Plymouth part 3

The next days was our to explore the town.

We went down through part of the Barbican, and around the dock yard.

We were heading to the Aquarium. 

Which was surrounded on both sides by water.

It was a very nice aquarium and we learned and saw many things.

Then we set out for the dead center of the Barbican to find the Elizabethan Gardens. Which is a tiny, multi-level garden planted in Elizabethan times and not only preserved but open to the public regularly.

They were very charming. I wish we could live there.

Plymouth Part 2b

Well, we got the somewhat disappointing news that my husband did not get the job he interviewed for at the University.

Despite this I will soldier on with the Plymouth posts, because it really is a beautiful town.

At this point I am still wandering the town during the interview. There is a section of town called the "barbican" which is full of old charming houses and miles of cobblestone.

The Barbican skirts the docks.

I went back to my hotel room at the appointed time to wait for my husband, and just before I went inside I took this picture. That is the hotel on the left, but up ahead is a church that was bombed during a war. They removed most of the ruble and left the rest of the church standing as a memorial  It is in the center of a roundabout. The shiny glass behind that is part of the mall and the University would be up and to the right.

Here is where we went to have a pint after the interview. It is facing the docks and it was nice to sit out in the sun.

That was the view (somewhat) directly across from where we were sitting. That restaurant, The Ship, was very good. Nice prices, staff location, clean, and the food was excellent.

See? Swaths of cobblestone.

Do you see the American flag? These, the gate and the stone below, are to mark the steps the pilgrams took to sail off in the Mayflower.

We then strolled along the coast line to the Hoe.

Plymouth part two

My husband was traveling here on business so I walked him to work and then wandered happily about taking pictures and soaking up the atmosphere. The city centre is very beautiful, quiet and clean. I have to say that it was nice to get out of crowded Madrid

This chapel was in the University and so picturesque with the row houses on one side that I had to snap this as my first photo of the day.

One of the things about Plymouth, is that it is a major port town for the UK. Because of this a lot of the older buildings had been destroyed by German bombs during one of the world wars. The upshot is that there are beautiful historic buildings next to modern and sleek buildings, like this one, also on the University campus.

Here are more shots of the greenway that runs from the University to ocean, right in the middle of the city centre.

I really liked it. There was a lot of care to landscape the sections between streets differently. On each side of the greenway there were various shops. I can imagine it is, if the weather is nice and you weren't buying anything heavy, a very pleasant way to shop.

I got to experience the first blushes of spring again.

Here the greenway opened onto a plaza. Fraiser House, a department store with a decent yarn selection, is to the left, a big screen tv is straight ahead and in the distance you can see the top of the Plymouth ferris wheel.

Such dramatic clouds (it was a little windy).

 This is an anchor of an important ship, but I was so eager to get to the ocean I did not stop to read it which one.

The seaside park in Plymouth is called the "Hoe". I am assured that they know how it sounds and I am trying very hard not to make the obvious jokes. 

This is a statue of Sir Francis Drake, the famous explorer. One of many famous explorers that started  their journey from Plymouth. I did not get a close up of him, because he was very popular with the sea gulls.

Other explores/expeditions that have set out from Plymouth include: the Mayflower, and Charles Darwin on the Beagle.

Slightly unrelated note, there is a cruise/ferry that goes directly from Santander (Spain) to Plymouth too. It takes about 20 hours but you sail by the coast of France.

Now I grew up nowhere near the ocean and I live about as close as I ever have right now (4 hours by car to Valencia). I am one of those rare people that can count the number of times I have been to a coast on two hands. This view is breath taking, and may I add, just like the movies.

The famous lighthouse, Smeaton Tower.

The Plymouth dome (as far as I know unused at this time), below the dome there is a semi-circular swimming pool overlooking the ocean. No photos, the pool is empty as it was cold and windy. Despite the weather (13-15C or 50-65F) there were plenty of people in t-shirts and shorts. I had on a heavy wool coat and a scarf and after a while I had to flee out of the wind so that I could retain feeling in my fingers!

I'll break up this day into two posts, as there is a lot of photos. This was my view as I left the Hoe to go and try to find lunch back in the city.

Plymouth puente part one

 For those of you wondering a "puente" is an extended weekend including a holiday. May 1st and 2nd where holidays here in Spain and most people would take the Friday off as well. We did, and then I did something I have not done in a long time, I left the country.

For reasons that I might reveal later if things go as planned my husband and I went to Plymouth, England.

Getting to Plymouth was no mean feat. I think it took us about 12 hours of travel to get there. There might have been a beter way, but we went: Madrid to London, took a train, then a metro to Paddington Station and once there boarded a 4+  hour train to Plymouth.

On the way there I tried to get a couple shots of the quaint passing country side. The row houses with their chimneys...

...and the passing fields. However most of the time we were going to fast for a semi-decent shot. You will have to take my word for it, that there were a lot of sheep, horses, cows and even some alpaca. 

The scenery would go from inner-city grime, to small villages with a prominent pub and a beautiful church, to hill after endless rolling green hill of English country side.

My students will very often tell me that when they went to the US "it looked just like the movies" with a huge grin on their faces. This trip brought to me just exactly what they ment. I grew up on BBC productions, and I suppose that I should admit it to myself, I am something of an anglophile. I wanted to tell everyone too that it looked just exactly like I hoped that it would, and for some reason it made it seem a little less real.

Finally when we started passing Bristol there would be an occasional glimpse of the ocean. Once we had views of never ending ocean, we were a stones throw away from Plymouth.

Most of this first day was just the journey of getting here. We got in after 6pm and did not take a lot of pictures. But I want to take some photos as proof. This is England, in May, and the sun is shining. My husband pretty much always has good weather when he travels to the UK. 

The below picture is part of a greenway that runs through the city, more on that tomorrow.

Our first view of Plymouth University under a blue sky.

We checked in, set down our bags and went in search of dinner down the little winding streets of this charming town.

More tomorrow.