by anna (and david) June 23rd - July 6th The first two weeks back in Madrid were crazy. We were fortunate enough to return at a great time for Spain and Madrid with the end of the Euro Cup, and in our own barrio, the gay pride festival. Our first weekend back we were introduced to the local pool here in Madrid. Really impressive. Another thing we could learn from Spain to apply in Aus. The pool is a couple of metro stops away from us, so is within easy reach, and is brilliantly designed with two adult and one kiddie [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) June 20th-22nd When we were first planning this trip we took the opportunity of being on a plane between Sydney and Melbourne together to work out vaguely what we wanted to do. On the back of a boarding pass I wrote the months of the year, and next to them what I wanted to do - stay in Spain for a decent period to learn the language and really immerse ourselves in the culture, do some weekend / longer trips around Europe, travel a bit in South America, visiting friends in NY on the way through, etc. [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) June 14th-20th I don't think we've been back to many places. We like discovering new ones. However, such is our love for this Dalmatian island, this year was the third in a row we have been to Vis (and hopefully there'll be many more visits in the future). Day 1 we met David, Kristi and Finn in Split to get the ferry across to Vis. We were happy to survive the hair raising cab ride there. Seriously, I doubted we'd make it. I was too scared to be able to talk to ask the cabbie to slow [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) June 10th-13th After hiring a car in Munich, we headed down the sensational autobahns of Germany, into and across Austria, to Slovenia. All along the way we were entertained by carloads full of Spanish, Russian and Greek supporters, with flags flying out the windows, heading for the Euro Cup games in different parts of Austria and Switzerland. In between, we enjoyed the beautiful, lush countryside of Bavaria and Austria. Almost as soon as we hit Slovenia, it was obvious we were somewhere less affluent, but no less beautiful. Our first stop was Bl [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) June 4th-10th WARNING! This is the best entry yet, and, after this, I doubt there will be one to top it! First, between Berlin and Munich. After Berlin we were meeting our friends David and Kristi, and their bub Finn ("the Hetheringtons"), for some time in Munich. In between, we had a couple of days to explore another part of Germany. I was keen to explore one of the German wine regions and in my research discovered the most practical way for us to fulfil this ambition was to explore the "romantic road", a route winding through [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) May 30th-June 3rd Our trip to Berlin didn't start well. We spent 4.5 hours in Madrid airport, without knowing why, or when it was going to end, while EasyJet sorted themselves out (... with the tail end of a massive hangover from celebrating the end of school term with one of my classmates Sue, and her boyfriend Miguel, at a great bar overlooking the city). By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was almost 5am and the sun was coming up. Needless to say, we spent the first half of day one snoring. After a [View Full Entry]

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by anna (and david) Well, the last 3 weeks have been full on with friends and family in town (and therefore lots of trips to our fave places to eat, and drink!), futbol matches, opera, a bullfight, a trip to Toledo, an excursion to the races (for one certain enthusiast anyway) and an exam! What we’ve done: Experienced the ultimate ‘futbol’ grudge match - Real Madrid v F.C. Barcelona at 10pm on a Wednesday night - prime time in Spain, which happened to be Real Madrid’s first game back at home after winning t [View Full Entry]

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by anna Weeks one and two in Spain have been sensational. It has felt like we have been here for forever, in a good way. The first weekend, we were lucky enough to have a Spanish colleague of David’s in town, and we met her and her sister to see a Picasso exhibition and then they took us to lunch and showed us around town a bit. Great to get a local intro! Being back at ‘school’ has been somewhat intimidating, especially when the teachers only speak Spanish with you. I know, I know, best way to learn etc, but when [View Full Entry]

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by anna and david (in italics) Resort Bilston After a week of packing up the apartment and living amongst the chaos, we headed to Ballina (home) to spend two weeks being completely spoilt by my folks. Each morning we woke to a freshly made coffee from Dad, who has taken it on himself to hone his coffee skills to mix it with the best of the baristas (and he’s succeeding, as usual), before being fed gourmet lunches and dinners from Mum’s formidable repertoire of recipes. David's mum joined us for a long weekend. We'd had a week of sunshine but unfortunate [View Full Entry]

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by anna So, this entry is to kick things off ... and celebrate that we're now on holidays! Avi and I shared farewell drinks at LNA on Wednesday night. I was feeling slightly hungover yesterday and solved it with a long lunch at Cafe Sydney with the crew with whom I've worked most recently on TOOHEYS NEW. Awesome afternoon! Thanks guys! David is suffering the after effects of farewell drinks from L.E.K. that ended sometime heading for dawn this morning. Who cares? We've got a year to recover! Let the adventures begin! Vague iti [View Full Entry]

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