Church concert at Tottenham Court

Lady in black has the voice of Whitney Houston!

Rappers in action!


The Il Divos alternative

Snowy London - Views from our Apartment

Views of the park opposite our apartment taken from our balcony.

Don't you feel sorry for the owners of these snow-covered cars?!

The road that takes us to work every morning. You can see the nearby canal, there are still people staying on barges!

Leeds Castle, Kent

Sunday (21/01/07) - Garry and I took the train from Victoria station to Leeds Castle. As per usual, train service to Leeds Castle was cancelled and we had to take a replacement bus service, a one hour journey became a two hour journey, such is the usual life of a London commuter! We really miss being able to hop into a car in Perth!

We met a lot of nice travellers in Kent who offered to take photos for us. Rare to find these nice people in fast-pace London! Picture of Leeds Castle in the background.

Room still used for conference purposes. Painting of Lady Baillies and her two daughters near the back wall. Lady Baillies was the last owner of Leeds Castle which was her country residence until 1974. The Castle was donated to the Foundation when she passed away.

Bedroom of Lady Baillie. Spot her nice dress on display!

Library filled with books on birds - even one on Australian parrots! Maz and Eug will love this place. The Castle has a nice aviary, duckery and even peacocks wandering around.

Outside of Leeds Castle - see the lovely blue sky, it's not always that gloomy here!

Another pic of us taken by a Leeds Castle guide, a friendly old guy. It seems like the whole castle is run by a team of friendly retirees! Castle under renovation. A lot of the historical buildings in England are being renovated during the winter season.

The Castle Maze - we almost couldn't get out, had to follow an old couple to get to the mound, the centre of the maze where you can look down into a deep well. The secret is to keep to the right hand side of the maze. Me on the mound.

Making my way down the grotto to the bottom of the well.

Taken from the bottom of the well, you can see the well opening.

My favourite toucan at the Castle Aviary.

I was a bit worried about the parrot. Garry kept asking me to put my face right up close to it!

Somerset House Ice-Skating and Yummy Food!

Sunday 14 Jan 07 - On Klinkers' recommendation, we made a special trip to Hampstead to try out the crepes that are supposedly better than the French ones! Check out the queue. We were there till dark and the line was just as long!


Almost to the front of the line! Check out the cool pram with the super reflective bars for night use. I was pretty impressed. Freezing cold waiting in line!


Chef (cute French guy) & his apprentice. Garry, the typical business consultant, was speculating about how much these guys could make in a day, and how much more they could make by expanding their little shack, hiring two more chefs, expanding globally, etc.... and meanwhile....I was going on about our chef's cute French accent, and how I could work there part-time, etc...

Finally! Two savoury crepes stuffed with mushroom, ham & cheese and a sweet one (banana mixed with white & milk choc) in the bag. Typical Garry, he couldn't be bothered queuing up again and so decided to try everything in one hit!



Sat 13 Jan 07 - On our way to the Tate Modern with Catherine. Took a quick pic of St Paul's Cathedral. Climbed the dome 4 years ago, it wasn't as impressive as St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, but I remember we were huffing & puffing after the climb! Yes, very unfit people, but proud to say we used our gym for the first time last week since we moved into our apartment about two months ago!


Tate Modern and some jogger in the background. Saw Picasso's famous "Weeping Woman" and Monet's Water Lillies. Coming back here again to try out the giant slide (in previous posts) which is apparently another piece of modern art, before it gets taken away. Garry's reaction to modern abstract artwork: "Wat the? Is this art? I can do this too, just splash paint everywhere!"


Millenium Bridge and St Paul's in the background.


Lovely couple's last meal in London! Denning found a nice Chinese noodle place in Chinatown called "T&T" (weird Chinese restaurant names here, there's another Perth Penang Food equivalent called "C&R", they love using initials). Of course, not as good as HKBBQ, but "beggars can't be choosers" (as Garry would say).

Sad departure - last shot of "the couple" at Den and Lisa's London Hotel - the Le Meridien at Picadilly. Den's parting words: "will SMS you pics of HKBBQ feasts!"



New Year's Eve feast at Jenny and Gerald's place (friends of Aunty Jenny's sis, Aileen) - woops, forgot to take a pic of our hosts & the other guests. Our best home-cooked meal since we arrived in London. Check out the attention to detail (dishes labelled as well)! Love their place, every corner's filled with souvenirs from their travels.


After skating at Somerset House (ice-rink and Somerset in the background).

A shot of the girls - Yvonne (Cath's sis), Cath, Lisa, me & Caroline.

Outnumbered by the girls!

Kutna Hora - Bone Church and St Barbara's Cathedral

Took a train ride from Prague to an outskirt town called Kutna Hora - couldn't get seats so we were standing for about an hour on the train.

Bone Church at Kutna Hora - a chandelier claimed to be made up of every bone of the human skeleton!



Outside of Bone Church


St Barbara's Cathedral - this is a really beautiful and serene place, hasn't been swarmed by tourists yet.


Rewarded ourselves after a long walk in Kutna Hora to traditional Czech food back at Czech House in Prague Hilton. Adrian, Soo and I had beef goulash with gnoccies. Garry just had to be different - he had grilled duck in apple sauce with assorted dumplings.



Garry very happy after a KFC lunch (KFC is much better in Perth than in Prague), at the old Town Square with the Christmas markets in full swing.



We loved these Czech breads which were dipped in suger and then cooked on a rotating grill as the sugar slowly caramelized....yummy!





National Theatre (on the left), colourful Jewish style houses, and the Vltavar (river) - on our way in search of the Fred and Ginger building.


Garry experimenting with his sepia shots - the Vltavar again!
Found the Fred & Ginger building at last!



Suddenly started snowing on our last day in Prague - Adrian, Soo and I (you can see us in the photo) seeking refuge in good ol' McDonald's, whilst Garry was out in the snow trying to take arty shots of the snow.





The shopping district of Prague




Stuffed ourselves with traditional Prague sausages, and Soo tried some mulled wine (warm wine). Standing in the snow eating sausages was definitely a first for me (where is the bbq and the flies?)


Night view of the markets at the Old Town Square and the lit-up St Nicholas church.




My arty shot of the snow and Garry.




View of the Charles Bridge covered with snow.



Famous astronomical clock at the Old Town Square - people flock here on the hour to watch the models in the two rectangles move - was a bit of an anti-climax when we finally saw it on our last night in Prague, even the London court clock in Perth is more spectacular.


Our lovely hotel in Prague - the Hilton Prague - cheap and our room was huge! The bed was even bigger than a Perth standard King size bed!