It's our last day in NZ, so I'll update the daily list tonight from home. I just wanted to say a big Thanks to all the funky dudes we've met, stayed with, visited and hung around with - you all rock. I'm lifting a metaphorical L&P in your direction.
Love to all, Helen
Sunday 28 December 2008
Thursday 25 December 2008
Cocktail happy
Merry Chirstmas, everyone! I am full of Christmas cheer and Malibu!
We've been spending the last few days in Napier with Mike's family, and it's been lovely. It's nice to meet people you've only seen in pictures, and to hang out with people you've only met once or twice.
Day 11 cont.
We spent the day hanging out in Napier. We went into town, finished our shopping, visited several yarn shops (yay!), saw Anne & Graham and their loverly new house, (I was very jealous) and generally being the cool dudes that we are. We ended out the day by visiting James (one of M's geek buddies) and Ana and their menagerie. Good times. Mike went a little happy at James's model train layout, and his little-boy-excited-grin was definitely in appearance.
I only went a little crazy at the local yarn shop (JJs), and the big find for the day was a 1.3 kg of red mohair 10 ply, only $10. Now I just have to get it home...
Day 12: Wednesday in Wanganui
We drove with Joy & Vic to visit Mike's niece, Brylee. The drive was about 3 hours in the rain, and I made best use of my time by knitting and napping. Wanganui was... um... wet and cold, full of people shopping and being bothersome. We picked Brylee up from her mum's house and wentr to a local ewatery/gelato bar. Lunch was lovely, then we headed off to the local museum and checked out their collection of Maori portraits and carvings and boats - pretty cool. Brylee was a little sweetie, I'm glad we got to hang out for a bit.
The drive home was pretty uneventful, apart from the Train Chasing and stopping at the smelliest antique shop I've ever been to - it really needed some fresh air, so I went and indulged at the Cheesecake Cafe instead :)
Dinner was Wisconsin burgers, and I went to my happy burger place. I managed to get hold of all of my wollongong relatives having the annual Eat Until You Can't Move festival, and they all seemed to be having a fab time.
Day 13: Christmas Extravaganza
Today has been just lovely. Mike's relatives had a big lunch at Joy's house, and it was great to meet/meet up with everyone. There was much eating, drinking (yay!) and being merry. I had a little nanna nap this afternoon, and have just been hanging out for the rest of the day. I have ham and potato salad waiting for me in the kitchen...
We've been spending the last few days in Napier with Mike's family, and it's been lovely. It's nice to meet people you've only seen in pictures, and to hang out with people you've only met once or twice.
Day 11 cont.
We spent the day hanging out in Napier. We went into town, finished our shopping, visited several yarn shops (yay!), saw Anne & Graham and their loverly new house, (I was very jealous) and generally being the cool dudes that we are. We ended out the day by visiting James (one of M's geek buddies) and Ana and their menagerie. Good times. Mike went a little happy at James's model train layout, and his little-boy-excited-grin was definitely in appearance.
I only went a little crazy at the local yarn shop (JJs), and the big find for the day was a 1.3 kg of red mohair 10 ply, only $10. Now I just have to get it home...
Day 12: Wednesday in Wanganui
We drove with Joy & Vic to visit Mike's niece, Brylee. The drive was about 3 hours in the rain, and I made best use of my time by knitting and napping. Wanganui was... um... wet and cold, full of people shopping and being bothersome. We picked Brylee up from her mum's house and wentr to a local ewatery/gelato bar. Lunch was lovely, then we headed off to the local museum and checked out their collection of Maori portraits and carvings and boats - pretty cool. Brylee was a little sweetie, I'm glad we got to hang out for a bit.
The drive home was pretty uneventful, apart from the Train Chasing and stopping at the smelliest antique shop I've ever been to - it really needed some fresh air, so I went and indulged at the Cheesecake Cafe instead :)
Dinner was Wisconsin burgers, and I went to my happy burger place. I managed to get hold of all of my wollongong relatives having the annual Eat Until You Can't Move festival, and they all seemed to be having a fab time.
Day 13: Christmas Extravaganza
Today has been just lovely. Mike's relatives had a big lunch at Joy's house, and it was great to meet/meet up with everyone. There was much eating, drinking (yay!) and being merry. I had a little nanna nap this afternoon, and have just been hanging out for the rest of the day. I have ham and potato salad waiting for me in the kitchen...
Monday 22 December 2008
Phew!
Good morning all. I'm sorry it's been so long - we've been at the mercy of small towns and their kiddie-protection internet filters!
Day 5 cont.
I finished checking out Paeroa and went to pick up Mike. He'd been on a geek extravaganza walk, so I had to drive out of town to pick him up. We went back to the L&P bottle, shot the obligatory photos. had the obligatory drink and left town.
Since it was still fairly early in the day, we decided to push on to Tauranga via Waihi. After about an hour or so, we found a motel just off the main drag in Tauranga, checked in and went for a wander.
We were hoping to find somewhere nice and quiet for dinner, but found that, like most places we've been visiting, the restaurant owners have gotten wise and are charching tourist proces for everything. Bummer. We did end up in a Belgian beer hall (surprise, surprise!) and had a lovely meal, some beer and saome cocktails, thereby adding tot he cocktail menu collection at home.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this... I get a serious reaction to some sun creams, they give me hivey blotchy skin. Not much fun. For the past few days I've been suffering from blotch face, and just wanting to scratch my skin off. Well, so the drama continues. I had VERY itchh face all night, and probably grossed out all the people walking by. Haha.
Day 6: Thursday
We started off by calling our respective Tauranga mates to cxatch up. Mike was meeting with his friend Dave, a train driver and fellow geek, and I was meeting up with Pixie, one of my Ravelry buddies. I made another chemist visit for some powerful anti-itch cream, then went to the Farmers for bargain shopping day! Hurrah!
Pixie and I met up at lunch time, and she took me and her two lads to some yarn shops - we had heaps of fun! Apparently Mike & Dave just spent this time at the pub. I picked up some bargain NZ Naturally yarn and some gorgeous hand-dyed 8ply that I can't wait to use. I got to check out Pixie's stash, and grabbed some funky buttons at the Emporium. This place looked like a $2 shop, but it was full of crafty funky stuff instead of crap.
We drove down to Te Puke and tried to go to the road windsurfing place - but it was shut fdor some corporate event. Corporate bastards. Mike didn''t get to have a turn, so he was a bit sad :( Fortunately, Kiwi 360 was still open, so we got some interesting shots of a big kiwifruit. Good, wholesome geeky fun.
The roadtrip to Whatatane was only slightly interrupted by Adventures in Geek Photography, i.e. Mike getting me to stop the car every few kilometres to take photos of his favourite things. Slightly dramatic, but kinda amusing too. It gets me yarn karma.
Accommodation in Whakatane was at the P&J motel, also the site of the White Island cruises. Dinner was in the local Irish pub, yummy.
Day 7: Friday - White Island Day
Another early start, grr. I had to use some sun cream on my already splotchy face - I figured that splotches would fade, but skin cnacer is the gift that just keeps on giving. Cooked breakfast, mmmmm.....
We wandered down to the pier and hopped on the boat with a group of about 6 other backpack-ish types and set off. The ride to the island took about 90 minutes, and in that time we had a chat to our compadres. It turns out that the couple from Germany had been our next-block neighbours while they lived in Sydney for 6 months! We passed on some pearls of traveling wisdom for the guys who were about to travel to the South Island. We passed through a pod of whales who had fun surfing our bow wave. There was even a few mummy and baby dolphins swimming along! Yuo could actually hear the dolphins singing to each other over the water, it was amazing.
White Island is, basically, an active volcano. We landed, and all I could think was "Yeah, great idea, good thinking 99!", thinking of the Active Volcano part! There are several hot sports and lots of sulphur smell (and some acid rain), but really it's pretty safe. We followed the guide around for a bit, saw the main craters, saw the ruins of the old mining settlement and generall checked things.
The acidic moisture on the island made my skin itch to buggery. We were wearing helmets nad gas masks, and they both itched like hell!
Back on the boat after about 2 hours, and the ride back to shore was lovely - except for the part where the gap between my hat and my shirt left a delightful 2 inch sunburn stripe on my neck :(
On the road again to Opotiki, where accommodation was a cool little motel outside town and dinner was from the choke & puke across the road.
Day 8: Saturday
We spent the morning checking out Opotiki - another small town. The info centre was supposed to have lots on local Maori culture, but the closest we saw was the guy with the Mongrel Mob insignia riding his bike.
We started the day with another chemist visit, and the uber strong skin drugs this time. Our plan was to road trip to Hicks Bay inone day. We took our time, stopped at lots of pretty places, got lots of photos, and had a generally lovely time. There were lots of marae buildings, lots of historical churches, lots of beautiful coves.
We checked into the Hicks Bay motel, where the staff were having their end of year party. Since dinner was limited, we figured we'd rough it and grab food in Te Araroa. The church at Tikitiki was on our list of things to see, and since the next day was a Sunday we travelled out and took some photos late on Saturday. (We didn't get to see Westminister Abbey becuase they had Sunday services or something!?!, so didn't want to get caught again). The church was very beautiful and serene. We roadtripped back to Te Araroa, grabbed some fush & chups and went back to the motel for dinner.
A few words about the motel. From the moment we drove in, it felt kinda weird. The Lonely Planet had said that the place took itself too seriously, and they were right. After dinner, Mike went down to the bar for a drink and everyone stopped talking when he got there. Then he was confronted with a "Who are YOU?" - from the gal who'd checked us in.
All I needed was a watermelon, and it could have been a scene from Dirty Dancing.
Day 9: Sunday
More motel dramas. One of the towels had mud on it, the other left me covered with blue fluff. The toilet was grotty. When we mentioned these things on check-out, the owner guy got REALLY aggressive and tried to tell us that no, it couldn't possibly have been like that, it was never like that, why didn't we come and ask for more towels if it was that bad? (I was nude, idiot!)
We drove down the hill to the local Manuka Oil refinery, where we learned that mister motel's name among the locals is the Troll On The Hill. The refinery was kinda cool - good coffee, good oils, good honey.
We drove out to the East Cape Lighthouse - about 20 km down a gravgel road followed by about a gazillion steps up to the point. Worth it, though - the scenery was fantastic! Then back down the gazillion steps, back to the car, back along the gravel road and to Te Araroa for lunch. We learned more appalling stories about Mr Troll - if you ever go to East Cape, don't stay at the place on the hill. It sucks.
The road down to Gisbourne was pretty uneventful. We stopped briefly in Ruatoria, which wed heard lots about - horses down the main street, don't forget tolock your car as crime is rife, etc. The place was quiet, we only saw other tourist cars.
At Tolaga Bay we walked the length of the historic wharf - it was indeed historic. And long. And raining.
We stopped in Gisbourne for the night, I re-slathered the anti-itch cream on my face, and we went out for dinner. We'd been planning on a posh night out, but, alas, all the nice restaurants seemed to be shut. We ended up in the local Irish pub where Mike's steak was: firstly, stone-cold gravy; then secondly, over-cooked steak. Thanks, microwave! The wine was very good, so we had to keep drinking.
Mike went on a late night adventure to find some yoghurt - we'de been carrying around some raspberris & strawberries since Whakatane and really needed to eat the rest up! - and I relaxed (this is, of course a euphemism for "Was rat-arsed drunk on red wine & bubbly, so fell asleep fully clothed on the bed until Mike came home and helped me get undressed" - but don't tell anyone!)
Day 10: Monday
After wandering about in Gisbourne for a while, checking out the local yarn shop, we road-tripped to Napier. We took our time, stopped for photos, had a dip in the hot springs and generall had a lovely day. We arrived at the Shaw's in the late afternoon, and chilled with Joy & Vic.
Day 11: Tuesday in Napier
I have my potatoes cooking, some shopping to do and about a gazillion messages to reply to, so love to all!
XOXO Helen.
Day 5 cont.
I finished checking out Paeroa and went to pick up Mike. He'd been on a geek extravaganza walk, so I had to drive out of town to pick him up. We went back to the L&P bottle, shot the obligatory photos. had the obligatory drink and left town.
Since it was still fairly early in the day, we decided to push on to Tauranga via Waihi. After about an hour or so, we found a motel just off the main drag in Tauranga, checked in and went for a wander.
We were hoping to find somewhere nice and quiet for dinner, but found that, like most places we've been visiting, the restaurant owners have gotten wise and are charching tourist proces for everything. Bummer. We did end up in a Belgian beer hall (surprise, surprise!) and had a lovely meal, some beer and saome cocktails, thereby adding tot he cocktail menu collection at home.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this... I get a serious reaction to some sun creams, they give me hivey blotchy skin. Not much fun. For the past few days I've been suffering from blotch face, and just wanting to scratch my skin off. Well, so the drama continues. I had VERY itchh face all night, and probably grossed out all the people walking by. Haha.
