http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jess/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jess en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:12:35 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:12:35 +0000 It rained.And rained.And rained.So we ate. And ate.And ate.In between stomach filling epidsodes we went up the Eiffel Tower in the rain walked the Champs Elyse in the rain and ran between coffee shops in the rain. The smartest thing we did was to buy tickets to the Muse DrsquoOrsay from the reception at our hotel. When we arrived the line was long long long I think people must have been s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-86375.html I swear the home office has some sort of control over the weather. 35 degrees at the moment If it was like this for a few more months of the year the population of the UK would swell Irsquom sure theyrsquore just keeping the Aussies at bay.Yes summertime is herehellipsighhellipfinally.Fully charged with Vitamin D and with the memories of the unavoidable gloom and desperation that acco http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-81905.html Farewell Woolwich. Goodbye to the walk from the station the rubbish on the streets and the high police presence. Goodbye to the nice Indian lady in the shop who had my train ticket ready for me before I came in each day. Goodbye to evenings on the couch drinking too much red wine with Julia. Goodbye to the most quality power shower ever experienced.Hello GreenwichGreenwich has been the area of c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Greenwich/blog-75640.html Happy birthday Cathy This was the theme of my weekend in Amalfi. Planned months ago the 30th of Squeezy was always going to be celebrated in style. The thunder and lightning that welcomed me didnrsquot start the weekend as planned nor did the one and a half hour late bus to the train station the two cancelled trains to Salerno and the justmissed bus to Amalfi. Fifteen and a half hours later http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Amalfi/blog-73456.html Sometimes things just work out well without planning. Being in Italy for the World Cup final while Italy playing was once such time. After the debacle that saw Italy knock Australia out of the tournament dubious refereeing but I wonrsquot harp I didnrsquot think Irsquod support the Azzuri in fact I started out the match with a distinct proFrench feeling though this was silently acknowl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Amalfi/blog-73435.html Manuela graciously allowed me to select somewhere for five days away as part of her fleeting European adventure. I chose Lisbon cheap close and most importantly WARM. Sodrsquos law though that the five days I chose to go away London had the most spectacular weather in a year At least I wasnrsquot at work though. Cathy joined us from Dublin and the construction girls from Bovis were reunite http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-73476.html If it hadnrsquot been apparent from my enthusing about the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC or even from the fact that I keep a travelblog then I advise you this I am a geek. I have learned this over the years but I have come to terms with the fact that I am a dork. OBVIOUSLY a very attractive and socially hip COOL dork but yes a dork nonetheless. This is why I was super excited ab http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-71470.html Fleeting visit on a cheap flight courtesy of Aer Lingus to visit Squeezy in Dublin. This time I was accompanied by the lovely Dana Potato. The three of us succeeded in eating sleeping and sitting our way through a chilly Ireland weekend.We did go out on the Saturday night and met up with one of Dana's friends and one of Cathy's friends. I'm sorry to say I didn't drink Guiness but I have discovere http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/blog-59812.html Although I think Irsquom a pretty sports savvy kinda girl since living in London I have learned two key sporting facts 1. It is my patriotic duty as an Australian to love the Wallabies even if I have never watched more than about four matches of rugby in my life living in Victoria.2. The mechanics of the offside rule.Armed with a ever growing understanding of football soccer to those at hom http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Richmond/blog-68122.html Oh the bliss of the three seconds of sun that is the London summer. It is truly a fantastic place to be when the sun is out and briefly makes you forget about the dismal rest of the year. Summer Weekend 1 was truly a magnificent one the first weekend in my new house in Greenwich hanging out with Manuela who is visiting from Melbourne sun barbecues and food food and food. All I seemed to do http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Greenwich/blog-66683.html Warning Rant in ProgressMaybe I'm a prude maybe I'm a snob but I still feel uncomfortable when I see someone staring at a page three lovely. For those of you not familiar with this concept many of the tabloids in the UK provide for your reading pleasure a full page photo of a woman in just undies. Turn to page 3 of The Sun and you'll ecounter Sarah 19 from Bristol and her boobs who says s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-63405.html Jimi Hendrix really has nothing to do with my experience in the lovely lovely Essaouira but a lot of Essaouirians kept telling me that he along with tother celebs like the Beatles and Bob Marley hung out and made music there back in the olden days so obviously it's a big deal to them. It has been a bit of a hub for those in the arts community with Orson Welles shooting 'Othello' there and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Essaouira/blog-45057.html You may not know it but I am now a hockey superstar. Well OK not a superstar exactly but I participate with vigour and I did win the coveted stuffed toy donkey award for best on ground one week not bad for a loser who didn't know the rules at the start of the season. I don't think my dream of Beijing 2008 gold medal glory is exactly on track but I'm having fun nonetheless. I play for the might http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-9000.html Oh dear I've resorted to sensationalist and deliberately provocative headlines reminiscent of The Sun. I've obviously been living in London too long It's not a lie though my trip to Imlil and Aremd did involve naked ladies. In fact I was one of them. But that comes later.Anyone travelling to Morocco to escape the winter blues of London had better steer clear of the High Atlas mountains in Mar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Mount-Toubkal/blog-45055.html Same same but different heard this a lot in Asia and is so useful to describe so many thingssituationsactionswordsfeelingsetc when comparing two countries or cultrues. Though it makes me think of being in Asia Vietnam in particular it's pretty apt for describing a few things about life in London.On the surface England is pretty similar to Australia. I guess this similarity is only natura http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-51159.html I heard my lips uttering something I never thought possible I'm sad that it's the end of winter. Madness Perhaps. But until now I had never experienced the mad rush of snowboarding. It's my new favourite thing to do and I wish I could send myself to a slope right now. Eight of us went to Poland to ski and snowboard. Zakopane is the main centre for snow sports in Poland and is about two hours s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Zakopane/blog-53408.html When I arrived in London I told myself that if I did nothing else I would travel to Iceland and Morocco two places that are not the easiest to pop into from Melbourne. Mission accomplished.When I arrived back from Morocco I promised I would immediately write interesting and informative entries here about my trip. Mission not accomplished. It's been a while coming although I had a wonderful fab http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-45054.html It was actually preChristmas Christmas but I celebrated the festive season with Pippa and Laura at their Charlton abode where I was crashing for a bit. They were very lovely to cook me turkey in their vegetarian household as well as look after me while I was sick. Aren't they wonderfulSpent a few days then down at Pippa's family home in East Grinstead where we enjoyed the sun and chilled out bef http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-39166.html Just a bit of a random photo thingy with sport as they common thread. First of all are some photos from the football and not the sport of Aussie Rules fooball I used to love due to an abysmal year that vastly resembled the one before and the one before that the mighty Hawthorn Hawks are now dead to me Shane who. In an attempt to find a replacement team in a replacement sport to love I took A http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-18088.html Last weekend Craig Aldo and I trained it up to Cardiff and met Cathy who flew in from Dublin.Saturday morning was spent visiting Cardiff Castle. I'm a sucker for a castle. In Australia buildings from the 70s get added to the historic building register so anything that predates laminex and brown bricks is cool in my books. There was a moat need I say more For some reason there often seems to be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Cardiff/blog-40392.html