It's Waffle (Christmas) time it's waffle (christmas) time wont you have some waffles (Christmas) of mine.

Some randoms saw me on the street and took me into their house. Turns out the girl is my cousin and she's married to some boy named Phil. Coincidently the girl's parents and siblings decided to come all the way from Australia for a visit and we had Christmas together. Fancy that.

Beach in Nice. I kinda forget which photos I have already put up. So if there's doubles I meant to do it.

Last time I left you I do believe we were on route to Nice. I think. So Nice was awesome (aka nice, lolsies, lolzord, roflcopter) even it the weather wasn't great. We looked at buildings, checked out the beach, saw one and a half movies in english and took advantage of the cheap drinks and more financially blessed friends we made which resulted in a good time had by all. I don't feel the need to go into great detail because rumour has it Nafan has been here done that in a much more articulate way than I would have. So good for him, and for me, and for you. Everyone wins.

Next off we headed to the incredibly picturesque and busy mega city of Tolous. I think next time I venture overseas the plan will be to come to Tolous, book the same hotel me and Royters did and just live their. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of humour, Tim". Shhhhutup you.

Only photo I took in Tolous.

That said we did manage to have some good times, easily said when they've already happened and we are no longer cold, wet and frightened (not a figure of speech). I had wanted to experience the entire spectrum of human emotion while on this trip and thanks to some freaky hippies camped on the edge of a river out in the warehouses at midnight, we well and truly have fear down pat.

Toulous did have some pretty sweet Marchet de Noel but in comparison to their Bordeaux or Stuttgard counterparts, they are a lil lacking. The highlight of the markets was probably watching wankers on the ice skating rink show off to their friends then fall over. Tre, tre entertaining. I think tolous was where I bought a CD too. I forget the band name, they're French and one of their songs was playing in the shop and it was 6 euros. Soon find out if it was worth it. Also discovered the biggest bull ring peircing shop I have ever seen. They had rainbow ones, but alas I'm not heaps keen on my nose getting infected and falling off in a big pussy mess so I refrained.

Trois Bros together at last.

I have a feeling this blog is quite disjointed. That is fine. I don't have to read it again. Although I will, because I like the sound of my own voice. So, the morning we left Tolous (which was also the first time we saw a living human being in our hotel) we were filled with hope at the thought of leaving behind the land of nothing and heading towards beautiful Bordeaux where we would meet with this cool guy we'd met in a chat room named Twigman.

Arrival brought about quite a large, emotional, but very manly hug, much to the disgust of the many French people standing around. Then we breathed, which also disgusted many of the French people as there wasn't cancer mixed in with the carbon dioxide. Annnyways we wondered round Bordeaux for an hour or so and then headed to our hotel, which was cheap, dodgey, but very lovable. Some may say it had "character" such as showering in what could only be described as a small wheat silo. Once we got over the fact that the lil spastic boy who could barely scrape a pass in his French uni course when he left Aus could now basically speak French fluently, we headed into the Chrissy markets where Nafan and I both fell in love with Nutella Hamburgers (aka two sugary don

uts with warm nutella sandwhiched between them).

On top a the world babeh.

The next day we headed to Youropes largest sand dune. Ridiculously excellent sight/fun times entailed. It was "misting" and we stood on top of a 100m tall pile of sand, the ocean on one side, rainforest on the other and the sun just breaking through the cloud. We then proceeded to remove our clothing (keeping our Bonds on in hope of a sponsership deal, also there were Germans watching and taking photos) and sprint/fall/roll down the dune. Don't worry, I have footage which I know you're dying to see.

The view.

That night found us Punjabbing and more nutella Hamburgers, followed by a "sneaky cheesy" then a fairly early night, I think. I don't quite remember. Somewhere between then and our last night Nathan and I went out into the vineyards and got a tour/wine tasting experience with a rich french guys son who had lived in Aus for 4 years. The whole time he was talking about the micro-climates etc etc I could feel Mrs Armstrong's glazed eyes and blank smile burning into the back of my head. Wine was good though.

Second last night in Bordeaux we walked through the city and innocently walked past some attractive young girls when Nathan exclaimed "I think I heard some English" Nick sprung into the air and ran back to engage them in conversation. Nathan and I quickly followed and 30mins later we had a list of the best places to head on Thursday night, which is the equivelent of our Wednesday nights, but with more people.

