E-G-Y-P-T

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt" (Mark Twain)

Ah Egypt.  I'd be wanting to go there ever since Mum and Granny shipped off overseas, leaving Alexandra and I chanting our new 'E-G-Y-P-T' song so that we'd remember how to spell the far-away and frankly quite confusing place they'd gone to.

And now it was our turn!  Ignoring all reports of remaining difficulties after the uprising earlier in the year, we booked our trip, deciding to visit the entire country (as far as main tourist sites go I suppose) in one trip.  We packed in the whole of Egypt and Jordan into 17 days - not surprising then that I felt like I needed a holiday at the end of it!

So, let me start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).  We arrived in Cairo very late at night and were whisked off to our hotel for the first of many short sleeps (lots of early morning starts to avoid the heat and to pack in all the physical travelling required).  It was a pretty luxury trip actually in terms of the hotels and whatnot - we could have easily downgraded a bit, but I did enjoy swimming in the hotel pools that's for sure!

After gorging ourselves on the hotel buffet breakfast (again, a trend that would endure throughout the trip - thank goodness we did a lot of walking), it was off to Giza to see the Pyramids.  Catching a first glimpse of them out the window was incredible - I couldn't believe they were just there; looming up over the city like watchful guardians.  It was amazing to actually see them in person and think about how they were built.  I loved going inside one of them and standing on the humungous pieces of stone was just amazing (warning - overuse of this word to continue).  We were allowed to walk up a small part of the biggest pyramid in the middle (they've put smaller steps in - apparently some people died by falling off the corners or something a few years ago) and actually being on it really gave you a sense of how much of an engineering marvel they are.

We also went inside one of the smaller pyramids, walking down a wooden ramp straight down into the heart of the tomb space.  I was surprised how cool it was inside and hardly stuffy at all.  However, there weren't actually many people around at all so maybe not that surprising in hindsight.  After the obligatory 'walk like an Egyptian' photos we headed down and around the corner to see the Sphinx.  I couldn't get over how small it was compared to what I had imagined!  It's been slightly restored, so it's actually in quite good condition too.  It would be really neat to see it as it was when it was built, and I think the grand plans to make a new Egyptian Museum and pyramid space (see here for the details) might help you really imagine everything as it was when it was constructed.

Following the pyramids we went to the complex at Saqqara which is where the oldest pyramid in Egypt (the step pyramid of Djoser - built in the 27th century BC, quite unbelievable really) still exists.  It was so interesting to walk around and see everything, although we got caught out taking photos and broke the 'no more than five minutes late' rule, so spent the rest of the trip trying not to be 'those people' who are always late!

We then took a night train from Cairo down to Aswan (and were complete wusses, upgrading to 'first class' i.e. sleeper cabins - although totally worth it as I find I have a really good sleep on trains if I can lie down flat, and considering the hectic nature of our schedule, it was totally, totally worth it).  First thing the next morning we went to visit the Aswan High Dam where I was probably the most interested person in the whole thing (hydropower nerd alert) and then our first true temple, Philae Temple.  Seeing the hieroglyphics, the incredible size of everything, the beautiful surroundings - it really was quite amazing.

The next morning was Abu Simbel, but that deserves a whole other post (and this one is already quite long!) so stay tuned for the next installment!

Canal knowledge

Back in August we spent a wonderful long weekend in the Netherlands.  Neither of us had been before and we took the opportunity to go with our friends Bastiaan and Pip who've spent a lot of time there and who could make sure we only saw the best bits!

Maybe slightly too big?

We caught the Eurostar over, which meant we could explore Amsterdam for a few days, then on the way back down to catch our connection in Brussels to London, we could also visit Delft and Leiden.

Captivated by the canals

The weather was absolutely superb and it was so lovely to just cruise around looking at all the canals and doing the cliched 'soaking up the atmosphere'!  I particularly enjoyed kayaking around the canals in Leiden and spending an afternoon in Vondelpark people watching.  It was an incredibly relaxing weekend - and a perfect example of the beauty of living in London and having Europe right on your doorstep!

Check out the rest of the photos...

What a holiday!

We had the most incredible holiday in Egypt and Jordan, with too many highlights to count including the Dead Sea, Petra, swimming in the Nile (and sailing up it in a felucca), the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, snorkelling in the Red Sea... 

