Paris Aug 2010

Aug 2010 is the month of our 20th wedding anniversary. We were together for 5 years before that, so its really our silver wedding. So we celebrated in style, with a trip to Paris, the first of our European trips, for the princely sum of 60 quid! We stayed in the Latin quarter, close to Arenes des Lutece, the roman arena. Saturday saw us on our feet for 8 hours - first to Notre Dame, then into the Congierge, which is not the nice boy at the front of the hotel, but a palace built for French kings that was then used to house prisoners just before thier appointment with the big blade, including Louis 16th, Marie-Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre. The list of 2000 who copped it included a musician - Stuart will be careful to play in a Republican style from now on.

Next was the Tuilleries quarter, past the lourve, thro the gardens to place de la concorde, the site of many of the guillotine executions in the late 18th century. Place de la C is 20 acres, the gardend much better, then lourve probably bigger still - the space in Paris is quite remarkable. Marie Antoinette was beheaded in site of her Paris appartment - how apt.

The Orangerie is in the SW corner of the Tuilleries Gardens and houses the spectacular water lillies by Claude Monet. Two rooms have been built to house the most amazing 3d effect artwork that reflects the lillies at different times of day. And downstairs there were impressionist paintings that we could get round.

It was not beer-o'clock, so we headed back home, failing miserably to get the Velib bike system working. There are many stations around Paris with lots of bikes parked there, and the idea is that you pay a few euros to use a bike for a short term trip. Great in theory, crap in practice as half of them have no pedals, brakes, air in the tyres etc.

Stuart ordered Steak Tartare, by mistake - do the French really eat a pile of raw mince??!!

Sunday was much of the same - we headed off to Gare du Nord to drop off bags, then schlepped up to Monmatre and Sacre Coeur. The cheese wire fiddle playing has to be heard to be believed - see video! After and amble thro the streets of Monmartre we ended up at the Moulin Rouge (yes, you know the tune, get those knees up). Having bought a musee passport, we went to Musee D'Orsay to be totally overwhelmed by impressionist art and Rodins. We got to the stage where we walked into a room and commented, "oh right, another 20 Renoirs..." What an amazing gallery - so rich.

The Velib machine then did its stuff and we cycled past the Louvre, up to Opera Garnier, and onto Gare du Nord, before heading back to Charles du Gaulle airport and back home to Bristol. Legs were aching, diets needed to be restarted but a wonderful weekend was had by both of us.

Cats in Bristol

Yep, the cats have arrived!

Our Hoos - 21/7/2010

This short video is for family and friends to show our house, car and new surrounds and the very beautiful Leigh Woods, just to the North West of Bristol, across the Avon.

Living here is a bit of a deja vu for Stuart - in 1983 he visited as an civil engineering student, to see the bridges. Brunel's masterpieces is truly stunning.

Langton Matravers, Dorset 10-11 July 2010

Nickys dental student buddies are a quite amazing lot. They developed strong friendships almost 30 years ago that are just as strong today. They get together for a camping holiday once a year, and this year we were lucky enough to be invited along to Langton Matravers in Dorset on the South Coast.

It was hot, and we were unprepared - embarassingly we burnt! So we blend in with the Poms now, like Hamish!!

Nothing much has changed over 30 years. The boys all have hair albeit more grey. The girls all look gorgeous and spunky. But there is one slight change - lots of little people running around the place! And playing cricket, it was only the little ones, ie those with functional knees, that could run around.

On Saturday we went to Dancing Ledge, a rocky spot in the coast that is a favourite with clim bers. We were turned back by emergency services as a helicopter was landing to pick up an injured climber - see video. All very exciting.

The people on the videos are (in order):-
Stuart and Sonny, Jason, Debbo and Helen
Marco and Hamish, Archie and Will, Sonny, Frankie, Sue, Helen and Will, The Boys - Marco, Jason, Hamish and Budge, Hamish and Budge, and finally Marco the arsonist

Deer in the garden at Leigh Woods

We have moved to Bristol in the UK. We are renting a University House in Leigh Woods, which is a beautiful suburb just on the West side of the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, which is walking distance from us. In fact we walk over it every time we go to the pub in Clifton. Which is often.

The wildlife is spectacular - robins and tits in the garden, a bold fox who clearly thinks he owns the place, lots of squirrels and a family of deer who stroll into our garden for a feed, from the Avon Gorge Nature Reserve.

Xmas 2009

For the last few years we have shared Xmas Day with our good friends Ruthy and Richo, and our godless-daughter Katie, taking it in turns to act as host. So Edgwater was our location and we had a wonderful team to join us get thro our 11 course degustation day. The video features the following people announcing each course - careful viewers will note certain people getting "jollier" as the day proceeded:-

Course 1 - summer basil soup by Nicky, presenter Katie P

Course 2 - oysters 3 ways by Katie P, presented by Richo

Course 3 - summer ceviche of salmon and tuna by Katie P, presented by Nicky

Course 4 - BBQ rabbit fillets with braised borlotti beans by Richo, presented by Liz

Course 5 - braised oxtail ravioli by Richo, presented by Michelle

Course 6 - raspberry jelly with raspberry granita by Katie P, presented by Ruthy, eventually!

Much needed walk to give the tummies a break!

Course 7 - roasted veggie cous-cous salad with harissa dressing by Nicky, presented by Margaret

Course 8 - japanese fusion style belly pork by Richo, presented by Katie and Stuey

Course 9 - pepper crusted lamb rump with lentil, sugar snap peas and mint salad by Richo, presented by Nicky

Course 10 - fig and mastic bavarois, made and presented by Katie P

Course 11 - cheese and port, by Ruthy and Richo, presented with style by Stuey

Day 156 – 161 Kangaroo Island to Melbourne – 11-16 Nov 200

26,939 kms, 35 degrees C

We had a long day drive on leaving Kangaroo Island, threading our way North up to the freeway that runs into Victoria. Stuart and the restraint (or guilt) to avoid driving thro the Coonawarra wine region – there were probably too many bottles of wine in trucks on their way to Melbourne already, and the credit card was wilting under the strain!

Dunkeld is at the base of the Grampians, one of our favourites spots in Victoria, half way between the SA border and Melbourne. This was our second trip of the year, first we were here in Feb with Liz and Ian. This time we stayed at the campsite, but we overlooked the camp cooker for the spectacular food at the Royal Mail hotel.

Then it was time to drive to Cape Paterson – we could not get access to our house as it is still tenanted, so we headed off to the beach, via the ferry from Queenscliffe to Sorrento. It was a bit surreal re-entering “normal life” after over 5 months on the road but it was good to see Cape. And at the weekend we drove to Melbourne – we saw Albury, but Wodonga was away.

So that is it – the big trip is over. It has been a truly amazing experience for us. Two weeks holiday is great, but to be away for months is a break on a different level. Australia is a wonderful country – we are privileged to be able to live in such an amazing, diverse part of the world. Our memories will stay with us for a long time – and we have the blog plus videos and pictures to take with us.

In some ways it is sad that the trip is over – but the upside is that we can now embark on our next exciting chapter. Nicky has just landed a Professor position at Bristol University – we head North in June 2010. So who knows where future blog entries will be from – Venice, Florence, Cornwall.....

....watch this space to find out!