We had been havering over what to do about the Vatican as the queues are particularly long and horrible – when R and I were there previously we had to queue for nearly two hours, and when we finally did get in the Sistine Chapel was so mobbed you couldn’t see a thing (or hear a thing for the guards yelling “Silence” and “No Photo”). So little as I like guided tours, J and I opted for an early hours “beat the crowds” tour. Actually it was a big success; we were in by 7:45am – and although there were not “no crowds” they were sizably reduced and we got to see the Sistine chapel in all its restored glory (I thought it was a big improvement on the pre-restored version even though some art critics are not impressed) without too many other people.

We did get whisked round at a pace, but to be honest, neither of us minded that as we are not that interested in paintings. My favourite bit of the Vatican Museums is the wonderful map gallery.

We also saw St Peter’s which is very impressive but far from my favourite church. We didn’t go up to the dome after my experience trying to get J to go up the bell tower in Bruges.

We nipped back to the flat for lunch and then in the afternoon walked back into centre Rome to look at the Capitoline museums. It took us quite some time to find them and then there was another tortuous queue for tickets and yet another metal detector. But once we got in they were nearly empty and very cool – we saw the (now sadly controversial) Capitoline Wolf.

I liked this statue as well – somehow it reminds me of Schrodi….

This is me walking in the footsteps of Mary Beard.

We fed the cats at the sanctuary on the way home again. Another exhausting day.

So in the afternoon we went to see the Camera Obscura and associated optical illusion museum. This wasn’t bad although it is looking a bit tired these days. The revolving corridor is good, it really feels as though the whole room is turning round.

Then we went to the Castle, where strangely enough J has never been before. Then we had a rather indifferent dinner at a chain restaurant and took the tram out to the Hilton. The tram was fun though I can’t help thinking about how many buses they could have bought for the same price.

The Hilton is not a particularly endearing hotel I have to say – it has big rooms but with those very distinctive 1990s swirly carpets and key cards that deactivate themselves if they come within 500m of a mobile phone.

Off to bed and up early….

But now we are back and the cats were very pleased to see us.  Whilst Schrodi is frankly a bit of a tart and happily accepted V as a warm lap alternative to us (the photo shows him finding her clean clothes), Tora really only likes R and I.  Me in particular as he has spent much of his time since I got back trying (in vain) to have sex with my feet….

We then drove to Armagh, which I had not really been aware of as an ecclesiastical centre, but it is, as it is home to not one, but two cathedrals, and not one but two associated  Primates of Ireland.  On first thought you would think it would be less confusing if both cathedrals were not called “St Patrick’s”, but I suppose there is some historical justification for this under the circumstances (hard to see what else the newer Catholic one could call itself after the takeover of the original).

We went to see both of them and they were both rather good, although I have to say that I liked the newer one better.

Catholic Cathedral Outside

Catholic Cathedral Inside

Church of Ireland Outside

Then we went to look at a little museum which had been created in a old records building and had just time for a quick fish supper (they call fish and chips that in NI as well as Scotland) before shooting off to catch the ferry.  The image at the top of the posting is the view from the balcony at the back of the museum.

We didn’t get home until after ten, so it was a quick hello to the cats and then off to bed.

In the afternoon N again informed us that Castle Coole was “about a mile away”.  Again I was foolish enough to take him at his word.  Again I wore the same uncomfortable shoes.  Again it was at least two miles to the park entrance and then another substantial walk to the Castle, which wasn’t a real castle, but a neo-classical stately home.

Unfortunately you weren’t supposed to take pictures in the house and as they were watching me – I couldn’t.  Not sure I see the rationale for banning (non-flash) photography…  I’d highly recommend the tea shop – the lemon meringue pie was something else (but I can feel myself putting on weight by the moment).

Back at the moorings we have now acquired a smart card so we have mains power and can recharge everything without needing to put the engines on.  Amazing the feeling of dissipated luxury this gives us….

Northern Ireland is not very hilly but we managed to find one hill with a great view of the Lough.  N and J did not tackle the climb very well (they do not take enough exercise) so by the time they got to the top we had been there for 15 minutes and had begun to think they had given up.

In the afternoon, we pootled over to Lusty Beg Island.  R was all for sitting on the boat in the sun with a drink, but N wanted to see some interesting Celtic stones which were on Boa Island.  All four of us set off with N informing us it was ‘just over a mile’.  After we had been walking for half an hour, R checked the map, to discover that this estimate was more than a little optimistic, and it was more like three miles each way.  At this point, R returned to his original plan and went back to the boat for a beer and a sleep – the rest of us went on and found the stones were well worth seeing, set in a tiny picturesque country graveyard.

