We're in an internet cafe in Carcassonne trying to book accommodation in Paris. Not as easy as you would think :)
The last few weeks have been a blur, and I've ended up with the head-cold from hell. Plus, the spell checker on this computer is set to French, so everything is showing up as wrong.
This part of France is gorgeous. Ancient castles, canal, city walls, all that you would expect. (Apparently the place we vistied yesterday was used as a set for Prince of Thieves.)
Dinner last night was the local delicacy Cassole - a duck leg and pork sausage cooked in a bean casserole thing. VERY good.
I will try to catch up with Budapest > Venice > Florence > Milan > Barcelona > Madrid > Carcassonne. But for now please be assured that we are are safe and (mostly) well, still having a good time and finding lots of yarn shops :)
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Friday 17 September 2010
Munich
Well, after the excitement of the WM visit, we still had Munich to explore.
We started out by ourselves and a night time wander through the town. We discovered the Glockenspiel Clock, main shopping mall and district, and headed to the Hoffbrauhaus, Munich's most famous beer hall, for some sustenance, i.e. food and beer.
They serve beer in 1 litre steins.
Dinner was pretty fun, and we made friends with our German tablemates who were celebrating their 24th anniversary by going hiking for a week (these Germans are crazy!). Then we met a lovely couple from Chicago who had been in town for a few days and told us the cool stuff to see.
We both slept very well :)
Sunday was out-and-about day. We started with a free walking tour through some of the city highlights, ending with lunch near the Mariaplatz. Our tour guide made it sound fun, so we signed up for the evening Beer Tour - we were told drinking was not compulsory, but when something is called a Beer Tour, it owuld be a waste to just taste the water, right?
The Beer Tour was fun, if a little crazy. SOME of us had the sense to stop drinking and take it easy after a while. Others of us, not naming any names coughcoughVUHcough went a little harder. So much so that the next morning SOMEONE had given themselves black eyes from clearing the ick out of their sinuses. Someone even looked like the inside of an eggplant when you've sliced and salted it and the purple streaks run from the seds to the skin.
Let this be a lesson, children. Don't try to keep up with backpackers in their 20s.
The next morning we hopped on a train to Budapest.
We started out by ourselves and a night time wander through the town. We discovered the Glockenspiel Clock, main shopping mall and district, and headed to the Hoffbrauhaus, Munich's most famous beer hall, for some sustenance, i.e. food and beer.
They serve beer in 1 litre steins.
Dinner was pretty fun, and we made friends with our German tablemates who were celebrating their 24th anniversary by going hiking for a week (these Germans are crazy!). Then we met a lovely couple from Chicago who had been in town for a few days and told us the cool stuff to see.
We both slept very well :)
Sunday was out-and-about day. We started with a free walking tour through some of the city highlights, ending with lunch near the Mariaplatz. Our tour guide made it sound fun, so we signed up for the evening Beer Tour - we were told drinking was not compulsory, but when something is called a Beer Tour, it owuld be a waste to just taste the water, right?
The Beer Tour was fun, if a little crazy. SOME of us had the sense to stop drinking and take it easy after a while. Others of us, not naming any names coughcoughVUHcough went a little harder. So much so that the next morning SOMEONE had given themselves black eyes from clearing the ick out of their sinuses. Someone even looked like the inside of an eggplant when you've sliced and salted it and the purple streaks run from the seds to the skin.
Let this be a lesson, children. Don't try to keep up with backpackers in their 20s.
The next morning we hopped on a train to Budapest.
Wollmesie Part 2
So, after spending much money and sending it all home, we went back to the shop to hang out with the cool kids. Can you believe that some people have the WM as their LYS?!?!
The gals in the store were very, VERY cool. They were all working on some beautiful pieces - gorgeous scarves, intricate gloves with a gazillion cables, socks, the whole box and dice. So I got to pull my project bag out and continue working on my First Crochet Socks (Regia blues, using the Crochet Me Ultimate Socks pattern). They gave us more coffee, dragged a chair oputside so I could join them in the sun, and my VUH went for a wander while I got to hang with the gang.
It seemed amusing to me, but believe it or not, the WM locals do year for other yarns. Oh yes. When my friends and I get together for our LYS nights, we bring along other gorgeous stuff we obtained from other stores. And even though WM is some of the most lovely yarn in the world (my opinion), they brought along and cooed over more yarn! It made me laugh. I did take a photo so I can look it up later - if the WM chicks think it is coo worthy, it MUST be good!
I managed to get my friend Lee on ther phone to get his last-minute order, did another scramble for cash, THEN discovered the "Oops, really factory seconds becuase it's only 100g sock yarn, here have it for €10" section of the shop. OMGOMGOMGOMG!!! The perfect excuse to use the in-house swift and winder and start those Twist socks I've been hankering for... Alas, after paying and winding I realised that although I had the pattern, I didn't have my sock needles. C'est la vie, another day. I do get to carry around my WM cake and stroke it on the odd occassion, so it's all good :)
It was such a fun afternoon. I even got to see Mr WM when he came in to do some repairs, and to make my mark in the graffiti-it-yourself loo. No, this is not a joke, the WC is covered with greetings from all over the world, and even some LSG love from one of my Rav groups.
We eventually said goodbye and went to do a lap of the town. My VUH showed me the stuff he'd found, we had a pint at the local pub, and made our way back to the train station.
I had SUCH a good day! The WM gals have even Rav-friended me so they can keep up with my finished projects - so sweet.
The train trip back to Munich was entertaining with a Buck's party boy seling us some dodgy schnapps. Great fun.
