Christmas Is Un-Cancelled!

In our last post we indicated that the outcome of The Waiting Game would hopefully be exciting. Well, the UK Border Agency must be reading our blog, because they made the whole process extremely exciting. Possibly taking years off our lives in the process...

On Monday, Bec began a systematic campaign of enquiring/nagging/begging/pleading by both fax and telephone, but was met with the same familiar stonewalling as before: "We can only tell you if your documents have been sent back to you". By Wednesday night, we had all but given up hope, but Bec gave it one last shot on Thursday, and was overjoyed to hear "the application is complete and your documents will be dispatched today".

Royal Mail is usually pretty efficient and guarantees that a Special Delivery, Signed-For package like this will be delivered next-day. But that wasn't going to be enough - we had to be at Heathrow Airport by 11.30am. So Bec got pro-active and contacted our local post office, arranging to intercept the delivery there rather than face an agonising wait for the postman at home.

And so, at 9.00am today, Bec arrived home with our passports, with a whole 2 hours to spare before we needed them to leave the country. Now that is cutting it fine!

Before we head off for Canada, we just wanted to wish all our friends and family a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

The Waiting Game

"Ah, the waiting game sucks - let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos!"

Homer Simpson

He's got a point. For seven weeks now, we've been waiting - at first patiently - for Bec's UK Working Visa extension to be processed. UK Immigration helpfully provides the following statistics: "70% of applications will be processed within 4 weeks, and 90% within 14 weeks". Awesome guys, thanks for that. So that's been seven weeks sans passports for BOTH of us (because Bec's visa depends on Johnny's UK nationality, so both passports had to be sent off).

So our wings have been clipped for a while. And it hasn't really been too much of a hardship. However, a very large problem looms - at the end of this week.

You see, many months ago we were invited to a December wedding - in Canada - and we accepted. Neither of us have ever been before and it seemed like a great place in which to spend the Christmas-New Year period. So we assembled a plan: Mike and Krista's wedding in Toronto, Niagara Falls, then New York for Christmas with Brandy, the Adirondack train up to Montreal, then skiing and New Year's up in the alpine village of Mont Tremblant. Thoughts of this trip have been keeping us going through our travel drought.

But now time is running out. Will our elaborate Christmas travel plans be once again foiled by elements outside our control? Will we once again turn up at Granny's with our tails between our legs? Why does it take soooo long to rubber stamp an application for someone as lovely as Bec? Only the immigration department knows. And they're not telling - it's official policy.

Stay tuned for the (hopefully) exciting outcome of The Waiting Game!

Fantastic Plastic

Ever since John was a small boy (insert joke here), he has loved LEGO^® - the king of toys. And for as long as he has known of the existence of LEGOLAND^® he has wanted to go. For many years, this would have meant getting to Billund in Denmark, surely an adventure in its own right, but hardly accessible. But since 1996 there's been an easier option for British LEGO^® fans - LEGOLAND^® Windsor. Yes, right next to one of the Queen's official residences at Windsor Castle. Unfortunately the admission price is such that even the Her Royal Highness would wince should she ever decide to pop in. Luckily we'd done some homework prior to our visit back in September, and had secured a 40p packet of crisps that gave us 2-for-1 entry to the park - saving some £32 (AUD$70 - $90 depending on the crunchiness of the day's credit) - winner!

Our impressions at first were underwhelming. It was a sunny Sunday in the middle of summer, so the park was heaving with kids, prams, strollers and other "family stuff". Johnny inwardly fumed at the slow-moving crowds but kept quiet - you can't really have a whinge about all the kids when you're visiting what is clearly a children's theme park! The rides were very tame, even the ones with the most potential dangers listed (always the ones to ride first!), and the queues were horrific. Johnny's childhood dreams were crumbling before Bec's eyes! But it turned out that the park's planners had saved the best for last. Miniland is the true jewel in the crown - where the park shows that it's more than just a collection of kiddie rides and overpriced food stands. More than 40 million LEGO^® bricks have been used to create 1/20th scale recreations of some of the world's most recognisable landmarks, plus a stunning compressed version of London. The whole thing is finished off with immaculate landscaping including in-scale bonsai trees, waterways with moving boats, and (Johnny's favourite) working trains. We both absolutely loved it!

