TravelStream™ news feed for member austega on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/austega en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:49 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1223360640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1223360640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1223360640/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:49 -0400 Finland, Baltics, Poland & England

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Sydney, Australia

Fri 3 Oct, St Margarets (near London)I can't believe that today is our last full day of this trip. It just seems unreal to think that this time tomorrow we'll already have been flying for some hours.First though, today - We woke to hear rain above - but the English weather variability continued, and by the time we were ready to go out it was sunny.From Roisin & Phil's house it is possible to walk to Richmond Lock & take the bridge over the Thames & over the lock & weir. It was windy but beautiful. And we love Richmond so much, and our time living here was (mostly) so happy, that we seemed to be continually saying "do you remember when ... " Writing continued Sat 4th October(Now Saturday 4th, and I am sitting waiting at Heathrow airport. I stopped writing last night when we left to go out to dinner, and then had to finish off packing etc before bed so decided to leave finishing this until at the airport today. Now we learn that our flight is going to be at least an hour late, so there is plenty of "free time" at the moment.)Now, back to yesterday - Friday. It is 13 years since David was in Richmond, but his memory for routes continues to be excellent. However I'm the one who remembers trivia. I remembered that the 0 degrees longitude line used to run through the King's observatory at Richmond (next to the Old Deer Park). I mentioned it to David in the morning and, when we returned in the evening, we spotted an information plaque explaining it. There was even a slit to look through, which directed your eyes to another plinth and the observatory.We took the train one stop from Richmond to Kew Gardens, and after that signs directed us on the route to The National Archives. It felt good, returning to this familiar place - but for the first time there, David was with me.We had already submitted the info for Readers' Tickets, but it still took a while as they are now photo-cards, so photos had to be taken as well as ID checked. But eventually we were "in".We had pre-ordered some documents, but in fact some of those were "self-serve" digital documents, on computers. I'd ordered some very large books (unknowingly) and those were upstairs in the map room. We did get better at it, but it felt like we were sort of upstairs, downstairs, into the secure documents section, and out again. At each change we had to have our (clear plastic) bag of possessions and my lecture pad checked, as well as swiping our reader's card.The first book I was able to get my hands on was a list of people imprisoned in the Debtors Prison. I knew the date of the newspaper announcement but had to scan the pages until I found poor Abraham Woolf. It was a large leather-bound book, thick pages, and elegant handwriting, and I was reading the book for 1841. I'm glad to have found my ancestor's entry, and I'm glad to learn that his debt was eventually discharged, but really it was also a special experience just handling the old book.David chose to attend a talk for newcomers to Kew, and he also went looking (successfully) for the will of a 15th century ancestor of his, but mostly he was happy to work through a sheet I'd prepared with references for documents relating to his ancestors. At 4.30 when we were leaving, we detoured into the small museum there. We saw the great and also the small Domesday books, the Magna Carta, a petition to the king from North America, signed by John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson & others - as well as other amazing documents.David was photographing these through their cases, and without flash, when a voice called to him "I hope you're not using flash". He assured the voice that he was not, and continued his process. It turned out that the woman was the conservation officer, come to check the humidity in each case. Perhaps to make up for her earlier suspicion, she offered to briefly turn on the light in each case for us, while she checked the humidity (making for better photos). We ended up chatting to her for a while - she was very interesting.Eventually we walked back to Kew Station and took the train back to Richmond. From there we walked through to the village green, past the old Richmond Palace, down to the Thames - and again back through our memories."Do you remember when we were walking across this Green when something clicked for Justin and he suddenly understood his multiplication tables?" "Do you remember walking past this palace with Jack and Dad, and Jack was dating buildings by the age of the bricks?""Do you remember when Cathy was a baby, walking here beside the Thames, pushing her in a pram?"The river was then very high and although we walked across dry, one of the paths beside the river was flooded (the Thames is a very tidal river). Once David took our kids & Roisin's kids down to stand on the bridge & watch the river. While they were standing there, the river rose to the point of flooding the lower steps, and David had to eventually carry all the kids through the water to dry land.Back at the house it was a hive of activities as daughters Emma was briefly visiting & Casey was preparing to go out. When they had left, we went out for our meal. Phil drove us first up Richmond Hill, so we could see where we used to live at Glenmore House, and then we drove down to Richmond to a favourite restaurant of Phil & Roisin. We had a lovely dinner together, which ended all too soon. Back at the house we sat & chatted for a while before we went upstairs to pack.This morning, Saturday, Roisin and Phil had already been out to Heathrow, taking Casey for a whirlwind weekend trip to Ireland, before they took us out to the airport too.The fiasco earlier this year at Heathrow was their opening of the new terminal 5. We thought it fortunate that we were leaving from terminal 4 - although there are major renovation works going on here that made entry into the terminal building quite tricky. We said a sad farewell to Roisin and Phil at the nominated drop-off point. But then it was a matter of walk a bit then take a lift down to ground level, cross through building works, then take a lift up to the departures level.The website recommendations for Qantas recommended being at the airport 2 hours before departure, but Heathrow recommended 3 - for extra security checks. So we arrived here before 9.30 for a scheduled 12.15 departure. When we checked in, we were advised that the flight would be an hour late - had they mentioned that on their website we wouldn't have had to be out here so early!It's now Tuesday 7 October & I am at home, finally finishing this travel blog entry.In the end the flight left Heathrow a little after 2.15, so we were at the airport almost 5 hours before the flight left. A nuisance with so many flying hours ahead. The Qantas flight was good though - significantly more leg room than the Cathay Pacific flight, and I think even more than the Finnair flight too. It had become a standing joke between us about my screens not working on flights - but this one did! I took advantage of the fact by watching a number of movies and TV shows - which is one reason why the blog didn't get finished!It was delightful to be able to choose from such a wide range of movies & reject one if you didn't like it & start another. One film I heartily recommend is "Children of the Silk Road". A "TV" documentary that I particularly enjoyed was "A year in the life of J.K. Rowling", covering the period when her final book 7 of Harry Potter was released, film 5 was released, and ending with her returning to the flat where she finished book 1. She spoke openly about sadness and relationship problems in her own life, as well as the themes of the series of books, and - an aspect I found fascinating - how many of the themes or conflicts were answers to episodes in her own life. She was in tears a couple of times (as was I).The flight from London to Singapore was about 13 hours, then there was scheduled to be 90 minutes on the ground, and then the flight from Singapore to Sydney was about 7 hours. As it turned out, we left about 2 hours late, then "saved" about 10 minutes in each of the 3 stages, so arrived about 1.5 hours late back to Sydney. Daylight saving had started in Australia on Sunday too, which made the arrival hour 1 hour later.Such long flights are never fun, and I didn't actually get any sleep. I gave up and watched movies probably for more time than I should on the overnight flight, and then tried to sit with my eyes shut for much of the day flight - not the right way around I know. Because I am a member of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, they know about my Lactose intolerance & so brought special meals for each of the 3/4 meals we had. In fact their special meals are intended to cover whatever food intolerances people might have (lactose or gluten-free, or sometimes also vegan), so were a bit restrictive.Having said that, I don't think anyone expects to get gourmet food or plenty of sleep, at least in economy class. The flight was very full, but there was at least some legroom & the personal air vents worked (not to mention the individual TV screens!). In hindsight I'd say that the Qantas flights - especially the first one - were the best of those we did on this trip.When we arrived in at Sydney airport, the queues for Australian & NZ passport holders were short and quick, however the luggage delivery to the carousel was very slow, so we had ages to wait there. I'd sent Justin an SMS when we were waiting in the luggage area - he and Mum & Dad were waiting nearby for our call that we were ready to be picked up. I sent another message when we finally had our luggage and then we had only a couple of minutes wait outside before the very welcome sight of Mum & Dad's car approached - surprisingly with Justin driving. It was lovely to see them.When we first went overseas in 1983, and then again when we travelled with the kids in 1994/95, we made lots of stops before we reached London, so it emphasised the distance travelled. This time, flying directly back to Sydney, it made the world seem much smaller - despite the long hours in the air.It was after 11 when we finally arrived home, and there were a number of things to do before bed - not to mention some catching up with Justin. David, being David, was fully unpacked before he went to bed - I still haven't taken the last few things out of the case. So it was after 12.30 when we finally fell into bed. Oh the joy of getting into our own bed! We woke several times, but did get quite a bit of sleep. (Whereas last night our body clocks were more out of synch.)So! I guess this is the end of this travel blog. Having been away 5 weeks there is still a lot of catching up to do at home, and that will probably take days yet. However already it seems unreal to think that a week ago was our first full day in London.From Kerry, home again in Sydney now