Day 6: Thursday
We started off by calling our respective Tauranga mates to cxatch up. Mike was meeting with his friend Dave, a train driver and fellow geek, and I was meeting up with Pixie, one of my Ravelry buddies. I made another chemist visit for some powerful anti-itch cream, then went to the Farmers for bargain shopping day! Hurrah!
Pixie and I met up at lunch time, and she took me and her two lads to some yarn shops - we had heaps of fun! Apparently Mike & Dave just spent this time at the pub. I picked up some bargain NZ Naturally yarn and some gorgeous hand-dyed 8ply that I can't wait to use. I got to check out Pixie's stash, and grabbed some funky buttons at the Emporium. This place looked like a $2 shop, but it was full of crafty funky stuff instead of crap.
We drove down to Te Puke and tried to go to the road windsurfing place - but it was shut fdor some corporate event. Corporate bastards. Mike didn''t get to have a turn, so he was a bit sad :( Fortunately, Kiwi 360 was still open, so we got some interesting shots of a big kiwifruit. Good, wholesome geeky fun.
The roadtrip to Whatatane was only slightly interrupted by Adventures in Geek Photography, i.e. Mike getting me to stop the car every few kilometres to take photos of his favourite things. Slightly dramatic, but kinda amusing too. It gets me yarn karma.
Accommodation in Whakatane was at the P&J motel, also the site of the White Island cruises. Dinner was in the local Irish pub, yummy.
Day 7: Friday - White Island Day
Another early start, grr. I had to use some sun cream on my already splotchy face - I figured that splotches would fade, but skin cnacer is the gift that just keeps on giving. Cooked breakfast, mmmmm.....
We wandered down to the pier and hopped on the boat with a group of about 6 other backpack-ish types and set off. The ride to the island took about 90 minutes, and in that time we had a chat to our compadres. It turns out that the couple from Germany had been our next-block neighbours while they lived in Sydney for 6 months! We passed on some pearls of traveling wisdom for the guys who were about to travel to the South Island. We passed through a pod of whales who had fun surfing our bow wave. There was even a few mummy and baby dolphins swimming along! Yuo could actually hear the dolphins singing to each other over the water, it was amazing.
White Island is, basically, an active volcano. We landed, and all I could think was "Yeah, great idea, good thinking 99!", thinking of the Active Volcano part! There are several hot sports and lots of sulphur smell (and some acid rain), but really it's pretty safe. We followed the guide around for a bit, saw the main craters, saw the ruins of the old mining settlement and generall checked things.
The acidic moisture on the island made my skin itch to buggery. We were wearing helmets nad gas masks, and they both itched like hell!
Back on the boat after about 2 hours, and the ride back to shore was lovely - except for the part where the gap between my hat and my shirt left a delightful 2 inch sunburn stripe on my neck :(
On the road again to Opotiki, where accommodation was a cool little motel outside town and dinner was from the choke & puke across the road.
Day 8: Saturday
We spent the morning checking out Opotiki - another small town. The info centre was supposed to have lots on local Maori culture, but the closest we saw was the guy with the Mongrel Mob insignia riding his bike.
We started the day with another chemist visit, and the uber strong skin drugs this time. Our plan was to road trip to Hicks Bay inone day. We took our time, stopped at lots of pretty places, got lots of photos, and had a generally lovely time. There were lots of marae buildings, lots of historical churches, lots of beautiful coves.
We checked into the Hicks Bay motel, where the staff were having their end of year party. Since dinner was limited, we figured we'd rough it and grab food in Te Araroa. The church at Tikitiki was on our list of things to see, and since the next day was a Sunday we travelled out and took some photos late on Saturday. (We didn't get to see Westminister Abbey becuase they had Sunday services or something!?!, so didn't want to get caught again). The church was very beautiful and serene. We roadtripped back to Te Araroa, grabbed some fush & chups and went back to the motel for dinner.
A few words about the motel. From the moment we drove in, it felt kinda weird. The Lonely Planet had said that the place took itself too seriously, and they were right. After dinner, Mike went down to the bar for a drink and everyone stopped talking when he got there. Then he was confronted with a "Who are YOU?" - from the gal who'd checked us in.
All I needed was a watermelon, and it could have been a scene from Dirty Dancing.
Day 9: Sunday
More motel dramas. One of the towels had mud on it, the other left me covered with blue fluff. The toilet was grotty. When we mentioned these things on check-out, the owner guy got REALLY aggressive and tried to tell us that no, it couldn't possibly have been like that, it was never like that, why didn't we come and ask for more towels if it was that bad? (I was nude, idiot!)
We drove down the hill to the local Manuka Oil refinery, where we learned that mister motel's name among the locals is the Troll On The Hill. The refinery was kinda cool - good coffee, good oils, good honey.
We drove out to the East Cape Lighthouse - about 20 km down a gravgel road followed by about a gazillion steps up to the point. Worth it, though - the scenery was fantastic! Then back down the gazillion steps, back to the car, back along the gravel road and to Te Araroa for lunch. We learned more appalling stories about Mr Troll - if you ever go to East Cape, don't stay at the place on the hill. It sucks.
The road down to Gisbourne was pretty uneventful. We stopped briefly in Ruatoria, which wed heard lots about - horses down the main street, don't forget tolock your car as crime is rife, etc. The place was quiet, we only saw other tourist cars.
At Tolaga Bay we walked the length of the historic wharf - it was indeed historic. And long. And raining.
We stopped in Gisbourne for the night, I re-slathered the anti-itch cream on my face, and we went out for dinner. We'd been planning on a posh night out, but, alas, all the nice restaurants seemed to be shut. We ended up in the local Irish pub where Mike's steak was: firstly, stone-cold gravy; then secondly, over-cooked steak. Thanks, microwave! The wine was very good, so we had to keep drinking.
Mike went on a late night adventure to find some yoghurt - we'de been carrying around some raspberris & strawberries since Whakatane and really needed to eat the rest up! - and I relaxed (this is, of course a euphemism for "Was rat-arsed drunk on red wine & bubbly, so fell asleep fully clothed on the bed until Mike came home and helped me get undressed" - but don't tell anyone!)
Day 10: Monday
After wandering about in Gisbourne for a while, checking out the local yarn shop, we road-tripped to Napier. We took our time, stopped for photos, had a dip in the hot springs and generall had a lovely day. We arrived at the Shaw's in the late afternoon, and chilled with Joy & Vic.
Day 11: Tuesday in Napier
I have my potatoes cooking, some shopping to do and about a gazillion messages to reply to, so love to all!
XOXO Helen.
Friday 19 December 2008
Denied!
Sorry if you've commented - the library computer I'm using has filtered out my own blog! Apparently the word starting with "bug" and ending with "ger" will cause the babies to melt.
We're in Opotiki, we went to White Island this morning, is was cool. More later!
We're in Opotiki, we went to White Island this morning, is was cool. More later!
Wednesday 17 December 2008
Sweet As, Bro!
Welcome all to the further adventures of Travels With My Train Geek.
Day 5: Wednesday
We started VERY early this morning. for those of yuo that know me at all, you'll know that this involved herculean effort on my part, and no small amount of grumpiness. Damn mornings, who needs them?!?
We were out of our motel by 7am and on the road to Whitianga. At 8am we were on a glass-bottomed boat in the water. Harbour. Thingie.
The caves, cliffs & islands in Mercury Bay were gorgeous, gorgeous, I tell you! We sailed arbout for about 2 hours, nad Mike even jumped in the (very cold) water for a dip with the other tour men. Us clever womenfolk stayed on the boat and mocked their shivering!
We then drove south towards the Haihe hot water beaches. That is, you go to the beack, dig a hole, it fills up with hot thermal water, you jump in, go "my, my, hot warm!" and hop out again. On this occassion, though, we were sadly disappointed - no easy access to the hot sand, the weather was blustery and damp, so we ended up doing only a short trek across the sand and the saying, bugger it, let's go.
We drove to Tairua, Paunui and Whangamata (Fong-a-ma-TAH), then on to Waihi. Our original plan had been to put Mike on the Karanghake Gorge Railway tomorrow morning, but since we were already there/here, he's taking a ride this afternoon. I'm exploring Paeroa, and we'll come back fro a full lap this afternoon before pushing on to Tauranga tonight. Or something. We may be lost in the wilds, who can tell?
Helen's Wall of Lame
For this trip, we thought that instead of an injury count or track of clothing mishaps, the best measure of our trip could be the lameness of our varuous tour guides. If you've benn following any of our previous trips, you'll know that the sing-song hypnotism practiced by most tour guides is one of my pet peeves.
Lame Tour Guides so Far:
Driving Creek Railway. Lame jokes, but delivered in the same tone as his other prattle, so very hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Lamest Aussie joke, talking about how they are clearing pine & eucalypts and planting kauri to the property - they ring-bark a gum tree every time Australia win at the rugby. Haha, funny fucker.
Gold Stamp Battery. Dude, just because I come from Australia does not meant hat I know all the intricacies of Aussie gold mining. As if I care?!? If I knew anything about gold mining, would I be paying you to tell me about it?!? This guy was into the red zone on the lame-o-meter.
Love to Ken!
Day 5: Wednesday
We started VERY early this morning. for those of yuo that know me at all, you'll know that this involved herculean effort on my part, and no small amount of grumpiness. Damn mornings, who needs them?!?
We were out of our motel by 7am and on the road to Whitianga. At 8am we were on a glass-bottomed boat in the water. Harbour. Thingie.
The caves, cliffs & islands in Mercury Bay were gorgeous, gorgeous, I tell you! We sailed arbout for about 2 hours, nad Mike even jumped in the (very cold) water for a dip with the other tour men. Us clever womenfolk stayed on the boat and mocked their shivering!
We then drove south towards the Haihe hot water beaches. That is, you go to the beack, dig a hole, it fills up with hot thermal water, you jump in, go "my, my, hot warm!" and hop out again. On this occassion, though, we were sadly disappointed - no easy access to the hot sand, the weather was blustery and damp, so we ended up doing only a short trek across the sand and the saying, bugger it, let's go.
We drove to Tairua, Paunui and Whangamata (Fong-a-ma-TAH), then on to Waihi. Our original plan had been to put Mike on the Karanghake Gorge Railway tomorrow morning, but since we were already there/here, he's taking a ride this afternoon. I'm exploring Paeroa, and we'll come back fro a full lap this afternoon before pushing on to Tauranga tonight. Or something. We may be lost in the wilds, who can tell?
Helen's Wall of Lame
For this trip, we thought that instead of an injury count or track of clothing mishaps, the best measure of our trip could be the lameness of our varuous tour guides. If you've benn following any of our previous trips, you'll know that the sing-song hypnotism practiced by most tour guides is one of my pet peeves.
Lame Tour Guides so Far:
Driving Creek Railway. Lame jokes, but delivered in the same tone as his other prattle, so very hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Lamest Aussie joke, talking about how they are clearing pine & eucalypts and planting kauri to the property - they ring-bark a gum tree every time Australia win at the rugby. Haha, funny fucker.
Gold Stamp Battery. Dude, just because I come from Australia does not meant hat I know all the intricacies of Aussie gold mining. As if I care?!? If I knew anything about gold mining, would I be paying you to tell me about it?!? This guy was into the red zone on the lame-o-meter.
Love to Ken!
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Goodbye Coromandel
Hi all!
This is our final night in the Coromandel, but I've stocked up on $2 coins so I'm good to catch everyone up wioth our going on.
Day 2: Sunday
Mike, the wonderful, let me sleep in after my all-night knitting session, and this is only one reason why I love him so much! Breakfast was with Duncan, Bec, Al and offspring, who were pretty excited about their carols concert later in the day. They sang carols for us, and Mike had fun playing with thier Brio.
We farewelled the house of Macdonald, and drove to see Mike's old buddies Peter & Michelle. Thier little Ava is 17 months old, and what a cutie! We went for brunch & coffee to a local kid-friendly cafe, and they all had fun while I continued to knit like the wind. The main street had lots of sewing shopes, but I resisted the urge to go retail crazy!
After a while Ava needed a nap, so we went back to their house, and I finished the jersey, hurrah! It was so cute, and should still fit her next winter. (Everyone seemed to like it, I hope!)
Road Trip Time! Mike and I powered up the motorway to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, an old historic rail thingie. Alas, they weren't running their steam engine, (M was sad) but we met up with his buddy Geoff and went for a ride. Fun, fun, fun.
Afterwards we hopped back in the car and continued driving. The landscape here is so pretty, and the colours of the trees and mountains and ocean are the most vivid I think I've ever seen.
We drove to Coromander via Thames. The town here is a typical seafood/tourist town, a few pubs, lots of motels, lots of gift shops, the usual! We found our accommodation, a cute little cabin, made out\rselves comfy, and headed into town for dinner. The pub bistro had "run out of food" (!) so we ended up in the local italian restaurant for gumbo, seafood risotto (me) and Fisk o' the Day (Mike).
