Feliz Navidad from Barcelona

After some reshuffling of our holiday courtesy of Unliver PLC year end we found our sleves in Barcleona a little earlier than we expected i.e. Christmas rather than new year.

We thought this would work well as it would be warmer than England and remind us of warm Xmas summers of home. Barcelona was a barmy 15 degrees when we arrived so the plan was working well... this was just the first day though, the following 3 days it rained like it was the wettest place in the world. Who am I kidding that title clearly goes to Invercargill, so I guess it rained like that, which given it was Christmas time gave us a calming feel and some mild home sickness as memories of many a wet christmas came flooding back.

Above- Nadia sports the brolly in front of the National Museum of Art

Above- Christopher Columbus statue on the water front. You can also climb up here for veiws over the waterfront.

Above- swimmers took to the water for the annual Christmas swim, apparently a tradition... trust me it was a lot colder than it looks!

Above- The Barcelona Arc de Triumf- there seems to be a few of these we have seen kicking around in our travels, this one not quite as impressive as in Paris, but worth a look all the same.

Above- the view from the art museum a very impressive site, unfortunately the wether was mediocre so the picture doesnt do the view justice.

Above- yes its a giant smiling wooden lobster, its not that werid when you think about NZ's Ohakune having a giant carrot, Taihape's gumboot & of course the mighty Wallacetowns big tap.

Above- Christmas lunch Barcelona style- Seafood Paella with Spanish beer.

This was ok but no competition to the new spuds, new carrots, chicken, ham, turkey & new peas swimming in a sea of gravy that I am used to for xmas.

Above- Nadia on the water front- I can imagine during the summer these beaches heaving with people, you will notice a distinct lack of people there during this time of year (except probably the odd englash tourist who will take whatever sunshine they can get).

Above- The Barcelona Olympic Stadium, the home of the 1992 Olympics where that archer famously shot up the flaming arrow to light the Olypic flame- easily the best olympic games moment in my humble opinion.

Above- The Sagrada familia, designed by Gaudi which has been under construction since 1882, its a shame they couldnt have finished it up before we arrived.... actually it is not expected to be completed until atleast 2026!

Apatments in downtown Barcelona Gaudi style- reminded me a lot of Fraggle Rock for those of you who remember that one!

Nadia's Birthday in York

For Nadia's 28th birthday a group of us headed to York. York is best known for its linkages back to Roman times with many of the original structures still standing today. Surrounding the city is the original fortress wall which is still 70% in tact which you can walk around.

Above- trying our hardest to win 'token tourists' of the year award posing in the York train station, we only narrowly missed out the award to the Japanese tourists photographing York Minster. From left Nadia, Clark, Julia, Casey, Jo & Cam

Nadia exits- 'the wall'
York is home to 'Betty's' which is a famous tea room, even though we were only there for 48 hours, I think we managed to clock up 3 trips to 'Betty's' or some spin off of 'Betty's' - 'Little Betty's' etc. The food was very good but if I never see another Betty's tea rooms again I will be happy.
Whilst in York we did a 'ghost tour' the fact that this picture was the scariest thing to come out of the tour should tell you something.

Above- Check out the guns on that guy!

Above- the city wall following around to York Minster.

Above- York Minster

Above- More Roman stuff

York was cool but I think 'New' York will top this trip- roll on Easter for that one!

Gunners Stadium / Hyde Park / NZ House / The Dogs

Gunners Stadium

A move to the UK wouldn't be complete without a trip to the 'football' (please note it is definitely not called soccer over here!) Emirates Stadium is home to the Arsenal 'Gunners' and is a very impressive stadium. We went to a Carling Cup game which is the equivalent of a NZ 3rd division rugby game and yet a packed house 55,000 people still turned up to watch!
Not being a huge football fan it was fortunate that there were plenty of goals scored, the eventual score was 6-0, we missed the final goal in favour of beating the 55,000 other people at the ground, onto the tube.

Hyde Park

England had the darkest and wettest Augusts on record and the 13th worst summer of all time. We did manage to find some sunshine occasionally though and when that happens us (along with the rest of London) head to the park. The pictures below are of a sunny day in Hyde Park, just so that we remember what that bright thing in the sky actually looks like in this country.

