Memoirs of a Chan

This weekend, we headed to Clapham Common for a day of indulgence. The Ben & Jerry’s Sundae festival is held in the last weekend of July. Lucky ticket holders are treated to a line up of local bands and FREE unlimited ice cream.

Last year I went with Uzzie and we had seven cones each. Well, we had 7 scoops of ice cream and a couple of cones as I soon realised the waffle cones were a waste of stomach space. I had tried all the flavours last year and knew which ones I didn’t like so this year, I focused on cookie dough and strawberry cheesecake.

Even without eating any of the cones, I only managed 5 scoops this year. I had 2 scoops of strawberry cheese cake frozen yoghurt, 2 scoops of cookie dough (though one of them was larger than your average single scoop) and I tried a scoop of Berry Nice which was a waste of space.

It was a pretty hot day but there was a great turnout.

Jess even managed to fit in free candy floss.

The UK summer is still going strong so we decided to take advantage of that with a visit to Thorpe Park, an amusement park just outside of London.

I haven’t been to an amusement park since Oktoberfest and even then, it was more of a carnival/festival. We decided to go before the school holidays started and on the same day as the World Cup in the hopes that there would be less people at the park.

Thorpe Park was still full of people and we queued an average of 1 hour for each ride, all of which lasted less than 2 minutes.  For 2 of the most popular rides, we queued for an hour and 15 minutes! It was 28 degrees that day and none of us had sunblock on.

The best one by far was Saw which had a vertical drop as well as a loop in the dark. We waited in line for an hour and 20 minutes, giving Janee plenty of time to psych herself out. She still went on it and loved it!

The detonator has got to be the world’s shortest ride. Its basically a drop of 60 feet in under 5 seconds. It really didn’t look that high from the ground so I was in for a shock when I got to the top.

The first ride we went on was Stealth. The best part of it was the beginning. You go from 0 to 80 miles per hour before a steep drop.

There is no better way to kick off the English summer than catching up with friends and a couple of music festivals. Jess and I arrived back from Morocco, surprised to find that London’s gorgeous summer weather had finally arrived.

Having been disappointed by the standard of piri piri chicken in Lisbon, Jess and I headed to Nandos where she had her first Nandos peri peri chicken.

While she wasn’t completely taken with Nandos, she was impressed by the layout of the restaurant. In Australia, Nandos outlets tend to look like takeaway joints whereas in the UK, they are restaurants with nice decor and bars.

We started the weekend early by heading to Trafalgar Square to help Irene celebrate Canada Day.

I couldn’t find anything red and white to wear in the morning but I knew I could always fall back on my Canadian accent if need be.

There was a good turnout of non- Canadians. We went after work so we arrived when the bands were playing and missed all of the hockey games.

I found Canadians to be much better behaved than Aussies are on Australia day. Not that Canadians don’t know how to have a good time, more that they do it in a more refined manner. Still, the evening ended with a few disturbers of the peace!

I was told before I moved here that one of the things I had to do was jump into the fountain at Trafalgar Square on New Years Eve.  After seeing how well Irene handled the water temperature in the SUMMER, I have decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

On Friday evening, Jess and I headed to the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park where Pink was headlining. I was pretty chuffed  as Nod gave us a pair of free tickets. This was Jess’s first summer music festival and it didn’t disappoint.

We arrived just before the Ting Tings came on and walked around the stalls before finding a good spot to watch Pink.

Pink was AWESOME! This is the third time I’ve been to see her live and she is always amazing. Her shows are always high energy with alot of acrobatics and dancing. This time, she went instead a clear plastic ball and rolled on top of the audience’s heads (like a hamster on a wheel). She performed for over 2 hours and Jess and I felt like we really got our free tickets worth!

The next day Jess and I went to Brent Cross shopping centre to check out the summer sales. I came away empty handed but Jess managed to pick up a dress and bathers. In the evening, we headed to Ealing to visit Janee and Robbie.

I didn’t recognise Ealing at all but Jess did since she went to Twyford middle school which is on the high street. We had dinner at this cute little Japanese restaurant.

On Sunday, Jess and I had Dim Sum with her cousins. Rachel is in London for work so this was the perfect opportunity for Jess to meet her.

