THE ENGLISH RIVIERA - AUGUST 1986

FROM DÜSSELDORF (APRIL 1986) TO EXETER (AUGUST 1986)

After the wet 1985 summer in Ireland, I had a quiet travel year and stayed most of the time at home. In April 1986 nonetheless, I had a professional trip to Düsseldorf. The only views I had, however, further to my room at the old Breidenbacher Hof Hotel (before the new owners from Kuwait had torn it down and built a brand new one) were these two lousy pictures taken from the room where meetings were held!"



"DÜSSELDORF - I wonder where Peter was on these days..."

***

In August 1986, I went back to the University. Actually, I attended a conference on European Law (Portugal had just acceded to the European Communities), which took place at the University of Exeter, in Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom! On its margins, I profited to have a look at what is known as the English Riviera, the area around Torquay!



"THE CAMPUS - It is said that the University of Exeter has one of the most beautiful campuses in England, in one of the most beautiful counties in Britain"


"THE PROSPECT INN - A bar and restaurant at Exeter Quay"


"WHARFINGERS HOUSE - The Wharfingers Office was built in 1778 to house the City's harbour master. From 1981 it housed the Exeter Quay and Canal Trust, formed to develop the Quay and Canal area"


"EXE RIVER - It was responsible for the development of Exeter city in medieval times"


"ROYAL CLARENCE HOTEL - The historic Hotel is located in the heart of Exeter's Cathedral Yard"


"CATHEDRAL - The Anglican cathedral in Exeter is the seat of the bishop of Exeter. The original cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, dates from 1050; the present building was completed by 1400, and has the longest uninterrupted vaulted ceiling in England"


"MOL'S COFFEE HOUSE - It is said that Mol's was a coffee house opened by an Italian in the 16th century. In addition, it's also said that Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins met to discuss their victory over the Armada, in the upper room of Mol's. However, it seems that much of the history of this building was concocted by a Mr Worth, who ran a gallery from the premises in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1986, it was occupied by the jewellers Nottingham and Walsh, but they also left the premises some time later. It seems that the present occupier is Connection South West, a high-class boutique that sells everything from Mont Blanc pens to expensive handbags..."



"SHOPPING STREET - Is C&A still named for Cheap & Awful?"


"ST. STEPHENS CHURCH on High Street was probably built by a wealthy patron for the use of his family. The church was first mentioned in 1086, although the crypt is probably of Saxon origin. In 1658, Cromwell decreed that all churches in Exeter be closed apart from four. St Stephen's was then sold, to be used as a stable. Four years later, St Stephen's was in the process of restoration when it was destroyed by fire. In 1664, the people of the parish rebuilt the church"


"EXETER WAR MEMORIAL - Dedicated on 29th April, 1923, it is considered to be one of the finest of its type. It shows figures in bronze of a soldier at rest, a sailor, a prisoner of war, a group of Exeter men with prisoners of war in Germany and a nurse. The 2.5 metre high figure of Victory trampling over the Demon of Tyranny and Wrong stands on the top of the granite pedestal. A bronze plaque is dedicated to the 958 men and women of Exeter who died between 1914 and 1918. Additional bronze plaques for the dead of the Second World War were also included"


"EXETER"




"DARTMOUTH is a town in Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, also famous for its Royal Regattas"



"TORQUAY is a city at Torbay, an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay. It lies 26 kilometres south of Exeter and 61 km north-east of Plymouth. Tourist authorities call it the English Riviera on account of its beaches and mild climate"

GOODBYE IRELAND - AUGUST 1985

SOMEWHERE IN IRELAND, THE WETLAND!

By the end of our tour the weather improved a little bit; a way to try to bring us back one day...



"ENNISKILLEN CASTLE, located by the River Erne in County Fermanagh, was built in the fifteenth century by Gaelic Maguires. It was strategically important throughout its history, as it was the guard of one of the few passes into Ulster. In the 17th century it became an English garrison fort and later served as part of a military barracks"


"DERRAGARRA INN - According to the publicity in the Internet, «The main bar & restaurant will cater for 70 people in comfort and style. The Auld Bar is a separate function room for private parties, so why not have your birthday, christening or any other celebration here. Outside, there is a beautiful wooden decked area overlooking the River Annaly, where you can eat & drink with only the geese to disturb you». Impressed?"


