London

So I have spent the last few weekends (or at least part of weekends) in London catching up with friends.

First off Pat and I went and saw Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman on friday the 7th. It was a pretty good play actually (I did not know anything about it before I went in). Although the acting left a bit to be desired, it was still not that bad. This was also Pat's last night in the UK. He was heading off to India for a couple of weeks before going back to Oz. So it was good to catch up with him.

The next weekend (15th/16th) I went up to catch up with Caroline and David. They were staying at a mates place in Kensington, so I booked a hotel room near by for saturday night. David was lucky enough to score tickets to the Chelsea match on that day (although I am sure he would have preferred an Arsenal match). So Caroline and I hung around Kensington, went to a few shops and then Wagamama's for lunch (first time I have been there and it is fantastic!). That night we headed to a few bars but David did not have the stamina (I guess drinking all day at the footy will do that to you, so we had an early-ish night).

The next weekend I went up on the sunday to see Caroline and David for one last time before they headed back to Oz. Because of track work I drove to Basingstoke and then jumped on the train. Unfortunately there was a problem at Woking, so they got us off the train and were going to bus us the rest of the way. As we were waiting for the bus the conductors told us to go back in and jump on the train going to Guildford, we would head into London a different way. So thirty minutes later a full train arrived at Guildford to the confusion of the platform staff. It turns out there was no special train to take us the rest of the way into London. Forty-five minutes later we were told to jump on the train and head back to Woking and then into London. Needless to say I was not happy.

By the time I arrived in Kensington we only had time to head out for lunch (which was delicious). We then all headed back to Waterloo (Caroline and David were going to Guildford to visit David's brother) and I headed back to Southampton.

Bath

Pat and I got an early flight from Dublin to Bournemouth and then got the train over to Southampton. Caroline and David were due to arrive at lunchtime, so we headed up into town to grab some lunch. Forty-five minutes later we were still waiting for food and Caroline and David were due to arrive in ten! When the food finally did arrive we scoffed it down and then ran down to the bus stop to meet them. Luckily we all arrived at the same time, which was good. It was fantastic to see both Caroline and David again as well!! We came back to my house and then headed out for a drink. For dinner Pat and I took them to a nice restaurant near home called Dock Gate 4 - probably my favourite restaurant in Southampton.

The next day we went out for breakfast and then drove over to Salisbury to check out the town. We walked around the city centre (which is pretty nice) and then went into the Cathedral and did a tour. The guy was informative, but took ages, so in the end we left the tour and Salisbury and headed over to Bath to check it out. I had been over there last time I was in the UK in 2003 and liked the town, but thought the Roman Baths (probably the major tourist attraction there) was a disappointed.

We walked around the city again for a bit and then headed into the baths. Unfortunately my view point has not changed. Perhaps I was spoilt by seeing Pompeii and Rome just before seeing the baths last time. In any case it was nice to be with Pat, Caroline and Dave, so that was enough!

We headed back to Southampton and headed out for a curry for dinner! It was great being with everyone again.



Caroline in Salisbury.


The Cathedral.


Me in Salisbury.


The baths and Bath.


David getting ready for a swim!


The baths and the Cathedral.

Dublin (and Surrounds)

Pat, one of the blokes I caught up with in Brussels a few weeks ago, was off to Dublin to catch up with Sandra, another friend from Canberra who was now living in Dublin. Having a free weekend, I decided to head over and meet up with the two of them and check out Dublin (again).

I met up with Pat on Grafton Road, where we had a drink and waited for Tamsin (my landlord) to come in and meet us. Sandra was in the process of moving into a new place, so she could not make it into the city centre. We had a nice drink and then some food before Pat headed off to Sandra's while I stayed at Tamsin's (there was not enough room for me at Sandra's).

The next day Pat, Sandra and I headed down to a place called Glenalough, about one hour south of Dublin. This was a lovely area and it was a reasonably nice day (not much rain), so we went out for a walk along the lakes and rivers - it was all very beautiful. The pictures do not really do it justice.

On our way back we decided to go to Johnnie Fox's pub, which was apparently famous for its seafood. Not really knowing the way Sandra stopped and asked for directions - which were not really much help. The exchange kind of went like this:

Sandra: Do you know the way to Johnnies Fox's pub?
Man giving directions: Sure. Do you know the right turn just after the old bridge?
Sandra: Yes
Man giving directions: Don't go that way, keep going straight. Do you know where the Commonwealth Centre is?
Sandra: Yes
Man giving directions: Well you don't want to take the right just after that, keep going straight. Until you get to a modern looking car park, don't take the left turn after that, keep going straight.

This kept going for about 10 minutes. Basically he told us all the ways not to go. Luckily we got clearer directions down the road and made it to the pub where we had a lovely late lunch/early dinner.

We then met up with Sandra's sister and some of her friends at a tiny pub in the city centre, which was nice. Ireland has banned all smoking inside pubs, so it is nice to go out to pubs and not come home smelling like smoke!

The next day the three of us headed out to Newgrange, which was still just as interesting (or at least I thought so). We did not have time to see both Knowth and Newgrange, so we just headed over to Newgrange. We then headed back towards Dublin and met up with Tamsin at Howth, a coastal village just to the north of the city. We had a nice dinner in a pub, before heading out for a walk and then back home. Pat and I had an early flight back to Bournemouth tomorrow where we were going to meet up with Caroline and David!



Glendalough


More of Glendalough


Some more of Glendalough


Pat and I!


Even more of Glendalogh


Yet more of Glendalough


Almost the last one of Glendalough


One of the few photos with Sandra in it


Pat