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1222302960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1222302960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/austega/1/1222302960/tpod.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:56:36 -0400 Finland, Baltics, Poland & England

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Wroclaw, Western Poland, Poland

Wed 24 Sep, WroclawA number of long days & late nights is taking its toll. I've actually felt very tired almost all day. It's been an emotional day for me too, and that takes its toll too, I know.I hadn't been happy about having a family room with Chris - I felt I'd need some privacy - but he made great efforts to stay out of our way, particularly in the morning, and I expect would have done so at night as well, except when we encouraged conversation. So that worked much better than it might, mainly due to his flexibility & thoughtfulness.After breakfast today, first stop was the post office. We were planning to post home guidebooks & other books in order to reduce the weight before our RyanAir flight tomorrow. Chris couldn't park nearby, so we got out & he went to try to find parking.While waiting for him, we found a chart of postage costs - we managed to work out which column applied to Australia - and the prices were very high. Using sign language, we managed to communicate that we wanted our package weighed, and the weight was 2.38 kg. Then we went to check the postage chart. A 1 kg package to Australia costs 67 zloty - halve that to $A. Our 2.38 kg parcel would cost 73 zl, or close to $37. Again I wondered couldn't we try to get our luggage under weight by moving around the heavier items, rather than spending all that on postage. Chris' stories earlier about how untrustworthy is the Polish postal system didn't help. So when Chris arrived, having finally parked the car, we told him we'd decided to keep the books with us.Next stop was the Jewish burial prayer house, on the edge of the old Jewish cemetery. It is now used as the public library, and didn't open until 11, so we were behind a locked gate. Stacked outside were a number of old tomb stones - from Dariusz we'd learned that 2 of them are for CHARIGs.We took a few photos through the gate of the building, the rows of stones & were on the point of leaving, when I said that I thought I needed a few more minutes here. Much of our time in Leszno has been used "being efficient", trying to achieve as much as possible in very limited time. (Actually much of the trip has been like that.) But standing there in what remained of the old cemetery, it suddenly hit me - "Michael is probably here somewhere" (my ancestor). Chris pointed out that some of the ground had been taken over for the local swimming pool, and some is car park. Again we were nearly leaving when I said, "I'm sorry but I need to take another photo of the general area".I got out of the car, walked across the grass to get a wider photo - when suddenly I had one of those almost spiritual experiences, feeling very close to an ancestor. Tears flowed & I felt very blessed to be here. I've learned a lot about their lives & have tried to find out as much as possible - these people have been high in my mind for days. But this time, somehow they were in my heart. Chris had told us that the word Poland in Yiddish means "here we stay". Suddenly that had much meaning for me.Chris drove us next to the archives, to pick up the scans ordered yesterday. I was still struggling with tears & so asked to be left alone outside for a few minutes. However when I went in - I was the one with the receipt, David & Chris had had to wait for me. We were given the CD & David said "is the map (of old Lissa) on there too?" Much uncertainty - they went to check - and after a bit came back with another CD for us, this with the very large map we had asked to be copied (the oldest one held in the Leszno archives, about the size of 3 x A3 pages). Great that he remembered to check.After that we set out for Wroclaw. We had a chance to ask Chris about his impressions of the 1980s & later, & how Poland had changed - and in fact is still evolving. We remembered that when we last visited Poland (in the south in 1995) they were then in the process of changing from old zloty to new zloty, and 10,000 old zloty equated to new zloty. We'd thought of it as just relabelling the currency, but Chris said that no, there was also a devaluation which reduced everyone's purchasing power. Chris said that before, the shelves were empty, then suddenly nobody had sufficient money to buy anything, but over 6 months the shelves gradually filled & (some people at least) were gradually able to start buying things.In the outskirts of Wroclaw is one of the few old Jewish cemeteries that survived the Nazis. This was our next stop. It was a really lovely place, and like nothing I'd visited before. Trees, ivy - the whole area was cool & very very green & peaceful. Inside stone walls & yet it had been a sight of fighting. Bullet holes can clearly be seen in some of the stones.It surprised me how readable were all the stones - far more so than many of those I've seen in England. Signs directed visitors to the graves of some significant people, but it was a lovely place to move through. Most of the writing was in German (this was once part of Prussia & then Germany), although a small number were in Hebrew. Visitors leave a small stone or pebble on top of Jewish graves when they visit & that was evident on some graves here. Most of the graves we saw were from the 19th century, although a few were 1940 or 1941. We didn't look thoroughly enough to generalise on the period covered.I gather that another cemetery holds those who died from 1942 onwards.Anyway it was an interesting & peaceful rather than moving place to visit. I don't know of any family members there, however in Leszno we were continually told that many of those who left Leszno moved to Wroclaw. So - who knows.Then Chris drove us to our hotel. We spotted the entrance to the hostel, he pulled up as soon as he could, and when we went to say goodbye he hugged me, and I felt the same for him. He said that if we ever needed him to do anything for us in Poland he would be happy to do anything to help.Here we are staying in a hostel. We have a room with "private facilities" next to the reception desk in the hostel - hope that noise isn't a problem. The room is basic but adequate, and very well located. It might be noisy because we're on a busy road. TV here has a number of different nationality programs - and what's more they all work - we had picture but no sound of BBC World News in Leszno, we have that on in the background now.The weather had been threatening all morning & we weren't out walking long before it started to rain. Then it began to pour. Then (what do you call it when even pouring is inadequate?)We walked first to the Stary Rynek - the market square around the Town Hall. Another very pretty square, but decidedly more German buildings. As we drove in to Wroclaw you could see that the buildings had once been very ornate - columns, bay windows, elaborate trims - but most buildings had been neglected. A sand blasting &/or coat of paint could turn the buildings into something quite pretty. They've done it in the middle of town. Maybe the rest is just a matter of time.Given how badly these areas were damaged during the war, the reconstruction they have already done is quite amazing. According to Chris, Poland has become rather an expert on reconstruction, and Polish experts are consultants in other central European countries.Anyway the cleaning & painting has been done on the buildings in the nearby squares and streets to the Stary Rynek - the market square. Very very pretty. A bit of sun would have made a difference - even in the middle of the day my camera wanted to flash.There are LOTS of churches in Poland. On the small cathedral island (Owstrow Tumski) - where the first settlement of Wroclaw started in the 7th or 8th century - in addition to a HUGE 13th century cathedral, there is next to it a tiny early 13th century St Giles, and within 100 metres another huge huge church, St Peter & Paul. In the cathedral there were a lot of tourists - including a school group - other churches were primarily for people praying there.Every second block it seemed there was another church, and none of them small. I guess I can imagine that some might originally have been monasteries or churches with some particular function, but so many?We also walked around the university area. David had read about a magnificent ceiling in the university library. Well we found one almost medieval library - but that wasn't the special one. Then when we did find the correct one, it was closed on Wednesdays.By this time it was pouring, so we sometimes went into churches both to just sit & look, but also as some reprieve from the rain. In the couple of churches nearest the university, we were confronted by extremely persuasive English-speaking young women, trying to "encourage" us to take audio commentary tape recorders. "Just try them out. If you don't find it helpful, then just return them to me. Cost? No particular cost. Just make a donation to the church". I don't know if they were very devout volunteers, but think it more likely it was a part-time job for Uni students.There were some extremely lovely University buildings. Not all inside a wall, as in some cities, but a university quarter of town.The other thing we saw was "Wroclaw's pride & joy, the Raclawice Panorama". This is a huge panorama painting - 45 metres by 114 metres, stitched into a circular image. It presents a surprisingly life-like representation of a 1794 insurrection by Polish regulars (cavalry) & peasants, under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciusko, against Russian troops. The Poles won this battle, even though the peasants were largely aimed with scythes, against well-armed Russian troops.The painting was exhibited from around 1894 until it was damaged in 1944. 20 years later Poland built a circular building especially to house their treasure, but perhaps not surprisingly, the Polish Workers Party (communists) did not want to offend the Russians, so the circular building remained empty until 1985, when finally the painting was displayed again.In order to see the Panorama, visitors must pay to attend a half hour organised viewing, with commentary. We had a sort of audio player (hold beside your ear) so we could hear the description of the painting & the scenes covered, in English. As well as the painting, there was 3D stuff in front of the painting - a cart here, a tree on a sand hill there - that really made it difficult to see the distinction between the foreground & the painting. I thought it quite good, I don't think David was as impressed.Soon after this battle was the 3rd partition of Poland, after which Poland disappeared (as a separate country) from the map for over a hundred years. According to the commentary, the reminder of this battle is very important to Poles, because it demonstrates that they should continue to believe in their ability to survive or defeat oppressors and that eventually Poland would be free again.By this time we were sodden, so we opted to walk back to the market square and find a café for a hot drink & cake. That went down well, then we walked back to our hostel.We had a little time here before going out for a walk to take some photos with night lights & then have dinner.Tonight we need to repack our bags, in order to move around the weight, hoping to avoid the low weight allowance (15 kg) and high excess baggage charges (10 pounds per kg or part thereof) on Ryan Air tomorrow. Tomorrow lunch time we fly from Wroclaw to Liverpool (England) & then hire a car to drive to Preston. I can't believe that this part of our trip is nearly over, and that tomorrow evening we will be with family.Good night to you from Kerry & David in Wroclaw
