We’re back

Back from holidays and back into the swing or regular life. We flew in on Monday morning 21st September from Hong Kong and we were back to work on Tuesday.

I’m a bit crook – picked up something in Rome and I have been coughing ever since. Have been to the doctor though and I’m all medicated up.

Lots of photos to go through and upload to facebook, but here is a taste…

Rome

Florence

Cinque Terre – Monterosso Al Mare

Ummm….

Villa Saraceno

Prague

Ummm…

Tate Modern – London

Hong Kong

 

Bonjour!

Bonjour. Le blog de guthers a Paris!
After a long stay in Italy and a brief time visiting Adri’s cousin in Prague, we are now in Paris taking advantage of the free wifi and ordinary coffee in a cafe in Marais.
Prague was fantastic as we spent the whole time with Toby and his wife Bara’s family. It was a nice taste of life in the Czech republic. Also highly recommend watching Kolya if you get a chance. A Czech film set around Prague at the end of the 80s as Russian occupation ended.
Now in Paris for 4 nights doing all the usual stuff then catching the eurostar through le Chunnel.
Don’t want to bore you with travel updates, but will hopefully do some more posting soon.
Au revoir!

Caffe

Plenty of espresso to be had in Italy. Both the hotels we’ve stayed at have had a pretty sweet machine and grinder setup.
I’ve noticed that the shots are usually great. Strong dark roast and very golden brown crema. But they don’t seem as concerned with the milk. Lots of bubbles on occasions, even too hot once. Definitely no latte art!
The best coffee we had was in a street cafe, mainly filled with locals. Mostly been having cappuccino and macchiato.
Will try to get some photos.

Italy is tiring

Been having an awesome time on holidays so far. We’ve spent 3 nights in Rome and we arrived today in Florence.
So much to see in Rome and we got around most places by foot, so it is pretty exhausting. It’s also been 36-40 degrees each day as Italy swelters in a heat wave. Very draining.
Unfortunately, I’ve come down sick. Blocked sinus, sore throat, cough. Hope it goes away soon.

Catch you on the flip side…

About to crawl into bed for an early night. We have a 4:15 wake up tomorrow morning to get to the airport in time for out 7:30 flight.

Super excited! Will try to keep you updated via free wifi while we are gone.

Byeeeeee~!

Romans and Zechariah

Last day of church today for a little while. I don’t know how I will go for 5 weeks without church and bible study. Never really tried before!

At bible study this morning, we looked at chapter 2 of Romans. I am looking forward to reading some more of it in Rome!

Something that struck me from Geoff Shead preaching on Zechariah this morning… Zech prophesied that in the Day of the Lord, God would pour out a spirit of contrition on his people. Contrition – Why is that a good thing? Because we are stuffed before God and we need his forgiveness. But before that, we need repentance. We need to come before God with a broken and contrite heart. Even for that bit, we need his help.

Last day of work

Today is my last day in the office for 5 weeks. I’ve gotta say – that feels pretty sweet!

Adri and I are off to Europe for a loooong holiday. We have been planning this for ages and are really excited.

For those interested, itinerary looks something like this:

Rome, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Venice, the Veneto, Prague, Paris, London and Hong Kong on the way home.

Parts of the trip will be visiting or meeting up with family, but for most of it it will be just Adri and I.

Only 2 and a bit hours of work to go! 🙂

Mo day

It was my boss’s 60th birthday yesterday, so to celebrate, we all donned fake mos (because he has a distinctive tache).
I managed to find 120 fake mos on eBay for less than 50 bucks ($43.37). Bargain!

Brushes with fame

Adri saw Cate Blanchett in the fruit shop today.

Full trolley, 3 boys hanging off her, sunglasses on inside the shopping centre.

Not even too famous to duck in to the $2 shop!

Sunday Roast

Well as you know, EVERY Sunday I post about my weekly coffee experiences.

Well a lot has happened since the last Sunday. This week in particular has bean a cracker on the coffee front.

To begin with, I have been drinking the Bahitalia blend as roasted by threebeansroasters this week. It has been superb.

Then on Friday morning, a whirlwind weekend of good coffee and good times began.

We flew down to Melbourne for a friends wedding on Friday afternoon. On the way to the airport we snuck in to Allpress Espresso in Rosebery for a cheeky latte. Once in Melbourne, it was straight to the hotel and a quick shower before crossing the road to the wedding venue – Ormond Hall, attached to the Belgian Beer Cafe. Needless to say the beers were some of the finest I have seen served at a wedding: Leffe, Hoegarden, Bellevue.

After partying til the wee hours of the morning, there was no better way to wake up on Saturday than to scrambled eggs and kevin bacon at St Ali’s coffee roasters. This was our second visit and the food and coffee certainly lived up to expectations. My 2 lattes were exceptional and indifferentiable. I didn’t ask for a clover or a syphon as it looked like the baristi were flat chat. We had to wait 10 minutes for a table.

Saturday afternoon, after lugging our luggage around the CBD, we squeezed into Brother Baba Budan. Despite having an interstate reputation, this place is still tiny and quaint. The 2 baristi behind the Synesso worked like a well-oiled machine and served up another latte (sooo much milk today!) that saw me through the afternoon. Love the chairs hanging from the ceiling. The could stand to upgrade the dunny…

I heart Melbourne.

Adri at St Ali