Ode to our travels

In October last year we left our shore,

For Europe was calling us to explore.

Our bags were packed, our passports ready,

The thrill of our adventure made us quite heady!

The United Kingdom was our first port of call,

We saw universities and churches with spiers quite tall.

The emerald isle then beckoned us near,

And rewarded us with many an Irish beer!

Then a hop and a jump to the land of the Scots,

Full of legends of monsters and haggis from pots.

We departed by train and rode through the night,

Arriving the next morning in London- what a sight!

We saw Big Ben, rode the Tube and the Eye,

Such a glorious city gave us a fabulous high!

With excitement and glee we boarded a ferry,

And docked in France where the people were merry.

Paris was ours to explore day and night,

Though the gargoyles and statues gave Lauren quite a fright!

To Switzerland we drove and Adam finally saw snow,

We threw snowballs and played til our cheeks were aglow!

We zoomed back through France on our way into Spain,

Full of paella, sangria, flamenco and rain!

After waving goodbye to the Spaniard we drove

To the French Riviera- such a beautiful cove!

We lost twenty euro in a Monte Carlo casino,

Then drowned our sorrows with some very nice vino.

We drove into Italy and saw Pisa’s tower lean,

Then down into Florence, full of artists so keen!

The roads then lead to Rome, the eternal city.

The Colleseum, the Vatican, to leave was such a pity!

Julliette’s balcony in Verona overlooked a beautiful quarter,

Then we headed to Venice that was two feet under water!

The beer halls of Munich were difficult to resist,

Adam, especially found it hard to desist!

Our path took us on to Vienna, home of Mozart.

The Christmas markets and schnapps made the city dear to Lauren’s heart!

To Prague we then went which was covered in snow,

Full of beauty and jazz clubs and fun places to go.

We turned west and drove to amazing Berlin.

A city so vibrant, a new chapter ready to begin.

Amsterdam was full of tulips and history,

Though why people there wear clogs is still a mystery!

We returned to Paris and jam packed full our days,

The Seine, Euro Disney, the louvre- what a maze!

The Eurostar whizzed us back to British land,

Then to Devon and Cornwall and friends- it was grand!

We made it to Oxford to watch all the snow,

Bring the UK to a standstill- all the people laid low.

Christmas was spent with our family and those dear,

To see snow on the ground gave Adam such cheer!

After catching our breath we again boarded a plane,

To Croatia for New Years- full of sunshine not rain!

From there we flew to Torino in Italy.

A town sitting in the north so prettily.

The cities of Florence and Rome we were happy to return,

To see artwork and museums, we were eager to learn.

From Rome we flew to the country of Greece.

To learn of the history, of Jason and the Golden Fleece.

Onward and eastward we headed to Turkey,

In Istanbul we found the good, bad and quirky.

Gallipoli was full of history and heartache,

It felt like a pilgrimage we felt proud to undertake.

We retraced our steps back through the Netherlands and Germany,

Our travelling styles by now were fairly in harmony!

In Bruges, which was beautiful, we ran into trouble,

With Lauren breaking her arm, we headed to hospital on the double!

With a plaster cast and sling along for the ride,

We returned to London to see family from far and wide.

Our last few days went by like a flash,

Filled with last minute sightseeing and places to dash.

With reluctance we boarded the plane at Heathrow,

Saying goodbye to Europe, the fun and the snow.

Dubai was a place filled with intrigue and sand,

Lauren still managed to shop with only one hand!

But as always happens when you’re having such fun,

Our four months of travels ended, this adventure was done.

In the middle of the east

Hello bloggers and- at last- a very warm welcome! We are in the beautiful, balmy city of Dubai in the unites Arab emirates and for the first time since October we are properly toasty- we landed this morning at 2am and it was 27 degrees!! Hurrah!! But to explain how we got here I'll backtrack a little...

After our visit to bruges we made our way to brussels where we caught the eurostar back to england. We had a lovely few days in London staying with my cousin and his lovely fiancé. Adam was an absolute trooper and carried my bags and jacket from Waterloo station to Piccadilly to London bridge and back again-all without the slightest grumble ( I was grumbling enough for the two of us! The novelty of wearing a cast wore off after about thirty five seconds!)

We cruised through the British museum and soaked up some serious history, then strolled over to covent garden where we had a very disappointing sandwich but heard some excellent buskers and then went and saw the lion king on the west end. It was absolutely amazing- the songs, the dancing, the costumes- absolutely breathtaking ! We have seen a few shows during this trip- we will rock you, the phantom of the opera and now the lion king and I really think it takes the cake- I highly highly recommend it!!!

Australia day was spent very quietly but marked all the same with a six pack of fosters beer and some Chinese takeaway- not the most Australian of meals but it did the job!!

Once we had squeezed all we felt we could from the big smoke of London we again returned to oxford for the third time this trip and had a lovely few days with my grandad. We didn't get up to too much, we explored the oxford castle and did a tad bit of shopping but mainly just relaxed and made the most of our time by enjoying our time.

On Saturday we made the last of our moves within the uk and went to bicester to hang out with my aunt and three awesome cousins. I absolutely love the two days spent there- 'we talked and drank and played darts (well, the boys played- I watched from the sidelines and made encouraging comments). These two days made it all the harder on Monday morning to say goodbye to family, friends and to Europe, a place that has been so SO good to us since october. But still, whether we liked it or not goodbyes had to be said, and a plane had to be boarded and in no time at all we were zooming out of heathrow bound for Dubai. 

