East, South, West and a new House!

I don’t even remember the last time I blogged, it sure feels like a long time ago. Let me tell you though of what I have been up to and I hope that I don’t miss anything out.

April 21st, Catherine, the kids and I drove to Belgium. Catherine’s parents live in a town called Tournai on the French border so we planned to stay there for a week. We arrived on the Friday after 8 hours in the car and some border crossing through Luxembourg and France.

While everyone stayed in Tournai for the weekend though I decided to do some exploring of my own and early Saturday morning I caught a train to Brugge. Not the capital city, it reminded me a lot of Prague. Beautiful canals, ornate buildings and really friendly people. I was only there for a day so in my short time I went on a canal ride, climbed to the top of the bell tower (in thongs – not recommended), went to the church that held Michelangelo’s ‘Madonna and Child’ and got to sample the famous Belgian fries and some delicious waffles!

That night I stayed in an awesome hostel and hung out with two American girls that were in my room. We drank beer and enjoyed a good night getting to know each other. One of the girls Lizzie is living in nearby Karlsruhe so hopefully some time during my stay here I will get to meet her again because she was really nice and keen to travel like myself.

Another early start Sunday I caught the train to Brussels! This city is huge and is home to the European Union. So much to see and do I decided to do a bus tour for the day as the city was quite spread out. The tour was great and after a few hours on the bus I got off and went to find the most famous little boy in Belgium…. ‘Manekin Pis’ this little boy is a statue on one of the man streets and has his pants down and is pissing!!! Every day he gets dressed in new clothes and he attracts huge crowds! When I saw him he was dressed as an army boy. I then wandered over to the Grand Markt. The main square is really pretty and also very popular! A busy weekend I headed back to Tournai at about 6pm. Catherine picked me up from the station at 7 and then I had a big sleep ready for the week ahead.

During my stay in Tournai though I had the chance to go 1 hour west to the coast and stick my toes in the North Sea! Across the ocean is England and I could see the boats crossing over to Europe. Nicolas and I had a ball collecting shells.

We also went for a wander through the main city centre of Tournai and turns out it is a really nice city.

Kimmys birthday was on the Tuesday so it was also really great to talk to her on Skype. She had a great party and Katey and I got her a Tiffany bracelet and I think she liked that. It was a shame I missed her party, which sounds like it was great fun.

Thennnnn Thursday morning before the sun was up we drove back to Zurich. By 2pm we were back in town and began our move down to Meilen. Luckily the kids stayed at their other grandparents house for the next three days while Catherine and I cleaned, vacuumed and transported our belongings to our new house.

It was a pretty scary site when we first got to the house. We thought that it would be ready for us to move into after our stint in Belgium but we were sadly mistaken.


No bathrooms, no doors, no floors, no kitchen sink, no showers with curtains and basically just our bedrooms with beds in them we are currently living in a hole! I had black feet for days, had to get up at 6am to have showers so the workmen weren’t seeing my white butt and we have to attach the front door nightly so we don’t wake up to strangers in oour house….. but it is all worth it and once completed I can see that it is going to be a beautiful home.


Seeing though that the house was such a nightmare I decided to escape and spend the weekend at Laceys. On Saturday night we met up with my friend Jenny for drinks and dinner and she bought along Jodie who worked for my family before me. It was great to see her and get to catch up. She had got a new job in Milan so she stopped over in Zurich before she began.

Two other special people to me also arrived in Europe that weekend and that was my parents!!!!! I was so happy to know they were near me the whole weekend and couldn’t stop ringing them and seeing how they were going!

On the Sunday Lacey, Manda and I randomly decided to go to Appenzell (cheese town) we got to go on an important weekend also as the ‘lansgemeide’ was taking place. This is a traditional day where voting takes place and the whole town comes out and participates. Interesting to watch but Manda and I quickly got bored as we slowly friend in the sun!! We were much more interested in getting ice cream and sitting in the park to drink wine!

The last day of April then arrived on Monday and we were all invited to Svetlanas house for a BBQ.. May 1st in Zurich is a public holiday so we had a good night and then Lacey came back to mine to witness the gutted house I am living in!

Hahahaha seeing as it was a holiday Tuesday I wasn’t required to work but Beat was taking out his boat and he invited Lacey and I to join the family for lunch up the lake. We got to go with Jodie and ride up the lake at full speed. It was heaps of fun and great to be on the water as it was really hot. We then all had a really nice lunch and then had a walk around Rapperswil after my family went home.

Once again it was great to see Jodie and hang out with Lacey. It was a really nice day off. We farewelled Jodie and then I took Lacey home.

5.15am Friday morning I then woke up to go and catch the train to Venice! After 7 hours on the train, I finally got to see my parents after nearly 8 months. Venice was gloomy but I could see my mum up the other end on the station and I was running towards her like I was in a movie. I couldn’t breathe properly when I saw her and was balling my eyes out. I was so happy to see her and then once we had let go of each other we went to find Dad. He was taking photos of us and it was also so good to see him and be wrapped up in his hug.

I can’t explain the happiness I felt to see my parents after so long. It felt like it was only yesterday since I had seen them and I just had so much to tell them. No matter what happens in my life now I will never ever take my parents for granted as it was so hard to be away from them and to face the world alone as I had been under their care for the past 22 years. I only wish that could have seen my sisters too but as long as I know they are happy then I am happy for them too.


Back to Venice….

