Home

This is the last entry for our 2015 adventure! Wow. After a relatively good flight home with Cathay Pacific, and a brief stopover in Hong Kong we were really excited to step foot on Australian soil! We were welcomed home by all of our favourite Canberran’s for a lovely dinner at home. We are both so grateful for the opportunity and means to have been able to travel and see and experience so much of the world. It has certainly been such an eye-opening year, and not one that we will ever forget.

Our next adventure…we are expecting a baby in August 2016!

Berlin-29

Berlin

Last stop…Berlin, and man was it cold! We brought in the New Year here surrounded by crazy fireworks on the street, the shells of which were not cleaned up for days. We spent our time here with a walking tour, a visit to the Holocaust memorial, the Typography of Terror museum and of course the graffitied remains of the Berlin Wall and East Side Gallery. Unfortunately it was just so, SO cold, and combined with the fact that it was our last stop, we didn’t love Berlin as much as we were expecting.

Brandenburg Gate- a symbol of reunification

Holocaust Memorial

Site of Hitlers bunker. Now, just a carpark

Berlin Wall

The divide of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall memorial

Book burning memorial at Bebelplatz

Lots of interesting art here in Berlin

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

Nuremberg

After a brief stop in Munich to watch the famed river surfing in the park, we made it to Nuremberg with a 2 Pound Mega Bus ticket! We loved walking around the old town and treated ourselves to Thai for lunch (we are getting a bit sick of the European food!) We also visited the Nuremberg Documentation Centre, an excellent museum where we learnt a lot about the Nuremberg trials and more horrors of the rise of Nazi Germany.

Munich Eisbach River Surfing

Documentation Centre

German treats

Driverless trams

Documentation Centre

Documentation Centre

Ellmau

We spent a week in a little chalet here in the Wilder Kaiser region over the Christmas period looking forward to another ski week. Unfortunately for us, the European winter hadn’t quite hit this far west in Austria, so the snow was pretty terrible. We did enjoy the buffet breakfasts and extravagant dinners each night put on by our hosts, the beautiful Alpine scenery, participating in a traditional European Christmas Eve dinner celebration and the novelty of skiing on Christmas Day!

Beautiful scenery – pity about the lack of snow!

Christmas horses

Ellmau

Innsbruck

This was actually our fourth visit to Innsbruck. In the course of our travels this year, this Alpine city has become an unexpected constant due to its convenient location. Although each time we have stayed here hasn’t been for long (mainly overnight stays to break up a journey) its been enough to let us feel comfortable and familiar with the town. We enjoyed lots of strudel here, a visit to the site of the 1964 Olympic ski jump, winter Christmas markets and beautiful architecture.

Golden Krone

Christmas market treats

So much strudel

At the top of the ski jump!

Site of the winter Olympics

At the top of the jump

Lift to the top of the ski jump

Downtown

Inside a beautiful church

Ischgl

We had two fabulous weeks skiing in Ischgl – a resort that sits on the Austrian/Swiss border. We were joined for the first week by our Port Macquarie friends Mel and Dave (who had also been on a UK working holiday) and as we couldn’t really think of anything better to do for the second week, we just stayed. It was great!

We had beautiful bluebird conditions for almost every day for two weeks! Unfortunately the snow slowly degraded, though there were two welcome dustings during the fortnight, which were pretty great considering how early in the season it was. Our legs were pretty knackered by the end!

Apres ski was interesting, lots of dancing girls…

Beautiful scenery

This gondola can carry 180 people!

We loved the novelty of “skiing to Switzerland” each day

Happy days

Beautiful scenery

Giant snow frog

Chairlift shot

Ski team

Pretty amazing architecture

Cologne

We had four nights in Cologne where we delighted in all things Christmas! The Christmas markets here were insanely beautiful and we got into the spirit by drinking lots of mulled wine, listening to live carol performances and sampling lots of Christmas treats. We stayed right across from the Angel Christmas Market, which is the oldest of the eight markets in Cologne and the most beautiful!

