April 2012 - Russia

VILNIUS TO ST PETERSBURG

We rose early, pleased we hadn't stayed out all night the night before. Lina and the Japanese man were up. When she asked him why he needed to be up so early he replied "I am an old man. I get up early" like it should have been obvious. We left the hostel to catch a bus to the airport.  A full day of travel to St Petersberg via Tallin in Estonia. It was a shame we couldn't spend a couple of days there as well but there was only so much we could do. We did meet a jump Norwegian man at the airport who insisted on calling Marcus Kiwi, but seemed offended when Marcus declined his chewing tobacco. We were pleased not to be flying RyanAir. Their flight was delayed for six hours due to a mechanical fault and they weren't allowed to leave the tiny transit lounge.

The airport at St Petersburg was packed. It reminded us of Heathrow with the inefficient line through customs. Our tour documents recommended getting a taxi from the airport to the hostel but we read that these could be very expensive if it hadn't been pre-booked. We stuck to the public transport a bus and 2 metrolines. It wasn't very difficult but we guess our time in London made catching metros much easier. We arrived on the main road, Nevsky Prospekt and found our hostel nearby.

Our accommodation for our first 2 nights in St Petersburg had been changed at the last minute.  We arrived

to discover the hostel spoke very little English (and our Russian was none existent) and that we were sleeping in single sex dorms.  After the initial shock we settled in and headed off to explore the city.  We stuck to the main street and caught our first glimpses of some Russian Architecture that we were planing to visit later in our trip. The Kazan Cathedral, the Church on Spilled Blood, the old Singer building and the Winter Palace. At a distance St Petersburg was a grand European city but up close the paint was flaking and the grime was building up.

We were getting pretty tired and hungry so started heading back searching for some local cuisine that a) we knew what it was and b) did not cost a fortune. We settled on a place from the Lonely Plant Guide (usually quite questionable when it comes to food) - Teremok.  We enjoyed our first taste of Russian Potato Pancakes. On this occasion we choose pork and mushroom as we could point to a picture. It was very tasty. Full of energy again we managed to find a nearby supermarket where we stocked up on snacks and supplies. Back at the hostel we managed to chat to a couple of Russians who spoke some English. Sergei was in Marcus' room and Nadia in Jess' room. Nadia asked if it was true that no-one in New Zealand was depressed because of the beautiful landscape.  Jess said that was probably an exaggeration but it seems many Russians view NZ as being an idyllic paradise. We joined the students and families in the TV room for some confusing Russian TV before making our way to bed.

ST PETERSBURG DAY 2

With the early start the day before it was a more leisurely start to the day. After breakfast we headed back down Nevsky Prospect towards the Hermitage.  On the way we stopped to look in the window of a fancy looking department store/cafe which had giant Macaroons in the window.  No eating any for us here though as we had already had our fair share when visiting France.

In Palace Square we looked at the Alexander Column before heading into the Hermitage Museum which is in part of the old Winter Palace, former home of the Tzars. Some of the exhibits were very similar to what we had seen in the British Museum and the Leuvre (except this time it was the Russians doing the pillaging) but interesting nonetheless. We have definitely become more cultured by the amount of museums and gallaries we have visited in the last 3 years. It was nice to see some Russian stuff though. There was also an extensive collection of art from famous painters such as Picasso and Matisse. After a few hours of this the hunger started to get to us so we decided to stop for some Teremok for lunch.

After that we walked down to the river. There was still plenty of ice on it and a chill in the air as we wandered along and looked at the famous Bronze Horseman Statue of Peter the Great. When she was reading the book of the same name Jess never realised she would see it one day. We walked back along the river and crossed the bridge to Birzhevaya Point, the site of a small park and the Rostral Columns, symbol of St Petersburg's port status.

We saw lots of people walking around on the ice so we decided to have a go too. The ice seemed to be melting fairly quickly though so we didn't stay on too long. We saw one man walk almost all the way across the river but we felt as we didn't know what we were doing it wouldn't be a good idea to try. It was almost disastrous for one of Marcus' hands as he dropped a glove onto a ledge which we couldn't reach.  We finally got it back by finding a stick to pull it up with. Phew!

In the evening we visited a supermarket and tried out some local noodles in preparation for the train trips. Not too bad.We watched some Russian Gangster films and what appeared to be Youtube videos on TV before going to bed confused.

ST PETERSBURG DAY 3

Another leisurely start as we shifted hostels (just around the corner) and arranged for our visas to be registered (which we probably should have done already too). Then we moved onto look around Gostiny Dvor an old shopping centre filled with standard mall shops before having a day of churches.

First church was Kazan Cathedral which looks similar to St Peters Basilica in Rome on the oustside however it looks quite different inside. It is a Russian Orthodox church. It was very dark but pretty and full of many worshippers opposed to many of the churches which we have visited that were full of tourists.

Next on our church visit was St Issac's Cathedral. We didn't go inside but instead we climbed outside of the

golden domes to get a 360 degree view of St Petersberg. We also visited the Church of the Spilled Blood which has the colourful onion shaped domes you expect to see in Russia. Inside it was filled with lots of colour and gold having been beautifully restored. We took the back streets to our new hostel, the Missis Hudson. It was loosely based on Sherlock Holmes....not what we were expecting in Russia.

Back at the hostel we met up with Pete the first other member of our tour group.  An Australian but we tried not to hold that against him. Tim, our Honcho for the city also met us and took us for a walk around the river and to the eternal flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.  The highlight was throwing a coin up to a little cat statue on a building which is meant to bring good luck.  We stopped at a bar on the way back for a drink and a snack of pelmeni (a dumpling thing) before heading back and meeting a young English couple Ellie and Sami who were the final members of our group. We had a couple of Vodkas with Pete. Ellie and Sami had been traveling all day so we figured we would get to know them tomorrow.

ST PETERSBURG DAY 4

The first proper day of the tour we rose early to start a full day around the city.  We decided to check out the Peter and Paul Fortress which is across the river.  Our Honcho Tim didn't seem to enjoy walking as much as we do so insisted we get the metro part way and we arrived at a station which was only a couple of years old and looked like a flying saucer (Gorkovskaya).

Although grey on the city side, the fortress was actually a rich red brick colour. We arrived just in time to hear the midday cannon as we crossed the bridge into the fortress, looking at the cute ducks walking on the icy river.  The fortress wasn't really what we expected. There were many different things inside including a wax museum and dragon exhibition, both which we chose not to attend.

We did however see the first ever Russain ship and looked at the cathedral where many Tsar's were burried but only from the outside.  We walked along the Fortress walls for another good view of St Petersberg and the river.  The river seemed more frozen on this side so we all ventured out a little further and were surprised to see men stripped down to their undies and sunbathing by the river.  Well it was a tropical 0 degrees. We also checked out the creepy statue of Peter the Great. Someone hadn't gotten the proportions quite right.

After another Teremok lunch the others of our group went to check out the churches so we headed back to the shop to pick up some Russian nesting dolls (Matryoshka). There were hundreds to choose from but we settled for a traditional red and yellow. We then went for another walk by the river and looked at the less than impressive summer palace.  Maybe it needed to be seen in summer? It was tiny compared to its winter counterpart.

We meet up with the others and also Ashley an Australian girl doing a Sundowners trip through the stans (Central Asia and the Caucuses) for a pre dinner drink. Jess had a 'Shaky Pig' (we think this may have been a mistranslation of a fluffy duck...)  We had seen a Bear advertising a restaurant near the hostel so we headed there. Jess had Beef Stroganoff and Marcus had some sort of pie. We all tried some kvass. It is a bread drink which was thick and brown but pretty tasty. We were also lucky enough to be treated to some traditional traditional Russian dancing by the waitresses. With full bellies we made our way back to the hostel for a few rounds of Rummy, before heading off to bed.

ST PETERSBURG DAY 5

It was our final day in the city before moving on to the capital.  Sami and Ellie were keen for a full day at the Hermitage so we left them to it and headed off with Tim and Pete to visit the Alexander Nevsky Monastry. We had seen so much in one direction that it was time to check out what there was in the other direction. Tim didn't want to look around the graveyards so the 3 of us did.  We didn't have much of a clue at what we were seeing as our cyrillic wasn't very good.  Apparently Dostoyevsky was buried there though. They also had an interesting exhibit of mini sculputures many of which were statues we had already seen around the city.  We walked around the monastry and into the cathedral. It was again dark and full of people worshiping. Alas, the queue for monk bread was too long so we gave up on that idea and visited the crypt (full of famous Russians we hadn't heard of) before moving on.  Tim took us to a 60s American diner for lunch which had pictures of Marilyn Munroe and Elvis - not really what we were expecting to see in Russia.  Tim was quite interested in America and it was quite funny when he asked Marcus if he called his friends 'homeboys'. Jess decided to have one of the only Russian items on the menu - a Russian Salad, which is a type of potato salad. The others stuck with toasted sandwiches and burgers.

Pete had already visited St Petersberg and seen the Hermitage but wanted to see it again so while he and

Tim headed there we went for a walk to another part of the town and saw the Smolny institute and cathedral.  The institute was where Lenin and his group planned and executed the Socialist Revolution.  The cathedral was pretty in blue and white which was meant to give the illusion of the sky. We think the illusion would have been successful if the sky had been blue instead of grey.

