Just another day in our boring life... hehehe

Kowloon, HongKong

2007-08-14T17:39:00.000+08:00

Will in theory put up pics from Yangshuo in next few days but in reality ... um ... prob won't get round to it cos we will be hooooome :D And i'm afraid to confess we don't have a single photo of hongkong - oops!

Yep thats right - we head out to the airport in about 1/2 an hour then tonight hop on a plane back to good old Perth! As always with these things it seems like we have hardly been away for anytime but at the same time it feels like aaaaaages since we've been in Oz!

Either way we are both looking forward to getting back and catching up with everyone! So, barring meteor showers, spontaneous human combustion and other likely holdups we will see you all soon :D

Love Meg xxx

Leshan, Sichuan, China

2007-08-08T22:01:00.000+08:00

Spent the day today at Leshan seeing Buddhist temples and the 71m high Buddha. I swear i have never sweated so much in my life! Even walking up the mountains was dryer than this!! The temples that we saw were also really fascinating. Especially good was the hall with 1000 terracotta 'Arhat' (Buddhist celestial beings) which look like people. They are all life size and all have different positions and faces and facial expressions (some of which were really funny!).

The pics here are:
1) typical looking scene with river inlet, buildings etc we then walked down and across the the wall path you see here
2) Vera carefully reading and then rereading the info on the tombs cos it was really interesting (nothing to do with the fact it was 10degrees cooler inside the tombs of course ...) To be fair tho the ancient Ming tombs were pretty cool (in all senses ;)

3) The giant Buddha from above - note the teeny tiny people in top left corner to get an idea of size)
4) The same Buddha from below after we climbed down the cliff steps (along with half the population of China)

BTW we also went to see a Sichuan Culture show last night which had Sichuan Opera, puppets, fire spitting, face changing and music - VERY cool .... um but i forgot my camera :P

Oh and heading to Yangshuo tomorrow (fly to Guilin then bus to Yangshuo)

Also - only 1 week till we are home :D

Chengdu, Sichuan, China

2007-08-08T21:55:00.000+08:00

This is a quick pic i just snapped (literally cos i just ran outside in my pjs to get it lol) of our hostel here in Chengdu, the 'Dragon Town Hostel'. Since we have stayed here 3 times now i and the building itself is really cool - typical Sichuan old style, i thought i'd put a pic up. Plus at night with all the red lanterns it is all golden red and glowy :D

Qingcheng Shan, Sichuan, China

2007-08-08T21:24:00.000+08:00

We just climbed 2 mountains in 2 days!!! Ok they are very little mountains with steps all the way up but still sounds good we reckon :D

The first was Qingcheng Shan which we climbed the first day then spent the night in the Taoist Temple complex near the summit, then the second day we walked back down, caught a taxi to Qingcheng Houshan, then (when we eventually found the path) climbed about 4/5 of the way before we caught a cable car for the last bit, then caught a different cable car for 1/2 the journey back down. This was officially so we didn't miss the bus back that night - but unofficially we were just sick of climbing slippery stairs in tropical humidity! :P

Anyway we had fun - i only slipped over once and then only slid down a few steps (apparently only once is really good!) and of course Vera didn't slip at all :) Also had 2 short boat trips where the path runs into a lake and Ve is now in about a billion Chinese tourists' holiday photos! Had i only started charging 1 yuan per photo from the start we could have been rich! ;(

Finally returned to hostel in Chengdu that night (3 buses later) and thoroughly enjoyed our 'Liao's Bon Bon Chicken' for dinner (we got half a chicken cos it was the only thing we recognised and we were too hungry to be adventurous - though i confess neither of us wanted the half a head including tongue that was attached ... )

Mounigou Reserve, Sichuan, China

2007-08-03T22:32:00.001+08:00

We visited this area during horse trek one afternoon. The photos really don't do it justice! The collection of lakes, streams and caves was only over a few kilometers but was just stunning. Also included hot springs, fields of wildflowers and lush dark forest.

Reflection Lake

Vera the muskateer (see the feather in her hat??) examining yet more wildflowers...

Erdaohai Lake

very clear lake whose name i can't remember - see the fallen logs lying at the bottom!

Another clear lake but with a limestone bottom this time

Songpan, Sichuan Province, China

2007-08-03T22:11:00.000+08:00

Well back in Chengdu again now after our horse trek in Songpan (a veeeery long bus ride from north of here). Had a brilliant time on the trek! We went for 3 days, which generally involved riding all morning, then walking in the arvo. Our guides were great and the area is just stunning. Packed with wildfowers and streams and waterfalls everywhere! Anyway here are just a few pics (we took over 150 in 4 days!!!). I will put the ones from Mounigou Lakes area in next post.
The first pic here is just some of the stunning wildflowers we saw.

Vera with 2 of our guides. She now has an impressive number of adoption offers from all over the world lol

Vera with one of her many flower collections - apparently she does still want to be a geologist but said and i quote "if i lived here i'd definitely be a botanist instead" :)

Vera riding her horse along the mountain side

Our trusty steeds!

Misty mountain view - pic taken from horseback (and i didn't even fall off doing it!)

Vera having a lesson in working the animal skin bellows while our fellow trekkers look on

Pic taken from bus as we drove along cliff road above the river south of Songpan

Chengdu Panda Capital of China

2007-07-28T21:37:00.000+08:00

We flew to Chengdu from Beijing and headed off the next day (yesterday) to see the pandas at the research sanctuary here. It is a fantastic place - very big and great enclosures and they have the most successful captive breeding program in the world.
(btw no idea why the above seems to want to be a hyperlink?? All instructions are in Chinese characters at the moment so no clue how to fix? Um yes this is one of the many reasons i'm ashamed to say i'm in IT lol)

See if you can spot the adolescent pandas gobbling bamboo here!

This pic looks fake i reckon but the pandas truly are that adorable!!!

Aaaaand once again he is eating :) It is pretty much all they do all day - not a bad life i reckon - so long as bamboo does it for you!

Great Wall of China at Mutiang

2007-07-28T21:23:00.001+08:00

I'm sure i am spelling everything wrong for China but i'm too lazy to check and hey - at least you are getting some pics ;)

We walked along the whole section that was open to the public here - not sure how long it was but we estimate 6-8km (and we did both directions so we were pretty stuffed by the end!). Beautiful views and some horribily steep climbs up steps made for giants and midgets alternatively! In this pic you can see about half of the section we walked.

Stupidly enough it surprised me cos i had thought from pics i had seen that the wall itself was pretty flat ... but when you think about the fact it is built on the ridge between the highest points of mountains ... well no - flat is not the word i would use!

This is us looking verrrrrrry hot and sweaty - and boy were we ever! We didn't bring quite enough water but i confess when we had to fork out 5 times the normal price for a bottle of icy water from some enterprising locals it was well worth it!

