Day 44 - ENG

We had a few things to do today but Windsor Castle was our main destination. Julie, Sarah and I met Lauren and Kristy at Clapham Junction and we trained it to the station near Windsor and Eton. First stop however was a cafe for some morning tea. Shortly after we reached the castle and joined a walking tour around the main precints. The Royal standard was flying which indicated that the Queen was in residence however as she didn't come greet us personally, I doubt she was and someone stuffed up.

Can you tell I washed my hair today?

One of the popular things to view there was the Queens Dollhouse. I'm not sure it was entirely all it cracked up to be but good to see none the less. One things for sure, if the Queen can dedicate a chunk to it then I can dedicate a room in the townhouse to Lego! Sarah was keen on checking out the chapel there as King Henry VIII was laid to rest next to Jane Seymore as she's mildly obsessed with this Hen-Rye chap. Actually, tonight she went and saw the latest movie about him (or the Boleyn sisters really).

I found the throne and I even sat on it!

At this point Julie and I left as she had an appointment around Clapham for a dress fitting for Brooke's wedding. On the way out I managed to tick another of my tourist check boxes much to the embarassment of my better half.

Josh... do you think I'd make it as a cop?

After arriving at Clapham Junction, we headed for the dress shop via Nando's. I was only a late convert to Nando's back home (thanks to Josh, Jonno and Richard) and we both enjoyed our meal. We made it to the shop and Julie tried on some unimaginable number of dresses and asked me for my expert opinion. She fancied three of the six she had to chose from and managed to reduce it to one which did look good on her.

The others returned from Windsor just as we were leaving the dress shop so we headed to Sarah's to get ready for tonight. Sarah was off to the movie's and Julie and I were heading into town for dinner with Kate and Tim. Kate had suggested a Latin place and we met them there. Nice food and good company made for an enjoyable dinner. Kate and Tim had a party to attend afterwards so we bid them farewell and walked along the Thames, over Westminster Bridge and around Westminster Abby before heading to Victoria Station where we bussed it to Sarah's. We beat her home so we packed our gear for tomorrow and hit the hay.

Another drunk looking Kate photo : )

It kinda looks photoshopped but trust me, we were there
and it's just a rare dud photo I take

Day 43 - ENG

Although we woke on time, it was still a bit of a rush this morning. Julie gets a lift to school with Natacha but the time she get's to the house varies so Julie always rushes to get ready and then has to sit around for her ride. Natacha arrived and I got a lift to Chafford Hundred. I was tasked with getting tickets for Lord of the Rings from a half price mob. Sadly and worryingly enough I kinda got lost coming out of Fenchurch St. Station. There's two exits and I could never work out where this other one surfaced. I wandered around the stupid gerkin / cucumber / whatever building for about 20 odd mins. I was annoyed and worried as I thought the ticket place opened at 8 and I knew I'd cop an earful if I didn't secure us seats.

Guilty as charged!

Finally got onto the Metropolitan line at Aldgate and man, that station sucks. Circle line is intermittent and hardly any Metro trains operate. I think I was there for about 20 mins before I got out. I ended up going some silly direction to Kings Cross and then down to Leicester. Finally made it there around 9:40 and turned out the place didn't open till 10 and I was about 10th in the queue. All good in the end, got the tickets and then I headed to Hampton Court Palace.

The entrance to the palace

Sarah had been at me to make sure I'd visited this place. It's a court that had been built by Cardinal Wolsey but was confiscated by figure in Sarah's eye - King Hen-Rye VIII. So I trained it from Waterloo and got there around 11. It's an impressive place in a nice area with some neat gardens. I could understand why he took it from Wolsey when he branded him a traitor. I did two tours which although had different names, went to the same places and talked about the same stuff... bit disappointing. Strolled around the rooms and then the gardens. I even walked through the maze and got to the middle.

One of the courtyards

Part of the gardens

I bailed and tried to get to Temple Church before four when it closes however when I arrived, it turned out that it was closed today anyway. I don't know much about it apart from it being the only surviving circle church in England, was built by the Templar Knights and featured in The Da Vinvi Code. I still had some spare time so I squeezed the National Portrait Gallery in until I was to meet the othres. I don't know which one however Sarah says one of her earlier house mates has a photo in there which the gallery bought after it was displayed. Quite a bit of stuff there too.

Temple Church. Just like Wales... it was closed

Then it was time to meet Julie. She was coming in later than desired but we met and found Sarah and grabbed a bit for dinner and then we were off to West End for the show. And what a show it was. Well, it was pretty good. The orcs were moving around with either arm or leg extensions allowing them to run along like apes or bounce around and do flips with the fight scenes. It (like the books and movies) was long but it moved with pace and unlike the other two shows I saw with Sarah, I didn't drift off.

