England

Had a great fun-filled weekend in London, Chelsea and Windsor..

• Friday - went to watch Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre in London's West End. I must admit, I liked the movie (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) better than the musical but it was our first musical since arriving here so it was good. Managed to get two Grand Circle tickets for 50GBP.

• Saturday - we went to Windsor (a bit late) to visit Windsor Castle, one of the Royal residences. It's actually the oldest castle that is still in use - the Queen Mum still comes here regularly on the weekends..denoted by the British flag raised on the flagpole. Very very nice town, we only got through the State Rooms (holy humongous!) and didn't get to St Georges Chapel.

• St Georges chapel is where King Henry VIII is buried so that will be cool to go back and see. Buying a ticket also gives you 12 months unlimited admission..

• Sunday - celebrated our 11-year old niece's birthday in Chelsea! Played the WII and good company..she was also wearing our sweater/jacket that we got for her at the end of the night!
  

So this past weekend, my parents and aunt and uncle came over to Europe for their 10-day adventure to Cork, Paris and London. They had a great time and it was even better that they got to stay with us at least one night before they left back home.

• When they first arrived in London, Michelle and I met up with them for a couple nights after work for dinner and to find out their initial impressions of London. Too many people, dirty.

• We took them to Stonehenge on Saturday and we saw it the 'budget' way..haha. Look at the fence in the picture and you should be able to figure out what I mean.

• Afterwards we went to check out Salisbury nearby and walked around the cathedral area for some good ol' English countryside-town time.

• Had dinner and drinks (Pimms anyone?) at Belvedere Arms in Ascot..yep long day after they came into London from Paris on a 2.5 hr train ride + 1 hr van ride from Kings Cross.

• Sunday was a luggage-packing day but more importantly, it was a day to go shopping at Marks and Spencer..woohoo!

• Sadly, my family had to leave after only a short time with us but I'm sure they had a good time. To be honest, i think the best time was that we got to 'hang out' with each other after a few months of not seeing each other. Can't wait to go back home in a few weeks!
  

• We also visited our family living in the Chelsea area. Very very nice to catch up (haven't seen them since the Philippines 3 yrs ago!) and got my butt kicked playing the Wii...against a soon-to-be 11 yr old lol! We will definitely go back and visit again and are trying to find a time to get them to our place out in the country.

• Someone's birthday is coming up!! An aspiring fashion designer and huge Chelsea fan!! See ya soon!
  

On our first Bank Holiday in the UK, Cigdem, Michelle and I decided to spend the long weekend Monday in Bath.

This historic city has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and presents some of the finest architectural sights in Europe, most notably the famous Roman Baths.

• Bath is about 2 hrs west of where we were and I must say, it was a pretty surprisingly interesting town. It has a very strong Roman influence and it's biggest attraction are the Roman Baths which were situated on top of a natural hot spring, thought to bring healing/magical powers. Natural hot water still flows through here but the baths themselves are no longer used and the water is sort of greenish in colour but yes, hot.

• At the end of the Roman baths, we were able to sample some of the actual water, which is thought to be good for your digestive/overall health. YUCK! Tasted like hot water that had a million pennies in it..

• We also took a sightseeing open-top bus tour that took about 45 minutes and wandered throughout the city. We also passed by the place where Jane Austen lived (woohoo! :P) and got a quick glimpse of the famous Royal Crescent, a crescent shaped street, with 30 houses, and amazing architecture. Drove through the University of Bath (they also have a separate university in town, Bath University!) which is known for medical engineering and sports/athletics. A lot of Olympians have schooled/trained here and also the English Rugby club prepares here for international matches.

• "Pulteney Bridge, together with the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, is one of the world's most beautiful bridges. Like the Ponte Vecchio it is one of a handful of historic bridges in the world with shops built into it."

• Ate at Sally Lunn's restaurant, which is in the oldest building in Bath. It's famous for Sally Lunn's buns (originally Soleil and Lune for the dark top and light bottom colour of the bun itself).

• The city of Bath has all these different pig sculptures all over the city - just like Toronto has it's mooses! They're all commissioned by various artists/businesses and there's a pig-hunting treasure hunt involved with them, if you have the time.
  

Spent this past Saturday in Brighton, which is about 1.5 hours South-East of us and by the coast.

• Brighton Pier - this is probably the most famous landmark in Brighton and is a long long pier with a carnival at the end of it and hundreds, well probably thousand of tourists just wandering in and around it. We actually didn't go on the pier but instead sat on the beach.

• The beach itself was odd in that it was completely small rocks. No sand whatsoever. So when i stepped into the cold water and got up to my knees wet, the walk back uphill to my sandals was painful on the feet lol.

• Norbert brought along his kite which he flys in a sport called 'kiting'. Basically its hard-core kite-flying and pretty cool. Though when I tried, i didn't quite get the feel for it and i had to luckily struggle and crash land it between sunbathers! whoops! We will definitely try it again, but at an open park!

• Brighton has also a large gay community and that's cool and all of course. The funny thing I noticed was that on the radio, there was a local radio station called 'Gaydar Radio' which played mostly electronic music...lol love it!

• There was also an Indian-Chinese pavillion called the Royal Pavillion which Michelle and Cigdem toured through but Norbert and I skipped it and just headed to the beach.

• Great shopping in and around he city of Brighton, with lots of little independant stores that outnumber and type of chain-type stores. We will definitely go back to do more shopping for unique stuff. Also bought my new Prada sunglasses there lol. Who would've thought eh?

Just a short note to keep track of the dates/courses i've played and any quick general comments:

2008-06-17 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers); average course
2008-06-25 - Chobham Golf Club (solo); short layout, hard fairways
2008-07-08 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers)
2008-07-15 - West Hill Golf Club (solo); excellent course condition, fairways/greens in great shape
2008-07-16 - Pyrford Golf Club (solo); links-style course, great condition, looooong round as i was trapped behind a tournament and all foursomes..ugh
2008-07-27 - Milford Golf Club (w/Michelle's co-workers); hard, dry fairways, short course but challenging; shot a 92 and lost by 8.

Oh..and Happy Bday to me today. Getting alot of well wishes from great friends and it's only 11:00am back home!