John & Leah's Blog

Malaysia & several European trips from Spring 2008

2008-10-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

After a blog hiatus of several months, I’m back! We just did a five year wedding anniversary trip to Malaysia and I felt the need to write about it. Plus, I had several blogs from our travels during our last four months in Europe which we had neglected to post. They are all now posted below, thus completing a full recap of our trips while living in London.

Malaysia – October 2008

After 17 hours of flying, an overnight in Singapore and then one more quick flight, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur. I had mentally prepared myself for the long journey, so it didn’t bother me. It helped that I was so excited to be joining John on one of his trips.

KL was sunny and hot, so when I arrived at the hotel I went straight to the pool and ordered a drink. Heaven! I started reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (thanks Jess) on the plane and I couldn’t put it down. I have never read one of Atwood’s books before; I was very impressed by this one and I’m still thinking about it. I was forced inside around 5:00 when it started to rain (and when I say rain, I mean torrential downpour, usually accompanied by thunder and lightning). Like in Camelot, where “the rain may never fall till after sundown”, it rained every night; it would start around 5:00 in KL but not until 10:00 when we were on Langkawi.

It was such a treat to be staying in nice hotels (and for about the same price as the not so nice hotels we stayed in while travelling Europe). From our room at the Westin in KL, we had a great view of the city and the lightning storms as they rolled in. John was still working at the Routes conference so checked out the huge neighbouring mall. I was in awe of its six floors of stores, although it would seem I could buy the same things at Club Monaco, the Gap, etc in Canada as I can in Malaysia (and likely everywhere else in the world). I enjoyed dinner in the extensive food court offering an almost infinite variety of different Asian foods. It would seem that like the Canadians the Malaysians have an affinity for donuts, however, they do a better job of covering the donuts with interesting toppings.

I ventured out to explore KL on my second day. First thing, I lined up for tickets up the Petronas Towers’ sky bridge, and then I hopped on the city’s ‘hop on, hop off’ bus. My first stop was at the bustling markets in Chinatown. I wandered there for ages and then made my way over to the Indian markets. My next stop on the tour around town was the city’s green belt and the national monument. From there I went to a butterfly park and walked past a huge bird sanctuary. It was so hot and humid, my body was constantly covered in a layer of sweat.

My last stop was back at the Petronas Towers for my trip up to the sky bridge on the 41st floor, which connects between the two twin buildings, about halfway up. I’m rather scared of heights but I hadn’t really thought about the bridge being scary so for the first five minutes I happily snapped pictures as I walked along the bridge. When I got to the middle of the bridge, I mistakenly looked down and realized I was suspended between the two buildings. That’s when the blood drained from my face and I had a bit of a panic attack. I managed to retreat off the bridge to the comfort of one of the towers without looking too crazy.

That evening, I joined John and several of his aviation colleagues for fun dinner. The jet lag affected me in an ideal way – I would hit a wall around 10:00 and it would feel like someone drugged me. I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open. It made for a great sleep and I’d be awake and raring to go by 8:00 in the morning. Too bad all jet lag can’t be like that (like on the way home). On Wednesday morning, we departed on Air Asia (Asia’s Ryan Air equivalent) for Langkawi, a resort island in northern Malaysia, near Thailand.

Langkawi was a perfect spot for us to spend the next few days. There were lots of neat things to see and do around the jungle island, or we could relax at the beach. We spent our first afternoon lounging in the sun at the beach and pool at our resort. I went for a swim in the ocean and it was like a bath tub it was so warm! We got into our room, which was like a little cabin, later in the afternoon and the first thing I did was open up the balcony doors to warm the place up from the extreme air conditioning. After unpacking, I walked out the balcony door just in time to catch a monkey and her baby walking up the stairs of our deck! I was grateful for the timing of that because I certainly didn’t want a monkey in our room. We also noticed large lizards wandering the area, so the balcony door stayed shut from then on.

Lots of people from the Routes conference headed to Langkawi for a holiday after it was over. We ran into one of John’s clients at dinner on Wednesday night and she joined us. That day she had rented a scooter and explored the island. It sounded like so much fun that we decided to do the same thing on Thursday. Neither of us had driven a scooter before; John picked it up right away, while I on other hand did not. For some reason, my natural instinct when panicking was to rev the motor as opposed to just letting go and hitting the brake. This resulted in me crashing the scooter in the rocky rain ditch in the resort’s driveway! The bike was okay but I still have the bruises to show for it.

After that little incident, we decided to only take one scooter. I rode on the back behind John, which was way more fun anyway. It took me a while to get over my initial jitters (and fear of getting road rash up my legs, or worse) but eventually I let John accelerate over 30 km/h (we made it up to 60 at a few points). I shouldn’t have been quite so nervous because we played it pretty safe. Comparatively, we saw a local driving his motorbike with one hand (the other was holding a cigarette), no helmet, and his kid sitting between his legs. I think our biggest danger was hitting one of those big lizards running across the road. John’s colleague had squished one and we narrowly avoided one in the afternoon. I loved riding the scooter around the island. I felt like we were on a travel show, cruising through the jungle and all the little Malaysian towns. It was so hot that all we wanted to do was drive because the wind cooled us off.

Our first stop was at Seven Wells Waterfall. First we checked out the beautiful waterfall from the bottom. There was a big crew of people and TV cameras doing some zip line stunts over the river for an Asian fear factor show. Then, we hiked to the top of the waterfall to enjoy swimming in the Seven Wells (pools of water). The hike felt like the Grouse Grind but it wasn’t nearly as long, I think the heat made it hard. We were drenched in sweat at the bottom so you can imagine our state by the time we reached the top. The view from there was amazing and the cool water in the pools felt like heaven! We had fun sliding down the natural waterslides that had formed between the pools. This was a definite trip highlight.

We drove around the island in search of a good beach to stretch out on and found one at the north-easterly point. The beach was practically empty, the water was gorgeously green and our view was of several small rocky islands and a sailboat. It looked like what you see in the movies. We baked for a while and tried to fend off a few pesky birds that wanted some of our food. When we got up to go for a swim, they went straight for our towels looking for food. When they didn’t find any food they left, but not before leaving an unpleasant deposit on John’s towel as payback.

We made our way around the other side of the island and then had a bit of an “amazing race” panic moment. We started the day with half a tank of gas, the first half of which got us around 3/4s of the island. We thought we wouldn’t have to fill up but then the last quarter tank burned off in about five minutes! We were on a side road with no prospect of a gas station in sight and I was having visions of us walking for miles in the, drenched in sweat, in order to find one if we ran out of gas. I couldn’t pry my eyes away from the gas gauge and we continued on and I prayed that we would find a place to fill up. Thankfully, we did, and for a whopping $2 we were back to half a tank.

On Friday, we went on the snorkelling excursion that I’m sure everyone visiting Langkawi does. John’s colleague from Sweden, Petra, and her boyfriend joined us on the trip. It took about an hour by boat to get to the preserved snorkelling island (renowned for its coral). We had to pay a preservation fee to visit, but I’m afraid the non-stop brown smoke being emitted from our boat on the way there and back would more than reverse any good the fee does.

We had a great time snorkelling through the clear blue waters and watching the brightly coloured fish. There were a few big, mean looking fish that I steered very clear of. After lunch we watched a mini shark feeding at a nearby beach and then went for another snorkel back in our area. We saw one of the little sharks which was my cue to get out of the water (John stayed in for ages). I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on the sun deck reading and watching four eagles soar about the island.

We met up with John’s colleague from Denver airport at a local restaurant for dinner on Friday. It was our best dinner of the trip! Mango chicken, vegetable curry and bbq king prawns. For dessert we all tried fried ice cream cake and it was awesome!

Saturday was our last full day on Langkawi and we had a terrible time trying to decide what to do. We wanted to go scootering again but we didn’t want to tempt fate, plus we figured it was going to rain. There was an island hopping boat trip but we weren’t super keen on that. We tried to go abseiling through the rainforest but we couldn’t find enough people to join us in order to meet the minimum numbers. So we thought we’d play some tennis and play it by ear. As we approached the fitness centre to rent rackets we found our answer – bicycles! We got two bikes from the resort and rode off for a leisurely tour of the villages close by. It was a great way to explore some of the back roads and see real life on Langkawi. It was also the perfect duration, leaving us the whole afternoon to lounge by the pool, read and sip on lime slushies. John was a bit more active than me and he managed a windsurf.

We hated to leave Langkawi but at least we had one more day of vacation. We flew to Singapore on Sunday and arrived later in the afternoon. We had a plan all set out: 1) Singapore Flyer (big Ferris Wheel like the London Eye) 2) Dinner at Clarke Quay and 3) Night Safari. Unfortunately, as we left the hotel and got on the metro for downtown, it started to monsoon! Alas, best laid plans...we were gratefully surprised that the rain had stopped by the time we arrived down town, the clouds even started to clear a bit. So, we got to do the Singapore Flyer and take in the views of the impressive skyline and harbour. Then we made it to Clark Quay for a lovely dinner. The skies were still clear so we thought we would attempt the night safari. We managed to stay awake and boy, was it ever worth it! It was really cool making our way through all of the different habitats in the dark and seeing the animals lit up under dim light. There were elephants, tigers, leopards, rhinos, hippos, and a whole whack of animals we’d never seen or heard of before. We got to see a hyena, which we didn’t get to see when we were on safari in South Africa. Plus, we lucked out as we passed the male lion habitat and one of them started to bellow. It was SO loud – I wouldn’t want to be out in the wild and hear that! They say you can hear a lion’s roar from up to 60 kms away.

This was my first trip to Asia and I loved it! It was a really awesome five year anniversary trip. Thanks John. Love you!

June 2008 – London and Nice

Our last few weeks in London seem like a blur now. We were both really busy with work, trying to finish everything off, but on top of that we had both organized events for the first week of June. I had helped organize a presentation for some of our customers and John arranged and ran a full day workshop for airport directors from around Europe. Needless to say, we were both stressed out. Luckily, both were successful.

John’s workshop was June 6th and on the morning of Saturday the 7th, we drove a car full of people down to Brighton for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, part of Britain’s summer tour. There were 40 teams (pretty much all the teams in Britain, compared to 200 in our league in Vancouver alone), it was situated in a beautiful setting, the weather was sunny and it was very well run. We were seeded 20th and worked our way up to 14th by the end of weekend. Our coach, Villi, was well chuffed (Brit expression meaning happy). We stayed overnight in Brighton, which is a picturesque town on a pebble beach. On a Saturday night though, it was crawling with Hen and Stag parties. Sitting outside a dinner, we saw 10 different groups of girls on hen nights parading around all dressed up. What scene!

The song of the weekend was Love in this Club, by Usher. So bad, but so good … we had non stop laughs blasting that in the car as we drove to and from the fields.

On Friday the 13th, with work, I got to go to see some horse races. One more Brit experience to tick off the list. I wasn’t in a posh frock or a hat, nor did I shout “move your blooming arse!” but I did have a fun time betting on the races and cheering on my horses. I managed to come out a few pounds ahead. I won 20 pounds on the first race and then burned through my winnings on all the others.

Nice

We were up one final time at 3:30 on Sunday morning to go to the airport for our last jaunt over to Europe. We flew to Nice, France with Andrew and Jess.

We really wanted to go back to the South of France and I wanted one more swim in the Med. We hadn’t been to that area since our honeymoon five years before, and as it was our last trip, we were going to treat ourselves.

The forecast for the days we were going to be there was threatening rain. It was sunny when we arrived so we went straight to the beach to take advantage of it. We splurged and rented chairs at a private part of the beach. That is SO the way to go. Comfy chairs, towels, umbrellas, change rooms, waiters bringing food … We were all relaxed and in heaven!

Going back several years, John and I had a 20 Euro note which we put on our fridge as motivation to move to/visit Europe. We brought it over to London with us and it stayed on our fridge there. On this last trip to Nice, we decided to spend it on pre-dinner drinks with A&J (the drinks actually cost EUR 26 though). In honour of spending the fridge EUR20, A&J gave us an AUS$20 to put on our fridge as motivation to visit them there.

We had an excellent Mediterranean dinner that night. What a treat it was to sit outside over delicious food and wine with good friends, in the South of France. We tried not to think that in a week we wouldn’t be able to do that any more.

On Tuesday we tried to go to Cannes, to sit on the sandy beach there but after waiting 1.5 hours in the station for a train due to delays going west, we gave up and took a train to Monaco instead. We stopped at Eze sur la Mer enroute and had a swim, then we took a bus up to Eze (on the cliff) for some lunch and to take in spectacular views of the Med.

Once in Monaco, we walked the harbour checking out all the massive yachts – the whole harbour just oozed wealth. We walked up to the Casinos and then had a drink on the water before catching a train back to Nice for dinner.

We were feeling so tired and stressed from the hectic travel pace of Sunday and Monday (note my sarcasm), we decided to sit on the private beach again on Tuesday. Heaven, again! We sat there all day and I got in one more swim before the rain clouds rolled in. As we walked back to the hotel to get our stuff the skies opened and chucked down the rain. We sure were lucky that it held off until then. It was a good thing we had stuck to the beach that day too, as opposed to doing more sight seeing, because there was a national strike and all of the trains and buses weren’t running.

What a nice time in Nice! A great last trip! Thanks A&J – we are going to miss your company. You have been wonderful travel companions and our trips wouldn’t have been the same without you.

It was a fitting return to London for our last trip – the plane was late and we had a long wait in the customs queue at Luton airport. We didn’t get home until 2:00 am. I got pretty good at forgetting about being tired when I was at work the days after weekends away. Being able to do a quick jaunt to Europe was worth it to suffer at work for a day.

May 2008 – Ireland and Denmark

Ireland

On the first bank holiday weekend in May, John and I flew to Dublin, Ireland. We got into the customs line up at the airport and it was curiously taking a long time, despite not that many people being in the queue. We then realized it was because the friendly border guards were chatting up everyone as they went through, in their adorable, lilting Irish accents. Once we finally got to the front of the line, we got the standard questions and then the border guard asked what John’s job was. John replied, “airport consultant”, and the quick witted guard fired back with, “you sure f&cked up T5!” It was priceless! I’ve never left a customs line up laughing before. (Note: T5 is the new terminal at Heathrow and there were terrible problems when it opened a few months ago.)

After being in the Cotswolds the weekend before, we were itching for more ‘country’, so we immediately headed south in our rental car. It turned out to be a driving weekend and we covered a lot of ground. The first area we drove through was as we had pictured Ireland – green rolling fields. I loved how the fields were littered with crumbling old castles, churches and towers. Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel, one such crumbling castle with a beautiful neighbouring church in ruins. It was a great site and we had a nice walk in the sunshine.

We continued on to popular Killarney and the rain started. The traffic to get into Killarney was backed up 4kms outside the town, so we pulled the plug on seeing it and instead drove into the hills on some back roads to get to our B&B. Killarney is on a National Park and the edge of the popular Ring of Kerry. It was very busy due to the long weekend and due to the car rally planned through the National Park (we didn’t know before hand).

Enroute to our B&B we stopped in a cute town and had some Irish Guinness. It tastes better in Ireland. The B&B I had picked was in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the National Park. We weren’t expecting the rugged landscape that it was situated in. It was a steep, windy, single land road down into the valley for about 10km to get to the B&B. We eventually made it and went for a walk in the pouring rain through a green oasis in the rugged valley – I kept thinking leprechauns or fairies would pop out from behind a tree. In the Cotswolds the weekend before, we had made friends with some lambs. On this walk, we tried to do the same thing – there were some lambs in a field close to a fence and we tried to get them to eat from our hands. Unfortunately, the ram, their father, was on our side of the fence. He started to give us a mean look and make his way towards us, so we bee lined out of there pretty quickly so as not to get ‘rammed’.

The next morning the sun came out and we wanted to drive out of the valley and do the Ring of Kerry. Little did we know that the car rally had been directed down into the valley, on the single lane road which we need to get out on. We sat in the car and waited as a steady line of cars went by. We eventually gave up, parked the car and went for an enjoyable hike up a hill where we could watch the line of cars make their way down into the valley. We figured it was about 300 cars.

Once we finally got out of the valley, we drove around about 2/3s of the Ring of Kerry, enjoying the beautiful ocean views from the cliffs. We took a little ferry over to a fishing village so that we could take a slightly different route back.

One of the things John wanted to do was see a hurling match (hurling is an Irish game, kind of like lacrosse). On the radio, we heard about a match that was going on back in a town near Cashel where we were the day before. John had his heart set on seeing it, so he turned into a rally car driver and for three hours raced across the country. Of course, it took a lot longer than we were anticipating. By some miracle, we found our way to the sports complex, the parking lot was full but they let us park at the front, and we ran in to catch the last 10 minutes. The stands were packed with spectators and we enjoyed our brief glimpse into the hurling world.

That night we backtracked and stayed at a B&B in Blarney (known for the famous Blarney Stone and no, we didn’t kiss it). Our host was a funny and friendly guy who used to run a pub. He told us all about hurling – including telling us about a game that had been in Blarney that day (too bad we didn’t hear about that one on the radio). Turns out the Irish are quite loyal to their hurling teams and on the radio the next day there was news of three guys getting stabbed in a hurling related fight on the road our B&B was on!

On our last day there, we drove out to Kinsale Head, a windswept cliff on the edge of the ocean, and then we started the long drive back to Dublin. Ireland looked a lot more North American than British. The towns were quaint but in a far different way than British ones, newish houses all painted brightly in different colours. The cities reminded us of Calgary (Alberta) – brand new developments stretching outside the city limits. We finished the weekend off with a drive through Dublin, past the Guinness factory. Next time we’ll have to go to Northern Ireland – for a history trip as opposed to a scenery one.

Denmark

The second bank holiday was fast approaching and I still hadn’t booked a trip for it, despite having booked some additional time off. We wanted to go to Bulgaria, or Romania or back to the South of France but everything was really expensive. A few days before the weekend, John did a flight search – the cheapest flights that weekend were to Arhus, Denmark. We rang up Carla and Poul, and luckily they weren’t doing anything, so we booked one more trip to up to see them. It was a beautiful sunny weekend on Fyn and we had a great time sharing a typical weekend with C&P.

John had to work on Saturday and Poul was working on a refurbishing a house, so Carla and I hung out. We went for a long walk through the countryside and then we watched a royal wedding on TV. We had fun doing our own commentary of the dresses as the ladies walked down the red carpet to the church.

In the afternoon, we went to work on the garden – pulling weeds and cutting grass. John was tempted away from his work by Carla’s riding lawn mower. He cut the whole yard and the orchard. He loved it so much that he said he would do it every weekend if we lived closer. We had a bon fire that night and ate outside. We finished the evening off watching the Eurovision final – that was an experience!

On Sunday, C&P kindly took us out on the Feel Good (their sail boat). We cruised down the coast to Poul’s sister’s summer cottage, where we anchored the boat and rowed a dingy to shore. After an hour of chatting and eating, we had to row the dingy back to the sailboat but unfortunately, the wind had picked. We couldn’t make it all in one trip together. I had to watch in fear as John rowed backed to shore to get Carla. The swells were so big I sometimes lost sight of them in the dinghy (not quite). Everyone made it back to the boat but with wet butts.

I’m really going to miss going to visit C&P. I love staying in their beautiful guest room; I always have the best sleeps. Carla always takes good care of us – stocking up her coffee cream and havarti cheese supply for us and feeding us big wholesome meals. One of the highlights for me on this trip was walking at 11:30 at night to hear the nightingales. Even at 11:30 it wasn’t completely dark, and the nightingales didn’t sound at all like what I was expecting. Thanks for all the hospitality you two. We’ll miss having you close by.

April 2008 – Budapest and Cotswolds with Carla

Cotswolds with Carla

We had one of our last visitors was here this past weekend – my Aunt Carla flew in from Denmark.

She arrived Thursday night and spent Friday exploring the V&A Museum and walking all over Kensington. That evening she treated us to a delicious ‘nibbly’ dinner of olives, bread, artichoke, garlic veggies, meat, cheese and very yummy sauces. We sat around nibbling and chatting for ages. We loved hearing about all of her sailing adventures with husband Poul, their renovation projects of ancient Danish homes, their travels (including an interesting trip to Cuba) and life on the farm by the sea in Denmark.

We had a weekend of walking in the Cotswolds planned and we made our base an adorable town called Winchcombe. It only takes a few hours of driving west of London and you enter the picturesque countryside of the Cotswolds.

On the first part of our walk on Saturday we came across an abbey in ruins, originally ransacked by Henry the 8th. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant on an orchard/farm. We tried their fresh apple juice; it was good but not quite as good as Carla’s home made apple juice she brought us from DK. After lunch we walked through more fields and made some friends with several lambs and a puppy. We walked through a little village called Farmcote which we all wanted to live in. The back part of the route took us through bright yellow canola fields, past wise old oak trees and then by the Winchcombe castle. We had tea and then a little nap before taking Carla for a good long pub dinner.

Over the weekend, we saw several other walkers out and we had fun glimpsing into their world. ‘Expert’ walkers were identified by wearing gators and carrying an ordinance map in a clear plastic bag to prevent it from getting wet (plus they walked way faster than us). Walking poles (like ski poles) were common, but they don’t make you an expert. I think we were ‘good’ walkers but we need to practice some more before becoming ‘experts’.

Sunday, April 27th was Carla’s birthday! We tried to make it a special day for her by starting it off with balloons and champagne and orange juice. She got to have a full English breakfast at the B&B but it unfortunately came accompanied by one way conversations with one of the other guests and then some long winded stories from our hostess about her daughter’s wedding six years ago.

After listening to a little 50 Cent on the i-Pod to get pumped up (John did not partake), we left on our morning walk. We hiked up a big hill to an ancient burial mound (not so exciting for Carla who has one in her back yard). We stopped to catch our breath at a road in the woods just in time to see about 10 classic old cars drive by (they were having an old car rally in the area). After passing more quaint cottages and grand manor houses, we walked across a canola field into a little wood and found a mosaic tiled floor from Roman times! I had read about these and was thrilled to be able to see one! Winchcombe was a perfect location – castle, abbey, burial mound, Roman mosaic, quaint farms and stone cottages – all within walking distance! The rain held off too which was an added bonus.

We indulged in a pub lunch in Chipping Camden (another place we could live) before driving back to London. In the evening, we hadn’t had quite enough of being outside so we went to the local park and taught Carla how to through a Frisbee. She was a natural! Carla I hope you had a fun birthday. We sure had fun celebrating with you! Thanks for coming to visit – we always have so many laughs (YPP). See you at the WH.

Budapest

On April 19th we flew to Budapest, Hungary. Much like the Cotswolds, it was a weekend of walking. We exited the plane bracing ourselves to the biting cold air we’d grown accustomed to in London, Belgium and the Baltics, but to our surprise it was pleasantly warm! We didn’t have to wear our toques this trip!

We arrived early Saturday morning and checked into our deluxe hostel recommended by A&J - it was a fully furnished, high end apartment! To stay awake and get a feel for the city, we did a long walking tour. Pest, on the east side of the Danube, is the newer side of the city and somewhat resembles Vienna. Buda, on the west side of the Danube, has older buildings and looks more like Prague. A lot of the buildings were ruined in the war and things fell into disrepair during the Soviet era. You can tell improvements have been made and are continuing. The leaves were out far ahead of London and lilacs were in bloom. The fresh greenness made the city look beautiful, especially along the river walk.

Sunday was too sunny for us to go into any museums so we just walked and walked and walked – along both sides of the river, past Parliament and the Cathedral, up the Castle hill and through several back roads. We ate lunch on a patio over looking the river. There was a bike rally/protest going on that day to promote additional bike lanes – the streets were teeming with riders! To end off our day of walking we went to the Baths (swimming pools, hot pools, steam rooms, saunas, massage rooms). We tried to figure out the etiquette and the lockers and eventually we made it into the soothing hot pools. Thank goodness we remembered flip flops!

On Monday, we took a tour to a Soviet statue park. The Soviets ‘liberated’ Hungary and then stayed for 40 years. After they left, the citizens moved all of the Soviet era statues into this park. They were classic – big, muscular, blazing eyes, flag waving. It was nice to have a guide to interpret them for us and give us some insight to what it was like living in Hungary during communism. In the afternoon we explored the famous market in Pest and crossed another bridge over to Buda where we then hiked up to the citadel and the Statue of Liberty.

We will remember the sunny warmth of that weekend in Budapest and the beauty of the walks along the river.

Baltics, Bradford on Avon, and Bruges – March and April 2008

It's our first weekend home in four weeks and I'm very behind in my blogging. Time to catch up ...

Last weekend we went across the channel to Bruges, Belgium with Andrew and Jess. Bruges came highly recommended by anyone who has ever been there so it was a must see on our list. It was like a quaint Amsterdam - old buildings, town squares, cobblestones and canals. We wandered the streets, ate waffles, did a brewery tour, ate chocolate, drank some Belgian beer, ate mussels, caught the end of an Eagles Tribute band playing in the town square, saw the start of the Tour of Flanders bike race, and ate more waffles. We finished the weekend off driving through the Belgian country side and stopping at some Commonwealth WWI cemeteries and memorials. We lucked out with weather - it was snowing in London and we got a taste of it on the drive back.

The weekend before that, we went to visit friends Ian and Sarah in Bradford upon Avon. Sarah and Ian just moved into this great house, right on the Avon river and within a 5 minute walk to the centre of town. It is a classic old town with beautiful stone buildings, a river walk, and lots of shops and restaurants. If we were going to live in England again, we'd want to live in a place like that. We had a nice relaxing weekend visiting with them. Sarah and Ian are expecting a baby within the next month - best wishes you two! We took our time on the drive back to London. Some paragliders on a caught our attention so we drove up into the hills to see if John could get a lesson. He didn't get to fly but he had a great chat with an expert while we watched the paragliders float around above us.

For Easter weekend, we went to Estonia and Latvia, again with our trusty travel companions, Andrew and Jess. We flew into Riga, Latvia where it was cold and snowy. Good Friday was our day to explore Riga and unfortunately some of the sights we wanted to see were closed (the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Museum and St Peter's Church). We walked through the snow covered parks in the town centre and then we managed to bargain a 1/2 price private walking tour which was informative but damn cold! The guide pointed out the gilded roosters on top of the churches to ward off the devil - I had never noticed these before but there were also roosters on churches in Bradford on Avon and Bruges. The interesting part about it being Good Friday was that we got to hear choir singing emanating from the churches and we saw Catholic procession make its way through the streets.

In the afternoon, we walked to the 'new market' and caught a bus to the recommended Lido restaurant. It was self serve and the array of food was so vast it took me ages to choose what to eat. It was all sooo yum. Then we wandered the old town and the famous Art Nouveau street, and had drinks in the Skyline Bar which gave us great 360 degree views of the city at dusk. There are a lot of derelict buildings surrounding the old town - I found them interesting to look at, but I’m probably one of the few. We managed to find room in our bellies later for another traditional meal, and then A&J taught us a new card game, 500.

It snowed all day Saturday, which made the drive through the old Soviet states feel appropriately bleak. We picked up the rental car and started the drive up to Estonia with a detour through a Latvian National Park. We had read an article about an old Soviet nuclear bunker that you could do a tour of but the only thing we managed to find out about it online was that is was near a town called Ligatne. We made our way there, not knowing if we would find it or what to expect. Luckily there were signs to the Rehabilitiation Centre and Bunker, so we followed them into the woods ...

The Rehabilitation Centre was ‘wellness centre’ - but don't picture Westin Resort & Spa - picture 1960s run down apartment buildings in the middle of nowhere with an old Soviet nuclear bunker hidden underneath. We lucked out with timing because the only bunker tour that day was about to leave. We didn’t luck out on the language of the tour – it was in Latvian. The bunker was a base for Soviet warfare strategy, and was no longer classified as 'top secret' in 2003. The tour took us through the living quarters, communication rooms, power plant, map/strategy rooms and of course the communist propaganda room. It would have been a lot more interesting if we understood what the tour guide was saying.

We had lunch and walked around a crumbling castle in Cesis, Lativa's most Lativan town. Then we finished the four hour drive up to Tallin, Estonia.

