04. 2009 Around the World

Entries from our Original Blog July 2006 to August 2010

2009 Around the World

21 March 2009     Around the World – A “Brief” Itinerary

This is a brief version of our itinerary.

We cant wait to flesh it out as we travel. 3 weeks today until we leave

11 April 09 Adelaide to Sydney then Sydney to San Francisco

11 April 09 to 16 April 09 San Francisco

16 April 09 San Francisco to New York

16 April 09 to 22 April 09 New York

22 April 09 New York to London

22 April 09 to 26 April 09 Redditch / Birmingham

27 April 09 to 29 April 09 Shrewsbury / Wales

29 April 09 to 3 May 09 Redditch / Birmingham/Norwich

3 May 09 Birmingham to Paris

3 May 09 to 8 May 09 Paris

8 May 09 Paris to Budapest

8 May 09 to 10 May 09 Budapest

10 May 09 to 24 May 09 Cruise Budapest to Amsterdam ( Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Durnstein, Melk, Passau, Regensburg, Nuremburg, Wurzburg, Miltenberg, Rudesheim, Cologne & Amsterdam)

24 May 9 to 28 May 09 Amsterdam

28 May 09 Amsterdam to Morocco

28 May 09 to 6 June 09 Moroccan Tour (Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes, Fes, High Atlas Mountains, Erfoud, Ouarzazate & Marakech )

6 June 09 Casablanca to London

6 June 09 to 10 June 09 London

9 June 09 to 10 June 09 London to Bangkok

10 June 09 to 12 June 09 Bangkok

12 June 09 to 13 June 09 Bangkok to Sydney

Comments

                26 March 2009

                                Brief?!?!

                I love the heading “Brief Itinerary”!!!

Then it goes to a page and a half!!!!!

Can’t wait to have all the details filled in when your away!!! Will be great to share with you both

Love ya

Ben

11 April 2009                      Adelaide to San Francisco

Happy Happy Birthday Carolyn, we have been celebrating with you for at least 36 hours, maybe longer!!! Has been a wonderful first day of our holiday, hope you have had a lovely day too, we have been thinking of you and having a cheers to you all over the globe!!

We were both up early, around 5:30am. It was always going to be a short last sleep before we started this great adventure.

We finished off the last few jobs at home and were ready and waiting for our taxi (booked for 8am) at 7:30am. As usual when your ready early, it was a little late.

We arrived at the airport at 8:20am and were in the Qantas Club / Business lounge by 8:30am.

We boarded our flight to Sydney and it left Adelaide and arrived in Sydney right on schedule! Way to go Qantas!!! We got the transfer bus from the domestic terminal to the international.

After clearing customs and immigration, and security, we made it to the Qantas Business lounge by 12:15pm.

We had a celebratory glass of bubbles (a Grant Burge Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay ) and sat back for about an hour before our boarding call.

We are on the top deck of our flight and very comfy in our skybed seats.

The dinner and lunch menus look good and the drinks list is extensive, particularly the wine list. And they have a nice port too, a Penfolds Blue Stone tawny I tried at the Magill Estate with Laura and Ben last time they were down. But finished up having a liqueur Muscat instead, yummm!!

Deb has had a look at the entertainment program and looks like not getting much sleep, so many movies she wants to watch, last count was either 3 or 4. (I actually only watched one!! Managed to get some sleep, Greg on the other hand got in 4!! 3 ½ really)

The flight is 12 ½ hrs, with us due to arrive around 10am on Sat 11^th. Yep that’s about 4 hrs before we took off!

I am having my first Bourbon and coke, and Debs on iced water. Debs sorting out the entertainment system and all is good. The meals were good and everything was fine during the flight , except for a few bumps in the middle of the night. Turbulence, not the Muscat!!

Deb here, the flight was good, arrived in SF at 10am right on schedule, caught a taxi to the hotel. We couldn’t check in, bit early, the staff were very helpful, gave us a great place for lunch, we wandered off to Union Street and had lunch at Rose’s Cafe. Then we caught a trolley bus to the top of the hill, you would have been proud of us dad, we were thinking of you! Then got a cable car to Union Square, didn’t hang off the side, but we will, it was amazing. The drivers and conductors are a strange breed, serious then just so funny! Even though you know the hills are steep, you don’t really believe how steep until you see them.

After numerous messages, we caught up with Pat and Luke in Union Square. They had driven down from Canada over a few days and arrived at 12pm today. Who would have thought, half a world away that we would arrive at the same time! Was great to see them both and hear about their adventures. They spent the rest of the afternoon with us. We had a great time learning about their trip down, visa adventures for Luke, and everything!

We caught another cable car with them to Fisherman’s Wharf, then a trolley bus to the Ferry Plaza Building and Market, after wandering a bit we found somewhere to have a drink. We sat around chatting and relaxing, was great to just catch up on what they had been up to. Then it was off on a trolley bus up Market Street, we said good-bye to Pat and Luke at the Van Ness stop (they had to get back to their hotel to check in), and hope to see them for dinner tomorrow night.

We continued up to Castro street, the end of the line, got off and waited 30 mins for a trolley bus up to our hotel, well almost, had a bit of a climb at the end, but not too bad!! You should see the hills here – very steep!

We checked into the hotel, have a lovely room on the fourth floor with an amazing view over SF, the view is right before me as I type this, mmmm good life! After freshening up we went downstairs and had free wine and cheese, that is our dinner tonight, we are hopeful we will have more sleep tonight.

We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, we have tickets on the hop on off again bus, later we are going to Fisherman’s Wharf and having dinner before going to Alcatraz for an evening tour. Our first impressions are of a lovely city which we are looking forward to exploring more.

Thanks for all of your text messages, and your messages on here Ben, we appreciate them, it is nice to be in touch with you all. Hope you are all enjoying your easter holidays, we are.

Lots of love from both of us xo

12 April 2009      San Francisco  – The start of our 2009 Pilgrimage

We both had a great nights sleep and felt ready for the day. We had breakfast in the dining room, and both commented on the look of the room and the people in it. To me it seemed like a scene out of the dining room in Faulty Towers, we were just missing Basil and Manuel.

We set out for our day at about 9am, and walked down the hill to Union St and walked along through to Van Ness St. They have their annual Easter parade on Union St on Easter Sunday, and we saw all the stalls and people starting to get there.

We got a bus from Van Ness to the Wharf area and got on a Hop On / Hop Off bus for a tour around all the touristy bit of San Francisco, including over the Golden Gate Bridge. The ride took 1 1/2hrs for the full circuit, and we decided that we could do everything else much more easily by public transport.

We had an early lunch back at the Fishermans Wharf area after the tour, we shared a Clam Chowder in a Sour Dough Roll and a tray of Calamari, prawns, fish and chips. Delicious!!

After lunch we walked for a bit. We went through Pier 39 and saw the sealions basking in the sun and the crowds of people watching them. Then we walked around to the seafront and saw a thriil seeker jet boat that looked like the one in Adelaide, but on steroids!! I thought of Ash when I saw it!! We then walked through the shop part of the Pier and found a shop that made Deb stop in her tracks. The photo of her in front of it explains everything much better than I ever could(See the photos of SF for the full picture). We then found a guy busking, singing and playing guitar, he sounded pretty good so we bought an ice-cream and sat and listened to him for some time. Good and relaxing for a while.

We then went to get a cable car back into town but found a very long queue at the terminal at Hyde St , so we walked around to Taylor St and pickup a cable car from there, virtually no line which was good.

We are enjoying the cable cars, they are such great places to see the people of the city in all their shapes sizes, and colour. The Cable car drivers and conductors are a show unto themselves. They always seem to find a way of getting a laugh out of the most ordinary events and situations.

At the end of the line, just past union square we got off and went to board a cable car for the return journey, but the line was over 150m long. We noticed the cars were leaving not quite full, so we walked up the hill to the first stop and managed to get to ride on the running boards from there back to Fishermans Wharf. It was the best fun.

We are really enjoying using the public transport in the city.

We then walked around for a while and then went to Scoma’s Seafood restaurant at the end of Pier 47. Yummy food served VERY quickly. We couldn’t believe how many people were coming and going from the restaurant, was good to experience the restaurant you enjoy mum.

From there we got a Street Car down to Pier 33 to get the boat to Alcatraz for our night tour. The boat left at 6:10pm and we were on the Island by 6:30. The tour was fascinating and the time went very quickly. This prison was a mix of civilised and barbaric conditions. It seems the prisoners were fed very well and had , as a consequence of censorship, a wealth of classical literature to read, while enduring very Spartan living conditions and draconian penalties for not following the rules. As part of the night tour they had special talks on many aspects of the prison, we sat in on talks on one of the “Escapes” from Alcatraz, and another on Al “Scarface” Capone. They were both very interesting.

We got the 8:40 boat off the island and then a Street Car and eventually a taxi back to our hotel. A longish day, but so very enjoyable. We are glad Lily is fine after all that chocolate and are trying to send warmer weather north to “Mom and Sis” in Canada. Glad to hear Aiko is doing well, and it is a long time Ella to wait for us to share your chocolates, how about we buy some Haighs freckles when we get back and share those!! Thanks for your messages and emails everyone.

Comments:

13 April 2009  John and Georgiana      San Francisco Revisited

We are enjoying your first couple of days in SF. The things you are doing remind us of our trip to SF about 5 years ago. Your short story about eating an ice cream cone while listening to a guitar player brought back memories of Georgie and I eating an ice cream cone listening to a sax player on Circular Quay in Sydney. We loved the cable cars too. We boarded our cable car after we walked UP the Hill; What were we thinking?

We are looking forward to seeing you in several days in New York. Can’t believe the time is here for our reunion. Enjoy your last days in SF. Say hi to John and Roberta for us. See you soon!!

Georgiana and John

Monday 13 April 2009   San Francisco

Today we started our day at 10am with a tour of the area we are staying in with Phoebe, our Golden Gate Greeter. GG Greeters are volunteers who show visitors around their city. They aren’t trained guides, just people enthusiastic about their city. We had a great 3 hrs with her. She took us around our neighbourhood and told us a bit of its history and the houses in it. She finished the tour by taking us along some “bush” paths into the Presidio (The Presidio is an old part of San Francisco, the site of some of the first settlements, with a long history of occupation by American Indians, Mexicans, the Spanish and finally the US) We finished up in a place called “Inspiration Point”, with wide open views down over the Presidio to the Bay and onto Alcatraz and beyond. We can’t thank Phoebe enough for her time, the information she passed on to us and being such a friendly beautiful person.

From there we hopped on a bus through the Presidio to Crissy Field area and had lunch, sort of on the run, between buses. We then got back on the bus and went to the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza area. From here we walked over the bridge. It is an awesome structure, and it provides wonderful views back to the city and across the Bay. It was pretty windy and a bit cool on the bridge, but we were warned that it is always windy and cool on it. After about 50mins we had crossed the bridge and eventually found where to get a bus down to Sausalito, a beautiful small seaside village. We walked around the shops for a bit, got a Christmas decoration from the “Holiday Shop”, and then got an ice cream and sat in a park and watched the world go by for an hour or so. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Eventually we got up and made our way to the ferry for a ride back to the Ferry Terminal. We arrived back in town at about 5:15pm and got a Street Car to meet up with Pat and Luke for dinner. They took us to an Asian restaurant, Nirvana on Castro St that Pat had been told about by a girl he worked with in Sydney. Was good food and fun to catch up with them before they head off to their concert in Palm Springs.

We eventually said our good byes, Pat said he was shaving tonight so his face has a bit of time to tan a bit before the concert! LOL!! It was great to catch up with him on this side of the world, it really does show you just how small the world is becoming. Good job huh!!!

We then got a taxi back to our hotel and put our feet up after another jam packed day. It’s so much fun doing the Cultural Pilgrimage thing!!!!!

We are looking forward to seeing John & Roberta tomorrow

Tuesday 14 April 2009 – in full  San Francisco

We have had a very busy day out with John and Roberta (friends we met on tour in Italy)

We will fill in all the details (by ammending this entry) tomorrow.

We have added a few pics from today 🙂

Hey we had a good sleep, the sun is just rising above the SF harbour not a cloud in the sky and the half moon is just sitting outside our window, it is calm and beautiful. I am trying hard to get a photo to do it justice, I will just have to try and remember it!!!

Sorry about the lack of news here after our busy day, we were tired. But hey Carly that is how we feel when there are no messages here, we enjoy your messages just as much

It was lovely to wake up to yours and Sarah’s message you both made us smile. Here is yesterday………………..

Was a really great day…………….

We met John & Roberta on our Italy trip over 2 years ago. They are in their early 70’s now, they are great company and it was so very lovely to catch up with them both. They picked us up from our hotel at 9am. Roberta gave us a list of about 10 things and asked us what we had already done. We only managed to cross out 2 and another one we were going to do today I thought there was so much we had done, but obviously there was much left to do. Anyway they promptly set about getting the other things crossed off the list!

First we set off to the top of Russian Hill to Lombard St and drove down the windy bit, the bends are really tight and go over one block distance. There is a good photo of it that we took from Coit tower in our pics. We took some photos from the bottom that didnt really do it justice. Sarah when you are there in July all of the hydrangeas will be in flower, it will be very beautiful.

Back in the car and off to Coit tower. Mrs Coit had it built in the 1930’s and it represents a firemans hose! Great views over SF and historical murals inside from the 30’s.

From there we went to China town and walked around a bit. Roberta took us to a fortune cookie making show that was in a little alley way. We saw 3 old woman hand making the biscuits and got to taste the ones that cooled before they could fold them into the fortune cookie. Was very colourful as you would expect. It is the largest China town in America, although evidently New Yorkers differ!!

Then we went to Ghirardelli’s Chocolate shop, you can see their sign right out on the bay it is huge!! We were forced to try some of their chocolate and finally relented and we also bought some!!! mmmm yum.

We drove through and old neighbourhood where John & Roberta used to live in the late 50’s and where Roberta used to work, then off to the Palace of Fine Arts, it is the last remenant of the World expositition held in 1910 after the 1906 earthquake. It was not built to last but still looks magnificent nearly 100 years later, looks like a piece of Roman architecture, set in a beautiful park, would be a great spot for a picnic. It doesn’t have any art inside as I thought and as the name suggests, but worth looking at all the same it is a beautiful spot.

Then it was off over the GG bridge to J & R’s for lunch. Was lovely to see where they live and there neighbourhood. Roberta had lots and lots of easter decorations throughout the house was very colourful.

From their they drove us to Muir Wood and walked through the giant redwood park, the trees are awesome, so tall, quite magnificent. I did manage to hug one! much happiness

Then it was off to Mt Tamalpais the highest mountain in the SF area. It offers great views over the bay and the city.

On the way back to J & R’s there was a tree across the road (it was a very windy day) so Greg & I jumped out of the car, and Greg moved it off the road, and I helped with the twigs!!!! Then we went to a lovely community area – 12 acres that some woman in the early 1900’s bought to stop developers putting houses there. It is full of beautiful gardens and areas for meetings and they sell antiques there on consignment, to pay for the running of the park, it was a beautiful spot, felt really spirtual.

We had a short break at J & R’s before going to dinner at 6pm at Spinnaker’s restaurant at Sausilito. The restaurant was at the waters edge and had magnificent views over SF. We all had seafood for dinner and the food was delicious. R had made an angel cake for desert, we went back to their place for coffee and desert. Around 9pm we left and they drove us to Marin Headlands for the view over the GG bridge and SF. Was really beautiful to see it all lit up at night.

It was a really full day, we managed to tick so many things off the list of things to do here. Felt really lucky to have such good friends to show us around J & R were so very kind and it was lovely to see them again. What a great day.

The sun has risen now, the city is starting to come to life it is 7.10am on Wed 15th of April. We are off to Golden Gate park today, better get this day under way!

Hope you are all well, love you lots.

xo

Comments:

                                15 April 2009     CAKEE        Mysterious

What kind of a message was that???? I waited ALL day and checked so many times, and thats all I get??

Glad to hear that you had fun. now, tell us more!!!!!!!!!!!

15 April 2009     CAKEE        That’s better 

Now thats what I call an update!!! I feel much better now 😛

Sounds lik eyou had such an awsome day, how many more of the things did you get ticked off the list? We are reading with much enthusiasm and talking about what we can do when we go in Jan.

How did the chocolate stack up to haighs?

Love you both

CAKEE

Wednesday 15 April 2009 San Francisco

Hey Margaret, happy birthday, hope you are having a wonderful day, we certainly enjoyed your birthday

Today we set off at 8.30am on a mission. It is free entry day to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It opens at 9:30 and we got there, after 2 bus rides, at about 9:15 to find a queue at least 500m long, Deb thought longer, waiting to get in.

We looked at each other and decided our time was too valuable to spend in a queue, so went to the “de Young Museum”. They had an Andy Warhol exhibition on. It was very large covering about 6 large rooms. It traced his work from his early beginnings until his death. It was very interesting and we both came out with a new respect for his works. The piece we both liked the best was one where he had drawn faces into the ends of lines of music. Hard to explain, but so interesting. (thought of you dad you would have loved it, especially the bits with Mick Jagger in )

We had a quick look around a couple of other areas in the museum (it is all art works of various forms) and then went to the observation level at the top of the back of the building for a great panoramic view over the city. (you can do this for free (in the lift) so if you are in the area it is worth it)

Then we walked around to the Japanese Gardens next to the de Young, and spent some time wondering around the peaceful settings. Deb was in her element with all the flowers there to have pics taken of them!! (thought of you Carly )

After that we hopped back on a bus, along Fulton St to UN Square. We walked through the SF Farmers Market, which was full of colour and loads of fresh produce. – there was some really good people watching here – but then all of SF is good for that! Yo dog!!!!!! Well it makes us smile!!

Continuing through the market we walked up to the Town hall building and had a look around, a very impressive building with a dome that is apparently the 5^th biggest in the world. (By the end of these holidays we will have seen the top 5 domes of the world!!!!) The UN Charter was supposedly signed in the UN Plaza somewhere but we couldn’t find any display or even a plaque commemorating it. Oh well….

We then got a Street Car along to Powell and Market to get a Cable Car up to California St where we were going to meet up with a tour of Nob Hill at 2pm. We got up there at about 1pm, so we decided to go to”The Top of the Mark” in the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel. Views all over the lower part of town from the Ferry Terminal, up past the Fishermans Wharf and beyond, even a glimpse of the GG Bridge for a change!! We had a lovely lunch in here while enjoying the views.

We joined the Nob Hill tour and spent the next 2+ hours walking around one of the most exclusive (and expensive) neighbourhoods in SF. We got a great lashing of the socio-political history of the area, and that explained why so much of the area is how it is. We thought of you Karlien while we were up here and wondered where you stayed! Oh yes we finished the tour in the old, historic Fairmont hotel – if you go to the Mark Hopkins for lunch pop in while you are there and have a look at the foyer and the public roof garden.

To finish our day we hopped on the California Street Cable Car and rode it down to Van Ness where we got a No.1 bus to Divisidero St and connected with a No 24 bus up to Jackson, leaving us a short walk home. Another busy day out and about and so much fun. I made sure I rode on the running boards for the last part of our last cable car ride for some time.

Tomorrow we set out for New York and catch up with John and Georgiana. (only 2 more sleeps I cant wait!! Hope you have a good flight tomorrow, see you Friday morning before 10am)

We can’t wait to continue on our World Pilgrimage

keep those messages coming!!!

love to you all xo

Comments

15 April 2009  John and Georgiana      Getting Ready

Wow! I love your blogs. They are so detailed, I feel like I am walking along with you. Spent the day packing and getting ready for an early flight in the morning. We leave at about 9:00 and arrive a little before 1 p.m. Can’t wait to see you!

Georgiana

11 to 16 April 2009     Our Favourite Things in San Francisco

Ben and Sarah, and Carly and Kieran are all coming over here within the next 12months.

Here are our thoughts on what we have experienced and enjoyed about this fabulous city to try and help you make the most of your time here.

Our favourite things in San Francisco – we actually enjoyed everything we did

Cable Cars – lots of fun especially riding on the outside and hanging on – try to go on all of the routes – there are 3

Take a street car up Market Street, don’t get off, part of it is a bit seedy, but worth the ride, also take the street car along the Embarcadero

Public Transport system in general à get a Muni Pass!!! They pay for themselves in a day

Alcatraz à If you do it at night say 6.10pm cruise you get to see the city at night from the bay and special lecture presentations on the island, need to book this before you leave home, you don’t get to see as much of the island as you would on a day cruise

Lombard St à Drive down it even in a taxi

Golden Gate Bridge à Walk across it

People watching, just be careful who you watch too closely!!!! It is good to take the time to sit and take the people in

UN Plaza markets à SF farmers markets, not sure what days

Nob Hill – Lunch in the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental à The Top of the Mark Restaurant great views, then walk over the road to the Fairmont hotel and have a look, then over to the Grace Cathedral.

Japanese Gardens, and top floor of the De Young museum for good views

Coit Tower for good views – great view of Lombard St from here

Ferry to or from Sausilito and wander around for an hour or so – Christmas shop here

Clam chowder in a sour dough roll, dungeness crab – all of the seafood we had was lovely

The sea lions at Pier 39

Union St has good shops between Steiner & Octavia Sts

Casto street, good restaurants, very colourful

China town is colourful

Palace of fine arts – no art, buildings erected for the 1910 world expo – like old roman buildings

Americans are lovely, friendly, very considerate, conservative people, they don’t always understand us

San Francisco is a lovely city, lots of hills, good views, very clean, lovely gardens and open spaces, haze, it appears a very rich city, there is a lot of wealth here. It hasn’t been expensive to do the things we wanted. Food is a similar price to home.

Know how much to tip and when to tip, you must budget for it.

The earthquake of 1906 lasted 90 seconds, it wasn’t the earthquake that caused all of the damage but the fires afterwards (just a bit of info I found interesting – must be the geography teacher in me!)

Muir woods was wonderful, red wood forest, but you would need more than a few days here to visit

Things we didn’t do that we will do next time, we forgot to go to the flower conservatory yesterday in Golden Gate park

Haight Ashbury

Mission Delores

Only drove past Alamo Square and the park

Twin Peaks for the views

I am sure there is lots more you could do here, next time we will also go up to the Napa Valley

My very favourite things were riding the cable cars and people watching, I just asked Greg and he agreed, this is one great city you are going to have so much fun!!

17 April 2009  New York

This morning John and Georgiana came around at about 9:45am, it was great to catch up with them. It was like they never left Australia, mmm does that make any sense?????

At 10am Harris, our Big Apple Greeter arrived and after a short chat we headed out down our street to New Yorks newest airport, otherwise known as the Hudson River. It’s a wider river than I expected and the distance between the bridges is more than you might think. Gee, I reckon even I could land a plane there without hitting anything!!! LOL

After a shortish walk along the river taking in the views of New Jersey (of Soprano’s fame) we headed back east back into the island and walked up past the Museum of Natural History and into Central Park. The park is alive with people, they jog, roller blade, ride bikes, ride horses and ride in horse drawn carriages through the park, just stroll around, play or just lay back and relax.

The park is dotted with statues, the significance of many of them seems to be fairly intangible, but they all add to the park. There are squirrels everywhere.

We walked up past the Great Lawn, the scene of many legendary concerts, around Turtle Pond & Belvedere Castle, down past the model boat lake, past Loeb Boathouse and into Bethesda Terrace, the fountain was empty of water (we were told it would be filled soon ). From there we walked past the Naumberg Bandshell and down along the Mall to the Literary Terrace (with all its statues of literary greats, at the end we went right and walked to the south west corner where we descended for the first time into the subway.

We purchased weekly tickets and set off for further adventures. We emerged in the “Meat packing” district, close to Greenwich Village. We had so much fun exploring lots of nooks and crannies of Greenwich Village with Harris. We ended up in John’s Pizza cafe for lunch, very delicious. John had a photo taken out the front.

From here we walked through SOHO, with all its trendy shops and galleries and eventually down to “Ground Zero”. It’s a huge site and it’s amazing that not more damage was done way back on 9/11 2001. (Yep, that long ago!!). From there we walked up to The Trinity Chapel, the small church next to the ground zero site that served as respite for all those involved in the rescue and recovery attempts. It is a truly moving experience to read the 9/11 timeline out in front of the Chapel and see all the tributes and legacies left there by the workers. (I lit a candle in the church)

After there we started off towards the South Ferry Terminal (or at least we thought we were!! Gee the northern hemisphere plays hell with my sense of direction!!) After a few blocks, we must have looked like stranded sheep on a corner, a very helpful woman came up and helped us on our way, back in the other direction, on a bus!!! She was so full of the joys of life and really went out of her way to help us. We eventually got off the bus at the end of the line, The South Ferry Building. We walked over and jumped on board the Staten Island Ferry, with about 3000 others, for the free ride over to Staten Island, past the Statue of Liberty. You get fantastic views back to Manhattan Island, and all the skyscrapers of the financial district. Once over at Staten Island, we disembarked and went round and got straight back on board for the return trip. Was lots of fun.

Back at the ferry building we went to the subway and got a No. 1 train back to W72nd St and came back to our apartment to plan our days ahead. We had lots of laughs and eventually worked out a plan for the rest of our time here with John and Georgiana.

Eventually, we went back up town to their hotel, they have a balcony overlooking the city which we enjoyed and then went down for dinner at a restaurant called the West Branch on Broadway and W78th. We had a great meal and eventually said goodnight to our friends and came back home around 9.30pm

PS I am having problems with getting our pics off the camera, wiil put up more pics when I get it sorted

Saturday 18 April 2009  New York – A marathon of a day

Today was a marathon!!!

We started out at 8:15 and met John and Georgiana at the 72nd St Subway station for a ride to midtown and onto The Top of the Rock. (The viewing floors at the top of the Rockefeller Centre). We got in on close to first in the morning and there were NO queues or crowds. So we had a great time wandering around taking in the views and a few pics, the views were wonderful, particularly over central park.

As we came out of the building we found an outdoor ice-skating rink at the base of the building. We stopped for a bit and took in the skaters and all the people starting their days.

Then we walked down to Grand Central Station, and after a look around, the clock inside is valued by Sotheby’s at between 10 and 20 million the architecture of the station as with so many buildings here is grand. Next we got a train across the East River to Brooklyn. We had heard of a nice little ice creamery under the bridge at the waters edge, so we decided to walk down and have a taste. We found it, but unfortunately it wasn’t going to open for another half hour or so, so, after taking in the views back across to Manhattan Island and NYC, we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into downtown Manhattan for lunch instead. The crossing was really interesting, the bridge itself is an amazing construction of stone and masses of wires; there were hundreds of people walking, jogging and cycling(many very quickly- the cyclists that is, the joggers not so much!!!) across in both directions. This at times was a little interesting to say the least.

After walking around for some time trying to find somewhere reasonable for lunch, we decided to head back to Grand Central Station and the Food Court there. Lunch was good, and it was a bit of a relief to sit for a while.

After lunch we walked up to the Grand Central Station Markets (sort of a mini Adelaide Central Market). They were selling everything from fresh seafood and fruit to cheeses, bread and salamis. Looked like a great place to arm yourself for a picnic.

After we left there we walked across the road and down a bit to the New York Public Library. It’s in a grand old building. The main catalogue reading room is very historic and classic in appearance with dark wooden tables and table lamps. (The computer screens everywhere sort of spoilt the look a bit, but that’s progress I guess)

Then we walked up 5th Avenue, past all the up market shops you could name, and then a few that you have never heard of and probably never afford either!! For a city with all these classic and classy shops in it, there seems to be a shortage of people in the streets wearing the fashion that is on display, we guess this is probably an effect of the economic times we are in. We went into Trump Tower, just because we could. It was interesting, but not WOW or anything.

