"LIFE IS TO LIVE AND LEARN" Aussienet's Profile

Well, this is very new to me, so here goes.
1996 was my first overseas trip, apart from a cruise to Fiji, Tonga, Vila and a few other islands a few years before, but 1996 was the BIG one, I was so excited, my husband had recently retired from work and recovered after heart surgery. I have always been interested in art, history and architecture, and although a 5th generation Aussie, had a calling to see "The Mother Country"and seek out my roots and experience other cultures and their history. We arrived in London and were met by my husbands cousin and driven to Rotherham, with a stop at a "Little Chef" on the way, I was overcome with seeing my first London Cab and Bobby, when we drove out of London I asked where were all the people! So much green land, in a small country with 60 million people and our huge country with then 20 million. Standing in the backyard of the relations home, I couldn't believe I was on the other side of the world, quite overwhelming!
We were going to be away for 4 months, and in that time we went to Edinburgh Tattoo, did a tour of Scotland, staying in Fort william and doing day trips from there, York, Whitby, Derbyshire,on to a week in Ireland and Northern Ireland, London for 2 weeks then a tour of Turkey amazing, was blown away by the history there then back to London and then beautiful Wales, as a surprise, the family had booked us into a castle in Devon for a week ,they drove us around lovely places there, then back to London ( really love London ) and for the last month to Italy, Venice, Florence and Rome. If this had been my only trip, I had seen most of the things I had only dreamed of, ie: Michaelangelo's Pieta, the Forum, Colosseum, any and all the ruins, Cappodoccia,The Tower of London, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and all the Art works and Museums, Pompeii the list goes on.
However...... my taste for travelling increased and I have been very fortunate to be able to continue, every year since, with the exception of 2 years, and will be leaving these shores again on Xmas Eve, my husband isn't interested in coming anymore and is happy for me to go alone, he is happy if I am, what a dear!

1998 I attended a trade Fair in Hong Kong and had a look around this interesting city, not knowing I would be returning there in a few years time for the arrival of my granddaughter and having quite a few more visits there over a couple of years.
1999 : Did a coach tour of Frankfurt, Berlin,Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest,Prague, Slovakia, Vienna, Rothenburg, Munich, then on to London where I met a friend and we drove around GB for a month, it was her first time there and we had a great time,
2000.. My husband decided to join me on this one: A tour of Egypt, awe inspiring, the first glimpse of the Pyramids is truly breathtaking, Abu Simbel amazing as it was, and equally amazing that it was moved to save it from being flooded by the Aswan Dam, Valley of the Kings, really too much to absorb, but fascinating. We then flew to Paris, where we met up with the family from the UK and marvelled at this city of love.
We then picked up a tour in Madrid, the tour took us through Spain, Portugal and Morocco, where I was not expecting to see the snow capped mountains, the Middle Atlas Mountains are just beautiful we had 5 more nights in Madrid to see more, so another of my artists I had studied and admired I was able to see in the Prado, along with all the other fabulous art there and a visit to the Palace, plus just walking around and happening upon other great things We then had a week in Barcelona where I had wanted to see Gaudi's buildings, wow. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

2001.. Our daughter was in Holland for a year with her husband and son, so a good opportunity to visit as I was missing them. They were in Leewardin so I stayed there for a week and then went to Oostend to visit friends there for a week, they took me to Bruge and Brussels and drove me around to show me lovely Belgium, I then took my daughter and grandson to Paris for a week,a couple of nights in Amsterdam, back to Leewarden then to Rotherham to visit the family and day trips from there. I had a few nights in Winchester and it was at the time when the twin towers were attacked.
2003..London then 4 nights in Torquay for a Trade Fair
,then 3 nights in Plymouth up to Rotherham and from there to Manchester Trade Fair, back to London, then to Paris, for 4 nights and then a very quick tour of Lyon, Nice,St.Saens,Monaco,Bordeaux,Tours, Aimes Arles,Beaune, Carcassonne, 3 night stop over in Dubai.
Norfolk Island for a week for a readers and writers festival
2004.. London for 2 weeks, then Malta, with a visit to Gozo great ancient ruins there, Rome for 10 nights, then a fantastic tour of Sicily, back to Rome for another 3 nights.
2005.. Nearly all my trips are in our summer, as I really don't like the heat, and love the different scenery and the cold, especially snow.... Arrived in Vienna had 5 nights here, just love the Hofburg, then on to Istanbul, after our tour years before and having a brief glimpse, I wanted to see it at my leisure, so stayed a week, it was just beautiful, snow on the mosques, looking out over the Bosphorus and snow topped buildings from the hotel, the Grand Bazaar and the fabulous Topkapi Palace, and more .Next, back to Rotherham for a visit, more short trips from there and then to London to meet my husband for a trip to Russia.
We had 3 nights in the amazingly huge Rossia Hotel in Moscow, which has since been demolished, a very interesting place, our room overlooked the Moscova River which was frozen and we were next to the walls of The Kremlin, at breakfast our view was St. Basils, I loved it. The Armory in The Kremlin is unbelievable, wonderful exhibits and the Diamond Fund is every females dream, the Kremlin itself is fascinating, Red Square, The Tetrakov Gallery has some wonderful artists. We joined a tour and did the Underground stations and a few more things, and then caught the overnight train to St. Petersburg, did a few more days with the tour then had 9 nights on our own to explore, not enough adjectives to describe this place, The Hermitage, all the Museums and nearly every building is a palace, Tsarko Selo or the Catherine Palace is gobsmackingly fantastic, as is the Peterhof and the Pavlovsk, the Yusopov Palace is where Rasputin was killed and very interesting, just loved it.
We had another 7 nights in Vienna then home.

