Manchester 14th-15th January

A weekend away was in order to break up the doom and gloom that is London in January. Money was tight but a train ticket to Manchester was cheap, so Lou once again produced a weekend away to rival all others, including tickets to see one of the greatest sports teams the world has ever seen - Manchester United.

It was an early start to get to London Euston for our train but the whole process was almost too easy. We were in our seats chilling out before we knew it and the 2 hours journey flew by. It was a gorgeous sunny day when we arrived although quite crisp. We found our hotel and dumped our bags before heading off to explore. The first stop was the information centre which was probably one of the best we had been too and the lady was overly helpful. We trooped off into the Northern quarter of the city which apparently where all the cool kids hang out. There was lots of interesting street art and we even saw a car accident, things were definitely happening in Manchester.

We made our way to the west of the city through the main shopping areas which were all really nicely looked after. The Manchester cathedral which was gorgeous, the historical records show that there has been a church on that site since 700 AD, but there has been extensive restoration to make the church look like new. Then we stumbled across the Museum of Science and Industry which had this massive hanger full of old planes which was amazing as well as the world's oldest passenger railway station.

Wheel of Mancheter

We then looped round to the Manchester Convention centre where lo and behold, Louise managed to book our weekend in Manchester on the weekend of the Manchester Motorbike show. Brilliant (for Hamish).

Unfortunately it was time to grab some lunch before the big game. We grabbed a sandwich and hopped on the tram to Old Trafford. The city was full of people with Man U kit on and there was a definite buzz in the air. We got there with about 2 hours to spare and started the walk amongst all the fans, the intensity of passion of some of them was unbelievable but also contrary to what we were expecting there wasn't many large groups of young drunk guys but more of a family crowd with sons and dads and granddads.

We bought a match day scarf, and got all the obligatory photos of the statues etc. We also checked out the mega store in the stadium which has every item you can imagine branded as Man U. As a marketer, Lou couldn't believe how much brand power it had. Almost every person at the game had a bag from the shop, and the turnover must have been enormous.

We sampled some local delicacies (well Hamish had some hot chips) and then climbed up the 10 flights of stairs to reach our seats. Needless to say we were quite far away! The game itself was a good one, 3 -0 to Man U against local rivals Bolton in the Premier league (check Lou out knowing all this stuff). We tried to join in with the chants but to be honest we couldn't understand half of them.

Look at Lou's red nose!

It was freezing by this stage so by the time the game was over we were ready to head off. We got the tram back into town and went back to our hotel to have a rest and get ready for dinner.

Lou had booked a restaurant (which was lucky as everywhere seemed to be full) near the famous landmark of the city – the Manchester Wheel. At only £7 we had to go in and take a look. Unlike its more famous cousin the London Eye, this one whipped round and quite a fast speed but then we realised that it goes round 4 times….It was good to get a bird's eye view of the city.

Dinner was a bit disappointing, we were paying London prices but definitely not getting the quality or quantity. We walked home in the freezing temperatures and were gobsmacked at the small amounts of clothing being worn by Manchester's young people! There were girls in skirts and tops with no coats just hanging out. Bad parenting.

We crashed pretty early, (i.e. 9pm) and then were rudely awakened by the smoke alarm going off. We both thought it was like 3am and we couldn't decide what we should do. So Lou rang the front desk to ask what the problem was and was told that someone had accidentally set off the fire alarm, and didn't sound at all apologetic. Then we figured out it was only 10pm….oops.

We had a cracker sleep after that and got up about 9am ready for a nice café breakfast somewhere. Unfortunately all the breakfast cafes in Manchester don't open until 11am!!! What kind of country operates on the basis that breakfast isn't until 11am. Starving and annoyed we settled for a Wetherspoons pub which is an awful pub chain. there were old men having their first pint of the day when we ordered and the food we got was just hideous. Probably the worst breakfast we have had in England. Boo.

Anyway we marched on. Hamish to the Motorbike show and Lou to the art gallery (great how we have reached the stage in our relationship that we can be honest about what we like doing!). By all accounts the motorbike show was good, and there were lots of promo girls walking round in not much. The Art Gallery was really good, with a big focus on interactive exhibits for kids.