We wandered back into town, stopping for a drink  and some yummy cake along the way. We met up with the others for dinner at cafe before heading to catch the train on a transfer which took around 3 times as long as it would have to walk.  We had a better idea of where we were meant to be going than our honcho so we only managed to get on with enough time to say goodby before we were on the rails in our cabin with Sami and Ellie. Pete, being the only single had to share with random people. After having a bit of a chat, we settled in for a good sleep. Our trip on the Trans-Mongolian Railway had begun.

ARRIVAL IN MOSCOW

We were kindly woken by our attendant in the train which gave us around 40 minutes to prepare to disembark. We weren't certain it was the right stop when we arrived but after checking it was we alighted the train and met our next honcho, Anna. Within 10  minutes we realised she had much more knowledge than our previous guide.

We headed down to catch the metro through a luxurious station with fancy chandeliers and pictures. Beats London any day. The crowds could rival London too, as we got pushed and shoved through a sea of people. Wouldn't have been so bad usually but much more difficult with a huge backpack. People didn't seem too bothered by us though. They let us through without complaint. Anna yelled at us to hurry up getting on the change of the metro and we all made it safely on to both of the metros we needed. Around ten minutes walk through the snow and we arrived at the hostel. too early to check in once again, so we dropped our bags and went to a cafe for some coffee and pancakes with jam.

We then went on a well planned walking tour around Moscow past statues of Pushkin and Yuri Dolgoruky

the founder of Moscow. Anna was a mine of information but not enough to bother us.We passed the Russian Parliament, an ugly towering building and the famous Bolshoi Theatre, but alas this was outside of our budget to visit. We made our way under the arch between the State History Museum and Kazan Cathedral before heading into the famous Red Square. Red has  two meanings in Russian both the colour and also meaning beautiful.  We took in the Kremlin and St  Basil's Cathedral with its multi-coloured onion domes from the outside before visiting Lenin's Mausleom. A bit creepy as you had to make your way past sombre armed soldiers to the middle chamber where a waxy, but real, Lenin is bathed in low light for all to see. Outside there were grave of various people too, but once again we weren't sure who was who.

Next we went inside St  Basil's cathedral, the typical bright onion style catherdral you associate with Russia. You imagine it being a huge open church with a huge domed ceiling inside. It isn't. Rather it is a series of small chapels around the outside with another small chapel in the middle, a bit like a maze trying to get around. It was interesting inside too with all the different rooms painted and decorated differently.  Upstairs a choir sung which gave it a nice feel as we wandered through the church.

Also by the red square is the GUM shopping centre which was previously the premier peddler of soviet wares but now is full of designer stores.  It was quite nice inside with many blossom trees and sculptures. We weren't tempted to buy anything though.  We then walked around the outside wall of the Kremlin and up the hill to the Church of the Christ of the Saviour, Russia's main church.  It was quite a modern church being only build in the 90's. It was built in the style of the church which had been there previously but had been demolished by Stalin to build a swimming pool. The interior was resplendent with gold and colour and of course worshipers. We were keen to climb up it for the view however the only option to do this was through a tour and it was going to cost us around 6000 roubles (about NZD$230).  So we settled by just having a look around inside.

We then headed down what used to be Moscow's main shopping street but now seemed to be full of souvenir shops and cafes. We stopped for a lunch at an Uzbek place where we had a yummy Ughar soup and a meat pastry thing which tasted a little like wontons. We wandered back towards the hostel and in the afternoon we visited the Moscow Museum of Modern Art which had some interesting sculptures of Soviet Workers on the outside, but nothing more than standard stuff on the inside. One room was not lit and you needed to use the light of a mobile phone to see the work and to ensure you didn't fall over.

After an early start and a  full day we were exhausted so we headed back to the hostel for an easy dinner and spent around 3 or so hours doing washing (not a very good system Godzillas) before hitting the hay. Unfortunately the drunk who showed up halfway through the night meant the sleep wasn't uninterrupted. Fortunately it took him a long time to find his way in so he spent most of his time in the hallway.

MOSCOW DAY 2

Our Honcho Anna had suggested the day before that we should head out of town today so we decided to visit Kolomenskoe which is an Unseco World Heritage site as it is the site of a former Romanov Palace. The sun was out and it was a lovely day as we walked through the snow. We saw pretty archways and  a pretty little church full of people praying. Anna took us for a walk up the stream and we visited some spiritual rocks one for the boys and one for the girls If. you sit on them your wishes were more likely to come true.  The rocks were interesting looking as they had a slight red tinge. Next we visited Peters Cabin, built and lived in by Peter the Great thousands of miles away and then reassembled here. For some reason the doors were tiny, even though he was supposed to be really tall.... More Russian pancakes for lunch. This time there was a smaller variety. Marcus had salmon and Jess tried the condensed milk (a russian favourite), yummy but a bit sickly.

Back in the centre of Moscow we visited a monastery/nunnery.  It had some pretty churches and a couple of exhibits full of Russian Icons, mainly Madonna and child.  The first one was interesting but the second was a bit samey.

The group split again after that as the others were keen to visit one of the galleries which we didn't have much desire to see. Instead we headed over a bridge full of trees with padlocks where some wedding photos were being taken.  We wandered along the river towards the humongous ugly statue of Peter the Great and his ship. Apparently it was originally a gift to the USA of Christopher Colombus but they didn't want it so the artist just changed the face. He must have run out of the same material though because the face is a slightly different colour. In its shadow there is a sculpture park which had a combination of modern statues as well as many unwanted Soviet leaders such as Stalin and Lenin and all the boys. There was even one exhibit which was a box full of only Stalin heads.

After a very long walk back to the hostel in search of a bigger supermarket (which was a failure) we made another easy dinner at the hostel and went for a drink at the local bar, Elephant. Seems like we were the only people there from out of town as we drunk our cloudy, banana tasting Elephant Beer. The other patrons were downing shots of vodka, and various other liquids so we assumed they were local (also, they were all speaking Russian) but we weren't gain to challenge them to shots.

MOSCOW DAY 3

As we couldn't visit the Kremlin on our first day so we headed to it in the icy cold rain today. We found the ticket booth but they wouldn't sell us tickets for another 15 minutes by which time a massive huddle (not

queue) wanting tickets had formed. We were pushed to the side but fortunately a lady who saw we were foreign let us in. We passed through the metal detectors and passed under the wall to the centre of Russian government for many hundreds of years. We saw a giant cannon (which had never been shot because the cannon balls were too big) and a giant bell (which had never rung because it had cracked shortly after being made It was a welcome relief from the rain to look at one of the small churches surrounding a small square. Again they were ornately decorated painted across the walls and ceilings. it was then time for us to enter the the Armoury. After dropping our coats at the coatcheck and picking up our Audioguides we made our way into the museum which housed Russia's jewels, armour, clothes, carriages, silverware and Faberge Eggs. Audoguides normally fill us with bored dread, but this one was actually pretty good. Jess' favourite was the jewelery, and we both liked the Faberge eggs and the gospel covers.We checked out another couple of the churches before the cold started to really get to us and it was time to move on.

We stopped for lunch at a cafe in a nearby mall and found the big supermarket we had been looking for yesterday where we stocked up on instant meals for the train before heading back to the hostel and then went down the road to visit the State Museum of Gulag.  It was different to the others we had seen in Russia. The Gulags were prison camps set up by Stalin to house 'enemies of the state'. To be an enemy all it took was one disagreement with Stalin. It focused on not only sending people to the camps but also how history had been changed with the doctoring of photos to remove people from them where they had previously been there supporting Stalin. There was also a mock up of what a typical Gulag cell might look like. It was interesting but a bit hard to understand as there wasn't really any background for non-russian speakers. One last dinner in Europe (pizza?) before heading to the metro with our packs again. Fortunately it wasn't quite as busy as last time. Before long we were on the train that we would be spending the next 4 days on.

ON THE TRAIN FROM MOSCOW TO IRKUTSK

Day 1 - 1 million Birch trees with  snow.
Day 2 - 1 million Birch trees with snow.
Day 3 - 1 million Birch trees with no snow.

That was about it for the scenery although we also saw some shanty towns and frozen rivers The time on the train goes surprisingly quickly as we enjoy our writing, reading, playing games and the excitement of whether we are to have smash or noodles for dinner. We made use of the stops during our waking hours although we were a bit confused on which times we should follow as the train runs on Moscow time which can be up to 5 hours different from the local times. We stretched our legs at Kirov but there wasn't much to see besides a smattering of traders trying to sell mostly giant stuffed animals. I guess its for the kids when the parents get home. The train is quieter than we expected and doesn't seem as full as it could be.  We suspect this may be due to no hard class on this train (luxury oooh yeah). Before we set of we though we would try the restaurant car at least once during each service (Russian, Mongolian and China).   After walking through the car in Russia we weren't even tempted to stop for a drink as it was very greasy and dirty and appeared to be falling apart.The chef didn't seem to have any food but he was happy to drop the ash from his cigarette anywhere you please.

