I'm back...

Sorry all to have been absent for so long...

I recently had a reader ask what had happened since October and I was coming home.  Well... quite a bit actually:

• I was home on my own (without SO) for 5-ish weeks looking for apartments and getting settled into the my new role back in Melbourne...
• SO came home and (of course) the first apartment on the first day he came out looking with me was the one for us (and now we're living there)
• We had a weekend trip up to see SO's parents the weekend after we moved into the new apartment, during which something blocking the drain on the balcony on the level above us got blocked and caused a leak through the ceiling in our living room (which, by the way is still not fixed since the second weekend in December) :(
• We finished up work mid December and had a 6 week break (kind of pay back from so much time overseas) during which we had Christmas in Melbourne for the first time in 3 years, had 3.5 weeks in the Cook Islands and a little time around the new apartment for unpacking...
• A couple of days after we arrived on the Cook Islands we had a phone call from the Property Manager who looks after our apartment to say that the vanity (the thing around the sink) in the bathroom had fallen off the wall and caused a flood through the apartment...
  Lucky for us, my mum had the keys to the apartment and came and not only checked things out for us, saved some of our belongings (including my macbook - part of the reason I've been absent for so long - the water damage had to be sorted out) and tidied up some for us before we arrived home
  The whole apartment has floating floorboards - which, I guess were literally floating for some time there - which are now all warped and buckled and we're having to high-step over the remaining waves in them :(  Oh, and the vanity is still not back on the wall...
• Apart from being frustrated by the lack of action by the real estate agent and landlord we're settled back in Melbourne, enjoying catching up with friends and family, and back at work waiting to see what the new year holds there...

I'll be back over the next - I'd like to say days, but it'll probably be a bit more like a couple of weeks at least - and expand on some of the points here and pop in links as I go so if you come to this update later you can find them easily enough...

Thanks for dropping back in for a read!

Summer break

So, I've been absent for a while again, I'm a bit slack at this blog thing!

We've been away on Summer Break - having been away from home for essentially a year (except for the couple of weeks I went home to pack up our apartment) we decided that we should head back to Oz for a visit...  Stupid really at this time of year, because it's winter there!!  We've had the longest winter of our lives - left just as spring was starting in 2009 to head to South America, where we spent 3 of our 5.5 months in Cusco (at altitude in the Andes) not exactly warm!  Then headed back to Oz in March 2010 - just in time for winter to start...  Heading off for Europe July 2010 - and up to Sweden where summer is not exactly what we're used to and was very short lived before a REALLY loooonnnnggggg winter - and so, of course why would we not keep up the trend and avoid summer yet again..?

Crazy - but we needed to see friends and family and have a taste of home for a minute or two...  

So we fly in - have a day in Melbourne before flying up to Mildura for 5 days.  Chill there for the week, I play in the scrapping room a bit with my step-mum and SO plays in the back room on his computer (with dad across the room doing the same thing)...  Did some shopping for essentials, a couple of lunches/dinners out, and a couple of visits from step-siblings and kids and a quick catch up with an Aunty and the 5 days was all over...

Heading back to Melbourne we had dinner with a friend, before I headed for an all day scrapping day with girlfriends.  Gee I miss that - the camaraderie and laughs and inspiration and friendship in a room full of scrapping women - here my crafting is very isolated, and it was a real boost for me to be able to fit in a day full of those girls this trip.  A day of running errands and visiting my grandparents and then we were off again for 5 days in Northern NSW with SO's parents. 

Trips into the nearest towns around them a few times, breakfasts and lunches out, a visit to SO's grandparents to take them out for lunch and again in the blink of an eye another week of our visit was gone...  Back to Melbourne for a weekend of catch ups with friends and our week in Melbourne - kicked off with some family time, some more errands, doctors and dentists visits and a couple of days in the Melbourne office.  Friday night drinks with friends and some weekend family time and suddenly our time in Oz was up...

