Prague - Cold, Classics and Bones

Our next trip to Europe was to the wintry but magical destination of Prague. We were a bit worried because it had been -15 in the weeks leading up to our trip. Luckily things had started to warm up in the few days before we left. We arrived, not really sure how we were going to get into town, but by following everyone else we managed to get ourselves on to a bus followed by the underground and before we knew it we had managed to get ourselves into town. It was early evening so we dumped our stuff in our room and ventured out into the city and snow to find ourselves some dinner. We weren't too far from the famous old town square so we wandered along there and arrived just in time to see the crowds forming in front of the famous astronomical clock. Apparently the city council blinded the guy who made it so he could never make another one. Have to make sure not to cross anyone in Prague....To be honest the clock was all a bit of an anticlimax. Things turned and little figurines came out but we didn't exactly get excited by the whole thing. We continued through the old town and eventually found ourselves at the famous Charles Bridge. We couldn't see much cause it was dark but we made our way across to the other side, which was much quieter. After a bit of aimless wandering we found ourselves a nice bar situated down by the river and proceeded to tuck in to some authentic Czech cuisine. Jess ordered herself a huge potato pancake and Marcus ordered himself a ridiculously huge pork knuckle. Suffice to say we were both soundly beaten by our dinners and there was plenty of leftovers for the dogs. We had a couple of tasty Czech lagers and then somehow managed to move our full bodies back to the hotel where we could keep out of the cold and sleep away all the food.



The next morning we arose, made the most of the breakfast (although it wasn't exactly anything to rave about) and made our way back in to town. It was back through the old town to the Charles Bridge, famous for having ornate statues all the way along it. Some of it was under repair but it was still very impressive, even ducking around all the piled up snow. The other side of the bridge was the Lesser Town (although it looked just as spectacular if you ask me...). We hiked up the winding rides to the to of the hill where Prague Castle is situated. Was a bit of a hike. We aren't used to climbing hills in London but at least it got the blood pumping to keep us warm. It also gave us a good view back over the city. It was more of a palace than a castle, similar to Versais or Hampton Court, although in the middle of the palace courtyard is a massive Cathedral, St Vitus. Lots of gargoyles and big arches. Typical Gothic fare which the Czech Republic is famous for. The walk through the Castle itself was interesting, but instead of telling us all about the people who lived there, the signs seemed to talk about the construction materials, how thick the walls were and how long it took to build. Maybe we were looking in the wrong place...There were a few art galleries thrown in to the mix too. Plenty of Gothic (and other) artwork although there was so much to take in some of it just passed us by. One of the coolest parts of the Castle was the Golden Lane. It is an old street within the Castle filled with quaint little shops. They were all very pretty and contained lots of random things like ancient suits of armour, as well as tourist stuff too. We finished the Castle with a trip to the torture tower (Grim...) and then made our way back down the hill via St Nicholas Church where we climbed up the tower to get a good view around the Lesser Town and again got to see some gory Czech history. (Czech out Saint Agatha...). It was then time for a late lunch of more beer and tasty Czech Dumplings. We journeyed along the Lesser Town side of the river until we (finally) managed to find the Lennon Wall. It is a wall covered in graffiti and people constantly write on it to make it a mish mash of all sorts of random things. Bet you can't find what we wrote (we sure wouldn't be able to again...). You can't move in Prague without someone trying to encourage you in to their venue to see some live classical music. There are theatres, palaces and churches. We eventually succumbed to the charms of an old baroque church where we were entertained for about an hour and half by an excellent string quartet. Unfortunately it was like being entertained inside a freezer. It was COLD! Even the electric blankets they had laid down on the pews weren't enough to take the chill from our bones. Although Prague is renowned for its nightlife the cold meant that we were happy to return to our hotel room to get the feeling back in our fingers.