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Leszno, Poland

Well it's been a mixed bag emotionally for me today. Everything from excitement, to tears of emotion (at feeling close to ancestors), frustration (when something was wasting our time), angst (was I using our time & time with Chris well - was my genealogy too much of a pain for David)... It's been a mixed bag. Overall a good day & I have learned a lot - about what life was like here at different times, what industry / politics / war affected the residents & why people migrated. Samuel & Isaac remain an unsolved mystery, but there are possibilities...It was raining for most of the day, so we were pleased to have taken photos late yesterday in sunlight. We started the day in the archives, looking quickly at the files we'd ordered at Dariusz' advice because they contained the wills of various CHARIG family members. Because they were in German & the writing took time to decipher, we skimmed those files quickly & ordered copies of the actual wills, including some long lists of beneficiaries & their spouses.We stumbled into other records including some (huge books as it turned out) called Volkbuch - people books. These are like censuses - listing all the family members, ages, religion (we were skimming looking for Jud. - Jewish), where born, & dates for moving in & out of Lissa (the Prussian name for Leszno).I started looking through one of these books - and it was wonderful! Like an ongoing census of all residents in the town in the first half of the 19th century. We ordered some more & David & Chris also were going through books, making notes for me when they found a family of interest. Fortunately there was a Jewish quarter in town, so if a book seemed to be about Catholic residents, we could abandon that book for the next.Time was a dilemma though. If we stayed there looking at records, there would not be time to see anything else in town. In the end we set a 1.30 deadline. Of course then there were delays, so it was a bit later than that when we got away. Next stop was the Regional Museum in Leszno. Tuesday is a free day for Museums in town - so we were lucky - and also they are open from 9 till 5, instead of different museums of only 4 or 5 hours opening (& not the same hours).However they are obviously not exactly flooded with visitors. We were warmly welcomed when we arrived, and different ladies went ahead of our progress turning on the lights in each room just as we got there (and turning off the lights on the room behind as we left). It was quite funny at times.I asked Chris a question about the symbol for Leszno & could he perhaps translate the question to the lady on dury in that room. I don't know whose was the initiative, but next thing somebody had fetched the historian on duty at the museum & the question was being addressed to her. This lady was delightful. Hugely enthusiastic - as Chris described it later, she spoke not only with her voice, but with her hands, her hair, her eyes ... She loved our questions & threw herself into replies, pausing to let Chris translate for us - and I suspect she had some English because occasionally she would interrupt him to correct.She told us about the early history of Leszno & the legends behind the city's emblem (half a bull's head & an axe - the bull has a ring through his nose). One version of the story says that this bull was harrassing a village when some nobles came by. One man offered to kill the bull - he overpowered it, put a ring through its nose, pulled it back to the rest of the nobles & then killed it with an axe. In return, he was given the 2 symbols for his family emblem. Later he was owner of the (private) town of Lissa - which became Leszno, and so the town bears his arms. Later still, with Swedish support, he became king of Poland. However 30 years later when Sweden lost a war, he had to flee.Anyway I could go on & on about the tales this historian told. She was thrilled with our questions. We asked her about why so many people left Lissa mid-19th century (amongst them Samuel & Isaac). She said that the main local industries were flour milling & also weaving a thick woollen cloth called tuch. When Poland was partitioned & the west became part of Prussia, Russia (which held the eastern part of the country) imposed large taxes on tuch & effectively the Lissa merchants lost their market. Many people left for different areas of Prussia or even overseas. She said that as Lissa declined as a town, so Wroclaw increased with people having moved their from Lissa.She also agreed with Dariusz' story about relaxed restrictions on the Jews after 1848, allowing more freedom of movement.I asked her about Leszno & the start of WW2. Apparently on the night of 31 Aug/1 Sep 1939, when it was apparent that Germans were moving into Poland, the Polish cavalry then settled in Leszno actually invaded Germany to fight the Germans on their own soil! For around 4 days they held their position, until withdrawn by the Polish government. In those 4 days it was an easy exit from Poland into Germany, for anyone who wanted to move that way.Chris mentioned to her how he had told us about the story about the Polish cavalry men on horses fighting against the Germans in their tanks - and how they were brave but ultimately doomed. She laughed & even we could pick up in her rapid Polish reply words like "fantasy".According to her, this story (a tale rather like the "Charge of the Light Brigade") is essentially fantasy. When the Germans invaded, they made propaganda films mocking the backwardness of the Poles. They staged events to show that the Poles were fighting with horses & swords against the might of the 3rd Reich.She said that the Polish cavalry used horses to quickly move around, but then they left their horses in safety & fought as infantry men.There was a lot more, but it was delightful hearing these tales told so enthusiastically. It added to & complemented Dariusz' stories.The museum was interesting & I wish I could have taken photos there, but I did buy a small guidebook to the museum that they had in English.Next stop was the Lapidarium around the corner. Now we'd come across that term a number of times before learning that it referred to broken stones put together to somehow make a memorial monument. In this case it was broken tombstones used to make a wall around a nearby church, and with various memorial statuary around.Then we walked to the Jewish branch of the Regional Museum, held in the old synagogue. After the previous success, Chris asked to speak to the local historian again. That lady was not there but we were given somebody else instead. This lady obviously enjoyed the sound of her own voice. I was interested in her tales of general things about Judaism, and the history of that building in particular, but she did like to go on & on & it was difficult to keep trying to appear interested.David walked off after a while, and at an appropriate spell of all Polish without any apparent translation, I wandered off too. The next bit translated was something about "I'm sorry if I talk too much & it is not of interest to you". OK, I was guilt tripped into returning & hearing her out with Chris. I wasn't sure if the words were his but I suspect they were hers.Eventually David took an opportunity to ask could he leave & I said to him to just come back & meet us in 20 minutes. One of the first things the lady had said as we entered the room was that she wouldn't try to tell us the history of the Jews of Leszno because that was all on a board at the back of the room (in Polish) & we could read that. After rather suffering through lots & lots of explanation about so many of the exhibits in the room I eventually interrupted & said to Chris that I was actually interested in the history of the Jews of Leszno, and would be disappointed if there wasn't time for him to translate that back board for us. OK, that happened next. Probably if we'd had that & then a wander looking at the various Judaica it would have been enough. We were also taken into the next room, now an auditorium, which was most of the original synagogue - however it had been divided into 2 storeys so some of the lofty height had been lost (we were in the upper storey).When we went downstairs, David was sitting reading & waiting for us. He asked could he be excused from the next trip (at that stage it was planned to be to the Jewish cemetery & burial hall). I was torn - concerned for him, wanting to see the cemetery, wanting to see the town, and just plain running out of time to do it all. In the end we went with Chris to the post office to make a deposit to pay for the photocopying ordered at the archives (we go back tomorrow morning to collect it). I said that I would walk with David & meet Chris back at the hotel, and we would take our chances with seeing the outside of the burial hall & cemetery tomorrow. I said that I needed the opportunity to get a bit more of a feel for Leszno.I was hoping both to see the town but also to find a souvenir shop. This place isn't set up for tourists so there doesn't seem to be any souvenirs, other than a very few at the tourist office. As I said to David, it doesn't seem the place that you write to people & rave about. There are some pretty places - like the old market place & Town Hall - but they don't set it up for tourists.Eventually we stopped for an early dinner at a Turkish restaurant on the main square, and had sort of a variation of a donner kebab. Mine had chicken marinated & then cooked on a hot plate, then put into pita bread with sauce, rolled & toasted. It was very good. After the really awful kebab we'd had in Finland, I'd thought that it would be a long time before I'd be willing to have another kebab, but this was good.Then we walked back to our hotel, via a different route, and actually had to wait at a level crossing while a long freight train went by, before we could cross.We spent some time in the hotel room here, some work & some talking to Chris, and then he seemed keen to take us for a drink together downstairs in the hotel. We didn't want to be late but it seemed a good opportunity and a nice way to be social with him.Tomorrow we move on to Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotswav). Chris will stay with us until around lunch time & then he will drive back to Warsaw. We have to start here by picking up the photocopies of wills ordered today, and then hopefully seeing the remains of the old Jewish cemetery & funeral house (now a public library).As I said at the beginning, I have very mixed feelings about our experience here. I am hugely grateful to have had the opportunity. I am fascinated by the history. However while there are pretty & historic bits of old town remaining, there's an awful lot of pretty rundown Soviet style building. And the town is bigger than I imagined. I have to keep reminding myself that we are here & that this is THE Lissa I've read & thought about. There is not much charm & I guess I don't feel close to ancestors here as much as I have elsewhere. But I've learnt a lot by coming here & now have some contacts with whom I can perhaps continue the search in the future.Goodnight to you now, from Kerry & David in Leszno
