Waterford - Cobh

Well, we are both still alive and haven't strangled each other yet!! This hotel is the oldest in Waterford and we were not able to get there last night but had a look in the day light. We spent last night in a traditional Irish Pub in Waterford - Dooleys, just around the corner from this one.Then we set off for our drive to the Cork area. On the way we detoured to Cobh (pronounced Cove) where the Titanic had it's last stop before that fateful night. There was the most amazing cathedral on the cliff face which took 47 years to build - nothing compared to the 600 years for the Colgne cathedral!! But still impressive.
After getting a little lost in the city of Cork, we headed out to Blarney where we are staying in the Blarney Castle Hotel and will have a great day tomorrow guaranteed!! Very nice!

Ireland - Dublin

Tuesday 24th Feb
Well we've had a busy day. We've been doing the hop on hop off thing and had a great time at Trinity college and looked at the "Old Library" that houses the "Book of Kells" That was fairly impressive. This is just the entrance to Trinity college and you weren't allowed to take photos inside
We walked around Temple Bar but didn't find too much exciting to do there. It was an interesting walk however.

Then we spent a good time at the Guiness Store house where you go through the whole process and history of the company and finish with a Pint in the Gravity Bar which is still one of the tallest buildings in Dublin, and one of the oldest with a great view.

The real test of our marriage will be tomorrow when we pick up our hire car for a few days. We might not even make it out of Dublin!!

The Highlands

Sunday 22nd Feb
We set out for a day in the highlands. We left Strathallen school at 10.30 and went on a very scenic drive through some little villages and with beautiful bridges and we were so lucky that the sun peeked through and we could see for a long way into the distance - no lingering mist. We were driving for quite a while when we pulled over into a little road side stop, where we had morning tea (a beautiful gluten free carrot cake) and had our photo taken with this very brave Scotsman. It was great to hear the bagpipes in the highlands and the view was typically Scottish and gorgeous.
Then we drove on to Fort William and Loch Ness. The Lochs are amazing and vast. There is just so much water everywhere running off the hills - I wish I could take some home with us!
Here are Craig Nicholas and me with "Nessy" at the Lochs leading into Loch Ness

Edinburgh

Saturday 21st Feb

Janine drove us in to Perth where we caught the train to Edinburgh. We had a good ride and went over the iconic train bridge (will remember the name soon and put it in). We didn't over do it in Edinburgh. We walked down the "Royal Mile" to the Queens Scotland castle "Holyrood" and walked through the part of the castle that was open. It was nice but not nearly as impressive as the German castles. The picture is only a very small part of the residence.

Then on our way back up the hill to Edinburgh castle we had lunch at a Scottish pub with the football going and a Scotsman playing the bagpipes just up the road

This picture is for Ruby and Ned back home. This little cemetry is the dog cemetry in Edinburgh castle and it is in a prime position overlooking the city. It was very very windy and cold on top of the hill but the castle was very impressive.

Gleneagles

Friday the 20th February
On our drive this morning we went past this memorial to a woman who was burnt at the stake for being a 'witch' which Janine said was very common in this area in the 1600'sWell, this was a beautiful golf club.

It was just spectacular and made you feel very welcome.. I suppose it was more like a golf club at home but very grand. Janine took us for a drive here before I had my hair done at the local 'Bridge of Earn' hairdresser (neighbouring village to Forgandenny). Then we have had a quiet afternoon, making some bread and relaxing. It is very cold and rainy here today. Hopefully it will be good tomorrow as we are planning a day in Edinburgh

Scotland - St Andrews

Thursday 19th February
Then off to St Andrews. The clubhouse was a bit disappointing considering St Andrews university buildings looked much more impressive and regal, but had some fun looking around. Craig kissed the ground and “took a swing” and we had a good look around St Andrews Cathedral. Got some great shots courtesy of the beautiful day and Janine for taking us around everywhere

Scotland - Crail

Thursday 19th February Off to a beautiful “sea side village” called Crail. Very very pretty and untouched. We had lunch picnic style overlooking the ocean, which is quite rare, as it was such a beautiful day. Cold but sunny and not too windy. This is proof that Craig and I are actually on this trip!!

