Back in South Africa!

Well after much deliberation i have decided at least for the interim to return to Cape town, i was feeling extremely unsettled in England and i think just missing my family. After being away for almost a year i felt like i wanted to relax in a home environment and reflect on the year gone by and decide on my next adventure, although i fear it maybe a job!

Definitely no reflecting in week one, as i got dragged to Moms various outings, the main one was the Red Hat Christmas lunch. Well i had to dress up, and when i asked Dad what he thought, he said you look like a right prat! Well that's how i felt, however it turned out to be quite good fun and luckily not too much public exposure! I now know that i am definitely not the dressing up type!!!!

The weather in Cape Town is lovely and warm and has been up to 32 degrees this week. Flowers are blooming, lots of lovely birds around, guinea fowl in the garden and even a little buck living in the bush across the road so its all happening here in Kleinmond!

After a great week in the mother city meeting up with the special people in my life its back to Kleinies!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/WhatsHappeningInCapeTown#

Click here to see that i have truly been accepted in Canada! http://www.asportingphenomenon.com/index.php?rfname=Sue&rlname=Bramhall+&remail=antoine.fortuin@gmail.com&sfname=Kym&slname=Illman&semail=thenewsteam@messagesonhold.com.au&suburb=Vancouver

Southampton and Windsor, UK

Southampton

This was something i always wanted to do and just never got there, walking on the Southampton walls. There is a lot of history as Pam and I discovered this day. We started with viewing some of the more special older buildings and then walked on the walls to the Bargate which is situated in the main shopping hub. We stopped off for a coffee in a lovely old pub and then we hit the shops!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/
WalkingTheSouthamptonWalls#

Windsor
One of my favorite English towns, Windsor. Caught the train here from Southampton and one of my oldest and dearest friends collected me at the station. It was a rainy grey day, so we spent alot of time catching up, it was so great to see Corinna, its like we have never been apart! We did a quick round the town and outskirts of the castle, the queen still lives here on and off, and its in great condition! After Windsor we returned to Maidenhead where Coz lives and had a lovely evening chatting and reminiscing!!! The next morning David, Corinna's husband very kindly dropped me at the station and i was back on my way to Southampton.

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com
/sbramhall/Windsor#

Today i am meeting more of my cousins for lunch, i haven't seen them for about 17 years! Sandra and Cheryl took me for lunch in Southampton and it was so great to see them - so great to catch up.

I am so lucky to have such great family and friends even though i don't see them very often, they are all very special to me!!!!

My last night in the UK, we went for a lovely dinner in Bishops Waltham, called Bank - most enjoyable.

And so back to good old SA!!

Dorchester, Dorset, UK

Dorchester is a pretty town about 2 hours drive south east of Southampton, went through Weymouth to get there. This weekend i visited my Auntie Celia and Uncles Les and my cousins came down from Bristol! I arrived on the Saturday afternoon and we had a look round Moreton which is the little village where my family lives outside Dorchester. Gorgeous old cottages and the lovely church where my cousin got married where all a stones through away from my aunts house. It was wonderful to catch up on family history and on the Sunday my cousins arrived with their respective partners for the day, wonderful!

On the Monday we went to Cerne Abbas a lovely little village down the road and then i was back on the bus to Fareham, an all to quick visit but great!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/
sbramhall/Dorchester#

Hampshire & Wiltshire, UK

Wow another county! Our first main stop is a lovely village called Romsey i have been here before many years ago and have fond memories, they didn't disappoint! A lovely English feel with a market in the town square and a gorgeous Abbey which we went round, AND they even named a lane after my grandfather, see the pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/Romsey#

Moving on from Romsey we are heading North East to Salisbury. Before getting into Salisbury which is a cathedral town in county Wiltshire, we stopped off at the Pepper box, which is on a hill from where you can see Salisbury.
The tower was built so that people on neighbouring land could be watched!