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Leszno, Western Poland, Poland

Mon 22 Sep, LesznoWell I'm actually here now - somewhere I've been longing to come, since learning that Samuel SHUTER was born here, but I have good news & bad news. The good news is that I've learnt a lot. The bad news is that there hasn't (yet) been a magical discovery. Perhaps ... just perhaps ... we have another possibility of the name they were known under, before leaving Prussia. It's clutching at straws, but even that is (so far) better than nothing. We were out of our room bright & early this morning to go to the Poznan archives, and be there at their opening at 8 am. I was actually feeling quite nervous - I didn't expect a miraculous discovery, but I was hoping for something, and also full of doubts.The archivist said there couldn't possibly be any Jewish records amongst the civil records - the Germans took all those records away. Now that didn't fit with knowledge of what happened elsewhere, but we decided to go ahead & order the births records anyway. "They are stored in another building & there won't be any collection of those until 11 o'clock or later" - OK, we'll wait.When we'd finally put in our order for various records of possible interest, there was still 90 mins to wait, so we went off to look at nearby Poznan. We found a markets first - David bought raspberries & I bought a table runner that David had seen & liked. Then we went back to the Old Town Square & took more photos & looked around, and finally ended up having hot drinks back in the restaurant we'd already been to twice. Then back to the archives.As it happened, when the records arrived, Chris & I started looking at births books & David started looking at the "list of artisans". The instruction was to look for any Jewish names or Jewish religion specified, to see if there was any likely relevance.David was the first one to find a possibility. Chris came around to look at it. This book was all in German, so when the 2 of them couldn't work it out, Chris chatted up the guy researching at the next desk & got him involved. The 3 of them were poring over this book - and I was excluded! I tried to signal my frustration to David - and eventually made my meaning clear enough that the message got through - and he said "come & look". I couldn't. Eventually the 3 males separated somewhat & I said to David - here, you take this births book, I want to get my hands on that one!These were books from 1700s on. I expect to only use a pencil anywhere close to such old documents, but apparently pens were OK here. Even if I didn't find "my guy" amongst them, these old books were lovely to leaf though.Eventually I did find something of interest - a possibility - and asked if it was possible to get a copy or could I photograph it. (Even the index books of what was available looked interesting!) No, I couldn't photograph, but they could scan it for me. When eventually there was 1 record that I wanted to scan, in order to check the record again later, that was a major exercise. It cost 4 zl for a scan, but that had to be put onto a CD for me - and that would cost another 2 zl (roughly halve it to $A). But they didn't have a cashier there - in order to pay something you had to transfer money to their account & when the money was there, then they would scan it for you. Chris went off to the local post office, where he paid an extra 2 zl in order to transfer 6 zl to their account - and I finally ended up with a CD. If I had known it would entail all that, I might not have bothered.Eventually we left the archives & walked back to the hotel & then drove to Leszno. The weather was sunny when we arrived so I was keen to get out in it. Chris drove us around in the town for a bit before he dropped us back at the hotel, and he drove off to get Dariusz.Meantime David & I walked into Leszno. There were grey clouds although the sun came through from time to time. Not as photogenic as Poznan, still the old Town Hall is pretty & colourful & some of the surrounding buildings are also painted to look pretty & varied. On the outskirts of Leszno are the Soviet-style concrete blocks of apartments, but painted a variety of colours, they don't look quite so bad as grey concrete. In the Old Town Square the buildings are older style & more ornate. However away from the main square, some buildings would look much better with another coat of paint.Having taken some photos (some in sunlight) that removed some of the urgency I was feeling, so then we walked back to the Tourist Office & obtained a map, bought a book (pictures of old postcards of Leszno) & found out where the old Jewish quarter was.We then had time to walk to the Jewish quarter & briefly photographed what was the Great Synagogue & is now a Judaica branch of the Regional Museum. We also saw the oldest house surviving in the Jewish area of town - only the synagogue is older.Then it was time to hurry back to our hotel to meet Chris & Dariusz. I know that, having only just met Dariusz I ought to refer to him by surname, still it is a long Polish surname & I never mastered the spelling or pronunciation. I was surprised that Dariusz is as young as he is. I knew he used to work at the Jewish museum here & is renowned for his knowledge, and now works for them no longer. I guess I expected someone much older. In fact Dariusz had to leave that job, and is now working on his Ph.D. about the Jews of Leszno from 16th to 18th century. Sounds like anti-semitism isn't yet buried here.I knew that Samuel & older brother Isaac SHUTER went to London around 1849. Isaac married there in February 1850 & Samuel only a few months later. Yet they never appeared in any trade directories before 1850 but they did appear afterwards. I had never been able to find why they moved.According to Dariusz, the various revolutions (in France & elsewhere) in 1848 led people to be dissatisfied & want to go to something better. At the same time the Prussian government removed travel restrictions for non-Jews, and also eased travel restrictions for better-off Jews. This area is primarily agricultural & there was not much town life here. But at that time, only people on the wealthier side were allowed to move - some only moved as far as Wroclaw, some, like brothers Isaac & Samuel moved as far as England. Their father was dead by then. Before then there had been allowed free movement only within the Poznan province (then called Posen, under the Prussians) but not free movement for Jews elsewhere. Even after 1848, people were only allowed to move if they could pay all their taxes and leave no debts behind.At the end of the Franco-Prussian war, about 1871, Germany united and all movement restrictions were removed, so there was another mass exodus as well as flood of immigrants to England & elsewhere. These were the poorer migrants, and in England at least, even earlier migrants looked down on the new arrivals.Dariusz had brought a lot of data in files on a memory stick. He tried running it on Chris' computer & had some problems so then ran it on David's. Various records looked interesting enough, and after I started writing it all down, I asked David could he copy & paste the info into another file for me. So he took over the computer operation, while Chris interpreted to & from Dariusz. At one stage I felt I was being cut out again - David caught my glare & got the message, and after that was great at trying to ensure I wasn't ignored.Dariusz had lots of info on the CHARIG family. Now that is of interest to me, but not so much as trying to crack the puzzle of my SHUTERs. Dariusz said that SHUTER would not have been the name they had here - it is not a name in this region. So if SHUTER wasn't a name here it was anglicised to that on entering England.I asked was (Samuel's father) Michael (Yechiel in Hebrew in London, Jechiel in Hebrew here) a common name - no, it was a rare name - so perhaps we could start searching for Yechiels of approximately the right age. We found one Jechiel of the right age, whose surname was SCHACHTEL. A few plausible possibilities with the name of his wife as well as children who died. Maybe ...Dariusz also brought the references to files of CHARIG wills held in the archives. He suggested that we check the wills at the archives tomorrow - it is not impossible that family members in London might be named, and just maybe in-law names mentioned too. Easy to check given the reference numbers anyway. I have some more information in databases at home about families who lived here & will certainly now look for SCHACHTEL & similarities.Eventually Chris left to drive Dariusz back home & then we have just had a very late dinner - after a very early breakfast.Oh I didn't tell you about the rooms here. I was under the impression that we were to have 2 rooms connected by a bathroom, which we would share with Chris. As it happens, it's a family room with a double bed in the lounge room & also a separate bedroom with twin beds - Chris has that one. I forgot to do my washing in Poznan & now don't feel I can hang undies in a bathroom shared with somebody I only met a few days ago. I'll wash a couple of shirts tonight (Chris has already showered) & encourage David to shower first in the morning & hopefully by then my shirts will have stopped dripping & can be removed from the bathroom.I didn't sleep well or much last night & tomorrow will be full & it's approaching midnight now, so I need to stop. I'm very pleased to be here - it feels very special - but my emotions are a roller coaster. I really would much prefer not to be sharing this way with Chris, although he is doing his utmost not to intrude.Ah well... Big day tomorrow so goodnight from Kerry & David in Leszno (160 years approximately after the family left)
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Poznan, Central Poland, Poland

I've been both looking forward to today - coming closer to where ancestors lived - but I've also been apprehensive about it. Is the idea mad? Am I well enough prepared? Also it largely means the close of the first phase of our travels (self-directed rambling?)& I haven't wanted to wish that on any faster than it needed to be. I've been through all the above emotions today & more. At times, reassured, this is all I could have hoped for, then a frustration (when something happened that prevented me taking photos in the last of the light on the Old Town Square in Poznan). Then a couple of tensions, later partially resolved, and then finally walking out of the well-lit streets into a darker area - I found myself so out of my comfort zone as to be close to some sort of irrational panic.Now we are back in our hotel room. Not the luxury of the last 2 cities, but certainly adequate. We've had a hug, I've expressed all the irrational fears I can make any attempt at explaining, and now it is a matter of - just get on with it.Now - having given you the end of the day it is time for me to give you an account of the rest of the day.We packed up in our hotel room in Warsaw, & were waiting in reception when Chris came to collect us this morning. Chris does a number of things, including being a taxi driver - but also he works as a genealogist &/or guide, particularly for people looking for Jewish ancestors. I imagine that most people who consult him are looking for pre-Holocaust family stories or survivors, whereas Dad's ancestors left here for England around 1850. I want to get a feel for the areas they lived, the history that affected them, as well as looking at any archives that we have time to see.Chris is very friendly, chatty & knowledgeable, although perhaps less about this particular area of the country. I had mentioned to him my interest in Chopin, so our first stop today was at Zelazowa Wola - Chopin's birthplace. His first home has been turned into a museum. In summer there are concerts there, and renowned pianists sit in the drawing room & play Chopin music, while outside there are chairs for visitors to sit & listen (to the amplified music). When the pianists aren't there, as today, then CDs play the music so that as you approach the house it is as if you can just catch the sound of a piano coming from within.Frederick Chopin's father Nicholas was French & his mother Polish - Nicholas taught French for a living. As Chris commented, Chopin must have been brought up to be a protégé. On the walls of one room are letters young Frederick wrote to his parents - when aged 6 & 7. The handwriting is exquisite (lines & lines of it), the words quite pompous. Things like wishing his mother a long & fulfilling life and quite a "man to man" letter to his father. If Chris had not been able to translate it for us we would only have been able to notice the year & thus young age.We were not allowed to take photos within the house, but the grounds of the house were gorgeous. 2010 will be the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth, and the house & grounds we saw today have been renovated in preparation, just as the Chopin museum in Warsaw is currently closed for renovation.The house was quite simple inside - bare wooden floors, ceramic ovens in the corner of the rooms, and a few Chopin pictures or memorabilia on the walls. There was a copy of the marriage certificate of Chopin's parents, as well as the church notices of the marriage of the parents & the birth of Frederick. All were in Latin but that was easier for me to understand than the long Polish names.Chris said to me that Polish is very easy to pronounce - it is completely phonetic. Right. That's why Lodz (but with a slash through the capital L) pronounces "Wooj". The last city we're visiting in Poland is Wroclaw - pronounced Vrotswav. I'm at least having a go at pronouncing that place now. Initially I was saying "you know that last place we're visiting in Poland - the place starting with W".Next stop was Sochaczew. Chris had suggested we stop there to see one of the very few Jewish cemeteries to survive the Nazis. Then came Lowicz, famous for its church, the most popular pilgrimage place in Poland at the time of Corpus Christi. So we visited the church.The church was heavily decorated - lots of paintings, lots of gilt. Chris made a comment about how the church has been a parasite on the people - taking their hard-earned money & spending it on these things that are good for nothing.Actually Chris has been fascinating to ask about things like his version of the different reactions of say the Lithuanians & the Polish to the various Nazi or Communist years. The Lithuanians seem to ignore the Nazi years, and are savage about the Russian years. Poland suffered dreadfully under the Nazis & yet under the Communists was allowed to keep its churches operational, and perhaps the unifying power of the Catholic church helped the people through those years. Certainly a few of the history museums here in Poland seem to end their accounts around 1945.Anyway, back to today. We stopped for a late lunch at a place known to Chris, beside the motorway. He had "sour soup" - a Polish specialty - David had Polish mushrooms soup, and I had a relatively uninspiring meatballs & baked potatoes. Chris suggested we taste his soup & his was probably the nicest of the choices. (David had it for dinner tonight & again I regretted not having it.)Chris had suggested that we might like to stop at one of the death camps, where in WW2 the Nazis experimented with vehicle fumes & other gases to kill the Jews - we said no, we had visited other death camps & would prefer to go on to Poznan.According to Chris, some of the German soldiers were disturbed or distressed when they were asked to kill people, which was one reason why Hitler sought a "cleaner & more hygienic" method of mass killing, supposedly to spare German sensitivities. (??)As we neared Poznan, Chris pulled up to put his own GPS navigator onto the screen, to navigate to the hotel. We found the hotel, had a 20 minute break & then walked into the Old Town. Chris came with us. Previous photos I'd seen of Poznan showed a large empty square with historic buildings around. In this case, all the various covered outdoor restaurants from summer had not yet been packed up, although few were operating outside on this night that even Chris said was cold. Also we stumbled on a local festival in the Old Town square, celebrating a little known region of Poland (NW of Gdansk) - they even have their own language there. Anyway there was music, handouts, beer & sort of barbequed herring. None of these appealed to us.Chris was telling us the fascinating story about the 1919 Polish uprising - I was fascinated in the story at the same time impatient to take photos before the late light left the buildings. In the end his story probably meant we missed the best of the daylight. We need to work out how to deal with it - had it been David I'd have felt freer to say "I'm interested in what you're saying, but hold off for a few minutes while I take some photos first". Today I didn't feel able to say that to Chris.We walked around for a while & then suggested to Chris that we meet him for breakfast tomorrow (at 8.30). We visited the tourist office & then opted for an early dinner. As I say, David had sour soup, in a sort of baked bread roll. The little I tasted was gorgeous. Then we both had pancakes, with local fillings. I couldn't finish mine. Mine was chicken, sweet corn, onion & pineapple, with a garlic sauce. Was a bit odd actually.By the time we'd finished dinner, we'd had a chance to talk about hopes & plans for tomorrow, and some of the buildings had night lights. We took some photos & then made our way back to our hotel - perhaps not exactly the most direct route.Which brings me full circle to where I started this letter. I came back craving a bit of something familiar, so it was lovely to find messages from Mum & from Dad. I just felt the need of something from home tonight.Goodnight to you from Kerry & David in Poznan
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Preston, United Kingdom

Fri 26 Sep, PrestonThis will probably be a short report tonight because it is already late & I'm very tired. It has been a full day although perhaps difficult to report.I was going to say "no history, no genealogy" but in fact there was a little of each of these. Wonderfully - today started with the use of a washing machine here, and a fine day so using the clothes line! But even better than that was coming down to breakfast with John & Thelma - people we care a lot about.John drove us all into Preston, so I could attend the Lancashire Archives here. David has been using Thelma's computer but was off to find an internet café, and John & Thelma were going shopping - in order to pass a couple of hours & wait for me to go to the archives. I had a list of reference numbers for things I wanted to obtain, and it took me the 2 hours to do so. Then as I was leaving I noticed some old maps for sale. I selected a couple of those & then asked whether any maps were available for Walton-le-Dale. Well that started off a trail of helpful people who all wanted to provide me with something wonderful & although I was trying to say "I'm very sorry but I'm already running late to meet some people" that didn't stop my helpers, which resulted in me almost being obliged to take digital photos of the maps they found - and then being very late back to the meeting.Late enough that they'd decided I must have got lost because otherwise I would have already been there. So David came looking for me. I saw him coming, and also saw him doing his best to avoid a wedding party coming out of the Registry Office - next building to where I was coming from. My calls to him eventually extricated him from the wedding photos.Full of apologies, we then met up with Thelma & John - Thelma happy with the shopping outcome. Next plan was to go to see Pendle Hill - I'd expressed interest in the witches who were killed there, and Thelma had said that Pendle Hill was near Haworth (where the Brontes lived) so that was also on the vague itinerary.It was a beautiful sunny day - coming after a wet & miserable English summer apparently. We turned off the main road & found ourselves in Worston (I think). There was a pub there called the Calf's Head. I was looking for a photo of Pendle Hill but we decided to go in for lunch first.This place was a wonderful find, especially on a sunny day. We chose to eat out in the garden outside - beautiful English scene of tables set amongst trees & with an old stone wall & bridge behind, complete with Muscovy ducks, not to mention a backdrop of Pendle Hill. The food was surprisingly good (and the company wonderful too). John & Thelma noted it as a place to return to.We asked the ladies inside about the way to Haworth. By chance John hadn't brought his maps today. We were told to keep going on the A59 until we reached Skipton, and then we'd start seeing signs to Haworth.Well of course we didn't (see the signs that is). We did however drive along some gorgeous roads, right out of Lancashire & something like half way across Yorkshire. The villages looked like something out of "Heart Beat" & when we reached the moors - well I don't think I've ever (been) driven across the Yorkshire moors. Very lonely, no trees & stone walls that seemed to stretch for miles in every direction.We were nearing Harrowgate when John said that it couldn't be this far & so turned off north to do a loop back towards the area we'd come from. Moors, then lovely villages & even tinier (& slow) villages. The moors we saw were very reminiscent of "Wuthering Heights" & so did seem to be "Bronte country", however Haworth was