We have laid relatively dormant over the Winter to try to save the pennies for some sunnier times. And these have now begun. Boy, these weeks are going to whistle by.
I last left you in the whiteness of the coldest Winter in London for 30 years. That was about the end of the really cold weather and things have slowly started warming up ever since. But don't get me wrong, it's still cold, just not as cold.
London parks are still a great, free outing and we are still working our way around all of them. There really are lots. This is Greenwich. It has some rolling hills that give a great view back to the city. It also has a bunch of history, as with all of London. Below is the palace of somebody.
We were also kept busy by another cat, which we fostered for a few weeks. This is Meg. She likes to sleep. We are registered as foster parents at the Battersea Cattery. It is a charity that tries to re-home unwanted or stray cats and dogs. It has been around since the 1850's and I recently found that Stanley took some dogs from Battersea on his search for Dr Livingstone in central Africa. The dogs died on the beach, such was the journey by boat from England. Meg survived 4 weeks in our one bedroom flat and a bus ride back to the cattery.
So, our first trip of the new year was back to Paris, to celebrate 12 months of marriage. Feeling very far removed from a stinking hot day in North Queensland, it was a great way to mark the occasion.
We felt a lot more comfortable in the city this time and more relaxed. Of course, food played a large part, of which there is a story in the photo album below. Other than that, it was just some wandering. We did tackle to Louvre, which actually wasn't very busy apart from one painting.
The highlight of the Louvre was actually the buildings itself. A sprawling palacial complex, with the Napolean III apartments giving a great insight into Parisian opulence.
The trip will be remembered however, by being stuck on the train in the middle of the English countryside for 3 hours on the way home. Our beloved trains have left us questioning them. We were over an hour late departing from Paris due to some left luggage on a train earlier in the day. So we didn't end up boarding until about 10:30pm. It was all going fine until we suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere (at least it wasn't in the tunnel). After about 15 minutes we got an announcement saying they were having technical difficulties but not to worry because everything is ok and the lights will remain on. 5 minutes later we were plunged into darkness and remained that way for about 2 hours while they brought out another train from London. We later found out, via one of the guard's walkie talkies, that the technical difficulty was the cab was disconnected from the rest of the train. Yep, technical. So we didn't make it back to London until 2:30am. Add another hour to get home and we then had to face work on Monday morning.
Somehow we powered through the week and before we knew it, it was the weekend and we were off again. This time to Alicante in Spain to try to find some warmer weather, and also to surprise someone for their 30th birthday.
Lots of good food, good wine, a few churches and a castle on top of the hill. Yep, it was great. We were wandering around in 19 degree bliss in T-shirts looking at our white arms. The locals were in big jackets. It was far from the average 35 degree Summer's day.
We then set off the next weekend to Austria for a week of snowboarding. Our last time on a board was nearly two years ago in Canada. It all came flooding back and was a great week away.
Things looked good when we flew into Inverness. The flight up the valley to land was an up close and personal experience with some untamed peaks.
We were greeted some fantastic Spring conditions. We missed the dump of snow by a day, but got all the leftovers and plenty of sunshine.
We found some powder to, you just had to go looking. Bella carving it up below the avalanche gates. It was a very different experience over here compared to North America. Not many rules, but you are responsible for your safety.
We went over with a bunch of Aussies from London. We stayed in a catered chalet about 30 metres from a gondola. Awesome is a good word.
We got a little bit of snow during the week but it was mostly sunshine. The amount of terrain is ridiculous. It's all connected by buses taking you 15 minutes up the road to a different mountain. You could ski here for a week and not do the same run twice.
After that crazy run, we were well overdue for some London time. But the adventures start again soon.
More photos here.
