The past couple of months have flown by - perhaps partly due to the non-stop
windstorms that seem to dominate each day! :P
But, we've also been keeping pretty busy and trying to be as productive as possible over the weekends.
May was a pretty quiet month, as far as excursions or events go - a few BBQs, a housewarming, a few gatherings and a couple of long weekends.
In June, we went to the Wimborne Folk Festival (a nearby quaint little town) for a day of wandering, music and beer! There were street performers here and there and a big crowd out that day.
Apparently, there are various groups of musicians that go under the name "Morris dancers" and they all dress up very colourfully and elaborately. Some of them are more eccentric looking, while other groups look like May-pole dancers. Who knows.
Something to be noted, there were folk out with their own STEINS attached to their belts! How's THAT for a serious beer drinker? Heehee. Was tempted to get Adam his own stein, but he's not into having metal flavouring in his beer (can't blame him!).
Luckily, Adam was given a very large ceramic stein of his own from the Czech Republic by some of his students. How did they know? :P (Thank you, Jan and Petra!!!! Adam really loves his stein!)
The following weekend, we made our first trip to LONDON together, finally!
We might have even waited longer (although most people thought it was silly that we had been in England for over 4 months and had not been to London yet!) but a dear friend was going to be in town for just one day - so we hopped the train after work on the Friday and met up with Charlotte and Abel - cousin and friend of a good ol' Aussie mate of ours. They were kind enough to put us up..and put up with us...even though we had never met before! Is that hospitality in a nutshell or what?
We had a really fun night getting to know each other quickly, over some drinks, a bit of European Football (soccer) and some more drinks...and non-stop chatting, of course! Sadly, Charlotte and Abel had a busy weekend already booked so we only had the one good night together. The next day, they got all dolled-up and went to the Ascot Horse races! Perhaps someday, we will attend the Ascot with our big hats and see the Queen too!
While our hosts were out enjoying a day at the races, we took the Tube on and successfully crossed town to meet up with dear friend and mentor, Andrew, as well as a couple of other Pearson College Alumni! We had a lovely luncheon at Laurie and Yoshi's home and then went for a nice walk along the Thames. An English afternoon would not be complete without a stop at the local pub - really cozy with the typical low ceilings - so we had a nice rest with a view of the famous Thames river.
As suppertime approached, we made our way back onto the Tube and went to the very busy and popular area called "Soho" - some of you may have heard of it. Heeh.
There we awaited to meet up with our campground neighbour of many months down in the great land of Oz, Abi. Four years had not changed our bundle-of-energy-friend and we all suffered through an overpriced and under-portioned meal of sushi together. It made me truly appreciate the amazing restaurants we have back in Vancouver - and the extremely cheap prices there too. We had a night-cap at a funky bar and ventured back just before the Tube stopped. It was sooo good to catch up with Abi - we're hoping we will manage to have a few more visits in this year before we leave, especially since it had been ages since our last visit! Come visit us, Abi!!
Somehow the weekend is NEVER long enough, so we found ourselves having hardly seen anything in London and with only a few hours to go. We trekked back to town to Waterloo station, where there are no longer any lockers to hold your gear, so we guised ourselves up as backpackers and walked along the South Bank incognito amongst the thousands of other tourists. We were lucky enough not to experience London "fog" firsthand and managed to see a few of the famous sites along the Thames. We also found a very lovely whisky shop that had hundreds of single malts in their selection. To top it all off, we also found Adam's favourite Aussie beer, James Boags Premium and bought as many as he could carry! So, we opted for beer instead of scotch as it is almost impossible to find Boags Premium anywhere and scotch flows in abundance in these parts! :)
A familiar clock in the background? Here are a few more...
Tate Modern - unfortunately, we didn't get to go inside since we had no time whatsoever...next time.
St. Paul's Cathedral.
And finally...the one and only "London Bridge", which apparently is actually called "Tower Bridge".
I'm sure we will have many more interesting pictures to share the next time we visit London - where we will probably see some museums and galleries! But it was really wonderful to have some great visits with old and new friends - it will simply give us all the more reason to return many times.
That's all for now! Hopefully we will have some more adventures in the near future and fill you all in! As always, if you should fancy a little reunion, please come visit us wherever we may be! Everyone is welcome!
Take good care and big hugs to you all!!
xoxo
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