Weekends V: Family and a 40th

Getting back to the going on's of the last few weekends, this one saw us gathering for Vanessa's 40^th celebrations. Her parents had arrived a couple of weeks ago and her brother, Fraser, arrived that Saturday morning. My folks, her uncle n aunty were there as well (as you may have gathered), so it was quite a family gathering that saw us in a cosy café/bar in Marylebone for dinner.
It wasn't long after we'd finished dining when her friends started to join us for a fun night of drinking and keeping the celebration alive until the venue closed. The arrival of Zara n Jarrett continued the family numbers, which considering that we were all in London was just very cool.
In true style, Vanessa, her friend, Amy, and myself continued on for a few more drinks until that venue closed at some time in the early morning.

This gave us a bit of a slow-ish start to the Sunday where all the family members got together again for a lunch at the Windsor Castle pub in Notting Hill. No blue doors in sight, but it was a nice warm day which made for life in the leafy beer garden just perfect. We were joined by Steve n Eileen to make it one of the biggest family gatherings we'd had for some time, and certainly the biggest in England since (we think) Steve's wedding back in the 60's. Regardless of that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in that beer garden.

Tourist Again

The day after returning from Paris saw the arrival of the folks from home and the beginning of a full-on week of touristing about London. Considering that I leave London soon, and despite needing time to sort a lot of that out, it turned out to be quite good to visit and see things that I hadn't over the past 4 years.

First up was the Silver Vaults. Like you I'd not heard of these either. Below Chancery Lane are 65 "vaults" full of all manner of silver items. The world's largest collection of silver were in each of these "shops" - all for sale. We walked the corridors and poked about in the vaults checking it all out. Can't say I'd like to be one of the sellers spending your day underground in a small little room with the door of a safe as the only entrance/exit. Nor would I want to be keeping all that silver polished!

Another notable was a private tour of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Not only did we get a good look through the Houses of Parliament, we also got to see a few spots not on the usual tours. This included one of the dining rooms for the Lords as well as the doorway used by Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot. The thirteenth member of the group is actually an ancestor, which gave this revelation [of the door] just that little extra. I can also now say that I've sat on the bench in both houses without being elected to either - even if I didn't notice the sign saying to stay off until I was told off. An amazing place none the less.

A day trip up to Liverpool was also on the cards. This isn't exactly your average tourist jaunt or location either, but this involved more ancestoral tracing - that of my grandmother and her family's home for many decades. This is something that I'd tried to locate previously with little success, but this time we had the correct street name.
A local black cab driver turned out to make for a superb tour guide as we he chauffeured us around for a couple of hours. I should point out that they're cheaper in Liverpool than in London. He took us to the right street, and despite not having a street number, we managed to locate the actual house. The cabbie helping with one piece of information that completed the puzzle with a little bit of local history. It wasn't just this that his knowledge helped us with. He helped us locate both my grandmother's school as well as the cemetery mentioned in my great grandfather's journal where some of the family is buried.
We rounded out the day down at Albert Dock for a late lunch and a bit of a wander about Liverpool.

Another highlight was one busy day that we managed to take in at quite a leisurely pace. Beginning at Madame Tussauds, we discovered that this was more than just rooms full of wax dummies. A very entertaining place to go.

Around the corner is the Sherlock Holmes Museum, which is quite impressive that the premises of a fictional character has been turned into a museum to honour him. I found it quite interesting, even if the only Sherlock Holmes I've had much involvement with is the Robert Downey Jr. one. I will however be digging out the Sherlock Holmes books from dad's collection in the near future.

From here after a brief coffee break, we headed to Hamley's. The world's biggest toy store is always a bit of fun to visit, and a certain nephew will be (hopefully) enjoying what he will soon receive from here!

After strolling down Regent Street and through Piccadilly Circus, we came to the M&M store. Not just a lolly shop, but four floors dedicated to Red, Yellow and their pals. Truly, these two characters would have to be the biggest advertising success story ever (not counting Coke and Santa). In amongst all the paraphernalia, you could even by both chocolate and peanut M&Ms.

