My travelling adventures...

Well we have finally booked Egypt - i will be doing 11 days at Hurghanda... and I have no idea how I am getting from my tour (which I'll end at Sinai) to Hurghanda - hoping it'll be easy to get from Sinai, to Dahab and catch the aquafoil across...? - we'll see... :) Now that I have booked actually thinking about what I am doing - wondering if i picked the right tour (doing imaginative traveller - sailtrek and sinai if you want to look it up...), if we are staying at the right place etc etc (we didn't have that many options since we booked late, so lots of the tours were booked etc)... anyhow - it is only money - bound to be fun cos it is a holiday so make the most of it - and surely it can't rain the whole time, after all it IS a desert...?!
Also went to the British Museum today - saw the Rosetta Stone, parts of the greek partheon etc etc - oodles of stuff there! And going to make my way to Greenwich tomorrow (finally) - it is a walk away from Karen and Neil's but haven't made it there yet... and not sure about going somewhere between now and Egypt - the money just spent on Egypt has left a bit of a void - thinking I might save it up til I do Europe all in one hit...
And it is... well I am not sure actually - I call it big fat lumps of snow... but it could be the british version of hail (really micro) - it floats down tho... - maybe the snowflakes get caught up with all the pollution in the air so end up in lumps! - anyhow it looks pretty either way :)
Later!

Hi! Just a quick little note to let you know that karen and I are finally making our Egypt booking - I am doing a little 14day imaginative traveller tour round Egypt - going to Cairo, felucca on the Nile, Luxor, Dahab etc then meeting Karen at Hurghanda to do 7 days of relaxing...! - should be brilliant - can't believe i am saying this - but will be nice to laze on the beach in the warmth!
On my little walkies around London went along Drury Lane (isn't that where the gingerbread man came from??) and past Pratt St (is that the el cheapo place on the monopoly board?) - I could just be making it all up!!
I am hoping to pop over to Florence for a few days before I go to Egypt (Egypt starts on the 11th March) - see how i go... :)

yep - you guessed it i saw a real deer!!! - Ruth and I went for a walk in the woods near her place just before i left Sweden just in case i might see a deer - and i did!!! - she was so sweet!
The flight back went fine and had a driver take me to my auntie's place... and saw loads of bunnies on the way home hopping about near the road!   and am now making my back back to London to stay with my cousin for a couple of days and to organise Egypt and where ever else!
So yes - have been having an absolutely fabulous time seeing all the places, beautiful scenery, meeting all the relations etc... - but it isn't easy you know, being on a constant holiday :) - I would like to have a bit more of a plan about what i am doing/where i am going to be next, but it all works out so...
anyhow will keep you posted! :)

ohhhhh I love sweden - it is the only place that snows for me!!!! - altho it does make driving a bit of a challenge - ruth and rolf have made me the drive a few times now... - on they way home this evening in some parts could just see a set of tyre tracks - otherwise would have no idea where the road was... - but all was good - managed to stay on the right (literally!) side of the road!

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Well have been getting around Stockholm - saw the old and new parts today, have stood on the Baltic Sea (it was frozen obviously) and seen the Vasa - a war ship that was built and sunk in 1628 on its way out to sea pretty soon after it was launched as it hadn't been desgined properly (ballast was not big enough)- the boat was pretty impressive - very ornate for a warship...  Have also been having a Jane Austen movie marathon in the evenings - Sense & sensibility and pride & prejudice - neither of which i had seen before - not too shabby i thought! :)

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woohooo!!! I had a wonderful day skiing in Sweden thanks to my two brilliant ski instructors - Johanne (mum's cousin's son!?) and Linda (his girlfriend) - they taught me not to snow-plough the whole way down and managed to go at a decent speed - even pretty fast sometimes (on the emma ski speedometer!). I even did a RED run!!! AND it snowed for me - fat juicy snow stars - splendiferous!!! the runs were really nice and long inbetween xmas trees! only fell down once at the beginning of the day, and then once after i´d taken my skis off (teehee)...  was a great day... 

