Fe Fi Fo Fun

In the last weekend of July had an awesome night in Cheltenham tasting the local brew. The local beer and cider festival is held in a very old barn in the country. Enjoyed some very tasty, if not rather strong cider!

Last weekend Fi was here, squeezed in a weekend of London tourism. Went to the Globe Theatre to see Anne Boleyn on Saturday. A more modern production, brilliantly done, amazing acting and set. Bit tiring after standing in the pit for 2 ½ hrs, but well worth it!

Showed Fi some of the London sights and then enjoyed the local Windsor Castle. Gorgeous grounds and ornate inner state rooms. With a very impressive Knights of the Garter Hall. Went to the evensong service, and the organ and singing of the choir was beautiful! Amazing church inside too, with some rather famous people under the floor boards. Wednesday night continued our cultural education and saw ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. Amazing production – singing and stage were incredible!

So next weekend it’s off to Wales for a road trip with Fi and Todd, before Fi’s off home. And then Todd and I are off south ourselves – home sweet home, here I come! x 

Stage of Globe

From the cheep seats/stands

Fi and I 

Inner Castle

Castle tower and Gardens

Fi and I

hehe look we found the Queen!

Outside St George's Chapel

Sunny Spain

So managed to get things sorted and catch up with Phill and cousin Fi in the north of Spain end of July. At a place called Bilbao, situated slightly west of San Sebastian. Flying in was full of green peaked hills that stretched forever. The town is nestled in a valley across a river. Meet up with the team at the airport (each of us coming from different spots around Europe) and spent Friday checking out the city. Found some amazing pastries and gelato, in amongst some interesting architecture mixed between old and new, and a smattering of art pieces. Cooked up a mean feed at the hostel for dinner and caught our breath from the early start.

Saturday we hired a car and drove out to the coast, and along the coastal road towards San Sebastian. Along the way are lovely ‘towns’ which were rather large! Beautiful golden beaches and blue blue sea. We stopped at a point where the coast forms a natural bridge out to a church on a precipice. Down a steep hill and then up another 250stairs! It was worth the hike to see the cute wee church and amazing views down the coastline.

We reached San Sebastian in the evening, and Phill’s phone with our only navigation decided to die just as we entered the city! After some driving in circles we managed to locate a free car park and headed into the centre. There was a much different feel here, very vibrant and alive, filled with busy bars and restaurants. We headed to a local bar in the old town for some ‘pintoux’ the Basque equivalent of Tapas, which were amazing! Also tried the local Sidre (cider) which was tangy and quite sour, got a bit of a shock taking my first sip! It’s poured at arm’s length to aerate the cider so I’m told.  

Sunday took us west along the coast; stopping at a local village we found a local market. Enjoyed some more pintoux for lunch and sampled the beautiful local fresh fruit. Then weather packed it in, so we headed back to Bilbao to the famous Guggenheim (or googleyheim according to Phill) museum to get our art on. The museum is an incredible building made of titanium tiles in all sorts of curves, interspersed with glass panels. Some very interesting and thought provoking displays, but some a little too farfetched for me..

Sunday night was fairly quiet in the town but found a great place for pizza and paella. Soo good. Fi and Phill caught early flights out on Monday, while I planned to wander the shops before my afternoon flight. The city however had other ideas! As I didn’t realize it was a public holiday and everything was closed! It was steadily raining, so didn’t quite work out to plan. Ah well!

Arrived home to some beautiful weather (Murphy’s Law!), and saw an amazing view of London City as we flew in. Brilliant weekend. Next up local cider festival in Cheltenham, and Fi visiting the Uk in August – fun times! 

pew pew (post electrocution posing in fountain, dummy) 

Pretty Fountains

enormous treat? Yes please

Guggenheim Surfing

Flashy Guggenheim  

Flower Dog!

Go team!

Church we hiked to

Many many stairs

Coastal View (just to clarify we are actually wearing clothes!) 

San Sebastian Cathedral 

Amazing Pintoux!

Summer, sun and races

The beginning of June was gorgeous. Went to a party on a boat down the Thames. Was a stunner day, meet up with some friends before hand, and almost boiled on a roof top bar! Who would have thought in London?! Was a lovely night cruising down the river, nice to have a different perspective than from the street.