Their final evening saw us head to the west end. A nice dinner in the exquisite Browns restaurant kicked off the evening where we took in the 24,454^th performance of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap. This has been running since 1952 and is the world's longest running show. I saw it back in 2004 when I first came to London and if felt like only the actors had changed. It is rumoured to have several variations of its ending, but for me (and this could be just coincidence) they were the same. Still, despite knowing one solution, I was still puzzling away at the other possibilities.
Back to the hotel bar for coffees rounded out the evening and indeed their visit.

Weekends IV: Le Tour

An early morning start on the Saturday saw me and Vanessa (standing in for Sheryl) at St Pancras International for an 8am Eurostar train to Paris. Both of us had either rush-packed in the morning or the late hours of the night before following respective evening drinks with workmates. This made for a very relaxed train ride from London to Paris.

Once there we made our way to the hotel to discover that our room would be available later that day. Baggage room sorted, we set out into the mid-morning throng that is a Saturday in Paris. Exploration and sorting ourselves out for tomorrow were the prime objectives and this took us down the Rue de Faub Saint Denis. Along the way we sampled some of the local produce (okay, pastries) and found some of the items we were looking for.

Eventually, we found ourselves down by Les Halles and the Centre Pompidou as well as being caught in some heavy rain. So, with both shelter and lunch on our minds, we took refuge in the Centre Pompidou. It wasn't long before we had trekked up the large tunnel that runs diagonally on the outside of the building to enjoy the views from the top while dining in the restaurant, Georges, that sits at the top of this interesting structure. Vanessa's lunch of a club sandwich with a glass of Moet seemed very appropriate. I had a very nice penne if you're wondering...

Exploring the galleries was to follow lunch while we waited out the rain. After some time (and confusion - not every exhibit made sense) we made our way back towards our hotel to check-in and collect what we'd seen earlier before those stores closed. Once we had our €7 folding stools, we were looking into every café and bar we passed to see if there was a tv that was showing the live telecast of the Tour de France. It didn't take long to find one.
A pokey little café with two beers on option and staff with very limited English. We managed to both settle in and also order a couple of beers to watch. I knew that Cadel Evans was due to start at just after 4.10pm and we got there just before 4pm. It's hard to describe what it's like to be there in Paris watching that Time Trial stage live, and witnessing the greatest moment in Australian cycling history. It was exciting and emotional as well as a lot of fun with the small group of Parisians in the café. A very special afternoon. But, there's more to come.
The evening saw us stocking up on supplies for the Sunday and then just ducking next door from our hotel to a pizzeria - a very good pizzeria too! Unfortunately, the hotel thwarted our idea of watching a movie in our room afterwards - none in English...

An even earlier start to Sunday as we made our way along Rue de Rivoli and Rue de Saint-Honoré at about 7.30am. Navigating the preparations, detours and road closures lent to a very pleasant sunny morning walk through Paris as we made our way to the Champs Elysées. By a little after 8am, we had strolled along the Champs Elysées and along with quite a few others, had found ourselves a spot on the barriers, and began to settle in for what would turn out to be a fun day out. A coffee and croissant from the nearby café certainly helped the start of this.
Later on, I was to find some loos as well as a bookstore that also sold some English newspapers and magazines, which also helped. I learned from this that you should never underestimate the power of a woman's magazine (ask Vanessa).

During the day, the crowds grew constantly - even with some people trying to push in to where we already had a prime position. Our supplies from the day before were doing their thing very well as were our two cheap folding stools - I can't thank Phil enough for suggesting them!

So there we were, enjoying a sunny day out on the edge of the Champs Elysées. We had no idea what the commentator on the PA system was saying, but we knew he was calling the day's race - the final stage of this year's Tour de France, and with an Australian in the Malliot Juane (yellow jersey) of the race leader. Short of falling off his bike and not being able to continue, there was no way that Cadel Evans would not be announced the overall winner later that afternoon. You could feel the atmosphere grow as we all knew that the peloton would be arriving onto the Champs Elysees soon for their final six laps.

The first sign that this was close was the sponsor's parade (above right). Floats and vehicles of all sorts for every major (and not-so-major) race/event sponsor came past. Some were certainly unique! A little later the cavalcade of race vehicles started to come past and eventually the peloton arrived. We could have literally high-fived the riders as they came past, we were so close. Cadel easily locatable due to being the only one in yellow, but also as he and his team lead the peloton around for the first lap (it's a tradition). Yelling out "Well Done Cuddles!" might not have been appropriate in using his nickname, but hopefully he heard - you just can't help but be happy for him to have finally won the Tour.

