Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

Europe 2009

a travel blog by Chris and Emily

Working Holiday to Europe
view all 166 photos for this trip

Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

Mall once more

Bristol, United Kingdom

Well, despite the fact that we weren’t huge fans of the mall Chris and I trooped back today to attempt it once more. Not completely sure where our sanity has gone, I think our on coming colds have devoured any common sense. It all fairness though (that’s quite a popular saying here in Bristol) we did manage to find a few decent items of clothing that we were lacking, and it was far less busy as, thankfully, school had resumed again. Today, instead of dodging prams and young children we just had to walk slowly behind the old folk who were out for a bit of a stroll. We had made the offer of making dinner tonight, Chris’ famous lasagna, and with the amount of love and concentration that went into making it, it was a very successful meal.



permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 20, 2009 from Bristol, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
Send a Compliment

Clevedon Jetty

Clevedon, United Kingdom

Ann and Brian kindly offered to take us out for the day to see the small village of Clevedon. This was a lovely little place situated on the Bristol Channel with a lovely old jetty that was built in August 1868. It was lovely to walk along the pier, see all the locals fishing and read just some of the 10, 000 plaques that are situated along the planks. You can buy plaques, inscribed with what ever you wish and have them displayed along the sides and floor boards of the jetty. There were sad ones, happy ones, celebratory ones, all sorts, but the ones that made me really giggle are in the photos below.

One of my favourite plaques at Clevedon Jetty

Another of my favourite Clevedon Jetty plaques

I found them very amusing! We took a nice little walk along the sea side and I was amused to a degree to see that the beaches in England are full of pebbles, just like you see in all the pictures and films. It was a very chilly day, and yet I saw quite a few families taking young children down to the ‘beach’ with a bucket and spade to play and swim. I thought they were slightly mad, but it seemed to be the norm here.

Scenic shot of Clevedon

Some of the homes near Clevedon Jetty

We stopped in at a sweet little pub for a quick lunch where I got chefs ‘special’ of chicken and leek pie, and special it was. My pie arrived with a puff pastry triangle sitting on top of my chicken and leek filling. You had to put your own filling into the pastry... hmm, special indeed! Home again where we spent the arvo trying to beat the colds that were making us sniff and sneeze all day.



permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 21, 2009 from Clevedon, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
Send a Compliment

Dang head cold!

Bristol, United Kingdom

Sick is not what you want to be when you’re travelling, but the colds and head flu that Chris and I have been trying so desperately to beat and kick has finally caught up with us and knocked us down. Bugger it. I guess it was inevitable really. We’ve constantly been in the cold, wet, windy weather and then back into the warm cars, houses etc, then back out in the chill again, and the weather swinging from one extreme to the other hasn’t helped either. Oh well. I thought that I had been dodging in quite well and had been caring for Chris who had been suffering quite badly, but I’m 99.9% sure that I fully caught the dreaded cold when he so lovingly and violently sneezed directly into my face. I can tell you he had to care for himself there for awhile, I wasn’t so impressed. Ah, love. Despite feeling as if our eyes are falling out of our heads, noses dripping like taps and having no ability to swallow without feeling like there’s a fire raging in our throats we had an okay day lying in bed watching game shows (my fave over here in the UK is Word Play) and copious amounts of UK news. We now feel intelligent and informed AND sick! On another note, our standing tickets for the Anzac day ceremony in Westminster Abby arrived today. We’re really looking forward to this day and to catching up with Bronwyn who we haven’t seen in a very long time! We did manage to crawl out of bed and witness a hot air balloon floating over the house in the late afternoon before crashing back into bed.

Hot air balloon from our bedroom window.

A few observations, realizations and ponderings of the UK

• With a massive lack of the glorious, slightly addictive substance of Milo here in the UK it has been discovered that Ovaltine makes for a reasonable substitute, though, it in no way replaces the golden, revered Milo.

