Edinburgh -a weekend in review.

Edinburgh. Last bastion for the civil Scotsman, capital of Scotland and a lovely weekend getaway. We went there on one such weekend. Sure it was cold, sure it has very few hours of actual sunlight and sure it has Scottish people living there but we still loved it nonetheless.


Edinburgh castle around dusk (about 2pm). Lovely.
The next day walking up the castle from the car park. We in no way know any of the people featured in this photo.
A big cannon they have in the castle. Big Bertha is her name.
Two blighters drinking mulled wine.


A fine panorama featuring Sars taken from a bridge.

View of the city from the war memorial.
The city.
Scenic.

Paris

We had the good fortune to spend an amazing weekend in Paris in late december with our great new friends Adam and Marie whom we met on our Intrepid tour. They are well nice people and it was great to catch up with them again. So in no particular order we present Paris:


Starting with Sarah standing bow-legged outside the Louvre. The reason for the bow legged thing is because the whole weekend the temp reached and amazing average of 0 degrees C. Damn!
I decided to take a picture of people taking pictures pf the mona lisa. The louvre has so many amazing paintings it's nearly laughable that it's this one that recieved soooo much attention.Inside the Louvre.




Sars and i outside the Eiffel Tower.
Sars climbing the stairs of Eiffel Tower.

The rather large Arc de Triumph. The intersection works like a giant round about with one vital difference: No rules! It was crazy, we saw one guy reversing to go down a street they'd overshot. Crazy.


Moulin Rouge in the red light district.

A sweet church.

Sarah and a strange Monk standing outside Notre Dame.

Luxembourg Palace. See swell sign below. We tried to have a picnic in it's scenic grounds but it was so cold (i've mentioned the zero degrees) that we just had to force the baguettes into our mouths as quickly as we could. Not even the 3 euro wine we bought could warm us up.

Back to Notre Dame and we snuck in on sunday service. Amazing place, and free!

Sarah, Adam and Marie standing outside.

I cool street corner.

The church in Amelie.

The Moonscape of Gorome

And finally, at last, the final installment in the holiday pics of Turkey.

In this last encounter, we take you around Goreme, in the centre of Turkey. We came across this spectacular moonscape at 6.30 in the am as the sun was rising over the rose, golden and terracotta cave houses.
We were in this beautiful little town for 4 days and managed to get up-graded from the hostel to a brand new hotel cave room with our own bathroom!! With proper HOT shower!!
Anyway, once again we will let the pictures do the talking.

Cave houses
People did and still do live in these caves. I think they originally lived in here to hide from waring Ottomans, Christians, etc.
This man was collecting wood in the river. I had to snap it quickly, don't think he really wanted his photo taken.

Me on the shittest bike in the world, the seat moved from side to side when I rode along in one of only 2 gears I had to chose from, high or higher. This was a rare moment of smiling, as it was one of the few down hill moments. Despite being promised it was fine to ride on a bike, the route we chose had a good 5 km straight uphill, on rough tarmac with massive coaches pushing us off the road every 30 seconds. But thats Turkey for ya.

The streets of Goreme







































































This was our hotel room, they brought down the armchairs when they saw we were actually using the fireplace. Lovely.
Turkey we love you.

2007: A Year in Review

Two days ago, over a full english breakfast (the night after two too many pints) Sarah said, quite aptly, that she felt she'd lived two different years during the period of days we humans called 2007. One in sunny, much loved Melbourne and another half a world away in strange and exotic countries. Though the second one has lasted just under 4 months it does seem to warrant it's own year due to how much we crammed into that time.

So we decided to list some things that inspired us this year. Though these things may mean nothing to you, dear friends, and yes, some of them may seem trivial (TV shows?), but they meant something to us.


