There's so much to be said for train travel. It gives you an opportunity to see the land you're travelling through (rather than just fly over it) and to mix with the local people. From time to time, it's also possible to do that in relative comfort. As I write, we're travelling through Romania on a local train. It's warm (much warmer than outside!), has huge picture windows and is full of Romanian people travelling for the holiday season. I thought of listening to some music before, but decided against it - instead opting to listen to the cacophony of sounds around me - people chatting, the train on the tracks, the frequent blasting of the horn - not sure what's on the tracks ahead but we're certainly powering our way through.
We're well into our 2014/15 adventure now. We left Brisbane on Saturday 6 December, bound for an overnight stop in Singapore. After quite a good flight, we briefly checked in to our hotel and made our way to Raffles. In the style of Hemingway and Kipling we enjoyed a couple of Singapore Slings as we threw our peanut shells on the floor. No idea why that's the custom, but... when in Rome... (??).
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| The customary glass of bubbles at Brisbane International Airport |
Arrived in London on Sunday night - 7 December.
The week of 8 December - spent in London - was a productive one. The days were filled with research and making new work connections, and in the evenings we enjoyed the things we love most about this great city - restaurants, art galleries, the ballet (managed to get in two of these - Edward Scissorhands at Sadlers Wells with Tim and Stephen and The Nutcracker performed by the English National Ballet), cozy pubs - we even managed to fit in a rugby game at Twickenham. An added bonus was to catch up with Ryan, with a highlight being to show him where we were married at Islington Town Hall. The staff kindly let us go in to the actual council chamber where the ceremony was held. It occurred to me later that, ironically, that day marked the 10 year anniversary of the day Phil proposed to me.
Saturday 13 December
After throwing a few things into two tiny backpacks (I was inspired by my mother's light travels and packing skills), we made our way to Stansted Airport for our flight to Bucharest, the starting point for our ten day adventure through Romania and the Balkans.
The flight was easy - just a few hours long. I love the feel of Ryanair - it's quite relaxed and the staff are really friendly. Even the pilots were wearing Santa hats! It's also a reminder that you've arrived in an Eastern European country when the passengers applaud a safe landing.
It was certainly very cold and dark when we landed in Bucharest at 5pm, but in no time we had reached our hotel, dumped our bags and headed off to explore the old town. Found the Christmas market and enjoyed some local dancing as we kept warm with mulled wine.
In keeping with Phil's aim to visit Irish pubs all over the world, we finished off the evening at Patrick's - cheers to diversity!
Sunday 14 December
Today was a massive one of exploring this brilliant city on foot. Bucharest has an incredible history - so much of which has happened in our lifetime. I first visited here in 1990, less than a year after the revolution which removed communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from his post, leading to his execution and the end of communist rule. Information didn't flow as freely back then as it does now, and so I wasn't fully aware at the time of the extent of what had happened in that December of 1989 - not long before my visit. I feel privileged to be able to go back, almost a quarter of a century later, to walk the streets again with greater insights and understanding.
We started our walk of discovery at the Palace of Parliament, which is the second largest building in the world (the US Pentagon is larger). One of Ceausescu's legacies, it stands on an area that was once an entire suburb. As a consequence, many people lost their homes.
Took an opportunity to walk through some parks where, given it was a Sunday morning, people were out walking their dogs and making the most of the clear blue skies. One particular park, Cismigiu Garden, was really interesting - old men playing chess in one corner, a Christmas market in the other and an open air ice-skating rink. We warmed up with a cup of mulled wine as we watched the locals having fun. As has been the case when we've found ourselves in previous years at a gorgeous open air rink, I resisted the urge to pull on a pair of skates - not sure if I can do it any more and my bones aren't what they used to be.
We kept walking past the beautiful, crumbling buildings of Bucharest, to the National Art Museum, set in the Royal Palace (a royal residence from 1834). The building has seen and weathered so many historical events. During the revolution in 1989 it sustained significant damage and has since been beautifully restored to house a wonderful collection of Romanian art, along with works from other European artists including Rembrandt and Rodin.
Across the road from the museum is the building which was once the Central Committee of the Communist Party. It was from the balcony of this building that Nicolae Ceausescu tried to deliver his final speech to the rebelling masses below, but they managed to storm the building. In the square in front of the building, there is now a very moving monument to those who lost their lives in the revolution.
Continued our trek via beautiful churches and another monument to the casualties of the revolution.
The last stop on our walking journey was the National History Museum which, among other things, had an interesting display on King Ferdinand's reign just prior to WWI.
After an amazing meal at an Italian restaurant, we waddled home to frock up (which means change jumpers!) for a night at the ballet - the Romanian National Ballet performing La Fille Mal Gardee. It was a lovely night and a very familiar Eastern European experience for us - surrounded by beautiful, elegantly clothed people in a magnificent opera house while we try to look inconspicuous in our very daggy travel clothes and scruffy boots. At times like this, there is only one thing to do - have a glass of champagne and try to blend. We've been to enough opera houses in this part of the world to know that the heating is usually turned up - and so we dress accordingly. But nothing could have prepared us for the extreme heating on this occasion. We were baking. But we were the only people who seemed to be! Everywhere there were men in suits and ladies in jumpers. We, however, had to take off our outer jumpers and sit through the ballet in our undershirts. While these were, fortunately, fit for public viewing, we hardly cut elegant figures as we sat in the front row (conspicuously illuminated by the stage lights). I even took off my boots. Not my finest fashion hour.
And so, probably fittingly to round off our time in this city, the night out ended with what I understand to be not an uncommon Bucharest experience - a brush with a dodgy taxi driver. After paying 7 Romanian lei to get a taxi to the ballet, one taxi driver wanted to charge us 50 lei to get home. Fortunately we found that out before the journey commenced and so were able to find an alternative. Thankfully we found a more honest soul (which has absolutely been the more common experience for us) and made it home.
Monday 15 December
Which brings us to the point of writing this chapter, as we sit on the train, making or way from Bucharest to Brasov in Transylvania. So far, the train has been boarded by a couple of hawkers selling magazines (there goes another one now selling little plastic toys) and a couple of beggars, but they seem pretty used to people saying 'no' and they just move through the carriage. We've travelled through farmland, peasant villages, industrial towns and it's now getting quite mountainous and snowy. So much to see. What a wonderful world.
Part Two
Arrived in Brasov mid afternoon. What a beautiful town - cobbled laneway after cobbled laneway. While evidence of human inhabitance indicates people have been in this area since 9500 BC, many of the buildings in the old town date from the 1400s. Our home for the next couple of nights is a loft apartment in an ancient house on the edge of Brasov town square which, at this time of year hosts a beautiful Christmas market. Entrance to the apartment is via huge wrought iron doors which open from the square into an intriguing passageway, then through a mysterious wooden door (you have to put your hand through a secret window to open it from the inside) and up an ancient stone spiral staircase. Once inside, the apartment is beautifully renovated, warm, and has a balcony which overlooks the square and - of course - the Christmas market! As complete suckers for a Christmas market we are in our element.
