tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23640143997166314002024-02-21T06:12:13.139+13:00Empty NestunPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.comBlogger534125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-13609333704151698542013-01-12T22:44:00.002+13:002013-01-12T22:45:28.471+13:00Paris<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_1202763362"></span><span id="goog_1202763363"></span>OMG, it's now day four of Paris, well three and a half to be exact, and I still haven't updated! I just keep running out of time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived around 11am at Orly and took two trains and three metro's and found the hotel easily. The street that it's on, Rue des Abbesses, is gorgeous. It's classic romantic narrow cobbled Montmartre street. the whole area is beautiful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent the first afternoon just wandering around the local neighbourhood. Sacre Coeur is just down the end of the street, and Montmartre cemetery at the other end. Along the way I found many pieces of street art, and this area is a positive gallery of this type of art. First up a piece of humour that is also a defacement of a public sign.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJezXx7w1GA4o2s4FpuTp-3NzVBcHKDqwBMFNAT6_E5I6evY8b_SQwHq0kulrun3ES4HKg2dZdqs4L0rcy9KcwgeWhSHMDfGWvZwcgmCR2bq-8VciGGUuUvYARP9BnvjhFmX0nqXfNU78/s1600/DSCN2954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJezXx7w1GA4o2s4FpuTp-3NzVBcHKDqwBMFNAT6_E5I6evY8b_SQwHq0kulrun3ES4HKg2dZdqs4L0rcy9KcwgeWhSHMDfGWvZwcgmCR2bq-8VciGGUuUvYARP9BnvjhFmX0nqXfNU78/s320/DSCN2954.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then a classic piece of stencil work, and in the world of street art this includes their "tag".</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIyjOf8fqhsftJe3jdslW6YlzR2m1_IZ9oDBmjT7JOay-yyW1-mkU0l-vr6IF06m1YZzzgQV5i2Nw5DYrtJAPNHbsCiKfzYoWhEG6dETzUodTkfd7ufEjHJXz28iU43-Z8np9aQB5dvuY/s1600/DSCN2955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIyjOf8fqhsftJe3jdslW6YlzR2m1_IZ9oDBmjT7JOay-yyW1-mkU0l-vr6IF06m1YZzzgQV5i2Nw5DYrtJAPNHbsCiKfzYoWhEG6dETzUodTkfd7ufEjHJXz28iU43-Z8np9aQB5dvuY/s320/DSCN2955.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first night I went out to a gay bar for a drink, but that will be a whole other post. However after two visits now I can summarily say I do not recommend <a href="http://www.lachampmesle.com/">La Champesle</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday was a late start, as in I didn't manage to leave the hotel till after 1pm, so my sightseeing that day was Galerie Lafayette. When I got there I found that the saldes (sale) started the next day, so I treated my visit as a reconnoitre mission. That evening I discovered even more exquisite food shops in my 'hood so didn't leave. My pre dinner snack consisted of the below.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDg9nEbJUCBYf7ampYwW9Y720fAzEk_oX8iAMwCj86prfeqbdEk8j2nLvA0V2KZNf43J8V_9JWexp4A7d4g7as5QE1UKGryCPIKpn3DmSbjc3WbFyEyjkjNtK9w9VuKJvoY-rNju2sXQ/s1600/bubbles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDg9nEbJUCBYf7ampYwW9Y720fAzEk_oX8iAMwCj86prfeqbdEk8j2nLvA0V2KZNf43J8V_9JWexp4A7d4g7as5QE1UKGryCPIKpn3DmSbjc3WbFyEyjkjNtK9w9VuKJvoY-rNju2sXQ/s320/bubbles.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The internet here is an arse, this is the third time I have tried to finish this and load images, but will give up and put images in when on a more stable connection.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday I marched off down to Galerie Lafayette to get the t shirt I yearned for, and stocked up on lingerie. I then walk over to the Pompidou centre, which took a while as the streets are covered in shops with the Saldes sign in place. Everywhere is on sale! I spent several hours in the Pompidou centre od'ing on modern art. The images are on facebook, it would take me a year to load them on here! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night I again researched gay bars and went over to a small wee place in Saint Michel. It turned out to be gay friendly, and the advertised jazz music wasn't on until much later, so it was one drink then back to Montmartre for dinner then bed. I had a plat du jour at one of my locals, only 10 Euro, simple food but the beef was divine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was a roaming day. I again walked down to Galerie Lafayette, to get more lingerie and to look at boots. From there I walked for hours and hours (in the drizzle) slowly heading to the left bank and a particular patissier there. I finally found the shop full of sweet creamy badness, and had a chocolate eclair as my reward. Finally the rain cleared and I wandered back to the right bank and thought I'd stop in at the gay bar mentioned above for a drink. Once again I was ripped off, so Never Again. Dinner again was a plat de jour in the same place, this time a salmon lasagne. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday I went to Versailles. What a stunning over the top amazing place. I spent hours and hours there and did the three main buildings. The gardens look like they will be amazing but as it's winter the beds are dormant and the statues all wrapped up. It started to rain as I was doing a last wander, so headed back to the train and the city. The next time I go I am going to take my running gear as the gardens are free and you can run for miles in beautiful surroundings. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I got back to the city I had one more hunt for boots and had success, yay new ankle boots with little buckles. With the prices at the moment I am tempted to buy more shoes. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was going to try another gay bar last night, but had drunk too many bubbles before dinner, so ended up staying indoors. I may attempt that bar tonight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is now Saturday morning and I have just navigated my way around a Parisian laundromat, so now it's off over the road to rescue my clothes. Au revoir.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-90762917499283898142013-01-08T20:05:00.000+13:002013-01-09T09:55:41.359+13:00Berlin<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again a delayed post, but c'est la vie. Berlin was hard. My flight was delayed which meant getting there in the dark and trying to sort out trains, but thankfully a kind Spanish girl helped me, and we got through on a mix of languages. It was cold and drizzling when I got there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the hostel fairly easily, but it was Not Nice. I guess for the average backpacker it was ok, but not of the standard I am used to staying in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my first day I had a big walking plan mapped out, but the rain, wind and cold curtailed that, plus I was starting to succumb to some germs. After walking around as much as I could, I ended up taking a bus tour so managed to see most of the main sights. Not a lot of pictures as it was all out a rainy steamed up window.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbQguOgU4UD7mquuOiREPHA5J3VxvAwqzeMpmPH3XlId6ILFLQ2MyPkxp3MQRNzp9EVrTg4YPToGtePHB3_A__Jb6Ktj5y0GURpEv9Fwqe9UpRG3IKEUncRFsao2O84HgnigURQQvymw/s1600/DSCN2896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbQguOgU4UD7mquuOiREPHA5J3VxvAwqzeMpmPH3XlId6ILFLQ2MyPkxp3MQRNzp9EVrTg4YPToGtePHB3_A__Jb6Ktj5y0GURpEv9Fwqe9UpRG3IKEUncRFsao2O84HgnigURQQvymw/s320/DSCN2896.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeYdQNovp_8SWIeRNOo1AuvgMM8lrHyFHR0jHBsRQblOmvWlXzuoiGw-ChU4-yqAzM76isVMzEPSka0JMxn2q5orweOWZMORTHSrpwqrs6Y-BNjLs4bnpugpJI7-tiPLWl0xkhuJyUwk/s1600/DSCN2897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeYdQNovp_8SWIeRNOo1AuvgMM8lrHyFHR0jHBsRQblOmvWlXzuoiGw-ChU4-yqAzM76isVMzEPSka0JMxn2q5orweOWZMORTHSrpwqrs6Y-BNjLs4bnpugpJI7-tiPLWl0xkhuJyUwk/s320/DSCN2897.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I missed getting a picture of the last standing bits of the wall, but below are pieces that have been transported to around checkpoint Charlie.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZF2kkTOm7pqC7hvzlG2pa4oIVvTyss2BrbWjNKOj8G9434pEimy6n8QZHHjChiHYM6I2BLPEzNBXl4ffZzNLq7fnwbJtixSwp7ZEoaJqhfX_Soa569SOOwZ3tRWKAK15lVnqXY7aNb0U/s1600/DSCN2899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZF2kkTOm7pqC7hvzlG2pa4oIVvTyss2BrbWjNKOj8G9434pEimy6n8QZHHjChiHYM6I2BLPEzNBXl4ffZzNLq7fnwbJtixSwp7ZEoaJqhfX_Soa569SOOwZ3tRWKAK15lVnqXY7aNb0U/s320/DSCN2899.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the blue and purple above ground pipes fascinating, they are in quite a few areas including Alexanderplatz.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfCQW4LG89pWs-otIvO94rcbg7t2j5JDcH_pxvwR16VNtSaTMpEbbfCjlz7uKRynYRsBRbyyrsv-1ROn-_to9qpdjzWJjjftDzgFD4yJgR0pTHWdvDkpLjjS5IuSrnvwGqiblxTqsxg8/s1600/DSCN2900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfCQW4LG89pWs-otIvO94rcbg7t2j5JDcH_pxvwR16VNtSaTMpEbbfCjlz7uKRynYRsBRbyyrsv-1ROn-_to9qpdjzWJjjftDzgFD4yJgR0pTHWdvDkpLjjS5IuSrnvwGqiblxTqsxg8/s320/DSCN2900.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was masses and masses of construction everywhere, both above and below ground. Huge new metro lines and stations being put in.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I was staying in East Berlin in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenzlauer_Berg">Prenzlauer Berg</a> so it was an interesting area history wise, and to see how much transformation has been done in the 23 years post unification, as in other parts of Berlin. It was my sort of suburb, a mixture of offbeat, arty, and gentrification. One little highlight was below.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh949i8JxUFd_XKjOb08ZO_IKkPpu1vu2RUlAtCISbXA0ZgnyfaIOXE0ZHOO6YyEKVthyphenhyphenf7gmtNICIgCzeiV3lYHOxBAEnEiUdVdR3I0y-A26juecay7-ySV8JTZKEBIzac4RnkhRgnMds/s1600/DSCN2907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh949i8JxUFd_XKjOb08ZO_IKkPpu1vu2RUlAtCISbXA0ZgnyfaIOXE0ZHOO6YyEKVthyphenhyphenf7gmtNICIgCzeiV3lYHOxBAEnEiUdVdR3I0y-A26juecay7-ySV8JTZKEBIzac4RnkhRgnMds/s320/DSCN2907.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time got swallowed in Berlin. I went to the ballet, a modern version of Peer Gynt, and spent time chatting with the man next to me about how avant garde the production was. At one point the stage was covered in sand. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the second to last day after brunch I was taken on a wee road trip to Potsdam. It was nice to get out and see a another place, and to go on an autobahn. The driver however was annoyed as it had a 120km limit, which I noticed he ignored as did the others that passed us. I had dinner that night with a group of eight people, and had many fabulous discussions and conversations. It was nice talking with such an eclectic mix of people, which such different outlooks on life and the world due to their mixed upbringings, travels and education. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last day was very tiring as I had had very little sleep. I had booked a hotel near the airport and went there as soon as I could and just chilled. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke too early, but that ended up being ok. My last memorable experience for Berlin was the Dr Seuss breakfast in the morning.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLxR0lOZQpF1ZhPQEjK6tpPAGTSVRntS5iKqgVAtUSJh4NvfPh9FnD4ApoIubHeFnlO5F3fyfpQIkgdAU8gq7xKanjLONA7aduAG1dVL_gJZbixmi5VsNfZWN63qNuCmtXHDs7XGpTzM/s1600/greenegg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLxR0lOZQpF1ZhPQEjK6tpPAGTSVRntS5iKqgVAtUSJh4NvfPh9FnD4ApoIubHeFnlO5F3fyfpQIkgdAU8gq7xKanjLONA7aduAG1dVL_gJZbixmi5VsNfZWN63qNuCmtXHDs7XGpTzM/s320/greenegg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know, if you are going to serve green eggs, then you should at least have quality ham to go with it! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do like Berlin, just wish I could have seen it under more favourable circumstances. It really is an intriguing city.</span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-54149012328506923542013-01-07T09:29:00.000+13:002013-01-08T09:33:02.193+13:00Sagrada Familia<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit of a delayed post due to too much travel, bad weather and fighting germs, but Sagrada Familia - nothing else to say but goosebumpingly stunning. The visit was on 31 December, so I do like that it is the last thing I did for the year.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kHrEoEEtr99K7CWsApAGTeD21fvClDkHBtq0AK6jUu_8rt-DhdrcgOJMD5S3SkQJs8huQGur6FimpBXGx97eD45YymqPTy7f7IDaABAdBQo-ZQ4AtmCm833CeBCUK7ZZXB3JqQA05dU/s1600/DSCN2795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kHrEoEEtr99K7CWsApAGTeD21fvClDkHBtq0AK6jUu_8rt-DhdrcgOJMD5S3SkQJs8huQGur6FimpBXGx97eD45YymqPTy7f7IDaABAdBQo-ZQ4AtmCm833CeBCUK7ZZXB3JqQA05dU/s320/DSCN2795.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eCHEeSdOdmMM311KrPuiQosn6mGL35I04uydLRmBLX-rU4J16yWKFJJbi6t8QJ7XNcTMk-Em8DC0r3WDCrJSGHj-KwVxS6c5a8j9aVfMbEJvaXUi-89yfsubJwzZtZpgvnCxPLEbYk4/s1600/DSCN2805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eCHEeSdOdmMM311KrPuiQosn6mGL35I04uydLRmBLX-rU4J16yWKFJJbi6t8QJ7XNcTMk-Em8DC0r3WDCrJSGHj-KwVxS6c5a8j9aVfMbEJvaXUi-89yfsubJwzZtZpgvnCxPLEbYk4/s320/DSCN2805.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KVwE0oRXj3ztlNdR_VFEWAriJhm8Zzg3j7NEK-M1HIWnpRmSbGjKYzTP2ckJQdnRZ-Oz0jyQQVO5LsJ_ZOwcbYXGQirn-thMstzMfCV0zx5qw-CFA_Y7ZSb0s73E8JleRPk9-qUOj6k/s1600/DSCN2798.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KVwE0oRXj3ztlNdR_VFEWAriJhm8Zzg3j7NEK-M1HIWnpRmSbGjKYzTP2ckJQdnRZ-Oz0jyQQVO5LsJ_ZOwcbYXGQirn-thMstzMfCV0zx5qw-CFA_Y7ZSb0s73E8JleRPk9-qUOj6k/s320/DSCN2798.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3R_ltCos5czvCB6k0ApPyjVsG2I9jeoor89U9v0IKXAXG5YbySQvptrNjr39TMlHEcnnotMaqXXWUgLRj277fbxLOsGJnauoAjbKfC1u_IOUAOeLZkvw8yzmDm3uP30lj0KJMZRFNvQI/s1600/DSCN2803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3R_ltCos5czvCB6k0ApPyjVsG2I9jeoor89U9v0IKXAXG5YbySQvptrNjr39TMlHEcnnotMaqXXWUgLRj277fbxLOsGJnauoAjbKfC1u_IOUAOeLZkvw8yzmDm3uP30lj0KJMZRFNvQI/s320/DSCN2803.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9D6beg8SezA2AhzsZfpQYRuTE3oxfs2MJZlUuKRDl5HMwii1mDJAajdT3M9PXFBrcKoQ2TESeJZ-LneuYcMFckF63JeZfKiQjZcFhwo-dmHt2M79cmh9r9gfnExz4ljZAVS8mO97q7ps/s1600/DSCN2807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9D6beg8SezA2AhzsZfpQYRuTE3oxfs2MJZlUuKRDl5HMwii1mDJAajdT3M9PXFBrcKoQ2TESeJZ-LneuYcMFckF63JeZfKiQjZcFhwo-dmHt2M79cmh9r9gfnExz4ljZAVS8mO97q7ps/s320/DSCN2807.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXcrtcGnNTJh47cJ8Li9kbcykhVHfB7f0gz3jabj6C0ew7da7MuSzOjOlQN8fdOkdlUtBytlcGrqhRLWxH7iGQ64L_KtpD4D1MKKjbDGTMJYhpJ-VzEZ_OE7smf9gY4U7rZ6AapfXZ3Q/s1600/DSCN2810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXcrtcGnNTJh47cJ8Li9kbcykhVHfB7f0gz3jabj6C0ew7da7MuSzOjOlQN8fdOkdlUtBytlcGrqhRLWxH7iGQ64L_KtpD4D1MKKjbDGTMJYhpJ-VzEZ_OE7smf9gY4U7rZ6AapfXZ3Q/s320/DSCN2810.