Alhambra, Granada

Another tick on my bucket list :)

London to San Fran - 2 April... MY BIRTHDAY

So in an attempt to get writing again and with the subtle hint that Po would like to here about my trip to the US... here I go,

Day 1: My birthday

As usual this holiday started with some insane rush packing the night before to be done in only a few hours. I havent decided if I pack best like this or the worst. Anyway.
That morning we woke up stupidly early to get to the airport STUPIDLY early - which turned out to be just the right amount of early. This was going to be a VERY long birthday, 35 hours to be exact (or something close to that) what with flying into the past through time zones.

We decided to go on this trip with a group of climbers that we have become friends with through a meetup.com climbing group. Having been on a few local UK trips we thought it would be rather smooth and trouble free as we would have an idea on what it was like travelling with the people already. Boy were we wrong... the scale of this trip was just not 11 people large group friendly...

But I must move onwards now. After an incredibly long wait to check in etc due to the fact it was Good Friday and one of the busiest travel periods but them only having 3 desks open for all the morning's flights we managed to get through to the boarding gate where most of the flight had already boarded. It was a completely full flight and actually overbooked which has them offering money to take a later flight.

What can one normally say about a flight - they are most just a long slog as you are sitting there wishing you would just get to your destination faster. The fact that the flight was in the middle of the day and we were flying with time it was very difficult to sleep.. Then the one time that I managed to fall into a deep sleep I was woken up by our group (who were scattered in seats all over) singing me happy birthday and popping champagne! Now that is not something you see everyday! LOL

Once landing in San Fran and not getting the best looks from the Immigration staff when we tried as a group of 7 people we tried to head through the exit past them with all our bags on only 2 trolleys! Oops. Also no one remembered to take down the details of the hostel so they didnt fill out their forms correctly -not so happy with us. But I was to annoy them more later...

Once we have all gotten though the exit with ALL the bags and were making plans to find transport and other headed off to get the one rental car I settled down to nice warm beverage since it was cold and miserable outside JUST like the weather we had left in London - not a good sign!

After a while I was showing off the wonderful features of my luggage which i'm very fond of, and was wondering if they had chopped off my non TSA lock since there was no lock on it anymore. So being the paranoid South African that I am I opened my bag to check that nothing was missing out of it - esp since I had some very expensive and essential climbing gear in there... BUT NO GEAR.... wait also not my clothes... WTF, oh shit, this isnt my bag!!

This was seriously a huge surprise for me. I mean I dont have ordinary luggage. It is an outdoor gear brand and quite specific in look and colour. It took a bit of searching to find this bag. But here obviously someone had the same bag as me and had taken mine and left me their. I did con my way back into the immigration area - which they did not like to get to the airline counter faster to try and hopefully find the person in the airport with my bag. CRISIS - this is not good. We were leaving San Fran the next day for Yosemite and could not have this delay - and I really wanted my own stuff esp the climbing gear.

After being walk all the way through SFO airport to the domestic terminal where the lost and found desk was there seems to be no one of any real use. They could only tell me that my bag wasnt there and they then just wanted to take the bag I had away from me. I just wanted to get a hold of the people and swop bags. possibly even in the city if necessary.

After having a quick look through I did find a little piece of paper with a name, address and phone number. I called the phone number only to wake up the daughter of the guy whos bag I had. He had apparently borrowed it from her. She didnt have any information for me at all... other then they might be renting a car but she doesnt even know where they are staying. So I had C running all over the rental terminal trying to find him and me trying the phone number that the daughter had given me to no avail.

Finally I had to give up the other bag to the airline and head to the hostel with the rest of the group.... If only I had waited another hour I may have gotten the bag back faster - oh well.

After all that stress adrenaline and very little sleep the rest of the (VERY long day) seemed quite tame:

We checked into the hostel, took a streetcar tram that San Fran is so famous for and couldnt afford last time I was there, ate fast food, wondered around the pier area, went to Hooters for birthday dinner, and then a lovely little club for cocktails near the hostel. A few of the group were literally falling asleep sitting at a table in the club so most of the group headed to bed or on a crazy drive around to see the bridge. I'm sorry I missed the bridge this time. I did get a little glimpse in the photo below, but I was just too tired after 35 hours I just wanted bed... after C and I got a little bit of time just the too of us and a last cocktail in the gorgeously gay friendly bar (where the waiter was SO enjoying his little flirt with C)

And that was that... Definitely a very different birthday then the normal. 

*A gorgeous old school fire engine truck - complete with bell ringing guy on the back box 

*Alcatraz and a submarine 

* San Fran Tram ... I stood on the side board at the very front holding on  to the long white pole for dear life. Most of the time I had only 1 foot on solid surface with the other one falling off. What a ride :)

Back in the land of the freezing

So I've been off in South Africa and Namibia for the last 3 weeks and a bit. Got back to London on New Years Day to a lovely temperature of NOUGHT degrees! damn it was a shock to the body and involved me not really wanting to leave the house at all and pretty much hugging the radiatior all weekend.

I know there are tons of posts in my head esp about my trip home and to Namiba and loads of wonderful photos to share if I do say so myself. I had a great time and really enjoyed the time off. Today back at work is def a bump down to earth and i'm not sure I want to be here. Oh well.

Highlights of the trip to keep my mind off the cold:

• the heat
• Braai's (BBQ's)
• seeing friends
• the beach
• the wedding
• C's hawk hairstyle
• Spitzkoppe
• 4x4ing
• Climbing
• Yummy food... too much food
• tobogganing
• giving presents
• the tan
• the heat

The lowlights (have to be mentioned):

• the flights
• lack of showers in Nam
• getting burnt
• too little time to get everything done
• Not figuring out how to tell C about his Christmas present and having to wait to tell him and a very boring and mundane way

SO not too bad :)

I see Shrunken Heads

This past weekend we missioned off to Oxford to see Mr&Mrs Intellectual in thier new home/town. It has taken some time to get up there but we finally did and had quite a chill time. My highlight was the real shrunken heads at the museum where Mrs I works. It was a fasinating collection of stuff that was pretty much just collected by some guy and then a museum was made for the collection (The Pitt Rivers). There we also tons of pottery from all overs and some 5000 year old pots from Egypt (her speciality as it is pre dynastic - i.e. Pre writing and pharohs!)

