Wiener Schnitzels & Apfelstrudels

28-29 July 2007

Phui, Liji & I went to Vienna (Austria) for the weekend. We did all the touristy stuff: the Schonbrunn Palace, Belevere Museum, St Stephen's Cathedral and a concert where they performed Mozart and Strauss' works. The highlight was definitely experiencing the Viennese food including a giant schnitzel (which we shared between the three of us!) , apple strudel, saher torte (famous chocolate cake in Austria), and other delicious viennese desserts. Our quest for scrambled eggs for breakfast was dismal. We asked for scrambled eggs on Sunday morning, but ended up with a ham omelette (so disappointing!). Nevertheless the croissants and soft boiled eggs were yum.


Dessert at the Saher Cafe. It was delicious!

The three gals in front of the Johann Strauss Statue.

Near the Belvedere museum

The Schonbrunn palace.

Bath

Weekend 21-22 July 2007.
Last weekend, Phui & I went to Bath. The UK had a massive downpour of rain (about 1 months worth of rain all in a few hours!) on Friday and resulted in severe flooding in many parts of the country. Many roads were closed and trains were delayed. Phui & I ended up queuing for 3 hours at Paddington Station just to get onto the train. What a saga! It was 2.30pm before we finally arrived at Bath (usually only a 1 1/2hr journey on the train). Just as well we were staying overnight!

We did most of the touristy stuff. Bath was a pretty town filled with hordes of tourists. The main tourist attraction is the Roman Baths. We even sampled some of the spa water which is supposed to have healing properties. The spa water was warm and tasted digusting. I could only stomach half a sip.


Phui & Mel at Royal Crescent.

Mel at Royal Crescent

Mel at the Roman Baths. The water is green because of the algae.

Harry Potter Mania

Sat 21 July 2007.
The latest Harry Potter book went on sale on Fri night at midnight. There were crowds of Harry Potter fans, many dressed in costume that queued at book stores on Friday night. The following morning, Phui & I were stuck at London Paddington Station for 3 hours. This little boy was behind us and I couldn't help but take a photo. He was reading the latest Harry Potter book, and was wearing Harry's glasses and had a cute little Harry Potter bag!

Proms No. 8

Thurs 19 July 2007
Kate H, Cam, Alisha, Emily & I went to the Proms No. 8 concert. I picked this concert because they were performing Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. The concert was brilliant and the acoustics in the hall were amazing. We could hear even the softest pizzicato from the cheap seats in the Upper circle!

Inside the Royal Albert Hall. View from the upper circle.

Royal Albert Hall - the grandest of concert halls

Monday 16 July 2007.

I did a detour on the way home from work and went past the Royal Albert Hall. Isn't it spectacular? I can't wait to go inside on Thursday. We're going to a Proms Concert.

Lunch in Bromley

Monday 16 July 2007.

'Speedy G' was in London town, visiting after 3 weeks of jetsetting around Europe. Lucky thing! At least the rest of Europe is having a proper summer, unlike England (where we are all still pasty white from the lack of sunshine!).

It just so happened that she was staying in Bromley (ie where I work in the sticks). So we caught up for lunch at an Italian Restaurant on the Bromley high street.

Kate G & Mel on the Bromley High Street.

Stockholm

13-15 July 2007.

The best part about being in London is being able to go travelling on the weekend. We visited Stockholm (in Sweden). Sweden...the home of Volvos, IKEA, ABBA and vikings! I went with a group of 10 Aussies which was heaps of fun. Thanks Hien for being a great tour guide!

Interesting facts:
-Everywhere you go, there are unisex toilets

These rabbits were in the Skansen open air museum. They are so hairy and have really long facial hair!

This was such a weird window that I had to take a photo.

Mel in front of the Parliament House.

Plenty of Volvo drivers in this country!

Military marching band. Check out their cool hats!

The gals: June, Mel, Hien, Mimi. Pic was taken near the Old Town.

Mel in front of the Vasa Ship.

The blokes doing a Chopper Read pose in front of the Chinese Pavilion: Gary, Michael, Dave, Rob. We didn't think the pavilion was very Chinese looking.

Mel in front of the Royal palace where King Carl Gustav resides.

