I know it's been a while since I updated... but I haven't had much to talk about.... been working a lot... but I am off to Hungary on Wednesday... so watch this space!!!

Tea at the Ritz!!

So on Monday just gone, me and 4 other ladies from work went off to London for the day... started off walking down to the Ritz from Oxford Circus.. we went into Hamleys Toy Store and had a brief look around the 5+ stories of non-stop toys! Then we walked down to Piccadilly Circus and then changed direction towards the Ritz... we stopped in at Fortnum & Mason, which is another snobby department store in London.. saw the coolest wedding cakes Beck. Then we went to the Ritz.. which was really fun. Had Champagne, sandwiches, scones, cute little cakes and tea. Actually I had coffee. It was amazing. I wasn't allowed to take photos in the hotel.. but this is a photo of us outside the hotel afterwards.

So after The Ritz.. we headed for Harrods. Which was crazy.. you weren't allowed to stand still for very long because it meant you were loitering.. but we headed to the new Veuve Clicquot bar and had a very expensive glass of wine (totally worth it).. and had a wander around the very expensive stores.. I also saw the owner dude.. Muhammad Al Whatsit.

Then we walked through Leicester Square.. through the middle of some movie premiere and had somethin to eat and headed to the theatre for Grease! Which was heaps of fun. Had a good day... but when I got home my feet were killing me... serves me right for wearing my 3 inch boots to London for the day!!

xxoo

Paris....

Ok.. so Paris was a lot of fun... I only had four days, so I crammed a lot of stuff into my time.

Day 1: After a night of no sleep because I was travelling, I decided to take it a little easy.. I started the day with an enormous coffee and then hit the Louvre. Checked out the Mona Lisa and Venus. Then I wandered across the river down through to Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the river and found Notre Dame. This was it for the first day, as I was only running on about 3 hours sleep in the past 50 hours.

Day 2: This was my touristy day.. I started off by walking along the path towards the Eiffel Tower. Then I made my way up the tower, only to the second platform by lift and then walked my way down so I wasn't completely lazy. Then I walked my way towards the Arc de Triomphe from which the Avenue des Champs-Elysees leads from so I wandered my way down there.. which by the way, is the most expensive street in the world. And all I spent was about 5 Euros on a coffee!! Very Proud. I then metroed my way over to Moulin Rouge and then walked a few blocks to the Sacre Coeur.

Day 3: This was a boring-ish day so I went out to Le Pere Lachaise. Which is the biggest cemetery in Paris and has over 1.3 million graves in it.. including Jim Morrison of the Doors, Chopin and Oscar Wilde. I then came back into town and walked around the St Germain des Pres - which turns out isn't all that exciting!! I also thought this afternoon would be a nice time to check out Musee D'Orsay. It turns out this museum is closed on Mondays. :-)

Day 4: This one deserves a story... Today I went out to the Catacombs, which is a huge underground ossuary. In the late 1700s the inner city's cemeteries were getting so crowded that the neighbours were suffering from diseases so it was decided that the remains in the cemetereies were to be discreetly moved to the citys underground tunnels. There are millions of remains in the tunnel and is definitely one of the most surreal places I have ever been. Not for the faint hearted. Remember it is about 25-30m below ground and the tunnel runs for 1.7 kms. Amazing.

And that's the short version of my trip to Paris.. and I took a lot more photos. Over 300 actually, I got a little carried away. But.. I have been back for 2 days and I have already booked my next trip. 22nd April is not that far away!! Hungary here I come!!

It's snowing....

Just in time for my days off... we got a heap of snow last night, and the are predicting more for tonight. Here are some pics of around my house....

So... I think I have finally recovered from my trip to Scotland.. it was a big 7 days! After my overnight bus trip to Edinburgh- travel tip- don't even try to sleep on a coach... it's just not going to happen. But I arrived to a still dark city and found my way to the Tour Departure place and off we went.

Let me set the mood- middle of winter in Scotland, its dark until about 9 to 9.30 in the morning.. and then its pitch black by 4 at the latest. And Freezing Cold. And not New Zealand Cold, Try still being in minus temperatures at noon. But Oh my goodness.... so so beautiful.

Ok.....

Day 1: We head north of Edinburgh, stopping at the Firth of Forth and the two famous bridges crossing the Firth to get to St Andrews etc... but we didn't cross here we went along the Firth to the town of Stirling (as featured in Braveheart) and we went through there, passed the William Wallace Memorial and up to a castle called Doune Castle.. which was just gorgeous. It was used in the Monty Python film Life of Brian. Beautiful. then we carries on up to meet Hamish. he is apparently a national treasure.. hes a Hairy Coo (Scottish for Cow!), we then visited the grave of Rob Roy and his family.. which was at the end of a very dodgy narrow road (not made for coaches, but never the less... ). We then passed a mountain called Ben Nevis.. which was visible right to the top, which apparently happens once every 10 years or so because of all the fabulous Scottish mist. We then went past a Commando memorial for the soldiers of WW2 and then we went to a re-enactment of how Highlanders dressed back in the day... the traditional way to wear a kilt. We are now at the base of Loch Ness, in a place called Fort Augustus.

