Across the World

Planning a wedding can be FUN

2009-12-13T21:41:00.001-08:00

If you like arty stuff and design and details... not if you don't like spending money :-S ...... So I've been spending far too much of my work days researching researching researching with the help of Google and a couple of wedding blogs. Yes, wedding blogs - some people actually start a blog where they can keep people up-to-date with everything they're planning for their wedding. They even post pictures of dresses they're considering, flower arrangements, hairpieces... and I love checking out their ideas. I would even consider making a wedding blog, just for fun and because I have collected SO many pictures. But then nothing would be a surprise! So instead here are some fun pictures that I've come across that I love. We may or may not steal these ideas and use them in our own wedding!

Did you know - weddings are expensive?

2009-12-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

We have been looking into invitations and I found an online store that stocked pre-cut invitation cards (saves us the trouble of cutting and scoring them) for a reasonable price. They were listed as being about $25 for a pack of 25. So I called up the shop which is located in Sydney and asked for two samples cards, one in each of two shades.

The shop assistant emailed me a quote for the sample I had requested. The quote said:

Colour #1 single sheet - $1.00
Cutting and scoring service - $10.00
Colour #2 single sheet - $1.00
Cutting and scoring service - $10.00
Postage and handling - $10.00
-----
Total: $32.00

For two pieces of card!! So I called the shop in question and asked "why does it cost you $10 to cut and score each piece of card?" The girl replied "I can remove that charge if I send you a card that we have already cut and scored. Then you will only need to pay a total of $12." Me: "I can't really afford to pay $12 for two pieces of card. Why does the postage cost $10?" Her: "Because you're in Tasmania." Me: "But I can send a letter anywhere in Australia for 50c and an A4 letter for $1." Her: "Yes but we use registered post, so that things don't get lost." Me: "They're only samples... I'm happy for you to just stick them in an envelope with a couple of stamps and risk them getting lost." Her: "I'll check with my manager and get back to you."

*Sigh* Still haven't heard back.

Sydney... I Love

2009-12-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of days I have been in the above city - maybe my second favourite in the world! For my job (graduate project officer in the small business section of Dept Economic Development, Tourism and the Arts) I'm working on a national project to make all business licences and related things online and accessible, reducing governemnt red-tape and all that. Because it's a NATIONAL project, I get to travel! Sometimes.

We couldn't get flights to Sydney Tuesday morning for the all-day meeting, so we flew up there Monday morning, which gave me all of Monday afternoon and evening to myself! Another girl who I work with travelled up there too. We ended up parting ways after checking into a very swanky hotel (paid for by work) and I then caught a train out to Miranda's Westfield shopping centre, 1 hour away. I was there to pick up a couple of bridesmaid dresses. I only had half an hour there, but OH GOSH I wish we had a Westfield here in Hobart! This one was huge and I decided that had I had time, I could've shopped for everything we need for our entire wedding and found it all there, in one place, all in a day.

That night I caught up with Ilise, a good friend of mine who made the move to Sydney a couple of years ago. We went out for Thai and generally had a really good catch up.

Observations of luxury hotels (we stayed at The Grace): No matter how spacious the room is, or how comfy the feather doona is, or how flipping expensive everything is, I'm not going to be able to sleep if the air conditioning does not go below 18 degrees!!

I love Sydney. I do get kind of attached and get all wistful when I get home, wishing I could go back, or maybe live there for a while. Oh, and the picture I have now uploaded is exactly why I love Sydney!

Talent

2009-11-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

It sure has been a long time...

2009-11-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Nearly a year in fact! On a couple of recent occasions I've had thoughts and ideas that are bloggable so it's about time I made the effort to write them here.

My interests tend to happen in bursts. I used to write on my blog a lot, and then I had a dry period (maybe due to lack of inspiration) and then I got into it again and then sure enough was bored of it again.

From the age of about 14 I wrote in a diary quite regularly. This is most awesome and I totally recommend it because now I have the pleasure of reading back over my teenage musings and laughing a lot! Throughout my mid-teens I thought my life was far more dramatic than it was, which makes for some great reading! So I definitely recommend writing in a diary - especially when you're a teenager and you have a crazy imagination.

Anyway, I kept this up, writing in my diary whenever I had something to write about, until about last year - in fact, it was when Adrian went to Bolivia. Since then I haven't written a thing - I just can't bring myself to! It all seems like too much effort, or unnecessary, or something. This is a bit sad, because when I look back later on in life there will be a big patch of nothing, and I'll never know what I was thinking/doing for all of that time!

Maybe I've grown out of it? I truly thought that I'd be writing in a diary until I was really old. Why does it suddenly seem so inappropriate?

"The Right to Leave"

2008-12-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

I felt kind of sick after reading this. I'm struggling to believe that this has come out of the 21st Century. Not that this sort of thing is being written, but that this is considered NORMAL, completely reasonable and not at all racist. Read on.

"Australia - The Right to Leave"

After Sydney not wanting to offend other cultures by putting
up Xmas lights..

After hearing that the State of South Australia changed its opinion and let a Muslim woman have her picture on her driver's license with her face covered..

This prompted this editorial written by an Australian citizen. Published in an Australian newspaper.

Quote:

IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It! I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their
culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.

However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia.

However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand.

This idea of Australia being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Australians, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle.

This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, Learn the language!

'In God We Trust' is our National Motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.

If the Southern Cross offends you, or you don't like 'A Fair Go', then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from.

This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this.

But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our National Motto, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom,

'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE!

If you aren't happy here then move on! We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted. Pretty easy really, when you think about it.

I figure if we all keep passing this to our friends (and enemies) it will also, sooner or later get back to the complainers, lets all try, please.

No matter how many times you receive it … please forward it to all you know.

2008-11-21T19:01:00.001-08:00

This comes a little late in the piece, but I'd like to tell you about Navidad en Bolivia!

This is a Christmas fundraising project initiated by Adrian Nickols and friends both in Bolivia and at home.

The project gives us the opportunity to directly impact the life of one of 50 Bolivian children in 3 orphanages. These orphanages rely on donations and at Christmas, it is difficult to put a gift under the Christmas tree for each child.

A series of one-off Christmas sponsorships are available, to support the children. In participating, you can choose from a list of sponsorships to either provide a Christmas present for one of the children, or assist in providing clothes, shoes, school materials, additional tuition, an eye test or speech therapy.

Sponsorships range between $16 and $130. Sponsors will receive a Christmas card to give to a loved one, containing a picture and a brief profile of the child that will receive support (a bit like the cards you can buy from TEAR or Oxfam - but professionally printed with the Navidad en Bolivia design :) ). In giving someone this card, you are also raising awareness of the needs existing in Bolivia.

It's really easy:

Step 1: Go to the Navidad en Bolivia page and browse through the list of available sponsorships.

Step 2: Contact me and let me know which one(s) you've chosen - either email renae.peters[AT]gmail.com or text/call 0439 048 202.

Step 3: I'll provide you with bank transfer details. After funds are transfered, you'll receive a card in the mail.

BUT.... Get on it soon, because sponsorships are running out (running out the door at crazy prices in actual fact). Since Navidad en Bolivia was launched about a month ago, we've raised (and this is current at time of writing) AUD $2725!!! How incredible is that! God is incredible. Our target (the total of the sponsorships) is AUD $4862. So already, we're 56% of the way there! To quote Bill Nighy from Love Actually, "It's going to be a very good Christmas."

Why I'm So Pumped About Going to Sydney!

2008-11-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

I'm going to Sydney this weekend to work at the Sydney Adventure Travel & Backpackers Expo, on the Discover Tasmania desk. Then I get 2 days to just be at tourist. I've only been to Sydney twice before - somehow I've never had many opportunities to make it up there. The first time was farewelling Adrian in April, when we whizzed across the harbour in a ferry, and had a bit of a look at Circular Quay. The second time was a week after that, when I flew out of Sydney for Europe. I didn't see anything but the airport and a hotel. So, this weekend I finally get to see the city. Why is that so exciting, you might ask?

Well, the answer is Ruth Park. My life-long love. Since I was a little kid, I've adored Ruth Park's novels, most of which are set in Sydney. You know when a book just gets you? Something about her writing just appeals to me in a huge way - they evoke something that no other writers can! And for this reason, I am devoted to Ruth Park novels for the rest of my life. They may only be simple Australian stories, but they are my kind of story. I love them.

I particularly like the way she evokes a sense of place, and a love for her characters. After first reading the Harp in the South (my favourite) when I was a kid, I remember desperately wanting to go to Surry Hills and Narrabeen, just because I so desperately missed the people and places once I'd finished the book - it's always a sad thing to finish one of her books. They are that good. To me, anyway.

