TravelStream™ news feed for member donnalee01 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/donnalee01 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:00:30 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251227481/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251227481/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251227481/tpod.html Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:00:30 -0400 Spain-' LA TOMATINA'

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Valencia, Valencian Country, Spain and Canary Islands

This is it....This is what we have been waiting for....This is the reason why we have come to Spain.... La Tomatina Festival!!! ( The tomato festival). A little bit of history, this festival did not start from some historic event, no, it began with just two men fighting in&nbsp;a small village just outside Valencia called Bunol. It then roller balled into a festival that 20,000+ people flock to every year, Spanish people included. It is the most messy, wet, slimy, and very very red event&nbsp;you will every go to. But it is one of the things everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.We begin our trip catching a 3hour train from Barcelona to Valencia. And spend the day exploring. People have mentioned that Valencia is a great place?? We would disagree, there is nothing WOW about this small city. We have been spoilt by cheap cocktails in bars on the beach, which Valencia doesn't have. Yes it has a beach with&nbsp;a large soft sandy beach and a promade before you get to the bars and restaurants, half of which are closed. We did however visit the beach at 5pm in the evening, keeping in mind that this place&nbsp;like all of&nbsp;Spain doesn't wake up until at least 7pm. The area around the Cathedral is lovely and surrounded with restaurants and bars, which is where we spend our two nights eating and drinking.&nbsp;Our Tomatina&nbsp;Gang&nbsp;has increased by one, Alex has joined us, in total we have a team of 6.&nbsp;Soren and I awake early to get the 7.15am train to Bunol. The other four are on a tour that&nbsp;is providing them with a bus to Bunol. We have agreed to meet them on Platform&nbsp;1 of the train station because all train stations have a platform one. (how hard can it be)&nbsp;When we arrive, we arrive on Platform two. We wait&nbsp;one hour at platform One for the rest of the gang before we give up at head into the town. Feeling half disappointed that we won't find&nbsp;our friends and half optimistic that we will find&nbsp;the four people we are looking for in a crowd of at least 10,000 people.Alot of&nbsp;people have already&nbsp;started to crowd the small&nbsp;narrow streets of Bunol, but we are determined to get into the heart of this crazy&nbsp;festival. All in or all out, we nudge, duck and dive our way through the crowd, passing a&nbsp;T.shirt fight were Soren willing gives up his shirt beating the crowd to having them&nbsp;rip it off him. We get to a close distance to the greasy pole (A 10meters pole is greased and a ham placed on the top, the idea?? Climb the pole retrieve the ham and the tomatoes will come. In the last four years it has only been retrieved once,&nbsp;can it be done today?). After about 30minutes we make our way further into the crowd looking for a good place to start our fight.&nbsp;As luck would have it we bump&nbsp;right into our four friends. With the gang all back together we prepare ourselves&nbsp;for the fight.&nbsp;It is hot and everyone is pushing against everyone else,&nbsp;the crowd call to the locals-&nbsp;"Agua, Agua, Agua"! (water!).&nbsp;buckets of water fall from the balconies of the locals to cool us down.&nbsp;The ham is still at the top of the pole...&nbsp;time has run out, A horn is blown to start the festival....bring in the tomatoes!!!.. In total four trucks come through, throwing tomatoes as they go and&nbsp;every few meters they stop and&nbsp;dump some of there load. No words can explain what&nbsp; happens next I think the photos tell it all. It starts off with a few tomatoes and before&nbsp;we know it we have&nbsp;chunky tomato soup&nbsp;on the street- chunks of it on our body's, in our hair. There is tomato in place you&nbsp;never thought existed. IT GETS EVERY WHERE!! .An hour of fighting, getting hit&nbsp;all over the body with whole tomatoes to begin with, which then turns into tomato slush. Soren&nbsp;is enjoying himself so much he&nbsp;decides to lye down for a rest (see photo). After the second horn is blown the fighting stops. <i>We are all officially TOMATOFIED&nbsp;.&nbsp;Half way through our fight a brave girl decides that she wants that ham on the pole. She gets to the top and cuts the netting around the ham, but unfortunately doesn't manage to pull&nbsp;the ham down. Thousands of people&nbsp; throwing tomatoes stop to see if this girl can get the ham, unlucky we all suddenly realize that we are supposed to be throwing tomatoes...ARGHHH!!!! back to the tomato fight We then spend the next hour walking the streets of Bunol finding locals with house hoses to wash us down. We make our way back to our friends tour bus (we have cheekily left clean clothes with our friends to change into) and then hitch a ride back with them instead of waiting two hours for a train. Back in Valencia we de-tomatofy ourselves and make our way into the city centre to have dinner and drinks with the gang and exchange tomato stories. Our last night together before we all go our separate ways. &nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251836206/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251836206/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251836206/tpod.html Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:07:00 -0400 Spain-' LA TOMATINA'