I should confess that we cheated a bit since we caught a chairlift up to the wall itself and a toboggan down (weeeeeeee!) These blokes were at the bottom and once again we got ripped of cos i totally suck at bargaining but they were very entertaining at least :D

This last pic is the beautiful view from a window in one of the watchtowers in the wall.

Beijing, China

2007-07-28T21:13:00.001+08:00

A few brief flashes of our time in Beijing :)

First views of China (including front of the train!)

Temple of Heaven Park

Vera with her whole coconut drink in Wangfujiang Snack St (we declined the fried scorpions and sea horses i'm afraid)

Countdown to the Beijing Olympics opposite Tiananmen Square

Beijing, China

2007-07-26T12:27:00.000+08:00

Hiya
Just a brief update to say yes we are in China :) Unfortunately the 'great firewall' of china doesn't let me go to our blog address - however i can update it since this has a different address (just not see it!) To add to the fun this computer doesn't have a USB port - i have found lots where you can't access the USB port but this is the first i've found that actually just doesn't have one!! Sooooo no photos today sorry - and we had cool ones of us on the the real Great Wall too :(

So heading from Beijing to Chengdu (in Sichuan province) in a few hours for anyone who is following us on the map. Hopefully we will find some pandas and also a connection where we can upload our pics :D

Otherwise China is great fun and yes we have been gorging ourselves on steamed buns ;)

Meg xxx

the Gobi, Mongolia

2007-07-17T14:10:00.000+08:00

Photo diary (well a teeny tiny part) of our Gobi tour. It also doesn't show the millions of horses, goats, cows, sheep, camels, eagles, vultures, marmots, weird bugs and other unidentified creatues we saw ;)

1) yet another horse and foal - we saw millions!

2) the trendy twins at bayan zag - site of heaps of dinosaur fossil and the edge of what used to be a sea!

3) Yoliin Am ICE gorge - yes that is actually ice in the middle of summer in the middle of the gobi!!!! Very bizarre!
4) cute little squirrel sized creatures we saw in the non-ice parts of the gorge

5) khongor els (sand dunes) - the smudge on the edge is vera collapsing on the way up - I was already at the top (hehe - points for the oldies versus the kids i reckon lol) btw she did make it to the top a few minutes later :D

6) riding 2 humped camels out to the dunes

7) lunch break in middle of the little mountain range we were driving through
8) a tiny part of the ruins of the huge twin monasterys at Ongi - they were destroyed (like nearly all buddhist temples) during the stalinist purges in the 1930's. The monks were mostly killed or imprisoned, the buildings destroyed and in this case the river diverted to a mine.

9) hole in ruins built on island, view through to the lake and grassland

10) a typical view during trip - note the angle of the jeep to the horizon!!!

11) Some really deserty looking gobi :)

12) sunset at Ogii Lake where we chilled for a few days and ve played with all the kids before returning to UB Beautiful lake but looked kinda strange to us cos there was no vegetation higher than a foot and mostly it was just grass.

Terelj National Park, Mongolia

2007-07-04T17:21:00.000+08:00

We have spent the last 4 days in a beautiful area just north of Ulaanbaatar. The tour we went on was really cool cos we got to meet and get to know some of the local nomads. The trip was called “become a nomad in 4 days” to give you some idea :)

Started with us hopping off the bus and basically directly onto horses! Only the second time i’ve ever ridden a horse and the following day we did over 20km! I think i stupidly looked overconfident cos Ve and the other girl on the tour with us had their horses led by the guides while i was kinda just tossed on and pointed in the right direction :P Great fun, though my legs could barely hold me up by the time we arrived lol

We brought our own tents but pretty much spent all our time in the ger(s) of the local family we were staying with. Got to eat traditional food which was mostly dairy products this time of year (mostly meat in winter time apparently) and even helped make some which was fun. We had urum which is a kind of cross between cream and butter, dried curds, very ‘fizzy’ yoghurt and an absolute tonne of milk tea. The milk tea is cows milk, tea scraped from a solid block, water and a little flour boiled together and served alllll the time lol. I think the only time we actually appreciated it was on the last day after riding on an ox cart through the rain and being thoroughly cold and wet by the time we arrived at the next ger!

We also played traditional games using sheep ankle bones (like knuckle bones – but different games), attempted some traditional Mongolian sewing and generally just hung out with the people. Even had a game of tennis Mongol style which involves wacking the ball at each other any way you please and the other person hopefully stopping it before it rolls down the hill to where the cows are being milked :) And there sure is lots of nice grass to play on out there :D

Anyway the people we stayed with were absolutely lovely and we returned with a much better understanding of nomad life, a lot of photos, a strong need to never see any cream again ever and a slight tummy bug – clearly we are not as tough as the locals who drink water directly from the river while we had to boil ours first :P Also a rather desperate need for a shower lol

train into Mongolia

2007-06-28T20:13:00.000+08:00

Our first morning in Mongolia, this was the view from the train...
(see if you can spot the gers)

Lake Baikal

2007-06-28T20:11:00.000+08:00

The beautiful clear waters of Lake Baikal, Russia

Russia to Mongolia

2007-06-27T16:37:00.000+08:00

Here are a few pics from Russia finally! St Petersburg Church, Moscow convent, some shots from the Trans-Siberian train (sunset enroute and our wagon with fellow feral wagon mates stretching the legs :)

After Moscow we went on the train to Yekaterinburg (pretty and friendly), then a looong train ride to Irkutsk (nice little city except for all the fluffy pollen blowing around from the trees like snow!), then went out to Lake Baikal. Gotta say out of all of Russia, Lake Baikal is the place i'd like to come back to! Absolutely beautiful scenery and the lake itself is just astounding. Holds 20% of the worlds fresh water, is actually growing all the time cos it is on the edge of 3 tectonic plates and the water is so pure you can drink it right from the lake. Not that we did lol :P

Haven't got the pics from it sorted yet so will put them up soon (hopefully tomorrow) but as with anything that amazing pics just can't do it justice!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now in Mongolia after another train journey. Was with all English speaking tourists in our wagon this time which was a big change as prior to this we have had no other English speakers. All good fun and now at least a few Russians know how to play 'squares', 'snakes and ladders' and 'chinese checkers' :D

Only been in Ulaanbaatar so far here in Mongolia and while it is not a beautiful city, it is fairly quiet, friendly people and not to fast paced (though you take your life in your hands when you cross the road!) Saw a buddhist monastery this morning which had a huge gold statue (50feet high i think) which was just eye boggling. Seen various other bits and pieces and heading out on Friday for a 4 day 'learn to be a nomad' trip which we are really looking fwd to! Lots of horseriding, yak carts, living with the nomads etc so should be pretty interesting :)

Will hopefully have some interesting pics to post when we return!

the rest of the time :D

2007-06-13T23:12:00.000+08:00

Photos aka what we do when not looking at large monuments saying “oooh”;

Ve doing homework

Writing in journals with lots of “journals suck” and “what the heck did we do yesterday?” comments

On the train – its the ‘express’ can ya tell??