After it was over we headed to Sarah's to stay as tomorrow we were off to the home of the Queen - Windsor Castle!

Day 33 - ENG

Ahh... today was a bit of a 'mission' day. If you really want to hear about it, email me however after I tell you that Sarah would call me a 'sap' and Gavin would ask 'why the hell did you do that', I don't expect to hear from anyone.

The next part of the day was to be seeing U2 in 3D at the IMAX however as the C2C train service had my first train running 45 mins late, I didn't get there in time so I ended walking around the Tower Hill area.

Makes me want to go find my castle Lego

Had a late lunch and headed to my vantage point for some more time-lapse. No police interest this time though.

No points for guessing what I did the time-lapse off

Bet you didn't think it spun this fast!

Afterwards I managed to make it back to Tower Hill to join a Jack the Ripper tour. Which was a bit of a shame as it proved to have been an awesome night for photography. It was another 2.5hrs of walking but I'm not complaining. It was quite interesting and I've had too much hot chocolate and good food to not want to walk it off. This tour is run by ex-Befeaters and it was well presented. The guy built up the tension nicely and at one point I thought it was going to get messy because two other rival tour groups arrived at the same location at the same time as us. It looked like it was going to be a Mexican Standoff, like what they have in Mexico sometimes. They also include their own spin on it including what the FBI (Federal Bloody Idiots?) profilers think. Turns out it was Colonel Mustard in the dinning room with the lead pipe! Just kidding, if you come over, it's a tour worth doing.

Day 27 - ENG

Cookie says...
Today turned out to be a mission. We made a B line for Chepstow Castle and then to Tintern Abbey before heading to Bath. Tintern Abby was an impressive structure and would have been amazing at the peak of it's use.

Inside Chepstow Castle

Tintern Abby

Unfortunately when we arrived in Bath, I had 40 minutes until I had to be on a train so Bath will have to wait for another time. Hopefully Brendan takes a chance to nose around a little. Brendan and I went our seperate ways at the station and I trained it to Paddington. It didn't feel like it took too long as I was doing nerd stuff on the computer. Once at Paddington I tubed it to Edgeware Road (pointless ride) then to Liverpool St Station then to Tower Hill where I walked to Fenchurch Street Station and then an overland train to Chafford Hundred followed by a walk to Lakeside Shopping Complex. So, after leaving Bath 3.5hrs earlier, I met Julie for a hot chocolate and a brownie.

We hung out at the shops until we met her friends and went for dinner at an Italian place. The others weren't too impressed with it and I thought it was okay but it was nice to finally meet the crew (Dan and Amy, Little Dan and Anushka) which Julie has adopted. Afterwards we went and watched the second National Treasure movie and then Little Dan drove us back to Julie's place. It was late in the evening and as Julie was off to Boston on Thursday, she packed and I slept.

Brendan says...
I still feel guilty about Bath. If I hadn't been late on the first day we'd have had time to do Bath as a group. As it was, I was the only one who got to visit the town properly. Needless to say, I didn't let the guilt stop me spending 2 1/2 hours on the self-guided tour of the Roman Baths after Cookie had gone. But, this is Cookie's blog so you'll have to wait until he visits them to find out what they're like. Ooh, the suspense.

Chepstow was my second favourite castle. It was just interesting, and broke from the traditional square geometry by hugging a sheer cliff overlooking a river. Shame it was such a dreary morning.

Tintern Abbey, now there's a ruin. What a magical place that must have been. It was a pity we only had about half an hour to wander around this site. These monks only had a fire lit for 3 months of the year, and only then in a single room. Nippy.

Day 26 - WAL

Cookie says...
More fried toast this morning but my stomach was no more interested it than yesterday. Consolation prize in that it was midly better than last nights dinner which was quite forgettable.

We invaded Pembroke Castle first. Initially we were planning to head to the northen end of Wales but one we realised that Pembroke was open, we went there instead and it probably turned out to be the pick of the castles we visited. Tell you what though, climbing all those towers soon got boring as it's a continuous right hand spiral with slippery and steep stairs. Tell you what though, I'm not sure how these people moved around these castles with ease cause they're pretty tight at times, especially those soldiers who carried photographic gear with them!

Mildly easier to navigate than the stairs in the hotel Julz and I stayed in

You could probably play AFL inside Pembroke it's that big!

On leaving I noticed a brass rubbing store next to the castle exit. Sarah's a bit of a fan of these rubbings so I thought I'd have a go. King Hen-rye the 8th is a favourite of Sarah's so I rubbed up a brass King Henry for her which she was pleased with. It will now feature on her wall of stuff.

I don't think I've ever looked this focused!

Damn it... back at work already!

