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.

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......

It's so hard jetsetting around Europe!!

i have been ultra busy for the last two weeks! therefore my memory may not serve me right and i wont blog about everything but here goes...
on thursday 16th november it was the pussycat dolls concert that i had been looking foward to for ages... i was even going to go there by myself if no one wanted to go but luckily jenny was going with her friends sally and kirsty. so i got the bmw drove the 30 minutes to jennys house, we then drove to tiefenbrunnen to get the train only for me to realise i forgot my ticket... actually not even forgot - it didnt even cross my mind to bring my ticket. i messaged mum to tell her that i was born a retard and i just havent been diagnosed and she kindly informed me that i just have baby brain because i spend all my time looking after kids.... NO EXCUSE. so luckily i drove home got my ticket and just jumped on a train at mannedorf to take me straight to the concert because there was no way i was driving again - i would have probably drove into a wall or something.
this was the night also that catherines parents drove all the way from belgium to stay for 10 days. its a 8 hour drive so not too bad and they dont get to see the kids often so its a real treat for them to visit!. i really liked them and they are really good cooks! so of course it has been an eating frenzy for the last week!
on the weekend then lacey, amanda, svetlana, lauren and i caught a train at sunrise on saturday morning to milan! the four hour trip was fine and once in milan we got to our 55chf a night hotel. probably wouldnt pay 55 cents back home for the hotel considering my bed moved and 5 of us were crammed into a tiny room but i was only for sleeping so we set off and explored the streets together. milan actually isnt really that pretty and its main attraction 'leonardo di vinci's last supper' was booked out so we couldnt see that! lacey said its fading off the wall so i might go back down there to see it before it diappears for ever but i'll see! the other attraction is the duomo a magnificant church in the centre of milan. millions of tourists and crazy people trying to get you to buy food for pigeons (yes lacey paid 8 dollars against her will) but it is just amazing being there. we went to the fashion district where all the pretty shops that are way out of my price range are and we explored all the other touristy things.
that saturday night we went out for dinner and amanda got picked up so while she went for a drink after our 5 hour meal over spewmanti (spelling?) we hung out the front of the bar while she met this italian man!!! WRONG! amanda left the bar and we didnt realise so when we went in there at 1am to head home she wasnt in there!! panic stations we thought this guy had kidnapped her so we were panicking and calling her and freaking out and i was scared i was going to see her body dumped in a nearby park! sounds dramatic now but at the time we were all scared especialy considering her phone was off and all the people in the bar said they had never seen her!! thankfully she was ok and got a strict talking to from mama lacey and me when she strolled back! her EGYPTIAN man drove us all back to the hotel and we called it a night.
thankfully the breakfast in this dive of a hotel was really good so we ate up and then began another day of exploring. we went to the most famous opera house in the world, a caslte, the metro (where amanda got pickpocketed - NOTE TO SELF hold on to your bag for dear life in italy these people are quick and professional) and also did some haggling for some fake prada stuff!
all in all a good trip - made me acually appreciate the cleanliness and kindness of swiss people. zurich may not be as well known or fancy but it is safe like home and for now it is my home so i am really glad i am here.
in zurich hb they have also erected a christmas tree and it is covered in swarovski crystals - amazing!! no photo can describe it because it is so sparkly!

