St Luke - St Luke's - who and where? England, Italy, the USA and globally

St Luke - see his relics or statues or places named after him in England, Italy (Florence and Padua), Greece (Thebes), Czech Republic (Prague), and France (Notre Dame).

I have been doing a lot of shopping in St Luke's charity shops which raise money for their hospice(s?) in north west London. They have seventeen shops in North west London and sell online through ebay. I searched for shop locations and found other organizations with  hospices in other parts of England which had a different logo. So the London hospices called themselves St Luke's but had no monopoly over the name. After all, saints are created by the Roman Catholic church, presided over by the Pope, who decides who are saints because they were martyred or did miraculous deeds, or good deeds, hence the word saintly.  

Who Was St Luke?

St Luke - the doctor

St Luke was a physician or medical doctor, preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries.

St Luke - The Writer

 He wrote two books of the New Testament. The Gospel according to St Luke. The Acts of the Apostles.

St Luke - The Painter

St Luke painting the Virgin.

He is sometimes shown with a brush or items connected with painting.

His symbols are the bull and the winged ox. The ox represents sacrifice and wings represent the travel - of the message.

He was not one of the twelve apostles seen sitting with Jesus in the famous painting of the last supper. He was with Paul (who later changed the rules of Judaism by eliminating the requirements of circumcision, and the ban on eating pork, to make the message about resurrection more acceptable to gentiles meaning non-Jews).

That rang a bell in my mind - so St Luke is associated with the sick? Why? Who was St Luke? What did he do? Where? Which country or countries? Which churches, buildings, monuments, streets, oranizations, statues, holy places or cities, are associated with him?

I googled St Luke and found that he was buried in Padua, Italy. Actually, according to Wikipedia, which summarises many sources, listed at the end of the article, most of his body is there, but his skull is elsewhere, and a rib was donated to Thebes. Carbon dating of the bones has shown they date back to the first century during and/or after the life of Jesus and those who knew him. (This is assuming the story of Jesus is about a real person, one person, at one time, not a myth, nor a conglomerate of several people, descendants and disciples, and/or unrelated namesakes from different eras).

I recall the words with the memorable rhyme, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, guard the bed that I lie on. So, if you are interested from either a cultural, historical or religious point of view, you can see paintings of St Luke in the USA, Roman Catholic countries in Europe, as well as in the UK from the pre-Protestant era (before Henry VIII separated England from the Pope) as well as Eastern Orthodox countries. Plus statues, churches, schools, hospices, shops and other buildings.

ITALY

St Luke is known in Italian as San Luca.

See the statue in Florence. (Cathedral or museum or both?)

Statue in Milan, Milan Cathedral.

Padua.

FRANCE

Statue at Versailles.

When?

His feast day is celebrated in October, on October 18th.

GERMANY

Berlin Cathedral.

LITHUANIA

Statue on the facade of the cathedral in Vilnius.

MALTA

Wooden statue in the National Museum.

UK

St Luke's churches in the UK inlcude St Albans, and London's Chelsea, Kensington.   

USA

Statue in St Louis, Art Museum.

Statue in a cemetery in Houston.

Useful Websites

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

Alpacas Statues in Baildon, Yorkshire

 

Description	English: Alpacas
Depicts	park, sculpture, cricket pavilion, cricket field, Baildon
Date	20 July 2013
Source	Geograph Britain and Ireland
Author	John Illingworth
Place of creation	Baildon  (Baildon→Bradford→West Yorkshire→Yorkshire and the Humber→England→United Kingdom)

Camera location	53° 50′ 27.4″ N, 1° 47′ 30″ W	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap

Object location	53° 50′ 27.4″ N, 1° 47′ 30″ W	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap

What else to see in Baildon?

Coffee candles at Wicks & Spritz, Baildon, West Yorkshire. Photo by Angela Lansbury. See my other post.