Day 3: Monday
Train Geek Excursion #2 - Driving Creek Railway. This mini railway was started by a local hippy/artist/potter who needed to be able to get the clay from his property for making pottery. 35 years later, it's a tourist spot. We climbed the hill, went "ooh" and "aah" at appropriate junctures, and generally had a fun time. Mike's little-boy-excited-grin was in evidence, so cute! The commentary was possibly the lamest comedy I've ever heard - more lame stories later.
Our next destination was the winding (and unsealed) 309 road. Starting just south of Coromandel town, it goes across the penninsula to the east side. We went to the Water World - lots of geeky water fountains, water-powered sculptures, water jets, water... you get the idea. More geeky fun. Further along the 309, we had to stop for some cute, CUTE little baby piggies following their mummy piggy across the road. As we watched, one of the boy piggies was trying to make more baby piggies with any of the girl piggies who would stand still for more than 10 seconds. Piggy backing! Most of the piggies were black, but there were a few spotted piggies too. We later found out that the farmer who lives there just, weel, loves pigs, and his farm is a no-hunting-no-dog farm, so the local wild piggies use it as a sanctuary when it's hunting season and hang out with the tame piggies.
Next along the road was a Kauri grove. Kauri are the mo-fo big NZ trees that were nearly felled to extinction in the early boat-making days of the colony. We wandered along the path that led to a group of about 8 massive, MASSIVE trees, about 15 metres in circumference each. There was also the Siamese kauri - two trees that have grown together. It was very quiet and calm in the grove.
We drove along the rest of the 309 road to the east of the penninsula and checked out the town of Whitianga (my slepping is probably really bad - sorry). Another basic costal tourist town. The road trip continued up and back to Coromandel.
We left the car at our motel and walked into town - only about 15 minutes down the hill. We were just trying to have a non-complicated dinner, and managed to grab some yummy fush & chups to eat at the local pub. After I had to help the bardude with our cocktail order, he ended up chatting to us for ages, and we had a nice evening. We started to walk back to our motel when the heavens opened, so we stopped intot he nearest shelter - another pub (Mum and Dad, I swear, I'm not an alcoholic! Honest!) We had a few while we waited for the rain to die down, and ended up only getting slightly damp as we trudged back up the hill.
Day 4: Tuesday
Today was North Coromandel day. We started out with a steak & cheese pie from the local bakery and drove north, through Coalville to the north of the penninsular. The coastline was exquisitely beautiful, and the colours again were really vivid. Navigating the unsealded road between Coalville and Port Charles, Stony Beach & Sandy Beach was kinda fun. (Joy, don't worry, we took really good care of your little car!) My early driving experiences, aka "Get out of the bloody armco, girl" came to my aid and we made it safe and sound back to town. The afternoon was spent at the Gold Stamp press thingie, where the not-very-good guide showed us how to avoid getting mercury poisioning. A life skill I'm sure will have many applications.
Tomorrow we'll be going on a glass-bottomed boat ride, can't wait!
Cheers, Helen
This is our final night in the Coromandel, but I've stocked up on $2 coins so I'm good to catch everyone up wioth our going on.
Day 2: Sunday
Mike, the wonderful, let me sleep in after my all-night knitting session, and this is only one reason why I love him so much! Breakfast was with Duncan, Bec, Al and offspring, who were pretty excited about their carols concert later in the day. They sang carols for us, and Mike had fun playing with thier Brio.
We farewelled the house of Macdonald, and drove to see Mike's old buddies Peter & Michelle. Thier little Ava is 17 months old, and what a cutie! We went for brunch & coffee to a local kid-friendly cafe, and they all had fun while I continued to knit like the wind. The main street had lots of sewing shopes, but I resisted the urge to go retail crazy!
After a while Ava needed a nap, so we went back to their house, and I finished the jersey, hurrah! It was so cute, and should still fit her next winter. (Everyone seemed to like it, I hope!)
Road Trip Time! Mike and I powered up the motorway to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, an old historic rail thingie. Alas, they weren't running their steam engine, (M was sad) but we met up with his buddy Geoff and went for a ride. Fun, fun, fun.
Afterwards we hopped back in the car and continued driving. The landscape here is so pretty, and the colours of the trees and mountains and ocean are the most vivid I think I've ever seen.
We drove to Coromander via Thames. The town here is a typical seafood/tourist town, a few pubs, lots of motels, lots of gift shops, the usual! We found our accommodation, a cute little cabin, made out\rselves comfy, and headed into town for dinner. The pub bistro had "run out of food" (!) so we ended up in the local italian restaurant for gumbo, seafood risotto (me) and Fisk o' the Day (Mike).
Day 3: Monday
Train Geek Excursion #2 - Driving Creek Railway. This mini railway was started by a local hippy/artist/potter who needed to be able to get the clay from his property for making pottery. 35 years later, it's a tourist spot. We climbed the hill, went "ooh" and "aah" at appropriate junctures, and generally had a fun time. Mike's little-boy-excited-grin was in evidence, so cute! The commentary was possibly the lamest comedy I've ever heard - more lame stories later.
Our next destination was the winding (and unsealed) 309 road. Starting just south of Coromandel town, it goes across the penninsula to the east side. We went to the Water World - lots of geeky water fountains, water-powered sculptures, water jets, water... you get the idea. More geeky fun. Further along the 309, we had to stop for some cute, CUTE little baby piggies following their mummy piggy across the road. As we watched, one of the boy piggies was trying to make more baby piggies with any of the girl piggies who would stand still for more than 10 seconds. Piggy backing! Most of the piggies were black, but there were a few spotted piggies too. We later found out that the farmer who lives there just, weel, loves pigs, and his farm is a no-hunting-no-dog farm, so the local wild piggies use it as a sanctuary when it's hunting season and hang out with the tame piggies.
Next along the road was a Kauri grove. Kauri are the mo-fo big NZ trees that were nearly felled to extinction in the early boat-making days of the colony. We wandered along the path that led to a group of about 8 massive, MASSIVE trees, about 15 metres in circumference each. There was also the Siamese kauri - two trees that have grown together. It was very quiet and calm in the grove.
We drove along the rest of the 309 road to the east of the penninsula and checked out the town of Whitianga (my slepping is probably really bad - sorry). Another basic costal tourist town. The road trip continued up and back to Coromandel.
We left the car at our motel and walked into town - only about 15 minutes down the hill. We were just trying to have a non-complicated dinner, and managed to grab some yummy fush & chups to eat at the local pub. After I had to help the bardude with our cocktail order, he ended up chatting to us for ages, and we had a nice evening. We started to walk back to our motel when the heavens opened, so we stopped intot he nearest shelter - another pub (Mum and Dad, I swear, I'm not an alcoholic! Honest!) We had a few while we waited for the rain to die down, and ended up only getting slightly damp as we trudged back up the hill.
Day 4: Tuesday
Today was North Coromandel day. We started out with a steak & cheese pie from the local bakery and drove north, through Coalville to the north of the penninsular. The coastline was exquisitely beautiful, and the colours again were really vivid. Navigating the unsealded road between Coalville and Port Charles, Stony Beach & Sandy Beach was kinda fun. (Joy, don't worry, we took really good care of your little car!) My early driving experiences, aka "Get out of the bloody armco, girl" came to my aid and we made it safe and sound back to town. The afternoon was spent at the Gold Stamp press thingie, where the not-very-good guide showed us how to avoid getting mercury poisioning. A life skill I'm sure will have many applications.
Tomorrow we'll be going on a glass-bottomed boat ride, can't wait!
Cheers, Helen
Monday 15 December 2008
Daily Update
Greeting all! We're here in sunny NZ. The weather is beautiful - if not, just wait for five minutes, it'll change back. Here's what we've been up to so far:
Day 1: Saturday
The Qantas flight was delayed. Surprise, surprise. We went slightly mental stocking up on duty-free, c'est la vie! The flight was fine, we made up lots of time int he air. Arrived in Auckland, found the car and we were on our way.
First stop was to Duncan & Julie's house - parents of our friends who have always said "If you want somewhere to stay..." so this time, we did. Lovely people, we felt very welcome.
After a quick drink and bag drop-off, we scooted over to Aden & Fiona's house. A&F are old TV buddies of Mike's. Their little dude was already asleep, but we had a lovely dinner. Lots of gas-bagging about people I've never heard of :) I spent most of the night trying to keep up with the name mentioning and trying to finish the little new All Black's set.
Back to D&J's, we crept in VERY late and snuck up to our room. M fell asleep, but I got comfy and continued knitting. At 3am Mike woke up and encouraged me to come to bed.
Got to go, I've got a kiwifruit cocktail waiting for me...
Day 1: Saturday
The Qantas flight was delayed. Surprise, surprise. We went slightly mental stocking up on duty-free, c'est la vie! The flight was fine, we made up lots of time int he air. Arrived in Auckland, found the car and we were on our way.
First stop was to Duncan & Julie's house - parents of our friends who have always said "If you want somewhere to stay..." so this time, we did. Lovely people, we felt very welcome.
After a quick drink and bag drop-off, we scooted over to Aden & Fiona's house. A&F are old TV buddies of Mike's. Their little dude was already asleep, but we had a lovely dinner. Lots of gas-bagging about people I've never heard of :) I spent most of the night trying to keep up with the name mentioning and trying to finish the little new All Black's set.
Back to D&J's, we crept in VERY late and snuck up to our room. M fell asleep, but I got comfy and continued knitting. At 3am Mike woke up and encouraged me to come to bed.
Got to go, I've got a kiwifruit cocktail waiting for me...
Sunday 14 December 2008
Coromandel
Hi guys! We're in the beautiful Coromandel peninsula, staying in (funnily enough) Cormandel town. It is breath-takingly beautiful here!
I'll do a day-by-day summary when my internet access isn't about to run out...
I'll do a day-by-day summary when my internet access isn't about to run out...
Monday 8 December 2008
Across The Ditch, NZ Ahoy!
Greetings, gentle readers! Helen and Mike are off on another grand adventure, this time returning to New Zealand and to the bosum of Mike's family for Christmas. So to speak, anyway. It's going to be a great 2 weeks!
Here's the current plan:
13/12/08: Arrive Auckland, staying with Julie & Duncan. Dinner with M's friend Aden & family.
14/12/08: Brunch & catch-up with move of M's buddies from his NZ TV & London days. Drive to Glenbrook, train-geek it up for a while at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. Drive to Coromandel.
15/12/08: Explore Coromandel peninsula.
16/12/08: Ditto.
17/12/08: Explore some more, depart Coromandel. Check out Pauanui, Whangamata, Waihi & Paeroa - expect to see photos of me with the large L&P bottle (choice, bro!). Train Geek Adventure #2 at the Goldfields Vintage Railway. Stay somewhere local.
18/12/08: Continure road trip. Catch up with my knitting bud NZ Pixie in Tauranga. Check out the Big Kiwifruit, have some Blokart fun, drive to Whakatane.
20/12/08: White Island day. Travel on to Opotiki.
21/12/08: More driving, towards Hick's Bay.
22/12/08: Check out the East Cape Lighthouse, travel to Gisborne via Ruatoria Bay, Te Puia Hot Springs & Whangara.
23/12/08: Drive to Napier, staying with Joy & Vic.
24/12 - 27/12/08: Enjoy Christmas time in Napier with Mike's family, including a day trip to visit Briley.
27/12/08: Fly to Wellington, hopefully catch up with Multispork (another knitting buddy).
28/12/08: More Wellington stuff.
29/12/08: Fly home to Sydney.
30/12/08: Road-trip to Canberra, see Helen's family.
31/12/08: Road-trip to Pambula to see John & Amanda. NYE at their restaurant.
01/01/09: Chill in Pambula.
02/01/09: Road-trip back to Sydney, possibly going the long way around.
05/01/09: Back to work, gah!
I'm practising my NZ pronunciations, but I'm pretty bad! The accent always seems to be in a place other that what I think. This week is still really busy with Christmas stuff to organise, birthdays to celebrate, friends to catch up with, and fun to be had.
Here's the current plan:
13/12/08: Arrive Auckland, staying with Julie & Duncan. Dinner with M's friend Aden & family.
14/12/08: Brunch & catch-up with move of M's buddies from his NZ TV & London days. Drive to Glenbrook, train-geek it up for a while at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. Drive to Coromandel.
15/12/08: Explore Coromandel peninsula.
16/12/08: Ditto.
17/12/08: Explore some more, depart Coromandel. Check out Pauanui, Whangamata, Waihi & Paeroa - expect to see photos of me with the large L&P bottle (choice, bro!). Train Geek Adventure #2 at the Goldfields Vintage Railway. Stay somewhere local.
18/12/08: Continure road trip. Catch up with my knitting bud NZ Pixie in Tauranga. Check out the Big Kiwifruit, have some Blokart fun, drive to Whakatane.
