Bratwurst in Bremen

Well it's not long until Christmas and in Germany that means Christmas Markets.
So we booked a weekend and headed to Bremen which is in the north western side of the country. We flew out Friday night and went with a group of 6 other Aussies. It was just a quick 1 hour flight which was great and we arrived in time to grab our first German sausage from a street vendor .

December in Germany is cold and we had to do some serious rugging up to cope with it. We also found the local secret to staying warm was to drink lots of Gluhwein(Hot Mulled wine ) sometimes with rum or hot chocolate with baileys ( apparently a girls drink) . The markets were great, they were quite big and had lots of great food stalls selling big German sausages, steaks , chocolates and pastry delights. A few of our group including myself ate as many as 8 sausages over the weekend including a half meter option offered buy one vendor.

Bremen seems like a nice Little town with a relaxed vibe and we really enjoyed our time there.
We basically just wandered around the markets for hours eating and drinking German delicacies and browsing the stalls selling Christmas decorations , wooden crafts and the like. There were also a few rides and we went for a spin on the small Ferris wheel . It's gets dark over here by about 4 pm now and at night the markets looked great all lite up and buzzing with people.

I would defiantly recommend Germany for the Christmas Markets and we look forward to heading back next year for more sausage.
Pics here

Back to University

well we took the train up to Oxford the other day. As most people know Oxford is famous for its university , and perhaps the Oxford dictionary. Oxford is a great Little town and and the university is vastly different to the one i attended in Brisbane. For a start some of the buildings are about 800 years old which always spins me out as everything in Australia is so new.

It seems every time we decide to go somewhere out of London or do something fun on the weekend we are blessed with great weather, even though its starting to get a lot cooler we still had a sunny blue sky day so it wasn't to bad to be outside walking around. The town had a relaxed vibe to it and we spent the morning wandering around looking at the old building and talking lots of photos of the Radcliffe camera which is a round building with big dome on top and now houses a library, i have no idea why it is called a camera?

We had lunch in the gardens of a Church that over looks the RC and other library building and after lunch we climbed to the top of the churches tower and had awesome panoramic views over Oxford. In the afternoon we went to the largest and most famous college called Christ church. even though its almost winter and not peak tourist season we still had to line up for a while to get in. Once inside we got to stroll around the grounds and look in the plush dinning hall, and very old cathedral.

Its getting dark really early over here now and we were tired from all of our walking so we felt in the mood for a cosy pub meal. we had heard about a pub called the Eagle and child where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to go and talk literature over i few pints i suppose. I had some bangers and mash , Renee had a half a roast chicken and we shared a pint of local brew. Good times!

We thoroughly enjoyed our day trip and look forward to checking out the other university town of Cambridge next time.
Pics here

Her Majesty , T-Rex and The Mummy

Well i thought i'd do a bit of an update on a few things that we've been up to around London over the past month or two.
We have been to check out some of the many London museums. We visited the British museum a month or so back and really enjoyed all the Greek and Roman statues and also the Egyptian mummies and the like, its a huge place and we didn't have enough time to see it all.

During August and September the queen takes her summer holidays in Scotland and because she not home at the palace they open up some of the rooms for tourists to have a look around (for a small fee of course). We got the chance to see inside 19 of the state rooms which were quite nice and had an audio guide to give us a bit more of an insight into what the old girl gets up to!

A few weekends back we went to the Natural history museum and they had some great dinosaur displays with a real live T-Rex, well almost it's motorised and even makes the roaring noise , it must scare the heck out of small children!

In other news we have moved out of Shepherds Bush and into Hammersmith with our Friends Morgan and Esther. We have taken over Stephen and Larissa's room as they have gone back to Brissy. We have a cute little room in the upstairs attic which is very cosy and we like it a lot.
Everything else is going well, its starting to get cool over here , down to 5 -7 deg min and sometimes only 10-12 during the day. But we are assured that it is only the beginning and it will get a lot colder!

