No matter how many promises, I can't seem to keep this thing updated. So here comes another big blog...

Switzerland

WE spent a few days in Switzerland. We visited a number of the hotels and restaurants and did a lot of online searching and discovered the job prospects weren't there. Without being able to speak German or having a valid work permit, it was useless. So we went skiing instead. The skiing wasn't all that good, they hadn't had much snow, but the views were incredible. The ski runs were sooo long, it took us two hours to do one run - top to bottom. Other than that, we didn't do much in Switzerland.

Austria

We stayed in the little town of Innsbruck, in the county of Tirol. That's where a lot of the winter activities are at their best. We spent a day or two walking around exploring the city, visiting churches and such and in our exploring we discovered the International University Championships were being held. So naturally we watched a few events, mostly hockey. It wasn't until after our second game that we learned Canada was competing. Their next game wasn't for a few days, but we extended our stay to catch the game. So, while waiting to catch the big hockey game we had another couple ski days. We went downhill skiing, amazing. The skiing was soo good. There wasn't much snow in the area, so we went to the glacier, it was really good. Snow all year round. We actually plan to go back in the summer and take Trev's sister there for some summer skiing. We also did some cross-country skiing. I haven't been cross-country skiing in years, and Trev has never done it - we were so exhausted afterwards, but it was good fun.

So, the big hockey game. Canada vs. Russia - should be a very exciting game. WE got there early to secure good seats and everything. The stands were packed. The announcers we calling the fans to cheer, the crowd was pumped. After the first puck drop it appeared that we would be witnessing an intense game. Russia scored the first goal..... then the second....... then the third...... and fourth..... and fifth...... and sixth!! The game ended 6 nothing!! Canada just couldn't keep up. We left early the next day to save face :)

Hungary

After a very long train ride we arrive in Budapest. It was good for us, there was an agent on the train who gave us some information on the city and a couple of hostels. She got us set up and even got us a ride to the hostel, which was nice since it was fairly late and cold.

Budapest wasn't all that exciting. We visited the castle on the hill, and had a great view over the city. We walked around and saw the various churches and historical buildings. The best part was this little reasaurant we found. It was tiny, but they actually had an english menu. They served traditional homemade hungarian dishes, large portions for reasonable prices. We ate there a couple of times.

Bulgaria

The train ride to Bulgaria was the most interesting of all. When we purchased our train ticket, we purchased one that covered 5 connecting countries. Bulgaria included Yugoslavia as one country, but the person who wrote the ticket only wrote Bulgaria as the country section. So, at two in the morning when the conductor guy comes to check our tickets for travelling through Yugoslavia to Bulgaria, he says they aren't valid and we have to pay for the ride. We tried to argue and tell them the ticket was valid, but they couldn't speak english well and we couldn't prove we were right. So, in the end we had to pay 40 euros on the train and another 30 euros at the train station to get through Yugoslavia to Bulgaria. That's like $130!

Bulgaria was quite nice. It snowed the whole time we were there, it was cold and wet and the hostel we stayed in didn't believe in heat. There was only a woodstove in the main room, no heaters in the bedrooms!

Again we didn't do much but walk around the city and explore the history and culture. The churches in Bulgaria were quite different from ones around other parts of Europe though. They were still Roman Catholic churches, but they weren't as grand or elaborate. Simple buildings of worship.

We visited two cities in Bulgaria, Sofia (the capital) and Plovdiv. I was surprised at how prosperous the cities looked, we thought Bulgaria was supposed to be quite poor. Everything was pretty cheap though, we ate well and for very little expense.

Greece

The train ride to Athens was the longest one we did. We had planned to stop somewhere along the way, but ended up just staying on the train. It was 24 hours later that we got to Athens from when we left Plovdiv. We somehow found our hostel, got booked in and slept most of the day. The next day we started early and walked all day. We walked to the top of Acropolis and say the ancient Roman buildings and got to walk through the museum and see the ancient sculptures. It was neat how the art tells the story and history of the times.

We also walked around ancient Agora and a recently discovered underground city. We checked out the museum there as well. They had anciet artifacts from the city - coins, vases, cookware and an ancient voting counter thing.

Our last day we took a ferry over to one of the Greek Isles and rented bikes and toured around the island. It was awesome. The weather was great and the road followed the coastline aroudn to this quaint little fishing village. We went with these two Canadian guys we met, they were really nice.

Ireland

We went to Ireland with hopes of finding work. We had contacted a guy from Ireland we met while in Australia and he said he had jobs lined up for us. We got there and stayed with another guy we met in Australia while we waited to meet the manager and find out about the jobs. In the meantime we attended an Irish wedding reception - so much fun, never danced so much in my life. And Trev played hours of video games. We finally met the manager of the place we were supposed to work and he said he didn't have anything right away, to give him a week and see what happens. So, we decided to do a bit of touring around Ireland instead of sitting on our butts.