We spent the afternoon undertaking an initial discovery walk of the many little streets of Brasov, including a quick visit to the one and only Brasov Irish pub (another tick for Phil). Naturally, we also spent some time at the Christmas market. What an amazing tree. No regrets about not putting up our tree at home this year - why bother when you can enjoy this one?
Found the narrowest street in Europe - imagine being able to touch both sides of a street at once...!
To end the day, Phil enjoyed a German sausage at the market, and I bought some lovely fresh cheese to enjoy at home. Does it get any better?
Tuesday 16 December
Today we set off to explore two historic monuments not too far from Brasov - Bran Castle and Rasnov Fortress.
On our way we discovered the delightful village of Cristian. A feature of the village is it's ancient fortified church.
Continued on our journey to Bran Castle. Built in the 1300s, the castle was used to defend against the Ottoman Empire. Vlad the Impaler passed through several times and there is some reference to him in various rooms of the castle. It was fun to explore the many secret passageways and lovely rooms - and it's always a privilege to see how others lived so many years ago. During their reign, Queen Marie - wife of King Ferdinand, added some delightful touches to the castle - it really is beautiful both inside and out.
After a visit to the castle, we enjoyed lunch in a lovely restaurant in Bran, including trying a local dessert. A beautiful concoction of cheese doughnut, blueberry jam and sour cream (and I wonder why my jeans are getting tighter) - Papanasi was enough to make us waddle to our next stop - Rasnov Fortress.
The fortress was built in the 1300s to protect the local people from the many invasions of the day. This is the fortress of all our imaginations - built high on the hill, lookout posts, strategic positions from which to drop boiling oil on aggressors, places for livestock - even a school! And, remarkably, it's still reasonably intact. Visitors can walk around quite freely, exploring the many laneways and buildings inside the fortress grounds.
We finished our day out with a visit to the ski field immediately surrounding Brasov. It's not quite ski season yet, but there is enough snow on the ground to get a picture of what it will be like. It was fun to see the locals preparing for the onslaught of visitors.
And finally back to our home in Brasov - and of course yet another visit to the Christmas market for more sausage and cheese!
We were only able to see so much in one day because we hired a driver and guide. This is not a usually preferred style as we enjoy the thrill of independence, but on this occasion it was a very good move as it helped us make the most of our time. We also enjoyed meeting Cristian and Adrianna who were delightful people - and exceptionally knowledgeable and open to questions - not just about the places we visited but about life in Romania.
Part Three
Wednesday 17 December
And so, another train writing session - we're on a train from Brasov back to Bucharest where we will connect with a night train to Timisoara in Western Romania. We're both really looking forward to this journey because we really love train travel. It must have something to do with the fact that we both come from railway families - it's probably in our blood!
Today we took some time to explore Brasov itself properly. We started with a visit to the Black Church - which we've been able to see from our apartment. It was great to finally have a chance to see inside. Unfortunately photography isn't allowed, but I know I will remember this church for it's wooden floorboards (quite unusual for a church this size) and the many ottoman rugs hanging around the walls. As for most churches of a similar age, it has endured its fair share of destructive issues - fires, earthquakes, general states of disrepair - but it has stood the test of time and is a very beautiful building.
From there we trecked around the city walls, visiting both the white and the black towers. Both stand proudly above the town, reminders of when it was necessary to have such bastions to protect against aggressors. Nowadays they are lovely vantage points from which to view the old town.
Our last port of call was a very funky cafe which we found down a side alley and up an old spiral staircase. Brasov is full of places like this - hidden away and intriguing - and we were determined to try one before leaving.
Brasov has been so very relaxing. It's peaceful and the people are very friendly and laid back - a lovely place to spend a couple of days.
After setting ourselves up with a picnic for our night train (which of course includes wine and cheese!) we picked up our backpacks and headed for the station. The next phase of the adventure begins!
Part Four
Thursday 18 December
What an adventurous 24 hours we've had. The journey from Brasov back to Bucharest by train was good. Then we had an hour or so wait in Bucharest before we could board the night train to Timisoara. We used the time to navigate the many windows at the railway station ticket office to buy our onward tickets from Timisoara to Belgrade. This was a bit of a relief, because up until that point we honestly had no idea how we were going to make that cross border journey (not particularly easy to arrange this online from home).
The overnight journey from Bucharest to Timisoara was amazing. The train was completely vintage - brown laminate everywhere. What a wonderful way to travel - lulled to sleep by the clickety clack of the train on the tracks. Given the typically extreme heating, we opened the window to moderate the temperature - which served to amplify the sounds.
Arrived in Timisoara at 7am and then walked across the tracks to catch the 7:50 train to Vrsac - just over the Serbian border. As we expected, at the border the train stopped. Romanian border control guards boarded the train and collected our passports. They took them to the station office, processed our exit (including stamps) and then reboarded the train to hand the passports back. The train continued slowly through no man's land to Vrsac and then the Serbian border control guards came aboard. After we'd had our passports stamped we got off the train, walked across the tracks and found the train we needed to continue our journey to Belgrade. As usual, the train left right on time and we were on our way to our destination - or so we thought. We pulled up at the station at Pancevo - a tiny village north east of Belgrade. Thinking it was just another stop along the way, we casually sat and looked out of the window. The train staff then came along and told us we had to get off - apparently the train terminated here because of track work ahead. When I asked how we would get to Belgrade they were't too sure, but suggested 'Taxi? Minibus?' Oh and apparently our train ticket to Belgrade didn't count towards the onward journey. So here we were - stranded in a tiny village with no transport and - worst of all - we didn't have any Serbian currency (it's impossible to buy in Romania) to buy any transport! Eventually, we found a packed minibus with two spare seats and so literally squeezed our way on board, with our backpacks on our laps. We were relieved to hear the driver would accept euro (fortunately Phil had a couple). As we set off on our way (hopefully to Belgrade) the driver passed a clipboard over his shoulder. Fortunately the lady immediately to my left took it because I had no idea what it was for. She wrote what looked like initials onto the page. Following suit, I scribbled LB and PB, hoping I was on the right track. I passed it to the row behind and then, as it made its way through the minibus and then came back to us at the front, I saw that everyone else had done the same. Phew - we'd done the right thing.
We had assumed the minibus would take us to the Belgrade train station, but no - we were dropped on the outskirts of Belgrade. Despite making every effort (both the Romanians and the Serbians have been so very lovely and helpful) the driver couldn't tell us which local bus we needed to complete our journey into central Belgrade. And so we did what we've all been taught to do when we need a hand with directions - we asked a policeman. He seemed delighted to meet a colleague from Australia and was most helpful with information on bus numbers.