Scotland

Wednesday 18th Feb
We had a bit of a sleep in and then we went off to watch Nicholas Heaney (Janine’s youngest boy) in his regional cross country race. It is very wet and muddy here, but it felt just like when we used to go and watch Peter and Rachel. Ewan was feeling the cold and wore his gloves but Nicholas is a tough 'lad'.Then we went off to a region called the Hermitage where we walked through a great old forest and over a bridge where there was a massive amount of water was flowing. Really pretty walk with lots and lots of moss. Janine and Craig belowThen to a little village called Dunkeld where there is a beautiful church and ruins and gorgeous view of the river Tay

UK Midlands

Tuesday 17th Feb
Well we had a busy day touring around the country side with Kevin Cooper from DeBeer and I'll have to look at a map when I get back to work out exacly where we have been. This is the end of Craig’s work commitments and we caught a 5.30 flight to Edinburgh. It all went very smoothly considering I didn’t receive confirmation and had no idea where to go at the airport. It all worked out and we arrived in Edinburgh on time. Janine picked us up from the airport and drove to their house in the beautiful Scottish country side.
PS I am adding this on the 20th Feb and have just received the confirmation email from the airline today!!

UK again

Well we're back in the UK and Craig is being taken around some paintshops in the Midlands area. I haven't been taking any photos as we seem to end up in industrial estates, and our hotels are always near an airport. So nothing great to look at. I actually went for a walk around the one near Heathrow and it was a disgusting area. Better off to be locked inside the hotel!!
Tonight we have been booked into the Stanstead Hilton!! Not looking forward to the bill in the morning, but a nice treat.
We are off to Scotland tomorrow evening. And I am so much looking forward to it.

Last day in Cologne

Well we stayed the extra night here in Cologne. The hotel is great and we are right in the heart of the city. And although it is still below zero, the sun is shining!!
We decided we'd do a big walk around the city and across the Rhine river. I took lots of photos and we had to get Craig a new back pack because the other on just gave up and fell to bits. He's all class now.

We walked past this church nearly every day and it looked good in the sunshine. Don't be deceived by the clear sky. It is still freezing!!

Well this is our last night in Germany. The local Cologne FC is playing at home tonight, but again sold out. Probably lucky in a way, the cheapest seats were 186 euro ($372 each) so now we'll be able to live it up somewhere else.
Cologne is the carnival city and they are just starting the Carnival of the Stars. I don't exactly know what it signifies but it is a big thing here and people are in fancy dress all over the place. In the shops, on the street, in the bars and restaurants they are just everywhere. There are shops and shops dedicated to fancyy dress, and a whole floor in the department store. Dress up heaven.
Craig will be visiting paint shops in the UK for a couple of days, but I'll see how he goes and what I can get up to in the mean time.

Cologne

Friday 13th Feb
Hi everyone.
We are well
Craig spent the day at the Ford factory and had a very interesting and worthwhile day. I did the domestics, washing and booking accommodation etc for the next day or so. And organsied our travel to Scotland. We had left it too late to catch the train. The fellow we are meeting in the UK said we'd do it when we met up, but it is too late now, so we are catching a plane. That will mean an extra day in Edinburgh so that will be good.
I am so looking forward to visiting my friend Janine. One, it will be really good to catch up with someone we know and second it will be great to do some REAL washing!!
I took Craig to a Turkish restaurant tonight, it was beautiful. It was in the local recommendation guide and had won some Cologne food awards.
Silver service and quite expensive but very nice and gluten free!!
Last night was Italian.
It is really funny trying to converse with someone who's first language isn't German or English. I hate going to restaurants in Australia so it is a real challenge here in Germany! But so far we have had really good luck and picked some really good ones.
Also, it was really good luck that the hotel we are staying at is 20m from the train station that goes directly to the FORD factory. How lucky can you be?!?!
We are staying in Cologne an extra night. There is something on in Frankfurt and hotels are very expensive 220 euros (about $440) oper night and the hotel we are in here is beautiful. We will catch the train on Sunday morning directly to Frankfurt airport. About 50mins on the ICE train.
Sightseeing on the agenda for tomorrow.
Hi to everyoneXXOXOXOXOXO

Cologne

High everyone
We had a very big day yesterday Left Munich at 8.24, visited the Mercedes Benz factory in outer Stuttgart at 2. 15 and travelled on to Cologne and were here at 7.05. there is a lot to be said for the ICE trains. (Inter City Express) which was probaly on that first photo!!
There was a lot of snow on the trip and it was nice to be inside the speeding train
This photo is looking out the train window pulling into a station
This car is one of Craigs favourites, €535,619 or about 1 million Australian dollars!! This one wasn't at the museum, but at the factory where you can go on a factory tour and test drive (and purchase) the new carsWe have had a very COLD day here in Cologne. Sun, rain, snow and wind, but we still did the tourist thing and did the Hop on Hop off bus (under cover in the winter months). Cologne is a city of Cathedrals(I think nine in total) and the city of Cologne was almost destroyed in World War II. The cathedrals were all saved however and it is very interesting to look at the photographs post war, with the huge spires still standing. You just can't see how tall the building is, it is truly amazing.
This photo is of "The Cathedral" in cologne and it took six hundred years to build

