Punting in Oxford...

Unfortunately we only spent one day in Oxford, but that day certainly deserves a post of its own...

We caught the Oxford tube in London and mostly slept through the 2 hour trip, so when we woke up we were magically in Oxford. Quite a pretty city really. The first thing we did was go to lunch with a family friend, Simon. He took us to a lovely little place called the Trout Inn, where some of the Inspector Morse series have been filmed. We ate a lovely lunch seemingly surrounded by fellow Australians and ducks.



After lunch we went to visit the Pitt and Rivers museum - a lovely small museum with everything from dinosaurs to shrunken heads, and specimens that you could play with as well! We also made sure that Cam got a photo with one of his heros Charles Darwin.



In the afternoon we met up with some friends, Will and Sandy - 2 doctors we met in Papua New Guinea when they were doing their final elective. They took us out and made sure our short stay in Oxford was memorable. They took us on a lightning tour of some of the historical colleges - we squeaked the mound, and saw the choir stalls at New. But the first really important stops were a couple of pubs, including the one where Bob Hawke had set the record for the fastest 'down' of a yard glass...



The boys pointed out that one can't visit Oxford without punting, so they bought supplies and we spent the next few hours on the Thames (known as the Issis in Oxford) in a punt.



For those not familiar with punts, they are small square bottomed boats that aren't all that stable. Although they had both punted before we explored a part of the river neither of them had ever been to, and boy were there some surprises in store. After a while the river became overgrown and we kept drifting through the foliage, getting scratched, covered in pollen, and trying not to wet ourselves with laughter.




There were also incidents of the pole getting stuck in the water, and the pole getting stuck in the trees above which led to a very wet Will. Although it may not sound like much, let us assure you that this was possibly the most hilarious part of our whole trip.

After drying off we departed for a bbq 'Oxford style'. Comforting to know that student parties are the same world round - we ended up drinking cocktails out of a saucepan. We also caught up with an old friend of Cam's, Sebastian.

Oxford was a lovely place, and we must thank Will and Sandy for showing us such a great time! We hope that we return to you both the same hospitality on this side of the world sometime!

Little Old London Town

Well, it's not really. Quite big actually, with a population ranging between 12 and 14 million depending on where you stop counting. We're not sure how many British we actually met though, as London is packed full of Australians and everyone else from around the world...but it probably didn't help that we were staying with Aussie mates while we were there.

So anyway, we left ourselves a week and a half for London - a good amount of time to catch up with people, but not so good for the finances. We couldn't believe just how expensive London was, no matter how much we had been warned. But enough about money - we'll worry about all that when we get home...

Highlights of our time in English capital include:

*Visting many museums - the natural history museum, with it's stuffed animals and skeletons of those long dead. Cam particularly liked the icthyosaurs (fish lizards), which makes sense considering his love of all things from the sea.



We also went on a behind the scenes Darwin tour, where we saw some of Darwin's original specimens from his voyage on the Beagle , as well as specimens of Coelacanths (very old, thought-to-be-extinct fish); and a 8.7m specimen of Archy the Giant Squid (Architeuthis). Very Bloody Cool.

*The Victoria and Albert museum. Of particular interest was the fashion through the ages exhibition. No really, it was interesting. Particularly liked the underpants and glove set. There were also cool sculptures and an Oriental Exhibition.



*The Science Museum. A place Cam could have visited many times. Of particular interest were the Spitfire exhibition (interesting for Jane too, as she found out they were mostly made by women during the war), the boat exhibition, and of course the Scuba Diving exhibition. Even the Maths stuff was interesting, and quite pretty too. And of course, there was an awesome gift shop, which included some useful stuff, being a science museum and all...



*The Greenwich Meridian Line. We were only there for a short period, but we had lots of fun being in both the East and West hemispheres at the same time...we also didn't buy anything from the first shop in the world.



*The theatre scene. You can't go to London and not visit West End! Even Cam was enthused about it. We saw Avenue Q together - a musical with puppets made for people who aren't usually musical fans. Very funny. And Jane went to see Wicked by herself, so that Cam didn't get a musical overdose. We also went to see Othello at Shakespeares Globe Theatre. We paid for standing room only, and while it was great to experience it as many once did, it would probably be preferable to see any other 3 1/2 hour performance sitting down.



