Bergman Travel Diary

Today we decided to head along the coast line a little to Brighton and Hove. A lovely sea-side place, Brighton is known as one of the most vibrant and colourful cities in Europe. It is nesteld between the South Downs & the sea on the stunning south coast of England. The weather could not have been more perfect .... the sun shone brightly and it was quite warm all day. We walked along the lovely pebble beach and headed for the famous Brighton Pier: a Victorian pier with loads of food and drink outlets, fairground attractions and a massive Fun arcade. The boys even enjoyed a few rides while we were at the pier. They chased each other around on the Dodgen Cars, Slid down a super Lighthouse Slide and went for a ride through a Haunted House (after Darian's insistance ... ironically, he was scared out of his mind and claims he hated it ...lol). After a lovely picnic on the pebble beach underneath the pier we decided to head towards the centre of Brighton for a look at the other ...

Our adventures in the UK took a whole new turn this weekend when we travelled to Slough to pick up our CARAVAN. We managed to pick one up on ebay for really cheap. She's 20 years old but great value for the money. The seller lives in Slough, so we decided a weekend away was just the thing to stretch our new wheels. After a little internet research (always handy) we decided to stay in Oxfordshire...only one and a half hours from home. We found a great caravan park online and set it as our destination point. Fantastic move! The park is called Hardwick Park and is absolutely fabulous. It surrounds a beautiful lake which was covered in swans and their babies. They offer watersports during the warm season too...we saw a few people out and about on water skies on the water...very cool. The weather was quite wet...just the thing to give us a great nights' sleep. Nothing like the sound of light rain on a roof to help you have a lovely sleep. We all slept sound as babies and woke up fee...

Today we meandered around the very historic Hadrian's Wall as we made our way back into Northern England. We stopped at several scenic locations during the day and even had time to take in a Priory...an amazing old church from back in the 1200's. Most of the church was destroyed, like so many others, during King Henry VIII's time of destroying the Catholic Churches in Britain, but most of this priory remains in tact today, restored to it's former glory (mostly) just over 200 years ago...WOW! 200 years now really doesn't seem very long when you consider the age of most of the historical things we have seen here. After admiring the Priory for some time we stopped to enjoy our sandwiches for lunch before stopping at a tea house for a coffee/hot chocolate break. We then headed back to the car and followed the wall right across the cost (on the Southern side) until we reached Durham where we will now spend the night before rising early tomorrow to head back to Waterl...

What trip to Southern Scotland would be complete without a trip to Stirling to see Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument? Certainly not this one. Jean decided to stay at the campground for a much needed rest today while we took Carol on a trip to Stirling with us. We headed off nice and early to make the most of the sunshine which so gracefully presented itself to us yet again (who said Scotland is always raining?). It was raining most of last week but has been nothing short of perfect (aside from the very strong winds) since our first morning. What more can eager travellers ask for? On the way to Stirling we stopped at Linlithgow Palace, birth place of James V and Mary Queen of Scots. Linlithgow Palace is now not much more than a shell of it's former self, but the remains are so beautifully preserved that you are able to get a full feeling of what it may have been like all those hundreds of years ago. Like Edinburg Castle it is perched high on a hill. The main difference here i...

This morning we set out in search for the history surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. We headed off to Edinburg to find the most amazing city surrounded by historic buildings like those spotted in Europe…gothic spires, large irregular brickwork…and then, on top of a huge hill…the castle! We parked the car and started to walk up the road in the direction of the castle until we all game to a grinding halt when we discovered the sheer enormity of the hill slope we had to climb. Not bad at all for most of us…but there was no way we would be able to get Nanny up there. Luckily for us there we some really nice Scottish Police Officers standing around their cars and wagon at the bottom of the hill where we stopped for Nan. They phoned around for a mobility scooter for her to no avail but, in the end, she got her own personal police escort up to the castle. Once there we were greeted with the sight of an extraordinary castle perched high on the hill, surrounded by massive walls. How the English e...

Yesterday Carol (Matt's mum) and Jean (Matt's Nan) arrived from Australia for their very own European Experience. Determined to help them see as many countries as possible (and to continue fulfilling our own list of places visited), we set off this morning on the latest adventure in the Episodes of The Bergman Travel Tour. On the way we stopped at the very historical town of Statford-Upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespear . William Shakespear, one of the most famous playwrites of all times, was born on the 26th of April 1564 to a small farming family. It was here in the forests of Stratford area that William was inspired to created most of his, now very famous, plays. He later died in London, after a rather frivolous night of partying, on his birthday in 1616....just goes to show that you can have too much of a good thing. Stratford-Upon-Avon is a beautiful old town, in the heart of Warwickshire, litterred with houses from Shakespears own era. Many of the buildings are whi...

More history of the Maritime and Castle variety today. We set off to Southsea Castle in Portsmouth. After the boys finished rolling down the lush green hills that we saw on our first visit to Southsea Castle (back before it was open for the season) we walked the walls of this ancient castle, dating back to the days of King Hentry VIII . Once inside we stopped at a display being held by local archiologists. We got to see relics recovered from the many ships that line the walls of Port Solent in Porstmouth. The boys even got to do a facial reconstruction with clay and plastic skulls while one archiologist told us of the thousands of wrecks that line the Solent...in order of their era from bottom to top. We then listened to a story teller as he dramatically told the story about a ghostly Monk (not a true tale). Next we ventured into the tunnels that helped soldiers protect the castle from invasion, before climbing the spiral staircase to the keep, from where it is believed that King Hen...