Initially I was a bit impartial about coming to the UAE, it wasn't that I didn't want to come, it's just that I didn't know enough about the place to have a burning desire to visit, but wow am i glad we did! It's great here-not only because of the beautiful warm weather but, well it's just awesome! It's really unlike any other place that I've visited- it's so new and shiny and impressive! But there is also a real long standing sense of history and culture here- makes for a really interesting mix. We wandered about today just getting the feel for the place, visited a gold souk or two(did a little shopping!) and watched the fountain display outside the burj al Arab- absolutely great! 

But now alas I must close this blog and get some shut eye- we didn't get to our hotel until 330am this morning and, in a blind attempt to ward off jetlag got up at 9- so now it's 1035pm and my eyelids are drooping! 

I hope everyone reading this is happy and well
Love
Lauren the landing gear and Adam the al Arab 

Only in Bruges ...

Hello faithful blog frequenters, and welcome to a rather difficultly written edition of the blog. Difficult not due to the content but due to the fact that this afternoon I suffered a break to my right wrist and I have a plaster cast from my fingers to my elbow- it makes typing rather time consuming!!! So please bear with me if I'm a little brief in my descriptions...

We are currently in Brugge - an absolutely beautiful city filled with character and lots of chocolate. Along with being a gorgeous city Brugge is also the last port of call for us un continental Europe , we head back to England tomorrow and then a short stop in dubai and then that's us done!! 

Since my last post we have visited Berlin and also Amsterdam . Berlin was just as fabulous a place the second time around - and it was so nice to be there and have it not be minus 15 degrees! It was still chilly and snowed on us but at least I didn't fear for my toes developing frostbite! We did a very informative walking tour and then visited the story of Berlin museum, which is a bit out of the way from the other major museums but well worth the trip on the u- bahn. Included in the museum entry price is a guided tour of a nuclear bomb shelter that was built during the cold war and (fortunately) never used but has remained fully equip and operational ever since. It apparently can hold upwards of 3000 people for 14 days and reminded me of a giant concrete prison. It was very interesting to see but also pretty startling and sobering to think people believed the threat of nuclear war was so real they constructed such large bunkers " just in case". I hope it never has reason to be used.

Amsterdam was next on our travels but we lucked out a bit with the weather- it was drizzly and chilly and damp, and though we tried not to let it put a downer on our visit, it certainly lessened our enjoyment a smidge-but oh well! Can't win them all!!!

And now we are in Bruges, home to the movie of the same name ( though the locals are sick of hearing about that!) and it's lovely- no real other way to put it. The people are friendly and the city is full of quirky streets and interesting buildings. We had a Belgium beer in the oldest pub in Bruges- built in the 16th century and preserved to look as much like it would have done when it was first built as possible- very cool indeed!

And they have a pretty nice hospital here in Bruges too, which is where we spent a portion of our day.... I shall report on the finer details of how i broke my wrist at a later date, but needless to say it involved cobble stones, a trip and rather spectacular spill ( according to Adam who saw it all). The fact I landed in a puddle completely ruining my jeans only added further insult to injury!

We hung about the hostel for an hour or so and I tried to convince myself that my arm was feeling better, but I didn't believe myself so the off to the hospital we zoomed and before i knew it I was x rayed, encased in plaster, made a sling and on my way- the round trip from the hostel taking bang on 2 hours . Not bad at all! And may I just say at this point thank god for my English speaking nurse- as my Dutch is pretty non existent! Thankfully the word 'oouch!' seems to be universal !!

After my release we spent a very pleasant few hours wandering and soaking up all Bruges has to offer, followed by dinner, Belgium beer and chocolate icecream (to help with the pain) on market square- lovely!

And so draws to a close our adventure on the continent- and I got so close to making it through without major mishap ! Oh well- at least it makes things memorable and interesting !!

I hope this blog finds you safe and injury free- sorry the same can't be said for me!
Much love
Lauren the lopsided and Adam the advil

This place is(tanbul) awesome!

Howdy folks, and apologies for the terrible pun in the title- just couldn't help myself!! We have had the most awesome time here in Turkey- I think Istanbul is fast closing in as my favorite city we have visited on all our travels- I just love it! One thing that struck both Adam and I on our first day in the city is how clean it is- for such a big place filled with so many people you would expect a certain amount of rubbish on the streets but not so- it's a very neat and tidy place- the obvious exception is the amount of smog in the air- makes the whole place look like it's hiding under one giant smoke haze- but when you see the number of cars on the roads (loads) and the number of factories and industrial buildings (heaps) you can understand why that is.

My last post was mainly about my Turkish bath- an experience that is still vividly implanted in my mind- but over the past few days we have managed to squeeze in so many more fabulous experiences (though Adam managed to resist a visit to the bathhouses!).

Probably one of the most poignant and moving experiences of Istanbul, in fact probably of our entire European trip was the visit we made to Gallipoli. Now Gallipoli isn't exactly neighboring Istanbul- it's a five and a half hour bus ride away and we ummed and ahhed about if we should make the journey or not, because as well as being a huge amount of traveling in one day it also cost a reasonable amount of money and at the tail end of our trip, the budget is being a little tightened to ensure we don't run out of funds before as get home . In the end however we came to the conclusion that a visit to ANZAC cove was important to us enough to justify the cost and long travel time.

So, at 645am we set out on the bus and as the day slowly dawned we got a good look at the turkish countryside (very green- in parts it could have been Ireland) and littered with lots of little fishing and farming villages, all in all rather pretty. 

At about 12.30pm we hopped off our bus as a small dishing town on the Gallipoli peninsula and were met by our guide, a very friendly Turkish man who had studied ww1 history at university and was absolutely passionate about telling the stories of the soldiers who were at Gallipoli, both Allies and Turks, to ensure their memory lives on- he was a fantastic man and we were so lucky to have him as our guide. 

