A British Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family back in Australia!

We can't believe it is 2012 already. I must say though, I am very relieved that it is a new year. 2011 was such an enormous year for us and I was exhausted by the end of it.

Moving to London has been one of the biggest and best things we have done so far. It is so refreshing but it can be hard work. We've been gone for 9 months now and are definitely settled and ready for what 2012 has in store.

We had a really fantastic Christmas with our London family. The lead up to Christmas was both exciting and hectic - full of catch ups, drinks and dinners and embracing English tradition (like minced pies). E also went to see the Nutcracker ballet in true Christmas spirit (which was absolutely stunning) and we even had time for an English tradition - the Pantomime. We saw Dick Whittington which starred the one and only Dame Edna (the self professed gigastar).

On Christmas Eve we went to Winter Wonderland and on Christmas Day we had a fantastic large lunch with turkey, roasted vegetables, mulled wine and eggnog. We were a little disappointed that it didn't snow but grateful at the same time because the weather was quite mild. Later in the afternoon our Brisbane friends joined us for drinks and a game of Thieving Secret Santa.

We had a really lovely relaxing day in good company (which made us all forget that we were a million miles away from loved ones and definitely less lonely). Waking up just S and I on Christmas Day was strange and to counteract that we started a new tradition of stockings so we had double the amount of presents to open.

We hope that everyone had a really lovely Christmas Day back home. More on our epic New Years Eve coming up.

E&S
xoxo

Merry Christmas - London Style

An ecard by Smilebox

To the North - A weekend in York

Last weekend S and I ventured north to York.  We happened to choose the exact weekend that the real Winter finally decided to show its face and let me tell you the closer you get to Scotland, the more unforgiving the weather.  It was positively freezing but the mulled wine kept me warm (drunk even, a rather strange feeling when you are sightseeing in the middle of the day.  S found it amusing.  I was just warm and tingling!).

York is a gorgeous town with a fascinating history.  At various points in history it was dominated by the Romans, the Normans and the Vikings!  Constantine was even declared Roman Emperor in York.  Historically, York has always played an important role in England.  It was once the second largest city in England and has always been the heart of religion in this country (until of course Henry VIII arrived on the scene).  Even now, the second born son of the sovereign is titled the Duke of York.

The town had a lovely old world feel about it.  It was full of narrow winding streets (called Snickleways), tea houses and antique shops.  We loved walking down The Shambles (one of the oldest market streets in England dating back to medieval days and even noted in the Domesday Book).  We also loved having lunch and afternoon tea at Betty's, a Victorian tea house which was very cultured indeed.  Real tea leaves, silverware and freshly baked scones = heaven.

The star of the town is clearly its Minster - a massive Gothic cathedral with the largest stain glass window in the world.  It is the headquarters for the second highest archbishop in England.  We were lucky enough to attend a carol service inside the Minster along with the town's entire grey haired population. It was lovely and the organ was impressive.

On Sunday, we ventured even further north to the magnificent Castle Howard.  The castle is set on 100,000 acres of land and was used in one of our favourite films/book - Brideshead Revisited.  It is still lived in to this day by Lady Howard, her husband and children (Octavia and Merlin - what cool names).  Each of the rooms were decorated for Christmas, were lit by candlelight and had real wood fires!

Some family on my dad's side originally come from Whitby in Yorkshire so it was really lovely to see that part of the country.  We had yet another lovely, relaxing weekend away.

E&S
xoxox

 Clifton Tower - Part of the old York Castle

 Hot mulled wine - yum!

 York Minster

 Ice sculputres doted through the tiny streets which were part of the Angels Festival at Christmas which also had snow machine spit snow off the roofs.  

 The dining room set for Christmas lunch at Castle Howard.

 The foyer at Castle Howard

Soooo cold!

Autumnal Adventures

It's been a while since we posted anything so we thought that we would check in and say hello and give everyone an update on what we have been up to.

Autumn still stands as E's favourite season so far. The leaves and trees just got prettier and prettier the deeper we got into Autumn. There are now blankets of leaves all over the ground. Some piles are even knee deep! The squirrels are out in force stocking up on food sources for the winter (or at least that's what we think). Now it's November - where did this year go?

We still make full use of our weekends in London. So, what have we been up to lately:

- Failed miserably at riding bikes around Regents Park but walked it instead. Every time we visit a new park we inevitably say "this is my favorite" but Regents Park is definitely a special place. Rose Gardens, rowing lakes, Queens Gardens, tennis courts that feel like their straight out of the movie Wimbledon and swans - such a lovely way to spend a crisp Autumn day.

