Londres

 So last time I wrote one of these blogs I vowed to you that it wouldn't take me that long to write another one and that I would also, somehow, keep a track of all the stuff I did over here so that I could report it all back in some kind of exciting fashion – I failed. At both. And now I don’t even know where to start…

I decided to get super touristy immediately and headed to the Tower of London with Aimee and Scotty (just like old times!) to ooh and ahh over the crown jewels and I only slightly daydreamt about the day that I will get to wear them when Harry finally realizes that yes I am the love of his life and he can’t bear to be without me a moment longer. Watch this space – no sightings yet.

I escaped the riots in the city for a day and went to visit a friend out in the countryside where we wined and dined in quaint little pubs along the Thames for the day. We went for a jog along the canals and plans were hatched to head to Paris in November for a half marathon and a girls weekend away. Back then it seemed so far away – now it's in a few weeks.

We managed to score some last minute tickets to a Jimmy Carr show. A comic genius, that guy can shoot anybody down in a humiliating instant but for some reason it doesn’t seem to stop people from trying – embarrassment and hilarity always ensue. I’m sure the next morning I would have hauled myself out of bed stupidly early to head to the Walkie (crass expat pub) to watch the AB’s in their mighty quest for the World Cup – it’s strange how moving to the other side of the world has made me patriotic enough that I will get up at strange hours and go to overcrowded dirty pubs just to watch a game – the old Katie wouldn’t have.

Other adventures include, but I’m sure am not limited to: Oktoberfest! headed to Munich for the opening weekend and sampled ample amounts of amazing food, incredible beer and great company. Carnival rides after a day of celebrating a medieval timed wedding weren’t the best idea but it all made for a super weekend even if it did rain the entire time...

Had an evening aboard a boat for the Ministry of Sound boat cruise that took us back and forth the Thames and showed off all the sights in a new light. Have frequented the Camden markets on several occasions and bargained our way to a few cheaper buys. Emma and I have been to visit Lizzie and Phil at their humble abode nestled discreetly next to St James Park. I’ve even ventured beyond the confines of Acton Town and managed to start making a teeny tiny dent in visiting all those English pubs – sometimes in costume, sometimes not.

A couple of weeks ago a few of us thought it was a good idea to attempt another half marathon (I think good preparation for Paris) and we hired a car (after heated discussions with the car company) and headed west to Cornwall. We set up camp at a cute little B&B and did a bit of a tiki tour around a few western towns, Penzance – famous for its Pirates, Land’s End – Britain’s western most point, St Ive’s – cute as can be, and Newquay – apparently the best surf Britain has to offer ???.

The weekend just been: I took advantage of Ryanair and its cheap cheap flights and headed to North Germany – Bremen, more precisely – to stay with a friend I met in America. The annual Freimarkt (think Oktoberfest on a smaller scale) was taking place and the city was buzzing. I spent the day sightseeing on Friday, took part in a parade on Saturday and partied as well as I could with only speaking a grand total of five german words on Saturday night. Sunday morning I was lucky enough to have the AB’s streamed live for me and watched with baited breath as they claimed the cup – slightly crazy kiwi girl yelling at the TV while everyone else ate breakfast. And ended the weekend with a cycle into the countryside along the dykes and a wander around the Freimarkt where I sampled horse, so I’m told.

This weekend is Halloween! Costume is ready, as is another weekend of pub sampling. Maybe I will have gotten around them all by the time I reach NZ shores again.

I won’t make any promises on the next blogs timing – but it will be before Christmas! xxx

London Town

Okay, you asked for it! Here’s a London update. “Finally!” I can hear some of you saying J

So we arrived just over a month ago now, and it has gone fast! Myself and Aimee set up camp with my sister Emma in Richmond for a couple of weeks which took us straight back to our days of flatting in Dunedin. Emma lives above a bar in Richmond for a bargain. She doesn’t have a lounge, the only cooking appliance we had was a George Foreman grill and once cooking was complete there were two forks to share between three of us – one night I ate my steak with a spoon. Naturally after arriving from an OE we had a bit of washing to do, we managed to flood the kitchen a couple of times before we discovered we could put the outlet pipe of the washing machine out onto the roof, however this only proved to flood the bar and restaurant below. In spite of all of this we were having the time of our lives! Roughing it is fun J and a huge thank you to my darling sister for giving us her room and her new bed to take over for a couple of weeks. We miss living with you!

