Mobile Librarians

Well here is our latest girlie trip. A visit to Cheltenham to sample the shops & get a little bit of culture too! We had a really good deal at the Queen's Hotel in Cheltenham, http://www.mercure.com/ a lovely hotel and very central, only a short walk into town. We enjoyed the breakfasts and had a lovely meal at the restaurant next door - Raymond Blanc's! Pushed the boat out that night, but there are good places, much cheaper, in town too. The shops are excellent, but that is what you would expect of Cheltenham. We visited the home of Gustav Holst, ( I think the curator was delighted to have a group of women to talk to) and strolled out to the Pitville Pump Room. Great looking place, but disappointing inside, rather bleak. In the evening we went to the Everyman Theatre for a performance of Wilde's The Importance Of Being Ernest. We enjoyed it, the actors were well cast, with the exception of the female ingenue who had a weird, shrieky voice that was difficult to listen ...

Well, hardly time to unpack and wash the smalls and its off again, with friends from work, to Stratford-upon-Avon for three days. I have been to Stratford before, but the memory was quite hazy, so everything came as a nice surprise. I knew to expect the old half-timbered houses and lots of Shakespeare, but it exceeded expectations. It really is a beautiful, well preserved, picturesque town. Lots of our American cousins there of course, thats OK, but why are they so loud? They seem to have no idea of how they come across, the image that they convey. Don't get me wrong, the Americans I have met have been lovely individuals, but abroad they often seem like demanding children. Anyway, enough. If you plan to visit several of the Shakepeare houses its best to buy a ticket that give you entry to them all, it works out much cheaper. If you don't manage to visit them all, save the ticket for your next visit (or give it to a friend) because it lasts for ever. We loved Shakespeare's ...

Well, another wonderful trip to Dublin . We had the luck of the Irish, good weather, not a drop of rain. The Gresham hotel is still a grand old lady, friendly staff,a good breakfast, comfy beds. http://www.gresham-hotels.com/ . (A horrible view of the inner courtyard, pretty dire, but, as it turned out, a blessing in disguise. It meant that the room was very quiet, thank goodness, if we had been at the front of the hotel the traffic in O'Connell street would have kept us awake for sure.) We had a very busy four days. Apart from the usual trips to the shops, lunch on the green at Trinity , coffee at Bewleys etc. we went to the Gaiety theatre to see a performance of The Rat Pack. http://www.gaietytheatre.ie/ . They were all brilliant, especially "Frank Sinatra", he looked like him, had the mannerisms, and sang like him, great! Some of the women in the audience, who were old enough to know better, were in ecstasy, practically throwing their knickers, (personally, we ...

Where are we off to next? I think you can guess! DUBLIN!!! Yes, at the beginning of September Sue and I are off on what is becoming an annual trip to sample the delights of Dublin again. I've lost count now of the number of times I've been to Eire's capital, but it doesn't matter, you can never tire of Dublin. This was an unexpected trip courtesy of Ryanair's latest special offer. http://www.ryanair.com/ . We grabbed it quick! Because the airfare was so cheap we are forsaking Trinity College this time, and treating ourselves to The Gresham Hotel in O'Connell Street. www.gresham-hotels.com/ . The Gresham Hotel is a Dublin institution and is known throughout the world. It claims to be the oldest hotel in Ireland and was built in 1817. Beyond our budget normally, but my friend got us a good deal, so off we go to see if it lives up to it's reputation. One of the nicest ways of getting around in on the Dart railway, which snakes around Dublin Bay. http://www.i...

Slovenia seems to go in for "Wellness" breaks a lot. These are thermal spas where you can take the healing waters, bathe in them, and there also seems to be lots of medical treatments at the centres. Other services usually offered are beauty treatments galore. We sampled two on our last trip. The first was to Ptuj Thermal Spa - http://www.terme-putj.si/ , you will need to click on the UK flag to get the English version of both sites. This was our favourite of the two. The waters were really warm, there were lots of jacuzzi type pools to sit in, scented saunas, and beefy masseurs to iron out every kink. Ours was just a day visit, but you can book accommodation in the hotel as well. The other spa was the one at Zrece, difficult to find, turn left from the main road, up the hill, keep going until you see it on your right. http://www.terme-zrece.si/ . This was smaller, the waters weren't as warm, and things didn't seem as organised. Having said that, there were many mor...