Here's Leuven Town Hall in Belgium, and a canal scene in Amsterdam:

Big Ben, Edinburgh Castle and the Sacré Coeur in Paris:


Johnny towers over Central London, and the Royal Coach exits Buckingham Palace Gate:

Johnny Goes Caving

After more than a year of pressure from Bec, Johnny has finally capitulated and is now on Facebook. Although his alter ego (a French-Canadian professional cyclist) has been on the 'book for ages to do research for work - seriously! - Johnny has until now resisted the urge to record the urban minutiae of his life for all to see. Hell, that's what this blog is for! But Bec introduced him to a "killer Facebook app", an anagram game called Word Challenge; and now the word-nerd in him is hooked.

He is interested to see whether working 8 hours a day on a social network platform will affect his interest in them after-hours!

Molto Bene (Part Due: The Search for the perfect Spiaggia)

After such an idyllic first day, we could probably be excused for thinking we would enjoy similar splendor on each subsequent day in "The Cinq". Unfortunately, though, our luck was about to run out. We woke the next day to a grey sky, a light, constant drizzle, and the discovery that there really isn't all that much to do in the Cinque Terre when it rains. There's eating, of course, but believe it or not, there is actually a limit to how many trattorias, ristorantes and pizzerias you can handle in one day!

We decided to take the train to Monterosso, the northern-most of the five lands and the one we had yet to explore. While it wasn't looking its best in the dreary conditions, we managed to amuse ourselves in the many "crapola" shops until the weather cleared enough for us to tackle the walk back to Vernazza. This turned out to be the most challenging section of the CT trail, with a seemingly endless series of steps, especially tricky to negotiate in the slippery conditions. We were rewarded with some pretty special views though.

Faced with more rain the following day, we bid a fond farewell to Vernazza and made our way to Genova. An important port town with not much else to recommend it, this was fine by us as we were just passing through on our way south to Sardinia. We did manage to see quite a lot of the place, however, courtesy of the boys' poor navigational abilities. "How about we head up here?" soon led to "I'm not sure how we get back down...", which in turn led to a manic taxi ride back to the station for our bags. (Mis)adventures out of the way, we were soon tucked safely away in a surprisingly comfortable 4 person sleeper cabin on a southbound ferry.

We had sensibly stocked up on plenty of Italian wine, bread, salami, cheese and biscotti for the voyage. This feast, combined with a marathon Uno session which saw Mandy the unlucky loser (punishable by being made to eat "floormaggio", i.e. cheese that fell on the floor), made for a very enjoyable night.

On arrival in Sardinia, at a tiny backwater of a port town that made Genova seem like the centre of the universe, we quickly realised that this leg of the holiday had been somewhat overlooked in our trip planning (i.e. it had been left to the boys). We had no idea where we were exactly, or even where we wanted to go on this deceptively large island. It also quickly became clear that this place wasn't exactly set up for tourists, at least not to the extent we've become accustomed to. Hence we spent a good half a day getting our bearings and tracking down a car hire place that was actually open within its stated opening hours.

Equipped with wheels, we were off and running. From the tiny paragraph our guide book had to say on Sardinia, it seemed that the best thing to do was find a lovely, white, sandy beach and just relax. Easy, right? After all, this is an island surrounded by beaches! In reality, this proved somewhat difficult due to the size of the island, the quality of the roads, the questionable weather conditions and our general lack of specific direction. Nevertheless, we dedicated our entire three days in Sardinia to "The Search for the perfect Spiaggia" (taking only a little time out to taste yet more delicious pasta and seafood combinations).

The boys got a little side-tracked at times...

...but we eventually achieved our goal, with a roaring success!

A huge thanks to Mandy and Stu for a bellissima Italian adventure we'll never forget. See you again next year?

