Another Catch Up...and few pics too!

Hello all, yes, once again my inherent slackness reached its zenith, with another week passing and no blog entry to show for it. Well, with the two reasonably quiet weeks we've had, I'll just have to catch up now...

Firstly to last week. Tuesday night Sally and I ventured to the O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome) to see one of the world's great music icons, Prince. Prince has played the O2 21 times over the last month, selling out the 20,000 seat venue every night. If his numbers don't impress you, then his show certainly will. Not being the hugest Prince fan, I'm not intimately acquainted with much of his catalogue, nevertheless it was an incredible show, well worth making the effort to see. It was great to see a show which reinvented the most standard of concert efforts, the encore. Because the stage was in the middle of the arena, Prince had to come through the crowd to reach it, but rather than walk, he was wheeled in in a box...yes, a box. So when he left the stage after the first encore and the house lights came up, pretty much everyone assumed it was over. Sal and I sat and waited for the crowd to disperse, when all of a sudden there were screams as the box route was being cleared and then.... the box appeared again! No longer were the houselights assurance that the show is over! Playing the second encore solo at his keyboard, it was pretty incredible to see a musician start three or four beats, then slam his hand on the keyboard declaring "I've got too many hits!" and not be exaggerating! No photos unfortunately, they searched everyone's bag and ALL cameras were checked in. Even the woman with a disposable camera that had no film left had to check the useless aperture in.

That weekend saw us begin our house hunting for real, visiting a few different agents and a couple of reasonably disappointing properties, with lots of "We don't really have anything, all the students coming back are taking everything as soon as it become available" meaning we ended the search in fairly ordinary spirits. The only positive side of the search came in the form of the comforting meeting we had with one of the big agencies over here, but then we had to wait until Tuesday night for the viewings... Following this blow to our confidence, we spent the rest of the weekend moping around the house, lots of kicking the dirt with our toes, hands in pockets and shoulders shrugged.

Finally our one shining hope arrived, our Tuesday night appointment with Chloe, having sent through a few choices from the website, we were unfortunately told when we arrived that two of the four we were meant to be visiting were either taken or not available to be viewed. Worrying that our hopes were in vain, we arrived at the first property to look around and have to comment "This is exactly what we're looking for". With the tenant away for a few days though, we were told that something like 20 people had seen the property that day, with numerous offers already made. With the asking price at the top of our budget, it seemed unlikely that we could match hordes of cashed up prospective tenants.

We had two golden rules for our place, must be furnished and must be available before we head back to Aus in October. This is pertinent to mention, as the only other property to view isn't available until almost the end of our trip back to Aus. Wondering if it was worth the effort, we made our way to the next property. It was worth the effort, yet another "exactly what we're looking for" apartment, but set directly across the road from a beautiful church in a park, and just minutes walk from Upper St, a London equivalent of King William Rd.

Our Apartment.

The Kitchen in our Apartment.

The rest of the week was spent preparing references, handing over an obscene amount of money as a deposit, signing contracts and the like. Just a couple of days later, we were informed that we had in fact, secured the property! Finally it was all sorted. Well, sort of. Remember our golden rules? Well, it turns out we broke both of them, and so now the worry of furnishing the property, considering we'll be arriving from Australia to pick the keys up and move in, is now of concern.


This weekend we took the opportunity of having settled the accommodation problem by having a wonderful breakfast at Ottolenghi, an incredible patisserie on Upper St, before wandering around what is soon to become our neighbourhood. The rest of the weekend was again spent kicking around the house, readying ourselves for yet another week at work...


With mum only a week away now, we're getting ready for a big month as we show her around London for a fortnight before hopping on planes ourselves and heading back to Australia for another fortnight before things finally settle down and we arrive to our new house.


So there you have it, that's the update for this week and last. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain my discipline and ensure my blog is up to date!


Map's up top.

Pizzas, Pads, Proms

With another working week behind us, we headed home on Friday with a quiet night on our minds. We were, however, beckoned to dinner, pizza with Jane and Justin in Angel. Angel was busy, with the high street cafes, pubs and clubs all bursting at the seams. Following our tasty dinner, we wandered the short walk to the Charles Lamb for a drink. With the Lamb closing at 11, we called it an early night and hopped on the tube home.




With our curent accomodation expiring in mid October, we are beginning our house hunting. As such we spent Saturday scoping out areas and making contact with some of the local real estate agents. Although it appears that the returning students have taken all the properties available at the moment, it was good to visit Camden and Mornington Crescent, the areas which are currently at the top of our list.