The gals in the store were very, VERY cool. They were all working on some beautiful pieces - gorgeous scarves, intricate gloves with a gazillion cables, socks, the whole box and dice. So I got to pull my project bag out and continue working on my First Crochet Socks (Regia blues, using the Crochet Me Ultimate Socks pattern). They gave us more coffee, dragged a chair oputside so I could join them in the sun, and my VUH went for a wander while I got to hang with the gang.
It seemed amusing to me, but believe it or not, the WM locals do year for other yarns. Oh yes. When my friends and I get together for our LYS nights, we bring along other gorgeous stuff we obtained from other stores. And even though WM is some of the most lovely yarn in the world (my opinion), they brought along and cooed over more yarn! It made me laugh. I did take a photo so I can look it up later - if the WM chicks think it is coo worthy, it MUST be good!
I managed to get my friend Lee on ther phone to get his last-minute order, did another scramble for cash, THEN discovered the "Oops, really factory seconds becuase it's only 100g sock yarn, here have it for €10" section of the shop. OMGOMGOMGOMG!!! The perfect excuse to use the in-house swift and winder and start those Twist socks I've been hankering for... Alas, after paying and winding I realised that although I had the pattern, I didn't have my sock needles. C'est la vie, another day. I do get to carry around my WM cake and stroke it on the odd occassion, so it's all good :)
It was such a fun afternoon. I even got to see Mr WM when he came in to do some repairs, and to make my mark in the graffiti-it-yourself loo. No, this is not a joke, the WC is covered with greetings from all over the world, and even some LSG love from one of my Rav groups.
We eventually said goodbye and went to do a lap of the town. My VUH showed me the stuff he'd found, we had a pint at the local pub, and made our way back to the train station.
I had SUCH a good day! The WM gals have even Rav-friended me so they can keep up with my finished projects - so sweet.
The train trip back to Munich was entertaining with a Buck's party boy seling us some dodgy schnapps. Great fun.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
What a week!
Yes, happy campers, we have been having a fabulous time in the past week.
Munich was gorgeous. I love the combination of old and new, beer and pretzel, yarn and yarn. Because possibly the MOST exciting part of our visit was the trip to the Wollmeisse store in Pfaffenhofen.
For me, this was the one part of our honeymoon I have been looking forward to the most. And believe me, it did not disappoint!
We had arrived in Munich fairly late in the day, found our hostel and crashed. With an early start the next day, I kept dreaming that I'd slept in, kept waking up, and so of course was exhausted the next morning. We mare the train to Pfaffenhofen and the 20 min trip was full of pretty scenery and me jumping up and down in anticipation.
We walked into the village (thank you, Google maps), and it was as I'd hoped. As the shop came into view, the clouds parted, the ray of divine light shone down and the choir of angels struck up.
The shop was AMAZING. No, that's not right... I don't know the words. Let me try this... Knitters will know how fantastic it feels to receive a skein of WM in the mail, when you get to feel it and marvel at the cooler and texture and rub it against your cheeck. Well, imagine that times a WHOLE SHOP. There was even a whole wall of factory seconds called "Nobody's Perfect" skeins with only one knot in the whole skein. ONE KNOT!!! Take that, Noro!
The ladies of the shop were amazing. They smiled at me taking my "OMG the shop!!!!" photo out the front, then brewed us coffee. Real coffee! VUH was offered prime place on one of the Husband Couches and I tried to do a lap, but kept getting distracted by all the pretties and grinning like an idiot.
When I broke out the orders from hone, they helped me gather everything. I love these ladies.
We eventually had quite a lot of skeins, so VUH did a run to the ATM while I... I can't really remember, I think there was more yarn stroking and idiot grinning. I had to stop myself from saying "That's so pretty!" since EVERYTHING was so pretty!
Holy FSM, I have never, ever spent that much money on yarn. VUH reckons he has never spent that much on his geeky hobbies either.
We did a run to the local post office to send the plethora of yarn home and to the other eager recipients. Fun!
More to follow...
Munich was gorgeous. I love the combination of old and new, beer and pretzel, yarn and yarn. Because possibly the MOST exciting part of our visit was the trip to the Wollmeisse store in Pfaffenhofen.
For me, this was the one part of our honeymoon I have been looking forward to the most. And believe me, it did not disappoint!
We had arrived in Munich fairly late in the day, found our hostel and crashed. With an early start the next day, I kept dreaming that I'd slept in, kept waking up, and so of course was exhausted the next morning. We mare the train to Pfaffenhofen and the 20 min trip was full of pretty scenery and me jumping up and down in anticipation.
We walked into the village (thank you, Google maps), and it was as I'd hoped. As the shop came into view, the clouds parted, the ray of divine light shone down and the choir of angels struck up.
The shop was AMAZING. No, that's not right... I don't know the words. Let me try this... Knitters will know how fantastic it feels to receive a skein of WM in the mail, when you get to feel it and marvel at the cooler and texture and rub it against your cheeck. Well, imagine that times a WHOLE SHOP. There was even a whole wall of factory seconds called "Nobody's Perfect" skeins with only one knot in the whole skein. ONE KNOT!!! Take that, Noro!
The ladies of the shop were amazing. They smiled at me taking my "OMG the shop!!!!" photo out the front, then brewed us coffee. Real coffee! VUH was offered prime place on one of the Husband Couches and I tried to do a lap, but kept getting distracted by all the pretties and grinning like an idiot.
When I broke out the orders from hone, they helped me gather everything. I love these ladies.
We eventually had quite a lot of skeins, so VUH did a run to the ATM while I... I can't really remember, I think there was more yarn stroking and idiot grinning. I had to stop myself from saying "That's so pretty!" since EVERYTHING was so pretty!
Holy FSM, I have never, ever spent that much money on yarn. VUH reckons he has never spent that much on his geeky hobbies either.
We did a run to the local post office to send the plethora of yarn home and to the other eager recipients. Fun!