2006.. Paris for 9 nights, can't get enough of this city either, then Florence for 7 nights Venice, where I joined in Carnivale which was fantastic.Munich for 6 nights,visited Neuschwanstein Castle,and another thing off my bucket list Berlin for 6 nights, with visits to the Pergammum Museum and the Art Galleries and other museums, then back to my lovely London for 10 nights and Hong Kong for 10 days for the birth of my granddaughter on the way home.
Another 2 trips to Hong Kong that year.
2007.. Madrid for 3 nights, then Toledo, where I stayed in the walled city, back to Madrid for 8 nights, more exploring here and some day trips, then to Carcassonne another stay in the walled city, I soak up the history in these places, then to Lyon for a week, another visit to the family in Rotherham, a 3 night stay at a lovely B&B in Darlington to visit the Bowes Museum, just loved the mechanical swan. 3 nights in Cambridge then 5 in Oxford, great place, as is Windsor for another 5 nights, back to London for 10 and then to Greece for a tour of 8 nights. A week on Rhodes and another tick off the bucket list with 8 nights on Crete. Hong Kong on the way home
May: Hong Kong and a stay in Shenzhen with a friend for some retail therapy.
September: Hong kong
November: Tour of China, including a 4 night cruise on the Yangtze saw the 3 gorges dam, what an amazing feat, everything we saw in China was amazing and the shows were world class, I would like to do this again. Then back to Hong Kong to visit the family.

2008... Hong Kong and Shenzhen with another friend for 2 weeks
2009.. Budapest for 8 nights, once again a lovely city with an great history and beautiful architecture. Rome , another favourite, for 7 nights, Florence 7 nights a day trip to Milan to see the Cathedral, beautiful, Paris for 7 then to luscious London for 11, and a must revisit to Moscow for 7 then to St. Petersburg for 10 nights, where i redid at leisure The Hermitage, and was there to see the mechanical clock in action, awesome, and I visited the newly opened repository for The Hermitage, a must visit , they have thousands of items not in the Hermitage and they also do repairs and restorations there, extremely interesting place, with heavy security, seals on some heavy doors.
Back to London then up to Rotherham, 4 night stint in Amsterdam, visits to the Museums there and Harrogate for 3 nights. Hong Kong where I met a friend had 4 nights there and then 5 in China.
2010... Overnight in Narita then to Belfast, I had a car hire for 2 weeks as I wanted to tour around and trace some ancestry, however the weather was against me as it was one of the coldest winters in a long while, so I only drove to Enniskillen, stayed 3 nights and drove back to Belfast, and gave the car back, as it was too dangerous, so I trained it to Dublin and only stayed there 3 nights as I couldn't get to Newgrange due to the weather, back to Belfast for the rest of the time then back to London for 2 weeks ( I never get bored or tired of London). To Prague for a week then to Salzburg, lovely city, loved the Fortress. then flew to Zurich, where I bought a Swiss pass and went to Lucerne and did the cruise around the lake, magic, Basil and saw a Dali I had wanted to see, Bern, and walked around, then to Geneva for another week, and did day trips from there to Montreaux, visited the castle there, Laussanne, and the best, train to Visp, change to The Matterhorn Express and magnificent scenery to Zermatt, a trip up the mountain, once again not enough adjectives for a description. I also visited the United Nations Building and The Red Cross Museum in Geneva, Back to Paris yet again, visited Fountainbleau among other thigs
April, Daughter now living in Singapore and has a son now too, so a visit there
May. another visit to Singapore
July; 8 days in Tasmania with oldest grandson
July: New Zealand, with the husband, Queenstown, fantastic place, Milford Sound, fabulous scenery
October: Singapore.
December 2010 2011: London for 2 weeks, Edinburgh for 1 week, Rome for 8 nights then 9 in Sorrento, where I did day trips to Amalfi, Herculanium, and Capri, then back to Rome for 8 did a day trip to Tivoli, train ride lovely scenery, and I will go back there another time and spend a couple of days,.
Verona for 7 nights then Lovely Innsbruck, where I stayed in a lovely hotel near the Golden Roof, Mozart stayed there, loved this place too. On to Munich for a week then Barcelona for 10 where I redid Gaudi's buildings and lots more then a stay in Singapore.

Xmas in Singapore, then on the 27th To Vienna for 13 nights, Regensburg for 8, Wurzburg for 5, Florence for 7, Venice for 3, Munich 4, Dubrovnik 7, Krakow 9, Warsaw 7, Berlin 9 and Singapore again on the way home.
Starting to think about the next one already, I think I might go back to Russia and ?????
I have to work out how to do the photos, when I have more time!

I love London.... and as I am so close in Berlin......well.... Just had to have 10 days there, so have extended my holiday and with just a few changes and a little more money to alter flights, will now be back in Aus. on the 24th March instead of the 16th March. Heaven!