• On the same note, with the ever popular breakfast spread Vegemite being as rare as hens teeth here in the UK, it has been temporarily replaced with its cousin Marmite. We shall consume large amounts of Vegemite upon our return to make up for our trespasses.

• I think, if you can of course, it would be nice to retire to the UK. Old Betsey’s get everything for free once they’re over 60! Free prescriptions, free TV (though we get that too) free bus passes… free lotsa things!

• Heterosexual men here drink cider (aka Zi-der) This is a rare oddity in Australia.

• The UK population appears to be well and truly addicted to TV soaps, practically Australian ones. Life revolves around the TV guide. Seriously.

• In some aspects, the UK seems to be stuck in the 50s -70s era. Some of the housing, décor, clothing, and hair cuts... Let’s just say that some it needs updating.


permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 22, 2009 from Bristol, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
Send a Compliment

Quick trip to bristol and hours in a "aussie" pub

Bristol, United Kingdom

Don't expect much from this entry for one thing this is Chris writing and I am not as gifted with spinning a yarn as Em, secondly there isn't much to write about we didn't do much today we just jumped on the bus and went to a little town (or suburb as we call it) called Westbury. We went there once before to use the internet joint there but this time Em dragged me back there as she had spotted a charity shop with a 2 books for 1.50 pounds, so needless to say we are now dragging two more chicklit books around the country with us!

After Westbury we got a bus into the city centre and walked around looking at a lot of expensive shops resisting the urge to buy any more clothing items (think we have enough now!) Instead we picked up another Lonley Planet book to cover the countries we were missing. I have given up on not looking like a tourist anymore and excepted that I am a photo taking, acent speaking, map reading, guidebook checking, fau'par making tourist! It's just too hard to navigate without checking the map from time to time or to take photos without looking like your taking photos, every now and again you need to have a photo with you in it as proof that you were there at least and that means posing like... a tourist. Anyway I digress from the topic of todays activities, after the guidebook purchase we headed towards a the local Walkabout pub, they are a chain of pretty cliche pubs with an Aussie theme, they don't serve any good Aussie beers though but they are pretty cheap, have lots of screens and most important free wireless, also their venues are always pretty big so if you go there during the day you can usually get some space. So in the "Aussie" pub we spend about 3 hours drinking cider from sweden and doing stuff on the net very exciting!!

After a bus ride home and a quick pack of our bags for tomorrows trip back to London we were picked up by Jen and went to Martin's for dinner, he whipped up Nachos (to make up for the famous Nacho incident mentioned in a previous entry) followed by chilli very yummy.

Day done!

  • What Chris failed to enter was a fantastic stumble he made today up the back door steps, which are made of stone. It was very funny for ME, not so for him. I was having a wee rest upstairs with the window open, the day, despite it not being much, had wiped me out (I'm still recovering from the dreaded head cold) so, anyhow, I was upstairs just relaxing with the window open when I heard this "whump" noise. I then heard Ann calling out "OH JEFF, are you alright?" Now,I don't know who Jeff is but I knew, just KNEW that this noise, very familiar of someone falling up or down the stairs, would be Chris, and sure enough I heard a strained voice call out to Ann "Yep, fine, I'm fine!" Now, I know Chris well enough now to know the different tones of his voice and I knew he wasn't fine like he was making out, rather he was in a bit of pain. I thought I could do it, I really did, I THOUGHT I could have all my giggles out by the time he hobbled up the stairs, but I didn't and couldn't. Just seeing him stumble through the door amitting a few choice words made me giggle louder and harder and then he got a tad annoyed at me for laughing. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I can't help but giggle or laugh when there's an injury of some sort. It's a sick habit I have, but one that I've had for as long as I can remember, I think it's just a nervous thing, I don't think it's neccessarily that funny but I'll giggle away. Oh well. I'm not 100% sure why Chris was called Jeff, I thought I had misheard but after his long list of expletives, the rolling around on the bed clutching his knees (which for the record are both skinned and red and one was actually quite abit swallon) Chris sat up and asked "Did she call me Jeff?!" So we knew we'd both heard correctly. Where there are stairs Chris is guareenteed to go up or down them, but not always on his feet... in the time I've known Chris 97% of all his injuries have resulted from a set of stairs, which made his trip today even more hilarious for me. Anyway, that sadly was the funniest part of my day. Em


    • permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 23, 2009 from Bristol, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    London again

    London, United Kingdom

    We're baaaaack! We left Bristol at lunch time and head back to the big smoke, arriving at around 2pm. We love the train, but sadly this time there were no more happy holiday makers willing to buy us free booze. Can't have it all I guess *sigh* Actually, I think they remembered us from last time and had assigned us special seats.... this time we were in the 'quiet carriage' where you had to whisper and the mere opening of a chip packet felt like a sin as it was breaking the cone of silence that was enveloping the carriage...

    Anyhow, we checked into the worst backpackers known to man... alright, slight exageration perhaps... it's not the WORST but I do think it's close too it, I certainly won't be back again nor will I ever recommend the place to anyone I like (but I could drop it's name to those I don't... ;) Kidding!) We're in a dorm room of 9. We arrived, took ages to check in as staff were slow and incompetant. Finally checked in, were given our bedding to take with us, upon finding our room found that there was only 1 bed available, went back told staff of this, they came down and had a look and said "Ummmm, it should be okay, just make up this bed and if the person comes back and wants there bed back tell them to come see reception" HUH?! We did try to point out that this was not really a good solution but staff assured us that they had looked at the bookings and it should be free... right... okay...

    So, we made the beds up and then went to pop our valuables away in our locker where we found someones dirty sheets... hmm, not nice. We had to pay for a locker (per night value too, not just a one off fee) and upon removing the dirty sheets, popping our bags in the locker and closing it we found it didn't bloody lock. Right, okay. Back to staff. They had the "back in 10 mins" sign up once more, I ignored this and lined up and just talked over the lady that was telling me that they were 'closed' (rude I know, but I was so so so over it!!) Was told by an older man "I'll fix it in 5 minutes, just wait here" Right. Okay. We waited and true to his word, 7 minutes later he arrived saying he'd 'fixed' the problem, we thanked him and then head down to the room to grab a few things.. only to find that yes the locker did lock now, but it also wouldn't bloody open. Unimpressed. We were over it though, we'd been stuffing about with the back and forths of trying to get our accomm. sorted for over an hour now so we left, headed towards the Portobella Markets which stated it was open 7am-7pm. I love a good market so I was quite excited about heading here, especially as we had 2 hours to wander along and discover it at a leisurely pace... and we did find it, packing up at 5.15pm. I felt so ripped off! We had a bit of a look at the stalls that were still a little displayed as they packed up before deciding "you know what? We're tired, we're getting cold, we want to sit down and we want to eat" So we head back towards the silly backers, then realised we'd forgotten to look for the book store from the "Notting Hill" film that I love so much. Infact, when we consulted the guide book it stated that we'd walked right past it while at the crumbling markets. Oh well. Next time (if there is one!)

    We had a half decent pub meal, another cider and then back to the backers to try and find some cups for our hot drinks (rare as hens teeth here!) and hopped on the p.c to blog etc etc. Will head back to the room soon (in common room at mo, more like a pub here tho, wine and beer everywhere!) and TRY not to wake the jet lagged room mates as we climb a gazillion small ladder steps to our bunks that are high above the clouds... I'm sorry to say that the excitement of backpackers and share dorms is long gone on me, I'm getting old, enjoy my own space and want to be left alone, not have young party animal room mates keeping me up. I am officialy a grumpy old woman tonight! :)

    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 24, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    Anzac day at Westminster Abbey.

