KL

Well we are back in KL again for a short time. The flight from Paris was uneventful, giving me sufficient time to watch 2.75 movies.

• "The Devil Wears Prada" was amusing with the requisite happy ending associated with Ann Hathaway movies.
• "Cars" was good, but I kept finding that I was dozing off as a result of a lack of sleep the previous night.
• After a long nap and while eating breakfast, I watched the first 3/4 of "The Da Vinci Code" before we landed.
  

Sonia watched "The Breakup" and a set of sitcoms and travel shows before catching a very extensive nap (suprising?).

We're checked into the hotel here, have recovered the bag that we'd left with them when we started the holiday, have had a 1-hour nap, and are now catching up on our Coffee Bean quota. Then in a few minutes we're off to look at cameras and find a new suitcase for me to use at work.

And now, the holiday is over...

We are packing to leave to the airport in Paris. Walking out the door in ten minutes.

And then it rained... and rained... and rained...

Well Italy? It rained. Shall we move on to France? No, ok... As I said earlier, we made it to Verbania in one piece, having spent a nice 20 minutes on the ferry ride. We'd arrived just in time to get a ticket and then drive the car onto the ferry. Once on the other side of the lake we realised that there were a suprising number of gentlemen walking around with green felt hats, often with a large feather. Think "Sound of Music". It turned out that the town had been given over for an Alpini Association get-together for the weekend (this was Sunday afternoon). The bars and restaurants were full of them, and little else was open. From time to time we heard bursts of song - one in particular was suprisingly good with multi-part harmonies, all by the gentlemen in the green hats. A bit like the Welsh choirs, but more ad hoc.

After checking into the hotel and getting ourselves sorted out, we ended up eating dinner in the restaurant. The dinner was suprisingly disappointing, given the hotel is a member of the "Small Luxury Hotels of the World". The wine was good - we now know two nice Italian wines. When I asked the sommellier where the wine was from, it was a bit difficult to understand the resulting explanation. In order to obtain other similar wines, we were instructed to look out for wines with "nello" in the name (this wine was called Flaccianello)! Sure enough, having looked it up on the Internet, there are other wines with "nello" in the name, and the prices suggest a similar level of quality. That was it for the day - the night finished with a few small drops of rain.

Monday... and the rain arrived with a vengence. It rained, and rained and rained. All day. Without stopping. Just like Auckland. We decided that a quiet dry day in our hotel room was in order, and so the books we had stolen from Diana in Wilmslow got a good read. Not much to tell really :-)

Tuesday was much nicer, although still not the brilliant sunshine that always appears on postcards of the Italian Lakes. We headed out in the morning on a walking adventure - heading around the lake to some little villages and some stunning old houses. We realised again just how 'new' New Zealand really is. The architecture was stunning. Took a photo of the hotel (or is it of Sonia - Andrew never can work out what he is supposed to be snapping... the hotel is the wee blotch in the background - Sonia is the big blot in the foreground...)

We then found a park with a group of giggling German grannies (and one or two grandpas) and had to investigate further. A close look showed them trying really hard to get this 'cigar' into the mouth of the composer Toscanini - once they had succeeded Andrew joined in the photo opportuity - such a handsome fellow...
In the afternoon we headed off in the car for a more extensive look around ('tis embarrassing to admit how little of the lake we saw by foot!!). Lake Maggiore is very long and thin, heading up into Switzerland. Andrew drove in fear that around the next corner he was going to find border control. We had left the passports in the hotel and he was quite sure they were not going to be happy with that story! The road around the lake varies in width and windiness - the local drivers sure do take it fast though. We had memories (or was that nightmares!!) of the trip through San Remo when we had all the others with us - the drivers are just mad. Zach would be impressed to know that we really were like Dora the Explorer - looking for clues along the way as to where to go next!

The scenery is impressive, and hopefully you'll see some of it in these photos:



Dinner was a great restaurant back in Intra - called La Latteria ("The Dairy"?). Shame that what we thought we order (beef steak) turned out to be tuna steak with Soy and Sesame crust, but hey - it was good anyway! Think we will invest in an Italian/English dictionery if we ever get back to Italy. It's not difficult finding places to eat there - seems to be something good on ever corner, as well as the spots in between.

