B.O.N. England

Hopefully this latest post goes to ‘print’ on Christmas Eve, so firstly a very Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holiday, Happy Honokaa, etc. etc. to all! Personally we are on a train to Zermatt to meet our families for Christmas and hopefully enjoy a white Christmas on the slopes. Although to be honest with you, we just boarded a train that we’re not 100% sure will take us to Visp to facilitate said trip to Zermatt…

For those of you not up with my poor French title, Bon England is French (well bad French, because yes I know it should be Bon Angleterre, but that would be even more confusing!) for good England, and this post happens to cover Bath, Oxford and Newcastle. So let’s get started…

Day 54

After picking up an absolutely lovely Peugeot 3008 from down Putney way, it was off into the unknown with only a little old GPS to guide us. To be honest with you I don’t know how people don’t use one of these in foreign countries, even with English road signs it is so much easier and less stressful for the driver (me) and I could not begin to estimate the amount of fights it avoided! We had a vague list of things to do in 3 days, Stone Henge, Bath, Oxford and Windsor.

We arrived at Stonehenge to some very threating skies and a howling wind that ripped across those rolling hills so violently I thought it would raise the dead from one of the many burrows that pocketed the countryside. Despite this and only having the one chance we braved it and wandered around the site, audio guide in hand. There really isn’t much to see except for a more close up view of what you can see from the road, however the heritage society do their best to pad out the guide with interesting theories/myths etc. about how and why the henge exists. Cool rocks, and amazing that they are so old and how they got there without the tools even the medieval builders would later use is amazing, but still… just rocks.

The "rocks"... with rainbow

Back to the warmth of the car and it was on to Bath which has been on Katrina’s to do list since the inception of this trip, but when questioned as to why, she had no idea! Arriving in the afternoon we scored a very nice B&B in the centre of Bath for two nights. Dinner at the oldest house in Bath including old school ‘trencher’ bread did well to remove the cold that had seeped in to our bones at Stonehenge!

Our B&B ...

Day 55

Waking to our first morning of snow, however brief, was quite a treat, with the small square where our B&B was located, briefly hidden behind some large white snow flakes! Unfortunately it wasn’t to last and quickly turned to rain/sleet which made our walking tour that morning all the more brisk! The Mayor of Bath runs free walking tours everyday of the year except Christmas and New Years and are run by old retired people to stretch the legs I think. Our guide was good and we covered all the big ticket items, the outside of the Baths, the Circus, the royal crescent and my personal favourite, Bennett St! It gave us a good orientation for an afternoon spent wandering and shopping.

Royal Crescent

... Obvious ...

The river

But not before an audio tour of the inside of the Roman Baths, complete with every little detail you could possibly want to know. Please note if your interested in these details, allow yourself a day to do this tour, we spend about an hour and a half there and glossed over the ‘additional information’ sections!

The Roman Baths

Dinner that night was a treat at Jamie Oliver’s Italian, in Bath. Jamie himself wasn’t there unfortunately, but the food was simple, good, Italian and the wine was red (we’re not fussy!). The chefs definitely did Mr Oliver’s name justice and I highly recommend a table if your in Bath. They don’t take day time bookings so you can just rock up of a night time, have a drink while you wait for a table. Although we didn’t have to wait at all, and the only people who did were groups of 4+ from what I could see.

Day 56

Wanting to check out the ‘Cotswolds’ we headed north(ish) and called in at Castle Combe which we discovered was nothing other really than a photographers dream. Apart from that this tiny village was pretty dead at this time of year with us sharing the main ‘street’ with a few telecom crews being the only highlight.

The happening city of Castle Combe...

Next stop was Malmesbury where after visiting the church we stopped at the tourist information centre where the guy told us that the only thing to do here was visit the church. Easy, done, back on the road!

On toward Oxford we drove but detoured to Cirencester where we stopped for lunch and a wander through their little village. Lunch was a beautiful pub meal located next to an awesome little private book store where Katrina finally bought something not shit to read that will last her more than a week! (sorry had to get that out!) Shantaram…great read if anyone is looking for a new book!

Arriving in Oxford we scored yet another lovely B&B by turning up at the tourist office and seeing what was available. We were too tired really to do much else so we had dinner at the local pub and had an early night. I thought my Man Flu was making a return so needed a good sleep!