20/12/08: White Island day. Travel on to Opotiki.
21/12/08: More driving, towards Hick's Bay.
22/12/08: Check out the East Cape Lighthouse, travel to Gisborne via Ruatoria Bay, Te Puia Hot Springs & Whangara.
23/12/08: Drive to Napier, staying with Joy & Vic.
24/12 - 27/12/08: Enjoy Christmas time in Napier with Mike's family, including a day trip to visit Briley.
27/12/08: Fly to Wellington, hopefully catch up with Multispork (another knitting buddy).
28/12/08: More Wellington stuff.
29/12/08: Fly home to Sydney.
30/12/08: Road-trip to Canberra, see Helen's family.
31/12/08: Road-trip to Pambula to see John & Amanda. NYE at their restaurant.
01/01/09: Chill in Pambula.
02/01/09: Road-trip back to Sydney, possibly going the long way around.
05/01/09: Back to work, gah!
I'm practising my NZ pronunciations, but I'm pretty bad! The accent always seems to be in a place other that what I think. This week is still really busy with Christmas stuff to organise, birthdays to celebrate, friends to catch up with, and fun to be had.
Friday 4 July 2008
Frankenfurter, It's All Over
Hello all, I'm in the BA lounge in Frankenfurt Airport, and bless them, they have free internet acess! So we have time for a final, qick post before we have to run the gauntlet at security.
Back to Heidelberg...
We were both pretty hot, sweaty and tired by the time we arrived, so we bit the bullet and got a taxi to our hotel. M relaxed by having a few pints of Guinness.
I went to have a shower and to change my clothes. When I tried to leave the room, I couldn't unlock the door... Luckily the barman had a pass key, so he and Mike came to the rescue (Very embarassing!)
Heidelberg is a beautiful town. We started Day 2 by enjoing the fabulous cafe continental Breakfasts I have come to know and love. We trudged back to the train station, with the SFH weather playing havoc on our tempers! There was tetchiness, shall we say? We bought Heidelberg Cards at the info office and caught a tram to the fernicular railway and the castle.
A note about ferniculars - basically, it's two tram carriages at either ends of a long cable, with a cable driver at the top of the hill. One goes up, the other goes down. We had already been on one in Brussels, so I was prepared for the little-boy-excited look on Mike's face when he gets on one - v cute. But, probably thanks to my music training, the WHOLE time on these cute little trams, I have the following song in my head:
Funicu-lee, funicu-lar
Funicu-lee, funicu-LAR,
La la la la la,
Funicu-lee, funicular.
(Points to whoever can name this aria first - again, thanks to my lack of attention during my music training!)
The ride and view were awesome, but since it was still SFH we decided to leave the Schloss (castle) until the next day.
The afternoon was spent wandering around the Old Town of Heidelberg. The cathedral was awesome (Mike climbed the tower) and then we headed to the train station to meet Mike's mate Tobi. Alas, he had his days mixed up and didn't come...
More later...
Back to Heidelberg...
We were both pretty hot, sweaty and tired by the time we arrived, so we bit the bullet and got a taxi to our hotel. M relaxed by having a few pints of Guinness.
I went to have a shower and to change my clothes. When I tried to leave the room, I couldn't unlock the door... Luckily the barman had a pass key, so he and Mike came to the rescue (Very embarassing!)
Heidelberg is a beautiful town. We started Day 2 by enjoing the fabulous cafe continental Breakfasts I have come to know and love. We trudged back to the train station, with the SFH weather playing havoc on our tempers! There was tetchiness, shall we say? We bought Heidelberg Cards at the info office and caught a tram to the fernicular railway and the castle.
A note about ferniculars - basically, it's two tram carriages at either ends of a long cable, with a cable driver at the top of the hill. One goes up, the other goes down. We had already been on one in Brussels, so I was prepared for the little-boy-excited look on Mike's face when he gets on one - v cute. But, probably thanks to my music training, the WHOLE time on these cute little trams, I have the following song in my head:
Funicu-lee, funicu-lar
Funicu-lee, funicu-LAR,
La la la la la,
Funicu-lee, funicular.
(Points to whoever can name this aria first - again, thanks to my lack of attention during my music training!)
The ride and view were awesome, but since it was still SFH we decided to leave the Schloss (castle) until the next day.
The afternoon was spent wandering around the Old Town of Heidelberg. The cathedral was awesome (Mike climbed the tower) and then we headed to the train station to meet Mike's mate Tobi. Alas, he had his days mixed up and didn't come...
More later...
Thursday 3 July 2008
Last Day
Greetings all, this is probably my last blog from this side of the world, I'm flying home tomorrow, so we've been very busy trying to cram in some last-minute stuff before we leave.
Travelling Day - Austria to Heidelberg
Much less painful than I expected. We toddled about Vienna in the morning, jumped on a train, , ended up in Frankfurt-on-Main (i.e. Frankfurt this big city. There's another one that isn't so big), jumped on another train, ended up in Heidelberg.
We were booked into stay at an Irish pub - the only accommodation left in town...
Oh bugger, we have to go and meet M's friend from Stuttgard... more when I can...
Travelling Day - Austria to Heidelberg
Much less painful than I expected. We toddled about Vienna in the morning, jumped on a train, , ended up in Frankfurt-on-Main (i.e. Frankfurt this big city. There's another one that isn't so big), jumped on another train, ended up in Heidelberg.
We were booked into stay at an Irish pub - the only accommodation left in town...
Oh bugger, we have to go and meet M's friend from Stuttgard... more when I can...
Monday 30 June 2008
Holiday Pros & Cons
Things I Am Loving:
* Being on holidays in the first place.
* Annual Leave Loading. God bless the public service!
* Finally being in Europe. It's been a while in the planning.
* Starting to plan the next trip...
* Striking a happy Helen/Mike balance of planning, decision-making and going with the flow.
* European pillows. The big, fat square variety.
* Continental breakfasts. So civilised!
* Finding Lush shops all over the world. Being able to find them just using smell.
* Using Lush bath bombs all over the world.
* Everyone else speaking English - makes life SO much easier.
* Under-estimating the exchange rate in my favour, and having more spending money left than I thought.
* The prospect of going Birkenstock shopping in Frankfurt.
* Being able to say basic things in other languages - danke schoen!
* Looking forward to becoming one of those annoying people who have been in a city/country for 6 hours and tell lots of "Oh, when I was in [city/country], I [insert annoying travel anecdote here]" stories.
* Getting a new Mozart Loves Prague t-shirt to replace the one bought for me about 14 years ago, which has served me well but is now dying.
* Being in a place where it is normal to have a physical history more than 200 years old.
* Being in a place that, despite it's long history, is still very geographically young. The rocks are all still pointy, they haven't been around for very long!
* A fabulous, easy-to-understand public transport network.
* The option, albeit never taken, of using a mini-bar. I'm tempted to get a little fridge to have in my bedroom or under my desk at work, I love them so much.
* Drinking Belgian Beer in Belgium.
* Taking Belgian Beer from Belgium back home. Drinking Belgian Beer from Belgium at home.
* Too many other small things to count...
Things I Am NOT Loving:
* Getting motion sick on the plane and up-chucking steadily for 23 hours.
* The prospect of getting motion sick on the plane going home; upchucking for another 23 hours.
* The prospect of upchucking for 23 hours while traveling alone and my honey is still in London.
* European pillows that are neither big nor fat but are instead stupid and flat.
* SFH weather, sweating like a pig in 95% humidity for days on end.
* Not being on holidays any more; going back to a normal working life. Aaahhh!
* Being VERY sniffly while on holidays. Having a travel partner who is also very sniffly, which makes him snore like a combine harvester.
* Constantly having to buy tissues, water and hypo food.
* Constantly having to do blood tests. My fingers are starting to spontaneously bleed.
* Shared bathrooms. Don't do it - just don't.
* FRICKIN' EUROPEAN CHAIN-SMOKERS!
* Frickin' stupid and out-dated European smoking regulations. Do the words Lung and Cancer have no meaning for these people?
* Not having the free use of a washing machine. Paying hotel rates to have someone else wash my smalls. Paying hotel rates for someone else, having washed my smalls, to then put a g-string on a clothes hanger. Paying for this privilege.
* Lots of other small, annoying things that in no way come close to out-balancing the good stuff.
Lots of love, H
* Being on holidays in the first place.
* Annual Leave Loading. God bless the public service!
* Finally being in Europe. It's been a while in the planning.
* Starting to plan the next trip...
* Striking a happy Helen/Mike balance of planning, decision-making and going with the flow.
* European pillows. The big, fat square variety.
* Continental breakfasts. So civilised!
* Finding Lush shops all over the world. Being able to find them just using smell.
* Using Lush bath bombs all over the world.
* Everyone else speaking English - makes life SO much easier.
* Under-estimating the exchange rate in my favour, and having more spending money left than I thought.
* The prospect of going Birkenstock shopping in Frankfurt.
* Being able to say basic things in other languages - danke schoen!
* Looking forward to becoming one of those annoying people who have been in a city/country for 6 hours and tell lots of "Oh, when I was in [city/country], I [insert annoying travel anecdote here]" stories.
* Getting a new Mozart Loves Prague t-shirt to replace the one bought for me about 14 years ago, which has served me well but is now dying.
* Being in a place where it is normal to have a physical history more than 200 years old.
* Being in a place that, despite it's long history, is still very geographically young. The rocks are all still pointy, they haven't been around for very long!
* A fabulous, easy-to-understand public transport network.
* The option, albeit never taken, of using a mini-bar. I'm tempted to get a little fridge to have in my bedroom or under my desk at work, I love them so much.
* Drinking Belgian Beer in Belgium.
* Taking Belgian Beer from Belgium back home. Drinking Belgian Beer from Belgium at home.
* Too many other small things to count...
Things I Am NOT Loving:
* Getting motion sick on the plane and up-chucking steadily for 23 hours.
* The prospect of getting motion sick on the plane going home; upchucking for another 23 hours.
* The prospect of upchucking for 23 hours while traveling alone and my honey is still in London.
* European pillows that are neither big nor fat but are instead stupid and flat.
* SFH weather, sweating like a pig in 95% humidity for days on end.
* Not being on holidays any more; going back to a normal working life. Aaahhh!
* Being VERY sniffly while on holidays. Having a travel partner who is also very sniffly, which makes him snore like a combine harvester.
* Constantly having to buy tissues, water and hypo food.
* Constantly having to do blood tests. My fingers are starting to spontaneously bleed.
* Shared bathrooms. Don't do it - just don't.
* FRICKIN' EUROPEAN CHAIN-SMOKERS!
* Frickin' stupid and out-dated European smoking regulations. Do the words Lung and Cancer have no meaning for these people?
* Not having the free use of a washing machine. Paying hotel rates to have someone else wash my smalls. Paying hotel rates for someone else, having washed my smalls, to then put a g-string on a clothes hanger. Paying for this privilege.
* Lots of other small, annoying things that in no way come close to out-balancing the good stuff.
Lots of love, H
Wien
Greetings all,
I'm feeling pretty smug - it's the End of Financial Year in Oz, and I'm on holidays! Nyer nyer!
Vienna Day #1 cont.
After faithfully blogging and sending messages home, we went to one of the Wien institutions, the American Cocktail Bar. Why the "American"? Who knows. This little bar has just turned 80 years old, and the cocktail list was very impressive. [I kept up with my keep-sake tradition, collecting cocktail menus... Everyone needs a hobby, right? To be fair, though, I did make sure that the menu I procured was pretty ratty and likely to be replaced pretty soon anyway. Promise.] We met some VERY lovely local lads who gave us lots of local hints for places to see & go. It turns out that the German & Austrian nations are not the best of friends - kinda like the Aussie-Kiwi relationship - so everyone here is rooting for Spain in the Cup final.
After a few drinks, we wandered about some more and found a cute little pub bistro for dinner. No dark beer on tap, which was a slight bummer. Since we're in the Schnitzel capital of the world (I LOVE that it's always spelled correctly here!) we had to have the cliche-ed Wiener Schnitzel for dinner, and I have to be honest here - it was pretty disappointing. NOTHING like the wonderful fare at Una's! Hopefully we'll get the chance to try again while we're here. After dinner we staggered back to the pension and continued the nightly game of "Sleep is Optional". I suspect the SFH (Stinking, Frickin' Hot) weather is still to blame.
Vienna Day #2
I'm loving this city. We spent Sunday wandering the streets and saw some amazing stuff...
We started out by walking up towards the palace & grounds to see the sights plus the Euro Cup Fan Zone. We walked past the Jewish Monument, a memorial for those lost in the Holocaust. The powerful images it represents were only slightly diminished by the wafting aroma resulting from all of the horse-drawn cart tours passing by. The smell of horse plus the standard SFH weather makes it pretty easy to locate the tour path!
