impressions from travel. london-frankfurt-heidelburg. in no particular order.

halfway through the holiday i panicked that i wasn’t making the best use of my time in europe… and by this i mean i wasn’t seeing all the cultural wonders etc etc, but rather shopping, wandering, and doing stuff. but in reality when i look back at all the papery stuff that accumulated in my handbag, backpack and suitcase, i realise that we still did see enough. anyway, the main point of the holiday was to see friends. which we did.

captured above, tickets/passes etc tell me that i visited/saw/appreciated the following:

Botticelli (among others) at the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt

Saalburg – edge of the roman empire, germany

Tower of London – King Henry VIII exhibition

Porsche Museum, Stuttgart

Urmensch Museum, Steinheim (germany)

Historiches Museum, Frankfurt

Turmpalast Cinema – Julie & Julia (worthwhile if you enjoy cooking)

Natural History Museum (london)

Also, having visited london, munich and stuttgart in 2005, i had already seen many of the tourist attractions i bypassed this time around.

We saw a variety show at the Tigerpalast in Frankfurt. This is the funky menu:

Seen at the Stadel gallery (ignoring reality – wanted for my living room):

While the Stadel holds some important works from important artists, I found that what was on show was a bit limited – i.e. not enough of the type of art that I enjoy looking at. It has a large collection of german art – from the early 14th century through to 19th century, but religious art (which most of it is) is not really to my taste.

reading enjoyment was provided by english, german and australian mags:

crafty purchases + crafty plans

a few photos from singapore:

my first visit to the place. first impressions? clean (i.e. no street rubbish thanks to strict rules and fines); rather humid; mish-mash architecture; obsessed with shopping. would probably stop over again as part of a journey elsewhere (also as we know a couple living there), but would prefer to visit other places – perhaps next time i might fly with cathay pacific to visit hong kong…

the sights of singapore were a bit more exciting than what i captured in these photos – inspiration and the desire to photograph did not accompany me on this holiday unfortunately.

post holiday jetlag euphoria: just returned from london-germany-singapore in 3 weeks.

unpacking; washing; sorting; enjoying.

in 3 weeks we covered the following:

4 days in london.

4 hours in paris (a stop in our rail experience from london to frankfurt)

10 days frankfurt broken up by:

1 day steinheim (near stuttgart)

1 day munich

2 days hamburg

this followed by:

2 days singapore (to combat jet lag and break up the tedium of flying).

all intra-europe travel conducted by rail courtesy of eurail pass (very economical means of travel)

activities over these three weeks included (listed in order of most amount of time)

walking

chatting

shopping

site seeing

sauna-ing

breakfasting

and in hamburg – coffeeing and cocktailing (i.e. consuming numerous coffees by day, and cocktails by night)

the main purpose of this trip was to meet friends old and new (well, new to me) – which we succeeded in doing extremely well, and i feel now that i need a holiday from my holiday in order to re-capture lost sleep.

despite the time of the year, the weather was better than expected (i.e. in germany in only rained on 3 days out of 14; london it was actually SUNNY for 2 days out of 4).

at this present moment most of my photos are stored on laptop currently not within my access. fun photo moments will follow.

the ironed plastic bag pieces have now been sewn together. next step: cut out lining. then: sew lining and outside together along three sides. then: stuff. add velcro for closing. fold and sew along two edges to make pouch. stick in laptop and be happy!

on another crafty note: here is me adding beads to my crochet crown, while waiting for the train.

trying to make a flickr photo mosaic to avoid finishing my uni honours proposal.

about to make pot of tea # 2

thinking about lunch

thinking that i am cold

remembering that i have quite a few things to get done before 7.30 which is when friends come over for dinner

loving that said friends invited themselves over and offered to make sushi. the plan is to eat in = saving money.

it’s brilliant!

And remember: if your dog is on fire, throw a bucket of dirt on it.

I have made some progress on a few knitting projects lately, while attempting to avoid study. Of course, although I have already many projects to be completed, I started work on something new: a pair of gloves for me. The pattern is Ysolda’s Garter Stitch Mitts (a pdf of the pattern can be found on her website). I have lengthened them slightly to cover more arm, and also so that I can wear them in spring with 3/4 cardies and tops. I am quite happy with the results – maybe a bit to tight near the elbow, and a bit loose around the hand, but the pattern is easy to follow, and it doesn’t involve dpns.

The second project taking up my time is the Brompton cardigan by Alice Bell. I am making mine in a blue/grey tweedy 4ply yarn and its is turning out quite well. Maybe a bit looser than i would like, but it will probably end up being a more casual knit then something for an evening out. Still deciding if I will knit a hood for it – i think this will depend on how much yarn is left once i have completed both sleeves.

While I am having a crafty moment, here are a few photos of a blanket I crocheted for my cousins baby (a girl, if you can’t guess by the colours).

gig attended by a good friend and myself in May 2006.

photo taken on a side street in Newtown: December 2008.

me = slightly surprised it lasted so long.

i am now embarking on the next part of my archaeology honours degree: THE THESIS.

part 1 = THE PROPOSAL.

part 2 = stress a lot. drink tea. ruin posture. read. type. read. delete type. re-type. scream.

ok, it’s not that bad all the time. just between work which is stressful, and uni which is launching me into the great unknown, i feel i am losing the plot.

on a happy note: I saw Harry Potter last night. Going in with no real expectations = no disappointment. Yes parts of it were corny, but I laughed quite a bit. The ending was silly and had pointless dialogue, but for friday night: it was light, fluffy and it made me laugh. the main point to remember is: the books are great and have much more detail and excitement to get sucked into. the movies are extra, and if they are any good than that is a bonus.

on another happy note: i have finished re-reading Harry P books 6 & 7 = my life can go back to normal. i tend to get sucked into the excitement of the book which of course means that i can do nothing but read the bloody thing until it is done. can’t talk to people. can’t study properly. must read harry…

here are two snapshots of our new place, on one of the few occasions when it has been tidy. currently it is filled with bikes, heaters and electrical cords plugging in heaters and laptops. such is life!