Check out some more pics here

"Paradise on Earth"

Well where do i start?
To celebrate our wedding anniversary we had booked a 3 day weekend in Italy. We headed to a place called the Chinque Terre (Italian for
five lands) . It's situated right on the Mediterranean coastline and is a part of the Italian Riviera. The English poet Lord Byron once quoted that it was paradise on earth and he wasn't too far wrong. We flew out of London on Friday morning and headed for Pisa. The flight was only 2 hours but we went from a cloudy 15 deg English day to a sunny 27 degrees in Italy.

We had booked a hotel in a village called Monterosso which is the the largest of the five and the only one with a decent size beach. We were pleased to see our hotel room had its own courtyard with sun lounges and a view of the water. Friday afternoon was spent settling into our room and spending lots of time lying in the afternoon sun on our deck.

Saturday we awoke to beautiful blue sky and Sunshine. when the weather is good our hotel serves breakfast outside in a beautiful courtyard so we ventured down to enjoy the cappuccino and pastries on offer. After a good feed we were off to walk the 4 km mountain trek to the next village. The guide booked quoted 2 hrs and i assumed they were allowing for elderly American tourists. There were plenty of them to be seen but the walk was quite tough and did take us a good 2 hours to complete. It didn't help that it was midday and we sweat almost as much as one would on a Brisbane summers day.

We arrived in Vernazza (next village) just in time for lunch and ordered a slice or Margareta pizza and a local beer to go. It had a great little harbour and the water was incredibly clear.
We couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces, It was such an idyllic setting we were blown away . While in Vernazza we noticed a few people swimming so we figured the water can't be too cold so we headed back to Monterosso for our first dip in the med. The water was beautiful and clear , but unlike Australia there was no golden sand and we were forced to limp in and out over some nasty rocks.

After our afternoon swim we were a little hungry and decided to head back to our hotel via the local deli/grocery store . It was closed for afternoon siesta (a pastime i was happy to see they still observed) so we had to wait an hour or so before i could go back and get olives, cheese, local whine and bread. We relaxed on our deck with our platter and prepared to watch the sunset. Instead we were treated to a thunderstorm that rolled in over the mountains and then quickly headed out to sea. It left the air feeling fresh and cool so we headed out to embrace the evening.

We had eyed off a seafood restaurant the previous night and were keen to check it out. We shared a spaghetti marinara which was full of mussels and clams still in their shells (Delicious). on the way back to the hotel we washed it down with some Delicious gelato and it was so good i went back for a second. The next day we had to fly back about 10 pm from Pisa so we were tossing up the idea of going to check out the learning tower. However when we awoke the blue sky and Sunshine was out in force so we couldn't resist spending as much time as possible on or near the beach.

We had heard from our friends that you cold get a ferry to a village called Portovenere just up the coast that was particularly picturesque so we decided to check that out. It was amazing to cruise along this rugged Mediterranean coastline and pass villages and yachts and groups snorkeling.
Portovenere was spectacular, it has a cute little harbour, mountains in the background , a 600 year old church on the cliff edge and a castle on the way up the hill.

We caught the ferry back to our village, grabbed our gear and headed fro the train.
It took a while to get through customs and get back to London from the airport so we didn't end up getting home until after 3 am. Renee had organised the day off but i was up at 7 to go to work after 3 and a bit hours sleep. It was well worth it though and we were buzzing all week as we recalled our adventure.

So recapping , we both really loved Italy and can't wait to come back. We had a lot of expectation but it was even better than we had expected. Highlights for me were the food and wine, the awesome scenery , and Renee while obviously loving these things had the added bonus of finding the villages teaming with lovely well looked after cats to pat.