At W57th St we turned left and walked up to 7th Ave to have a look in Carnegie Hall, but everything is off limits, except for the foyer (unless you are on a tour). It’s a very “Old Worlde” type theatre. (we are hoping to go on a tour on Monday)

We then went outside and got a Yellow Cab to the Pier 83 at W42nd Street to join a Circle Line 2 hr cruise around the bottom of Manhattan Island to the Williamsburg Bridge and back again. It was great to see the city, well the downtown area anyway from the water. The commentary on the cruise was great. Very informative and very witty.

After the cruise we walked up to the subway and got a train to Greenwich Village, where we found a small eatery for dinner. It was good to get away from the mad crowds and noise of the city for a bit and recharge for the night.

Back on the subway to midtown and a night viewing from the top of the Empire State Building.

We got to the Empire State Building (ESB) at about 7:50pm and found enormous queues. So we decided to do the NYC Skyride first, as we were told it helped you jump the queues. It was a virtual “roller coaster” ride over and through NYC. We then joined back on the queue and waited for our turn to get in the lift. The First lift took us to another queue at the 80th floor, after more waiting we got another lift to the main viewing floor the 86th floor. It was, needless to say, pretty crowded, but the views from outside were unbelievable. After spending sometime there and taking it all in, we went up to the 102nd floor, the top viewing floor of the building. There were very few people up there, but it was bit disappointing to find that all the viewing at that level was from behind glass. The guide up there was very informative and had a great sense of humour. At about 10pm we decided to leave and go home. It took us about 40minutes to get down, including more queuing on the 80th floor. When we got to the bottom, we heard that they had 4 lifts broken down and that was causing all the delays. (So what should have taken about 90 mins took us 160mins!)

We walked back to the subway and went home, we got back to our place around 11:30pm, and collapsed after a very long day out and about in NYC

Sunday 19 April 2009 Our Anniversary in New York

We met up with John and Georgiana at the 72^nd St station at 8:45am and got a train uptown to Harlem on the 3 line.

Our tour was due to start at 9:45am, we arrived about 45 mins early. So we walked around abit and took in the atmosphere. Our first impressions were that it was very clean, no graffiti and pretty well maintained, ie the opposite to what you may expect from the TV version.

We met our guide , Neal Shoemaker, and along with about 24 others were taken on an eye opening tour of his home borough. Neal is everything you could hope a guide would be. He had a real passion for his neighbourhood, the people in it, its history and its future. He first took us to a Baptist Gospel Church, (The Canaan Baptist Church of Christ). There were huge queues of tourists out the front waiting to get in, (all the tour bus crowds), but Neal took us straight to the front and we got special treatment from the church and got in ahead of the crowds (because he is a member of the church). The service was great, and included all the gospel singing you always hear about, and some dancing as well.

After the service Neal explained the role of the church in the community and all the racial, social and religious history of the black American , particularly those who reside in Harlem. He gave us a rundown of how Harlem became a predominately black district and of its rich past which included establishment by the Dutch, English, Jews and the rich. He walked us around back streets and told us the history of the area through the building and his own life. He took us to iconic clubs (The Apollo Theatre and Minton’s Nightclub) as well as areas used by Hollywood for movies. We couldn’t recommend him any higher to anyone coming to NYC. His web address is, www.harlemheritage.com it’s worth a look around even if you’re not planning a trip.

At the end of the tour, outside the Apollo Theatre, we walked back to close to where we started and had lunch at “Amy Ruth’s”. A soul food restaurant. We arrived at 2pm and had to wait until 3pm to get a table, its a very popular eatery with both locals and tourists. We had a nice lunch, that included delights such as , Collard Greens, Corn Bread, Ribs, fried Pork Chops, Sweet Yams, honey fried chicken, prawns and finished off with “Neal Shoemakers” Peach Cobbler. It was all very sweet, but very tasty.

After lunch we got back on the subway and took it to W72nd St, and then walked up to Central Park. We walked up past the Dakota Apartment building (Where John Lennon used to live and was assassinated) and into the park at Strawberry Fields right where Yoko Ono’s tribute to John -“Imagine” is located. There were guys busking there , playing Beatles music. It was fun to listen to them for a while. We then walked around the lake and back to strawberry Fields. The trees are in full blossom through-out the park, and it is very beautiful everywhere you look. Back at the Imagine mosaic, a guy callng himself the King of Strawberry Fields gave the crowd a short history of the Mosaic and Lennon’s apartment across the road, which we found very interesting. At around 5:30pm we left the park and came home.

Once home, we all almost collapse into our seats. We did a little planning for tomorrow, which included a bit of a late start, J , and then J & G left to go back to their hotel.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us Anniversary wishes, we have had a great, fun day.

Monday 20 April 2009  New York

We had a lie in this morning, very indulgent.

The weather forecast for today was 8C max rain and wind, (the weather forecasters here called in a “Nasty Day” ahead).

John and Georgiana picked us up in a Cab at 9:30am and we headed off across town to 5th Ave and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. When we got there we found a queue about 25m long out the door, but it moved fairly quickly and we were inside in no time. Using the New York pass helped us by-pass the big queue for tickets and we were in nice and smoothly.

Unfortunately they are preparing for a new exhibition, and the spiral walk was out of action, as were all the floors except 2 and 3 (here in the US ground floor in floor 1). So it was a pretty truncated visit, but we did see the Thannhauser Collection and the Kandinsky and Expressionist Painting before World War I. Between them this included works by artists such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, the Fauves and Pablo Picasso. To see the works of these masters made up for the limited viewing we could have had. But it also posed the question of how good it would have been if the entire museum was open.

We then walked along 5th Ave, the most expensive residential street in NYC, with apartments on one side and Central Park on the other. It is such a pretty street, so many flowers everywhere.

Next on our list was the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Frick Collection. Unfortunately for us, and a bit of poor planning on our part, both of these places are closed on Mondays!!

Not to miss an opportunity we continued along 5th Ave into Mid Town, again past all the glitzy shops, and decided to have an early lunch in Trump Tower.

We then went to the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA. Here is a hint for all those would be travellers who wish to have an easy entrance into museums and the like in towns such as NYC. DO NOT take a back pack, even if it is a NASTY day and you need somewhere to put umbrellas and rain jackets. As we found out here at MoMA, you must check such items in, the check-in line was about 30mins long!!!!! Rather than doing that Deb went in first, with John and Georgiana, and then when she returned I went in. This was disappointing as we both had limited time to see what we would have liked to have shared together. But at least we did manage to get a glimpse of some works through the thronging crowds. We have NEVER seen so many people in an Art Gallery before. Between us we saw works by Picasso, Monet, Pollock, and others who we should know but can’t remember, (must be the mad cow kicking in again!!)

Out of there, and a short walk up 7th Ave to Carnegie Hall, where we took the tour. It was a fascinating tour of the front of house areas of the Concert Hall. We were given a great history of the Hall and some of the characters that played vital roles in its history. It is a very grand place, with all the fine style of years gone by. The Hall has awesome acoustics and the viewing of the stage area from anywhere in the hall was very good. It was a wow moment.

It has played host to so many of the world’s great artists, generally anyone you can name of stature in the music industry has played there. The Beatles played their first USA gig there and they recently had Paul McCartney and Ringo Star play there.

From there we jumped in a cab, raining and windy outside so walking was out, down to The Rockefeller Centre. We had a light bite to eat and then did a tour of the Centre. This was very interesting, full of history, the various tenants that have called the Centre home, and some who have been ejected (generally those evicted were done so for political reasons – ie the US was at war with them). Above all it was shown to be the home of American radio and TV broadcasting, with all the major networks resident in one or other of the towers, as well as most of the major publishing houses of the world. It ‘s a vast collection of buildings and well worth visiting.

We then did a tour of the MSNBC Studios in the Rockefeller Centre. We had a look at the Saturday Night Live Studio and were shown around a few other areas and had a look at the broadcast centre. It was an interesting tour.

By this time it was around 6:30pm, so we grabbed another Cab, and headed off to the Julliard School to see if we could get into a recital, or performance. We were told by Harris, our Big Apple Greeter, that if you turned up on the night of any performance you could generally get tickets to go in. When we got there the guards let us in and directed us to a performance room where we interrupted a couple of students practicing. They started to leave when we entered and we asked them to continue, and they did. One on the piano, and the other on violin. It was magical to sit and hear these (what we later learned were Masters students) play and so visibly enjoy their music. But they could only play one piece for us as the room had to be set-up for a recital. The recital was about an hour away, and we reluctantly decided that it was too long to wait, and we left and went home. This was another wonderful experience the acoustics’ in the room were really good as was the playing. The school is in an amazing building, very modern and looks very new.

We had a great day getting a taste of the arts side of NYC and having a deeper look into some of its landmark buildings.

Thanks to all those messages, we love to hear from home. Carolyn I can’t believe it takes more than 2 weeks for mail to get to you, we will have to be more organised!

Xo

Comments:

                                J & G      Brunch

                Hi guys,

We made reservations for a private transport to the airport. Thanks for the info. Will see you tomorrow at 8:30.

G & J

Tuesday 21 April 2009   New York

Today we started off having a farewell breakfast at the Pier 72 Dinner on W72 St at 8:30am. It was a fun time and a chance to relive some of the moments here in NYC with John and Georgiana, and talk about a few things for next year. After a farewell photo we walked up to the subway station and said our good-byes. Unfortunately John has to work tomorrow. It’s always sad to say bye to good friends.

Next we got the No. 1 train down town to the end of the line at the Ferry Terminal, and then walked up to Broadway and the famous “Charging Bull”. We had passed it earlier in our time here and there were people climbing all over it, luckily this time, there was only a smallish group of Japanese in front of it taking photos (as they do) of themselves with it. After they had finished I jumped in and got a couple taken of me with it. First up I, as tradition has it (for a gesture of good luck) rubbed the bulls balls, then I gave them a very good squeeze to hurry the Bull economy back into favour. After that I got a couple of pics at the front end of the bull.

We then walked a little further up Broadway to Wall St. We turned right into Wall St and the New York Stock Exchange Building was on the right, on the corner of Wall St and Broad St. It’s not too impressive from the Wall St side, but when you get to see the Broad St Entrance it lives up to what you would expect of the premier stock exchange. It’s VERY patriotically American and very grand in presentation. Since 9/11 they don’t allow visitors/tourists inside. We then went into the Federal Hall building across the road from the exchange building. It was where George Washington was sworn in as the 1^st President of the USA and where the country was run from for some time. The building is packed full of historical records that summarise the development of the USA as a country and all of the adversary they went through to get to where they are today. It goes a long way to explaining why Americans are like they are, so patriotic and proud of their country, it’s all to do with the struggle the nation went through in determining exactly what is was and what it stood for.

We then got a J Train to Canal St and walked around and through China Town and Little Italy. Both are very colourful districts and each is undeniably what they purport to be. Little pieces of the old home, food, language, signage and atmosphere. They are wonderful places to stroll through and take in all the vibe they give out.

When we got to Houston St (Pronounced “Howston” after a local), we walked down to the lower east side and visited Katz Deli, made famous by the Movie “When Harry Met Sally” and the scene when Meg Ryan had a little fun. The Deli was very full and so we decided to go up to Greenwich Village for lunch.

We got the R train from canal to 8^th St, then walked though Washington Square and along a side street to Lupa restaurant for an Italian lunch. We had a duck meal and Spaghetti Carbonara. Both meals were delicious.

After lunch we walked around trying to buy some stamps. We finished up at a Post Office in Greenwich, and stood in line for about 25 mins to buy 4 stamps!! One of the service people was a little slow, and had the line in hysterics with his antics and strange ways of official work practices. EVERYTHING was done by the book, including a running commentary of everything he was doing!! And I do mean everything!!!

We then got an F Train up to 34^th St (Herald square) and walked over to Madison Square Gardens. It was an impressive looking building that could have done with a bit of a spruce up, it just looked a little tired. We then walked over to Macy’s and got a rain jacket for me to replace the one we (Deb) lost, and some DVDs to back-up our pics.

We then got a Cab to the Waldorf Astoria for drinks (we have been trying all week to get here, I think it was 3rd time lucky – it was worth the wait). We walked through and looked round before settling into Sir Harry’s bar for a drink. We both had a drink “on the rocks”, never with ice!!! It was good to sit and relax after a day investigating this city. (possibly the most expensive drinks we have had, but they did look like doubles!!) (before we left I checked out the toilets, amazing, each one was like a little ensuite! Very impressive Carly)

We then got an E train to W57 and 7^th Ave, and walked down to Byant park, to sit and watch the world go by. We watched a group of men playing Boules for a while. It was fascinating to watch this relaxing , yet competitive, game amidst the hustle and bustle of New York City at Rush Hour. We then walked over to Times square and caught the No. 1 train back to W72 St Station found Deb a copy of the New Yorker at a news stand and then came home for the night.

There is one point I have neglected in all my ramblings about our adventures in New York. We have been amazed at how friendly and helpful the native New Yorkers are. It seems they pick-up when you’re a bit confused about where you’re going, or how to get some place. It seems there is always someone who comes over and is only too willing to help, including going out of their way to make sure you are on the right path. We have met many a native New Yorker this way, and they are all wonderful people.

This is our last night in NY, we have been enjoying a great platter of food, wine and some wonderful music, it is tough! We fly to London tomorrow at 7pm. We are hoping to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art tomorrow morning then sit and relax in Central Park before checking out at 3pm, the adventure continues …………………

love to you all xo

Comments:

21 April 2009      J & G      Back in Minnesota

Just wanted to let you know we made it home safely. Weather was warmer than when we left and the grass is greener. Sounds like you accomplished a lot today. We are looking forward to following along with you as you explore the world.

Wednesday  22 April 2009   New York

We decided to make today a leisurely last day in New York City. By the time we had had breakfast and got everything together (we began packing ready to leave) it was about 10:15.

We walked from home across Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. We were delighted to find NO queues to get in. It was such a pleasant change from the MoMA.

The art works in this museum are beyond belief. We strolled around marvelling at the works of El Greco, van Eyck, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir, van Gogh, Degas, Monet, many Rodin sculptures (the first we have ever seen of his in marble), and so many more. It was a dream to enjoy these works in peace and quiet without huge crowds. Time seemed to fly by while were in the museum.

Once we had had our fill we left and walked back into Central Park and had lunch at the Leob Boathouse. We got a window table and just beat the hoards of “Suits” that came in for “business lunches”. I was so nice to sit and contemplate the lake and the park, with the New York skyline in the distance. Lunch was fabulous! We are so lucky to be able to experience such treats.

We then went back to our apartment and got ready to leave. We got a call from the car service at 3, I must have given them the wrong address when I booked and they were waiting for us on W72nd St instead of 71^st. They arrived 15 mins later and we set off for the airport. It took a bit over an hour to get there. There seemed to be traffic hold-ups/ jams in every direction.

We loved New York, it is an exciting city, we are pleased we have seen so much, we enjoyed everything! We will return!!

Our flight leaves at 7:05pm, and for now we are making ourselves comfy in the BA lounge and looking forward to next stage of our adventure, and to seeing Val and Vic, and all the Fentons.

Comments:

22 April 2009                      McDonalds         USA

Good Morning to you both,

We have thoroughly enjoyed sharing your wonderful experiences travelling around America.

Can’t wait until you land in the UK and we can start to share that time.

Hope you flights are great and look forward to another update soon.

Cheers,

Ben

Thursday 22 / Friday 23 April 2009     New York to London

You know how when you’re on a plane and there is always these last few passengers that haven’t boarded and the plane is ready to close doors.

Well picture this!

We are sitting in the airport lounge , looking at our boarding passes. Our flight is scheduled for 7:05pm, the monitor in the lounge says “On time” for our flight, our boarding pass says boarding time 6:55pm, which we thought was a bit strange, but who were we to argue.

Anyway, at 6:45pm we decided that it was probably a good idea if we went down to the gate and see what was happening, as we got to the front desk of the lounge they called “Would passengers Fenton and Biddolph please proceed to Gate 4, your flight is ready for take off”. We let them know that was us and hurried off to the gate. At the gate they gave another call. WOW, how’s that, we were those late people that really annoy all the others on the plane and we were being called over the loud speakers at New York’s JFK Airport!!!!

So we got on board, they closed the doors and we started moving, after a short while the Captain comes over the speakers and says we are ready for take off, but there is a bit of a queue in front of us. We looked out the window and there must have been at least 16 planes lined up across the runway from us . That looks really bizarre, a congo line of planes waiting to take off. So it ended up taking about 40 mins for us to take off. What was the rush all about J

Flight was good and uneventful. I got 2-3 hrs sleep and watched the movie “The Reader”, while Deb got about 4 hrs and watched about ½ of Marley and Me.

We arrived at Heathrow on time at 7:05 am

Comments:

23 April 2009                      Georgiana           Hello

That is hilarious. Glad you made it safely..

Friday 23 April 2009  Redditch UK

We cleared Immigration and customs, and were met by a smiling Val and Vic. So nice to see friendly faces and get such a warm welcome.

Vic drove us to their home, about 1 ½ hrs from the airport. When we got there we had a very much appreciated cup of tea, unpacked and had lunch on the back deck.

After lunch we went for a walk around a nearby lake , and just enjoy catching up with them and the sunshine. After the walk, we returned home and settled in for a relaxing afternoon.

Cliff has rung and said he would come over this afternoon. It will so good to see him.

We had a very nice dinner with Val and Vic, Quiche, peas and chips, accompanied by their last bottle of Hugo’s shiraz. J yum it was superb

Cliff came around at about 7. He was so full of joy and happiness. It was so good to see him again. We gave him the special delivery “rocks”, which gave us all a laugh. He was delighted with them, his little bit of Australia.

I was feeling the effects of jet lag and eventually relented and went to bed at about 8pm.

Cliff left at about 8pm, after organising to pick us up at 10 on Friday to take us to Warwick Castle. It will be his first time there , as well as ours. So we are all looking forward to it. Vic was saying that they have recently restored the dungeons back to how they were. I am very much looking forward to seeing that. A little time on the rack is just the thing for me I think!!! (Is that middle ages pilates???)

Saturday 24 April 2009  Redditch UK

Cliff and his lady, Narella, came around and picked us up at about 10:30am and after a short while we set off to Warwick Castle.

The castle was built around 1061, and is the oldest and best preserved castle open to the public.

They have done an amazing job of restoring it, Most of the rooms in the castle have life-like dummies dressed in period costume and all the rooms have either the original furniture , or very good reproductions in them. As you walk into the various rooms in the castle it really does look and feel like it may have done all the way back when it was a working castle in the middle ages.

We had lunch at 12:30 and then headed off for our dungeon tour at 1pm. The tour was great, very informative, and hilarious in the way the info was presented.

As it would happen, Deb became the star in one of the trial rooms of the dungeon. And guess what, she was put on trial for being a witch. As the charges were being read out, all I could think of was that they must have been spying on her and it brought great smiles to both our faces. With her sitting in the dock, the judge asked her how she pleaded, “Guilty, Not guilty or Insane?” She quickly called out GUILTY!!!!. And there was a cheer from the group! We then had to sentence her. Hung by the neck?? Burned at the stake?? OR Sent to Wales. Lucky for me she was sentenced to Wales. We leave on Monday!!!

After that tour we went to see a couple of demonstrations. The first was that of a siege machine, used to throw rocks at castles, it was called a ………, and it managed to throw a 15kg rock about 100m or more. Very impressive. We the went to see a Falconry demonstration. They showed 3 birds, an American Bald Eagle and a couple of British birds of prey. The show was great. The second bird decided to take things into its own hand (Talons) and went hunting for real. It caught something high in a tree and that was the end of its session!!!

While we were walking / climbing the turrets the castle fire alarm went off and they had to evacuate the castle. It was all a bit amusing. They had us gather at the front of the castle and we watched a beheading while they sorted the problem out. We eventually went for a walk around the grounds and found out later it was smoke from the dungeon that caused all the drama. That sounds like a tour that got carried away with itself!!

We left and came back to Val and Vic’s and had a delicious dinner. Val is an excellent cook.

After that we sat up talking til late, it was a fun day.

(I slept much better last night, didn’t wake up until 8.30am this morning, much better than the 3.45am yesterday!! – feel much more refreshed today and looking forward to seeing the family and seeing the St George celebrations and going to the concert hall tonight. We are going to buy a sim card today for another phone Greg brought with us when we get the number we will let you know) It must be after 9.30am I am off to have some breakfast – hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Hey dad we are going to the Lickey hills tomorrow, for a picnic, I will be thinking of you. Sarah we are very pleased to know we have had some decent rain, our garden will be thankful! Linda we are looking forward to seeing you both soon.

Love from us xo

Sunday 25 April 2009 Redditch UK  – New UK/European Phone No.

We have a new mobile phone number for us over here.

If anyone needs to contact us the best number to use is

+447805639856

We are off to celebrate St Georges Day with Vic, Val, Cliff and the Fentons

Sunday 25 April 2009 Redditch UK

This morning Vic took me down to the local shopping centre and we got u a SIM card for the UK and Europe. The number is on the previous blog.

Later in the day we went off to Cliff’s place and met up with Nick and his girls. It was really good to see them, Nick hasn’t changed a bit and the girls are getting bigger. (Cliff gave us an English T-Shirt each to wear, I wore mine proudly, it was however a struggle for Greg, the poms did beat us in the rugby after all, but he joined in the fun of it ) From there we went off into Birmingham by bus to meet up with Dawn and Kate and their families and to take part in the St George day celebrations, it was wonderful to see them all, we had lots of fun.

We saw Morris Dancers (now that really is something everyone needs to see once in their lives, grown men with flower hats, white uniforms with bells everywhere, skipping and prancing to music while their leader shouts orders to them “sergeant major” style!! Before them they had a jester performing juggling tricks and amusing the smaller members of the crowd. Two guys were dressed up in full medieval armour on horse-back, they posed for photos, then just rode off, we weren’t quiet sure if that was all they did, but it just seemed a little unusual. We then went and watched a Beatles cover band play. They were pretty good, doing all the favourites and they had the crowd singing along with them in no time at all.

At the end of their set, Kate and Dawn said bye, we meet them again tomorrow for a picnic, and the rest of us went to a Chinese restaurant for tea. Nick’s girls both had a go at the chop sticks, to varying degrees of success. (They both took their chopsticks with them, to practice a bit more 😉 )

After dinner we went to the highlight event of the day, The St Georges Day Concert at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, it is a magnificent theatre. It was a truly amazing event. It started with what I am sure would have been a stirring rendition of “The National Anthem” (1^st verse only, as per the programme) which we missed, which was then followed by local favourites such as There’ll Always Be an England, I Vow to thee my Country and culminating in a Grande finale of Rule Britannia, Jerusalem and (what would such a concert be without) Pomp and Circumstance March No.1. The last three songs all got at least one encore performance of their last verses. It was a sea of English flag waving patriotism that we have never seen before in our lives, and it goes a long way to explain the English!! Having said all that, and after removing my tongue from my cheek, it was an enjoyable night and very spectacular.

The concert finished a little after 9pm (it started at 6pm) and we walked around to get the bus back to Cliff’s. While waiting for the bus, I went to put some rubbish in a bin, when this dishevelled black guy came over right to me, I just smiled and he looked me straight in the eye and said something like, “how’s things brother” and put his fist out, to do that cool dood shake thing, so I made a fist and “shook” with him, at which he beamed a smile at me and took off. Strange but true. J

We got home around 11pm. Cliff has organised a family picnic with all the Birmingham Fentons tomorrow. It should be a great time.

Sunday 26 April 2009  Lickey Hills

Hey Emily happy birthday for tomorrow, happy 20th birthday, it is your birthday already in Australia! But it is 4am, wonder if you are awake and celebrating already!! We are off to Wales tomorrow and will be thinking of you and wishing you a wonderful day.

We had a nice day today, managed a bit of a sleep in and had a slow start, Cliff & Mirella picked us up around 12pm, we went to Tesco (supermarket) and bought a picnic lunch, while we were there we bumped into Kate with her 3 children in tow doing her weekly shop.

Then it was off to the Lickey Hills for a picnic. When I was growing up dad talked a lot about the Lickey Hills so I was thinking about you while we were there.

We had our picnic lunch on the blanket Val supplied when we arrived, it was delicious. Not long after Nick, Aleisha, Alana, Lucy & Rebecca arrived. Nick had driven another 100 miles to see us (he was only home 11hours before heading back down today!!). Aleisha brought this amazing picnic, we tried her chocolate muffins, yum. We played in the park with Alana & Lucy, Greg got some great pictures of them on all of the equipment in the park. Later Dawn & Kate arrived for an hour or so with their children and Eileen. Was lovely to see Eileen, she looked very well. After they had eaten we had a group photo, then Damari had fun taking photos with the camera, he took some good shots. Was lovely to see them all.

It got a bit cold then, it seemed to bother everyone else more than us!! Well you know Greg, middle of winter in a t-shirt and thongs!! (he did have shoes on today – in fact I don’t think he has even brought any thongs on holiday with us!! – I think that is a first – he even had them in Antarctica!)

We got home some time after 5pm, Val & Vic went off to the golf club, Vic played today and there is a presentation tonight, we stayed at home so that we could pack for tomorrow. We are off at 7am in the morning to the train station in Redditch, we change at Birmingham station for Shrewsbury where Monica and Len will pick us up, then it is off into Wales for another adventure! We are very much looking forward to seeing them both.

We come back Wednesday morning then off to Norwich for a few days, we are not going to take the lap top with us, so might not be any more blogs for a few days!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and are enjoying your own adventures as we continue with ours.

Much love to you all from us xo

Hey Ethan when mummy reads this it will only be 7 more sleeps until your birthday, yeah you will be 2

Monday 27 April 2009   Redditch to Shrewsbury to Llandudno Wales

Glad to hear you enjoyed your birthday Em, we enjoyed it too.

Up at 6am Vic drove us to Redditch station for the 7.30am train to Shrewsbury via Birmingham. We had a 30 minute delay about 25mins out of Birmingham, due to points failure. Arrived Shrewsbury at 10am.

Monica & Len were there to meet us, they hadn’t changed was lovely to see them both. We walked through Shrewsbury back to the car, it bought back lovely memories of our time there before. It is a great town and well worth a visit.

We set off for Wales it is 23 miles from Shrewsbury. First stop was a look at the Pontcysyllte aqueduct. Possibly the highest water transport viaduct in the world opened in 1805 having taken 10 years to build, made of stone & iron. It was constructed to make a canal crossing over a deep river valley at the cost of 47,000 pounds (200 years ago!!) It was built by Thomas Telford (as was the bridge at Comwy Castle)

Next we stopped at Llangollen and wandered around the town, another beautiful town. We stopped for a cuppa and had Welsh cakes and scones.

Then it was back in the car, after a while we stopped by a reservoir for a lovely picnic lunch that Monica and Len had packed, they had brought everything you could think of, was delicious. There were lots of lovely little birds that swarmed around us, they were obviously used to being fed. Was a very pretty location, hills as a backdrop to the lake, fish farms on the lake, reminded us off Thomas.

Next stop was Betws-y-Coed we wandered around the village, lots of outdoor shops, great church, over 150 years old, we lit another candle. We found some postcards here and a post office, so hopefully in a week they will be in the grandchildren’s letterboxes!

It was then on to Llandudno. It was amazing, about a kilometre of old world hotels all along the foreshore, looked like the Welsh Riviera, have never seen anything like it was very pretty. Before dinner we went for a walk along the promenade, collected an orange rock for our collection and put our fingers in the water! Our hotel is approx 100 years old, like all of the others (mmm and Greg said like all of the other guests!! Well not quite, but almost, reminded us of Victor Harbor, god’s waiting room!!) Monica booked our rooms with a lovely view over the beach. A seagull (theirs are 3 times the size of ours) landed on our window sill just after we arrived. – it was back at 5am pecking on the window!!)

