After surviving 7 weeks of hormonal teenagers, the Christ's crew headed to Tootsies for a well earned half term party! A few drinks, a bit of good ole pub fare and alot of conversation to start off the break, yahoo!!!
Now the hardest thing will be to return.... :p
Britain's Biggest Curry Party kicked off on Sunday 19th October. The lovely Sam took me for a quick tour through London, before we headed to the British Curry Awards. The awards were held in The Great Room in Grosvenor House where many major events take place. My first black tie event in London! Most of the night was spent raising funds and awareness for the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer. Good food, beautiful dresses and an excellent venue.
Mehek restaurant, London Wall (20th Oct)... fundraising, yummy food, Henna artist, magician, snake dancer and the Cocktail stars!
Cafe Spice Namaste, Tower Hill (24th Oct)... the curry party finale of the week! A tasty sit down meal at one of London's finest Indian restaurants (owner Cyrus was last year's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award! Wooo!!), celeb apperances from Eastenders, TV presenters and radio personalities, the Cocktail Stars and more fundraising made for a fantastic end to Britain's Biggest Curry Party!
A lovely day spent with Arron & Karen. We wandered through the lavish State Apartments of King Henry VIII, William III & the Queen.
Also walked through the Great Fountain, 20th Century, Knot, Rose, Pond
and Privy Gardens.
Managed to *not* get very lost in the 'Maze',
enjoyed a horse & carriage ride, and finally a trip through the
Tudor kitchens!
Today I spent a wonderfully wet day in beautiful Kew gardens with Terri, Jenny & Sue (the Loreto girls). Kew gardens comprise of 300 acres of diverse gardens, glasshouses, museums and wildlife areas.
My
favourites included the cacti and succulents in the dry tropics zone,
and the giant waterlillies in the wet tropics zone of the ‘Princess of
Wales Conservatory’.
Another highlight was the ‘Holly Walk’ where we
spotted yellow holly berries! The Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop walkway
provided a breathtaking view over the gardens and cute squirrels, well
fed geese and a peacock added to the excitement!
To top it off, we
enjoyed fresh scones and tea in the Orangery! A delightful day indeed!!
Following drinks, Carolina (a Spanish teacher at the school) invited us to a dance class which she runs every Friday night at Cedars Health Club on Richmond Hill. She gave us introductory lessons in modern dance and Latin groove. It was so much fun… and a fabulous workout too! Having not danced in years, I felt a little uncoordinated :p
Although it took me nearly a month, my first dining experience (and social event) in Richmond was at a nice French restaurant called ‘Cote Bistro’ on the high street. Magaly (one of the brilliant French teachers at the school) invited me to join her and her housemate Carolin for dinner. I ordered chargrilled salmon and ratatouille… c’est delicieux! And for dessert – crepes suzette, mmm! We gave a nice tip to the waitress who kindly took some photos of us!
I arrived back in London at the end of August. I arrived at 5am
and decided to stay awake after spending 29 hours travelling! Crazy maybe, but
I really wanted to adjust my body clock to the local time so I'd be fresh for
work a few days later. My hotel let me check in quite early, so off I went to
explore the wonders of Richmond...
The hotel receptionist gave me a print out of the the city map and I headed off
to find the library. Instead, I found the tourist information centre which
provided free internet access! After emailing family & friends, I bought a
mini street directory of Richmond and a
postcard, then headed down to the Thames
river.
The Thames runs right through Richmond and there's a huge park that is
frequented by couples, families, cyclists and even horseback riders! The
Terrace gardens adjacent to the Thames are
characterised by colourful flowerbeds and lush greenery. So pretty!
Richmond Park makes up most of the area. There are few houses all of which lie along tree-lined streets. I had little success finding a place in Richmond, so I had to look around the surrounding areas. It took about 3 days to find a place! And it was an expensive 3 days... spent in a hotel without internet, argghhh!! Rent is astronomical, and transport isn't far behind. I'm living with Sam & her cat Tonic (who is slowly starting to befriend me). The school is about a 20 minute bus ride, then a 10 minute walk. The buses are on diversion until the 1st of November which extends my journey home considerably :( Grrr!
So far I'm enjoying Richmond! It's a beautiful town :) Check out the pix!
During the Christmas break, Neoporcupine and I spent almost a month travelling through Europe visiting France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Scotland, Wales and England. European history is fascinating! Amazing architecture together with the infusion of diverse cultural delights delivered a fantastic and memorable adventure for us both! Below are a few of our photos from the trip (click the Photos section to view more!!)
Rob, Gizel, Webster and I went for a leisurely drive to Wimbeldon Park. After travelling on the road for over an hour, it was nice to finally stretch our legs and go for a casual stroll through Wimbeldon Park. It's a gorgeous park with plenty of amazing photo opportunities (as you can see below). Later we stopped for drinks at a local pub, only to relocate to a better pub due to the toxic smokers fumes! Euk!! Complaining about the disgusting smokers proved beneficial as we later settled for dinner at a much more decent pub. After nachos, salmon and green chilli fish cakes, a salad, chips, apple crumble, a glass of sherry and a glass of the sweetest dessert wine I was ready to sleep :p We were going to drive through London afterwards to look at the Christmas lights, but decided to head home coz we were all tired!