We also got off the train at Perm 2 where traders greeted us at the door trying to sell a variety of things including salads, fish, beers, bread, trees and cowboy hats. We weren't tempted to try any of the local stuff though as we had overstocked on food in Moscow. It was hard to stay awake on our first day as the temperature in the carriage was a stifling 24 degrees (pretty hot considering the outside temperature was less than 0).

In the evenings we taught Pete, Sami and Ellie to play backpackers over a few vodkas before a  decent
sleep.

The second full day on the train we woke just in time to get out at Esheem. Again not a very exciting station but the sun was shining and there wasn't any need for our coats. We had predicted much colder weather throughout the whole journey so probably didn't need half our winter clothes.

The temperature in the train was a more tolerable 21 degrees.  We also departed the train at Omsk - a bigger city where the Russian writer Dostoyevsky was exiled. Other trains prevented any views.

At night we saw a beautiful sunset and the sky glowed pink and purple. We also saw some fires along the way but we think they were deliberate as they were in lines.  Smash again for dinner and some vodka for a digestive.

On the third day a little bit of snow around again today but not as much as on the first.  We out ventured at Krasnoyyarsk station to see a mosaic featuring Lenin, a statue of a lion and an old steam engine. We ran most of the way as we didn't want to miss getting  back on the train (we were surprised how punctual the trains were running but we guess they've had around 140 years practice). Back on the platform we still had plenty of time so we picked up some fresh water as the cooled boiled water although safe tasted a bit potatoey.

Day 3 was also the point which we passed the halfway point between Moscow and Beijing (3932km).

LAKE BAIKAL DAY 1

We arrived at 6am in Irkutsk with no honcho in sight. Fortunately it wasn't long before hr arrived. Bleary eyed we all piled into a van and left for the natural beauty of Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake in the world. We drove through the forest until we arrived at the lakeside town of Lystyvanka. Our accommodation was very spacious. We even had a room to ourselves! Showered and shaved we felt alive again. We went for a walk along the shore of the vast frozen lake. Although frozen the ice was starting to melt so wasn't safe to cross. After our walk we were pretty hungry and it was about lunch time so today's meat wrapped in pastry was particularly welcome. Jess' fish pie was particularly tasty. Refueled we visited the Baikal Museum for a bit of history and science. Kosta was a very knowledgeable tour guide. The lake is home to about 20% of the world's freshwater and could supply the world with freshwater by itself for 40 years. There was an aquarium at the end of the museum that showed some of the unique fish who live in the lake including some weird prawn like creatures who filter the water, keeping it pure. At the every end there was a surprise in the form of two freshwater seals, swimming their chubby bodies around a tank. Very cute.

We couldn't watch the seals all day though so we went for a walk up the hill behind the museum. There was a chairlift but it wasn't in use and we needed to walk off the lunch pies anyway so we hiked up the hill trying not to get stuck in the snow.There was a good view of the lake from the top although the low cloud obscured the distant mountains. The hilltop was also covered in ribbons which people had tied there as gifts to the local spirits. We took a different, more direct route down the hill and walked back to the hostel. Back at the hostel we had a treat, an authentic Russian Banya (Sauna). We drunk some tea and then sat there sitting in 80ºc heat (he kept it cool for us...)Then we each took our turn at being lightly beaten with hot wet tree branches before being doused by a bucket of cold water. A refreshing and different experience for us. After the Banya it was a home cooked Russian meal of salad, beef stew and cake. We had certainly eaten well today. To see out the night we attempted to build a bonfire and failed miserably due to our inability to collect decent sized kindling in the dark.. Instead we retired to the common area for some vodka and a round of Uno before calling it a night.

LAKE BAIKAL DAY 2

After a breakfast omelet we went for a walk the other way around the lake, up onto some cliffs and and then

down onto the lake front where we got up and close with the compacted ice which had built up on the shore. After some time sitting by the lake we came back and Kosta took us to meet some guys who were taking us quad bike riding. There was plenty of snow around and we had plenty of fun zooming through the ice, slush and mud. Marcus managed to get properly stuck so that the guide had to rescue us, but that is all part of the fun. We were running short of time so Jess didn't get much of a drive, which was a shame but might have been lucky as the bike conked out completely only a few metres from the end. All revved up we stopped for tea and a banana wrapped in some sort of doughnut batter before making our way back to the hostel to get the mud cleaned up ourselves. All clean we wandered down to the local market to try some shashlyk. Turns out it is basically a shish kebab but the Russians have adopted it as a dish of their own. Full of meat we had another crack at the bonfire. This time we had the help of Kosta in chopping up the wood and setting up the fire (basically he did everything) and before we knew it the fire was roaring. All we had to do was keep it alive, which we managed to do for a couple of hours before the wind started getting too cold and we extinguished the fire and went to bed.

LAKE BAIKAL DAY 3

For our final day at Lake Baikal we caught the bus/van out to an open air museum where they had taken traditional wooden buildings from other parts of Siberia and rebuilt them. It was interesting to see how tight

living must have been. After Blini (pancakes) with condensed milk we caught the bus back to the lake. The weather had warmed up quite a bit and you could see that the ice was starting to thaw. No chance of us walking out over the lake but a little hovercraft seemed to be doing good business. We checked out the local market where we bought some bread and smoked Omul, a fish native to Lake Baikal. This fish was tasty but the bread was a bit stale. We made our way back to the hostel to pick up our gear and get into the van for the trip back into Irkutsk. It was a dozy bumpy ride into town. Kosta took us for a walking tour, but other than the Cathedral there wasn't really that much to see. Papa Johns was an easy choice for dinner, although our communication with the waitress didn't all go smoothly. Our food arrived in the end and we ate plenty. We played a couple of games of pool to pass the time, picked up some supplies and before we knew it we were on the train again. This time the train was older and more along the lines of what we had expected the Trans-Mongolian trains to be like. It was dated but functional. It took us a while to work all this out as when we arrived there were people in our cabin. They were gracious about moving as it was a mistake, but when we did manage to get in there and tried to store our bags we discovered that the storage space was full of bananas, oranges and wine....none of it ours. Tired and weighed down by luggage, Marcus had a few short words with the carriage attendant and after some rearranging we managed to get our stuff in, but it was a lot tighter than last time. A vodka from Pete was a well received way to unwind and after some chatting and looking what was to come over the next few days it was time to try and get some sleep. The old train proved less comfortable then the new train. We decided to put that down to authenticity....

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March 2012 - Germany, Poland and Lithuania

LONDON TO BRAUNSCHWEIG

After three years to the day our time in London came to a close. After bidding goodbye to Aimee and Lucy some last packing and cleaning we were on the Overground to Highbury. It was much sadder this time than when we had left Wellington. We knew we would be coming back to Wellington one day, but this place which had been our home for the last three years, who knows when or if we will ever return...A trip on the Victoria Line and a switch to the Piccadilly Line and we were on the way to Heathrow Airport, leaving London from the same place we had entered. Boarding was on time, but a 45 minute delay (tsk Heathrow...) meant we were worried we might miss our train from Hamburg to Braunschweig. Further delays on the S-Bahn in Hamburg had the stress levels higher than they needed to be at this stage of the trip but fortunately we arrived at our train with about 5 minutes to spare. We had plenty of space on the train and dozed our way to Hannover. A Brezel at the train station had to suffice for dinner and then we were on the local train to Braunschweig. We caught a glimpse of a possible future now that we were unemployed backpackers. There was a couple with long dreadlocks, scruffy clothes and a dog companion. Fortunately we both decided that wasn't the path for us. The train arrived on time in Braunschweig on time and Christian was there to greet us, having only just finished work. We packed into his car and back to his apartment for beers, Brot, Wurst and Kase as well as catching up on what we had been up to. Before we knew it it was 1am and we were off to bed on the air mattress.

DIE HARZ GEBIRGE / THE HEART MOUNTAINS

After a leisurely rise and a trip to the Backerei for Brotchen we had a full  breakfast before deciding on a trip to the Harz Gebirge for some walking in the forest. With lots of city trips to come we figured we should get some nature in while we could. There was still plenty of snow around so we had to be cautious as we made our way up the Brocken , the highest mountain in the region. Our lack of fitness wasn't doing us any favours, but after two hours following the tank road, and passing the witch path signs we made it to the top. The top of the mountain had been an East German military base during the cold war. The buildings had been converted into a hotel and information centre and there was a train station at the top for those who didn't want to walk up. Pleased with ourselves we were treated by Christian to a Thuringer Bratwurst, a local beer and a small bottle of schnapps each. We now felt nourished (and tipsy) and made our way down the other side of the mountain with mountain bikers racing past us. There was less snow on this side but it was steep the whole way down. We were pleased we climbed up the other side. At the bottom we had the choice of going around the reservoir or cutting back to where the car was. Always willing to try something and thinking it wouldn't take much longer we decided to go for the walk around the reservoir. The views were impressive and it was a lot quieter. We crossed the dam, which was formerly a border between East and West Germany, and still had the border marker showing, before continuing on our walk. After we had been walking for another couple of hours we started to wonder if Christian still knew where he was going but his German determination kept us going. As 6pm came around and the sun was going down we were still walking. Fortunately we knew we weren't that remote when Christian received a call from his parents just to make sure we were OK. Just as it was getting so dark we could only see five metres in front of us, but fortunately the lights from the car park came into view, and after 7 hours we had finally made it back to the car. We were going to feel it in our legs tomorrow. After the drive back to Braunschweig, Christian took us our to a local bar for dinner. A surly but friendly waitress (who Christian seemed to have his eye on) served us up a generous portion of pork. Hot for Marcus, cold for Jess. Having earned our dinner we wolfed it down, along with some local beers before walking back to Christian's for some more beer followed by sleep.

