A Wife in London

Michael was in for a very busy week at work and as he planned on working late each night and over the weekend, he suggested that I head over to London for the week.  I couldn’t book my flights quick enough!  I arrived at James and Amber’s just in time for dinner and we had a lovely evening catching up.

I was up early the next morning as I was off to the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich to undertake a tour of the Painted Hall.  The magnificent ceiling is presently undergoing a massive restoration project, and for a limited time you can ascend a giant scaffold 60 feet in the air to view up close The Triumph of Peace and Liberty over Tyranny.  We donned our high visibility vests and hard hats and, after a safety briefing from our guide, we climbed the 70 steps to the observation deck, where we were within 2 feet of the actual ceiling.  It was incredible seeing the details of the paintings from such close quarters and we were given large, hand held mirrors, so that we could view the works without twisting our necks.  There are over 200 allegorical, mythological and historical characters depicted over 40,000 square feet.  Our guide was informative and enthusiastically pointed out various highlights of Sir James Thornhill’s masterpiece.  We were then given time to ourselves to wander around and look closely at whatever interested us most.  It was a remarkable experience and I really hope that one day I can return and see the completed restoration.

Lunch was next on the agenda, so I headed over to the historic Greenwich Market for a quick bite and a look at the various stalls.  Then it was off to do something that I have wanted to for some time – walk the Greenwich foot tunnel.  This tunnel crosses beneath the River Thames linking Greenwich with the Isle of Dogs.  The tunnel opened in 1902 and the entrance shafts at each end are beneath glazed domes.  I descended a giant, spiral staircase and then walked the length of the tunnel, marvelling at the fact that I was actually under the River Thames.  There is one small section of the tunnel which is considerably narrower than the rest, as that section was damaged by bombs during the Second World War and the repair works included a thick steel and concrete lining.  It certainly was a different way to access the other side of the Thames.  I then walked the stretch of the river between the Isle of Dogs and Tower Bridge.  I always enjoy walking along the Thames as there is so much to see along the way and I can indulge in my favourite fantasy of “if I win the lottery, where would I chose to live”.  There are so many lovely apartments lining the Thames and I think it must be marvellous to live overlooking the river.  I enjoyed my walk so much that I continued walking all the way back to Angel.

James had booked dinner at Ottolenghi in Islington however he made a mistake, and had actually booked the restaurant for the following evening.  It wasn’t really a problem as there are many other restaurants within easy walking distance.  We decided on a lovely Italian restaurant and the three of us enjoyed a relaxing evening.

I had another interesting tour booked for the next day – the Houses of Parliament.  I navigated my way through the first police check, where I was asked where I was from and issued with my security lanyard and visitor pass.  Next stop was to have my handbag searched.  Now, for Christmas Michael gave me a beautiful antique gold harp necklace inlaid with a sliver of Connemara Marble and it draws compliments whenever I wear it.  The police officer conducting my bag search commented that she liked my necklace.  I smiled, thanked her and puffed my chest out a little.  Then she said -“it’s the Guinness symbol, innit?”  My chest quickly deflated!  Then it was through the final security check before collecting my audio tour.  The tour began in Westminster Hall, a vast area with a magnificent roof lined with oak timbers.  There were a number of plaques along the floor commemorating various lyings-in-state of past Sovereigns and others, such as Sir Winston Churchill and other plaques commemorating foreign leaders who have addressed the parliament there, most notably Nelson Mandela.  It is considered a rare privilege for a foreign leader to be allowed to address both houses in Westminster Hall, hence the controversy when Donald Trump was invited for a state visit.  I then moved through into St Stephen’s Hall where statues of famous parliamentarians including Robert Walpole and William Pitt faced each other on either side of the wall.  There were also beautiful stained glass windows, mosaics and paintings throughout.  It really was quite lovely.  Photographs are only permitted in Westminster Hall and Stephen’s Hall.  The next area was the Central Lobby, which is very familiar as this is where television political reporters always interview the politicians.  It was a real thrill to continue the rest of the tour through the lavishly decorated Lords Chamber with its Royal Throne, Prince’s Chamber, Royal Gallery where state receptions are held, and of course to see the Robing Room where the Queen puts on the Imperial State Crown and her ceremonial robes before making her way to the House of Lords.  Then it was through to the Members’ Lobby where I saw the damage to one of the doors between the Member’s Lobby and the Commons Chamber caused by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod knocking three times to deliver his summons to the State Opening of Parliament and the statues of Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George, each with one shiny foot where MPs touch them for luck.  The tour finished in the Commons Chamber, which was by far the plainest room.  The tour was utterly fantastic and I would love to visit again, as it was impossible to take in all of the history and splendour on display. 
 

