Wales

Our next trip out of town was a little closer to home. Robin had gotten us tickets to see the All Blacks vs Wales so we were off to Cardiff with Robin and Mary. This time we decided to try a different way of getting out of town and got a coach bus from London to Cardiff. The up side was that it was alot cheaper than the train. The downside was that it wasn't as comfy as a train and it took a lot longer to get there but ultimately we arrived in Cardiff. Fortunately we had managed to find a hotel that was both close to the bus stop and close to the Millenium Stadium for the rugby. By the time we arrived it was pretty late on Friday night so we decided the best course of action was get a good nights sleep.

The next morning we were up bright and (not too) early to explore Cardiff. Cardiff central is split into two parts, the old town centre where we were staying and then the new waterfront which is a wee ways away. We decided to journey down that way for brunch. There are some pretty cool sculptures and architecture down there as well, and a whole lot of chain restaurants. We decided to go with a non-chain, being the Norweigen Church Arts Centre Cafe. It is housed in an old Church from the 1800s built for Norweigen Sailors. We indluged in a Welsh delicacy, Rarebit, which is a cheesy sauce over toast. We made our way (in between rain showers) back to the old town where we visited Cardiff Castle which the city is built around. It dates back to Roman times but has been knocked down and rebuilt a number of times since then. It was pretty chilly but nice to have a look around. We made our way under some of the pretty covered Victorian markets and back to the hotel for a shower and a change before we were off to the Milleium Stadium for the rugby. It is certainly an amazing stadium. Housing 75,000 the All Black supporters didn't stand a chance of drowning out the Welsh cheering and singing. Luckily the roof was on (flash eh?) and that helped keep it a bit warmer because it was freezing outside. The All Blacks had us worried in the first half of the game with a 6 all scoreline but luckily they must have had a talking to at halftime cause they pulled away and managed to win the game 19 to 12. Marcus had lost his voice from a cold but luckily Jess was doing enough cheering and shouting for both of them. We made our way back down to the waterfront for a tasty dinner and then walked back through the cold and wet off to bed to dry out.

The next morning we went for a walk through Cardiff park after finding a questionable eating establishment to cook us breakfast (it was the ONLY place open) and then jumped in the car for Robin to drive us to Pembrokeshire. It was a long day driving along the south coast of Wales but we finally arrived at our cute little cottage in the Pembrokeshire countryside, much of it not too different than New Zealand to look at (without the stone cottages). The next day was chilly but sunny and we piled into the car for some sightseeing. We took in a local wool mill, which had been visited by Prince Charles, and where Marcus found himself a new hat. After that we ventured on to the beautiful little town of St Davids, far on the West Coast of Wales, home of St Davids Cathedral. It was pretty big and impressive and has been the site of a church since the 6th century. We then went for a guided walk around the town (which mostly ended up being through the paddocks) and then piled back in the car again and went south to the town of Pembroke. We didn't really know what to expect but it ended up being the home to the best castle we have seen so far, Pembroke Castle. We arrived pretty late so we only had about 45 minutes to run around the castle, which was just enough time to run up the turrents, around the walls, down into the dungeons and into the cave underneath the castle. This was a proper castle and great fun considering there was barely anyone else visiting at the time. After all that running we were pretty tired so made our way back to our cottage for dinner and a sleep. The next day we spent driving all the way back to London. It sure was a long way but we made in one piece and that's "What's Occuring"...

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Paris

Before we knew it we were off to Europe again. This time it was for long a weekend away in Paris. We got the Eurostar from Kings Cross Station at a reasonable hour. So much better than having to get out to one of the airports and flying. We then zoomed our way through south east England, under the British Channell and by 11am we were in Paris. The Paris Metro is a bit more basic than the London Underground but we managed to make our way safely to our hotel, the Hotel Design on Port d'Orleans. We were struck by the bright pink paintwork and the exercise balls for seats in the lobby. Luckily when we made it to our room things were a bit more subdued. We had heard hotel rooms in Paris were tiny, but ours was great with a good sized room and bathroom.