And of course, walking up Mt Sinai and seeing the sunrise - and getting engaged!  Very exciting indeed. 

We've got literally hundreds and hundreds of photos, so we're ploughing our way through them to make sure we only pick out the absolute highlights to bore you all with!  As a teaser, here are two from Petra:

Me in Petra, looking at the mosaic floor

Overlooking the Treasury in Petra - an amazing hike up to this stunning view

 It was just so great to finally be in the sunshine again and to be able to do lots of swimming.  Incredibly as well I didn't get sick which was so great and meant that we could enjoy everything to the full.  We took these biobalance pills which have lots of probiotics in them and I would highly recommend them!

So stay tuned for the photos and more stories.  There's a low of 3 degrees today in London and the wind is biting, so it's a bit of a change being back, but more incentive to stay inside and do my reading!

Busy, busy, busy

I just looked at the blog and realised that I hadn't done a single entry for the whole of September - terrible!  But it has seriously been a rather busy month for us, as I've been working nearly full time on Growth Week, which has meant that most other stuff (including my PhD) has taken a bit of a back seat.

However, now that's over, it's back to two days/week work, and I've officially designated November as 'No Fun November' so that I can make sure I'm keeping on track with my PhD due date!

Some other fun things have happened in September though - I'm now President of the Beekeeping Society (although hopefully only temporarily as it's probably too much work for me to keep doing in the long term), and I had a lovely two week stay up in Islington cat-sitting, which meant lots of tummy scratching and purring to keep me company.

We also got to go to the Olympics and Paralympics, both of which were amazing.  I must say though, I did enjoy the Paralympics more - we got a day pass to the Excel Centre and saw table tennis (below), sitting volleyball, powerlifting and boccia, as well as tickets to the final night of the athletics at the stadium.  I had bought those tickets literally months and months ago and really had no idea what we were going to see, and realising that we were going to see the 400m final with Oscar Pistorus was pretty cool!  I really liked the blind runners running with their guides as well as the high-jump - those guys were pretty inspiring.

And keeping on the sport theme, Adrian also just ran the Berlin marathon in an amazing time of 2:58:11.  How fast is that??  Good inspiration for me as I've signed up for my first triathlon, the Blenheim triathlon in June next year.  Lots of training to come!

We're off to Egypt and Jordan this weekend, which I am really looking forward to - especially the weather.  Check out the temperatures for Cairo while we're there - absolutely perfect!

Bank Holiday rambling & carnival

This August bank holiday weekend (that's a public holiday weekend for all those non-UK readers), we hadn't made any plans to go away, which made it the first bank holiday weekend we'd stayed in London for over six months.

As a result, we packed in all sorts of activities, ranging from a ramble in Edenbridge, Kent on Saturday (missing the torrential rain and lightening in London - score!) followed by a huge pub lunch (although a three mile walk hardly justified it...), then going to see Notorious, one of every single one of Alfred Hitchcock's movies that the BFI is screening at the moment.  It was a great film, with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman - I'd definitely recommend it.

Sunday was a 36km run for Adrian (yikes!) and a bbq, then the Notting Hill carnival for me.  I hadn't been before so wanted to see what all the fuss was about - and yes, it's just as busy as everyone says!  Luckily we knew of a private party in one of the mews which was a great escape, and lots of fun to be dancing outside in the streets with your friends.  Luckily Adrian managed to recover in time to get into the carnival for some jerk chicken and a boogie.

And then Monday was dim sum in Baker Street (the cuttlefish cheong fun was my favourite) followed by calamari and squid ink pasta (the latter we'd bought in Venice and had been waiting to find fresh squid to use).  I was surprised how easy it was to prepare squid - just whip out the middle, give it a clean and you're ready to go.  Delicious!

All in all, London put on a great bank holiday weekend - and everybody loves four day weeks!  Check out the rest of the photos.

Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That)!

Flight of the Conchords (for all those who haven't heard of them, check out this compilation video), have just released a new song raising money for Red Nose Day 2012.  The charity organising the event is CureKids, a NZ-based charity that funds medical research into life-threatening childhood illnesses.

It is one of the funniest things I've seen in ages - make sure you watch all the interviews with the kids and then listen to the lyrics!

You can buy the track from iTunes for only NZ$1.79 (about £0.90) - bargain!