    London, United Kingdom

    Ahhh, Anzac day. A day of remembering what the diggers did for us and of how blessed we are to be a) Australian and b) be living in such an amazing, free country. We always like to celebrate this day back home and the fact that we are half a world away didn't stop us doing so today. We hopped up early and ran from our dodgy backers to Westminster Abbey where we were attending an Anzac day ceremony with Chris' old friend Bron and another friend of hers named Adam. We'd heard that free tickets were being given out for today’s service; we’d jumped online to secure some but had missed out on seating tickets and instead been allocated standing tickets. No matter, we were happy to be going along to celebrate and remember Australia’s history in such an amazing, beautiful Abbey. Now, my dad has always called me Big ears as I seem to have this amazing knack of hearing conversations etc a mile away and for once my super human ability came in handy as I heard an usher saying "These seats are free, standing guests may sit in them if they wish" Yes please! So I grabbed Chris' hand and made a mad dash to the small row that was free, score! The ceremony was lovely, so many ex pats filled the Abbey and there were so many representatives from around the world, Australians, British, New Zealanders, Turkish, it was lovely. Lots of flag bearers, bugle playing, hymns, bible readings and laying of wreaths on the grave of the unknown soldier. It was moving and I admit I had a tear or two. The Abbey was also amazing. It normally cost 12 pounds per person to get in, so Chris and I were taking as much in as we could during the service to save ourselves going back, another good score for the day! The Abbey has amazing stained glass motives and stories built into the glass, amazing statues and pillars and beautiful ceilings. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos due to the service; we just had to ‘Kodak moment’ the place in our minds. After the service we all piled out side where we decided to honour the diggers in the only way Australians know how. With a beer. We trudged off in search for a pub with some sun and eventually after much trudging and almost forming blisters we came to the pub of choice. I don’t know its name but it had a great view over Westminster and was situated right on the Thames. Very nice. We consumed a few beers, a few pimms and a few ciders and wrapped ourselves in the supplied blankets as we did so. I thought it was showing a lot of forward thinking for this pub to have blankets for the taking (and returning, though I wonder how many people just happen to ‘accidently’ forget to return them...) They were lovely and warm and Chris and I must have looked like right old nannas tucked up under ours while sitting outside. Eventually it came time in the day for us all to part our separate ways and Chris and I head towards Shakespeare Globe to see if they happened to have any spare tickets available for the nights showing of Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately they didn’t, so instead we head to the Tate Museum of Modern Art where we saw quite a few of Picasso’s paintings. I freely admit that I stood in front of his paintings for some time, taking it in and trying to understand what the big deal was about. The paintings are good and all and I understand that Picasso paved the way for many in his field of art, but it just doesn’t do it for me. In a way it looks as if a kinder kid has gone in and tried to draw a picture of their mum. None the less, we spent quite a bit of time in there checking his stuff out. After this and deciding we were both tired and hungry we head for our dodgy backers. We’d stopped at the supermarket for a few supplies and were making our way ‘home’ when 2 slightly intoxicated young women jumped out in front of us and began talking all at once. Between the two of them Chris and I were able to make out that: They were in London on a girls weekend, that they’ve been out drinking all day, should have gone back to their hotel to get cleaned up first but didn’t and now were in this pub listening to this really AWESOME (there words, not ours) singer who was really upset (there words again) as no one was in the pub listening to his music and the bar man had told them that if they could get some more people in then he’d give us free shots with any drink brought. Well, we’d hate to see these poor girls beg for nothing, so in we went for a drink and shot. The guitarist wasn’t fantastic I must say, but in the same sense he wasn’t all that bad either, none the less we cheered for him loudly and clapped till our hands hurt. The group of girls we’d met and been pulled in by were also very nice, loud, lovely and friendly and we had a nice time talking to them until we made an excuse about our shopping needing to be put away and got out of there. It was a random, fun thing to have happen at the end of a full, fun filled day!



