From the AFOL in me...

Paul Frank in LEGO?!?!

*GASP*

That is SO cool!! :D

The big read!!

I don't know where to start really.
There's so many things going on or have gone on... The Beijing Olympics are on, there's a war kind of raging in Georgia, a friend got married last weekend (congrats Amy and Will!), my brother will soon be getting married, ive recently come back from Europe only to be thrown in the throng of things regarding work, and already we are almost half way through term 3. My, time flies when youre having fun!!

But despite all these things happening its nice to know some things never change. My mum is simply the best. I know we're all biased, (who wouldnt be when it comes to mothers!) but the other week i came home during the wee hours of the morning, it was freezing and while heading home i thought, gee i got to get into cold pjs and crawl into a cold bed and wait for it to warm up! The Lord must have heard and told mum, cos after momentarily thinking i had gone mad and misplaced my pj pants, i found them wrapped around a hot water bottle tucked neatly under my covers. As i said mum is the best!! So since then mum has set that water bottle under my covers knowing id love the warmth at night. Such is love.

I said id recently come back from Europe, well it kind of feels like it was only yesterday i was there, but when i really think about it its actually been a few weeks now. In some ways i kind of have to ask myself did it really happen? Looking at my photos though i know it did, it helps to relive all those memories stored away in the vaults of the brain. Definitely makes me want to go back and do it all again and more!!!

"So where did you go?" i hear you ask. Here, there and everywhere.
More specifically i stayed in London, Hampton Wick. A beautiful little suburb across the Thames from Kingston Upon Thames.
From there i travelled to Dover across the Channel to Calais, France and drove to Amsterdam. After a night in Amsterdam and seeing the summer solstice we drove on to Germany and stopped at various places before enjoying a glorious cruise along the Rhine River. A great thing to do if you want to see castles from afar and cute little villages lining the banks. We stayed then in an 'old school style' hotel in Mannheim.
Next day saw us leaving and driving to Austria where we were able to stay in Innsbruck for 2 nights. I loved this place! During our stay there we visited Mozarts home city of Salzburg, of which i didnt see enough :( We saw heaps of places where they filmed the Sound of Music, brought back some memories of childhood singing well known songs! ;) We also got to go up to Hitlers Eagle Nest, just over the border in Germany. From there we got some of the best views of Austria. it was here i also saw my first ice glaciers up close and personal. I never realised just how white they get, boy they were bright. I thought it would be a bit cooler up there, you know altitude and all, how wrong i was though. My photos look a bit weird, theres mum looking decent and me with a red face, im all sunburnt is all i can say!

From here went to venice, Italy. I suppose its a nice city, it certainly is different. But i for one cannot say i truly like the place. Perhaps the weather has something to do with it. You see going during the end of June means summer, and well summer tends to draw the crowds to Venice. Not sure why really, it sticky, hot, sticky, humid.. oh and smelly. Yes it was so hot at times we didnt eat because it really wasnt worth the effort, i think mum and i lived on gelato for a while there!! Thank goodness for gelato. We scooted through Verona and past the lakes into Switzerland. Lucerne by far has to be my favourite European city that ive visited. I cant really explain it. I think its more the atmosphere than anything. The people are friendly, its a city a little crowded but nothing at all like Sydney or London. Its got a bit of a country feel as well. Its probably due to the proximity to surrounding farms and some fantastic mountains used regularly for hiking and such. Added to that is the huge lake on which Lucerne sits. We saw beautiful cows with ringing cow bells up in the mountains. We floated amongst pine trees while enjoying a gondola ride coming from the top of Mount Pilatus. Mt Pilatus. Its definitely the best! On one side you see the city stretching out and beyond nature in all its finest, on the other snow capped mountains as far as the eye can see. God is truly a wonderful creator, its a shame to think humans in all their ignorance can destroy such beauty. Yes, its a place for quiet reflection and contemplation, a place to adore nature for all its worth.

Finally to France, a 7 hr drive did nothing to lift my spirits in Paris. Perhaps it was the combination of tiredness and the fact we didnt really get to see anything in Paris resulted in my not liking the city too much. I did get to go to Versailles though, so i cant say i didnt do anything there. Going up the Eiffel Tower was an experience, but even then after a while it was like hmm yes all you see is the city laid out in its masses. I know im going to have to go back there some day to see the real paris. The notre dame, all those fountains and parks.. how could i not? But first impressions werent the greatest.

Then back across the way we came to London. I did quite a bit in London. You really can get museumed out (if thats even a word). I think 4 hrs in the British Museum does the trick. By the time the Albert & Victoria Museum came around, id had enough. Loved St Pauls though, and Kew Gardens. An awesome time for wondering around and simply taking your time pretending you were in an entirely different world, completely oblivious to the traffic streaming by behind the huge brick wall surrounding the compounds.
Had my photo with Peter Pan himself which was cool, visited a quaint old toy museum in Goodge st, worth the 5 quid if you like that sort of thing. And of course Big Ben, you can never get enough of that clock. Then there was Buckhingham, Westminster, Trafalgar, Marble Arch, Admiralty Arch, St James Park.. the list goes on.

We saw as much of London as we could while there, and yet im sure we didnt even get to see half of it. Its such a HUGE city. Theres so much to do and see.. you could spend weeks there and not fail to see something new each day. Im not sure what was my favourite there, but what i did love was the old architecture, theres nothing really like that in Sydney, at least theres very few.

I managed to have a glimpse of the countryside in England also. Drove through a small section of New Forest down south, watching the ponies, donkeys and cows roaming freely in a world in which they have right of way. Cool! Visited my castle, yes im an heiress didnt you people know?! And drove around the Isle of Wight in an afternoon. Another place id like to see properly... Man the list just keeps growing, im definitely going to have to save up once again *sigh*

Anyway so theres so much ive done there and yet theres even more to do. Itd take certainly more than the 4 weeks i was there. What i saw was a drop in the ocean really, but honestly if youve never been there certainly make an effort to go at least once in a lifetime. Its definitely an experience youll always treasure.

Until the next Europe trip.... just kidding!!