Stepping back even further in time

right... where are we up to?

Day Ten

After two days which involved quite a lot of driving (and knowing that we had more in store the following day), we opted to leave the car alone and explore the township of Ruthin on foot.

I'm guessing it's fairly typical of many towns in the Welsh rural interior but everything seems to be kept looking a little sharper and cleaner (if not smelling it, to be honest), most likely because of the sort of clients the Castle Hotel seems to attract.

We found a pharmacy (Alice was feeling a little like she had an oncoming cold), several pubs, a gorgeous old church (first section built in the 1300's from memory), the old Ruthin jail, a quaint bakery and a butcher that (handily for us) sold some lovely fresh fruit (go figure).

But the really cool stuff today found jut wandering the grounds of the hotel & the ruins of the original castle. All the pictures can be found here but the highlight (for me anyway) was this tiny little spiral staircase leading down into the base of the old outer wall. Creepy but very cool.

Day Eleven

This was a really... really long day. We drove for 4 hours from very nearly the top of Wales to the bottom (including a brief period on a C road - not something I'm looking to do again in a hurry) to check out the Dr Who Experience. It was completely worth it though, if you're a fan of either old or new Dr Who.

The exhibition comes in two parts: a quasi-interactive display (very much being on set & clearly aimed more at the kids) and a static exhibition of props, costumes, set pieces and design drawings from both "generations" of the show. Both have been done really well and demonstrate an affection for the show that one sees in it's fans. We were, essentially, challenged by our "companion" through the first section to take "as many pictures as possible" in the second. We both happily accepted this challenge. Only follow this link to my flickr set if you have quite a bit of spare time available.

From Cardiff it was a comparatively short hop to Tintern to wander around the ruins of Tintern Abbey. More beautiful old architecture but this town is so much more isolated than either Conwy or Ruthin so it felt very different (fewer tourists for a start).

Amongst the displays were a few boards depicting images of the condition it was in when first "rediscovered". Completely overgrown. The sort of thing one expects more on the cover of a fantasy novel than as a representation of something someone actually found.

Cathedrals & Castles

Day Nine

Yesterday was an early start to make sure we had enough time to Liverpool Cathedral and St James' Garden. The Cathedral is an imposing building with awesome gothic detailing near its top.

St James' Garden is marvellously green & tranquil; exactly what you might expect from an old graveyard. Apparently it has become something of a local favourite for early morning dog walking. Something seemed oddly right about the otherwise quiet walk through a gravestone-walled garden being broken by little other than dogs barking. Surprisingly peaceful. :)

We checked out of Base2Stay and hit the road for Wales. Mostly A-roads for this trip so we drove through some gorgeous countryside, but the truly beautiful scenery appeared when drove over the top of our first Welsh hill. The over the valley was magic. Unfortunately there was nowhere to stop and get a good picture. You'll just have to take our word for it.

We dropped our bags at the "hotel" (more on that later), confirmed check-in times and hit the road again, headed for Conwy.

Conwy is a beautiful little coastal town, but we were there to see Edward I 13th century castle. Why? For HISTORY!!! :)

We climbed at least 3 towers and just soaked up the views and the sense of something completely "other" than the sense of "young culture" we get at home everyday (provided we could ignore the other tourists long enough).

Last thing to note from yesterday is Ruthin Castle Hotel

This stay is something we've been looking forward to since we started planning this trip. When first looked into my family history and found the region my great grandparents came from, we thought it might be nice to visit the area. The more we looked the more we found to check out but knew we only had a limited time. There's coastal towns & small villages galore but when she found this castle we kinda looked at each other and eventually said "why not? When will we even do this again?".

When we got back from climbing towers and checked in, the lady serving us said "You're in room 207, a lovely room."

"A lovely room?"

It's the best bloody room in the hotel!! It's the room the Prince Charles stayed in on the way to his investiture.

The room is amazing, the restaurant is first class (except for the coffee), and the grounds beautiful. Speaking of which I now need to go and wake my wife so we can walk around them some more. :)

Day Five

After England's incredibly slow start to batting at the end of the second day of the Test, we were not expecting anything exciting on day three. And boy were we right. Slow batting and (if we're being completely honest) some lack lustre blowing did not make for the most exciting day at the Oval.

Still it wasn't a complete loss. Got to try another very tasty pasty. :)

In short: dull cricket was dull

Alice's brother and his wife were due leave the group the following day so we headed out for a family dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian. Now, I'm a fan of Jamie's shows and I love adapting his recipes, but I'm unlikely to rush out to any of his restaurants (chain or otherwise) on the back of that dinner (especially after the fantastic Japanese the night before).

Day Six

Saturday was forecast for rain. Apparently when they forecast rain in London, it's pretty much a certainty.* We ditched the cricket (there was no play that day anyway) and opted for some culture instead.

Hello British Museum!

No images included in this part of the post but you can see them all in in this flickr set.
We walked through that *amazing* collection for 2 & a half hours and saw may be a quarter of everything... but at least we managed to see some of the highlights.

Getting near the Rosetta Stone took some effort (and a little patience) but was worth it. TheEgyptian and Assyrian collections were remarkable. The Japanese collection was brilliant (seriously their collection of netsuke stole the show) and the wing dedicated to various stages of Britain's history was inspiring (and really makes you realise how young Australia's "white" history really is).

By the end the crowds and the humidity were taking their toll on both of us. I look forward to visiting again whenever we make it to London next.

The civilised entertainment continued into the evening with Tim Minchin's adaption of Matilda. How to describe this show?

OMG! is about the best way to sum it up. Even before anyone appeared on stage Alice and I were marvelling at the set design and playing "find the words" on the wooden blocks that framed it all. And then people began to perform. Wow! The entire cast were brilliant, the choreography great and the songs were fabulous (but definitely sounded like TM songs if you know his work well).