Three weeks seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, too little time to catch up with people and everyone caught up with in groups, so very little of the meaningful individual catch up time that allows you to actually know what's going on in people's lives and what has actually changed in the time we've been gone...  But at least a taste of home and the people we love...

Flying back 'home' to Sweden we stopped in Bangkok for 5 days to have a bit of a holiday - and some much needed sunshine.  I did some (quite little) shopping, some swimming (or at least splashing around) and some sun bathing (I never do that!!).  And the one touristy thing that we did was go to visit the 'Tiger Temple'.  Such an amazing experience for us both:

The Big 'Oh'

Well, for those of you who know me - you'll know that I recently had a birthday - a big 'oh' birthday...  Oh, as in oh - am I really -that- old?!!  I've been busy since then so, haven't had a chance to blog - but have been dying to as it was the best adventure yet!!  WARNING - this is a LONG post, but it was a great adventure - I have to share it all, grab a cuppa and indulge me if you care to come along for the ride.

I had thought that I would be spending the Friday night with SO, and then on the Saturday night we were heading out with a group of people from work for a night of dinner, drinks and laughter at a pub type location here in Stockholm.  It had gotten quite close (about a month out) and I hadn't set a location for this get together and SO (lovely man that he is) volunteered to take on the job of tracking down a location, and doing the set up for said gathering...  Well, apparently by this time there were already other plans well underway that I knew nothing about...

It all started (for me anyway) on the Tuesday - when I received a formal invitation to 'mystery date night' on the Wednesday night with SO.  Our date nights are a newly instigated thing and happen once a month - it was due the week before, but we'd both been really busy and nothing had been organised - we still went out for a walk and for dinner (probably the worst we've had since we've lived here!) but SO did say that he had something he was trying to organise for a date night really soon, that he really thought I'd enjoy...  So, while it was a little bit of a surprise that it came through so quickly - I was really excited that he'd gone to trouble to organise something - a bit perplexed as to why it needed such a formal invitation - but none the less excited...

Wednesday mornings are early ones for us - we have a meeting with the team in Melbourne via skype and -have- to be in the office by 8.30am for that to start (we normally start around 9)...  And, those of you who know me - know that I'm so NOT a morning person - so I am a notorious snoozer...  SO normally is too - but this morning his alarm went off at the same time as mine (it's normally set for about 20 mins later) and he didn't snooze at all - in fact he practically jumped out of bed as soon as it went off...  He went rustling about in the store room (next to our bedroom) and came back in with a nest of 3 suitcases, dumped them on the bed:

SO: Come on, get up - you have to help me pack this
Me: What?
SO: You're not going to work today - come on you have to help me pack this
Me: I'm sorry what (there was a bit of that this particular day)
SO: I think you heard me, you're not going to work today - you need to get up and help me pack this
Me: The giant suitcase?  (Yeah, I was really on the ball!)
SO: Maybe the next size down, but come on - you have to get up...

Rubbing my eyes I dragged myself off to the bathroom and still rubbing my eyes and puzzling returned to the bedroom to help pack for 'mystery date night'.  It needed enough clothes to get me through until about Tuesday, at least one 'nice' outfit for wearing out, and I should pack for weather much like we're currently having...  Oh, and we need to be packed and out of here within an hour...

Right, that achieved we were out the door in search of a cab.  Loaded into one - we were off to the airport...  I don't remember much about the ride - I was still reeling and trying to wake up...  Safely deposited at the airport, SO leads me inside and up to one of the check yourself in computers...  Can I have your passport please - and he scans it, then asks me to take over the check in...  So I start clicking through the screens until I get to one that says I'm checking us both in to fly from Stockholm to New York - the look on my face was why he wanted me to drive - he has that surprised shock on film (well, on memory card anyway)!!

There was some drama at the airport due to Delta's computer system going down, and then a fairly boring 8-ish hour flight - let me fast forward past that.

