In Istanbul we started our trip with a guided tour of the city. We had a local guide all to ourselves which was great especially in comparison to the dozens of giant cruise ship tour groups we passed by that day! We learned about the history of the city, saw the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia… it was a long day but a good intro to Istanbul and all its history. It was cool to look across the Bosphorus sea from Europe and see Asia right there. I have heard Istanbul described as the city where East meets West but didn’t actually realise that the city literally straddles both continents!
We spent our second day in Istanbul in some self-directed wanderings. We explored the Grand Bazaar (very pushy and unpleasant), the spice market (yum), and the more modern Istanbul around Taksim Square (a nice contrast to the historic parts).

From here we spent a day traveling to Gallipoli and seeing the memorials to both the Anzacs and the Turkish soldiers who bravely fought there in the war. It was interesting to see a piece of NZ history there in Turkey and we were both struck by the graciousness of the Turkish in welcoming the Anzac soldiers as sons and heroes after the war and allowing all the grave sites and memorials there.

Going much further back in history our next visit was to Ephesus. It was amazing to see such old ruins and imagine what the place used to be like. This is the same city that Paul visited and wrote to in the epistle of ‘Ephesians’. That’s really old!

We had a free day in Kusadasi then which was an overwhelmingly touristy coastal town. Unfortunately Matt ate a dodgy cheeseburger here which led to a very unpleasant night and a morning bus journey the next day which we will not speak of. By the time we arrived in Pamukkale we ended up spending our afternoon catching up on sleep and strength rather than touring the ‘Cotton Castle’ – natural white terraces formed by the flowing mineral waters. We still managed to get in a short evening visit to the terraces and it was worth it to see such unusual and pretty formations. Would’ve been quite romantic if we’d both been feeling a bit better! Pamukkale was the end of our touring and from here we headed to our week in Kalkan.

We enjoyed the first week traveling from Istanbul down the coast. We saw much, ate lots of rice and grilled meat, took loads of photos and traveled on a whole lot of buses. By the end of the week though we were both glad for a chance to relax in one place for a while and chill.

Kalkan is a comparatively ‘expensive’ resort town in Turkey, although its still a lot cheaper than dining out here in Dublin. We stayed at the Patara Prince which had an awesome view and beautiful grounds. Unfortunately the staff and services were pretty slack. I’m not sure if they were incapable or just didn’t care?… Not to worry though, we still had a great week. We took a boat cruise round the bay one day but mostly we spent our time in Kalkan sleeping in, reading, swimming in the pool and eating many delicious dinners. Pure, indulgent relaxation Perfect end to a holiday!

You can flip through some of our photos from the trip – http://picasaweb.google.com/mattb.net.nz/Turkey or use the slideshow below if you’re in a hurry.

Matt and I spent this Easter visiting Donegal, in the north-west of Ireland. It was great to get out of the city, see some beautiful natural landscapes and breath in the fresh country air. We stayed at Coxtown Manor near Donegal town, a charming place nestled in the country amid spring daffodils and frolicking lambs. It felt very much like spring in Donegal except for the bone-chilling wind and the tell-tale frosting that remains on the tops of the hills. Like the rest of Ireland, the warmer weather has yet to hit Donegal. Nevertheless, we had a great time driving around the area and were impressed with the landscapes – white sand beaches, mountains and valleys, lakes and cliffs.

On the way to Donegal we stopped at Bundoran beach which was stunning. If it had only been warmer it would have been very inviting to linger awhile, walk along the stretches of white sand and dip my toes in the surf. Instead we took some pictures from above the beach, marveled at the dedicated surfers down below and then headed on our way.

On Sunday we drove along the coast from Donegal. The first stop was Killybegs, a small town with a big fishing port. I was amused to note that the tourist brochure boasts that Killybegs is a “gourmet capital of the northwest” now with a staggering total of 9 restaurants catering to all tastes including Irish, Chinese and Italian! We didn’t eat there so I can’t say for sure if the claims are justified. I can however say the food in Donegal town was decidedly average so it’s quite possible Killybegs does indeed stand out as a gourmet capital by comparison

From Killybegs we continued along the coast taking some very rural winding roads to get to the Slieve League cliffs. These are Europe’s 6th largest cliffs. The walk to the cliffs offered some beautiful views over the ocean and across the rocky hills and outcrops. From here we drove onwards to Glencolmcille, up to Adara and then back to Donegal over the Bluestack Mountains.

