Library Junkie

A new beginning

2010-01-14T21:33:00.003+10:00

I'm finally getting around to update my blog. I know I said last year that it would be the year I blogged more regularly but obviously that didn't happen. I think I know why now. I have said previously that I didn't value my opinions and I didn't think what I had to say was important and this was one of the reasons why I didn't blog more. I have only now realised that that was only part of the issue. As an introvert my mind can't think of things quickly, I need time to think and reflect, however I haven't really been allowing myself the time needed to do that, which is why I thought I didn't have anything of value to say. Now that I have realised this, I am going to make the time I need. By the way, I came to this realisation while lying in bed trying to get to sleep and wondering why my mind get going over and over things of a wide, variety of sometimes really odd things. If only I could blog at that time I'd be right.

So it is only fitting that a new beginning to the year, starts with a reflection of last year. It was after all a momentous year for me.

January - went to Information Online 2009 in Sydney, I was quite disappointed with the quality of the conference papers and presentations, there were some good ones, but the majority were lacking basic presentation skills. I am no great public speaker but I know what to do to try and create a good presentation. The networking on the other hand was great. I caught up with a lot of friends I have made in the past, and met some great new people as well.

February - Aaron proposed on my birthday. While I went to work, he slaved to change our lounge room into a French bistro, complete with a delicious five course meal and Bolinger champagne. I of course said yes (yes, yes). I had a feeling that he was going to propose sometime in the near future but I didn't want to get my hopes up so every time I thought about it I flicked my self in the arm. Even without the proposal that night was very special as nobody as ever gone to that much effort for me before in my life.

February was also the month of the Aurora Leadership Institute at Thredbo for which I won the ALIA Aurora Scholarship to attend. The five days was such a life changing event for me in so many ways. I couldn't give it justice here in a few sentences.

March was busy at work at the beginning of the month as my manager was away but after that it kind of became quite dull. I can't really remember what else I did that month.

In April I became more disillusioned at work. As my job is quite project oriented, without any projects to keep me occupied I can get quite bored.

May saw the return of my depression which I documented in my last post so I won't go into it again. We also selected a venue and date for the wedding, May 15 2010 at Walkabout Creek.

In June my grandmother died just before her 90th birthday. Again my last post goes into more detail. This was also when I realised that I do not think I have ever seen my mother cry. Even at her own mother's funeral I didn't see her cry. Is that a good thing or a bad thing I wonder? What I do know is I certainly make up for her in the crying stakes, I can cry at the drop of a hat.

July was another month where I can't remember what happened. I hope there was nothing memorable. Oh I just remembered, I finally went to Gold Class for the first time to see that latest Harry Potter movie. That just made me want reclining lounge chairs at home even more.

In August, Aaron and I went to Townsville for a week and half to stay with friends who live there. It was a good opportunity to show Aaron things from my childhood as we lived there for 2 1/2 years when I was in primary school. The trip also made me realise that I could never do a major house renovation. I love watching it on TV, and don't mind doing a little bit of painting etc but not major renovations ourselves. Our friends were finishing the renovations on one house to rent out before they started working on their new house which needs a lot, and I mean a lot of work done to it. For one thing, the upstairs toilet is by itself in the corner of the second bedroom, no door to it nothing, just this one large bedroom with a toilet in the corner. Plus they were doing almost all of the work themselves. Maybe for some, just not me, and thankfully not Aaron either. As it was Aaron's birthday we spent a few days relaxing on Magnetic Island which was lovely.

September turned out to be quite busy. I attended (some of) the ICML medical librarianship conference in Brisbane. The standard of these presentations were much higher than at Information Online which was good. I was also able to catch up with some of my friends from Aurora who came up for the conference. In particular I spent a lovely evening catching up with Katrina and getting to her know a bit better.

In September I also started to exercise more. Firstly I did a boot camp organised by my local Fernwood gym. For 8 weeks or so I attended 2 x 1 hourly group sessions of which some were held outside. Apart from the amount of running involved (I am not a runner) I did enjoy it and it has helped me to meet new people at the gym. Previously I kept mostly to myself and only really chatted to the staff. Now I have others to chat to.

Aaron and I also decided to try out a tandem bike to see if it would work for us (they involve a fair amount of trust and communication to ride successfully). Anyway we borrowed a friends tandem and did several decent length rides on it, eg Corinda to Chermside, Chermisde to Scarborough and back, and decided we liked it enough to buy our own (thanks to my decent tax refund). Unfortunately since we bought our own we have only ridden it a few times as I am a weather wuss and am put off by the hot weather. I'm sure though when it cools down again, a rides will pick up again.

In September I also ordered my wedding dress. I had found it back in July but needed sometime to think about it, mainly just to confirm that just because it ticked all my boxes, it was 'the one'. I took my future mother-in-law with me when I ordered it and she gave me her seal of approval, "I could marry her son in that dress". I also rang my Mum while trying it on to include her in the occasion.

October was another big month. I went to my first Information Architecture conference in Sydney, OZIA 2009. I have now completed 2 years of my Masters in Information Architecture and had been looking at other IA conferences earlier in the year but I didn't know if I was át the right point' in my career transition to attend a conference. But when the opportunity came up to apply for a free registration for IA students I jumped at the chance, even though it did mean paying for last minute flights and accommodation. It was worth it. The conference gave me the affirmation I needed to know that I was heading into the right new career path. Plus I forced myself to attend a pre-conference social event to meet people, which I did and I then had people to hang out with throughout the 2 days of the conference. These are just as nice as librarians and I keep in touch though the wonders of Twitter.

In October I also started driving lessons. I thought I had better start soon, or else my goal to get my license before I am 35 would slip away just like the goal to get it before my 30th. My driving instructor is a nice patient man. I have had about 12 lessons so far and still no crashes. He has had to grab the steering wheel a couple of times though. I think I will leave the details to a separate post.

A new lady started at work in October which was great as I had been covering her part-time position since the previous person had left months before. That in itself was great, but more than that is the amount of stuff we have in common. She lived in Murgon for a while, where my parents are and where I finished high school, she also lived in Townsville, knows about scrapbooking stuff, loves similar books to me especially Judy Blume, Paula Danziger, the Babysitters Club (all my faves growing up) and Freya North (my fave chick lit author). But what I like most is that I am no longer the youngest at work. After being the youngest by approx. 15 years for over 3 years, it is great to have another young person to work with. It is a pity she only works part-time.

November was mostly spent studying. I was doing an IT subject Systems Analysis, which initially I had lowered my mark expectations for (as I do with my IT subjects as I tend not to do as well at those as I do the library subjects). This semester, however we had podcasts of the lectures (as it was run internally as well as for distance students) which I believe made a lot of difference in the way I studied and why I got a HD for the subject. For a start you get the extra information from the lecturer like hits and tips for assignments and exams that you do not normally get as a distance student, but what I think really helped, was the repetition of the subject material. At the beginning of each of the lectures, the lecturer would go over what was covered last week, and also explained more how all of the topic fitted together. It is this that I miss most as a distance student. Hopefully I will get more podcasts of lectures in the future.

In December I was quite busy at work again as I have 3 projects on the go (now 4). I was glad for our compulsory closure between Christmas and New Year but still didn't feel as relaxed and refreshed as I'd hoped back at work.

I was going to reflect on my Christmas but I have just realised the time (nearly 11pm) so I think it is off to bed for me and that will have to be a new post sometime soon.

Good Intentions

2009-07-13T20:55:00.005+10:00

Yes well my plan of completing the SLQ Licence 2 Test Drive learning program didn't fair so well. In fact is was quite dismal. I think I only got up to Week 2. I had planned to do the program at home but the last few months have been quite a rollercoaster of emotions for me.
Firstly, at the beginning of May I suffered from another bout of depression. It is something I have struggled with over the last decade or so and I thought I had in under control. I guess I have to listen to my body and mind a bit more closely. I did get help early which was good and meant I was feeling better quite quickly.

