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

Aquae Sulis (a.k.a Bath)

S and I just enjoyed a lovely long weekend in Bath, South West England. We had been meaning to visit Bath for some time. Mainly because of E's obsession with Jane Austen. Persuasion is E's favorite Austen novel and it was written by her whilst she was living in Bath.

What we didn't realize was that Bath is full of history that we never knew nor expected. We both learnt an awful lot that weekend.

Possibly the most impressive sight we saw was Bath's namesake - the Roman Baths.  The Romans found the hot springs in 43AD and then used it as a spa resort and temple to the goddess, Sulis Minerva (who they thought warmed the hot springs) for 400 years.  When the Romans left, the hot springs were "lost".  How one loses a hot spring is beyond us.  They were refound by the Georgians who thought that the hot baths also had healing qualities.

We learnt an incredible amount about Roman history by visiting the structure that they built around the hot springs.  A large majority of the site and associated temples are below ground and historians believe it could sprawl for many more miles. The Romans were so advanced - beside each of the swimming bath were steam rooms, massage parlours and drains.

We took a great walking tour that showed us all of the other sites we wanted to see in Bath.  Extremely informative, the walk took us to the Royal Crescent, the Circus, the Pump Room and Bath Cathedral.  It also taught us about the iconic Bath sandstone (used to rebuild the city).

It was intriguing to learn that after years of neglect, Bath was effectively remodelled and rebuilt in the Georgian times so that the Royals (and high society that followed) could use Bath as a resort town.  It was a bustling city full of prosperity, society and wealth.  People would bring their daughters in order to find them a suitable and wealthy husband.  Characters like Beau Nash dictated social etiquette (some of which we still use today).  Three men were charged with rebuilding Bath (Beau Nash included) and E was particularly interested in the one responsible for architecture - his style was based around the notion that everyone should live in a palace.  The Royal Crescent and the Circus were E's favourites (and indeed very palatial in style).  

We treated ourselves to a posh lunch in the Pump Room and also drank some of the "healing" hot spring water.  In the Georgian times, the Pump Room was used by society who travelled to Bath especially to drink the healing water.

Since we were so close to Stonehenge we decided to also visit the 5000 year old rock formation. Who knows who built it and for what purpose.  All we know is that you can definitely feel the importance of the rock structure as you walk around it.  Usually when you travel and site see you get the answers but this site left us with a lot of questions about what this site was used for and by whom.  We're sure that whoever they were, they were more advanced than we think...it is no coincidence that the rocks aligned with the sun's positioning at different times of the year, month or day.

We spent Sunday afternoon relaxing in the Thermae Spa (the modern day version of the baths) which has a rooftop heated pool with an impressive view. Our favorite part was the scented steam rooms. Especially the one that was mint and eucalyptus scented.

We stayed in a lovely little Manor Cottage just outside of the centre of town and enjoyed some very lovely meals (including a Jamie Oliver restaurant).  It was a deeply relaxing holiday - walking, seeing, eating and spa-ing.  We left Bath feeling revitalised and recharged...just how the Romans and Georgians planned it!!

E&S
xoxox

 The Royal Crescent

 The Circus

 The River Avon

 One of only three bridges in the world that doubles as a shopping street (the others are in Italy)

 Inside Bath Cathedral

 Cute little Tea Shops everywhere

 S the French man

 Stonehenge





A new season, a new love

Autumn in London is officially my favourite time of year. I have never experienced a real Autumn like this. The leaves are turning golden and falling like giant snowflakes.  The ground is covered everywhere in old leaves.   There is a long way to go and I cant wait for everything to be yellow and orange.  The air is crisp and I'm looking forward to rugging up (despite the fact that we are having a beautiful "Indian Summer" in September).

I cant help but think how symbolic Autumn is....out with the old and (soon) in with the new.  As the year draws to a close (only 3 months to go), the old leaves make way for the new fresh leaves.  A new year is around the corner and there is anticipation for those new leaves that will sprout green after the depths of winter.

