Bristol, Cardiff, and a kiss from an Irishman!

Yes indeedy, as the title suggests, I shall elaborate on the four day long weekend Scott and I took to Bristol and Cardiff, and by the end of this post, I shall reveal where I was when I was kissed!

On Friday the 15th December (it seems forever ago now), I began the morning with a visit to the dentist for a filling. Oh the excitement! I do, luckily for me, have a cute looking dentist. I was left with a numb face, right up to my lower eyelid. Weird sensation, and not one I want to repeat in a hurry.

That evening Scott and I took the train to Bristol. We arrived about 10pm, to rain, and walked to our hotel. The next morning we headed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. It was a bit of a disappointment really. Working in a museum, I have an understanding of what makes a good "visitor experience" and what doesn't. What doesn't is not having a cloakroom, drawers that are difficult to move, no staff around to tidy up, and having to hunt around to find the captions for the objects in the cases!! Argh! Really frustrating. We left, and headed (via the city centre and a yummy market with olives and spicy parsnip soup) to the Industrial Museum, only to find that it was closed for renovations until 2009!! So we headed for the ss Great Britain. They have restored the ship a great deal, and we started by walking underneath her. She is sitting in a dry dock, which they have sealed in with a layer of glass and they keep the humidity at 20% to prevent more corrosion of the hull. We also wandered in the upper parts of the ship to see what life would have been like sailing on her. We caught a ferry (tiny one!!) back to the city centre and headed back to the hotel for dinner and to crash.

Sunday saw us head to the station we were leaving from that evening, only to realise that we could not leave our bag anywhere and there was really nothing there at all! So we caught a cab to the Clifton suspension bridge and had a wander around to have a good look at this bridge, which was designed by Brunel, but he did not live to see it completed. We walked the length of it, then stopped on the other side to have a look at the small exhibition about the bridge, bought some souvenirs and headed back (all with our suitcase in tow!). We caught a bus to the station and hopped on the train to Cardiff.

We arrived in Cardiff and found our hotel, which was right opposite the castle and very centrally located. The castle is quite literally in the middle of town! We grabbed some dinner and headed to bed. Next day we headed to the St Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life, out of Cardiff. It was a fantastic museum. The museum consisted of buildings that had been donated to the museum, then moved there and reconstructed for the public to enjoy. It was very well done and reminded me a little of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat (those of you who know it), but more spread out, and the buildings ranged in date from the 1500s to 2000, as well as a reconstructed Celtic Village and timber circle. We had a really fantastic time, enjoying the fresh air and the Welsh hospitality (and some amazing scones!!). We headed back to Cardiff and caught a bus down to Cardiff Bay (a couple of miles from the centre of Cardiff) for dinner. Had a lovely meal, and then Scotty played some blackjack at a casino (and won our entry price to the castle for the next day!).

Tuesday we headed to Cardiff Castle and did a tour. The decoration of the palace rooms was something else - incredibly ornate and often inspired by poets, religion and other languages. After the castle we headed to have a look at the "winter wonderland" they had created, which was and ice skating rink etc, then had a looky in the shops! We did a stadium tour of the Milennium Stadium (which bizarrely had a fairground in it). The tour was very interesting, not about rugby really, much to my delight! We still had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we headed to the movies (our train was at 8.15pm and not much was open anymore). Then we hopped on the train (first class, baby) and headed back to London, arriving in at Paddington about 10.30pm.

Wednesday I worked for about an hour and a half, then it was off to the Christmas party for my work. It was in the Guildhall again this year. I had a lovely lunch with my colleagues, then it was off to the pub for some more fun, and I was home by 7pm (and I got paid for the day!).

Thursday and Friday were normal days, then Friday night was the Iron Maiden concert. Yes, I know what you are thinking... I don't even like Iron Maiden. Yes, it's true, and probably still is even after seeing them. BUT, I enjoyed the concert experience, they are great entertainers. About halfway through the concert the band was told they had to stop playing, as there had been a powercut, and by power cut I mean that the power cord leading into the building (Earl's Court Arena) caught on fire. This meant that the electricians had to frantically put the fire out (first things first, right?) and then rig up a new cable so the show could go on. Meanwhile, without sound, the only way the band could communicate with the audience was through sign language and a megaphone (which was almost useless). Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer, managed to get the audience to sing Christmas carols, do Mexican waves around the arena and back again and play volleyball with a soccerball. I was very impressed with him, and with the crowd - all very well behaved and good natured about it. I am now the proud owner of an Iron Maiden t-shirt, which Scott bought for me. Never thought you would hear that, did you? ;-) Oh, and the kiss? The guy next to Scott was getting very excited, so much so that he grabbed the railings that we were leaning on and shaking them violently. I asked him not to, so he leaned over, gave me the finger, to which I replied "Charming!". He then shook my hand and put his arms around me and Scott and gave me not one but two kisses on my head. Gotta love drunk Irishmen at rock concerts, right? :-D

Christmas Eve was uneventful - last minute shopping for food and each other, and we went to the video shop and borrowed 6 cheesy movies for Christmas day. I rang home and my cousins that evening to wish everyone a Happy Xmas. It had been ages since I spoke to my cousins. I miss them, and I really should ring them (and other people) more often.

Christmas Day was quiet for us. We opened pressies and had porridge for breakfast. Watched our first movie, then started to prepare lunch. We had curried parsnip soup, roast lamb and roast vegies and homemade mint sauce and a lovely crumble for dessert with brandied whipped cream. Lunch, by the time we ate, was really dinner though!

