King Arthur, Saint Swithum and the Classsroom Pub

August Bank Holiday.
It's the time of the year we Brits traditionally rush down to the south coast and enjoy the last of the summer weather.

Unfortunately this year, it was raining Saturday evening and most of Monday, but that gave us the whole of Sunday to not get wet in our sandals and shorts.

Our trip was to Southampton this year. Not the most obvious summer holiday destination (the beaches are in Bournemouth), but at only 90 minutes train ride from Oxford (and luckily not affected by the FGW strike) it's quick to get to, and gives most of the day to enjoy after leaving in the morning.

The city itself has quite a bit to see, but as we have been here a few times before we did not go and visit the typical sights. Our time was spent walking around the city, having lunch at the Thai stall at the outdoor market (very tasty), and walking down to Ocean Village (the harbour area) for dinner at Banana Wharf (we eat here every time we visit Southampton, still great food and service).

On Sunday (yes, the actual day of sun) we went for a day trip to Winchester. This is a quick 15 minutes by train, so again we were able to spend a lot of the day there.

Having not been to this city since I was little (both in size and in age) we did spend our time visiting all the typical sights here, which are wonderful.

On the way down to the centre from the railway station we passed many interesting buildings, churches, mills and statues. I really had my camera out the whole time.

The first major attraction we visited was Winchester Cathedral. This powerful building is not only big, but in very good condition. There is lots of colour inside with the stained glass windows, plus the various historical facts written on noticeboards around the cathedral so you can take in all the knowledge.

Of particular interest was the fact that many of the bishops of Winchester founded Oxford's colleges.

Also Saint Swithun was buried here. There are a few sayings about St Swithun's day (15th July), mainly to do with the weather:
Whatever the weather on St Swithun's Day, it will stay like that for the next 40 days.
Apples should not be picked or eaten before this day, they will then grow fully ripe.

Talking about food, we then walked around the back of the cathedral and found our way to The Wykeham Arms. This is a great Fuller's pub, with old school desks (with ink well included) being used as the bar tables.

After a fulfilling meal, we then headed off to see the Great Hall, of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table fame.

For anyone with an interest in medieval times and the story of King Arthur, this building is a treasure trove of information. The garden out the back is also a nice feature to walk around before leaving.

Back then to whence we came, after a short but sweet visit to Winchester.

The rest of the photos can be found here.

40 Years of Jan

It seems now we have reached that age when lots of our friends start celebrating their 40th birthdays.

It feels like only yesterday that we were at their 25th parties...

This time it was Jan (Juancho) who was going into the next decade of life. As such, there were festivities planned, and of course lots of dress ups (apparently for the photo booth, but it seems most people were happy wearing the wigs etc for the whole evening).

So, without further ado, a few photos from the evening:

 

For the rest of them, click here.

Old Friends and Other Animals

We managed a catch up with age-old friends Hannah and Diego (along with little'un Matteo) at a pub in Woodstock (no, not that Woodstock).

Whilst we ate some tasty pub lunch, we caught up on all the happenings since we last met, which had been quite a while.

Of course with so much to talk about, we had to continue it whilst walking in the grounds of Blenheim Palace where we saw some of the local field dwellers.

 

What a great way to spend the weekend !

Tapas and Tumbonas

Sometimes one just needs to get away from it all, even if it is for just a few days.

 

The start could have gone a bit better. An accident on the route into London caused a huge traffic jam, the bus ended up managing to find another route in to Victoria where we changed for the next bus (the one after we had booked for) to take us to Stansted.

That was the good thing about organising this holiday to stay a night in the Premier Inn at Stansted Airport. It didn't matter if we arrived late, we would be in the check in queue on time in the morning. And have a good nights rest beforehand too.

If you want to know why this hotel chain can guarantee a good nights sleep, then just ask Olga about their pillows. Yes, they are THAT good. The breakfast is pretty tasty and plentiful too.

So, leaving the cold weather of the UK behind (it was -1 degrees when we woke up), we set off for our home away from home - Valencia.

Having not been back here for ages (must be a couple of years now) we were eager to meet up with our friends and enjoy some of the lovely sunshine whilst relaxing on the beach. Of course the food was also a part I was particularly looking forward to.

On arriving we made our way to Silvia's place, where we were being looked after for the duration of our visit. Soon after dropping down our bags, we set off into town with her, meeting up with Roberto (he was on holiday from Mainz), Luca, and later Jordi.

After sitting down for a beer just behind the Torres de Serrano, we started catching up on what people are now doing, what has happened since we last met and all the other gossip. To accompany the beer we had a couple of tapas, one of which was a not very brava Patatas Bravas. This is one of my pet hates, if you call a dish "brave potatoes", then they should not just have mayonaisse on the side.

We then went on to another local to eat, where I am pleased to say the patatas were brave enough for me. Here the beer flowed, the chatting got louder, until eventually we had to go home (well, they had classes and work the next day - we were on holiday).

The next day we set off with Silvia after breakfast to the beach. The malvarrosa is one of the beaches of Valencia with such easy access by public transport, which is why it's our preferred relaxation spot when we come and visit. The water was just warm enough to walk in, but a bit too nippy to submerge oneself further.

Come lunchtime, and it being Sunday, we of course had to eat the local speciality of paella. And where else better to taste this dish than at the home of Silvia's parents. Homemade at its best!

We then headed off to the port to meet up with Gema, Alejandra and Claudia, Fernando, Valeria and Iker and spent some time catching up whilst watching the kids play.

After all that excitement we returned home to relax a little (and enjoy the novela).

Monday saw us go off to the beach again, to top up the sun, and then we met up with Luca and Gloria for a buffet lunch and of course chitchat. On to desserts, and Juanfran turned up (we hadn't seen him since Javi's wedding). Once Gloria had gone back to teach her students, Olga went for a bit of window shopping whilst the boys stayed behind and had a coffee (del tiempo, naturally).

We then headed off home to relax a little. As it was our last night here, I made sure to go out and meet up one last time with Jordi. We met at Benimaclet and went to a local eatery which we had previously enjoyed last time with Ana and Miquel (who are now in the outbacks of Texas). Of course there was a nice looking barmaid here, which we didn't complain about.

On Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Silvia, and headed off to the beach one last time. Here we met up with Roberto, grabbed some lunch at Pans & Company, and then went back to pick up our bags and head off to the airport.

What a relaxing holiday it was, and great to meet up again with old friends.

To see the rest of the photos, click here.

Fine Frontages and Soaring Towers in Kent

After finally organising a meet-up with Andy from since we studied together in Birmingham, we went down to Canterbury to give him and Titti a visit for Easter.

On our way to the coast we popped in on old time family friend Annie (many years ago, I had cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats in aid of Parkinson's, and she rode along with my mum in the car whilst us boys cycled the 1600 kms across Britain). She had also babysat us many a time back when we were much younger. It was great to see her again after so many years.

Once we arrived at Whitstable, we walked along the seafront where we saw lots of houses with colourful frontages, giving a proper feeling of being by the seaside. We chatted, walked, and had an ice-cream before heading off for dinner at a local fish restaurant.

Due to Olga falling ill on the first evening, she stayed at the house whilst the rest of us went off into Canterbury to visit the cathedral amongst other things. Along the way there were many interesting buildings made from the familiar flint stones seen a lot around here.

The cathedral itself was quite busy, lots of tourists visiting for the Easter break. However, we managed to get around without too much trouble, and see the spectacular views of this impressive building.

The ceiling and stained glass were particularly photogenic.

All in all a good city to visit, and great to meet up with old friends.

For the rest of the photos, take a look here.