Also, last month my grandmother, my mother's mother, my only remaining grandparent died, just 2 weeks shy of her 90th birthday. It was a bit of a shock as she wasn't specifically ill or anything but she had deteriorated over the last 7 months or so and had given up the will to live. She wasn't eating well and spent most of her time in her nursing home room. She was a wonderful woman who gave the most warm cuddles. She was also very stubborn and so when she set in her mind that she didn't want to live to 90 she achieved it.

But it hasn't all been doom and gloom for me over the last few months. I became an Aunt for the 3rd time when Aaron's sister Zoe had her 3rd son and the end of May. She now has 3 boys under 6. I do not know how she copes. 1 child will be all that I will have I think. It has been nice being an Aunty and getting to know babies and children. Before I met Aaron I had very little to do with babies and young children. I am the youngest child, the youngest grandchild on both sides of my family and even then I didn't grow up near my cousins anyway. All of my friends from school that have had children do not live in Brisbane, and none of my city friends had had children before then. Anyway, needless to say I was very nervous around the boys at first but now I have no trouble. It is still good to give them back at the end of the day though.

Well, I didn't expect all that to flow out when I started this post but that's okay. This blog is meant to be an outlet for my stream of consciousness anyway.
This photo is of me in Aunty mode.

Blog Updated

2009-04-24T11:44:00.002+10:00

I have just imported the content from my old blog, Rachel's Ramblings into this blog so it is now all in the one place. Rachel's Ramblings was predominantly created for our overseas trip in 2007 so if you feel like reading about our travel adventures you can now do so in Library Junkie.

Technical Difficulties

2009-04-03T22:28:00.002+10:00

The photos didn't load properly in my last post so here they are now.

The mosaic is of some of the libraries I visited on my overseas trip in 2007. As a library junkie I couldn't help myself.

Online Photo Sharing

2009-04-03T21:54:00.003+10:00

I have just finished week 2 of the Licence 2 Test Drive program. I am already familiar with Flickr and have had a pro account for almost a year now. I started using Flickr about the New Librarians Sysmposium 3 in Sydney in 2006 to share my photos with the other participants. A friend of mine in Sydney introduced me to Flickr after she had a baby a couple of years ago. It has been a great way to see the way her son has grown up as we don't get to catch up in person that often. I am also in the process of adding photos from the overseas trip Aaron & I took in 2007. We took over 10,500 photos which I have culled down to about 630 which I am putting on Flickr. I am about 1/3 of the way there. I will finish it one day.

I love photos and photography so it was great to check out some of the other sites mentioned, Photobucket, Smugmug and Snapfish. I had been to Snapfish before when I was planning to create a calendar for someone as a christmas present. However time ran out and I never did create it. I will go back and do it sometime.

One of the things I love about photos online nowadays is all of the things you can do with them. I love Big Huge Labs and the fact that it is linked to Flickr is great. I created the following 2 images from their in a matter of minutes. I could spend some much time at that site if I had the time and creativeness to do so.

Why I am a library junkie?

2009-04-03T20:34:00.003+10:00

I thought I would explain the meaning of my blog name. I am a library junkie. I have loved libraries all of my life. I can still remember the libraries I went to as a child at Blaxland, Aitkenvale, Richmond and Wondai. I love books and I love information. I always used to, and still do to some extent, give articles etc to my friends and family about things they were interested in. Now I suppose it is more just forwarding on URLs but it is the same principle of sharing information. That is the reason I became I librarian to share information.

I also love library paraphenalia, books, pens, other vendor stuff, movies about librarians, I love it all. I have old info science textbooks and even a copy of the 10th abridged edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification that I picked up from a Lifeline Bookfest. I have t-shirts, caps and even a golf umbrella from vendors. I have had the golf umbrella for a few years sitting in a box at work, (which I had moved with me from my previous library) and I had forgotten all about it until this week. It was very handy going home from work yesterday in the pouring rain.

In my first paid library job, the first time I answered a reference question on my own, I was so excited I went to the back of the library in the staff area and jumped up and down with joy. I was so excited and I knew that I was in the right profession.

New Beginnings

2009-03-31T10:57:00.005+10:00

This is the first post of my new blog, Library Junkie. I have wanted to blog more for awhile but there has been a few things stopping me. When I saw I had the opportunity to take part in SLQ's Licence 2 Test Drive I thought it was the perfect opportunity to begin my new blogging adventure.

I am a huge advocate of the library profession learning about Web 2.0. A colleague and I even created our own Web 2.0 program (Web 2.0: what health libraries need to know) for our library staff last year which you can read all about in the paper we presented at last years New Librarians Symposium. So you may wonder why then I am doing SLQ's Licence 2 Test Drive if I have already created my own Learning 2.0 program. Firstly, as I mentioned above, I want to start blogging more and see this as a great way to get me going; secondly, the 2 programs are different, although both are based on the original Learning 2.0 program created by the wonderful Helene Blowers the program my colleague Amanda and I created was specifically health-focused and looked at different tools; and thirdly, creating a program and particpating in one are totally different things. Although we had to try most of our activities when we created our step-by-step instructions, time restrictions meant we didn't have too much to actually play with the tools, and that is what I am really looking forward to now. My favourite quote regarding learning about Web 2.0 and technology in general is by Meredith Farkas. She says ‘people need to learn how to learn about new technologies without having to ask other people for help all the time’. I think this is one of the main stumbling blocks when it comes to Web 2.0 in libraries. Some people just don't see playing as learning.

New Look Blog

2009-02-05T23:00:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the new look of Rachel's Ramblings. I have amazed myself tonight with the little bit of HTML coding that I have done to the standard Wordpress template to make it look the way I want. It has been over 7 years since I first learnt HTML and I have not used it much since.

Anyway, I spent so much time changing the look of my blog that I do not have time to post anything meaningful. I will soon though as I have started to write down my blog post ideas and so hopefully I will be blogging regularly soon.

THE 99 THINGS MEME

2008-12-22T11:41:00.000+10:00

Thanks Ruminations for this meme it has given me the reason to update my blog.

I love lists of any kind, and I also like memes so this is a good combo for me.

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.

2. Slept under the stars.

3. Played in a band.

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

7. Been to Disneyland/world.

8. Climbed a mountain.

9. Held a praying mantis.

10. Sang a solo.

11. Bungee jumped.
No way.

12. Visited Paris.
3 times

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
If you include cardmaking as art.

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables.
Only cherry tomatoes, of and carrots at school.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
Aaron would not let me look at anything properly at The Louvre until we had seen it first.

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked.
I value my personal safety.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.

24. Built a snow fort.

25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a marathon.

28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Twice

29. Seen a total eclipse.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.

31. Hit a home run.
I played T-ball and softball as a kid but I don't think I ever hit a home run.

32. Been on a cruise.
Cruises don't do it for me.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
Some of the countries yes, but not exact places.

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language.
I'd like to teach myself Italian one day.

37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
A bit overated.

39. Gone rock climbing.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
Very impressive

41. Sung Karaoke.
Only with a group.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.

46. Been transported in an ambulance.
Never even been close to one.

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing.

49. Seen the Sistene chapel in person.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Twice

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.
As a kid I am sure I did.

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
I saw Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey at teh Kingaroy Drive-in.

55. Been in a movie.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business.

58. Taken a martial arts class.

59. Visited Russia.
I have always wanted to go to Russia since being fascinated by the Romanov family as a teenager.

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
Aaron is a sweetie.

64. Donated blood.
I have to have regular blood tests, that is enough needles for me.

65. Gone sky diving.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
I went to Matthausen in Austria, it was a very sobering experience especially walking into the gas chambers.

