Heaven in a Biscuit

had my first BBQ shape biscuit in 6 months today - oh the bliss
- there is nothing like Shapes biscuits over here - nothing that has that
crunch that shapes have *sigh*

The Cold Has Arrived

Ok I am SO not a fan of this cold malarki!!! 0 degrees is standard overnight low - with - degrees not uncommon.

Getting dressed to go out doors is a mission - there is a coat and a scarf and gloves and a hat - well I don't have a hat yet but mum's making me one.

this many layered michilen man impression is fine until you enter any building and then it is a frantic strip so as not to expire from heat exhastion

Home Time

I’m on the train back to London now and it feels really strange sort of like the past 2 weeks didn’t happen – the whole 2 weeks in Turkey were amazing – especially the last 2 days,exploring Istanbul – and I’m already trying to work out when I can get back there and go further east and also spend a little bit more time in a few of the places – because although the tour was fantastic – and it you are thinking about going to Turkey I can highly recommend TravelTalk – but it was a tour and you weren’t always free to do what you wanted.

Turkey is a country of contrasts and contradictions – their national hero seems to be adored and was a very forward thinker who created a secular government and law system, who in acted laws that established amazing equality for women – education, financial, the vote – including the banning of the headscarf in schools and government offices. But now when Turkey is wanting to join the EU it seems to be in part trying to turn back the clock to the government and laws prior to Ataturk.

It is the contrast & contradictions that are Turkey’s appeal – mobile phones, satellite dishes are commons sites but so are tradiditonal food sellers wandering the street (apparently these are under threat if turkey joins the EU due to health laws :()

There are amazing beautiful building here both old and new but then we would pass by places that in Australia you would wonder why they hadn’t been knocked down that were home to families.

Istanbul for all it’s bustling internationalism is also very old school – with the call to prayer heard a cross the city and business’s in go slow mode during Ramadan and in some respects seems to have a rather love hate relationship with it’s westerness. But it is all this that gives Turkey and Instanbul it’s character – the ritual of being offered tea when doing a deal is lovely

Wandering in Istanbul

As the weather was lovely we decided to walk back to the city – which made for a lovely adventure – we walked through a sculpture exhibition, I finally got to buy a bread ring from a street seller – it was delicious, be paused for some tea and a game of tavla, and a snooze at a tea house along the way.


We also stopped by the fish markets where the fish is so fresh it’s swimming, and it was here that Lorin and I got some lunch from one of the many food stalls we passed – pialf – rice with chick peas it was delicious.




From the fish markets we walked over the bridge – well sort of underneath it actually – passed lots of bars and cafes and then across the top past all the fishermen. Once we reached the other side we wandered around the stalls that were on the outside of the Spice Market – there were stalls selling, spices, nuts, clothes house hold items – pretty much you name it you could buy it here and finally we succeeded in our mission to buy spoons to go with our teasets!!!! The stall holder had very little English and we had next to no Turkish so it was one of our more unsuccessful bargining sessions but at a mere 4 lira we didn’t feel much need to kibble.

Feeling rather foot weary we headed back to the hotel and farewelled Frostie who is leaving late on Monday.

Lorin and I headed upstairs to our rooms and got our bags packed – with a bit of squishing and rearranging we managed to fit everything. Just!

Once we had finished packing it was still early so we decided to take one last wander down by the harbour. It was very different to the first night – which was due to a number of things – Ramadan was over, it was Republic day and we were there much earlier than Phillipa and I had gone out on our first night.

There were far more people around, and not just men – there were women as well – and lots more stalls selling, shoes, bags, toys belts clothes etc – there were also more of the delicious smelling portable food stands – I looked at having a fish kebab – they smelt divine but the fish were put in whole and my fear of bones wouldn’t let me have one. I did however get a sweet donut like thing from another stall – it’s not actually anything like a donut – it was a larger round version of the light and crunchy syrup soaked dumplings we had enjoyed.

Photos @ kodak

New Palace

Today was a busy and relaxing day – Lorin and I met Frostie in the hotel Foyer at 10am and from there we headed to the New Palace – between the 3 of us we had a rough idea of where we were going and managed to get ourselves on a train and to the New Palace with out any major dramas. The walk from the train station to the palace was quite nice – a few stalls on the way and lots of people heading to a soccer match.

The new palace is one of the most expensive places to go see – and as a result we didn’t go through the actual palace it’s self. But we did go to the Crystal pavilion, walked around the gardens, saw the clock collection and snuck into a ballroom in the Palace, saw guards marching and got our photo taken with a guard.

Photos @ Kodak

Trip to the Spice Market

Back at the hotel – Lorin and I got dumped our shopping, made plans to meet Frostie the next morning, I checked to see if my phone had arrived and we headed out to the Spice Market for a last couple of items.

This was the most fun part of our shopping day! The markets were not as busy as they had been in the afternoon and we were more relaxed than we had been in the morning. We found the sweets shop where we had been offered a special price – and he remembered us!! And we got the full treatment – he gave us tea and chatted with us, then we sampled various types of Turkish delight before deciding on our purchases which he then vacuum sealed for us.

While we were chatting the topic of backgammon came up – and he invited me to join him for a game later on – and while he seemed perfectly nice I declined – but it was very flattering and Lorin loved telling Canar and Cassie later on about me getting hit on my the Turkish delight seller.

After we had bought our Turkish delight we wandered about the Spice Market a bit more – after a full day of dealing with shopkeepers we were much more at ease with them and chatted back to them when they talked to us – and even though we assured them that we had already bought all the Turkish delight we wanted/needed they would insist that we try this or that type – all of which were very delicious.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at the lovely baklava shop where we bought some for a snack and I checked that they would be open the next day for me to buy some to take home we also stopped to buy a Turkish news paper to use as packing around our tea sets – we picked the fattest one and took placed it on the counter – as we paid for it the shop keeper asked if we read Turkish to which we responded no – the look on his face was classic

After dropping off the last lot of shopping in my room I headed out for some dinner the others had had a kebab on the way back from the Grand Bazar. Down stairs I ran into Canar and after chatting for a bit – he joined me for dinner – it was very interesting talking him with out his tour guide hat on a very ambitious young gentleman.

After dinner we could hear the fireworks – it was the start of the celebrations for republic day – and Canar asked me if I would like to see them as he knew a good view point near by – Of course was my response – the viewing point turned out to be a bar upstairs in the hotel – the view was amazing – wish I had had my camera with me – we could see the bridge and the new palace and topai palace and all all the fireworks in between.

A Day of Shopping in Istanbul

Today was the last day of the tour and breakfast saw the first of the farewells – to Joelene, Joel & Kristy – Phillipa had already gone – having an early morning flight.

Shopping with boys
After breakfast Lorin & I headed to the Grand Bazar with James & Chris. It was all a bit whirl wind as the boys had to be back at the hotel by mid day to get to the airport – so Lorin and I mostly just tagged along where they wanted to go. J&C are master hagglers – and made several great deals. I didn’t buy anything in the morning – Lorin bought a leather poof thing with the boys – they bought like 20 of them and got them for about ½ the original price.



After a speedy tour of the markets it was time to head back to the Hotel via jewellwery shop we had passed on the way – which after an abortive attempt to back track – James wanted to turn left which was back toward the Bazar – and Chris wanted to go straight ahead which was the opposite direction to where we needed to go master barginers they may be but with no sense of direction what so ever – we managed with ease.

James & Chris’s master bargining came into effect again at the jewellery shop – this was my favourite shop of the morning – as got to help spend other peoples money ;) the boys bargained for 20 pairs of earrings for 30 lira – this was ½ the price of one pair. It was fun helping Chris pick out 20 pairs of earrings. I bought 4 pairs of earrings – 2 for myself and 2 for gifts – I got them for the same price as the others got theirs – it pays to go shopping with big spenders

As well as earring the shop sold plates, drums, rings and bracelets. The Jewllery was all make there – they had the sheets of pressed copper – both plain and coloured – with the shapes marked on them which they engraved with the designs then cut out, curved and applied fixings to.

Back at the hotel we caught up with the rest of the group & Canar for the final time :( although it wasn’t quite good bye to everyone yet – Lorin, Frostie and myself were all staying until Monday – Cassie was staying until Sunday

Got some good news about my phone – it was on it’s way and for just 30 Lira I would have it that evening Canar’s friend would drop it off at the hotel for me YEAH – what a relief!!


