London - Leaving Dos

Monday 24 September
After work, we had dinner with my parents at St. John in Smithfields, #34 on the World's 50 Best Restaurant 2007 List (and also on the 2003 to 2006 list). The restaurant serves "no nonsense" British food and is very different to the other World's 50 Best Restaurants we have been to in that it was a very "hearty" meal rather than gourmet and rich. In other words, meat, meat, meat, and more meat. St. John also has its own bakery so you can order fresh madeleines for dessert...which was great as they were hot and fluffy, and just had enough sweetness to end our meal on a nice note. This is a place you could easily come back to as it is also very reasonably priced compared to our last World's 50 Best Restaurant experience at Arzak. Yang and I also reached a milestone today having now dined at all 7 of the UK restaurants on the World's 50 Best 2007 list!

Wednesday 26 September
This evening, the current and old SOX crew meet up for Dan's and Tashie's pre Farewell to London party with a few drinks at Las Iguanas on Southbank, dinner at Ping Pong (it felt very weird having dim sum for dinner), and then more drinks at The White Hart (which has a great beer selection...but serves pinot grigio on tap...typical English Pub I suppose!).

Thursday 27 September
As the Shell SOX Tax Team's Social Co-ordinator, I organised our post-workshop dinner at Refettorio, an Italian Restaurant at Blackfriars which is directed by Michelin-starred chef Giorgio Locatelli of Zafferenos and Locanda Locatelli. Luckily the restaurant was well received by the 8 of us dining that evening as it is very reasonably priced compared to Locanda Locatelli, the atmosphere was really good, and most importantly, the food was amazing.

Friday 28 September
This evening, Yang and I headed to The British Museum's The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army Exhibition, which has been housed inside the Reading Room (my favourite Library). There are only about 14 Terracotta Warriors on display, but the history and other artifacts on display are a real advertisement for visiting Xi'an, which I really can't wait to do! The First Emperor's Burial Mound in Xi'an covers an area of approximately 56 kilometres and due to the care that needs to be taken in archaeological excavations, these are not expected to be completed in our lifetime. Although the highlight of the exhibition was the Terracotta Warriors, it was actually a good history lesson about the First Emperor, who can be credited with unifying China, standardising currency, standardising weights and measures and building the Great Wall of China to keep the Mongolians out.

After the exhibition, we had dinner at Asadal, a Korean restaurant in Holborn. Then we headed to Leon and Julie's Leaving Drinks at the Sofa So Bar in Fulham. This is the 3rd Leaving do I have been to since Saturday...it's so sad...everyone is going back to Australia...and soon it will be our turn too...

Saturday 29 September
This morning, Yang and I headed to Bond Street to run a few errands before heading back east to the Borough Markets to have lunch and buy food (cheeses, joselita gran riserva pata negra jamon, foccacia, and prosciutto) for our "Please Help us Finish our Alcohol Party!". The purpose of this evening was to use up all the alcohol Yang and I had accumulated so we had less to move when we left our current apartment and London. Attendees at this evening's small gathering were Alli, Aaron, Jason, Tammy, Linus, Robin, Ryan, Phil, Ha, Ed, and Loreen & Felix (who arrived later as they were celebrating their 10 year anniversary). We had quite a bit to drink and eat, thanks in part to Ha & Ed and Phil for bringing some Aussie snacks, and Linus, Tammy and Jason for bringing meatballs and crispy aromatic duck (Jason was the duck-master who kindly assembled the rolls for everyone too). T&L also kindly brought their blender so that we could make fruit and creamy chocolate cocktail concoctions. It was an enjoyable evening, and despite finishing 2 bottles of champagne, 2 bottles of vodka, a few beers here and there and making a substantial dent in bottles of Choya, Baileys, Godiva, Frangelico, Scotch, and Gin, there were no casualties or hangovers the next day!