The town was purpose built as a tourist town about 150 years ago, impressive waterfront streetscape and a 3000 foot pier. After dinner we went for a walk along the pier with M & L, when we got back to the hotel there was a music quiz in the bar area, we sat and had a couple of drinks and followed the quiz before going to bed.

Was a great first day in Wales, most lush green, hilly countryside, the scenery is gorgeous.

Tuesday 28 April 2009   Wales to Shrewsbury

After a lovely breakfast of bacon & eggs we set out at 9.30am to Conwy Castle in Conwy. Didn’t take long to get there. It is a very well preserved castle that has had very limited restoration work done to it. Just enough to make it safe for tourists and for a few displays to be set up in a few turrets.

Conwy is a medieval walled town, built by Edward I between 1283 and 1287. It was fascinating going in and out of the various turrets, towers, levels and rooms within the castle walls. We enjoyed taking lots of photos here.

From here we went to Plas Mawr, an Elizabethan house built by Robert Wynn between 1576 and 1585, it was in excellent condition, fascinating to wonder around and think how life was back then.

Around 1pm we stopped for a picnic lunch near a bird sanctuary on the fringe of Conwy. We then drove along the coast past Anglesey to Caernarton before heading inland through the mountains of Wales. It was green and steep in places and rolling hills in others, very pretty.

We stopped at a small village and walked to the legendary grave of a dog (we have forgotten the name, but the town is named after the dog), was a lovely town, they are all so old and quaint, this one had a stream running through it, as many of them do.

We arrived back in Shrewsbury around 6pm. M & L cooked lamb chops and salad for dinner, was nice, was a great day, we were asleep by 10pm.

Wednesday 29 April 2009   Shrewsbury  to Norwich

Claire, M & L’s daughter arrived home late last night after we were in bed. It was good to meet her this morning and put a face to a name, we chatted for a while before leaving for the train station at 8.45am. We said our goodbyes on the platform, we enjoyed seeing Monica and Len again and know we will see them next time we are in the UK.

We boarded our train to Birmingham at 9.37am and V & V picked us up to take us to Norwich, we will have gone from the West coast to the east coast in 2 days.

We arrived at Norwich at 1.30pm and drove straight to Basil & Mary’s place. (they are the parents of V & V son, David’s wife) We were greeted very warmly and all sat down to a delicious lunch. After lunch we drove into Norwich and walked around the town. There are many areas where the buildings and roads have been preserved in their original state. The town is around 1500 years old, we had a look around Norwich Cathedral (very big and beautiful) and lit a few more candles – we each lit one for Patrick, thinking of him in Mexico!

We walked up to the castle but it was closed. Basil then took us for a drive into the nearby countryside along the river and past old pubs and manor houses. It was great to be able to see the surrounds of the town. This side of the country is much flatter than the west coast.

In the evening Mary & Basil cooked up a feast and we shares many laughs and a few wines.

Another great day. We were asleep again by 10pm.

Thursday 30 April 2009   Stoke Holy Cross Norwich

We are in a village named “Stoke Holy Cross” Basil and Mary’s house used to be 2 terrace houses on an old estate, I think Basil said one was the gardeners cottage and the other another worker. Anyway, they have converted two into one, and it’s a beautiful country house.

We left the house around 10am for a day driving around the coastal areas of the Norwich district. We started the day off at Wells, about a 40 min drive away. Its at the top of the eastern bump of the on the bottom half of mainland Britain. If you were silly enough to jump into the North Sea here and start swimming due north, you would go straight over the north pole!! That’s global warming for you, a few years back you would have hit ice somewhere up there!!!

Wells is a very old town and we strolled around it for a while taking in the history and all the old building and scenery. All the coast around Norwich is the area at which the various nations that have, at varying times over the centuries, first landed. So the area is strewn with the history of many visitors to this land.

We then drove east along the coast to the village of Sheringham. Again, this town is very old and has a charming character to it. It is a port village, being at the mouth/ estuary of a river. The town is renown for is local seafood, particularly its crab and lobsters. Well, the lobsters were a bit like big prawns (We would have to throw them back if we caught them at home!!), but the crabs. mmmmmm YUMMMMM For lunch we followed a family tradition and ordered crab sandwiches from ““Joyful” West’s Seafood Bar” and then walked back down to the shore and ate them sitting on a concrete wall overlooking the sea.

We then drove to Cromer, another small seaside village, and walked around taking in the atmosphere. Vic bought some chips and shared them around. Do you remember when you could buy chips that were peeled and cut and cooked (twice) in the shop you got them from, I do, and these were the best chips I had had since my days at Collaroy beach (and “Tom’s” dad’s burger shop!!!)

We left from there to pick-up some friends of Basil and Mary’s (Vic and Edna)who were on their way home from Majorca.

We went for dinner at a local restaurant, The Mill, down the road from the shop in Stoke Holy Cross. We had garlic mushrooms, duck, and pheasant, very nice. To accompany our dinner we had a bottle of Malbec from the Conchay Toro Winery we had gone to in Chile in January last year. Small world huh , LOL!!!!!

After dinner we went back to Basil and Mary’s for coffee and night caps. Deb had a spirit that V+V & B+M drink when they are in Majorca, it is called Yerbuss, but pronounced nothing like it is spelt!! It is a bit like pernot, but a bit lighter, Deb says “ Not too bad at 10:30pm”

Friday 1 May 2009   Norwich to Redditch

We said our good-byes to Basil and Mary at around 9:50am. It has been a fantastic time over on the east coast. The weather has been good and the company even better. Basil and Mary have treated us like old friends and we hope that is what they become.

We arrived in Redditch around 12:30 and Val whipped up a tasty lunch from thin air. She is amazing at what she can do with little. J

Deb had her hair cut in the afternoon and otherwise we had a very quiet day.

Cliff called around in the afternoon, and we spent some time just sitting around chatting. It was great to see him again and we hope to see him tomorrow evening a well. Cliff told us Mirella had been quite sick (including a hospital visit). He is very concerned about her and we asked him to pass on our wishes and thoughts to her.

Went out for dinner at the Old Bull pub with Vic, Val and the friends, Trevor and Denise . Trevor and Denise are coming out to Australia soon and we talked to them about what there is to do and gave them an idea of the times and distances they might incur in their travels and assured Denise that Australia is not full of spiders and snakes and creepy crawlies, it is surprising how many times we have been asked about that!

Dinner was delicious. We had Moroccan Lamb and a Game Curry, all served with chips of course!! J

After dinner we went back to Trevor and Denise’s place for coffee and tea. It was a very pleasant night. Back home, (yes Val and Vic’s place feels very much home for us) and we got to bed around 11:30pm.

Paris in 2 days and Deb’s birthday in 3 J

We are spending tomorrow with the other half of the Fenton family, which should be fun.

Saturday 2 May 2009   Redditch to Wythall

We had a lovely day today, it started by seeing Dante’s footy pics of his first match, we wished we could see him play, the photos were good to see though, we look forward to coming to a match when we get home. So glad you enjoyed it Dante we look forward to hearing all about it.

My cousin, Steve picked us up at 10.30am and took us to his place, was really lovely to see Catrina, Eleanor and Amity, they all made us feel very welcome, Eleanor and Amity have grown, it is over 2 ½ years since we last saw them, they are now 8 and 6 and gorgeous. After a cuppa we set out for a nearby lake and did a treasure hunt using GPS, it was so much fun. We had never heard of it before, later Steve checked online (they are all over the world) and there are hundreds of them near Fullarton so when we get home we will definitely be doing lots of treasure hunts with our grandchildren. This has been going for over 5 years, you are given clues via the internet how to find the treasure, for the second one, Steve gallantly walked across a tree that had fallen into the lake to find the treasure, found it bought it back for the girls, when they had put their names on it then he had to make his way back down the tree to put the treasure back. We thoroughly enjoyed it and the scenery was very lovely. There were lots of men fishing at the lake, one was in camouflage, Greg couldn’t believe it, the guy was hiding from the fish, of course Greg took a photo!!

Then it was off to the pub for a drink, Linda and Keiron were there when we got there. Was wonderful to see them both, they both looked very well was lovely to catch up on their news. After our drink we went back to Steve and Catrina’s for lunch. Shortly after Dee arrived with Mandy and Mike, we have not met Mandy and Mike before so it was very lovely to meet them both. Dee looked great was really good to see her.

Lunch was wonderful, Catrina had cooked all of this lovely food which we all shared around the table, I really enjoyed just listening to them all talking. I have enjoyed the days we have spent with my family on this holiday and have some lovely memories, it is a shame we live so far apart.

Steve took us home around 6pm. Val had cooked another lovely meal. When we had finished Cliff and Mirella arrived to say good-bye was lovely to see them both, we chatted and enjoyed the cheese platter Val had done. Later we said good-bye to Cliff & Mirella, Cliff said if we didn’t come back he would have to come out to Australia, what a good thought, hope you do!

Went to bed around 11pm, we woke 3^rd May at 5am, we thought it was 6am! So I got out the literature we had on Paris and we went through it. We decided to have a picnic tonight at the Eiffel Tower!!! Yeah bring it on!!

At around 6.45am we rang Carly’s cos everyone was over to celebrate Ethan’s 2^nd birthday tomorrow. Was lovely to talk to him, we timed it well, we got to sing happy birthday to him. Was great to chat to Carly and Ben and Mum and hear their voices and now they were all doing well.

Thanks for your wishes Von, Tom how are your picks going this week? Hope we are doing a bit better this week hasn’t been too good lately!!

Well Paris awaits, better get organised, the sun is shining and it is one more sleep! Hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow Ethan, and Len happy birthday for tomorrow!

Lots of love to you all from us xo

Sunday 3 May 2009   Wythall to Redditch to Paris

(9.45pm) Before Greg tells you about our day, I just have to tell you that I am very excited to be in Paris, I feel like a little girl at Christmas, it is the most wonderful feeling, I have loved what we have seen, keep pinching myself! ( and I keep pinching her as well, LOL, just so she knows it really is happening) (thanks for your lovely birthday wishes Carly)

For some reason we got a bit confused this morning and thought 5am was 6am, by the time we worked it out we were both wide awake. We eventually got up at 6:30am and after a quick shower I got a coffee and by 7am Deb had the phone in her hand and was ringing Ethan for his birthday. Carly and Kieran were having a birthday party for him to celebrate being 2 on Monday (yes same day as Deb’s). We spoke to Carly, Eileen, Ben and Ethan, and then were on the line to sing Happy Birthday to him. It was wonderful to share his party from so far away.

Val cooked up a feast of an “English Breakfast” . We get so spoilt with Val and Vic, the best hosts you could ever wish for, and great friends as well.

After breakfast Deb rang Carly and again, and we got to chat a bit more with her Kieran and Ella. It’s so good to hear the joy in their voices.

We finished packing and headed off to the airport at about 10:50am. Got to the airport about 11:20 and dropped off by V & V. It is always hard saying good bye to such great friends.

We walked to the terminal and were met at the door by Cliff and Mirella. It was a great surprise. After we checked our luggage in, we went up stairs to a viewing lounge, and sat and chatted for about an hour. Time came to say good bye and as we have found out before, Cliff is a hard person to say bye to. We promised we’d be back and gave Cliff and Mirella final hugs and good-byes.

We got through immigration, bought some lunch for the flight (cheap airlines here make you buy food and drinks on board) and settled in to wait for our flight. It was about ½ hr late leaving. The plane was a twin prop Dash 8, with a seating capacity around 80, and was only 2/3 full at best.

We touched down in Paris at about 4:10pm (France time, it’s about a 1+ hr flight), and were out through immigration and customs (well no customs checks at all, for anyone) and into France proper by 5pm.

Our driver picked us up and just under an hour later we were checking in. Jays is a very nice Hotel, only 6 rooms.

Once we settled in and unpacked we went for a walk. 10m down our street, turn left onto Kleber Ave and a 10 min walk to the Arc de triumph. Wow, was how we reacted when we saw it fully. It’s huge and much more than we both expected. Right in the middle of the worlds craziest round-a-bout. Our first photo in France was a self portrait with it in the back ground. After taking it in for a while we walked back down, Kleber, past our street to the Trocodaro where the Eiffel Tower came into full view. It was a wow moment, it’s so impressive!!!! Along the way we bought some Quiche Lorraine, a “pizza” quiche and a slice of lemon tart for dinner, to be eaten looking at the Tower. We found a quiet bench and sat and took in the view and the action around the Tower. Food was great and the view…. We walked down through the plaza and across the Seine River and under the Tower. It is huge. After a while taking it all in, and finding the entrance for the Jules Verne restaurant (We eat there tomorrow night for Deb’s birthday)

Around 8pm we walked back to the hotel and have started to plan our first full day in Paris. I am sure it will hold all sorts of surprises for the birthday girl.

Monday 3 May 2009   Paris, France

Happy Birthday Deb. Your dream has come true, waking up in Paris on your birthday.

Just want to start by thanking everyone for their lovely wishes by phone, text and computer for my birthday, it helped to make it a very special day, thank you.

And thank you especially for the lovely cards, I have quite a collection in our room! My wonderful husband has spoilt me all day long ………………. it has been a memorable day, one that I will never forget. He keeps pinching me, saying we are in Paris!! I feel really lucky. Greg gave me a pearl necklace to start the day, I have never had anything so beautiful, I will be wearing them tonight! The kids all gave me some pearl earrings which are also very beautiful. And Carly put together a beautiful photo album of my family, I cried, by the end of the album I had tears streaming down my face and was thinking Carly will be pleased!! When I told her she said mission accomplished!! So as you can see you are all here with me in my heart!

We had a late start, didn’t leave until about 9.30am we caught the metro into mmm I might let Greg do this bit, when it is done I will finish off!! We are off to dinner in about 30 mins so I had better finish getting ready, my pearls await!!

It was a clear sunny day that greeted us as we left our hotel and ventured down to the nearest Metro Station. We caught two trains from Kleber to Bir-Hakaim to St Michel in the Latin Quarter. It’s as easy to use the Metro as it was the Subway in New York. The main thing is to know the station at the end of the line you want to catch, they use that to identify the lines.(Line numbers are used but you can’t tell which direction the train is going)

We were meeting our Paris Walking tour at 11am in front of the St Michel fountain. We got there about 10am , so we headed off to explore the area. First we walked across the Ile de la Cite up to the Pompidou Centre. We had seen it on TV but until you see it in person it’s hard to believe. It looks like an unfinished industrial/chemical/power/water building on steroids. It’s a mass of large pipes and steel framework of many and seemingly unmatched colours. As time was short, and the queues growing, we decided just to look at it for now, we may try to find time to have a look around inside later in the trip. It is a centre for modern arts in all its forms. (you can queue up to catch the escalator to the top – Catrina told us the views are good from there) We then walked around the neighbourhood and took in all the old buildings, streets and the people, eventually making our way back to St Michel. We checked in for the tour and went off and had a look through some touristy shops before buying a snack each. Deb had a chocolate Croissant ( just like home, but they don’t call it a Croissant, I think it was just called a pastry… mmmmm French doesn’t really go that far LOL) and I had a Raisin Scroll Pastry, both were delicious. The Sandeman Tour started at around 11:10am. There were about 70 English speakers there for the tour, so they split us into two groups. We got a guy named Alex.(Which was good, he came across as someone with a sharp wit and a loud voice). We then started the tour with a short description of the history of Notre dame Cathedral and then crossed over to the right bank and started to walk along the Seine. The walk was punctuated with many stops to point out various historical, and sometimes whimsical, points of interest. Alex’s knowledge and the way he presented the info was truly first class. The tour continued up through into the main square area of the Louvre. The Louvre it a majestic building and the square reminded us both of St Marks Square in Venice, just a lot smaller and squarer. We then walked through to the area in which the pyramids are located. He gave us a great talk about the competition that led to the construction of the pyramids and how they were meant to be invisible ( a promise that didn’t quite turn out to be true!! From there we walked into the back streets a bit and to an area with a few cafes for lunch. We both got ourselves a baguette, and settled in for some people watching at the window while we ate.

Def: People Watching – The national sport of Parisians. We hadn’t noticed it at first, but if you look at every sidewalk cafe all the seats on the footpath point into the street and everyone sits there looking out into the passing throng of people. Alex, our guide said “They sit there and pass judgement on your clothes, or anything else about you!!!”

After lunch we walked through the “Jardin des Tuileries” a very formally structured garden full of people, people watching, and then into the “Place de la Concorde”. This was the “square” where so many people met their deaths during the French Revolution under the blade of the guillotine. It’s a huge area. The location of the guillotine is marked by an Egyptian obelisk (which was either a gift from Egypt, or stolen by Napoleon).

We then started to walk up the Av des Champs-Elysées. After a short while we walked over and sat on the steps of the Petit Palais, looking over to the Grande Palais (both built for the same exposition as the Eiffel Tower) and we were given a history lesson on how Paris was saved from total destruction by the Nazi’s in WW2. This city has sooooo much history. This is where the tour finished.

During the tour, we covered so much that I have lost track of the order we did things in, but we walked over the Pont Nuef, saw the Opera garnier, The Musee d’Orsay, Napoleons tomb, The National assemble, The Eiffel tower, Les Invalides, etc, so much in 4 hours.

We continued walking up the Champs-Elysées taking in all the shops and the views. Deb saw a pastry shop she had read about on the net, “Laduree Paris, Maison fondee en 1862”, apparently one of Paris’ finest. So we went in and got some cakes and macaroons for afternoon tea.

We then walked up past the Arc de Triomphe and down Av Kleber to our Hotel.

Inside our room was a bottle of Champagne and Strawberries I had organised before we left Australia. So we cracked the bottle and had many cheers to Deb, Us and everyone. The Hotel had also left a small gift on our bed for Deb.

After a while we got ready and left for dinner at the Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing. A private elevator takes you to the restaurant, 1 level above the second viewing level in the tower, 123m up.

We were seated at a window over looking the area of Paris we had spent the day exploring. We could see from the suburbs west of the Arc de Triomphe down along the Seine to well past the Ile de la Cite, and out to the hills and the Montmartre area. A truly magical view.

We started with drinks, Deb had a Kir Royale, and I had a local beer. We were then given a chef’s starter of a layered pea flavoured creation, very delicious. We then shared Frogs Legs for entre(When it was brought out it was on two separate plates and they were both works of art in presentation (Vic and Val – we thought the same thing was going to happen as occurred at the Mill, but luckily it was just the one entre split over two plates).

For mains, which of course we shared (swapping plates halfway through J ) Pigeon and a fish & lobster dish. Both were delicious. For desert we shared a chocolate mousse thing, and they brought out complementary biscuits and shot glass sweets.

During dinner we watched the sun go down (the sunset sort of fizzled, I guess because of the twilight) and we got to view Paris from the tower in both day light and at night. It was wonderful to see the lights of Paris take hold of the city. It gave it a whole new dimension. At 10pm the lights on the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle. It was like an explosion of mini strobe lights going off all over the tower. It was fantastic to see from inside, it made it all appear surreal.

After dinner, we walked down a flight of stairs and out onto the 2^nd level viewing area to take it all in before we left. A fantastic magical night and no better place to celebrate Deb’s birthday with her.

As we walked to the Metro station to go home, the lights in the tower sparkled again, it was 11pm (so we figure it must occur on the hour from 10pm). What a way to finish our day out!!!!

What a day, it was magical from beginning to end, thank you to my Greg and everyone else for making it special.

I guess the next half century begins now, better get a wiggle on, we have art galleries to see, a greeter tour and the Moulin rouge tonight!!

Lots of love to you all from us xo

Tuesday 5 May 2009 Paris France

Today we had a late start after our late night last night at the Eiffel Tower.

We left the hotel around 9:30am, jumped on the Metro and went to see the Hotel des Invalides which houses the Museum of French Liberation and Napoleon’s Tomb . It has one of the worlds top 5 domes(by size). The dome ceiling was decorated immaculately, just as you would expect in any great European, let alone French, building. Napoleon’s Tomb is the centre piece of the area. It is a huge Rose Marble sarcophagus sitting on a Green marble pedestal. Inside the Rose Marble sarcophagus there are for coffins, one inside the other, made of timber 2x lead and one of tin. There was no way he was going to escape from there!!!! There is also the tomb of Napoleon’s son (I think) in the building, as well as tributes to French war heroes.

We then walked around the corner to Musee Rodin. The first sculpture was the Thinker!! There it was out in the garden in all it’s majesty. It is a large statue on top of a pedestal, with its back facing the Eiffel Tower. It is placed at the centre of a very formal garden. We were both mesmerised by it and before we left the garden we stopped and just sat looking at it in a quiet place. The more you look at it the more you see in it. We both thought there was so much more than just thinking going on. The gardens were fairly large and contained many other sculptures such as Adam, Eve, The Descent to Hell (One of my personal favourites, LOL), Degas and so many more. Inside the experience continued, (the Kiss) it was awesome if you like Rodin’s work, as we both do.

We then took the opportunity to find a cheese shop we discovered on the net, and rated as one of the finest in Paris. After a bit of misdirection, we found the shop. (We figured out we were going in the wrong direction at street number 131, the shop was at 51 (and we started walking up the street at around 70, but didn’t look at what address it was!!!) The shop was simply called “Barthelemy”, and was quite small. But the aromas that hit you as you open the door were astounding. We found ourselves in a cheese shop from heaven, but none of the staff spoke English, which poses some serious issues if you are after advice from them about the cheeses and what we like. But one way or another we succeeded and came away with a nice “Roquefort’ style blue, a strong Brie and a wonderful crumbly sharp cheddar. And to eat it on, we found some delicious looking dark bread in the window.

With our cheese in hand, we set off to the Musee d’Orsay, and the works of some old masters.

The Museum/Gallery is set in an old railway station, and so, has a huge space to work in. It has a large sculpture court and the mezzanine galleries around it. We saw works by, Boudin, Cezanne, Courbet , Degas, Daumier, Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Whistler, just to name a few. I loved seeing Whistler’s Mother, van Gogh’s Self Portrait, and Degas’s Repition d’un Ballet sur la scene (which Carly has had hanging on various walls forever.)

After looking at the works we decided the court yard was a fitting place to have our first cheese platter(or should that be “plateau de fromage”) in France, and Paris at that! The cheeses were delicious. Deb thought the Brie was more like Blue in taste (maybe we will get a milder one next time). But all in all it was a great place, wonderful company and location to have our first Parisienne “Plateau de Fromage” .

We then got a Metro from Musee d’Orsay to Invalides, changed there for line 8 to Fillies du Calvaire, to meet our Paris Greeter, Alain, for a walking tour around the Mairie Arrondissement (that’s French for Marsh district)at 2pm. We walked around the area basically bounded by the Seine on the south, the Bastelle on the east , the Pompidou Centre to the west and the Picasso Musee to the north. We were introduced to the Parisienne historical concept of Hotels. They were, back in centuries gone by, the name they used for houses. We saw some very large grand homes dating back to the 16th century, we walked into some of their court yards, many hardly changed from when they were built. We saw the largest remaining portion of the wall that used to encircle to city of Paris (I didn’t know Paris was once a walled city either) We walked through local fresh produce markets, small (and some large) parks and really got to see how the people of Paris lived (both now and in the past). It was a great tour.

At the end of the walk, 4:30pm, we got another Metro to Charles de Gaulle Etoile (the location of the Arc de Triomphe) and walked back to our hotel. There was, as seems to be usual, a military band playing under the arc. We got to hear the La Marseillaise played, the first time we have heard it played live in France.

After a short break, we were all dressed up and back on the Metro, this time from the Victor Hugo Station (at the end of our street) and went as far as Blanche along the Porte Dauphine-Nation Line. We emerged from the underground Metro Station at our destination, the Moulin Rouge, and a nights entertainment lay ahead of us.

There was a queue about 30m long in front of the Moulin rouge, so we hopped on the end and were inside by about 7pm, we had great seats towards the back but centre stage and unobstructed views. Dinner was served from about 7:30. We had scallops entre, beef mains (Deb’s was very tough so I gave her mine and had them replace it) and for dessert Deb had a Strawberry thing and I had Goats Cheese. To accompany all this we had a bottle of Champagne.

There was a band and singers playing before the show, while we had dinner. It looked and sounded like they had been plucked off “The Love Boat”.

The show started at 9pm. It was very flashy and the performers all had amazing costumes. But somehow it left both of us feeling a bit underwhelmed. The dancing wasn’t of a very high standard and it all just seemed a bit underdone. That being said, there was a couple of fill in acts that we both very much enjoy. The best being a duet, they brought together a mix of contortionism, dance, comedy and acrobatics, they were brilliant.

I guess we were glad we went, but probably wont be rushing out to recommend it to anyone, it’s just another thing you tick off on the things you should see in Paris, but very expensive for what you get!

We left at the end of the show and grabbed the Metro back the way we came and were home around 11:15pm

Wednesday 6 May 2009 Paris France

After another late night we had a late start. We got away from the hotel around 9:45am walked up to the Charles de Gaulle Etoile Station and headed to the Louvre.

After a tip from our guide on the city tour, we entered through the Porte de Lions entrance. It is a usually quiet entrance point, well away from the Pyramid main entrance and in the same wing of the Louvre as the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. As with all Musee in Paris, nothing is ever easy to find. But with the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, the best action is to follow the crowds!!!!!! Everyone eventually goes to see both.

Mona Lisa surprised me at its’ size, I thought it was smaller than it really is, and while you can’t actually get too close to it (and it is behind glass) it just what you expect, a plain girl with an “unusual” smile. LOL I am pretty sure she didn’t pull such big crowds when she was alive! Venus de Milo, is a special statue. She has a whole room and corridor to herself, and she needs it. Almost as many people were trying to see her in a relatively small area as were trying to see Mona. As with Mona she is everything you expect. She has a finely sculpted body (as most sculptures do) but is missing both arms, and no one knows what happened to them. (mmm guess we have all had nights like that!) But I digress. Honestly, both are truly works of art, (I guess that’s stating the obvious!) and worth putting up with the crowds to see. But remember we went on a quiet day, no large queues outside waiting to get in. At the Mona Lisa the crowd was only about 5 deep and it only took a few minutes to get to the front, and a similar experience with Venus de Milo!!

We went onto to see many works by numerous famous artists, including Delacroix’s “Le 28 Juillet. La Liberte Guidant le People”(a favourite of Brian’s), many works by Leonardo, Raffaello (aka Raphael), Rizzoli, to name a few. We also watched an old guy copying a painting by Correge. It was amazing how close a likeness he had done and the detail he was going to, to get it right. Other “copiers” we had seen in the Musee were nowhere near him for talent. To finish the Louvre, we went to see the Sphinx in the Egyptian area. It is the largest Sphinx outside Egypt. (I didn’t like the crowds of people in the Louvre, we were there 90 mins, I had to leave – was very pleased with the art we managed to see in that time)

Once we left the Louvre, we walked down to the Musee de l’Orangerie, to see the water lilies by Monet. It is a purpose built building for the 8 large works. (I liked it here much more, it is how you should look at art in peace in a cultured environment, not being pushed around!) The paints are shown in two oval shaped rooms with curved seating in the centre. A great place.

We then hopped on the Metro again, and went up to outside the Moulin rouge to get a walking tour of the Montmartre area. Unfortunately, not enough people showed up and they couldn’t run the tour. Luckily, I had prepared a “Tour” of our own from the Moulin Rouge, and we got it out and simply followed my guide. We walked up the rue Lepic, past the Cafe used in the film Amelie, past the last remaining windmill (Moulins) in Paris and around past a bust Monument to an old Parisienne pop star “Dalida” and down to the last remaining working vineyard in Paris. We then went up to the top of the Mont to the Sacre Coeur. It is a beautiful church, around 100 years old (which surprised us, we thought it was a lot older). We then went around to the Place du Tetre. Its a square/park that is home to many, many artists who ply their trade on the street. It was a fun place to walk and watch the world go by. Maybe the best people watching place in Paris. We got a gelati, and walked back down the hill. This is a fascinating part of Paris, and so very different to the rest.