More to follow...
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Day... LOTS
Yes, I'm terrible.
since last we spoke, we have:
Travelled from Ireland to Copenhagen
Overnight in Copenhagen
Went to Lego Land - v excellent!
Travelled to Hamburg, went to model train museum
Travelled on to Kirchlengern, spent few wonderful days with Claudia and Cristoff
Have arrived in Berlin, having fun.
Next stop is Munich.
Have added to yarn stash a lot - I love Germany!
since last we spoke, we have:
Travelled from Ireland to Copenhagen
Overnight in Copenhagen
Went to Lego Land - v excellent!
Travelled to Hamburg, went to model train museum
Travelled on to Kirchlengern, spent few wonderful days with Claudia and Cristoff
Have arrived in Berlin, having fun.
Next stop is Munich.
Have added to yarn stash a lot - I love Germany!
Friday 27 August 2010
Over the Sea to Skye
Day 11, Tues 24th August
We caught the train to the Kyle of Lochalsh and then found our bus tour for the Isle fo Skye. It was quite fun! Of course, our fellow travellers were from Australia and of course we had only a few steps of separation :) The island is a really beautiful place and we saw some amazing scenery. I even managed to find a yarn store near the Kyle train station :)
Back toKyle Inverness and collapsing into bed - this travelling can really take it out of you!
We caught the train to the Kyle of Lochalsh and then found our bus tour for the Isle fo Skye. It was quite fun! Of course, our fellow travellers were from Australia and of course we had only a few steps of separation :) The island is a really beautiful place and we saw some amazing scenery. I even managed to find a yarn store near the Kyle train station :)
Back to
Day 10, Mon 23rd August
The Jacobite Express is a steam train that runs from Forst William through Glenfinnen and on to Malaig. If you've seen the second Harry Potter movie you've probably seen the Glenfinnen viaduct. So we got to travel over it, hurrah! It helped that one of the people sharing our train cabin was a fellow Rav member, we had a great chat on the way there. Glenfinnen village was cute, and I got to pretend I was in Highlander. VUH was in his train-geeky element and had his little-boy grin on his face all day :)
We had a great lunch in Malaig and managed to send some postcards home. Grabbed some snacks, back in the train, all the way home again, jiggety jig. It was a really nice day, I had a great time.
Then we got on a bus across to Inverness. I managed to sleep for some of the way, but the rest was not-fun travel sick ness. Ick. It was raining when we arrived in Inverness but we finally managed to find our hostel, check in and grab some dinner.
We had a great lunch in Malaig and managed to send some postcards home. Grabbed some snacks, back in the train, all the way home again, jiggety jig. It was a really nice day, I had a great time.
Then we got on a bus across to Inverness. I managed to sleep for some of the way, but the rest was not-fun travel sick ness. Ick. It was raining when we arrived in Inverness but we finally managed to find our hostel, check in and grab some dinner.
Day 9, Sun 22nd August
Travel day. We checked out of our hostel in Edinburgh and caught the train to Fort William, in the north-west of Scotland. We checked into our B&B and wandered the town.
We've been on the hunt for the perfect sunday Roast for some time. At home, we keep trying to find somewhere that serves a decent roast for a not-hideous amount of money. We thought that this could be the chance! But alas, no. The first restaurant we went to had the Roast Beef on their specials board but had "sold out" (so take it off the board, eejits!).
Restaurant 2 was shockingly bad. After we waited at the bar for a table we were finally seated at a table with filthy cuttlery. Gross. They served my diet coke in a glass that was icky, and the drink was flat and tasteless. Apparently it was my fault, the machine was working fine. (Eejits!) Then they tried to charge me for it. RAGE!!! One was not amused. But we finally made it back to our B&B and slept very, very well.
We've been on the hunt for the perfect sunday Roast for some time. At home, we keep trying to find somewhere that serves a decent roast for a not-hideous amount of money. We thought that this could be the chance! But alas, no. The first restaurant we went to had the Roast Beef on their specials board but had "sold out" (so take it off the board, eejits!).
Restaurant 2 was shockingly bad. After we waited at the bar for a table we were finally seated at a table with filthy cuttlery. Gross. They served my diet coke in a glass that was icky, and the drink was flat and tasteless. Apparently it was my fault, the machine was working fine. (Eejits!) Then they tried to charge me for it. RAGE!!! One was not amused. But we finally made it back to our B&B and slept very, very well.
Day 8, Sat 21st August
Edinburgh Tattoo day! We started the day by wandering down the royal Mile to Hollyroodhouse palace, summer home of HRH. A cool building, and all the better for not being disgustingly ornate. Seeing photos of a young Prince Harry in a kilt and an "I'm up to mischief" grin made me miss my nephews. I resisted the urge to buy them kilts :)
VUH went to the Observatory and Time Ball while I trekked into town for a yarn shop visit and basics shopping.
The Tattoo was... astounding. There were so many people there, and the show was fantastic, so everyone should go. Honest. Make it your mission. The rain cleared up for our show so we were toasty warm. But a note to the US tourist sitting next to me - when everyone else is singing "God Save The Queen", that is NOT the time to sing "Let Freedom Reign". Seriously.
VUH went to the Observatory and Time Ball while I trekked into town for a yarn shop visit and basics shopping.
The Tattoo was... astounding. There were so many people there, and the show was fantastic, so everyone should go. Honest. Make it your mission. The rain cleared up for our show so we were toasty warm. But a note to the US tourist sitting next to me - when everyone else is singing "God Save The Queen", that is NOT the time to sing "Let Freedom Reign". Seriously.
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Hello all :) We've been very, very busy so I'm loving having a few quiet days to catch my breath, catch up on sleep and wash my smalls.
