So it begins

Questions and more questions

Published Date : June 6, 2004

Today was a quiet one.  We slept late, recovering from far too much drinking last night.  Gray and I spent the morning shopping for wedding rings, which was a bit of an odyssey.  We hit pretty much every jewelry shop in the city, and there are a lot of them!

After a couple of hours without any luck, and still feeling a bit rough, we decided to break for lunch.  Feeling the need for some Tex-Mex we hit TGIFridays on Buchanan Street for some sizzling fajitas.  I had honestly forgotten how HUUUUUUGE American-sized food portions are.  Just as well we were sharing!

Back to the grind, we finally settled on a pair of matching rings – a celtic design in yellow and white gold.  Then it was off to meet my parents again for dinner/drinks.  While we were waiting for them, a random parade passed us by.  Nobody seemed to have any idea what it was for, but we’re assuming it was to do with the D-Day 60th Anniversary.

Meeting up with the parents, we decided to head back to their hotel for some drinks and nibbles in the lounge.  My parents were obviously full of questions for us, and we all had a good long chat.  We called it an early night though.  None of us were in top form, and Gray and I have to be up early for our flight back to London tomorrow.  Nothing left but to say goodbye to my parents.  They’ll be back in a couple of weeks for the wedding though, so not too sad.  It was really great to spend a couple of weekends with them.

Another long day

Published Date : June 7, 2004

We were up at 5am to catch our flight back to London.  We showed up about an hour before the flight again, but we weren’t lucky enough to skip the queue this time. Another uneventful flight, and we arrived back at Stansted Airport 5 minutes early.

The bus ride back into town was long and painful as all bus rides are.  It took a little over two hours, so we got back with about a half hour before I had to leave for work.  Yeah, for some silly reason I decided to take just the morning off work, so I had to be back for the afternoon.  Although I must say, I’d forgotten how nice it is to work only a 4-hour shift.  Haven’t done one of those since I was 15!

Another successful weekend break concluded.  We’re already planning the next one.  We’re thinking of heading over to Paris for a bit of a honeymoon.  Why not, eh?  It’s only 3 hours away!

Time marches on

Published Date : June 18, 2004

So exactly four months from today I should be enjoying the sights in Istanbul, Turkey.  Coolness.  My flights are now booked up to Singapore; I have to wait another month or so until the fares/schedules are available to book the flight from Bangkok – Bali – Darwin.  Most exciting!  I’ll be on the road before I know it.  I still don’t have nearly enough money, but that will make it all the more interesting!  Even though we’re keeping things super simple, the wedding is costing a lot more than I bargained on.

Quiet week otherwise.  Just working, chilling.  If the weather cooperates, Gray and I are going to be checking out a free jazz concert in Battersea Park tonight.  Should be pretty cool, and the price is right.

Organization

Published Date : June 25, 2004

I applied for my Australian Working Holidaymaker visa today.  It was a minor dilemma deciding which visa to enter the country on since I could also go in on a Spouse Visa or a Skilled Migrant Visa. In the end I went for the simplest and the cheapest.  I was hoping to wait until a bit closer to my departure date to give me more time to make my way to Oz, but they’re increasing the fees next week.  Well, it’s one more thing out of the way, and it’s the only visa I need to get in advance.  The rest I can pick up as I go.

Yesterday, we booked our trip to Paris for next weekend.  £143 each for return tickets on the EuroStar including 2 nights accommodation in a 3-star hotel near the Arc De Triomphe.  I love package deals!  Should be a fun trip, I’ve always liked Paris.  Hopefully, we can also get out to Versailles while we’re at it.

There’s a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert tonight at Hyde Park.  We don’t have tickets, but we’re thinking of hanging around the park to listen, even if we can’t see them!

More vaccinations

Published Date : June 28, 2004

Twister is always fun!

Yup, more needles today.  I decided to go ahead with the Rabies vaccination – they don’t offer Japanese Encephalitis at Occupational Health so I’m not going to bother with it.  Only one more to go and then I’m done with vaccinations.  Wahoo!

The Chili Peppers concert didn’t end up happening on Friday.  The weather co-operated, but the tubes didn’t.  We went for a free jazz concert at Battersea Park instead.  What a great night out that was.  We brought along some cheese and crackers and a couple of bottles of wine and sat on this little wooded island and enjoyed the show from across the water.

Sally’s birthday BBQ on Saturday was great as well.  How often do you get 15+ twenty- and thirty-somethings together playing twister and pass the parcel on a Saturday night?  I wasn’t feeling the greatest (nasty attack of hayfever), but it was still a really fun time.

Bonjour, Paris!

Published Date : July 3, 2004

Yay for Paris!  I really, really love this city!

Gray and I were up early for breakfast with my family before we hopped in a cab to Waterloo station.  It would’ve been cheaper to tube it and probably would’ve taken about the same amount of time, but we figured we would take the easy option for once.  We cut it pretty fine, but we manged to make it onto the Eurostar with about 5 minutes to spare before departure.  The biggest hassle was getting checked in and through passport control, but it’s never really a hassle getting out of Britain; it’s getting back in that’s always a problem.

Villiers, 17th District, Paris

The train ride took just under 3 hours, and we got into Paris at about 2pm.  It took a little while to figure out the Metro system, and to make the switch from English to French, but after the initial difficulties were sorted we were flying.  Out to Villiers to our hotel, Pavillon Villiers Etoile, a very nice 3-star hotel, then it was time to explore.  First stop: Montmartre.

That was the plan anyway.  We ended up going in completely the opposite direction that we meant to and ended up at Parc Monceau instead.  That was a fabulous park – it had something for everyone.  After our unexpected detour we got back on track and eventually made it up the hill to Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur.  Wow!  The entire area was fabulous up on a hill overlooking the rest of the city.  And the views from the top of the Cathedral were absolutely amazing.  The climb up was a bit of an effort but definitely worth it.  When we finally came down from the Cathedral we found the artists square where artists display their goods and do portraits for all the tourists.

We had no choice but to get a portrait done too.  The first one we got was terrible.  The artist made us look like children.  Looking back we never should have gone with the woman.  She wasn’t one of the licensed artists that works there, but an eccentric kook who just picked out a corner and sucked people in.  We got caught up in the moment though.  Lesson learned, we took our time and picked out an artist we liked and set a price before we started.  The results were worth it!

The walk back down the hill took less than half the time it took to get up, and we made it back to our hotel at about 8:30pm.  Out for dinner, we found a great restaurant 5 minutes walk from the hotel, right next to the Metro.  It was called Cafe Monceau and it was fantastic.  The meal was incredible, and so was the atmosphere.  How often do you get to sit on a Parisien sidewalk eating fabulous food and drinking French wine and watching the world go by?  Great night.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 11pm.  Very good start to our trip.