Greensted Church - Essex

Oldest wooden church in the world (though only in part cause a lot of it has been restored - though things like Leper holes still remain)

Day out in London

Brick Lane...

Boundary Restaurant... Really nice! Combination of French and British Food

Spittalfields Market

The Alwyne - Islington - Last Catch up with Sal

Paris - Day 3

Lazy morning again today though were very conscious that we made it down for breakfast before 10! Today we had a ‘culture day’ first stop Notre Dame… The spires and the stain glass were really impressive… It was Sunday, so there was a service on which was really nice as well…

Outside there was this guy walkin round with an ‘ugly’ mask on. He just kinda sidled up to people and took their hand or put his arm on their shoulder – was quite funny watching the reactions – specially when they screamed… I was wondering how often he got punched though!

From there we wandered through the Latin Quarter and had a light lunch in a Patisserie. There was a bike stand on the corner, so from there we rode along the bank of the Seine to the Musee de D’Orsey. Not being huge art fans, we knew we didn’t want to go in both the Louvre and the D’Orsey, so we took the advice of the majority of people we asked and went to D’Orsey. The collection is really nicely laid out, and the huge ceilings in the centre let in lots of light. The building itself used to be a railway station. Lots of Renoir and Monet… an also a room of Vincent Van Gogh which I like. Matt’s favourite was “Whistler”… cause of Mr Bean.   

It was quite tiring walking around… plus the legs were a little sore from all the riding… Least I felt I was working off a little of the good food we’d been having! Didn’t have a lot of time left before we had to be back at the hotel for the bus to the train station. Plus we had to get our train supplies… ie cake from the Patisserie.. YUM! and some beers… for some reason Matt bought some Amsterdam… horrible! Took about an hour to finish a can… good thing I spose… and had to give away the 2^nd one… that’s how bad it was!

Train ride back was quite fun… few of the group were getting quite drunk… luckily I think our tour was taking up most of the carriage so I don’t think we annoyed anyone too much. 

Paris Day 2

As expected, we were up late this morning! Made it down for breakfast 2 mins before 10 (parently breakfast shut at 10, we thought it was 10:30) The lady looking after the breakfast started yelling at us in French – no idea what she was saying… then a couple more people came in after us and she just started yelling at everyone and turned the lights off! Twas quite funny… but we got some croissants and coffee which was the main thing!

Spent most of today just wandering around… took the Metro over to Galleries Laffeyette… planned to do some shopping but with the Euro : Pound exchange rate… it was really too expensive… above the shopping centre was Tour Montparnasse – a 200m tall tower with a viewing platform on the roof. We went up, but unfortunately the cloud was quite low so it was quite difficult to make a lot of things out… but Matt managed to make out a bike stand just round the corner…

Can’t remember the last time I rode a bike… cept in the gym… but they just stay still… but after an extremely wobbly first 50m I was alright… First thing we had to do was cross 4 lanes of traffic! The bike system in Paris is excellent. You pay 1 Euro for a 24hr pass and you can pick up a bike from one stand (there are stands everywhere) and drop it off wherever you end up. Don’t have to worry about locking it up or anything. It just automatically locks itself on the stand… Really handy and a great way to see the city.

From Montparnasse, we rode up near the Champs Elysees and had a coffee (should have had a hot chocolate) and a yummy choc brownie from a Chocalatier.. spensive but had to be done! Had a wander up to the Arc de Triomphe and went to the top…. Great view from up there… don’t know if it was cause the weather had lifted, but it was a much better view from there than Montparnasse.. It was right on 6 o’clock too so we were up there for the sunset. They also stopped the traffic for a procession to walk up to the Arc de Triomphe…. It was quite funny to watch the traffic once they let everyone go… the policemen had to run for their lives! Everyone was going everywhere….