First night here I went into the Hollywood Arms, the bar I’d been working at last time I was here and they referred me onto the Guinea Grill (a little bar in Mayfair) for work so I have been working there for the past month. However, I am unfortunately leaving there on Monday as I start a new position with The Children’s Society (a charity for helping runaway children) on their financial team. I’m not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to Monday to Friday 9-5 again!

Next day we caught up with Hilary and Jo and a few others from the mighty Dannevirke and it was here we decided that when the time was right Aimee and I would move into their room “temporarily” to keep costs down for a while. It seems temporarily is looking more like semi-permanent now that my bed is moved in and the wardrobe has been set up. 4 girls in one room, it’s not as bad as it sounds and there are 7 other’s living here as well if we ever get on each other’s nerves! So Acton Town is where I now call home. And Acton Town is also home to the ever delightful Redback Tavern or “Reddy” as it is affectionately known as and the Chatsworth or “Chatty”. Trying to steer clear as much as possible but their grasp sometimes proves too strong!

It really is just life as normal, ooh apart from those pesky riots. I’m sure you all know a lot more about it than I do to be honest. Unless you are going to where they are you barely know they are happening. Except for that helicopter that appears to have been above me everywhere I go for about a week now…

Have done a touch of sightseeing, Greenwich Village, Borough Markets, Camden Town, Addlestone, a few huge walks around the city centre to stare at all the favourites. Have returned to places like Charring Cross Hospital Emergency a couple of times with nasty bite like infection on my leg – tasty! Wallet = lost/stolen on the tube one night. I’m sure this city hates me.

Cousin Josh arrived the week after we did and so I took him for a sight see around the city for a nosey at Waterloo, London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, St James’ Park and Green Park and a walk through to Piccadilly. On the Sunday we all trotted off to The Church to see what was going on there, carnage apparently, before moving on to The Walkie in SheBu, Vesbar and finally back to the Redback. A pretty typical Sunday for any ex pat.

So that’s about me, see not overly interesting. No travel plans really. Have locked in a half marathon somewhere in France for later in the year – now I need to get training. Possibly a weekend in the pipeline for a trip around Wales as well which I am looking forward to! As it gets hotter over there at home it’s getting colder over here and my American tan will disappear! Eeeeek.

Random fact: there are around 60,000 pubs in the UK and I’ve calculated that if I go to a different one each day that it will take me 165 years to get around all of them. I better get to it! Lots of love xx

America at a glance

So in a nutshell here is our trip across America: I thought I would wrap it up for you since I now seem to be living in the real world...

States visited(in order of appearance): California, Nevada, Washington, British Columbia (Canada), Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Quebec (Canada), Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey.

States seen from a far: Vermont and Alaska.

States set foot on but not actually spent any time in but am going to claim as having visited: Arizona, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia

Pizza count: unsure as too many slices had whilst mildly intoxicated.

Burger count: the ratio of burger to day ratio decreased as we left California – home of In and Out burger.

Overall, too much pizza and too many burgers to count on my hands and feet. Surprisingly though:

Kilo’s lost: 2. Boom! But that may be due to:

Kilometer’s walked: At a conservative guess I would average 20 per day.

Famous people seen: Grant Bowler of Outrageous Fortune fame… Aimee and Scotty also saw Hunter from Shortland Street – so we are really glad we travelled to the land of the rich and famous and saw NZ celebs. We also saw Jay Leno and Steven Tyler but it doesn’t really count when you go to his show!

Quotes: anything from Trent from Punchey, The Castle and Scary Movie 2 - After 10days in London Aimee has finally located this movie (we have been searching for it since San Francisco). 

“Girl you love life. I love your zest for life.” – this little gem has been borrowed from a friend of a friend of Scotty and Aimee’s on facebook and has proven very flexible in its use. 

