Dublin, Ireland, Fri 12 - Sun 14 Dec 08

A weekend in Dublin visiting my old workmate Sam and his girlfriend Louise meant a weekend of drinking! That is pretty much the most popular thing to do in Dublin, and they do it well! Although it aint cheap for a night out in Dublin. One of the most expensive cities I've visited so far!

Friday night we started at a cuban bar complete with cigars and tasty Irish Whiskey (which was to become my staple diet for the weekened... the whiskey, not the cigars). We also sampled some local Irish grub on the way home... Supermacs... very much like mcdonalds! haha gotta try the local takeaways.

Saturday we started our day at the Old Jameson distillery which they live right next door to! Lucky for some. Louise had to go Christmas shopping so Sam, Nick and I headed for the distillery. It's not a working one, more museum style but the tour was kinda fun and at the end we were amongst those chosen for a special tasting. Along with the standard Jameson drink you get at the end of the tour we also got to compare a shot of Irish (Jamesons), Scotch (Johnny Walker) and American (JDs) Whiskey. Can't think of many things more fun than that!

Sam took us on a walking tour in the afternoon. He knew a lot about Dublin so made a great guide. We saw lots of pretty buildings and churches. Christ Church was the best and the bells were going at the time we past which was beautiful to hear. I have to admit I was quite surprised, I wasn't expecting Dublin to be so pretty.

We also checked out the local Christmas markets and met back up with Louise, quite similar to the setup of markets in London, lots of cool stalls to wonder through.

That night we headed into Temple Bar (the famous drinking district of Ireland) and started our pub crawl. We started at The Temple Bar with some fantastic Irish music. We followed on with more cosy pubs, more whiskey and more great music. It was a fantastic night.

The last one we visited was the oldest pub in Dublin. It had graffitied dollar bills all over the walls which made the place look very unique. I ended the night with a tasty Baileys coffee to keep me warm for the walk home (it was rather chilly in Dublin). I loved that when you order a coffee in Dublin, they automatically assume you want alcohol in it!

Sunday we had to say goodbye to our hosts as they had family commitments and we did our own thing. We started at Dublin's temporary Christmas ice rink since we'd enjoyed it so much as Hyde Park. Sadly this one wasn't so great with terribly uncomfortable skates and not very good equipment.

After that we spent the afternoon at the Guiness Brewery. Not what I was expecting, it's a self guided tour through 5 floors of information about Guiness and the Brewery. I found it quite boring but I'm glad we went. At the end you get to pour your own Guiness which I found lots of fun. I tried mine but quickly gave it up to Nick. I'll stick with the Whiskey thanks!

It was great spending the weekend with friends, least of all for the comfy air bed and cooked breaky but mainly for the fun company and great local knowledge. If you're reading this, thanks guys!

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, London, Sun 7 Nov 08

Winter Wonderland is a big Christmas theme park in Hyde Park in London. We went there one Sunday because I really wanted to go ice skating outdoors (it's on my list of must do's while I was over here) and they had an outdoor rink. We had a booking for night (it's really busy so you have to book a session) but decided to head earlier during the day because we knew there'd be a fair bit to do.

It was so packed, all the stalls and rides were along one very narrow lane so it was like a mosh pit of families. So to get away from the crowds for a little while we hired a boat and went out for a row on the Serpentine lake. No one else was out there at first so it was really peaceful.

The coolest thing was that the corner of the lake was frozen on top and we got to row through it! It was so much fun smashing the top of the lake with the oars and picking up big chunks of ice (though that didn't last long as my hands started to freeze over).

Back at Winter Wonderland we enjoyed some Bratwurst hotdogs at the German markets and tasty dutch pancakes covered in chocolate (thanks to the recommendation of my friend Arn).

But the best part of the day was the ice skating. It was best at night with all the beautiful Christmas lights. We got there really early so were at the front of the queue and were let out on to the ice first. Our first lap on the rink was on untouched ice. Very cool. I was a bit unsteady at first but I soon got the hang of it. There were far too many people to go really fast but it was still heaps of fun. Nick managed to fall over and took out a women with him! It was hilarious. I fell over once too but only because Nick was trying to shove ice down my back so I don't think that counts!

Leeds Castle, Kent, England, Sat 22 Nov 08

Wow Leeds Castle was awesome. I'd read about it in the Lonely Planet so we decided to head out for a day trip. Funnily enough the castle isn't very interesting, it's everything else on the grounds that is. We took a coach down from London (a couple hours) and it was a freezing cold day! Even with the sun out. We were all rugged up but it was hard to get out of the bitterly cold wind.

Leeds castle is set on beautiful large grounds with plenty of gardens, duck ponds and lakes. The castle itself is picturesque and situated on a small island surrounded by a man made lake.

We spent most of the day outside wondering the grounds, our noses freezing in the near zero degree temperatures. The castle had a hedge maze which was so much fun getting lost in. It was a decent size one with a concrete lookout in the center. Nick and I had a race to the middle... Nick won :(

Once at the lookout we found a grotto which drops down under the maze giving another exit out. It was filled with crystals, coloured lights and carvings of birds and faces. It was really for the kids but I found it awesome. Lots of fun.

The maze was on the outskirts of the castle grounds near the Falconry. Leeds castle houses a number of owls, hawks, falcons and vultures. It was my favourite part of the castle! The owls were beautiful. We were fortunate to see a couple of the vultures be flown as part of a group course and we talked at length with the flyers/falconers who were working with some of the birds.

Later in the afternoon we had come back to the Falconry to watch the bird flying display but they had to cancel it due to the high wind. So they just bought out a couple of the birds and I was able to pat the large owl which was amazing, it was so soft. I'm so glad we got a chance to see them. They really were simply beautiful birds.

We did go into the castle but it actually wasn't very interesting as it had been lived in for many generations and the inside simply looked like a stately home and I'm not into antiques and the like enough to find it interesting.

I'm so glad we went out there though, it was a great day out. Apparently the Falconry do day courses where you can fly some of the birds. I'm so keen to do that. What an amazing experience that would be.

Tower of London, London, Sat 15 Nov 08

Nick and I spent the day at the Tower of London. We didn't actually give ourselves much time and the there is so much to do!

We had a guided tour by a Yeoman Warder (a guy who looks after the place and dresses in funny clothes). He had some great stories about the prisoners and executions that took place there.

We saw where Ann Boleyn was beheaded and buried and the prison towers where various people were incarcerated and the carvings they etched into the walls.

The crown jewels were incredibly beautiful and we saw one of the largest diamonds in the world. The vault doors were massive! And There was an armoury building full of guns and swords and armour. Plus there were massive ravens that chill out in the grounds, they are there because apparently if the ravens leave, the Tower of London will fall. So there will always be ravens kept there.

After it closed we took a walk along the water front and Tower Bridge which is so pretty at night when it's all lit up.