In Kensington for the week. Any tips? Eatery recommendations particularly welcome.
In Kensington for the week. Any tips? Eatery recommendations particularly welcome.
Flying out to Bologna September 17-21. Plan is to spend a couple of days there and then head down the coast - Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, etc.
Back now. View from the room was pretty good
I know Italian roads are a free for all, but is there any pretence of rules with roundabouts in particular other than biggest car wins?
I was just in Chelsea / Kensington way for a long weekend. We really liked Babylon at the Kensington roof gardens. It's a Virgin owned restaurant, food and views where's amazing.
The Ivy garden on Kings Road is really nice as well.
We also went to Camden Market and Flight club which where both good for a few hours.
Off to Edinburgh for the Fringe, any solid bars/restaurants I should consider?
Ryries does a nice burger. Doesn't have chairs though.
We got a 2.2 Ford Tourneo Custom and we're getting a ferry from Nehaven to Dieppe on Monday morning.
Pissing about in France for a few days before driving into Spain for about 2 weeks and then heading back.
Stopped at Le Mans for dinner (sadly we didn't get to see the race track) but we had to wait around a bit as nothing was open until 7. Managed to stop at the only restaurant that has no English menus or an English server which was fun. I did manage to get some beef tartare and a portion of grilled stuff though.
Cathedral looks seriously fucking impressive, would have loved to have gone inside but we had to drive on and stopped for the night around Tours.
Hoping to push into Bilbao today or, at least somewhere just after the border.
I believe we are, I'll see if we can get a place there.
http://abnb.me/EVmg/XOyVVgqHOF
We stayed here for 5 nights. Not sure if it will be available but it's ideal and well situated.
4 people max sadly.
There's 7 of us.
Stopped in Bordeaux for lunch (Le Mans looked better) and also stopped a few hours later in a small village to grab some baguettes (and pastries ofc) befor heading into Spain.
Also went to see the Velodrome as well as the new stadium which is just across the road (about 200m if that), which was a little strange as I've never seen stadiums so close.
Got a hotel in Bilbao but it was quite costly (as was near enough everywhere in 50 mile radius or so) as there is some festival or something. Only got to hear some fireworks and curse the lack of parking spots. Will go check out the stadium before heading towards Madrid to stay for 3/4 nights in a villa somewhere close.
It's not cheap to actual drive around though, especially in France as it seems that all the main roads are tolls with lots of stops. We've probably paid out about 60 Euros thus far.
Tried a bit of tongue today but I didn't really see the point. It was nice and soft but the sauce it was covered in was so overpowering that it could have been anything.
Couldn't sadly.
We didn't get into Bilbao until 21:45 or something with no hotel room booked. Luckily I managed to blag some rooms for cheaper than Booking.com prices. Only one logical reason for that, the lady receptionist was charmed by me (or disgusted and wanted me out of her face and locked away somewhere). Most restaurants were closed when we were leaving so ended up in some bar with no English menu so it was a bit of guess work.
Found a villa about 40 minutes away from Madrid, near a forest, were we'll stay for 3 days. Geezer who owns the place is quite nice too (seems to speak English really well too), he took 2 of our party to the local supermarket and also advised us on how to make a paella on a special gas barbecue.
Stadium Velodrome:
Looks a little too warehousey for me but it's only for cycling.
Matmut Atlantique:
From the outside it just seems kind of soulless somehow. I can imagine the French lot loving it whilst walking down the rows through the trees to the gates.
San Mames:
Quite central in the city centre so there was stuff actually happening there (as opposed to Matmut which was just by a fairly big roundabout) and I quite like the style with the panels.
Would love to watch the match in a bar just opposite though, if they used the TV to show the match live.
Why are you driving around Europe aimlessly with nothing booked? Is this some kind of Partridge-to-Dundee moment? How many Toblerones have you got through?
We do it quite a bit tbh.
Even did so in Croatia earlier in the year.
Some would find it a bit hectic but we quite like it, we drive towards certain towns/cities/attractions and find a place.
Guy who owns the villa that we're staying at brought 2 carrier bags filled with churros (one thin and one thick) with two jugs of hot chocolate sauce.
What a don.
Make sure you take the thick bag with you when you next go to Ukraine.
@Mahow - Who is "we" when you go on these jaunts?
This holiday is with family. My Mum, a sister, a family friend and as well as another family friend with 3 of his sons.