I read the wikihow on how to make a scented candle.  You need to do it over two days, so not an afternoon activity with a visiting craft minded friend. You need tabbed wicks, and candy-making thermometers and double boilers. You also run the risk of setting fire to the whole caboodle. That makes me a lot happier about paying the price charged for a ready-made candle. 

 If you have time and are bored or have bored visitors or children this is an activity. the advantage of buying the cendle in the first place is that it alerts you to the joy and system of making a coffee-scented candle. Also you can compare your result to the one from the shop. 

Useful Websites

https://www.facebook.com/WicksandSpritz/

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Coffee-Candle

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Statues of Irish Authors To See Outdoors In Ireland: Brendan Behan, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde

 

Bust of William Butler Yeats, poet, at Sandymount, Ireland.

I remember at school in London, England, being taught Yeat's poem, whose line I recall as, 'tread softly, for you tread on my dreams'.

Brendan Behan, seated statue. Ireland.

Oscar Wilde statue, Ireland.

Oscar Wilde wrote the humorous play, The Importance of being Ernest. Wilde was a wit. When he was stopped at Customs, entering the USA, he said, I have nothing to declare except my genius. Wilde also inspired the wit of others.

In London he was talking to his friend, the painter Whistler. After Whistler made a witty remark, Oscar Wilde commented, I wish I had said that. Whistler retorted, You will, Oscar, you will.

Another Oscar Wilde statue is in London, England, near Trafalgar Square. His grave is in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France.

James Joyce statue, Ireland. James Joyce, novelist, 1882-1941. Wrote Ulysses, set in Dublin, capital of Eire.

Useful Websites

A to Z of Attractions by type - template list of places to visit for your next trip: from airports to zoos

I have made a listing for research for future trips. You may wish to use this

Airports

Aquariums

Art Galleries

Beaches

Boat trips

Caves

Cemeteries

Churches

Cities to see

Coach Tours/Guides

Crafts

Factories

Factory tours

Factory Shops

Flights

Hiking Trails

Historic Homes

Homes of Famous People

Hotels

Modern Buildings

Monuments

Mosques

Mountain views/hikes/trails

Museums

Music

Old quarters - drive through

Old quarters - pedestrian

Pedestrian Areas

Reconstructions

Restaurants

Ruins - Cypriot/Greek/Roman

Ships

Shipwrecks

Shops and Shopping Malls

Skiing

Sports and Stadiums

Statues

Synagogues

Theme Parks

Trails

Underwater - viewable from overhead 

Underwater - viewable to divers and snorkellers

Viewpoints

Villages to visit

Vineyards

Walking Tours

Water Parks

Wineries

WWI

WW2

Zoos

>>>>

Personal 

Covid-19 updates

Packing list

Visas

Useful Websites

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

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

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g190372-Activities-a_allAttractions.true-Cyprus.html

https://wikitravel.org/en/Packing_list

Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer. She and/or her next of kin who she stayed with have lived in England, USA (Connecticut, Maryland on the borders of Washington DC), Israel, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland). 

Countries visited on press trips seeing hotels, museums and city tours: Belgium, Corsica, Finland, France, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Portugal, Spanish island Tenerife, Switzerland, USA various states and cities and museums, UK: England, Wales, Scotland; airlines Virgin, cruises, cargo ship with passengers.

Countries visited privately: Australia, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia (when it was part of Yugoslavia); Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, San Marino, Sardinia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Vietnam). 

Airlines: British Airways, RyanAir, Singapore Airlines, Virgin.  

Trains: GWR. Virgin.

Motoring:

Circle of Money fountain in Aachen, Germany

 

Circle of Money Fountain in Aachen Germany, near Cologne and the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. Each character or group shows different attitudes to money.

The wiki caption says:

The fountain Circle of Money (Kreislauf des Geldes) in Aachen, Germany. The figurines show different persons dealing with money, while the rotating water symbolizes the circle of money. Sculptured by Karl-Henning Seemann, sponsored by the Sparkasse Aachen.