We had a quick look around the ANZAC museum which had lots of photographs, and artifacts like uniforms, rifles, shoes and glasses.there was also a huge map of the region and our guide used it to explain and demonstrate why the allies wanted to gain control of Gallipoli so badly, and why the Turkish fought so hard to defend it ( if the allies had secured the objective hill at Gallipoli they would have secured the only ice free body of water to get from england to Russia and perhaps this would have altered the course of how ww1 played out).

From the museum we drove to Anzac cove itself and I was amazed at how small the beach was, both in length and in width. It's hard to imagine how all those thousands of soldiers managed to land on the beach, with the hills starting only meters from the waters edge, and the cove providing a natural barrier to landing further north or south. Standing on the beach itself, the beach I heard about for so many years on the 25th April and in endless history classes, looking up at the impenetrable hills and back at the rough, grey water, it's amazing to think any soldiers survived at all. 

Just along the road from the cove is the first of MANY cemeteries that are all throughout Gallipoli , that are marked 'here it is believed lies..' who died between  25-28 April (for example) 1915. Such was the carnage and mass confusion that no one can be sure when individuals died, because it was offer days, if at all, before their bodies could be safely retrieved, and burials often occurred so rapidly and under such conditions that there often wasn't the time or ability to make certain of the identities of each of the fallen men. The cemeteries themselves were beautifully maintained and are very lovingly and respectfully upkept- it was one of the most moving experiences I've ever had, to walk among the rows of headstones, in the rain and wind and to look out at the beach that so many died on. It was hard to describe all the feelings and emotions that were stirred up just being there.

From the beaches (we visited a few others that were sights of later landings) we drive up to lone pine (where the bloodiest battle of Gallipoli was fought) and from there up to the hill that was the overall objective for the entire Gallipoli campaign. I can understand why the allies were so keen to gain control of the hill- from the top you could see everything in every direction, both land and see, for miles and miles. The hill was only ever under Anzac control for 8 short hours before it was regained by the Turkish forces. Standing on the hill I can understand why from a military vantage point the hill was important, but I had to wonder if it was worth the thousands of thousands of allied and Turkish lives who were lost or wounded fighting for it between April and December 1915. 

Gallipoli was a hauntingly special place to visit, it surprised me how moved I was to be there- but it's an experience I shall treasure forever. Even though it was a big day of traveling the day was entirely worth it, I would whole heartedly recommend the visit for anyone who visits turkey.

On a less somber note, the remainder of our stay in Istanbul was spent exploring and discovering as much of the city as we could. We walked from the European side over to the Asian side (because I walk between continents all the time- no big deal..!), had a famous (and amazing) fish sandwich from the base of the galata bridge (seriously- take my word for it- fantastic!), climbed a 14th century lookout tower for some uninterrupted views of the city (residential buildings spread without break from the center of the city over the horizon in every single direction), caught a whirling dervish performance(got seriously dizzy just watching!), haggled and (probably) got a bargain at the spice markets and grand bazaar, drank liters of apple tea (I'm going to miss that!), were impressed continually by the beauty of the  mosques and were woken up each morning, without fail by the loud speaker announcements of the call to prayer- I love this city!

But a little sadly Istanbul signifies the sort of 'turning point' in our trip, its the furthest east we get on our travels, afterwards we will turn and work our way back west to London where we will board a plane Perth bound. So, in an effort to go out and soak the last tiny drops from the city I shall close this blog now (actually turned into quite a long one- congrats if you are still reading!)
Hope all is well on your various sides of the globe
Love
Lauren the loudspeaker and Adam the apple tea

Scrub a dub dub- it's loz in a Turkish tub!

Hello friends and family, and welcome to this squeaky clean blog post. After a fabulous time rambling around Athens we boarded a plane and zoomed across the sea to turkey. I was super excited to come to Istanbul because I had heard such wonderful things about the place, and I was curious to visit a city that has a population the size of Australia (in excess of 20 million people all in the one city!).

On arrival we weren't disappointed- the drive from the airport to our accommodation took us along the water and past groups of high rise apartments that stretched to the horizon, bazaars full with all manner of fabulous things for sale and people absolutely everywhere. We dropped our bags in our room and immediately set out to explore and our wanderings took us to the blue mosque which is absolutely beautiful- so elegant and grand. We spent the rest of our first evening getting lost among the hustle and bustle- it wasn't hard to do but proved very enjoyable!

One of the things I have been most looking forward to about of our visit to Istanbul was a trip to a turkish bath house. I didn't really know much about what was exactly involved but had heard a lot of people say they were worth a visit so I figured I couldn't go home without experiencing one. I asked at the reception desk where a bath house was that Turkish people actually go to, rather than one set up just for tourists (nothing against tourists- I am after all one myself, I just fancied the more authentic experience). I got myself a driver and we headed across town to the gedikpasa bathhouse. The building was constructed in 1475 ( because aren't all bathrooms?!?) so simply being in a building that old was pretty cool. The building was a large domed one with stained glass windows in the roof allowing the sunlight to stream through. Very impressive indeed.

Upon entering I was taken to the female area of the building (the bathhouse is strictly sex segregated) and to my own little room with a bed and chest of draws and told to strip naked and wrap a pestemal (sarong type of wrap) around me. I must admit not being brave enough to strip entirely naked- I left my bonds undies in situ but otherwise followed the lady's instructions to the letter. From my little dressing room I was led into the main bath house chamber which was a very large room, the floors and walls made entirely of marble. Along the edge of the walls, spaced about 5 meters apart were deep marble basins full of warm water which was constantly flowing into the basins from taps, the water then overflowing onto the floor and draining through grates in the floor- was very cool to behold. In the centre of the room was a very large raised square of marble which I was told was heated from below and was where I would receive my wash and massage. The whole room was one big, wet and shiny regal bathroom. There were about 4 other customers in the room each being washed/massaged by their own attendant.

