Happy Christmas everyone and all our best wishes for a peaceful 2015

Happy Christmas everyone and all our best wishes for a peaceful 2015

 What a great time to visit London. The lights are just fabulous, ice rinks everywhere and there is lots to see in the shops and Christmas markets.

Saw 100 cycling Santas leaving Trafalgar Square! 












The Crystal Palace campsite was well placed on a Bus route that took us over the Lambeth Bridge, passed Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and to Oxford Street.



It was like having a bus tour every day as we went into town. Just to reorient ourselves on the first days we did an actual bus tour which included a river tour and a choice of walking tours.

"3 to Crystal Palace"……..our bus
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/3/     just copy into the browser line, click on it and get the route and the sights when you move the yellow walking person onto the route!!!

     

                            More fine weather for London for Dec 13 2014……. orders from Lord Nelson of Trafalgar 1805. 

London @ Xmas Convent Gardens

Crystal Palace sunrise.

Lovely squirrels in Hyde Park……...everywhere, very friendly!

Urban Fox on the move in Kennington Lane on our # 3 Bus om our way to Crystal palace Dec 14 

We chose the ‘Rock and Roll’ walking tour and had a fascinating time walking around Mayfair and Soho seeing where Jimi Hendrix first played in London and the building where the Beatles final performance together was held on the roof of Apple Studios.

As the weather was cold, for us antipodeans(!!), we made the most of the wonderful museums and galleries; seeing the Sutton Hoo ship finds at the British Museum; the exhibition of the Wild Life Photographer of the year at the Natural History Museum; a tour of quirky objects at the Victoria and Albert Museum (learnt that the word cartoon is the name for the large size paper that designs for tapestries were painted on); 

Each year the V and A have their own Xmas tree

National Portrait Gallery!! Dec 13

National Portrait Gallery

Young scientists in a school group @ Natural History Museum Dec9

National History Museum and another ice rink in London!Dec 9

War cabinet rooms including the Churchill Museum (these are all underground and everyone smoked not only the chap with the cigar, imagine!); National Gallery and the French Impressionists especially Van Gogh's Sunflowers; Film Museum and a display of about 20 of the cars and boats etc used in the Bond films; Tate Briton and Tate Modern and a photographic exhibition on the aftermath of conflict and a brief look at Somerset House.

Col with Churchill

A real leader

Under ground War cabinet room.

High tech Wool used in the mapping room!! 

We had to book a week ahead for a tour of Westminster and it was worth it and very informative. It felt like an old boys club and maybe this is because women members only make up about 20% of the Commons and the Lords. The Lords half of the Palace of Westminster is decorated in a very ornate style whereas the Commons, which had to be rebuilt after bombing in WWII, is very plain and even the carpet in the debating chamber does not match.

Emancipation of Slaves

Abolition of slavery monument.

Memorial to Emily Pankhurst, NZ was way ahead

Around Westmnster Dec14

Around Westmnster Dec14

Around Westminster…."BB"

"Now Look here Wilkinson, I've told you before about blunt blades, and look at me when I'm talking to you lad"

Inns of Court, local tavern

Always find interesting wee highlights here and there this one at the Inns of Court, local tavern. 

We visited the very large Christmas market in Hyde Park with many of the stalls from Germany and we saw similar stuff for sale as we had seen over there. Lots of mulled wine, hot chocolate, mince pies, strudels and roasted nuts on sale as well as gifts. 

There was a tent with ice sculptures, which seemed to be at minus 9 degrees but the visit was worth the discomfort. 

One of many Ice Sculptures Dec8 at -9C!!

Cold Hyde Park Dec8

Walked down to see the Diana fountain and thought it was really creative. There was another Christmas market by the Tate Modern with many of the same stalls.

A section of the  Princess Dianna Memorial Fountain Dec8

 Visited Camden Market and Camden Lock Market, and the markets at Covent Garden. We missed Harrods but went to Fortnum and Masons for the first time and watched the figures of these men come out of the clock on the hour. It was sheer bedlam inside. The shop windows had a great a Christmas theme.

Every year Norway donates a very large Christmas tree to London as a thank you for looking after their Monarch during the war. The tree stands in Trafalgar Square and a ceremony and celebration is held when the lights are switched on. 

Just before the tree was lit!

All lit up now!

We joined in the carol singing and celebration. As the sun at this time of year is setting at 10 mins to 4pm all the Christmas lights come into their own.

