Lots of time at the beach swimming and reading

Merry Christmas

Spent the day on a sun lounge underneath a beach umbrella on Unawatuna Beach, having the occassional swim.
Vegetable and chicken filled rotis for lunch.

The night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house nothing was stirring except some geckos and tuk-tuks playing Christmas carols.
We are down at Unawatuna Beach near Galle for Christmas and New Year.
Busy here lots of euros escaping winter not sure why you would want to avoid minus 3 degrees Celsius.
Special Christmas Eve dinner at the hotel tonight - roast turkey and bum burning curries.

The Berry of Sri Lanka

Kirk has coined this term for the fort area of Galle.  I think he is exaggerating but there are quite a few chi chi shops.  At least there are plenty of coffee shops making him an espresso so he can't complain.
We took a lovely walk along the ramparts of the fort today - the fort walls protected the fort area from the tsunami in 2004.

Galle

We caught the train down the west coast from Colombo to Galle this morning.
Given that we managed to negotiate India without public transport, this was our first foray on public transport in Sri Lanka.
Although the train allegedly originated at Colombo fort station where we were getting on, the locals obviously knew to jump on board earlier to get a seat.
Therefore when the train arrived it was already packed.  We did mange to get a seat after an hour and it was a very pleasant journey along the coast.
We are staying in the fort area of Galle which has lots of pretty Dutch colonial buildings.

Colombo

We arrived in Colombo yesterday.  We have never seen so many duty free stores selling white goods when arriving at Colombo airport.  We resisted the temptation to buy a fridge and bought gin instead.
Sri Lanka seems nice so far.  The people are very friendly even though we just beat them in the cricket.
Some sightseeing today then off to Galle tomorrow.

Varkala

Kirk is certainly channelling his inner hippy here.
We are now in Verkala, a beautiful beach with the town on the cliff tops.  Lots of hippy clothes, jewellery and trance music.

Some backwater cruising

Took a houseboat cruise on the Keralan backwaters today.
Looks a bit more like Venice now except with rice paddies and coconut palms.
Not a gondola in sight - just lots of houseboats.

Alleppey - the Venice of the east

We arrived in Alleppey this afternoon.  We are staying in a restored colonial house near the beach.  It doesn't quite look like Venice here as the backwaters are  by definition a bit inland and Venice has fewer coconut palms.  We will do a reconnaissance mission tomorrow to find a nice houseboat.
We caught up with friends Jane and Tony for dinner last night in Fort Cochin - nice to see familiar faces.
The duty free gin is keeping the malaria at bay....

Goats rather than cows

The streets of Fort Cochin appear to have random goats wandering about.  I assumed they would end up on the dinner table.
Did some touring about Cochin today via tuk-tuk.  Went to the Dutch Palace and jewish area (as well as too many handicraft shops).
Off to Alleppey tomorrow.

Cochin

We are now in Cochin in Kerala.  We are staying in Fort Cochin a quiet colonial area with old Portuguese buildings.
Weather is still a balmy 34 degrees but no swimming here.

Having a local indian white wine watching the sunset over the water.  The wine is surprisingly drinkable and reasonably priced.
Kirk tried the local spirit called feni made from the cashew apple - not too much like fire water.

Having a local indian white wine watching the sunset over the water.  The wine is surprisingly drinkable and reasonably priced.
Kirk tried the local spirit called feni made from the cashew apple - not too much like fire water.

Another busy day at the beach

Day spent at the beach and then an open air hatha yoga class in the late afternoon.  Kirk cheating in the breathing and chanting exercises.
The cows arrive at the beach mid afternoon for a siesta and check out the surf.  Haven't seen them venture in and get their udders wet.

Palolem beach

Arrived today in the southern beach town of Palolem.
Very chilled here.  Kirk has bought some hippy pants to wear to yoga and where we are staying serves lavazza coffee.  KIrk is a happy boy. 
Water is about 28 degrees.  The beach is lovely.  Only way you can tell that it is an Indian beach is the odd cow wandering along...

Old Goa - the Rome of the east

Today we took an autorickshaw (tuk-tuk) ride to the old capital which apparently used to be larger than London and Lisbon back in the day.
Now it is a world heritage sight filled with churches.
We are enjoying India so far. Different food, alcohol freely available and hardly anyone smokes.
Off to the beach tomorrow.

Panaji

Namaste
We arrived in Goa this afternoon after a flight via mumbai.
We are staying in Panaji the capital of Goa.
It is like a country town with lots of gorgeous portugese colonial buildings.
We are aclimatising to the indian bureaucracy of lots of forms with carbon paper.
Yummy goan prawn curry for dinner tonight

Amman

We are now back in Amman doing a few admin tasks before we fly to India tomorrow.
Kirk has become obsessed with the wifi connection in hotels.  He keeps running around resetting the wireless router on each floor and engaging hotel reception staff in conversation about the type of wifi modem they have.  The hotel staff have glazed looks in their eyes and tell him something about the recent weather that has been causing the wifi to run slowly.
I have told him gently that we are now going to India where the wifi also may not be perfect....

Petra

Arrived in Petra yesterday after a trip down the Kings highway stopping in Madaba, Karnak castle and Shobuk castle.
Did lots of walking today at Petra.
The town near Petra is a bit different to how it was 19 years ago when I was last here.
Petra itself is the same stunning place, albeit with a few more trinket sellers and people offering donkey (aka Bedouin Ferrari) and camel rides.