We also checked out Carew and Cilgerran castles. Once we finished Cilgerran Castle, we inserted some bogan reference. Figured while we were so close to this town, we'd take the opportunity to take this photo considering we're both Magna owners and Mitsubishi is commonly referred to as the 'Cardigan Car Company'

Carew Castle was more manor than keep

These crazy Welsh or Tudors or whoever must have good taste in music!
(lame Bon Jovi reference)

Welsh bogans (English equivalent are Chavs)

Seeing as though we intended on checking out Bath the next day, we worked our way back to Cardiff for the night and managed to stay in the same room although Brendan managed to score a broken bed.

Brendan says...
I agree with Cookie on both counts - Pembroke was a fantastic castle; easily the best I've been to, and surprisingly big, but the initial excitement upon finding a hitherto unnoticed doorway quickly fades as it leads to yet another sequence of small, round rooms and narrow, winding stair-cases.

It was fascinating to be able to explore a castle almost in its entirety. The usual castle ruin experience happens at ground level as all the stairways have crumbled or are blocked off, and keeps that used to boast four or five storeys are now hollow stone tubes, full of mud and pigeons. So being able to wander between towers whilst inside a wall, or ascend to the top of the gatehouse and lean over the parapet was awesome. We spent 3 hours here!

One thing though - people were a lot shorter back then.

Carew was majestic, with amazing picture windows. It would have been a sight back in the day. But it and, in particular, Cilgerran, were a bit "meh" after Pembroke.

I'm still yet to find a satisfying Mexican restaurant in the UK. And for some reason all my dreams were at funny angles.

Day 25 - WAL

Cookie says...
Had the hotel breakfast this morning which was basically an English breakfast comprising of toast, bacon, eggs, beans, mushrooms, tea and fried toast of all things. Seems to be an odd inclusion however I guess some people enjoy eating heart attack material like this.

Before bailing on the town, we checked out Cardiff Castle. It's a neat, ordially castle. We did a tour of the main house and learnt all about some dudes. Quite nice interiors too. Also noted that due to looking at these places in the middle of winter, there's hardly anyone else around which makes tours and looking at things a bit swifter than usual.

Inside Cardiff Castle

Cardiff from the Norman Keep

Sorry Pilty but here's a better looking Falcon than what Ford make :P

We finished up and headed for Caerphilly and was a castle that had undergone refurbishment by the same bloke who owned Cardif. Rich fella who had nothing better to do than restore this big things. Probably a good thing though or they would just slowly waste away.

Kidwelly Castle was closed to all but the birds

Laugharne was also closed too. Wales is starting to
feel like Adelaide!

I know blue is supposed to be a boys colour but...

Brendan says...
Fried bread is a standard feature of the "Full English" breakfast. Forgetting, for the moment, that it's going to kill you, it can actually be quite tasty. This one wasn't. I think they're still using oil from last year.

Cardiff Castle wasn't bad - but lots and lots of empty space inside which didn't give much of an impression of how life might have been back in the day. The manor house tour was intruiguing, but a little more contemporary than I find interesting. I'd seen the work of this William Burgess architect / decorator chap before. He's widely acclaimed, but his designs are so bright and busy I can't imagine living with them.

The tour guide was a laugh. He had one of those news reader voices. I kept expecting him to sign off with, "I'm David Jones, BBC Wales, Cardiff", then pause for a transfer back to the studio. I enjoyed Caerphilly Castle more, with many places to explore (it rhymes).

Finished the day being ignored by several B&Bs in Pembroke and finding every single other hotel in the town booked solid. Ended up staying a little way out of town in a hotel room you could only describe as"quaint". I think Cookie secretly liked the frilly stuff.

Day 20 - AT

Cookie says...
Busy day planned today. We wanted to check out some festival halls thingie, the catacombs, a panorama museum, some state rooms and the fortress. Managed to nail all of those sites and noticed Placido Domingo's name on a seat in Festival Halls where you pay a fee to ensure first choice for a specific seat for the year. It was a pretty impressive bunch of buildings and wipes the floor with anything Australia thinks it has.

As the camera gear is a bit heavy, we snuck home to get the computer etc and returned to look over the city from near where a lift goes up to a ridge around the back of the old city. Nice angle however it was a bit hazy so not sure how it will look and it was another cold effort. Hope these all turn out. Headed back to our local and this time had some nice garlic soup, schnitzel with ham and cheese between the meet layers and more of a local beer of theirs. You can probably guess what dessert was...

Julie tried plying me with alcohol and I was none the wiser...
check out the alcohol content!

Julz says...
Another day, another bloody time-lapse! We started out knowing that we had a bit to do before the afternoon, when we would come back to get the stuff that is causing me so much froze-ness. Anyways, the sights were so much better than in Vienna. The fortress was nice, catacombs were quaint and the state rooms were pompous as always.

