Springfield Farm

On Saturday we got our second sunny warm day! So to take advantage of it I convinced Grant to get out his cars so we could go for a drive in the sun. It is a bit of an involved process as they are all in a small garage and take a fair amount of maneuvering to get out. First remove the Jaguar E-Type:

Then you can get out the MG and put the top down.

Jo and Elly were ready for a drive:

I found the goggles and Grant took me for a drive around town. It is a great little car, but I did have to squeeze my legs to fit in.

Later we went to pick up my cousin Kingsley from the train station in the E-Type. It's not really made for 3 large blokes, but Kingsley was kind enough to squeeze into the back with his legs across the seats. Unfortunately the Jag heated up and we got a bit hot driving back stuck on tiny roads behind a tractor. When we got a clear run Grant put his foot down and we roared past the tractor at full pelt. Awesome car.


That afternoon all the Ogston's came around for a lunch and to catch up. My Uncle Bruce and his partner Keith, my Uncle Hamish, my cousin Harriet and her husband Chris and my cousin Kingsley. We had a nice afternoon in the sun drinking wine and sharing family stories. I think we all got a little sun burnt and maybe a bit tipsy but had a nice afternoon.

Today we have been taking things fairly easy. We started off with a nice big breakfast and then went for a nice big walk on a nearby reserve. When it is clear you can see a nearby castle, but it was a bit overcast and we got a bit wet from some rain. This afternoon we have been over to my cousin Harriet's house, where she had put together an impressive spread for afternoon tea. It was great! Scones, sandwiches, cake and fruit. So we stuffed ourselves some more and looked around their 200 year old house that they have been renovating. Very nice.
Now we are packing bags and getting ready for our flight tomorrow to Paris!

more photos as usual (http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/SpringfieldFarm)

Out and about in Britain (part 2)

The next day we headed out from Bath in Czesky to go and see The Cotswolds. It was a fairly quick trip and we made it into Bourton on the Water. It was probably our favourite little village in The Cotswolds. Very picturesque, mind you the weather couldn't make up it's mind, one minute:
The next:
We booked our accommodation for the night through the tourist information centre, had some bad lunch and went to the Motor Museum:



We then continued through some other villages and fantastic countryside:

Finally ending up at our B&B near Chipping Campden: We had a lovely night there and a good pub meal nearby for dinner.

The next day we headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born:

To tell the truth there isn't really much in the town besides this attraction but they get 3-4 million tourists through each year!

We then went to Warwick Castle, it is a great old castle with proper battlements and they have people dressed up in medieval gear doing demonstrations.

We climbed to the top of the tower (530 steps) and watched some demonstrations (bow and arrow, a massive trebuchet, and some eagle flying) and continued on our way.



Later that afternoon we went to Blenheim Palace. It is a massive place, where Winston Churchill was born

Really lovely gardens:

The lawn out the back behind the Palace goes for ages and there are masses of gardens. There is even a massive "Victory Column" out in one of the fields with sheep grazing around underneath it. A bit funny. After that we headed back to my Aunt's house in Oxfordshire for a weekend catching up with my family.

Some more photos here (http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/BritainCotswolds)

Out and about in Britain (part 1)

We set from my Aunt's house in Oxfordshire on Tuesday in Czesky towards Salisbury. We have had some fun navigating the roads and determining the speed limits in England. In Australia the speed is pretty self-explanatory, there a signs on all the roads with a big black number in a red circle. In England there is a "National Speed Limit" that seems to vary depending on what type of road you are on and if there is a white circle with a black line through it that means drive at the national speed limit (whatever that might be on the day). We spent a number of days, and asked countless people to explain this to us. I think we've finally got the idea even though we are still overtaking plenty and being sped past by even more! Luckily we give back Czesky on Monday.
On the way to Salisbury we did the obligatory stop at Stonehenge:


We then made it into Salisbury and had a late lunch and went to visit the Cathedral where my Mother went to school and my Uncle's sung in choirs.

We went on a tour with a nice old man who was taking us around by ourselves only to be interrupted by three Italian tourists, somehow the guide and been mistaken for knowing Italian. Unfortunately for us he did not and the lady in charge of translating to the rest was a bit slow herself so often had to ask for confirmation before translating (Gah!) very frustrating!

We then headed off to Bath, only to find the main way was closed and be diverted through some strange roads. To make it worse, we didn't have a good map of Bath, and I made mistake with the B&B we were staying in that night (thinking it was the address from another place we had rung). The middle of Bath is a nightmare to drive through. The roads will appear to go the way you want, only to turn a different direction with no turning allowed later. Eventually we gave up and rang the B&B, they were very nice and even though it was rush hour, drove to where we were and lead us back to the B&B (totally opposite direction!).

