Yorkshire Dales, England Fri 12 - Sat 14 Sept 08

I took the train up to Leeds in West Yorkshire to stay with Neil (our accountant who I met in Portugal) and his wife Liz. Neil picked me up from the train and we went for a drink at the local before heading back to their place on the outskirts of Leeds. Had a great night chatting and drinking a fair amount of wine :) They have a really nice house and it was nice to stay with friends for a change.

On Saturday we headed out for a day in the Yorkshire Dales. We drove through a couple small villages and up to Bolton Abbey. The area was beautiful and so green! There was a Priory there and gorgeous grounds with a river running through it. Bolton Abbey sits on the estate where the Duke of Devonshire lives (or maybe it was his son lives, one of the two). We wondered around the Priory and it's cemetery then down through the field to the river. There was a bridge across but also some some very cool stepping stones.. you can guess which I took!

Lucky I had my trek boots on because some of the stones were actually fairly low in the water and I was getting pretty wet, go the waterproof boots! We went for a walk through the woods and along the river, it's a beautiful area. We also headed up the river to a place called The Strid which is a really dangerous part due to the hidden whirlpools that get created. If you fell in there you'd be in a bit of trouble!

We drove on to Linton, a small village in the Dales, and had a bite to eat and drink at the local pub which was full of Morris dancers in their crazy getups. We walked over to the next town Grassington and came across a river, bridge and small waterfall & rapids. Got some great shots of the beautiful green mossy rocks. Grassington was a cute village with lots of arts & crafty shops. The Morris dancers had moved on here too so we watched them for a while, doing crazy dances with their sticks, handkerchiefs and a pigs bladder (yep no idea bout that one!).

We headed further into the National Park to Litton where we were going to have dinner but the pub didn't open early enough so we just went for a walk up the hill.. and kept going up and up. We got pretty high up which gave spectacular views back down the valley.

We stopped at a pub on the river on the way back to Leeds before having dinner at a fish and chip restaurant called Mergatroyds (I couldn't stop thinking of Transformers!) where I had the unpleasant experience of trying mushy peas... can't say I'll ever get into that strange English food.

On Sunday we went to Fountains Abbey, a large ruin of an Abbey monastery closed by King Henry VIII. It dates back to the 1100s! The land around the abbey was gifted to the National Trust and it was huge with a lake and deer park (which we sadly didn't see any of).

The ruins were amazing with a couple of rooms almost intake except for the roof (which the King had removed so the monks couldn't return). The columns in one of the big gallery rooms were impressively tall. I loved walking through the stone ruins. There were quite a few museum buildings around the grounds, like the old mill, which had information on the history of the abbey. The monks used to farm a lot of the land.

We walked around the lake and through various parts of the grounds and into the church on the edge of the deer park. It had beautiful marble work in extraordinary colours (purple, pink and green).

After leaving the Abbey we drove back through Harrogate, a pretty town which apparently is quite popular with the well-off and I could see why, and enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at a yummy cafe. The food was fantastic and I got to try traditional Yorkshire pudding.. not bad :)

A great way to end my weekend in Yorkshire, Neil and Liz were so good to me over the weekend. I had such a great time.

London, Sun 7 Sept 08

Went to see The Lion King at the West End with Jodi. We went to a matinée show and it was fantastic. The costumes were incredible and the sets amazing. Scar's was the best with the ability to move the head around like a menacing lion. The monkey was by far the best character too, the woman who played it was hilarious! Definitely recommend going to see it if you ever get the chance.

York, England, Wed 3 - Sat 6 Sept 08

I was sent up to York for three days to run a training course with work which was a great opportunity to see the city. Luckily my train ticket was an open return too so I stayed on an extra day so I could see York Minster which was only open during the day.

Weather over the first few days was interesting... freezing cold, then sunny, then pouring with rain! Guess that's England weather for you, and they reckon NZ has four seasons in one day!

I was staying in a beautiful old hotel while I was working, next to the railway and gorgeous old stairwells and chandeliers inside. On the last night I switched to a YHA hostel which was a good 20 min walk from town along the river.. which wasn't too bad unless it poured with rain.. or the river flooded! (More about that later).

I spent my nights during the week walking through the town and over some of the city wall. York is a walled city and you can walk along a lot of the wall which is a great way to see the city. There were cool little pubs and churches everywhere, York was a really awesome English town. I also managed to try out some of the pubs for dinner which made for some good local food.

On the Saturday after a nice sleep in (well as much as a sleep in you can have in a hostel dorm room) I headed down to the communal dinning room for breakfast. And what a feast awaited me there! Bacon, eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, baked beans, croissants, pain au chocolates.. we're talking the meanest breakfast ever, and it was included in the price of the hostel! I was blown away. I think this could have been one of the best hostels I've stayed in so far.

I headed into town and joined a free walking tour of the city. It lasted about 2 1/2 hours and the tour guide was really knowledgeable about the local history. York is fascinating, it's history spans all the way back to the Romans so there was a lot to learn. I learnt about the old Roman wall and fortresses and then about the ruined Abbey that was destroyed during King Henry VIII's reign. The city wall is also made up of parts from different era's which I found really interesting.

We had a walk through the park with the abbey ruins, along the city wall and down an old street with slanty tiny houses, passed some Morris dancers (crazy looking getups and they wack sticks together) to our last stop at the Shambles, I think it was one of the oldest streets in York and it used to be the old meat/butchery lane. I found a jewelery shop that sold the most beautiful Whitby Jet pieces (a black stone) and I just couldn't resist getting one.