I'm still loving that I've now seen the shrunken heads though. Basically the dead enemy is taken and head chopped off, the skull removed and then replaced with hot sand and boiled. So below are more pictures I took if your keen to have a gander. I was fasinated that only the skin shrinks and other things like all the hairs dont so they have really long hair, dense eyelashes and are a little furry from the remaining facial hair. There were also a few monkey heads that they had done the same thing with. If it creeps you out then maybe dont read further....

*excuse the bad lighting in the photos, the place is kept in very low light conditions to preserve the collection....

Oh yes and here is an actual Egyptian mummy with the sarcohgus (sp?) lid off!

 

Portland

Here are some photos of the weekend away in portland. I loved getting away and spending time by the sea! Was loving running around with my camera and discovering new functions. These are just a few of the 243 photos I took :)

*Kisses at sunset*

*sunset at Blacknor*

*Loving the sea*

*C decending the most picturesque climb i've see so far*

*Fallen Slabs*

*jurrasic fossil!!*

*playing with the colour settings*

*crag in black and white* *C and Me*

*me on the only climb I did...got stuck and came down. Only 1 other chick got to the finish so I dont feel too pathetic. I'm the higher one on the crag...about to do a very pathetic mantle which landed me in a position that looked like I was praying to the rock - lol*

A few pics from the hundreds that I took in Paris!

Downtime...

I need some!

Seems like i'm either rushing around or planning to rush around these days, and it isnt stopping. If i'm not physically busy then i'm also mentally busy - i really need some downtime where i can just shut off my brain. It is also getting hard to shut it off at night and i land up going to bed way too late and feeling crap in the morning. Need to find a better routine here. Not much is going to change for at least the next month tho. Plus things got a little interesting at work and i'm try to concentrate on that and make the most of the opportunities and not get stuck in the boring hole that is full time cad monkey stuff.

I'm def battling to keep at bay that overwhelmed feeling like everything is just piling up and i'm not getting through what i want to. I keep telling myself that it is just my perception and that it is all manageable and as usual i'll make my way through things and come out fine on the other side.

I read a post on Po's blog a little while ago and it was all about blogging and why ...well it really struck home for me and am feeling the smae way about it all. this has become a vanity blog as C calls it and i was writing alot of the time for the readers that i've gathered... I really wonder sometimes what they get out of reading this blog if they dont actually know me in real life. I know that C finds it interesting as things may come up that i've not shared with him. But mostly he must find it weird to read stuff from this perspective esp about things that he did with me. I've been asked a few time why do i blog - mostly by people that do interact in the blog world. But I still cant really answer them. I have no idea why I blog other then the fact like right now I'm sitting here in my lounge pouring out the random activity in my brain and just letting my fingers type away. I know that i'll feel calmer after this.

I did start my blog originally to blurb stuff out there and it was all very abstract stuff that even the people that knew me and read it did quite get what i was on about. I liked that and it would be nice to get back to something like that. i do know that i'm not explaining comment i make on here to other people anymore. Maybe that will help to not hold me back from letting stuff out there. Because I do really need a release sometimes. I know i cant always expect C to listen to ALL my shit... :)

I also had a very random request from a reader of my blog to write a post about Mallorca. I was very amused, shocked, interested by this. It was just so random and flattering in a way. i wasnt planning on writing anything about the last trip since it was very bitter sweet with me just heading out there to check on my brother and see how he is handling life etc. It was wonderful to see him and also very sad. I didnt have much Mallorca stuff to blog since as goes my brothers life we only saw the bar between his flat and the beach and the actual beach.

NOTE to reader with this request: I have travelled there quite a few times before. I would check the travel tag on my blog, also check the archives Dec 07, april 08 and i think sept 07.
here is a quick list of my fav things there:

• the cathedral (i love these in any city but this one is quite beautiful and a bit "gothic" as well)

• Illetas beach (this is where my bro lives and is one of the most beautiful little beaches) from the centre of Palma take the no 3 bus i think. it runs along the peseo de born past the cathedral.

• the old town of palma is great to walk around. In the old town area to the west of Peseo de born (near the circle) there are loads of great local clubs and bars and yachty hang outs. I forget all the names right now - i'll try remember and post later.

• The main run of "tourist" clubs are along the waterfront. On of the more local flavour clubs is made in brazil (here is the map position) All the club are there abouts. The big chains are there as well like Puro beach etc. But be careful as things can get raudy and the Spainish culture has no problems with pushing and shuving and getting into your personal space - DO NOT get offended by it. I've also seen some worse fights in those clubs then i have here in London and that is saying something.

• I would also suggest a visit to the Castle as it is a lovely piece of work. One of the only truely round castles of the time. It also has the most amazing 360 degree views of Palma.

• My other suggestion is to hire a car for a trip around the island. It is a very small island and it is possible to drive from one side to the other across the middle in 30 mins! We took our time driving up the coast and around the country side. Some of my fav towns are Deia, Valldemossa, Port de pollensa (from this town the drive out to the lighthouse on the very tip of the peninsula is awesome scenery)

Note about the driving - it can be very scary. I loved it but my bf calls me Colin after the rally driver. They stopped marking to the hairpin bends cause there are just so many of them. Treat every corner like it is going to keep turning and it will be fine. The roads in the country side are seriously tiny so watch out for on coming cars. Plus they drive on the right side of the road - so that is the opposite to normal for me and that takes some getting used to. But after all that it was the best way to explore the island and i had great fun driving around. Esp when I got stuck behind some REALLY nervous tourist drivers who where only driving at 5 kms an hour (am not exagerating! what should have been 10 minutes drive turned into and hour! )

• The other bit that I love about Mallorca is the climbing but i dont know if that is your thing.??

That is all I have energy to write for tonight

Hope you have a great trip there! I think i'll be off to Paris around that time...cant wait!

Ok now i'm exhausted and happily off to a warm bed (and need to get blood into my numb ass from the futon that i hate! but we will soon have a gorgeous couch...more on that laters too)

More Travels

What a boring week back at work after an amazingly relaxing week in Wales. It really did fly by even though I was bored out of my mind with the drawing pack that I had to complete. I have actually managed to complete it even though I was distracing myself as much as possible with anything other then work.

