Vienna and London.

I've been waiting for summertime to come

                                 Walk on beaches lying in the sun,

Music playing people everywhere,

No need to worry the tequila is here,

And when the sun goes down we are having fun'

Cause there will be a party going on.

- Heat of the night, Aqua

It's funny how Austrian I feel when I touch down in Vienna. Especially because I can hardly speak the language and have only been there a handful of times, but, the pride and love I feel is indescribable. I leave each time more eager to learn about the history, the language and return soon.

It was also really cool being in Vienna with my Mum and Stepdad. As I had visited just a few months before I was able to tell them and show them things I had enjoyed there.

 

Schonbrunn Palace

Dinner at a Heurigen

As always the food was AMAZING!!!

Tony enjoyed his time in Vienna so much, he did a dance to show his excitment! 

It was just fantastic to be around family with my family. 

Once again they were so welcoming, accommodating and thoughtful.

After tearful goodbyes we left Vienna and headed back to London for our last few days together. It was wonderful but went too fast.

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Back in London I embarked on taking my parents to all my favourite places. I was so excited and ready to go full speed. However, most days we didn't leave till after 11am, as they needed to sleep and relax...ahhh, they are getting older!

The first place I took them was back to Hampton Court. I love it there! Full of Tudor history and so many exciting and interesting things to do and see. 

They have a new Bedchamber exhibition, that takes you through different royal beds and how they were used. It was very well presented and so fascinating! Beds were crucial to portraying ones status and often presented in public as one would show off their Ferrari, Jag, Lamborghini or Aston Martin. 

At the end of the day though some of us were so tied we passed out with the town drunks.

Harrods food hall has to be my favourite place for lunch in London. Everything you can imagine and such fresh and quality food. We feasted and shopped!

Mum and Tony were separated by time at Greenwich...

...and I went back to University for the day.

We went for a walk down Oxford street and a stroll through Seven Dials to complete our day. I think we covered London shopping well with Mum and T buying things from the cheapest and most expensive shops in London.

Having completed History and Shopping, it was time for culture.

As an early Christmas present I took my parents to The Swan (a traditional London restaurant) and then to the Globe Theatre to see Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

It was fantastic all round. The food and the show were surely London's finest!

As morning woke us the next day we headed down to Borough Markets (the best London food market) for breakfast.

Later, we went on a tour through the Clink. The prison that gave all other prisons their name!

It was quite full on and more creepy than I imagined. I found it quite interesting that Queen Elizabeth I ordered more torture than any other monarch! What really freaked me out was a torture technique where they forced the victim to take in huge amounts of water (that was often unsanitary and may contain faeces) until the point they threw up or died.

On their last night in London we dropped Tony off at a pub and I took Mum to see The Bolshoi Ballet's Swan Lake at the London Royal Opera House.

We loved it! 

Later we met up with Tony for delicious deserts at Häagen-Dazs. 

It was so good we all licked our plates clean! 

On Thursday the 15th we boarded the train together, knowing we had different stops. Theirs would take them back to Australia, mine to Ireland and once again we would be on the opposite sides of the world. Suddenly my gut was in my throat. I returned to that boy 7 months ago, farewelling my parents at the airport as I left them for a world unknown. I tried to remind myself I knew this world now. I had friends, a house, work and a routine. But as always rational thought has no place in emotions!

Both holding back tears Mum and I hugged, kissed and I exited the train. I watched Mum and Tony be taken away by the train and I forced a smile as I waved goodbye...

As always I am sending you all some cheeky lovin'

Joey!

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

Let the music take your mind 

                      Just release & you will find 

You're gonna fly away 

Glad you're going my way 

I love it when we're cruisin' together 

- Crusin, Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis.

And so I traded the warm, sunny, Greek islands to return to a chilly, windy London. But oh, I love this city and I was high in the last few weeks and excited for the future. 

I was greeted by a lovely UK border assistant, who smiled looking at my visa and said, "Well, welcome back home then."

As I made the hour trip back from the airport to my house I was comforted by the images and sites of London that I love. 

After, a refreshing shower, I walked back to my local station and came face to face with my beautiful SSS partner in crime, Kimjeng! It was so wonderful to see my beautiful friend from Australia. 

We talked, walked along the South Bank, talked, ate delicious home-made Nachos from All Bar One, talked, drank a jug of pimms and talked some more.

The next morning we went to Bourough markets for breakfast and met up with Kim's travel buddy Rachel. After a nice walk around the City Centre we enjoyed cocktail hour and made our way to the theatre to see Les Miserables at the West End. Les Miserables was absolutely astonishing. In a snug little theatre we sat and watched the talented cast perform a fantastic show!

The next day I spent at the hospital having sea urchin spikes (that I picked up in Greece) removed from my foot. Ouch...however, that afternoon I headed for St Pancras International to pick up my Mum and Tony from the airport. I was just so excited to see them both. We sat in the garden to fine tune our adventures.

That night Kim, my parents and I headed out to dinner at the Old Salt Quay along the Thames. We shared another jug of Pimms and ate traditional English pub food. It was so bizarre having Mum & Tony in London at my local pub, but so nice.