Lunch was a quick bite in the Houses of Parliament café before I caught the train to the Natural History Museum.  James and Amber had kindly given me a ticket to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.  I had to queue for about half an hour to gain entry to the museum, as it was school holidays.  Once I was admitted and had the obligatory bag check, I made my way to the exhibition, which was blissfully crowd-free.  The photos were truly astonishing in their varied subject matter and clarity.  My favourite photograph was of an urban fox cheekily peeking over a wall.  I enjoyed my time there so much that I actually walked back through the exhibition to view all of the photographs a second time.

Amber was meeting a friend for dinner so James and I had a mother and son evening planned.  We started with dinner at my favourite Afghan restaurant, which was delicious as always.  Next was a visit to the cinema.  James and I are both Stephen King fans and as we have both read the Dark Tower series of books it was only natural that we should go and see The Dark Tower.  The best that we could say was that it was interesting as it had elements of the books however it was puzzling as to what was included in the film and what was omitted.  The actors were very good in their roles and I am glad that I saw the movie.  We followed the movie with a gelato flower cone – delicious.

The next morning I farewelled James as he and Amber were off to Turkey for the long weekend.  Once again I wasn’t too sad saying goodbye as all being well, we will see them again at Christmas.  I made my way to Buckingham Palace as I had ticket to view the State Rooms again.  I had retained my ticket from last year’s visit as it entitles you to free re-admission for a year.  I had wanted to visit again as there was a special exhibition of official gifts presented to Her Majesty during the past 65 years.  There were many lavish and sometimes odd gifts on display including a portrait of Her Majesty woven from banana leaves and a 100ft totem pole.  One wonders what the Duke of Edinburgh had to say about some of the gifts!  There was also a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales in a special display in the Music Room.  The centrepiece was Diana’s desk from Kensington Palace with personal objects selected by Princes William and Harry such as her ballet shoes and cassettes.  It was only a small display however it was strangely moving.  I spent the rest of my time at the Palace looking carefully at the beautiful artworks and furnishings and listening to the very interesting and informative audio guide.  I finished the tour sitting in the sunshine in the garden enjoying an ice cream.  It was a little disconcerting then to learn that only 8 hours later there was an attempted attack on police outside the palace. A man drove his car at a police van and then lunged for a 4ft sword that he had hidden in his car.  I am not sure what he was trying to achieve by attacking such a heavily secured area and thankfully the police only received minor injuries.

In the afternoon, I took a walk to the Supreme Court in Parliament Square, as they were having an open day.  The building itself is very grand and was completed in 1913 and was used by Middlesex County Council for their administration and council meetings.  When the building was chosen as the home for the Supreme Court, a major renovation operation took place to restore the building to its former grandeur.  A relief frieze runs around the outside depicting historical scenes including King John handing the Magna Carta to the barons at Runnymede.  Inside, after passing through security, I was able to view the impressive triple height library and access one of the Courtrooms.  There was also a permanent exhibition giving an insight into the work and history of the Supreme Court.  It was all very interesting.

It was time to head home, and with the house to myself, I started to binge watch The Crown on James and Amber’s Netflix.  I thought it was very good particularly John Lithgow’s portrayal of Winston Churchill.  Now I just have to wrangle another invitation to stay at James and Amber’s so that I can see the second series!