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Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

We arrive to 30 degree temperatures...this feels like home. We haven't&nbsp;had this for such a long time, the warm sun on our skin confirms that we are officially on holidays.&nbsp;We are meeting up with three friends- Nyron, Gail, and Brody. (The Tomatina Gang). After walking round the old town of Barcelona, we high tail it to the beach....soft sand between our toes and the cool water on our skin. We make our way to the beach bar for an afternoon round of Mojitos and Caprihinas..these are way to easy to drink on such a beautiful summers day. After more than one round on cocktails we go in search of some Spanish Tapas. (Tapas: small dishes of food originally served in bars to encourage drinkers to eat so they wouldn't get drunk).The next day we head to 'La Sagrada Familia' a cathedral that is still not finished after more than 100 years, but might be completed&nbsp; between 2020's and 2040's. A project started by the famous artist Antoni Gaudi. A kingdom based around the geometry of animals, plants, and minerals, he used real people and animals as models for many of the sculptures. This Cathedral inspires awe with it's sheer verticality, it is topped with eight towers which another four will be added, totalling12 to&nbsp;represent the 12 apostles.We venture over to Gaudi park, filled with quirky shapes and buildings&nbsp;designed by the famous artist. The park is filled with&nbsp;hawkers selling all things from fake bags to sunglasses- They are there one minute and the next they are gone. A very interest thing to watch. They are there illegally, with one word from a lookout they sweep up their goods,&nbsp;pop them into a bag&nbsp;and with a blink of the eye&nbsp;they are gone.&nbsp;(blended in with the tourist.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We make our way&nbsp;over to La Rambla to join a Spanish Cooking&nbsp;class.&nbsp;We learn to cook the famous Spanish&nbsp;dish 'Paella' along with a Spanish tomato soup, Tortilla Patatas Bravas (Potato omelette) finshed with Crema Catalana (Spanish version of Creme Brulee). A great dinner made by the whole class. After dinner we make our way back to the beach bar for&nbsp;more cheap cocktails to&nbsp;count down to Soren's&nbsp;birthday. It is close to 12 midnight and the bar is close to closing time. At the strike of midnight we start to sing Happy Birthday Soren at the same time all the lights go out. The remain drinking&nbsp;guests sing along with us. Great timing, atmosphere brilliant.What a way to see in your 30th Birthday!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251400307/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251400307/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/17/1251400307/tpod.html Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:43:42 -0400 Spain-' LA TOMATINA'

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Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands

Another 3 hour train from Valencia to Madrid. This city is great, second best to Barcelona. with three big art Museums to see, we spread them over three days with a overnight trip to Toledo.We find a local cafe that we visit each morning, we almost feel like locals when the elderly lady that runs it knows what we have by the second morning. We set ourselves off to see&nbsp;'Centro&nbsp;De Arte Reina Sophie'&nbsp;Adapted from the shell of an 18th century hospital&nbsp;it houses the best modern&nbsp;art in Spain.&nbsp;Artist such as Salvador Dali and Juan Munoz with quirky little characters that he has placed around the museum. we have lunch at&nbsp;a local bar and cafe- no tourist here, we do our best to order in Spanish, and sit back and crowd watch the locals doing what they do best. This place has a real buzz to it.&nbsp;We venture off to a handicraft store, this is like Aladdin's Cave of ceramics from all over Spain. We purchase a small plate, a copy of an 18th century design hand made and painted&nbsp;from the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain. The next day we make our way through Museo Del Prado one of the worlds top museums that houses collections of Spanish and European art. With the likes of Rembrandt. In the afternoon we make our way down to Toledo- 40minutes from Madrid. We get off the train and the heat is alittle unbearable. We now know why the Spanish have afternoon siesta's. Toledo is built upon a hill around which the river Rio Tajo flows on three sides. We wander around this beautiful city getting lost in it's narrow steep&nbsp;streets. Sadly I get very sick and end up in bed for the late afternoon and all night. Soren is great looking after me. The next morning we take it easy and wander through the streets early (not to hot at this time of the morning) This time of the morning is great- the tourist are all still asleep, but the locals are&nbsp;out and&nbsp;about&nbsp;buying fresh fish, fruit and vegetables. We have breakfast at Plaza de Zocodover- great for crowd watching.Our last day in Madrid we check out the last Museum- Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Ranges from medieval art to zany contemporary paintings. showcasing paintings from famous artist such as Van Gogh, Monet, and of course Salvador Dali.Overall Spain was a great surprise filled with alot of art,&nbsp;but the highlight without any doubt would have to be La Tomatina.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/16/1239372120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/16/1239372120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/16/1239372120/tpod.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:59:59 -0400 SCOTLAND.

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edinburgh scotland, United Kingdom

