Brugge.... Beer, Mussels and Chocolate - Something for everyone

Time flies - but already its been a year since we were married! As a belated 1 year wedding anniversary present to ourselves - we decided to head to Brugge for a weekend of relaxation and luxury.

Michelle had selected a very nice B&B (http://www.sintnik.be/). The owner Sean, who turned out to be from Taranaki was very helpful - and pointed us in the right direction for bars, restaurants and sights. The breakfasts he served up were amazing - all the food came from local producers and it was a great way to start the day. Nothing like chocolate for breakfast right?

Our time in Brugge was very laid back. We did a tour of the canals by boat with a very funny guide - who conducted the tour in 4 languages?! The rest of the time we spent wandering around or sitting in bar or restaurant. The Belgian beers were fantastic - one bar we visited had over 300 to choose from - so there is something for everyone. Even Michelle developed a taste for them. Her favourites were the fruit beers (raspberry etc) and blondes. We also did a tour of a brewery - it took me back to my homebrew days!! The chocolates in Brugge were also very good..... although we didn't over indulge in this respect.

We left Brugge very happy and relaxed - although probably a few kilos heavier! Hopefully we will manage a trip back at some stage.

One day in Paris........

We kicked off our Easter trip to France in style by sitting back and enjoying a bottle of French Red on the Eurostar..... we had been told it was the best way to ensure our 'French experience' started as soon as possible!! We arrived late - and were fortunate to find a cab - which took us to our accommodation in Montmartre- which happened to be just off the Red Light district..... Crumpy had arranged our hotel - but he assured us this was just a coincidence..... hmm. As it turned out, it was a great base to explore from.

We only had one day in Paris - so were up early and into the day. We enjoyed a french breakfast in the sun, while watching the stereotypical images we had of France wander by... the man in a beret and neck scarf with a cigarette, carrying a baguette. Very cool.

It was a beautiful day, so we spent the morning exploring the area around Montmartre including the spectacular Sacre Coeur perched on the hill overlooking Paris. We had our work cut out for us in the afternoon with the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and of course the Eiffel Tower all on our list. We were in no real rush though and just enjoyed walking around the streets of Paris. The views from the top of the Arc de Triomphe were spectacular - and it was hilarious watching the chaos in the traffic circling below. From there we wandered down Ave des Champs' Elysees towards Notre Dame. Notre Dame was packed full of people - but was very beautiful. The architecture of the building - especially the many gargoyles on its exterior.

In the evening we caught up with Han and Jamie (yes... another holiday they had organised!) and Catherine (one of Michelle's workmates from Welly) joined us for a beautiful meal at the Crump's favourite Parisian restaurant.


Our time in Paris was brief - but it was filled with beautiful buildings, parks and monuments. It was probably one of the more picturesque cities we have been to, the locals we met were friendly and we will be back sometime soon to see the rest of it.

Off to the home of Happy Juice!

The next day we took a train 2hrs east of Paris to Reims in the Champagne region. Most famous for its Champagne houses, Reims is also were the Nazis surrendered to end World War II.

Before long we were into our work and that day we enjoyed a tour of Taittenger and Verve Clicquot. The Verve tour was very good - and girls especially enjoyed its history - a young widow left to run the business at a time when woman were unheard of in business. It seems she was very successful - and they continue to use her image as a symbol of the house today.

The wine tours include a walk through the underground cellars. These are pretty amazing. 30m below the surface of Reims (and nearby Epernay) is a vast network of tunnels - hundreds of kilometres - many of which date back to Roman times when they were created through the mining of chalk. Through history they have been used for wine, as hospitals in the war - and one even hosted a car rally! Today they are home to literally hundreds of millions of bottles of aging bubbly. Yum!

The next day we celebrated Mr Crump's 30th Birthday with a cycle tour out of Epernay. I was a little unwell (unfortunately it was not self-inflicted) so we didn't get too far - but enjoyed a bottle of champagne and a picnic on a the side of a hill overlooking the vines. A great way to pass the time!!

In between champagne houses there was much eating - and the food was incredible! A great intro to France!

Canal Boats - built for pleasure.... not speed

A few weeks on and time for another trip (planned by Han and Jamie... again). This time a crew of 8 of us took to England's historic canals for a weekend of boating. After catching a train to Rugby (the birthplace of the sport) we met the rest of the crew at a pub. Parked out the back was our boat 'The Sundance'.

About the Sundance: She was a beauty. 70ft, 15 tonne and controlled by a keel and throttle at her stern. Put simply - she was a long, narrow, heavy - but a smooth boating machine. With us in control (80% of the time) she ruled the canals. Over the course of the weekend we all took turns at mastering (or attempting to master) the art of guiding her down the narrow canals. Having driven a few boats in my time - I think I can safely say that this was the least responsive craft I have ever seen - you would turn the keel.... and a minute or so later the bow would turn.... and before you knew it you had steered past your intended bearing and were headed for an obsatcle in the opposite direction.......... which brings me to the next topic of interest.....

