A BIG Happy New Year to all! Especially to everyone in Australia. At the moment it is 7pm and the end of the year is yet to come for me however I know that in Oz the celebrations have already gone ahead...so Happy New Year!
It is crazy to think that this time last year I was in Wollongong celebrating the turn of 2010 and getting ready to leave the country 2 weeks later. I feel like this year has been quite epic. I´ve had the most amazing year because of the way God has provided everything; because of the people I have met; because of the opportunities I have had to see different things; because of all the things I have learned through it all.
England was an amazing chapter of this year and Rydal will always hold a special place in my heart.
Travelling with Rosie and Lily was so so good! We saw many things and laughed at random happenings during our time together.
Living with my family in London was such a massive blessing - I´m glad God knew what he was doing when he decided to bring our whole family to England! It was great to be back with them for a month!
Travelling again with Rosie was just amazing. We grew so close and had a ball seeing and learning so much about Spain - it´s history and it´s culture.
A White Christmas in Germany with real candles in the tree, glühwein, roasted goose and christmas carols was really special. New Year with the Jam Donuts (apparently there is a legend that sometimes the baker puts mustard instead of jam is put into the donuts for luck....didn´t come across one, thank goodness!) and the fireworks which is so different to our traditions on a hot summer night in Australia.
What a year! Can´t wait to see everyone!!!!
Until then enjoy the holidays, the summer (sun!!!), and this new year...what an oppotunity we have ahead of us!! Woop!
Love Steph xxxx
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Merry Christmas - Froche Weinachton!
Just wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas from Germany!
God bless to everyone during this wonderful time. It´s Jesus´ birthday!!! How exciting!!!!
All my love,
and lots of hugs too!
Love Steph xxxxx
God bless to everyone during this wonderful time. It´s Jesus´ birthday!!! How exciting!!!!
All my love,
and lots of hugs too!
Love Steph xxxxx
Monday, December 6, 2010
Spain
So...Rosie and I had an interesting day. It included getting up at 5.15am (with about 4 hours of sleep!) and then catching a 7am train to Valencia.
DEATH BY TRAIN.
The train was for 9 hours long and it constantly stopped. We didn´t have much food and I didn´t have a book to read. Good times!
So now we are in Valencia and out of Andalucia. Andalucia all-in-all was amazing. I really enjoyed seeing the Old Cathedral (especially the one in Seville which is the 3rd largest in the World) and the Alcazar (Muslim Catsle/fortress). There is so much history! It rained constantly, though. Rosie invested in a pair of wellies. They came in handy whilst we were on the walking tour...half way through it decided to bucket down with rain. Not just drizzle but full on pour. We got completely soaked even with our raincoats on and my shoes were soaked through also. It was then that I decided to buy some too.
Unfortunately for me it hasn´t rained too much since then. So now I have to carry around wellies until I leave England to come home. Ha. My bad!
DEATH BY TRAIN.
The train was for 9 hours long and it constantly stopped. We didn´t have much food and I didn´t have a book to read. Good times!
So now we are in Valencia and out of Andalucia. Andalucia all-in-all was amazing. I really enjoyed seeing the Old Cathedral (especially the one in Seville which is the 3rd largest in the World) and the Alcazar (Muslim Catsle/fortress). There is so much history! It rained constantly, though. Rosie invested in a pair of wellies. They came in handy whilst we were on the walking tour...half way through it decided to bucket down with rain. Not just drizzle but full on pour. We got completely soaked even with our raincoats on and my shoes were soaked through also. It was then that I decided to buy some too.
Unfortunately for me it hasn´t rained too much since then. So now I have to carry around wellies until I leave England to come home. Ha. My bad!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly on the Plane
Well it rains a heck of a lot here!
At the moment I am in the land of Spain. First I was in Madrid, then Cordoba and now Seville. Each city has chucked it down with rain but it´s all part of the travel experience, I guess!
Madrid was just incredible. Nothing like I expected it to be - the same goes for Rosie (whom I met up with again for the time in Spain). There was an great culture and to find it all one needed to do was to walk down the back streets! Tapas in small bars or cafes was something I enjoyed - for every drink one has the bar must give a small portion of food - tapas. The back streets are also lined with little shops full of random things - bag shops, jewellery, etc, etc. It is fun just to wander and find things as you walk.
