tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82384492678205001322024-02-20T18:10:09.415+01:00The adventures of a curious SamAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-53267153724843663602014-10-19T02:06:00.003+02:002014-10-19T02:06:47.179+02:00Count me a bit slow,<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I know a good swath of my friends have been reading this sort of stuff for years, but hey, I've been busy adventuring the world. I still am, it's just that my interest in other stuff is growing too, and I have too much time for bumming around on the internet. This here is a list of websites that I want to keep somewhere accessible to check in on when I feel like updating myself with the happenings of the world.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/">http://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/</a><br />
As it says, radical book sellers. For next time I feel like I need something to read.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bread-and-roses.co.uk/">http://www.bread-and-roses.co.uk/</a><br />
For working out <i>what</i> I want to read.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/">http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/</a><br />
A feminist blog, because some interesting people write for it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/">http://www.newstatesman.com/</a><br />
Because several I keep hearing it mentioned in connection to interesting people.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://newhumanist.org.uk/">https://newhumanist.org.uk/</a><br />
Because <i>they</i> get mentioned a lot in connection to interesting people as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway, that was mainly a list of things that I might like to keep track of, but am certain to forget the names of when I actually want to read them, so now I have them here, and, you know, might as well share.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-45248756787845772032014-07-27T23:13:00.000+02:002014-07-27T23:13:06.668+02:00The hardest part of travelling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes you fall in love... then you have to leave.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain41.3850639 2.173403499999949441.1944764 1.8506799999999495 41.5756514 2.4961269999999494tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-82851478782713777282014-06-16T23:21:00.003+02:002014-06-16T23:21:57.640+02:00Moving to Barcelona!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Now from my last post you would think I would find that terribly exciting. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to being there. But fuck it, major packing AGAIN. You see I may not come back to Geneva, it may be straight to London from Barcelona (which would be fine with me, but OMFG seriously?!).<br />
<br />
'Home' is a concept that has lost all meaning to me. I have lived at work for the past four years basically. When I'm not at work I'm travelling. I think I am finally getting travel weary. I want somewhere to call home. I'm tired of constantly packing.<br />
<br />
The longest I've stayed in one country this year is two months, and that was visiting New Zealand. I wasn't exactly non-nomadic there either, I only stayed a few weeks in each place, tops! Since then a week in the UK, a weekend in Geneva, a week in the UK, three weeks in the US, two weeks in the UK, a few weeks in Geneva, a weekend in Barcelona, a few weeks in Geneva, a weekend in France, a week in Geneva, a week in UK, a week in Barcelona, a week in Geneva, now, maybe, a few months in Barcelona. Looking like I'll go to Belgium in August too... :-o<br />
<br />
Anyway, as it was travel-relevant, I thought I would whine on my blog for a change, instead of just at my friends by email. I gather they're sick of it :-p<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-18847833422480528062014-05-11T17:39:00.000+02:002014-05-11T17:39:21.751+02:00Barcelona!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I spent last weekend in Barcelona, I would love to say seeing all the sights and enjoying being a tourist, but actually I mostly just hung around the old town and enjoyed having some time off work.<br />
<br />
What can I say about Barcelona, aside from IT WAS AWESOME! If you're thinking of going, GO. It's rather picturesque, the weather is amazing, there are millions of food options (being vegan, this is a complete novelty for me) and people are super-friendly. It has a quite a party atmosphere, can't imagine what the place is like during carnival, insane I am sure. Oh, and cheap, which is something I'm not used to with travelling, most big cities are stupidly expensive. Also, I hear there are beaches. I need to investigate those beaches. Ah well, next time! In the mean time, here are some pics from my new favourite European city:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQy5uT7chj-rqBD3yUa8LBoYkn6i_5cMUUERO_2frYjq-njYKqSwMNwJbiORwzDZ__IoricFKULmgMPPJ9-EEDrOYwiSDH0LW11IjjHW-FyxNdQ_qtOTW-qhiO1HRhfHjCjXLLyJu_meQ/s1600/IMG_20140504_142147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQy5uT7chj-rqBD3yUa8LBoYkn6i_5cMUUERO_2frYjq-njYKqSwMNwJbiORwzDZ__IoricFKULmgMPPJ9-EEDrOYwiSDH0LW11IjjHW-FyxNdQ_qtOTW-qhiO1HRhfHjCjXLLyJu_meQ/s1600/IMG_20140504_142147.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barcelona Cathedral (Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, NOT Sagrada Familiar, the famous overgrown Gaudi creation!) is very, very pretty, and set right in the old town, plenty of bustling life around it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmILM7KjfJUhyphenhyphen2B85ZyepYYoW4yHiRfJpJ4lp0y_0yFSwD5ux1C-yZrvT5iK57ajROLiCXXjSyx30ipu_5TM4vDC608Po_TwSkxHiaOfH257Hub5Z-mpxqrNi7DzGThImmJHapkj6JIbQ/s1600/IMG_20140504_142511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmILM7KjfJUhyphenhyphen2B85ZyepYYoW4yHiRfJpJ4lp0y_0yFSwD5ux1C-yZrvT5iK57ajROLiCXXjSyx30ipu_5TM4vDC608Po_TwSkxHiaOfH257Hub5Z-mpxqrNi7DzGThImmJHapkj6JIbQ/s1600/IMG_20140504_142511.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A band busking in front of the cathedral. With a piano ON WHEELS!!! They were actually quite good too.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtslnphf8lY_PUoOG8wERU4OPYViAZOF0gZOaPCaUHYsF3L9f2JpvsvAW8nFPPOTN6mgQDoRAR4mFTkM7Lb94mcM40erbDcyVR2Vh4WlljM3MkjoS-wl7L2LJ1xLtHEqI0st9pHsVQHo/s1600/IMG_20140504_140946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtslnphf8lY_PUoOG8wERU4OPYViAZOF0gZOaPCaUHYsF3L9f2JpvsvAW8nFPPOTN6mgQDoRAR4mFTkM7Lb94mcM40erbDcyVR2Vh4WlljM3MkjoS-wl7L2LJ1xLtHEqI0st9pHsVQHo/s1600/IMG_20140504_140946.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many small streets and alleyways I spent my time walking around. This was a nice sunny Monday morning bustle going on, there are actually loads of people living in the old town.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0El Barri Gòtic, Barcelona, Spain41.3819055 2.178184999999984941.358077 2.1378444999999848 41.405734 2.2185254999999851tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-90050335118717569882014-04-11T19:59:00.001+02:002014-04-11T19:59:27.911+02:00Ahh California<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Who else would think of making vegan doughnuts? I mean really, cakes I can totally understand, they're delicious, moist, just light and sweet enough. You can replace the eggs, butter & milk with perfectly reasonable ingredients like soy milk and vegan margarine, and you're good to go. Turns out the best vegan chocolate cake just skips replacing the egg altogether and adds a little more baking powder, simple!<br />
<br />
Doughnuts, on the other hand, aren't exactly worth replicating anyway. Why would you bother? Oh right, America. Must retain our right to eat ourselves to death, just with added weird diet restrictions. Gotcha. I hate to think what goes into vegan doughnuts. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I could rant about other aspects of America, like the fact you can barely walk to the supermarket, cause there is miles of suburbia between you and it, and there is no pavement to walk there on anyway. But I won't. California is lovely and sunny (actually quite cloudy and cool today, but never mind) and I get fed more than I could ever want to eat and there is a giant organic supermarket within walking distance this time, which sells actual, real tea! And I only have to walk in the gutter part of the way there, bonus!!! (seriously, the lack of pavements is really confusing, it just appears and disappears at random, half way down a block, I guess kids just walk in the street when they go trick-or-treating at halloween?).<br />
<br />
Okay, snack time. Maybe I should've got one of the vegan doughnuts...<br />
<br />
Or not. Maybe for science. Another time.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-186400906367640572014-03-28T12:57:00.001+01:002014-03-28T12:57:19.659+01:00A victorious return<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I haven't posted anything on here since I was in Berlin, despite having been to the other side of the world and back. Something to do with the other side of the world being home and such I guess.<br />
<br />
Since, what, November? December maybe I posted last? I've been to the Netherlands to see some lovely friends, down to Italy for Christmas, then back to the UK for New Years, quickly followed by a long, long flight via Dubai and Sydney to New Zealand.<br />
<br />
Had a wonderful trip to NZ, managed to spend some time with the parentals, see two brothers, see a number of old friends (who're slowly spreading themselves over the length of the country) and drive the length of the South Island in a day (with one of said old friends). Good times! Would've been nice to see a few other people, didn't get to see all the family and had to miss a few friends, but hopefully next time, whenever that may be.<br />
<br />
Since I got back to the UK I've been frantically running around like a maniac doing job interviews and trials and so on and so forth, but that's all done now. Have been offered a position in Geneva, so I guess I'll be practicing my French soon enough! Very excited about it though, Geneva is an interesting city and full to the brim with ex-pats, so it should be a good adventure. And shouldn't really require too great a command of the French language, which is a big bonus cause all I can do currently is order a coffee with (non-soya) milk, or a glass of red wine. Possibly white at a push. That is the extent of my French. This should be made more hilarious by the fact that I basically can't stomach any French food, never have been able to, too much butter and cream in <i>everything</i>.<br />
<br />
But I won't be over there until the end of April, so I'm not really sure what I'm doing with myself until then, maybe take a little trip or two to visit some friends. Maybe just relax, I have a bunch of boring domestic stuff to catch up on, like sew buttons back on and taking up jeans and other such things. And maybe work on mastering the delicate art of vegan baking. Vegan baking you ask? It is definitely possible, I've had <i>DELICIOUS</i> vegan cupcakes from <a href="http://www.mscupcake.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ms Cupcake</a>... so good... Did I mention I want to move to Brixton? :-p It's an awesome part of town, but also happens to be home to the most delicious vegan bakery ever.<br />
<br />
