The travels of Tim and Megan: June 2010

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Royal Ascot

On Saturday we dressed up in our number ones and took the train out to Ascot, in Berkshire (west of London) to attend the fifth and final day of the Royal Ascot race meeting. Royal Ascot is one of Europe’s most famous race meetings, and dates back to 1711 when it was founded by Queen Anne. Every year Royal Ascot is attended by the Queen and various members of the Royal Family. Apparently over 300,000 people visit the racecourse during Royal Ascot week (an average of 60,000 per day!!!), making this Europe’s best-attended race meeting.

There are three areas for guests at Royal Ascot – the Royal Enclosure, the Grand Stand Area and the Silver Ring Enclosure. The Royal Enclosure is the most prestigious area. This is where the Queen and Royal Family and other important/wealthy folk hang out. This area is by invitation only and the dress code is very strict – for ladies only a dress with hat or fascinator and for men only morning dress is acceptable. We were in the Grand Stand Area – still rather fancy and fairly formal in terms of dress code. Ladies are expected to wear a dress and, while hats/fascinators are optional, most wear them. Men must wear a shirt and tie, preferably with a suit or jacket. The Silver Ring is a far more casual outdoor area of grass further along from the Grand Stand, ideal for picnics and the like, where there is no dress code.

We arrived at Ascot around 11.30am and had a wander around the grounds behind the enormous Grand Stand. There is a lovely lawn area covered in tables and chairs and there are loads of stalls selling food and alcohol around the edges. Next to the lawn behind the Grand Stand is the Parade Ring, where the winning horses stand after the race while the owners, trainers and jockeys are presented with shiny trophies!

After exploring, we sheltered from the cold wind inside the Grand Stand and had a drink, while we perused the very handy race book and made some choices of which horses we would bet on. Then we ventured outside again to the lawn area and had a delicious hog roast roll for lunch! We were very impressed with how amazing everyone looked – everyone in our area was so dressed up and it really did look great.

Before the racing got under way, a military band performed in the Parade Ring, playing quite a few modern catchy numbers, which was followed by the Royal Procession. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family entered the racecourse in horse-drawn carriages and did a lap of the race track before riding in to the Parade Ring for a lap of that. As they pass the front side of the Grand Stand on the race track, the National Anthem plays and the Royal Standard (the Queen’s flag) is raised. All very proper and ceremonial!

We had got in early and had prime positions at the top of the viewing area, so we had great views of the Queen and co riding around the Parade Ring, and then as she got out and shook hands with various people before disappearing up to the exclusive Royal Enclosure. Aside from the Queen, Prince Phillip and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were also in attendance (see photos below).

The first race did not bring much luck for us, but we were winners for the next three races after that. Not big winners, but winners nonetheless. We even correctly picked an “Exacta”, which is similar to a quinella for us normal folk in New Zealand, but for an Exacta, you need to pick the first two horses in the correct order. It helped that the winner was a raging hot favourite! Overall for the day we each lost about £6, so it was cheap entertainment!

It was also exciting watching the winning owners, trainers and jockeys receiving their trophies after each race, as the first three races’ trophies were presented by Princess Beatrice, then former World Number 1 tennis player, Martina Hingis, and then the Queen herself.

There were six races in total and by the time the last two races rolled around, many of the well dressed guests were starting to stumble and stagger and suddenly it looked very wrong. Legless drunk in a pretty dress and hat is still legless drunk… It was also very cold, as the icy wind ripped through the racecourse. We had another win on the final race of the day and then we managed to make a quick escape and got seats on the first train back to London – bonus! We had a fantastic day out and we are so glad we went. Melbourne Cup aside, it was probably the best day of racing you can get!

Tim by
Parade
Ring

And Megan,
very niiice

Statue of a
horse's head...

Queen
Anne
Lawn

In the
Grand
Stand

Lunch
time

Military
band

Crowd

at Parade
Ring

Hats
galore

The Queen's
carriage

Queen in the
Parade Ring

The Queen
and Prince
Phillip

And again

Princesses
Eugenie and
Beatrice

Watching
the first
race

Get in...

Princess
Beatrice

presenting
trophy

Martina
Hingis

Megs with
a winning
ticket

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Trooping the Colour 2010

On Saturday 12 June, we went down to Buckingham Palace to watch Trooping the Colour, something we’ve been hoping to see since we arrived in London. After three years of missing out on tickets through the ballot system, we decided that we would instead line up on the Mall, just down from the Palace to watch the troops and the Royal Family go past on their way to the ceremony. Trooping the Colour is steeped in British tradition and carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) on Horse Guards' Parade.

The ceremony dates back to the early eighteenth century, when the colours (flags) of the battalion were carried (or 'trooped') down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers. Since 1748, this parade has also marked the Sovereign's official birthday, and although the Queen was born on 21 April, they wisely schedule Trooping the Colour for June to lessen the chance of the Queen getting rained on.

