An interesting afternoon. Four trains, getting ever smaller, have brought us 4000ft up the mountain in Wengen.
It’s a lovely peaceful traffic free village with fantastic views…
Time for a beer!
Wengen
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Monthly Archives: August 2019
Basel
We had a smooth journey to Basel, and (and a seemless border crossing) and are waiting for our train to leave.
We watched as a Swiss Railway shunter brought some more carriages and attached them to the train just for us!
It’s hot here though, and the train has no air-conditioning…
Strasbourg 2
Our itinerary had changed so we’ve a few hours in Strasbourg before our trains to Switzerland.
Nice warm weather again, and we explored a different area of this lovely town.
First, the cathedral:
We then followed the river around in a large circle:
With a diversion to a park to find a seat and some shade:
Then back along the river to our hotel:
Stopping for a beer along the way of course!
Strasbourg
We had a smooth journey here on the TGV, and checked into our hotel a few minutes walk from the station (but surprisingly quiet).
It’s hot here, so we strolled in to look at the old town and canals – all reminiscent of Amsterdam!
We also looked in the large Protestant Church, nicely understated compared to some Catholic Churches.
After a bit more of a stroll, it was time for a beer and we found a back street bar with a limited, but interesting selection of beers.
A lovely afternoon.
Paris
We had a bit of time before our next train, so found a beer. This is a strong beer we’ve had before in France, literally translated as “The Beast”. Nice, but you don’t want too many!
From there, it was a few minutes walk to our train to Strasbourg.
On our way to Switzerland
A pre-dawn start this morning to get the train to St Pancras in plenty of time to catch the Eurostar to Paris.
Eurostar check in was quite busy, however we got on the train in plenty of time and are now speeding through Kent.
Alexandra Palace
I went (on my own this time) to explore of bits of North London that I’d missed in my previous walks in the area. It was also an opportunity to travel on some rail lines that I’d not used before…
First off was a train from Moorgate to Crews Hill. This was on one of the new Class 717 trains that are being introduced on Great Northern suburban services, and are very similar to the Thameslink trains:
This took me to Crews Hill station, which was so uninteresting that I caught the next train back to Alexandra Palace:
This station is adjacent to Alexandra Palace Park, so it was time for an explore on foot:
The palace is famous for the first useful television service:
Then it was back to Alexandra Palace Station for a train to Hadley Wood:
From Hadley Wood Station, I walked to High Barnet through Monken Hadley Common:
and past a very strange carving:
It was quite a climb to High Barnet (as the name suggests), and from there, the tube and train home. Though on the way, I did make a short diversion on the branch line to Mill Hill East.
I had a little time at London Bridge, and explored some of the area – this is getting quite smart now:
An nice day out. Not sure Rocco would have enjoyed much of it!
Hastings
For our next day out during our “staycation”, we took Rocco on the train to Hastings.
Rocco, as usual, took up most of the space:
We got off at St Leonards Warrior Square station, one stop before Hastings itself. 
And walked to the sea front through the lovely Warrior Gardens:
Once on the beach, Rocco could finally let off steam:
We then walked to Hastings Pier for a coffee:
Hastings Pier has been rebuilt since a major fire in 2010, and still seems a bit unfinished and empty:
We then followed the sea front to Hastings Old Town, passing an interesting beach sculpture on the way:
And then found a Micro Pub that I had last visited a few years ago:
Lovely beer and properly served!
It was then time for some fish and chips, the walk to the Hastings Station and the train home.
Beckenham Place
Another sunny day (at least initially), so we took Rocco and Kai on the train to Ravensbourne Station:
The nearest park entrance is 100 yards from the station:
And soon Rocco was able to let off steam:
We found a couple of geocaches; I’ve not seen one like this before:
The central section of the park is being rebuilt, and is very different from when I was there in 2017 doing my Capital Ring Walk:
The ‘mansion’ is less impressive though:
Adjacent to the park is the River Ravensbourne itself, which Rocco enjoyed:
Unfortunately, as we were headed back to the station, it started to rain quite heavily – we sheltered under the trees for a while:
and of course stopped as soon as we were back at the station!
Crystal Palace Park
We’re trying to get out for odd days as part of our “holiday at home” during the summer.
Today we took Rocco and Kai (an older Labrador that we’re looking after) on the train to Crystal Palace:
Both dogs were fine on the train, though Rocco tried his best to block the gangway:
Crystal Palace Station is right by the park:
First, we headed to the Dinosaurs, which looked even cleaner than when I last saw them in 2017:
Then to the boating lake:
We also had a closer look at the Sports Facilities:
We then had lunch near an attractive monument:
Though the dogs didn’t seem to impressed…
We also looked at the view from the Italian Terraces “among the few remnants that survived after the 1936 fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace”
A nice day out!