It was raining and pouring as we came into Venice but thankfully our hotel was really nice and we were right next to St Marco’s Square, so we were also in a great location. We spent a lot of time wandering Venice but the definite highlights of our trip was jumping on the boats and going to the islands. On our first day we went to Murano, which is renowned for its glass. It is absolutely beautiful and we spent ages wandering into all the shops and buying some really nice jewellery, plates, bon bons and photo frames. After our arrival into Venice it was fantastic weather. Even though it seemed like half the world was in Venice though it wasn’t too hot. On our second full day we then went to Burano. A bit further north and about 40 minutes on the boat Burano is much different from Murano. Every single house is painted a different colour and Mum tells me it is because when the fishermen used to come home in the fog the wives painted their house in a different colour so their husbands would know which house is theirs. Nowadays it is illegal to repaint your house a different colour and you have to follow your original colour.
Both islands were special in their own way but I think I like Burano better as it was really different and pretty.

On Monday (our last day) we quickly went down to the square to go into the church but the crowds were insane so we had one last wander and then went off to get our hire car. After finally shoving all our luggage into the car we set of for Salzburg. The original plan was to take the quickest way to Austria but thanks to my poor direction skills we did a few loops around Venice before actually getting on to the right highway!! At least we got to see some Italian villages. It was also great to drive through the mountains and catch up on the way. Mum and I had a charming experience in the toilets that I wont go into but made us feel sick for half the trip and there were times when I thought Dad was going to have a heart attack while driving, but we finally made it into Salzburg and got into a cute hotel. Sadly they obviously didn’t believe in air con and we pretty much roasted the first night but during our stay in Salzburg we ate great food, drank fantastic Radler and got to go on the Sound of Music Tour, which was really good. The tour took us through some of the countryside and also gave us a history of the true story.

Wednesday morning (today!!!) we got up early so we could go to the surf shop Roxy and buy me some board shorts for my stay on the French Riviera next week… Ummmm no they were $130 aussie dollars so I ran across the road to the C&A which I reckon is like maybe K- Mart but better and got 3 pairs and a cossie for like 70 bucks (thanks Dad!!!) So after that was sorted we drove to Munich through torrential rain. I am so glad we made it and got Mum and Dad into a nice hotel in the city centre.

After a nice lunch it was nearly 4pm and time for me to leave so we headed to the train station to say goodbye. Mum and Dad booked into do the same tours I did while in Munich (the Dachau Concentration Camp Tour and the Neachanswestein Castle tour) and we then said our goodbyes. I got all teary having to say goodbye to them but thankfully they meet me in France next Thursday so we can spend more time together while sunbaking in St Tropez!

Now I am just on the 5 hour train ride home and hoping to God that my house is a bit more completed and that the cute construction guy that was there last week is still there (hehehe)!!!!!


Well I will be in in Zurich soon so better log off! Hope everyone is happy and well back home and remember to tell your parents how much you love them. Xoxo

Ciao!

Becoming Swiss.... and loving it!

This past weekend I didnt even have to cross any borders to enjoy my time off! The only bad thing about my whole weekend was that on Friday night on my way to German class a woman commited suicide at one of the stations I have to pass through to get to class. Unfortuanately I therefore didnt make it to class because of delays etc but other than that it was a perfect two days.

Friday night I met up with Manda and Lacey and we headed to the Irish Pub - Olivers Twist! Not exactly high society but we got to have a few drinks then we all headed back to my place for the night. It was to be my last weekend in Mannedorf so I made a special breakfast Saturday morning for my friends and then we headed into the city for some summer clothes shopping! I had to buy sunglasses and a new wallet so it was good to join the other trillion of people strolling the banhofstrasse and compete with the crowds!!

Saturday night I then spent at Laceys after trying my fitness in Mandas local pool! Hahahaha I struggled to swim maybe 10 laps!! Oh well. I might compete in July in a 1.2km swim across Zurichsee (the lake that runs through Zurich) so I better start practising! Sunday afternoon my girlies (Lacey and Manda) and I headed to Dielsdorf and went to climb the Regensberg! A hill (or what I would define as a mountain) near Manda's neck of the woods! It was a great little walk minus the sweltering heat!! At the top we had a fantastic view which would enable us to see mountains across the whole of Switzerland on a clearer day. We had icecream and then decided to take an alternate route down and go to Manda's town called Schofflisdorf.

Hot and tired Sunday night I had an early night after starting to pack for my Belgium trip.

We leave Friday which should be good. Thankfully I thought the ride there was 12 hours for some reason but Catherine just informed me that it is only 7 hours.... thank god!!!


Monday was a special day as The Zürich guilds and the city's people celebrated their traditional spring festival with great enthusiasm: Sechseläuten. The highpoint on Monday is the procession of the guilds (Zug der Zünfte): Over 7,000 participants in historic costumes, 500 horses, 28 music corps, as well as 50 floats and carriages form a procession - one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. The procession terminates on Sechseläuten Platz in front of the Opernhaus. In the middle of the square the effigy of the "Böögg" sits atop a bonfire. At 6 p.m. sharp, the pyre is set alight and the mounted guildsmen gallop around the leaping flames to the tune of the Sechseläuten March. Made of wadding and filled to the brink with firecrackers, the "Böögg" effigy is the symbol of winter: the faster his head catches fire and explodes, the better the summer is supposed to be.
I went with Catherine and the kids and it was great the kids loved it. The snowman took about 14 minutes to explode which was slower than last year and therefore means that the summer shall be less intense in heat!

Later on I met up with my friends and enjoyed the sunshine till about 8pm and then headed home.

This week is very busy as we prepare to move to our new house in Meilen - hahaha it is making me realise how I am never going to get all my junk home or have to pay a trillion dollars to hire a ship!

All in all though a good few days. Hiking, festivals, it really is the swiss way of life and I am really starting to enjoy it here. There is so much to see and do. Next place I want to go is a cheese town like Appenzell, Gruyere or Emmantel - the cheeses here are amazing and to go to a town that invented them would be cool for me!!

Ok well I am also suffering from some weird heat rash thing at the moment all over my arms and neck so I am going to rub the 10th litre of cream and hope it disappears by the morning, night night!!!

