We traveled by train to Vienna…..

And it was E.A.S.Y. This was the first leg of our Eurail passes and we were a little anxious about how it would all work. Turns out 1^st class train travel is a breeze…and they even have a drinks trolley…who knew?

I have to admit this aspect of the trip was probably what gave me the most anxiety before our departure. But enough about trains…..

Vienna, one of my most favourite cities by far and especially at Christmas in time for the amazing Christmas markets. This visit she delivered everything we had hoped and MORE giving us an amazing morning of snow on our second day. We had fun snowmen building in the park across from our hotel and of course snowball fights as well. We visited the markets, again and again. We went to Schonbrunn Palace and did the audio-tour then traveled back into Belvedere Palace. Oh and did I mention both palaces have their own Christmas markets J

Maddie, Michelle, Callum and I bought tickets for the Spanish Riding School Performance which I loved. I think Callum is prepared to tick that one off as something he has done and doesn’t need to revisit. LOL

The pony rides in the children’s Christmas market was much more his speed when it came to horse related activities!

Maddie went to the Barber of Seville in the beautiful Vienna Opera house but poor thing got sick in the first half and we had to rush her back to the hotel. That didn’t stop her from buying this seasons Vienna Opera Season T-shirt .

It was rather COLD especially wandering the markets but there are so many lovely treats, steaming mugs of gluwein, hot cinnamon nuts, pastries of all descriptions (some like oversized donuts which they pump full of hot vanilla or chocolate custard), sausages dripping with cheese served with fresh bread and mustard…OK you get the idea!

So Vienna remains one of my favourite cities…….we loved sharing it with Michelle and we were all sad when we departed and Shelly flew back to London.

Then flew on to Prague.

Our first Prague day was actually spent doing the travel between Rome and Prague and it turned out to be a loooong day. Long story short…Lufthansa was delayed out of Rome and then our short transfer in Frankfurt became even shorter- yes, running through the terminal, then when we finally got the bus to the plane on the tarmac it was delayed so sat there a good while then delayed in a holding pattern into Prague and then you guessed it the transfer got stuck in traffic so we sat for 30 minutes literally around the corner from our hotel .

We finally arrived close to 8 pm to find a very smiley Michelle waiting in the hotel lobby for us. The next two days in Prague gave us some snow which the kids LOVED and we got to enjoy the very beautiful city. We explored and did a walking tour and took ourselves up to the castle to see all of Prague laid out before us under a mantle of snow. Poor Liam had a fall on the icy Charles bridge so he was fairly stiff and sore the next few days and moving very gingerly with a sore back. Maddie was lucky enough to find her new viola in a lovely little instrument store at the Castle end of the Charles bridge and so her Christmas gift was all sorted, she just had to manage handling the case through the rest of our journey.

We had pre-booked tickets to La Traviata for the last evening and were disappointed to learn that day they had cancelled the performance in favour of the ballet Cinderella due to strike action by the Opera company. We attended the ballet instead and enjoyed our box in the very beautiful old Opera Hall. We all loved having Mark’s cousin Michelle along as part of our group and we managed to convince her to join us as we set out for Vienna by train.

We started in Rome....

After a 14 hour flight and little sleep, on the back of a full day of school and work, we arrived early morning and checked into our hotel. After settling in and freshening up we decided to head out and find some breakfast and explore. Our hotel was a few minutes walk from the Spanish Steps so we found ourselves an easy walk from the Trevi Fountain where we had the first of MANY gelato stops on our holiday (even though it was only about 5 degrees). After exploring the shops around the Piazza we made our way back towards our hotel and we stopped for some lunch in a little trattoria whilst it poured down rain then set off again once the rain stopped, back to our hotel via the Spanish Steps.

We rested for an hour or so then walked back down to the River Tiber to try to take advantage of the golden hour of light around dusk, so Mum and Dad got to indulge in their photography whilst the kids were very patient soaking in the sights and sounds of Rome. We wandered along the banks of the Tiber, across Pont St Angelo and past Castel St Angelo. After dinner we head back to the hotel and we are all very tired after a full day of walking on top of that 14 hour plane journey…the kids are absolute troopers .

Our second day in Rome started early with an 8.30 am walking tour which ended up being just our family. Our guide Fabrizio was very good and knowledgable and we explored the Colosseum, the Forum and through to the Pantheon. We loved learning more of the history of Rome.

