Guernsey

I've just returned from 3 days on the beautiful island of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands are part of Britain, but are very proud of their independence. They use British pounds but have their own notes and coins, and use a different system of governance. The Channel Islands are of particular interest to me, being a history buff, as they were the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during WWII.


I stayed at the picturesque Auberge Du Val, a B&B that I would recommend to anyone. It's run by a mad Italian called Fernando, who would gladly walk upon hot coals to accomodate the whims of his guests. It's set in a peaceful valley in St Saviours, and has beautiful gardens complete with a babbling brook running through it. After bustling London, I thought I was in Paradise!



Guernsey is very beautiful - and in the words of Fiona "is like NZ but with English houses". The beaches are great, and the fusion between French and English influences is evident everywhere, especially in the architecture. It's full of stone cottages, cobbled streets and narrow country lanes - just the thing for a relaxing time. They have an excellent bus system in summer for an island of 22,000 people. I went around the entire island for a mere 60p. I was, as always outside of London, struck by the friendliness of the locals and the good service (in London retail staff will seldom stop chatting with each other to serve you). If you want to live there though, you'd better be plenty rich. Non Islanders pay exorbitantly more to rent and buy property. A one bedroom flat here would set you back around £200,000.

It's very hilly, like Wellington, and most people walk everywhere, so I certainly got plenty of exercise. I went to Castle Cornet, which is situated at the mouth of the harbour which was first built in the 13th C, and was home to the Royal Guernsey Militia up until recent years. They still fire off the Noon Day Gun. The shops are really cool and generally swanky and upmarket, but there's a great cafe vibe to St Peter Port, the island's capital. I rate the Victorian Parlour highly - nice aniseed lollies.






The Guernsey Museum is also amazingly good and was quite informative about the history of the island and it's more famous residents. Victor Hugo was exiled there and was where he penned 'Les Miserables' which I still refuse to read as I love the musical so much...







I visited loads of places, the details of which I won't bore you with - visit for yourself! But the best places were the German Occupation Museum and the La Valette Military Museum. As I mentioned, Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis during WWII and as such, was left with a plethora of WWII memorabilia when they surrendered, so the collections of both museums are vast and fascinating. You name it, they have it. Nazi uniforms, guns, artillery, underground bunkers, propaganda, cutlery, stationery, souvenirs carved by the soldiers etc.

They are both surprisingly pretty unbiased - not really portraying the Germans as Nazi monsters nor overly glamorising the resistance of the Islanders. For instance, you can see a poster warning the soldiers not to touch or damage the historical artifacts in the town hall in any way, and many of the school children reported that the soldiers were very kind to them as they missed their own kids. For me it is the stories of the Islanders themselves that are of most interest, as they were placed in a unique situation as British citizens. Any form of resistance could have severe reprisals (one woman was sent to prison for months in Germany for answering a 'Heil Hitler' with a 'Heil Churchill'), and Guernseymen were executed as examples to others, but at the same time, any cooperation with the Germans was viewed harshly by most of the Islanders and to be labelled a collaborator would have been a harsh fate in such a tight-knit community.

Kiwis and Canadians are very welcome to Guernsey. At the end of 1944 the whole island (including the Germans) were in danger of starving and they appealed to the Red Cross for help. Just before Christmas the SS Vega made the risky journey to St Peter Port carrying parcels of food from NZ and Canada which probably did save the lives of many people. The local schoolchildren made it their mission to find out as much as they could about the countries that these 'parcels of providence' had come from, and their letters of thanks to our respective governments are very funny and touching. The chocolate seemed to be a recurring theme...


Anyway, Guernsey is lovely and I'm keen to visit Jersey now. Stay tuned.

Last Night of the Proms

On the 9th of September I went with my mate Debbie (and 50,000 of our close pals) to Hyde Park to see the Last Night of the Proms in Hyde Park. It was so much fun and highly recommended for us foreigners in search of 'British experiences'. Basically it's a big concert with a mix of classical and modern music, that hooks up live with the actual last night of the Proms held down the road in the Royal Albert Hall (it has a waiting list of years).

Debbie and her housemates got there at 3pm to get a decent spot when the gates opened at 4pm. There were queues for Africa. Most people were super-organised with picnics and deck chairs (I'll know what to do next time!) and many people seemed to use the event for big family reunions. It was actually really nice to see so many families. We had a family next to us - one kid sporting a 'Lionel Ritchie Fan Club' t-shirt - and they had the time of their lives. They sang and danced and joked around with each other all night.





A 'Madness' tribute band kicked off the pre-entertainment, followed by Chas and Dave, who some of you may remember, and the X-Factor reject, Chico. I predict his new single 'C-h-i-c-o' (a rip-off of the song 'D-I-S-C-O') will not exactly burn up the charts. But I greatly admire his knack for self-promotion. And his spelling prowess.





The official show was hosted by Sir Terry Wogan, and featured Angela Gherghiou, the impossibly gorgeous 'Vittorio', Alison Balsam (arguably the best trumpeter in the world), Carl Davis and the BBC Orchestra, and the headline act was Lionel Ritchie. Now, I like Lionel. I would not be seen dead wearing his fan club t-shirt of course, but let me tell you, the man can sing and work the stage! From the moment he stepped out on the stage he had the crowd on their feet dancing and singing their lungs out to 'Dancing on the Ceiling' and many of his other hits. Hyde Park then was hooked up live with Albert Hall and other proms in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Swansea, Manchester and Wales for the traditional Proms bit where the stiff-upper-lips brits go silly and sing songs like 'Land of Hope and Glory', Jerusalem' and 'Rule Britannia' and wave the union Jack around. I sang myself hoarse. It was an absolutely brilliant night!

