Having a Ball in the Baltics

Well, we survived. The train trip was actually really smooth and passed in no time at all, really. Vilnius, Lithuania, was a definite highlight of this region. We had managed to find a great hotel only about 10 minutes walk from the rail station. It had a great view across the old town and dozens of church spires, provided a large, varied, breakfast, and was only another 10 minutes walk to a lot of the main sights. On the first evening there, we walked through the town to the Cathedral square and climbed the hill up to the upper castle to watch a beautiful sun setting and get great views of the entire city. On Sunday, we visited the National Museum - very interesting with a really cool special exhibit on cross craft in Lithuania. At lunch time, we headed to the town of Trakai in the countrys smallest national park of the same name. We felt so blessed to have such great weather and be surrounded by such awesome natural beauty. We then followed the rest of the people to the parts which weren´t quite so "natural" and walked past dozens of souvenir stores en route to the castle and museum. This was alright but not fantastic.

We returned in the evening to Vilnius by bus and had a lovely relaxed evening. Next day brought some rain but still quite warm - perfect weather for exploring some of the many local churches. We enjoyed the extravagant Rococco decor of St Thereses, some cool photos at St Casimirs and the simple space of the Cathedral.

Then, our first bus trip (!!) on to Riga, Latvia.....

War-Saw

It was really a flying visit as we only had one full day there but it was still great. Warsaw is a cool city - quite cosmopolitan, feels really buzzing, and alive. Such a deep sense of history too - the old walls of the Jewish ghetto from WWII were clearly demarcated on the cobbled pavement of the old town. The old town was nice to meander through but we mostly loved the parks and gardens and open spaces.

We arrived some 8 hours before check in at our hostel so we spent another day in already pretty grotty clothes wandering around the city in 25 degree plus heat taking in the sights. We were so relieved though to check in later in the afternoon and shower!

Next day though was the first test of our long journey train survival skills with a 8.5 hour train trip to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania....

Farming in the Czech Republic

After a couple of train delays and faffing about with left luggage, we safely arrived in Prague, Czech Republic on 10th May. We spent a couple of blissful warm days exploring there before heading South East to a tiny village of Kotoun-Oselce, where we spent a week working on a farm that belonged to a Czech-English couple. We had a great trip out there and were amazed by the beauty of the area - wild deer, beautiful fields of wild flowers and a lot of forest! There was a French couple, Agnes and Regis, working there also who were very nice - they had a very cool converted van that they were travelling round Europe in. Agnes and Regis will also be doing the Trans-Siberian rail trip later in their travels but we will not be seeing them on that leg as they are going later in the year.

The work on the farm was good - our hosts were generally quite laid back and flexible. We spent the majority of our time putting in fence posts, clearing the section of half buried scrap, moving rocks, clearing animal areas and feeding the animals. We learned a lot from our hosts about keeping animals and what it means to run a small holding. Their knowledge of birds as well as local flora and fauna also really inspired us to learn more about these things in New Zealand.

When our week was over, we returned to Prague for a day before heading off to Warsaw by overnight train...watch this space... we promise more blogs and pics to come.

We're leaving on a jet plane.... part II

Well actually we are leaving on a train but, for the sake of continuity.... that's right, we are saying farewell to the UK in less than 3 weeks time!! After 1-2 years turned into 3 and a half years, we have decided it's time to move back to NZ and settle in there. By the time we get home it will be about 3 years and 9 months out of NZ so we are expecting a bit of a culture shock. We are nervous, apprehensive, sad, but also really excited about what is going to happen in this next chapter of our lives.

Of course, half the fun is getting to New Zealand! We are going overland by train from London to Beijing and then flying from there. On the way we will be spending a week on a farm in the Czech Republic and doing a bit of work there, spending some time in the Baltic Capitals and then going from St Petersburg in Russia, down to Moscow to catch the Trans Mongolian rail to Beijing. We are hoping to stop for a few days in different places and we are looking forward to Lake Baikal and Mongolia in particular. We finish this part of the trip with a week in Beijing with Susanna's brother, Andrew, and sister-in-law, Jemma, before flying home.

For those of you in London or the near surrounds, do feel free to join us for Lunch on Sunday 8th May and/or drinks in the evening of Sunday 8th May. Drinks will be at the Old Dairy Pub from about 7.45 pm www.theolddairyn4.co.uk and lunch will depend on the weather!

Thank you London and Good night!

New Years in Ireland

After a casual email conversation with our friends Kat and Matt, "you're welcome to join us for new years," we actually decided to make it happen. So, on New Years Eve, we caught an afternoon flight to Dublin and a bus out to Dalkey, where Kat and Matt now live. It's a lovely suburb south of Dublin and Dun Laoughaire and they have a beautiful apartment overlooking the sea. New Years Eve meant we got to meet some of Kat and Matt's friends as they all came over for good food, good conversation, and a good time before seeing in 2011. So, some of the first things we did in the New Year... went to Kilinney and climbed the hill there to see which famous Irish exports (Maeve Binchy, Bono etc) we could see (none, not surprisingly); visited ancient burial sites at New Grange, Bru Na Boinne, Co. Meath; and celebrated our 6th (!!) wedding anniversary in the northern Dublin suburb of Clontarf where we treated ourselves to a night in a castle hotel.

Again, we were blessed with fantastic weather (it never seems to rain in Ireland while we are there..) and it was so great to just relax, unwind, and see our good friends.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

November and December 2010 definitely saw the coldest winter we have had so far living in London - it was a major headline if the temperature ever got above 0 degrees as we had all gotten used to -5 etc. The cold weather also meant a lot of snow! We had planned to go up north to a wee town near Durham, Northumberland for Christmas and fortunately the snow did not stop us from getting there. We stayed in a lovely house (apart from the fact that no central heating meant it was only really warm in 1 or 2 rooms at a time) and had a lovely time together. While it didn't snow again until Boxing Day, there was a lot of snow around on Christmas Day itself when we drove in to Durham and went to the matins service at the Cathedral - what an amazing building and a lovely town and just a very special Christmas. We spent the next few days driving to Hadrian's wall, the market town of Alnwick, the coastal castle at Dunstaburgh, and just enjoying the area in general. We also spent a fair amount of time indoors too, wrapped up against the cold. Up there it was more like -10! Hard to believe that this was the last Christmas we will have in the northern hemisphere for a wee while! Here are some of the highlights from the trip:

Run Forrest Run

A few days after the folks left, it was back to Heathrow where I was heading off for a work trip to Minneapolis. This was where I attended the World Marrow Donor Association conference to learn more and network. It felt like a mini UN gathering with reps from around the globe - so many languages and accents! I was also doing a speaking slot about the benefits and differences we've found when using saliva kits to test those who join our register. It was a really insightful time and great to see that we're not alone in our aim to help save more lives from blood cancers.

This was my first trip to the US and my first impressions probably don't reflect what I'd find in other parts of the country. I felt Minneapolis city lacked a heart without much history, culture and so many concrete four lane roads everywhere. However it was amazing that some relatives, Dan and Ila Ronning, live in Minneapolis and that we had a chance to catch up over some dinner. They were such a lovely couple and so welcoming. On our last day my colleagues and I had a few hours to spare to do the tourist trail of Minneapolis, a sculpture park and the Mall of America, which is the largest shopping centre in the States. It was huge, including a massive theme park right smack bang in the middle of it. My favourite thing though was the cheesiness of Bubba's Shrimp restaurant with all things Forrest Gump adorning it.