We arrived into JFK airport, to SO telling me that oh, by the way the driver from the hotel who he'd ordered to pick us up may have a photographer with him...  Or he might just have a small camera himself, not to sure - just wanted to give me the heads up...  Hmmm, that tip may have been a bit handy when I'd mentioned after you'd packed the bathroom bag and zipped up the case that I hadn't even gotten to brush my hair that morning... *rolls eyes* Anyway, it took us a few minutes to find the driver with our sign, because we came out the wrong door.  But then we found him (no one with him thankfully!), and as we're walking up the hill outside the terminal he informs us that the airport have rules that don't allow him to bring the car in close - he'll go for the 10 minute walk to get the limo and then meet us at this spot...  I'm sorry what - yes, that's right 'the limo'...  When it pulls up - there's someone in the passenger seat pointing a video camera out - I was less happy about having one of those in my face than a still!!  Never the less, into the limo we get and have a bit of a drive to the hotel...

When we get there the driver (and his assistant) open up the car door to allow us to get out and I pop out to a girl standing there welcoming me to New York - thanks, OH MY GOD - it's my best mate from Oz (who doesn't live in the same state as me, so time together is quite rare).  I let out one of those girly squeals you hear in the movies (and yes, embarrassingly all caught on file) and grab hold of her and start babbling and blubbering.  Are you kidding me - not only am I in THE place I always wanted to go to for this milestone, but Bestie is also there - SENSATIONAL!

Into the hotel (the Sofitel on 44th Street) for check in, and the man handing over the keys says 'Mr SO - you have a lovely suite on the 15th floor'.  I'm sorry - what??  (oh yeah - I did warn there was a bit of that!!)  Yep, a suite - in the Sofitel - in New York - for my big 'oh' - and Bestie's there too...  Oh My God!!  There was some time of - I can't believe we pulled this off, and stories of how long they'd been in contact cooking up all the plans - Oh My God!  Some more girly giggling and carrying on while I called mum (at very early in her morning) to tell her where I was and then called another close friend 'P' who's recently moved to NYC with his partner - Oh My God!!

The actual birthday day was very full - some shopping in the morning, lunch with Bestie, SO and P at P's favorite restaurant, then off to my next 'appointment'.  An envelope handed to me in the cab explaining that my colleagues on the project we're working on in Stockholm had pooled together and gotten me a helicopter ride over NYC - and we were off to the helipad... OMG!  Some waiting around there and then a sensational view or 10 of NYC later we were off running back to the hotel to change for dinner.  An early one, as there were later plans already.  We arrive for dinner - which Bestie had booked in a revolving restaurant overlooking the New York skyline - OMG!!  Freaked me out some - a migraine that was setting in had disoriented me some - but once I was sat down for a while and used to the movement, OMG - sensational!!  And then we were off to a show (on Broadway, thanks very much) called Rock of Ages - funny, loud, daggy 80's hair band type musical.  What a day!

Saturday was spent mostly doing touristy type stuff, I won't drag you all through - but Saturday night SO had booked tickets to see Cirque du Soliel's brand new show (launched only the day before the birthday) at Radio City Music Hall, called Zarkarna.  Wow - I LOVE Cirque shows, and while this one was different to all the others I've seen - just amazing (as always).

Sunday was again spent mostly sightseeing - but did include the Empire State Building!  It took longer than we'd expected to get up to the observation decks and have a look around - but amazing when we got to, and the whole building (like a lot of New York - including our hotel) is Art Deco - gorgeous decorations and details throughout. It was just unbelievable to finally be in this place that I've seen on so many TV shows and movies for years and years - unreal!

And then there was Sunday night - a night of a barrel of laughs, a bushel of tears, good food, lethal drink, super friends, and all round good company.  Dinner at a great place in Hell's Kitchen with SO, Bestie, P and his partner M.  Entertaining waiters, oh and it was the Tony award night (Broadway awards) so they were all beside themselves and playing up an absolute treat to us!  A night where in between laughing and drinking ourselves pretty silly - I tried to explain what it had meant to me that SO and Bestie had colluded all this time and that they'd pulled off such an AMAZING, just flat out AMAZING trip.  And how much it had meant to me that it was in the place where I'd always wanted to go, and now with P and M there - I got the extra bonus of getting to celebrate with them too!!