Going to Malaysia

Having spent countless hours pouring over all the different airline sites and comparison travel sites out there, I was nearly fed up with the thought of having to buy a ticket home for the summer.  That and the ridiculously high prices!  It's seriously irritating to know that at any other time of the year you could easily get a flight for around the £850 mark, when during the NZ summer period you're lucky to get anything under £1200...

But, during my latest investigatory episode yesterday, and thanks to a friend who had shown me that the Malaysia Airlines website has a really easy 'stopover' option (why do more airlines not offer this?!), I found that I could get a return flight, with a week's stopover in Malaysia for just over £1100!  It seems like a few things contributed to this - flying out of London on Monday the 7th of Jan rather than Sunday the 6th (this reduced the price by nearly £300), and then returning in mid-April rather than at the end of March.

Hooray!

I'm seriously so excited about this, as I haven't really done much travel around Asia at all yet, and the thought of all that delicious Malaysian food has me drooling already...

Other thoughts at this stage include heading up into the mountains to the Cameron Highlands to see some tea plantations, maybe going to the jungle, and then also up to Penang and Georgetown (again, where the good food is!).

If anyone's got any hints and tips about what to see and do in Malaysia (I'll be sticking to the western peninsula as I've got limited time and budget), let me know in the comments!

Blogging the bees

As I mentioned back in March, I've joined the LSE Beekeeping Society, and am turning my hand to learning all about honey bees and their interesting ways.

As part of my involvement, I've taken over writing duties on the LSE Bees blog so am documenting our weekly visits up to the hive.  So far we've learnt about the varroa mite, how hungry bees can get while they're producing honey, and what a healthy hive looks like.  You can follow the Apis mellifera action on the blog or on Twitter - check them out!

Breakfast in the sun

Today is a fabulously sunny morning in London, and our garden is in full bloom (finally getting some courgettes to go with the beans!) so it was a no-brainer to sit outside and enjoy the sun while I ate my breakfast.  Here's hoping this lovely weather sticks around for a bit longer this time!

Turning Japanese

In the words of the immortal song, tonight I decided to turn Japanese and give something a bit different a go in an attempt to convince Adrian that tofu really isn't all that bad.  

Having already bought an eggplant from the supermarket as I had skewers in mind, I found this recipe for sesame tofu and eggplant skewers online which was perfect, as, apart from the mirin which apparently you can easily substitute with a mixture of wine or sherry and sugar, I had everything I needed already in the cupboards.

It was pretty yum!  The marinade is quite sweet, and if I made it again I'd probably reduce the amount of sugar added (although maybe that was the mirin substitute?), but the brown rice and more beans from the garden made it still seem pretty healthy.  Adrian sadly was still unconvinced by the tofu, deciding by his second tofu skewer that he really wasn't a fan.  But you could easily substitute chicken or mushrooms or something I'm sure. 

Maybe you could make it and let me know how you get on - I'd definitely make it again!

Kathmandu comes to life

One of the things that I tried to do during my trip to Kathmandu was to take more videos, as I think they're great at showing a different perspective from photos.  I hope you enjoy them!

This was in one of the little Suzuki taxis taking us from central Kathmandu to Swayambhunath - I stuck my hand out (not too far!) of the window so that I could capture the incessant honking and noise, as well as the general feel of the city streets.

This is us at Swayambhunath, the monkey temple, attempting to increase our lucky chances.  I don't know if the fact we were throwing UK pennies in, rather than Nepalese rupees made a difference, but I did manage to hit the platform which was pretty good!
 

Another video from Swayambhunath, showing the monkeys being quite excited about having just been fed some apples by a visitor.  Mazida wanted to take one back with us...I wasn't so sure!


This video is looking out over a square in Bhaktapur.  It was just lovely being up there (we're atop a temple) and looking out over the cloud covered hills.  I also really liked the roofs covered in grass - looked like you could graze a goat on some of them!


I particularly like this one - it shows the view from the 'hippie temple' in Kathmandu's Durbar Square.  I could totally imagine how people could just spend hours and hours sitting up there, just taking in the sights.  It was so cool to see the square so alive with people - not just a staid monument area.




And finally the Boudhanath stupa.  The video is taken from the first tier of the stupa, looking down.  It was so magical there, really an amazing place.