Photo by User:Ahoerstemeier

An amusing picture. Also a great illustration for a talk or workshop or speech about money.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is teacher of English. (Advanced English and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, an aspiring polyglot.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs, and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Scott of the Antarctic, Oates and Amundsen - see statues and memorials and quotations

 

SCOTT of the Antarctic film poster

Robert Falcon Scott

Statue in New Zealand

Plaque under statue

Scott plaque, Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo by DR G WILD in Wikipedia.

The plaque reads:

ROBERT FALCON SCOTT

CAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY

WHO DIED RETURNING FROM THE SOUTH POLE 1912

WITH A E WILSON  H R BOWERS L E COATES E EVANS

I DO NOT REGRET THIS JOURNEY WHICH SHOWS 

THAT ENGLISHMEN CAN ENDURE HARDSHIPS 

HELP ONE ANOTHER AND MEET DEATH WITH

AS GREAT FORITUDE AS EVER IN THE PAST

SCOTT'S DIARY

Oates

Plaque in London, England

Plaque in Leeds, England

The plaque reads:

LAWRENCE EDWARD GRACE OATES

OF MEANWOODSIDE IN THIS PARISH

Amundesen

A succinct account of his life is in Find A Grave.

 A monument to Amundsen is at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway.

Useful Websites 

Shackleton

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

Amundsen

Raold Amundsen at Find A Grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20956/_

Scott

About the Author

Have you any complaints or compliments about Heathrow Airport, gateway to London, England, the UK?

Have you any complaints or compliments about Heathrow?

Our journey exiting Heathrow was very pleasant due to the lack of crowds. Fast through the lineup to exit. So few passengers that the lugggage came through fast.

What could be better? The contract tracing system is daft. You are supposed to fill up online. But the wifi system was not working so we could not read our phone.

Leaving Heathrow you see wonderful historic photos of Heathrow and famous passengers and visitors through the ages. The Beatles. HM Queen Elizabeth. Many countries have huge panels of the capital city's attractions and scenic spots around the country.

Where are the giant pictures of Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Traflagar Square and Nelson's Column?

Statues?
Where are the ever changing videos of slides of famous people from history? London's statues alone could provide entertainment. William Shakespeare. A few quotations from Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare.

Alcock and Brown statues. Author of photo Arpingstone. In Wikipedia.

The statues of Alcock and Brown, the first pilots to fly across the Atlantic, were displayed at Heathrow before going to Brooklands Museum.

But you don't need to have the statues. A photo of the statues, or a slide prjected onto a wall would be great.

Scenery?
How about some scenes of the Lake district. And Wordsworth's poem? Durdle Door.

How about advertisements of historic pubs. k

Or famous foods?

Famous Drinks.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Scotland
Whisky.

Chocolates.

Something healthy? Strawberries and cream.

Wimbledon tennis.

Guinness records.

Add some photos from Wales?



We were met by a car hire driver who could not remember on which floor he parked the car. It would be better to have each floor with a distinctive decor. A different colour. A reminder of the floor as you leave. A code you can scan which sends a reminder of the floor to your phone.

Useful Websites
https://www.heathrow.com/contact-us/send-us-your-feedback
https://uk.pcmag.com/news-analysis/88858/how-to-use-a-smartphone-app-to-find-your-car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_tracking_system

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Story Of Bridge Over Troubled Water

As an amateur songwriter I always wonder how people compose hit songs. For singer songwriters in the old days it was easy. They strummed a song of two verses or three and memorised it. If it was successful they sang it again.

Then in the old day of musicals, and America you would have the singer- songwriter doing the words and the pianist coming up with a tune.

However, listening to Simon and Garfunkel, it is much more complicated. it starts as a few words on a guitar. It is translated into piano music. The base player comes in. The arranger comes in. The wind instruments. Possibly a backing choir or quartet.

Finally, in the Phil Spector era, the surround sound and everything created on a keyboard like a full orchestra.

