a friend, some shows, a big eye and a food market

Hi Everyone!

Quite a bit has happened since the catchup blog. Mika, (one of my groomsmen and a good friend) came to stay with us for a week which was great. He's doing a world tour of sorts and after staying with us he went to the US for a week or so. his main goal in coming over here was to see a whole bunch of plays, musicals, galeries and museums.

An artsy shot of Mika in Piccadilly:


So on the first saturday we all went to see the musical "Wicked".

We got into Leicester square early and bought some cheap tickets (about 20 pounds each) for the show, went and ate dumplings at our favorite resturant in chinatown and then went to see the show at night. The seats that we bought were literally the back row in the cinema so it wasn't that great a view, and then a guy with very bad body odour came and sat directly infront of us - everytime he clapped we got a particularly potent waft of smell floating our way. I wrapped my scarf arround my head for a while towards the beginning and we really didn't envy the lady that had to sit next to him.

anyway - the actual show was absolutely brilliant. although we werent really close enough to see the quality of the acting, the sound was great and the music and lyrics was very well done I thought. there were musical themes that continued througout the show, sometimes in major or minor keys dependant on the situation etc. altogether a very good play. without spoiling the story line, the musical is partially a prequel to and partially occuring parallel to the story of the Wizard of Oz. definately a 10 out of 10 for what we could see. Debbie and I were very impressed and will go again one time :-)

On valentines day, (we didn't plan it to be valentines day for any particular reason, it just happened to be the day we chose) We went with mika to see Ed and Di in canary warf.

so after failing to book, the tapas place where we intended to go to was booked out and all that was left was the set menu for 28 pounds per person. so we went for a bit of a walk:



...and found a good pizza place and had a great meal together:



On the friday night, Mika shouted us to the Lion King musical. We had second row seats in the stalls so we were right up close to the action, although slightly to the side of the stage. I have never really wanted to see this musical, but people keep saying it's really good so I went in fairly optimistic.

I have to say.... The costumes were brilliant, the puppetry was brilliant, the use of the stage and props was brilliant, most of the singing was brilliant, some of the acting was very good, but some of it wasn't. and unfortunately the storyline, although we know it from the movie, seemed to rely on that fact and was perhaps a bit rushed or disjointed or something... there was also no emotion. what I mean by that is for example when the lion king dies it seemed very fake and perhaps even clinical. in hindsight I think that this was perhaps caused because props and all the fantastic stuff on the stage seemed to detract from the meaningfullness of the situation.... also some of the songs that weren't in the film seemed to be put in there just for the sake of it. "oh, well, I guess we should have a song about now so here goes...." Simba's song where he sings about how he misses his father etc is just rubbish: the entire musical is set with an african theme which makes for some absolutely awesome african harmonys and great cross-rythmns, but simba's song was certainly not written by a black man (excuse the political non-correctness), it was more like a traditional church hymn, and really broke the flow of the whole thing.

Not having seen all that many musicals in my life, I'd actually rate the lion king fairly low. go see it for the spectacular sets and props and stuff, but it's not all that brilliant as people say.

So to rate all the musicals I've seen in order of coolness.

Pirates of penzance (also performed it when a bit younger, I was a police dude)
Les Miserables
Wicked
Mikado (also performed at one stage I think? or was it Nathan that did it and I watched?)
The Lion King
Oliver (performed only, not watched, I was a homeless kid)

anyway - so here's a shot of Mika and I, both fairly tired on the tube on the way home:


So on the saturday morning afterwards, we went on the London Eye! for 15 pounds each (sorry I'm not using the pound symbol, it's not on my keyboard...) we got a 30 minute trip - it was very cool:



debbie to preparing herself for the trip:


here's a shot of the city:


you can see st paul's cathedral to the left and the gherkin to the right.

the BT tower:


and us of course:



here's a shot of westend:

Debbie's building is the middle one (kind of looks like a couple of buildings but it's really one with a few tower like things.

here's an attempt to get Nelson's column and regent street in, but it didn't turn out that well - I should have just focused on trafalga square.. anyway, you can see the column there :-)


then we hit the top of the ride:


and on the other side there was some good shots of buckingham palace:


and the houses of parliment:



looking up at the other pods:


and of course, we should feel very secure as the london eye appears to be held together with duct tape:


attempt at artsy shot with big ben between us:


and finally a snap of a Dali sculpture on the way down:


After the Eye, Debbie and I had lunch with our friends that we stayed with when we first came over at a Vegetarian resturant at tooting. now we were both thinking... "vegetarian....what could possibly be tasty about that?" but as we very quickly realised, vegetarians certainly can cook."Kastoori" is now on our list of favourite resturants in London and if you come over here, and appreciate really good food, we'll have to take you!


