Just a note to say thank you for all the kind words to myself, and family members on our loss of Snoopy. The other girls still aren’t eating their Saturday bones and I’m dreading going home in one sense because then it will be even more real that Snoopy isn’t around anymore. xx
Ciao, ciao. Gosh when I was in Italy I actually knew so many more words in the language, however they escape me now! I still have my talent for translating foreign languages either in writing or when listening to someone speak though which is always useful!
Okay well I had written quite a decent entry on my birthday weekend away in Italy, however it never got ‘published’ to here and deleted itself to cyber-space which is very, very annoying. So now, to get you all up to date and to keep note of what Italy skiing is like I shall do an abridged entry.
So on Thursday 24 January I stayed back late at work and made sure everything was pretty much done and ready for Friday and then Mara and I met at home, did last minute packing and settled in to watch Transformers (great movie) until about 02:30am. We then had the alarms set for 04:00am to get the public bus to Stratford and then the National Express (A9) to Stanstead Airport to board our flight to Italy! I had to call in… well text in sick to work which I felt bad about, but hell when I asked back in December for the day off they wouldn’t let me, so after already booked out holiday tickets I was really left with no choice!
Our flight from Stanstead actually left on time with Ryanair for once, which was fantastic but probably because it was so damn early! About 90 minutes later we touched down in Bergamo, Italy. The same place we landed in for Mara’s birthday last July, although this time instead of heading south for sunshine we were heading north for the skiing slopes! After getting our bags and through customs, we grabbed the local bus and went all the way up cliff/big hill to Citta Alta, the ‘top old city’ of Bergamo. Luckily our packs were light (just ski clothes and jeans for two days) as we walked around the old town for a while, grabbed a choc/custard canoli and drooled over some other Italian foods in windows about the place. We walked a little way down the huge hill and then not finding bus ticket dispensers anywhere (and refusing to walk the entire way down), we headed back up the hill to the main bus turn around point where the machine was! It was a good potter around though, and definitely changed my views of Bergamo from last time we were there. It’s actually quite a nice place; probably wouldn’t specifically go there for a holiday but it is nice to explore. So after getting back into Bergamo town centre, we found a nice ‘music cafe’ for lunch where the food was so lovey. I think I had a bagette or something like that, cannot remember now, but it tasted damn good. AFter lunch we headed for the main bus termini and waited for the next bus out to Boario, the town where our Hotel was waiting, just at the foot of the skiing slope Mont Campione.
So after about 1hr 45 minutes and a few power naps we arrived in Boario and found Hotel Armonia. The town was nice and very quiet; it seems Summer is it’s best tourist time as everyone loves the lakes, but for winter, as we would notice further over the weekend, it’s not really a tourist place but a lot of Italians go there for their skiing breaks! This wasn’t a bad thing though, meant everyone was super friendly to us when they learnt we (only really) spoke Eng-a-lish. We checked into the Hotel, got changed and then Roberto (roll your Rrrs) collected us for our night-hike and dinner. It was a little confusing as he didn’t know we were supposed to be going etc, etc so was a little late (but we weren’t ready anyhow) and he was verrry pleased that it was two lovely girls and not a boring couple he would be spending the night with… haha. We drove up to Mont Campione (Cam-pi-own-ee) and stopped between 1200ft and 1800ft for some gorgeous sunset views where you can see all the way back to Bergamo. Got in some piccies, and then jumped back in the heater car to 1800ft where we were issued with our ‘tennis racket’ snow shoes to begin our hike! Roberto took us here, there and everywhere on the snow to get some great views and experience Mont Campione by night… I was quite hungy and would have been okay just walking straight to the restaurant (haha) but of course the hike wasn’t bad and I loved being able to see all the stars in the sky. It’s something I definitely miss from home. London just has too many lights to see anything at nighttime (or it’s cloudy anyhow). The hike was also good to prepare us for the huge dinnner awaiting at the restaurant! We were told we had to eat EVERYTHING too otherwise we’d offent the chefs… well antipasto and starters were okay and then the main meal just kept coming so in the end we didn’t quite finish everything, but it was all lovely. Including the deer “oh my god you’re making me eat Bambi” to which Roberto was like “no no it not Bambi” all serious-like. haha. During the course of dinner as we were friendly Aussie girls Roberto ate with us, and the chefs came over and sat with us too for chats etc - they found out it was my birthday that we were there for, so we got cakes and candles and espresso and grappa thrown into the dinner! Very nice!
