Oxford

ahhh! yes! oxford. really just another university town in england but quite a beautiful one. it only took us an hour to get there. it's amazing to think that this country is sooo full of history. did you know that the creator of Alice in wonderland came from Oxford? and that he was inspired by a young bohemian girl named...alice? did you know they found pre-historic animal remains in oxford? did you know there are 35 universities in oxford?

we hope to head back in the summer and go punting (pushing boats along the river with a big long pole, stopping off at pubs to quench thirst and other fun etc).

on sunday we had a lovely family lunch up the road from our house. nothing better then a late pub lunch on a sunday.

not much else to report. no more snow. lots of grey skies. still cool. but not freezing. this weekend we are off to belgium (again for me, first time for lachie) to enjoy...beer and chocolates.

healthy weekend ahead!

much love

xxx

Let it snow!

Yay! It did snow last night. We woke up a little early and looked out side and everything was blanketed in about 2-3inches of the fresh white stuff. We jumped in the car and drove around Richmond taking lots of snaps. You can always blame getting into work late on the transport system over here. It really makes everything look so beautiful. I would so rather it snow more often than be miserable, rainy and cold. It may even snow again tonight!

A big white tree in Richmond park

We made a quick dash for some photos in the park. We originally said we would take the whole day off if it snowed but an hour early this morning was all we needed :)

The snowy park

By the Thames at Richmond. Compare the photos from Sunday on the last post.

Our estate on Queens road

Looking from North Sheen walk over down to Richmond station

All the plots covered in snow.

Out of our bedroom window at 7am this morning

My little car covered in 2 inches of snow

Our drive way

Richmond hill looking down at the Thames

A rare weekend in London

We spend so much time travelling its quite rare to have a weekend to our selves in London. This generally means doing a million things that we haven't had time to do during the week. We always love to spend time in Richmond park and by the river Thames. We are so lucky to have both at our door step. I wonder what sort of London experience we would be having with out it? We really hope it snows today or tomorrow. The conditions are there for it but I wonder if it will eventuate? This week it's dropped to around 0-5 deg from its usual almost non moving 14 deg. It was freezing when I got up for my swim at 6.30 and there was grit & salt on the road this morning. It only snows a few times in London a year, if that, so fingers crossed it happens today! It's snowing a lot up north and in the midlands. Its more a novelty for us but I'm sure for the rest of London its just a pain in the ass. We had these crazy winds on Friday that caused chaos over here, strongest in 15 years. Sal with Zoe at her 21st in a city jazz club (Heathers cousin)

Sal with a massive herd of young deer

The view of the city from Richmond park

The light contrasts are spectacular
Where's Wally's shadow
Looking down to Richmond on the Thames
Having a well deserved break, yes it is cold...
The sun setting on Richmond bridge

The Dam

Back from another trip! We still regard Amsterdam as one of the most beautiful cities in the world that we have been to. It has such a personal feel, a lived in city with a rich history. The houses and the interior style is amazing. We love nothing more than walking down the canals and peeking inside everyones houses. Big chandeliers, old antiques, crooked doors, wonky houses. We still love it!

Sal taking in the sights around the canals by bike
The La Chouffe bar - Our favourite drinking hole with amazing Belgium beers

Local street art is everywhere
Out on the town

Sunday was a beautiful day
The best way to get around is on bikes
All 8 of us

The sun setting over the canals
All of us asleep at the airport - our plane was delayed by 1.5 hrs - not happy!

