A village called Bishop Wilton

This morning we are back on the train, this time from York to London King’s Cross. We have had a lovely time out in the country side. Thank you James for having us and showing us around! It was awesome =)

On Thursday we said we were on our way to York for the weekend which was only partly true. We caught the train to York but actually stayed outside of York in a village called Bishop Wilton. The village is a 45 min bus ride from York and we really enjoyed our first taste of real English country side passing by. There are only 3 buses a day to and from Bishop Wilton so make sure you don’t miss it!

York is obviously in Yorkshire, but the county or area of Yorkshire is actually quite big and takes up most of the central part of England. Bishop Wilton is in the East Riding area of Yorkshire. We initially thought we would be in James Herriot country which is the Yorkshire Dales but learnt that he was in Thirsk which is more North of Bishop Wilton. But we were close enough to imagine him doing his rounds in the country side. Life must have been much harsher in the days before electricity and running water, especially in winter. I’m glad it wasn’t me who had to help with a calving or lambing stripped down to the waist in the middle of the night in winter with nothing but freezing cold water to wash with!

When we arrived James took us for a drive around his parish, Bishop Wilton and a few of the surrounding villages, in his new car. Bron really stuck out in her orange ski jacket but didn’t really care because it was warm! The temperature in the day was generally between -1°C and 1°C and much colder at night which is much colder than what we were used to in London. At least in Holland she will blend in in her orange jacket. Thursday evening was a quiet one hanging out at home catching up with James. James is a dab hand in the kitchen and treated us to some really good meals. We had fresh local beef and ham almost every day. The fresh veg, some straight out of the garden, and local cheese was also really good. Thanks James!

Friday we took the bus to York and had about 3 hours to explore before the last bus back. The first stop was to York Minster, the York Cathedral. It is mostly a gothic style cathedral so very similar to Westminster Abbey. It is quite big with many ornate stained glass windows. There is currently a project underway to restore the stained glass windows on the East End of the cathedral which will take another 10 years apparently, yikes! That’s a long time. They also have several masons working on the stone work of the cathedral. It is good to know that people are looking after and caring for their heritage. We didn’t go up the tower of the cathedral but it is open for visitors.

After York Minster we walked around the city and along the old city wall. A large part of the original wall remains and walking along the top of it offers great views of the city and the cathedral. York has many quaint old streets and lanes with different kinds of shops, an interesting mix of old and new.  The last stop before the bus was Clifford’s Tower, a look-out tower remaining from York Castle. We didn’t have time to go up into it but was still cool to see it.

Friday evening we had dinner at the local pub, The Fleece Inn. We both had a very generous portion of beef and mushroom pie, it literally took up the whole plate! With veg and chips on the side. Good value for money. Rob, even you would struggle with it and couldn’t help Sue with hers!

On Saturday James took us for a drive through the country to the coast. We drove via Bridlington to Flamborough where we scampered on the cliffs and walked on the beach, it was pretty chilly out there! But calm and beautiful and refreshing. On Sunday we attended the local church service given by James followed by drinks and snacks at James’s house. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in front of the fire =)

We really enjoyed meeting people in the village. Everyone here is so friendly and we felt so welcome. There is a great sense of community in the village and the parish. People help each other out and don’t keep a score card, refreshingly different from city life. At drinks on Sunday a lady recognised me as Michelle’s sister, I’ve never had that before! Lol.

Today was an early start to get to the bus on time and we will only be back in London after lunch. The rest of the day will be spent packing our bags and getting organised for the trip to Rotterdam tomorrow, another early start. Plans this week are to find a place to live in Rotterdam and register Bron so she can get a residence permit. Nothing exciting but busy and stressful! Next time we write we will hopefully be able to say that all went smoothly, that we found a place and are on our way to explore Europe! Here’s holding thumbs!

Hope you well and have a good week!

x

Bron in her ski outfit

York Minster

Typical York street

Remains of the wall that surrounded York

Standing on the wall

Clifford's Tower, remains of the York Castle

Frost

Inquisitive sheep

A typical country road 

(only room for one car at a time)

View over Bishop Wilton and the surrounds

Sunrise over Bishop Wilton

Flamborough

Justin, Bron and James

More coastal engineering interest

Something a little odd to end with

The last week in London

As we write, we are on the train from King’s Cross to York. We are off to visit our friend and Graham’s cousin, James. Surprisingly, the train is full and there are many business people aboard. The train has other stops along the way and the final destination is Newcastle, maybe people will get off along the way. To catch the 9:30 train we had to brave peak time tubes, not fun if you have a big backpack! Still easier and better than the clack-clack of a suitcase with wheels! Londoners are so aggressive on the trains and really couldn’t care what you are carrying, it is mind boggling.  

