So...this is going to be the second time I write this, I spent a long time typing it all up on the mobile the other day only to have the net drop out & lose it all! GAH!
Anyho...
So we awoke ready for the short drive to Cardiff. Cardiff is a very beautiful city. We spent the day visiting the castle & the millenium stadium & hanging around the bay area. Everything was nice & pleasant, but nothing overly soectacular.
We were extremely facinated by the Welsh language though, and all of the street signs made for great amusement.
The next day we headed across for the drive to Swindon, we got to drive over the water between Wales & England, which I must say was quite amazing to do. Luckily theres only a toll on the road 1 way - not ours.
We stopped into Bath, which is stunning! We spent the morning wandering the parks and the cobblestone streets & got to check out the amazing architecture on the Roman Baths. We wandered through ine of the local markets too - which seems to have an abundance of history.
We continued the drive to Swindon & hit the sack. The morning in Swindon was lovely as well. Parks & whatnot. They have a very cool city centre park that we enjoyed, watching the birds & the ducks for a while it was nice to relax. It rekindled my relationship with Swindon as I was quite pissed off last time I was there, as we got lost!
The day itself was ours to kill, as we were sleeping in the car that night, and had not all that far to drive. We were much more prepared this time, and stayed in the services just outside of London - nice & warm, well fed, and with enough entertainment to get us through ( free wifi at the services = Family guy)
So the next morning we awoke, quite happy to be getting rid of the car & get back to our backpacker roots. The idea of having a car is always great, but after a while, worrying about Parking & the stress that comes with it, makes you look forward to the freedom again. We did receive a couple of parking tickets unfortunately, as I didnt realise even an unsigned section in a "controlled zone" had its rules. Mistake made & learnt from.
With the car dropped off & our packs back on in London, we were free to reinspect this lovely city. We dropped our packs back at the hostel & headed back to Abbey road as I decided I wanted a picture crossing. We went to Lords afterwards, and there was a county game, as it was the last day with only 1 wicket left the lovely guard let us in free! Score!
Quite to our surprise when we went in, the ground was open & as it was lunch we were welcome to stroll out onto the field. Benny got to inspect the wickets & check out the Pavillion at close range - still from outside though of course. It was actually quite sunny so once the game was underway again, we went into the stands to catch some rays for the last 5 balls of the match, and it was all over.
The evening was spent catching a quiet beer watching an acoustic set right near our hostel. The next morning we packed up all our stuff, said farewell to London & the English Language & it was time to Head for Paris. Wi wi!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
UK Road trip Part 2
hey again, sorry I've been a bit slack blogging. This one is going to take us all the way up to now, and I'll try and stay on top after that :-)
So. When the story left off, we were 2 frustrated, tired young adults, hitting the sack for what felt like the first time in a long time. Well we awoke pretty early ( I think...) and we were on the road. On to Scotland!
The drive up was amazing, we drove along a highway that offered us coastline glimpses most of the way and hen we stopped for a break at Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Its a small town on the border of Scotland & England, and is walled from conflict between England & Scotland. I was very happy to stop here as my craving to check this sort of town out was still strong from missing York the previous day. It was very different, and the walls were primarily made as big drop/cliff type things. Its real weird because you can walk along the top and there's still no fence or anything silly like that, and you could do some serious damage from the fall. In the walls around the corners and so forth are the shooting points. Anyway it had nothing on York, but was really enchanting in its own.
From there we drove to Edinburgh. I'm really not too sure what to say here...the City was beautiful. We walked alot through Edinburgh as we were there a few days The Castles architecture let us down a bit from the back view, but the cliff it is on is rather impressive. Once we got to the front though it redeemed itself as castle-lke enough for us ( yes I really am writing this arrogantly) and we enjoyed the climb up the side on the hill.
We spent the afternoon of the second day climbling up Arthurs Seat Apparently the one in Victoria is names after this one, so no, i have not gotten lost & wandered back home. It was a fairly easy hike in terms of hikes, but it was still sweaty & hard work, and the cun was out & I thought we were going to get burnt. Shock! Getting to the top was amazing as we had full 360 degree views of Edinburgh, out to the bay and it dwarfed the massive hill the Castle was on. It was stunning & a great end to our time there.