We took a ridiculous amount of photos (somewhere in the region of 350) and i have uploaded a selection here that are worth checking out
Photos

Our Mansion

Well after 6 or 7 weeks of sleeping on various different Friends floors we finally moved into our own room a few weeks ago. We live in a large unit block called "Granville Mansions" across the street from a park in the Bustling and diverse Shepherd's Bush. We are sharing a 3 bedroom unit with 3 Aussies and a kiwi. We have our own room but share bathroom, kitchen , lounge etc.

Its great having our own room and our housemates are all really friendly.
Our place is right in the heart of the action and has shops , restaurants, a cinema, bars, and supermarkets all just a few hundred meters walk. Its also really close to the tube and bus station and as has some cool surrounding suburbs such as Holland Park, Hammmersmith and Notting Hill.

So its not quite Teneriffe but we are settling in well

Cheers
Luke

6 Years Already!

Well for those who didn't know or didn't remember, Saturday the 15th of September was our wedding anniversary. It has been six years already and we have had an awesome adventure. We have booked a long weekend in Italy in 3 weeks time to celebrate because its a bit cheaper to travel then.

we decided to keep things fairly low key this weekend. The Weather again surprised us and was bright and Sunny so we went up the river to Richmond. There is a great stretch of river with a walkway along the river and bridges and great pubs and restaurants. We went to a restaurant for lunch which is actually a boat that is moored on the river. We had a great lunch with really good food and wine. After lunch we hired out a Little row boat and headed up the river for an hours or so. it was beautiful in the afternoon sun and we got to check out some great architecture and parkland along the way.

We are now looking forward to checking out the Cinque Terre in Italy in a few weeks to celebrate further.

The Highlander

Well The 2007 Mountain bike world championships were in Scotland so i made the trek north to the Scottish highlands. Renee stayed at home as the trip was going to involve lots of guys talking about bikes , riding bikes , drinking beer and smelling bad.

I flew up to Glasgow by myself and headed north to Pitlochry, a small town were my mate Mark from Brisbane now lives with his wife and son. Having not ridden a bike for a few months the first thing we did was headed out for a ride. The riding in Scotland is amazing, partly to do with the incredible scenery and also the abundance of big hills and great government support.

We then headed to Fort William which is the base town of Ben Nevis "The highest mountain in the UK" The race was at a ski resort just outside of town. The racing was held over about 4 days and i managed to squeeze in another awesome ride with a group of local Scottish riders.

One of my old work mates (Luke) from Brisbane who now lives on London came up on the Saturday with a few of his mates so i spent some time catching up with them. Sunday was the Down hill race and that was the highlight of the event! lots of crashing and high speed action. On Monday I headed back to Glasgow with Luke and his mates. On the way we stopped of at Glen Coe which is an awesome little spot in a valley between all these mountains . Its so lush and green and has creeks, waterfalls and Lochs.

The Weather was great with blue skies and sunshine so the drive back to Glasgow involved lots of faces against the window looking out at the incredible scenery. I had a few hours before my flight so i had some time to check out Glasgow. I had heard that it wasn't all that nice and was very working class but i found it to have a friendly vibe and some great architecture and seemed like a pretty cool city.

Check out a few photos here

A Warm Bath

Well after living in London for a month we decided it was time to get out! So we headed out to the town of Bath about 3 hours west by bus.
Bath is famous for the Roman Baths that were built there almost 2000 years ago. There is a lot more to Bath than the Roman baths though, and we were blessed with amazing warm weather so we took full advantage of it.

We arrived on Sunday before lunch and headed to this tiny pub and had a steak and ale pie and a pint of local ale. Monday was a public holiday so we booked into a hotel Sunday night. In summer the Roman Baths are open until 9pm so we were able to stroll around the complex while the sunset. On Monday we checked out Bath Abby which is a Gothic cathedral that was built in the 1600's. The weather remained sunny so we took a boat cruise on the Avon river which ran out through the green country side.