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYEjMZmd_QwTiy_FfRM8DhcmcJWHvUnTBlRCFi-Ur8xYECmaCbQ708sgXwLDRyvz8kYmVspgXZGZu8c7JFw1vO8BDy4QjvdeXw_vkjWxmcjagReqG7oVwIm8JohbSFpEI4TaV0k4NDRw/s1600/DSCN2819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYEjMZmd_QwTiy_FfRM8DhcmcJWHvUnTBlRCFi-Ur8xYECmaCbQ708sgXwLDRyvz8kYmVspgXZGZu8c7JFw1vO8BDy4QjvdeXw_vkjWxmcjagReqG7oVwIm8JohbSFpEI4TaV0k4NDRw/s320/DSCN2819.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedBlcJCzdUDMzIRylszzaJ5BVNVa5QOZMOxbxA46aolmz0OtZdbJcvXhevFnnSKtzA37lgsptwrp6H9wE1T0Z6pwOMI7u5wjvl7Yi7yWwlia39mOX7xs8oCmI0HTl_ZAs8R4YQhCMlQM/s1600/DSCN2833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedBlcJCzdUDMzIRylszzaJ5BVNVa5QOZMOxbxA46aolmz0OtZdbJcvXhevFnnSKtzA37lgsptwrp6H9wE1T0Z6pwOMI7u5wjvl7Yi7yWwlia39mOX7xs8oCmI0HTl_ZAs8R4YQhCMlQM/s320/DSCN2833.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oJJvU0AgkCCa1Brbc72swCD3mC5mPISvy7aMlqaAYMC3jwJjrvKLxl8pyhsqvGzJNpVaztsCy_UkSaBZMGIhBvGoXVyj7X43L0zcCQ9uTcAXU-P87_qoMU0mfvcKgjTqflOcWRKOmWg/s1600/DSCN2838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oJJvU0AgkCCa1Brbc72swCD3mC5mPISvy7aMlqaAYMC3jwJjrvKLxl8pyhsqvGzJNpVaztsCy_UkSaBZMGIhBvGoXVyj7X43L0zcCQ9uTcAXU-P87_qoMU0mfvcKgjTqflOcWRKOmWg/s320/DSCN2838.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_4FZXlfvboNT3nuAOk-IqskpCsarFbhyphenhyphenHiyeFgIrOozA6QOT2_B2H95Mcb6-z6P419k3N4X-D3vJVSMsOuBMcnSCJOIkrcI4qclJeuvDFyOjhYD4riue6v_ZSmTyJ6PCMMx4H_wNhR8/s1600/DSCN2856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_4FZXlfvboNT3nuAOk-IqskpCsarFbhyphenhyphenHiyeFgIrOozA6QOT2_B2H95Mcb6-z6P419k3N4X-D3vJVSMsOuBMcnSCJOIkrcI4qclJeuvDFyOjhYD4riue6v_ZSmTyJ6PCMMx4H_wNhR8/s320/DSCN2856.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The food and wine finale for the year was a wee Catalan cava and tapas bar in Barceloneta, my favourite eat/drink experience in Barcelona. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_r6j73kXGdEm2InW8ShOL7d5F-gpunWWieymuKt3Sxjmf3yftR4kH69UKCC4o4gOT2R9KFB7zXMQIVmaFYf-vm0QpLKpnZtCrlr9HqYVQySOvfG21YF9rhq9KZEscbI94dwEs988q1uQ/s1600/20121231_195745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_r6j73kXGdEm2InW8ShOL7d5F-gpunWWieymuKt3Sxjmf3yftR4kH69UKCC4o4gOT2R9KFB7zXMQIVmaFYf-vm0QpLKpnZtCrlr9HqYVQySOvfG21YF9rhq9KZEscbI94dwEs988q1uQ/s320/20121231_195745.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had one more day in the city which I spent visiting Ms Gotlucky and wandering the city. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then I have been to Berlin and fought germs, and now I am in Paris. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be continued....</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-86784389114706208132012-12-31T01:40:00.000+13:002013-01-01T12:10:19.598+13:00Gaudi<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday was Gaudi day. As I've been sleeping very late the day doesn't seem to start till after 1pm at the moment, though yesterday I did wake not long after 10am so managed a run first while my host was still asleep. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to visit </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_G%C3%BCell">Park Güell</a>,</span> along with 10 gazillion other people. I'm told the crowds are normal no matter what day of the week, but it does spoil it somewhat, especially the first parts which contain the most mosaic work, as you are unable to see it fully.. However, despite the masses it was still a fabulous place to visit. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">One of the houses at the entrance was under scaffold and mesh so could only see this one.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTyBGNVGT9odm-HXCqiG5dOKAeRM0VMCMlAQmvhb-gq84zE4ssZGVbg-w7aTaZcWptmSPF2aGYfCpG7JVueHE6ZbwHp3sU6WNCK18XVnCyY4-UOS2xU0WK6xwVGUwHo1dcDA1UTaa5pDk/s1600/DSCN2739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTyBGNVGT9odm-HXCqiG5dOKAeRM0VMCMlAQmvhb-gq84zE4ssZGVbg-w7aTaZcWptmSPF2aGYfCpG7JVueHE6ZbwHp3sU6WNCK18XVnCyY4-UOS2xU0WK6xwVGUwHo1dcDA1UTaa5pDk/s320/DSCN2739.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Walked through the market place area first which has ornate tiled mosaics on the ceiling,</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFNghjr6JG2P_7FNmOcgEHYHu6EuNwbcM4N1_Edc_qnMmOsY6jCnolMi65sFWD-89CHSix66QXtZuEe7EBos1guR620N20QOpy7hvxhyphenhyphenhbZsrkmZGGAwjFJvY1yR6szFCqOz8XWC6bTE/s1600/DSCN2742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFNghjr6JG2P_7FNmOcgEHYHu6EuNwbcM4N1_Edc_qnMmOsY6jCnolMi65sFWD-89CHSix66QXtZuEe7EBos1guR620N20QOpy7hvxhyphenhyphenhbZsrkmZGGAwjFJvY1yR6szFCqOz8XWC6bTE/s320/DSCN2742.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Then rambled along the various colonnaded pathways.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1DPnNuD8gfUDMcq9jOqZxeKA-gwTBTv0vtz_svgyyzi6yxbYXvMW4Zq9Lh3JbjDExKVHUJoXlhnfErSn4umRsaymzDAjt4tsMLkJJtUwDZV8AHSSqtJiyw8gwiCezeBzHBtC_SIxTq0/s1600/DSCN2748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1DPnNuD8gfUDMcq9jOqZxeKA-gwTBTv0vtz_svgyyzi6yxbYXvMW4Zq9Lh3JbjDExKVHUJoXlhnfErSn4umRsaymzDAjt4tsMLkJJtUwDZV8AHSSqtJiyw8gwiCezeBzHBtC_SIxTq0/s320/DSCN2748.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh20TVINtg7sZOHfCANV01oS4lT_cW9TBi9r6CwxroRBSI_EDd8_bI_DoeoXDyHu_WYIv1_KVKxFRFXzKXdSlZJ0xcY08G-rnQgf2KRuArUelDJK0Y15EG7fG8UTp-GcM2QZqAnsP8-B8/s1600/DSCN2758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh20TVINtg7sZOHfCANV01oS4lT_cW9TBi9r6CwxroRBSI_EDd8_bI_DoeoXDyHu_WYIv1_KVKxFRFXzKXdSlZJ0xcY08G-rnQgf2KRuArUelDJK0Y15EG7fG8UTp-GcM2QZqAnsP8-B8/s320/DSCN2758.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtLkN31uE2Q62VK7OX71dZ_WPeghyQZ5BERhwMVbw1JjKRPqA60rWFg8_H1LQVF6O63GTKVI0Rb58AZOBpm49z3gflsDg2EL-khTRM28XDrDbaLs1qryvt6_VEW0yqd2AVgIv-9ca76o/s1600/DSCN2762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtLkN31uE2Q62VK7OX71dZ_WPeghyQZ5BERhwMVbw1JjKRPqA60rWFg8_H1LQVF6O63GTKVI0Rb58AZOBpm49z3gflsDg2EL-khTRM28XDrDbaLs1qryvt6_VEW0yqd2AVgIv-9ca76o/s320/DSCN2762.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">As you get further up the hill and the park you get fabulous views of Barcelona including Gaudi's most iconic project.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGg4PeQXQaIsA2mwwr0KxYu8HsMdQZVjFnIFVZEQlq6u1kkJJfDI05qRBnIkdYC2QAubOR-7oCRk_eDGj8CWvW_eg77ZF3wMBNm1_eENypxLF65_tDiAsgrj1Ebwk59ZXT-Cn0KgLHWwA/s1600/DSCN2771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGg4PeQXQaIsA2mwwr0KxYu8HsMdQZVjFnIFVZEQlq6u1kkJJfDI05qRBnIkdYC2QAubOR-7oCRk_eDGj8CWvW_eg77ZF3wMBNm1_eENypxLF65_tDiAsgrj1Ebwk59ZXT-Cn0KgLHWwA/s320/DSCN2771.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">After navigating most of the park we then went into the city again to see two more famous buildings. The first was </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Batll%C3%B3">Casa Batlló</a>, which also had a reasonable crowd of people stading outside.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZosqCxB6ifvjdLiooUnNr5PYZaqNk6ZnG5oZu6FG4uPuRWtM_qt3UuRa7ud_sTDevhoB7juohyphenhyphen4psPoqNDF7MbAGNDum6aG9JXhjC-u260zKD4L_Buvr-8lSeSgFjLteqEEo2dVYHL8/s1600/DSCN2776.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZosqCxB6ifvjdLiooUnNr5PYZaqNk6ZnG5oZu6FG4uPuRWtM_qt3UuRa7ud_sTDevhoB7juohyphenhyphen4psPoqNDF7MbAGNDum6aG9JXhjC-u260zKD4L_Buvr-8lSeSgFjLteqEEo2dVYHL8/s320/DSCN2776.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdB6Cs_pFYXtjjaEYpBrVE3pPp2-eqmwoGA_9_wikxR7rRfv1jxxyp1M5ejWu1gTDUg6nxvLp6cTuWV2qTJPHJjnbr2bMr7F2I_r0I0Itsw_S4GahJmbf72Rud_8HNENTlFFCsGlUcxac/s1600/DSCN2777.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdB6Cs_pFYXtjjaEYpBrVE3pPp2-eqmwoGA_9_wikxR7rRfv1jxxyp1M5ejWu1gTDUg6nxvLp6cTuWV2qTJPHJjnbr2bMr7F2I_r0I0Itsw_S4GahJmbf72Rud_8HNENTlFFCsGlUcxac/s320/DSCN2777.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;">It would have been nice to go inside, but i was hungry and didn't relish the idea of being in a queue for over an hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;">A few minutes walk up the orad was another significant building</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.183332443237305px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;">Casa Milà, again with the crowd outside and the long queue to get in.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51ej3h-pvIFb-EwsnwU0ygszkCWN6l9ul-tS8nWVx4nr5QdKZeEz3hpwwY9Gp_6PfM4PW1v5FtG_EWinsn-Hp3FgPfz_1uJqKPHQH6W8QMrPq_VQj2IBJ390fqj99UOgjNjClqlWlabE/s1600/DSCN2779.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51ej3h-pvIFb-EwsnwU0ygszkCWN6l9ul-tS8nWVx4nr5QdKZeEz3hpwwY9Gp_6PfM4PW1v5FtG_EWinsn-Hp3FgPfz_1uJqKPHQH6W8QMrPq_VQj2IBJ390fqj99UOgjNjClqlWlabE/s320/DSCN2779.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYrI1pUgIaxY571-ZEyiIytDZ8tgNa6VKP1BMTLxwoTDUVSO8yZzWuxMtRtWhI1n1_mGwgvxqLfmkgIEpJ_zKXLDaRKIWRdr0_E-UX9_GWkKi9XKsz5GXx7v27gnIQBPYTMmojLvYPIY/s1600/DSCN2785.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYrI1pUgIaxY571-ZEyiIytDZ8tgNa6VKP1BMTLxwoTDUVSO8yZzWuxMtRtWhI1n1_mGwgvxqLfmkgIEpJ_zKXLDaRKIWRdr0_E-UX9_GWkKi9XKsz5GXx7v27gnIQBPYTMmojLvYPIY/s320/DSCN2785.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;">By this stage I was starving and dying of thirst so it was off for beer and tapas, and that would be a 750ml beer!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKBfAQoX6D6KFrMwJUYdmv0nrHtIFYGXJQLvhg7HWgaZSisQGxXU5DRZ263iHKtQJeWFSNEY-O7QgSv7xdoGlGrZ2WH2MXQo-UFci036hp_ryaKMglOk3yupsXKaD3iwbI8d5_4hTMuE/s1600/DSCN2789.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKBfAQoX6D6KFrMwJUYdmv0nrHtIFYGXJQLvhg7HWgaZSisQGxXU5DRZ263iHKtQJeWFSNEY-O7QgSv7xdoGlGrZ2WH2MXQo-UFci036hp_ryaKMglOk3yupsXKaD3iwbI8d5_4hTMuE/s320/DSCN2789.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.196969985961914px;">Today was Sagrada Familia, but that can wait till the morning....and I don't know why the formatting is fukked, but i can't be arsed trying to fix it right now.</span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-51148461871199584082012-12-31T01:19:00.001+13:002012-12-31T01:19:27.143+13:00Milano to Barcelona<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's now Sunday 30 December and I am on to my second full day in Barcelona. As I seem to have switched to Spanish time it's just after 1pm and only now going to head out in to the streets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I left Milano on Friday but had most of the day free to wander aimlessly. It was a stunning sunny day so yet again another picture of the Duomo, but this time in full sun.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXazK-3PJMIETjAJ0_tRybxAShmOyOHSMq2j3fDozbzHymLgOFqrBXNy7T4eXAS5lfRiURUzu2I4mrul1_UVUHL6GURLpLPw_LiPLN_e53ljM2QJpKBzF3U20dZ2GcK8viABvHsHzEqk/s1600/DSCN2675.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXazK-3PJMIETjAJ0_tRybxAShmOyOHSMq2j3fDozbzHymLgOFqrBXNy7T4eXAS5lfRiURUzu2I4mrul1_UVUHL6GURLpLPw_LiPLN_e53ljM2QJpKBzF3U20dZ2GcK8viABvHsHzEqk/s320/DSCN2675.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then headed to La Scala, but the queue was about 3 hours long to get in, so just headed of walking without looking at the map. I ended up in the designer district but along the way passed two contrasting pieces of sculpture.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhucslMsEm_noiN5RmnDTxcIcGIYtg3pk1xIR7iHq7Lk9tcSOsuU10YtdhOtU9t_AcIhdknLkS8nPeox8NxEJ20SMF4_qW3Wq5OmF1epYO-lQu1_pnGIkaN0KSeaCiROSHhbAlD6mRX9NI/s1600/DSCN2682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhucslMsEm_noiN5RmnDTxcIcGIYtg3pk1xIR7iHq7Lk9tcSOsuU10YtdhOtU9t_AcIhdknLkS8nPeox8NxEJ20SMF4_qW3Wq5OmF1epYO-lQu1_pnGIkaN0KSeaCiROSHhbAlD6mRX9NI/s320/DSCN2682.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-t2ib_xl0qdRTiStoodsYq1ky7zWPqeKaXvidwsaUzPIWrXayVj1wzXrDrf48BWMpLWzCtRIm5y6nt-BGHZW_trH03WXnfBBD7Zf4H9FEaq-GehVSAeKxBrnu0TZEOLbFxTdH7NtTz7E/s1600/DSCN2677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-t2ib_xl0qdRTiStoodsYq1ky7zWPqeKaXvidwsaUzPIWrXayVj1wzXrDrf48BWMpLWzCtRIm5y6nt-BGHZW_trH03WXnfBBD7Zf4H9FEaq-GehVSAeKxBrnu0TZEOLbFxTdH7NtTz7E/s320/DSCN2677.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then came across this end of town, just to name a few.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIz-_Nl6Hsb0GpgxsD5WkCUfgXQAw9HZqgDmx85mgIX0wqnatGKLJ8ySyfu2-Mnh1ldt7xZ-SgPBbLRTIjH7BYdTq6LML8LZlvL0qMAcmyOXY70EsFjhijeordV6AvsAI2lV16EwHgqf0/s1600/DSCN2683.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIz-_Nl6Hsb0GpgxsD5WkCUfgXQAw9HZqgDmx85mgIX0wqnatGKLJ8ySyfu2-Mnh1ldt7xZ-SgPBbLRTIjH7BYdTq6LML8LZlvL0qMAcmyOXY70EsFjhijeordV6AvsAI2lV16EwHgqf0/s320/DSCN2683.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTZp5dFH8ts5VEhNYYkn8Vo6Q4jCsL77uwQOMZcXzEc-GiOd21e4SNEWxPwLNenNqFf28litxTmxr9DjWVe1dl1CGfgPwyFwxL8ALVqRA_pchf1vpJ4pHZlOazYL4V0rjY9_AuiFybrU/s1600/DSCN2685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTZp5dFH8ts5VEhNYYkn8Vo6Q4jCsL77uwQOMZcXzEc-GiOd21e4SNEWxPwLNenNqFf28litxTmxr9DjWVe1dl1CGfgPwyFwxL8ALVqRA_pchf1vpJ4pHZlOazYL4V0rjY9_AuiFybrU/s320/DSCN2685.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then headed back in the general direction of Piazza Duomo and came across the panini shop where I had got a nice coffee the day before, so this time stopped for food as well.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuvNrcr9c7ly190h76KJ9HIQhDXMMc8rfAzkmI9e3pwuotRP4Ct7bWM32NKcRVB8J0O6_m85c1aaC9Kmha9ms4DcGcVIVme0hRloqeHC5SNh0n51Kdsx8525kR7wwzcI7x8xqsqXyPIEk/s1600/DSCN2689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuvNrcr9c7ly190h76KJ9HIQhDXMMc8rfAzkmI9e3pwuotRP4Ct7bWM32NKcRVB8J0O6_m85c1aaC9Kmha9ms4DcGcVIVme0hRloqeHC5SNh0n51Kdsx8525kR7wwzcI7x8xqsqXyPIEk/s320/DSCN2689.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parma, rocket, tomato, mozzarella and olive panini. Very yum. Ater eating I headed back to the hostel for a while as I was totally exhausted by this stage. I'd had very little sleep the night before due to the other room guets not following hostel etiquette. At three I loaded the packs on my back and front then went to the station to catch the airport train. I ended up taking the one earlier than what I had booked and glad that I did, as it's quite a distance, and also meant I had time to eat and have a beer at the airport.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived in Barcelona 15 minutes ahead of schedule, go Easyjet! Michelle was at the airport to meet me, so we took train, metro, and tram to the apartment, and finally got in around 11.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We sat up and had beer and chattered for quite sometime then off to bed for a much needed sleep.</span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-79382416203673358382012-12-30T07:45:00.000+13:002013-01-01T11:29:18.884+13:00Barcelona day one<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I slept until after 11 am, and felt like I could have slept more but felt I was wasting precious sightseeing time. After a nice breakfast Michelle and I headed out to the streets, while Jen stayed in and worked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We walked along the beachfront from the apartment to the city, and through the Barceloneta area. The weather is sunny and warm. It seems a winters day here is a bit like a summer day in Wellington. Along the walk we passed the olympic village built for the 1992 games, and this piece by Gehry.