I wish I could meet her - she's still alive as far as I know. She wrote her first novels in the 1940s, when she was living in Surry Hills with her husband D'Arcy Niland (he wrote The Shiralee - and, on a bizarre note, my current boss Jen is related to him! I was so excited to find that out). So this weekend I'm going to explore the Rocks, where Playing Beatie Bow was set, and hopefully I'll get to Surry Hills as well as catch a bus to Narrabeen (where parts of Harp in the South were set). Childhood dreams come true! I'm a little obsessed, aren't I?

Something I learned when I was travelling...

2008-11-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

What's the difference between an Australian and a piece of cheese?

After awhile you'd expect the cheese to have grown some culture.

Cafe Culture

2008-11-10T02:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so being a small-town girl (haha, who in Tasmania isn't - unless you're not a girl), I am intrigued by the cafe/coffee culture that is rife amongst some of my friends, particularly the ones that go to my church. I love these people. I love to observe the unspoken rules and taboos associated with buying coffee, and I wish I knew half of what there is to know about good coffee, but I will never understand it, and so I just listen and observe. I have been intrigued by this for quite some time, but tonight I had a full education in coffee connoisseurism and what is and just isn't done. So I thought I'd make a note of what I have learned:

There is an unspoken, but widely agreed upon 'best coffee in Hobart' - clearly Villino.
As for the second best coffee in Hobart - well this depends on your priorities. Do you value service first? Or is quality all that matters?
Villino can do no wrong. They ARE coffee.
Your loyalty to a cafe is of prime importance. If you change your alliegance, you should explain to the losing cafe why you are taking your custom elsewhere. Preferably put this in writing (ok I made that part up).
If a cafe owner goes to the effort of delivering coffee to your workplace, just for you, they really value your loyalty, and you should consider this factor when choosing where to buy coffee.
Service is extremely important - you have to feel like they want to be your friends. They should know your name if you regularly go there.
Baristas need to use the correct implement to make latte art. Like, don't use a pen.
If you're practising your latte art, it's important that you just use slightly older coffee - the kind that's not good enough for drinking.
Do not have sugar in your coffee.
It's important to know your tea as well. You should own at least 20 varieties of leaf tea, and know the key ingredients of each (this isn't so important - but I think it shows diversity to be versed in your tea knowledge in addition to coffee).
Do not even use the word "instant". That is not a real word.

I think I'm learning. Too many times I've made the faux pas of admitting that I like instant coffee. Which isn't such a bold statement, as I'm sure a lot of people do. But there is apparently some very good coffee to be had in Hobart, so maybe I will start dropping by Villino a little more often.

Facelift

2008-11-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

I'm making over my blog! The team at Renae Across the World have decided that to increase visitor numbers, a redesign and some re-branding was required (I hope you appreciate my efforts in colour coordination!) Also, my advisors have suggested that I should write on my blog occasionally, to generate traffic. I've lost motivation to blog recently, because I have this impediment where I have to be in a 'writing mood' to write. But I'll be back here more often now, so stick around and don't give up on us yet.

2008-10-30T23:44:00.000-07:00

This is a Wordle of my blog (www.wordle.net). As you can see, it's been pretty boring lately. I've sort of given up on my blog, as I just haven't had the desire to keep it updated - it comes and goes in phases. Very soon though I'll post something about Navidad en Bolivia, an exciting project that Adrian and I (and others) are getting ready for this Christmas. So stay tuned for that.

Possibly the most traumatic and devastating ordeal that I will ever live through.*

2008-09-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you know when you go through something traumatic and you need to debrief with someone? Well on this occasion, a couple of people is just not enough. I need to debrief with EVERYONE. Read on, and behold the horrors of my morning..

So for the last few months, I've been applying for jobs, particularly ones that use my uni degree, in the hopes of not rendering it pointless! Finally, last week, a job came up with Tourism Tasmania. I could go for it! It was a level 5! All week, I worked on the application, writing slightly over a page for each of the six selection criteria. Last night, I stayed up quite late completing it. When I eventually went to bed, all was finished except for some final proof-reading and rewording.

About five hours of sleep later, I woke up and recommenced completing the final touches. The applications were to close at 5pm today. I was just tacking a little more onto the end of criteria 3, when a dialog box popped up. From then on it's all a blur. The box read something like "Windows is losing data", followed by "error", followed by a window in which I was given a few options to deal with this error. I chose the wrong one.

Word shut down. Desperately, I reopened my USB drive and looked in the folder... Nothing. Adrian and I were chatting in MSN at the time of the disaster. I told him that I had just lost my whole document and promptly cried my eyes out, while Adrian leapt into action suggesting the most logical steps to getting it back.

I searched the recycle bin.. I searched every other facet of my computer that I could think of.. Oh yes, I was mad. And very, very upset. Adrian talked me through searching for temporary files that could have been left behind, and for AutoRecovery files, and for every other trace that it could have left. We searched high and low.

After a long time, Adrian ran back to his host family's house to get some dinner, and while he was gone I had the ingenius idea to search on the internet for a program to recover it. I found one which looked very trustworthy. I downloaded it, and it searched and found several AutoRecovery copies of my file! But then it asked me to register before it would give me access. Registration was $39.95. I paid up. (I also noted their 100% satisfaction guarantee, "or your money back" - so I'm counting on that).

Typically, the licence key that they gave me didn't work. Adrian came back online and I confessed having paid way too much for a program that probably waits 24 hours to approve your registration. We searched, coming closer and closer to the file.. but alas, it was not there.

Applications close in 2 hours time. I could write another one. But after I got over my frenzy of tears and frustration and death threats directed at my computer, I decided that any application I wrote now would be rushed and of poor quality. Each of the criteria should be at least a page, and I had it SO worked out before.. I could never write another one half as good. I will just have a holiday.

So thus endeth the most devastating, traumatic experience (involving a lost file) of my life. Do you feel my pain??? Oh my gosh. Well I'm over it now, and I accept that I wasn't meant to apply for that job. There is a reason for everything, I am told, and I will never know the reason why Word ate my file.

Thanks for listening. I feel a little better now. I know you will sympathise with me, and I hope that you never have to go through such a crisis in your lifetime. I will write a book about it someday.

* A little bit tongue-in-cheek. But only a little.

snicker

2008-08-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

A Quote to Frighten Your Day

2008-08-27T01:28:00.000-07:00

I've read a bit of "The Great Omission" by Dallas Willard, and he talks about how we are meant to be inhabited by God, and living by his power, not our own.

Quote:

"Human life cannot flourish unless it pulses with the 'immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe' (Ephesians 1: 19)."

Then this:

"But, someone will say, can I not be 'saved' - that is, get into heaven when I die - without any of this? Perhaps you can. God's goodness is so great, I am sure that He will let you in if He can find any basis at all to do so. But you might wish to think about what your life amounts to before you die, about what kind of person you are becoming, and about whether you really would be comfortable for eternity in the presence of one whose company you have not found especially desirable for the few hours and days of your earthly existence. And He is, after all, one who says to you now, 'Follow me!'"

Adrian in Bolivia

2008-08-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to Adrian's latest video with some random images of life in Bolivia.. it's hilarious!!

It's nearly time for him to leave Bolivia. He goes on the 14th of this month, but before then there is the national referendum on the 10th, which could mean he has trouble leaving the country. From his blog:

"On the 10th, Bolivia will vote to keep or remove Evo Morales in its national referendum. If the vote is NO, then Evo must go, but not before he serves the remainder of his term (he has two years remaining I think). If the vote is YES, those who have voted against him are likely to pursue other channels to have him removed. Either way we feel this will be a bumpy month for Bolivia. We will be in lock-down over the weekend, enjoying a sleep over at Matt and Elsas with net-time, movies, and the Olympics (go AUSSIE, go BOLIVIA). Church will not be on, and neither will baby-washing, as the police attempt to prevent groups from forming in the city on Sunday."

Read more at www.fixmypix.com.au/blog

So if you have the inclination, please please keep praying for Adrian. The next month will bring a lot of challenges for him.

Thanks
:o)

My Europe Videos

2008-07-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

They're up on Youtube. Some (ok all) are poorly shot but they do give you an idea of what a place looks and sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/user/renaebellepeters

Living like you mean it?