Shopping with Lorin & Others
The afternoon was more shopping this time with Janet and Robert, Frostie, Cassie & Lorin – this time Lorin and I did so some buying – we had made lists and were on a mission as the markets weren’t going to be open on the Sunday.

We started off at the spice markets, where you are confronted with an amazing assortment of sights and smells – although we looked we didn’t buy at this time – but made a note of a couple of stalls to come back too.

Once through the spice market we made headed toward the grand bazaar – this tooking us through local shopping area – we didn’t see many tourists here. But we did see a number of the items we wanted to purchase so serious browsing was taking place. It was surprising how easy it was to keep our largish group together in the crowds.

Prices aways from the tourist areas were cheaper – so we had our eyes peeled for things on our lists – the first purchase I made was several evil eye protectors – which was followed up by the first bargining of the day for 2 tea sets – one for Lorin and one for me – and once the price was negotiated we had to find just the right ones – which we finally managed.

And finally we made our way into the Grand Bazar – at this point we fair welled Janet & Robert who had some other things to do before heading to the airport later that afternoon.

In the Grand Bazar against all odds I managed to navigate back to several stalls we had been to in the morning – where based on our return we managed some very fruitful bargaining. The biggest shopping missions of the day were Cassies search for a pipe – she succeeded after several shops and much bargining, and Lorin & mine’s search for spoons to go with our tea set – the closed we came was some at 200 lira for 6 – they were stirling silver – oh well we always have Sunday.

My final purchase at the Grand Bazar was a Tvla (backgammon) set – I probably didn’t bargaining the guy down as much as I should have but to be honest I was rather over it and had enough shopping.

After an afternoon of successful shopping we headed back to the hotel – via the jewellery shop we had been to in the morning where Cassie got the same great bargain as we had. I couldn’t resist and bought myself a ring to go with one of the pairs of earrings I had bought in the morning.

Photos @ Kodak

Long day of travel

Long day of travel from Cappidocia to Istanbul with a stop at Ankara the capital of Turkey to visit Anit Kabir the monumental mausoleum of Ataturk the father of modern Turkey.



Photos @ Kodak

Day 2 Cappadocia

not so may words today

we finally visited the underground city were the locals used to take refuge from invaders

visited a carpet seller - where had the opportunity to try our hand at knotting a carpert and learnt how they create the silk threads and the different styles of rugs



and as always there are photos @ Kodak

Turkish Night

Second night in Cappadocia sees us loading up on the bus and heading for a local venue that hosts “Turkish Nights” this is a all you can eat and drink night with entertainment. The venue is in a cave. The night starts with with a presentation by Whirling dervishes – it was fasinating to see them after having been to their museum – during the main part of the presentation we weren’t allowed to take photos or eat and drink out of respect for the prayer. At the end though they bring up the lights and do some more whirling and we were permitting to take photos then.

After that it was a continuous stream of various folk dances and food & drink. We didn’t get to be entirely passive – they got us all up to do some folk dancing which included a Turkish style conga line and to outside where they got us all dancing around a bonfire before leading us back inside.

Where they got us to all sit on the floor in a great big circle and did a dance that told the story of various suitors trying to win a girl’s love. Once they had told they story they got the audience involved – picking a Lorin from our tour to be the girl to be won and then various men from the audience tried to when her affection – her final choice was James from our tour.

The belly dancer got several of the boys up to try their hand – which was amusing – it was Frosties birthday so we made sure that the she got him up hehehehe

At the end of the evening – we stumbled and staggered our way back to the bus – well the majority of people did – Bridget, Selim and I for various reasons had drunk very little. It was very funny to see Canar as drunk as everyone else – this was the first time he had drunk alcohol with us as he had given it up for Ramadan.

Back at the hotel we continued to party on at the night club there – we were the only ones there – which was probably a good thing as we were very rowdy and it really wasn’t that big.

Photos @ Kodak

Cappadocia - Valleys and Pottery

Imagination Valley – first stop today was imagination valley where the rocks have been worn away into shapes that resemble various animals, objects and icons - I wasn’t particularly imaginative the only one I could really see was Mother Mary *



Photos @ Kodak

After some exploring it was time for the next item on the agenda

Pottery
The pottery place we were taken to is a family business which has been running for about 200 years – every pottery has it’s own family patterns – the ones here were beautiful and bright in a sort of Ottoman style.

We started our tour in the manufacturing section seeing where the clay was brought in and learning about the different clays. Next we were shown how they make there mass produced plates – still a mostly hand done process – but with guides to make the plates etc uniform

The 3rd stop on our tour was the artists – who hand paint the plates in a variety of designs – it was amazing watching them work on amazingly complex designs free hand.

Next was a demonstration by a master potter and some apple tea – a master potter must be able to throw a pot and make a lid for it that fits exactly – it was amazing watching this happen before my very eyes. The master potter we watched is the youngest in the area apparently and is considered very good husband material.

And the final stop was the show room for some shopping of course. The Owner gave us an automatic 50% discount so bargaining wasn’t really a big thing here. So many different designs to choose from – it was hard to know where to look – there were plates, bowls, cups, vases in all shapes and sizes and decorated in a myriad designs.

I was drawn to the family designs – amazing bright colours in a lace like pattern with tulip flowers breaking across them. One plate particularly caught my eye so I checked out the price – at half price it was 65 lira so I put it down and went to look at some other designs I quite liked – but once again not really in my price range. I wandered back to the original plate for another look – well more a drool really – and I suddenly I had a sales man of my own. He was very lovely even while doing the hard sell – he was chattered way to me while I looked at other designs – and even took me back down to the painting workshop to look at a plate I like down there but that wasn’t on the shop floor – it was a square plate with a white ??? design on it. Thankfully Bridget kept me company through this as it can get rather over whelming having so much friendly sales attention. My salesman – who was one of the family members offered me an additional 5 lira off and my indecision finally crumbled and I bought the plate.

I have to say I find my natural indecision to be a very good bargaining tool in Turkey

My dream plate was about the size of a small table top with a price to go with it at half price it was still around 2000 lira and even if I could have afforded it not sure how the hell I would have got it home.


Photos @ Kodak

Oh yeah also climbed Fairy Chimmey's as well - a skirt really isn't the best atire for this sort of activity - but I managed it ;)



Photos @ Kodak


* in Turkish Christian religion I found it rather interesting that they referred to Mary – Jesus’ Mother as Mother Mary rather than Virgin Mary as they do in Western Catholic religion - gives a very different value to her I think

Dinner and a bath 24 Oct 06

Tonight was dinner with the whole tour - :Lorin and I shared a local dish called Tesdi Kebab – they put all the ingredients in a pot and seal it with dough and bake it for a few ours – then to serve it they slice the top of the pot with a small sword like knife and pour it in to a heated dish – with a warning to watch out for bits of pottery. It was delicous!!

Meals with all or the group are great fun as everyone will share a taste of what they ordered so get to taste many more dishes than you could ever taste on your own.

After dinner it was back on the bus for short drive to the Turklish bath.

You start off by collecting a pair of plastic sandals and a checked sarong and then you go to a change room and get into our togs.

Once these preparations were completed it was time for step 1 – the sauna which was so foggy you could barely see the person sitting opposite you and so very hot it was hard to breathe – you endured this for as long as you could and then fumbled your way to the door where you were directed to the plunge pool – which was just a little bit of a shock to the system but oh so refreshing after the sauna and then it was back to the sauna you went. The sauna seemed so much hotter the second time and I didn’t’ last nearly as long – so I wrapped my now very soggy wrap around me and head out again this time I was directed to a second room where we were directed to lie down on a rather unappealing looking slab of marble – but rather than being cold it was hot – so hot in fact that we has to ask them to cool it off with some cool water. And while a slab of marble doesn’t sound very comfy to lie on it was surprisingly so.

After an unknown time laying on the slab you were lead off to an alcove were there were individual slabs and you were loofahed. Once you were loofahed generally you were sent to a shower to rinse off and from there it was off to another marble table for the massage

I was lucky and didn’t have to move for my massage – I was rinsed off where I lay. The massage was slightly disconcerting but blissful. First they soaped you up – by blowing up a calico bag that had been soaked in soapy mix and blobbing it over you and then they got down to work – one of the most relaxing things about it was that none of the guys really knew any English so no talking required.

