Castles and kilts

We checked out Edinburgh castle today - it was great. All higgeldy-piggeldy, those crazy scots. It was, of course, freezing on the hill, not to mention windy, but we managed to spend about 3 hours up there.

The next challenge for the day was to get a new kilt for Richard (he's sure the other one shrunk at the dry cleaners.....). Several hundred pounds later (don't ask), he was sorted, and we could have some lunch and the obligatory pint.

Glasgow - our first day in Edinburgh

Arrived in Edinburgh and Brett promptly whisked us off to Glasgow for the afternoon. We checked out the Radiance festival where they had lit up some prominent and not so prominent buildings. We went on the tour with the most quietly spoken glaswegian guide ever...almost impossible to understand. An angry granny and the fire organ (don't ask, it was crazy) were highlights.

Eventually back to Edinburgh for dinner and beer at the local pub.

Shakespeare part 2

Fresh from Elinsor castle, we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, continuing with the Shakespeare theme, to have a look around with Jon and Amanda. Saw all six of his birthplaces...hmmmm what's all that about?

Had lunch in a cozy pub and lots of pints.

Dinner of course was a curry from the local curry house - it was excellent.

Thinking of buying a castle around here, but am slightly concerned about Richard's obsession with having French maids to wait on us.....he is a bad man.

Jon and Amanda have a great little place near Birmingham and it was great to catch up with them.

Time and relative dimensions in space (TARDIS)

The second most exciting flight of our trip (what can be better than an upgrade to business?) was from Toulouse to Birmingham - because we caught the plane with Dr Who (Tom Baker), in fact he was sitting next to us, and said "bless you" when I sneezed. Richard was so excited he nearly wet his pants (obviously he is much more of a Dr Who geek than I am). Tommy, as we like to call him, was even wearing a long scarf...

Confit du canard

I've tried to eat as much confit du canard as humanly possible since arriving in the south of France. My arteries may never recover.

We went out for dinner last night with Mark, Esther and some friends, and you guessed it, I ordered the duck and it rocked. I managed to order the dish with duck AND froi grais. I am so clever.

Today is the first rainy day we have had since arriving in Europe, so we did a cafe crawl of Toulouse before catching the train back to Brax. I may never sleep again.

We are heading off to Birmingham tonight. Thanks for having us to stay Mark & Esther!

Toulouse - city of empty churches

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

We spent today mooching around Toulouse and saw some pretty impressive churches. The French don't appear to be overly religious folk and some of the churches have been turned into museums.

We went to a ripper art gallery today and saw some stunning impressionist paintings. It was definitely a highlight.

Spotted another poodle while having our 7th coffee for the day. Will find it more difficult to reign in the coffee addiction than to give up the cigarettes.

Toulouse and Brax

We arrived safe and sound in Toulouse yesterday. It is so exciting to see Mark, Esther and the babies again. We are having an official day of rest today. So we are taking it easy, and I've spent most of the morning updating this blog. It is so much warmer here than anywhere else we've visited so far and it we may set off for a wander around the village this afternoon.

A slow bus to a fast train

Today's adventure was to get from Lardy to Montparnasse via as many forms of public transport as possible. The physical challenge was to do it with suitcases at peak time. Thank god i don't speak french or I'm sure I would have been mildly upset at the abuse we copped from fellow commuters. The next challenge was to change our TGV tickets to today - ask three people - get three different answers. Lesson = if you don't like the answer someone gives you, ask at another window. Here endth the lesson.

Despite our success at getting to the right station, getting our tickets changed, and finding the right platform, we still nearly missed the train. Richard was to blame, and you can fill in the blanks.......

1 day in Paris

Due to the french propensity for striking and being generally disagreeable at the most inconvenient times, our stay in paris was cut short to one day. So we made the best of Sunday and walked around Paris, ticking off landmarks as we went. Paris, in winter, on a Sunday is fantasitc - not crowded but still enough going on to give it that proper Paris buzz. We spotted a poodle prancing along the Champ der Mars near the Eiffel Tower (bonus points for that one).

Charles de Gaulle Nightmare

This airport has prompted me to start a Charles de Gaulle is crap society. We got horribly lost trying to find our way from the baggage collection to the train station. Needless to say we were not happy campers for about an hour.

Finally found the train station and managed to get across paris, change trains and get to lardy without loss of limbs - Richard's grip on his sanity remains tenuous. Michel picked us up from the station and took us to their very beautiful house. We ate and drank ALOT (despite being told by our hosts that we didn't eat anything. Now anyone who knows Richard and I know this is not true - we eat lots (& lots), but is rare for us to eat a five course meal, and we perhaps didn't pace ourselves very well - we promise to do better next time.....

Day trippers - part 2 - Roskilde and the Vikings

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

Caught the train to Roskilde to have a look at the Viking ship museum. They have actual real life viking ship ruins. My favourite part was when we got to dress up in Viking clothes and take pictures standing on replica viking boats. Richard makes a fairly authentic viking, but I make a pretty crap viking. Also of interest in Roskide is the Cathedral - where most of the dead kings and queens of Denmark hang out.

Beard envy

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

Richard had beard envy after seeing this statue in the bowels of Elinsor Castle. I don't blame him

Great Danes - 0

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

From a national dog perspective Denmark was a great disappointment. We travelled far and wide, and did not spot any Great Danes. We did however discover that Copenhagen is indeed wonderful - with lots of museums and galleries well worth a look.

Richard nearly died when we arrived at Julie and Mark's place to discover that they lived on the 5th floor of a beautiful old building that did not have an elevator.

He managed to make it up with the bags with only minor injuries. I'm sure we got much fitter while we were there just because of those stairs.

Danish breakfast

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

Breakfast in Denmark.

Day trippers - part 1 - Elinsor castle and Louisana gallery

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

We headed off to Helsingor for a day trip to visit the castle made famous by Shakespeare and his whinging, crazy Hamlet. The castle was very impressive and we got to explore the tunnels and fortifications under the walls.

Swedes to port
From this part of Denmark, you can actually see Sweden. It is about a 30min ferry ride to get there. This freaked me out a bit. Due to their proximity, like all neighbours, the Swedes and the Danes apparently don't like each other all that much, but it doesn't stop the Swedes coming over on the ferry to buy their beer - all I can say is, beer must be VERY VERY expensive in Sweden, cos it ain't cheap in Denmark. The Danes apparently all go to Germany to get their beer. Crazy beer economy.

On the way back to Copenhagen, we stopped in on the Louisana Gallery of Modern Art and saw their Matisse exhibition - it basically rocked. The gallery has some really cool paintings and sculpture. I saw my first Picasso, Matisse and Warhol.

what did the romans ever do for us?

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Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

Here is richard standing in front of some very impressive ruins on a roman aquaduct that is near to where we stayed in Mainz.

They built the railway through the amphitheatre...oops.

Let´s look through the Chagall window today children

Richard is doing the talkfest - interview thing today so I´m a free agent and am wandering aimlessly around Mainz checking out all the crooked little laneways.

The highlight of the day was St Stephen´s church. The windows are pretty amazing. The church apparently had a big red target painted on it during that event that we daren´t mention, because it was blown up a couple of times.

I´m considering a cruise up the Rhine this afternoon, but it is really foggy (not to mention freezing), so I might find a cozy little bar somewhere and sample a few beers.

Dachshund 1, German Shepherd 0

I thought I´d take the opportunity to write a few lines this morning, as Richard is holed up in the hotel room re-doing his talk for Monday - there is only so much I can get out of a german newspaper.

So I hopped on the bus and found an internet cafe to perch myself in for a half hour or so.

We had a great trip over (see last post). Comfy seat, good food, great service and managed to get about 7 hours sleep during the flight.

We arrived early on Friday morning and Richard managed to navigate us from Frankfurt to Mainz on the train without any drama. We had a poke around the university to see what it was like and it is like any university anywhere in the world, some really beautiful old buildings and some truly atrocious 1960s architecture.

Mainz is a beautiful city with way too many churches, lots of old cobbled laneways and an obsession with the printing press. Good for them, I say - everyone needs a hobby.

Spotted my first dachshund yesterday - real german wildlife. Keeping my eyes peeled for a german shepherd.

Travelling like a rock star

Sitting in the Qantas lounge feeling like a rock star. Why? Because our business class upgrades came through!

If it were possible to express through the medium of typing just how exciting that is, it would look something like:

da da di !!!!!-----$$$$$-----di da

Richard is worried that I may socially overheat in business class and is urging restraint. He is so wise.

Did I mention that we got upgraded to business class?

A huge thanks to Bella for lending us the points - we'll pay them back, promise!

1 day....and counting

Not long now.....just a few last minute things to do:

• pack
• unpack
• repack
• breathe
• smile