Tuesday 16th April Left the hotel at 7am on way to the first Roman site travelling down through the hills & forests on to a fertile plain. Chemtou was a town built around a marble quarry from which marble was shipped by river to all parts of the Roman Empire. A German group is working there excavating & there is a small theatre & an excellent museum of the area showing how the marble was mined & shipped. We then drove south to Bulla Regia a Num...

Monday 15th April The coach left at just after 7 & we drove out to Bizerte, a former French naval base with a picturesque fishing harbour & old 'medina' which turned out to be the old walled town. The streets are all narrow alleys as in Mykonos with many deserted houses but one which was being renovated was for sale & we had an inspection. Luckily we didn't like it even at about $250K so it is still going begging. We then wandered into the fish marke...

Jane packed & we walked across Green Park & along various streets & alleys passing a film crew shooting 1950s vehicles for something. On our way back to the unit we spotted a Guards band returning to the barracks. We set off for Gatwick at about 1.00pm with plenty of time in hand but at Victoria station the Gatwick Expresses & other trains were all held up as someone had gone under a train in South Croydon. We were told a couple of platform numbe...

Saturday 13th April Walked across to M & S & were underwhelmed with the range. Took a bus up to Oxford St & raided Primark where d*** got a cashmere jumper for £30. Wandered along Oxford St, had lunch in a pub & returned to the flat before taking a bus down to the Embankment & visiting the Tate Gallery. The mixture of pictures was amazing with quite a few famous ones from various periods. We returned & then set out for Bethnal Green ...

The first night we took the metro west to the station & then walked for about 2km along what seemed like an endless system of travelators to the huge shopping mall & found Pascal waiting in front of the giant aquarium with an 8m glass wall. Pascal & Lotus took us outside to a concourse next to an artificial lake in front of the Pinnacle building Burj Khalisa, at 828m the tallest in the country (& the world?). Here there was an amazing display of f...