    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 25, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    London Marathon

    London, United Kingdom

    Oh my gosh. I have never, ever, EVER seen so many people in one place at one time, who are SO dang healthy! It was scary, it was overwhelming, and it was well too much… it was…the London marathon. This is a huge marathon that goes for 26 miles all around London and the record is done in just over 2 and a bit hours by some incredibly healthy freak. I on the other hand would NEVER willing participate in this sporting event, purely on the grounds of there being WAY to many people for my liking, but if I HAD to, and may I repeat HAD to, then I’d do it in one of two ways.. I’d either dress up and WALK it like some of the participants do (we saw a large bobble head jester jiggle past) or I would stammer in, in last place like the old fella below did. As I said earlier, the record time is just over two hours and it starts at about 9am-ish, so some people are done by about 11am-ish. Chris and I had spent ALLLLLL day out and about the streets of London, and we saw this sweet old man staggering down the road at around 7pm and he still had a little bit of a ways to go. We cheered him on nice and loudly but I don’t think he heard us, he was either in his zone and purely concentrating on that bloody finish line, or had forgotten his hearing aide. He had a nice support group of 3 ambulances and 1 police car following him though so if he was to keel over and give up (as I would have done 1 mile into it) he was in good hands and would have secured a lift home.. or the hospital. We actually had no intention of checking out the marathon today, we thought that 500,000 people in one spot at one time was perhaps just a little too crazy and too much for us. We’d actually arranged to have a yum cha lunch with Bron and 2 of her mates at Leicester Square. It was a yummy meal, tasty and good, we had a relaxing chat and a few laughs before deciding to move on to a park and sit in the sunshine as London was experiencing a rare spout of great warm sunshine weather. We made tracks for St James Park thinking that the marathon was well and truly over by now and we’d have missed it, but that’s when we ran (no pun intended and no, not literally) into the biggest crowd ever. After negotiating our way through the crowds, battling our way to the park and sitting in the sun (shade for me) for some time and hearing crazy stories of how some guy snapped his foot off in a hang gliding accident (true story apparently)


    Some of the runners and spectators of the london marathon

    Chris and the gang

    Chris and I bid the group farewell and head towards South Bank to check out what was happening there, and my word there was a bit going on! We saw buskers of all shapes, sizes and abilities. Our favourite was Darth Vader who was busking to raise money to provide for his family, Luke and Layer.


    Chris meeting Darth, who was actually quite pleasent!

    We then head into a movie museum, which to be honest, was a bit of a rip off but it was a time filler for us. We had high hopes for this museum when we stepped in, but were sadly disappointed. We were told that the props etc were all original, but I’m 100% sure that we could find all the ‘special’ props they had on eBay for a bargain. Oh well, it was still an experience.


    Giving Hans the kiss of life.

    We then made our way slowly towards the city, walking across a closed off Westminster Bridge in the middle of the road, allowing us to take some lovely snaps of the houses of parliament and Big Ben (these are my fave outlooks and attractions of London to be honest) That’s when we saw the old codger running in last, bless his smelly, stinky cotton socks.


    Good ol' Big Ben.


    The last runner in the London Marathon. Bless his sweaty, smelly, cotton socks!

    We continued on our way through St James Park where we saw a ‘squirrel whisperer’ I’m not kidding, there was a man standing in the park who was waving his arm up and down and squirrels were running to him, when they were at his feet he’d feed them a crumb. So of course Chris thought he’d give it a crack. Admittedly I asked him to so that I could get an up close photo of one, I thought it’d be handy to use as my FB profile you see… So anyhow, Chris began waving his arm up and down (abit like ringing an imaginary bell) and soon enough Squirrels began to flock, Chris stopped before they got too close saying it was too cruel to ‘lead them on’ with no food. We were standing under a lovely big old tree, all the squirrels had deserted us when they realized we were squirrel whispering imposters, but then I heard this little scratching at the tree, looked up and then gave a little scream, there was a big fat squirrel sitting just above Chris’ head posed as if to jump. But it didn’t jump; Chris did thanks to my surprising yell that in turn scared him. As Chris clutched his heart, I turned red and the observers around us chuckled the squirrel picked up scent of a real whisper and took off to get the nights feed.