Saturday evening contained our major event for the weekend, Proms in the Park. In conjunction with the Last Night of the Proms, concerts are held in five parks around the UK. We along with 400,000 other people descended upon Hyde Park to hear Terry Wogan host an amazing concert which opened with the BBC Concert Orchestra playing the theme from Star Wars, followed with the theme from Doctor Who. Both of which are quite incredible when played by a full orchestra! Throughout the night various opera singers sung, a clarinet soloist soloed, and a Pop Idol winner popped. Soon however it was time to cross to the Royal Albert Hall to witness the classics Pomp & Circumstance, Land of Hope and Glory and the Sea Fantasia including Rule Britannia! Of course, it was all topped off with Jerusalem, a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen and some fireworks.

Terry Wogan in Full Flight.

God Save the Queen.

Kablam!

Sunday we met up with a distant relative of Sal's who had just recently arrived in London before heading to Nottingham University for a semester. We met and had multiple coffees at one of Antonio Carluccio's many cafes, and of course spent hours trading travelling stories. Sunday afternoon was spent relaxing in front of the rugby, before a local pub meal for dinner and preparations for the coming work week.


So that's it for this week, link to my map is at the top!

The Three Bs; Belgium, Brussels and Beer.

This weekend saw us finally make it to the continent. Our trip to Belgium had finally arrived, so Friday night we headed to Waterloo station after work for our 6 o'clock Eurostar to Brussels. After 2 and a half short hours, we arrived at Gare Midi, right in the centre of Brussels. We quickly managed to find a cab to whisk us through the streets to our hotel, the Warwick Barsey. Once checked in to the hotel, the working week caught up with us, so we familiarised ourselves with the room and went bed.

Saturday morning we arose and headed downstairs for the included breakfast, a wonderful buffet affair, allowing us to fill up for the busy day ahead. We started by wandering the three or so kilometres into town along Avenue Louise, past the Palais de Justice, the gallery district and an antiques market to 'Koningsplein'. The Royal Art Museum sits on Koningsplein, surrounded by the palaces, now filled with public facilites and hotels. The Royal Art Museum houses a wonderful collection, tranversing ancient art of Hieronymous Bosch from the 15th century all the way through to the modern art of Donald Judd and Pannamarenko.

Palace Turned Art Museum.

After spending a couple of hours wandering through the halls of the Royal Art Museum, we made our way to the Grand Place, the original market square of Brussels, for the National Belgium Beer Weekend. Some thirty stalls selling some 170 beers was brilliant. Unlike most festival type events elsewhere in the world, the prices were very reasonable! It was a great chance to try a wide variety of Belgian beers that I had never heard of! We took a quick break from the beers to visit the nearby beer museum, which consisted entirely of a video in french, and were disappointed, so we headed straight back to the tents for a final beer.

The Belgium Beer Weekend in Full Swing.

Happy Simon.

First Beers of the Day....Close Up.

Second Beers of the Day.

Sally with a Cherry Beer!

Third Beers for the Day.

Fourth and Final Beer for the Day.

Having finished our first day at the beer tents, we walked across town to the Belgium Comic Museum. Containing a broad range of information about how comics are made and the range of comics made in Belgium, it had an obvious focus on the greats Herge and Peyo. To end our Saturday we made our way to a bar called Archiduc, which apparently had an incredible interior and was a must to stop and have a drink. Unfortunately when we arrived, it wasn't open! So we settled for catching the tram back to our hotel for a brief rest before heading to a nearby cafe for dinner.

The Belgian Comic Museum.

Sunday morning we arose slightly later before hopping on a tram to head directly across town to visit the Atomium. The Atomium was built for the 1958 World Expo and is based on the structure of a unit cell of an iron crystal. It is a massive and striking building, but is basically just silly. I find it amazing that it was built, and that is has survived until now, but unless they store wigs in it, it just seems a little pointless.

The Atomium Peeking Through the Trees.

The Atomium Up Close.

The Atomium in All its Shiny Glory.

We broke our tram ride back into town by stopping at the Magritte Museum. The house that Rene Magritte and his wife Georgette lived in for 24 years before Magritte's work gained him fame and fortune has been restored and maintained and is now a museum. Holding a maximum of 20 people, this tiny museum is one of my favourite experiences due to the personal attention of the tour guide and the intimacy you feel seeing the home as it was when Magritte painted some of his great works. We wandered back to the tram to continue our journey to the city centre. We quickly headed back to the Grand Place to use up the last of our beer tokens, and to make some merchandise purchases. I managed to get a De Konnick t-shirt for a mere 4.50 euro!

Rene Magritte's House

My Final Beer Weekend Beer.

