Great Yarmouth, 25-31 May 2023

Thursday 25 May 2023. We set off for a week's holiday to Great Yarmouth in sunny Norfolk.

Well, sunny but just a bit breezy if you know what I mean. We had a hotel room with sea view which meant a grand view of a vast car park with a narrow line of sea behind it. Some of this seascape was taken up by Scroby Sands, a sandbank that as a kid I remember being full of seals with regular boat trips out from the beach to enable you to look at them. It's now full of basking wind turbines, the vibrations of which somewhat put the seals off anything but a short stop to catch their breath.

The hotel was nice though, it was our third time of visiting it and it has a few quirks like an ancient lift that you have to manually close the doors of - outer door and an inner cage door. If any of these doors are not shut tight the lift refuses to work, so sometimes when someone gets out on the third floor and leaves the door slightly ajar, no one can use the lift until someone has hoofed it up the stairs to shut the door.

The first night we were sitting quietly in the bar and Miss Franny saw one of these being made for someone else. Apart from a few dubious floaters (coffee beans, always highly-prized for a quick crunchy snack) it looked really good and she was quite appreciative, delicately spitting out the rock-hard beans. I'm sure it wasn't really her fault that one smashed the full pint glass of beer of the chap sitting opposite, bringing a look of swift surprise and soggy comprehension to his face...

Holidays for us have become much less exotic than in recent years. Now carrying a cancer about, I'd rather not pay more for insurance than I would for an actual cruise holiday and I find that walking any distance is more a series of short hops from one bench to another a few yards further along. A fair bit of pain comes on holiday with me now too along with a daily unknown quantity of lightning bolts to the side that can make me yelp like a kitten whose tail you've just trodden on.

So Miss Franny ruled out any thoughts I might have had about trying this out. It's ok Miss Franny... I wasn't really having that many thoughts about seriously wanting to go on it anyway. Interestingly whilst sitting nearby and listening to passers by, it was mainly small kids and teenagers who fancied going on it whilst Dads almost invariably said "Oh no, I'm not going on that - I can't even look up to watch it without getting light-headed!"

Miss Franny spent several interludes having sat me down on benches outside cafes, on the Promenade or near the shopping centre and/or markets, where she disappeared to empty her purse and bank account whilst I sat marvelling at what people seem to think makes them look more attractive these days. I've never been a fan of tattoos I'm afraid, but am happy to overlook them on others. The current fad seems to be to cram as many small and totally incompatably random subjects as possible onto shins. Weird.

Anyway, many a time Miss Franny would return to find me deep in conversation with someone who had sat down next to me, or had a dog that liked the look of me and rushed over, or in one case almost knocked my cafe table over in what appeared to be an unplanned and unexpected sudden woosh of motorised mobility scooter. Why such things, intended for use on pavements and around vulnerable pedestrians, are designed to zip around at 20 miles per hour with first point of contact at shin or heel height I'm not too sure. Perhaps it's the manufacturers' way of ensuring future custom? In any case, on Miss Franny's return I would be greeted with "I always find you talking to people when I get back!"

This made me laugh. My phone ringtone is a snatch of the chorus of a 1932 comic song by Al Bowlly and Leonard Henry called "Meet Me Tonight in the Cow Shed"... You'll find it on YouTube if you want. This was up near the old Windmill Theatre, now an indoor crazy golf course... There used to be so many theatres and summer season shows in Great Yarmouth that you could see a show headed by famous household names just about every night during a week's stay without repeating a show. Now it's just the odd karaoke bar. The Britannia Pier still has its theatre but there were no shows until July and then it seemed that they only did the one night before moving somewhere else. A great shame.

We did a couple of bus rides out during the week. One to Norwich to see the castle. We saw the outside covered in scaffolding but it was closed for the renovations. We went in the museum where I enquired about the 1549 rebellion led by Robert Kett who beseiged the city with a few thousand peasants, taking the castle and cathedral during the short reign of Henry VIII's son, King Edward VI. Not only was there no reference to it anywhere, the girl at the counter had never heard of it. There's an excellent novel about it in C.J. Sansum's Tombland, one of the Shardlake series of novels.