Mel & Mimi on a ferry.

Eton Mess

Thursday 12 July 2007.

Liji, Phui & I had dinner at the Stay Bar & Brasserie (near Liverpool St Station). The dessert we had was called the 'Eton Mess'. It was like dropping a pavlova on the floor and mixing it with berries. Yum Yum!

Martina's last supper

Monday 9 July 2007.

It was Martina's last supper in London before she returned home to Italy. We (ie the housemates) went to the Thameside Inn Pub (near London Bridge) for some traditional English grub.


We took the scenic route home and took some pictures of St Paul's cathedral & the Millenium Bridge.

This was my dinner. It is an English dish called 'Toad in a hole'. The Yorkshire pudding was yum!

The housemates & some neighbours from Charles Morton Court. Brian, Jessica, Martina, Raj, Elisabeth, Mel, Sebastiano (front).

Who done it?

Monday 9 July 2007, 7.30am.

I woke up to find Alberto (the basil plant) had been abducted.

Please click on the image to read the cryptic note.

Unfortunately, Alberto was not returned alive. A heartless crazy Irishman froze him in a glass of water. The housemates were very distraught. We had a funeral for him and everything. We are still grieving!

Le Tour de France (cont'd)

Sun 8 July 2007.
After the 30 seconds of cycling, we went to the People's village (part of the tour de France) in Hyde Park for some bikie action and french culture.

Yum Yum. French pastries rock!

On the lawn watching 'the tour' on the big screen. This was the second day of sunshine in a very long time. I'm not sure if anyon noticed, but Wimbledon had rain delays almost everyday this week. Today's weather forecast was 21oC and sure enough some poms were sunbaking topless in Hyde park.

Wax model of Lance Armstrong.

Mel & Alisha in Hyde park eating Churros.

Le Tour de France

Sun 8 July 2007.

This year, the tour de France was starting in London. Alisha, Mimi & I decided that we would go to Big Ben and watch the cyclists whizz past. The certainly did fly past...I think it took less than 30 seconds for the peleton to pass (that was after standing around for over 1 hour!!).

The pre-race parade

The pre-race parade

Pre-race parade in front of Big Ben

Now for the real thing! Look for the cyclist in the yellow jersey!

Little J comes to London

Little J came to visit me in London this week. We had lots of fun and coincidentally went to Covent Garden almost everyday.

Here are some of the highlights
Mon - J was jetlagged so we stayed at home
Tue - dinner at a french restaurant in Covent Garden. J had a really nice risotto. It was really nice, because I don't really like risotto.
Wed - Thai for dinner followed by Chicago the musical
Thur - Indian at Covent Garden with J's mate Vicky who was also visiting London.
Fri - we went to Belgo Centraal for some belgian beer (strawberry flavoured) and fries with mayo.
Sat - Camden markets. Dinner at a Thai restaurant with Wilson who popped into london on his way to NYC!
Sun - we woke up at the crack of dawn (well not quite...the sun rises at 4.30am but we had to get up pretty early for a Sunday morning!) so that Janice could catch her plane to Stockholm



Fri's dinner at Belgo Centraal, a belgian restaurant with many different types of fruit beer, mussels, lobster, fries with mayonaise and awesome desserts. Mel, Michael, Alisha, Mimi, Rob, Janice.

At a pub in covent garden

The same pub in covent garden

At Thomas' architecture graduation exhibition.

Housewarming Partays!

Sat 30 June 2007.
My trip to Bath was postponed. Just as well we postponed because it rained on both Sat and Sun! So instead, I went to 2 housewarming parties. First stop was Liji's in Canary Wharf. Second stop was Kate H's on Old Kent Road. Kate and her 3 housemates live in a school which has been converted to apartments. It was so weird being in the classroom haha!

Team Melbourne plus Liji (from Sydney)!
Back row: Tracy, Alicia, Liji, Mel
Front row: Angela, Jamie H.

Mel & Kate H after a few too many Pimms.

This was the photo we never took in Prague. Angela, Jamie, Mel, Alisha.

Darren & Mel. I used to work with Darren many many years ago. We were ushers at the theatre together. It is such a small world!

Mel, Alisha & Phil.