London, England.

I spent 6 days in London at the end of July catching up with my friend Martina (for the last time before she returned to Australia) and another friend Rikki (for the first time in a couple of years).

London was awesome and 6 days was not enough time to even scratch the surface of what the city has to offer...particularly as minimal time was spent sightseeing and much time was spent shopping, dancing, dining and trying to reignite the gin craze of the 1930's.

Sightseeing wise I visited the Museum of Modern Art and spent a lot of time around the Thames - visiting the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and cruising down the river to Greenwich. I also cruised past the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace....but there are still so many things to see.

Braunscwheig where I am living is a little starved of culture so I was so lucky to go and see an alternative film about Lou Reed, catch some comedians practicing for the Edinburgh fringe and take in some live music.

Best things about London:

*The sheer number of options of things to see and do, such a culture hub!

*Being surrounded by English speakers and being able to

indulge my love of eavesdropping once again!

*Catching up with friends...while I have made new friends in Germany, I find meeting new people all the time hard work, wondering what impression you make and what people think of you. The opportunity to spend time with people who already know and love you allows for total relaxation.

*The shopping!!!! I spent so much money on clothes and cosmetics but it was worth it - I am writing this post 6 months later and everything I bought is so well used and so well complimented! There is nothing better than being asked where you bought something and replying "Oh! This old thing...I bought it in London!"

Basically I can't wait to return to London to sample even more of the amazing smorgasbord of things that London has to offer.

Return to the Blog-o-sphere

OK so I am returning to the blog-o-sphere to give blogging another try. I failed miserably the first time - let's see if this time is any better...there are 6 months of travelling and living in a foreign country to catch up on I will see if I can get caught up and continue on into the future.

The previous record was 2 months of blogging...let's see if I can beat it this time.

Wolfenbuttel - sehr schon!

Anna and I have been training up to ride to work each day - and tomorrow is the big day - the first official ride to work. I took the camera along (with awesome macro lens attached) on our weekend training ride and got some pretty nice pics of bumble bees busy collecting pollen and thought I would share my handiwork with you! While Wolfenbuttel is a bit of a country village it certainly is beautiful!

Perception of Safety

I feel very safe here in Wolfenbuttel (in fact Germany in general) and I do many things that I would NEVER do in Australia - such as walking home alone late in the evening or placing my handbag at my feet when my hands are busy.

But then someone pointed out to me that perhaps the reason that I feel so safe, is not because the town is actually any safer than anywhere else, but perhaps it is because I am not exposed to the media - I see no television or newspapers and what I do see I don't understand. So this makes me wonder exactly how much of societies fears and paranoias are fueled by the media? An idea explored by Mike Moore in Bowling for Columbine.

On the flip side of this blissful ignorance of German current events - I occasionally log on to the Sydney Morning Herald website to check out the Australian news and all I see reported is murder and political mayhem. Perhaps it is not safe to go back?

Athina - don't believe the rumours.

Before I went to Athens people would tell me that it was a horrible city and to stay for as little time as possible. But I really enjoyed my time there. Yes it is not the prettiest city and it is certainly a dirty city, but for a city that has been in existence virtually since the birth of civilisation I would expect it to be a little dirty and careworn.

Perhaps my personal interest in all things "ancient" gave me more of an appreciation for the ancient city of Athina, but it wasn't just that. I loved the atmosphere of the place with street side cafes and tavernas serving cheap food and drinks into the early hours of the morning, with both tourists and locals dining side by side! I think Athens is under-rated - don't get me wrong you couldn't spend a whole week there but a couple of nights is no problem. But be warned Athens is HOT HOT HOT!

Language leads to hilarity!

A funny thing happened today!

I was on the bus on the way home today and I was talking about how I had bought a punnet of rasberries that morning and that they were delicious but quite mushy in consistency and I didn't like the mushy feeling in my mouth and after a while I couldn't eat anymore because the mushy feeling bothered me so much even though they tasted so good. There was this german guy from work who was sitting near us and snickering. Then Steve (another Australian) decides to tell me that I shouldn't use the word "mushy" as in German it is a slang word for vagina. So basically I had just sat on the bus and said in my loud foghorn voice several times "mushy, mushy, mushy", so let's think about that from the point of view of the old lady German passengers - some loud mouth is yelling from the back of the bus "fanny, fanny, fanny"....aaaaahhh...the joys of being a foreigner!

This reminds me of a story someone told me once about a night out drinking in Tokyo. He and a few friends were having drinks at a bar in Tokyo when he decided to cheers Italian style and the boys clinked their glasses together and loudly proclaimed "CHIN, CHIN"....and were a little surprised when all the nearby occupants of the bar stopped what they were doing and stared. It was only a little while later when they discovered that "chin chin" in Japanese means "penis"....

Where the hell is?

As someone who loves to dance and loves to travel I think that this is the perfect way to document your travels.

If this doesn't warm the cockles of your heart then I'm not sure what will.

I particularly like the little thrusting dude in Atlanta, USA!

Where the hell is Matt?





PS If you've got the time check out the outtakes too - also awesome. So many places to see - SIGH!