Molto Bene (Part Uno)

It occurred to us early this year that despite having lived in Europe for ages, we hadn't been to Italy since 2003, when we whipped through as part of a breakneck European tour. We loved Italy then, and wanted to make sure they hadn't broken it since. When Stu confirmed that he'd be visiting again for another Euro-summer (you may remember him from such blogs as Glastonbury last year), with his new lady-friend Mandy, it was a perfect opportunity.

Over many emails we concocted a plan (by "we", I obviously mean "the girls") to revisit the classic Cinque Terre area, on the Northern Italian coastline between Pisa and Genova. Google Map here. We'd spent a few hours there previously, but wanted to really explore the "five lands" while gorging ourselves on pasta and fabulous fresh seafood. Well, Mission Accomplished.

We were arriving from different places - us flying in from the UK and Stu and Mandy rolling in from France, freshly-engaged(!) - so our first Italian evening was spent apart, with us in Florence and ze 'appy couple doing the Pisa thing. Tragically, our one night in Firenze coincided with the Florence Wine-Festival and we were forced to drink copious samples of the delightful local vino until late...

The next day we met up at Pisa station and made our way to Vernazza, which was sparklingly lovely - as was Mandy, to our great delight! After chillaxing down by the harbour for a while, we chillaxed some more after a strenuous climb to a bar overlooking this beautiful fishing town. I like saying "chillax".

The following day had been earmarked as "The Big Walking Day" - our plan was to walk south down the coast and see as many of yonder 3 Cinque Terre towns as we could. The weather was superb and in the end we saw all of them (Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore), dined superbly, had some quality pebble-beach time and walked back most of the way as well. Words cannot describe just how perfect this day was - we need a montage:

A Look At London: Through The Eye

One fine day some months ago, we decided it was time to be tourists in our city again and hit The London Eye together with Bron and Andy - collectively and affectionately known as Brandy. We had already seen the Eye from many angles (it's somewhat hard to miss) but had never actually ridden a "pod" to see for ourselves why the queues for this thing are still monstrous, 8 years after it opened.

We joined said monstrous queue and waited for about an hour to take the 30-minute "flight". As we rose, we had good views off to the East - The City/Square Mile (financial district) and St Paul's Cathedral, just visible over Andy's right shoulder.


As we rose to our maximum altitude of 135m, we looked North to central London and Soho, dominated by the BT Tower. In the foreground is the Hungerford Bridge leading into Charing Cross station. The Thames is doing its best "I'm muddy like the Yarra" impression.


Finally, we began our descent, with very hazy views out over the Houses of Parliament and in the distance (you might have to squint), the iconic Battersea Power Station, looking like an upside-down table:


After we "landed", we were all in need of some refreshment. So we finished our day out with a (horrendously expensive) jug of Pimms in St James's Park. Note the obligatory and very well-coordinated raised pinkies.

10 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About London

November already! Scary! We've now officially been living in the UK for two years, and London for one. So to celebrate, here's a list of 10 "insider" facts about London you may not have known before. Oh, and to keep you on your toes, we've made up one more. Which one? Leave us a comment if you think you've picked it - answer in the next post.

