Edinburgh Re-visited

On Friday afternoon Nathan and I caught the train up to Edinburgh - even though the train goes fast it is still a 5 hour journey!!  We had our laptop to watch movies on but it didn't work too well when we are sharing an ear piece each - with the load noise of the train drowning out any sound we could hear from our singular ear piece.
On Saturday we headed to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the Queen's official residence in Scotland.  Holyrood Abbey was founded in 1128 and Holyrood Palace has been serving as the official residence of Kings and Queens of Scots since the 15th century.  We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the palace but I have some of the gardens and the ruins of the Abbey. 

Ruins of Holyrood Abbey to the right

After out tour around the palace we caught a bus out to the harbour where the royal yacht Britannia is moored.  We were able to take a tour through the boat and it was amazing.  As the Queen felt very relaxed on board there are lots of family photographs that are unposed and it was neat seeing a different side to the royal family.  Britannia was launched in 1953 and for over 44 years she served the Royal Family, travelling over one million miles to become the most famous ship in the world.   She was built with the dual role of becoming a hospital ship if needed.

On the sun deck of Britannia

Lounge room

After a day of royality it was back to our apartment to change into warmer clothes in preparation for the evening show of the Military Tattoo staged at Edinburgh Castle.  The show was fantastic, with the castle used to project images and lighting effects, and the fireworks at the end were a highlight to finish off the show. No military band from NZ performed, but there were representatives from Australia, USA and Norway - which has compulsory military consignment for one year.

Sunday was a lazy day with wandering around the royal mile, doing a spot of shopping around grass market, walking through princess gardens and meeting up with Alex for a late lunch.  From here it was back to the apartment to collect our stuff and head to the train station.  On our way back we travelled first class and had loads of seat space as well as getting served sandwiches, drinks and cakes.  A nice way to cap off a good weekend. 

Nath looking bored on the way home

Devon and Cornwall

Last weekend we had a lovely picturesque weekend in the surf capital of England - Cornwall. On our way down to the Cornwall region we spent a night in Weymouth which is in Devon. In Weymouth we met up with Nath's parents, sister and niece, who had flown to the UK for Nath's 30th birthday. From Weymouth we travelled to Abbotsbury where we had lunch with some relatives of Nath's family that he had never met before.

We spent the night in Torquay which was much bigger than we were expecting and had a lovely built up area of restaurants around the harbour.  Here we went out for dinner to celebrate Kylie’s birthday.

The following day we drove through Dartmoor National Park where we pulled over to look at wild horses, and drove through some fairly narrow country lanes. We arrived at Polperro which is a lovely fishing village.  Here we treated ourselves to cream tea and boy I piled on the clotted cream!

That night we stayed in Penzance which is a bit grotty compared to other villages along the coastline.  We had a tacky carvery for dinner which is very popular with the English.  Carvery is just a fancy word for buffet.  We got a selection of 3 roast meats then helped ourselves to veges, Yorkshire puds and gravy.  It was nice to have some vege even though we didn’t know how long they had been out for.
The next day was action packed with a morning trip to Lands End.  On our way we saw a sign for Minnack Theatre so we detoured to check it out.  It’s a really cool theatre carved out of the cliff face, with the audience looking down on the stage and beyond that out to sea.  The theatre can seat 700 and when we were there a local company were rehearsing a play.  The most popular play is Pirates of Penzance.  From the theatre we may our way to Lands End which was disappointing.  Firstly, having to pay £5 for car parking, then having to pay to have your photo taken with the lands end sign.  As usual the Brits know how to do tacky as there were arcade rooms and a 4D cinema!  Way to ruin the moment England.  We back tracked to Mt St Michael which wasn’t open earlier in the morning.  Unfortunately the tides weren’t in our favour and we had to take a boat trip out to the Island Castle/fortress.  When the tide is low you are able to walk out to the castle.  From here we wanted to go to St Ives but we couldn’t find car parking anywhere.  We were driving around and getting caught in one way systems with narrow roads lined with hoards of people. At one point we had to reverse back and try to get out of there.  It was crazy.  After the stress of St Ives we stopped at a Cornish Cider farm and relaxed with free samples and a pint of cider. 