On that happy note, I'm off to go and think about making some delicious things for this afternoon, and possibly doing some laundry. See, domestic!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-40181884709720287572014-01-03T15:20:00.000+01:002014-01-03T15:20:20.563+01:00The Berlin wall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The of the remaining sections of the wall has been turned into a open-air art gallery; basically they've had different artists create pieces using a bit of the wall as their canvas, with some spectacular results. It is slightly disappointing that many of the best have had graffiti over them- while I am actually a fan of most street art, I think it's rude to cover over somebody else's work, and it should be criminal when they do it over really good pieces! However, it is what it is, and here are some pictures.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-TYNNvRKYFkOBLginw2WjGKIZ9kBexo_h8Wcmq5C3w79ptGDB5YBL5E0uaRdwEW6iITKo6J7lM382i72zESk1KnfCIhwBtnQOXfk2ZuT_7n-mASrI4RYmHR-NnSRUfhXrUUKzEeBw4I/s1600/148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-TYNNvRKYFkOBLginw2WjGKIZ9kBexo_h8Wcmq5C3w79ptGDB5YBL5E0uaRdwEW6iITKo6J7lM382i72zESk1KnfCIhwBtnQOXfk2ZuT_7n-mASrI4RYmHR-NnSRUfhXrUUKzEeBw4I/s640/148.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFtCPGGdTA7xoF4lcF_pCQO-8SMseQYAYb3_VawMgJyYhd6brKBh5Mj5_AAzWP7GlOBJzBsAQr23B7GgMZvYxNu2zBBpixXstX7Ixlw2mIA7LtqBxA2GUNUVQXF-igcELerIq3Q9SNhG8/s1600/155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFtCPGGdTA7xoF4lcF_pCQO-8SMseQYAYb3_VawMgJyYhd6brKBh5Mj5_AAzWP7GlOBJzBsAQr23B7GgMZvYxNu2zBBpixXstX7Ixlw2mIA7LtqBxA2GUNUVQXF-igcELerIq3Q9SNhG8/s640/155.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8YuLv11d35bZmZKPCeqLdu-6rJW6R68LUsd4O4Jxa27S4dK-yiQ9eDz_BeDbK0CDYv2iJiRQvAZ3fKMMER0vPShHC8eEtvH5ltAS9qj5USOuy7zN1GIcT70X7gV555yxQfYF598J8es/s1600/157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8YuLv11d35bZmZKPCeqLdu-6rJW6R68LUsd4O4Jxa27S4dK-yiQ9eDz_BeDbK0CDYv2iJiRQvAZ3fKMMER0vPShHC8eEtvH5ltAS9qj5USOuy7zN1GIcT70X7gV555yxQfYF598J8es/s640/157.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ova6T2uBY7Jj0FZMvrt4e1oGPCUFrrNpFCkE4S4jkhVALf1a3uBaqpQ6PvtaKEw0XYH860CR76YZSzVtqsF38PAxawtv_cFK50pKe_7EHPMiEec6N07CQmAYk4z-oO9JDMZZ1bVa57Y/s1600/158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ova6T2uBY7Jj0FZMvrt4e1oGPCUFrrNpFCkE4S4jkhVALf1a3uBaqpQ6PvtaKEw0XYH860CR76YZSzVtqsF38PAxawtv_cFK50pKe_7EHPMiEec6N07CQmAYk4z-oO9JDMZZ1bVa57Y/s640/158.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jRYrLNyjYpMt21yhndsPGh6I3IjEz5rTPQ5OLoVB1cERPtEj9neGYS5kZKH6ScbDdY26E9OwYDqh2MZZeL9CCr3RjpfP_A3NIkePg88hPLU3gY_GqORmnyd55duDPGfUJlGRFhDqXNM/s1600/160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jRYrLNyjYpMt21yhndsPGh6I3IjEz5rTPQ5OLoVB1cERPtEj9neGYS5kZKH6ScbDdY26E9OwYDqh2MZZeL9CCr3RjpfP_A3NIkePg88hPLU3gY_GqORmnyd55duDPGfUJlGRFhDqXNM/s640/160.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-64637264883275613822014-01-03T15:09:00.000+01:002014-01-03T15:10:10.467+01:00Christmas markets (a few weeks late!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAyBAdIyxJ3kboWcgYR1uBADSRk7V_i6zuEV6fmt9vlBgSFytTLRZaTY3YEj_JzQXtkBuPIU9mjgT9fuC0twGPFbcW3gs7L8dAbRvxDixY6zmU0jerMqZhtW_fRxymxeUBpc_cT8fuf4/s1600/Girls+are+ready.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAyBAdIyxJ3kboWcgYR1uBADSRk7V_i6zuEV6fmt9vlBgSFytTLRZaTY3YEj_JzQXtkBuPIU9mjgT9fuC0twGPFbcW3gs7L8dAbRvxDixY6zmU0jerMqZhtW_fRxymxeUBpc_cT8fuf4/s320/Girls+are+ready.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls are ready for their gluhwein photo!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRk7_IdsmVcWUPZ3djypKspDVyeczfZv2QcD1b95NjUZI7PdrwfNpE-g-lidwcQkc5MhAJ7kTQ1Ayuu8nHujXAd7JLv8-h3msz0jtZNG1dd_FVSb_AJLl1R5KwQuLrhVx9wiw36fys-jU/s1600/Mainz.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRk7_IdsmVcWUPZ3djypKspDVyeczfZv2QcD1b95NjUZI7PdrwfNpE-g-lidwcQkc5MhAJ7kTQ1Ayuu8nHujXAd7JLv8-h3msz0jtZNG1dd_FVSb_AJLl1R5KwQuLrhVx9wiw36fys-jU/s320/Mainz.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally all ready for our gluhwein in a hut picture!!!</td></tr>
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sorry for the long
posting gap folks, life got a bit busy, as it is wont to do in fits
and bursts.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Long story short, these
days I'm a bit of an nomadic snail, bumming around Europe until early
January, at which point I leave to be a nomadic snail in New Zealand
for a couple of months, then I'll probably resume my life of
frantically rushing from one location to the next at the drop of a
hat.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5F6YiYQyMcLtdfNrGp2Uclz7f_hxL0rBssb2-LIWYEE3dK8-5t3Jmg7eD6Op0Ns7k8U9gSYjsSgBmdcPJDDkymCsTZ8wTXNJKnWA4tBgQpN8PJz1pJbIwjmgmpr8VFdP9pTGiDtlhwU/s1600/Knitted+trees.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5F6YiYQyMcLtdfNrGp2Uclz7f_hxL0rBssb2-LIWYEE3dK8-5t3Jmg7eD6Op0Ns7k8U9gSYjsSgBmdcPJDDkymCsTZ8wTXNJKnWA4tBgQpN8PJz1pJbIwjmgmpr8VFdP9pTGiDtlhwU/s400/Knitted+trees.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that really what it looks like? Yes, yes it is. Somebody knitted for a tree.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's not that I haven't
been busy seeing lots of places recently, I have, just that I was so
busy frantically rushing about that I didn't get a chance to gather
my thoughts (or pictures) together coherently. Most recently I have
been (back) in Germany for a holiday- Berlin for a few days (another
post altogether) and the Christmas markets around the Frankfurt
region. I have an easy afternoon today, just sitting on a coach from
Frankfurt (where I left my Christmas market holiday friends) to
Cologne, where I will meet up with an old school friend who I haven't
seen in about nine years, aside from one day earlier this week! And
aside from running about Germany, I've also been doing work related
things like conferences, and talking and networking and generally
schmoozing. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyhow, lets get on to
the Christmas markets, because they are well worth knowing about!
Christmas is rather a big deal in Germany, it would seem. Every town
has Christmas markets to some extent I am told, but some are bigger
and better than others. Big towns have numerous ones, they were all
over the place in Berlin!</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were lots of
exciting things in the Christmas markets, in particular Gluhwein,
mulled wine to warm you up while you stroll the cobbled alleys
between stalls examining all manner of Christmas decorations, from
hand-carved hanging tree decorations to free-standing, highly
decorated glass candle-holders and munching on deep-fried potato.
It's amazing how many different ways there are to deep fry potatoes,
I had no idea! Surely the most versatile food sources to ever exist!
It's actually hard to capture the atmosphere of the Christmas markets
with words, and the pictures quite assuredly don't do it justice at
all. For starters you can't taste the sugar-coated almonds or
chocolate-dipped bananas (yes, it's a bit of a sugar overload,
particularly for me, I seem to be getting more sensitive to it by the
day!), or watch your breath coming out in little steamy puffs while
you get into the Christmas spirit. I was rather captivated by the
Christmas ornaments though, they're just endless in variation, it's
really quite impressive. I have declared that if I ever do something
so boring and grown up as owning a house, then I will surely be
coming back to Germany to deck it out for Christmas! I do like
Christmas.</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTDzrw1ag-hJhGLBsXjcTnusZH50-tQQ6XOj40PEoZ88pQs2DDP5MDBPEbPnvGPgOPakP8RTG6HkC04RTzs6fKDqTpQqSQZtxGHRxGItA0o-PZbn8JGEWhmgcozLNpMzk_ma0AqHAAbk/s1600/Musical+mystery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTDzrw1ag-hJhGLBsXjcTnusZH50-tQQ6XOj40PEoZ88pQs2DDP5MDBPEbPnvGPgOPakP8RTG6HkC04RTzs6fKDqTpQqSQZtxGHRxGItA0o-PZbn8JGEWhmgcozLNpMzk_ma0AqHAAbk/s200/Musical+mystery.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mystery musical instrument!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPljSzCe_RBtCz9yb4l2ipBoDBR6Ufd7ZyplFiZhn63guR7D3LCF-SbLWA3CpG_SVgeX6GhIjivSfFHCRo8Z5OcE1BWjC5UwJVlyiHtPGoqc7h_Mj38g20gq8nu0vIrD2nMOqJVobvSN4/s1600/Heidleberg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPljSzCe_RBtCz9yb4l2ipBoDBR6Ufd7ZyplFiZhn63guR7D3LCF-SbLWA3CpG_SVgeX6GhIjivSfFHCRo8Z5OcE1BWjC5UwJVlyiHtPGoqc7h_Mj38g20gq8nu0vIrD2nMOqJVobvSN4/s400/Heidleberg.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two of our party with markets in the background.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-91818647923240324532014-01-03T14:34:00.000+01:002014-01-03T14:38:29.948+01:00Berlin- a city under construction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Berlin definitely
warrants a post of its own, it was quite an amazing place. S2 and I
both really want to go back. We arrived early morning on a Tuesday,
and left again Thursday afternoon, so we didn't have much time, and
there is a <i>lot</i> to see in
Berlin. Decidedly more than two days worth. Frankfurt barely manages
one day's worth, IMO, but we were really just using it as a base to
head out of town to the regional markets anyway. Berlin, on the other
hand, was fascinating.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaeJRwiYFxcc90FkrSQBqeXiAYnY9YIETxHEPJK6OgL9Hg9tr6v78B8dIfl8TGHIktZSdB7YMiV2x8U0JOy606gZN98w8ie4RjfG3jFmFzAM7G13vOcghhs8_xUWtgJ8w4f4yFiSRac0/s1600/Berlin+Hauptbahnhof.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaeJRwiYFxcc90FkrSQBqeXiAYnY9YIETxHEPJK6OgL9Hg9tr6v78B8dIfl8TGHIktZSdB7YMiV2x8U0JOy606gZN98w8ie4RjfG3jFmFzAM7G13vOcghhs8_xUWtgJ8w4f4yFiSRac0/s640/Berlin+Hauptbahnhof.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berlin train station is an enormous construction of glass and steel, and by far the largest station I 've ever encountered!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKj3Iu_KB3GlOxcI1GZHbPdf4yGHwEwdVv14bSe2LAd2S4tUEYZBlOwzt9jPSjPPiXcikXMrfaSR5jd59yepVWPG32UT2nusODMICfiaLSU3Vh5f5L23qVDFLab0TcOo4u9r79y0DmeY4/s1600/Welcome+to+Berlin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKj3Iu_KB3GlOxcI1GZHbPdf4yGHwEwdVv14bSe2LAd2S4tUEYZBlOwzt9jPSjPPiXcikXMrfaSR5jd59yepVWPG32UT2nusODMICfiaLSU3Vh5f5L23qVDFLab0TcOo4u9r79y0DmeY4/s320/Welcome+to+Berlin.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I liked this sculpture on our first day in Berlin.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaq_DggN_U_k5mB7-HizlGq9wLFVkVMK4PGRjHWcEovxINofcvpXh7UnhNdAUJ14OAs4gEcT8I3Rq_85k-AlP-l2_Amb_tuuvM2qK7q1UFOrFgaeLnrp6THHoFZw5pJmc1JFzpqr5A4Y/s1600/TV+Tower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaq_DggN_U_k5mB7-HizlGq9wLFVkVMK4PGRjHWcEovxINofcvpXh7UnhNdAUJ14OAs4gEcT8I3Rq_85k-AlP-l2_Amb_tuuvM2qK7q1UFOrFgaeLnrp6THHoFZw5pJmc1JFzpqr5A4Y/s320/TV+Tower.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TV tower- an omniprescent sight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What
made Berlin so good to visit is hard to say, but if I had to sum it
up in one word, I would say it was the vibe. It's
a happening sort of place. The arts scene is clearly thriving very
well, they're very well known for the clubbing, techno in particular
I think, and with a slogan of 'poor but sexy' they've obviously got
some egoistic humour to balance out the hard-core party crowd. The
history is obviously fascinating, how many cities have been chopped
up into fragments and governed by foreigners for a few decades before
being reunited and told to get along with things?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGREAbV7jEr_oLbGwtdNcG8uBXPch42jZYziHCCSzDKRindQTr_LuCGIUu5l_rzEsvOxVAsFUVSw_dX4WDeAOqDpR-JpQbh44Qxn1GyL4fzS-sBrStUsUIPAiXRErQbxFWhGV8TyCG3Y4/s1600/Brandenburg+Tor.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGREAbV7jEr_oLbGwtdNcG8uBXPch42jZYziHCCSzDKRindQTr_LuCGIUu5l_rzEsvOxVAsFUVSw_dX4WDeAOqDpR-JpQbh44Qxn1GyL4fzS-sBrStUsUIPAiXRErQbxFWhGV8TyCG3Y4/s640/Brandenburg+Tor.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> A large menorah stands tall in front of the Brandenburg Tor, together dominating Pariser Platz.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It
really is interesting to notice that you can really <i>see</i>
which bits used to be West and which were East Berlin. Just a glance
at the nearest building is usually a give-away, the architecture is
quite visibly very different, and I'm no expert. The whole place
feels like a city under construction, there are cranes dominating the
skyline in almost every direction, half the streets are pulled up or
blocked off for new tram lines or metro stations, and the only empty
buildings you see look like they play host to some wicked gigs on a
fairly regular basis. Basically Berlin is just pretty damn awesome.
