In the spirit of the threatening winter Jules (not Sir Jules but Julie) arranged for a group of us (unfortunately a couple had to pull out at the last moment due to illness) to check out the ice skating rink at the Tower of London.

This is only the second season that the ice-rink has been staged at the Tower of London and I must admit the thought of climbing down to the moat had me intrigued despite any misgivings I had about the skating itself. My last memory after all was being outskated by six year olds on the slippery ice-rink at Disney Village at Euro Disney!

There are several ice rinks spread around London and this is is practically a new kid to the block. It shows too in the newish skates that you get and the smaller crowds you get both around and on the rink – which is a bonus for inept skaters like me. There is nothing more annoying than spectactors holding on to the precious railing that is crucial to my staying upright! 🙂

We went for the 9pm session which also happened to be the last session of the day. In a way it was the better session to go to as there were no 6 year olds to outskate you or prove dangerous to you. On the other hand other dangers presented themselves in crazy teenagers showing off to each other. Poor Jules had her legs complete taken out by one boy who was showing off a bit too much!

Skating here was much easier than at Disney Village. The ice was less wet (so less slippery) and the blades on the skates were much sharper so it was easier to keep footing on the ice. My one and only stack came from my toe picks which I kept forgetting I had when I pushed off. I think a large ditch also contributed. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Definitely check out the rink at the Tower of London as we all had a great time and got a darn good work out to boot.

The After Group Shot

Today Shona, who I will from now on call the Nimble Mountain Lion because that girl sure can scale a wall like nobody’s business, was gracious enough to take us through the ropes of indoor rock climbing at her local climbing centre.

I can’t remember what possessed us to take up this challenge but I think it stemmed from our outing to Go Ape. I’ve been to an indoor rock climbing centre before so knew the basics of what was going on however I’ve never been up the wall as I thought my giant fat feet could never find purchase on those small little holds.

When we first got there the walls didn’t look all that intimidating. That was until you stepped up close and realised just how far apart the little holds seemed to be and just how little the surface area to stand on or grab on was!

The first thing we did was do some stretching and then we tackled the horizontal wall which was a good little warm up. It was a little difficult actually traversing rather climbing and I guess it forced us to try and think about where we were putting our feet rather than just simply going for it. Not sure how the others found it but I know I kept slipping off.

Then Shona took us to an actual wall. It was leaning slightly and so I think was probably the easiest 5m wall there on the day. Jules and James managed to make scaling it look pretty easy with the toughest bit for them seemingly not the hard work of climbing but the leaning back at the top to abseil down. Not sure why but everyone seemed to find it difficult to just lean back. That was definitely the easiest (and fun) bit for me! Sandra did the half-climb but just as she was about to do the full climb the little kids having a party came over so we had to move over to a slightly tougher wall. Okay – it wasn’t slightly tougher it was heaps tougher!

Shona had the most difficult job of actually climbing to the top and clipping our safety line in. She really showed her amazing agility and strength to get to the top. Everyone else managed to probably about 60-70% up to the top whereas I think I only managed to maybe get to about halfway if that. I basically got stuck and my arms were soooo tired that I just couldn’t hold myself up anymore. After that we went back to the “easy” wall and managed to climb that okay.

Indoor rock climbing is a funny thing. You are so certain that you can get to the top and its soo frustrating when you can’t do it. When you get to the bottom you keep thinking – gee if only I had held on for a little bit longer, or if only I had stepped on this hold. Its definitely the kind of activity that you want to try again and again (even when your arms and legs feel like jelly!)

Below are the climbers. For some reason I didn’t get one of Jonathon so I’ve included a pic of him and the absolutely giant fish and chips that he had for lunch:

Shona	Sir Jules	James
Sandra	Jonathon	Me

See more of the pics here

Portsmouth is a nice little maritime town in the south of England. About one and an half hours train journey from London Waterloo its a decent trip away so to make the most of your time there make sure you leave as early as you can. Portsmouth is also handy for getting over to the Isle of Wight should that take your fancy.

I’m sure there were lots of places to see in Portsmouth (museums, castles etc.) but we were going mainly for the outlet shopping at the very modern Gunwharf Quays and also the coast – you know, to see the water and the beaches.

There are two things that seem consistent with English seaside towns:
– funfares (rides and games) by the water and
– pebbled beaches.

