Maximillian & Us

How can one live in Wimbledon and not attend THE event held in the suburb ??

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please google ‘Wimbledon Championships’. We attended the Grand Slam event with Darren yesterday. Dav does not know much about tennis and me, I know some and dont know some. Automatically Darren became our walking/ talking tennis encyclopedia (Thanks Darren!).

As this is THE biggest event in UK (in terms of tennis of course), we cant escape the British culture of queuing. We woke up at 0500 and walked to Wimbledon Park Car Park to join the queue at 0630. Darren had pre-warned us that we will have to queue for at least 3 hours before we reach the entrance to the grounds!! It took us 4.5 hours!! Although it’s such a long wait, I was quite impress at how organized and easy it was. There’s no concern of people cutting queue as you’re being escorted to the current line as you arrive and then we’re given a numbered queue card (only one each) which is required when we reach the ticket stands and a sticker to prove that you’re in the queue. There’s also a lot ‘Steward’ which assists the visitor in joining the queue. There’s also lots of toilet facilities in the queue area.

This is actually my second Grand Slam events. I attended the Australian Open back in 2001 with my uni mates. It was a very fun weekend trip. We didn’t ‘bump’ into any famous tennis star this time, but we did watched some exciting games in the smaller courts. Some of which:

• Ladie’s Singles – Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) def Marina Erakovic (New Zealand)
• Ladie’s Singles – Shahar Peer (Israel) def Dinara Safina (Russia)
• Men’s Doubles – Bob & Mike Bryan (USA) def Frantisek Cermak (Czech Republic)/ Jordan Kerr (Australia)
• Mixed Doubles – Bob Bryan/ Samantha Stosur (USA) def Eric Butorac/ Bethanie Mattek(USA)

We stayed till about 1700 after getting burnt and contributing to the local economy (spending money eating/drinking and buying souvenirs!).

Arriving at 0630 is not good enough… there were already tonnes of ppl forming multiple lines!

Darren trying to occupy time by reading…

Tennis ball binoculars given out as free gift when you but the newspaper. It looks quite innocent here until….

you turn it around! hahahahaha

The gentlemen posing for the amateur photographer. This is actually one of my favorite pic.

A bunch of guys dressing up as famous tennis players from the 70′s and 80′s. One even wore a ladies’ tennis dress with a Borat underwear!! Quite entertaining…

Guess who…

Evian spray being sold in a nice looking bath tub…. quite ex for a small bottle of spray (£3!).

Another group of guys dressing up….

Not sure who is this but great shot! hehehehe

Can you spot us ?? This is at one of the smaller courts…

This player is playing for the Girl’s Champhionship. She’s suppose to be around 13-15 but dont look young…

Dinara Safina, sister of former World No 1, Marat Safin. We were cheering for her to win but she didnt! What a disappointment.

The ‘Murray Hill’ is jam packed! Everyone watching Andy Murray who is playing in the Centre Court.

Front view of the ‘Murray Hill’.

There was still a lot of people queuing at 1700!! The matches usually ends by 2000/2100.

Walking home after a very long and hot day.

Next year – French Open!!!

Snowdonia is a region of North Wales, a national park which consists of multiple mountains, including Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. This place is very famous among hikers and rock climbers. Thus we decided to visit this National Park and spent 2 days just walking around, attempt to climb the mountain (not very successful) and most importantly enjoy the fresh air, nice scenery and relax.

Direct train to Bangor took about 3.5 hours. As you can see, there’s ample supply of snacks and books to keep us occupied. The only thing missing from the pic is our DS Lite, which was also packed along in case we were too bored.

This is where we stayed, YHA @ Pen-y-Pass. This hostel is situated in the middle of the national park, in between the mountains. There’s no surrounding buildings beside the car park and a bus stop. All the hikers parked their car here and start hiking up to Snowdon and then normally they would end up in Llandberis, a small town which they then take a bus back to this car park.

Pen-y-Pass viewed from the Miner’s Track.

Could this be Snowdon?

I’m on top …. not! hahaha this is only the beginning of the hike.

Konichiwa…. hai!

Car park view again…

Yummy English breakfast servced at the hostel.

Entrance to the Youth Hostel and Pen-y-Pass car park.

