Scotland 23rd December - 5th January

I’ve been in Scotland a week now and am having a great time with J&K. I got the train up from London and have decided train travel is for me – especially as I had first class tickets. They have power points on board so I plugged the laptop in and kept myself amused.

I stayed with J&K at J’s Dad’s place for a couple of days and celebrated Christmas. On Christmas eve it was up to the very busy local at which I got to play pool for a few hours with the local boys which was fantastic.

Christmas morning was a glorious day – no snow unfortunately but a beautiful sunny day and a lovely frost. Kilmore’s (the village which we stayed in) is very pretty but very small.

Christmas Day

We went out for lunch to a local pub for a lovely Christmas lunch (delicious goat’s cheese, apple and bacon salad).

J&I at Christmas Lunch

Everyone got very merry on Christmas night and it was a very late night and another huge meal with 9 of us on Boxing Day.

It was then into Glasgow where J,K & I stayed in a flat and hung out for a couple of days. We went for a great pizza at a Belgium Beer café and then to see L’s band play a gig at King Tuts. The bands, Odean Beat Club (odeonbeatclub.com/) and Popup (http://www.myspace.com/popuptheband ) were both awesome and the venue was awesome. I had an absolutely awesome time with K’s friends showing us a great time and including us in everything.

On Friday the Swedish and Australian kids arrived and we all went out for dinner and drinks. It was great to see everyone particularly C&K.

Saturday was J&J’s wedding and I went along to the reception and it was a fantastic night with Céilidh dancing (even I got up and danced – admittedly there were instructions). It was so much fun and great to see everyone.

The kids at the wedding reception

J,J & K at the wedding

C&I at the wedding

J&I at the wedding

J&K at the wedding

The boys at the wedding

J having a good time at the wedding

R, L & I at the wedding

L&I at the wedding

Today was a quieter day after a huge week and in preparation for New Years Eve tomorrow when we’ll be at George’s Square for the Hogmanay celebration.

Month Nine in London

How the months are flying! Christmas has well and truly come to London and brought the cold weather with it. It’s lovely and crisp at the moment after weeks of drizzly rain with lovely sunshine (for all the 5 hours it lasts!). The main streets in most of the Boroughs are decorated and the trees are all strung with lights.

I had a lovely birthday with calls from everyone at home. We went out for an amazing dinner at an Argentine steak house. It was absolutely incredible – one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.

I’ve been to a couple of amazing concerts in the last few weeks – Powderfinger, Stereophonics and Kings of Leon.

Powderfinger was at Hammersmith Apollo and it was just the most amazing venue. We had front row seats and it’s the most electric gig I’ve ever been to – it felt like every Aussie in London was there! When they played “My Happiness” a chorus was sung by the crowd and everyone was on their feet.

Powderfinger

Stereophonics was amazing as well and my first visit to Wembley. Kings of Leon was incredible and it was so cool that J was able to go with me – we rang D in Melbourne when the best songs were on – just the thing he needed to hear on his way to work!

AH, D and I went along to the Aussie orphans Christmas that A and the girls organised. 60 Aussies in a room eating and drinking! A did a great job as Santa and one of the guys at our table was very taken with the miniature tool set that was his gift from Santa.

J&K have been here for the last week and it was fantastic to have them here. J always lived on the South side of the river so knows a very different London from me, so it was great to go around with him reliving his memories of being here and then being able to show him the parts I know.

We shopped and ate our way around London including a visits to Providors, New Culture (our local, brilliant, Chinese), Ottolengi, Hope and Anchor, House, The North Star, Brick Lane for a curry, Revolution bar in Richmond, great tapas in Tickenham and the requisite greasy spoon. We walked Oxford Street, New Bond Street, the Thames from the Tate down to Westminster and Big Ben and then up along the Strand to St Pauls.

Richmond

Revolution bar Richmond

View from the Tate across to St Pauls

Another week of work and then it’s off to Scotland to have Christmas with J&K.

Month Eight in London

I completely forgot about the monthly report for October so I’m a bit behind. October was a good month although the Winter is coming on very quickly. It was nice to actually have a proper season change with the leaves changing colour and the lovely Autumn crispness in the air.

