Cheerio old chap

Tower Bridge

Clockwise from top left: Piccadilly Cirucs; Big Ben; Tower Bridge

Clockwise from top left: Portobello Road; The Gherkin; St Pauls Catherdral

We never meant to get this involved.

It was never supposed to be a serious thing.

We told ourselves that it would be no strings attached – that we could walk away at any moment and nobody would need to get hurt.

But gradually, moment by moment, day by day, our connection grew deeper and deeper. We slowly got to know each other, grew to like each other, and before we knew it, we were in way too deep.

We arrived in London with a plan to get a job, work for 6 months and then head home. Six months soon became a year, and a year became two. And now, exactly two-and-half-years to the day after we left Australia, we are heading home.

Living in London has been an incredible experience. We’ve enjoyed a huge amount of freedom and done our best to explore every corner of the city…so much so that we’ve seen more of the city than many Londoners. There are too many highlights to detail here, but if we had to sum it all up, it would be having the time to scratch below the surface and appreciate the true rhythm and pulse of the city – a deeper understanding and intimacy that we hope will stay with us forever.

Preparing to leave London, wrap up our adventures and move home has caught both of us off guard and left us trying to make sense of a gamut of emotions. On the one hand, we can’t wait to get home and reconnect with our family and friends and fill the gaping void that we have felt for so much of the past couple of years. On the other, it feels genuinely strange to be ending this chapter of our lives – one in which we have experienced and achieved more than either of us ever dreamt or thought possible,

At this very point in time, we’re struggling to reconcile and make sense of the two sides of this coin; the new page that we are about to turn still feels quite fuzzy, ill-defined and uncertain. In time we trust that it will all make sense, but right at this very moment, it’s a tad unsettling.  

So, thanks to everyone for your love and support. Thanks to everyone back home for always having our back, and thanks to everyone in London for your incredible friendship. Oh, and thanks to everyone who has visited this blog. We never imagined that it would go on for as long as it has…we’ve had heaps of fun doing it, and we hope you’ve enjoyed perusing.

And London, you’ve stolen a huge chuck of our hearts that we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to replace, but this is goodbye….for now.

Toodlepip Notting Hill

All of these photos were taken from the window of our fourth floor studio flat overlooking Notting Hill

Last weekend we packed up and moved out of our studio in Notting Hill. It had been coming down the road at us for a while, marking the final countdown to finishing work before moving home to Australia.

Living in Notting Hill was a privilege that we’ll never take for granted – being literally a stone’s throw from the heart of Portobello Road market was a joy that gave us a little tingle down the spine every time we stepped out our front door.

With that said, it wasn’t all peachy. Our flat certainly had a few quirks…a few selected highlights included the coin operated electricity meter that the land lady could arbitrarily adjust at her leisure; no hot running water out of the taps meaning that we had to boil the kettle to wash the dishes; an electric toilet that would grumble and spurt water up out of the bathroom sink day and night when other residents used their plumbing; the flat being so old and wonky (allegedly from World War II bombing damage) that we almost needed to don hiking boots to traverse the slope from one side of the studio to the other; and a bathroom that was so small that the shower door couldn’t be fully opened because it hit the toilet.  

But with all that, we loved it. We made it our own and will never forget our time there. We will definitely miss our little routine of strolling down the ‘bello on Saturday morning to buy fresh veggies from the market before settling in at our favourite coffee shop.

Oh, and after 19 months of living in Notting Hill, we never did get around to looking for the Blue Door from the film, and only discovered the book shop yesterday by accident. Oh well…maybe next time. 

New York to Old York

The Twistleton Scar

Clockwise from top left: Fountains Abbey; A brief break in the rain; Fountains Abbey

Rain in the Dales

Clockwise from top left: Monique exploring Fountains Abbey; Daniel making the most of his gumboots; Enjoying the mud

 Snow in the Dales

 Views of the Dales

As a bit of a last blast we decided to do a weekend getaway up to the Yorkshire Dales. This had been on the agenda for some time, but it was only thanks to Monique watching the train fares like a hawk that we were able to get affordable tickets.

Exploring the English countryside proved to be a lovely way to round off our adventures before launching into a solid three weeks of packing up our lives in London and preparing to move home to Australia.

Oh, and celebrating Daniel’s 30^th birthday.

The weather was classically English…wet, windy, and generally fairly miserable. This provided a lovely setting for some leisurely rambles through the countryside, relaxing in tearooms and pubs, and exploring some beautiful National Trust properties. The dramatic ruins and sprawling gardens of the UNESCO- listed Fountains Abbey was definitely a highlight.

As for Daniel’s birthday, we couldn’t have asked for better weather, being lucky enough to have a snowstorm for most of the morning. This provided for some stunning views, and a few slippery moments as we attempted to cross across the top of the Dales in our hire car. It was a sensational day, and certainly the first time that we had experienced snow on Australia day. 

Concrete jungle...where dreams are made, and there's nothing you can't do...