During the ceremony, the Queen is greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops. After the massed bands have performed a musical 'troop', the escorted Regimental Colour is carried down the ranks. The Foot Guards and the Household Cavalry then march past Her Majesty, and The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, rank past. The Queen rides in a carriage back to Buckingham Palace at the head of her Guards, before taking the salute at the Palace from a dais. The troops then return to barracks. Her Majesty joins other members of the Royal Family on the Palace balcony for a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. Interestingly, the Queen has attended Trooping the Colour every year of her reign, except in 1955 when a national rail strike cancelled the event.

We had a great time watching the impressively dressed regiments march past us down the Mall, particularly the bands with their full scale brass sections, dozens of flutes and huge drums. One lucky guard was in charge of the cymbals! Our favourite regiment was the one led by a red coated dog, which a woman next to us identified for us as an Irish Wolfhound (he was massive), so we assume that it is the mascot of the Irish Guards.

After the foot soldiers and bands went past, the anticipation began building for the horse cavalries, royal carriages and the headline act – HM Queen. However, before they could begin, a policewoman collapsed directly in front of us, causing some excitement. She was revived after a few minutes or so and was eventually moved off for treatment, but we were a bit worried, both for her, and for the master of the ceremony who has the whole event timed with (unsurprisingly) military precision.

However, the show quickly resumed and we were treated to over 200 mounted troops (including yet another band, showing amazing dexterity to play and ride at the same time). Then came the Royal carriages – the first with Prince William and Camilla, the second with Prince Andrew and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and in the final carriage were the Queen and Prince Phillip. Directly behind the Queen's carriage were Princess Anne and Prince Charles on horseback. It was the first time we had seen any of the Royals in person and it was incredible to see them from such a short distance. It was also great to be part of such a quintessentially British spectacle.

The Mall

What a
fine dog!

Prince
William and
Camilla's
carriage

A drum kit
on a horse!

The Queen
and Prince
Phillip

And again

Friday, June 4, 2010

Barcelona, Spain - Part 2

Monday

On Monday morning we headed out a touch earlier, as we had a lot of places to visit. We grabbed breakfast at the same cafe as we had on the Sunday morning. We had pretty much the same thing and it was just as delicious! Then we caught the metro to the north-west part of the city to visit the Camp Nou - probably Europe's most awesome football stadium.

For those not massively into football, Barcelona FC is consistently one of the biggest and best football clubs in Europe and, therefore, the world. More the ever, in the past couple of seasons, Barcelona has set the football world on fire, playing a breath-taking style of attacking football and winning pretty much everything in sight. They have a squad chocka block full of superstars, including the world's best footballer, Lionel Messi, as well as Thierry Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Dani Alves, etc etc, the list goes on.

The Camp Nou has a capacity of just under 99,000, making it the largest stadium in Europe. We arrived at the Camp Nou slightly before the stadium tours opened, so we checked out the Mega Store. They're not kidding, it was seriously mega - two massive floors full of all sorts of merchandise. Super impressive. We grabbed our audio guides and set off on the tour. The tour allowed us to walk down on the edge of the playing field, into the grandstand, the directors' box (the best seats in the house) and the press centre right at the very top level of the stand. Sadly, the away dressing room and the tunnel that leads down on to the field (which are usually part of the tour) were out of action.

The club's motto "Mes que un club" ("More than a club") is plastered throughout the stadium. Decades ago, the football club became a symbol of the struggle of Catalan nationalism against the central government in Madrid. This has made the annual home and away clashes with Real Madrid FC, the other football giant in Spain, about more than just who will win the league title each season - there is a fierce rivalry in these matches that goes beyond the football.

After the tour, we visited the stadium museum, where the undoubted highlight was the trophy cabinet with the "Six Trophies" on display (photo below). In 2008, a Barcelona legend, Pep Guardiola, took over as manager of Barcelona, despite being very young for a manager. In his first season at the club, Barcelona won an unprecedented six trophies - every competiton possible. They won the Spanish league title, the Spanish Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the World Club Championship, making them the undisputed champions of Spain, Europe and the world.

From the Camp Nou, we took the metro across to the north-east part of the city, to Gaudi's Parc Guell. In 1910, the industrialist, Eusebio Guell commissioned Gaudi to lay out a private housing estate on a hillside above Barcelona. The plan was to create a mini-garden city with common amenities, leisure areas and decorative structures, but only two of the houses were ever built. Apparently they looked a little too much like cartoon gingerbread houses for Barcelona's upper class. What was left after the project fell through, however, was one of the most original public spaces ever conceived.

The main entrance of the park, between the two gingerbread houses, leads up to the double staircase. Water trickles from the mouth of the park's famous multi-coloured dragon that presides over the monumental flight of steps. Above the staircase is the Hypostyle Hall, with 86 classical columns, which support the weight of the square above. From the square at the top of Parc Guell, there are sensational views down across the city. The square is surrounded by curved benches all around its edge, all decorated with colourful mosaics.