so this week then i only had to work three days (which were pretty cruisy because 'bon mummo and bon papa' were still here so the kids were well behaved!!)
then off to prague on thursday.
but before that i had a pretty hard week considering mum was going in for her operation wednesday morning. i couldnt sleep for ages thinking about it and it was so hard talking to her on tuesday because i kept worrying about her and how i wasnt there to look after her. i knew that i had to be strong for mum because she must have been so nervous going into that operation but i was so scared something bad was going to happen and i would never see her again. talking on skype i was scared it was the last time i would hear her voice. wednesday morning though dad called to tell me mum was out of the operation and she was fine. the relief!!!
so now that mummy was ok i can go to prague and enjoy myself which is exactly what i did!!
woke up at 4.30am thursday morning to get to zurich flughafen (airport) for my 7.30 flight! so organised i made it on time and got on the right plane and didnt forget a thing!! i was so happy my baby brain didnt affect my trip!
so got to prague got my shuttle to hostel (which i didnt even check my room becuase i thought i would cry) just dropped my stuff off and went exploring waitng for jai jai to arrive. after looking around a bit and having a coffee i decided to do a short tour on the bus! best idea ever it went for a bit over an hour but i drove all over prague and gave you a detailed history of the city which was really good. i then went to meet jai jai and take her back to the hostel!
ok so originally we were staying in a dorm but it was mixed sexes and so random so we forked out the extra $60 and got a 4 bedroom room.. we had the first night to ourselves but then night 2 and 3 this other girl who shall be named 'china' was in the room with us! no biggie she was quiet and jai jai and i were never in the room except for sleeping time!
so we saw the old town, went on a horse and carriage ride, climbed the old town hall to get a fantastic view, saw the 'apostles come out of the clock which for some weird reason is a huge attraction, we wandered through the cobbled stones streets and looked at all the beautiful things, walked over the charles bridge which was amzing and so picturesque, went to the new town sqaure (wenseslas square) which was cool, caught a tram to prague castle which was great and we saw the changing of the guards which was really interestting. took a heap of photos, filled my camera and had a great time. not much shopping done because i didnt find that great discount places but i bought a skirt and some boots and some runners so i was happy!! GOING TO BED..... to be continued at a later date. just spoke to mum and dad on the phone so now i can sleep, guten nacht. xoxox

What a Week!

well considering the weather wasnt as cold this week you would have thought i would have been happier and the week would have gone smoothly .... WRONG! after an uneventful monday besides the fact it was noels birthday and we had cake and gave presents and stuff it was pretty quiet. i wne to the dentist and got a quote of 4000 francs for all the work on my mouth too! maybe that was when the week started to go downhill.
on tuesday i got to leave work early as amanda and i went to the ben harpur concert. it was a really great night even though we had to trek out to basel. the singer was great and i really enjoyed the music. only problem was everyone there was smoking marujiana so on the way home from zurich i fell asleep on the train therefore missing my stop. after panicking after getting off at stafa i realised there was no trains to my house for another 2 hours. i had to catch a cab which cost me 20 francs. aghhhh. so tired on wednesday and it was noels party! we went to the pool and then to the park and ate lots... amanda came and helped too and then we went to german together. after class did the usual coffee at the shop nearby.
thursday was ok but then in the evening catherin yelled at me even though she was angry at the kids. it was the first time she has yelled at me so i got upset. i think she felt bad though. so on friday it was freeeezing and we were at meilen all afternoon looking at the house, from there i went to class and then sara, lacey, lucille, amanda, julian (the french man) and i went to a famous german restaurant!!! YUKKK $40 for a feral sausage and some rosti which is swiss and is sliced potato hash browny thing!!! blehhh yuk.
so after a gross meal i then am on the train home and realise i dont have my keys... whoops so after balling my eyes out for ages and then i finally ring beat i got in the house. i was so scared i would get in trouble that i was considering sleeping outside..... ummm i would probably be in hospital now because during the night zurich turns to ice town! luckily i wasnt in trouble and the next day catherine even offered me her free tickets to the wine show.... i had already been though last week... mmmm still have to buy some of the wine i liked. it was so good!
so saturday i just went swimming and then got rained on back home and then met jenny in the city at 3pm. she had a date on saturday (which turned out to be a nightmare) so i helped her go shopping all afternoon! it was fun and i found some cool places for clothes!
i left her house at 9 on saturday night once she went out because i had an early start sunday.
lucille and i went to lugano for the day which was 3 hours away!! i slept all the way there. lugano was beautiful and i had such a nice day. lucille and i were feeling spontaneous too so we decided to pop on a train and go to como for the afternoon. we were only there for 2 hours but we had fun and got gelato.. mine was magala and it was the yummest thing ever!!!
so we got home at 11pm sunday night ready to start work at 7am but i had such a fun day with lucille and she is leaving in like 2 weeks so i have to spend lots of time with her!!!
today was just spent planning my trip to milan next weekend with the girls... 45 francs there and then im practically free home because i will come home after 7pm!!
now we have to find accomodation and let me tell you everywhere we look italian hostels have bad reviews... oh well at least its only for a night!
ps mum, we met an american couple in lugano and they had just spent time in italy on a tour and they loved it!! check out globus.com they said it was really good.
well better get some rest got a big couple of weeks planned ahead!!
xox