But still no accidents… we were up there for quite a while and didn’t see one – but apparently there’s an accident every 15 mins on average…

We were heading down to the Seine for our River cruise… but stopped off for dinner at one of the bistros… food was quite yummy.. and the service surprisingly good! Matt had some escargot (I don’t get the fuss really!). So with full stomachs we went on the cruise – the view was great, pity it was FREEZING!! 

My Chrissy Present - a Long Weekend In Paris - Feb 20

Sometimes I really don’t know why we do it… I mean obviously to make the most of time off… but yet again… we set off super early to get to Kings Cross Station for our Eurostar trip to Paris. So, so, so much easier than flying. For one thing, no carry on limit and you can take drinks from outside the terminal on-board and the whole check-in and immigration thing is just so much quicker. 1 min exiting the UK… walk 5 m and you officially enter France. The passport stamp is kinda cool too.. has a little train in the corner. This is one good thing about having a non-EU passport, getting all the stamps!!- Small downside was that the train (a designated train) to Eurodisney was also leaving at about the same time… so eaps and eaps of kids around… but I spose it wasn’t that bad, plus they had a little 4-piece band playing some Disney songs in the waiting area which was alright. Both trains were leaving off the same platform and I’m sure some people must have gotten on the wrong one…

Matt had arranged our trip through Andersen Tours, which made everything really easy – got our boarding pass and a map handed to us on checking in with the tour leader (who happened to be the same as the tour leader we had on our Top Deck tour through Europe in ’03... though Matt already knew this was going to be the case …) and then straight onto a Bus for a quick driving tour of the city.

The train trip itself was pretty uneventful… which is a good thing surely…

Having been to Paris once before, the driving tour we had as soon as we arrived didn’t really show us anything new, but it was a good way to get our bearings again, plus getting a recap on the history of the city is always helpful. After a couple of stops at the usual places for photos we headed to our hotel…

There was a great little Patisserie on the corner which we managed to avoid until our last day, groceries and a few little shops were all really handy. Best of all we were about 20m from the entrance to the Metro station, Marcel Sembat. It was only a couple of stops from the end of the line… but only about 15/20 mins to all the attractions. As soon as we arrived we got a bite to eat and got some beer, wine and nibblies from the supermarket (plus I threw in some bananas for good measure) We bought a 15 pack of Heineken – I thought that’d be plenty to last us the whole weekend and the train trip home… how wrong was I!. Buying the fruit there was a little different… Kinda like a deli counter, had to select the fruit I wanted then go to a counter to get it weighed and a sticker with the price put on it. Obviously I didn’t realise this until I got to the front of the queue, so had to go back – and all just for the fruit I thought I ‘should’ get!.

Back at the hotel we decided to have a couple of drinks before heading out for a Cabaret show… Matt and Jude (who was looking after our tour) managed to polish off all the beers rather quickly! For once I was the sedate one!. Given all the beers they’d had and the couple of roadies they took with them… it made for a fairly interesting metro ride out for the show! Plus when we got out of the Metro we couldn’t quite work out what direction we needed to head! Still, we made it just in time for the start of the show. To be honest I wasn’t overly impressed with the show, apart from the trapeze artist/flying acrobat… that was quite cool cause the rope and swing went right across the crowd. I’m sure Matt got more enjoyment out of the rest of the show than I did!

The Metro ride back was a lot quieter, with both Matt an Jude sleeping… luckily by this stage I kinda knew where I as going! Only thing open for dinner though was Kebabs – was a really nice kebab, but it still felt a little wrong to be eating kebab in Paris!

Leeds Castle Feb 15th

Being highly recommended by most we met.. we took a day out to Leeds Castle, Kent... not Yorkshire... so it was less than an hrs drive! The grounds are amazing, with lots of birds.. and the castle itself is really beautiful... pity we didn't think to charge the batteries on our camera... it had run out before we got inside... which was a good thing in a way... meant we probably took more in rather than just trying to take a great photo!

