back to Jennifer’s for tea.

Monday, 1 May 1978

May Day holiday.

Good travelling to border [from Paris]. Slower roads through many villages. Houses close to roads, narrow streets. Good farming country, well cultivated.

To Ostend – very foggy. Gear put in the Stella Maris Hotel Restaurant. Found a cafe in a side street. 185BF (58 to Fr) for soup and a rump steak with loads of chips.

Farewelled the Scandinavian group.

Crossed in the Prins Albert – a very big channel boat. Was very full as it had all the holiday travellers on it. Very smooth crossing. Still foggy at Dover.

Train left Dover about 8.00 – [arrived] at Victoria Station about 8.30. Taxi picked up in side street. Hotel at 9.00 pm. Still foggy.

Sunday, 30 April 1978

Paris.

Saturday, 29 April 1978

To Paris.

Unfortunately for the two nights that Jim and Elsie were in Paris, Jim didn’t record anything in his diary.

However, from Jim’s photographs we know they visited the Palace of Versailles and the Eiffel Tower.

Our tour group at the Palace of Versailles

The gardens at the Palace of Versailles

The lift on the way up the Eiffel Tower

Some of the bridges on the River Seine viewed from the Eiffel Tower

Riverside from the Eiffel Tower

Thursday, 27 April 1978

Milan to outside Lucerne.

Early start (7.30) to see the cathedral in Milan – Gothic style, 1500 spires, statues large inside, poor light, many stained windows.

Cathedral at Milan

Through very interesting country to Lugano (Switz) for lunch. Beautiful lakeside. Rich colour in flowers. Cooler.

St Goddard tunnel not open (or coach too wide for train). Had to take another pass – San Bernadino. Magnificent views.

This detour involved much extra travel but traversed high mountains where you could see villages down in the valley even though it was very misty.

On the road to Lucerne

Reached the hotel right on Lake Lucerne at 7.30. Day very long and a number of people sick on the bus in the last section.

Hotel window overlooked the lake and high snow covered peaks were in the distance.

Lake Lucerne from hotel window

Tuesday, 25 April 1978

Holiday in Rome for the ending of the Second World War. Must be a type of Remembrance Day. P.M. to lay a wreath on the tomb of the unknown warrior.

Arch of Constantine, Rome

Morning sightseeing to the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums – long gallery of exhibits of maps, paintings, tapestries that are hung in the Sistine Chapel, ceilings all fresco.

Sistine Chapel fully painted by Michelangelo. Ceiling has the story of creation. One fresco near the top tells of the story of Jesus. On the opposite side the story of Moses. Need a pair of field-glasses and a book to get the meaning out of each picture.

The end wall tells of the Creation – done by Michelangelo in his later life. Took 8-12? years. Some later painter covered the nude bodies with a veil like effect.

St Peter’s Basilica is immense, very bright and spacious inside. ‘La Pieta‘ now enclosed by large glass screen.

Thousands in the cathedral as a mass was being celebrated. Rich colours in the High Altar as the priests conducted the service. Beautiful choral singing. Solo girls. One sang ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ in Italian. Deep diapason notes in the concluding accompaniment to each verse. To the top of the dome over 400 feet designed by Michelangelo.

St Peters Square, Rome

Vatican City – A Swiss Guard

St Peters Square

Afternoon tour to EUR – the new section of Rome and the Catacombs.

New apartment blocks, office blocks, artificial lake, churches, stadium and park areas. Clean. Different impression altogether.

Catacombs where Christians buried their dead. Five levels, visited 2nd level. Many tunnels and galleries 10 to 14 feet high. Built in volcanic rock, soft and stable. 140,000 in this one.

Went to a church to see the statue of Moses by Michelangelo.

Monday, 24 April 1978

Fine/hazy

By autostrade through very interesting country – irrigated, rice, fruit trees pruned so branches run in a straight line. Very fast road. Some difficulty finding hotel. Very nice hotel.

Lunch in Rome. Afternoon sightseeing around the old city. Stopped at Piazzo Venetia and looked at Michelangelo-designed steps to old Forum that has been excavated.

Ruins of the old Forum

Visited the Colossium. It really lives up to the word. Says it only took 8 years to build. It is a maze of tunnels underneath.

Interior of the Colosseum

Exterior of the Colosseum

Looked at Rome from Michelangelo’s Square that has a bronze statue of David. Very hazy and bridges and river not very clear. Remains of old Roman wall and tower on hill. Drove up the Farvole Hills past many of the villas that were owned by the richer section.

At night went around to see Rome by floodlight but I couldn’t see many floodlights – must have a different meaning. Drizzle rain made it hard to see out of the windows.

Stopped at the [Trevi] Fountain to throw in two coins for me and one coin for Elsie. Alan’s and Bob’s kids wouldn’t let me throw them all in at once.

Called in at a night club for a FREE WINE and be serenaded by two men, two women and three instrumentalists. One singer then took the tambourine around.

The whole night was something like the weather – a bit of a washout.

Sunday, 23 April 1978

Fine, warm, clear

Breakfast at 7.15 – departed 7.50.

Lush farmlands of the Po Valley. Through the Tuscan Hills. Beautiful cultivated hills as the road starts to rise. Road is a wonderful piece of engineering as it rises and snakes its way through and over the hills and gullies. Many tunnels and high viaducts vary in length from 150m to 600m (quite common), 800m and one must have been about a mile long. One tunnel of 800 odd metres came straight into a viaduct of 400m to the opposite hill. A very fast and well graded road. As we descended you could look back and see four of these viaducts that we had crossed. Florence for lunch.

Afternoon to Florence leather shop. Many coats and other leather goods.

Guided tour of city – Ponte Vecchio bridge, old Roman watch towers, Michelangelo Square. Started to rain – Palazzio Vecchio – the meeting place of the Commune (statues & towers), Florence Cathedral – immense Tuscan arches – huge dome 130 feet (like St Paul’s) built in 14/15 hundreds – an immense church inside.

Up to Fiesole in the Tuscan hills – coffee and pizza. Struck traffic jam from football on way back. Six lanes wide across the road blocked. Hotel at 7.30. Meals so far quite satisfactory.