A long way from the singer a capella (without an instrument), or the singer and guitar.

Over in Europe, Freddie Mercury and his team had their own recording studio in Switzerland.

Simon and Garfunkel were born in the 1940s and both still alive in 2020 when I checked in Wikipedia. So no statues yet. But you can see a statue of Freddie Mercury in Switzerland.

If the songwriter and composer are still alive you can risk running into copyright problems if you try adding their soundtrack to a video of your travels which you try to load onto YouTube. However, any time you visit a bridge, or water, or just need an uplift, you can play the song to yourself.

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

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_%26_Garfunkel

My favourite Singapore statues - the bowing, smiling figures

I saw wonderful happy bowing statues in a mall in Singapore. Not just the bowing, but the lovely smiles.

You can find samples to buy at Ode to art.

Others are in public places for all to see. Check out Capitaland who run many malls.

Where to see them

Raffles City

How to remember the sculptor's name
The sculptor's name is  Gao Xiao Wu.

If you look it up in Wikipedia, you find somebody of the same name from an earlier era, with the two last names run together. In Chinese the family or clan names comes first.

Gao. I think of it as Gow, rhyming with ow. Wiki gives you pronunciations.

The middle name, which is the first name in Chinese, ends with the same letters, ao.
The middles name starts with Xi, same as Xian where the terracotta warriors were found and can be seen. Xi pronounced Shi or she. Wu is easy to remember. Woo the customer or client. So now looking at Gao Xiao Wu, the sculptor's name is much easier to recognize and remember/

Capitaland also has other amusing sculptures such as
1 Man on a bench, a figure sitting reading a book on the bench where you can sit near a taxi stand.
2 Characters in conversation. Look carefully and you will see that their faces are masks.

Useful Websites
https://www.publicarttrust.sg/Public-Art/Big-Dream-No-4
https://www.odetoart.com/?p=artist&a=62,Gao%20Xiao%20Wu
http://art.capitaland.com
#ArtAtCapitaLand
https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/art-at-capitaland/our-properties/offices/man-on-the-bench.html
https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/art-at-capitaland/our-properties/capitahub/la-conversation.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g294265-d11824838-Reviews-Joseph_Conrad_Korzeniowski-Singapore.html

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

You can visit Lennon's Strawberry Fields in Liverpool, Loverpool, and New York

Strawberry Fields

UK flag

The well known song title, 'Strawberry Fields forever', from the Sixties, 1967 to be precise, has come true not just as a forever memory in the mind of the songwriter but in September 2019 as a new tourist attraction which everybody can visit and remember. Strawberry Fields is in Liverpool, the garden of a home which was run by the Salvation Army and where John stayed as a child which inspired fond memories and the song.

English: Strawberry field gate
Date	15 July 2007 (original upload date)
Source	Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Liftarn using CommonsHelper.
Author	Lander777 at English Wikipedia

 Add it to the list of places to visit in the city of Liverpool connected with the Beatles.

Here is my tourist day out photo hit list:

Liverpool Beatles Sites
The Cavern Club and the street.
The statue of the Beatles.
Strawberry Fields. Free field, 12.95 pounds sterling exhibition on the Beatles and Salvation Army.
Photo ops - by the red gates into Strawberry Fields; by the street sign Penny Lane, the statues.

In the UK you can visit places associated with the Beatles in London, such as Abbey Road, home of the recording studio and the crossing featured in a photo of the Beatles crossing the road, used in an album cover, inspiring other photos.

We drove from London to Liverpool by private car. You can take the train from Euston station. Tours go from Euston station to Liverpool and back

Lennon visited the USA where he lived and died.

Flag of the USA

USA
In the USA in New York an area of Central Park honours John Lennon who wrote the song about his childhood home. Lenon was killed in the USA.

See the plaque on the ground with the word Imagine and read in Wikipedia about the man who used to visit every day and give a quick recitation on the life of Lennon.

