Vienna Elephant Ride

My first day in Vienna and Ive found a ride. A tour of Vienna on an elephant, a fairly small elephant, but still an elephant. This is the start point on Maria-Theresien-Platz. The building behind the elephant is Naturhistorisches Museum, Natural History Museum. Opposite this is the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Art History Museum. German is full of long words, it should be more like Welsh and use short easy to spell words like Llanfairpwllgwyn.......... Maybe not.

Gatwick Airport

Off on another trip. This time traveling from Gatwick Airport. I've never been here before. Its a bit of a palaver getting here, a train ride then a long walk and a funny little train takes you to the airport - why didn't they just build the station and airport closer together? It's not like they both date back to Roman times. Luckily they have a lounge here and it is fairly quiet at the moment. Means space for me to relax and rest my wings. As a plane will be flying for me I can treat myself to a glass of champagne.

Rhinoceros Ride in Newcastle

I was pleased to find a dragons only tour in Newcastle. I was a bit surprised to see it was on a rhinoceros. When I think of rhinoceros I don't normally think of Newcastle. Not that I think of them that often.

Anyway, he showed me around the town telling me the history of places. I'm not sure whats of interest in this photograph though.

Newcastle

This is Newcastle on a nice sunny day. I'm flying close to Baltic Art Centre with the river Tyne below me. The closest bridge is the Millennium Bridge, the one further back is the Tyne Bridge. You can just see the Sage Music Centre under my back foot.

Baltic Art Centre is in the old Baltic Flour Mill which was built in the 1950's. The flour mill closed in 1981 and was converted into the art centre in the 90's. There's a few floors showing art and at the top is a viewing gallery withgreat views. If you don't fancy the art you can go straight up to the viewing gallery in a lift without needing to go in any of the galleries.

The Millennium Bridge was opened in November 2000. It tilts to let boats go under and looks pretty good when it does, looks like a blinking eye. It takes longer to walk across than you expect because its very curved, which gives the space for boats to go under when it 'blinks'.

The Tyne Bridge opened in 1928. It looks a lot like Sydney Harbour Bridge. I expect thats because it was built by the same company, its just a bit bigger. A lot of kittiwakes live under Tyne Bridge. They are very noisy and make quite a mess underneath it, I usually fly over it rather than take the chance.

York

Back to York and a meeting with the Emperor Constantine. He was declared Emperor by his fathers troops close to this spot, the Roman barracks is under York Minster (strange place to build a barracks). Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, it's Istanbul not Constantinople now, though the city was called Byzantium at the time. Naming it after himself shows how modest he is.

More Whitby Abbey

Here's another photo of me at Whitby Abbey. I suppose I'm 'in' the abbey here. It looks all very dramatic. If it was cloudy or there was a storm I could make the photo black and white and it would look even more dramatic. But I would get wet and thinking about that I've gone off the idea. I've had a bit of a look round but didn't find any vampires. Lots of people taking photos but no vampires. Might be a bit sunny for them.

Whitby Abbey

This is Whitby Abbey, well the ruins of Whitby Abbey.

Whitby is on the Yorkshire coast, not that far from York. I'm resting my wings here after the short flight over from York. Its a lovely site. Very popular with photographers, film makers and Dracula.

The first monastery was founded here in 657 by Oswy, the Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria.They had funny names back then. This monastery was destroyed by the Danes. It was rebuilt during the time of William the Conqueror. This time it lasted until Henry VIII and his Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1914 it was shelled by two German battlecruisers. They were aiming for something else, but it does seem to attract trouble. I don't think I'd live in a cave here, don't know what would happen. Though I think the Danes and Germans are less prone to attacking Yorkshire now.

St Mary's Abbey, York

This is St Mary's Abbey, well what's left of it. Founded in 1088 it was one the richest Benedictine monasteries in England. That was until Henry VIII and his Dissolution of the monasteries came along in the 1530's. Over the years the buildings fell into decay. Now the ruins are in York Museum Gardens and its all very lovely.

Merry Christmas

As its Christmas I thought I would dig out an old photo. Many years ago I was flying along and three men with beards started following me on camels. I flew for miles but they wouldn't leave. In the end I asked some shepherds where I could hide from these men. They panicked at first but after I said I wasn't going to eat them or their sheep, well maybe a little nibble, they calmed down and suggested a stable nearby. They said I could get something to eat there as well. So I flew off and found the place. I landed and found some people with a baby and thought it would be nice to give them some gold from my hoard as they obviously had no money. Then who should burst in but the men on their camels followed by the shepherds. One of the bearded men didn't have anything with him so gave the baby my gold I had already given him, cheek! They claimed to be wise men, didn't seem that wise to me following a dragon and then pretending my gold was his. I had a camera with me and got one of the shepherds to take a photo of us. Obviously back then we didn't have digital cameras so I've scanned this in from a print I had done later in Rome on the way back to Wales.