We also managed to find an English-only cinema, thanks to our cocktail-loving locals. It was showing the new Roger Donaldson flick, The Bank Job, which seemed a good, air-conditioned alternative to the SFH weather!
The Fan Zone was pretty-much a yawn affair - merchandise, sponsor stands and a big mo-fo screen with a count-down to kick-off. We did a quick lap and continued on to the Museum Quarter, home of the National Library (by crikey, in an impressive building! Beats the hell out of leaky Ultimo for a library space!), the royal palaces & collections, plus the usual assortment of souvenirs, etc.
We then jumped on the metro to the Summer Palace, but we both quickly realised that this involved a lot more walking about in the sun and SFH humidity - no thanks. We headed back to the pension for a nap. After a few hours, we spent some time looking through all our maps, tour booklets & travel books to try and organise the rest of our visit time.
We walked back into the centre of town, looking for a nice place to Eat, Drink, and get football Merry, and struck gold almost immediately. A great little Indian place advertised itself as a Cocktail Bar & Restaurant, which to me indicated that they had their priorities in order! We found some seats outside in the crowd facing one of the mega-screens showing the game coverage and settled back.
2 hours, 4 cocktails and a butter chicken later (plus a partridge in a pear tree!), the score was 1-0 in favour of Spain. Again, most of the Austrians in the crowd were barracking for Spain, so just-about everybody was pretty darn happy with the result. We followed the crown into St Stephen's Square, mingled a bit with the party and headed back to bed.
Vienna Day #4
If I wanted 95% humidity, I would have stayed in Sydney...
After playing another night of Toss & Turn Olympics (no, not the fun kind!) we were both awake, showered, dressed and breakfast-ed by 8.30am which has been unheard-of so far in this trip. We headed back on the U-Bahn to the Summer Palace, and this time actually walked around having a look. The cool change finally came through (FINALLY!) and the rain was really welcome. The tour arrangement of the private rooms at the palace was pretty efficient, and we were herded through with about a gazillion other tourists.
Seeing this place, it is now pretty obvious to me why there are revolutions. Looking at the way the royal people lived over several generations, you start to dislike the smug bastards. Do they REALLY need gold gilting on every single wall? Surely the money they spent on the freakin' silver carriages COULD have been put to better use?! Plus, all of the in-breeding, political marriages and conniving could have been effort best put towards something a little more productive than more generations of in-breeders.
Regardless, it was a truly beautiful building. We headed into the (uber extravagant) gardens to the sound of a brass band. Once we arrived at the concert stage, we saw that the performers were from the NSW Fire Brigade Band and Marching Squad. We traveled half the way around the frickin' world to hear a band from home... (Helen rolls eyes in disgust). Mind you, they were pretty entertaining. The marching girls were a little scary, though.
Lots of attention was paid to two pretty different women - Empress Sisi and Princess Maria Louise. Separated by a few hundred years, they had some pretty different stories told about them. For example, I learned that Maria Loise inherited from her father, and managed to keep an empire together despite all sorts of maneuvering. She and hubby were apparently very much in love, and much credit is given to a piece of paper found in her bible after her death, counting the years, weeks, days & hours of their marriage. The fact that they had 18 children is probably a contributing factor to the theory of a happy marriage. (It's probably easier to have a big family when you have a palace full of servants to help take care of them!) Queenie is also praised for her prudent politicking when choosing spouses for her children to advance Austria's alliances in Europe - her daughter Marie Antoinette married well (I swear, they think this was a good, motherly marriage for her to make!) and the fact that poor Marie was auctioned off at the age of 14 to a dude who ended up loosing her a head just means that she didn't pay enough attention to the lessons her mother taught her! (These Austrians are crazy.)
This contrasted by the example of Sisi, a frivolous girl who married into the royals at the age of 16. She was, by all accounts, a flighty & vain lass, who wouldn't pay attention to her wise and instructive mother-in-law, but instead became obsessed with maintaining her slender figure and flitting about Europe. (The fact that she was ignored by her workaholic and cradle-snatching husband, had few friends, had 8 kids so probably had to work damn hard to retain her pre-baby body, and wasn't even ALLOWED to have a say in raising her own children, are facts conveniently ignored.) when she did rebel, and refused to send kiddie no. 8 back to Austria for her MIL to take of the poor lad's education, they practically sent the army after her.
We did a quick lap of the formal gardens, saw the big mo-fo of a fountain, and grabbed a quick lunch. We then headed to the art nouveau metro station, M got some pictures while I got a coffee.
Back into the city, we stopped in at the Royal Crypt in a church just off the central mall. Despite all of my bolshie raving about the palace, the crypt was very moving. The crypt goes back to the early 1600s, and the obvious attention and love with which the memorials have been made and laid here is amazing. The saddest part were some of the graves for the little guys, plus the memorial for Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie of WWI misfortune. Sophie was not a popular choice as royal wife, so when they married FF was forced to sign a document acknowledging the fact that Sophie would not be buried in the royal crypt. Good on him, he added that he wouldn't go there if she couldn't, and arranged a joint burial site for them in one of his country estates - on yer, Franz! Such a shame they ended up needing it so soon...
Afternoon tea was a Viennese coffee plus sacher torte - when in Vienna, do as the Viennese do! Mike is currently doing a walking tour showing the sights from the movie The Third Man. We're meeting up at the local brew house for dinner & beverages soon.
I'm feeling pretty smug - it's the End of Financial Year in Oz, and I'm on holidays! Nyer nyer!
Vienna Day #1 cont.
After faithfully blogging and sending messages home, we went to one of the Wien institutions, the American Cocktail Bar. Why the "American"? Who knows. This little bar has just turned 80 years old, and the cocktail list was very impressive. [I kept up with my keep-sake tradition, collecting cocktail menus... Everyone needs a hobby, right? To be fair, though, I did make sure that the menu I procured was pretty ratty and likely to be replaced pretty soon anyway. Promise.] We met some VERY lovely local lads who gave us lots of local hints for places to see & go. It turns out that the German & Austrian nations are not the best of friends - kinda like the Aussie-Kiwi relationship - so everyone here is rooting for Spain in the Cup final.
After a few drinks, we wandered about some more and found a cute little pub bistro for dinner. No dark beer on tap, which was a slight bummer. Since we're in the Schnitzel capital of the world (I LOVE that it's always spelled correctly here!) we had to have the cliche-ed Wiener Schnitzel for dinner, and I have to be honest here - it was pretty disappointing. NOTHING like the wonderful fare at Una's! Hopefully we'll get the chance to try again while we're here. After dinner we staggered back to the pension and continued the nightly game of "Sleep is Optional". I suspect the SFH (Stinking, Frickin' Hot) weather is still to blame.
Vienna Day #2
I'm loving this city. We spent Sunday wandering the streets and saw some amazing stuff...
We started out by walking up towards the palace & grounds to see the sights plus the Euro Cup Fan Zone. We walked past the Jewish Monument, a memorial for those lost in the Holocaust. The powerful images it represents were only slightly diminished by the wafting aroma resulting from all of the horse-drawn cart tours passing by. The smell of horse plus the standard SFH weather makes it pretty easy to locate the tour path!
We also managed to find an English-only cinema, thanks to our cocktail-loving locals. It was showing the new Roger Donaldson flick, The Bank Job, which seemed a good, air-conditioned alternative to the SFH weather!
The Fan Zone was pretty-much a yawn affair - merchandise, sponsor stands and a big mo-fo screen with a count-down to kick-off. We did a quick lap and continued on to the Museum Quarter, home of the National Library (by crikey, in an impressive building! Beats the hell out of leaky Ultimo for a library space!), the royal palaces & collections, plus the usual assortment of souvenirs, etc.
We then jumped on the metro to the Summer Palace, but we both quickly realised that this involved a lot more walking about in the sun and SFH humidity - no thanks. We headed back to the pension for a nap. After a few hours, we spent some time looking through all our maps, tour booklets & travel books to try and organise the rest of our visit time.
We walked back into the centre of town, looking for a nice place to Eat, Drink, and get football Merry, and struck gold almost immediately. A great little Indian place advertised itself as a Cocktail Bar & Restaurant, which to me indicated that they had their priorities in order! We found some seats outside in the crowd facing one of the mega-screens showing the game coverage and settled back.
2 hours, 4 cocktails and a butter chicken later (plus a partridge in a pear tree!), the score was 1-0 in favour of Spain. Again, most of the Austrians in the crowd were barracking for Spain, so just-about everybody was pretty darn happy with the result. We followed the crown into St Stephen's Square, mingled a bit with the party and headed back to bed.
Vienna Day #4
If I wanted 95% humidity, I would have stayed in Sydney...
After playing another night of Toss & Turn Olympics (no, not the fun kind!) we were both awake, showered, dressed and breakfast-ed by 8.30am which has been unheard-of so far in this trip. We headed back on the U-Bahn to the Summer Palace, and this time actually walked around having a look. The cool change finally came through (FINALLY!) and the rain was really welcome. The tour arrangement of the private rooms at the palace was pretty efficient, and we were herded through with about a gazillion other tourists.
Seeing this place, it is now pretty obvious to me why there are revolutions. Looking at the way the royal people lived over several generations, you start to dislike the smug bastards. Do they REALLY need gold gilting on every single wall? Surely the money they spent on the freakin' silver carriages COULD have been put to better use?! Plus, all of the in-breeding, political marriages and conniving could have been effort best put towards something a little more productive than more generations of in-breeders.
Regardless, it was a truly beautiful building. We headed into the (uber extravagant) gardens to the sound of a brass band. Once we arrived at the concert stage, we saw that the performers were from the NSW Fire Brigade Band and Marching Squad. We traveled half the way around the frickin' world to hear a band from home... (Helen rolls eyes in disgust). Mind you, they were pretty entertaining. The marching girls were a little scary, though.
Lots of attention was paid to two pretty different women - Empress Sisi and Princess Maria Louise. Separated by a few hundred years, they had some pretty different stories told about them. For example, I learned that Maria Loise inherited from her father, and managed to keep an empire together despite all sorts of maneuvering. She and hubby were apparently very much in love, and much credit is given to a piece of paper found in her bible after her death, counting the years, weeks, days & hours of their marriage. The fact that they had 18 children is probably a contributing factor to the theory of a happy marriage. (It's probably easier to have a big family when you have a palace full of servants to help take care of them!) Queenie is also praised for her prudent politicking when choosing spouses for her children to advance Austria's alliances in Europe - her daughter Marie Antoinette married well (I swear, they think this was a good, motherly marriage for her to make!) and the fact that poor Marie was auctioned off at the age of 14 to a dude who ended up loosing her a head just means that she didn't pay enough attention to the lessons her mother taught her! (These Austrians are crazy.)
This contrasted by the example of Sisi, a frivolous girl who married into the royals at the age of 16. She was, by all accounts, a flighty & vain lass, who wouldn't pay attention to her wise and instructive mother-in-law, but instead became obsessed with maintaining her slender figure and flitting about Europe. (The fact that she was ignored by her workaholic and cradle-snatching husband, had few friends, had 8 kids so probably had to work damn hard to retain her pre-baby body, and wasn't even ALLOWED to have a say in raising her own children, are facts conveniently ignored.) when she did rebel, and refused to send kiddie no. 8 back to Austria for her MIL to take of the poor lad's education, they practically sent the army after her.
We did a quick lap of the formal gardens, saw the big mo-fo of a fountain, and grabbed a quick lunch. We then headed to the art nouveau metro station, M got some pictures while I got a coffee.
Back into the city, we stopped in at the Royal Crypt in a church just off the central mall. Despite all of my bolshie raving about the palace, the crypt was very moving. The crypt goes back to the early 1600s, and the obvious attention and love with which the memorials have been made and laid here is amazing. The saddest part were some of the graves for the little guys, plus the memorial for Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie of WWI misfortune. Sophie was not a popular choice as royal wife, so when they married FF was forced to sign a document acknowledging the fact that Sophie would not be buried in the royal crypt. Good on him, he added that he wouldn't go there if she couldn't, and arranged a joint burial site for them in one of his country estates - on yer, Franz! Such a shame they ended up needing it so soon...
Afternoon tea was a Viennese coffee plus sacher torte - when in Vienna, do as the Viennese do! Mike is currently doing a walking tour showing the sights from the movie The Third Man. We're meeting up at the local brew house for dinner & beverages soon.
Saturday 28 June 2008
Euro Cup Fever
Greetings all,
It's been a few days of jam-packed excitement, so here we go...
Prague day #3 was spent on a trip to St Nicholas church - wonderfully old and extravagant, then on to the Jewish Quarter for a more intensive look-see. Mike went on a tour of the old synagogues, and I went back to one of the garnet jewellry shops for a closer look.
