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Published: February 18th 2008
It has been the most unbelievable start to the year - nothing like normal life or living!
Christmas Roma style in London was a blast! There was so much food, Wii competitions, and we have never seen so many presents in all our days. But it was honestly just so much fun. We spent Christmas day at Mark's cousins, Tony and Lisa's house and they put on the full Roast with all the trimmings. And it actually felt like a proper Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, Christmas at home is great, but with the cold weather outside and the ice on the cars, it felt like we were experiencing the real thing. There was no snow and it rained most of the day, but it's true that after a couple of hours there was a layer of ice on the roof and windscreen of the cars! And Lisa finished off the feast with a glowing Christmas pud! Mmmmm. We all gorged and loved every minute of it!
Not everyone was able to make it Christmas day so we got together again on Boxing Day at Phil and Irene's and we had another full sit down meal, but slightly
lighter with cold meats, but still with all the trimmings. No Christmas Pud, but there was trifle and home made cheesecake - certainly no complaints. And the heat really rose with the Wii competitions - the gloves were off and the stakes were high - pride was on the line!
But I think the most wonderful thing about our first Christmas here in London was being with family and being so very welcome, and especially that Matthew, Kate's brother, was welcome as well. Whilst we spoke to our family back home on the phone and we missed you all dearly, we were so blessed that we had family to spend the days with.
So after two full days of gorging ourselves we had a few days to do some more sightseeing. Kate had organised tickets to the stage production of Tintin for us all (a great christmas present), and Blistering Barnacles it was a really great night out! You always wonder how an adaptation of book will go into any other format especially a cartoon as iconic as Tintin and we were all pleasently surprised. The way the production used the room on the stage to show the
movement of the characters, different locations and parts of the book that coming from a cartoon strip are so easily to visualise was amazing!
We also ventured to Lord's cricket ground for a tour with Matthew. Along the tour we ventured into the long room, the previous ICC meeting room, the away team change room, the stands of the ground and the media area (which is that new stand they built recently that you always see on the tv behind the bowlers arm.) The ground has definitely kept all of its old charm and history even though the buildings around it have been developed again and again and we definitiely have to see a cricket game there in the summer (although tickets are extremely hard to get and are already sold out for the upcoming series between England and South Africa) but we're am sure we can work someting out! The long room is really interesting in that it has kept all of its traditions which in this day and age is something to treasure. Mark was in awe that during a test match a player going out to bat has to walk from the change rooms and through
the crowd in the long room to get out into the middle. Imagine being there during the ashes as each team sends out there batsmen and the reception the members would give the players, it would be great! Unfortunately to become a member you need to recommended to the MCC by previous memebrs and then you are put on a waiting list so no chance of that happening for us!! We finished the day in the museum and will well and truely go back for a cricket match!
James, Mark's best mate from home, arrived the next day and it was great to see him again. Mark and Jim headed for a few catch up drinks at the local. The next day we all ventured to the Camden markets strolling around and feverishly trying to organise our new years eve bash. On finding out that we needed to get the tickets to what we wanted to do that day, Kate left to get the tickets while the boys walked on and trialled local goods. That afternoon we headed off to Wembley stadium for a tour that we had organised. The stadium is something else. It is the biggest stadium
in the world that is fully seated and enclosed with a roof. However the roof doesnt close completely as the FA (football association) said that football is an outdoor game and should be played that way. It was a major pity though that the pitch was being relayed firstly because it was a bog when England played last and secondly they had a motor race held there where the actually layed a complete race track of bitumen. On the tour we took in the press rooms, the change rooms, walking out of the tunnel onto the ground and Mark's favourite, touching the FA cup! The arch of the stadium is massive and I can only dream of what it will be like when England play a proper game there again that has meaning and hearing 90,000 people all screaming or attending a music concert there, will keep you posted!
That night we caught up with Huffy and Vic, best friends of Jim's brother but also good friends of ours which was great to see them again and share a few beers. The next day Jim's grilfriend Alicia touched down and it was great to see her again. She had
just travelled through South America and had a ball over there. Unfortunately her first impression of London on her trip was the Shepherds Bush Walkabout which is a hole of a place and definitley not a good example of what Aussies are like but it was an experience and something I guess you have to do.