The local...

Day 57

We had an absolutely packed itinerary to get through on our way back to London for a night time train to Newcastle so it was go go go! A morning walking tour of Oxford was really interesting and covered all sorts of information about how all colleges work and admissions etc., along with entry to one of the colleges and the main university library. Oxford University is a collective of 36(?) colleges in the town and as such are spread out throughout; they only come together for special guest lectures and at exam and graduation times. If you see someone rocking an Oxford University hoodie, they are a tourist as all the students rep their colleges in the choice of clothing. A bite to eat on the run and it was a rush to Windsor Castle before a) they shut and b) we had to return the car.

One of the colleges

The library at above college

Windsor for me is the most impressive of the tourist items in and around London, I think mainly owing to its constant upkeep at the residence of Queen Elizabeth II (and Prince Charles officially, still lives at home with his mum… no wonder people want him to abdicate!). Another site another audio tour which covers the grounds, the royal apartments (these are majorly impressive and you’ve got to wonder whether the private ones are more or less so, would they be more extravagant or would they tone it down when people have to live there?) and the cathedral. A recent (early 90’s) fire has led the refurbishment of a large part of the royal apartments and this only ads to their appeal as they have been very recently restored/improved.

Windsor gate

Getting my revenge for sending my relatives to Australia for petty crime... oh hang on... thanks for that!

The honeymooners outside the chapel

Heading back into London we got major traffic jam, but not on the main freeways. It took us nearly an hour to go about 4km’s from the exit to the Europcar depot at Putney, one lane two way streets causing absolute chaos! All that was left then was a short 3 hour train ride to Newcastle…

We couldn’t of been more wrong, whilst I’m sure it was only 3 hours, it felt like 3 days with a group of 8 young Celtic fans making their way back from a Europa league game/bender who regaled us with such hits as “If you’re not topless you’re not Celtic, ole ole!” at the top of their drunken lungs for the whole journey. After that it was almost a relief to stand a cab line at Newcastle station for 30 minutes with all the other quiet drunks, including the ‘Emirates co-pilot’ in front of me who mistook me for his mate. “where are we going?” don’t know mate, “what are we waiting for” it’s a taxi rank, you’re waiting for a cab, “I’m f&%king sick of this S%$t, where are we going seriously?” It’s a cab rank, I suggest you get a cab home, “I don’t know where I am or where I’m staying”… luckily to ladies took him off my hands and put him in a cab home. Just like being at home in Newcastle…

Day 58

Having spent the night in the comparative luxury (compared to our standard hotel choices) of the Staybridge suites, it was a wander of the quayside and a visit to the new-castle (the toon’s namesake) before heading to the game! This time the game won’t get its own match report due to a) my laziness and b) a reasonably frustrating game which finish nil all.

The river and one of many bridges

The new castle...

Top of the castle with St James Park in background

A few highlights in lieu, Coloccini’s header missing narrowly wide (see photo), total domination by Newcastle for much of the game winning a phenomenal amount of corners and limiting Swansea to one half chance late on, an awesome bicycle kick from Demba Ba and the amazing pre-match tribute to Gary Speed. Our tickets were also great, good view of the game and also access to the “Platinum Club” before, during half time and after the game where you can actually have a real, alcoholic beer! A disappointing result, but better 1 point than none, and some good football none the less.

A very happy Toons fan!

Collocini heads wide

Dinner consisted of happy hour cocktails at the local Latin restaurant before a curry and bed. This bed courtesy of Michael Barwick and Stephanie Jasper which we were most appreciative of, thanks again guys!

thanks Bob and Steph! 

Day 59

Not having enough Toon action it was back to St James’ Park for the stadium tour and a spot of shopping. Despite still being dirty from match day, the tour was really interesting with a personal guide who was an employee of the club taking us around the facilities and through the sheds etc. I didn’t realise it is the 3^rd largest league ground behind Old Trafford and the Emirates, and one of the largest conference centre’s in England. They rely heavily on corporate sponsorship although there is still some bitterness towards those who jumped ship when they dropped to the Championship, our guide was one of the many Geordie’s who was ecstatic that we were able to bounce straight back, saving further money and job losses! Definitely a ‘people’s’ club and this was evident from the way the tours were run, to the friendliness and knowledge of our guide.