Back in Jordan

Looks like we avoided the large demonstration in Tahrir Square tonight. 
We flew back to Amman this afternoon.
Peace and quiet here.
We are off to Petra via the Kings Highway tomorrow morning.

We went back to the Egyptian Museum today.
After being in Luxor and Aswan it was great to see some of the treasures from the temples which are now in the Museum.  Also we didn't see the mummies last time - definitely a highlight.
Flying to Jordan tomorrow.

Cairo

We are now back in Cairo.  We are staying not far from Tahrir Square.  There are quite a few people camping out in the Square and there is some scuffles between President Morsy's opponents and his supporters (the Muslim Brotherhood).
Went to see the citadel and old bazaar this afternoon.
Driving in Cairo really is in a class of its own.  With 25 million people and mad driving, lanes optional, it makes Rome look very orderly.

Luxor

We are now staying in Luxor and have been doing the rounds of the amazing sights - Karnak temple, Luxor temple, Valley of the Kings.
More sightseeing tomorrow then the overnight train back to Cairo.

Towels in the shape of animals

The staff on board the boat seem to amuse themselves by creating animal shapes with your towels every time you leave your room - very artistic.
We visited Edfu temple and watched the world go by whilst floating down the Nile.

Abu Simbel

After a 4am start in an armed convoy we arrived in Abu Simbel.
Magnificent statues and the temple inside was amazing.
Must say that Ramses II was quite vain - he certainly built alot of statues of himself.
We boarded our cruise boat in the afternoon for our 3 day trip to Luxor.
The boat  holds about 130 people but is only about half full - mainly Germans cooking themselves in the sun and some French people.
Stopped at the Kom Ombo temple for a evening tour.

Aswan

We are currently in Aswan after catching the overnight train from Cairo.
It is a much smaller place,very languid and how you expect to see the Nile.
We did some touring today to see the High dam and the Phillae temple and are now kicking back by the pool.
Weather is gorgeous - about 27 degrees and sunny.
Early start tomorrow morning for the trip to Abu Simbel.

Egypt

Arrived in cairo last night.
Went to the Pyramids and Sphinx this morning.  Amazing site.
Catching the night train to Aswan tonight.
Poor and expensive internet access so updates may be limited.

Took a day trip yesterday  to the Roman ruins of Jerash, Ajlun castle and Umm Quaiis.
Have been eating hommous which every meal which is fine by me.  Alcohol consumption low.
Some protests here but have seen no violence.
We fly to Egypt this afternoon.

Amman

We arrived in Amman in Jordan last night from Rome.
Some rioting here (stone throwing, cars on fire) as the locals aren't happy about an increase in the price of petrol.
Given that the Israelis and the Palestinians are fighting in Gaza, a bit of rioting in Jordan doesn't rate a mention on Al Jazeera.
We are staying in the downtown area of Amman and visited some of the sights today - the citadel, roman theatre.
Total consumption of alcohol, coffee and pork since arriving in Jordan - 0.

It is our second last night in Italy/Europe and Kirk is fortifying himself for the hard months ahead in the middle east and asia.  He is eating his body weight in gelato, red wine, duck ragu and coffee...

Siena

Arrived in Siena this afternoon and stumbled upon the new season's wine festival.
We suffered through lots of prosecco, red wine and "pig many ways".

Being very suave in Soave

Went on a day trip today from Verona to the town of Soave.
The town is 20km from Verona and the home of lots of yummy wines.
Explored the town's castle and then tasted wines at Rocca Sveva including soave classico and valpolicella.

Verona

Here we are in Verona, and it's been a busy day of sight seeing.
We went to the actual house that Romeo & Juliet all happened, & we thought it was just a story.
Not only that but the Italians have technology to send e-mail messages back to them, but only from the ancient computer stations in the House ... AMAZING, and not at all tacky.
There was a beautiful bronze statue of Jules, and all the nice young men got their photos taken next to it, (the left boob seemed quite shiny, and one or two of the young men may have been rubbing it inappropriately).
Verona is a great city, large enough but not too large, and being in the wine area they take wine seriously (but they are Italian .. so it's for drinking).
There is an arena (think colosseum) in really great condition, & I could only count 12 people when we got there (don't think colosseum).

Croatia - the natural home of the tracksuit and words with lots of j, k and z

We are currently in Split after a pleasant bus journey along the coast from Dubrovnik.
The weather here has cooled down and the Croatian men are donning their best tracksuits.
Apart from the sartorial elegance, the Croatian people are very nice and friendly with English widely spoken.  This is lucky as we have been having a hard time saying cevapici (yummy spicy sausages).

Took a stroll along the top of the walls of the old town.  Fantastic perspective from this vantage point.

Croatia day 3

Our cheap wine has proper screw tops. Easy to open, and easy to re-seal.
The old town from above (see pics) looks like a toy, it's hard to believe it's real.
It is filled with the worlds friendliest cats, who seem to like crowds, and getting their pictures taken.
Food is basically Italian or grilled meat, nothing to complain about there (YUMMMY PIG).

Dubrovnik - the jewel of the Adriatic

We are now in Dubrovnik in Croatia after a long day in Bari and catching the boat to Croatia.
Kirk has decided that he won't be returning to Bari.  It started with the vending machine not dispensing our packet of chips on ari railway station, catching the wrong local bus to the port (bus 20 rather than 20/) and ending up in the middle of nowhere, and spending hours at various locations tryibg to buy a boat ticket due to bad information.
Anyway the boat trip was fine and we got there in the end.
Croation women seem to favour big hair so I am fitting in fine.
We are staying in an apartment in the old city which is very beautiful.

