Berit & Chris's weblog

Off to a flying start...

So, with Christmas over, we once again turned to the house, and have finally had the Lectros Osmotic damp proof course installed and, this weekend, Chris successfully tidied up the wall/ arch between the dining room and the kitchen. Once the building inspector has approved the double doorway into the living room, we can start work on the walls, doorways and finally floors - living with bare concrete floors is not an experience, we can recommend to anyone!

On the wedding front, things are moving as well. Not only have we got a date for the end of September, but we have also booked the beautiful church of St Willow in Lanteglos for the ceremony and Merryfield for the reception. But the task is immense, and the details so many - that project management course at work might just come in handy!

Christmas 2005

Firstly we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas for 2005!

Once again, we have to apologise for the lack of web log entries we make to our site, no excuse we're just lazy :-) I also have to apologise to everyone that has tried at any point to leave a comment on this site as I appear to have been a little too successful in my effort to prevent spamming of the comments and managed to stop everyone! I will try to fix this in the future, promise.....

Anyway, we have done a few things worthy of blogging so here is the top three since asking Berit to marry me;

If you click here it will take you to our new 'Flickr' page where you can see pictures of the work involved in reinstating the fireplace in the dinning room which is the first significant DIY project in the house which we've finished.

Over the August bank holiday, Dad took part in his first hill climb and sprint in the MGA for about 20 odd years, click here for the pics. He didn't do too badly either, although he's currently rebuilding the rear suspension over Christmas in an effort to improve his hill climb times for next year.

We spent Christmas this year with Berit's Mum and brother John in Denmark, although for the 24th when all Scandinavians celebrate Christmas, we hopped across the sea to Sweden to Hörby to celebrate it with the family of John’s girlfriend, Kristina. Click here for the pictures.

That’s all for now, so we wish you all a very Happy New Year for 2006 :-)

Marry Me....

After Pedro & Ana's wedding, we still had some time left in Spain to ourselves so on Sunday (31/07/05) we hitched a lift with Hugo back to Madrid. I'd read the compact guide to Madrid in the EasyJet magazine on the plane and it had recommended visiting San Lorenzo de El Escorial so we decided to check it out on the way back. It turned out to be such a lovely place, with accommodation far cheaper than in Madrid, so Berit and I decided to stay. We booked a room in the lovely Hostal Vasco (Plaza de Santiago, 11 - Tel. +34 91 890 16 19). The Hostal Vasco felt like a time warp, it was like a hotel would have been forty or so years ago, very basic yet brilliantly unspoiled, we loved it. Our room and window balcony over looked the rooftops of San Lorenzo, including the roof of the Monastery.

Unfortunately our lack of planning caught us out the next day when we found out that most of San Lorenzo was closed on Mondays but the Tourist Office gave us some walking guide maps so I managed to convince Berit to spend the late morning and afternoon walking to Silla de Filipe II (King Philip II's Seat).

Once at Silla de Filipe II, I did something that I had secretly been planning for a while... whilst down on one knee, I asked Berit to marry me. Luckily for me she said yes before I'd got to the end of the sentence :-)

More Pics...

The Wedding

The wedding ceremony took place in a magnificant church in the old part of town on Friday evening. Contrary to British weddings, all guests and the groom were awaiting the arrival of the bride outside the church. She arrived with her father, looking absolutely stunning in a champagne coloured dress with a long train and veil. Pedro escorted his wife-to-be up the aisle accompanied by his mother and her father.

After the ceremony, we made our way to a restaurant in the outskirts of Valladolid overlooking the mountains for drinks and canapees in the gardens followed by a truly impressive meal of lobster, white fish in garlic sauce, apple sorbet and lamb, chocolate cake, icecream and champagne. And then we danced into the early hours of Saturday. It was a magical day.

More Pics...

Valladolid, Spain

On Wednesday, we left a cold and wet Bristol behind and flew to Madrid to celebrate the wedding of our friends, Ana and Pedro, Arriving in Madrid, we teamed up with Tucker, Glen and Emily to spend the night in one of the hostels in the city centre and for a bit of sightseeing the following day, visiting one of Madrid's many famous museeums of art, Museo Del Prado. After a late lunch, we headed towards the bus station and a 2,5 hours ride to Ana's hometown of Valladolid (once the capital of Spain), where we were picked up by Ana and Pedro, friends and family and enjoyed a lovely evening-before meal (which included tripe, a Spanish delicatesse, and which Chris felt compelled to try) in the old part of town.