Arsenal v Bolton January 20, 2010

We were able to get tickets to Emirates on one of those rare occasions that tickets go on sale to the general public and aren’t snapped up by all the members. We saw a Arsenal v Bolton game. I had been told our tickets were near the back... fair enough... so we found the right entrance and started trundling up the stair to our seats... turns out “near the back” means second row from the back!... It felt like a long way up but I was doing ok... until I turned around to sit down! Knees went wobbly... thought I was going to fall! Took me about 15 minutes to settle as all the visions of me falling down the stairs / stand collapsing all went through my mind! Then was able to enjoy the atmosphere! The crowd never lets up.... and this was a game against a lowly ranked side! Was a closer match than expected with Bolton going up 2-0... but right result in the end with Arsenal winning the match 4-2. The fans are amazing – can’t believe the enthusiasm and commitment they have for their teams!

Getting out of the stadium was actually a better experience than I was expecting too! Everyone cleared out pretty quick and headed for the tube where barriers had been put up to control the crowd - pretty well organised I thought. A lot of the houses along the way had little stalls set up selling arsenal supporter gear.. food... was such a good atmosphere even out of the stadium

Was a great experience seeing our first ever Premier League game and something I would recommend to everyone, even those not particular interested in football/soccer (as is case with me!)

New Years in Cologne

We stayed in Cologne for 6 nights and used it as a bit of a base to see the area from there.

I found Cologne similar to Belgium... similar architecture... dominance of beer halls... What I liked about the beer halls here was that they served the beer in 200mL glasses.. small I know... but they come around with a replacement as soon as you’ve finished unless you indicate you don’t want another by putting your coaster on top of the glass... I liked it... and meant the beer was a lot fresher!

We weren’t blessed with great weather for our time in Cologne... it rained most days... So our first day there we decided to do the big bus tour... It started at the Cathedral which dominates the skyline, and which I found quite scary and ominous... the hotel was over the river directly opposite the cathedral so had to make sure the curtains were shut at night or I couldn’t get to sleep.... really eerie... anyway... the bus took us past all the sites, of which there are few.... and we jumped off at the chocolate museum... heaven! It was a lot more sophisticated and interesting than the little museum in Brussels... It must have either been sponsored or run by Lindt cause there were Lindt chocolates being made on the line.. taste testing was definitely a highlight! As were the old confectionary vending machines... found them quite cool...

We took a day trip to Maastricht, Netherlands, where my grandfather grew up. We took the train... we managed to get on different trains at Cologne – cause the others had first class tickets through their Eurail passes, and I was just in second class – I was on the right one... didn’t realise in time that there were actually 2 trains on the same platform! Still we ended up in Maastricht only 45 mins apart... funny....

Again, weren’t blessed with the weather which was a real shame. Maastricht is a great little place, not yet too overcome with tourists... and the shopping is really good amongst all the little streets – so probably a good thing it wasn’t a good day to be strolling around! We visited the church where my great uncle helped design the stained glass windows... the house where my grandfather grew up... I had been before, but it was nice being there with mum and showing Belinda and Tash around.

The rest of my time in Cologne was really chilled out... for New Years Eve we had dinner at a little Italian place that didn’t require bookings then had a couple of drinks in the hotel room watching the crowd gather on the river front... what I love about New Years eve in Europe compared to Australia is that everyone is still allowed to set off their own fireworks – so the fireworks started about 7pm!! Funny watching people scare other people with bungers as they walked past!... Just before 12 we headed down to be amongst the crowd and it started snowing – was a really nice fun atmosphere... I’m not sure if there were actually any public fireworks displays but it was good all the same!

From Cologne I said good bye to Bel and Troy as they headed to Frankfurt for their flight home... Mum and Tash got the Eurostar back to London and I flew –there was a bit of delay on my flight because of weather... so took almost the same time as it would have taken on the train! (But it was cheaper!!)

Christmas in Switzerland!

I was worried there wasn’t going to be any snow in Interlaken itself given it’s only about 600m above sea level... but it was absolutely covered and the snow was bucketing down! Matt and I stayed in a place called the City Oberland, smack bang in the middle of the town. Right above a Latino bar which was a bit worrying – though I think given it was winter there wasn’t too much noise... I could imagine in Summer it would be quite loud. Mum had booked a Riverhouse which was great for all of us... Somewhere to lounge around and we took it in turns to cook dinner which was handy. First afternoon we organised our ski lessons and ski hire.... really straight forward, only shame was that we were staying about 30mins from the ski fields (Grindelwald) but at the same time it was good to be based in Interlaken for the shops etc .

