Life the universe and everything in between

Wow what a blast. What can i say. Ive had THE most amazing time here in Holland. Ive met beautiful people beautiful places and had beautiful experiences. I only hope that i return in a few months for this was truely a awesome trip and there is much more to be do and time to be spent with the wonderful people ive had around me. Pieter took me to a very flash resturant last night by the name of Boreas ive never seen or tasted such divine food. It was like Science and design infused in this equisite aray of flavours you can just not imagine. Im really struggling to describe our meals, everything was so inventive and so delicious the texture, flavours technique and time put in to such a incredible sight and taste was just incredible. What a special night i will not ever forget…. and at 150 Euro i should hope not!

The last ten days have been so hot and so enjoyable, visiting lakes that once were frozen when i arrived here. Biking with Anna to the A3 which is a huge lake and many thousands of dutch and belgium people visit and soak up the sun in the summer months. Relaxing with family in the garden sharing laughs and eating and talking amongst eachother, het was zoooooo Gezellig !! Its been so special…..  yeh.. im pretty speach-less now, but its home time for now, mum is where its at. Thunderstoms today so it seem like im taking the good weather with me.

Tot ziens Nederlands (see you later Holland)

love Nina

Heres a few more shots from my visit to Germany a month or so ago during which carnival was kicking off .

Hey people

Pieter and I had an awesome day road triping to the west of the Netherlands today to visit the province of Zeeland, and yes it is the area that New Zealand was named after. Its a delta area of islands and man made islands aswell as dams to stop the sea from flooding Holland. It was rather obvious from the top of the man made hils/storm walls that the houses were significantly lower than the sea, pretty interesting sight really! You will also be glad to know we didnt leave the house with out a kite and most importantly a frisbee!

Hello

Well ive been to Amsterdam, and yes i guess you could say it was almost love at first sight. Although i was there mainly for an interview and the meeting and making of contacts, Amsterdam gave me very warm welcoming. However this was not actually litterally the case. Infact on my first full day it hailed twice and then snow fell that evening while i was finding my way home. I was fortunate enough to be staying with Sachas brother Josh which was cool fun and i had the use of a bike whilst staying there. Apart from  spending 3 hours in the Van Gogh Museum on one of my days i basically cycled the city exploring the streets. This was really enjoyable and im proud to say i never actually got lost in all the semi-cicling canals and roads! I met a few kiwis during my stay, a friend of Josh’s who had been here for 3yrs, as well as Stacey another kiwi who i finally met and will be making contact with in a week to make further interview arrangements in the agency she works within. and contacts shes put me on to. I guess to put it simply; I very could easily warm to the idea of living and working in Amsterdam!

Returning to Spain and heading toward Madrid for our flight home we had a few days in Sevilla.  I’ll let the roll over captions do most of the explaining.

Evidence here that we crossed paths with Rachel for a few hours before heading to the airport. Rach shared all her  crazy loose travel adventures with us. Shes off to Brazil now to see where her feet take her it was so enjoyable to see her.

So heres a little pictorial report on our time in Lisbao/lisbon Portugal. While here we made a point of making it to the Maritime Museum as requested by my dad which was well worth the visit. The capital is riddled with trams that climb the steep narrow streets of the city. Lisbon’s first impression on me was a little rough and grummby but it grew on us both by the second day when we ventured out and explored the city via its trams discovering its most stunning and charming qualities were simply in the streets and building that make the city. 

Hi all

Heres a bit of a pictorial story again… A Coruna is on the very north west point of Spain and a stunning sea side city with delicious fresh seafood everywhere you look. We wined and dined both nights we were here and it such good food here and such a variety of seafood too. A Coruna`s speciality in Octopus.

We went on the Portugal after that as you can see, to Porto which has been a really nice city to experience. we have had lovely warm weather and have now gathered anappcreciation for traveling at this time of the year, the crowd and mass holiday-ers would change your experience of theres beautifull places an incredible amount.

 On to Lisbao now… take care everyone, miss ya.

Hi all

Ive decided to post as i go, the thought of a the task at the end of two weeks sounds like a mamoth effort so heres some pictures of what we have been up to, Temperatures have been 18-20 degrees in the day which is nice. I”ll let the captions say the rest.