We hopped on another Metro and went to the Arc de Triomphe. By this time Deb was very foot wiery, and the thought of 300+ steps to the top was a bit much, so i went to the top myself. It’s an amazing view over the whole city from the top. With the Arch being the central hub of all the great avenues of Paris, it affords sweeping views straight down the Avenues to all parts of the city. You get a real appreciation for the traffic chaos below from up there.

Back to our hotel to pick up our jackets and then we set off, again by Metro, to do a Seine river cruise. The cruise went for an hour and went up the river well past the Isle de la Cite before doing a u-turn and heading back to the left bank at the Eiffel Tower where we started. It was great to see the city from the river, it gives a whole new perspective to the buildings you see walking around, and you get to see the people of Paris being themselves, relaxed along the river banks.

We were back by 7:45pm, and had a relaxing night.

Thursday 7 May 2009  Paris France

Our last full day in Paris, and so much left to see, and we have planned to give it our best shot!!!!!

Our day started at 8:45am, we hopped on a couple of trains and got down to St Michele Station, and walked over to the Isle de la Cite, and onto Sainte Chapelle.

It’s a beautiful old church hidden behind the facade of other buildings. It has what is said to be the most beautiful Rose window in Paris, and it is hard not to agree. The stained glass goes right around the church, we have never seen so much stained glass it was very beautiful. We arrived early, so there were no queues and with our Paris pass we got straight in, it was lovely to just sit and enjoy the beautiful church.

Next we went next door to La Conciergerie. It was a gaol in the French Revolution, a holding cell for prisoners on the way to the guillotine. Marie Antoinette was held there. The wealthy could pay to have cells with a bed.

Next we finally made it to Notre-Dame Cathedral, it was full of tourists, who were noisy and taking lots of photos, not at all how a church should be, but in any case the Cathedral was worth visiting, it is a magnificent church, wonderful rose windows, a very intricate church. We walked around to the back of the church to a park behind it and sat on a bench and enjoyed the view, it is the better view. There were students sitting there sketching the church, very peaceful, much better than inside.

We then caught our first bus from St Michele to the the Jardin de Luxembourg gardens. I think there are about 55 acres of garden, we sat near a fountain that had a bit of a lake around it. The Parisians sit in chairs around the lake and enjoy the sunshine, a book or lunch, never seen anything like it before, it is very common in Paris. We enjoyed it. Greg went and brought us a baguette and a lovely custard thing, the French do the best breads and cakes, we have eaten far too much bread here, glad we don’t have it as lovely at home!! We enjoyed lunch and the garden and the people watching.

We walked to the Pantheon, to get there we had to walk through a protest we think by students of the University of Paris, it was a peaceful protest, everyone was walking in a large circle, we had no idea what they were protesting about. Greg really enjoyed the Pantheon, especially the Foucault Pendulum, the largest of its type in the world, it measures the rotation of the earth and gives a visual representation of it. Important people are interred here, like Voltaire, the Curies, Braille, Fleurieu and many other great French dignitaries, one guy had his heart in a urn!!

Then we caught the Metro to St Michele, connecting to Strasbourg-St Denis connecting to St Augustin. As we were walking to Musee Jaquemont-Andre we noticed a large church and walked out, it was St Augustines (Pat went to St Augustine’s school) we went inside, great church, very quiet and peaceful as it should be, but it needed a bit of love and a lot of money spent on it. We enjoyed it in there and lit another candle (we must have the safest family!!)

At Musee Jaquemont-Andre – a 19th Century mansion that has a private collection of art, we took the audio tour which was very interesting, it is a very elaborate mansion that has been reasonably well kept. We had a lovely afternoon tea after our tour, in what was the dining room, very nice!

We walked to Chapelle Expiatoire where Marie Antoinette is buried but it was closed for restoration, around it was a lovely park (there are many of these in Paris) it was full of what appeared to be Nannys with their charges, it was like something out of a movie!! It really does happen, seemed a bit surreal to me!! Had to pick up my chin from the floor and shut my mouth!!

Next we found a Polish church with a bust of the Pope outside, we went and sat inside, it was a much smaller, almost circular church, very lovely but again in need of some love and attention. There was a restaurant in the crypt underneath the church.

Place de la Madeleien was next a Neoclassical church called Eglise de St Marie Madaleine – a Greek style church, very large, we sat a while and lit another candle. Outside there were great views from the steps down to the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde and onto the golden dome of Invalides.

Greg indulged me (yes again!!) and we walked to the Ritz, took a bit of finding but we eventually found it in Place Verdone. Was worth it. Great square with lots of expensive brand name shops everywhere. There was an intimidating guy stood outside the Ritz telling some school children they could not go in. That put me off, but when they had gone, Greg walked straight in and had a look!! He was in there for a while, he had to come out and convince me to go in with him, hard to believe I know!!! Anyhow I did, and wow, incredibly opulent, the building was over a couple of hundred years old and the furnishings were from another world. We saw everyone having afternoon tea in the garden. Maybe next time!!

We caught the metro home, after a great day. We were very happy with how much we managed to see. We packed our bags before going out to dinner at a local French restaurant, Restaurant Victor, a few minutes from our hotel. The food was wonderful, more wonderful French baguette, hot tomato salad, avocado and lobster and for mains, duck and scallops, we shared an apple flan and a bottle of French chardonnay, was a lovely way to finish our last day in Paris.

We hope Carly is enjoying her 18th birthday today 8th of May, we are thinking of you. And we wish Ann a wonderful birthday tomorrow, we will have a cheers to you in Budapest!

I am sure you are sick of looking at our self portrait at the eiffel tower!! we are getting to adding some more, next 24 hours, promise!! we can only download 40 photos for the month, so we are a bit limited this month!!

love to you all from us xo Budapest awaits

Friday 8 May 2009 Paris to Budapest Hungary via London Heathrow

Yep we took the long way, but saved a lot!!

It was a slow start to the day, we got up around 7 and potted around. Deb chatted with Ben and Carly on messenger and we posted a blog.

We checked out at 9:15am and got our airport transfer. As we approached Charles de Gaulle Airport all the traffic was going nowhere, so our driver talked to a cabbie and he said there was an accident or something on the road to the airport. So we went looking for an alternative route. We arrived at the airport at around 9:45am. On the detour we took, I saw what looked like a car on fire with the police and fire-brigade in attendance.

We checked in and then queued up for emigration and security. After about an hour we got through all the border control procedures. What a pain!!

We boarded our flight on time and then sat at the gantry. It took around an hour to get all the luggage on board, problems with the luggage system, apparently.

The flight to London was uneventful and then we got put in a holding pattern for 15 minutes before we could land. We eventually landed and were in the terminal at around 1:30pm. Our flight to Budapest had final boarding at 1:45pm. We then found we had to go back through security to get to our flight. Part of our carry on got pulled aside, but no one knew why, so they put it back through the x-ray again, and they decide to check our carry-on liquids for explosives!!!! (they didn’t find any in my cream!!)

We eventually got to our gate to find that the flight had been delayed an hour. That was a relief, we would make our flight.

Once on board the 2nd Officer apologised for the delay, and said it was because the plane had been late getting in from Paris. It was our original plane!!!!!!

The flight eventually took off at 3pm and we arrived in Budapest at 6pm local time.

Our driver was late, and eventually found us just as we were about to get a cab.

We arrived at the Hotel and found we had an amazing view down over the river and onto Pest.

After grabbing a bite to eat in the lounge, we went for a walk around the Castle area (around our hotel). We looked out from the edge and found a full moon greeting us. It was amazing to look down over the river to Pest at dusk with a beautiful, red, full moon rising.

After taking in the view, we walked around the top of the Castle district a bit, taking in all the old buildings and streetscape at night. Simply magical!!!!

It was a hard, long day’s travel, but we both agreed it was worth it.

Saturday 9 May 2009 Budapest Hungary

We just want to wish all mums reading this and especially our mums and our mum in Canada a wonderful Mothers day, we are thinking of you and hoping you are having a great day. Love you lots xo

If this blog feels a little disjointed or strange, its OK, it probably is. We have both had a go at different parts of it.

In Hungary they pronounce s’s as sh, so Budapest is actually pronounced Budapesht (well it interested me!!)

We had a lovely day today exploring Budapest, we started with a 3 hour tour from the hotel at 10am, it was very informative giving us an insight into Hungarian history, it has been a very difficult one. We drove past a lot of old historic buildings and historic sites. We started, after a dirve around the western Buda side of the city, up to the Citadel. It is an old fortress at the top of the Gellert hill, and has served many masters. The last being the Russians, before the dismantling of the old USSR. There are still relics of their occupation, in the form of old (cold war)cannons up there. Th e Citadel provides expansive views of the city and way up the eastern reaches of the Danube. From here we went into the Grand Market Hall, a purpose built building and the largest undercover market in Europe. Much bigger than our central market, and very lovely with all their paprika and salami, fresh fruit and meat, fish (alive in tanks) and a lot of atmosphere, but for me our market had more charm! We then made our way to Hero’s Square to see and hear about how Hungary and Budapest became what they are today. The history was fascinating. While we were there, the Budapest chapter of the Harley Davidson Owners Club had a rally meeting in the square, so many Harleys making their very distinct rumble, and their decidedly middle aged riders living out their youth again!!!

We finished our tour around 1pm, we made our way to Vaci Street and found somewhere for lunch Greg had Hungarian Goulash, it was delicious and I had chicken paprika, not as nice as Gregs.

We wondered up the street, lots of upmarket shops, and also lots of folk art shops. Afterwards we found our way to Cafe Gerbeaud where they make great cakes, we bought a vanilla slice type cake, the custard was much lighter, delicious and a slice of an Hungarian torte that reminded me of the cakes we always had for Uncle Joe’s birthday, it also tasted just like it, yum!!

We were wandering towards the Chain Bridge to eat our cakes when we came across St Stephen’s Basilica (150 years old), we read it was closed, but were delighted to find it open. What an amazing church, we have never been inside such an ornate church, full of gold and marble. I can’t get over how different all of these churches are – and we have been in quite a few now and lit many a candle as we did here! Oh yes we also saw the right hand of St Stephen it was in this glass case in a chapel at the back of the church, his hand is over 1000 years old!!! Well there was no skin or flesh, just bones as you would expect after all of that time!

Afterwards we made our way to the Danube, and walked along on the Pest side to the Parliament, it is a huge building very intricate from the outside. It had closed 5 mins before we got there, so we might go back tomorrow, then we walked along the Danube, managed to put our fingers in the water! Along to the Chain bridge, we walked along, great bridge. We caught the funicular up to the top of the Buda hill, had a quick look at the outside of the Palace and wandered back to our hotel.

At 7pm we went to dinner at Alabardos restaurant, the concierge recommended it, it was very romantic, I felt like a princess, was quite magical. We sat in this outside courtyard, that had lots of plants, beautiful table clothes, plates and a gorgeous candle, it was very peaceful and even though it was booked out you felt like you were the only one there. There was a musician playing classical guitar. Our food was delicious as was the wine. Mmm it was a memorable evening.

Hope you have all enjoyed your weekend, we join our River cruise tomorrow afternoon, so we will have a few more hours in the morning to explore on our own. We have not had much access to the internet while we have been here. We are hoping we can post these two blogs now, and also those photos I promised from Paris.

Keep smiling love from us xo

Sunday 10 May 2009 Budapest – On Board our River Cruise boat – Avalon Imagery

We started the day slowly, our last day on land, so to speak. We board the ship for our river cruise to Amsterdam this afternoon.

We rang our mum’s for Mother’s Day and wished them a fantastic day. Was really lovely to talk to them We both hope my dad (Bid) is back home soon (Monday is the plan) and he stays well.

After breakfast, we went to church. Yes, that’s right, pick yourselves up off the ground, we went to church and there wasn’t a significant religious day in sight!!!! The Catholic Church next to our hotel has a choral mass every Sunday. It was amazing. The Matthias Church is about 700 years old, and is very ornately finished. It’s a beautiful church and the sounds of the choir and violins and organ were incredible. We got here 15 minutes early and got a good pew for the service and stayed for the whole service. The service started with singing at 10am and finished around 11:30. For the service, there was a head priest, 3 other priests, and about 8 or so alter “boys”. It was complete with a very smoky incense ball, lashings of holy water and solemn ceremony. They had booklets on the service at all the pews that were written in Hungarian on one side and Latin on the other. We presumed the service was in Hungarian, but it was “all Greek to us”.

We then retired to the lounge at the hotel for lunch, before packing and checking out at 1pm. We got a taxi down to the Intercontinental Hotel by the Danube to join up with our cruise at 2pm. We got the bus to the boat, or is that ship??, at about 3:30pm. The name of our vessel is the Avalon Imagery, it seems comfortable and modern. Most of the people on board are either Australian or New Landers, that’s a bit disappointing, we like to have a good mix of nationalities. Our cabin is on the top cabin deck and towards the rear of the boat (and the Sundeck doesn’t extend as far as our cabin, which might be a good thing!!). We unpacked all our bags and will not have to repack for another 2 weeks, which in itself will be great.

At 6:30pm we had an introduction and on-board safety meeting, then dinner at 7:15pm. (All the ladies were given a beautiful long stem red rose as we went into dinner – for mothers day – I thought that was lovely! It is now in a glass by the bed! ) The meal was very tasty, and the company interesting!!! (but it was 5 courses!!!! Mmm I tried to leave half of every dish, didn’t work with desert though!!)

Tomorrow we have decided not to do the tours from the ship, but to explore more of Budapest by ourselves.

We hope all the mothers in our family (and reading this) had a great day and were suitably spoilt. We were thinking of you

We leave Budapest tomorrow night (Monday – but mum I am not sure we leave when it is dark, might be at dusk – will let you know tomorrow night before we go to bed

Hope you all enjoy your week, hey Carly today (Monday) is going to be a great day keep smiling our little moo xo

Love to you all from us xo

Monday 11 May 2009 – Our River Cruise – Avalon Imagery – Budapest

This morning the ships tour was of the city of Budapest, which we had done on Saturday, so rather than go back over the same ground we set-out on foot from the ship at around 9:30am.

The ship is birthed near the Szabadsag Bridge, so we walked along the shore to Vamhez Korut, and ran straight into the Big Market Hall, as we said before, the largest under cover market in Europe. It was very quiet by comparison to the other day we were here, so it was easier walking around. The produce looked first class and all reasonably priced by local standards.

From there we continued along Vamhez Korut to Kossuth Lajos and then onto Karoly Krt and the Synagogue and Jewish museum. The Synagogue is the largest in Europe and the 2^nd largest in the world (behind the one in New York City) and seats over 3000 people. To our astonishment, this was the first Synagogue we had ever been in. We took the tour and it was very informative, both of the building itself and to a small degree the fate of the Jews in Budapest/Hungry in WWII. The museum was full of Jewish historical items from the local area, and we would have got more from it if we had taken a tour of it, rather than walk through ourselves (or even if all the exhibits had English translations, some did, but the majority didn’t). (on the tour of the Synagogue, we were told that there were 800,000 Jews in Hungary before WWII and only 200,000 after , pretty sobering, there are now 1,000,000 Jews in Hungary!)

We then walked into and through the old WWII Jewish grotto district and up to what we thought was the Franz Liszt Museum. The building turned out to be, we think, a part of a university. It seemed to be a performance space and study area for uni students. We tried to find a way into the performance hall, where there were students practicing, but we failed!!! Despite our best endeavours.

We then walked along through Liszt Fereoc Ter, a garden plaza area full of classy looking restaurants and bars. We turned onto Andrassy Ut and walked down to the Opera House. Unfortunately it was closed for tourists until later in the afternoon, so all we got to see was the foyer which was elaborate and the gift shop. Pictures of the auditorium looked very spectacular.

We then got a taxi back to the ship for lunch, and we got charged tourist rates by the cabbie!!!

After lunch, we set off at about 1:30pm to the Parliament House for the 2pm tour. When we got there , there was a sign up saying that due to an official function or something , it was closed to tours today. However, that didn’t stop at least two group tours going through as we sat in a park nearby!!!! You just can’t take a trick some days!!

So we decided to walk back to the ship, exploring the streets and buildings as we went. We stopped in a park for a break and to cool down a bit (the temp is in the low 30’s) and straight in front of us was the Pest Concert Hall “Vigado”. We went to go and have a look around only to find it was shut for renovations!

We found a casino, so we went inside, they wanted ID from us to go in, so we gave them some and we were issued with a card so we could enter. It was not very big, about 8 times the size of our lounge and dining area. There were only about a dozen people, playing roulette and blackjack. We only stayed a few minutes before going on our way.

We then walked past a building called the Millennium Building, so we had to have a look inside, and found a small shopping mall. We changed our last 10,000 Forint to Euro, and continued onto another old, interesting looking church. It turned out to be a Serbian church, going by the flags hanging inside. There were people inside moving statues around, and generally working on different aspects of the church. It was a simple and interesting church. A change from some of the very elaborately decorated churches we have been in. On the outside of the church I saw a plaque dedicated to Anonymous.??? I am not sure what it was all about, but I am sure someone out there has a pretty interesting tale to tell about it.

We got back to the ship, and went to our Cabin, to find it full of diesel fumes from the boat moored up against ours. The “Cruise Director “ said there was nothing they could do about it, and that it was an ongoing problem for all the boats using the riverways. So we went for afternoon tea in the lounge and played a couple of games of dominoes (Deb won both) and then played Yahtzee (I won 2:1).

Our ship sails for Bratislava the capital of Slovakia at about 6pm.

We were upstairs on the skydeck when we set off, was lovely watching Budapest as we sailed by. We did not get the lovely spectacle that you did mum when you left as it was still very much day light. We did get to see it though from our hotel room!

We had another lovely dinner tonight and met another 4 people, every meal there is someone else to talk to, I enjoyed the company tonight much more than last night!

We arrive in Bratislava around midday tomorrow and will go exploring in the afternoon, another adventure awaits.

It is 5.30am in the morning on Tues now for you and 10pm here, so we will say goodnight, see you tomorrow!!

Lots of love from us xo

Tuesday 12 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Budapest to Bratislava Slovakia

We sailed overnight up the Danube, apparently it poured rain around midnight, but we didn’t hear it, but we did notice the windows were wet when we woke. We approached our first lock, the Gabcikova lock, ( we have 68 locks to go through on the journey!!) at about 9am.

It was a big lock! It took our ship and three others around the same size. On my guess it was about 10 to 15m deep. After we had been sitting in it for about 45 mins we were told there was a “slight” problem causing a delay in the operation of the lock. After about an hour, it began to fill. Someone on board estimated it was filling at about 300mm every 20 seconds. I think the lock was about 400m long x 30m wide. That would give a fill rate of nearly 11000 cubic meters of water a minute. That’s a lot of water!!!

It was really strange sitting on board and watching our boat and the ones around us rise against the height of the walls of the lock, and to see the level of the river above the upstream gates.

Once the gates were opened it seemed to be a race between the four (4) boats that were in the lock to see who could get upstream the fastest, we came last, but it was a gentle ride.

We arrived in Bratislava Slovakia around 2pm, and rather than the planned 1 hour delay in disembarking, we got off straight away and did a city tour, firstly by bus, looking at the views of the city and river from various high points around the city, including the castle(every town here has a castle!) and the Russian cemetery, then on foot through the city centre. The tour was very informative and we both enjoyed it lots. Deb was particularly interested in the plaque in the street marking the location of where a witch had been burnt to death. Apparently one piece of the evidence that convicted her was her dazzling red hair (Ok, you know who you are out there, you little red haired witches in the family!!!). In the cathedral they had at some point dug a hole in the floor to do some work, and they found a medieval grave site, so they cleaned it up, added some lighting and put a thick glass plate over it, so now you can peer down into the hole (in the cathedral floor) and see the bones of at least 3 people. We saw cannon balls in houses from the times of Napoleon Bonaparte, a terrace house that was 1.3m wide and about 4 storeys tall, a few very funny bronze statues around town, including Andy Warhol, an Italian paparazzi and a guy crawling out from under a manhole cover.

We returned to the boat at around 5pm and we sail for Vienna at around 10:45pm tonight

Wednesday 13 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Bratislava Slovakia to Vienna

It was an early start today, starting with a sight-seeing tour of Vienna leaving the boat at 8:15am.

We drove around the city for about 1 ½ hrs and were shown the many sights of the town and given a brief history that generally explained how Vienna and Austria are as they are today. It’s a city that caters for all. It has a huge park on the fringe of the city with walking/jogging tracking, an amusement park with the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe in it (that dates back about 100 yrs, and was restored after WWII ), many international organisations call it home (OPEC, a few UN Depts, etc), many big label shops, an enormous depth of political history(from Genghis Khan to the Romans and Napoleons, as well as centuries of home grown royalty and empires, and of course so much musical history and culture spots.

After the bus ride we were given a walking tour around the centre part of the city and into the main Cathedral, St Stephens. After the tour , we had free time to roam around as we pleased. We (led by Deb!) headed straight to a highly rated cake shop for morning tea, and to try out a couple of local pastries. I had a Vanilla Slice (possibly the most expensive I will ever have!!!), Deb had a Cake (chocolate) that was recommended to her by the staff as being traditional Austrian fare. I had a coffee (you have to have a coffee in Vienna) and Deb had a tea. The coffee was nice, but I have had better at home.

From there we roamed around a bit more, we called into another church, St Peters which was small and round(It was 300 years old, but the site has been a site for prayer for 1600 years). Not long after we entered, a ceremony of some sort started with 3 “priests” chanting together and in turn.

We then got the bus back and had lunch.

After lunch we boarded the bus again and headed off to Schonbrunn Palace (Andre Rau Palace that he toured with was a replica of this one). The Palace survived WWII intact despite being hit by a bomb in the main meeting area. (The bomb never exploded, which was lucky). The house basically was a history of the reigning family of Austria and the former Austrian empire, the Habsburg’s. The house was also the home of Napoleon, after he had conquered Austria, and he celebrated his 40^th birthday there. Napoleon also married into the family, and his only legitimate child, Napoleon II was born to his wife from the Habsburg family.

After the house tour we walked around the huge gardens out the back of the Palace. They go on forever, and are beautifully sculptured and maintained (it takes over 300 gardeners to look after them). Later we went for a strudel making demonstration and of course a tasting with coffee. They even gave us all a recipe for it.

After returning to the boat and freshening up a bit and having dinner, we went out again for a concert in Vienna. It was held in a small “hall” specifically for river cruise tourist groups. It was a group of 9 musicians, strings, flute/piccolo, bass, oboe, clarinet, keyboard and drums, who were accompanied at times by a couple of “opera” singers and a couple of dancers. While not brilliant musicians / performers the recital was entertaining and it was good to hear the music of Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven played in the country , and sometimes the city, of origin.

The night was completed with an Austrian tradition. We were all given a bowl of Goulash soup on arrival back at the boat. Apparently its tradition, because to attend a performance in Austria, most people have to rush home and leave without eating, so they have a bowl of this soup when they get back home.

Thursday 14 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Vienna to Duernstein then Melk Austria

Another early start after our late night last night, we are however always one of the last down to breakfast!! By the time we get there most people are tucking into their 3 course breakfast. There are a few people on the cruise younger than us, then a few a bit older but the majority would be 20 or more years older, so they are putting us to shame. But a lot of them do have a rest in the afternoon,(sometimes right where they are sitting!) something we have not done yet!

Not sure if Greg has mentioned it but there are about 130 odd people on the boat, they can cater for another 30 or so, so the boat is not quite full. This is the boats 3rd year, it is in great nick, and kept incredibly clean, the staff are all very lovely, mainly Slovacs. Our tour director is from Holland and very efficient. There is wine tasting tonight before dinner of the wines of the Wachau area – where we are now, we are looking forward to it.

Anyhow I digress!

It was a lovely day today. The weather was not so good, but it did not detract from the day, was raining in the morning and very low cloud the rest of the day.

We started with a walking tour of Duernstein with a very knowledgeable guide, a lovely old town with only 900 people. Cars are not allowed into the town without a permit as the streets are so narrow.

Richard the Lion Heart was imprisoned here in the castle (only a few ruins now) by Leopold V of Austria in 1192. 400 million (in todays money) was paid by the people of England for his release!!

After our tour we went by ourselves to the Augustine Convent’s Church, it is in Baroque style, (a lot of gold). There was a lovely balcony out from the church that overlooked the river.

Was a lovely town to take photos in. Yes we have no doubt taken several thousand photos already! But we are enjoying it and they are a lovely memory for us.

Next was our lunch, it is always buffet, as is breakfast so you can have as much as you desire!

After lunch I enjoyed chatting to Carly for a bit on facebook. Messenger is not working, like the footy tipping!! We can’t access that either, hope Ben puts our tips in for us this week, not that we are a threat to him!! You just wait until we get back!

We docked in Melk around 2pm and went by bus up to the Melk abbey, a Benedictine Monastery. We had a tour first of the rooms of the Babenbergers, had museum pieces in, then we walked by ourselves in the abbey. Another Baroque style church. Had so much gold in it and alot of lovely frescos on the ceiling.

Afterwards we walked back to the boat via the town, a beautiful old town.

Now it is off to the wine tasting, will let you know how we went after dinner!! Hic!!

It is now 9.35pm, we are in a lock at the moment, the second one tonight, have just put sound of music on, to get in the mood for tomorrow, it has evidently been playing all day!! Greg has never seen it, I just want to listen to one song!!

Wine tasting was very nice Domane Wachau, we enjoyed their Riesling Smaragd Terrassen 2008 the most, was very nice.

Dinner was lovely we had some lovely company, we have an early start tomorrow, so it is off to bed now. Mmm a song has come on don’t remember the name, the children are singing to the baroness for the first time ………….. oh yes, the sound ofmusic!! Lol

We will be singing it tomorrow, don’t think we will be hanging upside down in trees though!!

Sorry to hear you can’t leave messages on here Carly, hope they fix it soon cos we like your messages.

Lots of love to you all xo

Night

Comments:

25 May 2009                       McDonalds         More Updates

We all love the updates!! Keep them coming!!!

Very busy weekend for us… Dante has Footy (Auskick) at 4pm and the School Footy at South Adelaide Footy Club at 7:30pm!!

Tessa then has Ballet tomorrow Morning… then we drop them off at Ash & Kathryns for the night and we are off to see Phantom and stay at the Hyatt!!! 😀 Jamie & Jarrad are also going with us, should be a great time.

Then we were meant to be going to the footy Sunday but we have cancelled that!! Will be time to relax!!

Looking for ward to more updates.

Luv to you both,

Ben

Friday 15 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Melk Austria to Linz Mondsee Salzburg and Passau

Today was another “early “start. After breakfast we picked up a take-out lunch and were on the bus by 8:15am on our way to Salzburg. (Did I hear someone out there yodel???) Imagine yourself skipping and singing through fields of dandelions!! (mmm we never did get around to doing that).Yes, we are heading into “The Sound of Music” country!!!

After an hour on the road, passing through the Austrian alpine plains and lakes area, and seeing the odd snow capped peak poke its head through the fog, we had a short stop at Mondsee, so we could all go in and have a look at the church that was the scene of the wedding in the movie. How excited did you think we were!!! (well I enjoyed it!!) Actually, the town was a nice quiet little village on the shores of a lake, and all the movie stuff has helped pay for the restoration and maintenance of the church. The church (consecrated in 1487)was again in the baroque style inside with a gothic exterior. More candles were lit, and our thoughts went out there for you all.

Back in the bus and we were off to Salzburg, with The Sound of Music playing on the bus!!! On the way we passsed the headquarters of Red Bull (I didn’t know it was an Austrian company). Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, and where he lived until his early teens. There is also a Citadel high up on the cliffs, and many churches. Our tour guide took us through the old part of town and gave us a pretty complete history and highlight tour. We walked through the cemetery that was recreated in hollywood for “the movie”, it was a very well kept and flowery cemetery with many very old graves.

