We had planned a change of pace with some walking and boating in an area of sandstone gorges called the Sandstone Rocks of Labe. We were a bit slow away in the morning and travelling on tiny roads - it’s a bit nerve wracking for both of us. I am trying to fit past an oncoming car who is travelling at 60 or 70km/hr and Alison is telling me to move left!!!. I have a mirror which gives me a good view of the side of the van and the road, and at times the tyres are just on the road. [View Full Entry]

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Crossed the Czech border - it was just a group of empty buildings - we barely slowed down. Today was a holiday so most shops etc were closed. But we were aiming for Terezin, In German this is Thierenstadt, and was one of the transit points for Jews on the way to labour and death camps. It is a walled city and basically the Nazis threw all of the inhabitants out and used it as a concentration camp. The town originally had about 9000 inhabitants and at its height as a concentration camp had 58000 residents - lots of disease. This [View Full Entry]

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We picked up the campervan on Monday afternoon. Very relaxed place - just had a few campers that they were hiring. Ours is a brand new Fiat Ducato with just over 1800km on the clock. We were able to set it up before we took off. A lot different to the pressure cooker system with the Maui vans. Our first stop was 100m away at the supermarket and we were able to get everything that we needed for about 50 Euros. Food seems a lot cheaper in Germany. It took a little getting used to being on the right side of [View Full Entry]

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Gave our selves a break--took a taxi from the airport with our cases, straight to the door of the hotel--we did try to go by public transport but ken was finally beaten by some new changes which we could not translate from the German--good excuse for me to get a taxi organised!! The hotel was very good--we had more vertical stairs-6 flights this time-but then a lovely apartment and at least the hotel guy caried a case up the stairs, no lift. The apartment had a kitchen so we chased down a supermarket and very slowly identified things that we were [View Full Entry]

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Well got up early and went to the airport on the bus- it really is possible to travel on public transport with heavy bags--you just have to be very strong to haul them up stairs and onto buses. Good flight and onto England with April weather-- sun and showers every 5 minutes or so, cold and hot too. All the food shops and pubs were closed for some reason, so not a very romantic trip to Sheffeild. It was so very good to see Colleen and Bruce again and we talked heaps. On our day with them it was the only [View Full Entry]

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Today we set off early to Las Ramblas - a largely pedestrian street with lots of stalls etc and expecting it to be quiet at that time of day, only to find it crowded with people selling red roses, and others selling books - hundreds and hundreds of stalls of books - all over the city. Turns out its St Georges day - the Barcelonan equivalent of Valentineś day, and also designated the day of the book. so lots of crowds right where we wanted to go touristing. We did a short detour and went to the Boqueria market - bright [View Full Entry]

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Monday 21 April Hola. Dos cafe con leche. Gracias - this is the current extent of our spanish but we are learning fast. This means - Hello. Two coffes with milk. Thankyou. We had a good second half of the flight courtesy of melatonin and zopiclone, and slept for a lot of the flight. We were into the hotel in the bus and then off sightseeing by midday. A lot of the sights are within easy walking distance - but the distance adds up between sights so thank goodness for good walking shoes. The first stop was the Cathedral. Ancient gothic, [View Full Entry]

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We have just finished wandering around Changi airport - it is huge. We walked down from Terminal three to terminal one and ended travelling a kilometre or so down a huge corridoor on travellators - good fun, but best to slow down before getting off. The first time we arrived at the end and dismounted at high speed. We have had our first 10 hours of travel. The two seats at the back of the plane were good - not too close to the toilets but just the two of us and room on the right hand side between the seat [View Full Entry]

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Time is racing by. There are lots of things to get ready, meetings, completing work tasks, finishing work on the house and gardens - and visiting family. So we haven't had much time to pack. We are still learning how to work the blog software and have just sent out the web address so people can log in. [View Full Entry]

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We are starting to get excited, as we start to count down to our departure and getting all the preparations in place. Starting to write lists, gathering useful things together and reading about our planned travels in more detail. The next couple of months are going to be very busy with our work, and other committments all demanding lots of our attention. So the time will go fast, and I think there will be a huge sigh of relief when we first hop on the plane. I have just looked at what we will need to do to get our call [View Full Entry]

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