BORDER AND BRAUNSCHWEIG

It was a late start the next say, which wasn't helped by the start of daylight savings in Germany. We did manage to finally get going, and Christian took us to Marienborn, the site of a border crossing between the former East and West Germany. It had been kept as it was with former buildings being turned into a museum. It was crazy how paranoid the whole thing was with cars being searched and dismantled with owners the being left to put them back together. There were also lots of stories of people trying to flee and smuggle which ended in tragedy. It was hard to get a feel for what the place looked like in full swing other than it must have made NZ customs look like nothing (even if you did have an apple.) After visiting the border we went to a town called Hotensleben, which was a border town which had kept the border territory during the split between East and West.

We then made it back to Braunschweig to drop off the car before Christian took us for a walking tour of his current home. Most of the town had been destroyed during the war and rebuilt. A former palace in town was now a shopping mall. You enter into one end, which is like a normal shopping mall. come out the other end turn around and  be struck by an impressive facade at the entrance, complete with horses on top. We carried on through the town, checking out churches, palaces and statues along the way. We checked out the interior of the cathedral and then climbed the tower in the Lutheran church to get a view all around Braunschweig. We climbed back down and walked along the river and back towards Christian's place via the park. A last quick beer at Christian's and then we bundled into the car arriving at the station just as the train was pulling in. Couldn't have timed it in closer.

We had a few trains to catch between there and our next destination of Warsaw, and some of the connections were pretty tight. The further we got the more uncertain we were about whether we were going the right way, particularly once we arrived at the station in Poland to change to the sleeper train. However, following the crowds and showing our tickets to the guards managed to get us to the right place. We were pleased not to be one of the people rammed into the six seat compartments for the night as we tucked into bed for the first of many nights sleeping on a train.

WARSAW - DAY 1

We were awoken with an early morning knock on the door as the train guard asked whether we wanted tea of coffee. Shortly thereafter the train pulled into Warsaw Central Station and we made our way, bleary eyed, out into the early morning. Our judgment wasn't the best as we walked in the complete wrong direction. Luckily we discovered our error and corrected it before we got too far. Something just didn't feel right. The hostel was where we expected it to be but 7am was too early to be checking in. Nonetheless the tired looking "Hostel Hero" took our bags, gave us a map and showed us the main sites around town. Sufficiently armed it was a quiet and cold Warsaw we ventured out into. They were doing a lot of work on the Underground system so many of the places that looked to be main roads on the map were inaccessible, but we still wandered our way towards the tourist heart of any European city, the old town. We wandered our way down the Royal Road toward the Palace checking out the statues or musical themed benches along the way, but the ice cold weather was getting the better of us. We carried on through the main square past Sigismund's column and through some of the side streets to the Market Square, site of the mermaid statue, one of the symbols of Warsaw. Keeping moving we exited the tiny old town through the Barbican and went past the rather stunning Monument to the Warsaw Rising. The cold start and early morning was starting to get the best of us so we found a place to sit down for a coffee and a biscuit. This helped us thaw our bones and gave us some energy to keep going. We crossed to the other side of the bridge to the Praga area. This was supposedly the alternative/arty area and apparently a lot of buildings were still standing from before WWII, unlike much of the rest of the rest of the city, which the Nazis had destroyed when they retreated. We had been told a couple of streets to check out but weren't really that impressed. Turns out we had it wrong and if we had gone a couple of blocks further it would have been more interesting. Unaware, we made our way back to the main street and wandered up the Holy Cross Church where Chopin's heart is buried. (They hadn't permitted his whole body to be buried in Poland.)  Just up the road was a statue of Copernicus the astronomer which we went and saw. We had managed to achieve all of this before midday. It was definitely time for some well earned lunch. We made our way back to the Market Square and found a restaurant which served up traditional Polish pierogi, meat filled dumplings. The waiter helped us find some local beer and before long we were wolfing down the yummy dumplings. After all that eating and walking we were starting to feel it all catching up on us. After a short rest in the park we made our way back to the hostel for a much needed shower and nap. A few hours sleep was just what we needed to feel a bit more balanced. After making the most of the hostel's 2 for 1 happy hour it was time to go find some dinner. We bought some food at the local supermarket with plans to cook our own pierogi. Unfortunately the ones we picked were filled with some sort of cottage cheese and not nearly as good as lunchtime. It had been a long day and we had achieved a lot so it was back to bed for a proper night's sleep.

WARSAW - DAY 2

We had big plans for our second day in Warsaw, but alas things don't always go according to plan. After a late breakfast we made our way to the main train station to  buy tickets to Vilnius, Lithuania the following day. The Man in Seat 61 had told us it was possible. The lady at the international ticket counter didn't speak English but she knew what we wanted. Unfortunately the only way to Vilnius was via Minsk in Belarus, a paranoid dictatorship who thinks every foreigner is a spy, and more importantly a country we did not have a VISA to enter. We knew there was an overnight bus, so decided to go back to the hostel to see what we could sort out. Flights were going to set us back about £200 so we asked the hostel staff if they could help us with bus tickets. After a few phone calls we had an address for a travel and after a bit of a  search we had in our hands two tickets on the overnight bus from Warsaw to Vilnius.

With much of the day now past we needed to do something touristy. We walked for about 45 minutes to the Warsaw rising museum, only to be told by the friendly guard that it was closed today...Somewhat disheartened we wandered back to the hostel. An unmissable landmark in Warsaw (as in you can't help seeing it because it so huge) is the Palace of Culture and Science, a gift to the city many years ago by Josef Stalin. It is a big ugly building which towers over Warsaw. It now contains theaters, restaurants and a multi-plex movie complex. We caught the lift up to the top floor, supervised by the lift attendant. There certainly were good views out over the city in all directions. However we had to battle with the ice-cold winds which were blowing around us, so we didn't last too long before retreating back down the lift. It had been a tiring day so after a trip to the supermarket we went back to the hostel to chill out a bit and have a couple of beers. After an unspecified sausage dinner it was time for another well earned sleep.

WARSAW - DAY 3

Determined not to  be outwitted again we checked out of the hostel and made our way through the modern high-rise buildings juxtaposed with the crumbling Soviet Era concrete blocks, back to the Warsaw Rising museum. A number schools seemed to have the same idea as us so we spent a fair bit of time dodging bored looking teenagers as we made our way through. The museum is all about the failed attempt by the Warsaw resistance to overthrow Nazi occupation in 1944. There is a lot of detail, some of it very tragic. All of it was well executed but we often found ourselves jumping around in time.

As the museum had not sufficiently depressed us we headed north in hunt of the Jewish Cemetery. Like many European and Nazi occupied cities Jewish people had been confined to their own quarter. The area occupied by cemeteries in the city was huge and having spent a lot of time wandering around the protestant and catholic cemeteries, for free, we decided not to pay to go into the Jewish Cemetery. Instead we cut down some of the back streets past row after row of big square Soviet apartment blocks. It had warmed up a lot so we sat in the park before doing some souvenir shopping in the old town. We went for a stroll back down the main street but didn't really see anything of note.

Having satisfied ourselves that we had seen what we needed to in Warsaw, we packed up our bags, found the local bus and made out way to the coach station. We were quite early and coach stations are some of the grimmest places in the world. It didn't help that we couldn't read the departure board so didn't know when or if our bus was coming. Luckily a shiny yellow double-decker coach arrived, they let us on board and we got comfy for the 9 hour ride to Vilnius.

VILNIUS - DAY 1

Another early arrival into our next city. We found our way to the hostel in the early hours along the snowy and icy streets to be greeted by a very sleepy owner, Lina. We knew how she felt. We drank some coffee, ate some Soviet Bars (probably not the real name) and warmed around an hour before venturing into the old city through some snow and rain.

The old town isn't very big but there were plenty of pretty old buildings and statues.  We started through the Gate of Dawn, an old part of the city wall containing a tiny church, through the old town past the town hall and many brightly coloured churches (but we didn't go in any), past a university and towards the river. We made our way through a large square containing the Cathedral, the former palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and looked up towards the castle on the hill above. We were then rather cold and wet so we stopped off at a local cafe to warm up. Even in the rain we could see that the old town was a beautiful place with picture postcard streets and churches. People all seemed to dress well and the shops were all filled with high quality goods.

Once we had dried out we headed to the museum of genocide victims, in the old KGB building. The museum was a very grim account of the persecution of the Lithuanian people by the Soviet Regime. The  most interesting part was the prison located in the basement including a visit to the execution room.  There weren't many other tourists visiting at that time so it had quite an eerie feeling. The other information was also interesting and created more of a story than other places we visited.