Namaste from Nepal

As most of you know, I had the incredible luck to be able to spend three and a half days in Kathmandu after attending a conference for work in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Dhaka itself was crazy - it took at least 90 minutes to get anywhere because of the constant traffic jams, and the city just seemed to have this incredibly frenetic pace with literally people everywhere.  The poverty was really noticeable, so hoepfully the country continues its work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

But on to Nepal!

July is the low season for tourism as it's the monsoon season and the height of the rain.  I had thought that it would rain constantly, not having experienced monsoon conditions before, but I was pleasantly surprised.  While we did have one day where it rained most of the day, mostly it was just an occasional downpour, and on one of the days we were lucky enough to have over 30 degrees and sunshine.  The perfect antidote to an awful London summer!

On our first day we (my colleague Mazida and I) got our bearings, as we were staying in Lazimpat which is an area just north of the main tourist area which is known as Thamel, and the main central area of the city itself.  It was nice being within walking distance, but good to be away from the complete hustle and bustle of the city.  Just as in Dhaka there was incessant honking on the streets - I don't know how the cows coped!

We stayed at the loveliest guest house called Tings Tea Lounge which I would absolutely recommend as it was such a haven to come home to after a day out and about.  The food was great, as were their selection of delicious teas.  Not to mention the incredibly friendly staff - a rave all around!  Speaking of food, on the first day for dinner we found the best place to eat in Kathmandu (in our opinion at least), this Szechuan restaurant called Chang Chengs.  While it was in the Lonely Planet, it was a little out of the way, and we couldn't understand how it wasn't absolutely packed.  This enormous meal you see in the picture cost something like NZ$15 because we completely over-ordered but was soooo yum.  Another definite recommend!

On our first full day in the city we spend the day looking around Kathmandu's Durbar Square.  Durbar means palace, so it is essentially the heart of the old city of Kathmandu, full of temples, palaces and shrines everywhere you looked.  Mazida convinced me to get a guide, and I'm so glad we did.  Our guide Krishna was excellent, taking us on a three hour tour around the square and telling us more about the intricate system of Hindu gods and goddesses than I could ever remember.  But it was definitely fascinating at the time!

The Nepalese obviously have great respect for some of their previous royal families, especially the king who brought democracy to Nepal, King Tribhuvan.  The country has a really interesting history, and I didn't realise that it was so recently that the country was brought together as a single state, nor the diversity of people who are now part of Nepal.  The massacre of the royal family in 2001 was just awful, and I really hope the country can get back on its feet after its recent troubles.

After our visit around the city centre we went out to Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple as there are big troops of monkeys just hanging around.  It's a Tibetan stupa which is the name for a Buddhist temple/shrine complex.  I loved the prayer flags and the serene eyes of Buddha watching out from every direction.  It was really interesting to get above the city too (it's on a hill to the west) and see it spread out within the Kathmandu valley.

On our second day we went to Bhaktapur which is the  most ancient of the three royal cities in the Kathmandu valley.  We took Krishna with us again and it was really good to have the almost neverending series of temples explained to us, as there's no way we could work out from the guide book which was which!  But, as you can see, our temple enthusiasm was never-ending...  I really liked the quietness of Bhaktapur, as it was mostly pedestrianised, so the omnipresent threat of being run over by a rouge motorbike was (somewhat) reduced!  The view out over the mountains with the clouds rolling over them was also pretty spectacular.

On day three we visited Patan, the third main city in the valley.  We had a bit of a shocker as we thought we'd get money out when we were there (as foreigners you pay a pretty hefty fee to enter the historic areas) but the ATMs wouldn't take Mazida's card...  Fortunately however we had enough money to get back to Tings to get my cards and try getting money out at a much bigger bank which worked.  Phew...!  Patan was interesting in that there was a music video of traditional Nepalese music being filmed right on the steps of one of the temples which we watched for a while, and we also headed up the main market street to this crazy busy market at the bus station.  It was lovely and hot that day, so just being out and about and wandering in the sunshine was brilliant.

And then on the afternoon of day three we went to Boudhanath, another Tibetan stupa just outside Kathmandu.  This was hands down my favourite thing of the trip, as the place just had this incredible feel to it and I could have stayed there just looking at it for hours.  I loved the prayer wheels right around the edge, as well as the giant ones inside the monastery just adjacent to the stupa.  It was just so alive and interesting, yet such an obviously central part of everyday life for the people who visit it.  It really made me want to go to Tibet that's for sure.