So now i'm running off to Spain for the weekend. how crazy is that. Def one of the reasons I love living in London. I got myself a return ticket on sale for £34 and am heading off to see my brother. I just love how easy it is to travel. I've also been planning more travel this week. Mish is coming over in May/June and heading off for some travelling so I'm crashing a bit of it by joining them for 4 days in Paris. YAY!! so exciting. I even managed to orgainse that my seat on the eurostar is right behind them...talk about luck. And got the last room in the hotel that they have booked.

Well that time of the day has arrived...I get to head off to the airport and jet my way to HOPEFULLY sunny Spain....Mallorca here I come :)

p.s. My brother's flat is just behind the hotel in the pic

The Reception

After the wedding ceremony we headed back to Winton house. I'll have to write more about the house later as it was SO beautiful ! And the history of the place - it always amazes me and makes me realise that South Africa as a country is so very young!



Of course the first thing after the ceremony was the photographs. This was being done by The Housemate as his gift to them. I'm still convinced that it was the most work in one go he has done in years! He normally only has to work for a few hours at a time. While this was going on the wedding guests got to start on the bubbly and canapes (cept I wouldn't call masses of thinly sliced veg and dips canapes)



I got to flit around the room doing my social butterfly trick, introducing people that didnt know each other (while added interesting facts to start conversation) And C ran around trying to gather different groups of people at the right times for the photos outside. How he did this I'll never know. I do remember him coming around going "have you seen someone that looks like he would be an uncle Alexander"



I was trying my darnedest to not drink my bubbly too fast so that I didn't get plastered before dinner but the damn waiter kept sneakily filling my glass up ! I was seriously suffering due to the lack of food ! By this stage (6pm ish) I had only had that 1 slice of toast at 9am !!! We just didn't have time to stop for food (or anywhere to get it) the whole day. The housemate was even trying to provide mints to sustain us on the way back from the church.



After the photos they were supposed to do the whole cake cutting things...but thanks to some quick thinking on the grooms part he organised that we headed straight out to the marquee for dinner ! :)



The marquee was beautiful and was absolutely movie perfect. All white drapes and gold chairs etc. I knew I was going to be an odd one to seat since C was sitting up at the main table but I must say that I didn't expect to be sitting at the "intellectual" table. I could have guess though since the one girl seems to have become quite attached to me and I heard later that she had mentioned he like of me to the groom before the wedding. So basically I was the ONLY person at the whole table that didnt have Dr in front of her name!! OMG. And then the other strange thing was that I was seated inbetween the girl and her bf. I'm not sure if that was how it was planned or if they had changed it themselves before getting to the table. There were def so awkward moments...like this one...



Dr Sporty Physics (to her bf across me): Midnite Gem knows that I perve over her bf in a suit.



Her bf: *glares at Midnite Gem*



OMG - talk about uncomfortable...And why glare at me ??? It not really my fault that I have a hot bf that she seems to need to state this fact to the table.



Well I did manage to survive the dinner. The food was great (cept my stomach was now complaining from TOO much food instead of the TOO little before) I just have to say that there was one particular chick at my table that was just insufferable - what a cow. I just cant even explain it.

The rest of the reception consisted of the first dance (to Smashing pumpkins, tonight tonight), lots of dancing, cake cutting, fireworks (seriously impressive ...cost!), cake eating and more food, then even more dancing with a bit of driving people back and forwards again. Also there was a random moment of finding a lost wedding ring that had fallen off a guest finger as she had recently lost alot of weight and so both her wedding ring and engagement ring came flying off while dancing and only once the light were one and everyone was leaving did she realise they were gone. I was just sitting there thinking in my head ..."oh no please dont tell me the hysterics are going to start now" while my eyes were scanning the floor from my seat for anything really ...there it was all the way on the other side of the room to where everyone was looking. I casually walked over, pick it up and returned it and then the hysterical thanks started - sometime you just cant win.

So we packed everyone off into taxi's and send the bride and groom off to bed. Finally there was only one guest left who was waiting for her lost bf to come fetch her who had also had a flat tire on the way and was now lost. After much trying to get broken messages through due the the horrid mobile reception. Just after 2 am he arrive and C and I could wave them off and head up to bed as we were the last up other then the wedding co-ordinator.

We absolutely collapsed onto the beautiful four poster bed in the BEAUTIFUL original main room of the house. As we melted into the gorgeous fluffly duvet and matress and curled up, C turned to me and said: "I was so going to ravaged you tonight ...but frankly my gorgeous I'm just too exhausted." LOL and so was I! So we just wrap ourselves up in each other put our head on the extremely soft pillows and were both instanly fast sleep.

Morning came way too quickly and had us up and packed and down for breakfast at 10. Breakfast was amazing - talk about have absolutly everything laid out for you. So we ate ourselves stupid. Then said all our goodbyes, picked up the groom cousin and the maid of honour and dropped them off in Endinburgh and then head off to glasgow for the afternoon and onto Fort William to stay the next night.

More to come from the travels in Scotland....

The Church

*Ok, I strangely feel that I need to quickly write a little disclaimer note here. I have to say that I absolutely LOVED going to the wedding. I was beautiful amazing day. And such a wonderfully happy day as well. Seeing Dr&Mr Intellectual all loved up and passionate in their love for one another was so wonderful. I also loved the meeting of new people, the socialising and the great energy of running around doing things. SO if there are any moany or negative sounding bits to my blog about the wedding it is not meant in offense to the day - it is just my silly little opinion and nothing ultimately detracted from a wonderful experience for me. So if any comes upon this rambling please just take it for what it is - ramblings and nothing seriously or meaningful*

SO...

off to the church ...
What an interesting church to say the least! I reckon it is one of those not sure if it should be classified as a cathedral or church - but i think it is pretty close to former then the latter. It happened to have the longest aisle in Scotland - how is that for daunting to walk down !!! Luckily they had arranged it that the alter was half way up the aisle and the wedding register signing was all the way at the end of the aisle. A mass of the guests (mostly the Edinburgh friends) had gather outside the church once we all arrived from the house. The family members mostly headed in but the rest of use all said our hellos etc (well mostly all the girl who knew each other from the hen night) Finally we all headed into the church. I had ABSOLUTELY no idea where to sit myself ! It was really strange. I know that most weddings all have a bride and groom side to the church but it was decided that the groom didn't have enough people to fill his side so that rule was scrapped.