Sunday 30 September
We attended Tabitha's Baby Shower today, which was a bit different to the other Baby Showers I had been to because they invited the male partners so, it ended up being a nice gathering of friends. Another interesting thing was that half the group already had children so they brought food that they had prepared themselves, whereas the other half that didn't have children brought food that they purchased or that you could stick in the oven...you most probably have already guessed we were part of the latter group! The shower was organised jointly by Joanna, Indira and Esther, so each of them came up with a number of games to play during the day. We managed to win the first game, which was to guess which of the attendees were in various baby photos. Quite a feat since we had only met some of the people at the party that afternoon! After a lovely afternoon at Esther's apartment in Deptford Bridge, we headed back so that I could pack and catch my flight to the Hague.

London - More English Houses

Wednesday 19 September
Jason organised a Jason Bourne evening at his. We watched the Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy whilst eating cheese, pizza, garlic bread and later a "duo chocolat cake" from Paul...a very unhealthy DVD night. It was interesting watching these movies after so many years as we have traveled to quite a few of the filming locations since they were released and were able to identify them.

Friday 21 September
This evening, I met up with Flick and we had dinner at Theo Randall, an Italian Restaurant in Mayfair, so named after the Head Chef, who was the Head Chef for the past 10 years of the River Café (where we had lunch a few months earlier). To start, I had the ravioli in sage and butter (which was tasty) and Flick had the risotto. As our main, we both had roast rack of lamb with salsa d’erbe. Then for dessert, I had the Amalfi lemon tart (which was slightly glazed) and Flick had the soft chocolate cake with crema di mascarpone. We were both impressed with the food and it means that I don't have to trek all the way to the River Café in Hammersmith for the same quality. Thanks for shouting me dinner Flick!

In the meantime, after Yang's legal training day at the private dining room of the Royal Exchange, he and his colleagues headed to Prism for a few drinks to unwind.

Saturday 22 September
Flick, Yang and I had breakfast at Carluccio's before meeting up with Tammy, Linus, Jason, Ammy, Peter, Richard, Philip, Linh, Mike, Loreen, and Felix at Westminster for the Houses of Parliament Summer Opening. This was something I had been wanting to go to for years, but it is only open for two months of the year and I keep forgetting to book. The tour exceeded my expectations; the guide gave us a mini lesson in English history and politics which was so interesting that I am almost tempted to read a book about it. For example, I didn't know that the building used to be a Royal Palace. On the tour, we passed through the:

- Sovereign's Entrance;
- Queen's Robing Room;
- Royal Gallery, so called for the portraits of past and present monarchs. It is currently used as a work area for members of the House of Lords;
- Prince's Chamber, with portraits from Tudor times (including Henry VIII and his 7 wives);
- Chamber of the House of Lords, which has the Royal Throne where the Queen sits for the State Opening of Parliament;
- Central Lobby, with its very Gothic ceiling;
- Members' Lobby;
- "Noes" Lobby, where the members of the House of Commons go if they have voted No for a bill (there is a "Ayes" Lobby for Yes voters on the other side);
- Chamber of the House of Commons;
- St Stephen's Hall, which was a Chapel and then the original Chamber of the House of Commons; and
- Westminster Hall, the only surviving part of Westminster from its time as a Royal Palace.

Then after a few pictures, we all headed to the Ebury, a pub in Pimlico recommended by two of my work colleagues. Joining us here was an ex PwC colleague, Lance Redpath, who I hadn't seen for almost 4 years, having lived in Barbados for a couple of them, so it was great to catch up and reminisce, especially as Flick was also in London. The food was definitely pub grub, but served with a restaurant feel (except for the weird waitress who didn't know how to pour wine).

After a leisurely lunch, we all headed our separate ways. Flick and I headed back to Canary Wharf via Victoria station, where they had this weird art thingy...not sure what it's for, but it was pretty cool. Yang, Richard and Phil went to the Apple Store to check out the new iPod Touch. After fighting the crowds for a chance to put it through its paces, the jury is still out.






This evening, Yang and I had a really quick dinner at Saki on Queensway (Kiasu was full and so was Goldmine) before heading to Michael and Michelle's Leaving Do at their place. Actually, the last time we were at their place was for Steve's Leaving Do (their previous housemates). It's interesting that most of the friends I have met over here and who have been in London the same time as us have also decided to pack it up and are all leaving in the next few months (it's the three year threshold!). Their talk about boxes and piles of stuff they wanted to send home vs stuff they had to return to people etc was a timely reminder of what we will be going through in a few weeks.