We managed to navigate the bus system, not to mention the ticketing system, and eventually found the city centre. From the outset it was clear something wasn't right - the traffic was atrocious and drivers were very impatient. It would have been faster to walk than stay on the bus. Eventually we alighted and opted for Shanks' Pony. As we walked towards the main town square we noticed a significant police and military presence. All traffic was stopped and people were only allowed to cross roads at certain intervals. It was clear some sort of motorcade was imminent. After a short period of time, we saw what all the fuss was about - a very, very serious motorcade went past - including a car transporting the Chinese Prime Minister. Car after car passed - big, flash black cars carrying Chinese representatives, Serbian police cars, armoured cars carrying the fully kitted out specialist anti-terrorist unit... It was serious stuff. It turns out the Chinese were in town to celebrate the opening of a new bridge - which they had funded.
Eventually we were able to pass and after negotiating several side streets we found our hotel. Did the usual dumping of the bags and set off to explore Belgrade. We walked and walked - exploring cathedrals, the beautiful pedestrianised street, had a late lunch / early dinner at a very nice cafe and visited the beautiful fortress (with some medieval elements as well as some 17th century additions) which sits high on the hill overlooking the beautiful Danube River. We even managed a quick drink at an Irish pub! They really are everywhere.
Belgrade is somewhat of an anomaly. It's very sophisticated - everywhere there are trendy cafes full of very cool people sipping coffee or drinking wine. And yet the pavements, and many of the buildings, are - literally - crumbling. This all adds to the charm of this wonderful city. After an interesting day, I'm keen to do some more exploration of Belgrade tomorrow.
Part Five
Friday 19 December
Set off early to discover more of Belgrade. We had read that the number 2 tram did a wonderful loop of the city - and it would certainly take us to where we wanted to go - the remains of the Ministry of Defence - bombed by NATO in 1999. The Serbs have elected to leave it as is, as a reminder. It's an incredible sight - twisted steel and buckled concrete - frozen...as though time stood still. Life bustles on around it, and yet it looms above the busy city street. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around this neighbourhood.
Spent our last hour or so at the local market in Belgrade. Market life is always a wonderful insight to the lives of the local people.
Eventually we prised the claws of beautiful, crumbling Belgrade from our skin and headed to the airport - in time to catch our flight to Sarajevo. As we walked across the tarmac we realised our Air Serbia plane was a tiny one, but the flight was only 40 minutes so quite understandable. We generally prefer to travel overland if possible and if time allows, but on this occasion it seemed impossible to make the journey any other way than by air. We didn't rise above 5000 meters and so had a wonderful view of the Balkans throughout the journey - certainly made the air trip worthwhile.
We soon landed at Sarajevo airport and walked across the tarmac to the terminal. This airport played a huge role in the provision of humanitarian aid during the Bosnian War (1992 - 1995). I was here a couple of years before the war and am filled with wonder about what I'll see over the next couple of days.
We took a taxi to our hotel - the infamous Holiday Inn. Built in the early '80s for the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, during the war the hotel was right in the middle of the fire. From here, foreign correspondents covered the war amid heavy shelling. The hotel itself was frequently shelled and journalists claimed they didn't have to go out to cover the war - it came to them. This link to the BBC provides great information:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24730400
The street in front of the hotel was dubbed 'sniper alley' because it was significantly bombarded during the war. Sarajevo lies in a valley and is flanked by hills - it was from these hills that the Bosnian Serb army attacked the city. It is important to note that during the Siege of Sarajevo, the town endured 1,425 days of fire, with an average of 329 shell impacts per day. On 22 July 1993, over 3,500 impacts were felt. It's so hard to imagine how you can live with that.
After checking in we visited the main train station to arrange tickets for our onward train journey to Mostar and then bus journey to Dubrovnik in a couple of days (another leg we weren't able to arrange easily from home), and then set off to check out our surroundings. We walked through the streets of beautiful Sarajevo - despite the darkness we could see and admire the wonderful, but war wounded buildings that lined the streets. We walked to the Baščaršijad - the bazaar area (which reminded us so much of Istanbul - there is huge Turkish influence in this city), where we had some dinner and then enjoyed a couple of drinks at the world's most bizarre Irish pub - it served a Dutch variety of guinness, played Latin American music, had some Irish/American decor and was frequented by gypsy children waiting to collect the empty bottles. Sarajevo is intriguing!
Part Six
Saturday 20 December
Today was a day of walking and exploring. We started at the Sarajevo History Museum (just across the road from the Holiday Inn) which chronicles the events of the dreadful war in the early '90s. The building itself was heavily shelled and is damaged. This is a must for anyone visiting Sarajevo.
Caught a rattly old tram towards the city centre. Walked up and down side streets, getting off the beaten track. Traversed cobbled streets, walked up into the hills and came across a couple of amazing cemeteries.
Stumbled across many interesting sights, including a beautiful Franciscan monastery and - as luck would have it from Phil's perspective - the brewery that produces the wonderful local beer 'Sarajevsko'. Stopped for some quick lunch and then continued on our tour of discovery.
Walked to the Latin Bridge - one of many over the River Miljacka - where, on the 28th of June 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. This act precipitated World War I - 100 years ago. This is the point where history took a real turn.
Continued our walking tour taking in the many mosques and churches scattered through the town. Sarajevo is a real testament to diversity - people of all cultures and beliefs living side by side. We also marvelled at the many, many battle scarred buildings of Sarajevo. So many are riddled with bullet holes. Some have been reconstructed, however they often stand beside others that were completely ruined and have never been rebuilt.
And yet the people of Sarajevo go about their business - doing their Christmas shopping on the last Saturday before the day. The bullet holes and shelled pavements are part of their daily lives. Every now and again Sarajevo Roses (artillery holes in the streets filled with red resin to mark the place where people lost their lives) are a reminder of historical events.
We enjoyed a final visit to the Baščaršija - the cultural hub of the city - enjoying some baclava and Bosnian coffee - before heading home (to the wonderfully intriguing Holiday Inn - the hotel where time stood still! It's so very '80s) to prepare for our big day tomorrow - to Dubrovnik via Mostar.
Part Seven
Monday 22 December
I'm writing this chapter on the plane from Dubrovnik in Croatia to London. It's the only international flight out of Dubrovnik at this time of year - the only other flights from the tiny airport are to Zagreb - also in Croatia. It's not a full flight, and the plane looks like something out of the '70s - absolutely delightful. We've flown straight up the gorgeous Croatian coastline, across Italy, Switzerland and are now travelling over France. It's a gorgeous, clear day so hopefully we'll see Paris from the air before too long.
What a wonderful Sunday and Monday morning we've had.