Recent Wanderings

A couple of weeks ago I went out to Stonehenge and Salisbury for the day. Stonehenge is a lot smaller than I expected, but I think it looses much of its impact by the fact that you aren't allowed close up to the stones - all thanks to past visitors taking bits as mementos. Plus they are covered in all kinds of rare lichen which get damaged by greasy human fingers touching them.

Disappointingly I was not overcome with feelings of mysticism or 'vibes'. It was a stinking hot day, there were screeds of tourists, and I was admittedly concerned about whether we would have time to fit in watching the (ill-fated) England vs. Portugal game. On a less busy day I think it would be cool to drive up and see Stonehenge looming up on the hill in the middle of nowhere (apparently it used to be surrounded by forest).




Salisbury itself is lovely - there is a great weekend market, and there are loads of nice pubs and cafes alongside the river canal.


















Salisbury Cathedral is amazing - even when half covered in scaffolding. It's home to the best version of the Magna Carta, kept in the Chapter House. Now for those of you who have been to Washington DC or who have seen the movie "National Treasure", you will know how guarded and well protected the Declaration of Independence is, in the USA. Well, the poor old Magna Carta is in some shoddy display case that looks like it was whacked together in the days before the personal computer. You almost stumble over it, rather than it beingmade a big deal of - very strange for a founding document. Even the Treaty of Waitangi has a far worthier display. The statue of the photo is of the 'Black Lady', the ghost who has been seen many times in the grounds.

I also went to St Thomas' church and saw the Doom painting. No one is sure who painted it, but it gives quite a powerful image to what happens to the saints and sinners amongst us!

"I've been to London to vist the Queen..."

Yes, I really did see the Queen at Buckingham Palace the day - even if it was from afar...

It was another case of working at NZ House paying off, as I managed to get tickets to one of the Queen's annual garden parties, and wangled it so that Kara could come along to same one as Dave and I. NZ gets allocated only 200 tickets for the 3 annual garden parties, so we were pretty lucky. It was brilliant - I'm sure I'll remember it for the rest of my life, and fully intend to bore people with my "I Remember the time I went to Buckingham Palace" story in my dotage. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside the grounds, otherwise I could do a slide show too...

The dress code is strict - dresses and hats for the ladies, lounge suits for the men. I bought a dress especially for the occasion, but I borrowed a hat from my friend Sarah, who went last year. I have since passed the hat on to my boss's wife who is going to this week's party, so technically Sarah has gotten lots of wear out of that hat, although she's never worn it herself since. The 3 of us looked fabulous naturally, and had to fight off the media as we alighted from our black cab at the grand entrance to Buckingham Palace. Ok, so I made that last bit up.

We walked through the palace itself (a HUGE thrill!) to get to the gardens at the back, which are very extensive (there's a lake, in case you didn't know). Two brass bands were placed at each end of the lawn, and three tea tents (i.e massive marquee) were set up around the lawn edge: one tent for Royalty, one for the Diplomats and one for the plebs. Strangely, someone had forgotten to put the royal tea tent pass in my invitation pack, so rather than make a scene, we settled for the pleb tent.

As a non-tea-drinker, I can't tell you if the tea actually was any good, but I rate the lemonade, and we all munched the salmon sandwiches, tiny devonshire scones, chocolate cake (complete with crown motif) and other nibbles quite happily. We walked around the garden, and basically spent most of the time calling each other 'darling', and sticking our pinkies out as we sipped our lemonade. We all stood for the national anthem, at which point HRH came out, accompanied by Charles and Camilla. Everyone rushes to the front(the wild plebs being necessarily restrained by a rope cordon to allow HRH safe passage to walk amongst the crowd). I could have busted out my 'elbows-of-steel', honed to razor-sharpness thanks to the Seoul subway, but I erred on the side of decorum. In other words, I didn't want to fight some wrinkly for pole-position to see HRH as I'm reliably informed that they only ever 'single out old people' for her to shake hands with. Short of shrieking "I'm actually 75 and this is all botox!", I figured I had little chance of success.

Dave managed to see Chuck and Cammie up close (he says Charles is very brown - must be all that gardening..). Kara and I happily spent most of the time people-watching, as it was quite fascinating to see what people were wearing, and basically who had managed to nab invites. There were loads of city councillors and mayors, and armed servicemen, several priests, and I even saw the actor, Donald Sinden. Only no one knows who he is, but I was excited to see him! FYI, he's the old bloke on the left. The majority of people were
appropriately dressed (a few even in their national dress), but there were
some people who looked like they'd just walked in off the street, and also several women who missed the point of it being a 'garden party' and instead looked like they were going to a wedding. Of course, they may just have thought 'hey, here's a chance to wear that bridesmaid dress again'.

We were also super-lucky with the weather as we had a perfect sunny day, without it being a total scorcher. My workmates had all attended a party last year and moaned that it had been far too hot to actually enjoy it. All in all it was brilliant fun. I'm a fan of the royals I admit, but even hardened anti-monarchists would enjoy the pomp and decadence of an afternoon like that.