Tallin didn't look that exciting until we drove into the old town (which you aren't supposed to do). After a great traditional dinner, we explored the beautiful old town on foot. This was a highlight for me - it was dark, the snow was falling, we walked on the castle walls and by churches and then tossed a frisbee in the empty town square.

We stayed in a hostel for the first time in ages. The accommodation was decent and we had private rooms but we were reminded of the benefit of private bathrooms when we all had to walk by a guy passed out on the cold hallway floor in the morning to get to the shared bathroom. He made it into the hostel, and got his key into the lock of his room door, but he didn't make it any further!

On Easter Sunday, we drove 45 minutes west along the coast to Paldiski, a recommended abandoned Soviet military town. There is still an inhabited town there, with rows of Soviet era apartment buildings (and some new ones built in the same style). We found the abandoned military offices and barracks, and trudged through the snow so that we could explore the different buildings. I saw an Easter bunny hopping through the snow. The guide books talked about there being a huge black building which used to be a submarine training centre, nicknamed the Soviet Pentagon. We looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it - after a few internet searches when we got home I found out it had been torn down.

In the afternoon, we went to an open air museum, a town of historical buildings. The best part of that, according to me, was the big town swing. If it wasn't so cold I could have stayed swinging for ages!

We had dinner at medieval restaurant, which we thought would be cheesy but turned to be okay. It was in a really old building with stone walls and dark beamed ceilings. We ate at wood tables on benches by pure candlelight. John didn't enjoy his honey beer (because it tasted like honey and not beer) but the rest of the food was excellent!

On Monday, after one more quick walk of the town, in the sunshine for the first time, we drove back to Riga, and A&J headed to Helsinki, Finland (for more snow!).

Thanks for the fun weekends A&J and I&S.

Edinburgh & The Highlands

2008-03-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

Our latest quick jaunt was off to Scotland. We flew into Edinburgh early Saturday morning and as our bus from the airport rolled into the old town centre and I got a glimpse of the castle on the cliff, I knew I was going to love it. Most of the old stone buildings are black with years of weathering but it gives the city a dark medieval feel - lots of character, lots of history.

We made it to the Royal Mile (the main road running from Hollyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle on the hill) by 8:30, which gave us a little bit of time to explore some of the many narrow alleyways (closes) and grab a quick Starbucks before our tour departed at 9:30.

With Rabbies Trail Burners, we boarded a mini coach that took us up into the highlands, by several castles and along many lochs, including Loch Lomond. Highlights included the view of Stirling Castle high up on a ridge near the William Wallace monument, Kilchurn Castle in ruins on the edge of Loch Awe, and 'Rest and Be Thankful", a beautiful view point in a pass in the highlands. On the drive between stops, our guide told us stories of Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Rob Roy, and surprisingly, graphic depictions of sheep shagging. He rivaled our tour guide in Prague for providing entertaining thoughts you could only shake your head at, but with the added bonus of a Scottish accent.

He also played some great Scottish folk music, such as Roddy Woomble, which I’m listening to now. The tour was a great way for us to see some of Scotland’s rugged wilderness in the short time we had.

We arrived back in Edinburgh at 7:30 and went straight to Monster Mash, for a delicious dinner of bangers and mash. We could tell that the night life Edinburgh was starting to heat up (or 'hot up' as the Brits say); the streets were crawling with party goers. While sitting in the restaurant 20 guys walked by each wearing different super hero costume - very impressive! We must have seen a half dozen different stag/stagette parties on streets. Alas, we could not keep our eyes open to join in the partying so we headed to our cubby hole of a room in a hotel at the base of the castle.

We tried a 'wee bit' of Haggis on Sunday for breakfast, which actually wasn’t bad, but we skipped the blood pudding. We then did a tour of Mary King's Close, medieval alleys and dwellings that were sealed off when the city hall was built above it in the 1800s. We spent the remainder of the day walking through the city; up to the castle, down through the Georgian New Town, through all the back streets and closes, down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood, up Arthur's Seat, and then up Calton Hill. Arthur's Seat is this big hill in the middle of the city, like Nose Hill in Calgary but more rugged. Climbing up it gave us a nice view of the city and out to the Firth of Forth. We finished off the day with a drink at a cozy pub and then headed back to the airport. We weren't able to squeeze everything in but we were happy with what we accomplished in two days, and we were really impressed with Edinburgh. Check out our pics, and go if you get the chance!

Next weekend - Estonia and Latvia, where it’s supposedly snowing right now!

Norwegian Wilderness

2008-03-01T13:00:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we went to Norway to relax and play in the snow with our friends. The captain of our Ultimate Frisbee team, Hildy, is Norwegian and her family has a cabin in the woods, far away from civilization. She generously/bravely invited the team to the cabin for a weekend. How could we not go? When would we have the chance to do something like this again? A lucky seven of us ended up joining her.

A week before we left, I found out that my cousin Haakon was cross country ski training in Norway and staying with one of his Norwegian aunts. It turned out that he was competing in the Norwegian Junior Nationals the weekend we were there, and the races were being held right in the area we flew into. I couldn’t believe this lucky coincidence! Haakon had races Thursday and Saturday. We flew in Friday morning and got to have a visit with him before he did his training for the day. It was so good to see him and catch up with him. He placed 4th and 5th in his races – Congrats Haakon!

We flew into Norway with Andrew and Jess and another Ultimate player, Francis. We rented a car and started the 3-hour drive into the woods. On the way we stopped in the small city of Drammen, where Hildy grew up. We were tasked to pick up dinner from Hildy’s parents who had made us a traditional Norwegian dish, reindeer stew (how sweet of them!). There wasn’t any snow in Drummen but as we headed farther into the interior of Norway everything was covered in a white blanket and there were huge drifts on the side of the road.

We were greeted at the cabin by Hildy, David and Maurice, who had arrived the day before. They helped put chains on the car and push us up the icy road. As soon as I walked into the charming cabin and looked out the front windows at the view and the softly falling snow, I instantly went into ‘lake mode’ – pure relax, no worries, content to do nothing, happy to be enjoying the wilderness.

The first night we ate the yummy reindeer by candle light and then ventured out into the night. I felt like a kid playing in the snow! We went down to a clearing by a lake and tossed around a glow in the dark Frisbee for ages. The stars were so clear in the sky and then the moon rose over the valley. The trees cast long shadows over the snow. What a night! Of course, the night didn’t end there. We went inside for a few rounds of drinks and some games, including Kerplunk and Diminishing Whist (DW).

After a relaxing sleep in on Saturday, we ate a very Scando (our shortened version of Scandinavian) breakfast and all headed out on different outdoor expeditions that day. Others did cross country skiing and hiking up the ridge. We went for a walk/snowshoe around a lake and by a waterfall. Our veg time inside was spent watching cross country ski racing and ski jumping on TV, running on a solar powered battery (the cabin has no electricity or running water). At dusk several of us headed back out for some tobogganing and more Frisbee. After dinner on Saturday night, the games came out again. More DW and the funniest drinking game I have ever played. I laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face.

After another long sleep in on Sunday, we all went for a hike. The hike was short lived; we found an open area and were distracted by playing Ultimate. We got a game going and by the end we had all stripped down and were dripping in sweat. We drove back with A&J on Sunday night and the other lucky ones stayed an extra day.

Thank you Hildy (and your parents) for all the food prep, organization and hospitality. Thank you also to Maurice, David and Francis for helping out with the cooking (and David the apple crumble). Thank you Jess for all the snackage and especially the Mars Bar slice. Thank you to all present making it such a fun weekend! Fresh air, beautiful surroundings, exercise, long sleeps, reading, relaxing, laughter, delicious food, great company – can’t beat it!

Our photos are posted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/, but for some really good ones check out A&J’s Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/fushmush/sets/72157603981547434/, or their website http://www.fushmush.net/.

Zermatt, Switzerland

2008-02-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

John has been working like a mad man for the past month so, thanks to Mom and Stan’s Christmas present, we flew away to Switzerland for an awesome long weekend and much needed break. It was one of our best weekend trips yet!

When I was in university, my sister was living in Switzerland and all the family went over to ski in Zermatt. Zermatt is a quaint little pedestrian village at the base of an incredible ski resort and the famous Matterhorn peak. I wasn’t able to go at the time, so this past weekend was my chance.

We flew into Basel in north Switzerland on the border of France and Germany. Zermatt was on the opposite side of the country, right on the Italian border. The 3.5 hour drive between the two places gave us a chance to see lots more of scenic Switzerland. On the drive we discovered the Swiss love of tunnel building; they spare no expense! Even when we thought a road over a hill might have been easier, the Swiss would stick a gratuitous tunnel there for the fun of it.

We stopped in a summer resort town on a lake called Spiez before heading up into the Alps. To get to the other side of a mountain range, we had to drive our car onto a train which shuttled us through a long, dark tunnel to the other side of the mountain. It was a very weird experience and I tried not to think of the huge mountain mass above us.

The road up towards Zermatt was windy and the towns we drove through were classic. Part of the road was on the edge of a cliff. The road pavement was crumbling away on the edge and the metal ‘safety’ barrier was attached to the crumbling pavement. I was wishing for a tunnel! (Future travelers don’t worry – they are building a tunnel and it’s about finished.)

We couldn’t find accommodation in Zermatt so we stayed in the village below called Tasche, at the hotel “Elite”. The Elite was built the 70s and hasn’t changed one bit, which we got a kick out of. Because no cars are allowed in Zermatt, you have to leave your car in Tasch and take a train for 15 minutes up to Zermatt. Despite being a pedestrian village, there are tons of electronic carts buzzing around Zermatt to shuttle people and luggage to their hotels. We almost got hit a few times because we couldn’t hear them coming.

We arrived in Zermatt late Friday afternoon and caught our first glimpse of the Matterhorn. We got acquainted with the town, rented our skies and decided which gondola we wanted to take so we could get a fast and early start on Saturday morning. We had a drink at the National Hotel and then a huge dinner including goulash soup (yum) and cheese fondue (not yum).

We were up and at them early on Saturday to hit the slopes. We were expecting forecasted sunshine but it was snowing and all we could see were clouds. We boarded the first gondola up towards the ski area under the Matterhorn – and still couldn’t see anything, it was a total white out. We blindly followed a track down to what was luckily another lift to take us farther up the mountain. We were really starting to get down, thinking we would be skiing blind all day with no mountain views, and then, a white light appeared above us. We broke through the clouds – and there was the Matterhorn, gleaming in the sunshine!

We skied above the clouds in the sunshine all day. The conditions were awesome; light fluffy powder and long groomed cruisers. We took a cable car twice up to a crazy high peak with excellent views over the Zermatt valley, the Matterhorn and into Italy. It was such a fun day!!!

The clouds below us cleared at the end of the day so we skied all the way into the town. Halfway down we saw the track that we navigated in the morning in the white out – it is a good thing we stuck to the track because otherwise we would have skied off a cliff!

That night in Zermatt, we had a beer in a pub and watched world cup ski jumping. This is not something we normally (ever) do but we got into it quite quickly. By the end of our beers we were judging jumpers techniques and speed, and estimating/betting on jump distances. (It was surprisingly fun.) After another filling Swiss dinner, we cozied up in our 70s hotel with our tea (yes, the Brit tea drinking has worn off on us).

We had a good long Sunday sleep in and woke to glorious sunshine. We took our time driving back to Basel, on a different route than what we drove in on. It took us through a new mountain pass, cross country ski land, beautiful Swiss villages, another car train in a mountain, and the pretty lake city of Lucerne.

We love all our weekend trips but this one was one of the best! Thanks Mom and Stan.

Salzburg, Austria

2008-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

Despite her very busy work schedule, John’s sister Lauren managed to get away for 10 days and she flew to London to visit us. She spent a few days exploring London and then we flew to Salzburg, Austria for a winter getaway. Andrew and Jess joined us as well.

We found a great deal on a hotel, breakfast, ski bus package. It was a 4 star hotel and far nicer the accommodation we usually get. We had a good laugh comparing it the hostel dorm room we stayed in when we went to Salzburg in Nov/06.

We arrived Wednesday night, and after a great sleep and breakfast, we caught the ski bus to Shladming for a day of skiing. We had a fun day getting our ski legs back, and trying to navigate around a new mountain in the snow. We made a wrong turn near the end of the day which resulted in a panicked race down the mountain so we wouldn’t miss the bus back.

Friday was Lauren’s 29th birthday. She had sleep in and then joined A&J for breakfast. The hotel surprised her with champagne and cake. They got a tour of the old town, explored and shopped and managed to not get too bombarded by Mozart and the Sound of Music.

John and I skied Flachau on Friday. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were able to enjoy the gorgeous views of the Austrian Alps. My mom taught skiing in Austria back in the day so I thought of her as I cruised down the slopes. All over the mountain there are on hill lodges for eating and accommodation. They were so quaintly Austrian and one had an outdoor coffee bar.

Friday night was birthday celebration night. We went to the old town for dinner in a classic Austrian restaurant, which unfortunately for Lauren only serviced beer and wine. Lauren had to be introduced to a raddler (aka shandy ie beer with 7-up) and after dinner we made a bee line out of to the bar next door so she could get a rum and diet coke. After that bar, we went to a roof top cocktail bar with a view of the old town, and then we headed to another one where Lauren charmed the Italian waiter and he brought us several rounds of free shots. Our last stop was the hotel bar, where we managed to buy one more round before it closed. We then played a bit of poker and hit the sack.

We all slept in Saturday but woke up in time to enjoy one more delicious breakfast. Poor John had to work so the rest of us explored Salzburg. He met us in the afternoon and we had a beer at a traditional beer hall. It was like a college dorm cafeteria, but with 4 different massive rooms (beer halls) instead of one. Andrew figured out how to get the beer – you get a beer stein from a shelf, it is hot from the wash so you run it under the cold water fountain, then you pay and get a ticket, then you give the ticket to the beer vendor who fills your stein. We bought some of the shaved radish they were selling (why?) and headed for dinner at a great restaurant near our hotel.
We all flew out to London on Saturday night – thanks guys for the fun ski trip! Thanks for visiting Lauren!

Paris, France

2008-01-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

We left for Paris on the Eurostar from the new St Pancras station early Friday morning, to meet up with John’s parents who had headed to Paris on Wednesday. The Eurostar was such a treat to take; easy to get to, quick check in time, pretty scenery to watch out the window, and seats with head rests that prevented me from my habitual head bobbing whilst sleeping.

I know I keep raving and gushing about cities, and that is not going to stop with Paris. It was so beautiful! I loved the monuments and Parisian buildings, and I loved how they were completed by the cities layout. The open streets and the well planned monument locations allow for perfect sight lines of the places of interest around central Paris.

We dropped our bags off at our hotel in the trendy Bercy area of Paris (it reminded us of Kits in Vancouver), and then we took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the stairs to the top and took in the view of the city; the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, financial district, Champs Elysees, the Obelisque, the Louvre. A huge traffic circle (the intersection of 12 streets) surrounds the Arc and we spent several minutes studying the French traffic circle etiquette. I guess it didn’t really surprise us that the yielding rules were the opposite of England.

From there we walked to Trocadero, an area overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Enroute we grabbed two pain au chocolates, and once in Trocadero we had a coffee at a café with full view of the Tower. (Was paying EUR10 for average coffee worth the view?) We spent the afternoon hoofing it around Central Paris, hitting most of the sights on the west side. We capped it off with some crepes before heading to the hotel to meet up with Ken and Lindsay. (France is not good for our health – we eat way too many pastries and crepes.)

We had a lovely dinner with K&L and got caught up on all their Paris adventures. They were having a great time exploring. We also had some fun discussions about the US Presidential primaries.

On Saturday morning, John went to the Louvre with his parents. They wisely took tours once inside which showed them the highlights of the massive museum and gave some explanation of the art (helping with John’s non-existent art appreciation). The highlight for him was learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics.

I went to the Louvre several years ago, so on my sister’s recommendation I took a train to the Chateau of Versailles. The massive palace and the huge gardens really were impressive. There is a large silver collection in Louis the XIV’s state apartments of the palace, several pieces of which came from Rosenburg Castle in Copenhagen, which we’ve been to.

With precision timing, we all met back up in front of the Louvre in the early afternoon and walked east along the river to see Notre Dame Cathedral. The Parisian buildings along the way were equally interesting to look at. From there we split up; Lindsay went to a decorative arts museum and Ken went back to the Louvre. John and I wanted to check out the exhibit everyone was lined up for at the Grand Palace. We looked in the window and figured it was some sort of light show/exhibit. It turned out to be a large exhibit on trains, sponsored by the national rail company. The French seemed fascinated - we weren’t. A fashion show of French rail uniforms throughout the decades? No thanks. The most interesting part was that you could go into old trains, but there was an hour line up for each one, so we skipped that. Then John got yelled at by a security guard when he knocked over a barrier while trying to take a picture, and was told “This is not your home”. Great. We left. Now if the exhibit had been airplanes and airports, John would have been there all weekend.

Later on we walked through Place Vendome, a ritzy square where I can picture Posh Spice et al congreting at fashion week. Near the grand Opera House we found a quaint piano bar and had some drinks and French Onion Soup.

We finished the night off by going to see the Eiffel tower lit up. On the way, we had one of our funniest/embarrassing tourist moments to date. At the piano bar, John pulled out his pocket Metro guide and figured out the trains we needed to take and where to connect, to get from the Opera House to Trocadero. Once in the station, we double checked our route by consulting a large metro map on the platform wall. We were all staring at it, loudly trying to figure out where we were. We could see the green line we needed to be on, but the station names were all different. Just as we were about to give up thinking we were at the wrong station, a French woman took pity on us and managed to explain to us in French that we were looking at an advertisement, not the Metro map! We were so embarrassed but we sure got a good laugh about it. We were all chuckling, including the kind French lady, all the way to our connecting stop.

K&L of course got an early start on Sunday and they were out exploring a huge, intricate garden in Bercy. We rolled out of bed a few hours later and walked through the garden ourselves, and then along the river. It was nice and sunny so we went back into Central Paris to see some of the sights one more time before catching the train back to London.

Thanks for the fun weekend K&L and thanks to all John’s family for coming to visit us over Christmas. It was great having you here.

Scroll down for Portugal’s blog. Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/

Albufeira, Portugal

2008-01-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

After a lovely Christmas in London with John’s parents (Ken and Lindsay), grandma (Pat), uncle (Trev) and our Aussie friends Andrew and Jess, John left with his family VERY early on Boxing Day to fly to Portugal. They flew into Faro on the southwest coast of the country and did a short drive into the Algarve to Albufeira and our villas. They were busy the first few days exploring the towns in the area and walking the local beaches. After working those few days, I gratefully joined everyone on the 29th.

It was beautifully sunny every day of our trip. The sun high in the sky beating down on us felt so good after a few dark months in London. It wasn’t beach weather but we usually stripped down to t-shirts by mid afternoon with highs of 16 or 17. It really cooled off at nights though.

John picked me up at Faro airport and took me straight to the old Moorish capital of Silves where we met his family for lunch. Silves had a Moorish fortress and a busy food market. As we have said before, we love traveling in the winter. One of the perks is that the locals venture out and you can see more of what life is like when a place when it isn’t overrun with tourists. Locals were getting their food from the market and wandering through the streets at Silves. They all had their winter coats on, while we foolish tourists were in t-shirts. We all enjoyed a huge lunch in Silves of local fish and Portuguese chicken.

We were staying in villas in a golf resort. Our apartment had balcony facing the south sun, overlooking a pool and palm and cork trees. We spent our mornings there drinking coffee and reading. We felt quite at home in our villas, making and eating dinners, and playing Cribbage and Pentago. We also got our first Bridge lesson.

The small part of Portugal that we saw was similar to neighbouring southern Spain; the inland was less rugged and picturesque but the coast made up for it. The beaches and cliffs were stunning. On my second day there John, Ken, Pat and I went to the southwesterly tip of the country. We ate lunch on the sunny patio of a restaurant overlooking a beautiful beach and cliffs (big highlight of the trip). We drove along the cliffs, past the surfer vans and the big fortress. We stopped at one the lighthouses and admired the sheer drop to the water below. The cliffs and surge of the ocean took my breath away, not to mention the fishermen perched precariously on the edges, tied to the rocks and casting down to the water.

On the last day of 2007 (Happy Birthday Sarah!), John and I drove inland to the cute town of Alte. We walked to a waterfall that John’s family had discovered earlier, explored the town and then enjoyed a coffee on a terrace overlooking Alte’s valley. We tried a local delicacy, which looked like a tasty Beaver Tail style pastry. It disappointingly turned out to be a sweet potato concoction. We should have gone for the Portuguese tart. Later in the afternoon we hit some balls at the driving range at our resort. Much to John’s chagrin, they wouldn’t let us on the course because we didn’t have golf shoes.

We started the New Year’s celebration with drinks and appies at Pat’s villa and then we walked to our restaurant for dinner. Chef Chico and his family did not disappoint; the meal was excellent and great value. We finished the low key evening back at the villa where we tried out the fire place. We were told it might work – it didn’t and we smoked ourselves out (but noted that no fire/smoke alarms went off. Safety first in Portugal). Trev and his girlfriend where the only young ones at heart; they headed into Albufeira along with thousands of others for what we heard was an excellent fire works show. We watched the top of it from where we were and watched some of the spectacular London ones on TV.

We were happy to have a fairly mellow evening as we left for London early on the 1st. It was a nice, slower paced, relaxing trip to end off the year, and it was wonderful to share it with the family. Thank you to John’s colleague Octavio for providing us with lots of tips on his home region. Scroll down for Christmas in London blog. Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/

Christmas in London

2008-01-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

We had a busy December after getting back from Prague.

John has a new InterVISTAS colleague in the UK; Ian and his wife Sarah, who joined us in Prague and live in Bristol. So for the InterVISTAS-EU Christmas party, John and I went to Bristol and we all went out for dinner at a bangers and mash restaurant (very English). We stayed overnight with Ian and Sarah and they toured us around Bristol the next day. Parts of the city are really beautiful and grand. It is on a breathtaking gorge and the old buildings took me back 100 years. Where were the horse drawn carriages and men in top hats? We also went to the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum and learned all about the good and bad of Britain taking over the world.

We froze our butts off playing in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament on Sunday the 9th, and then counteracted any benefits of the physical activity a week later with a big Christmas lunch with the team.John’s parents arrived on Dec 14th and his grandma and uncle four days later. They roamed around London and England at record pace. We have managed to cross a few London things off our list with them – the Natural History Museum, a historical walking tour of the square mile of the London City and the Museum of London.

A highlight for me was on Dec 23rd when Jess, Lindsay (John’s mom) and I went to St Paul’s Cathedral for a carol service. It was an incredible experience. The Cathedral is so impressive but not excessive. We lucked out and got seats up in a gallery so we could over look the proceedings. The boys choir paraded through in their traditional robes and sang with heavenly voices. It certainly wasn’t like carol services I had been to in the past; it was much more traditional. The carols were ancient, the program quoted composition dates hundreds of years old. The only carol we knew Hark the Herald Angels Sing. I knew the words to O Little Town of Bethlehem but the music was from the 1500s.

On Christmas Eve day, John’s parents and grandma kindly got to work for me in the kitchen – coffee cake, nuts and bolts, xmas dinner prep, xmas eve dinner. Thank you! What a treat!On Christmas morning we opened our stockings, beautifully made by John’s grandma, and ate a hearty breakfast. John’s family did a lot of shopping at the London markets and they found some really lovely gifts – I was impressed by what they found. Our friends Andrew and Jess brought the turkey over midday and we all went for a walk through the local parks. We spent the afternoon reading, playing games and visiting and then sat down for some more eating.

Thank you to all our guests for making it a special day. I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I had lots of food help. I have much more appreciation for all of our family members who have put on Christmas in the past.
John and his family were off early on Boxing Day to catch their flight to Portugal. I worked a few extra days and joining them on Saturday.

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/

Prague, Czech Republic

2007-12-12T12:34:00.001-08:00

After going to the mother of all Christmas markets in Vienna last year, we decided to see what Prague had to offer this year. Prague's been on our to do list since we got to Europe, so we took a long weekend and checked out the city with Andrew & Jess and Ian & Sarah. Unfortunately Leah was pretty sick for the entire weekend, so she is getting a break from blog writing...

So the logistics planning for this particular trip turned out to be exceptional. We flew out of London City airport, which is a painless tube ride from Ealing, and more importantly, security processing takes about 12 seconds. LCY is pretty much a business airport to serve Canary Wharf and the City, so it was extra quick on Saturday morning. We flew on Swiss Air, which meant being treated far more humanely than we're used to with Ryanair & Co. Assigned seats, free beer and Swiss chocolates, what more could you ask for?

We arrived in Prague on Saturday evening and took the metro to the Hotel City Bell, which was a great find by Jess - huge rooms, a good buffet breakfast and walking distance to the city center. We dropped our bags and met up with Ian & Sarah at the pub across the street, and set about reducing our APB (average price per beer). The Czech Republic brews some excellent beer, and pints are about $1.75, compared to $6.50+ in London.

We headed over to the Christmas markets, which were closed for the evening except for the grog stand. We didn't know what grog was, but decided that everyone had to have one (except Sarah, who's pregnant). Turns out she was the lucky one. Grog is rum & hot water, and it's pretty nasty. We all gave up after a few sips, except Andrew, who easily won Grog. Andrew found us a great restaurant for dinner, we had a night cap at the pub next to the hotel, and then hit the sack.

Sunday we took a 4-hour(!) walking tour around Prague. The city is quite beautiful, particularly the architecture, and the Old Town is in excellent shape. The highlight of the tour was probably the guide, a student-looking guy whose habit of long-winded explanations was pleasantly offset by his general wierdness. His best move was reciting some obscure fact about Prague, and then saying "Yessss" with an arm pump as if he's just scored in sudden death overtime. "Czechs became disenchanted with the church after the 30 Years War, so we're mostly athiest now. Yessss" (arm pump). "Corpses legally belong to the City of Prague, so we can take your organs without your consent. Yessss" (arm pump). We spent our 20 minute lunch break at a traditional Czech restaurant called McDonald's, and then continued the tour up to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, which look down over the city.

We were pretty well frozen by the end of the tour, so we found a cafe in Wenceslas Square to warm up with a coffee. We then headed in to the Old Town Square to check out the Christmas market. It was absolutely packed, and didn't really have the same authentic types of crafts as in Vienna, but it was a really nice atmosphere. We picked up a couple of things, and tried the rolled up sugared bread (called trdelnik we think), before heading for dinner. Dinner was traditional Czech dumplings with meat, sauce, cranberries & cream. After dinner we picked up a few beers at the grocery store and played cards back at the hotel, where Ian destroyed us in his first ever game of Diminishing Whist.

Monday morning we went to the Museum of Communism, one of the attractions that didn't get a "skip it" from Arm Pump the tour guide. I thought this museum was actually really interesting, but I think my travel companions were less impressed. Favourite facts: a) the Prague memorial to Stalin took about 300,000 person days to build in 1955 before being demolished in 1962 after a collective change of heart towards Stalin, and b) the entire national hockey team was tried and imprisoned after the communist takeover (for what exactly, I'm not sure)...

Ian & Sarah had to head back to Bristol, so the rest of us had a leisurely lunch and a final cruise through the Christmas markets. We didn't get any snow unfortunately, but the rain held off until we were enroute to the airport. A few more Swiss chocolates later and we were back in London. All in all a successful trip - beautiful city and great company!

Bled, Slovenia

2007-11-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

We still love Slovenia! We went to Slovenia the first time about a year ago and we wanted to go back so we could explore the Lake Bled area and the national park in the Julian Alps. Slovenia is “mini-Europe”. It has beaches on the Adriatic, old castles, historic cities, beautiful churches, caves, and the Alps, all crammed into its tiny borders, and the bonus is that it is still relatively undiscovered and great value for money.

We arrived midday Friday the 9th, and while John had a meeting with the airport I got my weekly Economist reading out of the way and continued devouring The Wolf of the Plains (a great new book about Genghis Khan).

We got to our destination of Bled later in the afternoon. Lake Bled has an island with a church on it and a castle high up on a cliffs of its shore. John found us this great hotel, outside of the town and right on the lake. We had a view of the castle, the church and all the rowers skimming across the water. The hotel was really good – clean, neat atmosphere and delicious local food. Friday evening we bundled up and walked around the lake. That worked up our appetites for a dinner of local food and then we hit the sack very early.