The end of the year was fast approaching and the next day involved us getting ready to see it off with a bang! Kate and Matt honoured a family tradition of making apple fluppen which Mark very happily helped eat! Due to fridge problems we had to improvise with an esky and plastic tub which was a purchase we had to make sooner or later so the beer was cold the food was ready and the company was set! We had a few drinks at home and then ventured to our party which was on a boat called the Queen Mary situated on the Thames with a fantastic view of the London Eye. Mark, Kate, Jim, Leesh, Matt, Huffy, Vic, Katie and Ads were the attendees of what was to be one of the best new years we have all had! The boat
held around 400 people so there were plenty of other party revellers. Included in our ticket was a buffet dinner which was a bit of a letdown, all deep fried food! But the countdown was something else with a complete view of Big Ben and the fireworks on London Eye that lasted a good 20 minutes. The fastest way to spend a million pounds! But is was also great to spend the night with close friends and all wish everyone a happy new year!
The partying caught up with us the next day as most of it was laying horizontal catching up on zzz's and so ended Kate and Mark's xmas break as we had to start up again for the new year. We did however catch up with Katie, Ads, Trina and Joel for dinner during the couple of days that we had to work. To our great pleasure Katie and Ads are now engaged and we wish them all the best of luck in the future. The dinner was a delight and for Jim and Leesh was a fitting way to say goodbye to Katie, Ads, Trina and Joel as their time in London was drawing to
a close.
That weekend we headed of to Amstrdam which was a blast of a weekend. We arrived quite late on the friday night due work but quickly got into the swing of things once we had dropped of our bags and met up with the others that had been there the whole day. Joining us on the trip was Nick another good mate of jims brother but also a good friend of ours and his friend Sarah. During our stay we ventured to the Diamond museum, Rujiks Museum, Comfortable times museum and the torture museum. Of course the red light district was visited and there were certainly a few eye opening instruments that we saw on show and movies that would make your eyes water! As we walked around the district we did do quite a few laps of the blocks and by the end of the journey Matt was affectionately called 'Ginger' by one of the bouncers outside one of clubs 😊 We also traveled on a canal cruise and tasted the local delicacies of pancakes, hot chips with mayo and also for mark anyway a rollumop. From here Matt left us to continue his journeys and
Jim and Leesh came back to London for one last night before they flew on to the rest of there trip. It was great to see Jim and Leesh again and we look forward to catching up soon at home when we head back soon for Mark's brothers wedding.
So it was back to the daily grind for us but on the horizon we had a ski trip to France to look forward to and what a great week that was! We went to Alpe d'huez which is around a couple of hours outside of Grenoble. Quite a famous stage of the Tour de France I am lead to believe. For Mark this was the first time he had seen/touched snow and the alpes didn't disappoint! We caught up with Matt and his mate Robin at the Airport and caught a private charter to our chateu. Kate a master of French (or very good at nodding and laughing when appropriate when the guy who owned the place spoke to us in nothing but French) got us sorted into our accommodation which was a very pleasant little live in room. All the mod cons made it a very nice place
to come back each night after skiing and also gave us the option of cooking our own meals which saved us a lot of money. We eagerly set off the next morning for our first ski. Mark being a novice really showed up everyone by putting his skis on and then preceded to slide backwards unable to stop himself before ploughing into a group of people. Off came the skis, a short walk to the nearest ski school and a couple of hours later mark was learning from a pro. Kate and the boys meanwhile took off to see what was around and hit the slopes easily conquering the green and blue runs getting back into the swing of things and looking for further challenges. A successful day had by all.
The following days the weather was perfect to continue the skiing and for Mark to learn more tricks of the trade with ski instructor. Kate joined in and brushed up on her parallel turns and will be looking to get into the national team for the upcoming winter olympics. Matt and Robin went exploring most of the other slopes and to try new challenges throughout the Alps doing
red/blue/green and black runs as much as they could. We bought a little shovel type thing that you could use to slide down the slopes on. We went walking around to find a good spot for a toboggan and set off to see who could go the furthest. The slope was a half pipe of ice and snow with the other edge leading to the main road for the snow ploughs to get through on. The challenge was to see who get furtherest and also to see if you could get onto the road. Robin rode the lip of the road, matty was just inches short, Kate looked good but got a bad angle just at the last minute and mark nipped it in the bud and rode the successful wave to get on the road! We didn't realise how much it had snowed but when walking around we saw an artifical football pitch around 5 ft under in snow! It was perfect for snow angels and mucking about with snowball fights and trying to play football with snowballs. The road was also quite icy which mark found difficult to navigate at times and did his best to entertain the
crowd by slipping on his arse.