What I've Been Up To

Hmm, I'm so bad at keeping this thing current!

Ok, quick run-down on stuff I've done lately - which isn't much, but I always seem to be busy. That's life in London. It's hard to not be out literally every night. There's always something to do. Although not according to these dreadful American college students I sat next on the tube the other week. Now most of you know I love America and Americans, but these 2 were prime examples of the 'American abroad' stereotype. Student 1: "Ok, so we've like done the Tower and Buckingham Palace. There's like, nothing left to do here." Student 2: "Oh I know. But you know what, there's like this boat cruise you can do on the Thaymes..." It took a LOT of willpower not say "Um, the river is pronounced 'Tems', you dumb-ass ". Ah, bless. To be fair, nothing here seems ever to be pronounced remotely how it looks.

I digress. So back in April I went to a pre-ANZAC dinner/talk all about the formation of the Kiwi national identity through WW1. That was quite interesting, as it was something I studied way back in 7th form history. It was run through the Kiwi Society which has a disturbing lack of young people. Mostly old 'gels' and 'chaps'. I even managed to get my butt out of bed for the ANZAC dayDawn service at Hyde Park and was quite impressed at how many others attended it too. NZ is finally getting it's own memorial at Hyde Park to be unveiled by the Queen on Armistice Day, by the way.

I went with Fiona and her friends Mel and Lee to see Bodies. It's an exhibit all about the human body using actual cadavers which have been preserved. You get to see everything - all our muscles, our innards, the lot. It was gross, but so fascinating at the same time. I also went with Fiona and her mates to Kew Gardens, which is lovely. If it wasn't for it being on the flight path of Heathrow, you'd forget you were in London.

I've been exploring London quite a bit and am making it my mission to actually go to more off-the-beaten-track things that I read about and think, oh I should go to that, but never do. I found Postman's Park, which those of you who saw the movie 'Closer' will recognise. It's this little park near St Paul's, which has plaques commerating people who died saving the lives of others. Rather morbid and strange, but interesting too. Anyway, Natalie Portman's character takes her name from one of the plaques. I went to Borough Market the other day - a foodie's dream!



I went to on a day Hever Castle, and to Rye with Fiona and Neil - and ran into Yvonne from our Normandy trip. We are Tracks travel groupies! The castle belonged to Anne Bolyen's family and is more of a fortified manor than a castle, but it is lovely. The exhibit on the Boleyn family is great - not too lengthy, and yet, still informative if you already know a bit about them. They have 2 prayer books that Anne herself wrote in. The castle is extremely well preserved as it was bought by the American millionaire family, the Astors, who restored it, and re-created the Tudor village alongside it for their staff to live in. The grounds are lovely too - Italian renaissance style, with a huge lake, and a water maze - step on a wrong stone and you get squirted with water (great for summer). We were there for May day, so we got to see many re-creationalists enacting typical village life. We even saw Anne herself being presented with presents.

Rye is a gorgeous little village with lots of Tudor houses, cobblestone streets - Mermaid St being the most famous as the houses are all called random things like "The House with Two Front Doors", or "The House next door" etc.




I went to see "Moving Out", which is based on the songs of Billy Joel. I was expecting a musical, much like "We Will Rock You" (which is absolutely fantastic by the way). But this was a dance show instead, with a band performing all of the songs on a platform above the dancers. It tells the stories of 3 friends over the 70's thru to the 80's. The dancing was pretty incredible, and it was worth seeing for the "Goodnight Saigon" sequence alone, but it's not a patch on WWRY.

I've had lots of catch-up sessions with mates, and games nights (learnt a new one called Powergrid). Fiona, Ariane and I went to a girly night at Molton Brown (like the Body Shop, only posher). The goody bag of free stuff was a winner! I got to catch up with Cameron who takes the 'fresh off the plane' crown from me (although Fiona informs me he doesn't really count as he is staying in Ireland). Helped Ariane move into her flash new digs at North Greenwich. I've also moved myself, out to North-East London. The area I live in is ok, not too dodgy. There's loads of chavs which is great. I love Chavs. For an in-depth explanation of the Chav phenomenon and to check to see if you yourself might be one, visit http://chavstest.com/quiz/index.php Brilliant! I've attended a few bbq's and picnics, as the weather has finally decided to get sunny and warm.

Anyway, apart from upstairs neighbours who seem to be occasionally re-enacting Riverdance, I'm enjoying the flat. My flatmate Giselle is German, and is very nice. We've had many good chats about stuff like weird things that kiwis/germans/brits do, what it was like to live in Berlin before the wall came down, and of course, our favourite topic - movies. If you think I love movies, I've got nothing on Giselle. Her collection dwarfs that of my parents. Oh yeah, and she was equally as obsessed with the tv show 'Prison Break' as me. Monday nights just feel so empty now series one has ended...

My small group at St. Mary's is going well, and we've even got British people in it now! It was just aussies and kiwis. We meet every Tuesday, and they are proving to be a great bunch of people. I've found the scriptural side of St. Mary's to be a little on the Diet Coke side of things, so my small group discussions have been making up for that lack of depth.

