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World’s ugliest building!

21st January 2023 funtime65

So Scotland’s Holyrood is the world’s ugliest building in the world! But we ask about yours and how’s that for a parliament?

It feels a bit unfair to Holyrood at the foot of Edinburgh’s most famous street, the Royal Mile.

Yes, it may not have the river vista of a Houses of Parliament or the Mall walkway of the Capitol in Washington DC.

Capitol idea: On the hill in Washington DC

But Enric Miralles’s £414m edifice with its boats theme (no, me neither) is hardly the Scott Monument rocket eyesore on Princes Street.

Of course beauty is always in the eye in the beholder.

Not that I put much faith in the Buildworkd twitter survey.

And who chose Holyrood ahead of the likes of the J Edgar Hoover Building in Washington DC and the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea?

Brit hit list

On the surface the British entrants in the survey surely should be less aesthetic than Holyrood…

Newport Train Station, Preston Train Station, the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the MI5 Building in London among them.

But then again in this strangest of surveys there are some odd picks among the American buildings.

Some probably more politically motivated, like with Holyrood.

American scream

And Trump’s name in glittering gold in his titular hotel in Las Vegas will do that for many.

I’d argue too against dissing Denver Airport having spent 12 hours there and availed of their putting course on the roof.

Or the Watergate Complex, other than its association with Nixon’s crimes.

And it seems politically even-handed with liberal Boston City Hall in the cradle of the American Revolution.

On the hit list for the twitter haters.

Now perhaps that’s it that the twitterati dislike more what’s inside Holyrood than what it looks like outside.

Something to Prague about

But what about you do you think Holyrood is the world’s ugliest building!

And maybe leave you with this… the Prague television tower with its climbing babies was once the world’s second ugliest building.

The Czech capital edifice surpassed by the North Koreans again. And so there’s hope for Holyrood yet.

Countries, Deals, Europe

EasyJet Booksing Day sale

26th December 202226th December 2022 funtime65

It’s standard Travel abbreviation pp for per person but the EasyJet Booksing Day sale could just as easily be Portugal and Prague.

A favourite fly and flop and a fun city break it’s no surprise that EasyJet are flagging up these jewels for its sale.

Running from today until the end of January the Big Orange Sale (its livery obviously) EasyJet is offering up to £300 off package holidays.

Helpfully EasyJet map out price ranges across £200pp/£300pp/£400pp/£500pp or less.

And maybe if you’ve shelled out this first post-Covid Christmas then you’ll lean towards the £200 band.

PP Perfect

And that’s where you’ll find Portugal and Prague.

You and yours can kick back in the beach front Dom Jose Beach Hotel, Quarteira, Algarve from £391.

For three nights B&B in Faro from Thursday, January 12-Sunday January 15, flying out of Bristol.

Or three nights SC (self-catering) at Flor Da Laranja, Albufeira, 3.5km from the beach.

Again from Bristol and from Monday, January 16.

The Paladim Alagoamar, also in Albufeira, 1.2km from the beach.

Yes, Bristol is your starting point here too and you’ll be leaving on January 12 and get three nights in the sun.

If Spain is more your style then the Costa Blanca and Lanzarote are also on offer.

While Malta is also a draw… and all flying out of England.

And PP Pilsener

Bridge of highs: On the King Charles Bridge in Prague

Of course there are those of us who prefer the Pilsner and the pubs and the Czech capital has both in abundance.

The Grandior Hotel is a city centre hotel which is handy as you won’t have to trek up the hilly Castle at the end of the night.

And yes, it’s timely too with Boxing Day falling today.

When we all know that Good King Wenceslas last looked out… on this, the Feast of Stephen.

So check out the pp offers aa part of the EasyJet Booksing Day Sale.

America, Countries, Culture, Europe, UK

I spy Bond over 60 years

7th October 20227th October 2022 funtime65

We’ve all got our fave 007 moments but here’s how I spy Bond over 60 years through his exotic travel.

I was there where it started in Casino Royale. Not when (steady), but there at the casino where James first cashed in his chips.

Pupp love

At the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Spa Triangle.

The world’s most famous spy has only stayed in the swankiest hotels since.

And all you need is a tux/cocktail dress and a bundle of cash to live like Bond.

Bite-size Hamburg

Or know your way around Marriott Autograph Collection… and Hotel Atlantic Hamburg from Tomorrow Never Dies.

Where 25 years ago James seduces Paris, girlfriend of his nemesis Elliot Carver.

Not for James the Reeperbahn which of course is the heart of Saint Pauli.

