Market Fever

The Portobello Markets are amazing!! Anyone who loves sifting through treasures in stalls, or loves antiques will find this street an absolute dream come true!!

Millie and I trekked up to central London last weekend intent on finding our own treasure. We were keen to just browse, but before we even got to the road, we were ready to spend up big! Even the shops that lead up to Portobello Road are amazing, selling everything you ever wanted for a trendy house or fantastic wardrobe, as well as plenty of little knick-knacks.

As we entered the crowded street that seemed to stretch for miles, we just had to have our photo taken with the sign.... Spot the tourist!! And there were plenty more photo opportunities to capture the vibe of these awesome markets!

Portobello Markets are most famous for their antiques. Silver, jewellery, paintings, leather & fur, you name it, they've got it! Of everything there, three things caught my eye... The first was a large print I could imagine hanging in my kitchen (when I have a kitchen), of cupcakes on a stand, looking quite rustic. Looked much cooler than I seem to be describing it... I didn't buy it however because by the time I'd got back to that stall they'd sold. The second was an antique set of scales, painted black, with a gold measuring bowl and gold weights... Too expensive! And the third, two blue bracelets, made of something unknown... These we my treasure for the day!! Love them!! Millie picked up a couple of large photos from the Grand Prix in the '20s and '30s.

We made it about 2/3 of the way down the market road before we got rained on... and it didn't just rain, it POURED!! So we thought best to turn around and do the rest next time. Before we could leave though, we had to check out a delicious looking bakery, Hummingbird Bakery. There was a constant line out their door and we heard nothing but praise for their cakes and cupcakes from people walking through the markets. We'll definitely be back!! And soon!! If you come to London, the Portobello Markets are an absolute must!!

South to the Sea

We've just had another bank holiday weekend, though this one wasn't as well planned as the last. Through lack of funds we decided to check out some sights a bit closer to home. Saturday was a chance to take the tour of the London Dungeon. At a regular price of £20, we found some tickets at Lastminute.com for half the price. We made our way into the city and waited in line for an hour and a half before we actually got into the Dungeon. You go through in groups of about 20, through each section. It was really interesting learning more about London's gory history, but would have been nice to learn more about the dungeon itself. Would have been disappointed if we'd paid £20 each, but it was worth the £10.

Sunday was a crazy cocktail-fuelled BBQ, which left us all completely stuffed by the end of the night!!

When Monday rolled around I felt like I hadn't really achieved much to make up for losing a day of pay (we don't get paid for bank holidays as temp workers). I bargained with Russ for a trip out of London somewhere, and we settled on a town near the south coast called Arundel. I know we have an Arundel near Geraldine at home, and we pronounce it 'Uh-run-dl', but here they pronounce it 'Aaron-del'. But this is understandable because it's on the river Arun, and 'del' means 'in the valley'.

It's a beautiful little town. Everything so old. As you drive into the town you see all these lovely old houses and on the left is a huge cathedral and to the right is a huge castle. It has a really nice feel to it, there aren't any big commercial businesses like McDonalds or Tesco. Instead it has a lovely little butcher, deli, fish and chip shops, sweet shop, and a really lovely old bookshop that smells like the oldest books in the world, as well as plenty of nice little cafes.

While strolling through the town, taking in the sights, we came across the Arundel Ghost Experience down a long alleyway. We sat outside in the waiting area while a man came out and took our money, only to come back a few minutes later wearing a brown cloak. (This is part of the Arundel drama club). While speaking in rhyme he led us through the passageway, everything almost completely dark. We were led into a room to hear ghost stories from the local area. While in this room we were asked to put our hands on the table in front and chant after him to a grey lady to join us. It was only Russ and I on this 'tour' so we had to stop ourselves from laughing too hard at this particular part. But we were also led into some of the cells where we found ourselves pretty creeped out, with objects moving and strange noises and temperatures. It was miles scarier and creepier than the London Dungeon!! Well worth the visit!!

The town, on the whole, was a beautiful little place, definitely worth a visit.

Our final stop was Bognor Regis, a typical English seaside town. The weather was pretty miserable most of the weekend, but we managed to push our way through the wind to stand down by the ocean and watch some surfers from the pier. I hadn't realised how much I missed being near the sea. It's the first time I've seen it in four months. There's not a lot to speak of in Bognor Regis, but I can imagine how great the atmosphere must be in the summer! We spotted a mini-golf course across the road from the bay, and decided we had to keep up our tradition of playing everywhere we go. Russell kicked my butt this time (lucky break) and won a free game at the end.

It's so nice to get out of London and see paddocks full of animals and green... green everything, it's refreshing! Those places aren't too far from Portsmouth, where we're moving in September, so was nice to see a bit of what to expect down on the south coast by the sea.
Click here to see the rest of my photos.