We had a very early start yesterday morning (Sunday 21 December) - caught the 7:15am train from Sarajevo to Mostar. This is a very, very beautiful journey - one of the most picturesque in the world. The train was so very old (most trains in this part of the world are donations from Scandinavia) and had a gorgeous vintage charm - lots of brown laminate and blue velour). We train took many twists and turns through the beautiful Bosnian countryside - over bridges, through tunnels - past many villages. At one point, we traversed an expanse of uninhabited land that displayed frequent signs warning against entering because of landmines. Reminiscent of our time in Cambodia, however these are so much more recent.
We arrived in Mostar and had a couple of hours to enjoy the town before our onward bus journey to Dubrovnik (it's not possible to take a train).
Mostar has a gorgeous old town, about 20 minutes walk from the station. This was what we came to see. It's at times like these you really appreciate having a small backpack. The 'left luggage' centres at the train and bus stations looked a little dodgy, so we opted to take our bags with us.
And so we set off down the road to the old town. What I wasn't prepared for was the significance of the battle scars here. Mostar was obviously shelled as heavily as Sarajevo, but they haven't really rebuilt yet. There were so many completely ruined buildings lining the streets - with no attempt to rebuild. The roads and pavements showed signs of significant artillery fire. Once again, the remarkable people carry on with their daily lives - so very inspirational.
The old town has a heavy Turkish influence, not unlike the old town of Sarajevo. It's a summer town, and so was beautifully devoid of tourists (as have been all the cities we've visited so far - that's why we love travelling at this time of year). This meant we virtually had the place to ourselves and didn't have to share the historic bridge (the main drawcard of Mostar) with many others. I can't imagine jumping off this bridge that is so high above the turbulent waters below, and yet so many do. I read somewhere that tourists pay local men to do this during the high season.
After having some lunch at a lovely restaurant run by friendly local people, we headed to the bus station for our onward journey out of Bosnia into Croatia - to Dubrovnik.
The bus trip was amazing. It went through the vineyards and wine region of Bosnia, before we reached the border. Here, the bus driver collected our passports and took them to the border control office. We had officially left Bosnia. Then, after driving through no man's land, the Croatian border guard boarded the bus and did a passport check. We were then allowed to continue. This is an interesting part of the world, though, because as we travelled down the coast of Croatia, we had to re-enter Bosnia for about 7km. Again - border control - but a little more casual on this occasion. The reason for this is that while Croatia owns most of the coastline, a small part was given to Bosnia by the Turks many years ago, and so remains a part of Bosnia.
Back in Croatia, we continued our journey down the coast. I have very fond memories of travelling this road in 1990 - I have always claimed that the 'Yugoslavian Riviera' was more impressive than the French or Italian ones.
And so our bus terminated at the Dubrovnik bus station - some distance from the centre of town. We rose to the challenge of navigating the local bus system and headed for the old town - our last hotel for this little journey. The bus dropped us at the gate to the old town and then the challenge began. Without a map, we had to navigate the maze of tiny, tiny cobbled streets, to find our hotel. With backpacks on, we set off. We picked one street - for no reason - and headed into the abyss. As we checked or map a very kind man asked if he could help. When we showed him the name of the hotel and street we were looking for, he seemed perplexed. He was a well-to-do older gentleman who said he had lived in the old town of Dubrovnik all his life but had never heard of the street! He then committed to helping us find our way. He asked local after local, but none knew of the street. Eventually another man passing by heard the conversation and indicated he knew of the street. He put us all in the right direction. The lovely man who first helped us walked with us - straight to the door. Such kindness augers well for an excellent first impression. Let that be a lesson to all of us, always help out travellers. I've always thought the first person you meet in a new country sets the scene - and we have very good feelings about Dubrovnik.
And they were to continue, because our hotel was nothing short of amazing - the owners were so very friendly and accommodating and the room was awesome.
We spent the late afternoon and evening wandering through the maze that is the old town of Dubrovnik. Once again, it was heavily shelled in the early '90s but has picked itself up and as a truly beautiful city. The people here seem to have recovered quite well. Once we had conquered the old town, we ventured outside the fortress walls and viewed the citadel from afar, watching the sun set over the Adriatic Sea.
Had a pre-dinner drink at one of three Irish pubs we spotted on our walk and settled for a gorgeous meal at the restaurant connected to our hotel. It was clearly the nicest one in town. Interestingly, despite the fact that we were in Croatia, it was Bosnian food (which we didn't actually try in Bosnia!) and was absolutely delicious.
After a wonderful night's sleep we woke early, gobbled down an amazing breakfast and set off to walk the city walls. What a gorgeous view we had of the coastline, the Adriatic and our last view (for now) of the city of Dubrovnik. We'll be back!
All good things must come to an end, however, and we had to head back to the hotel, collect our little packs and make our way to the Dubrovnik airport for our flight back to London - and we're just about to land. Didn't see Paris in the end - a bit too cloudy. Never mind. We've seen it from the ground a couple of times. :)
A lovely week in London lies ahead. I have one more meeting tomorrow and then it's pure holiday. We're spending Christmas Day with Tim and Stephen in their new flat, and so there's Christmas lunch shopping to be done!
Part Eight - Christmas week in London
I'm writing this from our hotel in Amsterdam. We arrived this evening, having spent a fabulous week in our favourite city - London. We didn't stop all week - determined to make every minute count.
Monday 22 December - continued
The fun started as soon as we arrived back from Dubrovnik. After heading from Gatwick airport to the section house and quickly settling in again, we headed to the West End to see if we could get tickets to a show that had been recommended to us - Sunny Afternoon. I must say this was more Phil's choice than mine, but I didn't really mind what I saw, just as long as I was out and about. It turns out the show was absolutely brilliant - a terrific choice and a really fun night out. It basically chronicles the first couple of years of The Kinks and their rise to stardom. Right from the start I knew we were in for a treat when booking the tickets I realised some of the seating was cabaret style. We managed to nab tickets for a table for two with a great view. By the end of the night, everyone in the audience was on their feet and dancing - I've never seen that at a West End theatre before! A great night out - thoroughly recommended. Finished the evening dancing to the music of a great busker at Piccadilly Circus. What a massive day - starting with a walk around the Dubrovnik city walls and ending at London's West End!
Tuesday 23 December
Had another work meeting today - however what I thought was going to be one meeting actually turned into three! Very productive.
Spent the afternoon at Camden Town and bought a new pair of Doc Martens. I've been wanting a black pair for a while.
Tonight's entertainment was a visit to a great old theatre pub in Islington - The Old Red Lion. We saw a play here last year and really enjoyed it so were keen to check out this year's productions. Downstairs is a typically wonderful London pub, while upstairs is a really intimate old theatre with a great atmosphere, which only seats a handful of people. This year they're doing two plays a night - 'Charming - A Farcical Fairytale' at 7:30 and an interpretation of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' at 9:30. We saw Charming and it was fantastic. Unfortunately there were no seats left for 'A Christmas Carol' tonight, so we'll have to come back. Easily done.