"RIVER ANNALY - As the picture was next to the Inn, I believe this is the Annaly River. Correct me if I'm wrong..."


"TOURIST GROUP arriving at Newgrange"


"NEWGRANGE - The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange in County Meath was built about 3200 BC, thus being more than 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and predating Stonehenge by about 1,000 years. It's the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites and one of the most famous in the world"


"ENTRANCE STONE - Named «one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of megalithic art», the entrance stone includes a triple spiral motif found only at Newgrange and repeated along the passage and again inside the chamber"


"ROOFSTONE - According to Wikipedia this motif «is reminiscent of the triskelion motif of the Isle of Man, of ancient Sicily and of several passage tombs on the island of Anglesey in North Wales»"


"WINTER SOLESTICE - The passage and chamber of Newgrange are illuminated for some 17 minutes at sunrise on the Winter Solstice and for a few minutes in the mornings either side of the Winter Solstice. A shaft of sunlight shines through a specially contrived opening, known as a roofbox, which is directly above the main entrance, and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. Nowadays, the phenomenon occurs four minutes after sunrise, but calculations show that when it was built, the event would have occurred right at sunrise"


"CARROUSSEL - Always loved merry-go-rounds..."




"CHURCHES - Somewhere in Ireland. Maybe some Irish expert will identify the temples..."



"NICE COTTAGES"

***

LONDON STOPOVER

On the way out from Ireland, we made a stopover in London. St. James Park was at its best!


"ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS and the wonderful concerts of the Academy conducted by Neville Marriner; try Vivaldi's Four Seasons..."



"ST. JAMES PARK, probably my favourite park in London..."

IRELAND ENCORE - AUGUST 1985

As you know, I'm somehow lost on this Irish trip. So the only thing I know is that the pictures shown here were taken when we left Galway and headed northwards, and even so I'm not so sure it applies to all of them. Maybe some Ireland expert would be able to put some information on where we actually were... «Go raibh mile maith agaibh», i.e. «Thank you» in Irish Gaelic (it seems...)!



"POSING for portraits"


"SOMEWHERE, in Ireland"


"SIGNING the Book of Honour"








"RIVERS AND LAKES - We had too much water from the sky on this trip. But the rivers and lakes always looked beautiful, in particular as the weather improved a bit during this section of the trip"


"LIKE HENRY, THE NAVIGATOR, scrutinizing the sea"



"AND THIS IS WHAT HE SAW"



"HOTEL AND GOLF, preferably by the pool"

UNDER THE RAIN - WEST IRELAND 1985

FROM KILLARNEY TO GALWAY, WHAT A JOURNEY!

Paraphrasing Mark Twain, the wettest winter I’ve ever experienced was a summer in Ireland!


"ROUGH SEA - The Atlantic is no Admiral's sea, to use the expression Portuguese Navy people apply to identify a calm and quiet ocean..."




"THE CLIFFS OF MOHER are one of the most impressive places to see in Ireland, and are considered to be Ireland's top tourist attraction, with almost one million visitors a year. The Cliffs range for 8 kilometres over the Atlantic Ocean and are 214m high at the highest point. From the Cliffs, on a clear day, one can see the Aran Islands, Galway Bay... We, however, could hardly see the Cliffs themselves..."


"BY THE FIREPLACE - This picture was taken on August 15, 1985, at lunch time. Summer in Ireland? No comments!"


"FLOODED ROAD - This is no river; it's the road we had to take on our way to Galway!"



"LUGGAGE BUS - We had already crossed a flooded road in the morning, and the damage to the luggage was to be seen on arrival at the Hotel in Galway. But this time we took measures to avoid further damages..."


"NO WONDER how green was my valley. With all this rain..."


"GALWAY - Calm after the storm! Galway, located at the mouth of Galway Bay, is a lively city known for its avant-garde culture!"




"GALWAY CATHEDRAL (The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas) is a one of the largest churches in Ireland. It was built between 1958 and 1965 on the site of the old city jail"


"BUILDING in downtown Galway, «The City of Tribes», they say..."

KILLARNEY - AUGUST 1985

THE RAINY SAGA CONTINUES

One of the highlights of this trip was supposed to be the Ring of Kerry. However, with the weather we got - foggy and rainy - there was no chance to do the tour. So we remained in Killarney, though some of the pictures I'm not sure where they were taken... It's incredible, but it happened!