After the massage it was back to the heated slap for a while before time to get dressed.

The final bit of pampering in the massage room happened just as you are leaving all languide and relaxed – they tied a fresh dry towel around you.

After we were dressed time for a relaxing cup of tea and mot of a game of Talva with Selim before time to head back to the hotel and sleep.

Leaving for Cappodiocia 24 Oct 06

A very early start – but we managed with 3 nights in one place to look forward to as well as a Turkish bath.

Our tourist adventure today was Ihlara Valley where there are many churches carved into the rock and around 1048 stairs to visit them

We were supposed to go to the underground city as well but didn’t make it in time

Photos @ Kodak

And we also stopped at the Whirling Dervish Museum - where amongst other things we learnt that ostrich eggs will stop spiders weaving webs..

Photos @ Kodak

Antalya

We arrived quite late after a long day of travel – our room was rather tight – it was a twin room that they had just squeezed a cot into – which was survivable as we arrived so late and were leaving so early.

A Group of us headed off to dinner at a local kebab shop, after which Chris, James, Lorin and I went for a little bit of shopping – Chris was on a mission to find a new pair of thongs – he was actually wearing his hotel slippers!!1

After dinner I headed off on my own for a walk – beautiful balmy weather – wandered down the main street – stopped for some dessert and made it all the way down to the water. The water was so still all he lights were beautifully reflected in it. I tried taking some photos but they didn’t work out very well

Olympus

Having finally collected the boat people we headed to Olympus for a few hours – Olympus is known for it tree hours and there is a beach and an ancient city.

Most of the land lubbers headed straight for “Canars house” for some lunch at the café they had platforms with low tables and cushions to sit on and growing all around them were orange trees which grew the most amazing green oranges

As I wasn’t hungry so I headed off to the beach with some of the boat people to get to the beach you had to pay 2 Lira entry fee to the ancient city – so after a short wander we made it to the beach where parked ourselves down on the small rocks as apposed to the large rocks.

I headed straight into the water it was beautiful – swam for a bit and then just floated looking up @ the scenery and pretending I was all along in the world.

Bridget took some photos of me bobbing about.

By the time I head back in to the shore the shade had crept over our possie on the beach.

After a bit I head back to the café and grabbed a drink and watched Selim and Canar play back gammon they play it SO fast it’s hard to know whats going on.

Talva (backgammon) is very popular in Turkey – tea houses have boards for customers to use

Photos @ Kodak

Why are we waiting?!

A late start today as we were picking up the boat people – the plan was to get to the harbour @ 11.30ish lazy on the beach until they arrived around 12 – which didn’t end up working so well – the beach a had a lot of rubbish washed up on it so one was going to go swimming – a couple of the girls decided to sun bather though, The rest of us decided to go for wander along the harbour.

Just as we arrived the boat came into the harbour however things didn’t turn out as well as you would think. 1.5 hours later hour guys still hadn’t come ashore and the only progress had been Canar being picked up by the little motor boat and going out to the boat. Finally 1 hour late and a nearly 2 hours after arriving in the bay the boat people arrived and we were on our way.

Photos @ Kodak

A Day @ Sea

On a boat today – stopping at random places and swimming. It was so calm I even did a bit of snorkelling and saw a fish or tow but only near the islands.

At the second place we stopped the Gulet with the other ½ of our groups was also moored so Rob and Frosty popped on the flippers and swam over to say hello and then swam back

And before too long Chris, James & Joel swam over for a visit and spot of lunch and not long after that Julie and Louie came over in the gullets small motor boat.

It was nice to see them but the noise level on the boat sure did spike with them on board.

After lunch the boat moved on to another bay where there was a ruined house and a very small castle ruin.

I swam over to the have a look and when Rob came over decided it was time to explore the castle we started out following a trail marked with red paint but somewhere along the way we lost it but we made it to the top one the less. We had a little explore of the ruins – they were only little but hey had a Turkish flag and a cannon. Both Rob & I wished we had been able to bring our cameras over from the boat.

We coooeeed to the boat and they took some photos of us as King of the Castle.

On the way down we managed to follow the path the whole way down – made for a much quicker trip.

It was like being a little kid again – find our way through the bush

Photos @ Kodak

A VERY Lazy Day

Went to the beach and lazed in the sun and the water. About the most activity I had was building and decorating a sand castle with Frosty – sadly although I took photos – they have vanish :(

Also did a little bit of shopping in Kas (Kash) and bought a small hand made pottery bowl.

I want to go again!!!

After our lazy day it was time for our first optional activity – Paragliding!!!! of the 8 left on land 6 of us headed off to run off a mountain.



I just couldn’t wait!! We had been watching the paragliders all afternoon from the blue lagoon watching them twirl and twist above us – I was just about beside myself with excitement much to the amusement of the others.

The jeep ride up was pretty harrowing there were 7 customers and 7 pilots wedged in the back of an open jeep hanging on for dear life as we rattled and bumped and jerked our way up the mountain. There was general chatting and nattering - one of the pilots was chatting away to us – he was crazy but his banter helped everyone - calming a little for those nervous an hype those of already excited.

The jeep ride up was around 35-40 minutes with a slight pause for the crazy pilot to pick some grapes for us to eat.

Just below the take off point the jeep stopped and the pilots jumped out – and we were given the option of either ride the in the jeep or walk straight up with the pilots. Phillipa and I decided to walk up. Which was absolutely the right idea when watching the Jeep rock it’s way off to the take off point.

We discovered who our pilots where when they asked us our name and introduced themselves. Mine was the crazy one from the jeep ride up who’s name is.... errr I can't remember. Turns out he something like No 1 in Turkey and No 6 in the world. I was a bit worried what he was going to be like but there was no time to think – as he strapped me into my harness and helmet and explained how take off would work – and have 2 goes – we were first in the and then

OH my GOD!! It just took my breathe away

It’s like floating! And the view was amazing it was just on sunset and the sun was blazing the air was so clear and fresh

My pilot was fabulous – he explained that weren’t moving around a lot as we were climbing a thermal which would give me a longer flight.

On the way up in the jeep he had explained that the length of the flight would depend on the air currents. So we kept climbing higher and higher and the view was phenomenal first I could see over one mountain/hil and in the valley the beyond that eventually we climbed higher than all the other tandeum paragliders and with only single paraglider above us.

I could have stayed up there all day as it was we were up the longest out of my group – about 40-50 minutes in fact my pilot got told off for being up so long when we landed.

Just before we came into land my pilot asked if I would kike to do some tricks – hell yes! Was my answer

So he got me to hold on to the straps and said when I tell you to move your body in a certain direction move that way so I sat still and waited and then did as I was directed and then we were spinning – my legs were no longer beneath me but to my side and when I looked down there was the ocean! Better than any ride ever – even doing it in the plane – when you do a move like this paragliding is that it is so immediate you don’t just have the feel of the g-forces you have wind in your hair and the sun on your face.

While floating around up in the sky I was able to spot Lorin and call out to her – she was wearing a skirt so the bare legs were easy to spot – she said I was easy to spot in my read fleecy.

At one point my pilot just sort of stopped and had a cigarette and offered me one as well.

It was amazing to just be hanging around up there just sort of suspended in the air.

Landing was an interesting experience – you have to stand up and then run as soon as your feet hit the ground – only problem with this is that your not exactly sure when your feet will hit the ground and 2 when standing my harness came down to around my knees! But I managed a respectable landing – Lorin made the best one apparently, Kristy nearly landed on her knees and Phillipa landed with her chute over a bunch of near by sunbakers

My pilot also told me about night time flights – full moon and it’s like you can touch the sky they sound magical

Asked my pilot how he got in to paragliding and he said through his mother who is a champion sky diver – his mother took him on a tandem sky dive when he was 4 years old and he got to do his first solo one when he was 11

Photos @ Kodak

Cruisey Day

Canar cancelled our wake up call due to having heard our party the night before. So after a slow start we all made it onto the bus and headed to the harbour where the Boys, Bridget, Lou & Julie and Joel & Jolene headed off on a gullet for 3 nights.

Lunch in restaurant above Fetiyhe – and more carved tombs

The rest of us had some free time in Fetithye before heading to the blue lagoon far a few hours R&R we hired sun lounges lazed in the sun, reading, sleeping chatting and even swimming a little.

