Spectacular Switzerland

Hello everyone,

As you can see, Switzerland is a stunning country. There is no doubt. We had bad weather (rain, clouds, fog) but the dramatic cliffs and impressive mountains still showed their glory - for five minutes here and there! I loved my time there. We saw so much impressive scenery - I can't imagine how amazing it would have been if the weather was clear and the mountains were displayed in their true grandeur! Mind-blowing, that is for sure.

Some of the highlights were:

- Visiting Geneva, a city that holds so much history for our church; John Calvin was truly an inspirational man!
- Camping at the most impressive camp ground on the planet - there were cliffs in the background and the facilities were incredible!
- Visiting the real Grindewald :)
- Seeing the Swiss houses and shops - all made from wood panels and logs - so cool!
- Hiking and seeing mountains peek out from behind the clouds now and then
- Staying up at a hostel in the mountains
- Travelling up higher into the mountains in a cable car, which gave us the best views of our trip
- Visiting some glacier waterfalls inside a mountain - the force of the water is unbelievable!

- Driving through and being amazed at what appeared around the corner

Put Switzerland on your list of countries to visit :)

When you see the mountains and you ponder on the beauty of God's creation, there is no doubt that our God is so Mighty, so Powerful and so Loving. He created a beautiful world and we have the privilege of enjoying it. Thanks be to our Loving Father.

Love Sarah xxx
P.S. A few less photos this time... having too much fun to spend time on a computer!

This was taken up the top of Schilthorn - one of the higher points in Switzerland. The mountain peaks are amazing, aren't they!

The hiking trails in Switzerland are so well marked! This is an example of a sign on our Mountain View Trail walk. The fog was our constant companion that day...

The AMAZING cliffs! I nearly walked into posts, fences and many other objects as a result of spending so much time gazing up rather than concentrating on walking :) I'm sure you'd do the same!

Our poor little tent - battered by endless nights of rain. Tent, you did a marvellous job of keeping us dry! Well done :)

One of the many stops we made along the road to capture a stunning view. A moment of clear weather - a FANTASTIC photo opportunity that was too good to be missed! Thanks, Kylie, for the jumper, it kept me nice and warm while I was in your favourite country :)

An afternoon in France

Another border, another new country! Just like that!

We're in France... we still have a long drive to Switzerland... Janita, do you need to stop? Mmmm... maybe for an hour... What shall we do? Visit Dijon - lots of mustard there! Oh, but that's a really big city. Do you feel like navigating a big city? Nah, not after driving around Luxembourg city with so much traffic! Yea, but it was worth it in Luxembourg! Mmm I know ... how about Beaune? Beaune? What's in Beaune? A few wine cellars. And it's a small town. Cool, I like small towns - you don't get lost as easily, let's go there. Ok. Let's go to the tourist office and see what we can do. Cool, can we do a wine tour? Yes, but there is also a Hospice here - people come from all over to visit the Hospice! You can't come to Beaune and not go to the Hospice!!!!! (Oh, yes we can, just watch us!) How much is a wine tour? What? Mmm... bit expensive... let's just go to a wine cellar or two instead... Great idea! Lots of fun! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than the wine tour would have been!

A fantastic way to spend a Saturday afternoon :)

Photo above: what aromas does this wine have?

But before wine touring - we needed to do groceries. Always an experience when a. you can't speak the language b. you can't read the labels c. you can't find things in the shop but at least we had the right kind of money!! This grocery store has the strangest name.....!

Wine cellar number 1. We visited this one - called Bouchard Aine & Fils - because you could do a 5 senses tour of the cellar. The young French girl who took us on the tour explained the process of French wine making and it's many intricacies and then explained in great detail how to taste wine properly. It was so interesting and I learnt so much! And there I was thinking I knew a bit about wine already... :)

Now that's what I call a bottle of wine!

The one on the left is 12 Litres! (Note the name...)

In Marche Aux Vins cellar

Enjoying myself muchly

And then the sun came out! WAHOO! That was exciting too - and the clouds looked really cool - so much better in real life :)

Lovely Luxembourg

Hello again,

After the rain in Belgium we decided to head off towards Switzerland via Luxembourg. Luxembourg was such a surprise! I didn't really know what to expect and my expectations were well and truly blown away! Luxembourg is such a beautiful country - the Lonely Planet describes it as a fairytale country with castles, hills and beautiful scenery that will make you feel like you're in a story book - and every word of that is absolutely true! The towns are so quaint and remind you of your favourite childhood stories, the castles make you think that Rapunzel is going to let down her hair at any moment and the rolling green hills are so beautiful - you can see so many different greens as you look out (the hills are alive...!). It amazed me.

Luxembourg is a small country with massive character. A country that is most definitely worth spending some time in. Our day and a quarter just wasn't long enough!!

Here are some photos. Enjoy!
Love Sarah xxx

Crossing the border. I love doing that! Crossing a border is so unreal, it still amazes me. You're in a different country, just like that!

Chateau de Borscheid - the coolest castle ever!

And again.. it was closed when we arrived, so we just walked around the grounds...

Until I spotted some scaffolding! A little climb and BAM, entry into the castle!

Normally scaffolding is the most frustrating part of taking photos. Europe is covered with scaffolding - restorations are happening everywhere. This time, though, I couldn't have been more pleased to see scaffolding! I guess it's all about the way you look at it :)

When you have a castle all to yourself - with absolutely no other tourists around (who love to walk in front of cameras and block/ruin the shot) - and it's 8:00pm and you haven't eaten, what do you do? Have dinner of course! Here I am cooking THE BEST DINNER I HAVE EVER HAD! Rice, canned veges, canned tuna and pesto - mix it together and it's delicious! And it's made even more delicious when you're in such a fantastic location!

Dinner with a view of the gorgeous town below

And wine, in front of an incredible Chateau

That night, after tearing ourselves away from the Chateau, we camped in a campground by the river. Which, incidentally, was only 1km away from Germany! Insane, hey :)

The Chateau in Vianden, which we visited legally. It has all been restored, which is nice, but it loses some authenticity when it looks almost new

Afterward went to Echternacht and did a 12km walk - through bush/forest. We saw some cool cliffs and got some fresh air. Was nice to get out, especially after all of that chocolate in Belgium!

Notice the ugly knee brace... it's looks terrible but I must say that my leg is still ok, purely because of knee brace holding everything together, so it's a good thing!

In Luxembourg City - we walked along the Chenin de la Corniche, which is the most beautiful promenade in Europe, according to Lonely Planet:) I second that, most definitely!! It was stunning to see the old walls and towers that form old Luxembourg. Such a pretty area! We loved it

An orchestra was playing in the Place d'Armes - which is the market square in the city - was so nice to sit and listen to them play...

while we ate McDonalds! This is the coolest Maccas I have ever seen - right on the square, outside tables with umbrellas, with an orchestra in view. It felt like we were at a fancy restaurant! Certainly dining in style (good thing too, coz the night before was at the Chateau - would have been a huge letdown if we were at a regular McDonalds :) )

Belly-aches in Belgium!

Hey everyone!

Janita and I are BACK! After two weeks and 4 countries we arrived back into the Netherlands with heaps of photos and a HUGE collection of great memories.

First stop - Belgium. Here are some of the highlights: the beautiful city of Gent, wandering around the cute city streets, visiting Ypres and seeing a lot more WW1 history, trying a lot of delicious chocolate, testing out a few beers and camping.

Here are some of the interesting events - camping in the grottiest camp site ever that had THE MOST DISGUSTING excuse for a bathroom, setting up the tent in all sorts of weather, the flea market in Brussels (which looked like someone had backed up a truck and tipped a whole lot of garage sale junk onto the ground), the rain, rain, rain, rain and oh, did I mention the rain?

Here is some evidence of our travels :)

Enjoy,
Love Sarah xxx

Chocolate in Antwerp - eat too much and you get a belly-ache :)

First attempt at setting up the tent - it took 1 hour, would you believe?! The next time - 30 mins, then 22 minutes and after that we had it down to about 15 minutes - at least we improved :)

The beautiful city of Gent - it had heaps of outside sitting areas, filled with tables, where everyone sat to have dinner or a drink. It had such a great atmosphere!

The Australian War Cemetery in Ypres. I have never seen so many gravestones in one place... gives you the goosebumps...

Poppies - in Flanders Fields! Ypres is actually in the area known as Flanders Fields. It is true that poppies grow everywhere in the region. We went to the Essex Farm Cemetery, which is in the exact location where John McRae wrote his now famous poem. So cool to actually see the area!

The Tyne Cot Cemetery - the largest military cemetery in Europe. It is absolutely HUGE - wherever you look, it seems that the gravestones are endless

The Menin Gate - so much bigger than I ever imagined!

Just a few of the names - add this to the amount of gravestones we saw and you realise the incredible loss of life in WW1. You can read the figures in a book, but when you seen the gravestones and the names written out, it seems so much greater

The buglers playing The Last Post - at 8pm every night, under the Menin Gate, the buglers play The Last Post, in memory of the fallen. On the night we were there, a much more formal service was conducted because a group from the Canadian Army were visiting. The service lasted for about 20 minutes and included a marching band, the Last Post, the Ode, wreath laying and also the short poem pictured below. There were so many people there - an incredible experience!

This was read during the service

We then headed off to Bruge - and visited a chocolate museum.

This is the best bloke I've met in Europe so far!

To work off all the chocolate we hired a tandem bike for an hour. Was quite a hilarious experience! Such a strange feeling, trying to balance with two people :)

Mannekin Pis in Brussels. I expected a decent sized statue. This thing is INCREDIBLY small! I was warned that the size is a let down - but the fact it was actually as small as it is was so funny! And to think it's one of the most visited statues in Europe... hilarious!