I had one of my best trips which was to see Hakan and Cas. Just the perfect weekend away.

I am so looking forward to seeing J&K when they visit in December and then catching up with everyone in Scotland.

Before you know it I’ll be back in OZ in April!

Stereophonics 15th November

I went to my first big concert in London to see Stereophonics at Wembley Arena. A very kindly came with me and it was amazing.

Kelly Jones was absolutely incredible and Wembley Arena a great venue.

Walking like cowboys - Horse riding in Wales 2nd – 4th November

A, D, S and I headed to Wales on a Friday night to go horse riding. We boarded the bus with the rest of the group of 16 who we quickly found out consisted of 15 Aussie and 1 Kiwi – and half of the Aussie were from Brisbane!

I sat in traffic for the first time since leaving home as we headed out on the M4 towards Wales. We eventually made it to our destination for pizza and beers. The accommodation was “cosy” with 8 of us sharing bunk beds in the same room.

The property where we stayed

Saturday morning was up to an enormous breakfast as our host is an ex chef and then onto off to saddle up for our horse riding adventure.

The horseriding crew.

My horse Woody and I had a tumultuous relationship from the start. When we got started and where in the paddock, Woody decided he wanted to roll in mud with me still on his back. Some quick thinking on Aussie S’s part got me off the back of the horse in time. I also managed to loose both my stirrups while galloping and Woody decided a fence was no obstacle to get to some water. That being said it was still an excellent day and we had some gorgeous weather.

Woody & I right before he rolled

Woody & I again

The countryside we rode through

This is my favourite photo, courtesy of D

Back to the accommodation tired and sore for some of the best pumpkin soup I’ve ever eaten with freshly made bread rolls.

Then it was onto a massive bonfire and fireworks with a BBQ which was so lovely, especially to be outdoors in the country at night. After a few drinks a late night trip to the hot tub to ease the very sore muscles sounded like an excellent idea.

Sunday was a late start and another enormous breakfast then onto the bus for the long trip back to London.

A getting close to the dogs on the property

Thankfully the muscles weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be on Monday but there may have been some groaning involved getting up from chairs.

I heart Sweden 26th - 28th October

Last weekend was spent in Sweden to see C&H and to celebrate C's Birthday. It's one of the best weekends I've had since moving to London and a big thank you to C&H for having me stay.

Arrived late on Friday night and went for a quick drink but was too tired to enjoy it and we ended up heading home. Up at a reasonable hour on Saturday and off to the markets in Lund as I mentioned to C once or twice (or twenty times) that I was very keen for one of her world famous breakfasts - it was every bit as good as I remember!

C, H and H's brother T and I then went off to visit the citadel at Landskroner, the link is to the google earth map of it which looks pretty cool.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=k&q=Sweden&ie=UTF8&ll=55.872927,12.823019&spn=0.008583,0.019956&z=16&om=1

C&I at the Citadel

Then into Landskroner for a an excellent lunch at one of the local cafe's - cesar salad swedish style (no cesar dressing but delicious all the same) and a very wicked piece of chocolate mouse cake which is worth going back to Landskroner for!

Back to C&H's for some champagne and then more brilliant cooking by C of Moose with red wine, mushrooms and bacon. Absolutely supurb and the moose was so tasty everyone's plates were scraped absolutely clean! Some red wine to follow up and an excellent night had by all.

On Sunday it was off to the park for a BBQ, the day was absolutely freezing but it was still great fun. I can't remember the last time I've been near an open, outdoor fire (proved by the burn I have on my thumb, lesson: don't touch hot things).

It was all over far too briefly and then back on the plane to London.

Month Seven in London

September has been about getting back into a routine after possibly the most indulgent few months of my life.

Although I must admit after a few months of indulgence a little structure in the day can go along way.

It's the most amazing feeling being able to take every travel opportunity when they arise but it's certainly a hard bump coming back to the reality of working, especially in the fast approaching Winter in London. I am loving all the visitors so please keep finding excuses to come to Europe. If anyone decides to live in Europe that would be even better.

There were a few highlights this month with C and H coming over for a visit. We went to Providors as usual and it's always so good - just like a cafe at home. I'm looking forward to taking J&K there when they're over in December.