Kazakhstan
In addition, the real surprise tourist attraction is the statues of the Beatles in .Kazakhstan..Quite a striking ensemble on and behind a park bench. One figure is seated playing the guitar. Another with arms folded, contrasting with another arms akimbo. I presume you can take a selfie sitting on the bench between the figures.

What else can you see in the city? Another well known statue in the largest city and former capital is the golden man on top of a column. Kazakhstan is the largest and wealthiest of the stans of Former Russian. Huge areas, and cold (there's skiing), a vast area to gallop along the silk road in winter, hence the reliance on horsemeat and horse sausages as luxury winter foods.

Kazakhstan has borders with Russia, china and other countries. Russian is widely spoken. The Beatles statue is in Green Field.

Wikivoyage warns that you should not mention Borat. Despite the fact that the successful film resulted in an increase in tourism to Kazakhstan.




Useful Websites
Places to visit and information

UK
London
Abbey Road
Beatles tour
Liverpool
Beatles tour to Liverpool

USA
Strawberry Field, Central Park, New York City, New York State

Travel
singaporeair.com (Flies to and from Heathrow, London, UK).



You might wonder why I have shown such a low resolution picture. The reason is that Wikipedia releases for public use a low resolution picture which does not compete with the high resolution picture which the copyright holder can sell for commercial purposes.
Full explanation here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beatles_-_Abbey_Road.jpg

In London
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/the-beatles-london-walking-tour-t23780/
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/the-beatles-magical-history-tour-t30586/

To Liverpool from London
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/liverpool-the-beatles-t2271/?partner=true

Website background Information
UK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7458873/Strawberry-Fields-finally-opens-Beatles-fans-70-years-inspiring-John-Lennon.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed
USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Fields_(memorial)

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

Favourite Indian Temples In Singapore

Heritage Trail plaque about the temple. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Sri Vairavimada Temple is on the Toa Payoh Heritage Trail.

I always take a photo of the heritage plaque or name of a building. Sometimes you can blow up the picture later and read about it when you have more time and are in the comfort of air conditioning - Singapore is hot and humid all year.

Even if the small print is not easy to read later, it is handy to have the name of the building and location.

The statues all along the front are just above eye level. Very attractive to the eye, the camera, the soul. The outside of the temple is illuminated in the evening.

Getting There
This temple is next to Toa Payoh South Community Club. To get there, go to Toa Payoh MRT train station on the red north-south line. (If you are a tourist and starting from or orienteering from Orchard Road MRT station, Toah Payoh MRT is only three stops north.

The bus exchange is upstairs. The bus enquiry office will direct you to the correct bus queue. It is about five stops. You will the buildings of the temple and adjacent clinic and community cetnre after the bus turns a corner. A blue sign for the Community Club warns you to press the Bus Stopping bell button, and prepare to alight.

The temple is not open to the public but it has a heritage plaque outside.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, a Singapore Resident, an author and speaker and teacher of English.

Music of the Gods On A Hindu Temple at Toa Payoh South in Singapore

Inspiring figures on the temple in Toa Payoh South in Singapore.

How to get there? From Toa Payoh MRT Train station take exit A and you go up the escalator to the bus Interchange. The 283 bus line (queue) is just in front of you. Get off opposite the polyclinic. The Polyclinic, the temple, and the Toa Payoh South 

Figures on outside of Hindu Temple in Toa Payoh South, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Filing Photos By Dates - why label, keep or use old photos?

Problem
How to find photos you took years ago, or at an unknown date?

Places And Useful Labels
In my photos system, I have a section called places. This can be very handy. I used to leave my photos unlabelled. Now I tag them with every tag I can think of.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

It's obvious that the Eiffel Tower is the Eiffel Tower, is in Paris, and that Paris is in France. However, if I have a moment, I will label it, with all three pointers. The reason is that, a week or year later, if I am writing about Paris and want a symbol, I can find one quickly.