67. Bounced a cheque.
I have never owned a cheque book.

68. Flown in a helicopter.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
Quite a few (I'm a horder) including a white toy dog who also happened to look like a rabbit so his name was either Deefer (D for dog) or Beefer (B for bunny) depending on my mood.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.

71. Eaten Caviar.
Biting it is a strange sensation in your mouth.

72. Pieced a quilt.

73. Stood in Times Square.

74. Toured the Everglades.

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.

77. Broken a bone.
Only a small sesamoid bone in my right foot.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.
Didn't see the pope though.

82. Bought a brand new car.
Don't drive

83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
I think so. certainly in the QH statewide newsletter.

85. Read the entire Bible.

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox.
Never had any of the spotty diseases as I call them.

89. Saved someone’s life.
I hope I never have to.

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club.

93. Lost a loved one.
Only grandparents.

94. Had a baby.
Possibly one day.

95. Seen the Alamo in person.

96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit.

98. Owned a cell phone.

99. Been stung by a bee.

TeacherTube

2008-05-28T13:45:00.000+10:00

TeacherTube Test

2008-05-28T13:42:00.000+10:00

TeacherTube

2008-05-28T12:13:00.000+10:00

Edgar

2008-05-22T14:48:00.000+10:00

Back to blogging

2008-05-06T21:14:00.000+10:00

Today I have been inspired to get back into blogging. A colleague and I have developed a Web 2.0 learning program for (our) mpow and today was the official start of it. A couple of hours after sending out the first activity, which was to set up a blog, we already had 2 people complete this task. It was very exciting to see others as excited about the program as us about the program that we have spent the last 3 1/2 months working on.

It also started me thinking about why I like blogging. Firstly, I find it easier to write what I think and feel rather than saying it so it is for me an easier form of communication. I don't care if nobody reads it (well I do a little) but it doesn't bother me that this is on the world wide web for all to read. Also, I find it therapeutic. I have so many thoughts going around in my head, it is nice to get them out of there. I think too much sometimes and when I don't need to. So getting this out (and in a more environmentally friendly way of sorts than paper (I don't even want to start thinking about the energy used to power this laptop and wireless network vs producing paper)) is good for me. I just have to remember to do it more often. Short bursts (or rants) are just as good.

So one goal for May is to blog more. Another is to study, which should go without saying but April was really a dismal month in the motivation stakes. The other goal is to spend more time (the little I have left) on cultivating friendships, not new ones but the ones I already have and have neglected (just like my withering bamboo plant). A conversation I had with a friend on Saturday really brought home the fact that you can know someone for years and already think of them so dearly but not really know them at all. I know I haven't always been a good friend and I do find maintaining social relationships hard at times due to the depression and social phobia I suffer from, but friendship has always been important to me, especially as I am closer to some friends than I am to my own family.

widget

2008-04-18T21:02:00.000+10:00

2008 Year of Learning

2008-01-16T20:06:00.000+10:00

2008 is going to be my year of learning and not just because I am going to back to uni to study Information Architecture, which in a weird way I am looking forward to. But also because I am going to learn about my body and mind. I am determined to continue with a routine exercise path and to truly become fit. At the moment I am no where near as fit as I could be, and in the process hopefully lose a few more kilos. Not too much I don't intend to get really skinny or go crazy but more just firm up some of my more flabbier parts. I lost a few kilos on our holiday which I didn't expect at all but I guess walking about 8 hours a day did do something despite the daily intake of sausages, schnitzel, gelato and the like, and I feel good for it. I think this has been the impetus I need to keep going. That and being puffed walking up steep steps in Salzburg.

On the mind front, I want to understand who I am and what makes me tick. Not to mention come to terms with my depression. My depression has been one area of my life I have not been happy with how I have handled it. Despite my knowing full well that there is nothing to be ashamed about etc etc I do still find it hard to open up about it. Anyway, my path to self discovery has been helped along in recent days by beginning to read the book The Introvert Advantage which I found out about on Marcy Phelps' blog Power Networking for Introverts and a colleague lent me a copy. I always knew I was an introvert but even after reading about 50 pages or so I have already learnt so much more about myself particularly about how I cope in social situations and why I act the way I do.

Been updating

2008-01-11T20:24:00.000+10:00

I have just been updating the RSS feeds in my Bloglines account so I thought it only fitting that I update my blog as well. Going through the Top 1000 subscribed blogs, a feature of Bloglines Beta, it was nice to see so many blogs by Librarians or Library's. I was surprised to see so many blogs about knitting though. I knew this craft was big, but I didn't expect knitters to be bloggers as well.

On the holiday front, I have finally created a brief (if you can call 637 photos brief) version of our happy snaps and they are slowly being added to my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55078544@N00/). Continually going over the photos is wonderful as each time I remember something that I had otherwise forgotten and I am transported back to that time and place.

Thank goodness for Bloggers automatic saving function. I would have just lost everything I had previously written. I am still learning this blogging game. I will get better soon I know. Hopefully then I will learn how to include photos.

The Final Chapter

2007-11-16T20:07:00.000+10:00

Okay, so I thought it was a long time between blog posts last time but this has been longer. Sorry. We are now back home so I better finish off the trip now before I go back to work on Monday or I will never finish.

Where was I? Belfast. The day before we left Belfast, Aunty Yvonne, Carol, Alasdair, their 2 girls Sophie and Lara and Aaron and I went for a drive up to the North Coast of Northern Ireland. Our first stop was the Giants Causeway, the geographical wonder of hexagonal basalt rocks and the coldest place we encountered on our trip. Last time I was at the Causeway I wimped out and caught the bus back to the top. This time I was determined I was going to walk it. Which we did. Not just back up the same path, but up a hundred a something steps up to the cliff top (and steps are not usually my thing). The view was amazing and it was then that we encountered the first of our rain for the day. After a blitz through the souvenir shop it was onto the town of Bushmills for lunch in a nice cafe called 1608. We then drove onto Port Stewart where we stopped for ice cream at Morelli's. Even though we were still full from lunch Aaron & I just had to have Knickerbocker Glory's. I'm so glad we did, and as Aunty Yvonne once said 'the ice cream just melts and falls between the cracks in your stomach'.

The next morning after packing up our stuff and saying goodbye to the rellies, we headed down to Dublin by train where we were picked up by our friends Kathy, Brian and their son Paul and taken to there lovely house in Maynooth, outside of Dublin. It was great to catch up with them again and so nice of them top put us up for a few days.

We then spent the next few days exploring Dublin and getting to know the Irish train system, where trains can suddenly disappear from departure boards with no warning or explanation. Our whirlwind tour of Dublin included, the National Museum, the National Library, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, the very interesting Archbishop Marsh's Library (where Librarians are known as Keepers) and of course the Guinness Brewery. Despite me not having an interest in beer or stout it was an interesting morning. I tried so hard to drink all of my free pint in the Gravity Bar but I could only manage about 2 thirds. I can't understand why people like the stuff. Oh well.

That night was Halloween and I don't know who was more excited, the trick or treaters that came to the door or Aaron. It certainly brought out the big kid in him. Lots of lollies, candy or sweeties (whatever you prefer to call it) was definitely consumed that night.

The next day we had one of our earliest starts of the trip so that we could get a lift to Dublin with Brian. We then caught a bus out to the airport to wait for our flight to London, which was delayed (as was most of our flights. Do any flights ever leave on time?). After the flight, then a train ride, then a tube ride, and a short walk we made it to our friend Dave's place in Central London (NW1) where we then spent the next week spread out all over Dave's small one bedroom flat.

I love London and on our first walk around the city that night around Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and Regent Street I couldn't stop smiling. Dave's two finger Japanese style photo pose added to the fun of the night as did Aaron's singing which by now I am used to but irritated Dave in under 3 hours.