We have just returned from a holiday in Slovenia. What a fantastic country! Hot sunshine, towering mountains, pretty villages, friendly people, good food. What more could you ask for? This our second holiday in Slovenia, the first one was to Lake Bled, followed by Piran, on the coast. This time we flew into Maribor, (near the Austrian border) with Ryanair for 2p, yes that's right 2p, no taxes or anything extra! http://www.ryanair.com/ We stayed in the Pohorje mountain area, at Aparthotel Pohorje, which was a 20 minute drive up the mountain. http://www.aparthotel-pohorje.com/ . A lovely place, I would recommend it to anyone. I think it is mainly a ski hotel during the winter, it was very quiet when we were there. However, the apartment was fine, lovely comfy beds. We also booked half-board at the hotel, and the food was fantastic. It said in our guide book that it was the best place to eat in the area, and they were right. Compliments to the chef! The staff were also very friendly...

Hurrah!! We spent two weeks at Disney in Orlando and survived!!! Not only that but we had a good time! Off we went, the entire family, all ten of us, via Virgin Atlantic to Orlando only to find we had brought British weather with us. The first few days were cold, raining, thunder & lightening storms and had a tornado watch in our area. But, hey, we're English, we don't let little things like that put us off. We put our macs on and set forth for the parks. Gatorland & Epcot were first, we thought we would get the least exciting ones over with first. The kids thought they were good, they love anything to do with animals. There followed in quick succession, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Sea World, Animal Kingdom, Islands Of Adventure, MGM, Discovery Cove, Kennedy Space Centre, and most weirdly, a visit to the Cassadaga Spiritualist village. Our youngest traveller had his fifth birthday while we were there and we had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and ...

Yippee!!! Just over a week to our next holiday. The entire family, 10 of us, are going to Orlando and Disneyland at Easter. I am praying there are no strikes at Gatwick or I might kill someone! Nine hours on the plane will be a bit of a challenge too, the youngest is only four and has never flown before. I'm so excited I feel like a big kid too! Two weeks sunshine, breakfast at Cinderella's castle and a five year olds birthday party at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh, what more could you ask? I will report back later! Our American cousins are so enthusiastic too, they really make the holiday more enjoyable (we went five years ago for the first time). The exchange rate is good at the moment too, so there will be lots of shopping to look forward to. Bring it on man!!

This was our first trip to Las Vegas, indeed our first trip to the US of A! In March 2000 we paid a millenium visit to Sin City. We arrived over Vegas at night and the view of the lights sparkling in the desert was amazing. After enduring immigration we piled into a stretch limo heading for our hotel, the Luxor. www.luxor.com .The driver took us down the strip on a little sightseeing tour, we couldn't believe we had arrived after planning it for so long. Then we rolled into the Luxor and our jaws fell open! What an amazing place! The decor is spectacular, over the top of course, but that is what Vegas is all about. The rooms were huge, even the lift was different, going sideways! I don't think we will ever get the sound of the slot machines out of our heads. We set off the next day to explore the strip, it didn't look very far, wrong!! We must have walked miles and had to keep popping into a casino to cool off. From then on we took a taxi or monorail, much better. I can...

Well, Dublin was everything we were hoping for. It is the friendliest capital in the world. A 40 minute flight and we were there, we caught Aircoach www.aircoach.ie into town and got dropped off at Trinity College . www.tcd.ie What a nice surprise we had there, our twin room turned out to be a spacious suite, kitchen/lounge/dining area, bathroom and two bedrooms. Great for a bit of self-catering too, and so cheap for the city centre location. Do stay here if you get the chance. Dublin was fully booked with the Fringe Festival and the Ryder Cup taking place and I understand the prices had been put up too, but Trinity got us in. Because we were on site we could also visit the Book of Kells early in the morning, before the crowds, and we had a really good look this time, its a beautiful manuscript. What did we do? Well loads of things, shopped in the great stores in Grafton Street, Brown Thomas is amazing, just go and have a look at the Jo Malone stand! We took a coach trip to Ma...