    Grey squirrel, abit like rats here in the UK

    We slowly made our way back to the backpackers where I asked at the counter if there was a chance of me buying a towel which they advertised ‘for sale’ I was told “we don’t have any towels, but I can give you a sheet?” By now I was over it and tired, I accepted the sheet as a make shift towel, figuring that it was at least free, stumbled into the shower before collapsing into bed.



    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 26, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    Oh what a happy day.. it was check out day!!

    London, United Kingdom

    Oh the joy!! We awoke nice and early with a cheerful disposition as we realized it was check out day! Hoorah! We packed our bags louder than what would have been considered considerate, dumped them at the lockers (of course we had to pay, they wouldn’t look after them for nothing would they?!) before skipping out into the cold, wet, windy weather. We were a little silly to be honest. Yesterday the weather had tricked us, starting out a little chilly before turning into a glorious day and we believed it would do this again so left our jumpers and jacket in our checked bags, but it didn’t clear up like yesterday, infact it rained even heavier. Ooohhhh. We hastily made our way to the British Natural History Museum, lined up in the pelting rain (trying to nonchalantly huddle under the umbrellas the people ahead of us held) before finally being allowed in. Upon entering you’re greeted with the remains of a very large brontosaurs. We then made our way into the rest of the dinosaur section and it was all very impressive and amazing, if you have kids or plan to have kids, this is the place to bring them for sure, so much to see and do and all very cool. After a quick whiz through the rooms we head back to the backers for the last time, picked up our bags, very happily popped our jumpers on and head to Kings Cross Station where we boarded a train to where we would meet Chris’ rellies who were putting us up for a while. The train was so incredibly fast we arrived in half the time the ticket and time table had said we would. Sue and Patrick arrived not long after and were so lovely and friendly and AUSTRALIAN that we felt at home straight away. Despite this being the first time we’d ever met them it felt as if we’d known them for years. It was so lovely to be in a warm, friendly, kind house hold after London!! We spent the rest of the day relaxing, chatting and getting to know one another and their gorgeous, bubbly daughter Rachel. London is nice to visit and it’s great to see the sights that are around, but I’m just not a city girl, I can’t handle so many people, such bad service and the grim, grey disposition that so many seem to have there. I much prefer the green fields, thatched cottages and small villages!



    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 27, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    Village hopping

    Buntingford, United Kingdom

    Some people are too generous and kind for their own good. We’ve been so blessed with family members putting us up these past few weeks and now, we’ve been blessed with the lend of a car. We’d been preparing to hire one when we got up this way but Sue and Patrick turned around last night and gave us the keys to their spare car and use of it for 3 weeks. We really don’t know how to say thank you and for them to know how much it really does mean to us, it’s a huge help and blessing!! With our new found freedom in the shape of a car we head out to discover the surrounding villages and towns. With the GPS in hand we were able to find our way to Royston, a larger town/village only about 20 minutes away. We checked this place out for a time popped into the store and brought chocolates and some wine in a small gesture to say thank you to the guys and some picnic goods for our lunch. We had high and mighty plans of finding a little park near the waters edge to sit and eat and relax for some time, but we’ve since discovered that picnic spots in England are not always so easy to find. It took a lot of driving and craning of necks as we slowly passed through villages to find one. I had all but given up but then Chris yelled with excitement, he’d caught sight of something resembling a park out of the corner of his eye! With the squealing of brakes and a sharp U turn we arrived at the only park bench in the west of England. Ahh, bliss! It was on the edge of a ‘football’ field (that’s a soccer field to you and I) with a ‘newly built’ play ground near by. By now the weather had turned a wee bit chilly so we ate fast and then I navigated us home. It’s a true test for Chris and I at the moment as the car we’re lending is a manual, meaning I can’t drive. Normally Chris navigates and I drive, a role which we’re both happy with but now the positions have changed and I’m navigating which to be honest, makes me a little nervous! I managed to get us home mind you, even despite a few wrong turns and I figure I’m only going to get better at maps and GPS’ so in time I’ll be a pro! Back home for another lovely night beside a warm fire and friendly chit chat.