To start with I was led to one of the basins and thoroughly doused with warm water, head to toe. Then I was led to a door which led to a sauna where I steamed for a while, a rather glorious sensation after a long and cold winter!!

After I was well and truly toasty from the sauna I went to the big raised marble square in the centre of the room, laid down and my attendant proceeded to exfoliate me within an inch of my life. She had a rough exfoliating mitt that she proceeded to rub me harder than I thought was strictly necessary, though it did feel nice. She exfoliated everywhere- even places that I didn't know were your typical exfoliation zones, like under my chin, behind my ears and my stomach- oh well- when in turkey I suppose! 

I was then led back to the basin and doused again in the warm water then led again back to the big square stone and then the washing began. My attendant had a massive bowl of bubbly soap suds which she proceeded to fluff up even further with a cloth/towel thing and then dumped the whole bowl of bubbles unceremoniously on my back. I actually got the giggles at this stage because if you could have seen me all you could have made out was two eyes and a ponytail sticking out of the biggest pile of bubbles this earth has ever seen. I then had the bubbles scrubbed and rubbed all over- a rather odd experience really. I had never really taken the time to think about it but I don't think that since I was an infant I have ever been washed by anyone else- it's such a personal and habitual ritual , but when someone else is washing your feet, back, armpits and everything in between you really gain an appreciation for what is involved in the bathing process!!!

After I was suitably soaped I was again rinsed at the basins and led for the third time back to the square stone and massaged with all manner of oils. My attendant was very passionate about her work, and really gave my back a good rub, but it was a tad awkward being as she was naked (oh yes- did i mention before that of the 4 other women bathing and each of their attendants all were naked?!?) I was acutely aware of her breasts, stomach and goodness knows what else touching my back as I was being massaged- again giggles ensured!!

I was then doused down with water for the last time and taken this time to a small plunge pool filled with COLD water- a rather rude shock after such a long time being surrounded by lovely warm marble surfaces and water- but I plunged in then promptly made my way back to the sauna for a tad longer in the glorious warmth, before being given a lovely warm towel and being returned to my change room. The whole process took about one hour and 45 minutes and I'll tell you what- excessive amounts of large Turkish woman's flesh touching aside, I have never felt so clean or relaxed in my life! A very different but fabulous experience especially after such a long time backpacking, it was glorious to have a session of pure indulgence and luxury- a must for anyone visiting turkey!!
Love
Lauren the luxurious bather 

Wreck and ruin

Ya sas from Athens! We finally left Italy after a lovely lovely time there- we managed just over a total of 2 weeks among the beautiful people since November and really felt we did, at least the main cities of Rome, Florence, Venice and Torino well. 

After our glorious time in Florence we zoomed down to Rome and hit up the eternal city from dawn to dust- we managed to jam pack in some serious sights into the handful of days we had there. We wandered from piazza to piazza, grazing on gelato and pizza, bumping into famous landmarks and ancient ruins- I love it!!!

We decided to take a day trip down to Pompeii during our stay in Rome, which was a massive long day of traveling (a two hour train to naples then a 35 minute regional train to the archeological sight) but it was so worth it. The city of Pompeii is huge- bigger than the old town of Dubrovnik where we spent new years, and it is so amazingly preserved, you can still see the frescoes painted on the walls and graffiti on the outsides of buildings and the people and animals who persisted in the volcanic eruption - it was quite overwhelming actually. We spent the most of the daylight hours at Pompeii then made the long journey back to Rome, made longer by the fact out train broke down half way back so the 2 hour train ride took three hours and fifteen minutes- needless to say we were pretty tired when we finally got back to the hostel!!!

And now we are in Athens, Greece, home to yet more ancient ruins and boy what a busy bustling city it is! In contrast to the sleekness of Rome, Athens is grungy and dirty and loud and all kinds of fabulous! We hit up the markets and side streets yesterday , enjoying just getting lost in the madness of the city (Which wasn't difficult!) and today we hit up the acropolis, national archeological museum and fruit and veg market to purchase some feta and the juiciest looking olives I have ever seen- my tummy can't wait til dinner time!!! It's such a strange mix of a city here- on one hand you have the temple of Zeus made from marble and among all these lush pine trees, and right next to it you have mad crazy streets clogged with motorbikes and the odd prostitute and drug dealer, but then another street over there is a traditional Greek tavern complete with a lovely Greek owner who welcomes you in and gives complimentary dessert and will sit and talk for hours - It's a crazy mad place but it's fabulous! 

And so, without further ado (and because I can't resist those olives a minute longer) I shall bit you goodnight,
Stay safe and happy,
Love
Lauren the lysistrata and Adam the Athenian 

I once met a man named David....

I once met a man named David.....

Hello faithful blog followers and ciao from Florence! Such a fabulous city we simply had to return after visiting for just one day back in November (wow how time has flown since then!). 

After a fun few days in Torino we trained south to Florence, which is probably one of the most awesome and fabulous city from a historical and cultural sense. The Medici family ruled the city for a few hundred years, and Lorenzo the magnificent (awesome name if ever I heard one) was big into science and the arts, so inventors and artists flocked to Florence to get their creative juices flowing. The Medici house is still in the centre square of the city and in the very building Michelangelo carved the David, galelao invented the telescope, da Vinci invented the helicopter and Donatello painted some stuff (I forget the minor details)- but can you believe if? All in the one house?!? To be fair it's a big house but -wow! Adam and I stood there in silent rapture just soaking up the awesomeness for a while.....

