October and November 2010

After Portugal life was a bit boring for a while. Shapeshifter were playing on the 29th of October though so I got to see my brother and the boys did a fantastic gig, as usual. They put us on the door plus four friends, so we felt like real celebrities getting the little backstage pass bands and getting to go to the special bar afterwards.
One of the nurses I work with was having a halloween party the next night. Our good friends Anne and Matt from New Zealand had come to the UK at the beginning of October and had gone straight on a Top Deck tour of Europe, but this was now finished so we dragged them to the party with us, all the way in Hendon, North London! We looked spectacular.

It was very interesting taking the public transport across London - some people had gone all out with their outfits. There were skeletons with massive polystyrene skulls, witches, people with gore all over them - if you didn't know it was halloween it probably would have been a bit scary. Rob's favourite was the line of Storm-troopers taking the escalator at Waterloo. At the party there were some ghosts, a mummy, a skeleton, and lots of blood and gore when Rob tried to operate his bleeding knife wound from where he'd been stabbed in the back...

The following week I didn't have much work on so did the touristy thing and went with Anne and Matt to Windsor Castle to have a look around. It is lovely, probably the best royal castle in my opinion.

It was a great time to go, as there were hardly any tourists. We got the tour guide to ourselves and she was very informative. And the view from the castle grounds of the trees in all their glory of Autumn was beautiful.

Our tour guide told us all about the Knights of the Order of the Garter - of which Sir Edmund Hilary was one. Every Knight gets their own shield, which are all on display inside the castle. While they are alive they also get a throne in St George's Church. Apparently Sir Ed had a Kiwi atop his throne. Also in St George's is the grave of King Henry the VIII. Really, really interesting place!

Anne and Matt escaped London again, this time on a camping trip around the UK. I went on yet another girly theatre night to Flashdance on the 4th November. It was Guy Fawkes on the 5th, but I had the dreaded lurgy and felt too ill to venture out. We actually saw a great display from our flatmate, Simon's, window, so all was not lost!

On the 6th, it was the long awaited day where we were to go to Twickenham to see the mighty All Blacks kick England's butt. We had paid crazy amounts months before to secure the tickets, and were very excited. Preparations took place to ensure we looked the part.

The crowds were, as expected, massive, and the police horses were there to keep order (my favourite part of London perhaps? Every time I see a mounted policeperson I moon over the horse).

Ritchie and the boys did a great job.

On the way home Simon initiated a lovely piece of international relations, and I was so impressed with the Englishman being so stereotypically dressed, I had to take a photo.

We got to see some good fireworks the weekend after the rugby to make up for our dismal effort on Guy Fawkes night. These followed the Lord Mayor of London's Parade.

The weekend of the 20th of November we went to meet Matt and Anne on their camping extravaganza in the Lakes District. By this time the winter which was to be later known as the coldest in many many decades was starting to make its icy grip felt. But it was still incredibly beautiful. We took the train to Windemere and Matt and Anne picked us up in their lovely orange Spacewagon. Before we left the station we had to try some Kendal Mint cake - surprisingly nice. For those kiwis out there it tastes like the top of an Arnotts mint slice biscuit. We drove around Lake Windermere and had to stop to take some photos.

We drove up to Grasmere and found the Wordsworth Graves. This is where William Wordsworth used to like to hang out and write poems about daffodils. It is a really beautiful spot but I imagine even more gorgeous when the daffodils are out.
We managed to find a wonderful smelling Gingerbread shop, very old shop, and yummy gingerbread, so chomped on our gingerbread while we were taking in the peaceful place.

One of our priorities (well, especially the boys), was to find somewhere to watch the All Blacks vs Ireland game. This was not going to be easy, we realised. We had a look around Keswick, but the only pub with a TV was playing the FOOTBALL, of course. We decided to try and find somewhere on the way back to our campsite. On the way we took in some more breath-taking scenery.

Finally we managed to find a pub where the owner wasn't bothered about the football (in fact, he didn't have cable so he couldn't have played it if he wanted to). The pub had a mysterious boot hanging from the rafters, with a long story about how it got there, that I have now forgotten.

We had a yummy meal of Cumberland bangers and mash, and Matt bantered with the Irish woman at the next table while the rugby was on, all in all a very satisfactory conclusion. When we got to the campsite our bunkhouse was very serviceable, and when we went over to the camp pub we got sticky date pudding and rounded the evening off nicely.

The next day was freezing. We went and had a look round Bowness, then decided to go on a cruise on Lake Windemere to Lakeside, where we could visit the aquarium. We questioned our sanity in deciding to go on a boat in that weather, but it was actually OK, and very beautiful.

The aquarium was actually pretty cool. There is a tunnel like at Kelly Tarltons where the fish swim above you.