Our ski pass also let us use the swimming pool which as mad as it sounds was outside and we thought to get rid of our aches and pains a swim would be good. Of course it was heated and with the steam coming off we thought it would be nice and warm...WRONG! It was alright as long as you kept on moving and luckily for us we had booked a spa in so we could defrost and sit outside. It was quite surreal though to swim being surrounded by snow. The funny thing was also the pool people had something against board shorts so only DB's or swim trunks were allowed. So out came the budgie smugglers for the boys which in that temperature didn't really flatter anyone!!
On the Thursday that we were there it Snowed!! Not just a little but a lot! Mark having never been in a snow storm before got everyone up and preceeded to get dressed very quickly and ran outside. Kate joined him and we made perfect snow angels and went for a walk through the falling snow. Visibility was poor that day so most
of the lifts were down but it ended up being the best day for skiing. The snow made lots of powder cushioning the falls for Mark and making it a lot easier to ski on. Kate and Mark skied most of the day only having to retire because the weather got so bad. That night it stopped snowing and the lights were turned on for night skiing but unfortunately for us the slope they had the lights on was a blue/red and way too hard for Mark with a couple of days more skiing to be had. Matt and Robin though were unperturbed and hit the slope to show us how it was done. While we watched them we built our first ever snowman! We then used Robins snowboard to create a toboggan that would take us down a slope that ended on the road! The snow came out and slammed into your face making it impossible to see and breathe as it got into your mouth. The video although dark should show what we mean!
On the last day of skiing Matt and Robin decided to ski the longest run of the alpes which was a 16km trip!
We went up with them and saw them off and was very glad it was them and not us! The run was mainly black and at the start it just dropped away but from the boys report it wasn't all that bad and they did it in a little over an hour. While at the top of the slopes we could see all the peaks of the mountains including the famous Mont Blanc. Also up in the mountains was an ice cave with ice sculptures which was amazing to look at what with their precision and quality of carving! We had a skate that night on the local ice rink and finished off the day with a cheese fondue which was tasty but very filling and felt extremely heavy in the stomach! In the fondue was bacon and onion which we dipped in potato and salad. The bread was served to us in a basket which was suspended above our heads and could be lowered by a pulley system that we had control over. A really cool way of saving space on the table and also something a bit different to do while eating a meal!
So with a
sadness we said farewell to the skiing and headed back to london. The boys had there final 2 days in on holiday and we took them about for some last minute shopping. We said farewell and see you soon as they boarded the plane at heathrow.
Our travelling didn't stop there as we headed off to Stockholm the following weekend and took in the sights and sounds. Stockholm is a fabulous city with many islands and canals. We arrived late on the friday night to freezing temperatures and was very glad to get to our accommodation. We headed off early the sat morning to see the vasa museum. This housed the only 16th century ship wreck that was still 95% of the original. It was found around 50 years ago and was winched up off the floor and dredged, it was then transported to where it resides now, in the musuem. The boat has stayed in such prime condition because there is no wood worm in the waters in Sweden. The ship was built purposefully as one of the grand war ships for the king at that time. The boat only had a voyage for about 20mins before it
sank. The ship basically toppled over on its first voyage and to this day no one really knows why but the idea of the weight distribution being uneven is the most commonly used. It was amazing to see and read all about the ship and we eneded up spending easily 4 hours there. We came out to freezing temperatures which eventually turned to snow! As it was getting dark and quite unpleasant outside we headed into the city centre and walked around the shops and stopped just in time for a drink. We visited the ice bar set up by absolut vodka which is a tag on from the Ice Hotel that is situated outside of Stockholm. You are basically put in a freezer that has Ice walls, tables and bar and also cups that your drinks are served up in. So the Vodka is ice cold!
It continued to snow all night and left a good covergae of around 5cm! The next morning we took a boat cruise around the islands which was made all the prettier with the snow. After that we headed to Skansen. In this place they had all types of buildings brought from all
over Sweden to create a picture into the past. From early settlers to more recent buildings Skansen is called the miniature Sweden. Also in Skansen are a few local animals including wolves, bears, otters, seals just to name a few. While we were there it contuned on snowing but that didn't bother us to much as the snow wasn't slushy so we didn't get to wet. After finishing up there we went to the little island that had the old city buildings called Gamla Stan. It was really pretty to walk around and we have made a point of wanting to coming back in the summer when it isn't as cold and we have more daylight to enjoy things.
Which brings us up to the present day and now we have the task of finding a new flat to live in while starting to really look forward to coming home for a bit. It has been very enjoyable to have friends and family stay with us and we now look forward to seeing croft and abi arrive in the next few days.
We hope you are all well and will see you all soon.
Love
Kate and
Mark
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