Ve doing the classic “get the giant mosquitoes off me dance”

Moscow day one ...

2007-06-13T23:10:00.000+08:00

::playschool voice:: “Our first day in Moscow ... through the funky, weird-arse Russian window”

Got picked up by car from train at 8am this morning and decided that driving in Russia is actually really fun, so long as you pretend it is just a rollercoaster and you can’t actually die:P Made it out of hotel again by 2pm after a failed attempt to order a pizza (i got confused and he, in standard russian style, hung up, so i waited in vain then gave up and we had tuna, crackers and chocolate for brunch), a sleep for me and a doze then a read for Vera (who Ve? read? i hear you say lol).

Found the metro station with the help of the girl at the front desk “you turn left, then up some stairs, then just follow some people”... yes well, i should really say we eventually found the metro station :P Made it into the centre of Moscow – aiming generally for the Red Square via food. Had a slight bit of trouble actually finding food as everyone seems to supply alcohol and icecreams (plus half the streets are blocked off – but more about that later) but no actual food! And no Steph – alcohol is not a food group ;D

Eventually followed a sign to cafe (haha we know the Cyrillic for that one!) down an alley, round a corner, past the enterprising lady with the portaloo and through a whole bunch of blokes in uniforms (“don’t make any bomb jokes, don’t make any bomb jokes, ...”) to an unmarked door that actually led to food (“food glorious food” just think of Oliver and hum along...).

Surprisingly enough found a very funky upmarket cafe upstairs! Even managed to entertain the dour waitress when we both actually whooped in delight upon finding English translations in the menu :P

Anyway back on the streets (dunno which ones cos we never did figure that out), fed and watered and back to aimless wandering with lots of whispered “is that the red square?” and “why did the army feel the need to block off just half of the markets?” and “what the heck does a backwards captital R sound like”. Kept wandering but we had to go through a few one-way road blocks which really didn’t make our chances of ever getting back to the same metro station look very good! Anyway we persevered (ok aimlessly wandered for a while ;) through crowds of frustrated Russians and about a billion people in uniform from cute little cadets to camouflage army guys (though how well blue camouflage gear works in the city is anyone’s guess).

Eventually we realised that (a) it was Russian Independence Day, (b) every single thing we were trying to get to was down a blocked off street and (c) there was no way on earth we were getting back to our metro stop. By then it was about 5pm, so we figured we could count ourselves as “having made an effort” (to do something other than read and sleep and bath all day in our flash hotel room with larrrrge towels – those who’ve travelled like we do will get the huge importance of this fact) and conclude that we could end our adventure by navigating three metro lines in Cyrillic to get back to the hotel!

Which we successfully did (oh yeah! i’m goooood) and then ... wait for it ... actually managed to order a pizza (2^nd time lucky) in total Russian. Not only that but it actually arrived too!

Notes to put this brief interlude into context:

1) Caught train from St Petersburg last night – departing midnight-8am (nice sleeper carriage, but still not that much sleep :)

2) there seem to always be lots of people in uniform (army, police, navy, ??) so for today to seem out of the ordinary in terms of numbers of armed forces is saying something!

3) taxi drivers in Russia ... well the less said the better :P

4) no photos today cos never actually saw anything worth taking photo of and snapping the armed guards just didn’t seem like the best idea!

Note for concerned relatives ::waves to Mum::

2) Up until this point we have been eating very well with usual day of bread, muesli and yoghurt for breaky; bread/crackers, cheese, meat/tin fish, boiled egg and fruit for lunch and fresh veg and pasta soup for tea. However if we ever get scurvy it would be here in Russia :P

Note for person who decided Russia should go with the Cyrillic alphabet:

::pokes tongue out::

St Petersburg, Russia

2007-06-11T23:20:00.001+08:00

Haven't done the photos yet but since i am madly updating i thought i'd better do a speedy Russia update too :)

Been in St P a couple of days. The people are pretty friendly and there are some interesting buildings but i gotta say the language is killing us! Thank goodness we know some Czech and Polish cos it is bad enough having to decipher the Cyrillic let alone remember the sounds as well. A lot of it is really similar to what we have already learnt so memorising is not too hard. I am getting the hang of the Cyrillic but when you are standing at a counter and need to order food in a hurry it is waaaaaay behind my capabilities :P The first night we ordered "any soup" cos we figured they'd have to have soup and it was too hard (and we were too tired) to try and work out what varieties they might have lol. Turned out to be really yummy and luckily the girl at the counter knew the word "jam" when we attempted to get some savory dumplingy looking things to go with it, cos i don't think they would have worked very well with the soup ;D

Otherwise all is good. The palaces and buildings and monuments are all hugely impressive and imposing (and not necessarily in that order). Spent a day in the Hermitage (inside the Winter Palace) and were suitably blown away by the absolutely fantastic collection (both in size and actual pieces) of art, not to mention the building itself! Did city tour today so got lots of sights and history which was fun. Kinda wishing we had stayed in a hostel rather than a hotel just for some company but i reckon we'll probably get that on the train tonight.

Yep thats right we are off to Moscow tonight! Only a fairly short 8hrs on the train so i guess we'll experience sleeping on the trans-Sib and not much else :P

Hope you're all good and thanks for the comments :D

Vősu, Estonia

2007-06-11T23:17:00.001+08:00

Just arrived this afternoon in Vősu on the northern coast of Estonia and it is just gorgeous! The forest comes right down to the beach and it is peaceful, warm, sunny and beautiful. Not to often you can sit on a warm sunny beach at 7:30 at night (and still have to wear your hat lol). Just what we needed to cos both of us have been pretty tired and not all that enthusiastic about the next destination. Then we find somewhere beautiful and fairly remote like here and we pretty much both say “thats why we are doing this!” I always forget how draining cities can get. Even if we really like the place and have a great time - it is just constant people and traffic and distracting things. Out here it is forests and water and the odd elk :)

4 days later...

Have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here! Been for a forest hike, long bike ride, swim in the Baltic (me), sauna (Vera) and lots of time lazing in the sun. The only bad thing in the entire place is the lack of darkness at night when you want to sleep!

Tallinn, Estonia

2007-06-11T23:15:00.001+08:00

Managed to arrive in the cute little city during their ‘Old Town Days’ medieval festival, completely by accident! Great timing though cos there is constant traditional (and less so ;) music, performances, market stalls and displays for the entire time we are here. Tallinn itself is a really lovely city and the people are very friendly.

