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**)