What's doing?

Hello!!
Sorry, no photos this time. We haven't really been up to much, but we thought we'd just let you all know what's happening and how we're doing (cos we know you're just dying to find out).

Well, as I said, we've (sadly) not been up to much since our last update and our trip up to Sherwood Forest. We've almost finished the two cases of beer we won (it's now down to the last three bottles and it's like what always happens when you near the end of something good, we're trying to make it last). It's just been the normal back-to-work thing. Tam's doing a bit of temp work now so that's been keeping her busy. My work has gone hugely busy as it's the equivalent of the release of UAI's (or TER's for you old skool cats) and its absolutely mad with people trying to get into uni. I am going quietly insane and have let a few mistakes creep in (but that's ok as I'm not the only one, and what do you expect when you're working 9-10 hours days with no breaks?). The undergrad admissions system here is alien and very impractical. In a lot of cases we've established relationships with and have been working on the applications of hundreds of kids since November last year when I started. And it just seems wrong and futile when at the end of it, the majority don't achieve the right grades or they piss off to some other uni. But you can ask me more about that when we get home. Not that you'd want to hear about it anyway. It's something to file in the "Doesn't Make Sense... But Don't Worry, It's British" box.

I forgot to mention in our blog that Tam's cousin (Dom) came and visited and we had a grand old time. She stayed with us for a bit and is now partying up Contiki-style in Greece. We didn't really get many pics with her, as she's not into all that touristy kind of stuff. But, typical girl, she did seem to enjoy the Camden and Portobello Markets. We did also take her to see "The Comedy of Errors" at Shakespeare's Globe. You can check out what she's been up to at her blog.

The other weekend we made our first trip to Brixton. It's supposed to be a bit of a rough area, but it seemed ok... A bit like Shepherds Bush, but then, we were only there for a bit and we were there to watch a concert at the Brixton Academy with hundreds of other Aussies. They say "you've got to be in it to win it" and we had scored two free tickets to see Michael Franti & Spearhead, supported by Xavier Rudd. The show wasn't too bad. Xavier Rudd was phenomenal. Michael Franti & Spearhead were alright. Both wear their political, anti-war, and environmental buttons proudly and we felt as if we were attending some kind of rally. But it was a night-out and it was free and it was fun.

Other than that, not much really has happened. We visited the British Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum (cos they're free). We saw the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, but the highlight was seeing Cleopatra's mummy. The weather's started to go 5#!T again. It seems that Summer lasts only about 2 weeks here and it's started to get cold again (it's actually colder than in wintery Sydney!). It's very, very depressing. Then there's also been all that who-haa about the terrorists and attempted plane bombings but it hasn't really affected us at all. We haven't really planned on going away much at all as we're "trying" to save for our final trip away before we leave for back home. By the way, thanks to everyone for signing up for that Oasis Hong Kong Airways thing (sorry to have spammed you). It doesn't look like we've got a chance but if you haven't already, you can still do it now (there's still time!! We'd really appreciate it). I am happy though that they've finally removed the dude with 936 points. C'mon, who knows that many people!?

The other thing of note is, well, I thought you'd all be interested in the new fashion trend that's gripping the youth of Britain today. Well, besides the emos and goths that hang around parks and other miscellaneous green spaces here.

Anyway, it's a long weekend this week. We hadn't planned on going away anywhere but if we don't go anywhere it just feels like such a waste. And if we have to spend the whole long weekend in London I think I'll die of boredom and depression. So, we've booked a cheap trip to Paris (travelling by coach). I know this'll be our third time in Paris and that we haven't really been too taken with Paris on both occasions, but I'd rather be bored in Paris than bored in London. Hell, I can be bored in London anytime. At least we can try and look for some daytrips out of Paris. Plus, Paris is cheaper to get to than pretty much all of the other places in the UK (and we don't have to faff about with airplane travel) plus with the long weekend most of the cheap accommodation has already been booked up. We had bookmarked Scotland to visit, but we'll just have to do a quick trip to Edinburgh before we leave.