And what Hamburg is best known for although Germany’s Port City has high culture too with the Elbphi.

And spy culture too with the Alter Elbtunnel which would be ideal for a Bond chase.

Anyone for Venice?

This James has also crossed swords with 007 in the shadow of The Bridge of Sighs in Venice.

Where like myself I went back for a second helping.

The action switches in From Russia With Love at the end to Venice where Sean Connery’s Bond checks into the Hotel Danieli.

Roger Moore outdouble entendres Big Sean in Moonraker ten years later delivers the line “Bollinger? If it is a ’69 you were expecting me” to Dr. Holly Goodhead in the lavish Suite del Doge.

London calling

Now we all know that James is a man for all seasons so it’s probably little surprise that like us he is a fan of the Four Seasons.

For Londonwatchers they’ll spot the location trickery with the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf doubling for Shanghai.

When Daniel Craig swims in the turquoise rooftop pool with water views.

Before showering and sizzling (if you like that sort of thing).

Miami advice

Of course perhaps the most memorable hotel scene was in Goldfinger though not perhaps for Goldie’s girl Jill Masterson.

Who James found dead on the bed covered in gold paint.

This being Miami Beach and the Fontainebleu Hotel nobody’s asking what you want to do in the privacy of your own room. Just enjoy.

No doubt we’ll find the next Bond whoever that is living it up in fancy rooms around the world in the next six decades.

It’s just these are the ones where I spy Bond over 60 years.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Win win on Ginoisseur Day

11th June 202211th June 2022 funtime65

Now, just to prove there’s no such thing as a new idea I can’t claim to have coined this… but it’s still win, win on Ginoisseur Day.

I came to gin late in life, piqued by the mid-2020s craze for the juniper.

And the row of gins and their fancy tonics laid out in front of me at Teach Aindi in Monaghan in the Irish Midlands.

They have 101 although time constraints limited us to six.

Not the Grapey One’s drink of choice you understand, though for research purposes, she mineswept the bar.

Unbeknownst to me, but logical as we invented everything else, it was a Scot behind the G&T.

Gee, G&T

Gin & Tonic: Doctor George Cleghorn explored in the 19th century if quinine could cure malaria.

The quinine was drunk in tonic water but proved too bitter and so army officers added water, sugar, lime and gin.

Now as my own paper the Daily Record is my go-to for reference I checked out what they recommended.

Although they could have asked me to roadtest them!

But the top three are Arbikie Nadar Gin in Arbroath, Tayside, the Isle of Harris and Kintyre Gin.

Dry and high

Dry Martini: And James Bond’s classic drink of choice before Daniel Craig rebranded him.

We first meet Bond at Casino Royale, or more accurately at the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czechia.

Of course the Dry Martini is gin, vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist… and shaken not stirred.

The Tom Tom Club

Tom Collins: And an example of transatlantic co-operation between the UK and USA.

With Jerry Thomas, ‘the father of American mixology’, chronicled the gin, lime juice, sugar and carbonated water drink.

Of course with every British convention that crosses the Atlantic it has lost something in location and John became Jim became Tom.

The Italian Twist

Negroni: And few things disappoint when given the Italian twist.

And grazie to our amici for their one part gin, one part vermouth rosso and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel.

Now it’s been a year and a half since I was last in il bel paese and every drink tastes of a memory.

And mine is Bergamo Citta Alta, the high town in the Lombard city.

Taking the Rickey

The 47th President of America: In Washington DC

Gin Rickey: And being Washington DC this is obviously a capitol drink.

But did you know that it originated in Shoomaker’s Bar in the 1880s by bartender George A. Williamson?

Purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey.

The bartender is said to have added a lime to the Civil War veteran’s ‘mornin’s morning.’

It is a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water.

The gin twist? Well, that came from the popularity of the Chicago Exposition of 1893.

And in particular the Japanese rickshaw… and then the gin rickey with gin growing in popularity.

And that means it’s a win win on Ginoisseur Day.

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Music, UK

Mayday Bravo

1st May 20221st May 2022 funtime65

And whether you’re keeping the red flag flying here, celebrating the Internationale or just twirling around a maypole it’s Mayday Bravo today.

It was, of course, an Irishman, Jim Connell, who came up with the emotive words in 1889 to go with the tune O Tannenbaum.

He had been travelling by train, where you can do a lot of your thinking, in London.

So to mark May Day we’ll revive our Rainy Days and Songdays occasional series with these May Day tunes.