We stayed the night in the cutest little village of St Agnes.  We walked around the village in 5min flat!!  Maybe not that quickly, but there were a couple of take away shops and a local pub, where we stayed upstairs, and not much else.    

Next day our first stop was Padstow where we made sure to keep an eye out for park and ride signs and not make the same mistake as St Ives.  Again this was another very picturesque fishing village with loads of pasty shops and chippies.  Our last stop on our Southern Roadie was Tintagel Castle.  This castle was built right on the edge of the cliff and must have been freezing in winter.  We were there in summer on a reasonably warm day but at the top of the castle the wind picked up and it was quite cold.  Bollocks to living there 200 years ago! 

We have 3 days back in London before our next trip – to Edinburgh where we have tickets to the Military tattoo.

Olympic games

I have really enjoyed gettting out and seeing as many Olympic events as I could.  I went down to Tower Bridge to see the Olympic torch arrive via the river on the royal barge Gloriana. Our Olympic events started off in Manchester where we watched the NZ mens team play football against Egypt at Old Trafford.  It was awesome to be able to support NZ and the team played really well drawing 1-1.  The end of the game was very intense as Egypt was trying everything to score a winner.  We also watched Brazil play Belarus afterward.  Good entertainment value for £20.

Next up was Hockey at the Olympic park. This was our only event at the actual Olympic site so we were really lucky to get tickets as this allowed us entrance to the park as well as the hockey stadium. We watched womens matches - Australia play South Africa followed by eventual gold medal winners Netherlands play South Korea.  After the hockey we walked around the park, taking in the athletics stadium, velodrome, swimming cube, bbc studio and park live where we watched live streaming of other events taking place.  We were just in time to see NZ win a bronze medal  in the rowing.

Beach Volleyball was our third event.  A temporary stadium was built in Horse Guards parade which was rather incredible.  The buildings in the background made a stunning back drop and added something to the venue. The games we watched were of a high standard as it was the mens quarter finals.  Germany beat Brazil while the Netherlands beat Italy.

Our last event was the womens football final where USA was playing Japan.  We went to a packed out Wembley where we made history by being the biggest ever audience to watch a womens football game (80,203!). The games was really intense with huge support for both teams.  USA ended up winning 2-1.  Afterwards I was a bit gutted the game was finished as it meant I had no more Olympic events to go to. 

Nathan, Aaron and myself also spent an afternoon at Kiwi House which is a support base for Kiwi fans to go along and watch NZ coverage, drink NZ beers and have a NZ bbq.  Little did we know but the day we had planned to go was the day the rowing medalists were coming down to thank and mingle with Kiwi supporters.  We scored big time with autogrpahs and photos of the athletes.  Later on during the Olympic campaign one of the bbq gas cylinders exlpoded causing a fire to break out and forced the closure of Kiwi House for a few days. 
I hope this is not the only Olympic Games I get to watch.

Switzerland

I headed off to Switzerland for a week with friends from work, girls only, no boys allowed. The holiday started off brilliantly as Julia and I drank our way through Heathrow duty free trying free sample after free sample until eventually we had drunk our way down to our departure gate.  The fun didn't end there though.  We made friends with the air hostess and asked to be served first.  We got double vodka and cokes at the beginning of the flight, and then at the end of the flight too (it was only an hour long flight!).  We arrived in Zurich feeling the effects of all the free drinks and had fun making our way to our accommodation which was a youth hostel.  Luckily they didn't have a maximum age for being allowed to stay.  We had a bunk room for the four of us, and it wasn't too bad, apart from the poo Aileen found in the shower! We had a day to wander around Zurich, we took our time walking along the river and stopping for drinks along the way.

