Well, true to my word I've been slack. And it's actually a shame this time because we have gone on some really lovely trips!

Since I last wrote, Jeremy and I have been to Cologne, Luxembourg, Paris and Amsterdam. All four of them stunningly beautiful, not to mention loads of fun. I won't go into a lot of detail, if only to give your eyes a break!

Summing it all up:

Cologne: we drank a lot of beer, stayed in a lovely hotel, saw the Lindt chocolate factory on Easter Sunday, went on a cruise on the Rhine and climbed the Cologne cathedral (all 509 steps!). You can't really tell by the photos *just* how grand the cathedral actually is, but it literally took our breath away everytime we saw it (took my breath away climbing up the bloody thing too, but I digress).



Luxembourg: was part of our trip to Cologne and we spent the day there. Possibly one of the most scenic cities I have ever seen, and the way it perches on a cliff just takes your breath away. Took a tour on a bus and we learned about how the Luxembourgish (yes, that's a word, I learned that on the tour!)live.

Paris: For our 2 year anniversary, we jumped on the Eurostar on the Friday night and arrived (very easily) in the city of romance. The first time I saw the Eiffel Tower, it was close to midnight and was lit up. Just beautiful. I had a bunch of pink and white roses waiting for me at the hotel, along with some champagne (very spoilt). We trekked our way around the city the next day hitting Notre Dame, the Pantheon, Luxembourg Palace, Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Climbed those stairs too!
That night, Jeremy took me to a restaurant called Laperouse, an historic restaurant that has private dining rooms, ours for two. After a glass of champagne, a seven course meal (yes, seven) and a bottle of wine between us, we were done. But not finished for the night! We managed to get some of the last tickets for the day to go up the Eiffel Tower and we were up there for the light show. Very romantic! The next day we took it a lot easier, strolling the streets of Paris, had a quick peek at the Moulin Rouge. We're leaving the Louvre for the next visit!

Amsterdam: Awesome time. And surprisingly beautiful city. The rest speaks for itself. And yes, we went to Anne Franks House and the Heineken Brewery. Enough said!




So, there you are. Up to date on the happenings after a few months. Jeremy's sister Cazz is now over here and settling in, and I had a visit from Monica recently too. So lovely to see familiar faces!

We have a few things coming up, mainly music festivals really. A festival in Swansea, in a castle, Glastonbury and another one around Jeremy's birthday next month. So, lots to do and I'll probably write about it before Christmas!!

xxx

It seems that since I have started work, I’ve not bothered to write as much… No surprise there, as I sit at a computer all day, one of the last things I think of doing is the same thing at night!

I left off at Venice. I’ve basically mainly had work on, in the last few weeks. And I’ve really enjoyed it. The people that I’m working with have all been friendly, and I’m enjoying the fact that the Brits tend to have the same sense of humour as us Aussies!

This last weekend, Jeremy and I took off to Dublin for the weekend. A sort of last minute trip, (with the accommodation sorted out at the last second it seemed!) which we were both really looking forward to. Of course I got some input from Pa and Mum about where we should go whilst we were there, and the one I took into action was catching up with one of Pa’s friends, Noel. Such a lovely and friendly guy, and blessed with the well known Irish ‘gift of the gab’. I also enjoy the fact that he somewhat validates some of Pa’s stories (the ones you think are too funny to be anywhere close to the truth…).

We arrived on Friday night, got through Immigration in a second (quite amusing given the effort to get out of England!!) and made it to our hotel quite quickly. We stayed in Smithfield, north of the Liffey and across from Jameson’s Distillery. Our hotel wasn’t in the middle of the city, but it had really easy access, was very reasonable and was quite funky and new. It was so easy for us to get to Temple Bar. So we headed there when we’d put our bags down. The place was heaving with people. We had a late dinner and ended up in an old pub having a pint (only one because I was more than a little seedy from the night before…) and getting home at a somewhat reasonable hour.

The next morning we got up, had a yummy breakfast from next door and had a wander while we waited for Noel to come and collect us. Walked around the distillery area, and headed back to the hotel to wait. Noel came in as we were finishing a pint, we jumped in his car and he drove us to Grafton St, where we had lunch in a pub with Noel and his wife, Emer. We had a lovely afternoon, we didn’t even notice the time flying! Before we knew it, it was 3pm and we were shopping on Grafton St and venturing towards St. Stephens’ Green. It was so lively during the day, all types of people out to shop for the afternoon. On our way back to the hotel, Noel drove us around the Guinness area while telling us about the history of the area and stupid things he and Pa got up to (Noel is a far more reliable source of information). He also drove us through Phoenix Park, showing us the landmarks, what they mean etc. Really fascinating!

Once back in the hotel (by this stage close to 6pm) we just got ready for the night out, and made our way once again toward Temple Bar (an area, not just a pub…). We had dinner at a lovely restaurant, and ended up in the pub across the road from it. And stayed there all night!! We had a great time meeting people from all over the world. Americans, lots of them, 2 Scottish girls who were lovely, but seemingly few Irish!! Ah well, we’ll go back again!!