Among the highlights of this amazing 3 weeks (it was like eating too much rich cake and not being able to stop) was attending some West End shows. Warhorse was the first and everything about the production was suburb. We had seen one of the horse 'puppets' close up beforehand so we were not distracted by trying to work out how they did it. The emotions those 'puppets' displayed were skilful. We next went to see a musical based on the 60s band The Kinks, Sunny Afternoon. The band's songwriter, Ray Davies, helped with the production and the music was brilliant with some arrangements better than the originals. A fantastic performance and by the end we were all up and dancing to Lola! The next show we went to see was Memphis, which has strong songs and amazing singers. It tells the story of a white DJ in Memphis the 50s and how he introduces 'black' music (rock and roll) to the 'white' airwaves and all the barriers he comes up against. It is based on a true story and this DJ was also the first to give Elvis airtime. We have always been interested in how the Beatles and other UK bands brought rock and roll back to America, where it previously had not been widely played because of the prejudice against 'black' music in the US.

Kinks with "Waterloo Sunset", right here!

We caught up with old friends who live in London, one of Sarah's friends and an ex student of Colin's. Great to hear about their London lives. One weekend we drove down to Chobham where we were well looked after by one of Marg's cousin and her friend, both of who had been to see us in NZ. They took us to the local village Christmas market which had both carol singing and Morris Dancers (what!!) and also visited a National Trust property, Polesden Lacy which was all decorated for Christmas. 

There had been a heavy frost that night and some areas of the gardens stayed white all day, very Christmassy. Just in time for Marg's birthday!!

 

Polesden Lacy walk Dec6

Marg

Cold grass!!

Peedie is cold!

Peedie is cold!!!
We are heading now for Harrogate and Christmas with all of Marg's brother's family and Sarah, who arrives on Christmas Eve from Brussels - we will have about a week together. Then the adventure continues with the ferry booked for Jan 2 to take us to France and our trip to Spain and Portugal.

Xmas Lights in London Town

Xmas fan lights

Merry Xmas from us in London Town!

Awlright then? And Hi from London Town

Awlright then? and Hi from London Town,

We arrived at the campsite at Crystal Palace this afternoon (thought of you, Patsy and Jeff). The notes on the campsite warn us to beware of a fox that eats shoes and rubbish. Intriguing. We have worked out which bright red double decker bus will take us into the city and bought the Oyster Card. Here begins 3 weeks in London. We have been promising ourselves an extended stay in this amazing city for years.

We left off the last blog in Ireland about to drive the beautiful Ring of Kerry. We took a couple of days for this and had a great look around this fascinating peninsular.  We drove to the top of Geokaun Mountain on Valentia Island and got a great view of the coastline and all the bays and islands. 

The Ring of Kerry and its lovely colours.

No pot o'gold was found Ring of Kerry but great sights were real gold!

Not much room left for tourists on Valentia Is…...

Great and Little Skelligs Islands S/W of Geokaun Mount, uplifting views!

Stayed in a campsite at Caherdaniel, an old smuggling port. There was no one in the office when we arrived just a number to phone. We were given instructions as to where to find the cards to open the barrier and shower tokens in an old phone box by the office. We were the only happy, cold, wet, campers there and had a lovely spot right by the sea. In the morning still no one around so we left some money in the phone box and sent a text to the owner! The weather was showery and we had a wonderful display of rainbows right around the drive. As we drove off the Ring into the National Park around Killarney the scenery got even better. There were spectacular views of the hills, valleys and waterfalls.

Just like Plimmerton!

Intriguing colour contrasts, certainly 'the Emerald Isles.

Kenmare Stone circle.

Kenmare's own druid - Marg performs the "walking afternoon rite"

Beautiful Kerry colours.

………...Everywhere we went.

Wet Euro Nomads!

On the way to Cork we visited Blarney Castle and kissed the stone. Blarney Castle has all the story-book expected castle elements, dungeons, watch-towers, castellation, so much so that we wondered if it was built by Disney.  The night before we had not been able to see the All Blacks play Scotland and we wanted to know about the game. Colin spotted a guy wearing All Black’s “subtly” emblazoned logo on his beanie, top etc - so we talked to him. His parents came over and we were all chatting when they realised that they knew us from playcentre over 25 years ago. Just amazing.

Approaching the Blarney.

