Pauline and Clem in London

The last of the visitors. Liam's parents, Pauline and Clem, have arrived in London to begin their 5 week trip in Europe. Once again it is great to have visitors. Our 5m by 4m flat is once again full to the brim.

Mum and Dad arrived on Thursday and made their way to Kings Cross via the tube. We met them there on the platform after taking the afternoon off work. That afternoon we did the truly English thing and stopped at the local The Winchester for a couple of swift pints. I don't think Dad could wait to say that he had his first pint in London. On Friday they took the Big Bus tour around the city, did some of the walking tours and the Thames cruise.

So come Saturday there was some serious London pavement stomping to do to see as much as possible. First stop was to drop them off at Green Park to do part of the Big Bus tour they missed the day before and then they joined the changing of the guard walking tour. Once again Kelly and I jumped on the end of the tour and pretended like we belonged. As usual, changing of the guard was packed. Of the three or four times we have seen it I think only once there was a small crowd and it was cold and drizzly. Honestly, the Londoners just plant their asses in a pub as soon as there is a spot of rain.

Once a year, for three weeks, Buckingham Palace is opened to the public while the Windsors are in their Scottish hide away, Balmoral Castle. Fortunately we had tickets to walk through the palace and the gardens. It is an amazing sight to see the working palace.

Leaving the palace we did a walk through Westminster, past the Abbey, Jewel Tower, Big Ben and up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, via a number of pubs. We would have liked to have gone to a Westminster service, but we just missed it. The Motorola Red concert was on and Scissor Sisters were the main act. Starting to head home we catch the always reliable 4 bus through to St Paul's for some night photos and then back on the 4 to home.

There is something wonderful with having visitors in London, although we have seen all the sights before it is great doing it with other people. Maybe it is because they are family.

Sunday

Come Sunday and the skies had cleared. Today we went to Camden markets to show Pauline and Clem the other side of London. Not everything is high tea and up-market houses! Clem has always shown a liking to sweet things and did his eyes light up when looking at the food area of the markets. Before we knew it we were eating a very rich concoction of chocolate, crepe, strawberry and cream - of the likes not known of before (not even in the great Nutella and banana crepe ordering balls-up in Paris!)

We took the long boat cruise up Grand Union canal to Little Venice, past the London Zoo and Regent's park. There is a nice little cafe moored in Little Venice and we had lunch there. However time got away from us very quickly and the Westminster service was due to start in 20 minutes! Pauline and Clem were going to get a taste of a cross-London tube run.

Now some may curse having to run for a tube and run between the connections to get across the other side of town in record time. There are plenty of obstacles on the way - the Central line and weekend works on the Piccadilly line between Green Park and Earl's Court being some of them. We dashed up to Warwick Avenue on Bakerloo line and with a quick change at Baker Street for the Jubilee line we made it to Westminster on time.

That evening we walked up through SOHO and Carnaby Street before getting back onto the tube at Piccadilly Circus.

As I mentioned, even two days in London is a great time with family. We loved having Pauline and Clem with us for the five days before they headed off to the Cotswolds for two nights.

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Pauline and Clem in London

Jono, Liam and Zurich

Jonathan was on the Switzerland leg of his European trip. The previous weekend Kelly and I went over to western France with him for two stages of the Tour de France. This weekend I flew over to Switzerland to meet him in Zurich.

Flights into Zurich were exorbitant - well over £350 return - so I took a cheaper option and flew into Basel-Mulhouse, which is in northern Switzerland, on the border intersection with France and Germany. I landed early Saturday morning and took a one hour train south-east to Zurich. The train trip was amazing. There were little Swiss villages and houses all through the valleys. Jonathan was catching a train up from Interlarken and we met at the Zurich Hauptbanhof that morning.

First thing was to get to the 'hotel' to drop off Jonathan's gear. I use the term hotel loosely. Hostel accommodation was not very cheap in Zurich and not very available. So instead we got a room in an ETap. ETap is part of the Accor chain, but it is bargain basement prices. Kelly and I had previously stayed in one in Germany over Easter. It is a room and it is clean, but it is basic. For all my griping though, I think Jonathan found it to be a step up from some of the hostels he found himself in over the previous week!