Well, that's about it for now. Leave a comment or email back if you want. We'd love to hear from you. Stay in touch. We miss you all *sob*
Love,
Des & Tam
xoxox

Sherwood Forest and Nottingham

Last Saturday we caught the train up to Nottinghamshire to check out the 22nd Annual Robin Hood Festival over in Sherwood Forest.

We arrived in Nottingham fairly early and decided to hit the town and see what there was to offer. And we immediately liked what we saw. After leaving the train station, we made our way inside a shopping centre to look for a memory card for our camera (as I'd taken them out to load up the photos for the blog and forgot to put them back in, D'Oh!). It turned out that we were in a Westfield Shoppingtown (just like back home!) and we got a bit homesick. We found a cheap memory card and then went in search of coffee and the tourist information centre to find out how to get to Sherwood Forest.

After a quick caffeine fix and information about bus times and everything we decided to check out the Nottingham City of Caves, which is a local award-winning attraction of a series of underground man-made caves and tunnels where (poor) people used to live (and work) and that were also used as bomb shelters during the war. Bizarrely enough, the entrance to the caves is inside the Westfields.

We made our way back and the Cave lady at the front suggested that it would take about 40 minutes to an hour, so we thought we'd do this, get a spot of lunch at the Wimpy Burgers (as recommended by Candy), and then catch the bus to Sherwood Forest. Plan! Unfortunately, we may have had greater expectations of the caves (this may have perhaps been to do with our visit to the caves in Slovenia) as it was a purely disappointing visit. Sure, it had some interesting things inside to look at and a couple of actors dressed up and telling us about the history of the caves and how they were used, but it wasn't anything 'special'.

Great expectations and a cool helmet. Unfortunately, like the Bateaux-Mouches in Paris, this attraction deserves two thumbs down and one big frown.


An enchanted well (with tacky eerie lighting and smoke machine) for your loose change.


Further along and after the first actor trying to recruit us for his underground tannery, we came across a air raid shelter warden and an area which was affected by the bombing during the war. I got to try on this cool gas mask. Which may have been a very bad idea as I then developed some major pimples.


Here's me in the kiddie area looking for some archaeologically-interesting specimens.


And that was the end of that and we spent perhaps a record time in there of half an hour. So, we ended up having an early lunch at Wimpy (a UK burger chain like macca's). They don't have Wimpy in central London and so we were curious to try it. The prices were about the same as macca's and the food was about the same too. But again, nothing special to write about. Moving on.

We caught the Sherwood Arrow bus over to Sherwood Forest (about 45 mins away and more than what we paid for our return train fares to Nottingham from London, go figure) and made our way into the Festival. Where I bought a cool little Robin Hood hat for £1.25. We also got free "I (heart) Sherwood" stickers!




Robin Hood fighting with Little John on a bridge.


One of the main drawcards for us going up this particular Saturday was that they were having a jousting tournament.


Here are the main characters.
A slightly effeminate Robin Hood (wearing a "Marian" head band as sold at the souvenir shops)


Maid Marian, playing on Robin Hood's team


Robin Hood's band of merry men (and one incredibly merry fellow on the right)


The dastardly and villainous Guy of Gisbourne


The most evil Sheriff of Nottingham


The actors were all pretty good and kept in character well. Disappointing however was the complete lack of actual jousting. Instead, the tasks included tests of skill, such as riding a galloping horse and trying to slice a cabbage (on top of a spear) in half with a sword without damaging the spear or injuring the spear bearer; or trying to collect a hoop on the tip of a jousting spear also whilst on a galloping horse. Breaking up the horse tasks were fights with swords or quarter staffs between members of the two teams (Robin Hood, Maid Marion and the Merry Men vs the Sheriff of Nottingham, Guy of Gisbourne and his men).

