What a Shakespearenice!

As the famous William Shakespeare once wrote in his play Julius Caesar.... Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! (Act 3, scene 2, 74). After our trip to Stratford-upon-avon it is fair to say we were injected with the Shakespeare bug. It's everywhere up there!!! With 3 theatres dedicated to putting on Shakespeare performances and every shop, cafe and even stationary (!) having some reference to him, or his plays it felt like the whole world had gone Shakespeare mad.

After checking into our delightful B&B we were greeted by our warm, however overwhelming hostess, who henceforth referred to us as Jarratt and Beckie, and we all know how much I love that!! After we dumped our bags we headed into the market square where we saw ANOTHER Christmas market and bought the best lunch ever! A pork roll, complete with stuffing, apple sauce and crackling! Afterwards we headed to 3 of the 5 Shakespeare houses that are located in and around Stratford. The first we visited was Shakespeares birthplace, then Nash House and the site of New Place, finishing in Halls Croft. Each house visited had a guide member done up in traditional victorian dress who gave information about the room they were assigned to. At Halls Croft the gentleman assigned to give a brief overview of the house was a particular highlight. He was full of idioms, irony and sarcastic quips that managed to really amuse him, but not many others.

We then headed to Shakespeares burial site, Holy Trinity Church, where we entered through the wrong entrance and managed to avoid paying the viewing fee. Whoops! Anne Hathaway, Thomas Nash, Suzannah Shakespeare and John Hall are also buried there. There is also a copy of the register showing the baptism and burial dates of Shakespeare himself. After leaving the church we wander down the Avon, past the Courtyard and Swan Theatres. We then spent time strolling the Christmas-lit streets, before having dinner and heading to the Civic Hall. At the Civic Hall we had front row, centre seats to a performance entitled "Noughts and Crosses", a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

Our final day in Stratford was spent trying to hurdle our MASSIVE B&B breakfast, seeing Anne Hathaways Cottage and maze garden, as well as having a private viewing of "Shakespearenice". We then headed to the train station and onwards to Peter Garcia and Suzies for an orphan's Christmas dinner we will never forget!!!

Bec and the best lunch ever!

Us at Shakespeare's birthplace.

Shakespeare's burial site.

Us-upon-avon.

Our Canterbury Tale

Since our last blog we have been busy little bees... We've attended the Australia vs Nigeria (friendly) soccer match... yes! Soccer, NOT football, despite everyone trying to correct us. It was an awesome day, Australia won 1-0. On our way to the game we were swamped with leftlets advertising the (then) upcoming election. I think our favourite would have to be the gentleman dressed in a white t-shirt outside Putney Tube chanting "Kevin, for 0-7!" We also met up with Benny Dirks for drinks after the game, who was sporting a beautiful merv-style mo in the spirit of mo-vember! All in all it was an awesome experience.

Between drinks we have been working hard for the money, and have managed to dip down to Kent for a weekend away. We visited Canterbury and Whitstable. In Canterbury we saw the AMAZING Canterbury Cathedral, home to the famed Thomas Beckett's martyrdom. Its such a beautiful place and Jarratt considered it the highlight of the weekend. Whereas Bec, whilst impressed with the Canterbury Cathedral, was just as moved by the animated showing of Geoffery Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. She even went as far to buy (in addition to the magnet) an abridged version of the famous Tales. We even did a quick spin around the St Augustines Abbey before the cold weather got the better of us. We headed in for an early drink and dinner via Kings College and the Norman Staircase. After a refreshing local ale we went on a ghost tour of Canterbury. Amusing at first, however after an hour and a half the penguin of a guide was getting on both our nerves.

The next morning we raced around for MORE photos (in better weather) and headed out to Whitstable for their world renowned oysters, which we enjoyed. Jarratt was even brave enough to trial a local stout known as Oyster Beer, which arrived at the table looking like tar. Tasted quite refreshing, but took a fair bit of conviencing to first swallow it. Then it was home again, home again, jiggity-jig!

Canterbury Cathedral

Us at the Cathedral.

Bec on The Norman Staircase in Kings College.

Bec at the Canterbury Tales (Pa, would be so proud!)

Jarratt being the cultured scholar outside the hotel where Charles Dickens stayed during a tour of Kent.... just so happens that Jarratt is reading Oliver Twist at the moment. Coincidence?

Bec and the succulent oysters at Whitstable.

Our lunch... and Jarratts dirty looking Oyster Beer.

Our House.... in the middle of our street!

Hi there strangers, sorry it has been so long between entries. London life is just so hectic!!! Since returning from Poland we have: moved house, Jarratts changed jobs...twice, adopted a room mate, and drank ALOT!!!! All and all its been quite a busy time.

