AN EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Although I haven't finished my holiday stories from Tripping USA in 2013 (which is now 12 months ago), over the last 6 months we have started planning our next overseas holiday.

This will be our first time in Europe - visiting the countries of France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.  As it will be autumn when we are there, the changing colours of the landscape will be nice to see, and hopefully make for some pleasing photography.  

When we leave Brisbane in September this year our first 7 nights will be spent in Paris.  At the same time Barry has 2 friends (they are doing a walking tour of France), will be there so we will catch up with them one night for dinner.  I really enjoy French food and I am looking forward to tasting all the wonderful cuisine and visiting local patisseries.  I think we had both better stay on our exercise regime.  Before, during and after.

We have booked a Battlefields tour for 4 days which visits the Western Front of World War 1. Some of the sites we will be going to are Flanders, Ypres Salient and the Somme.  These areas were major battlefields for young Australian soldiers as well as many allies and thousands of these brave men lost their lives.  I originally had no interest in doing this tour, but after seeing the ANZAC broadcast from Villers-Bretonneux and reading a little more information about the Western Front I have become increasingly interested and see this as a different experience. 

We return to Paris for 1 night, then intend catching a train to Reims, in the champagne region where we will stay for 3 nights. 

City of Reims (Google Images)

We will do a champagne tour and after reading the tourist bureau information Reims has alot to offer.  From here we will take the train, crossing the French-German border for our next destination of Stuggart.  As it happens Barry has found 2 things of interest in Stuggart.  A visit to the Porsche factory as well as the Mercedes Benz museum.  At the same time on the Saturday the beer festival starts so we opted to stay an extra night to enjoy these festivities.    


From Stuggart we travel to Prague which is part train, part bus travel and from all internet inquiries the scenery looks amazing.  We have a few spare days in Prague before meeting our river cruise tour. We intend hiring a car and head out to the country to other interesting tourist destinations and Barry is hoping to get to the factory where his glider came from.  As long as he doesn't want to buy a new one. 

Our river cruise on the Danbue River is for 10 days and will be one of the many highlights of this European holiday.  The tour starts in Prague but we board our floating hotel at Nuremberg visiting numerous towns on the way before disembarking in Budapest, where we have a few extra days to explore, then plan on going to Salzburg and if time permits Bratislava, before returning to Vienna to make our way home via Dubai for 2 nights.  In Dubai we have booked to do the Dune Safari dinner which has been recommended and I am looking forward to that as well.  

ZUMBA GOLD FOR SENIORS

No our next  challenge didn't have us pulling down our retaining wall in the barby area, but instead we elected to try ZUMBA.

 So now, on Friday mornings we are going to Zumba Gold for Seniors (which you would assume would be nice and slow HA HA).  On our first visit I was amazed at the number of ladies there,  probably a class of 40-50, but Barry wasn't alone as there was another male as well, who also helps the instructor in one or two of the dance routines.    Oh dear, I don't think I will be able to shake my booty like our energetic instructor/leader can.

KEEPING UP- AND BARRY'S  NEW FRIEND ON THE RIGHT

Although I enjoy it, I am a little slow on picking up all the steps and sometimes I am going left instead of right.  Now I have been to 5 sessions and I am still behind, and really have only learnt the slow dancing, a song by Santana that I like.  But I lack the right movements for playing air guitar.  Barry gets lost in his footwork so just makes up his own, which when I watch him is quite funny.  He might think he is on the disco floor from the 70's. 

 He also enjoys the attention from some of the other ladies, congratulating him on giving it a go.  Barry  thinks it may be like line-dancing but more upbeat, not that he has ever tried that.  But it is an enjoyable exercise and we have an nice time together.  I think I may buy an Zumba For Beginners/Oldies so we can practice at home, just like his learn to speak french in 15 minutes a day dvd.  Hasn't moved on from the vino page yet.  

I am home alone this week , and I should close my blog and do the housework which is always a challenge in itself.  That silly saying is ticking in my head " Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today" , or in my case don't put off last Monday what should be done today.

Challenge 3 -  Easter gliding competition for Barry at Goondiwindi, or for me restoring a very old timber shipping, storage or blanket box I don't know which, but I believe it  was owned by his great-grandmother. I will need to ascertain more information as to the history of this sad box. A task that have I been looking at since 2010 and I don't  know why I am attempting  this, only that it would be a good storage container for all the flying magazines we currently have, and the big plastic box has run out of space.

  Is this been sentimental?   But it maybe a story for my blog another time.

POTS OF PURPLE

After finishing our front garden make-over, I thought I would tackle cleaning up the bush house.
I had been very remiss at tending to my cattleya orchids, and they were lacking a good dose of fertilizer and anti-fungal spray as well as tender care, although I did water them when required.

A little neglected

To my  surprise I had 5 orchid plants out in flower, and if I remember these usually flower during March-April.  I don't know what the correct cattleya name is but I always refer to them as the the purple orchids.

So with the help of my wheelbarrow I loaded the pots in, to wheel to where I muck around with pot plants.  Using the wheelbarrow saves on carrying 2 pots at a time and lots of bending over.
I thought this was an ingenious brain wave I had, especially as some pots are quite heavy.

Out with the watering can and new fertilizer, and after weeding, tidying and re potting some of the pots it was time to fertilize and spray with anti-fungal.

5 pots of purple

Back in the barrow then to rearrange the bush house, after I got rid of some weeds and general tree mess. All the plants are looking a lot healthier and happy now, and since it has now been some weeks since, I have given them another top up of fertilizer.  Some have had a second flowering since then.