Straford-upon-Avon, April 2013: Shakespeare and sprinting

In April, we spent a weekend in charming Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. We wandered around the cute wee city centre with its distinctive architecture, had some fish and chips, and even saw Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

The main reason for our visit however was for me to participate in the Shakespeare half marathon. It was a great race. In comparison to the other half I had done, where around only 20 people took part, and I managed to get lost, this race seemed huge, and very well organised. 

The day of the race, Kylie made the most of the traditional full English breakfast served up at our bed and breakfast, while I managed my specifically requested peanut butter toast.

Kylie waited to cheer me on during our first lap of the village centre, and even managed to snap a pic (already a success compared to the Hutt Valley half). After that we headed out into the countryside, passing through small settlements before arriving back into Stratford itself.

Anxious before the start

Feeling pretty fresh at this stage of the race 

It was a great atmosphere, with lots of supporters, including families and small children cheering everyone on, and a few unusual outfits, either for charity or for what seemed to be no reason at all. I'm not much of a speed freak, but was glad to improve on my previous time by around 15 minutes.

After the race, we enjoyed a well deserved pub lunch before heading back to London.

London Winter, Christmas & New Years 2012/13

Backtracking a bit, as we’re coming into winter this year, I realise we never blogged about last winter, Christmas, and New Years.

I have to say we were a little apprehensive about UK winter. I found however that it wasn’t so much the brutality of the winter, but rather the duration – it just seemed to keep on going! I think we even had snow in May. To be fair though, it was apparently an unusually long winter. Meanwhile, back in NZ, friends and family were basking in the warmest summer in 40 years, and cruelly sending pictures of sunny beaches our way.

That said, it was fun to have actual snow, and a real Christmas-y feel. Erika, Kylie and I went ice skating at Somerset House as well. It was beautiful, with lots of cool lighting, the beautiful old building behind, mulled wine and chocolate brownies to warm us up, and a ginormous Christmas tree. My second ice skating experience ever, and I even managed to stay upright, but only just!

Before Christmas, we got together as a group to have our own Christmas celebration and secret santa exchange.

Unlike most of London, we didn’t leave the city for Christmas or New Years. We spent an incredibly relaxed Christmas with French and Norwegian friends and Emeline and Håvard. We made Norweigan gingerbread biscuits, named ‘Pepperkaker' - they were a little darker than the British-style gingerbread, and had a kind of peppering taste - which we then iced - which then iced; we went for a walk around the neighbourhood; and we ate copious amounts of delicious food. 

For New Years, we got together as a group and went to a local bar, where we had quite a bit of wine and danced into the wee hours.

In January, we were treated to a proper snow. It was great fun to us newbies to start with. We went to the local park, and used some real estate signs lying about as toboggans to slide down the hill, much to the amusement of the families. We made a snowman out the back of our flat, had numerous snowball fights, and went exploring in the local cemetery, which had turned into a veritable winter wonderland. After a while though, I got a little fed up of struggling not to fall over on my way to and from the station, and trying to stay warm in our chilly flat.

Amsterdam February 2013

In early February, we arrived into a frosty Amsterdam for a few days of sightseeing. We enjoyed wandering or biking along the canals, stopping off at a cafes or coffee shops to warm up. I always find the Dutch architecture interesting to look at, with their unique step-like facades, and incredibly skinny buildings.

This was Kylie’s first taste of the Netherlands, and taste we did, enjoying cheese, ham, bread, and stroopwafels (round thin wafer-type waffles filled with syrup, particularly delectable when rested on the top of a hot drink so that the syrup starts to become gooey). A local delicacy which we enjoyed less was pickled herring on bread.

 

At times we found it a little hard to find some tasty and authentic restaurants, as the centre of the city seemed to be dominated by tourist-trap type restaurants, including, oddly, a number of Argentinean steakhouse restaurants.

Our hotel was near to the Vondelpark, a lovely park full of people walking, jogging, and of course, biking. One day we took a picnic of ham, cheese and bread there but sitting still chilled us through and we headed straight for a coffee in the nearby café.

The Van Gogh museum was being renovated at the time, but we enjoyed visiting the Rijksmuseum with impressive works by famous Dutch artists Vermeer, Rembrandt, as well as some Van Gogh.

On our last day we trekked across town in the snow on our bicycles to a great little market, on the hunt for delicious goodies to take back to the flatmates. My toes felt like they were about to freeze and drop off however, so we didn’t hang around long!

Bath and Bristol beginning of December 2012

Sorry for the long break. Over the next few weeks we will try and bring our blog up to date; starting with our visit to Bath and Bristol to see the Bath Christmas Markets.

We took a few days off for a long weekend and took the train to Bristol. We were looking forward to escaping the bustle of London and going to our first winter xmas market.

Our first day was spent wandering around Bristol fairly aimlessly stumbling across the Bristol Cathedral, which was founded in 1140, 1140! It amazes me how far back the history here goes and how well preserved and accessible it is.

Bristol Cathedral

After that we got a bit lost trying to find the suspension bridge and ended up in Brandon Hill Park, which is home to Cabot tower that offers great views over the city.

Further on we found Clifton suspension bridge, which hovers over the river Avon.

Clifton suspension bridge

We headed back to town and popped into Brew Dog, which is a great Scotland-based brewery that offers American style beer packed with speciality malts and hops. So far my favourite UK-based brewery.

The next day we headed for Bath and the famous Christmas Markets.

Going to Bath is like stepping back in time. The Romans established the city itself sometime in 60 AD. The city sits on top of natural hot springs, hence the name.

Once we arrived we quickly learned that Bath being such a huge tourist attraction was just as busy as London. We sat down for tea and cake at ‘the Mad Hatters tea party’ café.

We entered the markets only to find that there were so many people you couldn’t stop and look at things as the current of people dragged you along. We managed to get some mulled wine and after 20 minutes or so decided it wasn’t worth it and set of to explore the rest of the city.

We came back early the next day to see the Roman bathhouse before the tour buses arrived. The facilities were amazing, main pool, spa, plunge pool, steam room and sauna.

Amazing sculptures and awe-inspiring architecture all built around 300 AD. They have done an amazing job at excavating the site and restoring it to its former glory. Earlier on in the year (2012) they found a hoard of around 30,000 silver Roman coins.

Roman spa in Bath

Bath Abbey

For the rest of the day we wandered around town and visited the circus and the royal crescent both amazing buildings built during the 1700s.

After walking around all day in the cold we were freezing so I decided to warm myself up by hiking up the hill behind the station for some dusk shots.

 

Royal Cresent

View over Bath