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACARek5KII-s3OCNU7hSmbufuX02CWHn_kPJjGMZ6C_Fzt1aGwGrhlK69TDGN2xvYcgAtfiVqWjl7YxQNxF2ev4GpB43gLRlolSM87EYeAOsxgUXXaxEJfe4jdrkwwxcC4NsnjxsgwAM/s1600/DSCN2690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACARek5KII-s3OCNU7hSmbufuX02CWHn_kPJjGMZ6C_Fzt1aGwGrhlK69TDGN2xvYcgAtfiVqWjl7YxQNxF2ev4GpB43gLRlolSM87EYeAOsxgUXXaxEJfe4jdrkwwxcC4NsnjxsgwAM/s320/DSCN2690.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the waterfront headed up in to the city and started to wander through little alleys and streets. I needed coffee so we stopped at a small, yet very smart place for coffe and a "cake". It is called <a href="http://bubo.es/bubo/">Bubo</a>, and the patisseries were stunning. I had a "Big Mac", that is a macaroon bun, fondant cheese slice, chocolate covered ganache meat patty and caramel sauce.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrBjcCvwU3VxC4uqIeiWxYZvnBwxcTcn2G8dz1g43hlyIZFAhcEWxlThrQsoo-8WOH4Oga9yJjZPuD6mP59PpDSrFW_bvw23k-4BBdxDfQXB3VwJLLxjTGVekaXNSkRRqsPgQnST-zcc/s1600/bigmac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrBjcCvwU3VxC4uqIeiWxYZvnBwxcTcn2G8dz1g43hlyIZFAhcEWxlThrQsoo-8WOH4Oga9yJjZPuD6mP59PpDSrFW_bvw23k-4BBdxDfQXB3VwJLLxjTGVekaXNSkRRqsPgQnST-zcc/s320/bigmac.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also had a lime tart that was multi layered. From there we walked more and more narrow streets and alleys and at came to one tiny enclosed square where the walls were all still pock marked form bullet and bomb schrapnel from Franco's reign. This square was used to assassinate people as it has only two tiny entrances so could be easily closed off.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnZs6CvVKBPwSMFPgAQCxmtetAEb3bsL74SgD1tWN0ac3GDb9AbheunVce7n-XqQpdur71eCoSs5gw4mBgsStOT5BTpoWom6GE0dAna3Mqc8s5hH8Fb8fGaoPvgwoJbkIksCK6n6pYE4/s1600/DSCN2702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnZs6CvVKBPwSMFPgAQCxmtetAEb3bsL74SgD1tWN0ac3GDb9AbheunVce7n-XqQpdur71eCoSs5gw4mBgsStOT5BTpoWom6GE0dAna3Mqc8s5hH8Fb8fGaoPvgwoJbkIksCK6n6pYE4/s320/DSCN2702.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there walked along another alley, and through an archway which lead to some preserved columns from the Roman era.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyE7YcnJZ0oyGS98LQdjvX9xqOI1LdXkJUWjGt5mdHKH-4F-g28AjbU08aJ4ORGW48Hii8Y6PLfv-UMlwH26MDGAtesMAAi7MVnx8WSEqNPILc3fnBoAYALWZVlN4dnDvQg5Wmo3Xihg/s1600/DSCN2706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyE7YcnJZ0oyGS98LQdjvX9xqOI1LdXkJUWjGt5mdHKH-4F-g28AjbU08aJ4ORGW48Hii8Y6PLfv-UMlwH26MDGAtesMAAi7MVnx8WSEqNPILc3fnBoAYALWZVlN4dnDvQg5Wmo3Xihg/s320/DSCN2706.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there our wanderings took us to a square which housed the city hall of Barcelona on one side, and the hall of Spain on the other. The City Hall of Spain was open which apparently was very unusual. It housed some exhibition of Asian pottery in the open areas, but we didn't look at it as everything else on view was far superior, for example a Miro sculpture.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrQlxGGKLPOHwjNqYRPw6v5mIZBpiqDGub4WiUCl7KAGyYDbKt_jO8RrEwl7XwJoBMKQ_JoTwKPZYi4P-qwJaUJyBGKtzDTXiKuUeo_tWEE5EoxOyMHecgGO7PUHLtxgkkY2UFRKLZQo/s1600/DSCN2714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrQlxGGKLPOHwjNqYRPw6v5mIZBpiqDGub4WiUCl7KAGyYDbKt_jO8RrEwl7XwJoBMKQ_JoTwKPZYi4P-qwJaUJyBGKtzDTXiKuUeo_tWEE5EoxOyMHecgGO7PUHLtxgkkY2UFRKLZQo/s320/DSCN2714.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along the way we also passed Gaudi's first commission.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRctaOSblwOQyq7Sd3J7Ptm9qcFsAh_Sk8bBpxb0YP5sDSad_wq4qGwaUbzh4gr834hJ69KUSmza3Fy1IJIqQ2ReSG9SZy0A3ckAwrMJtoc4Nwk4AEZdgaq5FlaeqznYzcuTCJBmNtBss/s1600/DSCN2721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRctaOSblwOQyq7Sd3J7Ptm9qcFsAh_Sk8bBpxb0YP5sDSad_wq4qGwaUbzh4gr834hJ69KUSmza3Fy1IJIqQ2ReSG9SZy0A3ckAwrMJtoc4Nwk4AEZdgaq5FlaeqznYzcuTCJBmNtBss/s320/DSCN2721.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then walked up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona">La Rambla</a>, and along the way went into a market. The market was just an overload of fabulous food of every variety, including cured hams at prices of up to 259 Euro per kilo. The mushroom stands were covered in these yellow and green ones.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeamIkqvYIvlL8fuZGlC9rsodFQgSrg-TsjO7cAvAXJfTJpYyCCAQ_rK0p6WtlA71Tmj7tiVwHHmFkZ9VmMd8wwg057yXJ4E8sjzwfWhshzIFFiDl2pua3sS7_y4K13Hcn0xB4WyVfzcw/s1600/DSCN2728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeamIkqvYIvlL8fuZGlC9rsodFQgSrg-TsjO7cAvAXJfTJpYyCCAQ_rK0p6WtlA71Tmj7tiVwHHmFkZ9VmMd8wwg057yXJ4E8sjzwfWhshzIFFiDl2pua3sS7_y4K13Hcn0xB4WyVfzcw/s320/DSCN2728.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of places had these small cones of ham and cheese ready for you to take away and munch.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnIJ1ROPIjnRuogep8CNUZoYIM8DPDndnKapZjOP0ruVaLemsfglU0XzQKuMSqtuhd18O2yLe5rMl-B5DBHBAErMwNZuqRIxXrNg3rBQ4-FfBbafs8U6IxRaZLDgToXOSkZ0-r3gO50g/s1600/DSCN2731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnIJ1ROPIjnRuogep8CNUZoYIM8DPDndnKapZjOP0ruVaLemsfglU0XzQKuMSqtuhd18O2yLe5rMl-B5DBHBAErMwNZuqRIxXrNg3rBQ4-FfBbafs8U6IxRaZLDgToXOSkZ0-r3gO50g/s320/DSCN2731.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The seafood was also an overload of abundance, with much of it still kicking.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzTx70aRssywScYkleT16ked4_Aegml9y1D7N8Y8do4TGDVaXaQmUUIxe2a8ADiBoXsvOlcG7r4lkPEirQsQA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today was all about Gaudi, but that is a story for another post.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-12696045674533604202012-12-27T06:13:00.000+13:002012-12-28T08:03:20.767+13:00Milano<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived in Milano around 4pm yesterday. The journey from Brissago was easy, the only tiring part was trying to carry my back pack the last section, so once I made the Piazza Duomo I gave in and got a taxi to the hostel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hostel is lovely, starched sheets even. The only downside is that it has a very funky bar as part of it ,so sleeping was a bit of an issue at one point. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After I settled in and had consumed two beers, one being my complimentary welcome drink, I then went for a wander around the neighbourhood. I headed back to the Piazza Duomo which was a hive of activity. There is a market, a Christmas market I think, going around the Duomo, which had loads of food stalls, a couple of which are below. The first being nougat, which I somehow managed to resist.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qh6djUbvD8z-xddlxY-hN6lmLsqDZx-BBGfF0RhRVKdwSQKNPu1Xpa7N-0VigzplY2JuNMKKe0ZCLBmkQqlg_IJYizaDffa0MNJRBfkwzh4hLZIGbC46K0z5IfsUO0dFzY4AE646cmI/s1600/DSCN2609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qh6djUbvD8z-xddlxY-hN6lmLsqDZx-BBGfF0RhRVKdwSQKNPu1Xpa7N-0VigzplY2JuNMKKe0ZCLBmkQqlg_IJYizaDffa0MNJRBfkwzh4hLZIGbC46K0z5IfsUO0dFzY4AE646cmI/s320/DSCN2609.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there was masses and masses of focaccias, I didn't resist one of those.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3hCa9NtrxDq3kI3MuNZntMMWBg_nnUX3QsDcIPpanpUP9wILsdC8BDkYIebKpA-5gGWZKjfUiTOzLIgnofGa5ulEjW_xbE560S3J9rNCYP0Vfu6Mf1dl-1xeOJHduNAAWE16so7ecg8/s1600/DSCN2610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3hCa9NtrxDq3kI3MuNZntMMWBg_nnUX3QsDcIPpanpUP9wILsdC8BDkYIebKpA-5gGWZKjfUiTOzLIgnofGa5ulEjW_xbE560S3J9rNCYP0Vfu6Mf1dl-1xeOJHduNAAWE16so7ecg8/s320/DSCN2610.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then arancini, which of course I had to try as well. (why is my arse exploding?)</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaKRbf0_PTm-bm5R__ojGzuX_6jRjeyAXFD3ia0g7MDYcQuLzf_BN-sBfasr5FLMdGA8mRySRbe6XL77kEJkS787g2gWKY2rlK3F4ZmHpMRwm3BPByLOxxsXr0oCiI1Zv7dRKQ5Ku1t8/s1600/DSCN2611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaKRbf0_PTm-bm5R__ojGzuX_6jRjeyAXFD3ia0g7MDYcQuLzf_BN-sBfasr5FLMdGA8mRySRbe6XL77kEJkS787g2gWKY2rlK3F4ZmHpMRwm3BPByLOxxsXr0oCiI1Zv7dRKQ5Ku1t8/s320/DSCN2611.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what they look like on the inside....</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVggS3zDBiuSfq0e99K57zrkdZl31xWGRtldj6t1eo9y_Yrm9KXIvSEi9Ehxqm5tPsIwik3kyksg928YdvoKMcwX4r0hQggYxHXCfzkm0IG8zNYc_ev_SSYIAEBEPS-dp222bO1HXfQjM/s1600/DSCN2617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVggS3zDBiuSfq0e99K57zrkdZl31xWGRtldj6t1eo9y_Yrm9KXIvSEi9Ehxqm5tPsIwik3kyksg928YdvoKMcwX4r0hQggYxHXCfzkm0IG8zNYc_ev_SSYIAEBEPS-dp222bO1HXfQjM/s320/DSCN2617.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then got back to the hostel just after seven to discover it was aperitivo time, which meant another buffet of food to try, this time free!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today after finally waking about 9 followed by a leisurely breakfast, (finally muesli and yoghurt) I didn't hit the streets till close to 11am. The body is starting to tire at the moment. First port of call was of course the Duomo. Though the Piazza was heaving with people there was no queue to get in.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4F5FhAz7o9KNbRcSAncwW8PVJUB9eePLnkwcWs0U6NLtTiEA87NZUZjQ_ONiLdzFju0qvuIo4HnqOa4drcBvoVwfEQjxgx__yQCJMVeuKzNf7W_30wXfIGpxW9vmxQCBftlpk_ZeWkhw/s1600/DSCN2622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4F5FhAz7o9KNbRcSAncwW8PVJUB9eePLnkwcWs0U6NLtTiEA87NZUZjQ_ONiLdzFju0qvuIo4HnqOa4drcBvoVwfEQjxgx__yQCJMVeuKzNf7W_30wXfIGpxW9vmxQCBftlpk_ZeWkhw/s320/DSCN2622.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could put up masses of pictures of all the stained glass but will show restraint, and only of the main altar. Sadly I had put all my coins in the box for the poor, so had no loose change to light a candle for David but I'm sure I will have another chance on this journey.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhia0xoGXuIZAomzt8m9cBHTOBoaIVsgJEQOjKEfksMKmIdyYoPkZuqrP_s2cUrEL5fYB8WFlRqvZkexRSxOY2KHQTZy0PHzuUoxFtqYtw8soglGvJQmQ-amr4ccZB4FDFJfi8hZOcT6Dc/s1600/DSCN2624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhia0xoGXuIZAomzt8m9cBHTOBoaIVsgJEQOjKEfksMKmIdyYoPkZuqrP_s2cUrEL5fYB8WFlRqvZkexRSxOY2KHQTZy0PHzuUoxFtqYtw8soglGvJQmQ-amr4ccZB4FDFJfi8hZOcT6Dc/s320/DSCN2624.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhay_8tMijcL8ap1Ff0WPhBWZn7cAnu0UodvnvxAhvZ0otMNCgA5zgiic8ys4WBIAycjmYHfjdnFStQDGtbMQ7g0gSHXYOZc21jvinbxd8aW9da6f-7I9gOAbVzpVrV3nyEESXpJBJVKZc/s1600/DSCN2635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhay_8tMijcL8ap1Ff0WPhBWZn7cAnu0UodvnvxAhvZ0otMNCgA5zgiic8ys4WBIAycjmYHfjdnFStQDGtbMQ7g0gSHXYOZc21jvinbxd8aW9da6f-7I9gOAbVzpVrV3nyEESXpJBJVKZc/s320/DSCN2635.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then went off to do the highlight of the Duomo, and that is walk on the roof.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkcVHl9BJ4jnBwc2p0Uha7lGj5-BAT_mPpDQzLjF1OjQaRsdaNsxEXPVnxRs2yhSgVeiVVyX6kgnuqnvROirjprEfTGeEl7QSnd79rOq5Yf5T6fLJ8VDWMbxqBdrI-WIJcw-LCiXWOYQ/s1600/DSCN2639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkcVHl9BJ4jnBwc2p0Uha7lGj5-BAT_mPpDQzLjF1OjQaRsdaNsxEXPVnxRs2yhSgVeiVVyX6kgnuqnvROirjprEfTGeEl7QSnd79rOq5Yf5T6fLJ8VDWMbxqBdrI-WIJcw-LCiXWOYQ/s320/DSCN2639.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOWlH5U_e18MFgcV9oCZN9XypORVr-pVsj3h9yatWcm7usn78W8jKfOFWKdW8EhnmenlIiXiVDw8OPZ-iZeHrS7dtDmE8Yx105v-rGdup25_cuasv64lsE8xzSL3IvyuKLoWc_0baPW8E/s1600/DSCN2643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOWlH5U_e18MFgcV9oCZN9XypORVr-pVsj3h9yatWcm7usn78W8jKfOFWKdW8EhnmenlIiXiVDw8OPZ-iZeHrS7dtDmE8Yx105v-rGdup25_cuasv64lsE8xzSL3IvyuKLoWc_0baPW8E/s320/DSCN2643.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The intricacy of, and the amount of statues and carvings is just breathtaking. Also, once on the roof and walking another set of steps you can feel the foot treads that have been worn into the marble from centuries of people. Below just a sample of statues and gargoyles. I'm sure I've used up at least a gb on the Duomo alone!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KeT_IQJCVautPLI_TcwbzucoPEaH_DLF5cyDXyuurjreeHcC2MKuEzVXVK5LBtHD2_sP6OLdiUFn1KQ9D5OIheddejhPQKQe6ePZjMNNFo_uIUG09NFbGI8WpZbl2LuhxYp5_qsT7S0/s1600/DSCN2645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KeT_IQJCVautPLI_TcwbzucoPEaH_DLF5cyDXyuurjreeHcC2MKuEzVXVK5LBtHD2_sP6OLdiUFn1KQ9D5OIheddejhPQKQe6ePZjMNNFo_uIUG09NFbGI8WpZbl2LuhxYp5_qsT7S0/s320/DSCN2645.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55kGGepTYnxijnpfTIiMr8RjP84WcCFI7sXl_aeRnomDHKFK6qZ2dcJdiam3DdI295eOS2ZF72sdtNHtcX-ZKzZcW4c-MzTovU9-n5UOO83oGv1swnrm276qkCwJrA_QPS2OOgIGy26k/s1600/DSCN2658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55kGGepTYnxijnpfTIiMr8RjP84WcCFI7sXl_aeRnomDHKFK6qZ2dcJdiam3DdI295eOS2ZF72sdtNHtcX-ZKzZcW4c-MzTovU9-n5UOO83oGv1swnrm276qkCwJrA_QPS2OOgIGy26k/s320/DSCN2658.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigV0xSA3a1Bqezf83yL5m6KXpup85f-eSYXqN5sH8kfQ9_YVF_NXqpIUr6WRhSHYm1gyn8Ra0FZZiAiWEhmYIJr_8yyn3QnChHrHwi-ORJwrj9OSTg8zKCphLAnH-lLW7wDOPsw9tpN6U/s1600/DSCN2646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigV0xSA3a1Bqezf83yL5m6KXpup85f-eSYXqN5sH8kfQ9_YVF_NXqpIUr6WRhSHYm1gyn8Ra0FZZiAiWEhmYIJr_8yyn3QnChHrHwi-ORJwrj9OSTg8zKCphLAnH-lLW7wDOPsw9tpN6U/s320/DSCN2646.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpC5dhmHrJFog2th1rMsb-nX3YFPjVt7PQPlL2IF0hzgnnp2_CXv9cDPcMfLXKwITm2LiY4OAd356L7uMzhBr4SIhM8n4wAuxlCht6PGTWom00-CFupQQQAxcVR7flvGRFV86OsNxTwqM/s1600/DSCN2654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpC5dhmHrJFog2th1rMsb-nX3YFPjVt7PQPlL2IF0hzgnnp2_CXv9cDPcMfLXKwITm2LiY4OAd356L7uMzhBr4SIhM8n4wAuxlCht6PGTWom00-CFupQQQAxcVR7flvGRFV86OsNxTwqM/s320/DSCN2654.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then headed back to ground and finally had my first coffee of the day, which was also my first in Italy. It was drinkable, bliss. I also went back to the focaccia stand above and got some lunch.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eTNEoNLmd8gax25OghlOQ-CgXtjSgCU9vlxwIxYtHRqxHzWm2d32rTuY5mtZWrNJcSiv6QL01WPI4BkFhTIwxA5y45GsTHgX41u5cf1i1UGCASTszgwNtu7hHGzxAsEDDMKfElilTDY/s1600/DSCN2661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eTNEoNLmd8gax25OghlOQ-CgXtjSgCU9vlxwIxYtHRqxHzWm2d32rTuY5mtZWrNJcSiv6QL01WPI4BkFhTIwxA5y45GsTHgX41u5cf1i1UGCASTszgwNtu7hHGzxAsEDDMKfElilTDY/s320/DSCN2661.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.183332443237305px;">I</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> went for a big stroll and thought I would take my chances at getting to see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo_da_Vinci)">L'Ultima Cena</a>. I got a bit lost along the way, but as it was such an interesting lost it didn't matter.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlujSFp9GSDE8w_ahDaSeVBMPOhC1J__bPg27D-ouMZXUonucPheHekNLNzZcX1Sf43FyTnTigmlORBEIFViqlj98v_sRefq6LboTWceXSlEdR2pUuQee6t_p0XWZoKU7rsIBPQ_qFAE/s1600/DSCN2662.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlujSFp9GSDE8w_ahDaSeVBMPOhC1J__bPg27D-ouMZXUonucPheHekNLNzZcX1Sf43FyTnTigmlORBEIFViqlj98v_sRefq6LboTWceXSlEdR2pUuQee6t_p0XWZoKU7rsIBPQ_qFAE/s320/DSCN2662.