For long as I can remember, Jess has always been around when I’m with my cousins from my mothers side. So much so that some of my younger cousins don’t even realise that they aren’t related to her. It has been a role reversal for us since the Choong sisters + Abraham are Jess’s cousins on her dad’s side. It’s fantastic to see her reconnecting with them.

Would Dim Sum be complete without dessert? Okay so my diet starts next week!

Later on, Jess headed home to pack for her trip to Cinque Terre and I headed to the Wireless Festival with Nod, who managed to get a pair of free tickets with Jay Z headlining.

We got there before 6pm and headed straight for the bar before checking out the Friendly Fires and Lily Allen. I quite liked the Friendly Fires but I really wasn’t impressed with Lily Allen’s live performance.

It was Nod’s birthday so we decided to get happy by having more beers! Unfortunately the beers caught up with our bladder and we each had to go to the toilets a couple of times during Jay Z’s performance. I’m happy to say Nod broke the seal first.

The toilets were rank but I thought hey, if I can handle this, I can surely handle the toilets at Glastonbury.

Jay Z put on a seriously good show. He really got the crowd all worked up and was a very appreciative performer. He looked like he was having a really good time.

I’m now convinced that watching concerts outside are the way to go. Bring on Glastonbury!

After my recent trip to India and Nepal, my preferences for holiday locations have turned to more exotic locations. With this in mind, I headed to Marrakech in Morocco with Liam and Jess. 

My friend Jem travelled to Morocco with her husband 3 years ago and I recall reading her brightly coloured postcard and imagining it to be an ancient city full of colour and exotic aromas.

Her description of Marrakech, with its many teahouses and bustling souk is what first put Morocco on my radar.

Marrakech is an assault on the senses. While it is in North Africa, it is an Arab and Berber country. Having grown up in the Middle East, it wasn’t a culture shock for me. Jess however found the place fascinating as the buildings and city infrastructure is so different from what you find in Europe or Asia.

We arrived at 11am and caught a petit taxi to our Riad. The first thing that struck me was how widely spoken French is. I knew French and Arabic are spoken widely in Morocco but I didn’t expect so many people to be so fluent in French. It made a huge difference in the way in which we travelled as both Liam and I have adequate French conversational skills to get by.  

It didn’t prevent us from getting ripped off on our taxi ride to our Riad. We were charged 150 dirham for a 15 minute taxi ride. In contrast, Jess and I paid a mere 50 dirham when catching a taxi to the airport from a Riad that was further away from the airport than our first one.

Arriving at our Riad was an experience. A Riad is a house with a patio garden or extension. Many riads have been converted into guesthouses with authentic Moroccan furnishings.

They are usually situated among other residences where the lanes are too small for taxis to drive through. This makes it difficult for tourists to find them when they first arrive in Marrakech. There are unofficial guides, often neighbours who assist tourists in finding their way, hoping for a tip.

Our particular riad was called Riad Sabah, owned and run by a quirky German guy who married a Moroccan woman and moved to Marrakech a few years ago. The Riad was beautifully furnished and for a mere €18 per night, we were able to stay in a private triple with an ensuite bathroom.

The riad was a 15 minute walk from the medina which normally would be a cinch to walk however given we weren’t able to walk 2 minutes without being approached by someone wanting to sell us something or wanting something from us, it seemed longer.

One of the features that really stood out for me were the doors of residences/shops.

They were all so different and I wanted to take photos of them all.

I’m sure my friend Irene would have had a field day taking photos of all the different doorways.

Many of the paintings and photographs that I have seen of Morocco feature their doorways, including the cover of the Lonely Planet guide.

We were told that the Moroccans love the Japanese and Chinese since they are willing to pay higher prices for everything, with Americans coming in third. As such we were greeted constantly with all manner of phrases from Ko-Ni-chi wa, Ni hao ma, Hello Japan, Hello China, Hello Jackie Chan and even, Hi! We sell Siew Yap (roast duck in Cantonese)

We took it as a good sign that we would be welcomed (even if it was only for our supposed spending power) and were happy that Asians were well regarded by the locals. Eventually it wore us down but more on that later!

After we checked in and dropped our bags off, we walked to the Medina using a map given to us by our Riad. The maps on sale in Marrakesh or provided by the riads are very inadequate and lacking in detail.