I will now condense the next 6 days activities as the post is already very long. Things we did and saw:

Visited Harrods twice (and bought more bears)
Went to the Tower of London and saw the Beefeaters and the Crown Jewels
Shopped at Hamley's toy store on Regent Street (more bears)
Visited the British Library
Saw an exhibition about China's Terracotta Warriors at the British Library
Saw fireworks at Battersea Park for Guy Fawkes (where Aaron wore a scarf for the first time in his life and also had a hole put in his jumper from a wayward firework let off by kids)
Saw lots of squirrels in Hyde Park (and they were much tamer than their other European counterparts)
Saw several Princess Diana memorials
Saw Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral Regents Park, Kensington Gardens among other famous sites
Went on the London Eye (not as scary as I expected for someone who ates heights)
Went on a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath; and
Met more of Aaron's relatives and a couple of his friends as well

From London we headed back to Paris on the Eurostar. If it had of been 5 days later we would have left from the brand new station at St Pancras that the Queen officially opened (and the journey would have been 20 minutes shorter) but instead we had to contend with Waterloo station (and I had to put up with Aaron singing ABBA songs). Our Paris hotel was conveniently located across the road from the train station and had very nice staff, despite the fact that the wall paper and the corridors to our room made it feel like we were in a maze we might never get out of. After wondering around the shopping area of Paris that has 2 big department stores we went back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. We went to a restaurant recommended to us by our hotel staff and the food was delicious, even though the restaurant was a little cramped. We finally got to eat escargot. I have eaten them before but it was Aaron's first try. The verdict - he wished we had both ordered them instead of just sharing one plate.

The next day, our last in Europe, began with a breakfast of as many croissants and pain au raisins as we could stomach, before venturing to the Montmartre and Pigale areas of Paris. Our visit into the Sacre Coeur was our first visit to a basilica where a service was in progress, complete with choral singing. It was a slightly odd experience. We then managed to avoid having our portrait drawn by the many artists in the streets before heading to the red light district of Pigale where we saw the Moulin Rouge. After a quick stroll down Avenue Rachel and a look around the MontMartre Cemetary we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags before heading out to Charles De Gaulle Airport by train. We got to the airport so early that we were unable to check in for our flight for almost an hour. We then spent another 3 hours in the most boring of airport terminals before boarding another delayed flight to Dubai and Singapore.

We arrived in Singapore, went straight to our hotel, showered and went to bed. The next morning we headed to the Singapore Zoo which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite coming too close for my liking to a few animals including a lemur (well its tail anyway). Their collection of primates is impressive. We also added elephants to our modes of transportation taken on this trip by having a ride on a lovely big elephant called ?. I have no idea of his name, although Aaron called him Lumpy. We spent the afternoon having a look at the shopping centres on Orchard Road before a welcome dip in the hotel pool. That night we headed out on a Night tour which included dinner down by the river, a river cruise on a bum boat, a visit to the Royal Selangor pewter workshop, a visit to the Bugis Markets and a stop at Raffles Hotel where Aaron and I experienced Singapore Slings in the Long Bar (and paid for the privilege). The next morning after sleeping passed the alarm, we awoke to rain for the first time in quite awhile. We still ventured out to Chinatown (by taxi) where it poured down. A quick trip on the MRT had us back at our hotel packing up and checking out before heading to the airport for the final time ( I love late check out). This time, again despite being incredibly early for our flight we were able to check in and we then spent the next 1 1/2 hours watching television in the departure lounge before doing some last minute shopping only to sit and wait at the gate for another delayed flight.

7 hours later (and no sleep by me) we arrived at Brisbane Airport and made it through Customs without any problems. After arriving home and unpacking we began the souvenir sort which covered the entire dining room table. If only we had more luggage space we could have brought back so much more.

So that is then end of our European Adventure. I hoped you enjoyed reading about our antics. I will most likely continue to ramble on this blog in the future (but with much shorter posts) as i am going back to uni next year to study Information Architecture. Why? Just for something to do.

It's Finally Raining

2007-10-27T00:50:00.000+10:00

We have been in Belfast for a week now and today is the first day of rain. All of Aaron's wishful thinking that we were going to bring the sunshine with us worked, until now.

It has been a while since I have updated this blog. I didn't realise quite a long until I just logged on.

After our short stay in Siena, in the lovely Tuscan hills, we caught the train back to Florence and then onto Venice. Our trip on the Eurostar Italia was very nice and the time flew as we were talking to a very interesting lady from San Francisco who was sitting next to me. Aaron was definitely impressed with Venice when we arrived. I almost got sick of him pointing out all of the boats to me. He was just like a big kid. Our hotel was basic and had no lift which meant 2 flights of stairs each time we wanted to go to our room, but it was easy to find and although on a main street was not very noisy at night. We spent most of our time in Venice just wandering around the street, I mean canals, which was very easy to do. We did catch a boat to the island of Murano which is the home of the glass blowing. There was so many nice glass pieces we would have loved to buy but didn't for fear of not getting them home in one piece. The glass Christmas trees were amazing. We did buy a few small pieces which we think we will be able to bring home without breaking which is good. Oh, and we did go on a gondola ride, which was lovely but very very expensive. We almost had to sell one of Aaron's kidneys to pay for it. (Only joking. The budget is going fine, we are surprisingly under budget. More money for shopping in Paris and Singapore, yeaahhh).

After our 3 nights in Venice we ventured onto Bergamo, near Milan, a city we knew absolutely nothing about except that it has an airport. We were pleasantly surprised by our nice a place it was. It has a charming old town up on a hill which required a ride on a funicular railway to get to. Our 3rd funicular for the trip. We spent a lovely few hours wandering around up there enjoying the views and our last gelato. We made a surprising discovery for dinner of a cute restaurant that served free champagne on arrival and limoncello after dinner. We politely refused the limoncello after our introduction to the horrible liqueur at Jane and Alessandro's in Bologna. The food was delicious and the service was great (and not too expensive either).

The next day, after a few hours wait at the airport (no the plane was delayed it was just us getting there early) we boarded a Jet 2 plane (an airline I knew nothing about but was cheap) with a large number of elderly Northern Irelanders who were returning to Belfast after a package tour of Italy. Hearing all their accents was like being surrounded by hundreds of Aunty Yvonne's (Aaron's aunt). The flight was okay and we made it to Belfast alright. After interrogation by passport control, which didn't take long as we were the only 2 none EU passport holders on the flight we collected our bags and met Aunty Yvonne and her daughter Carol who kindly picked us up from the airport. We have spent the last week in the loving care of Yvonne and her husband Desmond, who have not only cooked for us, but has done washing for us and has driven us around. Well except for Monday when they kicked us out and made us catch the bus into the city. This week as been really nice and relaxing. We sleep in, watch TV (I am loving my English television, East Enders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Bill, Top Gear, you name it I have watched it), go out for a bit, come back, watch more TV, use the Internet, eat, watch TV, sleep. It has been great. We have seen some sights though, don't get me wrong we are not spending all our time at home. We have visited Belfast Castle, Stormont (the parliament house) the city centre (including the oldest library in Belfast) and W5 (an interactive sciencecentre). Today we caused mass truancy among all of Aunty Yvonne's grandchildren when we all went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Well, only the transport museum as it is raining and this part is undercover. It was a fun museum to visit as you could climb onto some the the trains and things and it was especially fun going with Kathryn, Brett, Corey, Sophie and Lara, not too mention Carol and Anita (their mums) and Aunty Yvonne of course. It also included a Titanic Exhibition (as the Titanic was built in Belfast) and a Flight Experience thing which was like you were in a small plane.

Tonight we are having dinner with Aaron's Uncle Brian and Aunt Dorothy and tomorrow night with all those we spent today with at Carol's house. It has been really good getting to know Aaron's relatives. They are all so funny.

We then head off to Dublin on Monday and London on Thursday. I can't believe our trip is almost over and I will be back at work in less than a month.