Bruxelles

This Easter Russ and I planned a short European break to make the most of our long weekend. I'd been in a mad rush searching online for cheap Easter holidays as I'd had my heart set on somewhere a bit random like Budapest. But Brussels ended up being the cheapest option by far... so that's how our destination was chosen.

It took me 2hrs to get to the airport from work, on the tube, but was well timed as Russ arrived on the tube following mine. The flight was much shorter than I imagined - only about 40mins and we were in Belgium. By the time we got here it was dark and late - about 10:30pm. We had to navigate our way to the city centre, to our hotel, but this was made quite difficult by having no one in the station to help, in addition to all the signs being written in French/Dutch/German. For a first-timer to Brussels this was a little intimidating even with the help of Russ' basic knowledge of French. We ended up befriending an Australian couple and shared a taxi into the city.

Besides my brief stopover in Seoul, this was my first experience of driving on the right-hand side of the road. A little confusing in terms of round-a-bouts and trying to cross the road and never remembering which way to look. By day four we almost had it sussed.

Our hotel, NH Atlanta was in a prime location, right in the heart of the city. It was a nice enough hotel - gives you what you need, but you certainly get what you pay for. Would recommend, but don't expect the best. We actually got a bloody good deal. Return fights and four nights accomodation, including a buffet breakfast each morning for £183 each. Bargain!!

First day we were up early with the intention of seeing as much as we could and getting our bearings in the city. We first walked to the famous Grand Place - this amazing square in the heart of Brussels - cobblestones surrounded by centuries-old buildings, including the magnificent town hall. It really is breathtakingly beautiful! We jumped on a hop-on hop-off tour bus, map in hand, ready to see the sights.

On the horizon of the city you can see a bizarrely shaped structure, looking like a model of atoms from science class. This is the Atomium. It was built for the 1958 Brussels World Fair and kept up because of its popularity. Click here to read more about it. The building is pretty surreal, with all the joining tubes having escalators inside them to move between each sphere. There isn't really a lot inside the structure, but it offers an excellent view over Brussels. The best part, of which Russ and I both agreed, was in one of the spheres which had mini speheres inside made into beds for groups of kids to have sleepovers. Would make the coolest sleepover EVER!

From there we wandered back into the centre of town, taking in beautiful parks and palaces, and other ancient buildings, including a magnificent church at the top of the city, built in 1400, with the most impressive stained glass windows I've ever seen, as well as the famous Mannekin Pis.

The whole city is an architectural wonderland. The people are very friendly, the city relatively clean and very spacious, and surprisingly lacking in busy, congested roads, which makes for a quiet city, besides the horn-happy motorists who appear to wait only a brief second for cars to move on a green light before their hands fall to their horns like a concrete block. The zebra crossings are a little confusing at first because seeing one doesn't mean you can just walk across, you still have to wait for the traffic lights to say you can cross.

The following few days saw us settle into Brussels life, navigating their underground and tram system, and me trying to learn some French so I wouldn't feel so ignorant. I found my linguistics came in handy as I could understand quite a lot of French writing, which was in all honestly helped greatly by Russ having learnt French for several years at school.

Brussels has an awful lot to offer in terms of food and drink. There are hundreds of restaurants, cafés, and bars in the city, all of which offer something new and exciting! We found our favourite bar on the corner of a busy road, called Mappa Mundo. It had a really relaxed atmosphere despite being so busy. They could have done with a few more bar staff, but those they did have were great! Really friendly and looked great showing off their tricks behind the bar.

Another bar we just had to check out was just off Grand Place. In French it's called Le Cerceuil, but is otherwise known as the Coffin Bar. You enter through a long, very dark hallway and into the pub up some stairs where it gets even darker. The small pub is morbidly decorated with coffins and you can drink from skull mugs. The bar is a must-see! The barman made it all the more worthwhile with his cool, quirky sense of humour, in particular when him and Russ thought it would be funny to turn the lights out upstairs as I was trying to use the bathroom. Don't worry, we got Russ back when it was his turn to go. This instant bond with the barman made us want to stay longer and feel totally at ease there.