'Nuff said!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wCUI388zFD1MrYdimIASV9WYbvDcwcvATqZ36E0YLVMXRT8iEBMqkLqvLAElEwNH95hLoUpcvulEmgVskpOy0ipLHFbsz471iXGxyZSrcu9DKIYRk-UaPL6YBfDWw81Ujj9mkBuH1sI/s1600/The++Wall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wCUI388zFD1MrYdimIASV9WYbvDcwcvATqZ36E0YLVMXRT8iEBMqkLqvLAElEwNH95hLoUpcvulEmgVskpOy0ipLHFbsz471iXGxyZSrcu9DKIYRk-UaPL6YBfDWw81Ujj9mkBuH1sI/s640/The++Wall.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A taste of the wall- I found this a rather witty comment on humanity and the walls we create.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-12668420138823509712013-09-01T13:20:00.000+02:002013-09-01T13:33:52.179+02:00Toskana Therme- the spa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Or, as I like to call it, Saunavana.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bad Orb is an old spa town, give-away is in the name there! (Bad = bath) The water has lots of mineral salts in it, so it's got all sorts of special healing properties, beneficial for x,y,z etc.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There is a really wonderful spa which is practically next door to me here, it's officially part of a hotel, but you can buy entry separately, a bit like paying for entry to the local swimming pool, which is what I thought it was to start with. How little I knew!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's start first with the pesky little details, they always take longer than they have a right to! Entry is a little pricey, starting at 14 Euros for two hours, but I will concede that it doesn't rise a great deal after that, the longer you stay the better your hourly rate, quite noticeably. Once you are in, the changing rooms are, to me, a little unusual, with a long row of cubicles that you enter, lock both doors, and once changed, exit via the second door into the locker area. I rather appreciate the locker system; they give you an electronic wrist-tag, which you get on entry (you use it to get in) then once you come in you can use it to open a locker, put your things inside, and lock it again. That is now your locker. The really good thing is, of course, that the wrist tags are waterproof, and you can wear them everywhere, even the sauna (although they do get a bit hot on your skin), and as you wear it like a watch, there's no losing it. It also has a nice facility where you can buy things at the bar with it, and pay when you leave (as you need the tag to exit the building), which is much easier than going to get your money while you're between saunas!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Onto the heart of the matter then...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I had heard about the special salty water, and that they did something called Liquid Sound, where you could hear music under the water, watch lights and goodness knows what. Being a spa I also had hopes for a big pool, a jacuzzi perhaps, that sort of thing. What I got was utter delight.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I can't actually say how many pools there were, I can think of at least seven or eight in the main area, big ones, small ones, lane ones for lengths, jacuzzis for relaxing in, baby/toddler pools, and of course the big attraction, the Liquid Sound pool, where you float in the salty water, listening to the music with your ears underwater while staring up at the pretty lights on the ceiling. It was rather nice, being about body temperature you were quite comfortable, but I must admit to becoming a bit squeamish about having the water in my ears (it takes a long time to come out and feels ikky okay?!), so didn't find it as relaxing as it is supposed to be. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The highlight for me though was without a shadow of a doubt the sauna area. Seven different sauna experiences in the one location- genius!!! Naturally I gravitated towards the Finnish sauna (a.k.a the hot one), but they also had a 'warm' one (about 50C) which would be great for those who like the sauna experience, but find them too hot, a 'damp' one (a.k.a. steam room) which I also really love, a Broncharium (not sure what that one was for exactly) and a Lektarium, which, from what I can see, you are supposed to read in. Then there was outside, where they had a Solarium (about 30C or 35C if I recall correctly) and Panorama sauna, which had a view of the sauna garden area (not in and of itself very exciting, but nice to cool down after baking!), and is kept at the same temperature as the Finnish sauna.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, what do all of these different saunas have to offer? How can there possibly be so much variety in hot rooms? Here's a run-down.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Finnischesauna- (Finnish Sauna) the traditional sauna experience. Come inside the 90C heat, sit (or lie down, if there's space) and roast yourself to perfection. The graduated seating give two (or was it three) choices of sauna experience- the higher up you are, the hotter it is (heat rises don't you know?!). This one, by necessity, has wooden seating, and a towel is a must or you'll burn your backside! The Finnish sauna has low humidity, which is why such an extreme temperature is bearable (to a point), but they do put water on it every now and again to keep things sane. The real treat comes later...</li>
<li>Dampfsauna- (Steam Room) pretty self explanatory really- 100% humidity kept at 43C; it's quite an intense experience. Either way, it's quite warm enough with that sort of humidity! It's a treat for sore muscles, they feel forcibly relaxed, it's really quite incredible. Unsurprisingly with that sort of dampness, this room is tiled rather than wood, and towels would be, well, rather soggy after a few minutes! There are hoses to wash down your selected area of warm tiles, and if there's a sauna I must recommend lying down for, it's this one. The coloured lights on the roof, seen though the hazy, misty air are just delightful! Fairy lights have never been used to such great effect for those over the age of 6.</li>
<li>Softsauna- name says it all! This is also a wooden one, towels recommended to protect those tender buttocks! This one is kept at 50C but with 40% humidity it might well be quite nice. I must confess to not having used this one yet, so far I've been too busy rotating between the Finnish, Panorama and steam saunas to spare time for a cooler one, but I can think of a few people I might point in that direction! As you might have noticed, I like my saunas hot!</li>
<li>Lektarium- this one puzzled me from a distance, but the promise of reading in a sauna was irresistible and I had to explore. It's another tiled one (but dry, which I think means you should sit on a towel), although I'm not entirely sure why. It's (apparently!) kept at 43C, with low humidity, so you're not exactly breaking a sweat in there. In fact I was feeling a little chilly, and after making a circuit of the bookshelf I decided not to bother (seeing as I can't read German anyway). Perhaps it was turned off?!</li>
<li>Broncharium- another tiled room kept at a remarkably low temperature of just 30C. I couldn't figure what this one was about while I was there, there was some stuff in the air, which I presumed was supposed to be good for your lungs and breathing or something, which is more or less what their website seems to be saying, salty fog anyone?! I didn't really get into this one, it was a bit odd.</li>
<li>Solarium- one of the wood-benched outside saunas, although I'm not sure it should really count as a sauna. I think the temperature was fixed around 30C or 35C- basically about the temperature of a nice summers day, and humidity to suit I believe. I don't think I actually went it, I just couldn't get my head around the <i>point</i> of it, but perhaps that view will change come winter!</li>
<li>Panoramasauna- as the name suggests, this is a sauna with a view, albeit of a plunge pool and a walled garden full of deck chairs. Like the Finnish sauna, this one is hot at 90C, with low humidity. Also like the Finnish sauna, it has wooden benches of graduated heights, allowing you a choice of roasting temperatures and towels are a must to protect those those butts! In keeping with the similarities to the Finnish Sauna, this is also one of my favourites!</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
That is basically what all the different saunas are about. In addition to those, there is a jacuzzi (which feels luke-warm at best when you've been roasting in a sauna), two plunge pools, a bunch of bucket-with-a-rope type shower things (I haven't tried them yet, they seem to be quite busy) and a tub of crushed ice. I haven't yet been able to recreate the sensation I had last winter when we ran out of the spa doors, jumped in the heaps of snow, then raced back inside and leapt into the jacuzzi- that's really quite an amazing feeling. I think you need to get a bigger surface area of your body much colder than you can with a handful of crushed ice, and maybe a slightly hotter jacuzzi (in my opinion the one in the sauna area of Toskana Therme is a bit too cool, but it might just be contrast from the saunas) to get that tingling, burning sensation when you get into what is basically a nice warm bath! Worth doing if you ever get the chance, the contrast is incredible.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And speaking of contrast, I do love the plunge pools in Toskana Therme, they're great. There is an outdoor one next to the two garden saunas, and it's surprising how long you can (and want to) stay in cold water when your core body temperature is high from the sauna. There are some showers too, if you want to just rinse off and cool down naturally, but I particularly like the sudden contrast, which gives you the feeling of radiating warmth from the inside. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The <i>best</i> things about the saunas though I have kept for last. Firstly, being in Northern Europe, the saunas are a 'textile free' (read: no clothing) area, which is a welcome relief from the British approach to saunas where you must wear a bathing suit (really, sweating into lycra is just a bit gross, and quite uncomfortable) at all times. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The other <i>really</i> brilliant thing was that every hour or so (there was a timetable somewhere) one of the staff would come into either the Finnish or Panorama sauna, and mixed into the water they put on the stones, there are some oils. I was there just for one with Eucalyptus, but they do a variety of different ones, I think I saw lemongrass on the list as well. They of course evaporate into steam the moment they touch the hot stones, spreading through the entire sauna. Usually they would concentrate in the upper levels, but with the aid of this amazing person those oils are persuaded down and all around the sauna with the skill-full use of a wet towel being flicked and whipped around your heads, and you are buffeted about by wave after wave of hot, scented air directed towards you. You can feel the benefits of it easily, you can't help breathing it in deep, and when you exhale it's like you're breathing out all the old air that's been building up inside you and getting stale, leaving you fresh and strong. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I really couldn't recommend the saunas of Toskana Therme strongly enough!<br />
<br />
If you're looking for directions to this Saunavana, or want to know more then their <a href="http://www.toskanaworld.net/web/en/content/content.php?areaID=16&menuID=170&active_menu=3&vhm=&area=Toskana%20Therme%20Bad%20Orb&menu=facilities&content=" target="_blank">website can be found here.</a></div>
<div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0Bad Orb, Germany50.2265243 9.348401100000046450.1452283 9.1870396000000465 50.3078203 9.5097626000000464tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-8665535647858549012013-09-01T11:13:00.001+02:002013-09-01T13:29:08.677+02:00Toskana Therme<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This will be a two part post, as I have two aspects I would like to comment on, and this one comes first so I can end on a high note!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kosmetik.</span><br />
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So, having quite sensitive skin, I tend to avoid shaving whenever possible as it usually brings me out in an unattractive, itchy rash, utterly defeating the point in having shaved. Thus I usually go for waxing, it's not so painful once you get used to it, and although my skin doesn't love that either it's not so bad as shaving, and at least you only have to do it once a month! However, it's not very DIY friendly. It's a possible, but awkward, and underarms ARE impossible, so it requires a salon somewhere. Now I've been to various salons in a variety of places, New Zealand, London, Milan, France, other places in France, Milan (seriously, I've only been there twice, no more than 24hrs at a time!), and now Germany. It's not always easy, the first time in France they didn't speak English, so I had to mime what I wanted at the reception desk to even find out if they did waxing- they did. Following my epic miming of details, which produced much hilarity they did a decent job. The second place in a totally different part of France actually spoke English, so it was easy. The first place in Milan was the same as the first in France- lots of miming and we got there, it worked well enough, they did a good job. The second, were, I must say, ruthless. Effective, certainly, there wasn't a hair left, but boy she was efficient. I was in and out in 40 minutes (it's usually about an hour), she wasn't the slightest bit concerned with my comfort, like the ones who apologise over and over throughout the process.<br />
