Catchup with Kumuka people in London

Today we met up with some people from our Kumuka tour. We caught the bus to Trafalgar Square and had a look around there (Nelson's Column, National Gallery). We were supposed to meet them in Charing Cross tube station just underneath the square. Unfortunately there are two parts to the station so we were all in different places! It's also very hard to find out where other people are when you are underground and mobile phones don't work!.
But we found them eventually.












We headed to Leicester Square to grab some lunch at an Italian place and caught up with everyone's news.

After that one of the girls wanted to check out the New Zealand store in Covent Garden (its actually a combined NZ, Aus. South African and Canadian store). There we found all the things we can't get in a normal supermarket, like L&P, Tim Tams, Marmite etc etc. We'll definitely be going back there when we are craving for some NZ things.



From there we headed back to Embankment Pier. We split up at this point as a couple wanted to do the Tower of London and the rest of us decided on a circular cruise on the Thames. It was a beautiful day for a cruise though very cold as we sat on the open top deck to see all the sights.
The cruise went down the river past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, past the Tower of London, under Tower Bridge and many many more (too many to remember).











After the cruise we walked from Westminster pier to Whitehall and walked past the Banqueting House which one of the girls wanted to go into, so we checked it out. It was built by Inigo Jones in the early 17th-century, after a commission from James I. It has an amazing ceiling, painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
(not allowed to take photos, or steal them, so here's a link)

We wanted to watch the new James Bond movie but couldn't seem to find a theatre which was showing it! So in the end, we got some dinner at an Indonesian place and headed home.

We have internet at home!!!

WE GOT INTERNET INSTALLED TODAY. YAY!!!

It's been so long and is really frustrating not being able to look things up, send emails and update the blog!!

Allyson & Paul's whirlwind visit

Allyson and Paul were at our place when we got back from Berlin. Since we had work we hardly saw them and they only stayed two nights before they had to go again. Won't be long before we are back in NZ and will see everyone again.

Back to Berlin

The alarm went at 1:45am, after not much sleep. We were out the door by 2:25 for a 2:41 train to Victoria. From there we walked to the coach station and had a 1hr15 coach trip to Stansted airport. The joys of cheap airfares at silly times of the day! The airport was busy and security checks very tight. Our backpack was searched and tested for explosives (there were a few gadgets in there :-). We just made it to the plane on time, although got delayed by other passengers.

Once in Berlin (Shonefeld) we caught the S-bahn (suburban rail) but had to change to catch a bus for one stop because a section of track was down for planned maintenance. In total it took 9 hours in total to get to hostel in Berlin!

Dan and Beck's gave up waiting for us at the hostel (understandably!) so we wandered down the road looking for lunch. We found a shopping centre with a cafeteria but they didn't speak english so there was a lot of pointing and nodding!

Back at the hostel we met Dan & Becks & Dan's school friend Sascha. Sascha was new to Berlin (from Barvaria) so we were all keen to have a look around. It was good having German translator too!

We went to the flash new Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and tried to get cheap train tickets to Wolfsburg to visit Autostadt (VW museum and factory). We were too late for cheap tickets so decided not to go.




From there we walked to the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, a long walk down to the Siegesaule and back, then back to the Reichstag where we caught the elevator and spiral walkway up to the very top. It was dark (and cold) by this stage but had a great view over Berlin beautifully lit.
















We went back to Sascha's flat for dinner which was a couple of HUGE (50cm) pizzas, gluhwein, chocolate, Lebkucken (like gingerbread) and other junk food! We played cards and learnt our German numbers as we tried scoring ourselves (good excuse when we got the numbers wrong).

We caught bus and U-bahn (underground train) back to hostel. The buses are very punctual and have a display so that you know what the next stop is, so you know when to get off!

We had a late start on Sunday, after quite a late night. We met Dan, Becks & Sascha at Holocaust memorial to go through museum underneath the ground. It was a good museum though fairly intense with lots of information (as is common to museums like these). It was still raining once we got out, and decided that it was time to have some lunch. So we had some German food in a nearby cafe - Andrew tried Weisswurst, a white veal and pork sausage that is boiled which you have to peel the skin (made of pork guts) off to eat. (which Grace thought was a bit strange).

Following lunch we headed to Warschauer Str to see the East Side Gallery and walked the entire length to Ostbahnhof which isn't too long but when you're in the rain, it can feel like forever! So needless to say we were rather wet at the end of it.





So it was the perfect time to then get along to Fassbender & Rausch (the chocolate shop with large chocolate sculptures of famous Berlin landmarks) for some hot chocolate! And cake. They had some interesting flavoured hot chocolates, Grace tried a hot chocolate with chilli in it, she didn't like it very much.