Then there are also otters, pirhanas, big turtles, a huge eel that is begging to be petted, little marmoset monkeys - very cute! And lots of other stuff. We caught the boat back to Bowness and went and got yet another substantial pub meal before we caught the train home and Matt and Anne continued their camping adventure.

The last event in November was Jimmy Carr in Brixton, very funny guy but very crude! Brixton wasn't as dodgy as I expected but probably because it was early and a Sunday night... We had the first few flakes of snow fall that night.

Lisbon, 9-11 October 2010

The last weekend of September we had booked our tickets for Bedlam at the Globe Theatre. Despite not being written by Shakespeare, it was a well-written play set in (where else?) Bedlam (a famous mental asylum). The posh Londoners would go and see the inhabitants as modern-day people would go and see a film, all very amusing and entertaining. The show suited the Globe very well, and this time we had a good view. It was actually the first production at the Globe written by a female.

It was Rob's birthday on the 13th of October, and our friend Storm shares his birthday. So they decided to have a long weekend away in Portugal to celebrate, the weekend before. They decided to make it Lisbon, as it was unlikely to be beach weather anyway so might as well just hang out in a nice apartment in the city. We arrived late Friday night, got completely ripped off by a cabbie going from the airport to the apartment, but put that behind us and excitedly looked around our apartment, which was over 2 stories and very nice. We then managed to find an open restaurant and got some traditional Portuguese fare, featuring fish, potatoes and lots of butter - very tasty and filling.

The next day we went out late and had a look around the city. The first thing that struck us is how many shops there are around with yummy pastries, it seemed like every third shop sold them. There is also a lot of squares with statues in them. We walked up to St Georges castle, which is a great walk. You get a really good view over the city.
On they way there is a kind of ruin with great colourful graffiti that everyone was quite taken by. There is an old ruin of a couch that is the perfect place for posey photos.

We also came across a couple of perfect red deck chairs.

We couldn't resist snappping this sign:

While we were waiting in the line to get into the castle we were kept amused by these spectators:

The castle was quite impressive, and there is a wonderful view.

It is quite big, and on our wanderings we came across this guy who plays music for money, but obviously uses it to buy food for all the kittys that roam the castle. We gave him some money.

That night we had a mini-party, and made some potent vodka jellies. Then we went out wandering and found a great little restaurant on a side street somewhere in suburbia. The poor staff were waiting for us to leave by the end of it.

The next morning we had arranged an amazing breakfast with bacon, eggs, cereal, fruit and yoghurt and were well prepared for our trip to Belem to find the best custard tart in Portugal. Belem is a short tram ride out of central Lisbon. While we were waiting we looked at all the fishies in the harbour and admired the square (yet another one...)

There are loads of tourists, 90% of them lining up at this tart shop. We lined up with the rest and got our tarts, and they were good, but not amazing. They were a bit too burnt. We had a look at Jeronimos Monastery but didn't go in. The Discoveries Monument is also in Belem - we were fans of this one.

Belem Tower is apparently one of the most photographed monuments in Lisbon. We didn't go in but appreciated it from the outside.
We really enjoyed Lisbon but didn't think we needed any more time than what we had. Next time we visit Portugal it will have to be somewhere beachy and warm...

Munich (and Oktoberfest), 16-20 September 2010

One of the things that I had been looking forward to all year was the Muse concert. We had got tickets to the Manchester one because the London one was sold out, so we were to stay overnight in Manchester as well. Manchester was, well, forgettable. Not that we got to see a lot, but neither of us are inspired to go back anytime soon.... We did go on Manchester's version of London wheel, and saw not much. But Muse was absolutely fantastic - our favourite concert so far. We felt better about missing the London one when we heard that they did a much better song line-up at Manchester. It was cool getting to go and see a concert at Old Trafford as well.

Sarah and Simon were trying to pack as much in as possible before they had to go home to New Zealand, and the next thing they had planned was Oktoberfest. We decided to tag along, without much expectation. The trip was booked through PP Travel, and was one of those times you think something won't be too bad when you look at it on paper, then the reality is a million times worse - that is the fact that we were driving to Munich on a coach, from London. We left at 1pm, took the ferry over to Calais, then drove overnight. The coach was packed with excited people, drinking.... lets just say not much sleeping occurred.

When we got to the campsite, we were assigned a tent which was OK, a bit grotty but could have been worse, and went into town to have a look around. Of course we had to try bratwurst, and we got extremely charmed by Munich and its inhabitants. Everyone seems to get dressed up for the occasion of beerfest in tradional dress. We tried to get a table in a beerhall but they were all packed, so we went to an outdoor one instead and had a sensational meal of pork and potato salad. The awful coach trip was all but forgotten.