Way to go, Joe

Joe Hill – Joan Baez: And this workers anthem relates to a union leader, framed on a murder charge and executed in Salt Lake City.

But the organiser stands for everyman and of course returns to the narrator in a dream.

And in typical American storytelling style it covers the geography of the whole country… from San Diego up to Maine.

Lennon doctrine

Working Class Hero – John Lennon: They were more Lennon than Lenin in Prague during Soviet rule.

When they would congregate at the Lennon wall to protest.

Lennon, the Working Class Hero from Liverpool, has influenced as many if not more around the world from Hamburg to New York and beyond.

Tennessee tunes

Sixteen Tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford: This ditty of a song with the catchy refrain derives from Kentucky’s Merle Travis in 1947.

And the line ‘You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt” came from a letter written by Travis’s brother John.

We’ve taken Tennessee Ford’s 1955 version which hit the top of the Billboard charts and was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

The New Boss

Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who: And the Cockney Four whose shows were as much about menace as music nail it here.

And they captured the working class fascination of the Mods in Quadrophenia in their odyssey to Brighton.

But it’s this anthem against The Man and its clarion call: ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’

Lady Donna

She Works Hard For The Money – Donna Summer: Now you might not associate the Queen of Disco with a societal message.

But the New Yorker penned this after seeing a toilet attendant asleep on her shift at a post-Grammy event in West Hollywood.

And a reminder too for all that while music is replete with messages of working men, working women have had it just as bad and worse.

Countries, Culture, UK

Banksy, Murtsy and a history of graffiti

23rd March 202223rd March 2022 funtime65

If my school had had a more liberal attitude to wall art, folks would be talking now about Banksy, Murtsy and a history of graffiti.

After all I was only following in a Classical tradition that dates back to the Romans and Pompeii.

For yesterday’s lewd diagrams to denote their red light district think today’s cock and balls.

Whether the graffiti great of the Classics world had the same celebrity though as Banksy has been lost to history.

An exhibition of yourself

But the shadowy scribbler’s notoriety is richly deserved and are celebrated at a special exhibition in Covent Garden, London.

The Art of Banksy is the world’s largest touring collection of Banksy artworks, boasting over 100 original works.

And it has already been shown in Melbourne, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Toronto, Miami, Gothenburg, Chicago, San Francisco and Sydney.

Whether they have the rat and briefcase piece he drew when I took la famiglia to New York for the first time I’ll have to go along to Covent Garden to discover.

The exhibition highlights works made for charities all over the world.

From the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation to international activists Greenpeace.

Showing pieces from private collections, The Art of Banksy showcases his most iconic pieces.

Alongside rare works never seen by the public before.

American Graffiti

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, lays claim to being the modern-day home of graffiti.

Although, as in most things, New York contests this and insists the City that Never Sleeps is an upgrade.

If you’re a city break fan and seek out the places where the ragged people go then you’ll always glory in graffiti.

Graffiti always explodes where repression reigns and the Berlin Wall was probably the most graffitied surface in history.

Czech this out

We saw it too elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe and particularly in Prague.

Where the John Lennon Wall came to represent the uprising against the Soviet invasion of the Czech capital in 1968.

Put the boot in

Of course these challenging times have inspired an outpouring of creativity to reflect our support for Ukraine.

And our revulsion at the invasion and our belief that the writing is on the wall for Putin.

So you have my permission to make your mark on history.

And maybe I’ll get my spray paint out and get my name out there.

It’s got a ring to it, doncha think for the next exhibition…

Banksy, Murtsy and a history of graffiti.

How to get there

The exhibition at 50 Earlham Street is on Thursday and Friday: 10.00 – 21.00, Saturday: 9.30 – 19.00, Sunday & Monday: 10.00 – 18.00.

And if you don’t know London, the nearest stations are Covent Garden (3 minute walk), Leicester Square (5 minute walk), Tottenham Court Road (8 minute walk) Holborn (8 minute walk) and Charing Cross (10 minute walk).

Tickets are priced from £14.50 and can be booked online at artofbanksy.co.uk or over the phone, on 08440 412001.

America, Countries, Europe, Music, UK

Rainy Days and Songdays Carols

20th December 2021 funtime65

Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, in excelsis deo (wherever that is), it’s Rainy Days and Songdays Carols.

And particularly with the choir of carol singers from the high street in our town now having dissipated.

But church services go on unabated and the original spirit of Christmas sometimes sneaks past Mariah Carey and Michael Buble.

And so a celebration of carols, their origins and the destinations with which they’re associated.