I love how seasonal Europe is.  Every season brings something unique and totally different.  How can you ever get bored in a place that experiences four true seasons!!!

E xoxo

Sailing the Adriatic - The Finale

So that you aren't overwhelmed by words, we thought it would be a good idea to do this in three parts.  Here is the third and final instalment:

Korcula to Vela Luka

Our day of sailing between Korcula and Vela Luka was probably one of the most memorable.  We stopped in a private cove for hours and floated in some of the clearest blue water we saw on the whole trip.  The water temperature was amazing and we grabbed those daybeds and floated aimlessly.  It was heaven.

When we arrived in Vela Luka we headed straight for Havana Bar - a bar right on the water's edge with relaxing daybeds and delicious Pina Coladas.  We sat in the most perfect temperature looking at the gorgeous clear water and the little town that sprawled its way up a hill with white bricks and red roofs.

Vela Luka was on the same island as Korcula but at an opposite end and was a very local area.  We were some of the only tourists there!

For dinner we went to a local restaurant where E had a whole plate of fresh grilled calamari and S had traditional Croatian pizza.  We then had a Pirate Party and danced the night away at the towns only club.

It was a very memorable day.

Vela Luka to Hvar

Hvar was by far one of the best places we visited in Croatia.  It is a very impressive and attractive port town.  It is also party central.  Beyonce had been there the week before us and Prince Harry regularly parties at the club we visited that night.  This is where wealthy celebrities holiday (judging by the yachts parked in the port) and it reminded me of a typical cosmopolitan Mediterranean port town.

Hvar is home to farms of lavender so E couldn't help herself and bought some of it dried in a little pouch.  We decided to hike to a fortress at the top of the hill with a very impressive view.  It didn't disappoint but the walk up was exhausting in the heat.  Lucky there were those typical little Croatian lane ways made of marble to cool us down at the bottom of the hill.

That afternoon we went to the famous Hula Hula Bar.  This is by far one of the best beach side bars we have ever visited.  It had daybeds on the rocks and a gorgeous deck with the most perfect view of the sunset.  One thing we loved most about Croatia was its radiant sunsets over the water...something we had never experienced at home.

We all got very intoxicated on frozen daiquiris that afternoon but had the best time doing it.  In fact, I recall a certain Mr Hyde taking his kit off and diving stark naked into the ocean as the sun set!!!

That night, we went to two clubs and had a relatively calm night (the hangovers from the afternoon of drinking hit us early).

This was one of the busiest places we visited and our boat was the eighth boat docked at the port.  This meant that we had to walk through 7 other boats in complete darkness before we found ours!  We had to do this for the first time drunk as skunks after being at the Hula Hula Bar.

Hvar to Split

Our last day was fairly low key and we shared a nice traditional Croatian dinner together.  There were some pretty impressive grilled fish going on.

S and I thought it would be nice to have a romantic night in a classy hotel so we stayed on for one more day in the Split Raddison Blu.  We had such a relaxing day sitting and reading by the pool.  We also had the most amazing dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, high on the hill, watching the sun set on our holiday for a final time. 

What an amazing holiday.  We will never forget the time the Sexy Six spent together in Croatia.  Full of laughter, reminiscing and good old fashioned fun.

E&S
xoxo

 The clearest water we have ever seen!

 In heaven right now!

 The private cove near Vela Luka with some amazing properties.

 Sailing in to Vela Luka.

 Havana Bar - Vela Luka.

 Lovers <3

 Vela Luka Town

 Arriving in Hvar after the water taxi ride from our boat.

 Hvar Town

 The main square in Hvar

At the top of the fortress in Hvar 

 Hula Hula Bar, Hvar - Ohhhh yeah!

 Who ordered the look-a-like Cuban Drug Lord

 Sunsets in Hvar

The Radisson Blu - Split