As our time with Shell and Graham draws to an end, we are feeling rather sad. This is the longest time that Shell and Bron have ‘lived’ together in some years and it has been so awesome. We go to York today, get back to London at lunch time on Monday and then fly to Amsterdam on Tuesday. Another early start and rush hour tubes to look forward to, oh yay. So we have no more time for sight-seeing in London but think we have done well. We missed out on a few things on our to-see list but this isn’t the last time we will be in London. Things to catch next time include Tate Britain, Camden Town and Tower of London.

Our sight-seeing this week has been hampered by Bron having a stomach bug on Sunday night and not being able to go out on Monday. Other news is we have booked a ski trip to Austria! SO excited!! We are doing the Contiki ski tour for a week in Hopfgarten from 19 Feb. Can’t wait! So on Tuesday we headed out and managed to get all the clothes we need for skiing (ski jacket and pants, thermals, gloves, hats and goggles) at one shop for a real steal at the sales. Definitely would not have been able to buy what we did in SA for the price we paid here, were super lucky!

On Wednesday afternoon we watched The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London. What an amazing show!! We really enjoyed it. Bron admits to being a little tearful at the African-ness of the show, the reminder of home and what we have left behind. The costumes and stage work were simply amazing. If you get a chance to see this show in SA, go see it!! It really is worth it.

We have also managed to catch up with friends from SA this week. On Sunday Justin met up with a group of UCT friends in Wimbledon (Lisa, Rob, Jon, Jean, Lindel and Julie) and on Tuesday with a friend from school (Richard). Ken joined us for dinner on Monday night and we had coffee with Justin’s cousin Nicola and her Mom Barbara last night. So another busy week seeing people but it was good as it was our last opportunity for this time round.

We are still waiting for Bron’s birth certificate to arrive despite the post office at home assuring us it would take only 48 hours. It has now been 7 days and we are hoping it makes it here by Monday! So much for speed service couriers… next time we will totally use a different provider. Will keep you posted next week on the apartment in Rotterdam front.

Till next time!

x

PS: A pic of Bron in her new orange ski jacket to follow soon!

Cambridge, Stonehenge and Paddington Bear

Last week Sunday we went to Cambridge for the day to visit Bron's UCT friend Bronwen Aken and her boyfriend Malcolm. Bron and Mal were great guides and showed us around the city centre. Most people associate Cambridge with the university which is spread out around the whole city centre much like Stellenbosch is. The system works a bit differently there and you need to apply to and be accepted at an independent 'college' (basically a student residence) first before applying to the university itself. There are many colleges in Cambridge most of which are closed to the public but there are a few where you can walk around the grounds. Probably the most prestigious and well known is King's College. The chapel is open to visitors and also offers a view of the college. We didn't go in but where able to see into some of the colleges when we walked along the river behind them. We had lunch at The Eagle Pub where Watson and Crick announced that they had discovered the structure of DNA and 'found the secret of life'. Apparently they frequented the pub everyday. Other things we saw were the round church, the corpus or grasshopper clock, many colleges and churches, the backs and the only hill with a view over Cambridge which is pretty flat. After exploring for the day it was time to head back to London. Thanks Bron and Mal! It was awesome to see you! =)

This week we continued touring around London doing touristy things. Last week was quite warm (12°C) but the temperature has dropped a lot this week and it has been pretty cold. Monday morning was raining and we couldn't brave it so we had a quiet morning at home catching up with ourselves. It stopped raining in the afternoon so Shell took us to Richmond Park where we had a lovely stroll around. We saw many deer and and enjoyed watching them. We also saw King Henry's Mound so named because Henry VIII had a clearing made on a little hill through which to see St Paul's Cathedral which has been kept clear to the present day. After the park Shell took us to a cosy tea place called The Tea Box where you can try many different types of tea. We had yummy afternoon tea and scones. 

On Tuesday we headed to North Greenwich and the Thames Barrier. The Thames Barrier is the flood protection for London that has been operational since 1983. You can see the barrier on the river but can't access it but there is a very informative museum with a model of how the gates work. It was really interesting and the coastal engineer in our group really enjoyed it! Even if you're not a coastal engineer it is interesting. 

After the Thames Barrier we headed to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, home to the Meridian Line. It really is just a line on the ground but great to see none the less. There is also a little museum which explains the history of establishing the line, longitude, how to tell time and how important it was for sailors. Just down the hill is the National Maritime Museum which we explored till closing time. 