Back to not speaking the language, after our break in the UK, though this time we aren’t making much effort to learn it since we are only in Estonia for 10 days. Pics here are Tallinn old town and Vera making soap :)

Traquair Medieval Fayre, near Peebles in the Borders

2007-06-11T23:11:00.000+08:00

Organised our entire Scotland holiday to be back in the Border country in time for the Traquair Medieval Fayre ... and it was well worth it! :D Great day of knights jousting, fighting (with flaming maces even!) and generally battling it out (and hamming it up ;). Medieval music, food, displays and artisans, with heaps of interactive stuff and everyone in character and having fun :)

btw - really haven't bothered to figure out the formatting here and since you are at least getting an update at last i figure ya can't complain too much if it doesn't look pretty :P

Isle of Skye

2007-06-11T23:09:00.000+08:00

Spent a looong time last night and this morning trying to find accomodation! It is a bank holiday weekend (today is Friday) and every hostel from the Isle of Skye to Glasgow is booked out! Only place we could find was the hostel here in Armadale on the Isle of Skye! Once again – not as far a drive as we’d hoped. Saw Eilean Donan Castle (spelling that wrong i am sure!) on the way which was very pretty, then took an incredibly narrow windy insane little road to the Kylerhea Otter Sanctuary. The road was so bad that a few times we went over such a steep little hill i couldn’t actually see anything besides sky so couldn’t see which way the road was going at the crest!!! Needless to say took it verrrrry slowly. Since this is kind of what i was expecting all the highlands roads to be like i guess i should be grateful :D Passing is fun cos every 50m or so there is a slightly wider (very slightly) bit of road so you have to stop to let the other car pass. Or if you have just gone around a bend and didn’t see each other then someone has to back up (and not fall off the cliff) to the previous passing place! Gimme aussie country roads anyday!!

Anyway pic here is from end of this road so you can help us decide if it was worth it or not ;)

Dundonnell, Scotland

2007-06-11T23:08:00.000+08:00

Headed to Lairg from Overscaig to see the Shin Falls. Nice but to be honest we have seen just as spectacular ones on the side on the road up in the northern highlands lol. Both feeling pretty warn out so sat in car park of falls and searched through our books till we found a hostel not too far away which even had wireless!!! Once again not as far as we intended to drive so are going to have a loooong drive one of these days...

Got to Dundonnell hostel just after lunch and had a very chilled out afternoon. Felt exceptionally lazy cos everyone else in this little hostel is here to mountain climb! Great people and had a fun evening.

Overscaig, Scotland

2007-06-11T23:07:00.000+08:00

Stayed in a very flash hotel last night for a treat with a delicious 3 course dinner. Even had “real” haggis – though admittedly it was in a pot not a sheeps stomach ;) It was surprisingly delicious but i think i still prefer the beth’s vegetarian version! Once again driving through outstanding scenery that really can’t be described or even adequately photographed. Huge mist topped hills/mountains with waterfalls every 50m at times. Rivers that bend and curve through heather and rocky shores. Such wild and beautiful country ... and so much damn water!!!

Kyle of Tongue, Scottish Highlands

2007-06-11T23:05:00.000+08:00

Ferry back from Orkney’s was a lot better with quells but VERY rough. Not really feeling 100% after driving for a while so stopped at the Tongue hostel for the night. Luckily for us it was the most beautiful hostel we have stayed in, with a lovely big room overlooking the water from a hexagonal window, leather couches and table and chairs – all in the room! Not to mention the rest of the hostel, the lovely hostess and delicious homebaked biscuits we bought for the next day.

Beautiful drive to get here across the north coast of the scottish mainland. Towering cliffs over sandy beaches with valleys filled with lush greenery and bright flowers. Betty Hill particularly was stunning – definitely on the list of places to come back to at some point!

Orkney Isles still ...

2007-06-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

Spent the next day walking, riding bikes, seeing iron age brochs (kinda round forts), crossing a tidal causeway to see Viking long house ruins and finished the day with a cliff top walk in the evening where we saw thousands and thousands of nesting kittiwakes and guillemots (but no puffins unfortunately) and the odd fulmar and other unidentified birds. Ve bought a Scottish bird book a week ago and we’ve both had fun trying to identify birds.

Very amusing moment of riding bikes along a cliff path, bumping across the stones with Vera singing her own version (new words) of Doe-a-deer ala Sound of Music :D

2007-06-09T16:20:00.000+08:00

grrrr - at net cafe (briefly) with all blog update on mem stick but can't use it on this pc!!!!

bus to russia in 1/2 hour from here in estonia :)

hope your all good :)

Meg xxx

Kirkwall, Orkney Isles

2007-05-24T23:02:00.000+08:00

Caught car ferry over this morning (i had totally forgotten i get seasick .... groan) Very happy to get here and the weather was very kind so not looking fwd to return journey if it is rough!

Did about a billion things this arvo but all prehistoric (no castles in sight yay!). Saw inside a Cairn from about 3000BC which had Viking graffiti which was kinda funny cos it said stuff like “i carved these runes up very high” on a high bit of stone LMAO Some vikings took shelter here for 3 days (way after it was created) and got rather bored :D

Also saw rings of standing stones older than stone henge and 2 prehistoric villages – one of which still had all the stone furniture inside (untouched)! Absolutely amazing stuff!! Totally makes you want to be an archaeologist! Not to mention driving around the beautiful country side of green grass and continuous lochs and ocean and causeways and cliffs and cows :) We have had beautiful sunny weather – tho the wind was been pretty constant but i guess you get that when you are on a little island in the north sea :)

Loch Ness, Scotland

2007-05-24T23:01:00.001+08:00

On way up we dropped into Dunkeld and saw the hermitage and Ossian’s Hall (pic above) and a heritage centre of local life in the 1930s. Fascinating (though long) day and we were more than happy to finally pull into the hostel on the banks of Loch Ness. Next day the crazy Scottish weather was bucketing down rain when we got to Urquart Castle (which i can’t spell right at the moment) but by the time we had gone inside to get tickets then come out at the castle it was sunny and clear! Lovely view of the Loch (no monster in sight) and a quick wizz through the castle (did i mention we are a bit over castles?), then onto the Loch Ness Centre for the low down on Nessie. Vaguely interesting walk through with video displays then about a billion souvenirs for sale :P

On way from Loch Ness up the coast we found a farm shop where we went to get eggs and came out with everything from roasted smoked salmon (soooo good!) to shortbread (and the eggs of course). Not quite the plan but had a seriously good feast that night at the hostel in Canisbay. Should mention that Ve has been navigating unaided the whole time we have been driving and has been doing a brilliant job!

Dundee, Scotland

2007-05-24T22:59:00.000+08:00

On way up we saw Tantallon Castle (my fav castle to date!) and Edinburgh Castle before hitting Dundee (now rechristened the “City of Roundabouts” ;)

We stayed with Beth who I haven’t seen since we were about Ve’s age, and had a really crazy fun time :D The local tour of Tesco complete with commentary being particularly memorable lol Also managed to squeeze in some shopping (my cargos kinda died after being warn every single day for 3 months! – just shoddy workmanship i reckon – don’t they take into account sliding down snow etc in them???) and also saw St Andrews Cathedral and Castle. Interesting but i think we’ve now seen enough cathedrals (and possibly castles) to last us for a goodly long while!

pics here are the view from Tantallon – how can you not love this country! Also us with Beth – with all three of us looking slightly feral ;)

Melrose, Scotland

2007-05-24T22:57:00.000+08:00

Aunty Les and Uncle Bill kindly lent us one of their cars and we drove up to Melrose in the Borders (Scotland). Very strange to be in a car again but after a few false starts to find first (not a big fan or having reverse in the usual first position i must say!) we had no probs. The Borders is just beautiful – lushly green with gorse and heather on the hills and cute little towns and ruins everywhere, not to mention the patchworked farms and forests. Falling in love with scotland all over again :) Went to Melrose Abbey and Jedburgh Abbey as well as doing the Eilden Hills walk which was lovely but strangely enough kind of hilly! Should note the gorse was above our heads in some parts of the path!