    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 28, 2009 from Buntingford, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment

    Warm and cozy Bedfordshire

    Bedford, United Kingdom

    Another day of bliss. Sleep in and then up for brekki and a drive, this time around Bedfordshire. I often will use the term “I’m off to Bedfordshire” when heading to bed, and now I really have been there, and managed to stay awake! Before we head to Bedford itself we drove to a few small villages which contain thatched homes.


    Thatched cottage

    Thatched cottage


    Thatched cottage

    Thatched cottage


    It was so sweet and lovely, all the homes looked warm and cozy, and I almost wanted to just let myself into a home and curl up on a bed Goldilocks style! I resisted the urge though and instead stopped at a pub to have a quick lemonade (no, no typo, it really was just a lemonade) there was a lovely green park as the pubs backyard/beer garden and some great play equipment for kids (monkey bars in the shape of a helicopter and pretend wooden horse and cart, that’s pretty cool huh?!) but then as we approached the grass we spotted at the end of the garden two small deer. I was a tad excited, my first ‘wild’ deer! We tried hard to tip toe up closer for a camera shot but they picked up our scent and bolted. We stood still and hoped that perhaps they’d return but alas, they didn’t. No matter, we had more to see and had to move on. Chris’ mum had recommend a pub to visit in that area, she’d come across it in her travels a few years back, so we found the “Hare and Hounds” and popped in for lunch. It was more a restaurant than pub and oh my gosh, the food was amazing! By far the best we’ve had yet in the UK and it had Michelin star awards. Michelin stars aren’t given out to pubs, but I swear to you, this place deserved one! We shared a baked Camembert and fruit toast entrée and then both had the yummiest steak known to man. So so good!


    The yummiest entree thus far in the UK

    At the Hare and Hounds

    After stuffing ourselves on great food and a cider we made a move to find the ‘Swiss gardens’ To do this we had to drive on a small dirt road that lead us past a regal looking college, through an open sheep paddock (dodging sheep as we went) over a cattle grate and past a sign that read “look both ways for aircraft” as we were driving over an airstrip that was in the middle of the paddock. It was all so random and odd, but it felt like a real adventure and was quite fun. We had a lot of trouble finding these gardens but then as we were giving up found a sign out of the corner of our eye and did a U-y. When we saw the price of entry to the gardens we had a slight heart attack and quickly decided that it wasn’t so important to see a load of plants and instead shared a cold drink by a paddock where WW1 planes were loaded up and ready for take off.


    An old WW1 Biplane

    We watched as this one particular plane flew around the open sky and then flew low whizzing past us, it was entertaining and it was nice to watch the ‘start up’ process that they have to go through just to get it in the air. I just hope that who ever was driving through the random paddock remembered to look both ways before crossing as it took off! We moved on then to Bedford which is actually a large town. As it was getting on to home time for the workers the roads were becoming slightly busy so we decided to take refuge in a shopping centre for a short time, just so it could calm down and we could calmly navigate our way home again. We ended up in Tesco’s, which is a huge grocery/department store here. Anything you want you will find at Tesco’s. I’m not kidding! They do food, wine, clothes, house hold goods, car insurance, travel… everything!! It’s enormous! We had a squiz around before heading back on less congested, less crazy roads and made it back in time for a yummy dinner and another lovely night of chats.

    permalink written by  Chris and Emily on April 29, 2009 from Bedford, United Kingdom
    from the travel blog: Europe 2009
    Send a Compliment
    Viewing 21 - 30 of 166 Entries
    first | previous | next | last

    View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
    find city:
    trip feed
     author feed
     trip kml
     author kml

       

    Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy