Saturday found me sat in the park on my own with about 20% worth of battery that I had been saving up )thanks to the charger breaking_ so I could ring my aunty and uncle who live locally. They ended up taking me out to Plymouth, which was the site of the landing of everyone’s favourite puritan Pilgrims. Going there now with such ease really makes the efforts and hazards they were forced to endure to get there all the more impressive…and then the real challenges began for them.
After a fine meal of fish and chips – well fries – we had a potter up towards the replica of the Mayflower, which as so often with things of history is built up one’s mind to be a lot bigger than in reality. Highlights, ‘heroic’ rhetoric aside (below photo) was picking up the worst souvenir fridge magnet that I have ever come across. It is a rubber rock with 1620 stamped on it. Taken out of context it makes no sense and looks beleaguered in amongst my mum’s (vastly better) collection of fridge magnets but at least it is memorable.
As I mentioned in a past post, I met a fellow blogger, Morgan who made the trip from Pennsylvania to join two English lads – who sprinkle everything with liberal colloquialisms – for the biggest pieces of Sushi the city had to offer and plenty of language teaching. Meeting a fellow blogger is always fascinating, it forever changes how you view their writings and you understand their mind more, their physical expressions and interpretations. I urge everybody to go do it.
One photo of note that slipped through the cracks but I thought worth a mention was the above which we nicknamed the weed monument, due to the strong smell of Cannabis surrounding it but to put it in context, it did permeate much of the city. The monument is a memorial to liberty and all the soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil War for that noble purpose.
Here is the ending of my travels with a well deserved Lemonade on Sunday in the barely tolerable heat before heading for the plane. Thank you for coming with me on this journey, it was great to wander around, especially as I had you all in mind as I wrote my notes and took my snapshots of a little bit of time that will always be a part of me.
Now I shall be getting back to the book reviews and other such usual things, which is more my comfort zone.
Book to the Future 
Your travel posts are not enough for me. I want to read more. ~_~
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Fear not, I shall look for somewhere else to travel, perhaps something a little more local this time though.
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Well, I think you did quite well stepping outside of your comfort zone, Ste J. I’ve really enjoyed your travel posts. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Thank you for reading, I’ve got a good few posts out of a week’s travel, I look forward to doing something else soon.
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I hope Bela missed you, and that she rewarded you with a lot of purrs for coming back (even if you didn’t bring her an American mouse), after first snubbing you well for having gone away in the first place (“Oh, there you are! Meow….I sort of wondered if you were out, or something….”).
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I got the usual back turning and ignoring, after that was over it was business as usual, I’m sure I saw a hint of a smile though…
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Very enjoyable read, looks like you had a fab time. And meeting people in real life from various online bits of one’s life is always enjoyable – I’m off to a meetup of my photo-a-day group soon!
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It’s rare that I trip away and the writer in me demands I make the most of it. Meeting people is great it’s a natural extension of the blogging world we spend so much time in, here’s to many meeetings!
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That plaque looks like the beginning frames of Star Wars!
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I bet that’s what they were aiming for!
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They would be fools not to be.
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Thanks for taking us on your travels Ste J. I recently met a blogger friend here in Canada and I am looking forward to meeting another fine bloke some day. 😉
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It is quite addictive meeting people. I look forward to meeting you as well my dear friend.
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One day!
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Your travelogues are always fascinating. Will wait until you go out to some other place…. 🙂
By the way, I happened to meet a number of fellow bloggers and, I absolutely agree with you on that.
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I hope I can go somewhere again soon. Meeting bloggers is almost a natural progression now, they are times I will always treasure and add to the way I write and read as well.
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I enjoyed reading about your travels 🙂 It’s always nice to do something different, even if only for a little while or every now and then. How nice to have met a fellow blogger! Looking forward to more book reviews now 🙂
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Meeting a fellow blogger or two really adds even more to the blogging experience, it is a wonderful thing to do and encourages exploring and yet more posts, it’s a win/win situation.
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Those old sailing ships never look big enough for all the people who were packed on board do they? Is it their status in history that makes us think of them being bigger than they are or is it just that what was a large ship then is not a large ship now? Nevertheless, living on board in such horrible cramped conditions for so long must have been terrible. Thanks for the travel posts Ste J – I have enjoyed them greatly.
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I blame TV and films for making them look big. Back in the day they would have been impressive sights on first seeing them but these days we take for granted the gigantic nature of things like ferries and such in comparison. Imagine the lack of hygiene and having to cope with all those people and no personal space. I have enough trouble coping on the bus to work.
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I used to travel into central London from Forest Hill in south London in the early 80’s and I regularly had to sit next to a rather unsavoury female who took snuff. Not quite the elegant addiction it’s made out to be!
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I can imagine, at least you didn’t have violent sea sickness and rats for company, although being public transport…
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😀
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I love the idea of meeting up with fellow bloggers. I think we should all organise some kind of global get together in a park somewhere. Obviously, my bid would be for one of our beautiful Edinburgh green spaces, but that might not suit everyone, lol.
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Sounds like a plan, I bid for the local pub or one of those play areas that have ball pits, everybody loves those!
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This is shaping up to be the best outing ever!
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I do my humble best!
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The places, the pictures, the descriptions. So much to understand about things you never knew existed. You speak your mind with such clarity it is not hard to see why your words play with your readers’ minds triggering such responses. 😉
I’d love to go traveling and sight seeing with you. If not for the blogger meets, then definitely for the fact that at least I’d love to know your way of looking at things, first-hand, in the moment, in that space.
PS.: I am hoping to see you plan a trip to India, soon. It’d be super to have you over. 🙂
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Ah, your words are so kind! I am glad you thought me focussed as I thought I was less so than Berlin but it is good to be reassured of that.
I do like to vocalise my thoughts when going somewhere, saying them out loud always helps too. It would be awesome to wander together and bounce ideas off of your unique perspective. India is indeed an intriguing place, I enjoy the food so often that I would much like to head that way at some point.
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So happy you and Morgan were able to meet up! I’d have liked to have been a fly on the wall listening to the two of you.
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Haha, we did chat at each other although I think we were fairly calm, another meeting would probably herald a complete riot of chatter.
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Haha. So true.
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There’s just something about history that fills the mind and soul with both awe and dread. I wonder when that monument was actually made. It’s so moving. Thanks so much for sharing this trip, Ste J 🙂
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That is why it holds an unending fascination yet strangely why we still repeat the same mistakes. It’s been great to showcase a city and share my adventures, I am hoping to do something a bit more local at some point as well, but as to when I don’t know yet. I will have a look see on my other photos to see whether there is a date on the monuments.
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I’m interested in ANY travels you share 🙂
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