Trani

We are spending the day and night in Trani, the so-called "Pearl of Puglia" a pretty town on the coast north of Bari.
Hopefully we will be catching the boat tomorrow night to Dubrovnik.

Trulli-amazing

We are currently staying in Alberobello in the heart of trulli land.  The trulli are strange cone shaped houses - see photos.  Lots of good wine, olive oil and pig :-)

Day trip to otranto

We took a day trip to the seaside to the pretty town of Otranto. The local trains are very local - the trains are the size of buses and the train driver opens his window, asks you where you are going, and says hop on.

Still in Lecce

Quiet day of mindless meandering and arranging our journey to Egypt
Siesta here is legally enforceable.
The town goes from "BUSY" at 13:00 to "ASLEEP" at 14:00, and little happens 'till 17:00
All we could do was obey
We have been out of practice with red wine, but are trying to make up for it!
Puglia has great (filling) Antipasti, and the wine is OK :-)
We paid well over 20 Euros last night at the local Osteria for dinner .. YUM.
Looks like Pizza tonight, hope it's OK

Puglia - down in the heel of Italy

Greetings from Lecce in Puglia.  The "Florence of the south" has a beautiful old town with lots of baroque architecture.  Puglia is the food bowl of italy with lots of good wine.  We are currently on the rooftop of our guesthouse sampling the local red wine.  The work life balance around here seems ok - siesta lasts from 1pm until 5pm.

Last night in Rome

We are off to dinner at Antico Arco where kirky celebrated his 50th birthday.  We now have visas for India so we are all sorted for December.
Off to Puglia tomorrow.

Frascati in frascati

We went on a little sojourn from Rome today to the town of Frascati.  Also appears to be the home of yummy pig.  A leisurely lunch sampling the odd glass of frascati...

Another day in Roma

Great weather for another day of rambling through Roma.
We have begun to organize Egypt, whjch is no longer on the "avoid" list from Bob Carrs mob, looks like fun and hopefully the crowds will not have built up.

Rome is a great place to just hang, wandering aroud ,and finding places that youve missed in the last 3 trips.
Sit around and have another coffee,and pastry (WHO NEEDS SLEEP).

The days in Rome are now following a similar pattern.  Out the door by 10.30am for coffee and then a trip to a different food market to buy the ingredients for dinner.  Today it was the market in Trastevere.  Afternoon at leisure before cooking dinner.  We have mastered the Rome transport system and having been catching buses, trams and the metro as well as walking.  First pizza in Italy for lunch and we have been here almost a week!

Starbucks corrupts Italy

Warning to those who like PROPER coffee, in Rome if you are in a tourist area they will give you AMERICAN style coffee.
We ordered an espresso and americano and got a really long coffee in a cup (basically a half long black) and a MUG of weak coffee.
We blame America and Starbucks.
Had to go to Cafe Eutrusca to get some real coffee, however I (Kirk today in case you couldn't guess) wasn't happy untill we went to a local bar and got good coffee there.
Lesson learned .. no coffee where there may be bloody tourists !!!!!!!!!!!!
Quiet day, put in our applications for Indian visas, they were disappointingly not bureaucratic, opened at 2 pm and we were out by 2.45.
Cooked a nice veal schnitzel for dinner, the kitchen does not have great cooking utensils, so we had to use an omelette pan to cook one at a time ...a little slow but with the right amount of wine it was fun, surprising how we miss a simple home cooked meal.

Rome

Greetings from Roma.
Caught the train this morning from Florence.  Only 45 minutes late:-)
We are staying in an apartment very close to the Colosseum.
Chillaxing here for a week while be do some admin and enjoy Roma.

Back in the land of wine and good coffee

We travelled from Fez to Pisa yesterday.  It was our first Ryanair experience.  Apart from the lack of seat allocation, the flight was fine.  Lots of advertising on the overhead lockers as well as the flight attendants selling scratch lottery tickets.  We spent the night in Pisa and visited the Leaning tower this morning.  We are now in Florence - very busy but very beautiful. 
Kirk is happy now that he has had a few good coffees and pasta.

We are staying only a stone's throw from the Duomo. The hotel is family run. We are sitting in the common area surfing the net and blogging. The kids are doing their homework and the mother is helping them with their maths homework. Our Italian numeracy skills are improving by the minute.

Cooking class in Fez

We had a terrific experience yesterday in a moroccan cooking class with our friends Carolyn and David.  It started with buying the fresh food in the markets in the medina.  Fresh means the live chicken was weighed before being slaughtered , plucked and washed in front of us. We made soup, salad, couscous and a tagine.  For dessert we baked macaroons in the community oven in the medina.
Off to italy this afternoon.

Yesterday we had a day trip from Fez - roman ruins (with impressive mosaics) at Volubilus, Moulay idriss and lunch in Meknes.
A stroll through the fez medina today without getting too lost!!

Lost in Fes

How could anyone have troubles negotiating Fes.
During the day we knew exactly where we were at least 4 times.
However many of the locals were helpful and pointed us in the right direction.
Alison had map anxiety .. just don't bother in the old town with maps, you just get frustrated.