Beautiful Christmas Lights

Angel Christmas Markets (our favourite!)

Dom Christmas Market

Curling!

Angel Christmas Markets (our favourite!)

Dom Christmas Market

Angel Christmas Markets (our favourite!)

Dom Christmas Market

Paris

After a great visit in September, we were excited to board the Eurostar and head for Paris round two! On the way over, our train hit a wild boar (more common than you’d think!), so we got a partial ticket refund for the delay! As we’d hit most of the main sights last visit, we enjoyed just wandering around the city, eating as many croissants as possible. We enjoyed a day trip out to the Palace of Versailles, a morning at the Musee d’Orsay and multiple visits to the Eiffel Tower. We also had a few drinks with our airbnb friend Sophie who gave us some local insight in the wake of the November Paris attacks.

The Seine

Paris at night

Our battered Eurostar train post hit!

Paris at night

The Eiffel Tower from underneath

Street art

Free subway entertainment

The Eiffel Tower

Paris at night

Musée d’Orsay

The Eiffel Tower

The Palace of Versailles

Musée d’Orsay

The Eiffel Tower

Musée d’Orsay

The Palace of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

The Palace of Versailles

Street art

The Palace of Versailles

The Eiffel Tower

London (again!)

We had a fabulous week in London in mid November and really got stuck into the tourist attractions. Although we have passed through London many times this year, we hadn’t really seen it. Generously, my Uncle let us stay in his Wimbledon townhouse while he was abroad, so we also got a bit of downtime and enjoyed cooking for ourselves.

Highlights included:
Harry Potter world – we had so much fun exploring the Harry Potter sets at the Warner Brothers Studio. I got sorted by the sorting hat into Hufflepuff (wrong!) and tried some butterbeer!
The Shard – we celebrated our last night in London with a drink at the top of the Shard at sunset, we admired the view as all the lights gradually came on (at 4pm!!)
Churchill War Rooms – we had a fantastic day here looking at the old underground war rooms, as well as the Winston Churchill Museum. I’d just finished his biography, so I found it really interesting. Most of the museum is untouched from WW2, including the map room where we could see all the pin holes tracking enemy/ally advancement. We also fit in visits to the V&A and the Natural History Museum
Changing of the guard – we enjoyed a sunny morning at the gates of Buckingham Palace watching the iconic guards
Harrods – it was my birthday while we were in London, so we celebrated at Harrods with a high tea. I loved browsing through the food hall there too with all the Christmas decorations!

King George’s emblem

We’ll miss you too Pret

View from the Shard

Tower Bridge

Chocolate orange, we will miss you!

I love this face

The Shard

It’s us in a Christmas ball!

Victoria

Shard Reflections

Mina Rd, Wimbeldon

Dan’s favourite store

Buckingham Palace

Inside Fortnum and Mason

Piccadilly Arcade

Inside Fortnum and Mason

Changing of the guard

Harrods shop window

Afternoon tea at Harrods on my birthday!

Dan and Charles Darwin

Natural History Musem

Charles Darwin at the Natural History Musem

Natural History Musem

The Burrow designs

Hogsmeade designs

Harry Potter world

Dobby!

Harry Potter world

I’m so lame I don’t even care!

Harry Potter world

Churchill War Rooms

Ireland

No Euro-escape would be complete without an Ireland road trip! We hired a car in Dublin and drove around most of the country (not Northern Ireland – this time!). We stopped in at Doolin, Gallway, The Coonemara, Dingle, The Ring of Kerry, Killareny and Kilkenny. Being November and all, the weather wasn’t great and the rain hampered our view. At least we know why it’s so green!