England is in the grip of World Cup fever which is loads of fun. Personally I am going for Germany. The fact that they are my work sweepstake team has some bearing on this. The country comes to a standstill for the England games - the streets are practically deserted. The last game was hilarious - we had 3 japanese guys next to us (all wearing their newly purchased England shirts) who were literally tearing their hair out with excitement whenever "Engrund" got the ball. Despite my allegiance to my beloved Deutschland, my aussie friend Debbie has roped me into attending an Aussie-fest party to watch the Aussie v. Croatia game on Thursday.


I went to the 7's at Twickenham, which was fun, but a totally different vibe from the Wgtn one. There was lots of singing! Apparently the English got rather yobbish and spoiled it, but I wasn't there then, thank goodness. Ummm, what else? I went with Yvonne to the museum of advertising and branding in Notting Hill. It looks at advertising and packaging from Victorian times to the present and I thoroughly recommend it.



Dave, Cuffy, Nicola and I went to see Def Leppard last night (bogans came out of the woodwork!) and they went off! It was such a good concert, and jeez, for hard living rockers, they haven't aged as badly as I expected.







For the most part I am enjoying myself. I can't believe I've been here 10 months! Work is going well (although I am actively looking for another job). I love my workmates, and since we got a change of team leader, for some reason we've all become way more social. Not that our old team leader wasn't a great person! But generally going to work is a pleasure, as we just have a good laugh. Mark and Lee are especially good at keeping me entertained. Our office banter gets rather random at times - we do stuff like, speaking in aussie accents, or like pirates (Lucy is a pirate freak, don't ask why), sing annoying songs that won't get out of your head for days (we even made up a dance routine to 'Mr Sandman', as we were all singing it for weeks...) and between us, we must have tried every cocktail on the extensive list at Freud's in Covent Garden. It's taken a while, but I now feel like I have a good bunch of mates here in London, and have resigned myself to the fact that most of them are foreigners. Plus I have the luxury of having old friends here - although I'm already missing my 'wing-man' Kara, who is tripping around Europe at the moment! Obviously the best part of being here is the experiences you get to have - all the travel, and the different people, and seeing stuff that you've seen in pictures or studied. Good for the little grey cells.

Anyway, that's about it for now - I'll put up a post about Amsterdam sometime soon.

PS Saw Saffy (Julia Sawalha) from Abfab shopping at H&M. Very exciting!
PPS I must confess that I actually watched an entired episode of Eastenders the other day. I'm so ashamed!

And more...

Playing Scotland Yard with Neil, Fiona and Drew in Croydon (I suck as "Mr X!")
Spring in Monet's Garden

Cathedral at Rouen



























Angela, Debbie and Kara in Honfleur

Mont St Michel

More pics of Normandy trip

British Memorial Cemetary, Bayeux

USA

D-Day Memorial Cemetary

Easter In Normandy

I went on an organised bus tour of Normandy for the Easter holidays with Dave and Kara (and Kara's workmate Debbie from Aussie). So for those of you who know all 3 of us, I apologise, as you will get three versions of the trip, but no doubt each of us will have our own spin on it! To Dave, Kara and Debbie: Our goodbyes yesterday were so rushed, so guys, thanks for being such great travel buddies.

We went over with Tracks Travel who are a budget tour company, and as such, it attracts Kiwis, Aussies and Saffas. There were 51 of us on the tour and pretty much everyone was really great. Our guide Eddie was a something of a public schoolboy stereotype (the sort of chap who in the old days would have gone around saying 'what-ho' and 'by jingo' etc), and was quite often unintentionally funny. He wasn't at all organised, but he and his brother Martin (the bus driver) were so nice and well-meaning, I didn't really mind.

Thursday:
We caught an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre, and the trip over was awful. The ferry had been over-booked, and for some mysterious reason we were the last bus allowed onto the ferry (despite getting there first). So by the time we boarded, not only had our preallocated seats been taken, but so had anywhere else around the ferry that was half-way decent to sleep. We were fobbed off with free breakfast and an upgrade to clubclass on the return trip, but some people got quite worked up about it. It wasn't the travel agency's fault, and nothing could be done. I don't know what they were expecting anyway as the trip was so cheap! We just made the best of it, and spent the night in chairs or on the floor. The only downer was, as I got so little sleep that night, the 'jet-lag' effect of it lasted the whole weekend, so I didn't feel as sociable or as switched-on as I'd have liked.


Friday:
We got to France in the morning, and as I'm a bit of a Francophile, just being in France is a dream come true, so it perked me up no end. We spent the morning in Rouen, one of the most ancient French cities, most famous for being where Joan of Arc was tried and executed. We looked around the spectacular Cathedral, which is deliciously gothic. I was particularly excited to see it, as Monet (my fav. artist as most of you are more than well aware) painted it many times. After a brief stop at the tourist info shop I promptly lost most of the group, which wasn't a bad thing in the end, as I got to see a great deal of the city. The place du Vieux-Marche marks the spot where Joan was burnt to death back in 1431, and is now home to a huge cross in her honour. Joan is a popular figure all over Normandy - largely thanks to the discovery of the transcripts of her trial which show that she wasn't some lying nutter who sold out in the end, but was instead unwavering in her humility and devout belief and was tricked by the darstardly English (boo, hiss). I'm something of a Joan fan, so this commentary is a tad biased...