Next stop was Glasgow, and to be honest, we didnt really do much there, we stayed on a nice brunswick-ish street and strolled down that a bit, but we had an early night and didnt see much else. Cooked a mean Haddock with Mushy Peas for dinner though. Yum!
the next mprning we headed to Paisley where Bens family hail from back in the day. The first thing we saw was a van with "cameron...something or other" a nice stroll around there and a look at the most bizare church. At first we thought it was falling left, then right, then kinda skewed in the middle. I'm feeling almost certain it was perfecty straight and all an optical illusion the more I think about it... Anyhow, we decided to try Haggis whilst here too and must sa, it wasnt That bad. We had it from a Fish and Chip shop and was fried kinda like a dim sim with the same sort of texture. Bang a bit of Dead Horse on it & she was great! ( well alright as long as you dont think too much)
We spent the afternoon driving out of Scotland & headed towards Wales. The plan was to sleep in the car on one of the motorway services, which are usually 24hour & monitored, so safe. But as it was quite a bit of a drive, we decided to keep going get as close to Cardiff as we could, and then only have to drive 30min or so in the morning. The problem was, we had to change otorways. This was fine until we turned down the second one and it was pitch black. No street lights, 1 lane. Motorway my *insert explict here* so we drove for a little while, nearlly ran out of petrol, came acoss a gas station, but no services/safe places to sleep... It ended with me spending some of my own cash on a room for the night, as I was not feeling all that safe ( thanks dad! not that he understands the internet! - someone tell him please).
So we slept, awoke nice & comfortable and continued onto Wales in the morning...
I'm going to have a rest now. It shall continue once again...shortly
*closes intermission curtains*
So. When the story left off, we were 2 frustrated, tired young adults, hitting the sack for what felt like the first time in a long time. Well we awoke pretty early ( I think...) and we were on the road. On to Scotland!
The drive up was amazing, we drove along a highway that offered us coastline glimpses most of the way and hen we stopped for a break at Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Its a small town on the border of Scotland & England, and is walled from conflict between England & Scotland. I was very happy to stop here as my craving to check this sort of town out was still strong from missing York the previous day. It was very different, and the walls were primarily made as big drop/cliff type things. Its real weird because you can walk along the top and there's still no fence or anything silly like that, and you could do some serious damage from the fall. In the walls around the corners and so forth are the shooting points. Anyway it had nothing on York, but was really enchanting in its own.
From there we drove to Edinburgh. I'm really not too sure what to say here...the City was beautiful. We walked alot through Edinburgh as we were there a few days The Castles architecture let us down a bit from the back view, but the cliff it is on is rather impressive. Once we got to the front though it redeemed itself as castle-lke enough for us ( yes I really am writing this arrogantly) and we enjoyed the climb up the side on the hill.
We spent the afternoon of the second day climbling up Arthurs Seat Apparently the one in Victoria is names after this one, so no, i have not gotten lost & wandered back home. It was a fairly easy hike in terms of hikes, but it was still sweaty & hard work, and the cun was out & I thought we were going to get burnt. Shock! Getting to the top was amazing as we had full 360 degree views of Edinburgh, out to the bay and it dwarfed the massive hill the Castle was on. It was stunning & a great end to our time there.
Next stop was Glasgow, and to be honest, we didnt really do much there, we stayed on a nice brunswick-ish street and strolled down that a bit, but we had an early night and didnt see much else. Cooked a mean Haddock with Mushy Peas for dinner though. Yum!
the next mprning we headed to Paisley where Bens family hail from back in the day. The first thing we saw was a van with "cameron...something or other" a nice stroll around there and a look at the most bizare church. At first we thought it was falling left, then right, then kinda skewed in the middle. I'm feeling almost certain it was perfecty straight and all an optical illusion the more I think about it... Anyhow, we decided to try Haggis whilst here too and must sa, it wasnt That bad. We had it from a Fish and Chip shop and was fried kinda like a dim sim with the same sort of texture. Bang a bit of Dead Horse on it & she was great! ( well alright as long as you dont think too much)
We spent the afternoon driving out of Scotland & headed towards Wales. The plan was to sleep in the car on one of the motorway services, which are usually 24hour & monitored, so safe. But as it was quite a bit of a drive, we decided to keep going get as close to Cardiff as we could, and then only have to drive 30min or so in the morning. The problem was, we had to change otorways. This was fine until we turned down the second one and it was pitch black. No street lights, 1 lane. Motorway my *insert explict here* so we drove for a little while, nearlly ran out of petrol, came acoss a gas station, but no services/safe places to sleep... It ended with me spending some of my own cash on a room for the night, as I was not feeling all that safe ( thanks dad! not that he understands the internet! - someone tell him please).