Sunday 23 September
As part of my photography tutelage under the illustrious Monsieur Ong, we headed to Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath so I could practice taking photos with his camera (I have recently become increasingly frustrated with the shutter lag on point-and-shoot cameras). The house had a large number of paintings, including a self-portrait by Rembrandt and others of English Kings and Queens, which was very timely given our history lesson at the Houses of Parliament yesterday.

After wandering around the Kenwood Gardens, which has great views of London, we had lunch at San Carlo before heading home to meet my parents who had arrived back from their tour of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. We had a family dinner at home with Jason also joining us, and cracked open a bottle of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame to celebrate.

Peak District - Chatsworth and Mr Darcy

Thursday 13 September
After work, I had drinks with my ex STASCO work colleagues. Following this I met up for a drink with Yang and Jason who had just finished dinner at Donzoko.

Saturday 15 September
I dragged Yang (as he keeps reminding me) out of bed this morning at the crack of dawn and made him drive me to the Peak District as I had been wanting to visit Chatsworth, the estate used as the setting for Pemberley in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (my favourite novel of all time) for ages. It is believed that Chatsworth was the home on which Jane Austen modelled Pemberley as she wrote Pride and Prejudice whilst staying in Bakewell (a town 6 miles away).

So we drove up the M1, past Nottingham Forest (yes it actually exists and they call the area Robin Hood Country) and Chesterfield with its Church with a crooked spire (it wasn't purposely built this way...a result of bad british engineering?) and then over 3 hours later, we finally made it. The view of the house as you drive through the park (where sheep were grazing) blew me away and that was enough for me to make the long drive worth it! (although maybe not for Yang).

We had lunch in the Carriage House Restaurant, where we gorged ourselves on Bakewell Steak and Ale pie, Bangers and Mash and Lemon Meringue pie. It was pretty good for a touristy restaurant.

After lunch, we toured the House, where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire still reside. The rooms were just as impressive as any of the palaces we have been to in Europe, with ceilings painted with gods and biblical scenes, lots of paintings (including those of the various dukes), and a Firebolt (signed by J. K. Rowling) used in Harry Potter. I particularly liked their main Library (there are 5 in the house) as I love those old Libraries with leather bound books and mahogany shelves. But the most exciting room for me was the Sculpture Gallery, which was used for the scene where Elizabeth sees a bust of Mr Darcy (they still keep Brian McFadden's bust in the Sculpture Gallery, along with 3 original copies of Pride and Prejudice).

Our visit to Chatsworth also coincided with Sotheby's 'Beyond Limits' exhibition of sculptures in the Chatworth Gardens, which made for some very interesting pictures. The Gardens were themselves amazing, complete with a cascade waterfall, a huge canal pond and a smaller ring pond, and a maze (where Yang got lost for 10 minutes thanks to taking advice from other people in the maze).

After wandering around the huge garden and having some ice-cream, we drove to Haddon Hall, a fortified manor house considered to be the "most perfect house to survive from the middle ages". The house also has some pretty victorian gardens with topiary sculptures. The Hall was also used as a filming location for Pride and Prejudice, although its not as impressive as Chatsworth.




Our final stop in Derbyshire was Bakewell, a small town famous for Bakewell Pudding, kind of like a portugese egg tart with treacle. We bought one from the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop and the taste of it definitely grew on me...it's much better than Mr Kipling's Bakewell tarts.

Then we drove another 3 odd hours back to London where we dropped off the rental car and then headed for dinner at Los Providores, a tapas restaurant with a Japanese twist. The food was really good, which is reflected in how packed the restaurant was and how they were constantly turning tables, but it was pretty expensive; I guess that is what you get for hanging out with the Marylebone High Street set.

Sunday 16 September
This evening we met Jason, Ammy, Peter and Hoi Yee at Southbank for dinner at Canteen at the Royal Festival Hall. The food was pretty good for a chain, and their eton mess was definitely worth the calories it contained!




After dinner, we met up with Ben and his friend Evan and found a spot on the Waterloo Bridge to enjoy the fireworks for the Mayor's Thames Festival. To avoid the crowds trying to get home after the fireworks, the group had a drink at the Duke of Wellington before heading home. Thanks for the photos Jason!

Dalmation Coast, Croatia - Sun and Sunsets

Monday 3 September to Friday 7 September
My first full week back in London after 5 weeks away did nothing to make me love being back in London as a result of the Metronet tube strike causing mass crowding on the three lines still working, which thankfully for us did include the Jubilee. Tantrums flared across London with people fighting / arguing with each other to get on crowded buses and tubes. It was a timely reminder of why I am so looking forward to coming home to Perth. It didn't help the tourism industry either with Fiona taking 2 hours to get back from Heathrow, compared to the hour it usually takes. As a result of the difficulty in getting anywhere around London during this period, some plans were put on hold during the week and we only ended up having Maxine over for dinner on Wednesday (she luckily has a company car!), Fiona's Farewell Drinks on Thursday, and catching up with Jane at Smollensky's on Friday. For Fiona's Farewell drinks, we tried the Barrow Boy and Banker for a quintessential English Pub atmosphere. Maxine had told us that the inside was designed with the Ballroom of the Titanic in mind, with marble columns, brass chandeliers, long drapes, historical murals, and a curved staircase. After drinks, the group of us headed to Pizza Express in Shad Thames for dinner.

Saturday 8 September
This morning we received the very exciting news that Bel had given birth to a healthy baby girl, Abigail Xing Yi Brown. CONGRATULATIONS to the happy parents Bel and Raefe on this exciting new addition to their family! Wish we were there to celebrate with you!

After a quick lunch at home, Yang and I headed to the airport for our last trip for the summer on the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea, Croatia. Our first port of call was Split, a UNESCO Heritage town centred around Emperor Diocletian's Roman Palace. On the bus to the town centre, I bumped into my ex-secretary from PwC Perth, who had just got off a flight from Cologne, and had a good catch-up chat for the half hour bus ride...the world is really small.

We checked into Hotel Peristil, which was built around the ruins of the Silver Gate (the Eastern Entrance to Diocletian's Palace) and overlooking the Church of St Dominic, and then headed straight out. We walked around the windy cobble stone streets of Diocletian's Palace, we watched the sunset from the Esplanade (Riva), window shopped on Marmontova and then back through the windy streets until we founds ourselves at People's Square. We had dinner al fresco at Poseidon, between People's Square and the Iron Gate. After dinner, we watched locals ballroom dance (my parents would have loved this) on the Peristyle, the main interior courtyard of the Diocletian's Palace.

Sunday 9 September
This morning saw us in Trogir, a small island that is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. After walking through the Land Gate, the town was similar to Diocletian's Palace in Split with small cobblestone streets. The main sites of this town were:
- St Mark's Tower, a defensive tower








- Kamerlengo Castle, once the residence of the Venetia Governor (pic 1). We climbed to the top of the tallest tower for views of the entire island (pic 2).



- Trg Ivana Pavla II, a square with the Town Hall, Loggia and Clock Tower, Cathedral of St Lawrence and the Church of St John the Baptist.







Sightseeing over, we had lunch (al fresco again) at Fontana, overlooking the sea and the Church of St Dominic before heading back to Split.

By the time we got back to Split, it was full of cruise ship day-trippers, so we decided to head to Supetar on the island of Brač. However, we had time to kill before our ferry, so we ended up climbing to the top of the Bell Tower for aerial views of the ruins of Diocletian's Palace and outwards to the sea. We also visited the Baptistry of St John and the Golden Gate (which was covered with scaffolding for restoration).


I was hoping to get some beach time at Supetar, but instead of sandy beaches, they only had pebble beaches, and the water, albeit really clear, was really cold. We only stayed long enough to walk around the town and to its two beaches before catching the ferry back to Split...where we watched the sun set...I haven't seen such wonderful sunset for ages, uninterrupted by any man-made objects.