Sarah's lists for 2007

Top 5 albums that got Sars through 2007:
1. Y’s – Joanna Newsom
2. Time the Revelator – Gillian Welch
3. The Reminder - Feist
4. Deadwood Soundtrack- Various
5. Rough Rider (Vinyl) - Various


Top 5 tracks that got Sarah through 2007:
1. Dry the Rain – Beta Band
2. Emily – Joanna Newsom
3. I dream a highway – Gillian Welch
4. Miss Ohio – Gillian Welch
5. God only knows – beach boys


Top 5 movies what was good to watch:
1. The Assasination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford
2. The Darjeeling Ltd
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Science of Sleep
5. Hot Fuzz


Top TV's shows what she well enjoyed:
1. Deadwood
2. Weeds
3. Dog the Bounty Hunter
4. Entourage
5. Flight of the Concorde


Top 5 things she misses at home:
1. Friends and Family
2. Non limescale-e water
3. Long days (hours of daylight)
4. Blue Skies
5. Good Thai food

Top 5 moments of 2007:
1. Stepping out into the Budapest streets and being amazed at the beautiful city
2. Arriving by train into Istanbul and arriving in the wee hours to an empty city (due to Ramadan ending the day before)
3. Seeing Joanna Newsom for the second awe inspiring time (Especially the epic "Only Skin")
4. Selling out of my first run of bags on Geogie Love
5. Saying goodbye to my beloved Cwk-y (Car- not so much a “Top” moment but definitely a memorable one)

Andy's Lists for 2007

Top 6 albums that got Andy through 2007:
1. Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian.
2. Panda Bear -Person Pitch
3. The Hold Steady –Boys & Girls in America
4. Sunset Rubdown Random Spirit Lover
5. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (thanks Heathy)
6. The Thermals-The Blood, The Body, the Machine


Top 5 tracks that got him through 2007:
1. Sunset Rubdown – Mending of the Gown
2. Frog Eyes – Caravan Breakers, They Prey On The Weak and the Old
3. Animal Collective – Peacebone
4. The Besnard Lakes – Disaster
5. The National – Fake Empire

Top 5 comics everyone worth their salt should read:
1. Casonova
2. Black Summer
3. Invincible
4. Fell
5. Walking Dead


Top 5 movies what was good to watch:
1. Bourne Ultimatum
2. Ratatouille
3. The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford
4. Hot Fuzz
5. 300


Top TV's shows what he enjoyed:
1. Heroes
2. Deadwood
3. Dog the Bounty Hunter
4. Who wants to be a Superhero?
5. Mighty Boosh
6. Weeds


Top 5 things he well misses from home:
1. Northcote (Lifestyle)
2. Friends and family and work colleagues
3. Dim Sims (Brocky was right!)
4. The Sun (Not the tabloid paper of the same name)
5. Cheap Japanese Norri rolls for lunch


Top 5 moments of 2007:
1. Belly dancing in Turkey
2. Stop over in Hong Kong realizing it’s the first time I’ve been out of Australia
3. Ticket inspectors in Hungary trying to steal my passport
4. Blue Cruise in Turkey
5. Packing up the beloved X-Mansion

Corey's lists 2007

Top 5 albums that got Cors through 2007:
1. Return To Cookie Mountain (T.V. On The Radio)
2. Person Pitch (Panda Bear)
3. In Rainbows (Radiohead)
4. The Boxer (The National)
5. Neon Bible (Arcade Fire)

Top 5 tracks that got him through 2007:
1. Bros (Panda Bear)
2. Wolf Like Me (T.V. On The Radio)
3. Only Skin (Joanna Newsome)
4. Anarchist Television Blues (Arcade Fire)
5. It’s All Gonna Break (Broken Social Scene)

Top 2 movies what was good to watch:
1. Casino Royal
2. Planet Terror


Top TV's shows what he enjoyed:
1. Deadwood
2. Dog The Bounty Hunter
3. Cricket Final @ World Cup (Not for the cricket though)
4. Flight of the Concords
5. The Mighty Boosch (Season Three)


Top 5 things he sure does miss at home:
1. Coopers Green
2. Long Nights Out!
3. Mates
4. Backyard Cricket
5. Back Porch Stoner Sessions


Top 5 moments of 2007:
1. M Ward Sing Along
2. Canoe Trip
3. Palsy
4. Edinburgh Festival
5. Back Porch Stoner Sessions


Thank's for putting us with our self-indulgence. Feel free to post any or all of your top 5's under 'Comments' below.