A little bit of mesh

But you know
That I'm caught between the magic that you gave to me
And the fear that you might leave
Because it scares me
That you could break my heart again so easily
Don`t let us fall apart

Road trip - final part

In Liverpool we stayed at the Thistle Atlantic Tower. I wouldn't recommend it. There was nothing 'executive' about our executive room. The only redeeming feature were the views from the 12th floor. Otherwise the room (and bed) were small, the decor tatty, the bathroom small and the water was basically dropping out of the shower, making showering a little difficult. And while it was freezing cold outside, it was boiling hot inside and the air conditioning wasn't working. I guess the immediate comparison with the Brook Barn contributed to a certain disappointment.

But we enjoyed walking around the docks, which all seem to have been modernised in recent years. Lots of cafes, restaurants and still surprisingly quiet on a Sunday.

On Monday, we travelled back south, via Chester. A nice charming town. And then it was along drive back to London. Admittedly I slept most of the time...
All in all, a great long weekend!

Some impressions:

Old and new

Blue sky all day

The hotel - and a church

View from the hotel window

Chester

According to Wikipedia Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain

Chester cathedral

He's just not that into you

The film was on last night. Unfortunately I missed the first half. I have seen it before though and really liked it.
And Ben and Jenny made me cry again.

"I need to make you happy… …for me to even have a shot at being happy."

Road trip part 3

From Oxfordshire we headed further up north to Scouseland. We were still lucky with the weather and the sky was blue, but it was rather frosty.

The whole reason for the road trip was to see John Kirby's exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery. John is an artist from Liverpool, and one of his brothers happens to be my partner's friend.

We weren't allowed to take any photos in the gallery but we bought the catalogue. It was amazing! One of the paintings I already knew, as it usually hangs in his brother's living room. It was quite surreal to now see it hanging in a gallery.

I remember that it took me a little while to get used to his style, but now I really love it. My favourite painting was probably 'Man in a small boat', which unfortunately doesn't feature in the catalogue (which I am hoping to get signed!) - but you can find it through google.

The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool

John Kirby's first exhibition in his hometown

Angelic

Don't you just hate the first day back in the office after the holidays? On this occasion, I only had ONE day (yesterday) off, and I was even checking my emails on my blackberry, and I still felt incredibly stressed out when I came to the office today. This probably explains why I keep carrying over an ever increasing number of leave days ...

Enough moaning though, as this is going to be a pleasant blog entry:
After a stressful day at the office, I relaxed at The Winchester in Islington, near Angel tube station. Do check it out when you are around! It's a quirky and very friendly place. Our waitress was quite possibly the most cheerful person I have ever met and her cheerfulness was infectious, too.

The Red Russian* also helped with cheering me up. They have quite an extensive list of unusual cocktails. Not cheap - but then nothing is in London. They also have a nice food menu, with a variety of starters, light bites, sharers and mains. I ordered some hot ciabatta with balsamic and oil (so simple, and so yummy!), onion rings and fried calamari. Yes, all for ME. Waitress thought this was the order (of starters) for our table of four... I often find it difficult to make decisions (interestingly, I find it a lot easier when it comes to my job), so I prefer to order a variety of little dishes, so I can try several things. Also glad that I provided some entertainment with that order.

After dinner, we then moved on to a pub across the road, that was showing tonight's Champions league games. I have to admit that even in international matches, I am finding it rather hard to muster any enthusiasm for Bayern Munich... But as I was in the company of at least one BM fan tonight, I guess I was happy enough that they beat Marseille and are through to the next round.

And now it's time for bed: Good night everyone!


*strawberry liqueur, Kahlua, strawberry puree, cranberry juice, vodka and cream float

Road trip part 2

From the Pub we went on to Brook Barn Country House. I had found the place on laterooms.com, and it's simply amazing! We stayed in The Hayloft. And next time I will remember to take photos before throwing our stuff all over the place... Everyone was lovely and they went out of their way to make it a great stay. I had ordered some truffles when booking the room. Unfortunately, they had had a problem with their delivery - so SJ stayed up to make us some herself and insisted on not charging us for them. And they were delicious!

The free-standing bathtub was just one of the highlights. And I wish I had a super king-sized bed at home! Full English breakfast the next morning was great, too.
I can certainly recommend this to anyone who is in the area and I hope to be back at some point, if possible for a little longer than just one night!

And here are some impressions:

Entrance to The Hayloft

The massive bed and the massive TV in the background

I love the desk

... and the free-standing bath

View from The Hayloft window down on the brook and garden

And from the outside - and what a beautiful day it was, too!

Road trip part 1

Brighton drew against Middlesbrough on Saturday. Not a bad result, I guess, and it also means that we are still unbeaten at the Amex in 2012. Just so frustrating that they couldn't turn some of their good chances into goals.

From the stadium we started our little road trip up north. We stopped at a family-run pub near Wantage/Oxfordshire for dinner. Yummy burger and chips. Unfortunately, the photo came out a bit blurry, but I wanted to show it anyway - I loved the "chair" (on the right):