Two of us are off to Dublin for four nights on Saturday, yippee! I deserve it as I have just moved house which has been very traumatic and unsettling. I haven't even been able to connect to the internet which is why there hasn't been any blogging. I booked the flights with Easyjet and we are staying at Trinity College . As I have mentioned before it is the Dublin Fringe Festival so we are expecting lots of noise and drunks, I think we will keep a low profile on Saturday and Sunday. We are hoping to go north this time to Malahide Castle which is said to be very nice. What I am looking forward to most is coffee at Bewleys and some of the great Irish pub grub, plus the music at Temple Bar . Bring it on! We don't know what the new security restrictions are going to be at the airports, we have heard that they are being eased this weekend but if that will be in time for us is still unknown. I mean, how is a girl to survive a flight and arrive at her destination looking her us...

You can have excellent holidays at home too. We don't always go abroad, we love Britain, especially the South West. Come to our part of the world, check out: www.beautiful-devon.co.uk it's full of Devon tourist and travel information and has lots of lovely pictures. How could you resist us? www.classic.co.uk this is a West Country cottage specialist website representing over 450 self-catering properties in Cornwall, Somerset etc. It will even tell you how far the property is from the sea. www.corncott.com this site offers self-catering holiday accommodation throughout Cornwall at very affordable prices. Your Journey: Coming in the car? Plan your route using either the AA - www.theaa.com or the RAC - http://rp.rac.co.uk/routeplanner for free detailed plans. On the motorway and need a break? Check out www.5minutesaway.co.uk a directory of services and facilities available to motorists within 5 minutes of each motorway junction. Taking the train? Plan your journey and find...

If you are to have a successful, enjoyable and affordable holiday it is essential that you do your research first before you book or depart to pastures new. Here are a few of our favourite websites: Travel Discussion Sites Trip Advisor - www.tripadvisor.com - this is a brilliant travel discussion site that gives excellent advice where you can benefit from other travellers experiences. I particularly like the reviews of hotels. You can read candid reviews of the hotels in any town or city virtually anywhere in the world. People speak their mind for good or ill. The hotels are listed in order of popularity, the price is indicated and you can also check out several websites for the cheapest deals. There is a lot more to the website so have a look. Also join in and add your own experiences to the melting pot. Virtual Tourist - www.virtualtourist.com - this is the original travel community on the web. You can join and build your own travel page. Here you can also research your trip, exp...

Started getting itchy feet and needed something to look forward to, so we have booked ourselves a short break plus a little treat. I am going to Dublin in September with my work mate Sue for four nights. I booked the seats before checking the hotels, a near disaster as all the hotels were fully booked. It turned out to be the last weekend of the Dublin Fringe Festival . www.visitdublin.com However, our good old friend Trinity College came up trumps again. www.tcd.ie We have stayed there twice before, it's a brilliant central location and the buildings and atmosphere are fantastic. Plus it is much cheaper than any central hotel and the refrectory does a wicked full Irish breakfast! But I expect Dublin will be heaving and getting into the pubs could be a problem. Five of us have also booked to go to London in September to visit the Tiffany Exhibition of jewellery at Somerset House. www.gilbert-collection.org.uk Looking forward to that, we can but look and dream! You never know...

The Loire was lovely, very civilised, ordered and somehow, more French than the south. We stayed at a very nice campsite near Blois called Le Parc du Val de Loire, www.valduparcdeloire.com , where we watched the World Cup unfold in the bar with some very excitable Frenchmen. We visited the chateaux, of course, we did Amboise, Cheverney and Chambord, and somehow managed to visit Blois, but missed the chateau! After four nights we headed for the ferry and home. Did we enjoy the experience? Like the curate's egg - good in parts. It did seem sometimes like a litany of disasters. Did I tell you about catching my foot on the ground sheet in the tent, falling backwards, bashing my head on the metal tent pole and nearly putting my head through the tent wall? Or about my electric window in the car becoming stuck in the down position with half of the rubber flapping about on the motorway? The window had become trapped the wrong side of the rubber and would not move. Cue husband attacking it...