Once the tour was over and we were on our free time. We walked down the narrow main shopping street to the Christmas shop and bought a couple of decorations for our Christmas tree. Our collection of international decorations is growing nicely!! Then looked in a couple of churches the Dom Cathedral built early 17th Century, where Mozart was an organist and the St Peter before heading up to the Citadel, riding the funicular to the top and took in the expansive views over Salzburg and the surrounding country-side. We could see the mountains in the distance, hanging in the air above the clouds. The fields and woods around the town were lush dark green and it was generally the sort of picture postcard scene you would expect in the alpine foothills. After we had a look around the citadel, we headed down into the town and searched out a “sausage” stand in a local market we had seen earlier in the day. We both had a spicy paprika sausage on a roll (mine was as spicy as they had and Deb had a medium). They were delicious!!! As we made our way back to our meeting point we went into the Mozart Museum, and saw the house he was born in, many family portraits, a collection of musical instruments he “may have” played and other Mozart memorabilia. We met our guide at 3pm and went back to the boat.

On the way back we drove through, no passed, the village that Adolf Hitler was born in and grew up in. Apparently he wasn’t born a Hitler (his actual birth surname is something quite different and a name that may not have been as easy to roll off the tongue as Hitler). He was adopted by his Uncle and took his name.

We arrived back to the ship in Passau at 5:15. Passau is in Bavaria, Germany. Bavaria is about 90% the size of Austria. We were sailing by 6pm for Regensburg. Its 6:15 and we are in another lock.

We have forgotten to mention something vitally important, and I know some of you have been loosing sleep over it!!! You can all relax, we have been keeping up our tradition of a “Cheese Platter” in every country we visit. Just some have been better than others. In Hungary we had it in the hotel lounge over a drink, and in Austria, it was several at the end of lunch. Time has been against us to organise anything too much more elaborate than that. But at least we are still ticking the boxes and having yummy cheeses from around the world.

Saturday 16 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Passau to Weltenburg Danube Gorge and Regensburg Germany

Weltenburg Abbey Danube Gorge and Regensburg Germany Saturday 16 May 2009

We left the boat at 8.45am this morning to go and have a look at a local farmers market before hopping on a bus to go to Weltenburg Abbey and then for a cruise down the Danube Gorge. The abbey is perched on a hillside on a point on the Danube opposite some high limestone hills. The abbey is one of the oldest in Bavaria and was found by Benedictine Monks back in the year 620. The present abbey dates from the 18^th century, when it was extensively rebuilt in the Baroque style. So the inside of the church is decorated with lots of gold and many very ornate statues and sculptures , as well as highly detailed frescos and paintings. The abbey is also, and maybe most notably, the oldest abbey brewery in the world. The monks have been brewing beer there since 1050. We had a beer and pretzel, just for quality control purposes, and the product was just fine!!!! After the beer, in true Bavarian style, we went to the church for a history talk about it.

After the talk we got on a smaller boat (much smaller than the River Boat we cruise on) and sailed down the Danube for 25 mins. This section of the Danube is about the last navigable portion of the river, about 2450km upstream from the Black Sea. This was a very relaxing way to travel. After that, it was back on the bus and back to the boat for lunch.

Lunch was a Bavarian Buffet, featuring foods from the area, notably various sausages and sauerkraut. It was delicious.

In the afternoon we did a walking tour through the old part of Regensburg. Regensburg has a long history, from Celtic to roman to Austrian-Hungarian to various Germanic empires. We saw old Roman ruins and walls, various styles of buildings and many historical sites during the tour.

After the tour finished we set off by ourselves and had a look into a couple of churches. The first, a small chapel next to the Cathedral, drew us inside by the sound of an organist practicing. The church was simple in design and not overdone like many we have seen and been in.

From there we went next door to St Peters Cathedral. It is one the finest Gothic buildings in Bavaria and was built between the years 1250 and 1275 (the Gothic bit explains another site we saw a bit later, but I will come to that!). It was comparatively dark inside, but the stained glass windows and decoration inside were beautiful.

After that we went down and cashed in a voucher we had been given for an afternoon “snack” of Brotzeit, at a local sausage place by the river. Bavarian sausage, Sauerkraut, mustard and bread rolls all washed down with a local beer by the Danube River in the heart of Bavaria, how much more German can you get. It was all very tasty, even the sauerkraut, which surprised me.

To walk the effects of the “snack” off we went for a stroll across the oldest stone bridge in Germany, and possibly Europe. It was built in between the years 1135 to 1146. Its main purpose was to assist in the transport and trade of salt. Salt seems to have played a huge in this part of the world. From Austria to Bavaria, it has been the means of making great wealth and many wars. It took us about 15 mins to walk over and back. (Now getting back to the tease I gave earlier, just to make sure you kept reading!!) On the way over the bridge we noticed there was a largish gathering of about 100 or so young people (late teens, early 20’s…. mmm that’s young in our eyes now!!!). As we got closer and our eyes worked a bit better it seems it was a gathering of the local “Goth” community. I was going to say a very colourful gathering, but when everyone is in Black, that’s a bit of a stretch, well their hair was a myriad of colours and shapes anyway.

We got back to the boat about 4:30pm. And we were sailing away by 5:30, in reverse. We had gone up as far as this boat could go, and had to reverse back a ways, to what is called the “Centuries” Canal ( a local bit of humour there!! Apparently the canal had been planned in the 1700’s, revisited in the 1800’s, commenced building in the early 1900’s and finally finished in 1992. So the cruise we are doing has only been able to be done for less than 20 years. The canal joins the Danube with Main River and eventually the Rhine River. It is the mechanism that takes us over the continental divide and the commencement of the downstream run of our cruise. We still have over 50 locks to negotiate.

For those interested here are a few statistics about our boat. It is in its third season on the rivers and it measures 135m long x 11.4m wide and has a capacity to take 170 passengers plus crew.

By the time you read this mum it will be Sunday and your birthday, so Happy Birthday to you, we will definitely be thinking of you and having a cheers or two to you, as you know there is plenty of alcohol in every day to be able to do that on a river cruise!! Love you lots and hope you have a wonderful day, enjoy your dinner at Vons.

Can’t wait to hear how Phantom went Ben! .

Sunday 17 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Regensburg to Nuremburg Germany

Happy Birthday Eileen/Mum. We both hope you have been spoilt just enough, room has to be left for next year . Lots of love and hugs from the other side of the world to you.

We are glad to see (via Facebook) that Pat is fine and out of “Swine Flu” detention in Singapore and will be home on Thursday, and that dad/Bid is doing better.

The day started with us crossing the continental divide at 8:25am. So what you say!!! Well, (he says with that knowing tone in his voice!!), this is the point at which we change from going upstream, to going downstream, and as such is the highest point of our cruise. We reached a peak height of 400m above the Black Sea Level. From here on in it is all down hill to Amsterdam. In the next 120km we will descend approximately 200m in 12 locks. At 11am we went through the Hipoltstein Lock, it had a height drop of 24.7m, followed by the Eckersmuehlen Lock of the same change.

Going through the deep locks is an awesome experience (apart from the wait to get into the first of them, a few of us actually thought we saw the grass grow and some paint dry!!). The sounds that are given off from the combination of the boat and the lock reminded me of “Whale Song”, a real primeval sound that you have to experience to fully understand.

After breakfast we found out that there had been a few delays over night at a couple of locks, and we were now 3 hours behind schedule. To get around this and get us back on timetable, we were picked up by the buses for our afternoon tour at the Leerstetten lock.

We opted out of the optional tour of the Nuremburg Trail sites, Nazi Documentation Centre and rally grounds. It just seemed like too much of a downer.

The bus tour took us all around the new and old parts of Nuremburg, before stopping near the Nuremburg Castle. We had a look around the moat, (which was always too high to have water in it!!), and the outer areas of the castle, before getting back on the bus and going down to the old Market square in the middle of the old part of town. Here we were given a brief historical tour and then let off the leash and had some free time. We walked around and had a look at the old Butchers area, marked by a “lazy” bull statue (Apparently , legend goes that if the bull ever got off its backside when the bells in the Church ring, it will be a sign of a new age for the City! To me it looks pretty comfortable where it is!), called in and sampled the local ice-cream, watched a gypsy busker, and visited 2 medieval churches, Kathousche Frauenkirche and St Sebalb’s, Nuemburg. Both were so very different from the churches we had been visiting to date. There was a distinct lack of gold ornamentation, with raw stonework sculptures predominating with murals and dark paintings to add to the medieval flavour. (beautiful)

We then got the bus back to the boat.

At 6pm we had a beer tasting session on board. I know, hard to take, but I did my bit (well Deb’s beer as well as mine!!). We (I) tasted 4 beers, a Lager, Pilsner, dark and wheat beer. They were all from small boutique breweries in Bavaria and all interesting in their own rights, but I favoured the Dark Ale (Deb disliked the Lager the least!!).

And so ended another tough day cruising the rivers of Europe.

Hope you all enjoy your week, this is our last week on the river, we arrive in Amsterdam on Saturday and leave the boat on Sunday morning, it is very relaxing on the boat, just watching the beautiful green countryside go by. Xo

Monday 18 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Nuremburg to Bamberg Germany

This morning we left the boat around 8:30am and went for a bus tour around and through the three main parts of Bamberg. That’s the Market garden Area, the Island and the old Town. After a running commentary on the history, past and present of the town.

The town is the only medieval town in Germany to escape the devastation of WWII, with only about 4% of the town being damaged during the war. A local theory as to why this was is very entertaining and, some may say very close to the mark. It goes that there are over 25 breweries in town, and the British and American pilots just couldn’t bring themselves to bombing such a town!!!

The more likely, but less entertaining, reason is that it was the nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from getting near to Bamberg.

The old town has buildings ranging from 1300 years old to around 300-400 years old. The Cathedral on top of the hill overlooking the town was built in around the year 1200, and was constructed on the site and foundations of the Babenberg Castle that had previously stood there. The Cathedral is famous, apparently (must be a German thing!) for its tombs and statues. The most “intriguing” is the full size one of a man on horseback, speculation is rife that is in fact a Statue of St Stephen!!!! (yes, the famous and geographically expansive, this guy really got around, King Stephen of Hungary). But no one can prove it one way or the other, so it may have been the sculptor’s next-door neighbour, we will never know. But it’s all a good story, and we all know what facts do to good stories!!

Bamberg is also famous for Rauchbier Beer, mmmmmm that is smoked beer for us Australians!!! The most famous of these is the Schlenkerla Smoke Beer. (Try saying that after 3 pints!!) Yes I hear you, what is smoked beer and why?? The beer is made with malt that has been exposed to the smoke of burning beech-wood logs. The smoke is intense and aromatic, and imparts a distinctive flavour to the beer. We didn’t try it, but our guide assures us that after 3 pints it tastes pretty good!

After the tour we walked around the old part of town, through the main plaza where there were lots of street stalls selling fruit and vegetables, flowers and assorted goods. It was a great area for people watching. While we were we had a bratwurst roll and relaxed.

At 1pm we were told that we had just left the Danube – Main canal, and that we were now on the Main River (that’s pronounced Mine River).

At 2pm there was lecture on the history of the European Union, which was enlightening, but I had heard most of it before.

At 3:20pm, went for a chefs tour of the galley, it’s a good size kitchen that works about 18 hrs a day.

The rest of the afternoon has been very relaxing looking out at the world go by as we cruise down the Main River towards our next destination, Wurzburg

Comments:

18 May 2009                       McDonalds         You didn’t try the “Smoked” beer!

Hello to you both,

Can’t believe you didn’t try the smoke beer!!!!! You are representing us Aussies and you let an opportunity to have beer pass!!! 😛

Glad to hear you got a bit of a relaxing day!

Lots of Luv,

Ben, Sarah, Dante & Tessa

Tuesday 19 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Wurzberg and Rothenburg Germany

We woke at 6am this morning and opened the curtain to find ourselves looking out onto one of those picturesque quintessential European river views. You know the one with the church spires and a castle in it, framed by a mirrored surfaced river in the foreground and deep blue skies in the back.

After enjoying the view from bed for some time, we headed off to breakfast where the chatter around the tables was of the view that we, on the port side, (funny how we got to be on the Port side )saw when we woke.

After breakfast we boarded the buses for a short run into Wurzburg and the UNESCO list Prince Cardinals Residence Palace, a South German Baroque building of huge proportions built between 1720 and 1744. The main entrance hall has the largest single fresco ever painted on its’ ceiling. It is over 60 sq meters and has representations of the four known continents of the time. The palace is a wonder of the art and style of the time. With large amounts of stucco “sculpture” on its’ ceiling and walls, huge tapestries in most rooms and many fine pieces of art. We then went into the palace’s Chapel, that is still used as an active church today, and is a favourite choice of the locals for weddings. It was very ornate in the Baroque style, with lots of gold and every square cm decorated.

Our guide quipped, that it is called Baroque style, because thats what the owners were once all the building was complete, Broke!!!

We then stepped out into the gardens. They were a reflection of the stature of the Prince Cardinal’s power, the garden was sculpted so that every plant and design in it was manipulated to the Prince Bishops wish. Showing he had complete control over everything, even the shape into which trees and plants grew!! This guy had a little ego problem I think!

We then walked down into the older part of town and into the Dom (otherwise known as the Wurzburg Cathedral, all Cathedrals in Germany are called a Dom). It was comparatively very simple inside, with a modern stained glass window behind the alter.

We then walked around town taking in the feel and sense of it. We walked through a market place, not much going on there, peeked into the town hall building, where they had a historic display about the devastation of WWII on the town. We saw the local “Rat Haus” and “Rat Keller”, which made me smile.

We then walked over an old stone bridge across the river, just because we could. The bridge had sculptures of saints and local old world celebrities on it. There was one of a Pat Franconia, the local region is known as Franconia, so I had to take a pic of it.

We then walked back along the river to our ship/boat? Along the way we watched as workers tendered the vines on a steep slope below the old Castle and took in all the magical views of the town. We mused together at the sights and experiences we were having, and how lucky we were.

After lunch we were back on the bus and heading to Rothenburg, which the information notes we are given describes it as being “known all over the world as The Imperial City.” (I must have wagged that class!) We did a guided walking tour around the town, all the main sights were pointed out and some interesting historical information was given.

It is one of the most visited towns in Germany. It is a medieval wall town dating back to 13th century and the middle ages. You instantly get the “Olde Worlde” charm of this town when you walk through one of its’ many gates and onto the cobblestoned narrow streets, past the many old building , with styles ranging from Gothic to Tudor and Renaissance. After our guided walking tour led by our “Mary Poppins” wanna-be guide (completely dressed in Orange with an umbrella to suit), After the tour we set out by ourselves and found ourselves going out through one of the northern gates and we stumbled upon a post office. So we took the opportunity and bought some postcards for the young ones in the family and posted them off. From there we went back into town, and just for something different we went to a couple of churches. They were very plain by the Baroque standards we had become used to, but simple is good. We went into the St Jacobs and the Franiscan Lutheran Church. In St Jacobs was a carved wooded alter by Tilman Riemenenschneider. It took a bit of finding, as it was hidden away at the back of the church up a flight of stairs behind the organ. It was a very impressive intricately carved piece.

We continued strolling around, eventually stopping at the “famous” and definitely HUGE Christmas shop. Deb said she felt like a 3 year old, it was a magical shop with all the lights and fantasy of Christmas. We bought a few things and then roamed a while before settling in the main square for an afternoon snack while we waited for our group to meet up again. We got back to the bus at about 4:50pm and to the boat about 5:50pm.

For the night we were entertained by the ships crew. It was a very funny show that they put on, with a range of things from “Magic” to stand-up. It was very funny and enjoyable.

I had better tidy up the matter of the smoked beer raised by Ben. Now lets look at it this way. It’s 10am, you have just been told about this magic elixir, albeit a strange brew of dubious flavour, and you have also been told it tastes good(maybe) after THREE pints, and there is a day of exploring strange new lands in front of you. Yep, sorry folks I must have had a moment of insanity to miss the opportunity to have enough (or any)of this brew to truly enjoy it. I will put it on our list of MUST do things when we come back.

Wednesday 20 May 2009   Avalon Imagery –  Miltenberg Germany

Today started very slowly, we haven’t got any thing ashore planned until this afternoon, so we got up a little late, 7:30, and had a lazy breakfast.

For the morning amusement of the passengers, Jeannette, our cruise director, has organised 10 socks to be hung out in the foyer of the boat with mystery items in them. The idea is for you to guess what they are, you can do basically anything , except open the socks up, to try and determine what items from onboard the boat are in the socks. We think we have done fairly well, maybe 8+ out of 10. But we will see to tonight and let you know at the end of this blog.

We arrived in Miltenberg at 11:30am, around an hour ahead of schedule due to us getting green lights at almost every lock we came up to since yesterday afternoon.

We decided that rather than head out straight away, we would have lunch at 12 and then not wait for the guided walking tour at 1:30pm. Instead we headed out with our orientation sheet and map in hand to discover this small village by ourselves.

Miltenberg is a pretty little medieval town with most houses being half stone and half timber construction. The town is very well preserved with cobblestone roads although-out and narrow streets. It also has the oldest inn in Germany, the Gashaus zum Riesen.

Our walk started at the downsteam end of town and we took the first road right to get onto Hauptstrasse, the main street of town. Not to be confused with Mainstrasse, which is not the Main Strasse (I mean street) but instead the street by the Main, river that is, which is pronounced “Mine”, as per our earlier blog!!!!

We walked the full length of the main Strasse just taking in the feel of the village. Only calling into the Franziskanerkloster (Franciscan Monastery) on the way. It was again a fairly plain church, very much in keeping with the middle ages feel of the village. One thing we noted was that the people of this village must be bad!! There are less than 10,000 people in the village and this church had 16 confessionals. Now that’s a whole lot of sinning going on!!!

When we got to the end we found an old gate and tower from the original wall of the city (The Wuerzburger Gate(1379) and the Zuckmantel tower(1351)). Its great to keep running into these sorts of things, it really brings home the age and history of the towns/villages and the struggles they have all been through.

We then retraced our steps back into town and had a closer look at a few of the older historical buildings like the town Hall, the Alte Domkellerie,back past the Gashaus zum Riesen (that took some doing not calling in there!!) past the Scaffelbrunnen(which you all undoubtedly know more commonly as the Towns renaissance fountain), past the Altes Rathaus(the old town hall, I like how the town halls are called Rat Haus!!), and finally up the hill to the St Johanneskirche Church on the hill. Again this was a very plain church (read medieval) which was nice and peaceful, away from all the tourists. We then walked across the hill past an old Jewish cemetery, up to the Middenburg Castle, which dates back to 1230. It was a fortress for the church representatives of the Mainz area. (This was a beautiful walk, there was a park on one side and views of the old town on the other – I really enjoyed this walk there was no-one around it was peaceful and beautiful)

We then walked down from the castle, past the shops (nearly!!) and up to the Gashaus zum Riesen. Yes Ben, I wasn’t going to let the team down here!!! We found ourselves a table in the shade outside and I ordered a large beer (80cl) and Deb had an OJ. The beer looked all nice and cloudy like a fine Coopers pale, but it was there that the resemblance stopped. The yeast sediment seemed to accumulate in the glass and the further you got into the beer the more chewy it got. But at least I got through it all OK, and can now say I have a had a local beer at the oldest Inn in Germany, and I don’t have to do it again!!!

We then walked back to the boat, past the Rokokohaus on Markplazt (just looked like an old house to us)and past a few other old things and back to the boat.

Late in the afternoon on the boat they had a cookie cooking demonstration from a local woman. It was more fluff than substance, but a little fun I guess.

We set sail at around 6pm for Rudesheim.

The sock contest thing from this morning, we came joint second with 9/10, we missed called a nutmeg, called it a bean or a nut instead, silly us!!!!

We just added a few more photos enjoy, I am really getting into this river boat thing!! Our tour director said tonight that people were talking to her about when they disembark on Sunday, seems all to close for my liking!! It is such a gentle life.

Lots of love to you all from us xo

Comments:

20 May 2009                       McDonalds         That’s Better

Good Morning to you both!!

Glad to see you have restored our Aussie Image on the otherside of the world Greg!!

I think I can understand your point on the Smoked Beer, after 3 pints and it only just starting to taste “good” it could have been a pretty tough day!!

Love the updates.

Ben

Thursday 21 May 2009   Avalon Imagery – Ruedesheim, Rhine Gorge and Coblenz

We had a quiet morning cruising down the Main into the Rhine.

We arrived at Ruedesheim around 11:30am and had an early lunch before heading into town.

Ruedesheim claims to have the smallest street in German, barely 3m wide in some places and about 100m long (this is disputed by other towns, as they do! , it has a Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments, a Wine Museum, the Abbey of St Hildegard(way up on a hill) and the Niederwald Monument (a 32 tonne statue commemorating the unification of Germany back in 1871) and a cable car up to it.

The Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments was really interesting. They had everything in there from pianolas to machines you’d expect a monkey to accompany, circus machines, fully animated dolls playing instruments, and even some that played banjos, and one that played piano and had an accompaniment of 6 violins. They were truly amazing.

At the end of this (well during really) I started getting really woozy, like seasick, and decided it was best that I went back to the ship. Our cruise director organised a taxi for us and we got back ok and I spent the best part of the afternoon in bed. (As soon as we got out the taxi, Greg was vomiting, it was not nice!!!!)

Deb filled in her afternoon (in between checking on me J ) by reading my book in the lounge.

We sailed around 4.45pm, before we left the cruise director made me recheck with Greg that he did not need a doctor, but he said he didn’t. I wasn’t going to let him get off the boat anyway, seeing we were just about to sail!!!

At around 5pm we entered the Rhine Gorge and I managed to get myself up onto the Sundeck (not much sun, but a great view). It was amazing as we sailed along through this gorge and had castles on the left and right every ½ km or so. Most of them have been restored and converted into Hotels. This stretch of the river is worth doing the whole cruise for. Just simply magical, needless to say we got LOTS of photos (with Deb behind the lens.) We saw the Lorelei, a steep rocky outcrop on the right as you sail downstream. You can’t actually see the real Lorelei statue, but a replica has been put on a point just a little downstream from the outcrop.

After the gorge I went back to our room and we sailed onto Coblenz. We stayed in this port until 3:30am when we left for Cologne.

Deb went for dinner and then had a walk into Coblenz. I took some photos of the confluence of the Moselle & Rhine rivers, the only way I could think to do it so I would remember what it was was to take a self portrait!! Not a very good photo, but it did the job! I enjoyed what I saw, and the sun was setting and the sky was a pretty colour, I enjoyed taking photos. I also put my hand in the Moselle River, so have to do the Rhine now. It was fun getting back to the boat, I had to go through 3 other ships that we were parked next to, the first boat would not let us use their lobby, so I had to go up and down to get back to our boat, I was impressed I made it without getting lost!!

When she got back she all these photos to show me of what was out there so we could at least share a little of what she had seen. What a woman J !!!!!

No need to worry Greg is feeling much better today, we are going out to explore Cologne in a minute, more on that later. Hope you all enjoy your weekend, love from us xo

Comments:

22 May 2009                       CAKEE   Hope you’re feeling better.

Haven’t caught the Rhine flu have you??….sorry bad joke.

Hope very much that you are feeling better Greg. Not much fun being sick on holidays.

It is getting very interesting reading your blog posts! I have to read it a couple of times to pick out who is talking. Thankfully two of you are writing it and its not just one very warped mind!

The weather here is lovely we had a very glorious day today. Raining really heavily in QLD though.

Aiko says a very happy hello, although she said to tell you that Kieran won the couch wars.

Love

C

Friday 22 May 2009   Avalon Imagery –  Cologne Germany

Carly, thankyou for your kind message. Rather than “Rhine Flu”, I think it was a case of”ConFLUence”, but I quickly got better the further we got away from those disturbed waters.

We woke this morning to find ourselves still on our way to Cologne. (it was lovely lying in bed with the curtains open watching the world sail by!) We arrived at around 9am, just after we had finished breakfast. Our walking tour started at 9:45, so we walked down to the meeting point on the Rhine, just under the bridge into cologne, a 15 min walk.

We got together with our group and set off. The guide took us up to the Cologne Cathedral, the 2nd largest (by her account) in the world. A quick google of the subject raises a few issues with her claim, but I guess every town and village we have been to on the cruise has had some claim to fame of being the biggest or next to biggest, or first or oldest something in Germany, Europe or the world!!!

As with many, or most other parts of Europe, every time someone puts a spade into the ground they dig up something old (and worth preserving or putting in a museum) so much so that these days no one ever claims to find anything, because it invariably costs them much money.

Back to the Dom (Cathedral), it claims to have “The Golden Shrine of the Magi” (Magi = Wisemen), the Gero Cross and it does have many remarkable medieval stained glass windows. The Dom was one of the few buildings in Cologne to survive WWII relatively intact. It is a massive Gothic building with some really good gargoyles hanging off it. We went into it at midday, but there was a service going on, so we couldn’t get a good look around, but it was a very nice church.

We walked on with the tour , down to the old Town Hall. When we got there, there appeared to be 3 weddings just finished. Two were “normal” and the third, it appeared to be a cross between a service for Viking Warriors, Celtic Farmers and Scottish Highlanders. You will have to wait for the pics, they are amazing. Next to the old town hall were a couple of archaeological digs. They had unearthed an old Jewish Synagogue and a Roman ruin all intertwined together.

We walked more through the old parts of town getting a bit more history and folklore before the guide started to head back to the Dom to finish, so we left the tour there and headed off to the Chocolate Museum!!!

When we got there Deb ( well both of us really) decided we really didn’t need to go into a chocolate museum, so we took a short cut and went straight to the shop!!!! Yes I know, Deb found another chocolate shop!!! After getting a supply, supposedly to last through to Morocco, we left and headed back to the boat , via the Dom, as I said before.

After lunch we lazed around a bit and at 3:45 went up for afternoon tea (and cake) and waited for a planned afternoon concert.

The concert was by a Group called “la Strada”, two violins and a guitar. They were great, really talented musicians. They played a mix of classical and gypsy music, and played it very well with lots of feeling and flair. We ended up buying two CD’s from them, a memento of our cruise.

Tonight we have “The Captains Dinner”, so we are sprucing ourselves up ready for it. And it was a great night.

Happy birthday Georgiana, we’ll have a cheers to you in Amsterdam. Have a wonderful day.

Our last day today on the cruise, it is a bit sad, I dont remember being this relaxed, must be good for you! It will be nice to have to engage my brain again though – hope it works!!

Love to you all xo

Saturday 23 May 2009   Avalon Imagery –  Amsterdam Netherlands

We woke and watched the world go by for the last time on this cruise. Unfortunately, the world from our window this morning was more industrial than we had seen to date on the cruise, and there wasn’t a church or castle to be seen!!

We arrived in Amsterdam around 9:30am as per schedule. After a short docking time we were all off and onto a bus to be taken to a wharf to get a canal boat ride for a tour around Amsterdam by water.

The tour was great. It’s a fantastic way to see this city. I can see why it has got the title of the Venice of the north. The city’s waterways reminded me of both Venice, and the canals around Oxford. The combination of narrow canals with houses and roads, combined with the numerous small lift bridges (to allow the passage of boats) was very refreshing, and so different to what we have been looking at for the last 2 weeks.

We cruised past the Anne Frank House and the queue to get into it (The queue was a block and a half long at 11am!! We even cruised past the Hotel we are going to stay in from tomorrow!! It looked good and in a great location.

After the cruise we went back to the boat for our last lunch on board and then set out again for our last tour, Volendam, a small “fishing village” north of Amsterdam.

