Limited Edition "England" (english)

Hello again! YES, I couldn´t quite stop with the writing. We have been to England and I got introduced to my future mother- and father-in-law, niece and sister-in-law etc. Besides that I still haven´t seen all of you and so I thought it might be nice to keep you up to date from Europe as well, have fun ;)

// DAY 654 – 715

// GERMANY

I’ll keep it short. Our first weeks in Germany were taken up by organising, partying and eating. On the 29^th of December 2013 we were on our way again – to England, to visit the Queen ;)

// PORTSMOUTH

Our first stop was in Portsmouth. Already at the airport I finally met Emma (Adam´s sister) in person and after about 1,5 hours driving I met her husband John and little Natalie (my future niece :D), too. They have a lovely house in Fareham, near Portsmouth.

The next day we visited an animal park with Natalie. Unfortunately it had rained a lot and many rivers caused huge areas to be flooded. But we were lucky and made the best out of the day. Pictures are attached ;)

And suddenly it was New Years Eve again. Unbelievable how fast time goes by! During ice-cold winds and horizontal rain we went for a walk on the beach and spoiled ourselves with ice cream, hehe. Natalie and Uncle Adam had fun in the puddles and in the evening Emma cooked an awesome Curry for us. YUM! After a few rounds of BLOB (a New Zealand card game, similar to “Aufzug”) and the yearly “Dinner for one” we watched the fireworks in London on Telly and went to bed at 00:30am. Yes, you heard right! For those of you who know me this was possibly my most quiet New Years in probably 15 years hehe ;) Well… you don´t get any younger.

As a goodbye on the 1^st of January 2014 we got treated for lunch by Emma in a proper English Pub. In the afternoon time had come to say our goodbye´s as we were heading on up to Newcastle.

Portsmouth was quite nice altogether. It´s close to the sea and is surrounded by a lovely landscape. Unfortunately we had really bad luck with the weather as it was raining and cold most of the time.

// NEWCASTLE

In Newcastle it luckily rained less – but was EVEN colder! No matter how much we were wearing or moving, the cold went straight to the bone! After Joan and James picked us up from the airport it was only a short drive to their house.

The day after, there was already a lunch planned with Adam´s Grandparents and Uncles. The food was great and it was lovely to meet everyone in person and to put faces to the names. :) After lunch we went for a short digestive walk on the lake before we made ourselves comfortable inside to exchange Christmas presents.

The next morning started with sunshine and we went to the beach and lighthouse at Whitley Bay. After a short, you could almost say “Run”, to the lighthouse we were all so cold that we warmed ourselves up in a nice little Café before we visited the Biscuit Factory. This is an Art Gallery showing different pieces from various artists. From drawings and paintings to sculptures, abstract and realistic to sewn pictures and much more. We were all very impressed by the level, the diversity and ideas from the pieces on display. Very inspiring! :)

The following day we dropped by Adam´s Grandparents, William and Elizabeth, for coffee – yes, they drink coffee in England, too ;) We looked at old photos and talked about our future plans before Adam and I headed to Newcastle City for a squiz/gandie/look. They have many great bridges crossing the river Tyne. I especially liked the Millennium Bridge. It can be rotated on an axis so the ships are able to go underneath – first class design! After a huge portion of Thai Curry we planned to go to the cinema but missed the beginning of the movie. So we went for a back massage instead – wonderful!

On Sunday I finally got to see Joan in Action. Her first day back at work in the church after Christmas and Adam, James and I were sitting in the front row :) It was a beautiful Service! Warm, from the heart and as well interesting. I have to admit that I haven´t been to church in quite a while but this is definitely something different than the catholic church:

Carpet on the church floor, the building is mainly out of wood, the pulpit is a table on the same level as the congregation, the chairs have cushions and it was a great experience in general. It seems to be more interactive in my opinion. The topics are up to date and afterwards they even meet in a social area for coffee, tea and biscuits. I really liked that! After the Service Joan and James invited us for a 3 course Lunch. We went to the restaurant where Joan had celebrated her 60^th birthday, unfortunately we missed out on that. The food was fantastic! And what I really like about England: they import New Zealand wines :D
On our last day we visited Susan, Joan´s cousin. She invited us for lunch and we talked about anything and everything. Before it became dark again in the afternoon (4pm) we managed to have a look at Hadrian´s wall. Those were some of the leftovers of the Roman wall, which was supposed to keep the Scottish out. There´s not much left as they reused the stones for building houses - but a bit of history doesn´t hurt anyone ;)

TIP: Adam´s mum has a lot of Adam´s furniture in her house. Therefore I´ve attached a few of his pieces together with some links, which show the process of making them ;) ENJOY!