actually south (SW actually) of the route we were on and so we never did find it. We saw some lovely country though. As we neared Preston, John said that Friday night traffic might be a problem, so we turned off & returned via Ribchester - another favourite village.By the time we reached the house & Thelma was cooking dinner, she suggested we might want to leave visiting Jack & Olive until tomorrow. We said no, even if we see them again tomorrow we would like to see them tonight.So after dinner John drove us over to visit. They haven't changed much, in appearance at least, in the 5 years since I'd seen them. And they were as loving & welcoming as ever. Much of the evening seemed to revolve around discussions of memories of Australia, in particular spiders & snakes! But Jack's memories of places around Sydney is amazing - a few places David & I have only heard of & are not sure about. All too soon it was time to leave & come back here to John & Thelma's house, to chats & then bed.Tomorrow we'll see Neil & Johanna in the morning, perhaps Jack & Olive again in the afternoon & then we'll take them all out to dinner tomorrow night. It seems like the time here is all too short. Having come so far & then to only have the opportunity for 1 or 2 short visits with people! But then probably nothing would seem enough.And now I must sleep. I know we haven't uploaded photos from yesterday to the blog yet - and I actually didn't take many today - but David can't get his computer to work using Thelma's wireless computer - although she is kind enough to let him use her computer whenever he asks.These are lovely people. As I say, no time would ever be enough with them.Goodnight from Kerry & David in Elswick
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Preston, United Kingdom

Thurs 25 Sep, Copernicus Airport, Wroclaw Well we've been sitting at the airport waiting for a while, when an announcement came in Polish, and everyone rushed to queue at the gate. We don't have reserved seat numbers for this flight & David was away washing his hands, so I grabbed the luggage & joined the queue. The flight before finally left (30 mins late). We stood & waited & eventuallly the RyanAir plane on the other side of the tarmac moved off & out of sight. A few minutes later a notice appeared at the gate, under the flight number, "Delayed 80 minutes". An announcement in Polish & the queue dissolved, so we are back sitting down again.Last night's sleep was not great. Once again it took until midnight to repack (shifting heavy things from the case), do the blog & upload some photos. The bed wasn't wonderful &, being on a main road, it was noisy. Included in the accommodation was a continental breakfast. We went up to the kitchen on the 5th floor & found it set up for self-serve - several bread varieties, a few jams, cheese, tea & coffee.We shared a table with another couple - he was French & she was Polish. We chatted a bit with them about travels, and then went out for a last walk around Wroclaw. Yesterday afternoon my camera was suffering from a form of glaucoma. When it turned on OK today with a full screen showing, I didn't risk turning it off again & instead enthusiastically snapped away at pictures that had eluded me yesterday.Eventually we had to return to get our luggage - me still grabbing shots of the trolls (statues) hidden in amusing places here for those who look closely.We had deliberated about bus versus taxi to the airport. The bus is much cheaper, but harder work. When it wasn't raining we opted for thr bus.We had bus number & timetable from the tourist office, but getting to the bus stop was a few blocks & stairs down & up an underpass. I was left with luggage, while David went to try to buy tickets, using our few words of Polish. By now we know - thank you, pardon, tickets (!), coffee, café, cashier, apothecary, new, old, town hall, market place ... All useful tourist words.Just as well others had luggage on the bus, because we headed out of town, past fields & villages. Once we past a small market & an old man got on the bus - carrying a 2 metre maple tree & another 1 metre something tree.At the airport our first priority was weight of luggage. We found a set of scales & the suitcase was 17.5 kgs - 2.5 kgs "overweight" for RyanAir. Other bags were fine. We sat down nearby, opened bags & shuffled things around until the case weighed 15.0 kg. Then we were ready to check in.We asked at the information desk about whether we could buy food or do currency exchange once we had passed through passport control or should we do it first. We were told the same services were available on both sides. So we checked in then.This was the strictest controls we've experienced. I had to take off my coat & I was asked about a gift in my bag. David always has to empty his pockets - and he carries a LOT in pockets, but this time he also had to take off his belt & not only remove his laptop from its case, but his various cables & cradle for his PDA was also checked.When we had finally made it through to the gates area, there was no currency exchange or café, & the duty free shop (all that was available) was closed. Because we were delayed so long, that opened again (after lunch time) so David could spend most of our zloty coins. As RyanAir operates a "pay for everything" policy, lunch for us today is making do with what we have.Apparently the flight was late because of fog in Dublin this morning. We finally left 2 hours late. It takes 2 hours (plus some) flight to Liverpool, less an hour's time difference, and now I think I'll try to doze... I am looking forward to English & seeing the family, but I want to spend time musing on the last 3 weeks ...Later - at ElswickWell the plane today took off from Copernicus Airport, Wroclaw, and landed at John Lennon Airport, Liverpool. All the signs for the airport say "John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, above us only sky". I went to take a photo of this sign and what I found said all the above & then next line said "Have you remembered to pay for your parking?" (Well it amused me, anyway).Landing was fairly uneventful except that all the passengers applauded when we had landed (made it sound like it was a rare event to be successful). For once, being in the minority worked in our favour - there were huge queues for those with European passports & only us at the "passengers from non EC countries".Didn't save us much time though as we all had to wait a while for luggage. Then while David changed money I celebrated my camera's renewed health & took various photos that caught my eye - including extracts from John Lennon's "Imagine".We have a special deal with RyanAir for a cheaper hire car with Hertz. It would be almost double to register with 2 allowable drivers, so it is now registered that I am the only driver. David would prefer to navigate & I'd prefer not to navigate. We collected our car - a fairly new Ford, but I'm not sure of the model yet, but it has only done 8,800 miles. Yes miles. So to make TomTom's prediction of how far to the next (eg exit from a motorway) match with the sign, we've changed TomTom (our GPS) to speak in terms of miles, not kms.TomTom took us a "short cut" from the airport to motorway. Speed bumps all the way, obviously to prevent suburban routes from being used for that purpose. Our Ford is a manual car - but using the other hand to change gears this time, compared to Finland. I asked David to keep an eye on me & ensure I drove on the left. That turned out to be OK, but once, when I was rattled, I turned on the windscreen wipers instead of the indicator, so I'll have to think about that one. Quite a lot of roadworks meant that we didn't arrive at John & Thelma's house until around 5.45. They were both there to greet us. We had a cup of tea/coffee on arrival (of course!) then talked & laughed - had dinner - and then talked & laughed some more. It was so lovely to be welcomed like that & be amongst family again.They have wireless internet, but at the moment we have a problem sharing it, so connections might be trickier while we're here. Hence this blog will probably be uploaded tomorrow morning instead of tonight.Plans tomorrow are to go into Preston (so I can visit the archives for a couple of hours), then we will visit Pendle Hill (where the Lancashire witches were from) & maybe, while there, see Howarth - where the Bronte sisters lived. Then to visit Jack & Olive in the afternoon. Some time on the weekend we'll visit Neil & Johanna & Saturday night we'll take them all out to dinner. That is as far as plans go at present.As I say, it is special to be back here in Preston again - loved and welcome. When I woke this morning & heard cars driving on the wet road, I was conscious of how tired I was & that it was a bit of an effort to get up & get going today, seeing what we could of new places. I thought that although it seemed a shame that that part of our trip is over, I am ready now to do something different. And this time (in England) we will be in different but also familiar places, visiting people who mean a great deal to us. Time is too short here to do more than that.From Kerry & David in Preston
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London, United Kingdom

Today we moved out of our hotel in London - we really are approaching the time to return home. After breakfast we packed up & took our luggage to the underground & then by train down to Waterloo Station, to the left luggage office.Not surprisingly I guess (given the various terrorist scares on the trains in London) security is much higher here than we've seen before. Several times today we've seen police around, especially in the underground system, and once we had to walk past police & a dog, to be checked. (That was at another time in the day, not when we had the cases.) Anyway at Waterloo Station we not only had to sign that this was our luggage & that we had packed it ourselves, etc, but also it was X-rayed before being deposited in the left luggage area. It also was quite expensive. We had the 2 cases & attached to one bag was a plastic bag containing Guinevere's silk bouquet of flowers from last night. They wanted to charge us for that too, so instead we put it in the backpack that David was carrying & it was carried around for the day. I'd packed it up with cardboard & so far it seems OK.Anyway, back to the day. After leaving our luggage we went back to the area of London where David used to work at the bank. For old time's sake we took "the drain" rather than the underground to Bank station. We walked up Old Jewry - and there has been some recent redevelopments, so none of the building entrances looked as they did when David worked there. We checked out 2 buildings that were possibilities, and are fairly sure that the building where the Commonwealth Bank & the Reserve Bank used to be located - is now a restaurant.After that we walked to Mansion House station, from where we were joining a group of around 20 people doing one of the guided walks run by the company "London Walks". I've done a number of their walks over the years & never been disappointed. Today was no exception.This was the "classic London square mile" walk. This is an area where both of us have worked