Short Versions only, sorry:
Day 7, Fri 20th August
Did a tour of Edinburgh castle which was freaking amazing. It is huge! The 1pm gun was funny, especially the dumb tourists who "weren't expecing the big noise"!
Caught up with Grant, Kath & baby Merran who was as cute as a button. Managed to finish the Thistle cardie by being very late for lunch.
Went to see Adam Hills at the Festival. Yes, travelled half way around the world to see an aussie comedy act. But wait, it gets better...
Went to see Tripod at the Festival. Aussie act no.2. Yeah.
Short Versions only, sorry:
Day 7, Fri 20th August
Did a tour of Edinburgh castle which was freaking amazing. It is huge! The 1pm gun was funny, especially the dumb tourists who "weren't expecing the big noise"!
Caught up with Grant, Kath & baby Merran who was as cute as a button. Managed to finish the Thistle cardie by being very late for lunch.
Went to see Adam Hills at the Festival. Yes, travelled half way around the world to see an aussie comedy act. But wait, it gets better...
Went to see Tripod at the Festival. Aussie act no.2. Yeah.
Monday 23 August 2010
Kings Cross NOT St Pancras
Something important I have learned - even though they are next door to each other, Kings X and St Pancras are Not the same thing. Just sayin'.
Day 6, Thurs 19th Aug
Leaving London day. We had a quiet morning, packed our gear and headed to the train station. It took forever to find our platform number, but we managed to climb onto the Efinburgh train with time to spare.
The journey north was fine, but since it was raining we cheated and got a cab to our hostel in Edinburgh. My first Black Cab ride! The hostel involved climbing lots of stairs to get to our room. After dumping our stuff we went fir a walk and I found the nearest LYS in the next street! Sweet!
After dinner I spent the night looking at the side of Edin castle from the hostel window and listenng to the Tattoo and working on the thistle cardie while VUH went on a pub walk organized by the hostel. He is very good about giving me knitting time :)
I waited until very late and managed to call my mum for her birthday.
Edited to fix my iPhone spelling mistakes. Thanks, "smart" phone!
Day 6, Thurs 19th Aug
Leaving London day. We had a quiet morning, packed our gear and headed to the train station. It took forever to find our platform number, but we managed to climb onto the Efinburgh train with time to spare.
The journey north was fine, but since it was raining we cheated and got a cab to our hostel in Edinburgh. My first Black Cab ride! The hostel involved climbing lots of stairs to get to our room. After dumping our stuff we went fir a walk and I found the nearest LYS in the next street! Sweet!
After dinner I spent the night looking at the side of Edin castle from the hostel window and listenng to the Tattoo and working on the thistle cardie while VUH went on a pub walk organized by the hostel. He is very good about giving me knitting time :)
I waited until very late and managed to call my mum for her birthday.
Edited to fix my iPhone spelling mistakes. Thanks, "smart" phone!
Catching Up
Yes, it's been a busy week.
Day 5, Wed 18th Aug
I went to the V&A museum while my VUH visited The Globe theatre. The V&A was amazing, I can't recommend it highly enough, I enjoyed it much more that the British museum. I got to see some amazing textiles on exhibit and even some lace work that was more than 200 years old!
Then I went yarn shopping. This involved ne being very brave and using the Tube by myself. First stop was iKnit in Waterloo. A hint for anyone thinking of trying it out - don't bother. Really disappointing. And a note for LYS owners - if your husband/boyfriend/random guy is watching the shop for you, try to get him to at least pretend to be interested in customer service. A real bummer.
But fortunately, Loop in Angel was fantastic. Their current location is newish, and the staff were amazingly helpful. I ended up spending money on sone pretty yarn and staying for 2 hours working on a thistle cardie for friends. Great shop, can't wait to go back!
Since I was in a yarny frame if mind, I also went to the John Lewis store on Oxford Street. Australian knitters will understand the joy I felt in finding a department store that had a yarn department! How cool is that!?! I took advantage of the local brands being on sale...
I had a quiet night in while SpunkyBoy went on a ghost walk.
Day 5, Wed 18th Aug
I went to the V&A museum while my VUH visited The Globe theatre. The V&A was amazing, I can't recommend it highly enough, I enjoyed it much more that the British museum. I got to see some amazing textiles on exhibit and even some lace work that was more than 200 years old!
Then I went yarn shopping. This involved ne being very brave and using the Tube by myself. First stop was iKnit in Waterloo. A hint for anyone thinking of trying it out - don't bother. Really disappointing. And a note for LYS owners - if your husband/boyfriend/random guy is watching the shop for you, try to get him to at least pretend to be interested in customer service. A real bummer.
But fortunately, Loop in Angel was fantastic. Their current location is newish, and the staff were amazingly helpful. I ended up spending money on sone pretty yarn and staying for 2 hours working on a thistle cardie for friends. Great shop, can't wait to go back!
Since I was in a yarny frame if mind, I also went to the John Lewis store on Oxford Street. Australian knitters will understand the joy I felt in finding a department store that had a yarn department! How cool is that!?! I took advantage of the local brands being on sale...
I had a quiet night in while SpunkyBoy went on a ghost walk.
There Can Be Only One
I admit it - I'm a bad blogger! I'm so sorry! We've been having too much fun in areas with no free wifi so I am horribly behind :(
The last few days have been in Scotland - Edinburgh for the Tattoo and Fringe festival, and we are now in the west country.
Today we caught a train up the west coast and through the area where the film Highlander was set and filmed, so I've been out-geeking myself sick.
But since I've been here, the short version of events:
Travelled from London to Edinburgh. Fell in love with Edinburgh. Discovered I was staying 2 mins from the LYS.
Listened to the Tattoo, visited E Castle, visited Hollyrood Palace, bought fudge. Caught up with friends Grant and Kath and beautiful little Merran.