Aussie "pub".

So Thursday night we bought some wine, some ice cream and headed on our merry way to the pub/club centre. After hitting a few clubs, being snowed on, laughing at the French take on an "Aussie Pub" (which only sold Fosters) and knocking back an invitation for the three of us to fight one dude, at about 2am we headed back home. We didn't quite make it as a random dude with a "willy warmer beanie" on his head exclaimed he loved Australians and invited back to his friends house for a few drinks. After many hours, many bilingual slang words exchanged and many monkeys laughed at on animal planet we headed back home. This proved to be slightly difficult as half way Me and nick lost Mr. Boyters but he was found again sleeping on the front step of the hotel as he had forgotten the password. Luckily A-boy came to the rescue with the good ol' 8944A.

Hanging with tha Frenchies.

The next day we were meant to head off to Lyon. This proved quite difficult as every cheap hostel/hotel was booked out, as was every train. After many hours of attempting to find somewhere to sleep, Nick's French family invited us to stay at theirs the night. Which we are eternally greatful for, especially because we got free dinner, yum too. 9am had us awaking to Nick's French dad rushing us into his car and driving us to the tram station because he is a ledgend. And a few hours later we arrived in Lyon and after a few wrong turns we found our hotel on the other side of the train station we had just arrived at.

As far as action goes Lyon was fairly uneventful but it was quite enjoyable as we swapped stories, swapped gay jokes, swapped flatulence, swapped punches and swapped shots of rum which had been sitting in my bag since I first bought it because it was quite, ummm, unpleasant.

Nathan did, however, complete his French Sin City collection, which is very exciting for him, and also for me. I don't really know why. Maybe we have become even closer over the past month that I find it hard separating my feelings from his. Which may explain why I'm so good at guitar all of a sudden. That's a lie. I'm so good because I practice all the time.

View from Katie and Phil's balcony.

On the 22nd we jumped on a 7hour train back to Tolous then to Mont Pelierre then probably to Sweden and then finally to Strousburg, which is only about 3hours away from Lyon if you look at a map. Before we swapped trains at Strousburg, Nick rang his cousins (who he and Nathan are staying with) in the Dorf (dusseldorf) to see if it was cool if I stayed there for a night because the lady in Lyon said there were no trains to Stuttgard until the next day. Once again transport worked in our favour and Nicks uncle told him there should be trains from Strousburg to Stutty. So we sussed it out and 15mins later I was on my way to Katie and Phils house. Yay.

Warm wine with cousin John.

Phil met me at the station and we trekked back to his and Katie's appartment, which is a good size for two people, not to bad for three, not so good for seven. That night the three of us chilled out, watched Scrubs etc etc and the next morning cousin Julie arrived. We headed into town then to the traino to meet Katie's parents and Cousinjohn. This progressed into a night at the Chrissy Markets which resulted in Bratwurst and Gruttvein (hot wine) for dinner.

Last night of the Christmas Markets.

I really forget what's been happening here. It all blurs into one. I know today is Christmas. Yay. And I got to talk to MumDad and Lau yesterday  but not Peter because he's a big giant sluzz bucket (ps "thanks for ringing at 8am". Not a quote by me).

Porsche Museum was closed.

So that is a very tired account of what's been happening. Lots of German food the past few days. First real breakfast I've had in ages today because Europeans don't like to eat real food in the morning. Probs won't write again until after New Years. So expect a biggun then.

My new ride biatcheeeees.

Love Timqth.

Ps. I hate Third Day and do not enjoy Christmas Carols. Hence why I wish someone would smash Katie's laptop to stop them playing the Third Day Christmas album which is being played constantly. Hoorah!

First snow, pretty.

Pps. There is a cupboard in the roof and me and John tried to open it but it got stuck and John pulled really hard and then it sprang open and smacked into the light and the cover fell off and hit john in the face then smashed on the ground. It was awesome.

A tear for Bordo.

Bonjour encore,

Finally i have returned, it took a while and a little prodding and poking, but i'm glad we could share this moment together.

I'll just set the scene before i continue. I am trying to write this as 20 kids run around the house screaming and playing. One just ran under the table. It's a little annoying - especially because to them i'm this strange exotic english speaking Australian and sometimes they talk among themselves about me not realising that i can understand most of their conversation "Il est australien!"