On Tuesday evening we had a great dinner with Justin's cousin Nicola and her husband Mike at their place in Putney. Thanks for a kewl evening guys! We met up with Justin's friend Ken from school days in Natal on Wednesday and just took it easy catching up and hanging out. It was also very cold and we didn't feel the need to be outside!! 

Thursday we met up with Ken again this time at the Imperial War Museum. The museum is huge (6 floors) with an impressive collection of war artefacts including General Montgomery's tank that he used in Africa during the second world war. We wandered around the lower ground floor which houses galleries on the first world war, second world war and Monty: master of the battlefield. The exhibitions are really good and also include a history on what happened in the lead up to both wars. Bron also walked through the Holocaust exhibition and the Secret war, an exhibition on espionage and secret agencies like MI5 and MI6, while Justin and Ken had a snack. On Thursday evening we went back to Richmond with Shell to have dinner with Justin's friend from UCT, Martin, and his fiance, Kirsten. We had a great dinner and enjoyed catching up. 

On Friday we went to the Borough Market which is a fresh produce and farmer's market in London city. We enjoyed wondering around and trying out some different foods. We found an Australian who makes and sells South African biltong in London! Was pretty funny. Apparently the SABC filmed him a while ago. After Borough Market we made our way to Westminster Abbey for Choral Evensong. We enjoyed evensong but  maybe we were a bit spoilt by going to St. Paul's first. The Abbey is a lovely church but not as ornate inside as St. Paul's. It was still beautiful though and a good time to be quiet and reflect. 

Shell, Bron and Justin headed to Hungerford via Paddington early on Saturday morning to visit Justin's aunt Sue and her husband Gary. They fetched us from the train station and after a refresh cup of tea and a snack we headed out to Stonehenge. It was really cold out there even though we had several layers on. Many tourists were out despite the cold weather. One used to be able to wander around the stones but they have since been cordoned off and you can't get super close anymore. Entrance includes an audio guide which is informative on the known history of the site. It is always quite interesting listening to people's ideas of what these ancient sites were used for and why they were built when there is very little known about them. It was quite special being able to be there but a sunny day probably would have been better.

Sue and Gary treated us to a home cooked meal after we had got back and thawed out complete with champagne. Then it was time to brave the two hour journey and head home. Thanks for a special day out guys! It was great.  

This week we have also started on the admin part of our holiday and began looking for a place to stay in Rotterdam. Hoping we have some positive responses before we get there! Also had to ask Bron's Dad to speed courier her birth certificate to her this week so she can register in Rotterdam. You just got to love last minute admin and stress.

We have mostly got through our tourist to-do-list for London. Plans for the week ahead include Tate Britain , The Lion King musical on Wednesday and going to York on Thursday for the weekend. The rest we will make up as we go along! Hope you have a good week!

Till next time!

x

Bron, Bron and Mal at The Back's in Cambridge

Corpus Clock

Plaque in The Eagle Pub

King's College Cambridge

King's College Cambridge

River Cam

Punting on the River Cam

Round Church in Cambridge

Deer in Richmond Park

Richmond Park

Thames Barrier

Greenwich Meridian Line

Greenwich Meridian Line

Interesting goods or sale at the Borough market

The Borough Market

Empanadas!!

Justin enjoying a German snack at the Borough market

An Australian Selling South African biltong in England!  

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben and The London Eye at night

Swaddled twins at Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Bron, Shell, Sue and Gary

Exactly what the sign says...

Blogging for Getaway

A lady at Justin's photoclub put us in touch with a lady at Getaway Magazine with the idea to blog for them on our travels. After lots of emails we have finally sent them our first blog!

You can check it out at http://www.getaway.co.za/. At the top on the right click on 'blog' and it is there amongst the recent posts. You may have to click on older posts or next page or something if it isn't in the first list. The page is pretty easy to navigate so look around if you can't find it. You can also use www.getaway.co.za/page/blog to go straight to the blog page.

The first post is on our time in Dubai. The material will be similar to what is covered on this blog but we have added extra bits about accomodation, tips 'n tricks on getting around and some other things. We will definitely be continuing the clog blog so don't worry, but check out the getaway blog sometimes too. Soon to follow will be our time in Dublin and London.

We are not sure how it all works yet, just taking it as it comes. Not sure if we need to have a big following to keep blogging for them. Will let you know if we need to call in the re-inforcements! Apparently they are always looking for bloggers so if you have something intereseting to blog about let them know! Apparently the food and recipe pages are the most popular, time will tell!

We are having a good week so far. Yesterday we went to the Thames Barrier in Greenwich. We also saw the Greenwich Meridian Line and the Maritime Museum, Last night we had dinner with Justin's cousins Mike & Nicola at their place in Putney. Right now we are on our way to see Ken, a friend of Justin's from natal. But more about our week next time!