Clifford's Tower in York

I'm standing in front of Clifford's Tower. Its part of what's left of York Castle. Originally built by William the Conqueror the castle has been changed over the years. The original wooden tower was burnt down in 1190 and rebuilt. In the middle of 13th C Henry III decided to knock it down and build an entirely stone tower. Wooden castles aren't really that useful, especially against us dragons. For people that can't fly (I don't know how they manage) there are steps going up to the tower. The path used to wind round the mound up to the tower, which sounds more fun than the straight steps there now. Nobody knows why its called Clifford's Tower - they could tell you that before making you climb all those steps to read the information inside the tower.

York Tyburn

I'm at the site of York gallows in Knavesmire, know as York Tyburn. Knavesmire is about a mile from York Castle and is a marshy area. Executions used to attract large crowds who would gather in nearby pubs and get drunk before going to watch the hangings. The gallows were here until 1801 and is now home to York race course, so it still does attract large crowds who get drunk before the entertainment. The most famous person executed here was Dick Turpin in 1739.

Shaun the Sheep - Bristol IV

From Dusk 'til Shaun. A nocturnal Shaun with a sunset colour scheme. I like this one, very colourful. He is in Brandon Hill Nature Park. Hill is the important bit there. It's quite steep. Nice park, but steep. In the background is Cabot Tower, built in 1897 to commemorate the voyage of John Cabot from Bristol to Newfoundland (they thought long and hard over naming that). It's 100 feet high and you can climb to the top using the staircase inside if the climb up the hill wasn't enough for you, or you can fly if you have wings.

Shaun in the City - Bristol III

Shaun on the Cob, Shaun the Sheep crossed with a corn on the cob. In a shopping centre, just outside a fairly well known shop. Having met this Shaun I started feeling peckish, not that dragons eat vegetables but they do eat - better not say it around Shaun -. Which probably explains why I kept fancying a snack.

Shaun in the City - Bristol II

This Shaun is Cecilia. Cecilia is covered with Laura Ashley designs and is in one of the shopping centres in Bristol - there's a few of those and you can't always tell one ends and another begins. Cecilia was very nice, only trouble is he looked like a duvet so I kept thinking it was bed time. The noise in the shopping centre would have kept me awake and it was a bit bright, I prefer my nice dark caves.

Shaun in the City - Bristol I

Off to Bristol for more Shauns. Bristol is the home of Shaun the Sheep and is a rather nice city, it's also close to Wales which makes it even nicer, but not as nice as if it was in Wales. Anyway, this Shaun is Bagpuss Shaun in Cabot Circus. I know who Bagpuss is, but I don't get the frog on his head. Still he seemed a nice enough frog, not keen on the banjo though. I was hoping to find Jessica Fletcher but Shaun and the Frog didn't know who I was talking about. I guess they had only lived in Cabot Circus for a couple of days so didn't know everybody yet.

Shain in the City V

Here is Liberty Bell. I like this one, you get to see the Statue of Liberty without flying over the Atlantic. Saved my wings a lot of work. Liberty Bell is outside Fenchurch Street Station. For a major station its very difficult to find. All the other central London stations are on big busy roads. Fenchurch Street is on a tiny side road, from one side its a narrow alley. Maybe they want to keep the trains clean so don't want people finding the station and making them all dirty.

Shaun in the City IV

Shaun The Pearly King at Liverpool Street Station. Very easy to find this one as he is just by one of the Central Line exits at Liverpool Street Station. There are quite a few exits at this station, but luckily I know the place well. Liverpool Street Station is all bright and modern now. I think I preferred it when it was all dark and old fashioned.

Shaun in the City III

The third Shaun is 'The Gruffalo Shaun'. I found him near Piccadilly Circus. It's close to sunset, the sun setting behind me. I wasn't sure what a Gruffalo is, I thought he played the Hulk, its the right colour. Turns out its a monster from a childrens book. Why invent things when they can write about lovely real dragons?

Shaun in the City II

This Shaun is in Leicester Square next to Mossy Bottom in the previous post. He is called 'Woolly Jumbo' and looks like a plane. Even though he has wings, he can't fly. I suggested we have a race but he didn't accept. Well maybe they do work but he knew he couldn't beat a dragon at flying even with the engines fitted to him.

Shaun In The City I

The latest trail in London is Shaun in the City. It features Shaun the Sheep from Wallace and Gromit. This Shaun is 'Mossy Bottom' and is one of two in Leicester Square.