Budapest - Paris of the East

Finally, time to write a post about our recent trip to Budapest! It was our first visit to this beautiful city, and to Hungary. On the Friday evening flight out of Geneva we had the pleasure to sit next to a friendly Budapest local named Pal who gave us his list of must-sees. Budapest was also Shane's (Kieren's friend who visited us recently) home for eight months last year, and during his stay with us in February we heard great things about the place.

Our hotel was right on Heroes' Square, an important monument at the end of Andrassy Avenue, the Hungarian equivalent of Paris's Champs-Elysées. The M1 Millennium Underground, which leads from the city centre to Heroes' Square is a beautiful restoration of the oldest underground on the European continent (1896).

The highlights of Saturday were the Hungarian National Museum, the Legenda boat tour of the River Danube and Margaret Island, and a visit to the Hungarian House of Wines. After a morning of wandering through the Pest city streets, the boat tour was a welcome rest. Budapest is actually a merging of two cities: Buda on one side of the river and Pest on the other. The boat tour did a good job of explaining the history and coming together of the two. It was also a big hit with me because I won the raffle - a DVD and bottle of Hungarian wine!

After the tour we walked up across the famous Chain Bridge and across to the Buda Castle district. It was getting late so we went for a short walk around the castle and then sought out the warm cellars of the House of Wines. For about $25 we got a wine glass to keep and could try up to 50 different Hungarian wines (we got through about 15 before we'd had enough!). They were OK but not great - we guessed that's why we hadn't heard much about great Hungarian wines!

Sunday was a beautiful day and we started out by wandering down Andrassy Avenue, stopping off at the very interesting House of Terrors, former headquarters of the Arrow Cross Party (Hungarian Nazis), then the Communist-led Political Police and State Security Police. The house has been restored and the exhibition is a horrifying and engaging description of two very sad eras of occupation in Hungarian history.

The rest of Sunday was spent wandering around the Castle district and soaking in some sun and Hungarian culture. The public transport system is brilliant and the Budapest Card made it easy to get around.

Budapest is a beautiful city and too big to see in a weekend - maybe we will have to return one day. See more photos on Flickr.

Brief visit to Rome

We went to Rome earlier this month as I had a meeting to attend on the Monday and Tuesday. The weekend was spent partly finishing my uni assignment and doing a spot of sightseeing. We'd visited Rome with Simon in January last year, so we'd seen most of the major sights. Sunday was a beaufitul day, nearly 20 degrees, so we soaked up the good weather just wandering through the Roman fora and sitting in a cafe in the Piazza Trastevere. Bellissimo!

Here's a link to a few more photos.

Carnival time in Geneva

Colour came to the streets of a wintry Geneva today with the annual carnival.

Taking a stroll through the old town with Shane, a friend of Kieren's who has been staying with us this week, we stumbled across the carnival parade.

It was a rainy day, so the bright costumes, music and dancing were a welcome sight!

I took a short video of the salsa group.

Some winter colour in Geneva

February in Geneva

It's been a quiet time since we arrived back in Geneva from our fantastic visit to Australia. Taking the train across Switzerland from Zurich airport back in mid-January, we had been expecting to see everything covered in snow, but nothing of the sort. There has been hardly any this season.

However...we did have one big snowfall in Geneva a couple of weeks ago. A nice thing for Fiona to see during her winter visit! She was so excited that she went outside in her pj's and rolled around in it. I imagine our neighbours think that Australians are a strange lot!

Fiona and Peter went skiing a couple of times, but I am yet to hit the pistes. Last weekend we did a bit of sledding in the nearby mountains.

We haven't been up to much else these last few weeks. Spending time with Fiona, catching up with friends, and a couple of short trips to Leukerbad and Basel.

Work has been hectic and I am coming to terms with being an online student (I'm doing a Masters of Science in Advanced IT and Business Management). I have found a great deal of effort is required to participate in 'class' (online discussions) and I am learning a lot. My first exam is in a couple of weeks.

