Dirty Dancing - 24th April 2007

I've had the time of my life..... Oh my god!!! We absolutely loved it!! Want to go and see it again already.

It was time to catch up with Bill again, so we decided we would all go see Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre in the Westend - the theatre district together. We were lucky enough to score some tickets (as they were booked out until September) - thank you so much Bill:-)

We took Mel along too, as she was wanting to see it and we had a spare ticket so it was great to have another girl who appreciates it all... although the boys did pretty well!

We all met in the city after work, I was at a training course so was already there early so Bill and I dropped in at the Hilton Waldorf for a quick champagne (okay 2...) before dinner. We then all had a quick bite at a little italian restaurant and then raced to the show... very excited we were!

We got into theatre and our seats were in the Upper circle but in row 3, so they were good and we could see the whole stage which was awesome.

The show started and we were mesmerized until interval... it was more a play than a musical, but still thoroughly enjoyable... yes (even when he took his shirt off.. to show his 8 pack) - sorry Baby!! The cast did a great job - Johnny also did the Australian performance - I did feel he could of been alittle stronger in his acting - but definitely made up for it in his dancing!

It finished up with the amazing scene at the end... although by now we were all buzzing so had to head off for a nightcap... so headed to a nearby bar called 'Dirty Martini', although it was a gorgeous little bar and we enjoyed another bottle of Moet... we ended up leaving there about 1am - I think!!

It was a school night, so we were behaving - yes our heads were alittle sore the next day - but Dirty Dancing was worth every second!!! Anyone coming across let me know and will be happy to come along with you again:-)

Breakfast in Chelsea - 22nd April 2007

I really, really want to live in Chelsea!! You have to see this place - it is gorgeous! But so of course is the price tag on all the property!! But doesn't mean we can't go there for breakfast and check it out.

My friend from Rotterdam - The Netherlands was staying in Chelsea for the night and we hadn't really been to Chelsea (in the daytime.. found ourselves there one morning at 5am - ChinaWhite night) so we thought we would meet up there. We jumped on the Tube and 20 minutes later we were there - which was great!

Chelsea is where the likes of Kylie Minogue and other celebrities tend to live, along with all the other well-to-do people in London, the cars driving up and down the streets are Ferraris, Bentleys, RollsRoyce and so on... but it is great for people watching and of course shopping (where isn't in London!)

Martine (dutch friend), we had not seen her since our world trip in 2005 when we stayed with her in Rotterdam, so it was great to see her and also met up with one of her friends, so we all sat around catching up all afternoon in a lovely organic... (even had organic waiters) cafe in the sunshine - 23 degrees - cannot complain about the weather.

We didn't have our camera so couldn't take pics, but have found one - although it doesn't do it justice...

Girls Night Out - 21st April 2007

It had been decided it was time for a Girl's night out!! A friend from work Mel, who is also from Melbourne organised for us all to go out for dinner and then off for drinks to a cool bar in London!!

The night began in Soho at a place called 'The Boardwalk', where we all enjoyed a great (cheap too...) dinner and of course a bottle of Champers! There was 5 of us and 4 were from Australia... I swear we are taking over the world! Anyway we finished dinner and we all wanted to check out the latest 'Prince William or was it Harry' (I just can't keep up) club called 'Mahiki' in Mayfair.

We jumped on the Tube as it was going to be easier we thought as the streets were jam packed with people at 11pm (London is definitely a city that doesn't sleep!) We missed our station so ended up jumping in a cab and finally arrived to find out the line was around the corner - oh my god!! Were we that keen.... well we did some fancy manoeuvring and ended up in the members line... which was only a wait of 1 hour... Yes I am not lying, but much better than 2 or 3 that all the others had to wait!

We finally got into this bar and thankfully found a table and enjoyed our first Mahiki cocktail... first of many!! We sat there and continued going through the menu and were impressed with the quality of the cocktails and the service was fantastic - no going to the bar... the waitress was all ours:-) We really enjoyed ourselves and met 2 american girls who recently moved across too... then met a Danish and Swedish girl - so it was a girls night out all round! The bar is a tikki lounge: those Polynesian-inspired rattan beach cabins that were all the rage in 1950s California and the music was 90's wedding songs... which was perfect for the girls!!

The night ended up around 3.30am (yes the lights came on....) and we all headed home to annoy our better halves.... surprisingly sober (I was!!!) It was a great night and we are now busy planning our next one!