I find there is great appeal in the pebbled beaches as I have, while not exactly a phobia, a paranoia about getting sand in uncomfortable places. But the pebbles mean that you can rock up to the beach and have a lay down without worrying too much about not being in your beach gear and without worrying at all about getting sand in those uncomfortable places.

We didn’t really have a plan of action so we ended up walking back from Portsmouth Harbour to the sea front at South Sea which is a good 15-20 minute walk. The sun came out to play so we spent a couple of hours baking in the relatively good weather, after having a go at the 2p machines and the giant grabby machine thingy (no luck though.) The green just off the water and then the beach itself was just so peaceful that we couldn’t be bothered doing much more. Should have put some sunscreen on though as I came away as red as a lobster. That’ll learn me – seems embarassing to be burned by English sun! 🙂

Soon it was nearing lunch time and with meals always being a priority we decided we’d better head over to Gunwharf Quay. Einstein was after some seafood but many places which touted themselves as seafood restaurants had surprisingly little seafood options on their menus. So, the second best alternative was a restaurant called Char Bar – which has the novel concept of cooking your food in front of you. I’ve seen this concept mainly in Japanese tepenyaki or Korean BBQ places so I was looking forward to chucking some ribs on the grill in front of us. We went with some starters of King Prawns which came with some delicious melted garlic butter (hardening arteries much but so worth it – yummy) and then a whole rack of ribs each.

My brother tells me that some of the best ribs he’s had is where they totally char one side (the bone side) leaving the other side moist and tender. We unintentionally did the same with our ribs – mainly because it was fascinating how big the fire was in front of us and you can see just how charcoal at least one of the racks got from the pic on the left. Although they were really delicious – eating these ribs were really hard work taking us nearly two hours to finish!

The last thing that I felt like doing after having such a gigantic meal and such a lazy morning was hitting all the shops. However it seemed such a shame to travel so far and not visit the purported 85 designer outlets at Gunwharf Quay. So, being the troopers that we were, off we went. We managed to cover the stores in a couple of hours (which to me is practically the limit of my shopping interest) but to my disappointment didn’t really walk away with much shopping at all. However all in all it was still a good day.

So, having just visited Go Ape in Swinley Forest, Bracknell we noticed to our surprise that Bracknell itself is a kind of a centre for all sorts of leisure activities. Here are just a couple that we saw on our drive by (in addition to The Lookout and Go Ape):

• The Point Leisure Complex. In this complex you have a bowling alley, a cinema, bingo, two nightclubs (‘Stabbings’ and ‘Toxins’), and if this website is to be believed, even a casualty unit.

• Bracknell Ski & Snowboard Centre. An outdoor carpeted ski slope where, unsurprisingly, you can ski and snowboard. But you can also go Sno bobbing, Sno-tubing and if you’re up for it, do a Cool Runnings and ride down the toboggan track.

• Golf. Driving ranges and golf courses.

• Coral Reef. Pools, saunas, fitness rooms, and even a small flume ride.

• South Hill Park Arts Centre with a year round programme of theatre, music, dance, film, exhibitions, workshops and courses.

But here’s a parting thought for you, according to the same website above one feature of Bracknell often highly praised by visitors is that it is extremely easy to leave … hmm.

Everyone should act like a monkey now and then. Though having said that many of you probably already think that you work with a bunch of monkeys and … well, I better not continue with that train of though! 🙂 For today Einstein arranged a day out in the trees for our small elite group of super fit athletes. Er … okay maybe some of us, namely me, aren’t actually super fit athletes but just crazy enough to agree to a couple of hours swinging through the trees. Go Ape is cool company that offers a sort of high wire assault course through the trees (up to 60 feet in the air but mainly around 30 feet) in a few forests around Britain. Today we visited the one closest to London in Bracknell, about 50 minutes train journey from Clapham Junction.

The Go Ape sight (actually Swinely Forest) is not just for the monkeying around – there is also seemingly a few good mountain bike trails for the cyclists (apparently some of the best in South-East England), The Lookout Centre for the kids and it seems a popular area for dog walking.

From the website we sort of knew what to expect so some of us were nervous (namely Einsten just a little bit and Sir Jules) and one of us was just itching to get out on the course (wall/mountain climbing expert Shona). Me – I was just excited to see that much forest! Not sure how Jonathan and James felt but I’m bet there was some slight fluttering in their stomach at thought of tackling the course.

