UK Christmas 2012

After being met be our son and daughter in-law at Heathrow airport and the excitement of seeing them again, we were all soon immersed in any finishing touches to the plans in place for an extended family Christmas.

Joining us for the next 3 days were our son and daughter in-law, her parents who we like very much, their son and his partner and his partner's sister.

We packed everything tightly into the car with little room left and drove to the 'in-laws' home in St Albans for some very warm welcomes from them, an obligatory cup of tea and then a lot more packing into their car before starting our 3-4 hr road trip north.

We would be spending Christmas together in a rented home in Lancashire and bordering Yorkshire as shown on the map below.

Our family name has a long association with Lancashire going back at least to1066 with a concentration of people with our surname still living in Lancashire, including the host of the house we had rented who knows some, which also happened to have a pet wallaby in its backyard!

Our accomodation (brown section) in Lancashire

We really enjoyed a very traditional Christmas lunch on a cold wintery drizzly day, very different to our summer weather back home... expertly cooked turkey, ham, roast veggies, pudding, a range of English beers and ciders, nice wines and great company!

A great Christmas spread with really good company!

Over the next few days we learned much about the British way of life, especially after eating too much on Christmas Day... they like to go walking in the rain.

Now keep in mind it was winter in the UK and that means it was cold and wet, in fact we also got to learn how good the weather forecasts are in the UK.  

First thing in the morning our hosts check the local weather forecast and plan when we would head out to explore the surrounding sights and scenery.  It amazed us that our hosts trusted the forecast when it predicted it would rain say at 1pm so we needed to leave early.  Even more amazing... it did rain at whatever the predicted time was!

The cloudy, cold and at times dampish weather did not hold us back and it actually added to the look and feel of the many things we visited in this part of the UK, for example.

Lake Windermere in the Lakes District

Hardy highland cow

Magnificent limestone Malham Cove

Driving through Yorkshire

Ribblehead Viaduct in southern Yorkshire with some locals

The memories from a delightful Christmas were fresh in our minds as we negotiated the busy freeways back to London and a little more sightseeing this time around Greenwich, famous for 'Greenwich Mean Time' and the starting point for the world's time.

First port of call, bad pun I know, was the Cutty Sark, a refurbished British Clipper ship built in 1869 and one of the fastest sailing ships of the time to transport tea from the China.  The Cutty Sark was one of the last of this type of ship to be built and visited Australia on many occasions.

Cutty Sark under sail (Photo - Allan C. Green)

Sleek copper plated hull of the Cutty Sark

The other reason for being in Greenwich was to look at 3 very famous clocks made by a John Harrison, a self taught clock maker, who solved one of the greatest issues of the time in the 1770's... how to calculate Longitude.

Captain Cook took a replica of this (H4) Harrison clock to test its ability to calculate Longitude

Our time in the UK was almost over for 2012, including celebrating New Year's Eve but our travels weren't yet over in the northern hemisphere, but that will all have to wait for the 2013 posts.

Go well!

Eastern Europe - Winter Markets 2012

Despite 2012 being a very busy year for travelling, we had planned to finish it off by enjoying Xmas with our son, daughter-in-law and her family in the UK so instead of flying into Heathrow Airport, we arrived instead into a very cold Berlin, Germany.

Before reaching London, the plan was to visit a few new countries and enjoy the festive season in each by visiting the winter markets they hold annually.  To get between each city we took trains whenever possible enabling us to enjoy snow laden scenery along the way.

This is a map of where this journey took us within Europe.

Destinations were:  Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Ljubljana, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest

The appeal of this trip was not just winter markets but the opportunity to visit destinations in eastern Europe which had always been a bit of a mystery to us, so in this post, will briefly describe what we experienced.

Berlin, Germany
We had an additional treat after reaching Berlin when our son and daughter in-law joined us the next day.  They hadn't been to Berlin either so over the next few days we enjoyed discovering new things together.

It took us a little while to adjust to wearing extra layers of clothing, but were soon visiting some of the sites Berlin is famous for like...

Artwork on some of remains of the actual 'Berlin Wall' which divided Berlin

Rob & Rachel at Checkpoint Charlie

The Germans take their history very seriously, including the infamy, so it was good to see them also recognising some of their past through the large and very evocative Jewish Memorial

Jewish Memorial - Berlin

During the day and each night we visited multiple colourful markets running throughout this quite beautiful city enjoying both the food and mulled wine on offer to keep us warm... very nice!

Lots of colour and aromas engulf you at the markets

After a few days enjoying the markets and other sites within Berlin, we bid farewell to our family and symbolically departed this very enjoyable city via one of its most famous locations

The Brandenburg Gate - Berlin

Prague, Czech Republic
We had been to this beautiful city before but never in winter and it did not disappoint!

