St Patricks Day in Dublin etc

Australia Day at the Walkabout in Shepherds Bush. We thought we had better get in the whole swing of things and go to an "authentic" Aussie pub. We lined up for over an hour in the freezing cold (we seem to have a habit of that) to get in, but when we did get inside, it was just like we were in a pub at home! (well, except for the prices of the beers). Tooheys Extra Dry! Finally! A real beer!

This photo was actually taken by a roaming photographer for TNT Magazine, which is a mag for antipodeans in London, and was on their website! How famous are we?!?!

This was the night our central heating and hot water broke down. It was rather chilly. You can't tell from this photo, but Peg also had on a long sleeve shirt, 2 jumpers, trackies and huge socks. It was rather chilly indeed.

Bridie & Sophie! Twins Peg went to school with and hasn't seen in about 5 years happen to be living just up the road so we all went out for breakfast, which turned into lunch since there was so much talking going on!

Somehow, one of the girls Peg works with knows one of the guards who was doing the Changing of the Guard. So they had a "meeting" and caught a cab to Buckingham Palace and he escorted them through the gates, across the forecourt and to the doorway of the Palace to watch the event from there! As this was a bit spur of the moment, Peg didn't have the camera, so these photos are just taken with her phone. Apologies for the poor quality, but you get the idea. The crowds in the background are the plebs on the general public's side of the palace gates.

Just to prove how close she was to Buckingham Palace, here is a pic of the only thing separating Peg from the Queen...

View from the London Eye. Peg's work had a bit of a belated Christmas Party in Feb and she got to go along! They all went on a Friday afternoon "Champagne and Canapes" ride on the London Eye which included, not only champagne and canapes, but 2 x 25minute revolutions in the Eye. It was actually snowing the second time round! Amazing views of the city! They then all went out to a posh restaurant and bar in the city and had cocktails and wine and delicious meals for the rest of the night! Thanks Deloitte!

Peg and Wazza! Loz - the lucky duck - won a trip with her work (TravelWorld Trona - go there for all your travel needs!) to Europe. It was a 14-day Contiki tour and they got to spend 12 marvellous hours together in London on the day she landed. Dunno how she stayed awake though!

Lou, Andy and Peg at Madame Tussaud's!

Us on a glorious winter's day walking along Embankment. The London Eye is in the background. We trekked all the way to the Borough Markets to have a coffee at THE ONLY good coffee place in the greater London region. We also bought a pheasant and cooked it for dinner. Next time: rabbitt stew!

Peg with Tower Bridge in the far background.

Drew on the Millenium Bridge (also known as the wonky bridge as it moves with the breeze) with St Paul's Cathedral in the background.

On our way to Dublin on the ferry. Great crossing! Dunno what people are talking about when they say the Irish Sea is rough! It was awesome!

Coming in to the harbour at Dublin. Looked uncannily like another harbour we are rather familiar with...

Oh, we thought we'd catch a U2 gig while we were in Dublin too.

(Just kidding, AMI! It was a U2 tribute band and they were absolutely fantastic! They looked and sounded soooo much like the real thing! Right down to the political speeches! For only 10 euros too! Bargain!)

Yay for the Guiness Brewery!

This is the lease for the Guinness Brewery that Arthur Guinness signed when it opened sometime in the 1800s. He very proactively signed a 9000-year lease for the grand sum of 40 pounds per year. Very proactive indeed!

See! Peg isn't the only one with a seedy playing card collection! Guinness have their own seedy collection of authentic Guinness playing cards. Of course, we had to invest in a set of our own as well!

It's never too early in the day for a Guinness! Even 10:30am! This is at the Gravity Bar which is the finale of the tour of the Guinness Brewery on the 7th floor. You get a free pint of the black stuff at the end. As you should!

Tastes like...ice cream!

The St Patrick's Festival Parade from O'Connell Bridge in the city of Dublin.

Peg wasn't tall enough to see! It was apparently the coldest St Patrick's Day in 20 years in Dublin. Great. Just when we decided to come over. It snowed on and off all day. We were forced - forced, we tell you - to stay inside the pubs and drink Guinness and Irish Cider. What else could we have possibly done?!?!?

The parade and some crazy hats.

There was quite a variety of floats in the parade! This one was a trampoline-like boxing ring with a guy in a sumo suit and a guy dressed up as a leprachaun. Rather hilarious, actually!

Us at the parade! So rugged up, yet still so very cold... People- don't worry about Global Warming! It's not doing anything!

More crazy parade floats. The relevancy of some of the floats in the St Patrick's Day parade puzzled us.

The famous Temple Bar in the aptly named "Temple Bar" area of Dublin.

Drew in front of a really really old church at Wicklow.

Drew in front of some mountains at Glendalough, the "Valley of Two Lakes".

Self-photo of us at same lake. It was uber-cold. Hence the purchase of a potentially hair-messing beanie for Peg

Glendalough

St. Kevin's cell. Circa 1400s

Tower that some monks built at Glendalough to protect themselves. They were all ready with hot oil to pour on invaders, however were eventually smoked out as these towers reminded the attackers of a chimney!

Coming back home through the Welsh countryside along a very windy road (some people were sick). The walls went straight up these massive hills. Quite amazing

More of the Welsh hills

Uber breakfast consiting of Strawberries, Nutella and hundreds and thousands, on toast. Very yummy.

Peg chowing down on the Uber breakfast. Strawberries here are quite expensive, so when they came down to 99p for a big carton we just had to get some!

We were very bored one Sunday after watching Notting Hill, so decided to find the house with the blue door. With the aid of our Inside Notting Hill book, we located 280 Westbourne Park Road. Surprisingly unassuming. At the risk of looking like tourists, we took a photo in haste then resumed our quest for a good coffee. Day 120 - still looking.