You should see a bit more posted here during March. We have a trip to Rome for work and a weekend visit to Budapest coming up.


Fiona and Peter in Annecy one Sunday

Year 2006 in Cities

Following on from last year's list, here are the cities/towns we spent one or more nights in during 2006:

Paris, France
Rome, Italy
Ronda, Spain

La Linea de la Conception, Spain

El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain

Seville, Spain
Tavira, Portugal
Malaga, Spain
Grenoble, France
Entrecasteaux, France
Amsterdam, Netherlands
La Ciotat, France
Wiesloch, Germany
Barcelona, Spain
Arles, France
Washington D.C., USA
New York, USA
Madrid, Spain
Avila, Spain
Lleida, Spain
Genoa, Italy
Milan, Italy
Hydra, Greece
Athens, Greece
Lugano, Switzerland
Zermatt, Switzerland
Berlin, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Brisbane, Australia

That's 30 compared to 19 during 2005! Peter is getting very good at finding cheap deals for travel, and driving holidays around Spain have certainly boosted the numbers. There are a few towns in France missing from the list where we stayed during our bike ride down the Rhone, and where Peter and Judy stayed during their drive down to Spain.

I'm going back to study at uni part-time this year, so with weekends to be devoted to studying, I am sure 2007's list of cities will be a lot shorter!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! We saw the new year in at good old Victor Harbor, with a nice dinner, some live music, then fireworks. A bit different to last year in Paris - a great deal warmer for one!

Our visit to Oz has been a whirlwind of catching up with people, mostly over lunch and dinner. Our waistlines are paying the price, but we are having an excellent time!

We have one week left before returning to chilly Geneva. Hard to believe as I look outside to a beautiful Australian summer's day. It has been a great visit - so nice to be with our family at Christmas, and to spend time with them and friends.

We have arrived!

We have arrived safely in Adelaide. It was wonderful to have the family there waiting for us at the airport! We spent a lovely afternoon in Judy's backyard, catching up on things.

We first landed in Melbourne on Sunday evening, after delays in Zurich. It was great to see Kieren and Nikki, and spend the evening with them in their lovely place in Hawthorn. After the best breakfast we have had in ages (cooked by Kieren), we took a plane from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Australia is hot and dry - it's so nice to be home! We are having a great time and looking forward to catching up with more family and friends over the next four weeks.

Stuck in Zurich

Our flight to Singapore has been cancelled due to a "faulty body gear strut". They have put us up in a hotel near the Zurich airport, and we'll be flying out at 10am tomorrow, nearly 24 hours later than originally planned. Unfortunately this will affect our stay with Kieren and Nikki in Melbourne. We will probably arrive there on Sunday night, or may even arrange to go direct to Adelaide. We will find out all when we get into Singapore Sunday morning at 5am local time!

Off to the land of Oz

Here we are, sitting in Zurich airport, waiting for our flight back home to Australia. We were up v. early this morning to catch the train from Geneva, in fact, I've been wide awake with excitement since 2am. Now it's early afternoon and I'm feeling jet lagged before we've left.

Got to the airport without any hassle, but upon arrival, we found out that our Singapore Airlines flight is delayed. Due to leave at 12:15, we are told there will be "more news" at 4pm, hopefully it's all good. Can't complain though. They gave us 2 x 50 franc vouchers to spend on food and drink. After a nice lunch, we are waiting in the airport bar, admiring the view. Waiting....and....waiting....

Postcards from Berlin

During the last phase of Judy's stay with us we went to Berlin for an extended weekend. I liked her description of it as a 'City of Contrasts'. It had a vibrant feel, lots of interesting things to do, cheap, good food, and the best beer I've ever tasted. In contrast, we spent many hours contemplating the dark side of Germany's history with visits to the Jewish History Museum, Berlin Wall monument, and Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

We stayed in a suburb called Pankow, just north of the city centre, and in the former East Berlin. The apartment was perfect for the three of us - spacious, comfy, and close to the excellent public transport system.