But anyway, i can't really remember what i last talked about, but a lot has happened since my last blog - climbing ridiculously massive sand dunes, visiting the beach, drinking lots of wine, visiting chateaux's and learning about and then drinking more wine.

While all this has been happening, i have (as i'm sure all you dedicated readers are aware) have been going to Alliance Français French classes. I am actually really sad to say that today was my last day. It has been such a fantastic time. I learnt so much and met some of the most interesting people. Our teacher, Delphine, has a sharp entertaining sense of humour that ensures that all our classes are not just interesting but funny. It just doesn't feel like school - or even uni. We all just laugh at each other as we attempt to converse in French. What also makes the time so interesting is the wide variety of people. I am by far the youngest - the others think of me as the kid, the baby, and everytime i say "when i was younger" i receive resounding groans and laughs. But everyone is so nice and friendly that age makes little difference. There are students from everywhere: Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Cyprus, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Japan, the states. We have representitives of so many different cultures, but because of the diversity, we have no particular one dominating. This makes the class really fascinating, especially when we discuss differences in culture and everyday lives. It also helps that most of the class is really entertaining - whether they mean to be or not - and so most of the time we are laughing.

I don't really feel that i am expressing myself particulary well. i just read what i wrote and it just sounds incredibly lame... but, ultimately, it was a great experience which i have not only benefited from, but really enjoyed. I will be sad to say goodbye.

But moving on. Last week i participated in what feels like a million wine degustations - which ended up being 3. It felt like a million though, because by the third, i was hearing the same facts recited all over again. They were fun and interesting but i always thought they were juuuuust a little stingy with the wine.

One of the degustations involved a tour of a few wine making chateaux's which was really interesting.

On Sunday (after a strange night of sickness - i didn't even drink anything!) the family took me to Dune de Pilat - an amazing naturally formed massive sand dune which is the biggest in Yourope. The views were literally breathtaking and for once, it wasnt cloudy or raining. The dune is more then 100 metres high, 500m wide and went on for as far as the eye could see. The rolling dunes met the ocean on one side and a national park on the other, creating a beautiful, pristine view. I can't discribe in words just how awesome it was, so just see the pictures. It was an effort to climb up, but the crazy sprint down lasted only seconds.

It was fuuuuun.

This last week with nath and tim has also been really fun. Lots of laughing, eating and exploring. It has been nice to be reunited.

We have packed so much into these last few days - time just seems to be flying! (I am worried that i'll open my eyes and be back home again!) and for our last real night in Bordy, we celebrated with a few bottles of wine and a night on the town. We were told by some random British girls (as we walked passed them late one night we heard a few words of english - the first English words for what seemed like weeks - and so ran back to find out who they were and why they were in bordo. They gave us a few tips, one of which was where to find the student bars...) that the place to be on a thursday night was Place Victoire. Although we had very little idea of how to get there, we just went to the tram station and just followed the young, yelling frenchies. We found it all right. There was a massive open square filled with tipsy students (one of whom wanted us to fight him - 3VS1 haha) and sorrounded by packed bars. We went into a few (including the Byron Bay Australian Bar!!), drank a few beers and 2€ kiwi shots (which unsurprisingly tasted like rubbish) and got covered in snow/bubbles. After a few hours we decided to call it a night but while we were on the train, we got into an animated conversation with a few local frenchies. Nathan and tim would interject every now and again with a french word they remembered and we would all erupt in cheers. haha. Annnnyway, it just so happens that another frenchy who loved Australians was on the tram and so after a long talk he invited us back to a friends house where we continued the celebrations. It was so refreshing to see some frenchies who were really really nice - and i'm so glad that nathan and tim got to witness firsthand my experience of the French people. This is just another example of how freckin awesome and spontaneous they can be and it was a great way to end our trip in Bordeaux.

Anyway, i'm quite tired not just physically but also emotionally from the 20billion goodbyes i said today. As much as i'm looking forward to moving on i'm sad to be leaving here... it's just such a nice city. I say goodbye to the family tomorrow... again, im going to miss them (especially the meals, free internet and walking into my room to find a neat pile of washed and ironed clothes!).

Hope everyone is going well.

Miss you all.

Intermission

In no order whatsoever here are some photos for my more vocally restless readers...