Ridiculous for such an anally retentive control freak to have been so 'out of control' for a week but oh so worth it...  What an adventure!!  Thanks guys - love you xxx

Something that amused me lately

Another for the Why Sweden, Why file:

This post bought to you by prompt 5 - Blogging for Scrapbookers

Amazing Days

For our 2nd prompt Shimelle asked us to think about the amazing days of our lives, and prompt 3 talks about lists (I'm sorry but there are many more than 5!)...

I have had so very many in the last 18 months or so that it's difficult to choose:

The day at Iguazu Falls in Argentina:

The day at Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina:

The days of trekking the Inca Trail in Peru and arriving at Machu Picchu:

 

The day we went parasailing over the Sacred Valley (very amazing for 2 so scared of heights!):

The day we went white water rafting - no photos from this day!!

The days on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands and being so close to the wildlife:

Our night out in Paris for my birthday:

Getting to see London and Stonehenge:

Having the opportunity to live an work in a foreign city (with snow!):

More recently though my amazing days were spent doing things like:

Meeting a girlfriend's (not so) new baby and spending time with her and her other son:

Dinner with family and friends:

  

Catching up with friends and family in Mildura:

A concert with mum:

Playing in the sunshine in the park after a haircut:

Coming home to SO:

Hmmm, I guess there'll have to be more on all of the above sometime (soon-ish!).

Gotta be startin' something!

Well, as I've mentioned I've enrolled in an on-line class blogging for scrapbookers and as yet, I've not nothing but faff about reading class notes and surfing other people's blogs!!

In my defence I've been sick, so I haven't wanted to be doing much of anything - but am feeling like I'm on the mend now, so look out - I may now overload you with posts today!!

Shimelle asked us to think about the goals for our blog - I was always quite clear about this, I wanted an easy way to be able to keep in touch with friends and family with the on going 'stories' of what we were up to...  After being away in South America for almost twice as long as we'd originally planned in the end - and trying to keep everyone up to date-ish on FaceBook, and the -very- occasional bulk email to family and close friends...  When after only being home for 4.5 months we were off again - on holiday (I was to be gone 4.5 weeks) and J was going to work in Stockholm for 12 weeks, I waved everyone farewell with a very casual 'see you in a month'.  Hmmm, that was mid July last year...  After I was signed on to work for a while - I decided that I might test my toes in the world of blog - and so here I am...

I never expected much that too many people would take an interest - that the friends and family who wanted to keep up with what we were doing would have a cursory read now and then as they had the time...  I have been reading only those blogs of a few friends (only one another 'expat') and stalking about the posts of a few scrapbooking blogs...  I was a little taken back when so many people from the class were talking about reading the whole class full of blogs (on a fairly regular basis) and that many of them had made friends over not just the duration of the course but since then (2009) as well - I shouldn't have been, on reflection - but initially I was...

I have often found myself nodding in agreement, empathising, sympathising, etc with the blogs that I read - and not only those of people that I know personally.  On reflection it didn't really surprise me at all that many of these classmates had made lasting friendships - when they are 'talking' to each other regularly about their day to day and sharing interests, etc - is that not the very definition of friendship?  Of course there would be lasting relationships develop where you can associate to other people and their lives that you're 'hearing' about - especially where you 'click' with what the other is 'saying'.

And so, I'm enjoying more people stopping by to comment and join in and having new blogs to read - and can see that I'll likely loiter around them on a much more regular basis!