Wednesday we were due to leave for Paris, and so the weather turned beautiful - typical... We spent the day travelling, with the first leg from Intra to Milano Malpensa airport. This was a challenge, without a map and attempting to follow Italian road signs to the A26 Autostrade (motorway for those in NZ). The signs to get to the autostrade took us through lots of back streets, and in the end there must have been quicker paths to it. Getting onto the motorway was ok - just follow the signs for Milan. Then Milan disappeared from the signs, and the only place listed was Genova. In my mind, this sounded a lot like Geneva and I started to worry that we'd missed a turning, or indeed were on the wrong motorway in the first place. After twenty minutes or so, we got off and drove into a small (one-car-width roads) village. Finding the post office, I went inside and "spoke" to the lady behind the counter. She did not speak any English, and I do not speak any Italian (just in case you've forgotten). Eventually we agreed that to get to Milan we needed to follow the signs to Genova, not to Gravellona (opposite direction). Getting back onto the motorway, we still didn't see any Milano signs for another 30 minutes or so. But they did appear in the end. Then following the signs to Malpensa airport, which the local council decided to use to direct traffic through back streets. Having a vague memory of the map in mind, we realised that this route bore no resemblance to the map.

The flight to Paris was via Munchen (Munich) again, with 30 minutes to spend in the Lufthansa lounge (disappointing except for the free gummy bear sweets. And why do the airlines feel that they should charge for Wireless Internet? Landing in Paris, we caught the RER train into town, then a twenty minutes walk to the hotel. This must be the longest that we've walked with the packs actually on our backs. Feeling very much like backpackers, we checked into the four-star hotel. Very small room, and smaller bathroom, which is typical Paris. But a nice place, with free Internet! Dinner at a restaurant in Montparnasse (which is where the hotel is) - very yum!

Today was spent walking around St Germain des Pres, then through the Luxembourg gardens in the afternoon. We write this (guess who wrote each paragraph!) from another cafe in Montparnasse where we are recuperating from our exertions with a glass of wine. The only remaining challenge/task for today is to select a restaurant for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow the holiday is over - we catch a midday flight to Singapore and KL. Andrew flies to Hong Kong on Sunday, while Sonia prepares for India and NZ via a stopover in Bangkok to negotiate peace treaties with the tank drivers. Sharon and Kyla will join her for the trip to India, unless Kyla is sold into the Thai army as a mascot to be placed on the front of a tank.

Photos and "Intra"

Some photos first:

1. The view from the hotel in Varese.


2. Sonia on the ferry across to Intra.

And now, for your viewing pleasure (?)

The seats of Prague, a photo essay by Sonia (with editing by Andrew).

Directions to mothers - please click on the photo to see it in all it's glory (will take a while to display since it's such a great photo!)

Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday - a flight to Munich and Milano. We knew the day was not going to be great, when the checkin counter labelled the two bags "Hot". At our confused looks, the girl behind the counter explained that 1/2 an hour was not a long transit time for Munich. Sure enough, we had to clear immigration (thank goodness for business class and being first off), then complete a ten minute sprint acorss the airport to a new gate, which Lufthansa had conveniently booked at the opposite end of the place. At least that's what it seemed like. On the plus side, Air Dolomiti does serve some of the best food we've had so far. Cheese, salami, prosciutto, etc.

We made it to Milan airport in one piece, then had to locate and collect a rental car. The car rental agencies are conveniently located at the opposite end of the building to the arrivals gate. And the luggage trolleys require you to have change to use them. Which, coming from another country with diffirent currencies, you are unlikely to have!

The Ford Fiesta (1.4l) that Hertz tried to foist on us in place of the Merc A-class just was not going to cut it. Andrew has decided that he has "mug" written on his forehead. Hertz in Italy are not impressive. Customer service seems to be just the label on the badge that they wear, not a description of their job. Eventually we got a Ford Focus 1.8 diesel, which goes alright but stalled a few times until Andrew figured out how to drive it.