Of course there was lots of site seeing - we went to Hyde Park and watched all the sun-starved Londoners in their bikinis on a surprisingly fair weekend. We walked past Buckingham Palace, watched some great street performers at Covent Garden, ate dinner at Brick Lane, and tried to collect as many 'monopoly places' as possible (we were still missing a few when we left).

The best thing was definately the catch ups though. Thanks to those who took us out and put us up (hopefully we weren't there too long for you to put up with us). We had a great time. This last photo is in honour of friends - for those who bring Papua New Guinean penis gourds across the world for their mates, and for those mates who try them on enthusiastically as soon as the gift is received (yes, alcohol was involved). We just want it known, that it was requested by the wearer of this penis gourd to post this picture. Cheers Alex - you would make the Papua New Guineans...proud...

The Lovely Llangollen

We arrived in Llangollen, Wales, cold and tired, after 6 hours of (exhorbitantly priced) train travel. But we were received warmly by the Brown family, and instantly felt better.



We only spent a few days in Llangollen (this is the shortened spelling - photo above shows proper spelling!), but it was just so beautiful there (and so green compared to Australian landscape). The weather was wet and grey, so we sat inside in front of the fire for a while, and ate delicious food - some of which Cam cooked. It was a real treat, and every traveller needs to slow down once in a while.



But we did get out and look around. We visited the house of the Ladies of Llangollen - two women who lived in a romantic fashion in the 18th century, and had a list of impressive visitors that included the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron. The house is just amazing - there are curious carvings everywhere - and many interesting stories accompany it.



We also walked by the canal which was picturesque, even if people kept steering their boats into the walls. There is also a very big aqueduct that we walked over (the highest navigable aqueduct in the world), which was interesting, but slightly frightening when overtaking people with prams or dogs who were also walking over it. It is quite high.

Big thanks must go to the Browns - thanks Phil, Ingy, James and Rose for having us, putting on discos, and teaching us rainy weather games. We had a wonderful time!

A Scots Life...

All in all we spent just under a week in Scotland, and of course we wished we could stay longer.

Our first stop was Glasgow, in which we arrived with blossoming head colds, and were generously looked after by John and the Coles. Having lived in a tropical country for a year, we are particularly wimpy when it comes to the Scottish 'almost summer', and so rugged up everywhere we went. John took us for some lovely walks beside the river, and also to visit the Kelvingrove museum. It was a pretty crazy and interesting museum. They have the expected things - stuffed animals and artifacts of the region - but then you look above the giraffe, and there's a Spitfire. Beside Dali's painting of Christ on the Cross there is armour from Kiribati made out of puffer fish, shark teeth and coconut fibre - very strange! Also saw our very first 'haggis' there - probably a distant relative of the Australian bunyip...



We also took the opportunity to go to the pub for a wee bit of trivia - one of the best we've seen. Very cosy and friendly, and there was even one question on Australian wines!

The next day we caught a train to Linlithgow to catch up with some family friends (Mora's sister Marcy for those in the know). We had a great time with them and were taking for a drive around a quarter of Scotland in one afternoon (a very strange concept for those of us from the land downunder). We visited the farm as well, and had a cup of tea with another family member, Sandy. The countryside was amazing - from the lochs to the hills. And also a wee bit cold when the car was making mysterious noises and we were stuck on the side of the road for an hour.

After only one night we had to move on, and we were sad to say goodbye to all - including the dalmation called Mack that Jane became immediate friends with!



Next stop was Edinburgh, and we both fell in love with the city. It's just so beautiful, and clean and lovely. Lots of nice architecture, and beautiful little pubs - we particularly liked 'The World's End' where Jane tried (and liked) her first Haggis! We looked up the tartan making places, and learnt about the Mackenzie clan, and of course Cam did a some whiskey research! We walked up Arthur's seat (which our local guide Anne made look easy), and admired the view from the top.



All too soon we had to depart, but we had a great time. Thanks to all of those who looked after us!

Sorry about the lack of photos - just trying to fit in internet time where we can!

Castles and Cheese in Normandy...