2008-07-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm reading this book called "the Great Omission" by Dallas Willard (how American can one name sound??) It's interesting.. but before I get to that, I was thinking the other day about how much Christians love books.. there is a definite trend. People who are truly trying to be disciples of Jesus (usually) are reading, discussing and looking for the next book to read. Even those who admit to having finished in the range of 5-10 books in their life, and who are admittedly bored stupid by reading, make an effort to read Christian books, in an attempt to build themselves up in their faith and knowledge of God. And the written word has to be an important part of being a disciple. I mean, God inspired and commanded his followers to record history in what is now the Bible. Clearly God speaks to us through words written on a page. So, I think the love of reading and the skill of writing are gifts.

Back to this book! It's talking about the trend in the majority of Christians to see discipleship as optional. Quote: In churches of the Western world "one is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship." People are becoming "Christians", but not imitating Jesus in his example and the things he taught.

The Great Commission, in the Bible, is presented by Jesus in Matthew.. he sets some goals for the early church. These are to 1) with God's power, to make disciples without regard to ethnic differences and 2) to baptise these disciples in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This author talks repeatedly about the two Great Omissions from the Great Commission. In place of Christ's plan, we substitute "make converts (to a particular 'faith') and baptise them into church membership." So, people are not taught to be disciples. Quote: "it was not a part of the package, not what they converted to." When they read about Christ's teachings, they are puzzled and simply can't relate to them, thinking "what does this have to do with us?"

More summarising: A disciple desires above all else, to be like Jesus. There is no other way. The non-disciple, whether professing to be a Christian or not at all, "has something "more important" to do than to become like Jesus Christ ... Something on that dreary list of security, reputation, wealth, power, sensual indulgence, or mere distraction and numbness, still retains his or her ultimate allegiance." (Distraction and numbness.. that relates to something else I have to write about later. )

He goes on: If our minds are cluttered with these excuses, true discipleship can seem like a mystery to us, or even something to be dreaded. But there is no mystery about desiring to become like someone. That in fact is a common thing. In this case, it involves "learning how to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, walk the second mile with an oppressor..." and live out the "inward transformations of faith, hope, and love."

The cost of non-discipleship... it costs peace, hopefulness that stands firm in the worst circumstances, and the power to do what is right amid evil. "Non-discipleship costs you exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring!"

John 10:10: I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL. (Jesus' words).

A Leo Tolstoy quote that is so, so true: "Man's whole life is a continual contradiction of what he knows to be his duty. In every department of life he acts in defiant opposition to the dictates of his conscience and his common sense." Willard then mentions the popular bumper sticker that says "Don't follow me. I'm lost." He suggests that its popularity possibly comes from the way that it touches on the universal failure referred to by Tolstoy. It has become an object of humour.. when in the case of "a man's whole life" it's actually quite serious. Perhaps that failure is what causes people to doubt that they could actually stand in the world as a beacon of light among darkness, showing people the Way.

Another quote: "We are not speaking here of perfection, nor of earning God's gift of life. Our concern is only with the manner of entering into that life." He says that while we can never earn our savedness (sounds better than salvation doesn't it ;) ) through our own merit, we still have to act as though it is ours. Own your salvation.. don't just stand back and look at it.

A clear problem.. the 21st century evangelical church has had very little impact on societal problems. For some reason or another, churches have practically agreed that discipleship to Christ is optional to being a member of a Christian church. "Thus, the very type of life that could change the course of human society - and on occasion has done so - is excluded or at least omitted from the essential message of the church." (Just look at how many changes Jesus brought.. he was a true social revolutionary!)

So we need to think.. are there certain things that we're holding more important than being like him? Are we disciples, or just Christians by current standards? "Being unwilling to follow him, our claim of trusting him must ring hollow. We could never credibly claim to trust a doctor, teacher, or auto mechanic whose directions we would not follow."

He summarises.. Ignoring the need to live in the steps of Christ is depriving yourself of life's greatest opportunity. Truly following Christ is not just necessary, but the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities.

That was some messy summarising. I hope it's legible.

I know discipleship is a much-talked-about thing, but it's a fundamental part of what we're all about as Christians.. Jesus famously said to go and make disciples. It's false to define ourselves as "Christian" ONLY because we have made a decision to follow Christ at some point in our life. Instead, we should think.. are we going through with that? Or did it stop there? Rather than stopping at a decision, we need to convert that decision into an ongoing desire.. to be like Christ.

It's SNOWTIME!

2008-07-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

I've been lucky enough to make two trips up to the Welly for playing in the snow this past week! I'm pretty sure it has all melted now. It was so lovely up there! On the first visit with my lovely flatmates Simon and Allie, we stayed til dusk and then the lights of Hobart came out (the few that there are.. but lights nevertheless!) The moon was shining on the snow, and it was quite beautiful. The next day, I trekked back up the mountain with Georgie and Astrid, where we had a killer snow-fight. Who doesn't love snow??

Reflections #1 - Trip Highlights

2008-07-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

The best of the best destinations I traveled to in Europe:

1. Bornholm. This is a tiny island off the coast of Sweden, which belongs to Denmark. To get there, we trained from Copenhagen, across the southern tip of Sweden to Ystad, and then caught the ferry to Rønne, the little capital of Bornholm. The island was amazing. There was always a really brisk cold wind coming off the North Sea, and it was always incredibly bright, with a big blue sky. A lot of big ferries come and go from the port of Rønne. When we got off the ferry, we walked up to the white church and behind that was a maze of narrow cobblestone streets, on one of which my friend lived. It was just so quiet there. You'd go out in the morning and there'd be a few people pedalling past on bicycles, and Danish flags flapping on practically every house, but mostly it was quiet, with distant sounds of the port. The rest of the island was beautiful too; really green, with a lot of little fishing towns and windswept beaches. But I liked Rønne the best.

2. Bremen IBC. I didn't enjoy Bremen itself that much, because it was the first place I ventured to by myself. But on the Sunday, I went to the International Baptist Church of Bremen, and that was really cool. I'd previously been observing how Atheist Bremen seemed to be, and even how cold and stand-offish the people were. So it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to meet a bunch of lovely people at IBC. I was the only visitor there, so a couple of Australian expats were pretty happy to meet another Aussie! A few of us went for ice-cream after, and eventually a very cool person called Christian and I wound up chatting down by the Weser river until after dark. It was so refreshing to meet Christians in that place, and hear about what it's like for them in Atheist Germany, and see how joyful and passionate they are! Truly awesome people. And so welcoming.

3. Berlin. This is by far my favourite place. I spent 6 nights there earlier on in my trip, and then after doing Busabout, spent another 3 nights. That's a fair while to stay in one place when you're travelling around. But I wish I could've spent longer. It's hard to explain why I loved it so much. It just has a completely different vibe to any other place I been to. Because of its past, which is nothing short of ugly, it's had to rebuild itself and is clearly dealing with that past in some very interesting ways. It doesn't deny those things that happened, but seems to put them up on show, to mask that guilt that the country undoubtedly still has. I was constantly fascinated by the legacy of Berlin's past. How they treat the bombing of the Reichstag - they build a big glass dome on top, to represent transparency of government. They still publish that picture of a Russian soldier waving the Russian flag up on top of the bombed out dome.. And the Berlin Wall. It's there for all to see, with a huge exhibition of its history, detailing how people were still being shot as they fled across the wall, right up until the late '80s. Some of the buildings still have smatterings of bullet-holes in them, from WW2 street fighting. It's amazing.. and yet when we were there, there was a big street party to mark Labour Day. On this day, demonstrators of all sorts, including neo-Nazis, come out and riot. It's a bizarre mixture of suppressing the past and trying their absolute hardest NOT to suppress the past. They have all of these glaringly obvious symbols of the past - like the TV Tower, originally built in the East as a statement that Communism isn't backward or stuck in the past, and which happens to show a big symbol of a crucifix when the sun shines on it at the right angle (an accident of course, which the East tried desperately to cover up.. the West replied "what you're trying to deny is staring you right in the face"). See?? Interesting!! On my first visit to Berlin, I met a bunch of Canadians and we had a great time looking around and getting right into the Insider Tours of Berlin, which we went on three times.. and on my second visit, I went on the Insider Pub Crawl, which took us to a few good German bars. Most of all, I like the area around the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag - big, green, grassy, open spaces. Also the Alexander Platz area, Museum Island and Unter den Linden. It really is a beautiful city and I would happily live there.

