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

I'm not dead, nor have I forgotten this blog. I am just really snowed under with uni work etc at the moment. I will update again soon, promise!

Alex
xxx

Prague!

Last Saturday morning we got up before dawn, caught a cab to the airport and began our trip to Prague. We took two planes to get there, from City airport. A long way to get there, but novel! And in small planes. 100 seaters this time, not like the 50 seater we took to Amsterdam.

We arrived at Prague airport, after our stopover in Geneva. We changed our money, bought travelcards and hopped on a bus to the centre of town. We changed to the metro (very similar to the Budapest metro, but the escalators were not as fast!) then to a tram, and waked 100 metres or so to our hotel. Our hotel was almost touching the Charles Bridge, which was a great location. This is the view from the end of the Charles Bridge:



Then it was time to explore the town!




We had dinner in a restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the warmth. This is what we ate:
Pork Knuckle for me, duck for Scott.
Sunday we did a tour of the Jewish Quarter. We sadly chose the wrong tour to be on, as our guide gave only basic information, and we were the only ones on the tour! Anyway, here are some photos from the Jewish Quarter. The area itself is fascinating, and we did learn a little from the tour (and the tours passing us as well!!). The old Jewish Cemetery was an amazing place. There was limited space for burials, as it was within the ghetto walls, so the bodies were buried up to 12 deep. And the headstone are all squished in together.

This is the Old-New Synagogue.

This is the Spanish Synagogue.


After looking in the Old-New Synagogue, we meandered towards Petrin Hill, which is a lovely large park overlooking the city. We took the funicular railway up the side of the hill to the top. We wandered through the rose gardens, and generally mooched about. Ate ice creams while sitting under some lovely trees, and enjoyed the sunshine.
That night there was a fantastic tropical storm. A huge downpour with lots of lightening and rain. I really miss storms form home, so a proper storm made me very happy!! Here is a photo I took as we left the hotel, just before the rain began.

Monday we headed to the Castle. We took the tram to the top of the hill. Prague castle is the oldest continuous castle in the world. And very impressive. Great views of the city below and heaps and heaps of tourists!!



And now, to bed! :-)

We have concrete chunks falling off our building. Yep. Great huh? We had scaffolding put into our yard yesterday and I spoke to the scaffolders this morning as I was really annoyed that they did not ask our permission to come into our yard. Apparently they do not need permission as it is a health and safety thing. Fix away, boys! I don't want any lumps o' concrete a falling on my noggin! :-)

My computer is clever. It remembers the fact that I changed the keyboard from Australian to British just to get the pound sign. Now when I press shift 3 I automatically get the pound sign. Good computer!

The girls went home yesterday. I was sad to see them go. It was great to have them in London, and although we didn't really spent a huge amount of time together, I enjoyed getting to know them better. We did a lot of fun stuff and Scott and I were able o how them our London - mudlarking, Brick Lane, Canary Wharf, etc. Photos soon!

Oh, and there was a correction I had to put in here, from Zsuzsi. She does not like punk music. I had said that BOTH the girls like punk music in a previous entry. A thousand apologies.

I am back to studying. Currently looking at objects of interpretation and material culture.

Work goes well. The designers of the exhibition are annoying me though. I found out today that they need to save money, so they are ditching a couple of the panels. Fine. But they are also ditching images that don't fit, but that we have already paid for! Hello? We have paid a vast sum for them, can't ya squeeze them in somewhere? It's not like I can get a refund...

That's about it really. :-D Hope everyone is doing well. Comment to say hi!

Had a lovely dinner cooked by Eszter and Zsuzsi last night. We went to their flat in Barons Court. We all got along very well, and it was nice to get to know the girls a bit better.

Tomorrow night the four of us are off to Brick Lane, the home of fabulous curry houses! The girls also want to look at all the spice shops. The shops have some amazing things to buy, and they smell fantastic.

I saw a girl on the tube who I swear I went to St Margaret's with, although she was a year ahead. She did glance a me several times on the journey, but I'm not sure if that's because she recognised me, or if it was because I was knitting a sock!

My deadline for all the images to be with the designers is Friday. I will spend Friday chasing images and generally phoning people about the images. I had a three and a hlaf hour meeting today. Torturous, but helpful.

That's it really!

Ok. Yep it's been a while again between updates, so here goes!

Two of my Hungarian cousins are in London. I organised for them to do a work experience placement at my museum, which they are really enjoying. :-) They are honorary Visitor Assistants for two weeks, basically doing everything that VA's do, but without the responsibility - ie no money handling, and not being on their own in galleries for the purposes of evacuation. As part of the placement, they will be doing a project, which they started today - an exhibition type project on London and Budapest 1939-1945 (all their idea by the way!!). I am looking forward to Friday when they show everyone what they have done.

Last weekend we went mudlarking. I think it was completely alien to the girls, but they had fun - even found a live crab! They found some pottery, Georgian glass, and lots and lots of oyster shells.

On Saturday the girls, Eszter and Zsuzsi, and Scott and I headed to Camden market. I love Camden market, there is so much to see, and there are all kinds of people there. I bought a funky bag with huge strawberries on it. the girls were in heaven as well, I guess there is nothing like it in Budapest - either that or it was all that punk wear that they love!! Doc Marten's galore!!! ;-)

Scott and I went to see the Transformers (better than I thought). Last night we met the girls in Leicester Square and saw the Simpson's movie. Very funny, well worth it. The girls enjoyed it too. Their English has improved a lot, as has their confidence. Being forced into an English speaking environment has been worth it for them. :-) And, they are cooking us dinner tomorrow night. YUM! I am looking forward to it. Thursday night we will go to Brick Lane for dinner (where all the Indian/Bengali restaurants are). Sunday there is a country fete on in one of the parks which we shall go along to.

And now for some pictures!