Bought some Christmas wrapping paper, sticky tape and tinsel on our way home and spent the rest of the night making and putting up our Christmas tree in our room. Carols in the background - glass of wine in hand - a lovely night.
Wednesday 24 December
Started the day at Brixton. We've never ventured to this neighbourhood before and were really keen to check it out. The area has a very strong West Indian culture, and walking through the market and seeing the different produce and displays was really interesting. We bought a 1960s amber glass candle holder from a vintage stall as a keepsake.
Spent the afternoon in West Hampstead - another new area. It's only a 15 minute tube ride from central London yet has a really relaxed, almost village feel to it. Here we bought each other a small present to put under the tree. There were lots of lovely little shops so it was easy to find something nice. Phil also found a great pair of boots - fulfilling one of his shopping goals of the trip.
Jumped on a bus heading towards the Royal Albert Hall - the venue for this evening's Carols by Candlelight event. On the way we passed a great old pub in Kensington Church Street that was decorated from top to toe for Christmas. It looked lovely and we had plenty of time so we got off the bus and popped in for a quick drink. Inside The Churchill was just as lovely - fireplaces, candles, beautiful Christmas decorations. The patrons were great too - it's obviously a real locals pub. And it's really interesting - a pub named after and dedicated to Churchill, run by an Irishman. Inside, Churchill memorabilia jostles for prime position on the walls with photographs of the Irish rugby team.
We walked the rest of the way to the Royal Albert Hall and had a great time at the carols concert. There was lots of audience participation and we all stood up and sang at various times during the night. In fact we had to commence the evening by turning to people around us who we didn't know and saying 'Merry Christmas - you have a lovely voice'. It really set us all up for a fun night, and what a beautiful venue for such a lovely occasion.
Christmas Eve is my favourite night of the year - a beautiful peace seems to descend on the city (whichever one that might be) and it's nice to sit back, relax and listen to carols. And that's exactly what we did when we got home - perfect.
Thursday 25 December
Christmas Day! After opening our presents, we headed to St Paul's for the sung eucharist. This year, our friend Tim joined us. This was our third Christmas morning service at St Paul's and as usual it was a beautiful event. The choir sang beautifully, accompanied by the incredible organ - the acoustics are absolutely amazing. The sermon was, as always, contemporary and thought provoking - focusing on world events and the importance of treating each other well. Messages like these transcend all religions.
It was a glorious day - sunny and reasonably mild - and so Phil, Tim and I walked along the Thames to Tim and Stephen's new flat. It was a gorgeous walk, past many beautiful buildings including the Tower of London.
The boys' flat is absolutely amazing - right on the Thames with a gorgeous terrace and a view of Tower Bridge and the Shard. We were joined by three other friends and had a truly wonderful afternoon - eating, chatting, watching the Queen's Christmas message. Because the weather was so lovely, we spent quite a bit of time on the terrace - especially as the sun set and the lights of London came on. Our Christmas dinner was superb and we could hardly move when we made our way home quite late in the evening. A perfect day.
Friday 26 December
Time for the Boxing Day sales! We started at Cheapside - within walking distance and much quieter than Oxford St, with many of the same shops. In stark contrast to the gorgeous day yesterday, today was bitterly cold. We also had a bit of rain.
Moved on to Chelsea and finished at Carnaby St quite late in the day. By this stage, some shops had closed so we'll start off again here tomorrow.
Spent the evening back at the Old Red Lion - to see the 9:30 session of 'A Christmas Carol'. There were only 8 of us there so it was almost like a private play! At the end the cast (in character) were able to get around to each of us, shake our hand and wish us a merry Christmas. A fitting end to Boxing Day.
Saturday 27 December
First stop - back to Carnaby St for some unfinished shopping. Had lunch at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant in SoHo and then tackled Oxford St. Covent Garden was our last stop before heading home to dump the bags. We then headed out to a pub in Islington to spend the evening listening to a band.
Sunday 28 December
Today was spent exploring the markets around Spitalfields and Whitechapel. Had a brilliant Indian meal at Brick Lane and then walked through Petticoat Lane and, finally, Shoreditch. These are some of our favourite areas of London - especially on a Sunday.
Tonight was an event we look forward to all year - the annual Christmas pantomime by the Charles Court Opera at the Rosemary Branch theatre pub. This year, we enjoyed 'Billy the Kid' - it was hilarious and, as usual, a fantastic night out. Fortunately Tim and Stephen were able to join us for dinner beforehand so all around it was a great evening.
Monday 29 December
And so, up to pack and head off to Amsterdam. We're fortunate to be able to leave most of our luggage (and shopping!) at the section house which means, once again, we just have our little backpacks for this leg of our journey. We'll be mostly travelling by train - from Amsterdam to Hamburg, then on to Copenhagen and Stockholm before flying back to London on 8 January.
The flight from London to Amsterdam was a good one. We left from London City Airport which is an airport Phil has wanted to use for some time. It's a great, unusual little airport with a single runway flanked by two canals. It's very close to the heart of the commercial districts of London (only around 10 km from the City) and is accessed by the Docklands Light Railway. Perhaps because it's primarily used for business purposes it is very efficient, has lots of self service kiosks and great lounges equipped with power and wi-fi. It has a very slick, contemporary feel.
After a 45 minute flight, we landed in Amsterdam and navigated the rail system to find our hotel and home for the next three nights.
And so we set off to explore Amsterdam. It's always a little more difficult to get your bearings at night, but we managed to wander along some gorgeous little canals and finished off with a wonderful meal at an Italian restaurant. It's going to be fun getting to know this city over the next couple of days - and it's already easy to see it will be a great venue for New Year's Eve.
Tuesday 30 December
Amsterdam is a very walkable city - and that's just what we did today. After catching the metro from our hotel into the heart of the old town, we wandered the tiny streets and bridges, admiring the gorgeous canals until we reached our first stop, the Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic). This is a Catholic Church built across the attics of three 17th century houses in 1663, during a time when Catholics Mass was against the law in Amsterdam. Protestant authorities were in charge then, but they were somewhat tolerant of private worship. And so to support the local Catholics, a rich merchant bought a beautiful canal house, plus the two houses behind it, and built a gorgeous church across all three top floors. Worshippers entered through a side door in a laneway and climbed a tiny wooden spiral staircase. This went on to become a local parish church for 200 years.
Funnily enough, this beautiful place is located just inside the red light district, and our next stop is right in the middle of it.