Yesterday we came from Cordoba. What an incredible place! It felt a little like we had come to the Middle East because of the different architecture everywhere. Cordoba has an amazing history - first discovered in 900 BCish and went through Roman, Christian, Muslim and Jewish eras. The main Mosque/Catherdral was an amazing mix of Islamic and Christian architecture. Rosie and I spent about an hour in here just looking an marvelling at the different details in the roof, walls and floors. It was just incredible. It was in Cordoba that Maimonides was born - who was one of my favourite people to study in Religion last year. It was so interesting to learn more about him and his influence on the Jewish way of life. He was a philosopher, a doctor and a Rabbi and wrote many controversial works for Judaism - many of which are used by Jewish people today. Very interesting!
The other interesting thing we have found is that many of the trees lining the roads are orange trees. Everywhere we go there are trees with oranges or mandarins on them. Some of the coutyards which are part of the Cathedrals are named ´The Orange Tree Courtyard´...very creative!
Now we are in Seville, which is bigger than Cordoba and more like a city. It is another nice place - apart from the rain! We are currently on an endeavour to find gumboots (or as the English call them: wellies). There are puddles everywhere and cars tend to splash pedestrians occasionally so the gumboots are kinda needed!
xx
At the moment I am in the land of Spain. First I was in Madrid, then Cordoba and now Seville. Each city has chucked it down with rain but it´s all part of the travel experience, I guess!
Madrid was just incredible. Nothing like I expected it to be - the same goes for Rosie (whom I met up with again for the time in Spain). There was an great culture and to find it all one needed to do was to walk down the back streets! Tapas in small bars or cafes was something I enjoyed - for every drink one has the bar must give a small portion of food - tapas. The back streets are also lined with little shops full of random things - bag shops, jewellery, etc, etc. It is fun just to wander and find things as you walk.
Yesterday we came from Cordoba. What an incredible place! It felt a little like we had come to the Middle East because of the different architecture everywhere. Cordoba has an amazing history - first discovered in 900 BCish and went through Roman, Christian, Muslim and Jewish eras. The main Mosque/Catherdral was an amazing mix of Islamic and Christian architecture. Rosie and I spent about an hour in here just looking an marvelling at the different details in the roof, walls and floors. It was just incredible. It was in Cordoba that Maimonides was born - who was one of my favourite people to study in Religion last year. It was so interesting to learn more about him and his influence on the Jewish way of life. He was a philosopher, a doctor and a Rabbi and wrote many controversial works for Judaism - many of which are used by Jewish people today. Very interesting!
The other interesting thing we have found is that many of the trees lining the roads are orange trees. Everywhere we go there are trees with oranges or mandarins on them. Some of the coutyards which are part of the Cathedrals are named ´The Orange Tree Courtyard´...very creative!
Now we are in Seville, which is bigger than Cordoba and more like a city. It is another nice place - apart from the rain! We are currently on an endeavour to find gumboots (or as the English call them: wellies). There are puddles everywhere and cars tend to splash pedestrians occasionally so the gumboots are kinda needed!
xx
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Europe Trip in Short
I know this blog is a little out of date at the moment - sorry! I will try to add some more photos from my travels and share a few funny stories before I start the next part of the journey...
It was a hectic month full of 3 girls with 3 big bags and moving about every 3 days. And it was great!
BELGIUM
THE NETHERLANDS
GERMANY
I think I briefly wrote about these 3 in my last post. Amsterdam was definitely one of my favourite places!
CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague. Was definitely interesting. The Castle was very spectacular and we walked along the river at night to see the castle lit up, which was fantastic! We went on the free 3 hour walking tour and had an Irish tour guide. Whilst on this tour we saw the Clock Tower's hourly show a few times. There were so many people crowded around the here. We were told in the tour that it is the third most disppointing tourist attraction in Europe after the Mona Lisa in Paris and The Glockenspiel in Munich.
AUSTRIA
Vienna. It was definitely a city full of much culture. We experienced two of the main attractions: the opera and apple strudel.
