That Was The Year That Was

Well, having failed dismally to do individual posts for most of the things I did last year, I've decided on a little roundup of 2014. So these are my highlights from the last twelve months (needless to say, another long post. I should study brevity in 2015). 

January 2014

A quiet New Year's Eve at home led me into 2014, during the first week of which I exercised my performance-watching skills, seeing Priscilla - Queen of the Desert on stage at the Theatre Royal and then The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, both very enjoyable. 

Later in the month, I spent a fantastic long weekend at Wilmington Priory with Sid, Cathy and Ed, and Julia and Mike. Staying in the old priory itself was fantastic and we had plenty of walks, table tennis in a freezing cold haunted room, a séance (!), evenings round the fire and a delicious dinner at The Giant's Rest. Great company and gorgeous surroundings. 

And on the final evening of the month, Cathy and I braved torrential rain and a mini-hurricane to go for a Groupon meal deal at The Beachview Greek restaurant on the seafront (I see from the current website that it's now a Spanish restaurant!) Can't go wrong with a few stuffed vine leaves, if you ask me. 

February 2014

My birthday rolled around, as they are wont to do. This year it coincided with the monthly Treason Show, so after a few drinks at the labyrinthine pub The Bee's Mouth and some delicious food at Iydea, we were off to The Brunswick for a couple of hours of hilarity. I spent the next couple of days down at my mum's and she treated me to a delicious birthday meal at Kali Mirchi, And as if I hadn't eaten enough, I was then back at The Giant's Rest in Wilmington for lunch with my dad and stepmum! 

Mid-February saw me fulfil a dream - I went, with Ange, to see Derren Brown on stage. Of course, I'm not allowed to give anything away but suffice to say, it was bleedin' marvellous! 

A clear night later in the month found Dade and me at Woods Mill for a group astronomy evening. Almost as if it had been planned, just as we were all talking about differentiating between planes and satellites, the International Space Station flew over. There were incredible binoculars and telescopes there for us to gaze through which, as always, made my brain hurt when looking at and thinking about infinity! 

My mum came down to stay for a couple of days just after her birthday. We had a wander through town and a drink before heading to Archipelago's for a glorious meal and rather too much wine. The wine was what made us think it was a really good idea to go for a walk along the seafront in a howling gale and the rapidly arriving torrential rain. Oops! The following morning we headed to Carat's for a much-needed brunch before mum headed back home. 

March 2014

Early March found me and Cathy at The Freemasons for our first ever French pub quiz, courtesy of the lovely Carole Jacquet of The Language Guru. It was an interesting experience - I'm not sure how much French we spoke or learnt but it was a good evening and we've been back several times since (and have even roped Ed and Sid in!)

Cathy and I went on a tour of Brighton Dome early one Sunday morning. There's something a little eerie about an empty theatre and we got to nose around the dressing rooms (and see a secret tunnel) but unfortunately we weren't able to go onto the stage because it was being set up for a show. 

Later in the month, I accompanied Cathy on a long-awaited return trip to Etoile de Mer (see this blog post). 

No sooner were we back from France than it was time for Cathy's birthday celebrations - drinks at Paris House and more delicious food at Archipelago's. 

A week later, with Cathy, Sid, Ange and Carol, I enjoyed two hours of karaoke at Lucky Voice, where you get a private booth so that you and your friends can belt out/wail/warble/scream to your heart's content without upsetting anyone! We'd set up our playlist in advance so we didn't waste time choosing songs. The glitterball-lit two hours sped by in a whirlwind of weird and wonderful songs, accompanied by the tambourine they leave in the room and rather a lot of air guitar! 

Two days later, Julia and I ran the Dr Hadwen Trust stall at Vegfest Brighton. It was a tiring but very rewarding day - we were both surprised at how few people had heard of the charity, given the general demographic of attendees. So we were happy to be spreading the word about its fantastic (and cruelty-free) work. 

April 2014

The month started fairly quietly (Cathy having gone to work abroad by this point and of course no social events happen when she's away ... ahem, Cathy, you'll need to skip to July in order to remain certain of that fact!). 

Sid and I had a giggle-filled early evening on the pétanque piste on Hove seafront. Who knew so much laughter could be induced by throwing six heavy metal balls at a small wooden one? 

The lovely Kim popped over from Spain to her old home town and I spent a fine afternoon and evening bar-hopping with her and some of her oldest friends. 

A fine day was spent with my mum and my aunt at Monkey World, where they both still have an adopted rescued ape. For me, though, the highlight here is always the lemur enclosure because the animals choose to get so close to you! 