The next day we got our first sunny day in England! We started off early and walked into town for a big day of tourist sites. We took advantage of a free walking tour, with another old man who lead us around town showing us the sites and explaining the history. The circus (a complete circle of houses):
The crescent (behind us):
We then paid for the tour of the Roman Baths which was very interesting. The hot springs there still pump out about a mega litre a day! My take on the postcard photo with the abbey in the background:

After walking all around town and underground to the Baths we decided that we better see what the Romans were talking about and went and had a relax for the afternoon in the Thermal Day Spa. It was very nice and relaxing, including some steam rooms, a pool on the roof looking over the town and another pool below. Very nice, especially on the roof in the first sun of the holiday!

That night after dinner we had heard about a comedy tour called "Bizarre Bath" and decided to try it out. A comedian took us around town and mucked about and performed a few little magic tricks. He was very funny and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits Bath:

On the way back I managed to capture the Abbey lit up in lights:
All in all it was a long day, starting at 9 and not getting back to the B&B up the hill until about 10:30pm. Luckily we had the relax in the middle as it was very tiring.

Some more photos (http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/BritainSalisburyBath)

Oxford in the cold & rain

Today we went on the Oxford Tube (see the last post) into Oxford. It was a cold, misty, rainy day. Despite of this we decided that the best way to see all the colleges, and actually know what we were looking at, was to catch the tourist site seeing double-decker bus! So up we went to the open top with our rain coats and huddled with the headphones on in the rain for the tour.

Despite the cold it was a good idea as we learned all about the history and could see more being up higher. We also saw the shop where Alice (in Wonderland) bought her sweets, Bodly Library and the Covered Markets.

Out and about in Oxfordshire

We're currently sitting on the Oxford Tube, which is actually a double-decker bus that travels between Oxford and London. It even has free wifi (Internet). We arrived back in England on Friday and picked up our rental car, a little Skoda that we've named Czesky after the large number of Skodas that we saw in Prague. We managed to navigate our way on the motorways to Oxfordshire where we are staying with my Aunt and Uncle, Elle and Grant, and their 2 lovely dogs, Mtwarpa and Tatu, on the lovely Springfield Farm. The weather has been pretty bleak so far, which has given us a chance to relax. We went into the little town of Watlington on Saturday morning and saw some historical (or maybe that should be hysterical) Morris dancers. Morris dancing is an interesting type of medieval dancing where the participants wear bells on their legs and jump around whacking each other with sticks or waving hankies in the air.

Later that day we went for a drive around some other villages in the area, Henley on Thames (where George Harrison lived), Turville Head and others. They are all just as you imagine English villages to be with tiny roads and lovely old stone cottages.The gateway to George Harrison's old house:
After driving around in the Jaguar, we got back and Grant to me for a spin in his Aston Martin DB7 convertible (100mph). Talk about James Bond!
He also has a 1950's MG, an E-type Jaguar, an Alvis and a cool old Ferguson tractor.

On Sunday we were invited to my Uncle's house for lunch. It was fantastic to catch up again with Hamish, Ania and my twin cousin's Isabella and Darcy.

Hamish collects vintage cars made by the Ogston Motor company and has three Deemsters. He took me for a drive in one of them. Fantastic! After lunch and some great wine we went out to see his new house. They have done an amazing job with the place. After a nice lunch we drove out to the new house to see. It has been amazingly renovated with lavish attention to detail. Amazing house, they are moving in next weekend, so we might get time to go and see it occupied with their beautiful furniture. More photos of the area:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/Oxfordshire

Prague 2 and a half days

On Thursday we decided to take things a little easier heading into town a little later. We headed past the Astronomical clock to the Cubist Museum where they also have one of the so-called 'Grand Cafes'. Cubist Architecture is a style that was made popular in Prague early in the 20th century. It is mainly 'cube' shaped buildings with angular window decorations etc.

After a coffee and some cake we headed down to the Jewish Quarter. The oldest practising.synagogue in Europe is known as the Old-New Synagogue, it was originally known as the New Synagogue until a 'new' synagogue was built nearby in the 16th century.
We also visited the Jewish Cemetery where over 100,000 Jews have been buried over the centuries in 12 layers, all in the space of a small city block! An interesting and slightly unnerving place.
Nearby we saw the Spanish Synagogue which has the most amazingly decorated interior. (picture from the internet as no photos were allowed).
After the Jewish Quarter we went for lunch at a Czech Pub, where I got to challenge one of the local specialities. The pork knuckle was 1.2kg (they seem to have the weight of all the dishes in Prague menus) and included sauerkraut and the requisite beer.
We then continued (at a slower pace) to investigate the old town and the large number of amazing old buildings.

Later that evening we had bought tickets to one of the many concerts held in cathedrals in Prague. The concert was trumpet and organ recital held in St Nicholas Cathedral, which is an elaborately (some might say excessively) decorated cathedral filled with statues that have lots of gold adornments. The concert was beautiful with the cathedral providing great acoustics.

After the recital and dinner and some dinner we wandered back over Charles Bridge took some photos (http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/Prague2) and home.

Our flight back to England today wasn't until the afternoon so we headed into town to do some tourist shopping and a final look around before being dropped off at airport by our host Jan. I highly recommend staying with them at the Lida Guesthouse, they were so nice and even arrange tickets for public transport and the concert right from the B&B.I'm writing most of this while on the plane back to the UK, where we are hiring a car and driving to Oxford to my aunt's house. Should be interesting navigating the roads!

