Sunday, June 26, 2005

Another Day, Another Palace

Or would you trust me to look after your kids?...

Well today was Luuk's last full day in the UK, so we decided to head up to Oxford to have a look around.

The first stop was Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough, the family of which Sir Winston Churchill was a member of. Anyway, the house was built in the 18th century and was bloody huge! Like most places, it now relies on tourism for its survival (places like this are apparently extremely expensive to maintain).

So we started off with a tour through the house. Like most stately homes it was full of art, furniture and gold. Blenheim, however, was even worse then usual, with the early members of the family (who collected the art and decorated the place) seemingly having a passion for the most awful, but expensive, things money could by. In any event, the best part of the interior (in my opinion) was the library, the rest, well lets just say I don't think I would like to live there!

Following the interior, we decided to do a walk around the gardens before heading into nearby Woodstock for lunch. We started out the back where they had this great big fountain and sculptured gardens with paths leading all the way around. At one point we had to leave the path and head onto the grass, but Peter said we had to jump over the grass onto another close path (he was not serious). I did it, and then when Luuk went he landed awkwardly and sprained his ankle (poor kid). Not really relishing a walk, we decided to give him a break and have lunch there and then.

After lunch Luuk said his ankle was feeling a little better, so we walked around the grounds which, as expected, we quite spectacular. While the interior of these stately homes tends to be quite awful, the gardens are quite the opposite, and a lovely place to walk around.

We then headed to the fun park, which had a butterfly enclosure and a maze! Peter, having been there before, completed the maze, but we were close behind him. By this time, Luuk's ankle was very sore, so rather then head into Oxford town for a look around, we decided to head straight home! Luuk was flying home tomorrow and I was hoping the ankle would heal overnight.

Ignore the screwy photos for this entry, Blogger was having issues when I was trying to post them!


The House!



Some of the gardens



The back of the house



More gardens



The village of Woodstock where we had lunch.



More gardens.



More house.



More gardens.



A waterfall!



The rose gardens.



Fountains



Some turtles.



Artistic closeup!

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Windsor and Stonehenge

Or is the Queen following us?...

So today Luuk, Suzie (Jules' sister) and I headed up to Windsor to check out the town (as well as the castle) and then down to Stonehenge.

First off I had to go and pick up a new pair of glasses. I trod on my old pair the other day so I needed replacements. At a cost of £250 I almost had to sell a kidney to purchase them (yes that is 625 baby dollars) but they have a lifetime guarantee (even if I put my big heifer foot on them) so I guess that is something.

Anyway I drove Jules' car up to Windsor where we faced our first challenge. It seems all the people who were at Buckingham Palace yesterday were at Windsor today, so finding a car park was difficult (and made a lot worse by the tiny car spaces and large American cars in all the car parks). Anyway we finally found a spot and walked around the town for a while looking for something to eat. Suzie had already eaten before we left (which is good cause she is fussy) so Luuk and I just grabbed something quick from Eat... a great chain that make good fresh food. When then headed over to the castle to have a poke around.

After buying our tickets we had to go through a security check before heading in. Suzie could not understand why this was necessary (even after she was told the Queen was in residence) which confused the security guards (but also gave them a good laugh). We then joined a tour of the grounds.

I am not sure if it has shown in Australia, but there was an interesting documentary here on life in the castle. It was good to see all those places in real life, especially the Waterloo room (renamed the music room when the French visit) where state dinners are held.

After the castle we drove straight to Stonehenge. We arrived about 20 minutes before closing, so we only got a chance to do a quick trip round (which is enough if you don't do the audio tour). So then we headed back to Southampton for a bite to eat before heading out to the movies to see Batman Begins (it is a good movie by the way).



The river between Windsor and Eton



The castle (the round tower to be exact)



The courtyard area (where the Queen's rooms are).



The round tower again



Some of the garden



Last one of the castle



Suzie and the Grenadier Guard.