The following weekend (today) we went to the Borough market. This market is one that will inspire even the most McDonalds loving person to want to cook and eat good food. The market is entirely fresh food and has 5 or 6 stalls just selling different cheeses, about the same number selling only olivs, some just selling fruit and veggies, there was one selling truffles and truffle related products such as truffle olive-oil, truffle based sauces, pesto-like mushroom and truffle mash. Neither of us have ever smelled or tasted truffle before so this was an eye opener. they had some black truffles in a bowl with a lid that had a sign saying "smell me" so we did. and it was amazing. I've watched those cooking shows where the cook smells the truffle and tries to discribe it, and I've thought, ok, surely it's an acquired smell or he only appreciates it as much as he appears to because he's a cook. but seriously, it's amazing. it's earthy but slightly sweet, it's entirely unlike anything I've ever smelled before. We tried some bread with truffle based olive oil, it was really tasty!

we bought some fresh burgers for lunch, debbie had a chicken one with salad and I had a venison one with some fresh blue cheese, onions and english mustard - very very tasty.

so at the end of the day we came home with this stash:


from left to right:
A mediteranian chutney
Some green olives with parsley, tarragon, lemon and olive oil
"Truffled sauce" (mushrooms, black olives, summer truffle, extra virgin olive oil, salt and herbs)
A slice of cheese that we cant remember the name of and couldn't pronounce anyway.

The olives were amazing! we'll have to go back and get more and try all the different types. we havn't yet tried the truffled sauce, but the idea is to make some pasta and mix it in with some olive oil, so we'll probably try it this week.

the chutney is really fresh also, very tasty. the cheese is a very rich, flaky one - very cool.

we could have spent so much money just buying amazing quality food at the markets, but we had to restrain ourselves, we're on a bit of a budget at the moment :-)

anyway - so there's another thing to add to the list of things that are really great to do over here.

oh, and after stepping out of the markets, we saw an Ariel Atom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Atom

a very cool go-cart for grown ups :D

That's all folks!

Leeds Castle (Catchup blog 3 of 3)

Hi all,

This is the third part in a series of blogs that we've put together over a weekend. I recomend you read the first two first.

a Swanset:

a spot of morbidity:

Now we continue with our usual program

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"Wonderful in manifold glories are the great castle visions of europe; Windsor from the Thames, Warwick or Ludlow from their riversides, Conway or Caernarvon from the sea, Amboise from the Loire, Aigues Mortes from the lagoons, Carcassonne, Coucy, Falaise and Chateau Gaillard - Beautiful as they are crowned with praise, they are not comparable in beauty as with Leeds, beheld among the waters on an autumnal evening when the bracken is golden and there is a faint blue mist among the trees - the loveliest castle, as thus beheld, in the whole world" - Lord Conway

An hour and a half coach trip to the south east of London is Leeds castle.
Link to Google maps (click me)

So we got up bright and early on sunday morning, ate breakfast and set off for victoria coach station in the centre of London. It was Debbie's idea. basically we're sick of just hanging arround doing nothing on the weekends. having been sick and having had a few late night we've mostly just been sleeping in on the weekends. Not this one though! yesterday was Highgate cemetery and today we made our first venture outside the M25 wooo!

I must pre-warn you, Debbie and I have both fallen in love with the various wildlife found around the place. So we've probably taken more photos of birds than you may have yourself, but hey... it's our blog, we can do what we want!

At the castle, we were greeted by the guard of course:


and the resident butler, Henry.


They both gave us a very thorough inspection to ensure that we were the sort of people that should be allowed through and decided that yes, we were. the guard then shouted for the gates to be open and we were in:


There's about a 150 meter walk from the entrance to the castle. there's a duckery, streems and pools of water, heaps of birds, nice little foot bridges and rolling hills.

We loved this one:


don't really know what it is, but it looks very cool.

and we found an ugly duckling!


one day this one will turn out to be a beautiful swan. although not being expert birdists we're not sure if it will be white or black. the most recent private owner of Leeds castle was extremely fond of birds and was the first person to import black swans from Australia to the UK. they've since become a symbol of the castle and can be found pretty much anywhere you look around the grounds:



And so finally the castle itself comes into view:



don't blame me for that shot, debbie took it. I said "come over here where the tree's not blocking the view" and she mumbled something and just went and took it anyway... oh well, it just serves to tantilise you :-)

so then she took a photo of me:


Debbie said I look boring when standing normally so I stuck my arms out, hoping to aleviate the bordom I'm sure you all feel right now. :-)

the castle gradually got closer:


it seemed like a long walk, but we were enjoying ourselves and the countryside.


Finally ariving at the main gates of the castle.


The stone bridge that we're standing on was originally a wooden drawbridge, but was turned into the way it is now by subsequent monarchs and lords as the need for fortifications (or rather the ability for castles to provide it against firarms) reduced.

there were two entry ways, I couldn't really get my head around it, but basically on the mainland there was a fortified Mill so the castle could make bread from the grain stores during a seige. it's not used anymore so this part had fallen into the most disrepair:



there was also a second drawbridge near the mill. here's me apparently being boring:


and here's me trying my hardest not to be boring:


and debbie doing a better job:


maybe debbie looks better in shots because I actually warn her before I take them? unlike this:


Which is the entry to the mill from the castle.