So we slept, awoke nice & comfortable and continued onto Wales in the morning...
I'm going to have a rest now. It shall continue once again...shortly
*closes intermission curtains*
Saturday, April 17, 2010
UK Road Trip, Part 1
Hey guys.
We haven’t written in a while as we have been quite busy! Since we have already covered the trip to Avebury & Stonehenge, I’ll continue from when we left London again, and headed north this time. First Stop was Birmingham. I have to say that driving around the UK was quite funny at first, because everything is so close, and what seems like a long journey to them over here barely gets us to the top of Victoria. After only a few hours we had reached our first destination. Birmingham.
Now I do want to say we only have 2 weeks’ worth of driving & a lot of ground to cover, so most places we only stopped in for a night. Birmingham was quite cool actually, we went to see the “famous bullring” and that was fairly interesting. It really is just a shopping complex, but the design is really interesting & worth a look. The place we stayed was the Birmingham Central Backpackers and the place comes highly recommended. It would have been nice to chill out there for quite a while I think.
Just before I move on in the trip, I do want to mention that Petrol is quite expensive over here; you are looking at £1.20 a litre. So although driving short distances, it is still rather costly. Not to mention our lovely travel agent again although asked directly failed to inform us of the additional charges for my age on the car hire, so we started on the back foot. It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke, because it doesn’t seem to matter how hard we work to get back on top, or how many days straight we eat noodles, there is always a new thing/issue to take us back to the drawing board…or behind it in some cases. It is a part of the adventure though I guess. It has made for a lot of disgruntled laughs. I think if we took it all too seriously I’d be grey haired by now.
Anyway moving on…After Birmingham we headed up to Leeds. We very thankfully got to catch up with Luke (one of the English boys we met in Spain) and crash on his couch. Leeds was very entertaining namely because Airbourne were playing one of the big arenas that night, and there were “metalheads” everywhere. I didn’t even know who Airbourne were, but 1 You-Tube clip was enough to shame the Warnabool lads.
We from Leeds crossed over to Liverpool (not everything seems logical, but it all had its reasons I promise) Liverpool was lots of fun. We were pretty much immersed in everything Beatles from when we arrived. And once again we were staying at a great place (Bankhall Hotel) which just made everything that little bit easier. Liverpool we actually stopped in at for 2 nights. We spent the first day visiting Penny Lane & Strawberry Field etc, and the second at the Beatles Story Museum. We also headed to the Cavern Club for a few drinks.
The Cavern Club was quite an experience. Even though it was just a cover band on, we went the night after we learnt all about how it used to be, apparently the room was so packed out during the Beatles sets that one night the sweat and condensation on the walls started dripping & shorted out their equipment (or so the Beatles Story says, and who am I to argue?) So it was cool to go down & be in that space. Now it isn’t quite the original, as it was demolished in the 70’s, but was rebuilt at the same address, in the exact same dimensions, and with the same bricks SO it was an authentic as it could get. We met a cool couple there from London too who thought it was outrageous that we didn’t care about Danni Minogue (I think I actually pfft’d her) or neighbours, and that I didn’t watch East Enders. She was a funny lass. I was quick to point out that Kylie is dearly loved & at least as far as I was aware my nanna used to still watch Home & Away & Neighbours.
So after Liverpool ( and this is where our driving pattern becomes illogical) the plan was to drive to York( 2 hours away) and then half way up to Scotland & crash at our midway cheap hotel we had booked, be there just after dinner time for a nice rest.