And so we wandered through the red light district - plenty of girls (of all shapes, sizes and ages) in the windows waiting for business. It's a fascinating place - such a normal part of life here - locals walk past going about their daily lives. Tourists have all kinds of different reactions. Couples young and old, groups of friends, families, individuals, all come for a look. I even came here with my mother 24 years ago! Regardless - everyone blends together seamlessly.
We continued on to our next port of call - the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Consecrated in 1306, this is Amsterdam's oldest building. It was originally a Catholic Church, however in August 1566 its interior was stripped during the revolt against Catholic excesses. In 1578 many of the people of Amsterdam chose Calvinist Protestantism and the church still remains a Reformed Protestant church and is also now a space for contemporary art. From the end of November until March next year, the church is home to an exhibition - 'I/O underflow' - by Tony Oursler. The artist essentially works with visual technology and in this exhibition he looks at the impact of media technology on our daily lives. He examines the question of 'How is the digital revolution changing us?'. Through the exhibition, I learned about the Turing Test -introduced by Alan Turing in 1950 to determine whether a machine exhibits intelligent behaviour equal or superior to that of a human. The exhibition was not overly imposing and didn't detract from the absolute beauty of this building. The ceiling of the Oude Kerk is beautifully timbered and vaulted, while the floor is covered in tombstones. There are, in fact, 2,500 tombstones on the floor, despite there being 10,000 graves below the ground. Rembrandt's wife Saskia was buried here in 1642, but Rembrandt sold her grave around 20 years later when he was in financial difficulty. A stone marks the spot, however, and every year on 9 March 'Breakfast with Saskia' is held at the site to honour her life - apparently at 8.39am a ray of sunlight comes through the windows and shines on her grave. Rembrandt himself is not buried here though - he rests in an unmarked pauper's grave in Westerkerk.
Wandered a bit more and then finished off the evening at another lovely restaurant (we are eating lots of Italian here!) before catching the metro home for a relaxing night in.
Wednesday 31 December - New Year's Eve
Spent the morning at the wonderful Rijksmuseum admiring the incredible collection of art. The museum was originally established at The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808. It has around one million pieces in its collection, however displays around 8,000 at one time. Of course we lingered at Rembrandt's magnificent masterpiece 'The Night Watch', but I was most delighted by the work of Vermeer. We timed our visit well - the main building was closed for renovation for ten years and only reopened last year.
Continued our walking tour of this beautiful city - towards Anne Frank's house. I saw this incredible place in 1990 and really wanted Phil to see it. What I didn't realise was that it closed early on New Year's Eve - and despite the fact that we still had over an hour to go before closing time the queue was so long they weren't allowing anyone else to join. Never mind, something to see next time.
This cleared the way for us to spend the rest of the day at Rembrandt's House - a fantastic experience. As well as seeing where and how the great man lived and worked, we also got to see an excellent example of a traditional Amsterdam canal house (without a cathedral in the ceiling!). I was really interested to learn how paint was mixed in the 1600's (especially the reddish colour made with thousands of tiny cochineal beetles - introduced to Amsterdam by the Spanish) and how pigs' bladders were used for paint storage - kept submerged in water to stop the paint from drying out - the first tubes.
Once we learned that there wouldn't be any public transport after 9pm, we decided to cancel our plan to go back to the hotel and head out later for New Year's Eve - opting instead to just stay in town. We walked through the Dam (the central town square) and watched the locals set off heaps of fire crackers. went to a couple of different venues - 'Rembrandt's Corner' (great for nice wine and an enormous plate of Dutch cheese); St James' Gate (a nice Irish pub but with limited atmosphere - it started to get really packed later in the evening but there was something missing - music!); and then found a really nice little bar just on the edge of the red light district. It had a great, friendly crowd, was right beside a lovely bridge over a canal (perfect for viewing fireworks at midnight) and, best of all, it was playing fantastic music accompanied by video clips. There was a great variety of songs from all decades and everyone was enjoying it. There's certainly nothing like Neil Diamond's 'Sweet Caroline' to get the crowd going.
Just before midnight we joined the crowd on the little bridge to count down to the new year. Unlike other party towns, in Amsterdam there is no one place to gather and watch bands and fireworks - the party is literally all over the town. People fill the streets and let off their own fireworks - everywhere! It's a democratic display - by the people for the people. You don't know where to look and you also have to be a bit careful about where you walk. No-one intentionally lets of crackers to hurt or scare others, but you could easily walk into something if you weren't careful. After watching the display for almost half an hour, we decided to set off for home. Without public transport this was a walking journey - and quite a long one. At least we had a pretty good idea of where we had to head, and so - with a couple of checks of the map - after about 45 minutes of basically following the Amstel River we finally arrived back at our hotel. We certainly weren't the only ones out and about - heaps of others were walking home too - and there were still loads of people just having fun and letting off fireworks. In fact, the fireworks kept going until well after 3am. Even as the sun was coming up on New Year's Day (which is quite late in this part of the world) you could still hear the odd cracker...
Thursday 1 January 2015 - New Year's Day
Thankfully public transport was operating again this morning, as we had to make our way (by metro) to Amsterdam Central Station for our train to Hamburg. It was interesting to see the number of people who had obviously slept at the station after seeing in the new year - the police were going around waking them up and moving them on!
After a really enjoyable train journey (around 5 hours) and an effortless crossing into Germany (we were dependent on flags on houses to determine when we had changed countries) we arrived in Hamburg. By design, our hotel was just across the road from the hauptbahnhof as we're only here for one night and have an onward train journey tomorrow morning. We were still able to see a fair bit of Hamburg though. Once again, I was here in 1990 - and Mum would remember that our visit then wasn't without drama - we were involved in a traffic accident (not our fault!).
Despite the fact that it was dark, we set out to see some sights. Our first stop was the Chilehaus. Built in the 1920's, it is an excellent example of Brick Expressionism. It's actually a ten storey office building, but is shaped like a ship. It is quite beautiful - absolutely amazing.
We continued on - past gorgeous churches (all closed at this time of night) - and stumbled upon a Christmas market (which, of course, you do in Germany!). Enjoyed some mulled wine and German sausage and then decided to find an Irish pub we had read about. This was no mean feat given the cold, the dark, and the fact that it was New Year's Day and very quiet. We persevered though - and I'm so glad we did! We eventually found it a fair way away and down a dark side street, but once inside, the 'Irish Rover' was full of atmosphere and had a gorgeous open fireplace. A great way to end the evening in Hamburg.
Friday 2 January
We had enough time before our train to Copenhagen to have a look at the Chilehaus in the daylight. What a remarkable building.
And so we headed back to the hauptbahnhof for our train journey to Copenhagen. I was so looking forward to this one as I knew it would take quite an extraordinary and fascinating route.