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did eventually get to the Santa Maria della Grazie, and after enquiring found I could get in at 4.15pm. To view the Last Supper is reservation only, but I thought I'd try my luck. I ended up declining, as that was over 2 hours to kill and it really has been cold today, the first day for gloves. I instead decided to wander the streets by a different route back to the hostel. On the way I came across the <a href="http://www.museoscienza.org/english/">museo della scienza</a>, so in I went. I was fascinated by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum">Foucault Pendulum</a>.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlt7EtdQiGO_yYXINwpXDmf-1uiyKW8QRJL0t8j2VqAlfa-8ZhRo2fq4ksfQmAK5WlWH1LD07D-0yOypHhT0qJvByvra22z5XFCA7tvKn97SNdYq-cFOkt02gJlHVQs6Sh3el8hupEeg/s1600/DSCN2664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlt7EtdQiGO_yYXINwpXDmf-1uiyKW8QRJL0t8j2VqAlfa-8ZhRo2fq4ksfQmAK5WlWH1LD07D-0yOypHhT0qJvByvra22z5XFCA7tvKn97SNdYq-cFOkt02gJlHVQs6Sh3el8hupEeg/s320/DSCN2664.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that wee sidetrack I started to get very tired so thought I would go to the stazione centrale to book my train ticket to the airport tomorrow. That proved too hard, so it was back to the hostel collecting a vast amount of parmigiano along the way.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9LFV1n8tFU8_-dxcWx-G-LwmL7bGoteoJ0WFKsOIu9pHmC7329jdBn3nCh7coXjxrw0p23vitYQ5USePTvSKnD6XXr05Z8NRFIAnpKg7B1cP5rY6rUZyKXxkjD1TyQSmmsOhoKhvNz8/s1600/DSCN2666.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9LFV1n8tFU8_-dxcWx-G-LwmL7bGoteoJ0WFKsOIu9pHmC7329jdBn3nCh7coXjxrw0p23vitYQ5USePTvSKnD6XXr05Z8NRFIAnpKg7B1cP5rY6rUZyKXxkjD1TyQSmmsOhoKhvNz8/s320/DSCN2666.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I am sitting in the bar at the hostel trying to decide if I go out and wander around again for something to graze on, or just wait for aperitivo time here and eat for free. So many decisions - to be continued.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Update: Aperitivo won. This is my wee plate of food,</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxvlNM8XwcmDdpV34y95f2xwK3jXwe6Fj8QoePCT43XNX72ciwgFpHj2-YaaRPMzeN6zf8yfYBdxGo0_llBzCP5LKxP4LegECaymVHOp2qG7tXA3hqQMBeYgK-odXI1TUzSmHm9uQOFo/s1600/DSCN2668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxvlNM8XwcmDdpV34y95f2xwK3jXwe6Fj8QoePCT43XNX72ciwgFpHj2-YaaRPMzeN6zf8yfYBdxGo0_llBzCP5LKxP4LegECaymVHOp2qG7tXA3hqQMBeYgK-odXI1TUzSmHm9uQOFo/s320/DSCN2668.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a tiny sample of what was on offer.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ65g1GqwkzcqVzcqeZxesELFNXf8udKuXKfilHkEanYM1_LETOe7XUE4J9RZqzOPoNaaZoTC0eRnZC0YP5gyuLgcPIbX3U73gspvKdU7EvpsNQpvNwPy_bdlel-h45JvzHczJKrZfVpI/s1600/DSCN2669.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ65g1GqwkzcqVzcqeZxesELFNXf8udKuXKfilHkEanYM1_LETOe7XUE4J9RZqzOPoNaaZoTC0eRnZC0YP5gyuLgcPIbX3U73gspvKdU7EvpsNQpvNwPy_bdlel-h45JvzHczJKrZfVpI/s320/DSCN2669.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mind you, all drinks were 10 Euro. I'm now going downstairs to the hostel's bar for another drink and another round of food!</span></div>
</div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-10925007885543156202012-12-26T09:43:00.000+13:002012-12-28T06:19:32.034+13:00Brissago and Christmas.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Woke up way too early on Christmas eve after a Not Great sleep, but that was good as it turned out my phone time was set to pm and not am. At one point I thought I heard street cleaners, but in actual fact it was the trams swishing up and down the next street.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got to the central station in plenty of time and then eventually caught the train to take us to Brissago. It was a stunning sunny day in Zurich and unbelievably was predicting 22 degrees. The train of course left right on time and the journey was very confortable with lovely scenery along the way. Only one decent photo though as the others blurred or had window reflections.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCKmplrjbnMyYzO_Pgv2sfL5tZ_uMIjfSvU8nYKZil-TBAY4UjkXEy5LxthxKDGVsJJ6r-5Cv1mLuZ_ZsoxqOwZSa0KaCXzWKsSu8dSl7M-LAsMGIa-vQ_-dhZrEBSDHnCz7StyRMEg8w/s1600/DSCN2582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCKmplrjbnMyYzO_Pgv2sfL5tZ_uMIjfSvU8nYKZil-TBAY4UjkXEy5LxthxKDGVsJJ6r-5Cv1mLuZ_ZsoxqOwZSa0KaCXzWKsSu8dSl7M-LAsMGIa-vQ_-dhZrEBSDHnCz7StyRMEg8w/s320/DSCN2582.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The road and rail infrastructure of Switzerland is amazing, but really just a reflection of the wealth of the country. As the train went through and over the Alps you could see the incredible amount of raised highways, tunnels, and covered roads following a similar route. As well as the road and train routes the Swiss Government is now building another <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Base_Tunnel">tunnel</a> just to move freight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One train change took us to Locarno, the end of the rail line, and a very affluent town on the edge of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Maggiore">Lago Maggiore</a>. From there it was a bus through the other villages on the edge of the lake until Brissago. It was then a wee mini bus up the hill to my hosts house. Below is looking up from the lake edge.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVwDzfOaVWRRNE_YEBMBpSgeJ_wgENNQr5r2rHU5tYmKcLC8-6I2h31SVBUGSRiMdfSYllvVbogI781Ndi7bLFOoWVtnEk6QKla__B_6-aemROlC2hzUQ0mcONwQZaOcHwYWBdnJz4Og/s1600/DSCN2587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVwDzfOaVWRRNE_YEBMBpSgeJ_wgENNQr5r2rHU5tYmKcLC8-6I2h31SVBUGSRiMdfSYllvVbogI781Ndi7bLFOoWVtnEk6QKla__B_6-aemROlC2hzUQ0mcONwQZaOcHwYWBdnJz4Og/s320/DSCN2587.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the road it was then a wee walk along stone pathways, with raised walls alongside that are of medieval origin. I was in heaven. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rita and Willem had an aperitivo ready for arrival. We consumed the food and Proseco, then the eldest and the youngest went off to snooze. Though I was tired, I had to go out and explore. Willem took me along some of the old stone pathways, then up through forest paths and eventually on to the road. We walked up a bit, then he turned back but suggested I head to the 800 metre mark where there was and old church. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then carried on walking up the zig zagging road up the hill. The view below is at the start of the walk, looking towards Locarno.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmLbjdzZrLphY6VM8FxOebB5d1bfqF0KnvArTQOj35SuKz0kM796PVYzC4cXDQVC-WTe1Xj0tUg-ubeCBmj9Ck6q3CA3HnhElPzag6AwIHlt76fXo2FFa4vmb4pzl2dfYePskhyphenhyphenZwAL0/s1600/DSCN2588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmLbjdzZrLphY6VM8FxOebB5d1bfqF0KnvArTQOj35SuKz0kM796PVYzC4cXDQVC-WTe1Xj0tUg-ubeCBmj9Ck6q3CA3HnhElPzag6AwIHlt76fXo2FFa4vmb4pzl2dfYePskhyphenhyphenZwAL0/s320/DSCN2588.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in the other direction Italy.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndVjWGYNQ__KIv7GYgcQXmmy2qanmcEIeUN8Dwe19w-kTZ-hcn7qX1c7f01eQH_I8S50YkVjnUQikHV9Jrt73dSBmqEnBTqsh1GpFREoaD4eONPk00IBkyE08qhlA11l6FVHuhZlTS9k/s1600/DSCN2590.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndVjWGYNQ__KIv7GYgcQXmmy2qanmcEIeUN8Dwe19w-kTZ-hcn7qX1c7f01eQH_I8S50YkVjnUQikHV9Jrt73dSBmqEnBTqsh1GpFREoaD4eONPk00IBkyE08qhlA11l6FVHuhZlTS9k/s320/DSCN2590.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I wandered up I came across a giardiniere's property where all the cacti and tall trees are wrapped up for winter. On the train ride I had seen trees tied up, and it is done so they don't break with the weight of the snow. To my eyes they just looked weirdly cool.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyfckh2CjpRYG-hSq4SE4lJfmo9q05V-TyrJx2ZhrwAC6fjctBkbUncA_ckcFxBRaTSwnUdygPH7mKRQp4kMLEkRI2Cfp-_YpCDwKIbeWxeQhnExbngpwG8LL-YT0F9dECSAh7FISGEx8/s1600/DSCN2591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyfckh2CjpRYG-hSq4SE4lJfmo9q05V-TyrJx2ZhrwAC6fjctBkbUncA_ckcFxBRaTSwnUdygPH7mKRQp4kMLEkRI2Cfp-_YpCDwKIbeWxeQhnExbngpwG8LL-YT0F9dECSAh7FISGEx8/s320/DSCN2591.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After much slow and steady walking I finally got to the church. I have no idea what the incline was that I was walking, but I was down to only a t shirt as I did the "stroll". The church as built in 1572 according to the sign.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNr65iqCnsoRVUdQ7kkLMlZIW7I63XB8p-kIjWTeIV2_SMDNvwF8Ca3VSsAx4WAmFKHLMtKRS-TLSiiVmHngp4YP_zuuVB8vaxdGa7AUjvh4mqOC6DXZKyRlxPg_kmfsQwIP0R62LxJE/s1600/DSCN2594.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNr65iqCnsoRVUdQ7kkLMlZIW7I63XB8p-kIjWTeIV2_SMDNvwF8Ca3VSsAx4WAmFKHLMtKRS-TLSiiVmHngp4YP_zuuVB8vaxdGa7AUjvh4mqOC6DXZKyRlxPg_kmfsQwIP0R62LxJE/s320/DSCN2594.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't get in but managed a shot through a grill.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnzsXkiAEtq4BHcAcB-OHWS9ZWVonEQaJbTQf33etUFQ6iSnfQL1VQiSZOGjK0gO95X9_HHsgsQ3y4EBDQGQKPkHcPzBs__yHFPZxh3cTFtPAmhn9XsYBNQg9hu4tDRKk3rYp0w4jokc/s1600/DSCN2596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnzsXkiAEtq4BHcAcB-OHWS9ZWVonEQaJbTQf33etUFQ6iSnfQL1VQiSZOGjK0gO95X9_HHsgsQ3y4EBDQGQKPkHcPzBs__yHFPZxh3cTFtPAmhn9XsYBNQg9hu4tDRKk3rYp0w4jokc/s320/DSCN2596.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By this stage I was quite high and with the sun going down and mist the view was constantly changing.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2LjTSKhQk6ZsYr7V7B96vJQYPEfzfpoC7oSbs-WbQP-XMQoaHTTEIMWge0WZIEzvxlFc-UB0PELeUy8h5q0r0XUFEKEMc1FKIMmPWLfCK7A9RPL_zrRpPY5Sa9es6MrBOgxsFVbZE6s/s1600/DSCN2597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2LjTSKhQk6ZsYr7V7B96vJQYPEfzfpoC7oSbs-WbQP-XMQoaHTTEIMWge0WZIEzvxlFc-UB0PELeUy8h5q0r0XUFEKEMc1FKIMmPWLfCK7A9RPL_zrRpPY5Sa9es6MrBOgxsFVbZE6s/s320/DSCN2597.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2Z2sTtVIOE3vUtao7MBV1Z4kgmfo8UyqRGbdq-Z3atlJFojpl3CTcMs4e-tQ2WNn4nuDM_Z2P1aAy0u8y9kUfNl_NY4CsW_fgQV2f2xbZJmHXuUciOAtZ_EZ6lKiI5gtT2zvOgEHLGU/s1600/DSCN2599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2Z2sTtVIOE3vUtao7MBV1Z4kgmfo8UyqRGbdq-Z3atlJFojpl3CTcMs4e-tQ2WNn4nuDM_Z2P1aAy0u8y9kUfNl_NY4CsW_fgQV2f2xbZJmHXuUciOAtZ_EZ6lKiI5gtT2zvOgEHLGU/s320/DSCN2599.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the right of the bottom picture you can see a white line. This is the border of Switzerland and Italy that is cut in to the forest. I spent a little time sitting in the portico of the church giving thanks that I am so lucky to be in this wonderful place. Eventually the cold set in so I had to start walking again.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The walk down of course took a fraction of the time as going up, except for a wee spot of dither as I tried to find where the path to the house was off the road.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I got back to the house an afternoon snack was laid out consisting of a traditional Basel nut tart. The snoozers were awake and after an espresso decided it was time for them to walk. Willem and I got into a discussion about grapes which meant he had to bring out the grappa that had been made from the grapes growing in the garden. He also assured me it was a perfect accompaniment to nut tart! What else could I do, I couldn't offen my host.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the walkers were back we then moved on to their traditional Christmas eve dinner of raclette, and for the second night in a row I ate way, way too much melted cheese and bits that go with it, plus wine, ice cream and more grappa. Along with this the presents were opened.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christmas day dawned misty and damp. After a breakfast of more cheese Willem decided a wee 3 hour walk was called for, so off we went on a different trail. Interestingly at one point there was a barricade and sign saying "path closed', but surprisingly the Germans broke the rules and climbed over the barrier. The wee slip was easy to negotiate so the walk continued. We walked for 2 hours up to about 800 metres as Willem thought the cafe up there may be open. Rita is 82 and kept pace all the way. This is what the walk was like.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pQnSSCjJVqUDi-lnPHHKyBktCUjXquxHqILq8QdhfB58Sg7vng_dsK126jT0v71gGgSFo7JPcgG97zMbsqZTdM4uW2ndVcFmuPbo7d8mrH5tDConl46MmUcAiXYiDwxYJXZVwlou1x0/s1600/L1040815.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pQnSSCjJVqUDi-lnPHHKyBktCUjXquxHqILq8QdhfB58Sg7vng_dsK126jT0v71gGgSFo7JPcgG97zMbsqZTdM4uW2ndVcFmuPbo7d8mrH5tDConl46MmUcAiXYiDwxYJXZVwlou1x0/s320/L1040815.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Naturally when we got to the cafe, it was closed so turned around and went back. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of Christmas day was very quiet. We all retired to our rooms and slept a bit, then I cooked a very simple dinner of roast chicken for them, and it was early to bed at around 9pm.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning was the usual breakfast of cheese, and then I packed to leave. I walked down the hill to the bus through gorgeous old stone stairways and paths, but am still waiting for the pictures of that to be sent to me. I then headed off on my journey to Milano, and am now here in a fabulous hostel full of free food....but that is tomorrows story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-62808820085505415302012-12-23T08:10:00.000+13:002012-12-28T06:19:51.906+13:00Zurich day two.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a fairly quiet day today, but very enjoyable. I managed a good twelve hours sleep, then my help with breakfast preparation consisted of sitting in bed with the three boys and watching cartoons online. This eventually led to a discussion on how violent cartoons are, and how much the bad science and physics of them irritates me immensely. We had been watching Roadrunner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then spent the day on my own wandering the city without a map, my form of bliss. The first sight that caught my eye was a man blowing giant bubbles down by the lake.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUcY0-YzGdZ8e5n0kdx-hnOIYNQkWHbRCaN85b5M6vLuosdZG4hVMkltoeT60GxAchB2S9SLbFAg9rBGnuxAIdNNO8pEEV_gDH8Tw8z4hp4AKrmyFdJkw1UxRClKoS25X7712fWQXNCQ/s1600/DSCN2555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUcY0-YzGdZ8e5n0kdx-hnOIYNQkWHbRCaN85b5M6vLuosdZG4hVMkltoeT60GxAchB2S9SLbFAg9rBGnuxAIdNNO8pEEV_gDH8Tw8z4hp4AKrmyFdJkw1UxRClKoS25X7712fWQXNCQ/s320/DSCN2555.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then went over to the old part of the city and wandered the cobbled streets and alleys just to see where they went and what was round the corner.