We really enjoyed our time in Bath and it was nice to get away from the craziness of London for a few days. We took a lot of photos and have attached quite a few below
cheers
Luke

Pics here

From old to (Tate) modern

Well we thought since we have been here two weeks we had better do something touristy! We decided to experience the free things that London has to offer so headed on the tube to St Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Modern Gallery.
First stop was St Paul's and seeing as it was a Sunday no tours were on but we were allowed in part way to have a look around and hear the choir warming up. when i was in Europe last i saw a lot of churches and i have to say that St Paul's is the most impressive I've seen so far.

From St Paul's you can walk in an almost straight line over the Millennium bridge to the south bank of the Thames. The bridge is pedestrian only and offers some great views back towards the Cathedral. The bridge heads directly to The Tate Modern which was constructed inside the old power station.

On the bottom two levels of the Tate is an exhibition space that changes every few months. At the moment it houses a Global cites exhibit which explores some of the worlds largest cites and how rapidly they are growing and changing. We spent a few hours in the Tate but barely got a chance to cover much of its seven floors. We did make it to the top floor which offers spectacular views over the river towards London.

All in all we had a great London day out and we snapped quite a few photos.

*In other breaking news Renee has found full time temping job and has already worked a few days. I have had one interview and have another tomorrow so things are looking promising!

See our St Paul's and Tate Modern pics here

London Update

Well we have survived our first week in the UK!
We are enjoying ourselves and have been getting out and enjoying the sunshine and catching up with friends. Last Thursday night we caught up with Neil and Jenny Schiller (Neil was Renee's grade seven teacher) and they are the parents of our good friend Jo den Otter. They have been been traveling around Europe having loads of fun so it was good to have a drink and here some stories.

For our first weekend in London we were blessed with beautiful weather. For some locals it was a bit too warm getting up over 30 deg. Saturday morning Morgan and Esther and Steve and Larissa took us out for an old fashioned fry up. We had Salty bacon, fried eggs and sausage, and baked beans. It wasn't as greasy as you'd expect though. From there we made our way to Holland Park which is a large are of gardens , forest and sporting fields not to far away. Plenty of locals were out embracing the sunshine and lying around with there shirts off or in bikinis trying to get a tan or sunburn...
We were there for a different purpose which was to try and feed some of the local squirrels. We managed to find a few but these ones were a bit shy and wouldn't take the food from our hands. The did come pretty close and they were very cute.

Saturday night we entertained Penelope and Renee cooked dinner and i chucked on one of our cheap DVDs we picked up in Malaysia

Sunday Renee went with Penelope to the Spitafield markets ( Food and Fashion ) and i met a mate Luke whom i used to work with and we went to the old dock/port area to watch the London Triathlon. It was held in a revamped area where the ships used to dock but has now been converted into a nice residential and commercial precinct. It remedied me a bit of Teneriffe...

I have been getting into the local tradition of embracing all things football (soccer) and have been watching many games on sky TV and this afternoon i went to a local park for a kick around with Morgan and Steve.

I have uploaded some more London photos if you want to check them out below

Click here from pics

London "beautiful one day perfect the next"

Well let's start by dispelling the rumours that London is always miserable and rainy! Since we arrived we have had nothing but blue skies and sunshine and temps of around 22 deg. We are enjoying it as we are sure it won't last.

So far we had fun staying at and catching up with Morgan and Esther and Steve and
Larissa. It has been great to see so many familiar faces. We were met at the airport
by Renee's friend Penelope and headed back to Hammersmith for a beer at the local pub. We didn't really suffer the effects of jet lag so on Monday we headed out to checkout Hammersmith wich is the suburb or "Borough"
Where we are staying. Its a great area and is right on the river and we have had good times exploring the local parks where we saw our first squirrel.

Tuesday we went and checked out "Harrods" but didn't purchase anything this time. At night Penelope took us to a great pub at Barnes on the river where they do a BBQ in summer and had good times as we watched the sunset.

Wednesday night we went to meet my high school friend Trent and his girlfriend Ainsley at Shepherd's Bush and then headed into the city (Oxford st) and had dinner at a Turkish joint. We walked along Carnaby street and window shopped before heading to Piccadilly Circus to check out the crazy giant illuminated billboards you see on TV.


clik here for Malaysia pics

Click here for London pics

Crazy K.L has a bit of everything!

Well Malaysia has come and gone, and although it was only a whirlwind 3 day tour we had heaps of fun and excitement! We arrived in the capital, Kuala Lumpur (known as KL), on Thursday morn about 6am local time after sleeping very little. We were able to check straight into our hotel and after putting our bags in the room decided to head straight out and hit the streets. We walked out the front door of the hotel and were mobbed by waiting taxi drivers asking where we wanted to go. They didn't have any meters and told us upfront how much it would cost to get to our destination (we later discovered you could bargain them down in price). First stop was huge gardens near the city with a butterfly enclosure and orchids. The weather was warm and humid and as we walked down from the gardens we came across a pack of wild monkeys on the move. There were at east 30 of them and lots of baby ones too. They weren't shy and were used to posing for photos.

We hit up a local Chinese restaurant and both had a beautiful duck meal for lunch with was super-cheap compared to Oz. Later that night we headed out and hit the local shopping malls and had another super-cheap meal. We found some markets on the way home and got some cheap sunglasses and DVDs.

On day 2 we found a local taxi driver who remembered us from the day before and he offered to be our driver for the whole day, waiting for us in between stops. We were out from from 9am to 5pm and he waited up to 3 hours in the car park. And only cost us AUS$40. First stop was the KL zoo which has a great range of animals including all the big cats and bears, hippos, elephants, and of course heaps of monkeys. The really special thing was the Savannah Walk where you could see giraffes and zebras roaming in a huge open area.

From there we headed to the Batu Caves which are huge limestone caves up in the hills. To get up there they have built a huge 272 steep staircase. Before embarking on the climb we grabbed a bite to eat from a vegetarian Indian place where the food is served on a banana leaf and the food is made to taste like meat. We had vege chicken which actually tasted like chicken (they use some sort of soy product).

The climb was made more entertaining by the hordes of monkey on the way and the great view back towards the city. Inside there was a Hindu temple.

Next we headed to the Royal Selangor pewter factory for a tour and some shopping. We saw the world’s biggest beer mug which is made from pewter and is a few metres tall!

Exhausted, we asked our faithful taxi driver to take us home. That night we felt like some western style food and found a great South American restaurant and had some quality steak and lamb shank.

The next day we decided to head to the Petronas twin towers, the largest in the world at 452 metres high! We were told to go really early as its free to go up to the viewing platform and the tickets are limited. So we arrived at 8:30am and waited in line with hundreds of others and finally were giving a ticket after about 2 hours. The ticket was for 3:30pm that afternoon so we hit the huge shopping mall under the towers and the beautiful park and fountains outside. We headed home for lunch and tried some traditional Malay food with fried rice and chicken satay and drank some more local Tiger beer which has become a favourite! We then headed back to the towers and got to go up about halfway to a skybridge that links the two towers and provides support. The view was great but not that clear, so we headed down to the park to get some pics of the towers from a distance. At night we headed out to Chinatown to hit the night markets and grabbed some street food and more Tiger. We bartered for some $5 t-shirts and were mobbed by street vendors eager for our business. We soon had enough of the crowds and headed home.

Next morning we were up early to get to the airport as we flew out for London at 12 noon.
The flight to London was smooth and comfortable. Look for an update on our first days in London soon.

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, the time has come...

Our bags have been packed and re-packed, currency exchanged, and many goodbyes said. Tomorrow we leave a Brisbane winter for tropical Malaysia (average 30 degrees, 80% humidity), and after a few days of sight-seeing, spicy cuisine and monkeys, we'll head to England for a "balmy" summer (18 degrees, or so).

First stop: Kuala Lumpur.
Visit soon for updates and photos (riding elephants, chasing monkeys, kissing cheetahs...)