We arrive&nbsp;in Edinburgh to a bright sunny day which follows us around all weekend. Soren has been here before so he shows me all the highlights Edinburgh has to offer. I imediately fall in love with the tiny Closes (alley ways) that are all over Edinburgh. We take a walk up a hill to Arthur's seat, that offers a beautiful view of Edinburgh city. we stumble across a delicious fudge shop, mmmm......this fudge is moreish, outside we take one bite and turn to walk back in for some more,we even get some to take back home on our last day. More great food in Edinburgh, MONSTER MASH. this place serves you traditional sausage and mashed potato's with gravy. But they have a variety of everything. We end up getting vegetarian sausage, anther great meal, we end up visiting it again for lunch before returning to London. (I am not one for trying new food and pass on the oprtunity to try Haggis (i am told it is a combination of stomache intestines, kidney and liver) Edinburgh is a very relaxed city, that you can easily fall in love with. Our first night in Edinburgh is not&nbsp;complete without jumping on an underground ghost tour. We get lead around this beautiful city and&nbsp;hear about the hard life the Scottish endeared many years ago, We are then escorted into the under world of old Scotland. There once was a bridge and the poorer people live in the arches, after over population and disease alot of people died leaving behind ghosts. We hear alot about previous tours having encounters with theses ghost, but tonight we are not so lucky, with the exception of the funny ones&nbsp;who like to scare us when the torch suddenly&nbsp;stops working.&nbsp;&nbsp; We hire a car to set of to explore the country side of Scotland. On our way to Glasgow we detour to Roslyn Chapel (The Da Vinci Code was filmed here).&nbsp;This stone chapel is so detailed we spend hours just looking at the intricate details of the stone, there is frame work surrounding the chapel- for restoration- drying out the the stone to stop the mold. We see a&nbsp;castle in the near distant so we take off to check it out. We continue to Glasgow to have a deep fried mars bar....not great for the health of our bodies, but you only live once so we share one so as not to give us a heart attack. After being advised by the local police it is not a good idea to eat these- we venture off in the direction of a chippery (chip shop), only to be sent further down the road to another chippery who sends us even further down the road until we find what seems to be&nbsp;the only chippery in Glasgow to make one of these for us.&nbsp;A cold mars bar is rolled in flour and then in batter- then deep fried to give you a taste of something like a chocolate caramel donut. Filled with sugar and fat we hit the road to Oban. &nbsp;OBAN- a quaint little seaside town with the best fish and chips I have tasted in a long time. We explore a ruined castle on a hill to watch the sun set- and then brave eating fish and chips near the water....it is getting alittle to cold so we head to a bar to warm up with a drink. &nbsp; Loch Ness.- we wanted to climb Ben Nevis- the tallest mountain in Scotland- (sadly Donna hurt her ankle badly before leaving London, so that adventure has to be put on hold for another time.) We are heading towards Inverness but not before going for a brave swim in the famous Loch Ness. we travel through Glencoe and admire Ben Nevis from a distance- a beautiful part of Scotland that we could easily spend a week walking around. To my surprise Loch Ness is not a small round lake but a very long lake that stretches for miles. we find a small part that we can park next to and strip down to our bathes....ready...set....go... not so easy running over rocks but we end up in the water, feet hurt from the rocks,...can't feel our bodies because of the cold water...I can't even scream because of the cold . We literally just dunk ourselves in the water and try to run back to put on dry warm clothes....mission accomplished. we head to a quite town called Nairn just outside Inverness to stop for the night. we end up in a sweet little B and B. I love these places, they are so personal, &nbsp;filled with old china and furniture from my grandmothers days. After&nbsp;watching the sun set over the sea we set off to find somewhere to eat, been&nbsp;a quite seaside town that doesn't offer much in the way of&nbsp;food,&nbsp;we head to the local pub for dinner.These pubs are so simple and been so simple is what makes them great.Our window offers views of the ocean but the next morning as we awake to admire the ocean views we are meet with&nbsp;a low blanket of cloud (it is just as beautiful but eerie at the same time)&nbsp;we take a walk along the beach...it seems that this beach has sand unlike most beaches in the U.K. it feels very Erie. we play on the swings at a children's playground and then Soren proceeds to make a dam in the sand and moss cover rocks. we are like children again and it feels so innocent. We are off to visit Soren's cousin and his wife- Sain and Alex in Aberdeen, but not before exploring the highlands, an area famous for Scotch. We are both not Scotch drinker so today we are having lessons on what makes scotch so great. we visit&nbsp;distilleries such as Macallan, Cardhu, GlenGrant, and the famous Glenfiddich. At one distillery we come across four Hairy Cows, these animals as friendly and eat grass from our hands. A term I really like&nbsp;is&nbsp;"The angels&nbsp;share" this relates&nbsp;to the 2% of all productions&nbsp;that is&nbsp;evaporated from the storing barrels.&nbsp;Glendfiddich is the only places that offers a free tours and the one place we&nbsp;learnt the most from,&nbsp;we seem to have turned into the annoying couple on&nbsp;tours that ask all the questions. So by the end of the day I am sadly still not a fan of scotch, but Soren on the other hand is acquiring his taste buds to the idea, starting them off by&nbsp;buying a bottle of malt whiskey liquor (sweeter than normal scotch).We arrive in Aberdeen and have drinks with Sain and Alex before heading off to one of the best Indian restaurant in Aberdeen. An early night, up early tomorrow.Our last day in Scotland is spent back in Edinburgh, we seem to navigate our way back to the car hire office with the help of Google maps, which is the best way for direction until we realise that you forgot to fuel up and you have 5mins of battery remaining...lucky we manage to find a service station and remember the way back. we then spend the day exploring Edinburgh castle. Funny story- it seems the Scottish may be the only country who seemed to have forgotten it had royal jewels, and after 100 years someone remembered to look for them.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/13/1236625200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/13/1236625200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/13/1236625200/tpod.html Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:21:30 -0400 EGYPT!!!