Firth of Forth

Doune Castle

Ben Nevis

Day 2: We headed off from Loch Ness, following the lake... then we stopped and had a paddle in Loch Ness... May I point out it is about 9.00 in the morning and still freezing with a thin layer of snow on the ground. Our Tour Driver wouldn't leave until all of us went for a paddle. So I had no choice! From here we went passed the bridge which became very famous in the movie Brigadoon, on which Gene Kelly meets Cyd Charisse. (the cutest bridge ever!) We then saw the most haunted hosue in the world.. which from the stories we were told, I never ever want to go there. We then got to Inverness, in carried on through to visit the site of Culloden. The area is just a field- which i learned is the reason of the Scottish's demise... their Highland Charge, whcih was their biggest weapon was supposed to be them running down a hill towards their opponent. But Good Ol' Bonny Prince Charlie chose this spot and we all know the rest. Am glad to say i have been there. We then went to the Clava Cairn.. which is a set of three mounds of stones which have been there since Day 1 basically. They are supposed to be older than Stonehenge and a lot more powerful. Eerie place. We then saw the most deepest gorge in UK. Called Corrieshalloch Gorge. 16 year old boys are supposed to swing across under the bridge on their birthday.. to prove their manhood I guess! Also today- we passed through Drumnadrochit, which I am sure everyone knows is the home of Groundskeeper Willy. This night, we stayed in a town called Ulapool- the furtherest north we go.

Me paddling in Loch Ness!

Clava Cairn

Corrieshalloch Gorge

Day 3: So this day was the day our driver was the most overhung. which means the day kinda dragged on and wasn't the most fun int he world. but we did go for the coolest beach waslk at Little Gruinard Beach. From sand dunes and mussels on the beach, it was so pretty. We went passed a number of gorgeous lochs and ended up at the Isle of Skye- which there is now a bridge connecting the mainland. We stayed at a pub called Saucy Mary's on the Isle of Skye tonight.

Little Gruinard Beach

Skye Bridge

Day 4: Today we left the Isle of Skye and visited the famous Eilean Donan Castle.. really pretty. we then travelled back through Glen Nevis- home of the amazing ben NEvis.. which is right in the middle of Braveheart country. Our tour guide then thought it would be fun to take us on a 3 hour hike through a Glen to an amazing waterfall- an physical endurance, not exactly my strong point.. but i made it, and I wasn't running up the rear.. I was proud of myself.

Eilean Donan Castle

The Waterfall at the end of our hike.

We then ended up in Oban.. the home of some amazing seafood.. so I had to.. we went out for dinner and the scallops were Amazing!!! hehe!! Since this was our last night on tour... we had to do a little dancing and socialising.. so was a rather late night!

Day 5: Late Start (Thank Goodness!) We were heading back in the direction of Edinburgh, so we went to a gorgeous wee church called St Conan's Kirk within which Robert the Bruce is tombed. An Amazing wee place.. and one of my tourmates caught a ghost in a photo- but we didn't see this until we were back on the bus and driving on. And i don't belive in ghosts but you should have seen this photos.. it was creepy. We then stopped off at a castle called Kilchurn Castle whihc is really pretty.. we even had blue sky, so we threw the frisbee around for awhile and started the trek back to Edinburgh.

St Conan's Kirk

Kilchurn Castle

And that was my tour. On Saturday, i did the touristy thing i Edinburgh... saw the castle, Holyrood Palace.. and the inside of many an amazing sales. Whoops. And the Sunday saw me sitting on another coach for 10 hours, then the tube for about half an hour, and then the train for an hour, and then a 20 minute walk- with my suitcase. Hence why i was so exhausted when I got back!!

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh

Sorry for drooning on for hours and hours... but I had a really good time up there and I went a little crazy on the photo taking.. but they are the best souvenir!

xxoo

Anna officially hates Christmas.

Ok.... so I don't really hate Christmas, it just sucks being on the other side of the world and not having the usual family and week long build up to Xmas Day.. plus its winter here and so cold... its not supposed to be cold at Christmas!!!

The only good thing is that we are doing about 90 covers for Christmas Lunch and about 70 on Boxing day Lunch.. So I am not going to be bored. I am going to be busy... time is going to fly past, which will be good with the way I'm feeling at the moment.

Plus I have a whole week in Scotland to look forward to.. the 4th January is not far away.

Anyways.... for those who are still reading the world's most boring blog.....

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a lovely start to 2009..

Anna.

Well, it has officially turned freezing cold in this country. It is frosting as early as 8 o'clock so its is always bitterly cold. It is never windy though so we get nice clear days but oh my god, so so cold. This is what I woke up to the other day.... from outside my bedroom window..

I also managed to take some pics of my work.... they are taken at about 4 in the afternoon so it's getting quite dark but it makes them really pretty...