So, you are pretty much left to tackle the course on your own, after a safety brief from a trained instructor at the start and after going through the first course involving a ladder, high wire and zip line. The simplicity of the first course is a bit deceiving as you immediately climb higher, cross more complex rope/wood bridges/high wires and zip down longer zip wires at the second course (there are five courses in total).

All activities are graded as you would grade ski slopes – from green (easiest) to blue, red, black, and extreme black (the hardest). From what I can remember there was only one, maybe two, black activities including this very difficult stirrup crossing to one extreme black activity – known as the Tarzan which requires you to commit to jumping off your platform and having a bit of a free fall before you hit the cargo rope wall. Pretty scary if you’re afriad of heights!

You are supposed to allow for about three hours to complete the course but we managed in under two hours and the time would have been even quicker if we hadn’t had to wait so long for those in front of us to get through the courses. It probably helped that the weather was gorgeous – not too hot but sunny. I can’t imagine what it would be like doing the course in the rain – especially when coming into land at the end of the zip line – my shirt was pretty yucky as it was from landing backwards in the bark all the time so I can imagine the mud that would be involved if it had been wet. So, I think we all did very well. Special mention to Shona, whose rock climbing skills and training definitely came in handy, and to Sir Jules and Jonathan who overcame their slight apprehension of being at height to raise to the challenge. Its just a shame I didn’t bring my camera on the course with me as there were some definitely classic poses being held as we crossed certain bridges.

After the course we were hungry little monkeys so we retired to the first pub we saw – the Golden Retriever. Its a strange little pub – a bit on the posh side with their waitresses/waiters dressed almost to the nines. Food was gorgeous though – generous services and reasonably priced. The most entertaining part of getting our meals was deciding which sauces we wanted as the sauces are brought out on a giant platter including the usual suspects ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard (three kinds!), vinegar and some not so usual suspects some sort of seafood sauce and a onion sauce (yummy with the chips just as the waitress promised). The service was actually pretty good once you sat down though the staff don’t tend to talk to you or notice you until you were at your table.

Overall I would say that the Go Ape day was a great success. Although some level fitness would be helpful, I think a bit of strength would be more useful as there are some times when being able to lift your own weight, even if only few a few seconds, is the difference between getting through the activity (and feeling the sense of success) or not. In actuality if you can’t finish an activity you can simply sit back in your harness and drag yourself across so you are never really stuck. This should be a must to-do in everyone’s book!

Today Jen, James, Chicken, Pepe and I had planned to visit what must surely be London’s most over-priced tourist attraction. At a hefty £16.95 for adult entry you are best advised to search around for discount. We thought we’d found one with National Rail’s 2-4-1 Entry deal. Unfortunately the deal had expired and no one had bothered to update the National Rail website. After coming up with various ideas to try and get discount entry, including Pepe and Chicken hiking mileage to the non-existent tourist info booth and then the library, Jen eventually came to the rescue with her BBC Club membership. I may seem like I’m making a big deal about the price but an £8.50 saving over 4 people adds up to a lot of Nando meals. 🙂

As for the London Dungeon itself after paying the first stop was getting our photos taken for that “special memory” and then with a “I hope you have a horrible time” from the photographer we were off. Let me warn you up front that you will do a lot of standing around waiting and wondering what is going on because your trip through the Dungeon is basically supervised as you are taken through some of London’s horrific history.

I think we first entered the Labyrinth. This was actually the favourite part of my day as we all entered these chambers with mirrors all over the place and it was enormously entertaining to see everyone trying to navigate their way out of there. Most people took a conservative approach with arms out in front to ensure they weren’t walking into a mirror but there were the odd few who took the gung-ho approach and walked forward without testing the waters first so to speak. These people were enormously entertaining to watch as they basically ended up in face-plant with the mirror in front of them! When you first go through you will absolutely swear that you’ve walked past certain areas before and I won’t give away the secret (easily guessed) but you will eventually escape!

And this is where the hugely interactive section of the tour begins. For the rest of the tour you meet a number of characters who will take you into some of London’s history: the Plague, Medieval Torture, the Law Courts, a wierd log flume type ride, Traitors Gate, a new Sweeney Todd attraction, Jack the Ripper, and the Great Fire of London. Most sections are extremely interactive and some members of the group will definitely be picked on. There will also be some frightening bits (actually less frightening and more shocking), gross bits and very corny bits but its all part of the London Dungeon experience I guess.

