Monday, November 12, 2012

London tourist attractions

Had a few days of work to spend doing some touristy things around London with Dani and Thommo. Managed to visit the Wallace Collection, the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral.

London Paralympics - Athletics and 'Muderball'

Windsor and the Castle

Had a lovely day trip out to Windsor and the castle, the preferred weekend home of the Queen.

 We were very lucky with the weather, managing to avoid the showers that were around. The crowds weren't too bad either, considering it was a Saturday.

 Standing in front of the south wing of the Upper Ward.
 St George's Chapel was a definite highlight. Construction was started in 1475 by Edward IV. So much detail inside, unfortunately we couldn't take any photos in there, so you will have to visit to check it out for yourselves.
The village of Windsor is a lovely place to wander around of an afternoon.

Long weekend in Belgium

Dani and Thommo arrived in London and the following day the four of us headed over to Belgium on the Eurostar for a long weekend in the sun.


We stayed just around the corner from the Gravensteen, a castle built in 1180.

We spent a lot of time around the Graslei, in the old city centre.

The weather was great, if a little too hot. nice to have some sunshine though!

The boys certainly weren't short of choice when it came to beers.

We had some lovely evenings sitting down by the river people watching.

St. Nicholas' Church, building commenced in the 13th century, and further up the road to the right is the 91-metre-high belfry of Ghent and Saint Bavo Cathedral (yellow).

We also went to Bruges for the day. This is the Belfry in the Markt. We decided to make our way to a brewery for lunch, rather than climb the 366 steps to the top.


The view from the roof-top at the Halve Maan Brewery.

Sean enjoying a Straffe Hendrik Quadruple
Our final day was spent in Brussels.St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral, which has a quite impressive interior and stained glass windows.

The lovely ceiling at the Royal Galeries of Saint-Hubert.

The Zinneke, dog, yet another peeing sculpture in Brussels!
The Town Hall of Brussels is a Gothic building in the Grand Place, opened in 1420.

Other buildings at the Grand Place, the central square of Brussels, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
 

More Olympics

Our second visit to the London 2012 Olympic Park saw us watching hockey and basketball.

Eddie Vedder - Hammersmith Apollo

Shannon was lucky enough to get a ticket to see Eddie Vedder play a solo gig at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Here is a review from the gig:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/01/eddie-vedder-review

London 2012 Olympics

Finally the Olympics came to London Town!