Munich - Hop on Hop Off bus

Monday 9th
Well the day started off really sunny and I thought what a great day for the hop on hop off bus. Most of the central things we had already discovered walking around on Sunday. But it was good to have a commentary and explanation of some of the sites. Craig had his heart set on getting off at Olympic park and visiting the BMW museum only to find that it is closed on Mondays!
From the bus we saw these people all out on a frozen canal playing a game like “curling”. A bit scary for me because just up the road the lake wasn’t even frozen!! We continued on and went to some great open air markets which were within walking distance of our hotel, but we hadn’t come across yet. Just as we were having lunch it started to snow again. Craig was having a beer at an open air table and the weather just changed so quickly.
The glockenspiel in this church is amazing. It plays at 12 and 1pm and the life size figures dance around and it is a main tourist attraction of Munich Originally we were going to Stuttgart tomorrow, but there is a convention in town and all the hotels are either booked out or about €250 per night. So we have decided to stay another night here in Munich, but we are going to give a different hotel a go. And maybe catch a bus out to the BMW museum
Then on Wednesday we are leaving Munich early, visiting the Mercedes Benz factory in Stuttgart and then travelling on to Cologne. We won’t get there until about 7pm, but it gives us all the next day in Cologne, before Craig goes to the Ford plant on Friday. Finally starting to feel at home and comfortable in this different country.

Munich

Sunday 8th Feb. We woke up to quite heavy snow falling. And our room is like a shoe box! Not like the pictures on Wotif.com. We decided to go for a walk to get something for breakfast. I haven't found a supermarket here, but there are a few little shops that sell groceries and beer, more like a corner store. We headed off for a look around and came along the Residenz museum. The Kings palace. Unlike in Ludwigsburg this one had been very badly damaged during WW2 and much of the building and furniture had been restored or rebuilt. The photo shows the snow on the courtyard garden.
Again all of the shops are closed on Sunday, so we had a quiet look around before coming back to the hotel to upload this and send some post cards

Stuttgart - Ludwigsburg Castle

Saturday 7th Feb. Had a bit of a sleep in before being picked up at 9.30 to go to Ludwigsberg Castle. That was an experience! A huge Baroque /Rococo style castle and just beautiful, and hard to believe that WW2 never touched it . Everything inside is original. Wall art ,furniture, paintings - just incredibleLunch in another typical “German Restaurant”. The Debeer guys are heading back to
Australia and on the way to the airport we were dropped at the train station. Very scary that we are now on our own.
We managed to catch a train to Munich and there were plenty of seats so it was very comfortable. I had pre-booked some accommodation on Wotif.com so the next main hurdle was finding it!?!?!?!?. We eventually found it and are right in the centre of Munich so should be able to do quite a bit of looking around after a sleep in!

Stuttgart - Factory visits - Mercedes Benz Museum

Well the SATA boys were full on. We went to two paint shops, starting at 7.30. The first shop was working on Prestige cars, Astin Martin, Porsche etc, and the 2nd was doing 25 cars a day and 10 trucks!
We then went to lunch in Ludwigsburg at a very typical German restaurant and it was beautiful.
Then off to the Mercedes Benz museum which was really good, for anybody – car lover or not. This was one of Craig's favourites.Then those that were just on DeBeers part of the trip needed some time to do some shopping before they went home, so into the Stuttgart city centre for some shopping before a late dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It is quite funny, when a Chinese person learns English it can still be difficult to understand them, well the German guys couldn’t understand the Chinese speaking German!!! We said that we have the same problem at home. This was the busiest day we have had yet!

SATA factory

The SATA company is in a “suburb” called Ludwigsburg and the motel is very, very nice. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and had typical German food very nice. Off to the factory for a training day. I went because I was included on the list of participants and it was really interesting. Now I have this great SATA certificate, so maybe I can become a spray painter!
We ate lunch in the factory canteen and then back to work. One of the big bosses took us out to dinner to his favourite German restaurant – another great night.