The same happy Toons fan!

Many pounds later we left the Toon shop and headed back to the Latin restaurant for lunch (we couldn’t get a table the night before). Then off to board the DFDS ferry to Amsterdam. I was a bit apprehensive about an overnight long haul ferry ride, but apart from eating too much at the buffet dinner and making myself ill, there was really no down side. It served as our night’s accommodation in small but comfortable bunk beds and dinner and breakfast were ok without being amazing. So it was we arrived in Amsterdam on the morning of Day 60…

(and by the way, it was the right train!)

All our Love

M&K

San Sebastian Similarities

Day 32

An early start was required to enable us to train hop our way to San Sebastian in northern Spain, leaving the big city life of Madrid behind us. On the recommendation of every Australian who has been to Spain (or at least it seems that way) San Sebastian was a must see destination. Upon arrival it was clear to see why, a smallish beach side town with both a sheltered barely breaking main beach and an exposed surfing beach, all within a stone’s throw of the centre of the old town. The similarities with Newcastle weren’t lost on us and whilst wandering through the streets you could easily imagine Newcastle being like this if Columbus had of missed the Americas and sailed right across the pacific to Australia. We’d also all be able to speak Spanish which would have helped us no end!

Ok a small difference with Newy, a giant statue of Jesus overlooks the beach!

Newy beach...?

Not having any plans for the afternoon we checked in to our hotel and went exploring the city. Apart from the beaches (more of a summer time attraction) San Sebastian is also the self proclaimed ‘gastronomical’ capital of Spain. Up there tapas are known as Pintxos and are a source of healthy rivalry between the local chefs. We avoided them for lunch and I reacquainted myself with my Spanish favourite sandwich lomo with peppers and cheese. We wandered past the beach in the arvo and saw a guy surfing along the backwash of the break wall on a mal, both the surf and the surfer were rubbish and he almost ended his day prematurely bailing very close to the wall at one point. An evening spent Pintxos hopping resulted in some interesting morsels and a taste of the local sangria. (and probably another kilo for the scales!)

Day 33

Having promised ourselves a bike ride in Barcelona and then leaving it until too late we managed to secure a day bike pass for the local bike stations in San Sebastian and set out for the day after a quick coffee and croissant. After checking out the surf beach, decent swell but pretty messy, although some ok rides sheltered in against the break wall, pretty packed for the temperature, it was off to the headland which is equipped with a Funicular to reach the top. A spectacular view from the top although the sun was still trying its hardest to burn off the cloud. In summer (and on weekends in winter, which it was not) it is host to a fun fair, but at this time of year is deserted save for the Mecure hotel perched on top. Very creepy, I’m sure I’ve seen a movie where the serial killer hides in the abandoned fun fair, maybe a clown mask or two…

Katrina showing off her new wheels!

The locals shredding!

The view from the creepy carnival

Walking back down to safety, our good day of exercising and was undone by a 3 course ‘menu of the day’ at a restaurant back from the beach. Back on the bikes and I led us the wrong way to the wrong side of the tracks in an attempt to make it to the home ground of Real Sociedad, the local La Liga team. Once Katrina got us back on track we found the stadium, and the supporter store of course! Securing the bikes at the station it was an afternoon of shopping, like we hadn’t done enough already, but this time it was me doing the buying! More Pintxos hopping ensured this was just a warm up for our cooking class the following day!

My wheels and the river

Real Sociedad stadium and me with my shopping

Day 34

Katrina had booked us a cooking class/experience with a local tour operator San Sebastian Food and it was off to their office to start the day. There we found out we were to be the only participants for the day and what ensured was a very personal cooking class after a small boat ride across the port to the restaurant Ziaboga (a small rowboat which they race in the area). There with our translator we were treated to lessons in fish preparation, cooking and eating (like we need any help with that one)!

Master (Alex) and kitchen hand...

The layered monk fish and stuff...