New Zealand House

Nadia recently conducted some further study in order for her to become an Associate Chartered Accountant. As part of this the London office of the NZ Accounting Institute awarded her a certificate at NZ House. NZ House is a stones throw from Piccadilly Circus and has some amazing views of London as shown below.

The Wimbledon Dogs

Listed on the top 101 things to do in London (possibly number 101) is dining at the dogs aka having dinner and watching some greyhound racing. On this occasion we had 20 of us in an executive suite and even got to name a race (the 'Lamb Stakes') & present a trophy to the winner. The dogs is quite a prestigious event so only the best attire is applicable, hence me rolling out the $4 Manukau Salvation Army suit shipped over from NZ.

Edinburgh - haggis, neeps & tatties & a dog named Bobby

In September we decided it was time to pay homage to the Scottish ancestry visa and visit my roots- Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh is a lovely compact city, & it was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of London and catch up with friends.

Above- 'Old Edinburgh' with Edinburgh Castle on the hill in the background (right).

Above- Nadia stands in the doorway to the 15th century- 'Scaffolding Chapel' sorry I mean Roslyn Chapel, made famous in the movie the Da Vinci Code. Inside is hugely impressive with the walls covered in carvings which tell hundreds of stories. Outside is covered in scaffolding part of the restoration programme that has been on going for the last 10 years- still a sight to behold all the same.

Above- Edinburgh Castle

Above- The entrance to Edinburgh Castle

Above- William Wallace stands aside the entrance to Edinburgh castle (Robert the Bruce stands the other side).

Casey and I exit the 'Walkabout' (NZ / SA & Aussie bar) after watching the AB's complete a successful win over the Wallabies to take out the Trinations... again you little beauty!

St Luca ice cream is infamous in Edinburgh, as demonstrated by the que! If you look closely you can see myself in the que with our tour guides Ju & Casey aka 'the sponge' if you look really really closely you can see Julia cringing at Nadia creating a scene taking this photo!

The 'Royal Mile' is the famous road that leads up to Edinburgh Castle, it has wonderfully old buildings, strange people (see below) and hundreds of Scottish paraphernalia stores. I am now the proud owner of not only a Wilson tartan scarf, but also the Wilson clan dram whiskey with Wilson colours on it!

Above- Now there's something you don't see everyday- forget climate change, Scientology is the new modern day evil. If only Tom Cruise knew the damage he was causing!

Above- Easily the best flower clock I have ever seen... it even tells the correct time.

The dog named 'Bobby'. This little dog is idolised in Edinburgh, named 'grayfriars Bobby' the story goes that when his master died the dog sat on his grave site (despite getting kicked out by the caretaker most days) for 13 years until the dog itself passed away- the dog was given a key to the city and his own statue for his demonstration of loyalty.

We were impressed by the Scottish and there overall unified hatred for the English.
My first time eating haggis and I have to say I was impressed, it even passed Nadia's very high standards of eating. When in Scotland the way to eat haggis I am told is with neeps (parsnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes) and of course lots of gravy... delicious!
We head back to Edinburgh in November to watch the mighty AB's take on the Scots at Murrayfield, I hope there is not a repeat of the last incident in Cardiff in the World Cup!

Windsor & Eton

After travelling all around the place in recent times we figured it was high time we actually saw some of England. We had heard a lot about Windsor so we thought we should go and mingle with the height of British aristocracy there. The day we headed out was a cracking 27 degrees, which was nice given we had just experienced the wettest and darkest August on record in England.

Unfortunately the Queen was not in that day, if she had the British flag flying above would have been substituted for the Royal one.

Above- where the Queen hangs out, up to 4 days a week over the weekend we were told.
Eaton college- Just down the road from Windsor castle, quite handy for the boys (Harry & Will).

One of the highlights of Windsor castle was hearing about the 'Garter Knights'. There are only ever 24 Garter knights alive at one time and these people are hand picked at the Queens discretion, some of the more famous Garter knights include Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Prince Charles, Prince William and our very own Sir Edmund Hillary.

Above- How can anyone take these guys seriously with hats like that, I swear he was snoozing.