We then had all the way back to walk, by which time my feet were very sore in the new deck shoes I would not have worn if I had known we were in for a long trek.

Finally, we set off for Belleek (home of the world famous pottery).  We had another great meal at the eclectic “Black Cat Cove” and fell into exhausted sleep back at our mooring.

While I am mentioning Norfolk – this was actually six years ago – and it interesting to reflect that the four of us then had the grand total of two electronic devices with a requirement for regular recharges i.e. two iPads (well we also had feature phones but they didn’t really need recharged often).  This time the tally was nineteen – J three (two WPs and an iPad), R four (iPhone, Android Phone, iPad, Linux Laptop), Me five (WP, Android, Surface, Fire, headphones), N six (two cameras, Android phone, Android tablet, Windows laptop, toothbrush), which made it a real challenge keeping everything running to the extent that we were fighting over the plug sockets.

We visited Tully castle, which was a ruin and looked very romantic in the sunshine.  The old gardens had been abandoned and had gone to seed, but the remnants of the box hedges and clumps of herbs could still be seen.

I’ve never seen such a place for wild flowers as Northern Ireland

Also the blossom has been pretty fantastic everywhere this year, but was particularly good here.

We had a nice lunch on our sundeck and then set off for our next destination – but disaster struck.  When we came in to the next jetty, the bow thrusters completely failed to operate.  The only engineer available from Manor Marine on a Sunday afternoon was already out on a call, so reluctantly we had to return all the way back up the Lough to where we started.  We then had to moor on a jetty with thousands of jet skis while we waited until we could be fixed the next morning.  Not a happy evening.

Then we went to see the Marble Arch caves which are part of a huge Unesco Geopark (I’d never heard of one of these before).  Apparently they were where the Beric Dondarion scenes in Game of Thrones were filmed – but I kind of doubt this now as it was never mentioned on the guided tour.  First we went on a brief boat trip and then we went round the caves.

We were told the story of how when they were preparing for the caves to be opened to the public in 1980s – some vandals broke in.  They threw stones at a huge stalactite and broke the end off it.  With some degree of luck, the broken bit fell on to the sandy beach and was intact, so after some research at the University of Belfast, they developed a special gel which they used to stick it back on.  As these things grow so slowly (1cm in 1000 years) it will be another 80 years before anyone knows whether it has ‘taken’ and started to grow again.

Then we went and picked up our cruiser.  I had ordered us a baseball cap each – N’s said “Captain” (because he drove the boat and parked it), R said “Security” (because that is what he is in to), mine said “Galley Slave” (because I made all the meals and cleaned up after everyone), J’s said “Drunken Sailor” (because, well….).  Needless to say J refused to be photographed in it.  The boat was great apart from two features a) the electrical power was off an invertor which would only charge our numerous electronic devices when the engines were on b) the toilets were a bit sort of basic.  You had to vigorously pump a handle to deposit “deposits” into a tank which was of strictly limited size, so we tried to set a policy of “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown – wait until you can go on shore”.  Some of us were better at following the policy than others.  The owners had put fresh flowers and a Bushmills miniature out for R.  R may be needing this as he finds boats stressful.

We set off with lovely weather and ended the day with another large, tasty and unhealthy meal in “The Mayfly Inn”.  I have a feeling I may need to be on a diet when we get back.

Anyway – York was great – one of the most scenic cities I have visited (all twisty little streets, quaint little shops and great restaurants/pubs).

We went to the Minster (I was the only one who ventured up the tower) and visited the Railway Museum (saw Mallard but unfortunately not Tornado as it was off on its travels) and the Castle Museum (actually nothing to do with the Castle apart from being physically near it – more a sort of social history museum) which I would thoroughly recommend. We also went on a ghost walk (sad to say that J is a big fan of ‘Most Haunted’), a boat ride, and walked nearly the whole way around the medieval walls.

Then on the way back we went to Richmond and its ruined castle. Incredibly beautiful little town with fantastic views from the castle keep.

So a good time was had by all – the only disadvantage to this type of trip is the sheer expense of them. I actually think you can easily spend more on a weekend city break than on a week’s package holiday. Still, easy come I suppose….

The cat in the picture is one we saw during our walk round the walls.

The cats are not being particularly good for their ‘Auntie’. Tora has been off on his mission to find another cat in the village to beat up several times, and Schrodi has had quite a few mice, mostly live.

We have finished our Conference and my presentation went down ok. Now we have two days to enjoy ourselves down here before we go home on Sunday.