We hired a guide for a few hours today to take us through the fez medina so we could get our bearings and see the sights. Not sure that we have our bearings yet as the medina has lots of narrow streets. Thankfully no motorbikes but quite a few donkeys.

Fez

Caught the train from Marrakech to fez today - on time, clean and very comfortable.  Staying at a riad in the medina. Check out the photo of the pool.Only had a chance fora a brief walk through the alley ways with lots of donkeys.  I am sure we will get lost tomorrow.

This is our last night in Marrakech.  Today we visited the saadian tombs and the magnificant Dar el said.
It is sunset and we are having a g & t on the terrace listening to the call to prayers.
Off to Fez tomorrow.

Only 25 degrees here today and the locals are rugged up.
Went to the Jardin Majorelle, the gardens and villa of Yves St Laurent.
Have bought the first pair of gorgeous sandals...

Took a day trip out of Marrakech today to see the atlas mountains (still with snow) and see Berber villages in the ourika valley.  Wasn't tempted to take a camel ride....

Kirk has been resisting the temptation to get a dodgy henna tattoo.  Unfortunately many english and french fellow tourists have given into this temptation.  It is like the hair braiding - looks good on the locals but not so good on the pasty tourists.

Found good coffee - very important for kirky.  Meandered through the souks - so much to buy - gorgeous bags, handmade shoes, lanterns, ceramics, jewellery....just warming up.

A day of minarets and palaces as well as tracking down the cheapest drinks in Marrakech.  Dinner in the main square again tonight - chicken and better coucous than i can make.  Watched the passing parade of snake charmers, monkeys, henna tattooists and transvestite belly dancing...

Marrakech

Change of continent, change of scene.  We arrived in Marrakech this afternoon.  We are staying in a riad only a few minutes walk from the main square.  The riad is an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the streets.  Off to find some dinner...need to brush up on our french as it is widely spoken. Coffee in the main square is like being in a James bond movie.

Santiago de Compostela

We have made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela albeit via car.  The town is filled with pilgrims who have walked the Camino de Santiago.  This translates to either lots of zealots carrying walking sticks or retirees wearing expensive North Face outdoor gear.
The town is beautiful and we have spent the day visiting the cathedral, the markets and wandering through the old town.  Kirk has not embraced his Catholicism whilst here.

Douro Valley

We are staying in the town of Tabuaco in the Douro valley in Portugal.  The hotel is a restored 17th century mansion.  The hotel also owns  a vineyard outside of town where we were able to see them making the wines as the harvest started last Sunday.  We also managed to taste a few...

Porto

Bom dia
We are now in Porto with Karen and Ricardo.  Yummy chook for lunch then port cave tour and tasting in the afternoon at Taylors.

More Cambados

Weather report windy, rainy & much cooler.
Went for a nice walk & nearly got blown of a bridge.
Gotta love staying in a Parador, especially out of season on a Sunday ... just vegged out with movies (Lucky Kirk went to the geek part of Paris & got the cable for Ali's PC to the TV)
Had mid-morning (11:00) coffee, we wished we hadn't already had breakfast when they served up free pastries, as we couldn't eat them all.
Went out for dinner .. had a few wines & they gave us free food ... never had dinner .. nice tapas
Off to Porto tomorrow .. may have some port.
Then to the Douro valley on Tuesday ... may have some port.

Cambados - a seaside town in Galicia

More successful with the driving and directions today although the gps seems to think it is ok to travel on goat trails at 90 km per hour.  The Spanish know how to pour a proper Tanswell gin and tonic - nip measures here are for wimps.
Staying in a parador where the room size has got a lot bigger.

Greetings from Galicia. We decided to wing it today and drive around the Galician coast and just stay where we landed. A nice drive but had some issues finding the hotel and ended up getting a local man to guide us (we followed him in his car) to our hotel. Anyway all good now. We are staying in Feas near Carino and have a lovely view of the water. Even without the several glasses of tempranillo Kirk's lisping is getting worse.

We are currently in Cudillero after the day driving (some sweaty palms) and walking at the  lagos de cavangos in the picos de europe.  Tonight we sat at bar juilio in the main drag of Cudillero watching the passing parade.

Cangas de onis

Hola
We are at cangas de onis in the picos de europe a mountainous region.  We tried the local sidra (cider) but we are not so keen.  But at 2 euros a bottle it iscertainly cheap.  Kirk had his first chocolate con churros today and likely to not be his last.

Santillana del mar

Hola
Kirk and I are now in santillana del mar a medieval town in Cantabria Spain.  We went to Altamira cave (reproduction) only as the actual has been closed for 10 years due to too many visitors.  The cave has 15,000 year old drawings.  In the town of comillas we visited a gaudi designed summer house - gorgeous.
We have rented a car - citroen c4 for the next week or so.
Sidra (cider) is the local specialty in these parts so may sample some tonight.
No wifi access in this medieval hotel so i am hanging out the window accessing community wifi.

Happy birthday to kirk

As usual kirk struggled through another birthday in a horrific location - poor poppet had to suffer through a day of a stunning walk, relaxing on the beach and then a degustation dinner in san sebastian's old town.  He realised he was here 10 years ago for his 42nd birthday - poor poppet.

Hola desde San Sebastián.
Just had some lovely tapas, followed by some liquor 43.
For those of you who don't know this drink, think killer vanilla bean.
Our room has an accident safe shower, if you fall over it's not big enough to get up enough speed to (say) break your arm (Hi Steve).
France is like a half-way house between North & South Europe.
- It is cheap (south)
- It is kind of efficient (North)
- The food is good (South)
- The trains run "on time" (North)
Sunny weather & some beach, good dinner booked for tomorrow night :-)

Today was spent buying  food for dinner at Lussac market and then having lunch in Arcachon.  We went to the largest sand dune in Europe for a stunning view of the area.