Exploring Vienna whilst suffering from sleep deprivation.....

When people tell me a certain city is their favourite in the world, my ears prick up! To make such an exclamation must mean that this city is one worth seeing!

My boss Catherine said this to me and I seem to have a fair few things in common with her so I convinced all my friends that this is where we shall spend our Easter holiday. Not that we had many more options. Prices for flights were insane, everything seemed booked and when it looked like I would be spending my four day weekend in Mannedorf , Sara found a sweet deal to Vienna by night train. Hhahahahaha I lied - it was not sweet, we were sitting in a little room for 6 people for 9 hours. I have never tried sleeping sitting up and I even said to Lacey in the middle of the night on the way to Vienna "I'm catching a plane home" IT WAS HORRIBLE!
The picture attached is me smiling and excited - trust me, about 3 minutes into that train ride I was frowning and moaning!

But enough about that!! Once in Vienna we had to decide where to go! Thankfully our accomodation was nice and we were in a reasonable location. Vienna has an excellent metro system and was well signed! As it was our first day we started out by just wandering. Vienna is a huge city!! Stephens Basilica was breathtaking and is where we ventured into for the day. We saw went on a tour of the caticombs and got to see where the bones of hundreds of people were kept, it also really thrilled me when I got to see an urn filled with intestines leaking... not sure about any of you back home but body parts dont impress me (Lacey!!!)

By mid afternoon I dont know about the other girls but I was fading and the three coffees I had downed were not doing anything so we spent the rest of the day strolling and sitting, doing a loop on the tram, wandering to Parliament and we met up with a guy who was friends with Svetlana and we went out with his friends for dinner at a restaurant called Einstein!!

Now Lacey and Manda are all for trying the local cuisene where as I am like "give me the stuff I know 'cause I am on a budget", but we had a great dinner that night of dumplings and bacon and onion and a sauce which was really nice! Kind of like massive spatzli.. oh you dont know what that is either, mmm well it was really good anyway!

After a great nights sleep we decided to spend Saturday at the Schonbrunn Palace. It was a sunny day and there was lots to do at the Palace such a explore the rooms of the Palace where the Austrian Emporers lived, get lost in a labrinyth and hahaha make Sara think we were helping her get to the end when really hahaha we were trying to make her get lost!!! Umm we climbed a gazillion stairs to the Gloriette for a fantastic view of the city and sadly we paid to see an Apple Strudel show but we missed it - thankfully though we still got the samples and it was fiiiiiine (delicious in german).




One of the events that happened in Schonbrunn that wasnt part of the program was the appearance of all these little squirrels that I swear looked like mini kangaroos. Some lady had nuts which she was feeding them and she gave us a bunch so Lacey and I spent a good ten hours sitting at a table tapping nuts (ummmm might explain why we missed the strudel show... whatever) so that the little squirrels would run up to us and take the food. It was great and it was so fun watching them!!!

Saturday night "Lacey the great" found us a wine tavern! Hahaha did I say found, sorry she got us to a wine tavern after we walked a whole metro stop in the WRONG direction! Hhahaha but it was cool - wine in beer mugs for a tiny 1.60 euro!! We had fun laughing at our squirrel videos for half the night while Sara had a sip of wine and Svetlana struggled to keep her eyes open!!

Easter Sunday I went with Lacey and Sara to the United Methodist Church of Vienna with a friend of Mandas from Zurich. He now lives in Vienna so he met us and took us with him which turned out to be great! He was such a cool guy and he had us in stiches for the whole day.

Church was nice and I really liked the service. Considering I am not a regular church go-er I found the service easy to follow and it was good to remember why we celbrate Easter in the first place.



The rest of the day was spent scarfing down food at TGI Fridays an American restaurant with the best food ever and then lazily strolling stadt park!! The whole day I spent dredding the night train home which left from Vienna 9pm Sunday night. Thankfully though the train was less crowded on the way home and we did manage to get more sleep than the first time round.

Unfortunately though I lost my wallet in Zurich when I arrived on Monday morning. I am not sure if I was pickpocketed or if I simply put it down somewhere but by mid-Tuesday VISA informed me that someone had racked up a whooping $600 on my credit card so I am led to assume that maybe my wallet was stolen.

It has been such a drag organising all new cards, buying new train passes, sitting for photos for a new licnence, etc - it is so difficult especially since I am on the other side of the globe but VISA exceeded my expectations by sending out a courier 2 days later with a temporary visa card and increasing my card limit by 200o dollars!!

Hopefully I will not have to pay the money that this loser spent but I wont know for another 6 weeks.... aghhh the things that happen to me.

So basically I would recommend Vienna if you catch a plane there. I will go back I think because it was a beautiful city and I feel like I didnt get to see as much as I would have liked. The Austrians too speak German so it was nice to hear a language I am familiar with. There is so much I still have to see though so maybe next time I am in Europe I will go there again.... For now I am focused on summer holiday destination....

But thats all for now, probably blog again about my past weekend tomorrow night! Ciao xoxox

Going East...... to Budapest!

Last Saturday Sara, Lacey, Manda and I all went to Budapest! Hungary wasn’t a country high on my “to do” list when I came here but I am so glad we decided to fly east and explore this city because it was definitely worthwhile!

Upon arriving we didn’t have any expectations of the city. The bus and metro ride to our hostel was average and once we found the hostel they informed us they didn’t have a bed for us… turns out that was good news! We got put in an apartment for the same price so we had 5 beds, couches, a bathroom and a kitchen for 10 euros each, bargain!

Seeing as time had gotten away from us we decided to take a walk and explore. We ended up on the Buda side of the Danube River and decided to take a venicular (?) ride to the top of the hill and have a look at Buda Castle. Wow! It was amazing, we were really lucky in the fact that it was dusk when we got there so we got to see the city transform as all the lights came on – it was beautiful. That night we also got to go to a great restaurant a few blocks from our place and were impressed with Hungarian cuisine.