Armed with our 24 hour tram pass, we set off for the 2 hour walk around the main sights of Zurich. We walked around the old and new towns, along the river and the lake. Zurich is a compact and very welcoming city. Once we got down to the lake we found some lunch. We just had to have Bratwurst and bread - partly because nothing else was readily available. With Zurich being set on Zurichsee (Lake Zurich), we did a one hour cruise around the northern part of it. Recreation seems to be a big thing - the lake had numerous beaches and parks where people stretched out in bathers and swam on the edge of the lake. It looked so tempting.

One of the great things about just walking around a city is that you sometimes stumble across great surprises. We walked up the east side of the town and found a little square that was having some sort of party. It was a fund-raising BBQ for the local fire brigade. They were selling (yes) Bratwurst and other sausages, beers and wine. Providing the entertainment was a local accordian player. This was a fantastic place to stop and soak up the atmosphere. People just continually came and went, stopping for a beer or two and a chat. It was amazing.

That evening we bought a few snacks and sat down on the shore of the lake. The drinks we bought were Oettingers - only 80 centimes (about 80 AU cents or 35pence) for a 440ml can - bargain! We caught a tram up to the lookout, but there isn't much to see. At 11pm we find some dinner in the main street and then head back to the hotel.

Sunday

On Sunday we hired a couple of bikes. The bike hire is free, but they take your passport as deposit - cringe. Bikes are a great way to get around and see lots in European cities. We catch a gondola up into the state forest on the mountains on the east side of the town. This is a recreational area that we cycle around and climb the lookout tower. We got a little lost riding back into town, but it was downhill! The brakes were burning (don't worry, they were hire bikes), and we had no idea where we were going, so we just headed downhill until we found the river again.

It was a warm day, so we rode down to the lake and found a beach where we sat around and had a swim. The water is so clean, since it is snow melt runoff. We ride back into town, have a coffee and return the bikes. I have to catch a train back to Basel to catch my flight. My train ticket isn't valid for the return journey, but I sweet talk the woman into reissuing it (saving 35 CHF). Jonathan was heading south out of Switzerland to Milan in Italy that night, so we parted ways at the train station.

I just make it back to the airport with 5 minutes before checkin - it was really touch and go. However, as usual the plane has been delayed for 90 minutes. Once I do get on the plane the captain's first words are "Ladies and gentlemen, please take the nearest seat, abandon all loved ones. We need to take off in the next 10 minutes otherwise we all stay here until the morning." He wasn't joking - there is an 11:15pm curfew on the runway. We endup taking off in time after the quickest of safety demonstrations and I'm back home in London by 2:30am.

Jonathan and I had a fantastic time in Zurich. I don't think that it would have mattered which city we went to, we just had a great time doing stuff. Makes you want to travel around for a living....

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Jono and Liam in Zurich

Jul 16, 2006 - 24 Photos

France - Rennes and Fougeres

For the weekend Kelly and I went over to France and met up with Jonathan for two stages of the Tour de France. On the Saturday night we stayed at the town of Rennes. It is a medium sized town that was in party mode for the arrival of the tour. The town square had a concert in the evening and there were traditional French movies late into night in front of the town hall. We had a nice dinner in a cafe near the town square. The cafe culture of France is just so laid back and relaxing.

On the way back to Paris on Sunday we stopped in the town of Fougeres. It is a small town a couple hundred kilometers west of Paris. It has a large castle which is perched on a rocky outcrop in the centre of the town. We had a look around and some food before heading to Paris only just making our flight.

Tour de France Stage 7 and Stage 8

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Rennes and Fougeres

Jul 9, 2006 - 16 Photos

Tour de France - Stage 8 - St Meen le Grand

This morning we woke up in our accommodation in Rennes. Sunday is a funny day in France. If you are looking for an early start and a bit of breakfast you are way out of luck, unless you get breakfast at your hotel. Having already experienced this in previous trips through Benelux and Paris we stopped at the first McDonalds that presented itself on the road to St Meen le Grand - the starting town of Stage 8 of the 2006 tour.

