rachael rose

After a wonderful not at all too early flight from London to Hamburg (we had to wake up at 4am) Ally and I landed in Germany with only my limited knowledge of German which really meant we could request some medicine for ah....digestive concerns and buy a pregnancy test. (lets just say they were the easiest phrases to pronounce on my 'Learn German' ipod thing) And yet with our amazing talent and wit we managed to get out of the airport, board TWO different trains and arrive at Charlotte's house alive and well, pregnancy tests in hand. For the most part it was fairly normal, we went to both Charlotte's and Hanna's school for half a day each, met some very nice Germans, went shopping in Hamburg, tried currywurst, ate gummy bears and saw the very ... read more

I arrived in Scotland last Thursday at 7am with a plague-like cold and cramped legs, thank you Maeve my room-mate and Thomas Cook Airlines. But despite being on my death-bed my first few days in Scotland have been marvelously pleasant. I have seen very old universities, museums, cathedrals, castles, even the oldest house in Glasgow (don't ask me exactly HOW old it was - but it looked very old indeed) Even better than all the old stuff was the food! The Scots have found the secret to life - a combination of batter and boiling oil. Not just fish but pizza and mars bars too. I am very much looking forward to what crunchy, artery clogging delight I will discover next. Edinburgh on Saturday was great fun - only 45 minutes on the train and full ... read more

Well after a very long and slack break from blogging I thought it was time to update everyone back home. So anyway here is a brief, non-chronological summary of whatever I can remember that I have done in the past couple of weeks. Well I had my first white Christmas (not all it's cracked up to be - too cold, no pool, blah) but I tried to make the best of it. Me, Fiona and Aileen (Fiona's sister who visited for a while) went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve to sing Christmas carols, better yet we rang the bells at midnight to wake to whole town up (such awesome bells - they make different notes so you can play a tune - I did 'Away in a Manger') Then it was off to bed for ... read more

So it has been a while since I lasted blogged and here it what I've been up to: 1. I saw an ELK!!!! A HUGE one!!! It was all very exciting 2. I went paragliding!!! The wind turned bad so we cancelled half way through and postponed until next APRIL (they don't fly during winter) But technically I still paraglided even if only for a few feet - ticked off my bucket list 3. I ate yummy pizza made by a yummy Italian ;) with a guy from Japan, 2 guys and 1 girl from Chili, a Scottish girl and the aforementioned yummy Italian. I was one of only two who spoke fluent english - it was an experience - they kept asking me to speak slower so they could understand me (gee haven't heard that ... read more

Well in less than two months Banff will be covered in snow and the ski season will have started. This means that all the animals are getting everything done before it gets cold, bears are fattening up, elk are making babies and the chipmunks are storing nuts. I am yet to see a bear or love-making elk but I have seen chipmunks everywhere! I mananged to get a few good (if a little blurry) photos of some which really isn't easy! One particular chipmunk clearly didn't like being photographed, as soon as he saw me he raced up the tree and started to hiss (well more of a hiss/click/wierd chipmunk sound) at me....I kept photographing because he looked so cute when he was trying to scare me away. Eventually I reached the Cave and Basin springs ... read more