Monday 28 May

6am start and breakfast in hotel before boarding shuttle bus to Heathrow T2. Checked in and through security speedily, then waited in the lounge until the gate opened. Gate change at last minute as we were walking past new gate! Boarding was smooth and we left gate on time at 11.25am. A bumpy flight at times but otherwise ok. Chatted to an American sat beside Les who had been to UK for a wedding. Helped him with adjusting all of his 180 wedding photos on his MacBook.

At some point during the flight one of the arms on Les’s glasses almost snapped. Can’t understand how this happened.

Arrived at Denver 15 minutes early at 2pm - a smooth passage through immigration and customs. Reclaimed baggage and got a cab to our hotel - The Renaissance Stapleton on Quebec Street.

After having cup of tea in room caught hotel shuttle to Walmart where Les was able to get his lenses fitted into new frames for $17. In Walmart we decided to buy bits for dinner and breakfast. Whilst in the store there was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning. Phoned the hotel and asked them to send the shuttle to pick us up. Back in our room we had our food - Les asked for an extra chair from Reception so that we could both sit at the table. Why do so many hotels give you two beds but only one chair?

Typed the diary and by then it was 7.20pm, or 2.20am at home so more than ready for bed!!!

Tuesday 29 May

When we got up Les realised that the ‘new’ glasses were very uncomfortable and didn’t sit properly. In fact they fell off twice when Les looked down at the floor. On closer inspection we also realised that one of the lenses had been slightly damaged on a corner, probably as a result of being forced out of the old frames or into the new ones. What's more the frames of the old glasses had been wrecked. The damaged arm had been completely broken and the undamaged arm had been snapped as well.

After breakfast in the room we walked to the opticians which had been closed yesterday afternoon. They were extremely helpful. They adjusted the new frames so that they were as comfortable as possible. They advised against trying to refit the lenses into other frames as they doubted that they could find any to match in the time available. Les decided to carry on wearing his previous pair which fortunately we bring away with us on all long holidays. They’re OK for most things and they’re very comfortable. The opticians made no charge for all this

We walked the short distance back to the hotel (although with a couple of strange looks from people as obviously nobody walks). We then got the shuttle to the railway station and were just in time to buy our day passes ($2.60 for Seniors) and went the 15 minute ride to Union Station. The station has been an attempt to kick-start the regeneration of a former rundown area and is very smart with lots of eateries and bars, etc. We had a coffee before starting to walk the length of 16th Street Mall. We found a shoe shop where Les bought some Skechers but Anne couldn’t find the Crocs in the colour she wanted. Carrying on we went to Uniglo in Denver Pavilions where Anne bought a dress.

We were aiming for the Capitol Building but decided to have an early lunch. Found a really nice bakery where we had paninis and fresh lemonade.

It was quite hot by this time so we were pleased to get inside the relative cool of the Capitol Building. After a short wait we joined the 2pm guided tour which lasted an hour. A very interesting tour by a voluntary guide mixing history, architecture and politics. The end of the tour was a climb up 68 steps to the base of the dome. Anne decided to miss this and stayed in the small museum. Good views from outside and a nice refreshing breeze.

Coming down and leaving the building we weren’t quite sure what to do so we sat on a wall in the shade of a tree while we looked at maps. We decided to go to the Byers/Evans house - which is virtually unchanged from its early 1900s condition and with all original furniture. As we stood up to go there Les dropped his phone and damaged the screen cover (we hope). Very annoying as this is the first time in 25+ years that Les has managed to damage a mobile.

The house was interesting. It was very close to closing time and we were the only people there, so we had a personal tour by one of the guides . By this time it was really hot and by the time we had walked back to 16th Street we were gasping for a drink. We tried a coffee shop but this had closed so we gave in and went to the bar next door. A typical American sports bar with loudish music and silent TVs everywhere. We sat at the bar and studied the amazing range of beers. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anything weak. It didn’t look as though they served sparkling water and Les wasn’t going to ask. We settled on beers - Coors Light for Anne and Hoegaarden for Les and then found that they only serve pints (although their pints are smaller than ours). They went down extraordinarily well and we sat there for 30 minutes or so resting our legs and cooling down.

After a bit of thought we decided that we’d try and eat early in the city rather than back at the hotel. We looked at the first place we came across which was Earls. The menu looked fine so we went in and turned out to be really good. It’s obviously popular as it gradually filled up while we were there. The food was excellent - Anne had a fresh tuna salad and Les had Cajun salmon. We didn’t want any more to drink but the waiting staff were happy to keep refilling our glasses with iced water. When we came out we got on one of the free buses that shuttle endlessly up and down the mall and went back to Union Station. There was a train waiting and it left within 5 minutes for the 15 minute journey back. When we were one station away we phoned the hotel and asked for the shuttle to pick us up. They said it would be up to 15 minutes but in fact by the time we’d got off the platform and across the road into the bus station the shuttle was pulling in.

Plenty of time to download photos and type up the diary with a cup of tea.

Wednesday 30 May

Another reasonable night but still can’t quite get used to the trains. We’re quite close to several level crossings and the trains are obliged to whistle as they go past each one which means every train gives out a serious of blasts as it goes through.

We were up around 8am and had breakfast in our room as usual. Once we were ready to go we took the hotel shuttle to Central Park Station and got the train into Union Station. We had a coffee at the station and then walked down 16th to the riverside park. This is quite well done. The City and other bodies have transformed a polluted river and unattractive riverside to an attractive park. We walked to the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River and then slowly back to Union Station. It was very sunny and quite hot. We’d asked at the Tourist Information earlier and they’d suggested the number 20 bus to get to the Museum of Science and Nature. We went underground to the bus station but eventually worked out that it would be a 50 minute wait for the next bus. We came back up into the station and decided to try Uber. The service was very efficient and the car had reached the pick up point before us. The final charge was only $14.70 for quite a long trip. The only drawback is that it is charged automatically to our PayPal account and we have a nasty feeling that there are going to be some heavy conversion charges, but as we write nothing is showing on the bank account yet.

The museum is very interesting. We started with a quick lunch of a slice of pizza each and then went round some of the various galleries looking mainly at wildlife but also at a very good exhibition of gems and minerals. Eventually after a quick tea our timed entry into the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition was due. We spent well over an hour in this which culminated in seeing fragments of the actual scrolls. It made for a really good half day and we could’ve spent more time looking at more exhibitions. The building itself is modern, spacious and very well laid out. There are restrooms and seating areas everywhere - so you don’t need to be on your feet continuously. We left around 4.45 again using Uber to get back to the hotel. Once again the pick up was almost instant.

Interestingly the two Uber drivers and our cab driver from the airport have all been African immigrants - Sudan, Ethiopia and Senegal.

Downloaded pictures and typed up diary. Decided to eat in the bar rather than go into the city or across to Walmart, especially as it had started raining. Had a nice simple meal in the bar and spent our time talking to a nice middle-aged lady from Indiana. It turned out that she was one of many people arriving for a 3 day poetry festival at the hotel. Her name was Deborah Petersen and she is President of the Poetry Society of Indiana

Back in the room we watched Have I Got a Bit More News for You via iPlayer.

Thursday 31 May

Got up around 8am. Ate our remaining food and set off for the airport. A very short wait for the train and an easy journey. When we arrived we got a coffee before finding our way to the bus transfer to the Alamo centre. We allowed ourselves to be talked into upgrading the car to a Ford Explorer. Not sure initially whether this was our cleverest decision, but the car is extremely sophisticated. We probably need an evening with the manual to work everything out.