NB: London summer rain & Perth sumer rain have nothing in common. London it's light but persistent. In fact we'd normally just say it was "spitting" or a very light drizzle.

Day Seven

Last day of the Test and Malcolm has a bout of insomnia the night before. 2 hours sleep is really not enough. Thankfully Alice was still OK to go along and watch but I stayed at the hotel, cleaned clothes and started packing (while streaming the cricket on the hotel's wifi).

If you have no interest in cricket, skip the next few paragraphs.

This was the most disappointing effort by the Australian bowlers for the series but given it was their first truly disappointing I think we can forgive them. It might be nice to see the bowlers AND the batsmen fire in the same game some time this coming summer. Just saying.

I will admit I was extremely good to see Clarke willing to make a declaration that kept the game alive (and entertaining). What truly surprised me was that Cook was actually to take up the challenge of genuinely trying to win (especially given the poor effort England made in the start of their first innings).

Anyway as any of you following the game know, it ended in a draw... and not a single person was surprised.

Day Eight

The time had come to depart London (for a little while at least). The train trip from London to Oxford was lovely and Oxford, itself, was a gorgeous town to walk through (to collect our hire car).

Most of today was spent driving from Oxford to Liverpool. The highlight was definitely our lunch break at The Malt Shovel, a lovely little pub in Gaydon, just off the M40.

Also if you ever find yourself having to travel to Liverpool, stay at Base2Stay. Fresh, roomy and very conveniently located. Also we were both loving the refurbished warehouse feel of the place... aaannnd (according to Alice) the area around the hotel has been turned into a funky little nightlife spot over the last few years.

Playing catch up...

Finding the time & energy to write has been virtually impossible for the past few days but I seem to have a moment to myself now so let's see what I can get down.

Day Two

(Wow! I really am behind!)

We started day 2 in London very early (for us). We were up, showered, dressed and out of the hotel by 8:00am headed for the Tower of London on foot.

View Larger Map

We beat the crowds and walked straight in to see the Crown Jewels, then joined a Yeoman Warder's (Beefeater) guided tour and finally walked through the exhibitions of the White Tower.

Day Three

Cricket Time!!!
So this is what we are actually here for; to watch Australia waste its last chance to save face in this Ashes series.

Where to start?  First of all, the Oval is marvellously simple to get to from our hotel, although we do have to make one change on the Tube along the way (same line, so it's a very minor deviation).

Also, the Oval is a lovely ground. The Pavillion (which I assume is the member's end) is stunning. Our seats are only 8 rows back from the fence and although we're in full sun at the start of play, we're in shade by halfway through the second session. Lovely.

The first day of cricket filled all Aussies around the ground with hope...

Still exhausted from the flight, our trek to the Tower and day 1 of the cricket, we went to see Front Line Assembly at The Garage. Very good gig.

Day Four

More cricket
The second day at the cricket again was full of Australia's hope for saving face... until Michael Clark declared and the English batsmen came out to the pitch with absolutely no intention whatsoever to try to win the match... none. Zip. Zero. Nada.

If the Australian team did the same thing on day 2 of a test match, they would have think very carefully about coming home.

The disappointment of the cricket aside, that night we went out to dinner with Alice's brother (Tim) and his lovely wife (Sarah). We strolled along Charlotte St (based on local recommendations) and found an incredible Japanese restaurant called Nizuni. We all happy devoured some of the most amazing sushi & sashimi I've ever eaten, and none of us thought to take a picture of the platter before us until it was nearly all gone.  Sorry folks.  You'll just have to come to London and try it for yourselves. :)

Stepping out the door...

Hello readers... and welcome to our little corner of the Interwebz dedicated to our travels.

Many thanks to the always lovely Ellora for delivering us to the Perth International Airport. As we sat for a while to collect ourselves (it's been a crazy few weeks) we realised that this would be the first time we walked through the "Departures" entrance together from Perth, and in fact, the first time I had walked through them at all.  Bizarre.

We departed Perth on Emirates on time (around 2:45pm) on August 18. We were lucky enough to have a spare seat next to us so we had plenty of room enroute to Dubai.  Watching the maps on Emirates inflight entertainment, Alice pointed out this would be my first time in the northern hemisphere. More firsts.  :)

Knowing that was happening I had to stay awake and alert enough to take a picture of the map at the equator & had a little Samwise moment to myself (one more step & this is the fartherest from home I've even been). Such a nerd.

Dubai Airport was large and rather dark after about 10:30pm but otherwise just an airport. At least it had chairs with leg rests so we could put our feet up for a bit... well 5 hours actually.

The second leg of our travels was less eventful... by which I mean I (Malcolm) fell asleep before we took off and surfaced only occasionally during the 7 hour flight. Handy, really, given it helped reset my body clock.

We eventually staggered off the plane at Gattwick, cleared customs, collected our luggage and got on an express train to London.  It was during this train trip it finally sank in that we were here. Between the miles of train tracks & tagged retaining walls (that reminded me a lot of Sydney) small clusters of terrace housing and old churches would appear. Definitely not in Australia any more.

Outside Victoria Station we jumped in a black cab (we were glad the couple in front of us got the yellow one).  Our cabby was lovely and we chatted about the disappointing performance of the Australian cricket team (something I think will become a theme throughout this trip) all the way to the hotel.

Oh My God. How good does a decent bed feel when you've been sleeping on planes or in airport chairs?!?!?

There's more to come.  We spent yesterday afternoon wandering around the area near our hotel. Took some lovely pictures & just generally started enjoying the holiday.  More on that after we get back from the Tower of London. :)

MAlice.