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Cairo, Egypt

Soren has put together our travel blog for our trip to Egypt..... Below is the link to Soren Travelpod page. Scroll to the bottom of the page to view Table Of Contents to see all the blogs from Egypt.Have Fun, and Keep Smiling.http://travelpod.com/z/sorenwhite/8/1236519000
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/15/1230849000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/15/1230849000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/15/1230849000/tpod.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:14:38 -0400 LONDON- 2009

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london, United Kingdom

If you live in London and submit a request to your local council to get permission to climb Big Ben, then you to can get to stand next to four gigantic bells while they chime 11 time in your ears. I have wanted o climb Big Ben since I arrived but was informed that it wasn't possible; I then however came across a website that directed me on my way. A very complicated way to climb it but well worth the while- unfortuntely our group was very small- 6 people and I wasn't able to sneak photos that weren't allowed to be taken.Cambridge- I surprise Soren with a weekend away- (very rare because of my job) - we end up in Cambridge a very popular University town. Very relaxing punting along the river to view all of the universities. London under snow.....I have never seen London as beautiful as it looks right now. The most snow London has seen in nearly 20years- and we are lucky enough to be here and experience it. Stepping through ankle deep soft fluffy snow that squeaks when you reach the path way. Everything is white; you can't tell the footpath from the roads- the parks from the garden beds. The feeling of snow falling in your face- it is so soft and light (similar to ash), and it melts the moment it touches your skin- it lands in your eyes and then dissolves. Standing on a pier in-between London bridge and charing cross, the snow if blowing into me, the sight is amazing... little snowflakes blow across the horizon up to the pier and over me, it looks like a sea of fast swimming little fish. My feet are wet, I can't feel my fingers, or toes and I am cold, but it is all worth this small moment in time to experience London under snow because it could be gone tomorrow.&nbsp;I am official OLD- I turned 30 in March and to take my mind off the fact that I wasn't getting any younger we took off to Egypt to dive in the red sea and explore the famous pyramids (see travel blog)&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/14/1199208600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/14/1199208600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/14/1199208600/tpod.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:23:32 -0400 LONDON- 2008

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London, United Kingdom

We have moved yet again, this time into a beautiful apartment on the Thames River in North Greenwich- We have very cool flatmates and have had so much fun- the photos explain it all.&nbsp;Scott and Meagan (Australian Friends) came to visit. After been together for 8yeasr they finally got married and came to Italy for their honeymoon, on the way home they stopped into see us. If was great to see a friendly face in London- had lots of laughs and drinks. (Funny story- Soren and I sent a wedding gift over to Australia- they did not however get to pick it up before the wedding and the gift was returned.....one day AFTER they left London to go back to Australia)Tennis Wimbledon: We get up early to get tickets to see a day of the great tennis players- we lined up for about three hours before getting into the game park. The day turned out to be very warm and sunny (very rare in this country) and the games where intense.Abseiling: I like to do crazy things though out my life so when a brochure landed at me feet offering you free abseiling for charity I jumped at it. I got a few girls from work to join in the crazy adventure and after raising £700 we abseiled 100m down the side of a hospital building of all things (well if anything went wrong I wasn't far from help)Soren's Cousin Alex is getting married to Sian in Cardiff (Wales). It was a great weekend where I got to meet more of Soren's family. And we finally made some English friends, who we have had lots of fun with since then.Ceremony of the keys: An old English tradition. Tower of London is where the Queens jewels are held and every night the gates need to be locked- every night at 9.45pm without fail the gates have been locked since the beginning of time. Red Bull Air Race Sunday party at our apartment- great views of air race and a rained out BBQ. Christmas house party- trying different vodkas- very drunk night.Dinner party with Sam and Kathryn- an interesting party game and a water fight.Dinner party at Sam and Kathryn's with Alex and Sian- never play the game 'Articulate' in couple as it might end in divorce :-) Christmas 2008: Julie and Bill have come over to spend Christmas with us- It is a magic time. We spend Christmas day in London and then take a road trip to Bruges, Belgium, and Lille. Very, Very cold but we all survive (See travel blog)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/4/1200252060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/4/1200252060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/4/1200252060/tpod.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:24:21 -0400 London and Beyond!!!!