We took the Snowdon Mountain Railway to the summit of Snowdon. However due to refurbishment of the summit building, the train stops at Clogwyn Station, 306m below the summit.

We were so lucky to have 46 kids traveling with us in the same train! We both had mild headaches when we arrive back at the station.

Can you see the train and its track??

Creative solution for not having a tripod.

Lots of tourists travel with their dogs.

View of Padarn Lake in Llanberis.

Peek-a-boo!

That’s me back. The weather wasnt that good… it was raining on and off.

Entrance/exit to the Miner’s Track.

There was lots of sheep roaming around the mountains.

Sunset view from Pen-y-Pass.

Today we cycled to Richmond Park to check out the deers Dav found the last time he went there. We brought along some snacks and our books. Unfortunately some of our food was being ‘tested’ by a Labrador (i.e. less food). But we still had a great time. We saw some deers and ducks by the ponds. There isn’t much photos as Dav didnt bring his camera. We had a lot of fun, and have decided that we will cycle to the park every weekend just to chill out and read under the sun (if the weather permits of course).

Resting at Barnes Park.

Dav had to check for directions using his phone cos we were slightly lost… but we found out way in the end by asking passerby! hahahaha so much for technology.

First activity back in London was to visit the ‘Taste of London 2008′ @ The Regent’s Park. We were unaware of such event until Darren asked us whether we’re interested to go early Saturday morning. Here’s a short summary of the Taste Festivals:

‘Seen as ‘One of the World’s greatest food festivals’ (Time Magazine, October 2007) Taste of London will be hosting over 40 of the capital’s top restaurants in the glorious surrounds of Regent’s Park on 19-22 June.

Restaurants including Le Gavroche, L’Atelier du Joel Robuchon, China Tang and Café Anglais will be serving up signature dishes in sample sizes and world class, Michelin starred chefs including Tom Aikens, Angela Hartnett, Gary Rhodes and Atul Kochhar will be showing off their renowned culinary skills.’

We enjoyed it although the weather could be better (it was cloudy and grey the whole evening with the threat of rain). We stuffed ourself silly with gourmet food and sampled various beers, wines, snacks, etc, etc. Luckily we all went with an empty stomach. Although the servings were in sample sizes, we were very full towards the end of spending all our ‘crowns’ (the money used to buy the food on the ground).

We went without doing any research and no knowledge of which top restaurants or chefs are there.. we basically follow the crowd, logical rite. When there’s good food, there will be lots of ppl! We just wanted to makan basically.. hahahaha. I did find out that there was 10 restaurants in the festivals which has at least one Michelin star!

Entrance to the food heaven…

Modeling for the avid photographer hubby while waiting for Darren and Azura to arrive.

No comments… ask dav. He wanted me to take the pic…

Dav’s fav pic… of course I’m the photographer.

Yummy scallop

Smoked chicken and foie gras terrine from Le Gavroche (2 Michelin stars restaurant!)

Chocolate fondue with marshmallow, strawberry and biscotti from Boxwood Cafe, one of Gordon Ramsay’s many restaurant in London.

Even Azura gives the thumb’s up.

Dav’s fav… parma ham with melon, also from Boxwood Cafe.

Resting to get ready for 2nd round

Pig trotters …. nice

Mojito. Would be a great drink if it was warm and sunny!

Wasabi prawns! Prawns were fresh and big… it will be perfect if there was more wasabi!

All went home full and happy….

My iPhone is barely 6 months old and Apple yesterday (today in US) annouce the new 3G iphone in the WWDC Conference. That is ok until I found out that it’s half the price cheaper than the one I got!!! Lesson learn: Not to buy gadget unless it is really really new and check those rumours mill cos most of the time they are pretty accurate.

The 3G iphone will be launched in 22 countries (3 Asian countries – No Malaysia, soli) on July 11th:

Then another lucky 44 countries will get to enjoy the 3G iphone “later this year” (4 Asian countries – still no sight of the Malaysian flag, soli):

If you havent noticed from the flags presented, check out the map they used (see below). You’ll see that the phone will be launched in the whole of South America. Do they have better 3G coverage than Asia…?? Esp from my knowledge they are not really that developed….

I guess my brand new phone will be an ‘old junk’ by next month …. *sob*sob*

Read more about the 3G iphone @ Engadget