We empty ours (the garderobe) quite often, they didn't!!

North wall where the loo (garderobe) points can be seen!!

Marg kisses the stone…...

Colin manages a full head butt!!

Hhhmmm?

The present guardian keeps watch.

Wayyyy up there

Then we headed across the South of Ireland to Wexford and had a great campsite by the sea with only a short walk into town. The site was right next to a heated swimming pool with more great Irish humour…..a man leaving the pool told us that he’d kept it warm for us and he’d checked that the water was wet!! 

Very relaxing Wexford.

So after all the travelling we had a great couple of days staying put and relaxing. We headed back to Dublin and the ferry back to Holyhead.

On the road (again) towards Conwy, getting ready for big and more crowded motorways!

Arriving back in Wales in the dark we had trouble finding the farm we were camped on for the night. Colin went into the local pub in the small village near the farm to ask directions and found the locals speaking Welsh and jokingly started giving him directions in Welsh. One of the two fellas said he was wearing the Welsh rugby jersey only to ‘keep warm’….bit sad. Found the farm, which was down a back road that was so narrow that our wing mirrors on the van needed to be folded in. The next morning we woke to find fighter jets and helicopters flying overhead and realised that we were right next to a RAF base and these were the trainee pilots. Fortunately they didn’t hover over the van!

It was a brilliant sunny day and as we drove across North Wales we had great views of the mountains of Snowdonia. We stopped in Conwy to walk the almost near complete medieval city walls. Ravens guarding the place, almost like being in “Game of Thrones”!

Marg and Peedie Charlie in the shadow of Conwy Castle.

Halt there…..Who steals MY money from MY machine that I placed in Cymru???

Arrrh..…tis thee, well proceed and thou shalt exchange it for good coffee and suitable similar imbibations!!

Looking Back to CC while walking on the walls

"All Along the Watchtower"

What a magnificent castle.

We continued driving south to Newport near Cardiff as we had tickets to the NZ vs Wales game. The rugby was amazing. The singing was worth the ticket and of course the Welsh fans were very excited as their team was leading for a lot of the match. They really love their rugby and support their team cheering each tackle etc. They were even singing as we were leaving the stadium. Funny to hear leeks, daffodils, lambs, dragons singing when we went down six stories of the stadium! The stadium is right in the middle of the town so before and after there is lots going on.

A Leek on the way to the park!!

They sang about the "Ponyprydd front row off to London" and "The Land of Their Fathers"!!!

More traditional Welsh maidens and a daffodil! 

We helped the AB v Wales!

Not a bad park!!

Well done guys

Not "Bread From Heaven" but 'flames to heaven'!

                                      

"It's not too bad a job, you see!! But I don't really see you winning"……Steve G yet another Kiwi coach over here!

It was a fine day so we had gone into town early and went to a funky cafe for lunch, as it was the anniversary of the day we met 46 years ago. We wandered around seeing all the crowds, decorations, buskers etc. We found the pubs where the kiwis were and it was good talking to kiwis again. The Welsh have so many national icons and people were dressed up as leeks, daffodils, dragons, and even lambs so we never knew what we would meet around the corner. The Welsh are lovely and very humble. When we were talking to a couple at the campsite about the game they just said that 'We Welsh are used to losing.'

The campsite was in the grounds of a stately home about 30 minutes bus ride from Cardiff.  We had a wee challenge getting back after the game as so many streets were closed they had moved the place the bus left from. With the help of some friendly cops we found our stop. Then we were on the top story of a very full double decker bus all steamed up we couldn't see out the windows.  The young kiwis around us helped us find the place to get off.

On the way to Brownhills in Newark again to get more warranty things sorted, we managed this time to see Tewksbury as we tried to let time before the starter motor bombed out.

The great Severn Bridge from the Welsh side to England and the west country.

Magnificent Tewkesbury Abbey -  A monastery here  since 715AD

The present abbey dates to 10th C

Occasional travel reality, delay of 55 mins, oh well we didn't get too much of this inIreland!

We again indulged in their heated swimming pool and great internet. Had our first frost while we were there but the van was so warm that after having the heater going in the evening we did not need it on while we were asleep. We headed up to Harrogate and had a great catch up with Doug and Isabel and visited the Christmas market on a foggy afternoon.  Very atmospheric. We then headed to good friends in Hitchin in Hertfordshire and had a great weekend catching up and exploring markets and shopping.