Before xmas we went to Brussels for three days, catching the Eurostar there and back. The Eurostar is a million times better than flying so we’ll be trying to use it more often.

Brussels was lovely and cold. And had some lovely scenery, especially all the old art nouveau buildings. And all the other old buildings of course.

Being xmas time, the christmas markets were on, so we spent a fair amount of time there, nibbling on various foods.

We also went for a walk to check out the EU parliament buildings.

I saw my first ever frozen pond, which is just so bizarre! We bought lots of chocolate, ate at some lovely cafes and had a nice relaxing time.

More photos available here.

Opera House

Originally uploaded by littlestar19.

In September I got to go to Sydney for a week to attend a conference. The last time I was in Sydney I was only 13 so I was looking forward to seeing it with new eyes.

I had two days to myself before the conference so I did some sightseeing and lot of shopping. I made sure I went to the Opera House and Darling Harbour.

The weather was perfect the entire time. Not too hot, just right, with breezes right when you needed them.

Sydney is still not my favourite city, but at least I now feel I can qualify why!

More photos are available here.

Yesterday Dean and I went out to Hampton Court Palace and had a fantastic day. The Palace was first built in the reign of Henry VIII so there was lots of stuff on him, including a display on Young Henry and how he rose to power. V. interesting stuff, and filled a few gaps in my knowledge.

A lot of it was also rebuilt for William and Mary, a period which I’ve been reading about so it was nice to see those sections. Some of it is just so decadent and amazing. The Tudor kitchens were a highlight though - there were baskets with actual food in them, not just plastic recreations. We went in the maze also, which is sadly a lot smaller than it would have once been.

The grounds were beautiful though, with lots of geese walking around and a canal and these gorgeous trees that must be shaped, and look a bit like giant mushrooms.

Afterwards we braved a local pub for pints and a plate of pie. I think we’ll need to go back in Summer just to see the gardens.

There are more photos available here.

Plug

Originally uploaded by littlestar19.

View

Originally uploaded by littlestar19.

We’ve had some fantastic weather lately, so I thought I’d take my camera to work with me and share where I work.

The photo above, is what I see in the mornings, walking from the tube station. Lots of glass buildings, crowding around Tower Bridge. It’s fantastic, and a constant reminder of how amazing it is to be here.

Closer to work, and I get to see the Tower Bridge in all it’s glory.

And for proof:

Me on my way to work. This pic was taken on Friday morning, rather than Thursday morning like the other two, when it wasn’t quite so hazy. I do rather like how the haze made the photos turn out though.

Today, we headed into the Tate Modern to see the Gilbert & George exhibition. I had never heard of them before, so had no idea what to expect, whereas Dean was really wanting to see it.

The art on show was a retrospective, so started with charcoal sketches from 1969 onto work they did last year. Personally, I much preferred their early work, which was stark, black and white’s with splashes of red. Most of their work has an image of them in it somewhere. And a lot of it is quite confronting, either because of the language used, or the imagery (naked men, religious symbols etc). The later stuff though, I really didn’t like. They started working on the computer, so it just had a different feel, and they started using dodgy beveled fonts, and some of it felt like they’d knocked it up in photoshop in 10 minutes.

However, because they use images of themselves, it was like watching them grow old. 30 years worth of photos, you could watch them age before your eyes. It also meant you could see when societal attitudes started to change. In their early work, they were both pictured, but rarely together. As the years went on, they were featured closer together. The first time you see them standing next to each other, touching, is amazing. They’re also naked in that photo whcih really adds to it.

There were way too many people in the gallery though, and I felt like I was constantly pushing my way through people. This was also my first trip to a Gallery in London, so it’s probably just something I’m going to have to get used to. I’m used to the quiet of the Art Gallery in Brisbane, where I could sit and look at a painting for ages without having masses of people walk in front of me.

Now we just need to start going to galleries more, especially since they’re mostly free, and we are meant to saving money for France.

The Monty Pyth0n Guiness World record attempt for the largest ever coconut orchestra! ( Link & Link ) With the whole cast of Spamalot leading the charge, just before the final practice both the Terries showed up, Gilliam and Jones looking, sadly, a little older. Though I didn’t have my camera on me I was spared the embarrassment of missing the photo opportunity with the thousands of other people all brandishing cameras such as this fellow whose flickr link shows all the action.

So awesome.

It all went to plan with all 4830ish people who’d been issued their coconuts clacking away in pretty good time to Always look on the bright side of life despite the cast of Spamalot screwing it up on the ‘Always look on the bright side of death’ while leading the crowd who thankfully knew it better than they did seemingly!

Just one of the many things that I can just walk to from work… yep - it still weirds me out too.

Hold me?

And for the sharp-eyed among you the reason I have to write Pyth0n with a zero instead of an o is that for some completely unknown reason you cannot post Monty and Pyth0n next to each other in WordPress. Go figure?

Staff at Fifteen (at least all of the staff that we encountered) were so incredibly nice, attentive, knowledgable and efficient you truly wanted to not eat and just watch them. From not needing to ask what table you were at when ordering a drink at the bar to folding your napkin while you were in the bathroom you really felt exceptionally well looked after. They also knew absolutely everything about every dish and weren’t afraid to try to explain something when they only had some of the info. Just bliss really We wanted to keep our waiter who was exceptional and had only been there five weeks! Robin - you’re awesome!

And then there was food…I think.

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I took a multitude of photos, inlcuding ones of bunnies and deer that we found in Clissold Park. They’re all available on my Flickr page.

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