As well as looking at all the sites we also managed to get a bit of shopping done as there was just so much on offer!  I particularly liked the gorgeous strands of what I thought were beads, but turned out to be rubies, emeralds and sapphires!  While a medium-length strand was only GBP30, it was still a bit out of my price-range.  We managed to do the entire trip, including return flights from Delhi for less than GBP300 and didn't skimp on anything, but a multi-strand emerald necklace seemed a bit extravagent for a student!  I was happy to settle for my GBP2 prayer wheel and same priced pashmina...

All in all, I absolutely loved Kathmandu and can't recommend it highly enough.  As my first visit to a South Asian country it made a massive impression on me, and I really want to go back to the region and see what else there is to see.

The rest of the photos are here, so check them out!  I'll put some videos up soon as well.

Summer lunch

Today we're finally seeing some sunshine peep through the rainclouds which is making both me (and my beans - more on them in another post!) very happy.  In its honour I decided a summery lunch was in order, and here's the result:

I cooked up some pasta (in my case it was a bit of vermicelli), chucked some baby peas in when the pasta was nearly done, and then tossed it up with some sliced lemon rind, mint (from the garden!), some fancy olive oil and lots of cracked black pepper and some sea salt flakes.  Yum!

And while I was eating it, one of my favourite summery songs came on the radio - perfect timing!

Venice and Verona

"Ooooh...what a pretty canal!" 

"Take a photo of that canal, it's lovely."

"Ah, sitting beside a canal, drinking spritz and eating aperitivo.  I could do this for the rest of my life!"

And now you have an insight into the main gist of our conversation the entire time we were in Venice!  It was one of the few European cities that was on our list that we had yet to cross off.  Knowing the exorbitant prices, we'd booked months and months ago, so had been looking forward to it for absolute yonks.  And it didn't disappoint!

Arriving late on Thursday night we managed to work out how to get on the Number 1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal to our B&B, then got back on (loved that the tickets were time delimited, not per ride) and went all the way down to Piazza San Marco to see it without the crowds and an obligatory first gelato - who cares that it was nearly midnight!

While in Venice we made sure to do lots of the main sights, including the Doge's Palace, St Mark's Basilica, the Campanile, as well as a quick trip out to Murano to see some glass blowing and to check out the lagoon.  The weather was lovely - hot enough to get a tan and wear some shorts, but not too hot that we completely melted after the cold of London!  I loved just wandering around, checking out the food (I'd done a fair bit of research, which meant we ended up eating at some delicious places, such as La Zucca, which was recommended by two different sets of people, and was an absolutely delicious treat for lunch on our last day) and just enjoying feeling the sun on our faces in the most incredible surroundings.  Another really good foodie thing we did was go to the Rialto fish market at midday on the Saturday where one particular restaurant serves up the dish of the day, plus a glass of wine for only 8 euro.  The day we were there it was a plate of lightly fried fish and other seafood - luckily both Adrian and I have come around to fish because otherwise it wouldn't have been so pleasant!

I loved the whole concept of aperitivo hour as well which, despite some early confusion about what exactly 'happy hour' means (drinks become more, rather than less expensive!), became one of our favourite things to do.  The quality and quantity of the nibbles varied dramatically between different places, but Aperol spritz has now firmly lodged itself as one of my favourite drinks.  We also went out on the Friday night we were in Venice, heading to Campo Santa Margharita which seemed to be where most of the action was, then stumbling across a pop up bar on the way home which was lots of fun.

We also added in two nights in Verona, where, luckily, we lucked in to the fact it was the first Sunday of the month, so all the sights which normally would have cost anywhere between 6-10 euros to go into, were only 1 euro!  Excellent.  This included Juliet's House, the arena (while we were there a school choir came in and sang which was really cool - we'll have to go back for an opera one time) as well as some other museums and the like.  We also walked up behind the castle to get a good view out over the city and could actually look down and see a local wedding which was interesting.

And then, of course, it was again all about the food!  Adrian finally had a horse steak, after wanting one for years, and I had a donkey ragu which was surprisingly good.  The gelato was fabulous in Verona, with my favourite flavour being 'pollen' (a bit random!) and the aperitivo was delicious.  We walked all over town, getting to know the main city area inside out.  We stayed with a super friendly Italian guy at his B&B called B&B Casa Nuvola and it was obvious he'd learned his English in Ireland as there were Guinness posters everywhere and he had the funniest Irish/Italian accent.  

