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Day 3 – Puducherry

First a bit of geography. Chennai is about 3/4 of the way down the eastern side of India, and at the moment we are trundling south. If we kept going in a straight line we would hit Sri Lanka.

Secondly a bit of education – they say travel broadens the mind. We have hit Pongal – the biggest Hindu festival in southern India which seems to be a very long Harvest Festival. Schools are shut for a week, and this follows on rapidly from them also being shut for Christmas week. I must admit to never having heard of it before, but it is great to be in the middle of it.

After two nights of acclimatising in the safety of a Sheraton we set off this morning to Puducherry. (Also the spellings of towns seems to vary – also known as Pondicherry.)

Room plus view (Bay of Bengal since you ask).

Then a guided tour of the Old Town.

Actually not so old – cathedral only built in 20th Century but we liked the colours…

and the Christmas Tree – not sure what happened to 12th night.

And the fun part was a walk around the shopping streets and markets – crazily busy plus sounds and smells (mostly nice but not entirely):

Evening extremely splendid. Coffee and cake with a view:

Dinner – according to Eileen the tiger prawns were “the best ever”. The Indian wine slightly less so … But a walk along the promenade at 10.00 and luxuriating in the warm breeze was fantastic.

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Day 2 – Mamallapuram

It’s difficult to know where to start as we’re still having to pinch ourselves. Got some sleep last night, but still a touch of jet lag. So functioning at a reasonable level.

Let’s start with tech. Bought a new phone.

So with a cheap Indian SIM card we are fully contactable by our driver, hotels and so on. For a grand outlay of £15.

But on to the serious business of Mamallapuram. As per usual, Eileen knows all about it; me a bit less. It’s a World Heritage Site though.

This is a fairly random photo of a piece of rock.

About 1,500 years ago the King had a brainwave – where do they come from? – let’s carve a series of temples out of this granite rock. So they did.

All carved out of that granite rock, and not finished even after 38 years. And when that King was overthrown the new King wanted to destroy it but couldn’t because it’s solid granite – so all the figurines and animals have had their noses chopped off which meant it could no longer be a temple – job done!

Brief stop for lunch – cheers!

Afternoon siesta – did I mention it is pretty hot – just below 30 so sightseeing is tough …

Dinner out in town which felt like a bit of an adventure – we have so far stuck to our hotel but no sign of tummy trouble yet 🤞.

And a wander around town:

Colour and cows!

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Days 0 and 1 – A Blur

It feels totally unreal. For the first time in our lives we are in India and at the moment can’t get our heads around the fact that we only left home 24 hours ago. And we are 5 1/2 hours ahead of the UK, so even the time conversion is a bit complicated.

First 7 hour leg to Dubai was easy – 4 seats to ourselves, and arrived in Dubai at about 9.00 so all fine.

Was pleased to see the plane took a by-pass around Syria, even though we did fly over Iraq at 40,000ft.

Dubai is interesting. It is massive and as a major hub is heaving at all times of day and night – 1.00 in the morning their time – with thousands of people milling around with different body clocks.

Next 4 hours was more of a challenge as little sleep and landed at Chennai (used to be known as Madras) at 8.00.

Met by our tour guide who didn’t want to lose us:

and thousands of fans ….

And it’s warm and sunny – 28 degrees with a light breeze 😎

So a bit of survival today, trying to stay up. Staying just outside Mamallapuram, so our guide took us for a brief visit – full-on guided tour tomorrow.

Crazily busy as it’s a long public holiday weekend with families out in their finery. And did I mention our fans earlier? Well Eileen’s anyway. On the busy beach:

Eileen was accosted 4 or 5 times in a few minutes by groups of women wanting their photos taken with her:

Finally we were lucky enough to be in town for the big annual dance festival. Here are one troupe having their photoshoot before they went on.

So as I said – a bit unreal to say the least. I’m sure we’ll be getting into the rhythm after a few days. And we were veggies today – fantastic curries.

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Friday – Home

It was a short break, but still visited Arundel and Petworth on the way home.

But first a quick stop for a walk on the beach at Lancing.

Note no hoods. Wouldn’t say it was warm – let’s stick with less cold.

Arundel is lovely. And one of the advantages midweek in November is that it’s quiet!

And finally Petworth.

And we wondered if the M25 would get its own back. There was a queue to get on!

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Thursday – Did a lot

Lewes, Charleston and Brighton, in summary.

Cabin is very warm and cosy – just as well as it was a bit of a chilly start.

Actually it was a chilly middle and end as well! First stop Lewes. Forgot to take photos and it was a bit grey and misty, but we both agreed it was a really nice town. Even went into an Estate Agent …….