Our chef for the day was Alex and his Irish assistant ??? helped us prepare a combination of Hake and Monk Fish very simply but very tastefully. Salsa de Verde was a common theme with Hake fillets and Hake chins (a delicacy in San Sebastian) throughout but we also cooked artichokes 3 ways and a layered Monk fish/potato/crab meat thing. A great day was had including help from our translator as our chef is strictly Spanish only. We were then able to enjoy what we’d helped prepared with a few extra additions from Alex, over a bottle of wine and finished with some local spirits. An amazing day that can be highly recommended by both of us, and for someone who doesn’t really like fish the meals were most enjoyable! Alex also introduced us to Txakoli (pronounced chuck or lee) an almost cider like white wine which is ridiculously easy to drink and refreshing!

Kitchen hands, apprentice and chef after cooking!

After another hard week of travelling (life’s tough I know!) we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon at La Perla which is a unique day spa which pumps in sea water from the beach, filters and heats it into a series of hydrotherapy pools which have all sorts of massage jets, submerged exercise equipment in addition to an ice therapy pool, sauna and steam rooms! As it opens out on to the beach I couldn’t help but be the tourist and go and body surf at least one wave! The water was surprisingly warm, and I thought the guys we’d seen in steamers (one of them with booties and a balaclava) were a bit soft!

Wasn't cold enough to warrant steamers hoods and booties... but it was pretty cold...

Shredding the waves myself...

The other benefit of our cooking class was some tips from the translator and assistant as to the best Pintxos bars and what to have. We were informed that we shouldn’t eat the stuff lined up on the bars as we had been but instead order from the menu. With this in mind we attacked a different set of pintxos bars, Txakoli in hand this time. To say they were amazing would be an understatement with some highlights being the Solomillo, a beef fillet and sauce on bread slice, and the veal cheek although I also enjoyed the pigs ear (too fatty for Katrina) and a pork rip later on the night.

Our Pinxtos server posing for the camera!

A rare shot of the travelling couple!

San Sebastian didn’t disappoint with their food, cooking class or drink and any Australian but especially any Novocastrian would no doubt feel at home!

Day 35

A peculiarity of the European train system is that whilst you can book Spanish trains from France, you cannot book French trains from Spain. So whilst we knew what time our various trains were we were unable to purchase tickets in advance, with a 20 minute interchange the only window for us to purchase the tickets and secure our safe passage to Albi, France. Luckily we managed to get through this ordeal, including another 5 minute rush of an interchange and arrived safely in Albi where Jack Shaw (The Shaw’s are friends of the Mansfield families and now friends of us both) arrived with some of the League boys to pick us up at the station.

Arriving at their share house in the beautiful country side I couldn’t help but think the house was a bit too old world and pretty for a house full of Aussie league players (no offence boys!). An afternoon of drinking games ensued and probably was a bit over the top when Adam and Jack had arranged dinner with everyone at their Manager’s family home with the president of their league club Les Courts.

Dinner was an amusing and welcoming affair with a mixture of bad English, bad language and confusion overshadowed by an amazing meal served up by Pierre and his wife. It included an entrée of frog’s legs for us foreigners, but you couldn’t help be suspicious when it was only the Aussies that were served it! Main was a lovely duck and bean stew and we are very grateful to Pierre and his wife for taking us in.

From L to R: Jack, Adam, Club president, club 'foreigner' manager, back of my head

Suitably (or maybe unsuitably) lubricated it was off to hit the Albi town up, via an Irish pub (O’sullivan’s) to trente Cinque (25) night club. The league boys had mixed success with the ladies and the night ended with a bit of confusion around how the hell we were going to get back to the house well outside of Albi. However no harm done and we made it home to retire/pass out.

Day 36

A few sore heads and a late start the Shaws took us for a quick but personalised tour of Albi including the largest red brick cathedral in the world. Also downed some quality hang over cure from a local patisserie. An afternoon coffee and enjoying the conversation of some other English speaking people rather than ourselves had us ‘frothing’ as the boys would say…

Katrina with the boys in front of the largest red brick cathedral in the world!

The beautiful old town of Albi

Dinner was a simple but very good meal at a little cafeteria that sponsors the club and it rammed home that Adam and Jack (and the others) are kind of like rock stars in a small town which loves its rugby league and it’s Aussies! The ‘slap and pound’ being the favoured greeting of club members and affiliates alike greets the boys wherever they go.

