Ok ... So this blog has been a long time coming...

Aghhh I am by myself and I am going nuts. I even miss the kids screaming... but i guess its ok i am just scrap booking this week and i have been being a bit of a cook and trying out new recipes!!! if im lucky i am even going to try and make a carrot cake for the girls for after class on wednesday xo

so since my last post i have been to munich germany!! after realising that i cant be by myself the whole time i decided on wednesday to go and do a tour that was recommended from my lonely planet book! it was a tour at dachau one of hitlers concentration camps on the outskirts of munich. seeing as modern history interests me it was fascinating for me to actually be there knowing what went on at this site only 60 years ago. the memorial site was only opened in 1965 but it is there to remind future generations of the atrocities that occured there and act as a warning so hopefully something like that wont happen again. on a more happier note later that night i then went to tolwood markets. a huge market at the same place of oktoberfest, so you can imagine how huge this thing was!! i got a caricature done and wandered around but i was really tired so walked home pretty early.

on thursday there was a bit of a mix up with the tour lady who said i could go to the castle.... mmm shame the tour didnt run on thursdays so i bit the bullet and decided to make my own way there and do it by myself. 3 hours, 1 train and 2 buses i was in the bavarian alps. from the bottom you can see neuschaswenstein castle and its spectacular. up close its magnitude is amazing and to think that king ludwig didnt even get to complete it before his strange death is surreal considering that the castle is already so big and fantastic!!

friday i had a rushed day and quickly went to the munich olympic park and also the bmw museum!! tested myself with the deutch transport system and have to say that in switzerland it is so much better and easier !!

finally home then on friday night after the bus drive from hell with a suicidal driver who was no kidding just driving through thick fog on a freeway. at one point i went up the front of the bus to see if i could see anything and NOPE this dude was just driving until we basically hit something! what an exciting life i lead.
met up with jenny friday night after being a loner tourist for the last few days. we then met up with hillary and this other girl and went to see 'the holiday'... very good movie for anyone who cares and a nice way to spend a friday night i must say!!

saturday was speedily spent shopping for laceys dinner party and then i made the successful journey to her house which is a good 45 mins away from me and IN ANOTHER COUNTRY ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD so i was heaps proud of myself for navigating my way to winkel!!! oh and ps i am about 99% sure that i will get (a) a speeding ticket or (b) some other traffic offense sent to me for that weekend so please dont worry if you never hear of my travelling stories again its because i no longer have access to the car!!

mmmm sunday amanda, lacey and i went to winterthur again because we liked it so much.... just had a wander and lovely coffee in an overpriced cafe (oh my god ... overpriced in switzerland??? - neverrrrrr) and we all decided that winterthur is also known as rain town because the last two times we have been there it has been raining wet and cold!

so from monday through to thursday i offically became a bum after my previous week of jetsetting. i made a plan of the many things i needed to do like scrapbooking, studying, etc etc but i really just lazed around and did nothing. i cooked, emailed, researched my florence trip and put on weight - no i seriously did!!! i wanted to go swimming the whole time but i was sick and lonely and feeling sorry for myself how i still actually do now so no physical exercise was performed and now i am a regualr boombalarder!!!

so once i dropped the car to the airport for the monnerats on thursday i met my dear little lacey at zurich hc which has recently been renamed by myself because of its overpopulated bunch of heros who concgregate here. i feel abnormal because i have no dog collar around my neck, spiky hair, makeup like dracula and/or the desire to look like slob of the year!! so back to my story lacey and i went to this candle display where people (who knows who) drifted canldles down the limmatt and into the night - a few people came down for a peek but it was a nice evening because we had a wander (with my luggage noisily trailing behind me) and then went for dessert at papa joes and met up with julian.

so what started as a normal enjoyable evening got decidedly worse as i boarded my night train to florence!!! the 'couchette' was ummm a row of three chairs and some blankets and italian grandmas who snored and annoyed me!!! if it wasnt for my ear plugs and the fact that i stayed up the whole night before i may have just sat there and cried!!

but the trip improved once arriving in florence (at a random firenze station and not the main stop) but more to come on my christmas adventure soon.

auf weirdesehen (**spelling**)

Guten Abend!! Im in Deutchland!!

