English Road Trip! Or, how much can we fit into our car?

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as "American Road Trip" now, does it?

Twenty-two roundabouts (I counted), 3.5 hours and 164 miles later, we had traversed the English countryside and arrived in Mildenhall, Suffolk, to collect our boxes which had been carefully shipped from San Francisco to what had been labelled "London" by the geographically challenged moving company. The small town of Mildenhall, Suffolk, is *not* "London". It's twice the distance from Southampton to London, actually.

We pulled up to the warehouse after paying a bunch of extra shipping charges the company had conveniently "forgotten" to mention originally. The three young guys at the warehouse eyed our tiny car critically. "Why didn't you get it delivered?" asked one accusingly.

Our boxes arrived. The three guys looked at the hatchback car, then at the boxes. (1.5m of cubic space). The boxes looked smaller than I remembered. The three guys looked at the car. "You're not gonna get all that in, innit," said one.*



By careful packing, and a bit of jumping on the boot for the last backpack, we did indeed get it all in without resorting to tying things to the roof or holding things on laps. We can now confirm that a Ford Fiesta has a back space of 1.5 cubic metres exactly. The three guys watching cheered. They'd been convinced we'd never fit it all in.



We took this photo after we got in the car. I'm driving.

As we were near Cambridge, I convinced Brendan we should visit. So I set "Kings College Cambridge" on the GPS, and started driving. And rapidly had to do some "creative" driving in the face of blocked-off streets and angry buses who could go over bollards that we couldn't. Oops.

Cambridge is super-cute, an old city with lots of historic places. It's divided up into "colleges", effectively halls of residence for students as I recall. They're all hundreds of years old and look extremely imposing. It also has the cutest shops ever.








You can take a "punt" on the river. It's very pretty.

We went into Trinity College. This is especially exciting for me, since it's the source of my piano exams!


We found this amazing room, I think it was the Trinity Chapel. (Here's some more info about it.) Right behind the viewpoint of this photograph, the organ sits above the door. On the other side of the door is a white room with white marble/ plaster statues. Dust motes shone in the air in front of the painting above the altar at the far end, with a black grand piano below it. (Click on the photo for a better look.) Apparently the painting is by American artist Benjamin West.



Cambridge is very student-y. Everywhere students were hurrying around to class or biking around. It has an enormous bike population - everywhere you looked, bikes were lined up along railings and walls. Some weren't even chained up!



Finally we got to Kings College, and the Kings College Chapel. "Chapel" isn't really the right name for it, as "Cathedral" would be more suitable to describe its size. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside - will have to come back!

A dear friend of mine (and former organ tutor) was actually Organ Scholar at Kings College Chapel as a young man, at least 60 years ago. Unfortunately when WWII broke out, he had to join the airforce and fly planes instead! So it was especially cool to see the chapel.



It's very large. And hiding behind a tree in this picture, but it was the best one I had to show the scale.

Then we rushed back to grab our car before our parking meter ran out, and braved the awful traffic, 4 hours and 50 roundabouts to get home. (Going via Cambridge meant we had to take a different route, which involved a lot more roundabouts. The British love roundabouts to the exclusion of any other kind of intersection. It's a national obsession.)




*("Innit" is Cockney for the NZ "Aye/Eh/Ae" quantifier. Other UK variations include "Yeah", but we think "innit" is the funniest.)

Car Experiments, Mark II

Today was an experiment in bunny-hopping. Or actually, avoiding bunny-hopping. And, for the most part, we did pretty well.

Brendan and I bought a car. A manual, or "stick shift", to be precise. The last time I actually drove a manual for any distance was at 17, so I have somewhat limited experience. Brendan had never driven a manual car. In the US, we always drove automatics, partly because almost all cars in the US are automatics, and partly because we preferred them. (Especially in the Fat Kiwi.) It was up to me to drive it home. I was a bit nervous. Would I forget how to do it? Would I stall at inopportune times? Would people honk at me?

