Speyer

I know it was weeks ago, so I'm going to get Germany wrapped up in condensed versions. Otherwise I will forget where the hell we have been.

From Munich we travelled via Augsburg to Baden Baden as you know.

The next day we flagged away going to Strasbourg and headed for the Rhine valley.

First stop and lunch was Speyer.

Lunch was good although the waiter had no idea what planet we were from and we used the point and shrug method.

He did however understand that I wanted beer!

This is the Kaiserdom Cathedral which is fairly significant in that it's the largest Romanesque building in Germany. The tombs in the basement house 4 emperors, 4 kings and a whole bunch of bishops.

The round thing is actually a wine bowl about 900 years old.

When ever a new bishop was announced the locals filled it with about 1500 litres of wine and they had a festival until it was empty.

This place was incredibly spectatular and again photos cannot do it justice. It looked like an old castle and we thought it was pretty bloody cool.

No one goes to Speyer, it's off the tourist track and until we got to Cologne a few days later we thought this would be the cathedral we would remember as being the best in Germany.

Sad news.

My grandad died last night.
Robert Hugh McTague was the last of my grandparents, he was my mum's dad.
Granddad has been pretty crook for a long time, he had his first heart attack when I was a youngster and heart surgery not long afterwards. He was a grumpy bugger and more stubborn than anyone I have ever met. He has been in a home for some years now and hated it!

My everlasting regret is that he had an operation in ChCh the week before we came away and I didn't go and see him. Could have, but didn't.
For the first time in my life I understand the phrase rest in peace, he was well and truely ready.

Language difficulties

To be honest there have been only a few and we have been surprised how many people speak some form of English, but at times ordering food has been exciting, particually when it arrives and isn´t what you expected.

In Paris simon was telling us about how he was impressing the kids and in his absolute best French he ordered 2 beers and 2 lemonades for the kids. They were very impressed until 2 loaves of bread arrived! I have had my moments and on our last day in Paris we had lunch with Thorney after visiting the Pere Lachaise cemetery I ordered a nice bottle of white wine to share. Out arrived 1 jug of cheap red wine and 1 jug of cheap white wine. When our meals arrived none of us knew who´s was who´s so we just guessed. The most fun has been the road signs. I have been taking pictures of some of them, but it´s fair to say we understand very few of the hazard signs.

They put up big flashing lights and warning signs and we drive straght past them not having a clue!

The Haircut....the real version!

We arrive in Paris and Kevin has been moaning for atleast a week that his "fluffy head" needs a trim! So we walk past almost the entire Parisian hairdressing world all the while he looks in and says "i´m not getting my hair cut in there, those hairdressers are too gay!" referring to the male hairdressers inside the salons. I try to reason with him and say that really how does he know that and they are just people....NO! he exclaims I refuse!
So a couple of days later I head off to the post office to mail a few postcards, Kevin announces that he can see a hairdresser sign down the street so goes off to investigate, i send my postcards and figure he must have finally found somewhere as he isnt´back yet and no where to be seen on the street.
I wander down the street and Kevin comes flying out of a shop with a salon robe on announcing that he was having his hair cut, i get inside and find........well how do i start...........Kev´´s new best freind...."Lola"
Now this "lady" had the deepest voice and the shortest skirt and is fair to say "she" may have also had some stubble.......i think for the first time my husband was trying to avoid looking up "her" dress..............
Now Kevin will try and tell you he did this purely for the story....but I think we know better, I honestly think he was just frightened when "she" came out and asked in a voice huskier than Louis Armstrongs - "You wanna trim" - he just looked up at "her" towering over him and said "yes.........uh..........MAM????"

Poetic don´t you think?

The hair cut, my story.

As you all know my hair grows very fast. At home I have to get it cut every 3 weeks.
In Paris i was getting a bit woolly so decided to get it cut short.
Everywhere I looked was a bit flash, a bit French really and looked busy, so I said to Rachel that the next place I found where they weren´t too posh or busy I would go in.

So while Rach went to the post office I looked down the street and saw a small hairdresser.
While I was looking in the window this young "lady" came out and asked me if I would like a "trim." (Her voice was like Windsor Davies from It ain´t half hot mum). Thinking it would be funny to get a haircut from what was obviously a transsexual and knowing it would be a great story to tell later I headed in for the trim.
"Lola" was an interesting hairdresser, think Edward sizzorhands in a mini skirt and for 20 euros I got the second worst haircut of my life. The worst was when my mum used an attachment on the end of the vacuum cleaner when I was eleven.

Anyway thats the official version, no matter what rachel says!

Hola everyone!

Okay so i just wanted to say g´day and hope everyone is well.
am missing everyone, but am really enjoying hanging out with my husband in the most interesting places we have ever been.
Cass, hope the so-cal family are good and safe
Holly hope you and James are well
Amy & Erika, we love you and miss you heaps (and very proud of you both for all the cool things you are acheiving at school) can´t wait to get home and give you lotsa hugs!
Margaret / Mum - thank you for everything, i´m sorry to hear Huey isnt doing so well. My thoughts are with you.
Mum miss you heaps and heaps. I see Perth is starting to get some pretty nice weather huh?! Love to George and miss you heaps!
Whanau & Freinds - love to you all, cannot wait to share our experiences with you and for those of you who have never had the chance to come to this side of the world, make it your next priority - its a great experience!
Kev is posting about Spain and some of the cool things we have done in the past few days so will let him update you on all of that.
Adios! Love always - Rach xxx

It´s Bathelonnna!

At least thats how us locals say it.
We left San Sebastian as it was just too bloody cold.
We went sight seeing and it really was quite beautiful, but 5C and not much fun.
So we made the decision to shoot straight across Spain to Tarragona, an ancient Roman city about 100kms south of Barcelona. We got up early expecting the 500km trip to take all day.
We did it in under 4 hours mostly travelling in the slow lane!

Tarragona was a great choice and we are pleased we made the decision to go there. Instantly it was 15C warmer and I could wear my shorts again without the locals looking at me like I was a refugee or mad or both!
Our hotel looked right down on an old Roman amphitheatre and across the nice blue sea.
On the second day we found a nice little village square (plaza) with restaurants, bar and lots of locals. We had a very cool 3 days with lots of fun and it was probably the best part of our holiday so far. Lots of laughs with heaps of photos to come later. One special highlight was sitting in on a
Castell (Like a Spanish human pyramid building festival)!
From there we moved up the coast to Barcelona and have experienced all the city has to offer. Despite being told it was too dangerous we hit the local nightlife with reckless abandon. Late, in fact very late we found ourselves in a bar with a Spanish barman, A colombian man, a french woman and an italian couple all speaking different languages.

At one stage the men decided that Tequila is the language of men and the barman produced a plastic bottle with a hand written label attched to it with a sticking plaster. Brilliant!
Any way Rachel invited them, along with at least half of Spain back to our house for Xmas.

I didn´t /couldn´t leave our hotel at all the next day so we added an extra night to our Barcelona stay.
We used that day to simply be tourists, something we have pretty much not done on this trip and toured the city on an open double decker bus and looked at the Gaudi cathedral and park.
Today it´s All Saints day here in Europe so not much is open. We are going to move up to Figuers (sorry about the spelling, the spell check works in Spanish only) the place of birth and death of Salvador Dali. I´m a Dali fan, so will be visiting his house and museum.
Then we are back across the border back into France where we will spend a week in the south before moving on to Italy.