With the afternoon moving on and our evening train looming, we headed to the Horta Museum. Victor Horta is Belgium's most famous architect, and his house has also been turned into a museum. The amazing art nouveau styling that runs throughout the house covers every detail, from the balustrades through to the door handles. It was great to see an architect's house designed at the height of his career. Having finished our tour, we returned to the Warwick Barsey to collect our bag and then headed towards the train station, stopping for dinner along the way. We boarded the train and yet another short ride later, we arrived safe and sound at Waterloo.

Victor Horta's Front Door.

So that just about wraps up our weekend in Belgium, this week we face another 5 days of work before a thankfully quiet weekend.

Hope everyone's well, and here's the link to my map, with it's first continental place markers!
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ll=53.553363,0.681152&spn=9.82604,29.223633&z=6&om=1

A Week of Plenty.

With our trip to Brussels looming, we managed to pack plenty in this week starting on Thursday night with the Long Shorts Programme of the London International Animation Festival. The programme included animations over 10 minutes in length, being shown in a seperate session in order to maximise the number of shorter films included in the other programmes. The programme included an Academy Award winning animation, The Danish Poet, and a Sundance Award winning animation, Everything Will Be Ok. It was amazing to be able to see part of an international festival, just minutes from our home.

On Saturday morning we hopped on the tube and headed west to Canary Wharf. Alighting the Underground at the Foster designed station in the heart of the regenerated docklands, we wandered the new centre of commerce in London before catching the Docklands Light Rail to Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark is a ship, the remains of which are usually able to be visited, however it's currently under restoration and having no prior knowledge about the ship, I'm no better off having not be able to visit it. Beside the Cutty Sark is the Royal Naval Academy, an impressive group of buildings designed by Christopher Wren on the site of Greenwich Palace. The amazing painted hall was open to visit and a truly incredible display of the grandeur contained within the academy.

The Painted Hall at the Royal Naval Academy.

Just minutes walk from the Cutty Sark is Greenwich and the Royal Observatory, home to Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian is longitude 0, and the defining border of the east and west hemispheres. On display are many astrological and nautical devices, including all four Harrisons, the first watches to be accurate enough on a ship to allow the calculation of a ship's position longitudinally. Also at the Royal Observatory is the "time ball" a large red metal sphere which drops along a rod every day at exactly 1pm GMT. Despite the simplicity of the display, its use as a constant point of reference for ships to set their timepieces was invaluable to the safety of many sailors.

The Prime Meridan.

Following a short walk through Greenwich, we arrived at Laban, a dance college designed by Herzog and De Meuron. The wonderfully resolved building is a highly impressive piece of modern architecture. With curves whose faceted windows reflect the building itself and angular, simple landscaping to accompany the geometry, Laban is awe inspiring architecture. We left Laban to find a bus to catch to another striking piece of contemporary architecture. Set behind a traditional high street, Peckham Library is disjunctive, peeking above the terraces with its copper cladding and orange disc. Somehow Will Alsop convinced Peckham council that the library should be set some three stories above an open public plaza. All that touches the ground is a narrow core, allowing lift and stair access.

Laban's Faceted Windows.

Laban's Main Facade.

Peckham Library.

Having had quite an intrepid day trecking around the city, we returned home to ready ourselves for dinner at Cocoon. Located on Regent St in a heritage building, Cocoon's slick interior makes dining here a pleasant juxtaposition. With its tasty Japanese menu, our dinner was a delight, and left us with a very short walk home.


Sunday we headed north to Hampstead and its impressive public park, Hampstead Heath. Hampstead Heath is a wonderfully huge park, parts of which seem to have retained their natural state, while others follow a more traditional park of rolling grass and hills. One of the heath's high points, Parliament Hill, has a great view over London to the south.

The View from Parliament Hill Across London.

Nearby Highgate Cemetery is home to such names as Karl Marx and Douglas Adams and so we made our way there. The company which began, owned and operated Highgate Cemetery was created by the authorities to deal with the growing needs of London. Seven cemeteries were created in this way in the 1830's which are now known as the "Magnificent Seven". The cemeteries were a huge success right up until the early 20th century when demand for ornate memorials dried up and the company walked away from the cemetery, leaving it without maintenance for 50 years. When the company finally was declared bankrupt and the land was to be sold, a charitable group formed to try and save the cemetery. Luckily they were successful and currently some £300,000 is raised each year just to maintain it in it's current state. Visiting Highgate has been one of the highlights of my time here so far.

Highgate Cemetery.

Highgate Cemetery.