Stille Nacht

Or Silent Night which originates in Oberndorf bei Salzburg.

No, not that Salzburg of Mozart and The Sound of Music in Austria but the small city north of Salzburg.

It does though have it’s own blessed place in music as the birthplace of one of our favourite carols.

Mohr and Grober may not be as recognisable as Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, King & Goffin, Lennon & McCartney or John and Taupin.

But the assistant priest, and the schoolmaster and organist certainly hit on one with this classic on the Christmas Eve of 1818.

It travelled around the world and got the ultimate seal of approval when Bing Crosby sold 10 million copies in 1935.

Feliz Natal

In her working clothes: With the Scary One again

Feliz Natal as they say in Portugal.

Or O Come all ye Faithful (except they say it in Portuguese) and not this southern US draw… though Carrie on Ms Underwood.

We have King John IV to thank for it becoming Anglicised (the Portuguese are England’s most enduring ally).

The clue to King Johin IV’s musicality is in the moniker he was given King John The Musician.

His works (he is also said to have written a setting for a Good Friday standard Crux Fidelis) alas were destroyed in the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.

Of course Portugal is full of secrets just waiting to be discovered.

Crowning Bethlehem

Talking of secrets, I’ve just been watching the original Jesus.

Well the blockbuster televisual one, anyway, Robert Powell retracing Our Lord’s steps on the Smithsonian channel.

And spoiler here.. he may not have been born there but rather his childhood home Nazareth.

The song would be very different, or would it be? Nazareth scans too.

The carol we so love, is actually an American construct.

With it written by Phillips Brook, an Episcopalian minister, then a rector in Philadelphia, and later of Boston, in the 19th century.

And sung beautifully here by The King himself.

Ding Dong Merrily On High

Sounds very English village hall, but mais non, Ding Dong Merrily On High is a French Joyeux Noel, ditty.

The tune was originally recorded in the 16th century by Dijon‘s finest Jehan Tabourot in his study of French Renaissance social dance called Orchésographie.

Ca va, English composer and campanologist George Ratcliffe Woodward updated it with the old ding dong that we all enjoy.

Now randomly we can’t think of anyone better to sing or rather trill it than Roger ‘The Whistler’ Whittaker.

Deep pan crisp and even

OK, we’ll get the old Christmas Cracker joker out first.

What pizza does Good King Wenceslas like?

Deep pan crisp and even.

Whether the Good King first looked out on the Feast of Stephen and the snow laid round about deep and crisp and even we don’t know.

But Wenceslas Square in Prague is usually packed at this time of year, and on most days.

It might be different this year with Covid which is all the more reason to toast our Czech friends with an Urquell. Na Zdravi.

Take it away Bing…

Merry Christmas and sing along to yourself with your Rainy Days and Songdays Carols.

Countries, Culture, Europe, UK

UNESCO Europe Spa Towns

29th July 202130th July 2021 funtime65

They’re extra-spacial, our thermal favourites, now officially UNESCO Europe Spa Towns.

Eleven towns were selected to represent Europe from Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Bath time

Bath, naturally flies the flag for the UK… it’s in the name.

And in Germany where they’re known as Bad as in Baden Baden, Bad Ems, Bad Kissengen.

As well as Baden bei Wien in Austria.

Czech these springs

We’ve lain back and thought of Western Bohemia In the Czech Spa Triangle of Karlovy Vary, Frantiskovy Lazny and Marianske Lazne

Italy boasts Montecatini and France Vichy.

While, of course, Spa in Belgium just had to be included.

As we owe the Belgian town for bestowing the name for our favourite health-giving relaxation.

Water of life

Water is, of course, the source of all life and our spas but the Belgians are all too aware of its devastating force too.

And our friends at the European Historic Thermal Towns Association revealed how they had worked hard and held their breath to see if Spa would be hit.

The original Spa

Spa though was blessed, perhaps because of its status as a healing centre.

With its qualities recognised as far back as Pliny the Elder.

He sayeth: ‘This water purges the body, cures fevers, and dispels calculous affections.’

Royal seal of approval

While King Henry VIII’s physician Agostino introduced the monarch to the waters… and dare say he needed it.

It was no surprise then that his descendant Charles II should take exile here from Cromwell.

His warts and all skim could have used some treatment.

Spas, while popular with the rich and famous are not their preserve.

And I happily joined the Great Unwashed in Marianske Lazne.

Though I did indulge myself by bathing in King Edward VII’s bath.

Forgotten somewhere?

So congratulations to UNESCO Europe Spa Towns.

