Foo Fighters!!

Awesome concert at the O2 Arena in London.

They played a variety of their old and new songs. They lowered a small stage from the ceiling into the middle of the arena and played a sort of acoustic set for much of the show. This was closer to us than the main stage which was good. The guest guitarist Kaki King was fantastic, as they played Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners and she did a solo piece.

Barcelona

Got into Barcelona about mid morning.
Got into town and had breakfast with A & P
Checked into hostal and then went on a walking tour by the LP - saw La Cathedral, ??? Santa Maria del Mar, a large market hall with fresh food
Stopped halfway for tapas and then finished tour and had gelato
Then it was time for abit of shopping but unfortunately (or fortunately?) no purchases
Went for a drink and then siesta before heading out to dinner
Really salty paella, wine bar and back to tapas

Nearly had camera stolen. Sunday, breakfast at same place. Went to La Sagreda Familia and then lunch - more tapas. Then headed to Parc Guell.
Bus back down into town. Walked to waterfront, and then dinner time before it was time to head home again

Cambridge

Today we caught the train to Cambridge to see a friend from Auckland Uni who has just finished his PhD here. The first thing we noticed was the number of bicycles. This place would have to rival Amsterdam (per capita) for bicycles!

We wandered through the streets, past markets and beautiful old buildings to Trinity College (founded by King Henry VIII in 1546), which is where our friend is a resident. It has amazing courtyards, architecture and is full of character. Even though there weren't many students about, it had a lot of atmosphere and felt very prestigious and like a place with much history. We were very lucky to have a guide to show us around (and get us into places for free :-) especially those not open to the public.

The Great Court and the Wren Library (from the river)

The Wren library is a magnificent old library full of very old books, some of which are on display.

We walked further through the college, past some residences, and back through Clare College, to King's College (yes, this place is full of Colleges - 31 in fact) where we visited the King's College Chapel.




Lunchtime, so we went student style and ate at the dining hall, overlooked by portraits of Isaac Newton and Ernest Rutherford (among many others). Trinity has had some famous undergraduates such as Newton, Rutherford and several Prime Ministers. Good service from well-dressed staff and decent food made it feel very posh. Then we realised that there were undergrads everywhere. Had forgotten that they belonged here too!

After lunch we went punting with our expert punter (or whatever you call them) Dr James!

Andrew had a go too, and nobody fell in! We went past more Colleges, St Johns and Magdalene, in addition to the ones we'd already seen and under low trees and bridges.

From there we strolled through the markets and then visited Jesus College which also has a very nice Chapel. After all the punting and walking we needed a break, so had tea at a cafe by the river whilst laughing at the tourists punting (or trying to). This place must be crazy in the summer!

More markets (art markets) then a look at St John's chapel and back to King's College Chapel for Evensong. Before the service we had another wander around the grounds as the sun was going down.


Because we were with a member of a college we got to sit near the front of the chapel, not far from the choir. The service was very traditional and solemn (very unlike the service we were to attend the following day), but it was a great experience.

We had a nice Vietnamese dinner, followed by French dessert (well, it was Cafe Rouge - the service was French).

After that it was time to head home. Engineering works meant that the first 10 minutes of the train journey was replaced by 30 minutes on a coach and waiting for the train, but we finally made it home after a great day.

Stockholm

This weekend was the first weekend we had been out of the UK & Ireland for the past 8 months or so. We had booked some cheap flights ages ago to Stockholm and the day finally arrived to go. Kirsty and Dan joined us for 2 out of the 3 days that we were there.

After the flight and long bus ride we finally made it into Stockholm central station. Eventually after sorting out money and our Stockholm card we got to our accommodation which was on a boat. All 4 of us shared a room, and it was tiny. It barely fitted the 4 bunks and there was just enough room for two people to move at a time, but it was clean and was fine as it was just a place to sleep.
After sorting out bedding etc, we made our way into Gamla Stan (the Old Town) for
somelunch. We found a homely cafe and had some good food - a nice large chai latte and my pasta salad was amazing (full of olives, gherkins, sun dried tomatoes, grilled caps etc on top of the pasta). Once we had filled up, we went to check out the sights. We walked along cobbled streets with colourful buildings and saw the royal palace.