We spent Saturday exploring different sights in the national park, which consumes the northwest corner of the country. My friend Barb was the one that originally recommended hiking in Slovenia. First we went to the famous gorge, but unfortunately, the trail was closed, so we weren’t able to see much of it. The trail was mostly made up of boardwalks along the gorge walls but they were damaged in a big storm.

We took on a tiny gravel road through the park (non stop beautiful scenery) to a waterfall, which we hiked up to, and then we picnicked at the base of some stunning mountains. By mid afternoon, we were at the north end of the park and we thought we would take the only road that went across the park. It looked like a quick cut through, but our map didn’t show elevation. We started to go up and up and then we came across a sign that told us about the road. It is called the “Russian Road” as it was built by Russian prisoners of war in 1916. It goes through a very high mountain pass and it is closed during the winter. The sign advised of the road’s 50 hairpin turns (switchbacks), 25 on either side of the pass. The road, the turns and the spectacular mountain scenery took our breath away. So did the cold air and snow when we got out of the car at the top of the pass. The route certainly exceeded our expectations!

By the time we got to the bottom of the pass, the sun was setting. We flipped a coin to decide our route back to Bled, either around the north end or south end of the park (going back over the Russian Road was not considered). We chose the north route which took us through Italy. The Italian border crossing was really cool. It was at the top of another pass, lower than the Russian Road one, and it had fortresses in ruins on either side. We eventually made it back to our cozy hotel in Bled, where we enjoyed another great dinner and early to bed.

On Sunday, we drove to Bohinj Lake, another beautiful sight. We had the urge to do a bit more physical activity than the day before so we walked around the lake which took about 2.5 hours. The sun was shining, the lake was like a mirror, the air was crisp and the ground was covered in autumn leaves to kick our way through. At the end of the walk, we had a coffee on a café patio over looking the lake.

Driving to the airport on Sunday afternoon, we were talking about how it was such a perfect weekend -- fresh air, amazing scenery, long sleeps, yummy food, good value, and decent flight times. Of course, we jinxed ourselves and our flight was four hours late leaving. Aside from that, it was such a lovely weekend getting back to nature. Slovenia is definitely worth a visit!

Normandy, France

2007-11-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

Our latest long weekend away (Nov 2-4) was a patriotic remembrance trip to the Normandy and Picardie regions of France: we visited Canadian World War I and II Memorials. The weekend objective was to cram in as much war history and pastry as possible.

We switched things up a bit transport wise and, we took an overnight ferry over to France, departing from Portsmouth to Caen. After a drink at the bar, we settled into our little cabin. Everything was compact; the upper bunk where I slept pulled out of the ceiling, but we had a private bathroom and shower.

John is ever the good driver, and once in France, he easily transitioned to driving on the right side of the road but from the right side of our English car. We drove to Deauville, a summer beach town for Parisians where John had a business meeting with the airport. The town had some amazing castle like houses. With all those roof angles, we kept thinking that they made construction much more difficult than it needed to be.

We drove south along the coast to Courseulles Sur Mer, better known to Canadians as Juno Beach, where the Canadian troops landed on D-Day to start the battle of Normandy. In the new historic centre on the beach, we learned about the invasion: the preparation, the strategy, how they learned from mistakes at Dieppe, the luck, the successes, the casualties. We learned about how the troops advanced farther into Europe and we gained appreciation for how “all consuming” the war was back in Canada. The little details and the personal stories hit home and made history come to life.

After Juno, we drove further south to the American cemetery at Ohama Beach, where about half of the American troops landed. The cemetery is in a stunning location overlooking the cliffs and the beach, and the sight of 11,000 white crosses marking graves is powerful.

Saturday was our “non war” day. We grabbed some croissants and coffee and started our drive up to the town of Arras. We stopped midday in the city of Rouen, which was where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. We explored the town centre, which is home to several churches, a Cathedral and wall to wall half timbered buildings.

It was dark when we arrived in Arras and our first impressions that it was a bleak and industrial city. But, once we navigated our way to the centre of town, we were pleasantly surprised to find two large squares buzzing with activity and surrounded by well restored historical buildings. Our hotel was right on the main square.

The night before in Deauville, we got ripped off with a tourist meal for dinner. Feeling very upset about this rookie travel mistake, we bought a baguette, cheese, meat, tomatoes and olives and enjoyed a homemade dinner in our hotel room. We also bought four bottles of wine and beer because it was so cheap, and played a few games of crib.

Sunday we went to Vimy Ridge for the Canadian Remembrance Day ceremony. The formal ceremony took place in front of the impressive monument, with the bugle and bagpipes, veterans and dignitaries and laying of wreaths. Restoration of the monument was completed in the Spring of 2007, in time for the 90th year anniversary of the battle that took place on the ridge, when four Canadian divisions working together for the first time were successful in taking the ridge. Interesting fact - Hitler was at the inauguration of the Vimy Memorial in 1936. During WWII, he stationed guards at the site to protect it.

The Vimy memorial is 110 acres of land that the French gifted to Canada after WWI, and includes the memorial itself, two cemeteries, the trenches and tunnels, a museum and lots of forest. It is a beautiful plot of land with a great view and lots of maple tress. The ground is covered in bumps and craters from all the trenches and explosions. It looks like a mogul course on a ski hill. You can’t walk on most of it due to un-detonated explosives.

Canadian University students work at the site and run tours/provide info. We started talking to a student from Steinbach and he gave us a personal tour of the trenches – amazing that the Canadian and German front lines were only 25 metres apart. Trench warfare sounded grim but the tactics used were very interesting. We were able to tour the ten kms of tunnels run that under the Canadian trenches, which were used to bring troops to the front for the battle of Vimy.

After Vimy, we drove up to Calais and then took the quick ferry back over to England. My brief descriptions of the history of the events don’t do them justice. To visit these sites and learn more about what happened in the Wars was a very powerful experience. We really recommend it.

Venice, Italy

2007-10-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

A year after doing our first weekend trip, to Carcassonne, France, we did our first day trip to Europe, to Venice. John found Ryanair flights for 4 pence all in (about 10 cents), so how could we not go? We took the first flight out in the morning and the last flight home at night.

It was such a treat to suddenly find myself, in the middle of the week when we would have normally been working, in a vaporetta (transit boat) going down the Grand Canal. The sun was shining, the water was sparkling and the buildings were stunning! I was pleasantly surprised by the magical feel to the city. What they say about Venice is true.

We cruised down the Grand Canal taking in all the classic Venice sights. We ended up at Piazza San Marco, where we weaved our way through the crowds of people and pigeons, past the Doge’s palace and into the Basilica. The Basilica’s ceiling was covered in gold but what we found most fascinating was the floor. It was covered in intricate stone mosaics but due to subsidence it was extremely wavy. Next, we went up the bell tower which gave us a great view of the city and water.

To see as much of the city as possible we followed parts of three walking tours in our guide book. We walked along the big canals, through back streets and squares, past docks with gondolas departing full of passengers, into the shopping districts, and over big bridges and quaint bridges.

We sat at a café in a sunny square and enjoyed bicerin, a Venetian specialty drink of coffee, chocolate and very rich thick cream. The bill was EUR 13, which is cheaper than if we had had them in Piazza San Marco. We went to the old Jewish ghetto which used to house 4,000 people on an island the space of two city blocks. The buildings were the same height as buildings in the rest of the city but they had extra stories crammed into them. About four hours after the bicerin, we finally had enough room in our bellies for some Italian gelato. We strolled to the end of a canal with our gelato and sat and watched the sun set (how romantic). After stopping for a glass of prosecco at a bar we headed back to the Grand Canal and saw Venice lit up at night.

We had a lovely day in the magical city of Venice and we got everything done that we wanted to do – pics are posted on the website. The one day timing was perfect and it prevented us from spending an crazy amount of money, ‘cause Venice ain’t cheap baby!

Stockholm

2007-09-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we zipped over to Stockholm, Sweden, birthplace of Ikea, H&M, Pippy Long Stockings and half of the Vancouver Canucks. It was a quick trip for me, just Saturday and Sunday, but John stayed into the week for a conference. The conference was one excuse to go, the really cheap flights another, and the best reason was my good friend from growing up at West Hawk Lake, Caroline Hyslop, moved to Stockholm three months ago.

Given that we had got back from Canada on Monday, and my Mom and Grandpa were in town for a quick visit Thursday and Friday, we didn’t get to read the guide book so we had no expectations...

We had a 1.5 hour bus ride from the airport into Stockholm to check out the scenery. Forests, lakes, farms, cottages – were we back in Canada? It looked exactly like driving from WH to Kenora...

Right after we arrived at our hotel, Caroline and Pelle, her Swedish boyfriend, met us in the lobby. We walked through the shopping and financial district of downtown to get to their beautifully appointed apartment for drinks. Pelle chose traditional Swedish restaurant for dinner: it was a great place and he made delicious food recommendations. Over dinner we got to hear the full story of how they met and had a whirlwind romance in New Zealand before Caroline decided to make the big move.

After dinner, they walked us along the rest of the main harbour and through the old town. There was a wildlife photo exhibit open to the public which we meandered through. It had some amazing shots of African animals, eagles soaring, sharks hunting, and even polar bears from Churchill, Manitoba romping in the snow. Continuing on, we passed the opera house, parliament, a huge palace, grand museums, and quaint shops and cafes. We loved Stockholm instantly and couldn’t wait to go back in the daylight.

We met back up with Caroline and Pelle on Sunday. We lucked out with sunny weather, but it was crisp. We cruised the harbour by day and wow, was it ever beautiful! The leaves on the trees in the parks were turning orange, the water was sparkling in the sun, and attractive, colourful buildings surrounded the water’s edge. Any pictures we have, don’t do it justice. As we walked, Pelle told us great stories of Stockholm and Sweden’s history. We sure picked the right tour guide.

We enjoyed coffees on our walk which took us through a lovely park, before John left for his conference. Instead of walking back, he took a ferry through the water ways. Pelle, Caroline and I ate shrimp, egg and mayo sandwiches outside at a restaurant. The restaurants and cafes all had blankets in their outdoor seating areas, which I thought was a great idea. I’m so cold all the time, I need them in the restaurants. Pelle left us girls to chat and we walked through the old town and then hiked up the stairs of a look out tower to get a full view of the city.

It was a lovely weekend. Thanks Caroline and Pelle for the great visit and for touring us around Stockholm. Caroline, you sure picked a charming city to live in, and a charming man to share it with.

Canada

2007-09-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

Our trip home to Canada…

John left England 1.5 weeks before me. In honour of our 4th anniversary on Aug. 23, John went to a stag party in Vegas with 10 other guys. So we delayed our celebration until the lake, and John had a great opportunity to catch up with Kristian and the guys.

I arrived in Winnipeg on September 1st. I took a cab from the airport to my sister’s house and enroute got in a four car minor accident, caused by the driver behind my cab looking at another four car accident on the side of the road. Once my shaking stopped, I laughed that one off.

Sarah left a car for me at her house, my brother-in-law’s BMW. I had a sweet drive out to the lake with the tunes cranked. Before long I was at the Lake!!! It was hot and the cottage looked amazing. Mom had a new deck put in. I had fun exploring all the familiar parts of the cottage and seeing what was new.

Sarah and Kevin bought a new cottage this past winter, just down the bay from Mom’s. I called Sarah for a pick up. She hopped in her boat and about 15 seconds later was buzzing around the cliff, baby on her back. I was thrilled to see them, I had been so excited for the whole week before. Sarah and Kev’s new cabin is fantastic! They have done so much work on it and it looks amazing.

It was a big change going from densely populated London to the Canadian wilderness with no one around. I’d never been at the lake so late in the season. The leaves were holding their colour, the air temperature was still warm, but the lake was quite cool. I did manage four swims during the week though.

The first night jet lag kicked in and I woke up a few times. I was all alone in the “penthouse” of the new guest cabin and I had the windows and door to the screen porch wide open. The wind was howling. I was awakened the first time by some guys on the road behind the cabin shining their flash lights in my window. That scared the crap out of me. They went away when I turned my light on and hopefully they were just some of my brother’s friends. Then the wind started slamming the screen door, which I was too scared to get up and close, then chipmunks were walking through the forest scaring the crap out of me. Why couldn’t I just fall asleep! Where was John when I needed him?

On Sunday, as she did every morning at 8:00, Sarah called, to wake me up for our morning walk. She had been doing it every day in the summer with Mom and the other lake ladies, Cole on her back. We enjoyed the day in the sun on the dock and John arrived with his Grandma in the afternoon. John and Kev watched some football at Mark’s place and then S&K hosted a delicious dinner with a bunch of friends.

We had a perfect and relaxing week at the lake. A few cloudy days but most were nice and warm. We spent our days hanging out, doing lake things, playing with Cole, visiting with Sarah, hearing about her summer, playing cribbage. We had dinner one night over at John’s Grandma’s, we circumnavigated the lake in the boat, we tested out Mom’s cool new pedal kayak and we played a round of golf. It was just the down time we needed and we got our lake fix for the year.

After the lake, John flew back to Van and went to see his sister on Vancouver Island. Sarah, Cole and I flew to Calgary to see Mom and Stan. I couldn’t get enough of playing with Cole, he was so cute, especially on the plane ride. On the ride to Mom’s from the airport I was reminded of how magnificent the prairie skies are. It is so beautiful there; I love the rolling fields and hills and the white mountains on the horizon.

On Saturday, Sarah went horse back riding and helped Stan moved cows while Mom and I babysat Cole. We had a lovely day going to the farmer’s market in Cochrane, working in Mom’s beautiful garden, flower arranging, and making dinner for Mom’s birthday party that night. A big crew of family came over, which included lots of blond kids, four under six. That added a whole new dynamic to the evening. After a big walk through Church Ranches on Sunday, I flew to Vancouver. I left Mom on her birthday again: sorry Mom.

Vancouver was hot and sunny the whole week we were there – we sure lucked out. It was a busy week with lots of errands to run but did manage to fit in several hours in the sun in Lindsay’s exquisite garden. One day, John’s Mom and I spent an afternoon speed gardening at our house. It was so great back the blackberry bushes, tidying things up and seeing how much things had grown. I miss working in our garden.

One evening, I met my friend Vanessa for a walk on Kits Beach along my old walking route. As we approached the shore, the scene took by breath away! I had forgotten how stunning it was there. Mountains, water, city. What an incredible place to live.

We had a few nights enjoying long dinners and conversations with Ken and Lindsay, and we had a few nights visiting with friends at pre-wedding events, Joy’s girls night and the “out of towners” get together.

Joy and Kristian’s wedding was on Saturday night and it was amazing! Every detail was so beautiful, ingenious, and well planned. The dinner was delicious, the speeches were funny and sweet and the company was second to none. We were so happy we could be there to celebrate with them. Seeing all our friends having so much fun was the perfect way to cap off the trip.

Our departure on Sunday wasn’t too sad because we had staggered the goodbyes, and we would be seeing Mom and Gramps in a week and Lindsay and Ken at Christmas. It helped to know we would be arriving in a familiar place with jobs, friends and place to live, as opposed to last year.

What a wonderful visit back to Canada. We had such a feeling of home every place we went. Thank you to all our family and friends for your hospitality. We loved our visits with you and we miss you! Dan, sorry for the delay in getting this blog posted.

Denmark

2007-08-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

We love going to visit my Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul in Denmark because it feels like home. We love staying at their beautiful home and farm, we love exploring the rocky beaches, picturesque countryside and quaint villages, and we love just hanging out with Carla and Poul, especially while enjoying one of Carla’s excellent dinners. This trip was 10 years since my first trip to Denmark.

We arrived at London’s Stansted airport Friday evening and while we waited for our flight, John efficiently made calls regarding the rental of our house. Unfortunately, our lovely upstairs tenants are moving out, but with the help of our friend Mike, we were able to find a new tenant quickly. John made a few more calls when we got to Denmark and when we woke up it was all sorted. Thanks Mike!

We didn’t get to Carla and Poul’s (C&P) until the wee hours of the morning but it was worth it to be able to have three full days there, and Carla let us sleep in. Once we finally got up on Saturday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast with C&P, which included cream for our coffee and home made butter tarts! Carla, you know the way to our hearts.

Carla then took us on a 14km bike ride to the harbour town of Kerteminde. She had a route all planned out, which took us through classic old Danish towns and we had a few stops along the way. The first stop was at Carla’s friend Alexandra’s house, where we toured Alexandra’s art gallery and ate pears in her orchard. The second stop was Elizabeth, Anders and Anna’s house, where we went on Christmas day. Elizabeth and baby Anna greeted us with coffee and cookies which we enjoyed in their perfect garden.

We eventually made it to Kerteminde where Carla took us straight to the harbour to see their new sailboat, called the Feel Good. C&P bought it last autumn and spent the winter fixing it up. It is an impressive vessel. Poul is out seveat least once a week racing it. Poul biked down to meet us and we all enjoyed a beer sitting on the boat in the harbour. The bike ride back along the coast, while beautiful, was agonizing for me. I haven’t ridden a bike for a while and my butt was not up for the challenge. I think it’s still sore! Good thing we weren’t on a week long bike trip somewhere.

We had a warped concept of time that day and we didn’t end up sitting down for dinner until 10ish. We filled ourselves on delicious steaks, Polish onions, garden potatoes and beats, accompanied by Carla’s secret sauce. Yum! C&P entertained us with stories of their adventures, which included making their own hot tub out of a large cement livestock feeding drum. They balanced the large cement pot on rocks, built a fire underneath, put a tarp on the inside so they wouldn’t scrape their bums and filled it with water. Very ingenious but it looked like a human cauldron.

On Sunday morning, Carla had breakfast and lunch packed when we got up and we headed straight to the Feel Good for a day of sailing. We got the sails up and headed out of the harbour (when I say we, I really mean, Carla and Poul). As we cruised to the Island of Romso the sun came out. We got off the boat at Romso and walked around the island before getting back on the boat for more food and drink. We thought we would sail around the island before heading back and we got the spinnaker up, both of which seemed a good idea but then the wind died. At that point, I had a nap in the cozy cabin. When I arose we were motoring back and John and I got to spend some time cuddled up on the bow. C&P, thanks for taking us out on the boat; it was a pleasure to watch you skillfully sail it (and thanks for letting us try too).

That evening we opted to have dinner at the restaurant at the harbour (no dishes to clean up after). We also walked through Kerteminde to see a house C&P just bought and are redoing. Renovating houses that date back hundreds of years sure makes any renos we did back in Vancouver look easy.

Back at the house, once it was dark enough, we lay outside and watched the meteor shower. It was like being at the lake watching the shooting stars, and it was quite different from London where we can’t really see stars. We saw lots of little shooting stars and even a few big bright ones with long tails.

It was cool and slightly overcast on Monday morning, but Carla and I were on a mission to go for pre-breakfast swim in the ocean. When I was there in August ten years before there was a heat wave, and Carla and I would go down to the sea every morning for dip. It wasn’t as easy on Monday, but we braved it anyway.

The sun came out midday and Carla took us to Den Fynske Landsby. It’s an open air museum, a recreated Danish farming village with restored original structures from various parts of the island of Fyn. The visit tied in nicely with the “old Danish town” bike tour Carla took us on on Saturday.

From Den Fynske Landsby, we made a beeline to a Danish Hot Dog stand so John wouldn’t get hangry (a great term we learned from my Aunt Barbara, a combo of hungry and angry). As we drove back towards C&Ps it started to pour rain, but that didn’t stop us from getting ice cream enroute in Kerteminde. The homemade waffle cones were irresistible.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and reading. John managed to find a hammock. I was engrossed in a Daphne De Maurier short story book (The Birds, Don’t Look Now - too good). We ate another delicious dinner in the sunshine in the garden before having to leave for the airport.

Thanks for having us again C&P!
Our next trip is to Canada and we can’t wait!

Malta

2007-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

We finally got a taste of summer!

John spent last week leading an air service development workshop at the airport in Malta, a small island country in the Mediterranean. It wasn’t a place we would have thought to go to but given that John was there for work, it was a good excuse for me to go for the weekend. I had two goals: enjoy the heat and go swimming in the Med. We did that and much more, and really enjoyed ourselves.

I left cool and soggy England on Friday night and arrived in Malta at 9:00 p.m. A wave of heat hit me as I walked off the plane, causing a large grin to spread across my face. John picked me up in the rental car; I blissfully navigated while “I can see clearly now the rain is gone” appropriately played on the radio, and John struggled with the counterintuitive left handed stick shift and kept turning on the windshield wipers every time he went for the turning signal (he got the hang of the backwards car the next day).

The country of Malta consists of two islands, Malta and Gozo. Malta is about 30 km in length and Gozo about 10km. Despite being tiny, Malta is full of ancient temples and ruins and it has an impressive history due to its strategic position. There are great tales of the Knights of Malta, Napoleon, the Great Siege, being the most bombed place in WWII, and gaining independence from Britain.

During the week, John stayed in a nice hotel in a trendy area known as St. Julian’s. For the weekend we had hastily booked a hotel in the Bugibba area without doing any research. We were a bit concerned because whenever John asked one of his colleagues about the area the response was, “Oh...Bugibba”. It was dark when we arrived but luckily all of the neon tourist signs lit our way (please note my sarcasm). We found our hotel in the maze of one way streets jammed with very touristy accommodation. The hotel was decent, like a Mexico all inclusive but not right on the beach. Unfortunately, we got a room on level -1, yes, the basement. Once in the room, we read the tour book description of Bugibba and had a good chuckle at ourselves.

“During the 1970s and 1980s, Maltese speculators, bewitched by the lucrative earnings from early tourism, developed Bugibba with heady recklessness. There was no unified vision and little cohesive planning to the building programme, with multistorey apartment blocks and hotels erected in the shortest time possible to monumentally ugly effect.”

Despite the British couple in the room next door having a screaming match until the wee hours of the morning, we both slept well and awoke to sunshine, 35 degrees, a good breakfast and upgrade to a room on the 5th floor with an ocean view. We quickly left Bugibba in pursuit of Malta’s more attractive attributes.

One of the guys in John’s workshop was Maltese Canadian. Jason was born on Gozo, lived in Ontario growing up, went to UBC and worked in Vancouver, and now works in Malta. He kindly offered to tour us around Gozo on Saturday. He did a fantastic job zipping us around the whole island and giving us tons of local Maltese knowledge which we wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

Jason picked us up at the ferry port and started the tour by taking us through the town his parents live in and also the highest point on Gozo. Like his parents, many Gozonians left Gozo, lived abroad, and have moved back to Gozo. The ties to North America were very apparent as Canadian and American flags were flying and the houses were named things like Oh Canada, God Bless America, The Maple Leaf, American Eagle, Sky Dome. We felt quite at home.

Our next stop was Ggantija, the oldest free standing stone temple in the world (5,000 years give or take). We were sufficiently hot by that point so we went back to the southeast part of the island for a swim. We swam and snorkeled for ages in the beautiful waters. Across from us was the blue lagoon of Comino and in it was anchored a very large private yacht with a helicopter on board! The swim worked up our appetites so we drove to a small harbour in the north part of the island for a leisurely two hour lunch. We ate a delicious Italian meal on the restaurant patio overlooking the water and learned about the Maltese people from Jason. After lunch, Jason showed us the salt pans: pans carved into the shore line where sea water evaporates to leave salt for collection.

Next up was Victoria, the capital of Gozo. Victoria is home to a citadel (fortress) with a great view of the whole island, a cute market, and two rivaling Catholic churches. As we walked along one street, we approached a young boy holding a bottle of Windex, suspiciously like it was a water gun. As John walked by, the boy sprayed John’s legs with Windex! We had a good laugh over that.

We went back out to the northwest coast of the island (that only took a few minutes) to check out the Azur Window. Enroute to the next swimming hole we drove through a town getting ready for their town Feast. The majority of Maltese are practicing Catholics. The population of Malta is 400,000 and there are 365 churches, some of which are very impressive. Each church has an annual feast (festival) to celebrate its patron saint. The centres of the towns are decorated with colourful banners and statues of the saints, the town congregates to celebrate and the evening is capped off with fireworks. We saw many different feast preparations on our short stay in Malta.

Our second and last swim on Saturday was in a very deep bay off the cliffs on the northwestern shore. After a quick beer overlooking the cove, we sped back to the ferry terminal. We were just in time for the next ferry and as it sailed back over to Malta, we watched the sun set over Gozo.

We were exhausted after our fun filled day of touring Gozo. Despite that, on Jason’s recommendation we went to Mdina, the former capital in central Malta (only 8 km away) for dinner. Mdina is a walled town (Medina means walled village in Arabic, to which Maltese is related), very well restored, at a high point on Malta. It was beautifully lit up at night. We wandered the confusing streets (designed that way so invaders would get lost) and found a lovely restaurant. After dinner we went to the Fort’s look out and watched some Feast fireworks go off across the island and admired all of the glowing blue lights in the towns perched on top of flag poles (symbols of the Virgin Mary).

Sunday was a scorcher but we vowed not to complain about the heat. From Bugibba, we drove along the seaside, through the main cities of Malta and through more feast decorations. Our destination was Valletta, Malta’s main city. We followed a walking tour in our guide book and saw the highlights which included beautiful gardens, a waterfront fortress and the Grand Harbour. We were absolutely drenched in sweat by the end. Originally we thought we would go and see some of Malta’s ancient ruins but given the sweat situation we decided it was definitely time for a swim!

We drove across the dry island to Ghar Lapsi, a swimming hole recommended by Jason. Ghar Lapsi was an adorable local swimming hole. It was the most beautiful water for swimming yet. All the locals set up in the caves around the water and the rocks form sheltered swimming pools. Boat houses serve as day cabins where people congregate. I was blissfully swimming through the clear water but it was cut short as I got stung on the foot by a jelly fish. (Nothing serious, but it sure stung. No, John did not pee on my foot.)

We then drove along the Dingli Cliffs on the west coast. The sheer drop beside the road took my breath away. We attempted to go to another recommended swimming hole but it was the end of the day and everyone was coming the opposite direction out of the one way road to get there. Instead we went to Marsaxlokk harbour, full of colourful fishing boats. The town was getting ready for its feast, and we had gelato on the waterfront. It wouldn’t be a hot holiday without gelato.

We headed back to the airport and begrudgingly put our jeans on. It was 12 degrees when we landed at 11:30 in Luton, quite the shock to the system! Unfortunately, we had our longest customs line up yet, 2 hours! We were in bed by 3:00 and ready for another week at work.

Thanks Jason for touring us around on Saturday. That made the trip!

Berlin, Germany

2007-07-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

Since we got back from Berlin, we have done a few fun London/England things worth noting.

Thursday was our friend Phil’s 30th Birthday so we went to help him celebrate on a bar/restaurant on a boat on the Thames. It was right across the river from the London Eye and right down the river from Parliament and Big Ben. Great scenery, great atmosphere, great conversations with friends!

Friday night, we joined our friends Nick and Kath at the opening night of the Ealing Comedy Festival. It was set up in a tent in the park not too far from our flat that I like to go walking in. There were eight acts, all very different and all hilarious! We were very impressed.

Saturday, we decided to go back to Snowshill, a small town in the Cotswolds which we drove through when we were there in April. To our surprise, the town was having its Summer Fete that day (it was very quaint). We wandered the town and admired the adorable stone cottages with perfect gardens. Then we went walking on the surrounding public footpaths. Eventually we made it onto the Cotswold Way, a famous walking path. We followed it into another quaint town called Stanton, where we ate our picnic lunch before heading back. We lucked out with the sunny weather and thoroughly enjoyed the English countryside. Ok - on to Berlin!

Berlin, Germany: July 6-9

Last weekend we did our first trip to Germany, Berlin to be exact. We were looking forward to immersing ourselves in history and learning a lot, but we did not expect to like the city as much as we did. It was big and spread out, had so many different elements and such a variety of architecture. We were glad we had three days to explore it all. We were also glad to have two nights in a really nice hotel, a 30th birthday present for John from Suze and Stan; quite the contrast from the tent and outdoor bathrooms of Sardinia two weeks before.

I arrived late on Friday night at Schoenefeld and was greeted by John. He had arrived earlier in the day for a meeting. The crop smells and flat land around Schoenefeld (southeast of Berlin) reminded us of Winnipeg. We stayed near the airport that night and took the train into Berlin on Saturday morning. The train into town gave us a glimpse of all the neat buildings to visit. The Spree River runs through the city and man made beaches, beach volleyball courts and sand castles lined the shores. The weather that weekend did not warrant the beach; as soon as we got off the train we bought an umbrella to shield us from the pouring rain.

We dropped our bags off at the Palace Hotel, near the impressive/ominous Kaiser Wilhelm Church which has not been restored since it was bombed in WWII, grabbed a Starbucks and took the bus through Tiergarten (big central park) to the Reichstag (German Parliament). The line up to get in the Reichstag was just as we heard/read about, so we admired it from the outside. The wind was howling which enabled us to get some good shots of the German flags blowing. We walked to Brandenburg Gate and took note of the new US embassy being built next to it.

On Stan’s recommendation, we visited the Holocaust memorial. The memorial is the size of about a city block, beside the new US Embassy. It is covered in big, cement rectangular blocks (called stelae) of different sizes and heights in a grid pattern. Underneath (underground) the field of stelae is an information centre about the victims of the Holocaust. The exhibits brought the people and experiences to life for us.

From the memorial, we followed the Berlin wall, now marked with a double line of bricks in the cement, to Potsdammer Platz and then onto a segment of the wall still standing and housing the Topography of Terror, an exhibit about the history of the Nazis in Germany and located on the site of their old headquarters. The big umbrella we bought was coming in very handy as it was pouring rain while we walked. Potsdammer Platz is a square of very modern buildings and a mall. The location is part of what used to be the “death strip” (the empty space on the East Berlin side of the wall) and has only recently been built up. Given the rain, we decided to put off the outdoor Topography of Terror until Sunday.

Instead, we took shelter in a Balzac Coffee shop across from Checkpoint Charlie and ate some sweets (Balzac is a small town in Alberta where Stan was born so we got a kick out of the Balzac Coffee chain). Checkpoint Charlie was the famous US border crossing from East to West Berlin. We checked out the museum which documented all of the different kinds of daring escapes from East to West; tunneling under, driving across in inventive hiding places, ballooning over. We were pooped after so we went to our hotel to relax and enjoy some of its amenities.

On Sunday, we stuffed ourselves with the hotel’s breakfast before taking the bus back to the Topography of Terror. The sun was shining so we left the umbrella behind. We adorned our headphones for the next 1.5 hours and learned all about the history of the Nazi party. It took us through the chronology of events and focused on specific party leaders and people who opposed them (who then became prisoners/victims). One opposer, a pastor who helped several Jews and prayed for them, stood out for us as he had the same name as my Mom’s cousin’s husband, Helmut Hesse.

From the T of T we took the subway to the Berlin Wall Memorial in northeast Berlin. The train line ran from West through East and back into West Berlin, and during the time of the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany) it didn’t stop at the East Berlin stations. They became ghost stations. From the Wall Memorial we walked back into central Berlin through a very nicely restored part of East Berlin, past two grand museums (which we didn’t go in), and then past the beautiful Berliner Dom (big church). We ate outside on a restaurant patio overlooking the Dom and the Spree River. It was lovely.

Next up, the GDR Museum. This museum was interactive and filled with various artifacts from the GDR; the Trabant (the only car that people had or could get), a road atlas for only communist countries, clothing, and a full scale apartment. We found the exhibit on the housing very interesting. They mass produced huge concrete apartment blocks, all the same, with same cookie cutter apartments inside. They could construct an 11 storey building in 100 days!

From the GDR Museum, we walked along East Berlin’s main street, the grand Unter Den Linden. It was a stretch of huge, impressive buildings; the university, government buildings, art galleries, and embassies, leading to the Brandenburg gate. We walked by the Reichstag again to see if the line up was any shorter. It wasn’t, so we stretched out on the Reichstag front lawn for a while and watched some guys doing freestyle Frisbee (the closest comparison I can think of is like hackey sack but with a spinning Frisbee). With sore feet and backs from all the standing and walking, we bussed back to Kaiser Wilhelm Church/square and enjoyed a very large sundae at La Fontana, beside a big fountain, as recommended by Suze and Stan.

After a brief relax at the hotel, we went to Potsdammer Platz on the bus. We drove by the Reichstag enroute; it was 9:00 pm and there was still a line up at the Reichstag! We ate dinner in a big pedestrian square, which enabled us to people watch and check out the surrounding modern buildings.

We slept in on Monday and had another big breakfast. We had done all of the museums that we wanted and felt like we had gained a good knowledge of Berlin’s history over the past 80 years. So we went for a bus ride through the former East Berlin. I wanted to see some of the old GDR cement apartment blocks and boy did we ever! In some parts of town they are becoming quite trendy to live in. To cap off our Berlin experience, we went into the Berliner Dom and climbed up the many stairs to the top viewing area. We got a great 360 degree view of the city.

We stopped off for a quick lunch of Berlin currywurst, which capped off a weekend of surprisingly good food, and caught the train to the airport.

We would highly recommend Berlin to anyone - we found it a fascinating city. Thank you Mom and Stan for the nice hotel treat!

Sardinia, Italy

2007-07-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

I’m back to the blog after our four week travel hiatus. The weekend after our wonderful week in Spain, we had Sarah, Kevin and Cole back with us in London after their cruise through the Med. They were exhausted and it was cold and rainy here so we were all happy to hang out in the flat playing games and playing with Cole the whole time. We did venture out to browse the shops in Ealing and we drove to Windsor Castle. Sarah and I didn’t think it was possible but we managed to lose every cribbage game we played against the guys.

We were very sad to see them go at the end of May; they were the last of our steady string of visitors until September. It took me a few weeks to get over it.

Over the past three weeks, John has been playing hockey, including a tournament in the Isle of Wight, we started our summer league of Ultimate Frisbee and our team is doing well so far, I ran a 5km for Cancer (slowly, but I did it!), with the help and hard work of John’s Dad we found new tenants for our basement suite in Vancouver, we visited Hampton Court Palace, and hit up several pubs throughout London with our friends. Pics of our recent London activities are on the website in the London 2006/07 set...

Last year, when we were doing research on moving to London and possible traveling opportunities, we came across a water sports all inclusive getaway in Sardinia, Italy on http://www.activitybreaks.com/. It looked like the perfect trip for us; fun in the sun (and water). Back in April, together with Andrew and Jess, we tried to get into a beach Ultimate tournament in Portugal for the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. We didn’t get in so instead we booked the Sardinia activity break. We took the Friday and Monday off to make it a nice long weekend.

We left our place at 3:00a.m. last Friday morning to pick up A&J and head to Stansted airport for our 6:15 departure. It had been (and still is) cold and rainy in London so we were all looking forward to the sun and heat of Sardinia. Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica. The island is hot, rugged and dry with beautiful beaches and rocky coastlines. We flew into Alghero, on the west side of the island and then drove our rental car two hours to the east side of the island where we were staying. (John had a much easier time driving compared to Sorrento, Italy).

We stayed just outside the small coastal town of Santa Lucia in a big group campground, called Amfibi Treks, owned and run by a Dutch family. Our accommodation consisted of a tent and mattress (we brought sleeping bags), toilets and showers were outside, as was the big group dining area. There was a bar and games area, and a place to snooze in hammocks known as “chill hill”. About a 5 minute walk away was the beach with snorkel gear, windsurfers, kayaks and beach umbrellas included for our use. Our friend Denise said it sounded like Club Med but with Canadian National Parks bathrooms – that’s about right.

We had just missed lunch when we arrived so after moving into our tents we found a little restaurant and had some good Italian fare in Santa Lucia. We were all moving very slowly, partly due to the lack of sleep and partly due to the heat. It was over 30 degrees and sunny every day! Then we headed straight to the beach. John and I don’t always shy away from the sun as we should so it was good to have some Aussie influence to make sure we had plenty of shade and plenty of sunscreen. The Amfibi gear hut on the beach supplied us with umbrellas, and as we set up our little lounging area, Jess and I started singing Rihanna’s new song, Umbrella (pronounced in the song as umbarella). That became our song of the weekend. I don’t think it ever left our brains. I’m still singing it now back in London but for different reasons; to quote the song “now that it’s raining more than ever”.

The boys went straight out on the windsurfers while Jess and I lounged and read. Jess devours books and has given me many good recommendations. For John’s birthday she gave him Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I read it during the trip and loved it. Thanks Jess! It was an awesome read. I highly recommend. We all went for a long, late afternoon swim in the Med. I LOVE swimming the Mediterranean. It was so warm and blue and clear. I was in heaven.

Back at the camp, we met up at the bar for Happy Hour and free drinks. We befriended a fun Brit named Andy who was there on his own. He was having a “rediscover windsurfing” weekend away from his wife and three kids.

Given that it was the end of the school year, the camp was filled with a bunch of 16 year olds on a school trip. We had a great time observing them; the suave Italian boys with perfect hair and stylish clothes, and the girls with their outfit coordination, one night seemed to be frilly skirt night, the other short shorts night. Man, those girls sure could move their hips on the dance floor! Their teacher was a huge, solid, bald, tanned former professional rugby player, who wore blue Crocks. Jess and I thought he looked like a pirate.

Friday night was limbo competition night at the bar, organized by one of the Dutch windsurfing employees with dreadlocks. John, Andrew and I entered. I guess John was a bit of a limbo pro back in the day. He was focused but had some stiff competition, including a few young boys who had a definite height advantage (they were short), and the school girls who seemed to have been born without spines (they were bendy). John made it the top ten but in the end a girl with very big hair took the victory and all John got was a sore back. We were all reassured to know that John is not built like a 16 year old Italian school girl – a fact we celebrated with several beers.

We were all in rough shape Saturday morning but we made it up for the 8:00 breakfast call. Then we went straight to the beach and under our umbarellas for a nap. We spent the day there; reading, windsurfing, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, throwing the disc, chatting, backgammoning, snoozing. We didn’t even have to walk back to camp for lunch; it came to us. We knew that there was a lot to see and explore on the island but we were content just to relax and enjoy the heat and the beach.

We had happy hour at the outdoor bar again and John and Andrew played some darts. After dinner we set up at a table in the bar area and played diminishing whist. We taught Andy the Brit how to play and he did very well. Saturday night was Disco night at the bar so, in addition to playing cards, we were further entertained by the dynamics of the 16 year olds dancing and mingling on the dance floor.

Sunday was more of the same at the beach but it was much windier. By the afternoon they had to bring the windsurfers and sailboats in and our umbarella kept blowing away. We cut the beach day short as a result. A&J went back to camp for some hammock time and John and I walked into town for some very delicious gelato. We then set up at Chill Hill for some reading and snooze time.

I guess the Italian school kids partied a bit too hard on Saturday night so they were under strict orders from the Pirate to be well behaved on Sunday night. That made it a lot easier for us to access the beer boat at happy hour. Jess and I read while the boys began the Sardinian Heptathlon. It consisted of ping pong, darts, pool, backgammon, cribbage, pentago, and foosball. The heptathlon turned into a quadathlon because Andrew went undefeated in the first four matches. Too bad limbo wasn’t one of the sports. We ended our last night in Sardinia with a few rounds of diminishing whist and a rousing discussion of time travel theory.

We all wanted a few more days of relaxing beach time so it was tough to get packed up on Monday morning. We decided to leave in good time so we could see more of the island before going to the airport. Andrew scoured the guide book and found us an amazing historical site to visit which was on our route, Nuraghe Santu Antine. It was a stone complex built in 16th century BC (3500 years ago!), consisting of a central palace/fortress and remnants of a surrounding village. We saw several conical stone fortress things across the island but this was much larger. We had so much fun exploring all of the well preserved passageways. Inside the main tower were two domed rooms on top of each other and a stair case spiraled around the outside leading to the top where another domed room used to be. It was so impressive! The site was in the interior of the island and it was very hot and dry. I loved the feeling of the hot wind on my face.

The drive from there back to Alghero was picturesque. We would have liked more time to explore the sites of Alghero; it has Spanish, Catalan and Italian influences. Unfortunately, all we had time to do was devour an amazing Italian lunch before heading to the airport. We frantically managed to fill the car with gas; all of the stations were closed for siesta so we had to make out the Italian auto pay instructions at the pump. It would have been funnier if we weren’t so tight on time.

We made it back to London with no problems, we just missed some severe London traffic jams on the drive home, and then A&J treated us to our first dinner of Portuguese chicken.

Our weekends away are usually go go go, so it was nice to have one that was slower paced. The highlight was being outside all of the time, in the fresh warm air. Another excellent trip. Thanks for the great company A&J!

It’s now been a year since we moved out of our house, finished work in Vancouver and left for Manitoba for our summer at the lake. Wow, how time flies! Last night (Friday, June 29th) we went to Canada Day in London at Trafalgar square. We had some Moosehead beer, took in some Canadian music, and scanned the crowds for familiar faces. The highlight for me was meeting Tanya Kim from CTV’s E Talk! She was emceeing the event and in town for the Princess Diana concert tomorrow. Today, John is away at a hockey tournament in Swindon and I’m at home, free to blog away.

Southern Spain

2007-05-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, May 13th, after an action packed few days with the extended Mitchell family in London, Sarah, Kevin, Cole, John and I flew to Malaga, Spain (southern coast of Spain, on the Mediterranean). Back in January when we were planning our European adventure, I suggested southern Spain as there are lots of neat places to visit, plus we could get some beach time in. A colleague of Kevin’s gave us a recommendation on where to stay, where to get our rental car and places to visit. That sure made things easy! Kevin was pleasantly surprised that all of that internet correspondence and booking actually resulted in a rental car and condo waiting for us.

The whole trip exceeded all of our expectations. The highlight for us was getting to spend time with our five month old nephew, Cole. Warning – most of the photos posted will be of him.

Our condo was about an hour southwest of Malaga, just outside the town of Estepona. It is tough to tell where towns end and begin because the coast is all built up with holiday condos. It is a very popular vacation spot for Brits & Germans. There was a lot of development going on; we have never seen so many cranes!

We rented a two bedroom condo in a complex right on the ocean, with a grassy courtyard/pool area where we could lounge. From the beach we could see Gibraltar. Rod Stuart used to own the house next door. There weren’t many other people staying in our complex so we had the pool to ourselves. Later in the afternoons, we usually got an entertaining, leprechaun-like visit from two young resident Irish boys, O’sean (pronounced oh-seen) and Fin.

We quickly settled into a relaxing daily routine. We’d wake up in good time and play with Cole over breakfast. Sarah, the sandwich artist, would make us delicious baguette sandwiches for the day. Then we would do some sort of sight seeing. Upon return, we would hit the pool for some sun tanning, swimming and relaxing, interspersed with playing with Cole, reading magazines, playing backgammon and napping. When we had had enough of the sun (it was brilliantly sunny and hot all week), we would go up to the condo, make dinner and play with Cole some more. The men would begin their San Miguel (beer) consumption for the evening. Our dinners were always casual but tasty. After Cole’s bedtime the men vs women Cribbage games would begin. On average two games a night. The women started the week off strong getting up to a lead of 4 to 2, but unfortunately, by Saturday night, the men were the series champions with a score of 9 to 7. We’d hit the sack and get up to do it all again.

Monday, our first full day, was John’s 30th birthday. We had a very relaxing day of exploring Estepona and hanging out on the beach and by the pool. Sarah and Kevin treated John to a birthday dinner of tapas at the harbour. I surprised John with tickets to Ricky Gervais’ live comedy act at Royal Albert Hall (Ricky Gervais is the creator of the show The Office and the star of the original British version).

Before we left Canada, John’s boss, Martin, and his wife, Leanore, took us out for dinner in Vancouver. They have both done lots of traveling but the recommendation that stuck with us from that night was when Leanore exclaimed that we must visit RRRRRRRonda! So, on Tuesday, we took Leanore’s advice and headed into the steep Spanish hills to see the town of Ronda. Ronda is built on either side of a very steep gorge and it is connected by an impressive bridge. The city and the scenery were breathtaking. We took in the views at various look out spots and wandered the streets before treating ourselves to ice cream and heading back to the pool.

About an hour past Estepona, on the Atlantic side of Spain is a town called Tarifa and a string of beaches famous for the windsurfing and kitesurfing. I got John two days of kitesurfing lessons for his birthday and Wednesday was day one. Windmills covered the range of hills leading into Tarifa. The Spanish coast on the Med side is covered in condos but on the Atlantic side, due to the constant strong winds, there are only a few little hotels and hostels for the windsurfers. We pulled into a hotel parking lot and watched a guy on a 4x4 herd his cows down the road while waiting for the Dragon Kite School instructors to arrive. The lesson was on a huge, windswept, scorching hot beach and Day 1 consisted of learning to fly the kite. A guy in John’s lesson from Switzerland is in the airline industry and knew of John’s company because he is good friends with the guy that now works out of John’s office in Vancouver – small world!

We left John to the kite flying and drove to the first of two recommended beaches along the coast, Bolonia beach. At Bolonia, there were some very well kept Roman columns which we had a quick look at before determining it was far to windy for us to set up camp on the beach. We decided to go to the Canos de Meca beach which the guide book said had beautiful white sand and was sheltered from the wind. It was an interesting but long drive to Canos de Meca, past fields of windmills, a white washed hilltop town and through a forest, but the beach ended up being just as windy. We pulled out our towels and lay out in the sheltered dunes for a while, admiring the kite surfers’ skills, before getting sand blasted and heading back to see how John was doing. John got the hang of the kite flying and was excited to go back on Day 2 to get in the water.

On Thursday, John and I went back to Tarifa for his next lesson. It was another clear day so we could enjoy the views of Gibraltar and Africa enroute. Sarah, Kevin and Cole were going to walk the beach around our place and follow it into Estepona.

As we arrived at the beach, the instructors warned that it might be too windy to go out. Sand was blasting across the beach and stinging our legs. While they got set up on the beach, I explored the parking area. There were several hippy camping vans with wind/kite surfing gear attached to the roofs and there were a few permanent campers. It was quite the contrast to the developed Mediterranean shore line. After about half an hour, the kite surfing group headed up from the beach; unfortunately, it was so windy that it would be too dangerous for them to go out on the water. Sorry John, I owe you another day of kitesurfing lessons. Perhaps in Sardinia in June…

We went back to Estepona to find S, K and C. My sister senses were tingling and they guided us to the right spot on the right beach, right where the Anseeuws had set up camp. It was kind of cool. The beach was sheltered and hot so we decided to hang out there for the afternoon. Poor John; he spent most of that afternoon and some time every other day on his blackberry working. Oh the roaming charges!

On Friday morning we drove through the city of Algeciras, parked at the harbour and walked across the border to the British territory of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a big rock with about 30,000 in habitants and a bunch of apes. The main industry is the military, supplying and repairing ships when they are in the harbour, and tourism. They are working on projects to reclaim some of the land around the rock.

We paid for the tour which took us on some crazy, skinny cliff roads up the mountain. The views of the harbour, Africa and Spain were spectacular! The first stop on the tour was St. Michael’s cave. It had huge caverns and cool stalactites and stalagmites. During WWII, the cave was used as a hospital. We then drove up to the top of Gibraltar to take in the views and check out the apes. There are 5 groups of apes living on Gibraltar and they are very well fed, but super aggressive. Kevin saw one jump on a young girl’s head to steal her food. The last stop was at the Great Siege Tunnels, created in 1782 during the Great Siege. They proved to be a strategic advantage in wars after that as well. From there we had a good view of Gibraltar’s airport runway. Six flights fly out a day, and the runway is split by the main road into Gibraltar so traffic has to stop when the planes take off. Lucky for John one took off just as we were leaving and he was able to get it on video.

Saturday, our last day in Spain, we decided to do a quick road trip so we would have more pool time. We drove inland to the little town of Casares, which is perched atop a hill. All the buildings are white and the roads running throughout are skinny and quaint. At the very top of the hill there was a 14th century castle in ruins.

A few months ago I read a book called The Queen of the South. It was set in Southern Spain (all the places that we were driving around) and it was about a woman who ran a big drug smuggling operation. In her early days, she would run drugs in a small speed boat in the Med around Gibraltar, and she would often be chased by the police in a helicopter. I kept thinking of this book during the week. After we got back from Casares and had a bit of pool time, Sarah, Cole and I decided to go for a walk. We walked by a motor boat run onto shore and a few police officers interviewing people. We didn’t think much of it but on our way back, a police helicopter swooped down into the bay in front of us and there were 6 more police officers on shore. We asked a lady watching the scene from her balcony and she said a drug smuggler ran his boat on shore and then escaped on foot. The police were trying to find him. That added a bit of excitement to our walk and brought to life that book I read.

We had such an awesome time hanging out together, relaxing by the pool and touring the area but we didn’t make it to Marbella (ritzy resort town), or the ferry over to Africa, or to Granada. Wish list for next time I guess.

Cole was a great traveler. He has a wonderfully cheery personality. We loved his dance moves (the crazy eyed Stevie, the prayer, the side slap and the leg kicks). I’m going to miss his smile. Good thing we can web cam.

On our last night, the boys polished off the last of their San Miguel beer and the girls attempted to overtake them in cribbage but to no avail. One of my favourite songs, Dario G’s Sunchyme, came on the radio so we got Cole dancing. We were up early on Sunday morning to get to the Malaga airport. Sarah made her last batch of amazing sandwiches for us to take. S,K and C flew to Barcelona where they started a week long cruise through the Mediterranean, stopping at Nice, Rome, Naples, and Palermo. They are back in London for a few days after the cruise before flying back to Canada. I’m so happy we get to see them again; I’m suffering from Cole withdrawal already...

Thanks Sarah, Kev and Cole for the great time in Spain. Happy 30th Birthday John!

Mitchell Family in London

2007-05-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

It all started at Christmas time when Kevin, my brother in law, surprised my sister Sarah with a trip to London and Europe as a Christmas present for their family (including their new son, Cole). After that, Mom and Stan booked their visit timing it with an animal welfare conference in Berlin and with Sarah, Kevin and Cole’s visit. My aunt and uncle in Denmark, Carla and Poul, thought it would be a good chance to see everyone and meet Cole so they booked tickets to London. And then, Carla suggested to my aunt Barbara that she bring her family (uncle Bruce and cousins Eleanor, Margot and Hugh) to London – and they booked tickets too! I couldn’t believe it, all this family converging in London! Needless to say, I was over the top excited.

Barbara and her family arrived on Monday, May 7th and spent the week in Central London visiting all the sights. Carla joined them on Wednesday. Of course the weather had been hot and sunny prior to their arrival and then it turned to rain. On Thursday night they all made their way to the Ealing Ramada in West London, about a 10 minute walk from our flat. I joined them for a late dinner and then walked Carla, Barbara and Margot to our flat in the pouring rain so they could check it out.

John and I were up at 5:30 Friday morning to go to Heathrow to pick up Sarah, Kevin and Cole. I barely slept the night before and the car couldn’t move fast enough to the airport. S&K have discovered the benefits of a traveling with a baby, namely skipping the queues. They made record time getting through Heathrow: they were last off the plane but were ushered right by an hour long wait at Customs and then their bags were waiting for them on the carousel! We made it there in time to greet them as they walked through the gates. Cole had a big grin on his face, he was carried by Sarah in the Baby Bjorn and Kevin had the video camera getting Cole’s arrival in London on tape. I was so happy to see them all.

The sun shone as we drove them to Ealing. Sarah and I were in the back seat with Cole and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. S&K made an adorable baby! We got them back to the flat and settled in for a nap, and I made it to the office in time for my 8:30 Friday morning meeting. It was tough to leave, the flat that is.

When I walked in the door from work later that afternoon, I was greeted to the pleasant sounds of S&K, Cole, Mom and Stan, and John chatting in our living room. I’m usually pretty happy when I get home from work but never as much as on that day. We just hung out for a few hours enjoying each other’s company until the aunts, uncles and cousins arrived from their day of sight seeing. The 14 of us went for a lovely dinner at a local Italian restaurant. As we were leaving, a guy at the table next to us asked Stan about his belt buckle. He was from a ranch in the interior of British Columbia and now lives in Ealing – small world!

We all rendezvoused at the flat on Saturday morning. Mom and the Aunts kindly went grocery shopping for our dinner that night, and then they went to Osterley Park and Manor for some sister bonding. John went to play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament for the day. The rest of us all went in to Central London to do the London Eye. I thought it was amazing that we were all able to stick together in the crowded tube stations and the crowded streets of London. London is not wheelchair or stroller friendly so it was nice having all the family members to help S&K with Cole’s stroller. At the London Eye, the men stood in the long line to get us our tickets. We pulled out Cole when we got to the line up to get on the Eye, and all 10 of us got to skip it! I really enjoyed the slow ride on the huge Ferris wheel overlooking London. It gave me a good overview, reminded me that London is not very big, and it was neat to see the sights from above.

After the Eye, we walked along and over the Thames River, and had a bite to eat near Embankment and Charing Cross. We had plans to do a quick walking tour until it started to pour rain. So, we ran into the nearest tube station and headed back to Ealing. From there, Kevin and Poul went exploring in Ealing (and by exploring, I mean finding a pub and having a beer) and Bruce and Hugh went to the temporary amusement park set up in Ealing Common. When the ladies got back from tea at Osterley, Barbara took Margot shopping, Carla, John and Sarah met the boys at the pub, and Mom and I looked after Cole and started making dinner.

John’s 30th Birthday was on Monday, May 14th, so on Saturday night with all of the family present, we had a big birthday dinner and celebration. Our friends Andrew and Jess joined in the fun. We all crammed into our little flat and everyone contributed to the dinner. It was a fun night of eating, chatting, playing games and hanging out together. Of course there was birthday cake and present opening. John thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful gifts.

We did most of the goodbyes on Saturday night but left a few for Sunday morning. SK&C, John and I were leaving for a week in Spain and everyone else was headed back home.

I had such a wonderful time with everyone and still can’t get over what a unique experience it was. Thank you all for coming to London. It made me really happy but of course really sad to say goodbye.

Wales, UK

2007-05-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday night (May 4th), after spending a few days in Berlin at a conference, Mom and Stan arrived in London! I was so excited for their visit that I could barely do anything but be excited all week. Mom and I had a tearful reunion at Heathrow, 8 months after our tearful farewell at Lake O’hara in September. On Saturday, we went to Wales to go walking (British hiking). It was the perfect way to spend the weekend and to catch up with Suze and Stan (S&S); lots of time to visit while driving, walking and dining. We had narrowed our destination down to Newport in north Pembrokeshire because of the coastal walks and the walks through the Preseli Hills which are scattered with ancient pagan standing stones. It turned out to be the perfect place because Newport was a quaint town with lots to offer on its own.

This country is small compared to Canada, but we continue to be amazed at how long it takes to drive places, due to small roads and dense traffic. Many of the country roads in Wales are bordered by high stone walls and shrubs making it difficult to see the countryside as you drive.

After a five hour journey we arrived in St. David’s on the Western tip of Wales and the Pembrokeshire Coast. St. David’s, Britain’s smallest city, is home to a famous Cathedral and a Bishop’s Palace. Stan did not want to spend his vacation in Britain visiting churches and castles so Mom promised him that this would be the only one. Usually cathedrals are built in prominent locations, however this one was built in a gully to attempt to hide it from marauders travelling by sea or land. Unfortunately, this strategy didn’t work that well, as it was attacked several times. The cathedral is impressive and so are the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace.

From St. David’s we did a short drive to the beach and walked along classic Wales’ coastline cliffs to St. David’s head. Our B&B was in Newport, northeast of St. David’s and still on the coast. The B&B was an old house that had been beautifully renovated only a year ago. We had views from our rooms overlooking the sea. Our host spent time telling us about all of Newport’s places of interest: Pentre Ifan (5,000 year old standing stones), the castle, St. Mary’s church, the beach, the mystical forest and the nearby Cwm Gwaun valley, where the community that lives there still follows an ancient calendar. Saturday night, we had a hearty dinner of meat pies and burgers at the Golden Lion pub, a good British experience for S&S. We even got a quarter of a pint of pull ale into Mom.