“Gas. Brake. Honk” – thanks Homer: describes all American’s attitudes towards driving. 

“Dollar dollar bill y’all” – I think this comes from a song? And is about all we ever seemed to have in our wallets – in great wads. 

“Coz it’s your dog” – those familiar with the movie Road Trip should get this and it basically means “oh I got it! ”

And I am personally going to introduce “caaj yog” (casual jog) into mainstream vocabulary (even though I hate it when words are shortened!).

Worst hostel: Sorry D.C but Washington International Student Center does not get our vote. Thanks go to Steve for helping sort it all out in the end but yick. However, this could have been beaten by Big Apple Hostel in New York but we didn’t get the chance to stay there – after booking this hostel months before we left as we were staying over 4^th July weekend, I got an email two weeks prior to our arrival that said our reservation had been cancelled because the city had shut them down – awesome.

Best hostel: Green tortoise in San Francisco, great social hub, and even in spite of the banshee on our final night I would definitely recommend this for anyone heading to San Fran. India House in New Orleans, again great social hub and it had a pool – that’s what we like in 40 degree weather – street car right outside the door that takes 10mins to get to Bourbon St. And La Maison du Patriote in Montreal gets a mention too because it was just so damn cute.

So that was it, our journey was over. Many friends made, many laughs had, many drinks consumed, many cuisines sampled and many thousands of miles travelled. No fights, no flights or rides missed, nothing stolen, no money left and sadly no more America – for now…

Ice Ice Iceland

It’s been two weeks since we were here, but we were onto Iceland after New York for a quick stop over before hitting the real world in London. Here in Reykjavic, Iceland we enjoyed luxuries such as toilets flushing normally, no inch big gaps down the side of every toilet door hinge and I even managed to walk around the entire city without a single person asking me for money. There were no crazy’s preaching to themselves and/or the world about the end being nigh or whatever either – bonus.

We arrived early in the morning on Wednesday and waited around for our bus to take us to the famous Blue Lagoon. The most amazing outdoor mineral spa greeted us when we arrived and our exhausted bodies melted into the salted water for a few hours. We tried the mineral face masks, the sauna (yes I managed to hit my head on the low ceiling as I walked out in a daze), and I don’t know about the others but I fell asleep floating in the hot water a fair few times. We headed into the city for a quick look around and a meal then back to our hostel for a bit of a rest. I decided to go for a walk that evening and spent a couple of hours wandering around the quaint city of Reykjavic. Iceland is only populated by 320,000 people so their capital is tiny, more like a sleepy village. In the 24 hour sunlight it was hard to fall asleep but I managed to crawl into bed at about 1am and sleep for a few hours before getting up early and seeing more of the city in the morning and doing a spot of shopping (I will head back to Iceland one day when I am super rich for a weekend of shopping and partying – Icelanders know how to dress and drink amazingly well apparently). In the afternoon I had booked myself on the Golden Circle tour that visited such places as the Pingveller Lake that has amazing diving and is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom (140m). Divers often get the same feeling as being afraid of heights when diving because of this and freak out – I want to try. Next was Logberg where the priminister’s speaking post (or something more important than that that escapes me right now) was. A quick look at a giant water fall and a geyser and then another crater type thing and I was back to Reykjavic for the evening. Iceland is a very baron rocky country, very young geologically but is slowly sinking back into the ocean (photos below) – or the air, depending on the level of volcanic activity (they have over 3000 earthquakes a year also).

So, very early the next morning we set off to the airport in search of the UK, it was 430am and we had to wear our sunglasses on the drive, but we were excited about the next part of our adventure. Summary to follow! xx

 Blue Lagoon 

Reminded me of Dannevirke - you know, the Vikings and all..

So I was walking through the city and you would hear this massive noise and I would look up in search of what it was and then all of a sudden out of the clouds a plane would fly through and it was literally right above me because the domestic airport is pretty much in the middle of Reykjavic.

Main Street Reykjavic. Sleepy sleepy.

The church on the top of the hill.

View down to the harbour from the Bell Tower in the church. Note to self: 12pm is not an ideal time to climb a bell tower of a church.