The main attraction is Jemaa el Fna Square which is a big expanse of open space in the centre of the Medina. By day, it has a small spattering of stalls, made up of orange juice stalls and dried fruit stands.

A handful of fortune tellers, tooth pullers, medicine men and snake charmers can be found during the day.

However it is at dusk that the square really gets going. The square fills up with storytellers, musicians and acrobats and the number of food stalls increase.

There is a wide range of food on offer in the square and the cheapest can be found at the open air food stalls.

Jess and I had dinner at one of the stalls and had a plate of couscous each (one with chicken and one with beef), a chicken pastilla and a mixed salad. All for the bargain price of £3.50 each.

Other food on offer includes skewered meat, snail stew, tajines and seafood. We weren’t concerned about food poisoning as the food was cooked in front of us.

Jess and I bought a kg of fresh dates  for the week as well as some almond and peanut blocks.

Jess and I each attempted to bargain but we only served to reinforce why Chinese/Japanese are so popular among the locals.

We tried a slightly pricer restaurant in the main square that did the best couscous Tfaya which is a caramelised onion and chickpea concoction.

We also tried a few street side restaurants that were much better value for money yet didn’t compromise on taste.

Many restaurants served Shwarmas which are like kebabs. I used to eat them all the time in Jeddah so it brought back great memories when I saw them on the menu.

One of my favourite dishes was the Tajine Kefta which are mixed meatballs with egg. The meatballs aren’t massive but the flavour is great.

We paid a visit to the El Badi Palace, which translates to ‘Incomparable Palace’.

Now it is more of an incomparable ruin. I love looking at ruins and the structure of the stones for this one reminded me of the facade of the Colosseum in Rome.

The terrace of the palace gave a great view of Marrakesh’s rooftops. I like to visit the the vantage/view points of every city I visit as there’s nothing like getting a feel for a city by seeing it from above.

We spent 3 days in Marrakesh. It was only supposed to be 2 days but I rolled my ankle on the second day, putting me out of action for the afternoon. I headed back to the Riad to elevate my ankle while Jess and Liam visited the Saadian Tomb, the Majorelle Gardens and the Yves St Laurent Memorial.

My inability to walk on smooth pavement messed up our plans to go on an overnight trek in the village of Imlil so we decided to go on a gentler day trek of the Ourika Valley once I had given my ankle enough rest.

My ankle was strong enough to go for a stroll around the new part of town which was COMPLETELY different. In the new part of town, there were traffic lights, large wide paved roads, McDonalds and KFC!

We didn’t get hassled at all as many of the people walking around seemed to be expatriates or other tourists. This new part of town really reminded me of Jeddah but on a smaller scale.

We finished off the evening with a walk around the Koutobia Mosque and gardens.

Unless you plan on getting lost in the souk more than once or twice, 2 – 3 days is all you really need in Marrakesh. There are plenty of mosques and tombs to see. We tried to visit the Marrakesh museum but got very lost in the souk and couldn’t find a map decent enough to show which roads would lead to the museum.

The souks are somewhat dangerous to navigate as they are winding and have motorcycles and bicycles wizzing by. We had one guy follow us for some time, asking us if we were interested in this or interested in that. He was extremely friendly and polite until we politely and firmly told him we weren’t interested. Then he said ‘ ahh go away, f!*$k you’ which we found hilarious since it was at the point that we understood each other perfectly.

I would have liked to take more photos of the people or of the stalls in the souk but our riad owner advised us to be careful as we have to ask people first if we could take photos and would evitably have to pay them for the privilege of taking the photo.

Jess learnt this the hard way. She tried to take a sneaky photo of the watersellers by pretending to take a photo of me.

As you can see from the photo, I am not in it. This is because she positioned her camera on my shoulder! I was looking out for Liam so I wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing. Then all of a sudden I hear her say, ‘ oh shit they saw me’, they are coming over’.

Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by 3 watersellers, asking me for money. At least I played dumb, pretending not to understand what they were saying.  However their persistence and the fact that Jess was cowering behind me gave the game away and we gave them 10 dirham. They were so pleased that they insisted we take a proper photo of them.

After this photo, they asked for more money and then…. I got angry. Lets just say they left us in a hurry.

We caught a shared grand taxi to Ourika valley on our 4th day there. A shared grand taxi can fit up to 6 people. We shared our taxi with a funny French man and 2 cousins from San Sebastian in Spain.

Our taxi driver put on some traditional Berber music and sped all the way to Ourika Valley. I had that wonderful feeling where you feel so completely removed from your normal life. There I was, squashed in the front seat of a taxi with Jess, so far away from the place we usually call home and I felt like I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really there.

Jess mentioned that the Berber music added to the experience of travelling in Morocco and her comment reminded me of the the time I spent in Goa, sitting in a minibus with my sister and her friends, listening to cheesy house music and hurtling through fields and valleys. I loved it!

We made a few photo stops at a local Berber village and an Argan Oil cooperative.

We reached the scenic Ourika Valley shortly before lunchtime and proceeded to trek up to the third waterfall.

We intended to walk all the way up to the 7th waterfall but the guide refused to lead us and there was no defined trail up to it. The third waterfall was a very popular stop for other walkers.

I had decided to stop there in order to go easy on my ankle and to keep Jess company. Jess was finding the climb quite steep and had to crawl up many of the boulders.

Lunch was a welcome diversion and it was in this valley that I had the best lamb tagine of the trip. Jess tried chicken brochettes.

I topped lunch off with a mint tea before we made our descent to the village of Settma Fattima.

The first time I tried this mint tea, I was taken back by how much sugar they put in it. The taste does grown on you if you find you don’t immediately like it. Another observation we made is how much bread the Moroccans eat. There’s so much bread at every meal. Our breakfast was made up almost entirely of bread or Moroccan pastries. Even Jess got to the point where she was eating more bread daily than I would eat in a week in the UK.

The village of Settma Fattima remind me of Namche Bazaar in Nepal but on a smaller scale, full of small stalls of food and tourist oriented products. Alot of Moroccans seemed to go to Ourika Valley on day trips.

It was in this village that Pier, our outlandish French friend who likes to smoke Hashish, found himself the smallest bottle of coke and a new girlfriend.

Liam had to leave early to go back to work so after he left, we boarded the bus for Essaouira, a coastal town 3 hours away from Marrakesh. Our visit coincided with the annual Gnaoua World Music Festival. The town was filled with people from all over Morocco as well as budding musicians and windsurfers.

The town was much more relaxed and chilled. There were so many tourists and lots of hippies and rastafarians.

Jess and I even took the time to go shopping and bought a few trinklets, all of which we bargained for and reasonably successfully as well. The riad we stayed in was more like a hotel and it wasn’t close to the medina but it was quiet and had very good curtain/shutters so we were able to sleep soundly.

I thought the streets were more colourful than Marrakesh. The seabreeze also made it easier to walk around in the heat.

The beach stretched for miles. I can see why its popular with locals and tourists alike. It makes for a great summer destination without being expensive.

My favourite part was the outdoor seafood grill markets where you seat on wooden tables and you can pick a selection of seafood to eat and bargain as hard as you can.

Jess and I had dinner there for 100 dirhams between the 2 of us (£8 in total). For that price, we had 3 fish, calamari, prawns, a bottle of water, mixed salad, bread (NICE SOFT bread) and 2 small crabs.

Jess and I had been eating so much chicken, beef, lamb and couscous that we went back again for another meal. Having seafood made for such a nice change, especially at such good prices.

I was quite chuffed with myself on the journey back to Marrakesh as I had a conversation in French with a young guy from Casablanca. It brought me back to my days in high school where i had to recall sentences such as:

 ’I live in England’

‘I lived in Jeddah for 10 years because my father worked there’

‘I do not like Craig David, I like Lady Gaga’

‘I am a Buddhist’  (Actually I’m not but it’s far easier to say in French than explain my status on religion)

‘Morocco is hot but it is good”

Morocco isn’t the easiest place to travel in. There were instances where we were ripped off by snake charmers, taxi drivers and water sellers. People who are trying to sell you something are more aggressive than those trying to sell their wares in India, Asia or Nepal. However not everyone is out to make a quick buck. Jess and I were offered assistance with getting taxis and directions a number of times without ever being expected to tip.

I would like to go back and visit other parts, like Fez, Meknes, a trip to the Sahara and some trekking in the Atlas mountains.

Jess, Janee and I headed to Lisbon for a long weekend. This was my first trip with Janee and the first trip with Jess since she moved here.