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well I've been touring the Yorkshire moors and dales with my 'Auntie' Jean and Uncle Norman (really my mum's aunt + uncle) along lots of quaint little lanes lined by rock fences with names such as Kettlesing, Stock Stile and Penny Pot... I went to Fountains Abbey yesterday which was brilliant - built in the 1100s and left to ruin by Henry VIII - really pretty, had water gardens, lots of deer and pheasant, and the Serpentine Tunnel - 42m long tunnel that is bendy (of course) and is completely pitch black in the middle - I was very brave and went thru all by myself - and then of course at the other side there is no other way to get down (it is part way up a hill) so I had to go back thru. Have seen heaps of the sights like Brimham Rocks (like a mini version of the Grampians), RAF Medwith Hill (the giant golf balls that can pick up any transmission), Kilnsey Cragg, Arncliff (where Emmerdale was filmed) & Malham Cove... Have also climbed the Cow and Calf where my mum used to play when she was a little lass, saw the house in Ilkley where my Gran grew up, and met heaps of the rellies (s'pose they are like 2nd cousins or something to me) here as well - they are very lovely and friendly... Have also had Yorkshire fish and chips (meant to be the best! - and they are very tasty esp. the batter!), fresh trout from the trout farm at Grassington and lots of yummy home-cooked meals - incl. yorshire pudding, ginger biscuits and bread & butter pudding! :)
And am off to Sweden tomorrow! - have got my goose jacket ready in case of really chilly weather!!
Seeya!

Here's a couple of piccies from Rome... have just realised still have a film in my other camera with heaps more photos... :) anyhow - the coloseum, pantheon (built 27-25BC dedicated to pagan gods and then became a christian church  in 608AD), trevi fountain, pompeii, central Navonna fountain (built in 1651 by Bernini) and then this ceiling painting in the vatican which you'd swear was 3D (painted ages ago - can't remember which century :) )

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Howdy!

Well just to let you know what I have been up to - just mainly hanging out in Cheltenham trying to sort out travel plans etc... have done the indian curry thing a couple of times now (big over ehre - and very yum) and also the pub lunches etc - Neil and Lena (cousin + his girlfriend) came to Cheltenham on Sunday so we all went out for a Sunday roast pub lunch where I ended up with half a chicken on my plate!!! - but still managed to fit in desert! (a delic. sticky toffee apple crumble!)... then had a walk up Cleeve Hill to walk it off a bit :)
Visited 'Aunite' Beryl today - 93yo sweetie who was friends with my Gran - we took her flowers and she says 'oh they are so lovely I can't take my eyes off them' (bless her! ;) ) and then frets cos she hasn't got anything for me... we had tea, biccies and a chat with her...

Travel plans - woohooo - off to Yorkshire this weekend (Uncle Guy and Auntie Lynne are driving up for a visit and then leaving me tehre for a few days :) ) - and then on Thursday I am off to Sweden for a week - minus 20s here i come again! - plenty of snow and nice weather I hear!! Got a return flight for £30!!!! - unbelievable!  Still sorting out Egypt for March... and still yet to do a bit more of London as well and catching up with a few people - will get there tho...
oh - and did you know - no feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square anymore! - the place doesn't look the same without the hoards of them about...

Anyhow nearly bed time... cheerio!

 

Lake Baikal - yep it is so special it gets its own entry... :)
Listvyanka, Lake Baikal, icicles on Baikal, Chersky Peak lookout


 
Golomyanka - fish only found in Lake Baikal, up to 20cm long, travels the entire 1637m water column, and is up to 35% vitamin A and melts in your hand if you pick it up!

well I've got most of my photos from Russia in an album already (still waiting on the rest of the film with some of St Pete on it to be finished) (and still haven't gotten the Rome photos developed yet)... and I had good intentions of only putting a couple of piccies up, but like my packing I just can't help myself (particularly of my fav spots), but I am sure to get better with practice!!!

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Well I am back - and trying to figure out what to do next :) - ohh the hassle of being on holiday! - Karen and I are thinking of going to Egypt in March so I am doing a bit of investigating about that... want to go round Cairo etc and then spend a week at the Red Sea taking it easy diving and snorkelling (how brill. does that sound!?!!!) - have been staying at Karen and Neil's place in Hither Green since I got back... then off to my Uncle's place at Cheltenham on Friday for a week... - will start doing a bit of job investigating then as well...

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