South of France: 26th-28th September

With my mum and dad visiting us in London we decided to take a two week break starting in Nice then heading to north-west Italy. We arrived in Nice on the Saturday just in time (actually, rather late) for my aunt's surprise birthday lunch at a gorgeous restaurant called Le Moulin de Mougins.
The town of Mougins is a picturesque and quintessentially French village near Cannes. It's really pretty and has a great view and lots of cafes and restaurants.

My dad in the village centre...


Next day we went to St Tropez for a seafood lunch and ice cream by the water.... (Nick, mum & dad, Yan Yan, Christine & Sam)

Glenn & Sharda's wedding - New York

We spent a long weekend in New York for Glenn and Sharda's wedding which was at the Mandarin Oriental with a great view over Columbus Circle, Central Park and the city. The wedding was on the Saturday night and we had a pre-wedding Mexican dinner on Friday night with many of the other overseas guests.

Glenn & Sharda....

Having been to New York many times, we were looking for something new to do. The new High Line park down in the Meatpacking district was great - it's the old High Line railway line that's been turned into a park and public space. It's got some great features such as big wooden double banana lounges, an amphitheatre with glass window overlooking the street and some really interesting buildings.

Nick on the High Line...

Amphitheatre and street view...

some of the buildings... I like the one at the back

The New Forest

Nick had been given a voucher to go bike riding for his birthday. So with our first completely free weekend all summer Nick booked us in and we caught the train down to Brockenhurst in Hampshire on Saturday. The train took about 2 hours and we picked up our bikes at the station and were riding by about 10:30.

We were really lucky with the weather - it was a glorious day to be riding through the New Forest.

See - blue skies!

These are horses (below) are called New Forest ponies and there are lots of them wandering around without fences throughout the forest. They aren't wild - they have owners called 'commoners' - but they are allowed to graze in the forest which is some sort of right passed down since King William I. Here's a few grazing out the front of a cottage we rode past...


There are houses and cottages in the New Forest and this is a particularly cute one that we rode past. It was quite small but had a gorgeous thatched roof and nice garden...


Our lunch pitstop was at this very cute little pub, The Oak Inn. It had a great menu and really nice beer garden.


Post-lunch rest by a stream...

The village of Brockhurst was really quite quaint and we had to laugh when we saw a donkey holding up a few cars on the main street as it casually made its way, seemingly unaware of the people waiting for it.

We had such a good day... the countryside was so typically English and beautiful. People were really friendly - they'd greet you as you rode past and we ended up sitting and chatting to a older couple with their grandchild, son and daughter-in-law in the beer garden.

So we got back to London around 7pm, so having had a full day and an early dinner we crashed out in front of the TV for the evening. Today, I've pretty much just pottered around the house and updated the last few months of this blog - which I know defeats the purpose of the blog but I like to keep all the dates running in sequence :-)

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace has been on my list of tourist attractions to see and last weekend we went with Colin and Ruth. We caught the train and made it there late morning. We went through the kitchens, which were pretty interesting in terms of seeing how the royals would've been served in the 1500's, went through Henry VIII apartments, the tennis courts and Baroque palace. Quite a lot to see but of course we made time to find our way through the maze. Here's Nick and Ruth in the middle...

Then, we caught the boat back up the river to Westminster. It took us about two and a half hours and can sometimes take up to five (!!) and it was a nice thing to do as you get to see how people live around and use the Thames.

August Bank Holiday - Cornwall

This seems to be our summer to stay in England! For the bank holiday in August we decided to visit Cornwall with Ruth and Colin. Our destination was Looe, a small shipping village kind of near Plymouth. On the way we stopped at Stonehenge which, I thought, is a bit overrated so I wouldn't recommend making a beeline. I was happy though that my National Trust membership got me in for free and got us free parking... it's the small things!


On Sunday we took the scenic route to Padstow, driving through Newquay (which, as a town, I was not that impressed with). The countryside is just like I imagined it, with the really narrow roads and hedges some that can only fit on car at a time. The countryside is very rugged and on the beaches you can just imagine the pirates and smugglers living there in past times.

Padstow - or Padstein as it is sometimes called because of Rick Stein's heavy presence in the place - is lovely. The town is a cute fishing town and obviously has some great restaurants and local specialities to devour. We had lunch at St Petroc's (a Stein restaurant) which was great and then wandered around the village eating Cornish icecream. We hung around for long enough to grab some fish and chips (more Rick Stein) before heading back to Looe.

Here's Nick in Padstow...


On Monday we drove south to St Ives, Penzance (not that interesting) and to Marazion which is where St Michael's Mount is. Unfortunately, we were too late to go across and see St Michael's Mount but it looks facinating and I'd like to go back there if ever in the area.

This is St Michael's Mount...

This is a picture of the port/pier at St Ives. You probably can't see all the people walking along but the place was absolutely jammed packed with people. It's another lovely town, a bit like Padstow, but a bit bigger.