We got ourselves some lunch. Didn't really know what we were buying but the food and wine seemed to turn out well. We reckon the waiter could understand English, he just chose not to. Then it was off for a walk around the local park. It was nice and quiet with a bit of a chill in the air but very relaxing. By now we were feeling settled so it was time to start the tourist activities. Back on the metro again and off to the Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame Cathedral. The Cathedral is huge and with its Gothic Architecture was very imposing. There was some sort of service going on but we could still look around. The highlight is definitely the huge stained glass windows. We thought about climbing the tower to visit the hunchback, but the line was too long so instead we went for a big long walk along the banks of the Seine River, past the Louvre, through the Jardin des Tuileries, past the Concorde and up the Champs-Elysees until we got to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the stairs to the top where we checked out the crazy driving on the roundabout and the great views around Paris. We climbed back down the spiral staircase and continued walking until we got to the Trocadero and walked through the Palais de Chaillot where we got a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower. We picked up some very tasty crepes from a street vendor for dinner and slowly made our way down and across the Seine, under the Eiffel Tower and into the Champ de Mars. After all that walking we stopped for a sit on the grass in the Champ de Mars and we were right on time for it to get dark and for the Eiffel Tower to light up. It was beautiful and relaxing watching the lights flash all over the tower. It had been a long day by this stage so we made our way back to the metro and back to our hotel, via a local supermarket where we could pick some tasty (and cheap) red wine to mark the end of a great day.

The next morning we had a leisurely start. Downed some croissants and salami from the supermarket and jumped on the tram and train to get to the Eiffel tower. Might as well see something rather than being underground on the Metro. We arrived at the Eiffel tower before the the lines got too long. Bought our tickets and began the climb up the stairs. We could have taken the lift but figured if we walked it we would appreciate it better. It is certainly an amazing piece of engineering and it was cool the way you slowly work your way up it seeing gradually more and more. Because it is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top it also starts out that you have quite a bit of room as you climb up but the higher you get the less room there is and by the time you reach the top you are crammed in with hundreds of other holidaymakers all doing a "must do". However once we finally got ourselves to the top the view was fantastic. Pretty chilly but a great experience. Once we had had our fill we made our way down and then walked through the streets across to the Jardin des Tuileries. We picked up another crepe for lunch and slowly made our way back to the Louvre. We certainly didn't experience the long lines which it is apparently infamous for and in fact we were in there very quickly. The Louvre turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. There is SO much to see that you can't spend a lot of time taking in each exhibit. That suited us just fine. We of course did manage to get a good look at the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa as well as a lot of other quite amazing pieces of history and art. Time was getting on and there was still much to see. We made our way over Le Invalides, the war hospital, where we were planning on seeing Napolean's tomb. Unfortunately it was getting too late in the day and by the time we had bought our tickets we wouldn't really have enough time to get around the place so we had to settle for seeing it from the outside. With some extra time we decided to go and check out the catacombs. Undergound passages made from and filled with bones and skeletons...creepy! Again we were thwarted however as the catacombs were closed for repairs due to vandalism. Ah well, at least we have some stuff to see if we come back to Paris. We got back to the hotel, changed our clothes and then out we went again for dinner. We found a nice little restaurant across from Notre Dame where we tucked in to the likes of snails and foie gras. After a tasty meal we quickly journeyed off to the red light district and checked out the infamous Moulin Rouge, but only from the outside...the 200 Euro entrance fee was a bit steep to see ladies dancing around in feathers...

The next day we jumped on the train and travelled out of the centre of town to the suburb of Versailles, home of Versailles Palace, which is the French what Hampton Court is to the English. After much queueing up to buy tickets, and then more queuing up to get in we made our way around the palace. It was very much like Hampton Court but on an even grander scale. We had an audio tour which tended to prattle on a bit but gave us the key things that we needed to know. It was certainly opulence like nothing you could ever expect to see in New Zealand. The palace was amazing but the gardens were something else. With un baguette each in hand we wandered through the wonderfully manicured gardens which just stretched for miles. We timed it a bit wrong as none of the fountains were going, but even not working they were all works of art in their own right. After much walking we were well tired so picked up some dainty french macaroons and jumped on the train back to Paris, picked up our bags and then let the Eurostar take us back to the middle of Londontown.

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September - 30 Who? and the Zoo

After our big trip to Croatia we decided to take it easy for the rest of the month. However there were still a couple of highlights. The first was Tom's 30th birthday. There have been a few back in NZ but this is the first one we have been around to celebrate in London. It was a mexican feast with Tortillas and Margaritas in Shoreditch, an area of London we hadn't visited before. And as a special bonus Josh and Kate dropped in for their last night in Europe before winging their way back to NZ. After dinner we went out for a few drinks at some interesting bars in the area before wishing Josh and Kate their final farewells and heading off home late in the night.

The other big highlight for September was our trip to the London Zoo. We decided that before the weather got really cold we had best get along and see all the animals. It was certainly bigger than Wellington and had a number of very cool enclosures full of monkeys, where you were right next to them. There were also other things you couldn't see in NZ like snakes, Komodo Dragons, glow in the dark scorpions, Giant Galapogos Tortoise and monkeys with Moustaches. Definitely not the highlight of our trip but still glad we went to see some of the cool wildlife.

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