Saturday, 10 November 2012

Visit to "Stroke City."

We were on an outing today to Londonderry on the banks of the Foyle. Twenty-two Tuesday Club members and friends set off on a coach at 9 a.m.
Our first stop was at St. Columb's Cathedral - a very old building dating back to 1633. We had a guided tour and audio visual presentation about the cathedral. Then in the Chapter House there is a collection of various artifacts relating to its history.


After a light lunch we browsed around some of the shops and then made our way down to the Peace Bridge. We walked across it and I got some good photos of the structure for you. It is for pedestrians and cyclists only. It joins the Waterside area with the city and was built to help integrate the two communities.








The whole structure is most interesting. It is 312 metres long and cost £14 million to build. There are two places where a seat has been incorporated into the framework so you can sit down and enjoy the view.
The day finished with a lovely dinner at the Belfray Country Inn on the outskirts of the city.
We all enjoyed our day out to the Maiden City - City of Culture for 2013.

Friday, 26 October 2012

London visit - at last!

We visited Bowness on Windermere on the way to London. This is a lovely place where the swans, geese and ducks mingle with the people along the shore.
Unfortunately our coach broke down on the M6. Here we are standing along the side of the motorway waiting for another coach to pick us up. Not the best bit of our holiday!
This is the view of St. Paul's Cathedral you get as you walk at the end of the Millennium Bridge Walkway.

 The Millennium Walkway was spectacular by night - lit with a variety of colours.
 A view through the Millennium Walkway showing Tower Bridge in the distance.
 A close up view of The Shard.
 Windsor - an interesting phone box replica. Each side had a member of the Royal Family painted on looking out. The Queen on this side, Princes William and Harry and Kate Middleton on the others.
 We did the tour of Windsor Castle. Here you see the front view of the castle and gardens.
 Robert standing on the Meridian Line at Greenwich.
 Also at Greenwich you can see Cutty Sark. You can walk in underneath the boat now as it has had work done recently after a fire which had damaged it some time ago.
 Tower Bridge from the River Thames. As part of the hop-on hop-off open top bus tour there was a river cruise. This provided the opportunity to see the famous landmarks from a different perspective. The brown building at the left of the picture was our hotel - The Guoman Tower Hotel.
 HMS Belfast is moored on the Thames near to Tower Bridge.
 The Shard from the river.
 A close up view of the London Eye. It is right beside the Thames.
 The palace of Westminster from Westminster Bridge.
 These are bicycles which can be hired in London. This bright idea was one of the Mayor of London's - Boris Johnson's. The idea is to reduce the amount of traffic and congestion. We saw quite a few of these in use during our time there.
 At Trafalgar Square we had lunch in the crypt of this church - St. Martin in the Fields.
 We spent some time milling around by Buckingham palace. It is a magnificent building with crowds everywhere you look.
 Of course we had to see and take photos of  Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square.
 From our hotel we could walk along beside the Thames by the Tower of London.
 There were many impressive buildings to see. Lots of curtain walls you would have been interested in!
 Tower Bridge from the Thames walkway.
 The building to the left of this picture is where Boris Johnson's office is situated.
 At Stratford on Avon it was interesting to watch these folks bringing their canal boat up through the lock.
Below, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. This is a very picturesque and interesting town to visit. We had been there before some years ago. We had also been to Warwick and Bowness before too.
We really enjoyed our holiday to London this special year of the Jubilee and Olympics.

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Snap!

Here are Niall's winning shots.
Portrait class and scene of Fermanagh.
 A digitally manipulated "Round O".
 Sport in action class.
 Plants class and digitally manipulated class.

 Black and white class.
 Agriculture class.
 More Fermanagh scenes.
Needless to say he is pleased with himself.

Show Time!

 It's that time of year again.
The Enniskillen Show has been and gone and we have carried off some prizes in the cookery and photographic sections. I had 4 firsts and 2 thirds. Above, the marble cake.
 The cherry cake.
 The madeira cake and the sultana cake.
 Third with the boiled fruit cake and the ginger cake.
 Michelle entered a few items and got 3rd for her carrot cake.
Niall did very well again with his photos. He got 6 firsts, 3 seconds and 2 thirds which means he wins the cup this year again.
Success all round.