It's actually built across 2 islands on the River Len... and while it has been home to Royalty, including Henry VIII's wife Queen Catherine of Aragon... it's never been the site of a battle... from what we could tell... Henry VIIIs entire court stopped at Leeds Castle en route to the tournament of the Field of Cloth of Gold, in France in the 16th Century... there was a summary of the number of soldiers, cattle etc that they took with them... we were surprised to read that it included 2 dolphins... didn't say whether they were dead or alive... were interested in first understanding why they would need them and secondly how they would have been transported... but unfortunately no one there was able to answer our questions.

After wandering through the castle... imagining what it must have been like living somewhere like that... we headed outside and to the dog collar museum... the last resident of the house Lady Baillee was into dogs... but still the museum wasn't my kinda thing.. but a little quirky.

The grounds also have quite a large aviary... which included a lot of tropical birds.. toucans etc... we felt a little sorry for them... shivering in the freezing English wind.. poor things.

We missed out on the maze.. but all in all it was a great day out and thoroughly recommend it!

Snow Snow Snow! Mon Feb 2nd

We were warned it as coming... yet still...

"Foot of Snow Paralyses London"... "Snow shuts down British capital"

We had a belated Aussie day bbq on the Sunday.. which turned out to be an oven and grill as with the wind our fuel stove just wasn't working properly for some reason... and as everyone started leaving the snow started to fall... 

By the time the sun went down the ground was well and truly covered and when we woke up literally everything was white... We had both got up early predicting traffic could be a little slow... took a while to get going... shovelling the snow off the car... but me, being in the cruiser had no issues at all getting to work... Matt also had gotten most of the way before getting a call from his boss saying no need to go into work today... was a little sliipery for him.. and he finally slowed down when he saw a car had gone off the road!.. I did get a call though saying he had gotten stuck... but only at the bottom of our street.. so he could walk! - thought I was going to have to come and get him... 

I did get to leave work early though... they didn't want any of us travelling in the dark.. though not many people had actually made it in anyway... This made Matt happy as well... I think he was a little put out that I had the cruiser and there was all this thick snow around... literally ass soon as I got in... he jumped in and went for a drive...

So all in all we both didn't really know what all the fuss was about... just thought it was a bit of a laugh and really pretty!

Malta - Australia Day Long Weekend

Malta Day 1 - Saturday 24 January

We spent our Australia Day weekend in Malta, which was short but sweet. Flying from Luton was very different to other ‘London’ airports. We drove to one of the cheaper airport carparks and got a shuttle bus to the airport… which was pretty straightforward… but the airport itself is synonymous with the low cost airlines that depart from there (no major carriers do). While at Stansted you can get away with a carry on and a handbag… not at Luton! – they will turn you away as you try to go through security… strictly one piece of hand luggage only… luckily that’s all we had anyway but some people in front of us were caught out with a baby bottle bag...

The airport itself had a real dim, hospital type feel about it, but apparently it has been an airport since it was opened in 1938… dunno… just felt a bit strange… but then I spose you get what you pay for.

We arrived in Malta around 7:30pm – about ½ hr early even though we left late. Ryanair states it has the best on time record – though I think they must put a fair bit of buffer in their flight times… ½ hr early on a 3 hr flight is quite an achievement.

My tone here probably reflects my current view on Ryanair – but that’s probably because in the news recently they stated they were looking at charging you to use the toilet in flight… £1 a go?!! Bit rich… Once you add on all the extra charges for baggage, paying by credit card etc… sometimes it doesn’t work out all that much cheaper than the major airlines… and there’s no customer service to top it all off…

Anywayz… even though our flight was early, it took us about 1 ½ hrs to get out of the airport as we were waiting for our rental car rep to arrive… he said he had a flat tyre on the way but Matt was a bit sceptical – his clothes/hands etc weren’t dirty!...

The car itself… (Matt’s idea!)… was a Suzuki Maruti (or Sierra)… Not the comfiest ride but Matt said it was fun to drive….