About our crashes: Not all of us mastered the art and we had a number of crashes and near misses. Our biggest hit was a head-on collision with a brick bridge. We hit hard - and it was a bit scary for those of us sitting on the front deck at the time - but all parties - captain(ess), bridge, boat and passengers all survived to tell the tale. Others took a 'zig-zag' approach to driving - bouncing from one bank to the other as they guided the Sundance down a straight stretch of the canal. Fortunately they built the Sundance tough - and while she came back less a bit of paint and carrying a bit more brickwork than what she started with.... she was still canal worthy.

About 'locks': Even when she was headed in the right direction, progress was slow - about walking pace(not kidding - even a bit slower!). Apart from lack of speed - the other obstacle to progress were the locks - we encountered 4 on our trip up the canal. These things were pretty crazy - all to do with gravity and water I think. And talk about pressure - in similar league to launching or retrieving a boat at a busy NZ launching ramp. On our first attempt veteren canal boaters looked on no doubt bemused and 'tut-tutting' at our virgin perfomance. Fortunately we were successful, but slow. By the time we hit our final lock on day 2 we were like a well oiled machine (arguably Glen's liberal pours of wine to clear out the provisions meant some were more well oiled than others).

About our lifestyle: As alluded to above there is not much going on either on the canals or in the canal boats. On a wander through the boat at any given time you would invariably find a mixture of the following: people eating, people sleeping, people cooking, someone steering - others bracing for imminent collision, and of course probably a few drinking. After a hard day's navagation we would skillfully moor the Sundance and then wander to the nearest pub. We visited some great country pubs - one with a 'skittles' table (where wasn't more to life than beer and skittles) and another (which Daz would have loved) were dogs almost out numbered patrons.... and this is inside the bar.........

Great weekend - we'll be back in summer!

Vanishing in Venice

It felt like we had hardly unpacked our bags in London and already it was time to pack them again for our first weekend away - or 'city break' as they like to call them here. Han and Jamie had a return trip to Venice planned - and we were lucky enough to be invited to tag along!

Venice was a great spot for us to start our adventures into Europe. As newbie tourists - it was compact, safe and easy to explore. Having said this - it did feel as thought we were constantly wandering through a maze and on more than one occassion we found ourselves completely lost... but that is part of the fun in Venice (or so we were told!).

Venice looked just like it does in the pictures..... all over. Canals, cute cobblestone streets, old houses and tall leaning bell towers. It was great wandering around - especially given there were no cars (or even bikes) to avoid - just huge tour groups during the day.

Top of the Basilica - as seen from the 99m 10th century Campanile (bell tower)

In terms of sightseeing - our highlight in Venice was probably a tour of the 'secret passages' in the Doges' Palace. The Doge was kind of like a mayor in Venice - and had a secret service. The secret service and city archives operated in a series of secret passages and rooms within the Doge's Palace. Our tour took us through these and we even got to see the room where Cassablanca was imprissoned - and from which he later escaped. The Basilica was also amazing - it seems like every surface was coated in amazing mosaic detail.

But the real highlight for us (as always seems to be the case) was enjoying great food and wine and soaking up the atmosphere. We had some great culinary experiences - my favourite was a black pasta dish - Michelle's a little bruschetta bar we stumbled upon. Drinkwise - we found a very old bar where the girls enjoyed the local drink (a Bellini) while Crumpy and I kept it simple with a nice cold beer!

Big thanks to Han and Jamie for helping us get our travel off to a prompt start!

Final photo included for no other reason than I love the 'taxi' boats they have in Venice - if I ever end up with far too much money and have a house on a lake or harbour.... owning one of these boats (whose engines make them sound even cooler than they look) will be a priority!

Life in London

Hi again everyone - sorry for the delay between posts!! We have now arrived and are into life in London.

We have moved into a place in Earls Court - it is a nice area and our place is modern and simple. Its about 30 min on the tube into our works and there are plenty of bars/restaurants/parks and transport options within easy reach. [Right - Our street]

Our intial impressions of London have been overwhelmingly favourable. It was a bit of a shock to arrive from the balmy summer of Brazil to the middle of winter in London - but, having said that we didn't find the winter too bad. We enjoyed two dumpings of snow in London (which is more than usual apparrently) but apart from that it was quite mild to the normal winter. Daylight hours were short - which took a bit of getting used to - however now, as we enter summer, the opposite is true and it seem light at 6am and is still 'dusk' at 8 in the evening! For the past month or so we have enjoyed great weather - allowing us to enjoy the very London pastime of sitting around in a park to relax the afternoon away.

We are also still finding the abundence of old buildings and landmarks a bit of a novelty. Its odd to be wandering along at lunchtime, look-up and see Big Ben - or to run past Buckingham Palace on the way home. Its great though - we'll be able to spend the summer lunchtimes sightseeing?!

All in all we are really enjoying life here. It has been great catching up with heaps of good friends that we haven't seen for a while - and having them here made it really easy for us to settle into life quickly. Although the week in London can be a bit of a drag there are plenty of weeknight distractions on offer and with all the UK and Europe has to offer at the weekend, the grind of the week is soon forgotten. [Above: It didn't take Michelle long to find the sweet stand at Borough Markets....]