Swordfight between Robin Hood and one of Guy's men


After his team wins two of the three jousting challenges, confusingly, a Mêlée has been called by Robin Hood and it's everyone for themself to the death.


So everyone fights with each other and die. They try to make this more believable by having each of the dead people lying on the ground prone, whilst the winning person gets their sword and does a jumping chop across the "dead" person's chest. Soon enough, everyone's dead on the ground except for our hero, Robin Hood, and the evil Guy of Gisbourne and Sheriff of Nottingham. Needless to say, Guy doesn't survive, leaving Robin Hood and the Sheriff to duke it out. And shock horror! Robin is the victor and everyone else is dead. At this point, the scary dark magician MC calls upon the spirits to raise up all those who have been sacrificed. And they're ALIVE again. Wow, what a show.

Then we went in search of the famed Major Oak tree. Is that it? No... not big enough.


Tam wandering around Sherwood Forest engaging in some fungus-hunting.


Fungus! (just for you Tina)


More fungus!


One of the Merry Men's campsites? No one was home.


The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest, which is apparently the most famous living tree in the world as it once used to shelter Robin Hood and his Merry Men. It sure is big.


Visiting the Alchemist


Souvenirs anyone?


After some more wandering around, we caught the bus back to Nottingham from Edwinstowe.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian doing an impression of John Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing in Pulp Fiction.


Back in Nottingham we had a look at the Robin Hood statue outside the Castle.


And then we headed down to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (est. 1189AD), which claims to be the oldest pub in England, then had some fish and chips for dinner at Wetherspoon's before catching the train back to London.

Time to Split

Day 8 in Croatia: Spalato (aka Split or "Little Palace")

The next day we woke up early to catch our ferry to Split, the second largest city in Croatia. From the Split entry in the Lonely Planet, we weren't expecting much, but were very keen and eager to check out (Roman Emperor) Diocletian's Palace, which is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It's made from Greek and Italian marble and also features columns and sphinxes from Egypt (did this guy have taste or what?).

Following the LP walking tour, we started off at the Grgur Ninski (Gregorius of Nin) statue. He's the famous Croatian bishop who fought to have church services conducted in old Croatian. This statue is another masterwork from Ivan Meštrović and depicts Gregorius as a giant-sized wizard.


It is said that rubbing Gregorius' big left toe brings one good luck.


You can see how shiny and light-coloured it is compared with the rest of him! That's a lot of luck!


Expecto Patronum!


Once again we were foiled by the local Renovation Rescue team. The Palace has four gates named after metals: Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron. But the Golden Gate was currently covered up. So, we made our way in anyway checking out the weird little old city with its funky architecture, gargoyles and the bits and pieces of the Golden Gate that had been brought down and stored for safety.










This is the tower of the Katedrale Svetlog Duje (Cathedral of St Domnius).


A sphinx near the entrance to the cathedral.


Roman columns on the side of the cathedral.


More photos of the cathedral.




A headless sphinx in front of the Temple of Jupiter.


Inside the Temple...












The Peristyle (ceremonial entrance court) and Protiron (entrance into the imperial quarters). The boys in polo shirts sitting on the steps on the extreme left are a Croatian boy band. Also note the Roman soldiers on the right and the Angel in the middle on the ground.


We then went straight through the crowd and downstairs through the permanent underground market to conclude our tour of Diocletian's Palace by exploring the Basement Halls underneath the Palace.






Along with his impressive collection of Egyptian artefacts, Diocletian was also an avid collector of Chinese statues.


After completing the Basement Halls, we went to Galija for some excellent pizza.


Split Harbour


We also checked out Bačvice, which is apparently the top party beach in Split. Seemed like a concrete beach but it was still nice. We'd left our swimmers and towels in our bags at the Garderoba so couldn't have a dip but it would have been nice as it was freaking hot.

We then had to make our way to the airport to fly back to London. Here's our final view of Split.