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London, United Kingdom

Hi Everyone,I apologise for not entering details&nbsp;onto&nbsp;my blog. you know the story, found work and got busy :-) So&nbsp;let me bring you all up to date, starting&nbsp;with London. I arrived at heathrow airport to be welcomed into the arms of my beautiful boyfriend Soren, and spent the next few days exploring the wonders of London city..the London Eye (huge ferris wheel with glass pods to see all of london), the famous Big Ben (it&nbsp;is as&nbsp;beautiful as the pictures), and ending up at Seven dials&nbsp;( a very small round about with seven entries) for a famous monmouth coffee&nbsp;(comes highly recommended from Svend). Then I was on a mission to find a job to fund for this glorious adventure.....success,&nbsp;I have landed a job managing a hair and beauty&nbsp;salon in London Bridge, yes the same bridge that they made a poem of. it has been challenging but i am likely it alot.So in between working and working I have been exploring London and finding more little treasures as&nbsp;I go along....Changing of the guards (front of Buckingham Palace) on a bright sunny day, this is a English tradition that&nbsp;happens everyday at 11am. The Queens gaurds sign in and out with the&nbsp;help&nbsp;of men, horses and there trumpets.Nottinghill Carnival- A day of bright sun, colourful characters, and their costumes, with lots of food and people.Soren and I are been moving alot since I arrived and after trying out areas such as Grovepark (would highly reccommend NOT living here), to stopping over in Putney for about 5weeks before moving to South Wimbledon (going to be great when the tennis comes).I have family in Essex, which is an hour out of london, and we went to visit them for the first time just before christmas, they are very lovely and it will be great to spend time with them. Just before christmas they had added alittle addition to their family- little Amelia, Linda's 1st grand-daughter.Christmas 2007 began by putting on the ice skates and hitting the ice rinks around London- the 1st was a Somerset House, and by the second at Hyde park, we weren't doing to bad, at least I was away from the wall and skating without to much help, Soren on the other hand has a natural talent and took the the ice with ease. We then saw the year out in Sweden for Christmas (see travel blog) and a cold night on the Westminister bridge to see Big Ben tick over, with spectualar fireworks, and it only took three hours to get home (normally a one hour commute) but well worth the effortWe &nbsp;hired a car in the new year and took off to the famous Stonehenge, Bath and Wales. Stonehenge was great, we walked around with our aduio tour guide and got absolutely soaked in the rain. Stonehenge is where there are large stones that were put there thousand of years ago, these stones are huge and it intrigues me to think how they not only got there, but how they&nbsp;errected them.&nbsp;Bath was spectacular. Natural hot water comes up from the earth and&nbsp; many decades ago the&nbsp;romains built a bath around it. it was used for healing and religious reasons. To this day the bath is still there, you are not allowed to bathe in it, but the natural water still rises from the earth, that much in fact that they have to pump the water out into the river to prevent the&nbsp;pool from overflowing and&nbsp;flooding Bath.&nbsp;we had a taste of the water.... AGHH!!! horrible, it tasted very metalic. We did however visit the modern day spa. They say that the water used is the natural water from the earth, but by the time they filter it and add cholrine, it doesn't seem to be that special. there are two baths one on the roof and one on the lower ground level, the one on the roof was our favourite. imagine bathing in a warm pool while rain drops on your face, very relaxing. They also have a steam room which consists of four glass pods each with a different fragance. After spending two hours we floated back to our rooms, for a perfects night sleep.we travelled onto Cardiff (wales) and tried to find a traditional welsh pub, to our dissappointment, they all look the same as english pubs, but with alot more Peas on the menu (6 out of 9 dishes on the menu consisted of peas???) So we continued north and visited two castles on the way. castles are like churches, temples, and monastaries...seen one seen them all, but they were great to see. we passed a beach side town that had multi-coloured town houses, each house was a different colour, ranging from bright blues, to pastels pinks, greens, and yellows. we then finished the day resting in a BB....we were the only guest in a house big enough for 20 people. us and the old lady who ran it.....a little scary...think horror films :-) but we woke then next morning with all limbs intact .So back in london, back to work, but it is not that bad we have already book three more holidays... a weekend in Paris, a week in Ireland (st patricks day) and a week in turkey (anzac day). So i will let you all know about these adentures in my next blog.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230404400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230404400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230404400/tpod.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:35:39 -0500 Christmas in London, Belgium and France