May 2014

Early May saw Dade, my friend and flatmate, turn 40 (yup, sorry, it's out there!) and knowing how rubbish men are at treating themselves to anything nice, I whisked him off to deepest Dorset for a couple of days on the Jurassic Coast, a trip to Corfe Castle, some messing around at Durdle Door and a very large bottle of champagne!

By now, it was time for the second foreign sojourn of the year so it was off to southern Spain with Sid for a week's R&R. If you haven't fallen asleep by now, and missed it the first time, you can read about that here.

Later in the month, Dade managed to secure some free tickets to The Ladyboys of Bangkok show (thanks to his marvellous promotional photos of them) - very entertaining, some serious talent and I still find it hard to believe that most of them are male. 

June 2014

A quiet start to the month led up to Sid's birthday celebrations, including a splendid meal out with friends, brunch at Iydea, a day on the beach (yes, we had a decent summer!) and nibbles and fizz on the roof terrace. 

Later in the month, we were still enjoying good weather so Cathy and I joined Sid on her roof terrace again for a BBQ (and some jousting with halloumi kebabs!)

INTERVAL! Yes, we're halfway through the year. Go get a cup of tea and a biscuit!

July 2014

The month started with another trip to Paris House and an evening at Archipelago's to celebrate Cathy's return from her 3-month stint abroad. And very lovely to have her back it was too. 

A sunny Saturday afternoon found me heading to Kent to celebrate the engagement of my gorgeous cousin Joe to the wonderful Leanne. It was a lovely day, tables groaning with delicious food and the fun of using the actual bar they have in their garden shed (which is bigger than my flat, I would like to point out). Most of my family made it so it was good to meet Leanne's family too (and warn them that she was marrying into a bunch of nutters). 

Sid and I went to the Queens Park Royal Spa to see a performance of Macbeth by the wonderful outdoor Shakespeare company, Illyria. And later in the month, we went to a show by the amazing octogenarian raconteuse, Lynn Ruth Miller. For reasons which now escape me, some of the show entailed her throwing Tena Lady pads around the audience. If you get a chance to see her live, take it!

In mid-July I took a rare trip to London for a reunion of the staff I used to work with at Waterloo International (god, that was a long time ago). It was 10 years since the closure of the office. I met Malcolm early evening and we lined our stomachs at Wahaca near London Bridge, before heading to The Stage Door at Waterloo. We were a bit late to the party though as it turned out the majority of attendees had got there at midday so were long gone. But it was good to catch up with those who were still there! Real blasts from the past. 

For my birthday, I had received a voucher for a cookery course from Titbits Catering so in the middle of July I walked round to a flat not far from mine, and joined five other people learning how to make a delicious three-course vegan meal (in the tiniest kitchen I've ever seen!) 

The following evening, Cathy, Ed and I joined a local group for a Glow-worm Hunt at Steyning Downland Scheme. We learned plenty - they're not worms, it's only the females who glow, they only glow when they're trying to attract a mate and they don't eat! Hunting across a vast expanse of hillside in the dark looking for that tiny pinprick of light really is like looking for a needle in a haystack but ... we found some! I had the proud pleasure of spotting one really well hidden in the grass which, upon inspection, turned out to be the smallest/youngest one the walk leader had ever seen. 

Another sunny Sunday was spent firstly at a BBQ on The Level with Richi (the tallest man I've ever met) and some of his friends and family, and then at Pebbles on the Port with Cathy, Ed and Cathy's nephews watching the splendid Abba tribute band and enjoying cold beers and late afternoon sunshine.

August 2014

Early August saw my mum and I heading to the depths of Kent to help an ex-relative (!) celebrate his 60th birthday. The 100 or so guests enjoyed gorgeous food, never-ending drinks, croquet, pétanque and lots of socialising in the huge garden of the even huger house. I'm sure, one day, it'll be featured in magazines. 

The following day I had a rare opportunity to see my Norfolk-based cousins (normally only encountered at weddings and funerals) when they came down to visit their mum who lives round the corner from mine. I do love the fact that it doesn't matter how long it is between meet-ups, our family members just slip into lovely comfortable chat and nonsense as if we had seen each other only yesterday. 

Yet another sunny Sunday (are we sure this is the UK?) found me and Cathy heading off very early in the morning to the Isle of Wight for the Jack Up The 80s music festival. It was a marathon journey there and back in one day but well worth it. Dr and the Medics were an absolute revelation - the hit of the day! 

A mid-August evening was the opportunity for me and Cathy to go hunting for more glow-worms - this time, it was glow-worms, bats and meteors we were looking for. We had roaring success with the bats, even more glow-worms than the previous trip but sadly, due to cloud cover, no meteors. 