An early start on Sunday as Sara had to go home we decided to head to Parliament, Hungarys crown jewels are kept here and we wanted to have a look! Sadly though the guards weren’t letting anyone in unless they had a reservation. It made us believe that the peaceful riots that occurred here last week were having a lasting effect and the staff were being cautious – not to worry though the building for parliament was enough as it was so grand that we got the general idea. After then walking across the city we ended up at the House of Terror. A museum that sits in the Nazi headquarters building which later became the Communist Partys office. Inside there was videos on the horror that occurred during both these periods and even real cells and torture chambers in the basement – it was informative and moving to see all that was here as it was so recent, the Iron Curtain didn’t come down until 1989 and just now Hungary is slowly starting to rebuild itself even becoming part of the EU in 2004 which is promising.

Luckily we then opted for a more happy site and visited the Budapest spring festival which was markets with traditional food and lots of novelty things.

Since Sara went home later that night we then got new room mates who we made friends with. One guy named Richard wanted to hang out with us so we decided to go to a bar across town. It was an experience. Manda and Lacey liked it but that is only because they didn’t have to witness the bathrooms (I had to wash my hands with a hose… need I say more?) But it was fun and its always nice to have a drink with friends and meet new people. We then had dinner at about midnight and crashed!

Our days were so jam-packed! Amandas last day was Monday and we had plenty to do before she left, so another early start and we walked up Gaelic Hill. Right besides Buda Castle it offered another amazing view and the day was clear so we took lots of photos. There was also more markets on the top so I got some Hungarian secret boxes for Kim, Kate and I and also a pashmina… you can never have too many scarves!!

After lunch at the markets we then headed over to City Park and went to the thermal spas! A must-do in Hungary as they are everywhere! We went to the recommened one as there was supposedly not as many old people at this particular one but I have to say it must have been ‘jerry’s day out’ because we were by far among the minority! A range of indoor and outdoor pools to chose from we spent most of the time in the warm out door pool, had fun in the spas with the jets and even went in a mineral pool. Manda and I braved the ice pool for all of five seconds and then went sprinting back to sane Lacey who was in the warm pool!

After taking Amanda home we then went to a labrinyth on the Buda-side with Richard the pommie guy from our room! These mazes we originally made from thermal springs and the idea is to find your way through and test your courage! You can even find a red wine fountain. Sadly it tasted like gluhwine but it was free! We went after 6pm so all the lights were turned off and we had to find our way through with only lanterns which added to the fun! We had a great time in there!

Then Lacey and my last day in the city we decided to have a lazy one…. The money had surely become dry and even though we hadn’t seen everything we wanted to, we were exhausted! We walked to St Stephens Basilica to see his mummified hand and also look at the church. It had to be one of the nicest I have ever been in and trust me in Europe you see alotttttt of churches! We climbed (ok I lie, we caught an elevator) to the top of the church and could see all of Budapest from every angle! It was great! You can tell that Hungary was once a wealthy country as the architecture in the city is simply superb!

Ok so we then went shopping!!!! Sadly things weren’t as cheap as we would have liked but we had the trusty credit cards so I bought some shorts to wear for summer as it is starting to get warm!!

Our flight was delayed on the way home, then our train was delayed blah blah blah but we eventually made it home back to nice Zurich! It was such a great trip, probably my favourite so far. A great city, excellent accommodation and beautiful friends to spend it with. I would suggest you include this city in your travels if you ever come to Europe as it was truly a really cool place!

Then two days later (29/03/07) Lacey celebrated her 26th birthday! Her boss rang me a day earlier and secretly invited me to her birthday dinner so it was fun to surprise her! We all then slept at Laceys house on Friday night and had a lazy day Saturday. Just good to take it easy oh and we watched Lacey husband on tv (Casino Royal!!!)

Today was great weather so after having brunch at the movie bar in town with my family and Catherines brothers family. I then met the girls at HB and we caught a train to the Uetliberg, Zurichs tallest point! We went for a nice walk across the mountain and took in the view. Sadly it was a bit foggy at the top but we did get to see all these people paragliding and Lacey and I decided that we are going to do that while we’re here!! There was even a man who strapped his dog in – hahaha I could hear it barking from the sky!


Thursday night we then head off for a new adventure to spend Easter in Vienna which should be nice. I am looking forward to more exploring a photo taking!!

Happy Easter everyone and you’ll hear from me soon xoxox

If I hear another bird sing "cuckoo"

Lacey and I planned a little weekend away to Triberg, Germany for the past weekend. Triberg home of the cuckoo clock and Germany's highest waterfall is only 2 hours by train from Zurich main station and we got a really good deal through the SBB.

So we were looking forward to it and planning what we would do whilst on the trip when we discovered that entrance to the waterfall is shut during the winter months. Oh no! We were worried the trip was going to be a disaster if we couldnt see the towns main attraction but thankfully Europe hasnt even had a winter this year and we had beautiful weather the whole time we were there, the waterfall was open and was as pretty as ever without a pile of snow in sight!

I got the chance to make a new friend called Cindy from Michigan who Lacey met through her au-pair group and had a really relaxing weekend with all the girls who besides Lacey, Cindy and I were my german class buddies Manda and Svetlana!
Our hotel was warm and friendly and we got the chance to see the worlds largest cuckoo clock, then the worlds second largest just around the corner, many more cuckoo clocks for sale and we went to the Pilgrimage church (one of the oldest buildings in Triberg). We also went hiking! Lacey and I have decided to become true swiss and enjoy greenery so we went on a nature trail to the water fall whcih was great! It was fresh and green in the forest and it was a nice temperature so we werEn't drenched in sweat by the time we reached it!

