Photography - Canon EOS40D

David's been looking to upgrade his camera for quite some time, & after Paris (he wasn't happy with all his shots!) & with us off to Ireland later this month, he was keen to find the one!

After hrs/days/weeks of research (who knew!) he decided on Canon 40D digital SLR. http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos40d/index.html
Downside we can't re-use the lens from the Nikon SLR we have, but upside is that David has a new toy which will occupy hrs of his time!! Even after losing our Nikon digital some yrs back (we blame the Flannery's & their wedding & our drunken state for that!!), we still have a few digital cameras...ebay(?)

Well let's hope the proof is in the pudding & that Ireland photos are bloody fantastic!!

New car - Audi

Well with both of us needing to drive for work, we were in need of a 2nd car! The plan was for both of us to get new cars (we were hoping for better deal!) & to sell the Peugeot. So I was looking at Audi, BMW & Benz at their smaller cars & David of course for a high performance car!! Well I found mine, an A3 Sportback 2.0TDI Quattro, http://www.audi.co.uk/audi/uk/en2/new_cars/a3/s3_sportback.html but unfortunately since David was looking at a 4door cars with high performance, he was struggling to find one!! He's only ever had 2door sports ones, so getting a 4door to do what he wanted was proving difficult!

So the story goes, is that I technically now have 2 cars, with David still searching for the one!! :) Also, the bigger engines here, are automatic & not manual, its diesel & not petrol, so he has a few hurdles to jump!! Let's hope he finds the car for him, as in the meantime, he's looking at other toys to buy!! :)

Well, the A3 drives beautifully, the Quattro sticks it to the floor, and we’re keen to take it for a nice long drive on some of the country roads….ah another excuse to go exploring!!

London & Windsor - May!

Ok, so after Paris, the festivities continued! Richard stayed with us in Windsor & checked out the local attractions (castle, pubs, shops etc). I took a day off work, so we headed into London to do some more touristy things! We spent a good half day at the Tower of London, checking out the crown jewels, the bloody tower & the white tower. Again a glorious summer day & great views of the London bridge.

We then headed to Harrods (check out some cute photos!) & then to Piccadilly Circus to check out the neon signs & for a deserved drink & rest!!

On Richard's last night with us, we took him to a truly British event the Windsor Tattoo, being held in the private grounds of the Windsor castle (some amazing views of the castle). As we were planning to go out for drinks afterwards & I wanted to scrub up good(!!:-)), I wore some 3inch heels (boy what a mistake!!) Given the tattoo was in open grounds, I managed to twist my ankle severely - 2 weeks later I can barely walk & still in a bit of pain! Well I'm back to my sensible shoes! PS> there is a good photo of me dressed up in front of a tank (inappropriate?) Anyway we had a great night & nothing a bit of alcohol cant numb!! :)

Said goodbye to Rich on Sat, it was very sad!!! PS> talk about women shopping....Rich was way over his allowed luggage!! We miss ya!

W/E 3-5 May in Paris!

The last time we were in Paris was 10yrs ago, so I was eager for re-visit. Landed in Paris (Charles de Gaulle), not the nicest of airports on Sat morning & checked into our hotel (Hotel de Suede) a boutique hotel conveniently located in Paris Central.

It was already a hot day, almost 30C, so we took a stroll from the hotel to the Eiffel tower & walked down de la Bourdonnais, past St Xavier church & the Invalides (an amazing building with the gold dome), crossed the river Seine onto Winston Churchill ave (yes there's a statue of him in France!). Saw the Grand & Petite Palais & walked down the Champs Elysees. Next checked out the Louvre & headed for a quick cool down in the Lafayette shopping centre.

We were meeting up with a mate from Sydney in the evening, so headed back to the hotel for a quick rest! Not much of that, as we got back to the hotel quite late, met up with Richard for a quick yarn & then got dressed to head out for some Parisian cuisine. Dinner at the Le Petit Lutetia was challenging as the menu was in French! At some "poshy totty" restaurants even in Sydney, I have difficulty figuring out what the dish is, let alone in French! Well I am there with my phrase book & at least knew Poisson (fish) & foie (liver), but then it got quite challenging, so got the waiter to read out the menu in English :) We had a ball that night & the crème Brule was to die for! After a few bottles of wine, we strolled down to the Eiffel tower to check it out in lights! It was a beautiful evening, with still many people out & about! After some artistic photos of the tower in lights, I was exhausted! Left Richard to enjoy the locals (scenery that is!) & we headed back to the hotel (it was about 3am by this time!)

Sunday was a day of climbing!! After breakkie (croissants & coffee) we headed to the Eiffel & decided to walk up the stairs, as the queues were too long for the lifts! Oh, am I out of condition.. :( it was also very hot & the drinking the night before, not too good!! Great views of the city from up there!
In the arvo, we did a bus tour of Paris, which was fantastic - & got quite a bit of colour (tan!) Of course, me not being prepared that it was going to be this hot, I stole David hat's (check out the photo of how he tried to escape sunburn! funny! he got looks..)
We then strolled down the Champs Elysees, & decided to walk up the Arc de Triomphe! Again lots of good views.
We then ate dinner in a restaurant on the ave & headed back to the hotel later that eve.

It was about 9pm, so a mad rush to get ready & get out to the Moulin Rouge. I had got us some reservations to the show at 11pm. Anyway the way they do it in Paris, is that you make reservations, but have to line up, no tickets are issued. When we got there at 10.30 there was a line of about 500m deep & then about the same behind us! I really wanted good seats, so David went about doing his thing! - I was impressed!! He sweet talked some bouncer (oh & also greased his palms sufficiently) that we skipped the lines & VIP'ed in to some great seats in the front! The show was fabulous, check out a snippet of the show (Feerie) on the website - www.moulinrouge.fr/home-flash-gb.html We drank lots of champagne & had a ball!

After the show, we found a great pub & ate & drank some more & then saw & experienced some things, best left unsaid...we ended up in the seedier part of Moulin Rouge!!!

Off to bed around 5am & got a few hrs sleep before we did some touristy stuff! Richard wanted to see the Mona Lisa, so off we went to Louvre, then to Lafayette & Printemps (new huge dept. stores), had a quick lunch & then off to catch our flight back to the UK!!

We had huge amounts of fun, with practically no sleep and the rest of the week was the same...more on that shortly!!

Bring on France again...next time it will be the wine region!!

Hi! It's been awhile...

Hello all - it's been a month & has it been hectic!! Work is extremely busy at the moment, with a bit of travel around England. Tomorrow I head off (fly) to Newcastle for a few days.
David's aunt Krystyna in Poland passed away, so we went over for the funeral. She was a pretty amazing person & there were lots of people present. We had spent a few weeks with her in 2005 when we went to Poland & we all had a blast!
David also started work 3 weeks ago, so busy getting back into work mode!! Oh I miss my dinner all cooked when I get home :(
Also, now need 2 cars, since we both need to drive for work. So looking for a new car - probably an Audi - more on that later!
Last w/e was a long w/e, so went off to Paris & had a blast. The weather was amazing close to 30C each day. More on that w/e trip & photos to come!
Our mate Richard from Sydney, joined us in Paris & then came back to England & stayed with us for a week. We had a ball each day & it was nice to see a familiar face! Said goodbye this morning, as we dropped him off at the airport - V Sad :( More on some stories & photos later!
Well more stories, photos & regular updates shortly!!
Having fabulous summer weather this week, so actually getting some colour back!! :)