Anyway, by this time we were about 6-10 people deep along the barriers, and our early morning start had paid off to give us such a prime location. Seeing them coming past us several times was excellent, and much better than being at the side of the road only to see them zoom past once.

While we may have missed the overall presentations as these were at the other end of the Champs Elysees (we were right by the turn near the Arc de Triomphe) we did get a great view of the teams doing their final lap of honour. All the riders were relaxed and in a great mood - one even swapping his bike for the motorcycle of a photographer! The last team through was that of Cadel's. Team BMC and Cadel soaked it all in, and well deservedly so. It was great to see. And a great way to finish off what was nearly 12hours on the Champs Elysees for us.
We then strolled back down along this famous avenue to the Jardin de Tuilieres where we wandered through the fun fair (left) enjoying both a dodgy dinner and churros (Spanish donuts) before heading back to the hotel.

Monday was a far more relaxed start with no alarm clocks set. Breakfast, or should I say, lunch, was in a nice Parisian café in the sunshine with the world going by before we made our way for Gare du Nord and home.

Weekends III: The Active

Two last events to do before heading home - one run and one ride...

Reigate Sunday Sportive

A 100 mile ride through the hilly region of Surrey put on by the folks at Sunday Sportive. A good sunny day and a good reason to get out on the new BMC bike. I covered the distance in just under 5 hours and had a good time with the other riders doing the event. Whether in a small bunch or just with the occasional rider that I'd come upon during the ride. Some great countryside and even a Dutch windmill! (above)
And if you're interested, the bike was great to ride too. I'll still be getting in plenty of riding before leaving, but just not at any organised events like this.

Old Deer Park 10k

I've never done a 10k event before, as I prefer half marathons, but this one was only a few k's from home and took us through Kew Gardens and along the Thames. A small race with about 500 runners, including 3 others from work.
A really nice course, as I mentioned, that also took us through Richmond during the 48 minutes I spent running it. I can see a definite advantage in 10k events like this: you're done fairly quickly and you still have the rest of the day to yourself - I was home by 10.30am.
Just don't ask me what I was thinking as I crossed the finish in this photo.

Weekends II: Out and About

Can't say I thought I'd find myself at a cricket club family day, but this is where I found myself the other Sunday when I caught up with Mark n Row and their new daughter, Isabel. I hadn't caught up with them since just before Isabel was born several weeks ago, and this was the first opportunity. It also happened to be the family day for Mark's cricket club.
A pleasant day with the weather giving us all a typical English summer shower for about an hour in the middle of the afternoon. Loads of kiddies about, as you'd expect, and the usual club-style bbq with the bar in full swing. Cake and ice cream sales too, as well as the raffle. A good day and a good catch up with Mark n Row.

A brief weekend visit from Tine n Klaer saw me in South Kensington for the afternoon in the vicinity of the Natural History Museum and Brompton Rd for a very pleasant afternoon and evening with them. It also saw us at Hamley's toy store for Klaer on the Sunday.

Later that day I was down in Belgravia with Vanessa with her friend Carol in the Thomas Cubitt pub for a great roast of the day and several beers.

The White Cross in Richmond on the banks of the Thames has been another good spot for whiling away sunny Sunday afternoons too. Just sitting on the bank of the river or in the beer garden just chatting with Shar and watching the world go by.

Weekends I: Suffolk

There's something about a weekend out of the city, and especially those that I spend in Suffolk with Steve n Ei. Just a lazy weekend away that kicked off in its usual fashion in the nearby village of Eyke in their pub. I may have mentioned this several hundred year old pub before. A nice little spot with a small band of funny old locals. A great way to wind down after a hectic/mad working week.

Saturday began with a rare lie-in and a cooked breakfast down the boatyard. A pleasant and sunny walk along the river to Woodbridge itself before just poking about the main street for a bit. A relaxed afternoon then saw us spend the balmy evening at the Fox Inn - yet another pub/tavern that's several hundred years old. A great spot. I could easily just while away many afternoons and evenings there.

After I went for a morning ride, Sunday saw us down at Bawdsey (see top photo). I love riding the lanes and quiet roads around Suffolk. Peaceful, great country scenery and just all-round some great spots to ride through. Interesting "wildlife" too as I nearly got bowled over by a pheasant that I startled as I rode past it.