A Night in Feithye

Last night most people stayed in – with only a few of us making our way into town. The reason for so many people staying in was not because they planned to have an early night but because we were having a party night – the Boys nominated their room as the location and declared they would smash us all.

So ensued an evening of drinking games, and general merriment. Including a dance off, singing and ending with having my roommate disappearing and me being locked out of my room as will happen although she did come back to find me as she felt bad about locking me out but by that time I had had found an alternate bed and was fast asleep.

All in all a fun and funny night

And I never did find out why the side table ended up in my bag?????

Sailkent Gorge

The plan at Salkient Gorge was to raft down it have a mud bath and then some lunch, however when we go to the gorge the weather was pretty average sot he rafting got canned. And we settled for lunch a walk along the gorge. Lunch was ok rather expensive for what it was but that was to be expected as it was the only place to eat.

Once you reach the end of the wooden walk way you could hire plastic shoes and continue your walk up the gorge in the water.

After much blustering and bellowing but he boys about smashing it – it was the girls that stepped up to the challenge. Joelene & I found shoes to fit and set off on our adventure first our aim was just to see what was couldn’t be bee seen from the viewing platform and after that it was to see what around the next bend. We decide that this would be our last corner so up the rock we went on the other side there were no rocks to step down on so we decided to slide down and continue on in the water. As J had the camera I went first – and in I slid all the way up to my neck!!! From there the current moved me down a short set of rapids where I collected a number of scraps and bruises. After this misadventure we decided we had better head back as we had no idea of the time and out departure time was set for 5pm.

Travelling with the current was actually harder than travelling against it – more little rocks got into our stylish hire shoes and because you were moving in the direction of the current it felt much more like the current could sweep your feet out from under you with every step.



We finally made it back to the viewing platform – where Bridget was waiting for us and tapping her watch letting us know we were running late. With Bridget holding up our towels we stripped off out wet clothes and wrapped our towels around us and hurried back to the bus. Thankfully no one was particularly bothered by our late return and once we were in dry clothes Canar finally succeeded in herding everyone on to the bus.

Photos @ Kodak

Tols

Tols is another ancient City - which is famous for the tombs carved into the rocks. Canar told us not to walk up to the top so of course we all did. The view was amazing,. We were warned about snakes – but had a healthy disregard for them when told that it would take 4 of them to kill you.

There were a number of stalls selling various items – stone carvings, bird whistles, fruit and lace. At first I wasn’t going to buy a piece but then they offered Jolyenee & I 2 for 10 Lira so we decided to buy two between us.

Photos @ Kodak

Pammukkale

We arrived at Pammukkale very late and as it was VERY windy we weren’t able to take a dip in Cleopatra’s bath so instead we just wandered about the terrace pools which they no longer allow people to swim in as during the 80/90’s the body oils, lotions make up etc of the large numbers of visitors was turning the beautiful white surrounds of the pools black. You can still walk along the edges of some of them and take photos – one of the pools you can walk along is warm the others are cold.

The wind was ferocious but the view was spectacular and even more so when combined with a burning sunset.


Photos @ Kodak

Bliss

Finally tasted Turkish delight in Turkey – have been having sweets with most meals but all of the pastry/cake/dumpling variety.

Today after lunch Lorin and I went to the sweet Shop! Where I FINALLY got to sample Turkish Rose Turkish delight and it was delicious!!! Turkish delight in Australia has always been really sticky and gooey but here it is live very firm jelly and even with it’s coating of icing sugar it’s hardly sticky. I couldn’t resist going back for a few more pieces.

It has the most delicately rich perfume flavour mmmmmmmmmmm

Unexpected Shopping Extravagance

From Ephesus we were taken to a leather factory, were we were treated to Apple tea and a fashion parade which included Chris & Christie of our tour group.

After the fashion show they explained a bit about the leather they made and use in their jackets – they only use lamb skin and make 3 types of leather normal, suede and silk leather.

Silk leather is made from scraping the leather on both sides it is very fine and very soft hence as the name implies soft like silk.

Before we went in to the leather factory Canar advised us on how to bargain properly and if we need any help to let him know.

After the fashion show and the information we were let loose in the show room – the range of jackets was amazing in both style and colour.

5 people on the tour purchased jackets, 4 of them had Canar haggle their side for them. 1 person bargined their own sale and was only £2 worse off for the effort.

And so I’m so very proud of my black silk leather jacket for which I bargained for all on my lonesome – with moral support from Bridget.

Ephesus

First stop today was the city of Ephesus once a centre for business and trade with a large harbour although now a mere 10kms inland.

The weather started out rather dodgy but by the time we finished our time there a rew hours later it had cleared up significantly.

In addition to the ever present cats at Ephesus there were also a number of dogs including 2 of the cutest fluffy puppies

Photos @ Kodak

Pumpkin

Here pumpkin is used as a pudding aand tonight it was part of our dessert buffet – it’s baked then soaked in sugar syrup and they served it with a chocolate cream - and in the interests of broading myself figured I would give the dreaded pumpkin a go and while it wasn’t something I would have again I didn’t find it completely repulsive either.

Troy & Pergamum

First stop this morning was Troy which while interesting is very much just ruins. The excavations have uncovered no less than 10 cities having been built on the site

And here is the mandatory cat.


There are 2 Aussie brothers on the tour – which comprises of 11 Aussies, 2 Kiwis and 2 Londoners – anyway back to the brothers – they are both teachers and highly entertaining on the whole, however today they managed to leave their camera at the hotel. Our ever helpful tour guide, Canar (Janar) made some calls and confirmed that the camera was at the hotel but the cost of a taxi to bring it to troy would be 90 Lira.

Which was too much, after some quick thinking by Canar our bus driver saved the day by agreeing to under take the journey back for just 50 Lira!!

Next stop after Troy was Pergamum, of which much of the ornate marble has been removed with the permission of the then government.

Pergamum was at one time the capital of the kingdom that ruled much of the surrounding area.

After Pergamum there was a 3.5 hour drive to Seluk where we were staying the night. As the weather was so minkey – rain, overcast and foggie it was a good day to be in the bus

Troy Photos @ Kodak
Pergamum Photos @ Kodak

Reki

Reki is a Turkish aniseed liqueur that is both potent and dreadful. After dinner we went to a bar and tried this – as I was aniseed which I’m not a fan of I decided to err on the cautious side and just have a tasto of Lorin’s. A wise move – it was very nasty and I won’t be having any more

Dancing on the Ferry 16 Oct 06

Chris one of the brother knowing that I taught Ceroc/Modern jive had been after me to teach him some moves so on the ferry we finally had time and the space so I taught him an octopus and basket lean – it was a lot of fun - although I suspect the locals on the ferry thought we were just slightly mad!

Gallipoli

Today we visited Gallipoli.

Our first stop was ANZAC Cove. I’ve read about the terrible terrain that ANZAC’s faced when they first landed but to actually see it, stand on the beach and look up at it was something else again.

From ANZAC Cove we made our way to the first cemetery, Lone Pine and finally Chuink Bair.

The area of Gallipoli peninsula just doesn’t seem large enough to contain all the bodies that rest there.

It is truly amazing to see the friendship that Turks have for the ANZACs despite/because of the events that took place at Gallipoli

I can’t put into words everything I felt seeing the place that in so many ways was the birth place of Australia as a true Nation.

Photos @ Kodak

Travelling with electronic equipment

The battery was getting a little low on my camera last night and as were heading to Gallipoli today I found out my convertors = Uk to Turkey, then on Aus to UK – plugged that in to the socket plugged the charger in the charger I had packed only to discover that it wasn’t the charger for my camera but for my video camera which I hadn’t brought with me!!!

All was not lost when we hopped on the bus Lorin – one of my room mates – enquired if anyone had the same camera – and while the answer was no – Joel’s camera took the same batter so has loadned me his spare battery and will charge mine for me tonight!

Day 1

First full day of the tour today and a leisurely start @ 10am. Went to the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque. Sophia Hagia and Topkapi Palace

Sophia Hagia has an interesting history – being first a church, then a mosque and now a museum. Some of the church decorations were altered and when the church became a mosque and are still there now – the best example of this is the Seraphim – in the Church this had been a face surrounded by 6 wings – just painted over the face in the middle and kept the wings. All images of people in the church was covered over so that when the muslims prayed they wouldn’t be bowing down/worshipping a person rather than Allah.

