Dusseldorf, English Countryside & France!

Hi all!

We've been very busy since the last blog, but will try & give you a condensed version :)

We went to Dusseldorf in Germany for a long weekend on the bank holiday & had a fantastic time. It's a very clean, ordered and green place. The people in Germany are very friendly and sell lots of sausages :P Dusseldorf itself is a very green town and our stay

happened to coincide with a street festival that lasted all weekend. Lots of live music, stalls and more sausages. There is a tree lined canal through the town. Pics of me and us taking a well earned rest on a park bench.

There is also some interesting architecture in Dusseldorf. Along the harbour of the Rhine, there are three buildings that are constructed as pieces of art. Check them out!

Also, the Rhine Tower at 235m tall holds

the worlds largest decimal clock, indicated through the portholes on the vertical axis. Whilst a country that we ventured to by chances, Germany is definately a place we will return to explore more of.

The next weekend, Richard, Amanda & I hired a car & ventured out into the English countryside to see the sights.

We started in Oxford & visited some of the university colleges there, in particular, Christ Church. This college coincidentally holds the hall which features in the Harry Potter movie (we seem to run into Harry Potter everywhere in this country!!!). Pic off to the side.

We also saw numerous gorgeous little villages that form part of the Cotswold region. This area has buildings which date back centuries. Speaking of which, Bath is one of the only cities in the world to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Yes, that's the whole city is a World Heritage site. The Bath Abbey (pic on right) is one of the last great Medieval churches left in the UK.

On our way back to London, we stopped at Stonehenge with the millions of other tourists. Despite the amount of people there, you could still block out the noise of tourists and traffic (yep it's located in the middle of two major highways) and absorb the atmosphere of the stones. Just standing and watching the magnificence of such

an ancient (believed to be up to 5000 years old) and mysterious site was overwhelming.

That brings me to the weekend just gone. It was our 1st wedding anniversary and Richard organised a romantic weekend away to France. We went to the Loire Valley, which is about 250km south of Paris and home to many gorgeous Chateau's, one of which, happened to be our hotel! The food, language and countryside in France are definately three things that could make you want to live there. We are looking forward to spending more time in France next year.

On the morning of our anniversary, we took a row boat down the Indre River. It was so misty, tranquil and just perfect :)

We visited the Chateau de Chanceaux, which is a gorgeous old castle set over a river. It boasts many beautiful gardens to meander through and enjoy. What a fantastic weekend.