Saturday was Beerfest Day. Most of the girls in the campsite had little Bavarian outfits to wear, but the girls in our group were far too sensible for that nonsense and dressed comfortably and warmly. We decided to get a table early and managed to find one with a male server. For some reason the guys in our group weren't happy about that. But really they were just pleased to get served with their 1 litre steins. Beerfest isn't just about beer, although there are numerous different beer tents to choose from. There are fairground rides, food like wurst, half roast chickens, pork, chocolate-covered fruit, gingerbread, and other stuff you'd find at a fair, and crappy merchandise. Sarah is not a fan of beer so she and a friend had found a tea tent that sold cocktails and cake. We wandered over there and were extremely impressed at what the tent had to offer. Ourselves, Sarah, Simon, and our other friends from NZ, Kristina and Stu showed the Bavarians how to do it when the rock and roll band Flat Out started playing. We also enjoyed watching the natives boogie in their funny outfits.

After a great day on Saturday, we had already decided we would take the option of going to Dachau Concentration Camp and a Monastery on the Sunday.

Dachau, as we expected, was very sobering. Unfortunately we didn't really have enough time to explore it fully as we got taken up with the impressive museum display they have telling the whole sordid history of the Nazis.

"Hard Work Will Set You Free"

The monastery was planned for lunch, and what we didn't realise was that it was a proper brewery. It is extremely popular with locals as well as tourists, so it was packed. We got beers and pork and potato which was devine. The view was a great accompaniment to the meal.

After the food we couldn't resist getting a dessert we had seen one of the locals get, which looked like a steamed pudding with custard on. It was called a "dampfnudela", and was delicious. Afterwards we went for a walk and had a look in the church which was spectacular.

We were dreading the coach ride home, but in the end it wasn't so bad - we watched DVDs to start with and everyone was so tired they shut up, plus Simon had some spare ear plugs that he gave us.

It was a wonderful trip, but we'd both put on a couple of kilos by the end of it...

We would definately go back to Munich though, maybe when we have a better look round Germany.

Bath, 28-30 August 2010

After our trip to Canterbury, we planned a trip to Bath. One thing to keep in mind when going to Bath is that accomodation is not cheap. Especially when you are finding it at reasonably short notice. But this is because Bath is such a desirable destination. Anyway Emma booked the mystery hotel on Lastminute.com which ended up being the Hilton! Why not have a bit of luxury every now and then eh? (It was very nice, too, and lovely breakfast included).

Before our trip to Bath was to happen, Emma went to another musical without Rob. It was The Lion King, really a must see when in London. Em went with Sarah, and we were absolutely blown away by the costuming and staging - really really well done. Nothing new in the story, but that's what you get when you go to stage shows of movies.

We got to Bath on Saturday. It was too early to check in, so we left our bags with reception and had a look around. We were immediately impressed. Bath is gorgeous. We came across a bookshop on a side street called Mr B's. We were both taken with the way they had set up a room upstairs where one can relax with a book and have a cuppa, called the Bibliotherapy room. Really a must-see when in Bath, if you are a bibliophile.

One thing that immediately struck us was the lions. For some reason there were lions of all shape and form dotted all around the city. These are just a couple, but other favourites of ours was the one with a mane of scalpel blades, and a Monopoly lion


We loved this old fashioned "street on a bridge". Both sides of the bridge are lined with shops, like they used to be.

Over the long weekend we managed to cram in quite a lot. We were a bit sick of churches by now but had to have a look in the Bath Abbey, founded in 1499. It is famous for depicting the angels climbing Jacob's Ladder on the West face of the Abbey. You can see them in the photo below.

It was actually a lovely church and rates up there in the ones we've seen. In the centre of Bath there are some beautiful sunken gardens. You have to pay to go in though and we are far too cheap to do that so we just took photos from the top.

Another must-do in Bath is to visit the Sally Lunn bun shop. This is the oldest bakery in England. They run a tea room where they put the bun with everything, it is served under meat in a savoury main meal or sweet. A very versatile bun.

Because it is such a touristy place, there are a lot of yummy food choices. One of Em's favourites was a gelato place that had Eton Mess as one of the flavours - one of the best gelatos she's had. There is also a tempting-smelling fudge place and many restaurants, including all the usuals. Being the middle of summer, the buskers were out in force. We saw an impressive act where the guy ended up diving head first into a bucket of water. Not for the faint-hearted.

The thing Bath is famous for is, of course, the thermal waters - the only thermal spring in Britain. The old Roman Baths that were here have been skillfully excavated and is an amazing place to visit. The springs are still bubbling water up and you can go into all the many bathing rooms they had, see how they used the thermal water to heat the floors, and get a sense of ancient history. You can then have a drink of the water which is disgusting, but is supposedly very healthy.

