Plane, train, automobile...and lots of walking.

Greetings!

It's wonderful to know that people have been reading the blog; of course, if we hadn't have taken a glorious week and a half break from computers, we never would have known people were waiting for the next installment. Thanks for your txts, emails, phone calls, etc. We've been having a holiday - from everything.

This is going to be a massive post, because we've basically been in a different place every day. More often than not, a different country. So bare with me, and enjoy the photos.

Photos for where we're up to 'so far' in the blog's history;

Vegas-Nevada-Arizona

Prague

And now - LONDON

When last we left, we were headed out for a bit of a look-see around London.
We headed down Southbank, past the Tate Modern (eek! BIG SPIDER THING!), toward the Globe. We stopped and looked at the (not original but nevertheless impressive) Globe Theatre, when a taxi pulled up out the front of it, and a guy with a camera got out of it. Another guy was still sitting in it, doing his hair.
Paul: ...Min, that's the guy out of Shakespeare in Love...
It was - how cool is that - what great timing.

We continued around the Southbank, walked across London Bridge, around the Tower of London, and then headed back to Caroline's to get ready for the Obernet meet that night - for the Golden Compass, which shall henceforth be known as the Golden Monkey.

After some amusing confusion regarding the location of Starbucks in Leister Square (none of us could find it), we meet up with Kangaruth and Fuil Dearg at the Odeon at Leister Square, then headed to Picadilly Circus for a coffee and to wait for the movie.

The movie - okay, I posted much the same on Obernet this afternoon so if you've already read this, bear with me :P - we sat in a quite empty cinema, had the usual commercials, and then an eerily familiar music began playing...fade in on a spectacular looking spaceship circling a planet...Melinda suddenly realising what she was seeing and squeeing...an ad for the Doctor Who Xmas special. Huzzuh! Very exciting looking and the highlight of the movie.
Yes, I realise we were there to see an adaption of Northern Lights, but the Golden Monkey was...ok, gotta stop being so harsh on it. It was dumbed down quite a bit...and changed. I mean...a fairly significant death didn't happen. And the ending cut short, about 30 minutes early - ie, the book's ending just doesn't happen. So...it will be interesting to see how they carry the series on.

After the movie we all went out to dinner, then carried on to a pub in Covent Garden, until closing time.

That's the brilliant thing I'm really enjoying this time around; the 'oh...just a little longer' attitude.

Carrying on - the next day we headed out to Oxford Street for some reason...wandered to Hyde Park, on a Squirrel hunt (they're SO CUTE! And so manic. God they're hilarious), then kept going to Buckingham Palace.

If you haven't guessed, we've done an awful lot of walking this trip. I thought we used to walk everywhere at home; definitely not. We've walked for days without really stopping over here.

I think that about sums up the first London stay, so here's the photos:

London

EDINBURGH
7th Dec came around and we headed for Edinburgh; a place I was really excited about going back to. We sat opposite another young couple on the train who we talked to for most of it; they were up for the weekend. We went via York and Newcastle, saw quite a bit of the North Sea, and four hours later, were in Edinburgh.

We headed straight for the hostel I used to live in, Castle Rock, to dump the bags and be able to get out and explore. The Hostel had changed - quite a bit! My favourite reading room, for instance, had been taken over by the expanding kitchen, and the other reading room was now a movie room. Anyway, we made it into our tiny room, and headed straight up to the castle for Paul to get a good look over the city. Very beautiful; very like Prague only in greys, rather than reds and whites.

We made our way down to Holyrood Palace, then headed back up to Tescos to get some food for the next couple of days.

And now I must digress for a moment; anyone who knows me will remember how much I rave about Edinburgh. How it's one of my favourite cities in the world, and how much I missed it.
I - somewhat - take it back.
Oh, the city is gorgeous. I still love it. But there's three fundamental elements to a place that define one's enjoyment of it.
1. Place (buildings, parks, mountains, etc).
2. People (other tourists / locals / service).
3. Food (anything from a decent coffee to a grand dinner).

We'd happened to land in Edinburgh on a Friday night, on the very afternoon uni finished, apparently. There were drunken louts - everywhere! It was quite a shock to the system. So I think the real Edinburgh is a bit different from the beautiful, serene but fun Edinburgh I'd wound up in my head over the last 7 years. Paul was there wondering why I'd chosen to spend time there.

Anyway after that escapade, we crashed in the hostel, and got up really early on Saturday morning.

And THEN we got to see MY Edinburgh. Not a mental drunken trip with Xmas markets and ferris wheels and ice skating rinks marring the Princes' Street Gardens and completely obscuring the Scots monument (that stuff was still there, but minus the people it was easy to ignore). It was quiet, cool, serene - we went to Greyfriars, had coffee in the Elephant House (the cafe JK Rowling wrote the first HP book in), we did some shopping over on Princes Street and Rose Street, had lunch and then planned the next day; a trip through Glencoe and the Lochs.
After booking our tour, on the walk back, it started spitting rain. No, sorry. Sleeting. Wait. That's not sleet.
It's was Snow with a capital S. What fun :D it really bucketed down snow for a bit there, and Paul got some wonderful photos on his camera.