Prague - 5th April 2007

What a wonderful place:-) Absolutely stunning, all the buildings were gorgeous and all the streets were cobblestones.. (yes.. best take shoes without 4 inch heels).

We had a gorgeous time in Prague over Easter, we flew out on Thursday night and arrived back on Monday night - so had a relaxing 4 nights in this wonderful city. All we did was walk around and around... everywhere you walked you would end up in a beautiful street full of wonderful shops or buildings or clocks... never seen a place with so many clocks... you definitely do not need a watch and no excuse for ever being late!!

The meals we enjoyed in Prague were of amazing quality and we had some very beautiful dinners and of course wines... Australian nonetheless - it was nice to get hold of a great red!! (these french and italian wines... I might be biased, but definitely not near the Oz quality... okay I can be proven wrong!!)

Everywhere you looked in Prague there was either a view (of a beautiful husband...) or bridges, waters, churches, buildings and so on... We were blessed with the most amazing weather each day, on the last day it even got to 20 degrees, as you can see in the picture they are all full of sunshine and the sunnies even got to come out and play:-)

The things you would see while strolling around.... this picture below of was a tiny alley way down to a restaurant - it had a green man to tell you when to go... The next picture was a sculpture in a square - odd.... and the third was the most bizarra thing I have ever seen, if you receive a parking fine and then did not return to your car within a short timeframe the police would take care of your car for you... within 5 minutes they would arrive and then disappear with your car... (no it wasn't ours!)

It was time to go home after our 4 days in paradise (well at times the tourists didn't help the peace...) they were everywhere!! But then I guess we were one too... so can't complain too much! We had a wonderful time met lots of amazing people, we were out one night clubbing and ran into yet again more Aussies, but amazingly enough one of them was from Rochester - where I went to school and knew my brother - what a small world? We had a blast and if the chance arises we will definitely visit Prague again!

The Gym Begins - 27th March 2007

It has been a slow start, but we are trying to get there and visit the gym. Fortunately we have a gorgeous gym living in our building (although you do need to walk through the bar (below) ... to get there) hence why we try to go at 6am as it is less enticing to stop for a drink!

We have had our induction and have a program so have been able to hit it all on our own. There is lots of equipment and a great pool along with heaps of classes (if you like that thing...) but we are yet to venture in there ... yes especially with my co-ordination!!




We have decided to go in the mornings as we feel much better and more inclined to go, otherwise you get home at night and it's usually late and by the time you cook dinner you end up giving it a miss - so we need to be strong and get up at 6am... luckily the weather is improving. We are having 19 - 25 degree days - just gorgeous:-)

Cambridge - 24th March 2007

The time has come... I must update you all on what we have been up to!!

I will start with our weekend in Cambridge, England. We were looking to go somewhere close by just for Friday and Saturday night so we headed to Cambridge by train... and this was an experience. Have you caught the rail system in London? We got to the train station with plenty of time, started looking around for the screens to tell us what platform the train would be leaving from, but to our great surprise the screen told us we must all line up under the letter E... which was before all the platforms.... then the train arrives and they make an announcement which platform your train departs from and everyone starts running (and I mean running) to the train to line up at the doors for at least 10 minutes before they open, so we are all crammed in like sheep waiting to get on this train... and reason is because they all want a seat!! It was a bizarre experience to watch and to think that is the best system they can come up with for 1000's of people trying to board train everynight.

Anyway off we head to Cambridge, get there shortly after an hour, jumped in a cab and found out the hotel was about 8mile from Cambridge (1st lesson - check hotel location to town...), so that was disappointing as had to travel to town the next day, which we went in by bus and walked around all day, looking at all the gorgeous little streets and stunning buildings, namely the universities - just the architecture was amazing. It was freezing and wet, so we did spend a couple of hours in some great cafes drinking coffee, wine and reading the paper - while of course people watching! Massive tourist town, we were also lucky enough as it was graduation day so we saw all the students marching around town in the caps and gowns! It eventually came to dinner time so we found a nice romantic place for dinner that night (and another bottle of Moet.... it is so cheap - we are in our element here)!!

Then on Sunday we did the same just walked around and of course where there are shops.... you do some shopping - Karen Millen had a sale, so picked up a great top, dress and skirt:-) The shopping is just amazing in London!!! Although must stop soon....before we are broke!!!

Sunday afternoon we headed back to London by train during the day so it was great to see all the scenery as we went through.... one tick down lots more to go:-)

PS. Unfortunately we forgot our camera for the weekend and were unable to take any pics....