Our friend Eamonn, the one who had the jobs for us, took us on a day tour around the Kilkenny area. We drove to this "Magic" road where it appeared we were going backwards up the hill, it was really spooky. We also checked out the beach and some neat little towns. We visited the Kilkenny castle, got a free tour. They have restored the castle to its victorian appearance, same carpets and colours and are in the process of recovering the original furniture. It was a neat tour.

We then left Kilkenny and took a bus down to Cork. I really wanted to see the Blarney castle. It was really cool. The castle is in ruins sort of, but still safe enough to go touring through. There were still traces of old rooms and the chapel and the chimney for the cooking stove. There is a famous tradition to kiss the blarney stone. Little did we know we had to lay on our backs and slide back over a ledge to reach the stone that millions of other people have already kissed.

The gardens around the castle were really neat. There were paths and trails leading all over the place, you could walk around there for weeks and not take the same path twice. We visited the 'fairy glade', the wishing steps, the witches kitchen and other marked spots. It was a beautiful walk, even though it was raining and a bit chilly.

That night we took the bus to Kilarney and the next day we took a bus tour of the 'Ring of Kerry'. The bus tour was really pretty, we just drove along the coast around a peninsula stopping at points of interest, like this historic little village. We learned of their tradition of bringing down a goat from the mountains and naming him 'King Puck' and treating him like a king and feeding him Guiness. No joke, they do it every year and no one knows why or how it started.

We stayed in Kilarney another day so we weren't stuck on a bus on Valentine's Day. We took a gorgeous walk through Kilarney National Park, where to my surprise Trevor proposed!!!! It was so romantic. He gave me a rose and got down on one knee and everything. Of course I said yes. We were euphorically happy the rest of the day. We had dinner in a little Irish pub, then called the p's to share the exciting news.

The next day we were back on the bus. We stayed in the little town of Doolin, so we could go visit the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were spectacular. A beautiful site, but a little scary. I guess a few people have been blown off or fallen off the edge. We stayed well back.

We then made our way back to Kilkenny where we got the unfortunate news that we still didn't have jobs. We decided we had had enough, so we packed up, said good bye and headed to Dublin before catching our plane home.

In Dublin we visited the Guiness factory, Trev had another few too many pints, similar to the Speights brewery tour in New Zealand. I really didn't like Dublin, which was too bad because I really enjoyed Ireland, but Dublin left a bad last impression.

But, anyway, for those who don't already know, we are now home. We are staying with Trev's mom in Peterborough. The number is (705) 742-8079 if anyone wants to get in touch with us. We got back Saturday afternoon and had a great time surprising family and friends the last few days. We will try to visit each of you in the next few weeks, and if anyone has any prospects for work, PLEASE let us know.

Apparently we got good advise. It was impossible to find work in Switzerland. The fact that we didn't have working visas and couldn't speak the language meant no one wanted to even talk to us. I was going to try the Hooters, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't need the work that bad.

So, after a day of skiing the Swiss Alps! we headed on to Austria. The skiing wasn't the greatest, not much snow, but the scenery was amazing. My first time in the mountains, it was breathtaking.

We went to Innsbruck, Austria for almost a week. We had another day of skiing, though the skiing was much better. There was actually snow and the runs were better groomed. We also tried cross-country skiing - hard work. We were exhausted after, and we didn't even do the full route. We couldn't understand the driver, we thought he sais be back in 3 hours, but he said be back at 3:00, so we sat around for a couple hours. We did get a warm apple strudle - mmmmm!

The reason we stayed so long in Innsbruck is because there was a World University Sports competition going on. We watched a couple of hockey games before we learned Canada was there, but they didn't play again until Wed. night. So we stayed the extra two days to watch Canada play Russia - should be a good game. The game started really good, both teams quick and on their toes. Then Canada gets a penalty, then another and another. Russia took advantage of all the penalties. The final score was 6-0 Russia! What a disappointment! Russia was just too quick.

We left early the next morning - to avoid the embarassment from the night before. We had an early train to Budapest, Hungary. We spent most the day on the train. Luckily an information agent approached us on the train to answer any questions, and helped us book a hostel for the night and even arranged a free shuttle for us, or we would have been walking around for hours looking for a place to stay.

We were a bit disappointed with the hostel though. It claimed to have a kitchen, but it really only had a small room with a sink, fridge and microwave. Oh well, it meant we had to go out to eat. We found this quaint little Hungarian restaurant, that actually has an english menu. The food was good, large portions and reasonable cheap. We ate there a couple of times.

