Friday on Trains; Bits & Bobs

Friday (31 July) was spent mostly on trains. My sister-in-law picked us up at the cottage at around 7:30 in the morning and took us to the train station in Harrogate, where our train to London left on time at 8:33.

We arrived in London around 11:30 and had plenty of time to cross the road from King's Cross to St. Pancras and start the process of checking in and going through border control for the Eurostar, departing at 13:31. Everything went well, but we were disappointed to find once more that our seats didn't have a window; we could only look through a narrow gap between the backs of the seats in front of us instead of enjoying the view of first the English and then the French countryside on the 3 hours or so to Paris.

There, we had another 45 minutes or so to wait at Gare de l'Est for our train to Stuttgart, which was also on time. Border control between Strasbourg and Kehl (across the Rhine) made for a delay of ten or 15 minutes, but once in Stuttgart, we had several options and simply took the first local train going to Ludwigsburg.

Already on the way to Stuttgart it had started to rain, and we made that last part of the voyage home on foot from Ludwigsburg station in the rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. I shut the door to my flat from the inside at almost precisely 10:00 pm.

Phew!

It was wonderful to have that rain, but because of the thunderstorm and gusts of wind, I could not keep all windows open to let fresh air in. Still, while I was unpacking and getting ready for bed, some exchange of air was possible.

Returning from a holiday always feels a mixture of strange and familiar, I find. But I slept reasonably well back in my own bed.

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Here are some bits and bobs that for one reason or other weren't included in my other posts, in no particular order:

Look at this bust of an unknown man. Doesn't he look extraordinarily lifelike and modern? This work of art was created in the 2nd century of our time. It is one among many in the Great Hall at Castle Howard.

Another one from Castle Howard: This large vase with fresh meadow flowers was...

...in the Ladies' toilets there! Attention to detail at its best, I'd say.

The view from my bedroom at Matchbox Cottage in Ripon, towards the town. That yellow expansion is actually the lawn in front of our row of cottages. I have never seen it as dry as this in all the years we've been coming here.

Looking in the other direction, behind that hedge is our private garden. We can hang our washing there and sit with friends, as we did this holiday a couple of times.

Click to enlarge and read the over-enthusiastic and emotional marketing babble on the back of the muesli box we got from Tesco's. I found it rather weird to describe a muesli in such language:

My bedroom upstairs at Matchbox Cottage, as it looks now with new curtains and fresh paint:

The front of our cottage. On this bench we had our afternoon coffee/tea almost every day. The window behind the bench is the front room, the upstairs one is my bedroom.

A view of the row of cottages; Matchbox Cottage is our end, then follows Boxtree Cottages with our landlord and -lady living in the middle part and one of the previous owners of the B&B living at the other end.

Kirkgate, Ripon, coming towards the Cathedral. Always a beautiful sight!

A sunflower my husband sent me from an evening walk around the village:

The view I had from my place at our dining table, where we had breakfast every morning and where I sat for blogging:

One last picture from Castle Howard. This bust of Dionysos is at the bottom of the staircase visitors reach first when entering the house. Look at his eyes! He must be thinking, "Not another load of tourists..." or something like that: