Twickenham

So today we went to the home of English rugby to watch the Canterbury Crusaders v the Natal Sharks.

The train from Clapham Junction to Twickenham was jammed full with kiwis and saffas, I felt sorry for any passengers that weren't going to the rugby.

Despite it being two foreign teams playing and only a portion of the stadium being open there were still huge crowds of people at Twickenham.

The weather has been great here in London the past few days we took a picnic and sat in a park near the Thames before the game. We were so comfortable we almost didn't want to go to the game. But eventually we joined the masses of people heading towards the stadium. Along the way there were lots of front yards that had been turned into food stalls with bbq's cooking and selling all sorts of things, there was even a place that was making fresh donuts in their front yard which looked good but we were getting a little late so we headed straight for the stadium.

Jackie navigating the crowds and avoiding the donuts!

We got there just in time for the minutes silence, followed by a very poor rendition of the anthems.

We were in Row 2 at the north end of the stadium so we didn't have a great view of the game but were close to a lot of the action.

Blue skies in London!

The game was quite free flowing and despite the Sharks scoring the first try the Crusaders ran away to a big first half lead which was good as there were loads more South African's there and I think they might have become unbearable if the Sharks were winning.

Canterbury in a huddle after Sharks scored their first try

I think the highlight for me was at half time watching a group of people in front of us get out their picnic which looked extremely gourmet, all home made, there was a meatloaf, or possibly a terrine - we couldn't get close enough to tell, along with bread rolls, and salad and then there was some sort of slice for pudding. I wanted to ask for some but don't think that was going to be appropriate. 

The second half was less dominated by the Crusaders and the Sharks almost made a come back but not quite. We skipped out a few minutes before the end to get a train before it got too packed, this worked out quite well as it meant we could stop at the South African bbq and get a Boerewors (South African sausage) in bun and get a quiet fast train home.

Second half, Crusaders attacking to our end. 

All in all a great afternoon.

Twickenham stadium is definitely an intimidating place and impressive stadium. I'd like to make a trip back for an international game as I think it would have an amazing atmosphere when it is packed and when England are playing.

No Posts

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, partly because we haven't had anything particular to blog about but have been pretty busy with regular stuff too. I've been busy training for the Paris marathon, which will be all done in 3 weeks and Jackie has been busy with work.

We went to the Chicago musical a couple of weeks ago, we agreed it was probably the best musical we've been to.

Last weekend we went for a great lunch at a French restaurant (http://www.gazettebrasserie.co.uk/) which recently moved from a small location to a much bigger place in Balham, we were very impressed, all the staff were French so it was a bit of a warm up for our trip to Paris.

We're going to Twickenham this Sunday to see Crusaders v Sharks so we'll be sure to blog about that, we've not been to Twickenham before so I'm looking forward to that.

Check back next week to hear about our trip to Twickenham

Lisbon

It's taken a while but here's our blog on our trip to Lisbon.

Trip started early, 4:45 our taxi called to say he was downstairs ready for us, Jackie had accidentally booked for 5am when we actually needed the taxi for 5:45. We told the driver that we'd be down in an hour, he seemed ok about that.

Flight was relatively uneventful, although the usual smattering of munters on the easyjet flight.

We managed to get the only taxi driver in Lisbon which not only didn't speak any English and also had no idea how to get to our accommodation. After asking numerous other cabbies at the airport and a few people along the way we got there in the end and given we'd started out so early we were in no rush.

Upstairs at our B&B we were able to check in to our room despite it being very early, the guy who checked us in was a bit weird/vacant, when I asked if he was local he gave me the reason he seemed so vacant - he was from Texas.

Our room was really nice with a separate lounge. The roof terrace did have great views as promised on the web, after resting up from our early start we strolled into town.

View from our window of Basilica de Estrela

View from our room over the city

It was a Sunday so very quiet, very few shops were opened but it was interesting exploring Lisbon, it's got wonderful old buildings, cobbled roads and footpaths, old electric trams and lots of street art / graffiti.

Lots of buildings like this, run down but appealing all the same

One of our first stops was a supermarket where we bought some supplies for our few days and some lunch, visiting supermarkets in other countries is always interesting. One of the interesting things about this supermarket is that the checkout girl was extremely attractive (Jackie's words, not mine, although I would have to agree). Oh yeah, the other interesting thing was the dog that was left at the entrance which had deposited shit all over the entrance. Nice. We learnt that Lisbon is one of those places where you've got to watch where you walk or end up with shit on your shoe.

As we were walking up one of the many steep roads looking in shops Jackie commented that she would love a cup of tea, the next shop we saw was a tea shop, called Tease (it's worth having a look at their blog, it's pretty cool...http://teasebakery.blogspot.com/) so in we went for tea and cake, yum.

Jackie enjoying tea and cake at Tease

More walking back to the B&B, Jackie stopped in at another supermarket, I hung out in the park with the locals.

Next morning at breakfast we met the B&B owner, Francisco, who we'd heard a lot about. He gave us the tip to catch the #28 tram to Garca and then walk back from there, go to the castle, walk through Alfama and back through town and Biarra Alto to the B&B, which is exactly what we did.

The # 28 tram at Basilica de Estrela

The castle was interesting, we had a lost scarf moment there but I saved the day through some communication with the locals.

Jackie at the castle, this was the last citing of the scarf (tucked into handbag) and was a vital clue in us tracking down the lost item of clothing.

Lunch at Alfama Grill was very nice (fish for me, Portuguese chicken for Jackie), it was made all the better as we were sitting outside in the warm sun.

Alfama Grill where we had lunch

That night we went to a local Arabic restaurant which was empty but very good and reasonably priced.

Next day we bought a day travel pass and caught the tram to Belem, which is a suburb on the edge of Lisbon where a lot of the Portuguese explorers departed from. There are a few monuments, a monestry and historic tower there.

Toure de Belem, the Belem Tower, it used to be in the middle of the river but now is on the river bank, perhaps if the ice caps keep melting it will end up in the middle of the river again. 

However I think Belem is most famous for the Pasteis de Belem, which is a variation on the famous Pasteis de Nada (Portuguese custard tart). You can only buy Pasteis de Belem at one place (visit here for the low down http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt/en.html) and the queues can be very long, we were lucky that  the queue wasn't too long when we went so we got our Pasteis and went and ate them in the park, they were very nice, although not sure if they were better than Pasteis de Nada.

Pasteis de Belem

We went to the museum of contemporary and modern art which had a free exhibition on maps which was very good, we spent quite a while there.

When we were finished in Belem we walked up another hill (my fault, we should have taken the bus but it didn't look like far on the map) to Ajuda, by the time we got to where we were going we were both sick of walking, although did pop in to cruise around a cemetery, a bit like supermarkets it's always interesting to visit a cemetery in a different country. This one was filled with family tombs, with doors often with glass panelling so you could see the coffins which weren't buried but just sitting on shelves in the family tombs, a bit disturbing - we didn't take photos of this. Ajuda was a bit dissapointing, we got on a tram and headed back in to the city.

With our day travel tickets we could use the funicular, which is similar to the electric trams but goes just a short distance up the steep hills. It was fun if a little pointless.

The funicular - the easy way to go up and down hills

It did take us to Biarra Alto which has plenty of restaurants, we stopped in at a cool wine bar before finding a nice restaurant for dinner.

Wine bar

Headed back to the B&B, checked out the night views from the roof terrace before bed.

On our last day we went to a suburb up the road called Campo de Orique which isn't at all touristy, we went to the local market with fishmongers and butchers and strolled around the shops before sitting in the park watching an old lady try and feed the turtle with lettuce, the big duck seemed to get all the food. We then picked up a travel card and headed back in to the city for some final site seeing, lunch and another funicular ride.

Back to the B&B we picked up our bags and got our prebooked taxi who drove like a maniac all the way to the airport where we had masses of time to recover before getting our flight. The flight was ok but getting from the plane to home was a nightmare, but we got there in the end.

Short impressions of Lisbon: lots of hills, old people, graffiti, cool shops. A great place for a short holiday.

Refreshment of choice in Lisbon

My favourite piece of graffiti

Chritso Rei, statue

Jackie heading up one of many hills in Lisbon, our calf muscles hurt a lot at the end of every day from all the walking up hills

London in 50 Walks

One of the birthday presents that Jackie bought for me was a box of London City Walks. Picture below.

Inside the box there are 50 cards, each with a relatively short walk mapped out on one side and a description of the sites you will see on the walk on the other side.

Walk #49

Last weekend we decided to tackle walk Number 49, Kennington - which is a suburb not too far from where we live. We caught the bus from Balham as it is cheaper and also gives you the opportunity to see the sites along the way, whereas with the tube it's more expensive and you're underground the whole time so don't get to see the sites. Fortunately there is a bus (#155) that would take us pretty much to the start of the walk.

I've tried to include a map of the walk that we did.


View London Walks #49 in a larger map

We got off the bus in Elephant & Castle, an odd name for a suburb and not a particularly nice suburb, just a bit dirty and run down. Although there is a very tall new building in the middle of Elephant and Castle which is quite out of place.

There wasn't a anything of particular note in the first part of our walk along Blackfriars Road. There was Valentine Place, which was photo worthy given it was the day before Valentines Day.

At the end of Blackfriars road with the pub The Ring at which point we turned in to The Cut, not long into The Cut we turned off the official walk to a backstreet so I could show Jackie a bar and restaurant I'd went to, in the same lane there was a Turkish cafe which was open so we went in and got a coffee, feta and leek bread thing, kind of like a pide and a piece of yummy carrot cake. They had lots of yum looking salads and other bread things which all looked great so we think we'll go back there one time for lunch.

After this pit stop we carried on along The Cut, past the Young Vic theatre, which we've been to once and then on to the Old Vic theatre at which Kevin Spacey is the Artistic Director.

 On from The Cut we moved to Lower Marsh Road behind Waterloo Station, at the beginning of this street is the bar Cubana, in which Fidel Castro is rumoured to be an investor.

We had lots of different views of the London Eye in between buildings as we walked around, below is one of the views...

On a bit further we turned into Waterloo road and past Lambeth North Tube station which was closed along with some roads with quite a few police around, we later found out that someone got hit by a bus around here which we assume was the reason for the commotion.

On a bit further and we got to the Imperial War Museum which I convinced Jackie we should pop in and see. It was busy but worth the look, took quite a few photos but have included just one below

After the War Museum we took a kind of short cut without realising it back to our bus which took us right back to Du Cane Court. 

Walk #49 done, 49 more to go!

Inamo

Last week we went out for dinner in town with a couple of friends who always take us to interesting places. This time we were booked in to go to Inamo which is a Japanese restaurant in Soho.

The difference with this restaurant is how you order your food, it's a bit tricky to explain but I'll give it a go.

You're seated at a table which is normal except for a small mouse pad in the bottom right hand corner, above the table is a projector, which projects onto your table. With the mouse pad you control a cursor which you use to select from various icons on the screen which is projected on your table. The icons allow you to view the menu, you can select a dish from the menu and the projector displays an image of the dish on your plate, so you can see what you would be ordering. When you are ready to order you simply select the order option using your mouse and then as if by magic your order is delivered to your table by a waiter.

Other cool stuff you can do included

• changing the 'table cloth' which was basically the main image that was projected on to your table
• watch 'kitchen cam' which was a live camera of the kitchen
• play games - just a memory game but we all played it
• view a map of the restaurant and bar
• call for the waiter
• request the bill

Mouse pad at bottom of picture with menu at top, this image shows the drinks menu

Jackie ordering up large

An example of a meal being projected onto the plate, this was an image of tuna benito maki, which we did end up ordering

The system works quite well, although I expect they get a lot of people that order way too much food. The food comes out quite quickly so you can kind of order one or two things, eat them, see if you're still hungry and then order some more if you want to but I don't think everyone is so restrained.

The food was good but not exceptional and the price is on the high side, you're definitely paying for the experience as much as the food but I'd say it was worth it as a one off kind of thing.

Crystal Palace

In our quest to visit new and interesting parts of London, last weekend we took the train from Balham, 15 minutes down the line to Crystal Palace. We actually got out at Gipsy Hill and walked up the hill to the Crystal Palace town.

Crystal Palace town is based around the triangle, made up of Westow Hill, Westow Road and Church Road.

Hollybush pub on corner of Westow Hill and Westow Road

Crystal Palace is an interesting place to go in London for a number of reasons. The first that struck us was that there were proper hills which mean views over London

London town in the distance

The hills also make it a good place for aerials, such as the one below, there's a couple of these around Crytsal Palace, they're hideous but kind of landmarks of the area.

It is also interesting as it has several antiques shops and Haynes Lane Market which as a freind from work commented "the only thing weirder than the stuff for sale is the people selling it". It really was a jumble sale of the highest order with some interesting stuff and some junk. Jackie picked up a couple of items for her glass collection here.

Jackie venturing in to Haynes Lane Market

Some of the merchandise. 

Jackie in her enjoying checking out the antique and second hand shops.

Crystal Palace is also known to us as we had some friends that used to visit for a specific restaurant which is known to serve casu marzu, commonly referred to as maggot cheese in reference to the live maggots in the cheese (which you eat). We didn't go to sample the cheese but we did see the restaurant. Perhaps next time we'll go, but I don't think we'll be eating the cheese.

Most of all though, I'd say Crystal Palace is most famous for the Crystal Palace. We went to the Crystal Palace museum to find out more about it and it was really interesting. If you want the full low down check out the wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace. It was originally built in Hyde Park for The Great Exhibition of 1851 - essentially a trade fair. After the trade fair it was moved to a park in Sydenham Hill where it stayed for over 80 years before it burnt down. Walking around the park where the Crystal Palace was you get  a sense of the scale of the building, it was massive.

Aerial view of Crystal Palace

View of Crystal Palace in all its glory, a shame it's not still around. 

Remains at the cite of the Crystal Palace

There was a whole lot of these, unfortunately named, Routemaster buses parked up in Crystal Palace park, some red and some green.

 

We had a great time in Crystal Palace and will definitely go back, they had lots of interesting restaurants and pubs and in summer I think the park will be a nice place to be as it is on a hill and should get a nice breeze. 

Glass Addiction

So I have managed to acquire a whole lot more glass then ceramics (will need a lot of bubblewrap to bring this all home).

Glass collection so far...

These pink bowls spawned my glass collection

Great for fruit salad and desserts

Pink frosted glass
These sit on my dressing table

Art Deco style bowls in citrine glass (clear and opaque)

Amber glass

Water jug & glasses brought in Oban, Scotland

more Amber glass

Sweets dish

Dramatic Art Deco bowl

Selection of green glass bowls

Dressing table set missing the lidded pot which usually comes with these sets. Tray is chipped but candlsticks in very good condition.

Simon gave these to me for Christmas.
(He brought them from an Antique store)

A couple of reference books to help with the collecting.