There were some early people sitting pretty far towards the back and the people I came with from the house were all going up front. I wasn't keen to sit too far back as I wont be able to see and stuff. I did wondered where and what the hell the ushers were supposed to be doing?? No one seemed to know where they were going. So I landed up 3 rows from the front. I did notice that the first 2 rows had name tags on them - which i think was great for the family - but tell me if I'm wrong but the fact that the usher and his wife had name tags on their seats when some of the relatives didn't??? I found this extremely weird. I started to think that yes there is another example of how you get treated differently if you are someones wife over just being someones partner. C did mention to me days later that he had found more name tags in a box that didn't get set out. anyways moving on.

The Church has the most amazing history which C told me more about afterwards from the info that the minister was telling him. Things like it was burnt down by one of the King Henry's and John Knox was part of the ministry there (he was born in the town) and had over seen major parts of the repair and rebuilding. More info here. Random thing to point out but it seems that churches in Scotland are called Kirk, I mean how close is that to the Afrikaans word for church, Kerk! It is also pronounced the same.

I haven't been to a wedding in a church for pretty much exactly 10 years (In 1998 I came to England for my brothers wedding in a little LITTLE village in Gloustershire where I was bridesmaid in the most horrid dress that was too big!) I must say that Dr & Mr I's wedding was nice and short and not TOO churchy well not compared to the hour & a half service that my brother had. It did feel very surreal to me for some reason. I have to say I love their contemporary reading from "for whom the bells toll" (I cant find the actual reading but it was beautiful)

They also did have the obligatory string quartet and this is funny cause if you ask my mom we have been joking about how I would never have one at my own wedding. So I had to have a little chuckle to myself. I did realise sitting there in the church and watching the wedding that even though I love the surrounding and the architecture of a church I could not actually have a church wedding myself - def not at this stage of my life. This is also funny due to the fact that I think I have a bit of a fear regarding getting married. C loves to poke fun at me about it. There are so many reasons that I fear it. One of them is that I do think that the way people hype their weddings up is ridiculous. and that the amount of money spent on weddings is crazy. I think it is just too over the top and I just don't think that is very ME. (Again this is all just my opinion) This wedding did spark plenty of conversations about what each person would like for their wedding. And I of course got very wrapped up in it all as well. It is great fun coming up with things one would like to do. I do think that I would like a wedding as such if I get married but I know that it wouldn't be your traditional wedding or over the top. My other issues around marriage is alot to do with probably the "forever" part. Maybe it has to do with being trapped or loosing ones Independence even more. BUT as much as that all sits in my head I do think that it is great to be able to make that kind of public statement of status in people lives. There are still different attitudes that people have towards a couple that is married and one that is simply life partners even if they have been together twice as long and may even have kids. For this reason alone I fully understand people fighting for legal gay marriages!!

Ok I've def been side tracked here - my mind and fingers sometime run away with me.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and watching them up there was great - Dr I looked absolutely STUNNING in her wedding gown and Mr I looked seriously smart in his get up. And of course I have to say that C looked so amazing in the best man get up (of course the same as the groom) He does look so amazing in a suit normally but now the whole waistcoat and cravat thing added he look super hot (ok i'm biased) LOL. It was very weird watching him from afar up at the alter.

After a VERY happy Dr & Mr I walked down the aisle out of the church out in to the thankful NOT raining day we all did the photos and congrats and socialising bit until the bundled of into the gorgeous luxury cars and us into the bus and back to the house for the reception.

To be continued....

Slack...

So yeah - am def being slack at my blogging again ...but in my defense I was still pretending i was on holiday at the end of last week and I was waiting for the pictures from our travels around scotland... honestly I'm still waiting for those. The housemate, known as the Ginger Ninja from now on, did show us the pics he had taken of C and I at the wedding but I've not gotten them from his computer to mine yet!

Well i'll still just write some random stuff about the wedding and travel and stuff and we'll see how far I get with the rest of the day before I bugger off home.

The friday of the last post was just insane...rushing to get work done, having my review lunch thing, rushing off to the airport, check-in, being delayed and not knowing why, getting into Edinburgh late, fighting with car hire place re after hours charge due to being delayed...lets just say that by the time we actually made it to the farmhouse accommodation on the estate where the wedding was, I was absolutely FINISHED. But we did do some socialising with the people that were still up at midnight.

At about 00:45 the groom, Mr intellectual, came crashing into the kitchen holding up his jeans in one hand and the phone held to his ear in the other trying to talk to a taxi driver that didnt sound like he was speaking english. It turned out that the last of the relatives that were arriving to stay at the other accommodation on the estate were in a taxi who was lost on the estate and had no idea where he was or where he was going. C and Mr I had to then jump into our rental car (we were like one of the other people there with a car) and go find the taxi and get them to the right place.

I heard afterwards that once they got them to the cottage Mr I started to walk them to the door then suddenly realised that his bride to be was in there as well and he literally went screaming back to the car - least he get into trouble for seeing the bride the night before the wedding.

I obviously didnt get to sleep until C was finally back and cuddled up in bed with me around 01:30 probably closer to 2am !!

The saturday of the wedding started off chilled enough with us strolling downstairs at 9am to make toast and sociallise a little more with the other that werent up late the night before. Then after chilling around for a bit we started figuring out what needed to be done...oh fuck was it alot. Firstly we had to start moving things over to the main house as us and the groom and others were staying there that night instead of the farmhouse where others would be arriving to stay later.

after a few runs we realised that time was running out ... C and Mr I had to be dressed and photos taken in 10 mins...we def ran late there and then we had to get C and Ginger Ninja over to the house to meet with the wedding co-ordinator. I quickly got ready and dressed etc (except for the heels) and we headed off to the main house...C got the list of his responsibilities which was very badly thought out and seemed to have him doing everything...mainly the problem was that if he was organising and lifting people around the estate to get everyone to the main house at 2:30 for the bus how could he be at the farmhouse with the groom getting the fancy car to the church at 2??? I mean really.