After purchasing some chocolates for later consumption we headed back to Sascha's for dinner again, and cards. Then it was time to say goodbye to Dan & Becks as they were going to Autostadt the next day.

On Monday, we checked out Potsdamer Platz, and did some shopping! Soon it was time to head back to London, and the 9 hours it took us to get home. We caught the Stansted Express back to Liverpool St and then bus home.

Visitors arrived (some human, some not!)

This morning as we got ready to go to the airport, Grace saw a mouse running around the house.

She was worried that I didn't believe her, but I did. We also found some droppings, so there was definitely no doubt!

We had to rush off to the train, to get to the tube, to get to Heathrow. A bit of a mission, especially when the tube has to wait for 10 mins in a tunnel for a space on the platform. The same distance could have been walked overground in about 5 mins.

Getting from Heathrow tube station to the Terminal was another mission. Several long tunnels with travelators. It felt like we were never going to get there. But we made it, and found Allyson and Paul (and Paul's brother David and soon-to-be-wife Emma - they are over for the wedding).

We got our suitcase that Allyson and Paul had kindly dragged all the way from Auckland (via Thailand, Melbourne and Singapore) using their "Gold" frequent flyer benefits of excess luggage allowance :-)

On our way home we bought some mouse traps to attempt to catch the little vermin. It was like Christmas all over again when we unpacked all our (mainly winter clothing) things, having forgotten what we had packed in there.

More shopping

London has 24 hour supermarkets. Unfortunately, this means 24 hours Monday morning until Saturday night. Sunday is left out and all you get is 11am-5pm. Most shops are open late during the week, but Sunday, no. 11-5 is all you get. We bought an airing rack so we could finally wash some clothes, a broom, a trolley bag (now we look like senior citizens when we wheel our groceries home) and more stuff from Debenhams!! It was pissing with rain, but we just have to get used to it. There is some pretty awful weather coming our way soon.

I think we got close to spending in the three figure mark this weekend, but we have all the essentials, and more.

Our first home cooked dinner tonight!

We have a home!

Grace woke up not feeling too good this morning. Lack of sleep and stress is getting to us both.

Andrew caught the tube to Victoria station and walked down the road to Hertz to pick up the rental car. We booked a Ford Mondeo sized car but the first offering I got was a Saab convertible. When I reached the car and saw exactly what it was, I though "cool" (it would have been a pretty cool car) then turned around and went back inside and told them that I really wanted a four door car with some boot space. They then offered me a Ford Focus wagon or a Volvo wagon. I had to take the Volvo, so we ended up with a Volvo V70 turbo-diesel station wagon. It was a pretty quick car, and had plenty of space. Luxury!!

Picked up Grace, went to the letting agents office, signed the contract, drove to the house, met the landlord again and went though the house with the inventory clerk. I was expecting: 1 sofa, check. 1 table, check... But in reality it was: that window pane is cracked, there are finger marks around that light switch. She noticed every minor flaw in the place. Stuff I never would have seen. It's good though, we can't be blamed for the minor damage around the place. Not sure if this is normal, since it's our first time renting. First time away from our 'home'!!

Once that was all complete, we were officially in our new place. Ahhhh.. what a relief. Well, almost. We drove back to the hostel and loaded up the wagon and brought all our stuff. We didn't have that much, although had begun to collect some 'house stuff'. Traffic was getting quite busy so travelling around took some time. Next stop was Croydon for Ikea (only 15 miles away, but took over half an hour). We got our plates, cups, glasses, duvet, cover, pillows etc. No sheets, because it wasn't possible to get 2 sheets and some pillow cases in any one colour!! When we got back (another slow drive - they have way too many pedestrian crossings here) we went to Debenhams (department store) and bought sheets. Only £9.75 for King size sheets, so it didn't matter that they wouldn't fit our double bed, the main thing is they were cheap. We said that we were only buying sheets, well as usual we came out with way more than we intended. A wok, bowls, water filter jug... Still not done, we went to Asda (superstore/supermarket) and bought more kitchen stuff and of course, some food! No time for cooking so Subway for dinner.

Relief, it's all sorted

After a stressful night, calling our banks and Baycorp in New Zealand, we had a plan to solve our rental problem. Thanks to those in NZ who offered some invaluable advice.

We agreed with the letting agency that we would try and get credit references from NZ and put down 2 more weeks deposit on the rental. Our banks were very obliging and after we faxed them, they faxed back within the day (Friday NZ time). Baycorp were a little slower with our credit checks, but we had sufficient information.

