The Shifting Sands

Well after such a boring title to this Blog Post one might expect the last two months to have been a bit on the boring side too. Especially compared to our first eight plus months living in Europe. Of course that has not been the case. We have had many many visitors, a trip to Amsterdam and our first really full blown Halloween. Our guests included Trish Murphy, my wonderful friend from Williamstown, Melbourne, a Chinese Exchange Student - also called Lucy!, who stayed with us for a week (she is our Lucy's exchange buddy and hopefully Lucy will go to Shanghai for a week late April and early May 2011). We then had the Giorgini family from Melbourne also. Lots of fun for the girls having extra girly company and someone to carve pumpkins with. We had three days in Amsterdam recently, staying on a house boat. Chris and Lucy went to the Anne Frank Museum and we all enjoyed several hours at the Van Gogh museum. What an amazing collection of art, not just Van Gogh...

Where do I start? In 13 days we covered more than 2,400km, 6 countries and 9 cities to ensure that we made the most of my Mum's short visit to our home in Potsdam and our ability to access much of Europe easily and fast! Fast, thanks of course to Chris pride and joy - it was that moment when he said to Mum, well Helen how fast do you think we were going then? And said to her that you didn't think I could send you home without having travelled at more than 200km per hour now did you! Well it went something like that. Speed is fun in the Audi but only in the front seat - in the back, cramped in with Lucy and Ada it is just noisy and a bit bumpy! So we started our time with Mum by taking her to the Reic hstag for Breakfast. A great way to view Berlin, avoid long long queues and eat a lovely meal at the same time. The Reichstag is the home of German Parliament and right next to the Brandenburg Gate. As well as touring some sites in Berlin, most signifi...

Given that it is almost the end of Summer and I have not added a post for two months - and we have been in several countries in that time - I thought it best to provide a quick update and maybe add some photos by way of saving on the typing! The girls finished school on the 23rd of June for the Summer and we left Germany on the 24th June heading to the Amalfi Coast for just a few days to meet up with our good friends Maree, James, Ollie and Oscar and Brett and Barbara. We stayed in the best village, Praiano, in the best little hotel - Hotel Margharita. Simple, yet with the most amazing views of the Amalfi possible. Three star prices with five star views - and Pizza! From the Amalfi we headed to Naples (not much to say except that there are clearly no taxes being paid by the infamous residents as all the dollars are being spent on fancy boats etc). After a brief stay in Naples (s'posed to be three days and turned it to one night) I headed to Rome with the girls whilst C...

Hi Family and Friends, Given that between us all we have been in at least four countries (other than Germany) since our last update it is time to blog! Firstly, my how things change with the seasons here. It seems in the blink of an eye it is getting dark at 10.30pm and light at 4.30pm and it is still four weeks until Summer Solstice! This of course heralds in a beautiful sea of greenery and flowers, particularly Lilac Bushes, everywhere it seems and of course the scents of the Lilac and the many Linden Trees too just fill the air. Spring also demonstrates the early signs of one other pastime that seems to grip people who live near our lakes - early morning nude bathing. Lizzie and I are still recovering from yesterdays eyeful, I mean walk! The volcano bought blessings to Chris who instead of going to New York for a meeting ended up fulfilling a dream, skiing the Haute Route, between Chamonix and Zermatt. A five day, vigorous, rigorous ski touring trip in almost p...

Here are our girls standing on a block of the frozen Baltic Sea at the very popular German coastal resort of Usedom. We had a lovely time here enjoying a great Tapas Meal at a Spanish Restaurant run by a girl that used to live in Brisbane; we played mini golf, stared at the amazing prussian Villa's, many of which are available to rent during the summer and had lots of fun in the hotel pool, mavelling at our girls ability not to see all those older naked german couples moving in and out of the saunas! Next stop on our Spring Break (Easter Vacation) was Paris. Would you believe I had to be convinced to go as Chris had work there and I did not want to be caught in a hotel room with the girls whilst he waiting for his meetings to end. Despite my doubts, the stay in Paris was great, albeit Chris was in meetings most of the trip. The girls dragged me between department stores (oh that was hard!) and we still manage...

Well it is different, that is for sure. We have been here for eleven weeks and in that time Chris has been away at least for five, almost six weeks, mostly in the States. Living in Potsdam, which is old East Germany, means different things on different days. If I am shopping it shows to me just how little German I have learnt in my two and a bit months here and highlights why I must start lessons this week! Potsdamers speak German and Russion and the Berliners who have come here for the quieter life speak some English, as does anyone under 30 years of age - needless to say I have a few favorite shops now and when in supermarkets make a beeline for the younger checkout girls and guys. I have started my cultural immersion program - each week I go to a palace, art gallery, museum or exhibition. So far I have been on an english speaking tour of Schloss (Palace) Chalottenburg, seen the most depressing and probably enlightening exhibition of Kathe Kollwitz art work and on Wedn...

I think I will let the pictures do the talking for this trip....................... We had fun!