Stage 8 is a normal road stage of 200.5 km down to Lorient in the south of the western tip of France. Road stages present a different start to a time-trial. While the TT is an all day event for the starting town, a road stage is a short morning sprint. This didn't deter St Meen le Grand though. The whole town was a carnival atmosphere. We walked into the town from the parking area past houses that were decked out in tour supporting colours and decoration from top to bottom. The team bus enclosure was a more guarded area this day and we were unable to get much of a view without passes. We watched a bit of the official sign-in where the riders clunk up to the stage in their cleats and then avoid slipping down the wet stairs on the way down.

Apart from the cyclists, the other main event of a stage is the promotional parade. All of the official major and minor sponsors of the tour drive along an hour before the cyclists and through free, somewhat useless, marketing trinkets at you. The sheer uselessness of the objects doesn't stop people from clambering over their own offspring and grandmothers to get. The moment it hits the ground feet stomp on it, people dive on it, until one person emerges with the tightest grasp on it. Our team was well composed - Jonathan was the quick-reflex catch man, Kelly was the behind the crowd runner and Liam would go down low covering the ground. What are we going to do with all of the stuff that we got?

Anyway, an hour later the cyclists actually start out. We found a place about 800m after the start, on a wall on the small hill up into the centre of town. This gave us a good look over the bunch as the crawled up the hill. The bunch was led by the jersey wearers - Honchar, McEwen, Pineau and Fothen. Everyone else followed behind chatting to their neighbour or adjusting this or that piece of clothing. The real racing wouldn't start at least until the other side of town and probably not for a few kilometers after that.

Walking up into the centre of town, Jonathan stumbled across another sausage and crepe stall and we had a bit of lunch. The town was still abuzz as the tour had come and gone, but that wouldn't stop the party for the next couple of hours.

TdF 2006 Stage 8 - St Meen le Grand

Jul 9, 2006 - 15 Photos

Tour de France - Stage 7 - Rennes

One of the things that we definitely wanted to do on this trip this year was to see some of the Tour de France. The second weekend of the tour gave us the opportunity to see two stages without doing too much driving around.

On Friday afternoon we flew into Paris and met Jonathan at the airport, he had already caught the Eurostar to Paris on Thursday and spent the day looking around. We picked up a car and set out west towards the Bretagne region. After negotiating the Paris ring roads, belting rain, flooded roads and Parisian drivers, we ended up on the A11. Driving in France is not a bad experience. The main motorways (Autoroutes) are well maintained and the speed limit of 130km/h is not unwelcome. We drove west for 3 hours until we found our first night's accommodation in Laval.

On Saturday morning we drove into Rennes, the town where Stage 8 finishes. Stage 8 is an individual time trial that starts in a little town called St Gregoire four kilometres to the north of Rennes. Rennes is not a huge town, but with all the road closures we had a bit of trouble finding our way to St Gregoire. Once there though, we were greeted by a little town that had been completely taken over by team buses, corporate areas and the race. The sleepy little town had awoken to a mass of people and a carnival like atmosphere. Fortunately the team busses were strung out along a narrow road in the town - so even though we didn't have passes to get into the team area, we were close to the mechanics and team busses.

We hung around and watched a few of the starts before making our way along the route back to the car. It is just an amazing sight to see the riders winding up their gears and settling down into a rythem that they are going to maintain for the next hour. They really are machines. On the way Jonathan found a stall that sold local sausages wrapped in a crepe. They were really tasty and we finished off a few of them for lunch.

We drove back into Rennes to find the finish line. Luckily we were able to park right at the 400m mark from the finish line. The crowds on the edge of the barriers were generally four to five people deep. We walked around and watched a few riders come up the finishing straight before heading down towards the media finish area. As soon as each rider crossed the finish line they were mobbed by media. Photographers and reporters shoved each other to get photographs and shove microphones into faces. A lot of the riders aren't too interested in talking to the media after the stage, especially if they posted a bad time. These ones would just ride straight through the media without stopping - this included some of the big names - Landis, Hushovd, Evans.

Results for the day: Serhiy Honchar won the time-trial stage and took the Malliot Jaune. Robbie McEwan kept his Malliot Vert. We watched the presentations. Robbie McEwan didn't want to talk to the media today and after receiving his jersey he weaved off through the crowd and was picked up by his waiting car.

