Mert's Guestbook

Naked Yoga....
Oh my. Just where to put the eyes.....

We have not been reading too many blogs because we are traveling
But your photo of the black paella grabbed our attention. We've never been to Spain but it seems to be making its way closer to the top of our list. Loved the blog. Glad your map reading skills are not in question.

happy paddling..
Meryl is looks lovely and peaceful

feasting
the food and wine descriptions were utterly delicious :)

That's true :)
I am from Moscow, Russia (now thinking of creating my own travel blog), I\'ve travelled a lot around Europe, now I can compare :) Yes, in Russia people rarely smile, the thing is we are not used to smile to be polite / to seem polite, we smile only when we are really happy. As life is quite difficult in Russia, there are not many reasons to smile, people are constantly thinking about their problems, and it is reflected on their faces. And - yes - if I see a person smiling in Metro, I think that he/she is probably a foreigner :) As for me, I always smile in turn :) We do not pretend to be happy, if you ask a Russian: How are you? How are you doing? - you will get a very detailed answer about his/her problems, deseases, visits to doctors, work/family problems etc. Generally Russians are friendly and open-hearted, but only to people whom they know. And the place of acquaintance also matters. And Russians will tell you all their life (beginning from childhood) if you have a common problem and ready to discuss it. On the other hand, when we are on vacation or celebrate something, we are very, very cheerful, noisy, we dance, we sing. In some way we don\'t have middle mood, only extremely sad or extremely cheerful. And we are constantly abused by our bus conductors, too :) There are even jokes about it. Our shop assistants have become more polite only recently. You see, it\'s a Soviet era legacy: we had state monopoly and no competition, there was no incentive to be polite: the salary did not depend on your politeness. We had no choice in shops: we could either buy what was sold, or buy nothing. All shop assistants were chatting during working time and if you asked for help in choosing something, they\'d say: everything is on the counter! Still, I hope that did not spoil your trip to Russia, may be you will even return some day, good luck in your journeys!

pub carpark
Pity you missed out on the pub carpark. I also now know what a Gringott's gnome is (after some research). And I see how it's important to have the right expectations if you want to really apprecaite the charms of the British summer

We long to go to Wales
Once we accidentially booked a hotel on the Internet in Swansea, Wales instead of Swansea, Tasmania. Wales is on our short list. Can't wait to read more.

Mutual admiration
Nice blog, particularly as we will head to Crete later in October. Any more tips?

I experiment with tastes...
Delightful blog...a day in the life of a "foodie"...must be exhausting getting from one table to the next! I'll make sure my wife reads this blog...you both share a passion.

I'm so glad there was another blog on Crete :)

I want to go to Crete.....
...so enjoying your "reckies" around the globe. Hope to see you Xmas before you guys return to Aussie:):):)