Things picked up considerably from when we left the airport! [Even though I was starving hungry… I was just happy to be somewhere I didn’t have to be wearing 10 layers of clothing]… Malta is only a small island so since we had hired a car we were able to see most of it on our long weekend. We were staying at St Paul’s Bay – crashing on the sofa bed of a friends’ holiday let. By the time we got there and had a bite to eat, it was well and truly time to sleep!

Malta Day 2 - Sunday 25 January

Saw quite a bit of Malta today… First stop was Mosta and the church of St Mary, which not only has an amazing dome (4th largest in the world) but is famous for an incident that took place during WWII. Hundreds of people had taken refuge in the church when a bomb came through the dome and rolled across the floor… but never exploded. You can still see where they’ve patched the dome over.

Malta has a real old-worldy kinda feel about it… not only do the buses look like they’re leftovers from the 1950s, but all the cafes, shops etc all play 70s and 80s music… but at the same time there’s quite a few nice cars around…

From Mosta we headed down to Marsaxlokk for a wander through the markets – including live fish and stingrays! – and had lunch at a nice little café overlooking the bay. The wind was a little chilly, but was great to have the sun on our back. Could imagine how busy it must get in Summer…

We headed out on the bumpy roads, passed tent city (where North African Refugees) have set up a community, to the Blue Grotto, a rock formation off the coast. Like Capri though, the weather prevented us from hiring a boat and getting a closer look and no sooner had we got out of the car to have a walk around, it started pelting down with rain. Luckily we had put the cover back on the car before setting off.

So, quick change of plans, we headed to Mdina, the ‘silent city’ though once we arrived it wasn’t so silent.. we all seemed to be in a loud, boisterous mood.. oh well… such a pretty place though from the churches to the stone streets and the great views over Malta.. on a clear day, apparently you can see Sicily. Spent a good couple of hours here just wandering the streets. It was dusk too, so the sun was casting a really nice light on all the buildings.

After dinner at a local restaurant and a couple of bottles of La Vallette, we were shattered… again… and had a thoroughly good night sleep.

Malta Day 3 - Monday 26 January

Had a great day today - nice and sunny... didn't require a jumper for most of the day! Took a drive up to the coast today where the ferries go across to Comino and Gozo - It's a shame we weren't here for a few more days - it would have been great to go over - both are stunning islands from what we've heard. Still it was a really pretty drive... Maybe... one day... we'll come back and go to Sicily and Gozo...

Given the weather we decided to have another go at looking at the Blue Grotto. We took the scenic route there.. driving along the coastline which was really quite spectacular... nothing between us and Africa (if my sense of geography and direction are right)... and then through some back little lanes through the countryside... Stumbled upon a little street vendor selling fruit, vegies... and cactus liqueur... which is quite yum - a little sweet but not too bad.. thought we'd found something quite yummy and unique til we were later at the airport and saw shelves upon shelves of the stuff... oh well!

At the grotto, it was still REALLY rough and the tide was really high so not much chance of hiring a boat... had lunch down there though... Matt had the local specialty - rabbit... it was great sitting with the sun on our backs... could have sat there all afternoon...

But... we did have a plane to catch and we still hadn't been to the capital, Valletta. Almost got into a little bit of trouble playing around taking photos in an empty Pulizija (Police) Box thing... very quickly got told to delete the photos... thought the guy was gonna take the camera for a while... Found Valletta itself to be a city of contrasts - some beautiful buildings, churches and streets but then some filthy laneways with piles of rubbish... and cats everywhere!!... not a great thing for me being allergic!... But then.. we were walking around the edge of the harbour right on sunset.. again the views were stunning which was a great way to end our whirlwind tour of Malta

             

So all too quickly our long weekend was over... but it was fantastic just to get away. Thanks again to Darren & Liz for your hospitality - we had a great time!