I keep going to write that the next few months should be quiet but it's just not the case! I'm off to Sweden to see C&H for C's birthday at the end of the month and then a horse riding weekend in Wales with A and D. There will be fireworks at that one as well as it's Guy Fawkes weekend.

A few weeks after that J&K arrive in town and I can't wait to see them. My itinerary for them so far is mainly based around eating and drinking but they should be used to that! Then off to Scotland for Christmas which I'm really looking forward to but a bit nostalgic at the same time as it's been a very long time since I missed a Christmas at home.

My daily life is just sort of bumbling along 9 to 5 and still doesn't feel like I'm that far away - it's mainly starting to feel like I've been very slack and haven't seen anyone in ages. I'm even coping well with sharehouse living (although if you told me I had to do it forever you might get a different response). There are quite a few things that have stopped mattering to me quite a bit as well - I never thought I wouldn't be cooking but I hardly do it know - it really just falls into the too hard basket.

I keep having great aspirations about making sure I actually see London and England while I'm here but I am doing a fairly ordinary job of it so far. I haven't actually been outside London in England yet which is a bit shameful. I've been meaning to go to the Portrait Gallery and St Pauls for about a month now but other fun things on the weekends just keep getting in the way!

I've even started to get caught up in the World Cup and clapped and groaned through the match on Saturday in a pub dominated by England supporters - although I have to say they were quite good sports afterwards and only went on about it a bit. I can't believe that New Zealand is out - the Kiwi's at work are devastated.

There was a spare ticket last night to see Pete Murray and it's the first time I've really been surrounded by a large group of Aussie's and it was actually quite nice. I come into contact with very few Australian's here and going to She Bu to see Pete Murray felt about as Australian as it comes. Still not a huge fan of his music but it was a good show all the same and I can now say I've been the Shepherd's Bush Empire along with most of Australia.

Month Six in London

I can’t believe it’s been six months already! The six month mark has been one of ups and downs and my first thoughts of going home. I’m definitely staying but I haven’t even really thought about it until this month. I don’t think I’ll end up in France unless I can find a company to send me there.

I have a new job which is working out better than I thought and may present some opportunities to move more into the areas I’m interested in. The girl I’ve taken over from went to QUT and did the same degree, went to a similar school and is going home after 6 years in London – a bit surreal.

Am basically getting ready to bunker down for the Winter apart from a potential trip to Russia, horse riding in Wales and seeing J from Christmas. I’m actually hoping to do some things in London and England over the next few months.

Everything is going well but visitors from home are welcome anytime!

Dublin 7th – 9th September

Seeing T in Dublin was fantastic and we had a great time hanging out together. I’ve let the team down though and forgot to get a compass photo – I’ll have to back to get one.

Dublin was nice but I guess a little lost on me because the weekend was mainly about catching up with T. There is a rather unforgettable spilt mango smoothie incident.

T and I in the park in Dublin

Trinity College - Outside the library where The Book of Kells is kept

From wiki:
The Book of Kells (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. (58), less widely known as the Book of Columba) is an ornately illustrated manuscript, produced by Celtic monks around AD 800 in the style known as Insular art. It is one of the more lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Middle Ages and has been described as the zenith of Western calligraphy and illumination. It contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin, along with prefatory and explanatory matter decorated with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations. Today it is on permanent display at the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland.

Italy (Turin, Genoa, Cinque Terre) 23rd – 27th August

The weather in London was pretty miserable last week and it was starting to feel like summer was over already. Escaping for the long weekend to the Italian coast with a forecast of mid –thirties and clear skies was a great chance to revel in some end of summer sun.

A and I flew into Turin on Thursday night and then spent the morning wandering around the city – the Lonely Planet had said not to bother but it turned out to be a really pretty city with a great vibe. I had what my possibly be the best pastry of my life. I’m not normally a big fan of Nutella (I don’t like hazelnuts) but when it’s in a pastry still warm from an Italian bakery it’s superb.

Hanging out in Turin

Live snails - 6 Euro / Kg

It was then onto Genoa which turned out to be a dirty port city with not much to look at. Back on the train to Vernazza where we were basing ourselves for our stay at the Cinque Terre.