We travelled north from Hamburg through Germany and then once we hit the coast, the train boarded a ferry (an otherwise normal vehicle and passenger ferry, except with a train line!) to make the journey across the Baltic Sea to Denmark. Once the train had moved on to the ferry, we all had to get off and go upstairs to the upper decks. It was just like any other car ferry we've been on - shops, restaurants, bars... The journey was only 40 minutes long, but long enough to walk around and move out on to the deck for a view of the land ahead. It was actually quite rough in parts - but no ice, unlike our previous crossing of the Baltic Sea (from Tallinn to Helsinki) a few years ago. Before long, we were docking at Denmark and were asked to go downstairs and re-board the train for the onward journey.
After another few hours, we arrived in Copenhagen and made our way to our hotel - just a few minutes' walk from the station.
We were staying in a lovely part of Copenhagen - lots of little streets with interesting restaurants and bars. We went out for a walk and - among other things - managed to visit a couple of Irish pubs along the way! There's so much to see and do here - we're really going to enjoy our stay.
Saturday 3 January
Had a huge walking day. We walked and walked through the streets of Copenhagen to our first planned destination - Christianshavn - a district in Copenhagen with an unusual history and a character all of its own. Originally founded by Christian IV in the 17th century as part of the city's fortifications, it became a bit of a bohemian suburb in the 70's and is now a very diverse part of town. We visited the beautiful Vor Frelsers Kirke - a gorgeous 17th century church with a beautiful spire that looks like a spiral staircase. In the summer time, you can actually climb to the top of the spire (around the outside!) which would be an amazing experience. The inside of the church was really lovely - an incredible organ with pipes surrounded by beautiful timber carving.
While a normal suburb inhabited by business people, students, artists and families, Christianshavn is also home to Christiana (also known as Freetown Christiania). This is an autonomous neighbourhood with over 800 residents (over around 85 acres), covered by the Christiania Law of 1989. When you walk through, you get the feeling you're trespassing on a commune. There are rudimentary signs warning against taking photos - and it's not the sort of place where you break the rules - so unfortunately I don't have any images to share. While it was an incredibly interesting place, we didn't linger.
We enjoyed a walk around the path of the old bastions and spent quite some time at before making our way to Nyhavn (which means New Harbour). This is a lovely area - a beautiful harbour lined with 17th and 18th century townhouses and filled with lovely wooden ships. It was a nice place for a late lunch / early dinner. This time we found a Scottish pub and actually enjoyed some traditional Danish food.
After a lovely meal at a restaurant not far from home, we had a wonderful evening at The Irish Rover, listening to Irish music. Met two lovely couples from Sweden. One of the men was actually a Santa Claus! He showed us photos of him in his outfit and he looked amazing. I was so pleased to see that Santa Claus really is real!
Sunday 4 January
Another wonderful day in Copenhagen. We visited the plaza in front of the Radhus (town hall) and checked out the excavation works where a new Metro station (part of a whole new line) is being built. Our next stop was the incredible round tower. It was built in 1642, and the view from the top is really lovely. There was a great photographic exhibition on the floor half way up the tower, which we really enjoyed.
We then walked on to Rosenborg Slot - a 17th century castle. It was closed and so we weren't able to go in, but we enjoyed the view from the outside and the beautiful surrounding gardens.
We kept walking to the citadel and admired the lovely old buildings both inside and outside the walls. I particularly loved the rows of old ochre coloured houses originally built by King Christian IV to house mariners and their families.
We walked through the citadel grounds and through lovely parks, winding our way towards the Little Mermaid. After taking a few photos, we moved on to the Danish Design Museum and enjoyed the fantastic exhibitions.
Our last night in Copenhagen was spent at a superb Vietnamese restaurant. Determined to try Vietnamese food all over the world, we were keen to try this place out and we weren't disappointed - a really lovely meal. We'll be sad to leave this great city - we've had a brilliant time.
Monday 5 January
After paying a quick visit to the statue of Hans Christian Anderson just beside the town hall, we walked to the train station for our last, wonderful overland journey - the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm.
We splashed out for this one and had a lovely first class seat, which meant we shared a little glass room with another couple (they got on the train after us and got off before, so for some of the time we had the room to ourselves). We're certainly noticing the reduced daylight hours the further north we go - the sun sets at around 3pm up here. We still managed to see plenty of countryside during the five hour journey though - passing through lots of farm land, small villages and some towns.
We arrived in Stockholm at about 4.30pm - still enough time to go out exploring after settling in to our hotel. The first thing I noticed about Stockholm was the number of gypsy beggars around the streets - but they don't seem to work alone. This has prompted me to do some research into how and why they are here - and I've come across some fascinating information. It certainly does seem that they are part of an organised scene - from Romania. I'm looking forward to continuing my social observations over the next couple of days.
Of course, we managed to find a great Irish pub where we had some dinner before heading home to plan our sightseeing tomorrow.
Tuesday 6 January
Our first full day in Stockholm! Today was a public holiday in Sweden - for Epiphany - so not everything was open all day. This didn't impact on us at all though - it was actually a lovely, peaceful day and there were many locals out and about enjoying their city.
All research suggests that the Gamla Stan (old town) is a must see - so that was our first planned stop. Our hotel is really well located and it didn't take us long to walk there - seeing more of the Stockholm newer, business district on the way. The Kungliga Slottet ('new' royal palace) was the first significant building we came across. Built in the early 1700's, the palace is the official (but not actual) residence of the current King Carl and Queen Silvia. It's quite an impressive building - we walked around the perimeter and watched the changing of the guard.
Next we visited Storkykran - the Royal Cathedral of Sweden. This was a real highlight for me - absolutely beautiful. And so very welcoming of visitors. It dates back to the 1200's and the interior is gorgeous. There's a fantastic sculpture of St George and the Dragon, some wonderful artwork including a massive painting of what I think represents the sliding scale of heaven, earth, purgatory and hell and a beautiful ebony and silver altar screen. Apparently the cathedral is an example of 'brick gothic' - I really enjoyed this visit.
We kept exploring the old town - a lovely thing to do as it's full of cobbled laneways and interesting buildings. There are some great antique shops which we were drawn to - Phil bought a really interesting old corkscrew (beautiful and practical from a wine drinker's point of view!).
The sun sets at around 3pm here, which means sightseeing has to be carefully planned. We saved the evening for a walk through the newer part of town - the beautifully lit park where there's an ice-skating rink, the Kulturhuset - a massive building housing theatres, galleries, cafes and bars, a library... We also bought an all day public transport card to help us with a big day of sightseeing tomorrow. Dinner was at The Bishop's Arms.
