Trip to Easdale

We went with our friends Paul and Lorna to this tiny Island off the West Coast of Scotland called Easdale on the weekend. Lorna's parents have a cottage there and we decided to get out of the city for the weekend.
It was great, we didn't do much other than eat, drink and play games but it was good fun. The Island is really small and you have to get there by a small boat. It reminded me a lot of Ngawi with it's ruggedness. The island is made of slate and slate used to be quarried there so there are huge quarries that have been filled in with water and they now hold the world stone skimming championships there each year on these huge still pools. We had a lovely time and can't wait to go back.
Thanks Paul and Lorna!

Keryn & Paul on top of the hill

View of the island



An important land mark



Lorna is cold!

Simon skimming stones



a crazy colonial game!

Keryn's Birthday

It's my birthday today horray! I'm 27, feeling very old but can't do much about it!

Simon and I went to St Andrew's on Saturday for the afternoon, it was pretty cold but at least it was dry which is more than can be said for Glasgow. Winter is definitely upon us and it has been quite chilly. Thankfully Mum sent me Ugg boots for my birthday so my feet are now toasty warm - Thanks Mum xxx

Thanks for all those who sent birthday wishes, it is much appreciated :-)

Here are some photos from St Andrew's, was lovely to be by the sea for by birthday as I do miss it alot and birthdays in December aren't much fun in the UK - it's way too cold!

Keryn on the pool at the beach

Outlook to the beach from the castle

Keryn's Shadow

Reminding me of home

Rocks



Cathedral in the sun



Keryn on the beach

Rainbow over the sea

Graveyard

St Andrew's Castle

St Andrew's Beach

Simon on the beach

London Baby - Yeah!

I was down in London for Wednesday and Thursday last week for my induction for work so decided to take the Friday off and spend the weekend down there as well. Simon flew down on Friday night so it was fun in the big city!

I stayed with our friends from NZ Sarah and Emma and they lived really close to my work so was pleased about that. So got to catch up with them. I also made a trip out to Greenwich where Sasha lives and spent a night with her and Megan her flatmate which was really good fun. Had some lovely weather in London and it is a lot warmer down there then up here in Glasgow at the moment.

On Friday I had the day to myself so went for a long walk along the Thames and came upon some filming, thinking I would just take a quick look I saw that it was proper Hollywood people and saw Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson so was a wee bit star struck for about half an hour!







Saturday we went to the Borough Markets which are a huge food market and met Ben and Louise there, had some yummy food and caught up with them. We went into town to Covent Garden for a while and saw the last 10 mins of the Australia/England game was very happy with the outcome, perhaps a wee bit too smug for what followed a few hours later.....

We went to the Theatre on Saturday night and saw Monty Python's Spamalot which was quite funny but we had really crap seats so didn't enjoy it as much as we might have. Although I think we had a more enjoyable evening than most NZ'er's in London that night! We went for a walk along the Thames on Saturday night to check out the Wheel in the night as well as the day.

London by day


Inside the Wheel


London by night


Big Ben



Sunday we went to Spittlefields markets which are great and then met Catherine on Oxford St for some lunch, then it was time for me to dash off for my train back up to Scotland. It was a great weekend and hopefully next year we will make it down a bit more regularly.


On Tuesday our good friends Liam and Fiona Smith had a baby girl, Cameron Zoe Smith. She is beautiful. Here is a couple of pics from the hospital

Baby Cam


Cameron Zoe Smith



We have a new email address now - kerynandsimon@madasafish.com so update your address books.

Tuscan Adventures

We are back from a week in Tuscany with 7 of our friends. We were all geared up for a week of lazing by the pool tanning outselves after our terrible Glasgow summer, alas when we got there it rained on and off pretty much everyday. We were not impressed but managed to make the best of the situation.

The villa we stayed in was amazing, in a tiny village called Lucardo set in the Chianti region of Tuscany. We had a pool and large covered outdoor area where we sheltered from the rain! We did quite a few days trips to San Gimignano, Seina, vineyards and Simon and I went to Certaldo. We all had a great time and Sara and Pete even got engaged!! A nice end to a lovely week. Here is a small selection of the 390 photos that Simon took while we were away. There are more on our Simon's Flikr site if you click on the link to the right titled - Simon's Photos

Keryn outside the villa in a sunny spell

San Gimignano

Piazza del Campo in Siena

Seina

Sunset over Chianti

Paul and Lorna

The Gang in Montespertoli

Townhall - Seina

View of the Villa

Vineyard after Vineyard

Us in a Vineyard

Medieval Village - Certaldo

Us in Certaldo

Sara & Pete - Engaged!!


Before we flew back to Glasgow we spent a day and night in Pisa as we were flying out from there and our flight was at some ridiculous time in the morning, the price you pay for cheap flights!
It was really warm in Pisa so it was nice that we got a nice day before we left.

Cathedral & Baptistry in Pisa

Dan knocking over the tower

Dome inside the Cathedral

I never knew I was so strong!

Leaning Tower

Pisa Cathedral