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Brussels, Belgium

In the afternoon we take off to Brussels- the temperature has just dropped it's -2 degrees, we will soon lose all feeling in our fingers and toes. A much bigger town- city than Brugge with its own subway and trams- well know for its&nbsp;eurostar (fast train)&nbsp;from London for the Christmas &nbsp;markets- and they are big markets that are scattered everywhere throughout the main city. We are cold and looking for a place to eat and de-frost when we come across the most spectactular show. In their main square is a magnificent building-'Grand Platz'&nbsp;. The square is filled the lights that move and change colour along with a Christmas tree- but on the upper balcony of the&nbsp;Grand Platz&nbsp;there is an opera show of drum beaters, dancers, and singers- what a gem we have found and we all push ourselves and last out 45mins before we all can't seem to move our bodies- Frozen solid, off to a restaurant to get feeling back into our limbs. Relax with a wine in the hotel lobby before sleeping in a very warm bed.We venture off to see a statue called 'Manakin Pis', a very small statue of a little naked boy urinating. I could tell you the boring version of the real reason why the statue was erected, or I can tell you this one, which tells of a wealthy merchant who, during a visit to Brussels with his family, had his beloved young son go missing. The merchant hastily started searching with others all corners of the city, until one member of the search party found the boy happily urinating in a small garden. The merchant, as a gift of gratitude to the locals who helped out during the search, had the fountain built. There have been over 100 outfits made for this little boy that he wears through out the year. On our way out of Brussels we past the Belgium royal family palace and an interesting structure called 'Atomium'. designed like an atom where you can enter into a shopping centre and games centre-&nbsp;will be back to explore this again....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230300000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230300000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/donnalee01/12/1230300000/tpod.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:04:02 -0500 Christmas in London, Belgium and France

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Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium

We take off early Boxing Day morning- a little cold leaving London (HA! Nothing compared to what's ahead of us). We arrive at Dover to cross the English Channel to Calais- France. We leave cold and overcast England for a cold, bright sunny Belgium. We head&nbsp;for Brugge (know for its old historic kept buildings), has a feel about it like Venice with the canels running through the old town.&nbsp;We settle into our hotel- very French like with its showers as small as an aeroplane cubicle (just don't drop the soap). We set out on foot....OH MY GOODNESS IT IS SO SO SO COLD- (temperature 0 degrees) we wander the cobble streets and duck into chocolate truffle shops and lace shops to thaw out- we come across an ice-skating rink and Christmas markets- filled with mulled wine (warm wine with cinnamon and fruit) and&nbsp; swedish sausages and fantastic Pom Frites (Potato French fries) with mayonnaise. After exploring the great streets and shops we end our night in a bar near our hotel. Up early the next morning we come across another set of markets, (this is the time of year where markets are everywhere). I purchase a stretch, of the oldest bridge in Brugge (more than 600 years old)&nbsp;called 'The Mead Bridge' (mead is a herb and the ladies would trade mead and other herbs on this bridge- hence the name). &nbsp;In the day Brugge was bigger than Paris and London because of its great location- it is situated on a river that links the English Channel to the inlands- they made there money through ships &nbsp;that travelled on this canal- problem struck when the river dried up and trading stopped and so did the growth- now a day's Brugge only brings in tourist but has very nicely kept its old feel and look about it. Which is why Brugge would have to be the favourite part of our trip.
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