Our First Luggage Experience

On Monday we caught a cheap flight out of Gatwick to Prague. We were met at the airport by the B&B owner, Jan, who took us on a scenic route through town explaining some history, culture and showing the sites. When we got there he sat us down and showed us on a map all the important things, where to get good food, what train and tram to catch, how to see the sites best etc. It was very good. We decided to have a bit of a rest only to discover I picked up the wrong bag off baggage carousel at the airport! Gah!
In the end it was very easy getting Jo's bag back because the other people had not been as dumb and not picked Jo's bag up! Jan took us back to the airport a different way showed us more sites and told us how he lived in Brisbane for a year when he was 10, very interesting. That night we had dinner at a restaurant down the road. It was awesome! 2 massive plates of yummy food and 3 beers for 530 krowns which is about $35!
Yesterday we went to Prague Castle which is actually a massive palace complex with castles, cathedrals, museums and displays. Just before we went in we paid to see this old monastry library (Strahov) and paid an extra 50k ~$3 to take photos. Money well spent I think. On the way down to the castle we ran across a place selling Glut (hot) win, it was freezing so we were sucked in and had some yummy warmed wine. The classy way to warm up I say.At the castle we saw a changing of the guards ceremony, climbed another 300 steps up St Vitus Cathedraland looked at a museum display of the history (dating back to the 8th century!).
We went out and found a restaurant/pub and had another massive meal as a late lunch then headed across Charles Bridge. We wandered around looking at tourist shops (everyone sells big furry faux KGB hats and shirts saying 'Prague Drinking Team' might still buy one). We found the Astronomical clock, grabbed a little food for dinner, as we were still full from lunch, and went home for an early night.
More photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/Praha

London Days 4 & 5

We are now in Prague and it is very cold (5°)! The computer here can't seem to read our disk with all the photos on it so I'll add photos later.

Sunday was the London Marathon, and it went right past Lyndal & Nick's house which we thought would be interesting. It ended up actually making our day very difficult. Lyndal and Nick live across the Thames from Greenwich, so they took us for a walk through this tunnel under the river to have a look.
As we came out of the tunnel we came out into a crowded street of people cheering on the runners. So we stopped and enjoyed the atmosphere for a few minutes trying to spot any of the famous runners (Gordon Ramsay, Ronin Keating). Then we decided to move on, not so easy! We couldn't cross the road because of the marathon. We ended up having to catch a train one stop and walk back just to cross the road!
There were some nice little markets we had a look through and then went to head up the hill to the observatory, only to have it start pouring rain! So we found a café to shelter in for a while and had one of London's crap coffees. Afterwards we decided to catch a clipper up the Thames. It was an interesting perspective on London and we saw some things we might not have otherwise. We hopped off only to meet our nemesis for the day, the marathon! Again we were forced out of our way, and had to jostle our way through the crowds for a few km's to find an underground station. Nick and I went to find the tourist centre, while the girls went to South Kensington to meet up with Annalise. The tourist centre is meant to be on Regent St, but we had fun trying to find the bloody place! Turns out it is down from Piccadilly Circus near Trafalgar Square, no where near where we started looking of course. We bought a 'London Pass' for the next day (a cheaper way to see some of the sites) and went to find the girls and have a late lunch. It was pretty late afterward so we had a quick look at the Victoria & Albert Museum and headed home.

On the Monday Nick and Annalise had to work but Lyndal had taken the day off for us, which was nice. So we grabbed our jackets and London Passes and set off on a day of tourist sites. First to the Tower of London, where the pass allowed us to be first in, ahead of all the crowds. We saw the all important Crown Jewels (530 carat diamond!) and learned all the interesting history and generally had a good time. Then we walked along the river to St Paul's Cathedral. It is a massive building with fantastic art, sculptures and mosaics. We climbed 460 steps up to just under the dome (the whisper gallery) and then up on top which had amazing views over London, definitely worth the climb. After that we headed to Kensington Palace and had a tour, it was interesting but nothing compared to St Paul's. We had a lovely afternoon tea at the 0rangery and organised to have Annalise and Nick meet us in Kensington for our last dinner in London.

Foods of London

The last few days we've been trying the different food delights of London. First of all we went to the Borough Market's where got to try all sorts of tasty delights.They were great markets and I wish we had more time to spend around there.
A mountain made of chocolate brownies

Some yummy cheese
After the markets we headed off to Fifteen (Jamie Oliver's restaurant). It was good food but of course no Jamie.The next morning we went to some markets near Annalises house where a lady was selling some awesome cupcakes:That afternoon the girls headed off to the Berkeley Hotel for afternoon tea:
and had the one thing that Jo had been looking forward to... cake in the shape of a handbag!:
While Nick and I went on a pub crawl in Canary Wharf. 5 pubs later, the girls met us and we went back to Lyndal and Nick's apartment which is in Canary Wharf over looking the Thames.
More photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/fergusm/LondonFoods