First day of skiing I found very frustrating and painful! It took me pretty much the whole day just to learn how to stop properly! And the boots I got were way too tight on my foot... right length but I’ve obviously got a very fat foot! Lost all feeling in my toes after about 15 mins!! Not good! I was definitely the slowest learner out of the group... (Which even though we booked group lessons ended up being just us which was pretty cool)... Tash was better than she thought she was but lacked the patience of climbing back up the 3m hill to go down again... cause we were beginner beginners we didn’t get a lift .

I thought that when I took my boots off that afternoon my toes were going to be blue... but they weren’t which was a good thing I spose...

Next day was much better... Had exchanged my boots for a wider pair... and while it was still painful, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad... And we got a lift today (one of those rope ones where you just hold onto)!! We spent half the morning revising what we had learnt the day before... and there were a ‘couple more runs for Tracey’ before we were allowed down the proper beginner slope... he was very concerned about my stopping ability!!!.. Once we got going down the main slope everything we’d learnt came together and it was a lot more fun. I did manage to fall almost every run... and it was amazing how quickly our instructor could move when we were in trouble!... I found when the proper stopping method didn’t work, falling onto your bum did... I think there was a bit of a running joke going between the instructors and the lift operators about whether or not I would make it down the run (particularly that last steep bit) without falling... By the end of the third day I had really got the hang of it... but a lot can be said for doing some fitness preparation before going.... my legs had absolutely nothing left in them by the end....

First day of lessons there were 6 of us... then 4... then Belinda had a cold and she couldn’t continue just as she was really getting the hang of it ! So on day 3 there were 3... Matt was a bit more capable than I... though he was the first to manage to stack it getting onto the lift.... and Troy.... you’re just a show off!

It was sooo nice to relax the next day, Christmas eve... just wandered around town... had coffee (it was near closing time in this bakery and they had leftover croissants they had to get rid of for free.. it was sooooo hard to polish them off!!)... Kurt and Shreya had arrived the night before and Matt and Troy ended up taking them up to Grindelwald to show them around and sort out ski gear.... the 4 of them were keen for a Christmas Day ski... the rest of us just followed up on the train for lunch... it was great having the White Christmas... In the snow... gorgeous views.. snowball fights.... but overall it didn’t feel particularly ‘Christmassy’ but it was great having most of the family around. Didn’t realise just how much I was missing everyone!

We went to a restaurant in Interlaken for our Christmas Dinner.... Belinda and I ended up sharing a 3 course fondue... 1st course cheese. mmm... 2nd course was meat.. this was a bit too much to be honest... just dropped bits of meat into oil to cook... so was really heavy on the stomach... but 3rd course, of course, was chocolate!.... yummmeee.. Matt and Troy are of course quite used to all us McLeods by now... but hopefully we didn’t scare Shreya off too much!!

Boxing Day again was really relaxing... late brekkie... pack the bags... lunch.... dinner.... Bit of souvenir shopping... and lots of chilling!!

Unfortunately from here we split up a bit... Matt had to come back to the UK to work... and Kurt and Shreya were heading to Berlin for New Years... I was flying to Cologne where I would meet back with the rest of the crew who were travelling by train.

Kurt and I were both flying from Zurich about the same time and we had a couple of hours in Zurich which was nice though it was very very quiet...

Just as Kurt’s plane took off it started snowing quite heavily... my plane was about ½ hour delayed but thankfully we did get going and got to Cologne without a hitch....

December - the Drive to Interlaken

Somehow managing to miss the big Hypermarkets around Calais... we drove to our first stop of Luxembourg... going via Belgium. Was quite a nice drive (says she who didn’t do any of the driving)... Luxembourg is really pretty.... built in a steep valley, there’s gorgeous views all around. Matt wasn’t feeling too well, but we headed into town to have a look around the square... really pretty... there were some small markets with Gluwein (yum!) and there were some kids singing Christmas carols. And after a little while it started snowing... it was all just really pretty... and cause we had managed to score a spot under a heater.. not too cold!

Headed from Luxembourg the next day down to Freiburg (Black Forest) to meet back up with Mum and Tash. Another gorgeous town... markets... gluwein... snow! We stayed at a pretty typical Germnstyle hotel called the Bierhausle.... Matt picked it on recommendation (can you tell?!). Surprisingly though there wasn’t actually much of a bar in the hotel, but the restaurant served some really yummy food!