All did not, to any stretch of the imagination go to plan. We were cruising quite happily on the M62 when signs start flashing saying it’s closed between j22 & j24, which are just exits. Now perhaps Naively ( but we’ve done alright) we actually don’t have a map, we just look up where we need to go & write down the directions, because of this, we were not going t turn off & guess how to drive to the other side of the country, we figured we’d just to the detour. I guess I was part hoping that the people from Britain would go another way, or it wasn’t going to be that bad…Whatever went through our minds was wrong. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 1 hour before we even made in off the freeway onto the detour. Then the detour took us through a whole host of small towns, of course all 1 lane. So our hour of 4 lanes wide of cars crawling along was all squeezing slowly though these tiny streets, for oh about 4 hours…!
By the time we finally got to York it was well and truly dark, making it harder to see signs & make turns, we just wanted to get to bed. York though is amazing & wonderful & I wish so much that we had time there. We did miss our turn though so we drove around the city centre for ages (not made for driving, and mainly one way streets) o we did get a nice look, but the wall & the bars are just utterly breathtaking & one of the most overwhelming structures we came across, mainly I guess because it is so underrated and less spoken of.
To finish the day we continued our drive on a dark small road to our resting place, and were very very happy to be there and sleep.
To be continued….
xx
We haven’t written in a while as we have been quite busy! Since we have already covered the trip to Avebury & Stonehenge, I’ll continue from when we left London again, and headed north this time. First Stop was Birmingham. I have to say that driving around the UK was quite funny at first, because everything is so close, and what seems like a long journey to them over here barely gets us to the top of Victoria. After only a few hours we had reached our first destination. Birmingham.
Now I do want to say we only have 2 weeks’ worth of driving & a lot of ground to cover, so most places we only stopped in for a night. Birmingham was quite cool actually, we went to see the “famous bullring” and that was fairly interesting. It really is just a shopping complex, but the design is really interesting & worth a look. The place we stayed was the Birmingham Central Backpackers and the place comes highly recommended. It would have been nice to chill out there for quite a while I think.
Just before I move on in the trip, I do want to mention that Petrol is quite expensive over here; you are looking at £1.20 a litre. So although driving short distances, it is still rather costly. Not to mention our lovely travel agent again although asked directly failed to inform us of the additional charges for my age on the car hire, so we started on the back foot. It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke, because it doesn’t seem to matter how hard we work to get back on top, or how many days straight we eat noodles, there is always a new thing/issue to take us back to the drawing board…or behind it in some cases. It is a part of the adventure though I guess. It has made for a lot of disgruntled laughs. I think if we took it all too seriously I’d be grey haired by now.
Anyway moving on…After Birmingham we headed up to Leeds. We very thankfully got to catch up with Luke (one of the English boys we met in Spain) and crash on his couch. Leeds was very entertaining namely because Airbourne were playing one of the big arenas that night, and there were “metalheads” everywhere. I didn’t even know who Airbourne were, but 1 You-Tube clip was enough to shame the Warnabool lads.
We from Leeds crossed over to Liverpool (not everything seems logical, but it all had its reasons I promise) Liverpool was lots of fun. We were pretty much immersed in everything Beatles from when we arrived. And once again we were staying at a great place (Bankhall Hotel) which just made everything that little bit easier. Liverpool we actually stopped in at for 2 nights. We spent the first day visiting Penny Lane & Strawberry Field etc, and the second at the Beatles Story Museum. We also headed to the Cavern Club for a few drinks.
The Cavern Club was quite an experience. Even though it was just a cover band on, we went the night after we learnt all about how it used to be, apparently the room was so packed out during the Beatles sets that one night the sweat and condensation on the walls started dripping & shorted out their equipment (or so the Beatles Story says, and who am I to argue?) So it was cool to go down & be in that space. Now it isn’t quite the original, as it was demolished in the 70’s, but was rebuilt at the same address, in the exact same dimensions, and with the same bricks SO it was an authentic as it could get. We met a cool couple there from London too who thought it was outrageous that we didn’t care about Danni Minogue (I think I actually pfft’d her) or neighbours, and that I didn’t watch East Enders. She was a funny lass. I was quick to point out that Kylie is dearly loved & at least as far as I was aware my nanna used to still watch Home & Away & Neighbours.
So after Liverpool ( and this is where our driving pattern becomes illogical) the plan was to drive to York( 2 hours away) and then half way up to Scotland & crash at our midway cheap hotel we had booked, be there just after dinner time for a nice rest.