I there I was running around, hopping in and out of the car, fetching and carrying people to the main house. The annoying thing was there was no bloody cellphone reception on the whole estate. So when I needed to arrange times for the guest to be ready I had to drive to where they were knock on thier door, arrange a time and then go away and come back like 20 mins later. And these were people that I didnt know! Oh well it was all for C and good friends so I didnt really mind at all !!! Anything to make the day stress free for them. Besides it was better having things to do rather then sitting around not knowing what to do with myself alone.

After the bride being the obligatory late in coming down from upstairs we were able to head off to the church. But in all honestlywho would blame her as trying to get down 3 flights of a stone spiral staircase in a traditional wedding dress complete with hoop under skirt is pretty hard !!

To be continued...

The Hen Party

Well i suppose this was the next entry in my life which i should write about...i've been trying to sit down and write about it basically since i cam back last week. But things got too hectic once again esp since i was trying to work my ass off so that I could take the thursday off work (which i did...but that is another post! )


So on with the hen party story. This was my very first hen party so I had no idea what to expect. It seems things are def done differently here in the UK. Mostly it is a weekend long event involving everyone going away somewhere, doing an activity and then heading out for a night on the town all dressed up in fancy dress with the bride with her L plates on. (Learners license reference that I dont quite get.) Thank goodness Dr Intellectual banned all fancy dress and L plates stuff!



So the venue for this hen party was Manchester - seemed most logical since half the girls were from Edinburgh and the other half from either london or cambridge way. Dr and I headed off on the train on friday and got into Manchester in the afternoon. The maid of honour had set us all up in a hotel that had more of an apartment feel and her and Dr had the pent house option with 2 floors...one with the bedrooms and the other with a kitchen, lounge and dining area plus patio area for everyone to hang out in. It was a very cool set up and worked very well with us chilling outside drinking bubbly all afternoon and then migrating into the lounge for pizza and wine while we wait for others to arrive.


Once a large bunch of the girls from Edinburgh girls arrived (already drunk from the 5 bottles of wine on the 3 couch train) we got into more pizza and wine and a game of mr & mrs. This was mildly entertaining cept I think that Mr Intellectual answered some of his questions incorrectly (or didnt get the exact point of the game which is very likely) The best part was when Dr was asked what Mr Intellectual would say are her favorite pants (underwear for the saffa's) and after she answered the maid of honour threw and envelope at Dr which had a lacy white thong of hers inside... it turns out that he could only steal her least favorite ones as she would notice if her favorite ones where missing!


Otherwise there was lots of talking and getting to know people and funniest story about Dr. It was rather strange as I was the only one that didnt really know Dr that directly - kept having to say that I was just the gf of the best man! Plus then it also came up that I knew the grooms ffamily before i even knew of Mr Intelletual himself !!!



Then we all heading off to bed with our respective room mates - me obviously with a stranger as I didnt know anyone! It was def interesting heading off to this weekend knowing that I knew the Bride and 1 other person (and not well i might add)

Day 2 - the actual "day" of the hen party. This started off with an inpromptu visit to the manchester Primark (OMG it is HUGE!!!) with a bunch of the girls to go find shorts for the pole dancing session later in the day. Then off to the resturant around the corner from the hotel for brunch and to meet the rest of the girls that were arriving. Food was definitely needed and this was about midday by now. Then bundled back to the hotel for pole dancing stuff and off to the pole dancing session at the manchester fitness first gym.



The "Poletastic" session was pretty good...well I def enjoyed it. I realised that i've obviously been to my fair share of strip joints and actually had an idea of what it was supposed to look like. I found pretty much all the girls very reserved and as none of them had ever been to a strip club had no idea what they were doing. I mean I wasnt amazingly brilliant at it ...but at least I kinda knew what sexy looked like and how to "work it" .... but hey they all tried and that is the point. The one chick i was pair with I thought was amazing mostly because she was brought Morman in salt lake city utah (the "mecca" of Mormanisim) and had only broken away 8 years ago. She was called a slut by her mom for wear trousers just above her knew and a tank top! She w

as really interested in the "sexy" side to the pole dancing and the body confidence that comes with it. I had great fun coaching her :)

Anways...so these are the bruises from just one leg that appeared only about 2 hours later!!! both insides of my legs were bruised and the outside of my right leg and my right calf !! was so funny !

After stopping for some cocktails and organising more booze for the coming evening we head back to the hotel to get ready for the night and order chinese for dinner...


The evening entertainment in the penhouse apartment was a "lecture" about Dr's dating history leading up to the meeting of Mr Intelletual. Was was funny with some very interesting stories coming out. Then the maid of honour had organised a game of "blind date". She had contacted Mr Intellectual and 2 other ex bf's and a "red herring" and got them to answer a bunch of questions like - If you were a take away food what would would you be? - and then got 4 of the girls there to play the guys and Dr got handed the questions to ask. This was all very much set up like the whole blind date tv show (or for another reference like they do on the movie Mall Rats). It worked beautifully !! and of course she did pick her lovely husband to be! She guessed the ex's with no problems but battled with the "red herring" this is because it was my bf C, the best man!!! Was SO funny !!! I picked out that it was him after his frist answer of the fact that he would be a kebab with lashings of Chilli and garlic sauce !!! It was very hard not to laugh too hard at the questions he gave !


The maid of honour then handed out cards with dares for us to get Dr to do once out at the club. But as I guessed very few got her to do anything...it really wasnt her or some of the others thing.

Anyways we finally headed off to the club at about midnight...there was lots of dancing to cheesey music (which if you know me isnt really my thing) and surprising veyr little drinking. Of course this being the UK the bar stopped serving at 2am and most people were out the door by 2:15. We were all back in the hotel in bed by 2:30...This is just dont get!!! I think that maybe when i get it into my mind that this is going to be a HUGE night out i expect only to be coming home with the sunrising !!! but anyway that just seems to be me.



I found the whole weekend very interesting and kinda exhausting in the sense that you are constantly talking to someone and doing that whole getting to know them kind of conversations. I did feel like i was very different to all the girls there. Alot where married or close to marrige and all way too settled for my liking. I still think that if you are under 30 at least you should still be being young and frivilous even if you are in a relationship. I had C going "now dont forget to flirty with all the boy out!!" - i know he is nuts... but my point is that he expects me to go out there and be the bubbly friendly over the top person that I am because i havent changed just because i'm dating him. He trusts me and that is what is important.