As always I took lots of photos and drank lots of sparkling wine with my friends and all in all had a great weekend.

Im trying to think of more little weekend trips I can do while I am here and really want to see more of Switzerland but internal travel is ser teuer (very expensive) so little trips to Germany and perhaps Austria might end up cheaper....

One chance then your out....

i knew february 4th that i got flashed by a speed camera.

today my boss asked me what i was doing that day and i knew that it was me! so heres' the deal though. in switzerland they dont hvae a points system. they just have major fines. and they're harsh! i was doing 68km in a 50 zone. so i got a 250franc fine. if i was doing one more kilometre over they would have snapped up my license for 1 month.

thennnnn if i get caught again, i could be looking at jail time!!! me - innocent me, in jail!! hahahaha so if you thought i had been here for a long time, then it could get longer.

i am now going to have to drive like those 70 year old grandmas so i can never get caught speeding.

then the other dilemma is that catherine (my boss) said she would pay the fine!! mmm no i would feel bad so i took the money out of the atm tonight but it was so tempting to say "thanks for that" and be 250 francs richer..... or at least not poorer.

but a question..... i was in the SMART!! have any of you people driven a trolley like that.... its like ... unheard of ... that you could get a speeding fine in a smart. hahaha but i did!!

Walmart... or shall we say Valmart?

i am not american so i have no idea why i was so excited to go to the american chain store walmart! laceys boss decided to cross the border on saturday and go to singen germany and invited sara and i along! so we of course came along for the ride and had a ball!!

well after a 1 hour trip AND getting our passports stamped we arrived at walmart.... think k-mart but better! oh my god they had everything and it was all so cheap! i myself went nuts as i do in any shopping centre. everything in switzerland is so expensive and thats assuming they have the brands you want so when i saw things like my hair gel, pantene, schwarzkopf, etc i had to buy it all!! i also invested in some good german chocolate and .... embarrassing i know but some pants too! i never thought i would be such a tight arse but when your earning 200 francs a week, you learn to budget and buy things that are cheap!! so now i have some summer pants and lacey and i also got matching tops for night time!! twins!!

so after our fun adventure we all slept at laceys house on saturday night after a few to many glasses of prosecco and a really good dinner that we all cooked of spatzli and chicken and creamy sauce. i must say sara is a good chef. sometimes i have trouble boiling pasta! lacey also made us american oatmeal cookies so i really did feel like a US citizen on saturday!

that night also we witnessed a lunar eclipse! wow! i have never seen this type of thing before so it was amazing for me to watch the moon slowly be covered by redness. luckily the sky was clear that night but although it went for about 6 hours we just watched the last bit of it because it is still bloody freezing here in zurich!

sunday was also a good day as we finalised our plans for triberg (a little town in germany) so i will be going there next weekend to eat lots of black forest cake!!

all in all a fun weekend and it was so good to spend it with my friends. weekends are still probably the hardest for me becuase that WAS the time that i spent with my family and also when i caught up with all my friends so it is nice to have friends here and see them on the weekend too! lacey and i are a little concerned too about when all our friends go home so we will start some networking soon hopefully!

bis spater (see you later)
megz xox

Call me crazy.... 'cause i am!

basel fasnacht! every year in february, basel and luzern hold fasnacht (carnival) which is similar to the carnival in venice. people wear masks, music is played and its meant to be a great event! so heres the deal. we went to sara's house for dinner and we stayed there until we had to get the 1.06am train to zurich and then the 2am (extra zug!!) directly into basel.

now i dont know about sara and lacey but i knew if i had no sleep before midnight i was going to be cranky so i went to bed at 8pm then woke up again at midnight. oh my goddddddd. it felt like a dream crawling out of bed slapping a mask of make up on and trekking through the pitch black dark to the train station. not only did it rain so by the time i got there i looked like a panda bear but there were so many other freaks out here doing the same thing. it was below freezing and literally the middle of the night and i was going to basel. what were we thinking???

by the time we arrived there i was grumpy and i was tired but i was excited to see what all the hoo haa was about. so we followed the thousands of people into the city centre and waited. we waited and then we waited some more. herds of people were lining the street, im telling you it was like we were going to watch an olympic marathon. ...... and then even though it was pitch black dark they turned off all the lights and power at 4am. it was starting!

now i was expecting fireworks, some cool music, something a bit fancy!!!!

no. it was a gazillion people with weird-ass costumes on blowing into wannabe flutes and smashing onto drums like there life depended on it. forever. it didnt stop. it was like minus 50 degrees, there were people bashing into us like they wanted to mow us down and there was this music (if you could call it that) blaring full volume before the sun had even come up. people were taking photos, cheering, getting all excited and all i could think of was "this is not real" before passing out from exhaustion we found a shop that was open and selling fasnacht foods. flour suppe (that looked like mud) and kasewahe (cheese keish) which was pretty good for some sort of dinner slash breakfast at stupid o'clock. we hugged the chairs for a while and then we ventured out again hoping to find some sort of excitement in the still dark streets.

nope there was none so we went home. i didnt care by that stage. we were cold, tired and disappointed at fasnacht and bed seemed like a way better deal at 6am. so we arrived back at sara's at about 9.ish got under the covers and slept until about 1pm.

i am never trying to be cultural again. i feel like i have jetlag now but i dont have an amazing trip to show for it. OH WELL i think i am just being a whiner because now my body clock is messed up but a warning to all readers - DONT GO TO FASNACHT IN BASEL IF YOU LIKE YOUR BED!!