Also we took the car out one day and went for a ride on the North Norfolk Steam Railway at Sheringham. A couple of trains were running and the photo shows the steam locomotive Black Prince at the terminus, reversing back past the train to be re-attached ready to pull the string of carriages back to Sheringham.

I found the courage to brave the wind towards the back end of the week to sit and draw this sketch of the pier and bowling green with a couple of tea huts on the Promenade. I did all of the colouring in the hotel bar on the last night to the great interest of some members of a coach party. They turned out to be a County Bowling Team which led to a slightly surreal conversation thus: "Is that where we were playing this afternoon?"

Well for one I'm not a member of your party so I have no idea where you were playing and for two, there was no one actually playing on this green and if they had have been then the wind would have been blowing their bowls off course... (The wind snapped a sapling tree in half opposite our bedroom window one night!) Anyway the following morning one of the blazered gents turned up to breakfast with a wooden spoon around his neck. "Did you win that as a trophy?" I asked cheerfully. He looked at me with a heavy sigh. "We won it for coming last," he said, "I have to wear it now until the next match..."

Holidays and Day Trips in the UK

The Ziller Valley Steam Train

Wednesday 30 January 2002. We have dragged the ladies from the more specialised products at the candle factory and the coach drops us off at a railway station.

The rails are somewhat close together. This is the narrow guage Ziller Valley Railway and we shall be travelling by steam train. It's possible that the men are more excited by this than the ladies, but to be fair, they have had more excitement today already than is good for them...

To say that it is cold would be akin to saying that a volcano is warm... The Zillertal Railway, to give it its local name, follows the valley of the River Ziller and so runs alongside the road for much of its route. It opened in 1902 and today uses mostly railcars for passengers or diesel locomotives for goods traffic but with steam trains aimed at the tourist. That's us!

Our train carriages are nicely lined up and coupled together, but the steam engine hasn't arrived yet. I suspect they are having to melt the ice in the boiler to make water to boil it to make steam to .... Look, don't ask me...

Something looking vaguely like a steam engine turns up. It looks like an enormous water tank alongside the boiler, but remember, it's narrow guage. The engine is only small to begin with.

It backs up to the train and is coupled on. We get on board. Literally - the seats are wooden and absolutely freezing. The windows are also frozen and opaque. Stupidly I touch one to rub the ice away and my hand sticks to it. So much that it hurts when I pull my hand away!

Then as we get underway, the heat from the boiler is pumped through pipes passing through each carriage and the windows clear. Unfortunately the pipe is touching my ankle and ... YEOW! Soon one side of me is boiling whilst the other side stays cold.

We arrive at Fügen, where we all get off the train and have some free time before rejoining the coach. Fügen is celebrated as the place where the beautiful Christmas carol Silent Night was written and first sung.

The steam locomotive has its water tanks replenished and then leaves. The small town is clustered on one side of the railway station and open fields lead across the valley to the mountains on the other side. I almost expected to hear Charles Bronson's harmonica from the 1968 spaghetti western film Once Upon a Time in the West...

One of the Zillertal's modern fleet comes through then we head for the town and find some lunch before the time comes to get back on the coach for our afternoon stop in Rattenburg.

Return to Austria Winter Holiday 2002 Index

Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom, Florida

Monday 25 April 2016. We are now starting our second week in Walt Disney World and it's starting to feel like an entire world too... We are meeting up with the family for a meal later at Disney Springs, but before then we decide to have a look at a park that didn't exist when we last came to Florida in 1993: Disney's Animal Kingdom.

It was a bit of an overcast day, but it was still very hot. In fact it reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit this day and from now on would get hotter!

This has a very different look and feel to the other Disney parks. Nature plays a much greater part both in attractions with animals and in the lush vegetation that forms the background and surroundings. We both found the humidity was hitting the roof, making this feel much hotter than the other parks. Drinking regularly is a must. There had been an Island of Discovery at Fort Wilderness in 1993. This had a collection of both wild and "displayed" animals, but was closed in 1999 after a guest died through swimming in the lake in which the island sat. His death was put down to his having swallowed an amoeba, a microscopic animal, from the water and people are kept well away from it these days.