4. Prague. Czech Republic is gorgeous. It is so unlike Germany. The language is madness, as are all of the Slavic languages, and you'd have a pretty hard time being an expat in Prague, particularly as the Czech people are extremely cold to anyone and everyone!! When I got to Prague, I'd been reading a book by a woman who did that - simply moved over there. And she was fascinated by everything Bohemian.. so I imagined tiny little underground bars selling absinthe, lots of miserable artists trying to make a living selling oil paintings to tourists, you know, that sort of things. Well it was a bit like that! Mostly though, it was a tourist city. It has a completely different feel to Germany though. Everything is just so Czech - and the pointy red rooves and spires are gorgeous from up above. I spent my time with three other Australians, getting lost at times and generally enjoying each other's company. The main area tourists stick to is from Wenceslas Square, across the Charles Bridge, and up to Prague Castle. I loved the Charles Bridge at night. On one night, we went out to the biggest dance club in Central Europe - Karlovy Lazne. This was brilliant!! Especially the retro floor! All in all, Prague is fantastic. It is beautiful, quirky, and a lot of fun.

5. Cesky Krumlov. This is a tiny Czech town south of Prague. It's a medieval town, with a river encircling the town and a castle standing up above it. It was nice to go into a little restaurant on one of the cobblestone streets and come out on the other side, where it backs onto the river, and sit at an outdoor table watching kayaks and rafts go by. We went rafting from a nearby town into Cesky, and conquered a few small rapids!

6. Vienna and Salzburg. Both Austrian cities were beautiful and seemingly relaxed. I like Vienna, and spent a lot of time walking around looking at the buildings, which were mostly white and quite beautiful. Salzburg was beautiful also, with a big fortress up above it and lots of snow-covered mountains nearby. The best views were just out of Salzburg where there was true Sound of Music countryside. It did make you want to sing.. it's true. ;o)

7. Bruges. This is in Belgium. It was a gorgeous town with lots of canals and cobblestone streets and chocolate shops. Most of all, I liked the chocolate.

8. Swiss Alps. I just caught the train from Luzern, Switzerland south to Milan, Italy. The train trip surprised me when it took me right through the breathtaking Swiss Alps. I'm talking huge mountains covered in snow, glaciers, rushing rivers, big blue lakes.. oh my gosh. The schoolkids on the train thought I was a brainless tourist probably, for taking so many photos out of a train window. But WOW!

9. Nice. The French Riviera. It was so lovely! Not really beautiful in the usual sense of the word.. but it had such a great atmosphere! The beach was only pebbles, and the cluttered French streets were quite dirty, but not as bad as Paris. But it was just so sunny and buzzing with people of all different kinds rollerblading along the Promenade, sunbaking on the beach, windsurfing... it was a lot of fun. It had such an energetic vibe, and definitely a lot of American influence. But it was nice. I really felt like I was on holiday!!

10. Santorini. I can't describe it!! Firstly, it was extremely HOT. I think it was around 36-38 degrees when I was there. You'd have a shower and walk outside and be sweating instantly. Nice. I stayed in Karterados, in the middle of the island and 30min walk from the main town, Fira. When I first walked to Fira, I walked up a steep street and came to an enormous view of the caldera. Aahhh! It was SO beautiful. The side of the island has dropped away when the volcano erupted, and they've built whitewashed buildings all down the steep sides, and those blue-domed churches. But most stunning is the enormous Aegean Ocean, which stretches for so far and is that amazing dark blue. While in Santorini for a week, I also caught the bus to the black volcanic-sand beaches of Kamari and Perissa (Perissa was my favourite) and also the red beach at Akrotiri. I also saw the famous unbroken sunset from Ia. This place was so photographable. I went crazy. I loved it there. I want to go back.

I still call Tasmania home. Sigh.

2008-07-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so I got back home a week and one day ago! I was happy to be going home. Although I loved traveling constantly, it was time for it to finish . Only so much backpacking is healthy! But it was also a tiny bit sad. Anyway, it felt weird to be home for the first few days. You know that weird feeling, when you've traveled for awhile and then you're back where you started out from, and it's as if you never went anywhere? Well that only lasted a few days, because soon enough I was heading up north with my sisters for my oldest sister's wedding. Carly married Quilly, who she'd been with for 9 years. The wedding was in Yolla, where we grew up. My second oldest sister, Leesa, was the maid of honour and I was the "other" bridesmaid! The best man was a guy called Simon and the "other" groomsman was Quilly's mate Sam. Carly added her unique touch to the wedding - a blue dress, stripey blue stockings and red glittery shoes. She looked beautiful and Quilly looked super excited when she walked up the aisle to Bob Dylan's "love minus zero."

Disaster struck when Leesa got kidney stones on the morning of the wedding. Although she went through some excruciating contraction-like pains, she refused to be taken to the hospital and eventually recovered in time for the wedding. Tough girl! In other incidents, the car carrying Carly broke down on the way to the wedding, but isn't that a cliche wedding story? Quilly also accidentally called me Carly when he was thanking the bridesmaids in his speech. Whoopsies.

Coming soon, I'm going to REFLECT on my trip to Europe! Particularly the most hilarious and downright shocking occurrences, plus the best places I had the pleasure of visiting. So stay tuned. It's going to be exciting. You will be shocked. On another note, Mike and Christine Jolly are having a baby, which I only just found out! That is super exciting. On yet another note, it's raining, which is nice too.

Santorini.. First Day in Photographs

2008-06-14T08:26:00.002-07:00

The French Riviera!

2008-06-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm fully aware that it's slightly cruel posting photos of beautiful beaches and blue ocean and sunshine when people are taking exams. I apologise for this.. but, on the other hand, it might be a nice distraction! It's been occurring to me more and more lately that when I get home I have to look for a job. Sigh! So I suppose I should be doing everything I can to make the most of my last few weeks here! In fact, I'm home in 12 days. Yikes. I am looking forward to it though.

Luzern isn't really worth writing about, because I hurt my back there and was a pretty unhappy chappy for the 2 nights I spent there, so I'll just tell you about Nice! That's where I've been for 2 nights, and spending one more. Yesterday I went down to the beach and swam, and lay in the sun for a bit. The water is absolutely gorgeous.. bright blue and not warm, but not cold. A beautiful piece of God's amazing creation. It was gorgeous weather too, yesterday.. sunny and hot. But the beach just doesn't compare to Tassie's east coast, I'm afraid. The beach here in Nice is all rocks and pebbles. Pretty uncomfortable! And it's incredibly crowded with sunbathers. I didn't take any daytime photos, so what you see here is either morning or night-time, when the beach is far less crowded and the whole scene is much calmer.

Today I'm going to try to train to Monaco and maybe Cannes, depending on the train schedules. They're striking at the moment, so I'll have to see. Tomorrow I'm catching the train to Milan in Italy, and staying there one night, then flying to Santorini, one of the Greek islands. Then I'll spend a week there, and then fly home. Nearly there! I'm actually quite looking forward to going home, cos not only must all good things come to an end (most, not all!), but I also love home. And I miss my friends and my family and Hobart and even Henrietta, strangely enough. See you all soon! I'm praying for you people taking exams, and I'll be back to celebrate with you when you're done!!

I made two Nice albums.. Nice by Morning and Nice by Night. Enjoy! xx

Back in Berlin, then southward to Luzern and Nice!

2008-06-10T02:12:00.000-07:00

My favourite place in Europe. I love it! And I ended Busabout back there. I spent another 3 nights, so all up I have now spent 9 there! I got to hang out with some girls from Busabout a bit more, and we went on the pub crawl, which was fun, but we had the sneaking suspicion that they just took us to the cheapest bars! But I love Berlin.. I can't explain why. It just has such a good vibe. My favourite parts are Unter den Linden, the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate area, Alexander Platz and Hackescher Markt. In other words, the main touristy places. But I love it! And it was sunny and beautiful on my last days there. Sigh, sad to leave.. it really was! Photos coming soon.. Since then, I've been to Luzern in Switzerland, and then yesterday I caught the train through Milan and onto Nice, where I am now. The train ride was absolutely stunning.. wow. Photos of that coming soon too! And now I'm in the French Riviera! It's incredibly beautiful. The sea is so blue and flat.. but of course the beach is nothing like ours at home. They have pebble beaches here. I mean, that is not a real beach. I'm going for a swim later today, and to Monaco tomorrow. I've been thinking of all these things I really wanna write about on here, but cheap internet is soo hard to find, and when I finally do make it to a computer, I've forgotten.. so I'll write some good reflective posts when I get home! For now I'm just spilling everything I can remember.. well, stay tuned for awesome photos.