Festive Halls, although only used for 2 months of the year, is worth every bit of the millions of euros they spent on it. If only our country had the musical history of Austria, I would be in heaven! I seriously considered dragging Cookie to another classical concert, but with tickets almost definately sold out and worth more than I earn in a week, I didn't think I would be that cruel. However, I didn't count on Cookie being that cruel to me - making me freeze through yet another time-lapse. Yup, that puts it at 3 in 3 nights... insanity has definately arrived.

Because both our brains were frozen solid (like the rest of our bodies), we couldn't make a decision about dinner, so we headed back to the fab place from last night. Enjoyed the soup, schnitzel and beer again, and I think Cookie hasn't stopped eating apple strudel since we got here.

Day 14 - SCO

After leaving the hostel, seeing as though we were to drive around the Isle of Skye, we picked up a girl who was heading to Portree. When we arriced we had breakfast and finally tried some black pudding. Sarah wasn't a fan as it seems that she didn't find it very appealing as it is something that is essentially congealed blood. Whilst I wouldn't want to have it as part of my regular diet, I didn't mind it.

Around the northern tip of the isle we found a mock village of what it might be like to have lived there many centuries ago. It was a cold, wet and windy region, fires provided light and warmth, simple food and no wireless internet!

This is another part of Scotland with stunning
views filled with rich green grass

We also headed on another Mim detour in search of some ruins at the southern end of the isle. No surprises that we had no such luck however we still had a bit of a look around.

Even on the Isle of Skye there's a vandalism problem with the sheep

As we left, we visited Eilean Donan Castle and it was alright. Another castle in good condition.

Eilean Donan Castle

Sarah all excited when she thought
we were playing hide and seek

Our destination was Fort William where after a few stops to discover the hotels were full, we found a good B&B. For dinner we snuck back into Fort William and had some take away dinner. Gwennie also let us know that she won't be meeting us in Glasgow tomorrow.

Day 13 - SCO

Back on the road today. The Isle of Skye was the target and we had a few castles on the way we wanted to check out.

First up was Stirling Castle. It's another impressive castle that's in great condition. We made our way around it and even sampled some locally distilled whiskey inside. After we left, we grabbed some food from a Griegs (a popular bakery found across Great Britain) and it was yummy.

Mim and Sarah on their way to assault the castle

Inside the great hall

The view from Stirling Castle towards the William Wallace monument

We made our way through Inverness and stopped at Loch Ness to see if we could spot the monster. The ruins of Urquardt Castle was next and we spent about an hour there. There was another castle we tried to look at but it was closed.

Mim looking for 'Nessy' and
Sarah looking silly...

Inside the ruins of Urqhardt Castle

Just before the Isle of Skye sits Eilean Donan Castle however we decided to have a look at it tomorrow on the way out. We found the hostel and Gwennie let us know that she might be joining us in Glasgow before we leave for Paris.

Day 11 - SCO

Mim had a few things to do this morning so so Sarah and I made our way to chech out Edinburgh Castle. It's another impressive structure with a world of history.

Edinburgh from Edinburgh Castle

He doesn't really look like Mel Gibson

After hearing the One O'Clock Gun fire, we met up with Mim and had some lunch followed by taking Todd and Kristen to a wedding at and impressive castle / home.

Busking is a little different over here

We made our way to Rosslyn Chapel and had a look around. Part of it was off limits due to restoration and it was to be used for filming for 'The Da Vinci Code'.

Rosslyn Chapel is quite ornate

For dinner I volunteered to cook but produced some tasteless pasta. It usually tastes really yummy! We finished the night with walking around getting some random photos of the city.

Day 9 - ENG

Nat took the day off work and drove us to Warwick. I walked around Warwick castle while the girls went to Stratford. The castle is pretty good and is in great condition.

It's a bit bigger than my Lego castle

Madam Tussuad's own it so it's full of dressed up mannequins. I watched a trebuchet catapult some stones and an archery demonstration. Well worth the visit.

A trebuchet in action

He looked even less impressed after he discovered
that his trebuchet had hit his bosses car

The girls came back to pick me up for lunch so we headed to a pub. We then walked around Stratford including walking past the house where William Shakespeare was born, a church and some gardens.

Then back to Banbury for a nice dinner and some laughs.

Day 6 - ENG

Last day in London today before we head to Sarah's aunts place but first we wanted to check out the Tower of London. It was well worth going with lotsa history to learn and stuff to look at, including the crown jewels.

The Tower of London

Mikey... found you some armour!

We collected our gear and headed to the train. Turned out to be a surprisingly quick trip to St Albans. One thing is certain. It shows that Great Britain has been doing trains for a lot longer than Australia. QR could learn a lot from them.

At the station we jumped onto another bus and then met Sarah's Aunt Barbara. Discovered that she has the same crockery as we have at home.