Only a few miles from Charleston, so popped in.

Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and the Bloomsbury set. A visit in November demonstrated how cold it would have been in winter.

Then Brighton.

Bit of sun and a bit of sea. Followed by tea in the Lanes all set up for Xmas.

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Wednesday – A Short Break

Taking advantage of retirement and of a reasonable weather forecast, we booked a last-minute lodge just outside Brighton for a couple of nights.

M25 amazingly smooth (I dare say we’ll pay for that going back), so got to a NT house called Nymans in time for coffee.

And lunch – well it is NT so you know it will be good.

Then on to Worthing to see the sea.

Yup – b****y freezing but lovely and sunny.

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Thursday 18th – Salem and The End

Flight is later on today – really looking forward to that! Stayed local before heading off to the airport.

First stop Manchester-by-the-Sea again. And don’t be fooled – it was b****y cold, but beautiful.

Then try Salem – witch trials and all that. We had been warned it would be excessively busy and kitsch because of Halloween but it really wasn’t.

Nice enough place to mooch around, and then lunch was extremely good – probably one of the best of the whole holiday, mainly down to being fresh fish which is not deep fried – and a nice view.

Another observation from the US is that every price is quoted before tax, which seems to be at varying rates, so you never know what things are going to cost. Which means we ended up using notes, and built up a bank of nickels and dimes which we then had to work to get rid of. First world problem ….

Anyway, as we’re flying back via Canada found out at the check-in desk that we need an ETA even though we stay in the airport. Stressful to order one on an iPhone, but ultimately successful – despite similar questions requiring Great Britain, England, or UK as their answer which adds to the stress levels.

Oh, and when you use a toll road which we had to twice, there is no cash option so you get a $15 admin fee added each time.

Moan moan. But actually it’s been fantastic. May have mentioned foliage and scenery a few times, which is what we came for, and that has been extraordinary.

Couple of selfies to finish off.

Manchester:

Salem lunch:

Shuttle bus at the airport:

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Wednesday 17th – Boston

Had a great day out. We thought it would be best to get the train but our hosts assured us it would be easier to drive, which it was. And quite fun driving around Boston and especially in the rush hour coming home. And it only took about an hour.

Anyway, a good start was to book on a walking tour around the historic trail. Our guide was terrific.

She confirmed that she is indeed an actor, and effectively we were treated to a thoroughly entertaining and informative 1.5 hours. That gave us a sense of the history, which we didn’t really know, and where we were.

Few photos of famous Boston sites:

Samuel Adams’ (signed the Declaration of Independence) grave.

Site of the Boston massacre.

Old City Hall – really is gold leaf on the roof.

And because we were there, had to take a short trip out to Harvard.

… pretending to be an alumna!

Food was up to scratch. An amazing food hall which meant we had Japanese for lunch, then lobster soup, Mexican and Chinese for dinner. Passed over Greek, Italian, American fried etc.

And finally, for those of you who can recall the Boston sitcom, Cheers, here’s the bar.

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Tuesday 16th – Cape Ann

It’s an even day of October, so it’s bound to be sunny – and it was. We’re staying in Gloucester on Cape Ann, which is nowhere near as famous as Cape Cod, but stunningly beautiful. And note as we go through the preponderance of English names.

View from our terrace

Gloucester

Rockport

Halibut State Park (no real England equivalent)

A decent spot for lunch.

Although even on a clear day you can’t see Wales – we did wave!

Manchester-by-the-Sea

Remember the film from last year which was allegedly set in Manchester but was actually filmed in Gloucester. Gorgeous beach……

Essex

Stunning – and looks as English a scene as you could possibly get.

Including a pre-dinner drink.

Unfortunately a bit downhill in the evening. Woodmans is advertised as the best clam shack in the world. In our view it isn’t even the best in Essex and its the only one!

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Monday 15th

Another longish trip to our last place. Not too many photos, so a few more musings:

– weather has been utterly variable. Rain, sun, rain, sun and so on. Gorgeous day yesterday, so guess what …

– forecasts have been excellently accurate. So much so that today was predicted to be sunny until about 10.30 and rain after that. So we planned accordingly :

Walk by the lake (actually a pond):

Then coffee on the terrace where we met our new (cute) friends:

Then headed off – how about an antidote to colour at Ogunquit:

That’s about it.

Most frequently sighted food chain? Dunking Donuts – and no, we haven’t been tempted.

Best Italian restaurant in Gloucester MA? Tonno’s – purely by chance and was superb.