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 29th
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 1st
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 60th
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!
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 7th 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:
P.s.: NOT TO FORGET: We have a new name for our youtube channel if you wanna have a squiz:
Babarazzi and Trev