so i actually think along with my baby brain i am getting amnesia as i cant for the life of me remember what i did last week (so it cant have been that exciting) but here goes....
so early on in the week i am pretty sure i didnt do anything. monday was a nightmare with the kids because they were tired etc. so it was a fun day with them fighting, biting, kicking and screaming....
tuesday things went fine and then i babysat whilst catherine went to her bookclub dinner.
on wednesday i just went swimming and had german class and was supposed to meet up with hillary and jenny but we then moved it to thursday. so at 8.30 i met hillary (because jenny couldnt come) at haupt bahnhof and we went to the 'movie bar' for dessert and a drink. hillary is really nice but she is a bit me me me. i dont think i said one thing about myself the whole night. jenny was like "i told you sooooooo"
then on friday i had a 1/2 break (not happy) so we could go into town to go 'candle dipping' the twins were too young for it though and they got bored easily. i on the other hand just got wax all over my jeans while maxine was swinging her HOT candle stick around. did you know i just ironed over it and the wax came off... cool!
so then i went home early so i could go get my german stuff and my gear to sleep at mandas house. after class lacey and i went with amanda to her house in schofflisdorf. it is like farm land and she has such a huge walk from her train station, it was heaps fun in the rain too! but we had an awesome night. we watched mandas favourite show 'freaks and geeks' and had a really nice dinner of bread, salad and cheese. we also got some really good wine so it was a fun night. then on saturday becuase im a loser we all went to winterthur (pronounced vintertour) i ordered some books online so i thought that they would get sent to me ... ummm no i had to go and get them. it was good though. winterthur is such a nice city and only 1/2 hour from zurich hb. amanda had to leave early but lacey and i walked around and did some shopping and had lunch.
then i went back to zurich and bought some more stuff!! i have a disease called shopaholic.. so on saturday i bought: a hairdryer, luggage, batteries, 2x pairs of jeans, and some other stuff but i dont remember.
on sunday it was a lazy day but i woke up early to speak to mum and mel. it was so good to see whats happening with mel and all the people at the daily!! then in the afternoon i went for a swim and then i met lacey and amanda at hb as there was a marathon going on through th whole city and amanda was competing. the city was amazing, it was all lit up and they had slide shows with paintings on them reflecting on the builidings. i took lots of photos and amanda did really well in her race. i was wearing so many clothes too but i still was freezing. at one stage i thought my fingers were going to fall off seriously.
we then went out to dinner at sams pizza which was soooo good as we were all starving. i had a spinach pizza and it was really good!
on monday i only had to work a half day as the monnerats went to south africa. we drove to the airport and then i drove the car home. it was really sad saying bye to them because they are like my family now too but i quickly went home and packed my bag for munich and then went to see the new james bond movie with jenny, lacey, amanda, svetland and her friend christophe. i got home really late on monday and then got up at 5.30am this morning to make my 6.26 train to zurich. i wanted to be early so i could find where the bus got us from. i found it so easily so i just stood in the dark for an hour waiting for the bus!
the trip was nice and i saw heaps of snow. my hotel is also really cute and typical old fashioned german style. this afternoon i just went around on foot and then went to the markets at night. my hotel is right near the haupt bahnhof so i am close to everything. tomorrow morning i get a free breakfast so i am going to make sure i am up for that and then we will see what i do tomorrow. its a bit strange being by myself and i might start talking to myself on this trip cause i feel a bit lonely but its ok I will be home soon and i am going to try and squeeze lots into my little trip without spending too much money hahahaha

I think last week was the last week of somewhat warmth

mmm so it is monday today and i didnt really do anything exciting the last week but it was nice not to have to do anything in particular.... also that and the fact that i dont actually have a franc to my name.

so tuesday was lucilles farwell coffee night. went to zurich and wondered around in the freeziness. went to papa joes for a big dessert and coffee. it was really nice with lucille, amanda and lacey. lacey went home on wednesday for her best friends wedding so that was the last time she saw lucille. we took lots of photos of each other and explored the light up streets. the swiss are really creative and the decorations everywhere are amazing.
wednesday nothing really happened besides german class. went for a swim but i started to get sick... which i still am.... and then went to class. thursday was probably the best day when i had the twins by myself. we went for a walk, did some painting with leaves and had a really nice day. for dinner i went to sams pizza with jenny and then went to an irish pub with her. baby brain kicked in again and i forgot my train stops at 11.12 and then i can catch the s16 train (mines the s7) so as i said goodbye to jenny who was on the s16 i wandered back to see how long to my train.... aghhhh that was just it!!!! so had to wait for 1/2 hour cursing myself... finally made it home at like 1am... friday was funnnnnnn
on friday by this stage it felt like my throat was going to fall out of my neck .. i think the cold weather is starting to take its toll on my aussie body! we went to the mannedorf christmas markets and then i had german class. had coffee with sara and julian after class but then came straight home.
this past weekend i just tidied up my room and organised all my christmas cards. i ordered cards from a swiss website so they arrived and i went to a coffee shop at meilen to go and write them all.
on saturday night we went to an asian restaurant for lucilles farwell which was really nice and then the limmatt bar which is in stadlehofen for a few drinks and a dance. amanda then came and slept at my house and we slept in till 11am sunday. we were having breakfast as the family came home to have lunch.... whoops!!!
in the afternoon we went to the meilen christmas markets and tried all the free food and we painted a christmas cookie. it was a really nice arvo.
once amanda left i then went to jennys house and we went to the zig zag a really yum restaurant on the neiderdorf in stadlehofen. got home early and spent time uploading all my photos......
not that much of an exciting week but it was nice but sad to say bye to lucille, we promised to contiinue our tavelling adventure together one day soon......