I had a good look around the town centre, which has quite a charming market, and is home to lots of swanky boutiques and popular high street stores. I was of course completely delighted by seeing many of the usual french stereotypes: impossibly coiffed and stylish women with equally coiffed little dogs out shopping, boulangeries and fromageries on every street selling the most delicious looking breads and cakes and cheeses, buskers playing french folk music on the accordian. I kept my eyes peeled for gorgeous men wearing berets and stripey shirts, reading Satre while they munch on baguettes; but they must have all been out of town for the day. Still, the old guy who I bought my lunch from was nice enough not to laugh as I butchered his language. In fact, I must say, all the French people I came in contact with were very nice. (But then, I haven't been to Paris.)

In the afternoon I was like a kid in a candy store when we got to Monet's home in Giverny. Even the people on our tour who weren't 'into Monet' like me seemed to really enjoy being there. His famous waterlilly garden is incrediby beautiful, as is his house, and we were lucky to be there at a time where most of the spring flowers were blooming (loads of tulips!). It just felt so incredible to walk around and see the things that he painted, still there, and still as beautiful and as inspirational as they clearly were to him - the japanese bridge over the pond, the willow trees, the tall poplar trees, his blue kitchen, the yellow dining room etc. Being there is a memory I will really treasure.

None of his original paintings are on display, but his house has many family photos and his famous collection of japanese prints.

After a long trip through the achingly beautiful French countryside (I'm sure poor old Dave got sick of my gasping with delight at every Chateau/house/falling-down shack. I just love French architecture) we got to Caen, which we used as a base for the rest of the trip. Caen is not as nice as the other places we went but the old ramparts of William the Conqueror's favourite chateau and the 'old town' are still lovely. We had dinner at this funny restaurant called 'Miam Miam Glu Glu', the upstairs of which for some reason is decorated with Warner Brothers cartoon characters. Random! Anyway, we had a delicious dinner of crepes - Normandy being famous for camembert cheese. Almost everyone on the tour was shattered from the ferry trip, so we had an early night.

Saturday:

The next day we set off for the D-Day beaches. It was a gloomy, drizzly day, much like it was on the day itself. Dave asked the guide if we could possiby stop at Pointe du Hoc, and I'm so glad that he did, as it was the highlight of the D-Day experience for me. Unlike the rest of the area, Pointe du Hoc still bears the scars of the invasion and as such it really gives you a sense of the absolute mess and carnage that the invasion must have been like. The area is still deeply pitted with shell holes and completely mangled German bunkers. It was fascinating. I was very moved and felt so privileged to be there.



We went to the American cemetary at Colleville-sur-mer, which features in "Saving Private Ryan". It has an impressive memorial to the fallen soldiers. The rows and rows and rows of white crosses is of course sobering, and I must admit to losing it when I entered the chapel ad read the inscription: "Weep not for their passing, but remember the glorious spirit in which they died". We also went to Utah Beach. Unfortunately it was high tide so we couldn't see much of the ships that were sunk to create artificial breakwaters. We went to see a 360 degree movie that was great and good for people who don't know much about D-Day. Quite simply, you go into a room and a film is shown all around with images of D-Day, interspersed with images of how it looks today. Much of what was destroyed was faithfully restored or rebuilt, and is the surrounding countryside is breath-taking.

We had lunch in the town of Arromanches where the artifical harbour was made to protect the landings during the invasion. The sheer scale of it blew me away - it stretches for miles.

We then went onto Bayeaux to view the famous tapestry. We didn't have enough time there I feel, but then, the way it is exhibited is too time-consuming anyway. Basically, first you read all about on long sheets of canvas (very cleverly done, I admit), and then you watch a superbly cheesy film that tells you all about it, and then you view the actual tapestry itself with your own audio guide. We however, were armed with Kara, who has a vast knowledge of English history - soon to be unleashed on a pub quiz near you - so her commentary was more interesting.

I knew little about the tapestry I admit, but it is incredible, and certainly a fantastic piece of history. The detail is incredible (right down to the men's bare legs when they are in the water, and the dashing moustaches of the English). It tells the tale of how Edward the Confessor, having no heir, decided that William the Conqueror would be his successor. William dispatches his cousin Harold to tell Edward that he accepts the throne, but the darstardly Harold decides to put himself on the throne when Edward eventually dies. A raging battle ensues and the villainous Harold is dispatched to the hereafter by an arrow through the eye. The craftsmanship of the tapestry and it's rich detail of medieval life alone make it priceless, especially when you consider that it was at onetime used as a cart cover!

We stopped briefly at the Commonwealth cemetary which was very moving as the families of the soldiers had all been invited to put their own inscriptions on the crosses. This serves to hit home that these were real people, teenagers mostly, who were loved and greatly missed.

Saturday night we had a brilliant fondue dinner (much effort went into ordering the food - largey thanks to Debbie, who speaks pretty good French). We went to an Irish pub(!) , which was great fun, as most people from the tour came out, so we all had a good time getting to know each other. Having now spoken to so many people who are in the UK on 2 year working visas, I am even more grateful for my ancestry visa, as it gives me the luxury of time. 2 years is just not enough time to see everything, and puts so much pressure on you.