We only had a few ‘falls’ on the way hiking to the restaurant and after a few too many wines the prospect of hiking back to 1800ft was really quite amusing! We made it however, and while waiting for our lift back to Boario (Roberto was staying in his ’snow top’ house overnight) we were looking around his parents ski shop (whole family works at the snow in winter) and picked up some sunglasses each at a discount price :o) Mara and I of course forgot our normal sunnies back in London as we hadn’t needed them there since lord knows when… I think mine are in my drawer somewhere, just waiting for summer. Okay so the first night was good, but we were pretty damn stuffed after being up since 0400am!!! We got home about 1230am and crashed right to sleep.
Oh so frustrating!!! I had written an entire page of entry and my net dropped out and I lost it all :o(
Well… mom and dad called me with the bad news that our gorgeous old granny dog Snoopy has passed away. It is losing a family member to us. We got Snoopy when I was just 10 years old, and so for the last 12 years she’s been everywhere with us and always waiting to greet us, or eat some of our food, or get a bone from the freezer or go for a walk! And then she always shared my bed too… but she was considerate, she would first ‘feel around’ with her snout, and then her front feet, to make sure she didn’t land on top of me when she jumped on the bed! Snoopy was like a polar bear in winter as no matter how cold it was outside she would still jump into the pool for a swim! I remember when we were younger she would jump into the ‘pool beanbag’ and just float around… and the other thing about Snoopy is that she was always wagging her tail! Even when I was home alone and she wanted walkies/breakfast at 6am she would make little graning noises, and then thump her tail against the side of my bed until I woke up and fed her! First Callista was her little best mate who always made sure Snoopy was okay especially if she had an epileptic fit.. but then Callista departed through cancer. And little Abbie came along to live with me at home and she became Snoopy’s shadow! Everywhere Snoopy went, Abbie would run close behind (except for walkies where Abbie always streaked ahead). But at home if Snoopy went on the mats Abbie would go there and ‘park’ almost on her, always touching. Then Snoopy would almost roll her eyes, get up and walk to the carpet… and Abbie would jump up and go sit next to/on here there too and it went on and on! Abbie would also hide behind Snoopy if things got scary, so hopefully she’ll be okay now just with Kassie. Snoopy led a wonderful life, and I think got spoilt rotten by us, and pretty much everything she wanted she got. She was the perfect family pet and always like a mischevious pup… from the first day we got her home and I was on my own with her and she tipped out the ice-cream bucket of water.
Well I always thought things would be different being overseas for my birthday and I was right… I just don’t have a good, close group of real friends over here that I can call at any hour, go visit without annoucement etc, etc. Lucky for the weekend away, otherwise I wouldn’t even remember this year’s birthday.
Well Tuesday I worked, and after work went out with just a few people for some drinks and to listen to some music (which turned out to be jazz) at a bar in Canary Wharf. It was a pretty good night, but far from what I’m used to for birthdays and all that.
This Friday night I’m probably going out for dinner with Sarah who I met in New Zealand, and hopefully Mara can come along too. Kate (also met in NZ) was planning on coming but had a car accident on Tuesday night so understandably cannot come up to London. She’s okay, just a little shaken but better to be safe.
Well, January has gone by so fast already! Mara and I just returned from Italy, skiing for the weekend, and I realised how behind I am in keeping things online up to date! So, summary of the month that has passed by so far…
About 5 January I went up to Leicester to visit Megan (Crowe, from Alice Springs) who was visiting her UK rellies along with her mom and dad. They picked me up from the train station, and it was such a lovely day! We walked around Leicester a bit, and saw the museum, city shops, had nice lunch at ’spudulike’ (potato shop!) and met up for coffee with two of her friends who are from Leicester, but she met at Uni in Adelaide… small world! We were going to the cinema in the evening, and went to see the Jain Centre (indian temple thing) however it was closed when we got there… well actually it was open, and we were standing outside wondering if it was the right place, and a guy walked up and locked the door! Even though the sign on the door clearly stated ‘close: 1900′ and it was only 1600! Cheeky Bugger!!! So, we headed off walking towards the cinema, and it didn’t look far on the map, and it would have been all good except it started to absolutely bucket down raining!!! We got to the cinema nicely soaked, checked the movie times and then went to the pub next door for a drink prior to watching P.S. I Love You. The movie was pretty good, and we didn’t end up too sick after getting stuck in the rain as we dried off using the pub’s toilet hand-dryers! haha resourceful.
