I'm still here while Lady M is enjoying life in her second home...Cyprus. This week I noticed this one from her blog last year. She returned to Blackpool for a week out of nostalgia for her long lost youth. I read it and it's given me ideas. After last week's blog you will know what I mean! Talking of last week... did it inspire you to make a bucket list, change your life or spice up your sex life?
Anyway, while you enjoy this Donald and I are off to indulge in my favourite hobby in some new places in Blackpool...The Tower Ballroom...The beach in front of the donkeys...The model village...The piers. We are going to have fun!
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| Tea dance at the Tower Ballroom |
I have just returned from a 5 night break in Blackpool. It was fantabulous, awesome. We got sunshine; there I was enjoying myself eating ice cream on the Central Pier, wearing sunspecs and covered in Factor 30. Brill!
I found a super hols in the SAGA brochure with included trips to the Tower Ballroom for a tea dance and a day in the Lakes with a Windermere Cruise (more about that next week). We had a super rep, Charlie who was in reception to greet every passenger. Peeps sometimes look at the Saga prices and think they are expensive. Wrong! There are so many inclusions that it really works out cheaper. Before I continue, I have to thank SatNav who did herself proud. There was an accident on the Motorway which meant long delays between Junctions 31 and 32. She took me off the Motorway at J 31 and somehow avoided the stationery traffic in Preston and found me the 'A' road to Blackpool. There was very little traffic; everything was stuck elsewhere. I love it when she gets it right.
We were at the 4* Imperial Hotel on the North Shore part of town. This hotel was built in 1867. Can you imagine any thing built today still standing in 150 years time? It boasted having such eminent guests as Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill. My writer's mind imagined chambermaids taking water to the rooms and emptying chamber pots. There would be no bathrooms, no electricity and peeps arriving by horse and carriage, ladies wearing beautiful gowns, and everyone dressing for dinner! Long gone days.
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| The North Pier |
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| Charles Dickens on my corridor! |
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| The Tower |
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| Donkeys on the beach |
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| The Church in the Model Village |
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| The Castle in the Model Village
On the first morning I took a stroll along the Prom to the North Pier, walked right down the Pier and back to the Arcade. Yes, I succumbed and put coins in those one-armed bandits. No, I didn't win. Well, you don't do you? But it was great fun! In the afternoon we had our first included excursion to the Tower Ballroom for the tea dance. Spectacular! Magic! Awesome experience. Organ music. We saw the organists change over; one disappears into the pit after his colleague has risen from the pit. No, I didn't dance. I'm afraid my days of Foxtrots and Waltzes are over but watching was fun. Also, the ballroom was a true example of Victorian splendour and the food? Just look at my top pic... Mouth watering. That was between four of us. We left around 2.30 for a stroll around the shops and finally an ice cream on the Prom before the coach returned us to the hotel.
Dinners were in The Palm Court Restaurant looking out at the sea and brilliant sunsets. When the sun had set the illuminations came on. The food? To coin the old adage... to die for. Absolutely delicious and mouth watering.
On the second day I visited The Model Village. I hadn't visited one since the sixties. The cashier told me it was because there were not many around. So, if you're in Blackpool don't miss it. It has everything in a small space but extremely well-planned with a 'route' questions guide. I've chosen just two pics to share with you. Later, even more nostalgia as I took the tram to South Pier, strolled along it, watched the donkeys on the beach and walked back to Central Pier. Well, it didn't look that far! I wanted to eat chips out of newspaper. Alas, no longer possible but I did get a cone of chips and ate them on the Central Pier while thinking of all the old trips I made to Blackpool in my youth.
On the third day we visited Windermere, (next week). On my final day I went shopping at the Freeport Outlet in Fleetwood and used my bus pass so I got a free ride. Then, in the early evening, a final stroll along the Prom to North Pier before dinner. The last event of the holiday? A bingo session put on by our rep.
So, you all know Lady M likes new experiences and 'firsts'. She had been to Blackpool before, seen the Tower etc but she had never been to a tea dance...
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| A Carriage Ride? |
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| The Tram |
Have a great week, Lady M!
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Love Sofia and Donald xxxx
P.s. We are in the Tower Ballroom!
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