mybigadventures.com

I'm really getting pretty bad at updating this now we've got back! It must be this busy lifestyle I'm living! We are at this moment back in a hostel - this time in London on a flat hunting expedition. We've seen a fiar few places so far but the final decision is still evasive! Theres a couple of places we're interested in so far but the question is do we choose the really nice or fall for the mildly cheap!?

I think the cheap has the edge for me (predictably some might say) but I think the nicer one currently has the edge with Dani. We shall have to have a second look - and probably by the time we reach a decision the one we want may have gone :-S - I do hate this flat hunting business! It's Dani's birthday on Friday and we're going to the zoo which should be very exiting - I can't wait to see the elephants (my favourite). Other than that there isn't a terrible amount of news, we had a holiday in Swansea a little over a week ago, which was pretty cool - lots of sunshine and some excitement with an air ambulance (which blew a couple of tents away).

Right I better get back to looking on gumtree, checking email and hitting a few more estate agents (not literally). Congratulations to anyone reading this, I think I may have lost my readership since stopping the email updates. See you all soon!

Cheerio ta ta

We decided to take a short break in Durham this week between results days at school having last been about 9 years ago for a wedding. We managed to get a late deal on lastminute.com and have ended up staying at the same hotel, the Radisson Blu, just a short walk from the city centre. The weather was fine yesterday, a little cloudy and a light shower but fairly warm for wandering about. We visted the Cathedral which is undergoing some repair work on the main tower at the moment. It is pretty spectacular inside, but no photography allowed I'm afriad so you'll just have to visit it yourselves. Inside the cathedral there is a coffee shop where we stopped for some cake and tea and inside the cathedral shop there is a huge replica of the cathedral itself made out of Lego - its fabulous!

We also managed to get on a tour of the castle which is used as student accomodation during term time. In addition to staying in the main castle two students get to live in the gatehouse which looks pretty awesome. The tour was interesting taking in the ancient Norman Chapel and then a more modern tudor chapel before walking through a gallery and down the black stairs to the great hall. We realised when we arrived in the great hall, that this was the venue for Luke and Helen's wedding 9 years ago, it's a really nice venue with the bar in the undercroft below. 

Today we visited Beamish which is only about 20 minutes drive from where we're staying. I visited a long time ago, but Dani had never been. It was probably one of the busiest places we've visited this holiday, with quite a long queue to get in. The tickets were £19 each but last a year so hopefully we'll find a chance to revisit for free. For those who haven't been, Beamish is an open air museum representing life in Britain in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s. It's a huge site with period buildings, vehicles and machinery.

The majority of the buildings have been deconstructed brick by brick to be transported from their original locations to there new home at Beamish. Amongst the very impressive exhibits is the 1900s town with a range of shops including a bakery, grocers, and bank and a masonic lodge. You can walk around the site or catch any of the period vehicles including trams and buses. Despite leaving at closing time we still hadn't made it all the way around and still have the train station and farm to see, maybe next time!

Our train wasn't until 11.20 so we didn't have to get up too early. We packed up and got the metro just after 10, arriving at the station in plenty of time. We decided to grab something to eat at the Pret in the station, sharing a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and some fruit (it's been a while). The train journey itself was pretty quick taking just a couple of hours and arriving about 10 minutes early in Washington. We caught the metro to the hotel, we had to pay $2 each for a travel card and then calculate the cost of the journey on the journey planner and add that to the cards costing $4 in total each. 

We found the hotel easily and managed to check-in straight away. Had a a bit of a break in the hotel to cool down before heading back out to explore. We walked down to the National Mall which is about a 20 minute walk away. It was really hot and humid, so we tried to stick to the shade. We walked along the mall to the Washington monument which isn't covered in scaffolding this time, but is still closed for restoration, and then continued on towards the White House. It felt a bit further than I remembered and you now have to stand much further back than the last time we were here. We stayed for a while to take some photos and then sat on a bench back along the path, taking pictures of some the birds on the Elipse area behind us. 

Headed back towards the hotel just before 7, grabbing some tea on the way back and then going to a nearby Safeway to get a few bits before finally making backaround 9. Put some washing on in the hotel laundry which happens to be a few doors down from the room. Happy days!