And then it was over. As soon as the last official stepped off the podium, the cranes had already removed the finish banner and the barriers were being picked up by a truck. Hundreds of tour roadies streamed out of somewhere and each got to work on their specific job like a pack of worker ants. Everything was torn down within the hour and packed up into the waiting trucks, ready to roll out to the next town that the Tour de France tornado would blow into. As for us we walked back to the car and set off to find our nights accommodation.

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TdF 2006 Stage 8 - Rennes

Jul 8, 2006 - 28 Photos

Windsor Castle

Kelly, Liam and Jonathan, along with Kate took a day trip out to Windsor Castle. The castle is in the town of Windsor, not too far west of London. Windsor is set on the southern side of the River Thames, and across on the north of the river is Eton - the one with that famous college.

The castle is the largest and oldest occupied fortress in the world. As you walk through the town up to the castle it is not hard to appreciate that. The grounds and buildings would have been an ominous site as they were approached from below. These days the castle is the Queen's main residence and it is her most favoured.

We each got an audio guide and did the tour through Queen Mary's doll's house and the State Apartments. The apartments are the public third of the castle, and they have halls, bedrooms and functions rooms such as St George's Hall. Most of these rooms are still in use. The rest of the castle is the Queen's private residence. We didn't get to see St George's Chapel as it is shut on a Sunday.

One of the rooms in the State Apartments was the Queen's private chapel which was destroyed by the 1992 fires. We managed to get through the tour of the state apartments, but just as we were leaving the fire alarms went off. The apartments were evacuated and fire engines could be heard climbing up through the town and into the grounds. We were quickly ushered out of the grounds and back down into the town.

Jonathan, Kelly and I went down to the River Thames to have a look around. The area of the river around Windsor is teeming with birdlife. Mostly there are swans and pelicans, fed by the amply supply of tourist's bread and food pellets. We took a river boat tour up the Thames, which gave a different view of the castle and showed just how prominent and dominating it is over the area.


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Windsor Castle

Jul 2, 2006 - 13 Photos

Wimbledon

The summer sporting festivities had begun. The world is in the grip of World Cup fever. Aussies all around the world are rallying for the seemingly impossible - a place in the Round of 16. However there is still another little sporting event in London that might be worth a look... Wimbledon.

Wimbledon tickets are hard to come by at the best of times - there are ballots, many corporate tickets, freebies etc. For mere mortals the way to secure a ticket is to line up on the day and hope that you are one of the 6000 that can get general grounds admission. That is us this morning. Our dedication to tennis was not so great that we would camp out, but there were plenty of people who did. At 5:45am Jonathan, Kelly and Liam jumped in the car with Dave to drive out to Wimbledon. After parking we started the long walk back along the line towards the end of it. The line snakes many times across the length of Wimbledon Common. We joined the rear of the queue around 7am we are issued our queuing card - number 2500. There are only 2500 people in front of us... in the north queue. By all indications the south queue should be similar. There should be a good chance of getting a ticket. By 10am the queue starts moving and we snake out of the common, through security and the ticket office, and secure our ground pass.

There are a couple of Aussies playing today. Ley-ley is second up on Court 2, so we join the queue to get into that court. A few famous faces walk past us in the queue - Andre Agassi coming back from a warmup on the outer courts and Rolf Harris (in a bright blue suit) on his way to the centre court restaurant. Jonathan indulged in some true Wimbledon food - strawberries and cream, washed down with a cider. Lleyton enters the court and we are still 20 people from the entrance to the standing area, so we listen to the first set from outside. By 2pm we finally get into the standing area of the court and get to see the last two sets of the match that Lleyton breezed through in 3 sets.

Next on court 2 is Venus Williams, so we stay for a bit of that match. The afternoon is whiled away watching various other matches around the outer courts.

In the evening there is a mixed doubles match with some Aussies. The "Wayne-train", Wayne Arthurs, and Alicia Molik are up against a Swedish pair on court 13, unlucky for some. They play well in the first set taking that, but begin to crack, losing the second set. The third set is close - in the fading light of 9:30pm - but it eventually goes the wrong way for the Aussies and their mixed doubles campaign is over. All that is left to do is exit and head for the car. Wimbledon is a great day out. We had plenty of fun getting around the courts, watching the games, sitting on the hill and eating strawberries and cream.