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However Bad Orb is not Milan, nor London. It is a small town, like those places in France. So off I go to the nearest likely looking place, which happens to be the local spa- Toskana Therme. They had appointments so I booked. They did advise me that unfortunately they couldn't do under-arm waxing ('why on <i>earth</i> not?!' I did wonder), but I had heard they were good for other things, and they use a brand I happen to favour for their lack of chemicals (Dr Hauschka, go German green-ness!), so I decided to roll with it and worry about the under-arms later.<br />
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I'm particularly glad I did decide to worry about the underarms later, I often find them to be the most sensitive, and they're technically the most difficult for the beautician too, because the hairs tend to grow in any old direction, making them tricky to get out.<br />
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It started just fine, here's the bed, lie back, we discuss what she will do and she gets to work. I was not thrilled to note that they only have two varieties of strip wax- I assume sensitive and normal, as I usually ask for a hot wax for sensitive bits like bikini-line. However I had already resigned myself to the likelihood that it would be a strip wax, which aren't always too painful, if the beautician has a good technique. Now I'm no beautician, but I've had enough waxing experience (and enough emergency DIY waxing!) to know how it goes, and it's something like this:<br />
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<li>Put the wax on the skin, smoothing it on in the direction of the hair growth</li>
<li>Put the strip over the top, smoothing in the direction of hair growth and avoiding bubbles etc.</li>
<li>Peel strip directly backwards as quickly as possible against direction of hair growth.</li>
<li>Move on to new patch of hairy skin.</li>
<li>Re-use the strip until it becomes too sticky and doesn't come away cleanly, throw it away and get a new one. I find five or six uses at most, usually less.</li>
<li>Never re-wax skin more than once. If it doesn't come out second time, it's tweezers or you'll damage the skin.</li>
<li>Gently rub the skin with a nice oil to help remove the sticky wax and soothe it with nice oils like chamomile.</li>
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That's more or less how my DIY wax goes, and roughly outlines the rules beauticians seem to follow. The beautician at Toskana Therme:</div>
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<li>The wax. It was those roll-on dispensers, which I'm not fond of at the best of times, but they're usually okay on your legs. If they're warm enough for the wax to come out easily. These ones weren't, so they dragged and pulled on the skin as she tried to spread it, which is more than a little uncomfortable, especially when the are is already hyper sensitive because it's been waxed three times already.</li>
<li>So, once the wax was applied she...</li>
<li>Rubbed <i>against</i> the hair growth</li>
<li>Pulled the strip upwards and outwards away from the skin, not backwards over it.</li>
<li>Used three strips. Three. A total of three strips for bikini-line and two half-legs.</li>
<li>I lost count of the number of times she re-waxed various places, having little success getting the hair out (I wonder why?).</li>
<li>The failure to hold skin taut in the right places is a big one in waxing, and is without a doubt the hardest bit of DIY waxing, because you run out of hands. Beauticians often ask you to hold/pull a certain spot to help them. I'm happy to comply because it is basic self-preservation- if you don't and she can't get the skin tight you're likely to end up with bruising where the wax didn't come away from the skin cleanly. It hurts. A lot. I've had it before from DIY waxing, as I said, you run out of hands. But a beautician shouldn't, she has four at her disposal. Suffice to say I have bikini-line bruising, due to not only the skin not being tight as the wax was removed, but also the <i>outwards</i> pull of the waxing strips (seriously, not only does it not work, it also hurts a lot more, outwards is <i>BAD</i>.</li>
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So the overall results?</div>
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Well I'm too lazy to actually take a picture, but if I did it wouldn't be a pretty one. One week on my legs are hairy in various lengths and patches (shins should <i>not</i> be hairy, they're the easy part!!!). Some patches are long where clearly she just didn't get the hairs to move at all. Other patches are now at the prickly stage, suggesting the hairs broke off at skin level. And in some places they are actually still smooth, suggesting that, surprisingly, she did occasionally achieve her objective of pulling the hairs out by the roots. </div>
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I'm really glad they didn't offer under-arm waxing. I may just have to make monthly trips to Frankfurt to deal with that aspect, and do the rest myself as best I can (which is, at least, better than the local spa).<br />
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And if you're curious about exactly which place I mean... <a href="http://www.toskanaworld.net/web/en/content/content.php?areaID=16&menuID=408&active_menu=5&vhm=&area=Toskana%20Therme%20Bad%20Orb&menu=wellness%20und%20beauty%20&content=" target="_blank">follow this link.</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com2Bad Orb, Germany50.2265243 9.348401100000046450.1452283 9.1870396000000465 50.3078203 9.5097626000000464tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-24912268824084521472013-08-22T13:14:00.000+02:002013-08-22T13:14:51.479+02:00Tall and reflective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjjWUfCgNr2SBUTO2o2tJSDJd0KXve-xwzIJ9s0nZUPZ6bbOU5YAmSuhdeaUsiwBnE0q3KPemEh_kN5s-cZgtvaHPl_caSEg55hi1ggH9Wdj-EE-Nzi654PUMDQw3haNBhqweZh3MpXA/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjjWUfCgNr2SBUTO2o2tJSDJd0KXve-xwzIJ9s0nZUPZ6bbOU5YAmSuhdeaUsiwBnE0q3KPemEh_kN5s-cZgtvaHPl_caSEg55hi1ggH9Wdj-EE-Nzi654PUMDQw3haNBhqweZh3MpXA/s640/6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Finally I manage to post a picture the same day that I took it! It's gorgeous today, a little bit of summer.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-84502435369617392652013-08-21T22:08:00.002+02:002013-08-21T22:08:57.906+02:00More wildlife!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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(and also another pond picture.) </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOOKCZKu4wVoxiVjXE3k8qOdBn4x-uh35we0T_Hx7i-GpdhpEjMSqpJolNXfQSsuUEYuUgNvUFSbpEISidcHZN-gWuwuQAl66Wz2-Ckjcjhk8YA3bLs4Ycl1sf8yx7YyeE_3VGclhtC0/s1600/20130819_091435_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOOKCZKu4wVoxiVjXE3k8qOdBn4x-uh35we0T_Hx7i-GpdhpEjMSqpJolNXfQSsuUEYuUgNvUFSbpEISidcHZN-gWuwuQAl66Wz2-Ckjcjhk8YA3bLs4Ycl1sf8yx7YyeE_3VGclhtC0/s640/20130819_091435_resized.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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I really liked the under-water-lilies in this one.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKbNkqqdXm2ZU30IUt75gid8uWXAHkaSEOEDifsFgfmri2LJl0AGJCPg7ekBcqiKulnIJsY116LsbDo3VVCSNXE2jquK1LFeOOEGEhzYYBYEsall3TPRjWvOD1xXcEjQgV0UgpgR3g4o/s1600/20130820_085459_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKbNkqqdXm2ZU30IUt75gid8uWXAHkaSEOEDifsFgfmri2LJl0AGJCPg7ekBcqiKulnIJsY116LsbDo3VVCSNXE2jquK1LFeOOEGEhzYYBYEsall3TPRjWvOD1xXcEjQgV0UgpgR3g4o/s400/20130820_085459_resized.jpg" width="400" /></a><i style="font-weight: bold;">Mole!</i> I've never seen a real-life mole before. We don't have them in NZ, and I'm quite intrigued by the elusive little creatures that leave piles of dirt here and there as proof of their existence. All I need now is a badger, and a water-rat, and I will have spotted all of the Wind in the Willows cast! Granted this one might not have been totally alive... okay it was more than a bit dead. But it was still a Mole! I didn't know they were so small.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzDBNS7hRxMAYISFIV5ffMiVHsPztOzDR2ZyWCey8kSvRn9EJlLJO_mEqv-6OMZLpn2rZwXDAPDg7TOeZ_nDE8Pi0FF172pDdHwcCE6Mn32fy40kZ31hKqg-d7qOIe-f-cmyztA7XJBI/s1600/20130819_092509_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzDBNS7hRxMAYISFIV5ffMiVHsPztOzDR2ZyWCey8kSvRn9EJlLJO_mEqv-6OMZLpn2rZwXDAPDg7TOeZ_nDE8Pi0FF172pDdHwcCE6Mn32fy40kZ31hKqg-d7qOIe-f-cmyztA7XJBI/s400/20130819_092509_resized.jpg" width="222" /></a>Yesterday was another slightly damp day, which meant that my favourite little frogs were out and about, hopping all over the path! This time I had the presence of mind to work out how demonstrate their size in a picture without the frog just hopping away from the big scary moving thing. I felt a bit bad for him, but it was for less than a minute, and I did let him go on some nice ground on the side of the path he was aiming for!<br />
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As you can probably see, I've been enjoying the local wildlife here. There were also some lovely butterflies I wanted to take a picture of, they were nice and settled on some flowers so I got out my phone and sure enough, they lifted their wings (causing a hurricane in South America no doubt) and fluttered about until I put it away again, at which point they re-settled. I wasn't quite in the mood to stand around for hours getting impatient with butterflies, so I gave up after we played a few rounds of Hide From the Camera and kept walking. They were pretty though!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Goats!!!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacfFZG9Y6q-TAtuxicLPqBTJrXdDgV5puLishdcXc9h-gN-lj9dE-AZWANEMT8sVKOhjxeQBtcvUr6UFAAbSVfFyN-JvMpmYBESavjc_oIHfIxus1aS7iTkvpK9CYVbOayyLXfFS_CdM/s1600/20130821_140907_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacfFZG9Y6q-TAtuxicLPqBTJrXdDgV5puLishdcXc9h-gN-lj9dE-AZWANEMT8sVKOhjxeQBtcvUr6UFAAbSVfFyN-JvMpmYBESavjc_oIHfIxus1aS7iTkvpK9CYVbOayyLXfFS_CdM/s640/20130821_140907_resized.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GwxAqi5TjIx_YsN4I07aJOs9HYuXJiWZLfDSXXzZ40J5xRj9E9psS3V87KJgO72gAa4kNRY52XXCgPFY8AWPbbsb19hmkASDCMMi2ITRRY_d1ySsh8eY0Y0bWzCwrpn6ZdC4bQiRFtQ/s1600/20130821_140913_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GwxAqi5TjIx_YsN4I07aJOs9HYuXJiWZLfDSXXzZ40J5xRj9E9psS3V87KJgO72gAa4kNRY52XXCgPFY8AWPbbsb19hmkASDCMMi2ITRRY_d1ySsh8eY0Y0bWzCwrpn6ZdC4bQiRFtQ/s640/20130821_140913_resized.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I liked the roof goats. Can you tell? </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-77712934240480991642013-08-18T13:45:00.001+02:002013-08-18T13:45:07.157+02:00A series of pictures<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have already mentioned that I am lucky enough to count a walk in the forest as part of my schedule several times a week. What I may not have mentioned is that my walk usually takes me past a little pond, which at this point in time is full of water lilies (and frogs, apparently!). I have been taking pleasure in photographing it, particularly in the different weather we have had- it's quite different with the sun behind it, or mist swirling through the trees. So, here are a few samples!<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTckLPqx8ia0jx_ryjJ9RQXQ-4j6J4R3gpMWPYOKETu0m6svdveP9ldOiHDwpwQTAouAsGBNpM_y4WJIsIewJmdbq5xRblHMC3Lws6gp9Gr0729FYhl3gfwTzTlw-sn7xie4Ig2QXKIo/s1600/20130812_093641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTckLPqx8ia0jx_ryjJ9RQXQ-4j6J4R3gpMWPYOKETu0m6svdveP9ldOiHDwpwQTAouAsGBNpM_y4WJIsIewJmdbq5xRblHMC3Lws6gp9Gr0729FYhl3gfwTzTlw-sn7xie4Ig2QXKIo/s640/20130812_093641.jpg" width="360" /></a>We had a few really gorgeously sunny days, which have some wonderful effects in the forest! I was quite distracted while out for a cycle ride by staring at the evening sunlight filtering through the trees, quite a striking image I am still holding in my mind, but unfortunately not one I had a camera handy for.<br />
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It hasn't all been sunshine though, and one rather atmospheric day I was out it was rather misty- also a rather memorable sight! The mist swirling through the tree tops and settling down between the long trunks, over the mossy logs was quite lovely. As were the minuscule frogs hopping about all over the path- you've already seen pictures of those!</div>