Red Lights.. Amsterdam

2008-06-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so this was the first place I went to on Busabout where I decided not to stay in the hostel they recommended, cos it was too far out of the city. So I went with a Christian hostel in the middle of the Red Light District.. mmhmm. I caught the tram from the Busabout hostel into the city and then set out with my map to find my hostel. I knew it was in the Red Light District, but my mental picture of the Red Light District was all wrong! I thought it'd be more about open spaces, and that you'd sort of walk down the street and see prostitutes in windows from a bit more of a distance.. but here I was walking down this narrow alley packed with people and I saw a red light to my left and thought "oh that's funny, I must be there now" and then about half a metre from me was a woman in a window and aaaahh it scared me! Then there was a whole row of windows.. and my hostel was a few doors down, on the same street.

So the hostel was really good, and I met some really cool people, especially these three girls who work for Invisible Children, which I'd never heard of til then.. and it was interesting being a Christian hostel. They had a bible study each night and a 2am curfew (mostly cos it was in the red light district, which is dangerous at night..) And, I was talking to the staff, and turns out they avoid walking through the main part of the red light, and instead walk around it.. cos they're in Amsterdam for awhile, and want to fill their minds and the hostel with good things, and not see too much of that crap..

So what did I do here.. I went to Anne Frank House, which I'd been waiting for for years. It was so sad.. and Anne's room was tiny. At the end, after you come back out of the Secret Annexe, you see a video of Anne's father talking, and saying how he never really knew his daughter. And another of Anne's friend speaking, saying how if Anne had known her father had survived Auschwitz, maybe she would've had hope to keep living.. cos she died a few weeks before the camp was liberated. I also went to the Van Gogh museum and did a canal cruise.. yep that's all I think! Oh, did you know that the canal houses in Amsterdam are so high, and so narrow, because people were taxed on the width of their house, not the height? Yep.

Belgium, Land of Chocolate Things

2008-06-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

It's actually a while ago now it seems! I haven't been able to get to any cheap internet for ages. But after Paris, I went to Bruges in Belgium. I spent 4 nights there. Quite awhile really. It was a beautiful town but pretty cold when I was there.. I mostly browsed (and bought).. in the chocolate shops, of which there were heaps! Every second shop in some streets was a chocolate shop! On the first day in Bruges I went on the hostel's free walking tour, and that was good. It was led by a local girl who talked about some of the legends in the town (probably made up for tourists??) Belgium is interesting though.. they speak Flemish and German and French. How confusing for the poor kids who have to learn all of those, plus English, in primary school. After traveling over here, I've come to really wish Australian schools taught more languages! I desperately want to learn French and Spanish now. Anyways, here are some photos.

Paris in the Rain

2008-05-29T03:21:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 nights in Paris. I won't write much, but let the pictures speak for themselves! The city is quite pretty, with beautiful buildings, all of which seem to have window-boxes with pink flowers.. and the Eiffel Tower is pretty spectacular at night! I didn't really enjoy Paris though. It could've been the rain, or the fact that half of Paris tries to steal from you or con you out of your money or rip you off, or the fact that it's so expensive, or even the fact that the metro system is madness! So I was happy to leave.

My hostel was St. Christopher's.. and this was by far the BEST hostel I've found! It's the first purpose-built hostel in Paris, and actually sits out in one of the canals. My room was on the end of the building and had amazing views at night. Each of the beds also had its own curtain, so you almost had your own little room! And breakfast was included. I've come to really appreciate those things!

One bad thing.. I went to Montmatre, where the Moulin Rouge is. You can walk up this hill to a church called the Sacre Couer. Thankfully, I'd been warned about the people up there. These African guys are up there with these bracelets, and they'll grab your arm as you walk past and start tying it around your wrist, and a lot of people fall for it and let them. Then they'll demand 25 Euros. Ouch! That's about $40 Australian. They'll stand in your way too, so you have to push past them. I knew to say no and keep walking, but these older ladies at the hostel told me they were accosted by them and had to pay them! One of the older ladies also got pickpocketed too.

The Paris underground metro system is utter madness, if you ask me! I think they purposely try to get tourists lost. There are 2 systems, the RER and the metro, with countless lines, each with colour-coded numbers and letters. In any other city I've been to over here, the metro has been easy to use. But we got completely lost in Paris. Thankfully, the French DO NOT live up to their reputation for being slightly rude, and they were lovely and helpful, and 3 different people eventually directed us to where we needed to go. On top of the confusing system, people literally sprint for their trains and you will die if you get in their way. The next day, though, after I knew how the system actually worked, I managed to catch the 3 connecting trains to the Eiffel Tower on my own!

In other news, I lost 20 Euros by getting ripped off by a bike tour that cancelled and wouldn't refund me, and I lost more Euros at a call shop when they conned me out of my money for a phone call I didn't even get to make!! All in all, I was so frustrated with Paris by the time I left. It simply ate up all my money. I'm pretty over-budget now, so I'm spending the bare minimum for a few days. Now I'm in Bruges in Belgium. It is absolutely beautiful, and I love it.. there are sooo many chocolate shops. I'm spending 4 nights here and I'm pretty happy with the idea of that!

Southern Germany.. Munich and Stuttgart

2008-05-29T02:41:00.000-07:00

I wasn't that keen on Munich, actually! I think I can put it down to the weather and a certain visit to a concentration camp. It was freezing and fairly wet for the 3 nights I was there, and there just didn't seem to be that much to do in the city, if you were a tourist who didn't like beer. I did like the Englischer Garten, which was absolutely huge, and which it took a couple of hours to walk through! I did stop at a beer garden for lunch. Sauerkraut is actually reeeaaally nice! I don't have much more to say about Munich. I couldn't really afford the train to get out to Neuschwanstein Castle, so I gave it a miss. But I did go out to Dachau Concentration Camp. I probably should've taken a tour, so I could get a more balanced, maybe not so full-on gruesome picture of the place. But I walked through the museum and just felt sick after that. I thought I'd heard pretty much all there is to hear about the Holocaust and anti-semitism, and I didn't think I could still be shocked by it. But I couldn't stand being in that place, and left pretty soon after arriving. I'd never really had that reaction to history before.. I felt sick.

Stuttgart was one of the stops on Busabout that was not so popular, so only 3 of us got off the bus there. It is a really nice little city, and I enjoyed it heaps! Great shopping, and amazingly good ice-cream. I only stayed 2 nights though. One one day they had a street festival type thing, with a band playing Robbie Williams and other contemporary stuff! It's funny how so many of them don't speak English, but when it comes to music, that's all they sing! I also bought a mini Eiffel Tower from a flea market here, which is kinda ironic cos I hadn't yet been to Paris. The guy laughed when I bought it and explained that I was going there tomorrow.. but it was 50c, so much cheaper than in Paris! The highlight of Stuttgart was getting my OWN ROOM the second night!! The single room was only a bit bigger than the size of a bed, but it had a TV, so I got to watch CNN and the Eurovision song contest, and actually spread out all my things and really relax. It was the best.

Salzburg So Far... And Other Things

2008-05-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Salzburg is really nice. I probably should be in a better mood to right about it (I'm grumpy cos the dude next to me is still smoking, and It's making me mad).. but 'really nice' doesn't really do it justice. It is gorgeous here.. up there with the best places I've been. I'm staying 4 nights. The first day, when we got here, I intended to walk up to the fortress, but ended up walking around behind it, and getting the most breath-taking view of snow-covered mountains. It was such a foreign sight to me. Yesterday I watched Sound of Music for the first time (well I'd seen half of it before) and then went on the Sound of Music tour. At first I couldn't help but think everyone was being obscenely touristy by singing the songs and skipping through fields, but then I decided I had better be an obscenely touristy tourist too, if I was gonna really enjoy the very expensive tour! So, we danced in front of the pergola that Liesel and Rolf dance in, and took other equally touristy shots! I also went on a rodelbahn, which is a bit like tabogganing, however that's spelt. Such a fantastic view from there.. green fields, snow-capped mountains and blue lakes.. it looked just as I imagined the Austrian countryside. All in all, a good day! Then we had Wiener schnitzel last night. Mmmm.

Other things.. it's been interesting to see how the English language is perceived here. I've asked a few locals if they find it annoying to be forced to learn English, and to speak it to us tourists who don't know their language. Like I felt guilty to begin with, speaking English to Germans and therefore forcing them to speak it.. when I'm in THEIR country! So I've been trying to use German as much as possible, and just be sensitive to the fact. But one guy back in Bremen said "English is the universal language, so we just have to accept it." In Australia, I never realised that I have such an advantage, speaking English. All the non-English speakers are forced to learn a second language. Doesn't really seem fair! But I guess we're fortunate to have grown up in a country that speaks the universal language! France will be interesting. I don't think they'll agree with me about English being the universal language..