Of course today I continued my fascinating observations of the Romanian beggars. They are in all the usual places - outside ATMs, shops, railway stations. They all wear the same sorts of clothes and have the same way of operating - heavily bundled, seated, paper cup and photograph of their 'family'. They have the same catch phrase and seem to be rotated after a 'shift' so that prime positions are always manned. One article I read suggests they are part of an organised syndicate that sees wealthy bosses back in Romania reaping the benefits. The article also suggested they are commonplace here in Sweden because of a high tolerance level on the part of the Swedes. Apparently the Danish wouldn't have a bar of them!
Wednesday 7 January
Right - big day out! Determined to make the most of our last day in Stockholm - and our last day on the continent for this trip - we set off with a real plan, complete with timetable. Armed with all day transport card, we planned to use mostly ferries, accompanied by busses, to reach our targeted spots.
Firstly, we walked some distance to the first ferry terminal. We could have taken a bus but chose not to in order to see more. Plus - it was snowing!!! And we wanted to feel the snow on our faces.
Our first ferry took us across the harbour - flanked by gorgeous buildings - to the Vasa Museum. This museum showcases a beautiful, complete 17th century ship. The Vasa has an incredible story. She is a magnificent, timber ship, built between 1626 and 1628. On 10 August 1628 she set off on her maiden voyage from Stockholm, however minutes into the journey - she sank! After spending 333 years under the sea, she was raised - ever so carefully - and reconstructed using 98% of the original timber, carved sculptures and other fixtures retrieved from the ocean floor. This means that what can be seen today is the Vasa in her almost original glory. I've never seen anything like it. The ship is huge, imposing - and you can walk all around her, admiring her from different levels. A wonderful experience.
Next, we took another ferry - again across the harbour - to Sodermalm - a lovely district in Stockholm. It's quite artistic and edgy - great little shops, bars and restaurants. We had lunch here.
We walked and walked through this district to another, far outlying ferry terminal. It was so peaceful here - not at all busy or trafficked - very residential and not really any shops - and hardly any people around! Many large ships either leave from here or sail through here. The snow had fallen quite heavily here and hadn't been dissolved by vehicles, so while waiting for the ferry I built a little snowman. I called him Nigel.
The ferry we caught took us right around the harbour - which was lovely to see just as the sun set. We got off the ferry at the major shipping terminal and walked past all the massive boats going to Tallinn and St Petersburg. I'm so jealous of the people boarding the boats! I wish I was going back to either of those two places...
From here we took a bus back through the centre of Stockholm - seeing lots of new neighbourhoods. We got off at a jewellery store we'd seen earlier in the day so we could buy a buy a beautiful onyx and silver necklace we'd seen in the window the day before.
After a final drink in The Bishop's Arms, we bought a bottle of wine and some cheese and headed home for a 'room party' - this is what we call the nights when we spend the evening indoors with our own supplies. We haven't had any on this trip - we've been so busy, out and and about. It was nice to relax before our big day tomorrow - travelling back to London and then a night out with Tim and Stephen.
Thursday 8 January
Up early, breakfast, and then across the road to catch the Arlanda Express (more good luck than good management that this airport train left from directly across from our hotel!). Our British Airways flight back to London was easy and comfortable.
After lengthy queues at immigration at Heathrow, we arrived back at the section house at around 4.30 - to be told that while we were away major pipes had burst in the basements which meant no heating and only lukewarm water. We didn't really care - it's quite mild at the moment and we're hardly going to be here between now and when we fly out tomorrow night. We also booked in for an extra night so we have full use of the room until we leave. Karal on the desk only charge is 30 pounds for both nights because of the heating issue! He also told us that all other bookings had been cancelled making us the last ever guests! Quite fitting given it has been our London home for the last ten years - and Phil's for two years prior to that.
We put our skates on, quickly got ready and headed to Covent Garden to meet up with Tim and Stephen at 5.30. They had planned a surprise dinner and show for our last night. All we knew was we were to meet at the Lamb and Flag - a favourite pub of ours.
After a quick drink at the pub, they took us to a gorgeous French restaurant in Garrick St. From there we walked around the corner to the theatre for our surprise show - The Scotsboro Boys. It was lovely that the weather was mild enough for us to enjoy a bottle of Prosecco on the upstairs terrace beforehand. The boys then armed themselves with Gs and T and we took our seats. This was a really interesting musical - very thought provoking. It was one and three quarters long with no interval. We all agreed an interval would have been good because it's quite an intense show.
As it was our last night, no-one was in a hurry to say good-bye and so we went to a couple more places before heading home at around 1am.
Friday 9 January
Our last day of holidays! And our last day in our favourite city.
We took a tube to Baker Street and, after seeing the Sherlock Holmes statue we set off to walk to Paddington. We enjoyed a quick double decker bus ride along the way, then continued our walking tour. Visited a lovely old church - St John's.
Took a bus to Oxford Circus and had lunch at O'Neill's in Carnaby Street. We then did a bit (quite a bit!) of last minute shopping - new shoes, a couple of belts and a coat for Phil, a fur vest and a couple of t-shirts for me. Paid a visit to the Argyll Arms and also to Topshop in Oxford St.
We then took the tube to St Paul's and I bought a new hat at Topshop at Cheapside. Had dinner at The Lord Raglan - a pub on way back to the section house. We've walked past this pub so many times but haven't been in - tonight was the night! It was quite lovely.
Determined to make the most of every last second, we finished off the night with a drink at our Barbican local - the Two Brewers. Finally, when time really was running out, we went back to the section house to grab our bags and head to Heathrow. It was so very sad leaving the section house for the last time every - a massive change for us.
Made it to Heathrow just in time and joined the slowest queue in the world to check in for our 10pm flight.
Saturday 10 January
After a really long flight (no sleep for me!) we arrived at Kuala Lumpur at 6.15pm. We have around 15 hours here so we had booked a room at the airport hotel. Wow - it was so comfortable. After being picked up in a little airport buggy (we've always wanted to ride in one of those but not for the reasons they're usually used - that is, for the elderly and/or infirm) and zipping through the airport, we arrived quickly at the hotel itself. The facilities were excellent - no need to leave (and no time to go anywhere anyway). We had a lovely dinner in the lobby - entertained by a great local band - and then retired to our room with a glass of wine. For the first time in ages, I slept like a baby...
Sunday 11 January
Back to the airport in a little buggy and onto the plane for our flight back to Brisbane. It's been an absolutely fantastic trip - and quite long really - 5 weeks all up including the first week of work.
My highlight? Probably Belgrade or maybe Sarajevo.
Best meal? It's a toss up between Christmas dinner at Tim and Stephen's and the gorgeous Bosnian meal we had in Dubrovnik.
Scariest moment? The couple of seconds of panic when I couldn't find my passport and thought it had fallen out of the window on the overnight train - somewhere in Romania!
Best train journey? The very same overnight train through Romania - from Bucharest to Timisoara.
Must unique experience? Going on the train ferry from Germany to Denmark.
Best Christmas market? Bucharest - I think.