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqheuqU5Q8xa5eJhbMTKhpM-1Zrop7Y7eV3Fy0E3ybsHJ8rOCRRslA2gNwBVatqv7Hv_QnF4CMk7x2k9hp6LaobCBUe9BA1JLmS2Q5lXmK_lWg5YimP5as-JNCVUcUkUxmbT0sM8NZO5Q/s1600/DSCN2560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqheuqU5Q8xa5eJhbMTKhpM-1Zrop7Y7eV3Fy0E3ybsHJ8rOCRRslA2gNwBVatqv7Hv_QnF4CMk7x2k9hp6LaobCBUe9BA1JLmS2Q5lXmK_lWg5YimP5as-JNCVUcUkUxmbT0sM8NZO5Q/s320/DSCN2560.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One little alleyway I walked looked like it was just a private path but it came to a micro square with a lovely building at the end of it,</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fccEpGJZF_hfzpDJsJGdKvs7mR76MIjvCBQPLlyfwB0YesyEVJK7mkMfup5hKnUjoaGzvVgTKa_bL0vK9dcK9QBmBOeIeW9dwJS-26zKCmZV5aC1cilhAeKjFJ2K2fX72894TLiIpvE/s1600/DSCN2561.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fccEpGJZF_hfzpDJsJGdKvs7mR76MIjvCBQPLlyfwB0YesyEVJK7mkMfup5hKnUjoaGzvVgTKa_bL0vK9dcK9QBmBOeIeW9dwJS-26zKCmZV5aC1cilhAeKjFJ2K2fX72894TLiIpvE/s320/DSCN2561.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And a the first secondhand clothes shop I have seen here..</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDjqInNWTfsJ2rPS4i3388jgKcwESWz1wPmzEPxSU_zECdH41vA393iZAde8bfgVVTSijOrZTmcXZsS1d6Cp-87fB25R6ILP9xeXqMCRMZ-dLoQLn2LwjTF9dK1NBeQecUWXxCTIpLuM/s1600/DSCN2562.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDjqInNWTfsJ2rPS4i3388jgKcwESWz1wPmzEPxSU_zECdH41vA393iZAde8bfgVVTSijOrZTmcXZsS1d6Cp-87fB25R6ILP9xeXqMCRMZ-dLoQLn2LwjTF9dK1NBeQecUWXxCTIpLuM/s320/DSCN2562.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually I found myself near the main station so went in to pick up my ticket to Milan.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxajW7NnzcKL9THPrlLxlhItCvcQBUWjqEZ2Sw6GvCT111ju9Ngru_JV9zj6RMiSkRFgtnjXyhm14VLkhOcXFWAf1F31jHyEpErrTN7ElnNUD9UQatf-Aja3S-8StcLpeHaOEr05NSS_M/s1600/DSCN2563.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxajW7NnzcKL9THPrlLxlhItCvcQBUWjqEZ2Sw6GvCT111ju9Ngru_JV9zj6RMiSkRFgtnjXyhm14VLkhOcXFWAf1F31jHyEpErrTN7ElnNUD9UQatf-Aja3S-8StcLpeHaOEr05NSS_M/s320/DSCN2563.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had another wander round the Christmas market while there and as i was thirsty I had to have some gluhwein. That went straight to my head so mopped it up with some hot ham thing that I can't remember the name of.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FNonm9oPgLwgpDsA70d4ckdvobMh66CnfD8XluzpOPUY6S131AVtwUCoujAYWS87SArNXub9t-ecy7HVwJ8xc0jQNzgooPlhhnMWvH15QNLZ9XB8E5Bczj7NTb3FaX25QrMW2-QMeS0/s1600/DSCN2566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FNonm9oPgLwgpDsA70d4ckdvobMh66CnfD8XluzpOPUY6S131AVtwUCoujAYWS87SArNXub9t-ecy7HVwJ8xc0jQNzgooPlhhnMWvH15QNLZ9XB8E5Bczj7NTb3FaX25QrMW2-QMeS0/s320/DSCN2566.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was good and resisted the call of these little babies though.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO1ac9hhlygj1TGRIL7XCzH5T9gATm2Dnd0SHARBe5xrPEqWZn0n4ZAZDm0IIC-WijFmbX_OPedU_CsHn0sAf9GKCcZ2MUFqH11xr2KZKreTfkfDvZuXsrS5KI1JiNAOH8TZUV1Lmnnk/s1600/DSCN2565.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO1ac9hhlygj1TGRIL7XCzH5T9gATm2Dnd0SHARBe5xrPEqWZn0n4ZAZDm0IIC-WijFmbX_OPedU_CsHn0sAf9GKCcZ2MUFqH11xr2KZKreTfkfDvZuXsrS5KI1JiNAOH8TZUV1Lmnnk/s320/DSCN2565.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then ended up back in the designer street which was just heaving with well dressed people spending money. I then sidetracked off there heading down little cobbled streets towards the river and came across some busking Santa's. Very high class busking Santa's!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5Dhyphenhyphen8N3D57YbrAPErYrfOXc-MPbzLy5fj7b4x4WnF42rN0LrpBNbUSIzwmTGA0SJ4yuu3jOykukxDFWeWgq4Th4er87LlR_VRusY065fNmQMlgWyS8mMPZ876Anxx4xA_diUvstny7k/s1600/DSCN2568.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5Dhyphenhyphen8N3D57YbrAPErYrfOXc-MPbzLy5fj7b4x4WnF42rN0LrpBNbUSIzwmTGA0SJ4yuu3jOykukxDFWeWgq4Th4er87LlR_VRusY065fNmQMlgWyS8mMPZ876Anxx4xA_diUvstny7k/s320/DSCN2568.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there I wandered back to the bottom of the lake, went to the supermarket for supplies (water and beer) then back home. Along the way I found the ultimate chair for my desk.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjonrdyoJBeQ197kgVwY4XHTi8pdPJ2xaHaCh2NI3EeuGeXCB5F7_tDE9FA2YUXUBqUdOylfiCxbFHHISjNGkk5gJCCT12P7avazYPfpxCQaLKO5kxm7EHxjXpPV2AXLA3iK1SITEDauYg/s1600/DSCN2571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjonrdyoJBeQ197kgVwY4XHTi8pdPJ2xaHaCh2NI3EeuGeXCB5F7_tDE9FA2YUXUBqUdOylfiCxbFHHISjNGkk5gJCCT12P7avazYPfpxCQaLKO5kxm7EHxjXpPV2AXLA3iK1SITEDauYg/s320/DSCN2571.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now it's champagne time and a raclette for dinner. I am blanking from my mind the 6am alarm.</span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-43130481061440345182012-12-22T05:12:00.000+13:002012-12-28T06:20:12.794+13:00The adventure starts.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to my laptop it is 4.06 am Sunday in New Zealand. I woke up at 5 am Friday and have had just over 5 hours sleep since then, but funnily I feel like going for a run. As it is beer o'clock here in Zurich I will let that thought pass.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mammoth journey here went really well considering there were four planes involved. After the Wellington to Auckland hop was the first major leg, Auckland to Narita. It was an 11 hour flight and I stayed awake through all of it, and ended with a few beers. Had about five hours layover in at Narita so of course had a Sapporo and some sushi.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbNKf6dJLF10RMV8x01fWETXnAfU2WWEcXAJu7-SrrAR2h9iO3PVBJ4nhKcljdkxK9gte77hhx-f2IerMb-sJLr-OC-sqt5MqZhDDanevWqr2TeUL4kfC2Dgya3ITMx3ymta6-deMLSM/s1600/WMG2_000236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbNKf6dJLF10RMV8x01fWETXnAfU2WWEcXAJu7-SrrAR2h9iO3PVBJ4nhKcljdkxK9gte77hhx-f2IerMb-sJLr-OC-sqt5MqZhDDanevWqr2TeUL4kfC2Dgya3ITMx3ymta6-deMLSM/s320/WMG2_000236.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Narita flew Air France to Paris, and I must say how impressed I am with Air France. The plane wasn't super fancy, though it did have individual screens, but the food and service were far superior to Air NZ. Dinner had entree, main and dessert, plus cheese and fresh mini baguettes which were served to you in a large basket so you could take as many as you wished. The bubbles available totally outclassed the nasty Lindauer Air NZ had, and of course Perrier water flowed. During the rest of the night in the galley was a supply of different food including little icecreams that you could help yourself to, and a drinks trolley as well. I managed over four hours sleep in one block, then another snooze a bit later. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We arrived at Charles de Gaulle and had another 4 hours layover. Finally, once the airport opened, made my way to the correct terminal to catch the final flight to Zurich. I also managed to buy some champagne for my hosts, and myself, and some Grand Marnier in case the bubbles wasn't enough. All three totalled 69 Euros, around $104, I'm happy with the exchange rate at the moment.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arrived in Zurich and did the happy dance as the bags turned up as well. Got picked up, then came to the house to be greeted with this, so another round of eating!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96Na5gMWKOsD2eURw9ETvWGrvXzqGSvimukaQyu8Ug1Vn8RYzkrIpyf2_snpXIeTdEKtSsJQL7wz5EMgziEwPa796oXq3VCt0Le23AvPNTsMUZf4huNcSQ2xd2rPPTBsbQnT0QxjMYu0/s1600/DSCN2520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96Na5gMWKOsD2eURw9ETvWGrvXzqGSvimukaQyu8Ug1Vn8RYzkrIpyf2_snpXIeTdEKtSsJQL7wz5EMgziEwPa796oXq3VCt0Le23AvPNTsMUZf4huNcSQ2xd2rPPTBsbQnT0QxjMYu0/s320/DSCN2520.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that feast it was time to go for a walk, and to tire out the restless children. Where I am staying is very close to the centre of the city so we walked down to the lake then into the city. Below is a view looking back to the Alps.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhco1l1yl3WEMED9RmBwnqSFuCWH-v-g3dDTnb8mkKGUMTseX0eSYZk2rec_ZejPdCZmHMIKHEbAN2vTMVi_5yd12awQf0YtEVSDDH6LTHfuYdLHy8CZTmrVo9iY7hiLspz7biIginBuMo/s1600/DSCN2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhco1l1yl3WEMED9RmBwnqSFuCWH-v-g3dDTnb8mkKGUMTseX0eSYZk2rec_ZejPdCZmHMIKHEbAN2vTMVi_5yd12awQf0YtEVSDDH6LTHfuYdLHy8CZTmrVo9iY7hiLspz7biIginBuMo/s320/DSCN2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had a wander along <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnhofstrasse">Bahnhofstrasse</a> to get the full effect of the local standard of living. The window displays are stunning, though this is a very simple one.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEtpFvRctSum4R9Ag6tFR6ORSfXEVepn6AXpLFBIjzfuSdIJr3rmqXn-qC0Ai4fXFk9owzuZSp4SAEtSwM_Ek-CFGs8QKpKQuoVAmkM6drYb7J1HasoqxNLEAx8vOqG7ylCEWH2C88pk/s1600/DSCN2533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEtpFvRctSum4R9Ag6tFR6ORSfXEVepn6AXpLFBIjzfuSdIJr3rmqXn-qC0Ai4fXFk9owzuZSp4SAEtSwM_Ek-CFGs8QKpKQuoVAmkM6drYb7J1HasoqxNLEAx8vOqG7ylCEWH2C88pk/s320/DSCN2533.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there we wandered up towards the river to view the old part of the city.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLfm5gmsDxPr9JsaztRH5lM7Ui718AMMZUbHWhvfnGw7SHiYIaknHZT6V7PeBf9ReG1ZDRoDEvDNwdRdyTbluV61JtbA0FAO6fnprTbM36eDzKde3GlMLkMGoE_6iXzndomtbKMFHVwg/s1600/DSCN2542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLfm5gmsDxPr9JsaztRH5lM7Ui718AMMZUbHWhvfnGw7SHiYIaknHZT6V7PeBf9ReG1ZDRoDEvDNwdRdyTbluV61JtbA0FAO6fnprTbM36eDzKde3GlMLkMGoE_6iXzndomtbKMFHVwg/s320/DSCN2542.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we went to the central station to see the Swarovski christmas tree and to visit the small christmas market there. This of course meant having to sample some gluhwein as it's all part of the tradition! We also had some flammkuchen elsässer, which is like a very thin pizza base with onions, bacon and creme fraiche. It's also quite salty which I think is meant to encourage you to drink more wine!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8gwp-lZFdHKuqm9o0dXAiiNv35FxI8kXFjH_-sHjWV7o42X8AAd4rBG-xhtyR9nCc3ZYzp3uSseT5pjiEnSsvwZrobaoM_-SlZ0us-68fpuO0wF8gP6Wn5JCdfhx4L0s3-RpUzc-X9c/s1600/DSCN2548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8gwp-lZFdHKuqm9o0dXAiiNv35FxI8kXFjH_-sHjWV7o42X8AAd4rBG-xhtyR9nCc3ZYzp3uSseT5pjiEnSsvwZrobaoM_-SlZ0us-68fpuO0wF8gP6Wn5JCdfhx4L0s3-RpUzc-X9c/s320/DSCN2548.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then walked back through some of the narrow streets in the older part of the city which had a very eclectic mix of shops and buildings which included everything from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_Voltaire_(Zurich)">Cabaret Voltaire</a> to ones decorated like this.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmEj6k43oSY7RWkLzGBWnWbb4U3sAXcYARgS54rs68OA0aQF9OAXi6959lrzaOvnXXV_kLYn0lrucwwA7ofJlrbKt6gl9ADaReXnroh5r-jYoIeDOiduLMAikGjwtJe6bHmJUKL5blxY/s1600/DSCN2549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmEj6k43oSY7RWkLzGBWnWbb4U3sAXcYARgS54rs68OA0aQF9OAXi6959lrzaOvnXXV_kLYn0lrucwwA7ofJlrbKt6gl9ADaReXnroh5r-jYoIeDOiduLMAikGjwtJe6bHmJUKL5blxY/s320/DSCN2549.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all this walking the children were starting to grizzle so we caught a tram back home. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all it's been a very intense 48 hours, and most strangely my tummy is staring to rumble again and want food. I fear I may spend most of this trip in my trackies as that will be all I can fit.</span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-70682969333615709532012-12-21T05:19:00.000+13:002012-12-21T05:19:32.375+13:00Bon Voyage<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's way to early in the morning, but I'm all packed and ready to go. Next stop Zurich, closely followed by Milan, Barcelona, Berlin and Paris. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk2eOFgQBFlJY0M66svqJ-zup-TbEx8L3jPHybB2dqhiqmncYhIwwOLqrspwjJtHS8-Ts6pZVhy9T_PGOtgGrHcs8EAXWLcbKLiAXj5N2WlFSQ4dyu-oc-TTeZ4C-KJSjbVPXZB_JmRX8/s1600/WP_000235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk2eOFgQBFlJY0M66svqJ-zup-TbEx8L3jPHybB2dqhiqmncYhIwwOLqrspwjJtHS8-Ts6pZVhy9T_PGOtgGrHcs8EAXWLcbKLiAXj5N2WlFSQ4dyu-oc-TTeZ4C-KJSjbVPXZB_JmRX8/s320/WP_000235.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-75167441503978975722012-12-05T20:05:00.001+13:002012-12-05T20:05:14.017+13:00Deja Vu<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone remember this <a href="http://unpclesbian.blogspot.co.nz/2009/11/boy-sex.html">story</a>? And this <a href="http://unpclesbian.blogspot.co.nz/2008/02/creepy-not-creepy.html">one</a>? Well it seems the man involved has forgotten.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today as I was racing up Lambton in my manic search for the right make up I was tapped on the shoulder. When I turned to see who it was, you can imagine my surprise when I saw it was him. I didn't break my stride, as nothing can stop a woman on the hunt for the exact shade of foundation she needs, so he was compelled to walk at the same pace as I.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He started with the usual compliments, and commented on how I look so different now - my hair is blonde, not a great difference. We exchanged pleasantries about work and then he came out with it, "could we meet up sometime?" he asked. I stated that I was busy, much to busy with no time to spare, and doubled my pace and left him behind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did spend the afternoon chortling away, but do wonder; why would someone persist even after being rebuffed each time, and in the case the last encounter slightly humiliated. I guess the old motto 'more balls than brains' is the only answer.</span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-81445422991272933702012-11-05T21:00:00.001+13:002012-11-05T21:00:43.226+13:00Hello...anybody out there?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello there...is that the sound of echoing silence I hear? Yes, I know I have been very bad blogger. Funny, it seems my blog posts stopped at the time the new job started. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, so life moves on and now I am trying to think of what has happened in the last six months. I am single again. Funny how that happens with such regularity, and it seems I must be getting used to it as I managed to process the break up in record time this time around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've had two ski trips this year one with, and one post the German goddess. I am still recovering from the knee injury incurred on the last trip, but it will not deter me, as soon as I can I will be on the slopes again next year. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstborn has finished her exams, and has one summer paper to do then her degree is finished. Secondborn is still in Australia. She came over for firstborns 21st but sadly it was not a pleasant experience, we are all still processing that one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm on the countdown to the trip to Europe, only seven weeks away. This one is Zurich, Milan, then five days each in Barcelona, Berlin and Paris, then back to Basel and finally Zurich for the flight home. I'm away four weeks in total. I'm already pondering the next adventure, and want to do Vietnam, Cambodia and tick off Angkor Wat next year - if Jetstar would just play nicely and put out some more of those super cheap airfares I purchased for my last Asian jaunt.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am slowly learning Spanish in my attempt to keep dementia at bay. I've lost my study mojo the last few weeks so I need to sharpen up a bit. I've also got distracted by the new phenomenon of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course">MOOC's</a> so am looking for a study topic there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still running, though just sticking with the 5.5k, and still lifting weights, but need to do more of that. Am looking forward to summer and getting some serious road time, though not as serious as NZAlien and her 50 miler - that is just insane!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's it, the last six months in a nutshell. </span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-52001123026264328192012-04-21T08:13:00.002+12:002012-04-21T08:13:58.595+12:00Ta Da......<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All fixed, so pretty, off to get a warrant today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YwhtzKWQlqBTz8GJxlVBuxf_0cgskPfdoRVAfWUAQIM56R3TL77jrpnnTuQkr1OxTjb4HzdpSMm3Nixgny6Q0JyMNsQomKpU5rXyhOpL2x2pghSaK1ODRn9mDGPMnNCGQ0gKMq9jBEo/s1600/WP_000021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YwhtzKWQlqBTz8GJxlVBuxf_0cgskPfdoRVAfWUAQIM56R3TL77jrpnnTuQkr1OxTjb4HzdpSMm3Nixgny6Q0JyMNsQomKpU5rXyhOpL2x2pghSaK1ODRn9mDGPMnNCGQ0gKMq9jBEo/s320/WP_000021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-75810330874591552872012-04-15T15:55:00.002+12:002012-04-15T18:08:25.893+12:00Silver Lining<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the second time in six months a male foreign national has run a stop sign and smashed in to my car. Well, to be exact, the first one drove through a red light and munted my brand new number plate. This current one went through a stop sign and damaged every panel on the passenger side of the car. I had managed to swerve, so avoided totally losing the car, even my panel beater commented that I was very lucky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I of course had a wee verbal melt down on the side of the road, which included such phrases as, "fukkin males, the only panel you haven't damaged on my car is the roof!" I started to call the police, but the driver pleaded no. He admitted full responsibility and said he would pay for the repair. I told him he had 24 hours to pay up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took the car to the panel beater the next morning who gave a quote. I passed this information on to the culprit, and the next day the full sum was sitting in the bank. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the silver lining is that the bad driver was so desperate for me to not report the accident that he paid immediately. And, my panel beater is so keen on a cash job that he's going to paint the bonnet and bumper which I couldn't afford to do with the last repair. So, in a week or so my little Nana car will be back to one colour with no outlay from moi!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FFVFvs2N58bh4zXab9X8GppackXztoa0BobZCT1kbfGxAL9LwTG3MLQNHY45zHe6pZVqej6BbkiAzUW6_fH_e-E4q2jN7ZkjG0IsKqwrtU0UYkfQA_yGU9rANTfI0cz-Ujgw8uroz4s/s1600/morecar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FFVFvs2N58bh4zXab9X8GppackXztoa0BobZCT1kbfGxAL9LwTG3MLQNHY45zHe6pZVqej6BbkiAzUW6_fH_e-E4q2jN7ZkjG0IsKqwrtU0UYkfQA_yGU9rANTfI0cz-Ujgw8uroz4s/s320/morecar.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The German Goddess thinks I'm mad getting it fixed as all it really needs is an indicator light to pass a warrant, but I'm doing it to avoid rust, and so she will look all pretty again and not a clown car. To be continued.</span></span></span></span></span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-86263530861139124092012-04-12T21:30:00.000+12:002012-04-12T21:30:57.873+12:00Malaysian Adventures: Part 1<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the Malaysian adventure has been and gone now, sigh, and it's back to life, back to reality. I had a great time, sickness excluded, one pushing the envelope experience, and found a lovely city that I'd love to visit again. If you're not interested in travel story's, stop reading now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Singapore</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been over 20 years since my last visit, and much much more since I lived there. It is a stunning city, but very quickly came to feel like just a generic international city. I was hugely impressed with the metro. So clean, so efficient, and the masses and masses of stainless steel, granite and glass an indication of the affluence of this country. The no litter policy is so ingrained in the national psyche that there are no litter bins in the stations, because there is no litter. If you purchase a one trip ticket, you then take it back to a machine and get a $1.00 refund, very cool. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR6_GL3gu6Sg-Opjpd6zlNhNvFStk4RoUnOx4U9l4b9A33mJVdMBF-9MUCg0KKrF1PX2LVcT20DqG3C-QP-Z6zqQLCgqQzd3dRizsjvpzhZu1VeaDAcmsMuy-7bfYNaQwmWJfz1J_osw/s1600/Malaysia+%2528257%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR6_GL3gu6Sg-Opjpd6zlNhNvFStk4RoUnOx4U9l4b9A33mJVdMBF-9MUCg0KKrF1PX2LVcT20DqG3C-QP-Z6zqQLCgqQzd3dRizsjvpzhZu1VeaDAcmsMuy-7bfYNaQwmWJfz1J_osw/s320/Malaysia+%2528257%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent the first day wandering around Chinatown and visiting an old shopping mall from my youth, then, after the first in a continuing series of massages, we headed down towards the CBD for a wander. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqm6XDJSGyN92bwCe_7eGzOsDM3BSe7CzEvFwh4yPOaJXb-w76LKZf3Xt_nNe5ei_bAIeFq0_k2vjo3IqhjwwutNhwA3G_0DFVS_q3OTAxk8lf5FGghEUtTbA2PYVEzsCQg9ovtok2BM/s1600/Malaysia+%252836%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqm6XDJSGyN92bwCe_7eGzOsDM3BSe7CzEvFwh4yPOaJXb-w76LKZf3Xt_nNe5ei_bAIeFq0_k2vjo3IqhjwwutNhwA3G_0DFVS_q3OTAxk8lf5FGghEUtTbA2PYVEzsCQg9ovtok2BM/s320/Malaysia+%252836%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemowGfySZiWeS_OdicgbbehDHNfQJAmlQYPND4t5jUc31ttdPAQpsoXefbW63vr3xUZzqKoDZKZj29ZnfZjls3yAsSZ8NaMUFy9Dfz9RTADU7BdxgLqTpmTH_leLvt88k4g0WzP9Iu7o/s1600/Malaysia+%252844%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemowGfySZiWeS_OdicgbbehDHNfQJAmlQYPND4t5jUc31ttdPAQpsoXefbW63vr3xUZzqKoDZKZj29ZnfZjls3yAsSZ8NaMUFy9Dfz9RTADU7BdxgLqTpmTH_leLvt88k4g0WzP9Iu7o/s320/Malaysia+%252844%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night we ended up in Little India, where we had the first of another series, this time yukky food. The only saving grace was these, which I got quite fond of over the journey.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLHwyqH1cB8SZCqlQb2yw5WJXp8J0yJ67cB8l8_u_dU6ChpS37wX8REiimO6_Onah2X1y7up4bYB-TxzJ-Gsuo2RnwAoHw9rF14N5CRrvxMIgqGadTKsOnDgJrla69op0VOkiTDp5N_E/s1600/Malaysia+%252883%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLHwyqH1cB8SZCqlQb2yw5WJXp8J0yJ67cB8l8_u_dU6ChpS37wX8REiimO6_Onah2X1y7up4bYB-TxzJ-Gsuo2RnwAoHw9rF14N5CRrvxMIgqGadTKsOnDgJrla69op0VOkiTDp5N_E/s320/Malaysia+%252883%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day after lunch with old friends and a bit more wandering round we decided to go to Orchard Road. I had been avoiding it, but the German Goddess was interested in finding a particular pair of D & G jeans, so off we went to visit the mecca of consumerism.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kjrYc5-o-iZnGQ0mjDrOAop5GD0d6DYCXQkx0xkBA2gNcBEYLQIoMa7xKgbUwHI5HkB28mw9WE6CLy6lpvqjrBdQzhEB2CCuPWQLjhQjgOcQCYaRr0mv79eNdNp2I6g8HpgLXuAZve4/s1600/Malaysia+%252876%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kjrYc5-o-iZnGQ0mjDrOAop5GD0d6DYCXQkx0xkBA2gNcBEYLQIoMa7xKgbUwHI5HkB28mw9WE6CLy6lpvqjrBdQzhEB2CCuPWQLjhQjgOcQCYaRr0mv79eNdNp2I6g8HpgLXuAZve4/s320/Malaysia+%252876%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The metro drops you at level B4. After more than an hour of navigating a strangely laid out weirdly shaped shopping complex, we finally saw daylight and had found street level. By this stage we were tiring of the masses so decided to ignore the temples of consumerism and just wander and find a place to have a drink. It started to rain as we walked, so we did enter a mall to find a bar. Fortunately I looked at the prices before ordering. We had been paying $5 for a 640ml beer, this Orchard Road bar wanted $12 for a 330 ml. I said sod that, so we jumped back on the metro, popped up at Peoples Park again and consumed our usuals shown above. We also purchased three pairs of shoes while there, a very good beer stop!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we checked out and started the Borneo adventure.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Miri</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri">Miri</a> is a moderate size town in northern Sarawak, East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. We ended up there as an access point to Mulu National Park. Miri has a very large number of foot reflexology and massage shops. That is about all it has. It was interesting though to experience the contrast between highly sanitised Singapore and this town, and I did have an enjoyable feast of crabs the first night. We also had foot massages which was a first. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-V55n3AaQFYD_JsxWqNgxnKUg3mraAdwz2aJPVOK6UzML0zNXeRWQeSRiXg_bSyUo9mP8DMnF4KrUPxxLoYmxzZm4UEmyIvO4QEByYZQcZ7Z-otqGWTL5WQJwYwJyOODD62UJMZvCGk/s1600/P1000166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-V55n3AaQFYD_JsxWqNgxnKUg3mraAdwz2aJPVOK6UzML0zNXeRWQeSRiXg_bSyUo9mP8DMnF4KrUPxxLoYmxzZm4UEmyIvO4QEByYZQcZ7Z-otqGWTL5WQJwYwJyOODD62UJMZvCGk/s320/P1000166.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After wandering around the "downtown" area we decided to visit a park we'd seen on the drive in so caught a bus out there, a slight contrast the shiny stainless steel of Singapore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUvdyhPyGVNLrcLxZj2qyFqvAQRluu1NLPMDSuEJz1UK2RtzKku7xxTsHmfZMkIfS500Vyl-0kgrpk275ow5BBiT0ZssDZWQhVwq_nks2mZ97I1pSD3BP2otVkqTj0eOvmKYrf_7x9-U/s1600/Malaysia+(111).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUvdyhPyGVNLrcLxZj2qyFqvAQRluu1NLPMDSuEJz1UK2RtzKku7xxTsHmfZMkIfS500Vyl-0kgrpk275ow5BBiT0ZssDZWQhVwq_nks2mZ97I1pSD3BP2otVkqTj0eOvmKYrf_7x9-U/s320/Malaysia+(111).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to the park to find we were the only people there, it was Very Odd. We wandered around briefly, but after walking the swing bridge there was not a lot to see or do, so it was off to find a bus back to town. I think the entire park visit lasted seven minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYr7dA9TOtYuAIqcGf7SYHyZvRN_CjKbiO-_lr29gFFxpHXNKASAOmBJO74BKnsbCDKuCCAp0kDuC5DJQXCU7eQA3uQBSsNKQvfgv2LqMZfFm73v4o1v04_hnlLIoaTto8Hn2i-am3hY/s1600/Malaysia+%2528112%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYr7dA9TOtYuAIqcGf7SYHyZvRN_CjKbiO-_lr29gFFxpHXNKASAOmBJO74BKnsbCDKuCCAp0kDuC5DJQXCU7eQA3uQBSsNKQvfgv2LqMZfFm73v4o1v04_hnlLIoaTto8Hn2i-am3hY/s320/Malaysia+%2528112%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next place we wanted to see was Taman Selara, a beach where the Rough Guide had said was a "nice place to watch the sunset, have a beer and sample hawker food". Maybe we should have read the travel <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Miri#b">wiki</a> instead where it says Miri beaches are nothing to shout about. Agreed. It was so ick that the only pictures I took were of crab patterns in the sand. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BvytBdBAF2QYficWr-iegT3Xzho29oXmjzVuI3tKC7MywHOV4wObadcv_CQvvdFElC3BeW27-saXmUpblIOx7nlbksLn4HY87NhtKOeyPWQOaQWWpgJBd5PykGF1KEZmLe_YhTwKMgk/s1600/Malaysia+%2528114%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BvytBdBAF2QYficWr-iegT3Xzho29oXmjzVuI3tKC7MywHOV4wObadcv_CQvvdFElC3BeW27-saXmUpblIOx7nlbksLn4HY87NhtKOeyPWQOaQWWpgJBd5PykGF1KEZmLe_YhTwKMgk/s320/Malaysia+%2528114%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night we had another in the series of awful food, so the day ended up as the visiting the park that wasn't, and the beach that wasn't, followed by the dinner that wasn't. Sigh</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning we packed up and headed off to go visit the critters and caves in the rainforest, which will be coming up in part two.</span></div></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-37758625250726983152012-02-29T21:39:00.001+13:002012-02-29T21:40:22.244+13:00Life Moves On<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh poor neglected blog, I do still love you! As it's now the last day of February I MUST finish this post so at least I have blogged once this month. I have lucked in though with it being 29 Feb, managed to get an extra day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Work</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The big news is of course the new job. I'm staying in law but moving to an IP firm. Similar size to where I am now, but more staff to manage due to the large administration processes involved in trademarks and patents. Lovely brand new premises, and all the usual benefits of car park, phone, gym subsidy plus a few other added extras. I've also taken a significant salary increment, so will be able to give firstborn a decent weekly allowance for her final year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Flatmate</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend who moved in last year had an unexpected meltdown over a dog bark, so moved out mid January. Along the way it turned into a bit of a lesbian drama, so the end result was that I have adopted a zero gay policy in regards to flatmates. I now have a 25 year old boy architecture student as a co tenant. Given the amount of drama and emotional stress he is experiencing with his girlfriend, and the way he is responding to it, I'm positive he really is a lesbian in a boy's body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Camping</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The German Goddess and I have taken to escaping for a night when we can and go camping. We do it in a very low tech manner, so low tech that we had no pillows one night. As you can imagine how it is when two Virgo's get together, we now have a printed check list to tick off each time so nothing is forgotten. We don't even take a tent, just sleep in the car.