I like this lifestyle. To begin with, I wanted to be back home, in my room, with all my things.. but now, I really like this. I think I've actually forgotten what living in Hobart was like, to some extent. In a sense, I sort of get into the habit of thinking that this really isn't that different! But it is! I move every few days, and every morning when I wake up, I go exploring new places. It's really a privelege I didn't earn or anything. Having said that, I'm still really looking forward to going home, as much as I love it here! I'll probably want to be back in Europe, when I do get home, but right now I'd be happy either way. Both Europe and Hobart are very cool places, and I'm happy in either! Except Hobart has slightly more normal people. And slightly less scary individuals too. I am grateful for that!

Smoking

2008-05-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

There is a guy next to me here at the internet cafe smoking away. This makes me REALLY mad. I don't know if smoking in indoor public places is allowed here, but even if it is, come on, do I really wanna breathe in his smoke?? Serious lack of respect. This is one thing I do NOT like about Europe!!!! The amount of smoking, and indoors, and RIGHT next to you! Grraaaaaaaaaahhhh

Wiener Schnitzels and Mozart Balls.. Yep, that's Vienna!

2008-05-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

Vienna.. everyone seemed to think it was going to be boring there. How can any city you haven't been to before be boring, I ask?? Anyway, it wasn't all high culture and art and music.. I thought it was beautiful. A lot of white buildings and interesting architecture. One of the highlights was going to this place called the Hundertwasser Haus (top photo).. years ago they commissioned an artist to design a house. He wasn't an architect, so he didn't use standard methods of straight lines! In fact, he believed that the straight line was a godless thing, and the only shape that doesn't reflect man being created in God's image.. interesting. In other words, he didn't like straight lines, so the building is all curvy, very colourful, and covered in green plants.. I liked it. I also went to see Mozart's, Beethoven's and Strauss' graves. Vienna was nice! Mozart balls are ok, but a bit overrated. Schnitzels, on the other hand, are very very good. Oh, and the other thing, Vienna was the first place on my trip that I explored entirely on my own.. most of the time I'm with people, but I really enjoyed a bit of alone-time in Vienna!

Cesky Krumlov

2008-05-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hi there. I'm not doing a great job of updating this blog, cos there's always Facebook and Bubbleshare to update as well! But I will try to remember! Cesky is a little town in Czech Republic, south of Prague. Not that many Busabout people stopped there, but a few of us did. It was such a beautiful town.. kind of surreal actually. The river ran in a circle around part of the town, and a castle stood above it. You could walk across the whole town in about 15 minutes. Three of us went rafting! It was SO peaceful and slow. But, it was our first rafting experience, so we still got kinda worried when we saw the (small) rapids coming up. It was great. Czech Republic is so cheap. I miss it, cos Austria is incredibly expensive. Well, hope you like the pics..

PRAGUE - The Best of Europe So Far

2008-05-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

Prague is beautiful. There is the old town and new town on one side of the river, then the Charles Bridge crosses over to the other side, above which is Prague Castle. Pretty impressive! You have to walk up all these mazey cobblestone streets to get to the Castle. Up there, more impressive than the castle, is the view. My favourite photos of Prague are shots of the Charles Bridge at dawn, empty except for a few people. I didn't quite get one at dawn, but I did get some good night shots. The hostel we stayed at here was luxury for what it was.. there was a swimming pool, beach volleyball, a big bar, and free breakfast and internet! I spent hours wandering around the city, for the most part with three girls from Busabout, all Australian, and another Australian guy. One of the highlights was going out to a club on Friday night, which I hadn't yet done in Europe. It was just near the Charles Bridge, and the biggest nightclub in Central Europe! There were 5 floors, each with a different music style. My favourite by far was the retro floor, where they played 70s, 80s, and some 90s music! It was great. We danced for hours and got back to the hostel at 4am. I couldn't believe they played such good music.. The next day we ended up walking up to the castle in the late afternoon, and the light was so beautiful on all of the buildings. Just perfect. Now I'm in Cesky Krumlov, a tiny medieval town 3 hours south of Prague, with a flowing river and a castle. More on that later! I'm really appreciating Europe right now and the opportunity I was given (for some reason) to be here. Take care..

Dresden

2008-05-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

I stayed here 2 nights. The main touristy part is very small, and I guess much like any old European city. The old part was quite beautiful, but I was surprised that there was no mention of its history. People back home have mentioned there was a documentary on Dresden recently on tv about 90% of the city being bombed or something. Well there was no obvious focus on that in Dresden.. strange. The highlight: the ice-cream was really, really good.

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin

2008-05-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

I LOVED Berlin! I've been there for the past 6 nights, although I'm now in Dresden.. a little LESS happening here funnily enough!

In Berlin, I met a girl from Canada and we went on one of the famous Insider Walking Tours, which went for 4 hours and all around the main sites. There we met 2 Canadian guys, and the 4 of us spent the next couple days together. We went on another tour the next day - the Third Reich tour. And a few day later, Cold War Berlin. So fascinating.. I thought I knew my German history, but I have learnt so much.

One interesting thing on one of the tours was going to an empty carpark near some apartment blocks. Beneath the carpark was Hitler's bunker, where he shot himself. There's only a small sign to mark the spot. They don't want to draw any more attention to it in case the neo-Nazis make it a shrine and start gathering there.

Another interesting thing! TV Tower is the big spiky building with the sphere up near the top. This was built in East Berlin, as sort of an attempt by the Communist East to say 'hey life is good here, we're actually really advanced'. And it does really stand out on the skyline. It was huge, so it could be seen easily from the West and make a statement. But they soon found out that when the sun shines on the big sphere it creates a cross shape. The Communist East was anti-religion. They desperately tried to make it less shiny, etc to get rid of this cross image. But the West simply said 'what you're trying to deny is staring you in the face.' I have a photo of it where you can see the cross.

So what else did we do in Berlin.. well it's super easy to walk around without a map. I like the Brandenburg Gate area and I went up the top of the Reichstag. We also happened to be there on May 1, when everyone comes out and demonstrates/riots, so there was a big street festival and bands. Oh, and we ate a lot of German wurst.

So now I'm in Dresden, and it's the first day of Busabout. The hostel is really quiet! There were only 5 of us on the bus, but it'll pick up later in the season, we're told. Dresden has an old town and a new town, separate by the River Elbe. I'll wander over to the old town tomorrow I think. But it'll have to do reeeeaaaally well to top Berlin!

If you go to my Bubbleshare album on Berlin, there are more REALLY GOOD, expertly taken photos. :P

Oh wait, PS: did I mention that there's really cheap Kinder chocolate in Germany? Well today we discovered Kinder icecreams!! Oh wow.

Rostock and Warnemünde

2008-04-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, well I'm leaving today for Berlin.. finally! I'm sure there'll be lots to see there. I've been looking forward to it. Still, it will be the biggest city I've ever been to, so I'm quite at risk of getting lost. One thing I've discovered while I've been travelling, though, is I'm good at reading maps! Woo!

I didn't really bother going into the old part of Rostock, or any of it really, because I think it's much like a smaller version of Bremen. What I did do though, was catch a train up the the seaside city of Warnemünde yesterday, about 20min train from here. It was the first day I've had in Europe so far when it hasn't been sunny. There was all this fog coming in off the Baltic Sea and it was beautiful!! I took lots of photos. Enjoy..

Some random observations of Germany thus far: #1 Their pillows are these huge square things, double the size of our little rectangular ones. Same with Denmark. #2 The paper towels in bathrooms are green. Always green. #3 Breakfast always consists of bread rolls or that really thick, heavy bread.. not like our weak, thin stuff! #4 Kinder chocolate is really cheap! Yummm I'm in Heaven! #5 Germans are actually really friendly.. yes, you better believe it. I had a conversation on the tram home yesterday with a German lady who didn't speak any English.. so I was forced to speak in German. And they are really nice when you try!

The Nice Side of Bremen!

2008-04-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, to begin with I found Bremen quite unfriendly, because I hadn't gotten to know anyone who wasn't staying in my accommodation, and these German people did seem a bit stand off-ish! But on Sunday at 4pm I went to IBC (International Baptist Church) of Bremen, which I'd discovered on the internet. It was an international service so therefore it was in English! There were people from England, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, Kenya, Malaysia, and quite a few residents from Bremen, who had decided to go to an English-speaking service.