First Speakers Post

Waterfall

Geysir 

430am and we are off to the airport (it was sunny but still cold! 18degrees the day before was unheard of, 14degrees is average summer temp)

We made it - Heathrow Terminal 1,2,3 tube stop, London!

New York - concrete jungle where dreams are made of!

So the last stop in the US was upon us and there were mixed feelings, sad that our trip was coming to a rapid end but so excited to be in NYC. We hiked it to our Hotel (half a block from Times Square) and immediately headed out to start checking out the city. We had plans to meet up with friends from Boston Steve, Mark and Johannes and go to a Yankees Game later on that evening so we thought a stroll around our new neighbourhood in the sunshine was in order. We headed to Bryant Square to lounge about and let the “we are in New York” feeling set in, I learned that this is where NY Fashion Week is held each year (Bryant Park that is, not NY, I’m not completely stupid).  The NY Library sits at one end of this square so it was only natural to head there next. We casually found ourselves in a sweet museum type exhibition in the Lobby hosting such things as Picasso, a Beethoven Symphony and Washington’s Final Address draft. Had a look around the rest of the building and continued on up 5^th Ave to the Flatiron Building. Yankees vs. Milwaukee game was soon upon us and we headed to the Bronx for our first taste of Baseball. Entertainment galore at the end of each innings, none of us made it on the big screen, guts. Yankees won 5-2, finally we were supporting the right team after the Canucks failed to deliver. We headed to a bar on the Upper East Side to meet up with a friend of a friend – best way to meet people!

Woke up with an entire list of things to tick off the next day and not knowing where to start thought we would head downtown. Our first taste of harsh efficient subway systems was met when the doors slammed shut and Scotty was left on the platform, eeek – we finally located him at City Hall. Then it was a casual stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge to lap up the Downtown skyline and East River before I headed to the Rockefeller Centre. I met up with Johannes and we headed up to the Top of the Rock to take in 360 degree views of Manhattan and the rest of the city. We headed down to SoHo where we went our separate ways; I met up with Kata, a fellow Kiwi who is living the dream in New York. She showed me around SoHo, NoLIta and Chinatown, took me to an Aussie café where they serve Weetbix for brekky and then introduced me to the amazing culinary delights of De Palos. Divine! I headed over to Greenwich Village to a must see for me – the Friends building! Met back up with the others and got ready for a night out in town.

Unsure of how we felt about a boat crossing the next morning we headed to the Staten Island Ferry anyway. We lapped up the views as we passed by the Statue of Liberty in all her glory and immediately returned to Manhattan. Tried to get a photo of the Charging Bull in the Financial District, unfortunately every other tourist in sight had the same idea. Wandered around Wall Street and the World Trade Center Memorial site (under construction) before heading back to De Palos for more amazing Mozzarella, Tomato, Salami, French Stick and Ricotta Breadcrumb Rolls! We took our little picnic feast all the way up to Central Park and picked our pozzy in Sheep Meadow to devour it. Got entertained by all manner of sports and then got more than we bargained for when the lesbian couple beside us (and a couple of hundred others) decided to have a screaming match. Decided to burn lunch off by walking to the Plaza Hotel (Home Alone 2, we think?) and then up Fifth Ave to see the likes of Tiffany’s and the Trump tower. I even discovered an RM Williams shop in Manhattan and got very excited only for it to be shut! Typical. A chocolate milk shake from Shake Shack was dinner for me, yum yum yum.

After not having been for a while, and it being one of the must do’s for us, Scotty and I woke up early for a run through Central Park, amazing views – shame about the heat (or is that the fitness levels?). Starving by the time we returned we headed to Harlem for lunch at the infamous Sylvia’s. After this the huge discount store Century 21 was calling us so we made a beeline for Downtown again. Too much in that place for me, I didn’t know where to start, so I decided to go for a nosey to the Irish Hunger Memorial (with corned beef in my belly from lunch, it has some kind of relevance from the movie P.S I love you). I got lost in the gorgeous day and continued to walk down the Hudson River and back to Battery Park. Met back up with Aimee and Scotty and we all headed over to Brooklyn to scope the place out. Back home and out to town again, in Meatpacking (great name!)!

