Love is in the air....

Enjoyed a gorgeous day yesterday at Rachel & Roberts wedding at the Yeovil Court Hotel. Rachel looked fabulous and it was a lovely ceremony. Rob looked rather dashing too. Had to laugh though, whilst I was taking photos of the bride Shaun was off taking pics of Rob's car!!!

After tearful farewells today and a stop at Stonehenge, we are now spending the night in Brighton. We have had a great time on the Brighton Pier. Dodgem cars are heaps of fun! We are staying at a quirky little hotel in Brighton. We booked it on laterooms.com so far so good, although the decor is quite interesting!

Off to London tomorrow, Ciao!

The Big Day is tomorrow!

Well we made the trek back to the UK and tomorrow it is our gorgeous friend Rachel's (& her very lovely fiancé Robert's) wedding! We are all very excited for them both and wish them a lifetime of happiness xxx.

So now we have less than a week until we fly home. It has gone so fast. We have been spoilt rotten by Rachel, Rob and Rachel's parents. Rachel has cooked for us and her Mum has stuffed us full of all sorts of foods! The kids have had a fantastic time here in the south west of England and tomorrow are off for a play with another child for a couple of hours before the wedding. After three weeks straight of only Mum and Dad they are very pleased to have some "child" company!

Off to London on Monday and maybe, just maybe I will convince Shaun that a day trip to Paris is definitely worth adding to the itinerary!

Welcome to Roma!!!

So after a car, a plane, a train and then a bus we have made it!  Actually we got here a couple of days ago but wifi and internet cafes are not as plentiful here as in Malta.  Surprising really but that is the way it is! 

Rome is brilliant although it is raining today and is cold so I guess we have left the better weather in Malta.  It is magnificent here, so far we have thrown a coin in the Trevi Fountain, visited the Colesseo (well worth the queue), braved the Spanish Steps and taken a sight seeing bus all around.  We have visited a heap of other places but their names escape me. 

I figured I would like this place when breakfast consisted of a coffee and a chocolate crossiant!  Lattes can cost between €1.50 and €5.00 but they have all been good so far.  However regardless of where we are I do think €5 (about $6 or 7 AUD) is a bit steep!

Off to the Vatican tomorrow and the Sistine Chapel.  Should be great.  Our apartment is right near the Castel S'Angelo where the Pope runs to via a special passage way if he is in Danger.  It too is an amazing building.

Anyway Ciao to you all xxxx

Driving in Malta - not for the feint hearted!

We have spent the last few days exploring Malta and today caught the ferry over to Gozo.  Given the hills around the islands I am extremely grateful for having the car.  However driving in Malta should come with a warning like you get on roller coaster rides ie. do not attempt (or even get in a car) if you have a heart condition, are pregnant, or have irritable bowel syndrome........ Far out it is certainly an experience.  Indicators are optional and according to one Maltese lady, they do actually learn to drive with them but once they have their licence they stop using them!  They also stop anywhere, park anywhere and overtake anywhere!!!!  On the positive side though, their parking skills are to be admired, they can  park in a spot that in Australia we would leave reserved for a motorbike.

So we have done lots of miles and it is a gorgeous place.  The highlight so far has been taking a little boat trip out to the Blue Grotto.  I have never seen water so clear or so blue.  If you were into scuba diving this place would be a must see.  Although all of the scenery is fabulous. 

If I don't have backside muscles like steal when I leave here I will feel very cheated.  I have never walked up and down so many hills and stairs.  My fitness is improving by the second although possibly sabotaged by the wine.......

The kids are love it, have improved on their map reading skills and probably navigate better than their mother (not that it would be hard..)

Lesson Number 1 for travelling Malta.....

The buses in Malta are something else, somewhat of a tourist attraction all on their own.  As we learnt this morning after being on time to catch bus 59 that a simple wave is not enough to get the bus to stop.  Said bus driver ignores you if you do that, nope, you have to throw yourself in front of the bus in order to be allowed on the bus!  Well I am probably being a little dramatic but seriously you need to make somewhat of a spectacle of yourself in order to make them stop.  That said, they are dirt cheap to ride on but they are lacking in the modern comforts of home, ie. suspension and any noise proofing. 

So we arrived in Malta yesterday (Friday) and have to say it is a lovely place to be.  If for nothing else than it is much warmer than the freezing cold streets of London.  It is still quite fresh but my teeth haven't chattered since we arrived.

We are staying at the Sunny Coast Resort in Qawra which even though it looked a little iffy at the start it is a great apartment.  No sharing a room with the kids which is quite nice although they still haven't adjusted to the time zone.  Neither have we, so it was another early start this morning, hence we were on time for the non stopping bus!!!

First stop today was Valletta and it is Carnival time here in Malta.  Carnivale is fabulous and they really know how to make parade floats.  So much color and being children's day everyone dresses up their kids in the most amazing costumes, even tiny babies are adorned with the most brilliant range of costumes.  Can't wait to post some pictures of those and will as soon as I find a compatible computer to do so from.  Malta is just so different to home.  The buildings are amazing and the sea is such a beautiful blue.

London yesterday was cold but still a great place to be.  The London Eye was excellent and then we went for a stroll around and visited Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.  The people watching is brilliant as is the atmosphere.  Hoping it might warm up slightly when we are back there later in the month! 

We're here!!!!

London here we are!  And yes it is cold, nothing like kids have ever experienced in their lives.  But it's still a great place to be.

Surprisingly enough I didn't have any wine on the journey although I did knock back a Bacardi & Coke, purely as a night cap although I wasn't really sure what time zone I was in so it could have been a morning heart starter....Shaun insists his several scotch and drys were night caps for each time zone however in retrospect the direction we were traveling in meant that it was actually morning times we were flying into!

Cattle class was ok really, kids had enough room to have a bit of a snooze at times.  Ethan did not sleep at all between Hong Kong and London having slept a fair bit on the first leg.  He was most impressed with having his own TV but more impressed that he did not have to share the remote control!  Typical boy!

The queue at Passport Control at Heathrow was long but we got through relatively quickly and straight through customs.  Got on the Hotel Hoppa bus to the Novotel Heathrow Hotel without a hitch.  Freshened up and went downstairs for dinner however as Ethan and I kept falling asleep at the table we opted to have the meals bought up to the room.  Linzi and Shaun enjoyed their meals, apparently very nice food here.  I have a vague recollection of sleep eating a bit of a BLT but Ethan was non compus and went without.  Quite amusing though at 4:30am when he woke up and the first words out of his mouth were a complaint about not being fed his dinner.

Anyway, off to work out how to get to Central London for a bit of sight seeing before we head out to our next hotel near Gatwick for an early morning flight to Malta.  Now what's the odds that none of us will want to be out of bed this early tomorrow when we HAVE to be.