The month of May

Woop, woop - summer has arrived early in London! The last few days here have been fantastic - hot and sunny and got to 27 degrees today -long may it last!

May was quite a busy month (and also a sad one - RIP Grandpa xx), we have been to a few concerts and comedy gigs (including Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr, Stephen Merchant and Simon Amstell) as well as enjoying two bank holidays in one month - too bad we have to wait for August till the next one!

The unemployed bum hard at work.
Although, to be fair, he has been getting into the kitchen a bit more lately - here he is mastering the art of pancake-flipping.
Sadly for MC, Ally and Jake went back to NZ to await the birth of their wee girl, this is the fabulous baby shower/farewell do cake from Chinatown. And it's all edible!
We saw Reel Big Fish which (despite MC's reservations) was a pretty cool show. John definitely enjoyed seeing one of his favourite bands live.
Practising the night shots - London Eye.
Hungerford Bridge over the Thames, with Westminster and Big Ben behind it.
View over the Thames.
We saw Romeo and Juliet at the Globe theatre. MC thoroughly enjoyed it, although John was caught napping occasionally! Surprisingly there was a Kiwi in the cast - Rawiri Paratene (from Shorty and Whale Rider) who did a great job playing the Friar.
MC saw Pink in concert at the O2 - she was amazing!
That's Pink hanging from the ceiling - she also sang perfectly (no lip-synching!) while swinging on a trapeze and being dunked in water then spun round while suspended from the roof... Awesome concert.
We took a daytrip to Stratford-upon-Avon earlier in May with Krystal, Dan and Rachael. This is Hall's Croft - the home of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna (married to Dr John Hall).
Good recommendation for lunch from Mum and Dad - the Garrick Inn (the oldest pub in Stratford). Yummy pie.
Tudor houses.
John in New Place, where Shakepeare's home used to stand.
Rachael and Krystal in New Place.
The gir's outside Shakespeare's birthplace.
Krystal and Dan at Shakespeare's birthplace.

In other news, MC has become the star of our touch rugby team - opening the season with a hattrick, repeating her feat in the second game and grabbing one more in the third! Woo hoo!

Long weekend in Lisbon

For the second May bank holiday we went to Lisbon in Portugal. It wasn't one of our favourite cities - a bit run-down, lots of graffiti and cooler than we expected (unfortunately it turned out that London was hotter than Portugal that weekend!) but still nice to get away and see a new country.

MC getting eaten by a frog in the park.
The lovely wee town of Sintra, about 40 minutes from Lisbon.
Pena Palace in Sintra, very cool-looking castle on top of a mountain.
Turrets and countryside.
The palace again.


We walked up the hill to the Palace, this was probably one of John's "shortcuts".

Nice view once MC finally climbed to the top of the rocks.
Sintra with castle on the top of the hill.
Pastel de Nata (Portugese custard tarts) from the famous Antiga Confeitaria de Belem in Lisbon. Their recipe is 170 years old and apparently only known to three chefs at a time! So yummy!
The Monument to Discoveries (commemorating Portugese explorers like Magellan and Vasco da Gama) overlooking the River Tagus.
The impressive sprawling Jeronimos monastry in Belem.
Rossio square, Lisbon.
Umm I think you should put that guidebook away John?
One of Lisbon's famous rickety old trams in the Alfama district.
Narrow streets looking out onto the coast in Lisbon's Alfama district.
Up on the hill in Alfama with a view over Lisbon.

Only three weeks now till we leave for NZ, we have one night in KL and four nights in Langkawi on the way over and then a week and a half in NZ itself - will be sad to swap the glorious UK summer (!!) for a chilly winter but very excited to be heading home for a wee while and looking forward to Chris and Erins' wedding!