Another busy day in paradise.
We were actually too early for the local vegie markets.
TODAYS LESSON FOR FUTURE TRAVELLERS
Berries from the "local" markets are much better than those from the supermarket.
Don't know if this applies for all vegies, but expect so & won't bother testing the hypothesis, will just go to the local markets.
Went for a wine snovelling course @ Chateau Siaurac, it was terrific, consider it recommended.
Had some great wines & learned lots.
Then unch and a wander in St Emilion.

Phew that coffee took a while.
The wine gods have been happy with our efforts on the last few nights.
We are keeping the dead soldiers on the windowsill as a tribute, am not sure that it is wide enough for a week.
We arrived in « Maison Haute », which is in Bayens, Puisseguin (not pronounced pissed again).
We have a 4 bedroom place with family & friends coming & going during the week, it's great.
There has been a pattern established, up by 09:00 for breakfast, off to the local markets to get some coffee & organise lunch & dinner by 11:00, back home for lunch at abt 12:30, a few hours of leisure & then a lot of hours of eating & drinking.
repeat.
We are having difficulty spending more that $AU10.00 on wine, but we are bravely putting up with this.
The local markets are just amazing, we forget that Sydney is an expensive city. It's hard not to laugh when you can get 2 KG of beautiful tomatoes for about $3.00, and a 6-pack of wine for $40.

St Emilion

This is a beautiful town with the religion of wine.
As tourists you should always respect the local religion.
We did.
Recent travel details will be updated after coffee & croissants :-)

We hired bikes today and rode along the loire river and up through the vineyards to montsereau.
A 32 km round trip and a slightly sore bottom.

Greetings from Saumur another gorgeous town in the loire valley.  The weather is getting warmer - it was 28 degrees today.  We took a tour of the Combier distillery which makes triple sec and absinthe - very tasty.  Kirk has bought himself a hat which has given him Bieber fever.  If he buys some coloured wayfarers i know i am in trouble.

Kirk has also discovered that boulangerie does not mean "Closed" as Alison has been saying, but really means "nice, friendly, come inside"

We are rationing ourselves to 1 chateaux and 1 church per day. Today's was chateaux de chenonceau and cathedral st gatien which has been a religious site since 371.
Kirk keeps stopping at boulangeries and buying chocolate croissants - an important food group for him.
How come they are only 1.10€ here ..Australians are being robbed !!!!!

Today we went to Amboise where Leonardo de Vinci spent his last few years at chateaux du clos luce.
Eating lots of goats cheese...yum

Je arrive Tours

After a difficult trip, involving a 5 minute walk, a 10 minute wait for the train, a 45 minute trip & a 10 minute walk at the end.
DOING IT TOUGH
There is some sort of town fair on in Tours, have no idea how big it is, we started walking at 12:30 & gave up at about 3 PM without a clear idea of all the borders.
The receptionist said "all over" & we no longer think she exaggerates.
Being France there is an ample supply of
- Wine
- Food
- Pastries
We may go back for round 2 a little later.

Last day in Blois in the Loire Valley, pronounced blu-a, not blaahhhhhhh as we thought. At least in France one can try & pronounce the names, in Iceland we stopped after the third letter, which is much safer on your throat.
We did a circuit of old houses of the rich and very rich, some lovely Chateaux. We went to Chateaux Chambord - the big daddy of the chateaux. It was built as a hunting lodge but at 426 rooms I think it got away from them a bit. Also went to Chevery where the descendants still live.
It made us home-sick for Rozelle, so much like our own home, although we don't have a kennel with 100 hunting hounds.
Tonight we have decided to stay at home, our last "home cooked meal (not in a shared kitchen)" was in San Fran.

The Paris underground is like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside than the outside.
To walk 100m above ground requires walking at least 2km in the underground.
French coffee (unlike Italian coffee) varies in quality, in France there is no death penalty for making average coffee.
The death penalty is on the table for making a bad pastry.
The best baklava you have ever had in your life can be better, when you add hazelnuts to the mix, however the conversation just goes downhill from there mmnyumm.
We are in Marais district, the Jewish/Gay part of town.
Nice middle eastern food (Israeli), great vibe.
The Hotel we are staying at is (we realised on arrival) the same hotel we stayed at some 10 years ago (note there are only 7000 hotels in Paris so this is to be expected).
Yesterdays blog seems to have gone somewhere.
note to self don't do blog at 10pm after 1/2 litre of wine for lunch, a bottle with dinner & a few more to "tidy-up" the night.
We did a few obscure museums yesterday and took a LONG walk around Paris. Kirk got a haircut (exciting or what - 13 euros).
Today Alison got her hair done with a Doris Day blow dry (cut and colour about half the price of Sydney)while Kirk went to buy some electronic gear (that made him happy), then we walked up some old metal building with a lot of others (the elevator queue was about 1 hour long .....)

Bonjour from Paris.  Arrived at our hotel at about 1015pm and have been out for a couple of glasses of chablis.  Weather warm and wine is cheap.  Need to brush up on our French.

Raining in Bergen - no surprises.  Off to Paris in a few hours - weather forecast sunny and 24.

