Belfast

We started our "City break" journey to Belfast at some silly time of 2.30am ( After I got home from work at midnight.) Arriving in Belfast at 8am, we were met at the airport by Aunty Maureen, Uncle David and Andrew and headed off for some breaky. We caught a bus tour around the city seeing some of the sights.

This building was one seen on our tour and is being built to represent parts of the titantic. The titantic was built in Belfast.

Parliament building

Wall separating Falls Road and Shankill Road

Murals

Three buoys they call Tom, Dick and Harry

Paul outside Victoria Square shopping centre

After our bus tour we headed towards Newcastle. We stopped off on the way for some lunch in a little cafe. In Newcastle we walked along the waterfront towards a nice ice cream shop, where we got ourselves a poke (Irish name for an ice cream). After eating our yummy ice cream, we thought we deserved a drink. We went to a lovely hotel bar and sat by the fire.

After an exhausting day (and Paul falling asleep in the car) we had a rest at Aunt Maureen's before our dinner with the aunt's and uncle's. Paul first met the family at dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant, however I dont think he caught everyone's names. After dinner we proceeded on to Uncle Jim's house where Paul and I tried to keep up with everyone! It was fantastic, we had such a great night I dont think we stopped laughing. I think the night ended around 1am and we were keen for sleep.

Newcastle - you can see me in the background eating my ice cream. Also the hotel where we had drinks is in the background

At Uncle Jim's house, this is at the end of the drink after a few drinks and spills

On our last day it was very low key as we were still quite tired and Paul wasnt feeling the best. After convincing Paul to come along to lunch with Aunt Maureen and I, he only made it to the outside of the restaurant before realising he was too sick to get out of the car. I had a lovely Irish stew while looking out at a lovely view and had great company.

The Dirty Duck where Aunt Maureen and I had lunch, while poor Paul slept in the car

View from the restaurant

Cirque du soleil - Totem

Tonight we went off to the Royal Albert Hall to see Cirque Du Soleil. The show was incredible and some of the stunts had us all cringing!! It was really worth the money and definitely recommend it.

Royal Albert Hall

Inside the hall looking at the set up

And again - you can see where they came down from

Me!

Paul

Apsley house and Wellington Arch

Trying to use up the English Heritage membership as much as we can, we found that the Apsley house and Wellington Arch were part of it. We wandered through Hyde Park to get to Apsley house which is famously called 'Number One London'. It was home to the Duke of Wellington after his victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, the interior of the house has changed very little since the days of the Iron Duke. We were all imagining what it would be like to live in a grand house like this, we would definitely lose eachother!!

Apsley house

We then headed off across the road to go inside the Wellington Arch. The arch was built around 1830 and is hollow inside, and until 1992 housed the second smallest police station in London (the smallest being in Trafalgar Square). It contains three floors of exhibits detailing the history of the arch and some of its uses. You can also step onto terraces on both sides of the top of the arch, which give very good views of Hyde Park Corner, Hyde Park and even glimpses of the private gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Wellington Arch

Paul standing on one of the terraces - behind is Hype Park and the Apsley house

The statute that sits on top of the arch

View looking towards Buckingham Palace - to the right are the private gardens of the palace

Video of roller skaters going through the arch, apparently they go past every Sunday

New Zealand memorial for ANZAC

This little guy was in Hype Park and decided to pose for us

Chiswick house and gardens

Today was a really nice day so we thought we would go for a walk to Chiswick. The house and gardens are part of the English Heritage membership which we all signed up to, as we get into many tourist sights for free. We walked to Chiswick from Shepherds Bush which was a fair distance.

Paul on our walk around the gardens

The Chiswick gardens

This little guy was having a great time, there were a lot of dogs around :)

The gardens again

Cafe where we had a spot of tea

Ghost Tour

Lauren, Paul and I headed into London town to meet up with David and have a bite to eat. After finishing off our meals, we headed off to where the ghost tour departs from. Paul went off in one direction with his phone to find the stop, Lauren and David headed off in another direction and I was left, wondering how I was going to find Lauren, David and Paul let alone the bus stop where we had to meet. After I asked someone on the street where it was, I quickly walked to the stop only to find Lauren had gone to look for me. By this time we were running around 10 mins late and we became 'those people that always arrive late on tours'....

Anyway after being allowed to go on the tour, we made our way around London while the tour conductor told us stories about ghosts (obviously) around the streets of London. It was very well done, very dramatic and scary, which is what it is about.

Bus tour

We all sat up the top

Stockholm, Sweden. 27 Dec 2010 - 1 Jan 2011

After arriving home on the 26th from Bulgaria we then headed off to Stockholm for New Years on the 27th. We didnt make it to our hotel until about 2am and all the doors were locked. We were hoping we didnt have to sleep on the street because it was FREEZING!! On our first day we wandered around the streets of Stockholm and managed to fit in a bit of shopping. We were overwhelmed by how cold it was and that it was dark around 3pm.

Paul waiting outside shops while Lauren and David shop



Square in the centre of Stockholm

Me after a snow ball fight (and preparing a ball in my hand)

Walking through the old town

Paul and a massive christmas tree

View of Stockholm

Royal Palace

Lovely snowy treeline

While in Stockholm we took a ride up the top of the Ericsson Globe. The Globe hosts concerts, sporting events, ice rink events, shows and much more. We also visited the Vasa Museum which is home to the ship wreck. Vasa sank in 1628, after only 20 minutes of her maiden voyage and was not recovered until 1961. The ship was restored and restore work is still taking place. The museum was extremely interesting!

Ride we went on which took us to the top - I was scared (only a little though)

View from the globe

Inside the globe

Vasa museum - Replica of the Vasa ship

Paul pretending to steer the Vasa ship

We went to Skansen open air museum. The museum had a selection of Scandanavian animals, unfortunately the Brown bear was hibernating and it was like an old traditional Swedish Village.

Paul looking his handsome self

Seals making the most of the cool water

Owl! I loved this guy he had amazing features (click picture to enlarge)

Moose!

Cafe at Skansen where we stopped to dethaw our bodies

Little monkeys! CUTE

All wrapped up at Skansen open air museum (it was cold!)

As Stockholm is made up of 14 islands we decided to take a boat tour around some of the islands. As we were late and had secs to spare before the boat left, we had to sit outside with the nice fresh air and no blanket to keep us warm! After seeing some of the islands, we headed indoors for a nice cup of tea and Paul had a mulled wine. While inside the boat, we saw and heard the boat smashing through the thick ice to clear the path ahead. It was a realy enjoyable boat tour!

Paul on the boat tour

View from our boat tour

Lovely view from the boat

Breaking through the ice

The boat that took us on our tour

Junibacken - Lauren and I took a tour around this museum was really for children but hey only as young as you feel!



Inside the tube station

 New Years night and it was dumping with snow! We begun the evening with a wild party in Lauren and David's hotel room, we got our groove on, and I (Ash) taught Lauren and David how to REALLY dance. We then braved the weather to head into the city. We got to an area by the water where there was a band playing with lots of people having a good time. When it struck midnight there was lots of fireworks and a cruise ship sounding its fog horn. It was an awesome experience!

New Years night and I am all wrapped up to party hard! :)

Drinking in a door way to keep out of the snow

Mind the Swedish language at the beginning

On our way to the airport :(