The weekend is always my favourite time in London, as I get to visit the different markets.  I started on Saturday with a visit to the Broadway Market.  I love the walk along the canal to get there, although I must have enjoyed my walk a little too much as I missed the turnoff and kept walking, not realising my mistake until I had gone way past it.  I doubled back and enjoyed looking at all the food stalls while sipping my coffee.  It is a great market and I love the relaxed vibe of young people enjoying themselves with dogs and children everywhere.  I started to get very hot, as I had only packed warm clothes for my visit, so I decided to walk back along the canal to Angel to buy some t-shirts.  I called into Marks and Spencer (I love that store), selected a few tops and returned home to change.  I was really hot by now and was convinced that the temperature must be over 30 degrees.  I was amazed to find upon checking the weather that it was only 24.  I really am going to have trouble readjusting to Australian weather when I return home!

Graffiti in Angel

Fancy a hot tub on the canal?

Sunday was Columbia Road Flower Market day.  It doesn’t matter how many times I visit that market as I always find something different to see.  I went nice and early so it wasn’t too crowded and it was lovely to see all the fresh flowers and listen to the banter of the market-stall holders.  Next stop was Victoria Park to see the market there.  This market has grown since my last visit, and as it was such a lovely day, there were people everywhere enjoying the park and market.  I then took a walk into the city to Seven Dials, Covent Garden and wandered the general area.  I have said it before, but time really is a luxury.

Bank Holiday Monday in August means only one thing in London – Notting Hill Carnival.  I was a little unsure whether to go on my own as it was going to be hot (28 degrees) and crowded, however James and Amber convinced me that I would enjoy myself.  I alighted at Queensway Station ready to make my way to the carnival, when I came across Café Diana.  I had read about this café some time ago however I had promptly forgotten about it.  The café is across the road from Kensington Gardens and the walls are decorated with framed photos and press cuttings of the Princess of Wales.  I took a seat and enjoyed a coffee, all the while admiring the many pictures.  Diana used to bring the young princes to the café for breakfast, much to the delight of the owner.  There is even a signed picture of her on the wall. 
 

I followed the moving crowd to the carnival and I have to say, I have never seen so many police officers in one area.  They kept arriving by the coach load and would make their way to their positions in a slow moving conga line, each holding on to the belt of the police person in front of them.  It looked as though the police would outnumber the crowd at one stage, but then the people just kept coming.  I found myself a position on the parade route, and then settled back to watch the dancers, musicians and floats.  The costumes were amazing with sequins and feathers in abundance.  The dancers happily posed for photos with the spectators and it was almost impossible not to join in with the dancing, so loud was the music and so intoxicating was the rhythm.  The air was full of blue smoke from the many jerk chicken vendors and I just had to have a Jamaican patty.  I must have spent a good while people watching and it was lovely to see everyone having such a good time.  I saw no anti social or drunken behaviour, just people of all ages having fun. 

I took a walk around the whole area and it was confronting to come across the horror of the burnt out shell of Grenfell Tower.  We have all seen the terrible news footage of the fire and many photos of the tower shell but nothing can prepare you for actually seeing it.  Police had blocked the main access street to the tower and it was touching to see the number of people who approached the police to shake their hands and pay tribute to the victims.  A minute’s silence was observed at 3.00pm and performers lowered their music and walked respectfully past the area.

I must admit that my party mood evaporated at this point, so I decided to take a walk up to Kensington Palace.  It took me a great deal of time to negotiate my way through the crowd however I eventually emerged unscathed.  I had tried to obtain tickets to see the exhibition Diana: Her Fashion Story, however the exhibition remains fully booked.  I now wanted to see the White Garden, which had been planted with white flowers and foliage in her memory.  The garden is viewed from a public walkway and is really very beautiful.  I then took a walk to the main gate and although the anniversary of her death was still three days away, tributes had already been left and a small crowd gathered to look at the flowers, photographs and hand written notes.  It really is extraordinary to think that 20 years have passed.

v

The next day I just had time for a quick tidy up and a final canal walk before it was time to make my way to the airport.  I miss you already London. 

      

      

  

Belfast Town

It was a Bank Holiday long weekend in the Republic, so Michael and I took advantage of the extra day and caught the train to Belfast.  There we met James and Amber, who flew over from London and we set about showing them the city.

