Looking Back At The Grand Tour

Tags

Beijing, Berlin, Bovington, Canberra, Chatham, Hakone, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Irkutsk, Kamakura, Kyoto, Listvyanka, London, Miyajima, Moscow, Normandy, Paris, Portsmouth, St. Petersburg, Studio Ghibli, Sydney, Tilbury Fort, Tokyo, Ulaanbaatar, Yekaterinburg

This post will be an index for my Grand Tour posts, and will be updated as I curate each day’s photos. Check back every so often to see which posts have been updated.

Setting Off and Japan

The first part of the tour was the departure from Canberra, and the Tokaido Trail in Japan. Here’s the posts for that part of the tour:

• Welcome to my Grand Tour
• Day 1 – 20/09/2017 – Canberra to Sydney
• Day 2 – 21/09/2017 – Sydney to Tokyo, via Hong Kong
• Day 3 – 22/09/2017 – The Mikasa in Yokosuka
• Day 4 – 23/09/2017 – The Studio Ghibli Museum, Frog-kun, and Tokaido Trail Meet Up
• Day 5 – 24/09/2017 – Sensoji, the Sumida River, the Miyazaki Clock (includes shaky phone video), Harajuku
• Day 6 – 25/09/2017 – Kamakura
• Day 7 – 26/09/2017 – Hakone
• Day 8 – 27/09/2017 – Hakone
• Day 9 – 28/09/2017 – Hakone to Kyoto
• Day 10 – 29/09/2017 – Miyajima and Hiroshima
• Day 11 – 30/09/2017 – Fushimi-Inari Taisha, Senbon Torii, Maiko experience
• Day 12 – 01/10/2017 – Tokyo, shopping
• Day 13 – 02/10/2017 – Tokyo, Akihabara, Tokyo Skytree

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is where I met up with Julian, Todd, and Ben, and we began the epic overland trek.

• Day 14 – 03/10/2017 – Tokyo to Hong Kong
• Day 15 – 04/10/2017 – Todd arrives, Old vs New Hong Kong Tour
• Day 16 – 05/10/2017 – Ben and Julian arrive, Markets Tour, Food Tour

Beijing

The first major train ride took us to Beijing:

• Day 17 – 06/10/2017 – Hong Kong to Beijing
• Day 18 – 07/10/2017 – Beijing, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace
• Day 19 – 08/10/2017 – Beijing, Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven
• Day 20 – 09/10/2017 – Beijing, the Hutongs, Shopping

Mongolia

The next leg of the train journey took us to Mongolia, and the first overnight train:

• Day 21 – 10/10/2017 – Beijing to Ulaanbaatar
• Day 22 – 11/10/2017 – Ulaanbaatar
• Day 23 – 12/10/2017 – Gandan Monastery and Terelj National Park

Russia

From Mongolia we headed to Russia!

• Day 24 – 13/10/2017 – Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk
• Day 25 – 14/10/2017 – Irkutsk to Listvyanka
• Day 26 – 15/10/2017 – Port Baikal Tour
• Day 27 – 16/10/2017 – Listvyanka and Irkutsk
• Day 28 – 17/10/2017 – Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg
• Day 29 – 18/10/2017 – Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg Day 2
• Day 30 – 19/10/2017 – Yekaterinburg and Military Museum <<Ural Defensive Fame>>
• Day 31 – 20/10/2017 – Yekaterinburg Tour, Romanov Graves
• Day 32 – 21/10/2017 – Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg
• Day 33 – 22/10/2017 – St. Petersburg – Walking Tour
• Day 34 – 23/10/2017 – St. Petersburg – Catherine Palace and Aurora
• Day 35 – 24/10/2017 – St. Petersburg – Hermitage
• Day 36 – 25/10/2017 – St. Petersburg to Moscow
• Day 37 – 26/10/2017 – Moscow – Walking Tour, Metro, Space Museum
• Day 38 – 27/10/2017 – Moscow – Kremlin and Armoury

Germany

Then we briefly passed through Germany:

• Day 39 – 28/10/2017 – Moscow to Berlin
• Day 40 – 29/10/2017 – Moscow to Berlin, Berlin Wall
• Day 41 – 30/10/2017 – Berlin, Wandering Around

France

With a short stop in France

• Day 42 – 31/10/2017 – Berlin to Paris, via Karlsruhe
• Day 43 – 01/11/2017 – Paris and Normandy
• Day 44 – 02/11/2017 – Paris Tours: Eiffel, Catacombs, Food

United Kingdom

Then I finished the tour with an extended stay in London:

• Day 45 – 03/11/2017 – Paris to Portsmouth, via London
• Day 46 – 04/11/2017 – Portsmouth, Mary Rose, Victory, M33
• Day 47 – 05/11/2017 – Portsmouth, Submarine Museum, Warrior, Harbour Tour
• Day 48 – 06/11/2017 – Portsmouth and London
• Day 49 – 07/11/2017 – London, wandering about
• Day 50 – 08/11/2017 – London, Churchill War Rooms, London Transport Museum
• Day 51 – 09/11/2017 – London, Parting of the Ways (SPLITTERS!)
• Day 52 – 10/11/2017 – London, Bovington Tank Museum
• Day 53 – 11/11/2017 – London, Tilbury Fort
• Day 54 – 12/11/2017 – London, Hampton Court
• Day 55 – 13/11/2017 – London, Historic Dockyard Chatham
• Day 56 – 14/11/2017 – London, Bletchley Park and NMOC
• Day 57 – 15/11/2017 – London, Kensington Palace (MEH) and Shopping
• Day 58 – 16/11/2017 – London, HMS Belfast, Tower of London

Home Again

The last part of the tour was the return trip

• Day 59 – 17/11/2017 – London to Sydney, via Hong Kong
• Day 60 – 18/11/2017 – Hong Kong to Canberra, via Sydney

When I left the plum trees outside were in full bloom like so:

Plum Blossoms

When I got back:

Plums

I really must get these tested one year to see if they’re edible.

Side Notes

Along the way I also dashed off a bunch of side notes that may amuse. Think of them as my snarky footnotes to the tour.

• Side Note 1 – 22/09/2017 – CrunchyRoll in Japan. Such as it is, and such as there is of it.
• Side Note 2 – 03/10/2017 – CrunchyRoll in Hong Kong. Better, not brilliant.
• Side Note 3 – 07/10/2017 – Welcome to the Great Firewall of China
• Side Note 4 – 11/10/2017 – The internet and my CR queue starts coming back
• Side Note 5 – 23/10/2017 – A good chunk of my CR queue is back in Russia.
• Side Note 6 – 25/10/2017 – Julian and Todd’s travel blogs (links)
• Side Note 7 – 30/10/2017 – Germany CR same as Russia CR
• Side Note 8 – 04/11/2017 – United Kingdom CR (all back)
• Side Note 9 – 19/11/2017 – The Perfect Shower

Book Review

After the trip I finished reading and reviewing HMS Warrior (1860): Victoria’s Ironclad Deterrent by Andrew Lambert.

The End

And… that’s all folks.

That was my Grand Tour to celebrate turning 50. I hope you’ve enjoyed following my trip as much as I enjoyed the journey, and I hope you stick around for my other travels (which will be rather less epic in scale).