Viva Las Vegas

We popped into Vegas for a few nights on our way back from NZ and were pleased to find it’s just like Disney Land, only for grown ups. We hadn’t realised quite how long the strip is (almost 7kms), so were stoked our hotel (Caesar’s Palace) was smack bang in the middle of all the action. Our first night we took in the sights and sounds of the strip itself – the fountain at the Bellagio (which is not a fountain, it’s a 9 acre lake), the first of three visits there; the erupting volcano at the Mirage; and the pirate show outside Treasure Island with scantily clad pirates, pyrotechnics and all. Great fun. Enjoyed an American BBQ meal at Gilleys, then wandered back down the strip were we happened across the Piano bar at Harrahs where for free, we enjoyed a couple of hours of Duelling Pianos (cute blonde twins playing popular songs, teasing each other and encouraging crowd singalongs and requests, just the ticket).

Here's the 'fountain' outside the Bellagio in action:

Day two was spent wandering the strip in full and doing a spot of gambling here and there, after feeding ourselves silly at the Bellagio buffet. The hotels and casinos are just amazing, so we happily wandered for hours taking in the amounts of money spent in hotels like New York New York, Luxor, MGM Grand (what's with live lions inside a hotel?),Paris and the Flamingo. At the MGM we took part in a TV show pilot viewing which was a bit of fun, so we’ll keenly keep our eyes out for the programme we viewed to hit the screens and see if our feedback made any difference.

Day three was a tour of the Grand Canyon. We had pre-arranged our hotel pick up for 6am with the tour company and happily gone to bed the night before with our alarm set for 5.40am (doesn’t take long for us to get pretty in the morning). So we were pretty miffed to be called at 4.30am by the tour company confirming our pick up. Needless to say we didn’t get back to sleep and were pretty grumpy tourists by the time the bus showed up. The tour itself was pretty good, but long. We bussed to the West Rim of the canyon, stopping quickly for a photo op at the Hoover Dam. At the canyon we took a quick helicopter ride to the canyon floor, followed by a boat trip, then ‘coptered out. Were a bit disappointed that the helicopter wasn’t a bit longer to show us more of the canyon, it was simply there as a mode of transport to get in and out. We then had a couple of hours to take in the canyon from the top. Pretty amazing you can get right up to the side, can’t be strict health and safety laws in the USA. Amazingly only about 1 person each year falls off the side. Wasn’t us this time round thank goodness, despite getting pretty close to the edge.

Friday was our last day in Vegas, so we ventured to the ‘original strip’, Fremont Street. It’s a much less glitzy side of Vegas despite all the neon, but we enjoyed some cheaper gambling and the atmosphere. Our final night was spent at dinner and a show – we opted for a Brazillian bbq place (Dean does love his meat), and the Crazy Horse Paris burlesque show – mostly because it was half price that night (Dean does love saving the pennies).

And that was that. Farewell Las Vegas, we’d happily come back!

Wedding time in New Zealand

Finally the time came around for our good friends Kyle and Melissa to get hitched, so we headed back to New Zealand for a quick trip to be there, and for Dean to return the best man favour Kyle had done for our wedding in 2009.

The wedding was wonderful despite classic Wellington summer weather of torrential rain and chilly breezes – but that all made for stunning photos. We loved catching up with lots of friends and family, and no matter how many coffee dates we had in a day, we never got sick of the amazing New Zealand coffee and wine.

On our whistle stop tour we also got down to Akaroa (home to Akaroa Dolphins and Paua Bay Farm Tours and B&B), where Dean’s extended family live, and enjoyed a classic Akaroa summer’s day of 30+ degree heat. Why would anyone live anywhere else?

Switzerland: Interlaken and Jungfrau, December 2011

While we visit Switzerland pretty regularly with Lou’s sister, husband and baby living in Geneva, we hadn’t ventured far from there, so decided a few days in the mountains were on the cards just after Christmas 2010. We settled on basing ourselves in Interlaken, at the foot of the Jungfrau mountain range. 

Swiss trains are super efficient and easy to navigate around, so after a quick stop and look around in Bern, we ended up in Interlaken.

We spent three lovely, snowy days, exploring the region, trying out snowshoeing and loving it, getting an adrenaline rush with some sledding, and taking a train trip to the highest train station in Europe, the Jungfraujoch. Well worth the visit for some wintery fun, as you can see from this video.

Dublin - completing the grand slam

With the All Blacks due to visit Dublin this year, we booked a hotel and flights for Dublin back in Februrary to beat the inevitable price rises, without 100% certainty the preliminary dates for the tour would be right. Lucky for us they were, so we had one of our cheapest rugby weekends yet, completing our very own grand slam of Murrayfield, Twickenham, Cardiff Arms and Landsdowne Road (now Aviva Stadium) in Dublin over three years.

Arriving late on Friday night, we met a friend for a few obligatory pints of Guinness at one of the oldest bars in Dublin, the Stag’s Head on Temple Bar. The rugby wasn’t until 5pm the following day, so we spent Saturday wandering through Trinity College and the streets of the city, seeing some sights including the National Museum of Ireland (well worth a visit for Ireland's history) and taking in the pre-match atmosphere.