There is heaps to see in Berlin, and even though we had almost five days there, we could easily have stayed longer. The Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium), built for the 1936 Summer Olympics and recently renovated for this year's FIFA World Cup, was high on Peter's list of sites to see. Unfortunately we picked the wrong day, arriving there on a match day meant we couldn't get inside to do the tour, but we got some nice pics from out the front.

Our other adventures included wandering through the beautiful Tiergarten park and getting caught up in a massive, but peaceful protest by union groups; enjoying a bratwurst sausage on Unter den Linden (and listening to Peter complain of indigestion for the rest of the afternoon); visiting Checkpoint Charlie with hundreds of other tourists; and Judy and I getting haircuts at groovy Berlin salons.

The Jewish History Museum was an interesting account of the Jewish people, their customs, lives, and their persecution over past centuries. Without realising it, we easily spent five hours wandering through the exhibits and were completely exhausted by the end of it.

It was fascinating to learn more about the Berlin Wall (1961-1989), which used to completely surround West Berlin, separating it from East Germany. There is a small portion of the Wall that remains as a monument. Kept completely free of graffiti, it doesn't resemble the typical images. The excellent museum nearby succinctly tells the story of the Wall's construction, impact, and fall.

In Oranienburg, about 60km north of Berlin, is the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Built in 1936, it was the first Nazi concentration camp. After the end of WWII it became a Soviet special camp until 1950. Although a small camp in comparison with others, 200,000 people passed through here between 1936 and 1945, only half of which survived. Sachsenhausen was also the administrative centre for all Nazi concentration camps, and a training centre for SS officers.

It was the first time that any of us had been to such a place. It was an extremely difficult experience, but I think it was important to see. I found it incredible to contemplate the order with which these camps were established and run, and how people could treat others so disgustingly. Several buildings of the original camp remain today, and the public memorial and museum ensures the history is well preserved.

During our last day in the city we took a train down to Potsdam, the capital of the state of Brandenburg, and the location of the 1945 Potsdam Conference, where the allies met to decide the future of Germany and post-war Europe. It is also the site of the beautiful Sanssouci park and palaces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our long weekend in Berlin was the last little holiday we did during Judy's stay with us. I think we all enjoyed it immensely and it was a real highlight (among many!). Jude is now on her way back to Oz, and is in Hong Kong as I type this. It was wonderful for us to spend nine weeks with her. Thankfully it wasn't too hard to say goodbye, because we will be seeing her back in Adelaide in about four weeks time!

See all of our Berlin photos on Flickr.

A clear day in Geneva

 

France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland

As part of Judy's nine week visit, Peter organised a wonderful holiday for us all. Using as many methods of transport as possible, we have travelled through France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Switzerland.

It's a complicated trip, but to cut a long story short, I had to go to Spain for a week to attend a meeting in a town called Avila (100km west of Madrid).


While I was working, Peter and Judy spent four days driving our car across France, and met me in Spain. After the conference finished, we drove to Barcelona (600km), stopping along the way at a town called Lleida. A whirlwind tour of Barcelona followed (lots of Gaudi buildings), then we hopped on a ferry with our car, and travelled to Genoa, Italy.


From Genoa, which we won't talk about (horrible hotel), we had a quick visit of the lovely Cinque Terre National Park, then headed up to Milan, and flew to Athens.



Now we are in Greece, where it was straight down to the port and off to the beautiful island of Hydra (ee-dra). This was the main phase of our holiday, and we stopped there for seven nights.



Our traditional Greek summer house (Spiti Costandi) was absolutely gorgeous, with a fantastic view of the harbour (we have hundreds of photos to prove it). Food was great, weather lovely, and swimming in the Agean was wonderful.



