"Fiesta, forever..."

here we are back at hotel splendide (olivia and james' place for anyone that hasn't stayed here) in london after a great trip to spain.
and with a new 6 month visa!
woo-hoo.
summer in london.

mums off on a tour to stonehenge and bath today, her 2nd last day before flying back home.
we've been lucky enough to see and do some great things over the last few weeks. the last 2 shows we saw were agatha christie's mousetrap (longest running play 54 years) and blood brothers. mum enjoyed her trip down to penzance and cornwall, lots of interesting stories, sounds like the highlight for her was the minack theatre - the life work of a woman who literally carved an outdoor theatre out of the cliffs.

http://www.minack.com/dayvisitors/introduction.htm

then after mum's trip to shropshire and wales it was off to spain for some sunshine.
girona's a cute little medieval town set in the hills and the junction of 2 rivers.
windy (as in curvy) streets and laneways in the old town, tapas bars, mopeds, old people and dogs hanging out from windows and balconies. really was beautiful and mum would've been happy to do a bit more exploring around the old town.
then to barcelona, which we both loved. great lifestyle with siesta, good food, warm, beautiful women, whacky buildings, beach, flamenco...had it all really.
the hostel we stayed in was only a block or 2 away from 2 of gaudi's main buildings in the 'eixample' and not far from sagrada familia, his unfinished cathedral. there can't possibly be anything like this in the world. we stood there gaping at some of the facades. doves, turtles, pelicans, big bunches of fruit, clouds, he even used stillborn babies and live models as casts. it was amazing to think that one person dedicated so much time to one building. mum and i could go on about this for ages and probably will when we see you. i like this photo of one of the models...might be hard to see the figure at the bottom of the model (just to the right of mum) that gives an idea of size...also, at the top of the model you can see the main spire which is yet to be built in comparison with 4 of the spires that are already constructed.
but there were other things in barcelona beside gaudi buildings. lots of walking up and down la rambla. lots of tapas. we found a great little spanish tapas bar run by 3 old guys...dirty and run down and took us a while to find them again amongst the winding back streets but it was worth it.
couple of flamenco performances. the 2nd one mum decided to ask a girl out for me after a couple of scotches.
we crammed quite a bit in for 5 days...mum did pretty well also putting up with 7 guys and 1 girl sharing a room in the hostel.
so then back to girona for a night and some last minute shopping and now back to london...back to the grind for me and back to red hill for mum, which i'm sure she'll find quiet after the hustle and bustle. but i'm sure she's ready to sleep in her own bed again.
it was a great 5 1/2 weeks without any problems to speak of. we're all taking bets as to when she'll be back here again.
adios amigos.

"Let the Golden Age begin..."

seams a bit to wierd to be doing this i must say and you're probably thinking the same thing. but now i've started...
edinburgh was fantastic. better than expected (or remembered from 15 years ago). must be one of the most beautiful and interesting cities of the world. mum and i arrived at the hostel we'd booked to be told by one of the guests that this was not a good place to stay. a quick look around and we agreed that we could do better so we legged it before the owner returned, trying to find another place thinking this would be difficult with the england scotland 6 nations rugby just about to kick off and most rooms in edinburgh already taken.
but it all worked out and the yha had some beds available in a great old hostel over the other side of town (there's a photo of the hostel with the scottish flag out front). i was keen to get into a pub at least for 1/2 time to see the game so was glad when we'd dumped our stuff and scooted off to see england beat scotland for the 1st time in 6 years. the 2 (tiny) pubs close by were overflowing with scots out into the street. as scotland got closer to victory they were taking any opportunity for a hug or a song.
funny people if you can understand them...

we saw some touristy stuff. cathedrals. pubs. learnt some interesting things. a tour around edinburgh castle. mum was amazed by the steady stream of well-behaved rugby supporters coming back along the road near the hostel. i went out saturday night after the rugby and saw 3 local punk bands, well 2 local and 1 not so punk british 'hipslinky' - do yourself a favour. returned to the hostel nicely sloshed with ears ringing.
sunday night we went out to a comedy club...very funny night as you'd hope. we met a couple that thought we were a couple - i'm sure thats a compliment for mum and a hint for me to change my lifestyle. great night with the highlight probably being a zambian guy (see photo). madness. we've since been to another comedy night in angel (london). little bit more experimental, tho'
and the audience was funnier than some of the comedians. mum went to the zoo up there as well, a little bit disappointing she thought as its a breeding zoo and mostly inside and sad. but they had koalas. that day i went to st. andrews which i'm glad i did. even if it was for 2 1/2 hrs.

mums off to plymouth today for a couple of nights, then cornwall and next week shes going to stay with a friend of hers judy in shropshire near wales for a couple of nights. so i won't be seeing much of her this our last week in london. i might lose some weight. i'm sure mums got something going with the london walks tour man, busy doing all sorts of tours in the last week or so. tower of london, beatles tour, portrait gallery, tate gallery, cabinet war rooms, etc. much more than i've done. gonna try and do a few things this weekend and next. then spain.

we're staying in a small town close to the meditteranean. free flight, too. well 1 penny +tax. there are a couple of cheapy airlines that do deals to smaller places for free. girona's an hours train away from barcelona. olivia and james are on an 'every other weekend away' and this weekend's in girona, so we'll get some tips. we might stay the 1st and last nights in girona and 3 in barcelona.

we had a great day today. a slow morning then went to see 'embers' a show on the west end with jeremy irons. good seats. mainly about friendship. only 3 cast so a lot of dialect from jeremy. we both loved it. its pretty good when you can wake up and decide on the day to go and see a show like that. there are so many things to do if you want. the weekely listings or 'time-out' is unbelievable, lots of free stuff too. the other night we went to the foyer of rada (royal aadamey of dramatic arts) for some live music. mainly up and coming singer/songwriters but the standard was very good, we'll go back to that again.

still haven't worked out how to get captions on to these photos. i like the one of mum checking the scots guardsman out, that was up on edinburgh castle. so was the one with the rams horn snuff holder. mums gone thru rolls and rolls of film and i've got a few as well so look out when we get back.

not that either of us are rushing to get back home. i'd love to see london in summer. and some of europe, too. melbourne (and red hill) seems so isolated in comparison. a guy i work with and his wife go over to france for lunch some weekends, its that easy. it helps if your earning pounds, but there are plenty of deals. the bus mum went down to plymouth on is 1 pound to most cities within britain. but i did get a text from her last night that the bus had overheated. hope they've made it.

anyway, that'll do. gonna get me and the bickerton out into it before meeting up with some people for early st. patricks day celebrations in clapham.

tally-ho.