I had to stick this one in :-) Debbie looks so cute when she's blowing her nose...... awwww



The castle is built on two islands surrounded by a man made moat. the first island is the biggest and has a great courtyard:


This whole area used to be enclosed by high walls, but these were knocked down by Henry VIII because the castle by then had turned into more of a banqueting house than a useable fortress.

continuing down to the right we got our first glimpse of the second island. this one has all the royal residences and that kind of thing. this is pretty much the only original bit of stone masonry apart from the foundations. the rest of the castle's buildings have been torn down and replaced at various points in history.



The bridge behind debbie here also used to be a wooden drawbridge but was replaced by a three story stone one by some other monarch or lord at some stage.



the view up to the left:


The castle is still currently used for guests and conferences. and so all us lowly tourists must enter through the cellar:



which wasn't all that bad of course. There are rooms going off to the side that have wine etc in them but these barrels are just for display.

Inside the castle, most hallways and staircases have armor and weapons on them:


All the furnishings on the lower floors are designed to look like they would have when the castle was built, however late Lady Baillie, the most recent private owner, has seen fit to refurbish quite a lot of it with new fangled things like electricity and central heating so it's not all coats of armor and swords.





most of the ceilings in the main keep had carved wooden beams like this:









The bookshelves in the Library here were boarded up during WWII to prevent damage, and the room was converted to an emergency medical centre for those wounded during air raids.


The oldest book in the room is an original copy of "The Arcadia" by Sir Philip Sidney, and dates to the early 1600's. don't ask me what's so special about that book, I've never read it or heard of Philip Sidney, but it's just a useless factoid for you to store for later. Just think, one day when you're on Who wants to be a millionare, the million dollar question will be "what's the oldest book stored in the Library of Leeds castle?" and when you win, you can share it with us.


Next we found ourselves out the front again:



It's of course small compared to Hampton court palace, but that suited us fine because we've already experienced a couple of palaces, we were quite happy with the size of this one. Hampton court is a banquet, whereas Leeds castle is more like a small meal where, when you've finished, you're not entirely stuffed with food, but you're just about perfectly satisfied but still ready for desert.


So in preparation for the next course, we attempted to perfect our couple-shot taking abillity.


I think the trick is to aim lower than you think it should be.

Leeds castle has a hedge maze which we were certainly eager to try. On the way we met some of the natives.

our personal Native Liason, Bluey (he's from Australia)


... told us that we were very lucky, we were about to witness a bit of a biff between three rival males. Sure enough, a contest to see who was the toughest broke out with some spectacular displays of neck curvage and plumage ruffling:


the brawl that ensued was too horifying for words:


Thankfully they were all feather weights so no one got really hurt.

On a more serious note, another couple walking allong managed to anger one swan who charged them. Dispite their beauty, they can be pretty intimidating birds when they want to be. Especially so due to their beaks being at almost exactly groin height on a fully grown human male..... we were able to get close, but were careful not to crowd them too much.

once again, we attempted a couple-shot:



on our way to the maze there were a bunch of cotteges:


which had a dog collar museum (which neither of us was interested in), and a cafe/resturant (which both of us were eager for). so after a warming soup, coffee, tea and banana cake we headded off again.



We witnessed a close call as members of rival swan factions passed eachother without incident:


Took a photo of this particularly beautiful bird:


We walked past an avery and a medieval style playground with wooden forts and swings and a jousting arena "a flying fox" etc. finally we hit the maze! we were so excited that we didn't take a photo outside, but we jumped in, ready to attack it!


unfortunately, unlike the labyrinth at Hampton court, this one was a proper maze and proved quite a bit more dificult.



you can see the layout on google maps:
here

But eventually we reached the stone tower in the centre:



From where we had a great view over the maze:


curiously, at the top there was a hole like thing with running water sounds comming from the bottom. it looked like a two story drop to the bottom:


it turned out that the way out of the maze was actually underneath. When the maze was built, they also built a "grotto" underneath:


with some mythical dude built into the wall:


and the ceiling and walls covered with intricate shell work:



and it went down another level:


and ended in a statue of a green man:


so we shrugged and went outside to sit on the hill for a bit.

this is me doing a james bond shooting impression (you know the opening credits):


we admired the forest in the background:


it was still pretty cold.


finaly after sitting for a bit we meandered back through the avery:
we thought these guys were very patriotic, displaying the Aussie colours for us:





Toucans!


I never realised how hard it was for these guys to preen themselves with their huge beaks!


and that there are black beaked toucans also:





and so back to the bus. one last look at the castle:



and another attempt at a couple-shot:


and a totally white peacock!


Well, that's it folks - I've got no witty comments left after writing these three posts so I'll just say...

until next time Gadget..... next time....