But we didn't stand still for too long, far too much to see and do, in our short second visit to Florence we saw the David (seriously- most impressive sculpture I have EVER seen- it's ruined other sculptures for me for life), cruised through the uffitzi gallery saying hello to the Italian artists, walked the ponte Verdi and saw all the rows of jewelry shops (the bridge was bombed by the Nazis during ww2 and the people of Florence dredged the bottom of the river, pulled up all the pieces of rock and rebuild the bridge exactly as it was before). When we werent looking at art we were cruising the religious scene, popping in to the duomo just to stand and take it in- its absolutely freaking huge. No other way to put it, it is colossal. And the awesome thing is, a few decades ago there was a flood and some damage to the mosaic floors, and when they set to work repairing the floor they found out the massive, huge, centuries old duomo was built on top of an even massiver, huger, older cathedral!! The florence people aire were clever! We went down into the basement of the duomo and saw the ruins of the older church...pretty awesome stuff.

We also ate what probably works out at about double our body weight in gelato- it was just so delicious and so so so many fabulous flavors just begging to be tasted! (I'm trying very hard to justify my calorie intake for the past few days- or past 3 months come to think of it!!!)

So in short, thanks in part to a man called David Adam and I have fallen in love, head over heels, with the city of Florence. It is with a heavy head we leave in the morning- but, Rome is a calling..........

I hope everyone back home (wherever your homes are) are safe and well and happy
Love
Lauren the lover of Florence and Adam the atomic gelato eater 

We are in Torino-it is grand!

Hello friends and welcome to the first travel blog of 2011! We brought in the new year with suitable pomp and ceremony- we attended a Croatian folk music festival in the centre of old town Dubrovnik. As we didn,t understand a word sung by the musicians we made up our own lyrics and interpretative dance moves....I am embarrassed to say that video evidence does exist.....

Dubrovnik was a fabulous and amazing city and one I am so glad we were able to visit. It is honestly a place I would recommend for anyone and everyone to visit- it is a beautiful place, the food is good, the people friendly and it was the most wonderous place to spend 5 days doing nothing much more than watching the ocean, talking and the odd bit of poker (i lost horribly...)

Croatia also gave us the rare oportunity to see the sun again, something I don,t think we have done since we left Australia in October. Now I know when we booked our tickets to come to Europe that we were doing so over winter, and I fully accepted the fact that it would be cold, wet and dark. And we have done very well indeed in not complaining about the weather or letting it dampen (excuse the pun) our spirits.HOWEVER- seeing the sun in all its glory shining on us for 5 full days was enough to make me just a little excited about coming home to Australia in just over a month (how have 3 months passed already?!?!?!)

But as with all good things our time in Croatia had to come to an end so we boarded a plain and flew to Frankfurt,home of the humble hot dog. After three hours of hanging out with the Germanic people we again boarded a plane bound for Torino, Italy (believe it or not that was the most direct way we could find to cross the Adriatic sea). Torino is a beautiful city and a very important one in Italy,s history. I knew almost nothing about the place (except that it had hosted the winter olympics a few years ago and that it was the home to the Fiat motor vehicle) but three days and several museums later I am the full barrell of Torino related fun facts.... such as: did you know Torino was at one time the capital of Itlay? And that it has the greatest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Cairo? Or that the Italian royal family was exiled from Torino to Spain at the start of WW2? Interesting place! And also home to some of the best gelato I have ever tasted- favourite flavour at the moment is a four way tie between chocoalte rum, black cherry, pistacio and coconut........scrummy! We are staying with our very gracious hosts Robyn and Roberto, which is proving very entertaining as Roberto speaks only limited English so in order to try and include him in our coversations we keep attempting to talk in Italian, which we are very bad at, and (generally after a few glasses of wine) I get very confused and just start talking in French - makes for some rather amusing dinner table conversations!!!

But again alas the open road is calling and so tomorrow we will head south to Florence to hang out with David and a few other historical dudes......and so, dear friends, I hope you are all having a lovely start to 2011 and I shall update you again when circumstances allow!

Love
Lauren the leggenda and Adam the affoghato

Dobar den from Dubrovnik!

Hello from Dubrovnik! And it is lovely to again be blogging from the road less travelled (by me,I mean, plenty of people have been to Dubrovnik before, being as the city was founded way back in the 7th century). Christmas was a brilliant and bustling affair, filled with family and friends and wine and food and, yes, glory of all things glorious-we had a white Christmas! All our finger crossing and hoping paid off and we spent the day surrounded by plenty of the white, cold fluffy stuff. We tried valiantly to build a snow man on Christmas day but alas the snow was far too powdery and we ended up with a sort of eroding snow mound. Adam put snow down the back of my coat and this made him feel better, I was mildly unimpressed but it's Christmas- what can you do?? The 26th and 27th were spent eating leftover turkey and ham, planning the rest of our trip ( as we hadn't booked our transport out of croatia until two days ago- last minute much?) and we even squeezed a quick trip into oxford for a smidge of window shopping and we watched the new narnia film, the voyage of the dawn treader (loved it!). It was actually very fitting as we saw the movie at a cinema called the odean which is only a few hundred meters from the eagle and child pub where c.s.Lewis used to meet with j.r.r.tolkein and they used to talk, drink and create their works of genius- how fitting! And then on the 28th we headed to gatwick airport where we met up with Stacey (hurrah!) and boarded a plain bound for Croatia! We left the foggiest of chilly and snowy England mornings and only two and a half hours later descended over the blue Adriatic sea, touching down on the runway which was dazzling in the most glorious sunshine with not a single cloud in the sky (no joke- I looked really hard and couldn't find even one). We caught a bus from the airport to Dubrovnik itself and the bus ride took us along the cliffs winding towards the town and we had the most beautiful sunset and then got our first look at Dubrovnik itself. I'm going to make a super big claim here (warning!) and say that Dubrovnik might just be the most beautiful city in Europe. It is glorious. The walls around old town are so impressive and majestic, the marble streets are imperial and beautiful, the monastery and cathedral are works of art, and the coastline itself rivals any I've seen anywhere. Seriously love this place. We are staying in a tiny self serviced apartment right next to pile gate and from here we walked to the other side of 'new' town yesterday for a touch of grocery shopping and a look about, then cruised through the old town feeling glamorous and fabulous before watching the sun set. And today we are off to scale and walk the city walls- so without further ado I shall end here, have some Croatian corn flakes for breakfast and put on my hiking boots! Happy new years to all of you- may 2011 bring happiness, adventures and joy!
Love Lauren the lava flow and Adam the Adriatic  

