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Tag: Museum / Gallery

December 2020: Christmas Cheer(s) in London

20 February 2021 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Arrival The last trip of 2020, and for an as yet indeterminate period thereafter, was once again to London. Outbound travel was on Sunday 13 December. The first two nights

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October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 6): Coimbra

13 February 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Portugal

Coimbra is a city of around 145,000 people, situated 125km south of Porto. A three-night stay there formed the second part of our trip to northern Portugal. Coimbra is Portugal’s

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October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 4): Vila Nova de Gaia

9 February 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Portugal

As previously mentioned, the urban area south of the Douro and opposite Porto is officially a separate city: Vila Nova de Gaia (“New Town of Gaia”), or simply Gaia. It’s

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October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 3): Porto

8 February 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Portugal

With a city population of 240,000 and a metropolitan area that is home to 1.7 million people, Porto is Portugal’s second city. Its ancient name, Portus Cale, may even be

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October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 2): The Douro Valley

4 February 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Portugal

Our second full day in northern Portugal was dedicated to another day trip. The Douro Valley is one of the world’s oldest winegrowing regions and is a UNESCO World Heritage

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October 2020: Athens (Part 6): City Centre Roundup

28 January 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Greece

Thursday On returning to the city from Aegina on Thursday, we had time to fit in a visit to the National Museum of Contemporary Art, also known as EMST. This

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October 2020: Athens (Part 2): Acropolis & Museum

22 December 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Greece

Monday The transition from weekend to new week brought a move from ‘settling in’ to serious sightseeing. Top of the list were the city’s most popular attractions: the Acropolis and

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September 2020: Two Galleries and a Georgian House

7 December 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

That’s what I managed to clock up over just two days in September, albeit two days that were separated by a weekend. Scottish National Gallery (Friday 11-Sep) The Scottish National

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September 2020: London

15 November 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Our base Our London base for this visit was relatively unusual: the Holiday Inn Express, Limehouse. It certainly didn’t represent IHG at its finest: the neighbourhood was slightly dodgy, it

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September 2020: Berlin (Part 2)

8 November 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Germany

Tempelhof Airport Tempelhof was Berlin’s first major airport, operating between 1923 (making it a similar vintage to Croydon Airport) and 2008. The former airport’s main claim to fame is the

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August 2020: The town made famous by the Covid-19 crisis

12 October 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Background I suppose I must have come across the name Barnard Castle prior to the year 2020: I know for a fact that I have driven the A66 several times,

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March 2020: Three Cities: 3. Norwich

29 August 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Arrival I travelled from London to Norwich on a Greater Anglia express train, using a heavily discounted ‘Advance First’ ticket. It was one of the company’s brand new, Swiss-built Stadler

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March 2020: Three Cities: 2. London

27 August 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

I arrived in London from Amsterdam, unusually, and a little later than planned (thanks to issues with the GWR service from Bristol), met up with Bruce at our base for

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Leap-Year London (2020)

22 August 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Barely a few days after my previous visit to London, I found myself flying south once more, this time on the Saturday itself – the last day of a leap-year

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February 2020: London

22 August 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

As I have written previously, albeit not here, London is not necessarily my favourite place in the world, but it is easily my most visited destination outside my native Scotland.

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Ice sculpture

Japan in Winter (2020): Day 6: Last full day in Sapporo

8 August 2020 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Japan

Today, like Thursday before it, was neatly subdivided into three sections. After sampling a McDonalds breakfast (which, if anything, was marginally better than the previous day’s Starbucks experience), we set

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Sapporo Beer Museum

Japan in Winter (2020): Day 5: Getting to know Sapporo

5 August 2020 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Japan

Morning … Today started with breakfast at a local Starbucks – the coffee was nice enough, but the food wasn’t so great. After a brief return to the room to

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Ice breaker

Japan in Winter (2020): Day 1: Disappointment and Delight

2 August 2020 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Japan

Morning: Cruise to nowhere Spoiler alert: the header image above is what we were MEANT to be doing this morning. We got up nice and early, had breakfast at the

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