Stonehenge One



Stonehenge Two

Friday, June 24, 2005

More of London

Or lets make fun of the Americans...

Well this weekend my cousin, Luuk, was visiting from Holland. I thought I would take advantage of this by visiting some of the places that I have not had the chance to see yet!

So for today we were heading up to London to do some of the tourist things. But of course first we had to deal with the late trains and buses delaying our arrival in London about half hour. First stop was Trafalgar Square for a walk along the Mall to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.

To say that absolutely every tourist in London was out front of Buckingham Palace would be a bit of an understatement. We arrived about half hour before it was due to begin and could not see a bloody thing. We stayed around for most of it, but around 12:15 we decided to head off. We could not see what was happening in the grounds themselves, so there was not much point in sticking about. One thing I did notice though was that the Queen was in residence. I am sure she had a better view then we did.

We then headed over to the British Museum. While we could have spent the next three days inside having a look, I just wanted to show Luuk the Mummies (which are pretty cool). So after a 10 minute stop we headed over to Tottenham Court Road for lunch.

We then jumped back on the Tube to head over to The Tower of London. For me this was the highlight of the day. We joined a tour by a Yeoman Warder (one of the Beefeaters) who, when not trying to convince us to buy a bottle of Beefeater Gin was paying out the American Tourist for their stupidity (and threatening to feed them to the crows). Anyway, we got to see the Tower, the Crown Jewels and all the places where people were gaoled and killed.

We then walked across Tower Bridge, jumped on another tube and headed towards the London Eye. It was just starting to rain when we walked onto our capsule, but it was still a good view!

That was about it for the day, we jumped on the train, headed back to Southampton and went to Chiquito's for dinner!



Down the Mall to the Palace



Some Important Guests Leaving??



The Soldiers Arriving!



Some of the People watching.



More Soldiers.



The Building the Crown Jewels are In



The Old and New...



Where the Guards Lived.



Henery VIII's Armour (they did not have sports cars to compensate in those days).



Where the private scaffold stood (there was a public one outside the doors).



The White Tower



Tower Bridge



Parliament from the London Eye

Sunday, June 19, 2005

The Sunday Afternoon Walk

As I write this entry I am listening to the BBC News coverage of the explosions in London. So before I continue I wish to send out my condolences to all those affected by these events.

I made breakfast for Peter and Jules this morning - French Toast with Bacon, Banana and Maple Syrup, it was delicious. We decided to do some exercise to counter this, but the walk would have to wait until later in the evening as I had to go into work.

The other project team at work was implementing their project today and we had to implement some changes on our side. Everything went fine and by 6:15pm we were beginning our walk (although not before Australia lost again in the cricket to England).

The walk was near Winchester and the plan was to walk to this little village where there was a lovely pub, have dinner and then walk back. Everything was going well until we arrived in the village and the pub was closed! So no food for us unfortunately. We did, however, stop for a drink at another pub before continuing the walk.

By the time we got back to Southampton we were absolutely starving, so it we had takeaway Chinese before I headed home ready for another week at work.



Walk photo 1


Walk photo 2


Walk photo 3


Walk photo 4


Walk photo 5


Walk photo 6


Walk photo 7


The village.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Twenty20

Or it's just not cricket.

I only expect two things from Australians. One is to be polite and culturally aware when travelling and the second is to beat England at cricket.

Being a rubbish player myself, I go out of my way to try and be good at the first and leave the cricket to the professionals. So I am sure you can all appreciate my disgust at today's Twenty20 result here in Southampton. England absolutely flogged us (yes, England). I had to hang my head in shame as the English supporters sitting beside me compared Australia to the Bangladeshi team. I mean honestly, how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow?

I just hope it all changes for the ashes, otherwise I think I may have to come home!!



The Rose Bowl


The Australian Team entering the field


More of the Aussies


Lee Bowling


Half time entertainment


Gough Bowling


Ricky talking about how we lost


The England team leaving the field