When the service started, they invited any people who were there for the first time to stand up.. so I had to stand up and say 'I'm Renae, from Australia'.. and they all clapped and cheered, which was kind of sweet! So anyway, they were super welcoming.. more welcoming than any church I've been to in Australia. We had coffee afterwards and I was able to talk to a girl called Alex about Christianity in Europe. I told her that my preconception was that it was very secular.. and surprisingly, she agreed and said yeah, it's awful. I think that church is doing an amazing job, being Christians in a city where there might not be as many Christians as there are at home. And they're having a big Christian conference soon in Bremen, called Christival (see the comment by Christian on my last blog entry). Anyway, due to the topics of some of their seminars, they've had heaps of opposition. But they're still really enthusiastic about it, and so they should be.. as the pastor said in his talk, God's people always keep multiplying despite opposition.

After church I went with 3 others, all of which live in Bremen, to get icecream, and I heard more about Christival and how Bremen isn't quite so starved of Christian influence as I first thought! Still more secular than here, but there are churches who are doing amazing things and who embrace new people who come in.. and that's pretty cool. Afterwards a Bremen guy called Christian and I got take-away from a döner shop and went down to the Weser River, where we had a really good long conversation, and I learnt a lot. The Christian people I met in Bremen provided a breath of fresh air in what I thought was a fairly unfriendly place.. and, it was super encouraging to realise that in any city across the world, God is no more distant (something Adrian pointed out to me as well). God's still carrying out his plans.. that is really clear.

So, this morning I caught the train to Rostock. A lot of people have said 'why on earth are you going there??' The main reason they give is that it's East Germany. And to be honest, I really don't know why I wanted to come here! But it's ok. Same with Bremen.. but I know NOW why God took me there. Anyway, here I am! It does have a different look to Bremen. In my hostel, there is me and two guys in their 50s. I have my own room. It is very quiet! This is not a tourist place. I originally intended to stay 7 nights so I could just relax, but that is way too long! I think I'll stay 2 nights and maybe head to Berlin early, if I can find accommodation.

The photos are from my hostel here in Rostock.. it is really nice. Go to my photo gallery for more pics. Hope you're all well! Love from north-east Germany.

And then there was Bremen

2008-04-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

Bremen marked the start of officially travelling on my own! I got a major case of loneliness yesterday... but thanks completely to God there is an internet cafe and call shop right across from the railway station, and I was able to get on here, and also to call Adrian. That helped! Also, after much praying, that night I ended up going out for dinner with Salvatore from Manchester, and then for a few drinks at an Irish pub. We also hung out for a bit today. He's gone now though, but we'll keep in touch maybe.

So, after I gave Bremen a chance to impress me (!) it turned out ok.. the old city has an amazing market square, with gothic architecture and world heritage buildings from the 1100s! And, I had my first experience of a gigantic European cathedral.. we have nothing like it at home! St Peters Cathedral.. there's a photo of it up there. But, as for real Christianity, one thing I've discovered is that it seems dead here. In Denmark, people consider themselves Protestant or Lutheran or whatever, but what does that mean if its only a tradition, that you label yourself? They are confirmed and baptised in the church, and then call themselves Christian. But they have no real, life-saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and if you ask them about that, they think you're crazy.. they don't seem to think they need Jesus.

The gospel is so starved here, it seems. Maybe they had their revival period already, so Christianity now only exists in museum exhibits and tourist attractions, like St Peters Cathedral. It's like some forgotten civilisation, like we'd be fascinated by Ancient Egyptian civilisations.. Just from the small experience I've had here, Europe seems very cold and people are definitely needing Jesus. I haven't seen much sign of him in people's mindsets here. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough though. On Sunday, I'm going to the International Baptist Church of Bremen, so I'll see! But so far, Christianity here seems like a label.

And the number of sex shops.. a lot of people have commented on it - Europe really does have a fascination with sex! I read something once that said the fascination with sex here in Europe is to do with the breakdown in real relationships.. so sex is totally separated from relationship, in people's minds.. so it becomes something of itself, that can be misused however people want.

Well so far Bremen is.. sex shops, cathedrals (ironic isn't it), gothic architecture, street market stalls, bronze statues, and chocolate.

And the Danish find a reason to laugh at the Australian!

2008-04-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Amaliensborg Palace

Well I'm in Bremen now, but since I last posted, I have been in Copenhagen for 2 days. Ditte and I left Bornholm and went back to her apartment in the capital. The next morning, she had planned a cycling trip, into the city, around the sights, and back. That was 12km!! Ok, so to some people that is probably nothing, but I ride a bike, on average, about 3 times a year, and for about 200 metres each time. My bike has no gears and cannot go very fast.

The Little Mermaid

I tried to explain to Ditte and Jacob that Australians don't cycle cos we have too many hills, but they didn't believe me. When they saw me ride a bike, they believed me! We rode down to the nearby shops and back for a start, and I nearly died. My legs were like jelly.. oh no, I thought, how will I make it into Copenhagen and back.. I will surely die. But, to cut a long story short, I made it!! When I got used to using gears, of course. But I was in SO much pain afterwards.

Tivoli

We went to Tivoli, to Amaliensborg Palace where the queen lives, to the Little Mermaid (just a statue covered in Japanese tourists, not sure why it's famous), and to the church where Fred and Mary married, among other things. At Amaliensborg Palace, Ditte wanted to take a photo of me with a guard (there is no visible security, no gates, just a few guards!).. so I walked up to a gate near the guard and he said, surprisingly in English 'excuse me. No closer than one and a half metres, ok?' It was hilarious. That's all the security there appeared to be! And the queen was home, cos the flag was raised.

So to describe Denmark, from what I saw: beautiful green countryside, STACKS of those wind turbines for clean energy, lots of recycling, spotless streets, red rooves, uniform brick apartment blocks, and bakeries! Very clean, pretty, neat place.

Southern Bornholm...

2008-04-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

More Photos

2008-04-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

More photos are up in my gallery at http://www.bubbleshare.com/users/profile/416956

My camera broke today. The shutter, or whatever it is that closes then opens when you take a photo, is no longer functioning for some unknown reason. This is sad. So I will buy a new camera. It's my last day on Bornholm tomorrow, so tomorrow morning I might borrow Ditte's family's camera and take a walk around Rønne. Then we head back to Copenhagen, where I will be until Thursday. Ciao..

There's nothing more Danish than Denmark

2008-04-20T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hej! I've made it safely to Denmark and am now in Bornholm, a Danish island off Sweden. I felt like I was flying forever to get here.. 28 hours altogether, and that's just flying time, not counting the waits in airports! Air China was actually good, so there you go, but if you fly with them, I don't recommend the fish - it was terrible. Other than that, they were pretty good! I managed to sleep for a couple of hours on the 10 hour Beijing to Frankfurt leg, but not the Sydney to Beijing leg. So I was preeetty tired when I got to Denmark, but still felt reasonably good! Bad thing is, I now have the beginnings of a cold which I suspect was from flying so long.. planes are cold and you're in close proximity to so many people! Aaargh!

I had a scary experience at Shanghai airport! A flight attendant told me I didn't need to fill out an entry card as I was just passing through.. it was a stop over on the way to Beijing. So at Shanghai, we had to get off the plane and go to the transfer place, where the snatched out passports off us and yelled at us to get in line.. yep, that's personable!! At customs, the guy looked at my passport and made me fill in an entry card, then said 'wait!' and pointed for me to stand aside. He didn't tell me why and I thought there must've been something wrong with my passport! Thankfully, the next guy through said he was also going to Frankfurt, so they made him stand aside too. It turned out we needed stay permits to just pass through the airports. This other guy was Robert from Poland, and we stuck together until Frankfurt so we didn't get lost, or arrested by the Chinese police!

Beijing Terminal 3 was really big! It's the new one just opened for the olympics, and the biggest airport terminal in the world. But it was easy to find your way around, thankfully. I managed to fall asleep on the boarding lounge seats for over an hour so that helped!

So anyway, I got to Copenhagen and walked out, and immediately recognised Ditte, my penfriend that I'd been writing to since we were 12, and who I hadn't yet met! She and her boyfriend Jakob are really nice, and we went back to their apartment in Copenhagen where I had another sleep, yay. Seriously, when you're sleep deprived (from the most mammoth flight ever) it's really hard to absorb a new place! Anyway, from what I saw, Copenhagen is very very small! Surprisingly so. We went and walked around a big open grassy area with a castle and lots of deer roaming around. It's where Frederik and Mary go hunting deer! It was just so quiet there. And the streets were very quiet too. Everything just looked sooo Danish. That's something I've been saying a lot these past days.. 'that's so Danish!' Just ask Ditte. She thinks it's funny. But it's so Danish in everyway: countryside, orange and terracotta coloured houses with straw or thatched rooves, little churches..