Comings and Goings

2007-10-14T02:12:00.000+10:00

I realised that in my last post I forgot to give an update of our itinerary since we had left Italy fairly open.

As mentioned before, we spent a few days in Bologna with friends, then we headed to Florence for 3 nights. We are now in Siena, (still in the Tuscany region) and will be here until Monday 15th. We then we head off to Venice for 3 nights before spending our final night in Italy in Bergamo (outside of Milan). It is from here that we fly off to Belfast on Friday 19th.

I am currently standing in the lobby of our cute hotel in Siena, yet again free internet but I have no shoes or socks on and the tiles are getting cold so I don't think I will be here for much longer.

So here is a quick update. In Florence we went to the Uffizi Gallery (and queued for an hour) and saw Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Galleria dell 'Academia where we saw Michelangelo's real statue of David, the Gallerie Michelangelo where we saw models made from Leonardo da Vinci's drawings (and got to play with some of them) and for something completely different (and non-religious) the Criminal Museum with a display about serial killers from all over the world dating back to the 14th century. As well as the Duomo (more impressive on the outside that the inside) and the Ponte Vecchio and ate the obligatory gelato.

Yesterday we arrived in Siena around lunch time and the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was eat a huge very nice buffet lunch at the restaurant next door with a glass or two of vino to go with it. We then went on a tour visiting the nearby town of Montelchino and a couple of wineries to taste the local Brunello wine. The first we went to was interesting as it is experimenting with playing classical music to its vines. The second, included a wine making museum and was run by a charming 80 year old man called Mario who loves the ladies. We also tasted olive oil, prosciutto, pecorino cheese, biscotti and grappa. And Mario was very generous with his wine and everybody went home just that little bit schozzled.

Today we spent the day wandering around inside the walled city of Siena. It is a nice small wandering city, slightly hilly but not too strenuous. We also visited the Civic Museum where Aaron climbed its associated tower and the Duomo (much more impressive than Florence's) and its Crypt, Baptistery and Museum. We certainly got a fill of religious art today. Plus we went to one of the Basilica's where we saw the preserved head and thumb (don't ask me why they have her thumb) of Saint Catherine, who along with Francis of Assisi are the patron saints of Italy. That was pretty cool.

Tomorrow we are doing another tour, this time to San Gimignano where we visit yet more wineries.

Ciao

2007-10-10T18:14:00.000+10:00

Since my last post we have left Austria and we care now in our second Italian City.

On our last day in Salzburg we caught a bus to a nearby town where we then caught a cable car up to the top of Untersberg mountain. The views of Salzburg and its surrounds were fantastic. I only walked around a little bit up there but Aaron walked up another part a bit higher up. Up on the mountain we met a nice Canadian couple who we talked to for awhile. After that, we looked around Salzburg's Alstadt again before walking up a hill in the centre of town that has a monastry of the Capuchin monks on it.

The next day we headed to Innsbruck where we stayed at the closest possible hotel to that station. We didn't even have to leave the station to get to the hotel as there was a lift that took us right on up to the hotel. Very convenient. We spent that afternoon wandering around Innsbruck where we saw the Golden Roof, or Golden Awning as Aaron believes it should be called and the River Inn. The next day we caught a tram to a nearby town called Igls where we caught another cable car up another mountain. This one is called PatcsherKofel and again it had spectacular views. This time we spent a couple of hours walking around on top before heading back down again. This time it was only the 2 of us in the cable car which was great. This area has held the Winter Olympics a couple of times and in the cable car we passed over a bob sled course. Aaron wanted to have a go at bob sledding but it is only open in summer and winter. What a bummer. We then had a very nice lunch in a hotel in Igls where I have never eaten so much spinach in my life. The main course was spinach dumplings covered in cheese and served with more spinach. They were very nice though. Arnold Schwarzenegger has eaten there, as well as other famous people we didn't recognise.

On Saturday we left Innsbruck (and Austria, where there are no kangaroos) and headed to Italy. After 5 and a half hours on the train we arrived in Bologna where we raced to another train only to find it wasn't going to leave for another 20 minutes due to a strike (but not by rail workers, according to the driver we spoke to). Eventually after going and stopping and going again we made it to CastellMaggiore (or something like that) where we were picked up by friends Jane, Alessandro and 18 month old Damian. Jane grew up in the same street as Aaron In Wavell Heights. It was nice to have a semi normal life for a few days. We spent a fairly quiet Sunday, doing washing, watching a dvd, playing with Damian, before we visited a nearby ye olde town called Dozza. That evening Alessandro introduced us to some local cuisine which was very nice.

On Monday morning, Aaron and I headed into the centre of Bologna where we spent the day wandering around. We could not find a tourist information place to get a map, nor did we find any public toilets, (thank goodness for fast food restaurants) so we just wandered and wandered and wandered. Bologna is a very nice city, very red.

Yesterday afternoon, Aaron and I headed down to Florence along with Jane and Damian, who came along for the afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we then spent the afternoon wandering around the city for a few hours before saying goodbye to Jane and Damian when they caught the train back to Bologna.

Now it is Wednesday morning and we are catching up on our Internet stuff and accommodation before heading out to see the sights.

The Hills are Alive

2007-10-03T03:24:00.000+10:00

with the sound of Aaron singing. You guessed it. We are in Salzburg. After surviving a 7 1\2 hr train journey from Prague (5 1\2 hours of sitting in a train followed by 5 minutes of frantic ´quick what platform to we go to´ when we changed trains in Landshut Germany, followed by another 2 hours hours of sitting) we made it to our small noisy hotel in Salzburg. The next morning our first outing was on a Sound of Music tour. Aaron loves this movie even more than I do (and he hasn't stopped singing the songs since we got here). The tour was good and our guide was so funny. It did shatter some of the movie myths, which I won't mention here for fear of ruining it for others (If you do want to know just email me or ask me later). We had a couple of other die hard fans on our tour which was good, and Aaron did his best to ramp up the enthusiasm. He even sung with the microphone on the bus at one stage.

After the tour, and photos by the fountain in the Mirabell Gardens (another film location) Aaron and I went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress with one of our tour companions, a women Tash from Melbourne. We could walk up the steep path to the fortress or as we did catch a funicular railway. The fortress itself (and its museums) weren't anything really special but the views made up for it. Salzburg and its surrounds are so spectacular. Lots of photos were taken of course.

After saying farewell to Tash, Aaron and I continued to explore the old town of Salzburg or Alstadt as it is known. There is a lot of horse related statues and things in Salzburg and naturally you can go on a horse and buggy ride as you can in most European cities.

Today, we went to the Museum of Natural History which includes an aquarium, which had great fish including baby clown fish or Nemo's as they are probably more commonly referred as, and a reptile zoo. The rest of the museum was good as well, lots of minerals, stuffed birds and animals, an exhibit about water and one about space. We then did more wandering around the Alstadt and the Mirabell Garden again.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a nearby mountain and go up it in a cable car and then visit the Salzburg Zoo.

Then it is off to Innsbruck for a couple of days and then onto Italy. We are really enjoying Salzburg, Aaron has nicknamed it the place Prague should be. (We have been watching to much CNN (only as it is one of 2 or 3 English speaking tv channels we are getting not because we like it) and they have way too many ads for different countries with slogans, Cyprus`the year round island´ and Croatia ´the Mediterranean as it once was` are 2 examples).

Prague - Tick

2007-09-30T00:01:00.000+10:00

Aaron and I can safely say we can tick Prague off the list. We have seen almost all there is to see in Prague except one thing that we did want to see but couldn't, more on that later.

On Tuesday we decided to explore the area of Prague we were already in, Nove Mesto and which we had started to do the night before. So our first stop was the Narodni Muzuem (the National Museum). This was a pleasant change to other museums we had seen as there was little or no religious artifacts. Aaron was relieved to find this as he has developed an aversion to 'Jesus on a donkey'. This museum was full of zoological (ie stuffed dead birds and animals), palentological and mineralogical stuff from not only the Czech Republic but around the world. After 2 hours inside (our time period for museums) we came out to find the blue skies had gone and the rain had set in. This was the beginning of a few days of annoying drizzly rain that has only now just gone away (hopefully).