Brussels is not the cheapest city, apart from train/tram travel where there's almost never someone to check tickets. Exhibitions and sites are all quite expensive, as you would expect anything touristy to be, and as they are famous for their delicious chocolate, the many handmade chocolate stores really do take the cake in the expensive stakes, which we found with six strawberries dipped in white chocolate for €7.30. In particular, the chain of Godiva stores, which are the absolute epitome of fine chocolate. Though you just can't argue because words can't do justice to how good their chocolate tastes - especially the Easter eggs Russ and I bought for each other. Mmmm... so creamy!! And of course, their waffles (gaufres) are delicious, but we know now that chocolate topping is only good when you're eating it with cutlery. We did come across, some delicious local cakes and pastries, including Peperkoek, a Dutch spice cake, and Pain aux Grecque, an utterly devine sweet pastry covered in sugar. Everyone must try this!! And last but certainly not least, is Speculoos, a lightly spiced biscuit. It tastes devine by itself, but even better dipped in chocolate or in ice cream, which I tried for the first time in the Atomium, and I have to say it is THE most delicious ice cream I have EVER tasted! You just can't go to Belgium without trying this!!

This city has a lot to offer, and has a great vibe. From all the yummy food, to their excellent beers, including their famed fruit beers (raspberry, peach, faro, etc), as well as their super-strong Tripel Westmalle which continues to ferment in the bottle and boasts a 9.5% alcohol content. Russ was told about it by a local while waiting in line at a supermarket, and we knew the perfect place to try it...

Over the previous few days we watched as people sat in cinema-like seating arrangements outside the grand Hotel Metropole, the only 19th century hotel left in Brussels, just up the road from our own hotel. People sit in the sun or under the warmth of heaters, watching the world go by. So we parked up, with prime viewing seats and proceeded to pass the afternoon with beer and wine in style.

Brussels/Bruxelles, is the perfect destination for a relaxing long weekend city break!! To see the rest of my photos click to view them at Picassa.

Millie Arrives...

Millie arrived last Thursday afternoon... I'd been pretty excited to finally have a friend over here that I could show around and get excited with about all the fun things London and the UK have to offer! And we've got lots of travel plans for the next couple of years, which I can't wait to start!!

We had the weekend to ourselves - Russ left us to it - so I thought I'd take Mil into the city and show her some of the more famous sights. We began by throwing ourselves into the hustle and bussle of Oxford Street, then on to Harrods to check out THE most amazing shopping centre EVER!! Tasting the most delicious gelato in the world, eyeing up the most amazing looking, old fashioned ice cream sundaes, viewing a £1million Easter egg, and falling in love with Jimmy Choos and Oscar De La Renta and Prada dresses... *sigh*

From there we wandered over to Tower Bridge to watch it open and let a boat through... Then we had a mad rush to get to the London Eye in time for our flight we booked. We made it in time, just, and in the process I managed to get shoved pretty hard by an old lady because I pushed past her in a massive crowd of people... Seriously, if you're in the middle of a big city with crowds like that, you can't expect to not be pushed past at some point.. Stupid old woman!! Anyway, Millie got an awesome view of the city from the Eye, which I'd recommend to any newcomer to London.

The day ended with us pretty tired, and treating ourselves to delicious waffles by The Thames... Mmmmm...

So stay tuned cos we'll have plenty more adventures to come...

My Tama...

Mum phoned late last night... she spoke to Russ first and I could tell something was up... He handed me the phone and the first thing I said was "Is it Tama?"... I burst into tears. She went on to tell me that he'd been in an accident and he'd lost his right eye. My first thought was 'thank god he's alive!!' But I was absolutely devastated!! A car had hit him and knocked his collar off and what Mum said looked like his eyeball, turned out to be the lens of his eye, popped out. They operated yesterday to remove his eye and stitch up the socket. Other than that apparently he's ok. Eating, sleeping, going to the toilet, purring... Mum called again this morning to let me know how his operation went and she'd let him outside to go to the toilet and she said he was jumping on things and even chased after something... He's such a good boy!! I can't remember the last time I cried so much though!! And I barely slept last night, wondering if the operation would go ok... He's being well looked after though, with lots of people who love him and giving him plenty of cuddles!! It's also the first time since I've been here that I've been really homesick!! Just knowing that I can't go home when I want to like that is quite hard!

I know it sounds a bit sad, but he feels like my child or something... I've had him since he was about five weeks old, and he's just got the most amazing personality!! He really does act like a person... He's all tough and doesn't want to be bothered by anyone one minute and the next he's a complete mummy's boy and wont leave you alone. Those of you who know Tama will know exactly what I mean!! He's one of a kind!! And my heart just broke when I heard that he'd been in an accident!! But I know it could have happened anytime, and I'm so thankful he's ok, and that he'll adapt to his restricted sight. He's a tough cookie!!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! - Or should I say 'week'... Over here the celebrations started in London at the beginning of the week, and peaked/finished on Sunday with the end of the festivities, including a parade, which flew straight from the Dublin parade, to perform in central London, this year.

