Snow, fondue, flamenco dancing and naked saunas

Bonjour bloggers! And once again I must apologize for the lack of posts to this blog- we made the perilous journey from the UK to continental Europe and since the. My iPhone has been out of commission and thus my access to all things on the web has been severely limited. Joyfully the hotel I am currently in has free wifi so I shall give you anquick update on our journey. I last wrote in London, and we did have a lovely few days there. We did te typical tourist stuff like buckingham palace, the London eye and a west end show(we will rock you- fabulous), as well as the gentle stuff like watching the squirrels in st James park and observing a mass of angry students protest against the government - all in all rather fun.

We made our ferry crossin and happily Adam did not die of sea sicknes as he had feared and just like that- we were in France. We stayed just outside of Paris and had a lovely time exploring the city of love and trying to use my high school level French (which has not been used since high school) to navigate the metro, shops and restaurants. Again, such tourist icons sun as the Eiffel tower, arc de triumph and champs elysee were seen and considered. 

From Paris we cruised to Switzerland and we were properly introduced to the snow. It was the course of great excitement for Adam as he was a first time snow player, though I must admit I beat him pretty convincingly in a snow ball fight!! We celebrated our visit to the most neutral country by enjoying a traditional cheese fondue as well as hitting the shops quite hard. I thought the most sensible thing to do would be to buy a Swiss watch, considering we were in Switzerland and all. I'm super chuffed with my purchase, just in a bit of denial about the cost!

We then took a little detour to Barcelona via Lyon (for those good at geography- no need to point out the less than direct route this is!) and I fell in love with the place! Such a varied and lively place- so many people all bustling and loud- it was so hard to leave!

But leave we did and we zoomed up to nice on the french riviera - poor Adam was suffering a bit with a cold, but what better place to recover than one that describes itself as 'nice'? He soon recovered! We took a tiny detour to Monaco to visit the royal palace and try our hand at a spot of gambling at the big casino there (you know the one in casino royale?) we dressed ourselves up to the nines so we wouldn't stand out like total tourists, walked in with confidence, paid our 10euro entrance fee and sat ourselves down at the roulette table. As smooth as you like I put down a 5euro note, all set to bet 'all on res' before I was informed there was a 200euro minimum bet!! I scampered out quick smart!!! 

From Monaco we entered Adams spiritual home land of Italy, birth place of the mafia, pasts and gelato. We have thus far avoided any dealings with the mafia.....the same cannot be said for the pasta and gelato......oops!! We visited the leaning tower of Pisa and took the obliterary photos of us trying to hold the tower up , then headed into Florence. I really fell for this city, it was so rich in culture and beauty - I really feel we will return, and sooner rather than later,

From Florence we headed to Rome (it was easy enough to find as all the roads seemed to lead us there.....) we were blessed with the most beautiful weather for our time there- blue blue skies and for the first time this trip I walked about in just jeans and tee shirt! Weather aside the rest of rome (collosseum, pantheon, Vatican city ) was pretty darn awesome too!!!

After Rome we drove up to Venice and boy was it ever flooded! No joke- I know the place is meant to be full of water, but there was a bit of a fluke weather system the 3 days we were there and the whole place was under about a foot of water! St marks square was closed, most of the shops were flooded and closed and the water level was so high the gondolas couldn't fit under the bridges in the canals! Serious maddness! However, it was quite fun being there to see it affected by the weather so severely- not many people get to see Venice as wet as we did!!! 

And that brings us to Austria- we arrived in Vienna this afternoon and at first glance I really like the place- snow everywhere and mulled wine for sale at every corner- hurrah!we checked into our hotel and noticed that there was a pool and sauna on site. We had been on the bus most of the day so thought a swim and sauna would do just the trick before heading out into town in the evening. So we had our swim which was lovely and then hopped into the sauna . After about 5 minutes the gym attendant came up to us and told us we would have to leave as we were inappropriately dressed- it emerged the sauna was for nudists only and our bathing costumes were strictly forbidden!!! the attendant kindly said we could stay, but only if we got naked immediately....needless to say we left the gym area quite quickly!!!!!!

And that, dear readers bas brought me to the end of this post, I would love to write more and tell you more of our adventures but my eyelids are drooping and we have a big day of Vienna exploring on the cards for tomorrow so I shall close. Apologies for the grammar and spelling mistakes- am typing this on my phone and it's a tad bard to read my entries!