All did not, to any stretch of the imagination go to plan. We were cruising quite happily on the M62 when signs start flashing saying it’s closed between j22 & j24, which are just exits. Now perhaps Naively ( but we’ve done alright) we actually don’t have a map, we just look up where we need to go & write down the directions, because of this, we were not going t turn off & guess how to drive to the other side of the country, we figured we’d just to the detour. I guess I was part hoping that the people from Britain would go another way, or it wasn’t going to be that bad…Whatever went through our minds was wrong. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 1 hour before we even made in off the freeway onto the detour. Then the detour took us through a whole host of small towns, of course all 1 lane. So our hour of 4 lanes wide of cars crawling along was all squeezing slowly though these tiny streets, for oh about 4 hours…!
By the time we finally got to York it was well and truly dark, making it harder to see signs & make turns, we just wanted to get to bed. York though is amazing & wonderful & I wish so much that we had time there. We did miss our turn though so we drove around the city centre for ages (not made for driving, and mainly one way streets) o we did get a nice look, but the wall & the bars are just utterly breathtaking & one of the most overwhelming structures we came across, mainly I guess because it is so underrated and less spoken of.
To finish the day we continued our drive on a dark small road to our resting place, and were very very happy to be there and sleep.
To be continued….
xx
Camera Issues
FYI...
Our camera pooped itself, well the lens is stuck out and all it does is beep 4 times then turn off. We spent quite a while on the internet & discovered this was quite a common fault of the camera, and the only way to fix it is to go in there and fiddle with things.
Not going to happen, so we are still taking photo's using the phone (they are still good quality pics) but it does mean our blogs will be photoless until we buy a new USB cord. Which isn't likely anytime soon.
So I warn you. Reading, not just pretty pictures :-(
Thats all!
Our camera pooped itself, well the lens is stuck out and all it does is beep 4 times then turn off. We spent quite a while on the internet & discovered this was quite a common fault of the camera, and the only way to fix it is to go in there and fiddle with things.
Not going to happen, so we are still taking photo's using the phone (they are still good quality pics) but it does mean our blogs will be photoless until we buy a new USB cord. Which isn't likely anytime soon.
So I warn you. Reading, not just pretty pictures :-(
Thats all!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Opeth @ Royal Albert Hall
What an awesome experience.
We arrived at the Royal Albert Hall about 20 minutes before the doors opened to have a bit of a stroll around and take in the atmosphere and the outside of the venue, it's just a big, elaborate piece of artwork the outside really, there's a few different statues and monuments outside and the whole top of the outside of the building is covered in carvings of artists and performers.
Then the doors opened.
The first few things that hit you as you walk in is that it is not any old ordinary concert venue, it's ultra classy. The gentleman at the door asked you how you are and takes your ticket, pointing you up the gold trimmed, red carpeted stairs towards the highest level of seating in the place.
As you walk up the stairs you head past the Grand Tier, at which stage I mentioned to Melanie
"Now that is the most classy of areas in any concert hall in the world... that's where the Queen sits when she's here" then you head past the Second Tier and up to the Circle.
We walked out of the stairwell and over to another gentleman who was outside where our seats were taking people's tickets and he asked us "Is it just you two?" We nodded our heads and he said "Would you like a re seat?" We nodded our heads a little faster. The he said "I can give you one of our boxes on the Grand Tier" and sifted through his tickets and stopped at one "Have these ones, they're the best in the house."
Wow. We couldn't believe it. We hurried downstairs to see where our new, very special seats were, and another man greeted us at the stairwell, took our tickets and said "Wow, you've got the good ones, follow me" and walked us down the hall, past pictures of some of the amazing events that had been held there, unlocking the door to our own box.
As we sat down both of our jaws dropped, it is without a doubt the most awe inspiring venue you could ever imagine. The huge ceiling, the massive pipe organ across the back wall, the sheer grandeur of the gold lace trimming, red seats and curtains, and we.... two young aussie's had two of the best seats in the house... only a few across from the seats where the Royals sit. It was impossible to think that it could've got any better.
With a few warnings from a lady over the loudspeaker, the lights went down for the start of the show, and instead of the usual Opeth introduction music, there was the gentle rise of a piano swell, signalling the start of the show.