in the past & I used to wander in my lunch breaks, but that was 20 years ago. This walk took us to streets & passages & buildings we've never seen before - many of them centuries old. It was an excellent mix of history & snippets of trivia, many of them entertaining.Apparently the various livery companies of London used to argue about which was the most important, and thus who should go first in important ceremonial events. Tired of the squabbling, eventually a list was made of the 12 most important companies (guilds, sort of) in an order that was to be fixed - with an exception. The companies that were to be 6 and 7 in the list refused to accept their positions relative to the other, so at important events one time this company is placed at position number 6 and next time the other. This is the origin of the expression "at sixes and sevens".We saw bits of ruined churches - St Dunstan's in the east survived centuries but was bombed during WW2. Now the steeple and some of the walls remain and instead of an enclosed church with a roof, it is a beautiful garden. In fact we were taken to several gardens, lovely green peaceful places that were once churches. In one (St Peter's I think), apparently founded in around 179 AD, the grassy gardens are actually raised somewhat above pavement level. Apparently this is the mark that the cemetery once was probably a "plague pit". When they dug a hole for mass graves during the plague, they didn't know in advance how many people would die, and so just kept piling up the bodies and then put soil over the top of the lot of them.Apparently the various plagues on average killed about one third of the population of London each major outbreak. But actual numbers varied according to regions, and not surprisingly, the poorer areas suffered most. In one parish, that had consisted of 125 people before the plague, 90 died.During of the last major plague outbursts, it was thought that perhaps cats and dogs were the carriers of the disease - so as many as possible cats & dogs were taken & killed. As the disease was actually carried by fleas on the rats, killing the cats & dogs was probably the worst thing they could have done.As I say, there were many stories about the various liveried companies and many of their symbols were pointed out to us - we'd have never noticed most if they weren't pointed out. But perhaps even if we did, we wouldn't have known that that old carving of a maiden was actually the symbol of the Mercer's company. etcSometimes we went into buildings - eg what was once the old royal exchange is now turned into some shops & restaurants. Old Leadenhall Market looked lovely, but I hadn't been there before (I think). Placed in amongst city buildings old & also those very new - well it was a surprise around every corner.It sounded like Fiona, our guide, also takes walks around the Financial District - much the same route but with different commentary. She said several things about those activities in the city that were fascinating. Like many places in the world, London's financial world appears to be in chaos at present. At one place we saw a sign on a restaurant which said "If you think you'll still have a job in December, celebrate and book here for your Christmas party".The walk ended at the Guildhall - and I've been there quite a few times before. However in 1988 when excavating to build a Guildhall Art Gallery, they discovered the remains of a Roman ampitheatre. They'd long thought that London must have had an ampitheatre, but before then, they hadn't known of its location. That discovery held up the finishing of the building for 7 years and required some redesign work, and what can be displayed of the old ampitheatre can be seen through a glass wall in one of the rooms of the gallery. The ampitheatre also explains why many of the roads around that area are curved - they follow the curves of the ampitheatre.The walk was intended to go for 2 hours, but then we were invited (if we had time) to continue with her a little longer so as to finish the route at Guildhall. We did, and afterwards had a quick lunch outside one of the many pre-prepared food places that are mostly new since we lived and worked in London. It was quite cold outside, but at least it was sometimes sunny & sometimes cloudy but no rain today.After that we took the train to Notting Hill Gate. David wanted to visit the Museum of Brands & Advertising. I was definitely a reluctant starter at that, but found it better than it might have been.This museum is tucked away in a tiny Mews, behind another street. We took a taxi from the station because time was getting short, and he didn't know the street, but found it eventually. No signs pointing to it. When we had just entered the couple who arrived behind us said that they had been walking in the area for ages before finding it. The girl behind the counter said "that happens to every second person who comes here". (You'd think there would be a message for them in that!)This little museum is organised according to dates, usually decades, and is themed according to the different motivations in the advertising of the time, starting with Victorian times & going up to 2000.In the Victorian times there was beginning to be a focus on cleanliness (hence the invention of sunlight soap), there was some teeth cleaning powder (previously they had used (?) or soot!) and also during that era things were starting to be available that ran on electricity.The first vacuum cleaner appeared to be a self-operated manual bellows to provide suction - and it was not small! The poster that went with it had the lady of the house doing the vacuuming and saying to an arriving servant "no thank you, we won't want you any more. I can do this myself".It was interesting to see when the various sweets & other products first appeared. It seemed almost no time between the invention of milk chocolate to when Cadbury's label was beginning to be recognisable. Originally Cadbury's chocolates were sold individually, so the Milk Tray or Roses tray were in fact just that - a cardboard box/ tray of chocolates.After this museum, we walked back up Portobello Road to Notting Hill Gate station. Most of the market stalls are only there on weekends, but the small shops along the way looked interesting (only time for us to walk past, not browse) & there were a few stalls outside some of them. I had wanted to browse in one of those "Little villages within London" such as is described in the film "Notting Hill" - but that will have to be another trip.Nevertheless it was a pretty area & would be an interesting area to stay. Not so central as where we're staying, and you'd have to take the train to things where we can walk, but it would have its own benefits.Oh - my camera stopped working today towards the end of the walk. It didn't appear to be batteries as no other batteries worked in it either, and there was not even a red light showing, however we put the batteries on to charge tonight & it has just started working again. Just as well David had a camera with us today as well.Anyway back to today. After Notting Hill we took the trains back to Waterloo, and from there took the train we used to take back to Richmond. These were new carriages, not unlike the underground, and quite different from the old train style we used to know which had lots of doors along the sides leading to individual blocks of seats.Speaking of trains, only in a couple of old trains & old stations did we hear the familiar "Mind the gap" that we used to laugh about. Many newly designed trains don't have that problem.Anyway we took the train past Richmond and to St Margarets, from where we walked & rolled our bags up to where Roisin & Phil & family live. It was lovely to see them again. Emma has just moved out to start university, Casey has grown up a lot since I last saw her (she's now 15), but Phil & Roisin seem hardly to have changed.It was lovely to be welcomed back & to see some more dear friends.Tomorrow David is accompanying me to Kew - to the National Archives. We'll walk from here, over the lock and through the old deer park, back to Richmond (still very special in our hearts) & take the train from there 1 stop to Kew. Tomorrow night we'll have dinner in Richmond with Roisin & Phil, and then Saturday morning we get on the plane home. I almost can't believe it. This trip has been so long in the planning ... I never have enough of London - I really love this place - but I am also ready for a little less walking I think.A few minutes to midnight & David has again beaten me to bed. Goodnight from Kerry & David in St Margarets (near Twickenham, near London)
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London, United Kingdom

We've done a LOT of walking today. The weather was forecast to be fine, so we decided to visit some of the places of interest on foot.We started by taking the underground to Tower Bridge - on the eastern side of what was the City of London - and eventually walked to Westminster. Along the way we experienced all sorts of weather, crossed several bridges & walked at different times north and south of the river. I don't think I had walked over Tower Bridge before, so was pleased to do so. I was keen to see the area where the ETHERINGTONs lived. When I was in London in 2003 what had been Morgan's Lane was covered in scaffolding. A small street sign on the end of a building was the only sign. Just off Tooley Street, Morgan's Lane didn't appear on any of the maps - but we found it. Not much left, but at least the end building & its street sign survives.When we took the train the sky was blue. It was cloudy by the time we reached London Bridge, with occasional bursts of sunlight. Gradually it became sunnier - and then suddenly it started to rain. Became heavier & heavier until we retreated into the BFI (British Film Institute?) café & then gradually it cleared. A couple more bursts but eventually sunny.We walked along the south side of the river, past some historic wharves & pubs - indeed past the area we were likely to cover during the London Walk we had considered doing tonight. We saw a reconstruction of Francis Drake's "Golden Hind" - I've not seen that before. Past "the Clink" - the prison that gave the nickname to all other prisons. We walked past the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, ducked into the Tate Modern art museum (that used to be Battersea Power Station).We walked partly over the Millennium (pedestrian) Bridge - where it was unbelievably windy - but basically stayed south of the river until we came to Blackfriar's Bridge, where we crossed over to the north side. Continuing west, we walked along the north side of the river until we came to the Inner Temple - where lawyers work & some live. This Temple area was originally where the Knights of the Temple lived after the Crusades, but then the lawyers moved in.Then we walked along the Strand, past various places of interest (& incidentally past Australia House) - until we came to Waterloo Bridge, and that's when we crossed back to the south side. Unlucky with bridges apparently because that's when it started to pour.Back on the south side we walked along to the London Eye - a sort of huge ferris wheel giving views