London

I spent this weekend in London trying and failing to get the last of my research done for my MA. Aside from that I looked around the V&A, ate a lot, wandered along the Thames, finally got to try Laduree macaroons (rose flavour oh yes!), waited at lots of tube stations, and had breakfast at Fortnum and Masons, yum yum.

My brother and cousin.

 

Thai food at Busaba Eathai in Soho. I remember this as being amazing last time, this time it was so so...

 

Rip off prices at the new M&'s shop in Oxford circus...

Breakfast... Along the Thames...

 

 Tomato and mozarella salad, macaroni in a pan and Pappardelle with Porcini Mushrooms at Kitchen Italia in Covent Garden... cheap, tasty, and yummy and a tiny bit chain like, even though they only have one other restaurant. Really good fast food though.

 

Laduree, Laduree, Laduree!

 Holland Park...

 

We never did find the peacocks...

Bratislava & Brno

I haven't been very bloggy recently for lots of different reasons (and excuses!) but one of those is because I went away for two weeks.
We went to Bratislava, Brno, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest and then flew back from Bratislava again.  I thought I would write a little bit about all the different places we went over the next few days so that I can relive the experience (taking my mind of my dissertation) but also write things down before I forget them!

Bratislava

I have been before but was excited to go back because it has such a beautiful tiny tiny old town.  I spent most of the three days we spent there hanging out right in the centre of the old town in the square.  We ate bagels, avocados, 50 cent yoghurt flavoured icecream, had massages, wandered up to Bratislava Castle (last time we went we got the bus to Devin Castle which I would definitely recommend) and drank beer mostly in our hostel which had a half Hostel - the film- theme and half Australian theme. (Hostel Possonium).  We also got to see the renactment of the coronation of Maria Therasa two hundred and seventy one years and one days after it happened.  There were petals all over the floor.

Brno

Then we hopped on a train to Brno, the second biggest city in the Czech Republic.  Brno was so relaxed! Fruit and vegetable market every day where you could go sit by the statue in the centre and bask in the sun like a cat and smell all of the amazing colourful fruit and veg, fresh coffee in our amazing hotel like hostel, the bar where you poured your own beer at your table.  Spilberk Castle (13th century) is worth a visit even if just to have an icecream and lie in the sun looking out over the city. I was alone and looking around the prison section (considered the harshest in the whole of the Austrian Hungarian empire) when there didn't seem to be anyone else there was slightly disconcerting! Although making the trip up the tower to look out over the city more than made up for it.  I liked Brno a lot.