Our Ryokan in Tokyo

Simon looking at the inviting RAW egg for breakfast!
The lovely bath robes that we had to wear inside the RyokanThe toilets in Japan had all of these functions on them... the seat was always heated, and I'll let you use your imagination to decide what the other functions do.

This was our Ryokan that we stayed in while in Tokyo. It was in a cute little village called Asakusa, which is known as a very traditional area. The staff could speak very little English, but enough to get by. They were all so helpful and gave us green tea whenever we saw them. We did have to zip to the local big M occassionally to get food, as the raw egg, fish guts and picked don't know what wasn't that appealing for breakfast. Hahahah We can laugh about it now, but I think we lost a couple of kilo's each :)

We did sleep on the floor... don't know how the Japanese manage to get up in the morning, but Simon's back just about couldn't cope... There was nothing but a little duvet underneath us.

Tsukji Fish Market

The biggest fish market in the world. We got up before 5am to be in Tsukji for the hustle and bustle of the fish market. Every thing that possibly lives in the sea was on sale here. We can now understand why there won't be any fish left in the sea soon!

Gordon Ramsay - Petrus

We decided to dine like royalty last week to celebrate our birthdays. We booked nearly two months in advance, and it was the most expensive meal of my life, but it was so worth it! From the moment we walked into the restaurant near Knightsbridge, to the moment we left, it was just amazing!

I had five people opening the door for you each time you walked out to the bathroom, never did I have an empty glass of wine and the food was outstanding!

Surprisingly, the staff weren't your average stuffy English people. They were all very nice and friendly.

We never actually saw Gordon himself though.... perhaps we'll have to go back :)

Armistice Day

Who are these people?

Well this is as close as we got to the memorial. I tried my very hardest to talk our way into the ceremony, but the London policemen were not having a bar of me. We got up early (well for us on a weekend), stormed onto the tube and arrived at Hyde Park corner shortly after 11am to find that you needed a ticket. Only 1500 were allocated, and as we didn't have one, this was as close as we got. The top shot is as far as our lens (fully zoomed in) would take us. Couldn't see Clarke there though... Hope all of you guys back home watched it on TV. We'll have to visit the memorial another day.

Momix

A little bit off-beat, but very cool! We went to see Momix at the Peacock Theatre in Holburn... Was mainly lots of dance and awesome affects done with the human body and UV light. Some very strong girls and boys there!

Kew Gardens

This Pagoda was built in 1762...
I have been wanting to go to Kew Gardens ever since I got here and last weekend it finally happened. Very beautiful Autumn colours everywhere... we will have to go back in Spring and see how it has changed.

Kew Gardens is a leading centre for botanical research... Dad you would be impressed!

Birthday time!

Our birthdays are so closoe together so we always seem to have joint celebrations. This year we went to a bar near Liverpool Street after work on Friday 3rd of Nov. We did venture onto karaoke later in the evening, but I must have had a few too many wines as we didn't take any photos. I can assure you all that Simon gave it a good shot... "Hey Jude, don't make it bad...." de da de da!

Nat does New York!!!

Some work friends and I having dinner in Little Italy
Me at the top of the Empire State Building... can't tell from this pic, but the view was amazing of all the lights over Manhattan!

View out my bedroom window...
World Trade Centre site - from my bedroom window.

Courtesy of Goldman Sachs, I flew first class on American Airlines to JFK. I spent the week working in the New York office which was good to finally meet people that I have been working with from London.

I stayed at the Hilton hotel in downtown Manhattan. I was on the 30th floor which overlooked the World Trade Centre site. I had a spectacular view (as you can see) out my bedroom window....

I absolutely love New York. Can't put it in words, but if you haven't been there, you have to go one day!

No doubt Simon enjoyed being a bachelor in London all week while I was sipping my cosmopolitans in Soho. eheheh

Budapest

A car we saw on the street that we had to take a photo of! Looks as though this guy was living in his car as he had absolutely everything piled in and on top of it :)








Well there was definitely no sign of winter during our weekend in Budapest. I think we all underestimated how hot it would be in Hungary! Was about 25 degrees every day.

We left London Gatwick on Friday evening after work, and flew Malev Hungarian Airlines into Budapest to meet our fine young friend Simon Dixie. I must say, Malev was one hell of a step up from our usual EasyJet :)

Arrived in Budapest to find out we didn't really know how to get into the city. The bus we thought we had to catch wasn't anywhere to be seen... So, I asked "English?" to a few people, and we got more directions about where to go. Then one of the guys I asked which bus to catch, came up to Simon and asked if we wanted a lift in his car to the city. So, we thought, "yeah, why not". Well, what a ride that ended up to be! Hopping into strange peoples cars in the middle of Hungary probably isn't something I'd recommend to everyone. There were five of us that jumped into this little two-door car. Driving into the city was my first time seeing real poverty. The streets were run-down, the houses not finished and just general poor-ness to be seen. Turns out, our driver was a security officer for the United Nations and was currently working in Kosovo. He had plenty of disturbing stories to tell no doubt....

Overall Budapest was an amazingly peaceful city. We felt safe walking everywhere at any time of day. And... I have never been to a city where they leave the tables and chairs from a restaurant out over night. But they do, because no-one steals them! Never felt like anyone was eyeing up my bag and the people were very friendly. Budapest reminded me a lot of Prague, but without the tourism and English stag do's. So, if you are ever deciding between Prague or Budapest, take Budapest!