The following weekend got to catch up with Nan and Papa who were in town. Was lovely to see them after a year and a half. We checked out the Seville gardens in the great park, and headed out to Hampton Court Palace the following day in the pouring rain. Not a very good demonstration of the English summer! The Place was an amazing sprawling place, made famous by Henry the eighth. Full of flash suites of rooms for only one royal and masses of history. Said goodbye to Nan and Papa as they set of on the rest of their English road trip.

Had a fun build up to the Ascot races. Living in the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, as I was out for a ‘jog’ in the great park came across a train of horse drawn carriages with tails and hats driving past me! Haha needless to say I was not looking my best sweating along! It had been a wet week, but managed to start out fine on Saturday. We braved the weather and set up our picnic outside. Was a fun day of food, wine, friends, and a little punting. Managed to ‘virtual’ pick a few winners (much to Todd’s annoyance, that I didn’t actually put any money on them!). Was amusing see the brits tottering round in their giant satin heels, while trying to navigate the less muddy patches of grass. The Queen was in attendance and saw her as she entered in her carriage with Prince Philip – very cute! A great day out J

Looking forward to catching up with Phil and Fi in Spain at the end of the month, and then hanging out with Fi here in the UK in August, and then very shortly will be speeding down to NZ for a quick hello! Can’t wait! x

Hampton Palace Courtyard

One of the many great staircases

Snooze anyone? 

The man room -its decorated with wepons

Rainy gardens

Chapel windows

Ascot Racecourse

Lovely Ladies

Happy the sun is out!

Phill in London town and Ireland

It seams as if the year is just disappearing! May has zoomed past speedly. Phill arrived on the 7^th May we had a nice dinner out in Windsor with Todd. Saturday we headed into London and showed Phill the Notting Hill markets, then down to Clapham for a birthday bbq. The following night Phill and I had the lovely experience of tasting Sowerkrawt, which Phill kindly brought over from Germany. Hmm. Fermented cabbage, fairly potent stuff, it was tolerable with other things, but not something I think will catch on! Phill nipped away to catch up with friends during the week and the following weekend we headed out for the classic brick lane dinner and drinks. Made a very bad choice of wearing my new heels out, and my feet were shredded before we even got to the restaurant! Was great to see the bro, and hear of all his (slightly dodgy) adventures in america. Monday he was off to Palma to continue living the dream of sun, sand and boats!

The following weekend it was mine and Todd’s turn to be jetting away. We headed to Ireland for Todd’s mates wedding just north of Limerick . Shannon is a tiny wee airport much like home! Got door to door service from Dan (a kiwi mate of T’s over for the wedding), and cruised into Limerick to meet up with the others. We were staying in a sweet little town slightly north of Limerick on the lakeside. The hotel looked over the lake which was very picturesque with views across to town and up the lake to the hills. Friday night we headed into the village for a feed at a cute Italian place with amazing pizza. Typical Irish weather meant it was raining on Saturday for the wedding. A bus took us up to an old whitewashed chapel sitting on the hill. The bridesmaids all had matching umbrella’s, a must for the day! After the service we headed back to the hotel, where we were meet by refreshments and nibbles before the reception. They had the best table full of lollies! (very dangerous for both children and I!) The reception was a massive affair with around 150 guests, amazing dinner and punting on the length of speeches (which I actually won for our table!), dancing and drinks well into the wee hours. I couldn’t quite handle the Irish pace and knocked off before the sing-along and dawn arrived.

Sunday we took a cruse up the river, checked out the markets in the village – which had the most amazing cheese, olives and goodies, an afternoon nap and the leisurely dinner at the local pub. Then it was Monday and time to head back to reality. It was the most organised weekend  i think I’ve ever been on! The Irish were so lovely and hospitable; it was like one massive family gathering. Will have to do Ireland again sometime J

Irish Times

Proof Phil made it

View from the hotel across the town

Bridge view

Todd and I 

The wedding party

Cute little church

Most amazing lolly table!

Bride and groom - aww

In our finery, not a bad view either! 

Lakeside summer house anyone?