As I was leaving the jewellry shop was when someone tried to pick-pocket stuff from my bag! I was about to cross the road when I heard one of the zippers on my bag moving, turned around and some %$@$ing chick was trying to rip me off. The outer zipper on the bag had been opened [thankfully, there wasn't anything in there apart from some free tourist maps, haha sucked in!] and she was trying to give me a little-miss-innocent face. Yeah, right. She even tried to sign-language to me that her jacket [oh-so casually held over her arm on the warmest day in 2008 - was I born yesterday?] had brushed up against my bag. As if! I was pretty shocked - you are told that this sort of thing happens but I had thought I was being careful so it wouldn't happen to me! So I chased after her for a few metres, yelling and waving my arms around - it was probably pretty funny for someone watching. I holed up in a cafe for Mike to finish his tour, and we did some more wandering. After dinner we went to the Absinthe Bar and Mike enjoyed some of the fine local product.
Now, when I'm walking around, I've started doing a kind-of swishing from side to side, trying to put any would-be thieves off. Bastards.
We really enjoyed our last day in Prague - wandering around some more in the old city, and I went on a solo expedition to try and find some baby sling fabric at local prices, for the special sling-wearers in my life. Unfortunately, the local prices included the 19% VAT, so it wasn't really worth it. [I may need to do a co-op shop when I get home.] I was pretty proud of myself for NOT getting lost and not getting robbed again. I made it back to the hotel, just in time to check [haha] out and jump on a metro train to the station [accompanied by The Ace of Spades - sometimes my i-pod has a delicious sense of timing. Like when I'm walking to work and it starts playing Queen's I've Got To Break Free] We jumped on an inter-city service to Brno, got a taxi to the airport and met up with Craig & Eva and their bus-load of wedding guests. It took about an hour to reach Lednice where we checked [haha again] into the hotel.
The only down-side to leaving Prague was that Mike now had my serious head cold - poor baby!
C & E had arranged a lovely dinner in an old wine cellar, and they kept the local wine flowing! We met some of their friends and had a really great night.
Wedding Day.
In keeping with the holiday theme of "Sleep, Nah, Who Needs It?" and with poor Mike feeling unwell, we didn't get too much rest. I'm pretty sure the wine from the night before had nothing to do with this! Mike and I wandered into Lednice in the morning and managed to find the only pharmacist in town - and god bless him, he could speak English. We loaded up on cold & flu products, did a quick stop at the local supermarket, and went back to the hotel. I managed to have a nap, and Mike had some quiet time with his book.
Then it was wedding time! We dolled up in our finery - Mike looked VERY spunky - and went to meet everyone downstairs. After wating for the thunder storm to pass, we all walked up the hill and across the road to the Lednice Chateau, an old house/castle/gorgeous old buidling & gardens. We had to wait a bit for the bride, and she arrived in a horse-drawn cart looking so happy and gorgeous I got a little teary.
The service was kinda funny - the local priest was trying to conduct the service in two langagues and bless him, he did a pretty good job. The poor man seemed embarassed about his english - but it was WAY better than my Czech! The sun came out and my heels kept slipping into the grass. Eventually I just dug them into the turf and then couldn't keep my balance! I ended up hobbling over to the path way and stood [well, more shifted-around-in-the-one-spot for a while] in the shade.
After the service I hobbled back down the hill to the hotel for the reception. I'd been warned by one of my buddies that heels and cobble-stones do not mix - she was right. I went up the elevator for a quick shoe change and, back downstairs, enjoyed heartily the champagne & finger food that was on offer until the happy coupld finished their photos, etc.
I have to say - I LOVE finger food! Even more than real food! There's just something about people offering you food from a platter, and balancing the glass of wine with the napkin, that really strikes a chord with me. There was lots of happy conversations, bubbly wine, yummy food, more wine, laughter, wine... A fab time.
When Eva & Craig arrived back, there was the ritual humiliation of Catching the Bouquet. I normally don't DO this sort of thing, but this time I thought, What the hell?, and wouldn't you know it... I caught it! Mike went a VERY interesting colour, and much joking followed.
Dinner was great, as was the beverage accompaniment. We shared a table with Patrick & Ann who we had met the night before, as well as John & Pauline, all from London. The speeches were funny, and we were completely full by the time we left.
For the first time in ages, and probably thanks to the copious amount of wine and ex-Soviet flu tablets, we had a really good night of sleep!
Day... Whatever We're Up To
Today we got up fairly early, packed up our stuff and left Lednice. Craig & Eva saw us off [they are SO in love it's really cute!], we caught a tiny-and-shaky train to Breclav and then on to Vienna. We DID have some Austrian police storm the train at the border - probably looking for football holigans - but it was pretty clear training to Vienna. We found a post office, sent our wedding clothes home, jumped on the metro, settled into our pension, and now we're out and about checking out Vienna [less funny when you;re not in Czech].
The Euro Cup final is being held here tomorrow, and the whole city is buzzing. There are about 15 gazillion people in supporters' gear wandering about, all of the bars are jam-packed with people singing rousing songs [mostly in German - maybe the Spaniards are arriving tomorrow], lots of police. Everyone seems so happy and excited, it's a good time to be here.
We have a half-plan of finding one of the Fan Zones tomorrow to watch the game, but only time will tell if this works out...
Lots of love to all, we miss you!
H
It's been a few days of jam-packed excitement, so here we go...
Prague day #3 was spent on a trip to St Nicholas church - wonderfully old and extravagant, then on to the Jewish Quarter for a more intensive look-see. Mike went on a tour of the old synagogues, and I went back to one of the garnet jewellry shops for a closer look.
As I was leaving the jewellry shop was when someone tried to pick-pocket stuff from my bag! I was about to cross the road when I heard one of the zippers on my bag moving, turned around and some %$@$ing chick was trying to rip me off. The outer zipper on the bag had been opened [thankfully, there wasn't anything in there apart from some free tourist maps, haha sucked in!] and she was trying to give me a little-miss-innocent face. Yeah, right. She even tried to sign-language to me that her jacket [oh-so casually held over her arm on the warmest day in 2008 - was I born yesterday?] had brushed up against my bag. As if! I was pretty shocked - you are told that this sort of thing happens but I had thought I was being careful so it wouldn't happen to me! So I chased after her for a few metres, yelling and waving my arms around - it was probably pretty funny for someone watching. I holed up in a cafe for Mike to finish his tour, and we did some more wandering. After dinner we went to the Absinthe Bar and Mike enjoyed some of the fine local product.
Now, when I'm walking around, I've started doing a kind-of swishing from side to side, trying to put any would-be thieves off. Bastards.
We really enjoyed our last day in Prague - wandering around some more in the old city, and I went on a solo expedition to try and find some baby sling fabric at local prices, for the special sling-wearers in my life. Unfortunately, the local prices included the 19% VAT, so it wasn't really worth it. [I may need to do a co-op shop when I get home.] I was pretty proud of myself for NOT getting lost and not getting robbed again. I made it back to the hotel, just in time to check [haha] out and jump on a metro train to the station [accompanied by The Ace of Spades - sometimes my i-pod has a delicious sense of timing. Like when I'm walking to work and it starts playing Queen's I've Got To Break Free] We jumped on an inter-city service to Brno, got a taxi to the airport and met up with Craig & Eva and their bus-load of wedding guests. It took about an hour to reach Lednice where we checked [haha again] into the hotel.
The only down-side to leaving Prague was that Mike now had my serious head cold - poor baby!
C & E had arranged a lovely dinner in an old wine cellar, and they kept the local wine flowing! We met some of their friends and had a really great night.
Wedding Day.
In keeping with the holiday theme of "Sleep, Nah, Who Needs It?" and with poor Mike feeling unwell, we didn't get too much rest. I'm pretty sure the wine from the night before had nothing to do with this! Mike and I wandered into Lednice in the morning and managed to find the only pharmacist in town - and god bless him, he could speak English. We loaded up on cold & flu products, did a quick stop at the local supermarket, and went back to the hotel. I managed to have a nap, and Mike had some quiet time with his book.
Then it was wedding time! We dolled up in our finery - Mike looked VERY spunky - and went to meet everyone downstairs. After wating for the thunder storm to pass, we all walked up the hill and across the road to the Lednice Chateau, an old house/castle/gorgeous old buidling & gardens. We had to wait a bit for the bride, and she arrived in a horse-drawn cart looking so happy and gorgeous I got a little teary.
The service was kinda funny - the local priest was trying to conduct the service in two langagues and bless him, he did a pretty good job. The poor man seemed embarassed about his english - but it was WAY better than my Czech! The sun came out and my heels kept slipping into the grass. Eventually I just dug them into the turf and then couldn't keep my balance! I ended up hobbling over to the path way and stood [well, more shifted-around-in-the-one-spot for a while] in the shade.
After the service I hobbled back down the hill to the hotel for the reception. I'd been warned by one of my buddies that heels and cobble-stones do not mix - she was right. I went up the elevator for a quick shoe change and, back downstairs, enjoyed heartily the champagne & finger food that was on offer until the happy coupld finished their photos, etc.
I have to say - I LOVE finger food! Even more than real food! There's just something about people offering you food from a platter, and balancing the glass of wine with the napkin, that really strikes a chord with me. There was lots of happy conversations, bubbly wine, yummy food, more wine, laughter, wine... A fab time.
When Eva & Craig arrived back, there was the ritual humiliation of Catching the Bouquet. I normally don't DO this sort of thing, but this time I thought, What the hell?, and wouldn't you know it... I caught it! Mike went a VERY interesting colour, and much joking followed.
Dinner was great, as was the beverage accompaniment. We shared a table with Patrick & Ann who we had met the night before, as well as John & Pauline, all from London. The speeches were funny, and we were completely full by the time we left.
For the first time in ages, and probably thanks to the copious amount of wine and ex-Soviet flu tablets, we had a really good night of sleep!
Day... Whatever We're Up To
Today we got up fairly early, packed up our stuff and left Lednice. Craig & Eva saw us off [they are SO in love it's really cute!], we caught a tiny-and-shaky train to Breclav and then on to Vienna. We DID have some Austrian police storm the train at the border - probably looking for football holigans - but it was pretty clear training to Vienna. We found a post office, sent our wedding clothes home, jumped on the metro, settled into our pension, and now we're out and about checking out Vienna [less funny when you;re not in Czech].
The Euro Cup final is being held here tomorrow, and the whole city is buzzing. There are about 15 gazillion people in supporters' gear wandering about, all of the bars are jam-packed with people singing rousing songs [mostly in German - maybe the Spaniards are arriving tomorrow], lots of police. Everyone seems so happy and excited, it's a good time to be here.
We have a half-plan of finding one of the Fan Zones tomorrow to watch the game, but only time will tell if this works out...
Lots of love to all, we miss you!
H
Tuesday 24 June 2008
Day 11
Hi all, we're still in Prague, and it is truly a beautiful city. Again, we didn't get much sleep last night, so the morning started at a leisurely pace again. A quick breakfast in the hotel, then a trip to Marks & Spencers and Tesco for a few basics. [I didn't get it a Tesco's, okay?!]
We started a walking tour from the top of Wenceslas Square, hearing more about the history of Prague and the Czeck Republic. Lots of interesting facts, like... the area known as New Town (as compared to Old Town) was actually founded in the 14th Century? Jeez, these Czechs have a well-developed sense of irony. Also, in honour of her upcoming visit, we learned that the name Condeleeza translates to two Czeck words meaning "to lick" and an area of the female body. Many here consider this to be very apt, as they protest the proposed opening of a US military base here.
We've been wandering about in the Old Town centre (actually VERY old, from the 9th century) and the Jewish Quarter, home of the old jewish ghetto, 7 synagogues and a 12-deep cemetary. We'll probably spend more time there tomorrow.
The plan for tonight is to wander about the centre of town some more, grab some dinner and head to the Absinth Palace. Blue flames all around tonight.
We started a walking tour from the top of Wenceslas Square, hearing more about the history of Prague and the Czeck Republic. Lots of interesting facts, like... the area known as New Town (as compared to Old Town) was actually founded in the 14th Century? Jeez, these Czechs have a well-developed sense of irony. Also, in honour of her upcoming visit, we learned that the name Condeleeza translates to two Czeck words meaning "to lick" and an area of the female body. Many here consider this to be very apt, as they protest the proposed opening of a US military base here.
We've been wandering about in the Old Town centre (actually VERY old, from the 9th century) and the Jewish Quarter, home of the old jewish ghetto, 7 synagogues and a 12-deep cemetary. We'll probably spend more time there tomorrow.
The plan for tonight is to wander about the centre of town some more, grab some dinner and head to the Absinth Palace. Blue flames all around tonight.
Monday 23 June 2008
Prague the Brave
Day 10
(I know this may be a little disjointed - sorry! If I wait until I've caught up, you'll never hear from me!)
Today was our first full day in Prague. M hadn't had a great night's sleep, so we took it easy this morning and make a slow start. We enjoyed our hotel breakfast and got going.