A big thank you to Jack and Adam (and the others) for putting us up for 2 nights free of charge, although less of a thank you for the hang over that resulted! Especially to Adam who gave up his bed for us and dropped us at the station before work this morning. Which leads us to…

Day 37

A TGV from Toulouse is currently speeding us towards Paris where we intend to spend a few days doing a few little things and catching up on some washing. We have kind of ended up with an extra 3 or 4 days we don’t know what to do with so are investigating the possibility of a weekend getaway to somewhere from London. But I suppose you’ll hear about that in good time!

All our Love

M&K

Barca the Best!

Days 23 through 30… Barcelona

Hello from a 290 km/h train between Barcelona and Madrid. After initially ragging on Spanish trains, Karma comes back to bite me and we are currently enjoying our nicest high speed of our journey speeding towards to Madrid. We have spent the last week in a lovely apartment in Barcelona, resting, sleeping, shopping and site seeing. Mainly because of our laziness a day by day account for these 8 days wouldn’t really be riveting reading so instead we’ll go site by site/ event by event… Here goes…

Flamenco Night

Our first full day in Barcelona was spent wandering around the city shopping and a trip to the markets where we bought some supplies for breakfast that week but was highlighted by a night at the Flamenco show. A shout out to James and Kel whose Viator voucher we utilised for this lovely night out. The show itself consisted of two solo female dancers and 3 male dancers, one female solo singer accompanied by a full complement of 3 Spanish guitarists and 4 hand clapper/singer men. Flamenco is definitely more like tap dancing than I thought it was, and all being unamplified in a small room the power of their voices, clapping and guitars was amazing. The only downside was not being able to speak Spanish because some of the ballads sounded like really interesting hard breaking stories! But definitely an awesome show much more than what I personally expected! All enjoyed while sipping on a glass of Sangria!

Flamenco!!!

Barcelona’s Gothic Cathedral

Knowing that Barcelona was famous for its cathedral we were surprised to see that it was actually at the end of our street. Unfortunately it wasn’t the famous Sagrada Familia which is ‘the image’ of Barca but was an impressive gothic cathedral none the less. Due to the rain (which would become a semi permanent feature of our week) we were unable to catch the lift up to the roof top. Really all these Gothic era cathedrals are very similar however this one had two interesting features. It is ‘protected’ by 13 white geese which live in the central courtyard who protect the tomb of the 13 year old girl buried there. This girl refused to renounce her Christian faith and was rolled down the street in a barrel of glass and nails, attempted to be burnt at the stake (but the flames shied away form her and instead burnt the roman soldiers) and final crucified refusing still to renounce her faith. The other interesting feature is the choir chapel which accurately predicts the rise of the X-men…

Inside the Cathedral by Katrina Bennett

The X-men pews...

Le Sagrada Familia

Barcelona’s real cathedral. Guided by an impressively detailed audio tour, we wandered through the last public work of well known (to some?) architect Gaudi. Gaudi was a renowned modernist whose life’s work would be this cathedral which he would never see finished. He envisaged the whole design but only completed the pulpit and one of the facades (the gothic nativity façade) before his death. Luckily for the people of the world he left a series of detailed models, sketches and writing instructions on how he saw the completed church. Whilst a lot of this information was destroyed in the Spanish Civil wars the people of Barcelona have continued his life’s work and the church is still under construction. I’m not easily impressed by the religious artefacts of the world however I would urge everyone who reads this to see this building before they die. It is truly breathtaking. Set apart from the typical Cathedral by it’s modernist inspired curved lines and abstract sculptures it is amazing on the outside (the passion façade, the only other completed façade, is a bleak but at the same time detailed account of Jesus’ crucifixion) and only surpassed on the inside by an amazing series of columns which rise from the floor into a ceiling which is designed to create the allusion of a great forest towering over you. Inside all people are welcomed to find a place to pray/meditate/worship or merely contemplate something important to them. I fear that I cannot write anything that would truly do this place justice and all I can say is, go see it!

Le Sagrada Passion Facade

Me with Audio guide, nerding it up

Detail from bronze door on Passion Facade

The 'treetops' inside!

The nativity facade

St Marc and some gold triangle that means something...