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It hasn't all been sunshine though, and one rather atmospheric day I was out it was rather misty- also a rather memorable sight! The mist swirling through the tree tops and settling down between the long trunks, over the mossy logs was quite lovely. As were the minuscule frogs hopping about all over the path- you've already seen pictures of those! I took the picture on the left on my way out for a walk, and the one on the right on my way back, when the sun was just trying to break through the mist, although that isn't so clear in these pictures unfortunately.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIAfiNRKF_XwgeB4msFP9mWzY0lGqzHfCzRhzCPntMyVVpWmp02gmFXt2RaqQqJeW4mPhMDDRC6b_k9bMaN0fSfiA74Kzci9iC7ralkztpcWbqtT7zjiIpOofF6lEVbCBp4W6dZd3gFQ/s1600/Misty+background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIAfiNRKF_XwgeB4msFP9mWzY0lGqzHfCzRhzCPntMyVVpWmp02gmFXt2RaqQqJeW4mPhMDDRC6b_k9bMaN0fSfiA74Kzci9iC7ralkztpcWbqtT7zjiIpOofF6lEVbCBp4W6dZd3gFQ/s640/Misty+background.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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The other two pictures here are from some more of the lovely weather we have had- just sunshine and loveliness! I really like the way everything reflects so much on the pond, broken up by the water lilies and debris floating in the water.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuP43pmZv4jmceEnYCSm8JyGnwUWRPA6G7daCSV2HRX4dFC_30QwN19XuiIzQCmN-nD2u2jtyHeRnpQ1zIpWW_YxkzO0cZENMpMHx9iNKStsR8ma_5AxPwkIaFqNWe-I3XoOAo6YVySs/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuP43pmZv4jmceEnYCSm8JyGnwUWRPA6G7daCSV2HRX4dFC_30QwN19XuiIzQCmN-nD2u2jtyHeRnpQ1zIpWW_YxkzO0cZENMpMHx9iNKStsR8ma_5AxPwkIaFqNWe-I3XoOAo6YVySs/s400/5.jpg" width="225" /></a><br />
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Okay folks, one of the things Blogger <i>doesn't</i> do so well is formatting with pictures, and I just can't be bothered trying to make it co-operate any more! Hope it's not too much of a mess :-/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-81919000928163931642013-08-13T15:33:00.000+02:002013-08-13T15:33:29.007+02:00In the forest...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are on the edge of a forest and, fortunately for me, my job requires adventures (or at least a stroll) in the woods each day, which is quite interesting. It's a big forest I gather, but criss-crossed with trails and even roads in places. Going for a stroll in the morning is just fine, but I must confess that I would find it outright creepy in the twilight. I'm constantly looking around for the Big Bad Wolf, or maybe a bear. I am assured the most dangerous thing in there is the mosquitoes, but it's still creepy, all those tall trees and quietness. However, aside from the non-existent baddies I keep looking for, there are some neat non-evil things too.<br />
<br />
Spot the frogs!!! I promise there is one in each picture, and they're hiding in plain sight! They're tiny little things, the size of a fingernail. I thought they were beetles for a while, till I decided the movements were a bit too odd, and actually bent down to examine them, and was quite captivated by them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVOWam-fjDL1Ee0d0Ln1PApLMJ806-_4NcSF0CkTn_Eh7655Y-mJlCWiV-StAxOKaM3_9E7EUByJUdaE-G3lzv8eevSjuSQRyylC-WfBuwXwILWWNv-nf2zFcdq0TnQsviUL_RK66766o/s1600/Excellent+camoflage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVOWam-fjDL1Ee0d0Ln1PApLMJ806-_4NcSF0CkTn_Eh7655Y-mJlCWiV-StAxOKaM3_9E7EUByJUdaE-G3lzv8eevSjuSQRyylC-WfBuwXwILWWNv-nf2zFcdq0TnQsviUL_RK66766o/s640/Excellent+camoflage.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hint: this one has <i>really</i> good cammo!<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH1yG6YUZDzoLrrTJNiieLrMcyUyyDIM7Y4uBClTe8-9NNguAzYHnRccPXAnKw9aZpn6mkmhUtL5IiP1Z-gRdOqPyGhbIm9NKl8InJguYaRI1RHBs355TAO5uGZU5Byd7TDyZAS1K3N08/s1600/Ready+to+leap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH1yG6YUZDzoLrrTJNiieLrMcyUyyDIM7Y4uBClTe8-9NNguAzYHnRccPXAnKw9aZpn6mkmhUtL5IiP1Z-gRdOqPyGhbIm9NKl8InJguYaRI1RHBs355TAO5uGZU5Byd7TDyZAS1K3N08/s640/Ready+to+leap.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hint: he's making a get-away from the camera!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_G0qJxct7LJMfdW5gcWRNQLJcNJxw50DeL3B9cdtZEEXlzKmYdZe7eelc5v7QzcUIj79VtIaR9SSt5jcNUlzzr9G1b64GjO0LYB3OjVWUxm7lNtVXQqtrJaWXQ50LpHPQZ4lF8rJEvg/s1600/Spot+the+frog!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_G0qJxct7LJMfdW5gcWRNQLJcNJxw50DeL3B9cdtZEEXlzKmYdZe7eelc5v7QzcUIj79VtIaR9SSt5jcNUlzzr9G1b64GjO0LYB3OjVWUxm7lNtVXQqtrJaWXQ50LpHPQZ4lF8rJEvg/s640/Spot+the+frog!.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You really can't miss <i>this</i> one!<br /></td></tr>
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And yesterday, to spice things up a bit, I encountered something I haven't seen before- a wild deer. I know this isn't the best picture, I had to zoom a lot so I didn't scare it off, but it's right there under the tree!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTfCfZTJRlo3_5n81pJtum3mKL9sEGibkta2KJrvxPq-Uqh2rnlhKHCFEYfxHrxKOYWaFucltoCHejqalaAT1g_8lv0equRH8-CSnD3TCVEnZpByY7FGKVa53VYq0jjps44TYUOaKiRM/s1600/A+deer,+finally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTfCfZTJRlo3_5n81pJtum3mKL9sEGibkta2KJrvxPq-Uqh2rnlhKHCFEYfxHrxKOYWaFucltoCHejqalaAT1g_8lv0equRH8-CSnD3TCVEnZpByY7FGKVa53VYq0jjps44TYUOaKiRM/s400/A+deer,+finally.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
As you can see, I've been enjoying the great outdoors here... to be honest there isn't much else to do. Luckily I do actually like nature, and appreciate little froggies hopping across the path, and a glimpse of a wild deer, or I might actually go crazy! This is the closest I've been to living in the country since I was a child. Still, Frankfurt is a decently sized city and <i>very</i> well connected with the third busiest airport in Europe and of course the trains. Perhaps I can even find an English cinema there...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0Bad Orb, Germany50.2265243 9.348401100000046450.1452283 9.1870396000000465 50.3078203 9.5097626000000464tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-59452832413637380132013-08-06T21:14:00.002+02:002013-08-06T21:14:39.912+02:00The Cycling Autobahn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, last I posted was from Isola d'Elba, that gorgeous island in the Mediterranean that I so love. I have since, and somewhat unexpectedly, spent a few weeks in Britain, where I caught up with boring paper work, did a few assignments for a short course I did, and bought a bike. However I have since had to leave the bike in Britain, but for all the right reasons. There was a bike here waiting for me when I arrived! Well, almost anyway. It's a little on the big side, which makes things interesting when I have to stop and wait for traffic (getting on/off is difficult when you can't reach the ground!) but that's okay. It's a bike, and it's here. And this place is amazing for cycling!<br />
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Where I am living for now is sorta out in the sticks, but not completely. And certainly not if you're on a bike.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEY1Dq-bb8po5XvDJEtEaztteLkabld36XmXlHo_DZPwic1ekFa7n9hHDQZXpbRzBlrwIsshASF511WcYgZA1YGzpOdgD79Bvagt14ooyKSh23JnvEKS2qEc1NYAkszEUUms70AbbanU/s1600/20130804_190115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEY1Dq-bb8po5XvDJEtEaztteLkabld36XmXlHo_DZPwic1ekFa7n9hHDQZXpbRzBlrwIsshASF511WcYgZA1YGzpOdgD79Bvagt14ooyKSh23JnvEKS2qEc1NYAkszEUUms70AbbanU/s400/20130804_190115.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of the sign, facing to Gelnhausen</td></tr>
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This is where our local trail meets up with the Cycling Autobahn (I happen to think that simile is awesome, I've totally adopted it!), called the R3, which goes from Fulda to somewhere the other side of Frankfurt, totally 228km which you have to grant is a pretty damn long cycle ride!<br />
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So on Sunday I took myself to Wachtersbach (see back of sign), a total of 5.9km according to these signs. Wachtersbach itself was, as promised, not particularly exciting, so I just had some sorbet (it was really hot, it has been really hot a lot actually) and set off again, this time for Gelnhausen, 9.5km away.<br />
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At this point, I have to confess, it was not smooth sailing, nor was it particularly enjoyable, and I was quite concerned about getting back because I could tell that the path was more or less flat. There was strong headwind which made me feel every single kilo of what is a rather hefty bike (and the rider is none too light either!), not to mention the somewhat too soft tyre pressure (to be fixed as soon as my pump arrives!). Luckily, there was an ever-present back-up plan, in the form of good-old fashioned train. Germany has particularly nice ones, and on time to boot.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9edk2Ok30B9GrYeAwnRdd1S-X-2Kxhi_0-TmHVgYC4mHxqmYbmfqnjaoRIaqPKYVJ52UjVlyQNq8C_UC1CzBjhvL6i34FVgmwHjCL0Dc_zEMWb19I3poxF-kIPjUOdLzoWREqPM1pqM0/s1600/20130804_190137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9edk2Ok30B9GrYeAwnRdd1S-X-2Kxhi_0-TmHVgYC4mHxqmYbmfqnjaoRIaqPKYVJ52UjVlyQNq8C_UC1CzBjhvL6i34FVgmwHjCL0Dc_zEMWb19I3poxF-kIPjUOdLzoWREqPM1pqM0/s400/20130804_190137.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of the sign, facing to Wachtersbach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is just one slight, small flaw with the train back-up plan, which is that Wachtersbach is actually our nearest station, so it's still 6km home from the train station! There are buses between Wachtersbach and Bad Orb, timed to meet the trains (Oh, German efficiency!!!) but I doubt you can get a bike on them. Thus, at points during my trip <i>to</i> Gelnhausen, I was really dreading the trip home. Even with the train I would still need to cycle another 6km, with the last bit uphill too.<br />
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Turns out that headwind had a lot to answer for. Coming home was a breeze. Sure it took an hour, but actually it <i>only</i> took an hour, and it wasn't a hard hour either.<br />
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I am really, really liking the cycle networks here. I was going to go out and ride this evening, but I was put off by the world's most epic thunderstorm, it was better even than the incredible ones Phuket had to offer when I was there. I love a good thunderstorm, and this was the finest, and possibly closest, I've ever had the fortune to watch, but it was accompanied by a lot of rain. I'm not keen on that horrible warm, sweaty, sticky dampness that comes from exercising in the rain. In fact I detest it. Thus I skipped a ride this evening, although I might do something else instead.<br />
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Anyhow, back to the Cycling Autobahn. If you have a separate road for bikes, you have separate bridges. Obviously. It has a ramp so that you can cycle right on up, over, and back down again without getting off. Nifty! Other good features of the Cycling Autobahn aside from the obvious lack of people in cars trying to run you over, are the lack of traffic lights, which, trust me, is a big deal when you can't reach the ground from your seat. Another good feature is the signposts. The ones in these pictures here are them. They're on the Cycling Autobahn. For cyclists. They don't tell us boring stuff like how far to the next motorway entry, or that you can't park a car here. They just tell you how far it is to whatever is in that direction. Brilliantly simple! (I may have learned to hate road signs in Britain while learning to drive. Far too many of them, far too many).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcJqRZedllY9tGSghfuU2xGZApxemJ52Id7oT_O1FWDXzf9fZWuSeB5L9c8yIEzGQLFM3wghjY8PSPv5LAWYCnurDIhVBe2Gn8Vhospzmsua_ac8H4QBGcnpegbk2k-ojNqlpoLGsgCk/s1600/20130804_190511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcJqRZedllY9tGSghfuU2xGZApxemJ52Id7oT_O1FWDXzf9fZWuSeB5L9c8yIEzGQLFM3wghjY8PSPv5LAWYCnurDIhVBe2Gn8Vhospzmsua_ac8H4QBGcnpegbk2k-ojNqlpoLGsgCk/s640/20130804_190511.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nifty cycle bridge on the Cycling Autobahn (R3), and also my bike. </td></tr>
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That is my experience of the Cycling Autobahn so far, all 30km that I've explored. Well, technically only about 26km of it was even part of the R3, the route down to it from Bad Orb followed a dinky little train line (I believe an actual, real train line used to run there some time ago) which I think has tourist trains every now and again, or something. It was pretty cool anyway, and I definitely have a few more adventures planned for my lovely red bike on the Cycling Autobahn.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0Bad Orb, Germany50.2265243 9.348401100000046450.1452283 9.1870396000000465 50.3078203 9.5097626000000464tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-66438106838130571832013-06-29T16:39:00.000+02:002013-06-29T16:39:02.902+02:00'Occasional'<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"> was my adjective of choice
regarding the jellyfish in my lovely little cove. It appears the one I saw was
simply the first to shore of a swarm, blown in by the wind. I really couldn't
have picked a more inaccurate adjective had I tried! Alas the beaches this side
of the island are now fundamentally unsuitable for swimming. They're not <i>dangerous</i>
jellyfish, in that they aren't so poisonous that you're likely to die from a
sting, but they do sting. Well, that is a bit presumptuous of me, but given
even the children wouldn't go in the water, instead preferring to snag jellys
with sticks from the rocks, I infer they aren't great company up close.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I am not without things to do here though.