Saw Adam Hills and Tripod at comedy festival. Laughed at ourselves for traveling half way around the world just to see some Aussie comedy.
Went to the Tattoo which was freaking awesome.
Travelled from Edinburgh to Fort William, very pretty. Stayed at nice B&B. Day trip to Malaig via the village of Glenfinnen on the shores if Loch Shiel (and I am immortal!). About to travel to... Place I can't remember what it us called, then will see Isle of Skye tomorrow.
Yeah, I'm a bad blogger :( Sorry.
The last few days have been in Scotland - Edinburgh for the Tattoo and Fringe festival, and we are now in the west country.
Today we caught a train up the west coast and through the area where the film Highlander was set and filmed, so I've been out-geeking myself sick.
But since I've been here, the short version of events:
Travelled from London to Edinburgh. Fell in love with Edinburgh. Discovered I was staying 2 mins from the LYS.
Listened to the Tattoo, visited E Castle, visited Hollyrood Palace, bought fudge. Caught up with friends Grant and Kath and beautiful little Merran.
Saw Adam Hills and Tripod at comedy festival. Laughed at ourselves for traveling half way around the world just to see some Aussie comedy.
Went to the Tattoo which was freaking awesome.
Travelled from Edinburgh to Fort William, very pretty. Stayed at nice B&B. Day trip to Malaig via the village of Glenfinnen on the shores if Loch Shiel (and I am immortal!). About to travel to... Place I can't remember what it us called, then will see Isle of Skye tomorrow.
Yeah, I'm a bad blogger :( Sorry.
Tuesday 17 August 2010
The Streets of London
Still catching up...
Day 3:
Buckingham Palace and some freaking awesome stuff.
Westminster Abbey
Meeting up with Jim
We Will Rock You
Day 4:
British Museums and the room of zombies
Westminster tour
More details to follow :)
Day 3:
Buckingham Palace and some freaking awesome stuff.
Westminster Abbey
Meeting up with Jim
We Will Rock You
Day 4:
British Museums and the room of zombies
Westminster tour
More details to follow :)
Lust For Life
I'm a few days behind in diarising this trip, so before I forget:
Day 2 - Short Version:
Lords, the Home of Cricket.
Abbey Road, where too many pedestrians nearly get run over trying to recreate crossing the road.
Little Venice and a pretty canal boat ride to Camden Markets.
Docklands and Canary Wharf - no Doctor or Captain Jack to be seen
Jack the Ripper walk
Curry dinner in Brick Lane
Day 2 - Long Version:
We started out with a qucik train and bus trip past Lords. The home Of Cricket. Oh yes. Appearance wise, it looks like a crickt ground. Sorry, but as I'm discovering, everything in England (it seems) has hundreds of years of history woen into its very existance, so a cricket group just wasn't that thrilling. Not thrilling but nice.
Slightly more exciting was walking past the Abbey Road studios. You know, the ones. After seeing many, many tourists try to recreate the Beatles album cover walk over the pedestrian crossing and thinking they looked a) Pretty dumb; and b) Like they were lucky not to have been hit by that car, we restricted ourselves to taking a few photos of the building. From the outside, it looks like a building. Yes. A building. Interesting thingt o note - even though everywhere else we've been there are about a billion street signs, we only saw one with "Abbey Road" on them - apparently they keep getting stolen so the local government has given up.
We kept walking and wandering and catching random buses until we ended up in a very pretty area called Little Venice with, as you would expect, canals and canal boats. After waiting in line for a while we hopped on a canal boat that sailed (is sailed correct? Punted?) down the Regent canal, past London Zoo to Camden Markets. Being a Sunday and school holidays, the markets were in full swing and it was hard to move anywhere in the press of people.
Lunch was Wild-Boar-ona-a-spit sandwich - YUM! VUH and I amused ourselves by calling each other Asterix and Obelix for a while and enjoyed our drool-worthy food.
More random wandering, this time back up the high street and eventually onto a train to the Docklands area and Canary Wharf. It was very... clean, and a little sterile. VUH tells me that this area of Londond is really new and almost exclusively a business precinct so it was fairly quiet. I just kept hoping to see a few Time Agents battling the cybermen in an alley nearby, but no such luck :(
After more wandering, we went back to our room and I put my feet up for a bit.
Then we toddled off to the Tower and went on a Jack the Ripper talk/walk around the west end. The only bummer was that we were in such a big group that it was hard to get any sort of details from the guide's patter, but c'est la vie.
Dinner was in the highly anticipated Brick Lane for curry. We were enticed by a spruker into a restaurant and the food was lovely. Less so was the service but hey, we were getting a discount and a free drink, so there was much I was willing to overlook :)
After all of that walking, I slept very, very well.
Day 2 - Short Version:
Lords, the Home of Cricket.
Abbey Road, where too many pedestrians nearly get run over trying to recreate crossing the road.
Little Venice and a pretty canal boat ride to Camden Markets.
Docklands and Canary Wharf - no Doctor or Captain Jack to be seen
Jack the Ripper walk
Curry dinner in Brick Lane
Day 2 - Long Version:
We started out with a qucik train and bus trip past Lords. The home Of Cricket. Oh yes. Appearance wise, it looks like a crickt ground. Sorry, but as I'm discovering, everything in England (it seems) has hundreds of years of history woen into its very existance, so a cricket group just wasn't that thrilling. Not thrilling but nice.
Slightly more exciting was walking past the Abbey Road studios. You know, the ones. After seeing many, many tourists try to recreate the Beatles album cover walk over the pedestrian crossing and thinking they looked a) Pretty dumb; and b) Like they were lucky not to have been hit by that car, we restricted ourselves to taking a few photos of the building. From the outside, it looks like a building. Yes. A building. Interesting thingt o note - even though everywhere else we've been there are about a billion street signs, we only saw one with "Abbey Road" on them - apparently they keep getting stolen so the local government has given up.