I don’t know how Jeremy managed, but we did the Jameson’s tour the next morning. Neither of us were feeling too crash hot, so we didn’t end up drinking or buying much at all. After the distillery, we wandered toward Dublin Castle and got there as it opened for the day. We managed to get on the 1st tour, and it was great! Highly recommended… We took loads of photos (as per our usual) and walked through Trinity College on our way towards O’Connell St, and our hotel to get our bags. Made it safely back to London (after our plane sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes because the airline hostesses couldn’t count) and we both took a little while to come down from the buzz of a really good weekend away. But somehow, we managed and got stuck back into work!

This week at work has gone kind of slowly, mainly due to the fact that it’s in between our weekends away. We leave for Frankfurt on Friday morning, to stay in Cologne over Easter. Really looking forward to it! Germany!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to…

In the words of Indiana Jones from the 'Last Crusade' - "Ahh... Venice"

What a beautiful place, but let me start at the beginning...

Last week I got a job, finally!! I'm working at Marks & Spencer on a contract, and that'll give me some much sought after UK experience. The job itself is rather boring and tedious, but everyone I've met have been really nice, and I get to work with an old friend from my IKEA days (who gave me the heads up that the job was going in the first place.) So, I sent in my resume, got an interview the day after, and started the next day. What a week!

I started on Wednesday, working on the content of their website (not quite as impressive as it sounds...) and Wednesday was the day Jeremy had booked Mary Poppins, the Musical (from Valentine's Day). Friday snuck up on us very quickly, and before we knew it, we were on our way to Stansted via Liverpool St. A long trip, and one I'm not keen to do in a hurry again!!

We made it to Treviso airport (maybe 30kms from Venice itself?) and finally made it to our hotel around midnight. Getting to the hotel was nothing short of a "Surivor" type quest, but we found it, and the hotel I organised was actually really great. It was only a 5 minute walk to Piazza San Marco, and the Palazzo Ducale along with many other attractions. We had a midnight wander through the Piazza and had to wander back around the tiny alley ways to find our way back.

We had an early start (not something we're generally good at, but there was a lot for us to see!) and we started knocking off the major attractions off our list. The Piazza during the day had far too many pigeons for my liking, but I braved the birds (with photos to prove it, for the non-believers out there!). We wandered through the Basilica, beautifully ornate, went in search of the Library from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (where he finds the tomb) but had no luck. We did however, see about 5 churches on our hunt... We took a lot of photos along the way, did a little shopping, and we got a little lost as maps don't really help you much in Venice. We had fun getting lost though, and we had a lovely lunch along the Grand Canale (more pigeons came to bother me) and kept on wandering. At some point in the afternoon, I decided I needed my jacket and I snuck in a quick nap before heading out again for dinner. Along the way, Jeremy surprised me with a Gondola ride. Very toursity I know, but something that should really be done!! Lovely to see Venice like that... We had dinner near the Rialto Bridge, true Italian food with a lot of wine, followed by some drinks at a bar nearby. The city is so different at night too, very quiet, but with the odd bar that's swarming with people. Very cool :-)

We had a little sleep in on the Sunday, and I braved the Piazza, as well as the pigeons, AGAIN, to get to the Palazzo Ducale (recommended by Dad). An awesome sight to see, truly amazing architecture on a grand scale, with hundreds of ornate pieces of artwork to admire within. Just exquisite to take in, and the information they gave was really fascinating. That took a long time, and it was actually a lot of walking and standing, so we lost a bit of our energy. Over the 'road' from the Palazzo was the Campanile di San Marco (the big tower for the rest of us that don't speak Italian). We got the lift up, took in the incredible sight of the rooftops of Venice and jumped back in the lift as it was bitterly cold up there! We ended up at a coffee bar, had a pit stop, got our luggage and then camped at a bar nearby the Grand Canale to wait for the Vaporetto (water bus) to take us to the bus, to the airport. Phew!!

And it was a long night... Stansted is horrible for getting through immigration, it took Jeremy an hour to get through, took me half an hour. Very slow, and as we arrived at 11.30pm, I wasn't overly keen to be there for so long, with work for both of us the next day. We finally got back to the flat around 2am!! Probably not going to use Stansted again in a hurry, if there's choice to go elsewhere.

So, that was our weekend. And I guess, the last week as well. Everything else is going well, we've settled in well and looking forward to some warmer weather (hopefully) soon :-)

So we've finally made ourselves a little more settled in London...

After our first weekend here, Jeremy started work for BGI, and I started looking for a flat for us to move in to. Two weeks after starting, we were moving in to our flat, and getting settled in. After a week of organising things to be connected, numerous frustrating phone calls, and buying household essentials, I'm now more than ready to throw myself into finding work. So keep your fingers crossed for me ;)

I think in the short time that we've been here, we've managed to do more than I did in the 6 weeks I was here in 2006. We've covered a lot of London's attractions, St. Paul's Cathedral, Greenwich (above photo), Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe and the London Eye on Valentine's Day. We've been to a soccer match, Australia versus Denmark, and we've had a full day of snow. So yes, it's been cold!! It's been great to see these things, and basically just wander around and find our way. I've said this to people before, but I find that London is very hard for me to navigate. The Tube as a means of transport is great, but it means that it makes it that much harder when you get out of the station and you don't know where you are! I'm thinking I'm going to use buses more often. Should resolve the problem!!

