Sherlock Holmes and Waterfalls In Switzerland

 When I read about a waterfall in Switzerland I wondered if that was the one associated with the Sherlock Holmes story. If you live in or visit London you are reminded of Sherlock Holmes when you pass through Baker Street station which has murals and stories about Sherlock Holmes on the walls of the platform.

Sherlock Holmes mural on the platform at Baker Street Station, London, England, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Major Attraction Waterfall

Sherlock Holmes Waterfall - Reichenbach Falls

Sherlock Holmes Museum, Meiringen

The museum is in the church, originally built as the English church, reconstructed a few times. It now houses a reproduction of fictional Sherlock Holmes study. The museum was opened in 1990 by author Conan Doyle's daughter.

The Swiss Sherlock Holmes museum in Meiringen opens in the afternoon, 1-5 pm in summer, until the last day of October.  

Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, England

I know the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London near Baker Street underground station. A statue of Sherlock Holmes is on the pavement (sidewalk) outside one of the two station exits. 

Useful Websites about Sherlock Holmes and Swiss Waterfalls.

My trip to St Moritz goes by car through the Channel Tunnel across wine regions of France. Why? Because my husband is a wine writer and educator. 

We plan to go through the Champagne region, sparkling white is my thing. Onwards to Dijon. Also, through picturesque Alsace. Returning by a different route, we do the Burgundy red wine region of France.

Wish list World Heritage Sites

Lavaux is a region of terraced vineyards in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, stretching for around 30 km (19 mi) along the northern shore of Lake Geneva. Since July 2007, it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the formal name Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces.^[1]

Not on  this itinerary, being south west, but saved for later are the world heritage site vineyards at Layaux.

copyright free maps are on OpenStreetMap

Useful Websites on German Speaking Switzerland and Sherlock Holmes Switzerland and London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Sherlock_Holmes,_London

https://www.risskov.com/themes/historical-hotels

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiringen

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Meiringen

https://www.notabletravels.com/the-sherlock-holmes-museum-meiringen-switzerland/#:~:text=Meiringen's%20Sherlock%20Holmes%20Museum%2C%20with,anniversary%20of%20Holmes'%20presumed%20death.

-ends-

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Souvenir Socks, Key-rings and Small and Lagre Souvenirs From London And England

 

Wallace and Gromit souvenirs. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Wallace and Gromit - who are they?

In case you don't know Wallace and Gromit, Wikipedia explains all. It's a British comedy series, about an inventor and his silent dog who makes expressions.

Socks were £12 for three pairs. Better value than similar prices for teeny Paddington Bear. 

Souvenir Socks

You can buy souvenir socks showing red phone boxes, red mail boxes (in the UK known as post boxes) guardsmen wearing the red top uniforms and big black hats and black trousers.

Statement socks, souvenir socks, and amusing socks, stand out against a plain colour outfit head to toe, if you dress all in black, black jeans and a black tee-shirt and black jacket, or blue denim jeans with a white tee shirt and denim jacket.

A choice of small sizes of Paddington Bear.

More, larger bears are in a large shop by the entrance to Paddington station.

Lots more souvenirs are in shops near the statue of Sherlock Holmes in front of Baker Street Station.

And others at kiosks near exits from Green Park Station.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_%26_Gromit

https://www.lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/quick-quotations/paperback/product-1rejp7p8.html?srsltid=AfmBOorxnm2efyOoBqhxtQ7Z6O5RabS1n56T0z3bolKeWGRZUhlRecy0&page=1&pageSize=4

Please share links to your favourite poems and posts from this and my other blogs on blogspot. 

I have several books on poetry, quotations, wedding speeches, writing, and other subjects, in Lulu, Amazon, print on demand, in bookshops, ebooks or printed books which you can buy online or from me at meetings of Toastmasters International or the bookshop at Writers Summer School at Swanwick in the UK.

Sherlock Holmes - where to find him? Elementary!

Problem
Where to find Sherlock Holmes?