With umbrellas in hand we continued to wander around Nove Mesto seeing sights such as the balcony from where the death of Czech Communism was pronounced in 1989 (the building is now a Marks and Spencers store), a nice little garden called the Franciscan Garden and a Cubist lamp post dating back to 1915. After a lunch of sausages we visited the Mucha Museum about the Art Nouveau artist Alphons Mucha. I enjoyed this little museum cum art gallery very much as I quite like the art nouveau style. To Aaron though it was just another museum.

The following day we caught a tram up to the Prague Castle and wandered around up there. St Vitus's Cathedral is magnificent. It has brilliant stained glass windows, including one designed by Alphons Mucha. The Old Royal Palace was disappointing. We found it very dull compared to other places we have seen. St George's Basillica was good but the Golden Lane was our favourite. It is a street of small coloured houses (which are now shops) with a medieval museum on the top floor. It was great, lots of suits of armour, swords etc and there was also the opportunity to shoot a cross bow. Aaron had a go and found it harder than he thought it would be (he only hit the target once out of five shots). The Dalibor Tower which was a former dungeon was also great as it had a number of torture instruments.

There was also a toy museum in the castle grounds which we of course had to visit. Surprisingly this toy museum had different things to the ones we saw in Nuremberg and it did have a good assortment of teddy bears. Speaking of which I forgot to mention in my last post that the teddy bear count is now up to 6. I bought one in Fussen and another Steiff bear from a Steiff shop in Nurmeberg.

After the castle we then walked across the Charles Bridge and into the Old Town Stare Mesto where we saw the very impressive Astronomical Clock.

On Thursday we decided to explore the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) but due to it being a Jewish Holiday (not sure which one) we were not able to visit the Jewish Cemetry that we wanted to (the holiday continued on Friday and has Saturday is their sabath we missed out altogether). After visiting one of the better souvenir shops where Aaron bought me a lovely bohemian crystal necklace (in most of the souvenir shops in Wencelas Square particular, you are followed 2 steps behind you by staff and are watched like a hawke) we crossed one of Prague's many bridges and went to Mala Strana (the Little Quarter). It was raining quite a bit so we just looked at a few of the lovely buildings and parks and went back to the hotel to rest.

On Friday we ventured out of Prague on a bus tour to Kutna Hora, a town about 60 minutes drive away that was important for silver mining. Our first stop of the tour was at the Church of All Saints, an ossuary that has chandeliers and things made up of the bones of 30 000 people. It was very cool and something that I had really wanted to see. For some reason I love ossuary's. This is the third one I have been to now. We then went for a walk around the town with a guide filling us in on some great history. Lunch was at a great restaurant where I have had the best dumplings I have ever had. The beef goulash was great too. Then we visited the Cathedral of St Barbara (one of only 4 cathedrals in the Czech Republic) which had really nice fresco's on the walls. It was also nice that the rain had stopped and there was some blue sky so that we could appreciate the painted glass windows of the cathedral. It was then time to head back to Prague along some of the most bumpiest roads I have ever been on. Sydney roads are nothing compared to these.

And now it is today and we went back to the Little Quarter where we caught the Funicular Railway up to the top of Petrin Park to visit the Observation Tower which is an imitation of the Eiffel Tower but at a quarter of its height. I decided not to climb to the top but Aaron did. It said it was quite windy up there so I am glad I didn't. Today we again encountered the Czechs dislike for large notes when trying to buy Aaron's ticket for the tower and so that I could visit the toilet. One thing I am getting sick of is having to pay to go to the toilet. I must admit though that this restroom attendant actually did something while I was there unlike other places I have been to where they just sit behind a counter reading a magazine or whatever.

So now the blog is up to date. We are off to Salzburg tomorrow which will take us over 7 hours. Hopefully the trains won't be crowded.

Finally, my impressions of Prague. The buildings are lovely, there is lots of churches, but there is an ugly side to the place as well. It is very touristy, so many souvenir shops and money changing places. We have encountered some friendly locals but most of them seem very grumpy, (particularly in long supermarket queues). We have also had to develop great patience in queueing as we have had to do it so often.

Good King Wencelas wen to town

2007-09-26T05:13:00.000+10:00

Good King Wencelas wen to town... Aaron has been singing that song evey since we arrived in Prague yesterday and now it is in my head. Let's back track a bit.

Last Friday we visited Castle Neuschwanstein, mad King Ludvig II's castle in the Bavarian Alps. I have wanted to visit this place since I was a teenager and bought puzzles of it. I didn't make it there on my last trip to Europe so I was definitely determined to go there this time. What did I think of it? It was fabulous, very impressive. You weren't allowed to take photos of the inside so I made up for it by taking lots of photos of the outside as I could. Plus the location is spectacular. High on a hill. I knew I wouldn't be able to walk up the hill to the castle so we took the easy option of the bus, us and 100 others all crammed in like sardines chugging away up the hill. We did walk back down again, as well as the 4kms or so back into Fussen which was nice and flat (I checked the terrain on the taxi on the way before I committed to the walk back).

Fussen itself is a nice town. Very pretty. And the river is an amzing green colour. I am not sure what makes it that colour (but I would like to know so if anybody already knows please tell me and save me the trouble of googling it later). On the Friday night before dinner Aaron and I found a nice park to walk around and we had fun trying to take photos of the squirrels climbing in the trees. Gosh they are quick little buggers. Cute but quick.

On Saturday morning we packed up and made our way to Munich on the busiest train we had encountered so far. Lots of people, tourists and locals in national costume were heading to Oktoberfest which was just starting. As I cannot think of anything worse than being in a packed city with a bunch of drunks we quickly made our way to Nurmberg on a lovely ICE train. Nuremberg train stations is one of the biggest we have encountered so far, mainly I guess due to the attached shopping centre. We eventually found our hotel, after walking through a carpark called Nelson Mandela Square (not what we pictured in would be in our heads). It was a nice charming little place called Hotel Mozart. The owners had a little cute dog called Una ( I think) who was always quick to come and greet you as you came or went.

Nuremberg is a lovely place. It has so many museums you could easily spend a week there and not see them all. Some a bit strange though, like the wheat beer glass museum (I think that is what it was called). We did go to the German National Museum, the Toy Museum and Albert Durer House. There was also some nice looking chuches but we didn't go into to any of them, Aaron is a bit churched out.

On Monday we left Nuremberg for our longest train journey so far to Prague. We had about an hour on one train before we had to change to another at Marketredwitz (or some name like that) where Police on the train were more interested in our passports than our rail ticket. We did get another stamp in our passports though which I am happy about. I get disapointed if I get let into a country without a passport stamp. Anway, we then had to change trains at Cheb and we could definietly tell we were no longer in Western Europe. The station was very drab, but the amount of denim the locals were wearing was at least something to look at. Our train was due to leave at 12.12pm and it normally left from platform 2. They waited until 5 minutes before the departure time to announce the platform so we (plus the hords of people travelling 2nd class) and to bolt down stairs and up again to get to the platform. Then it was another mad dash to the end of the train to our 1st class cabin, where for part of the journey it was just Aaron and I. It was definitely no ICE or TGV. But we made it to Prague and the long walk up the hill to our hotel which is lovely and comfortable and inlcudes free breakfast and internet, yeah.

Today we explored Nove Mestre, the new town but as I have been hogging the Internet for nearly an hour I will leave it there for now. I have to check the weather forecast for tomorrow before going up to bed. It rained here today and I want to know if it will be continuing.

Au Revoir France Guten Tag Germany

2007-09-21T01:56:00.000+10:00

We have left France behind for now and are now in Fussen Germany and I am battling with a non-qwerty keyboard.