// AXMINSTER

On the 7^th of January we continued again, this time south to Axminster to visit Tony and Tim (Adam´s other Grandpa and his father). After a short flight and about 1,5 hours drive in a BRAND NEW Vauxhall Astra (we were lucky with the booking hehe) we arrived at The Firs just in time for lunch. The afternoon we spent listening to old stories from Tony before we went to Lyme Regis the next day, a dinky small fishing village directly on the coast.

The sea was rough and you could clearly see the changes on the beach – Cause: the many strong storms. We looked at a few small Art Galleries and even bought one or two little treasure.

Tim had Thursday morning off work and the four of us were working hard. There were a few trees to cut down and while the men were chain sawing and splitting I was taking away the wooden blocks with the wheelbarrow. It was fun to do some physical work outside – especially after all the eating ;) In the evening Adam and I made a fire in the woods. This is great here! Tony has a lot of land with a wonderful forest, where there is always something to do. The most fun we had by burning Holly. It´s a type of tree which makes sounds like popcorn in the fire :) It reminded me a bit of Feurers, just bigger and wilder :)

Friday was Tim´s last day at work before the holidays and Adam and I decided to give Tony a break and headed to Cornwell. Not only because of the rolling hills and the sheep it reminded me a bit of New Zealand – really beautiful! We wanted to have a look at the “Eden Project”. Here a bunch of people worked together to grow a rainforest in the middle of England. Under a huge 27 degree hot house dome construction, one hundred meters in diameter there are palm trees, waterfalls and everything a rainforest needs (except the animals). A lot of school classes come here, as there is a lot to learn. Under the other dome is a Mediterranean forest with oranges, olives, mandarins and so on. The planting extends outside where you find huge sculptures integrated in a large garden. Best is to have a look at the pictures. Babarazzi was there after all ;)

Saturday was another working day outside and we made another fire.

The last day we spent with Tim in Weymouth. In the evening he invited us to an Indian Restaurant – Indian Curry is apparently the new Nr. 1 dish in England – hard to believe, isn´t it? It was great and a really nice end to our England trip :)

// IMPRESSIONS ENGLAND

It was great to meet Adam´s Family, especially in their homes. Of course it was sometimes a bit exhausting but above all had variety. Everyone lives a bit differently: while in Emma and John´s life it´s obviously a lot about Natalie, it is very cosy and comfortable with Joan and James where as at The Firs it´s purely nature. A little bit of everything :)

I found the English landscape very beautiful! It seems to be a bit “wilder” than Germany and even with the walls and fences that separate the land it looks less organised. From above it reminds me of a huge Quilt, because of all the different coloured fields – how fitting :)

The weather was quite English and I missed the snow. The people seemed all very friendly, even if on the streets they look a bit sad and depressed. But this is only my impression.

//GERMANY WITH TIM

Tim had one week off work and as he is a big fan of Germany (he also lived here for 2 years) he joined us travelling from The Firs to Feurers. He really enjoyed meeting my family and to finally speak German again. We have been to Munich and visited the BMW Museum and the Olympia tower as well as Dad in Oberstdorf. We were sledging with the “Schneehexe” (Snow witch), had a look through Kempten and enjoyed the traditional German cooking.

// BACK TO REALITY

Now reality has us back we are busy with the job searches. To give us a break sometimes we have as well been snowboarding. We went to a Carnival party and soon we will visit Nürnberg. Time flies as there is always something to do – we definitely don´t get bored! I have attached some pictures from our area so that you get an idea what it looks like (especially England, Aussie and New Zealand :)).

// WEDDING

We have news in regards to the wedding as well. After we found out what would be necessary for us to get married in Germany (documents) we’ve decided to look at setting a date for the wedding once we have both found jobs and a place of our own. I think this is understandable as neither of us wants to marry while we are still living with my parents. Please don´t worry about the notice – we will let you know in time ;)

With this I come to the end of my “limited edition”. See you soon in real life :)

Baba

P.s.: NOT TO FORGET: We have a new name for our youtube channel if you wanna have a squiz:

Babarazzi and Trev