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Wimbledon

Jul 1, 2006 - 16 Photos

Lords Cricket Ground

I snuck a day off work to spend some time with Jonathan in London. We didn't quite know what the plan would be, but we decided to first go to Lord's Cricket Ground at St John's Wood in north London.

We caught a bus from Angel and managed to jump onto the end of the tour. There was a match on between Oxford and Cambridge for the final of the MCC Universities Challenge. The tour initially took us through the rooms of the Pavilion - the Long Room, the Members Room, up onto the Members balcony, back through the members bar, much to the chagrin of the members having their breakfast. We spent some time in the museum, and had a look at the original Ashes trophy, and memorabilia from some of the greats of cricket.

The tour wrapped up with a look around the NatWest media centre - that's the space age looking one at the western end. In the photos there is a picture of one of the function rooms used during matches. We sat in the stand and watched some of the match, although Jonathan had a bit of a snooze - it had been a long first few days in London.

Just up the road from the cricket ground is Abbey Road, which is famous for the Beatles studios and the cover of the Abbey Road album. We had a quick look at that before jumping on the tube down to the south bank of the Thames and had a walk around past Tower Bridge and a look inside the Tower of London.

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Lords Cricket Ground

Jun 29, 2006 - 19 Photos

Jono arrives in London

Jonathan arrived in London today. London was raining quite heavily and he walked up from Trafalgar Square to my work on Fleet Street, if he had known how far it was then I don't he would have done it in the rain with a small case and backpack. His first activity was to get to our flat and sleep.

That night was Australia's appearance in the World Cup finals with their match against Italy. We went up to a local pub, The Winchester, to watch the game. As I am sure we are all aware it was a gut-wrenching game for the Aussies. It was a good experience for Jono to experience the pub with a football game on. It was a great atmosphere, though it must be said that there were quite a few Aussie supporters - I don't think there were many English supporting the Italians!

Cotswolds

Jill and Karenlea had had a great time seeing South-East England and parts of Europe. We wanted to get out for one last look around, so on the Friday before they left we borrowed the little red car from Karen and drove up to the Cotswolds.

First stop was Shakespeare country - Stratford-Upon-Avon. This town is about 160km north of London and its main claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Shakespeare. We wandered around some of the more famous sites, Shakespeare's House and Garden, Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried, Anne Hathaway's Cottage, New Nash House and Garden. We had lunch in one of the many pubs and walked along the River Avon.

From here we drove in the general direction of our night's accommodation passing through the beautiful Cotswold country side. Driving through this area is just like the old traditional English country-side you see in movies and on tv; green rolling hills with fields of yellow flowers dotted everywhere, little country towns with tiny country roads, rock wall fences that go for miles, wooden sign posts and so many rabbits.

Our accommodation for the evening was a traditional English Manor house with beautiful views over one of the many valleys. The next day we were treated to a traditional English Breakfast and they do mean traditional! This includes all your standard English favourites, bacon, eggs, toast, baked beans, little sausages, tea, coffee and more tea but it also includes Black pudding. For those of you who don't know what Black pudding is have a look at this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sausage. Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

The next day we visited two of England's most beautiful country towns - Upper and Lower Slaughter. It was a beautiful quiet town with an old stone church, a little creek with a mother duck and her ducklings and sweet little houses. From there we drove to Bourton-on-the-Water to see their famous Model Village. It is an exactly miniture model of the town complete with tiny furniture, gardens and shop signs.

We took a quick drive through Bristol stopping to see the Clifton Suspension Bridge and then out towards the coast to see a beach. The beach, although not quite what we were expecting (see photo of sign), was kind of 'interesting'. From here we decided to start the long trip back to London. On the way Kelly got distracted by another potential historicial site. After a quite a trek from the main motorway, a section of dirt road and a hike through a sheep paddock (nothing unusual about that for us sheep farmers in-training!) we finally made it to the White Horse at Uffington. It is a chalk out line of a horse on the side of a hill. It has an amazing history - http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/majorsites/uffington.html. We also saw the site where St George slayed the dragon.

All in all It was a fantastic few days and a nice way to end Mum and Jill's trip to England.

