Saturday 29th December 2007

Archipelgo Restaurant Mike's really enjoying the photo - check out that smile! Josh playing flight simulator We had a relaxing day today and Josh spent the entire day playing flight simulator with his new joystick!!!!!! In the evening I picked out the restaurant you can see in the photos: 'Archipelgo', it was really funky inside, the photos don't quite do it justice. But it was the menu that was most unusal. They served, crocodile, kangaroo, duck,wilderbeast, chicken, zebra and buys!!! We sample the crocodile, duck, wilderbeast, fish and chicken. However, they were out of Zebra! Not sure if we would have tried it! Everyone chicken out of trying the bugs! But it was good fun.

Boxing Day 2007

On the way up on the tube we saw this beautiful Victorian Bulldog - no not English - check it out on the internet. Anyway when her owner wasn't looking she snuck onto the seat and wouldn't budge - we couldn't resist having a pat and taking a photo. Guess who took the photo?

It felt like Christmas day all over again today, as we went out to Hartford to spend the day with Rach, Steve, Helen, Juliet, Rob, Rebbecca and Josh. Steve picked us up from the tube station, which was excellent, as no trains were running Boxing day!!! We all went out for lunch at a lovely pub that was really traditional and once again ate heaps! After lunch we went back to Juliet and Rob's and exchanged gifts. Steve and Rach dropped us back to the tube stop rather exhausted and snoring at about 7.30pm! Once we got home we finished off the left over turkey and went to bed - very tired and having had another great day. Back to work tomorrow!

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas Dinner Watching the Queen's speach on TV at 3pm.

Christmas pudding on fire - only we couldn't capture the flame on the camera Lou and i attempting to de-smoke the kitchen!

Check out the gift Corny's holding! Cricket accident in progress

Shisha Pipe smoking Check out the t-shirts Lou and I got the boys

Christmas Crackers!!

We had a great Christmas. Myank (Josh's work colleague) stayed Christmas Eve. We all got up at 9am and opened the stockings Santa had left us and opened all the wonderful things sent from friends and family in NZ - so thank you all so very much. Louise and I got busy, putting our turkey in the oven and preparing all sorts of treats and aperitifs for everyone. At 11am, Mike and Dave came down with Browyn (Dave's work colleague) and Corney and Gerrard (South African friends of Dave's). So that made 9 of us in total. We brought extra plates, bowls and wine glasses at ASDA (cheap supermarket) the week before, so we had enough. The first highlight of the day was the honeyed carrots and parsnips that managed to smoke out the kitchen by the honey melting onto the oven! Check out the photo! The guys thought it was hilarious and took a photo. We had a fantastic lunch of turkey, stuffing, carrots, parsnips, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, gravy, potatoes and roast lamb (cooked by Dave)! It was more than we could eat. After lunch we played a Santa game, everyone brought a £5 gift and we choose one from the pile and either kept it of took someone Else's and gave them ours! It was great fun! Check out the photo of Corney with gift that got the most laughs! Before desert Josh and the boys attempted to play cricket with a tennis racket in car park in the rain! It lasted 3 balls before Josh rolled his ankle and fell over. He now has a lump the size of a tennis ball on his ankle and is only able to hop! We had traditional desert of Christmas pudding, custard, cream, mince pies, berries and Christmas cake! All very nice and we were all very full with all the chocolates and lollies and Louise, bless her heart made sure my stocking was full with all the sugar free lollies and dairy free chocolates she could find! After desert we played all sorts of other games to keep us occupied, Josh light the shisha pipe for everyone, and we drank and danced till about 10pm when we went our separate ways for bed! A lovely day, where we all had heaps of fun!

