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!

Italy Day 9 - Final morning in Italy :(

Heard on the grapevine that Pope Benedict was going to be holding a mass so we headed up to St Pauls to watch - huge crowd - bus loads of people arrived just in time for the service. Can't say I understood a word of what he was saying but still was good to see.

Gave ourselves a little while to get to the airport - a number of roads are closed on sundays - according to the taxi driver - though I guess we had a set fare [30 euros is the standard set fare from the centre to the airport]

And before we knew it we were back in frosty Essex... it snowed that night!

Italy Day 8

Took our final day in Italy real easy... decided to do a bit of shopping on Via Cola Di Rienzo.. wasn't a lot of tourists around and there were plenty of sales.. so all good! bought a jacket each which we both love... Matt got his top gun like leather and I got my ultra warm puff jacket - should have got it first day of the trip!

Easy lunch and a coupla coffees and that was about us for the day!

Met up with Darren and family again in the evening for a meal which included an on the house limoncello - certainly warmed me up!

Was a great relaxing day - just what we needed!

Italy Day 7

Up early today to join the queue into the Collosseum. I think it took about an hour to get in.. or something ridiculous like that. It was good though - quite massive and to think it used to hold as many people as Homebush stadium... they must have had little behinds I think. There was also lots of pictures of what it probably looked like so it was good to be able to imagine what it must have been like.

Had some Pizza off a stand which was actually really yummy and headed into the Forum.. there was an American guy doing a free walking tour which was really good - I think I would have walked through blindly but he was able to tell us some stories about Caeser and Mark Antony which put a whole new spin on things.

Ducking in and out of the rain we ended up at the Panthenon - was kinda cool being in there with rain coming through the hole in the centre of the Dome - always amazes me how they ever managed to build them.

From there we ended up at the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain again (via some yummy gelato) - it took on a whole new look at night.

Italy Day 6 - New Years Day

Did some usual touristy stuff today. Didn't get the best weather today... quite cold and was raining on and off... here's a tip though - don't bother with the umbrellas off the market stands - they last 5 mins.

Caught the Metro round to the Spanish steps, had a wander round and headed towards the Capuchin Crypt we just missed the morning opening times (it's shut between 12 and 3 so that they can have lunch?! - that's a long lunch) so found somewhere for lunch and just walked around the area - lots of shops - all closed for the holidays - - probably a good thing! Found a really nice place for a coffee - was a damn expensive coffee, but REALLY good - I was tempted to get a second but then remembered how much they were!

Went and saw the Trevi fountain. We had been here last time - but I was still amazed as I walked out of the little laneway into the Piazza. It's not like you can see it from a distance and walk up to it. It's just all of a sudden there. It's the same with a lot of the buildings in Rome... you just happen upon them. There was this guy at the Trevi with a magnetic pole - getting all the coins that people had been throwing into the fountain... only the worthwhile ones though, not the 1c... he was there for about 10 mins... must of then had enough for lunch...

The Capuchin Crypt was really eerie - it's full of mosaics made out of the bones of deceased friars... must have been a strange group of blokes to do something like that... mmm

Ended up at Piazza del Popollo (i think that's right) and saw lots of remnants of NYE. Statues with left over beer bottles... and lots of half eaten pizzas lying around.. also happened upon some vending machines selling beer and wine... obviously don't have the same worries about under-age drinking here!