Bergen is famous for averaging 260 rainy days a year.
It failed to deliver, bright, sunny & warm today. We took the funicular railway to the top of Floyen and then walked back to the town, then wandered through Bryggen and the market area. Lots of salmon to be had.
However Bergen sways a lot (after spending 5 days on a boat).
Norway Booze report.
- Wine shops are almost never open
- Wine shops are never anywhere near you
- The cheapest white wine is $15 (will let you know what it tastes like :-)
We leave for Paris tomorrow so tonight is our last night in Scandinavia.

Back on dry land in bergen for the next couple of days and communicado again.

Captain's log Stardate 20120825.1820
Greetings from 62,02.647N 07,14.404E (woops that keeps changing)
Our internet access is gone we are stranded like 20th Century barbarians, unable to Facebook, access to music limited to 5 Days of music, only 30 or so hours of unwatched videos, and much less than 3,000 books on our e-readers ... not to mention the scenery...what to do
. I think we are approaching the limit of time on a boat, this is day 5, we are still talking, Alison still thinks the theme from The Love Boat is funny, and the sea conditions have been calm.
Entertainment is limited, but that's fine, and we deliberately picked a smaller/older boat .
As the boat is more like a commuter vehicle than a cruise ship it stops at 34 stops along the way. It means you can get off and walk around the town for half an hour. The boat stops longer in the larger ports. At the Lofoten Islands we took a side trip on a zodiac boat out to a smaller island and a fishing village. We looked very attractive in our survival fat suits. We had a couple of hours in Trondheim this morning (third largest city in Norway but smaller than Wollongong in population) to see the sights.
Lots of different types of smoked fish for lunch each day....yum.

18:48 7Degrees East
18:50 63Degrees North
Very Exciting !

Greetings from the middle of the fjords.
They didn't tell us they had the interweb, it's not very fast, or reliable but it sometimes works.
First lesson from Norway
- People really live in towns that require ski gear in mid-summer.

The MS Lofoten is a small 1960's ship, that can (apparently) take up to 400 passengers but currently has 130. Lots of wood panelling. The cabin is larger than some of the hotel rooms we have stayed in - certainly more functional. Kirk is like a small child when he is on a boat or sleeper car on a train - he is fascinated by the functionality of small spaces.
I keep singing the song from "The Love Boat". We may not be married much longer. The "Julie" character aka the "Entertainment director" is a chubby bloke that looks nothing like her.
The MS Lofoten is the smallest in the line, but is very elegant.
Small boat means a rough ride .. all good so far.
We've been onboard for 4 meals, the Germans have disappointed us by not eating themsleves sick at the buffet !
Went to Hammerfest, "The Worlds most North Town", very pretty & not as cold as some other places.
Have discovered that Tonic & wine can be cooled to just cold enough by putting them on the window & opening it a little.
A more sophisticated system is beyond current capabilities, but could provide better cooling.
Tonight we go to Tromso at 23.45 (n69,38,8 E 18,57,7).
Haven't decided if we will try & find a bar, or sleep through it, tomorrow is a busy day, with a speedboat trip at 18:30 ... IT JUST DOESN'T STOP.

Greetings from Kirkenes,Norway
Kirk has been mispronouncing his name all these Years, should be more a CH sound
We will be mostly out of touch for the next 5 days, on-board the boat to Bergen

Lessons and observations from Iceland
Iceland is on "Island time", things get done, nothing is a problem, not lots of rules
- Scandinavia without the IKEA - a wild and woolly version
- OH&S .. not required

Plan Booze in advance, otherwise you could have a dry Sunday night in the middle of nowhere
Thai Food
- we ate this 3 times in 2 weeks
- is a good middle ground between over-cheesy hamburger & $60 lamb chop
Tucking pants into socks is trendy
PJ's are OK before 1pm on a Sunday at Subway
Main highways should not have more than 200km of graven (at one stretch)
1 lane road tunnels are exciting
In Iceland bakeries and cafe's in the country have to make their own everything, which means that it's usually fresh & yummy
Even if you are Nordic, having a dodgy nordic tattoo still makes you look like a bogan
Most o the tourists in Iceland are Spanish, Italian (what financial crisis?)or older Germans on bus trips. We did not encounter any Australians.

Greetings from Keflavik.
Have spent the last few days practicing saying stunning at Snaefellsnes National Park.
We stayed in the sleepy, quiet town of Arnarstapi. Internet not available, but we were brave & did not panic.
Instead we fortified ourselves with wine and salami.
The glacier there is stunning, and visible from pretty much the whole world.
Today we went to the Blue Lagoon which is near the airport. We fly out tomorrow morning for Norway. The Blue Lagoon is quite surreal. There are no photos of Kirk with silica mud on his face improving his complexion but I can tell you it did happen - silky smooth.

Spent Thursday night at a sheep farm in north west Iceland. Driving in fog, cool winds, seals. Off to the west country today - home of ufo sightings and auras.

We took a day trip to Siglufjorour today. It was the herring capital of the world until overfishing took over. We went to the herring museum which was not nearly as tacky as we were expecting. The drive was quite exciting a we had to go through several road tunnels of up to 7 km in length. One of the tunnels was only one lane wide but catered for traffic in both directions. The light at the end of the tunnel was actually an on coming truck. There was strategically placed bays to let on coming traffic pass. Not for the claustrophobic and only a mere 3 km long!!! More sweaty palms.

