Europe '15: part 1

Ok. I suppose since I'm in Europe for a few weeks, I'll write a few blog posts. Although... I'll be with my mom and aunt for most the trip, so that will cut my readership in half.

Unfortunately, I only have 2 and a half weeks over here. Would have liked to be here much longer, but work calls. Clearly, everything would just fall apart if I was gone for any longer.

I was in Europe for a month last year, and normally I like to mix up where I go each year. But am back again for two reasons; to attend my very good friend (Emma's) wedding and to travel a bit with my mom and aunt, who were planning a trip this way at a similar time. I've got 4 days in the UK, followed by 5 in Amsterdam and a week in Paris.

First up was the wedding. It took place in a castle outside of Bristol in a town called Berkeley. I flew right into Bristol (via Singapore and Amsterdam) which was an incredibly long and tiring trip. 26 hours to be exact. Flying into Bristol saved me a massive hassle flying into London and trying to figure out a 3 hour bus to Berkeley, but it was still a long trip. I'm continually amazed at the stupidity of people in airports and on planes throughout the world - it's actually good entertainment on these long journeys. For example, the Dutch gentleman sitting next to me on the 13 hour journey from Singapore to Amsterdam, who feel asleep, red wine in hand, and spilled it all over himself when we hit a few bumps. He didn't even realise - I had to wake him up. Would have just left him covered in wine, however there was more in the glass and it was tipping dangerously in my direction. Similarly, there was the bumbling lady who tried to clear Sydney security with 2 bottles of water, a large container of sunblock and a Swiss Army knife (who of course threw a fit when these items were not surprisingly confiscated). 

Anyway, I arrived into freezing cold Bristol Friday morning and made my way into town. After I made a frantic tear through Primark (my favourite uber cheap British clothing store) my friend Lianne was kind enough to pick me up on her way through and take me up to Berkeley. I stayed with the wedding party in a manor house which they had rented out for the weekend. It was a huge old place - 10 bedrooms and slept 20 easily. Really cool old house which had been redone and maintained very well. Despite having central heating, it was very chilly (high of 10ish) and I found I was constantly cold. Of course, the Brits were all complaining of how warm it was inside and were constantly opening doors and windows. I had to stand next to the Aga half the time to keep warm. What is an Aga you ask... It's a traditional stored heat stove and oven which doesn't change temperatures. It's just constantly on (like a fireplace) and has covered cooktops you can cook on. Coldness aside, staying in the manor with everyone was lovely. They had a small cocktail party Friday night which was the perfect quiet activity for jet lagged me. 

Saturday morning was spent getting ready for the wedding, with the ceremony kicking off at Berkeley castle in the early afternoon. It was a very beautiful ceremony in a gorgeous 12th century castle. Very emotional as well - there were a lot of tears as Emma (who looked just stunning!) walked down the aisle. I was the witness and signed the marriage certificate at the ceremony, which was nice. I should have practiced my handwriting though.... My signature is not the greatest! Anyway, it was easily one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been too.

After, while pictures and stuff were happening, we were provided with copious amounts of champagne and given a guided tour of the castle. Which was actually very good! The castle is still lived in by the Count of Berkeley and his family - although they obviously live in a wing that is off limits to the public. There were lots of interesting (and gory) things that happened relating to the castle. For instance: that king Edward II was castrated and killed there, and that England's last court jester was pushed/kicked off a ledge as he acted as a football. In less morbid facts, it turns out that the Berkeley family were the ones who started the famous university in California, and that they were involved in the first thanksgiving in the US (they were a seafaring bunch, so were some of the first to land in America). At least, I think that's correct - as mentioned, there was a seemingly endless supply of champagne, so I was a bit preoccupied. 

The reception was lovely as well. A very nice meal, with all Australian wines. Of course, speeches and dancing followed. Overall a wonderful day and I'm glad I made the journey.

Sunday morning I managed to scam a ride into Bristol and got the train into London. Emma is a good friend of mine from my Perth days, and when I got to London, I caught up with Jeff, who is also a Perth friend. After wandering around Shoreditch and brick lane for a bit, he had a very random evening planned. We had tickets to a BBQ and beer event with a few of his friends. 

When he explained this, I had imagined a variety of BBQ and beer stalls where you pick what you want. Turns out it was an all you can eat and drink event where various cuts of beef continually appeared in front of us along with and endless supply of beer. Once seated, platters of meat came out, all sliced atop of little pieces of baguette. You could eat the bread if you wanted, but the idea was that once the meat had been eaten, the bread pieces were to be stacked into a tower. 

At the end of the 3 hour event, the highest towers would win prizes. We took the bread stacking very seriously and built a very structurally strong tower and ended up taking third place (although the winners used empty cups in their structure to make it higher, and we didn't rate that).

The whole event was also kind of 50s themed, for some reason. Old school crooners, with skinny moustaches kept us entertained throughout the evening and yelled through an old megaphone. At one point there was a meat eating contest as well. By the end of it we were disgustingly full and fairly drunk, so the night was a success! Afterward we went out in Shoreditch for more drinks.

I was surprisingly un-hungover on Monday (again- two dodged hangovers back to back) so I was up fairly early to do touristy things in London. I was just here a year ago, so there wasn't too much I wanted to do. I was supposed to meet an old high school friend for lunch, but she had the flu so I ended up having the whole day free. It's was bank holiday here, which actually worked in my favour as everything was very very quiet on Monday morning. So I went for a long walk along the Thames, wandered around St. Paul's and then over the millennium bridge and down to the imperial war museum. I don't know if I've been there before, but it was a very interesting museum. The bottom floor is dedicated to WWI and the upper floors have old planes, cars, boats, etc used in various wars

After my morning of culture and learning, I did some shopping, although I didn't buy much. I'm finding it very expensive here - even more so then when I was here last year. The £ is 2:1 with the A$ at the moment so things are not cheap. I had a burger and cider for lunch and it was £13.50. Granted, it was a very good burger, but I think that's even more expensive than Sydney! 

It was Jeff's birthday so in the evening we went for Vietnamese food with a few of his friends. Everyone was pretty shattered I think after a long weekend of eating and drinking, so it was a fairly quiet night. This morning I am off to Amsterdam. Meeting my mom and aunt there and we have 4 days.

That's all for now

SH 🇬🇧