We were pretty hungry by this point so checked out a restaurant recommended by the hostel which served traditional Lithuanian cuisine. The place seemed a bit kitch on the inside but the beer and food were really good. Marcus had tasty meat and potato dumplings and Jess had potato pancakes both with sour cream and pork crackling sauce.

Re-energised from our food we journeyed out the town centre to the suburb of Uzupis. This suburb was a haven for artists and independent thinkers. They had even declared themselves an independent state in 1998 and even had a constitution put up in the main street for all to read. You could get your passport stopped on 1 April but alas we would be gone by then.

We headed back to the hostel via some cute back streets but got caught in some hail on the way.  Time for a nap. Once refreshed we socialised with some other guests over Lithuanian wine which was made with choke-bery or blackcurrants. Quite tasty seeing as no one new Lithuania made wine.  We played a guess the country flag game which we were terrible at before turning in for some well deserved rest.

TRAKAI CASTLE

As we had seen most of the old town yesterday we headed out of town to a village called Trakai on the bus. The bus was more an elongated van with extra seats but it got us there. We walked through the town past its partly frozen lakes towards Trakai History Museum which is situated in Trakai Castle in the middle of one of the lakes. It was the seat of power when Lithuania ruled all the way to the Black Sea 600 years ago. The town seemed a bit quiet but you could tell it would be much busier in summer with plenty of adverts for spas.

We walked along the shore and across foot bridges to reach the island. The castle was very pretty but was not the original and you could tell the red bricks it was made out of now was not the original colour scheme. It had been rebuilt from ruins in the early 1900s. It was interesting to learn more about the history of Lithuania as we didn't know much before we arrived. Back in the days when the empire was vast the king had recruited an elite band of Crimean fighters. They and their families had left their homeland and come to live at Trakai. They were a religious sect similar to the Knights Templar and their story was very interesting.

Next we went on the search for the local specialty Kibinai. We found a place and ordered some. They turned out to be pretty similar to a Cornish pasty - so not very exciting but tasty none the less. Then we were back on the bus to town. Back at the hostel again our host plied us with more Lithuanian wine before insisting that we go out to some local bars. We were joined by a Finnish backpacker and a 62 year old retired Japanese schoolteacher this time. He was traveling while he visited his daughter who was studying in Helsinki. We were also joined by an Iranian metallurgist who was working in Denmark.We felt a bit strange about her leaving her young child on his own but the area seemed safe and she insisted.  We headed to a cool bar with a slight goth/rock theme.  A Japanese, an Iranian, a Fin, two New Zealanders and a Lithuanian walked into a bar - no its not some bad joke it's just what happened! We had a few beers and talked about traveling. Then Lina convinced us to walk up a hill and climbed up a wall to get a great night view of the town. All very nice but we were getting tired so we bailed at the next bar for some rest. It was an early flight for us in the morning. It was nice to go out with some other people for a change as we tend to stick to ourselves when traveling.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/March2012GermanyPolandLithuania02

March

We started March by jumping on the train to Sheffield to visit Rae and Viola. They picked us up from the station, drove us back to Rae's place and we dropped off our bags. After a cup of tea we were back in the car again and heading north to the Yorkshire Sculpture park. It is a former stately home, Bretton Hall, the grounds of which have been filled with various sculptures. The weather was looking a bit worrying but we still set off wandering the grounds, checking out the various modern sculptures which you could look at, climb on and climb through. We would be lying if we pretended we knew anything about modern art but we do appreciate a good walk and it was interesting to see all the different ways that artists had used the space at their disposal. The clouds had also decided to break up a bit too so we had some nice spells of blue sky too. After lunch at the cafe on the grounds we wandered down into the valley and then up through the paddocks on the other side and along the ridge looking back over the grounds where we had been walking.The sculptures up here were much bigger, like a whole building made out of steel mesh. It got pretty tight moving between some of the walls. We wandered back down again, through more sculptures along the way, enjoying the sun, until we got back to visitor centre. There was time for a cup of tea and some cake before jumping in the car and making our way back to Sheffield. We stopped in town and had a drink at a pub which backed on to the movie theatre. The Artist was all the rage at this time so we decided to check out what all the fuss was about. It was entertaining and there were some clever parts to the way it had been done, being in the style of a 1920s silent movie, but we didn't come out of it blown away. It was then back to Rae's for some dinner before heading off to bed.

The next day we rose mid morning and it wasn't looking too good outside. There was a bit of rain about but we were keen to go for a walk through the woods and weren't going to let some bad weather stop us. So we piled into Rae's car and she took us up the road for a short walk along the river as part of the town belt. The weather wasn't letting up any and in fact was getting worse, with sleet and snow coming down on us. Luckily we were rugged up warm and had our jackets to keep us dry. We walked for a while but eventually the weather got the better of us and we decided to head back to Rae's for some warm soup for lunch and an afternoon spent looking at our travel photos. It was nice just having a relaxing time but we needed to get back to London again, so it was back on the train and away we went. At least it wouldn't be too long till we saw Rae and Viola again as they would be visiting NZ at Christmas.

The following weekend we were on the train again, although not as far as last week as we caught the C2C out to Leigh on Sea to visit Karla, James, Harry and Ella. Their house was looking pretty good since we had last seen it, although we didn't spend too long at the house before heading out for lunch at a lovely local country pub. The place was really busy people with local people enjoying lunch, a pint and the nice weather. We enjoyed some tasty lunch, some pints of ale and cider and then a walk in the woods and a play at the playground with the kids. Karla was doing pretty well considering she was now very pregnant with another baby on the way. This was a bit of a sadder goodbye as we weren't quite sure when we were likely to see them again although hopefully it would be for their wedding in NZ. That wasn't it for the day though. We had been invited to Darryl and Beverly's for dinner and Settlers of Catan. Ian and Amy were in too. We hadn't played the game before but it is a strategy game where you build roads and settlements and try to get the most points. We spent most of the time confused (the beer probably increased the confusion) but had a good time anyway.

The following week was a busy one. We caught up with Emma and Tim for dinner. It was a tasty thai dinner at Rosa's across from Spitalfields. Not really a brick lane curry but actually we think it is better. We then grabbed a few pints at the local pubs before another goodbye. Hopefully not too long before we see them in NZ. We are sure Mrs Wise agrees.

Jess caught up with Laura and Emma for dinner and a drink. Even though they hadn't caught up in London quite as much as they would have liked it was nice to see each  other before we were gone.

Before we knew it it was our wedding anniversary again. This year we decided we wouldn't go out for a meal at a nice restaurant. Instead we made dinner at home and then made our way down to Great Portland Street to see our friends Darryl, Beverly, Ian and George performing in their band Lost Lands. It was cool listening to their psychedelic rock tunes. Not a lot of singing but Beverly held a tune on one song. Most importantly Marcus had let it slip that it was our anniversary so the band even did a shout out to us. We have good friends.

And just like that it was our last weekend in London. We had organised leaving drinks up the road at the Duke of Wellington. We figured it was appropriate that we say goodbye to London from a pub with Wellington in the title, seeing as our final destination was going to be Wellington too. There was a great turnout of people from all over London and we were touched to see all the people who had made our time in London so great. It was good fun but sad at the same time because we knew that once this night was over our world would get much much smaller again as these people had been the major part of our world for the past three years. Thank you everyone for making our time in London fantastic and we can't wait to see all of you again somewhere...

And so we continued to pack our bags, pack our boxes and work out which of our meagre possessions from the last three years could go to charity (Super Hero Costumes?) As it would be a long time until we would be earning money again we decided to work up until the last minute, with Marcus finishing his job on the Tuesday before we left and Jess finishing on the Wednesday. Marcus had been there almost the whole time we had been in the UK, so it was pretty sad to leave his great team Simon, Alistair, Graham and Jas. Fortunately a mid-week leaving drinks meant that the next day hangover didn't mess up his plans of moving the boxes downstairs for the shipping company to pick up. Our world became smaller yet again.