One thing we had heard was that the Jewish Quarter was well worth a visit so the next day we made our way over there. Apparently it used to be a walled up ghetto which was the only place Jewish people were allowed to live in Prague until the late 1800s when most of it was demolished and has since been rebuilt. We started our trip with a visit to the Pink Synagogue. It is not a working synagogue but rather a memorial to all the Jews who were killed during WWII. There are thousands and thousands of names all over the inside walls. Outside is the Jewish Cemetery. Because there was not much room there are thousands of people buried in a very small space, all of their graves tightly next to (and on top of) one another. Some of the graves are ancient. We went on to visit the Maisel Synagogue and Spanish Synagogue which were full of details about the history of the Jewish people in the Czech Republic and the rites and rituals of Judaism. Not knowing much about what it means to be Jewish we found the whole thing an interesting and enlightening experience. We than wandered back in to the Old town square where we had a look inside another St Nicholas church. This one is huge on the outside but surprisingly narrow on the inside. We continued the walking tour, this time into the more modern part of town on the hunt for Wencelas Square. We walked for ages until we were well lost, and well out of the pretty touristy part. Turns out we had visited Wencelas Square shortly after leaving old town. Should have brought a map eh? Still good to see some of the less visited parts of Prague. Plenty of beautiful buildings around there too. We dropped in to the National Puppet Theatre on the way back where we were presented with a very entertaining performance of the classical opera Don Giovanni. We weren't sure what to expect but puppetry is an art form in the Czech Republic and we enjoyed ourselves (the theatre was heated too which helped...) Massive schnitzel for dinner and then we were off to the warmth of the hotel room for a good night's sleep after all that walking.

The next morning we were keen to venture a bit further afield so jumped on the train to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour out of town. There was only one thing that was drawing us to this town and that was a visit to the Kostnice Ossuary. The Kostnice Ossuary is a church decorated in the late 1800s with thousands of human bones. The Czech creepiness continues. It is only very small in size and quite an amazing sight to see. There are piles of bones and more creative items like a coat of arms, candle holders and a huge chandelier, reported to contain every bone in the human body. We went for a walk around Kutna Hora but after a while decided there really was nothing else of interest that we wanted to see there. So we jumped back on the train back to Prague, for a last visit back to the old town square and some tasty street food before we were back on the plane and yet again landing in London.

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January

We returned back to a cold and snowy London. Turns out this is the coldest winter for 20 years. It gets pretty cold and dreary outside so you tend to just bundle up and stay home as much as possible. That meant we had a lot of nights at home getting to know our new flatmates better. Playing games and having a few drinks. However, we still managed to get up to a few things out of the house over the course of the month.


The highlight of the month was of course Jess celebrating another year with her first birthday in London (28th on the planet). Marcus and Jess both took the day off from work for birthday surprises. Fresh fruit breakfast in bed and then we were off to Somerset House home of the best outdoor ice skating rink over winter. Marcus hadn't quite thought things through though. Who else is around to go ice skating during the day.....schoolkids!! Hundreds of them! Luckily initial worries turned out to be unfounded as most of them spent the whole time stuck to the walls around the edges. We skated round and round. There weren't too many tricks but it was still good fun. After that it was off for a gourmet three course dinner at 12 Temple Place in the Swissotel. The food was fantastic, as was the service and made us wonder why we weren't going out for more gourmet meals. We went for a walk in the afternoon and then the flatmates came home and we went out for dinner with them. After all that eating out there was more food to be had with Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles on the cake which Marcus had made for Jess. It was sure nothing to look at but it tasted good.

That weekend it was cold but we still managed to get some tourist activity in. This time it was a trip to the Vitoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. There was some interesting stuff there and a wide variety of things to look at but it couldn't help feeling a bit like the museum was jammed full of all the stuff that the other museums didn't want. Nonetheless Jess enjoyed the fashion through the ages exhibition.

That night it was party time. We had some space reserved at the Alwyne Castle around the corner and everyone (including Kate and Phil from NZ) were coming to Islington to celebrate with Jess for her birthday. It ended up being a great night with heaps of familiar faces (and some shenanigans on a skateboard) and a good way to celebrate.

The next weekend it was party time again. This time our flatmate Riki was celebrating his birthday with a good old fashioned flat party. The flatties were there along with Riki's friends from the bar downstairs (where he works as a chef). We also discovered that there is a cupboard in the flat full of random dress up clothes. Not quite what we expected when we moved in but a good load of fun. All in all a good way to keep spirits up when it is so dreary and cold outside.

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Turkey - Mosques and Caves

Boxing Day came around and we were up again. Unfortunately there was still no trains running so we jumped into a taxi with Tom and Gini and drove off to Luton Airport for our next big European Holiday. Luckily it was a reasonable hour this time so we managed to get up and head off while it was light. This time we were off with Tom and Gini to Turkey for a week. We were a bit apprehensive about this one because we didn't quite know what to expect. A muslim country. not in the EU, nowhere near anywhere that speaks English and having a bit of a reputation for hassling tourists. All of that aside though, we were ready to go.

