Barcelona

Ola! Scott and I headed to Barcelona for a long weekend on Saturday 5th April. Barcelona is one of those cities with a great feel. Perhaps because Spain gets more sunshine than London and people are generally happier, who knows. But I felt happy to be there.


OLA SUNSHINE!! :-)

First sight we saw was the Sagrada Familia (temple of the Holy Family). An absolutely amazing sight, inside and out. It is still under construction, and will be finished in 30 years or so. It was great to see the process of it all coming together. Gaudi was planned his church to be representative of nature. The huge columns and ceiling features are meant to represent trees. Absolutely breathtaking.






And, because this is so delayed, here are some more random photos from Barcelona:

Gaudi building

Lovely flower in the centre of the city

metro train

Outside of the opera house

Particularly unappetising fish I found in the market!

This is me outside Barcelona's synagogue, or rather, the building that houses the foundations of it. Very small, but interesting and obviously the street level was lower back then!

Montserrat, a monastery outside of Barcelona where we spent the day wandering on the Monday. Lovely place, but really foggy when we got there!

I am really pleased with this photo. Another one taken at Montserrat on the way to the hermitages.

An oh-so-cute hampster! I had never actually seen one up close, and they had lots of animals on sale at Las Ramblas (a series of streets/avenues that have markets, street entertainers, restaurants etc).

Scott and I took a wander up to the hermitages outside of Montserrat, and it was amazingly foggy!!

Valentine's Day

Rochester, Kent

Photos galore!

Here is a catch-up post of photos from our trip to Ireland, as well as some I took recently in London. Our trip was great, really relaxing, it was a shame to have to come back to London!

We are both back at work, and so far 2008 is a good year. Studies go well, and I am very happy to say that I passed my last module which I found very difficult! Yay!

There are two photos of my fridge, in case you are wondering! Scott and I are collecting house magnets. So you can see what we are talking about, have a close look!!

So, without further ado, here are the photos! Please click on the photos to open them up in a larger size.

That time of year again!

Yesterday was the annual work Christmas lunch held at the Guildhall. It was fun, we didn't have to go back to work afterwards, and it was great to see the inside of the Guildhall once more. We all turned up early so we headed downstairs into the amphitheatre. I had been meaning to see it, so you can imagine I was very excited to see it all. And with my new camera to play with as well. The display is very well done. The drains are on show under glass which I love, as well as lines were placed to show where drains etc were under our feet.

As for the lunch, it was great. Nice food, great company. And we didn't have to go back to work afterwards!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildhall,_London Info on the Guildhall
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leisure_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_galleries/guildhall_art_gallery/ampitheatre.htm The Roman Amphitheatre

Tonight we had Christmas drinks in the bar next door to work. It was also my last day as a duty manager. My boss thanked me in front of everyone, and raised a toast to me. :-D Another person will start the job in January. I am sad to give it up. I have really enjoyed the role. But hey, that's life. I will keep my eye out for jobs in the new year, and I will try to create projects to do within the museum itself. We shall see!





Scott and I are off to Northern Ireland today (it's past midnight so it's today!). I am really looking forward to it. It should be a nice, relaxing holiday. 8 days of knitting and relaxation.

I hope everyone reading this has a lovely Christmas and New Year!

xxx
Alex

Our flat - an update

We have been pointing out to our landlord (a real estate agency) that the paint has been peeling off the walls in our hallway and other places since we moved in more than 18 months ago now. It was only after I sat in the hallway next to the peeling paint while on the phone to my parents that I realised it was worse than I thought. At first I thought it may be rising damp, but I had no idea what that might look like. I have never seen it before, so I googled it to see what it looked like.

I emailed the photos below to the landlord so they could actually see what I was talking about (even though the people who do the inspections said they were going to talk to them about it!!)

They took action then, and sent out a damp specialist to take a look. His opinion was that it probably wasn't rising damp but rather it could be a leaking pipe under the floor (concrete, we are on the ground floor) that is making the damage look like damp. The upshot of it is, to fix the problem completely they would have to give us our notice to move out. So the plan is to get us to run dehumidifiers to dry the place out. The once the walls are completely dry, painters will come in to strip back the peeling paint, and repaint the walls. They will also strip the mouldy wallpaper off the bathroom walls. Who knows how long it will last. But we will get a freshly painted flat. AND they won't put the rent up when we renew the lease next year. I have no idea how inconvenient it will be for us when they are in the flat (the agent reckons they will be in for 2 days, but I doubt that!!).

Have a look at the walls yourselves...

Ta da!!!

I have finally popped my head out after the mess of work, uni, conferences, and lots of tea to realise that I have not updated this in too long. So I will endeavour to remedy this, here and now!

I have a three week break from uni studies, which makes a lovely change! The last unit was a tough one. And I am happy it's over with!

My friend Nicole arrived from Australia to work in London for a year or so. It has been great to hang out with her, like old times. :-) The two of us headed to the Museums Association conference in Glasgow at the end of October. It was a three day conference. I took the train up there on the Saturday, and arrived after a 7 hour journey (!!!). The conference itself was great. Interesting to listen to the various speakers, chat to people, and I enjoyed seeing Glasgow. It's a nice city, small, but plenty to see. We did many of the museums in Glasgow - of course!! I took my camera, but without my batttery recharger, so no piccies to share. :-(

On the 11th November, 9 of us went to high tea at the Dorchester Hotel - Scott and I, Nicole, Sarah and her husband Jake and Orlaith, my friend from work Giulia, her partner Clive and her friend Valerio. The decor was sumptuous and lavish. Tea began with deciding whether we wanted afternoon tea or high tea. The difference was high tea was more of a main course and the afternoon tea had scones. I figured that scones were a necessity for tea, so afternoon tea it was for me! The scones though, were a little disappointing. The tea was really tasty though. I chose Paris tea, which was black tea with bergamot and caramel. Bergamot is in Earl Grey tea, so I figured it would be tasty. The finger sandwiches were amazing, as were the chocolate-y desserts. It was an expensive afternoon, but I am really happy that we did it, and with friends to share the experience with!

The new gallery at my museum opened early this month. I am wary of writing here what it is on, as it is easily google-able. I am happy to email you the details if there are nay interested parties!! I attended the gallery preview as I had worked directly on the gallery with the picture research. I dressed up (skirt!! shock horror!!) And some people didn't recognise me - including the head of security who told me a few days later that there had been someone at the preview who looked like me!! Ha! I enjoyed the evening, as it was great to see the gallery all finished, my images on the wall (not images of me, but the images I organised and ordered!!!). And to be a guest in my own workplace as fun too.

Not sure what else there is to say. I am counting down til Christmas now - not because we do Christmas, but because we are going on holiday! We are heading to Northern Ireland and I am looking forward to a completely relaxing week. :-)

I hope everyone is well

xxx