So, then came Sunday. Got the bus well before sunup, on a mini bus with a bunch of people and a crazy story-teller driver/tour guide called Andy. He took us past Stirling to a tea break spot with a Hairy Coo that must be blind from all the camera flashes, then up to Glencoe for some of the most spectacular landscape we've ever seen, through Fort William then to Spean Bridge for lunch, then onward to Fort Augustus for our Loch tour. We were an hour early for the boat so spent some time in the pub (because - really, it was spitting rain and cold. We braved outdoors for a bit, then gave in to the inevitable). Got on the boat at 2 and did about an hour on Loch Ness.
After that, the weather was still pretty woeful so Andy started the drive back to Edinburgh, via Pitlochry.
After a wonderful day, we had dinner, curled up in bed and switched the tele on - just in time for Top Gear! Huzzuh!!

The Monday we had such glorious weather in Edinburgh we opted to climb Arthur's Seat. Paul was ecstatic, loving it (give a Kiwi a mountain, they have to climb it!). It was...a very hard climb. And quite cold and windy in places. You don't realise / remember how high it is, though.

Tuesday we did St Andrews - I love it. It's a gorgeous town. We walked around the ruined Cathedrals to start. Paul spotted some game surfers out on the break. Wandered up to the golf course around the coast. Then headed back to Edinburgh.

The main summary I want to make of Edinburgh though was that it scared me how I had taken just the bits I liked, and blotted out the rest. So I was then a bit hesitant to return to Cardiff...for the same reasons.
Ultimately I think it was more bad timing than anything. We should have gone mid-week.

Anyway, photos to accompany the Edinburgh journey.

Scotland

HADRIAN'S WALL / BARDON MILL

Wednesday we went to Newcastle, then headed inland for Bardon Mill; a place I didn't visit last time, to see Hadrian's wall.
We arrived at the tiny station at about midday. I had booked a B&B before we left, but had neglected to bring a map (Me: How hard can it be?).
After wandering Bardon Mill for about 5 minutes, we asked a postie if he knew where the Twice Brewed Inn was. In a wonderful Northern accent, he gave us directions - indicating landmarks by post boxes! We headed up in the vague direction he'd sent us, and just kept climbing...and climbing...

After an hour of climbing, not sure where we were going, we tried to find someone else to give directions; but there was no-one. There were a few cottages, lots of sheep, beautiful scenery, and a quickly descending sun.
We just pushed on; the road started going downhill, at least.
Eventually we saw a service vehicle on the side of the road, and a woman up a telephone pole. We asked for directions - she tried to get her bearings for a moment, then gave up and said she'd drive us there, she was sick of being up that pole.

So we hopped in her transit - and proceeded to get even more lost!! She knew where it was, but not how to get there from where she was. We ended up asking at another Inn, and she then drove us onto the Military road, into the village (?) of Once Brewed, to the Twice Brewed Inn! Huzzuh!! We'd made it. We thanked our hero profusely and made out way inside.

The postie, and the woman who'd eventually saved us, was just the start of the warmest, most wonderful reception we'd had anywhere. The Twice Brewed was everything; pub, restaurant, hotel, basically everything we needed. We had a late - well deserved - lunch, then dashed outside to explore. From our bedroom window we could see what we were sure was the Wall.

And it was - what a marvel! It was so peaceful, so beautiful up there, and we had that part of Hadrian's wall to ourselves - there were no people anywhere. We did a small walk (maybe a mile or so), then headed back, as it was getting icy on the roads.

That night we had another wonderful meal, and stayed downstairs in the pub playing cards. Wonderful break from the cities; there were perhaps 10 other people in the pub, and apart from Paul and I there were only 2 other people staying in the hotel.

The next day we had a HUUUUGE breakfast, then backtracked where we'd gone the previous day, and kept going! Again, no other people. It really is an amazing thing though - the lines are so straight, vertically. They really knew their stuff, those Romans and it makes you wonder how they collapsed.

Next we checked out and headed to Vindolanda, which is one of the best archaeological sites (and still actively being excavated) of a Roman fort. It's the fort that they found all the Roman writings at (due to the lack of oxygen in the soil, almost everything has been preserved - from writing, to leather, to wigs, all sorts of things). It was stunning - we spent a lot of time there.

Lastly we walked back to Bardon Mill station, this time with only a vaguely clearer idea of how to get there (but left loads of time, just in case). We did made it - with an hour and a half to spare! - and waited in the cold for the train. It took us back to Newcastle, then we were back on another train to London.