Local church

Canal by town - best market food!

Anzac Day, Turkey and Greece

April has been a speedy month, with some amazing sunny weather and warmth with temperatures up to 25deg! Have just been away for 9 days of adventuring, with a spree of bank holidays, only had to take 3 days of annual leave. Brilliant! Good Friday spent in Windsor before heading off on our travels.

Saturday Todd and I flew to Istanbul for Gallipoli on Anzac day. The traffic in Istanbul is mad! Our tour picked us up from the airport and on the drive back cars were darting all over the place, and lots of excitable tooting. Our first day took us out for a tour in Istanbul, firstly to the Blue Mosque - an amazing building with an enormous central dome, and covered with mosaic artwork. Across the way is the Hippodrome where a big arena used to stand during the Ottoman Empire. Now it is an oval with three remaining obelisk's dated back to the 12 century BC. We then headed to the Hagia Sophia Istanbul's famous mosque. Also an incredible structure, more ornate inside with golden mosaic's depicting the historic Sultans with Jesus. After a yummy lunch we boarded the bus for our journey to Gallipoli.

By the time we got to the cove at about 9.30pm it was dark, an packed out already with sleeping bag bodies covering the grass. We found a spot on the seats and proceed to put all of our clothes on and snuggle up in the sleeping bag for our long night ahead. And it was long, and freeing! They played docos and information on the big screens throughout the night. So with the cold, discomfort and noise, didn't get any sleep. But had some appreciation of what the boys went through! And the docos were really interesting. During the dawn service it was amazing how quickly the light came up. And as the service progressed it struck me how young many of these men who lost their lives were, the majority less than 25 years. After the service we walked up the hill towards Lone Pine. The cove was beautiful in the early still morning, but it was still defiantly freezing! We stopped by one of the many cemetaries on the way up, pearched on the edge of the hill, little white plarks dotted the grass. A small reminder to what had previously passed. We stopped breifly at Lone Pine where the Australian service was to be held, and then continued on up the (rather steep!) hill to Cunuk Bair. On the way we passed the turkish memorial - a very striking cemetary lined up the hill. The Turkish soldiers were very striking in their khaki uniforms and a bit imposing in their regalia. We made it to the top a few hours before the service, so hold up on the grass for a much needed lye down and shut eye. The service area was unfortunately already packed with kiwi bodies. But we could see it up on the big screen. Afterwards it was manic to get everyone back on to their buses. By then I was well knackerd, freezing and in need of a hot shower! Consequently on the bus home I comaed out.

After Anzac we had another day in Istanbul. I loved the city, very friendly people and amazing food. We wandered the bizzar, covered allyways full of shops with everything you could imagine. Then headed down to the river front with an amazing view across the city. Then through the park surrounding the Topkapi Palace where the old sultans lived. It was filled with beautiful tulips, a feature throughout the city. It would have been great to have explored more of Turkey, but the following day when jetted off to Mykonos.

However the beach holiday I imagined was not quite what I expected, as we arrived to rain and chilly temperatures! We explored the town made up of stone slab streets and classic white greek house's, with churches every 200 meters. Very easy to become lost in the endless twists and turns! It was a tourist hive with many designer shops, jewellery and tourist artefacts. Our first night we found a cute wee place for some amazing food. The following day was brighter, I got a bit caught up in the hype of the Royal Wedding and watched her entrance before we headed out. Beautiful. We did a mission walk in the gale winds to the following bay and managed to find a warm (!) sheltered spot to enjoy some relaxation. That evening we found the most gorgeous restaurant in a courtyard covered with a roof of overhanging vines. Our final day was an absolute stunner. I spent the day lounging by our hotel pool, and even ventured in for a refreshing dip. Our hotel had a cute balcony overlooking the bay and was prefect for a quiet evening wine. The island was full of bikes and small cars zipping about, and greek 'island time; made life relaxing and care free.

And so its back to reality, and plans for the next adventure. Looking foward to having Phill here this weekend, and then need to do some dress shopping before the Irish wedding in a couple of weeks! Yay! Until next time :D xx

Greece

Windmills

Our Balcony view

Mykonos village

Pool side view!