Our vocal cords were feeling unappreciated, so we organised another karaoke bash, this time preceded by divine food at the Curry Leaf Cafe. A few songs made a reappearance but mostly we found new tunes to massacre!

Cathy and I went to the Duke of York's to see a Belgian film (in French) - Two Days, One Night. It's a very good film, see it if you get the chance. 

September 2014

How best to follow a really nice sunny summer in the UK? Head back to southern Spain for another week of beaching, reading, lazing, eating and drinking. Sid and I had enjoyed our trip in May so much that we went back to the same little town, though staying in a different property this time. Our lovely little whitewashed house, Avda 222, was surrounded by bougainvillea and had an enormous (and very hot) roof terrace. If we thought we'd been lazy in May, we outdid ourselves this time. We drove to a few little local villages and went caving, but for most of the week, we worked our way round the multiple coves and beaches, sunbathing, swimming and reading. A properly relaxing week! 

Carol's birthday was celebrated with a tasty meal at Macara's in Hove, an interesting evening given that I only knew 3 of the 12 people at the table! 

The following night, Sid and I went to one of those random things that always make me think "Only in Brighton!" Or in this case, in Shoreham. After a delicious meal at Tosca, we headed to one of the houseboats on the river, Verda, to listen to The Shakespeare Heptet - a bizarre group of musicians who put Shakespeare sonnets to music. They're very talented and it was a weird and wonderful evening, only slightly tainted by the rather eccentric owner of the houseboat stopping the gig halfway through the second half to try to clear a space for dancing, even though it was quite clear that he was the only person interested in dancing! 

And the night after that, Dade and I went to The Greys pub to see Porchlight Smoker play. I'd spotted the listing and booked without really knowing anything about them but my dad told me he'd seen them before and that they were fantastic. He wasn't wrong. It was a rip-roaring, foot-stomping evening of whoopiness (you might recognise a version of those words on their website. I posted a review and they asked if they could use my words for their tagline!)

October 2014

Early autumn brought about another evening of nature with a MeetUp group someone I know runs - School of the Wild. This was only their third get-together but it was well worth going to. It was called a "Bat and Owl Prowl" and although we did hear/see a few bats, the owls were the stars. We headed deep into the woods at Stanmer Park and the leader played owl calls over her iPod speakers, drawing two or three owls to the vicinity. Standing in the pitch dark, listening to their calls getting closer and closer was eerie but very exciting, and the sudden sight of one swooping out of a nearby tree and zooming straight over our heads was wonderful. I truly could have stayed there all night! 

Later in the month, I joined Ange, Sid, Catherine and Lois for food at the Curry Leaf Café again, followed by a gig by Caro Emerald. It had been postponed from the previous March so it had been a long time coming! If I'm honest, I wasn't particularly excited about it - I knew one song by her, and liked it, but after booking the tickets I'd heard more of her music and it wasn't really my cup of tea. Still, I had been looking forward to an evening out with friends so I went - and enjoyed it. Not enough to go again but enough to be up and dancing by the encore. 

Two days later, I joined Sid at Union Music, a tiny country music store in Lewes for one of their occasional free gigs. This was by Ward Thomas, Home Counties-raised twins who have absolutely found their niche as a country music duo. The shop holds about 35 people, crammed around the racks of CDs and albums, and surrounded by the instruments hung on the walls, and the two girls and their backing singer/guitarist/percussionist were simply standing in the window area at the end of the shop. They played about 6 songs over half an hour (it was free!) and they blew our socks off. Their lyrics are really clever and the harmonies are beautiful. Another recommendation - see them if you get the chance. 

On a less cheerful note, October also saw the funeral of my great-uncle Brian, the last remaining member of my grandfather's generation of the family. I was very glad to have had one last chance to see him a couple of months earlier at the care home he had moved into. Even at his advanced age and clearly having serious medical issues, he was still eloquent, erudite and quite cheeky at that visit. 

An afterthought - I spent October sober. I realise that makes me sound like a complete lush but basically, I simply decided not to have an alcoholic drink for the whole month. I felt a lot better for it too! 

November 2014

The main event of this month was my four-day trip to Istanbul to visit Cathy during her posting. She was on her 4th posting abroad and this was the first time that practicalities had allowed me to organise a visit. I'd heard wonderful things about it in the past but had never been - not even to Turkey. Having got over the panic of discovering I needed to get my passport renewed just three weeks before my trip (it came back in time), I packed my bag to go to a country I'd never been to before. That doesn't happen very often. I should have got around to writing the blog about that trip by now but I haven't - however, I still plan to so all I'll say now is that I fell totally and completely in love with the city within the first couple of hours. Cathy was a marvellous host and it was great to have someone who knew where to go and what to do. We tried to do things she hadn't done with her other visitors so that she didn't have to keep duplicating excursions - on the Monday, I had the day alone anyway because she was at work, so on that day I did the things she'd done already. If I go back, I will happily spend a lot of the time crossing the Bosphorus on the little ferry over to the Asian side and just wandering through the foodstall-lined streets. 