London, England

2007-05-24T22:56:00.001+08:00

Well we saw a looooot of embassies! Finally got our visas for the trans-Siberian all sorted, after a lot of waiting in line. In between times we chilled out with Katie, went to the Diana Memorial Playground which had a cool giant ship (vera the pirate was pretty happy), went to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Kensington Palace Gardens, Madame Toussauds, the markets, Trafalgar Square, a whole lot of the underground and visited Gordon and Mary and Romala and Rebecca (both of which we forgot to get pics of :P ) Anyway here is us with Buffy and the Incredible Hulk instead :D

Harpenden, England

2007-05-24T22:54:00.001+08:00

Another easyjet flight over to Luton where Aunty Les kindly picked us up from the airport at some ungodly hour. Took a good few days to remember we are in an english speaking country again – very strange feeling!

Had a lovely relaxing couple of days with Aunty Les and Uncle Bill. They took us to Hampton Court Palace and Gardens which was brilliant and we also did a lovely “ramble” through the countryside. Hampton Court had a maze which Ve was very impressed with and also re-enactments in the Tudor kitchen which was not only interesting but great fun! Very amusing blokes who were the “cooks”, and after watching them roast meat on a proper spit we were also very hungry!

Warsaw, Poland

2007-05-24T22:53:00.000+08:00

Managed to be here for only one day which happened to be a major public holiday for Poland. Wandered through a park in the city centre and saw soldiers on horses on display and even heard the president of Poland speaking! (Too many people to actually see him though). Wandered through old town etc and had some more dastardly Polish food of dripping on bread with fried onions – good thing we are walking a lot a the moment i reckon ;)

Zakopane, Poland

2007-05-24T22:50:00.000+08:00

OMG totally can’t rave enough about this place! There is a reason every second Polish person was here while we were (and no it wasn’t just cos they knew we would be there lol). Very touristy but somehow not tacky. Lots of stalls etc round the place but they have locally hand made things out of wood and wool etc.

Caught the funicular up to the top of a peak next to the town and even had a gravity toboggan ride at the top (very fun!) Pic here is view from top.

Had the healthiest dinner ever of potato fried in butter and locally made smoked sheeps cheese – also fried in butter! Mmmmmmm – and can’t even blame the locals cos i cooked it!

Went up to proper Tatra Mountains next day and cheated by getting a horse and carriage ride to the top of the mountain ;) Walked around the lake at the top (Morsky Oske) which was still mostly iced over and very beautiful. Climbed up to a saddle which was the closest we were getting to a summit (and frankly was quite enough!) One of the pics here is the slope we went up – VERY steep – we mostly just climbed on all fours like a crazy mountain monkey (if there is such a thing?)

Krakow, Poland

2007-05-24T22:42:00.000+08:00

We had an awesome time staying with Dave in his flat in Krakow! Most importantly i got to talk about Buffy!!! :D Saw Wawel Hill, the Jewish quarter and various other bits and pieces. Krakow is a very pretty city (providing you can navigate your way out of the bus terminal!)
Pic is kindly stolen from Dave's blog ;D

Kłodzko, Poland

2007-05-24T22:41:00.000+08:00

Great fort (one of two that protected the city) with a massive maze of tunnels which are part of the defenses. Lots of crawling through tunnels which Ve of course loved! Forgot our camera that day though :P

Kletno, Poland

2007-05-24T22:40:00.000+08:00

Absolutely beautiful area! Unfortunately no useful buses but got a lift off someone on the way there and walked 4km with all our gear the next day :P Saw Cave Bear’s Cave, uranium and flourite mine (no radiation where we though luckily!) and a geological museum with an absolutely amazing collection of different rocks and fossils – even included a fossilized nest of dinosaur eggs (see pic)!!! The mine was surprisingly fun as well, especially cos the tour guide spoke no english and only a couple of german words and our polish is very dodgy. Made for lots of charades etc cos we were the only ones on the tour :)

2007-05-24T22:39:00.000+08:00

ok i am clearly aaaaaagggges behind so am gonna do a super quick catchup...

Wrocław, Poland

2007-05-09T17:37:00.000+08:00

A beautiful city filled with dwarfs and sweaty fit people ... lol the marathon was on while we were there – hence the fit people. The dwarfs on the other hand, we first noticed when we were wandering around and saw a little brass dwarf sitting in chains behind a metal security grill on a random window. After noticing another couple we asked at the tourist info and ended up searching all through the city for them which was a lot of fun :)

Also saw an unbelievable panorama painting that was hundreds of metres long and set up in a round building with 3D objects like trees etc placed in such a way that you could only tell what was real and what was painting if you really searched! Combine that with the clever lighting and it really felt like you were there with the soldiers! It was pretty old but had been carefully preserved even during WWII and the communist era and depicted the Polish fighters defeating the invading Russians – based on an actual battle.

Pic here is of artwork on the street of people dissappearing into the ground - a reflection of life under soviet rule.

Šwiecie farm stay, Poland

2007-05-09T17:27:00.000+08:00

Stayed for 3 nights at an “Agroturistyka” accomodation which is basically a farm stay. Lovely family and Ve got to play with the little girl Julia, not to mention their pet dog. Amazing homecooked Polish food, which we’ll definitely have to try to recreate back in Oz.

Also met another great couple who were staying a the same place while renovating their house near by. Amazing houses round here (in what used to be called the Sudetenland i think) which are all massive, old, german things with arches in the barn and cool stonework. They took us to visit some friends who had also renovated their house into this amazing, cozy little house furnished and decorated with all sorts of recycled bits and pieces and lots of art since the owner is an artist!

They also kindly gave us a lift back to Jelenia Gora the following day so we only had one bus to catch which was such a relief :)

This pic is from a beautiful walk we did around the river near Swiecie

Jelenia Gora, Poland

2007-05-09T17:22:00.000+08:00

Had a fun day of about 9 hours travel to get less than 100km! Turns out the town we were going to in Poland is close to current town in Czech Republic but the border crossing isn’t open so we had to go via Germany! We do get to say we “walked to Poland” though, since we opted to walk across the border rather than train :)

Visited local ruined castle (Chojnik) which had a pretty (though steep) hike up to it. Awesome castle with great view and Ve even got to have a go using a crossbow! Pic here is one of the courtyards in the castle.