Opeth then proceeded to play my most favorite of all their albums, Blackwater Park in it's entirety, including all the mellow guitar and piano interludes, and no talking in between songs, just the whole piece played flawlessly.
And that was only the first set. The second set included a song from every other album in chronological order. with Mike stopping to talk and joke with the crowd in between songs as always, and one stage proclaiming "We're bringing Death Metal into the fine halls of culture."
You could really tell that the band was as excited to play at Royal Albert Hall just as much as everyone else was to see them, which made it even more of a great night.
Full Setlist and a few of our pictures below:
1st Set - Blackwater Park
1.The Leper Affinity
2.Bleak
3.Harvest
4.The Drapery Falls
5.Dirge for November
6.The Funeral Portrait
7.Patterns in the Ivy
8.Blackwater Park
2nd Set - Evolution XX
9.Forest of October
10.Advent
11.April Ethereal
12.The Moor
13.Wreath
14.Hope Leaves
15.Reverie/Harlequin Forest
16.The Lotus Eater
We arrived at the Royal Albert Hall about 20 minutes before the doors opened to have a bit of a stroll around and take in the atmosphere and the outside of the venue, it's just a big, elaborate piece of artwork the outside really, there's a few different statues and monuments outside and the whole top of the outside of the building is covered in carvings of artists and performers.
Then the doors opened.
The first few things that hit you as you walk in is that it is not any old ordinary concert venue, it's ultra classy. The gentleman at the door asked you how you are and takes your ticket, pointing you up the gold trimmed, red carpeted stairs towards the highest level of seating in the place.
As you walk up the stairs you head past the Grand Tier, at which stage I mentioned to Melanie
"Now that is the most classy of areas in any concert hall in the world... that's where the Queen sits when she's here" then you head past the Second Tier and up to the Circle.
We walked out of the stairwell and over to another gentleman who was outside where our seats were taking people's tickets and he asked us "Is it just you two?" We nodded our heads and he said "Would you like a re seat?" We nodded our heads a little faster. The he said "I can give you one of our boxes on the Grand Tier" and sifted through his tickets and stopped at one "Have these ones, they're the best in the house."
Wow. We couldn't believe it. We hurried downstairs to see where our new, very special seats were, and another man greeted us at the stairwell, took our tickets and said "Wow, you've got the good ones, follow me" and walked us down the hall, past pictures of some of the amazing events that had been held there, unlocking the door to our own box.
As we sat down both of our jaws dropped, it is without a doubt the most awe inspiring venue you could ever imagine. The huge ceiling, the massive pipe organ across the back wall, the sheer grandeur of the gold lace trimming, red seats and curtains, and we.... two young aussie's had two of the best seats in the house... only a few across from the seats where the Royals sit. It was impossible to think that it could've got any better.
With a few warnings from a lady over the loudspeaker, the lights went down for the start of the show, and instead of the usual Opeth introduction music, there was the gentle rise of a piano swell, signalling the start of the show.
Opeth then proceeded to play my most favorite of all their albums, Blackwater Park in it's entirety, including all the mellow guitar and piano interludes, and no talking in between songs, just the whole piece played flawlessly.
And that was only the first set. The second set included a song from every other album in chronological order. with Mike stopping to talk and joke with the crowd in between songs as always, and one stage proclaiming "We're bringing Death Metal into the fine halls of culture."
You could really tell that the band was as excited to play at Royal Albert Hall just as much as everyone else was to see them, which made it even more of a great night.
Full Setlist and a few of our pictures below:
1st Set - Blackwater Park
1.The Leper Affinity
2.Bleak
3.Harvest
4.The Drapery Falls
5.Dirge for November
6.The Funeral Portrait
7.Patterns in the Ivy
8.Blackwater Park
2nd Set - Evolution XX
9.Forest of October
10.Advent
11.April Ethereal
12.The Moor
13.Wreath
14.Hope Leaves
15.Reverie/Harlequin Forest
16.The Lotus Eater
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Stonehenge, Avebury and other monuments...
Hey guys,
We have had an Epic last few days...and that's an understatement. We picked up the car on the 4th & I have adjusted well to driving on the left side of the road again. I have a little manual this time, so It's a bit more fun to drive. I've found driving in general to be OK, highways & so forth, but the country roads can be tiny, hardly big enough for 1 car & the speed limits on them are like 40-50mph sometimes, leaving me going a little slower pissing off locals who are used to them.