Wenceslas Square - Prague

We revisited many of the traditional locations throughout the city, but it was at night that they shone, literally.

Charles Bridge constructed in 1402

Night markets

Astronomical Clock, circa 1410

The winter markets by day in Prague

After again enjoying this wonderful city it was again time to board a train and head west into even cold weather and something very new.

Krakow, Poland

At this time of the year, this city was cold, very very cold indeed at around -16c and we were very pleased to have learnt the lesson of layering!

Rob trying to stay warm

Poland is famous for its salt mines, so off we went to visit one, progressively climbing down deeper into the earth and being progressively amazed by the very artistic carvings created mainly out of salt like the :

The Last Supper...

 An Underground Church...

In the main square of Krakow at night especially and despite the cold, the Christmas markets came to life, not just with all the stalls but all the locals out and about enjoying their offerings.

The main square came alive at night

Plenty of hot food...

...and even dessert

People queuing in the dark waiting for warm mulled and spiced wine

After a few delightful but cold days, had I told you it was cold here... we made our early morning flight to visit yet another brand new city and more exploration.


Ljubljana, Slovenia

As soon as we arrived we knew this place would be different, simply because there were a lot of younger people everywhere due to it being a University city, the layout of the city itself and because of all the snow.

Plenty of snow had been falling

Ljubljana very simply was delightful with a nice river running through it and distant mountains surrounding it.

This meant there was some great scenery to look at as we strolled around both during the day and at night, especially when all the night market decorations were turned on.

Beautiful by day...

...and also by night

Only a short local bus ride away, was a place we were keen to visit having seen a photo of it in a Qantas magazine some years earlier... Lake Bled and despite arriving at the wrong time of the day photographically, it still didn't disappoint!

Lake Bled - surrounded by mountains and small island with church in it

Even the scenery on the shores of Lake Bled is stunning

With clear skies we went exploring around the lake and it was just gorgeous with multiple churches and even a castle perched high on a rocky outcrop overlooking it.  We climbed up to the castle to take in the views and enjoy lunch in its cafe.

Ljubljana had really delivered with its small town feel, scenery, very friendly people, most of whom spoke English and great food, but our time was over and time to move on.


Vienna, Austria
After another nice train ride we arrived into the musically historic and sophisiticated city of Vienna and again, more Christmas markets.

Waiting for us here were some long time friends from Australia, also keen to enjoy what Vienna had to offer, so off we all headed to explore.

No matter where we walked there was always something grabbing our attention

After the sun had set and all the lights were turned on, we ventured out again and like the other cities already visited, were not disappointed.

On our way to the markets through the city

Spectacular night market setting

No risk of getting hungry in these markets

Colour... colour... everywhere

Our friends and ourselves decided to visited yet another country as a day trip by train, so off we went.


Bratislava, Slovakia

Slovakia is the other country formed when Czechoslovakia split after 1993, but it has a very long history going back beyond the Bronze Age and was both cold and quaint.

Enjoying our stroll throughout Bratislavia

Being as cold as it was and after finding the markets, it was time for something to eat and drink to try and stimulate some warmth from within.  Well we found some food...

Yum.. barbecued sausages and camembert food

 ...and Neville and I found a stall selling an innocent looking clear liquid we were assured would warm us up.  Well it did warm us up but the taste lingered for a loooong time after we headed back to Vienna and eventually to farewell our friends who were heading on to Germany.

Budapest, Hungary

Now to our final country and city on our Christmas market 'tour', Budapest.  This city is famously the combination of 2 cities being Buda and Pest, located directly opposite each other on the Danube River, which united together around 1873.

The history of what is now Budapest goes back at least to 1 AD and was also for a period occupied by the Romans.

Despite using this word a few times before... Budapest is very beautiful especially with a river like the Danube running through it and the numerous ornate bridges which cross over it.

Looking across to Buda from Pest 

Parliament House in Buda modelled on London's Parliament House 

Heroes Square in Budapest

Yes it was still very cold which enabled us to:

Watch the locals ice skating on a frozen lake...

...and enjoy some famous Hungarian goulash

We also ventured into the famous and very warm waters of one of the many public and natural thermal pools scattered throughout this historical city.

Apart from plenty of walking we also enjoyed the treat of riding on the very jolting but historical subway underneath Budapest, the first built in any European city.

We loved Budapest during the day, but at night... wow!

Budapest by night

This is a city we wouldn't mind coming back to but the time had come to board yet another flight, this time bound for London in time to enjoy a UK based Christmas with family for the very first time.

Until our next post... go well and if you get the chance to visit various parts of Europe in winter, its well worth the effort.


Go well!