Vienna Blog

Hello All,

We posted a Vienna Blog, but didn't show up where it

was suppose to.

Basically, if you want to see it scroll down.

It's after the snow in London Blog.

cheers,

Visit with friends & random London pic's

Our friends Greg and Sue were visiting last week and we had a wonderful time sightseeing and just catching up with them.

Here we were at the Royal Festival Hall about to enjoy the London Phillharmonic.



Taking in a little more culture at the British Museum . . .

And a different kind of culture at Piccadilly Circus . . .

We live just a 5 minute walk from the National Theatre which, in addition to housing some fantastic theatre, is also a terrific space in and of itself. It constantly has various musicians playing in its main lobby and right now it has this great giant's livingroom type display outside its main doors. It is totally open to the public and people are loving it - us included! There's Ry on the right . . .

This is Neil's Yard - a fun little spot just a few minutes from LSE. It is a bit dangerous because it offers fantastic ice cream cones which can be an excellent distractor on sunny days.

This was a children's festival we stumbled across on a walk one day by Covent Garden. Ry especially loved the puppet shows!

Here is one of my favourite views on my daily walk to school.

We're trying to be better with the blogging, so we'll try to keep these little random posts coming - but no promises :-)

We'll also catch up one day on our adventures in Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam - stay tuned!

Snow in London!

This post is now way out of date - but we thought we would post it anyway since it was such a neat experience. This picture was taken on April 6th and it was the first snow London saw all winter. It was amazing - the kind of thick, white heavy snow that begs to be made into a snowman. In fact, people were doing just that in parks all over the city. You should have seen how excited they all were! I guess if we Canadians only got snow once every few years, we'd be pretty excited as well. As we were on our way to the airport to catch our plane for Vienna, we didn't get a chance to really enjoy it - but we did manage to get this picture for proof.

Vienna

Vienna

This post should have been up long ago, but we wanted to get the pictures up for all to enjoy.

Ted and Tracey came overseas and we had an absolutely fantastic trip with them.

First stop, Vienna.

On the tower of one of the Cathedrals...Stephansdom.

She's pretty happy.

The Gates of the Hofburg I believe...

The problem with blogging way after the fact is that you lose all of the details.

The thing that struck me about Vienna was how clean and beautiful it was.

The Architecture is amazing. Everywhere you turn, something else gorgeous is in front of you.

Except for here...

This is the former residence of a very famous composer... I give you all 3 guesses

This is the front of...the Parliament building? Where is that Rick Steve's book when I need it now...

A building at the beginning of Stadtpark...you can listen to symphonies here

This is the Rathuas
Me standing at the Rathaus with the National Theatre of Austria (called the Burgtheatre?) behind me.

Just a cool shot...I give credit to Ted for seeing it.

This is the WWII memorial

Street level view of the Stephansdom

And This was crazy...we were just wandering around the streets, literally getting lost, and we stumbled upon the cathedral that looked like they had a film crew inside...so we popped our heads in and found the Vienna Boys Choir being set up to shoot a video of some kind.

We got a free concert...it was awesome.

the trip was great.

Sardinia

Sardinia

we are soooooooooo far behind. We apologize...we do...but it takes forever to upload the pictures. London Internet is lame. But I digress, for this is to show you Sardinia!

Sardinia is an Italian Mediterranean Island situated west of mainland Italy and just south of Corsica.

it is awesome.

For some reason the cut all of the branches off of their trees (some of them) I see this in many European Cities. I don't get it.
Us on a Beach! The weather the first two days was fantastic. We burned a little even.
better than the pasty quality we began with I suppose.

The City is walled. Big walls = cool
Sun and Beach.
Me contemplating the destruction of tree branches whilst sitting by the harbour


Go Figure - We met Canadians in Sardinia. Amy and I decided to take a boat to Neptune's Grotto ( the thing to do when in Alghero).
Also known as Grotte di Nettuno.
I was talking about randomness, as I often do, and came upon the topic of Beer, as I often do.
Can't remember the direct quote - but it was something to the effect of "life in general is better with beer"
The couple in front of us heard my remark and agreed.
They were from Canada - Calgary to be exact.
Candice and Noah - we don't know their last names, and I lost their contact details...we liked them a lot and hung with them for two days straight.
if any one knows a Candice and Noah who are touring Europe for the year...please let us know, we'd love to get in contact again.
Anyways - they took this photo of us.

Cliffs
More Cliffs + Amy...and I think that is Candice in front of her...our only pic with them.



This is the Grotto! So Freaking cool...the pics don't do it justice. Breathe-a-bleeping-taking.
It felt like it was a film set...So incredible how nature can produce such amazing formations. It's something like a 70 million year old cavern.
I'm glad I enjoyed it so much...it's a bit of a scam operation they got going on to increase revenue.
If you hoped on a boat that charged you a fair sum of money to take you to...oh let's say...Neptune's Grotto, would you think the admission cost to the Grotto would be included?
If you said yes, you have less business sense than the people running this place.

But like i said, it was incredible.

It's full of atmospheric lighting...so purdy




me enjoying the view.
Candice and Noah are touring Europe via car, so we went for a drive through the country side of Sardinia. It is a beautiful beautiful beautiful place.
look how happy it made Amy.
country side

Day after Noah and Candice adventure.

Me in front of a very old colony. This was awesome...but I already forget the details. I do know that the bus driver dropped us off on the side of a road with no directions and we had to walk half an hour to get here. Bad side - we was lost, good side - so out of the way we were the only two there.

Got the timer to work. It amazes me how some of this stuff still survives. We can't even build stuff that lasts 50 years...let alone 2000+
purdy tree inside the walls of Alghero.


cheers,

The Big Move!

the old flat tour.

start the day off by plugging the electricity meter.











use the new found electricity to make a nice cup of coffee and enjoy in the open dining area.
















Uh Oh! spilt the coffee...time to do laundry.

















Saved by the phone which can be used in the Entertainment area!















Coffee moves quick...time to unload. Also a good way to catch up on some reading. lucky that sink operates as an elbow rest.

New flat tour.

Bedroom

Storage in Bedroom

living room/ kitchen

Kitchen
Living room


much more space to play in!

Plus a more central area means 1 hr less commute time.

YAY!

Portobello Market

I know, I know - we are so far behind . . . but here are a few pictures from Portobello Market, a great outdoor/indoor market that stretches for blocks and blocks and blocks, just a short walk from our current flat. These were taken in January, just after we got back from the Christmas break.






Did I mention these were taken in January? Isn't that amazing? I think London weather has an unfair reputation. We certainly aren't complaining!

Gotta love these signs . . .

This picture is for you ladies who might remember my endless search once upon a time for the perfect pocketwatch . . .



This little guy was keeping a very close watch on all the action - from the vantage point of his owner's shoulders. Too cute!