We have of course been driving places, of which I guess I should talk about! On Advice from Rian & lonely planet, whilst out west we decided to not only check out Stonehenge, but some of its equally impressive World Heritage Sites.
We stared off at West Kennet Long Barrow (wiki) and after a climb up the hill we got to have a bit of a look. Its really bizarre, I guess it it to say the same for all of the Neolithic sites of the area. Theres no admission to these ones and its really nice to get up close. We got to actually walk inside the chamber and up ontop of the mound.
Next Stop off was Silbury Hill. you can see Silbury Hill from the long Barrow & vice versa, it's just across the road. We were quite excited when we were up across the road as we saw someone climb it & thought it would be fun to do, but as we neared we saw signs requesting we didn't...so we didn't. It was a bit sad actually as it has so much history and by all accounts sounds really amazing when you read about it, the make up of the hill & of course its unknown purpose. But since the tunnels they built through it in the 60's caused damage & they have since filled it in, it really is just a big hill.. not all that impressive to look at honestly, but still worth the visit
After that we went back though Avebury to check out the stone circle. This was quite amazing. In most sections the stones are places perfectly around and it seems some of them were even shaped quite oddly too. The town itself is pricelessly charming, and once again as this was free, we stopped into the pub for a bite to take in the atmosphere a bit more. The whole town hasn't changed, I assume this is to do with it being protected, but it is amazingly kept. What was perhaps the strangest was the church. Dating back to the 12th century the church is an amazing feat of Architecture, and the graves accompanying are quite old, we waled past a few from 1900ish. But what really captivated me about the town was that these aren't all just old churches or places that are there for show. Its still fully functional, with graves onsite as later dated as 2007. Although we walked through the town thinking we were looking back in time, it is very much how they live.
We slept in the car that night & managed to et a good few hours sleep. To wake up for the Day. Stonehenge followed by Opeth at Royal Albert Hall. Massive!
We had fairly low hopes headed towards Stonehenge Lonely Planet had described it as a "underwhelming experience" so we weren't hoping for any kind of enlightenment I guess. We arrived early as advised to avoid the overly touristy atmosphere. We were actually surprised how close it was to the road. I mean, real close, They are petitioning & so forth to move the road now, but it is kinda funny that it was put there in the first place. Anyway we were going to pay to go through etc and get closer, but we wanted to see first exactly what we were paying for as we knew it had been roped off. The ropes were alot further away from the stones than we had anticipated and the path was literally 2 or so metres from the fence next to the road in some areas, so we decided to not pay the 7 pounds each for a few more steps.
We had a great view from the road, and in all fairness it is something you look at and scratch your head, I mean it is amazing, and its something that you have to do, you know, but I think we made the right decision in not paying to go inside. In the first 10minutes of us being there, buketloads of people came in, coaches & tour busses and the area that you pay to go in was packed out. I think we probably had a better experience on the other side of the fence.
After this we head back to our hotel in Heathrow & drive into Opeth. I Shall leave this amazing story here and leave Benny to tell the rest.
Much love
xxx
We have had an Epic last few days...and that's an understatement. We picked up the car on the 4th & I have adjusted well to driving on the left side of the road again. I have a little manual this time, so It's a bit more fun to drive. I've found driving in general to be OK, highways & so forth, but the country roads can be tiny, hardly big enough for 1 car & the speed limits on them are like 40-50mph sometimes, leaving me going a little slower pissing off locals who are used to them.
We have of course been driving places, of which I guess I should talk about! On Advice from Rian & lonely planet, whilst out west we decided to not only check out Stonehenge, but some of its equally impressive World Heritage Sites.
We stared off at West Kennet Long Barrow (wiki) and after a climb up the hill we got to have a bit of a look. Its really bizarre, I guess it it to say the same for all of the Neolithic sites of the area. Theres no admission to these ones and its really nice to get up close. We got to actually walk inside the chamber and up ontop of the mound.
