Our Visit to the Circle of Rocks

21:38 Alyson 0 Comments

Otherwise known as Stonehenge.

We had been meaning to do it for awhile. But laziness and the cold weather had put a damper on the thought of leaving the house.

But yet again, visitors come to save the day. Or at least make us put aside our lazy tendencies, force us to clean and leave our house.

With friends visiting who had done all the beaten-track London sights, we headed a bit outside of town to Stonehenge and Bath for the day.

What to say about Stonehenge? Well, even our tour guide warned us in advance. It can be a bit disappointing. It is literally a circle of rocks standing, or not quite standing, in somewhat disrepair.

The most interesting part of it is all the questions surrounding it. Why did they build it there? Some of the rocks came from Wales, over 150 miles away. Why was it so important to get these giant rocks to this particular spot.

What was it for? They assume a burial ground, but then again, some thing it was a place for some kind of religious ritual?

The rocks - they have started to wear over the years. The
rock in the middle was cemented in the 60's or 70's to
keep it from falling over

How did they build it? Everything from getting the rocks there to putting them on top of each other was a feat in those times without our cranes and eighteen wheelers.

Standing behind the rope way out from the rocks. According to
the guide, they may open up access to all tourists to the
middle. Or, you can make special reservations before/after
opening to visit in a smaller tour group.

Our guide had answers for everything, but being that annoying tourist, I always had questions of how do they know? Yes, I was that girl.

After the Q&A on the drive over, we arrived at Stonehenge. We were given an hour to explore, but given the fact it was snowing/raining, hovering right at freezing level and you just walk in a giant circle around the rocks, we were done in 20 (with 5 of those posing the group for photos). Then it was back on the bus and off to Bath.

Rocks up close courtesy of zoom. And that's all folks



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Churchill War Rooms

19:30 Alyson 0 Comments

Before moving to the UK, I had visited - a long, long time ago. I mean, this is pre-university visiting.

And because of this, my rememberances of things tend to be skewed a bit. Sometimes they're right and sometimes they're wrong. Which makes each and every experience a surprise. Do I remember it through a sullen teenager point of view, or did the true recollection somehow remain?

A few weekends ago with our first set of visitors in town, we set-out to test my memory of the Churchill War Rooms.

Luckily, and despite my positive memory of it, it was better than expected.

We picked the rooms to visit because a) it was close to the changing of the guards which we had just witnessed and b) it seemed a good activity for Paul, and as the only guy of the weekend, we should be nice and indulge him at least once.

The layout of the rooms is a bit odd, but I suppose what do you expect when it's underground rooms built for the war? You start off viewing some of the rooms used for meetings of the minds, then work your way through the odd maze of meeting rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, telephone operator rooms and more. About halfway through, you take a break, peruse through the Churchill Museum and then are back to the rooms. Or if you're Paul, you straggle behind, somehow miss the Churchill Museum and spend 30 minutes outside the museum waiting for your wife.


The two museums in one couldn't be more different.

The rooms are small, cramped and give you a good idea of what it was probably like way back then. Preserved as they are, the only difference is probably the lighting and maybe (or maybe not) the crowds.


The Churchill Museum is an interactive museum and probably one of the best parts of the whole thing. While it is dark so that you can see all the electronic things, you don't necessarily notice. Starting with the early years of Churchill, the exhibit follows him throughout his personal & political life, even past the times of the War Rooms. To me, of personal interest after my visit to Gallipoli was the information on the ANZAC Battles, and I was truly able to have seen both sides of the story on the attacks on the straits of Turkey.


Overall - worth a visit, especially if WWI is of particular interest to you.

Where to find it: Just off the West end of St James Park it's a short walk from either Buckingham Palace (Green Park Station) or St James Park (St James Station) with lots of signs pointing the way.