Went to a supermarket today and I could have sworn that the lady at the fish counter (whose primary objective seemed to be to make sure that the live crabs didn't run away) was giving me the eyes and the occasional smile. As well as the ham lady who also gave me some free samples of iberico ham which you had to buy a whole leg of.
Maybe I need to shift my attention from Eastern Europe to Southern Europe.
Southern Europeans are sexy peoples.
Especially the ones who work in Carrefour.
CarrePHWOARRRRR
In Madrid today and went to the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol earlier.
Quite nice but there are so many fucking beggars and people in costumes in the latter which ruined it slightly.
No ladies in supermarkets thus far but a lady in some copacabana style outfit in Puerta del Sol tried to drag me into a picture. I stood firm as I read that they want what they can't have.
I read that as Pizza Mayor. What a job
Why don't you buy a Russian bride with your Dads blood money?
I only got the money (well part of it) a few days ago.
Might be off to London in October. Any ideas? I was looking to sneak a couple of gigs whilst I was there but nowt takes my fancy.
The London Dungeons are incredible.
Cheers. Seems like, if I want to base myself around the proper tourist stuff (Dungeons, Buckingham Palace, Tate, etc.) I'm going to have to take a hit on the hotel prices. I mean, no shit but seems like sleeping cheap only happens around Kings Cross-ish.
Also I'm still on edge with the Jihadis and acid attacks.
I've never actually been and I've only heard the Dungeons are overpriced and shit.
Speakers Corner at Hyde Park can be a laugh. Walking along the Thames is fun, though the Eastern European street performers do their best to ruin it.
I'd also highly recommend Vauxhall City Farm if you're into llamas. It's not quite London Zoo, mind.
You could go for a run with Kikó too.
London Dungeon is shite.
London is fucking big but also very easy to get around so you don't need to be near the stuff you want to do. As a general rule, if you see Koreans outside it, swerve.
I'm off to Budapest for a stag do in September. This beer bike stuff looks like a steaming pile of shite I'm getting dragged into, especially coupled with my minuscule bladder, toilet stops or no.
Do normal people like these things? What's wrong with just exploring the pubs in a city like that? Am I that wrong?
Welcome to the 'we have to do something different for Facebook' world.
You're not wrong.
Today I have learned what a 'beer bike' is. Just don't go.
In any future scenario like this I'll just say I'm skint.
Near Valencia in a place called Cullera.
Came to stay in an apartment last night and the place looked great on airbnb. Got there and there were about 150 steps (half of which needed to be climbed just to get to the actually front door), which wasn't stated at all. We kicked up a fuss and he said he had another place about 1km away which is a lot better and he was right.
About 400m away from the beach which is quite nice. The sea is incredibly shallow as well.
Went to this place tonight which was great. The place is huge and they call it the cathedral of rice. Ended up getting a normal mixed paella and one with rabbit and snails. A little expensive but it was worth it.
As long as you're based within <15 minutes of a tube station (probably zone two, although there are some decent places in zone 3) you'll be fine. Get an Oyster Card, top it up and just tube/bus everywhere.
The Dungeons are a bit rubbish but kinda ok. Buckingham Palace is literally just a 'walk past and look at it' kinda deal. I put a post somewhere back in this thread of some cool/interesting stuff I'd recommend but it doesn't have all the obvious tourist stuff which you probably want to check off as you see fit.
Went to Barcelona today.
Got lunch on the way near the ocean in some nice little town.
For 34 euros I got some mixed seafood bowl (half a lobster, razor clams, clams, oysters, mussels, sea snails and langoustines), which was amazing.
For dinner in Barcelona we went here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Fl...79852048706852
Ended up having fried baby calamari, fried cuttlefish, grilled vegetables, creamy mixed mushrooms, red prawns, beans with ham and prawns and calamari and prawn skewers. It was absolutely stunning, I get the hype that it gets.
If I lived near here I'd go there every day for lunch and work myself through the menu.
I did all the driving today and did this route:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Gr...e1!5e2!5e3!3e0
The A75 is pretty brilliant, most of what I did today was in excess of 800m above sea level with a max altitude being about 1200m.
Didn't seem that high until you'd come across a bridge and then look across to see how far down it went.
I'm also getting the service station ladies attention now.
I needed some paracetamol so after eating and seeing no paracetamol in the restaurant bit I went to the petrol station next door and was told they were only sold in pharmacies. Went back to the restaurant/cafeteria bit and asked an attractive lady on a till and she gave me two of her own from under the till for no payment.