Then came the challenge of nevigating our way from the airport to a small village on the outskirts of Varese - look it up on Google Maps and you'll see the challenge (click here for a link). You need to zoom in a long way to understand that many of the directions take you through the small (only wide enough to allow one car at a time) roads through the centre(?) of Varese. Then combine that with Italy's lack of road signs and Sonia's navigation skills (lack of), it was a difficult afternoon. We got to the hotel (very nice) and went to sleep (4 in the afternoon). On waking around 7pm, we decided to walk into the town, and ended up getting choclate icecream (not as good as in Prague), and then Pizza for dinner (very nice prosciutto pizza). Then watched American Dreams, the movie, and went back to bed. In the morning, a slow start leaving just before the 12-noon checkout time.

Sunday morning we made it to Laveno-Mombello (again, look it up on Google Maps here) just in time to catch the ferry. It took a few tries to get through Varese onto the main road. We know the centre quite well now. I wrote most of this, sitting on the ferry on the way across the lake. Given the location, we could see Switzerland from the ferry. The weather was closing in a little, with the big cold-front that's been making it's way across Europe arriving in Italy in time to greet us. We do feel a little hard-done-by, as this is the only bad weather we've struck on the trip.

PS. Now at the hotel. It's very nice, sitting right on the edge of Lake Maggiore. They upgraded our room from a side-lake-view to a full-lake-view. Nice, but I don't think I would bother if I was having to pay for it. The room is European-small but pleasant enough.

Prague day 2

Sonia here today...bet that is a surprise :-). Well another day of being a lady (and man!) of leisure is over, and I must admit that I am not ready for it all to be back to work just yet. We are now four weeks into our holiday, and in just one more week Andrew will be back and working in Hong Kong... We cannot work out where the weeks have gone - time sure has flown by.

After Andrew pulled me out of bed (cute toes, aye?), we headed out.














Today we spent exploring the Old Town of Prague, drinking much coffee (none would have qualified to your high standards Paul!) and enjoying the fabulous sunshine that has continued here in Europe. Andrew is finally ready to admit that I was right, and Prague is well worth a visit - I tried really hard to get him here the whole time we lived in England, but it just never happened. The streets are beautifully cobbled, the buildings are amazing and the people are really friendly. We have had no trouble at all getting around, and if we remember to think in British pounds rather than Malaysian Ringgit the whole place seems to be amazingly good value :-)

For those who have been keen for proof that Andrew was indeed with me on this trip, I have collated pictures of him in Prague. This will be posted in due course - once we figure out how to edit them to remove the frowns. Here is one to keep you going....














Tomorrow we head of to the Italian Lakes where we are intending to do as little as possible and enjoy the last days of our holiday. Think we might start planning the next one....

Prague Photos

Some photos of Prague:

View of the city from the Castle.














View of the city (and Sonia) from the Castle.














Detail of the entrance to the Castle's Cathedral.














Stained glass window inside the Cathedral in the Prague Castle.



















Mosaic on the outside of the Cathedral.














River view from the main bridge - actually the bridge used in the film "XXX".














Dramatic pictures of the Old City from the bridge.

Wilmslow and Prague

On Monday, we caught up with Tacit/Bravura ex-colleagues for lunch. As before, it was good to catch up with peoples' stories and see what's been going on while we've been away. Some dramatic changes (Duncan is finally engaged, and Carl has a fancy Chrysler Crossfire) and some small. Monday night Sonia and I revisited another favourite place in Wilmslow - or rather Alderley Edge. The Alderley Edge Hotel is still there, and still has a great restaurant. This used to be a regular haunt - maybe once a month we'd head there for dinner on a Saturday night. A very civilised place, with a great menu and excellent wine list (check out the website). Some of the faces are the same, and the service is still excellent.

