Wodkas all round!

Wow, if Poland's Autumn is anything to judge London's Winter by, aren't we in for a royal old shock!!!

We arrived late Tuesday into Warsaw airport and began our trip with the easy task of getting a taxi. However, finding an actually taxi proved to be harder than expected. Firstly, we weren't sure where to stand, or what to say and mafia-looking men in long jackets kept asking us (in thick polish accents) to get in their car. In the end Jarratt flagged down the most docile looking driver to take us to our hostel.

We rose early the next morning, much to the dismay of Bec, who still fails to understand why on a HOLIDAY Jarratt feels the need to get up before dawn!!! Dawn may or may not actually translate to roughly 7:30am. However, rugged up and ready to battle the conditions we headed out. Firstly along the Royal Way, or to the polish "Krakowski Przedmiescie" (try pronouncing that after a few drinks lost on a Wednesday morning at 5am drunk!.... not that, that ever actually happened) On our walk we passed by the Church of the Holy Cross the place that houses Chopin's Heart; Radziwill Palace and ended at The Monument to Sigismund III Vasa just outside the Old Town.

Once in the Old Town many a photo were taken, as Bec fell in love with all the "cute, colourful" houses. We took a tour of the Royal Castle and were quickly bored by one throne room after another, that remarkably looked just the same as the last three. Regardless, we pushed on as Bec was keen to see the Rembrandts. So keen that when she finally reached them she set off the alarm for getting too close. To avoid being escorted by the heavily armed guards that appeared at the sound of the alarm we decided to make a quick exit. Once outside the Castle we headed to the Market Square where we visited the Warsaw Historical Muesum. At the muesum we saw a film documenting the invasion of Poland by the Nazi's and read some pretty horrific stories about the treatment of children during the invasion. Afterwards we explored the old town walls and headed to the Palace of Culture and Science, a gift to Poland from Stalin, with amazing views from the top. Almost exhausted we headed to Chopin's museum, where Bec played tour guide and read 8 pages of A4 notes that we were given at the entrance to explain the exhibition. We ended the day with a night out drinking and eating, polish style!!! Perogi, beer and wodka - a fun time was had by all!!!

The next morning we took a dusty train ride out to Krakow..... which we will enlighten you all about in the next post! In the meantime... here are some happy snaps! SAY CHEESE!!!

Us in the Old Town

Market Square

Church of the Holy Cross (where Chopin's Heart is)

Artists in Market Square

Out on the Town.... Wodka anyone?

I'm in London still....

Well for you commited readers you'll know its been over two weeks since our last post, terribly sorry to all those who have been hanging out for a 'fix' of the Bec and J goodness. Truth be told we've been super busy and well, dave and bec are more exciting than sitting in front of the computer posting on our blog. That or we've lost a week to boozing... hahaha.

Our meet and greet time is off and racing, with more dinners and 'catch-ups' than you can poke a stick at. We now both have favourite pubs and eateries, so the important stuff is covered. And we have that many dream trips in the pipeline we can't choose one from the other. BUT, christmas is now booked, 10ish days living up in the Balitics and Finland. Through no fault of my own, lithuania has been booted.... Ask J about visas and mishaps are bound to follow. But we are sorted now and everyone (including the blue eagel and young sparrow) are on board for the Christmas Festivities!!!

The last weekend has been spent keeping Bluey and Bec alive, awake and not regretting their decision about the move to London. The weather at the moment is enough to put anyone off.... its like 7 degrees in the morning!!!!!!! For an Australian thats just stupid! So we've been taking them out to the sanctuary of warming places... mainly pubs like the walkabout and camden head. As well as a catch up at the Royal National Pub last night to farewell Stevie B, aka Guns....for reasons that will not be mentioned. But seriously, who wears a snap button shirt out for a drinking night on contiki.... honestly! Tonight we're heading into Leicester Square to watch the Vegemite Tales, a 'friends'-like comedy about Australians in London, should be good fun.... will let you know in the next post.

But with holidays around the corner we're looking forward to some MUCH deserved time off to sleep and ... maybe, just maybe, visit portugal... if we can get our bottoms into line!!!

But enough about us... what are you up to?
xoxoxo, Us.

Mind the Gap

.... AND pay attention to which direction the train is heading. STEVE!

Well another eventful week has passed and BOY! do we have some tales to tell. Firstly shopping on a Saturday in Oxford Street is RI-DIC-U-LOUS! After already spending over an hour exploring top shop and an additionally 40 minutes in H&M, Bec managed to convince the VERY exhausted Jarratt to stroll down to Primark in the hunt for some ballet slippers. Much to her delight she found a very stunning pair for 4 pound and promptly lost her mind snapping up an additional three pairs in different colours. She then put Jarratt in a line that snaked around the entire second level of the department store for 45 minutes to buy them, while she hunted out some bargain towels and blankets. In the end Bec won some bargain shoes but nearly lost her boyfriend in the process.

Sunday saw the arrival of the lovely Mr and Mrs Wyatt, after a brief mix up in Liverpool Street vs Liverpool Road they arrived. Before heading to the pub for dinner, the Wyatts had two months of holiday snaps forced upon them. But they didnt seem to complain any. The following evenings saw many a restaurant visited, numerous bottles of wine drank and one pretty amazing musical watched. We also had a rather eventful evening with Vander, Deano's Auntie, while the Wyatts were in ol' London town. What a HOOT! All in all a lovely time was had by all and it was very sad to say goodbye late Thursday evening.

We're currently debating over holiday destinations for the October school holidays and Christmas - with the Baltics, Austria and Portugal all being hot faves. But with London a stones throw from most places, the world is really our oyster and we could end up anywhere! We'll let you know in the next entralling entry of Where are they now?

Love to you all, Us!!!

PS - Who should we expect as the next lot of visitors? hehe.

Have hit the motherland!!!

Hey there campers....

Well after an initial rough patch we have finally found our feet in London. The property market in London at the moment is extremely cut-throat and we were having a difficult time securing a place. And the catch 22 here is, you can't get a place without a job, or a job without a place - so it did make for a few headaches. Anyways we have ended up finding a very decent place in Angel; a trendy area in zone 1 that is quite like Paddington in Sydney. We have signed a short term lease of one month and are hoping to stick out a solid 3 months here til the lovely Bluey and Bec arrive. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

We also have both secured good paying jobs which are very close to our place in Angel. Jarratt is working on a construction site as a mechanical electrician, bit different to the work back home. Bec is working full time on a kinder class (well the equivalent age group of kinder to Australia) and is also finding the work a bit different to home. We are feeling incredibly over qualified for our jobs, but its easy money so who are we to complain.

We are also starting to plan our next few trips, we're thinking somewhere in scandinavia for Christmas, like Norwary, Sweden, Finland or so on. But will need to nut it out more in coming weeks. We also have to decide where we want to travel to during the half term break (October 20 - 29). Since it is such a long stretch of time we're thinking maybe Egypt... but its still early days. It is a tough life... hahaha.

The last few days have been a blast with Stevie B in town, next come Mr and Mrs Wyatt, then not too far behind them is the arrival of the Master Chief and Defacto. We are both very much looking forward to the visitors!

And last but not least we must say big thanks to Garcy for putting up with us as long as he did. As well as taking us out day dot and introducing us to all his mates who kept us awake with the encouraging catch phrase "just keep drinking". We do appreciate it.

Til next time, take care of yourself.... (hahaha).... and each other.