Later that day we caught a train across to Ystad in Sweden, and then the fast ferry (one hour) to Bornholm, the island where Ditte and Jakob both grew up. We're staying here with her parents. This is what I've learned about Danes: they are very very patriotic and Bornholmers are extremely proud of their island.. they raised the Danish flag when I came to mark the special occasion. They're not allowed to have it raised the whole time, so when it's not a special occasion they raise a small skinny version of the real flag! They also start the morning by drinking a tiny cup of what they call 'bitter', or what we call schnapps. I tried this. You raise your glass and say 'Skøl!' and then drink all in one go. And they often have beer in the morning, and as far as I can tell, it's common to smoke a cigarette or pipe. Isn't that so Danish? ;)

Something else I learnt about Denmark.. they have a social law that you shouldn't dress up excessively or wear lots of make-up, because if you do, you are thinking too much of yourself. It's true that people in Denmark don't seem to dress up much more than sneakers and jeans. The word they use for this law is 'jantelov'. Jakob explained it as an unwritten law in Denmark that if you start to think too much of yourself and lose your modesty, people will tell you that you're not as good as you think you are, and bring you back down to earth. Ditte said there's no point trying to be better than everyone else, cos there's always going to be someone who's better than you. She said 'because all is equal.' Interesting.

I have to tell you about Rønne.. this is the main 'city' (more like a town) on the island. You walk up from the harbour and it's like a maze of tiny stone streets, really narrow, and all the houses are very tiny with either orange or terracotta or red paint. The fronts of the houses are right on the streets. There is a small footpath which is tiled. Even the window panes on the houses have to be made to look like the cross on the Danish flag. They have Danish flags everywhere, but only the small skinny ones cos of course you can't have the other raised all the time, it's just not what's done! But Rønne is beautiful. I'll put a few pics up here, but more later, once I've been for a good walk.

We went for a drive up the west coast to the north of Bornholm today. There are big mounds in a lot of the fields in Bornholm, which are viking tombs. There is so much history from the middle ages, but no big tourism attractions showing it off, like we have with Port Arthur. Bornholm is very pretty and very green. Every house is perfectly maintained and beautifully built and painted. You never see anything looking run-down! They also have the famous round churches, which are only found on Bornholm.

I'm enjoying Denmark. But I'm still looking forward to starting to explore on my own! It's been great so far, and I'm learning lots. I hope this cold disappears quickly! But it probably won't until I leave Denmark.. It is freeezing here! People are still getting around in beanies and scarves, and still freezing! The wind is so icy.

Photos..

Smog makes the air hazy at Beijing airport

Ditte and I at a castle in a field (can't remember the name!) It's where Frederik hunts deer.

These are everywhere.. straw rooves! This is in Copenhagen.

Beautiful Rønne.. the streets are so pretty. This is Ditte's street, just up from the harbour.

The smallest house in Rønne.

One of Bornholm's famous round churches.

Ditte with Cleo, the cutest cat in all of Denmark.. he dips his paw in milk and licks it off! He'll drink a whole glass of milk this way! Aww!

Bye!

2008-04-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

I fly to Sydney at 7am Thursday and out of Sydney 9:30am Friday! See ya there!

And Adrian Steals My Blog Traffic...

2008-04-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

No-one's commenting on poor Renae's blog now that they have South America to read about!! Pfft. Haha.. no, I fully endorse going to Adrian's blog. In fact, go there and click on Photo Gallery cos there's new pics up!! Right up to La Paz. Also go to Media Gallery to listen to audio recordings and see a video of crazy traffic.

www.fixmypix.com.au/blog

Adrian Leaves for South America

2008-04-10T04:24:00.000-07:00

Adrian left Australia this morning from Sydney Airport and, as I speak, he's on his 16 hour flight to Santiago, Chile! He'll get there at the equivalent of 3:00am on Friday 11th (Australian time), but in Santiago it'll only be 2 hours later than when he left! He'll spend one night in Santiago, then fly to La Paz. This is where there will be massive altitude (please pray that he won't get sick). He spends 3 nights there, then flies to Cochabamba, where he'll be based for the 4 months! Thankfully, this is a bit lower than La Paz!!

Yesterday, we both made our way to Sydney and saw a few of the sights and spent some really good time together. We had some moments of sadness but also lots of fun and LOTS of laughing too (how could there not be with him?), so that was cool. Next morning we said our goodbyes and I used up enough tissues to create an environmental catastrophe, but I was happy to find I could sit inside the terminal with the big glass walls and watch the LAN Chile plane getting ready to leave! I took lots of photos of it taking off!

Please, if you are inclined to pray, pray. Adrian has a few days of transiting and trying to understand Spanish speakers before he arrives in Cochabamba, where he will meet the team there for the first time. So pray that he doesn't get sick, that he doesn't miss family and friends too much, that he travels around safely and confidently and that meeting the people in Bolivia all goes well. All in all, that it's a good start to one fantastic year. This year is a unique opportunity for him to grow as an individual, grow his faith, learn a lot, contribute heaps, and learn to depend even more heavily on God, following his lead wherever it takes him.

Here are some pics. Look for the plane taking off in the last one! It can just be seen in the background, behind the other plane. :)

Adrian and Renae's Farewell Drinks

2008-04-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

Monday 7th April, from 8:00pm at Bar Celona, Salamanca Square.

Adrian leaves on the 9th April, which is next Wednesday, and I leave 8 days after him.

It's all happening far too quickly..!

Last Weekend at Kingston!

2008-03-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

I went to Kingston Reformed Church last weekend. The first thing I noticed was that it was HUGE compared to the church I go to. Anyway, the speaker dude said something interesting. I wrote it in my phone so I'd remember it.

Bit of background first..

Most people would agree that in the postmodern times we're in (or is it post-post-modern now??) everyone is trying to "find themself" somehow, hence all the new-age religions coming out. I've never really bothered understanding the whole postmodern thing, but I think one main characteristic of this age is just trying to grapple for some sort of meaning to your life - whether it's getting married and having kids, having FUN and LIVING LIFE TO THE FULL (how do you define that anyway?), having an awesome career, or finding contentment and happiness - regardless of how it's done, people are definitely trying to "find themselves."

I think it's also considered that if you decide to be a Christian, you're being something other than yourself, and not staying "true to yourself." And I mean, for a non-Christian who doesn't truly know what following God is all about (because they haven't bothered to find out, or their Christian friends haven't bothered to tell them), it's fair enough that people should think that way. To the uninformed observer, it could look like everyone's just floating through the world, trying to find their own purpose, and these Christians are deciding instead to follow some "God" that apparently created the world. Doesn't that sound like Christians are going a bit off the main track, and abandoning their "true self"?

But most followers of God would agree, I think, with what this guy at Kingston Reformed said. And he said it so well! YOU were created by God, like God, and for God. Creation stems from one point - God. So finding God, as we are ALL destined to do, is in fact finding yourself. Because he knows you better than you know yourself. On a slightly off-the-track note, you know how it's easy to think "how can God understand what I'm personally going through?" Well someone I know recently summed that up pretty well.. he made you, so he understands your pain better than you yourself do.

If you don't believe in God, then that doesn't change the fact that he exists. I can claim that you don't exist, but regardless of what I believe, you clearly still exist.

Oh the other thing this guy so eloquently said was that when you eventually find God, you find out where you've come from, what you're here for, and where you're going. And I can vouch for that :)

2008-03-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

I'm travelling to Europe in a few weeks to begin exploring the world! My itinerary is complex, so I'll just give you the basic run-down! Above is the route I'm taking. 10 countries in 2 months? Hectic, I know.. but I'm not mad, just ambitious ;)

17 April - Hobart to Copenhagen, Denmark

24 April - Copenhagen to Bremen, Germany

28 April - Bremen to Rostock, Germany

5 May - Rostock to Berlin, Germany

6 May - Berlin to Dresden, Germany

8 May - Dresden to Prague, Czech Republic

11 May - Prague to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

13 May - Cesky Krumlov to Vienna, Austria

16 May - Vienna to Salzburg, Austria

20 May - Salzburg to Munich, Germany

23 May - Munich to Stuttgart, Germany

25 May - Stuttgart to Paris, France

28 May - Paris to Bruges, Belgium

1 June - Bruges to Amsterdam, Netherlands

4 June - Amsterdam to Berlin, Germany

7 June - Berlin to Lucerne, Switzerland

9 June - Lucerne to Nice, France

12 June - Nice to Milan, Italy

13 June - Milan to Santorini, Greece

20 June - Santorini to Athens, Greece

21 June - Athens to... Home!