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We've had a wonderful break in the Blue Mountains after business meetings in Sydney, visiting Boris' grandkids and seeing old friends.
It's been over ten years since Boris and I were in the mountains. I assume the Three Sisters are still standing, it was so foggy, misty and rainy you couldn't see a foot in front of you. I felt sorry for the busloads of Japanese tourists trundled up each morning from their Sydney hotels who stood peering into the fog from Echo Point wondering what was out there. We stayed at lovely Lilianfels which won Best Overall Hotel in Australia last year and were surrounded by couples spending Valentine's weekend in the mountains, including a delightful couple in their 80s who joined us for a glass of wine in front of the fire in the elegant lounge before dinner. Yes, fire. Despite it being summer the temperature was ten degrees, down from 40 the previous weekend. So it was a nice change to bundle up and go for drippy misty walks and visit the mountain villages. Leura is still our favourite and we found a brilliant restaurant, Silk's Brasserie as well as a French one for lunch every day. There are tons of galleries, craft places and cute shops; Including a very fine stationery store where I spent ages looking at exquisite French stationery paper and exotic pens. I love fountain pens but couldn't imagine paying five thousand dollars for one. I'd lose it the next day.
We called into the quaint old fashioned Carrington Hotel which still has the same antiques in the dining room and old style comfort. An old retainer told us they're still discovering tunnels that ran from the hotel under the road to cellars of the various establishments in the old days. The iconic Hyrdro Majestic Hotel one of the first of the grand mountain hotels, is a sorry deserted sight. A few overseas groups tried to patch it up and rip off tourists and greed sent them bankrupt. A new consortium, including locals, are trying to refit and reopen the old beauty in two years time.
My other favourite haunts were the secondhand bookshops. One was run by an interesting retired language lecturer from Sydney University who was sitting with a rug over his knees and fingerless mittens translating a Hebrew manuscript. He spoke eight languages and holds language classes in the back of the bookshop and has more students than he had at University.
It was a wonderful relaxing, romantic time, I slept a lot as well as worked on my book. Boris gave me red roses and a beautiful pair of earrings. Like the couple celebrating Valentine's day in their 80s we hope we too will manage to do the same!
Cheers
Di’s latest book The Islands, published by Pan Macmillan, is now on sale.
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