Gaudi Parc

Containing Gaudi’s own personal house, two other residencies designed by him, and the famous series of mosaicked chairs and the giant mosaic lizard it is recommended viewing before going to Le Sagrada. Unfortunately we made the mistake of viewing it in reverse order (after Le Sagrada) and whilst impressive, it fell a bit flat compared to what we’d just seen and coupled with the weather (overcast) wasn’t living up the hype!

The Mosaic Chairs

The ‘Cava’ bar experience

At the recommendation of the lady who checked us into our apartment the night after Le Sagrada was spent at a little bar which serves homebrew champagne, known as Cava to the locals. It was an amazing yet crazy experience of being jammed shoulder to shoulder drinking 0.90 EUR cava and playing dinner roulette by pointing at the menu and getting all sorts of warm sandwiches. Lomo was a particularly tasty pork hamburger. It was packed with tourists and locals alike and run by 6 or so Middle aged Spanish dudes who would wave you away if you took too long to order, or couldn’t Spanglish your way to ordering food! Amazing!

Crazy times at the Cava bar

Katrina with Cava and Lomo

Parc Montijuic

Montijuic is a large park located on a hill overlooking the city and the port of Barcelona. After another semi wasted morning spent snoozing and reading a book I’d found in the apartment (which as an aside was an amazing read, called Imperium, by someone Harris) we headed down to the port suburb of Barconalette to catch the cable car across the port to the mountain. With the light fading fast I thought we’d wasted our time but it turns out, much like our wedding photos, low light can create some amazing scenes and the views over the city and the port lit up were quite spectacular. These views were from the Fort atop Montijuic. We walked back down to see the Magic fountain but to our surprise and the other hundreds of people present, the fountain was broken and no announcement was made to this fact, so everyone stood around for a while and then finally we gave up after over hearing a conversation between some police officers.

View from the cable car

View from the fort by night

My arty view of fort and refinery terminal at port

Palace at the tope of the magic fountain backlit

The Nou Camp – Gets it own blog, click here...

Roxette

Katrina attended the start of the Roxette concert while I went to see Barcelona play. I arrived when they started playing ‘must have been lov’e but couldn’t find my way in to the massive venue, Palou de Sant Jordi. Never fear, I made it inside to find half of the venue ‘closed’ (think black drapes hanging halfway down the Sydney Entertainment Centre) but still inside to see them belt out the hits including ‘Joyride’ and ‘She’s Got the Look’ (second encore!). It was a solid if not spectacular performance by an obviously ageing band. It makes sense but didn’t pick that they would have such a large gay following, plus Katrina and I were probably the youngest people there!

Rocking with Roxette

80s much?

The beach and the W bar…

Our last day was spent meandering along the beachside, which whilst nice in the sun, the wind kind of put a cold chill in the air. The guys in the water were very keen, surfing rubbish waves in steamers and booties! The night we retired to the ‘exclusive’ (their word not mine) W bar at the top of 26 odd floors at the end of the port for watermelon martinis. It was very nice and swank (read: expensive) and the view was most impressive, would’ve been nice if it was open in the afternoon when it was still light!

The 'surf' with W bar in the background!

The food…

Couldn’t go past pointing out the obvious that the food we enjoyed all week was nothing short of spectacular! From the simplest Lomo (see cava bar above) to the paella’s, various tapas, gelato and snails on our last night. The Catalans really know how to put on a good feed for a reasonable price! Sangria was a favourite for dinner either in a meal deal or a litre jug…there were many mornings with sore heads from this magical drink! J The fresh chorizo and goat’s cheese from the markets in some farm egg omelettes cooked at home were also a nice touch for breakfast! Whilst hard to find, the churros that we did find was amazing including little individual churros filled with caramel we had on the last day down at the port. Barca has a great international selection for food which is rare in most European countries we’ve been to, Katrina sampled Wok n Walk (twice) to get her Asian kick. It’s definitely the city of food.

Paella and Sangria on Flamenco night

And that was it. We have both really fallen in love with the city of Barcelona, how could you not! The food, the shopping, the atmosphere, the everything! We will defiantly be back (maybe in summer) and cannot recommend this leg of our trip highly enough… get to Barca! NOW!

All our love

M&K!