After Hydra, we went back and spent 24 hours in Athens, where we checked out the Acropolis and the old town area.



Had a bit of trouble getting out of Athens due to a metro strike, protests, and a severe lack of taxis, but we eventually made it on to our EasyJet flight.

Then back to Milan, where our car was waiting for us at the airport.


With five days of holidays left, we drove up to Lugano in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. We spent our time there walking and checking out the lovely lakeside town.


After Lugano, it was off to Zermatt. We had the crispest, clearest day for our drive through the mountains, and once in Zermatt, the best view of the Matterhorn we've ever seen.


On the drive back to Geneva on Sunday, we visited the Leukerbad thermal baths, where we could refresh after our busy travels. Being a tourist is hard work!




There are many more nice photos of this trip available on Flickr (also as slideshow).


This week I'm back in the office, but not for long as we're going to Berlin for the weekend. Berlin is a city none of us have visited before, and we are once again taking advantage of cheap EasyJet flights. Having visitors is the perfect excuse to travel.

A week in Washington

Well, for me it was a week in Washington, for Peter and Judy, it was five days, plus a visit to New York. The three of us met at Dulles airport, having all taken different planes from Geneva and Adelaide. It is great to see Judy again after 18 months! She will be with us for nine weeks.

Washington is a beautiful city - leafy and green, nice buildings, and not too big. I was there for work - a meeting on statistical dissemination and communication. Having spent several months helping to organize this meeting, I was looking forward to finally meeting everyone, and also to delivering a paper on the business applications of blogs.

We stayed in a residential area in the south east, about 15 minutes walk from 'the Hill'. It was close to the Eastern Market, and we enjoyed browsing around the stalls and shops. The weather was nice - mid twenties and fairly humid.

The meeting went very well, and my presentation was well received. It was a busy week and I was exhausted by Friday.

While I was working, Peter and Judy were off in New York, enjoying the sights and going to see 'The Color Purple' on Broadway. They had a great time.

One of the highlights of our visit to the US was going to the baseball on the last night we were there. A lovely local, Laurie, took us to see her beloved Washington Nationals play the Milwaukee Brewers. The Nationals lost, but it was exciting to be there and soak in the atmosphere. On the last day we enjoyed a visit to the fairly new National Museum of the Native American.

Today I am off to Spain for another meeting, then two whole weeks of holidays (first long holiday in 18 months - I know we have plenty, but they are usually short). We are going to see a bit of Spain, Italy, spend a week in Greece, see more of Italy, then drive home through Switzerland.

See all the photos of Washington on Flickr (taken with our new beautiful Lumix TZ1 camera).

Cycling and spas in the Swiss mountains

Leukerbad, in the Swiss canton of Valais, was our destination last weekend. Two hours drive from Geneva, and one hour from the section of Rhone River bike path we had yet to complete, it was an ideal spot to go camping. That is, except for the fact it was situated at 1,400 metres altitude and was a very chilly 10 degrees overnight. Leukerbad is a beautiful town, surrounded by an amphitheatre of rocky mountains, and famous for its thermal springs.

Arriving late on Friday night, we struggled to get our tent up before it got dark, and then Peter nearly burnt the whole thing down whilst lighting our camp stove (good one!!). After those tense moments, we settled in, cooked risotto, which we had with a nice bottle of red wine, then managed to get a few hours sleep in the cold mountain surroundings. Saturday morning, it was back down to the valley, destination Oberwald, the end of our "Rhone River: source to the sea project". This is a good spot to call the 'end', as beyond Oberwald it gets really, really hilly. You can take the train from there, under the Furka pass, and it will be this that we take next year, when we continue our ride, this time along the River Rhine.

The countryside was magnificent as we rode the 45 km from Oberwald to Brig (where we'd got to last year). That part of the Valais is very different to the sections we had visited before. Being close to the Rhone glacier, the river is a creek compared to further along, and the valley is narrow and quiet. We had a few hills to climb (and descend), but the views and the quiet roads more than made up for the effort. We have now completed the 950km path along the Rhone, from the mountains in Switzerland, to the south coast of France.