Busy Busy!!!

the weeks are flying now and although i have only been here 7 weeks today, i feel like i have been here a lot longer... in a good way!
last weekend amanda stayed over both friday and saturday nights. we didnt do much, went to rapperswil and had lunch, stayed in watched some movies, just a quiet one! then on sunday i went out for lunch with jenny and we saw 'the devil wears prada' at the movies which cost $18 but was worth it.
the week was a good one. on monday we went to uster to a pumpkin farm as halloween was tuesday. it was really fun carving the pumpkins as we dont really follow that tradition back home. the rest of the week was just the usual but i am starting to get more responsibilty with the kids as catherine becomes more confident in me. one day this week i was allowed the kids by myself for the afternoon and i took them over to jenny's house to play. they had heaps of fun and we made chocolate crispies! i also now sometimes pick noel up from school which is good and i have to drive the massive car!!!
all in all the week was good. catherine said i can have christmas off so we started to plan for our trip to italy. and german class has been getting easier as i start to understand the concept of the language.
friday night after class lacey, lucille, sara, manda and i went to the zurich wine expo which was on the lake on all these ferries. it was really nice, even though it was so cold out! when i was walking home there was ice on the cars!!
saturday i spent the day shopping for warm stuff like gloves, scarf, jackets and also noels birthday present. all the girls then went out on saturday night to zurich. we went to a bar called lady hamiltons which is an english pub. we had the best night. we were just dancing all night and we met a random guy from miami who was buying us drinks allll night. got home at 2.30ish and slept like a log!
today was then spent in rapperswil for noels birthday with the family. we went to dieci for italian. then this afternoon i met the girls at zurich and we had a wander and then went to andree wind (lucilles boss mum) for coffee and au pair chat. the night was pretty bad as andree is a physcho but then we went to thai at erlanbach so we finished the weekend nicely.
the weather here is getting so cold and it hasnt even started snowing yet. i hope i get used to it soon because it is unbearable at the moment.
well its noels birthday tomorrow so i have to wrap his present and then i need to find what time i am going to the dentist tomorrow.... have to probably get more collagen stuffed into my gum.....

Its Official!

so now i have decided to actually document my time over here and this is the official place for it. mmmm what has been happening since my last time on here? well after a rough start to the week, not helped by the fact that i was tired and feeling awfully broke i have now been paid and the week has improved.
on tuesday i confirmed my trip to prague with jai jai by booking my flight with swiis air for $278 so not that cheapy but jenny said its worth it as once you get there everything is really cheap! also last night being wednesday i went out with jenny for dinner after german class to a really nice restaurant at stadlehofen called santa lucia - really good italian food and it is always great hanging out with jenny and getting her view on things.
today was also a really good day. this morning catherine wanted to go shopping at rapperswil which is the last southern suburb in the canton of zurich so i got to take the kids to the kinder zoo - we had the best morning. we went on a train ride around the zoo and the twins went on a pony ride which was the cutest thing ever. once catherine came to pick us up she was impressed that the kids wanted to walk around the zoo with me and not just go to the playground. this was probably helped by the fact that nicholas was near unconcious because he fell and hit his head but she didnt mention that!!!! today i also got to take the massive bus volvo and pick noel up from school this is like a big thing as no one ever drives that car and noel was actually really accepting of me coming to get him. afternoon was just spent at the park chasing after the 3 kids.
now i am babysitting which is ok as i am just upstairs on my computer as oppose to in my room. not sure if i get paid extra or what.....
mmm and then tomorrow night after german class my friend manda is coming to stay over at my house which should be nice!!! i am going to try and go to kussnacht on saturday also with her so i can buy stuff for my scrapbooks.

nite nite
xox

Has it really been 1 month and 1 week???