Travel to Stuttgart on the ICE train

I can't quite remember what ICE stands for but it is a very fast International train.

Firstly we checked out of our hotel and dragged our bags through the snow to the train station. The first leg of the journey was just to get the local train to Amsterdam.

After a few delays at Amsterdam and changing from one train to another we were on our way. All was going quite well until Frankfurt Airport. One of the guys was stuck behind someone in the corridor, the doors started beeping and he was stuck on the train. thank heavens the next stop was Frankfurt and only 10km down the track (very lucky because some staions are hundreds of km apart) WWe waited for him to return and that meant we misssed our connection. Instead of having a straight through train we again had to change. By now you have a very paranoid goup of people who weren't game to take a seat. We hovered around the doors for the remainder of the journey just to make sure that we could all get off. By this time it was peak afternoon and the trains were full.

Prior to this excitement we did get to travel at and amazing speed

So it was a very exciting trip. It made it a very long day and we problay had three or four extra changes and arrived about an hour late, but when we got to Stuttgart there were two SATA men waiting to pick us up and we have been treated like royalty since we got here

Amsterdam

Tuesday We had a train trip to Amsterdam after the guys finished work for the day. You are in the red light district as soon as you hop off the train. Very interesting..... We had dinner in a pub, which all looked quite good, but 2 hours later we got a very ordinary, very expensive dinner. I suppose the saying is true. Location, location, location. We walked the strreets of Amsterdam at night and I really do think it would have been beautiful in the day, and we all felt very happy to be in a "group" in the evening. It had a lot of character which Lelystad really did lack. Beautiful buildings and we walked past the Anne Frank museum which would have been great to visit. And just great buildings, churches and the train station itself a masterpiece.
We didn't take the camera as it is illegal to use in the red light district, so didnt' bother to take it at all. We had a late night coffee at a "coffee shop" which was also an experience for those that know what goes on in the Amsterdam coffee shops (or smoking shops I suppose could be another name)
We caught a late train back to our hotel and had a good sleep before the big days travel to Stuttgart

Holland

Well, Lelystad is an interesting place. It was like a ghost town on Sunday. Lucky if we saw 20 people other than those working in the very few places that were open (the pub and a restaurant)
Today (Monday 2nd Feb) I hit the shops at 9am and the only places that were open were the supermarkets. Nothing else opened until 10 and most places 11. Some shops didn’t open until 1. I bought a few groceries so I had something to eat (chips, chocolate and yogurt were my main purchases), and bought a toothbrush, toothpaste and some deodorant for one of the guys who lost a bag on the way over, and came back to the hotel for a read and rest.

The hotel doesn’t have any tea or coffee making facilities in the rooms and the lighting is very dim. The bathroom is the only place with plenty of light and it is very nice and clean. The beds are very comfy and very warm even though the cover is very thin, I’m not sure what they are made from but they are warm. The heating here is much more like we have at home. It’s not over hot and you don’t pass out from the heat when you walk into a shop.

Went out again about 1 and the place was quite lively and there were people around. Not much English spoken so had a very quiet afternoon. Nothing is written in English and it’s really a funny feeling going into a book store and all the books are in Dutch. Even the tourist information is all in Dutch

One nice lady in a shop who had a bit of English has pointed me in the direction of a museum and interesting area. I am going to put it into the GPS and see if I might be able to walk, otherwise I will catch the bus tomorrow. I think it will be much safer to stay around the local area, I don’t fancy heading off to Amsterdam on my own.. There is talk that we might go there the night before we had off to Stuttgart. We’ll see what happens.

There are lots of TV channels, but only the occasional show in English.

Tuesday 3rd February
Had a great dinner last night at the “Tasty Wok” They cooked everything as you wanted and it was the best food I’ve had so far. They just cooked mine with oil and garlic and everyone had a great night.
Caught a bus to Batviastad – a huge factory outlet village a few kilometres from Lelystad. Didn’t buy anything but there were some good bargains. A beautiful pair of boots for walking in the snow!! Couldn’t justify the expense when it is so hot at home!! Got a few essentials for the others who are struggling to get to the shops to buy lip balm, toothpaste etc. The village was very quaint. Each outlet was in a little house and you walked around it just like a village. They must build the big wooden boats there. There was one in the water, and one being built in a yard, very impressive and very old fashioned. Craig has had the camera for most of the time and there is really nothing interesting to look at here, so no great photos.