The name is remembered in Discovery Island in the middle of Animal Kingdom. This is the hub of the park with trails leading to the various main areas. The 145 feet tall artificial baobab tree which is somewhat magnificent, covered in sculpted animals.

We have our photos taken and they ask Fran to hold her arm out. A little green cartoon chameleon is added! I somehow have the feeling that Miss Franny would not be so relaxed and smiling if they had tried to plonk a real one on her arm...

We pass through the Gates of Africa. The park closes earlier than the other parks as the many animals are returned to their pens for the night. They mostly do this of their own accord and the process takes around two hours, which for safety has to be completed before it goes dark.

Once through the gates we have to cross Discovery River, seen here extending into the Asia section of the park with Mount Everest at the rear..

Harambe is a fictional village in East Africa. It has restaurants, refreshments stalls and shops all with African-themed products. There's a 30-minute version of The Lion King presented Broadway or London West End theatre style with actors, dancers, puppetry and music.

The deliberate "distressing" of buildings creates a very different feel to that of the other Disney parks! Other little touches like low-slung wires across the street or spider's webs of electrical or telephone wiring on the sides of buildings all adds to the feeling of being in a less affluent environment.

A cannon reminds us of colonial times. Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Portugal all had colonies along the East African coast with the island of Madagascar coming under the French. Each jealously guarded their dominions.

A line forms at the Festival of The Lion King show. It being a show, the start times are known so it's only worth going well before time if it is likely to be over-capacity.

A sign warned of crocodiles. I wasn't sure if it was meant to warn of real danger or just set dressing. There are crocs and alligators a-plenty in Florida, but as far as I know they are removed from Disney property, particularly if large. That being said, they roam Florida wild, there have been reported sightings even in Magic Kingdom in the past. The only one I saw this entire trip however was at the side of a pond as we were on the bus from the airport to our resort.

We took a ride on the Wildlife Express Train. This goes between the Africa area and Rafiki's Planet Watch on a round trip and goes through some backlot areas where the animals are housed at night. We saw a couple of white rhinos in one compound but most were empty with the animals being out in the open where they could be seen on the safari rides.

Unlike the more usual carriage, seats were arranged to give a view out of the side of the open coach.

And back at the Africa station again. We'll take a safari through Africa on another visit. I waited before exiting to get a shot of the train pulling in. There were two trains running and the round trip takes around 10-14 minutes.

It was quite cool under the shade of the station - we were almost reluctant to go back out now as the sun had come out and the temperature was soaring up!

Following the path round the back of the park, we leave Africa and pass into Asia. In normal circumstances that would be one heck of a walk...!

The props, buildings and kiosks change in nature and now we are on the Spice Road. If you ever wish to know what in your house has caused the most deaths and misery to people throughout history - just look at those two little shakers in the centre of your dining table...

We are walking through the sights of India, Pakistan, Nepal et al on our way to the mighty Himalayas. The Yak and Yeti Restaurant ("Mummy, I don't like yeti..." "Well leave it at the side of your plate, Harvey") actually sells Asian and Mandarin style chicken.

Just let's have a closer look at that previous photo - that seems to be a lady desperate not to be photographed... Sorry!

We pass a part-ruined shrine. There are two gibbon monkeys playing and hiding amongst the scaffolding if you can find them. If you can't see them, there's a closer look at the same photo below.

A little spot of India, selling soft ice cream. Actually, soft or hard didn't matter - it was all soft within a few seconds...

We are approaching Mount Everest in the distance.

The mountain, home of the Yeti, has a coaster ride, Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Possible the roller coaster with the longest name...

The mountain itself contains loads of hidden sculptures of animals all of which need to be seen from just the right angle for you to see them. I'll just point you to a few. Above and to the left of the clump of bushes on the right of the mountain's base is a seated elephant. The coaster's lift hill at the left passes behind a bluish rock which is a gorilla's (or Yeti's) head. Just down and to the right of that is another face. They are quite small on here, but take my word for it, they are there!

On this view, find the hole where the train comes out in the previous photo and compare the two photos. In the first it's just rocks, but from this angle there is clearly an animal's face. We're still not quite in the exact position to see it properly, but the dark area makes one eye with cheek bone beneath and it has a long nose. Very clever!

Disney World Holiday Index