After a lovely breakfast on Sunday morning we headed out on the short version of the Preseli Hills Circuit (12km). It was sunny for a while, then it turned cloudy with a few drops of rain, and it was constantly windy. We were lucky that we didn’t get poured on. The trail took us up into the bare Preseli Hills, past the steep rock outcrop Carn Ingli, through fields of sheep and then down into the eerie Cwm Gwaun valley. The steep walls of the valley were covered with corkscrew oak trees and carpets of blue bells. It was beautiful but the banjo tune from the movie Deliverance kept running through my head which made me wary.

We found a quaint tea house on a farm in the valley where we could warm up and fill our bellies. The quirky hostess served us and told us about the valley (she said that they are all very “close” there), her farm, and her gardens which she has bus loads of people in to view. I was giving John and hug and asking if he was alright; our hostess picked up on that and comment to John, “Oh, so you’re not used to the walking are you? You must be a townie”. Stan didn’t let that one go for the rest of the weekend.

We finished the walk by going through more fields and by an ancient standing stone. All of the walks are on public footpaths through private land. Stan was baffled by this concept and kept trying to think of ingenious fencing ideas to keep walkers out of the fields.

After our walk, we had a quick warm up at the B&B before heading out in the car to see Pentre Ifan, the impressive 5,000 year old standing stones that used to form a burial mound. A 16 tonne flat stone lies on top of three standing stones. The whole structure looks precarious but I don’t think its going anywhere. The stones from Stonehenge came from the same area. This little jaunt was Stan’s first attempt at driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. It was a good place for a first drive as there was no traffic and the roads were only wide enough for one car so he didn’t have to remember to stay on the left. He did well and managed not to scrape up the left side of the car on any of the stone walls.

After Pentre Ifan, we went back into Cwm Gwuan Valley in order to check out the Duffrin Arms Pub (aka Bessie’s pub). About five different people had told us we had to go see it because it was “an experience”. The rain had set in so the valley was dark and even more eerie. After passing a crowd of locals heading into Church on Sunday evening, we found Bessie’s pub. The pub was a converted sitting room of a house with seating for about 10, with a tiled floor, and a hole in the wall from where you could order Bessie’s home brew beer. A glimpse was all the “experience” we needed as we weren’t sure how friendly the locals would be if we stayed for a beer (again, the banjo tune from Deliverance was running through my head). I’m sure you needed special Cwm Gwuan Valley stomach enzymes to digest the beer as well.

We had another great dinner in Newport and then we strolled down to the beach to burn it off. Of course Mom and I got carried away with the exploring and we didn’t end up getting back until well after dark.

Monday, bank holiday weekend in the UK (ie: a long weekend), we did a shorter walk, only a few hours around Dinas Head. It was a good contrast to the hill walk the day before, giving us steep coastal cliffs (if somewhat in the clouds). We ended at a little beach and a convenient tea house with great cakes. Mom was very impressed with the tea houses.

Instead of taking the main highways to Cheltenham, we took the scenic route through the Brecon Beacons (a famous National Park in Wales). It gave us a great glimpse of more of Wales but it took a long time. On all of our drives, John and I enjoyed listening to S&S’s agriculture commentary as we passed different fields of crops and livestock. It added a new dimension to travel for us. In Cheltenham, John and I caught the train back to London. We left S&S with the rental car and maps so they could make their way to the beautiful Cowley Mannor, their hotel/spa for the night. After Cowley they went to to Bodysgallen Hall in North Wales and then to visit some friends. I was so worried about them on the British roads I had to call every night to check on them, but they did just fine and had a wonderful time.

Our long weekend walking in Wales turned out wonderfully. We did all of the walks and saw all of the sites I had hoped, but it wouldn’t have mattered if we didn’t because it was just so nice to be with Mom and Stan again. It made me sad knowing it was only for a short time. Luckily, I had another weekend with them and 10 other family members to look forward to. My Aunt Barb and Uncle Bruce along with my cousins, Eleanor, Margot and Hugh were arriving in London from Calgary, Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul were arriving from Denmark, and my sister, her husband and new baby, Cole, arrived from Winnipeg. Another weekend I couldn’t wait for!

Naples, Italy

2007-04-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Jane and Ty from Vancouver (but now they live in Calgary) arrived in London on Saturday, April 14th, exactly one month before John and Ty’s 30th birthday. They weren’t here long before heading out on a whirlwind trip through Southern France and Italy, but we did manage to get some Ultimate Frisbee in on Sunday afternoon in Hyde Park. Those two are so hard core they even brought their cleats with them.

We arranged to meet them at the airport in Naples, Italy the following Friday evening for a fun filled weekend touring Sorrento, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and Capri. I was so excited for this trip; it fulfilled two of my travel dreams and exceeded my expectations. Since I was a kid I have wanted to visit Pompeii as I find the volcano-preserved history fascinating, and for a about a year before we left Vancouver we kept a newspaper article and photo of the Amalfi Coast posted on our fridge as inspiration to get to Europe.

The challenge of the weekend was surviving and navigating traffic in Naples. London traffic and roads are nothing in comparison. We were petrified and in awe. Cars and scooters speed along, honking like they are in a wedding procession, and passing at any opportunity on single lane highways, taking chances that any Canadian driver would consider insane. We rented a car and John did an impressive job of driving all weekend. The frequency of honks at us reduced from two in the first two minutes, to almost nothing by the last day there.

We managed to get out of Naples, past Mt. Vesuvius, and along the other side of the Bay of Naples to Sorrento. The chaos of Naples highways turned into chaos of skinny, windy roads on the edge of breathtaking cliffs as we went through Sorrento and area. Our hotel was high up on a cliff, overlooking Sorrento, the Bay of Naples, Mt. Vesuvius and our pool. It was called La Terrazze, named for its large terraces with amazing views.

We got there around 11:00pm and luckily a nearby restaurant, Don Pedro’s, was still open for dinner. Don Pedro, the owner, picked us up and then waited on us all night. Oh, the food! Don Pedro has a small farm in behind the restaurant where he grows the fruits and vegetables served. I had the best Caprese salad ever, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella like I’ve never tasted before. Of course, the rest of the courses, pasta, meat and wine were just as stellar. Ty became a fan of the Lemoncello (strong lemon alcohol) served after dinner. It was great to chat with Ty & Jane over a long meal.

We awoke Saturday to sun beaming onto our terrace. It was tough to leave that glorious spot but we had places to see. Our first stop was Pompeii, the Roman city buried and preserved by the ash of Mt. Vesuvius’ explosion in 79 AD. We were all surprised by the sheer size of the city. It was so well preserved that it was easy to imagine what it would have been like to live there, unlike the ruins in Rome. Eighty percent has been excavated and the remainder is still in progress; it is hard to fathom the amount of work that would have taken.

Jane received a tip from a colleague to get a guided tour of the city, so at the entrance we started to enquire. The guides prowl the entrance hunting for business. We were scooped up by an aggressive older guide, Giovanni, well dressed and well tanned from his many days under the Italian sun. He offered us EUR40 for the four of us; we said we would opt for the cheaper audio guides instead. In an amusing way, he said that would be the “biggest mistake of our lives!” and then offered EUR30, equivalent to the audio guides, so we accepted. Payment was not required until the end. He certainly provided some added entertainment to the tour.

Our tour group totaled 9 as we entered the gates. We passed some people with audio guides who chose not to go with Giovanni’s tour, and he loudly expressed to them that “that was the biggest mistake of their lives!” After about 15 minutes, Giovanni started to drone on a bit and when we next stopped, 3 members of our group had disappeared. He was livid, because he wouldn’t have started the tour with only 6 people. He went on a hunt for them but to no avail. We kept going but could tell that Giovanni was distracted, his eyes always peeled for the missing tourists. We bumped into them later in the day and he lectured them loudly about honour and integrity, and how the money didn’t matter to him, it was the principle. We got a kick out of that. Soon after that, he asked two good looking young ladies to join the tour for free. Then, at the end of the tour he said that we had to pay EUR40 because those three others left at the beginning and he wouldn’t make any money. Simple solution – get payment up front. What happened to “honouring your word” and “I’m not in it for the money”? We paid him EUR30 and he went off in a huff. We chuckled about it several times over the weekend.

As for giving us a tour of Pompeii, Giovanni did a pretty good job. Highlights included the Roman forum, the Roman Baths, one of over 50 bakeries, one of over 25 brothels, the amphitheater, the “flying penises” to ward off the “evil eye”, and the houses. Each home had a winter and summer reception room and depending on how wealthy you were, you had different dining rooms for different seasons. Frescoes adorned the walls and tile mosaics the floors. The brothel had beds made of stone in the bedrooms and frescoes on the walls of different sexual positions for the patrons to choose from.

While in the baths, Giovanni sat us all down and gave us a talk about seizing the day, carpe diem. Life is short, spend your money now, because who knows when it will end. I guess you would have to have that mentality living in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, with scientists predicting it is well overdue for an eruption…

After Pompeii we drove along the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast to the town of Positano. We’ve done a few edge of the ocean drives, Sea to Sky highway in BC and Chapman’s Peak Drive in South Africa, but this was the scariest; steeper cliffs, skinnier roads and crazier drivers. The views were worth it though. Positano is a colourful village built into the cliffs up from the water. It was a larger version of the quaint towns of the Cinque Terre which we visited on our honeymoon. We parked at a high part of Positano and walked down many stairs and steep roads to the town centre by the water. I was dreading the walk back up but it wasn’t so bad and it helped burn off all of the gelato we ate at the beach. There are several other villages along the coast, including Ravello, which got rave reviews from some of our friends. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it farther down the coast to see them, but that will be a good excuse to go back.

After Positano, we were pooped and decided to head back to our terrace with the gorgeous view to enjoy some drinks before going to dinner. Our venue of choice for dinner was not a traditional restaurant. It was at a farm house, high up on the ridge over the Bay of Salerno, with a rustic dining area. The produce served came from the farm. Like the night before, the owner picked us up and waited on us all night. We had a huge course of sample dishes (lots of new things to try), then pasta, and then dessert (we didn’t have room for a meat course). All the food was so delicious; I can’t say enough good things about it.

We were hoping to enjoy breakfast on our sunny hotel terrace on Sunday morning but we didn’t get up early enough and we wanted to catch the 9:55 boat from Sorrento to the island of Capri (25 minute boat ride). The departure time was actually 9:45 and we just made it in time by sprinting down the docks. We had received recommendations to take a boat ride around the island. When we arrived in the Capri harbour it was swarming with people and we were trying to figure out the best way to circumnavigate the island. There were huge line ups for the larger commercial boats that sped around the island in an hour or ones that just took you to the Blue Grotto (cave with amazingly blue water). We were trying to figure out what to do and Ty started talking to a guy trying to sell us a boat ride. John, Jane and I thought “what is Ty getting conned into?” Turns out Ty made the move of the weekend talking to this guy; he arranged us a private, two hour boat ride around the island, stopping wherever we wanted. Taking the big public boats would have, in the words of our Pompeii tour guide, been the “biggest mistake of our lives!”

Our Italian driver picked us up at the docks. The boat had a big open bow for us to lie out on and a few benches in the back. The trip was the highlight of the weekend. The cliffs rose above the water and seagulls soared gracefully beside them. The water was the most brilliant blue I have ever seen. It was tough to take it all in. My descriptions won’t do it justice so please check out the photos. Our driver took the boat very close to shore and took us into several grottos carved into the cliffs. Jane said her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Ty was the brave one and dove into the cold water for a quick swim. The water was so inviting but not quite warm enough for me.

After the boat ride, we hiked up to the town centre of Capri for lunch and then took a bus to Anacapri on the other side of the island for gelato. Part of the road to Anacapri had the scariest cliff to date; it could only fit one car at a time. Pooped from all the sunshine and good times, we caught the boat back to Sorrento and began the drive back to Naples airport.

It was a good thing we left ourselves extra time because traffic was thick and slow all the way into Naples. Once in Naples we were all stressed trying to find the signs to the airport and then we got stuck in a traffic jam. Two lines of cars were squeezed into a one lane of an elevated road not moving, scooters were honking and trying to get through and we didn’t even know if we were on the right road! Stressful! Luckily, we made it to the airport in time and John had a well deserved beer after his impressive driving. Jane and Ty took the bus from there to their hostel in downtown Naples and we got on the plane back to London.

What a weekend! I still can’t believe we were just there. April was a very good time to visit because the weather was comfortably warm and the area wasn’t overrun by tourists yet. It was busy enough for us; I can’t imagine what it would be like in July and August.

Thanks Jane and Ty! We had such a great time with the two of you.

Cotswolds, England

2007-04-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

It was getting close to the end of March and we realized that we still hadn’t booked a trip for the Easter long weekend. How could we not be taking advantage of four days off in a row? We hunted for cheap flights to Europe, but to no avail, so then we thought, why not explore somewhere in England? At the last minute, we managed to book a cabin for four on a farm in the Cotswolds, about two hours west of London. Jess and Andrew joined us.

We lucked out with weather as the whole weekend was sunny and warm. It was just the kind of trip we were in need of: slow paced, low stress travelling, lots of fresh air and comfy accommodation where we could sleep in, make our own food and chill out. It was very appropriate for Easter too as the leaves were coming out, flowers were in bloom, bunnies were running around and sheep with their lambs scattered the fields.

The farm we stayed on was just north of a city called Cheltenham, it was a sheep farm and they had some race horses. Most importantly, it had a big, open, unused field which we used to set up Frickets (a backyard Frisbee game for two or four people, usually involving beer). Every night before dinner we would spend a good hour playing as the sun was going down.

Post dinner activities involved cards. A&J taught us diminishing whist a while ago and we are slowly getting better at it. They kindly surprised us with a cribbage board as a present thus enabling us to teach them how to play crib (our fave). Andrew had been studying up on line and holds the record for the most strategic beginner crib player we have ever come across. (The crib board’s next trip will be to Spain for a week in May. Sarah and Kev better have their game ready.)

Over the weekend, we managed to cross three of England’s cities off our “places to visit” list.

The first one was Oxford; we stopped there on our drive out to the Cotswolds on Friday. Oxford is a beautiful university town, straight out of the past, with grand old stone buildings. Unfortunately, we don’t have photos that do it justice. We had fun exploring the heart of the city and wishing we could have gone to school there. Oxford, we recommend.

Next up for cities was Bath on Saturday. We didn’t make it there until late afternoon, and the traffic (pedestrian and vehicle) was heavy. We had a nice lunch on a patio and then hit the main sights on foot but didn’t partake in any of the Roman baths (natural hot springs). My personal favourite was the Royal Crescent, a huge, grand, half moon shaped building opening onto a park with beautiful flowers. Later on as we ate ice cream overlooking the river, we saw crowds start to stream out of a rugby match. We decided that was time to make our move. Bath was a neat spot but crowded, so we would recommend going there in the off season (whatever that might be).

Our third city was Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. If you have read past blogs you will know we have a bit of an aversion to cities that cash in on famous people that used to live there. Stratford was one of those places. If you really like Shakespeare then it’s a place for you, if not, just go explore the Cotswolds, which is what we did.

Our city visits were quick and efficient, because what we really wanted to do was see more of the Cotswolds (meaning cottage in the wolds – open country). Cotswolds – we highly recommend. The area is beautiful farm land with lots of tiny villages with buildings only made of stone and all of the fields are surrounded by stone walls. The work that went into building all those walls astounds me! Exploring the Cotswolds is like going back in time.

Back in the 80s, John’s grandparents did a house exchange for a year and lived in a cottage in the Cotswolds. On Friday night, John called his grandma and got the approximate location of Post Cottage where they lived, near Oakridge and Water Lane. So, on Saturday before going to Bath, we went on the hunt for Post Cottage.

The search first took us through a stone village built onto a hill with a very skinny main road that the car barely fit through. We got directions to Oakridge from an adorable old man out for a walk. The single lane route took us through a fairy tale forest and then into more quaint rolling farm land. We decided to park the car and explore on foot because the public footpaths were beckoning. (You can walk on private land here and there are signs every where showing you where the public footpaths are.) We walked into the village of Oakridge and went into the local pub to get directions. It was about noon and there were two sweet couples in having a beer. What a classic scene! As we left we were met with another classic scene; a seniors walking group headed to the local pub after their morning walk.

We managed to find our way to the little village of Water Lane and Post Cottage appeared right before us, just as one of the couples in the pub had described. What a beautiful spot! An adorable cottage with a large garden in bloom with spring flowers. John and I want to do a house exchange there!

We knocked on the door and met the owner, Joy. Despite surprising her (and likely scaring her as John was not clean shaven), Joy was very welcoming and figured out that John must be Pat’s grandson from Vancouver. Pretty impressive. She told us how Pat and Ron did so much work around the cottage and the community during their stay. They were very popular. Ron made the Post Cottage sign that still hangs on the gate. We caught a glimpse of the inside of the cottage and it looked just like Pat’s photos from 20 years ago.

On Sunday after Stratford, we went to the cute little town of Broadway. We did a walk through the sheep fields around the town and then had a great pub lunch. We drove back to our farm on the little side roads so that we could get our fill of the villages and countryside (the village of Snowshill is one to go back to), and we checked out a tiny place called Deerhurst. It had a chapel built in 1056. On our way home on Monday we stopped in Winchcombe for a walk and to check out its castle.

The highlight of the weekend was finding Post Cottage and realising this beautiful country with great walking trails is only a couple of hours away. We’ll have to fit some walking day trips into the schedule. Hopefully we get similar weather.

Thank you to A&J for joining us, cooking up such great food, feeding us with lots of Easter chocolate, and helping make the trip so much fun. I think we are going to have to plan a Canada Day Frickets tournament in London.

Vilnius, Lithuania

2007-04-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Although I've tried to find some way around this, since Leah didn't come on this trip, I can't stick her with writing the blog for it. So, here goes the John (low quality) blog:

Gil and I went to Lithuania for about five days. Gil's parents lived in the capital, Vilnius until about 1970, and have not been back since. It was a great adventure for us to go there and get a glimpse of their former lives. We found the various apartments that his folks used to live in, and had dinner in the swank Hotel Neringa, where his dad used to lead the band. Very cool.

Actually Vilnius in general was pretty cool. The old town is great, we had tons of local food, beer was very cheap, and we had a great time. We stayed in the Centrum UniqueStay Hotel, and it was unique. We took a day trip to Trakai, a small town on a lake with an island castle. We took pictures. Some of them are on Flickr.

Mike somehow managed to simultaneously contract every disease known to man (in the interests of saving disk space I won't list them all), but he hung in quite well. He was healthy enough to complain incessantly about the low quality of Lonely Planet's writers, who say that only a handful of Lithuanians speak Russian. Gil is fluent in Russian, spoke it with practically everybody we met, and cursed the Lonely Planet after each conversation.

Gil - thanks for the great trip!

Don't you miss Leah's blogs?

Amsterdam

2007-04-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, March 24th, our friend Mike Giligson (aka Gil) arrived from Vancouver. John was flying out of Heathrow for Amsterdam when Gil’s plane landed so they managed a quick visit. John went to Amsterdam for a work meeting on Thursday night and an ice hockey tournament with his new British team, The Westminster Statesmen, from Friday to Sunday (you have to call it ice hockey here because “hockey” means field hockey). Teams were travelling from parts of Europe and North America for the tournament.

On the trip, we were lucky to have the company of Gil, our friend Dan (aka Dan the Man, DTM, from Van but lives in London) and our travel buddies Jess and Andrew (J&A). John’s tourney was in Zoetermeer, about an hour’s train ride from Amsterdam. John and I stayed in Zoetermeer, while J&A, DTM and Gil stayed near the action in Amsterdam (AMS).

I flew with Dan and Mike on Friday night. Our flight was occupied by two different groups of guys on stags, one of which was sitting in the row behind me. Needless to say, they were loud and obnoxious, and to add to it, the guys behind me had the morphed British accents which are like nails one a chalkboard to me. Pronunciation examples: sumfink instead of something, bruva instead of brother, “init?” which translates to “isn’t it?” but is used in any context even when it makes no sense. (I’m going to drink my body weight in Heineken this weekend, init?) I shouldn’t say anything bad though because I imagine that is what John and all his buddies will be like enroute to Vegas in August for Kristian’s stag.

J&A arrived in Schiphol on a slightly earlier flight and John took the train in to meet us all. We promptly parted ways; the AMS crew took a cab to their hotel and John and I trained to Zoetermeer. We used the time to catch up. John had a game Friday afternoon, which they unfortunately lost. He had heard from other players that in previous years after games local kids (and teenagers) hang around the dressing rooms for autographs. The tradition continued and John even signed some – keep an eye out for a hockey autograph on eBay with a negative reserve price…

The train ride went by quickly but I still had time for a little people watching. The lady beside us had the neatest fold up bike; it collapsed down to about the size of brief case. We saw them many times over the next few days. Across the isle from us was a man with a big pit bull at his feet; they lived up to the dog resembling owner stereotype.

Our hotel was right by the train station which was convenient, but it didn’t even come close to its 4 star rating (I’d say more like 2). Our TV had a message displayed for us, “Welcome Mr. and Mr. Weatherill”. We were definitely in Holland.

John was up early on Saturday to get to the rink for his 8:00 a.m. game. I waited until the second game, which was at the more respectable time of 10:40, to begin my “puck bunny” duties. I was in far better shape than a fellow puck bunny who was partying until 5:30am, but I was not nearly as devoted as one lady, Sarah, who got up for the 8:00 game, with a hangover, was losing her voice from screaming and had her nails painted in team colours. I got a kick out of Sarah’s boyfriend, also John, who lit up a cigarette on the bench in between periods! The arena had a speed skating track around the top of the stands; training grounds for more Dutch Olympians. The Statesmen were victorious in their second game which propelled them into the finals – scheduled for 8:00 am Sunday morning (same morning as European daylight savings “spring forward” came into effect).

John and I trained into AMS mid afternoon and enjoyed the passing views of green fields, canals, daffodils, and windmills. It is quite strange looking across a field and seeing a boat floating in the middle of it. After spending the morning at Anne Frank House and exploring AMS, A&J met us at central station and we walked around for a while. John and I had been in AMS before, on the last two days of our honeymoon, so we weren’t itching to hit all the sites. As we strolled, memories came flooding back and the streets and buildings felt so familiar. We made our way to a pancake house that we ate at on our honeymoon and decided to indulge again; everyone opted for sweet, not savory. We then walked through the flower market, past several public urinals, into Rembrant’s square and then found ourselves at a pub serving beer on the patio.

During this time Gil and DTM were napping at Hotel Euphemia and we figured it was time to get them up. The Euphemia was a cute 1 Star hotel, a step up from a hostel. (I thought it was cute, but I wasn’t staying there.) There were three long, very steep staircases to get up to the room, quite the hazard in my opinion, given the various activities that go on in AMS.

We all had a really fun dinner; put Mike, John, Dan and Andrew together and hilarious conversation ensues. We went to In De Wildeman pub for post-dinner drinks on Andrew’s friend’s recommendation. What a great spot; very old, neat posters on the walls, over 200 different kinds of beers and perfect for more fun conversations. Unfortunately, John and I cut the evening short so we could catch the train back to Zoetermeer. We arrived at our hotel at 12:30 and wished our 5 hour sleep could have been longer.

John was up, raring to go for the big final! I was moving very slowly (I managed to nap in the arena bar before and after the game). The first period was evenly matched, point for point, but then things got scrappy and turned for the worse for the Statesmen. They lost, which put them 2nd place overall in the tourney. Not bad for John’s first hockey tournament ever, eh? John has a new plaque to put beside his previous “man of the match” plaque in the bathroom.

We spent the rest of the day with our travelling companions in the adorably cute town of Delft. Before we left on our honeymoon several years ago, a customer of mine who was from Delft recommended going there. We didn’t make it at the time so I had to do it this trip. What a highlight! I highly recommend. Delft is like a mini Amsterdam but more rural. It has really neat old buildings, including several churches (one with a leaning bell tower) and a huge town hall. Vermeer, the painter of The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Milkmaid, is from Delft, and so is the famous blue and white pottery.

We had a very yummy lunch of savory and sweet pancakes in the warm sun in the town square. Heaven! Then Jess guided us on a walking tour past all of the town’s architectural highlights. I just loved exploring Delft! It shouldn’t be a big surprise that we stopped for a beer after the walk.

We all took the train back to Schiphol airport and had dinner there before our flights. John, Mike, Dan and I were faced with a huge line up at customs in Heathrow but it was nothing compared to the over two hour delay A&J had leaving AMS.

I know I keep saying this, but it was another great weekend away! I’m so grateful for these experiences and for having people to share them with. Have a look at more photos on Andrew and Jess’s blog from March 26th on http://www.fushmush.net/. Thank you to all our traveling companions – you made it a great time! Thank you John for organising (your Christmas present). I hope you enjoyed it :)

John and Mike headed to Vilnius, Lithuania on Wednesday, the home town of Mike’s parents. Mike brought a DVD with him of film footage shot by his Dad in the late sixties of Vilnius and area. We watched it on Monday night. It was fascinating to see what the city used to look like, but even more fascinating to see the people and how they lived, and hear their stories. I’m sure it will make going to Vilnius even more meaningful and interesting for Mike and John after watching this.

I should also note that Mike made us an awesome dinner on Monday night and even got John to eat spinach! Thanks Mike!!

Sawks & Joy!

2007-03-21T15:22:00.000-07:00

We just had our first visitors from home, Kristian and Joy! They made the big trek across the pond to have a couple of weekends in London with us and a jaunt to Venice. After a wonderful few days with them, we were very sad to see them go yesterday. Having them here made us feel like we were back home in Vancouver.

K&J arrived on Saturday, March 10th, our six month anniversary of being in London. It was a bright sunny day in London, and it stayed that way for the week. We picked them up at Heathrow and drove them through Northwest London to our flat in Ealing. They were jet-lagged but we were very impressed with their stamina. After some brief down time we took the tube into Central London. We walked through Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and daffodil filled St. James Park, and then past Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben and the Thames.

After an early dinner back in Ealing, we took K&J to the classic local pub behind our place, the Kings Arms. A lot of the pubs in London have been renovated and modernized, and in doing so have lost of bit of their charm. The Kings Arms is true to form. We walked in at 7:30 and headed into the back. Just as we sat down, a man sitting on a stool at the bar passed out, fell backwards, hit is head on the table right beside us and then hit the ground with a thud. He lay there in a heap, a trickle of blood running out of his head, and the waitress returned to the room with a resounding “Oh, for f*** sake…” with a perturbed tone, like this was an everyday occurrence. Welcome to London K&J!

On Sunday, John and I had an Ultimate game and K&J did some exploring/shopping along Oxford Street. They met us at the field as the game ended and we had a beer with the team on a pub patio overlooking Clapham Common. We had a casual dinner at home that night and the evening was filled with great conversation. With good friends, it is always easy to pick things up where you left off.

On Monday, K&J headed to Venice for four days. They lucked out with great weather and they picked a good time because it wasn’t too crowded yet. They had a wonderful, relaxing time exploring the city and we are very inspired to go there after looking at their beautiful photos.

K&J left very early for Venice and arrived back late on Thursday night (exactly six months away from their wedding day!). They were so quiet on both departure and arrival that we woke up worrying that they didn’t leave in time or didn’t make it back.

On Friday, K&J visited family friends in Ascot while John and I worked. We met up for dinner at the Grange Pub on Ealing Common and then went to see the movie Hot Fuzz. It’s a British comedy starring the British equivalent of Will Farrell/Vince Vaughan/Wilson Bros. Needless to say, it had us laughing.

Saturday morning, John whipped up crepes for breakfast (he is becoming a pro at making them). After indulging in several different crepe toppings we drove to the local B&Q (the British Home Depot), so K&J could buy some wallpaper. They bought an awesome new house in Vancouver last year and have a few walls left to uplift. Joy, the decorating pro, wanted to take advantage of the UK’s extensive wallpaper selection and the cheaper prices, compared to Canada. It brought back fond home reno memories for John and I and it felt weird going there and not having to buy anything.

In the afternoon, Joy and I went shopping. First we cruised the Marylebone High Street and browsed The Conran Shop, Cath Kidston and a few expensive clothing stores. Then we went to Kensington High Street to some more affordable shops: Accessorize, Monsoon, Zara… We both had success at Zara. Meanwhile, the boys went to Lilywhites at Piccadilly Circus to buy sport wear and then to a pub to watch football and rugby. We all met back up for a beer at the Price of Wales pub on Kensington Church Street which is where John and I had our first dinner in London.