Not so nice was our accommodation that night. My one tiny room. Tony & mum on a single bed, me on the floor. Hot and sweaty we squished into my tiny room.

As the sun rose the next morning, we slowly peeled ourselves from our beds. The sun reassuring us morning had come and we could fill ourselves with coffee for the day ahead.

We packed our bags, picked up the car and headed to our friends Gill & John's house in Warminster.

"Where's the sign" 

"Are you listening to me!" 

"I told you to turn, WHY DIDN'T YOU TURN!" 

"Stop talking so much" 

"Turn the music up"

"Where are we" 

"I need to wee" 

"They closed the bloody road"

"Call Gill..."

"No, I'm embarrassed, can you call Gill"

Aghhhh! Who said road trips were fun?!?!

Driving the 2 hours to Gill's beautiful cottage, proved a 5 hour journey. We argued, sighed and groaned. But eventually we got there...

Gill's cottage is straight out of a fairytale! She welcomed us with a beautiful dinner in her stunning green and lush garden. 

We had an amazing one and a half days with Gill! With two lovely night sleeps in comfortable and size appropriate beds. She was so lovely and hospitable.

We woke up to a delicious breakfast and then headed to Bath on day one. It was lovely to see Bath again. We visited No.1 Royal Crescent, the first house in Bath set up as it would have been in the 18th Century.

 

After a lovely walk around the town we went into the Roman Baths. I hadn't done this last time (much to the gasp of John, a historian).
It was magical and such a fantastic site to see. We walked around with very informative audio guides, though I had mine tuned to the kids channel as this was more to my understanding.

That night John returned from business trip and we all went out for dinner at a local favourite pub.

The next morning was spent at the dining table talking with Gil, before heading to Stone Henge and then to Devon.

"Where's the bloody sign"

"I said turn there" 

"I can't look for signs, I am watching the road" 

"I'm not talking anymore do it yourself"

The fairytale peace we felt at Gill & John's quickly faded into the stress of driving in the UK having very little idea of where we were meant to be going and being confused by English roads. When we arrived in Devon, deflated, defeated and barely on speaking terms we all had doubts about continuing on this adventure.

Over dinner we decided the way we had been communicating while driving was not good for any of us. We all had to remind ourselves to stay calm and not to raise out voice or swear. (And I can honestly tell you the next week and a half of driving was fun, relaxed and free of the stress and screaming of our first 2 big drives. Praise God!!)

We ate a delicious Moroccan dinner. Such good and fresh food. If you ever find yourself in Exeter, Devon Al Farid Restaurant is a MUST!

As the sun rose early the next morning, the exhausted travellers slept. After we emerged from our beds we headed towards Dartmouth Castle.

This defence Castle was built in 1388 and has stood guard over Dartmouth for over 600years. 

And we had lots of fun exploring it!!!

That night we all enjoyed a genuine Devonshire Tea at The Singing Kettle Tea Shoppe!

Early the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and headed to Port Isaac, Cornwall.

Port Isaac is a beautiful place. But, for Mum it was the home of Doc Martin.

I fell in love with a series of children books about Gully by Jon Cleave. I bought my favourite one and am excited to use it in my classroom this school year!!

And Mum had a Cornish Tea!

On our next scenic drive we headed to the picturesque Lake District...

It was a beautiful and relaxing two days of exploration!

Bowness-on-Windermere, the home of Beatrix Potter, is located in the Lakes District and was another highlight of our time there! The whole time I was thinking of my nephew Jordan, who is nearly nine years old. When he was born he had a Peter Rabbit themed room!

Driving had become a pleasure, we were relaxed, in sync and calm. The beautiful country side passed us by as we drove and we enjoyed these beautiful 

green summer days. We were now heading to Edinburgh Scotland...

And the party began...

 While, we were in Edinburgh the Fringe festival was on. Which is basically, when the town is taken over by musicals, plays, stand up, dance, burlesque, cabaret and concerts.

It was amazing over the three days we were there I saw six shows!

And we still had time to grab the hop on, hop off bus to see the beautiful sites, museums and history of the city!

We explored closes and side streets

and I even snuck in a tour of a Scottish Whisky Factory and tasted 4 different Sing Malt Scotch 

Whisky.

Scotland was amazing and such a great time for us...

Good beer...

Good food...

Good shortbread!

We farewelled the beautiful city and headed to our next stop, Eyam!

Eyam became such a historic village in Derbyshire, due to it's history during the Plague. 

In 1665 the small town was hit with the Plague and rather than spread it to the villages around them, they cut themselves off and locked themselves in. No one could enter or leave the Village. Out of the 350 villages 260 died from the Plague. Meaning only 26% survived. 

 

Then we headed for our last stop before London, Stratford upon Avon, the home of William Shakespeare!

It was AMAZING!!!! We had such a wonderful time, there were so many things to explore.

The most amazing place by far in Stratford upon Avon was Shakespeare's house...

It started with a tour of Shakespeare in throughout time...
  

And then we entered the home...

 Unfortunately, the costumes didn't fit...

We headed for....... London! 

With that I leave you for now...