The rest of the weekend in Leicester was nice. We stayed overnight at Megan’s gran’s bungalow and went out walking around the village (outside of Leicester) Sunday morning, before we all headed over to Megan’s Aunts house for a really lovely sunday dinner. Following that, Megan and I and her parents went to the National Space Center! What a great place with so many exhibitions! We didn’t even get time to see them all, but the information was excellent - could have spent longer there doing the interactive things haha! So then the weekend was at an end and I was dropped back at the train station, back to London. It was just so nice to catch up with someone from home, and someone i’ve now known for 15 years!
So, during the weeks it’s been work as usual, and then the next weekend in January, so the 12th, Uncle Andy came over to London (from Jersey) and we went off to see a Chelsea v Tottenham game at Stamford Bridge! What a great atmosphere! We were sitting pretty much ‘up with the gods’ but could still see everything and feel totally part of the atmosphere. Chelsea won, thank god! Kristy came along with us too which was great as she’s been in UK over two years and never seen a real football match! Mara and I were laughing how TAME everyone was especially in comparrison to the game we saw in Croatia last year! On Sunday we went to Camden Markets with Uncle Andy to show him the punks etc, and the market wares - some very interesting things floating around there!
Oh did I mention Mara and I have been on DETOX? From 6 Jan until 25 Jan - so lasted almost 20 days! We were supposed to stick to it for 28 days, but hey it’s my birthday tomorrow so we gave up on that idea!
The detox consisted of dropping dairy, wheat, meat, chocolate, caffeine and alcohol!!! Yep, we were left with nuts, legumes, fruit and vegetables. All very good for you of course! Duringt he first week my head was a little fuzzy, but after downing stacks of water and herbal detox teas it soon balanced out and I had more energy than before! So it was great thing to do… next year however I am waiting until February haha, as there are too many good things left over from Christmas in January! Didn’t loose any weight on the detox… but uh well! I got myself a new gym membership and have been 2-3 time each week so far which is great! I even walk there and back to get extra exercise and to save on bus fares.
Well… the other thing that happened in January was me applying for a new job. Yep that’s right.. considering leaving the Olympics? I found what I think could be ‘the perfect’ job for me, to keep me busy, in a new group called Healthcare for London, which sits under the NHS which is the Strategic Health Authority for London… yes I did my research… applied for the job, got an interview, and got the job!!!!
Now I’ve thought about it all weekend… just need to tell my boss here at the Olympics and go from there. I had my Olympic Appraisal last week on Thursday (and then I was ‘off sick’ on Friday) and so that’s why I haven’t told anyone here yet about me leaving! The Olympics wants to develop my job more, as Dave said, you are so much more capable and I applaud you for actually speaking out and saying you are bored and want to do more etc, etc… but in the short term, I love being in Health, it feels like ‘home ground’ to me, and it pays £4000/yr better which is great for my travelling plans in 2008.
So that’s up to date to now.. except for the weekend just passed but that deserves it’s own entry!
Well as my post about Budapest on 31 December stated, I had to run and get ready for the party. Kristy, Mara and I, along with Kristy’s cousin Heather and flatmate Bria had tickets for a Masquerade party over near Fulham on the west side of London. We arranged pre-drinks and nibbles at Kristys and so all had a good time over there listening to music and getting dressed up etc, before catching the bus (and then tube 1 stop) to the venue.
Well my New Years are usually pretty average, and this one wasn’t really any different! The venue wasn’t too bad, but had to wait for a while to get drinks… and I wasn’t drinking that much either (had enough to drink in December!), and it was very hot inside! Everyone was sweating under their masks - which looked great by the way - and so ended up taking them off or wearing them on their head! It was run by TNT, so all Aussies, Kiwis and Saffas were there… and I think the unsocial ones that are in London because hardly anyone ‘mixed’! Uhh well, the music was antipodean oriented which was good! Just like being at home for the party! We didn’t actually stay out very late and got a taxi home because even though public transport was free we couldn’t be bothered walking in our heels and sore feet!!!
It was still a good night, but I think we would have had more fun either squished on the Thames watching the fireworks, or continuing our house party at Kristys!