I spent most of the second half of the month down with the unpleasant winter lurgy so my social activities were somewhat depleted! 

December 2014

Having shaken off the nastiness, the obvious thing to do was go to a ceilidh! It was organised by another MeetUp group, The Rant. I'd been to one ceilidh before, nearly two decades ago and I'd enjoyed it but you never know with these things. I needn't have worried - Cathy and I headed in, got our mulled wine and mince pie (it was the Xmas get-together, after all) and joined in. They're a really friendly bunch, there's no pretensions or frustration with the beginners, and we had a real laugh. I think a return visit is on the cards soon. 

The following day, Cathy and I joined a walk and lunch organised by a Sussex Wildlife Trust sub-group. We met our walking companions at The Black Horse, Findon, and set off on a walk to Cissbury Ring. It was a nice, easy dawdle, ending with great views over Sussex - hills and sea. I had a long chat with the organiser while we were walking - he completes and compiles the hardest cryptic crossword in the country (The Listener in The Times on Saturday) and he was trying to explain the thinking behind the clues. I'm a fairly good cryptic crossword solver but he lost me pretty fast! We wended our way back to the pub where the group had a tasty meal, completed a cryptic quiz and embarrassed ourselves on the skittle alley. The people were very friendly and welcoming to us newcomers and we plan to go on some of their other monthly walks in the coming year. 

That evening, we had a nostalgia trip, along with Carol, seeing Madness at the Brighton Centre. I'd seen them a few times before and they never disappoint. There was much singing along and even some pogo-ing. 

A chilly Wednesday evening found our same little group, plus Ange and Ann, hitting the Theatre Royal for the stage show of The Full Monty. It was really good fun, well staged, well acted, funny in the right places, sad in the others and with all the "bits" you'd expect (sort of)! 

Cathy's annual Christmas get-together was my next social engagement. As always, it was a marvellous evening of chat, laughter, nibbles, drink and, more importantly, sprout racing - and a new addition this year - penguin racing. There were even some genuinely funny (and new) cracker jokes - unheard of! The evening always provides that proper festive feeling that's needed a couple of weeks before Christmas. 

Our work Christmas do went ahead a few days later with cocktails at Misty's followed by food at Modelo Lounge. Sadly, the Lounge didn't live up to expectations for which I take some responsibility. I had been to the Alcampo Lounge near my flat and enjoyed really good food and ambience, and also visited the Santo Lounge in Southampton, which is why I recommended the Modelo Lounge for the Xmas do. The food was surprisingly disappointing - not awful, just nothing-y. Still, the vast quantities of wine seemed to help temper our disappointment and we still had a splendid evening! 

Four days before the big day, I was invited to my stepsister's house for a Xmas get-together with my stepfamily. Jane had really challenged herself - 16 of us for lunch in a living/dining room you would swear could hold maybe 10. Doors were taken off hinges, tables were built in the spaces left once people had taken their seats and Jane and Alan dished up a delicious full Christmas dinner, all ready at the same time and all hot! I have no idea how they did it. It was a lovely afternoon of food, chat, new people, fizz and silly hats! 

The following day I met Ange for lunch at Silo for our Christmas meetup and chat. I'd been introduced to Silo earlier in the year by Dade and it's a real find. It's a zero-waste restaurant - instead of me trying to explain that, have a good read of the website. It's a very clever setup. 

The Christmas social whirl continued that evening with mulled wine and nibbles at Sid's with Cathy. Another lovely evening full of wine, cheese and crackers! You may have noticed a pattern to December!

Once I'd finally finished work at 4pm, Dade and I had a sneaky Christmas Eve drink at The Jolly Poacher down the road and then had a very quiet, chilled Christmas Day at the flat. Silly Christmas films and present opening was followed, eventually, by a gigantic roast dinner, leading into a lazy evening of more TV and Baileys. It was the first time I had spent an entire Christmas Day in my own home for about 30 years, I think! 

On Boxing Day morning, I headed to my mum's and from there we went to my aunt's for Christmas Day #2, with my uncle's two kids and their other halves. It was a very convivial meal, followed by an impromptu party which came about simply because lots of their friends started popping round to say hello and then stayed! It was a lot of fun - very loud, very funny and very sociable. 