Some of the buildings in Saint something or other. cant remember. near nice and the place that was built onto a mountain! very old school.


Some very, very alluring french sculpture that i found. i was compelled against my will to take this photo.


back in Marseilles, Timqth and I took photos of a massive checkerboard because we are arty


Beautiful views in Pari, no?

Some fantastic french art in the louvre. taking it back some




Me in the bay on the Marseilles day trip


The trois bros unite again. were so damn good lookin'


Wine cellars on a private tour in st emilion. most of these bottles cost over 10000 euro


view from the emilion bell tower. i tried to push tim off but he resisted me. hes much stronger now...


st emilion from approach



Bordeaux's waterfront at night. lovely!


A cathedral in Toulouse. pretty majestic hey

Me and tim. what we looked like for most of toulouse.

The graveyard we almost died from fear in

An awesome monument commemorating the wars in nice

ok peeps gotta go. talk soon, much love

Photos are for Winners.

Also I am quite le tired and I hate writting on these super whack keyboards so Ill give you some pictures and then in a few days when I get to katie and phils house I shall tell you some tales of wonder and excitment. But for now...

Me and Moosa in the stairs.

This was a real art exzhibit. I just realised I dont know how to spell exhibit. I think thats it. Also I dont know how to do apostraphies on this crazy keyboard.

Choclate shop. Yummers.

Candian man. Liked good music. Nafan is a murderer.

We missed our train so we had to look at this instead.

This fishing man is quite greedy.

Rainbows.

We are quite resourceful and we had no bowls so we ate two boxes of cookies and used them for cereal. Basically we are Mcguvier.

Bordeaux is sweet.

Out in the vineyards. Reliving to good ol geo days.

Incase you cant tell.

It snows inside in Bordeaux.

This is the Australian pub. Fosters on tap because thats what we all drink. Id never even had Fosters till we came here.

Random french guy that invited us to his mates house on the tram at 3am.

So that is a breif outline of the past week or so. At the moment we are very apathetically trying to figure out where were sleeping tonight. Nowhere in Lyon or Bordeaux has room so were thinking night train. Either that or hobo huts.

Love Timqth.

For The Mothers: Trois Bros At Full Power

Well here we have it; ladies and gentlemen of our humble homes and hilly havens whom we, in a wholly heterosexual and in hugely wholesome habit, love with all our homesick but hardly heavy hearts,

the moment you've all been waiting for,

the occasion upon which our excitement soars,



because it couldn't wait even one ... moment ... more,


... (dramatic pause replete with baited breath)


NOT ONE, NOT TWO, AND CERTAINLY NOT SO MANY AS FOUR,

BUT THREE, THE THREE 'GRAND' GARCONS ARE AS ONE ONCE MORE!


That little snippet of theatricality was about half as awesome as the moment when tim and I, after asking the french locals if they've seen a spindly giant stalking the train station, first saw our long lost (and now well versed in french) counterpart, trick in the central station of Bordeaux. Let the good times roll on out.

Leaving you at Marsailles was harder for me then it was for you people, so let me dozn easy when more then 24 hours pass without a post. It's hard when you're always moving! And Timqth and I just crawled our way out of THE shite est hotel EVER. And not just because it was immediatley contrasted to our Uber hostel in Nice. So there was little access as will become abundantly clear later O insatiable readers.

This night we were convinced by Musah, who along with his travel pal Tom were from Amsterdam to go out to town seeing as it was a saturday. I lost some cred though because I couldn't resist the urge and indulge in the stereotypes, asking If Tom brought clogs with him just in case. I think an awkard laugh might have trickled out alongside my dopey chuckles.

But Tim and I did drag our sorry asses out, striving to make the most of our trip. And It was so wirth It.

We walked for a bit to get to a cafe bar reccommended to us by someone that I now forget which was quite busy, so we pushed on into the bar quarter. This was pretty hip and happening and there were people everywhere pouring out onto the street from the backs of the venues that all converged in street crosses. This was the sort of scene you have to look hard for in Oz.

So mopey old Tim who is NOT good at travelling was tre fatigued but, in desperation and upon hearing a few notes of live music escaping through an unauspicious doorway forced tim to follow me into the depths of a (free!) venue where a chaos funk metal band was playing. I would describe them as the distant child of half Air and Jethro Tull ethnicity and half protest the hero. They were so good, and their riffs still send us hopping down the street every now and then to this day.