We spent all morning talking (and arguing) with the letting agent about all the problems we have had, and we finally went to the house and met the landlord. It was good to check that everything was in order at the flat, and to meet the landlord.

Fingers crossed for no more last minute issues!

No place to live

Grace had a phone call from work today from the manager of the letting agency. The lady said that the landlord didn't accept our credit check so we couldn't move in. This was not an unreasonable response from the landlord, considering that we don't have any credit history in the UK, but not TWO DAYS before we are due to move in!!! The credit check came back good, which actually meant that there was nothing 'bad' on our record (it's hard to have anything bad when you don't have anything at all). There was bad communication between the agency and the landlord, so we all thought he was happy, but then when he finally saw the report, he was not.

Hostel & Chicago

We have moved into a hostel for the next couple of weeks before moving into our flat. Hostel is ok, but can get noisy when other people walk around since there are wooden floors and reverberating corridors. We get free breakfast which consists of cereal and toast - all in all not too bad.

We went and saw our first West End musical tonight - Chicago with Ashlee Simpson. Our friend Trudy (whom we met at Rob's flat) and who used to go to the same intermediate as Grace (small world) came with us. Before the show we had dinner with Trudy as well as Rob & Debbie and caught up with their news.

Andrew starts work!

Andrew started work today - quite hard after 9 weeks off!
And Grace had a site visit to Horsham (near Redhill and Gatwick) for work. A nice day out of the city!

A little London outing

We visited our friend Kirsty in the Isle of Dogs today. We took the tube to Monument and checked out the Monument to the Great Fire of London. We were supposed to meet Kirsty here but as the weather wasn't so flash, we decided to meet at her flat instead. From there we were planning on catching the DLR from Bank to her place, however due to engineering works, that part of the line was not operating. We had to take another tube to Canary Wharf, which meant that we got to see the posh buildings in that area. We finally made it to Island Gardens where Kirsty picked us up from the station back to her place.

After having a chat we decided to go over to Greenwich, the walk started off in fine-ish weather and slowly deteriorated, but we managed to get to the Greenwich foot tunnel before it got really awful.
At the other end, we saw the Cutty Sark, and found a market (in a warehouse type building) which we browsed as it poured with rain outside. We then headed to Cafe Rouge for some hot chocolate to warm up - not before entering a Mexican cafe and deciding that this wasn't really the place for a hot chocolate. Due to finding hair in our bread and dips and paper in Andrew's hot chocolate, we managed to fill ourselves on a rather cheap lunch!

We have found a place!

After nearly two weeks of flat hunting - and we were getting desperate by this stage as Rob was coming back soon, we finally found a place.

But it has not all been without pain, and we have come to realise that rental agents are useless and hopeless as well as bastards who want to get as much money out of you as possible.

Anyhow onto the good news, we have found a nice two bedroom maisonette near Clapham Junction station (Britain's busiest train station). This is handy for both of us as Andrew can hop on a train out to Redhill while I catch a train into Waterloo, and take the Waterloo & City line tube from there to Bank.
But as with all good news there is also bad news, while we initially thought that we could move in a week+ time, we have been told that we can't move in till the 21st of Oct. While we had the option of letting this place go and finding another one, we liked it a lot so we have decided to take it. This does mean though that we would have to find alternative accommodation for two weeks as Rob gets back on the 8th.

Grace goes to Coventry for work

Just a short note to say that I have had my first out of London work experience. I went out to a plant in Kennilworth (near Coventry) today to do an inspection of some mechanical plant for a landfill site in New Zealand. This is for a project being done by our office in Christchurch.

It was fun - I learnt a bit about processing of methane gas today.

A week in London

We have now been in London for just over a week. Thanks to Rob for letting us stay in his room while he's away in sunny Greece.

The first few days were spent catching up on sleep and clearing the backlog of laundry - thank goodness for washing machines.

We caught up with a friend who was over visiting from NZ, and we happened to bump into a couple of people from the tour at Earl's Court tube station! We also caught up with a friend who has just moved from NZ.

Grace started work with Beca a couple of days ago, the same company that we both worked for in NZ. Andrew has accepted a job with Black & Veatch (a large American engineering consultancy) and is due to start in early Oct. So he has been landed with the wonderful task of finding us a flat and cooking dinner!

The flat hunting is pretty depressing as there are some rather horrible places out there at some not so nice prices.

Brugge to Paris to London :-(

Today was our last day on tour :-( We had a group photo before leaving Brugge, and then drove to Paris. We said goodbye to a large group of people at Gare du Nord station where we were catching our train back to London. Some were continuing onto Spain, others were staying in Paris. And some were going to London with us!




We chilled out in the lounge at the station before getting our train.