Answers

This is where he lived.

Elementary my dear visitor to London.

1 On Baker Street station

Sherlock Holmes tiles on Baker Street Station, London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.



Sherlock Homes story on Baker Street station, London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

2 His statue outside the station on the Marylebone Road

Sherlock Statue. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

3 The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Baker Street
Queues form early at the weekend. If you don't have the time and money to visit the museum, you will enjoy the shop.

Off to Edinburgh, Scotland. to see the statue on Picardy Place, showing Holmes waring an Inverness cape. The author, Conan Doyle, was born in Edinburgh.

I was in London looking at the statue of Sherlock Holmes with a friend who comes from Venezuela. My friend asked, "Was Sherlock Holmes a real person?"

Useful Websites
visitlondon.com
visitengland.com
visitbritain.com
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk (the museum)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Starbucks in the station at Baker Street; for quick coffee and souvenirs

Returning from an event at London Business school,after drinks at the crowded The Windsor Castle pub, we were looking for a coffee bar. We ran through the pouring rain and puddles. I wished that London had the covered ways which Raffles built in Singapore.

Dreaming of Covered Ways
Raffles organised the famous (famous in Singapore) five foot ways. I can't remember whether their main purpose was shelter from the sun or rain, probably more from the sun, as in many hot countries, but equally effective in rain.

Dreaming of Colonnades
London is such a rainy city. We should be building colonnades and soft, rubbery or bouncy awnings which could double as safety nets. These barriers protect those underneath from items dropped out of windows. Awnings could help protect flat dwellers and window cleaners or other outside workers from impact falling accidentally, or to escape fire, all the way to the ground or landing on concrete.

Starbucks
(Safety announcement over, let me return to the subject of coffee at the station.) Our last chance for coffee before boarding the train was at the Starbucks inside the station. My first impression was lukewarm, but I gradually warmed to the location.

Seating
My first thought was, no proper tables and seats, no toilets. The latter problem was soon solved. Ladies toilet nearby. Lots of cubicles.

I return. Back to Starbucks. Seating? No comfy sofas. Not the usual creature comforts. Stools at a central island. I have no choice. My two friends are already seated.

My friends are drinking their coffee. Now, what about the coffee?

What kind of coffee? A poster on the wall tells you about the coffees and the history of the company.

Now that my eyes have raised to the story of Starbucks, I look along the wall at the shelves of souvenirs above. I could buy a Starbucks theme mug, or a souvenir of London mug, large or small.

I must have passed through Baker Street station hundreds of times. I know London Transport's Lost and Found up on Baker street, the Sherlock Holmes museum opposite the Lost and Found. The museum has a shop with souvenirs of Sherlock and London. I know the statue of Sherlock Holmes outside the other station entrance, and Madame Tussauds and The Planetarium. I have passed the souvenir shop upstairs near the Sherlock Holmes statue. I didn't know the station, toilets, the Starbucks coffee shop or the Starbucks souvenirs.

If you are passing through London, and don't want to spend time, because you are catching the train on to home or Heathrow, a handy stop.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, English tutor and speaker.

Secret subway station in London set to open in summer

Crystal Palace
Fabulous picture of orange and white triangles formed by coloured tiles or bricks radiating out from the top of columns, are in a picture of the secret subway below the burned down Crystal Palace. The subway station is set to open this spring. It's now January. Less than two or three months from now. Wonderful.

It should set a standard for other stations in London and elsewhere to emulate. I've seen pictures of fabulous stations in Russia and elsewhere. Really looking forward to this.

Sherlock, Brunel and more
If you want to see interesting London stations meanwhile, take a look at the statue of Brunel on Paddington, and upstairs the lovers. On Euston there's a statue of the mapmaker in Australia with his cat. Another station, Victoria, has an artist with his palette. Baker street station has tiles showing Sherlock Holmes, whose statue is outside the station.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35275639

Buying English Cheeses: Supermarkets, Rippon, Paxton and Whitfield, La Fromagerie

Truffle cheese at La Fromagerie.

