Alex's Stag Do in Paris

Sean joined Alex and 20 others on his stag do in Paris.

Girls Gone Wild in Edinburgh

While Sean was at a stag do in Paris, Shannon headed to Edinburgh for a girls trip.

 Shannon, Laura, Emma, a bagpiper and Larns. We had hoped to make it to a ceilidh on our first night, but it was sold out, so we decided on a pub crawl and way too many curry chips instead. We paid for that the next day, but braved the fresh air to visit the sights.

 

Edinburgh Castle.

 The view of Arthur's Seat from the castle.

 View of Edinburgh from the castle.

 St Giles' Cathedral

  Lovely view of Edinburgh from a very very windy Arthur's Seat. The climb was tough (post pub crawl) 250.5 m (822 ft) above the city.

 Shannon with a statue of Greyfriars Bobby. A Skye Terrier that as the story goes, became 'famous' in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray (aka Auld Jock), until he died himself on 14 January 1872.

We also visited  Mary King's Close, which is an old Edinburgh Close now located under the current day buildings in the Old Town area of Edinburgh. An interesting tourist attraction shows what life in Edinburgh was like between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Carlingford

We headed over to Ireland with Joel and Emma to help Jackie celebrate her 30th Birthday. We all stayed together in a holiday rental in the small coastal town of Carlingford in County Louth. Population of ~1000.

Carlingford was occupied approximately 800 years ago by the Norman knight Hugh de Lacy. A settlement sprang up close to his castle / fortress. There are many ruins around the town today and after a massive first night in Carlingford we dragged ourselves along to a tour of the town.

The Tholel or town-gate is the only remaining example of its nature in Carlingford and one of the few left in Ireland. It was originally used to levy taxes on goods entering the town. It was also used as a town gaol in the 18th century.

 The Church of the Holy Trinity graveyard and views. Saturday was lovely and sunny...

While Sunday, not so sunny. We had planned to walk up Slieve Foye Mountain behind the town, which is an estimated at 588 m above sea level, but conditions were not ideal so we soon headed back.

Christmas 2011

Joel and Emma spent Christmas with us in our new home in London this year.

 The boys carefully decorated the tree.

 Christmas morning, opening our lovely presents.

 Our amazing Christmas lunch, plenty of food to go around and the most amazing pulled pork ever, thanks Em!

So all of our local shops had sold out of Christmas crackers, as a result we had to make our own hats, Merry Christmas!

 Later on in the evening our new neighbours came down to join us for some Christmas cheer and they had plenty of Christmas crackers to go around.

 Much later on in the evening the 'dance floor' opened up. A great way to burn off Christmas lunch!

 No White christmas in London in 2011, but the snow did eventually come...in February.

Liverpool Street Station

Spent a bit of time at Liverpool Street Station, busy place. Apparently the third busiest station in London.

Oktoberfest 2011

September 2011 saw Sean's 4th and Shannon's 2nd Oktoberfest in Munich. Over 5million people attend each year, this year we had a group of around 15. The weather was perfect, as per usual.

The boys at one of the main entrances.

Jason and Sean.

The girls dressed in their dirndls, Nat, Mads and Bec.

Tom and Sean enjoying their beers at Augustiner Brewery.

The Hacker Beer Tent, our first stop for the weekend and one of Sean's favourite tents. Some of the larger beer tents can hold over 10,000 people and approximately 7 million litres of beer are served over the 16days of the festival!

There is a wide variety of gingerbread hearts available, with differeing messages on them.

Paulaner Tent.


There are many funfair rides at the festival.


Soaking up the sun and beer on our final day, before heading back to London.

While the others were continuing to enjoy the festivities at Oktoberfest, Shannon did a day trip with Jason and Donna to Neuschwanstein Castle. The palace, built in 1869, was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886. Since then over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

The view from Neushwanstein Castle of the 19th century Hohenshwangau Castle.

A closer shot of Hohenshwangau Castle.

New Home

Found a new home in October and moved in early December. Very exciting!

East Sussex

We spent a weekend in East Sussex, doing some ecology field work and checking out the local sights.
Sean holding a Slow Worm (legless lizard)

A juvenile common toad.

A Common Newt.

After completing work for the day we did a mini road trip in the area. First stop was Bodiam Castle, built in 1385 as a defence and home.

The exterior looks quite impressive, but the interior has deteriorated over the centuries.


Next stop was Rye. A very cute town near the coast with a population of approximately 4000. The town contains many historic buildings and narrow cobbled streets.

We made a quick stop off at the beach before heading back to London. It was much too cold to swim, but nice to get some fresh air and go for a wander along the beach anwyay.