LONDON DOORS 4

North London doors.

More London doors here, here and here.

                                ------------------------------

Londra’nın kuzeyinden birkaç kapı.

Londra kapılarının devamı burada, burada ve burada.

HEADING TO SUN

Our three years stay in our little kingdom comes to an end and we are heading back to sun, turquoise blue Aegean and Mediterranean waters, fluffy street cats, variety of juicy and tasty fruits and vegetables, amazing smell of the bakeries, adventurous motorcycle rides and Mediterranean style slow living.

There is a long list of the things we won’t miss like rain, unbeatable British summers, health and safety craziness, tea with milk but we gonna miss our home, the pubs, antiques shops and markets, city foxes, first class football, film quality British dramas, the smell of the fireplaces in the middle of the city, Guinness, canal walks, small theatres, delicious Indian food, our friends in London and also in a very special little pub in Edinburgh.

But,
at the end,
the question still is:
What’s the meaning of Stoneheeeeeenge? 

A ONE DAY ESCAPE TO FRANCE

Since we came to London, for our Paris travels we were using EuroStar trains but today finally we experienced Dover-Calais ferries for crossing the channel for a short trip. The London-Dover train (2 hours) + Dover-Calais ferry (1,5 hour) system worked very well for us and the weather also was very helpful for having a little “air de France”.

Calais surprised us with its empty streets on a sunny Saturday. The 80’s music broadcast from the loudspeakers at the empty but christmas decorated Place d’Armes was little bit twilight zonish. The 55 metres high Calais Lighthouse visit with the accompanied by the lighthouse guide was the best part of the day. Climbing 271 steps of this lighthouse built in 1848, definitely worth.

At the end of the day, on the way back, we were the only ferry passengers without carrying huge bags full of beer cans, etc. and it was interesting to observe the amount of daily trade circulation/activity of people between two ports. 

DOORS OF CANTERBURY

Some old doors from an old city... 

BIBURY IN COTSWOLDS

Cotswolds towns are one of our favorite destinations in UK. The second town we visited last week after Painswick, is Bibury which is a 600-700 persons populated little town.

The town’s most visited parts are Arlington Row and the riverside lined by beautiful stone cottages. Bibury is not a place to spend hours maybe but certainly worth to pop up even for a short walk to see these beautiful old cottages.  

PAINSWICK IN COTSWOLDS

Last week on our way to Silverstone for Moto GP, we visited two beautiful Cotswolds towns. The first town we stopped is Painswick. We walked on the narrow streets of the town and took some photos. We looked for a nice place to drink something but it was little bit like a ghost town and most of the shops were closed.

Anyway we enjoyed our walk on the streets lined of Cotswolds stone houses. The sun was not shining on that part of the day, pitty for the photos but it was nice to visit another town of this beautiful part of our little kingdom.  

MOTO GP 2013 SILVERSTONE

When we were in Turkey, we were riding in every possible occasion but since we came to London we are away from our bikes and our riding joy and we miss to be on the way again. Normally we are not very big fans of racing bikes or watching the races from tv but we definitely enjoy to watch the Moto GP on the track.

Last four days we were in Silverstone for British Grand Prix 2013 and we came back home with lots of beautiful photos and big smiles in our faces. We watched with big pleasure big boys leaning in the curves just in front of us, heard the amazing voice of the engines during three days.

Three Spanish riders Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa crossed the checkered flag first, second and third but we supported as always our number 46, Valentino “The Doctor” Rossi. Our Italian boy finished fourth the race but still number one in our hearths.

BRIXTON WINDMILL

London is a different city. Before moving here, for us, London was a European capital city and UK was a European country. But after living here, we saw that Brits are Brits and Britain is clearly different than European culture. London also is quite different than the other European metropolitans for lots of things.

There are pros and cons of this differences  but one of the good things is that you can find little countrylike escapes inside of the city, like walking along the canal or being next to a windmill in the middle of the city. Sitting in a old pub and feeling like you are in a inn in the countryside. (How many ins or inns we can put in a sentence?)

When we first saw this 15 m. windmill in Brixton last year, we felt like we had one of the surprise gifts that London was hiding behind.  Brixton Windmill was built in XIX. century and served as a windmill until 1934. Since then was restored few times and today, is open to the public for visits on special open days through the year.  

CHESTER ON THE WAY OF MANCHESTER

Last weekend we were in Manchester and on the way through there, we visited historical Cheshire town Chester. We walked around town centre and took photos of  historical Tudor houses. We surprised about the quantity of people visiting and shopping around the town. And moved to the next destination: Manchester!