Weekend in the capital

On Sunday morning we caught the coach to London for two nights staying with Sheryl’s brother Phil and his wife Cheryl, who arrived in the UK last week. We crashed in their hotel room on the pull out sofa bed and managed to fit quite a bit in in our three full days in the capital.

On Sunday afternoon we each purchased a Big Bus Tour ticket for £20 which entitled us to a hop-on hop-off style double decker bus, a free boat trip on the Thames and three different walking tours. We did one of those walks on Sunday night – the London Ghost Walk! A bit of fun, especially as it’s crossed with a pub crawl, and who doesn’t like a spooky story down a dodgy London alley way!

At the end of the tour we shouted the tour guide a pint and spent the rest of our night having a few drinks over a pub grub meal.

The next afternoon we used our bus ticket to tour on the open top bus through central London’s most famous areas – Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Tower of London, Fleet Street and more. It got bloody cold in the fresh winter air so we hopped off and ducked into a pub in the Victoria area.

After thawing out we bee lined to find Gordon’s Wine Bar – the UK’s oldest drinking establishment (it’s held a liquor license since 1396!) – and along the way met Sheryl’s friend Jess. We ended up walking past it by a few blocks and settled for The Wellington pub on The Strand for some food and another drink.

We did get to the wine bar in the end and enjoyed a bottle of French Pinot for the table. This place was amazing! After going down a set of stairs the surroundings felt just like they would’ve when the place first opened. Low roofs, dark and smoky and very mysterious.

Our coach back home was late afternoon on the Tuesday but before then we squeezed in another walking tour. This time it was for the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Being with a guide we got the insider knowledge that the most interesting stuff starts at St James’ Palace where you can then march with the guards, and the brass band, down Pall Mall to the Palace. And march we did, albeit feeling amongst a slightly paparazzi style tourist mob who were running and barging in sheer desperation to get their prized photo.

After another pint and a bite in a central London pub, this time The Albert, we headed down to the Westminster Pier for our boat trip. It only took 20 minutes or so and wasn’t the most exciting journey we’ll ever go on, but they had the heating cranked so that was good. By this stage the wet, miserable weather had come over us so it was a bit of relief. Hey we’d had a solid run of two non-rainy days before that, surely some kind of winter record.

Our coach home got us back to Bournemouth on time which was nice, as last time coming back we were an hour and a half late!

We’re now hoping to arrange an interview with a recruitment agency and get ourselves sorted with some short-term temp work. We’ll see what comes our way.


(Sheryl, Phil and another Cheryl in Trafalgar Square...and thank god I've done my duty, a night shot of Nelson's Column)


(Thank god we've found a pub, it's cold outside!)


(Tower of London from the bus, and the Thames by sunset)


(Big Ben late in the day...and the cave like surroundings of Gordons Wine Bar)


("No Beer, No Spirits...We're a wine bar!", and traffic down Pall Mall was bloody awful Tuesday mornin')


(Sheryl chooses the wrong coloured beanie for the day and looks horribly out of place next to her Majesty's marching regiment...aaand us infront of the Eye)

Nineteen hours in London

Sheryl and I made last minute New Years plans to head to London on New Years Eve by coach and get involved with the public celebrations in the central London area. Earlier on New Years Eve morning I'd had calls from New Zealand with New Year there imminent. Thanks for the calls Mum and Dave, nice also to briefly chat with some of the gang back home.

We left a dark and stormy looking Bournemouth just before 3pm on Sunday and arrived in London two and a half hours later to a surprisingly dry capital.

We found our way from Victoria Coach Station down to the Victoria Embankment, opposite the London Eye and just around the corner from Big Ben and Parliament Square, where the main viewing area for the midnight fireworks was to be held.


(Big Ben in Parliament Square, and the London Eye)

Because we were several hours early we wandered around for a bit and then grabbed a bite to eat at Garfunkels Restaurant (more like a classy Denny's style diner) in Trafalgar Square. We had a 20 minute wait to be seated but it was worth it - we killed an hour and a half in there while it looked like it started to rain outside.


(Us along the Victoria Embankment)

We went back to the Embankment area and took our place amongst the growing crowd, killing the time away with a bottle of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir and a Rosemount Shiraz! Enjoyed from the classy plastic Santa cups as can be seen in the photos!

We had planned to meet up with our Canadian friend Sarah but due to a missed train and some delayed mobile network coverage it didn't happen until after twelve. Nevertheless, 2007 was brought in firstly with 'Right here, Right now' by Fatboy Slim (everyone enjoyed a little groove!) before Big Ben chimed and the fireworks off London Eye began.

The 10 minute display was probably one of the most impressive fireworks displays we've ever seen. Great stuff, but when it was all over it really was all over. Hundreds of thousands of people bee lined for the tubes, trains and buses to go home. All the bars, pubs, cafes and diners shut their doors and that was it!

We were forced to somewhat painfully kill time until our coach in the morning - next time we will be prepared that Londoners just don't know how to celebrate New Years!


(The cheap plastic cups avec Vin Rouge, and a screenshot of the fireworks)

Festive Fun

Christmas down in Bournemouth has been a heap of fun this year. Christmas Eve was spent with John, Angie, Jenny & Mark having a few drinks and nibbles, and some Who Wants To Be A Millionaire interactive DVD fun!

