Friday 19th February

This morning we relaxed around the pool with Keith & Ruth and had lunch at the poolside restaurant.

In the afternoon we met up with Russell, Christine and the rest of the wedding party at the Cathedral for a wedding run-through.

In the evening we joined the guests, mainly from the UK, at Carnivore, a well-known Nairobi restaurant that serves all different sorts of meat, including alligator.

http://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/kenya/nairobi/excursions/carnivore.asp

Thursday 18th February
Rachael and Russell enjoying a brother and sister chat before the traditional Kikuyu wedding with Mike ready to take photographs and a groomsman in the background.

Russell and Alan on the morning of the Ngurario.

An MC explained the reasons behind the customs and ceremonies at each stage as well as announcing what would happen next. The main reason behind each event in the long Kikuyu wedding process is that people like to meet, eat, drink and party.

All the unmarried girls went out & returned hidden under identical pieces of material. Russell was under stress at this stage as he had to identify his bride.

The women in Chritine's clan decorate her to make her more beautiful.

The horn is blown and the women sing and dance when she is ready.

The clan elders taught Russell the clan names and dress him as a warrior ready to defend his goats and his family.

Glenys, as the mother of the groom, decorates Christine with a gold brooch that belonged to her mother's mother.

The couple are ready for the wedding ceremony and presented to their guests with singing and dancing.

Christine shows that she can care for Russell by grooming him and feeding him uji, a type of porridge, his groomsmen are served by other girls.

Christine in her wedding finery.

Russell carved the shoulder joint of one of the goats. This is the moment of their marriage.

A quarter of uncooked goat is presented to the groom's family so that they return with meat to eat after the ceremony.

Most people joined in the dance around the pool and tables at the start of the after wedding party.

Wednesday 17th February
Today we travelled up into the Ngong Hills to the meat market where goats are sold. These are the nanny and billy that were chosen for tomorrow's ceremony. They are being unloaded at Grant and Grace's house for preparation by the cook who knows how to prepare ceremonial goats.


Just past Karen, on the way back into Nairobi, we stopped at a plant stall by the side of the road. It was very hot and dusty in the street but under the trees it was lovely and cool.

Here is Russell by one of the plants that we had to transport back to Eunice's apartment - a tight fit in her car.

Tuesday 16th February

We visited Nairobi National Museum today with Rachael & Mike. This central exhibit of gourds used in various ways by the 42 tribes in Kenya depicts how everyone can work together'

We were given a guided tour by an anthropoligist who explained how human skulls and bones were dated and what they show about human development.
http://www.museums.or.ke/


Later in the afternoon w e met up with Christine, Russell & Eunice to do some final shopping for the wedding.

Monday 15th February

Today we had a very relaxing day at the hotel enjoying the lovely warm weather and beautiful gardens.
www.fairviewkenya.com

Sunday 14th February
We had a good overnight flight and were met at the airport by Russell and Eunice. Having booked into the hotel we had mid-morning drinks in the hotel garden.
www.fairviewkenya.com

During the afternoon we relaxed and strolled round the hotel gardens which are very green and had lots of beautiful flowers.

We all met up in the evening for dinner and to discuss plans for the next few days

Friday 29th January
Having met Russell & Christine yesterday we spent the night in Weybridge and visited the Brooklands Museum today.
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/
One of the first things we did was to have a close look at the original concrete track. Surprisingly most of it is still there.


At the museum they have the first British production Concorde. Much of the design, testing and manufacture took place here.
In the cockpit of another plane we enjoyed a long conversation with a Concorde flight engineer.

In the Wellington Hangar nearby we looked around a Harrier Jump Jet and were allowed to sit in its very cramped cockpit. In the same hangar were many other planes, including a Wellington bomber recovered from Loch Ness. There were also prototypes of the Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb which were tested nearby.

Near the end of the day we both had a 'drive' in a McLaren Formula 1 simulator & Glenys achieved a top 10 time.

At the end of the day we were able to talk about these racing cars with a volunteer who had worked in the industry for 40 years and raced for 11 before becoming a race steward.

Saturday 30th January

We met up with Rachael in London and we all visited the V&A Museum and enjoyed two special exhibitions. One was showing the latest in 3-D art and digital developments. We really enjoyed this, much of it was interactive and there were some amazing images.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

The other was an exhibition about forgeries and fakes & how the art & history experts can be fooled.

After Rusell joined us we crossed over the road to the Natural History Museum and spent the last part of the afternoon looking around the dinosaur exhibition.

Sunday 31st January

On Sunday morning we met up with Rachael and Mike at the Columbia Road flower market in Hackney. It very busy with lots of stalls and interesting shops.

From the market we walked to Dalston to see Rachael's new studio.