We met outside the acres of car parks at IBM. The car seller was an Indian man who was switching projects and leaving the country. He showed us his Texan licence (he'd worked for IBM in Texas once), and we showed him our Californian ones. I looked at the car. It was clean and well looked-after. There was a "Baby on Board" sticker on the back. I wondered how long it had been on there. (Brendan ripped it off almost immediately.)

Apart from accidentally changing into 2nd at highway speeds and freaking out the cars behind us, we managed to get home with only 3 stalls (and one accidental red light run) in various parts of Romsey, and zero honking. The last part amazes me. If I stalled somewhere in the US, I can guarantee that at least 3 drivers behind me would be honking in a New York minute.

This is me right after I drove it home. Isn't it awesome that we live right by the red phone box?

Once we were safely home, Brendan's driver education began. We drove around a little 3-mile circuit around the country roads, while Brendan practiced stopping and starting and changing gears. He picked it up very quickly!

Next, we headed back into "town" to go shopping, with Brendan driving. We set the GPS to find Tesco in Eastleigh. We arrived at the Tesco, to find it was a dairy-sized "express". No problem, we'll find the next Tesco. Also an "express". Oh dear. Then we spotted a Lidl, which is something like Aldi's, supermarkets which only sell about 300 of the most commonly used products and foods but are generally very cheap. So as long as you don't need something specific, like baking powder, you're OK.

I drove on the way back. The GPS took us straight on the motor/freeway! Luckily we've had a lot of practice at freeway driving, but it's still a bit scary nonetheless.

Drivers seem to be mostly very considerate about giving right of way, which I guess is how they avoid having head-on collisions on the tiny, narrow, mostly one-laned roads. Our landlord, Mike, absolutely hoons along the roads here in his Mini. I felt quite carsick when I got out of his car this morning.

It was actually sunny for once, and the trees in autumnal colour are amazing.

Overall, we're incredibly pleased to finally have a car. It's been quite hard (and expensive in taxi/ bus costs) living 4 miles from town, and both of us felt quite isolated here without a car. To quote Brendan's favourite song of the moment, "I've got freedom...."

We're Going on a Gaudi Hunt!

We're going on a Gaudi hunt - are you scared? Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish (Catalan) architect famous for his fantastical, organic-looking buildings and awesome mosaics. His buildings are some of the "must-see's" of Barcelona. (Apologies that this is such a huge post!)

Since many of these buildings required an expensive ticket to get in, we decided to simply focus on the ones we were most interested in.

Casa Mila ('The quarry)
We decided not to go in, based on the ticket price and that the roof (which contains some of the best features) was closed due to the rain. (Spot the line of tourists waiting to get in.)

Here is the cool front door:


Casa Batllo
("Baat-yo", based on a skeleton - can you see the "ribs"?) Casa Batllo is covered in amazing mosaics, like much of Gaudi's work.


Parc Guell
A 20-hectare park designed by Gaudi, it also features two gatehouses which look like gingerbread houses! I love them. They even have lollipop glass windows.


This is the opposite side, taken from the bottom of the steps in front of the gatehouses.


Pavillion - I can't tell where the ground starts or ends, and the buildings begin!


Huge butterfly gate of wrought iron, built by Gaudi.


The inside, right behind the gate in the above photo... I seriously wonder how he built this?


And the outside....


Gaudi designed this marketplace (the white top is the plaza, the bottom with the columns is the covered marketplace).


One of the gargoyles/ drainpipes from the pavilion:


The ceiling of the marketplace is made up of a series of mosaic domes.


This is the dragon "guardian" of the park. Everyone wanted its photo!


Gaudi's apartment in Parc Guell
This pink candy-floss coloured apartment was Gaudi's home,and is now a not-too-informative museum. It features furniture designed by him.


Cute furniture!!


