Even Bather Than The Real Thing

Next up was Rachel's must-do little town, also recommended by Wazza from Brisbane, and just about everyone who's been there. Bath. And it's easy to see why. Tourists flogged from all over the world to see the old Roman Baths where the water looks like it is from thousands of years ago. We splurged out on a 3-hour pass at the massive day-spa in town nearby where the Romans used to have their fancy baths. Our favourite bit was the glass steam-rooms with different herbal vapours like lavender, eucalyptus and jasmine. On the way back to London we checked out Stonehenge, the ancient rock thing (from outside the fence) and actually went into another larger site which was more interesting & a bit less touristy. Nice to see how big they were, and marvel at how they got them there and arranged so. We had 2 very hot and sunny days that weekend. You count those as precious blessings from God when you live in England.

Great Scot

Straight after getting back from Scandinavia we decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase a campervan. Along came 'Cedric' the Citreon camper, quickly found on Gumtree.com, and later named by our friend Stu Badhair from Brisbane. Cedric is a crappy old van. There are mamny bad things about him: rusty, no shower, loud, etc.. but his engine rocks. So off we went in August on our first Campervan road trip to the land of male skirts, black alcoholic drink and that weird thing called haggis. Glad to report that we did not try any of those things. Spent a few nights at a camping ground near Edinburgh. The city was packed, being the last weekend of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but that meant some free things to see on the main streets. We then checked out Edinburgh Castle, the 'scotch museum' (an excuse to buy expensive whiskey), went up to a beautiful coastal town called St Andrews (where Prince Willam apparently went to Uni at), and dropped in on a scottish boarders town (yes, the series of towns boarding England) called Melrose on the way home for one night. Overall the trip was greeet. Oh except for that cup of coffee we got at the actual boarder crossing from Scotland to England coz we were so cold. It cost us 1 pound ( A$2.50 ) and it was a cup of hot water and instant coffee powder. Hmmmm

Swede Mate!

Stockholm - It's hard to do justice to the most beautiful city we've seen by my clumsy words. From the well-planned colourful old river-side buildings to thousands of quirky cafes and bars.. we were kept out of our beautiful Soldermalm pensionat (apartment) for most of the time. The there's the awesome Palace, Nobel Prize Museum, and massive Open Air Swedish traditional life museum/park. And they had those cool bicycle spots where you get a card and swipe it to ride a bike for 3 hours, then put it back somewhere else and get another one when you need to.. for like $20 for half a year something like that. No, Ikea isn't the only genius thing to come out of Sweden. Whether it's enjoying oldschool jazz at Stampen in the well-preserved part of town, munching on biologique (organic) patries complete with seaweed, or just riding around the river ways checking out coulourful boats, Stockholm has won our hearts.