On the weekend, we visited a quaint old town two hours outside of London, called Winchester. Apparently some of Jeremy's friends have lived and worked there over the past few years, and it was recommended as a place to see. It was really lovely, the town has kept so much of its old world charm. There was a massivve cathedral, for a town so far out of London... And we were able to see where Jane Austen was buried (had no clue, just happened to stumble across it). The traffic was horrible coming back through the city, and I drove through the West End of London, to the East. A daunting task, but I managed with great navigational help from Jeremy.

So, what's next? I'm catching up with a friend from my IKEA days tonight, for pancakes (it's Shrove Tuesday) and we have Mary Poppins the Musical tomorrow night (Valentine's present...). On Friday night we leave for Venice. Really can't wait for that, will be very exciting!! I've never been to mainland Europe, and neither of us have been to Italy. A great place for us to start our weekends away :) I'm sure I'll have more to write after that...

Well, once again it's been a while since I posted anything... And a lot has happened since my last post!

Jeremy and I made it home to Melbourne for Christmas, which was great. The hot and muggy weather hit us right between the eyes, having just come from a city where the average max temperature was 12 degrees celcius. I had a few days in Sydney and saw my family up there, and then headed home to Melbourne for Christmas Day. And who would've thought we'd have a 'white' Christmas? We had a few minutes of hail in Macleod, and it was fantastic. Made me feel much less guilty eating a giant roast dinner, with all the trimmings, when it was 14 degrees outside!!

Just after New Year's, Jeremy and I headed to Sydney to visit my family before we headed back overseas. Bruce came along for the journey, to visit a friend from London that lives up there. It made the trip up SOOOOO much easier, having the 3 drivers. It was lovely to have that time up there, we really just took it slow and had some fun. Jeremy was able to catch up with some friends from Uni, and we got to take our time seeing my family and the time just flew.

When we got back from Sydney, and Jeremy's visa came through (a long story) it kind of dawned on us both that we had a little over a week until we left for Hong Kong, and then for London. We tried to squeeze in as many people as we could see, and time was of the essence. Had a few family BBQs, caught up with people for lunch, anything we could fit in. We were due to leave on the Sunday, and the Thursday before I realised that we weren't going to fit in seeing everyone that we wanted. SO, I had the great idea of having an Afternoon Tea and invited everyone that we didn't get to see that week. We actually had a really lovely time, plenty of food and drink to go around, and it was great to see everyone.

After that, it left me a short while to pack before I left for Hong Kong the next morning. I remembered everything (apart from my toothbrush, believe it or not!!) and we both made it to the airport on time. After a decent wait at the airport, as our plane was delayed by 3 hours, we made it to Hong Kong safely. Didn't make it to Jeremy's Uncle Peter's place til after midnight, but he was there to meet us. It was great to meet him, and fantastic to have a 'local' recommend things to us. We checked out Mong Kok, great for electronics, Stanley Markets and 'The Peak' in the three days we had in the city. Each night, we had a restuarant recommended by Jeremy's Uncle Peter, and each one was different and a great experience. From his apartment in Kowloon, we had an uniterrupted view of the Hong Kong skyline, and it was fantastic at night. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the light show every night, and some photos (like the one at the top of this page) came out quite well. Also, I highly recommend "The Peak" to anyone that's visiting Hong Kong, just be aware that that the tram ride up there is a little scary. At times, it felt like we were going completely vertical, and I had my doubts the whole way about whether it would make it up the top in one piece, but we did. It was VERY hazy, quite typical of Hong Kong so I'm told, but the view was spectacular and it's definitely a place I'd like to revisit at some point.

We upgraded on points to Business Class for the trip from Hong Kong to London, and it was well worth it. It was a day flight the whole way, I didn't really sleep at all. But it turned out to be quick flight, with many many movies to watch along with some episodes of the Simpsons and Kath & Kim, I was set. On the first night in London, Jeremy and I both made it to about 8pm, then the jetlag hit us. The next day was Australia Day, and we got all our errands done and headed out to Clapham to meet with Jemery and Gin and co., and ended up in Aussie Central. It was a fun night, but again, come 11pm or so I was buggered, so we got back on the tube (slept all the way...) and made it back to East Ham. Saturday I took Jeremy to Camden, and showed him the markets and where I spent a lot of time when I was here in 2006. It was crazy busy, but we had a great day, and went out with Dave and Sarah (the couple who we're staying with) to dinner in Canary Wharf.

Anyway, so that's where we are. In London, in the cold weather, looking for an apartment and a job. Back to square one for me!! There will be another post when either of those two happen, I assure you!!