We landed in Istanbul in the evening, not quite sure how we were going to get to the city. Tom's plan to get the train didn't work as there wasn't one. Luckily a friendly local minibus driver offered to take us. Our apprehension kicked in and we didn't immediately trust him but when it became obvious there were no other options we jumped on board the bus and away we went. Turns out we were perhaps being too apprehensive as he got us safely to our destination without any hassle and at a reasonable price. We unloaded our stuff and then we were ready for dinner. We asked the hostel guy where to go and he took us up the road to a restaurant owned by his friends. We got to sit outside, which is something we haven't been able to do for a while in cold London, and looked forward to tucking into a tasty Kebab. We quickly discovered something very cool about Turkish meals. You get bread with them, and plenty of it. Marcus was excited! However we managed to get past the bread and tuck into our main meal. Rather than a standard boring old kebab we went for one which was basically meat cooked with gravy in a clay pot in front of you in hot coals. They put on a bit of a show and then Marcus had the honour of being a "Pot Killer" and smashing the top off it so that they could serve you the food. A bit of fun and nice and tasty too. After dinner we had some tasty apple tea and then decided it was time to walk off a bit of that dinner. We went for a walk up the hill and quickly came at one of the biggest tourist sites in Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia, a huge and very old mosque. We then turned around and were presented with the amazing Blue Mosque. Both of them were lit up and very impressive. Definitely something to come back to during the day. We picked up a Sahlep (Hot Orchid Milk drink) from one of the random street vendors. It was so hot that we couldn't even drink it and the skin on the top meant it never cooled down. At least we tried it...After a bit more of a walk (and hassles from many men trying to get us into their bars) we made our way back to the hostel for a well earned sleep.

The next morning it was tourist extravaganza time. After a typical turkish breakfast (bread, cucumber, tomato, olives, cheese and a boiled egg) we made our way off to pick up our tickets for the night train that evening. Unfortunately things did not go quite as smoothly as planned, but after a trip to the train station (and the hostel owner on the phone translating for us) we were on track with tickets in hand, back up to the Hagia Sofia. After convincing the local tour guides we didn't need their personal guided tours we made our way inside. It is an interesting place. It was originally a huge cathedral built in 532AD but was converted into a mosque in the 1400s. Since 1935 it has been a museum. What that means is there is an assortment of both Christian and Muslim religious artwork and symbols throughout. You can certainly feel the age of the place. The stones are worn from people's feet and hands on them and the artwork is the sort of things you only see in a museum, although in this case the artwork was drawn on the museum itself. We then journeyed straight out of the Hagia Sofia and through the park to the Blue Mosque. Although similar buildings this was quite a different experience. The Blue Mosque was built in the 1600s and is still a fully functioning place of worship. They allow visitors but you have to respect their rules. That means no wearing shoes, women must have their heads and legs covered and no visitors while there is a ceremony in progress. We entered through the visitors entrance and made our way through amongst the throngs of tourists and worshippers. The mosque is named from the Blue Tiles which decorate its interior. They were certainly impressive and it was quite a surreal experience, quite different than visiting the churches that we normally see. We had ourselves a tasty lunch where we got another treat. Turns out the restaurant we ate at was built over the ruins of part of the old palace which had been excavated. It was cold and quite surreal but exciting to be down underground in those old rooms. Our first trip underground on this holiday. We then went for a wander up the Hippodrome (it took us a while to realise it was a place rather than a thing...) and visited the Basilica Cistern. Up until then Cisterns had only been the white box on the back of a toilet so we weren't quite sure what to expect. What we got turned out to be amazing. It is an underwater cavern full of beautiful columns, water and fish. Apparently it was discovered when peasants in the town were catching fish from under the floorboards in their homes but they didn't live next to the sea. They have done a really good job of lighting it up so that it looks like something out of a fairy tale. It also has some other oddities such as the two Medusa Heads. One is upside down, one is on its side, nobody knows why...After our second trip underground on this holiday we made our way back to the hostel, picked up our bags and journeyed down to the waterfront to catch the ferry to the train. We weren't quite sure if we were on the right one but after all the hustle and bustle of the crowds we ended up on the ferry making our way from Europe, across the Bosphorous to Asia. After finding a place that didn't look too dodgy for dinner we piled into the train to our individual sleeper units. We were very impressed. Clean, spacious, why weren't we doing this more often? We settled in to the dining carriage for a few beers and rakis and then rolled into bed for our train trip through the night.