Nins

Hello everyone!

How are we all? Well as you can see i made it to Germany to visit Annalena which was really special and im glad i took the window of oppotunity to do so, she’s such a long time friend it was a so nice to see where her home town would have been if it hadn’t been Russell. I traveled by train to Kolblenz a city an hour from Montabaur and Annalena met me there to start an day of exploration. We did the sighseeing on the old city the huge river Riens flows past the city and on one hill theres a fort/castle that took the french ten years to penitrate and that wasn’t untill everyone inside had perished… We also did our fair share of shopping and window shopping and then made our way to Montabaur. Annalena is over briefly for her  Oma’s 90th birthday, the houses and property have been in the family for generations and generations. It was facinating to stay with them as there relivites etc slowly began to gather together having traveled small and vast distances for the birthday celebrations. My Second day there we explored the township of Monabaur. The centre its self is very old and after listening to her Oma’s stories of the war and the bombs dropped in her lifetime i realised just how lucky it was that such a town like this was still standing 700 years later. The weather was fricken cold to say the least! the sort of cold that stings your cheeks and involentarily hunch and tense from its strength. I can imagine how stunny and beautiful this county (or any for that matter) would be in the spring and summer seasons… i’ll just have to stick round We found a cozy typical German cafe wedged between the other 16 of the town serving cakes, flans, slices freshly baked German delights and most importantly  COFFEE! The third day we went Annalena her Dad and i  went tiki-touring exploring the surounding villages and castles of the reigion. It was the first day of Carnivale in Germany there was alot to be seen on the streets of some towns. It was enjoyable to do a large portion of the sightseeing from the warmth of the car and cozy cafes! Germany is littered with Castles perched on hill tops of nestled in valleys. They were home to kings and queens of the township dukes or weathly families. Due to being royal dewelings this made them targets for bombing in the war so many are ruins but alot are perfectly intact also. That evening we ventured out into the night. Marcus a friend of Annalenas cousin joined us in going to Kolblenz, The first night of Carnivale in Germany is traditionally the night the women own the streets! We went to a bar/club called ‘Dream’ Which was ammusing because it was owned and run by a bikey gang. This made for interesting listening whilst we were there. Due tot he mass amounts of crazy carnivale people in costumes and the regulars i guess,  the music selection ranged from ‘Mika’ to death metal and everything in between  But i must say watching 5 long hair Germans mosh and head bang to Ramstien was an amusing sight i wont forget in a hurry. Our night didnt end there we returned to Montabaur and decided to have a laugh and go to the ’social outcast’ bar. I had my first typical german beverage there of wheat beer and banana liquor which was delicious. not long after we sat ourselves down a pair of tequila shots with cinnamon orange segments were sent to us compliments of a mysterious man across the room in a lush red flouncy blouse. He turned out to be a Greek- German who also spoke italian and english however he didnt seem to put it to use and spoke mainly in german to Annalena. We recieved a second tequila shot before he  got the message and abruptly disembarked to pursue his other ‘projects’…  we had some laughs on that one. we stayed and even made a few moves on the dance floor before migrating to a small after hours bar down a side street and got home at 6am.

 My last day in gemany started at 13.30pm and it was mainly the journey to the trainstation and the 6hours trip home to the Netherlands via a 45min delay and double train miss. Annalena has the photos of our nihgt out and a few additional humourous ones which i’ll post when i recieve them

 Carnivale is on ant the moment … so a report on that later a hint about my first days outfit….    . she has stripey long socks……

NB* For those not aware, be sure to read the roll over captions on the photos for content information

Day one: Stone Henge & Hampton Court Palace

Day Two: The Natural Histroy Museum & The Science Museum

Day Three: London Central, River Thames, Big Ben, Parliment Square, Horse Gaurds, Trafalgar Square & National Gallery

Day Four: The Tower of London

Day Five: Westminter Abby, St Pauls Cathedral and The Green & Hyde Gardens of London

Day Six: Windsor Castle & Buckingham palace

Day Seven: Home time