We took a day trip into the Black Forest... Stopping at Triberg where the shop-keepers were whinging that it was one of the coldest days they’d had... (typical!!) Lots of cuckoo clocks had us mesmorised for a little while but all in all the town was very quiet! We let Navman try and direct us to the next town... but it tried to take us down some small roads that you couldn’t even see anymore! There was about 2 foot of snow covering the roads – though I’m convinced they must have been more like ‘tracks’. Given the steepness of the hill off the side and the fact we were on our own, we just weren’t game enough to keep following the Navman directions so had to head back for the main roads. The views though were absolutely spectacular. So beautiful with the snow on the trees... took so many photos!

From Freiburg we headed into Switzerland and given we were a day early decided to try somewhere random... based on booking.com discounts we picked Biel-Bienne – in the watch-making valley. On the trip there we were having a few problems cleaning the windscreen which was filthy from all the grit on the roads.. and none of the service stations had washer fluid... mmm fun...


Biel-Bienne was.... wierd... there was absolutely no one about... All the markets were closed... Didn’t see any other people in the hotel.... was strange... either it was a public holiday or it’s an industrial town and everyone had headed elsewhere for Christmas... dunno! So we didn’t really do much here! Spent some time in the supermarket! And wandered til we found somewhere for dinner... Mum being very quickly onto the fondue!

From there it was a relatively short but beautiful, particularly the last leg around the lake into Interlaken, journey to where we would spend Christmas... yay!

December in London Town

Am getting so far behind in this blog that I’m just gonna have to start really summarising!!

December was a fantastic, albeit flippin cold, month! I finished up at work on the 2nd and was at Heathrow at 7am the next morning meeting Mum and Tash in the arrivals hall! Had a great time showing them... and then Belinda and Troy a couple of weeks later... around London Town. An early stop was shopping... for warm clothes!! Was great watching Tash be bemused and excited by some of the quirky English things... I’ve just got used to them all... she found the politeness of the tube drivers particularly amusing... “Mind the Gap please” is apparently a lot more polite than the Sydney version of “Stand clear”. Although I wasn’t there to witness, she was also pretty “chuffed” (yes, I do have a bit of an English accent now) that she got one of the guards at Windsor Palace to smile! Had a big splurge one day - went to Gordon Ramsays Maze restaurant - yummo!! then to Wicked at Apollo Victoria - one of the best musicals I've ever seen - it was unreal!

We also went to Belgium... my second trip but first time to Bruges. I love Belgium. Beer. Chocolate. Waffles. aaahhh.... I was a little disappointed in the Christmas markets in Bruges though. They're meant to be some of the best... but I found them to be really small... not much there at all... definitely not a patch on the Bath markets. The city itself though is really pretty. Lots of small cobbled streets, little canals.... beautiful. We didn’t have the greatest weather which was a shame

We stayed in Brussels, near the European Parliament in some serviced apartments - Thon Parnasse. It was really good value actually... a little way from Grand Place but the station was across the road and the metro was just down the street.

From there I headed back to the UK and Mum and Tash headed to Paris!

Coupla days ‘break’ at home in Elm Pak, which consisted on catching up with washing and going to Matt’s Christmas Party – which was the night before Bel and Troy arrived – so we didn’t get a lot of sleep that night – Matt slept laying down on the back seat the whole drive to the airport! – It is kinda cool driving the Landcruiser through the main streets of Londond – down Regent Street, around Trafalgar Square...

Belinda and Troy were lucky enough to get 2 of our tours (Mum and Tash got the driving tour to Windsor and the Cotswolds and the brief walking tour to Kensington) ; The first one was a driving tour around London – because it was the weekend we were able to drive them past a lot of the main sights and cause it was so early there wasn’t a lot of traffic.... Saw Buckingham Palace... Greenwich... Trafalgar Square... Westminster... etc etc

The second tour wasn't planned, but we ended up taking Belinda and Troy on a walking/pub tour of London. Started in Covent Garden with some pies and beer... then to Trafalgar Square and introduced them to the Wetherspoons chain of pubs (cheap! – don’t matter for the alcohol but the food is definitely ‘cheap’ too!)... down to Westminster and on a cruise down the Thames to Tower Hill... found another Wetherspoons!... Jumped on a bus down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus.. had a slightly disappointing meal at Garfunkels (with Coke!) and said Goodnight from there! Was a busy but fun day!

We ended up leaving the UK the same day.. Bel and Troy to London via Eurostar... and Matt and I jumped in the car to head to the Black Forest... Straight into France where they were having one of their coldest Winters in history. Woohoo!