"MARKET - I don't know where; maybe some visitor, if any, could help..."



"SOMEWHERE UNDER THE RAIN"



"KILLARNEY is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the north-eastern shore of the Lough Lein which are part of Killarney National Park. The town is home to some attractions and a nice base for the Ring of Kerry tour; but, due to the fog and rain, it was transformed into a one day destination"


"METHODIST CHURCH"




"KILLARNEY HOUSE & GARDENS? - Maybe"


"COLLEGE STREET


"FERRY AT SEA"


"GLENEAGLE - Entertainment: it seems that Killarney is a popular destination for partygoers. We had an experience at the GlenEagle!"

ON THE WAY TO CORK - AUGUST 1985

IRISH COUNTRYSIDE

My posts on Ireland are actually somehow weird in relation to the other I use to make. In fact, for some reason - maybe the fact that it was our first week abroad after the birth of our daughter, the terrible weather on the west coast of Ireland or something else... - I forgot to take notes on where the pictures were taken. Thus, twenty two years later, it's quite hard to find out where some of them were shot. Hope some expert on Ireland who sees the post could help...


"ONE FOR THE ROAD - Before departing Dublin, we visited Old Bushmill's whiskey shop"


"COUNTRYSIDE - When we left Dublin we started to be amazed with the beaury of the Irish countryside"



"IRISH SEA, ST. George's Channel. It seems there has been a long discussion on the building of an 80 km tunnel to link Britain and Ireland here, but with the financial results of the Channel Tunnel, people is less receptive to embark on the project. For the time being, the Irish Sea is described as the most radioactively contaminated sea in the world with some «eight million litres of nuclear waste» discharged into it each day from Sellafield reprocessing plants (Wikipedia)"


"COTTAGES - There were some beautiful ones on our way"


"GLENDALOUGH ROUND TOWER - Hopefully this subtitle is correct! The tower is part of an early Christian Monastic site founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. The monastic remains are located in a glaciated valley with two lakes, and include the superb Round Tower, stone churches and decorated crosses"




"RIVER SCENES - I wonder whether this could be Slaney River. Anyhow, I like the pictures and the scenery"


"BLUR - Someone took this distorted photo, somewhere in Ireland. The blur however resulted into an interesting picture, I think"


"ANOTHER ROUND TOWER somewhere between Dublin and Cork"


"HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, in Ireland..."


"COFFEE BREAK, PONEY WALK"


"BEACH"


"RIVER"


"THE OLD THATCH Pub and Restaurant in Killeagh, Co. Cork. Found the location on a picture from Janice Baxter"


"A CASTLE lost in the landscape"



"BLARNEY CASTLE - The Castle we may see today is the third to have been built on the site, after a wooden structure from the tenth century and a stone structure from circa 1210 A.D. In 1446 a third castle was built by McCarthy, King of Munster"


"BLARNEY STONE - Long line to join the world statesmen, literary giants, legends of the screen and the millions of pilgrims that climbed the steps of the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone and gain the gift of eloquence, or, like Lonely Planet puts it, gain the privilege of telling lies for seven years. Others, however, are more reluctant to do it, as they held the Blarney Stone as the Castle's latrine, which was normally situated over the moat so all the sewage would drop there and discourage any invader from push his way through a virtual excrement basin..."


"CASTLE PICTURE, scanned from paper; the previous was scanned from film"


"BLARNEY CASTLE VIEW towards the surrounding fields"


"BLARNEY BOUTIQUE - Cork is five miles away on your right..."


"CORK is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland, the capital of the province of Munster, and hosts the World's second largest natural harbour, after Sydney, Australia. The river seen on the picture is the Lee, which flows through the city"

JAMES JOYCE'S LAND - AUGUST 1985

THE WETTEST WINTER I'VE EVER LIVED: A SUMMER IN IRELAND...

After Washington in May, I spent a whole week in The Hague (Den Haag or S'Gravenhage, in Dutch) for a meeting; actually, I was based in Scheveningen. However, not a single photo from the whole week could be found...
So the next trip will take the stage: Ireland. Let's start with Dublin.