The following day we were on a train and off to Lucerne.  Upon arrival we found Lucerne to be beautiful and much quieter than Zurich.  Our hotel had a pool and spa that we made use of in the evenings.  As I was finding prices in Switzerland to be very expensive I decided to make some money on the side by being paid to skinny dip in the hotel pool.  All was well until a family came along and I realised just how light the evening still was.  We kept a low profile for the next couple of days as the weather wasn't so great.  We wandered around shopping one day and I bought a swatch watch.  So far our holiday had been very relaxing and I was making my way nicely through the Hunger Games trilogy.

Finally the weaather turned warmer so we took a boat trip from Lucerne to Weggis, where we walked along the lake front and had a nice lunch in the sun before heading back.

The following day Aileen and Tara strapped a pair of balls on and went paragliding.  It was beautiful scenery, gliding over lakes and between moutains.  They were buzzing afterwards.  We celebrated with cocktails that night and the two braves ones didn't surface the next day!!  It left Julia and I to head to Mt Stanserhorn on our own. From Lucerne we caught a train to Stans then we boarded a cable car that took us half way up the mountain.  From here we then caught an open top gondola which took us to the top with breath taking views over the lakes.  The gondola is said to be the first of its kind in the world.  At the top of Stanserhorn there is a great look out spot and restuarant where we had lunch.  We then turned into pro mountain walkers and tackled the track to the summit in our jandals!!  We are hard core.  I heard some one laugh at us in our jandals as everyone else had proper sturdy walking shoes/boots on and some had walking poles. We headed back to Lucerne for one last dinner along the water front.

Our last day wasn't too exciting - we packed our bags and caught a train to Geneva.  We went straight to the airport as we had no money left to do anything in Geneva.  Once at the airport we had 4 hours to kill so what better than to buy a cheap bottle of duty free vodka and have a few drinks while watching NZ Women's football team play England in the Olympics.  I was stoked but I don't think the other three were as happy as me.
We have arrived back in London to maximal hype about the Olympics.  The opening ceremony is later tonight, and today I went to Tower Bridge to see the Olympic Torch being rowed down the Thames.
So far a great start to the summer holidays!

30th Birthday in Portugal

The inevitable happened on Sunday and I turned 30.  I thought what better way to embrace a summer birthday than to spend it somewhere hot and beachy.  With that in mind I choose to spend my birthday in the Algarve region of Portugal.  I was not diappointed as the mercury was above 30 degress every day.  Anna, Borrie, Laura and Nath also embarked on this 30th adventure of mine.

We stayed in a wee beach side town called Carvoeiro.  From here we took a morning trip to Silves where we looked through an old castle.  Another day was spent doing a kayking trip around the beaches and caves of Lagos.  Mostly though we spent the time relaxing at the bech or at the pool.  A great way to unwind at the end of the school year (for me only) and catch some sun which we have been unable to do in England.   We have fought off rickets for another few months.  The beach we went to by our resort was very secluded and there were no hawkers interrupting our peace.  It was lovely in that it was not touristy and unspoiled by rubbish.   I had a fantastic time and would like to return to Portugal, next time visiting Porto and Lisbon.

Brussels

Galeries St Hubert

Nathan and I had a lovely weekend in Brussels.  It was our first time away on our own since our Paris trip last April, so it was long over due!  We travelled over on the eurostar Friday after work and checked into the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in - including a free mini bar! On Saturday we walked through the Galeries St Hubert (shopping arcade - eclectic mix of shops) on our way to the Grand Place.  We had ticked off two of the tourist hotspots in about 10 minutes, we thought we were awesome.  We walked back to the shopping arcade to find the Rue de Bouchers, a street lined with tacky touristy restaurants, that looked interesting to walk down but not to eat along.  