Rye & Canterbury

Sally, Ali, Bree (Ali's friend) and I jumped into my little car on Saturday morning in the pouring rain and head south west to Rye. It was a really old medieval port back in the day. Some of the house's/pubs are originals and date back to the 11th-13th century which is amazing. The old town has all cobbled/stoned streets and many antique shops. The weather was not the best for wondering around so we headed inside for tea and scones and then later to this beautiful old pub/b&b called the Mermaid Inn. If your ever in Rye it is a must to visit the Inn. We toasted our toes in front of a huge fire place for most of the afternoon. Most of the b&b's were booked out in town or way out of our price range so we headed about 5 mins out of town and found ourselves a nice pub with a b&b and stayed there for the night.
We woke up to find out that my car battery had died, we jumped started the car then drove around and managed to find a place in Hastings to change the battery and then headed off to our next stop Canterbury. We had a look around the old town and ventured into the cathedral. It was not as grand as it was made out to be, people suggest its the best Gothic style church in the Europe, let alone the world. I don't think so.
We then jumped back into the car and headed back to London. Half way home I figured out that the alternator had gone, not the battery (it was on its way out anyway), firstly the stereo went off, then the blinkers didn't work then the lights started to dim, loosing all power! We managed to get all the way to Brixton and then the car stopped at a major intersection. The girls got out and pushed as hard as they could and we rolled started it through the intersection, big sighs of relief!! Eventually we got it home with out to much drama but had to get Holly to jump start us twice about 1km from home.

The last standing corner fort from 1370's

The 3 Amiga's

Sally looking at the original 13th century houses in Rye, the doors are for smurfs!

Toasty warm at the Mermaid Inn

Walking the old streets

Our B&B

Canterbury Cathedral

The canals in Canterbury

A beautiful BIG tree we found in the park

The four of us at a beach near Hastings battling the fierce winds

The entrance to the Cathedral grounds

A day in the life of Lucalove

chillin on the ski lift
taking a breather on the slopes
so full after lunch

getting ready to ski again!

Xmas in the French Alps

Happy new year!
We started the holidays with a big Christmas dinner bash at Holly's house where we exchanged a few pressies and ate/drank until we almost exploded. We didn't have on our minds that we had to be up at 4am to head off to Geneva. Firstly not to mention the Polish mini cab driver, where we both exchanged a few words throughout the trip to Gatwick - rude ones! We arrive at the airport and we have never seen so many people lined up in our lives, out the door in the freezing cold, at this time there was some fog that had been hanging around causing chaos for air passengers. We managed to lift off and arrive in Geneva where our bus was waiting to take us to Les Arcs France. So after the longest travel time to go the shortest distance - about 12hrs door to door we were greeted in the Alps with rocks and grass. We're asking 'where is the snow?!'
So we strapped on our boots and skis first thing in the morning and headed out. I would say the snow was not that bad - compared to Aussie conditions. By Friday if the girls hadn't made it home before 2pm the gondola was the best option back to the apartments without braking your leg or throwing your skis in the bin, but for us boys, 3 pairs of hire skis later and skating on ice it's not so bad. I was always out from 9am till after 4pm searching for the white stuff. There was still some good runs up high.
We had a massive feast on Christmas eve, all 10 of us. Fondue, racklet and a fry up of many meats at a nice French/Swiss restaurant. I had never eaten so much cheese in my life! It was really yummy though.
Les Arcs wasn't your 'traditional' ski village and it didn't have that same feel as an Austrian ski town but it was still great fun!
All in all we had a great trip away and a great time with all our new friends that came with us. THEN 1 day to recover and hit up New years eve! We went to an awesome house party in an old church in North London, up there with one of the best all time NY's for me. - No photos from New Years sorry...
Then straight back into the swing of things a day later at work, which really hit us hard. We had a realisation, we don't want to work!

Waiting for our bus from St Maurice to Les Arcs 1800

The MASSIVE racklet! You grill the top of the cheese then scrape it off onto your food

Almost all of us in the shot with the fondue, racklet and everything else!
Having lunch, basking in the sunny warmth, it was almost t-shirt weather!
Trying to stare into the sun
Top of the Gondola
Mont Blanc in the beautiful Alps

Our ski buddies hanging around
We loved the contrast so we had to take a pic
The sexy ski bunny
The view from our balcony, every afternoon this fog would come in
Me, Les Arcs 1950 and Mt Blanc (There are a few Les Arcs depending on the height of each town, for eg. 1600,1800,1950 and 2000)
A cute French restaurant with Mt Blanc

There was even a run named after le famous skier Lac!

The sunset view from our balcony