We managed to pass the 2.5 hours on the train pretty quickly by playing the name game, which kept us all rather amused.



We had more goodbyes to say when we arrived in London, but it has been a fantastic tour and we have really enjoyed it.

Amsterdam to Brugge

On our way out of Amsterdam we stopped at a windmill, and more importantly a cheese and clogs factory. Outside was this weird basket. We think it's for throwing rubbish into without having to stop.
















First we saw cheese...








... then we made clogs









We got to taste some cheese, wine and a few other local goodies too.

Brugge:








We tried some Belgian waffles with chocolate and caramel sauce - recommended by Eleni, which were delicious!
We had to get some Belgian chocolate whilst here. Dumon was a nice little shop with friendly staff (and free samples :-) unlike another shop which has a strict "no browsing" policy (go in, buy it, get out - no mucking around or you get kicked out)

Amsterdam

This morning we caught a tram into the city with some others in the group. First we visited Anne Frank's House Museum. It was really fascinating looking through the house and reading all the snippets of information from her diary and accounts of friends of the family. We thought it was a good museum as it had enough information but not too much information as one often finds in museums.



A statue of Anne Frank outside the museum.


From there, we ran a couple of errands - posted some postcards and exchanged some money before heading to the centraal station - a sister station to Liverpool St station in London.

We then headed down the main shopping drag - Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat, where we found this amazing food "market" which sold all sorts of freshly prepared food for lunch from panini's, baguettes, to hot cooked food like soup, stirfrys and the list goes on. The food was delicious!

Just a nice picture of one of the many canals in the city.

After lunch we decided to check out the flower markets which we were told to be something worth seeing. However we were pretty disappointed as we discovered stalls which while still sold flowers were selling a lot more bulbs and cacti - and wasn't quite what we were expecting which was a large display of flowers of varying colours.



Amsterdam is also famous for its bicycles - check out the left hand photo for a multi-level parking for bikes alone!





We made a quick stop at the library for some free internet and then made our way to the Heineken Experience. It was really good including some history, motion simulator through the bottling process and one on a horse & cart through Amsterdam city, and other interactive activities such as DJ'ing and karaoke. The tour also included free beers along the way!







After that, while passing some time before dinner, we tried some Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Very yummy but very expensive!

Dinner was a Chinese buffet. Following which we had our last party night on a boat cruising down the canals in Amsterdam.

Berlin to Amsterdam

There are a lot of wind farms in Europe, especially noticable in Germany. On our way to Amsterdam at one of our rest stops, we saw a wind turbine being transported. These things are huge when you see them close-up. Just one blade takes a whole truck (quite a long one at that).





We had a brief walking tour of Amsterdam before the group split and got dinner while some others went off to a show (an X rated show as you would expect in Amsterdam).










Following that Eleni took us for a walk around the red-light district. A very interesting experience!

Berlin

First thing today was a group coach tour with our local guide Wilfred. He was a great guide and we drove around lots of different parts of the city, from residental to central city and showed us both East and West and the differences between the two. We stopped at the East Side Gallery, a long strip of the wall that remains and had been painted/graffitied and looks very cool. Across the road was the Grand Chapiteau of Cirque du Soleil.










Next stop was the Brandenburg Gate. Nearby we saw a memorial with lots of rectangular blocks commemorating the people who died in the Holocaust.




We were hoping to stop at the flash new Hauptbahnhof (central train station) but there were so many people outside that we would certainly have lost someone. Further along we could see the Reichstag, Siegessäule Monument, Potzdamer Platz and one of the Zoo's fancy gates to name a few. We finished at Checkpoint Charlie where some of the group went through the museum. Grace pretended to be our tour leader and organised tickets at group rates so we could come back later.

Some others got back on the coach and went to the Zoo. They weather was amazing so a day at the Zoo seemed like a great idea. Having been to the Singapore zoo not that long ago, this wasn't that amazing, but it was good to see the Bears, several Polar Bears, 2 Panda Bears, White Wolves and lots of big cats.



















































Near the Zoo is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-kirche which has become an icon of Berlin. It was damaged by the war and is a fascinating building.










We then headed off to AlexanderPlatz to go up the TV tower. It was a shame that on such a beautiful clear day our view was ruined by filthy windows. It was a good view though, and in particular we noticed that when you looked up and down the old border between east and west you could see a distinct change.

















We caught the U-Bahn back to Checkpoint Charlie and went through the museum. It was very interesting, describing the wall and showing how people tried to escape to their family on the other side. Some would hide in cars or furniture. There was even a human catapult attempt to get over the wall! We were planning on going up the spiral ramp to the top of the dome of the Reichstag but were too tired so headed home.