It took a little while to find an open ticket window - we wanted to get the 3-day-All-In-One metro travel ticket, so it took a little wandering about. Finally found one, and the odd little sales guy had some basic English which made life so much easier. We caught the tram up the hill to the Prague Castle (and surrounds), grabbed the audio tour thingies (after being stuck in a queue behind U.S. pensioners - what IS it with these people? How can they be so deliberately dumb?) and set off.
The Cathedral was AMAZING. I'm not normally a church kind of person - too many lost hours in school - but this place was astounding. Lots of little chapels off the main church dedicated to "one of the most important saints in Czech history" - all of them - and the most eye-popping tomb of the lot was only about 4 tonnes of silver. Crikey.
Interesting Lesson From History - Don't Be An Over-Interfering Mother-In-Law.
Queen Ludmilla was married to the first Catholic king of the Czech empire, and took her own conversion pretty seriously. When hubby died, she kept pretty active in state politics & religion, and took over the education and religious instruction of her young grandson Wenceslas (who whould later be remembered by having his own Christmas carol and be killed by his brother - you win some, you lose some.) This didn't sit too weel with her young pagan daughter-in-law, the new Queen. After a few years of the Dowager Lumdilla throwing her weight around, Queenie was so pissed off that she send assassins to get rid of Ludmilla. She was choked with her own rosary beads! The lesson in this is - sometimes, it's important to know when to stop. I hope this story warms the heart of all daughters-in-law who have ever had to grit their teeth and smile. (Mind you, I've never had to do that myself, having been blessed with a lovely MIL - Hi Joy!)
The Castle grounds are massive, and include the Cathedral, Presidential Palace, other random palaces for nobility, and few towers & ramparts, a quirky little place called Golden Lane [full of tourist shops] and a cross-bow gallery. M was the most accomplished person to take on the cross-bow challenge, just as one would expect from such a spunky lad.
The funniest part was the Hats Through History display, showing various military millenry throughout Europe and time - kinda funny.
Duinner was at a cute little bistro full of locals, the only bummer being the lack of smoke-free dining spaces. Again, chain-smoking locals making their presence felt.
Sweet dreams, all!
(I know this may be a little disjointed - sorry! If I wait until I've caught up, you'll never hear from me!)
Today was our first full day in Prague. M hadn't had a great night's sleep, so we took it easy this morning and make a slow start. We enjoyed our hotel breakfast and got going.
It took a little while to find an open ticket window - we wanted to get the 3-day-All-In-One metro travel ticket, so it took a little wandering about. Finally found one, and the odd little sales guy had some basic English which made life so much easier. We caught the tram up the hill to the Prague Castle (and surrounds), grabbed the audio tour thingies (after being stuck in a queue behind U.S. pensioners - what IS it with these people? How can they be so deliberately dumb?) and set off.
The Cathedral was AMAZING. I'm not normally a church kind of person - too many lost hours in school - but this place was astounding. Lots of little chapels off the main church dedicated to "one of the most important saints in Czech history" - all of them - and the most eye-popping tomb of the lot was only about 4 tonnes of silver. Crikey.
Interesting Lesson From History - Don't Be An Over-Interfering Mother-In-Law.
Queen Ludmilla was married to the first Catholic king of the Czech empire, and took her own conversion pretty seriously. When hubby died, she kept pretty active in state politics & religion, and took over the education and religious instruction of her young grandson Wenceslas (who whould later be remembered by having his own Christmas carol and be killed by his brother - you win some, you lose some.) This didn't sit too weel with her young pagan daughter-in-law, the new Queen. After a few years of the Dowager Lumdilla throwing her weight around, Queenie was so pissed off that she send assassins to get rid of Ludmilla. She was choked with her own rosary beads! The lesson in this is - sometimes, it's important to know when to stop. I hope this story warms the heart of all daughters-in-law who have ever had to grit their teeth and smile. (Mind you, I've never had to do that myself, having been blessed with a lovely MIL - Hi Joy!)
The Castle grounds are massive, and include the Cathedral, Presidential Palace, other random palaces for nobility, and few towers & ramparts, a quirky little place called Golden Lane [full of tourist shops] and a cross-bow gallery. M was the most accomplished person to take on the cross-bow challenge, just as one would expect from such a spunky lad.
The funniest part was the Hats Through History display, showing various military millenry throughout Europe and time - kinda funny.
Duinner was at a cute little bistro full of locals, the only bummer being the lack of smoke-free dining spaces. Again, chain-smoking locals making their presence felt.
Sweet dreams, all!
Retro Post
Hi guys,
It's been far too long - my apologies! This will be the retro post, containing all the time-up-until now...
Day 1 - Fri 13th-Sat 14th
We FINALLY left Sydney on Friday night, after spending too many hours in the Qantas lounge. The food was great (a little too good - see later) but things did start to wane after 4 hours.
As for the flight, all I can say is - SEVEN SICK BAGS. I was so ill, the Qantas staff ended up asking me if I wanted to sleep in the staff area. I would sleep for a while, wake up, puke for a bit, cry, then fall asleep again. Not much fun. Things were better for a while after we landed in Bangkok, until we had to walk past the smokers' lounge (aka Cancer Club) then the horrible pattern recommenced.
The less said about this time in my life, the better. We finally landed in London (puke bag number 8 as we taxied to the terminal - even the guy travelling with a wife in a wheelchair and four kids was giving me sympathy looks), took forever to clear customs and were met by Grant. This wonderful man drove us all the way to his house and left me alone so I could get some sleep. I was feeling pretty seedy, so I just said a brief hello to Cath and fell asleep.
After a few hours, we ate a wonderful lunch (have I mentioned that Grant & Cath are fabulous hosts?), then Mike and I went for a wander. We got a lift to the local station and caught the train to London central. Lots of Mike making little happy noises. We stopped in the Covent Garden area, did a quick lap of the London Transport Museum, saw a nude bike ride (more riders but less colour than the Sydney version we've been involved with), wandered around and went to a local Lush shop - the first time the smell has ever been too strong for a die-hard ike me. Then we met G&C in Chiswick, near where Mike used to live. Lovely pub dinner, home again home again, jiggety jig.
In this time, more blood tests performed than in the whole rest of my life, or so it felt! Fell into a blissful sleep with a snnffle and start of a cold...
Day 2
London tourist day. We made an early start - both still jet-lagged! - and went in search of an English breakfast. No luck here (everyone else had the sense to sleep in!), but we did find a place that promised "Antipodean coffee". Tasted pretty good, too! We made it to Buck Palace and saw the Changing of the Guard - a bunch of dudes march in, yell at another buncgh of dudes already there for a bit, then the old dudes march out. Very Pomp & Circumstance, but pretty cool. From there, we wandered through St James's Park to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street. There was a Normandy Landing memorial parade happening, so the streets were pretty full of veterans and security guards. Stupid George stupid W stpid was due in town, so most of the areas close to No 10 were locked down.
We saw the Horse Guards on duty - the horses were huge, but very tolerant of the hordes of tourists! Then we hopped on a red double-deckered bus tour and saw some of the sights. As with most old cities (I'm guessing!), there are HEAPS of stories to be told about this part of the world.
We stopped off at the Tower of London after crossing Tower Bridge. Fromt he outside, it looks like a pile of rocks on a hill - whoop de doop. But I was amazed when we went inside and saw all the amazing stuff that is actually there! We were shown around by an actual Beefeater (and yes, Goodies fans, they do eat beef). We checked out the crown jewels and I personally want to put any of the Cullinar diamonds on my Christmas wish list.
Back on the bus, we hopped off near Cleopatra's Needle, the oldest monument in London. It's only been in England for the last few hundred years, but it's about a gazillion years old. We walked across Jubilee Bridge and jumped on the London Eye - a whopping great big Ferris Wheel that takes about 20 minutes to do one full revolution. The view was, as you would expect, pretty amazing. Seeing the sun set over the houses of arliament was also pretty cool.
We then hot-footed it back to Covent Garden and met up with Mike's mates. Craig and Eva were there, and it was grat to finally meet them. They'de had their civil wedding ceremony the day before, so they were still all a-glow and giving each other goofy grins. Also making an appearance were Peter and Mark, some of Mike's London mates.
Mark gave us a lift back to Hanwell, with his GPS giving us an interesting tour of the back streets of west London - perhaps it was dizzy? Another night of being sound asleep...
It's been far too long - my apologies! This will be the retro post, containing all the time-up-until now...
Day 1 - Fri 13th-Sat 14th
We FINALLY left Sydney on Friday night, after spending too many hours in the Qantas lounge. The food was great (a little too good - see later) but things did start to wane after 4 hours.
As for the flight, all I can say is - SEVEN SICK BAGS. I was so ill, the Qantas staff ended up asking me if I wanted to sleep in the staff area. I would sleep for a while, wake up, puke for a bit, cry, then fall asleep again. Not much fun. Things were better for a while after we landed in Bangkok, until we had to walk past the smokers' lounge (aka Cancer Club) then the horrible pattern recommenced.
The less said about this time in my life, the better. We finally landed in London (puke bag number 8 as we taxied to the terminal - even the guy travelling with a wife in a wheelchair and four kids was giving me sympathy looks), took forever to clear customs and were met by Grant. This wonderful man drove us all the way to his house and left me alone so I could get some sleep. I was feeling pretty seedy, so I just said a brief hello to Cath and fell asleep.
After a few hours, we ate a wonderful lunch (have I mentioned that Grant & Cath are fabulous hosts?), then Mike and I went for a wander. We got a lift to the local station and caught the train to London central. Lots of Mike making little happy noises. We stopped in the Covent Garden area, did a quick lap of the London Transport Museum, saw a nude bike ride (more riders but less colour than the Sydney version we've been involved with), wandered around and went to a local Lush shop - the first time the smell has ever been too strong for a die-hard ike me. Then we met G&C in Chiswick, near where Mike used to live. Lovely pub dinner, home again home again, jiggety jig.
In this time, more blood tests performed than in the whole rest of my life, or so it felt! Fell into a blissful sleep with a snnffle and start of a cold...
Day 2
London tourist day. We made an early start - both still jet-lagged! - and went in search of an English breakfast. No luck here (everyone else had the sense to sleep in!), but we did find a place that promised "Antipodean coffee". Tasted pretty good, too! We made it to Buck Palace and saw the Changing of the Guard - a bunch of dudes march in, yell at another buncgh of dudes already there for a bit, then the old dudes march out. Very Pomp & Circumstance, but pretty cool. From there, we wandered through St James's Park to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street. There was a Normandy Landing memorial parade happening, so the streets were pretty full of veterans and security guards. Stupid George stupid W stpid was due in town, so most of the areas close to No 10 were locked down.
We saw the Horse Guards on duty - the horses were huge, but very tolerant of the hordes of tourists! Then we hopped on a red double-deckered bus tour and saw some of the sights. As with most old cities (I'm guessing!), there are HEAPS of stories to be told about this part of the world.
We stopped off at the Tower of London after crossing Tower Bridge. Fromt he outside, it looks like a pile of rocks on a hill - whoop de doop. But I was amazed when we went inside and saw all the amazing stuff that is actually there! We were shown around by an actual Beefeater (and yes, Goodies fans, they do eat beef). We checked out the crown jewels and I personally want to put any of the Cullinar diamonds on my Christmas wish list.
Back on the bus, we hopped off near Cleopatra's Needle, the oldest monument in London. It's only been in England for the last few hundred years, but it's about a gazillion years old. We walked across Jubilee Bridge and jumped on the London Eye - a whopping great big Ferris Wheel that takes about 20 minutes to do one full revolution. The view was, as you would expect, pretty amazing. Seeing the sun set over the houses of arliament was also pretty cool.
We then hot-footed it back to Covent Garden and met up with Mike's mates. Craig and Eva were there, and it was grat to finally meet them. They'de had their civil wedding ceremony the day before, so they were still all a-glow and giving each other goofy grins. Also making an appearance were Peter and Mark, some of Mike's London mates.
Mark gave us a lift back to Hanwell, with his GPS giving us an interesting tour of the back streets of west London - perhaps it was dizzy? Another night of being sound asleep...
Friday 13 June 2008
Still Here...
Yes it's true, we're still here!! By now we should have been sitting in the Qantas lounge enjoying a quiet ale and a snack before boarding. But they had other ideas!!!
It all started this morning when Helen received a call from the airline saying that our flight had been delayed by three and a half hours! (They couldn't tell us why either?) So now it's just a case of waiting for the cab to arrive at the later time of 1600 for a 2030 flight.
What I want to know is - what would happen when we rock up to the Check in Desk at Sydney Airport and say "since you've made us wait, how about an upgrade?" You all realise that this means less time at the other end for sightseeing, I have a list a mile long of places to visit, eg Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, St Pancras, Kings Cross etc also Helen wants to go shopping at Lush in Covent Garden so I guess that means I'll just have to amuse myself at the London Transport Museum...
