Saturday, December 24, 2011

Winter Road Trip

Our Christmas road trip has begun. So far we have visited Berlin, Prague and Vienna, and stopped at some cute wee villages along the way. With the rental car we only have one speeding ticket, one incidence of driving on the wrong side of the road, and one ticket for not purchasing a road toll in Austria! A good start to driving in Europe I'd say. We have mastered the art of packing the boot, it's much like a jig saw puzzle, making sure we put the bags in in the right order.
Currently it is Christmas in NZ and through Skype I was able to watch Mum open her present from me, seems totally bizarre almost like I was there.
In Berlin we did a city walking tour which ended at an awesome pub where you pour your own beers and you pay by the ml. From our table we had a computer where we could order food, and then at the end our bill still had a service charge! Cheeky considering I poured my own beers and ordered my food without a waitress.
In Prague we went to visit the Castle, which is the biggest tourist attraction. After walking up the hill to the Castle we discovered it was closed due to an ex-president dying and lying in state at the castle. For some reason we got up the next morning, hiked up the hill, and yip you guessed it, same result!
We are now in Vienna for Christmas with Naths brother and his wife's family. It is so nice to see our 20 month old niece, last time we saw her she was 6 months old, she is a little sceptical of us, but to avoid going to bed tonight jumped up on the couch for us to read her a book, only problem was the book was in German, so we made up a story to go with the pictures.
Frohe Weihnachten, Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Sporting Events

We have been to two massive sporting events recently.  #1 ATP Tour tennis finals to watch Djokovic play Ferrer at the O2 arena. #2 Chelsea play Valencia in the last game of pool play in the Champions League.  Chelsea had to win to make it through to the knock out round.  I love all the opportunities to watch big matches in London.  Unfortunately they come at a cost, but are usually worth it.  I really want to get to Wimbledon this coming Summer and of course there are also the Olympics to look forward to.  We have tickets for the Women's Football gold medal match and Mens Beach Volley quarterfinals.
This is our last weekend in London before embarking on our Christmas road trip.  We are planing on visiting Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and I still need to buy some winter woolies to help keep me warm in the Northern Hemisphere winter.