Sunday:
Debbie and I managed to squeeze in some early morning reflection on Easter Sunday, which set the day up nicely. We drove out to the stunning Mont St-Michel, a monastry perched on what must have been a remote island (which now has a causeway) in the middle of nowhere, built after the Archangel St Michael appeared before the Bishop Abert. It is reached by walking up the steep main street of the underlying village, which is crammed with souvenir shops, food stalls and hotels. Being Easter Sunday, it was crazy. Every Mama, Papa, Enfant, Grandmere, Grandpere and petite pooch was there on a pilgrimage, which I actually thought was a rather nice way to spend your Easter. There were shades of Korea though (Erin and Laurence, you will know what I mean) as I followed an immaculately groomed woman in a fur coat, Gucci sunglasses and high heels down the hill. Visually, the Mont is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. From its' silhouette is dramatic, and up close, its' construction just made me marvel. Leisha from South Africa was with me in one of the most impressive and expansive chambers. Being at the Mont was a life long dream for her, and she made me laugh when she saw the room and sighed "Look at this place! Honestly, why don't we make things like this anymore? We modern people are just so lazy!" How true.

We spent the afternoon in the exquisite town of St Malo, and strolled around the top of the walls that enclose the citadel. We were all excited to see the golden sand beach (I almost kissed it!) and were granted a great performance by two men who bravely strode out into the large pool on the beach for a quick dip (It 'ain't summer yet!). One of them let out a most unmanly squeal when he hit the water, but the other guy managed a brief swim. The town has so much character. I would love to spend a week or so there in summer - unfortunately, I suspect most of France would as well.

We got back to Caen and had a drink of Kara's wine, and watched some quality TV. 'Lucky Luke' was on! We watched a hilarious Italian gameshow. Let's just say it was an intriguing mixture of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and "It's in the Bag", only with a muscular hunk and a scantily clad bombshell (not to mention the a sinister cowboy in silhouette), hosted by a Sophia Loren wannabe. Now if that doesn't make for quality tv, I don't know what does.

Monday:


Our guide made an excellent executive decision to include a wee pit stop at a Calvados distillery (the local drink of choice made from apples). A few shots of that, and we were all much more perky! I think the proprietors made a siginificant chunk of change out of us. We had a look around the picuresque seaside town of Honfleur, which apparently is the best preserved of the old Ports of Normandy. I was absolutely charmed by the place - although I may have been swayed by the glorious weather. The old town centre has a stunning bassin of 18th century houses, that now are home to numerous cafes, patisseries, restaurants, etc. Definitely the sort of place where you could spend the afternoon sitting under a sun umbrella sipping en cafe, and watch the world go by. Alas, I had to go catch the ferry back home. We did get to sample the local fish, which, as all the food seems to be in France, is excellent.

The ferry trip home was brilliant as not only did I soak up the sunshine and sea air, but we had a fantastic game of Settlers with some of our fellow tourmates. The hours passed quickly, and Kara and I would surely have won if our ore supply wasn't stopped all the time, eh Kara? Well, that's our excuse anyway!














I got home just before midnight. The tour was brilliant, and I feel so lucky to have seen things I've always dreamed of seeing. Like I said to Dave yesterday "Travelling rocks! I can feel my mind broadening as we speak".

A few more barcelona shots

More pics from Barcelona

Flowerman, Kara and I at El Quatre Chats, and clowning around

Krakow

Krakow is a very beautiful city – well, the old town section is. Drive through the outer suburbs from the airport though, and it still has that drab communist feel about it. It was about –5 degrees when I arrived, and it probably didn’t get much warmer than that.

I sat next to some drunken lads on the plane who informed me that Krakow is a popular destination for British bachelor parties because of the ‘wicked nightlife’ and ‘cool things to do like going out and shooting stuff (for a mere 20 quid you can go and shoot ‘stuff’ with genuine communist pistols) and go-karting’ (10 quid all day).

My hotel, the Hotel Europeskij, was really well situated, and quite popular with tourists, not that I saw that many. Tourists do stick out a mile. Non-Polish women may be distinguished by their lack of make-up, and that fact that their shoes do NOT match their handbag. My hotel was a quick walk away from the old part of town, where most of the tourist attractions are. Just as well, too, given that the temperature was not conducive to loitering. My room was really nice - about 20 quid, and had an extremely luxurious bathroom, which many of you will know, is important to me! It was actually far more luxurious than my room....

After a fortifying breakfast of cold meat, cheese and bread, I was out the door by 9am, heading for Cathdedral in the town square. Apart from the streetcleaner, I was the only one around. Later risers, the Poles. The Cathedral is incredibly beautiful, and inside it is overwhelmingly ornate. It's too much to take in. Well, it was for me anyway.

It was snowing heavily as I made my way to Wawel Castle, which was home to the Polish Royal Family. It was used as a residence up until fairly recently and is worth a visit if you are ever in town. There are several different things to see there eg. the treasury and amoury (although these are rather disappointing if you've been to the Tower of London first...) but my recommendation is to get tickets to view the royal apartments. Only a few tickets are allocated each day, so you need to get there early to nab one. We got a guided tour in English all around the apartments, which are gorgeous.

I also went to the Cloth Market, in the town square, which sells all the touristy things like amber, brightly coloured folk crafts like wooden eggs and plates, trinket boxes, beer steins etc. I bought a t shirt that (I am reliably informed) says in Polish "Alcohol or Education: It's your choice" which is the Minister of Education's favourite admonition. Of course it could really say "I'm a dumb-ass tourist" and I'd never know...