M
It all started this morning when Helen received a call from the airline saying that our flight had been delayed by three and a half hours! (They couldn't tell us why either?) So now it's just a case of waiting for the cab to arrive at the later time of 1600 for a 2030 flight.
What I want to know is - what would happen when we rock up to the Check in Desk at Sydney Airport and say "since you've made us wait, how about an upgrade?" You all realise that this means less time at the other end for sightseeing, I have a list a mile long of places to visit, eg Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, St Pancras, Kings Cross etc also Helen wants to go shopping at Lush in Covent Garden so I guess that means I'll just have to amuse myself at the London Transport Museum...
M
Thursday 12 June 2008
Leaving, On A Jet Plane
Hello all, I've been off work this week, and I could really get used to this life! Waking up without the alarm, wandering around the house in my jammies, ding house work because I feel like it, not because I have to... ah, the freedom! Plus the knowledge that I'm not only being paid to enjoy this luxury, but I'M GETTING PAID EXTRA TO STAY AT HOME!! Heavens bless the public service, is all I can say! Leave loading is truly a gift from the goddesses.
We're received a number of questions from family, friends & loved ones about our travel plans - here are some of the answers:
Q: What time are you flying out?
A: Our flight leaves at 1700, Friday, (Sydney time). We'll be enjoying the wonderful Qantas club before our flight.
Q: How are you getting to the airport?
A: Taxi. When two people are travelling, it's actually cheaper than going by rail. Plus, they pick you up at your door!
Q: How long is your flight?
A: 23 hours flying time, but only 14 hours in clock time. We arrive at about 7am Saturday, London time.
Q: Are you excited? You must be excited!
A: Yes, we are. Heck, Yes!
Q: Has Mike already been to all the places you're visiting?
A: Yes, except for Heidelberg. It's good, though, that the two places we're staying for the longest, Prague and Vienna, he hasn't spent much time in.
Q: What the heck is a Belgian Dip? Is your dad really from Bruge?
A: These are references to one of my all-time favourite movies series, the Austin Powers films. In one scene, Dr Evil is having a frothy milk drink and gets froth all over his nose. He calls this a Belgian Dip. In another scene, he offers Mini Me some belgian chocolates, saying, "They're from Bruge - that's where daddy [himself] is from". Yes, it's a little weird to be making such a specific reference, but dammit, it's my blog!
Q: Why Belgium?
A: We're big fans of Belgian beer & chocolate. I'm really hoping to be able to find a drink of one of my favourite cherry beers, the Boon Kriek - it's like drinking liquid silk. You say Why, I say Why Not?
Q: How can we contact you while you're away?
A: Although we will have our phones with us, that you can just dial the regular number to be connected, the international roaming rates are REALLY expensive. Email is best. SMS if you need to.
Q: Do you have a letter from you doctor to be able to travel with your insulin? Are you taking spares?
A: Yes and Yes. We have our travelling-with-a-diabetic routine down pat by now, so it's all sorted. I even got this cute little sharps container to take travelling - it snips the needle part off the syringe so you only have a tiny amount of contaminated waste - fabulous! It looks like a little hole-punch, and it should be really easy to carry.
Lots still to do before departure tomorrow! We're compiling all of the copies-of-everything sheets for people to hold for us and to take as backup... more complicated than you may think.
One more sleep to go...
We're received a number of questions from family, friends & loved ones about our travel plans - here are some of the answers:
Q: What time are you flying out?
A: Our flight leaves at 1700, Friday, (Sydney time). We'll be enjoying the wonderful Qantas club before our flight.
Q: How are you getting to the airport?
A: Taxi. When two people are travelling, it's actually cheaper than going by rail. Plus, they pick you up at your door!
Q: How long is your flight?
A: 23 hours flying time, but only 14 hours in clock time. We arrive at about 7am Saturday, London time.
Q: Are you excited? You must be excited!
A: Yes, we are. Heck, Yes!
Q: Has Mike already been to all the places you're visiting?
A: Yes, except for Heidelberg. It's good, though, that the two places we're staying for the longest, Prague and Vienna, he hasn't spent much time in.
Q: What the heck is a Belgian Dip? Is your dad really from Bruge?
A: These are references to one of my all-time favourite movies series, the Austin Powers films. In one scene, Dr Evil is having a frothy milk drink and gets froth all over his nose. He calls this a Belgian Dip. In another scene, he offers Mini Me some belgian chocolates, saying, "They're from Bruge - that's where daddy [himself] is from". Yes, it's a little weird to be making such a specific reference, but dammit, it's my blog!
Q: Why Belgium?
A: We're big fans of Belgian beer & chocolate. I'm really hoping to be able to find a drink of one of my favourite cherry beers, the Boon Kriek - it's like drinking liquid silk. You say Why, I say Why Not?
Q: How can we contact you while you're away?
A: Although we will have our phones with us, that you can just dial the regular number to be connected, the international roaming rates are REALLY expensive. Email is best. SMS if you need to.
Q: Do you have a letter from you doctor to be able to travel with your insulin? Are you taking spares?
A: Yes and Yes. We have our travelling-with-a-diabetic routine down pat by now, so it's all sorted. I even got this cute little sharps container to take travelling - it snips the needle part off the syringe so you only have a tiny amount of contaminated waste - fabulous! It looks like a little hole-punch, and it should be really easy to carry.
Lots still to do before departure tomorrow! We're compiling all of the copies-of-everything sheets for people to hold for us and to take as backup... more complicated than you may think.
One more sleep to go...
Thursday 5 June 2008
Hi ho, off to Prague we go
Greetings gentle reader, and welcome back to the Helen & Mike travel extravaganza. We're off on another whirlwind trip, and it's going to be so much fun I can hardly say.
The basic itinerary is:
Sydney
London
York
Brussels
Kirchlengern (near Hannover)
Prague
Lednice (In the south of the Czech Republic, site of the wedding that is the point of this trip!)
Vienna
Heidelberg
Frankfurt
London
Back home to Sydney for Helen - Mike is staying in London for a few extra days with another side trip to York.
Whooee!
We will of course be making extensive use of the European public transport network. The type that runs on rails, that is. Mike is super-experienced at this sort of thing, so he's been in charge of booking transport. I have a thing for looking at hotels online, so I've been the Accommodation Girl Friday.
Trip highlights/aims include:
* Qantas club. The best part is when they come around and bring you drinks.
* Visiting Lush shops in London. Everyone needs a hobby, okay?!?
* Visiting a curry house in Brick Lane. It gives H&M something to talk about over their frequent curry dinners at home.
* Visiting the Mallard steam Locomotive. It's like cat nip for train geeks.
* Seeing Grant & Cath again, hopefully hanging with them a bit in London.
* Drinking LOTS of beer in Belgium.
* Eating LOTS of chocolate in Belgium.
* Looking at LOTS of lace in Belgium, possibly collecting pictures/books for Helen's mum.
* Visiting Bruge, saying "That's where daddy's from" at least fifteen times (Austin Powers reference) and having a Belgian Dip - dunking my nose in a big frothy white hot chocolate. Photos to follow, I promise.
* Visiting Claudia, Christophe and kids, finally getting to meet them in person.
* Learning how to pronounce "Kirchlengern" properly, learning if there should be an umlaut in there somewhere.
* Birkenstock shopping. I am SO loving the exchange rate at the moment.
* Staying on Wenceslas Square in Prague, exploring the Old Town.
* Sling shopping in Prague - it's sale time, didn't you know?
* Visiting castles - Really looking forward to this part, maybe it's the result of all those fairy tales as a child, where the fair maiden is rescued by the handsome prince. Maybe it will have dungeons! And a tower! And a dragon! And a moat! Cool!
* Meeting Craig and Eva, hopefully before we front up at their wedding. It's only been the once that I've had to the "Hi, I'm Helen, nice to meet you, have a nice wedding, better go since the bride's just arrived" conversation, but I suppose that worked out okay.
* Eating LOTS of yummy tortes in Vienna.
* Eating LOTS of yummy schnitzel in Vienna.
* Wandering around LOTS in Vienna.
* Going to somewhere as unexpected as Heidelberg and just checking it out.
* Coming home, chilling out, then getting my ass to the gym to work off the beer, chocolates, wedding cake, tortes & schnitzel. Trying to achieve this BEFORE I have to see my dietician again, mostly to avoid that disappointed look you get when people really WISH they could tell you off, but know it's pretty pointless.
Post-trip aims include:
* Becoming an aunty for the fourth time, organising a baby shower for my sister before said niece/nephew arrives. She hasn't had one before (a baby shower, that is), so this seems like as good a time as any.
* Getting a damn clothes dryer. A girl's got to have goals, hasn't she?
Anyway, that's the plan. I still have to survive one more day at work - roster day, so I'll probably be running around like a mad woman and end up looking like I've stuck my finger in a power socket, my hair standing out from my head in every which direction. Then it's a long weekend here in Oz (hooray! DVD fest!) and I get a whole week to relax, intend to do housework but probably won't actually do it until the last minute (as Shakespeare said, Know Thyself), pack my bag, unpack my bag because I need the stuff I've packed, re-pack my bag, wait for pay day, go and buy more stuff to take, try to stuff all things into my bag, have to re-pack and take half the stuff out... This could go on for quite some time... Catch up with friends before we go, etc. etc.
More to follow, and I hope we all enjoy the trip!
H&M
The basic itinerary is:
Sydney
London
York
Brussels
Kirchlengern (near Hannover)
Prague
Lednice (In the south of the Czech Republic, site of the wedding that is the point of this trip!)
Vienna
Heidelberg
Frankfurt
London
Back home to Sydney for Helen - Mike is staying in London for a few extra days with another side trip to York.
Whooee!
We will of course be making extensive use of the European public transport network. The type that runs on rails, that is. Mike is super-experienced at this sort of thing, so he's been in charge of booking transport. I have a thing for looking at hotels online, so I've been the Accommodation Girl Friday.
Trip highlights/aims include:
* Qantas club. The best part is when they come around and bring you drinks.
* Visiting Lush shops in London. Everyone needs a hobby, okay?!?
* Visiting a curry house in Brick Lane. It gives H&M something to talk about over their frequent curry dinners at home.
* Visiting the Mallard steam Locomotive. It's like cat nip for train geeks.
* Seeing Grant & Cath again, hopefully hanging with them a bit in London.
* Drinking LOTS of beer in Belgium.
* Eating LOTS of chocolate in Belgium.
* Looking at LOTS of lace in Belgium, possibly collecting pictures/books for Helen's mum.
* Visiting Bruge, saying "That's where daddy's from" at least fifteen times (Austin Powers reference) and having a Belgian Dip - dunking my nose in a big frothy white hot chocolate. Photos to follow, I promise.
* Visiting Claudia, Christophe and kids, finally getting to meet them in person.
* Learning how to pronounce "Kirchlengern" properly, learning if there should be an umlaut in there somewhere.
* Birkenstock shopping. I am SO loving the exchange rate at the moment.
* Staying on Wenceslas Square in Prague, exploring the Old Town.
* Sling shopping in Prague - it's sale time, didn't you know?
* Visiting castles - Really looking forward to this part, maybe it's the result of all those fairy tales as a child, where the fair maiden is rescued by the handsome prince. Maybe it will have dungeons! And a tower! And a dragon! And a moat! Cool!
* Meeting Craig and Eva, hopefully before we front up at their wedding. It's only been the once that I've had to the "Hi, I'm Helen, nice to meet you, have a nice wedding, better go since the bride's just arrived" conversation, but I suppose that worked out okay.
* Eating LOTS of yummy tortes in Vienna.
* Eating LOTS of yummy schnitzel in Vienna.
* Wandering around LOTS in Vienna.
* Going to somewhere as unexpected as Heidelberg and just checking it out.
* Coming home, chilling out, then getting my ass to the gym to work off the beer, chocolates, wedding cake, tortes & schnitzel. Trying to achieve this BEFORE I have to see my dietician again, mostly to avoid that disappointed look you get when people really WISH they could tell you off, but know it's pretty pointless.
Post-trip aims include:
* Becoming an aunty for the fourth time, organising a baby shower for my sister before said niece/nephew arrives. She hasn't had one before (a baby shower, that is), so this seems like as good a time as any.
* Getting a damn clothes dryer. A girl's got to have goals, hasn't she?
Anyway, that's the plan. I still have to survive one more day at work - roster day, so I'll probably be running around like a mad woman and end up looking like I've stuck my finger in a power socket, my hair standing out from my head in every which direction. Then it's a long weekend here in Oz (hooray! DVD fest!) and I get a whole week to relax, intend to do housework but probably won't actually do it until the last minute (as Shakespeare said, Know Thyself), pack my bag, unpack my bag because I need the stuff I've packed, re-pack my bag, wait for pay day, go and buy more stuff to take, try to stuff all things into my bag, have to re-pack and take half the stuff out... This could go on for quite some time... Catch up with friends before we go, etc. etc.
More to follow, and I hope we all enjoy the trip!
H&M
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