Following our return from Highgate, we ventured to a nearby pub for a quick meal before returning to Curzon for the final session in the London International Animation Festival, the Best of the Festival programme. Voted on by the public attending the session, and including the prize winners, this Sunday night session allowed us the chance to see some incredible animations, and to hear that Everything Will Be Ok won the overall award for best animation. A great end to a busy weekend, we look forward to our short week (public holiday! woohoo!) and impending trip to Belgium next weekend, which is coincidentally the National Belgium Beer Weekend....


And so, I shall close by blog this week, with my updated map link again...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ll=51.511734,-0.125656&spn=0.160465,0.456619&t=h&z=12&om=1

Super Happy Double Mega Fun Post....

Hey all, following my slackness last week, I must make up by covering two weeks in the one post. As such, I shall attempt to be brief and to the point...but we all know there's little chance of that happening.

So, just days after our afternoon tea at Yauatcha (you remember that, right?), Sally and I ventured to what was once the King's Cross Cinema, but is now known as Scala. The incredible Scala (think Thebbie Theatre, but on a smaller scale) was venue to The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, self proclaimed gothabillies who play a great show. As their first show in London for almost two years, there was a great vibe to both the crowd and the band.

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster in Full Flight.

The rest of the week was unfortunately taken up with the work and other such mundane tasks, which made our lazy Saturday all the more pleasurable. Following farewell drinks for one of Sally's colleagues on Friday night, we felt is was wise to take it easy. Our Sunday however, began with a quick touch of shopping on Oxford St before heading to The Charles Lamb for a tasty Sunday lunch. Following lunch we wandered along the Regent's Canal from Islington to Camden Lock. Visiting Camden is certainly an experience, the markets there are massive and full of every variety of stall imagineable.

Lunch At The Charles Lamb.

One of the Locks in Regent's Canal

Camden High St on Sunday.

This week (yes, we've only just now reached this week) has seen slightly fewer activities, due in part to the hustle and bustle of busy work, but also due to some less pleasant weather. This weekend was our promming weekend. Now being about halfway through the proms season, we thought it a good idea to take advantage of the passes which give you access to all of the proms playing at the Royal Albert Hall over the weekend. This weekend that covered four concerts, one on Friday night, two on Saturday night and one on Sunday night. With a hard week, we decided that getting across town to the Friday night show was just too much, so we focussed our efforts on Saturday night. The first of the two concerts on Saturday was the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra playing Elgar, and it was amazing. The Royal Albert Hall is one of the most beautiful concert halls in the world, and to be seeing a prom there was an awesome experience. With the second concert starting late, we chose to head home rather than wait it out.

The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on Stage at the Royal Albert Hall.

The Royal Albert Hall.

The Royal Albert Hall.

Sunday night's concert was one that interested us, and that we were looking forward to seeing. That plan was however dashed, when I decided to to wash my jeans...with both our tickets in the back pocket. Genius. Luckily to brighten our spirits, today our tickets for the Proms In The Park arrived. The last night of the Proms is an event for which to even apply to get a ticket to, you have to have bought tickets to 6 other proms throughout the season, and even then it sells out months and months beforehand. Proms in the Park is an open air concert in Hyde Park, showing the concert in Royal Albert Hall with additional bands and presented by Terry Wogan.


As per usual, I've updated my map, you'll see a link to it at the top of the page, but for those too lazy to scroll, here it is;

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ll=51.512482,-0.146942&spn=0.080124,0.22831&z=13&om=1


So that's it for this entry, I'll try and be more diligent and post regularly, but with a long weekend coming up, there's a good chance I'll be late again!

Short but oh so sweet.

Following our recent exciting trip to Edinburgh, this week has been a relatively relaxing and quiet period. The working week passed again without incident, bringing the weekend to us just in time.

Saturday morning we made the moderate walk from home to Borough Markets to collect our weekly produce. Following this we made our way home to drop off the food and have some lunch before heading to Saville Row. Hailing from Adelaide, I found it quite amazing to see shops such as Donna Karen and Vivienne Westwood along side the multitude of incredible tailors that line the streets.


On Sunday morning we made another trek across the river to the Hayward Gallery to see the Anthony Gormley exhibition, Blind Light. Gormley's work deals with the space of people, both the space they take up, and the space around them, including that most variable, personal space. One of the major pieces, called Blind Light, is a large glass room filled with water vapour, much like a cloud. As you enter the space, you lose almost all sense of orientation, your sight is limited to just a few centimeters in front of you (which ends up with many near misses as the other occupants suddenly appear in the mist). Along with many other pieces which explore similar ideas, the most public is the 30 full body casts of Gormley which are arranged on top of buildings throughout London, all facing the gallery.