Arriving home late wasn’t the best idea but I got up early to go and catch up with Marian who I haven’t seen in about 7 years! Spent the day on board the cruise ship being shown around, reminiscing and all you can buffet. Left with plans to catch up properly some time in the very near future – on board a cruise ship of course! Swung by Macy’s, the largest one – and retail store - in the world, for a spot of shopping. We tried to find Broadway show tickets but everything was well and truly sold out. Did a spot of Daniel Radcliffe spotting but couldn’t be bothered waiting around, figured we’ll see him next week in London at the HP7 premiere (have since found out that’s been and gone). Scotty and Aimee headed out for dinner (I’m still full on buffet at this stage) so I went down to check out Union Square and East Village and went for a stroll down St Marks Place. It was here in Union Square that I located a 2 storey whole foods, thought I should probably honour it the newly traditioned way so I found the mother ship and bought a salad (I’d been walking for an hour by now so figured I was allowed, plus I was running out of days left in America).

Aimee and I set off early and hit Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building and UN Headquarters. Being 4^th of July everything was dead so we decided to go to Empire State Building, that area was pumping though and they upped their prices for it, $52 to go up the Empire State anyone? No thanks, I’ve been to the Top of the Rock, Cheers. We headed to Olive Garden for all you can eat salad and soup, (yummo) and then down to Times Square to get scammed by bitchface into going to a salon - for a whole bunch of beauty therapy treatments - that she promised was open today (4^th of July), unlikely. Her hair was disgusting, should have been a dead giveaway. So I’ve passed that voucher on to a friend hopefully she gets some use out of it!! Down to Central Park for a run – how patriotic – well at least everyone else was. I decided to get the sub right to the top of the park to run the whole way through it, I’m pretty sure the whole of the Bronx was there with their portable bbq’s and boom boxes as I ran through their picnics. Awesome. That night we headed down to the Hudson at TriBeCa to watch the fireworks before heading back to St Marks Place to celebrate being independent.

Our last day in America was sadly upon us. Two months has gone so fast but we’ve done so much and are pretty much broke. We woke up early, checked out and then hit the Met. Spent a few hours there, Scotty and Aimee went to see MoMA and I strolled down 3^rd Ave and then went to Chelsea. Scoped out the Chelsea Markets, grabbed some local seafood for lunch then went and sat on the High Line in the sweltering heat to eat it. A quick stroll back up 8^th in time to meet the other two to depart the States. Bye America!!!!

Scotty, Aimee, Me and Johannes at the Yankees.

View from our Hotel down to Times Square

Times Square

Walking across Brooklyn Bridge

Top of the Rock Uptown and Central Park

Top of the Rock, Downtown.

Me at TotR

Friends at the Friends Apartment Building

Statue of Liberty...

Other tourists in my photo of the Charging Bull

Di Palo's, amazing

John Lennon Memorial, Strawberry Fields, Central Park.

Posing at the fountain in Central Park

Pretty Central Park

The Big Piano!

The Trump Building

Going to Town!

Irish Hunger Memorial

A guy playing Elton on the Piano in Tompkins Park, East Village

Down at the Hudson in TriBeCa on fourth of July.

Scotty, Aimee and me in East Village

A crazy woman in times square loving her zest for life

The Met

View from the High Line

Stroll along the High Line

Boston Photos...

Whale Watching

Fenway Park - Home of the Red Sox. Guts they played no home games while we were there, it was right across the road!

We totally go here - Harvard.

Charles River towards the City

MIT

Doing our part for the Anti Immigrants - whatever that is.

Riding the Donkey at Old City Hall

Chocolate Dunked Cannoli from Mike's Pastry - yum!

U.S.S Constitution

Ahhh politicians, what can I say...

Swan Boats in Boston Park Garden

Cheers!

Story of my life - the renovation of the Boston Tea Party museum and boat.

The Ducklings, and the children (I couldn't lure them away to get a photo sans children)

View from Up the Hub, 52nd floor of the Prudential Building