Going Green!

We spent the long weekend in Ireland, the land of green hills, rain and Guinness. Like always the weather was against us and it rained most of the weekend except for a few nice sunny patches.
Mum is over for a week after being in the U.S and its great to do a little travelling with her. She had been in Wales during the week and met us in Dublin on Saturday morning. We spent the day wandering around looking at Dublin Castle (which is more of a palace), having a few drinks in Temple Bar and dodging the rain. I have to mention we had dinner at this really nice Italian place and this old man was playing the piano all night which was so pleasant, I think Sal had the hots for him (I’ll just point out at this point that he was about 75 with big black rimmed glasses, a real ladies man). We then headed off north to the amazing 5000 year old sights of Newgrange and Knowth tombs in the Boyne Valley. None of us we quite sure what to expect and it was literally mind blowing. Still intact and very well preserved. Older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge and the Temples in Malta and Gozo! All of which we have been to. Kilkenny was our next stop, where we ventured around the Castle and about town and then our final place was Cork, which personally I didn't find exciting at all.
Our favourite saying from the weekend - The leprechauns made me do it!

Sally J looking down the river Liffey in Dublin, its about to pour down!Mum, Sal and I after a few drinks in Temple barAn amazing shot over the wood henge and 5000 year old Knowth tomb in the Boyne ValleyThe largest Knowth tomb on the left with many smaller ones surrounding it

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle lit up at night

Irish countryside is so beautiful and green, this is down on the coast near YoughalSal loved the clouds

Cousin Dave drops by

My Cousin Dave came to London for a few days this week and spent a sunny afternoon in Richmond enjoying the river and Isabella’s plantation in Richmond park.

Dave and Pip at Isabella’s plantation

There was a crowd looking at the wee little ducks while we were there with mother duck standing guard The sun breaking through, it was such a nice afternoon

London 18/5/07 2.30pm

I work 5 meters from Monument, a statue built in 1671 to commemorate the great fire of London. Its a nice warm sunny day out side so I decided to see the city from the top. Well worth it and a bargain at £2. The pictures are a 360' view over the city.
Looking towards Tower Bridge and down to Canary wharf. The space age looking building on the right is the Mayor of London's office.Across to Southwark Bridge and the south side of the cityThe famous or infamous gherkin building, you choose
Can you spot St Pauls. The whole city is topped with cranes Looking down the Thames towards the London Eye
311 spiraling steps to the top of the monument
The Monument, the top is covered in gold leaf I think

Wedding singer

Its been quite frantic over the past 3-4 weeks with both P&S's family over with lots of do's and pub drinking sessions almost nightly, it was worth it though! Paul and Sharon's wedding was situated at a beautiful 16th century manor house called Langshott Manor near the area of Gatwick, south of London. It was a great day and night with most of us being spoilt staying over the night at the Manor house and partying late into the night.

Out at one of the many lunches we had with all the family leading up to the big day, this was at Shepherd's Bush, the food was some of the best!

We were all ready for the occasion, the grounds and gardens are beautiful

I Do! The big moment

All the fine looking Gal's

All the handsome looking Guy's

Happy Birthday Sally J

It was Sal's Birthday on May 12, Big 24! We spent the day having a nice pub lunch in Richmond with all her family and friends followed by a mini party at our place. Happy Birthday Sal! 1..2..3.. Blow!!! Cute card

On the road again

We had another long weekend this weekend, I had been planning to go camping down at the beach in Cornwall but looking at the weather forecast we knew it would be miserable and cold. Sal had decided to stay back in London with her family and Oli and I were going camping, but with the bad weather looming we checked the net, got a very cheap £49 ticket on the car ferry and sped off at 3.15am on Saturday morning. We started heading to Dover with Belgium in our sights. We covered 716 miles in total. First stop was the ferry port in Dunkirk - France, then we shot up the freeway headed for Antwerp- lots of beer, waffle's and chocolate. We set up camp at the city camp site just across the water from the old town, we did a little sight seeing (I had already been before) and managed to wile the time away until our favourite beer hole, the Kulminator, had opened. Yummy aged beers! And then spent the rest of the night drinking 20 year old beers.
I woke up at about 5.30am needing lots of water and couldn't get back to sleep, the sun was out and we didn't want to waste the day so we packed up the car and off we went to Amsterdam - Netherlands! We were there by 9am as it was only a 1hr drive. We hung out there till after lunch, looked at some markets and then off we went back to Gent - Belgium, where we made camp at a really nice ground inside a huge sporting complex about 2kms out of town. We spent the next day sight seeing in the rainy weather in Gent and Brugge and then headed back on the ferry home. We had the best time ever! I cant wait till the next road trip. It's so easy to get around Europe in the car and so quick.
5am Saturday morning waiting for the car ferry in Dover
The main square in Antwerp, there was some protest going on
The view from the camp site across to Antwerp
A cool castle in Antwerp by the river
Lac by the river, Antwerp has one of the largest shipping ports in Europe
Looking from the square across to the Cathedral, you can see the spire from anywhere so you never get lost. The Gothic style is amazing
Drinking beers from our Birth Day 1981 and 1982 in the best bar for beer in the world, The KulminatorThe beautiful canals in Amsterdam, still one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, 3 times now!Us, parked outside of the Grasshopper, we were so early it was a ghost town still at 9amSetting up camp in Gent, really nice camp groundsWe didn't get enough time to explore Gent and the canals, the weather on Monday was overcast and raining. Next time! The view from the watch tower over the city in Gent