Back on the road today. Went to the godafoss waterfall and then walking at lake myvatn. Tonight we are staying in Akureyri . It is the second largest city in iceland population 20,000. We are really in the big smoke as there is even traffic lights here.

A Quiet Sunday in Iceland.
Early breakfast then off to church.
Went whale watching in Husavik North Iceland, turned out to be 3 hours on a boat.
No whales, just dolphins and nice scenery. That's the way it goes.
Iceland is suffering from too much tourist demand, and not enough places to stay (for the 3 months that people come here).
We are currently staying in a summer hotel which is actually a boys boarding school for the rest of the year. Spartan but clean and functional.
And they sell booze & you can get ice for the G&T .. all's good.

Well it's been 1 month since leaving Sydney.
For those that forgot .. a few days in Malaysia, Singapore, San Fran, New York, Sweden, and now Iceland
Simple Really
Hotels getting smaller as we get further away from civilization.
No Refrigeration, or Lemon for the G&T.
Drinking cheap white wine with ice.
Driving in Iceland is quite dangerous, you keep looking at the stunning views.
About 100 K of Highway 1 is dirt - to avoid this we did 19K over a mountain dirt road, (OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS HIGHWAY 949) Alison enjoyed the driving.
Time for more iced wine :-)

I thought that it was unlikely that i would ever wear a pair of crampons but today Kirk and i took a guided walk on the Faljokull glacier which was amazing. After some sweaty palms it was much easier than what i thought. I didnt slip at all. We then went to Jokulsarlon to see icebergs floating in a lake. Quite a few movies have been shot here - james bond die another day. We are staying tonight in the town of Hofn.

Location : +63° 55' 23.859", -17° 42' 19.44"
"If you don't like the weather in Iceland, wait 5 minutes" is a common t-shirt.
I think it's more like 10 minutes but it's not worth arguing.
We got everything from 20C in the hot sun (OK we've acclimatized), settling mist, light drizzle, driving cold windy rain rain .. There was probably more.
Went to see Eyjafjallajokull (cut and pasted that in), but no visibility.
Saw some stunning scenery down through the south of Iceland, and lots of waterfalls (apparently glaciers + volcanoes == waterfall).
Oh well it's after 4 o'clock (4 is the new 5), so time to tidy up the Gin.

We are staying at quite an expensive hotel in the middle of nowhere. It is the most expensive hotel we are staying at in Iceland.
It is quite nice inside but from the outside it looks like a set of demountables..eric the sheep is just outside the door.
We are concerned that he will start the revolution tonite .. if you don't hear from us you'll know.
As requested Kirk has enabled comments on the blog (moderated), this has been done in the laziest way possible, please add your name otherwise we'll need to establish logins that sort of C..P, thanks K&A

Kirk and i left on our icelandic road trip today. We are driving a mighty hyundai i20. First stop was the national park and then onto Geysir to see geysers and then Gullfoss waterfall. We are staying in the mighty town of Hella (pop 800) in a circa 1960s hotel. Room size about same but more functional. Two dining options apparently the fish is good.

We have been seeing the sights of Reykjavik (National museum, lookout, shopping mall) today and preparing for our road trip starting tomorrow. Have been stocking up on wine from the state run bottle shop and emergency food supplies if we get stuck in the middle of nowhere. We had a traditional Icelandic Thai meal last night. We could have had whale meat and puffin (cute penguin like bird) but thought pad thai would be better.

Arrived Reykjavik 23:30, was not very dark.
Our hotel rooms appear to be getting smaller every week.
By 6 months we will be living in a shoe box.
Reykjavik weather report .. a balmy 15C .. hot in the sun, cold in the shade.
Reykjavik architecture report .. there are some really lovely buildings, there are many that have been inspired by the Australian Housing Commission.
5PM drinks have started at 3:45, all the time zone changes have confused us, but we are bravely soldiering on, life is hard.

We are sitting at Stockholm airport waiting for our flight to Iceland. Today we saw the sights of Uppsala (castle, cathedral etc) before heading to the airport. We have had our first Ikea sighting on the outskirts of Uppsala. I have eaten some delicious smoked salmon and I hope there will be more to come in Iceland and Norway. Apparently Iceland has delicious lamb as the sheep run wild eating thyme and self marinating. Farewell Sweden - at least they are behind us in the Olympics medal tally (just).

We are now staying in Uppsala a pretty town north of Stockholm.
Today we visited Sigtuna the oldest town in Sweden filled with churches and runic stones.
Kirk is pretending he knows Swedish and just makes up words. < br>He thinks it is because they are in his racial memory....

Today kirk channelled his inner Viking when we took a boat cruise to the island of Birka in the Swedish islands. It is a world heritage sight as it was a trading town in viking days. Beautiful scenery but required quite a bit of imagination as nothing left of the town but lots of burial sites and guides dressed as vikings.

A personal best today- we left the hotel by 10.45am
Seems to be getting later every day - aah holidays. Toured the royal palace today and checked out the crown jewels. Haven't taken the stieg larsson tour however we were in the area today of the fictional "millennium" office. I am re-reading the girl with the dragon tattoo to get in the groove.

The weather report said clear.
They lied.
Spent 90 minutes hiding from a storm in shopping centres, and other places.
Stockholm may have more coffee shops than Sydney.
Went to the Royal Palace & saw the changing of the Guard - Very Impressive.
(NOTE Ben .. Denmark needs to improve).
Didn't see Princess Victoria or her personal trainer/husband Prince Daniel.
Booze prices not as high as we feared (phew).
Loving Sweden.
22:00 hours .. not too dark outside yet, wasn't dark at 04:30 hours, so not looking good !
Nite all.