Hungary was cold, but a pretty nice city. Lots of castles, one with a full on moat around it. The moat had been flooded and is used as an ice rink during the winter. I could picture Budapest being quite pretty in the spring.

I don't know if it's the weather, or the fact that we've been away so long or the pressure of not enough money, or what, but Trev and I were seriously talking about coming home (we have no money left!). We talked about using the rest of our train ticket to get to Athens, then take a flight home and head back to Europe in the spring after Doug's wedding. We went on the internet to look up prices of flights home, and to our surprise, Trev had got an email from a friend in Ireland he met in Australia. Eamonn, the friend, has jobs for us in Ireland. Well one for me for sure, and probably one for Trev if we're interested. So of course we emailed him right back and said yes. That totally lifted our spirits and gave us new hope.

We took another long train ride and are now in Sofia, Bulgaria. We spent 17 hours on the train yesterday! We are using the rest of our train ticket to get to Athens, still waiting for the confirmation on the jobs in Ireland.

Bulgaria is quite nice. We haven't been able to see the mountains in the distance though, it has been snowing non-stop since we got here. Though the snow is really pretty. I think I actually miss the snow, though I don't miss the cold at all. The hostel we are at doesn't have heating, just a wood burning stove in the tv room (not the bedrooms). It does create a cosy feel while watching tv, and the place smells like fire - like my dad's place or the cottage.

So we are on our way to Greece, then either to Ireland or home in the next week. Wish us luck with the jobs...... again! Or you'll have to put up with us sooner.

It's a New Year and a whole new adventure. Our last few days in Sydney weren't all that exciting. We spent one day on the beach and that's about it. New Years Eve we went down to the harbour and got to see the fireworks display from the Sydney Harbour Bridge - supposed to be the biggest new years fireworks display in the world! We had a great view of the bridge and a great New Years Eve - though almost too great. We almost didn't get up in the morning for our 8am flight to Singapore. Somehow we made it to the airport and on the plane.

We had a 12 hour layover in Singapore, so we did this free tour that the airport provides. We got a 2 hour tour of Singapore including a boat ride up and down the river. It wasn't a full picture of the place, but made me want to go back someday and really explore the city - but that's for another trip. We spent the rest of our time in Singapore in the airport, mostly sleeping.

We got into Rome, (Italy!) early in the morning, but didn't get our room until early afternoon. We just hung out in the restaurant at the hostel we were staying at and tried to decide where to go and what to do now that we are in Europe.

We got our room at about 2:30 and went straight to bed. We slept right through to 8:00 the next morning. We were ready to head into the city and explore. It was overwhelming! The buildings were so big and full of history. The churches are so detailed and impressive. I just couldn't get over the fact I was in Italy!

Our first day in Rome we saw a couple of churches, threw some good luck coins into the Trevi Fountain, and climbed the Spanish steps. The next day we went to the Colosseum! We had to pay 10 Euros each - that's like $40 Canadian just to get in and walk around - but it was so worth it. That night at the hostel they played 'Galdiator' the movie - how appropriate.

We also walked through the underground ruins, saw the Emmanuelle monument and the Pantheon. The Pantheon is a church, but not built in the cross shape like most other churches. It is built in a circle shape, with the top of the dome left open, so it actually rains inside the church.

The last place on our list of things we wanted to see in Rome was the Vatican. It's actually it's own little city, the Vatican City. It has it's own postal code and everything. Anyway, we went to St Peters Catherdral, and got to climb a ridiculous amount of steps to the top of the dome where we got to see the inside of the church from the highest vantage point. We climbed a little bit further, and got to the outside of the dome where we had a spectacular view of all of Rome. We could even see the Colosseum in the distance.

We finally made some plans for Europe. We need to work, and we figured where better than in the Alps of Switzerland where we can also do some skiing. So, after one night in Milan, we are now in Switzerland. We took the train from Rome to Milan, then Milan to Interlaken. Milan was incredible. We read that it was all about money and fashion, but we were not prepared for what we saw. There were boutique shops everywhere, and nothing was cheap. Ladies were strutting around in their fur jackets and leather boots. In the span of about 2 hours, we saw 2 Porches, 1 Ferrari and 1 Lambourgini (Trev's dream car)! We took photos of the Lambourgini, they should be posted soon.

Interlaken is a small little ski village. There are a number of hotels and such, so we hope there will be some work. We have been told that it is really hard to find work in Switzerland, especially without a work visa, so we may have to change our plans - but not without doing some skiing first.

Anyway, wish us luck and we'll keep you posted.