K&J treated us to a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ealing and more great conversation. We headed back to the flat and enjoyed some Venetian prosecco before hitting the sack.

We had so much fun hanging out with K&J and we are so grateful that they made the trip. As described above, we did a lot of eating, drinking and visiting – just what we wanted. It gave us an excuse to try more local restaurants and explore more of London. We look forward to our next visitors so we can go back to the good spots and find new places.

We were all up early on Sunday. K&J were packing up their new clothes and three rolls of stylish wallpaper, for their midday departure. John and I were getting ready for a full day of Ultimate. We left them with a set of keys to deliver to our next visitor, Mike, in Vancouver. He arrives on Thursday, so we won’t be homesick for long.

Thanks Sawks ‘n Joy for coming to visit! We look forward to more good times together. The six month wedding countdown is on…

Note: Sawks & Joy photos have been added to our London set in Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/).

South Africa

2007-03-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Long time no blog … well, I’m about to make up for that. Warning: it’s a long one.

Executive Summary

We just got back from an amazing week in South Africa, a trip that exceeded all expectations! I never imagined that I would go to Africa and now we both want to go back for more. John had the opportunity to lead a workshop and speak at a conference in Johannesburg. My first thought was “No way are you going there”, and that grew into me joining him and extending the trip to do a Safari in Kruger National Park before the conference and a tour of Cape Town and area after. Given the timing of our departure, we called the trip our 3.5 year honeymoon.

While our trip was only a week it felt like we were gone a lot longer. We had delicious food every night and the hospitality was top notch. We got into a routine of early to bed and early to rise (with no coffee I might add) so we could fit everything in. We saw a plethora of animals at Kruger Park, including the Big Five and we took in the spectacular beauty of Cape Town’s peninsula. We only saw a small part of South Africa (SA) and every place we went to was so beautiful it made us want to explore the country (and the rest of Africa) more.

Prologue

While the main goal was to have fun, we were a bit nervous about this trip, as we had read and received lots of warnings about the crime situation in South Africa. Some of the highlights: Johannesburg was generally considered the most dangerous city in the world in the late ‘90s, and SA still has 20,000 murders per year. Armed robbery is common, as are carjackings, so accepted practice is to run red lights at night. Carjacking has occurred on approach roads to Kruger Park, and tourists have recently been robbed at gunpoint on Table Mountain in Cape Town (all places we were going).

Not much you can do if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we planned ahead to avoid the wrong places as much as possible, and had all of our transportation prearranged. We also left our jewelry and watches in London, and tried to look as uninteresting as possible, to decrease our chances of being targets for theft. Also John took a karate class in October, although he couldn’t walk for three days afterwards.

Without wanting to spoil the plot, we were lucky and had absolutely no problems, and felt safe the whole time we were there. (But if you’re going, be careful.)

Chapter 1 – Arrival & Kruger National Park

Our journey to SA started early on the morning of Friday, February 23rd, with our cab pick up at 4:00am to take us to Heathrow. This was the first of four early mornings in a row. The smooth flight, through Amsterdam on KLM (like on our first honeymoon), got us into Johannesburg (Joburg) at 10:30p.m. and we stayed at the airport hotel.

Our only stupid tourist move of the trip: on arrival we walked out of the airport looking for the shuttle bus to our hotel (the hotel is located 500 meters from the terminal, but we had been advised that it’s not safe to walk there). A “helpful” gentleman asks if we are looking for the Southern Sun shuttle, which we were, and proceeds to lead us around the corner on a dimly lit shortcut to where the shuttles wait. About 20 seconds later he points us to our shuttle and asks for 200 Rand in return (about C$35). John gives him R50, and he says “More”. John gives him another 50, and he says “More”. John says what we’ve given him is fair (hoping we don’t get stabbed as result), and he says, “Ok, enjoy your stay”, and walks off. So we paid him about $17 for 30 seconds of work, but we had to laugh at our own stupidity.

Saturday, February 24th -- Kruger National Park

We were up on Saturday morning for our 7:15 pick up to take us to Kruger National Park. Kruger is in the eastern part of SA and it is huge, about the size of Wales or Israel. In our van, we were accompanied by a Swedish family with three boys and a Swedish couple. It was a hot, sunny day despite being the rainy season, and we couldn’t believe that by 8:30 the sun was higher in the sky than at noon in London. Being below the equator meant the sun was in a different part of the sky and I was constantly confused about what direction we were headed.

The four hour drive to Kruger was beautiful; it started out like Alberta prairie and then got more lush and rolling. The landscape was so inviting. We were all dropped off at Phumulani Lodge, just outside Kruger’s Numbi Gate. We scoped out Phumulani’s compound; there was a very African, open air reception/lounge/bar/dining lodge with a thatched roof that opened onto a patio and pool area, and there were 17 huts for accommodation. The huts were well spread out in the woods and our hut, #3, was off by itself. We had a deck with lounge chairs, a well appointed bedroom including a mosquito net over the bed, a large bathroom with a tub and big slate tile shower. (Further to the mosquito net, we were taking anti-malaria pills as advised, but I don’t think I saw a mosquito the whole time.) We enjoyed lunch at the open air lodge. I was in heaven: It’s not that often that I am so warm that I don’t fear getting a chill that causes me to pull my sweater on. There was no chill-fear that sunny Saturday afternoon.

After lunch, we headed out on our first game drive, both decked out in safari clothes (Christmas presents). Our guide for the weekend, Sindy, picked us up in an open air, covered jeep and we headed into Kruger Park’s higher rocky area. In addition to being a wealth of park and animal information, Sindy had amazing eyes: after growing up in and around the park he could spot animals long before we could see them. We cruised through the park, the hot air blowing through my hair, spectacular scenery, sun shining – I didn’t care if we saw any animals – I was loving it as is.

It’s not common to see animals in the hot afternoon because they are hiding in the shade trying to keep cool. But, we did see a few herds of impalas (graceful, elegant, deer like creatures), kudus (bigger impalas), hippos and a few rhino toilets. We did lots more driving and we soaked in the views of the new territory. Near the end of our three hour drive, we spotted an elephant! Barely though, as he was well hidden behind a tree, but we were thrilled none the less (little did we know what we would see the next day). On our way out of the park, we saw a dead kudu and her baby; they were killed by a lion after the kudu gave birth. Reality check.

On our return to Phumulani, we enjoyed a beer by the pool and then a fabulous dinner. We were in bed and asleep by 8:30! We were exhausted after our two days of travel and we had to be up and ready to leave on our game drive at 5:30 the next morning.

Sunday, February 25th -- Kruger National Park

We boarded our jeep, along with the Swedish family at 5:30, and our excitement was enough to make us forget our coffee cravings. It got light out very fast but it was cool and cloudy so we cozied up under a blanket in the front seat. We headed deep into the park. The terrain changed so quickly and was so diverse; that is why there are so many different animals in the park. I had set my sighting expectations low, so as not to be disappointed, and I sure wasn’t.

Our first sighting was a white rhino and right after that, a large male elephant. He was off in the trees but we got some good shots of him. John pulled out the binoculars (thanks again C&P, they came in handy) and zoomed in on the elephant, but he quickly realized that they weren’t necessary as it the elephant started walking straight for us! He ended up about 20 feet away - big highlight.

Next up was a herd of zebras; I find their stripes captivating, especially on their faces. Sindy, our guide, said we had to press on though because he had heard on the radio about a leopard sighting. We bolted down the road and paused for a moment to see a giraffe and a buffalo. We arrived at a clearing, and lying under a tree was a leopard! She was tough to see, the binocs were clutch. We noted a heard of impalas up wind, perhaps her next meal. We watched her for a while and then went back to see some giraffes who had now been joined by zebras. All of this before 7:30! Four out of five of the Big Five, namely rhino, elephant, buffalo, and leopard, leaving us only the lion left to see. In the next hour, we saw some warthogs and some wildebeests, and then the rain started. The front plastic window of the jeep wasn’t up so we got soaked, but eventually we stopped to put it up.

At 8:30 we were dropped off at one of the camps in Kruger for breakfast. It was in a lush area, overlooking a river and had accommodation, camping, a restaurant, a shop, and picnic areas. The sun emerged and dried our clothes, and we wolfed down the hardy breakfasts that Phumulani had packed us. Then we walked along the river path and I jumped when we saw several foot long, colourful salamanders.

We set back out in the jeep and our next sighting was a small tortoise crossing the road. Sindy got word of some lion, so we sped off in that direction. There were two males, lying down deep in the trees. We watched them through the binocs and then one got up and limped away. He had an injured front leg and was very skinny as a result. That completed our Big Five count – what could possibly be next?

We took a road along a river and saw hippos, crocodiles and storks on the shore. Then we came across five female lions relaxing in a dry river bed! After that we saw another elephant, an eagle and more buffalo. The terrain kept changing and was so scenic. I was itching to get out of the jeep and hike … until we saw four more lionesses, the hunters. Down the road from the lions we saw a herd of mama and baby elephants walking up a river bank – another highlight. We like elephants.

The Swedish mother in our jeep wanted to see more hippos so we drove to large pond and there were about 20 hanging out in the water, which is where they spend most of their time during the day. Note: hippos have killed more humans than any other African animal; apparently they are very territorial and can run like crazy. They were accompanied by some crocodiles and we saw some storks and a kingfisher on the shore.

It was still overcast as we headed to a different lodge for lunch around noon. The lodge was on a swamp about 10km from Mozambique, and we could see more hippos, buffalo and crocs. We watched the rain move towards us; it was torrential when it reached us but stopped long enough for us to get back in the jeep. The rain socked in and it was more rain than I have seen before (and I lived in Vancouver in Jan/06). The muddy ground turned into flash floods, water rushing everywhere. The rain poured in the side of the jeep soaking John, and it poured through the front onto our feet turning our shoes into swimming pools. Oh well, that made it more adventurous. We huddled under the blanket on the three hour ride back to Phumulani. We had a few stops for animals: a monkey, a bunch of baboons (one male sitting on the road was peeing with his unit out in full view as we went by, others were huddled together on a rock trying to keep warm in the rain), another elephant, four rhinos and more baboons (several babies were riding on their moms’ backs, super cute).

After drying off and warming up back at our hut, we played some cribbage in the lodge. We wanted to walk as we normally do so much of that on our travels, but in the interest of safety, we didn’t. Dinner was even better the second night, after which we played more crib (by candle light for a while because the power went out). We had another early bed time as it sure is a long day when you are up at 5:00. I was lying in bed and John was curiously wandering around the bathroom and bedroom. He suggested that we tuck the mosquito net into the mattress and I thought he was being overly cautious until I saw the large spider and mini salamander that he had seen in the bathroom. He did not tell me until the next morning of the larger lizard he saw walking up our bedroom wall…

Monday, February 26th -- Kruger National Park, and Johannesburg

The Numbi gate was closed when we headed out on our early morning game drive Monday morning so we had to drive half an hour to another gate. That allowed us to see some new territory and some local villages. It was overcast but not raining. Once in the park, we drove through a flat dry area and caught a glimpse of a cheetah running after some kudus. Sindy advised that June was the best time to see lots of hunting. Everything is green and leafy in the rainy season and the watering holes are plentiful, both factors making it harder to spot the animals (we were lucky). In the dry winter, there are no leaves and all the animals congregate at the limited water holes. Sindy said you can just park at a watering hole and watch the action.

A herd of buffalo (hundreds of them) had been through the night before. We saw a few of the abandoned males in the brush and one old guy on a river island to make it easier to protect himself.

We had breakfast at the same spot as the day before, but this time it was a buzz with monkey activity. Monkeys everywhere; running, jumping, playing, stealing food. We ate while watching them and then did the same foot long salamander walk as we did on Sunday. We also noticed several bats hanging from the thatched roof of an eating area. The little guy on the porch at West Hawk seems like nothing now.

We were picked up from there by a van with all of our bags, and we were taken on the Panoramic Route back to Joburg. We left the Kruger Park terrain and our elevation climbed. Thick lodge pole forests, round hills, waterfalls, rainforest, ravines… The landscape changed about every half hour and so did the weather. It monsooned again and then we entered a thick fog, which inhibited most of the panoramic views.

Our first stop was at a waterfall but we couldn’t see it. The rain paused for our next stop which was at a waterfall set in rolling hills. I just wanted to hike! Next was God’s Window and while God kindly paused the rain again while we got out to explore, he forgot to de-fog the window. As we couldn’t see the view, we hiked up a trail and within 10 minutes we were in a rainforest! Our legs were grateful for the little jaunt. When we came out the other side of the rainforest, we were at the edge of a cliff and met with a wall of white. Pretty cool even without the views! The sun came out as we lunched on savoury pancakes in an old gold mining town, Pilgrim’s Rest. From there it was a five hour ride back to Joburg. I enjoyed the scenery for a while before falling sound asleep. John said it turned into “Alberta Prairie” again.

Chapter 2 - Johannesburg

As we entered Joburg, we passed a bad accident that had just happened. The police and medics weren’t there yet. First on the scene was the area Armed Response team (comforting). Whilst sitting in traffic, John and I sat in the back of the van, following all of the safety tips we read, but the Swedish kids up front (who had commendable behavior for the entire 7 hour journey that day) did the opposite. They had their bags were in full view, had their cameras out, started making faces at and taking photos of the people neighbouring cars, and then they opened the window to chat to some guy selling bowls at a traffic light! We weren't that impressed, but we did manage to make it safely to our hotel in Sandton (a suburb of Joburg).

We were advised not to walk anywhere except for to the conference centre next to the hotel and the mall across the road. We had dinner at the hotel and I watched the Oscars replay while John prepped for the next day. We couldn’t believe how much we did in one day and one weekend.

Tuesday, February 27th – Johannesburg

John was giving a workshop at the conference all day Tuesday, and I was under strict orders to stay in the hotel so that he wouldn’t worry about me. I didn’t have a problem with that. I was happy to have a relaxing day enjoying the hotel amenities. I hit the treadmill in the gym, had a leisurely breakfast, sat in the sun by the pool and did some blogging by hand (ie journal writing), then went back to the gym. John met me there when he was finished around 3:30. His workshop had been well received by the delegates.

We ventured out across the road, explored the mall, admired Nelson Mandela’s huge statue in the square named after him, and then John showed me the conference centre. There were security guards all over our hotel, in the parking area and patrolling the mall. We enjoyed a crib game by the pool and then went back to Nelson Mandela square for dinner.

Wednesday, February 28th – Johannesburg and Cape Town

John was at his conference in the morning and he gave a presentation at midday (which also got good reviews – so proud of my man). It was Day 2 for me of being a Lady of Leisure. I did a repeat of the day before - gym, breakfast and pool - accompanied by the other wives of delegates.

We had a safe and quick ride to OR Tambo airport early afternoon to catch our flight to Cape Town. At the airport were greeted by a sign saying “Enter at your own risk” and we saw another sign inside that said “Check Weapons and Firearms here”. Disregarding the newspaper articles about incidents of crime we read while we were there, overall Joburg seemed safer than we expected but we were happy to take the necessary precautions. In reality, we were confined to the generally white, upper middle class suburb of Sandton, where businesses have relocated after abandoning Central Joburg, and where every house is surrounded by a six foot wall, lined with barbed wire and topped with electric fencing. Not exactly genuine Joburg. Next time we’d like to see the Apartheid Museum and Soweto (the largest township established under apartheid). I was skeptical about these tours as I didn’t want to gawk at others’ misfortune, but John read that the tours are run by Soweto residents and the money goes to benefit the area.

Chapter 3 – Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town early evening and were picked up by our hotel driver. We drove past a township, by the university and a famous hospital (where the first heart transplant took place), past Table Mountain and to the Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Waterfront where our hotel was. The hotel was much nicer than I was expecting and the service was outstanding; the online photos did not do it justice.

We were happy to be able to walk through the large V&A Waterfront area (it is a tourist area and well patrolled by security). It reminded us of Victoria Harbour and Granville Island combined. There was an African singing troop playing in the square, which of course I adored as it reminded me of Paul Simon’s Graceland album. We had a beer at Mitchell’s Scottish Ale Brewery in honour of Mom’s family, and then dined on a delicious meal at a Cape Malay restaurant (actually Indonesian, not Malaysian, influenced by the Indonesian slaves brought in 300 years ago). Food everywhere was quite reasonable, granted our sense of reasonable may be warped after being in London and Oslo.

Thursday, March 1 – Cape Town

We started the day with a half day tour of Cape Town’s City Bowl and Table Mountain. The City Bowl is the downtown area and so named because of the surrounding mountains which form a bowl: Table Mountain (TM) which is big and flat on top, Devil’s Peak, Lion’s Head, and Signal Hill. It is very common for clouds to form over TM and cascade over the edge; locals call it the Table Cloth.

It was a sunny day but there were a few clouds over TM. We headed there first and took the rotating cable car up. On the way up and from the top there were spectacular views of the whole peninsula and city. We had a good walk on the paths, admiring the views and the flora which is unique in the world. After that we went to the Cape Town’s fortress, and drove through Bo-Kaap (the Malay Quarter which has distinctive colourful houses) and other City Bowl sites. At the end we walked through the Company Gardens (the Dutch East India Company) and visited the main museum. There was a really interesting display of 150 years of the Cape Argus Newspaper; we spent all our time there. We enjoyed all the parts of the tour but we were disappointed that we did not have more time at each stop and we felt it wasn’t worth the money. We did get some interesting SA history tidbits and tips for traveling to other parts of Africa from our guide.

The tour finished early afternoon and we decided to take advantage of the sunshine. We got a ride down to Camps Bay Beach, a beautiful long stretch of white sand, blue water and big crashing waves, and we rented some lounge chairs and caught some rays. The wind kept us cool under the hot sun which was good because we were too wimpy to attempt a swim in the Atlantic. Damn cold! The Indian Ocean on the other side of the peninsula is supposedly warmer but was a further drive, and it is also home to more Great Whites. Once we were sufficiently fried, we had ice cream, got a scenic ride back to our hotel, enjoyed dinner at the Waterfront and hit the sack.

Friday, March 2nd – Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope

We were up for our 8:30 Cape of Good Hope tour departure (much easier than the 5:30 safaris). The day – pure sunshine, no clouds, hot. TM was totally clear. The tour took us down the Atlantic side of the Cape peninsula to Cape of Good Hope and then back up the Indian side. There were five other travelers in our van, two British couples and an Aussie lady.

We drove along the coast and admired Clifton Beach and then got a good view of Camps Bay Beach where we were the day before. Next we entered Hout Bay and from its harbour we got on a boat for a quick ride out to Seal Island. We could smell the seals as we approached (very distinctive odor and certainly not pleasant). There were hundreds of them sunning themselves on the warm rocks and playing in the water. Fun to watch. Out past the island in the ocean, we could see a spot where waves were breaking. In the winter, waves there can get up to 20 metres high and they host extreme surfing competitions (http://www.redbullbwa.com/gallery/index.php?id=11).

We took Chapman’s Peak Drive along cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. It was like the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler but not as safe. It took our breath away for more reason than one. We passed a gorgeous, very long beach, moved inland and passed an ostrich farm, and then hit the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Driving through the reserve we saw baboons and wild ostriches, and made our way to the Cape of Good Hope, the most south westerly point of Africa, where the oceans meet. It was a bit of a let down because for some reason we were expecting the waters to meet distinctly, like the Fraser River into the Pacific, which they didn’t. We had to settle for cliffs, a rocky beach and just plain ocean (oh darn).

We drove around the bend to Cape Point and hiked up to a lighthouse with incredible views of the cliffs, beaches, Indian, Atlantic, and mountains – big highlight. The walk worked up our appetites and we had lunch at The Boulders, more delicious food and fun conversations with our fellow travelers. The restaurant was overlooking False Bay which is renowned for its Great White sharks (breeding ground) and also for its surfing (feeding ground). The beaches have shark lookouts. Check out some amazing photos of Great Whites breaching in False Bay at
http://www.apexpredators.com/store/showCategoriesProducts.asp?categoryID=6.

From there we walked down to a nature reserve to see African (formerly known as Jackass) Penguins, which are native to the area. We saw them on the beach, playing in the water and waddling through bushes. There was a mama scolding her baby and moulting ones that didn’t move much because they were fasting. To get cool air into their bodies, the penguins keep their beaks wide open, like dogs panting. All very cute.

Driving up the Indian side of the peninsula we went through Simon’s Town, home of a big navy base. The route took us into Cape Town but on the back side of Table Mountain. The Atlantic side of the peninsula was a desert and this side was very lush and green, a perfect locale for the Botanical Gardens. We strolled through the gardens, set in behind TM, and admired the unique flowers and plants. One of the flowers had petals that looked like bird feathers! John’s Mom and Grandma could have spent days there, no, likely weeks.

As we came into the City Bowl, TM was clear of clouds but Lion’s Head had a tuft of white on it. To the locals, that means rain will fall the next day. We could have used a nap when we got back to our hotel but our efficient concierge had got us a table at Mama Africa for dinner, an African Restaurant back in the City Bowl. It was a lively place with a great atmosphere. I had kudu and springbok stew and John had mango chicken (both very yum). We enjoyed the live African music and had a chuckle when the second song they sang was a cover of a British boy band tune. It was a lovely way to spend our last night in Cape Town.

Saturday, March 3 – Cape Town and the journey home

On our last day in SA, we slept in a bit, checked out and enjoyed breakfast at the V&A Waterfront. We wanted to do a tour to Robben Island, home of the Alcatraz-like political prison where Nelson Mandela was held for many years, but they were all booked up and we were tight on time. Instead we went to the District Six Museum. The sixth district of Cape Town was a vibrant mixed community and in 1966 it was declared a “white area”. By 1982, 60,000 residents had been forcibly removed to a township outside of Cape Town, their houses flattened. This of course happened all over the country during apartheid. We soaked in all the history the museum had to offer, not just about District Six but also about Cape Town.

As predicted by the Lion’s Head cloud the day before, it rained and really cooled off. Our hotel driver picked us up with our bags and took us to the airport. It was 2:00pm and the start of our 24 hour journey home. Cape Town to Joburg, 7 hour layover, overnight to Amsterdam and then a connection to London.

At the Johannesburg airport we caught a glimpse of the big red sun setting over the horizon, and then we sat in a restaurant overlooking the runways, planes and a big, brilliant full moon. We toasted our amazing trip and started discussing our next African adventure. Perhaps a hiking safari in Botswana for our 10 year anniversary?

John, you did a superb job planning the trip. Thank you.

Oslo, Norway

2007-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn’t think it was possible but we managed to find a place more expensive than London: Norway. John had a conference in Oslo from last Wednesday to Friday, so I flew to meet him and we spent the weekend exploring Oslo and Lillehammer (site of the 1994 Olympics). Luckily, Norway was a beautiful winter wonderland, thus satisfying my snow cravings and making up for the cost.

John’s conference was at the Olso airport which is about 45 minutes north of the city and John was staying at the airport’s hotel. As part of the conference, on Thursday night he had the opportunity to go to dinner at City Hall, the site of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Eating herring at our Christmas in Denmark prepared him for the feast of rare reindeer and cod! (He survived and didn’t have to buy another dinner back at the hotel.)

John greeted me at the airport when I arrived on Friday afternoon. The sky was clear and blue, the temperature was cold, and the landscape was covered in snow. It reminded us of winter in Winnipeg. We headed out, bundled up, for a long walk in the snow and made it back at dusk. We had a relaxing evening enjoying dinner and cozying up in our hotel.

We arose early on Saturday, packed up our rental car and hit the highway to Lillehammer. John was very excited to drive our rental car, a BMW 116i, a lucky upgrade. Unfortunately, the speed limit was only 80km all the way (worse than Manitoba), but John was still able to discover that some cars actually can accelerate on an incline. Our Mazdas seem to have missed that feature.

It was a beautiful crisp, clear day. Dawn seemed to last the whole drive; then we realized the sun wasn’t going to rise much higher. The 2.5 hour drive took us along the longest lake in Norway and into the hills. The terrain reminded me a bit of Lake Windermere in BC. The ski resort was 15 km past Lillehammer and called Hafjell, which we nick-named “half hill” due to its size. While it wasn’t Whistler or Sunshine, it did have some long cruiser runs and we managed to find some untouched powder in the glades. My rented skies were short, fat, curved and a total blast! So many short fast turns made so easy. I may have to invest in a pair when we move back to Canada. We skied the day away, but had to take a few breaks to warm up as we weren’t conditioned for such cold.

Skiing was made possible thanks to our friends and captains of our ultimate team, Liz and Phil, who lent us the winter gear we were lacking.

After Half Hill, on John’s whim we went across the valley to the Olympic Bobsled track and bought tickets to ride down it in a bobraft, a rubber bobsled that fits five passengers and one driver. John didn’t tell me until it was over that it goes 80km/hr down the track! I was kind of expecting a slow cruise down but the required helmets and pep talk about g-forces started to make me nervous. The ride was more thrilling than any roller coaster I have ever been on! Climbing up the corners, G-forces I’ve never felt before, no time to anticipate the turns; I have a whole new respect for the sledding sports. Those skeleton competitors are absolutely crazy! To any Calgarians reading, we highly recommend a visit to COP’s track for a ride.

Our hotel in Lillehammer was just above the main part of town on the mountain where the Olympic Village was located (ski jump, large arena, etc). After our exciting day of outdoor pursuits, we had a much needed sauna to relax. It was a 10 minute walk down a steep hill, past quaint, cozy, Norwegian houses with smoke streaming from their chimneys, to get to the centre of Lillehammer. We quickly cruised the pedestrian street and then settled ourselves into a restaurant for dinner at table by the window so we could watch winter from the warmth. With full bellies and tired bodies, we slowly made it back up the hill and into bed.

On Sunday morning we had a Scandinavian breakfast at the hotel (we chose to have jam and nutella on our toast as opposed to the fish spread) before starting our journey back to Oslo. The sky was white and a snowfall looked imminent. Once in Central Oslo, we set out on foot. In order to stay warm I had to sacrifice appearance; I looked like Stay Puff Marshmallow Woman with my down vest, fleece and snow pants on under my long coat. Motivated to find a Starbucks to satisfy our caffeine cravings, we walked most of downtown, past an outdoor skating rink, the university, the theatre, parliament and the train station. Our search led us to the Information Centre where we were advised that there are not any Starbucks in Norway, due to the public’s wishes. After cursing to each other that the cold must be affecting the Norwegians’ good sense, we settled for some local coffee and made our way to the Akershus Castle and Fortress.

We walked the walls of the snow covered fortress which overlooked the harbour. Guards were on patrol and marching around, and there were statues on the grounds to check out. The Norwegian Resistance Museum is located on the grounds and we spent two hours in there learning about the resistance movement in WWII. During their occupation of Norway, the Nazis used the fortress as their base, prison and execution grounds. Many resistance groups lived, trained, stock piled and planned from well hidden camps in the woods and hills.

When we left the museum a snowfall had started! We walked (and I did some gleeful skipping in the snow) back through the city centre and past the palace to get to our car. To our disbelief, parking for the afternoon cost the equivalent of CAD$40! We tried to spin a positive – at least we weren’t broken into – but that didn’t help much. Yes, our wallets were getting empty, it was time to go back to cheap London. We shudder to imagine what a Starbucks would have cost…

We had a long wait at the airport so we sat in the Sports lounge and watched the Arsenal match with a few drinks. It was another late Sunday night arrival home but it was worth it to have another great European weekend getaway, and we highly recommend Norway. Thanks for the wonderful Christmas present John!

Barcelona, Spain

2007-01-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we did another “honeymoon repeat” trip, this time to Barcelona, Spain. The second time round certainly did not disappoint!

I think Barcelona is such a beautiful and vibrant city. I love the look of it; the distinctive buildings with their tall, skinny shuttered doors in place of windows on every floor and fronted by wrought iron balconies, the palm trees, the statues, La Rambla (the big walking/shopping street), the small side streets, the squares, the harbour, the beach… I could walk the city for hours admiring it.