Aside from a few errands that I have to run, I would also like to go to some
other places on the island, and see what there is to see. I've already been to
most of them last year, but I had only an hour or two in Porto Azzuro and
Capoliveri, both of which I recall being quite striking and beautiful. I could
also go to Portoferrario, which is significantly bigger than any of the other
towns on the island, where I might be able to get a couple of things I've been
wanting to get my hands on, but are not available in Rio Marina (really
out-there stuff like coconut oil and cranberry juice). Doing so would mean
making use of the uh, extensive and regular bus services Elba has to offer,
which could be interesting. I have obtained a bus timetable from the tourist
info office in Rio Marina, so it is within the realms of possibility. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Should the jellyfish still be bothersome
after that, then I also have my camera, and an island full of beautiful just
waiting for me. Potentially that could keep me entertained for quite an
extensive period, although it would be in competition with lazing about
reading, and half-hearted attempts at extending my non-existent Italian. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">And there's still the matter of the bells
to figure out, which I revise my opinion on about a dozen times a day.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">A slightly more reality-based note, for any
of you who still read this to see what I'm doing with my life (other than
lazing about on some island or another).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I've left my old job based in London, and
have since accepted a temp contract in Germany, starting the middle of July.
I've been doing all sorts of odd bits and pieces work-wise, updating my first
aid cert, doing a short course, interviews here and there, and my driving
licence. I've decided to move towards a free-lance sort of version of my
current job, taking temp contract here and there, working with newborns. It's
more flexible and, to me, a bit more interesting. It is self-employed, which
ought to be an interesting aspect (at least for a while), with all of the
obvious upsides as well as the various downsides. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So, when am I coming home? Well, how long
is a piece of string really. It is a matter of timing with work and finances
now. Permanent plans are still something I don't really deal in, (case in
point: just ditched a stable(ish) job for self-employed freelance work, the
very definition of unstable employment), but one of the up-sides of this new
work is that I have control of my own timetable, so I can book in holidays when
they suit. Watch this space.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-70634797419195070182013-06-27T11:38:00.001+02:002013-06-27T19:57:26.537+02:00Italian adventures<div><p>I could happily live in Italy. It's just that little bit random and haphazard, nothing <i>quite</i> makes sense, but it's okay, because nobody expects it to, it just is. Everything just <i>is</i>. It's quite wonderful.</p>
<p>I'm back on Elba, the beautiful island I discovered last year, although this time I am on a different part, Rio Marina, on the Eastern side of the island, facing towards the mainland. It's a nice little town, not much more than a village really, although it does have a port where the ferry from Piombino calls several times per day. The houses are set on the hillsides, sloping steeply down towards the port where the shops and restaurants are concentrated. There is just one small supermarket, a handful of panetterias and a few restaurants. I suspect the restaurants, gelaterias and coffee bars are somewhat less numerous in the off season, now it feels like a town just waking up for the summer, like a household of people getting ready for work and school. </p>
<p>I love the sleepy feel of The Rock, it may be a gorgeous island in the Mediterranean, relying largely on tourism, but it doesn't have the glamour of Sardinia, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's laid back and relaxed, more than a little bit sleepy, and it feels precisely like what it is; a large rock, isolated from the mainland by a few kilometres of beautiful clear blue water. My perception of time here is utterly lost, I haven't the faintest idea what day it is, and only due to the particularly enthusiastic symphony of bells just passed am I aware that it is around midday. The bells are a particular peculiarity which will leave me forever checking my watch for the time! From where we are on the hill, we can hear two bells. There is the simple chiming of the clocktower above the beach, which marks out the quarter, half and three-quarter hours by 1,2 or 3 chimes, and on the hour it strikes out how many hours. The other clock, which I am yet to discover the location of, but I believe to be inland somewhere, is a little more comprehensive. It strikes out the hour in a nice, deep tone, followed by the 1, 2 or 3 strikes for the quarters past the hour in a slightly higher pitch, and provides a definitive notification of midday. There are two complicating factors to this system of telling the time. The first is that I rarely observe when the bells start, and so cannot count the chimes accurately, meaning I often get the hour wrong (although I usually manage to catch up in time to find out how much past the hour it is). The second complication lies not with my ability, but with the bells. The deeper, inland bell is quite accurate, it marks the hour right on the hour, within a few seconds of my watch and phone. The belltower by the beach, however, seems to struggle. I believe that it simply loses time, because today it seems to be almost accurate, while the last few days I had observed a discrepancy between the two clocks of almost five minutes. A final confusing factor, which I have just observed, is that they do not both always mark the quarter hours. The 12.15pm bell was simply two chimes, and just now (12.26pm) there was one solitary chime, but I could not have said for certain which tower it was. I should find out soon, because hopefully the second will chime properly.</p>
<p>Luckily there is no fear of me being late to anything here, for there is nothing to be on time for! However it is quite fascinating observing the bells.</p>
<p>Hmm. Perhaps the inland bell only chimes the hour and half hour, but not the quarter hour. It was perfectly punctual for that time.</p>
<p>Other than observing the bell-ringing & timekeeping, I have also been enjoying the beaches. Rio Marina itself has two small beaches either side of the port, neither of which I could really recommend, although one of them does have a set of fresh-water showers, which I thoroughly approve of. To compensate for the small, tourist-filled shores by the sea <i>in </i>Rio Marina, there is a simply stunning little beach nearby, only ten minutes walk from the beach with showers. It is a lovely little cove, quite enclosed, with steep rocky sides coming down to it. The beach is pebbles, spreading outwards to the sea and becoming larger smooth, round stones. The water is absolutely crystal-clear, with little fishes swimming around, a few sea-urchins to make sure you don't put your feet down, and the very occasional colourful jellyfish to keep you in touch with reality. It is, without a doubt, the nicest beach I have found outside of New Zealand. It doesn't have have waves, that is true, but for a rocky beach that is a good thing. It is just beautiful. Hopefully I can rouse myself to taking pictures one of these days...</p>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0Rio Marina, Rio Marina42.816044 10.427811tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-81292896304822653522013-05-04T12:48:00.000+02:002013-05-04T12:48:07.485+02:00Moving on...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Chamonix was my last post... oops! Since then I've been to St Bathelemy, New York and California, and back to London. And I am deep in planning for my next adventure, to Italy again, via Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (or so the plan goes anyway). In brief here are my thoughts on...<br />
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St Barthelemy- The colonial era isn't over after all. The French still own islands in the Caribbean, using the Euro and everything. It was, in essence, a playground for the rich and famous. Private jets, convertibles and yachts abound. Not really my cup of tea, but the wildlife was cool- giant hermit crab (really, the shell it was in was the size of a big coffee mug. That just ain't right for a hermit crab.) and turtles randomly coming to chill out in the garden, listening to the kids read. And no horrible biting, stinging, nasty things, although I wouldn't want to mess with the sea urchins!<br />
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New York- New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of... yep, it was pretty much everything it promised to be. Glitz, glamour and sky-scrapers. I quite liked it actually. It was pretty much exactly what I expected, we stayed on the 40th floor of a hotel overlooking Central Park and I got to walk down 5th Avenue, marvelling at how cities have these streets which are household names the world over, and yet are practically identical. 5th Avenue = Oxford St = Champs de Elysee = via Montenapoleone and so on. Still, it was fun to see. Would have liked a night to explore the night life and have some fun.<br />
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California- it must have the best climate in the whole world. Cool nights, sunny days, every day. Just lovely. Pity it's so... American. Drive to the shopping mall to buy milk... walk? On what, the road? Sigh. Lovely place, if it were just less American.<br />
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And now, to work. But not for much longer. The next few weeks will be my last in London, and they're gonna be busy, so I will be back on here maybe from Italy for all I know!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-77421377659367811702013-02-20T22:47:00.003+01:002013-02-21T22:37:41.254+01:00Chamonix Mont Blanc<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well it must be said, mountains really just don't do it for me. Rumour has it this is one of the most glamorous skiing spots in Europe, but I just want to get back to London. I'm sunburned, my lips are dry, my ears hurt from the altitude and the French/Alpine food makes me ill. It would probably be better if I wasn't vegetarian, wasn't so sensitive to the sun and the air pressure, and was a skier. But I am none of these things and so far I prefer the beauty of the snowy mountains through the glass door while I sit in front of the toasty fire with a hot chocolate (full of milk and cream and other Sam-poisons).<br />
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I can be interested in many different things while travelling- if it's got swimming I'm keen, I like food, culture and history are interesting, wildlife, listening to the language, there are lots of things. But, like Spain, this place seems to be full of British holiday makers, so all I hear is English, and everything is oriented for people hurtling down mountains in some way, shape or form, to the exclusion of anything else. And the French SUCK at accommodation. Vegan? Forget it. Vegetarian? No. Please? No. Are you serious? Let me ask the chef.... He refuse. FOR FUCKS SAKE!!! I'm not asking for anything more than a salad for goodness sake. Yes, a salad WITHOUT meat in it. Who on earth would want that? *grumble grumble* stupid French food. *vomit*<br />
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I might oblige you with pictures of the stunning natural beauty if I manage to get batteries for my camera tomorrow, but currently I am unable to perform such miracles, and I have little faith in the ability of anybody in this place to manage something as complicated as telling me where I can get more AA batteries. It's quite an ask.<br />
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EDIT:<br />
The weather closed in today, so picture opportunities were not so good, and I didn't manage to get any batteries for my camera, so these are just what I managed on my phone before we left.<br />
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At least I <i>think</i> that is Mont Blanc, but I'm not really so good on the directions. It's the biggest, nearest looking one, so I assume it is. </div>
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It was peaking through the snow clouds... geddit? *ducks to avoid projectiles*</div>