Back at the hotel, we had dinner al fresco, yes again; the weather here has been brilliant, whilst being entertained by a jazz trio in the nearby Peristyle, it was soooooo relaxing and surreal having dinner surrounded by walls over 1,700 years old.

Monday 10 September
We spent our morning wandering around the underground halls of Diocletian's Palace. It was amazing to see two huge halls with high ceilings still supporting the new city above; no wonder this palace is considered one of the largest and best preserved from the Roman world.

Then we got onto a catamaran and headed southwards along the Dalmatian Coast to Hvar. On docking at the harbour, we had an easy 10 metre stroll to the Riva Yacht Harbour Hotel, on the promenade. Our room was really cool and most importantly it overlooked the harbour and onwards to the Pakleni Islands.

Next was lunch at Café Pjaca on the Town Square underneath the Clock Tower and Loggia before an afternoon swimming and sun bathing around the Amfora Bay. To further relax, Yang and I also had a one hour massage at the Bonj les bains Beach Club...definitely a welcome change to our normal go-go-go itinerary.

Very much relaxed, we were ready to continue our sightseeing, visiting the Franciscan Monastery, Cathedral of St Stjepan, climbing up to the Fortress Spanjolica for its views of the town and the Pakleni Islands, and wandering around the town centre and its many tourist shops. We had dinner and drinks at the Hotel; the restaurant and bar were on the terrace and the views were so good, being at the tip of the promenade that we didn't need really need to go anywhere else.

Tuesday 11 September
We caught a very expensive taxi (£30 for 13km, making it more expensive than London) to Stari Grad, the main port town, to catch a ferry further south to Dubrovnik, the 'Pearl of the Adriatic' and also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The ferry took 7 hours 15 minutes, and a bus would have taken 4, but it was worth it to cruise along the Dalmatian Coast. The ferry also stopped at Korčula, a town with its walled old city situated on a peninsula.

Docking at Dubrovnik in the afternoon, we checked-in and dropped our bags at the Hilton Imperial Hotel, before strolling around the Old Town. Walking down Stradun (Placa), the main street of the Old Town, the first thing you notice is how clean the streets and limestone buildings are even though the Old Town is a few hundred years old. The main reason for this is that in October 1991 the Serbian-Montenegrin remains of the Yugoslav People's Army (Croatia was previously part of Yugoslavia) bombed the city over 7 months (over 2,000 bombs and guided missiles fell). The Old Town has since been restored in its original style (restoration was only completed in 2005). Other sights in the Old Town that we visited today included:
- Fort Lovrijenac







- Pile Gate, the main entrance to the Old Town.







- Big Onofrio's fountain







- Orlando's Column (a monument to freedom), Sponza Palace, Bell Tower and Bell Lounge







- St Blaise Church (named after Dubrovnik's patron saint)








- Old Port







We also visited the Church of Saint Saviour, the Franciscan Monastery and its Old Pharmacy (which still keeps medicines in ancient jars), the Cathedral & Treasury, Gundulić's Square and finally St Ignatius Church before heading to dinner at Rosarji. This was a family run restaurant with really fresh seafood and traditional dishes like škampi buzara (scampi simmered in wine, tomatoes, garlic and herbs...the best dish in Croatia) and rozata (the croatian version of crème caramel).

Wednesday 12 September
As a bit of morning exercise, we walked along the Guards' walkway of Dubrovnik's ancient city walls (Gradske Zidine). This was really cool for breathtaking views of the Old Town, the island of Lokrum and the Coast. The walkway also took us to the top of the Fort of St John and Minčeta Tower.

After making our way along the entire 2km of walkway, we headed to the Rector's Palace, now the Museum of Dubrovnik with some nice paintings and furniture, the Ploče Gate, and the Dominican Monastery. We then stopped for a drink at Gil's, a cool lounge bar overlooking the old port, before making our way to the airport. Like all good things, our final summer holiday during our life in London had come to an end ... luckily it was a great one!