On the way we called into an old, about 400 year old, Windmill. It was amazing. The whole mechanism that drives it is made of wood. The only thing not wood is the main axle the blades hang off, and that was changed from wood back in the late 1800’s. They can pump enormous amounts of water out of the low lying areas

The main attraction in Volendam seems to be its quaint housing and even quainter locals who dress up in traditional clothes to please tourists!! The days of being a thriving fishing village are long gone, with only a very small fleet there now. While we were there we tried a local delicacy, smoked eel. It was Ok, not as good as Tom’s smoked fish, but acceptable. We also made it into another church, St Vincent’s. It was a very plain church, both in design and fit out. But being a just a local village church it was never meant to be anything else. Even so, it had a good feel to it, peaceful away from everything. We lit 2 candles for everyone and then went back to the bus, and back to the boat.

We both hope Georgie has had a fantastic day and been totally spoilt! (How’d you do in that department John??)

Thanks for the messages and emails, we love to hear from you.

Good to see the crows finally won a game, pity I didn’t pick them. (I think I did though!)

That’s about it for the day, take care, Us xox

Comments:

23 May 2009                       Georgiana           Hello.

Thanks for all the birthday greetings. They made my day. I love it when birthday celebrations go on for days. Today I met with Lisa, Rich, Ben, Jacob and Emily for lunch. Monday I am going to Erica’s for a barbecue and then on Tuesday will meet with Katie for lunch. Unfortunately, John, who is guardian for his sister, had to go to St. Cloud because she was hospitalized so we will have to celebrate when he gets back. He did gather his siblings together to sing Happy Birthday to me much like we did for Emily when in Australia.

The cherry and apple blossoms just hit their peak here last week. Reminded me of New York which I can’t believe was over a month ago.

I am loving your blogs.

Georgiana

Sunday 24 May 2009   Amsterdam “sans boat”

A funny sort of morning, the idea was to be up around 6:45 – 7:00 and head off to breakfast then finish packing. Well we picked a good morning to sleep in!!! I woke at 7:15, the latest yet on the whole trip, and woke Deb. We showered and dressed in record time and were done with breakfast by 8:15. It is a beautiful bright sunny day.

We returned to our room finished packing and had our bags out by 8:30, and then retired to the lounge to await our taxi, booked for 10am. While we were waiting we jumped on the net and did a little last minute research on the city. Our plan is to drop our bags at our hotel and head off to do a 3hr walking tour of the city that starts at 11:15 in Dam Square.

Our taxi arrived 30mins late and that put the walking tour in doubt. We got to the hotel at about 10:50, checked in, left our bags at reception and walked down the road and got a tram up to Dam Square. Yes, we were free in a city for less than 30 mins and we were already using public transport, who would ever have guessed!!!!

We met up with the “Sandemans” tour guides and were off on the tour by 11:25. The tour started off with a walk to the Old Church (I will not use the name names here, it’s way too confusing and very hard on the spelling, and the Red Light area. We saw a few of the window “girls” and heard some interesting tales of how the district got started and a bit about the liberal laws here. The oldest “girl” working in town is 73 years old!!!! And apparently you have to make an appointment to see her!! During the walk we passsed many “Cafes”. In Amsterdam there are about 700 cafes that sell Hemp relate drugs, in small quantities(5g), to be smoked on the premises. We even saw stores where you could buy seeds and grow your own. It was quite strange to see people rolling joints at tables and in the cafes. I did note that there were a lot of very relaxed people floating around town, and the nearby food shops were doing a good business. We then walked down to the old Jewish Quarter, onto the Begijnhof Convent, the Royal Palace, we crossed the widest bridge in Amsterdam, saw the narrowest house in the city and many other sights. It’s a very interesting city. We finished the tour at a cafe across the canal from the Anne Frank House and museum. When we got into the cafe we found a table of 6 from our river cruise, and we had passed another couple just metres from the cafe!!!!

We had lunch in the cafe. We both had the must have, apparently, Dutch cuisine called Kroketten (Crumbed, deep fried, meat filled croquettes served on bread slices with mustard). Tick, while tasty, we don’t need to have this again!!! Lol Before we left we booked a tour of the Red Light District for tonight. It should be interesting.

We then walked back to our hotel, 25 mins away. It was nice to be able to get out and walk at our own pace again, and without a big group. Our hotel is a converted old merchant’s house and our room is on the first floor overlooking the Reguliersgracht Canal and a bridge.

In the afternoon we unpacked a bit and settled into our room. We got our bearings and saw about the restaurants in the area and the location of supermarkets, laundrette and things close by. We have a nice Indonesian (yum!!!), Italian AND Fish restaurants near us. When I enquired about good “Dutch” Restaurants, the front desk guy said he couldn’t recommend any (And I got the impression that statement covered the city!!!). (I read in the lonely planet guide that Dutch food is more about filling the stomach that titillating the taste buds!)

For dinner we went into town up near the train station to an Indonesian restaurant our guide from this morning suggested. Bunga Mawar, is a very small restaurant hidden away on Zeedijk Straat. It was delicious, we had a samoda each followed by Satay Chicken (with what Deb rated as the best peanut sauce she has ever had, even better than mine!!!) and a Rendang Daging, with rice and stir fired veg ( and a small bowl of sabal for me J ). (Greg told me the Rendang wouldn’t be hot, mmm he must have meant by his standards!! But it was edible and the meat was really tasty and tender as well as hot!!) The meal was great and after it we walked back up to the visitors information booth to meet up with our tour for the night, The Red Light District Tour with Sandeman’s.

The tour was pretty interesting, covering the history of prostitution in Amsterdam and the changes that are being implemented now. We strolled the streets, looking into the various windows, with girls of varying ages, race, size and looks, and in the “Blue Light “ lane the “girls” had a few extra bits just to surprise you! It was interesting watching the way the windows worked and all the colour of the streets. The tour finished at about 8:30,and we were taken to a bar for shots of Jager….. (whatever it is). Deb gave me hers. A few of the younger members of the tour showed me how it was done. When I did the shot with no trouble they were impressed that an old guy could do a shot!!! If only they knew!!! LOL Since it doesn’t get dark here until after 9pm , we decided to walk around a bit and see how this looked when the lights took hold a bit and more windows opened for business. It was all good fun and the streets were lively and full of laughs. The City council is closing down half of the remaining windows on June 1 this year, so it will change the look and feel of the area dramatically.

We eventually got a tram back to the hotel and ended an interesting first day in Amsterdam by ourselves. It reminds us both of Venice and New York. Strange mix but true, Venice for the canals and the buildings in the older parts of New York, especially the area where we stayed.

(I (mum here Carly!!) really enjoyed the day, was so nice to be on our own again and eat different food, our room is nice and it overlooks a lovely canal, what a great place Amsterdam is and it was never on our list of places to visit, really glad our river cruise ended here. I am very much looking forward to the next 3 days exploring this great city – hopefully go to Anne Frank’s house tomorrow)

Really glad to hear you enjoyed your birthday Georgiana. Hope John’s sister is ok and that you continue to enjoy your celebrations when John gets back home.

It is late, I am rather tired, so will post this now. Hope you all have a great week.

Love from us xo

Monday 25 May 2009   Amsterdam

We are glad to hear that Ben, Sarah, Dante and Tessa are all OK after the very early morning fire in the “house” next door to them last night. A bit scary but it sounds like they are all OK, which was great to hear!!! (We are also pleased to know that there was no-one in the house at the time)

Now for our day, .

Breakfast was delivered to our room at 8am and we slowly got our day going. (was very nice Carly all on this lovely china )

We walked down to the Rijksmuseum and arrived there about 9:45am. Only about 2 floors of the museum are open due to major renovations being carried out. But even allowing for that it took us the best part of 2 hours to go through the museum. I think it is the longest we have ever spent in a museum. The art works were totally absorbing. We stood and read about almost every piece we looked at and studied many of them very closely. I think the second floor was the best, it had all the old Dutch masters works, particularly Rembrandt. It is very hard to go past The Night Watch, but there were so many others that were equally as wondrous, including a special exhibition of works by Vermeer, including The Kitchen maid, Woman Holding a Balance and Woman Reading a Letter. There was only a small area of garden outside to see, but you could imagine how the gardens in full might look and how peaceful and manicured they would be.

We then strolled down to the Van Gogh Museum. They had a special exhibition called “The Colours of the Night”. It featured the work “Starry Night”, and works representing his whole life. It was interesting to note that he didn’t develop his own distinctive style until about 4 years before his death. His art was amazing and throughout his life he sent letters to his younger brother about the works he was working on, or had planned, and described what his thought process was. It was a real insight into the life and times of a, sometimes very disturbed but, brilliant artist. I guess we spent another 2 hrs or so in there, time flew by, it’s just so interesting.

We had a late lunch there and then walked over to Vondelpark. It is Amsterdams version of Central Park in New York, it nearly gets there but just doesn’t match it. The park was full of locals of all ages enjoying the sunshine on the grass, in the gardens or around one of the many ponds. We took a little time out and just took in all the sights for a while. Nice and relaxing.

We then set off and walked up to the Jordaan district. It is a well to do area with lots of quirky shops and cafes. Jordaan is a place of real colour and fun to walk around. As we approached the Westerkerk we realised that we would be exploring that part of town tomorrow, so we decided to head back to our hotel.

Once back, I went back out and found some stamps to post our postcards to D +T and E +E, a supermarket to get some Muesli and the local laundrette to find out the opening hours (yeah, we can wash on Thursday morning before we have to head off to the airport).

At about 5:45pm we set out to find somewhere for dinner. We first tried a couple of restaurants recommended to us by our hotel, the first, Italian, was closed Mondays, and the second, seafood, didn’t do it for us. But the walk was worth it. We walked up through and around the Rembrandtpleis, a large plaza area, that is very cosmopolitan and so alive with young people. It is full of recycled clothing shops, “smoke” cafes, bars and various eateries. We both thought that all our children would love it.

We finally decided to try the Indonesian recommended to us. It was the best Indonesian I have had since living there! (Deb still rated the satay last night as better). The waiter, probably the owner, was Indonesian and had a great sense of humour. We had a “Rice Plate”, which consisted of a bowl of white rice and a bowl of yellow rice, and then we got 18 very small bowls of different dishes. There were 6 mild, 6 medium and 6 spicy. (And I ordered a bowl of sambal to go with it all, just to ensure I had my fill of chilli too!! ) . Before all that came out we were given 4 small appetiser dishes to whet our palates. It sounds a lot, and it was, but it was all so good. Deb stopped at the medium dishes (the medium were a little bit too hot for me, I just couldn’t do the hot ones , I am sure that suited Greg though!!), so I got to have all the spicy ones, which suited me. So yummy!!!! The waiter was impressed with all the hot stuff being gone when he came back to clear the table.

After dinner we walked back around our neighbourhood a bit and then back to the hotel for the night and a well deserved rest.

That’s all for another busy day, our love to you all, xox

(Carly here is my bit here, so you don’t have to reread our blog!! J We got up too late to go to Anne Frank Museum, so we will have an earlier night and do that tomorrow. We were pleased at both the Museums we went to today there was very little queuing and not too many people inside, we really enjoyed them both, I think the memory of them will stay with me forever – well at least until I start forgetting everything!

Some observations – Dutch people are generally very tall many even taller than Kieran and Ben!! Women too! They are evidently the tallest white nation. They are also generally slender, must be all that bike riding, they go crazy fast on their bikes and you are expected to get out of their way. They do not wear helmets and it is common to see bikes with an adult and a child/ren. We have not seen any accidents yet which is surprising with how fast they go.

There are a lot of smokers here and the smell of marijuana often fills the air.

Like the rest of Europe they don’t have rubbish bins, remember back in the 70’s when we used to put out our rubbish in garbage bags, they do that here too, there are mountains of rubbish on the side walk. It feels like visual polution. There is often the smell of urine on the streets too, like in Paris, but not quite so bad. Here they have metal deflectors in the corners of buildings to try to deter people as they cause splashback!! It seems so odd, as Europe is such a cultural place.

Anyhow, I love it here, really glad we came, an unexpected delight!)

Tuesday 26 May 2009   Amsterdam

Our 8am breakfast arrived at 8:20, oh well it’s raining anyway. We left for the Anne Frank Museum at 8:40am. Our intention was to get a tram there, but we were told by a British woman at the tram stop that it was only a 20min walk, so that’s what we did, even after questioning the decision ourselves due to the rain!!

Anyway, we got there soon enough and dry to boot. On the way we ran into 4 people off the cruise and they said the museum was closed due to someone important visiting it, and that it wouldn’t open until around lunch. We decided to go and find out for ourselves, it was only 5 mins away anyway. When we asked about it, we were told the President of Chile was visiting it and it should all be open by 10am. So we waited and they took the barriers down about 9:45 and we were a few from the front of the queue. The museum opened at 10am and we were in by 10:10am.

The museum is very well laid out and done very well. I was surprised at how big the rooms were, but I guess if there are 8 of you confined to a small space for two years, even big looking rooms get very small, very quickly!!!! The museum brings home the tragedy of WWII and the plight of the Jews through a very personal story, something that does, whether you like it not, get very distorted when taken on the magnitude in which it all actually happened. It’s a place everyone who gets the chance should visit, and a story everyone should read and never forget. (I was pleased we finally made it here, it was the one thing I really wanted to do here)

From the house we went to the Westerkerk, the bells of which painted a picture of the outside world, she couldn’t have, for Anne. When we arrived the church was closed, but the tower was open, so we climbed the tower. It is the tallest tower in Amsterdam, and the views from the walk way are impressive, and would have been even better except for the rain! The church and tower were built 1489, the tower stands at a height of 85m. The church has great significance for the Dutch, it is the scene of the weddings for all the royal family. The tower also has a Carillion, (A set of tuned bells in a tower, played from a keyboard) which is played every Tuesday at noon. Unfortunately that is the plan, but the carillionist doesn’t always turn up, and today was one of those days. We did however see the bells when we climbed the tower.

After we got down from the tower the church was open. It is a very plain church, no frills. But it has a certain reverence to it. High vaulted ceilings and a floor completely made up of tombstones. Rembrandt was buried here for some time. As usual, we lit candles while we were there. We waited until 12:20, but with the carillion not playing we set off into town to the Oude Kirk.

The Oude Kerk is in the middle of the “Red Light” district, so it’s always an interesting walk there. The Oude Kerk hosts the World Press Photo Journalism Contest prize winners exhibition every year at this time. (For those who are interested and would like a look at the photos, try this link http://www.worldpressphoto.org/ , it will take you to an online version of the exhibition. The exhibition was amazing, so many great photos, but it was a real reality check for us, so many of the prize winning photos depicted the very worst of man’s inhumanity to man, this was particularly poignant after visiting the Anne Frank House! (have a look at the winning photos they go back to 1955)

The Oude Kerk itself, is no longer used as a church, but hosts various exhibitions throughout the year. It still retains all the features of a church. The high frescoed ceilings, tombstone floor, and religious fittings. It’s an interesting place to visit just for its own merit.

After that we walked down to the Flower Markets on the Singel Canal. The stalls were a mix of brilliant blooms and buckets of bulbs. An interesting and very colourful strip.

We then walked back to the hotel and did some research for tomorrow. We plan to go to The Hague and Delft, but more of that tomorrow.

For dinner we went to a small Italian restaurant just up the street from us. It was a very enjoyable meal. We had a window table looking out over a canal to Rembrandt Square and all the street traffic that goes with the area. Our waiter was absolutely charming in a fun “flirty” Italian way.

As I am typing this the clouds have broken up and the sun has come out. It’s 8:30pm and it will not get dark here for another 2 to 3 hours. Its great to see blue sky and we are both looking forward to our train trip out to The Hague and Delft tomorrow.

Take care everyone, we hope the sun is shining on you all. Keep smiling, lots of love from us.xox

Wednesday 27 May 2009   Amsterdam

Breakfast arrived at 8am and we were away by 8:25, a quick walk and tram saw us at Central railway Station by 8:50am. We found somewhere to buy our tickets to Delft, got them on special, first class tickets for the price of 2^nd class.

The train left at 9:11, on time, and we were in The Hague by 10:15am. We walked straight to the Tourist Info centre and got a map and the location of the main things to see. Firstly, we walked off to have a look at the Dutch Parliament House, a very old looking building with lots of style and character, then we walked around the back of it to The Mauritshuis. This museum houses a collection of the Great Dutch Masters of the Golden Era, such artists as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck and Potter are displayed here. The main draw card for the museum is Vermeer’s “The Girl with Pearl Earring”, but we took more time that is normal for us in this museum, the Dutch Masters are very special painters.

From there we set out to go and have a look at the Noordeinde Palace and its’ gardens, but somehow we must have taken a wrong turn and finished up in front of the Esher Museum. This is an amazing place to experience the works of a great artist and pioneer of many fields of dimensional geometry. His works are fascinating to say the least and the physical displays of the applications of his work were lots of fun. Displays here have fun with the idea of visual perception of geometric perspective and illusion. It’s a must visit for those with an Esher bent, and for all the inquisitive minds out there.

From here we did manage to find the Noordeinde Palace and its’ gardens. The palace was shut to visitors, and the gardens could have done with a bit of TLC.

Next was a walk up past the Royal Stables, (and by the smell of them they still keep horses there!!) to the Panorama Mesdag. Initially this is an ordinary sort of museum/gallery. It had the usual period paintings by a variety of artists, a special display of black and white photography from the late 1950’s was very interesting. The big surprise however was the Panorama. It is housed in a purpose built room that is about 35m diameter and 15m high. Around the walls there is a single continuous painting covering a 360 degree view of life in a small village, Scheveningen, back in 1881. It shows the coast and the various uses of the ocean and beach, from fishing to army patrols and general beach goers, it then goes into the dunes and shows Hotels and other building and keeps going around into the village, at every stage, and progressively, you see everything that was going on in a single day at the village and its’ surrounds. The foreground, between where you stand in a central rotunda and the canvas on the wall is an artificial beach/sand dune (so you can’t see where the bottom of the painting is) and the top of the painting is hidden by the roof of the rotunda. It makes you perceive the view as really being there. The lighting for all this is provided by a glass roof, so as the time and weather conditions change so does the way the scenes are lit, giving it a further feel of reality. We both enjoyed it very much. A commentary of the scene was given in both Dutch and English, and was accompanied by all the right sound effects, down to the seagulls.

By this time it was getting a bit late, so we made our way back to the train station and finished our visit to The Hague, and began our ride to Delft.

Delft is a small medieval village that is most famous for its Blue and White hand painted china ware. It is all very expensive. After a short 10 minute walk from the train station we found ourselves in town. (We followed advice we had found on the web, and just walked towards the 2 towers on the skyline. These towers turned out to be the towers of the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church, started being built in 1396) and the Oude Kerk (the Old Church, built around 1246). The 75m high tower of the Oude Kerk has a very distinctive lean to it. It has been leaning badly for over 100 years and has survived attempts by the locals to have it pulled down. The town is dotted with old buildings everywhere, some of which you can see how they have had additions made to them over the centuries, using different materials and building styles and techniques. We also visited a museum dedicated to Vermeer, on the site of the house in which he was born (that house no longer exists). Apparently Vermeer never left Delft, and during his lifetime only every completed about 60 works. (Some of the Dutch masters did this many commissioned works in a year). We were lucky with the rain, every time it started we were on our way inside, so we managed to stay dry all day.

At about 4 pm, we got a train from Delft to Amsterdam Central and then a tram back to the hotel, arriving in our room around 5:20pm.

We got all our laundry together, (yes I guess this is our dirty laundry story, LOL) and headed out to the laundrette. Once we had it in the machines (yes 2 machines) we went for a walk around the neighbourhood. As it happens we came across a bridge Deb had written off as us never getting to this trip. The Narrow Bridge, it is said that if you kiss in the centre of the bridge you will be together for life, so we did!!! The bridge and its surrounding area was the scene of a great amount of persecution of the Jews during WWII, and signs with short stories about what happened are posted around the area. We eventually got back to the laundrette and put our freshly clean wet cloths into a drier and then went around the corner to an Indonesian Restaurant for dinner while they dried. 45 mins later we were back, a nice dinner eaten and dry cloths ready for folding and taking back to our room.

We leave for Morocco tomorrow, and now we can pack at our leisure in the morning. We have asked the hotel to book us a taxi for 11:15am (check-out is at 11am).

Morocco may mean we can’t up date our blog as often as we have done so far. But we will be writing the blogs everyday, so when we can get a net connection we will upload all we have done and hopefully some pictures as well.

Take care everyone, us xox

Thursday 28 May 2009   Amsterdam to Casablanca Morocco

Another lazy start to our day, breakfast at 8’ish, and then we finished packing and tidying things up for our travel day to Casablanca.

We were picked up from the hotel around 11:10am and taken to the airport, about a 20 minute cab ride. We checked in Ok and then settled in for the wait for our flight. The flight is due to leave at 2:30pm, but the boarding time was set at 1:20pm, for some unknown reason. Anyway, so we went for a walk, found the gate and the found some comfy chairs, did a little people watching, had lunch and sat. Before no time, it was still an hour before we had to go to the gate for boarding!!!! Eventually we went to the gate and they opened it. When you go through emigration there isn’t any security, all the security is at each airlines gate. Anyway, Deb went through Ok and then I went through and the bells went off. I was taken to one side and was asked to put my arms out and “spread’em”! Well the guy doing the job was very thorough, if he was any more thorough, you might call it a “one night stand”! Eventually he finished with me and just cast me aside!!! He seemed to enjoy his work!!!

We then waited for a while before boarding, and we eventually took of pretty close to on time. Deb had the window seat, me the middle and there was an old Moroccan woman sitting next to me, she was helped onto the plane, and seemed to struggle with everything from the meal to drinks on the flight. She was a sly thing, firstly she tried to get herself put into business class, but the steward wouldn’t do it, then she struggled with various parts of her meal, seeking help from those around her (including me). But when it came to get off the plane (we were afraid we would have to wait until the last passengers had gotten off to get out) she was up like a shot once the plane parked, and had everyone help her get her bag and duty free stuff down. We later saw her in a wheel chair breezing through immigration!!

Anyway we landed in Morocco around 4pm local time after a 3 ½ hour flight (we are now 9 ½ hours behind Adelaide time – we had to put our clocks back 2 hours) , and were out through immigration and customs by 5:45. Our driver met us immediately outside customs and we were taken to our hotel, The Sheraton. It was nearly an hour drive from the airport and the traffic, once we got close to Casablanca, was absolute mayhem. At one set of lights, (and it was a huge intersection) the cars wanting to turn left into a 2 to 3 lane road, had formed up in the middle of the intersection into at least 11 or 12 rows. It looked like the start of a crash/smash’em-up derby, but somehow it all worked and they all managed to get into their lanes without so much as a scratch to any of them!! That set the tone for the rest of the trip into town. This is one city I wouldn’t like to attempt to drive in, give me Rome anyday!!! (mmm I am not so sure about that, Rome was bad…..)

After checking –in, we went for a walk to get some water. You can’t drink the local stuff, or even clean your teeth in it! The water in the room was about $10 for a 600ml bottle, we found a shop and got 2 litres for $2.

For dinner we went to the Moroccan restaurant in the Hotel. We had Steamed Goat and seasonal vegetables. When it came out we were both very surprised, it was huge. I think we got about half a leg!!! It was beautiful!! The waiter showed us, in his very best sign language, that we should use the Cumin and Salt that were in a condiments thing on the table, to sprinkle over the meat. So we did, and it was so succulent and tasty. The vegies were good too. Just as we finished the main, the band started to play. Four guys, 1 on keyboards, 1 on violin and 2 on percussion. They played, you guessed it, Moroccan music, you know the old cliché music you get in any old black and white movie set in the desert. The music was mesmerising, the beat of the drums, the cascading ring of the chime bells and the haunting sound of the violin, it was great just to sit and listen and watch as they played. After a couple of warm-up songs a Belly dancer came in and danced around the room. She was in her mid 20’s (we guessed) and had a real sparkle in her eyes. She was very good (I think, she is the first Belly dancer I have ever seen) and she joyfully interacted with the band. Deb thought she was flirting with the lead drummer, and she was probably right. Away, it was lots of fun and an enjoyable way to introduce ourselves to this country.

On that note, Morocco gives us our Seventh (7^th) Continent together in that last 17 months. We feel so lucky to have been able to complete all seven continents of the globe together, but to do it all in 17 months is a real buzz. In January last year we went to South America(Chile, Argentina and Brazil) and Antarctica, then in July last year we went to Asia (Vietnam and Cambodia), and since April this year we have been to North America (USA), Europe(England, France, Hungry, Austria, Slovakia, Germany and the Netherlands), now we are in Africa ( Morocco). We have often discussed where we each think is the best place we have ever been, but it really is to hard to pick a favourite, they are all so different and the experiences you have so varied that it really isn’t possible to rank one higher than the other, we can always think of some amazing place or thing we experienced in one country that at least equals the one we were thinking of before!! (mmm for me Antarctica was really special, I can’t see that being surpassed!! I have really enjoyed all of the other places we have visited, there hasn’t been one place that in hindsight I would have chosen not to go to. I was just trying to find the words to say what I have just noticed Greg has just said underneath, so when you read the next paragraph that goes ditto for me!! Lol, that happens so often!)

It’s great to be able to do all this while we can enjoy it, and to do it with someone that loves to share in the joys of the adventure in a similar way to yourself is the stuff dreams are made of. (ahh that is really lovely thank you!! Mmm tad soppy!! Lol)

Tomorrow we explore Casablanca by ourselves walking and local taxis seem the go, I’m not sure how the local public transport works, but it looks like it may involve the hailing down of a donkey drawn cart!!! It should be fun anyway, lots of love from us xox

Friday 29 May 2009   Casablanca Morocco

We must be starting to wind down a little, we slept in this morning until about 7:45. After breakfast we went to see the concierge about what there was to do in Casablanca. We asked about the new big Mosque, but because it is Friday (the biggest prayer day in the Muslim week) it was closed to non-muslims for the day. She suggested that we visit the beach, and go for a walk along it, the Medina and an old market (similar to the Medina). We also asked about “Ricks cafe”, she didn’t seem to know exactly where it was and sort of waved her fingers over the map in a general area. (This doesn’t inspire confidence!)

We decided we walk down and have a look in the Medina. It was a short 10 min walk away and when we got there they were in the middle of opening up for the day. So there was a mix of activity from , those just arriving to set up shop and those who were up and ready for business. We didn’t get hassled too much, although one guy followed us for a while wanting us to visit his shop. At one stage an older guy in traditional dress asked us where we were from, when we told him he said “Welcome to Morocco, enjoy the Medina, the casbar!” and beamed a great smile at us. We were delighted at the welcome. After a while we decided to head back to the hotel, but on the way back we decided to explore a bit more. We had seen some older looking areas on the way to the Medina, so we headed off to have a look around them. It was so fascinating, we wandered around for ages. We found a few food and hardware type markets, at one, in the fresh seafood area, they had live tortoises for sale, big oysters, huge squid, and so many fish I hadn’t ever seen before. We roamed around some more, found a shopping mall area, saw a group of taxi drivers arguing amongst themselves and earlier in the day we saw a couple of cars come to grief with each other (no one hurt, and no big argument, which surprised me).

For lunch we went back to the hotel and we each had a tagine. The dish I ordered was the same as one I make at home (Mince meat balls with egg) and Deb has a lamb and dried prune dish. Both were delicious. I will definitely be getting out all our Moroccan cook books when we get home J .

In the afternoon it was a little patchy with rain and we got some more water and read a bit, before meeting up with our tour group.

Our tour group is fairly small, 28 all up plus the tour director (Abdel Kadar). We are probably around the youngest, there are others that look around our age, but most would be 60+ (being generous J ). The group are almost all Australians, exceptions being 4 from NZ and 2 from the USA, which is a bit disappointing again. (looks like the recession is effecting the Amercians!)