The sun was shining warm and high in the sky, which was a nice break from cool London. This time round, we were much more used to eating/trying tapas so we took full advantage of the local restaurants.

We were up at 3:15 am Saturday morning in order to catch our early flight out of Gatwick. I just got my work car which made getting to the airport easier and given the time of day, the roads were clear. We stuck to the big highways so we wouldn’t get lost (and in order to keep the Amazing Race style bickering over navigating/driving to a minimum).

We arrived in the city centre around midday and met up with our friends, Andrew and Jess (A&J) at our hotel just off La Rambla and Plaza Catalunya (i.e.: good location). The occasion of the trip was to celebrate Andrew’s 32nd birthday. Saturday was the Christmas day equivalent in Barcelona so many shops were closed but the streets were packed with people out promenading. A&J arrived a few days before and were able to take part in the Three Kings parade on Friday night (check out their website for details on that, www.fushmush.net). Christmas lights were hung on all the streets and cute Santa dolls on ladders were hanging off many of the apartment balconies. We grabbed a bite and strolled La Rambla observing the many street performers stationed along the street.

On A&J’s recommendation, John and I went to tour 100 year-old Casa Batllo, one of Antonio Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces in Barcelona, while A&J hit the Picasso museum. The building from the outside and inside was very striking. John was amazed by all the detailed wood work. There are almost no straight lines in the house and every room had ingenious features that maximized natural light, ventilation and colour. One of the ceilings on the main floor was molded to resemble a whirlpool and one of the top floor rooms was modeled after a whale’s rib cage. Okay, enough of me trying to describe it and not doing it justice -- check out www.casabatllo.es/.

While we were very impressed with the distinctive architecture of Casa Batllo we were slightly put off by the exaggerated praise heaped on Gaudi and his work in our audio guide. Something to the effect of “the greatest genius the world has known”, you’re now entering “the most incredible room you have ever been in”, and “we are sure this visit to Casa Batllo has been a life changing experience for you”. Interesting, yes. Life changing, no.

On our way to meet back up with A&J we walked through the Gothic Quarter and briefly into the Salvador Dali Museum gift shop (to get the highlights). With A&J we walked down La Rambla to the harbour and the Christopher Columbus column and statue, and then to the beach for Andrew’s first view of the Mediterranean. To sustain us on the walk back we indulged in churros dipped in melted chocolate – can’t go wrong there.

We had a nap at our quaint and cute accommodation, Hosteria Grau, an upgrade from standard hostels, before heading out for Andrew’s birthday dinner. We wolfed down a few rounds of tapas and beverages and then walked to another restaurant/bar to enjoy the popular Spanish liquor, 43, and some great conversation.

Wake up on Sunday morning to catch the train into the Montserrat Mountain Range was painful but worth it. The 50 minute train ride took us to the base of a mountain with a Monastery built into the side of it. I had found this spot in a guide book and it reminded me a fictional mountain monastery in a book I read so I just had to visit it. We took a cable car up to the Monastery, spent some time taking in the spectacular views (check out our photos), and then explored the Basilica (incredible for being built so high up). The monastery is inhabited by 80 monks and a renowned boys choir, that was unfortunately on Christmas vacation when we were there.

We were in no shape to hike to the top of mountain from the monastery (Grouse Grind equivalent), so we took the funicular and walked one of the hiking trails from the top. Montserrat Mountain peaks are very unique, made of coarse sedimentary rock like I’ve never seen before. One peak resembled a dog head with human female torso (if you get my drift) and one resembled a mummy head. Montserrat is beautiful and I would recommend it as a great day trip to anyone passing through Barcelona.

Back in Barcelona we had another yummy dinner of tapas. We made it a bit more adventurous by ordering off the Catalan menu. It had pictures so it wasn’t too risky, but John still managed to end up with one full of steak tartare (it looked like bruchetta in the picture). Andrew was brave enough to eat it.

We timed the entire day very well with all of our connecting forms of transport and we were at the airport in good time but unfortunately our plane wasn’t. With a ½ hour delay, we touched down in windy, rainy London around midnight.

We had a bit of an adventure driving back through the middle of London, in the rain, wind and wee hours of the morning. It was probably the best time for us to attempt our first drive through the city given the lack of traffic. We continue to be amazed how the main roads in London resemble back streets back home. I was driving and John, Andrew and Jess did a great job of navigating. We all made it home safely.

All in all another fabulous weekend getaway. The perfect combo of a beautiful city, spectacular countryside and of course the wonderful company of Andrew and Jess. Thanks again guys and HB Andrew!

Christmas in Denmark

2007-01-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

I have to make a quick comment about the great time we had at my work Christmas party.

The party was put on by a company that runs big corporate parties. It was in a large tent on the grounds of an estate not too far from where we live. It was a “Monte Carlo” themed night with casino tables, a band, dancing girls, men in tuxedos, women in fancy dresses. My office bought a few tables, as did some other branches.

We had decided to pay corkage and bring our own wine, which was delivered to the event earlier. When we arrived, it was easy to pick out our table out of the hundreds because, not only was it the only table with wine bottles on it, it was covered with wine bottles, barely room for place settings. Our most senior manager made it his mission to ensure everyone drank and that we finished all the bottles. We played “Simon Says” and “Grand Old Duke of York” drinking games, did the Mexican Wave around the table (same as “the wave” we do back home in stadiums at sporting events), wore our paper crowns from the Christmas crackers and at one point all got under the table for a photo op!

After dinner, we were first in line for bumper cars (or Dodgems as they are more commonly known as in Britain). I haven’t laughed so hard in ages! Then, everyone moved to the dance floor. I couldn’t believe all the people up dancing! (John didn’t have enough wine to make it though.) I was craving some dancing to good music and that’s what I got. Just like back home, Bankers know how to enjoy a party.

Christmas in Denmark

John and I had a wonderful Christmas in Denmark with my Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul (C&P). C&P made us feel right at home, as did all of their Danish family and friends! We relaxed, enjoyed the company and conversations, took in the fresh air and cozied up in C&Ps beautiful home.

We experienced Danish Christmas traditions. We observed how the Dane’s manage to produce many extremely cute kids. We discovered that Danes have the ability to eat twice their body weight in food over Christmas; the key being to do it over an eight hour sitting. We learned and practiced several Danish phrases: Glædelig Jul (L&J pronunciation: Glayli Yul, translation: Merry Christmas), Godt Nytar (L&J pronunciation: Got Newt Or, translation: Happy New Year), Yuleman (likely spelled incorrectly but in the way we pronounce it, translation: Yule Man, the Santa equivalent).

I fretted for days prior to our departure that we would not make it to Denmark for Christmas. A “London fog” had set in and you could barely see a few feet in front of you. Heathrow had cancelled all domestic flights, and many international ones. Our flight was out of Stansted, to the northeast of the city, and luckily it was only experiencing minor delays. We arrived at the airport with our heads in a fog from the office Christmas party the night before, and cutting it close time wise as usual. We entered the longest security line up we have ever encountered at the same time as our friend Denise’s friend Spencer from Vancouver! I love random meetings like that! Spencer is living in London too and was headed to Norway to have Christmas with a friend of his living there. The security line up was the perfect opportunity to catch up.

We flew out of the fog, only slightly delayed and were greeted at Esbjerg (on Denmark’s west coast) by C&P’s smiling faces. We caught up on the 2 hour drive to Martofte and Poul taught us how to say Merry Christmas in Danish, “Stor Varm Babs” (sp?). Carla couldn’t bear it and taught us the correct pronunciation of Merry Christmas to avoid us walking around saying “big warm tits” to everyone.

Saturday afternoon we had a brief walk with the dogs around the fields, and much needed naps. Carla prepared us a stellar dinner and then we decorated their Christmas tree. Dane’s don’t typically put electric lights on the trees; they have special candles holder ornaments to light the tree with candles! The candles create a beautiful effect and we managed not to burn the house down.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, was our longest sleep in of the trip (about 9:30). The sun came out and the six of us (including the malamutes Nook and Trot) went on a long Christmas Eve walk; through the fields, along the beach, into a forest and then through more fields. We stopped on the beach and had a little Danish picnic of beer, Christmas cookies and coffee.

The Danes typically celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, and not so much on the 25th. We went to Poul’s sister Bodil’s beautifully appointed house. In attendance: Bodil’s partner Palle (and mayor of Munkabo and as of Jan 1 two other surrounding communities); Bodil’s daughter Annette and her husband and two sons, Soren, Emil and Oliver; Bodil’s son Michael and his wife and daughter Mette and Emma; and Bodil’s mother in law Ditte (sorry if I have misspelled any names).

Christmas dinner is usually duck or goose, but lucky for us, Bodil likes to serve turkey. It was one of the best Christmas dinners we have ever had! Different and delicious dishes included caramelized potatoes, cooked red cabbage, roast apples and pork stuffing. We did not heed the warnings that there would be several servings of food and filled our plates to the max on the first round. Of course, we were over stuffed after round two. Dessert was a creamy rice pudding with cherry sauce and almond bits. There is one whole almond in the dessert; the entire bowl of pudding must be finished and the one that finds the whole almond gets a present.

After dinner, I got to light the candles on the Christmas tree, getting it ready for caroling and dancing. Everyone encircled the tree (which was in the middle of the room and not against the wall) and then the Danes and Carla began to sing as we danced (walked) around the tree. John and I hummed along when possible, and threw in a little Milli Vanilli style lip synching for good measure. During the last carol, we started by circling the tree and then Emil led the string of us all holding hands through every room in the house. Present opening was next and we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Yuleman who had a few gifts to deliver to the kids. Oliver received a Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Carribean, costume: so adorable!

We got home at 1:00 and it wasn’t too tough to fall asleep despite our anticipation and excitement for our Canadian Christmas morning.

Santa found us in Denmark! Stockings for the four of us were stuffed. It was Poul’s first ever stocking, and John was lucky enough to get the “Elton John” stocking, so named because of its bright colours and sequins.

The presents were plentiful thanks to Mom, Sarah and Aunt Barbara shipping large packages across the Atlantic (presents from John’s family had been opened in London via webcam). Highlights included a West Hawk Lake painting (with sentimental value) for C&P from Suze and Grandpa, Ealing Aeroplane Spotting Club kit (binoculars and log book) for John from C&P, travel accessories for me from Suze and Sarah, and hoogli (Danish word, I spelled it as it sounds) items for our white flat from C&P. We got C&P some sailing gear for them to use on their new sail boat. We’re looking forward to visiting them in the summer so we can go out on the water!

We skipped Christmas breakfast in order to save room for our all day Christmas eating adventure at the home of C&P’s friends, Elizabeth and Anders. To squeeze in a Christmas day walk and a bit of exercise, Carla and I walked part of the way and we arrived around 1:00 to A&E’s beautiful Danish farm house. Elizabeth is the 9th generation of her family to live on the farm and her baby daughter Anna is the 10th!

The party also included about 15 of A&E’s friends and family; a charming collection of people who made us feel very welcome and spoke lots of English. We were all seated in the grand dining room and the courses started coming. The food was very traditional, and required us to be a bit more adventurous than Christmas Eve dinner as fish, namely herring was involved. John probably had more fish that day than in his entire life and he did remarkably well! Carla coached us through how to eat everything and waited until after John ate the herring to tell him it was raw. Given that we weren’t used to herring, we really enjoyed the carefully prepared dishes. We also liked that they were accompanied by local micro brew beer. Skol! (Cheers!).

The eating went on until about 8:00pm. We paced ourselves better than the night before and the day was broken up with chatting and mingling about the house, a trip out to the barn to see the antique carriage, and English Christmas Caroling by Carla and Carolyn (that’s right Carla, I’m outing you – you two sang like angels). Thank you very much to Anders and Elizabeth for the delicious food and for being great hosts.

With full bellies and heavy eyes we went back to C&P’s and rigged up the Skype and web cam to call our families back in Canada. We touched base in four provinces: we got eight of John’s family members on the web cam at once in Vancouver, reached the Kitchen/Church family in Bearspaw by phone, saw my new nephew on his first Christmas in cold Winnipeg, and then reached my Dad at his Dad’s farm in Curries, Ontario. We got news of our first confirmed London visitors – Sarah, Kevin and Cole! They are coming in May and the trip was Sarah’s Christmas present from Kevin. We are so excited to see the three of you!

C&P were up early, as usual, to get ready for the Boxing Day festivities at their place. They woke us up by playing James Brown (a nice tribute). Poul’s family arrived around noon, the same crew as Christmas Eve, but with the addition of Bodil’s other sons Torbin and Henrick and their wives and children. We felt like part of the family and had fun chatting; we were very impressed by everyone’s English. Two of the kids, Oliver and Clara, started telling me in Danish about Amazing Amanda, the new doll, to which I had to respond by just staring back dumbly. At one point in the day, John tried to get a smile out of 20 month old Emma who was gripping on to a chair leg and grimacing. Her Dad, Michael, advised John that she was pooping.

We filled ourselves with more Danish Christmas food, beer and snapps. Carla kicked everyone out while it was still light out to get some exercise. We tromped through the fields and up to the top of the burial mound with a view of the sea. It was just the break we needed before going back for more food. A cheese platter was served near the end. John tried the worst smelling cheese I have ever encountered and he said it tasted better than it smelled. He had to wash his hands after to get rid of the smell. I wolfed down a few helpings of Annette’s delicious dessert: fruit salad with a heavenly yogurt/whipping cream sauce.

At the end of the night, we wished everyone a Godt Nytar and the youngest (who could talk) and oldest family members, who could not speak English, eloquently wished us “Good-bye”. Carla and I did some dancing while we cleaned up and washed dishes. The cheese smell was still lingering all over the kitchen so we scrubbed down everything it had touched. We still got a few wafts the next morning. C&P, John and I managed to stay awake to watch an episode of Seinfeld (Poul’s new DVD).

On Wednesday, we got a break from parties and were awakened by Nook the dog jumping on our bed. John met up with Palle (Bodil’s partner and Munkebo mayor) and went to the Odense airport to talk a little business. Carla took me through several neat shops in Odense. John joined back up with us and we checked out the city’s main church, walked through the pedestrian shopping streets and at John’s request admired a few HC Anderson tributes (please note my sarcasm here).

Arriving back at the farm we were greeted by C&P’s friend Neil and his wife and mother in law. Neil used to live in South Africa and has been there more times than he could count. He had some great tips for us, which included “don’t get killed”. Carla made us another scrumptious dinner and we sat around their new large dinner table eating and visiting.

We were sad to leave the next day after such great family time, party time and cozy, down time. Thank you Carla and Poul! We’re looking forward to our next visit!

Christmas in London

2006-12-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

Sick of hearing our limited selection of Christmas songs over and over, Leah & I decided to download a few new ones from iTunes today. For some reason, in the Weatherill-Down household, the staple Christmas album was always “Once Upon a Christmas” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. This is a collection of your favourite holiday songs sung in a country style, that Leah quite rightly hates.

But to humour me she searched iTunes for “Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton”. iTunes' response?

“Did you mean: Kenny Rogers in Dolly Parton? Your search returned no results.”

A Christmas miracle!

Cole's Arrival!

2006-12-13T12:53:00.000-08:00

On December 6, 2006 (great day 6.12.06), my sister Sarah and her husband, Kevin, proudly welcomed their son, Cole Kevin Anseeuw, to the world. He arrived right on his due date and was 8 pounds 4 ounces.

Sarah went through the labour and delivery calmly and with grace, with Kevin by her side. They spent a few days in the hospital getting accustomed to the new addition to their family and they are now at home helping each other with the new responsibilities. John and I are proud and very impressed with both of them.

John and I are very excited to have become uncle and aunt to such an adorable baby! (We still love you too Callie.)

Congratulations Sarah and Kevin! Welcome Cole!

Bratislava, Slovakia & Vienna, Austria

2006-12-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

We’re back to our cute little London flat after another great weekend of traveling. This time we flew to Bratislava, Slovakia, had a day trip to Vienna, Austria from there and we were joined by our new Aussie friends, Jess and Andrew (their website, www.fushmush.net).

We arrived in Bratislava late on Thursday night and made our way to our hostel. It was in a neat old building and we got our first private, double room. Going forward, I think I will be adopting Jess’ motto of “I don’t do dorm rooms”. It was for sure worth the extra money to get a better sleep and to be able to spread our stuff out without having to repack it and store it in a locker all the time.

We did our first walk through the “old town” and into the main square where the Christmas markets were set up. We found a little restaurant for a late dinner and some cheap, good quality beer.

Bratislava is a smaller city with about 450,000 people. We were surprisingly impressed by the historic buildings in the old town but what we found most interesting were the remnants of communist rule. The old buildings are not restored to perfection like in Salzburg. The old town and the hilltop fortress/castle are situated on the north side of the Danube River and in contrast, on the south side of the river, as far as you can see are communist era apartment blocks. Before our trip we didn’t getting any rave reviews about Bratislava but we enjoyed it and appreciated it.

On Friday we had a leisurely morning, enjoying breakfast and wandering the Christmas markets. We walked along the Danube and then up to the hill top castle, which resembles an upside down table. One of the main sights from the castle is a tower on the bridge with a UFO shaped viewing area on top. It was calling our names so we ventured up it. From there we had a great view back at the castle, to the west into the Austrian hills (only three kilometers away), and to south the gray, endless apartment blocks.

We did a walking tour, which wasn’t much to rave about. We were hoping for a bit more information on recent history. Then we found a restaurant with neat, dark ambience and enjoyed some traditional Slovakian fare.

After that, we managed to get on the right tram and find our way to the Samsung Arena for a Slovakian Extraliga hockey game! HC Slovan Bratislava vs MS HK Zilina. Tickets were $4 and a beer was $1. Can’t get that in Canada!

The game was in an old Communist era arena, purpose built for something, not hockey, nor for merchandising and food/bev sales. We swarmed outside the doors to get in the small entrance. There was no concourse, and only a few places for beer stands to be squeezed in. Unfortunately, John was unable to find a place to buy a t-shirt anywhere. Aside from a few puck bunnies and the cheerleaders (more on that below), Jess and I were the only women there.

We got the tickets thinking they were in a great location; centre ice, not too far up. However, we did not expect to end up with the four worst seats in the arena! The seats were split, two on each side of a media platform, thus blocking the view of half the rink when sitting. The other half of the view was blocked by one of the many large red pillars that surrounded the arena in order to keep the roof up. Luckily, it wasn’t a sell out so we just moved into a corner with a great view.
It was Jess and Andrew’s first ever hockey game and they chose to cheer for Zilina, because Zilina had Australia colours on. John and I jumped on the home team’s band wagon and joined in with the constantly cheering fans (way more vocal than any Canuck game, and only a third of the spectators). There were two early goals making it a tie game, and then two late goals to keep it tied. HC Slovan Bratislava managed to pull out a victory in over time!

Unlike NHL hockey games, there were cheerleaders/dancers performing in the aisles. They reminded me of CFL cheerleaders, but slightly less talented and slightly more provocative. They performed a combination of step aerobics and musical chairs; step aerobics routines to the music in between plays and then as soon as the music stopped (and play resumed) they would sit down as fast as possible.

I found the whole experience very entertaining. It was likely the highlight of John’s time in Europe so far, but probably only increased how much he misses watching and playing the game.

Sunday we got up in good time and caught the 1 hour train to Vienna, Austria. (Round trip tickets EUR7, same price as a day pass for London transit.) Salzburg was grand on a small scale; Vienna was grand on a very large scale! We loved it too! There were impressive palaces, a majestic opera house, strikingly Roman Parliament buildings, luxurious hotels all lit up; I wish you could picture it as I do.

The Christmas markets were in full swing, packed with people, and much more significant than in Bratislava. The main market was set up in front of the town hall. The trees in front of the town hall all had large, lighted ornaments hanging in their branches. The windows in the gothic town hall were numbered 1-24, with one being opened every day revealing a picture. The best Advent Calendar I’ve ever seen!

We started the day with a trip around the centre of town on a tram to get an overview of the city’s sights, but more importantly to find a Starbucks for John. He was very desperate for caffeine. We all owe thanks to Jess for spotting one. After being sufficiently caffeinated, John was a new man, and we made our way through the heart of Vienna; past its big church, through the pedestrian shopping streets decked out with lights for Christmas, by the main palace.

We cruised through the smaller Christmas market and indulged in garlic hashbrown pancakes. Then we spent some time in the larger market, in front of the town hall; many different Christmas wares were for sale, along with mulled wine and local delicacies. We chose not to indulge in any mulled wine (see the Salzburg blog), however J&A enjoyed some. We did try roasted chestnuts for the first time (we have seen kiosks selling them in every city since Ljubljana so it was about time). For lunch we managed to find a table at the popular Einstein restaurant, and we warmed up over beer and wiener schnitzel.

After all that food, we had to burn off a few calories so we tossed a Frisbee around in front of the town hall. A&J are our teammates on our new Ultimate team, the Fugazees and like us, their previous team back home was called the Chuckers. Because we hadn’t had enough exercise, we decided pay EUR3 to walk up the skinny spiral staircase to the top of the church tower so we could have a view of Vienna. We were very disappointed when we reached the top. We were expecting to be able to go outside on a viewing platform, but there wasn’t one. Instead we had to look through windows in a small room in the tower which housed a gift shop and 75% of the windows were partially blocked by scaffolding.

It was dark by then and the city was lit up beautifully! We walked and trammed to Hotel Sacher to have some Sacher Torte. A&J got to cross both wiener schnitzel and the world famous torte off their lists. (John and I had never even heard of the torte before.)

We arrived back in Bratislava around 9:00 and enjoyed a light dinner, some more good cheap beer (Vienna was more expensive than Bratislava, and Andrew and John had to work at getting their average beer cost back down) and some great conversation before hitting the sack.

We left early Sunday and made the long trek back to London. It takes about the same amount of time to get from the airports to our home as it does to fly to these European cities. It was a fabulous weekend of exploring two different cities, but what made the trip were our traveling companions. Thanks for joining us A&J!

We’re looking forward to our next trip – Christmas in Denmark!

Salzburg, Austria

2006-11-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I was itching to find another weekend trip for us in November as our next trip is not until the first weekend of December. I lucked out and found a great deal to Salzburg, so we booked the trip!

Originally when we thought of going to Salzburg we wanted to go when it was snowing and we also hoped to have more time so we could venture to the quaint, picturesque town of Hallstatt in the mountains, on a lake, as recommended by Dad. We missed the snow by about two weeks, which turned out to be okay because we were a lot warmer and the hills on the side of the mountains were still beautifully green (imagine Sound of Music). We ventured into the region of Lakes and Mountains in behind Salzburg, which gave us a taste of what Hallstatt will be like. We’ll have to go back; maybe as a Slovenian/Austrian hiking trip. So many things to do…

We arrived in Salzburg Friday afternoon at about 4:30, after a smooth commute to Gatwick and smooth flight. After taking the bus into town, we walked the 45 min from the New Town, through the Old Town and to our hostel. Christmas lights and decorations were going up and stalls for the Christmas markets were being filled. Many stores already had all of their Christmas decorations out for sale and were they ever beautiful! We didn’t feel too bad about missing out on that as we are going to Christmas markets in Vienna and Bratislava in two weeks, and we didn’t have to deal with the hoards of advent tourists and shoppers.

Like Ljubljana, Salzburg is small with only 140K people. Salzburg has a grand feel to it. You could tell the city had been historically wealthy (from the white gold known as salt) with all of its tall, fancy, beautiful baroque buildings. The many churches fill the city with the ringing of bells on the hour. It didn’t take long to tell that Salzburg sells itself on Mozart and the Sound of Music (both of which drove John crazy).

We found a quiet, local restaurant for dinner and enjoyed delicious bacon covered, cheese filled sausages (not healthy but really tasty), wiener schnitzel and a salad with pickled veggies. Then we headed back to our hostel for the evening showing of The Sound of Music. I sat there with a huge grin on my face, humming along to the music and taking note of all the local sights in the movie. John sat there in disbelief, wondering how anyone could make, act in, or watch a movie where people burst into spontaneous song or have conversations to music. He opted for his book.

It was foggy on Saturday morning but luckily it wasn’t raining. We walked the empty streets of the Old Town, peeking inside some of its exquisite churches, waiting for the fog to burn off so we could hike up to the hilltop fortress. It was a steep slope up but well worth the view, and the sunshine that broke through the fog. Mountains, including the peak which housed Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, green fields and hills, trees still full of colour, and the elaborate roof tops of Salzburg’s Old Town buildings. We spent the rest of our morning exploring stores, starting our Christmas shopping, and checking out the food market for our lunch.

We had a tough time deciding what to do for the afternoon. There are two companies in Salzburg that run different, expensive tours of the city and surrounding area; the most popular tour being “The Sound of Music” tour. Neither of us was interested in that, but we did want to see some of the surrounding area. We worried that a tour would be too “touristy” and we thought we should be doing some hiking of our own, even if it was just in the hills right in Salzburg. The other factor was that we didn’t have a lot of energy; John was at the end of a bad cold and my body was fighting it. We ended up choosing to go on a “Lakes and Mountains” tour and it was the right decision.

We met the tour at Mirabell Garden, featured in the Sound of Music. To any gardeners reading, you would have been very impressed at how beautiful the flowers, shrubbery and landscaping were, even in mid-November! Our group consisted of a couple from Spain, a couple from Iceland living in Salzburg studying music, two travel writers from Finland, us, and our guide/driver who was from Bosnia, studying law in Salzburg. Quite the combo.

We drove into the Alps, past breathtaking hillsides (again, picture the Sound of Music) and three lakes. We stopped in three different towns, St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang, and Mondsee, to admire views, walk along the water or through the quaint towns. Once we left Salzburg, all the buildings were classically Austrian with oversized roofs to withstand the heavy snowfall and beautifully carved wooden overhangs and balconies. I loved them! I can see how the lakeside towns are popular spots in the summer, the green blue water of the lakes (not like glacial lakes but muted green blue from the sun hitting the limestone lake floor) made me want to jump right in!
Driving through the pass between St. Gilgen and Mondsee, we passed a striking Habsburg palace. It was painted bright yellow! Gold was the Habsburg monarchy’s colour. The palace was right next to the deepest lake of the region, 120 metres, deeper than West Hawk, but the lake itself looked no bigger than a pond. Next we passed a large rock face, resembling Squamish’s Chief. It’s called the Dragon Wall because, prior to people knowing what a Woolly Mammoth was, Woolly Mammoth bones were found in a cave there and people assumed it was a dragon.

We arrived in Mondsee and saw the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married, in the movie, and then we hit up a café to indulge in some apple strudel and coffee. Wow! I’m now a huge apple strudel fan.

We got back to Salzburg in the dark and explored on foot a few more areas of the city we hadn’t seen. An outdoor skating rink and Winterlounge had just been set up in Mozart Square. The Winterlounge was so inviting; it had tables and fire pits, it was decorated with evergreen boughs, and they were serving hot drinks. Of course we had to indulge in the atmosphere and drinks, traditional hot alcoholic punches. The atmosphere was worth the cost of the punch; unfortunately, our taste buds could only manage a few sips of the punch. Then we found a healthier dinner and made our way back for quiet evening at the hostel (and yes, I did take in a few more scenes of the evening viewing of The Sound of Music). It turned out to be a great day! A perfect combination of the grand city of Salzburg with the picturesque surrounding lakes, mountains and quaint Austrian villages.

By the time we got to the airport on Sunday morning at 9:30, the fog had burned off and we stood on the airport deck in the sun watching the planes take off and admiring the mountain views.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

2006-11-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

We loved Slovenia! The landscape reminded us a bit of the Foothills and Rockies west of Calgary, and we enjoyed the fresh air and less populated city of Ljubljana (compared to London). We loved it despite not making it into the mountains or to picturesque Lake Bled to go hiking, so I think we will be returning. As requested by my sister, we have posted more photos from this trip.