Happy Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, those near and far!
Well, actually, merry Christmas in an hour and a half, being as it is currently ten thirty pm on Christmas eve, but I thought I'd sneak in a bit early with the well wishes :)

We are currently living full of the festive cheer in a little town called bicester which is about 15 minutes out of oxford, staying with my aunt and three cousins. And as if spending time with those nearest and dearest isn't good enough- to top it all off we are fast approaching a white Christmas! Yes there is snow a top the trees and underfoot, in fact as far as the eye can see! So so super exciting- especially for Adam who had lived 25 years without so much as seeing snow he will now have the chance to build a snowman on xmas day! Huzzah! Actually the snow has caused a bit of havoc for some- the blizzard hit last weekend and heathrow closed along with most of the motor ways, leading to the country grinding to a halt. By a happy coincidence we caught the train up from devon late on Friday night, so we were safe and sound and snug at my grandads house by Saturday morning. We spent the worst of the blizzard watching DVDs and baking lovely warm hearty meals (I even baked bread!) now at least the worst of the snow has cleared allowing us to jump aboard a train and head into London for our christmas treat day, it went as followed :

Up nice and early and on the 9am train into the city. Once we arrived we zoomed to the London aquarium to say hello to the fish and lobsters. The aquarium was good, lots of good displays, but I think that as Australians we are a bit spoilt when it comes to fish and sealife- compared with sydney aquarium the london one was a tad of a let down.

After an hour or so chatting with the fish we trotted down along the thames to the tower of London. The walk took about an hour, and the snow started to gently fall around us. We took a tiny detour to check out Shakespeare's globe theatre which was pretty awesome I must say- hard to believe that it's been there for so long and seen so many many magnificent shows- makes you feel pretty insignificant really!

Once at the tower of London we had a good wander and gander about- and talk about feeling insignificant! The place literally drips with history and culture- it's just amazing to walk through the same rooms that Henry the eighth strolled through and to see the crown jewels, as well as saying hello to the ravens. The ravens are pretty awesome- they have historically lived in the tower of London and a prophecy exists that says that if the ravens ever leave the tower the monarchy will fall- so to make sure this doesn't happen the guards at the tower have clipped the bird's wings so they can't leave! Talk about stacking the odds in your favour!

After the tower we caught the tube to the west end and watched the phantom of the opera. In a word: wow. Amazing. Fantastic . Actually, that's 3 words but the show was so good it deserves three. I love phantom but this performance was probably one of the best versions I have ever seen. So so fabulous!

Once the show was over we walked to hyde park for the Christmas markets which were huge- they were like a cross between the Vienna xmas markets and the Perth royal show - not all together a bad combination! We bad a good few hours wandering through before heading to harrods for a spot of wishful thinking - oh to live the life of a person who shops at harrods! 

And then, almost too soon we were back on the train beading out of town, after a lovely, glorious winters day in town! Not a bad way to spend the day before Christmas eve! 

And now it is not only Christmas eve, but it's late in the day and Christmas morning is fast approaching and so I think I will close now and put out the mince pie and carrot for father Christmas and his reindeer and then hang my stocking before tucking myself up all warm and ready for the big day tomorrow.

I hope you all have a safe, happy and memorable Christmas, wherever it is in the world you are spending it.

Lots of love
Lauren the liquorish strap and Adam the antler 

It's the Christmas countdown!

Season's greetings to you, friends and family!
Gosh I love this time of year where you get to wish people a 'Merry Christmas'! Gives me a smile every time! And now we are back in England we can do it in a language that we know for sure the person we're talking to understands! Though it was a bit of a strange sensation to arrive at St Pancras station in London after catching the eurostar from Paris- we have been in non English speaking countries for 2 months, struggling valiantly with trying to speak French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch and Czech (epic fail when it came to Czech) so once we handed our tickets to the English conducted I froze and couldn't remember what language to greet him in, and Adam burst forth with his very best 'merci, au revior'! ahhh travelling.....plays havoc with your mind!

But back in the UK we are after a lovely lovely week in Paris. Eurodisney continued to be fabulous- my birthday was great from start to finish and once we returned the day after to the city we had a few days of the most beautiful weather for sightseeing and general wandering. We were a bit loath to return to England, being as the continent had been so good to us- and we very nearly missed our train to be honest! We arrived at the station with plenty of time with our e-ticket in hand, and then thought, since we had so much time before we departed that we would have a coffee and people watch. As the minutes ticked down towards our departure time I thought it a little odd there was no sign telling us which platform to depart from, nor were there any PA announcements etc but didn't think too much further into it.....then discovered- much to our dismay that when catching the eurostar from paris to london you have to clear security and customs- exactly like at the airport! And here we were sipping coffee and wasting valuable time! So we RAN with our packs (thanks ponch and ange!), filled out immigration cards like the speed of light, then of course set off EVERY metal detector known to man (why, oh why is it always when you are in a rush?) so after a friendly frisk and pat down we zoomed toward the duty free area- only to be questioned by the custom officials as to the nature of our relationship- they didn't want to accept 'dating' as a nature- they wanted us classified as 'family' or 'friends' which stumped me a little- i set forth explaining that we have been dating for 6 years and now travelling together but no, not married or engaged, but definately more than friends etc etc..... (oh yeah- all this explained in a combination of English and my VERY poor high school french - what a hoot!) anyway, long story short (or shorter) we ran for the platform and found our seats a good 2-3 minutes before leaving the station - what a rush!

