Birmingham :)

Stratford upon Avon

Last weekend I went to Birmingham to visit my dear classmate :) We had a fun weekend!

On Saturday we went to Stratford upon Avon, a place where Shakespeare was born. The weather was so nice and the city is cozy. We visited butterfly farm which was delightful. Firstly, it was very warm in there, a true relief for the whole body. And then there was butterflies fluttering all around waving their little wings... beautiful. Not girly-glimmering-pink-butterfly-ish beautiful, but really delightfully heavenly beautiful.

Then we found a nice pub where Shakespeare was drinking and writing. We had nice lunch there and watched a bit of rugby, there was an important match and everybody around was so excited :) And I understood what is the game about :)))

In the evening we went Warwick and just walked around.

And we finished the day with a dub/ska/reggae concert, which was really nice :) it was different from the ones in Lithuania, though. Firstly, there were people of ALL AGES, and secondly, ppl were not reggae ppl. There were punks and ordinary ppl and some pink-blond kind of ladies :))

On Sunday we had a walk in Birmingham, but it was rainy and cold so we did not stay there for long...

Butterfly farm

Butterflies

Farm

Warwick castle

Shakespeare's house

Reggae concert place. Guess what time is it?

Birmingham

Brimingham

Birmingham :)

Spring is in the air!

Natural History Museum

Hey hello!

Maybe some of you, especially Lithuanians, will find it hard to believe what I say, but it is totally and surely spring in here! I felt it since i came back after xmas (6th of Jan), but I thought the feeling is due to the sudden temperature change. But soon I also felt that it really is spring, that violets and pussy-willow (kačiukai) would blossom if they were around. And really, I noticed buds on some trees and now they are opening! There are days when you would take your jacket off...

The other thing is that I started going to the museums. yes, you would not believe that, but these museums are nothing like what you would expect a museum to be... Not only big in size, beautiful, free, but so modern and interesting, they would grasp your attention by accurate images, hifi sounds, moving shapes, interactive pictures,... I went there on Fridays, with the little one she was very excited too :)

And a little everyday thing - we made chocolate muffins with the boy (he loves cooking). Except we didn't put eggs and it turned out brilliant!! He said they're the best muffins ever :)

NHM interior

Victoria and Albert Museum courtyard

Buds

The story of a six pence coin

During one active weekend we decided to eat in Camden. As we were enjoying the vegetarian chinese cuisine of a reasonable price and unlimited amounts, somebody came across a six pence coin. How curious is that! It is just slightly bigger than the teeny tiny five pence coin so I suspect that it is generally taken as a five pence.

Six pence, also known as tanner or half-shilling, was used in a pre-decimal system, along with florin (2 shillings) and shilling (12 pence), (the name of half-shilling becomes pretty clear now, doesn't it?). The first sixpences were struck in the reign of Edward VI in 1551 and continued until they were supposed to be demonetized upon decimalisation in 1971. However, they remained legal tender until 30 June 1980.

Some interesting traditions related to the tanner:

-Put in a Christmas pudding (the one to find it in his piece is lucky/will be wealthy/etc)

-Lucky charm for brides. There is an old rhyme which goes "Something old, something new / Something borrowed, something blue / And a sixpence for her (left) shoe."

-a good luck charm by Royal Air Force Aircrew who have them sewn behind their wings or brevets, dating back to the Second World War.

-can be found in that time's plays, songs, etc.

So that's the story for today! Going to Birmingham for the weekend, curious how is it gonna be!

A weekend out!

I had a very active weekend. Some friends were visiting London so I spent all the time walking and looking around. I saw tower bridge which looks nothing like in the classic-London-logo pictures :))) we also went to tate modern and admired the modern art and also made fun of it :) I actually enjoyed seeing an original of Monet water lillies and some installations...

Then there was chinatown. Fascinating. London has sooo many interesting places to see in and outside the centre... Both days were finished in Camden. Great place.

Brighton II: the return

One of the houses in the center

Hello dears,

I know I haven't written for a while but, sincerely, there was nothing to write about. The sweet 3 weeks of xmas holidays at home and then working again... And now I went to Brighton for a weekend. Yes it was my second time there. It is a very enjoyable place indeed. Highly recommended if you happen to be around.

This time I got to know the city a bit, which was really nice. It is a hip place - colorful houses, funky people, easy communication...

And then again - sea, cliffs, sheep,... let the pictures speak now :)

Street. Really alive on Saturday.

Beach houses facing the sea

Harbour

Paragliding place :)

Here come the Seven Sisters

Enjoying a walk on the edge of the cliff...

Sheep. There is sth strange about them

Holidays are coming...

Snow as it is seen through my door.

Hello everybody,

I haven't been updating my blog a lot, but nothing special really happened... E.G.:

My phone got broken so I got a new one.

I watched Harry Potter. Enjoyed.

After the cinema I dropped by the optician's and accidently found these amazing glasses so bought them!!! They had some kind of happy day offer so I got the eye check and lenses for free :))

It got veeeery cold (-1) for some days and we had some snow. Everything stopped. Everybody panicked. Now its +9 again. Like in Barcelona last December.

And yes I have been in Berlin for a weekend. Moscow-related reasons.

The little girl said my name today for the first time. Amazing feeling, really.... She's starting to talk now :)

Ah the 7-year-old came up with an amazing idea. It is not my job, it is sth he said on the way back from school. He said that after xmas we should have one day when everybody would eat only vegetarian, like me, and no meat for anybody! He wanted to ask his parents about that. What a sensible child! I will let you know about it :)

Hey and I will be coming home for xmas 17th of Dec - 6th of Jan. Let me know if u're in Vilnius and want to meet up! Because I really do!

Just a snapshot to give you an idea...

trip to Brighton - a weekend outdoors

Hello

just as I said before, this weekend I went to the south coast, the place called Brighton. But haven't been in Brighton town at all, was outdoors all the time. even though it was raining had a wonderful time enjoying the nature....seaside, woods, fields, sheep... let the pics speak for me :)

I will only say that it was an amazing city break weekend, exactly what I needed...

One of the house boats. Yes, ppl live there.

Thats the way towards the seaside. Pic taken from google.

On the way to the seaside

The hill behind me is the first of the seven sisters.

on the beachu can find starfish, crabs, shells... all dead...

Here you can see six of the seven sisters, we are standing by the seventh.

Beachy Head

Beachy Head. A popular place to suicide.