At the end of the tour you’ll suddenly find yourself in the photo shop where you can buy your official photos (the one from the start and the one from the log flume ride) before you of course have to make your way through the gift shop on the way to the exit. I think we spent maybe an hour, or an hour and a half at the most, in the Dungeon. So, if you’re paying full price, that is an expensive way to spend an hour.

I had actually visited the Dungeon before back in 2003 I think it was and I definitely remember it much differently. Back then entry was only about £13 and although you would expect some impact from inflation that’s a lot over just a few years. I think mainly the increase in price is to cover the cost of the increased labour costs from all the staff members having to coddle you through the tour. I remember doing a lot more looking and self-touring last time I was here. To be honest though having it this interactive probably makes it more interesting and then you’re not killing your eyes trying to read the information boards in the very dark Dungeon. Still, it won’t suit visitors who prefer to take their time to visit the exhibits and who prefer to read and absorb the information.

Overall I’m not sure I would recommend a visit to the Dungeon. Admittedly it tries to make history a bit more interesting but I’m not sure its worth the hefty price tag. But as James said its all just a bit of harmless fun. Oh, and if you’re afraid of the dark – the Dungeon is definitely not for you!

On one of the first absolutely gorgeous days England had to offer over a weekend this spring/summer there was no way I was staying in London. Sure it would have been great maybe to hit one of the bigger greens (Hampstead Heath or Hyde Park for example) but there is no nicer way to spend such a beautiful day than by the seaside. I managed to convince Chicken to come with so off to the seaside it was.

Brighton is an EASY 45 minute (or an hour if you don’t catch the express) train from London (or more specifically Clapham Junction) and it was clear a lot of other Londoners had the same idea as us. We hadn’t really planned what we were going to do when we got there except that I knew I wanted to check out the Sand Sculpting Festival. Just on the verge of opening the sculptures were still in the process of getting completed so it was a good day to see some of the artists in action. We sort of mis-timed it though as when we actually got to the festival the artists were on lunch! Still, it was pretty amazing to see what can be made simply from sand and water. This year’s theme is Roman so when the sculpting is completed you’ll see, according to the website, “the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column and many other historical images of ancient Rome”. It was pretty cool but I’m not sure £6 entry for adults was a fair price. Note also that some of the sculptures were actually fairly adult in nature as they depicted some of the scenes of debauchery from that time so kids beware.

When the sand sculpting is not on there is still plenty to do in Brighton. There is Brighton Pier with all your arcade/sideshow alley games and rides. Fairly expensive but fun all the same, even to just walk around and watch everyone else go crazy. There is a great ride there called the Booster but I wasn’t game to get on it. Not that I’m afraid of rides like that but more afraid that something was going to go wrong and me and my seat were going to go flying off into the sea. Chicken was also able to find her 2-penny machines. Heaps of fun when the pennies come tumbling down. The key is to hopefully get someone who has been plying their money into the machine and when they hop off the machine in frustration you swoop! Heh heh. There is also laying around on the beach and this we did in spades. I think we lay around on about five different patches of beach. It was fabulous. I guess I haven’t mentioned it but Brighton does not have sand on its beaches. I think its actually a great idea because then you can walk around and lay around without getting sand in all those uncomfortable places (I’ve never seen so many fully dressed people on a beach!) Its amazingly comfortable to lay on and would actually make a great bed I reckon. Also, its great for burying people, though it is a bit of hard work. And for those game enough there is a Naturist Beach near the Marina. That had us giggling for ages. Its actually fairly discrete as it sits sort of behind a high hill. Not to my surprise most of the people who were actually stripped down were men.

There seems to be heaps to see as you walk along the seaside. You can indulge in a quick game of Crazy Golf (and you’ll find that an ice cream goes down very well afterwards), grab a quick snack or lunch of seafood (nothing gourmet), and even check out some art. But definitely the highlight of the day was just lazing on the pebbles. Great stuff and great opportunity to get some colour. A great day!