We sat in the park and had a snack and then wandered through the winding paths, along the "upper viaduct" and to the square. The best part of the park, though, is the mosaic dragon on the steps! Very cool. This place reinforced that we are both huge Gaudi fans!

Following our Parc Guell visit, we headed down to the Sagrada Familia - again. We chose not to go inside, as we had heard that it is not super impressive inside - it is pretty much a construction site - but we checked out the opposite end of the church than that we had seen on our bike tour the day before.

The 'other side' is known as the "Passion Facade", which depicts the suffering and death of Jesus. This facade was completed between 1986 and 2000 by artist Josep Maria Subirachs. It has been a controversial work, as the sculpted figures are very angular and "block-like", often looking sinister. There are 12 groups of sculptures arranged in three tiers on this side of the church and the scenes tell the story in stages. There is a huge amount of detail and artistry in the work, so love them or hate them, you still have to admire the skill involved. The opposite end of the church, that we had seen the previous day, is the "Nativity Facade".

We walked from the Sagrada Familia back down towards the Old Town, past the bull ring, as far as a little tapas bar right across from the Arc de Triomf. We sat outside and enjoyed bread with oil, patatas bravas, croquettes, a type of quiche thing and a jug of sangria for a late lunch. Then we continued through the Old Town, stopping at another bar for a drink, before returning to our hotel to freshen up after a very hot day of sight-seeing.

In the evening, we had dinner at the tapas bar (called Irati) that Megan had found on Saturday (but it was too packed for us to go there then). This time we were earlier and it was not very busy at all. It was a really nice, clean bar with all sorts of different tapas available. You stand at the bar and choose which tapas you want to eat – they are arranged on loads of different plates all down the bar, with each individual piece on a toothpick – and when you are finished, the bar staff count how many toothpicks you have on your plate and charge you accordingly. The food was delicious!

After dinner we went to another of Megan’s stunning finds - a wine bar called Bodega La Palma. It was decorated like an underground wine cellar with brick walls, not much lighting and it had big wooden wine casks stacked along one wall. We bought a bottle of Catalonian red wine called “GR-174” and it was fantastic. We almost bought another bottle…but then we would have had to roll home.

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning we had a bit of a sleep in. Megan wandered down to the La Boqueria market and picked up some breakfast delights – fresh fruit, orange juice, pastries and a ham and cheese baguette. We packed our bags and checked out of the hotel and then set off on a long walk down Las Ramblas. Right at the bottom of Las Ramblas is the Columbus Monument.

The Columbus Monument is a 60m tall monument for Christopher Columbus, at the bottom of Las Ramblas, by the edge of the port, the site where Columbus returned to Spain after his first successful voyage to the Americas. At the top of the column is a 7m tall bronze statue, depicting Columbus pointing out towards the “New World” with his right hand and holding the scroll in his left hand. Construction of the monument was completed in 1888.

Beyond the Columbus Monument is one end of the new Port Vell, a 1992 Olympic Games creation. A brand new wooden pedestrian bridge, nicknamed the “Rambla de Mar” connects Las Ramblas with the Maremagnum, a complex with shops, cinemas, bars and restaurants. Behind the Maremagnum are an IMAX theatre and Barcelona's aquarium. A new palm tree-lined avenue was laid that runs alongside the vast yacht basin of Port Vell. We wandered along the avenue to the other end of Port Vell and continued on to the beach!

It was a fairly cloudy morning, but there were quite a few keen sun-seekers at the beach when we arrived at around 11.30am. The cloud came and went, eventually burning off around 2pm. We were foolish kids and neglected to put sunscreen on until the cloud had burned away – we should know that you still get sunburnt through cloud! So by the end of the day we were both a little lobster-like!

We lay on the beach for around three hours before moving up to the beach bar (where we had stopped on our bike tour on Sunday) for a late lunch. We couldn’t resist getting some more of the delicious sangria – and sadly they only had 1.5 litre jugs available, rather than 1 litre jugs! We struggled though the large jug of sangria (sarcasm) and enjoyed a tasty lunch, looking out over the beach. It was a very relaxing day and a great way to end our long weekend in Barcelona.

Then we walked back through the city to the hotel to collect our bags and headed for the airport. We had somehow managed to avoid disruption to our flights again – not only from the volcanic ash cloud, but also from British Airways’ ongoing strikes. BA was in the middle of four sets of five-day strikes with a day’s break in between each. Miraculously, our flight to Barcelona fell on the Saturday which happened to be the day’s gap between strikes, and our return flight to London was one of the few flights that BA had managed to run, with their leased aircraft and borrowed crew from other airlines. Very nice.

Next trip: A week long Balkans adventure at the end of June!