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCEx7YUBN1xgi5CdTg6bHXnK_3gU_Kyz-e1-J3G1417MLQiwM9Ufu__vXb6DhP0JxdMR9v7xlbvx-lh8VL_bdyrQPXsYn8FuTwFCX2vOiecCMZMpE6HZe2yqniWQ69qHOdv7RgRNsOvw/s1600/IMG-20120217-00382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCEx7YUBN1xgi5CdTg6bHXnK_3gU_Kyz-e1-J3G1417MLQiwM9Ufu__vXb6DhP0JxdMR9v7xlbvx-lh8VL_bdyrQPXsYn8FuTwFCX2vOiecCMZMpE6HZe2yqniWQ69qHOdv7RgRNsOvw/s320/IMG-20120217-00382.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even our "fridge" is low tech, but it does work well for keeping the beers cold</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8W1DMB-ALkG0Mr8YAs5syLYzqgyXf0vdVRJknW3Sa6JWlVfosGbTAq97SuNwLa2CNGbSSp-it98T1CotHoM_bnY80M_v0h9lcWg6wbblEf-PVs7woEBkfket-RZ7495iKcGnI8rvsWo/s1600/IMG-20120217-00381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8W1DMB-ALkG0Mr8YAs5syLYzqgyXf0vdVRJknW3Sa6JWlVfosGbTAq97SuNwLa2CNGbSSp-it98T1CotHoM_bnY80M_v0h9lcWg6wbblEf-PVs7woEBkfket-RZ7495iKcGnI8rvsWo/s320/IMG-20120217-00381.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this was the view we went to sleep with on the last adventure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajiwdYE6AlFSxMC3JiO4cZLCW6p11vpYcbB09iXWDvxMLaZ6mwSjcC7EutWpCvqWAZS06KHl-RtLYB1VvTi4848uZBbXCmB1TAehzLY76KzfCZc5lwrB11WAF2r0vOjq4TK6TfVf71vI/s1600/IMG-20120217-00399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajiwdYE6AlFSxMC3JiO4cZLCW6p11vpYcbB09iXWDvxMLaZ6mwSjcC7EutWpCvqWAZS06KHl-RtLYB1VvTi4848uZBbXCmB1TAehzLY76KzfCZc5lwrB11WAF2r0vOjq4TK6TfVf71vI/s320/IMG-20120217-00399.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Travel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In two weeks time I'm off to Singapore and Malaysia for a wee adventure with the German Goddess. We got ridiculously cheap flights from a Jetstar sale months and months ago, and now finally the adventure is about to happen. I have in the interim purchased a luggage allowance so I can take some clothes, and maybe purchase a few items. We fly into Singapore and spend three days there, and then on to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri">Miri</a> in Borneo. From there we head into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunung_Mulu_National_Park">Mulu National Park</a> for a couple of nights. I am looking forward to the caves, bats, rivers and I really hope I get to see a shrew. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the rainforest and geological adventures it's back to Miri then down to Kuching, the main city. From here we will go see the <a href="http://www.malaysiahotelreview.com/sarawak/destination/semenggoh-wildlife-centre.shtml">orang utans</a>, and possibly another national park. I have found a wee <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Santubong">mountain</a> to climb, as we missed out on doing Kinabalu, however that still has to be discussed. Also at this point I have to have my "time on a beach doing nothing". From there it's back to Singapore then home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Spawn</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstborn is back and starting third year next week. She's managed to get her old job back with more hours so not so stressed. She is also doing a show on campus radio with a pal, so of course Mummy is glowing with pride, and especially as she plays very cool music. So, Wednesdays from 1 to 3pm you can stream it <a href="http://vbc.org.nz/wordpress/">here</a>. She now wants a set of decks. Wonder where she got that from?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondborn is doing well in Melbourne. She has a good job with a talent recruitment agency that manages three brands. Even though she does find it dull at times she says she will stay with it for a couple of years as she realises the value of having good solid work periods on her cv. She's moved into a new flat with a friend and is gradually setting it up. So funny to see her facebook status about being excited to finally have a washing machine. It really has been the best move for her, and is pleasing to see and hear the change and maturing of her attitude and how she lives her life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Running</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I ran the Round the Bays last week and did my best time ever, 42.20. I was in the top 90% for my age group, and as I was wearing a timing tag for another who was unable to run I also came in the top 75% for the 30 to 39 age group. The dog did a good time too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So there you have it, a wee update. As you can see I am enjoying the empty nest life and look forward to the change, opportunities and adventures that this time of my life has to offer.</span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-82319106699233607852012-01-09T21:21:00.000+13:002012-01-09T21:21:44.123+13:00The New Year Begins<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New Year started with watching the fireworks over Sydney harbour. By climbing a handrail conveniently attached to a rock wall, then holding on to the wire fence on top of the wall, we got an unobstructed view of the show (and the home owners having a party with their guests!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hsQuf6Ia5Xyh2KjyLKPRMwJoSNimSalO9JXFkv3MiaQju0O3Frr2vMiWlvWfxWtJcloqVDk6u0yACJ57yVErvvb6rpuH1Ac9JBi4Q2_faFvSe4O_MvHI2xL_wAf0agmKcd5ESBCFas4/s1600/Xmas+and+Sydney+108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hsQuf6Ia5Xyh2KjyLKPRMwJoSNimSalO9JXFkv3MiaQju0O3Frr2vMiWlvWfxWtJcloqVDk6u0yACJ57yVErvvb6rpuH1Ac9JBi4Q2_faFvSe4O_MvHI2xL_wAf0agmKcd5ESBCFas4/s320/Xmas+and+Sydney+108.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we raise our hands in pleasure? After warm but dull weather it turned into a stunning calm night so the fireworks were mirrored on the water.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRJkjMjKd3lny_-bSICS2XzzcGcKgHyTIKNBwG73LUGNNRoYJRI4OJD9sJJVVnj4JdZHua3IKcFaGmqgZ3kFDW298j63AwpZr6ioQmHAk_cz7t8s1IfsM6NnSkLPv1YCYyVcOIcz3eMM/s1600/Xmas+and+Sydney+110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRJkjMjKd3lny_-bSICS2XzzcGcKgHyTIKNBwG73LUGNNRoYJRI4OJD9sJJVVnj4JdZHua3IKcFaGmqgZ3kFDW298j63AwpZr6ioQmHAk_cz7t8s1IfsM6NnSkLPv1YCYyVcOIcz3eMM/s320/Xmas+and+Sydney+110.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were staying in Double Bay, pool at the bottom of the stairs followed by the sea. This was the standard view.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEKVd-op_rqsKT6gJP_Gm2NY1TI1CVNNHptexBiKCbI2EwVCVdAavjoVyaGUCoHn6dbVutYo-_9xv_PCfrIbAiprgeZUBBA_D4osJfqdVCmMTQ5AKXSIH8NrhSU4SVgouQEISrYrBYmg/s1600/Xmas+and+Sydney+060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEKVd-op_rqsKT6gJP_Gm2NY1TI1CVNNHptexBiKCbI2EwVCVdAavjoVyaGUCoHn6dbVutYo-_9xv_PCfrIbAiprgeZUBBA_D4osJfqdVCmMTQ5AKXSIH8NrhSU4SVgouQEISrYrBYmg/s320/Xmas+and+Sydney+060.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also spent a bit of time at the house in Woollahra where our kind hosts office was located. A few doors up the road was this piece of mosaic sculpture in the front garden of a property.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeqN-Y3A-3wFLrD01fdKLHxmFLWVOtwykA6w5NOhmLJBv85JHT7znYaWmll4T0lkwFZKkgJzh56255TxjcMTcXBjm8WAmyBFyB-AnXJaZD8P3X9LsvWUEwrY-09HREHSwEKZLoCKSKh4/s1600/Xmas+and+Sydney+054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeqN-Y3A-3wFLrD01fdKLHxmFLWVOtwykA6w5NOhmLJBv85JHT7znYaWmll4T0lkwFZKkgJzh56255TxjcMTcXBjm8WAmyBFyB-AnXJaZD8P3X9LsvWUEwrY-09HREHSwEKZLoCKSKh4/s320/Xmas+and+Sydney+054.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very cool. On New Years day we went to Manly beach with approximately 675893058376838 other people.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSKTmRYSjnzkGrXmi-lAKqzn1A5XLHFz_qKu5l0q1JmQwM7vJI3cb461eVDS0hNrxalA35vs4Hht8jNLac90S1gDUn3NuU1ynzdUmXS4gyTKEViVNWniiL8fRLZGcHvjP010p74xRaG0/s1600/IMG_0425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSKTmRYSjnzkGrXmi-lAKqzn1A5XLHFz_qKu5l0q1JmQwM7vJI3cb461eVDS0hNrxalA35vs4Hht8jNLac90S1gDUn3NuU1ynzdUmXS4gyTKEViVNWniiL8fRLZGcHvjP010p74xRaG0/s320/IMG_0425.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, we found a nice spot and played in the sun and surf all day. The final day we did a spot of kayaking before I jumped on the plane.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQg2zaXhT0NvvyJiFI0FpCOWfzAFYAlEjkUdjaYTN3Nl2JV-ZbMXE5Aat6PMcPWszQd2XyN72i2Y4JL3jSTZzdgnJs8VUNtxv-As0NCY8dJAldY9kRsQQCfvmI1gr7unRkJuZK2wzYdE/s1600/kayak.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQg2zaXhT0NvvyJiFI0FpCOWfzAFYAlEjkUdjaYTN3Nl2JV-ZbMXE5Aat6PMcPWszQd2XyN72i2Y4JL3jSTZzdgnJs8VUNtxv-As0NCY8dJAldY9kRsQQCfvmI1gr7unRkJuZK2wzYdE/s320/kayak.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lovely relaxed holiday was had, and I'm now busying myself making little memento treats for our hosts and their children.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Returning home also meant back to work, and returning to a piece of unsettling drama which involved a visit to the Police, but that is a whole other story. For now I just want to bask in the peace of my holiday.......while I work on planning for the next one.</span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-18801963109332577622011-12-14T18:19:00.000+13:002011-12-14T18:19:12.089+13:00One for the Boys<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guess who this is? Her blog is on the list.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYSABtrI_pIDdGD6htpQHM7jLsd6j4_lSoCX0ib5a-Lmaw7o2kcmWwWz0aVQYK_dcEUUZ6HGyPPKME1N-fZqoGFB4YskZEmfSiM298oh5AwMiNrHUU6Hs48X4bEh7OHQ64JEEpNi4EJs/s1600/Alyona_073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYSABtrI_pIDdGD6htpQHM7jLsd6j4_lSoCX0ib5a-Lmaw7o2kcmWwWz0aVQYK_dcEUUZ6HGyPPKME1N-fZqoGFB4YskZEmfSiM298oh5AwMiNrHUU6Hs48X4bEh7OHQ64JEEpNi4EJs/s320/Alyona_073.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-43616811762476458602011-11-28T21:59:00.000+13:002011-11-28T21:59:52.980+13:00Status Update<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're approaching the time of year when people tend to look back and reflect on the year that has been. I was having this conversation with the other half of Rockstar Productions last week, as like myself her life has changed massively in the last year. She calls it her year of detoxifying her life. Mine has been more a year of personal life change and jumping out of boxes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Since August I have been living the empty nest life. I don't know why some people see this stage of the parenting cycle negatively, as I think it's wonderful and totally embrace the freedoms I now have. The child is doing well in Oz, and her making that move is what she needed to get her life started. She was stagnating here, now she has taken responsibility for her life and is working hard to succeed. Firstborn has finished her second year at University and is back in the Bay doing summer work. The only fly in the family ointment is that my Mother has had a couple of health issues this year, and we can no longer ignore the fact that we don't live forever. A sobering thought that was driven home on my visit last weekend. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The empty nest life means I now have a flatmate, so the rent and bill reduction means I also have new found financial freedom. This is where jumping out of boxes comes in. On one level I feel I "should" save all this extra loot, as I have been conditioned to be a good squirrel for later life, however I am fighting that impulse and instead spending on myself, and lots of travel adventures. After my holiday in America earlier this year, and also acknowledging the influence of the person in the next paragraph, I just want to spend the next few years seeing as much of the world as I can cram in, plus having more adventures here at home as well. I can see that skiing is going to feature large next winter. I stopped travelling a few years prior to breeding, so now it's time get the backpack out again. Well actually, will probably have to purchase a new one as the old one really is too cumbersome. Next stop Sydney, followed closely by Singapore, Malaysia and Borneo.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The other huge thing is my life this year is that I have a girlfriend, of the monogamous committed relationship kind. (being lesbians these things must be defined!) This too is major box jump for me, as after the deceit of the woman I dated last summer I had sworn never again. Single and celibate was the motto. After the last long term ended several years ago, as regular readers know, I decided monogamy wasn't working for me so spent three years dating many, committing to none. With the lover from last summer I started to feel that I now wanted more, until the lies and deceit happened. I then totally shut down.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Being in such a shut down state I was totally unaware of the German goddess's interest in me, until she kissed me on the dance floor one certain evening. So slowly, slowly we got to know each other. Again another jumping out of box experience, as I had to face and articulate fears, acknowledge and discuss them, and then finally let myself just take the chance and enjoy the love and warmth that was being given to me. I think of it as the most honest relationship I have had, and we both consciously strive for that. It makes me very happy. I must say though that unlike most lesbians we will NOT be moving in together. We both like our own homes, our together time and our separate time, so no u-haul for us.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One final change this year, besides going blonde, is that I voted. I guess that means I now have to change my profile on here. There has also been the usual running races, putting on events even though I swore never again, and the great car reregistration drama, just to name a few. Life most certainly is vastly different from what it was this time last year.</span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-30567562843508772322011-11-22T21:17:00.002+13:002011-11-22T21:23:39.762+13:00Dinner Date<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstborn has been staying and we went out to dinner with the Father last night. This was a very significant event as it's the first time we have had a "family" dinner in eleven years. It was a pleasant evening, and firstborn totally enjoyed the fine food, wine and flowing conversation.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We dined at <a href="http://www.ambeli.co.nz/">Ambeli</a>, an award winning restaurant where the German goddess and I had dined a few weeks earlier. As the evening unfolded the Father behaved as expected, with his default setting of pretentious prat. When we arrived he was having a wee boys moment with the maitre d', they were trying to out cool each other. Once seated the maitre d' then asked if it he could select the wines to match our food choices, to which the Father agreed. In the world of winemakers and sommeliers this is akin to throwing down the gauntlet. At this point I indicated that I wasn't drinking.