The 29th brought me, Cathy, Sid, Carol and Kim to dinner at the Curry Leaf Café and then The Treason Show End of the Year Show. This has become a staple of our Christmas/New Year entertainment - it's a two-hour roundup of the best sketches from the monthly Treason Show from the preceding 12 months. It's always hilarious and this year didn't disappoint. At times, we were crying and clutching our sides. They're a disgracefully talented bunch and I'm looking forward to seeing them at their new venue, The Rialto Theatre. 

And finally (you'll be pleased to know!) we reach New Year's Eve. A surprisingly busy day at work was followed by a lovely evening at Sid's. We ate far too much food, drank less than expected, chatted about anything and everything, sneakily watched other people's fireworks from the roof terrace, and ditched Jools Holland to watch Adam Lambert and Queen. If you've never heard of Adam Lambert, you're not alone. I hadn't a clue who he was until last night but the remaining members of Queen have, quite rightly, seen something in him that has allowed him to take on that hallowed position once held by Freddie Mercury. The obligatory countdown led to Big Ben bonging in the New Year and a quite startling firework display over The Thames. Cheers and good wishes were passed in person and online before Jools Holland finally got a look in with the rest of his Hootenanny to take us through till the early hours of the morning. 

Throughout 2014, Cathy and I continued to work on Write Me A Murder plots, receiving some really positive feedback from several groups. There have also been walks in various pretty parts of Sussex, others in Hampshire, sunny and blowy walks on the seafront, duvet days, TV series marathons, and a fairly human proportion of love, laughter, tears and nonsense! 

So thank you to everyone involved in my 2014 for making it the year it was! 

A decadent afternoon in London

For my birthday this year, my dad and stepmum bought me a marvellous present: Chocoholics Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two in the Podium Restaurant at The Hilton, Park Lane! Wow. 

Cathy was the lucky recipient of the "Plus One"and we eagerly anticipated May 20th. As it was up in London, we decided to make a day of it and headed up on the first reasonably priced train, arriving about 11.30am. We'd spotted a couple of things we fancied doing and which also fell into the "2-For-1" Offer where, if you produce your train tickets to London, you get (unsurprisingly) two entries for the price of one. 

Our first port of call was the Old Operating Theatre in the Herb Garrett of a Baroque Church in St Thomas' Street. It looked fascinating even on the net and in reality it was even better. The entrance is a tiny door in the wall of the building (from where you can see the almost-finished Shard) and you are immediately faced with a very tight winding wooden spiral staircase. After creaking your way up the 36 steps, you reach another tiny door leading to the ticket office and rather incongruous gift shop. The 2-For-1 system worked perfectly, we paid the grand total of £6.75 between us to get in, and headed up the next flight of stairs.

We entered a relatively small, quite dark attic, absolutely crammed with artefacts. It was a real mixture of old surgical tools, operating tables, early stethoscopes etc and the Culpeper Herb Museum. Both areas were fascinating in slightly different ways - the tools and tables looked incredibly primitive and it was amazing to think that these were once the height of modern medicine! The herbal section was great too - especially given our interest in complementary/holistic health. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was an amazing herbalist (amongst other things) and much of the information held in his "Complete Herbal" is still used today in herbal medicine. 

After the delights of the garrett, we moved into the actual operating theatre. This was where operations were carried out on patients from St Thomas' Hospital between 1822 and 1862 when it was partially dismantled and the entrances were bricked up. It was basically forgotten about until 1956 when a man investigating the history of St Thomas' Hospital found some records of it and decided to take a look. What a surprise he must have got once he'd negotiated the 15ft of ladder up to the trapdoor entrance that was now the only way in. Since then, it has been restored somewhat and filled with the paraphernalia held there today. 
Although the website recommends a 45-minute visit to the museum, we spent well over an hour there and consequently realised that we didn't have time to go to The London Film Museum and still get to The Hilton on time. 

It was a lovely day so we decided to walk right along the river from London Bridge to Westminster Bridge and then hop on the Tube to get to Park Lane. Our journey took us past Southwark Cathedral, Millenium Bridge, the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, Blackfriars Bridge, a replica of the Golden Hind, St Paul's Cathedral (on the other side of the river), the South Bank, Gabriel's Wharf, Waterloo Bridge, Jubilee Gardens, London Film Museum, London Aquarium, the London Eye, opposite the Houses of Parliament and finally to Westminster Bridge. 

On the way we stopped off for a drink at the very marvellous "Propstore" bar, a summer pop-up bar, filled with sets and scenery from National Theatre productions. 

And then it was time for the main event - 3pm had rolled around and we were heading into the Podium Restaurant at The Hilton. I'll be honest, once upon a time, "The Hilton" conjured up images of very posh, swanky hotels with chandeliers and marble floors. These days, many of them are, as someone put it the other day, slightly upmarket Travelodges! However, we weren't there to gawp at the surroundings, we were there for our Chocoholics Champagne Afternoon Tea. 