We awoke quite early but the train was running late so we still had plenty of time to get some breakfast and meet a friendly Turkish man who lived in London who gave us loads of advice about getting to Cappadocia. On arriving to Ankara we cabbed it to the bus station where the agents fought over us to get their commision on our tickets and we eventually ended up on a bus with a steward serving tea, coffee, cakes and all. Four hours later we were at another bus station in the middle of nowhere with more agents pulling us off the bus. Turns out they wouldn't let us leave until we booked a tour with them. However we managed to find the proper bus company manager we got back onto the right bus and the guy who took us off the bus got a kicking (literally!) half an hour later we were in the magical town of goreme and at our hotel. The whole place was like nothing else we had ever seen. We knew there were supposed to be some caves where people had lived but there were thousands of them including the ones housing our hotel. We got ourselves settled in and then went for a wander around town followed by a very tasty Turkish meze for dinner. We made our back to the hotel. Had a couple of rakis and Jess challenged Tom to some backgammon. The room was hot so we left the window open. This meant Marcus woke up in the night with a furry visitor asleep on his feet. One thing that we have noticed about countries around the Mediterranean is that there are cats everywhere! Turkey was no exception.

We still managed to get up early the next day for a very special trip. We piled into a van with all the other tourists and made our way up to the plateau above town for a trip up in a hot air balloon. After needing to change launch spots we finally made it up into the air. The view was amazing. It wad a really cool experience seeing all the caves and towns from above. We crash landed (don't worry, that's how you do it) had a glass of sparkling wine and made it back to the hotel in time to inhale breakfast before heading off on our next tour. We were off for a walk through the Ilhara canyon. It was good to get some time in nature as well as checking out some more caves, including churches built in the caves along with painted ceilings and Walls. Pretty impressive. Lots of christian things are underground here due to being persecuted by the muslims. And if one cave church wasn't enough we moved along to a whole monastery built out of caves. That was great fun running around all the hidden passages in the pitch black and then coming into a big hall all carved out of rock and with paintings on the Walls and ceilings there too. It really was like nothing we had ever seen and unreal to think people had lived there. We finished up there just in time as the clouds rolled in and along with it the rain. Luckily there wasn't much more exciting to see. We visited a church at the top of a tall hill and then came the obligatory visit to the jewellery shop. We didn't buy anything... We had trouble staying awake on the bus ride home so decided to stay in for the night and have dinner at the hotel. Before that we had to indulge in a Turkish Massage, which they offered in the basement of the hotel. It was hardly the giant turkish baths from Istanbul with people everywhere but we still kept our modesty and wore our togs as people scrubbed away our dirt and rubbed away our tension. The highlight was definitly the giant foam blanket which they coat you in. After our bath the place was packed but luckily there was another room where we could eat, drink and play cards. Not only was it a relaxing night but the clouds that had come in earlier brought snow and they chucked it down. Before we knew it there was inches of snow on the ground and the cats having a great time chasing the snowflakes.

We awoke the next morning to an entirely changed landscape. You wouldn't think it was the same place we had been in just the day before. We didn't let the snow stop us though. We managed to navigate the local bus service (which was a bit like minivans that just pick you up and drop you off whereever) and made our way to the Underground City in Kaymakli. This place took the caves from the past few days and took it to a whole new level. Basically it was a whole network of underground caves which had been built by Christians escaping persecution. The caves and (narrow) connecting tunnels just went down and down and seemed to travel off for miles in every direction. Not a good place to get lost. Apparently thousands of people had lived down there. It must have been a very tough existence for them. I don't think we have ever spent more time poking around underground and in caves than we did on this trip. It wasn't all over yet though. We jumped on the buses back to Goreme for a quick look around the Open Air Museum. We didn't really know what it was but it turns out it was another collection of caves. These ones had been better preserved than some of the others, but again there were churches, houses where people had lived where you could even see that they had carved tables and chairs out of the stone. It was certainly impressive but after all the caves we had seen in the past few days it did seem a bit like more of the same. We then legged it down to the bus station and jumped on the bus where we were off back to Ankara. Luckily we managed to avoid any unplanned detours this time and made it back into Ankara with a few hours to spare before our train. We went for a walk around a newly developed park. The place was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was a pretty cool park and would be great in summer rather than the 1 degree temperature we were walking around in. We found somewhere for dinner and then wandered back to the train for another night of rocking to sleep.