Next Stop off was Silbury Hill. you can see Silbury Hill from the long Barrow & vice versa, it's just across the road. We were quite excited when we were up across the road as we saw someone climb it & thought it would be fun to do, but as we neared we saw signs requesting we didn't...so we didn't. It was a bit sad actually as it has so much history and by all accounts sounds really amazing when you read about it, the make up of the hill & of course its unknown purpose. But since the tunnels they built through it in the 60's caused damage & they have since filled it in, it really is just a big hill.. not all that impressive to look at honestly, but still worth the visit
After that we went back though Avebury to check out the stone circle. This was quite amazing. In most sections the stones are places perfectly around and it seems some of them were even shaped quite oddly too. The town itself is pricelessly charming, and once again as this was free, we stopped into the pub for a bite to take in the atmosphere a bit more. The whole town hasn't changed, I assume this is to do with it being protected, but it is amazingly kept. What was perhaps the strangest was the church. Dating back to the 12th century the church is an amazing feat of Architecture, and the graves accompanying are quite old, we waled past a few from 1900ish. But what really captivated me about the town was that these aren't all just old churches or places that are there for show. Its still fully functional, with graves onsite as later dated as 2007. Although we walked through the town thinking we were looking back in time, it is very much how they live.
We slept in the car that night & managed to et a good few hours sleep. To wake up for the Day. Stonehenge followed by Opeth at Royal Albert Hall. Massive!
We had fairly low hopes headed towards Stonehenge Lonely Planet had described it as a "underwhelming experience" so we weren't hoping for any kind of enlightenment I guess. We arrived early as advised to avoid the overly touristy atmosphere. We were actually surprised how close it was to the road. I mean, real close, They are petitioning & so forth to move the road now, but it is kinda funny that it was put there in the first place. Anyway we were going to pay to go through etc and get closer, but we wanted to see first exactly what we were paying for as we knew it had been roped off. The ropes were alot further away from the stones than we had anticipated and the path was literally 2 or so metres from the fence next to the road in some areas, so we decided to not pay the 7 pounds each for a few more steps.
We had a great view from the road, and in all fairness it is something you look at and scratch your head, I mean it is amazing, and its something that you have to do, you know, but I think we made the right decision in not paying to go inside. In the first 10minutes of us being there, buketloads of people came in, coaches & tour busses and the area that you pay to go in was packed out. I think we probably had a better experience on the other side of the fence.After this we head back to our hotel in Heathrow & drive into Opeth. I Shall leave this amazing story here and leave Benny to tell the rest.
Much love
xxx
Friday, April 2, 2010
London Part 3
Hey again,
This ones just a brief update!
We have shopped again, and won I might add. I am so freakin in love with Topshop. I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of the holidays budget on clothes in the one store!
We also returned to Abbey Road to get the priceless Ben walking across photo.
& we have now moved out to Ilford, Essex for a few days. We are at a great B&B where we get full English Breakfast which is fantastic! (provided you wake up in time) We slept in this morning and are quite pissed off that we missed it. Alarms on for tomorrow!
The areas quite cool so far. Very local suburbia, so everyones just going about their own you know. It's kinda nice to just be living instead of sightseeing & we feel much less touristy.
We finally had fish & chips & it was great to get some greasy battered fish back into us. We were going to try fish & chips in the states til we realised everything was crumbed, no batter. It was deliciously bad for us!
Heading out for lunch again today, not too sure what we feel like. But might head to the chicken shop. 50 Pence Style...
Much love xxx
This ones just a brief update!
We have shopped again, and won I might add. I am so freakin in love with Topshop. I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of the holidays budget on clothes in the one store!
We also returned to Abbey Road to get the priceless Ben walking across photo.
& we have now moved out to Ilford, Essex for a few days. We are at a great B&B where we get full English Breakfast which is fantastic! (provided you wake up in time) We slept in this morning and are quite pissed off that we missed it. Alarms on for tomorrow!
The areas quite cool so far. Very local suburbia, so everyones just going about their own you know. It's kinda nice to just be living instead of sightseeing & we feel much less touristy.
We finally had fish & chips & it was great to get some greasy battered fish back into us. We were going to try fish & chips in the states til we realised everything was crumbed, no batter. It was deliciously bad for us!
Heading out for lunch again today, not too sure what we feel like. But might head to the chicken shop. 50 Pence Style...
Much love xxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