We kept walking and wandering and catching random buses until we ended up in a very pretty area called Little Venice with, as you would expect, canals and canal boats. After waiting in line for a while we hopped on a canal boat that sailed (is sailed correct? Punted?) down the Regent canal, past London Zoo to Camden Markets. Being a Sunday and school holidays, the markets were in full swing and it was hard to move anywhere in the press of people.
Lunch was Wild-Boar-ona-a-spit sandwich - YUM! VUH and I amused ourselves by calling each other Asterix and Obelix for a while and enjoyed our drool-worthy food.
More random wandering, this time back up the high street and eventually onto a train to the Docklands area and Canary Wharf. It was very... clean, and a little sterile. VUH tells me that this area of Londond is really new and almost exclusively a business precinct so it was fairly quiet. I just kept hoping to see a few Time Agents battling the cybermen in an alley nearby, but no such luck :(
After more wandering, we went back to our room and I put my feet up for a bit.
Then we toddled off to the Tower and went on a Jack the Ripper talk/walk around the west end. The only bummer was that we were in such a big group that it was hard to get any sort of details from the guide's patter, but c'est la vie.
Dinner was in the highly anticipated Brick Lane for curry. We were enticed by a spruker into a restaurant and the food was lovely. Less so was the service but hey, we were getting a discount and a free drink, so there was much I was willing to overlook :)
After all of that walking, I slept very, very well.
Monday 16 August 2010
London Calling
Greetings all! Sorry for the radio silence, we've been having too much fun to be sitting around typing. But I haven't forgotten you - here is the update for the last few days.
Day 1: Leaving on a jet plane
I learned my lesson, and this time did not consume the tapenade in the Qantas club. I also dosed myself up on ginger travel tablets and thought everything would be fine. Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Ha. Ha. Yeah, no. On the plane everything was okay for the first few hours. By the time we got to Singapore I was feeling a little delicate and a lot tired, but mostly okay. Sitting in the waiting are was fun while the plane refuelled was less fun - they were doing major construction work upstairs and the noise was... very loud. Even with my earplugs in, I could feel the vibrations in my teeth.
It was hard to get back on the plane. I finally succumbed and had a sleep, then woke up with a massive (dehydration) headache. Which went on for the next 12 hours. I felt okay having small amounts to eat. I felt okay having small sips of water. But when the breakfast trolley was parked next to my seat and they started pouring the coffee - yeah, no. No no no no no. Standing up straight helped, as did more sips of water.
Basically I was feeling pretty gross but holding it together until we started descending. You know that little tummy roll you get when you are in an elevator and it goes down? Try that times about 15 billion. On a big dip, my tummy stayed in my throat and it was on for young and old. Not very dignified, and probably not much fun for the people around me.
We finally (finally!) landed in Heathrow and since the taxiing was taking forever, I had a little nap. And missed all the excitement of the police coming on board and "escorting" someone off the plane. Damn. We walked the 15 bazillion kilometers through the terminal and I went to clean up while El Spunko went to collect our bags.
The line at immigration was long. Fortunately I had some amusing queue neighbours who amused me with their commentary of everyone they saw. It was a total bitch-fest and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.
Explaining to the Cusoms lady that I was on my honeymoon but was not with my husband was fun. No, he went on ahead while I went to the ladies. Why didn't he wait? Well, we thought this would be faster. Why did I take so long? See the ick on my t-shirt? I went all exorcist on the plane. Oh. Yeah. Enjoy your stay.
We Spunko navigated the train into town and we hauled our packs to our hotel near Paddington. It was 8.30 in the morning but, bless them, our room was ready so I could crash for a half hour. A nap and a shower later, I was ready to see the world! Then trajedy... In my hurry to pack ALL THE THINGS I owned into my backpack, I'd kinda neglected to include some important stuff like info about our reservations, where we were staying, and my oyster card. Yes, I was popular for a while. So we headed back to Paddington, got a new card (not a huge deal, BTW), had something to eat and set off for Picadilly Circus.
Yes, the billboards are huge. We found a rail office and booked more of our train trips for next month and checked some stuff out. I found the Bravissimo store in Covent Grarden, they were having a sale, so I was in heaven.
Hammleys is a huge toy shop in London that is 250 years old - I kid you not. So of course we went to check it out. It turns out that toy shops on Saturdays during school holidays are really, really busy, so we had to play knock-them-over-to-get-through ghames with some 5 year olds. It's a jungle out there, I tell you. Finding free wifi in the nearby cafe was excellent, so I chilled out while my VUH had some clean geeky fun.
We finally made it back to our hotel and crashed. Well, I crashed while VUH went to check out the Tornado engine arriving in Kings Cross. The only other excitement that day was a 4.30am suger level crash, hurrah, and more much-needed sleep.
More to follow.
Best Thing: Those little single-servings of water that have the pull-back foil lids.
Worst Thing: Qantas coffee. The smell drives me over the edge into ick every time.
Day 1: Leaving on a jet plane
I learned my lesson, and this time did not consume the tapenade in the Qantas club. I also dosed myself up on ginger travel tablets and thought everything would be fine. Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Ha. Ha. Yeah, no. On the plane everything was okay for the first few hours. By the time we got to Singapore I was feeling a little delicate and a lot tired, but mostly okay. Sitting in the waiting are was fun while the plane refuelled was less fun - they were doing major construction work upstairs and the noise was... very loud. Even with my earplugs in, I could feel the vibrations in my teeth.