When you have several photos it is handy to have as much detail in labelling as possible. For example, I might have two dozen photos of a famous building, or even my own garden or balcony. I can see if one picture is a sunset or a daytime or nighttime photo. I can see if it is lawn (green grass), or a rose, or even a tree.

A Rose

Cut Red Rose on table.

But these labels will be handy hours, days or weeks later if I am looking for a picture of a rose, contrasting drought or weeds with green grass, or comparing the pine trees of England with the palm trees of Singapore.

I could label my rose as flower, or rose, or red rose, or red rose in vase or flower container, or red rose on table, to contrast with pink rose in garden.

Pink rose growing in garden in London, England.

 I have to search only one file and everything is in date order, the date of the email. In photo storage, the photos are stored when they were taken.

Downloading Photos
So If I download a free photo from Wikipedia, which was taken at the Notting Hill Gate Carnival in 2017, I would have to recall that it was taken in 2017 in order to find it.

Queen Victoria. Where?

I once downloaded a photo of a statue of famous composer and the photo instantly disappeared. I thought it had failed to be downloaded from the server to my computer.

The Statue of Liberty. When?

For weeks I did not realise what was happening. Then started looking for another Photo and found my statue picture. I finally twigged that my photos were being stored under the date they were taken. The solutions?

Important Dates
Firstly, to notice when the picture was taken from the detailed description in Wikipedia. I never used to take much notice of dates. Now I make a point of noticing every time.

I used to hate out of date pictures. Who needs a picture of their own high street or a shop from five years ago or ten years ago. For a travel writer, an out of date photo, even six months in a four-season country is a waste of time. A snowy scene is useless when you are writing in summer. Unless you are writing about booking a ski holiday for next Easter.

As a travel writer, I used to be selling stories immediately I came back from a trip. I had up-to-date photos and experiences.

Photographer?
You want to label the phtographer to give credit. I also want to know whether a photo was taken by me or by soembody esle. I might prefer to have a statue with a live person beside it.

Angela Lansbury standing by statues in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Statues by railway station in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Statues in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Old Photos - Out of Date?
Now I can see the point of the old photos. You can show before and after photos. Has the new decor of a restaurant improved on the way it used to be a year ago? Will I or you or another reader be able to see that the place they remembered and didn't like has improved for the better?

I was at a meeting of travel industry people at the annual World Travel Market in London. One member of the audience complained that Tripadvisor kept old reviews. He said any review more than a month ago was irrelevant. The chef might have changed. The seasonal menu would have changed.

I disagreed. I had been to a hotel which has a broken window in a bedroom. The owner told me it had just happened and he would fix it. Should I believe him? I went online and discovered that people had been complaining about that and similar problems for years. Nothing got repaired or fixed. If I had only had this week's complaint, I might have thought it was one off. By carefully analysing all the reports over the years, it was clear that those people in the renovated top floor rooms gave the hotel glowing reports. Those in the middle floor rooms were all complaining.

Another interesting point. If all rooms in a hotel are the same size, you don't know whether you will get a good room or a bad one. Since the rooms were different sizes, you could see at a glance that a three-bed family room on the top floor was in good condition. So, you had to ask for and only book if you could get a three-bed family room.

You might think, if the place is run down in some areas, surely you should not give them your business at all. However, if you didn't want to pay twice the price for bland chain hotel room which could be in any country of the world, the hotel with the piano-playing owner, statues in the garden, board games for children, a clientele of bohemian and off-beat visitors to talk to, might be just thing - provided you got the renovated room and not the one with the broken window.

The other point is that I hesitate to say anything bad about a hotel or restaurant. What I think is a small portion might be just right for somebody else. Better to show a photo and let the viewer judge for themselves. My family can't agree on a meal. We have totally different tastes.

The old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, holds true. An old picture showing the place is just the same, or tally changed, may be very useful.

But how do you find the old picture? We have come full circle.

Author
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, Angela Lansbury. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share links with your family and friends.