We arrived back in Istanbul again and jumped on the first ferry. It didn't quite take us to where we intended to be but it was only the other side of the bridge so not too far to travel on the tram system. It was a different hostel this time but still just as nice. We dropped our bags and then made our way up the road to the Topkapi Palace, this historical home of the Sultans. Topkapi was big and crawling with tourists. We spent a lot of time in queues but it was still pretty interesting. There were some amazing, HUGE, jewels encrusted crowns, swords, necklaces...anything you could cover in jewels, they had done it. There were also some very cool mozaics in some parts of the palace. We also had a look through the Sultan's Harem. The only ladies were the tourists but it certainly looked like it would have been luxurious in its day. It being New Years Eve we decided to have a bit of a rest before the evening's festivities. We went back to the hostel and had a few beers and just generally took it easy over the afternoon. After a quick shower and a change of clothes we made our way across the bridge and up the hill to the party side of town, Taksim. We met up with some friends of Tom and Gini who were over from London for New Years. The place was crawling with people but we got ourselves into a restaurant for some dinner. We put together a selection of dishes which we shared (which they bring out on massive platters to show you before choosing) and had some Cappadocian wine. The mood in the restaurant was a bit flat so we tried to find another bar in which to see in the New Year. The place we ended up in was a 6 storey bar. The bottom floor was busy and the top storey (which we made our way up to) was busy and every other floor was empty. Pretty weird...Anyway, we indulged ourselves in some giant beers and rakis and saw in the New Year in a relatively uneventful manner. We then journeyed on to the arty district where we found another bar where we could sit outside and enjoy a few more drinks. When we eventually made our way home there will still people everywhere, dressed in Santa hats, devils horns, all sorts of crazy get ups. It was almost entirely men. The only women you saw around were ones who seemed to be with a man. Interesting the way you learn things about a culture.

The next morning came and as usual we were feeling a bit jaded. As always though this wasn't going to shake our resolves and we set off to go to the Grand Bazaar for a bit of market bargaining. We were expecting to be hassled and have to do some serious bargaing, but it was actually all quite a civilised experience with some of the "stalls" really being minature shops. They sold everything from clothes, games, trinkets, jewellery and all sorts of other things. We wandered around a few times and then did a bit of (not particularly tough) bartering and ended up with a Backgammon set. After some lunch we went down to the waterfront to go the oldest Turkish Delight store in Turkey and allegedly the place where turkish delight was invented. It certainly tasted good so we stocked up on some turkish delight for back in London. It was then off to another bazaar, this time the Spice Bazaar. This is the place to get all your turkish culinary needs met. There was loads of turkish delight (and other random sweets) flours, teas, spices. The smell was great. We bought ourselves some fruit teas and then made it back to the hostel before heading back out again for dinner. Tonight it wasn't just dinner but dinner and a show. All around we had seen adverts for the Twirling Dervishes. We didn't really know what they were but thought we should check it out. Turns out it is a muslim religious ceremony where specially trained men spin and boy do they spin. It goes on for a long time and how they don't end up falling over or throwing up is quite amazing. It is all quite intoxicating watching them spin and spin. We then finished off the evening with some traditional turkish music before a walk and then our last sleep in Istanbul.

The next day was our last in Istanbul but still plenty to do. We travelled back across the bridge to do one of our favourite things climb a tall building. This time it was Galata tower. It wasn't exactly tough with a lift that takes you up to the top but we got a good 360 degree view around Istanbul. Good opportunity for some photos. We also used it as another (of many) opportunities to grab an apple tea. We then journeyed back down to the waterfront and across underneath the bridge where we were looking for something we had been waiting to try, a fish sandwich. There are hundreds of men standing up on the bridge with fishing rods all day catching fish. Some of them make their way down to the cafes below where they are filetted and put between bread for a surprisingly tasty sandwich. Back across the river we managed to find some shelter before the heavens opened and the torrential rain poured down. The streets were running like rivers. We quickly made our way back to the Grand Bazar. Tom and Gini wanted to do some more shopping. We had had enough so made our way back to Hagia Sophia to look at a part we hadn't seen before, the tombs of the Sultans. There are about five Sultans and their families buried there. Although they aren't really buried, their coffins sit inside temples above ground. Very beautiful buildings and quite a serene experience. We had enough time for a quick durum doner kebab (very greasy...) and then packed up our bags and jumped in a taxi to the airport for a flight back to London again.

