Let it Rain

It rains here. It's not a complete and utter drenching like in Australia but enough to make you rethink that walk in what was sun 30 minutes ago. I've now become used to carrying around my rain jacket and rain coat. I love love love my rain jacket. It was a birthday present for myself from Eddie Bauer and I still can't get over how great it is.

If you weren't sure that I was on a pumpkin kick perhaps the fact that I made pumpkin pie and pumpkin seeds for the first time on my own will convince you!

I've been quite productive at my knitting class and during the week. I'm really enjoying knitting and yoga. While I'm not always wanting to go somewhere in the evenings I find that I always enjoy it when I do. I'm looking forward to making everyone's christmas gifts this year!

A Castle in Cardiff

After a fun week with the boys, lots of colouring in and halloween pictures. I didn't realize how well I could draw jack-o-lanterns! We enjoyed our standing Starbucks date with pumpkin cake and mango juice too.

A last minute trip to Cardiff turned into a weekend to remember. I was able to spend time with more Australia travel friends. It's amazing how one trip can lead to so many more! I'm happy to be able to travel so easily to visit friends that I made in Australia. 

We stayed at the Bunkhouse Hostel and I'm very upset that I forgot to take a picture of the main bar area as it was beautifully decorated. The hostel was clean and well maintained though the beds could be a bit more comfy. I would stay again as it was central to everything. 

Cardiff was beautiful and our first agenda was breakfast which was an amazing little pancake and crepe place.  I had a crepe with apples, cinnamon and syrup, it tasted very similar to apple pie! Next was the castle. I said that as long as I saw the castle on my trip, I would be happy to do anything else after. It was amazing to do the castle tour. I can't describe the feeling of looking and seeing how it had changed over the years knowing that until recently in the past 100 years that people lived there. 

 I heard that a night out in Cardiff was a fun one and it certainly was. I enjoyed meeting new people and attempting to talk to the welsh in my strange and funny accent. I actually had a few people who couldn't understand me nor I them! I tried and enjoyed pumpkin ale (can you tell I'm on a pumpkin kick!)

The next day was a wonderful tour of Cardiff Bay, the Cardiff Assembly and Barry Island. I had the best tour guide, though slightly hungover from the night before. While it may not have been a sunny beach and bay it was still beautiful!

I would definitely put Cardiff on the list to visit again!

Northern Adventures

I was delighted this weekend to finally be reunited with one of my very first travel friends. It's funny how people that you have only known for a few days can become such close friends.

I travelled this weekend to Newcastle and Middlesbrough. The transit system here in the UK is indeed amazing. And quite cheap, although it was a long journey on the bus up to the north! I spent an evening out in Newcastle which was fun, and then an evening in Middlesbrough. I tried the food of Middlesbrough, parmo, which is essentially their own variation of parmesan chicken. We even stopped for the biggest ice cream sundaes, which were delicious!

It was wonderful to spend a weekend in the North, I will have to make a return trip.

Time to be a Tacky Tourist

You know those big buses with the open tops, and guided tours. Those are for the real tourists, usually older and just stopping to see the sights. I had the pleasure of doing one this weekend with the family. It was full of interesting facts and quite a fun family day outing. We really enjoyed playing tourist!

Out and About

Life here in London is really starting to take place. I enjoyed fighting dragons, feeding them snakes and battling heaps of baddies. I started a knitting class this week and love being able to learn a new skill. The women in the class are all older than me of course but they are very nice and helpful. I'm currently learning stitches but I can't wait until I can actually begin to knit real things.

Over the weekend I visited Camden Market which is huge, I'm sure many of you will be getting your christmas, birthday and special gifts from there as they had EVERYTHING. I experienced my first London pint. I tried a London Lager which was quite good. I spent more time walking around London and was able to see some great views. You can even see the London Zoo from Regents Park for free. I took a quick tour of Oxford St., no shopping this time! I walked through Leicester Square while on my way home. 

I was reunited with one of my Australia girls to tackle Oktoberfest at Kennington Park. It started off slow as it was a sunday but once the band started and the beer began, it really started to be fun.  

A Few Firsts

This week was a week of firsts; first full week of work, first days of school, first trip to London, first trip on the train, first time seeing a real palace, and first trip to Brighton.

The boys have been great here. We sent the oldest off to school for the first time this week, I spent time finding my way around and taking the youngest to his activities. As per my own habit of loving animals, I've already got the youngest on board looking for cats and dogs while walking and watching multiple youtube videos of cats and dogs! I've really started to adjust time wise but still detest waking up in the mornings!

It was very difficult to organize a bank account here and sign up for a cell phone being a foreigner but its finally all worked out, thank goodness. I've decided that I'm never moving here again, thank goodness I've already done it!

Saturday morning I had set up a coffee meeting with some other au pairs, at Starbucks (so not english!).  It was nice to meet some other girls before organizing my travel card and venturing off to London on the train for the very first time! I was a bit nervous but hey I've travelled before. The trip was so easy, everything was marked, and the city was amazing.

Sunday was supposed to be a bus tour trip to London but most of the route was shut down due to a bike race. So we decided to save that for another weekend and headed to Brighton for a day by the sea! Brighton reminded me a little bit of Byron Bay mixed with old 50's type pier fair attractions and rides. It was very cutesy and I had a great day exploring.