After our 5 days in Paris we headed by train to Blois in the Loire Valley to find that we had just missed the only bus for the next 4 hours to Chitenay the village we were staying in for the next week. After finding out that a taxi was doable and not bank breaking we arrived in Chitenay, just after lunch on Monday, the day everything closes in town. Not that there is much there anyway.

Our hotel the Aubege de Centre, or something like that, was a very friendly hotel with great food. Each night we had the set menu of 4 courses plus hors doerves if we were lucky. The staff were lovely, and 2 of the men reminded us of Inspector Clouseau, which made us continually laugh to ourselves.

Now to the cycling. It was good. We didn´t fall off at all. There were a few hills which I walked up but all in all I was happpy with how I went. I did manage to continually bruise my legs on the pedals, get a sore butt, naturally, and cause numbness in the tips of my little finger and ring finger on my left hand. Which is still there. Oh well. Put it down to experience. We saw some fabulous chateauxs. I think Cherveny was my favourite.

After we left Chitenay, our real train travel began, and all just this week. First from Blois to Paris, then to Strasbourg, overnight there, then onto Stuttgart, to Ulm, no vacancies, so onto Geingen, home of the Steiff, back to Ulm, then to Augsburg and now to Fussen.

The Steiff museum was great. Well worth the visit. And yes I did buy some teddy bears. 4 to be exact plus a little lamb and a hippo.

Now we are in Fussen, staying at a guesthouse and going to visit Castle Neuschwanstein tomorrow.

That´s a quick update of the last week and a half. Hope all is well at home for everyone.

Auf Wiedersein

PS Please forgive any spelling errors in European names and words. I do not have my phrasebook with me.

Paris by Foot

2007-09-09T04:00:00.000+10:00

This is day 4 in Paris, 3 of those we have spent solid sightseeing around the city by foot. I don't know the last time I did so much walking. Each night when we get back to our hotel we do our stretches so we are not so crippled for the next day. How do all the oldies (ie retired folk) cope?

Paris is fabulous. I love it. You never know what you are going to see around the corner. There are so many wonderful churches, all just as nice but obviously not as big as the Notre Dame.
We started Thursday with a vist to the Catacombes. What an amazing place, and our first introdcution to those narrow spiral staircases the Europeans seemed to love so much. Then we walked down to the River Seine, via a stop at a gourmet food market and a lovely little park for lunch. After passing the Musee D'Orsay we wandered along the Seine until we reached the Notre Dame. After visiting a public toilet and not having to pay (we tipped the rest room attendant anyway as she was friendly) we joined the masses of crowds (our first for the day) and went in to check out the mighty cathedral. We then wandered back to our hotel in the Latin Quarter passing by the Sorbonne, the Pantheon and the Luxembourg Gardens on the way. We also stumbled across a children's library which we went into and talked to the staff. They we very friendly and let me take photos inside (see an upcoming issue of the Quill newsletter for more details, hope you like the plug Helen). We went to a restaurant in the Latin Quarter for dinner and had a basic set menu which only set us back 12 euro each before crashing for the night.

On Friday, we decided to catch up with the Mona Lisa so it was off to the Louvre we went. We got there soon after opening so we didn't have to battle the crowds to see the famous painting. The whole Louvre itself is amazing. Obviously we didn't see it all, but we did see part of Napoleon's Apartments, many great sculptures and some crown jewels.

After spending the morning at the Louvre we ventured to the shopping mecca of Galeries Lafayette and more wandering around the streets. And no I didn't buy anything. The teddy bear count is still zero. Dinner was a quiet affair (McDonalds) as we were both so exhausted.

This morning, we woke up to the first blue skies we have seen in Paris and so it was off to the Eiffel Tower. After a quick phonecall home to Aaron's mum Julie to make her jealous, we joined the queues to begin the 40 minute wait to go up the tower. The views were spectacular and I am so glad it was alot warmer up there than my last visit where I saw ice on the tower. Even though I am afriad of heights there was only 1 or 2 moments when I felt scared, the rest of the time I was fine.

Our journey on foot continued to the Arc de Triumph and the Champs Elysee where we sat and had lunch while people watching. Very cool.

I then dragged Aaron into the mega Sephora (make up) store and the Virgin Mega Store where I am happy to say I picked the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest CD. This goes with my 2006 and 2007 ones I already have. I love Eurovision.

After more walking, through the Tuilerie Gardens and back along the Seine to our hotel my legs and feet were had it. Though after half an hour of stretching and having my legs in the air I felt better.

Tonight's dinner was a baguette and apple pastry in the Luxembourg Gardens. Aaron has fallen in love with baguettes so we have been eating them every opportunity we get. Only a week more of this before we move on to sausages and schnitzel in Germany.

Tomorrow we are having a quiet day, sticking to the Latin Quarter as we head down to the Loire Valley on Monday to begin our cycling tour. I can't believe we have only had 6 days of our trip so far. We have seen and done so much and not thought about work at all, well not in any real depth anyway.

Au reviour

Dubai Done and Dusted

2007-09-07T03:22:00.000+10:00

Well Aaron and I have been and one Dubai and are now in Paris. Dubai was a very interesting place but very very hot. We learnt 2 lessons while we were there. 1. Do not go out walking in the middle of the day and 2. Aaron's stomach does not handle curry very well.

Our flights weren't too bad, the landing into Singapore could have been better. We only gave the pilot a 6/10 for his effort. The flight was packed so there was no spare seats around us. I had Aaron on one side and David a nice man from Lismore on the other. I didn't sleep much, Aaron got more than me. For some reason I can sleep on a Brisbane City Council bus in Brisbane going home from work but not on an aeroplane. We had an hours sopt in Siingapore but didn't get off the plane, we just stood up and walked around while the plane was cleaned around us. I can't complain about the food on Emirates, there is plenty of it. I slept a bit on the flight to Dubai but not enough to prevent me from fading in the early evening.

After waiting about 3 hours for our hotel room (we were supposed to have 24 hour check in) we freshened up and then learnt lesson number 1. It was so hot outside, after we walked down to Dubai Creek and caught a water taxi over to Deira, I couldn't walk much further as I started to feel sick. We then turned around and walked straight back to the hotel after stopping for a few minutes in an airconditioned shop where I just sat on a pile of rugs while Aaron looked around.

The Sundowner Dune tour we went on that night was great. We were in a fwd and went up and down the dunes with a few stops outside to have sand blown in out faces. The people in our fwd (of about 36) were always the first to get back into the vehicle out our stops. Then we went and had a camel ride before having dinner at a campsite and watching a belly dancer. You could also get henna tattoos but as I was very very tired I didn't do much but sit and try not to fall asleep, (which I did in the fwd back to the hotel).

The next day was a bit cooler so Aaron and I picked up an Iranian driver from the streets who took us to see the Burj Al Arab and then to the Mall of the Emirates, a huge shopping centre that has a ski field inside. After a nap back at the hotel, we headed back to the souks in Deira that we attempted to see the day before. We spent a few hours wandering up and down alley ways but did n't manage to find the gold souk. 350 stores devoted to gold and we couldn't find them. We did go to the public library though.

Our flight to Paris left early the next day so we had a quiet night in the hotel.

And now we are in Paris and my internet is about to run out so that's all for today.

I'm so excited.

2007-08-28T19:56:00.000+10:00

I felt like a little kid at Christmas today at lunch time when I picked up our travel documents from the travel agent. I couldn't wait to get back and have a look at everything, especially the Eurail timetable. I love reading stuff normal people don't find exciting like maps, phone books and street directories. I know it is weird but I love it. Each year when we get a new phone directory I always spend time checking it out. Now I'm digressing.