Highlights included:

Our walking tour in Dublin – we had perfect blue-sky weather and learnt a lot of Irish history
Irish music in Doolin – this was definitely the best folk music we had the entire trip. We spent an evening listening to a 3 piece folk band – guitar, flute and accordion.
Guinness – it tastes so good here!
Cliffs of Moher – simply stunning.
The Ring of Kerry – unfortunately it rained the entire time so the views weren’t all that great; we will definitely be coming back because the countryside was stunning

Torc Waterfall near Killarney

Not as good as Guinness

Downtown Kilkenny

Dinner stop Kilkenny

Kilkenny Castle

Muckross Abbey – there’s a tree growing in the middle of it!

Jack! I’m flying!

Beautiful Dingle

Ring of Kerry

So many vintage Guinness signs.

Ring of Kerry

Waterville

Dingle

Makes sense?!

Beautiful Dingle

Rain was the theme of our holiday

Mooooooo

Ring of Kerry

Dingle

$Letterfrack, in the Coonemara Region$

Letterfrack, in the Coonemara Region

Coonemara scenery

The Burren

Kylemore Abbey

Kilmainham Jail in Dublin

Wild Atlantic Way

$Near Letterfrack$

Near Letterfrack

A real matchmaker bar in Lisdoonvarna where they have a matchmaking festival each year

Gullivers travels?

Irish music in Doolin

Celtic Cross

Cliffs of Moher

Town Hall Dublin

Cliffs of Moher

Islay

What a place! The Isle of Islay has definitely made it to the top of the best-ofs for the year – if you ever find yourself in Scotland, please please please check it out!

We hired a car from Glasgow and, after enjoying the stunning autumnal scenery too much, were very late and SO LUCKY not to miss the car ferry from Kennacraig to Islay. We arrived two hours later to the most peaceful, isolated and genuine place I think we’ve ever been to. The weather on our first day was stunning so we drove around a scenic loop from Bruichladdich to Portnahaven to watch the sun go down – complete with a view of Ireland on the horizon and seals casually cruising around.

The next day we raced between tours and tastings at Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and Bowmore distilleries which were all fantastic. It was awesome to see the scotch making process in action (and taste a couple – even the wort!)

We will definitely be back Islay!

Ardbeg wall

Our car feery

Islay Map

Bowmore Distillery

This is where they make “The Botanist” Gin

Bruichladdich

The Botanist at Bruichladdich

Ardbeg Distillery

Ardbeg tasting room

Bruichladdich

Bruichladdich stills

Scotch chemistry

Whisky in process

Beautiful views

Highland cow!

Capturing the sunset

Bruichladdich distillery

Islay countryside

Portnahaven

On the boat

Islay scenery

Dan’s dream come true

Glasgow / Loch Lomond

Glasgow definitely doesn’t have the charm we found in Edinburgh, it is a much more liveable and practical city. We enjoyed catching up with our Port Macquarie friends Brit and Sheri who are living there at the moment. We also enjoyed walking around the stunning Queen’s Park in all of its Autumnal glory!

We then drove up to Loch Lomond for a few more days of relaxing and enjoying the serenity of this beautiful region in the off-peak season. We spent an afternoon at Milarrochy bay and we didn’t see another soul for hours, it was so peaceful.

Queen’s Park

Glasgow

At one point the road was like this!

Loch Lomond

Autumn

Loch Lomond

Our trusty car

Loch Lomond

Balloch

Balloch Country Castle Park

Magic at Balloch

Edinburgh

We got a true Scottish welcome (think rainy and drizzly skies) as we caught the train into Edinburgh. We enjoyed a wet day looking at all the exhibitions at the Edinburgh Castle and admiring the artwork at the Portrait Gallery (definitely worth a visit, a lot of history as well as art). When the weather cleared, we did an interesting walking tour that took us to lots of the main sights and cemented more of the interesting history. Highlights were: Greyfriars Kirkyard, Grassmarket, and shopping along the Royal Mile. Dan was very chuffed to buy a Harris Tweed tie (we’ll come back for the jacket when we’re rich!)