What do you think this is? Have a guess and then scroll down for the answer...

One of the Belgian beers I tried. There are so many, it's hard to choose, so I just told the bartender what kind of beer I liked and he chose for me :) That worked really well, coz I ended up with some great beers! Could definitely become a beer drinker if I lived in Belgium!

ANSWER:

It's a beer menu!! We went to Delirium Cafe in Brussels which is in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most beer options on their menu - over 2004! Yes, 2004!! Incredible, isn't it! How can you choose a beer when you have so many options?!

Next stop: Luxembourg!

Belgium bring it on!

Hey everyone,

Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm heading off to Belgium and Switzerland with Janita for the next two weeks! We packed the car today and we're ready for adventure! We have lots of plans - to visit a few cool cities in Belgium and try out the beer & chocolates of course!

Then it will be a drive through Luxembourg, where we'll spend a day or so, before hitting up Switzerland and the magnificent landscape it has to offer :) Swiss Alps, get ready for us!

So... you may not hear from me for a while... we're camping so who knows when and where I'll have internet connection. Never fear, I'll be back with some photos to share in no time flat!

I just want to share a few parts of Psalm 8 with you - the more time I've spent in the wonders of God's creation, the more often I've thought of this psalm and the truth it holds.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your Name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens......
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers....
What is man that you are mindful of him?
And teh son of man that you care for him?
... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

What a Mighty and Loving Father we have! To Him be all the glory.

Have a great few weeks. God's blessings and love to you all,
Love Sarah xxx

Want a taste of Ireland?

I have thousands (literally!) of photos of Ireland and it was so hard for me to choose a few to put on my blog!

Here is one I missed :)

If you want a taste of Ireland but don't have the time to travel to the otherside of the globe, give this a go!

You'll love it. Just shut your eyes and imagine green hills, cliffs, Irish accents, Irish music & Irish dancing.

If you want an even more authentic experience, put on some Celtic music.

If you want an even, even, even more authentic experience and you live in Tassie, you can ask Sharene if you can lend my Lord of the Dance DVD BUT please look after it! It's something I am going to NEED when I get home :)

Enjoy a coffee and think of me :)

Sarah xx

Incredible Ireland

Hey everyone,

Here are some more pictures of a country that is definitely up there in my favourites!! Irish people are the best - so friendly, entertaining and welcoming. The scenery is second to none. The atmosphere is fantastic. I had a GREAT time! Truly experiences I will never forget. Cameras can't capture things like they are in real life.... but you will get the idea :)

Enjoy these photos - and put Ireland on you 'must visit' list!

Love Sarah xxx

The Brazen Head - Ireland's oldest pub. Great live Irish music!

A round tower in Glendalough (pronounced Gledalock) - the Irish used to climb in here to escape from enemies. Not a bad attempt at a self-portrait, wouldn't you say?!

I just love the character of Irish pubs - it oozes out onto the streets

Exploring Achill Island - in the North West-ish. I say 'ish' because it isn't truly North West, but it's not West either... :) Kinda in between! Achill Island is a stunning part of the country that many people skip over - I went there on the advice of a young bog farmer, who I got to talking to as I was photographing amazing scenery. Best advice ever!! I visited there with Frankie, a Canadian girl that I hired a car with for a few days. We had a great time!

This is Ireland at its best

Rolling green hills - some of my favourite things

I climbed up this! Well... most of the way... the last section leading to the top was practically vertical and impossible for me to scale. Didn't want to risk the old knee... It's MUCH steeper than it looks :)

Some of the great views I got as a result of clambering up rocks

As Frankie and I were heading back towards Dublin we came across some school kids playing Gaelic Football - we watched for a few minutes - it's a sport that looks like lots of fun! A good mix between AFL and soccer

Frankie and I having a drink in Dublin to celebrate our adventures

A lake in the Wicklow Mountains. Stunning!

After travelling with Frankie I went on a short overnight tour to Northern Ireland. This is a castle on Slane Hill. We clambered up it! Was easy, coz it had stairs :)

Walking towards the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

The bridge - 30 m above water, leading to a cool little island

The Giant's Causeway - stunning rock formations! Irish legend says Fionn McCool - an Irish giant - built it all the way across to Scotland so he could be with the girl he loved

Sitting on the part of the road to Scotland :)

We stayed in Derry - also known as Londonderry - a city of great unrest and home of Bloody Sunday

WB Yeats - the great Irish poet

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet,

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
W.B. Yeats

Adam, our tour guide and bus driver - a great bloke with a real flair for story telling!

The Atlantic Ocean

Captured it! Irish dancing in action :) The dancers move incredibly fast!

Goodbye Ireland :(

I'll be back :)