Arriving in Salisbury town, we parked but then discovered between the three of us, we didn't have enough coins for the machine, so Pam and I proceeded to do some begging which worked out very well, and before long we were set. Walking along the river we came upon a feeding frenzy of swans, ducks and various other water fowl - quite incredible to watch. We had a look at the cathedral which has the highest spire in England and again i had visited previously with my Grandparents some years ago - there is actually a plaque in the cathedral to South African war hero's lost in the war.

The rain was bucketing down, so we did a quick circuit round the town and then into a pub for Steak and Kidney pud and chips, yum!!!!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/Salisbury#

more Hampshire, UK

Portchester Castle is a medieval castle and former Roman fort at Portchester to the east of Fareham, county Hampshire. It is located at a commanding position at the head of Portsmouth Harbour.

The original roman buildings date back to the 3rd century AD, incredible and some of those walls still exist. We had a wonderful time going round here and went right up on the roof top of the Keep where the views were spectacular.

Another great day out in the English countryside! This castle is only about 20 mins drive from where we live!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/PorchesterCastle#

Shopping in Portsmouth and a great Indian dinner :
see pics here : http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/
ShoppingInPortsmouthAndIndianDinner#

On this day i went to Eastleigh which is close to where my grandparents lived and had many memories for me, walked round the market and then on to see my Aunty Sue and David, had a fantastic afternoon catching up.... Aunty Sue is great!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/Eastleigh#

Hampshire, England

Southampton being the central hub for transport is where you need to go to get to most places. Below is the Bargate some of whats left of the city walls and fort. I havn't spent time here yet this time round as i have been going to other places, see below.

Winchester

Archaically known as Winton, Winchester is a historic cathedral city and the ancient capital of Wessex and the Kingdom of England. Winchester's major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all gothic cathedrals in Europe. I love Winchester because of its village feel and brilliant period architecture, and i would say if i live in England this would one of the places on the top of my list. As it was raining my pics don't do Winchester justice and it was pouring when i was at the cathedral.

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/
sbramhall/Winchester#

Another gem in Hampshire is the New Forest

The New Forest is an area which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire. The name also refers to the New Forest National Park which has similar boundaries.

We had a lovely lunch at the Trusty Servant pub and then off to look at the ponies and deer which are quite abundant and the ponies roam free, stunning! We then went on to the Minstead church yard where Rodney has some relatives buried! I tell you we are spread all over Hampshire.
See more pics here : http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/NewForest#

Down at Lee-on-Solent having ice creams......

And finally Halloween, not celebrated by me i might add.

Hello England!

Well it feels kinda nice to be back in the country of my origins! Its great to be with family as they have very kindly taken me under their wing! Besides spending lots of time looking for some short term work i have managed to get out and about and even get back to my roots!!! Below is a map of the Hampshire area, southern England which is where i come from. I am currently staying in Stubbington, Fareham but my immediate family is more from the Chandlers Ford area which is close to Eastleigh. London would be North East of Winchester - about an hour by train. Southampton is the biggest port in Northern Europe and this is where the Titanic left from on that fateful day. When we moved to South Africa we came by a ship named the Windsor Castle (http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Windsor%20Castle.html) from Southampton, luckily we made it!

Hampshire map

So, whats been happening:

Out and about in Portsmouth: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/Portsmouth#

Carnival in Titchfield which is a gorgeous village 10 mins away from Stubbington, Fareham:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/Titchfield#

Stubbington
From left to right: The family home in Stubbington, Fareham. Stubbington - Church of England, Stubbington Chippy on a Friday night, pretty houses in Stubbington.

Last days in New York City!

Unfortunately this day Ant was sick in bed with the flu, my opportunity for a little adventure. So i went off to Harlem, not Ant's first choice. I wasn't sure what to expect and even kind of expected trouble, but it was totally fine. Obviously a lot more African people but they were cool and obviously i stayed in the main areas, you are advised not to go off the main track.