Back to the holiday. I can't wait. I have 2 more days of work to go (Aaron finished today) and then I am free for 11 weeks. Not that I don't love my job, I do. But I have been really looking forward to having a break. This year has just been constantly busy. More diressing, sorry.

I think I have everything under control. I have some running around to do on Friday getting stuff done like Dr's letters and prescriptions medicines, but other than that everything is all organised. We did a trial pack last Sunday. I don't think I will have to cull anything, maybe just 1 top but that's all. And I 'm way under the 20 kgs which is good. But that won't stay that way for long I'm sure, if my last trip is anything to go by. I ended up having to buy an extra sports bag and a tote bag to bring all of my stuff back in (all with no extra baggage charges). But I have told myself I will be stricter on buying souveniers this time, and maybe teddy bears as well (23 was a bit excessive for a 9 week holiday).

I never know how to end blog posts. I always had trouble with diaries as well. It feels weird to me. I am digressing again, sorry.

Final Stages

2007-08-15T19:23:00.000+10:00

With only 18 days to go before we leave, Aaron and I did some more trip planning today. We discussed the big issue of money. Who's money we would put where and how we would access it while we are away. We are ditching the travellers cheques and sticking to plastic, with a little bit of currency for when we first get to a country. As I have only ever travelled by myself before and the fact that we still have separate bank accounts, the whole money thing is going to be interesting. Not that I care if I end up paying slightly more than Aaron in the end. Afterall, I don't have a mortgage like he does so I have saved slightly more. I have left the budget in Aaron's hands so at least at the end I will have some sort of idea how much I will have spent. Not like my last trip, where fours years on I still do not know how much I ended up spending.

We also discussed a packing list, and divided up last minute tasks like putting together a first aid kit (me) and getting a global mobile phone sim card (Aaron). Everything is coming together quite nicely. Our pile of travel 'stuff' on our bedroom floor is growing bigger day by day. My travel notebook is coming along nicely as well. When I travel overseas, I take a notebook which I put various tips I've read in magazines and books, places to go and see etc, along with some contact details etc. Then, with the rest of the pages I have space to write stuff in while away, eg contact details of people I meet etc, and it is all in the one place. Just like hundreds of post-it notes and lists all in the one place.

I am now going to go and investigate Feedburner so that people can put RSS feeds from this blog. This Web 2.0 thing is all just one big learning experience for me. A fun learning experience. It brings out the inner geek in me.

Four Weeks To Go

2007-08-04T14:05:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it is only 4 weeks until Aaron & I leave on our trip. The time is going to go so fast, especially as I know I will be really busy at work. I have a few projects I have to finish before the trip and having this past week off with a dreaded cold hasn't helped that. At least I got sick now and not just before we leave. Most of our planning is done, and stuff bought that we need. I have my to do list and packing list written already so I will be fine with all that stuff. I am getting to that I can't believe we are really going stage. Afterall we have been saving and planning for this trip since about November 2005. Now for the itinerary.

2 Sept - Depart Brisbane
3 Sept - Arrive Dubai (2 nights), Go on Sundowner Dune Tour
5 Sept - Depart Dubai, Arrive Paris (5 nights)
10 Sept - Depart Paris, Start Cycling Tour in Loire Valley (7 nights)
17 Sept - Finish Cycling Tour, Travel by train to Strasbourg (1 night)
18 Sept - Train to Ulm, Germany (2 nights), visit Steiff Museum in Giengen
20 Sept - Train to Fussen, Germany (2 nights), visit Castle Neuschwanstein
22 Sept - Train to Nuremberg (2 nights)
24 Sept - Train to Prague (6 nights)
30 Sept - Train to Salzburg (4 nights), definitely doing a Sound of Music tour
4 Oct - Train to Innsbruck (2 nights)
6 Oct - Train to Bologna (13 nights Italy)
19 Oct - Fly from Milan-Bergamo to Belfast (13 nights Ireland)
1 Nov - Fly from Dublin to London (7 nights)
8 Nov - Eurostar to Paris (1 night)
9 Nov - Depart Paris
10 Nov - Arrive Singapore (2 nights)
12 Nov - Depart Singapore
13 Nov - Arrive Brisbane

So far we haven't worked out exactly what we are going to do in Italy except go to Bologna, Venice, Florence and Perugia (for the Eurochocolate 2007 Festival). We will be staying with friends in Bologna so when we get there we will work out what we are doing.

The same goes for Ireland. We will be staying with Aaron's relatives in Belfast and doing the rellie thing there and then staying with other friends in Dublin and the rest we will work out later.

If anybody has any must see or do things in any of those places let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

Must go and help prepare for Aaron's Big Birthday Bonanza Brunch tomorrow (the boy turned 30th on Thursday). I have raspberry and white chocolate muffins and banana bread to make.

Information Overload

2007-07-24T19:37:00.000+10:00

I am suffering from information overload at the moment. One of the last few things my partner Aaron & I have left to organise for our trip is our hotels for our 2 stopovers, Dubai on the way and Singapore on the way back. Singapore was simple, Aaron has been there before, the hotel he stayed at was good, so that's where we will stay this time (bearing availability in mind of course). But Dubai on the other hand is a different story. Plus it is so different from anywhere I have ever been before. I usually prefer to get recommendations from friends and family but I haven't had much getting these, so as the good Librarian I am I turned to the Internet. Now I am so overwhelmed with information and reviews I am hoping the travel agent can assist before I go to crazy.

Apart from the hotel information overload, I also suffered from a bit of anxiety at the start of the trip planning by reading too many horror stories from the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum. If hadn't already travelled overseas before without any hassles (all I lost was some deodorant, and that was in my hotel room) I could have been scared off travelling altogether.

Before I make everybody jealous with our itinerary (or bore people to death) I thought I would share a few of my favourites websites I have come across in my trip planning (and I say my planning and not ours, as I have done most of it. Aaron is in charge of the budget though).

Firstly for budget flight options I love Which Budget. Using this site I was able to find a cheap flight from Milan (well near Milan) to Belfast for under $100 Australian for the 2 of us. I have never heard of the airline (Jet 2) but we will deal with that later.

For accommodation I have be using Trip Advisor, Booking.com, Hostelling International, and HostelBookers.com. For our trip we will using a range of accommodation options, hotels, hostels (double rooms only - Aaron's stipulation) and the best (and cheapest option) friends and family. We are lucky that Aaron has family in Belfast and friends that have decided to live in all parts of the world including Dublin, Bologna and London.

Another accommodation website I have only just found but one which is looking very useful (and is aptly named) is EuroCheapo. The part I really like is the Expect to Spend section which give you an overview of hotel and restaurant prices as well as other handy tips.

I will finish this post now before everybody else suffers from information overload and anyway, The Bill is on soon (one of my TV weaknesses, I just love it).

Numero Uno

2007-07-22T15:57:00.000+10:00

Well I have finally done it. I have now joined the ranks of millions around the world who blog. I have been thinking of starting a blog for awhile now but wasn't sure a) what to write about and b) if anybody would want to read it and of course c) would I be able to maintain it. So why I have I started. My partner Aaron and I are soon to commence a 10 1/2 week European holiday and I thought this would be the easiest way of sharing the experience with my friends and family. I will talk more about the trip later. First I thought I would share my experience in setting up my blog.

Once I decided to start a blog, I then had to think of a name. I have trouble thinking of names at the best of times, let alone one that I would be happy to be as a label for my thoughts and feelings. I thought Rachel's Ramblings was quite apt so I did what every good Librarian would do and googled it. Of course there was already several other Rachel's Ramblings in existence. How naive of me to think there wouldn't be? Anyway, after some thought I decided what the heck I'll use the name too. Afterall, I am not going to discuss knitting or horses like some of the other Rachel's Ramblings. That was the easy part. Trying to create a unique URL proved a challenge. In the end I settled on my initials and rambling. Hopefully easy enough for people to remember.

So there you have it. My first post on my first blog. Easy.