For some reason Monday night was a difficult night to sleep properly. The room was a little warm, so maybe that was the problem. Anyway, Tuesday morning was taken up with washing clothes at the laundromat in Altrincham, then heading to the Honey Bee (English family pub) in Wilmslow for lunch. In the afternoon we packaged up clothes that Sonia bought from Next (an old favourite of the nieces and nephews in NZ) to send back to Auckland. A short break in Cafe Nero (new since we lived here), which has better coffee than our old haunt Best Barista. From what I hear the multiple changes of ownership of Best Barista have degraded the service levels and quality over time. A bit of a shame as it used to be great. Next stop was Mailboxes Etc to post the parcels, then back to the hotel for a short snooze to map up for last night.

Then back out to meet other friends from NZ who have been living over here. Dinner was at the Cedars of Lebanon - new since we were in the UK. Great food, and we ordered about 12 starters between us and just dug in. This was much better than ordering individual plates, as we took the opportunity to sample a number of dishes that we had not had before.

Wednesday morning was an early start (comparatively) - we needed to get the car back to Budget and then catch a 10:45 flight to Prague. Over the next week or two, we will be spending three nights in Prague, four in Milan (Lake Como area), then two in Paris. Then it's back to KL via Singapore. There is not long left!

We've had our first full day in Prague. Sonia dragged herself out of bed at 10am, and we then battled with the Wifi connection in the lobby until 12 noon. Walking into the city turned out to be vey doable (we are staying in the Art Hotel). The actual street that the hotel is on is not great, but the location is generally good - outside of the city centre (therefore cheaper) but still close enough. It turns out that we are situated right behind the Sparta Football Stadium (for anyone who is actually interested in football/soccer). The artwork on the walls is interesting - a sample from one wall of our room.


A very nice city, full of old buildings. I do wonder if it was as nice under communist rule. We walked into town and through the Prague Castle. Amazing buildings, although not that much to look at other than in the cathedral inside the Castle. We did find one unusual statue inside the castle grounds:














And then there was the Barbie Poster (still inside the Castle):


Towards the end of the day Sonia managed to find a wine bar that serves Cheese Fondue. We ended up spending about and hour working our way through a fondue, a plate of Italien (sic) sausage, and glasses of French red wine.

Walking back up to the hotel area about 7pm, we decided to have dinner at one of the local restaurants. The menu posted outside had both Czech and English, but the one inside was only Czech - bit of a problem. I ended up taking the menu outside, working out what I wanted and then coming back in to tell the waitress.

Anyway, back at the hotel now, time for bed, I think. Another day of walking around and taking photos tomorrow.

London and Wilmslow

London was great - time to catch up with Phil, Liz, Peter, and Heather (friends from Kuala Lumpur) in Surrey. We walked through the woods (Epsom Common) over the back fence (well almost), which was a great chance to spend some time in the outdoors. We did see a dear walking across the path ahead of us as we were making our way back to the house. We spent the rest of the evening catching up on news of what's happened in KL since they left (about 1 year ago) - not much. And talking about the process of settling back into life in your original/home country.

The next morning we started early. Well we tried to. We managed to depart the hotel around 10am, hoping for a 3 1/2 to 4 hour trip to Manchester. The roads were good through the M25 and M40 (after we finally remembered that you need to use the M40 to get to the M6). Stopped at the Oxford Services, which seem to have improved in the last 3.5 years. Other people have confirmed that generally the quality of the motorway services has improved somewhat. Things were going ok, and we took the new Toll road that skirts Birmingham. However... once we joined the M6 north of Birmingham, things degenerated into a stop-start run through to Manchester. Some things have not changed.

Anyway, we made it to Manchester in one piece and without incurring any points on the license or fines. The hotel we're staying in is next to the airport - a new place called Bewleys. It's a new hotel, fairly basic but good, clean, and has a great breakfast! The sausages are nicely spiced, and cooked properly. And they are not chicken sausages!

Last night we met up with the old gang from the office in Wilmslow. We met up at the Slug & Lettuce, then had dinner at one of the local Chinese places. It was great to see everyone again after so long - four years!

Some of today was spent revisiting places we used to hang out. Lunch was poached salmon (for me) and a prawn rosemarie sandwich (for Sonia) at the Selfridges Deli in the Trafford Centre. That used to be a staple Sunday lunch activity. Dinner was Indian/Nepalese at a local place in Northendon with another group of friends. Again, great to see what people have been up to, and a chance to reconnect. It does remind me how bad I am with writing emails to keep up to date with people!