And today... Scott rang his sister Kim for her Birthday and then we headed to the football (soccer to you Aussies!!). I was a football virgin until today, so it was quite an experience for me. I likened the rules to hockey, as that is what I understand from when I played at school, oh so many years ago now. The view we had was ok, but it was hard to get a perspective of the whole pitch as we were behind the goal at one end and quite low down. But, it was an interesting experience, and one I have to, apparently, repeat on January 6. Hmmmmm.......

Hello

I am sitting at home at the moment, waiting for an electician to come and fix our light. I am sure all that is wrong with it is the fuse in the fitting. Fuses here are something that everyone can change, but not us! At home, as many of you know, fuses are the electrician's department. Normal people don't change them. That is not the case here. I played the "girl card" when I rang the real estate people, so I could get them to come and fix it, and so I didn' have to try it myself and electricute myself and Scott!! I also want to be here when the electrician is here, so I can see what he does.

We had a lovely weekend. Really, for me it was a 6 day weekend, as I had Friday off work, we left for Bristol on Friday night, came back on Tuesday night, then I had my work Christmas party on Wednesday! And I have a 4 day weekend this weekend.... What a life!

But the latest news is..................... I am going to see Iron Maiden with Scott tonight. Should be interesting to say the least!! I don't really like their music, well, I can tolerate it. But Scott bought two tickets, and he really likes them, so we are going! I am going to wear my "Museum chicks are hot" t-shirt, as it is my only black t-shirt. I am going straight from work tonight (if the electrician turns up and I actually get to work!). Scott is really looking forward to the concert, as he has liked the band for quite a while, and they started in east London, which is where we live!

I have uploaded the photos I took in Bristol and Cardiff (so many pictures!!!) onto our computer, and I will put a selection on here when I can. I have also signed up for a Flickr account, so I hope to get more pictures up there as well.

It has been a while since I last posted, so it's about time right?

We are headed to Bristol and Cardiff this weekend. I have to go to the dentist on Friday morning to get a small filling done (oh joy, but I have a cute dentist so that alleviates some of the stress!!!), then we catch the train that evening. We were to go on a steam train ride on Saturday, but unfortunately that has been cancelled. We will do some sightseeing instead.

I have a "tough" few weeks ahead of me. I have a 5 day weekend, then my Christmas party (I work for an hour then go), work 2 days, have a 4 day weekend, work 5 days, then have 3 days off. :-D I am looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be just Scotty and I this year. We are staying in London. We have decided that the hiring of cheesy movies is a must, as is doing two 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Not sure what I shall cook, but I will make something festive.

Amsterdam

We arrived at about 10pm local time, took the train to Central station and found our hotel. The hotel was made up of three canal homes (not actually on the canal, but same Amsterdam architecture). We were in the very top, in the roof!!

On Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then went wandering to the Reijksmuseum. We had bought I-Amsterdam cards for the three days we were there, which gave us entry into many museums (as unlike London the big museums are NOT free) and access to public transport, and a canal cruise. Bargain! We took the tram to the Reijksmuseum. Only the masterpieces on were show, as they are doing major renovations to the building. Amazing stuff there though. I thought I may see "Girl with a Pearl Earring" but I didn't see it. I read the book the film was based on (never saw the film though). Then we walked to the Heineken Experience!! A bit touristy, but we learnt how beer is made, why their logo is such (they chose smiling letter e's!) and got free beer tokens. I gave my tokens away to some nice people sitting at the table with us, as I don't drink beer. It was fun to "be a beer bottle", which was basically a ride that took you through the bottling of the beer, with all the necessary and approriate bumps etc. From there we headed to the Museum van Loon, which is a canal home owned by a wealthy family. The home and the items in it are well preserved, and they had modern art pieces slotted in as well, which didn't stand out too much. From there we walked back to near our hotel, and found some dinner. We had Indonesian food, which was super cheap and really tasty.

Our hotel was a street or two away from the Red Light District. This may sound bad, but in fact it was a great location, as it was central. The red light district is interesting, there are throngs of toursist going through it, and of course prostitution etc is legal there. I became desensitised to the many red windows and the sex shops very quickly - it's amazing how quickly one becomes used to it. They just became part of the scenery.

Sunday morning we headed to the Maritime Museum. There were heaps of people there, all dressed up. We had no idea what was going on. We found out that it was a Christmas celebration (as the date for that is 5th December), and that Sinterklaas http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml came from Spain. As for all the kiddies dressed up, they looked like this:

From the Maritime Museum we caught a bus to Central Station and then hopped on a canal cruise. It lasted about an hour, and it was a lvoely way to see Amsterdam. It gave a new perspective on the city - a perspective that a great many people have had over the years.

On Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and stowed our bag in their luggage room. We headed to the Jewish Historical Museum where they had an exhibition on Rembrandt and his connection to the Jews. Apparently Rembrandt (which I always thought was his surname, but it is his first name) lived on the very edge of the Jewish quarter. For this reason, he was a regular in the local shops etc. It has often been said that the local Jewish community were used as models for his paintings and sketches, although up to now nothing has been proven. Only one painting in conclusively of a Jewish man, and where did it end up? It was taken by Hitler for his art collection - ironic huh? After the museum, we checked out a local flea market, then a photographic exhibition on the street, then it was back to the hotel to pick up our suitcase and off to the airport. We arrived incredibly early and spent time wandering, spending the last of our euros and had some dinner. The flight back was uneventful. I was hoping we would fly over my work, but we didn't. :-( Slight hiccup with customs, but all sorted. Lesson learnt.

Favourite part of the trip: being treated to very musical church bells every half an hour. It really made the city that much more romantic.