Blogmaniaaaaaa

seeing as i am probably going to die soon i thought i better jump on the blog bandwagon and fill all you people in on my little adventures recently. but no seriosuly i have a "stomach infection" so i am at home while my family is in st moritz (boo hoo) but i think i have been misdiagnosed so if i am not better by like tomorrow i am suing for malpractice (kidding) but i will be back at the doctors to get some more meds!!
between getting my tooth pulled out and getting a hefty bill of 4000 francs and my fondue eye that i recently recovered from i think this country is out to get me. the kids have chicken pox at the moment and it wouldnt surprise me if i eneded up with shingles soon. back home i was never sick, yea a runny nose or whatever but none of these foul diseases or missing teeth..... ANYWAY!! im over it but seriously i cant wait to be healthy again, the only good thing about this whole sickness business is the fact that i get to sit on my bum (or lay in my bed) and blog. oh and not eat which cant hurt a person!
well last week i was in samedan (the mountains house) and my christmas present from my family was a ski lesson. now i was freaking out. i thought i was going to break a leg or something but i really enjoyed it! i am not like a full on olympianand i was soooo slow but i was doing it and i wouldnt mind doing it again if someone else paid for it as its really expensive. the following days were torture as my body felt like it had been run over by a truck but i was so proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone and i only fell over once!
then the weekend rolls around and lacey, amanda and i head off to amsterdam. there was a fear that my head would explode as i hadnt checked with my dentist if i could fly yet but no pains yet (besides the rest of my body) so i think its safe to say i will be ok!! mmmm amsterdam.....
the venice of the north. thats putting it nicely. while there is plenty on museums and pretty canals there it wasnt my scene. the city is tarnished by all the people who go there to take drugs and smoke weed. the whole time we were there the sky was a dull gray and i wasnt sure if it was bad weather or the haze of pot smoke. every breath i took i inhaled marijuana and every second person i saw in our hostel was high on something.
as for our living arrangements i wouldnt send my worse enemy there, especially if they have an issue with heights, cleanliness or bad smells. the staircase was like a ladder (which was fun with my 20kg bag) the room was so not cleaned in the last 3 years and the acrid smoke seeping out from under the door of the room next door was foul!
lacey and i werent well majority of the trip so it kind of minimised our exploring ambitions but we did see what i wanted to which included:
anne frank house: after being there i am going to read the book. what an amazing story and to be in the house her family hid in was so surreal
van gogh museum: a really nice museum with lots to see. we studied his work at school so it was cool to see some originals (or at least i think they were originals)
heineken experience: was in an original brewery. they have made this tour so much fun with rides, free beer, interesting history and a cute little free gift at the end. a must see if u dare go to amsterdam
rijksmuseum: if i was a museum person this would be a good one. they held lots of rembrandts work and this is the netherlands national museum.
we also went to coster diamonds where we went on a FREE tour about diamonds and got ripped off on a 10 euro canal ride but at least we did it.
the red light district was a treat - i think all the guys i know would love this strip but the only word i can think of when i think off this street is repulsed. there were girls just in windows making googly eyes at people and doing these little dances that i guess were supposed to be sexy. amanda was appaled and what made me feel gross was seeing men come out of these little windowy things with a job just finished. like i know its legal but where is your respect???
so anyway - thats me finished being a prude and i am sure amsterdam would look a lot prettier on a sunny day and when i wasnt feeling so unwell. all in all though it was a great holiday because i got to spend time with my two best friends here lacey and amanda and we really were so good to each other even when we were feeling our worse. one of the things i did love about amsterdam though was that in all the museums you could send free video mail to people back home so i hope i got my emails right and at least some people got a video from me!
bis spater and until next time, megz xoxo

The home of Crepes ()()() Yum!

so this post is at least a month overdue seeing as i went to paris on the 17th of JANUARY but i guess its better late than never. laceys blog is so up to date so i feel it is my duty to document my time here a little bit better like her!
paris!! well after catching the nightmare of a nighttrain to the train station and arriving at 7am (while it was still dark) i decided to just hang out in the station for a bit and wait for the sun to come up before i made my way to my hotel which by the way was in the red light district of paris and who knows when these people stop working.
thankfully where we were staying was ok, now not the 5 star luxury i preferred but it was clean and when the lift was working it was ok! breakfast was fresh and we were right near a metro so it was all good.
places that we saw included:
sacre couer: which was absolutely amazing. i loved how the outside changed colour as the clouds moved because the church is made of marble. i could have sat there for days if it hadnt been for those black dudes selling those silly string bracelets infesting the sidewalk.
moulin rouge: not that i have seen the movie but i was expecting a bit more wow. it was good to grab a few happy snaps out the front but could have been missed
the louvre: the whole time i just kept thinking of the da vinci code and on my return to switzerland i did hire the movie out! jai jai and i went on a friday night when it was free and it was really interesting and surreal to be in such a world famous museum. if it wasnt for the sweltering heat in there we may have stayed a bit longer but we saw what we wanted to see such a venus de milo and the mona lisa so that was enough
notre dame: shame about the gloomy weather but it is such an impressive structure. amanda later mentioned that we could have climbed the top but it was raining so i didnt (thats my excuse anyway)
versailles: after about an hour train ride to versailles we hopped off to see one of the biggest castles ever! it was amazing in here and unbelievable that people actually lived this kind of lifestyle. sadly the gardens werent nearly as spectacular as people said but that was because we were there in january, so once the fast train from zurich to paris is operational i think i will go back for a weekend so i can be wowed!
the eiffel tower: i was there!!! the magnitude of being at such a world famous structure was amazing. millions of people go up this tower every year and i was one of them. we took so many photos at night, in the day and on the eiffel tower it was great! being first in line to go up on the sunday morning was the best idea ever also. though the wind factor once up there was enough to make u want to head right back down! the view though was great and thankfully when we were there it was sunny!
i am sure i am forgetting things we saw but obviously these were the places that stuck in my mind. we did a tour too called sightsee paris which i hightly recommend. we ate far too many crepes with caramel (or carmel as lacey and amanda say) nutella, lemon and sugar and god knows what else but i had the best time and jai jai is such a good travelling partner. shes gone back home to australia now but i hope we can do another trip one day. even around australia! being o/s has made me realise how little of australia i have seen and we do live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world so we should appreciate and explore it.

well ciao for now, megz xox

(ps thats me on the eiffel tower!!!)

