Book Group

For the past two years I have been attending a book group once a month where we have read and discussed some fantastic and not so good books.  

Each month we take turns hosting, this month Helena (cut off face on right) showed us how to cook traditional Swedish food.  We cooked our meats and vegetable on the hot plate while our cheese melted below.  Everything is put in a bowl with potato and bread, the melted cheese is then poured over the top; it's delicious and fun to make. 

Can't wait to borrow the hotplate and have a go with Allan and the kids.    

Climbing Door Frames

All kids love climbing door frames. 

Some climb them like this.

And others climb them like ... Spiderman!

BMW Factory & Krone Circus

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A trip to the BMW factory and museum were a must do while in Munich.  We had an early morning start at the BMW factory joining the first tour of the day.  The tour began with a short movie about BMW before heading into the factory. 

The factory was amazing; it produces 950 BMW’s per day to order!  Each stage of the production is fascinating; we saw the tools/moulds used to create the body of the cars, assembling the 3 layers of the body, painting, seats being made, electronics being fitted, motors and the final assembly. 

There were thousands of robots and the accuracy of the robots was astounding for example they place parts with a 0.04mm accuracy/tolerance.  Alongside the robots there are 7500 staff working in the factory.  The precision, detail and order of the factory is outstanding.   

We were not allowed to take photo’s or video, in fact you are not even allowed your mobile phone and there is video surveillance everywhere to make sure you are doing the right thing.

After some lunch we headed across the road to the BMW museum.  The museum holds 400 BMW’s from it’s just over 90 year old collection.

Another place we visited while in Munich was the Krone Circus.  The Krone Circus is 4 generations old and is probably the best circus we have been to.  Once again no photos allowed, we took a couple before the actual circus started. 

The circus had lots of amazing acts like trapeze artists, balancing acts, clowns, Asian dancers/strongmen/gymnastic type routines, horses and dogs.  They are also famous for their lion show.  The lion tamer had 24 lions and tigers, we felt a bit sorry for them although most of them had been born at the circus and hand reared by the tamer.

The weather has warmed up as the week has gone by, once again we have enjoyed another holiday and home exchange.  Off to Switzerland in 5 weeks!         

Neuschwanstein Castle

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A day trip to Neuschwanstein was a must do on our visit to Munich.  The drive through the countryside and mountains was absolutely stunning.  The castle itself is nestled in the mountains over looking a small village, Hohenschwangau castle and lake Alpsee.  Before heading to the castle we walked on the frozen lake and around the village.    

Neuschwanstein Castle is a relatively new castle in Europe built in the 19^th century, King Lugwig II of Bavaria built the castle with his own fortune and personal borrowing.  Only 1/3 of the castle was completed due to the death of the king and was opened for public viewing only 6 weeks after his death.

The castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty Castle’ and has been in many movies.  Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos on the inside; it was beautifully decorated. Corban liked the throne room and Leo liked the Kings bedroom.  One of the rooms had over 100 swans carved or painted; it even had swan door handles because swans were the kings favourite animal.  In English Neuschwanstein means New Swanstone Castle.      

We finished our day with a play in the snow and a walk up the road to take a photo of a white chapel in the snow.

Taylor's Visit to Japan!

Taylor is having an adventure of her own, her first trip to Japan!  

It started off a little crazy with her flight from Osaka to Sapporo being canceled due to bad weather, but luckily Todd had also been delayed even though he few in the day before her so he was still in Osaka and they were able to meet at the airport.  Due to the schedule of the flights he had to leave before Tay, but she meet an American family who she traveled the rest of the way with.  

Once in Sapporo, her and Todd made their way to Niseko where they are staying.  There is lots of snow and Taylor is enjoying skiing every day.  She's having a great time, but I still can't wait to pick her up from the airport on Saturday!

    

Munich Home Exchange and Munich City

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Munich City and Home Exchange

Another holiday and another home exchange!  This time we have exchanged with a family from Munich.  Our apartment is funky, modern and in the center of Pasing, a 1-minute walk to the train station. 

We have arrived during the festival ‘Fashing’.  This festival involves dressing up from the young to the old, enjoying music and dancing.  ‘Fashing’ is a celebration before Ash Wednesday and Lent when people start fasting before Easter, so there is also lots of food. 