As for aligning the blog to my scrapbooking goals - I think that I probably need to work much more at it being able to help me when I'm looking for the words for my pages - I blog less when I'm down or feeling homesick (or just plain sick) and there are plenty of words from days in the recent-ish past that I could be talking about - almost none of the South American trip has been put on pages, and those photos that have were for a kit for a girlfriend's scrapbooking shop, so there was no journalling on them - they were just 'showcase' photos I guess you'd say...  And then my recent trip back to Melbourne - where there were so many highlights that I could have been getting down...  *sigh* So anyway, be prepared to see more 'blast from the past' type updates before I forget everything around those events!

A very long blog post for prompt 1 - but I've had it all turning over in my head for a few days!!

My 'scrap table' (SO keeps telling me it's the table in our lounge room - but there's never anything else on it and I've kind of taken up the real estate!) last night after I'd finished a layout:

My blogging happens generally in my lap - either on the couch or in bed, as we don't really have the space for the computers to permanently live anywhere and we're both on laptops...

Back, again...

I have been terribly lax here, once again...

I had a whirlwind trip home, had the job of packing up our much loved and hardly lived in apartment, had the absolute joy of catching up with friends and family who took time out of their own busy lives and schedules to arrange dinners, drive 5 hours cross country and just generally make the time to add an hour or two of me into their time...

I have returned to a clearing snowy landscape, that seems almost ready to give way to spring and some sunshine - although not sunshine in the sense that we know it as Australians, because there's still not a lot of warmth in it.  And of course to SO, who by all accounts seemed to somewhat miss me while I wasn't around...

I have also managed to pick up a bout of what is likely just a bad case of gastro - but after 13 days of semi regular vomiting and diarrhoea, a day of excruciating tummy pain and being able to hold nothing at all in sent me off to visit the doctor...  A couple of hours, a couple of blood tests and a testing kit to bring home with me saw me collapse into bed halfway through yesterday afternoon from where I have only moved to run back and forth to the bathroom and go and wander aimlessly around the kitchen, looking for things that might last for more than 5 minutes in my tummy...

On the plus side - I might actually get to catch up with some FaceBook gossip, I have finally gotten around to making a blog post, and I am finally starting the reading for an on line course on blogging for scrapbookers that I have signed up to blogging for scrapbookers.  I have even managed to find a different template for the blog, and think I've successfully attached it - not sure if I'm loving it yet, but I'm happy to know that I can do it - so, even from the pre-course material I've learned something from my course already!!

I guess that's about all the sharing for now - probably more than anyone wanted anyhow, but that's the goings on lately!!

On my way...

So, this morning I headed off from ‘home’ through Stockholm and our snowy, alien landscape – past the forests full of evergreens wearing their white coats, and the others wearing nothing but the ice and snow…  In a lovely minus 5 degrees, in jeans and boots, a hat and coat and was freezing…

To the airport with the runways covered in snow, where de-icing airplanes is a regular thing.  Through the check-in counter and security, the stores that litter all international airports.  Through passport control and up to the gates near where the plane will depart…

A normal morning when travelling, up and ready and out to the airport, getting through all the normal checkpoints – with nothing out of the ordinary.  Except this time SO is not with me…  We have spent all but 2 (separate) nights together in the last 16 or so months – and most days too, between travelling together for almost 6 months and then a while where we set up the house on our return from overseas, and now back to how we started - in working together.

It’s a weird and surreal experience to look up at the fairy floss clouds as we pop out of the top of them into the bright sunshine and smile, without being able to share it with him…

I’m expecting the temperature in Melbourne to be something cooling down from a 30 odd degree day when I arrive tomorrow, which I’ll lay odds on won’t be in the negative temperatures – nor have the snowy landscape that I’ve gotten so used to recently.  The coat has come off for getting in the plane – although I always find planes so cold I’m huddled under the polar fleece blanket they provide anyway…  I expect the boots and socks, as well as the singlet under my top will have to come off – if not before Melbourne, at least by the time I’m in the airport there… 

I expect that my body will be warmed in the sun, my head and heart will be warmed by catching up with the people there that I love and miss so much so regularly.  I also expect that everything will feel just a little less warm not having SO with me…  

Being away from home...