By this time it was snowing heavily, so I nipped into the Czartoryski Museum. It houses the treasures of the last royal family. It is filled with many priceless artifacts, but their claim to fame is owning the magnificent "Lady with an Ermine" by Leonardo da Vinci. I say forget the Mona Lisa, this portrait is far better. It's a charming study, and really makes an immediate impact with it's dark background. http://pictures.polandforall.com/images/leonardo-da-vinci-lady-with-an-ermine.jpg

I rounded off the day by paying a visit to the Krakow History museum. It was closed, but would I care to see the Christmas displays instead? You bet I would. Well, it was a treat! From what I can gather, schools from the area compete to see who can construct the naffest 'replica' of Wawel Castle and adorn it with anything bright, sparkly, shiny, and slightly related to the festive season. If I had to base my entire knowledge of christmas on these displays I'd be convinced that Jesus was born at Wawel Castle whilst Father Christmas, King Wenceslaus, the current Polish President (or PM?), David Beckham and Angelina Jolie looked on. Needless to say, I loved it! It was truly a wee gem of an exhibition.

Polish food is quite good - very, very basic, but cheap. I imagine you'd get sick of it quickly if you lived there. They go in for thick stews in a big way. Given the weather, I appreciated it!

No, I did not make it to Auschwitz. I don't feel I need to go. The Holocaust Museum in New York was enough for me.

What else can I say? Krakow is beautiful. I would like to return there someday in summertime, as I imagine the marketplace is vibrant (and overrun with Stag parties...). The only thing that marred my perception of it, was the trip back to the airport. I thought I'd save some zlotyl by catching the bus to the airport. I hopped on the bus very early in the morning. I was the only person who got on at that stop. I sat down and 2 stops later 2 men got on and proceeded to check everyone's tickets. I hadn't validated my ticket as I didn't see the machine and hadn't seen anyone validate theirs. Miraculously, one of the inspectors spoke English and told me that I must now pay a fine. Ok, I thought, no worries, thinking it would be another fare. No. The fare was 2.50 zlotyls. I had to pay 70 zlotyls. To put this in perspective that is like saying I must pay $20 for a 50cent bus ride. Considering a meal in Krakow costs 6-8 zlotyls, you can imagine that 70 zlotyls is a lot of money for the average Pole to be carrying on them. I tried the "I'm-a-dumb-tourist" routine, quickly followed by the "outraged-can-I-see-some-ID" routine. Clearly it was a scam to get money off tourists, as I'm sure it's no coincidence that a perfect English-speaking inspector was aboard the only airport bus! When these failed I remembered that I was a female, travelling alone in a post communist nation with corrupt and dodgy authorities. So I paid. Moral of the story: Validate your tickets.

Barcelona

Well, I'm certainly feeling really pleased that I finally made it to Europe! My poor workmates had to put up with me chanting "I'm going to Barthalona" in my best faux-spanish accent all week. Still, I got good tips from them as to what to see and where to eat - clearly a cunning way to distract me from the chanting...

Barcelona exceeded all my expectations. It was never a city I knew too much about, but I do remember the Barcelona olympics really well, and thinking it looked gorgeous. And it is. I can see why so many people visit and end up staying for good. It's pretty clean, has a beautiful harbour (Kara and I were very excited to see the Mediterranean), has incredible buildings, and has both grand avenues and narrow cobblestone alleyways. Of course, my opinion was greatly enhanced by the bright blue sky and warm sunshine as doing two winters in a row is taking its toll.

The bus from Girona airport takes about 1 1/2 hrs, and fortunately we didn't have far to go from there to our apartment. Our apartment was HUGE, nicely furnished, and in a really convenient location, so Kara and I were feeling rather smug by the time we ventured out to explore. We got the tourist bus from Placa Cataluyna, the main square/train station, which was teeming with people. The bus is one of those hop-on/hop-off deals and goes to most of the attractions. We drove past many of the buildings designed by Gaudi which are amazing. I don't really like surrealism but these buildings are beautiful and just blend in with the rest of the architecture. A lot of the buildings in the old part of town are Gothic in design, so I loved it. There are streets and streets of picture postcard apartment buildings with wrought iron balconies and wooden shutters.

Having such a short time we decided to spend the first day just looking around the city to get a feel for it. We got off the bus at the National Palace which is now home to an art gallery. They had an exhibits on Carravagio which was so tempting, but I admired the vista of the city from the front of the palace instead. We did go up the Columbus Monument at the foot of Las Ramblas. I wanted to go on the funicular, but my enthusiasm for heights is not shared by Kara.

We walked all the way up Las Ramblas, which is the main shopping street, paved in the middle for pedestrians. It's chock full of tourists and street performers, and newsagents(?!) situated 10 feet from each other. It's also where loads of distressed kiwis we deal with at work loose their passports as their bags are slit by pickpocketers while they are watching the street performers. Needless to say I was in a 'Mad-Eye Moody' state of "CONSTANT VIGILANCE", but hey, we both returned home with all our possessions (ok so we had less euros, but that was from shopping...). We stopped in a supermarket - called a supermercat in spanish, which gave me visions of meercats with super powers...anyway it was a highlight. Not only did I get some exquisito chocolat for my workmates, but also some wine that comes in little cartons like just juice as a laugh!

