Merry 'Belated' Christmas from PICs!

Estee says...

Well after all the madness and preparation...Christmas is over! I hope you all had a great time and got to spend it with your love ones. This was C and I first Christmas together and we spent it at my mum's :-) Gotta run...but we'll both be back very soon to enlighten you all on our day and our exciting pressies! x

PICs in Paris

C says...

I promised I'd give a proper account of our trip to Paris, so here we go. I'll warn you though.. it's a tale of both joy and sorrow...

We had a plan. Basically....

Estee says...

Instead of doing the usual long weekend in Paris...we made a joint decision to do a short break in the week. Good idea in theory but it would have been cold Saturday or Tuesday!

C says...
We got the the Eurostar in plenty of time to check in etc. But rather than check in, we decided to get some coffee and hot sandwiches instead.

Estee says...

Well...after grabbing hot sandwiches and a coffee...we made our way...or more like ran our legs off towards the departure gates!! Once we made it there...in the nick of time the lovely station stewards told us politely that we could not bring our coffees on board!? In true 'C' fashion he replied

" For f__k sake!" C clearly needed his morning coffee :-)

Anyways...

C says....

Er.. yep, moving on..! We got to Paris ok, checked in to our hotel, and wandered off for some food. We planned to get up reasonably early the next day to get some sights in... About 2pm the next day we decided we really needed to get going! The plan was to stroll up to Notre Dame, then in roughly straight line taking in the Louvre and some art, over to the Champs Elysees, then up to the Arc de Triomphe. It all got off to a good start at Notre Dame...

Estee says...
Next stop the Louvre...after making our way over there we were disappointed to hear that it was actually closed on Tuesdays! :-( but we did take a shot of it and some nice french bins..have a look! ;-)

After checking out the french bins...we proceeded to walk up to the Champs Elysees, which was a long and very very cold walk!!!

C says...
It was flippin freezing! So by the time we got to the Champs Elysees, we really wanted some hot drinks. And we were so desperate for warmth that we made a foolish error. Rather then head down the back streets to one of the zillion decent cafes nearby, we went into a suspiciously modern looking place where we paid £13 for a crepe, a tiny plastic cup of horrible cappucino, and some hot water and a teabag in another. Upstairs the "cafe" was two rows of plastic chairs and tables and ripped plastic seats. It wasn't nice.. but it was warmer than outside!

Estee says...

WOW C...was it really £13 for one chocolate crepe, and couple of hot drinks?! It was really cold so the expensive crepe and hideous cappucino and tea was welcome, besides it was either this or being stuck at work. Once we said our goodbyes to the cheap plastic seats and the warmth, we headed back out amongst all the Christmas shoppers and made our way down to the Arc de Triomphe.

We met a german couple who kindly asked C to take their picture and in return they did the same for us :-)

C says...

So day 1 had its bits that went as planned and some that didn't. So too on day 2... We got up fairly early (11am ish...!), to do the Eiffel tower thing. But as soon as we stepped out of the hotel, it was obvious that Paris was

covered in fog! But it seemed right to go, so off we went. And this is what we saw... but we weren't too disheartened. We trekked up the stairs to stage 2 and caught the lift to the top. We decided it would be a good idea to get back in the spring sometime to actually see the view from the top!

Estee says...

Not only was it foggy it was raining too!..rain and afro hair do not go together so I was battling quite a few elements :-s

If you've never seen the Eiffel up close...well it's a great sight to see, we took these snap shots to show you from stage 2 looking up towards the top (over shadow by fog!) and also the great view looking down

C and Estee say...

Overall I enjoyed seeing Paris C and would love to go back with you in the Spring 2009!....what did you think of Paris this time around?

Just great to be there with you :-) Let's go again...! Er.. after China though..

Oooh nearly forgot about China...heehee. What a busy year for travelling we've had...first Dublin then Morocco...er Portugal..oh yes then Galway then of course Paris :-)

MIA Estee and C...

C says...

It's been a few days since Estee's birthday, and we've been bad bloggers! Mostly we've just been ill - firstly Estee came down with a cold, and then she kindly donated it to me. I then made it worse and returned the favour, and we've both been feeling rubbish since :-(

But even so, we couldn't let our adventures grind to a halt, so we visited Paris as planned, which was fun, even though it was very cold and we weren't feeling great. We also chose the day of the great mist of Paris-town to trek up the Eiffel tower, which probably wasn't the best plan in the world! But a proper account of the trip with Photos will follow...

We got back from Paris on Wednesday, and have been running the gamut of Christmas work parties ever since... we both have to work Monday and Tuesday, so roll on Christmas Eve! Then we'll have a few days to chill together, which will be just about perfect.

Right.. better dash.. hope y'all are in good shape. Back with more info soon...

Estee's Birthday!

C says...

Today was a day for great celebration.. the day Estee was born :-) Well.. this day a few years ago.. but you know what I mean...

So we headed out for celebratory food at the Crazy Bear off Tottenham Court Road, which had a reputation as a Thai of some quality... and a fairly justified one, as it turned out...

I won't make this a long post since we're tired and all... but suffice to say the company was fabulous, the food was brilliantly made, a bottle of prosecco went down well, and we left pretty happy.. :-)

If only we didn't have to work tomorrow..