I fell like I've been away from home forever - with 5.5 months in South America and then only 4.5 months at home before we were away again (which has been for 6 months already, I can hardly believe it!)...

All of the travel I've done has been not entirely planned, surprising and a fabulous experience.  And, don't get me wrong I understand that I live a charmed life.  I'm a very lucky girl in very many ways, comfortable in my own skin, loved by friends, family and my partner, successful in my work, etc...

But, and of course, there was going to be a but...  I'm missing so many things, there's the apartment we set up our first home in for such a short time in Melbourne, the simple things like being able to read all of the labels in the supermarket and not having to concentrate every moment in there.  There's the aforementioned friends and family.  And there's all the events around them - I'm at an age where my friends are all at an 'Oh' birthday (that's a birthday that ends with an 0), and there are new babies being had and children passing - well just even day to day life that I'm missing out on.

It's hard - really hard, I'm the youngest (by 18 months to my oldest classmate) of my friends in the 'Oh' age bracket - and my 'Oh' birthday falls in June.  By then, I'll have missed everyone else's (I mostly already have)...  So, when there was the opportunity to celebrate with one of my Ozzie colleagues her 'Oh' birthday a week and a half or so ago, it was really important to me that she had a good one...  So, I was perhaps overwhelming (but I hope not overbearing) in my enthusiasm.  It was so nice to have something to celebrate and I guess in part make up for all the things I feel like I'm missing out on at home...

Here's some pics of the card I made for us all to sign to go with our group gift:

 

And here are the balloons we (mostly our Swedish and Norwegian colleagues) blew up all over her desk:

 

I had a lovely couple of days celebrating with her - both in the office and again on the weekend out for dinner and drinks, and raised a glass to all those friends who's 'Oh' birthdays I've missed in the last 12 months - I hope that you all had fabulous celebrations!

Christmas Holidays

Well, it feels like an eternity ago already - but I have been meaning to tell you about our holiday.  I had all very good intentions last Friday of coming home and dumping everything out onto the blog, but I was in the foulest of moods having had no sleep the night before and a not great day at work, that my negativity would have shone through above all else and made a nightmare read...

So, here I am after a weekend - that was mostly rushed and not very restful, but I'm much less - well everything than I was on Friday!!

SO and I decided around October sometime I think, that we would stay in Europe for Christmas - after all, how often do you get to be in Europe for Christmas..?  Mind you, we also said the same thing about South America last year!!  But given that we were both working and neither of us had the time or patience to be researching where to travel to, how to get there and where to stay when we did, etc so we'd book onto a tour, and let someone else do all that for us.

First, let me say that if you want a quick overview of places, not to have to worry about where to go and when, and someone else to organise your accommodation and transfers for you - a tour is definitely the way to go.  I've never done one before - except for our Inca Trail in South America last year for which we had to have a guide and therefore booked through a company - I've always just wandered around places myself, booked the accommodation and enjoyed my time doing what I wanted at my own pace...  But, having someone else do all the bookings this time around was an absolute godsend!

So, we headed off to Munich, Germany where our tour was due to begin in the early afternoon of Dec 16.  After a couple of hours delay, due to the fact that Arlanda airport in Stockholm only had enough snow ploughs to keep one of the three runways clear, and then an hour and half or so sitting on the plane while they got ready and we stood in the queue to have our wings de-iced before take off, and then getting in line for the actual take off - we arrived safely in Munich a few hours late and tired...

We were due to meet up with the tour group for an orientation tour of Munich around 2.30pm the next day and then again for a welcome drink around 6pm.  We gave the tour a miss as we'd worked really late the night before and I'd managed to let in a cold that I'd been warding off - so we had a rest.  Met some of the lovely people we shared our experience with for drinks at 6pm - had some dinner and then went back to our room for an early night before our first of many 6.30am wake up calls!!