The weather was remarkably pleasant (ie not raining), so we were able to walk to the St George’s Market where Michael and James each tucked into a Belfast Bap.  Michael had been looking forward to this lunch for days and it didn’t disappoint.  Amber and I chose a much lighter lunch, then, after a brief look at the market, we walked over to the Titanic Quarter.  We left James and Amber to have a look at the Titanic Experience on their own.  It is a fabulous exhibition, however, as Michael and I have visited it twice previously, we decided to venture back into the city.

 

The Belfast Pride Festival was taking place and we were able to watch thousands of people celebrating Northern Ireland’s LGBT community.  It is strange to realise that the people in the north of Ireland do not enjoy the same marriage equality that is the right of people in the Republic.  One can only hope that the situation will change sooner rather than later (as indeed it should back home in Australia).  The parade was very colourful with many weird and wonderful costumes on display.

We met up with James and Amber back at our hotel before heading out for dinner at Molly’s Yard.  Michael and I had dined in this restaurant housed in a converted Victorian stables on our first trip to Belfast.  This visit, the second time around, did not disappoint.  We all enjoyed our meals and it was nice chatting about travels past and future plans.

Amber was starting to feel the effects of her cold, so we dropped her back at the hotel to enjoy an early night whilst the three of us took a walk into the city centre.  Michael and James shared a drink at Kelly’s Cellars, a traditional Irish pub dating back to 1720.  The building has whitewashed walls and uneven floors and a band was playing.  The joint was jumping as they say, so we stood in the courtyard where we were able to still hear the music and hold a conversation at the same time.  We walked around some more before the rain poured down and we called it a night.

The rain was still pouring the next morning so after breakfast we took a brisk walk to the Ulster Museum.  Currently on display is a giant, 77 metres long Bayeux style tapestry depicting key scenes from every episode of the TV show, Game of Thrones.   Each week, new scenes are added after the latest episode is aired.  The series is not to my taste, however even I was impressed with the tapestry.  There were two ladies working on the next panel as we were there and I couldn’t help thinking that Michael’s mother would have enjoyed sitting there working on the tapestry and chatting with the other ladies.

We returned to our hotel where we were picked up for our Black Taxi Tour.  Michael and I were thrilled to discover that our guide was to be Steve, the same guide we had nearly two years ago.  Once more Steve provided a balanced view of the troubles as well as a comprehensive account of the history of Northern Ireland as he took us through both the Catholic and Protestant areas of Belfast.  At the end of the tour Steve asked Amber and James to guess his religious background and they both guessed the opposite to each other.  I think that they enjoyed the tour and gained some understanding of the complex issues that still face Northern Ireland today.

Steve dropped us into the city centre where we quickly showed James and Amber some of the narrow alleys and murals.  Then it was time for lunch at Yardbird, which claims to be one of the oldest buildings in Belfast, dating back to 1780.  There was no time to linger over lunch though, as James and Amber needed to head out to the airport for their flight home.  It wasn’t a long weekend in England, so they could only stay the one night in Belfast.  It was lovely seeing them again as always, and it won’t be very long until I see them again.

Michael and I spent the next day wandering the streets and shops and getting involved in long conversations with the locals.  Belfast people, like most Irish, are very friendly and as soon as they hear our Australian accents, love to tell us about their Australian experiences/connections.  One gentleman told us about his visit to Melbourne in the 1960’s and how he still remembers the stained glass ceiling at the National Gallery of Victoria.  Another elderly gentleman told us all about his daughter who is a doctor in Ivanhoe.  I was pretty chuffed when he asked Michael if I was his granddaughter, less so when Michael responded that he was talking Blarney!  Later, we got talking to a younger man in the coffee shop and he recommended a visit to a nearby whiskey shop.  When we arrived, we found the shop locked, so we popped in to the pub opposite to find out if he knew where the owner was.  The barman told us that the owner would be back soon and while we waited he regaled us with the history of the street and pub.  It was a really relaxing way to spend the morning.

Lunch was at a fabulous old deli, Sawers, which was established in 1897.  We took a seat under the awning outside and watched the weather change minute by minute from sunshine to rain and back again, whilst sharing a charcuterie board and sipping wine.  Then it was time to return to our hotel and collect our bags for the walk to the station.