All in all, I loved Venice - it was such a beautiful city and I could have happily wandered there for days.  The sights weren't as breathtaking as Rome, but the city was by far and away one of the most magic places I've ever visited.  

Check out the rest of the photos here!

Street art

I met up with Adrian for lunch today and he'd told me that he had a 'surprise' for me - some cool new street art which had appeared overnight on a building site in Bloomsbury.  They're huge street art posters, meaning that they can be made at home and then pasted up quickly.

Pretty cool don't you think!

****Update****  Apparently these are the work of Theirry Guetta who goes by the name of 'Mr. Brainwash'.  He's in town at the moment so maybe there'll be some more to spot!

More Guiness World Record photos

Here are a few more photos from City Hall that I got from Chengcheng (my LSE buddy) and the organisers:

The official proof!

A pretend 2012 graduand

Me and Chengcheng

Inside the City Hall outdoor arena talking to Jared and Jita from SOAS - love the finger of authority!

Guinness World Record holder

How many mortar boards, thrown simultaneously into the air, do you think it takes to make a new Guinness World record?  No idea?  Well, now you do - because I was part of it!

I was picked as one of London's 130,000 international students to attend a reception at City Hall where we participated in one of the 20 completely crackers new world records that London is attempting to set before the Olympics.  Along with longest curtsey relay and longest trumpeter fanfare, the record for the most mortar boards thrown simultaneously in the air is now smashed, with 295 of us throwing them into the air in front of Tower Bridge.  Can you see me?! 

After the world record was confirmed, we got to go up to the top of City Hall and check out the amazing view, looking out over Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the City and all the way from St Pauls in the west to Canary Wharf and Greenwich in the east. 

There was also a film crew from China from the show 'Happy Camp' which is apparently the most popular variety show in China, screening on Saturday night to millions.  The host (a 37-year old university lecturer in Arabic (odd combination for a variety show I know) who looked about 17) and one of China's Olympic gold medallists for diving were there and caused a minor ruckus with the Chinese international students.  I know all the details because a girl from one of my LSE classes was also there and gave me the lowdown!

 

All in all, a nice break from exam revision - especially seeing as I now have a mortar board for my next dress-up event...  Wish me luck for Friday!

FareShare gourmet dinner

We had the most incredible luck last week to be selected in a lottery to go to a dinner organised by Citroen in aid of FareShare, a food waste charity here in the UK.  Well, it was also to launch their car, but they don't need to know that we don't own a car over here do they!

The dinner was incredible - five courses for only £5!  And it was one of the most amazing gourmet experiences I've ever had.  It was cooked by the guy who won Masterchef here in the UK last year (not that I knew who that was) and was five courses - plus a few extra surprises - of awesome.  I was also really lucky to be allocated a table for six, so we could have some friends come along to share in the fun.

The whole thing was organised along the lines of the five senses, with each course representing a different one (like smell, taste, sound etc.).  I've tried to describe all the courses as they relate to their photo (click here to view the full album), but this blog does a good job of explaining the whole thing in detail.  Here's a teaser of the photos - a bacon lollipop!

London Sevens 2012

We had so much fun this Saturday at the London Sevens - especially because it was the first time we'd been in the sun in London in weeks!

The London tournament gives an overall theme to inspire everyone to dress up which, this year, was 70s disco.  We donned our best polyester, but there were lots of people in all sorts of costumes like smurfs, tiggers, mimes, even a group of marmite folk!  Do you like our orange wigs??  We were definitely easy to find in the crowd!

As always with the Sevens, it's not really so much about who's winning and losing, although the Kenyan team got lots of cheers, as did the underdog of whatever game was on - apart from when England was playing!  We cheered heartily for NZ and were happy to hear that on the second day of the tournament, while not winning this weekend's event, they took out the World Series title for the 10th time.  What was also cool was that the coach, Gordon Tietjens, was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame for all the work he's done with the team - congratulations for sure!

Something that did surprise me a bit was the booing.  I've always been told that booing is incredibly poor sportsmanship, but talking to an English guy in front of me he didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with it at all.  Basically on par with cheering for their own team!  Ah well, there's always a new cultural difference around the corner to discover.

Click here to have a look at the rest of the photos.

Coastal meanderings

After months and months passing without seeing the sea, it was time to rectify the situation with a few spring-time trips to the beach.