Santa at the BMW museum in Munich:

BMW Head Office (4 cylinders):

Driving out of Munich:

Travelling via Regensburg, Germany (for a short visit) and Pilsen, Czech Replublic (only in the bus) our next stop was in Prague, Czech Republic.  A beautiful city, we got to have a night tour with a fabulous local guide John (Honza) although it was absolutely FREEZING!!  We ended up the night at a cellar with 'live music' that entailed a very lively accordion player who was trying desperately for some audience participation without too much success!! John was with us the next morning for our city tour before we boarded the bus to head off for Bratislava, Slovakia.

An angel in Prague:

And the Christmas market:

Bratislava was a fairly quick stop - a couple of hours to have a quick look at the town and wander (eat and drink) our way around yet another Christmas market (did I mention we'd been to one in Prague as well?!).  SO loved the market here because instead of the Gluwein (hot Christmas wine) we had in the Christmas markets in Cologne the month before - they served Medovina (hot mead - honey wine) which he drank so much of he was a little tipsy getting back on the bus!!  From there we headed on to Budapest, Hungary.

Another, just stunning place - we went on a dinner cruise on the Danube river and seeing all the architecture of Budapest lit up was nothing short of breathtaking - the pics don't do it justice at all!!  Then we had a full day in Budapest, including a tour of the Parliament building - apparently they ran a contest for the design of the building and were so impressed with the entries that they made not only the winning building (that houses Parliament) but the next two runners up as well!!  You'd be forgiven for thinking you were inside (or in fact looking at a palace) the building is gorgeous and absolutely amazing.  Our tour guide here was the young, but very helpful Sophie...

Hungarian Parliament Building from the Danube:

A replica - made of matchsticks, inside:

The next day bought us in to Vienna, Austria - via Györ, Hungary.  I did a (little!) shopping here in our free time that evening - but I was very excited about the end of our city tour (with lour local guide Ilse who was lovely) the next day where we got to visit the new flagship Swarovski store!!  Three levels of lots and lots of pretty sparkly things!!  Very cool!  That night we went to what was described as dinner and a Strauss concert.  Now, the dinner was supposedly in a 'palace' which while it was a very beautiful place was simply a building in Vienna's city garden, and the Strauss concert - which entertaining, was an orchestra of 13!  Perhaps a little oversold, but an enjoyable evening none-the-less.

Stauss 'concert':

The next morning (Christmas eve) we headed into Salzburg, because the Europeans mostly celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve - we headed straight into the cafe that we otherwise would have seen at the end of our city tour for some lunch and coffee and cake.  The cafe, not surprisingly wanted to shut up early and send all the staff off to enjoy Christmas eve with their families.  Then we went on to join our local guide Manfred for our city tour.  Salzburg was really interesting to look around - really pretty with it's castle up on the hill - and amazing history, going back more than a thousand years (amazing to me as an Australian who's country only has a couple of hundred years of history)...  But, we were disappointed when we finally got our free time to wander around even the Christmas market was closing up and none of the regular retailers were open so late (3pm) on Christmas eve.  This was despite Manfred and his quote of the tour "hurry up people, you're on a walking tour here, you're not on holiday"!!

The castle in Salzburg:

And Mozart's birthplace:

After a lovely dinner out we headed back to the hotel, which had the dodgiest internet connection in the world - necessitating getting fully dressed (including coats) at 3am to go down to the lobby to join in Christmas lunch in Oz over skype!!  After a couple of hours on the computer/phone back to Oz in the middle of the night we had a sleep in the next morning, skipping the tour that looked at the lower part of the alps and some of the scenery from The Sound of Music.  Oh well, Christmas lunch was worth it for the look on my grandmother's face when she could see us on screen!