The walk was pleasant but as we neared the station we could see an armoured police vehicle blocking one of the streets.  A short while later, another three police cars arrived and we could see about 30 or so teenagers congregated.  Michael and I had stopped to see what was happening when we clearly heard the thud of either a rock or brick hitting one of the police cars.  We took that as our signal to move along and mind our own business.  The following day I read in the news that officers were attacked and cars had been torched by masked youths apparently angered by the removal of wood from the site of a nationalist bonfire.  Petrol bombs, bricks and bottles were hurled and police and a number of cars were destroyed.  I guess it was just another day in Belfast.

Power and the Passion

 

Michael and I headed over to London to stay for the weekend with Amber and James.  We have this journey down pat now, breezing through the security at Dublin airport, enjoying an efficient flight followed by a trouble free train journey to arrive at their home mid afternoon.  Naturally it was lovely to see them again and we spent our time catching up with their news and enjoying a few different gins.  Dinner was at a fabulous gastro pub within walking distance of their home, called the De Beauvoir Arms.  It was so nice dining in a pub without the distraction of televisions on every wall and the food was delicious.

 

On Sunday morning, we took a lovely walk along the canal to Victoria Park to see the newly opened market.  There were all kinds of seasonal fruit and vegetables for sale as well as an array of meats, cheeses, fish and baked goods.  Everything looked lovely and fresh however I knew that Amber had arranged a lovely lunch for us, so I refrained from purchasing anything other than a cup of coffee.  Michael couldn’t resist buying a Scotch egg for his morning tea.  The next stop was the Hackney City Farm.  Yes, there is a farm in suburban London.  We saw pigs, goats and chickens along with donkeys and geese.  It reminded me of the Collingwood Children’s Farm in Melbourne, where we used to take the boys when they were little.

 

Amber booked a wonderful restaurant for our lunch – ROKA Aldwych.  Situated right opposite Australia House, it is a Japanese robatayaki restaurant.  The meal was unbelievably good, with dish after dish being delivered to our table with unlimited wine as well.  It would definitely be worth a return visit and the service was amazing.  I waddled out of there and certainly didn’t need any dinner that evening.  James and Amber continued home whilst Michael and I took a much-needed walk down Regent Street.  The street was closed to traffic for the day and food stalls and entertainment had been set up along its length.  It was good to have the opportunity to walk down the centre of the street, as we were able to have a good look up at the building facades as we walked.  There are some really lovely features, like mosaics, on some of the buildings, which you don’t really get to see when you walk along the footpaths.

 

The main reason for our weekend in London was to see Midnight Oil in concert.  Michael and I caught the train to Hammersmith and we didn’t need directions to the Apollo Theatre, as it was directly opposite the train station.  The theatre itself is a beautifully restored Art Deco style building, which opened in 1932.  The band came on stage and the crowd instantly came alive.  The music was awesome and Peter Garrett has not lost his touch, belting out hit after hit and dancing in his unique style.  I swear that man has unnaturally long forearms!  He is still politically motivated aiming a number of barbs at Trump, May and Australian politicians.  The song lyrics are just as relevant today, which is a little depressing when you realise that some things have not changed since the ‘80’s, like the plight of the indigenous population and environmental concerns.  It was a fun evening and it was good to see old and young people appreciating the music.  My only disappointment was that they didn’t play my favourite Oil’s song, King of the Mountain.  Still, I can’t complain, as they played just about every other hit song over the course of the evening.

 

Our time in London was drawing to a close but there was still one special, magical treat to come.  My Mother’s Day gift from James was Afternoon Tea at The Ritz.  I had been looking forward to this for months, as James had to tell me in advance so that I could pack a suitable outfit.  I had purchased a dress (the first time that I have worn a dress since leaving Australia), new shoes and handbag, and was feeling pretty swish.  James looked especially handsome in his suit and I felt a little guilty that Michael wasn’t joining us.  What can I say about the occasion, other than it was perfect?  We dined in the spectacular Palm Court, which is decorated with beautiful mirrors and chandeliers whilst a pianist played softly in the background.  The food was superb – delicate finger sandwiches, fresh scones with clotted cream and strawberry conserve and gorgeous, little cakes.  There were silver pots of tea and fine china plates.  A serving cart was brought to our table and we were served thin slices of gateau.  It was a thrilling experience and will always be a special memory of my time in London.  Thank you James.    