Blue Mosque was bustling – as it was Ramadan – there were stalls in the courtyard as well as many people making pilgrimage to this mosque. Canar led us inside where we sat on the floor near the Women’s prayer area and listened as he explained to us about the history of the mosque and some of the Muslim culture. To be honest while listening I did get a little distracted watching people come and go at their worship – we weren’t there at a call to prayer – the mosque is closed at that time – but there were a lot of people coming and going.

The mosque it’s self is beautiful with tiles, carvings and carpets – the carpets are woven in a pattern that contains hundreds of prayer mats


Sophia Hagia Photos @ Kodak
Blue Mosque Photos @ Kodak
Topkapi Palace Photos @ Kodak

1st Adventure in Istanbul

Having arrived saftely in Turkey, got to the hotel, met up with the tour group and had dinner Phillipa (a NZ girl on the tour) and I decided it was time to go for a walk and have a look see.

We had been warned about the possibility of being harassed by Turkish men saying things like I want fuck you, have sex with me and the like and some even going so far as to touch you. So baring this in mind we walked confidently and not being on our own though we should be Ok and if not had decided on a course of action – loudly and clearly telling the man involved to GO AWAY!

We walked down to the harbour where there were stalls on the ground selling coats, shoes, belts, and carts selling a wide variety of food including fresh grilled fish which even though we had just had a delicious dinner were tempted by.

The harbour edge and the bridge especially were lined with men and boys fishing they were catching small silver looking fishes.

However out leisurely pleasant walk didn’t last long – we were joined by “our friend” who wasn’t a friend at all he was young Turkish man who was making continuous rude overtures to us and although we ignored him to start with – he was somewhat secrete while we were around larger No’s of people as soon as there were less people around his comments would get louder and he would get closer at which point we turned around and told him to go away – but we soon realised that this only added to his enjoyment when he decided to show us his dick! Which actually prompted not the screams of horror he expected – after the initial shock I laughed – I just couldn’t believe what we had just seen!!

At one point he came up behind us and startled me when he touched me and even my automatic response of turning and hitting him didn’t even put him off.

“Our friend” left us when we turned up the main road that lead to the area our hotel was in. he called out thank-you and by and finally left us alone

Security Encounter

As you would be aware there is heightened security measures in the UK for hand luggage – basically nothing of a liquid, gel, cream or lotion nature in addition to the standard no combustibles or sharp pointy items – which means I am currently 5 hours with out lipe balm! :(

My encounter with security came about due not to the new restrictions but to the one on sharp pointy things – which is rather silly considering how used to it I am.

It started on Friday when I threw my scissors in my back pack along with a bunch of Random stuff that I would pack into my check-in bag when I got to London because we were running late.

However when it came to sorting things out I didn’t see the scissors and forgot all about them.

When I checked in they asked about liquids, pointy things, combustibles etc in my hand luggage to which I responded only my water which I would throw out when I joined the cue for security. So with my boarding pass in hand I headed on my merry way to the security check cue – which was rather long so I read my book as I shuffled along and before I knew it, it was my turn to have my bad x-rayed and walk through the metal detector. I made it through the metal detector fine but my bag wasn’t so lucky- it was diverted to a desk where it had to await the attentions of a staff member. Finally they brought it over to counter where everything was taken out of the bag.

Having flicked through all the papers and books I had – he left them with me while he took everything else to be re- x-rayed – but no scissors showed up so he came back to where I was and did a bit more of a shake and flick with the books and papers and there they were – they had been caught up inside the cover of my “Black ‘n’ Read” note book – sad to say they are now the property of Stansted Airport.

I wonder how easy it would be have been for me to palm the scissors from the not book while my bag was being re-xrayed if I had known they were there.

And what do the airports do with all the scissors and other confiscated items?

Southport - 2nd time around

After my final Scottish Adventure it was time to indulge in a weekend of non stop – well near to dancing at Southport Dance Weekender – which as an absolute blast – had a much better time than in June – for 2 main reasons – knew a bunch more people and my feet kept it together and didn’t fall apart on me every few hours.

I arrived about 4pm and had my hug & dance before I even got to my room – thank you Pretzelmeister!!!

Saturday I had an early nap and managed to dance through the night until 9am Sunday morning – I don’t think there is a better place in the world to be than on a dance floor with nice people, smooth tunes and plenty of space. Thanks to CJ & Dave H for some absolutely fab dances.

Sunday morning – I managed to sleep for a few hours – but not as many as I would have liked before heading back to the blues room around 1pm – and that was pretty much where I stayed until 7am Monday morning when the music stopped – well done to Trampy for keeping the music going until then. The Highlights of Sunday Night/Monday Morning were chatting with Drathzel, new discovery’s jiveaddicted and a couple others who’s name I can’t recall or maybe didn’t get *opps* and lots of lovely dances with people I got to know at the last Southport and with my lovely friends from Scotland including my final dance of the weekend with Pretzelmeister *hugg*

And a big thank you to my lift home – got to leave at the very civilized time of 10am which enabled me to dance through to music’s end and enjoy breakfast (thanks to the organisers for that) with those still standing after all night dancing and helping Rachel & Marc pack up.

Sunday was a little sad as this was time for me to say good bye to many of my Scottish friends but Scotland isn’t all the far away for now at least.

Having a chalet to myself had it’s upsides and it’s downside – it was nice not having to worry about what mess I made or how much noise I made when I came back, or about being woken up by someone else returning – but it was also a slightly surreal and isolating experience – so in Feb I have convinced the lovely Jo to share with me.

Really looking forward to the next one in Feb – hope my chalet is close to the main building *brrrrr* :)

Only a few photos to busy dancing to take photos ;)

Final Scotland Adventure

Well this post has been a long time coming – was so busy enjoying my last adventure in Scotland that I didn’t write anything as I went so here is the somewhat abridged version of Yli’s final Scotland Adventure.*

Trampy arrived back on the Thursday before the Scottish Ceroc Champs so I was able to head to Glasgow the next day to farewell Lemoncake for her 4 month sojourn in Australia

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The next morning Pretzelmeister & I head up to Edinburgh for the Scottish Ceroc Championships. Which was a great day!!! I got very lucky in the Lucky Dip and drew Jammie for it – and although we danced brilliantly in our heat and made it to the semi-final – in the semi-final – a combination of extremely blah music and both of having our heads not quite there we danced no were near as well as in the heat *shrug* these things happen and we had fun

I also competed in Advanced with Sheepman and given how much practice we had had I was very please with how we danced – we didn’t make it beyond the semi-final (there were no heats) and this produced a lovely commend from one friend – that we had been robbed and should have been in the final if not placed – nice to hear – even it I didn’t see it that way.

Once the competition was over the real fun began – Freestyle dancing over 2 rooms until late.

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The next day was day one of the trip proper – this trip was with Mum & Dad and we started with a day in Edinburgh – a day I not nearly enough time to see anything in Edinburgh so we kept it simple – starting with Mary Kings Close – which was very interesting – the streets were so narrow that I could touch both walls at once with out stretching!

From Mary Kings Close it was up the hill to Edinburgh Castle – for which a day is barely enough – my favourite place here was probably the war memorial which is the newest addition to the castle.

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Then it was time to head for the highlands – stopping off at a random small town and coming across the Beatrice Potter Garden on the way -which is not nearly as delightful as sounds - some of the sculptures were rather creepy

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Monday saw us heading off on a Whiskey & Heather tour – with Heavenly Highlands Tours. This was the high light of the trip for me the landscape was breath taking, the guide Paul was informative and we went off road to place you could never get to on your own, add in lunch, whiskey tasting & hills of heather *Sigh* it was heavenly, wandering though heather, deer spotting, ospery spotted and the so very cute sheep.

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Tuesday saw us with another early start and heading off to Loch Ness – we decided to pass on the visitors centre and headed to Urquart Castle – a fabulous ruin with breath taking views of the Loch. On our way to URquart Castle we stopped at a viewing point and were able to go down to the shores of the loch & watch the mist moving over the hills surrounding it.