Cotswolds

May 27, 2006 - 23 Photos

Leeds Castle

Mum, Jill and I spent a day exploring Leed's Castle. It is considered one of the prettiest castles in England set in some beautiful English country side.

The grounds include a duckery, 2 mazes - one with a grotto, aviary - with a large range of birds from Toucans to Vultures, a huge herb/vege garden, what seems like a million swans, a dog collar museum (no I am not joking!), lots of formal and wild gardens and of course a castle with a moat.

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Leeds Castle

May 25, 2006 - 7 Photos

Karenlea and Kelly in Paris

It was an absolute must that Mum see Paris while she was in the UK. So we hopped onto a Eurostar train and headed over for the day.

We opted for an open top tour bus as our transport around the city, which took us to all the main sights and told us a bit of history on the way.



This is the main entrance to the Opera House. An absolutely stunning building.



The cows had come to town! They had taken up residence in front of the Opera house. Mum chose the multi coloured cow, while my cow had trains coming out its eye (very strange!!).



The second stop for the day was the Arc de Triomph.



Absolute proof that we really were in Paris!!



Despite Mum's dislike of heights, we joined the (unfortunately long) queue to go to the second level of the EiffelTower. After a brief moment of maddness when we considered walking up, we decided to stand in the rain queuing for about 40mins instead (time restrants being our main concern not necessarily climbing ability!)



Mum made it and even posed at the railings edge for photos! Yeah Mum!!!



It was rather windy that day, as the hairstyles suggest!



A victory photo - Mum had conquered the tower!



This is a fantastic photo taken by Mum of the Dome Church and thundery skies as we whizzed by on the bus.



Mum at Notre Dame.



Our final stop for the day was the Louvre. We felt a bit like we were in the Da Vinci Code movie running away from the villians. Having to navigate our way to the particular pieces we wanted to see and still make the train in time was a challenge (we certainly were not missing this transport back to the UK!)

Our day was so much fun, one we won't forget. Even though we managed to see all the major sights, one day is certainly not enough time in Paris. So the solution to this problem Mum?? you'll just have to come back to see the rest!!! ;-)

Copenhagen, Denmark

This weekend we took a short trip to Copenhagen, capital of Denmark. With Karenlea over for the month, it was a good excuse to jump across to a Scandinavian country.

Hans Christain Anderson would have held the mantle as the most recognisable Danish person. However, in recent years that title would have been passed over to Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary.

Outside the Glyptotek.

Danish horns in the National Museum.

The view from the clock tower of the town hall.

Christiansborg slot, residence of Danish royalty and home to the Danish parliament.

Us at the top of the town hall tower.

Christiansborg slot.

Karenlea at Christiansborg Slot.

Parking, European style.

Rosenbourg Slot. The treasury is hidden below the castle and houses some of the crown jewels, including the jewel encrusted crowns from around the 1600's.

The crowns.

Kongens Square, with the Royal Theatre in the background. Off to the left is Nyhavn, a little dock with restaurants.

Memorial to Danish lives lost in World War II at the end of the Nyhavn dock.

Nyhavn dock.

You can ring my bell.

Wonderful fountain and a very interesting church in the background.

One of Hans Christian Anderson's most enduring stories is The Little Mermaid. This statue is a popular tourist attraction on the edge of the harbour. However, some aren't so taken by it - so much so it has been beheaded twice!

The Citadel. An old fortress at the entrance to the harbour. These days it has accommodation for navy personnel.

One of the buildings in the Citadel.

Copenhagen canal by night.

Sunday delivered a glorious day. The sun was out and visibility was great. What better day to take a canal cruise.

Amalienborg is the current winter residence for royalty. Four near-similar buildings flank the square. The marble church is in the background.

Cruising on the harbour.

Karenlea gets to see a Dutch-style windmill.

Mother's Day breakfast in a 5-star hotel. Did I mention that we stayed in the Marriott? Believe it or not it really was the cheapest option!

Kobenhavn FC supporters. Just as we crossed the riots in Paris, we came across a noisy, but peaceful, group of football supporters in Copenhagen. In true football fashion, there was plenty of beer, flags, Carlsberg shirts, flares and singing. The group was escorted by police and stretched for at least 5 blocks.