Lucie from Volary

2007-04-20T23:22:00.000+08:00

Hi Lucie
We have lost your email address :( If you see this can you please send us an email so we can email you back.
If anyone else from Volary is reading then please ask Ladka in library to tell Lucie.
Thanks!!!

Rocks Day

2007-04-15T20:50:00.000+08:00

Ve:

Caught a train to a little station then walked, to a little town -that is actually bigger then we thought- called Tisá, walked from there to Tiské Stěny a place withe lots of different rocks, decided my animal (animagus) form’s probably a mountain goat lol, we got some pics and liked all the tunnels and other bits and pieces. The staircases were all wonky with some worn down, some you needed to take a huge step to get to the next one, which was fun.

We got a free post card and when we got out the lady wanted mum to sign because we’re from australia, just made it to train station exausted.

Meg: Ve had a great day and couldn't stop grinning the whole time, then when we got home we went to the hairdressers and she actually cut all her hair off!!! I must say i was surprised she wanted to but i think she finally got sick of brushing it every day :P Even managed to get a great haircut which is trickier than you'd think when you don't speak the same language as the person wielding the scissors! As you can see from the pic she was really upset with the new look ;)

Děčín, Czech Repub

2007-04-15T20:45:00.000+08:00

Decided to stay here as it is close to the České Švýcarsko National Park which is part of a group of national parks which lie on the Czech-German border here. Found accomodation in a pub hotel up on a hill surrounded by a really old chapel and a little wood. The actual hotel is not that exciting but the surrounds are lovely – not that we appreciated them when walking up the hill to get here with our packs on though :P We are once again in non-English speaking town but we manage to get by alright these days.

Yesterday we caught a bus to Hřensko then did a beautiful walk along a river, then wound through the forest and huge limestone rock formations to the stone arch of Pravčická Brána. The scenery was amazing but combining 17km or so with some horribly steep climbs meant we were more than happy to get to the end! Part of the river walk there is no trail so you have to catch a boat (one of those ‘pushed along by a guy with a large stick’ types) which was fun and i even understood most of the German! Kinda surprising cos i’d thought i’d replaced it all with Czech :) We were still technically in Czech Republic but we pretty much only saw German tourists while we were there. The pics here are the trail markers we have been following all over the country side (aaaand sing it with me ... “like the leyland brothers”! lol) and a pic of Pravčická Brána from the view point next to it. While we were up there we saw them pulling up supplies on a giant pulley cos there are no roads to get here! Feeling verrrrrry sorry for the people who have to hike to work every day :P

Konopište Castle, Czech Repub

2007-04-15T20:43:00.000+08:00

Took it fairly easy the lst couple of days in Prague. Have met some great people at the youth hostel we are staying in and spent some time with them :) Is actually a brilliant youth hostel and if anyone finds themselves in Prague then Sir Tobys is a great place to stay!

Took a train out to Benešov one day and walked to Konopište Castle. It is a beautiful castle but more importantly has one of the best armouries in Europe! We had a tour through it and other parts of the castle but unfortunately weren’t allowed to take any photos inside so you’ll just have to take our word that it was cool ;) The castle also had the requisite bear in the moat. I must say all the stories and movies i’ve seen or read had water in the moat but round here they definitely prefer to have bears – guess that would make sneaking into the castle a rather more exciting venture :P Anyway the pic here is of one of the statues in the gardens

Prague (again)

2007-04-09T17:40:00.000+08:00

Well back in Praha again... Um yes still not entirely sure why but we had to go somewhere for Easter and it seemed like a good plan – after all it has ... MARKETS! Hey don’t laugh – we like markets ;D Managed to see a ‘birds of prey’ show yesterday (at the markets of course lol) which was awesome as the crowd wasn’t that big and Ve got right up the front. We also got some photos afterwards of one of the large eagles. Well we think it was an eagle – the only words i was understanding from the guy speaking about them was things like ‘big’ and ‘small’ :P

Planning to see some castles and towns that are day trips from here in the next few days but our plans are somewhat subject to change, as evidenced by the fact we spent an hour at a local playground today on the way to the city centre. At least i am prepared these days so i had my journal to write in, while Ve pretended to be a monkey on a huge climbing thingy :) BTW the photo here is of a blacksmith who was demonstrating at the easter markets.

České Budějovice, Czech Republic

2007-04-09T17:37:00.000+08:00

Went to the Zoo Ohrada which is only a short train ride away (and a long walk if you catch the wrong train ... um yes, not that we have ever done that of course!) and saw their amazing collection of owls (among other animals). Vera was very excited since she loves owls, not to mention the zoo also had wolves – her other animal love at the moment. The cages for the big animals were not that huge which was pretty sad but they at least had a reasonable environment and things to keep them from getting too bored.

Realised after a little while at the zoo that the temperature had got to somewhere around “really bl#$dy cold” so we power-walked in what we hoped was the right direction (my czech is great for asking questions – it is just a shame i don’t understand most of the replies :P ) and luckily found the correct station where the train we needed was just leaving so jumped straight on with a many sighs of relief. Have decided we loooove the heating on trains :D

Sumava, Czech Republic

2007-04-07T16:33:00.000+08:00

Some pics of the beautiful South Bohemian forest, the Sumava.

First is Me when we decided to forge our own path through the wilderness ... ok so the track we were following was closed, so then we followed the train line (like in a movie! only with more mud, only leaping one river ... ok stream, and the only wildlife was one terrified snake ... um actually all of that could probably be in a movie too!!), then we thought what the heck and got on a track that went roughly the right direction (and away from the train line) and wandered through the forest until we hit the town we were aiming for :) Er mum and dad if you are reading this then i’m just kidding about everything i just wrote ... really!

Second pic is when i’d had enough of travelling with Ve so i left her in the forest at night like Hansel and Gretel! Or it was possibly when i discovered the colour filters on my camera ;) Filters are fuuuuuun plus Ve is absolutely awesome to travel with and we are having a great time and haven’t tried to kill each other once!

Third is Vera with her new pet rock

Fourth is the Sumava forest we walked through.

I should note that every word i write in Czech is missing all its doovy whatsits on top of half the letters cos i am too lazy to find them on my laptop. So the forest should really be pronounced “Shoomarvar” just in a case you ever say it to a Czech person and they look at you like you’re an idiot ... and yes we certainly do know that look first hand ;)

travelling...