 

        

Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen

James and Amber had told us wonderful things about Copenhagen, so we decided to take a look for ourselves.  A brief, comfortable Ryan Air flight followed by a short train journey took us to the Grand Hotel in the heart of Copenhagen.  The hotel must have once been grand however the grandeur has somewhat faded now.  Nevertheless, our room was comfortable and we were situated right next to the Tivoli Gardens.

Lunch was the first thing on our agenda so we headed straight to the Tivoli Gardens for a Danish hotdog.  The Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world, operating since 1843 (the oldest, amusement park is located in Klampenborg, Denmark which opened in 1583) and is a fun place to visit for both adults and children.  There are amusement rides set amongst beautiful gardens with lakes and fountains and peacocks strolling amid the crowds.  There are also shops and restaurants and we had a lovely time wandering the area.  In fact, we loved it so much that we visited the gardens 3 times over the course of our stay.  In the summer time, a huge fireworks display is held every Saturday night and we had put it on our list of things to do, until we found out that the display didn’t start until 11.45pm due to the fact that it doesn’t get dark until then.  Michael and I are well and truly in bed by that time so we reluctantly gave that a miss!

We took a canal tour, which was a relaxing way to experience the harbour and canals and it was interesting to see the mixture of old and new architecture along the way.  We saw the famous statue of the Little Mermaid, which only days before our arrival had been drenched in red paint in protest of the hunting of pilot whales around the North Atlantic islands that are under Danish control.  Luckily for us, the statue had been cleaned by the time we saw her.  It wasn’t the first time that the statue has been vandalised and I don’t suppose that it will be the last.  We also saw the Danish frigate HDMS Peder Skram, which is famous for accidentally firing a Harpoon missile in 1982, severing power lines and destroying four unoccupied summer cottages and damaging a further 130 buildings.  Luckily no one was injured and the incident has become known as the “whoopsie missile”.

The next day was a bit drizzly but not enough to discourage us from walking around the city.  We had a look at the Design Museum, which was interesting before heading to the Glyptoteket.  This museum houses an impressive collection of ancient art including Greek and Roman statues and Egyptian mummies.  There is also a large collection of French artworks by artists such as Manet, Monet, Degas, van Gogh, Cezanne and Rodin.  We spent a lovely couple of hours admiring the different works. 

In the afternoon, we visited the Carlsberg Brewery.  The tour was self guided, which I enjoyed, as I really didn’t want to attend another guided tour of a brewery (there are only so many times one can listen to the story of how beer is made).  Once again, the stables were a highlight, as were able to get up close to the draught horses and were able to see one of the horses being washed down.  The tour ended with the obligatory tasting, which Michael enjoyed immensely.  We then took a walk around the outside of the brewery to see the original gates with the immense statues of the elephants. 

The next day was filled with glorious sunshine and we set out to explore more of the city (after our breakfast of Danish pastries).  We strolled though the beautiful gardens of Frederiksberg until we came to the Copenhagen Zoo.  We hadn’t intended to visit the zoo, however it was such a lovely day we decided to have a look.  It was a good size zoo, well laid out and with a large variety of animals.  My favourite part of the day was watching the polar bear swimming.  There was a large Tasmanian exhibit, which housed kangaroos, wombats and Tasmanian devils.  We couldn’t help noticing the severed horse’s head lying in the middle of the devil enclosure.  It was especially disconcerting as the very next exhibit contained the horses.  The sight of the severed head called up a distant memory of a dismembered giraffe, which I later checked on the Internet.  It was Copenhagen Zoo that caused a controversy in 2014 when it killed Marius, a healthy, young giraffe, publicly dissected him and fed his parts to the zoo lions.  The following year the zoo killed a young lion before once again publicly dissecting it.  I guess the Danes are not squeamish about such things.

We were enjoying the sunshine so much that we took another canal cruise to see a little more of the city.  Copenhagen really is an attractive, well-planned city and it was interesting listening to the guide’s commentary.