Hope yours has been a goodie!  

x

London Tourists

London has felt warmer this week. Not sure if that is because it is warmer or due to the fact that Ireland was much colder or maybe we are finally acclimatising!

Shell has Monday and Tuesdays off so we hung out together on Tuesday. After a late start we headed into Town to the National Theatre where photographs from Landscape Photographer of the year were on display. Some really stunning images that got us inspired! You can view some of the pics here: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/61965/exhibitions/take-a-view-landscape-photographer-of-the-year-2010.html.

Next we headed to Hampton Court Palace. It was already quite late and we couldn't justify the 15 pounds each to get in so we wandered around the garden instead which was enough to get an idea of Tudor court life. If the garden is anything to go by, the Tudor court must have been very extravagant indeed! The gardens are massive & immaculate, even in winter. We enjoyed wandering around and even managed to find the 300 year old grape vine, the oldest in the world apparently. We decided that it would be best to come back for a proper visit in Spring or Summer.

After trying to have an early start every day and failing miserably so far we have given up and are focusing on doing just one or two things a day.

Wednesday we headed to the Science Museum in South Kensington. Both being interested in science we were really keen to see this museum but were a bit disappointed in the end. It is a great museum with some really good collections but we were expecting something else. The displays are aimed at children and there isn't much science explained at all. As a museum, the collections are impressive but there is very little explanation of the science behind the discoveries. For instance there are rooms dedicated to the production of steam, flight and ships through the ages, but no where does it explain how steam is generated or how flight works. Science is about the how & why it works, without that there is no science. Maybe we are too fussy... On the upside though, as a non-science person the museum is really accessible. Having said that, we enjoyed the space, ships and flight displays.

We ran out of time to see The Natural History Museum on Wednesday so headed back to South Kensington on Thursday to explore. This museum we really enjoyed and highly recommend it!! The building itself is very impressive. It is massive and elaborate, both inside and out. The museum has collections of just about every living thing, even extinct species. It also has an impressive collection of fossils and many replicas of fossils from around the world. We enjoyed the dinosaur, mammals, blue whale, giant sequoia, tree and fossil marine reptiles galleries. The displays in the central hall, such as the giant Diplodocus skeleton, are also worth a look. Don't forget to look up at the ceiling!

The museum isn't only a record and storage house, there is an ongoing effort to collect and study samples at the Darwin Centre which is a state-of-the-art science and collections facility. The museum has done well to make science accessible to the public and demystify some of it. At the museum you can walk through 'the coccoon' which is the Darwin Centre, or at least part of it, and see the scientific process of sample collection, storage and study. A lot of it is interactive and you can view scientists at work and sometimes ask them questions. It really is well done.

On Friday we spent most of the afternoon at St Paul's Cathedral. It is a beautiful cathedral, inside and out. The entrance fee includes an audio guide which is very kewl. It talks you through all the interesting points of the cathedral and its history. If you have any questions, there are many cathedral staff and vicars walking around whom are most friendly and helpful. There are 2 min prayers every hour for many things including for peace and the world. The cathedral is still an active church and there are services there every day which anyone can join. We were fortunate enough to still be there for Choral Evensong at 5pm. It really was special and moving listening to the choir (mostly boys with a few older guys for the bass) sitting underneath the dome and whispering gallery. It was refreshing and calming to sit still for a little while and focus on God and Christ, especially after all the missioning we have been doing lately. After attending Evensong, we can appreciate traditions of set prayers and worship throughout the day and how they help to set a rhythm to one's day, week and life. We still want to get to Westminster Abbey and hopefully make Evensong there too.

On Friday evening, Shell, Bron & Justin went to an acapella concert held at Kings Place in Kings Cross. There was a guest appearance by Shell's favourite acapella group, The Swingle Singers. If you haven't heard of them, check out this you-tube link for the welcome back they did at Heathrow airport for a T-mobile add: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYrb8JYscw0. This is the song they sang last night but they also did it in an underground tube previosuly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdHphy_OZGI. I'm sure you will recognize it ;~)

This weekend our activities include Justin going to a photo expo with Shell and his aunt Sue and her husband Gary, Bron shopping in Oxford Street and a day trip to Cambridge to see Bron's friend from UCT Bronwen Aken.



Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun for us!!

x

Tribute to Nelson Mandela, near Waterloo station 

Funky doors somewhere in London 

Twins outside Waterloo station

Gardens at Hampton Court Palace

Natural History Museum by day

Natural History Museum by night

The Central Hall of The Natural History Museum

Earth Hall at The Natural History Museum

St Paul's Cathedral

Views of London from the Golden Gallery at St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's at sunset