Clockwise from top left: View of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge; the Lady of Liberty; View of Central Park from Top of the Rock

Clockwise from top left: View from the Highline; The Manhattan Bridge as seen from DUMBO; The 9/11 memorial

Clockwise from top left: view from the Highline; Monique enjoying a classic slice of New York pizza; Apartment blocks in the Lower East Side 

The Guggenheim 

Clockwise from top left: View of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge; the NBA; Times Square

We won’t bore you all with the everything we did while we were in New York – over the course of 11 days we ticked a lot of things off – but here are a few select highlights…

> Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge felt like walking to the beat of New York’s pulse. The view was spectacular, and the energetic mix of locals, tourists and angry cyclists doing their best to avoid running into people was electrifying

> Where most art galleries exist to facilitate the display of artwork, The Guggenheim was something quite different. The smooth lines and circular sloping galleries blurred the lines between the art and the space.

> What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than seeing the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Musical Hall? It was amazing to join in the tradition of seeing the Rockettes, who how have been New York icons since the 1930s

> They say that Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world, but New York must be a close second. Given that we were staying in Brooklyn, it was an amazing experience to travel to our ‘local’ stadium to support the Brooklyn Nets against the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA

> Seeing the classic Manhattan skyline in all its glory was spine tingling. 

> To avoid the epically long queues we got up at the crack of dawn and caught the first ferry of the day across to Liberty Island to get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty. Being able to see her in beautiful and vibrant morning light was a real treat.

It couldn't have happened anywhere but in little old New York

DUMBO - Down Under the Manhatten and Brooklyn Bridge Overpass

Clockwise from top left: Movement in Times Square; Radio City Music Hall; A rainy day

Clockwise from top left: The Brooklyn Bridge; View of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge; The Manhattan Bridge

The People

Without a doubt, New York was one of the most incredible cities that we have had the privilege of visiting.

In typical American style, everything was bigger than we had experienced before. The food, the lights, the shops, the buildings, the attractions, the bridges, the prices, the skyline, the queues…all big. And that’s not to mention the actual city. After 11 days of solid sightseeing, it felt as though we had just dipped our toes into Manhattan, never mind the surrounding neighborhoods. 

With that said though, we did feel as though we were there just long enough to scratch just below surface of the big exterior. It was amazing to experience the city changing pace and feel as we explored different areas. Amazing to connect with local New Yorkers who were always incredibly warm, friendly and hospitable. Amazing to experience the city in both rain and shine – the vibrancy of the yellow taxis and bright neon signs reflecting off the rain soaked ground and contrasting against the dark buildings was an absolute highlight. 

The other curious thing was that the city so often felt eerily familiar. Aside from having so many ubiquitous sights, it probably had something to do with the fact that more movies and television have been shot in New York than anywhere else. It was genuinely strange to walk through Central Park and feel like we’d been there before. 

Christmas in New York!

 

Merry Christmas!

Clockwise from top left: Team New York; Lost in the West side; Classic NY Pizza

When making the decision to stay in London for a second year, Daniel kept joking to Monique that it would be fun to do Christmas in New York.

A seed was sown.

A year or so later after much saving, planning, and a fair amount of cajoling to convince five friends to join us, we were on our way.

We set off with a rare sense of excitement and anticipation. On the one hand, New York promised to be a jewel in our traveling crown - an amazing way to finish off our adventures before heading home in a few months time. On the other, spending 11 days with some of our nearest and dearest friends would see memories created that would last a lifetime, and be balm for our souls after spending almost 2.5 years living away from home.

Needless to say, we were pretty excited.

Thankfully we can now report that not only were our lofty expectations met, they were comfortably exceeded in every imaginable way. 

Shivering in Stockholm

Some sleek Swedish design

Clockwise from top left: View of the Old Town; The Town Hall; The charming streets of the Old Town

We were very fortunate to reunite with Andrew and Rachel for a long weekend in Stockholm. We had the trip booked in for some time, and Andrew and Rachel were having so much fun on their travels that they decided to nip up to Sweden and join us. It was a win win all round.

We had a fairly low key and chilled out (pun intended) few days of…
> Exploring the beautiful old town and browsing through the classically Swedish shops

> Sipping mulled wine at the Christmas market

> Strolling through the Skansen Open Air museum. Skansen is basically a recreated town that illustrates the different social conditions in which people lived in Sweden between the 16th century and the first half of the 20th century.

> Touring the City Hall – the site of the Nobel Prize banquet and after party

> Checking out the Royal Palace – Europe’s largest with over 600 rooms

Throughout all of this, there were two recurring themes that ran through the whole weekend…

1) It was flipping cold…sight seeing in 0 degrees Celsius is pretty hard work. There were many times that the cumulative warmth of beanies, scalves, thermal tops, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, heavy winter jackets, thermal bottoms, thick jeans, thick socks and gloves just didn’t cut it.

2) It was flipping expensive…we were well prepared and forewarned of this fact, but it is still a shock to see that a meal out is literally twice the price of eating in London (which in itself isn’t cheap). Not to worry....pancakes cooked at the hostel using ingredients found in the kitchen were a good way around this!