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From Urquart Castle we headed to the battlefield of Cullodeon which was kinda weird – you look out over this field – which has been restored to it’s natural state and it’s hard to imagine that so many men died here and the repercussions that had for the Scottish people…

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After Cullodeon it was off to Clavia Cairn – which a number of burial cairns and from there is was time to head off on a long drive north to Wills ready for early morning ferry ride to Orkney.

If you ever get to Wills – be sure to visit the local hotel – they do a fabulous 3 course fixed seasonally menu – which was divine!!

Orkney was amazing and our first tourist stop was on our way to our B&B at the Italian Chapel – which was built by Italian Prisoners of War during WW2 – from there we headed into Kirkwell for a wander around a look at Magnus Cathedral, some delicious Orkney IceCream before heading to our B&B and once settled there head out to a jewellery gallery and workshop & chair makers workshop before having dinner at local pub.

The next day saw us heading off to Maes Howe, Ring of Brognar, Steness Standing Stones and leisurely meandering around the Island. Then Friday came and it was time to return to the mainland but not before another stop at the Jewellery gallery for a purchase and then onto a weavers gallery and a knitting shop before jumping on the ferry back to Wills.

From Wills we headed towards Inverness taking a detour around Inverness and heading down the side of the Lochs and enjoying the scenic route back towards Glasgow – we didn’t make it all the way to Glasgow on Friday got as far as Fort George where we after we found a place to stay we wandered into town for dinner and then walked back along the river/loch.

Saturday our mission was to get me to Southport for the JiveAddiction Ceroc Weekender and saw us heading over the mountains through beautiful terrain with mist covering the mountains and the sunshine breaking through – tried taking some photos but they just endup blah

Made it to Southport in good time and I was on the floor dancing by 4.15pm - but more about that in my next post


* you will be pleased to know that I didn’t make the same Mistake during my Turkish adventures which will be coming soon

Conversations with Strangers

Conversations had with strangers are normally of a ho-hum nature “isn’t the weather lovely” “Oh yes” and then lapsing into silence however occasionally they are outstanding flights of fancy.

On the train to Glasgow I tumbled in to a conversation of this delightful nature with the couple sitting next to me.

It started with a poster of birds from the newspaper and a fear of birds – his not mine, from there the conversation transitioned to tongue curling – she & I could do it, he couldn’t – it’s genetic just in case you didn’t know, to gold fish’s 3 sec memory to fear vs exciting to bumblebees and how delightfully fuzzy and pat-able they look.

And then the train arrived and it was over *sigh*

Up Up & Away

Got taken up in a little plane today by Bob one of the venue managers.

We had perfect weather for the flight - clear blue skies with just a touch of cloud.

The plan was to fly around a bit, do a couple of acrobatic tricks and then do some low flying over the hills, unfortunately the wind was bit puffy low down and the plane was a only little so the low flying had to be left off but the rest went according to plan.

Bob took me upside in roll over and then over to one side on a tight turn - it was amazing - to look down and see the ground at the end of the wing.

the view was amazing and as there was a big airshow coming up there was also a lot of other planes around as well - the chatter on the radio was amazing - between the accents, plane code and speed with which it was all said - it was like listening to another language - actually I'm quite sure it is another language

we had a little bit of trouble just after take off - had made a plane switch at the last minute and gave the wrong plane identity - shortly after take up a rather grump airtraffic conroller was asking Bob to "please explain"

Photos @ Kodak

Rejected!!!

Rejected by the blood bank :(

Went with a Rebecca and Steven from work to give blood today – as it was my first visit I had to see a nurse to go over the questionnaire – for those that give blood in Aus here you don’t see a nurse every time to go through the questionnaire just the first time or if you request to.

Anyway going through the questionnaire and was going fine until I answered yes I have had acupuncture in the last 12 months – as I didn’t have a certificate from the clinic saying that they were a member of Chartered Physiotherapists , British council for acupuncture or general chiropractic council – they couldn’t take my blood for 12 months – however I can go back to the clinic and get appropriate certificate and then give blood so not a huge drama and we continue on and then we hit a snag – we get to the questions of surgery – I’ve had several but the one that worried them was my first one – Harrington’s fusion done in 1986.

The conversation goes something like this

Nurse: Harrington’s Fusion??
Me: surgery to straighten and fuse my spine – scoliosis
Nurse: I’ll have to check about that

She pulls out her manual and flicks through it for a bit

Nurse: I will have to go find out about that one

She leaves the room for a while and returns

Nurse: did you have any marrow products?
Me: um no – they used bone from my own hip to fuse my spine
Nurse: so only your own bone?
Me: yes they took it from my hip

And now it gets fun

Nurse: did you have a blood transfusion?
Me: No
Nurse: you’re sure
Me: yes I didn’t have a blood transfusion
Nurse: No transfusion at all?
Me: No transfusion at all
Nurse: and you are sure that you didn’t receive a blood transfusion when you had your back surgery
Me: Yes I’m sure
Nurse: are you able to check with the Doctor/ hospital
Me: that’s a bit difficult as that is in Australia and I am sure I didn’t have a transfusion
Nurse: but you could check?
Me: it would be difficult but I could do it but I know I didn’t have a transfusion
Nurse: But you should have had one
Me: It’s common to have one with that surgery but I didn’t have one
Nurse: And you are sure you didn’t have a transfusion
Me: yes I’m sure I didn’t have a transfusion, I can check – what documentation, proof do you require?
Nurse: umm none but would like you to check
Me: I know I didn’t have one

At this point the nurse choose to move on to the sex questions

A Gentle Day of Sightseeing & Swallows at Play

Monday was a bank holiday so now work – public holidays are weird here – apart from Christmas & Boxing day – they are sort of option – you get them but depending on circumstances you make get them at the time of them or at a different time all together. Also they have no name s- apart from the Christmas Day & Boxing Day they are all just called Bank Holidays

Any Monday was one and I got it off so I headed out to Abroath Abbey, which is only 40 drive from Dundee it is where the declaration of Arbroath the Scottish equivalent of the US declaration of independence was written, as far as ruins go it was nice enough but I’m starting to get to the point of seen one ruined cathedral, church etc seen them all – that said I saw a flyer for Edzell Castle and formal garden which was only about 40 mins away from the Abbey and only 40 mins from home so I headed there as well – the garden was lovely although the roses were somewhat past their best.

The Highlight of this adventure was swallows at play – along the drive way to Edzell castle they were swooping and diving all over the place – including one that flew just ahead of the car for about 2/3’s of the length of the driveway!!

Once I had finished looking at the Abbey I spent a good 10 minutes or so watching they over the fields beside the drive way – I tried to take photos but they were to far away to show up in a general photo and moving WAY to fast for a close up

Photos @ Kodak
Abroath Abbey

Edzell Castle

A weekend of Dancing

This weekend was a weekend of dancing as I headed out to the both the Edinburgh Monthly party and the Stirling Tea Dance.

On the Saturday, Dave & I met up in Dundee and then headed to Edinburgh where we met up with Marnie (Sydney dancer in London and up in Edinburgh for the weekend), Ruth & Roger for dinner. Dinner was delicious and companionable.

From the restaurant it was just a short walk to Marcos the venue for the Ceroc Party. I have to say that I enjoyed this Edinburgh party much more than the first one I attended – which was for 2 main reasons I knew more people and there were less people, so the was room to dance with out fear of stepping on or being stepped on.

Over all a very fun evening – although there was a bit much swing music for my taste – swing music is for lindy and the like not ceroc in my book.

It was fabulous to see Marnie – and not nearly long enough – looking forward to the chance to catch up with her properly when I’m down south more permanently

It’s amazing how much quickly a long drive goes with company – Dave was driving so the time flew even faster for me.

And even though there we were both tired we still stayed up watching WCS dvd’s until stupid o’clock – good thing that we didn’t have to be up early on Sunday.

Sunday saw us dragging ourselves up and out the house in time to have some lunch in town – I had planned to cook breakfast but we were up to late and I was to tired, then after a pleasant wander around town, it was time to depart for my final Stirling Tea Dance!

My turn to drive this time and once again amazing how fast the time goes when you are travelling in company – especially company that talks as much as I do.

The Stirling Tea dance was delightful as always – these have been the highlight of my dancing time in Scotland – so relaxed such a friendly bunch of dancers – several of the regular leads here are amongst my favourite leads here!

