Good morning, dear ones! After getting home late Monday night from Amsterdam, I am now nearly packed and ready to leave for Fiji and Australia in a few hours. Phew. I’m SO excited to see my dear, dear friends over there, but I’m one tired girl I tell ya.
My first stop will be a long layover in Fiji. I’m hoping for blazing hot sunshine to warm my bones, but since it’s the rainy season…
…I’ll probably get skies like this. I don’t mind a bit though. I’m just so grateful for this trip, for the chance to rest, be warm, and visit with people I love so dearly – even if it’s to the sound of torrential tropical downpours. 🙂
It’s going to be a long two days of travel from Vancouver, Canada to Los Angeles, CA then Nadi, Fiji and finally, Brisbane, Australia. I can’t wait to hug my friends SO tight then settle in for good, long talks and jolly adventures as we go camping, hiking, and exploring in beautiful Queensland.
I’ve got my camera and extra batteries and am all set to chronicle it all for you. 🙂
Now I MUST get packed!!! Love you all dearly and am so glad I get to share this adventure with you. Big hugs!!
Happy New Year, dear ones!! I hope your year is off to a wonderful start. 🙂
I am tucked up on the couch at my brother’s apartment in Amsterdam sipping coffee and looking out at birds soaring over the gabled rooftops. It’s my last day in Amsterdam and soon I’ll have to finish packing. I already hugged my brother good-bye, Mums and I yoohooing to him from the window as he peddled his bicycle to work like a native Dutchman. It’s been a beautiful trip and I’m so very, very grateful.
New Year’s Eve was extra special for my family this year because my brother Ryan chose it as the night to propose to his wonderful girlfriend, Melissa.
He hired a gorgeous, old, wooden canal boat (see below) and proposed to her on the canal where you can see seven bridges all lit up beautifully. Even the swans obliged by swimming past at the appropriate moment, making it even more romantic.
After the proposal (she said YES!) my family and some close friends joined them on board and continued on a wonderful nighttime cruise, stopping at various fantastic restaurants along the way where our captain went ashore and brought out piping hot dishes. It was fabulously fun!
The happy couple was positively BEAMING!! 🙂
After dinner, two desserts, champagne and coffee, we headed over to a friends’ house for a fabulous New Year’s Party with splendid expats from all over the world. A few minutes before midnight we clambered up several flights of precariously steep stairs to the rooftop terrace to cheer wildly at the fantastic fireworks display going on all around us.
Melissa had warned us it would be like a war zone and she wasn’t kidding! It was INCREDIBLE! Fireworks went off all over the city, above us, beside us, in every direction, popping like mad. We couldn’t stop laughing in sheer amazement at the beauty and cacophony. I took a video for you that gives an idea of what it was like:
It was a wonderful night spent with dear people I love to bits.
We arrived in Heidelberg on a dark, cold afternoon with fog rolling down the mountains. I’ve never been to Heidelberg in the winter and was absolutely delighted by the fairytale quality the snow gave to the gabled windows and towering spires of the beautiful city.
We teetered our way up steep, icy, cobbled streets past rather splendid doorways and opulent homes until we reached the snow-covered ruins of Heidelberg Castle.
These are some of my favorite ruins, towering magisterially above the river valley, though I dearly wish some wealthy soul would take the castle as their pet project and restore it. I would love to see how it looked when the halls were filled with royalty, servants and guests from abroad.
I think the best part of the castle is the view. I took a video of it for you, and am delighted by how it looks like a miniature city tucked into a snow globe.
We arrived back at my brother’s house in Amsterdam late last night and I’m spending a deliciously lazy morning on the couch, tucked up under mounds of blankets. This afternoon we’re heading out to explore the Netherlands coast and tonight we’ll be braving the streets of Amsterdam to celebrate New Year’s Eve among the fireworks happy residents.
I wish you a beautiful celebration tonight and an absolutely wonderful year. I’m so glad you’re in my life and look forward to getting to know you even better in this new year. 🙂
Ever since I heard the name Baden-Baden I have wanted to visit this beautiful little spa town set on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany. We didn’t have time to try out any of the luxurious spa treatments or health clinics, but we had just enough time to wander the streets still resplendent in their holiday finery and a recent dusting of snow.
This has to be one of my favorite buildings – a delightful blast of color and festivity in a line of stately but somber edifices.
As usual in German towns, the church is stunning, towering over the populace, providing a handy point of reference and meeting place for directionally challenged explorers.
We wandered happily along slushy cobbled lanes, popping into shops to peruse their wares, dashing up random stone staircases to see what lay beyond.
All too soon we had to depart. We strode past the town skating rink and I recalled with a smile my own childhood in Canada where I spent every winter afternoon on the ice playing hockey with my three brothers.
Then we piled into our cars and drove through the snow-blanketed town up, up into the gorgeous Black Forest towards our next destination.
Today was bitterly cold as we walked the icy streets of Ulm, Germany to track down the Ulm Medieval Christmas Market.
Set on the banks of the Danube and open November 26-January 2, the market is a unique version of the traditional Christmas markets that fill the squares of cities across Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries in Europe.
You can still get piping hot mugs of spiced German Christmas wine (gluwine) and sizzling bratwurst, but all the vendors are decked out in medieval garb and you can watch them play period instruments, make candles, and hammer away at red hot metal in the blacksmith shop.
The vendor stalls hold a fascinating array of interesting items from handmade slippers, medieval dresses and intricate jewelry to hand-carved spoons, bowls, and lovely old-fashioned writing instruments.
We had a splendid time! The gluwine warmed us up beautifully and we had such fun perusing the stalls and finding little treasures to take home.
Soon it was time to drive back to my brother’s house in Boblingen and we arrived just in time for the next snow storm to hit. 🙂
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