Our new house is FANTASTIC! Basically its 100 metres down the road from our old place, so we are still in Angel and moving wasnt THAT big of a deal. Its a two storey, victoria period terrace and it is Beau-ti-ful! We're so excited! We were worried about covering the whole place's rent on our own til the arrival of Blue and Bec, but have luckily found a friend of Bec's to move in for a month.

Jarratts also found a new job since returning from Poland. The past week he has been refitting HSBC branches and starting Monday he is back on a construction site. Bec is still teaching her little angels in Hackney. She had the brave job today, of nursing them while they had a injection against measles, which there is an outbreak of at the moment. She is still loving the whole teaching thing and is wondering why she never wanted the young ones to begin with. Its just like hanging out with Leilani and Tayla ALL DAY!

Tomorrow we're heading down to Fulham to watch Australia vs Nigeria in a soccer match (NOT football!!!); should be an awesome game, all the big names are in. Next weekend we are taking our first weekender trip, thinking of heading to Canterbury or Devon. Nothings booked yet though.

And now, finally for a tour of our new home...

Welcome... this is our entrance. That window is our bedroom window. The window below is the Kitchen/Dining room window.

Dining Room... Just out of shot to the right of this picture is our front window and entrance. The left side would lead into the Kitchen, ahead (as you can see) is the Living room.

Living Room... The doors in the middle lead out to our own garden and just out of shot to the left is the staircase to go upstairs. There is storage under the stairs that is used for a laundry area.

Kitchen.... pretty obvious, the front entrance is just left of this picture.

Bathroom...this is on like, the half floor, the stair case up to the bedrooms doubles back on itself and at the first landing is the bathroom.... does that make sense?

Our bedroom... One of two bedrooms on the upper floor. Across the road is a beautiful park... we're very lucky with the view.

Pigs Bum anyone?

After a dusty 3 hour train ride from Warsaw we arrived in Krakow. We spent most of the first day attending to business, including our lease agreement and new shoes for bec. Her 4 pound primark ballet slippers proved less of a bargain under the terrain of Polish weather. With that out of the way we explored part of the Old Market Square and started the hunt for a traditional polish dinner. After no help with directions from our hostel staff we came across a quaint lil cafe/bar style place that served a variety of Polish dishes. Bec had Perogi again, while Jarratt (the more adventurous of the pair) proudly ordered Pigs Bum. Both full we opted for an early night....

The next day fuelled on bum, Jarratt scrapped Bec out of bed to brave the mist of an early morning in Krakow. To then travel the advertised 1 and a half hours by bus out to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. An hour and a half turned into just over 2 and we arrived shortly before 11am, just in time for the English documentry film and tour. Auschwitz, and Birkenau for that matter, are places that need to be seen to believe. Words can not describe the emotion and heart ache you feel standing in a place that took over a million lives. We had both been to concentration camps before but agreed that neither was as harrowing or as moving as Auschwitz-Birkenau. After we had finished our 4 hour tour of the area we headed back to Krakow this time it took just over 3 hours... and while Poland's public transport system is claimed to be the cheapest, it sure isnt the fastest!! More Polish food was eaten for dinner and washed down with a cold beer... or two ;)

Saturday saw us adventuring through the Jewish Quarter where we saw remains of the Ghetto Walls, a memorial to lost lives and various synagogues. We visited Wawel Hill, which includes Krakow Castel, Cathedral and a dragons den. After a polish kebab-y lunch we explored the Old Town and surrounding areas. We were also lucky enough to catch a brief peak at a wedding at the Gothic Church of St Marys. We ended the day with a lavish meal, where much to Bec's shock Jarratt ordered wine for two!!!!

On Sunday we decided on a sleep in before heading out to the Wieliczka salt mines. We slept in til 9am, had breakfast and headed to the train station to catch our 10:10 train to the mines. On the walk up we noticed that the hostel clock was wrong, the clock tower ...wrong, the town hall clock... wrong.... the train station clock.... wrong?! Unbeknown to us, daylight savings had just ended and we were an hour early for our train. Bec, amused once we figured it all out, was also upset that she could have snuck in another hour of sleep! The salt mines were good, but nothing to write home about.... so we wont! Haha!

We ended our time in Krakow with a late polish lunch which included (beet)Root Soup and Pork/Cabbage Wrap for Jarratt and a schab pieczony (roast loin of pork seasoned with herbs) for Bec. Afterwards we zipped out to the Airport on the express train and we boarded our plane around 7pm.

The end :)

CD J on the Train.

Between the electric fences at Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Birkenau Concentration Camp

Looking through the fence to the Barracks at Birkenau

Bec on the streets of the Old Market "Polish Style"

Bec hearts the Krakow Dragon!

Jarratt at the Krakow Cathedral on Wawell Hill

The Old Market Square
(St Marys Gothic Church is in the background)