Having been shown to our table, we were handed the menu or, rather, the explanation! A flute of champagne was brought fairly swiftly, along with a small wooden box which contained six tiny glass screw-top containers, each containing a different tea. There were probably twenty different teas on the menu and these were just six interesting ones they thought we might like to sniff. Cathy opted for a white tea and I went for the Hilton Afternoon blend. The champagne was rather nice - Pommery - and went down far too easily. Once that had gone, we were brought our individual pots of tea and the first round of food - sandwiches. They were dainty open sandwiches but absolutely delicious. I had the vegetarian option (of course) - one egg and cress, one cream cheese and cucumber, one cheddar and grape, one mozzarella and tomato and one asparagus with parmesan shavings. 

Then it was time for cake. Cakes. Lots of them. A three-tier metal and glass cake stand arrived, laden down with cakey chocolatey goodness! 

Level One - Scones. Two chocolate chip scones, one fruit scone and a plain scone. A pot of strawberry jam. A pot of clotted cream. A pot of chocolate praline. Heaven.

Level Two - Pastries. Battenberg. Sacher Torte. Raspberry and Elderflower cupcake. Red velvet cupcake. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Level Three - Miniature Fancies. White chocolate and cherry cheesecake with red velvet and orange tuile. Milk chocolate cremeux. Pistachio macaroon with manjari chocolate filling. Iced shortbread butterfly on an orange and chocolate profiterole. Lemon and raspberry marshmallow lolly. Meringue lolly. Yummity yum. 

Oh, and the top level cakes were sitting on a gigantic, half-inch thick patterned plate made of solid chocolate. Everything was beautifully made and presented and, of course, absolutely delicious. We tried to finish it all, we really did but we were beaten by a couple of cakes and the chocolate plate. Needless to say, we were not the first people to ask for a box to take the rest away in. We asked our waitress if anyone had ever finished the whole lot. No. A few people managed all the cakes but no-one had ever actually eaten the plate on the premises! 

So after nearly three hours we headed back out into London with a couple of hours to kill before our train home. Cathy found an internet-based guided walking tour of Jack the Ripper's murder locations on the net so we headed off to Whitechapel and followed most of the grisly tour, ending at The Hoop and Grapes, one of the oldest pubs in London and the only timber-framed building to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666.

And then it was back to Victoria and home. It had been a lovely, interesting and decadent day! Thanks Dad and Ann! 

For all my photos of the day, click HERE. 

For the actual website and their own photos, click HERE. 

Roma - La città eterna

After a five-year hiatus, Cathy and I finally returned to Rome for this year's Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis tournament. Back in 2008, we came for the entire week's tournament but this year we decided on a five-day trip, with at least two full days at the tennis. \

I'm well aware that my blogs can sometimes go on a bit so here's the short version (note that the word "short" might not be entirely appropriate by the time I've finished writing this):
We stayed at the wonderful B&B Bio in the far north of the city. As its name suggests, it had a certain dietary theme. It's entirely vegetarian, catering for all sorts of dietary requirements over and above that. There are only three rooms, all painted using only natural paints. The couple who run it, Michel and Barbara, are utterly lovely. They couldn't do enough to help us, providing dairy-free milk and gluten-free products for our breakfast every day, and regularly giving us a lift to Piazza Mancini, saving us a 15-minute bus ride (although on one occasion, due to a very important tunnel being closed, the car journey took 40 minutes, but it was the thought that counted!) Michel runs a health food store (La Madre Terra) so of course we had plenty to talk about and, on the day that we visited his store, lots of price and product comparisons to do. The only downside to the B&B was its rather remote location. From the city centre, we had about a 35-minute walk, then a tram ride and then a bus ride to get back. On two occasions, one of which really wasn't our fault, we managed to miss the last bus (midnight - how uncivilised) and had to get a cab which, we discovered, is not an easy thing outside the main city centre. 


We arrived mid-afternoon on the Monday and headed out of the B&B at nearly 6pm. We stopped for a first little drink at Campo de'Fiori, a square that we had somehow managed to miss on previous visits. When here in 2008, we had attempted to visit the Trastevere part of town which, according to the guidebooks, is lovely and quaint and a must-see. The last time we tried, we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because we ended up in a rather squalid, council-estate type area! This time we got it right and agreed entirely with the guidebooks. It's a lovely area with little streets, plenty of restaurants and bars, all clearly frequented by Italians - always a good sign. The B&B host had recommended Ristorante Da Augusto for dinner, but when we arrived at around 7.30pm, there were about 20 people queuing outside. Now that might be a good sign as far as quality is concerned, but when you've spent most of the day since 6.45am travelling, waiting that long for a table isn't an option. Instead we went to Osteria Margherita, a lovely little pizzeria down a side street and sat outside enjoying huge stone-baked pizzas and a well-deserved glass of wine or two. On the way back, we stopped at Mimi e Coco for another quick digestif. That decision may, of course, have been to blame for our first late-night taxi ride. 