We then met up and went back to the hotel and checked out and walked to a pub that had the mantle of having the Best Sunday Lunch in Manchester. It was a pub called the Ox, and I think it lived up to expectation. We had a chicken and a beef roast which came with a Yorkshire pudding the size of a cereal bowl. After filling our bellies, we walked back up to the train station and settled ourselves in the for the comfy ride home.

All in all, a really nice chilled out weekend. We spend so much of our travelling timen running around, getting up at crazy hours and jam packing activities in. It was nice to have a trip where there wasn't that pressure.

Highlight: The game was very cool, and being in a city where you can walk to everything you need to get to. Reminded us heaps of Wellington.
Lowlight: Bit disappointed with the restaurants (apart from Sunday lunch)
Interesting Fact #1: The area where the Manchester wheel was the location of a bomb explosion planted by the IRA in 1996. Over 200 people were injured.
Interesting Fact #2: The Manchester United brand (including the team, stadium, and merchandise) is worth £1.12 billion

Ljubljana - Sat 31st Dec

With work being a virtual ghost town we took the opportunity to have a half day and have lunch at Spitalfield markets and then make our way to Stansted.

After a relatively uneventful flight we landed in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia and home to about 270,000 people. The airport was teeny tiny and against all expectations the airport transfer that Lou organised went off without a hitch and we got to our hotel located in the heart of the city by about 9pm. We dumped our stuff and headed out to the main square which was literally breath-taking. The Christmas markets were in full swing and the lights around the square were so pretty, and then we saw the castle all lit up towering over the city and we were truly impressed. We wandered around for a bit then hunger overtook us and we queued up for the standard hot dog and hamburger that these little stalls sell, in addition to some delicious mulled wine. We returned to our hotel really excited about exploring tomorrow and keen to get a good night's sleep. 

Saturday 31st Dec

We got up reasonably early and sampled the buffet breakfast which wasn't too bad. They had a weird habit of putting all of the leftovers from dinner the night before out for breakfast so along with your eggs and toast you could have cooked vegetables and pasta!

Wrapped in about 7 layers we staggered out the door to begin exploring. We decided to see the square in daylight and it was definitely better at night. We saw Saint Nicholas Cathedral which was originally built in 1262 but was renovated in 1841. From there we wandered into the central market where you could buy such an impressive variety of fruit and veges, I don't know but I had this thought that you wouldn't be able to get things like pineapples and bananas easily in Slovenia but I was wrong. From there we crossed the Dragon Bridge which was built between 1900 and 1901, when the city was part of Austria-Hungary. Some residents nicknamed the bridge "mother-in-law" in reference to the fearsome dragons on its four corners.
 

Next was the Butchers' Bridge which is decorated with the works by the Slovenian sculptor Jakov Brdar. Shortly after the opening of the bridge padlocks of couples in love started appearing on its steel wires, symbolizing declarations of eternal love. 

From there we found a walking track up through the park to the castle on top of the hill. The area surrounding today's castle has been continuously inhabited since 1200 BC. The hill summit probably became a Roman army stronghold after fortifications were built in Illyrian and Celtic times. In the 15th century, the fortress was almost completely demolished and the present castle was built and furnished with towers. Its purpose was to defend the empire against Ottoman invasion as well as peasant revolt. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle became an arsenal and a military hospital. It was damaged during the Napoleonic period and, once back in the Austrian Empire, became a prison, which it remained until 1905, resuming that function during World War II. The castle's Outlook Tower dates to 1848; this was inhabited by a guard whose duty it was to fire cannons warning the city in case of fire or announcing important visitors or events. 

We paid our admission and wandered around, it wasn't much of a castle really, but had some good viewpoints over the city. We fortified ourselves with some coffee and hot chocolate (which was literally melted chocolate), and then we were off again to Tivoli Park, on the other side of the river. The park was laid out during the French imperial administration of Ljubljana in 1813 and named after the Parisian Jardins de Tivoli. The main reason we headed out this way was to go to the Hot Horse café which as the name suggests sells horse burgers. Alas it was closed, which was a bit of a relief really as Lou was still struggling to figure out the ethical dilemma of eating a horse. 