HINT: If you’re looking forward to a good meal of seafood or whatever do some basic research before you get to Brighton as although there are a plethora of choices we did find it difficult to settle on a place and we were a bit disappointed not to find Mama Cherri’s Soul Food Shack. A map and the correct address probably would have helped. 🙂

Have just come back from the British Museum and their latest exhibition, Michaelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master. The exhibition is a chronological collection of Michaelangelo’s sketches. Each step takes you behind the masterpieces to the numerous drafts and drawings he made before putting the final piece together. There is even an interactive part of the exhibit where on computer touch screens you can choose a particular sketch and see how separate parts of a sketch eventually fit into a whole.

It is clear to see why Michaelangelo is, if not the most admired, at least one of the most admired artists of all time. Just to see in close-up the intricate detail contained in his sketches was just mind-blowing. His mastery of the anatomy of man in particular was something to be seen. So for that I guess going to the exhibition was worth the trip.

The only thing I have to say is that the exhibition was absolutely packed. Not sure if it had anything to do with our session being the last for the day but there was very little room to manouveur. The area for the exhibition is very small and I don’t think very well planned. There is also a lot of text, which is great, but caused a lot of traffic jams as people crowded around to read, what felt like to me, every single darn word! If you want to go, you’ll definitely have to buy your tickets in advance. I would enter as late as your ticket allows (you have a ten minute window to do so) or maybe hang around and just wait for people to progress through the exhibition before you go through yourself. This way you can walk around at your leisure and take your time to admire the sketches without being banged into or banging into others.

Overall, if you like your art you should probably make an effort to go see the exhibition. Otherwise save your money to put towards a trip to see the “real” thing at the Sistine Chapel.

I hadn’t planned on going away this bank holiday so today was a good day for a day out from London, especially as how we were actually going to have nice clear weather, with only a small chance of rain unlike yesterday and apparently tomorrow. We thought at first a trip to the Isle of Wight would be something on the cards but with the travel involved it wasn’t worth it just for a day trip. Somehow Leeds Castle came up at the last minute and it proved to be a great decision.

Contrary to what I had always believed Leeds Castle is not located in Leeds but in the opposite direction completely. Its just as well really because instead Leeds Castle is only an easy hour and a half bus drive south of London instead of a long 3-4 hour drive north. National Express offers combined bus travel to and ticket entry into the Castle. With this option you get to spend around about 4 and half hours there (10.30-3.00) which is more than enough time to explore the Castle plus all the other activities around the grounds.

Its fairly easy to get around the grounds and unless you go out of your way to take a different path you will inevitably visit the Castle first, then drop into the Dog Collar Museum (how unusual but the only one of its kind in the UK), walk through the few gardens, make your way around the birds in the aviary, solve your way through a cool hedge maze and then grotto, take time out to look into the vineyard and check out the birds of prey nearby.

The Castle I guess is the main reason people visit this attraction. Although there always seemed to be a constant stream of people walking through the Castle and it did get crowded at times (and yes there will be blockages) generally the pace to get through the Castle is quite good. If you don’t pick up the audio tour pick up one of the laminated guides at the entrace which will give you some info on the rooms and particular things to look out for. The interior was okay but for me once I’ve seen the inside of one palace or castle it all starts to look the same: rich, extravagant etc. (The library was cool though!)

More interesting to me were the things on the outside. The aviary, established as a memorial to the last private owner of the Castle Lady Baillie, is filled with all sorts of exotic and rare birds. She was actually the first to bring black swans, from Australia!, into the country and you’ll find these swimming in the Castle Moat. The tour is definitely something I recommend, only taking half an hour at the most, as although a lot of the birds are nice to look at it was good also to hear a bit about their personalities … in fact one of the birds apparently even thought it was a human! And whilst we’re on the subject of birds be sure to make time for the falconry show. Its always great to watch birds of prey and as the handler will tell you – owls do not make it a practice to deliver mail …

The hedge maze was fairly fun and when we actually started to pay attention we found to our surprise that we’d reached the middle of the maze without taking too many wrong twists and turns (don’t ask me to do it again though!) It was actually pretty funny to hear people calling out instructions to some of the lost souls! Once you’ve solved the maze you head downstairs to this area called the grotto which are some strange caves/tunnels where, if you pay attention to the surrounds, what you see may just surprise you.

Overall, it was a great relaxing day out from London. I’m just thankful the weather was gorgeous enough for us to really enjoy ourselves.