Bergman Travel Diary

2009 The Journey Begins By The Bergman Family Book Preview

Today we took a wintery trip to London for a taste of the Christmas Celebrations. When we turned on the radio to listen for weather and traffic updates we discovered that most of the South east was covered in another blanket of snow overnight. We took great care on our slipperly local roads and were relieved to find that all the major roads had already been gritted in preparation for today's traffic. Only ten minutes from home we discovered that the landscape had indeed been sprinkled with fresh snow. QEII park and Butser Hill (which we have visited a few times) was beautifully white. As we got further north the volume of snow became obviously more intense so we decided to stop off at The Devil's Punchbowl, at Hindhead, for a play in the snow. It was quite deep here ... approximately 1/2 a foot and really fluffy. After a few snow ball fights we headed back to the car and finished our trip to Richmond station. Once there, we took advantage of the all-day travel cards offe...

There a many traditions in England that have never translated to Australia. One such tradition is that of a Christingle service. Today Zane and I were fortunate enough to take part in one of these. Christingle services haven't been around that long. They started in Germany in 1747 but didn't come to England until 1968. The service is simply a celebration of the love of Christ. It surrounds a model made from a number of items. The base of the model is an orange which represents the world. Wrapped around the orange is a red ribbon. This represents the blood of Christ surrounding the the world. On the very top of the orange is lit candle representing the light of Christ. To show the fruits of the Earth that Christ gives us is four tooth picks with either dried fruit or sweets threaded in them. This also represents the four seasons. The services was conducted in darkness with only the light of the candles, sort of like a Carols by Candlelight. It was a very special service and both...

After dropping Kerry off at her school's Christmas Fayre, Matt and the boys decided to visit a local park in Portsmouth. Although the boys were having plenty of fun, we decided to go for a walk to give Storm some exercise. While on our walk we came across a rather dilapidated sign. Too our amazment we were standing in an historical area dating back to King Henry VIII (1500s). In front of us was a great mound that just looked like something put there as a sound barrier or the like but, as indicated on the sign, it was a fortification built to protect the area. After walking around and on the forification we found many cannon turrets hidden in the wall as well as a number of well hidden doors. Unfortunately all of these were boarded up but we remain surprised at how much history is surrounding us, almost in our backyard!!

Today we took a giant step back in time to the Victorian era with yet another visit to the Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth... this time for their yearly Victorian Christmas Festival. This year marks the 10year anniversary for this gorgeous festival and we were not to be dissappointed. As soon as we got inside the gates, all securely rugged up from the cold snap that has suddenly set in as Christmas approaches, we headed for the booth giving tickets out for visits to Father Christmas' Grotto. Then it was off the the HMS Warrior, where the grotto was set inside the ship, surrounded by Christmas parafenalia. Father Christmas was certainly a sight to see. He was dressed in tradition Victorian Santa green... so different from the red he wears these days. The grotto and Santa looked like something out of a Christmas film... put tingles all down our spines. The boys even posed for their yearly picture while we were there. As we headed out again after our visit, we passed the booth, where...

Today the sun is shining and seemed to be calling us outdoors .... well, at least Matt & I, that is! So, after a lovely slow morning start we decided to take Storm out for a walk in the woods at Queens Enclosure (right near our home). We grabbed the cameras and headed out the door, leaving the boys to do their own thing for a while. The woods were a magical colour today: most of the deciduous trees have lost their leaves now as Winter approaches, but the woods are filled with evergreens with moss crawling up their trunks and vines climbing all over them. The light slowly filtered in from above the canopy, making the most amazing light for photographs. It was bitterly cold as we wandered around, but this didn't stop us - just made us feel refreshed! We went slowly and softly as we looked for some Squirrells to shoot ... digitally speaking! We were not to be dissapointed as many of these furry little critters were playing about and gathering nuts while there were still some ...

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK... the day when the country sets of wads of Fireworks to remember the famous Gunpowder Plot in 1605, where a failed attempt to assasinate King James I (also King James VI of Scotland and son of Mary Queen of Scots) left Guy Fawkes (who had been put in charge of the plans execution) was left to take the fall for the entire group responsible when he was found during a raid of the cellars underneath Parliament. Fawkes was then hanged, drawn and quartered on the 31st of January 1606 (at the age of 35). As the locals all started letting off their backyard fireworks for the evening we headed off for 1st Cowplain Scout Den. Tonights agenda: Zanes investment into the Scout group. During parade Zane and three others were invested into the group at 1st Cowplain, given their first badges (will be sewing them on later), had their neckerchiefs (simply called a scarf back home in Oz) put around their collars, gave their first official salutes and shook the hands ...