It was hard to get back on the plane. I finally succumbed and had a sleep, then woke up with a massive (dehydration) headache. Which went on for the next 12 hours. I felt okay having small amounts to eat. I felt okay having small sips of water. But when the breakfast trolley was parked next to my seat and they started pouring the coffee - yeah, no. No no no no no. Standing up straight helped, as did more sips of water.
Basically I was feeling pretty gross but holding it together until we started descending. You know that little tummy roll you get when you are in an elevator and it goes down? Try that times about 15 billion. On a big dip, my tummy stayed in my throat and it was on for young and old. Not very dignified, and probably not much fun for the people around me.
We finally (finally!) landed in Heathrow and since the taxiing was taking forever, I had a little nap. And missed all the excitement of the police coming on board and "escorting" someone off the plane. Damn. We walked the 15 bazillion kilometers through the terminal and I went to clean up while El Spunko went to collect our bags.
The line at immigration was long. Fortunately I had some amusing queue neighbours who amused me with their commentary of everyone they saw. It was a total bitch-fest and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.
Explaining to the Cusoms lady that I was on my honeymoon but was not with my husband was fun. No, he went on ahead while I went to the ladies. Why didn't he wait? Well, we thought this would be faster. Why did I take so long? See the ick on my t-shirt? I went all exorcist on the plane. Oh. Yeah. Enjoy your stay.
Yes, the billboards are huge. We found a rail office and booked more of our train trips for next month and checked some stuff out. I found the Bravissimo store in Covent Grarden, they were having a sale, so I was in heaven.
Hammleys is a huge toy shop in London that is 250 years old - I kid you not. So of course we went to check it out. It turns out that toy shops on Saturdays during school holidays are really, really busy, so we had to play knock-them-over-to-get-through ghames with some 5 year olds. It's a jungle out there, I tell you. Finding free wifi in the nearby cafe was excellent, so I chilled out while my VUH had some clean geeky fun.
We finally made it back to our hotel and crashed. Well, I crashed while VUH went to check out the Tornado engine arriving in Kings Cross. The only other excitement that day was a 4.30am suger level crash, hurrah, and more much-needed sleep.
More to follow.
Best Thing: Those little single-servings of water that have the pull-back foil lids.
Worst Thing: Qantas coffee. The smell drives me over the edge into ick every time.
Friday 13 August 2010
Singapore
Hello all, we've arrived safe and well in Singapore and are just hanging out waiting for the plane to refuel.
Fortunately, there have been no nasty sick-bag incidents - fingers crossed it stays that way :)
OMG, how much do I love Qantas club?!? Let me count the ways...
Love to all, H&M
Fortunately, there have been no nasty sick-bag incidents - fingers crossed it stays that way :)
OMG, how much do I love Qantas club?!? Let me count the ways...
Love to all, H&M
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Three More Sleeps
This is getting pretty exciting.
Work is very very busy - I'm trying to tie up all of the loose ends I've managed to create in the past 6 months, so I'll be working my tail off for the next 2 days and nights. It is very sweet how many times my colleagues have given me sad puppy-dog eyes when they find out I'm finishing up this week, it makes me feel very appreciated.
I've been trying to figure out what knitting & crochet projects to take with me on our trip. I used my loyalty reward voucher from my LYS (Local Yarn Shop for the non-yarny folk) to invest in some bamboo needle tips which should be more airport security friendly than the metal. (Plus, we're going to Scotland, so when people see my Knitpicks gear they will worship me like a god!) So I've got the equipment, now just to choose the projects.
Here's the list so far:
1. Wedding socks for VUH. Yes, we've been married for a few months now and I had planned on having them done for the wedding. Better late than never, right? Sock #1 is finished, and sock #2 is almost there.
2. Crochet socks for me. Sock #1 is done and sock #2 is almost at the heel. These are good for mindless (aka on the plane) crochet, not too much concentration required. I suspect that blocking will consist of hand-washing in a hostel bathroom and leaving on my feet to dry overnight.
3. Possibly another Butterfly Baby Jacket. Not for anyone in particular, I just like the pattern, and it is easy to crochet on the go. and it looks really cute. I've made one before, so the next one might be a size bigger. I have about 75g of Aracunia Ranco in a pretty green that would probably do the job. (And in case I find some leftover factory-second stuff at Wollmeise, it only takes about 60g to make...)
4. Possibly some Twisted socks. They look like fun.
5. Just more socks. Easy to carry around, easy-ish to do, not too much stuff required to make, and a perfect excuse to buy more sock yarn wherever we visit. SpunkySocks need a new toe section, and that would double as a fun project to take as well as nice socks for my VUH to wear.
I've just realised how many projects on my Rav page need to be updated. Sleep is for wimps!
Work is very very busy - I'm trying to tie up all of the loose ends I've managed to create in the past 6 months, so I'll be working my tail off for the next 2 days and nights. It is very sweet how many times my colleagues have given me sad puppy-dog eyes when they find out I'm finishing up this week, it makes me feel very appreciated.
I've been trying to figure out what knitting & crochet projects to take with me on our trip. I used my loyalty reward voucher from my LYS (Local Yarn Shop for the non-yarny folk) to invest in some bamboo needle tips which should be more airport security friendly than the metal. (Plus, we're going to Scotland, so when people see my Knitpicks gear they will worship me like a god!) So I've got the equipment, now just to choose the projects.
Here's the list so far:
1. Wedding socks for VUH. Yes, we've been married for a few months now and I had planned on having them done for the wedding. Better late than never, right? Sock #1 is finished, and sock #2 is almost there.
2. Crochet socks for me. Sock #1 is done and sock #2 is almost at the heel. These are good for mindless (aka on the plane) crochet, not too much concentration required. I suspect that blocking will consist of hand-washing in a hostel bathroom and leaving on my feet to dry overnight.
