Our 2010 Trip to England and Wales

To view our travel-blog in date order, click on the link of the post you wish to start reading (eg Singapore) and when you get to the bottom of the page, click "Newer Post". Enjoy!

Home Again

Our flight to Christchurch didn't have very many people on it, so we were lucky to be able to spread ourselves out a bit. The much-welcomed-back in-flight entertainment made the time disappear, and again were delighted with the food that was served. I was surprised when I asked for a tomato juice and they gave it to me in a can! I managed to get a bit more sleep on this flight, and when we descended into Christchurch, I felt like I was in the right time zone. Christchurch felt 'like home' but we weren't quite there yet.

Movies watched:

2012, Couples Retreat, An Education, Eagle Eye (but I didn't quite finish it, grrr)



After we collected our bags, I managed to change my clothes and have a quick clean up which felt so much better! We had a couple of hours to spend in Christchurch before our flight, so we went to a cafe and bought a coffee and a paper. Our last flight was on a small plane, but thankfully it wasn't packed full of people. It was a brilliant day and we had some amazing views of the coastline as we flew down towards Dunedin. We knew we were getting close when we passed over a massive front and descended into the clouds.



We were greeted at the arrival gate by a very happy family, William ran to me, jumped into my arms and held on tight. Timmy was very excited to see us both, and just kept saying 'Daddy!' which was sweet. It felt so nice finally hugging Lou again after such a long time apart.

We packed our stuff in the car and I wedged myself between the two car seats again. We drove straight down the bay to Mum's house and unveiled our gifts. Finally, we were home again!

Return to Singapore

The flight from Frankfurt back to Singapore was quite uneventful. It was an older plane so unfortunately it didn't have individual in-flight entertainment units. This was probably quite a good thing as sleep was a priority for us on this flight. We were sitting next to a girl from Australia who was studying to be an early childhood teacher. She was quite chatty which was entertaining.

I grabbed the occasional hour of sleep here and there with the sounds of sixties or dance music to drown out the sound of the plane or other passengers. Occasionally I would be woken from my sleep by someone bumping my feet when they encroached into the aisle too much. After just over 12 hours of flying, we landed in Singapore. It was early in the evening, but fortunately the lack of sleep made it feel like it was the evening. Again, Singapore was hot, and this time we were treated to a tropical downpour as we took the Skytrain between the terminals.



This time we only had three hours to spend at Changi, so we went shopping again. We had noticed the LeapFrog Tag Reader books for William on the way over, but we couldn't find any in the shops in the UK, so we went to the nearest toy shop. We were in a different terminal this time, and the toy shop here was much bigger and had a different selection of books. Mum wanted to buy something for Timothy, so I suggested the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy, but was excited to discover that LeapFrog had released a new Fridge Words™ Magnetic Word Builder which is similar except it can take three letters and is much more advanced.



We went to a few other shops and bought some more clothes. The time disappeared quickly so we made our way to the terminal to get our tickets. There seemed to be a problem getting my tickets, apparently I needed to supply confirmation of a flight leaving New Zealand. Eventually, we worked out it was because I had been travelling on my British passport and it didn't have enough information to let the system know that I was a New Zealand citizen. Once I produced my New Zealand passport, there were no problems (I'm glad I brought it with me). We boarded our plane and began our last big flight back to New Zealand.

Frankfurt

We had to be up quite early in order to catch our plane departing from East Midlands at 6:30am. Pete and Lynn led us to the airport where we found the carpark to drop the rental car. We said an emotional farewell to Pete and Lynn as we walked into the security area.

I found it amusing as we put our bags through the machines and a security guard asked me about my hand luggage. I showed her our Bakewell Tarts, and with a wry smile and a glint in her eye, the security lady said that we had to leave them with her! I offered her a piece but she politely declined. We boarded a bus to take us to our plane, and just as we were about to drive off, Mum was called back to security about her bags. They were worried about the package inside with all the wires - Mum's new Nintendo Wii! The bus driver thought everyone was on board and drove off to the plane. Fortunately he got a call and we drove back to the gate to pick Mum up again.

