Travelog for: Travel Ted

Travel Ted’s excitement at visiting the Cannes Film Festival never dwindled, and his heart raced with anticipation as the plane ground to a halt at Nice airport. Despite watching lots and lots of movies (some of them better than others), he still managed to find a little bit of time to act like a tourist and explore the narrow cobbled streets of the old town.

Travel Ted had looked forward to his trip to Bradford. He’d heard that it had a really awesome cinema museum and lots of top-notch Indian restaurants.

Bradford turned out to be cold, windy, and rain-drenched. Moreover, the car park view from the hotel window was frankly a bit drab. Travel Ted decided to stay indoors and watch the Jeremy Kyle show. Sadly, exploring what the town had to offer would need to wait for another trip.

This was an exciting day, as Travel Ted welcomed a celebrity visitor. Baymax Balloon from the movie BIG HERO 6 travelled all the way from London’s legendary Odeon Leicester Square cinema to visit him at home.

Travel Ted always enjoyed visiting London’s docklands, seeing all the boats and exploring the mix of old warehouse buildings and great big shiny skyscrapers. He made sure he had plenty of time to explore the Museum of London Docklands, where he learned all sorts of interesting things about the sugar, tea, and slave trades.

Travel Ted was very excited to arrive at London’s St. Pancras railway station. It was huge! He had fun browsing round all the shops downstairs, but particularly enjoyed watching all the people go by, and imagining the many exciting places they might have come from or be going to. Then, after zooming upstairs in the lift, he had the place almost to himself! Now, where could Travel Ted be going for his next exciting adventure?

Travel Ted was very happy to be visiting Leicester again, and to have a bit more time to explore the city than on his previous trip.

He was particularly keen to learn more about King Richard III, who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and whose skeleton was discovered beneath a Leicester car park in 2012. Travel Ted was impressed by the fact that William Shakespeare had written a very famous play about him, although apparently it didn’t mention the car park. Travel Ted resolved to read the play himself one day.

In the meantime, his first tourist stop was the King Richard III Visitor Centre, outside which he posed for a photo with a statue of His Royal Highness. He also took a moment to look at the neighbouring Leicester Cathedral, where Richard’s bones had been reburied just a few weeks earlier.

Next stop was Leicester’s Town Hall Square. Travel Ted thought it rather nice. He particularly liked the fountain in the square, but it didn’t show up in the picture because Travel Ted was standing right in front of it when the photo was taken. What a silly billy!

A couple of roads away, Travel Ted found a building that looked very different indeed from all the other buildings he’d seen in Leicester. He decided to investigate more closely, and learned that this was the Jain Centre – a temple belonging to a very ancient Indian religion that has 12 million followers around the world.

It was time for Travel Ted to move on again if he wanted time to fit in a stroll through the Castle Gardens. He thought they were very lovely, but felt slightly glum upon discovering there hadn’t been a castle there for a very long time. He expressed his disappointment to some passing swans, who suggested somewhere else he might like to visit.

Travel Ted enjoyed his visit to the Carnegie Museum in the medieval town of Melton Mowbray. He learned a bit about the pork pies and stilton cheese for which the town is famous. He also learned a lot about fox hunting, and approved of the fact that it is no longer legal in England. He also met a two-headed calf that died over 100 years ago. That was a bit odd. Travel Ted wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Travel Ted had always admired William Morris: a poet, novelist, social activist, and designer of lovely wallpaper and curtains. He was therefore very excited to visit The Ted House (sorry, Red House), where Morris lived as a young man and had spent lots of time being creative alongside his other very talented pals like Edward Burne-Jones, who described the house as “the most beautiful place on earth”.

William the Scarecrow, who lives in the Red House gardens, was very happy to tell Travel Ted all about its history. He also had lots of interesting stories about vegetables and big bad birds.

Travel Ted always enjoyed visiting Canterbury, and it was the perfect summer’s day for an outing. He never tired of visiting the splendid cathedral, and this year was able to admire a new addition: statues of the Queen and Prince Philip installed earlier this year to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

While in Canterbury, Travel Ted also took time to visit his favourite building – the spectacularly wonky Sir John Boys House, popularly known as The Crooked House. He was delighted to discover it had recently become a fund-raising bookshop for Catching Lives charity, which works to support local homeless people. This meant he was able to explore inside for the first time and give some of his pocket money to a good cause too.

As it was such a beautiful warm day, Travel Ted decided to hop on a bus from Canterbury to Whitstable, where he had lots of fun joining the seaside sunbathers before taking a stroll to admire all the action on the boats in the harbour.

Travel Ted’s last stop of the day was the small seaside town of Herne Bay, where he enjoyed the attractions of the pier before watching the sun set across the bay.