On Monday after a quiet morning enjoying the rural aspect and our cozy country room at Coxtown Manor we headed homewards. Coming home after a trip away is always sad but at least we have a short week ahead now! For myself, this means only 4 days left at my web design job with iQuate. With mixed sadness and excitement I’ll be moving on very soon to something new. Exactly what I’ll be moving on to once we get back from Mountain View in June is as yet undecided but I’m looking forward to new opportunities and challenges…

Photos of our weekend in Donegal:

A cheap and nasty Ryan Air flight plus a 1 hour coach ride plus a short metro trip got us into Brussels at midnight on Friday. We were very pleased to step into Hotel Bloom and relax. The funky decor and gorgeous comfy room were the perfect beginning to our weekend. Would definitely recommend Bloom to anyone traveling to Brussels!

We strolled Brussels on Saturday morning stopping by the Grand Place and the city’s signature statue ‘Mannekin Pis’. We were very surprised by the level of graffiti around some of the city and thought the litter problem there may just exceed that of Dublin! By lunch time we decided we’d like to take a train to Bruges as we’d heard great things about it and also recently seen the movie of the same name.

Bruges was only about an hour away and was really delightful to visit. While a bit touristy it was still very nice with its canals and old cobble stone paved streets. We ate frites in the central square and then climbed the 366 steps to the top of the Belfroi to look down on the town. It was a dizzying climb up the old spiral stairs but well worth it at the top. We got to hear the church bells ringing close up which was quite interesting.

No trip to Belgium would be complete without trying some Belgian beer so we searched out a bar with some space outdoors and sat by the canal for some pre-dinner drinks and enjoyed the quiet ambiance. I’m not a beer drinker at all but I tried the Framboise (Rasberry fruit beer) and found it quite nice. We ate at a lovely restaurant and were very pleased with the creme brulee for dessert!

On Sunday we took a Metro just out of the center to visit the Atomium, a giant monument building from the World Expo in 1958. Big and shiny it seemed a very modern design for something built 50 years ago. It has 9 steel spheres that you can walk between, connected in the shape of an iron crystal. Nice views of the city from the very top but the wait to go up there was very long.

After a very nice but slightly touristy lunch back in the center of Brussels we raced to catch our coach to the airport. As it turned out we needn’t have rushed ourselves as our flight ended up being delayed by 5 hours! Not the nicest finish to the weekend as we had to be held in the boarding area for several hours before being transported to Liege to fly out on a different plane.

Overall, a great weekend. Well worth the trip and I feel we got a good idea of the country and the culture even in the very short time we were there. Now that we’ve recovered from the busy weekend and the late arrival home its back into the swing of things. Matt’s birthday tomorrow and then Matt is off to New York on Sunday for 3 1/2 weeks of work in the US offices! Luckily I’ve been able to arrange to go over for 1 week in the middle of that so it’s not so long apart. I’m very excited about visiting the big apple for the first time!!! We’ll have more blog posts over the next few weeks to keep you posted on our travels.

xx Kat

Our last few days on holiday were good. We went snowboarding on Friday and the weather turned out great for us. We had some blue sky and plenty of new snow from the days beforehand. I haven’t done much snowboarding before so spent most of my day on the beginner slopes and a good deal of it sitting on my rear in the snow! Matt was a patient but no-nonsense teacher for me during the morning and also enjoyed a few good runs down the upper slopes on the snowboard too.

On Saturday we bid goodbye to Bad Gastein and headed to Vienna via train. We arrived there in the afternoon and walked around a bit, taking in the center of the city. The next day we took a tram around the ring road to get an overview of the city sights and we stopped off in the Museum Quarter to admire the grand old buildings and to sample chocolate strawberries and roasted cashews from the Christmas market stalls. It was a cold day in Vienna with some snow and very icy air so we headed indoors after that and spent some time soaking in the Viennese culture and sipping coffee in a local cafe.

Vienna seemed like a nice city and somewhere we might enjoy more in the Spring or Summer time. The cold weather wasn’t the best for sight seeing and we were unfortunate to pick a bad hotel online for Vienna – Hotel Christall turned out to be much less lovely than we expected from the descriptions and photos online!

We made our way from Vienna back to Bratislava for our flights on Sunday evening and got home again on Sunday night. It has been 25 nights away from home for Matt so he was certainly glad to be home again yesterday and to sleep in his own bed again. Photos from our trip are up in the gallery if you want to flick through them.

Paris is both beautiful and romantic – a perfect place to visit on our anniversary. I found Paris to be a city steeped in history, cultured and refined but also bustling and alive! During our 4 days we visited plenty of the city and enjoyed all of it

We arrived late on Friday night after taking the long bus ride from Beauvais Airport – the remote airport that Ryan Air uses for their Paris flights. Our hotel – L’Ouest Hotel – was good, not the newest or the flashiest but our room was more spacious than others we’ve stayed in, the staff were friendly and the location and price were excellent. I would happily recommend it as a low budget place to stay in central Paris.

We started our first day in Paris by walking up to Sacre Coeur and through Montmartre. It was fun to walk the narrow streets around Montmartre and through the painters square where artists display their work and sketch portraits for the tourists. Many years ago this area of Paris is where artists like Picasso, Monet, and Van Gogh produced their work. It was a tad too touristy with the crowds of foreigners and kitchy souviner shops but still fun all the same. The view from Sacre Coeur at the top of the hill was great.