Our first flight to Brussels was brief, and we were soon waiting in a lounge for our next flight. We sat there and ate our tarts (which were very yummy but so very sweet) and had another look around the bookshops. Before we knew it, we went on our way to Frankfurt. I had heard that the airport in Frankfurt was the largest in Germany (according to Wikipedia, it is by far the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany, the third busiest in Europe and the ninth busiest worldwide as of 2009), but I didn't find it too difficult to get around. It was very well laid out with plenty of signs.



We picked up our baggage and took it to the terminal to check through to New Zealand. We had been allowed through with our overweight baggage, but the Germans weren't going to let us away easily. Our allowable weight was 20 kg, and my pack weighed in at 19.9 kg, but Mum's bag weighed 26 kg - it was going to cost Mum €150 in excess charges! Luckily, we were allowed to put the Wii into our hand luggage (3 kg) and they let her away with the remaining 3 kg.

We had ten hours to spend in Frankfurt, and so instead of carting around all of our hand luggage, we found a security room where we could store all of it for only €8. We found an information desk, picked up some maps and bought a Tageskarte each (all day train/bus pass), then took the escalators below to the train station to catch the S-Bahn S8 line to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (the Frankfurt Central Train Station). We were alone in our carriage, and it wasn't until we were about to get off that we realised we were sitting in First Class! Luckily, we didn't get caught! We emerged from the station into the middle of Frankfurt.



The Green Line Tours (ETS) depot, where we were to leave for our Rhine cruise, was quite close to the station and we found it easily. However, we were disappointed to learn that the afternoon cruise had been cancelled for today and that they had been trying all of the hotels in Frankfurt to get us on the morning cruise. Unfortunately, it had departed while we were flying in to Frankfurt, so we didn't have a chance to get it.

As a consolation, I booked us on an open-top Frankfurt city tour. A lot of people (including the Indian chap we sat beside when flying in to Frankfurt) had said that Frankfurt is the economic centre of Europe but is a boring place to visit, so I didn't have very high expectations.

We had some time to kill before the tour, so we went for a walk to try and find the Altstadt (old town) that I had read about on the internet before we left. We walked through some unspectacular streets with high rise buildings on both sides. I couldn't help thinking that we were going to be bored out of our skulls. I couldn't be more wrong. We turned a corner and were presented with an amazing view of the Holbeinsteg (pedestrian foot bridge) over the river Main. The river was set down off the roads on either side and had wide tree lined footpaths and cycleways which were bustling with activity.




We crossed the bridge and marvelled at the views of the city and river with its many beautiful bridges. The skies were clear and the sun was shining - a stark contrast to visit to Munich on the way over. We walked down Schaumainkai (the southern street running beside the river) and looked at the many buildings and views along the way. There was a nice little coffee shop on the waterfront where I managed to order our coffees without using a word of English.



We carried on down past the Eiserner Steg (Iron Bridge) to Dreikonigskirche (Epiphany Church) - a beautiful Gothic-looking church. We went inside as they were tuning the organ, which was quite painful when they were tuning the high notes! The architecture was quite different to any church in England; more colourful and a much warmer feeling.



We carried on up to the street and turned down Grosse Rittergasse (Large Knight's Lane) towards Alt-Sachsenhausen - the oldest suburb of Frankfurt dating back to 1193 and famous for its old cider bars; apparently the apple wine from this region is quite unlike cider found in rest of the world.



Our time had disappeared quickly, so we started to make our way back to the depot. We crossed the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) and found our way to the Dom Sankt Bartholomäus (Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral). Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations so we couldn't get inside, but just outside the main entrance were some Roman ruins!



We walked down an alleyway and stumbled into Römerberg - a central plaza surrounded by the Römer itself (town hall), historic looking cafes and shops, and the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Justice Fountain) in the middle. It had a very Austrian feel about it, with the tall thin wooden buildings and the flower boxes in the windows. We found a small shop around the edge that served up Wurst (sausage) with mustard. When in Germany...