First, we headed down to Brighton for a night to catch a band in concert that Adrian really wanted to see and completely lucked out with the weather.  Adrian had cycled down, and I met him there after getting the train.  We visited the Brighton Pavilion which was quite incredible (George V's boy's weekend getaway palace basically) and walked down the pier and just enjoyed the sun.  We were staying right on the seafront too which was fun and made it really easy to get around.  Lunch on the Sunday was at a delicious restaurant called Food for Friends, a vegetarian place where the food was absolutely beautiful - and yum!

On the rollercoaster on Brighton Pier

 

Our second trip was to Cornwall for Easter, where we based ourselves at Holywell Bay, just south of Newquay, and spent five days exploring.  We covered a lot of ground, starting from Exeter, crossing Dartmoor, then visiting various towns including Polperro, St Ives, Fowey, Padstow (where we had Rick Stein's fish and chips - yum!) and right down to the bottom to Lands End, and then Lizard Point which was really beautiful - quite wild and untamed.

However, probably my favourite bit of Cornwall was the Eden Project.  It's basically a huge garden, half of which is under these huge biodomes, built on the site of an abandoned clay mine.  One of the biodomes is a tropical rainforest and the other is a Mediterranean garden.  I would definitely recommend clicking on the link to find out more - it was so cool!  We spent hours there, just in awe at what they'd made.  I loved it and would definitely recommend anyone to go if they're thinking of visiting that area.

And then the third of our coastal trips was to Guernsey and Sark.  I've wanted to go to Sark ever since I read about it here at the beginning of last year, and it absolutely didn't disappoint - I've never seen stars like it!  We were really lucky apparently, with Venus super bright, and then Saturn and Jupiter really yellow and red respectively.  The local astronomy society's president (the 'Star Fleet Commander'!) Annie was so welcoming, and spent an hour with us in her back garden explaning everything, and even pointing out the International Space Station going overhead.  

Sark itself is so neat - there are no cars allowed, so it's only bicycles and tractors, and the main street is tiny!  It's only about 4.5km from one end to the other, so we explored the whole island in one day, just cycling about and walking down to the sea at the edges.  We had beautiful weather, and really enjoyed camping under the stars after boogieing down at the Mermaid Disco - Sark's premiere night spot!  We also had delicious food, including some amazing croissants and a half lobster - so good.

Here's a really cool video showing the incredible stars :

 

Guernsey was also really interesting (you have to go to Guernsey to get to Sark via the ferry) and we were lucky enough to have friends there who we could stay with.  We walked through a beautiful bluebell wood, visited Victor Hugo's house, did a circumnavigation of the island to see all the bays, saw the Little Chapel and again, ate really good food!  (I'm sensing a theme here...).

All in all, I feel completely rejuvinated by our time at the sea - unfortunately it's yet to get warm enough to swim, but hopefully that's not too far away!

Click here for the rest of the photos...there are some good ones I promise!

Photo catch-up

I've been a bit remiss posting photos from my mobile lately - it's far too easy to just take them and then forget about them!  But here are some highlights from the last little while:

Our amazing meal at 'Hot Stuff' in Vauxhall, where they just bring you the best bits from the kitchen, and you get a huge meal for only £15 pp.  The bread was huge!

Very happy about the food - probably the best Indian meal I've ever had actually.

 Also loved the ice lollies that the owner got from the dairy next door and gave out!

Spring sprung (as it is wont to do) in London, reminding me that it was a year since we moved into our flat as the blossoms were out when we first moved in as well.

Adrian on the Big Ride, raring to go.

The Foster the People concert we went to at the Brixton Academy last weekend.

An absolutely delicious Sunday roast at the Old Red Cow near the Barbican in honour of a visit from Amber.  It was great, it's the only thing they do on a Sunday and they bring out enormous casserole dishes of everything so you can share it amongst yourself.  I couldn't finish my hunk'o'meat (despite its deliciousness), but the cauliflower was definitely worth seconds...

And another meal out with Amber, this time at the NZ cafe just down the road from us called The Roastery, for breakfast before she flew up to Scotland.  Delicious bircher muesli!

And finally my latest crop of seeds: courgettes and heirloom French beans (called 'Lazy Housewife' beans).  Looking forward to planting them outside and (hopefully!) getting some beans later in summer...