Hope all is well in your homes and families,
Love
Lauren the Lederhosen and Adam the alp

Scotland and England and trains- oh my!

Howdy folks! (sorry - not a very English greeting!)

I can't believe it's been only 5 days since my last post - so much has happened since then! Biggest and most exciting was Adam's birthday which we celebrated in style in Scotland. The night before his birthday we went out for a big slap up dinner, as Adam said since it was officially past midnight in Australia (the country of his birth) he could claim birthday honours- and since I was accompanying him to the restaurant and also enjoy the birthday spoils I wasn't one to complain! We went to probably the most beautiful restaurant I've ever been to, it was called The Dome and it was gorgeous- I'll try and post some photos so you can get the idea, but it was decked out in all these lovely twinkle lights and a giant christmas tree- absolutely fab!

The next morning (birhtday morning!) We had to get up at 6 in order to catch our bus up to Loch Ness. The drive took us through some of the most breathtakingly beautiful country side I've ever seen - and Adam saw snow for the first time- quite fitting that it happened on his 25th birthday! We got to the Loch around lunchtime and boy was it FREEZING! Probably the coldest I've ever been in my life, including the time I got my tongue stuck inside the freezer, but the good thing was the sun was shining on us, making it hard to be anything but happy. We took a lovely boat trip out on the loch, in high hopes of sighting Nessie, but alas, even after a few glasses of scotch whisky we still couldn't see her. Never mind- maybe next time!

We rounded Adam's birthday out with dinner in a pub (a very Scottish thing to do!) and then we caught the sleeper train down from Edinburgh to London. I was so so so excited about this - I have a very romantic notion of train travel at night and so was practicly bursting with excitement as we walked to the station. And indeed our cabin was very nice but spacious was one thing it was not. We had to reverse in as we couldn't turn around with our packs on our backs, and there was enough room for one adult to stand on the floor at any one time, so the other person had to be in their bed- it was so much fun! We enjoyed a few slices of birthday cake (caramel and toffee- YUM!) before drifting to sleep with the gentle rocking of the train.....bliss! And better yet when we woke up in the morning we were in London! The best way to travel! But London shall have to wait for another post - far too much to report here!

Hope you all are well in your homes and villages,
cheerie oh!
Lauren and Adam the Birthday Boy

Welcome to the rock!

Hello friends and countrymen! We have bit farewell to the lovely Ireland after a fabulous 2 weeks. We rounded off our visit to the "occupied north" by calling in on county Fermanagh, which is where Adam's great grandfather was born. The call was put out to all his far distant relatives that we were in town and would be at a certain pub at a certain time. No fewer than 10 relies turned up- and all looked freakishly like 60 year old versions of Adam! Seriously disconcerting! But absolutely lovely all the same as everyone went above and beyond to make sure we were having a good time ( this mainly was achieved by ensuring we constantly had a drink in hand....) But it was time for us to exchange Guinness for whiskey, stew for haggis and rolling green fields for snowy highlands. We caught what felt like the worlds quickest flight ( no sooner up then down) and arrived in beautiful Edinburgh! And beautiful it is- I have really fallen for the place- such beautiful buildings and winding streets and so many a pub with an open fire- fantastic! Unfortunately I picked up a touch of gastro (my nose remained in one piece this time though!) so our first day in this great city was a bit subdued but today we hit the ground running! Or, more specifically, hiking... We decided to make the most of the glorious sunshine and hiked up to arthur's seat- the highest point in Edinburgh. 2 hours after setting out we were rewarded with sore calves, aching feet and the most breathtaking views imaginable! I'll try and post some photos when next able. We have some more exploring to do tomorrow before heading to loch ness for adam's birthday! Hope all is well with you- stay happy and jolly
Love Lauren the loch ness monster

Photos!

Greetings from Northern Ireland! We are here in Belfast having a lovely ol time- I can't believe what a beautiful city Belfast is- I really had no idea what to expect when we came here- but whatever it was it wasn't what we found! Alas the weather hasn't been quite what it could be- it's rained pretty well non stop since we arrived, but it hasn't stopped us exploring the city and all it has to offer. We are staying with Adam's 4th cousin at the moment and she is playing tour guide for us which is lovely. Staying with her also gives us the chance to use her computer and so, without further ado I shall post a few photos of the past 2 weeks! Enjoy!