After my morning walk and a tasty lunch of a Cornish Pasty I headed to the York Minster. I ended up spending a lot more time here then I'd expected, there was a lot to see and again so much history! I went down to the crypt where you get to see the foundations of the old Roman buildings and other churches that have been on the same ground and see scale models and excavated artifacts of them.

Back up in the Minster I joined a guided tour which was fascinating. Our guide was hilarious and gave some great anecdotes about the stained glass windows, previous fires and statues. The choir started practicing for Evensong which was also beautiful to hear.

The last section I explored was the tower. 200+ steps in a skinny spiral journey straight up! Not for the faint hearted. It was tough work, very dizzying and a bit claustrophobic, but the view from the top was good. There's barely enough room on the stairs for one person so they only let a group up every half an hour so you go up and then come back down and there's no chance of having to try and pass someone on the stairs.. cause I'm telling you that would not be an easy task!

It was starting to get late and I needed to catch a train home so I headed back to the hostel to grab my gear. The attempt to walk back along the river to make the 5:30 train proved treacherous when I found the river path gone! The river had flooded the banks due to all the rain over the last couple of days. I had to take the long way around! If you check out the photo on the right you'll notice the archway, that's where the footpath is.. or at least used to be!

I wasn't going to make the train so I stopped off for some food before heading in for the 6:30 train. Turned out to be a lucky thing because flooding on the train tracks north of York had caused chaos at the train station and the 4:30 hadn't even arrived yet! A train bound for London finally showed up at 6:45 so I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to wait very long, unlike some who had been at the station for over two hours! Needless to say the train was pretty packed for the trip home.

Update

Nick arrived safe and sound early Thursday morning and I showed him the sights over the weekend. We had so much fun, it was incredible to see him again. I'll write up all about it soon but I've got to catch up on previous posts firsts.

Wow I can't believe how far behind I am! I have four weeks worth of travel to write up now. Well better get started...

Update!

Well it's official. Nick is coming to London! So happy I could burst. He lands Thursday 25th September, so just over a week left to go. It all happened really quickly once his visa came through and I'm so excited. It's going to be fantastic traveling together.

I took a photo of my flat and my flatmates awhile ago but never posted it so no better time than now. That's Christa and Andrew in front of our flat. They're a couple of kiwis who have been here about 4 years and I met through friends. They just got engaged on the Great Wall of China and will be heading back to NZ in April. We live in the upstairs part of the house. Oh and notice the 1902 sign? Yep that's how old our house is!

The last two weekends I spent in York and then Leeds and the Yorkshire Dales so expect some blog posts soon. Next weekend I'm off to Scotland to see Glasgow and Loch Lommond and enjoy a bit of castles and whiskey tasting! Yay.

London, UK, Mon 18 & Aug Bank Holiday Weekend 08

Monday 18th I went to see my first west end theatre show. It wasn't your conventional production, it was a hip hop dance show peformed with a fairy tale backdrop. I really enjoyed it. A good introduction to the London theatre. I found a picture of a few of the performers. Some of their moves were pretty incredible.

Sadly during the week I managed to develop a nasty cold so my bank holiday weekend was mainly spent in bed (bank holiday is the uk term for a public holiday). I did get out for one day to check out the National Portrait Gallery. It's a very cool art gallery filled with paintings of famous people, that way it had a two-fold appeal, the paintings & artists themselves and the subjects of the paintings.

The ground floor was full of current British personalities which was interesting but my favourite by far was the top floor's Tudor collection. Paintings of King Henry VIII, his wives and Queen Elizabeth along with full writeups on each person and their place in history. It was incredibly interesting. There was also a great section on the Jacobite uprising in Scotland which I had learned a bit about in my favourite book series. Who would have thought I was such a history geek?! :)

Windsor Castle, UK, Sun 17 Aug 08

Headed out to Windsor Castle for the day and I have to say I was pretty impressed. The castle is huge with high walls and a big central tower. I picked up an audio guide on the way in and I was glad I did, it had heaps of interesting information but I did manage to switch mine into Spanish somehow! Thankfully a helpful guard managed to switch it back for me.

Windsor Castle has a magnificent dolls house, built for Queen Mary in the 1920s, it was created by a variety of artists and modelmakers and everything was made to the finest detail. It really was incredibly beautiful. All the paintings and fabrics were replicas from the palace, famous writers wrote miniature books for the library, the silverware is made out of real silver, it has full electricity and plumbing (even the toilet flushes apparently!) and every tiny detail was thought out. Incredible. Sorry no photos, they wouldn't allow them.

The state apartments are impressive. Beautiful rooms but my favourite was definitely the awesome weapon & armory rooms. The sheer size and range of swords, guns and full armour was too cool for words. Many of them were from all over the world and many of the swords and knives had jewel-set sheaths and handles. There was a full armour set of King Henry VIII too and boy was he a big guy!

In the large dining room I found Sir Edmund Hillary's crest in among the other knights. The chapel was closed to viewings since it was a Sunday but there was a beefeater guard out front who I got to take my photo with.

After visiting the castle I found a quiet cafe in Windsor and enjoyed a traditional afternoon cream tea; tea and scones with jam and clotted cream! Ive gotta say clotted cream is weird, it's the consistency of butter but the taste of cream. Good though!