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Time to pack, London tomorrow!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-77882620528969162832012-12-29T20:15:00.000+01:002012-12-29T20:15:12.834+01:00Germany!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Finally. Bear with me, I know I'm in Mauritius now, but I've been meaning to write this post since October, and haven't done it for various reasons (camera issues being high up the list, among other things). Mauritius posts will continue after I'm done with Germany.<br />
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I also don't have all the pictures one could want for a holiday, partly due to being a bit lazy about taking pictures. But here I goes!<br />
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We started off with a kayaking trip on the Lahn- inspired by that <i>excellent</i> kayaking trip down the Ardeche last summer. It was much calmer, nobody fell out at all, although I must admit to being concerned I would come out straight away- the kayaks were a whole different design, much more manoeuvrable and also much more sensitive to shifts in your weight! Not only that, but there were chutes for getting around the occasional weir or little drops in the river, and of course our start point started off with one. Naturally it couldn't go easily, I got stuck half way down, lodged sideways against the wall! I had to be rescued, despite my best attempts at fighting my way out; not a great start. But it went much more smoothly after that- plain sailing the whole way! It was by far the easiest kayak trip of my life, the river carried us on at a reasonable enough pace that paddling was basically unnecessary a lot of the time- I sped up considerably when I did paddle :-) but there were no rapids, no rough patches, just floating along quietly. We got stuck in shallow bits once or twice, but that was about it. Oh and at the very end we forgot to tie up one of the kayaks, and my friend had to paddle downstream, find it, and paddle madly back upstream, towing the double kayak behind him! But he made it back, kayak safe, and all was well.<br />
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After the kayak trip, we started our castle tour with Schloss Braunfels, which we rather naively decided to walk to from the town we had stayed in. Granted for the fact we walked from one small town to another, it wasn't terribly far. But with big packs, and not being able to work out how to walk directly to the castle, it was a tad miserable. But also exciting. Castles!!! We got their eventually, and before they were open for business! We hid inside an extended tunnel-like archway for a while, dodging the rain, and eventually the tour opened. It turned out that you basically can't take pictures inside the castles- almost all of them had this policy- so no pictures. It was impressive though, large enough, very castle-like, and with a good collection of armour, including a full plate for a horse and knight, very impressive! The combined weight was 120kg or something insane like that- practically the weight of two people, just in armour, never mind the actual person inside it! We had a lovely tour guide too, and although the tour was in German (most of them were) she translated bits into English for us when she got a chance. And I was impressed at both her English, and her representation of stereotypical German beauty! She had the most amazing skin of anybody I have ever seen. She is secretly Snow White, I'm sure of it. On a related note, we were amazed by German teenagers, who appear to be entirely unrelated to teenagers over the rest of the world. Without exception, all the ones we encountered were polite, and had impeccably clear skin. Maybe they're imposters, and actually store their real teenagers somewhere else, in giant summer camps where they can go be spotty obnoxious teenagers by themselves. Oh right, they're called schools when it's not summer...<br />
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After Schloss Braunfels we headed for Koblenz, where our first holiday misery awaited us. After walking around the town we found no accommodation, so we wandered in to the tourist information office and asked them to book something for us. There was nothing. A huge wine festival in a small nearby town had resulted in the place being packed to the rafters, and the advised us to go a good distance to be sure to find something. Okay, no problems, we can head down the Mosel (river) now, stay there a day or two, and come back up here when the festival is over. So we got a train to Cochem, a lovely town some 50 miles or so down the Mosel. Now, I must comment on the marvellous system they had at the tourist information office there. By the time we arrived it was gone 5 O'clock, and tourist information were closed. However they had large boards in their windows to display all the accommodation offered through them, a little blurb about each place, and a light to show if they had any rooms. Not only this, but they had telephones you could dial them on, by simply dialling the corresponding number. Brilliant! If only they hadn't all been full... Time and again we called, and got the same answer. The place was full. The wine festival reached this far too it seemed. Finally we found something, it was in the last three possible options remaining, so we were incredibly relieved. It was a long walk, but we made it eventually, much to our relief.<br />
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Cochem was a lovely town, with a picturesque castle on one hill, and a giant, glowing cross atop another hill.<br />
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After a two nights and a day in lovely Cochem, we moved back up the Mosel, heading for Koblenz, with a castle stop-off along the way. My friend D, who had been in charge of most of the identification of castles to visit assured us that the castle was right next to the train station, but possibly 100 meters directly uphill. At least that's what the map said.</div>
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The map lied. We arrived at a small place called Moselkern, where there was a train station, and not much else. We wanted cafe and kuchen (coffee and cake to the un-initiated in this delicious German 'ritual') but it was a no-can-do affair, the place was too small for such establishments. So we followed the signs to for the castle. And we followed them a bit further. And a bit further. And still we walked up the valley floor with no sign of a castle anywhere. It was starting to rain, my pack was heavy, it was miserable. Massive argument ensued, and eventually I stormed off to the castle (I wanted to leave, but had no train ticket -we had a group one-, and the stupid small town was too small to have an ATM to get money from to buy a train ticket with). Turns out I make good speed when I'm royally pissed off, but it was a damn long march. Uphil. In the rain. Boy was I not happy. Fucking castles. </div>
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Suffice to say I have no pictures of Burg Eltz to show anyone, although there might have been postcards to a lucky few, I think. It was quite an impressive place actually, tucked away in the hills, sitting high above a small river. They even had a tour in English, but I was too pissed off to listen (yes, I was sulking.), and they didn't even have decent food options, just chips and hot dogs. Luckily I was still eating meat then, so I didn't go hungry, unlike the vegetarians I was travelling with. Man was I pissed off. I marched all the way back again, but my pace just wasn't the same. Anger levels were clearly shrinking a little, affecting my storming off abilities.</div>
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Okay, a picture from Google images. It was a real fairy-tale sort of castle, hidden away like that. Not the best picture, but hey, you get the idea.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_7dGrq-85F79iO4poUOb5H1-CFbMzX-bg7_2DkuKb_dVcOeRO4_w3qjtGQbNx0pUn_ZyG5yymKt2sA_0-hJiyBJ1em3BbxKUcEumTomqau6W28aQKKfQnhiGGZNypURJapgxjBIPiPQ/s1600/burg+eltz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_7dGrq-85F79iO4poUOb5H1-CFbMzX-bg7_2DkuKb_dVcOeRO4_w3qjtGQbNx0pUn_ZyG5yymKt2sA_0-hJiyBJ1em3BbxKUcEumTomqau6W28aQKKfQnhiGGZNypURJapgxjBIPiPQ/s400/burg+eltz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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After Burg Eltz the day just got better and better. And by that I mean we found out that Koblenz actually actively disliked us. Our second attempt to stay in Koblenz involved arriving, (me using an ATM immediately upon stepping off the train platform, before even leaving the train station. *grumble grumble grumble*), looking at the rain BUCKETING down, and dashing across the square to the tourist information office, to ask if they had anything available. No, they had nothing. Again. Tempers, tempers... we were all cold, wet, hungry and tired. And lugging about big packs on our backs, again. Cafe and Kuchen was located next to the train station, and decisions made to escape Koblenz, this time down the Rhine river. </div>
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Another train ride south and we arrived in St Goar, which turned out to be a delightful little town. What's more, the first bed and breakfast we stumbled upon out of the train station had rooms available. And a sauna. Heaven! We eventually located some dinner (St Goar had some issues with vegetarian options, and met an interesting pair of guys at the table next to us, one of whom was walking the entire length of the Rhine river, from Rotterdam to Switzerland. We had a wonderful cross-table chat, which brought our spirits up a fair bit, along with a hot meal and Weissebeir (white beer, from wheat, nom nom nom). Finally the sauna was used, discussions were had, and the atmosphere relaxed. I wonder how many people make up in saunas, I'm sure it must be a lot. It's hard to be angry when you're so comfortable and warm!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f-GiKIJ5qo3Sn8QBPgzqmL5qPty8Y2WeaFXysOKDLbxgqFlfvaMM47VUg1vKl1V72XnCjNTF87lFm7wTQFy3buVFspvI3MCi7NKKglNbeEjtCNP2AKgOYcckdAeXsDaWmEG0CVOk7E4/s1600/Traversing+4+-+Sam.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f-GiKIJ5qo3Sn8QBPgzqmL5qPty8Y2WeaFXysOKDLbxgqFlfvaMM47VUg1vKl1V72XnCjNTF87lFm7wTQFy3buVFspvI3MCi7NKKglNbeEjtCNP2AKgOYcckdAeXsDaWmEG0CVOk7E4/s400/Traversing+4+-+Sam.JPG" width="300" /></a> </td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Action Sam! traverses another dangerous cliff-face.</td></tr>
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I believe it was our first day in St Goar when we decided to go up to Boppard and try our skills at climbing stuff and walking up big hills, and we did what is called Klettersteig, also known as Via Ferrata and Iron Ways, depending where you are. Basically they're a bit like rock climbing, but without the skill. There are things sticking out from a cliff face, you clip yourself into a harness and try to get to the other side without falling and needing your harness. It was excellent. You've already seen a picture on here, but here's another, I was having fun!</div>
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St Goar was lovely to walk around, another picturesque town beside a river. While its only castle (Schloss Rheinfels) is now in ruins, you could also see two others across the river, Burg Maus, somewhat downstream, but visible from some places, and Burg Katz, directly across, sitting above St Goarshausen, which I was rather enchanted by. Sadly they are not open to visitors, so we couldn't go, but that didn't stop me taking pictures of them! I loved being able to see two other castles, while standing in a third- can you imagine what it was like when they were all in operation?! Castles!!!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burg Maus, taken from Schloss Rhinefels.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also from Schloss Rhinefels, I have Burg Katz behind me.</td></tr>
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I see I was a bit too excited about Katz and Maus though, I forgot to mention the trip down the Rhine. We took the train down, to see more castles, including Schonberg, where we used a catapult simulator to destroy Burg Eltz; most satisfying! We walked around the town, looked at castle walls or whatever they were, and then made our way down to the ferry terminal, where we got on a lovely river cruise, to St Goarshousen, passing the Loreley rock on the way. St Goarhausen was a beautiful town, directly across the river from St Goar, where we were staying, and it had the most incredible little pub-restaurant place, I was very taken with it. Unfortunately I have no idea what it was called, but it was a bit like stepping into your grandfathers garden shed where a bunch of university students are throwing a would-be-nice dinner party. It was pretty awesome. </div>