Hanging out with the Russian Mafia

so i hear st moritz is where the rich and famous holiday and it must be true because days before i arrive at samedan, arnold swarzanegar (**aghhh i cant spell, i know!!) was here and he broke his leg!!
so as you all know by now i really dont like going to the moutains. it is cold, it is 4 hours away by train and there is NOTHING to do unless you like hiking and skiing. which in case you need reminding i am not a fan of either. the good thing about this trip though was the fact that there was snow!! not much but enough for nicolas and i to roll around in and enough for noel and i to build house with. these houses by the way included mandarin skin for windows and tree branchs for palm trees! they were top quality. so every morning i had the fun task of getting the kids ready for ski school. so many layers and so hard to shove ski boots on a two year olds foot but we finally made it and then we got to walk them over to the class. during this time i would have my break and then in the afternoons we would have heaps of fun playing lego for hours and hours on end. thankfully the weekend rolled around and i went back to zurich on saturday. jenny had just gotten back from england so i met up with her and we went out for fondue with her parents which was really nice. sunday being the last day of the year was spent at home relaxing and figuring out with my friends what to do for the evening. i got to speak to mum while the clock struck 12.00 in australia and wish her a happy new year. sounds like kim and kate had a fun night even though kate was sick she spent it at luna park which would have been awesome!
as for me i went to julians house with lacey and sara and then we went into the city which was all decked out for the occasion. there we met jenny and we spent the night drinking 12 franc vodka and coke and bopping in the rain. the fireworks were really cool when they werent going off at our feet and i was really happy to be there with my swiss friends for the night. of course i missed not being with moo who i am usually with on the 31st of december but this year is going to special spending it in europe and travelling to all these great places with my new friends. sara and lacey stayed over after our big night out and we slept for the majority of the 1st of january but we had fun and that was whats important.

on tuesday even though it was a public holiday i went back up on the train to st moritz. it was extra special this time as well because it was actually snowing. there was snowflakes getting caught in my hair and i was catching them with my hands! it was amazing! so back into the routine for wednesday - friday. catherine got me ski lessons and hire for christmas and also a switcher jacket that says st moritz on it. i really like the gift and even though i am scared to go skiing i think it will just add to the whole swiss alps experience!

after class on friday night i went home and had an early night. for the weekend i went shopping with svetlana and sara in zurich. i got another tripod as my old one broke, another corkboard to add more photos that i got developed and some other bits and pieces!!! now i kind of feel embarassed to also mention this but after we went to a brocken haus which is a second hand store. svetlana wanted to buy iceskates so we all went for a look..... then you will never believe but i found MOON BOOTS yes they are second hand but they were 15 francs usually 300 dollars at the shops!! i had to buy them so i got them and spent saturday night planted in front of the tv with charlies angels and some hotwater and soap!! they now look brand spanking new and i love them! its like walking on pillows. after our day of shopping we then went to moven pick gallery a famous swiss icecreamery and got a cone each - this is going to be a new treat for me, it had to be the best ice cream ever.... even if it was 4 francs for a scoop (a tiny scoop too)

sunday was another lazy day just spent at home and then i went and watched svetlana and sara iceskate. i was actually going to participate but couldnt be bothered once i got there and i was reading a really good book (the one you got mum - already finsihed) so that won and read that instead. after we went back to svetlanas house and hung out and then back home to start another week of haus frau time!! my goal of the week was to get 9 hours sleep per night so i am relaxed and rested when the kids are annoying the hell out of me..... i think it works!!

So the real name for Florence is Firenze!

i thought someone had stabbed me with a tranquilizer when i arrived at the florence train station. i had had no sleep and the breakfast we were served was quite possibly poisioned it was so gross. i thought plane food was bad !!! hahaha plane food is 5 star compared to trenitalia food. so after finally making my way to the main station in florence santa maria novella i had the fun task of finding my hotel!! NOT TO WORRY megan is prepared and she has printed a map, the hotels directions and i had even bought a ticket for the buses!! just to be on the safe side though i asked a bus person what platform to go to and he pointed me to a little tiny bus that looked like a family van and says "that one"!! so as i stare at the bus i thought i was meant to catch, i board the bus and end up on a tour of florence through sleepy eyes. the bus driver finally turns to me and says "ponte alle grande". now after this trip i realise that ponte in italian means bridge and i should have crossed the bridge but no i head down the river in search for my hotel.. plaza hotel luchessi.... yes i finally find it after 20 minutes dragging my massive suitcase down the cobbled stone street. hahaha on the other side on the arno river... i can see it over the glistening water and the nearest 'ponte' is 20 minutes back in the other direction!!! aghhh so by this time it is 9am i feel like i am going to pass out from exhaustion and i want to stab the bus guy because he put me on the wrong bus. after forever i am at my hotel and it is all worth it. the hotel is 4 stars and beautiful, luckily my room is ready (95 euros worth) and i am allowed up there. so a smart person probably would have collapsed and slept for the next 5 days but no i quickly change clothes, pack my stuff away and head back to the train station on the right bus that is a 3 minute walk from the hotel. i jump on a train to pisa and enjoy the scenery from the train for about 1.5 hours. after walking the streets of pisa i end up at the leaning tower. its so TINY!!! but well worth the trip. it was amzing to be somewhere that you have seen pictures of. none of the places i have been so far have been worldwide famous sites (not that i can recall anyway) so to be here at this tower that i know of and have seen pictures of was great and to stand in front of it and have a photo really made the trip worthwhile!! i attempted to hold up the tower with my tripod as my only friend but it got a bit embarrasing so i gave up and just had a wander. there was lots of little stalls that were selling souveniers and it was nice to have a look around. luckily also the weather was perfect so all up the day was fantastic. after lunch at a really nice cafe and buying some cute stockings i then went to maccas and got a baci mcflurry.... perhaps the yummest thing in the world. content and full i then headed back to florence.
i wandered around a little bit once i got back to my hotels vacinity and found an internet cafe where i got some credit. i then had dinner at a restaurant (by myself - which i am never going to get used to or like) and headed home. after a long day... and night... it was time to rest!!