The view from our room in Vernazza

Our first day in the Cinque Terre and we were off walking from Vernazza to Corneglia. It was an overcast day but still very warm, especially when we started climbing up and down the hills. We couldn't wait to get to Corneglia and go for a swim. We ended up following the signs down a very dodgy, abandoned train tunnel that promised a beach at the end. There definitely was a beach at the end, one full of very nude Italians. We decided to keep walking to the next town, mainly because to get back up to Corneglia there are 285 steps.

Looking back to Vernazza

Looking forward to Corneglia

The abandoned train tunnel

We had been walking for a few hours by this stage and were past due for lunch. I had been taking it fairly slow and steady on the walk until A mentioned the 'P' word and I think I may have broken the record for the shortest time walked between Corneglia and Manarola. The P word being pasta...

The lunch at Manarola is a meal with no buts. This may be because I was starving but the ciabatta was the best bread I ate the whole trip and the pasta with a local crayfish that I can't remember the name of but it was absolutely delicious!

Carb-ed up and tired it was back to Vernazza for a nap and then dinner.

I learned a valuable lesson at dinner. When you order antipasto what looks like cheese may actually be salted prosciutto fat...I have never tasted anything quite like it nor have I ever had anything that disgusting.

The next day (A's birthday) we were up early to do the walk between Vernazza and Monterroso (T and family - oh the irony). It was the most beautiful day and we saw hardly anyone else on the trail arriving in Monterroso about 9am for a fantastic swim in the most perfect water. We hung around Monterosso for most of the day and then it was back to Vernazza for another nap. Then it was out to dinner for A's birthday watching a spectacular sunset.

Looking back at Vernazza


Monterosso



The view from the restaurant at A's birthday dinner


Our last day in the Cinque Terre and we just had the easy 20 minute walk between Manarola and Riomaggiore to have completed the entire walk between the town. The best laid plans failed us spectacularly. We left early so we could do the walk early and then swim the morning away before getting on the train to go to Pisa to catch our plane home. Only snag was when we got to Riomaggiore there is nowhere to store your luggage, so it was back on the train to La Spezia to store our bags and then a 45 minute wait to get the train back to Riomaggiore. Our morning was quickly being wasted. We then end up on a train that doesn't take us back to Riomaggiore but all the way back to Monterroso the first of the Cinquerre Terre towns. We eventually get back to Manarolla and do the walk to Riomaggiore in record time and then went for our last swim in at another beautiful beach. Then back to London and time to start my new job.

The compass in Italy

Indulgent Angst

This is a pretty self indulgent post so if you’re just here for the pretty picture and travel stories I’d probably give this one a miss.

I can’t sleep and am suffering from white, middle-class existential angst brought on by watching Laguna Beach (if you don’t know what Laguna Beach is please don’t Google it or you’ll know just how tragic the tv shows I’ll watch truly are). Basically, it’s a reality TV show based on American teenagers during the summer between finishing high school and starting university and it had me reminiscing about how much fun I had during that time. It also got to me because I don’t think much has changed since then.

It also makes me think about how much I miss being part of the day to day life of my family and friends. I stay in contact enough for the big picture stuff but when you’re away from the everyday you don’t feel so much apart of people’s lives. I guess I’m lonely as well – I was so spoilt at home having my closest friends and most of my family still around and now I don’t have them here to play with – I would kill to be sharing this with them. It’s selfish but it would be nice to have some unconditional’s here.

In some respects it makes me wonder what I’m doing here at all. Yes, the travel is fantastic I am glad I moved but I left so I would change things in my life and not all that much apart from location has changed. I’ve just taken a job in an industry I swore I’d never work in again because I haven’t been able to even get to an interview with a job/company I’m really interested in. Maybe I’m just too idealistic and this is reality. I guess I though 10 years out of high school my life would be different from what it is now. I’m not quite sure how different but I guess I at least thought I would have figured out what I want to be when I grow up and it’s starting to feel like it’s getting harder to change paths.

The time is already flying by and in a couple of weeks I will have been here six months. Seeing all the countries I’ve been to has been incredible but I must admit the day to day is just a blur. I have been blithely saying that I’ll probably be in London for 2-3 years, maybe France and then to Canada without really thinking about it and now I could see 3 years going by without even really noticing or actively deciding if I should stay.