3. Possibly another Butterfly Baby Jacket. Not for anyone in particular, I just like the pattern, and it is easy to crochet on the go. and it looks really cute. I've made one before, so the next one might be a size bigger. I have about 75g of Aracunia Ranco in a pretty green that would probably do the job. (And in case I find some leftover factory-second stuff at Wollmeise, it only takes about 60g to make...)
4. Possibly some Twisted socks. They look like fun.
5. Just more socks. Easy to carry around, easy-ish to do, not too much stuff required to make, and a perfect excuse to buy more sock yarn wherever we visit. SpunkySocks need a new toe section, and that would double as a fun project to take as well as nice socks for my VUH to wear.
I've just realised how many projects on my Rav page need to be updated. Sleep is for wimps!
Friday 16 July 2010
On The Road Again
Hello all,
It's been a while, but the Helen and Mike road train is set to start travelling again soon.
As you can probably tell from my last post, things have been busy. Yes, I planned to blog though the wedding, but that just didn't happen. We had an awesome, fabulous, wonderful time getting married. Being married is pretty sweet, I can definitely recommend it.
So, our next travel plan is to take a belated honeymoon for 2 months through Europe. We've purchased plane tickets, Eurail passes, travel insurance; most of the accommodation is booked; our itinerary is almost completed; and basically we're in the final planning stages - how exciting!
Here's the plan:
London
Edinburgh
Other bits & pieces of Scotland
Dublin
Tullamore
Copenhagen
Billund, Denmark
Hamburg
Kirchlengern, Germany
Berlin
Munich
Pfaffenhofen, Germany
Budapest
Venice
Florence
Milan
Barcelona
Madrid
Carcassonne, France
Bordeaux
Paris
Then finally back to London and home again.
Sweet! It'll be a two-month odyssey with lots of fun, adventure, excitement and other superlatives that have not yet occured to me.
There will be yarn. Oh yes. There will be yarn. Pfaffenhofen in Germany is home to one of my favourite yarn makers, the wonderful Claudia at Wollmeise. I don't know really what else Pfaffenhofen has to offer, I'll be too busy weeping and saying things like "The yarn... is so pretty... so pretty". I've just found out about a fab yarn factory shop place near Milan, full of yarny goodness. I've spent the last week collecting information about local yarn shops (LYSs) and local knitting & crochet groups from Ravelry just to make sure I spend time amoungst my own kind. I'm sure by the time we get home, the people at Australian Customs are going to be very familiar with my shopping habits as they check every yarn parcel I will be mailing back.
Very Understanding Husband (VUH) aka Mike aka SpunkyBoy will be having some fun too - as well as being the master of all things travel planning-wise, we've made time for some of his hobbies. There are a few viaducts, at least one model railway museum, plus lots of train trips to keep us both satisfied. I'm very, very lucky to have someone so wonderful to be with, so I'm trying very hard not to overwhelm him by turning into a yarnazi.
It's going to be awesome!
It's been a while, but the Helen and Mike road train is set to start travelling again soon.
As you can probably tell from my last post, things have been busy. Yes, I planned to blog though the wedding, but that just didn't happen. We had an awesome, fabulous, wonderful time getting married. Being married is pretty sweet, I can definitely recommend it.
So, our next travel plan is to take a belated honeymoon for 2 months through Europe. We've purchased plane tickets, Eurail passes, travel insurance; most of the accommodation is booked; our itinerary is almost completed; and basically we're in the final planning stages - how exciting!
Here's the plan:
London
Edinburgh
Other bits & pieces of Scotland
Dublin
Tullamore
Copenhagen
Billund, Denmark
Hamburg
Kirchlengern, Germany
Berlin
Munich
Pfaffenhofen, Germany
Budapest
Venice
Florence
Milan
Barcelona
Madrid
Carcassonne, France
Bordeaux
Paris
Then finally back to London and home again.
Sweet! It'll be a two-month odyssey with lots of fun, adventure, excitement and other superlatives that have not yet occured to me.
There will be yarn. Oh yes. There will be yarn. Pfaffenhofen in Germany is home to one of my favourite yarn makers, the wonderful Claudia at Wollmeise. I don't know really what else Pfaffenhofen has to offer, I'll be too busy weeping and saying things like "The yarn... is so pretty... so pretty". I've just found out about a fab yarn factory shop place near Milan, full of yarny goodness. I've spent the last week collecting information about local yarn shops (LYSs) and local knitting & crochet groups from Ravelry just to make sure I spend time amoungst my own kind. I'm sure by the time we get home, the people at Australian Customs are going to be very familiar with my shopping habits as they check every yarn parcel I will be mailing back.
Very Understanding Husband (VUH) aka Mike aka SpunkyBoy will be having some fun too - as well as being the master of all things travel planning-wise, we've made time for some of his hobbies. There are a few viaducts, at least one model railway museum, plus lots of train trips to keep us both satisfied. I'm very, very lucky to have someone so wonderful to be with, so I'm trying very hard not to overwhelm him by turning into a yarnazi.
It's going to be awesome!
Monday 7 September 2009
Wedding Ahoy!
Greetings all.
As most of you would probably be aware, Helen and Mike are taking the big step and getting hitched! Hurrah! We're both very happy about things, and getting pretty excited about planning our "perfect day".
We'll start using this blog to keep you all updated about the Who, What When & Where info, as well as sharing other (hopefully) interesting wedding stuff.
Hugs, H&M
As most of you would probably be aware, Helen and Mike are taking the big step and getting hitched! Hurrah! We're both very happy about things, and getting pretty excited about planning our "perfect day".
We'll start using this blog to keep you all updated about the Who, What When & Where info, as well as sharing other (hopefully) interesting wedding stuff.
Hugs, H&M
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