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And finally, before departing the wonderful Rhineland, with all of the wonderful castles, we took a look around Schloss Rhinefels itself, which we had saved for last. I was a bit castled-out by that point, but this one had a few features the others didn't. Not walking up a huge hill in the rain though, unfortunately. Once we had done our obligatory march uphill in the rain, we were treated to an excellent ruined castle. There were many parts you could run around and climb on, and best of all, an old mine you could explore. So naturally two of us, armed with cellphone torches barged on down them, and had an excellent time getting all muddy walking doubled up (or waddling like a penguin, depending on your height) through centuries-old tunnels underground, sometimes with complete silence and in pitch blackness, which was pretty cool. After a fair bit of confused exploration we heard voices, and a few corners later discovered light-a new route out, which was much more exciting than coming out the way we came in! We never did discover what they had the mines for though.</div>
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After Schloss Rhinefels, it was time to head North again. This time we were wary of Koblenz, and rewarded for our lack of confidence with some blissful sunshine to sit in for ages while we waited for the next train after our own one was cancelled. Goddamned Koblenz. Never going <i>there</i> again!!!</div>
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We had a brief stopover in Cologne (dinner, one night, that was all. I walked past the famous cathedral. It is indeed enormous), followed by a day at Landschaftpark, (Landscape park), which was so goddamn cool that it will get a post all of it's own. Soon I hope. There are certainly enough pictures for more than one post, but I will try to restrain myself. Until then...</div>
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Au revoir!</div>
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(This is French-land here as well, okay?!) </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-9189440473190465812012-12-25T23:07:00.001+01:002012-12-25T23:07:41.627+01:00When wildlife is not wild enough...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Using the toilet is generally a fairly simple procedure. You sit down, you do your business, get up again, flush the toilet and wash your hands.<div>
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This is not always so.</div>
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You come in, see nothing amiss, and sit down. Then try not to jump when you see there is a 4-inch lizard with no tail lying on the ground between your feet. Argh, where the hell did that come from?! Okay, never mind it's just a lizard. You watch it look at you suspiciously for several moments before scuttling off to a corner to hide under a pile of dirty laundry, while you get on with using the loo. Stand up to flush it and jump back, aghast upon spying a small fish swimming around in the bowl. Okay, how the <i>hell</i> did that get in there? What sort of waste water system do they have in this place anyway, it's a posh resort for goodness sake. Ewww why is it wriggling around like it's dying, that's really gross... probably because it's in a toilet full of urine... what sort of fish is it anyway, they're usually exciting tropical fish here, it's very grey and dull. And a weird shape, thick and kinda flat at the face, and then thinner and thinner as it goes along, but without any fins sticking out, how weird. Hey it's kinda slowed down it's swimming, it's just kind of twitching now, the poor thing, it must be dying in that water, what will happen if I flush it? Where does this go anyway? And can fish drown? But <i>why</i> is it that weird triangular shape, I've never seen a fish with a head like that, and why is the face bit white, where is it's mouth? It just kind of tails away into nothing.</div>
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That ain't no <i>wild</i>life, if you ask me.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-54311353438642884932012-12-23T14:08:00.001+01:002012-12-23T14:08:40.373+01:00The Indian Ocean!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bcTxuz-4Dy5SbiVN4FjjoPpZwpp7gWAyHwHhtriCOmDJiLbcXeYXfrwN94ciTg1sjeZAwqSen8DBQ2syFbbWuVeMprRWImm0Y9G3H-GigOTB28sHJ2pHbN4LCFKIouluQxL1UEqkQLo/s1600/IMG_6039.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bcTxuz-4Dy5SbiVN4FjjoPpZwpp7gWAyHwHhtriCOmDJiLbcXeYXfrwN94ciTg1sjeZAwqSen8DBQ2syFbbWuVeMprRWImm0Y9G3H-GigOTB28sHJ2pHbN4LCFKIouluQxL1UEqkQLo/s640/IMG_6039.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I have been swimming in the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the English Channel, the Andaman Sea (off Thailand), and now the Indian Ocean. So far the Pacific Ocean around the East Coast of New Zealand is still my favourite. The Caribbean was as flat as a pancake, and the sand sticky somehow, really hard to get off, even in the shower. The Andaman was beautiful, but dirty. The English Channel was passable, but it was my introduction to European beaches, dirty and not exceptionally pleasant, although I have now come to accept that it is basically normal here. Passable, but that is about all. It was also a bit cold as I recall, despite being the middle of summer. I'm sounding pretty fussy right about now, I know that. I was spoiled with lovely beaches only ten minutes from home as a child, where I practically lived in the summer, and I imagine it will be very difficult to surpass it. That won't stop me from evaluating every beach I encounter! The Indian Ocean... Well it's warm, which is nice, but not so warm as to be pointless for cooling off, which was almost true of the Caribbean I felt. Perfect temperature. It's an amazing colour, and there is a coral reef, meaning beautiful tropical fish all around (but again no real waves). I'm in Mauritius, by the way, in case you're wondering which part of that rather large ocean I am evaluating. It also means poisonous ones. So far I've only seen the non-poisonous sea-urchins, however they concerned me enough with their feirce and dangerous looking spikes to read about them, and discovered that I really ought not to go in the water without aqua shoes, in case of sea urchins, star fish, certain fish, some shellfish, and who knows what else! The Indian Ocean thus loses out for being too poisonous, it's not the cleanest (although not terrible, so far as I have seen), and here, it's also very flat, but that's due to the coral reef, which provides the lovely (and poisonous) sea creatures, so it cancels itself out on that front. The Mediterranean around Sardinia was nice, but cold when I was there in June. It was also idyllic off Elba, however the mighty Pacific Ocean gives some power to the breakers crashing on the shores of the East Coast of New Zealand, which the Mediterranean just can't rival.</div>
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Thus I proclaim that the beaches of the East Coast of New Zealand still hold as the best beaches in the world. Clean and fresh, the mighty pacific ocean crashing into the shores is as safe as the ocean can be while maintaining all of it's allure.</div>
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And why exactly, am I suddenly waxing lyrical about New Zealand beaches? Because this is the first time I've been concerned about stepping into the ocean without shoes on. One shouldn't have to wear shoes in the water! And I still don't. I just don't go near anything that looks like a rock, because it either is a rock, in which case it probably has deadly sea urchins and starfish on it (I know, deadly starfish, I was confused too), or it's a Stone-fish, pretending to be a rock, which is not a better option in any way. Other beaches have not had unpleasant downsides, but nothing terribly dangerous. Apparently being situated between Africa and Australia is a recipe for dangerous aquatic life! Of course the dangers are probably pretty minimal, or it wouldn't be such a popular holiday destination. I probably just wasn't aware of the nasty things in Thailand or the Caribbean!</div>
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Mauritius is a nice place, although I haven't seen much of it yet. It seems to have an interesting mix of African and Indian culture, with a dash of French and a pinch of English to spice things up. The food is certainly spicy, but very yummy. Beyond that... well I haven't really been out of the resort. I probably won't get to see any more of it either. I'm loving the wildlife though, the lizards are amazing, so many different types. And the birds are cool too, you'll get some pictures of them for sure, I see them driving from the swimming pool a lot.</div>
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Thus ends my first post, but here are some pictures to end with.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaiAg98JnbbXp49ZhJN8v39lP76m_HPfn37Ii6SK5fRCPogh-xKDGhnvADrjR3iWSRIQC3KPS0eD9zrgtWabiP9vFVhA9S9oNX_PjWhkVNrUzkIlb8JI7-N7F9Q7gtsjU2PuCzmnH9DY/s1600/IMG_6136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaiAg98JnbbXp49ZhJN8v39lP76m_HPfn37Ii6SK5fRCPogh-xKDGhnvADrjR3iWSRIQC3KPS0eD9zrgtWabiP9vFVhA9S9oNX_PjWhkVNrUzkIlb8JI7-N7F9Q7gtsjU2PuCzmnH9DY/s320/IMG_6136.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those terribly dangerous fish, eating my leg.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8lRD5DF8Tl4-0hIGrR6aLSMR0-wJaxVe5cRj1TgUs9GgtjLNe7nX50iVVoAm_MHptQgM_GCm6vl0xCsyMvbH7tKBoAV4BZhEUPYbegRGiMmwD4iNCvxfmcuzLJ2NnADgCMju9ekFwIc/s1600/IMG_6220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8lRD5DF8Tl4-0hIGrR6aLSMR0-wJaxVe5cRj1TgUs9GgtjLNe7nX50iVVoAm_MHptQgM_GCm6vl0xCsyMvbH7tKBoAV4BZhEUPYbegRGiMmwD4iNCvxfmcuzLJ2NnADgCMju9ekFwIc/s320/IMG_6220.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Are you guys sure about this?"<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9fC0MxmVJ1Ds94TFNrJGwxUEIeR5LTRmLU6qe-oUDevOD05tD1K8VEKomWk5DopkvOTuX3paLoIFwERC07uQP_sRsNDnsmBCk_N3hhTInrC5YoFXFytclwJwwIh81wFYD0GeNvAUZ8s/s1600/IMG_6224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9fC0MxmVJ1Ds94TFNrJGwxUEIeR5LTRmLU6qe-oUDevOD05tD1K8VEKomWk5DopkvOTuX3paLoIFwERC07uQP_sRsNDnsmBCk_N3hhTInrC5YoFXFytclwJwwIh81wFYD0GeNvAUZ8s/s320/IMG_6224.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Come on, I'll hold your wing big man"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO02MBe4xaXoIAIu5W78xkDwXDnC_MFASk3VD03Nv7812us4EHKjFuedO15SiOFPL_ynbYGI2sfdOsqhzTypg6-Zx91-sT7UnZZGjCju9XJJR7hxTXihth5ac0GySIaI3ph-O-S94jtag/s1600/IMG_6211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO02MBe4xaXoIAIu5W78xkDwXDnC_MFASk3VD03Nv7812us4EHKjFuedO15SiOFPL_ynbYGI2sfdOsqhzTypg6-Zx91-sT7UnZZGjCju9XJJR7hxTXihth5ac0GySIaI3ph-O-S94jtag/s320/IMG_6211.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yo! What you all waiting for?!"</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-87131280205440653582012-12-20T19:52:00.001+01:002012-12-20T19:52:28.840+01:00I have a lizard in my trousers!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
No, really, there is a lizard climbing up the inside of my trouser leg.<br />
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Just so you know.<br />
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*twitch twitch*<br />
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Okay, I might go have to get him out now...</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238449267820500132.post-53460846290855779752012-12-10T22:03:00.001+01:002012-12-10T22:03:29.311+01:00"Sam, you're like a pink and purple and black and red and blue ninja!"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yessss! I'm the most colourful ninja the world has never seen!!!<br />
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Kids are awesome :-D<br />
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Apologies for ignoring my blog for such an incredibly long time. If we're really lucky, I might manage to update it some time soon, with some pictures from my holiday back in September/October. I know, it's almost Christmas, and I'm due to travel again, and I haven't updated from last time. I had some problems with my camera okay?! No, really, I did. It looked like all of my pictures from the whole trip were gone. Luckily I have clever geek friends everywhere who can do nifty shit like getting deleted pictures off memory cards. Yay! Some are ruined, it's true, but it looks like the vast majority have survived undamaged, so there will be pictures, eventually. Here's one to keep you going:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrK0oqsoeqW543JwujLXuOPnOmPzSkZCm-n0otOcPEW3KrpRZD38GyJ1a5O99mWGd9Bm1PohVdzekcMpLLnxwfLYIfaqsD9g2h-qL4Oua0tkvRjep7Novg1IBq_ZMB2kLz8wxhyANOEGw/s1600/Action+Sam+traversing+the+wall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrK0oqsoeqW543JwujLXuOPnOmPzSkZCm-n0otOcPEW3KrpRZD38GyJ1a5O99mWGd9Bm1PohVdzekcMpLLnxwfLYIfaqsD9g2h-qL4Oua0tkvRjep7Novg1IBq_ZMB2kLz8wxhyANOEGw/s320/Action+Sam+traversing+the+wall.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234146267763761914noreply@blogger.com0