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ordered, and once the order was in the maitre d', Shae, as by this time we had heard his whole family history, brought the first round of wines. He did pour me a small taste to match my ordered dish. The meal then continued in this manner. A cheeseboard was brought out at one point, and the Father was poured yet another red wine. Finally the bill was presented.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike the Father I was able to read the bill without resorting to spectacles. The number on it was staggering despite no charge being made for any wine tastes poured for me. As I have recently been ill, as well as not drinking I had only ordered two entrees and a small salad, a total investment of $45. Once the very generous voucher the Father held had been deducted there was still over $160 to pay, to which the Father said "let's just halve it." I started to protest, but realised it would be to no avail so I sucked it up and duly paid for twice what I had consumed. Firstborn was gobsmacked and sat there rolling her eyes. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the Father returned from paying his share he then proceeded to moan that the winery would only cover $70 of what he had paid, obviously his feeding allowance when on the road. The miserable git was moaning because he'd just consumed three courses of food, four glasses of expensive wine, and was having to personally fork out $10 for it! Fortunately the waiter had cleared all glassware and cutlery from the table otherwise I wouldn't have been able to resist.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If a "family" dinner is ever to occur again you can guarantee that I will be firmly setting the parameters before even a sip of water is taken.</span></span></span></span></span></span>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-9241184417110284912011-11-08T18:23:00.000+13:002011-11-08T18:23:43.719+13:00Tick Done<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To those that didn't attend, and you know who I'm talking about Ms Crazy Housewife and Ms life without ben, you missed a great night.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_LZrUWpU0YuJ64VB57lcpQmF1dvO3fcjECgi_gQD9O-xkhgteyTcF3wXyDH3ew984oQnjyoUFn7sp8yCeGD11oKk6ZZdGEbR3YCHQjvQk9AJaXbNcGNcJTbh6vcDxHBjuJbg8ZB5_vQ/s1600/DSC_0079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_LZrUWpU0YuJ64VB57lcpQmF1dvO3fcjECgi_gQD9O-xkhgteyTcF3wXyDH3ew984oQnjyoUFn7sp8yCeGD11oKk6ZZdGEbR3YCHQjvQk9AJaXbNcGNcJTbh6vcDxHBjuJbg8ZB5_vQ/s320/DSC_0079.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More regular transmission may resume shortly as I get around to finishing some of the drafts that are yelling at me.</span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-20394816686716348272011-10-17T21:06:00.000+13:002011-10-17T21:06:39.398+13:00All Better!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Car and fingers that is. After emptying my bank account I now have my car back and looking prettier than ever.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mekfA7t8k-pcu47kRbT8xEgp4ZMXl0ialbsMixTKJxQO0_8QffXlrXVKNl8QQmBQ7tk1TZG7e4OxTGBNrUbhWZulduyZW8MQnkFp-T3TJykIp9F6eIEnW1GuSW8-kCqnXWUO-_oGLI0/s1600/fixcar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mekfA7t8k-pcu47kRbT8xEgp4ZMXl0ialbsMixTKJxQO0_8QffXlrXVKNl8QQmBQ7tk1TZG7e4OxTGBNrUbhWZulduyZW8MQnkFp-T3TJykIp9F6eIEnW1GuSW8-kCqnXWUO-_oGLI0/s320/fixcar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have promised the panel beater that I may paint her in the future, however I now think maybe just the bumper. I quite like the red bonnet with the blue badge. Interestingly all the males involved in the process agree that I have done the right thing in repairing her, and I now have a fully certified safe car that only has 83,000k on the clock. She had to be weighed as part of the process, and phew, she is also not overweight.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've had another weekend on the snow and this time at Turoa. The universe turned on breathtakingly stunning day for us,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnfIDNJo5oShnPA6-4I8-EMkNRlY6ra-AoTm5JX8qjf8PL01lIKYRYqZkgwF_WDP9Dun4neD5fCspiqxfnbNsiICTx4lu2nP-fb9_X82Zt4BDaJuYex4qYY20bv14-EmQ0gogRWPS-D0/s1600/Turoa+016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnfIDNJo5oShnPA6-4I8-EMkNRlY6ra-AoTm5JX8qjf8PL01lIKYRYqZkgwF_WDP9Dun4neD5fCspiqxfnbNsiICTx4lu2nP-fb9_X82Zt4BDaJuYex4qYY20bv14-EmQ0gogRWPS-D0/s320/Turoa+016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and even this little mishap didn't distract too much from the fabulous day.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qh7sTNpcCsmf1huwbkbZW7J4Qi4r4CAGXGDwL5651QBuv9Z9f-tM6IXdcXm6C48Dg7kXI7mu5n_sMZa6jGziLfChra9IxO3HJl9JmvwBKIUQWih51AISAX5r8mIHCXdpBnhCeeRzGkg/s1600/finger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qh7sTNpcCsmf1huwbkbZW7J4Qi4r4CAGXGDwL5651QBuv9Z9f-tM6IXdcXm6C48Dg7kXI7mu5n_sMZa6jGziLfChra9IxO3HJl9JmvwBKIUQWih51AISAX5r8mIHCXdpBnhCeeRzGkg/s320/finger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time I actually donned skis for the first time in over 25 years, and I'm hooked. The new format skis make it so easy, I just want to do more. This one is from the start of the day when I was trying to remember how it all went. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79A_i1hGcf3BjJwF57k9F0HnGDK11a15YtDMH4keAlFyKNzKuHqukzcr_MMKYCUSvOTnIhf0o9ppbiGKPucRP1WFdoC7TIpYZlpHp57AUh3k06tSkHnJczLSmW4BM5AsQEja_kmpHj_U/s1600/Turoa+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79A_i1hGcf3BjJwF57k9F0HnGDK11a15YtDMH4keAlFyKNzKuHqukzcr_MMKYCUSvOTnIhf0o9ppbiGKPucRP1WFdoC7TIpYZlpHp57AUh3k06tSkHnJczLSmW4BM5AsQEja_kmpHj_U/s320/Turoa+007.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the finger damage interlude I spent the rest of the day on the intermediate slope.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHPccjxtYypVQdqfRiKcylJQ3ZHzha8Ia4eHpRZ_GFTJPsy32Ne0KrfUachoWbJQ7D9cERQIVBQ2iWrzg_STlQqLK2WtjY7pUTYLyLHgzIkWt1aS_kQUZUafz6QNZTbZo-gdti3tx-wU/s1600/Turoa+045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHPccjxtYypVQdqfRiKcylJQ3ZHzha8Ia4eHpRZ_GFTJPsy32Ne0KrfUachoWbJQ7D9cERQIVBQ2iWrzg_STlQqLK2WtjY7pUTYLyLHgzIkWt1aS_kQUZUafz6QNZTbZo-gdti3tx-wU/s320/Turoa+045.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next time I hope I will figure out what the poles are for.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ball weekend is fast approaching, under two weeks now, so I'm starting to get a bit fretty about it, along with the fact that I may not be able to fit my costume. However, all you lesbians out there I hope you have your ticket, you won't want to miss the biggest party of the year.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRr1ZhMt5U2JrUtje1taB_aE5vywIyajukseCzz6zjQQ5Uaw3I3rlnbcZPD1Tw5vfQGUqqb5afhFMcZ9Y2InLutLtlCv3sVOnYr9HZltvsfuoVu2Jrol7YuJbyvhjC4K8JVbuz1cq0Sp4/s1600/Rockstar+Halloween+2011+Poster+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRr1ZhMt5U2JrUtje1taB_aE5vywIyajukseCzz6zjQQ5Uaw3I3rlnbcZPD1Tw5vfQGUqqb5afhFMcZ9Y2InLutLtlCv3sVOnYr9HZltvsfuoVu2Jrol7YuJbyvhjC4K8JVbuz1cq0Sp4/s320/Rockstar+Halloween+2011+Poster+small.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See you all there.</span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-40041381159634501682011-09-26T22:03:00.001+13:002011-09-26T22:04:10.578+13:00Bad Blogger<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I now officially have the title of being THE worst blogger, but, but - life has been busy!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly I've had the two insurance saga's to deal with.One good one bad. This is the start of the bad insurance story.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtb39tGxwmg0kIXhpTnW7Fug68NWNNKXvPtjbPjTZzlVJhgXLvMTXZACEDwujH4I4JAQ5SgLa0FfqYRwbn4vSG2qP5BWCrIiiRhT6WaJ9mP-PiTEXC4mwM8N-qv0EjxouJqtjm7ew-C8/s1600/car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtb39tGxwmg0kIXhpTnW7Fug68NWNNKXvPtjbPjTZzlVJhgXLvMTXZACEDwujH4I4JAQ5SgLa0FfqYRwbn4vSG2qP5BWCrIiiRhT6WaJ9mP-PiTEXC4mwM8N-qv0EjxouJqtjm7ew-C8/s320/car.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I won't go into the full story, but it seems an insurance company can make decisions, and do legal things about ownership and registration, without feeling the need inform car "owner" at any point. Unlike the travel insurance company (the good story) who very promptly paid out for the bracelet I unfortunately lost while in America.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To take my mind off the car drama I went here</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1qF__v7jjRe89OtwNx71xf5r0uaJEXJ1g8MfKcnPSCvUiIi_YN9-W1_aGa5G7591nSH-cg5AszHi3VePq69hpYHvPpmHuybqqgH73hV1gq-AAqPC0Ttz7atw0FzVajkXEyrLFOh53CE/s1600/SnowMountain+026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1qF__v7jjRe89OtwNx71xf5r0uaJEXJ1g8MfKcnPSCvUiIi_YN9-W1_aGa5G7591nSH-cg5AszHi3VePq69hpYHvPpmHuybqqgH73hV1gq-AAqPC0Ttz7atw0FzVajkXEyrLFOh53CE/s320/SnowMountain+026.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for a bit of this</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1tuzaywAz-XTeowgNaU_k_zxOWKkLzU9JtKKoXzrIPpACB69GnRP9_h1YcsZyubsImHDzS5aW7XtPbeSusvrsVNo9_-rRKgokXzauVGmUu3W0-m9zj3mLw3_A5KAXK6Jxao8uRMN3XM/s1600/SnowMountain+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1tuzaywAz-XTeowgNaU_k_zxOWKkLzU9JtKKoXzrIPpACB69GnRP9_h1YcsZyubsImHDzS5aW7XtPbeSusvrsVNo9_-rRKgokXzauVGmUu3W0-m9zj3mLw3_A5KAXK6Jxao8uRMN3XM/s320/SnowMountain+003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm heading up again this weekend but this time I will put the long trippy uppy things on the end of my feet so I can spend the day falling over, and pay a fortune do so! While on that trip I got up close and personal with this one.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Nwg53scryvstG7-EFQxdpHKdJZNGq_gidp0zi9W3uJYE-1qRk3Jh_CDNlnBgQtEPo3jIQbEh7WfbOnkW-WRsz5OkiWS8RPCZvVopYV2EqTtnXaJzMUJHyWg9vPViBeogn2iRgNMCaZ8/s1600/SnowMountain+023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Nwg53scryvstG7-EFQxdpHKdJZNGq_gidp0zi9W3uJYE-1qRk3Jh_CDNlnBgQtEPo3jIQbEh7WfbOnkW-WRsz5OkiWS8RPCZvVopYV2EqTtnXaJzMUJHyWg9vPViBeogn2iRgNMCaZ8/s320/SnowMountain+023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And come January I'm going to climb the fukker. Will do the full crossing and nip up to the top along the way.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> When I got back I managed to temporarily fix the car, you may recognise the piece of plastic.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpa3ixtIObNoVrErDZXogmYRtBuQkQqo1nbrI3CdjQKD-nAre6t5VDa1nBGUMI3R0KDypNk45k2LeShm7Fnm4JLBnXfh5UrID8qFeWyF8A1hKp2SaxZJ0usOTBywlCkLCP2djP020oZI/s1600/fixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpa3ixtIObNoVrErDZXogmYRtBuQkQqo1nbrI3CdjQKD-nAre6t5VDa1nBGUMI3R0KDypNk45k2LeShm7Fnm4JLBnXfh5UrID8qFeWyF8A1hKp2SaxZJ0usOTBywlCkLCP2djP020oZI/s1600/fixed.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's now with the man with a big belly and tattoos getting road worthy again, though thanks to a vital piece of misinformation from the NZTA call centre, it is going to cost slightly more than $100 to re register and make legal again. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along the way I have had one of these</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0ylio7WZxEvPQdJPHBWeIZqwN3biUC2HLAC9W_zd2ffXOUQn3WJF3FYb5T2LSA-8J5rBBXTi_JDgsKj30OyN8nEgG0LcI4bBEA9k_7lYl2HfCsw8eXSTxkyaadfYkSgI3iCqPIxHfJc/s1600/birthday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0ylio7WZxEvPQdJPHBWeIZqwN3biUC2HLAC9W_zd2ffXOUQn3WJF3FYb5T2LSA-8J5rBBXTi_JDgsKj30OyN8nEgG0LcI4bBEA9k_7lYl2HfCsw8eXSTxkyaadfYkSgI3iCqPIxHfJc/s320/birthday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And as I was truly pampered by my gorgeous girlfriend I created a bit of art for her during the day</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP78Od3V4igX7kCzNc9u-5ILp4DY4zqlG_Cx3HesnB7lwQHraAa4NtJLXWGvGdgSeJz5cxStHHgK7HU6V1USYHVzCl1qo-lWROEisenWWmTm0Adq1QgluJY2kvY2v2fBBN_T8-Z4iuick/s1600/heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP78Od3V4igX7kCzNc9u-5ILp4DY4zqlG_Cx3HesnB7lwQHraAa4NtJLXWGvGdgSeJz5cxStHHgK7HU6V1USYHVzCl1qo-lWROEisenWWmTm0Adq1QgluJY2kvY2v2fBBN_T8-Z4iuick/s1600/heart.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have also done another race, first in my age group, fourth in open women grade, committed to doing this <a href="http://www.mountain2searelay.co.nz/">race</a>, and a triathalon in November, and - even though I swore never again, I am doing another lesbian event.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBbcVz6USmbFCatNco-5lFgXRsBz4uMZOO5Zzq3YZyKdPN4NVAM2Et-SmqO13jDNOMMJTxlz5Wkux-nIuged89XmHkqqPcL_6TPPSU9mA8u5T8CeiBxlcWQhk5uSSbiIAUk_yDZ5Jivo/s1600/RH2011_miniPoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBbcVz6USmbFCatNco-5lFgXRsBz4uMZOO5Zzq3YZyKdPN4NVAM2Et-SmqO13jDNOMMJTxlz5Wkux-nIuged89XmHkqqPcL_6TPPSU9mA8u5T8CeiBxlcWQhk5uSSbiIAUk_yDZ5Jivo/s320/RH2011_miniPoster.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So you see, I'm not telling fibs when I say busy! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will hopefully get my car back this week, which is good as that saga will finally be over, but sad as I've been driving Dolly the last two weeks. A good friend has loaned me her car while she is out of town and I really don't want to give her back, I'm sure you can see why.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1g4m1oo9GaJfXmk0oYi0PCgK5sl2bWlFFXPHVj5wlr-305eIKfzm74vGdJlk0y7AM1H1qWv-T1SxNip6HT5wjDIJD81PnS_-pJRFjL719PtIeWvHuiJda0eh5K5AQM-mjA_6JeLyuyFQ/s1600/redcar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1g4m1oo9GaJfXmk0oYi0PCgK5sl2bWlFFXPHVj5wlr-305eIKfzm74vGdJlk0y7AM1H1qWv-T1SxNip6HT5wjDIJD81PnS_-pJRFjL719PtIeWvHuiJda0eh5K5AQM-mjA_6JeLyuyFQ/s320/redcar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that is my life the last few weeks. Oh yeah, the child is still in Oz and still alive. </span></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364014399716631400.post-31291814895132238262011-08-16T20:24:00.000+12:002011-08-16T20:24:59.283+12:00Juxtaposition<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTtd2fnkYMe9xWDJs9ASfTSIXlR6EIoCXD-SI-7t1Xi7o6pGD8NI7kfGRAcSmv2vwXt4CNEvJ8VXcuv7LL1vzZO07bbMTH-wmtyDI3RVYw3NdEvRmO4GPiUi52JGcnVd2ZP0SVYB9hlE/s1600/childroom+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTtd2fnkYMe9xWDJs9ASfTSIXlR6EIoCXD-SI-7t1Xi7o6pGD8NI7kfGRAcSmv2vwXt4CNEvJ8VXcuv7LL1vzZO07bbMTH-wmtyDI3RVYw3NdEvRmO4GPiUi52JGcnVd2ZP0SVYB9hlE/s320/childroom+001.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYRm11YKd8wwTO_BlXU5cvZNuD-6rTOH_S2-OvlZjPZk4BAaxAQTR1667m7E_UfyZBWCwLjsTMQCGQiMV-9tHz_StYW4KfOC5Vn3iW6DRah70yegOHZDOWN8yY7yf0IffG8jJlFZFyec/s1600/juxt+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYRm11YKd8wwTO_BlXU5cvZNuD-6rTOH_S2-OvlZjPZk4BAaxAQTR1667m7E_UfyZBWCwLjsTMQCGQiMV-9tHz_StYW4KfOC5Vn3iW6DRah70yegOHZDOWN8yY7yf0IffG8jJlFZFyec/s320/juxt+002.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The End.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>unPC lesbianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03965837109136213527noreply@blogger.com8