I did have a very interesting moment with a chick that is engaged to the other best friend of the groom. She is a very hard and cold seeming chick from Austria. She is very i'm miss cool and your not. I def think that it is just a defence mechanism for insecurity. So her attitude to me changed so suddenly when she saw how i was dressed to go out. She thought i looked supper cool and edgey like I had just come straight from a rock gig. And then she was happy to latch onto me and chatter away about anything and even some really personal stuff...all because she suddenly had a different view of me from my clothes and shoes.


Anyways... the sunday was all about waiting for the train and travelling back in the very cool and quiet 1st class. I think that the food and drinks guy took a liking to me and kept trying to force more packets of crisps and water on me. I know it is his job - but it was just more then his wheeling of the trolley past the other people.

And that is that...my very long post of the hen weekend !!!

Climbing on the Long weekend in the Peak

We had an awesome long weekend in the Peak district for my first time doing traditional climbing (Trad for short) And I can say that I absolutly loved the gritstone rock up there! The climbing was really good and very exhilarating even if I was only seconding C (so basically top roping while cleaning the gear as I go)

So not to bore you with too many words about it all...here are some of the pics (sorry for all the pictures of rock if your not interested.)

*Stanage - the first crag we climbed at*
*Very popular classic climb called Flying buttress*

*View from the top of Stanage*

*Moors at the top of Stanage*

*Flying Buttress side on - the large bit of rock jutting out*
* Christmas Crack - one of the top 50 climbs of the Eastern Peak area*

*Sunset at Stanage*

*Supposedly easy climb in the other crag we climbed (i've forgotten the name) It would probably have been much easier if it wasnt raining during the climb. Oh well was still fun!*


*This was a climb up the crack to the higher roof, traverse under it and around the side to the top ! What an amazing climb - was so amazed that I did it with style even though I was freaking out!*





*And finally a completely different picture - 3500 year old remains of a standing stone ceremonial circle and burial tomb*

Aconcagua

I feel like I should be writing about where C has missioned off to to climb his mountain. Also cause this has been such a huge part of life for the last few months. I never thought I would have so much fun shopping for outdoor gear !



C has been wanting to go hike up Aconcagua for ages now and there has been talk about it since I met him. Having already hiked Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya which are the highest and second highest mountains in Africa he needed the next challenge. So why not aim high (excuse the pun) and got not for the next highest set of mountains but the highest peak outside the Himalayas!! So at this very moment he is at 5500m above sea level and is heading for the summit of 6.962m.



He is walking up the Vacas Valley Route which is the longer route of 2 possible routes. It is 19 days of expedition and of course extra days to travel there etc. So he will be gone for 3 weeks !! :( So far i've made it about half way and just cant wait to have him home!



Of course it is worrying to have him go and do this as it isnt exactly the safest thing to do. People were telling me I was being silly to worry - but there is an aspect to it that you cannot ignore. Dont get me wrong i'm not killing myself with worry or stupid enough to be the kind of girlfriend that would turn around and demand that he not go and do this cause I dont want him too cause it is too dangerous. Actually I'm the opposite, I know it is scary and dangerous etc but doing this kind of thing is part of him and his personality. If I tried to deny him this then I would be denying part of the man I love. But it is more then that cause it is a part of him that I fell in love with, part of him that I was attracted to! Why would I want to deny him this?!? I miss him terribly and would rather not have to be without him but I'm so proud of him and I know what he is doing is a once in a lifetime experience that he will treasure forever. And that makes me happy !


(I know your going to read this - so will just say sorry for putting it out there for all the read but that is what i do - Love you! Mwah)

Oh and I got more creative with my blog and added a few more links in the writing :)

Christmas Skiing Holiday

Well it is the first day back to work in the new year and since am waiting around for work I thourght i would post up the pictures of Christmas skiing. We had the most stunning time - what a way to spend Christmas holidays :)

So here are the photos :) Click the link ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/gemma.montgomery/ChristmasSkiingHoliday2007

Ireland

So our trip to Ireland was the least organised of all our trips so far. We basically bought the flights about 2 weeks before leaving and only sorted out the hire car and accomodation the day before leaving !! But it all worked out and we had a lovely relaxing time away.

On the tuesday evening straight after work we got a flight through to Dublin, picked up the hire car and set off to find the hotel. And after a few circles of the temple bar area we finally spotted the hotel and then had to start trying to find parking ...and finally settle on a parking garage nearby that did turn out to be the right place as the hotel provided a discount for that particular one. After check in we basically went up to the room and crashed as it was now 1am - but not without a little tv watching since we are Tv-less at home.

Wednesday consisted of a Hop on Hop off bus tour of Dublin with use stopping and doing the tourist thing at the guinness factory (started in 1759 and still there), the Kilmainham goal (very interesting place and learnt loads about irish history), and the Jamison whiskey distillery (ok so this one was more for Callum - but it was still very cool) We then headed back to the temple bar area and settled down in the Bull and Castle for dinner of a HUGE steak and deep fryed mars bar from desert (more known as a Scottish thing tho) We then rolled back to the hotel and finished off the day by lying there holding our stomachs from the over indulgence of food and watching tv again :)

Thursday started off nice and slow and we head off and found the most stunning little shop called the Queen of Tarts for breakfast which was so yummy! Def a reamendattion to anyone going to Dublin. We then walked down to the end of the road to Trinity college (stopping off first to buy a memory card for the camera since its one had been left at home rendering us pictureless for the first day) In Trinity college we saw the book of Kells and the exhibition. Afterwards we headed down the shopping roads and then back to the car.

Once in the car we headed off North to the Passage tombs. This is truely an amazing experience. The Tomb we went to was the largest in the area and was built in 3000 BC - just think that is 5000 years ago ! Insane to think. We got a guided tours and went inside which was very strange - it is a long narrow passage way to a small 'room' with the 3 little niches on the sides that held the carved stone basins that used to hold remains. There were also tons of beautiful stone carving inside the tomb. It then has earth and stones piled on top of it - about 3m deep. And on the winter solstice the sun rises and shines up the passage way and into the tomb. They tried to recreate it with light bulbs which meant that we were in the small tomb with 25 people (it is pretty tight) and in pitch black darkness for sometime.