What you're looking for - a bit nondescript from the outside


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Afternoon High Tea

18:25 Alyson 0 Comments

I am alive. I know you were worried about my long hiatus, but I survived our first set of visitors to London and what seems to now be my annual spring cold, which happened to overlap with our second set of visitors. While I may have spent the better part of a week moving from the bed to the couch, sleeping and watching marathons of Law and Order between naps, there’s a lot to catch-up on the blog!

Among our two groups of visitors, we had first time Londoners and veteran travelers, making them very different to entertain. We hit some tried and true tourist spots, some new spots for the first time, however, we managed to find one common ground for all to enjoy.

Afternoon High Tea.

My first British tea experience had been in Thornbury. I had been introduced to true tea in Turkey and it slowly grew on me, but here in the UK, it’s down to a fine art, an art which includes scones. Yes, scones and clotted cream have made me a tea fan for life.

Sure, there’s many other little delicacies like small cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches and mini desserts, but the scones are what have raised English Afternoon Tea to the institution that it is.

For each group, we tried a new tea place to see what different hotels, cafes and eateries offer around the city.

First was the Brown's Hotel in posh Mayfair. It was the perfect first London tea experience - the ambiance with the wood paneled walls, with music drifting through the rooms as you sip on tea out of your cup decorated with florals and munch on endless sandwiches, scones and pastries. The staff are attentive, giving you information on your teas, replenishing your scones and being overall, quite friendly. We were the last tea time of the day, giving us the advantage of having no one to follow us. 



Photo courtesy of the Brown's as I was so busy with scones,
I couldn't be bothered with the camera


 
Next try was the Kensington Hotel.  It is a bit more modern than the offerings at Brown's and more casual. No piano, no fancy room, just comfy chairs and small tables pushed together to make it a cozy affair. We went crazy this time and opted for the Champagne Afternoon High Tea where we indulged in a glass of Monet before kicking off our tea.

The offerings were similar to Brown's, and I may have been disappointed by the experience if it was scone free. But, the scones were delicious, as was their special treat of Gin & Tonic sherbert. While they weren't as attentive as the Brown's (and the price was still comparable), it's still a good option for someone who wants a less fuss tea time.

Tea time pictures from Kensington Hotel - again, whoops on
the camera!


I know there will be many more tea times in my future, or at least as many as my waist line will allow!

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Tarts take on Nature in Iceland

19:00 Alyson 0 Comments

I would not necessarily say I am a nature person.

Do I love nature? Of course! I love snow and mountains and sunrises/sunsets and all kinds of other beautiful things that are awe-inspiring and magnificent.

Do I enjoy any type of activity in nature? Eh, not necessarily. I have never particularly enjoyed camping, fishing, or long nature walks. I blame it on the fact that I either get a) cold or b) allergies.

When we decided to visit Iceland, it was purely for the Northern Lights. I hadn't really looked into many other things to check out there. I seem to be getting more and more lacksidasical about my trip planning. Should have learned my lesson from Bucharest!

Once we arrived in Reykjavik, I realised it was a nature lovers paradise. From the ocean to mountains to waterfalls and miracles of nature like the Northern Lights and geysirs, how could you not love it?

And to be honest, I fell back in love with nature. This love is made possible by the fact that there was no camping and the lack of trees seemed to be good for my allergies.

So how did I bond with nature on our trip?

We started off easy with the Blue Lagoon (not to be confused with the Blue Lagoon in Ölüdeniz). This is a geothermal pool which they have fancied up and opened up to visitors. You can lounge in the water naturally around 40 degrees celsius (100 farenheit) and cover yourself up in the silica that helps give the water its white hue. If you really want to pamper yourself, you can get massages and more, but we stuck with soaking in the pool til our fingers wrinkled, eating lunch, then repeating.

Iceland

The next day, we tackled the Golden Circle. This drive takes you through a lot of Icelandic landscape and some of the best natural treasures.