Earlier tonight we decided that we should probably get organised booking accomodation and cars for the Europe stops of the world tour - Prague, Milan/Lake Como, and Paris. Some is now complete, but it does show that we'd better get this done fast. We arrive in Milan at the same time the Fashion Week commences, however we'll probably end up driving north into the lakes area.

Time for bed, I think. Tommorrow is lunch with old work colleagues, then dinner at a favourite restaurant.

Toronto

Well, we are sitting in Toronto airport lounge waiting for the flight to London Heathrow. Had to crawl out of bed at 4:50 this morning in time to have a quick shower, then downstairs to check out and jump into a taxi. The taxi took a while to arrive, but eventually we were on the way. Bouncing our way through the dark streets in a car that seemed to have more in common with a small boat than with other four-wheeled vehicles.

In my mind, Toronto was full of shopping malls and childrens' hospitals. The three days we had here were spent walking between the hotel (Econolodge - cheap), the children's hospital (to visit Zach), and the various downtown shops. The Eaton Centre is a nice airy place with a big Apple Store. Spent some time browsing the iPods, laptops, etc. Also a nice big Sony store with a 40-something inch Plasma TV. Drool....

The weather has not been great, and jackets were in order. Sonia took the opportunity to look through the shops and procure a new jacket. Funny how even with a single pack, there is still room to shove a jacket, two new pairs of shoes, and a pair of boots. The temperatures have grown colder as we've moved North (as you would expect). Vancouver was not bad at 20-26, Edmonton was warmer (mostly around 26), but Toronto has been down around 15 during the days. The wind whistling through the high-rise buildings doesn't help the temperature any.

In many ways Toronto is just another big city. Lots of people, the usual shady areas (we seemed to walk through them every day getting to and from the hospital), and the usual shops. Just different accents on the streets and brands on the posters.

It will be good to get to the UK - catch up with people who we have not seen for more than three years. A long time. See you soon....

Photos

Some photos:

Zach with Bruce-the-Moose and Goldie-bear:















Sonia and Zach:




















Got your ears on, buddy?

Post-op

There was an anonymous request for more photos, so I will post some once I can get to a half-way decent network connection.

The operation appears to have been successful. After wandering around the Eaton Centre in Toronto for the first part of the day, we got word that Zach's operation was successful. He was in recovery for about two hours, then we headed up to the hospital. He was very cute, lying there very dozy from the general anaesthetic. Plaintive cries of "I'm hungry" started as he began to recover fully. There are scars around his left ear and up into the hair line. There is also an incision inside his upper lip. Then his right leg is swaddled in bandages where they took out the nerve. The doctor is saying that everything is a "go" for the second operation in nine months.

Bedtime now, will put more into this once I get to the internet cafe tomorrow.

Toronto

Well we made it as far as Toronto. The flight was uneventful, but did give the opportunity to look out the window onto the lakes. Canada has very varied terrain/landscapes. Time for bed now, but tomorrow I'll try to post some of the photos from Evan's 40th.

Sunny skies

The weather continues to be sunny over here. It's hard to believe that previous summertime visits to Canada were grey or wet.

Yesterday afternoon was occupied at the driving range with Jay (Evan's brother-in-law), attempting to remind little-used muscles of the correct way to swing a golf club. At first things went ok, but then the hated slice started to show it's ugly head again. Time to gracefully retire to a seat and shoot photos of Evan and Jay as they practice their swings. There were a suprising number of people at the course, given that it was a weekday. We obviously work in the wrong industry - or maybe it's just that we work at all?














Today started with Evan's birthday (yesterday in NZ), then visiting another shopping mall. I'm writing this from a coffee shop (this time Second Cup), trying in vain to locate free wireless internet access. It's a change from KL where every coffee place is working to attract people through their Wifi access.