Later that afternoon we visited the Christiansborg Palace, which is still used by the Royal Family for various functions and events as well as being the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court.  The Royal Receptions Rooms are richly adorned with furniture and works of art.  The Great Hall contains 17 tapestries recounting the history of Denmark and presented to Queen Margrethe on her 50^th birthday by the Danish business community.  It was all very interesting and we were also able to view the ruins of the previous palaces underneath the existing palace.  Naturally, we exited through the gift shop and it was fascinating to see the amount of souvenirs with Princess Mary’s face on them.  Princess Mary is a bit of a cult figure in Denmark not unlike the Princess of Wales was in her time.  It is interesting to note that the Danes do not refer to her as being Australian but rather as being Tasmanian. 

Dinner that night was a real treat as James had recommended a wonderful restaurant for us to try.  It was called Vakst and the heart of the restaurant was a large greenhouse, which was built up between two floors.  The food was Nordic and unbelievably good and was presented beautifully.  My dessert was green strawberries – divine!

We absolutely loved our time in Copenhagen and would definitely like to return again, perhaps in the wintertime to see how different the city would look.  

From Clare to Here

James, Amber and Amber’s mum, Clare, came to visit us for the weekend.  We had not met Clare before, so wanting to make a good impression I had my hair done in the morning.  Unfortunately for me, the winds were up and I met them at the bus stop looking like Phyllis Diller on a bad hair day (not quite as bad as the first Skype session we had with Amber, but that is another story).  We dropped their suitcases off at our apartment and then headed out to have some lunch.

Everyone assured us that it wasn’t too windy to sit outside and enjoy the view of Grand Canal, so we took our seats at a lovely café and ordered our lunch.  First we watched our table napkins blow away, closely followed by our menus.  Our meals arrived and my salad took flight.  It wasn’t until the vacant chairs from the nearby tables sailed by that we admitted that perhaps we should have sat inside.  We persevered until our meal was finished and decided that we would have our coffee indoors at a different café.  It is a downside of living on a small island that when the winds are up, there is no escape.

We had a bit of a walk around Dublin, showing the sights to Clare.  Once we were away from the water, the winds dropped and walking was much more pleasant. The Irish Whiskey Museum was next on our agenda.  We joined the long queue waiting our turn to purchase our tickets.  We couldn’t believe how busy the museum was and how slowly the queue was moving, until we saw the gentleman manning the counter.  He was a very friendly fellow and had a grand old chat to every single person at the counter.  When it came to our turn, he heard our accents and asked which part of Australia we were from.  When he discovered we were from Melbourne, he told us that he spent some time there and asked which AFL teams we followed.  He was tickled pink to discover that Michael was a fellow Sydney Swans supporter and he and Michael waxed lyrical about the team and reminisced together about Barry Hall famously punching Brent Staker.  Amber, James and Clare couldn’t believe it!  The queue behind us was getting longer and I explained that this is just how the Irish are.   The tour itself was very interesting as we were not only given information on the history of whiskey but also a little on the history of Ireland.  There were interactive exhibits and we finished with a tasting at the end of the tour. 

 

We did a little more walking around before stopping for a drink at the Palace Bar.  This is an original Victorian pub, built in 1823 with lovely stained glass windows, high vaulted ceilings and a beautiful mahogany bar with mirrors.  Suitably refreshed it was soon time for dinner.  We had chosen an Irish restaurant, Gallagher’s Boxty House, which was a bit of a gamble as we hadn’t been there before.   A Boxty is a type of potato pancake from the counties of Leitrim, Cavan and Fermanagh.  Luckily the restaurant proved to be a hit with each of us enjoying our meals.  A brief walk around Temple Bar followed our meal and then it was time to head for home.

 

It was a late start on Sunday morning for us, as the shops in Dublin do not generally open until 11.00am.  Clare wanted to do a little souvenir shopping so we took her to some of the better Irish shops known for their quality Irish goods.  I never tire of looking at the beautiful woollen items for sale however, I just know that there is absolutely nowhere to wear them in Australia (unless I was to suddenly take up skiing).  James had hinted that he would like a roast for his Sunday lunch, so we headed over to FX Buckley for their signature roast beef.  It was a nice way to finish our time together before walking them to the bus stop for their journey back to the airport.

It was only a quick visit but it was lovely to see James and Amber and to finally meet Clare.