And now it's back to the charms of England, and the very exciting countdown to Christmas. We are in Devon at the moment visiting friends but will zoom northward today and hang out in Oxford until Christmas where - joy- they are forcasting a white christmas!! Hurrah! Fingers and toes and all else crossed!

Hope the lead up to your christmases is stress free and enjoyable
until the next post
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
love
Lauren the lightfoot and Adam the astronomical clock

Salut!

Hello bloggers! And welcome to my last post as a 24 year old- that's right- it's my birthday tomorrow! Huzzah! A whole quarter century- how wise I feel :) in celebration of the anniversary of my birth Adam and I are currently visiting the 'happiest place on earth (or at least Europe)' and are staying at disneyworld Paris! Double huzzah! We have been in Paris since Tuesday after a mad, eye opening three day visit to Amsterdam. Seriously- what a mad place- on one hand a city so full of history and beauty- we visited Anne franks house and spent some time cruising the canals and were just blown away by the age and grace of the town. But then on the other band the nightlife or alternative scene was something that must be seen to be believed! The first night in town we walked through the red light district with some friends to see what it was all about and I couldn't believe it! The girls all dolled up standing in their windows and the sheer number of coffee shops lining every street and alleyway! A bit of a different world from what I'm used to... But I digress, as I was saying we have been in Paris for a few days and we spent this time hitting up the Louvre and wandering through the streets, which are totally white from all the snow that's fallen. On Wednesday we walked the length of the champs élysées with snow falling all around us, and the Xmas markets in full swing- absolutely magical. We got to eurodisney this morning and the park is also full of snow- on top of the castle and all the trees- it looks amazing! I'll try and post photos just as soon as I'm able :) we had a fab day today acting like kids and running from one ride to another, and then we have much of the same planned for tomorrow :) just finished a very budget but very French meal of tourine with bousin and Camembert, baguette and red wine- oh la la!!! 
Must go now and get some sleep to prepare for another full day of mouse magic tomorrow :)
Hope life finds you all well and dandy
Love Lauren the lambourgini and Adam the astin Martin 

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!

Tiddle de dee! (greetings from the emerald isle!)

Hello from Ireland! Land of Guinness, tin whisltes and hearty stews! Sorry it's been a while since my last post but we have been devoid of internet (and indeed mobile) service- actually it's been quite nice to be a bit cut off from technology, but now it is time to fill you all in on our travels.

After a lovely few days in Oxford we caught the bus to Stansted airport to catch our Ryanair flight. We had heard mixed reviews from others who had travelled on the low budget airline, but we were happy enough to give them a go, especially as our flights were so ridiculously cheap. And for the most part the journey was uneventful, I set off the metal detector in the aiport and recieved a fair grope from the security lady, which (just quietly) i think she rather enjoyed, I just closed my eyes and thought of England. The flight was super quick, just up and down, it was made to feel a tad longer by the baby sitting directly behind us but what can you do? We were picked up from the airport by our friends Teresa and James- it was SO lovely to see them again. Teresa and I went through primary school together so we go way back, and though James is a reletively recent addition to the mix it feels like we have known him forever. We arrived at 11pm, so there was only time for 3 beers before bed (!)

The next morning we headed into Blarney, which is their village and home to the famous Blarney castle and stone. The castle itself is quite old and run down, though very worth a look, but it's no secret that the true reason people cue up to go in is to see and kiss the stone. Legend has it that if you kiss the stone you will receive the gift of the gab. Legend also has it that locals from the village of Blarney urinate on the stone as a bit of a practicle joke on all the gullible tourists. That aside we still puckered up and had a little smooch with the rock - it tasted like gravel and dirt. Not sure if i have the gift of the gab yet, i guess only time will tell!

After a lunch of guinness and sandwiches (no- seriously that was our lunch) we piled in James' car for a road trip up to Limerick. Along the drive we encountered some of Ireland's famous weather- it rained pretty much non stop for the 3 hour drive. And let me tell you - some of those winding roads get a little hair raising when they are slippery and wet! But we arrived safe and sound in |Limerick by about 6pm. James and Teresa both work for Munster Rugby club and there was a Munster match on against an Italian team that night, and somehow we managed to wangle tickets into our own coperate box! We couldn't believe our luck! It was actuallly quite a boring match, not boring in the sense that nothing happened, but munster won by about 30 points and so it was over by the first few minutes really, but we had such a blast! a few wines later and we were the most enthusiatic fans in the stadium! Though i think perhaps the least knowledgable, I did at one point ask if the spanish team were finding it hard to play in the cold weather only to be informed they were in fact from italy- ooops! a minor detail i feel! after the match we headed into limerick where we had the most amazing kebab in history from abra kebabra- probably the best shop in the world aslo.... though i don't know if the wine helped with this review. we then went to dolens bar, which is aparently famous for its live music- and it didn't disappoint! we had people playing the fiddle and singing- it was great! but after a beer or two we were pretty beet, so it was back to the hotel for a snooze.....