The better night around New Years was on the Saturday (2 nights) before, when Kristy, Jacinta, Mara and I met up in Bar Soho to drink some wine, and then proceeded onto a nightclub Sirocco. Usually it’s pretty popular and packed with door lists etc, but it was quiet when we got there and so us 4 girls got in for free! There weren’t many girls inside haha (probably why we got let in so easily) but the security guards were really good to us and kept an eye on us most of the night, and kicked out some feral-ish guys who were getting a little too close! We ended that night at about 5am! If I was at home obviously the sun would have been coming up about that time, but not over here so it still seemed like it was night time!
On Christmas night, after our dinner Kristy and I were looking for some sort of club to go and have a drink/dance at… seems that all/most decent clubs in Budapest are Underground ones, and you need to know someone local who can tell you where they are! We were going to grab a taxi and get them to show us, however us being poor backpackers (?) ended up giving it a miss. The clubs above ground are all strip clubs.. bit sad as some aspectrs of Hungary seem like Russia and Czech Republic with loads of escort girls, strip clubs etc etc. We almost, almost went into one but then these two sleazy looking fellas came out so we turned and walked away… and they followed us chatting away in german or swiss/french until they realised we weren’t going anywhere with them, so they left!
Earlier in the night in our wanderings, we’d come across an area with perfect snow in it… it was a carpark.. with a fence.. but what they hey? I went thru the gate for Kristy to take a pic of me on the snow and we hear “hallo, hallo” and we thought the guy was from a pub nearby, but no, it was security from an Embassy! So I didn’t even turn around, just walked directly back to Kristy as if we didn’t hear him — and then, we went just to the front of the carpark (about 3metres) and it was the bloody British Embassy! I had every right to be standing in their carpark! I felt like walking back up the the guard waving my maroon passport and saying bugger off, I’ve got more rights on this carpark than you do! Ahrmm, however common sense prevailing (and he had a gun), we continued on our way.
The last day in Budapest we had to drink some of our duty free purchases, so Kristy and I emptied our 1L water bottles and filled them with Baileys and milk! Yum! We were warm from the alcohol by mid-afternoon which was good as we walked a long way to the castle and Heroes Square to take pictures. We also got pictures of us being statues on tree stumps in the castle grounds.. as you do (actually we copied some people we saw doing it). We also got to see Anonymous… a big statue of well, I can’t tell you who it was because his name is Anonymous! Oh and I used the toilets at the Anonymous Restaurant (too expensive to eat there!) because the nearest public toilets were probably a good hike away! AFter the Castle we headed to West End Shopping complex and to a “posh toilet” (formerly McDonalds) to grab some french fries as Maccas is always open! Kristy named it “posh toilet” as she was actually referring to the very posh historic building that Maccas was in and needed to use the bathroom at the same time haha. After that we went into the Shopping Centre to the rooftop carpark to view the Ice Skating Rink.
For dinner we went to a really nice Rustica Restaurant which had great food and wine and a really nice cozy atmosphere too. And then, we heard music and followed our ears down to a little underground pub. It was like walking into a smoke-cloud, pretty nasty, but we stayed there as nowhere else close by was open! Over the music we heard some loud comments in Aussie-tone, so we met those guys and as the pub was closing we all headed back to their Hostel, along with the Sax player from the band who’s British and owns the Hostel. Kristy and I slept on the couch after watching card games and watching ‘Knocked Up’ (very funny movie) and then I’d set my alarm for 5.15am so we walked back to our Hotel, packed our bags and jumped into our pre-ordered taxi to the airport!
Just minor dilemmas on the way home thru Zurich, like not being able to get money anywhere so no food or drink in the 1hr airport layover! But apart from that, home at last in London and the weather felt strangely warm compared to Budapest!!!
Well, Budapessht was a really nice place to visit, even though as I said earlier, most things were closed the entire time we were there. Kristy and I still had some fun! Especially because our supplies in-room consisted of 2 boxes of chocolates (lindt and toblerone) and 2 bottles of alcohol (bailey’s and vodka) that we picked up duty free, as well as some necessary things from the local Match (?) Store such as bread sticks, nutella, packet soup, hot chocolate (we then realised we had no kettle in the room later!), 2 litres of milk to have with the Baileys and 2 litres of lemonade to have with the Vodka. Oh and some cheese and yoghurt (we ‘borrowed’ spoons and a knife from the hotel’s restaurant).