Day 2 at Marsailles we spent NOT thinking about my card and walked around the ridiculously beautiful city. This was Marseilles' time to shine and it did just that. It really is a postcard city. with ochre alleyways draining into a sun soaked harbour full to the brim with white boats shoulder to shoulder, markets clinging to every street corner, the air humming with the voices of the crowd of people (some were french I hope!) and our lungs purged of the inner city haze by the cool breeze drifting off the sea.

And by the way I forgot my chord so no visuals today!

Then Timmy boy walked with me to the coast, stopping at a fortress perched lazily on a mountainside, stone walls slumping slightly against the grass edges. We got a solid view of the city from this vantage point and headed back down to the road so we could reach the waterfront.

my Oz spirit kicked inside me when we got to the first beach, which was enough of an experience to remind me of the beaches we were missing but also to remind us of how awesome our beaches really are back home. the people sunbaking were all but fully clothed! Bummer. We then continued our walk around the coast along a road carved into the side of a bleached stone mountain, eating the most succulent pommes I have ever had (pomme is french for apple, as judy would definately be proud to know already) and wind tossing through our rugged hair. We turned back and walked through the streets of the city at dusk, things getting cooler and quieter, everything embracing a slight tinge of blue. We saw some street art, jumped around and got directions to this restaurant by the sea near Marseille. I played some guitar for some of the hostel residents who were leaning out their windows and finished an old song i started in sweden.

In the night of day 2, Tim and I were peer pressured into some hard drugs.

lol. we really werent but I thought it might fool some readers out there. There was no one with hard drugs anywhere near our hostel.

We got the directions to this restaurant that can only be reached by foot from the hostel receptionist and headed out early in the Morning. we hopped a metro and a bus and got out at a uni in the outskirts of Marseilles. after a bushwalk through some french style scrub the moutainous landscape opened out into the most incredible coastal vista ever! Tim and I climbed this peak that overlooked the coast and it looked like we could see the world beneath our feet. We trekked down the hill and down to the tiny pier where the restaurant (closed for the winter) was.

Afterwards, tim and I hauled ourselves back to the bus station and and literally collapsed on our beds. That was Marseilles done and it was very worthzhile.

The follwing morning I tried to get my card back but it turns out banks arent really concerned with their customers and I was pretty much told to get lost by this teller at the french bank connected to the ATM. good news is, my new card is en route to Europe. so all is well!

Tim and I travelled with Musah and his bud and trained it to Nice, finding that it was quite soggy in comparison to Marseilles. We caught the tram to a stop near a supermarket where I rapidly bought the components for some sandwhiches while the hostel bus waited outside and behind it insane french motorists punched their horns in a frenzied rage.

I took a stroll around Nice and then we decided to spend one of many nights in because of the awesome poeple we met, the cheap beers (1 Euro each) and the incredibly addictive brownies.
The next day we walked through Nice old town to the modern art museum (ps dont go there it epitomises modern arts inadequacy), the clustered street markets and patisseries, And we even checked out a chocolate shop and bought some dark chocolate lolly pops. wow.

The coast of Nice was unremarkable in the heavy rain but still worth seeing.

The next day we took some advice and took the bus to the mountainous areas north west of nice to Saint Paul, which is this medieval castle town teetering on the edge of a cliff enveloped by thick fog. Breathtakingly beautiful, breathtakingly cold. We went with a Canadian Matt and bought beers, having d and ms and laughing a lot, mostly at the expense of his country's southern neighbors. There is some really fantastic art stores in this town and I owe you some photos for later.

We took it easy that night and only carved through like four or five bottles of wine between three of us (4 euros a bottle, you tell me) and slept heavily, though not as heavy as our ridiculously loud roommate who I thought sounded like (at different times):

A tanker running into an iceberg, repeatedly
A walrus choking on a brick
A man jackhammering an oil drum
A catastrophic eruption
Someone revving a harley davidson from like the 70s

that next day I left my latest graphic novel at the room, which meant we missed our train that was delayed by the train driver strike anyway. I made sure tim knew that, since hes the best person i know at concealing all his emotions with some latent autistic abilities or something. We ended up taking this fantastic walk around the Nice coast and up a lookout which was well worth it since that was the first sunny day we'd seen.