After that we headed back to Dublin for Dinner and found and lovely italian restruant and had our selves some pizza and wine.

Friday - we said goodbye to Dublin after breakfast in an american styled diner and headed off down the coast to Cork. We took some nice little back roads along the way and got to see ruins from the roadside and then finally stopped in Duncannon for a little walk on the blue flag status beach and have a look at the fort (which was very impressive for a fort - like a little village itself)

We then headed off to try find out way back to the main route and found a car ferry that crossed the river making our journey even shorter. Plus is was just so cool to drive the car onto a ferry to cross a body of water - its the kind of thing you see in the movies all the time but have never done. Was so cool ! We then headed through waterford which is *surprise surprise* where waterford crystal comes from and onto a small little town with a pretty (but polluted) harbour for lunch/dinner. We found a pub called the moorings on the harbour front that was populated with locals speaking a incompreshable form of english with such a think irish accent. We had a very difficult time understanding the waiter/barman - was very funny.

Finally we made it to Cork at about 19:30 and after doing circles of the city we found our way to the B&B - they do love their one way roads in Ireland. We then crashed once again after a lovely day.

Saturday - We found ourselves a bus tour of the city and learnt alot about the city in the medeviel times and the fact that the city centre was originally 14 islands and now is one big land mass with the river still running underneath it. Was very weird to think about it. We then went for a wonder around town - it is very small. And then around lunch time we head back to the B&B to grab the car and head to Blarney Castle outside of Cork.

Blarney Castle was AWESOME. It was a large home and it has been left in whatever condition it has landed up in - it hasnt been rebuilt or gussyed up to look like it used to. you have to use your imagination to see what it was like. You get to roam the castle exploring all the little places and rooms and staircases etc. as you work your way up to the blarney stone. We even went climbing up pitch black staircases in caves to try and discover the prisons and secret passage ways of the castle. We finally got to the top of the castle to kiss the Blarney stone...so yes we have now kissed the Blarney Stone, which let me tell you was seriously scary for me as you sit on the stone edge of the top of the castle and then get held over backward to kiss the stone by a guy that sits there and hold people all day long. It was even more scary for me since i'm so short that my butt had to go right over the edge of the stone that you sit on!

After the castle and the obligatory picture buying experience we were back in Cork wondering what to do with our last evening. This is were my ever handy blackberry came into its own as I searched the web and found out what shows were on in Cork. We settled on the Irish comedy musical improbable frequency. So we set off on the normal 10 min walk into the city centre from the B&B in a light drizzle which proceeded to to an out right downpour of rain which made walking even slower as we got more and more drenched. Thank heavens for my longer coat which stopped the top half of my jean from getting soaking wet and the umbrella that kept my head dry otherwise the rest of me was completely and utterly WET. Callum was even worse and the wringing out of his coat was hysterical and amazing all rolled into one. We finally got to the Opera house and got tickets for the show and then tackled the idea of dinner. That landed up being at the closest resturant we could see so that we were not in the rain any more then we needed to be.

The musical was great - i think alot of the Irish jokes went over our heads - but it was still funny and they took the piss out of themselves and the British. It was also a little rocky horroresque in the sci fi/fantasy sense which was great.

Sunday morning dawned as a beautiful sunny morning (albeit cold) much to our distaste ! especially since all we have time for was packing the bags and driving to the airport and getting on the plane. This all went smoothly even with the hour delay of the plane. But it hardly affected us as we were just too chilled out. Then of course once back in London having to taking the tube home which takes as long as the flight.

Luckily I had taken Monday off work as well so got an extra day to do absolutely nothing which was great !! And on Sunday night Paul and Alice had us round to their place for dinner - pasta and whiskey was the theme. And after a long day is was great to have someone else cooking dinner.

Well that is it - finally all written down - this has taken an entire day of broken up intervals of typing and a fire drill as well to get it complete.

Below is the link to the photos, they are not all uploaded there yet as i'm waiting for the ones off the other camera but should be there soon. Have a lookie see....

Ireland 2007

Spain Day 2

Needless to say after being up for 24hours the day before we were definitely slow to start in the morning! Finally once up and showered and sunscreened up against the hot day we headed out. Caught the bus into Palma again to see it in the daylight. We stroll back along the pedestrian area to find somewhere to eat ...it is now 1/2pm and we haven't eaten yet. We found a lovely shady strip of cafes and tapas places across from the cathedral.

After a nice long wait at the table for the menu (Spanish time is so much slower then Africa time!) and then trying to decipher the menu and order it from the non English speaking staff. There was loads of pointing going on!

We then strolled around to the 'lake' next to the cathedral and then up to the cathedral where we went in and had a look around. I must say that the Spanish catholics were a pretty morbid bunch. The seemed to be obsessed with bones and skulls. There was lots of this in the imagery around the inside as well as certain items(relics, artifacts) like goblets with pieces of the persons skull built into the design and rosary crosses with actual finger bones used as the cross with gold surrounds. The inside was beautiful with all the Gothic architecture and amazing height. There was even a section on the nave to the one side of the alter which was redone by Gaudi - which of course you could tell right away.

After that we carried on strolling around the old city with all it cute Spanish lanes and balconies over flowing with flowers. It all looked so unreal like something out of a movie or book. We enjoyed taking random turns and seeing where we would land up. we got ourself stunning ice creams along the way and also did some shopping while we were at it. C was def in need of flip flops in the heat as he only had heavy hiking shoes.

Then we make it back to Illetas and back down to the beach as the tan is now coming along nicely and we do need to soak up as much sunlight and UV rays as possible. Am very glad that even though it was so hot the UV rays in Spain dont seem s to be as harsh as the ozoneless rays that we get in SA.

By now it is about 5/6pm and food is calling us so we stop at the other resturant on the beach for a snack. We are by now getting better with our Spanish and are able to make orders and use other single words like thanks. This causes the waiters to speak to us in Spanish but doesn seem to be too much of a problem since we got what we wanted and didnt have to speak english and point to make ourselves understood.