Although this doesn’t let UNESCO dumping Liverpool off its Heritage List or https://visitbelgium.comyears before the reconstructed Renaissance City Dresden.

Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Father’s Day memories of mine

20th June 202120th June 2021 funtime65

And for the day that’s in it… Father’s Day memories of mine.

It’s funny what you remember from your childhood days but the European Championships from 45 years ago springs to mind.

And not just because it was the first Euros I remember watching.

Czech this out

Or that it gave rise to the Panenka when Antonin Panenka chipped Sepp Maier for the decisive penalty in sudden death.

The first occasion when a competition was settled thus, and probably the last time the Germans missed one!

Sport was our thing Dad and I.

As it is for generations of men and their sons, and always the go-to subject for me and The Son and Heir.

A different Europe

Dad and lad: And look at that fancy footwork

But what set the 1976 Championships between West Germany and Czechoslovakia apart was that it was Father’s Day.

The fact that neither of those countries exist any more shows you just how long ago it was.

A 10-year-old at the time, I was just exploring one of the other great passions in my life (girls were to come later) – history.

For the people of the lands of East Germany and Czechoslovakia it is a relief that those countries have been consigned to history.

But it is refreshing too that Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia still mark that period of their history.

A new Europe

Which I have seen first hand in east, Dresden, and west Germany, Hamburg..

Where our host Ingrid reminded us that when we try to airbrush history we condemn ourselves to repeat it.

While in Prague Martina gave a US family, with brattish kids, a history lesson they’ll never forget in the Astronomical Clock.

Now you’re smarter than me (not hard) if you’ve worked out who will play in this year’s final.

And no, I don’t know if Germany and the Czech Republic could meet in the final.

They did in the last game of Euro 1996 when Germany got some revenge.

And now for Slovakia

With Katarina in Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic

They might, of course, meet Slovakia a pleasure still awaiting me.

Although I have enjoyed making a friend of Slovakian Katarina, who heads the Czech Tourism team in London.

We, my Dear Old Dad and I, loved spending two hours in the company of the Germans, Czechs and Slovaks 45 years ago.

When we munched on a quarter of midget gems (Scottish for bag of boiled sweets) which I’d bought him.

A treasure trove of memories

Life is just a bowl of cherries: Jim Snr

I made him find them in a treasure hunt around his usual places in the house.

So however you mark the day and I’m not expecting much, just a trip to the Caribbean, then savour them.

Just as I have with my Father’s Day memories of mine.

Countries, Culture, Europe

European Thermal Cafe

10th June 202110th June 2021 funtime65

That’s me saved from any gardening after pulling my back… so I’ll just lie back in the bath instead and drink in a European Thermal Cafe.

Today’s Thermal Cafe Zoom invitation was the chance to reengage with the Rediscover Europe’s Thermal Towns campaign.

Thermal resorts have, of course, been with us as long as we’ve had thermals… and I’m not talking vests and long-johns here.

And everyone from royalty to the Great Unwashed have taken the waters around Europe to heal their bones.

Becherovka coffee

More the latter category than the formal although I have cleaned up my act for my forays into Central Europe.

The conversation soon got round, as all good cafe meet-ups do, to coffee.

And our hosts regaled us with recollections of Becherovka coffee in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.

Take the waters in the Czech Spa Triangle

All of which I’ve grown to love except that I haven’t put the Becherovka in with the coffee with cream on top. Yet!

They all usually go into my belly separately.

I’ve unfinished business with the Czech Republic and a return to Hoptown Zatec is on the cards for their Hop Festival.

The route to wellness

Our friends at the European Route of Historic Thermal Towns, Simone and Catherine, appraised us of how European spa towns are reopening again.

And Southern Europe has 80% bounce back bookings.

There are challenges in Germany though with 16 states with 16 different sets of regulations.

While in France we were informed that they’re allowing only 20 at a time into their thermal baths.

Gee, get G7 leaders moving

The European Route of Historic Thermal Towns lobbies the powers that be hard.

And it was Cultural Route of the Council of Europe certified in 2010.

So seeing that we’re all so well connected then we’ve naturally got onto Boris, Biden, Macron and Angela et al ahead of G7 in Cornwall.

Where we just know that they’ll be sharing a thermal spa.

We all arranged to meet again for another Thermal cafe later in the summer.

When hopefully these Dead Sea bath salts from my G Adventures trip to Jordan will have worked their charms.

And we can meet outside for the next European Thermal Cafe, and I’ll promise to keep my top on.

MEET YOU IN THE SPA