Friday arrived, our last day in the Cevennes. We planned to move on in the morning, head for the Loire region and stay for four nights there. A quiet, restful day was planned before the long day of travel. Ha, ha, ha! During the afternoon a live band could be heard tuning up and trying out it's sound equipment from the direction of the field by the river. Groan, we thought we were in for a disco that night and hoped it would stop about midnight, they usually do. About 8.00 p.m. it started, heavy metal, head banging music plus vocals at earsplitting decibels. Sleep would be impossible until it stopped. About 11.00 p.m. we lay down hoping for peace soon, my earplugs were in but it made little difference. 12.00 came and went, 1.00 came and went, and so it went on, they played ALL NIGHT! My non-violent husband was fit to kill someone by the morning and was uttering some very choice language. He decided we would have to stay another day as he was in no fit state to drive all day. After ...

For our next trip I was persuaded the it would be nice to escape the heat by going down a cave. How foolish was that! We headed for the Grotte de La Cocaliere, said to be one of the three most beautiful caves in France. www.grotte-cocaliere.com . There weren't many people there and we had to wait for a guide. Eventually an extremely saturnine Frenchman appeared and beckoned us to follow him. He unlocked a door in the rock and motioned us inside. This is where I started to have second thoughts as extremely steep steps disappeared down into the bowels of the earth as far as one could see. There was room to stand up but it was very claustophobic, dark and steep and the first thing the guide did was lock the door behind us. Dim lights lit the stairs as we went down, down, down for what felt like half a mile and was definately hundreds and hundreds of steps. I felt I was entering the realm of the dwarves from Lord of the Rings. When we reached the bottom my legs were shaking and trembl...

One of the main reasons for the trip was to visit the Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aquaduct near Nimes. This was built in AD 38, taking over 1,000 men 14 years, to supply water to the town of Nimes. We have wanted to see this for a long time but have never been quite near enough. www.pontdugard.fr . The day we chose was very hot again, the temperature was 40 degrees C, thank goodness the car has air conditioning or we might have expired. There is quite a big visitor's centre at the entrance with a snack bar etc., but we went straight on to the bridge. What an impressive sight, how they built it all those years ago is unbelievable. Out came the camera of course, just like all the other tourists present. We strolled across the bridge admiring the views, heading for a lunch break at the restaurant on the other bank. At this point we became aware of lots of activity and noise. Yes, we had struck lucky again (not!), the entire place was swarming with all the emergency services of the...

Well here we are pitched up in the Cevennes. What's it like? Well as a librarian I suggest you read Robert Louis Stevenson's book "Travels With A Donkey In The Cevennes", an account of his 12 day journey through the Cevennes with a stubborn donkey called Modestine. I don't think it's essentially changed very much. Here on the campsite it is very quiet apart from the wildlife. All day long until about 10.00 p.m. the cicadas belt out a noise equivilent to a pneumatic drill, just as they shut up and we are preparing to go to bed up starts the "Chorus Of A Thousand Frogs" (we are next to a river), then as the sun rises, from the field next door, so our very own version of Modestine salutes the dawn with much mighty braying. You can't beat rural peace can you! This is for my female friends, men just don't understand. What is a girl's best friend on a holiday like this? Her hairdryer of course, and what did I forget to pack? You've got it! ...

Our first little outing, a ride on a steam train, Le Train a Vapeur des Cevennes, from Anduze to Saint Jean du Gard, about 13 kilometres, www.trainavapeur.com . Out we go in the midday sun (mad dogs etc.!) and the temperature is now 38 degrees C. Lots of people on the platform, make our way into a carriage and collapse on a rickety wooden seat. Off we go to the sound of lots of wild hooting from the engine, into quite a long tunnel. This is where we realise that the old carriages have no glass in the windows. Lots of soots and debris swirling around the carriage, into eyes and up noses. We emerge to lots of coughs, sneezes and shaking of clothes and what am I wearing? My new white t-shirt! The journey takes us past some spectacular scenery including a man swimming in the nude. There seems to be a lot of noise from within the carriage, I pay a bit more attention to the inhabitants. Yes, thats right, we have got the carriage with the class full of 'special needs' kids on a day t...