Let it Snow...

Sonja was still out and about riding on her Harley in the morning despite low temperatures and light drizzle. As a matter of fact it was still fall season in the valley, but the surrounding hills and mountains were already snow capped.

So, in the afternoon we drove up the hills to get a taste of winter. This is indeed how we like our snow best… about half an hour away, just the right distance.

The sun came out briefly, as it often does shortly before it sets, and presented us with an awesome 'light show'. We were not the only ones enjoying the breathtaking scenery.

Our car did well on the snow and ice covered roads, we didn't feel a difference. 4WD and winter tires are certainly advantageous, and we will do a lot more exploring in winter, and it feels good knowing that our vehicle can get us there safely.

We kept trudging through the deep snow and had fun like kids. (And we don't even like snow much, as it prevents us from motorcycle riding…)

Public services did a great job keeping the main roads clear, and there seemed to be no shortage of snow plowers (other than in Vancouver area…)

As we were descending back into our valley we were again greeted by the familiar green and brown of a late autumn day. And we found ourselves thinking that we are actually looking forward to experiencing this Black Forest winter wonderland.

 Life is good!

Mummies, a Secret Tea Room and Twelve Angry Men

No London trip would be complete without a visit of the British Museum, especially with its Egyptian exhibition. So we got our ducks in a row (said ducks can be found in above picture!) and spent a few hours in the probably World's best museum. There is nothing here that isn't breathtaking, including the wonderful architecture of the Great Court.

And again we can add some Canadian content (in form of totem poles)!

The Pantheon

Colossal statue of Ramesses II and two Lamassu (Human Headed Winged Bull)

Are you my mummy? (quoted from Dr Who: The empty Child)

The Nereid Monument

When we came back out of the museum the weather was - again - wonderful, so - again - we spent the rest of the day strolling through the parks and the streets of the city.

Buckingham Palace

Green Park

We had a lot of (fancy) coffees during the weekend, so we thought that for once a tea room would be in order. Google Maps pointed us towards Soho's Secret Tearoom: You enter into a normal pub that looks like a normal pub. To be let into the tea room you will have to ask the waitress. She will point you in direction of a hidden stairway leading to the upstairs tea room, furnished like a tea room, with lots of tea china and tea pots. Very cosy! Difficult to find, but definitely recommended!

Afterwards we decided to have a look at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but unfortunately we were too late for a tour (next time for sure!). Therefore we strolled a bit around St. Paul's Cathedral before we returned to the Entertainment District.

River Thames with the Shard in the background, with 306m (1,004ft) currently the highest building in the European Union.

St. Paul's Cathedral

We had tickets for Twelve Angry Men with Martin Shaw (Doyle from the 70's TV Show The Professionals) and Robert Vaughn.

The drama was very well played and beautifully directed, and we had no problems understanding the actors (although they spoke with an American accent…). Unfortunately this was also our final act in London; tomorrow we have to fly back to Germany!

So much to see, and things to do… London, we'll be back!

Meeting Gary, Tourist Stuff and a Birthday

Roland: I am actually not that much into Motorcycles, but I was really looking forward to having breakfast at the Ace Café in Northern London and meeting up again with Gary France who we met two years before on Vancouver. Gary arrived on one of his custom made (would an Englishman call this 'bespoke'?) Harleys with 5500 cc or something. The bike drew a lot of attention, and when Sonja sat on it I was warned by a bystander that I should tell her to get off it before the owner comes back (apparently he could not believe that the owner was standing right next to it). We had a lot of fun chatting all morning and even ended up with two Ace Café T-Shirts sponsored by Gary. Thanks a lot!!!!

We spent the rest of the day doing the usual Tourist stuff in downtown London again: walking up and down River Thames, strolling over the London Christmas Market at the London Eye and enjoying the scenery at Trafalgar Square.

Getting hungry again we started looking for a good Restaurant in downtown, but in the end we decided to ride back to Paddington to conclude my Birthday with a very nice Italian dinner at the Taormina Restaurant. I even got my traditional Birthday Chocolate Cake!

This was a very good birthday, indeed!

Flying Emirates, Walking in the Park and Celebrating a 50th Anniversary

Both our employers urged us to take our remaining vacation days until the end of the year, so we decided to spend an extended weekend in London as we felt that we lacked a bit of the buzz of a big city. So we booked one of these super cheap Ryan Air flights from Baden-Airpark (another former Canadian military base) to London Stansted from where we took a train to downtown London. We stayed in the same hotel as last time, halfway between Paddington station and Hyde Park and prepared for bad English November weather by carrying various layers of clothing, topped with rain resistant coats and an umbrella. As it turned out we had great weather, sometimes bordering at fantastic, with lots of sun, blue skies and no rain at all!

We hadn't really worked out a program, so on Saturday we decided to follow our noses, ending up in North Greenwich where we were hoping to get a good view on Canary Wharf. When we left the station we were curious what was meant with 'connection to Emirates Air Lines'... until we figured out that this is a Gondola via River Thames. Of course we hopped on and were rewarded with fantastic views over the O2-arena and the Wharf. We strolled around the old the old docks for a while: a totally different London!

After an extended walk in the fresh air we took the tube back to Canary Wharf, where we watched Ice Skaters on the rink at Canada Square Park and enjoyed awesome food at the Turkish Restaurant Hazev.

After lunch we rode to Baker Street, looking for address 221B, but we only found a very commercial 'Sherlock Holmes Museum' that rather reminded us of a tourist trap than a museum. 

So instead we decided to exploit the last sun beams of the day in Regent's Park. The autumn colours were stunning. We couldn't believe that it was a late November afternoon in London!

The only planned and pre-booked event of our visit was the 3D-screening of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary episode 'The Day of the Doctor' (WHO?) at one of the (smaller) London cinemas. The show was sold out, like in any of the other venues, and we enjoyed David Tennant, Matt Smith and John Hurt bantering at each other in their different incarnations and interpretations of the Doctor. And they even had Tom Baker and - for a split second - Peter Capaldi showing!

What a gorgeous day it was!