Pressies for me this year including new jumpers, shirts and the customary undies & packs of socks. The 512mb Flash Drive will come in handy too. For Sheryl the highlights were a new cream coloured wooly beanie, white Morgan de Toi slippers and a cheap and cheerful 512mb MP3 player.

After the present opening we headed to my Uncle John and Auntie Angie's place, via Nan's sister Deed's place for a cheeky brandy (cup of tea for us), before a fantastic Christmas dinner! The rest of the day was spent sipping on wine or beer and watching telly. Great day all round I reckon.

Boxing Day was spent at Karen & Trevor's place where we caught up with the rest of the family.

Our New Years Eve plans haven't gone according to plan, but we made a last minute decision to make the most of the situation and we'll be busing to London on Sunday afternoon and getting involved in the public festivities. About quarter of a million expected to be in central London and, yes, public drinking is allowed! So a couple of bottles of wine and some plastic cups and a little spot by the Thames will do us fine.

After the New Year sounds in thanks to Big Ben there's fireworks off the London Eye, so it should be good fun. We're catching the first bus back to Bournemouth at 10am so it's an all nighter for us before getting home for Nan's open day New Year spread!




(Christmas Eve in Kinson)


(The pre-Christmas dinner brandy at Auntie Deed's)


(Christmas dinner at John & Angies)

Fun with the Grandparents

Last Saturday, after Sheryl recovered from her all day hangover from the birthday bash, we went out for a nice meal in a nearby pub called The Curlew with some of the family. The grub was good and my Nan especially enjoyed the special coffee at the end of the meal. The cream-mo is most definately a funnier step up from the regular milk-mo.



After the weekend we came up north with my Dad and spent a couple of days with my Grandparents in North Yorkshire. Always good to see them, and even though we only had time to spend two nights with them we squeezed in (another) trip to a local pub for a drink and a meal. 'Tis the season to wear silly paper hats.

Back down in Sheffield for the rest of this week we've spent two days Christmas shopping in amongst the madness and on Saturday the three of us headed to Hillsborough to see the Owls take on top of the table Birmingham. We outplayed them for most of the match which sounds funny when you consider we lost 3-0.

Today it's back down to the south coast (again) to Bournemouth where we'll be spending Christmas. New Years plans aren't set yet but a few days in the capital seem on the cards.

Hope you all have a great Christmas wherever you're reading this from.



Merry Christmas!

Dale & Sheryl

Knees up in Bournemouth

Friday night turned out to be the knees up we knew it would be! You know it's been a big night when Sheryl can't haul her ass out of bed until 6pm the next day. That said, I wasn't feeling the brightest either.

The night started with a good hearty meal from Nan (and a couple of glasses of Merlot), followed by a bottle of Lanson champagne at Jenny & Nikki's place (my cousins).

We went to four places throughout the night, one pub/cheap drinks place and three clubs. Waited in line for a six seater taxi at around 3.30am and rolled into bed about 4. Great night, fun times (cue Borat voice...for anyone who's seen the movie).

Grey, Windy & Wet. Happy Birthday Sheryl!

We’ve been back in England now for a little over a fortnight, catching up with family and preparing for Christmas. Normally at this time of year Sheryl and I are so snowed under with work that the festive seasons seems to fly by unnoticed.

We spent quite a lot under what we had budgeted for the European backpacking trip so we have enough money to see us through the New Year, when unfortunately we shall have to rejoin the working world and start saving up again. Seven months without work is a pretty good effort I thought!

I suppose the crappy grey, windy and wet weather we’ve had solidly for two weeks since our return comes as nothing of a surprise. It was bitterly cold in Germany for the most part of our three week stay there but we managed to avoid the rain.

It’s Sheryl’s birthday today and we’re heading to town for the first time with my cousins and their friends. We’ll report back, with photos, on what should be a good old fashioned knees up.

My Dad is coming down for the weekend from Sheffield to see the family before Christmas, and we’re heading back north with him after the weekend for a week or so, and with a small trip planned for North Yorkshire to see my other Grandparents again it’s another busy period of travel. And that means more budget travel thanks to our friends at Megabus!

That’ll be all.

Germany photo update (part 2)

More photos from Germany, all of these taken in the capital...


(The Olympic Stadium, originally built in the 30s but more recently done up for the 2006 football World Cup)


(Photos from our day trip to Poland)


(The famous Checkpoint Charlie site in central Berlin)


(Boat trip in Berlin with (left to right) Dennis, Ines and their Kiwi mate Rick. On the right is the TV Tower)


(Ines and Sheryl...and an evening craft market on a chilly night in Berlin)

(In this square in 1933 was the first Nazi book burning, now it's a picturesque square. And the famous Brandenburger Tor - formerly the icon between East & West)

Germany photo update (part 1)

Everything in Bournemouth is how it was when we left but a bit more grey and a bit more rain, but not as cold as Germany. Anyway, some more photos from Munich, Dresden and Berlin...


(The fairytale setting for the Neuschwanstein Castle, two hours out of Munich)


(Photos from Dresden, including the re-built Church that was flattened in WWII)


(Evening shots down by the river. Serenity...)

(A rather odd, and if you ask me pretty ugly, monument in memory of the Jews killed under the Nazi regime. Sheryl finds out it could be great for a spot of hide and seek!)


(Out for dinner on Dennis' birthday, and photos from Potsdam just out of Berlin)