The stay at the Twice Brewed, and our time in Northumberland, was the highlight of teh trip. We recommend it to everyone. It was such a welcome break from everything.

Picspam of Hadrian's Wall:

Hadrian's Wall

NEXT CAME PARIS

The next day, we were woken by an alarm at about quarter to 8, that Paul and I couldn't figure out how to turn off; so he eventually unplugged it.
The alarm turned out to be the phone, and the caller - Paul's mum - calling for Caroline's Birthday. Whoops!

That morning we took off for Paris with Caroline and Justin - and WHAT A MISSION.
The night before, Caroline had realised that Paul's ticket wasn't with the other tickets. She called the office, and they told her that yes - they'd sent her mine, Justin and her tickets, and sent Paul's to the ticket office for collection.
Um, right, Eurostar. That makes complete sense.

We went to St Pancras station and they kept Caroline at the ticket office for about 20 minutes; so long, that we had to RUN through the station to make our train - got streamlined through immigration, and just made it. It was San Fran all over again!
Once we got to Paris Caroline had to go back to the ticket booth (because, while they'd given her Paul's tickets, his return was for some unknown reason 2 hours after the rest of us had left). Where the unhelpful person behind the counter told her it was a London mistake, why should she have to fix it?

GAH.

Then we headed onto the metro to the hotel, which was very close to the Lourve. The hotel was great; we raced out for another late lunch, then split - Caroline and Justin went off and Paul and I went to the Lourve to see what we could see in a couple of hours. Friday night's a late night so we had plenty of time.
We saw a lot of the Italian and French paintings, including the Mona Lisa (*yawn* - what's the big bloody deal?? Turn around, look at the rest of the room!! Massive - beautiful - paintings everywhere). While I'd been looking forward to the massive scale of some of the artworks, I was really impressed by some of the tiny paintings by Raphael; the detail, on such a small space.
We did quite a bit of the Egyptian wing, then were simply too tired to go on, and made our way back to the hotel.

That night we took Caroline and Justin to dinner for her B'day - at an Italian restaurant (haha). It was great - three courses, champagne, the works. We didn't know what to get her, so thought dinner was a good trade off.

Sunday Paul and I did this hop-on-hop-off tour, seeing the Arc De Triomph (sp??), Eiffel Tower (the queues were huge, so we couldn't go up it), Notre Dam, and a bunch of other places I can't quite remember. We got off at the Eiffel Tower - where I was the coldest I'd ever been in my entire life - and were harrassed by Bosnian beggars and hourdes of tourists - and also got off at Notre Dam which was probably my most favourite place we saw.
So, we thought we'd get a closer look. As we were walking toward it, a load of transits with sirens wailing pulled up beside the courtyard, and literally ARMIES of armoured police jumped out and started running for the front entrance. Then the army showed up.
What was happening? No idea. A part of you yearns to stay and find out what's happening, and another, instinctual part of you says 'BAIL - before someone starts firing'.
So, we headed back along the river to the hotel, had lunch (possibly the worst lunch ever), and then met up with Caroline and Justin again for the trip home.
When we got to the station Caroline tried the ticket office again, and luckily got someone helpful who let her change Paul's ticket to the same train as us.

So, that was what we did in Paris...

...and now for the opinions. You remember my three elements that determine your enjoyment of a location; place, people and food? Paris had one.
The people were the rudest I'd ever met - I'm sorry, I don't give a rats if you think I'm English - what the hell should that matter?? Why should I have to tell people that I'm Aussie / Paul's Kiwi? It's one of the most two-faced attitudes I've ever come across. When it wasn't a rude French in your face, it was an American tourist.
The food was absolutely VILE. We had a fantastic dinner - at an Italian Restaurant - and apart from that, it was terrible. The wine was woeful. The soup we had for lunch before we left was supposed to be vegetable; it tasted like sea-water. I've never felt so ill from food.
So while I'm glad I've seen the place, and we had a great time at dinner with Caroline and Justin, and we're very grateful for the Xmas pressie tickets there, I am going to be unconventional here, and say that there are definitely better places in the world to go, and when it comes to Paris, I am not a fan. Sorry.

Photos from the whirlwind trip to Paris:

Paris

That night we headed out to the Vic with Caroline and Justin for her birthday drinks with her friends - had a great time! Again, pushed on a little too late, but Paul and I managed to call an end to it at a sensible enough time to come home and get the washing sorted for the next day...which was...the trip to CARDIFF!!

Which I'm going to leave for another blog post, because in all honesty, my hesitance to return there due to Edinburgh being so surprising was completely unnecessary - it was fantastic. We had so much fun, saw so much, met some of the best, friendliest people, and - just like last time I lived there - didn't want to leave...

...til next time, and the Cardiff Story, I hope everyone's well, and I hope this long, rambling post makes some sort of sense...!

Luv from Min & Paul.