It all ended far to soon but with Dave’s company the drive home once again flew by

Photos @ Kodak

And the sight seeing continues

After we completed our assignment on the bridge Pretzelmeister and I continued on with the sight seeing first up was an impromptu visit to the Provand's Lordship the oldest house in Glasgow apparently - as well as having some fasinating items on display inside - there is a lovely garden out the back the perfect place to pause and linger for a moment

Now it was time for a drink – which turned out to be rather more of a mission than one would have expected when you are in the middle of a dozen or so tourist attractions while on our mission to get a drink we toured St Mungo’s Museum. St Mungo’s is a museum of religious history – not just Christian history. It’s quite something to see all the details of so many different religions side by side

After St Mungos we managed to finally find a drink and took time to rest and enjoy our drinks before heading to the final item on the agenda for the day – Glasgow Necropolis.

The Necropolis stands on a hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral, just a short walk across the Bridge of Sighs. The monument to John Knox, which was erected in 1825, dominates the hill. The cemetery itself, like several in Edinburgh, was modelled on Père-Lachaise in Paris.

The Necropolis was amazing and we fabulous weather for it – it was fascinating seeing the different grave stones they used to put so much more information on them than we do these days, gravestones used be not just grave markers but testament to the life lived.

Photos @ Kodak

Bridge Dancing

After finishing our feast at the Willow Tearooms it was time to undertake Bridge Dancing!

LemonCake is working on a new bridge that is being built, and decided that she wanted to dance on the bridge before it was opened to road traffic and she left for Australia and had enlisted Pretzelmeister, McJester & I to assist her in this mission.

We were outfitted in boots, hi-vis jackets and hard hats and we were on our way – and will boots may not be the easiest foot wear to dance in make them 2 sizes to big and it gets really interestings

Photos @ Kodak

Sunday of Sight seeing

Sunday started with Pretzelmeister & I heading to the Willow Tea Rooms for sustenance. These tea rooms have a long history in Glasgow having been designed entirely by Mackintosh and once upon a time were “The place” to take tea now days I would say you visit them more to be able to say you have been there rather than for the food or ambience. The food was average and the ambience rather tired but with the cheerful if somewhat tired company of Pretzelmeister a very pleasant time was had. And I further added to my Scottish food experience by trying some of P’s Arbroath Smokie – smoked fish prepared in Arbroath it was very nice – it was lighter in flavour and less bone filled than kippers which I had sampled the weekend before

The next items on the sightseeing tour were St Mungo’s museum, Glasgow Cathedral and Glasgow Necropolis but first a short intermission for some Bridge Dancing

Photos @ Kodak

Ceilidh Dancing

After finishing up at Kelvin Grove Hall I headed to Pretzelmeisters for the main purpose of this trip Ceilidh (Kay-lee) Dancing.

Ceilidh Dancing is a semi called type of Scottish country dancing and when I mentioned to Pretzelmeister & McJester that I wanted to try it they decided the Riverside club should be the place for my induction.

Prior to the actual dancing there was a home cooked dinner at Pretzelmeisters place with dessert provided by Lemon Cake – There were 12 in total for dinner and apart from an emergeceny run to the local take away for rice all went smoothly and was Delicious!!

From Pretzelmeisters we bundle off into cars to the Riverside Club – which has been running the Ceilidh dances weekly for about 20 years! We arrived right a little late but these things happen and we met up with those that had been unable to make it to dinner and had managed to secure us a well located table.

My first dance was the most sedate one of the evening – can’t remember what it was called – after that all the dances seemed manic in the extreme! I wouldn’t consider myself unfit but there was barely a dance that didn’t leave me at least slightly breathless if not gasping for breath!! This combined with the intense heat and lack of ventilation led us to seek refuge on the stairs outside to enable us to continue the evening.

Not knowing the dances wasn’t to much of a hindrance – as the band would explain the steps of the dance before they started it – and the lads with us led the dances quite well with appropriate explanations as we went along

The maddest dance of the evening for me was one called The Swedish Masqurade – this song was requested by Pretzelmeister requested this one and next thing I know I am following instructions to spin, jump and just follow – the fact that there were only two couples on the floor for this dance was terrifying and reassuring – terrifying in that people were watching reassuring in that I didn’t have to worry about hitting another couple as I whirled around like mad dervish. Pretzelmeister also managed to incorporate some ceroc dips into this dance as well!

One of the really great thing about the Ceilidh dance was the number of boys in kilts – actually boys in kilts is one of the best things about Scotland ;)

After the Ceilidh those of us with any energy headed back to Pretzelmeister’s for drinks, discussion and dancing.

http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=bn23palx.cc49qul9&Uy=9qakkh&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB

Lunching in Glasgow

Saturday I headed down for to Glasgow catching up with Dave, Jennifer & Caro for lunch, where I got to taste the wonder of Scottish cuisine Haggis – my verdict was taste fine – texture umm errr not so sure of.

After Lunch we wandered down to Kelvingrove Hall – which has just been re opened we didn’t have much time to look around but what we did see was great – including the interactive kids section where Dave created this masterful self portrait.

Highly recommend this gallery/museum to anyone visiting Glagow and for those on a budget it’s Free!

Photos @ Kodak

Red Hot & Blue

Friday night saw me heading off to Edinburugh for Red Hot & Blue this is a dance night run by Dance Demon a local DJ. This night is more of a blues wcs sort of night – lots of slow funky music a sort of late night tea dance

The atmosphere was friendly and there were enough faces I knew to make for a very nice evening of dancing. Including some attempts as wcs with mixed results.

The Engagement Party

Arriving back at E&P’s flat it was the usual chaos of 5/6 people getting ready to go out with only one bathroom. E decided to straighten my hair and took to it with Angela’s hair straighter my hair and took it from almost curly to straight in around 20 minutes something which it normally takes me an hour or more to do. I am SO getting myself one of them.

Finally everyone was appropriately gussyed up and we departed for The Lazy Vine, which thankfully was a mere 5 min walk from E&P’s. They had booked out the garden and were having a very casual BBQ – which made for a very relaxing evening with people coming and going and merriment until the witching hour. And so finally the in-laws met with and with Bellini's (a divine champagne and white peach cocktail) lubricating the proceedings all went smoothly

Photos @ Kodak

Scottish Money

The assistant at the Needle Lady’s was rather perplexed when I handed over my money to pay … Scottish money while valid in England looks very different to notes printed in England. The poor fellow was so unsure that the money I had offered him was actually real that he popped next door to check that it was real hehehehehehe

Human Pin Cushion

After lunch I headed off to my first ever acupuncture session! The acupuncturist didn’t speak much English so much of the history/explanation of why I was there was done a translator which was an interesting experience – but strangely enough it didn’t freak me out that this person with whom I could only communicate with in a minimal way was going to fill me full of long pointy needles.

After establishing that I was there to have the tightness in my neck worked on – I was shown to a small room where I was asked to strip down to my underwear and lay on massage table with towel over me.

When the Needle lady returned she started gentley poking around my neck and then tapped me sharply with a single finger and wa la the first needle was in – I was really surprise at the fact that I didn’t feel a thing as they went in – when she was manipulating them I could feel them but it wasn’t painful more like a heavy weight pushing into my neck. In short order she had 8 needles in me – 6 in my neck and on in each side of my rib cage. After this I was left under a head lamp for a period time I’m guessing about 45 min as the entire appointment took near to 1.5 hours.

After I had been baked for a suitable length of time the Needle lady appeared and removed the needles (this stung a little but not much) and finished me off with a massage.

The massage was different to any other massage/physical manipulation I have ever had which I think is in part due to the acupuncture before hand and just a general difference in technique – the oddest bit was when she smack the heels of me feet…

So far the best treatment I have had for my neck since arriving in the UK and will be having more sessions with the inscrutable Needle Lady next time I am in need when I am down London way

Trip to London Town

Celebrations for my Sisters Engagement took me on a trip to London. So I jumped a train from Dundee to London - which while longer than a plane trip is easier straight of the train to the underground and then a short walk to E&P's flat. I arrived at the flat at about 11pm Friday night - just intime to meet P's Sisters husband A and A&B who were also staying at the flat - it was a rather cosy weekend.