Then eventually we head back to the flat from 8pm to say goodbye to Ingrid as she is off to cover the Americas cup in Valencia. After the hot day and time on the beach we freshened up with a shower and head out to meet Kev and Cala at his local little bar restaurant which is basically an open to the street tiled room with cafe tables. It does happen to be a mins walk from the flat and is always on the route back from walking Cala. It is called du peitte jardin (the small garden - no garden in sight?!?!) but the locals call it deigos as that is the owners name !

We enjoyed the evening out there drinking with Kev and a friend of his Filthy Fiona and of course Cala ...who is enjoying greeting everyone going passed and trying to beg food as all dogs do. We finally eat at about midnight which is becoming a habit !

Then off to much needed bed as a heavy night is promised for the next (friday) night.

Spain Day 1

Ok so I've been trying for this whole week to sit down and start writing some blogs about Spain but have been way too exhausted to even think! Luckily it has been a really quiet week at work and have been able to tune out a bit.

so here I go:

Thanks to one very lazy Sunday afternoon I booked our flights to Palma, Mallorca for 6am thinking it was 6pm on Tuesday the 20th June. I have no idea how I did that but I just did. But even though it was an early start I still think it turned out pretty well giving us more time in Spain!

So this early start was 2am !!! which was only possible thanks to much harassment by C to get me up and into the shower. 20 mins later the taxi was at the door and I was throwing clothes on. Thankfully we had been pretty good at planning ahead on the packing and had the bag already waiting :)

Jumped into the taxi and down to Kentish town station for the very 1st train of the morning ! It was actually great being on the train so early with hardly anyone cept an entertaining (but don't make eye contact) drunk footie supporter ! We cruised into gatwick before you knew it and onto the self service check in machines. Which were very cool !

Then it was time for a spot of food at 5am ...and off to the boarding gate. After sitting there for about 10 mins we get the announcement that the flight has been delay for a short while due to the navigation system having to be checked. We only sat there for another 30 mins and then got to board the plane. once on the plane we get another announcement from the pilot that something else is needing to be sorted out and that it shouldn't be too long. After about 15 mins of waiting for that to be resolved we get told that there are too many bags on the plane and that all of the bag will have to be taken off the plane rescanned to sort to the ones that truly have to be on the plane and then pack them back. Since I'm sitting over the baggage compartment i get to watch them truly do all of this. Finally we are told that we can take off now and that they had just miscounted the bag in the rear and that they were all back on the plane.

Finally we taxi onto the runway and start the take off...we accelerate and then it seems that just as we would be taking off the pilot puts on the brakes ! Flaps up screeching to a halt suddenly we are standing still on the runway. Then we are taxi-ing back. We get told that the system is still broken and that they couldn't read their speed and had to replace the part. So there we sat on the runway for another hour or so. We are now hitting the time that we are supposed to be landing in Palma and we haven't even left yet ! The flight was shorter then the delay was but finally we cruise into Palma at 11:30am.

We called my brother, Kevin, as we landed and he cruised through and was waiting for us once we had come through immigration and collecting our bags. We then headed off to his place. He has a flat that is a block up from the sea with a stunning view of the med through the pine trees. We basically dumped our bags changed into beach gear, meet his little dog Cala and head off to the beach to find my other brother's ex girlfriend who was also staying with Kevin since she was in town photographing the regatta of HUGE power yachts. These are yachts that are minimum 150 foot long - that are crazy huge !!! The main Illetas (the little 'town' - more like a suburb - where Kevin lives) beach is only 5 mins walk from his flat. We walked down there found ourselves a spot on the busy beach by the water. And of course had to go and try out the Mediterranean water. Wow is it stunning and warm - it was absolutely beautiful and very refreshing in the intense heat that is Spain. Then we started on the much needed tan !!!

I would just like to comment that the Spanish seem to have going topless on the beach as part of their culture. It is almost weird to have a bikini top on. It obviously is just completely natural cause it was like this on every single beach we visited and then more locals on the beach the more topless woman...so if there are topless woman in our holiday pics, it was unavoidable !



We all then decided that it was time for lunch and head to one of the restaurants on the beach for a stunning lunch of fresh fish. Was so yummy ! and had very full tummies as C, Ingrid and myself head back to the beach to lie in the sun more.

Finally after sunning ourselves and swimming and sunning ourselves more and chatting we realise that it is about 6:30 (the sun still being pretty high in the sky put us off the time) and we head back to the flat to get ourselves ready to head off to Palma for some dinner and drinks.

A 15 minute bus ride and we arrive in the centre of Palma and Kevin leads us off down one of the many alleyways to a cute till Tapas restaurant. Now I have been to what are called Tapas restaurants in Cape Town but they really are nothing like the true Spanish tapas. You basically walk up to the counter whenever you want which has always got lots of little plates with little picky food things (half of which i had no idea what they were). You get a large plate and then just pick what you want from all the little plates. then you keep the toothpicks that are stuck in the food and that is how you are charged for your meal. There is a constant flow of new things arriving on the counter. I was picking food that I had no idea what it was. Mostly they were great! C and I only made one mistake each, I picked a deep fried chilli (kinda like chilli poppers) which C was more then happy to take off my hands and he picked a fishy thing that neither of us liked. Anyway was def a great experience and have since heard of an authentic Spanish tapas bar here in Camden that we are going to have to make a plan to go to.

After dinner we take a stroll though a bit of the old town and then main pedestrian walkway down passed the cathedral all lit up white in the dark night sky (yes it was finally dark !) We then made our way to a place called Abaco. It is basically an old traditional Spanish house that they have restored and then made into a very swanky drinks bar - where the drinks are seriously costly ...cept if you are spending Pounds like we were so was normal London cocktail prices to us. We had a wonder around the house through the old restored rooms. It was really great to see. We then settled down in the beautiful courtyard with a fountain in the centre and lights everywhere. There was classical music playing and an avery of birds filling the air with their song. We were sadly rushed through our cocktails by a very rude Spanish maitrd (spelling?).

After more strolling through the streets we realise that it is about 1am ... so we head off home getting to bead about about 2:30. I would just like to point out that this is 24.5 hours after we got up !!! I just couldnt beleive that I had survived 24 hours and wasnt to worse for wear ! But was definitely glad to be going to sleep !