The new thermal spa built nearby is expensive, but we were glad we went. It is built on several levels, with a warm pool on the ground floor, massage areas upstairs, then on the next level a big room with foot baths, an overgrown Powershower and four differently scented steam rooms. The top level is open air and is a large hot pool. Unfortunately it is very crowded, but we still enjoyed it as the view is extraordinary.

We decided to go on a mini-bus tour to Stonehenge. The tour promised us a trip to a small medieval village as well, which we were looking forward to more than Stonehenge after what we'd heard from others.

At Sonehenge it was extremely windy - you can get an idea from the hairstyle - and cold. The structure is roped off a long way from the stones, and you walk around listening to a very boring audio tour. Emma was less than impressed. Rob occupied himself with taking lots of photos. Finally we got to go back on the bus and we went on to Lacock - the medieval village. Our tour-guide/driver was very knowledgable about Bath and its surrounds and filled us in on the famous people that live around the place. He is from Lacock so gave us an insiders tour here. In the pub they had a lot of original features, including a wheel which a dog walked on to turn the spit over the fire. There were also quite a few original-looking characters lurking around.

The village itself is very pretty, but the cars lining the streets are a bit incongruous.

We went and saw the house that they used as Harry's mum and dad's house in the movies. Unfortunately we couldn't go in the church that had also featured in the movies as there was a wedding on.

We decided to make our trip to Bath complete we would take one of those hop-on, hop-off bus tours. It took us to some of the areas we hadn't managed to see yet. One of these was the Royal Crescent, a very upmarket place to live, and apparently where Johnny Depp has a house. It was a lovely day to play croquet.

So far, Emma's favourite destination in the U.K....

Canterbury, 14-15 August 2010

The next event I went to was Dirty Dancing - the Show. This was a girls night, for some reason Rob wasn't keen to go? The show was really well done and the guy playing Johnny was ripped, but the dancing just wasn't up to Patrick and Jennifer's performance...

Since it was really the last month of summer, we decided to do a couple of weekends away before summer ended. The first weekend we decided to go to Canterbury, our home-province's namesake. Of course Canterbury was made famous by the martyrdom of Thomas Beckett, which resulted in pilgrimages to Canterbury, and Chaucer writing The Canterbury Tales. The city is very pretty in parts. They still have the medieval gates to the city.

A lot of the shops are very quaint, we loved this one...

So many retain their medieval characteristics. This is known as a weaver's loft, the upper stories were built out over the street so they'd have more room and they put big windows in so they'd have lots of light for their weaving.

We had a good look around the streets of Canterbury and did a walking tour which was really good. There was a little "hospital" that we stumbled upon ourselves, where pilgrims used to stay, and this is pretty much original.
We also did the touristy thing, "The Canterbury Tales", which is a corny attraction where they have recreated the Tales with "authentic medievil smells and sounds". Of course the piece de resistance is the Christchurch Cathedral.

You can't really get the scale of the place in a picture, it is absolutely massive.

The relic of Thomas Beckett was destroyed by order of King Henry VIII, which meant that the stream of pilgrims dried up. Now the site where it was is marked by a lit candle. There is also this piece of art (above) marking the site where he was murdered. The history is fascinating and there is a huge amount of art in numerous stained glass windows telling the story.

The outside is just as fascinating as the inside. This is the monks' old herb garden and quarters.

We also managed to stumble across a Roman museum - after Canterbury was bombed in the war, it uncovered an ancient Roman house. They have preserved the amazing mosaic floors and all the bits and pieces they found along with the house layout. It was a bit of an unexpected treat.

All in all Canterbury was a worthwhile place to visit. The B & B we stayed in was very cute also, but it is a lot more touristy than we expected and not cheap.

July 2010

The weekend after Dublin I went to Kew gardens with Georgia. We fed a friendly squirrel way too much of our picnic lunch, because it was so cute watching him eat things.
We also saw some gorgeous butterflies in the butterfly house

On Sunday Rob and I went to Brighton for a little day trip. We saw Brighton Pier in all its tackiness - excellent!

The beach looked beautiful but unfortunately was all pebbles.

We explored Brighton and window shopped in all of the quirky little independent shops down the side streets. We also had a yummy, cheap fry up and I couldn't resisit getting some fudge.

The next weekend was the one I had been looking forward to all year... The Ben and Jerry's festival. All day, all the icecream is free and you can have as much as you want. We, of course, tried all 14 flavours (counting the fro-yo as separate flavours).

The rides were free as well, and they had live music on the stage, which admittedly we were too busy eating icecream to pay attention to.