England is famous for Stilton and Cheddar; France is famous for Brie and Camembert. You can buy these in most supermarkets in England as well as overseas. But there's lots more to buy in London at speciality cheese shops and from online suppliers.

La Fromagerie

I have already found a great walk-in cheese shop which offers you a teeny taste of any new cheese if you are obviously keep to buy - La Fromagerie.

At La Fromagerie I have tried truffle cheese. (The truffles which are mushrooms, not the chocolate truffles.)
La Fromagerie also stock a solid, dry, full flavoured, crunchy salt French cheese called Comte.

Paxton and Whitfield
Paxton and Whitfield supply lovely wooden cheese boards and expensive cheese knives. Great if you are looking for a gift for a host in London or elsewhere.

The Paxton and Whitfield cheese board with their name on it.

Paxton and Whitfield introduced me to a garlicky soft French cheese, Gaperon d'Avergne. Soft, white, full of flavour. Make sure your friends eat it, too, so that they enjoy it and are breathing the same as you!

Rippon

Now I have discovered yet another shop, Rippon, named after the surname of the two founders. They stock another interesting English cheese, Lord of the Hundreds.

English cheese? What does everybody already know about English cheese? Traditional English cheese from the ubiquitous cows in the green fields of England, which you often see from the motorway driving through England. You also see green fields, and cows, on the train in England, as well as in Wales, and Scotland. Britain also has sheep, and lambs in springtime.

Cheddar

Classic cheddar is the English favourite as you can see from the huge selection of Cheddar crowding out everything else in English supermarkets such as Morrisons which started in the north of England supplying food from farmers in England. No wonder they concentrate on what they were originally famous for, British food. You may associate the name of Cheddar cheese with the place name Cheddar Gorge.

The English supermarkets such as Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose, now supply mature cheddar, which has a stronger flavour, and mild cheddar.  Grated or shredded cheddar, sold in large, self-sealing plastic bags, is a great topping for baked potatoes in their jackets.

You might also know that Stilton originally came from Stilton, which was not where it was made but the nearest pickup point.

Cheesaholics complain that plastic wrapped cheese is 'sweaty', and take long detours to find a speciality cheese shop. But if you are in London it's not much of a detour to three great cheese shops, La Fromagerie near Baker Street station, Paxton and Whitfeld, or Rippon.

The Rippon cheese shop is in Victoria, London, near Victoria station. They stock Lord of the Hundreds, an unpasteurised cheese.

The name Lord of the Hundreds comes from a Saxon Lord, or tax collector who collected from one hundred parcels of land. So I learned from this website:
http://www.finecheese.co.uk/our-cheeses/lord-of-the-hundreds.html

You can also find this cheese on line at a cheaper price if you shop around to read more about it and compare prices. This site says it's a vegetarian cheese. Hm, vegetarian, not vegan.
http://www.traditionalcheesedairy.co.uk/shop/product.php?xProd=7&xSec=14

R i p p o n Cheese, London SW1V 1SW.
(Sorry - I had to separate the letters. I don't believe it - spellcheck has turned the name into the more poplar word Nipon! That means Japan.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker. 

Remembrance War, Peace, Pacifist Memorials to visit UK, Europe, USA & Worldwide & Pacifist Memorial

Armistice Day has been observed since 1919. Traditionally at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. Nowadays you can hear the haunting sounds of the Last Post play every night at the Menin Gate in Belgium. Visit graves and memorials to the Great War battles. Glance at plaques as you pass through London underground and overground railway stations. Worldwide, join a jolly tour plunging into the water on a boat which was used in the D-day landings, as I did in New York and Philadelphia. Or simply join me touring the world as an armchair traveller through time.

Permanent Memorials
UK
Town Memorials
Most towns and village have war memorials, often in the middle of the town square. I can't list them all because there are more than 100,000.
www.greatwar.co.uk/organizations/war-memorials-trust

School Memorials
Lists of the fallen are on the walls of schools, such as Harrow School.