After we completed the bus tour we did as the Spanish do, and had dinner after 9pm. We went to a restaurant recommended by my workmate heather who is a real foodie. El Quatre Cats was a favorite hangout of Picasso. He actually had his first exhibit there and even designed the menu cover which they still use today. The restaurant is really elegant, with live music and waiters that make a huge fuss of you. I definitely recommend it for the atmosphere. By the time we left at 11pm it was completely full. We were too shattered to even attempt to go clubbing, so we settled for watching The Mummy 2 dubbed into spanish and bizarre games shows with men cross-dressing.

On Sunday we went to church briefly to check out the main Cathedral called La Seu. It's fantastically gothic and ornate, but unfortunately most of it was covered in scaffolding as it's getting a revamp. Inside was great - if a little strange. All around the side of the cathedral are little altars/chapels where you can pray to various saints. I'm not sure why some saints were put together and why some got their own chapel, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation. Some of the iconography is so ornate almost to the point of garishness, but mostly it was beautiful. Anyway, I kept thinking of the people who I wished were with me to see it all, like my Mum and Rebecca, as I knew how much they would appreciate it.

We moved on to the history museum which is home to a large unearthing of the original roman foundations of the city. It's very cunning - they've suspended platforms over the ruins, so you can walk over them. It's massive, and you really get a feel for how the city must have been laid out, and just how damn clever those romans were. The precision of the stone masonry alone blows me away...

Huge areas were set side for things like dying materials, preparing fish, and making wine, and you can still see the streets, drainage, and layout of some shops. What I love the most is how you can see the materials they used in the construction - they recycled a great deal, and so bits of wall will have chunks of some ornate masonry left over from something else, or an inscribed tablet of some sort.

I reluctantly dragged myself out of there and we went to the Frederic Mare musuem. Basically he must have been this filthy rich nutter, as he has one of the most incredible collections I have ever seen. Let's just say Frederic falls into the pack-rat side of the hoarder-purger spectrum. He was quite a figure in 19thC Barcelona and collected, well pretty much anything. He was obssessed with sculptures, and made many himself, but he has a simply massive collection of religious icons (rooms and rooms full of crucified Jesus, Mary, Mary and Baby Jesus, John the Baptist, and mary magdalene). When you see them all together like that its overwhelming (most of them are life-sized) but I was so struck by the similarity between each 'type' ie, all the Jesuses looked pretty much the same, except for the one who had about 30 ribs...

There is at least one room each dedicated to:

• keys
• wrought iron
• ladies fans/bags/hair accessories
• cigar and cigarette packets
• shells
• timepieces
• scissors
• ceramics
• puppet theatres
• photographs
• pipes
• toys
• ....

Basically, you name it, old Frederic collected it. It really is amazing to see all these things grouped together, whereas if you just had one or two items of each it would be quite boring. But it provides a good insight into the Spanish 'Victoriana', looking at the cigarette boxes alone is stepping into history as they feature all the leading politicians, actresses, sportsman and gentry of the day.

When we got out, there was some kind of demonstration against violence going on, which involved lots of folk holding hands and dancing around in a circle. Needless to say I joined in, and was given dancing instructions in spanish by this sweet old man. Quite how this stops violence I don't know, but it was great fun.

After the required tapas for lunch we strolled through the Gothic quarter back to the bus station. We stopped in at a park and I was so charmed by the amount of families out doing things together. it's so nice - I think having 7 day a week shopping has robbed us of this sort of thing. Couples were practising swing dancing in the band rotunda, groups of teenage boys were playing games of soccer, frazzled parents were driving their kids around on buggies...there were even a group of people dressed as clowns so I had to have my picture taken with them. Next to a stone woolly mammoth.

Harrods Sale

Once I purchased a myriad of presents (no surprises where birthday gifts from me will be bought from this year) I managed to meet up with Kara. We bravely tackled the chaos that was womens clothing and shoes - I restrained from buying Chanel shoes that were 1/2 price. Lovely as they were, they were almost 2 weeks rent...

Anyway, it was good fun, and something that every dedicated shopper needs to do at least once in their lifetime. I may return next year so I'd better start saving now!

Don't you just love those tricycles? For the discerning toddler...and the von dutch top is for the discerning pooch!

Harrods Sale

Today I got to live out a lifelong dream. I went to the opening day of the Harrods Sale.

And it was awesome! As a devoted shopper, Harrods is the ultimate store, and the sale surpassed my expectations. The store opened at 9am, so I arrived at 8:30am and managed to find a good spot outside the entrance where the VIPS were set to open the sale. The crowd were entertained by a brass band, and kept happy with cups of coffee and Harrods cookies. The press were parked directly opposite me and I was practically blinded when Mr Al Fayed himself came out and started pressing the flesh. I tried to get a pic of him but people kept getting in the way, so I settled for the large-than-life statue of him in the store. You will note I drew the line at taking a snap of the syrupy Dodi & Diana statue...

Word got around the crowd than Billy Zane and Kelly Brook (no idea who she is, sorry) were opening the sale. A small parade led by pipers, announced their arrival in the Harrods Horse-drawn carriage. Mr Zane is incredibly good-looking in person, and was super-stylish. Whatsherface looked ok too. The press were revolting as per usual: "Go on Kelly, givvim a kiss" etc. Anyhow, I squeezed into the store along with the others and set off for the bargains, of which there were some good ones. Perfumes in particular were very cheap. I was particularly amused by the pet section, which was mostly doggie clothing for the Paris Hilton horrors out there.