We finished our tour in time for lunch and found a little pizza /pasta university bar which had great food and atmosphere tucked in behind the Pantheon. The waiter was a bit of a clown and kept us entertained and we finished with complimentary ice creams for the kids and a light bubbly glass of red wine for Mark and I.

The afternoon slipped away as we explored then prepared to leave the hotel tomorrow morning for our flight to Prague, via Frankfurt.

Home safe!

Our darling Maddie is home safe! She had an amazing trip in Turkey and we struggled through the week without her .

She said the highlight was the ANZAC experience and I am sure we will hear more details in the days to come. She L.O.V.E.D Turkey and already is talking about going back to see more.

At the moment she is very tired after having spent the last 24 hours travelling back to HK from Istanbul via Dubai and Bangkok. They got very little sleep whilst sitting up overnight awaiting the dawn service on Saturday night.

We are so proud of her that she coped so well with the week away.

The picture is her on the beach in Anzac Cove and the other is the monument to the fallen written by Ataturk. Incredibly moving and I am a world away!

The last carnival of the season...

It has been a great season of rugby and a learning curve not just for the boys but for us grown-ups as well. The boys had their final carnival of the season today and I was amazed at how their skills are developing. So here are a few snaps of the boys in action.....Riley in the midst of the action........Liam is not letting go of that ball and driving forward.....with a little help from his team-mates

Callum in hot pursuit. It is a little tough to get good pictures of Cal since his pitch is so much larger than the other boys so there is an element of luck in being at the right place when he has his hands on the ball.

All three boys teams performed really well today. I was extremely proud.

Next week sees another training session they some pre-game matches at the HK 7's

Should be a great chance for the boys to get some really great "watch and learn" time!

Wonderful faces....

One of the things that I love about the twice I have travelled in India is the wonderfully interesting faces of the people we meet. I love that her people are so smiley and friendly and happy to have that "pesky foreigner" snapping away in their faces, and not only are patient and indulgent of such behaviour but smile and wave in return. (OK ,all except that lady who came at us with a stick- but she was the exception LOL)

Here are a few of my favourite faces from this most recent trip.

This lady was so sweet and kept gesturing for me to take her photo that I couldn't help but give her some money for tea afterwards. She was sitting on the side of a dusty highway, selling the lovely earthenware pots which are used to carry water on the women's heads.
This lovely gentleman gave us a perfect photo oppportunity as he showed us how he smokes his pipe (?charras??)
This little sweetheart was all smiles until her relatives tried to make her "pose" for the picture- this was well before any official posing :)
This lovely , lovely lady was the lady who dealt with our stick weilding non-smiler lady and asked her , I think (since my hindi is absolutely non-existent), to "play nice" and she might get some tea. A a result we got a lovely "scowling" photo (check out that closed body language below), she got her tea and we were all mostly happy in the end.

Here is our less than smiley friend ......

Back to the blogosphere........

Wow, what a whirlwind of months. It seems the end of last year and the beginning of this year have slipped by and I have not been blogging ...for ever......

So a quick update....even though I have been off the blog I have indeed been living the moments and not actually writing of them. I have been incredibly blessed with many special moments the latest of which include a trip with three special girlfriends to India. Odila travelled from Panama, Riya and Monisha and I from Hong Kong.

We started in Mumbai for an amazing wedding experience ( at Riya's most generous and kind invitation ) and it was so special to be treated as such honoured guests. The celebrations were out of this world and the bride, Usheeta and her groom Kamal, and their respective families were the most amazing hosts.

We then flew to Delhi, drove to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and then on to Jaipur. I won't go into detail with our itinerary but we packed SO much fun, laughter and sightseeing into our days( and nights). From Jaipur we flew to Udaipur and had another couple of days exploring the township, and soaking up the splendour of a 300 + year old palace in the middle of the lake which is now a 5+ star hotel :)

Needless to say there were so many special moments on the trip and one of the real highlights for me (other than the girly stuff) was the opportunity to indulge my passion for photography with like minded devotees in such an immensely rich photographic environment. So, 1000+ photos later, how do I possibly convey to you the wonder of this journey????

I am going to choose only a few of my favourite photos with you...... I hope you like them.