Then another short (couple of hours) bus ride back to Munich for the Christmas dinner and the night, before most were flying out the next day.  We met some wonderful people - some of whom we'll definitely keep in contact with...  And special mention to our driver Attila (yes, Hungarian!) who was not only the best, safest driver we could have asked for but was also a very lovely guy on top of that!  However, the one major downfall of our tour was the tour director...

I nicknamed her Cruella (as in de Ville from 101 Dalmations) she not only fit with her shock of white hair at the front, but in her attitude.  Only ever friendly when we were on the bus, ie: when she'd decided she was tour director (never in the halls of the hotels, or the breakfast rooms, or the bars - where if she could avoiding making eye contact she absolutely did!) she was also one of those people who I'm sure just love the sound of their own voice (I know - you could be forgiven thinking that of me today, on and on and on!!).  And so, we heard inane, unimportant things 200 times over - it got so people just switched off, so immediately she'd finish telling us 20 times that we'd meet back at the bus at 2pm, that's 2pm back at the bus, back at the bus at 2pm people - someone who'd stopped listening long before that would ask - what time are we meeting?? Unbelievable!!

Anyway, we did have a great trip - it was fab to see so many places and get a feel for the history and architecture, etc...

Two weary, but happy travellers:

I wouldn't have it any other way...

I had full intentions last night of writing a blog post - probably more for myself than all of you reading along about the year that was...

But, the night didn't go quite according to plan - we ended up in our dressing gowns on the bed chatting to friends and family at home and from home (but travelling in other parts of the globe) for something like 4 hours.  Skype is a wondrous thing!  We hadn't had any more concrete plans than maybe we'd head out to the park near our apartment near midnight and watch the fireworks that we'd been listening to since 4pm go off...  So, no great loss - we stayed in, warm and chatted and chatted and chatted through to the wee hours of the morning - it was a fabulous start to the year!

So, now it's 2011 - I start it sitting in our apartment in Stockholm, Looking out the window at a little snow flurry and lumps of snow falling off the buildings (thanking all that is, that I'm not standing underneath them as they fall!) pondering on the year that was...

We started it running around the plaza in Cusco, Peru - with a bunch of other crazies, all wearing yellow undies on the outside of our clothes (it's a tradition that is supposed to bring luck).  We moved on through Lima, Peru where thankfully I had some fabulous health care help after my left ear completely blocked for a week or so after our flight in.  After a small change to our travel plans we flew out to Quito, Ecuador (about the only South American stop that I wouldn't recommend to people) and on to the Galapagos Islands.  We spent an amazing few weeks there - one of which we were on a cruise of the islands, and getting up close and personal with the wildlife and the next couple (horrible to say) but mostly just counting down the time until we were due to head down to Santiago, Chile and on to home...  While we were there (our last 4 days of 5.5 months in South America) we decided we'd try driving (on the wrong side of the road) which was a great adventure, and we headed off to Val Pariso - a port town in Chile.  Then back to Santiago for a day or so, and then back to Melbourne...

Our Melbourne stint - which started with SO and I moving in together lasted only 3.5 months before we were off for more (very unexpected) travel.  A short holiday of a couple of weeks between England (SO's family and then a friend of mine) and Paris for a few days - then on to Stockholm...  Two weeks I was to be here, to help SO set up and support him through his first couple of working weeks here - and then I was to come home for the remainder of his 3 months here...  Well, for those of you who have been reading along you'll know that after 5 months we're still both here, both working and now moved from the hotel (where we lived longer than our apartment in Melbourne) into a leased apartment...

We still really have no good idea about when we'll be heading home - but for now we're enjoying the experience of living and working in a foreign environment - and the fact that we get to spend the time together.

The year ended with a whirlwind trip around Bavaria - through Munich, Pilsen, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Gyor, Vienna, Salzberg and back to Munich in the space of just 10 days.  It was great to get out and have a bit more of a look around Europe and we had a great time (more on this later).

So, a fairly unexpectedly adventurous year that I look back on and shake my head in amazement at where we are and how we came to be here.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way...

Here are some photos: