OUR EUROPEAN TRIP!

Well we've finalized and booked our backpacking trip into Europe! Initially, we wanted to see as much of Western Europe as possible (as we knew we wouldn't have time to see Eastern Europe...and we'd need visas to get into some of the countries there), we've found that the travel times between places takes a little longer than we'd thought. As a result, we've narrowed down our destinations to four countries: Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. We decided to cover the smaller Austria and Switzerland, instead of just bits of bigger countries like France, so that we can fully check them off our list for countries to visit. We're hoping to come back to Europe some day, and finish seeing all of the amazing places still left to visit!




ITALY

Our trip begins on July 13th, the day after Rob finishes school, as we take our huge luggage bags (with all of our clothes for going home) down to Ian and Maria's in Durham, England. From there, Ian and Maria are kindly driving us to Newcastle the next day for our early morning flight to Rome. We'll be spending two full days in Rome, exploring sites such as the Colesseum and the Vatican City, and hopefully having a taste of some pizza, pasta and gelato:) It will be a great return visit for me, and much more meaningful now that I've completed my history degree!

On June 16th, we're taking an early morning train to Venice to explore the city on water! Rob has been before so he'll be able to show me around one of the cities I've wanted to visit the most! Apparently it is quite manageable to see Venice in one day, so we'll be running around trying to catch it all...and even a ride on a gondala:)

AUSTRIA

The following day, we'll head off to Vienna, Austria to catch a glimpse of one of the most culturally advanced cities in Europe. We'll be spending two days in Vienna, and I expect it to be similar to London, but maybe a little more glamourous as it was the seat of the entire Habsburg Empire.

From Vienna, we'll journey south-west to a little Austrian town called Hallstatt on the 19th. In all of the travel books we've looked in, they insist that a stop in Hallstatt is mandatory, as it is just stunning. It has the typical German look that I imagined Austria to have, and is set in between massive mountains on the shore of a small lake. We'll have the day to relax and explore the little town before heading off in the evening to Salzburg.

We'll be spending a full day in Salzburg on the 20th. This is the city that The Sound of Music was filmed in, and I'm hoping to convince Rob to go on the 'Sound of Music' tour that takes us to all of the key places....especially the mountain on which Maria sang 'The Hills are Alive'. Not sure if he'll really go for that though:) You never know, we just might hear singing from the Abbey, or maybe we'll just relax in the hills. It's supposed to be a stunning city, and we can't wait to see it!

GERMANY

On June 21st, we'll travel to Munich, Germany and spend two full days exploring the city and surrounding towns. My family has suggested we take a short day trip up to a beautiful medieval town called Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which looks fantastic. Dachau concentration camp is also nearby, and as we won't be getting over to Poland (where I had hoped to visit Auschwitz), this will be the next best thing. It will be amazing when I teach history to show the students real pictures of one of the camps.

From Munich, we'll be travelling to a small but extremely popular German town called Fussen, on the 23rd. While the town itself apparently isn't much to see, it's popular because it is the base from which tourists set off to see the famous fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle (the Castle which Disneyland used as a model for their park). We'll stay overnight in Fussen and then move onto the Bodensee (Lake Constance) the following day.

On the 24th, we'll be staying in Friedrichshafen, on the banks on the Bodensee, which is a very popular area for German citizens, as it is known as a spa retreat. My Oma mentioned that if you are sick in Germany, the doctors recommend that you spend some time in the Bodensee to help with healing. As a result, it was very difficult for us to get a place to stay there, but we finally managed to find a room. We'll be in this area for two days exploring all of the little towns around the lake, which are apparently quite picturesque.

SWITZERLAND

From Friedrichshafen, Germany we'll head to Lucerne, Switzerland on the 26th. From the pictures we've been browsing, this is a very beautiful area in Switzerland, and more picturesque than the capital, Bern. We'll spend one day in Lucerne and head off the following day for one of the most popular places in Swizterland to visit-Interlaken.

Interlaken is absolutely stunning. The water here is as blue as can be found in Cuba, and the small town is set at the base of some amazing mountains. It is a great base camp to do all kinds of outdoor activities-and we're hoping to do some hiking during the two days spent there.

Finally our last stop on the trip is Geneva on the 29th of June. We'll spend one day exploring the home of the United Nations, and fly out the following morning to Newcastle with a four hour stopover in Barcelona.

ENGLAND

We'll stay with Ian and Maria until we fly out from Manchester HOME!!!!!!!into Hamilton on July 2nd. We'll no doubt be exhausted from our travels, and carrying heavy packs (because I always seem to pack alot more than Rob:), but we'll be ecstatic to be home!

If any of you have travelled to the places we'll be going, and have any tips for great sights to see, please pass them on! We're all ears! We're very excited, and know that it will be a fabulous trip.

Until next time,

Sarah and Rob

Sarah's Haircut

Hello Everyone!

Things have been great since Christmas...the time has actually passed rather quickly, which is great for us, considering we're counting the days until we're home in March! 56 to be exact!!!! But the weather is starting to warm up here a little, get lighter as well, and we're getting alot more sun...which really is great!

As you can see from the previous blog posting, Rob is going to a fabulous school for his next placement. When I first saw the picture of it, I said to Rob that he's going to have to arrange a tour for me, or we're getting divorced:) The school sounds fabulous though, and I think he'll have a great time!

As for me, I'm still trucking along at work, having taken on more responsibility from my boss. I'm now in charge of organizing any vendor sales and promotions that go on in our buildings for our staff members. It's something extra that keeps me a little bit busier, so it's great news for that aspect. My boss chose me because she thought I did a great job organizing the Christmas lunches for our staff...she said I'm so organized..lol..for those of you that know me well, this probably comes as no surprise!


In other news, I cut my hair! I had been growing it for three years plus for the wedding, and was so sick of it...so much maitenance...so when Rob took off for a rugby game one weekend up north, I decided to go and cut it all off. Boy was he surprised when he got home:) I do really like it...it is much more manageable...and no knots! It's just a little too short for my natural curls to come out yet, but I can curl it just fine with my straightner. It will be a great cut to manage for our backpacking trip!

In other news, when Rob and I return from our trip home, we'll be going straight away on a 5 day trip up to the Highlands. We'll be renting a car, as it is cheaper than taking a tour bus, and we get to go exactly where we want to! Not really looking forward to navigating again, as the road signs here are absolutely atrocious! The road names are posted on the side of bulidings, and aren't very frequent....at home, at every intersection, you know which roads you're at...here you could drive for 5-6 minutes without seeing a road sign. Half the time, the buildings themselves actually have names....which can be easily confused for road signs, if you're not from Scotland, and when it comes to naming the roads....they just make it really confusing. Rob and I walked last weekend to his new rugby pitch, and got totally lost, as we were looking for the road called Inverleith Row....but kept passing Inverleith Place, Inverleith Way, Inverleith House, Inverleith Cres!!!!!!! Think you could manage that? It gets so confusing. However, we are looking forward to the trip.

We'll be hitting the majority of the hotspots, such as Glencoe, Ben Nevis, the Isle of Skye, Fort William (where the Cameron's are from), Glenfinnan(where the train bridge in Harry Potter was filmed...and the scenery in Made of Honour), Eileen Donan Castle, Inverness, Loch Ness, and more! It will be a great trip, and hopefully nice and warm for the long weekend! We're hoping to convince my dad to come along as well, but it all depends on his work schedule. Until then, we don't really plan on going anywhere, as we're saving for coming home on March 25th.

Well that's about it for us at this point. Hope everyone is keeping well and warm with all of that snow that you've been having!

Lots of love,

Sarah and Rob

School Update

So I have finally got around to doing my second post. I just wanted to let everyone know how school is going. I went to visit the school that I have my second placement in today. In one word "amazing" the school is stunning. The pictures that I have put up do not do it justice. The main building (pictured) is just as unique on the inside as the outside with many little corridors and winding staircases (sorry Harry Potter fans but there aren't any moving staircases, or talking hats that I saw). The first room we went in was a conference type room used for debates but the walls were huge book cases and there was an enormous fireplace in it as well. The Chapel is a good size but not huge, but it is really neat nonetheless. I will get my meals provided for me everyday in the main building as well. For a small fee of 8,000 pounds per semester (there are 3 in a year) you can send your children here and they can be apart of an alumni list that includes the likes of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

As for the Physical Education department, it is situated in a health club that is on the campus. I am allowed to use any of the facilities and take part in any of the classes. They have 3 AstroTurf fields spread throughout the campus and a number of grass fields as well. I will be teaching younger pupils in the mornings on an 8 day rotation and coaching/refing/score keeping the older pupils in the afternoon in a variety of sports (rugby, lacrosse, cricket, etc.). I am basically expected to be at the school from 8 am to 6 pm and to help out where ever possible with whatever sports need help. The school has a week off in February so I will get that as well, with such long days I may already need the break after only two weeks of placement. Needless to say it is all pretty exciting! I start tomorrow morning. Just thought I would give everyone an update I have attached the websites for both the school and the Health Club if you want to take a look!

The School:

http://www.fettes.com/

The Health Club:

http://www.westwoodshealthclub.com/

I will try to add some more pictures as I get them! That's all for now! Rob

LONDON! (I'll be adding more pictures to the blog shortly..I'd just thought I would get it up and running first:)

Our trip to London was amazing! We took a three hour train ride from Durham down to London King’s Cross, and I was surprised to find that the station at Edinburgh was far more grand than London’s! However, it was much busier for sure! Our hotel was a 10 minute walk from the station and was situated in a fairly quite area. Boy was it ever freezing! It was at least 5 degrees colder in London than anywhere else we’ve been previously, but it still didn’t distract us from seeing the sights! When we arrived at our hotel (about 12:30ish) we were informed that we couldn’t check in until 2, so we left our bags in the storage room, grabbed our map and set off to see the city! It seems like we weren’t the only ones planning on touring London over Christmas….the city (and our hotel) was jammed!

My first impression of London (Rob had been before) was that it was every bit as grand and impressive as I had imagined it to be. Huge, stately buildings everywhere, wide streets, and rich cars too- we even saw an Aston Martin!!!! One of the residential streets we walked down was filled with cars that cost no less than $60,000…and this was the norm! I also noticed that compared to Edinburgh, London is extremely clean! This wasn’t something I had expected from such a big city…but it seems that with it’s prestige and tourist industry, the council keeps it clean…which was a nice change.

As we left the hotel, we first headed in the direction of the Tower Bridge. On the way, we came upon St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Charles and Diana were married. It was absolutely stunning! In my opinion, it can be compared to St. Paul’s Basilica in the Vatican City, although it is much smaller. We went inside and could see a little bit of the cathedral…however we weren’t prepared to pay the almost £10 each that they charged to get in! To make it worse, we would have had to stand in line behind a huge school group…and that wasn’t happening.

After St. Paul’s we made our way over to the Tower of London. Rob had said, as had other people we had spoken to before going, that the Tower housed many of the Queen’s jewellery (including almost all of her tiara’s, etc.). However, after waiting in line for ages to see the ‘jewels’…I found out to my dismay that the Tower only houses the Crown Jewels…namely the crowns and the ball and septer that are used for coronations. While this was interesting…it wasn’t what I had imagined…and so I was a little disappointed…Rob claims they changed the exhibit…but I’m not so sureJ The Tower was interesting, to see the areas that I read about in my history book…but extremely expensive….about £14 each to get in. And while it was interesting, we weren’t able to see all that much…and so I’m not sure I would recommend it. However now I can say that I’ve been!

The Tower is right on the Thames, and beside the beautiful and famous Tower Bridge…I’d always thought that it was called the London Bridge…but that one, is actually just a regular concrete, and boring!, bridge down the Thames. We walked across the bridge to the other side of the Thames to find a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It is a beautiful building, but we had no real interest on going inside…and at this point we had been walking already for at least 3 hours and it had turned dark.

After the Globe, we started to head back to our hotel, and came across Oxford and Regent Roads…these are some of the main roads to shop on in London…and everything was 50% off!!! Tempting… They were beautifully lit for Christmas, and there were people everywhere. It was definitely an amazing sight to see! We then headed for dinner at a small Italian place, and then back to our hotel for 8 o’clock that night to get a good night’s sleep.

The following morning we woke up at 6:30, had a quick breakfast and were out on the roads exploring for about 7:15. It was a perfect time to go, because it seemed as if nobody else was really up. We decided to head first over to Hyde and Kensington Parks….as they were the furthest away from our hotel….and then make our way back during the day to see all of the main sites. The parks were nice…but again…not exactly as I had expected. I guess my expectations were a little highJ I had expected them to be beautiful big spaces, filled with lots of trees and iron benches everywhere…maybe some fountains…however they were more like wide open fields. Apparently this is so, because it used to be a popular place for duelling! However this soon stopped after lights were installed in the parks. In Hyde Park, it was neat to see a path for horses (with the fill that they use in a horse arena)…and people actually riding on it! Apparently, the Queen’s horses exercise there frequently. The walk way around the park was called the Diana Princess of Wales memorial walk. Along the way, there were a few monuments and fountains dedicated to her memory…but I think that she is actually buried on her family’s property…so we didn’t get to see that. However we did make our way over to her former residence on the far side of the park…Kensington Palace. Queen Victoria was born in the Palace, and lived there for most of her childhood until she became Queen and then moved into Buckingham. The Palace is beautiful, but looks more like a huge mansion (as it completely made out of red brick) rather than a palace. We decided not to go in, as we had read in the pamphlet that there was very little that could actually be seen, as it is still a working palace.

After Kensington Palace, we walked over to Harrods. The building was massive….and there was a line up outside (at 9:00am) and the store didn’t even open until 11:00!!! We took some pictures and decided to come back later when it opened. We then decided to go check out Buckingham Palace. It is situated basically in the middle of the city, and is surrounded by a beautiful park and huge walls with barbed wire around the Queen’s private gardens. As we walked closer, we noticed a huge number of people gathering behind police tape near the palace…and we immediately thought that maybe the Queen was making an appearance…however when we got there I remembered that every day at 11:30, is the Changing of the Guards ceremony…and that the Queen is usually at Sandringham over Christmas. Her standard wasn’t flying with the Union Jack over Buckingham, and so that’s how we knew she wasn’t in residence. We stayed for about 20 minutes or so to watch the ceremony…which basically involved the new guards marching down the road to Buckingham Palace to a fanfare of music, so that they could relieve the old guards. While it was neat to watch…I’ll admit it was a bit boring too. The palace on the outside is just as grand and as stately as I had imagined…surrounded with huge rod iron gates. The building of the gates was actually funded by some of the Commonwealth countries, and so two of the posts holding them up were engraved with ‘Canada’, while others were engraved for Australia and South Africa. That was a neat little tidbit of information, I’d thought.

Unfortunately, we found out that the palace isn’t actually open to visitors except during August and September, when the Queen and the Royal family leave London for their country residence, Balmoral, in Scotland. This was a little bit of a let down for me…as I had really been hoping to see some of the inside…although I can’t say the same for RobJ I had also hoped to see to Royal Mews (the Stables), and the beautiful Gold Coach that is used for coronations….but it too was closed. In compensation, I persuaded Rob to buy the guide books for each place, so that I could at least read about them, and see the pictures in the books!


We then journeyed over to Westminster Abbey…which was closed for Sunday service (and we decided we’d see it the next day rather than going in for the service and having to stay the whole timeJ ). Right next to Westminster however, stands Big Ben and the rest of the Parliament Buildings. They are extremely impressive, with beautiful architecture and they are just huge! Nearby stands the statue of Churchill, and down the road is number 10 Downing Street (which you actually can’t go see anymore, as the road is cordoned off by rod iron gates and protected by 3 guards with semi-automatic rifles!).

After taking tons of photos, we moved to go on the London Eye! For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it is similar to a huge farris wheel, but instead of little open seats, the Eye has huge glass pods, that occupy roughly 15 people, and go high above the city….all of London can be seen from the top on a clear day. Luckily, we were able to see quite a bit! It was a great place to take pictures….although being up so high was a little bit unnerving. I would definitely recommend going on the Eye for anyone who plans to journey to London in the future. Although expensive, it was worth it!!!

By this time we were already exhausted…but there was still so much to see! So we walked all the way back to Harrods, to see what all the fuss is aboutJ As mentioned before, the store is massive, with so many levels I couldn’t even count. We didn’t stay very long (or check it all out) because it was absolutely rammed with people…and impossible to get around in! It carries all of the major designer lines for clothing, jewellery (it even has a mini Tiffany’s inside!), has beautiful food halls in the basement as well as a health food area, where you can get your basic Vitamin C pills. However I wouldn’t recommend buying anything there! Although it was the 50% off sale, nothing was affordableJ To give you an idea, we looked at how much a pizza for two people would cost. You’ll never guess. £45!!!!!!! That is equivalent to about $80!!! Absolutely unbelievable….better be darn good pizza…and amazingly there were people there eating some!!! Talk about having money to burn! Harrods was far too rich for our blood so we decided to hike it out of there…and make our way over to the Absolut Icebar (near Piccadilly Circus) that we’d made reservations at earlier.

Ian and Maria had mentioned that there was an Icebar in London…and so I researched it before we went…and decided that we’d go. I’m glad we did, because it was really neat! Although it’s not an igloo, or a building completely made out of ice, the inside of the bar is… We walked into the building, and were given fur ponchos and glove to put on and then were guided through a fur draped door into the bar. It was freezing in there, but so cool. The walls, seats, bar and glasses were completely made out of ice! Our entry price included one vodka cocktail…and we chose the one we wanted and sipped it out of an ice glass. It was really cool…the bar is owned by the same company that built the Icehotel, and all of the ice was also imported from Sweden. They only let about 35 people in at a time…so as not to melt everything I suppose…and we were able to stay in for 40 minutes if we wanted….but because it was really cold, and fairly small, we looked around, took some pictures, finished our drink and the left. A worthwhile experience to be sure!!!

Phew my fingers are getting sore! After the Icebar, Rob and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out in London…thanks to a great Christmas present from Dad and Jen!J We had calamari and mussels to start, a bottle of wine, fabulous pasta dinner and cheesecake…mmmmm. It was a really nice experience…and gave us a taste of living large and what it would be like to really experience London to its fullest! After the great meal…we decided it was time to sleep…so we walked all the way back to hotel….(can you tell that maybe we were pretty tired at that point?). At 9pm, we were fast asleep.

Finally the last day! We woke up early again and headed straight for Westminster Abbey. On the way we walked through the magnificent Trafalger Square. The abbey cost us about £12 each to get in…but was worth every penny! The abbey is stunning, which huge vaulted ceilings, and tons of little alcoves and chapels inside. We were able to see the altar and chair where kings and queens have been coronated for centuries. The abbey was also, surprisingly to me, filled with the tombs of many monarchs, including Elizabeth I and her rival, Mary Queen of Scots. Their tombs were very impressive, and beautiful too. I have read and learned so much about them, that it was really surreal and a bit humbling to see their tombs! Among the monarchs, musicians (Handel), poets (Lord Byron), scientists (Charles Darwin) and even actors (Lawrence Olivier being one of them) are buried in the abbey. Apparently there are over 3,000 people buried there! One of the most famous and moving graves is the ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’. For those who aren’t aware…this tomb holds the body of an unknown British Soldier from WWII, that represents all of the soldiers who fought and died in the World Wars. On the tomb, it explains that he was given the honour of being laid among the kings and queens for his sacrifice. It is a beautiful monument…and still has the power to move people, as we saw.

After the abbey we decided to check out the London Aquarium, which was a complete disappointment…as most of the tanks they showed, were smaller than ones that we have had in the past…and were filled with the same types of fish. I had hoped that this would be a treat for Rob, after making him go through all of the ‘historic’ monumentsJ Finally on our way back to the hotel in order to catch our train at 2pm, we stopped in at the British Museum(because it was freeJ)…which is filled with artifacts from all over the world, and from many of the former colonies. It was at least twice the size of the ROM…and is worth the trip for any museum buff. As we really aren’t, we basically just skimmed through as much as we could.

All in all, our trip to London was fabulous, and I can now say that I’ve seen one of the greatest cities in the world. It is absolutely stunning, and well worth the trip! Until our next adventure, take care! To see all of our pictures from London, you can check them out on my Facebook!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah

England over Christmas!

Well so much to talk about....I don't even know where to start....to make this easier, I think I'll make a post on our time with Ian and Maria, and then a seperate one on London. It might be easier to follow too! So here goes! Rob and I left for Durham, England (where Ian and Maria....friends of ours and Mike and Pat's) live. The train ride was very smooth down, and followed the coast, so we saw many beautiful sights...however England looks similar to Scotland...at least the parts that we saw this trip. It has the same rolling green hills and old buildings, but Scotland has a few more higher hills and rocky places...more wild. We arrived in Durham and were picked up by Ian, and treated to a great chilli dinner and then out to the pub! We were immediately made to feel at home, which was fantastic.

On Christmas Day, we met friend's of Ian and Maria's, Garry and Audrey....who are also fantastic people, and who are also 'honourary grandparents of our future children' as are Ian and Maria:) We went out for dinner to a beautiful home that has been converted into a Best Western Hotel....called Witworth Hall. The building was stunning inside, and we had a traditional Christmas dinner with some yorkshire pudding and yummy cheesecake for me, and cheese platter for Rob. The farm also had live deer which we could feed in an enclosure....it was a beautiful place.

On my birthday..big 24...we went into Durham for day. Ian and Maria actually live about a 10 minute drive outside of Durham in a little town called Spennymoor. Durham used to be a religious centre for England, and so has lots of churches, but is now primarily known as a university town. It has a beautiful cathedral, which stands on the top of a hill, at the bottom of which a river runs through the valley. It also has a lovely castle (which now serves as the residence of many university students), and many cobbled streets and narrow lanes with cute little shops. The town itself isn't very big, but it is charming. The next day Rob and I left for London, and were there until the 29th, which I'll talk about in another post. When we arrived
back in Durham, we relaxed a little and watched tons of movies (as Ian and Maria have a fabulous collection and a great big tv). It was nice to just chill out after all of our travelling. New Year's Eve, we went with Ian and Maria out to the Spennymoor town hall, had a great Chinese dinner, and danced (and drank:) the night away. We have stayed in the past few New Year's so it was nice to get out and about. New Year's day, we were back in Durham with Audrey and Garry, for some more drinks, and a wonderful dinner by the river at an Italian restaurant called Bella Italia. All in all, our stay with Ian and Maria was fabulous, and we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. Although we missed our family and friends very much, we were kept distracted by all the great activities and sights we saw! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! I'm back to work tomorrow, but Rob doesn't go back to school until January 12th...lucky guy. We're also counting the days until we get to come home in March! Love to everyone!

Rob and Sarah