That only gave us one day in London before our Visas expired and we officially became overstayers. We decided to spend that day in the same way we had spent our time when we first came to London, as tourists. Fortunately, London wanted to support us in our endeavour with a calm reasonably clear day. Perfect weather for exploring. We headed down to the Tower of London and wandered down to the Thames. Although we had crossed it before we had never actually explored Tower Bridge so seeing as this was our last chance to lined up with the tourists. We were on a lucky streak as the bridge even decided to open for us to let a boat through. We climbed the north tower, checking out the history of the bridge on the way up. Then we wandered across the walkways at the top of the tower, checking out the great view east and west along the Thames. The pedestrian walkways were originally intended to be that high too. People sure would have been fit climbing up and down those to close the river every day. (There is a lift which takes you most of the way now...) After coming down we checked out the pumphouse. We continued along South Bank, stopping at Marcus' favourite market, Borough Market, to pick up some eats and continued along past the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge until we got to Waterloo Bridge when we crossed back into the City and stopped at the Wellington Pub on the Strand for some lunch. Sausages and mash, a steak and ale pie and a couple of pints. Good English fare that we wouldn't likely be having the same again for a while. We wandered up through Covent Garden and then back along the Strand until we arrived at Trafalgar Square. As usual there were plenty of tourists around as well as the Olympic Clock counting down to the London Olympics, one event we would have to be satisfied seeing on the TV. London would regularly have different themed artistic items scattered around the city. We had seen the elephants and today we were seeing eggs painted up all throughout the city. They were to celebrate a Faberge Egg exhibition which was on. We wouldn't be seeing that but we might just see some other ones on the way home. We continued up the Mall, stopping to frolic in the daffodils in St James' park. There was even a little squirrel there to say goodbye to us. We stopped by Buckingham Palace to say goodbye to the Queen but were feeling pretty tired after all that walking so caught the tube back to Islington and then the Double Decker Bus back to Dalston. Lucy was staying so we had arranged to go for one last Meat meal. Aimee had been working very hard lately so we hadn't seen much of here but we were pleased she was able to come and join us too. It looked like we might not be going anywhere for a while there as Marcus decided that he didn't need to chew and proceeded to choke on his meat. We will spare you the finer details other than to say he managed to get his throat clear again. After a busy day and fun night we went back to the flat to make sure we were properly packed and for our last night sleep in the UK for the forseeable future.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/March2012

February

We had had a very mild winter so far with temperatures not getting too low and no real sign of snow to date. That all changed at the start of February as the mercury dropped and we got our first look at Dalston covered in a layer of snow. One night we looked out the window and we could see that there was some slow gently making its way down and it got thicker and thick so that by morning there were a good couple of inches everywhere. Enough to be pleasant but not enough to cause any trouble. Nonetheless London was a ghost town that day. We made our way down to Spitalfields, normally buzzing with people and there was hardly anyone to be seen. (Just to keep things in perspective, hardly anyone in London is still way more people than you would see in Wellington on a normal day...)Shopping without the hustle and bustle of the crowds just wasn't quite the same.

The cold weather stuck around and Marcus was lucky enough to not only have the day off work for his birthday but it snowed that day too. First time he had ever had a snowy birthday. Jess made him a tasty late breakfast and it was a lazy morning before we went out into the snow. While we had been in the UK we had become mildly obsessed with the UK version of Masterchef. One incarnation of the series in the UK was Masterchef: The Professionals were young real chefs would compete against each other, not just the usual home cooks. The head judge was a Michelin star winning chef called Michel Roux Junior and Jess had booked us in for lunch at his restaurant, Roux on Parliament Square.We entered through the main door, had our coats taken and were taken to our table. It was a small restaurant converted from an old terrace house so we weren't sharing our lunch with too many people. Never one to pass up multiple courses we treated ourselves to the seven course degustation. Mmmmm. Degustation....We felt very fancy and very full with yummy food. Good job Michel Roux Jr. We made our way back the flat for a bit of a rest after all that eating before round 2. We were meeting our friends at the Railway Tavern in Dalston (not the one across the road from the apartment, or the one next to Dalston Kingsland Station...the other one...) Our friends had secured a nice corner with tables and a booth so we grabbed an ale to warm us from the cold night. After comfy and settled in we upped sticks and walked through the freezing night to Mangal Ocakbasi ("Meat" for the well informed).  We had a great big table booked and lined up for the Turkish goodness. It was the same chef as  last time, slaving away. Everyone ordered far too much food, so there was plenty for everyone, including the vegetarians amongst us. After all that meaty goodness even the cold couldn't get through us as we waddled our way back to the flat/ An excellent birthday all round.

That weekend we decided to check out a sight which we didn't know much about but had spent plenty of time going past, the British Library. We weren't sure if it was just going to be a bunch of books or there was something more. Turns out there was, with an excellent free exhibit containing all manner of historical documents from original works of Shakespeare, to all types of ancient Bibles and even the Magna Carta. Who would have thought that looking at a bunch of books could be so interesting? We had ourselves some lunch at the cafe before finding a spot to sit back and read our own books. Alas, you had to have a special pass to go into the various reading rooms so we didn't get to see what was behind the big wooden doors....

London is packed full of gigs going on somewhere every night. We hadn't exactly taken advantage of that too much but thanks to Tree we made a little journey into the city to see some North London DJs, the Next Men. We met for a drink at Electricity Showrooms before wandering down to the bar where the Next Men were playing. We were a bit worried when we got there and it looked to be some sort of crazy futuristic lounge bar with plenty of silver and people in skinny suits and small dresses. Fortunately we discovered that down in the basement there was a great big room with a DJ booth at the front and a bar along the side and the Next Men pumping out the tunes. Just what we were looking for. They started with some funky reggae tunes before moving into the hip-hop beats and then rounding it out with some dance music. We had some great fun dancing (even some of the rest of the London crowd got into it for a change). We couldn't help smiling seeing Keith from the Office up there DJing away. (Not really him but we think the resemblance is uncanny.)

One of the things we like to do when we visit a site is to climb the tallest structure and get a view around the place. Now with the advent of Skyscrapers there are monstrous buildings that loom over the City of London, but for hundreds of years one of the tallest things you could climb was the Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known as the Monument. A column designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in the 1670s to commemorate the Great Fire of London and the rebuilding of the City. After climbing the stairs around and around and around we had a great (although chilly) view of some of the great sites of the East End, like Tower Bridge, St Pauls, the Gherkin, the City of London Corporation building and London's newest (and incomplete) high rise, the imposing Shard. We made our way back down again before nipping across to Covent Garden for a cup of tea and some lolly cake.

Jess' parents had got her a voucher for a cooking class for her birthday which we had managed to find time to book in at L'Atelier des Chefs in Wigmore Street. We arrived plenty early and checked out some of the fancy cooking equipment you could buy in their shop a the front before it was our turn, along with all the other Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson wannabes. We were teamed up with three other girls and rather than each of us cook the whole meal we each had a task to do to get the overall job done. We were cooking crispy duck breast on a bed of cabbage and celeriac with a berry sauce followed by a gooey chocolate fondant. There was chopping and frying and simmering and sauteing. We weren't quite sure how it was all going to turn out but were very impressed with our efforts. Then came the best part of it all, we got to enjoy our efforts and wolf down our tasty lunch. Although we were feeling pretty full we still managed to make it around to Ian and Amy's for dinner. They made a yummy dinner with some fancy Artichoke and plenty of wine all round.

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January

January

We eventually woke up in our little Cornish cottage in 2012. It was looking a little clearer than it had the day before so we decided to head a bit further afield, to one of the modern attractions of Cornwall, the Eden Project. It is basically two massive dome glasshouses filled with plants from all over the world. Once we finally got through the car park (which is huge) we found we weren't that far from the attraction. The middle of winter isn't exactly peak visit time. Before heading down into the pit where the domes are located we stopped for some tea, scones, jam and clotted cream for Jess and another pasty for Marcus while being entertained by the automated puppet show about what would happen if we didn't have nature in the way it is now. We descended into the pit past gardens and giant bees before entering the first of the domes. There were signs everywhere warning us that it can get very hot in there but they are probably more for the summer guests as we found it was just pleasant. We wandered past the various tropical plants and checked out the artwork interspersed throughout and even read some of the signs to get better informed. There was a viewing platform up above the middle of the dome so we climbed up the many stairs until it was our turn to go out and have a look. It was pretty high and interesting to get a view of the rainforest from above rather than below. We made our way back down to the dome entrance. Between the two domes was another building where you could buy eco-souvenirs but more importantly you could buy lunch. There was a big area with long tables and all sorts of organic cooking to order. An organic bacon and lettuce roll, a leek and blue cheese pastry and two pieces of Victoria sponge later and we were feeling pretty good. We made our way across to the next dome. This one was more temperate with plants from places like the Mediterranean and New Zealand. It was clever the way they had constructed it so that different parts of the dome catered from slightly different climates. We particularly enjoyed all the different varieties of chillies. There must have been about 30, from mild to having to be behind glass because they were so potent. There was one more building to visit. This one was a big concrete construction with a giant concrete golf ball like shape in the middle. It was so big that they had built the building around it. There were all sorts of educational exhibits but we found the winning entries in the international nature photography competition the most amazing. There were six year olds taking pictures a million times better than our holiday snaps. We were happy with all the we had seen today so jumped back into the car and drove back to the cottage for a well earned rest.

We weren't quite sure what to do with our remaining day in Cornwall so decided to just head out and see what we could see. We started with a drive out to Britain's most southerly point, The Lizard.When we arrived there wasn't much there, a lighthouse, a cafe (closed) some fields and plenty of wind. This was much more what we were expecting to see when we had visited Lands End so were pleased we made the effort today. After a bit of a wander we climbed back into the car and wandered our way through countryside and little villages skirting the coastline and then cutting our way back in again. We had no real plan about what we were wanting to do but were just happy to check things out along the way. Cornwall is apparently full of country gardens which you can visit and although it wasn't exactly the right time of year we decided to check one out. Trebah Garden filled our requirements (being nearby and able to be found.) We parked up and made our way in to into the grounds. It wasn't at its best but was still a nice green calm walk through the grounds. There was a combination of trees, plants, ponds, bridges, sculpture and even the odd Punga to remind us of home. We stopped for lunch in the garden cafe, checked out the garden shop (alas no garden to bring things back to in London, and then meandered our way back through the countryside to Penzance. We dropped off the rental, did a last wander around the streets of Penzance and then made our way to train station for the slow trip back to London.