saturday: i had to wake up early to enjoy my included buffet breakfast which was really yum!! not as good as the breakkie in munich but still good. not sure of what to do for the day i decided to go on the double decker red bus that take you around the city. it was about 20 euros and valid for 24 hours so you can hop on and off and sightsee. the tour was good but i probably could have planned it better and not got off at certain places and maybe got off at other places like the bilbolba gardens (so not sure if thats how you say it) i for some reason thought florence was bigger than it actually was and was scared that i wouldnt get to see everything but its not big at all and a weekend is sufficient to see this city. so i saw and went to the ponte vecchio a famous bridge that is the only bridge that survived the bombing from the germans in the 1940's and is lined with expensive jewellery shops. i got a great coffee on the other side of this bridge. i also went to the piazza michealangelo, which has a great view over the whole of florence, the acadamia: the famous museum which holds the marble statue of david, the uffiza museum which has many great paintings and sculptures. outside of this museum are also statues of michealangelo, da vinci, donatello, etc. an amazing experience to be surrounded by all this art and history. mmm what else. i went to the famous firenze duomo. i was told this is the 4th largest church in the world!! i must say its huge!! also it will be remembered forever as this is the place my trusty tripod went **kaput** it was a sad sad day in megan land but i will now probably invest in a better one as it was such a great asset on all my little trips. especially the loner ones where i have no friends.
luckily 5pm saturday night i headed back to the hotel and the buckinghams were just arriving. by this stage of my trip i was getting sick of being by myself and really loved to see the buckinghams. it was so good to see familiar faces and all the kids are so grown up now. we walked around the city for a bit on saturday night and had dinner at a little PASTA restaurant (when in italy!!!)

sunday i kind of did a repeat of what i did on saturday and showed the buckinghams around florence which was so much better looking at things with people. we also went to the markets and i bought kim and katie some things and little leather bracelts which everyone was selling!! then a nice surprise on sunday night ... reception called me down to the lobby and jai jai was there. she had walked through florence to find my hotel and so we went out for a hot chocolate which no joke i think was just a whole bar of chocolate melted it was so thick! it was so good to see jai jai another familiar face over the christmas break and we excitedly chatted about our upcoming paris trip together!! once i walked back to the hotel kim and i went downstairs and had a few drinks in the bar which was really nice!

monday: CHRISTMAS DAY!! so not the same as the chrissie i would have back in frenchs forest where katie would come into my room and say "megan get up i want to open presents" but it was so nice being with the kids. we all piled into bob and kims room and opened our presents. kim had gotten me heaps of little presents like amalfi coast soap, a harrods key ring, a milano glass pendant, etc even celeste got me a ring from wales so i was really spoilt. mum had also sent me some presents across with bob and kim so it was so nice. thankyou mummy xoxox after our delicious breakfast again we set off for more exploring and we actually walked across the river up to the piazza michealangelo which has ANOTHER statue of david and is up a hill so it looks out on the whole of florence. it was probably one of the nicest views i have ever seen and it was a beautiful christmas day so we took lots of piccies. there was even 3 japanese weddings taking place at the piazza. i spoke to mum and dad and kim briefly to wish them a merry christmas but my phone credit ran out before i got to speak to katie which was bad. i later found out my credit gets deducted as well in countries other than switzerland, so no more calling me when i am travelling!! christmas lunch was really fancy, maybe a bit tooooo fancy for me. it was 5 courses and one course was pigeon meat tortellini in broth. everyone but celeste and i ate it. mitch kept saying he was chewing on feathers and josh said he found a beak in his. it was actually quite gross!! my favourite course was the pumpkin and rosemary risotto! YUM!! so after getting quite full we all went upstairs for a bit of a nap or quiet read which was just what we needed!! in the afternoon we all hopped in the car and drove to the chianti region (in tuscany) i have no idea which bit of chianti which i am yet to find out!! but the drive there was beautiful and we tasted lots of wine at little market place stalls! we had some pizza for dinner and the drive back was amazing as the sun was setting.

tuesday was the day to go back to my switzerland home to my swiss family but it made me really sad to leave. it was so hard to leave the familiar aussie faces and return so we all cried and i spent the train ride home miserable. at milan i got off to change trains to zurich and i couldnt find my train so nearly missed the ride home and then while passing through lugano catherine phoned me and told me we were going to st moritz tonight!! i was already sad about going there and not being near my friends so i think she could tell my unwillingness to go so she just asked me to meet them there wednesday lunch time. it gave me a chance once i got home at 8 to unwind, wash and pack my clothes and speak to my family.

so my christmas break was happy and sad. so good to be with people that i love and they love me but so hard to say goodbye. at one stage i just wanted to go home. where it was easy and things werent so foreign to me. sometimes i get so lost over here. i cant communicate with people, i cant tak to my mum whenever i need to and i get so exasperated with the kids. but then kim reminded me that after a week of being home i would wish i was back, nothing will have changed at home and this was my moment to experience the world. what she said was true and i believe her but just when i wanted to be with my family it was really hard to want to go back to zurich.