But back to Bawdsey, where we took the "ferry" across the river to the Felixstowe seawall. We strolled along the sea wall past sailing clubs, the golf course and some Napoleonic defences before we came across the "beach". A warm sunny day had many of the rows of small beach huts open and in use. After lunching at one of the beachside cafés we did the walk and ferry crossing in reverse, getting back just before the sea mist came in. A leisurely drive home with a few "jars" along the way was just the ticket for the afternoon.

I'm going to miss Suffolk a great deal.

Marco!

A grey day greeted us as we headed out to Hurlingham Park by the Thames for the Mint Polo in the Park. Horse Polo, not water polo, nor Marco Polo either, although, I was surprised that I didn't hear anyone call out "Marco" as some stage of the afternoon.

Thanks to the usual palaver that is the Tube on a weekend, it was quite a trek to get there, but on the way, the weather decided to make life a little wet. Naturally, the forecast was for no rain until well into the night...

So, it was drizzling by the start of the first match. An awesome way to start a game too - the ball was sitting in the middle of the pitch... er... field? and one rider from each team came steaming in to get to it first. "Suicide Start" was the correct and apt description, and on more than one occasion a polo stick needed to be replaced.
Anyway, it was a small tournament between the six teams over the weekend, which did mean that we would get to see the final later in the afternoon. However, by that stage we had moved into the large marquee with the bar and nearly everyone else. The rain had begun to bucket down by then, making it quite difficult to see past all the umbrellas.
Still, we (Zara, Jarrett, Tony, Narelle, Vanessa and myself) had quite a good afternoon of it, even getting a high-five from the winners on their victory lap. (And a rather expensive but very good polo shirt!)

ANZAC: The Somme & Western Front

Having done the ANZAC Dawn Service in Gallipoli last year, Paul and I decided to go to the Western Front and the Somme for this year's Dawn Service. Little is ever mentioned of the ANZAC contribution to the Somme and Western Front, but here we lost nearly five times the amount of men that were lost in Gallipoli - over 40,000. I have read the acclaimed book "Somme Mud", which is an amazing first hand story/diary of a young Australian soldier and his time through the First World War in the Somme. I feel it is a must read for any Australian, and to visit the places mentioned in the book gave it an extra dimension.

Again we did this via an organised tour group, which included full transport to and from London, full accommodation as well as 3 days of touring the WWI battlefields through Belgium and Northern France.

An early morning start on the Saturday saw us leaving London at around 7am with a full coach load of Australians of varying ages. One of the better parts of the trips was that there were none of the "bogan backpacker" crowd like you get at Gallipoli. The Saturday, Sunday and Monday were to become quite full on days of travelling and seeing as much as our guides could show us - and it was a lot! I won't go into it all, as it would take just far too long, but I'll stick to the more major items.

Our guide was, of all things, Welsh. He lived (and still does) in Ypres in Belgium. He was truly a walking encylopedia when it came to WWI as well as having an amazing passion for it. Peter simply made the trip. Without him I doubt we'd have learnt or experienced as much as we did. We collected him in Ypres (pronounced: Ee-prris or Ee-per depending on whether you're French or Belgian), and he showed us the first and seventh item of the Saturday afternoon, the Menin Gate. We went on to visit battlefields, monuments and cemeteries at Polygon Wood (2), Hill 60, Passchendaele, Tyne-Cot, Langemark (a German cemetery), Hoog Crater (cemetery, restaurant & museum) before returning to the Menin Gate. All the while, Peter, would point things out along the way as our coach navigated the roads and lanes through the region known as Hellfire Corner. I won't go into them all, but here's some notables:

The Menin GateThis is a massive monument in the heart of Ypres, (as you can see) and inscribed upon it is the name of every Allied soldier who was killed in the Ypres salient but has no known grave. About 55,000 names in all of just the missing. Ypres itself was just about levelled in all the fighting that went on in this area over the years of WWI. Every night here at 8pm, the Last Post is played. And after our earlier history lesson and exploration of the "gate", we returned for this. Many more people had gathered and it did take a bit to get a view. Quite a ceremony surrounded the playing of the Last Post. The people of Ypres hold this in very high regard, as do the members of the fire brigade who actually supply the men and bugler. Very moving to be amongst the folk there.