Saturday morning E&P and P's siblings headed out to visit around london. I started a bit earlier than them which breakfast with Mum and Dad who were staying in a near by hotel for the weekend. After breakfast Dad & I headed into London where I was going to 1st Contact and after that we wandered rather confusedly around for a bit before heading back to Hammersmith and lunch with Mum.

dance practice

The weekend also saw me have my first practice session with my partner for the Scottish Ceroc Championships. These are a chairty event with all the money raised this year are going to DEBRA

My partner for these comps is Sheepman of Meltdown Mix fame - he's in London so we won't be doing much practice. We did 1 hour on the Saturday and where scheduled to 2 hours on the Sunday evening but he & Little Monkey went out for a day of lesiure and the car decided it wanted in on the lesiure bit and ceased functioning!!

we were pretty pleased with what we achieved in the hour we had.

Advanced is a little different in the UK to in Australia - no lifts or aerials of anysort are allowed - which means that the purpose of our practice sessions isn't so much to learn speccie moves as to try and develop a sort of basic connection

Summer Meltdown Mix

Saturday 5th August saw DJ Sheepman spinning the tunes for Dundee's first ever MeltDown Mix.

It was sort of like a late night Tea Dance - there were mellow tunes, delighful company and delicious cakes!

the only down side to the evening was that it did get a little warm in the hall - found out at the end of the evening that apparently there was air-con we could have turned on Doh!!

Didn't loose the photos this time Photos @ Kodak

Parking on the Wrong side of the Road

over here it is legal to part against the direction of the traffic. This is something that still startles me when I see two cars parked nose to nose or a car pulls out into traffic from the wrong side of the road. It just seems so unnatural.

I did my first wrong side of the road park when picking Little Monkey up for our afternoon of shopping - was a very disconcerting experience to cross to the wrong side of the road to park - luckly there was plenty of room so i was able to drive in easily - as parralel parking isn't my forte

Taking a Break and going on a Mission

the week after all my fun and games in Stirling my body made it clear that it wanted a rest and it wanted it now!!!

so the next weekend I did nothing! well nearly nothing - I did the usual assortment of house hold duties and went on a Mission for Black Pants!!! Who would think that purchasing black pants made of stretch fabric would be this difficult - this was the 5th trip and still no success - either they aren't stretch, or if they are stretch they don't fit, or the fabric nasty.

So while the mission was unsuccessful I did have a lovely afternoon wandering the shops with Little Monkey - very relaxing afternoon with fabulous company and we found several lovely sparkle accesories for Little Monkey

Dancing in Stirling

in addition to all my touristing in Stirling I also went to a dance party at Albert hall on the Saturday night and another delightful Tea Dance on the Sunday.

The Saturday night has 2 rooms - Dance Demon in the main room and Tiggerbabe in the blues room. Would have liked to have spent more time in the blues room but it was just to hot - I am in the land that air conditioning forgot! and add to that that the bar ran out of water?!?! so ended up taking an early mark knowing that I wanted and early start and I had the Tea Dance on the Sunday to get the rest of my dancing fix

The Tea Dance was lovely - with nice mellow tunes by Tiggerbabe and lovely company with a merry little picnic to celebrate Freya's birthday before hand - so much delicious food I ended up feeling rather like a beach ball for the first hour or so felt rather like a beach ball.

there were some photos of these events but they have gone awol

Stirling Photos

well here they finally are

Stirling Castle Day 1

Stirling Castle Day 2

Stirling in General

National Wallace Monument

Beheading Stone

Holy Rude

Lady Stone

Wall Walk

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest

the Sunday after the engagement party saw the troupe trooping off to breakfast at organic café – on arrival we were greeted by the master of the domain a beautiful black lab type dog. We ensconced ourselves at a table and pursued the menu which offered up many delights for our breakfast feasting.

Next on my agenda was heading into Kings Cross where I meeting Marnie for a quick coffee before my train back to Dundee so me & my suitcase waved good bye to the troupe and trundled off to the tube station.

Kings Cross was chaotic – much more so than when I arrived or caught the train up to Dundee – Marnie & I eventually found each other, grabbed a drink and found a stair to sit on. It was lovely catching up with Marnie – she seems to be settling into London life very well – a job, a place to live and so on as with all catch ups the time went far to quickly and before we knew it my train was being called.

I'm sorry i'm sorry I'm sorry

I've been very naughty and not posted here in ages - Stirling sort of brought me undone - I did so much and was so busy and tired it is taking me ages to write it up. And I haven't posted about the things that I have done since then even though I have writen them up because I wanted to keep this blog chronoglogical but I give up - tomorrow I will post links to all my Stirling photos - and about my adventures since stirling and the details of my fun and games in stirling will arrive when they arrive

Super Tourist

Ok going to keep this short - Last weekend I went to Stirling and Super Tourist I was you name it in Stirling and I saw it!! It's got an amazing palace with huge significance - whoever rules Stirling rules Scotland the saying goes

any way a full write up and photos will follow in a few days when I have a little more time.

Down Tunnels and Up Towers

*note I had really cool pictures to go with this post but blogger wouldn't load them*

Sunday dawned bright and sunny – well I’m assuming it did as I most certainly wasn’t up at dawn.

With a clear sunny sky – I headed off South on the half hour mildly scenic drive to St Andrews. Parking in St Andrews is a bit of nightmare but thankfully as it was Sunday parking restrictions didn’t apply – there are actually park and ride centres just out side the city centre – but didn’t learn about those until my day was over – well I know for next time.

I had intended to start my visit to St Andrews with one of “100 things to do in Scotland before you die” by having a custard slice from Fisher and Donaldson bakery however it was closed – but gives me an excuse to visit St Andrews again ;)

Decided to keep things simple by picking 2 attractions to see and no, one of them was not the golf course. I choose the Castle & the Cathedral. Both are ruins with a long and somewhat bloody history.

Both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places.

My first port of call was the castle where I purchased my joint entry ticket to both ruins. And in for a penny in for a pound I also shelled out £2.95 each for booklets for self guided tour of each ruin – not entirely convinced that they were worth the money – but they did get me neatly around both ruins

I was advised that both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places with the Cathedrals next performance in half an hour – so I headed to the Cathedral.

The Cathedral like so many things in this country isn’t just a historical tourist attraction it’s a living part of the community. People are still interned in this cemetery and as such the grounds are open to all and in addition all the tourists there were many merry picnic groups in the grounds.

Here your admittance gets you access to 2 displays of stone carvings and to the St Rules Tower which is one of the most complete structures at the Cathedral and with your token the non claustrophobic and unafeared of heights can take a steep climb up some very circular stairs and you are presented with a rather breath taking view of St Andrews.

Seeing these tombs pic it becomes clear why incense was/is such a feature of Catholic church services – these tombs were under the floor that had to get stinky!

It was quite fascinating seeing the different styles of headstones through the centuries – the older ones featured skulls and cross bones, and used the words, corpse and body no beating around the bush here. It was also quite common not to just give the date of death and age but no birthdate. And others listed not a burial but a true memorial listing the location of a person’s internment else where in the world.
Following the Actors little presentation which while somewhat informative was pretty average to be honest – I wandered a little more around the cathedral before heading back to the castle for the 2pm performance there. It was the same actor at the Castle as at the Cathedral and once again it was an adequate performance – following the performance I finished my self guided tour of the castle including the underground tunnels.

The Castle was sieged at one point in time with the siegers trying to bring the walls down by tunnelling under the walls the siegers were foiled by the a countermine dug by the defenders. These tunnels were discovered in the Victorian era when a the foundations for a house were being dug. For the non claustrophobic and sure of foot you can venture down into the countermine which is rather narrow and windy through into the mine which is large spacious – at the end of the mine there is a grate pic in the roof which can also be seen in the paving out side the castle grounds pic

Wandering back to my car I passed a house with a sign out the front – saying Preservation Trust, St Andrews Museum & Garden entrance was free so I wandered on in – not a place I would put high on your list of places to visit in St Andrews but mildly interesting – the best part was the garden a lovely oasis and it was delightful to sit quietly for a few minutes and be visited by a bumble bee.



I want to pat a bumble bee!!!! They look so adorable and fuzzy and like they would purr if you did – wonder what a bee would sound like a purring – maybe more of a buuurrrrrrrrzzzzzz

Photos @ Kodak

St Andrews

St Andrews Castle

St Andrews Cathedral

St Andrews Museum & Garden