The Gherkin and the Galleon
Okay, so what's this then?
If you're at all familiar with the London skyscape you will recognise the building in the distance as the Gherkin which is more properly, and less interestingly, known as 30 St Mary Axe. I like it!
In front of it is a galleon. Well, a replica galleon anyway - Sir Francis Drake's The Golden Hinde, in which he discovered the bits of America that Christopher Columbus missed - - you know, the bits on the left hand side, California, the Golden Gate Bridge, that kind of thing.
Oh all right then, perhaps not, but this replica has been right round the world, it's got 140,000 miles on the clock which is no doubt more than the original ever did. It's quite small and really I'd be a little bit concerned about crossing the English Channel in it, never mind the Atlantic. Beautiful, though.
Talking of beautiful, I'm off to Barrow in Furness today.
Yes, yes, I know, most people don't connect the words "beautiful" and "Barrow" - it's a small industrial town on the edge of the Lake District, population about 50,000, near to - - well, nowhere really.
But it does have beautiful beaches, the lovely Furness peninsula on its doorstep ("Furness" means "far peninsula" - very educational, this blog eh?) and the Lake District relatively nearby.
My mother's from Barrow and some of my very favourite relatives live there. Stephen's on a course this week (Windows Servers, sounds exciting) and Silverback and I are off to Barrow for a few days to stay with the delightful Amy (85), see some more of my relatives and - we hope - see some lovely scenery. Hurrah for Spring!
Silverback has put a slideshow of his great photos of our London trip on his blog so do have a look - - watch out for the woman in the blue hoodie who seemed determined to get into lots of his photos. I've no idea who she is.
If you're at all familiar with the London skyscape you will recognise the building in the distance as the Gherkin which is more properly, and less interestingly, known as 30 St Mary Axe. I like it!In front of it is a galleon. Well, a replica galleon anyway - Sir Francis Drake's The Golden Hinde, in which he discovered the bits of America that Christopher Columbus missed - - you know, the bits on the left hand side, California, the Golden Gate Bridge, that kind of thing.
Oh all right then, perhaps not, but this replica has been right round the world, it's got 140,000 miles on the clock which is no doubt more than the original ever did. It's quite small and really I'd be a little bit concerned about crossing the English Channel in it, never mind the Atlantic. Beautiful, though.
Talking of beautiful, I'm off to Barrow in Furness today.Yes, yes, I know, most people don't connect the words "beautiful" and "Barrow" - it's a small industrial town on the edge of the Lake District, population about 50,000, near to - - well, nowhere really.
But it does have beautiful beaches, the lovely Furness peninsula on its doorstep ("Furness" means "far peninsula" - very educational, this blog eh?) and the Lake District relatively nearby.
My mother's from Barrow and some of my very favourite relatives live there. Stephen's on a course this week (Windows Servers, sounds exciting) and Silverback and I are off to Barrow for a few days to stay with the delightful Amy (85), see some more of my relatives and - we hope - see some lovely scenery. Hurrah for Spring!
Silverback has put a slideshow of his great photos of our London trip on his blog so do have a look - - watch out for the woman in the blue hoodie who seemed determined to get into lots of his photos. I've no idea who she is.
posted by Daphne at 8:32 am
2 Comments:
Your title made me want to say, "The Gherkin and the Galleon went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat," but that would have been silly.
Went to Barrow not too long ago. seem to remember it had an excellent maritime museum.
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