Tyne Cot CemeteryThis is the largest Commonweatlh cemetery in the world, with tens of thousands buried here. The main wall at the back continues the list from the Menin Gate and adds another 35,000 names of missing. The four German pillboxes that were the original site are still there - two of which are in those two clumps of trees you can see above. This was a major battlefront that became a cemetery as those killed during the 100 days of fighting in 1917 were buried on site. The sheer numbers of dead from this region really start to make an impact here. All the others, while smaller, were starting to add up, but here at Tyne Cot you start to really appreciate just how many lives were cut short. The combined photo you see here is only about two thirds of the whole cemetery. It also has a visitor centre/museum.

LangemarkThis is a German cemetery and is in stark contrast to the Allied ones. Each stone on the ground marks the site of several soldiers. It seemed somewhat darker in both appearance and mood. An interesting contrast to see "the other side". And why not? Their young men went forth and died just as ours did, and most likely in the same spirit as ours...

The Sunday was to prove to be just as busy a day, and began early enough with visits to a British memorial and cemetery, a German stronghold/cemetery, the Wellington tunnels of Arras, Bullecourt, a French cemetery, Vimy Ridge and several spots around Fromelles. Towards the end of the day I started to get a bit “cemeteried-out” - there’s only so many graveyards you can visit regardless of their significance. Our guide turned out to be a keen cyclist - we drove past his favourite bike shop, which he duly pointed out. One of the old guys on the tour was from Perth and runs some sort of cycling training programme with youngsters. It did make a good change to talk riding at one point instead of war atrocities. But I digress... The evening was ours to explore Lille before a relatively early night.

The Wellington Tunnels

These are an amazing series of tunnels dug by the Kiwi miners near Arras. 12kms in all, they served to transport some 24,000 troops over 8 days to a significant location for an attack on the German lines. Obviously we didn't go through all twelve kilometres, but it was an incredible place to be 20metres below ground knowing what had taken place and what been achieved here. On the right is one of the exit tunnels.

Vimy RidgeThis is the location of the biggest Canadian achievements and also the site of their main memorial. At the ridge itself, the original trenches have been restored, with all the landscape untouched. Just like at Chinuck Bair near ANZAC Cove, the trenches were incredibly close. To walk through them and see across the cratered area between these trenches is sobering. Football fields are shorter and with a good tail wind I could throw Kevin Rudd across the gap.

FromellesThis is where the first Australian attack of WWI took place in 1916. Here we visited the recently built cemetery and monument that now houses 250 Australians. You may recall the news articles covering this a couple of years back when a mass grave was found on nearby farmland. Near here we also visited the Australian Memorial Park with the famous "Cobbers" statue (the pic at the very top), as well as VC Corner Australian Cemetery. A roll call of 1,294 'missing' adorns the large wall here while another 410 are buried here with no tombstones.

Monday morning was a very early start for ANZAC Day. We had well over an hours drive to get to Villers-Bretonneux for the dawn service, and it meant that most of us were trying to get in an extra hour of sleep after having to get up at 2.30am.After the dawn service we headed into the township of Villers-Bretonneux itself, and to the Franco-Australian museum at the Victoria school. Actually named after the Australian state of Victoria as the school building itself is a gift from the schools of Victoria. In the main yard of the school is a very large yellow sign with "Never Forget Australia" in green on it (below). I think this really encapsulates 'ANZAC' - to travel to a foreign land and nearly 100 years later be remembered for the deeds you have done and the sacrifice you've made. If ever there was something to be proud about Australia, this is it.Before we headed back to London, we visited the Adelaide Cemetery, which is where the Unknown Soldier in Canberra is from. We also visited the memorial at La Hamel, the site of one of the most successful Australian battles, as well as where the Red Baron was shot down. La Hamel was the first attack that was completely organised by the Australian Generals. It was so successful that it became the model for all Allied forces for the rest of the war. We visited a few memorials in nearby Poziéres, including a memorial to one of the first ever tank battles. All the while, our welsh guide imparted great amounts of his knowledge. It was hard to retain as many of us were quite tired after the night's lack of sleep, but we caught up on a good amount of it on the drive back to London.