We are now in Scotland and slightly sick, but we thought we'd update you on our adventures after Paris...



After Paris we caught a train to Normandy to continue our time with the Leger family. We met Ans and Christian at the station, and the first thing they did was to take us to their beautiful old house (built in 1767, before Australia was first 'discovered') and feed us delicious food.



They had caught wind of the idea that Cam was fond of cheese, and so they introduced us to many cheeses during our stay with them, including one from their area Coutances.



We were incredibly lucky to be so well looked after. They took us to see some old castles and manoirs - apparently there are many for sale around France, but the heating and general upkeep cost a fortune. Regardless of their various states of repair, they were all pretty impressive.



And a little theatrical too.



The next day we went to explore the D Day sites from World War 2. We visited a great little war museum at St Marie Eglise, where the paratroopers first landed.



In town they still have a dummy paratrooper hanging from the church in memory of the guy who hung there for hours going slightly deaf from the church bells. We also drove to the crater-studded Point du Orc where the German battalion once was, as well as the American cemetary above Omaha Beach. It was a beautiful and solemn place, containing 10,000 graves.



We must thank the Legers for taking such good care of us, and for feeding us amazing food including duck and lamb roast (food becomes more significant when it can be so hit and miss while travelling), and of course plenty of cheese!

A Parisian Time...

Upon arriving in Paris we couldn't help but notice just how grey, wet and gloomy it all looked. But we decided not to let that stop us seeing as much as we could of this lovely city. So every day we have been rugging up in jumpers, jackets and beannies (it's supposed to be spring!) and getting out there.

We've been to the churches in Montmartre and Notre Dame (we liked the mosaic at Montmartre, and the stained glass at Notre Dame), and of course to the Eiffel Tower, and Champs Elysees (although we didn't go up any of them as it seemed to cold and windy to expose ourselves to more of it as we got higher).



We also had lots of fun going to lots of museums, most notably The Louvre, The Great Gallery of Evolution, and the Comparitive Anatomy Gallery. We spent the better part of a day in the Louvre, and still only managed to see half of it - it's absolutely huge! But we probably had more fun in the two natural history museums. One involved lots of cool skeletons and fossils, and the other fantastic displays of insects and animals of all shapes and sizes.









And today we are off to the French countryside of Normandy, where hopefully the weather will be much better! Big thanks to Nicolas for putting up with us and being such a generous host!

The City of Glass and Water...

We only spent a couple of days in Venice, but we enjoyed every second!



After spending almost 5 hours on the train from Rome, we found our little hotel surprisingly easily, and got ourselves sorted out. It was a beautiful day, so we got changed into our best summery clothes and went out to explore Venice in all its glory. We wandered around trying not to stop in every glass or mask shop, and eventually found ourselves at the Academy Gallery, with many of the best religious artworks Italy has to offer (including artists such as Bellini, Carpaccio and Verenese). We also walked to Ponte Rialto where we ate the biggest slices of pizza we've ever seen sitting on the rails of a monument.





The next day we bought our 24 hour vaporetto (the boats that ferry everyone around Venice) pass, and took full advantage of it. There is not a car to be seen in the centre of Venice, and the only ways to get around are by foot or boat. We caught the vaporetto to the Doge's Palace (the ruler in Venice from the 13th century until sometime in recent history), and admired the collection of weapons and armour, as well as the grand meeting chambers. There are incredible artworks just about everywhere, except perhaps the prison, which is reached by walking over the Bridge of Sighs.

We checked out St Marks Square, but didn't stay there too long as it was just packed with tourists and pigeons. In the afternoon we decided to take a break from Renaissance art, and went to the Peggy Guggenheim gallery of contemporary art, featuring works from artists such as Picasso, Pollock and Margritte. It was really interesting, and renewed our interest in modern art.



We spent the rest of our time in Venice eating yummy pizza and gelato, riding vaporetto's around, looking (and perhaps buying) at glass shops and trying on masks a plenty. We didn't even get lost too much thanks to Cam, our trusty navigator.



We could also have spent a lot more time checking out the different boating styles in Venice, but we got a pretty good idea in the time we were there. This guy wins the prize for best wedding transport!