Saturday, January 30, 2010

Saturday 30 January

Well, we've been home a week from our wonderful trip to Europe and Sth Korea.
Richard is back at work and I have been unpacking and catching up with things at home. The Christmas tree, the cards and decorations needed to be packed away.
We had dinner with some special friends this week. I also went to a great concert to see Fred Smith and the Spooky Men Chorale. Richard's choir is about to start up with a new musical director, so he's heavily involved with all that.
Next week I need to go to a few medical appointments. I will find out the next step in the treatment. It's likely to be an operation to remove my ovaries. This is needed to further reduce the oestrogen in my body, which is effective in helping prevent a future cancer growing. There's also a physio check-up and a special exercise class to attend, to name just a few.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Seoul

It was great to see Stuart and Cherie again on our way home. They came and stayed the night and then we had a lovely time together until they needed to leave us to go work after lunch. It was cold but pleasant to walk around. The sun came out, which doesn't always happen. Cherie said she was really looking forward to the Spring.


Cherie is wearing the scarf and hat I made! I was very chuffed.

We had to take care walking. There were plenty of ice patches to slip on, if we weren't paying close attention.



Outside their apartment in Guri. They were stay there one more night before moving across the city.








A rare experience... sun shining on us. We had coffee at a pleasant, roomy cafe and later on we had a "shabu shabu" lunch. Delicious!


We are now back home in Canberra . We had a wonderful trip away. We've been to some amazing places like Seoul , Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona and Paris. How fortunate are we to have been able to have this experience?

Stop-over in Paris

We flew on "Squeezy jet" from Barcelona to Paris. The plane was delayed 2 hours by earlier foggy weather, so when we arrived in Paris it was after midnight. All trains and buses had stopped, so we had to catch a taxi to the hotel. What a nice way to travel! I could get really used to that!
It was lovely to see Paris again after 28 years. As you will see, it wasn't at all tropical weather, but we still enjoyed walking around. We caught buses and trains when we needed to warm up from the cold and wet weather. We also had a few hot drinks along the way.






The sun was trying to shine! The temp was -1 degrees C , with a cool breeze! We weren't at all sweaty, like we were when we were here last in July 1982!






The Paris copy of the Statue of Liberty. I was going to say we went to New York as well, but I know you wouldn't have believed me.




Our "mini" hotel in Paris. The lift was just big enough for one person and a large bag.


This was a moving footway in the huge new terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We look like the only ones there. We found our fellow passengers about 3kms away from the Check-In counter ! Glad I left my high heels at home.

Barcelona: Gaudi's "Casa Battlo"












Barcelona : Gaudi's "La Pedrera"

We had the chance to go inside Gaudi's apartment building (Casa Mila) La Pedrera.
Fascinating!












Broken bottles!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Montserrat - The sacred mountain of Catalonia

The Basilica Real
A church and monastery built high up on a mountain top near Barcelona.





Stunning views. On the way up to the monastry, it was so clear that we could see across to the Pyrenees mountains.









People come from all over the world to touch the hand of the statue of the "Black Virgin". The rest of the statue is encased in glass.












This was such an interesting and beautiful place to visit.

Barcelona






Gaudi's amazing Sagrada Familia in Barcelona