To learn about the city of Munich we began with a walking tour of the city, our tour guide was from Dunedin so we understood his accent without any problems. 

Our tour began at New Town Hall where we watched the 11am Rathaus-Glockenspiel which was finished in 1908.  The Glockenspiel re-enacts two stories from the 16^th century with 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famousHofbräuhaus) to Renata of Lorraine. In honour of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian knightwins every time, of course.

This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schäfflertanz (the coopers' dance). According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich. The coopers are said to have danced through the streets to "bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions." The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times. By tradition, the dance is performed in Munich every seven years. This was described in 1700 as "an age-old custom", but the current dance was defined only in 1871. The dance can be seen during Fasching (German Carnival): the next one is in 2019.

Our tour also took us to Our Church of Our Lady Munich ‘Frauenkirche’, which has a legend about the devil helping to build the church.  The legend says he even left a footprint when he stamped his foot because the builder of the cathedral had outwitted him. 

We also stopped by the National Theater, learned about the King Lugwig II and the origins of Oktoberfest, Hitlers beer hall, visited the royal residence, Church of St Peter and the Hofbrauhaus beer house. 

Not so many photo’s today because it was so cold, but still a full and fun day out in Munich.   

Burns Night 2015

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Burns Night is a fundraising evening that Riverside School hosts, it is a Scottish evening with poetry reading, singing, speeches, piping, raffles, auctions and cèilidh music and dancing.

Eating haggis is mandatory along with Scottish whisky!  Allan and I enjoyed that haggis and skipped the whisky (not very Scottish of me) but I did get a photo for mum and nana.  I also got a fun photo with my boss and some other Scott's from school, Graeme is actually from the same area as my nana!

Allan and I enjoyed the dancing even though we weren't that good.  It was a great evening and the money raised went to a little disabled girl that our school supports, the local hospital and also our friend Jiri who's wife died in child birth at the end of last year.  A great evening and 124,000kc raised!  

Last Days Before Departing :-(

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As the count down to Lisa and the kids leaving we ticked off the last minute shopping, a trip up Petrin tower to look at the view of Prague, a play at the mirror maze and a walk past the monument for those who lived through communism.

Taylor brought home sparklers for the little kids to play with.  Corban, Leo and Riley had taken to sleeping in a tent in the lounge.  It was a great 3 weeks!  We'll miss Riley and Liam and the fun that cousins have.  It's been great catching up with Lisa and spending so much time with her ... it's been years since we've just been sisters together!

Kutna Hora and Ice Hockey

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I guess a trip to Europe isn't complete without seeing something a little unusual, so a day trip to Kutna Hora it was!

The weather wasn't great but we jumped in the car and headed to Kutna Hora, we've now been about 4-5 times so Lisa and the kids did the Bone Church and Gothic Cathedral on their own.  We wondered through the little streets while Allan went to get the car because it was freezing cold and raining.

On our way home we stopped at one of Allan's favourite places 'Fashion Arena', nothing like a little outside shopping to really chill ourselves to the bones (ha ha ha)! 

Because the boys endured ballet we thought we should even out the playing field participating in another Czech tradition by going to Ice Hockey.  Little did I know, that I LOVE Ice Hockey.  The whole experience was entertaining from the lighting, mascots, dancing, drumming and singing supporters, music and of course the hockey. We couldn't figure out all the rules but it was such a great game to watch!  It's fast, it's rough, family friendly and great entertainment. We'll definitely be back.   

  

New Years Day and Vysehrad

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The best thing about New Years Day in Prague are the family fireworks, but we needed to fill in the day before they started.  

We headed off to Vysehrad to look at the Cathedral and fortress.  Allan got some nice photos of the boats on the Vltava and everyone enjoyed the view.  It's not as pretty at Vysehrad in the winter, but it was still a nice walk and outing.  

After Vysehrad we stopped at a Czech restaurant that has an inside playground.  Our meals took a little longer than expected so we were literally on the run to see the fireworks which we just made in time.  Riley is a bit afraid of fireworks, she did well and the other kids loved them.  

The photo of the drink is a 'hot apple', this is my new favourite winter drink.  It is hot apple with a cinnamon stick and sultanas ... sounds unusual, but it's YUMMY!