It feels somewhat significant that I get to share Jess and Janee’s excitement at seeing new places after their recent move to London. We caught the airport bus from the Lisbon airport to town and I wondered as I looked out of the window why I didn’t have that excited butterfly feeling in my stomach. Later I realised it was because the excitement was overshadowed by my hunger pangs.

As soon as we arrived in town, we headed to our hostel which was located smack in the centre of town (Baixa). Here’s the view from our balcony.

We were starving so we asked the manager to recommend a good local restaurant where we could sample some Portugese cuisine.

We found ourselves in a local ‘tasca’ or tavern around the corner from our hostel. We were given complementary ‘Pasteis de Bacalbau’ for starters.

These little salt cod cakes are a national addiction and reminded us of ‘Woo Gok’ from Chinese Dim Sum. I ordered the grilled squid for my main.

Jess decided on the fish of the day. Damn that girl can eat!

The girls and I had some sangria and finished off by sharing an ‘ Arroz Doce’ which is a creamy rice pudding, flavoured with lemon rind and vanilla.

We finished the meal off with 2 free shots of some disgusting cherry liqueur given to us by the restaurant before heading out for a walk around the city centre.

The cherry liqueur made us feel like superwomen!

The effect didn’t last long so we called it a night.

The next day we headed to Biarro Alto and Chiado which is the ‘high’ quarter full of cobblestoned streets.

This area is considered fashionable and Chiado is the area filled with expensive shops.

It was here that we found a fruit and vegetable market where I was able to have my first taste of fresh fig.

Lisbon still operates the old style of trams but the tram network doesn’t cover a huge area.

I suppose they make most of their money from advertising.

We headed to the Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara for sweeping views of Lisbon’s skyline.

For lunch, we stopped by another tasca where I had an ‘Acorda de Marisco’ which is a shellfish dish (in this case, it was prawns), added to a thick soup of mashed bread, oil, garlic and coriander.

The weather was beautiful so we walked off our lunch before wandering around the city mall and then grabbing coffee at the local starbucks. Jess happened to be wearing a Starbucks T-shirt so the staff asked if they could take a photo with her.

Next we headed to the harbour for some fresh air.

We felt tired after watching other tourists so we decided to head back and relax before dinner time.

For dinner, we planned to eat at a seafood restaurant we had found on San Antonio road earlier in the day. We managed to get lost and ended up walking up and down steep hills for an hour before finding our way to the restaurant.

Along the way we passed a parade with a marching band.

and more hills…..

In the end our hunger overrode our lack of sense of direction.

Jess had piri piri chicken, I had ‘Porco a alentejana’ (pork, clams and fries) which is supposed to be a local dish, while Janee had seafood stew.

This time we tried White Sangria.

We left shortly after Janee kept getting accosted by our waiter.

The following day, we headed to the area, Alfama which houses the Castelo De Sao Jorge and the city’s cathedral.

This area is supposed to be the ‘lower’ quarter but we didn’t see any evidence of that in the amount of steps we had to climb.

The castle itself wasn’t very big but it did have an amazing terrace which gives the best views of Lisbon.

We walked around the castle before looking for a lunch stop.

Janee and Jess were suffering from the heat …

until Zorro came to the rescue!

We had lunch at a fantastic cheap tasca up the road from the cathedral. The meal came to 10 euros each and we had a big portion of seafood stew (with rice) and piri piri chicken with some salt cod cakes to start.

After exploring the cathedral, we had tea and cakes before heading to the airport.

The trip was a culinary delight and I am happy to have 2 new travel buddies.

It has been almost 2 years since I left Australia and now, Jess has arrived in the UK, about to embark on a journey of her own.

While she made the decision 6 months ago, it still feels like yesterday. It just shows how quickly time flies.

Our first order of business, after almost a year of not seeing each other, was to meet up for a meal. We headed to the Westfield shopping centre where Jess treated me to a belated birthday meal at The Real Greek.

After a scrumptidelicious meal, we walked around, catching up everything that’s been happening back home.  Funny how I still refer to Australia as home. I’m not sure what that means. Am I still calling it home so I don’t get too attached to my life in the UK (too late for that!) or can I really see myself returning there some day?

Who knows? All I know is that I’m enjoying myself far too much to ruin a good thing while I have it, and I hope Jess enjoys her time in the UK as much as I have.

On Friday, we headed to Hi Sushi for Jess’s ‘Welcome to the UK’ meal. It’s a Japanese restaurant that has all you can eat sushi for £15 but we ended up ordering a la carte.

It gave Jess a chance to catch up with her cousins Abraham and Grace.

Grace arrived later so we headed to Cafe Hong Kong in Chinatown so she could have dinner.  We all had enough room in our stomachs for dessert or more food. We couldn’t exactly let Grace eat alone!

After dinner, Jess, Liam and I headed to Tiger Tiger in Piccadily Circus. Jess had her backpack with her as she was staying over at my place and this was CLEARLY the only reason why she was asked for ID and I wasn’t. The bouncer asked to search her bag and paused when he saw her elmo PJs. However, he pulled out a very well wrapped heavy, menacing looking item and was obviously suspicious.

I knew what was in it of course but didn’t think Jess would actually be truthful and tell him it was Tom Yum Paste. What the? Who would bring Tom Yum Paste into a bar?  Without further ado and with much disbelief, he waved us instead.

Once inside, Liam regaled us with tales of his escapades in Qatar ( or lack thereof). His work and life there seems alot harder and harsher than the one my dad had while we were in Saudi Arabia however, coming back to London every couple of months gives him enough reason to smile.

We caught the night bus back to my flat and went to sleep around 1am. Jess gave my choice of flat her seal of approval. She thinks its neat and clean. If only she had known that at the same time I was looking around with a critical eye and thinking about how it could be cleaner.

The next day, much to my delight, we had Dim Sum for lunch and met up with Vivian, who is on a 2 week tour of Europe while in between jobs.

After Vivian left with her tour group, we went to Oxford street to buy a birthday present for Polly and headed to St Albans for her birthday barbeque. I managed to stay awake to watch England play against USA (a game they should have won!!!!) before heading home.

The next morning, I met up with Irene and we headed to St Albans to run a half marathon. I really dragged my feet on this one. The course was incredibly hilly and I had to make 2 pit stops along the way as nature called twice. Once again, I found myself wondering why I keep setting myself up to do things that I know I’ll find painful.

Some people feel less inclined to celebrate their birthday as they get older. I remember thinking when I was in my late teens that my late twenties was so far away.  Time flies when you’re having fun!

Who would have thought I’d have such a good time aging? That’s cause enough to celebrate!

After I arrived back from Rome, Janee took me out for a really nice Greek meal.

The food was delicious! If you happen to go to ‘The Real Greek’, I highly recommend the grilled octopus and grilled calamari.

Janee got me a goodie bag filled with all things purple. Even though we’ve only just reconnected again after not seeing each other for at least 8 years, she has me all figured out! Except for one minor detail…..

What’s wrong with this picture?

I haven’t reached the big 30 yet ahahhaha but it made for a good laugh and the bear is still worth cuddling.

On Sunday morn, Irene and I went for a 15km run before heading to Plum Valley in Chinatown for Dim Sum.  The temperature was 27 degrees  that day and it made running really difficult.

There’s nothing like a long run to make you feel less guilty about eating a calorie laden meal.

After spending a most enjoyable birthday in Lucca last year, Jessen, Polly and I headed to Rome for 4 days this year. I was pretty excited at the prospect of seeing Rome again.

We flew into Rome Ciampino airport, to be greeted with heavy rain. I had checked the weather forecast prior to our trip and knew it was forecast to rain but ever the optimist, I expected heavy infrequent showers.

Our first order of business was to wait 40 mins for a coach to take us to the city centre. Not the most pleasant situation when it’s raining hard. There were many different airport coaches but we just happened to pick the one that came less frequently.

At that point, I was reluctant to take any photos of the trip as I didn’t want anyone’s impression of Rome to be dull and drab, especially when it’s one of my favourite cities.

We reached our hotel in the early evening and grabbed some dinner at a restaurant in the area. It was called Babbo’s and the service there was TERRIBLE! However the dinner conversation more than made up for it.

On Saturday, we made our way to the gorgeous Trevi Fountain. We were sidetracked on the way there as someone had turned the street signed around and we found ourselves at the Spanish steps instead. It was raining and grey so I refrained from taking any photos.  

The Trevi fountain is Polly’s favourite sight and is my second favourite after the Colosseum.

After that we headed to the Pantheon, which I was eager to see as I didn’t have time on my last trip to see it.

Our tour guide of the Vatican city told us that the Pantheon is the most common attraction that gets missed on the tourist trail.

The famous painter Raphael is buried inside the Pantheon, which has a open hole in the centre of its dome.  The middle area of the floor had to be cordoned off because the rain was coming in.

We decided to recharge out batteries at a small cafe in a small square a block away from the Pantheon. We had 3 hot drinks and 2 large ciabatta/crepes all for 10 euro!

Next we headed to Piazza Navona, which has 3 fountains and an obelisk. Rome is full of obelisks, brought over by Roman Emperors who loved Egyptian art.

We had a map of Rome which had pictures of the main sights and we walked the route to the Monument a Vittorio Emmanuel which we climbed in order to look at the views of Rome.

We had walked for hours at this point so we called it a day and went back to the hotel for a siesta. We went to a restaurant that night called La Famiglia, which is a very busy, bright and no nonsense Italian restaurant. I had a plate of antipasti. They called it a buffet plate because you can fill up a large plate from their salad/antipasti bar for 8 Euro.

The next day was my birthday. Happy Birthday me! First we walked to Castel Sant Angelo, passing by the stunning Palazzo di Giustizia first.

The weather was better, being mostly dry and with sunny intervals. (That sentence sounded an awful lot like the BBC weather report)

The Castel Sant Angelo was once the residence of many Popes. There are 10 angels on the bridge leading to the castle (Pont Sant Angelo). There was 12 angels but two were meant to be so beautiful that they are kept elsewhere.

The view from the top was beautiful. All the churchs that Rome has makes for a very interesting skyline.

I managed to get a good view of St Peters Basilica. Lucky we decided not to visit the Vatican City on Sunday as thousands of people had gathered to listen to the Pope give a speech.

We stopped for lunch and gelato at the Campo de Fiori which is also a very nice square, before making our way towards the Colosseum.

On our way, we passed by the Teatro Marcello which I had seen before but didn’t know what it was called.

Rome is really an amazing place. It is full of culture and history. I love how the city is filled with the new, the old and the ancient.

There is nothing quite like walking down an avenue and seeing a 2000 year old amphitheatre looming in front of you.

This trip, I was impressed by the archaelogical remains of Tito.

It’s very humbling when you think about how old these monuments are and how large they are. It would have required alot of manpower and skill to build such structures back then.

Jessen’s favourite sight was the Palatino. He hasn’t always been big on sightseeing but even he found Rome interesting.

Rome has its own version of the Arc De Triomph.

After another long day of sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel to rest our feet before heading to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. It seemed to be a family run restaurant, filled with Italian patrons, with massive serving sizes. It was good value compared to alot of the other restaurants we had seen and we all had 3 courses plus a fruit salad for dessert.

Our last day in Rome was spent at the Vatican City. We hire a tour guide to show us around the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel. If you are going to either, I highly recommend getting a guide as you avoid the long queues and it makes all the artwork much more interesting.

Our tour guide told us that if you spend one minute on each of the pieces of artwork in the Vatican museum, you would be there for 10 years. I didn’t take any photos this time since I have so many from my first trip.

Last weekend, Janee and I headed to Windsor with Polly and Jessen. I’ve been there before but couldn’t quite appreciate the town as I had fallen into a canal on the way there.

This time we drove! It was a cold and grey day, particularly for May but I wasn’t about to let that stop me from having a great day.

When we first arrived we watched the changing of the guard.

After that we decided to fuel up on tea and cake. It’s important to get enough nourishment when visiting castles!

We spent the next 3 hours exploring Windsor Castle, first walking around the castle grounds before visiting the Royal Chapel.

The inside of the Chapel was really beautiful. Its ceiling is one of the best examples of gothic design in England. There are 11 sovereigh Kings buried in the chapel, including King Henry VIII. It really helps to listen to the free audio guide as it gives you plenty of background information.

After the Royal Chapel, we explored the State Apartments. It was incredibly grand. Part of the castle was destroyed in a fire and I found it pretty amazing that they were able to restore all of it to its former grandeur.

Our next stop was lunch, where we indulged in good ole Bangers and Mash, a steak sandwich and a fish finger sandwich! 

We walked around town for a short while before calling it a day.