Estee says...

Yeah C's right...but one of us left a little more than happy! ;-) I had a great birthday... great food.. great company. My man did good and I felt very spoilt :-) Still loving my ipod touch C!! (rather early birthday present) and I will enjoy the other little pressies too and catching up with my girlfriends on Saturday...oh and pre-Paris cocktail drinks on Sunday!!

Hey C time to mosey on into bed....do people still say mosey?? I guess I'm showing my age

Is age just a number?

Our long weekend to Galway, Ireland

C says...

It's been a long time since the last post here... it's been a crazy month for both of us. I've been working my backside off and Estee's been just as busy. In the time since all sorts has happened.. Barack Obama got elected as the next US President, Lewis Hamilton won F1, and er.. Diana got voted off X-Factor. Well.. not everything is world changing...

But anyway, Estee and I went to my hometown - Galway, Ireland - this weekend, which was good fun...

Estee says...

Besides the world changing news as C mentions above....I finally met my future mother-in-law last weekend! :-) Oh and I met 'S' the dog too! Anyway.....Yep we landed in Galway on Thursday via Shannon and were lucky enough to be staying with family. This is my 2nd trip to Ireland and I was happy to receive that warm Irish welcome. C was my guide for the duration and on Friday he happily showed me around his old home town..it was nice to see where he grew up before coming to London. Weather was at first rainy but we soon found ourselves in the Quays Pub having a pint of the black stuff! :-))

Some other pictures of the day are posted at the bottom...

C says...

I'd never been to the Aran Islands before, but my parents went recently, and it isn't right for your parents to travel places you haven't... so Estee and I decided to head over to Inis Mor for the day on Saturday. I heard that Aer Arann did a flight over in a tiny 8 seat propellor plane, which I reckoned might indulge our Indiana Jones fantasies, so I booked us on. Estee is a bit of a nervous flyer, so she was shocked when she was told she'd be sitting next to the pilot rather than me! I just hoped the responsibility of having to fly the plane if anything happened to the pilot wasn't too great... ;-)

Despite the initial shock, we had a load of fun on the Indy plane. Inis Mor itself was pretty interesting... it has an Iron Age hill fort in great condition, some very steep cliffs and a whole lot of stones. It was very very cold, but that's what you get if you go to Ireland in December!

We returned on Indy plane, before I introduced Estee to the joys of Supermacs...

Estee says....

All in all...I much prefer Wales to Ireland!...just kidding, never been to Wales so I can hardly make that judgement...yet ;-)

I had a good time but it would have been a lot better had I not been ill....I've now passed my flu onto poor C!

Hey C let's go back to Galway when the weather is a lot warmer?!

Oooh next stop Paris...watch this space!

Dont' forget to check out our other pics of our trip below

The Busy and Lonely PIC

Estee says...

Been at my desk since 9:30am and here I am still at my desk!! It has been a long, busy day and I even thought it was Thursday today....I couldn't be more wrong :-(

C and I usually conversate during the working week via email, text and the odd sneaky phone call at our desks. But nothing from him today until about 14 mins ago...he works real hard in the real world while I work just as hard in the reel world shall we say :-)

Thank the lord there is something to look fwd to next month...C and I are off to Paris and then just before Christmas were heading to Galway, Ireland where he is from...I'm very excited!!!

Do you work to live? Or live to work?

Mad weekend...like mushrooms?!

It's been one of those weekends..

It was rainy and miserable, central heating on 24/7, hibernating at home.

Well almost....

C's tale...
Estee and I have been together about 10 months, and it was that time, the one which inevitably comes around when two people are serious about each other.... meet the parents day! But it all went a bit wrong...

Estee's tale...
A bit wrong?!...well let's just say that this day was building up for a few weeks now and like any one meeting future in-laws it can be...well in my case a lil daunting!!

C says...
Well, how to explain? It all snowballed really... first, my brother decided to include an ingredient in his Sunday dish that Estee just can't eat (*it's a fungus.. who in their right mind would eat fungus?!). And second, Estee began to feel ill, and got no sleep the night before... And third, we had a bit of a falling out, and that didn't help bring about a night of zen-like meditative sleeping either...

Estee says...
Okay folks...let me just say in my defence before C makes me sound like a crazy loon! that the meeting of the parents...like I said has been building up for WEEKS! Ladies I'm sure you will agree with me on this that you would think the man/woman in your life would mention this small lil detail to the chef!

*C would eat fungus! ;)

C says...
Er.. Estee probably has a point there! But you see.. um.. it's not that easy! It's tough to get hold of my brother, y'know?! He's a hermit and doesn't have a phone probably! So I'd have to write him, and how long would that take?! And anyway he can't read!!

Estee says...
Shuddup...that is a blatant lie! :) To cut an odd long story short....I didn't make the Sunday lunch as I was feeling under the weather (caught out in the heavy rain on Sat didn't help!) so I missed out on the delicious funghi!!
Next meeting with future in-laws very soon...hmm...must remember to tell my mum to make her infamous prawn stir fry*the next time we pop round

*C hates prawns