Grand Place

We then walked out to the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts (translation = art gallery).  The gallery had an awesome Stanley Kubrick photography display so most of our time was spent at this exhibition. On the tube out to the Atomium Nath and I took Stanley Kubrick style photos of each other.  He is famous for capturing shots of people on the NY tube system, camera disguised so people are natural and not posing for the photos, as they didn't know they were being photographed. 

Atomium

We visited the Atomium built for the 1958 world fair - it is an iron atom enlarged 165 billion times.  It was not worth paying the €11 to go inside, you do get a view over the city, but the displays inside are rubbish. 
We weren't there long before we decided it was beer o'clock, by this time it was 3pm and we needed lunch and beer. The lonely planet suggested a pub off the Rue de Bouchers called the Delirium Cafe, when we read it is guaranteed to stock 2004 beers we decided this was the pub for us.  Nath had a beer that was 10% while I was much more sensible and settled for a 7%.  After a couple of beers we left in search of a pub showing the football and rugby.  It wasn't to hard find.  This time we didn't order Belgium beers, we went for a standard 4% corona!

Inside the Delirium Cafe

Manneken Pis

Sunday was wet and it wasn't nice walking around the city.  We quickly went and saw the Manneken Pis, a miniture fountain of a boy pissing into a pool.  Random.  Sometimes the boy has an outfit on but not today.  We then found a brewery house in the grand place where we did a little tour and had a taster of beer.  This got us in the mood for more beer so we headed back to the Delirium cafe for a couple of beers before having to board the eurostar and head back to London.

A lovely weekend away.  We must try to get away just the two of us more often.  No plans yet for our next get away together.  Our next holiday is to Portugal for my 30th in two weeks time!!

In the little brew house

Naughty! Churros with nutella.

Italy - Rome, Cinque Terre, Pisa and Venice!

I'm not sure where to start with this blog, we had such an epic holiday with Anna & Borrie and did so much I can't write about all of it! I will try to include the best bits and put some photos on that haven't made the facebook cut.

Praying in St Peters Basilica

Our holiday started in Rome - one of the ancient civilisations of the world. That alone is enough to get Nath excited.  We had 3 action packed days where we did a tour of the Colosseum & Palatine Hill and the Vatican City.  We also saw the Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi fountain.  We took a trip out to the catacombes of San Callisto, I was disappointed that we didn't see any bones but I think Anna was relieved.  The best part about Rome was the free water fountains dotted all around city.  Luckily our tour guide of Palatine Hill told us the water was OK to drink or else we probably would have avoided it and spent loads of cash buying water. 

Riomaggiore at night

Walking action shot

Synchronised swimming in the Med

My favourite part of our holiday was the time we spent in Cinque Terre.  The scenery was beautiful and it was nice to be swimming in the ocean and drinking locally made wines.  In the mornings we would get up and walk between the colourful fishing villages.  In the afternoons we would swim and enjoy the sunshine.  In the evenings we would eat delicious Italian food and drink good wine.  One time we bought salami, cheeses, olives and bread from a deli and ate on the rocks of the jetty as the sun set.  Bello.  I didn't want to leave the Cinque Terre but I am hopeful I will return there one day.

Our last stop on our tour of Italy was Venice. We took the train from Cinque Terre and stopped off at Pisa for a few cheeky photos with the leaning tower before continuing on our way.





 It was deja vu being back in Venice and it was cool to be there.  We managed to squeeze in a lot more than our previous trip visiting Doge's palace, St Marks Basilica, and we went up the Bell Tower that gave us panoramic views over Venice.  We had fun walking around the canals, never knowing if we were going to reach a dead end and have to back track.  It was an interesting experience flying out of Venice - we arrived at the airport in a boat!! As we took off it was amazing looking out the windows to see all the water ways and the little islands created by the canals. 

 

 As I write this blog I have just finished end of year reports and have 20 school days left before summer break.  Cannot wait for 7 weeks of sleep ins!