We headed back to St Albans to rest our feet and build an appetite for dinner. I had decided two weeks prior that Janee had to try the food at my favourite Moroccan restaurant. I consider eating at this restaurant something of a rite of passage for people who want to join my inner circle of eating buddies.

Naturally at least half the table ordered Lamb Tangine (my personal favourite).

You only have to look at the smile on these faces to see how good the food is.

Irene and I headed to Stockholm over the May bank holiday weekend. My cousin lived in Stockholm for a few years and I was keen to see the city she lived in and imagine what her life would have been like.

I was also looking forward to getting away, having missed the trip to Copenhagen due to illness. My first impression of Stockholm was that it was a nice, clean, quiet and safe city. Irene and I arrived in the late afternoon and checked into our hostel before exploring the city on foot.

I just have to say that the hostel we stayed in ‘City Backpackers Hostel’ is the NICEST, CLEANEST and most efficient hotel I’ve ever stayed in. It was welcoming and I highly recommend it. It’s not even ranked as the best hostel in Stockholm. Perhaps that’s a testament to how high a standard of living the Swedes have.

After making our way to Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s well preserved old town), we stopped for our first drinks of the evening.

That evening, we made two failed attempts to go clubbing. One of the clubs we wanted to go to was empty and not open for patronage and the other wouldn’t let us in because I didn’t have ID. Note to self: when travelling with someone who looks as young as Irene, always carry ID.

We ended up in an Irish bar (yep, there is always one in every city) and spent the rest of the night drinking wine and dancing to cheesy pop music before heading to McD’s for a late night feed.

We woke up early the next morning to beautiful sunshine.

We walked through the old town to get to the Royal Palace.

I love cities with old towns/quarters and Stockholm was no exception. Irene has a new SLR camera and after seeing how nice her photos were turning out, I let her be the official holiday photographer.

The Royal Palace looked large and imposing.

We decided not to go in but each got a happy snap with one of the guards.

We walked to Skansen which is an open air museum/park, there we hired bikes and cycled around the park.

It was an amazing day for a ride. The park was incredibly green and lush and was peppered with waterways, which made me VERY nervous considering my track record with cycling near water.

It didn’t help that the bike was far too high for the both of us, even with the seat on the lowest setting. I have bruises on my knees from where I tried to get on or off the bike. Irene did a much better job of looking graceful getting on and off the bike.

I haven’t been on the bike in awhile and almost forgot how much I love it. It’s such a great way to see a city. Unfortunately the added speed at which we were moving also made it easier for us to get lost! We managed to return the bikes after an hour but later on realised that we hadn’t even come across the open air museum section.

We had both worked up an appetite so we stopped for lunch by the harbour.

We tried to walk back to our hostel after lunch but got lost yet again and stumbled across a beautiful plaza, filled with people enjoying the nice weather.

We finally found our way back to hotel and had a little nap to rejuvenate and rest our aching feet. Irene found a highly rated Sweden restaurant and we ventured there for dinner. I love sampling the local cuisine of every place I go to and love it even more when I’m rewarded with a top class meal.

The restaurant was buzzing with patrons. You can tell how good a restaurant is by how full it gets. We didn’t get a table straight away so we sat in their bar and had a drink to start with.

We both had our heart set on ordering Swedish meatballs but I must admit, I didn’t know of any other Swedish dishes. For starters, we order a Charcuterie plate and a SOS appetiser which was made up of cheese, pickles and fish (herring I think). My charcuterie plate had lamb, ham and Elk.

For the mains, we ordered Swedish meatballs (which were DELICIOUS) and boiled pork knuckle. Now it may sound unappetitzing but the meal just fell off the bone.  Perhaps they boiled it for 10 plus hours just to get it that tender.

We had planned to go out dancing with a couple of Belgians that we met at the hostel but good intentions go astray. We were far too full and decided to have a quieter tonight. We managed to drag ourselves back to the hostel but sat around the courtyard for an hour, trying to digest.

On our last day there, we headed back to Gamla Stan to pick up some souvenirs. We missed out on getting souvenirs on what was probably the best souvenir shop in the old town.

The weather was still on its best behaviour so we took advantage of that and took more photos of the old town.

No visit to Sweden is complete without a photo with one of her forefathers.

ArrRRRRRRrrrr!!!