Three of the Gormley Casts Can Be Seen on Nearby Buildings from the Gallery Terrace.

Sunday afternoon saw us shorten the interval between our monthly afternoon teas in order to share one with one of Sally's workmates who is soon to move to Shanghai. This week we visited Yauatcha, started and run by Alan Yau who also owns Hakkasan, which we visited just a couple of weeks ago. Yauatcha has an incredible interior and a very different afternoon tea, the oriental afternoon tea which includes dim sum rather than sandwiches. The combination of the beautiful interior and delicious food made it a great afternoon.

Yauatcha's Entrance.

Oriental Afternoon Tea at Yauatcha.

With our weekend coming to a close, we retired home to prepare for the week ahead, which includes an 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster concert!

Updated map link:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ie=UTF8&ll=51.511627,-0.142479&spn=0.080233,0.22831&t=h&z=13&om=1

Dùn Èideann....

This weekend saw Sally and I board a train for our first journey out of England. After a four hour train ride, we arrived right in the middle of Edinburgh at around 7.30pm. We quickly found our way to our accommodation, taking in as much of the ambiance of the city on the walk there as possible. Once checked in, we quickly found a local student pub, The Cragg, which sported an incredibly affordable and tasty menu.

Some of the buildings in our accommodation, with Arthur's Seat in the background.

On Saturday morning, we wandered into the heart of Edinburgh's old town, discovering the Royal Mile. At the top of the Royal Mile is Edinburgh Castle, a beautiful and preserved castle overlooking the city. Wandering the castle we saw many amazing things including the Scottish Crown Jewels (which were locked in a box for 111 years) and the spot where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James, later James the 1st. James became the first king of the three realms, England, Ireland and Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle, or part thereof.

A Huge Fireplace in the Castle.

After our extended visit to the castle, we again took to the Royal Mile, this time heading to the other end. With the Holyrood Palace facing the end of the Royal Mile, the lower end also is home to the recently built Scottish Houses of Parliament. Having been somewhat of a controversy due to its massively over budget and late construction, it is an incredibly brave design for a public building and of a huge scale. The design overall seemed to me to be over-complicated, but it was humbling to see such a bespoke building. Literally every detail in the building was meticulously tied in to the overall design. It really was no surprise at the excessive cost and construction time.

The Scottish Houses of Parliament.

An Example of the Building's Complexity.

Some More of the Incredible Details.

After the Scottish Houses of Parliament, we visited the National Galleries of Scotland. Passing the huge memorial to Sir Walter Scott, we found the galleries held some amzming works, Titians, Van Goghs, Blakes, Monets and more. Arriving with just an hour to explore before closing time, we made our way through the galleries and then made our way home.

Sunday morning we awoke with a mission, to conquer a mountain. With Arthur's Seat the major geological feature in Edinburgh and standing at 251m, we decided that this was to be our summit. We braved the track and did finally make it to the top, and it was most definitely worth it. The most spectacular view awaited us, as we could easily see 30km in every direction.

The View from Arthur's Seat Over Edinburgh.

Sally and I on Arthur's Seat.

After such a fitting Sunday morning constitutional, we began to make our way back into the heart of the city, to lunch at Valvona and Crolla. V&C is a genuine Italian delicatessen with a wonderful cafe at the rear. With such wonderful ingredients, we were treated with a tasty pasta lunch to set us right for the afternoon.

Following lunch we headed back to the Royal Mile for our tour of the Real Mary King's Close. In the original old town of Edinburgh there were many tenement buildings, all running along the Royal Mile, with tiny alleys running between them. These alleys were and still are known as closes. With the fancy houses facing onto the Royal Mile and increasingly squalid buildings running along the closes, they would have been horrid places to inhabit. Eventually a new Royal Exchange was to be built on the Mile. This necessitated that many of the tenements be demolished, but rather than demolish them, it was decided to build on top of them. Adding arches and some walls for structural integrity, the huge exchange literally built over the old town. Mary King's Close has since been rediscovered and opened for tours, exposing the well preserved buildings below.

Borthwick's Close.

Being hit with the only 10 minutes of rain experienced for the whole weekend, we quickly hopped on a bus to collect our luggage and head back to Waverly train station to return to London. Arriving back in London well into the night, we returned home with memories of our exciting and immensely pleasurable weekend.


So that's our weekend in Edinburgh, it was excellent to visit such an historic and vibrant city. I hope that everyone is well.


As usual, here's my map, updated with the furthest markers added so far!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ll=53.15948,-2.409745&spn=9.901989,29.223633&z=6&om=1