Then, we travelled to Toulouse. This turned out to be a terrible, terrible, mistake. We got off the train at about 2300 and it was raining a little, which was ok. It started getting not ok when we began our walk which was to be repeated countless times to our hotel in the middle of fricking nowhere with nothing but empty cars and industrial warehouses for company along the half lit roads. I'm suprised we survived, honestly. We did not see a single person in the hotel the whole time we stayed there, except for the last day where we me the mad eyed owner. take the comments seriously if they say the halls are creepy. cause they were.

The next day we walked through the city, finding some markets and PEOPLE which was so refreshing. we walked around the old town, ate and talked and then saw a movie. When we got home, I felt like we needed to do something and since the metro closed at like 2400 and there was no way in hell we were walking all the way home after going out I suggested we check out the old train station.

This was the beginning of a horrible and terrifying night. After the station, we walked through a graveyard, with light only in the distance, in pitch black and rain, and were scared out of our minds. We waked past empty derelict houses, massive hulking storehouses for companies, and murky grass plains until we got to the bridge over the dark un,oving river. A single ferry slid accross its surface, light from the pit of hell blinding our eyes to the sight of the undead steering it forward. We stumbled past a crack den into a the middle of a tent villiage with voices and smoke, so tim and I just ran for our wretched lives then. We fell through the door, into our beds, comforted not by the cigarette qnd sex stained hotel room we came to call home.

The next day crepes were breakfast (yay!) and Timqth left for the markets, 'bored of buildings' and I walked around the cold city, finding somre redeeming architecture and tranquil gardens to change my opinion slightly. That night was the last, where we watched another film and walked all the way home.

That day we didnt even bother to check the times for the train and got lucky at the station as it was leaving in like an hour. So we had a 'royale with cheese' and beer at the big D for all those Quentin T fans out there. there might be a few.

And that was yesterday! I'm about to meet up with Tim and nick again and I'm late so I have to go. thats how committed I am to you all!

Anyway, lots of hug

and stuff

nathan

Germany in a weekend.

It's been a while - i've missed all your comments.

But here i am.

Well i am back in Bordeaux after an entertaining weekend with jen in Frankdaddy - aka Frankfurt, Germany. It was a damn long trip, but definately worth it.

Although i had to spend almost 7 hours on the train, it was a pretty smooth and quick trip. I left on Thursday afternoon at 1pm (I was soooo close to missing the train - only directions from a few strangers kept the dream alive) and arrived bored and excited at 9pm. The train was comfortable and i was lucky enough to sit next to some really interesting people. We exchanged emails and names and talked for the next 3 hours about just about every topic. Meeting these people really is one of the best parts about travelling solo, it not only easier but is essential to stop going crazy.

So anyway, after some confusion about whether we had to change trains or not, i finally made it to Frankdaddy (carrying about 20 bags for this girl who it looked like had taken half of her house to Germany with her) and had a nice running, slow-mo hug with Jen - not really, she actually gave me a fright as she stepped from behind some sign. I'd messaged ahead telling Jen the train was running late because the driver "was retarded" and she thought that the driver actually was retarded because the arrivals sign said "10 minutes de retard" (10 minutes late in French). hah.

It was funny at the time.

The reunion... aww.

So anyway, we were both buggered and so we just chilled back at her house after jumping and throwing around snow like we were young again (sigh).


The next day (after a well deserved sleep in) we ate some chocolate cereal (i'm not joking when i say chocolate cereal - there was litereally chucks of real chocolate! Chunks! - no wonder my teeth hurt!) and we left to go for a little ice skating. At this point i could actually see some of Frankdaddy and it seemed to be this strange mixture of old and new. One street would be very modern, the next a bit cold and industrial like, and then the next awesome traditional old-school German. It was a little confusing. But it still was beautiful and the scattered snow (which was already melting) gave everything a christmas-y feel.


We eventually made it to the ice skating rink and got in for free because Jens host dad Mathias (sp?) ran in a marathon. It was as you would expect. Ice. Skates. Jen really really shit. haha. Jen did eventually improve. I think by the end she could do 3 glides before almost falling. I did get in trouble from some crazy German man after i tried to take one of these learn-to-skate penguins that help keep you stable but apparently his daughter hadn't finished with it and so he started yelling at me. At which point i tried to apologize but ended up saying "danke" - thankyou - oops. I just skated away quickly.