- Eating out...so many good restaurants...so little time.

- Catching up with friends. We all spent the summer travelling or entertaining. Now it's just us and London and Autumn and Winter are the perfect time to go to a cosy pub or a bar for a hearty meal or a nice wine.

- Jules and Alex (friends from Oz) came to stay with us on their route back home after 18 months in Cheltenham. We saw some hilarious comedy for a tenner at the Amused Moose, went to Camden Markets (where S picked up a vintage Dior tweed blazer which he didn't realize was Dior) and had a lovely afternoon tea in Primrose Hill.

- Saw a silent film at the Barbican with a live jazz band which was a tribute to the life of Louis Armstrong. It was so fantastic. We love a bit of trumpet!

- Took a glimpse at some original Hollywood glamour shoots of famous actors and actresses from the 1920's to the 1960's at the National Portrait Gallery.

- Eating lots of soup. We think we might turn orange from all the pumpkin soup.

Until next time, we hope everyone back in Oz is enjoying the sunshine whilst we get cozy and enjoy the Christmas festivities. Open air ice skating and mulled wine here we come. Photos below.
xoxo
E&S

 Regents Park - Queens Gardens

 How many noses smell these roses?

 Primose Hill - pretty trees



Into the darkness....

I've always been fairly frightened of the dark. However, I learnt pretty quickly that if you want to live in London during the colder months then that is something you are just going to have to get used too.

Ever since the clocks went back an hour at the end of October, it now gets dark at 4.30pm. Yep you read correctly...four thirty p.m... and we haven't even officially entered winter yet. Don't be fooled either that during the limited amount of daytime we get that it is all sunshine. Some days it is just grey or "white cloud" (as BBC weather authoritatively tells me).

It's not the cold that makes the British depressed little bunnies in Winter...it's the blooming dark.

This November we have had fairly mild temperatures. It surprisingly is not that cold - roughly around 10 degrees (I know I'm acclimatizing aren't I!).

I'm getting used to the dark. My next step is to get used to the grey-ness, the mist that is so low it isn't raining but the air feels wet, the days without sunshine. Layering and un-layering. Everyone looking scary with their hoodies on...how are we going to tell who the rioters are?

It's not all that bad. S and I are really loving:
- hot soup.
- cosy pubs with real fire places.
- open air ice skating rinks.
- yummy, hearty food like pies and sticky date pudding and porridge.
- boots, scarves, hats and gloves.
- skiing at Christmas.
- winter Christmas markets.
- mulled hot wine.
- Christmas decorations in the London shops that make it feel like Christmas. In fact there is a definite Christmas vibe here.
- booking in theater shows and going to museums to keep us indoors.
- the nutcracker ballet and pantomime.
- feeling cosy.

I promise that that is my rant. No more mention of weather. Except for the fact that S and I are thinking of getting an alarm that lets off simulated sun light to prevent SAD (seasonal adjustment disorder)...is that going too far or do you think the North Face jackets are enough???

Xoxo
E

Posh it up in Chelsea

S's previous opinion was that Chelsea was a snobby and pretentious part of London. That still rings true about the local residents but a few weeks back we scratched the surface and found some pretty amazing things. Our opinions have changed and for the better. We now love that part of London known as SW3.
Kings Road is a great place to shop (albeit quite a popular part of town). We were lucky enough to stumble across some markets in Duke of York Square filled with fresh food and yummy sweets. The weather was glorious and the sky was a crisp blue so we sat and basked in the sun with our Moroccan lunch. We also had a little look around the famous Saatchi Gallery. What we found was a very interesting assortment of sculptures - see below.

We used one of our walking cards and followed it strictly. We found the most beautiful garden -Ranleigh Gardens- with some pretty, colorful autumnal trees. We felt like the only ones in the gardens and wondered why more people weren't enjoying it. Everyone raves about Hyde Park but this was something else - like a secret little forest. We walked through the amazing grounds of the Chelsea Private Soldiers Hospital which is still a home for retired soldiers. It's filled with handsome manicured gardens and impressive architecture that reminded us of the Invalides building in Paris. We then walked down Chelsea Embankment on the banks of the Thames and weaved our way through the gorgeous streets of Chelsea. We saw the street that once housed the likes of Mick Jagger and famous English writers. "Redbrick", the term denoting expensive property, springs to mind.

Our visit proved to us that there is more to Chelsea than pretension and Louis Vuitton clad trust fund babies. It's full of history and culture - our favourite things!!

 Some rather interesting art at the Saatchi Gallery - I liked the pretty colours until we got up close!

 For the love of Jimmy Choo