On the Tuesday, we decided to take a side-trip. We had been tossing up between Tivoli, Ostia Antica and Orvieto. Due entirely to the contents of a well-timed article in the Easyjet in-flight magazine on the way over, we settled on Tivoli. What a great choice! An hour from Rome and only €3 each way on the train, Tivoli is a lovely little town with a splendid combination of old and new. We had a quick drink on arrival, failed to find the tabac where a passing German tourist had told us we could get a free map of the town, and headed off. After a couple of hours, we followed the brown tourist signs to Villa Gregoriana. What a find! After several devastating floods, the river Tiber was diverted in the early 1800s into this valley, creating several amazing waterfalls. There was already an ancient Acropolis there but by the early 20th century the whole thing had gone to ruin and for many years, it was a dumping ground for unwanted rubbish (including fridges, washing machines etc). Thanks to the Italian version of the National Trust, it was cleaned up and opened to the public in 2005. It took us about three hours to cover the whole thing - steep paths with lots of little diversions to panoramic views, grottoes, waterfalls, low and sometimes narrow passageways but it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Given that the temperature was hovering around 28 degrees in the sun, we were quite grateful for the shade of the trees and the relative coolness of the valley. We emerged at the Temples exit just in time to walk to the station and head back to town for some dinner.

                                                 


For our first few annual visits to Rome, we stayed right in the centre at a little place called Planet 29. Right opposite, was a pizza place (La Famiglia) which we frequented probably a little too often. It had given us our first taste of risotto alla ortica (nettle risotto) and we had been able to check from our hotel window for a free table and then run down the stairs to claim said table. We had promised ourselves that we would try to get back there for a meal. After our Tivoli train pulled in to Termini, it seemed logical to pop just down the road to La Famiglia. Very little had changed. We nabbed the last table outside and were treated to some very familiar somewhat surly service. They're not rude exactly. They're just, well, down-to-earth! They don't try to be your best friend, they just do their job! In a nostalgic move, we both ordered nettle risotto, with a starter of deep-fried mozzarella balls and a litre of house wine. €8 for a litre of wine - who could turn that down? Like any other wine of that price, it tastes a lot better after the first couple of glasses! 

You might think that was the end of our evening. So did we. We planned to walk back to our tram stop via the Trevi Fountain and then get a relatively early night. The one thing we certainly didn't plan to do was miss the last bus again. Just round the corner from the pizzeria, we decided to buy a couple of postcards to write and post later. The guy in the shop, however, told us that if we bought SwissPost stamps along with the postcards, we could post them from a small postbox in the shop. Standing outside the shop scribbling our postcards, we were approached by an elderly couple who we recognised from the pizzeria. The lady asked us, in French, if we knew where Via Flavia was. It didn't occur to either of us that it was a bit odd to be asked a question in French in the middle of Rome by people who couldn't possibly know where we were from. We both replied (in French) that we didn't know but we had a map and could help. We finished writing our postcards quickly and then consulted the map. Via Flavia was only about 6 streets away but there wasn't a simple route for them to memorise so we offered to walk with them at least some of the way. We chatted away (still in French) all the way to the street with their hotel. They had left the hotel earlier in the evening looking for something to eat, wandered the streets, settled randomly on the same pizzeria as us and only when they finished did they realise they had no idea where they were or how to get back! He (another Michel!) was 77 and she (whose name we failed to get) was 75. They were originally from Paris, had retired to Cannes and were gradually working their way round Europe. When we reached the right street, we attempted to head off to our bus stop but then they invited us for a drink at their hotel. Initially, we resisted but they were so sweet and so keen that we relented. Off we went to the Hotel Marcella Royal and up to the utterly fantastic seventh floor roof terrace bar. We were met by a lovely barman who clearly liked his funny French customers who showed us to a table right by the fairy-lit outer wall with its view straight over to the illuminated St Peter's Basilica at The Vatican. Wow! We were so pleased we'd accepted. They treated us to a Campari Soda and a Kahlua (which they'd never heard of until then!) and far too soon we had to leave or we were risking missing public transport. I took a quick photo of Cathy with them on the roof terrace and we headed off.