DUBLINERS



"DUBLIN - The first surprise we had was the fact that, though our hotel was not that far from downtown, it looked like we were in the countryside..."


"CHURCH - Not surprisingly, we found churches around the corner"


"O'CONNELL BRIDGE (1791-1794) was originally named Carlisle Bridge. In 1880 it was renovated and renamed, and became the only bridge in Europe that is wider than it is long (or, at least, as wide as long...)"


"O'CONNELL STREET, with the statue of Daniel O'Connell, 19th century nationalist leader, by John Henry Foley, is the main thoroughfare in Dublin and one of the widest streets in Europe (49m). By the time there was no Spire there"


"TRINITY COLLEGE, designated as «The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin», was founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I, and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university"


"CAMPANILE -Trinity College, Parliament Square"


"TRINITY COLLEGE saw many people on its rooms, including Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, and Ernest Walton..."


"CONFERENCE CENTRE, Trinity College"


"BANK OF IRELAND - College Green hosted the Irish Parliament before the Act of Union 1800, and was the headquarters of the Bank until the 1970s, when they moved to a modern building in Baggot Street. Today visitors can still view the Irish House of Lords chamber within the building, which however remains a Bank's branch"


"GREAT GEORGES STREET ARCADE"




"ST.PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL is the largest church in Ireland, and its basis was built between 1191 and 1270, though now only the baptistery remains. The major reconstruction paid for by Benjamin Guinness, in the 1860s, means that much of the current building dates from the Victorian era. Throughout its long history the cathedral has contributed much to Irish life; for example, Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, was Dean of the cathedral from 1713 to 1745"


"RESTAURANT? - Someone will help finding out what building is this..."

Edited: Thanks to Tom Cosgrave and partner I found that «Bartley Dunnes is the name of the pub in the photo you cannot identify. It was a pub on Lower Stephen Street, and it was sold in 1991 to property developers who specialise in developing large drinking emporiums, or "superpubs". It was duly demolished and a large place called Break for the Border was built - it's an American theme pub and caters to parties and tourists». Thanks a lot!


"FUSILIER'S ARCH at St. Stephens Green"




"SHOPPING, after the chilly rain..."


"FAREWELL DUBLIN. You noticed the absence of Molly Malone? It’s a good reason to get back..."

WASHINGTON DC - MAY 1985

ARBITRATION SEMINAR

After Saudi Arabia I returned to Paris twice (by the end of January and in March), flew to Madrid in February, visited New York in April, and flew back to DC in May, where I spent some time at an International Arbitration Seminar. The only picture left from all these trips was the official Seminar photo. Nothing else...


"GROUP PHOTO"

SAUDI ARABIA - JANUARY 1985

After Washington DC in the summer of 1984, I visited Saudi Arabia on business. It was quite an experience... I have no pictures from there; just some kind of memorabilia.
The first adventure started in Paris to get the visa; I had not much time and needed it for the next day: InchAllah was the answer...


"BOARDING CARDS: Paris-Dhahran with Air France; Dhahran-Riyadh with Saudi, and Riyadh-Paris again with Air France..."


"MENU - Dinner was excellent!"


"HOTELS: Meridien Al-Khobar (Dhahran) and Intercontinental Riyadh"


"GREETINGS - Riyadh postcard"

Finally, I manage to finish work and left. At the Riyadh airport, by 2:00 a.m., the temperature was around plus twenty seven degrees Celsius; when I got to Paris, early in the morning, it rounded minus seventeen Celsius). Forty four degrees difference...

STOPOVER NYC - AUGUST 1984

TOP OF THE ROCK!

The Rockefeller Centre features an observation deck atop the GE Building with panoramic views of Central Park and the Empire State Building. The observation deck remained open until 1986, but was then closed following a drop on the number of visitors and the cut off of the elevator access to the roof due to the expansion of the «Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor. It reopened in 2005, and I still think it's the best view in NYC!



"5TH AVENUE -Summer in the city..."


"ST. PATRICK"


"EAST RIVER"


"CHRYSLER and PANAM (it stil existed...)"


"EMPIRE and WTC"


"CENTRAL PARK: Sheep Meadow and Lake"


"CENTRAL PAR: Metropolitan and Reservoir. Also 5th Av. and Tom's apartment"


"FOUR LAWYERS, Three from Brazil, one from Portugal..."