The weather was a bit iffy - sun and rain, sun and rain... I made Russ get up early so we wouldn't miss any of the festivities. We started our browsing in Covent Garden with the Irish food markets. When I think of Irish food, I'm afraid all that comes to mind is Irish stew...and unfortunately that was almost as original as it got. Though in fairness there was actually plenty of food from Ireland. I especially liked the fruity soda bread!! And cheeses... mmm cheeses... We ended up buying an ordinary, non-Irish dark rye soy loaf - not really keeping up with the spirit of things I'm afraid...

Next stop was Leicester Square, we found ourselves more interested in the hundreds of people lining up to get into one of the theatres there, for what I thought was the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, but was in all likeliness something far more exciting!! We had arrived a bit early, and were only just setting up the stage in the Square for all the 'jiggers' to come. I couldn't seem to talk Russ around to trying his hand at some Irish jigging!

Our final stop, the third and main site of the St. Patrick's Day festivities, was Trafalgar Square. They had bars and a stage set up in the Square, which was fast filling up with fellow eager St. Pat's celebrators. The fountains were even coloured green. Here was where I tried my first Guinness. And I'm very sorry to say I really didn't like it!! I tried!! I really did, but it was so bitter - an acquired taste, I know, but not for me. We stood watching the stage filled with Irish bands, and two excited Irish Elvis', and then were treated to some river-dancers. Haha, I have to say it's one thing I just can't take seriously!! All I can think of when I see them is Sharon from Kath & Kim - you'll know exactly what I mean if you've seen it (which is a MUST!!). The best part, which actually took me by surprise, was Directors. The best band to come out of Ireland recently - a pop-rock quartet. They looked all of about 12 (years old). But I found myself getting right into them!! Definitely one to watch out for.

My main goal for the day was to watch the parade. I LOVE parades!! Seems to be something I'll never grow out of!! We waited and waited, and finally it arrived. Haha it was one of the shittest parades I've ever seen!! The most impressive part by far was the very first display - which wasn't even a display. Just a guy walking an Irish wolfhound. It was an amazing, menacing looking dog. But apparently just a big souk! The deal breaker for leaving was when it finally got really dark then all of a sudden belted down with with hail and snow!! Crazy after this last week of nothing but sunshine and warmth!!

So that's what St. Pat's Day in London has to offer... Perhaps next time we'd be better off going to the real thing... Though was still a fun, geeky tourist adventure!! :o)

Julia's Day Out

Saturday was my first day exploring London by myself. I had been researching Russ' London Time Out guide and decided to focus on London Bridge area this time. There's quite a bit to see there, right on the Thames. First stop, Clink Prison Museum. This museum was in operation from 1180 to 1780 and was the home of many followers of religion and debtors of the area. They certainly had some bizarre and scary methods of torture, or as they would call it, methods of extracting the truth... The problem was, there really wasn't anything to see there. There was a lot of artwork, or prints of original artwork from those times, but everything else on show was manequins in stocks to show what it was like, and a bunch of old keys and locks that they used to use. However, the items on show weren't originals, they were items produced in other places and we were told that these were ''just like the ones they used to use there''... A tad disappointing... But I suppose you can't expect too much from an exhibit in central London that only costs £5 to get into... Though price doesn't always reflect quality, which was shown by my second stop, Tate Modern.

I've never really been into art, especially modern art, but I decided to go there for two reasons. One, and the main one, was because I think being in a city like London, I really should take advantage and become more "cultured", and second, because it's FREE!! I really enjoyed it! I found myself concentrating intently on the artwork, trying to put myself into the minds of the artists to understand where their ideas came from. Some of it was just bizarre, such as a phallic-shaped mold of skin-coloured plaster, with what was either breasts or testacles at the bottom, representing a mother's need to protect her sons' masculinity. Another was a 10 or so year old American girl reading a physics book on a movie screen... But there were also classics such as Picasso's Three Dancers, and Dali's Autumnal Cannibalism - awesome!! The building of Tate Modern is a piece of artwork itself, being an old power station designed by the same person as the famed Battersea Power Station which you will recognise from CD covers to films, such as Children of Men. Definitely worth the trip!!

My third stop was the Borough Market. I love markets anyway, and this certainly lived up to my standards!! It's a food market, full of amazing different meats, fish, spreads, fruit, veg, etc from exotic places. My favourite was some chilli paste I had on some paneer-filled filo that nearly burnt my face off!! And some delicious flavoured tofu - five spice and a sesame/soy marinated tofu. I'll be dragging Russ along next time, he'll love it!!

Last but not least I thought I should check out the New Zealand shop on Pall Mall, Kiwifruits. Everything you miss from home, including the good old Edmonds cook book, and dvds, you can get in Kiwifruits. Except, of all things, Marmite. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps a business venture?