Pete's random ravings

* THE GOOD ( Best}

* THE STRANGE (Mysterious)

* THE HOT UPSTAIRS (Uncomfortable)

* THE DUMB (Wet & cold Aussies)

( we have been troubled by internet on the back end of our cruise and in several places along the way, also on several occasions we have been too buggered to post,  so our blog has gaps. sorry)

Random ravings.

The Good (Best) - From Brugges in Belgium. "Tongerlo" was awarded the title of the best

 beer in the world. I won't dispute that award as it was pretty damn good, maybe the best I've tried.

We haven't posted about Brugges as yet, but in a brief summary:

* our port was well out of town, interesting tram and train arrangements

* great canal cruise ( Brugges is the Venice of the north)

* VR history of Brugges and museum very very good.

* Belgium waffles and beer, excellent

What more can you ask for?

The Strange (Mysterious). Our hotel in Keswick host recommended a Tapas bar in town where if we produced our hotel key we could get 10% off the bill. The food was great but then I noticed the signed eight of clubs stuck to the roof of the restaurant. After I asked about it the girl behind the bar said I had almost forgot about that. Four years ago a magician came into the bar to show off his tricks hoping to earn some tips.  She said that he was amazing with his tricks and impressed his audience, With his finale he got a customer to sign the eight of clubs, then shuffled and cut the cards a number of times and then threw the entire deck up to the roof with the signed eight of clubs stuck to the roof for four years so far,

The Hot & Upstairs ( & Uncomfortable)

We are  IHG gold card members (with the Holiday Inn and Crown plaza group) so for this visit we wanted to mix their stays with local pubs with accommodation to try the local experience, The pub's character, breakfast and service have been great however, none of these pubs have elevators and so far we have been up several staircases to get to our room. This would not have been so bad unless it was coupled with the fact that the rooms upstairs were very hot for two reasons, firstly they were high up without insulation and secondly they had towel heaters in the bathroom and no air conditioning in the room. Today we checked into a Holiday inn in Bath with elevators and air conditioning,  Claire cheered,  Character is one thing but comfort is another.

The Dumb (wet and cold Aussies)

During our journey sometimes our brains go to mush.  We were in Scotland on our fourth day and went out without coats and jackets when the weather turned. Pretty dumb but excuseable, today on our way to Bath we drove through wet weather but on reaching Bath it had cleared up. Although we both have wet weather gear and an umbrella we both chose to ignore the potential of rain.

DUMB AUSSIE (brains gone to Mush)