Weekend Before Christmas 22nd and 23rd December

Norfolk Pine and Trafalgar Square Royal Albert Hall Concert On Friday night Louise and I went to see the Norfolk pine in Trafalgar Square. It is donated every year by Norway. We didn't hang around because it was way too cold! On Saturday we did our Christmas grocery shopping. We attempted to order all our ingrediants through online shopping, as there will be 9 people in total on Christmas day. The worst thing about online shopping is that if they don't have what you ask for they send a substitute! Well, we get substitutes and are invisioning that the turkey would have been replaced by a chicken! However, it wasn't! But it was reduced from a large to a small, however, it will still feed us all. Some things were missing and our NZ leg of lamb, looked about the size of a bird leg! So Lou and I set out for the supermarket to pick up bits and pieces that we missed! Two supermarkets later with packpacks full of food we feel ready to cater for 9 on Christmas day! Everybody is getting involved in a little cooking, so we droped the potatoes up the road to mike and dave who will be peeling and roasting the potatoes and gave them the now larger leg of lamb to give to the boys down the road who will be rosting it and bringing it up. With the turkey and vege's at our place, potoatos at another and lamb in yet another oven, we should all be ready and meeting at our place at 11am for lunch at 12.30! Well, here's hopeing! With all that sorted, Lou, Josh and I went out in the evening to a Christmas Carol concert in the Royal Albert Hall. Sunday Josh and I went to church then ate mussels and chips for lunch in Covent Garden, not quite as nice as NZ but they were great! It was so foggy today, you couldn't see the top of the buildings. It is minus zero in the evening times and about 2-5 degress during the day, so it is definatly cold. But we are ready for Christmas, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I will be at work, but Josh has a much deserved break! Looking foward to phoning the family tomorrow evening to begin Christmas off!

Winter Wonderland - Sunday 16th December

Pictures of the ice skating - they are not very good quality, as none of us were that steady on the ice! Camera's a little shaky!

German Christmas Markets and rides in the background We had a quiet Saturday, spending the day organising Christmas, as Josh had to work. On Sunday we went to Hillsong and watched the Christmas show, it was really nice to be reminded about best gift at Christmas - Jesus! It hadn't really felt like Christmas to me yet, but despite missing my family loads, Christmas is about celebrating God's gift - his son and that gift is world wide - so bring on Christmas! In the evening we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with Mike, Louise, Dave, Corney (friend of Dave's) and Browyn (friend of Dave's). Winter Wonderland had children's rides, the german Christmas market and an ice skating rink, which we all attempted to skate around! It was good fun and 'attempted' was definatly the word, except for Josh who can actually ice skate!

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th December: Oslo, Norway

Oslo

Christmas tree in the square

The Palace

View down to the main square from the palace

Guards at the palace

Lou, I & Maud in the palace Gardens

Nobel Peace Prize Building

Christmas Markets

Harbour

Harbour - the boat we went on, on Sunday for the Christmas Cruise. Town Hall Pictures of the sunset from the castle

Photos from the sculpture park and the snow

View of ski jump from the top of the jump

Ski Jump View from the top of the ski jump - looking out over Oslo Pictures from the open air museum Open air museum Gol Stave Church

This weekend we went to Oslo with Mike and Lou. Before I tell you about the trip I must thank Mr Hawkins for another superb holiday, organised to the 'T'. Mr H organised flights, accomodation, top sights to see, metro routes to arrive at sights, places to buy tickets and all transfers! He even printed out information to read on each of the sights! So excellent and he does it every time. So thanks Mr H for yet another excellent weekend of sightseeing totally hassel free!

On Friday Josh sat his UK solicitors exam and went to his end of year work ball. After only a few hours sleep we got up at 3.30am Saturday morning, flew 2 hrs to Norway, the bussed for 2 hours to Oslo. On Saturday, we looked around the city, it was cold - 2 degrees! We went to the Royal palace - currently in use. We walked through the city and admired all the beautiful lights and Christmas trees. We went to some Christmas markets at the waterfront and had some mulled wine! very nice! We watched the sunset from the old castle on the hill and saw the Town Hall. We walked past the national theatre and paliament, both of which were closed, but in between was a lovely ice skating rink - it really felt like Christmas. Norway this time of year doeos not have a lot of sun, when we arrived it was dull and grey with the sun half risen, it remains this way from about 10am till about 3pm when it sets. We went to look at the Cathedral, which is supposed to be spectacular, but unfortunatly it is under rennovation and is all covered in scaffolding and sheets!

On Sunday we began the day at Vigeland Sculpture Park where it snowed on us! It was so exciting! The park contains 192 sculptures with more than 600 figures, all created by Gustav Vigeland. After the park we headed over to Holmenkollen Ski Jump Tower. It was still snowing on us there to - Josh enjoyoed throwing snow balls and lou made a snow angel, by lying down in the snow and flapping her arms and legs -it was hilarious! We then we back to the harbour and went on a 'Christmas Cruise' in an old style ship around some of the Islands and onto museum island where we looked around the Museum of Cultural History, and open air museum, where we saw traditional buildings and the Gol Stave Chruch from 1200 AD - the oldest church in Norway. At 6pm we headed back on our long journey home and got home by 1am! An exhausting but great weekend.