Our flight left midday on Friday, so we spent a leisurely morning drinking coffee and eating porridge as the sun streamed into our apartment. We should however, have been a bit more on the ball, checking for tube closures and delays online. We got to our nearest tube station at 10:15 and we needed to get to Baker Street for 11:00 to catch our bus to Luton Airport. We realized when we got to the station that we should have left sooner. Despite this, we still opted to take the slower, cheaper commuting option of the tube, vs the fast train in. As soon as the tube pulled away, we realized we should have taken the train. I spent the entire journey stressing and fretting about the possibility missing our bus and flight. Usually in cases like that I am thinking of all of the possible contingency plans but this time I was just willing us to get there in time. Plus, I wasn’t sure what our other options would be. I was a basket case. We sprinted through tube stations and through the streets of London with our backpacks on (Amazing Race style) and made it to the bus with two minutes to spare!! Just enough time for me to zip to the loo. I returned to John and the bus only to discover that we were booked on the 11:20 bus and not the 11:00! So, sweaty and frazzled we awaited the 11:20 bus. It only took us a few minutes to be able to laugh about it.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time. We traveled on Wizz Air from Luton Airport, both of which were more pleasurable experiences compared to Ryan Air and Stansted, despite the plane smelling of someone’s BO (reminiscent of the Seinfeld episode).

Slovenia is a miniature country and flying into the capital, Ljubljana (pronounced by us Libiana), gave us a good lay of the land. We flew over snowy mountain peaks and then things flattened out, except for many tree covered hills popping up all over the place. The flat land between the hills is treeless to make room for farming and towns. We got a great view of beautiful Lake Bled and its lone island with a church on it (photo at http://www.bled.si/).

It was dark when we arrived in Ljubljana, and cold. My toque didn’t come off my head the entire weekend except to sleep and shower. Before and after dinner, we roamed the downtown area admiring the Italian Baroque buildings. A river runs through the middle of the town; branches of willow trees hang over its edges and they are lit up at night. There were still a few leaves on the trees and plenty on the ground to romp through. Slovenia used to be part of Yugoslavia and we were expecting more ominous Soviet influence but it wasn’t there at all.
Both nights there we had long, big, hearty traditional Slovenian dinners; soup, sausages, bread, various meats with rich sauces. The food wasn’t cheap, nor expensive, but very good value for our money. John became a “Union” man – he really enjoyed the local brew called Union.
We stayed in a hostel, and yes, I survived. Cons: Bathrooms that smelled like pee (I’d like to believe the cleaning solutions were pee smelling), uncomfortable dorm beds and not very much sleep the first night. In the first four hours of the night, people were coming to bed about once every hour, and in the second half of the night people were getting up about once every hour. As a result, it seemed everyone was tired by the second night because lights were out in our dorm room at 11, there were no mid night interruptions, and people didn’t start getting up until 8 – yeah, a good sleep for us. Pros: Good chance to meet other friendly travelers (we had a beer with a guy from England on Friday night and got some great travel tips from a woman from London staying in the bunk next to us), very central location, cheaper than hotels and less dodgy than cheap hotels.

Saturday, met with sunshine, we were up to catch an 8:30 bus to Postojna (pronounced Postoina, check out http://www.postojnska-jama.si/?cat=7&lang=en). The one hour ride took us through villages, farms and hills dusted with snow. In Postojna, we did a two hour tour of underground caves, seeing about 3km of the 21km network. Stalactites, stalagmites, broccoli and spaghetti formations, fish with four legs, a bridge over a crevice that looked like it was in Lord of the Rings; not things you see every day.

After that, we took a cab 9 km up into the hills to Predjama castle, a castle built up on the side of a cliff. The site of the castle was much better in person and the inside of it greatly exceeded our expectations. From a room on the top floor of the castle, there was access to a large cave in behind. My imagination was picturing old rituals and ceremonies taking place back there (too cool!). We enjoyed a walk to the creek and up the side of the hill, and took in the views of the surrounding countryside.

We got back to Ljubljana at 4:30, as the sun was setting. So, we ran through the streets and up to the hilltop castle. From there we had a 360 degree view: mountains, hills, city, and SKY. We lucked out with a gorgeous orange sunset!

Sunday we did walking tour of Ljubljana. It gave us a good taste of the region’s history and of the architecture – the downtown buildings, the university (there are 250K people living in Ljubljana, 60K of which are students), the philharmonic academy, the Roman wall (those Romans were everywhere!) – and we ended the tour with a little boat journey up the river.
All in all, a great weekend exploring Slovenia. It gets the J&L recommendation.

It was Guy Fawkes’ Day in England on Sunday when we returned. The Brits celebrate Fawkes’ failed attempt to blow up Parliament by setting off fire works and having bon fires. As we flew in, we could see fire works sparkling across the country. The air in London was thick with smoke.

Leah’s Blog: October 18, 2006

2006-10-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

John was in Amsterdam on business for the day, but was back in time to see an amazing concert last night – Xavier Rudd, making my little brother jealous.

XR is a musician/singer from Australia. He plays about 10 different instruments, and on average he is playing three at a time. At a few points in the evening he was playing five; three different drums, a rattle and the didgeridoo. He can keep different beats with different limbs at the same time as constantly circular breathing to play the dig!

I wasn’t a big fan prior to going, John was, although I new I would like him a lot more live. That was the case for sure. I’m always impressed with an artist if I can go to a concert and hear songs I’ve never heard before and really like them.

Tonight we are catching up on things at home. Tomorrow is dinner with a couple from Vancouver who provided us with a “How to get settled in London” reference guide via phone and e-mail. It was our bible and we are grateful.

Friday night I am attending an HSBC Diwali customer event. For the weekend we are heading to Ikea to get John’s office stuff, and playing Ultimate. Did I mention we would also be sleeping in?
Check out the first travel blog to Carcassonne, France (below or by clicking “Travel” at right)!

Carcassonne, France

2006-10-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! Thank you John for the fabulous birthday and third anniversary present!

To start our weekend off, we met up with some friends (Jess, Andrew and Nik, whom we met at Ultimate, and DTM) at Tower Hill for a Friday the 13th Jack the Ripper walking tour. Sounds very touristy I know, but it wasn’t so bad.
We learned about the Whitechapel murders of 1888, and also several other London history tid bits, whilst walking around what used to be the walled city of London and into East London. There is still an evident dividing line between the two areas; the corporate district (glass office towers) vs. brick buildings originally constructed in the 1700s. Near Tower Hill there is a section of a Roman wall still standing; a hotel and two office buildings have been constructed around it.
The horrific string of murders in 1888 were recapped in detail, including evidence, botched investigations by the competing Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard (London City vs East End), suspects, and conspiracy theories.
Oh, the history we were walking on. (Oh, how I sound like my mom.)
Unfortunately, after the tour, we didn’t have time to enjoy the East End (Brick Lane) curry restaurants because we had to get home to bed for our early departure Saturday morning.
We awoke at 2:45 a.m. on Saturday to start our commute to Stansted airport. The first leg was via car service to Liverpool Street Train Station, the second leg was the Stansted Express train, getting us there in time for our 6:20 a.m. Planes, trains and automobiles (in reverse order).
The combo of Stansted and Ryan Air was an experience. It met our “low fare” expectations and for us was about on par with shopping at Superstore. We managed it without grief though; we each just had small backpack carry-ons and we found seats together on the flight out and back.
The early rise wasn’t as bad as it sounds, for me that is, given that I am pretty much narcoleptic when traveling tired. I awoke raring to go when we arrived to sunshine in Carcassonne, France.
We moved at a relaxing pace the whole weekend, soaking up our French, medieval surroundings. We lucked out and had sunshine the entire time.
We were there three years and three weeks after our first visit in 2003 on our honeymoon, and we were there to celebrate our third anniversary and my three to the power of three birthday : )
Carcassonne is home to a large, medieval, double walled village, of which you have free reign to explore. It is filled with neat old buildings, narrow cobblestone roads, shops, cafes, restaurants, a medieval castle, a basilica, a few museums and an amphitheater. The City dates back to Roman times, but the construction, as you see it today, is from around the 1200s.
We started off our day with café au laits and baguettes with jam at a café in the medieval village.
After the success of our Friday night walking tour, we signed up for a tour of the castle and ramparts for the later in the afternoon and then headed down the hill into the actual town of Carcassonne.
We wandered a park on a river and the Farmers market and then had more coffee sitting in the sunshine. We also indulged in crepes.
We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon tour of the castle and ramparts, learning all about medieval warfare and the purpose behind all of the fortress’ features. We also checked out the gothic cathedral; I’m always amazed by the stained glass work.
We checked into our hotel and then walked around the City, on the outside of the inner wall. As you walk around the City wall you can make out different time periods of construction, improvements to penetrated areas of the wall, filled in entrances, and holes where wood beams here placed.
We then indulged in some wine/beer on a patio, people watching. You can see we weren’t moving at a very fast pace. After that we dined on traditional French onion soup and Cassoulet, and that pretty much put us to sleep.
We hit the sack early, mainly because we couldn’t keep our eyes open, and slept for 12 hours.
Sunday we did more of the same, café au laits on a patio, and omelets for brunch.
We went to the Museum of the Middle Ages which wasn’t much, but it gave us a good history of the area and there was a neat exhibit detailing how an attack was waged against the City.
It was then time to stretch our legs and explore outside the walls and the town. We followed a bike path through some vineyards and up a hill with a great few of the walled City.
John hadn’t had his fill of gruesome things yet for the weekend, so he went to the Torture Museum, and I went and sat on the wall in the sun. He took photos and was quick to show me the picture of a real chastity belt – it did not look comfortable for any party involved!
That completed our time in the beautiful city, so we grabbed one more crepe and jumped on the airport shuttle.
While Carcassonne may be touristy, we highly recommend visiting it. Being inside the old walled town takes you right back in time and the café au laits aren’t bad either.
John is booking our next trip as I write this, to Slovenia at the beginning of November! This time we’re flying from Luton Airport and with Wizz Air (I’ll keep you posted on how that goes).

Leah’s Blog: Week 3 - The last week of my 3 month vacation (sigh)

2006-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

It took about four days for John’s body to recover from his Karate class. He was moving very slowly, barely able to walk up our stairs (entertaining for me). His mind was occupied with work and the frustrations of dealing with British Telecom in order to get our internet set up (he managed it by Sunday night, four days later than expected).

For my last week of freedom (albeit sans paycheck) I got up at a decent hour every morning and enjoyed my coffee and breakfast with John, ran errands, did yoga and went for several very long walks.
I keep finding cute little pubs to sample and on Friday I discovered the graveyardiest graveyard I have ever seen (pictures to be posted). It was full of different kinds of trees, some with leaves turning and falling, and the light shone through the branches creating random shadows. All the graves were around 100 years old with weathered, touchingly inscribed headstones that had all been moved and shifted over the years. A beautiful spot and a perfect place to get in the mood for Halloween.

On Wednesday I went to my new office to meet everyone and get a run down of things. (See more below from my first few days at work.)

Thursday, I met up with my old friend, Barb Crawford, from Calgary. London was Barb’s base for a month from which she traveled to Slovenia, Kenya for a safari and Florence and the Cinque Terre in Italy. She stayed in London with another old friend from Calgary, Avril Johnson.
After accompanying her to do some shoe shopping (oh how London keeps trying to make me a shopper…) we made up our own walking tour of London. Westminster Abbey, the Parliament buildings, Downing Street, along the Thames, to Temple Church (of Da Vinci Code fame) and to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
She joined John and I for a cheap dinner in Ealing that night.

Friday night we ate at a Wagamama Japanese restaurant, right on the Thames at the base on the London Eye. What a sight the Thames and all its bridges are at night!

On Saturday, John and I had our first Ultimate Frisbee game with our new team, the Fugazees (don’t ask me about the name, I have no idea). We both bought some cheap cleats to manage in the mud, and helped lead the team to victory.

Sunday was a classic London day of hard rain for five minutes, clouds for ten minutes, sun for ten minutes, repeat. We hit London’s main tourist attraction, the Tower of London; learned about royal beheadings and imprisonments, explored the castle, and viewed the crown jewels.
Afterwards, John met up with some Ultimate folk for beer and I headed home after to get ready for my first day back at work – ironing, making my lunch, going to bed early – back into the routine.

The variation to the old routine is that now we are also trip planning. Our first one is coming up in two weeks to Carcassonne, France. We’re investigating the next one to possibly Salzburg, the Rhine River in Germany, or Prague. I’ll keep you posted where we decided (likely all three).
We are also planning a trip to South Africa at the end of February. John is going to speak at a conference in Johannesburg, so with his trip paid for I might as well tag along. We thought we would do a quick safari and check out Cape Town.

John is booking tickets to an Xavier Rudd concert on October 17th as I write this and I’m hoping to get some to the Killers concert.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
I just got home from my second day of work and was greeted by the wonderful smell of dinner cooking, and the beautiful sight of washed dishes and laundry in progress. I could easily get used to having my hubby working from home. I’ll have to teach him how to clean J That’s probably wishing for too much.
Work is going well so far. I’m still awaiting my official contract and an employee number so I can then order my phone, lap top and car, and access the system. I’m trying to learn what I can in the mean time before I take on my new customers.
I have been traveling to work by bus, which was quick the first day, but today I encountered some standard London traffic – I’m going to have to bring some Sudokus with me on the bus to keep me occupied and start mentally preparing now for when I begin driving as getting anywhere will likely take an eternity.
The Commercial Centre where I am working has a great dynamic; not too dissimilar to my old branch in Vancouver.

The Christmas party and our first pub night are booked in my calendar already.
Tomorrow I’m going to a dinner/speaker thing at the head office on Canary Wharf.

Leah's Blog - Week 2: Waiting (for our flat)

2006-10-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hyde Park Suites turned out to be a great place for us to stay for a while.
We had a kitchen so we could finally make some healthy, cheaper food. We had a TV and a great balcony with a table and chairs to enjoy breakfast on. We were just a short walk from Bayswater and Queensway tube stations and Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens.

John got set up with internet access and was able to work for the week.
We were in wait mode – waiting to see if we would get the flat in Ealing. We couldn’t really do any other flat searching until we heard and I didn’t want to start my Ikea shopping for bedding and towels yet as I might risk jinxing us.

Monday morning I did laundry and walked through Kensington Gardens in the sunshine, down to the Kensington High Street HSBC branch to check to see if our money, and our Group Introduction Form (a form from HSBC in Canada that would allow us to open an account in the UK without having a UK address yet and without employer references) had come in. Neither had and I was frustrated. Things beyond my control, but things I was still able to stress over.
So, after making John lunch, I decided to be a tourist. I took the tube to the British Museum and spent the afternoon roaming it – old Greek, Roman, Chinese, British artifacts, a large reading room, and all inside a beautiful structure.

Tuesday, John took a few hours off in the morning and we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. It was noted on the sign just inside the gates, that on “rare occasions” the changing of the guard ceremony does not take place. Unfortunately, we picked one of those rare occasions. So we took in the surroundings and took a few photos of a Canadian Gate, with all the provinces coats of arms carved into it.
While we were there, we got a call with good news regarding our HSBC Group Introduction form. It had arrived from Canada and we were able to set up an appointment to open an account. No such good news regarding the flat yet. Only warnings that it may take longer than expected!!
John went back to work, and I took the Docklands Light Rail (DLR, an above ground train) to Canary Wharf. The ride enabled me to get the lay of the land and check out HSBC’s global head office.
I then headed to Piccadilly Circus and bought us cheap tickets to the Producers that night.
And after that, went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Now, normally I have learned my lesson with art galleries – I don’t go, as I have very little appreciation for the works. I thought I would give the National Gallery a chance because a) it was free, b) I had an afternoon to kill, and c) the building was beautiful.
Surprisingly, I ended up really enjoying my time in the gallery; not like a real art aficionado would, but in my own way.
Two paintings jumped out at me, both with black backgrounds. One was of a monk in a brown robe with a shadow on his face (very dark), and one was of a virgin praying, wearing a bright blue robe with a white hood. I couldn’t take my eyes off them and had to go back at the end of my cruise through the gallery to see them again.
I also enjoyed a room full of old paintings of Venice, and of course the Da Vinci cartoon.
In the evening, we made our way to Covent Garden, and the Theatre District to see the Producers. Our cheap seats put us in the second balcony. The beautiful, old theater and view from the 2nd balcony were worth the price of admission on their own (which was a good thing given that we were only mildly entertained by the show).

Wednesday morning we strolled through Kensington Gardens in the sunshine (again sunshine, what great weather we have been having) to go to our appointment at the bank. We got the account set up and our money had arrived! One large weight lifted off my shoulders. No such luck regarding the flat yet.
I spent the afternoon walking around Park Royal, the area where I will be working. I found the office, explored some of the business park, found the Asda (Walmart equivalent), and figured out how to take the bus back into central Ealing (where we were hoping to live).
After that, I checked out two parks not far from central Ealing: Ealing Common and Gunnersbury Park. I am so impressed with all of the green space in London.
That evening, we had a very enjoyable dinner with a VP of John’s company. He was staying at a hotel nearby, stuck overnight due to delays at Heathrow. Unfortunate for him, but it was a good chance for us to chat with him. He enlightened us on Cornish pastis and miners (several generations of his family were miners), and we got a great list of travel tips and good reading material from him.

Thursday, the day we were supposed to take possession of the flat in Ealing, and still no word! We were not very pleasant to be around.
It was a balmy day out. I sat on the deck and did Sudokus and walked down to the bank to get our draft to pay for our deposit and first month’s rent, should we get the flat. (For any bankers reading, you have to order bank drafts ahead of time here, you can’t just go into a branch to get one. They usually take three days to come in but I put a rush on it and got it in a day. In addition, the cost approx $30! I won’t complain, nor take complaints about the $5 cost for immediate Canadian bank drafts anymore.)
I returned to get good news on the flat front. We got it!!!! Good timing too as the water main ruptured on the street our hotel was on so we had no running water.
Before going to our meeting at the letting agent to sign papers and hand over money, I went to the park for a few hours, sat in the sun and flipped through the Ikea catalogue, planning my purchases for the next day.
We headed out to Ealing for the meeting at the agent’s office and then we went to the apartment for the walk through with the landlords.
Before the walk through we enjoyed a bottle of wine on the patio with our new landlords, a great couple! She’s originally from New Zealand, and he is originally from Croatia (he fled the country as a teenager, was a refugee in Italy for a while and then immigrated to Australia).
Our new place is the penthouse of a three story walk up. It is in a little development with a tree filled courtyard and intricate rot iron work (the Queen came to the opening of the building in 1984). It is a two minute walk from the Ealing Broadway tube station, right by a Starbucks, close to many restaurants and pubs and some great parks.
As like most places in London, it came furnished (minus bedding and towels). Overall is it bright and clean! Just what I like.
There is a big open living and dining area with doors opening onto the patio with a picnic table. It overlooks the courtyard, has views to the left of a church with stone steeple and some classic London roof tops, and to the right some classic London row houses. It also has a view of planes coming in to/flying out of Heathrow – a major selling point for John.
The bedroom also has doors opening onto the patio. I love the air blowing in at night (almost like being at the Lake).
The kitchen has a cute little eating nook and the classic half sized fridge and clothes washer/dryer combo. We a have microwave for the first time since living together; we’ve been missing out!
We only have a shower stall in the bathroom which is tough for shaving legs, but I never have baths anyways. The good part is that we have a “power shower”, which is rare here (it is a separate pump which gives us great water pressure!).
While, it is only a one bedroom, we have an area to set John’s office up and we still have lots of room for guests (so don’t hesitate to visit).
Oh, it also has a garage for the car that I will get with my job. Yeah! No searching for street parking and attempting to parallel park, whilst steering from the opposite side of the car!
We went back to our waterless hotel for one more night, thrilled that we would soon be moving into our own place. I was so excited at the prospect of unpacking and wearing different clothes, as I had been wearing the same ones out of one suitcase for two weeks.
John worked from the hotel during the day on Friday and I took out trusty First Class Transporters car service out to Ealing.
I had a hell of a time lugging our suitcases up the stairs to the apartment. I got the last one in, the massive hockey bag, just as it started to rain.
Before unpacking, I took the bus to the nearest Ikea and bought a comforter and comforter cover, bath towels and mat, dish towels, and pillows. It’s fun buying new stuff, and easy when you are buying the cheapest of everything (except for our contour pillows). I brought some nice sheets from home.
Then I hit the Dollar Store equivalent for hangers, a dish rack, garbage can, etc.
Unpacking didn’t take long as we didn’t bring that much stuff. Our wardrobe looks so neat and tidy because it isn’t crammed with clothes (I should remember this).
We both had wonderful sleeps that night; relaxed now that we were in a place of our own.
It was a hot, sunny weekend. We enjoyed coffee on the patio both mornings in the sun. We are so happy to have this place!

John had a lunch meeting at Covent Garden on Saturday. While he was gone I explored two other parks close by (I’m loving all the walking!), and did some shopping, not buying, just looking. I figured out what to buy to make an office for John, as cheaply as possible. (Another trip back to Ikea is required.)
Saturday night we had Dan the Man (DTM) and George over for drinks on the patio and then we went out for dinner at a pub near by. Lots of fun but John and I couldn’t keep up.

Sunday we played pick up Ultimate in Hyde Park with people we met the weekend before, and of course went to a pub for beer after.
Today I went to work getting the bills changed to our name (electricity, water, gas, Council Tax – I’m not looking forward to getting them), started the process of getting a National Insurance Number and registering with a doctor, and got an Oyster Card to enable slightly cheaper travel on public transit.
I walked to the nearest large grocery store and stocked up, then made a big dinner. I enjoyed it on my own reading travel books; John went to Paddington to attempt a karate class with DTM. He just got back and can barely move; the power shower will be a necessity. I’ve never seen him so sweaty!

Leah's Blog: Week 1 - Welcome to London

2006-10-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

We had tearful farewells leaving West Hawk Lake after two heavenly, relaxing months, Lake O’hara after hiking with my family, Kristian and Joy’s house the night before we left with all of our friends, and finally from YVR on Saturday with John’s parents. I almost forgot, farewell to our tans; how quickly they fade.
We arrived at the airport with our four bags and computer carry-ons sans liquids, fretting overweight charges. We narrowly escaped the costs; our largest bag, John’s hockey bag, weighed 31.8kg, just under the 32kg maximum allowance.
We had a smooth flight and were picked up at Heathrow by trusty Edward from First Class Transporters (he has driven us and all our stuff two times since then) and driven to the Kensington Close Hotel. The weather was beautiful and we strolled through Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park and had a nap.
Our first dinner was in a great Princess of Wales pub. We had a beer and toasted our new adventure.
Day two we explored London with transport via the tube, and checked out a short term flat to let in Chiswick (which we didn’t end up taking). We introduced ourselves to Marks and Spencer (we like the food part) and Boots (the drug store).
We met Lenore Harris and her son Paul for dinner at the Sherlock Holmes pub near Trafalgar square. Lenore is from Winnipeg originally, knows both our mothers and has a family cottage at West Hawk.
Day three, Tuesday, I had an interview with two HSBC Commercial managers from Northwest London and received a job offer, for two possible branches, Ealing Broadway and Park Royal. So after the interview I hopped on the tube and went to check the area out and look for a place to live. We spent a fair bit of time in Ealing over the next few days and really liked it. It also received a great review from our friend Jeremy Morin in Vancouver, who lived there for a while.
We began to learn about how the London rental market works.
Almost all flats/houses for rent are listed with a Letting Agent, much like a Real Estate Agent in Canada. They take your rental offer, check your references, take six weeks deposit plus the first months rent, and charge you and arm and a leg with their own fees.
We originally thought we would find a short term let while we figured out where we wanted to live permanently. Then we discovered short term lets are about double the price of regular rentals (which are double the price of Canadian rentals).
Regular rental agreements let you have a six month break clause in the one year lease.
Most flats here come furnished, which is convenient for us.
I saw a two bedroom place that was decent but a good walk from the nearest tube station, 15 minutes. I didn’t jump on it right away, thinking I could take John back to see it. It was rented the next day.
That evening, I decided to give the HSBC job a shot. I’m nervous about a few things with the job, including learning how to drive here because I get a car with the job, but I’m excited about taking on the challenge. Commercial banking runs a bit differently here; I’m looking forward to learning about it and getting to know some UK businesses.
Knowing that I would be working in or near Ealing, we decided to live there, for six months to start.
John was attending a conference near Westminster Abbey, at work already.
Day Four, Wednesday, John was at the conference again. I re-packed our bags, did some job paper work, checked out and got the bags stored.
Then I hit the streets and the letting agents to keep searching for a place to live, but didn’t have any luck.
After the conference, trusty Edward picked us up in his car and drove us to Blackheath, the borough where Dan (The Man, DTM) and Trish (TMax) live. Their place is a two minute walk from the train station and right near a huge open park (the heath). We stayed with them for four nights until Trish’s Dad came to stay.
We had a great dinner out with them, Spanish Tapas, and got a feel for the London rain for the first time.
On Thursday, John and I took the tube back out to Ealing. The first appointment with a letting agent we had took us to a great little one bedroom apartment in central Ealing, available right away. We didn’t want to risk losing it to someone else so we put a deposit down (non-refundable) on it right away to hold it. By putting a deposit down, the letting agent takes it off the market while he checks our references and gets the agreement ready.
Since then, we have been on pins and needles waiting to see if our references all check out, they accept our offer, and the building’s strata council agrees to our lease. If all goes well we may be able to get in by Thursday, the 21st, but we’re not counting our chickens…
Late afternoon, we started the process to open a bank account. It sounds like a horribly lengthy process normally, but I may be able to work a few advantages in that area. I did arrange to wire some money, so we can pay for this flat, if we get it this week.
We got a UK mobile phone so we can stop spending a fortune on phone calls. It is really expensive to use a pay phone. Standard mobile charges are 15p (about 30 cents) per minute within the UK. It is only 5p to call Canada!
We checked out Oxford Street, a very popular shopping area. It was a mad house – soooo many people.
We walked down to Piccadilly Circus from there to meet up with an Australian colleague of John’s. Enroute we passed all of the very posh stores, and many rich people wearing amazing clothes! (Man, I’m not a shopper but London may make me one.) We also passed Tiffany’s and Co. They were having some high end customer party; blue carpet rolled out in front, tons of white roses and a saxophone player. There must have been some celebrities going to the party because the street was swarmed with paparazzi and tourists with cameras.
Friday was more getting settled errands; more flat viewing, bank stuff, booking a place to stay starting Sunday.
We met Dan after work at a pub in Kensington for a beer and then trained out to Blackheath to meet Trish for a great night in with pizza and a movie.
That was the start a fabulous weekend of not doing “getting settled stuff”.
On Saturday, Dan took us to an Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tournament. It was just like being in Vancouver playing! We played three games and man, are we ever sore today! Not playing for three months will do that to you.
We met a whole bunch of great people, of course from all over the world, and not that many from England.
One couple had just arrived in London last Saturday from Australia and they are doing the same thing as John and I.
We got recruited to play on two different winter league teams.
We hung around the field chatting and having beers and then went to the local pub. It was so fun meeting all these really nice people! At about 7:30 we went to another very cool pub, in Clapham, for the Ultimate summer season wrap up party. Clapham was a buzz of nightlife activity – tons of people, pubs, restaurants, and clubs. Anyone who wants to party, we will take you there.
We made it an early night. Dan introduced us to kebabs, the post drinking food in London (much like $1 pizza in Vancouver).
Sunday, we were tourists. Dan walked us through Blackheath to Greenwich. We cruised through the beautiful park, enjoyed the view of Canary Wharf (financial area), checked out the Greenwich Mean Time museum and then walked down to the Greenwich market and Thames waterfront.
At the museum, we recreated a photo taken of John’s Grandpa straddling the Greenwich Meridian.
At the waterfront, there was a really neat circus act which inspired me. See photo.
Dan and Trish were great hosts and tour guides over four days. Thank you both.
After our touring, Edward picked us up and drove us to our next accommodation, Hyde Park Suites. Edward drove us by Big Ben, the Parliament buildings, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace.
We are booked in a Hyde Park Suite, a small short term apartment, until next Sunday. Hopefully by then we will have our own place to live, if not, we might be moving back to DTM and TMax’s for a while longer.

New Posts Coming Soon?

2006-09-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Leah & I are in London and as soon as we catch our breath, we will post an awesome blog. Guaranteed. Demand for new posts has not been overwhelming, but criticism of our lame effort to date has been.
Stay tuned, the new blog will rival Harry Potter in global anticipation, popularity & wealth for its author.

Best Tenant Ever

2006-06-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Leah and I are writing our first ever blog post!!