2007-04-07T16:31:00.000+08:00

I remember sitting round when i was in highschool, wondering what i might do in the future, but i’m pretty sure i never came up with, “drinking pistachio hot choc in little town in Czech Republic, memorising czech words and reading harry potter fanfic with my 9yr old daughter” ... guess sometimes its difficult to predict the future ;)

Volary, Czech Republic

2007-04-07T16:29:00.000+08:00

We ended up staying for 8 days in Volary. This unassuming little town was the friendliest we have been to. I think we were the only tourists there at the time tho lol. We stayed in a great little apartment for a lot less than it usually costs for a hostel and it even had a ladder/stairs which Ve loved of course ;) The town itself didn’t have much to see but we met a whole heap of really lovely people and had a great time chatting to people, visiting the local schools (for their English classes), improving our Czech (thanks Lucy!) and even visiting a friend’s home (thanks Jana!). We also did some great hikes into the Sumava (the forest near Volary). So BIG thankyou to all our new friends in Volary and if you’re ever in Australia then we’d love to see you :)

Horní Planá, Czech Republic

2007-03-26T22:17:00.000+08:00

Pic of Vera on her "white" beach at Horni Plana. She wasn't too keen for a swim tho lol

Spent the next day vegging (we having found the Czech translation of that yet!) and the day after went for a REALLY long walk/hike for 16+km. Saw the river, some towns, lovely pine forest, farms, strange mutant cow we thought was a rhino/bear (well we had been walking for ages at this point!), lots of sludgy, snowy mud and eventually traipsed back into our penzion to collapse :P

Left Horni Plana for Volary this morning on a very cute little 1 wagon train :) Also spent 1&1/2 hrs wandering around town with our packs searching for a penzion (or pretty much anywhere that would have us!!) that was open. Most towns around here are summer tourism only :( We figured all the walking yesterday was probably good training! Eventually found an apartment which we can go to this evening so we are ignoring the probably price and just being thankful we have a bed!

český krumlov, czech republic

2007-03-26T22:14:00.000+08:00

Pics from our 13km hike round Cesky Krumlov after all the snow the day before.

2007-03-22T21:42:00.000+08:00

Cesky Krumlov

It is snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so it was snowing yesterday too but it melted as soon as it hit the ground which was rather dissappoinmting :( Today tho it has actually hung around for a while! When we woke up this morning we decided to leave the school work till this arvo and immediately got to the highest point we could get to, to see if there was more snow. Headed up to the castle gardens again where we saw a few other tourists also posing in the snow and attempting to make little snow balls lol. All of us grinning like mad and no doubt making the locals think we are all insane :D We made a huge snowman you can see in the photo ... ok it was about 25cm high, but we stuck it on top of a hedge to take a pic :P then wandered up a nearby hill so we could actually "walk" through the snow - did you know it actually squeaks when you walk on it!?! Anyway great excitement round here and the tourist bureau reckons it will be snowing for a week so we might get enough for a real snowman! Not exactly counting on it tho as it is snowing continuously but melting just as fast :(

2007-03-22T21:39:00.000+08:00

Cesky Krumlov

Ahoy! (hi in Cesky) We are now in a beautiful little town called Cesky Krumlov in the southern part of Bohemia (still in Czech Republic). Thankfully our Czech is a lot better now (we bought a proper phrase book in Prague) so we can at least ask for things etc. I must say it let me down last night tho as i had to ask "have you seen a small black dog" and didn't have the phrase book with me. Long story but at least pretending to bark seems to universally convey "dog" or possibly complete insanity so she denied all knowledge and went back inside lol

The hostel we are staying is absolutely gorgeous! It is called Hostel Skippy but is actually named after one of the ladies who owns it (Skippy :) and nothing to do with kangaroos. It is a tiny little place with drawings and paintings all over walls, doors all over the place, lots of exposed wooden beams etc and mismatched bedspreads. The ladies (who live downstairs) play mellow (or reggae) music all the time on cd or actual instruments, the kitchen is tiny and cozy and there is a wooden outdoor area (with chess tables) overhanging the river. Very homely (complete with two little dogs who Vera adores) and we love it :)

prague, czech republic

2007-03-22T21:32:00.000+08:00

Well Prague did grow on us like everyone said it would, but we still reckon it is too touristy :) The walking tour of the city was great (thanks Mum ;) and knowing the history of the buildings etc made us appreciate it all more. Did a ghost tour one night as well which was pretty funny! Was just Vera, me, a Welsh mum and daughter (tho the daughter was my age lol) and the guy who did the tour, who was dressed in a long black cloak and carrying an old fashioned flame torch (well like the ones you get in bunnings to go in your garden lol). We had various "ghosts" jumping out at us from around corners as we went which was hilarious as we all screamed. Funnily enough the older Welsh lady and i both confessed afterwards we spent the whole time paranoid he was going to set his cloak on fire with his torch! Must be a Mum thing :P

Also my advice for anyone else coming here is to not attempt to cook dumplings bought from the supermarket when all the instructions are in Czech ... lets just say that having cheese and crackers as a fallback dinner plan is always a good move ;)

Berlin, Germany

2007-03-16T19:01:00.000+08:00

Next caught cheap flight from Basel-Mulhouse airport which was an experience in itself :) Flight was fine but the airport is actually ON the border so the board of departures has checkin gates listed as gate1, gate2, France, gate3 lol We had to show our passports to go the the Newsagency 3m away in "France" LMAO

Anyway arrived in Berlin no probs and the next day caught up with Siggi, Reiner and Helen who we stayed with for nearly a week. Berlin is an interesting city and so easy to get around in especially as after a week in France the German was sooooo easy to speak (in comparison). Helen and I had a night on the town which was great fun and Siggi and Reiner took ve out the next day (since we had only gotten home at 6:30am!) while Helen and I sat on the couch all day and chatted and watched Greys Anatomy. Yes i know i'm turning into a "girl" :P

Had a wonderfully relaxing few days with Siggi and Helen both playing tour guide. Then headed off on Tues to Prague.

BTW can't seem to get the mem stick to work (tho it did 5min ago ... a common prob at net cafes we have found :\ ) so will put berlin photos up next time.

Hope you are all well and having as much fun as we are :)

Strasburg, Colmar, Mulhouse, FRANCE

2007-03-16T18:46:00.000+08:00

Ok clearly i am very slack at updating! No surprise there considering my usual record of keeping up with emails etc :P

Have included photos of the huge cathedral in Strasburg, Vera being a turtle a the science centre Strasburg, a beautiful little canal filled with old half-wood houses in Colmar and Ve on a trampoline thingy in the town square in Mulhouse (all of which are in France). Unfortunately i'm not much of a graffic artist but at least you can see the pics (well if you turn your head side ways lol)

Anyway, Strasburg was lovely, Colmar was also a very nice little town. We hung out with some of the guys we met at the hostel which was fun - a definite novelty to be able to speak English for a while!! Strangely enough there were no girls at all (besides us) staying at Colmar ... hmmm ... we were too scared to ask why ;) Had a couple of days there and also finally bought a huge slab of nougat we have been seeing in heaps of shops. They make them like a large cake then just divide into wedges!!! OMG sooooo good :) Also did a walk in a nearby town up above the vinyards etc which was beautiful and actually got quite hot! Had fun getting back though cos the town was soo small it didn't even have a ticket machine to get a train ticket home! Thankgoodness we were with a Canadian guy who spoke French to explain to the guard.