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December - Show, Snow and Moving

Well 2009 was coming to a close. The weather was getting colder (little did we know how much colder it was to come...) and the silly season was upon us. We started out with brunch for Gini's birthday on Upper Street followed by helping Tom and Gini buy a Christmas Tree (proper pine tree) and transport it back to their house. We then indulged in an experiment of creating egg nog. Raw egg mixed with cream, milk, rum and brandy doesn't sound too appealing but it was very tasty sitting back drinking the afternoon away and catching up on old times.

The next day we were off to the O2 Arena in Greenwich, which is a big events centre, with Jen and Katie. It is massive and has lots of restaurants, a circus and a movie theatre as well as the places to watch shows etc. It was the closest thing we had seen to Las Vegas, although not nearly as flashy. The trip to the O2 was for a few laughs from Eddie Izard on his latest tour called Stripped. We have been fans of him for a while and he sure didn't disappoint. We won't bore you with the jokes (cause we couldn't do them justice) but if you get a chance to watch the DVD then we would recommend it (although not if you are easily offended...)

The day after that and it was yet another show, this time we were off to the Royal Albert Hall for a show by Yusuf Islam, better known as Cat Stevens. This was the first time he had toured in 30 years so it was definitely an exciting experience. The Royal Albert Hall is just an amazing venue. It is everything you would expect from an old Victorian Theatre, and the sound quality is great. Yusuf himself was really good. He played all the old classics and the crowd loved it. He interacted well with the crowd too, even stopping to have a cup of tea in the middle. He really seemed to be enjoying it and we were lucky as this was a once in a lifetime. We managed to catch up with Tom and Gini yet again later that week. Their new flatmate coordinates marketing for the London Symphony Orchestra so we had ourselves a night of culture at the Barbican. We didn't know most of the songs but it was still amazing classical music.

Marcus went back to winter wonderland with his workmates, only this time at night. It was much the same as last time only with more mulled wine and lots of lights. We also managed to catch up with Tim and Emma for one of our last catchups in South London. The took us to a cool local pub for tasty afternoon roast and a few beers. A shame we hadn't done it more often but was still good to catch up before Christmas. This brought us in to our last week at Vauxhall so we had a few friends around to help us say goodbye to the flat. We whipped up another round of egg nog and cooked them a vegetarian spectacular.

And then all of a sudden the temperature really dropped away. Jess was out ice skating with Mary at the Tower of London and it started to snow and before we knew it there was snow everywhere. All very exciting for us who never see snow where we live and it just kept snowing. Coldest winter in 50 years they reckon....And it caused chaos. People couldn't get in to work because the snow, the country was running out of salt, and here we were loving every minute of it.

Then it was time for one of the biggest changes since we arrived in London, it was goodbye to Goldsboro Road, Jen and Naomi and off to our new flat on Upper Street in Islington. Living with three other couples right in the heart of one of the busiest party streets in London. Sure was a change of pace. Good to be doing something different though. Also good to be meeting new people. Having not really lived with anyone else for five years it certainly will be a shock to the system. We are sure it will all work out though.

Marcus had a couple of work parties for Christmas (which was lucky cause Jess didn't get any). One of them was black tie which is a bit of a change of pace from New Zealand but overall nothing really that exciting. In these tough economic times we should be thankful to get anything however...

And before we knew it, it was Christmas Day! We caught up with Jess' family on Christmas Eve our time, Christmas morning NZ time so it was almost the same as being there, opening presents together, although it looked much warmer in NZ. Christmas morning our time we caught up with Marcus' family. Then we were off to see our new local friends Tom and Gini for brunch. They had put together some tasty croissants and bucks fizz to get Christmas Day started. Then it was off to our next engagement. Little did we know that in one of the largest metropolitan cities on the planet there is NO public transport on Christmas day so it was in a taxi and off to the other side of the city to Amy and Ian's place in Hammersmith. They were having about 15 people around for shared Christmas Dinner. It was great being around our friends, having a few drinks and too much food then finishing the evening with some games. Secret Santa went down well and more egg nog topped off a really great day. Then it was home to pack before our next adventure the following day...

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November - On the Market

As November arrived, the temperatures were definitely getting colder so it gets more appealing to stay inside in the warm and not journey out to the tourist sites. So live has started settling in to a bit more normality, weekends at the shops, evenings at home, battling colds, finding a new flat and that sort of thing. So we don't have too much to report for November. We had a couple of nights out to celebrate Tree's birthday. One night having a few drinks in Camden and then another having a metre of Pizza in Fulham. It was HUGE but we managed to polish it off.