The rugby itself was exciting for the first half, but the All Blacks pulled away after half time and we secured another win. The crowd was unique, with plenty of banter and each time someone was preparing to take the kick the crowd would fall into a respectful silence, something we’ve not experienced at any other sports ground in the world. After the game it was another visit to Temple Bar to take in the atmosphere and quench our thirst.

Our flight wasn’t until late on Sunday, so we had plenty of time for more exploring, and then joining our friend again for a tour of the Guinness Factory. This was an excellent tour, informative, well designed, and definitely created to convert non-drinkers into Guinness lovers. We then took in a quick meal and more local beer, including one sweetened with fresh oyster, at the Porterhouse before heading back to London.

Barcelona!

We just spent another weekend away, this time exploring Barcelona and getting the final bit of sunshine out of the year.

What a fantastic city. From the moment we arrived we wanted to live there - the weather, the food, the Spanishness - but I guess being on holiday always puts a place in the best light and real life's a bit different.

Barcelona's a really small city, so very easy to get around and see plenty, but even so we will have to go back to fit in everything we want to do there.

We stayed at a really cheap hostel, Hostal Neutral, right in the centre of town. The place was really basic, but perfect for two nights, and cheap to boot. We arrived late on Friday night and took a midnight wander down Las Ramblas, stopping for a beer en route. We enjoyed this introduction to the city, one of all night partying and entertainment. As it was October there weren't too many tourists which made wandering along much easier.

Saturday was meant to start with a bike tour of the city, but as we'd both been really busy the week before the trip we'd forgotten to note down details of where the tour began. So instead we explored Mercat de la Boqueria, enjoying some delicious fresh juice (mmm strawberry and coconut), some seafood treats and some pastries and fruit. From there we took the metro (very simple and cheap) to Sagrada Familia, stood in the queue and paid 12 euros to get in (boy inflation goes up quickly in Spain, our guide book from 2007 had the price at 8 euros so that's a 50% increase in just three years). Gaudi's masterpiece has been in construction mode for more than 100 years and still has a long way to go. The exterior's amazing, and we both enjoyed most the more modern side of the building, designed by Josep Maria Subirachs. There's an excellent museum under the church itself and it was well worth a visit.

We finally figured out the starting point for our cycling tour and joined it at 4pm. What a brilliant way to see a city! Our tour was with Fat Tyre Bike Tours. In about 4 hours we saw various Piaza, Arc de Triomf, Palau de la Musica Catalana, Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona Cathedral, the outside of Sagrada Familia, and finally a drink on the beach. We will definitely look for bike tours in future, and highly recommend Fat Tyre Tours.

The following day we kicked off with an excellent breakfast sitting at the bar of Ciudad Condal and wished we'd found it for dinner the night before. After that we visited the Cathedral, took in some Catalan dancing outside, and braved the crowds to queue for Museu Picasso (the first Sunday of each month is free so it was a bigger queue than normal we expect). Well worth waiting as the museum has hundreds of pieces from Picasso's early life.

Our weekend ended with a reminder of why we'd love to live in Spain, the most fantastic tapas meal at Lonja de Tapas, just down from the museum.

Cracking time in Cracow

We spent the final weekend in September visiting Crakow with Dean's sister Sarah and our friend Kate. What a great city for a change of scene.

Our accommodation, the Da Vinci Apartment, part of Globtroter hostel's offering in the Old Quarter, was beautiful, all romantic high ceilings and huge windows (and all for £25 per person, per night).

While in Krakow we visited Wawel Hill, home to Cracow Cathedral and the Royal Castle, enjoyed wandering around the market square in the Old Quarter, and had a brilliant (and slightly vodka-laden) night in the Jewish Quarter.

Dean testing the walls at the salt mine. Salty.

We also spent a day on a tour visiting Auchwitz and the Salt Mines, both of which were well worth visiting. Auchwitz (as expected) was a pretty harrowing experience, and the Salt Mines were really interesting, with miners having carved an incredible church out of the salt.

We highly recommend a visit to Poland - oh and the food was amazing (mmm pork hock, beef stew, gypsy-style pancakes, delicious dumplings, cherry vodka...).

2010 Summer in London

Summer? We had the coldest August in 17 years. Despite that though, we had a pretty good few months, with lots of family visiting and our third season of the Proms.

Here are some highlights:

Proms in the Park with friends

Last year we went to the official Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and this year we did the outdoor version with friends. It was a fantastic night, lots of food and singing along. Dame Kiri was a bit disappointing, forgetting the words to 'Tonight' from West Side Story, but the rest was a blast. Here we are enjoying a singalong at the end of the night.

Visit from the Yarralls

Dean's folks popped over from NZ for a few weeks in July/Aug, and we enjoyed a few outings with them, including a fashion-inspired high tea at the Berkley.

Lou's birthday

Lou turned the big 30 in August and we celebrated with an incredible dinner at Le Pont De La Tour on the Thames. It was a beautiful night and was strange eating a birthday dinner outside, since Lou's birthday is usually in the middle of winter back in NZ. We enjoyed a bottle of Hawke's Bay red and a lovely evening in the shadow of Tower Bridge.

von Dadelszens migrate

All five of the von D kids now live in Europe, with John arriving for London in July, and Ange moving to Milan in September. We've had both come to stay with us and it's been great having more whanau around. Here are John, Vonce and Hannah with Lou.