We took it easy through the middle of the month before it all got busy again towards the end. Jon and Lobke were in town so we caught up with them for a drink at the Citte of Yorke, and old style pub with the same owners as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. It was good to see them, even if only for a short time.

The next day was the big one of the month, Jess' 30th birthday. It was on a Saturday this year so we could spend the whole day celebrating. It was champagne, fruit and croissants for breakfast. Jess then got to play with her new Kindle for a while before we caught the bus to Highbury and Islington and a short trip on the Victoria Line to Green Park and we were out in Mayfair. We had been enjoying the classy food you could eat in London but hadn't yet been anywhere that was the holder of a Michelin Star. That was about to change as we had a booking at Hakkasan, Chinese Cuisine with a modern take. It looks relatively inconspicuous from the outside with a glass front and some tables and a bar. However, then you go through and down the stairs into a whole different world. The lights are low and all the furniture is black or dark brown, but there is blue lighting around the place so you can see where you are supposed to be going. It has a good effect which means you don't really notice the people around you. After being seated by the waitress, wearing a funky Chinese style dress, we grabbed a mixture of dumplings to get us started. We were treated with ingredients like seafood, rabbit, duck and a whole range of exotic herbs and spices. These were easily the tastiest dumplings we had ever had, and we do like dumplings. For the main Marcus had king crab in the shell and Jess enjoyed a Peking style duck but done with plump sauce. The mains were also tasty but nothing could beat those dumplings. It was then back home for a bit of a rest and a round of Happy Birthday before Jess blew out the candles on her Red Velvet with cream cheese icing birthday cake. Marcus would like to pretend that he had been baking but this masterpiece was well beyond his expertise. The day wasn't over yet though. We walked up Kingsland Road to Stoke Newington where we had invited everyone to celebrate Jess' birthday at the White Hart, a trendy but spacious local pub where had a big booth reserved. There was a really good turnout from all our friends from all over London, both North and South. Everyone seemed to be having a good time although Ian got a bit out of control and made sure Jess had more than her fair share of shots.

It felt like a long time since we had been to a West End musical (Panto doesn't count) so we decided to make up for it by going to see THE west end musical (no, not Shrek) The Phantom of the Opera! With a round of Yo Sushi for dinner and passing the stars getting out for a movie premiere (Polish movie so nobody we recognised) we made our way to the theatre (which was actually pretty small), found our seats and readied ourselves for some Andrew Lloyd Webber magic. It wasn't Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford but was still very impressive. The power of the music of the night....

While we had been away lots of our friends had been growing their families. Babies everywhere. Not so much with our London friends, so when one did it was a pretty big deal. We jumped on the District Line and made our way out to visit Kate and David and their new addition, Mae. She was ultra tiny but ultra cute too and Marcus even held her for a while as she slept away. Mum and Dad were very proud and it was great to see them all.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/January2012

December

As always December was a busy time with plenty of people to see and things to do. We decided that we needed to do some exploring around the East End which we had decided to call home. Apparently the East End is well known for its markets so what with Christmas coming we thought we would see on offer. We went for a wander down to the canal and headed east until along it until we reached Broadway Market, at the foot of London Fields. It was full of trendy young people hanging out, checking out the stalls and sampling the many food stalls which were spread up and down the street. We felt like a drink, but as happens in London on the weekend the pubs were packed so no chance of that. We had to settle for a warm mulled wine from one of the stall holders set up around the corner in the school yard. We checked out London Fields, which were your standard London green space. Bit chilly for a picnic though. We wandered back through the market and picked up some big tasty looking veges before wandering back to the apartment. There is a roof terrace on top of the building so we tried our luck at getting up there. Alas, the doors were locked so the best we could hope for was to stare through the windows.

London is full of museums to all sorts of things. Down the road was one of the more obscure ones, the Geffrye Museum of Interior Design. Marcus passed it every day on the bus to work. It wasn't really something we would normally check out but they had a special exhibition on of Christmas through the ages. There were basically about 7-8 rooms showing what a typical family living room would look like at Christmas. It was actually pretty cool and gave quite a good insight into what life would have been like for people over the past several hundred years. There was also a funky shop in the museum where we picked up a Battersea Power Station Bookend for Marcus (he had wanted a Battersea Power Station souvenir for ages but had never found the right one. We also got a surprise in the basement of the museum. There was a small drawing exhibition, done by a local artist, all about the construction of Dalston Square, the place we were now living in. It was cool to have that personal connection with it. Outside the museum, formerly almshouses (retirement home) was a great big Christmas tree and tiny little men who someone had placed around the grounds. They had little signs asking to be returned home but we decided to leave that adventure for someone else.

One of the cool things about London is you get little ghettos of different ethnic communities around the place. Hoxton is just down the road and it is chocka full of Vietnamese restaurants. We hadn't had much Vietnamese before so thought we would give it a try. After a tasty meal of fresh spring rolls, crab and curry we were pretty happy and keen to try it again.

Somehow we had managed to spend our whole time in London without visiting one of the major tourist attractions, Westminster Abbey. So we decided to make amends by queuing up with the American tourists to check it out. It is a Gothic cathedral so, unlike St Paul's which is quite light and airy it is quite dark inside with lots of stone and wood. It is also hard to get a feel for the Westminster Abbey you see in the Royal weddings on TV because you enter through the side door and there is a big artificial wall dividing it all up. We wandered around checking out the final resting place of many famous people such Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and Rudyard Kipling. By this time we had seen a lot of churches but this one still ranked as one of the most impressive, if just by famous bodies buried under it alone.

Another East End market that we wanted to check out was the Columbia Road Flower Market. It was just a short stroll down the road and we found it without too much of a problem. First things first we headed to the money machine which gave us the option of English or Cockney...so after a bit longer than usual we walked away flushed with Sausage and Mash and wandered through the narrow lanes into the market. It is pretty small, stretching down Columbia Road and into some of the side streets, but is packed with people buying their flowers and plants and young people hanging out in the cool pubs, cafes and shops along the road. We wandered through the crowd listening to calls of "Two for a Tenner!" "Lovely bunches!" "Beautiful Darlin!" checking out the bright bunches of flowers everywhere but we had our eyes set on something else today. We were after a big green bushy Christmas Tree. There were plenty to choose from but they were going just as quick as the vendors could put them out. Fortunately we were quick off the mark and managed to pick ourselves up one that looked pretty good. Marcus hoisted it on to his shoulder and we managed to get halfway home before needing to jump onto the bus....We got it safely back to the apartment and then Jess added the decorations and we couldn't help feeling more festive as a result.

It wasn't just new markets which we checked out. Camden was always a great place to go for Christmas shopping and just 10 minutes away on the Overground it was easy to get there (and much more interesting than the massive Westfield Stratford in the other direction.) It's also a great place for street food. Mmmm, tasty curries. We also made a trip to Ridley Road market in Dalston. It's straight out of Eastenders but more a source of day to day wares than special things for Christmas.

Another English tradition which we had yet to experience was the Christmas Pantomime. There were plenty on around the place so we got ourselves some tickets to see Cinderella at the Hackney Empire one night after work. We weren't quite sure what to expect but were actually quick surprised at the enjoyable singing, dancing, cross dressing, audience interaction and general silliness. They had us shouting "Look Behind You!" and "Oh No He Won't!" along with the rest of the crowd. Although many of the adults seemed to be enjoying it all a bit more than the kids. We played along but spent most the time feeling a little bewildered by the whole thing. Must be a cultural thing.

As Christmas grew ever closer it was time for each of us to go to our work Christmas parties. Jess unfortunately got stuck with the traditional work lunch fare of cold stodgy roast in a lifeless chain hotel dining room. Marcus was a bit luckier this year. His work had decided to go for something different. A bus ride down to Richmond and Chinese food for Christmas lunch. Couldn't help thinking of the movie "A Christmas Story". It was very good Chinese though. That was a little bit different but then it reach a whole new level when an Indian guy dressed as Elvis turned up halfway through the main course and started belting out Elvis' classics. Not sure if it was the combination of the surreal Chinese Christmas but everyone was loving Indian Elvis and wouldn't let him leave. He ran out of Elvis songs to sing but luckily knew a bit of Cliff Richard and even some Queen too. (It is possible that all this enthusiasm from everyone was also the result of the free flowing wine too...) Marcus was also pleased with his Secret Santa gift of a big beard to replace the one he had recently had to let go.

Christmas time was a perfect opportunity for the Dalston Square community to get together again. The residents association had arranged an evening get together. Bring a Plate. Being Kiwis we liked that way of doing things. So armed with homemade gingerbread men we made our way across the square and up into another building in search of the festivities. Turns out there was a great big deck, perfect for get togethers filled with random people, some of whom we had met before but many of whom we had not. It was pretty darn cold out there, but we met a bunch of new people who shared the same area with us and shared in their food as they shared in ours. In such a big place as London it is great to find some community.