It was also time to start getting in to the Christmas spirit. We visited the Cologne market on South Bank with Tom and Gini and it didn't just rain, it POURED. Luckily the rain moved aside long enough for us to wander around the stall, sample some proper Gluhwein and ingest some tasty Bratwurst. The market itself was pretty small with not a lot of variety, but it has only been going for a couple of years so hasn't had much of a chance to grow. We did manage to pick up an idiot stick puzzle...That's the one where you have to hook the rubber bands inside the block of wood so that it snaps back. The McMillans will know what it is...

We also made our way to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. It is really big and impressive. It has a big market selling lots of Mulled Wine and Bratwurst along with other winter delicacies. It also has a load of rides which we didn't partake in but there were plenty of other people enjoying themselves. We did manage to find a place selling an english Christmas favourite, a Snowball. That's Advocat and lemonade with a cherry on top. Tasty but a bit chilly when you are sitting outside.

And that was about it for November. That much closer to Christmas...

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October - Museums, a German and a Shower

October has arrived and the weather is certainly getting colder but there is still plenty to do in London. We managed to catch up with Robin and Mary again and head out to Greenwich. This time we went to visit the Maritime Museum. Robin was very excited about seeing an exhibit about the North West Passage and we are always keen to tag along to things. The North West passage is a sea route around the frozen north above Canada. Pretty rugged looking stuff especially with all the 1800s exploring gear. We also managed to check out some man made whirpools, hundreds of minature models of ships and a man dressed up as Neptune....After that we journeyed next door to the Queen's House which is a house originally built in the 1600s for Queen Anne of Denmark. It has since served all sorts of purposes. It is now an art gallery with all sorts of maritime themed art, including some distinctive pictures of what could only be New Zealand.

We also managed to catch up with Tom and Gini again at Portobello Market. This time it was to get some Christmas shopping done. Luckily Marcus got himself a good winter coat that morning as winter sure as on its way. The beer at the pub at the end of the day was well earned.

Now that the weather was getting colder it was time to start visiting some museums again. This time we decided to go to the Natural History Museum in Kensington. The Natural History Museum is the home of Dinosaur skeletons and we certainly saw plenty of those. Even though we were basically shuffling along with the crowd all looking at the same thing it was still pretty cool. The rest of the museum was not quite as exciting. There was a moa skeleton which was pretty cool to see, but the balance of the museum was mostly stuffed animals and "interactive" exhibits which basically involved pressin a button so that a light lights up. We didn't go to the Darwin Centre, so there is a good reason to go back but I don't think we need to see the rest of it again. The highlight was actually the building itself. It is a huge old Victorian Building but what is really cool is that throughout there are animals carved into the building itself. From monkeys to vultures to snakes to dolphins. They were all there.

We also journeyed out to another show. This time it wasn't a classic, rather a more modern show called Avenue Q. It is basically Sesame Street for adults. Definitely not one for kids. Very funny but quite odd watchin puppets dancing around on stage.

We had a couple of birthdays to celebrate too. Amy Cole had drinks at a tasty cocktail bar (which even Marcus managed to make after spending another week working in the outskirts of London). The next week we had Katie's birthday at an old electric goods store converted to a cool bar in East London. This time we were joined by Christian who was in London for the weekend for his friend's 30th birthday. It was our first chance to host some while they passed through London. We spent some time with him again on Friday with a trip to Spitalfields market for some more shopping and some Fish and Chips, a traditional English meal, at the request of Christian. Not as good as NZ fish and chips but not much is eh? Was really good for Marcus to catch up with him again and for Jess to meet him. Marcus' German is pretty rusty though. Need to brush up before travelling there.

The next day was a family affair, with a trip out to Leigh on Sea for Karla's Baby Shower. Karla and James were there, Greg and (an also pregnant) Nicole and Emily were there. And also Chris and Debbie had made the trip over to be there for the births of their grandchildren. Marcus thought he was going to the pub, but turns out males were welcome at this baby shower so he joined in too. There were baby dummies worn, baby food eaten and plenty of New Zealand lollies (courtesy of Chris and Debbie). That was the only time we managed to see Chris and Debbie but luckily they were around for the births of both Karla and Nicole's baby boys a few weeks later.

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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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