I've saved the best for last: La Sagrada Familia (Atonement Cathedral of the Sacred Family)

This cathedral is has been under construction for the past hundred years, and still has 30-80 years of construction left. It defies belief. Some people love it, some hate it. We're in the first camp. Amazingly, the cost of construction is funded entirely by tourist ticket sales and patrons.


Here is what the cathedral is intended to look like once completed. It's almost like a giant cross in layout, with the nave being the long arm(leg?) of the cross.


Here is the Nave, looking towards the back of the church. It's still under quite a lot of construction. It's still open at the back, and water can come in. In this picture, you can see that Gaudi intended the pillars to be like trees - can you see the branches and leaves/ flowers at the top?


Only a few of the stained glass windows have been installed. This one is the first in the series near the Passion Facade.

Gaudi devoted the last 40 years of his life to the Cathedral's construction. He died in hospital three days after being hit by a tram in Barcelona. For the first few days, no-one recognised him, as his clothes were held together by pins and he was sleeping in the workshop on-site. (He was probably a bit wild and woolly!)

Unfortunately in the 1935 Spanish Civil War, his plans, models and a lot of the cathedral were smashed, so people are still debating about how to solve the complex engineering issues faced in construction. Other sculptors have created new sculptures and artworks in a different style.

The Nativity Facade is the one which most bears Gaudi's influence - it's a riot of animals and people looking at the Christ Child. Stone turtles are carved in the base of the pillars at the front.

If you look carefully, you can see the Christmas tree-like cypress tree in the centre of the towers, with doves on it.


Here is Brendan in front of the Passion Facade, which depicts the last few days before Christ's death and resurrection. You can see the style of the sculptures here is different because they were done by a different sculptor, although the anchoring pillars are Gaudi's.


After waiting in line for an hour and a half, we paid 2.50 Euros for the lift (in addition to the entry ticket), to take us up the 350 stairs inside the towers. From there we wandered around, enjoying the amazing views of Barcelona and the tiny stairs!

The towers are covered in gauze wire at the top to avoid birds nesting in them.


The towers are so narrow, they barely fit one person in! Not for the claustrophobic.

Looking down inside the bottom of the towers. When they're all completed, huge bells will hang in them.


Here is the central dome - an even-larger tower is planned for behind it!


Gaudi used nature as inspiration - here are some mosaic fruits by the Nave.



The views of Barcelona are fantastic!


The little balconies are a bit disconcerting, though.


Here is a secret view of the church, not usually seen by tourists, who are behind the blue barrier on the right.


The coolest part of the stairs is the end, where they wound around in a tight spiral with a gap straight to the bottom. Lots of people got a bit nauseous and wobbly at this part.

One OysterCard, two uses

Part of the fun of low-cost travelling is organising food. Last weekend, Geoff, Brendan and I were in Spain for five days. Rather than visit restaurants all the time, we opted to browse the local markets and supermarkets (aka "La supermercat"), for bread, cheese, pepperoni and fruit.

Boqueria Markets, Barcelona

Which is all well and good, of course, except when you're missing a knife. Supermercats don't stock disposable knives, and all pocketknives have been left behind to avoid confiscation at the airport. What are a group of hungry travellers to do?

Enter the humble OysterCard: your versatile travel companion. Not only for intra-London transport!


(Geoff assures us it's been in his wallet, and is therefore clean. We wash it anyway.)


It slices toughened salami, cake, three different cheeses of varying density, and the fragile sensibilities of the locals.

The car saga: Or, how we gained and lost a car on the same day

"The car's broken down and I'm just standing here on the M3."

Geoff sounded a bit lost. The night before, he'd been out to East London to check out a car for us, and had decided to buy it. We needed a car because we now live in the country, 5 miles from civilisation. We also needed a car because we were flying out of Luton Airport to Barcelona on Thursday, along with Geoff, and arriving back home around midnight on Tuesday. Luton Airport is 3.5 hours away by various trains, and buses to our place from Romsey are sporadic, at best.