over London. Very expensive views though. We walked on until we came to Westminster Bridge - with the classic views of the Houses of Parliament & Big Ben.From there we took the underground to Leicester Square. With blisters & now sore knees, we decided against doing a London Walk tonight, but opted instead to go to the half-price ticket office at Leicester Square, and get tickets for another show for tonight. We'd had a couple of recommendations for Monty Python's Spamalot, and good seats for that were available at half price, so we opted for those.We were both feeling a bit queasy & I wonder whether we've both been doing too much. However ...Next we walked to Covent Gardens - something else I wanted to see again. Looked in a few shops & markets & after that David & I had to go separate ways. David was meeting someone he knew from banking, and I was to meet an Etherington cousin. He went off to the banking area of town, whereas I walked to Trafalgar Square, to meet Maureen & Richard for afternoon tea.Maureen & I have been in email contact for a number of years & I stayed with them in 2003, so it was lovely to see them again. We had afternoon tea in the café of the National Portrait Gallery - in the sun it offered a stunning view over Trafalgar Square & further afield. However best of all was the all-too-short meeting with friends. David had planned to meet us there, and we'd been to a tourist office to find the closing time of the National Portrait Gallery - however we'd been given incorrect information, so it came as a surprise when we were turfed out - first of the café & then of the gallery. I phoned David to see whether he was on his way, but he'd been held up. So Maureen & Richard & I said farewell at Charing Cross, and they headed home to Kent while I headed north to Euston.David had asked me to pick up a salad for dinner & I knew that was possible at the Marks & Spencer at Euston Station. (I should have thought of some we've seen closer.) I bought dinner, walked to the hotel & David had already arrived. We had dinner & then walked to the Palace Theatre to see Monty Python's Spamalot. I have to say that while it was very well performed & some parts were hilarious, it really wasn't to David & my taste. At interval David said that he wanted to suspend his disbelief & it didn't allow that. As theatre, it poked fun at itself & at "theatrical clichés". In a way once that was acknowledged, it made it funnier & I actually enjoyed the second half considerably more than the first. When Guinevere threw her bouquet after the wedding - it landed in my lap! Now I have to work out whether or not to give the bouquet of silk flowers away, or to try to keep it as a souvenir. Just what I need to worry about when trying to think about packing for heading home in a few days! I have to say that I felt a bit of an idiot walking back to the hotel through the very crowded theatre district, with me carrying a bouquet.Before & after the theatre performances there are a huge number of people about. A few times I've felt intimidated by the crowds. Funnily enough, especially when I've seen police around keeping an eye on things. And yet the area is buzzing with life rather than trouble. When David was approached by a skinhead tonight (who had piercings just about everywhere visible) I felt afraid, but David just ignored him & there was no trouble.While the congestion tax has reduced the number of vehicles in the city during the day, there seems to be quite an increase in the crowds of people, compared to the London I knew 20 years ago.And now it is nearly midnight again & time for me to get ready for bed. Tomorrow afternoon we go to stay with friends again - which will be lovely - although it will also be another step to the end of this holiday. I'm very tired, so in some ways looking forward to not having to rouse for another effort each day, and yet I will also be sorry to leave much loved people behind, as well as London itself.Goodnight from Kerry & David in London
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London, United Kingdom

Gosh these last days are flying fast! Tomorrow is our last day staying in this hotel in London (before we go to stay with friends for 2 nights). In my mind, these were the "last few days" before this trip ends - and, as I say, the time is passing all too quickly. We've done some wonderful things this trip, but London is a city I love dearly, so this in its own way is a special part of the whole.This morning when I woke I was feeling tired & wouldn't have minded spending a bit longer in bed, but breakfast is included in this hotel & it isn't available as late as at some places we've been. Also we only had vague ideas before breakfast of what we would do for the day, but we sat down this morning & had some things we both wanted to do & other things only one person wanted to do - but London is one of the few places we're visiting where I feel comfortable doing things alone.Today was an umbrella day. We started the day by visiting Tate Britain - a huge art museum, mainly focussing on British art. There were a couple of free 1-hour guided tours on different periods, and we decided to do the 11 am tour on 15th to 18th century art. So for the 45 mins or so we had before the tour, we went our own way. David concentrated on the modern art. I found that didn't appeal to me so I spent the time in the Turner galleries as well as the exhibition of British drawings.The hour tour was good. The lady was perhaps a bit too chatty at times, however she pointed out things we hadn't noticed in the paintings she concentrated on, and she gave us a history & perspective that enriched our understanding. Hogarth, Reynolds, Stubbs, Gainsborough ... these were some of the artists concentrated on.After the tour - which stopped right before Constable - we spent another 90 mins or so going through the (mainly 18th & 19th & very early 20th century) art we hadn't otherwise seen.After that we took the Jubilee Line out to the Docklands area. This is a new train line as well as a new area since we lived in London. Also the Canary Wharf area is where much of the banking seems to be centred, so of interest to David.We stopped for a late lunch before going walking. The names of the areas are names familiar to me - West India Dock - which from 1800 was where ships left for that part of the world.We also walked down to the Thames & saw a major building work going on under the level of the Thames. They had built retaining walls of concrete, then there was an area where diggers were digging out & loading the soil onto a barge tied up beside the wall. And behind another wall, there was another group of workers excavating, & trucks driving around - and dumping soil into the area for the diggers. There were some explanatory charts about how the wall were built and the water held back.We walked around some more before taking the Docklands Light Rail (again transport we hadn't taken before) back to Bank, and then Kings Cross - where David & I went in different directions. David went to the Foundling Hospital Museum - founded in 1741, and partly sponsored by Hogarth & Handel. It was regarded as a mark of refinement, for fashionable ladies, to take an interest in poor children, to the extent that such ladies would come & watch the children have their meals. (This image was adopted by Dickens into "Oliver Twist".)After the Foundling museum, David went to Piccadilly Museum to see a museum at the Trocadero that turned out not to be there. Then he looked at mobile phones & broadband in a stretch of techy shops we found on Tottenham Court Road.Me? I wanted to look at Kings Cross Station (incidentally I found a brick wall between platforms 9 & 10 labelled as "Platform 9 3/4"). I also took some photos outside the British Library - something I didn't do last time I was in London.I then went looking for Old St Pancras Church - where Thomas & Ann Farmer were married. I found a large building site where I expected to find the church. The street was called "Church Way", but there was no other church in that street. So either now or earlier I think that the church has been pulled down.The route I took from there to Euston Station took me through an "interesting" ethnic-mix area. Also past a sex shop, "adult movie" shop & another shop that had "before" & "after" photos. The "before" was a an uninteresting guy, the "after" appeared to be a woman in evening dress with long hair - until you noticed that it was the same face in both pictures. The mind boggled!Next I took a train to Oxford Circus - I've been hunting for a new black blazer for ages so that was the main thing I was looking for - and I eventually found a blazer - and also a lightweight sort-of-jumper at Marks & Spencer. I looked in various other shops until it was time to leave the area to meet David.I decided to walk down to Piccadilly Circus - walking down Regent Street. Despite the miserable weather I enjoyed the walk. But then when I reached Piccadilly Circus, I couldn't find the theatre where I was to meet David. I asked directions & was directed to an area with a number of theatres - but not the Prince of Wales Theatre that I was looking for. Eventually I went into another theatre to ask directions & finally met up with David again, only a couple of minutes late.After an unexciting dinner we saw the show of "Mamma Mia!" Gosh it was good. I loved the film when we saw it recently, and seeing the live show didn't lose on the loss of surprise - there were still a few surprises. There was one point where the mother was singing about remembering her daughter (who was about to marry) when she was a little girl & how the mother had hurt seeing the daughter's life move away from her. I was crying & I looked sideways at David and saw that he was too.Nevertheless the show had so much energy, and we laughed & appreciated them so much, that by the finale people actually stood & clapped & sang along with the cast - and so did we. It was a real "feel good" show. I loved the movie & am looking forward to when it is available on DVD.We walked back to Leicester Square station & then took a train to Goodge Street, from where we walked back to our hotel. This room is a bit crummy but the location has been excellent.Tomorrow is forecast to be wet again & so we are re-thinking our plan to go on one of the London Walks tomorrow evening, visiting the pubs along the Thames. The other alternative is to go to Leicester Square in the morning, to the Half-Price-Tickets office & see if there are tickets to something like Spam-a-lot - that Justin & others recommended. I'm inclined to think that 2 shows are excellent but more might devalue them. We'll decide in the morning.Tomorrow afternoon, while David is meeting a bank colleague / friend, I will be meeting Maureen & her husband - Maureen is an Etherington cousin & the holder of the letter that revealed Samuel's dual identities.Anyway, it is now after midnight & David has done a little washing in our (tiny) sink - with no plug - so I will load this up & then go to bed. At this rate it might take until we get back to Sydney to load up the pictures to accompany these few days.From Kerry & David in London
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