Transport Memorials
A memorial to members of London Transport is on Baker Street station. Take the Bakerloo south. Another memorial is at the arched entrance-exit of Waterloo station, Britain's biggest station.

London
Cenotaph, Whitehall, London.

London landmarks include the Polish war memorial. Go along the Western Avenue from the Target Roundabout. It's near RAF Northolt, which probably explains the location.

Museums:
RAF museum, Hendon.
Imperial War Museum, London. (This is where the ceramic poppies (originally placed around the Tower of London) will end up after touring.
Churchill War rooms, under London.

England
National Arboretum, Staffordshire, UK. Includes the Shot At Dawn memorial.
www.thenma.org.uk

Scotland
Edinburgh, monument at Edinburgh's Waverley Station. In 2014 a plaque was unveiled at Glasgow's Central Station.

Wales
Welsh National War Memorial, Cardiff.

France
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Belgium
Flanders
Menin Gate. Ypres.
In Flanders Fields museum, Ypres, Blegium.

Temporary - Armchair Travellers View These Online
Red poppies, ceramic, surrounding the Tower of London. One poppy for each person who died, UK and colonial (Commonwealth?) countries. 2014 until November.

Recurrent Annual Events
Remembrance Armistice Day
London. Wreath laying by the British royal family and members of parliament at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Two minutes of silence.
Parade.
Playing of last post.

Scotland
Edinburgh
Parade in Royal Mile on Remembrance Day.

Preserved Planes
Planes - spitfire at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, Middlesex.

Preserved Boats
You can take a tourist trip on WWII duck boats (amphibious vehicles on water and on land in WWIII) in the USA (New York and Philadelphia), London, and Singapore, and elsewhere, depending on weather.

Memorial in France.
Wikipedia.

Worldwide Sites
Australia: ANZAC memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney. Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.
Bangladesh
Brazil
Canada: Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa.
China
Czeck Republic.
Egypt: El Alamein cemetery, along the coast west of Cairo.
Gibraltar. American monument (arch with names). Outdoors. Accessible all year.
India. Bombay (Mumbai). India Gate.
Israel. Yad Vashem.
Italy
Japan (controversial)
Malaysia: War memorial looks like the American flag raising Iwo Jima, created by the same sculptor.
Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines: Manila American War Memorial and Cemetery.
Poland. Warsaw Ghetto. Auschwitz.
Portugal
Russia
Scotland: Spean Bridge Commando memorial.
Singapore: Kranji.
South Africa
Spain: Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid. (Valle de los Caidos.)
Turkey: Gallipoli.
UK Madingley American Cemetery, Cambridge. www.madingleyamericancemteryinfo
Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Coopers Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey. Tel 01784 433329. See Tripadvisor. wiki commonwealth_war_graves_memorials
Ukraine: Babi Yar, near Kiev.
USA: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA. Gettysburg.
American Battle Monuments Commission abmc warmemorialsandcemeteries

Heritage Plaques

Cemeteries with Memorials
El Alamein, Egypt

I am updating this post and will add more during today and later.

More Information From:
www.findagrave
www.wikipedia Somme
www.wikipedia war_memorials

You can do tours of Belgium and France which will help you visit the grave of your ancestor or the wall where their name is inscribed.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How read a bottle label and buy and try grapes, luscious sweet wine, Sauternes style

What does this mean? Grains nobles, in French, translates into Noble Rot in English.

In a late summer, in England called an Indian summer.
You can get the grey mould earlier in the year. But later - the
amount of sugar is same but the grape skin splits and water evaporates leaving a concentrated flavour.

The capital letter of Sauternes should give you a clue that it is a region. Wikipedia says:

Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made fromSémillon, Sauvignon blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. 

If you are not into wine, here are some grapes bought in London from La Fromagerie (near Baker Street station).