So, Geoff was helping us buy a car. He'd already test-driven it the day before without incident. But after 30 miles, it died completely at the start of the M3 (motorway), leaving him stranded! Geoff was still around 100 miles away from our house, and it was rush hour. Picking him up with our flatmates' car was not an option.

After careful scrutiny of our car insurance policy (bought at 11pm the night before!), I realised that it included free breakdown insurance. I relayed the news to a very relieved Geoff, who was still stranded on the M3 watching the cars whizz by.

Unfortunately, the tow company would only tow for 20 miles. Dumping the car back on the seller's doorstep wasn't an option, as much as we wanted to! I found a garage 20 miles towards London, gave the address to the tow company, and the car was there for the night. It also happened to be the closest to the Tube Station.

The next morning, Geoff arrived early at the garage. It refused to repair the car, saying it would only break again. Also, the cost to repair would be more than the cost of the car. We were leaving for Barcelona about 8 hours later, and the car would almost certainly be towed if we left it on the street. Geoff managed to sell it for scrap about 3 hours before we were due to be at the airport, just to get rid of it.

To summarise: we bought, and lost a car in one day. We never actually saw it, only a photo from Geoff. And now we don't have the money to buy another car, since we spent it on train tickets to Luton Airport.

Here is a gratuitous photo from our day.

Actually, several photos. This is the little park behind our house. We've never been in it before. Usually the man-screams of basketball or soccer games are broadcast from here.



The park mostly consists of a half-basketball court, and an obstacle course. I've just been for a run here (4 miles) so you can see my workout gear and my brand new running shoes. I always wear this little shrug (grey jacket) when I run, since my arms get cold.

Out of nowhere a blurry grey shape with bright blue eyes jumped all over me and then onto Brendan. It looked like a wolf. Here they are playing. (My white t-shirt wasn't happy with the muddy claw marks.)

The dog was ecstatic, running around the small park and playfighting with Brendan. The owner came along, and explained the dog was a teenage puppy, and it had escaped. Dog and owner left at a run as the dog pulled on the leash.

Oh no, not Waitrose!

It's horrific. The only supermarket in Romsey is Waitrose.

Not that there's anything particularly wrong with Waitrose. However, supermarkets in Britain tend to be either expensive (Marks & Spencers, Waitrose), or cheap (Tesco, Sainsburys, Aldis). If you buy the supermarket brand products, it's way cheaper. E.g. I found most packets of 500g penne pasta in Sainsburys were around 1.56 pounds. Similar penne pasta labelled "Sainsburys Basics" cost 18p. Pasta, after all, is just duram wheat flour, water and egg white made into pretty shapes. Now, if only they could make wholemeal pasta at that price....

For Kiwis, this is a bit like the only supermarket in town being Woolworths or New World. Or even the Organic Shop. Bummer, it's expensive, small and mostly stocks organic goat cheese and twelve different kinds of Belgium hot chocolate powder. (I counted. The one in Milton Keynes.)

However, for Brits, it's not just about price and access to twelve different kinds of hot chocolate powder. Marks & Spencers is more like a department store with a grocery tacked on the side. It sells things like organic, (presumably happy) chicken meat for NZ$40/kg. It also has Simply M&S, a standalone shop in the rail stations and chemists/drugstores (seriously) offering gourmet packaged meals at equally gourmet prices.

As our friend Becky once observed about British life, where you shop for your groceries apparently defines you. How else to explain how keen everyone is to lug around a cloth shopping bag emblazoned with 'M&S' and a suitably arty black and white image of a woman's head or green stenciled leaves? Marks & Spencers: the only supermarket for the hipster. It's hip to be green.

Luckily for us, we just care if it's nutritious and cheap. Being new to a country has its advantages. Now we definitely need a car! Winchester's only 11 miles away, and I hear Sainsburys calling.