Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Sunny days in London


Amazingly, it hasn't rained in London for three weeks, must be a new record here. I have to admit I am not used to this, and almost start to miss the rain. With lots of sunshine and warm temperature, the gardens are looking really good.


Thursday, April 12, 2007

An Easter holiday by the seaside
















The sea is shimmering under the sunlight, seagulls hovering around the rocky coast and making occasional dives into the water. The water is in greenish blue, with waves hitting the rocks and there are patchy sandy beaches along the coastal line. It is an enchanting landscape, something very beautiful but something also raw and compelling.

Our hotel is located on a cliff overlooking the sea, and there is a small island within1 km from the coast. The current is quite strong in this cove area, so swimming to the island is not recommended. We had a relatively smooth drive coming to this coastal town, which is a village compared with bustling London. After a short stop at the hotel, we put on our hiking boots and set out to the town centre. The town centre is quite small, with a few restaurants, pubs and stores scattered around the crossings of two main streets. “Look, there is a gallery, let’s go in and have a look.” The gallery owner is a fifty years old bald guy who warmly greeted us and started introducing his work. “I draw and print on this particular Japanese paper, if you like I can show you my workshop and how I paint on those papers.” We looked at each other and thanked him and told him we were on our way going out of town, maybe we will come back and visit him another time. “This kind of place is a bit cut off from the outside world,” My boyfriend said, neither of us liked the extreme purple, red and blue colours he used in his painting. But I guess it is not a bad thing people find some thing to indulge themselves to.

It was a lovely and romantic evening, had a three course dinner in the hotel while watching the spectacular sunset in the sea. We were both looking forward to the coastal walk the next morning. This is a well deserved break as I had an extremely busy week at work.

The second day turned out to be a serious walking day. With a map on our hands, we felt the urge to explore the wild coast from Mullion cove to Lizard Point, which is the most southern point in Britain. We walked two miles east of Lizard Point and then back to Lizard Point for a lunch break. There is a café on a cliff of Lizard Point, with a sign said the most southern café in Britain. Quite a nice place, a bit breezy and chilly since it is high up without any shelters, but the food was better than we thought. We only ordered some sandwiches, but they were freshly made and came with nice side salads. The bread tasted quite nice as well. Walking had made our appetite extremely good. It was another eight miles walk back to Mullion cove, with more dark coloured rocks shaping the coastal line and small beaches sheltered in between. Walking on the soft grassy path is a pleasant experience and seeing so much green made my eyes feel much better.

On the second evening while having dinner in the hotel, we noticed the three people at the table around the front corner had changed their seats. That was a rather amusing crowd, one old man with two old women, judging from the way they talked, we concluded that they are brother and sisters. The funny part is we saw them in the first evening, they were sitting at the same table with the man in the middle and two women on each side side. The two women were about same body type and dressed up in similar style, the three of them almost formed a perfect symmetrical picture. We joked about in the first evening if they would change the combinations, and they did on the second night. We giggled over this coincidence when we came back in our hotel room.

The second walking day was a relatively easy one, although both of us were feeling a bit tired. We walked from Mullion Cove to the Porthleven harbour, seeing a few smooth, long and wide sandy beaches along the way. While walking on a hill overlooking the sea, we saw a nude man wondering on a rather deserted beach, it was bright sunlight, and he seemed to be enjoying his own company. He probably noticed that he was being watched, because he turned back his head and looked around to the hill we walked on. “I think he saw us.” I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. We walked on, didn’t get much distracted by the unusual scene. Then the real distraction came when I almost stepped on an adder. I noticed it when it running fast into the grass just two inches from my feet. I was glad I was wearing hiking boots. I screamed and quickly retreated from the spot. To comfort me, my boyfriend said it was actually lucky to see an adder since it is not something you will see in the city and they are totally harmless. I was not totally convinced, but decided to carry on anyway.

We stopped at a place called beach cafe, the owner who is a dutch lady runs this café in their front yard. She brought some very nice muffins, cream, jam and tea. We sat in the sun, watching the waves and seagulls and enjoyed our refreshment. The tea pot had a funny woollen tea cosy that looked like black sheep. It looked quite amusing and made us laugh.

Coming back to London turned out to be a difficult journey, when we finally managed to get to Bath, which is about 80 miles away from London, we were quite happy to have a big stroll in the city. Stopped in a café for a quick tea and some paninis, obviously it was a lively afternoon in the city centre, people coming and going and all seemed to enjoy the sunny weather and the holiday. For us, we were simply very happy to be back in a city again, where there are more life and actions. Nature and simple small town life is nice, but for city kids like us, we already started to miss all the liveliness and chaos in London.