And they're off and running...

We headed out bright and early on a Sunday morning, thinking that by delaying our trip until Sunday, we'd miss the traffic. This was true, but we didn't then take into account that being Sunday, things might not open till at least 10.

I picked up Tamara and we headed towards Stratford-upon-Avon. We were intending to go to Shakespeare's birthplace and the other Shakespeare-related places. On the way though, we realised how close we were to Warwick (known to us as Historic Warwick - say it quickly), and we decided to call in. Apparently there's a great castle there. We wouldn't know, as it didn't open for about an hour and a half after we got there. You couldn't even drive close enough to see it. Guess that's something to go back to. Driving away, we saw a sign for the Dream Factory. The name alone had us driving through the back streets looking for it - although we never found it. All in all, a successful visit to Historic Warwick!

We motored on out of there and moved on to Stratford-upon-Avon. After doing a little reconnassaince, we found a park, and wandered over to Shakepeare's birthplace. In the end we didn't actually go in there, as it wasn't open (surprise), and whilst we were taking some photos of the outside of it, a busload or two of kids showed up. Summer holidays is as much a kid-free zone as possible.

We then wandered through the town a little, grabbed some breakfast, and considered our next plan of attack. We decided to try and find Anne Hathaway's cottage. I didn't realise until we actually found it that Tamara (wingman and navigator) didn't know who Anne Hathaway was, besides an American actress! Given the cost of going into her cottage, we decided to not go in there either. We did manage to lean over the fence and take a few photos however. Looks like another trip back!

After the cottage we wanted to find Shakespeare's grave. My map (brought with me more for looking to see what was near us rather than for actual navigation) showed us where it was, so we headed over to the cemetery. Well, I should have done my homework on this one. Turns out, after wandering through the entire cemetery, that his grave is INSIDE the church, and that you can't visit it if a service is taking place. After our luck so far, you guessed it, there was a service taking place. The photo below is the River Avon, which runs along behind the cemetery.

First official place we had planned to visit, and I had seen the outside of the 3 things I'd wanted to see. Awesome.

Road trip - the summary post

Yes, yes - I know I've been slack. I've been back for a while now and haven't managed to get my crap together in order to write up the road trip. I've also been a few day trips, so I have to add those in as well. If you can't be bothered reading through each of the entries, here's the summary:

• Countries visited - 2
• Road trippers - 2
• Sat nav failures - 1 (I'm now on my third one since October 2007 - wish me luck!)
• Near accidents - 2
• Near accidents caused by me - 0
• Beaches visited - 4
• Nessie sightings - 0
• Experiences that make my relatives jealous - 2 (3 if you count the fact that Elaine is just plain jealous that I'm here at all)
• Strange foods eaten - 1
• Cheap meals from Ikea - 2
• Days when it rained - lost count!

Greetings from the road

I'm currently in Edinburgh, enjoying the sunshine up north. This is not a full update, but a quick note about where we've been so far:

• Historic Warwick (have to say it together - all the signs called it that)
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Birmingham (home of the latest sat-nav failure)
• Warrington
• Manchester
• Southport
• Blackpool
• Lake District
• Glasgow
• Edinburgh
• Inverness
• Loch Ness

There's plenty more, but that's the basic idea so far. We've also seen the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and have been enjoying cheap as chips tickets for the comedy festival. Rate it!

We're all going on a ...

Summer holiday!

Road trip, UK style.

Stay tuned.

And again...

Yesterday it was back to London, this time with a firm plan to go back to Baker Street to go to Madame Tussaud's. Baker Street, for those not in the know, is the home of one Sherlock Holmes. His presence is everywhere there - from a motif in the tiles on the tube platform, to a statue on Baker Street and even his own museum.

We eventually got in to Madame Tussaud's, despite their best efforts to keep us waiting all day. Let me just say that they need to learn how to keep crowds happy from the Wimbledon organisers! We fought our way through the ignorant and rude people throughout the wax museum (and managed to not kill anyone in doing so - I'd not had any caffeine at that point, so this was not easy!). I think the highlight of the experience was the live scream part - seeing Lisa actually jump so much that she was about a foot off the ground was priceless!

We had to zoom out of there pretty quickly, as we had tickets to go and see We Will Rock You (yeah, it was my third time, and still as good as ever!). We got over to Tottenham Court Road, met up with the others, and rocked out for the next three hours.

After the show we headed over to Covent Garden. We wandered through the shops and markets, meeting up with a couple of my other friends along the way. Then, after a little side trip to the Australia Shop (Bundaberg ginger beer and strawberry Freddo Frogs mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm), we went down into Leceister Square for dinner.

After dinner, the girls I'd seen the show with all wanted to go home, but I stayed out with Matt and Mil. We strolled over to Carnaby St, which I have to say wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It's one of those streets that seem to be in London folklore - like places such as Portobello Road and Notting Hill. It wasn't anything like I thought it was going to be, sadly. It's an upmarket street, much like Chapel Street in Melbourne. Oh well - at least I have been there now!

We wandered back over towards Regent and Oxford Sts then, before deciding to go to St Paul's Cathedral - another place I hadn't yet been. The walk there was a bit like picking a direct line along the major tourist attractions - from Regent St to Picadilly Circus, down to Admiralty Arch and along the side of Trafalgar Square, and then along to the end of Whitehall and to the Thames.

We walked along the Thames, trading bits of random information (topics ranged from the Great Fire of London to the geography of Egypt!). The obelisk that is along the path still has damage from a bomb that was dropped during World War II. We kept walking along to Blackfriars, and then up to St Pauls. We were distracted on our approach to the cathedral by a funny street sign - not the kind of thing you normally associate with a church!

I still am stunned by the intricate work that was done on buildings like this, especially given the time frame. St Pauls was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London, and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It was finished in about 1710. It's enormous! We didn't go inside, so I'm sure I'll go back again at some point.

We then headed along Fleet Street (where there was a barber shop, but not where we could get a photo with a street sign in it as well). Along the way we found the place where Twinings Tea started. That's what I love about London - you can find all these random places without even trying!


Next we walked past the Old Curiousity Shop. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it's a wonky building. It seemed like there was either construction or renovation going on inside, so we didn't see any curiosities, but it was exciting for its Dickensian references all the same!


After all that we walked over to Holborn tube station to go home (passing the Australian Embassy along the way). It was late, I was shattered - and I was still over an hour away from home! Two great weekends in a row, and I'll be spending the next one in Wales. Roll on Summer holidays!

Being social

Well, I've been out the last two Saturdays, up to mischief and enjoying myself! Last weekend I met up with two friends from home, and we spent the day in London doing various things. First we wandered through St James Park, stopping momentarily to look at the animals made out of fake plants. It was some kind of save-the-animals charity, but the elephants were far more exciting!

From there we continued on to Buckingham Palace, getting there in time for the changing of the guards. It wasn't my first time to the palace, but it was my first time seeing that. Unfortunately I didn't see what happened inside the palace gates, but I did see them do their march up the road and inside. I need to grow a bit more in order to see things properly!

Next we headed over to Baker Street to go to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. That was a bust - there were huge queues that didn't really move, and we didn't have all day to hang around as we were going to the theatre to see Wicked. We ended up leaving, and going for a wander down Oxford Street instead.

We saw the show - amazing. If you don't know what it's about, it's the untold story of the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz. It was great, and I'm now looking for a copy of the book that it's based on!

After that we headed to an Indian restaurant in Covent Garden, before finally heading home.

Am I no longer a North Queenslander?

I spent part of today, which is Summer, walking around in the rain. It was 14 degrees. I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and pluggers. Am I losing touch with it all????