Snow! I love Europe!

After skating and throwing snow, we headed back to the centre of Frankdaddy and had dinner at this awesome Italien restaurant. My mouth is literally watering now just thinking about it. Jen and I, both deciding to be completely unoriginal, went for the Penne Bolognaise. What was so good about this place, however, was that you actually order from the chefs and then they make it fresh, on the spot!! It was awesome! We both ordered and began a conversation with the chef, Grace. She was hilarious and like everyone in Frankfurt could speak excellent English. Ten minutes later after our food was cooked (right in front of us!) and we walked back to our table which had a tree in the middle and was sorrounded by olive oil, bread and fresh basil that you actually picked from the plant to put on your food. It was a nice place - and even better, it was really cheap.

Our entertaining chef Grace.

Looking at that food is seriously making me hungry.

Gotta love the fresh herbs and the tree in the middle of the table

The next day we went into Frankfurt again to the Marches de Noël (i don't know what they are called in German) - Frankfurts famous Christmas markets - and met up with one of Jens friends, Alison. People from all over Europe come to see the Frankdaddy markets apparently - and it definately felt like that. The markets were packed with people. Literally tens of thousands of people browsed the shops selling just about everything. After a while we joined the ques for traditional German sausages, potato cakes (which were delicious after one bite, but waaaay too greasy after two) and German sweeets. We also just haaaad to go on this two storey merry-go-round which was actually surprisingly fun. Jen, Alison and I were sitting on this spinning seat that i kept turning so it would go faster - much to Jen and Alisons chagrin! We were laughing so much that we didn't realise that the turn had stopped and were supposed to get off - we just kept spinning our little seat thing laughing and wondering why our turn was so long.

The markets were at least 20billion times bigger than the ones in Bordeaux - but it was interesting because they were similar but different. They had a more exciting, busy feel and had live music and heeeaaaps of hot wine.

It's market time - frankdaddy style.

I'm surprised we didn't see Tim and Nath here because the rest of Europe was.

The awesome fun merry-go-round.

The ride had probably stopped at this point - but we just kept spinning.

Jen and her one true love.

The next day we got up super early (7.30) to go to a village near Frankfurt called Rothenburg. We had a three hour train ride, but our companions Alison and Ruth were so entertaining that the trip went by in no time. Ruth was seriously hilarious - Jen and I were on the floor laughing after every second sentence. She was British and so swore all the time in the funniest ways - definately a "you had to be there" moment.

The Rothenburg crew - Ruth is on the far right and Alison is next to her.

Anyway, the village. It's famous because it is one of the few towns in Germany to be almost completely untouched by WWII. Apparently, it was almost destroyed at one point decades before, but legend has it that a deal was made between the city council and the attackers. The village would not be destroyed if one of the council men could drink a 3 litre tankard of beer in one go. They agreed and it is said that the man needed 3 days to recover. Now that's my type of legend!!

A moat or something.

Rothenburg in all its German glory.

The streets of gingerbread houses.

The village itself was beautiful! It still has its defensive walls intact and has been almost perfectly preserved. All our travel books warned us about massive crowds, but because of the time of year, it was only busy, not overly crowded. The village offered amazing views of the sorrounding countryside and had another Christmas market - although it was really small. We did all the touristy stuff - took our photos, climbed the wall, ate more food... the usual stuff.

A nice view.

We were, however, amazed by these little sugary buscuit balls which were sold everywhere... but they ended up being just a little disappointing. They needed a lot more sugar. They kept us entertained for a while though.

The magical sugar, dough, biscuit balls.

It was a long day (we got back to Frankdaddy juuuust in time for the last train to Jens at 930pm).

I love the crazy narrow lanes of Yourope.

Ahh, the end of a long day.

It was such a good weekend. So good to mix things up a bit and see where jen has been for the last 10 months. So now, it's back to reality (i love the 'reality' for me is Bordeaux at the moment!). I had a pretty uneventful trip home except that i sat next to some crazy guy wearing a skirt who smelt like old meat. Mmmm.

The always difficult goodbye.

The foggyness reflected our dampened mood. aw.

Anyway, i know that i have forgotten heaps, but thats what happens.

Miss you guys.