GERMANY (Oktoberfest)
Oktoberfest was held in Munich in the south of Germany, Bavaria. This was seriously amazing. We had such a good time! Starting from the 3 hour parade we watched on the first full day of Oktoberfest. I'm talking horses and people of all ages dressed in their tradtional clothes of drindls (for girls) and laderhosen (for guys). It was great - except our feet hurt for the rest of the day! It was surprisingly hard to find the main beerfield! Eventually we stumbled across it to find it was actually like a massive fair. There were ferris wheels and rides everywhere. Families including the kids were all dressed up in their traditional clothes. It was such a great atmosphere!
We had to have the traditional litre of beer - which took Lily and I 2.5 - 3 hours to finish! Rosie also enjoyed buying half a chicken (yes JUST half a chicken on a plate!)! There were stalls everywhere with Lubkuchen (gingerbread-type-hearts with writing on them) and bratwurst. This was great fun!
ITALY
Venice. After a dodgy trip on a night train we finally arrived in Venice. Our accomodation was camping village with a pool - and after no sleep the night before (because of the train) we accidently got too much sun! Oops! Venice itself was incredible, though. So many tourists everywhere!
Toricella. Was a random little town near Asissi in Umbria.
Cinque Terre. Met Rosie here and we had a great time just chilling out in the 'Five Towns'. These small towns were incredible! Each night we would eat dinner on the rocks and watch the sun set over the water. The colours were just incredible and I felt really blessed to be there with one of my best friends, exploring the world and admiring God's creation!
Rome. Epic. There was so much history here! I was by myself at this stage but I ended up joining forces with 2 girls from Australia - good times!
Ready for the next part of the journey :)
It was a hectic month full of 3 girls with 3 big bags and moving about every 3 days. And it was great!
BELGIUM
THE NETHERLANDS
GERMANY
I think I briefly wrote about these 3 in my last post. Amsterdam was definitely one of my favourite places!
CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague. Was definitely interesting. The Castle was very spectacular and we walked along the river at night to see the castle lit up, which was fantastic! We went on the free 3 hour walking tour and had an Irish tour guide. Whilst on this tour we saw the Clock Tower's hourly show a few times. There were so many people crowded around the here. We were told in the tour that it is the third most disppointing tourist attraction in Europe after the Mona Lisa in Paris and The Glockenspiel in Munich.
AUSTRIA
Vienna. It was definitely a city full of much culture. We experienced two of the main attractions: the opera and apple strudel.
GERMANY (Oktoberfest)
Oktoberfest was held in Munich in the south of Germany, Bavaria. This was seriously amazing. We had such a good time! Starting from the 3 hour parade we watched on the first full day of Oktoberfest. I'm talking horses and people of all ages dressed in their tradtional clothes of drindls (for girls) and laderhosen (for guys). It was great - except our feet hurt for the rest of the day! It was surprisingly hard to find the main beerfield! Eventually we stumbled across it to find it was actually like a massive fair. There were ferris wheels and rides everywhere. Families including the kids were all dressed up in their traditional clothes. It was such a great atmosphere!
We had to have the traditional litre of beer - which took Lily and I 2.5 - 3 hours to finish! Rosie also enjoyed buying half a chicken (yes JUST half a chicken on a plate!)! There were stalls everywhere with Lubkuchen (gingerbread-type-hearts with writing on them) and bratwurst. This was great fun!
ITALY
Venice. After a dodgy trip on a night train we finally arrived in Venice. Our accomodation was camping village with a pool - and after no sleep the night before (because of the train) we accidently got too much sun! Oops! Venice itself was incredible, though. So many tourists everywhere!
Toricella. Was a random little town near Asissi in Umbria.
Cinque Terre. Met Rosie here and we had a great time just chilling out in the 'Five Towns'. These small towns were incredible! Each night we would eat dinner on the rocks and watch the sun set over the water. The colours were just incredible and I felt really blessed to be there with one of my best friends, exploring the world and admiring God's creation!
Rome. Epic. There was so much history here! I was by myself at this stage but I ended up joining forces with 2 girls from Australia - good times!
Ready for the next part of the journey :)
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