On Christmas Eve we ventured out into town to find a restaurant with room, one was fully booked, and the other only had space for the 9pm and 10pm sittings, and we were hungry! So we headed to one of the main mall-streets and went to Casablanca, where we had ‘hot rock’ food from a set menu. My soup was a Hungarian dish, with bits of meat, lots of onion and garlic flavouring and Kristy has a goulash soup. My main was a big slab of Hungarian Beef and Kristy had Chicken. They came out Raw. Yep - you heard me, raw! At first I thought I was supposed to eat my steak blue (shudders) and was contemplating sending it back to the kitchen, however when we saw the chicken was also raw, it clicked that we had to ‘cook it ourselves’ on the ‘hot rocks’!!! Ahh, such a nice and tender piece of steak. I don’t even eat much red meat at home, but since we’ve been in the UK all we get occasionally is mince (apart from steak we had in Birmingham) and so I definitely enjoyed my piece of cow. I got to cook it exactly how I like it too on the hot rocks - dead and not mooing. There were no vegetales or salad or anything - just meat! Desert was nice too - we both chose pancakes with berries yum! And of course it was washed down with a bottle of Hungarian white wine.
We left the restaurant, and it was snowing!!! I have plenty of pictures, and they are on Facebook, otherwise I’ll soon post them on flickr for everyone else (this blog doesn’t allow many uploads). The next morning, Christmas day, we woke up to more snow underfoot. Now I’m not talking about big amounts of snow here, but we still got our White Christmas! Kristy and I both slept in and then lazed around watching Hungarian television. The Muppets Christmas Carol was on, in Hungarian, but the songs were still in English so we could partly understand it. That made it the 4th version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ I’ve seen this year. Poor souls in the UK, I don’t think they know there are other brilliant Christmas movies out there!!!
We eventually wantered out into the freezing cold (-5) all rugged up, and headed to the Buda side of town to see all the Historial and touristy things including the National Library and Gallery, St Michael’s Church and we continued to look for the ‘Buddha’, which I told Kristy didn’t exist in Budapest - but it was actually a little copper ’nymph’ thing sitting on a bridge somewhere. We walked and walked and Budapest is a lot smaller than the map makes out, and eventually crossed back over the Danube and found an open cafe, where there were cakes galore! We both got a proper hot chocolate (made with cream, no skim milk haha) and I thought I ordered black-forrest cake, but it was just triple-choc-sponge! After warming up we then headed back towards our Hotel, passing the huge St Stephen’s Basilica and taking loads more photos.
For Christmas night, we went to a ’submarine’ like Restaurant. Which is underground, like most in Budapest, however this one had all blue lighting and was kitted out just like a submarine inside. The food was great here too - I had Hungarian Paprika Chicken with gnocci dumplings (little twists of pasta/potato). All the food in Hungary was great - was never disappointed with a meal we had.
So following the last day of work, I relaxed at home for the weekend until Sunday, when Kristy and I headed off towards Budapest! We were worried about getting to the airport late, but never mind, the London fog had other ideas! On arriving we noticed the Lufthansa area was PACKED with people, and so many flights had been cancelled! There were some flights back to 12:30pm still waiting to leave, but most between 2pm and 5pm had been canceled - ours was due to take off at 5:05pm. SEVEN hours later we were still in Heathrow Airport, and finally got to board the plane!!! Instead of arriving in Budapest about 10pm, we arrived into Frankfurt at 1am, had obviously missed our connection to Hungary - and so we were all put up in the Sheraton Frankfurt for a few hours sleep, before boarding the 7am flight to Budapest on 24 December. We finally arrived in Budapest after more waiting around in Frankfurt Airport - but luckily it was worth the wait! Even as the plane landed we could see SNOW! Yep, snowing in Hungary and our hopes of a White Christmas were definitely confirmed!!!
We got to the Hotel (City Matyas) and went out to see some shops, because it was Christmas Eve (day), everything was closing about 1pm and nothing would be open on 25 and 26 December (our whole stay!). Uhh well! We went to the supermarket to get supplies for the few days, and some mixers to have with out duty-free alcohol purchases and we had a look at some shoe shops too (of course!). The shoes were really nice, but shame the shops were closed by the time we got around to most of them — will have to go back to Budapest some day again.
I will write more later - no internet time left and I have to get dressed up for the party!