1. Riding the Tube for long enough will result in a syndrome known locally as "Black Bogies" in one's nostrils, commonly explained away as congealed dust from the train's brake pads. But this is only partly true. Yes, it's 30% brake dust (giving the black colour) but the rest is human skin particles. Ewwww.
2. One-in-three London households do not own a car. (Melbourne: one-in-ten).
3. Both of us work in the area of Soho, which used to be Henry VIII's hunting grounds. When a hunter spied a deer, he would shout "Tally-Ho!", but with a smaller prey, the cry became "So-Ho!". New York also has a SoHo, but this is an abbreviation for the area South of Houston [Street].
4. Currently playing in London: 34 musicals, 12 comedies and 53 dramas.
5. The big coffee chains in London are Starbucks (bleh), Costa Coffee (awful), Coffee Republic (never tried 'em) and Caffe Nero (passable), with an astonishing 962 stores between them in London in December 2006, and presumably many more by now. Our hot tip for a good coffee when in Central London: try AMT (often found at mainline stations), Monmouth Coffee, Flat White in Soho or Sacred in Carnaby.
6. The Tube carried over one billion passengers last year. That's more than the entire population of Australia each day.
7. One of the options at Gordon Ramsay's 3-Michelin-starred restaurant is an entrée of oven-roasted squirrel in a hazelnut and truffle oil velouté.
8. If you see someone riding around London with a clipboard attached to their scooter's handlebars, they are almost certainly an aspiring taxi driver "Doing The Knowledge". A London cabbie has to know all the streets within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. That's 25,000 streets. In addition, they have to know all the places of interest (schools, restaurants, churches etc) on those streets, including such details as the order of theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue. In the test, the examiner gives two points. The cabbie-to-be must recite the quickest and most efficient route, naming each street and turn on the way there. At any point, the examiner can ask for a description of what is "alongside". Hence the "knowledge boys" on their scooters have to drive every street to learn these features that can't be absorbed from a map.
9. In a single week, the average male Londoner drinks 13.9 units (almost 7 pints of beer) and a woman 4.9 units (2-3 glasses of wine). This is actually the lowest average intake of all UK regions.
10. The average speed of a car driving through Central London: 10.2 mph (16.3 km/h). The average speed of Johnny on his bike in the morning: 11.1 mph (17.7 km/h).
11. There are an estimated 200,000 French people living in London - making it (theoretically at least) the fourth-largest French city.

Going Hungary

Apologies for the bad pun - but surely you've come to expect them by now?!

Another weekend, another European city - Budapest. Or rather, two cities straddling the Danube: Buda and Pest, each with their own distinct personalities. Speaking of distinct personalities, we were lucky enough to coincide our visit with our friends Beth and Dan, who had already been in town for a day. We met up with them at a restaurant recommended for its authentic Hungarian cuisine - here's Dan sizing up his pan of unidentifiable Central European foodstuffs:

The following day we made our way around town, enjoying the grand architecture and numerous interesting statues:

Here are some of the famous baths of Budapest - the indoor one is in Buda, the outdoor one (which we much preferred, despite the occasional budgie-smuggling octogenarian) in Pest:


After a hard day of bathing, we felt like we deserved another nice meal - and we sure found one! For about a quarter of what we'd paid at Aubergine, we had an absolutely amazing seven-course degustation menu, with some of the most delicious and exquisitely-prepared food we've ever had. The service was outstanding too, so we're giving two-thumbs-up to Babel - look them up next time you're in Budapest!

Despite parts of the city feeling reminiscent of Paris or Rome, Budapest definitely has its own unique flavour. Perhaps best enjoyed with a glass of wine at the peak of the citadel, overlooking the lovely Danube at sunset.

A Look At London: Park Life

For all of its constructed landmarks, London has an incredible collection of parks - 5500 acres in all - and when the sun shines (it does, honest!) thousands of people pour into them, including the two of us!

The closest park to us is Hyde Park, a monstrous green space, great for jogging around and reading papers in. We've discovered the squirrels there are very partial to Belgian chocolate!

If you walk south and east for about 45 minutes, you can continue through Green Park (which is as generic as its name suggests) to one of our favourites, the intimate St. James's Park. With a lovely lake and the tamest squirrels and waterfowl in London, it's a great contrast to the breakneck pace of Central London.


Not too far away is Regent's Park, which is, well, quite regal. It also boasts a beautiful lake and bird collection, along with a stunning array of English roses.


Walk north past London Zoo and you're climbing up Primrose Hill for a fantastic view of London from one of its highest points.


Most recently we visited Kew Gardens, a beautiful garden which, despite costing money to get in (and it's not cheap!) and being directly under the Heathrow landing path, is a lovely day out. We went there last weekend with Hammer and Anna and it looked gorgeous with all the trees changing through their autumn colours.