In the afternoon we took the Metro over to the Eiffel Tower. We decided to pass on going up the Eiffel Tower as the queues were long and the wind was cold! After getting the obligatory snapshots with Paris most famous monument we walked along the Champs Elysees and back to our hotel to rest. After dark we took an ‘Illuminations of Paris’ coach tour- a drive around Paris to see all the beautiful buildings and monuments with their night lights. The Eiffel Tower stands out especially at night when it is lit up and flashing with an overabundance of bright sparkling lights – bling bling!

We reserved our whole second day in Paris to see the Louvre. We arrived early and headed straight to the Grand Gallery to see the most famous painting at the museum – the Mona Lisa. She is small, covered in protective glass and surrounded by snap happy tourists. After this first stop we made our way methodically through room after room after room of paintings. The Louvre is overwhelmingly big and you definitely couldn’t see all the collections in one day. Quite often during the day I found myself walking with my head back, admiring the ceiling! The Louvre building itself is a work of art. Originally a palace, some rooms were incredibly ornate and very impressive. Photographs are not allowed in some places but in others we were allowed to use the camera without the flash. It was a very long day at the Louvre but well worth it.

There’s so much to write about! We’ll fill you in on the rest of our trip with some photos soon.

We arrived in Cambridge at lunchtime on Saturday and spent the afternoon walking around Cambridge and taking in the some of the local sights. Cambridge University is comprised of many individual Colleges scattered throughout the town. Many of the colleges have very old, grand buildings on grounds with carefully manicured gardens and lawns that you have to keep off. We walked through Saint Johns College and oohed and aahed at the stained glass, arched doorways and columns throughout (pictures in the gallery).

We stayed at the ‘Home from Home B & B’ in Cambridge which was a good, affordably-priced, place to stay. It was reasonably central and had nice rooms. Would recommend to anyone visiting Cambridge in the future.

We also enjoyed watching the punting on the river which seems to be a very popular pass time in Cambridge with tourists and locals. Unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to go punting ourselves but it looked like a lot of fun. With so many punts on the river most of the time is spent trying to navigate around others without knocking anyone in!

We spent Saturday evening catching up with other kiwis who had come over for the wedding. The wedding was on Sunday at Downing College. Sam and Zoe had a wonderful wedding, the ceremony was lovely, the bride looked beautiful, and the whole day was very special.

The ceremony was at 1:00, after which there was champagne and canapes in the garden and a spot of croquet for those who were keen. It turns out Croquet is not the genteel British game it appears on the surface! Yes, once the real rules of the game were established people seemed to take great glee in knocking everyone else off course and more or less forgot about getting themselves through the course All good fun really.

Later in the afternoon we moved inside again for the ‘Wedding breakfast’ or reception as we would call it in NZ. We were all spoiled with a full five course dinner which was followed by some entertaining speeches and then a live band and dancing into the night. Everyone had a great day.

On Monday we headed back from Cambridge to Stansted Airport for our flight. We got to Stansted with what should have been plenty of time but due to the huge lines going through security we literally had to run through the terminal to catch our flight. We made it, luckily but will know in future to allow a lot longer than the minimum time to check in!

We’ve yet to actually pay the first months rent thanks to the slowness of the transfer company we were using to get the money from New Zealand, but luckily the landlord has let us move in already as we have to move out of our Google supplied apartment tommorrow morning!

The apartment is a 30 minute walk from the Google offices or a 10 minute walk plus a 5 minute train journey if it’s raining. Kat’s commute is a little longer, a 10 minute walk, followed by a 50 minute tram ride finished off with 10 minute bus ride! I’ve made a map so you can see it all for yourself.

We move in tommorrow morning, we don’t have Internet access setup yet, so we will be offline for the next few days. In the meantime, here are some photos of our new Apartment to keep you going until our next installment…

The Hotel is nestled in a row of gorgeous classic old white stone buildings. Notting Hill seems to be an area equivalent to Remuera or Ponsonby in Auckland. Trendy boutiques and antique shops, million dollar villas, and private schools where the kids wear little straw hats and blazers. It’s a cool place to stay with plenty of eating options, shops and still quite close to the center of London.

Our room at Blue Bells is old and small but serviceable. There’s only just enough room to walk around the double bed and not really any space to put suitcases. The only other negative would be that there is no lift and we are on the 2nd floor. Oh, and the window in our room is an old one that you lift upwards to open and fasten in place by wedging a plastic fork in the gap to hold it. Ha, yes… as I said it is an old building! Overall though, Blue Bells has been fine for a short stay and the free wireless internet in our room makes up for any… quirks… of the old building.