First stop on our tour was Gullfoss, the golden waterfall. The river, Hvítá, it originated from is made up of run-off from the glaciers. Upon it's discovery, it was almost lost to developers who wanted to harness the water for electricity. Luckily, it was saved from that fate and is now a popular stop on the Golden Circle. And I'm told if you catch it on a sunny day, you're likely to see a rainbow spanning the falls.
Golden Circle

Next up on the circle - the Geysers! The valley we visited included several geysers, including Geysir (yes, that's right) and Stokkur, along with tens of other smaller geysers. The whole area appears to be smoking upon your arrival. As you walk among the clouds of smoke and bubbling water, you may see Stokkur erupt in the background. Luckily, it's still active and goes off every 5-10 minutes, so if you stand there long enough, you'll be lucky enough to see it go off. Or in our case, see it go off 5 times. Nearby is the larger Geysir, but it isn't as active anymore, so we missed out on the show. This was my first time to see a geyser and it was captivating to sit there, watching the water slosh, boil and bubble, just tensing and waiting for the inevitable explosion. And yet every time it happens, you're surprised!


As we were waiting for Stokkur to go off, Paul began a count-
down from 10. All of a sudden, when he got to zero, the
geyser erupted, as if on command! Clearly, I got a
kick out of the coincidence

 Photo Flipbook Slideshow Maker
The geyser Stokkur in action

As the grey skies open up to release some much anticipated snow, we headed to our final stop, Þingvellir National Park. Besides its beauty, the park has an important place in Icelandic history. It was the location of the first parliament of Iceland, which took place here from the 10th to 18th century. Even after it was no longer used for parliament, it has become a place to celebrate iconic moments in Iceland's history, including the establishment of the republic in 1944.

Golden Circle

And I can see why they would choose this spot. It is surrounded by mountains, with a lake in the middle and sits smack dab in the middle of the North American and European tectonic plates. As we climbed up the ramp to the top of the wall which was created by the plates shifting apart, you get a picturesque view of the expanse of the lake below. At the top, you can't help but to pause for a minute (or two) to take it all in.
Golden Circle
The wall created by the shifts of the
Europe and North America
tectonic plates

With that, we headed back to our hotel to pack up and head back to London. We snuck one more peak at the Northern Lights and bid adieu to Iceland. But, I have a sneaking suspicion we will be back to see what summer in Iceland has to offer.

Golden Circle
 

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Chasing the Northern Lights

20:42 Alyson 0 Comments

I knew I wanted to see the Northern Lights sometime in my lifetime. Paul and I had talked about heading up to Sweden or Norway, but a deal popped into my inbox for a Northern Lights Tour in Iceland, and there it was. Our trip to chase the Northern Lights.

Let me preface this by saying that I had way too high of expectations. I did not really think much about NOT seeing the lights. I just made the assumption that we would, and went ready to go, with my camera, tripod and camera settings prepared for capturing the lights.

When we arrived into Iceland, we went the first night to try and spy the infamous lights.  Our driver warned us that they hadn't been seen much over the last couple of weeks.

What?! I may not see Aurora Borealis? 

Well, I started to get anxious.

We drove about 30 minutes outside of the city, in the cold, cold of Iceland (although they would tell you it was warm for winter!) and stood there for 30 minutes.

No lights. Now I'm really starting to get anxious.

Other people say they see the lights. I say they are crazy. Or are they. My eyes start to play tricks on me and I think I see things dancing around.

Then I finally see them. They had been there the whole time, not as vivid to the naked eye as pictures, but hiding behind the stars. You can start to pick up the movements, subtle, but there, flickering, appearing, disappearing.


Finally, after 1.5 hours, my toes are freezing and the lights seem to be subsiding. Its midnight, which means the tour is up. I head back to the bus, only to turn right back around because the lights are putting on a show!

This was truly what you expect to see of the lights. Jumping, dancing, moving about in swirling lines. It was mesmerising and all across the sky. I felt awed and so lucky that despite all the odds, we saw the Northern Lights on our first night.