It was nice to have Christmas Eve on a Saturday so we used the opportunity to to catch up with Anna and Perry at the Cole Hole in Covent Garden, a good old fashioned pub with some tasty ales and roasts on offer. We enjoyed a Christmas themed ale or four...and some good conversation and Company before letting Anna and Perry be on their way before the London public transport ground to a halt.

Aimee had gone home to Jersey for Christmas so we were able to get up in our PJs and have our annual Mum and Dad Skype chats. We didn't overdo it for breakfast. There was plenty of time to do that the rest of the day. Instead we packed ourselves up with food and drink and walked down to Tree's place. No public transport to get us there today, but still only a 45 minute walk. This year we were celebrating with Tree and Ash in a Christmas Feast Extravaganza. Tree had already been slaving away all morning by the time we got there, but we all pitched in to deliver one of the tastiest meals of roast lamb, veges, potatoes, brussel sprouts and stuffing that we had ever had. Mouth still waters thinking about it. With no driving the wine was flowing pretty freely too. After breaking to adjust our belts another round of tasty pav roll (a la Jess) ice-cream and fruit was not needed but still enjoyable. As is traditional we weren't really in much of a position to move by this point so retired to the lounge for something Tree had been wanting to share for a while. The Room. It is a movie, but more than just a movie...it is probably the worst movie you will ever see...and yet enjoyable for that very same reason..."Oh Hi Guys" Anyone fancy a game of football in the alley while wearing tuxedos? This all finished up in time for us to be joined by the the rest of the London crew who were finishing up at their various own Christmas lunches (which clearly were not as good as ours was...) General merriment and Never Mind the Buzzcocks the board game (which was ridiculously difficult and unsurprisingly lacked the wit of the TV show) ensued, before eventually all that eating and drinking took its toll and we decided to head home for some Christmas sleep.

The transport was back again on Boxing Day, so we made our way a bit further (but not much further) afield to Ian and Amy's (along with the rest of the London crew) for a relaxing afternoon of snack eating and movie watching. There was fun with Rio, fear with The Shining and silliness with Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. It was the perfect way to spend a lazy Boxing Day with friends.

Jess decided to go into work over the Christmas break for a couple of days so Marcus just chilled out a bit at home and caught up on some sleep. We hadn't really been anywhere since getting back from our van trip so we had arranged a trip to the southernmost part of England, where people talk like Pirates. Yaaaargh! Cornwall. We tripped across to Paddington Station (no direct route alas) before jumping on a train for the 6 hour journey down to Penzance. It was a grey day that greeted us as we reached Penzance. We loaded our bags into the rental car and then went for a walk around the town. The main road wasn't much to talk about, with a few more Pound Shops than we were keen to visit. We wandered along some of the side streets till we found the Morrab Gardens, a nice place to wander. It wasn't in full bloom, being the middle of winter but still very pleasant. We followed the hill down until we reached the waterfront and then wandered around trying to catch glimpses of St Michael's Mount (the cousin of Mont St Michel) but alas the cloud was too low so our glimpses were only fleeting. After all that working we had worked up an appetite and we managed to find a place to stop for a tasty Cornish Pasty, in Cornwall...We stopped in at the supermarket and picked up our Cornish Ale and Cornish clotted cream ice-cream. Sufficiently stocked we made our way back to the car and with the help of Tom-Tom journeyed out into the country lanes of Cornwall. They got progressively narrower until we had large mounds of grass on either side and no room to escape if we came across another car coming the other way. Fortunately we found our way to our pretty stone cottage without incident. It was part of an old farm with a big stone house on the other side of the courtyard (which we accidentally drove into at first...) We parked the car, got the key from our hosts and went to explore. It was getting dark so we were pleased to get there before it was so dark that we couldn't see the way...No street lights around these parts. The cottage was lovely, with stone walls snuggly couches and a big roaring fire place with plenty of wood to keep us warm.

The weather was still a bit dodgy as we awoke on New Years Eve with fog, rain and patches of sun all rolled in. We weren't down in Cornwall to stay inside though, so we jumped in the car and off we went. We weren't as lucky as the day before, when we met someone coming the other way along the narrow lane, so had to reverse backwards up the hill till we could find some space. To give you an idea of how narrow the road was, the someone that we met was a lady pushing a pram...We headed out towards the south coast to see what was to be seen. First stop was the Minack Theatre. An amazing open air theatre built into the cliff overlooking the sea. It had been a labour of love for its creator Rowena Cade. The exhibition about her and her life building the theatre was very interesting. There was no play on so we could scamper around the seats and the stage with the crashing waves many feet below. We made our way down the path behind the theatre to the yellow sanded beach below. Bit cold for us to swim. Marcus thought he saw a dog coming out of the water but Jess knew better, it was seal coming up for a bit of a rest from the raging sea. After walking back up the hill to the car we carried on around the coast (having to make our way slowly as we got caught in the middle of a fox hunt we think) our next stop was the famous English landmark of Lands End. We didn't really know what to expect other than it being the westernmost point in England. When we arrived there were two words to describe it..Tourist Trap...The place was crawling with tourist shops and even had theme park rides. We found the famous Lands End sign (which you couldn't stand next to without paying) and then were quickly on our way again. We headed north in hunt of some more Cornish history, a tin mine. Much of the old Cornish economy had been built on the back of the now defunct tin mines. We drove following the signs until we arrived at the Levant Mine on the coast. It was closed but you could still wander around the chimneys and ruined buildings and take in the rugged countryside. The fog and the rain were starting to come in so we cancelled our plans to go stone circle hunting (didn't want to get lost) and made our way back to the cottage to warm up again and change our clothes. The weather had settled well in by now steady rain coming down, but we had reservations in St Ives for dinner. St Ives was famous at New Years for dressing up, so we recycled our cowboy and saloon girl costumes, found a park up above the town wandered our way down through the narrow cobbled lanes, doing a couple of laps of the town centre before finding our fish restaurant (couldn't pass up fresh fish) for dinner. The place was packed and we were out of there pretty early and after a couple more laps around the town we decided it was too cold and too wet to wandering around in fancy dress. Instead we jumped back n the car and drove back through the fog to the cottage   where we sat in front of the fire and watched the London fireworks on TV. Yes we are lame, but at least we were warm and dry.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/December2011

November

Happier having found a home (brand new apartment in Dalston Square) and Jess once again working we launched into November. It was Liamś birthday early in the month so we joined him for an after work beer in Camden before he made his way on to a hip hop gig and we slunk off home.

We also got introduced to "meat" via Aimee, her boyfriend Steve and our part time flatmate Lucy (who spent the rest of her time at her actual house in Jersey.) There are loads of Turkish restaurants in Dalston and they reckoned they knew the best one. It was basic but packed with one man cooking the meat over a hot coal stove in the centre of the restaurant. Watch out for stray coals! There was more than enough meat to go around and after feeling sufficiently full we retired to a proper local East End boozer for a few drinks before wandering back home.

The next night there was a meet the neighbours event in our apartment block so we decided it would be rude not to go along and meet some people over a couple of wines. As it turns out the complex was full of young people, all whom seemed really nice and laid back. It was also bonfire night so Steve and Aimee took us out to a local fireworks display at Weavers' Fields. With many of the Councilś canceling their displays due to budget cuts we weren't expecting too much and although it was nice enough it wasn't the most spectacular thing we had ever seen. We then found a spot at the local pub, the Marquis of Cornwallis, another East End boozer and apparently a former haunt of the notorious Cray Twins. We chatted with the locals and had a great night. The night ended with sprint races down the hallway and sparklers on the deck. We agreed that a move east was the right thing to do.

We also had a chance to meet more of our neighbours the following weekend. One of the people we had met the week before was having a flatwarming and had invited us along. We hoped it hadn't just been the wine talking so we took him up on his offer. Turns out there were a few other people from the building there so we got to put some names to people we might otherwise only see in the lift or at the gym (not much chance of that though...)

Social outings continued as the following weekend we were lucky enough to get to see our friends Daryl and George performing in Piccadilly with their band Throwing Needles. We had missed their previous gig as we were on our van trip so it was great to get to see them live. It was also great that all of the local troops had come out in support too. It was a fun night listening to them play and they were easily the best band playing that night (in our biased opinion anyway.)

The next night we were out with the same crew again for Tree's Birthday at the Queen's Head in Camden. We had never been there and assumed it was a bit of a standard big pub. Turns out it is one of the most popular places in Islington with a big dance floor upstairs. It was a good night out but we took our leave before the party really started cranking and there was no chance of us getting away.

It was back to Islington with Tree again that week for an old hobby, the pub quiz. Tree had a group of friends who were meeting and had invited us to tag along. As usual our lack of British Sport/TV/History knowledge ruled us out of any chance of winning something but it was still good fun anyway.

We ended the month on a more serious note, heading down to the New Zealand embassy to participate in democracy by casting our votes in New Zealand National Election. It was a bit weird being surrounded by so many New Zealand accents but we took it all in our stride. The next day we joined some of our friends to watch the results live on the big screen via the internet at a pub in Kentish Town. It being a Green Party event (not any indication of how we voted) there was a sad mood in the air from some of the attendees but it was still good to be with other Kiwis as the results came in.

https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/November2011