From there we headed into the main part of Stockholm where there was some event on with snowboarders and lots of prizes being handed out. Soon it was time to find a place for dinner and we headed back into Gamla Stan where we had previously seen lots of restaurants and found one which was serving elk meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberrys (traditional Swedish food). Which three of us had and was yummy.

As it was the day the RWC semis were being played (All Blacks vs France), we found an Irish pub to watch the game, to our horror and disappointment, as the All Blacks lost. Even I was upset and this is someone who's never been a big fan of rugby!

Next day we headed to the Vasa museum which is a museum containing a salvaged warship (The Vasa) from the 1600s which had been built for the king but sank because it was top heavy. It was retrieved in the 1960s and has been restored and located within the museum. It was a beautiful ship with lots of carvings. There was also a display showing the remains of some of the survivors and it appeared that there were alot of malnutrition and dental problems in those days.



After that we headed back to Gamla Stan to go through the royal palace, unfortunately there was a function on, and most of the royal apartments were closed. When we arrived we saw the changing of the guard ceremony.



We went through the Treasury and initially started with a guide but found that she wasn't great so we left the guide and went through the rest of the Treasury on our own - which wasn't that big and to be honest a little disappointing. We saw some of the royal apartments which were open and these were also a bit disappointing as they don't appear to have been maintained very well.
Anyway, following that we had tea and cake in a cafe (yum, more food :-). As Andrew & I had our Stockholm card, we were entitled to a free boat cruise, so we decided to check it out. The cruise left from the mainland and went around Djurgarden island (which is where the Vasa museum and Skansen are). It was a nice cruise and we got to see parts of Stockholm we wouldn't have seen otherwise, along with a commentary. We then joined back up with Kirsty and Dan for dinner in a nice Italian restaurant before they had to catch their flight home.



As it was now just the two of us, we had to check into another room. This time the room was on the boat next door. It was bigger than the room we had previously even though it only had 2 beds in it! There was a couch and a wardrobe too. Unfortunately the facilities on this boat weren't as clean as the last one, but we made do. Below is the view from our room.



After an early night with lots of sleep, we awoke to a brilliant sunny day. We got breakfast on the run and stored our bags at the bus station before going up the Katarina lift which had some nice views of the city. Then we checked out the Skansen museum which is a large open air museum with buildings from several parts of Stockholm over a range of years, which was interesting. There were some very quaint buildings. We also saw some wolves, a large elk, bears and lots of squirrels running around.






Then it was time to get back on the bus and head to the airport for our flight home.

Grace's last day at BCHF!

So, after over 4 years with Beca, I've decided that it is time for a change/break. I'm taking some time off just to chill out and figure out what I want to do. It feels weird to be finishing but I am also glad to be leaving. So watch this space...

Hampstead Heath Walk

It was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a walk! We had a few ideas, but turned to the internet for help. We had always wanted to check out Hampstead Heath, and found several walks on the lastminute.com website, one which went through the Heath.

We started off at Archway tube station, up the hill past the Whittington Stone and through Waterlow Park.

On the other side of the park we passed Highgate Cemetery where Karl Marx (among others) is buried. It seemed to go on forever, although it was rather creepy and overgrown in parts. On the opposite side of the road were large residential developments on private roads uniformly lined up, down the hill.

A bit out of place was this large house with a grand entrance.

We passed through the small local township, with the smell of Sunday morning cafe breakfasts, then into Hampstead Heath where we headed to the top of Parliament Hill. There was a fantastic (although slightly hazy) view of the city, not far off. It was such a contrast after the feeling of being quite remote for the last hour.

Apparently this is the bathing pond. Perhaps it's a bit more inviting in the summer?

From the other side of the Heath we strolled down to Hampstead village. This area has more millionaires than anywhere else in Britain, however it didn't appear at all pretentious. It is a gorgeous village, and as we approached it felt like we were far away from the city again.

Then it was back on the Tube to head home.