The tour starts in earnest tomorrow, apparently we will get a wake-up call at 6:30am and will be leaving on the coach at 8:00am, first up is a tour of Casablanca, then it’s off to Rabat, Meknes and eventually Fes. But more on that tomorrow.

We hope everyone is doing well at home, well done Ben, 19 settlements all by yourself!!!!!!!

Lots of love and hugs us xoxox

Saturday 30 May 2009   Casablanca, Rabat Meknes and Fes Morocco

Today is the start of our tour, an early rise at 6:30am and down for breakfast around 7am. It’s amazing how the breakfast changed from being a hotel guest to being a hotel guest with a tour group! It’s just not quite the same!

We checked out at 8am and were on the bus and moving out at 8:15. We started the day by doing a “panoramic” of the city, a drive by with commentary. We stopped at the great Mosque of Hassan II for about 30 mins. It was long enough for us to have a good look around the outside and the forecourt. It’s a massive building, with a capacity for 25000 worshippers inside and another 15,000 outside. The building was completed in 3 years, with the workers working 24 hours a day 7 days a week. ( It still looks like they are still working on it, but the official line is that it is complete. Everything about it is huge, giant doors and the tallest minaret in Africa at over 200m, and the list goes on, it is the 3^rd largest mosque in the world. It sits on the coast with 2/3 of its structure out over the water. We continued driving around looking at miscellaneous things and we finally got on the highway north, heading for Rabat.

After 2 hours we stopped for drinks and pee stop, Abdel got some paper work done and then we drove onto Rabat.

Once there we drove up to the Kings Palace. We had a short stop for photos out in front of the Palace. During which we were told that it isn’t allowed to take photos of the police and military. (mmm Maybe a bit late??). We then got back in the bus for a short drive up to the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. We were allowed to go inside and take photos here, and encouraged to take photos of the guards standing guard outside and inside the Mausoleum. Inside there was one guard leaning on his spear talking on his mobile, I went to take a picture of him, and he looked me straight in the eye and shook his head, I smiled and laughed and put the camera down, he returned the smile. Next to the Mausoleum was the site of what was going to be a mosque, but the King whose project it was died before it was anywhere near complete, so there is just a tower and large minaret there now. In the square they have placed around 355 roman pillars (from Meknes, they fell down there during an earthquake, so they made use of them here). Each pillar represents a day in the Islamic calendar.

We then hit the road for Meknes. Meknes is a small medieval town that is some 1600 years old. It has a large Medina and the Official Palace of the King. We visited a mosque here, one of only two mosques in Morocco open to “infidels”. It was old but very well looked after. Its walls were a mix of tiled mosaics and carved plaster. Highlights were always made with intricate patterns of wood and ceramic. It was a amazing place to visit. We also went and had a look around the towns square. It was very big, but reasonably quiet, got some nice photos of people here.

We then drove from Meknes to Fez. We went straight to our hotel and were told we were having our highlight dinner tonight, complete with “Band” and Belly dancer.

The meal was delicious. It started with a spicy soup, followed by a pastilla of chicken and almonds, followed by a Chicken and Preserved Lemon Tagine, and finished off with Orange slices with cinnamon, and of course Mint Tea. It was a fun night and we really enjoyed the meal. One of the guys in the band who played a drum looked alot like Freddie Mercury complete with moustache! He had a great smile.

A little about Morocco.

Morocco has a population of around 30 million, 4 million live is Casablanca and about 2 million live in Rabat and about 1.5 million in Fez. It is a Kingdom and a Republic. Rabat is the political capital and Casablanca the economic capital.

Morocco has a history dating back around 3000 years, and in that time they have been conquered by the Romans, the French, the Spanish, the Arabs and others, however, they are the only Muslim state in North Africa not to have been taken over by Turkey!! As a result of this all their mosques have square or rectangular minarets, rather than the more commonly known round minarets of Turkish design or influence.

We have really enjoyed the ever changing landscape in this wondrous country.

We will be able to post another blog for Sunday before we leave Fez, and then our next net access maybe Marrakech! Love to you all ,us xox

Sunday 31 May 2009   Fes Morocco

Our 7am wake up came at 6:30am!!! So we had an extra half hour before we had to leave for our city panorama tour (bus ride around town) and our visit to the Medina. (and someone rang our room by mistake sometime after 11pm last night!! )

We saw lovely blue sky today, not sure if it was because it was Sunday and there were less cars on the road or that most factories were shut, or just the weather, but there was no smog or haze and the sky was a beautiful colour, Moroccan blue!

The bus ride was ok, we drove through the three districts of town, the new or French area, the Old district and the Jewish district (although there is no longer any sizable Jewish population). Our first stop was the Royal palace of Fez. We couldn’t go inside, the Princess was in residence and her husband the King Mohammed VI. We had the opportunity to admire the scale and workmanship of the Front Door to the Palace and were given permission to photograph the 3 guards on duty in front of it. They were from three different arms of the police, one was a Royal Guard in a white uniform, a civil policeman in a blue uniform and an armed services policeman in green. There was a side door some distance from us that we were told was the service entrance and not to photograph it.

We got back on the bus and stopped at a look-out and had a photo opportunity over the medina. It was an amazing sight, I guess it was what I had always considered was quintessentially Morocco. Thousands of off-white building all crowded together within a fortress wall, the stuff movies are made of!! The Medina is over 12oo years old and has retained its current population of about 250,000 for over 20 years. There are no cars or automated transport within the Medina, it is all either by foot or mule/donkey!! (And you have to watch where you step because of that!! ).

We were given a little advice before we entered the Medina. Number one, DO NOT photograph the police in blue uniforms, no explanation, just don’t!! Number two, if you lose our tour group DO NOT attempt to find it, stay put right where you are. The Medina has over 15000 streets and is literally a maze of seemingly identical streets and stalls. It could take days to get out if you got lost, or so the story goes!!!

We entered the Medina and it was not too crowded. At first it looks like any other market in Morocco, but that image is soon dispensed with the first donkey going past loaded to the hilt with goods of various forms and when you pass your first butcher shop. The butchers have all sorts of goodies for sale, from camels feet, steak and other bits, to goat and many other sorts and cuts of meat. There is seafood of almost all description and shops selling fresh chickens (I mean they pluck it for you on the spot fresh). The crafts on sale are pretty well anything you could think of, and most of it seems to be made within the Medina. We visited a tannery, where we were all offered mint to put under our noses to hide/cover the smell. It was fascinating watching the tanners at work, from liming fresh skins to removing the fur/wool, cleaning the skins and the dying and drying them. After that we went to a leather goods shop to see the finished products and be tested by the persistent sales people. We also saw what we have been told is the oldest University in North Africa, it was set-up in the Medina in the 1200’s by a woman and has been running ever since. We were taken to a carpet salesroom, where we were told the many differences and qualities of the various rug/carpets on sale. One rug Deb liked, it was about 3m x 2.5m, and very intricate and colourful was priced at 6800 euro. We also saw a mosque, we couldn’t go in, and our final stop was a weaving factory, where they made cloth and manufactured garments. We finished our visit to the Medina there. On the way out, very near the bus I succumbed and bought a traditional Moroccan garment from a street guy!!

In the afternoon we took an optional tour up to a hillside village where some of the inhabitants live in caves (their houses are part cave and part normal), the cave sections were very cool and stayed at an even temp all year round. We were shown around by an old guy named Mohammed, and we were taken to his house , a cave house, as part of the tour. He had a great sense of humour and made us all feel welcome. The women of the village work making buttons for the traditional dress and the men work in various forms of agriculture. The village was a really interesting insight into the daily lives and living conditions in the outlying villages.

From there we went to a ceramic factory where they make tiles for the mosaics and many other forms of pottery from plates to Tagines, all hand painted. When we arrived there were great billowing clouds of black smoke coming out of the factory. Our guide said this wasn’t air pollution, but just smoke from the Olive Husks they burn to fire the kilns. I think they were mixing a little diesel in with the husks, and it definitely was air pollution!! You should have smelt our clothes when we got back to the hotel. So bad we had to wash them all, and that’s not good when you have to pack everything up for travel the following morning. Anyway, we wouldn’t have missed either visit. We, Deb, bought a small Blue glazed jug from the ceramic place as a memento of Fes, blue is the colour of Fes.

We get to put our clocks forward an hour tonight so we will only be 8 ½ hours behind Adelaide. Not only do we lose an hours sleep but we are getting a wake up call at 6am, we have to have our bags outside our door by 6.30am and on the bus at 7.30am.

And that is pretty much the end of our touring day, tomorrow night we are going by Jeep into the Sahara then by camel to watch the sunset, I am really looking forward to being in the Sahara, so think of us on your first day of winter in the desert!

love to all, us xoxox.

Monday 1 June 2009   Erford Morocco

We left at 7:30 am bound for Erford and a sunset camel ride in the Sahara.

We travelled through the plains south of Fes and gradually climbed into the Atlas Mountains foot hills. As we travelled along we saw many large orchards of citrus and apples. Where ever water touches the ground it seems to sprout greenness. The ground must be very fertile.

As we climbed into the lower Atlas Mountains we began to see Oak and Cedar trees. The cedar trees were imported from Lebanon in the 1500’s and have done very well here in the higher, colder regions. There are monkeys living in these forests. The same monkeys were taken to the Island of Gibraltar by the British, and they have thrived there. As we drove closer to Ifrane, our first stop for the morning ( we seem to stop every 2 hrs ) the climate changed and it got a fair bit cooler. There are 2 or 3 Ski Resorts in the mountains in this area, all set up by the French during their occupation/ colonisation of the country. They looked fairly basic in amenities, but the slopes looked pretty challenging. Along the way we saw many nomadic tribes living in tents in the country side by the road. They roam the plains with their herds of sheep and goats following the grass lands. They live in tents made of a combination of camel hides, canvas and plastic.

Ifrane is a small town centred around its University. It seemed a peaceful place and had a mild climate. At the entrance to the town was a Lion statue carved from rock, it symbolised/memorialised the lions that used to inhabit the area, but were hunted to extinction by the French.

Next we moved into the Middle Atlas Mountains, they have an altitude of approximately 1500m and are an area of very flat rocky plains. There are forests on the surrounding hills but the plains have little or no vegetation or agriculture. There is some sparse grazing by some very hardy nomads and their flocks. The nomadic Sheppard’s don’t always have their own stock, but sometime are employed to look after herds for others. They may get paid a flat rate or by a type of profit sharing where they get a lower flat rate and then a share in the profits for every head of sheep or goat above 50 that they get to market.

We had lunch in a town called Midlet, a fairly insignificant and forgettable town. After lunch we climbed into the High Atlas mountains, they have a maximum height of about 4100m. They are steep rocky mountains and very remarkable appearance. You can see every layer of the strata and every fold and fault in the mountains. They are also known for their fossil content. We have been told that this is one of the richest areas for fossils in the world, the fossils date back to the times of ancient sea some many 100’s of millions of years ago.

We drove through an Oasis town called Errachidia, the town is home to a university and an army base (Tank division). The surrounds of the town was very green due to the availability of water.

Just out of the town we passed along the lake of a dam. It was a large lake and it appeared to be held by at least 4 of 5 dam walls. The water in the lake was an amazing blue colour and made a dramatic foreground against the grey twisted geology of the mountains surrounding it.

Further along we were driving along a huge fault plain when all of a sudden the land to our right seemed to disappear into a huge river canyon, the canyon was the home to a huge oasis filled full of date palms. It went for many kms and was about 1 to 2 km wide. So lush and fertile. Each palm yields approximately 60kg’s of dates.

We then drove to our hotel in Erford. The rooms are all in small buildings house 4 rooms each, and made of rammed straw and mud/earth. They were reasonably spacious and fairly basic in amenities. We had heard/read that this was the worst of the hotels we stay at, so not too bad at all.

At 6pm we got into a land cruiser and headed off into the desert for our Camel ride to see a Sahara sunset. The drive took about 45mins and was lots of fun (even though it was pretty warm in the car). We went over mild corrugations in the roads/tracks (mild compared to some of the tracks we have done in central Australia) and through the desert sand. We finally stopped on the edge of the desert, next to a resort spa. There we boarded our camel, two to a camel. After throwing our legs over we managed to get on the camel’s back and then came the interesting part, getting comfortable!!! It just doesn’t happen, I quickly came to the conclusion that the saddles aren’t built for the comfort of the riders. Next the camel had to stand, we were asked to lean back and the camel first got onto its front legs , then with a jerking motion stood to full height. After a couple of pictures and waiting for the others to mount their camels, we set off into the dunes. The motion of the camel is undulating, very much like a sea swell, maybe that’s where they get their title of “Ships of the desert”! The motion encourages you to relax and if you can manage that it is a reasonable smooth ride. Just go with the flow. The riding technique seems to be based on trying to keep relaxed and upright, so we were asked to lean back when going downhill, and you automatically try to keep upright going uphill. After about 20 minutes we stopped and dismounted, now this would seem to be an easy process, just do what was done when you got on, but in reverse. Mmmmmm Not quite that easy, it may be all in the reverse order but it all happens at a much faster rate, seems like the camel just wants to get down the quickest way possible. Any way, we achieved the dismount with no problems and took a short walk up to the top of the nearest dune. The view was awesome. Dunes going on for as far as the eye could see and not a human mark on them. As the sun began to set, the shadows of the dunes continuously changed and the colours of the desert with them. The wind picked up a little and the desert grasses swayed and the wind formed “shadows on the sand as it swirled its way through and past the dunes. We sat and just took it all in. The moon was visible above us, a half moon over the desert. As we sat and watched the sunset, our camel guide, a Bedouin , tied Deb’s scarf around her head in a traditional manner. She became ”Deb of the Desert”. At sunset the wind really started to pickup, and we were ushered down off the dunes and back onto our camel for the ride back to the 4WD. We took a route partly in the shadows of the dunes and out of most of the wind. The windblown sand was much worse at ground level than it was up on top of the camels. When we got back to the cars we dismounted like we’d being riding camels for what seemed like years, mmm no, let’s make that minutes !! The Bedouin guide then sat us down next to the camel and tried to get us to buy some fossils. We eventually had to leave, but we left a tip for the guide and camel handler.

The drive back in the 4WD wasn’t quite as exciting as the trip out, but the journey at dusk had its own bumps and slides!!

A little more about Morocco. Morocco has a population of about 30 million, as I have meantioned before. Approximately 50% are <15 years old and approximately 15% are >60 years old. There are 4.5 million children in primary school and about 400thousand in university( they have 15 universities).

We travel to Ouarzazate tomorrow. Lots of love us xox

Tuesday 2 June 2009   Quarzazate Morocco

Today started with a visit to some Bedouins n the desert to show us how they have engineered the water supply to turn desert into a fertile region through the use of irrigation. They literally used a system of vertical shafts to reach the water table , the tunnel between shafts to make a connecting underground tunnel system to divert water to the area they want to farm. The shafts are up to 10m deep and the shafts are about 15m apart, meaning that the tunnels connecting the vertical shafts are 15m long and from 2 to 10m deep. It’s a marvel of engingeering for what were nomadic tribes people. ( I think they may have had a little outside help with it somehow, maybe their goats gave them the good oil on irrigation and hydrology!) All the same , it was an interesting stop.

The region we are travelling through is known for its production of Saffron and it also has silver mines. To produce 1kg of saffron they need to harvest 250,000 flowers. And apparently this has to be done before daylight otherwise insects eat the stamen.

All the villages we pass through appear to be at a natural spring or permanent water locations. The larger the water source the larger the village, and hence the more agriculture.

From there we went to see Morocco’s Grand Canyon, or better known as, The Todra gorge. To get there we passed a fairly large town with a river flowing through it, we saw many women doing their washing in it. The gorge is amazing, it is very narrow (with narrower roads going into it) and has two “resort” hotels in its heart. The walls are very high and are home to thousands of small birds. There is a creek running through it, and the water is pretty cold, we saw some street vendors using it to cool drinks down. After a short stop, we hit the road again and had lunch at a roadside Kasbar. We were served what wethink may have been a Moroccan vegetable soup and then a Tagine of meat balls and egg minus the egg (guess they forgot the egg??).

After lunch we headed for Ouarzazate, the Moroccan Hollywood. Many movies have been made there, Star Wars, The Ten Commandments, Cleopatra, many French films and it goes on. Along our travels almost every village and town in Morocco has a Souk, these are weekly markets where the locals, and some professional Souk people, trade their goods and it’s a real community event. The houses in the villages are mostly made of rock cemented together and they have either flat cement roofs , or more recently straw and dirt roofs. It’s been interesting seeing the locals doing running repairs to the homes, the weather appears to really knock them around.

The landscape in this part of Morocco is very rocky and generally barren. The plains are very flat and as usual appear fertile if you add water. During the days travel we have passed over many creek/river crossings. The waterway beds are all very wide and it looks as though there is lots of water flowing down out of the mountains and various times of the year, and then long dry spells. The closer we get to Ouarzazate the greener the landscape is appearing, it’s not lush green, just a tinge from low lying vegetation. We passed through a town, Kelaat M’gouna, that has made its name on Roses. It produces almost everything you can think of that you can do with Roses, Rose water, soap, creams, rubs, oils, etc.

We arrived at Ouarzazate late in the afternoon and found the power in our room didn’t work, well the power points anyway. After four attempts to fix it we got moved to a suite!!

More on Morocco. We have seen lots of grave yards during the tour , most of them Islamic grave yards. In Islam, cremation is never done and the bodies are always buried facing Mecca. The other grave yards we have seen have been Bedouin, in these grave yards the graves of men are marked with a rock facing sideways and the grave of a woman with a rock facing lengthways. Now I know that is something that has been on everyone’s mind, and I am glad to clear up the difference for you!

Wednesday 3 June 2009   Marrakech Morocco

After we left the hotel we went to see the local Kasbah, a Kasbah is a Fortress Village, that has a protective wall all around it. We had a walk around the inside for a bit, then our local guide took us to a community oven, where the local ladies were cooking the daily bread. It seems that there are a small group of women responsible for the oven, and everyone shares it. In return they are paid either in bread or other produce for the use of the oven. We sampled some freshly cooked bread, it looked a bit like a pita bread, or thin lebanesse bread. It was pretty tasty. We were then taken to the local guides home to see how the Moroccan Mint Tea was made and to sample some (more). We are offered mint tea almost everywhere we go. The tea is basically a green tea infused with fresh mint, and the Moroccans like it sweet, and I mean sweet. They go through around 1kg of sugar each a week, mainly in tea from what we gather. The tea is very refreshing, as long as you get it without sugar.

We then left Ouarzazate for Marrakech. Our trip took us back up into the fringes of the High Atlas Mountains and then down a very, very narrow winding road with many many switch backs down to the plains on which Marrakech sits. The country side on the west of the mountains was much greener continuously than we had seen for some time. The road that we took over the mountains reached a height of 2230m and is subject to blockages in winter due to very thick snow. The roadway up top is lined with markers, the same you see in ski fields, to show the snow ploughs where the road finishes and the big drop starts!

We arrived in Marrakech around 2pm, had lunch and headed out for a city tour in the afternoon. We first went to see the cities highest structure, the minaret of a Mosque in the centre of the old part of the city. This minaret sets the height limit for the city, which means no building can be more than 5 storeys high. From the we went to the Medina our first call was Berber “Pharmacy”, a place of alternative Berber medicine and cooking spices. We were treated to an amusing presentation (amusing for us as we interpreted what the “Pharmacist” was saying in a literal sense from his Moroccan English. We were then taken to the main square of the medina and shown where we had to meet if we wanted to get the bus back to the hotel after our free time in the Medina. We set off by ourselves and started exploring the wonderfully colourful and sensory adventurous medina. We pasted all the snake charmers, men with monkeys, drummers, dancers and food stalls to enter the deeper recesses of the Medina. We had so much fun exploring and looking at the people and the stalls and the general goings on that we both finished up with no idea where we were or how to get back to where we had to meet the bus in about 2 minutes time!!!! I am not sure how, but we got attached to a young boy, probably 13 to 15 y.o. and asked him to help us get back to the main square. He had very little English and we had less French or Arabic. As he led us through a maze of very narrow alleys and quiet streets, but Deb and I though privately to ourselves whether we were being led into a mugging or something. But we shouldn’t have doubt the integrity of our “guide”, he had us back to familiar ground in about 18 mins (I didn’t realise just how lost we really were!!!). I gave him every coin I had in my pocket, probably around 60 Dirham (a bit over $10). He seemed pleased, at no time did he ever ask for any money, I think he just like to help and we had a broken conversation as we walked, it was lots of fun and very rewarding for us as we got back to the bus on time. We have since had lots of laughs about our little adventure.

We have a nice room and comfortable bed, so we both should get a good nights sleep.

Love to all, Us xoxox

Thursday 4 June 2009   Marrakech Morocco

After a good night’s sleep we started the day with a traditional horse and carriage ride. First we were taken to the “famous” Bahia Palace, once described as the 19^th century Alhambra Palace of North Africa, rich in amazing Arabic designs and construction. We were shown through a lot of the Palace, from guest quarters, to the Harem rooms and entertainment areas, where there were areas for sleeping and other areas for NOT sleeping, ;-), we saw the private Mosque and gardens and many other rooms and courtyards. (each concubine had their own room – there were 24 rooms! – it was really nice to be able to go inside and have a look, there are a lot of palaces here but this is the only one we have been able to see inside)

After that we got back into our carriages and went to see the Jacque Majorell Gardens, now owned and supported by a trust set up by Pierre Berge and the late Yves Saint Laurent. They are a very well manicured garden of exotic plants. There is a large collection of succulents, canes and palms throughout the gardens. It also has about 3 or 4 water features , a cafe and a museum of Moroccan Art. Unfortunately for us the museum was shut for renovations. We spent about an hour in the gardens walking and sitting and just taking in the peacefulness of it – (it was very beautiful).

We were then given the option of returning to our hotel, or being taken by our horse and carriage to the Medina (and then find our own way back to the hotel). We chose the Medina. We took the carriage with Harry and Jo ( a couple from Woy Woy), and Linda. We have been told that if you take pictures of anyone, and sometimes anything, you may / will be asked to pay for the privilege, it’s the way these people make their living. We roamed the main areas of the Medina with Harry and Jo, keeping to the main areas , or not very far from them, there was no way we were going to get lost again!! We had a great time with lots of laughs. First Jo went over to some snake charmers and Harry began videoing it. The charmers then (lost their charm and) demanded money for the video. Harry negotiated a price and then after a while had his turn near the snakes. All this time I was happily taking pics, eventually one of the “not so” charmers asked me for money, I gave him some and we walked away. Jo wanted to get a henna “tattoo” so Harry negotiated a price with a fully veiled woman and she sat down and had it applied. We had great fun taking pictures of the whole process. As Harry paid her, she grabbed Deb’s arm and quickly started applying henna to her upper arm, in the form of a flower. She said for free and then demanded payment after she finished. We paid her a bit for it and the set off again. The Henna had to stay undisturbed for an hour. So we set off to look at a few more shops and get some lunch. After a short time we were looking at a menu, alongside another couple when the other couple said they had just had lunch and (he) had a hair cut and a great place down the road. He was very enthusiastic about the place (but wouldn’t take his hat off to show us his hair cut!!), so we walked down to “The Restaurant Cafe Berbere – Cuisine Traditionnelle Marocaine”, and had a look at the menu. We decided to get lunch there. Deb and I shared a chicken tagine, while Harry and Jo had a Chicken Cous Cous each. It was a fabulous genuine Moroccan meal, so tasty and full of flavour, just what we had expected from Morocco.

After lunch we walked back to a prearranged spot to meet up with Linda again, and then we got a Horse and Carriage back to the hotel. Deb has a little Moroccan belly, (our travel drug bag has come in handy, we have all the right stuff to get her better again real soon!! ) so we are having a quiet afternoon in and be ready for the Moroccan fantasia show tonight. (we just watched the second half of Samantha Stosur’s semi final in the French open, it was wonderful to see her make it that far and equally good to be watching the French open in the daytime and not the middle of the night – shame she lost, but great she made it that far – it is the first tele we have watched, but quite a few on our tour have been watching the tennis in the evening. It has been a really great day it equals the day we drove to Erford then went on the camels into the Sahara, we are looking forward to tonight, should be fun. We also posted a postcard to Dante, Tessa, Ella & Ethan, think we might be home before the cards though!! )

At 8pm we left to see a “Moroccan Spectacular” show called Fantasia!! On the way we saw the most beautiful sunset of our entire holiday. The sun was a glowing ball of shimmering red setting behind clouds that reflected its rays. As it got closer to the horizon it looked like a steaming glowing big red ball, the sort of sunset Hollywood movies dream of!!

When we arrived at the Fantasia, we got off the bus and walked into the “Arena” through a guard of Berber horsemen in traditional clothes, complete with rifles. As we got further into the complex there were musicians, dancers, singers, an Arabian dwarf (I could tell that by the turban he was wearing!!) and many many people in traditional dress from all over Morocco.

The meal was served in a “Berber” tent, (a permanent marquee made to look like a Berber tent!). The meal was quite good, consisting of a Moroccan soup, then Lamb Tagine, then Chicken Cous Cous and finished with a platter of fresh fruit. Throughout dinner we had a constant stream of entertainers (we think representing each of the tribal groups of Morocco) come through our tent. They sang, they danced, they played music, they even tried to get some of us up dancing!!! Most of the singers and dancers were teenage girls, and them and the most of the musicians looked bored for the most part of it.

After dinner we were told to take up seats, on concrete steps/seats to watch the show. The show was a celebration of all that is Morocco and its Berber history. There was a camel giving rides to people in the audience, and then Berber horsemen giving us a dramatic display of their talents doing all sorts of riding tricks on Very fast horses, they finished with a series of “Victory Charges” down the arena, firing their rifles as they charged. It was all very spectacular, but could have done with a little work on the flow and staging. Overall it was a fun night and we wouldn’t have missed it.

We got back to the hotel around midnight. We leave for Casablanca at 9am tomorrow. This maybe our last blog post until London. We will put up more pics of Morocco when we get to London.

For all those concerned, Deb is doing much better. The drugs are doing their thing!!!

Hope you all enjoy your long weekend. Go Tom in the Footy tipping.

Love ya all, us xox

Friday 5 June 2009   Casablanca Morocco

Our last day of travel on our tour of Morocco.

This morning was an easy start, we left the hotel in Marrakech at 9am, and were taken to the shop of what was meant to be a high quality leather company that exports to Europe. I guess Europe has Cheap as Chips stores as well!!! We were there for about 30 mins before we hit the road bound for Casablanca.

It was a very uneventful trip to Casablanca, which included a Pit-stop after 2 hours. Rather than go direct to our hotel (check-in times are generally 2pm) we were taken to the “beach” area of Casablanca for a lunch stop. The beach is/looks like grey bush dirt back home. Anyway, the Moroccans and French seem to like it. The beaches all seem to be private areas of the many hotels that line the coast. We had lunch at a cafe overlooking a resort pool and further onto the beaches. We had a walk along the beach and stuck our hands in the water, to touch the waters of the Atlantic on its eastern side!!

After lunch we just walked the shore front for a bit. We saw a sign to China Town, and thought it might be worth a visit, but as we got closer, and had a look down the street the sign was pointing to, all we saw was a Chinese restaurant called “China Town”!!! We walked on past that, a bit disappointed but none the less amused, and saw a cafe called TGI Friday. We thought of all of you enjoying your long weekend!

At 3 pm we drove to the hotel and checked in, we have a room on the 11^th floor overlooking the pool. The only problem is that the pool is in the process of being rebuilt (and has been in that state for about 3 years from what we have heard!). This afternoon we will sort out our luggage for the flight to London and generally relax.