The next morning we packed back into the car and headed to the cliffs of moher- they are trying to get the cliffs included in the greatest wonders of the world ,and i can see why- they were absolutely beautiful. it helped that the sun popped its head out to shine on us but all the same- absolutely breathtaking. I took about 13094 photos of them - i only hope it's enough to convey just how gorgeous they were. after the cliffs we went for a good drive around the region and saw the sights, the area there is full of ruins dating back to 3 thousand years BC- seriously old stuff- it was lovely just to drive about and take in some history. That night we checked into the most lovely B&B - and to top things off it was directly next to the town's 2 pubs!! are you seeing a bit of a theme here with our irish adventures??? Pubs seem to feature quite prominently...hm........ ah well!!!

The next morning we slowly ambled back to to Blarney, stopping off for us to dabble our toes in the Atlantic ocean and take in the sights and sounds of the country side. The Cork international jazz festival was on over the weekend so once back in Blarney we headed out to a bar call the Shelbourne and saw a jazz band called Cat Scratch Fever- by the end of their set we were standing on the couches dancing - it was brilliant! only in ireland! Adam also was able to catch up with a fourth cousin of his called Mark who we managed to track down, we tried our hardest to figure out how it was adam and he were related- one of his great greats was an aunt of one of adam's great great relatives but it all got a bit too hard really! Still - was lovely to meet a local and have a bit of a chat.

And that brings us to yesterday....we were all a bit tired out after our road trip and mutliple trips to the pub we had a lovely quiet sort of day, we drove to a near by fishing village and had a lovely walk around some old cobbled streets, saw a small market and chilled out.....it wouldn't be ireland if we didn't end up in the pub at some stage- but we left after just one hot whiskey (yum!) as i really didn't feel my liver could take too much more.....obviuosly i have a lot to learn from the irish!

And now today we are just having a bit of a wander around cork city- it seems like a lovely sort of town , nice and quiet but at the same time full of life- sounds a bit confusing but so much in ireland is!!! tomorrow we head to the town of gallway before heading to dublin for a touch of international rules! Can't wait!
Hope you all are having a lovely time wherever you are in the world,
much love
Lauren the leprechaun and Adam the aer lingus
xxxxx

greetings from the UK!

howdy folks- we made it! after years of talking about it, a year of planning it and many months of getting increasingly excited we are finally here in England at the start of our big trip. oh the word excitement doesn't actually come close to describe what we're feeling! before I get too far into this post I'd just like to apologise in advance for the poor spelling and grammar, I'm actually typing this on a iPhone at 6am whilst hiding under the blankets in bed so I don't wake Adam up- stupid jetlag has us sleepy at conflicting times!!! now that the apologies are out of the way I'll get to recapping the last few days... we actually left Perth on Saturday and flew further away from Europe to the beautiful city of Melbourne for the ACRA awards ceremony. Adam was nominated for best newcomer on air- a huge accomplishment as there are only 4 finalists from all the on air radio personel Australia wide. alas Saturday night was not Adams night to take home the award but we had a great time walking down the red carpet behind hamish and andy, rubbing shoulders with several celebs and being wined and dined- fab!!! we woke up slowly and gently on Sunday and spent the day killing time wandering the streets of Melbourne (not in a seedy way though). after a lovely dinner prepared by the fantastic tors we headed to the airport for our flight. there's not too much one can say to describe a 14 hour flight, at the start we were delayed because a fellow passenger fell ill and had to be taken off in an ambulance, but once we got going it was pretty smooth sailing (or flying). we managed a fair bit of sleep and kept ourselves amused with the movies and games. Dubai came and went without much of a fuss and then it was on the airbus a380 for another 7 hours to heathrow. one bit of excitent on landing was the captain made us all stay seated once on the tarmac because 2 policen had to board and arrest another passenger! such excitement! seems we were on a flight of invalids and criminals!!! after breezing through customs we hopped on a bus bound for headington, oxford where we walked to my grandads house where my aunt Caroline was Also waiting for us. it was SO lovely to see them both again, it's been almost 4 years since we last caught up!! due to my tired levels I can't for the life of me recount with any accuracy what we talked
about all afternoon but I know numerous cups of tea were drunk and we had a lovely time chatting and catching up. Adam and I hung in there iil after dinner, but by 8pm we surrendered to our drooping eyelids and headed for bed. 12 glorious hours of sleep later and I awoke with a cold! can you believe it!! extremely unimpressed! so we dressers and headed into oxford where our first stop was boots pharmacy where I dosed myself up ready for our first proper day of holiday. and I rather think we did quite well- we climbed carfax tower
for a view of the city, visited Christchurch college which is where Harry potter movies
were
filmed, had a £1 marks and Spencer sandwich for lunch, had a beer at the eagle and child- the pub where j.r.rtolkien and c.s.Lewis used to meet weekly during their university years, saw the musuem, hit up the covered markets and even swung by the townhall. my grandpa was
the lord mayor of oxford back in the 1980's and I mentioned this to the lady working at the information desk and she scurried off and found a historian who was so kind to take Adam and I into the town hall and even unlocked my grandpa's old study for us to have a look around! his portrait is still hanging above the desk- it was really really special. after heading back to grandads house I whipped up a quick dinner and then we went to the pub my grandad works at where we met a few of his mates. over a gin and tonic or two we were taught the finer points of how to play snooker. it was quickly explained to me that wen are not allowed to play snooker in the pub ( a throwback to the days when women were forbidden from even entering). I can't say I minded though- the couches were very comfy and the gin was very delicious. Adam had a go though, and whilst he put up a good
fight, grandad walked away with boasting rights. and so once grandad had closed the bar up we headed home to bed, which is where I still am, typing this right now. I apologise for the lack or photos- I'll try and add some with the next post. hope all is going swimmingly for all of you,
much love from Lauren (and Adam- if he were awake)