Mulhouse was pleasant, tho we went there mainly to access the airport. Made friends with a Swiss mum and daughter from the hostel and Ve had a great time playing with someone her own age. Luckily daisy chains are universal and not dependant on speaking much of the same language :)

Strasburg, France

2007-03-01T17:52:00.000+08:00

Meg: In wireless net cafe in Strasburg and have finally got the #$%* mp3 fixed :) Thanks to wonders of modern technology and the help desk at iriver lol. Not to mention am using own keyboard not a french one so life is goooood!!

Ve: We've been to 2 museums, one was the Alsation museum and the other was the zoology museum. My two latest crazes are weaving and metal work - yes i know they are very different, but i think i'd better stick to weaving because i'd be hard pressed to find a forge these days. But it worked out well going to the Alsation museum because we saw a forge, all the kitchen sets, the toys and the wine cellars. We went to the top of the Strasburg cathedral and the view was really really good!

Saverne, France

2007-02-27T22:50:00.000+08:00

Staying in a youth hostel inside a castle!! Got here this arvo just before the Karnival was starting. Totally not planned – especially as we have managed to just get the end of Karnival in Trier, Luxemburg City and Beaufort so far! Anyway since we were here on the right day for once we got to watch the parade – lots of gruesome witches, goblins, trolls etc and get a ton of confetti, straw and lollies thrown at us. And i seriously mean a ton! They even had blower machine for the confetti and people running around throwing handfuls down the back of anyone’s (who looked untouched) shirt!

The pic here is the view from our window in the hostel - only bad thing about the hostel was the same pretty church you see here had REALLY loud bells that rang at all hours

Metz, France

2007-02-27T22:44:00.000+08:00

Spent 2 nights in Metz getting our first taste of France. My French is so bad that no one understands me even when i read directly out of the phrasebook!! I guess i’ve only been trying for a day tho so i should probably give it time :P Took aaaages to find the tourist office cos i saw on the one map i saw at the train station that it was in Place de Armes but asking people where this was was nigh on impossible! It turns out it isn’t very well known for one thing but more to the point i was pronouncing it totally wrong (and i tried lots of variations with each person we asked!). Eventually found it tho (its pronounced “plez darm” btw) then luckily one hostel was fairly close by. It wasn’t the one we wanted but the other was about ½ km more which was just too far for ve to walk with her pack ... and for me too come to think of it :P Tourist wise we looked around this awesome gothic cathedral (St Etienne) and wandered around town eating lots as always :) – sometimes seems as if we are eating our way around europe lol. Found a U-shaped food hall thing with cheeses and meats etc and boughts some cheeses that looked interesting and some cold meat that i thought was cheese cos we just saw the sign saying the “blah blah” whatever it was, was on special. Turns out it was some sort of smoked meat but it is rather tasty so who cares *grin* Even found a takeaway pasta shop which boils (like a deep fryer) your chosen pasta, then add your sauce and off you go – with soup with croutons as well of course :)

Beaufort, Luxembourg

2007-02-24T21:38:00.000+08:00

Next spent 5 days in a little country town called Beaufort. Gotta say the language in Luxembourg is kinda tricky cos they speak Luxembourgish (of which i only know "hello"), then french, german, english, dutch or some variation thereof! I never even knew which language to attempt! Had fun trying tho and everyone is very friendly and helpful.

The pics here are from the beautiful (tho logged) forrest around the town. Also me looking like a cross between a cold, daggy bushwalker and a bankrobber :P

Took a few days to just veg and catch up on our reading, spent another day in a nearby town (on the german border) called Echternach which was nice and generally just hung around, ate lots and spent time at the local park which had an awesome flying fox (pretty sure it would have another name here tho ;)

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

2007-02-24T21:27:00.000+08:00

Meg: Spent a couple of days in a brand new youth hostel in Luxembourg City. It is a beautiful country filled with huge old city walls and church spires - kind of a fairy land we decided (very LoTR lol)

We explored the Casemates which are a section of the old city wall (which is pretty darn tall when you have to climb steps up it - the YH was at the bottom :P ) The tunnels went right down inside the wall with heaps of cannon holes to look out of. Ve absolutely loved all the dark winding tunnels (you sure wouldn't want to be claustrophobic!) - and we only stopped cos I got too tired!

The pic on the left is of one of the views from the top of the wall.

Trier, Germany

2007-02-17T23:01:00.000+08:00

Spent the last 2 days in Trier in Western Germany which was absolutely fantastic! Full of old roman ruins which were just amazing. To give you some idea - Me (who hardly ever takes photos) managed to get over 60 in one day (with veras help). The one i have included here is of the amphitheater which was the tenth largest in the roman empire!! Also saw one lot of roman baths which had a whole labyrinth (sp?) of passages underneath which was very cool (in all senses of the word) to explore. Ve then spent an hour or 2 at the local playground proving you don't need to use language to have fun on the monkey bars with other kids.

Left Trier for Luxembourg this morning where i am really missing not being able to speak german cos we were getting pretty darn good - well relative to a week ago at least :)

last day in Frankfurt

2007-02-15T17:12:00.000+08:00

Ulla and John with Vera in the Reine Valley Vera all rugged up in Frankfurt

Ve:
Yesterday we had some crepes after the Jewish Museum and there were some little crocodiles swimming round in a tank and turtles and fish as well.
We saw some real Roman ruins. I can't believe they're still there. Although there was a silver drain which i'm sure didn't come from the real Roman times.

Meg:
Also went to the Jewish history museum which was interesting in parts, the Natural History museum with John (some very cool full size dinosaur bone exhibits) and lots of figuring out things in German. Had a good laugh when we couldn't work out which toilets to go into so asked some girls with lots of gesturing and "Herren? öder Dammen?" which they thought was hilarious :)

Off to Trier in Western Germany on the train this arvo - provided we can figure out the underground train to get there ;)

Frankfurt, Germany

2007-02-13T01:04:00.000+08:00

<- On way to airport in Perth.

Meg:
After spending a nice week in Sydney catching up with the rels we are now finally, officially on our long awaited holiday!! Woohoo!

Am currently at internet cafe in Frankfurt, Germany (on a weird German keyboard) wearing my ski jacket and beanie - tho it is not all that cold to be honest. Only snow seen so far was a pile on the side of the road - which was about 50cm by 30cm. None the less Vera, our friends John and Ulla and I had a brief (cos we ran out of snow) snowball fight :)
We are still a bit jet lagged but after a VERY long day yesterday we are just about on local time.

Our German is improving rapidly and we have discovered a great way to get away from people selling and doing surveys in the street lol. Plus all that practice saying "i don't know how to speak German" comes in handy ;)

Nearly there...

2007-01-16T15:38:00.000+08:00

Finally setup our blog as one of a bazillion things we need to do in the next couple of weeks.

Stressed and excited and overtired and excited and only 20 sleeps to go!!!

Since my good friend Nic helped me set this up i thought i'd better leave her faaaaavouritist picture up to say thanks ;)