I did however walk from here up to St Johns Cathedral, which is claimed to be the largest Cathedral and Anglican church and fourth largest Christian church in the world. It was very built up in the area so the pictures don't do it justice unfortunately, the cathedral takes up an entire block. Just across the road i came across a lovely building which is the National Memorial to the civil war, had a quick look around before i jumped on bus to the Cloisters. The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of the European Middle ages. The Cloisters was a very special place as you will see from the pictures - i spent a good few hours here and thoroughly enjoyed it. Heading back to the metro i walked through the lovely gardens and looked over the Hudson river and met a sweet little friend!

See more pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/
sbramhall/NewYorkDay11#

Our last main site in New York was the Metropolitan Museum of art and what an absolute gem. Unbeknown to me there was a special exhibition of Vermeer one of my favorite artists! What a treat! We weren't allowed to take pics of the special exhibit on but most of the others we could.

See whats in the gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/
sbramhall/NewYorkDay12#

And so its goodbye to New York, and hello to England!

Washington Day 3

Our last day today before heading back to New York. Our hop on hop off tickets are valid for two days, so we are off to Georgetown and the 6th largest cathedral in the world, Washington National cathedral. The cathedral and surrounds are gorgeous and enclosed by lovely countryside, you could be in England. After spending some time at the Cathedral and grounds we went into Georgetown, which is a lovely village like town about 10 mins out of Washington and it was like again being in England totally different to Washington. We also went past all the embassies and South Africa was there! Back in Washington we went to the White house both back and front, lots happening here plenty of people both in and outside the grounds and the marquee is still in the front garden. After viewing abit more of the lovely Washington architecture we headed back to the hostel to get our bags, and we are back on our way to New York city!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/
WashingtonDay10#

Washington Day 2

There is so much to see in Washington so we decided to do a Hop on Hop off tour due to time constraints! Washington is so very different from NY and exactly as you imagine and see it in the movies. Its very spread out and everything is huge!

See pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall
/WashingtonDay9#

Later in the day we went to the Natural History museum which is huge and you could spend days in there, but we zipped through seeing what we wanted to, mainly the dinosaurs. Ant went off to the Air and Space museum and i went to the National Gallery of art - we met up there and did the main artists together. Wow i have never seen so many famous artists in one place, and luckily we were allowed to take pics!!!

See them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/
WashingtonArtGallery#

Washington - Day 1

After an early start leaving New York at 7.30am we arrived in Washington round 11.30am. A short work to the hostel to drop off our luggage and we are off again. This afternoon we are going on abit of a mission to get to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_F._Udvar-Hazy_Center) - which is the Air and Space museum out at the airport, it has to be there as it is huge and houses some exciting stuff. To get there we had to walk, catch the tube, a bus and then another bus!!! It was definitely worth it, we saw the space shuttle Enterprise the Enola Gay and the Black bird stealth bomber to name but a few of the main ones. Retracing our steps back to the hostel it was interesting, Ant had never been in a hostel and i had never been in a mixed dorm, it really wasn't bad at all and we even got breakfast thrown in!! We did share with a couple of snorers though!See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/WashingtonDay8#

Manhattan, New York - Day 6 & 7

Day 6

Today we started off at South street Seaport, pretty port area with plenty of tall ships some of which are museums. Some reasonable shops here set up abit like the V & A waterfront in Cape town but nowhere near as nice. Great views over Brooklyn and the famous Brooklyn Bridge.






Our next stop was China town, i was abit disappointed it was all clean and organised not like the China towns i had seen in Canada but it was nice and sort of rolled into Little Italy. Its incredible really, walking round New York and then feeling like you are in China and Italy.


We then caught the Metro up to 34th street which is the New York you often see on telly, tons of people and loads of cool shops. We went to see the Empire State building which is pretty impressive but daunting when standing right below it. Of course we had to pop into Macy's which is huge as well, but fun!












Back in Chelsea we stumbled upon the filming of a Law and Order episode, of course i had my camera out but they told me to put it away, how rude! I took what i could, a fun day had by all!!!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/ManhattenDay6#

Day 7



We are having a chill day we are knackered from sightseeing 8hours a day, who said holidays are fun :) So we thought we would explore Chelsea abit which is rather historic itself, it is the gay area of New York and the men are simply gorgeous such a waste! We went to the Chelsea market and then walked around on the elevated walkway which is being upgraded with the old railway lines its really nice. Back home to pack for Washington!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/ManhattenDay7#

Manhattan, New York - Day 5

What a day! Unbeknowns to me, 30000 people visit the Statue of Liberty daily, i think on this day, 300000 people were visiting. So firstly we had to go through security before getting on the boat then squashed on the boat like sardines, we made our over to the SOL! Its fantastic i have to say but smaller than i had imagined. You then queue to get off the boat and then another queue to go through yet another security check before you are allowed into the actual statue building. Before you even go through security you have to queue to put your bag in a locker, man i was all queued out! It was worth it in the end though and we totally enjoyed it!

Of course we then had to queue to get back on the boat, which then stops at Ellis island - but we couldnt bear to stand in another queue, so we gave it a miss. Back on land we walked through Battery Park where there is a memorial to 9/11, this globe used to stand in the Twin Towers and you can see how it got damaged on the fatal day.

From Battery park we walked up to see the Wall street or Charging bull and then onto Wall Street. Wall street and Trinity church are really interesting and it was nice to see the New York stock exchange.

Our next stop was the 9/11 World trade centre site which at the moment its really just a building site where a new tower is underway called the Freedom tower.

Just next to the building site is the firestation which is closed and hosts a wall of memory to the fireman lost in 9/11. Being here and thinking back to that fateful day really brings it home, its sad no doubt!

See more pics here:http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/ManhattanDay5#

Manhattan, New York - Day 4

Today we started on the West side of Central park at Columbus circle, which is dominated by the Time Warner twin towers. We went into have a look around the shops and also at one of the Time Warner studios, we even saw Ben10!

Strawberry fields forever..... this section of the park is dedicated to John Lennon by Joko Ono and is called Strawberry fields as well as a plaque with Imagine on it. Walking through the park to the East side, we went to the Frick Collection, which had some magnificent old masters but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures. From the Frick collection we caught a taxi to the Guggenheim museum, the taxi ride was quite an experience, as our driver started having a shouting match with the guy in the next car, it was like being in the movies, luckily it didn't get to fisty cuffs! Ant and i sat there in stony silence just taking it all in.

The Guggenheim was like a mad house and so after looking at the building which is actually part of the attraction we bailed out of there, glad we did to as since then we have seen some fantastic art, so we didn't miss much.

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/ManhattenDay4#

Manhattan, New York - Central Park and surrounds

Today we started off at the bottom of Central Park, its huge! Central park is 341 hectares and is right in the heart of Manhattan.






Our first stop is coffee in Central Park and then the famous zoo which isn't really big but they have done a great job and do have some unusual species here.


After walking across the park past Bethesda fountain we went up 5th Avenue to 77th and down Madison ave, one of the most elaborate shopping areas in New York, every expensive brand shop is here. We then went for coffee at Trump towers which is a gorgeous building and the front is actually where the candidates from the Apprentice leave from when they get fired!!! Looked around for Trump himself, thought he might pop up and say hi, but i think he had other appointments today. Then onto Bloomingdale's - its so huge it takes up the whole block, of course we ventured inside and had a look round and there are just so many people shopping, where the recession is i don't know.

Our last stops were the Apple store which was heaving with people, this brand is so big here and the Sony Technology lab musuem which has alot of cool futuristic stuff but it was abit overrated and full of little bleeders, but interesting never the less and spidy was there!

See more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbramhall/ManhattenDay3#