We've arrived in beautiful Stockholm. Our flight was late leaving New York & as our connection was "tight" at Helsinki ... woops. We got the next flight from Helsinki to Stockholm. Everything nice and Northern European here Clean, organised, ikea-esk blond. Kirk's ancestral Swedish has been very useful, particularly when our hovercraft was actually full of eels ! It's 5:30 PM here, 11:30 AM New York, and we got 0 minutes sleep so I think it's time for a beer, dinner & sleep.

Our last full day in New York. Visited the Guggenheim museum and took a long walk in central park. Off to sweden tomorrow.

Lots of walking in the Hot sun,

Brooklyn Bridge, Little Italy, (not so Italian any more), 911 site.

We got a little hot.

Riding on the subway was a relief 'cos it's got air conditioning.

Alison got a new computer, trying to read the colour maps on the kindle was sending us mad !
(for the geeks an ASUS 32 G transformer pad).

A cultural day today with quite a few hours spent at the Metropolitan Museum and then a walk along the High line in Chelsea, an abandoned elevated rail line that has been turned into a park.  Supposed to be severe thunderstorms today but after all those hours at the Met - bright sunshine.

Today has been a day of architecture.  First the Top of the Rock - Rockefeller Centre for a 360 degrees view of the city, then the Chrysler Building, Empire State and Flatiron buildings.  Did some shopping at Century 21 - more of a blood sport than a shopping experience.

New York, New York....Kirk and I arrived last night after a rather long and delayed trip from San Francisco.  Today we mastered the subway and caught the Staten Island ferry to get a great view of the city and the Statue of Liberty and then headed up to Times Square.  The weather if very hot - about 30 degrees.  We are staying in Greenwich Village which is great.  Kirk is now a great uncle - congratulations to Joshua and Annegret.

Delayed at San Francisco airport.  Airforce one is just out the window.  Obama is in town.  Maybe we can hitch a ride....

Sunday spent on public transport .. well perhaps not ...

Quiet day, walk in the park, off to a hamburger joint for lunch, boat cruise under "the bridge".

They lied about the weather, we got a bit chilly at times. Anyhows (see turning American) last day in SFO, pack up our bags for an 05:35 pick-up & a 07:05 flight to New York.. happy days !

News Alert ...

Found wine with screw top !

Phew.

We arrived in San Francisco late on Wednesday night and spent Thursday getting our bearings and getting over our jet lag after a long flight from Singapore.  We are staying in a beautiful apartment a few blocks from Union Square.  It is an art deco building with a cage lift and a marble foyer.  Our apartment has a murphy bed, one that flips up into the wall.  A bit of a trick for young players as to where the bed was when we got to the apartment at around midnight.  Today (Friday) we played tourist, riding the cable car to Fisherman's wharf and then taking a boat tour to Alcatraz.  The Alcatraz tour was excellent and quite creepy with an audio tour narrated by former inmates and wardens.  We hadn't booked the tour which you need to book at least 3 weeks in advance but we paid a premium and bought the ticket from a "travel agent".  It is now the cocktail hour and Kirk is putting his cork removal skills to good use since the US doesn't appear to have discovered screw tops even on $11 bottles of wine...

Our time in Melaka is now over.  Last Saturday was Jade and Adam's wedding celebration.  The day started off with games, where the groom must "pay a ransom" to see his bride.  This was followed by a tea ceremony where Kirk and I (along with the other family members) were served tea by Adam and Jade.  That night was the wedding banquet for a mere 240 guests.  A video of the earlier events of the day was shown along with photos from Adam and Jade's 2 day photo shoot earlier in the week.  Adam and Jade had taken dancing lessons and performed a dirty dancing routine at the wedding.  From Melaka we caught the bus to Singapore for a night before flying out to San Francisco.

Arrived safely in Melaka on Wednesday night.  We are enjoying the 34 degrees heat.   The Tanswell contingent is growing in numbers in preparation for Jade and Adam's wedding on Saturday.  On Thursday we toured the old town of Melaka, with Dad in a rickshaw and the rest of us on foot before enjoying some serious pool and spa time.  Jade's parents took the Tanswell clan to a Chinese steamboat restaurant last night - very delicious.  Looking forward to nonya cuisine tonight

Visas sorted out, so we wont get deported.

Doing "fix up" things around the house.

So many little things that don't really matter, but if you're renting the place then they need to be fixed.

12 Sleeps ...

Are there a lot of things to arrange .. I hope not :-)

Visas

The schengen visa makes it simpler travelling around most of Europe, but only if for less than 90 days in 6 months.

Eventually .. it seems that we need to get a longer visa .. but you get it for the first country you enter  .. in our case Sweden.

I went to Swedish consulate in Sydney.

To get the required Visa you need

• Passport(s) & photocopy of passport(s)
• Copy of  Air Ticket/Itinery
• Copy of insurance
• Proof that you have over $1000 AU per month

Hotels

Alison has gone on hotel booking frenzy, appears to have abated.

We are using Tripit.com to keep track of details

The planning

Wedding in Malaca

5 Days in San Fran
5 Days in New York

6 Weeks in Scandinavia

3 Months in souther Europe

6 Weeks in SriLanka/India