Saturday 6 June 2009   Casablanca Morocco to London UK

It was good not to get a wake-up call this morning. (mind you we had a couple of crank calls at 11pm and 12.30am in the morning!) We finished packing and made our way down for breakfast at about 8am. We had breakfast and a few laughs with some of the people from the tour then went up and got our stuff ready to leave at 10am. We hung around in the lobby for about 45 mins, seems the end of trips like this are spent waiting to leave.

We eventually got a shuttle to the airport and again, had to wait. We arrived at around 10:45, and our flight was due to leave at 1:40pm. The wait didn’t seem that long, we managed to say our good byes to all the people we got along really well with and then our flight left about on time.

We arrived at London Heathrow at about 4:30pm and were through immigration and customs by 5pm. Our transfer was waiting and we had a very interesting ride into London and to our hotel. We went through so many interesting parts of town, Kensington, Earls Court, Sloan St, etc.

Our Hotel is very nice, they asked us as we were checking in whether there was any special occasion that we were celebrating, Deb said yes, her birthday, and we thought nothing more of it. We got welcome drinks, a local beer for me (which seemed to create a stir, I don’t think too many guests here go for local beer!!) and Deb had a soda.

When we got to our room there was a small white chocolate and raspberry cake sitting on the table with a banner in icing proclaiming ”Happy Birthday”. It was a pleasant surprise, so we sat down with our drinks and had birthday cake (we are celebrating Greg’s birthday now too, seeing it is only a bit over a month away!).

After we sorted ourselves out we went out and had a look around the area, looking for a supermarket and somewhere for dinner. Our hotel is directly across the road from “The Royal Mews” ( Her Majesty’s horse stables!!) and literally just down the road from Buck palace, we can see the Union Jack flying over the castle, so Liz must be in.

We found a supermarket, after searching around Victoria Station (reception at the hotel said there was a Sainsbury’s down there) we eventually found it and got a few things and then found a nice looking Pub for tea. We dropped the stuff back at our room and went back to the pub , “The Kings Arms” for tea. I had Fish and Chips, and a pint; Deb still feeling the effects of Morocco just snacked on my meal. It was nice and an easy way to start our London leg of our holiday. After tea we walked up to the front of Buckingham Palace, (no lights on inside, Liz must have gone out for tea, but not to the pub we went to !!) And then we came back to the room, Deb has had a bath, with lots and lots of bubbles , and I have done this blog. (the bath was lovely, there was some great oil to put into it, but what I have enjoyed more it being able to brush my teeth with the local water and not using bottled water!!)

Tomorrow we are going to meet up with Linda and Keiron (Deb’s Cousin and hubby) and do a walking tour in Old Hampstead Village, then we thought maybe the Tate Modern Gallery and a bit more exploring.

We are glad to see Ethan is enjoying being a super-hero . Carly you are going to have to put in a phone box for him, that dolls house just doesn’t do it for him!!! (lol, Greg, you and Ethan crack me up!! I was laughing out loud in Casablanca airport when I saw the photos!! What a boy!)

(It is exciting to be in London, I am looking forward to our adventures here.)

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend, thankyou for all of your messages and emails, we love hearing all your news.

Love to you all, us xoxo

Sunday 7 June 2009   London UK

Our first stay actually in London, I mean actually IN London

We left the hotel around 8:45 and went to Victoria Tube station and sorted out the best tickets for our stay. So we are now Underground ready!!

This morning we met up with Linda and Keiron in Hampstead to do a London Walks tour of the area, and then explore a bit more of London with them. We were both looking forward to catching up with them. We caught the underground to Warren St Station and changed to the line to Hampstead. The walk was very good. It was run by an American who had lived in London for 30 years. He gave us a quick history of the area from a few ice ages ago to present day. He explained why the area is how it is, both geographically and historically, so he put everything in perspective for us.

The walk took us through some beautiful old areas of Hampstead, and to the highest point in Greater London, at about 427 ft. We walked past a very famous, and now national trust residence, “Fenton House”. Deb just had to have a photo out in front of it. We walked through heath lands and wooded areas. There were water ponds with all sorts of birdlife and many historically significant houses, even if it was only for the people that live in them. We stopped out in front of one house and the resident of it came out and gave us a bit of a talk about everything and anything. He was a bit eccentric, name dropped a lot, and was a lot of fun. We finished the walk next to a cemetery in a well preserved Victorian street, and then we went to a local pub, “The Flask” for lunch.

After lunch we got the tube into London Bridge Station, and walked around to the Tate Modern. We passed the Golden Hind, a replica of Sir Francis Drakes boat, passed the replica of Shakespeare Globe Theatre and onto the gallery. The gallery was interesting, but not the best we have been to. Deb found the third statue of The Kiss by Rodin on the top floor of the gallery. That means we have now seen all three statues of The Kiss that Rodin made. One in NY, one in Paris and the third here, J We also saw some Warhol, Pollock, Matisse and Cezanne which we enjoyed, there was also quite a few Picassos.

From the Tate we walked across the Millennium Bridge to St Pauls Cathedral. We got in for free (maybe because it was Sunday?) and were there in time to see/hear a ½ hour organ recital by a “famous” American organist. We got to sit under the dome of the Cathedral to listen to it. The acoustics were magic, the music debatable!! (It is a very beautiful church, glad we got to see it, we lit some more candles for you all )

We then went for coffee before Linda and Keiron had to leave. It was so good to spend some time with them. We always enjoy seeing them and exploring with them. It was sad to see them go.

We then walked to a tube station and got a train to Tower Hill Station, near the Tower of London. We went to a pub for tea and then at 7:30 went on another London Walks walking tour. This one was on “Jack the Ripper”, walking the streets in which he committed his murders and seeing the sites and locations of all things to do with the crimes. The tour was done by a guy named Donald Rumbelow who is a renowned authority on Jack the Ripper , and has written the definitive book on the subject. The tour was very good and he took us back to the times and painted very vivid pictures of the life and times of the period. (We also got to see a bit of the east end of London which we might not otherwise have done)

After that, at around 9:45pm, we got a tube from Liverpool Station (its’ beginning to sound like a Monopoly Board) back to Victoria Station and had a short walk to the hotel to finish a very interesting and fun day out.

Congratulations Pat on your new job (GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technician for Sensis working on the maps for www.whereis.com) we will be thinking of you tomorrow)

We are off for a three hour tour of London this morning, then some sight seeing before heading off to see the Mousetrap tonight.

Love to all, us xox

Monday 8 June 2009   London UK

We got away at about 9:15 this morning with our sights set on doing a walking tour of London with the same company we have done them with in Paris and Amsterdam. But alas, at the designated time and place, there was no-one from the company to be seen anywhere. So we decided to make it up ourselves based on the info from their website. (I just looked up their website, seems that they have changed the time to 3pm since I printed out the info on their tour, mmm next time I will check!! )

We managed to change the route a little to suite ourselves, but we both missed the commentary that is provided on the tours, they give you so much more than just a walk around, you find out about the history and significance of the things and areas you walk by and through.

We started by having a look at a few buildings around the start point, Tower Hill Underground Station. We then walked over the Tower Bridge (we discovered that Tower Bridge is best photographed from afar, its’ dimensions make it hard to get a good close up pic), something we have wanted to do for some time. We then walked along the banks of the Thames to London Bridge (not an impressive bridge at all, modern concrete variety) and back over to the London banks of the river. We then walked to the right and up to “The Monument”. It’s Sir Christopher Wren’s flame-topped monument to the Great Fire of 1666. It’s very tall, but unfortunately, it’s now surrounded by many much taller buildings and is sort of out of the way.

We then walked west to find “Mansion House”, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, but we couldn’t see it anywhere, so we kept on walking up to “The Temple”. Yes, all you conspiracy theorists, this is the site of “The Knights Templar’s Church in London, made famous (or is that Infamous?) by “that” book. You guessed it, it was closed until 12:30, and we had too much to do rather than hang around for it. The church is now in the middle of a major area of “Law Chambers” (it was the most delightful area, really large, well worth wandering around, I have never seen so many law chambers before there are hundreds of them if not more!) and the gardens around it are immaculate. Deb had a wonderful time with the camera taking pics of the flowers . Once I could drag her away from the gardens we stopped at a local pub for lunch, thinking that because of the neighbourhood, the food should be pretty good. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case, which was a bit disappointing. But we survived!!!

We then walked along The Strand and straight past the Roman Baths without seeing them!!!! But we did find Somerset House! The central court was in the early stages of being set up for Fashion Week, so there were a few workmen around setting up staging. The fountain in the centre court was pretty interesting, with hundreds of individual jets of water. We went into the House and had a look over The Thames from the front balcony, looks like a great place for lunch, and they advertise dusk drinks and snacks, which looks and sounds like a good idea, maybe next time. We also had a look at a photographic exhibition in the house, the photos were great, and Deb delighted in pointing out that one was of the gardens in “Fenton House” that we had seen yesterday. (Somerset house – another wonderful place we stumbled across it was lovely just wandering around)

From there we walked up to Covent Garden. It’s a very busy place, full of shoppers and tourists. We watched a couple of buskers for a while, one who was singing Italian Opera pieces to people dining at one of the cafes, and another tied up in chains outside. We had a look through the stalls and the market, but it was the same things you get pretty well anywhere.

We then started walking towards the British Museum, via Charing Cross Road. We walked along many interesting little laneways and alleys before we got to Charing Cross Road, and then turned right to head towards the Museum. Along the way we diverted off to see where the St Martin Theatre was that we are going to tonight to see “Mouse Trap.

We eventually made our way to the museum and spent some time there mainly looking at the Egyptian Exhibits. They have an amazing collection there, everything from bones and Mummies to what looks like complete walls from temples. (So is your ever in Egypt and are looking at a Temple or monument that doesn’t look quite complete, it’s probably a safe bet that the missing bits are in this museum! ). It is an amazing place that you could spend days looking through.

We then walked up to Tottenham Court Underground Station and hopped back on the trains, and with one change, we were back at the hotel in no time. We decided to spend a little time relaxing in the lounge and helped ourselves to a few drinks and snacks while we read the papers and a few magazines.

Tonight we went to see Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” at the St Martin’s Theatre. We left the hotel and got a train to Embankment and then changed to Leicester Square. We got there at about 6:50, picked up our tickets and had a quick bite to eat at a sandwich shop. The St Martin’s Theatre is getting pretty old, we had middle front row seats in the dress circle. The only problem was that there was no leg room at all . The theatre was about a third full at best, and it’s the first (and probably last) time I have ever seen people drinking beers while a play was going on in a Theatre. The play was great. We went in knowing it had been around for 58years (and it holds three Guinness Book world records) and didn’t hold high expectations for it. But we were pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. Of course every knows that the murderer was ………… (it was 10 years ago that you were in London Ben watching it, was thinking of you )

Back at the hotel by 10:30 and looking forward to more exploring tomorrow morning before we set out for Bangkok tomorrow night.

We hope you had an enjoyable first day Pat and look forward to hearing from you .

That’s all for the night, love from us. Xox

Tuesday 9 June 2009   London  UK

We had planned to sleep in a bit this morning, but a fire alarm malfunction at 5:50am saw to it that we were awake much earlier than planned. After taking a while to get going, we succeeded in getting everything packed and were out of the hotel by 8:30 exploring London for the last time this holiday.

There was a very light drizzle this morning. We took the underground to South Kensington, and then followed the underground walkway, for what seemed like miles, to just up near Royal Albert Hall. Due to the early hour, the Hall wasn’t open so we wandered around it and took in all the charm of this (next time we are in London seeing a performance at Albert Hall will definately be on our to do list!) and the other buildings around it. The whole precinct seems devoted to the Arts, especially music. The King and I is currently playing at Albert Hall.

We then walked along through the edge of Kensington Gardens, onto Kensington Road and up to Knightsbridge. A short walk down Brompton road took us to Harrods. It was 9:50am when we arrived at the front doors and found a largish group of people waiting outside, it doesn’t open until 10am, a respectable hour I suppose!! After it opened we walked around inside for a while, sort of glazed over a bit at the opulence of some of the items for sale, and wondering what sort of home/manor/castle you would need to have to make the furnishing look appropriate. We eventually found our way to the food hall. We had always thought that David Jones had a good food hall, they have a lot to learn from Harrods. We bought some “sandwiches” for lunch while we were there. I got a fresh turkey baguette (made with freshly carved turkey, none of this turkey roll thanks!!), and Deb had a Lobster Club sandwich. The lobster was literally falling out of it when you tried to pick it up, yummmmmm.

We then left and got the train back to our hotel, finalised our packing and let them know we had vacated the room and got them to store our bags etc until later.

We then walked up the road to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. There were lots of people there. Deb asked a policeman where the parades came from and where would be a good place to watch it all. He suggested the island in front of the Palace where the statue of Queen Victoria is, it is elevated and you can move around a bit to see everything that’s going on. So that is what we did. It was interesting watching all the formality and ceremony of it all. At the very end of it, a very posh and regal looking car zoomed into the Palace grounds through the left gates. Deb got a couple of pictures of it. I asked a policeman who it was and he said it was the Queen. Deb was very pleased with herself.

We then walked over to Green Park, found a bench and had our lunch, very yummy and a great place to eat it, just over the road from the palace and in a beautiful park.

After lunch we walked over to St James Park, had a look around the lake (hugged a tree ) and then walked over to have a look at Clarence House and St James Palace. Both were very hard to see, high walls all around them. We walked around to the Pall Mall side and had a bit more of a look and then walked to Westminster.

On the way we walked through the parade ground for the Royal Horse Guards, down past the Ministry of defence and Downing St to Big Ben. We walked part the way across the Westminster Bridge and Deb got some great pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and all the other “attractions” of the area.

Finally it was time to go back to the hotel. We got a train from Westminster Station to Victoria station and walked up to the hotel for the last time.

Its’ been lots of fun exploring London, I think we have nearly seen a complete Monopoly Board in real life now!!!! (I love it here, feels like home, I am going to find a cheap way to come and live in London, would love to spend a few months here, and soak up all the culture, well at least a small portion of it).

We checked out and waited in the lounge for our airport transfer, due at 4pm.

Our transfer arrived a little after 4pm and we were soon off to the airport. On the way to the airport I checked my phones, yes plural, the old one with the UK SIM and my Aust phone. I had missed a call from Linda. She left a beautiful message, we messaged Val & Vic and Cliff on the way, just to say bye, it is always great to see everyone, and it’s always so hard to say bye to everyone over here.

We eventually got checked-in, instead of flying Qantas we were, apparently, flying BA, and our seat reservations had gone. We are still up top but not as good seats (I am sure we will cope!!). We are in the BA lounge and I have had a shower to freshen up after the day and before the flight. Our flight leaves at 10pm and we get into Bangkok around 3pm tomorrow, a long flight and worse time zone change. Hopefully we can sleep.

We miiiissssss you tooooo Carly see you soon!! (if we can find you!! )

Bye to all,

Us xox

Wednesday 10 June 2009   Bangkok Thailand

Deb got about 7 hours sleep on the plane, (on an 11 hour flight! pretty good!) I got about 2 good hours and 2 interrupted (thanks to a bumbling woman who kept getting up all night and stepping on me as she got out of and back into her seat!)

We arrived on time at about 3pm Bangkok time. Immigration was a bit of a pain, on the way through they had signs up for people who didn’t have a visa and needed one (after a while we found out this wasn’t us), and everyone had to fill in a health declaration to get through immigration, all due to swine flu apparently (the staff at the airport where nearly all wearing fask masks). After immigration it was all very easy, we got our bags and found our transfer waiting for us. I guess it took about 40 mins to get to our Hotel, the Mandarin Oriental. At check-in we were surprised with an upgrade to an Executive Suite, (I am a very happy girl, wonderful hotel great room) according to a letter that accompanied the wine fruit and flowers in our room, to help up enjoy our 50^th Wedding Anniversary!! (We had told them we were celebrating our wedding anniversary on this trip, a bit of a stretch, but the truth! not sure where they got the 50 from!!). The room is very nice, very spacious and overlooking the river. On the table along with the other goodies we found a small cake under a glass dome, it was an iced fruit cake with “Happy wedding Anniversary” written on it, and with a sugar Elephant sitting on the plate next to it.

Before we went out , we” fessed” up to the duty manager about the mix-up on the anniversary, he apologised profusely. But we said we just didn’t want them thinking we were trying something on. They were embarrassed about it (that would make us at least 70 or 110!!! ).

After we walked around the Hotel a bit we eventually went out for tea. Our first attempt was a bit unsuccessful. I lost the card to the restaurant and the instructions were a little hard to understand. We went back to the Hotel, asked again and set out with better instruction and finally got to our destination, an eatery we were assured served authentic Thai food. Well it could have been any up market type Thai place in Australia to look at, but the food was much better than at home. Deb though the Pud Thai was the best she had ever had.

After dinner we got a taxi to the Patpong Night Bizaar. We arrived there around 9pm. The stalls were filled with all the same sort of cheap junk and t-shirts you find all over asia, which was a bit disappointing. There were many food stalls as well, and they added a bit of variety and flavour to the markets. I was surprised to find that there were some(mmm, nearly lots I guess) “Girly” bars right next to the stalls. But I guess they will be set up in any area where tourists flock to at night. We got bored with it after a short while and got a taxi back to the hotel.

When we got into our room there was a Red Heart made of Carnations on our bed, again with more anniversary wishes, another plate of fruit and another letter from the Assistant Hotel Manager. Gee are we feeling spoilt!!!!! Great job “Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok”, you get our vote!!!

Deb is settling down into a nice deep bath full of bubbles as we wrap up our first day in Thailand.

Three sleeps (if you count an overnight plane flight as a sleep) and we will be home. Both of us are looking forward to it, once we started heading towards home, the end of our holiday seemed to gather pace. We have had such a great time and had so many unbelievable adventures, done and seen so many wondrous things, but its’ always very nice to come home to all our loved ones and our own bed.

Tomorrow we are doing an all day tour, dinner tomorrow night at the Thai restaurant in the Hotel and Deb may go for a massage on Friday morning. So there is still plenty of life left in this holiday yet!!!

Love to you all, us. xoxox

(it is nearly midnight here, not really tired it is 6pm in London, better go to bed though, we have set the alarm for 6am, we are being picked up for our tour at 8am, for another adventure )

Thursday 11 June 2009   Bangkok Thailand

Today we did a “Tour with Tong”, a travel guide Deb found on the net ages ago.

(Tong met us at the hotel, was great to meet her after corresponding for months, she is bright and bubbly and a little crazy , I was pleased she turned up, we took a leap of faith booking her tour, it is wonderful when things work out as you hope!) We left the hotel at 8am and headed for the Bangkok Flower Markets. It was amazing, all these small flower stalls selling pretty well any flowers you could think of. There were specialty stalls for everything for Home and Hotels to Weddings and Funerals. Many of the stalls were making decorative displays and arrangements. I am sure we have got many of the arrangements in our room, J. While we were walking around Deb and Tong were chatting away, they both shared a love for flowers, and before long Tong had bought herself a couple of bunches and then bought Deb a bunch of 20 red roses . (Deb was very happy, later she was a bit sad at the thought of having to leave her beautiful flowers here after only 1 day!!). At the end of the walk we took a turn down another lane and there were all the stalls for fresh fruit. It was interesting to see that they have a lot of imported fruit here, similar to home, even oranges from the USA!!!

Then, we headed off to Wat Pho, the temples of a huge golden “Reclining Buddha” 46m long and 15m high, and said to be one of the biggest reclining Buddha’s in the world.

Next was “The Grand Palace”. It used to be the official Palace of the King of Thailand, but that all changed when the previous King (the present King’s brother) was assassinated in the grounds, the present King could not live in the place where his brother was killed, so it’s now a mix of use, from tourist displays in the outer and middle zones, to national administration offices in the central (previously, Royal)zone. It reminded me very much of the Citadel in Hue Vietnam, but in its original state (not blasted apart by war like Hue was). It was an interesting set-up when it was used as a Palace. In the inner Royal zone, the King was the only post adolescent male allowed to live in the zone. I guess it was to protect the “Royal Line”. The buildings were amazing, so well preserved and very highly decorated. There is so much history retained in the buildings and the displays, it was fascinating to see so much Thai history and Royal memorabilia, and lots of very unique and “special” Buddest relics, including a large Emerald Buddha. We also went into what used to be The King’s private Buddest temple.

Lunch time. Tong took us to a local restaurant called “The Coconut Palm”. To save time she pre-ordered our lunch, so as we got in and sat down they started serving us. The restaurant was full of locals, Deb and I were the only westerners in there, and the locals gave us funny looks when we got our meals well before those that were already in the restaurant before we arrived (great organisation by Tong!!). The food was a lot spicier than we get at home (a bit spicier than Deb really likes, but I loved it! ) and Tong had made a good selection of entrées and mains. We had spring rolls, a spicy prawn soup, pork stir fry and fried chicken wings, with steamed rice. Yummm!! (and it all cost $15.00 and that was paying for Tong’s food too!)

After lunch we had a special time. Before we came here, when Deb was organising the tour, she arranged for us to go out to an orphanage to see the children (maybe play a bit with them) and give a donation. Tong knew of many orphanages near her home, and was particularly “fond” of one where the children are disabled,(Baan Fuengfan), so she contacted them to organise our visit. They said that due to the “Swine Flu” they couldn’t allow visits with the children, but if we wanted to we could come out and see the complex. They also asked that if we could buy some medicines for them with our donation. So on the way we went via a wholesale pharmacy, armed with a list of medicines they had given to Tong and bought up a pile of stuff for them. The pharmacy was amazing, anyone could walk in off the street, and they did in swarms, and get anything they wanted, all without a prescription!! When we got to the orphanage they were very appreciative of all the meds we brought with us, but due to the “Flu” we couldn’t have a look around, instead they showed us a DVD of the children and what services they offered them. It was a very touching video. It had both Deb and Tong in tears. When we left there we chatted with Tong about the numbers and problems of the orphans. It’s a sad situation, but at least there are places and mechanisms to help them, even if they are stretched for resources.

We then went to “The Jim Thompson House Museum”. Jim Thompson was an American architect that set up home in Thailand after WWII, and tried to revive the ailing cottage industries and crafts of Thailand that were quickly disappearing. His former home in Bangkok was big by Thai standards. He had bought 5 homes from all around the country, had them disassembled and reconstructed as one home. He then filled the home with lots of really interesting artefacts from all over Thailand. In the late 60’s he went to the jungles in Malaysia and disappeared. No trace has ever been found of him. The house was left to a trust and is now a museum. It was really interesting to see. (and the gardens around the house were also very lovely)

Tong then took us to some street markets in China Town, you know the ones with dodgy watches and DVD’s etc, it was fun to walk around in them, there is always lots of life in these markets, and they were working markets too, where the locals could go and buy everything from clothes to hardware.

We then returned to the hotel and said bye to Tong. We had a great day with her, she is a little crazy, a beautiful person and she knows her stuff really well and we would use her services again if we come back. Her web address is www.tourwithtong.com for those interested.

We spent an hour or 2 relaxing and cooling down, before we went to dinner. We walked down to the river and got a hotel boat across the Chao Phraya River (The River of the King) to their Thai restaurant on the other side located right next to the river, wonderful view. We had a mixed entree followed by a seafood platter. It was all delicious (maybe the scallops were a bit dry J )and the company was perfect. What a way to finish our holiday, sitting on the edge of the river, watching the world go by and having a delicious meal together.

We leave tomorrow, and will be home before lunch, it seems that the last week and a bit of our holiday has literally flown by, and it’s a bit sad our holiday is coming to an end, but it’s also nice to be heading home.

We just posted a card to Dante Tessa Ella & Ethan so next week you should get one from London and then another from Bangkok, then I am afraid they will stop, we will just have to go on some more holidays!!!

Can’t wait to see you all, love us xoxox

PS Just added more pics for London and some for Thailand

Friday 12 June 2009   Bangkok Thailand to Home (Adelaide)

We had a late start to the day.

I guess we got down to breakfast about 9am and took our time just watching the world go by up and down the river as we ate breakfast. It’s such a hard life!!

After breakfast we took a boat ride across the river and walked down to the Peninsular Hotel to have a look around (This was the other hotel we looked at to stay in, but the Oriental won!). It was a much larger hotel than the Oriental, but looked like there weren’t too many staying there, similar to the Oriental. I think all the big hotels are doing it tough at the moment. After a brief look around we walked back to the Oriental wharf and got the boat back.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon finishing off our packing and relaxing.

We checked out at 1:50pm, and found our transfer was already at the Hotel. Our ride was a largish late model Mercedes, a nice way to finish the holiday.

We got to the airport in good time and checked in with no hassles. The airport is pretty big, and before we went to the Airline Lounge, we had a look through the duty free shops, they all seemed expensive, and when we found a good deal on some alcohol we found out we couldn’t take it on the plane, so that ruined that idea!! The only thing we finished up getting ( Ok, that I got) was a weird looking thing we could use as a Christmas decoration from Thailand, it looks a bit like a little alien!!

Our flight was delayed a little, the flight crew were caught up traffic problems due to a very heavy rain shower on their way to the airport.

We eventually got away, and the flight was fairly uneventful. I didn’t get much sleep (people walking around the cabin all night and talking to the flight attendants!!), Deb did a bit better than me.

We arrived in Sydney right on 6am and were given “Express” cards for immigration and customs. It was great to get priority service and we were through in a breeze. One thing though, as we came through to the immigration area, the whole plane load of us were made to walk single file past an Infrared Camera. They were looking for people with a fever, and maybe “Swine Flu” candidates. As far as we are aware, everyone on our flight was fine. I was surprised to see many people at the airport wearing face masks, up until now that was something we had only seen in Asia, admittedly most of those wearing the masks were Asian, but there were a few Caucasians as well.

Our flight to Adelaide left on time and we were home about 10am. It was so nice to be met at the airport by friendly faces. Carly, Kieran, Ella and Ethan were all there to meet us and take us home. Ella was holding up a sign and they were all beaming great big smiles to us.

After a lot of BIG hugs and kisses, we got our luggage and were home in no time. Aiko greeted us at the front door. She was so excited to see us and was after as much attention as she could get from us. It was so good to see her and that she was really excited to see us.

Carly had topped up our fridge and pantry with some supplies to get us through today . Her and Kieran then made us all lunch, and Ben, Sarah and Tessa (Dante had a birthday party to go to, we will catch up with him on Saturday when we go to watch him play football J ) arrived around noon . It was great to see them all. We spent the afternoon chatting about what we had been up to and sharing a few pictures, and finding out what had been going on back home all the time we had been away.

After a long day and jet lag setting in we got to bed around 9pm, Deb was back up at some ungodly hour (1am maybe!! ), I slept through to about 7am.

It’s going to take a little while to get back into the swing of “normality” and our brains back in gear.It’s also time to start planning our next adventure!!!!!!!

Its’ been great sharing our pilgrimage with you all, it really has been a wonderful time exploring all the new parts of the world we got to, and learning so much about other counties and cultures, and the people who share this world with us.

Comments:

June18, 2009     John and Georgiana        Welcome Back.

Because of my sister Mary’s situation in Minnesota, I was way behind in reading your daily blogs. I read about 2 weeks at a time and just finished up today. You two are Travelors Extraordinaire. I felt like I was right with you as you traveled. The two of you write so well making everything so interesting, exciting, and witty. You both should do some traveling books (like Bill Bryson–Sunburned Country and the Appalachian Trail) either full time or as a sideline whcih would pay for your trips. You do so much research anyway, might as well get your adventures paid for.

One item caught my eye in the second last paragraph of your last blog. You said that you can’t wait to start planning your next adventure. I know that at least one of your next trips is to Canada and the USA. So, when you begin planning, let’s talk together, some of it via instant messaging or via interactive video with small cameras atop our computers.

Thanks for allowing us to enjoy your adventure Around the World.

John and Georgiana

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