It was getting close to the departure time for our bus tour, so we quickly walked back to the depot. We boarded the bus with more excitement than when we booked it. The tour guide introduced himself and declared that the tour would be in Spanish. It took me a couple of seconds to click that his sense of humour was VERY dry but incredibly witty.

Our guide was full of interesting information (eg. 85% of Frankfurt was destroyed during the war, over 90% of people stay only one night in Frankfurt, living costs and petrol taxes are extremely high) mixed in with a lot of self-deprecating jokes (eg. the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers nicknamed Debit and Credit, Frankfurt being nicknamed Mainhatten, and the proximity of the red light district to the banking sector suggesting the bankers go to the prostitutes and who take the money back to the bank contributing to the circulation of money).



During the middle of the tour, we stopped off at the Römerberg again, so Mum and I did a little bit of shopping and had more sausage, this time washed down with a nice Pilsener. This time, we approached it from the north passing beside Paulskirche which was the seat of the first democratically elected parliament in Germany.



The tour lasted for over two hours and was once it was finished, we took the train back to the airport where we waited for our flight. I found a shop selling Lindt 99% Cocoa chocolate, so I bought some to have and some to take home. It was very strong, and I couldn't eat more than one piece.

We picked up our hand luggage, boarded our plane and flew out of Frankfurt having had a fun day of tourism and immersion in German culture.

Peak District

Everyone seemed to be quite tired after the previous day’s events (!) so I used the opportunity to have a game of Lego Indiana Jones and to catch up on my blog. We didn’t have any plans for the day so Lynn suggested we go for a drive through the Peak District.

We headed out after having a late breakfast, and before long we were driving through some towns very familiar to me; Duffield, Belper, Whatstandwell, Matlock Bath, and Matlock. All of these towns are situated beside the River Derwent which provided power to the first industrial scale cotton mills. I do love the area and it's nice to drive through it again.



We took a drive up past Darley Moor and checked out the Darwin Forest Country Park where Pete and Lynn frequently go for holidays (and would have liked to have taken us if we had more time). We drove on to Rowsley and had a bite to eat at Caudwell's Mill - a working 19th century flour mill.

Pete couldn't believe that he'd never taken us to Chatworth House before, so we took a drive along the road towards Edensor. We only caught a glimpse from the road, but we could see why it is one of Britain's favourite country homes. Many of the local villages (for example Edensor and Heath) are maintained by Chatsworth House, with the traditional 'Chatsworth Blue' doors and window frames signifying the properties leased from the estate.



We carried on up the road to Eyam, best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in 1665, rather than let the infection spread. It felt quite surreal walking around the village and reading the signs on the houses declaring who died there and when - many families losing parents, spouses and most of their children. We also walked around the church which contained a few artefacts from history: a Norman font, and Anglo-Saxon font and a Celtic cross amongst others.




Next stop was Bakewell. I wanted to see what a traditional Bakewell tart was like (although the locals prefer to call them Bakewell puddings). We found a shop called 'The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop' which claimed to use the original recipe, and we went in and bought a couple. I also spotted a enticing Pork Pie which I couldn't resist.



It was getting late, so we started making our way back to Breadsall. We stopped at Matlock Bath for a walk and to take some photos. While walking up the street, I was surprised at how many Fish & Chip shops there were. Pete suggested that if we wanted a good chippie, that we go to Belper. Unfortunately, the shop that he recommended appeared to be shut, so we went to the nearby Georges Tradition - winner of the UK Fish & Chip retailer of the year award. After a good feed, we concluded that their reputation was well deserved!



After dinner, we popped home for a quick cup of tea before picking up Rob, saying goodbye to Charlie and Lucy, and heading down to The Brewery Tap where Craig was waiting for us. The Brewery Tap had a great system where you could order a rack of five different beers produced by the Derby Brewing Company (1/3 pints) with a bowl of locally sourced cheese. We ordered a couple of racks and sneakily passed around the pork pie. It was a great way to bring our trip to an end.