Apparently, March is a good month for the lights - who knows exactly why besides the scientists. We went to the beach on our last night in town, just hoping for a peek behind all the city lights.

And there they were again, waving us goodbye.

Wanting to capture the lights yourself? Here's what you'll need:

1. A camera where you can adjust the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. A DSLR would be great, but some point and shoots have this now
2. A tripod - you REALLY need a tripod. If it has longer legs, great, then you don't have to squat to deal with the camera

You can find tons online about the best settings to use on a camera. I personally used a 3.5 F-Stop, 800 ISO and 30 second shutter speed. If you have a lower F-Stop OR higher ISO, you can reduce the shutter speed. Make sure you get it all ready before you leave because you'll never know when the lights will appear!


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Amsterdam

19:03 Alyson 0 Comments

Last weekend, we ventured across the channel to the land of canals and more. Amsterdam.

I had visited a few times for work. It was a glamorous, fly in at night, eat room service, go to a meeting, fly out the next day. Once, I squeezed in a quick dinner out on the town and a fast (very fast) roam through of the Red Light District.

Canals of the Red Light district at night
So, when the chance came to really explore the city for a weekend, we jumped on it.

We opted to fly instead of take the Eurorail - while the Eurorail is great for Paris, it isn't direct into Amsterdam, and takes about 4.5 hours, which is pretty comparable to flying when you add in security.

When we got into town, it was late and freeeeezing. Welcome to Europe in the winter. We wandered the streets and found a good restaurant to warm ourselves up in before hunkering down for the night.

Iconic Amsterdam sign outside the Rijks Museum
Saturday, we woke up early to grab a quick bite and start our exploring! First up was Anne Frank's house. Despite having read her diary, it had been a long time and some things seem to be easiest to understand when you see it in front of your eyes. We walked up the narrow staircase which was covered by a bookcase to hide their existence; we saw the room which she plastered with photos and images to make it feel like home. We saw pages of her diary, which she hoped to be published once the war ended. While the building itself was just empty rooms, there were quite a few multimedia exhibits to give more information and insight on both Anne Frank and the war.

canal
Paul on the canals around Anne Frank's house

Next, we decided to take the tram over to the Rijks Museum. The reason most people visit is the Night Watch, the giant Rembrandt masterpiece, but the museum also houses other pieces important to Dutch history. Perhaps because it is currently under construction, it seemed a bit small; we may have missed out on some works that are usually part of the permanent collection. 

Rijks
My favorite painting at the Rijks - the Angry Swan as I call it
It's supposed to also represent how the political leader
Johan de Witt defended the Dutch against their enemies

After all the museuming, we decided it was time for a break. Next up: Heineken Experience! Since Paul used to be a home-brewer himself, we have always enjoyed brewery tours. And by we, I mostly mean Paul as he quizzes others on their yeast, hops and other brewing things. This tour however, focused quite a bit on their history versus the brewing (although this was included, just more interactive versus educational), as what you are touring isn't an operational brewery. By far, the best part was the beer itself. As someone who doesn't like beer, I finished my samples off with no problem!
One of the old Heineken logos and barrels

On our last day in Amsterdam, we decided to slow things down and take in the works of Netherlands most famous artist - Van Gogh. Usually, these would be found in the Van Gogh Museum, but like the Rijks Museum, it is under construction. However, many of the pieces have found a temporary home in the Hermitage Museum. This was by far my favorite part of the trip.

Everyone knows Van Gogh's most iconic works, but I didn't know anything about his story. How at 27, he just decided to become a painter and made it happen. He tried to emulate many others works to increase his talent and you can see it in his paintings. From impressionism to Japanese art work, his techniques, and his subjects are varied. It was interesting to walk through each subject and see in what time period it was painted. The museum itself houses some of his most famous pieces, including the room, the sunflowers and the cherry blossoms.

How did we wrap up the trip? Walking back to the train station in the snow. One of the first times I have been happy to return to winter weather in London!


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