 
We got the tram OK but as we jumped off it at the bus station, we saw our last bus just starting to move. A man was hurtling across the concourse, banged on the door and the driver opened it, let him on, closed the door and moved away again. We were perhaps three steps away from the bus, Cathy managed to reach it and bang on the door but the driver just carried on and we watched our final bus disappear into the night. Grrrrrr. Getting a taxi was only a little easier than the night before. A tram driver kindly found us the number of a cab firm but he didn't know the code for Italy or for Rome, so we had to call Dade for the info! (This would all have been a lot simpler had I been able to access the internet using 3G on my mobile at all during the trip!) We finally got home around 1am again! 

Finally it was time for some tennis. Having grabbed our lunch on the go ingredients from the little supermarket down the road, we jumped on the bus to Foro Italico. We'd pre-booked tickets for Wednesday and Thursday day sessions so after the usual melée of people all trying to collect pre-paid tickets, we were in. It's certainly grown since the last time we were here. There's a whole new court! Campo Centrale (Centre Court) has gone from a somewhat temporary affair, with scaffolding and metal staircases, to a properly built concrete arena, holding probably half as many people again. The new court (SuperTennis Arena) occupies a space which, for the life of us, we can't work out what was there before. The lovely Pietrangeli court is still there though - an amphitheatre court, where you sit on marble steps, surrounded by Roman statues. Despite the forecast, only an hour of play was lost on the Thursday. The rest of the time we sat in temperatures of high 20s and glorious sunshine. Our combination of tickets meant that we didn't get to see Nadal, Djokovic or Federer but it didn't matter. Over the two days, we saw a succession of talented players, including a fairly new guy on the block - Jerzy Janowicz - he saw off players much higher up in the rankings. Our only disappointment really was that, despite having booked the tickets in mid-January, our seats on both days were in the very last row.The people who showed up on the day and rocked up to the ticket office got better seats. We weren't to know that though and we didn't want to risk getting all the way out there and finding it was sold out.

On the Wednesday evening, we walked back to our old stomping ground from our 2008 trip, the little area on the north side of Ponte Milvio. Even though we ate there almost every evening for a week back then, we couldn't really remember much about anything. The main thing we'd forgotten was that there were really only two restaurants! We ate at La Pallotta, which has a massive outside area (which was lovely until it started to rain on the pizzas - I was OK because I was under an umbrella but the waiters came over and moved our table - and Cathy - under the umbrella too!) It was very busy and there were plenty of Italians in there. Very tasty food and house wine that was almost as cheap as the night before! Even better news - we managed to get the bus back!!! Mind you, spotting where to get off on a residential street with no streetlights, whilst being whisked along by a bus driver who was the reincarnation of Mario Andretti. Cathy managed to spot a building just along the road from our street so we managed to leap up to ding the bell and got off not too far past the right place! 

On the Thursday evening, the tennis went on quite late so we ventured even less far! We crossed the road from the tennis stadium and went into a funny little pizza place that looks almost temporary. It's more like a pizza shack! We sat in the plastic-sided "outside" area. It might have looked cheap and nasty, but they made mean pizzas! Despite it being our last night, it was also our earliest and we were back at the B&B before midnight. 

Friday morning rolled around far too soon and it was time to pack up our stuff and decide what to do with our day. We had contemplated going to the tennis again and just buying a ground pass. However, the tournament had reached the quarter-finals stage so all the interesting matches were on the two show courts, not covered by a ground pass. That made our minds up! Tourism day it is! After a lift from Michel and a nose around his health food shop, we walked through the local market where there was some kind of TV show being filmed. No matter how much we darted or dodged, we kept finding ourselves in the camera's line of sight. Who knows? Maybe we're Italian TV stars now!
From there, we headed to the lovely Pantheon:

From there, we jumped on the tram down to Piazza de Popolo and walked to the Trevi Fountain. We bought a delicious ice-cream (pistachio and stracciatella for me) from the lovely gelateria overlooking the fountain. Then we made our way down to the fountain and threw the obligatory coins backwards over our shoulder into the water. If you don't know why, look here. 

and then on to Piazza Navona. It was buzzing with people, the sun was shining so we did the perfectly obvious thing - we stopped at a bar and treated ourselves to a glass of Prosecco. It was so nice (the sun, the atmosphere and the drink), that we were obliged to stay for a second one! As we left, we spotted these fetching portraits of a couple of Popes, some archbishop or other and ... er ... Obi Wan Kenobi:

We had a last wander through the little cobbled streets nearby and then headed to the Metro up to where Michel was picking us up to take us to the airport, and before we knew it we were waving goodbye to the Eternal City. 

It had been an utterly wonderful five days and we remembered why this used to be an annual trip! Roll on Rome 2014. 

If you want to see all my photos from the trip, click HERE.