Maybe it reflects the lower quality of coffee in KL? Interestingly, trying to locate a good cafe (or two) in Hong Kong, I searched CoffeeGeek to see what other people recommend. The general opinion was that Hong Kong is very short of adequate cafes. A couple of names were mentioned, but in the next greath people were saying that the cafes were closed, bought out by another company, or that it was ages since they'd been. Something to search out when we get there.

Evan's party is tomorrow night, so there is lots to get organised. Fill the kids paddling pool with ice to keep the drinks cool, obtain and prepare the food, etc. Guess it's time to get going.

Blue skies and cash-for-votes

Another lovely day in Edmonton. As I write this, we are sitting outside having just finished hamburgers for dinner (supper for those who reside in Canada). It's 7:30pm, and it's still light, with little cloud. Sonia and Kirsten are looking through old photo albums catching up on what's happened over the years.

This afternoon we had a relaxing time sitting outside while the wives snoozed and the kids played with the neighbours.

Last night we walked outside and could see the stars clearly - a wonderfully clear sky at night. Looking off in the distance there are some clouds gathering now, so I guess we will see what happens with the weather tomorrow.

DJ (kitten) has now been returned to the mother-in-law's place, so Kenya (think mature madam of the house) is back to ruling the roost. She no longer needs to hide on top of the fridge.

The NZ Herald has an interesting article today, with the Prime Minister telling the MPs that it's never acceptable to accept money for services. Is NZ now so bad that something so obvious needs to be explained? You can see the article here. Interestingly it's Sharples and Harawira whose names are mentioned in the article. For once I have to agree with Helen Clark - her comment that this is just common sense. This goes to show a lack of that trait within NZ politics.

Whistler, and Edmonton

Yesterday we traveled to Whistler, which is about 110km away from Vancouver. We had a couple of options to get there, having researched on Tripadvisor. Other people talked about how great the train ride is, and said that it takes four hours each way. We figured that getting up early enough to catch the train at 8:30am was unreasonable - we are on holiday after all! The alternative is flying (expensive) or taking the bus. In the end, having walked past the Budget rental car office the previous day, we decided to splurge and rent a car for the day. We were lucky and got the last Ford Mustang Convertible GT. White is not as fast as Red, but beggars can't be choosers.

The trip to Whistler took about two hours, because of the amount of road-works under way. I guess with the Games coming up in 2010, summertime gets used to do a lot of work. Whistler town itself is a neat little place, full of restaurants and bars. The hotels (particularly the Four Seasons) look amazing. The probably look even better when surrounded by snow-covered trees in winter.

The drive back was another opportunity to make the car "growl" as Sonia put it - pressing on the accelerator produced a very satisfying noise. Strangely, though, the car did not feel as responsive as the SLK used to. Maybe just that it was that much larger and heavier than the Merc. On the way back, we were treated to some amazing views across the water. Blue sky, blue water...

In the evening we drove back to Granville Market, arriving just in time to get bread, cheese, and wine for dinner. 10 minutes before closing time (7pm), and the stalls were already shutting down. It's quite a difference to KL, where the shops stay open much later.

Today we are flying to Edmonton, and as I write this I can look out the window over the Rockies. There's a bit of snow around, dusting the tops of the mountains. The rest is very dry. Speaking of which, the big news of the moment is Tofino (a town on Vancouver Island), which has run out of water. Being a town dependent on tourism, and this being the long Labour Day weekend, this seems to be a bit of a problem. Understandably, the good citizens of the town are up in arms and banging (literally) on the door of the council rooms to find out what the council is doing about it.

Security at the airport was interesting - they are more thorough in scanning people, and even asked one little girl (3 or 4 years old) to remove her sweatshirt for scanning by the x-ray machine. After all it might be a security threat. In the end the lines were not much longer than normal in Asia, so maybe it's not such a big deal. They were stopping people from taking their Starbucks coffees onto the plane, which I imagine will irritate some people.

We are now just coming to the edge of the Rockies. It is quite a defined line - one minute you're over the mountains, the next it's all flat off into the distance. Another half an hour and we'll be in Edmonton. Looking forward to seeing Evan, Kirsten, and the girls. And not long until Evan's 40th(!) birthday on Saturday.