So instead for lunch we came across this amazing little restaurant which was one of the highlights of our trip, the menu was all in Slovenian but the waiter spoke perfect English and basically said that we should have the 3 course set menu…we were hesitant and then Lou asked the price and we both agreed that the 8 Euros each was worth it! Unbelievably cheap, we had onion soup, a gorgeous salad and shared the mains of pork fillet and vegetable pasta and finished up with a fruit platter. Hamish also took the opportunity to sample the local brew, Union, which was extremely good as well. 

Feeling slightly food drunk and sleepy we stumbled out into the daylight and made the call to try and find somewhere to have a special New Year's Eve dinner that night. Unfortunately almost everywhere was booked up and the places that weren't only did set menus starting at 60 euros each which was just too steep. So we gave up and decided we would have Christmas market food for dinner and have a nice meal out the following day.

As it was New Year's eve we thought we should sample some of the local wine so we grabbed a bottle of Slovenian red wine (not just a normal bottle, a litre bottle) for a grand total of about $NZD 4…amazing. We settled in our hotel room and had a few drinks trying to conserve as much heat as possible before heading out again to the minus 4 degree temps. Lou has never worn so many clothes, 4 layers of thermals was the last count.

We repeated last night's dinner but this time splashed out and got some chips and we treated ourselves to a waffle for pudding as well. Lou also got a bit crazy and tried the Radler version of the Union beer, grapefruit flavour which was delicious. We kind of wandered around, unsure of what was going to happen, and then at about 11.50pm when Lou's body was literally aching with cold, we gathered with the rest of the Ljubljana locals outside the big clock and waited. The fireworks were incredible, a lot of people had brought bottles of champagne and at midnight they all popped them open, and everyone was just very jolly (i.e. drunk). No countdown though which was a bit of a shame, but I guess that’s because the town clock doesn't have a second's hand. So midnight had come and gone and we ducked around the corner to our hotel and went straight to sleep. I tell you what, being cold really makes you very tired!

Highlight: The lights, the fireworks, the mulled wine and the waffles. All magical
Lowlight: It was sooooo cold (for old lady Lou)!!!!
Interesting Fact: Slovenia is bordered by 4 countries, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.

Ljubljana - Sunday 1st Jan

New Year's Day – what a way to welcome in the New Year but with a trip to one of the most amazing sights we have seen yet.

Lake Bled is about a 1 hour bus ride from the centre of Ljubljana, and not feeling too hangover we hopped on the bus not knowing what to expect. The lake is 2,120 m long and 1,380 m wide, with a maximum depth of 30.6 metres and surrounds Bled Island, the only natural island in Slovenia. The island houses the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary, built in the 15th century. 

We made our way down to the lakeside and couldn’t' stop looking (and taking photos) of the little island and the castle on the towering cliffs above it. We found a wee boat that would take us to the island and we were amazed at how still it was, it was perfect day weather wise and we were again blown away at how crystal clear the water was. 

After visiting the island we went in search of some lunch, we found a random Egyptian themed pub and decided to try the Slovenian delicacy, burek which is basically filo pastry with a mince filling. Quite nice.

After lunch we hiked up the steepest trail possible to get to the castle. The views from the top were fantastic, we spent some time on the top soaking up the sun and having an obligatory mulled wine. The castle was first mentioned in a 22 May 1011 deed of donation, so it's pretty old. It also has its own winery and a bottle shop on site where you could buy wine from a guy in a monk's robe with a pet parrot (no joke). 

We made our way back down the hill and stopped in at the St. Martina church just below the castle, where they had the most beautiful nativity scene set out, complete with electric lights and a water feature. We spent the remainder of the afternoon strolling around this little town, we made a slight error with our bus tickets so we thought we were going back at 3.30pm only to find out we weren't going back until 4.30pm which was a bit annoying.

We finally made it home and had to have hot showers to warm up, and then went to one of the restaurants we tried to get into the night before. It was a cute little restaurant and we got a window seat so we could see everyone else freezing outside. We had a decent meal, again very cheap but the quality was right up there. An early night followed in preparation for the big ski day!

Highlights: The scenery, you just couldn't stop taking photos of it.

Lowlights: Trying to get back to the hotel, bit of a downer.
Interesting Fact: The rowing world champs were held on this lake in 2011.