Month Five in London

Things feel a little strange at the moment. I’m facing the reality that I haven’t had much luck finding a job I might actually like so I’ve started looking for one that’s within my previous industry that I may not like so much. Our happy little flat will be no more at the end of the month with K going home due to a great job offer. So we’re in the process of trying to find a new flatmate – my vote is for a boy but we’ll see what happens!

One trip this month to Edinburgh, Scotland but it’s probably been my favourite trip so far apart from Greece. Edinburgh was great to visit and it was so nice to hang out with G and do some cool stuff and the food was fabulous which is always a highlight for me (apart from a disappointing two course deep fried fest on the first night that’s probably best forgotten).

Because I’m not working I’m trying to limit my going out and therefore my spending – and besides, we have the glorious internet at home so I’m keeping myself entertained – however I am getting very well acquainted with daytime TV and if I don’t see another car insurance ad or debt consolidation ad it will be too soon.

Edinburgh, Scotland 29th July – 2nd August

Catching up with G in Edinburgh was fantastic. I had the best time and it was nice to visit somewhere without being in a hurry and we had great weather everyday!

We had a restaurant recommended to us called First Coast and it was so good we ended up eating there every night – for those who may have accused me of being fussy in the past – this is a restaurant with no buts! There was a very memorable dinner that involved a couple of delicious bottles of Pinot Grigio and some introspective conversations.

We spent a bit of time just wandering around the city looking at the shops, including a trip to Jenners, the Hannahs of Scotland. We also found a great place for breakfast called Tiger Lily where I had my first Eggs Benedict for months and it was delicious!

We also went to an exhibition called “The Naked Portrait” – it’s all in the title! It was really interesting and the photograph of Linford Christy was a highlight.

We also managed to catch the opening of the Fringe Festival and saw a couple of comedy acts and Greg McHugh was a standout – some very funny commentary on road rage.

Edinburgh itself is a lovely city, full of lovely architecture and so clean compared to London! It’s got a great vibe and does have a bit of a ‘university town’ feel about it – really young and vibrant.

G and I at Tiger Lily

G and I at First Coast


The compass in Scotland



Edinburgh

Month Four in London or It’s A Tough Life

Month four in London may be a bit of a misnomer has I’ve hardly been in London. I’ve had an absolute ball and now believe even more I could quite happily be unemployed and just travel the world. I have more stamps in the passport and 4 new countries visited. The biggest surprise was Greece , which for some reason I didn’t really expect to be all that impressed by, I guess because I love the beaches in Australia so much I don’t really expect to be impressed by other countries but the beaches in Greece were so beautiful. The sun is lovely soft sun as well where you can actually lie in the sun and not be burnt to a crisp! The food was so good…zucchini fritters were definitely a highlight!

Hanging out with P&T was fantastic, first of all being in Greece together and sharing the great experience there and then sharing London with them.

I’m loving the ease of travel and being able to just jump on a plane and go – an hour or two and you’re somewhere so different.

I am much more settled now with a permanent place to live and my bank account finally sorted and London is starting to feel like home. There’s always something though and now the job hunt begins!

Southern France 2nd July – 8th July

The trip to France was a last minute decision as A had a week off. We flew in to Toulon with no plans except we needed to be in Carcassone to fly out by Sunday. I practices my very basic French and had a great time – even swimming in the arctic (and I mean make your muscles cramp arctic) water one day.

France - Bandol

Bandol


Arles - this is where Van Gogh painted "Starry Night Over the Rhone"

The Compass in Nimes

Nimes is where denim originates from - serge-de-nimes (serge being a coarse fabric)

This is outside the amphitheater -
From wiki
The elliptical Roman amphitheatre, of the 1st or 2nd century AD, is the best-preserved Roman arena in France. It was filled with medieval housing, when its walls served as ramparts, but they were cleared under Napoleon. It is still used today as a bull fighting and concert arena.

The Maison Carree

From Wiki

The Maison Carrée (Square House), a small Roman temple dedicated to sons of Agrippa was built c. 19 BC. It is one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere.

The Crocodile is part of the crest of Nimes

Jardins de la Fontaine (Gardens of the Fountain)

Narbonne