The pièce de résistance of the weekend was the thermal baths we went to on Sunday morning. Figuring that 9am on Sunday is a good time to beat the crowds, we headed down to 'Burgerbad', the biggest and best spa centre in town. It was unbelievable. They have 10 different pools and spas, heated between 25 and 43 degrees (and a couple very cold ones for plunging into after the hot ones!). We spent three hours there, going from pool to pool, trying all the different treatments, massage jets, boiling sauna hut, etc. Imagine sitting in a pool of spring water, heated to 35 degrees, overlooking the rugged mountains. Magic!

See all the pictures on flickr.com.

A night in a French Chateau

Last Saturday saw me turn another year older. Peter spoiled me, and himself, with a weekend at a beautiful 17th century chateau in France. Chateau de Rigny is in a town called Gray, about two hours drive from Geneva. We took the slow roads there, and enjoyed the views.

The chateau was gorgeous and our room was fantastic. Downstairs there was a bar and restaurant, so once we got there, we stayed put. After four sets of table tennis (Peter won 4-0 - no concessions for the birthday girl!), and a stroll around the gardens, we got ready for dinner then headed to the bar for a drink. While enjoying a glass of bubbly on the terrace, the waiters brought out the menu and had us ordering dinner an hour before we'd booked in! By the time we got to the dining room, our bottle of wine and mineral water were already waiting at our table. Thankfully the food wasn't there yet! The meal was average, but the atmosphere, and company, were excellent.

After a leisurely breakfast the next morning, we hit the road, heading for Besancon. This French city was a recommended to us by the Fishers when they were here last summer, and we'd been meaning to visit it for ages. It is an old fortified town, one of 15 designed by Vauban in the 17th century. The citadelle is in excellent condition and now houses several museums and bizarrely, zoos. We did the obligatory audio tour of the ramparts and courtyard, then spent a couple of hours in the Museum of Resistance and Deportation. It was the first time I've been to a WWII museum in an area that was occupied by the Nazis. There were many original objects on display and a comprehensive history of the events leading up to, during and immediately after the war. The pictures and stories of concentration camps were absolutely sickening.

On the way home from Besancon we drove through the Jura, past the fields where we went skiing and sledding in winter. Needless to say, it looked pretty different. Lots of green grass and grazing cows. The ski trails are still well used this time of year, with plenty of people out hiking.




See more photos on Flickr.

Cycling along the Rhone II

Last week we took five days to cycle along the River Rhone, from Lyon to the sea. A total of 370km! This has almost completed our ride along the Rhone, from the source, near Andermatt in Switzerland, to the sea (we have 40km at the start still to do). We did most of the Swiss section last summer, and started heading down river from Geneva in May.

It was almost all flat, very hot, but there was a nice strong tailwind. We carried our gear on our bikes, using the train to get to Lyon, our starting point, then the bus and train to get home from Port-St-Louis-du-Rhone.

This map of the main roads is not the exact route we followed, but it gives an idea of the areas we went through. More details to be posted on our Cycling in Europe website, when I get the time.

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from our trip.

Dancing in Tortosa

Views over Tortosa
Originally uploaded by Jess & Peter.

Fiona has been in Spain the last two weeks, at a modern dance workshop in Tortosa, 180 km south of Barcelona. Peter and I took the train there on Thursday night, and spent Friday watching the classes and evening performance. There are a few photos on Flickr.

It was an impressive workshop with 80 dancers from all over the world. Fiona had a great time and really benefited from the experience of working with professionals in difference aspects of dance, movement and creativity.

She was one tired girl when we headed back to Geneva on Saturday so she could catch her plane to Australia that night. It's great to have our loved ones come to spend time with us, but very hard to say goodbye.