From ANZAC Cove I gave you the moving words of the Turkish Commander in Chief's words, and for the Somme, I will leave you with these:

"When the Australians came to France,

the French people expected a great deal of you...

We knew that you would fight a real fight,

but we did not know that from the very beginning

you would astonish the whole continent...

I shall go back tomorrow and say to my countrymen:

I have seen the Australians. I have looked in their faces.

I know that these men will fight alongside of us

again until the cause for which we are all

fighting is safe for us and for our children."

- French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, 7 July 1918

Paris-Roubaix: The Race

A not-so-early start for a change, but we were still on the coach leaving Valenciennes for Compiègne well before 8am for the 100km+ drive to the start of the Paris-Roubaix race. Like last year, we meandered around the outskirts of the start area watching the teams get ready, as well as the teams being presented at the signing on.

Also, just like last year, several teams did not make it into the start compound and were lined up along the same road that we had parked our coach on. A major bonus as we got to mill about the actual riders and crew as they prepared for the day ahead.

Soon we were on our way to the next place to see the race - the first section of cobblestones (see pic at the top). A very chaotic place to be as many others had the same idea as we did. Somehow our coach driver got through the traffic jam and we were lining the sides race course in no time. I headed for the same bend as last year, as it was a great view as well as easy access to return to the coach post haste. Unfortunately, others weren't so good at returning to the coach, and this was to cost us...

Four of us were on this particular elevated corner. We had a good view of the oncoming race and were right by the edge without being too close. The race came through and we had a great view, but it was then a race to the cars and coaches to get moving and be on the road to the next section before the traffic jammed. As mentioned, we had some dawdlers that meant we didn't get away soon enough. The roads to the Forest of Arenberg were already closed when we got to them, and this left our driver and guides in a real bind, as there was no "plan B".

To miss the race coming through Arenberg was a major disappointment. It's such an iconic and incredible place to watch the race come through. At least I'd done it the year before so I wasn't too upset, but I felt gutted for the others. Especially Andrew, a guy who'd come over from Brisbane for the weekend. As fellow Aussies, we'd struck up a bit of a friendship over the past 2 days, and I'm glad we did as it did turn out well for him (as you'll see).

After some hapless driving from the coach driver, getting to Arenberg Forest was abandoned, and we made for the cobbled section at Orchies instead. Arriving a little early did mean we got a good park for the coach and we could get ourselves prime positions. I headed for the same corner as last year (just after the cobbled section finished) while the others all went further up the road to be along the cobblestones. Andrew asked where I thought I was going, so I explained that from this corner you can see the cobbled road. You can see them come down it rather than be on the side of the road and them just fly past you. They also slow for the bend, so you get a good view as they make the turn... He joined me and wasn't disappointed at all. We had some fun with the Gendarmes as I knew where they are happy to let you stand. We were at the limit, so anyone trying to go past or in front of us was shooed away by the Gendarmes. Strangely they'd watch people go there, and then shoo them away instead of stopping them go there in the first place - must be a French thing. Two riders even crashed on the bend right in front of us too, which Andrew enjoyed as neither was hurt and back racing very quickly. Once the team cars started coming through, we headed back to the bus.

On the drive to our final viewing spot, the famous Roubaix velodrome and finish, I was given a wristband to give me access to the VIP area in the velodrome. This was because I had been on the trip all week. They only had a limited number, and Andrew scored one of the other ones simply by sitting next to me. Certainly something to make up for not getting to see the race in Arenberg. So we headed into the VIP area that was right on the edge of the [velodrome] track. We did stop off in the Roubaix clubhouse first to grab a souvenir and a beer from their bar. The VIP area was great - free food and drink and we got to watch the race live on the bigscreen tv's in the double storied "huts". We then headed outside to watch the riders come around the track and finish. Being in that area also meant that we were right alongside the exit for riders when they finished. Most were too knackered to chat, but acknowledged us for congratulating any and all for finishing, including Robbie McEwen (right). To just finish this race is a serious achievement, and we didn't care if it was just the two of us clapping them as they came past with a "well done" or similar comment on their way to the showers.

Soon our time was up and we had to return to the coach for the trip back to the hotel. A group dinner with a bunch of us that had got to know each other over the weekend entailed. A very happy Andrew, myself and two others were still enjoying ourselves when the hotel restaurant/bar closed. You can't say we didn't finish off the day and trip well.