well the anniversary for me being in switzerland was celebrated in another country called leitchenstein. it is in between switzerland and austria and lucille told me it is only 6 km wide!! that is believable becuase we went to a museum while we were there and they said the whole country only has 30 000 people!
the capital city was vaduz and to be honest i just wanted to get my passport stamped which cost 2chf. we spent the day wandering around, climbed up a hill to go to the princes house (and we saw him!!), had lunch, hung out in a cafe and got all the touristy stuff like post cards for our scrapbooks.. which i am yet to start because i am looking for a book.
the day was nice with svetlanna, lauren, lacey, lucille and myself. i really get along well with lucille and she is great at organising trips. it will be sad to see her go home on december 3rd.
today was also the confirmation that i am going to prague with jai jai. i just need to book a flight now and see whats the cheapest. we are going to go for 4 days and probably stay in a hostel. catherine offered to buy it for me as a christmas present with her frequent flyers but i said i will save that gift for later on when all my money will have run out....
i also got my parcel from mum and diana which i am gradually opening to see what is in it!! it is really exciting so i am taking my time with it - consequently my room looks like there was a small cyclone in it but dont worry mum i keep it really tidy the rest of the time!!!
nothing much else to report except that i really like it over here. my weekends are always busy and even though i am really bad at my german class it is fun to go so i can leave my house early and then my friends and i always go to coffee afterwards which really breaks up the week.
last weekend i also went to a fondu restaurant with jenny and her friends. the restaurant STANK of burnt cheese but it is a really social event as everyone is gathered around a big pot of chesse and stirring it (in a figure 8) and chatting. not only do you dip in bread you also get pickled onions, gerkins, baby corn, mini potatoes or you can have a meat fondu which is where you get raw meat and have to cook it in a pot of stock. they are both really nice but the restaurant was really expensive. i like it when we do it at home. its cheap and you dont have to enhale the lingering cheezy smell!
so all in all life is good. yea i work way too many hours and i feel like there is not enough time in the day - especially when i get paid a massive 200chf a week but catherine complimented me today saying she is really happy with my progress and the kids love me!
i am getting all my sightseeing done in the weekend anyway so i am happy with the arrangement at the moment and look forward to more travelling.
as i have to take holidays from 11-25th of december i also have to start planning that trip. lucy and i spoke on skype on saturday and she confirmed that she is going to come over and we will go to italy together. not sure what dates i am going to meet with the buckinghams but i would love to spend christmas with them if possible but nothing is really organised yet so we will have to wait and see.
well i better stop and start my german homework. tomorrow i have to go to the dentist AGAIN so i can get more stiches in my mouth so i have to do my homework now :-(
ciao for now.

xox megan

3 Weeks Have Flown......

well i have now been here for 3 weeks. the first week i was with jodie the other au pair and she showed me the ropes but now i have been here for 2 weeks on my own.
to be honest in the first week i wasnt sure what i had gotten myself into - everything seemed so hard. the kids were naughty, no one spoke english and i didnt understand my job. i had to go to german class where i knew nothing and i didnt have a friend in the whole country literally.
thankfully though jodie introduced me to here friend jenny who is an absolute gem. she is a nanny and makes really good money. from the uk she had a mad sense of humour and everytime i see her i laugh my head off. also 3 girls from my german class and i have become really good friends. we go out after class and are planning to study together. then my last friend lucille is also really great! we all went to luzern with her yesterday for a day trip which was really nice. all up i took 56 photos!!!
so far in my 3 weeks i have already been on a boat ride to raperswill, been to the holiday house in samedan for 4 days and gone hiking and i have also been shopping, out into zurich night life and had lots of fun with the kids.
granted the kids are spoilt and they always want their mum. its hard to sometimes know whats going on becuase the family speaks french but i am now starting to get along with the kids and they seem to like me. it also seems to me that i am learning more french than german but i guess that will come with time and i just have to study lots...
catherine my boss also said the kids like me and she is really happy with how well i am settling in and doing my job. for the first time today also i got to take the car out. she didnt even give me a lesson just made me follow her to kussnacht which is about 15 minutes. it was really scary at first and i bumped into the gutter becuase i am now on the otherside of the car and the road is opposite to australia. but no one died and the cars really easy to drive so i think catherine will let me take the kids out in that and then i'll get the smart car for weekends when beat isnt using it.
lots to learn and still heaps more to do. still popping on the email every day and night to see who has emailed me and talking to my mum on skype practically everyday because i just can but with time i think i will start to be more independant and be ok to go by a day or so without having to hear whats going on at home.
catherine also said she will buy me a swim pass too so that means i will get to go swimming at the local pool in my breaks which will be nice because i have been eating so much 'cause the food is so good here!!
well thats it for now thought i better start up some sort of blog to capture the memories and to go alongside the 1000's of photos that i will be taking...